The Banner Boy Scouts Mystery

CHAPTER XXVIII

All of the following day the boys wandered about trying their best to form some definite opinion about the mystery of the white card so that they might act upon it. But however they discussed the situation, they could come to no conclusion nor hit upon any new clue. In desperation, they gave it up for the present and decided to let events take their course; perhaps something might turn up in several days or weeks that would give them a clue which they could follow with some chance of clearing up the situation.

Two days later, something did happen, but it only helped to complicate things further. Paul was walking along Main Street when he heard an automobile horn and he turned around to see who it was. A police car pulled up to the curb and Walters waved to him. “Hey, there, fellow,” he called. “Come on, get in.”

Paul got into the car. “Hello, Walters,” he said, “anything up?”

“Yes,” said the detective. “I have a very baffling case to solve and when I saw you walking along, I thought I might ask you to help me.” They both laughed and the detective added, “Are you bent on going any place in particular?”

“Well, I was going to the library. But I have plenty of time.”

“That’s fine. Then you can drive along with me for a while. I hate to drive all by myself with no one to talk to.”

“I don’t mind,” said Paul. “Where are you driving to?”

“That’s just it. No place in particular.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” said the detective, “we got a report about fifteen minutes ago that a car was stolen.” He brought a slip of paper out of his pocket and gave it to Paul. “Here,” he said, “look at it and then keep your eyes open. We will begin at one end of the town and ride through street by street. It may be that the owner parked it somewhere and forgot the place.”

Paul looked at the slip of paper. He read, “Ford … four door sedan … license number S 91 52.”

For a while they rode along talking of various things. They rode down one street and up the next street. Walters related some experiences of his as a detective. Finally he remarked, “By the way, the oddest thing happened to me yesterday. I was walking along and suddenly I noticed a man that was the exact image of George Wilson, the government agent. I was so astonished, I couldn’t imagine him being in town when two days ago I saw him off on the train.”

“Did you stop him?” demanded Paul excitedly. “Did you see where he went?”

The detective said, “Why, no. That’s just it. I closed my eyes for a second because I thought they were deceiving me. When I opened them again, he was gone.”

“Now isn’t that the worst of luck,” said Paul. “He is just the man we are looking for.”

“What did he do?” asked Walters. “What do you want him for?”

“We need him to clear up the mystery of the white card. We think he is the missing link in the puzzle.”

“That’s right,” remarked the detective. “I think I remember you telling me something about this white card mystery. Did you do anything about it?”

“No. And that is why we are looking for this man.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, our original clues led up to our following this man. But we got him mixed up with the government agent and that is how we happened to come upon the counterfeit gang. Well, sir, after all that was cleared up, we questioned Mr. Wilson but he didn’t know anything about the white card and then we knew we were up the wrong tree.”

“In other words,” said the detective, “as far as I can figure it out, you are back where you started and now you are looking for him again.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I wish you luck. Maybe if you keep it up long enough, you will come across another gang of crooks. But this time finish the job yourself.”

“I don’t think we will be able to do that,” returned Paul smiling. “You see, Jack, Ken and I are leaving for college in two weeks.”

“We will have to do something about that,” said the detective. “I will tell the chief to move the police headquarters to the college or have him move the college here. Which would you prefer?”

“Neither one. When I get to college, I won’t have much time for anything except study.”

“What are you going to study?”

“Jack and I are going to study to be doctors.”

“Your father is a doctor, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a very respectable profession. I wish I had gone to college and studied a profession.”

“Aren’t you satisfied with being a detective?”

“Oh, I’m satisfied all right but I guess it’s like the saying, that when you’re one thing you always want to be something else.”

They were crossing Main Street and Paul spied Ken walking along. Hailing his friend, the detective pulled up to the curb and Ken got into the car. “Where are you two going?” he asked.

“Just going for a ride,” said the detective. “Want to come along?”

“Sure, why not. I have nothing in particular to do right now. I was on my way for a swim, but this is all right.”

“Well, keep your eyes open for a Ford four door sedan, license number S 91 52. Walters is looking for it,” said Paul.

