Andy at Yale

by John Kendrick Bangs

  CHAPTER XXXIV

  CAUGHT

  The silence got on the nerves of Andy and Dunk. It was very quiet inWright Hall, but outside they could hear the calls of students, one tothe other. Occasionally someone would come up on the raised courtyard ofthe 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 butdeserted.

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

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

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

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

  "But I really hated to think it, for it seems an awful thing to have aYale 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 seriousmatter. It means a whole lot, not only to Mortimer, but to us. We don'twant to make a mistake."

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

  "You don't quite get me," went on Dunk, trying to get into a morecomfortable position in their small hiding place. "I'll admit that wemay 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 comeout--it will probably get into the papers, and how will it look to havea Yale man held up as a thief. It doesn't make any difference to saythat he isn't a representative Yale man--it's the name of the universitythat'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 todo once we capture the thief."

  "What do you suggest?" asked Andy, after a pause.

  "I hardly know. Let's puzzle over it a bit." Again there fell a silencebetween them--a silence fraught with much meaning. They could hearrevelry in other college rooms, and the call of lads on the campus. Fromfarther off came the roar and hum of the city. It reminded Andy of thenight he had first come to New Haven. How many things had happened inthat time. He would soon be a sophomore now--no more a callow freshman.

  "Do you know," spoke Dunk, in a low voice, as he again changed hisposition, seeking ease. "I had an idea that Ikey might turn out to bethe guilty one."

  "So did I," admitted Andy. "That was after your watch was missing, and Ifound he had been in the room while I was out. But, for that matter,Link was in there, too. It was a sort of toss-up between the two. PoorLink, it's been mighty unpleasant for him, to be accused wrongly. Iwonder how that valuable book got in his room?"

  "The quadrangle thief put it there, of course."

  "And there's that case of Pulter's book--found out near Yale Field,"went on Andy. "I suppose Mortimer had that, too."

  "Very likely, though it seems queer that he'd stoop so low as to takebooks."

  "He could pawn 'em, I suppose, same as he did the other things he took,"Andy continued.

  "The way he used to borrow money from me and some of the other fellowswas a caution!" exclaimed Dunk. "Seems as though he'd have enough toworry along on without stealing."

  "He spent a lot, though," said Andy. "He was used to high living and Isuppose when he found the money wasn't coming from his father any morehe had to get it the best way he could."

  "Or the worst," commented Dunk, grimly. "I know he never paid me backall he got, and the same way with a lot of the fellows. But if he'scoming I wish he'd show up. I don't wish him any bad luck, and I'd givea whole lot, even now, if it would prove to be someone else besidesMortimer. But I'm getting tired of waiting here."

  "So am I," said Andy, with a yawn.

  Again there was a silence, while they kept their strange vigil. Then,far down the lower corridor, there sounded footsteps.

  "He--he's coming!" whispered Andy in a tense voice.

  "Yes," assented Dunk.

  But it was a false alarm. As the footsteps came nearer the waiting ladssaw one of the janitors on his rounds. He did not see them, and passedon.

  Andy was doing some hard thinking. The suggestion made by Dunk that thecapture of the thief would be more of a black spot for Yale than thefact of the robberies taking place was bearing fruit.

  "But what can we do?" Andy asked himself. "We've got to stop thesethefts if we can, and the only way is to catch the fellow who's doingit."

  They had been in their hiding place nearly an hour, and were gettingexceedingly weary. Dunk shifted about, as did Andy, and it was on thetip of the latter's tongue to suggest that they give up their plan forthe night when they heard a distant door opened cautiously.

  "Listen!" whispered Andy.

  "All right," assented his chum. "I hope it amounts to something."

  With strained ears they listened. Now they heard steps coming along thecorridor. Curious, shuffling steps they were, not hard, honestheel-and-toe steps--rather those of someone treading softly, as on solesof rubber.

  "It's him all right this time!" whispered Andy in Dunk's ear.

  "I guess so--yes. Shall we follow him?"

  "Yes. Take off your shoes."

