Andy at Yale Part 54

"I'll go with you. Ikey was here and I paid him for your socks and mine.

So we can lock up."

"And be sure you do lock," warned Andy. "I don't want to lose any more stuff. Say, Mortimer must have my sleeve links, all right."

"All wrong, you mean. And my watch, too! I wonder if we're on the verge of a discovery?"

"It looks so," said Andy, grimly.

Quickly and silently they went to the storeroom. They were not disturbed, for there were several cla.s.s dinners on that night, and most of the occupants of Wright Hall were out. Andy and Dunk intended going later.

They rummaged in the closet and, when about to give up, not having found what they sought, Andy unearthed a pair of rubbers.

"These might be what the fellow wore," said Dunk, as he looked at them.

"He could easily have slipped them off. See if there are any marks inside."

Andy looked and uttered a startled cry. For there, on the inner canvas of the rubber, printed in ink, were the initials "M. G."

"They're his, all right!" spoke Andy, in a low tone.

"Then he's the quadrangle thief," went on Dunk. "Come on back to our room, and we'll talk this over. Something's has got to be done."

"That's right," agreed Andy. "But what?"

"We must set a trap," suggested Dunk.

"A trap?"

"Yes, do something to catch this mean thief--Mortimer or whoever he is--in the act."

"Hadn't we better tell the Dean--or someone."

"No," said Dunk, after thinking over the matter. "Let's see if we can't do this on our own hook. Then if we make a mistake we won't be laughed at."

"But when can we do it?" Andy asked.

"This very night. It couldn't happen better. Nearly all the fellows will be out of Wright Hall in a little while. We're booked to go, and Mortimer knows it, for I was making arrangements with Bert Foley about our seats, and Mortimer was standing near me. He came to borrow ten dollars, but I didn't let him have it. So he will be sure to figure that we'll be out to-night."

"But how do you know he'll come to our room?"

"I don't know it. I've got to take a chance there. But we can hide down in the lower corridor, and watch to see if he comes in this dormitory.

If he does, knowing that 'most all the fellows are out, it will look suspicious. We can watch for him to go out and then tackle him. If he has the goods on him the jig is up."

"Well, I guess that is a good plan," agreed Andy. "I hate to have to do it, but we owe it to ourselves, to the college and to poor Link to discover this thief. I only hope it doesn't prove to be Mortimer, but it looks very bad for him."

"We can go farther than that," went on Dunk. "We can leave some marked money on our table, leave our door open and see what happens."

"It sounds sort of mean," spoke Andy, doubtfully; "but I suppose if we have to have a trap that would be the best way to do it."

"Then let's get busy," suggested Dunk. "He may not come to-night after all. We may have to watch for several nights. Meanwhile we'd better telephone the lawyer that we're on a new lead."

This was done, and the man in charge of Link's case agreed to see Andy and Dunk early the next day to learn what success they had.

Then the trap was laid. The two who were doing this, not so much to prove Mortimer guilty as to free Link and others upon whom suspicion had fallen, went about their work.

As Dunk had surmised, Wright Hall was almost deserted. They found a hiding place in the lower corridor where they could see whoever came in.

Their own door they left ajar, with a light burning. On the table where they had been put, as if dropped by accident, were a couple of marked bills.

"If he takes those, we'll have him with the goods," said Dunk, grimly.

Then he and Andy began their vigil.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

CAUGHT

The silence got on the nerves of Andy and Dunk. It was very quiet in Wright Hall, but outside they could hear the calls of students, one to the other. Occasionally someone would come up on the raised courtyard of the dormitory and shout loudly for some chum. But there were no answers.

Nearly all the freshmen were at an annual affair. The hall was all but deserted.

"Who do you think it will be?" asked Dunk in a whisper, after a long quiet period.

"Why, Mortimer, of course," answered Andy. "Do you have suspicions of anybody else?"

"Well, I don't know," was the hesitating answer.

"Everything points to him," went on Andy. "He's in need of money, and has been for some time, though we didn't know it. As soon as I heard that news about his father losing all his fortune, and the possibility that Mortimer might have to leave Yale, I said to myself that he was the most likely one to have been doing this quadrangle thieving.

"But I really hated to think it, for it seems an awful thing to have a Yale man guilty of anything like that."

"It sure is," agreed Dunk. "What are we going to do if we catch him?"

"Time enough to think of that after we get him," said Andy, grimly.

"No, there isn't," insisted Dunk. "Look here, old man, this is a serious matter. It means a whole lot, not only to Mortimer, but to us. We don't want to make a mistake."

"We won't," said Andy. "We'll get him right, whether it's Mortimer, or someone else. But I can't see how it could be anybody else. Everything points to him. It's very plain to me."

"You don't quite get me," went on Dunk, trying to get into a more comfortable position in their small hiding place. "I'll admit that we may get the thief, and I'm willing to admit, for the sake of argument, that it may be Mortimer--in fact, I'm pretty sure, now, that it is he.

But look what it's going to mean to Yale. This thing will have to come out--it will probably get into the papers, and how will it look to have a Yale man held up as a thief. It doesn't make any difference to say that he isn't a representative Yale man--it's the name of the university that's going to suffer as much as is Mortimer."

"That's so--I didn't think of that," admitted Andy, rather ruefully.

"Shall we call it off?"

"No, it's too late to do that now. But we must consider what we ought to do once we capture the thief."