  Silently they removed them, and waited. The steps were nearer now, and along shadow was thrown athwart the place where Andy and Dunk werehiding. They could not recognize it, however.

  The shadow came nearer, flickering curiously as the swaying of anelectric lamp threw it in black relief on the corridor floor.

  Then a figure came past the recess where the two lads were concealed.They hardly breathed, and, peering out they beheld Mortimer Gaffingtonstealing into Wright Hall.

  It was only what they had expected to see, but, nevertheless, it gavethem both a shock.

  Mortimer moved on. They could see now why he could walk so silently. Hehad on rubbers over his shoes. The same trick used by the thief who hadentered Frank's room.

  Mortimer looked all around. He stood in a listening attitude for amoment, and then, as if satisfied that the coast was clear, started upthe stairs toward the corridor from which opened the room of Andy andDunk.

  The two waited until he was out of sight, and then followed, making nomore noise than the thief himself. They timed their movements by his.When he advanced they went forward, and when he stopped to listen, theystopped also. It was like some game--a very grim sort of game, though.

  There was only a dim light in the upper corridor, and, coming to a haltwhere the shadows were deepest, Andy and Dunk watched. They saw Mortimerstop before a student's door, try it and then came the faint tinkle of abunch of keys.

  "Skeletons," whispered Dunk.

  Andy nodded in assent.

  The manipulation of the lock by means of a false key seemed to come easyto Mortimer. In a moment he was inside the room. What he did there Andyand Dunk could not see, but he remained but a few minutes, and came out,softly closing the door after him.

  "I wonder what he got?" whispered Dunk.

  "We'll soon know," was Andy's answer.

  Mortimer went softly down the corridor. He did not try every door, butonly went in certain rooms, and these, the two watchers noticed, werethose where well-to-do students lived.

  Mortimer made four or five visits, and then moved towards the apartmentof Andy and Dunk.

  "It's our turn now," whispered the latter.

  Silently they turned a corner, just in time to see Mortimer enter theirroom
.

  "Now we've got him!" exulted Andy.

  "Not yet; we've got to nab him," whispered Dunk. "Oh, Andy, this isfierce! To think that we're spying on a Yale man! To think that a Yaleman should turn out to be a common thief! It makes me sick!"

  "Same here," sighed Andy. "But the only way to stop suspicion fromfalling on others is to get Mortimer with the goods. We've got to saveLink, too."

  "That's right," assented Dunk. "He isn't a Yale man, but he's a heapbetter than the kind in there." He nodded his head in the direction oftheir room, where Mortimer now was.

  They had left a light burning, and could see, as its beams were cut offnow and then, that the intruder was moving about in their apartment.

  "Come on, let's get him--and have it over with," suggested Dunk.

  "No, we've got to get the goods on him," said Andy.

  "Well, hasn't he got plenty of stolen goods--those from the otherfellows' rooms?"

  "I know. But if we went in on him now he'd bluff it off--say he came into borrow a book--or money maybe."

  "But we could search him."

  "You can't search a fellow for coming to borrow something," declaredAndy. "Come on, let's go where we can look in."

  Silently they stole forward until they were opposite their door. Fromit they had a good view of Mortimer.

  Just at that moment they saw him reach for the bills on the table and,with a quick motion, pocket them. Then the thief started toward abureau.

  "Come on!" whispered Andy, hoarsely. "We've got to get him now, Dunk!"

  With beating hearts the two sped silently but swiftly into the room.They fairly leaped for Mortimer, who turned like a flash, glaring atthem. Fear was in his startled eyes--fear and shame. Then in an instanthe determined to face it out.

  "We--we've got you!" cried Dunk, exultantly.

  "Got me? I don't know what you mean?" said Mortimer, trying to speakeasily. But his voice broke--his tones were hoarse, and Andy noticedthat his hands were trembling. Mortimer edged over toward the door.

  "I came in to get a book," he faltered, "but I----"

  "Grab him, Dunk!" commanded Andy, and the two threw themselves upon theintruder.