“Stolen?”

“No,” said the detective, “just removed by the wrong party.”

“By the way,” spoke up Paul, “Walters here has come across the mystery man of the white card, the man that looks like Mr. Wilson.”

Ken leaned forward eagerly. “You mean it?” he cried. “Did you arrest him, Walters?”

“No. I didn’t want to bother,” the detective replied.

“Didn’t want to bother!”

“He is kidding you,” said Paul. “The man looks so much like Mr. Wilson that he couldn’t believe his own eyes. Well, he closed them for a second, and when he opened them again, the man was gone.”

“Just like a detective!” cried Ken.

“What do you mean?” asked Walters.

“To close your eyes to things.”

For several seconds there was silence, then Walters burst out laughing. “That’s a good one,” he cried, “I’ll have to remember it.”

“Well, what are we going to do now?” asked Ken.

Paul shrugged his shoulders and didn’t answer. For a short while they rode along in silence. Suddenly, both Ken and Paul cried simultaneously, “Look!”

About ten yards ahead of them was a Ford sedan with the license number S 91 52 parked at the curb. Walters swung over to the curb and pulled up directly behind the Ford car.

CHAPTER XXIX

The three of them jumped out of the car and approached the Ford. Walters looked it over, checked the license number and said, “This is it, all right.”

Ken threw open the door next to the steering wheel. “Hey, Paul, Walters,” he cried, “come here, quick.”

He was joined by his friend and the detective. “Look,” he muttered and pointed at the driver’s seat.

They looked. There on the seat lay a white card. Walters grabbed it and turned it over on both sides. It was a plain, white, blank card. “Can you beat that!” gasped Walters.

Paul took his own card out of his pocket and gave it to Walters. “Here,” he said, “compare the two.”

The detective made the comparison and announced, “Identical.”

Ken burst out laughing. The detective asked angrily, “What are you laughing at, you young pup?”

“Now it’s your mystery,” answered the boy. “You look for him and the next time you see him don’t close your eyes.”

“Trying to be smart,” countered the detective, grinning. “Well, I’ll have to start looking for him all right.”

Walters searched the front and the rear of the car but he found nothing suspicious. His investigation completed, he asked Ken to get into the Ford and follow him. The detective drove back to police headquarters where the stolen car was parked and the owner of it was notified.

Ken and Paul walked out of the police headquarters in high spirits. There was no particular reason for it but they thought it quite humorous that Walters was now involved in the mystery of the white card. And Ken didn’t seem to get tired of repeating, “From now on, perhaps he will get out of the habit of closing his eyes.”

And after he said it, he would laugh, assured that it was a very good joke. Paul said, “Forget it for a while. Which way are you going?”

“Which way are you going?”

“Well, I was on the way to the library when Walters picked me up. So I guess I will continue my trip to the library.”

“That suits me,” said Ken, “I’ll go along.”

Whistling, chatting, they walked along Main Street when Ken suddenly saw something that made him quickly alert.

Paul was eyeing a window display as he walked. He felt his arm pinched and he uttered a muffled cry. “Hey!”

Ken muttered, “Shsh! Look!”

Across the street was the man who looked so much like Mr. Wilson! The boys gasped. He was standing in the doorway of a three story apartment house. The ground floor was occupied by a haberdashery on one side and a shoe store on the other. The mystery man, with his wild, maniacal appearance, glanced both ways, then he walked off, heading north. Paul cried, “Come on. I’ll take care of him, Ken. You run into the hall of the building and see what he may have been up to.”

Ken rushed into the hall. He searched frantically and at last he found under the stairs a bundle of rags evidently soaked in gasoline or kerosene, in flames. The wall and the back of the stairs were already beginning to smolder. By some luck, there happened to be a pail of dirty water at the other end of the hall. He grabbed it and dashed the water on the fire. The flames were out in a moment. With the rags soaking wet, he wiped it across the smoldering wood.

Holding on to the rags, he ran outside and looked at the number of the building. At the curb he found a sheet of newspaper which he wrapped around the wet rags. And to make sure he did not forget the address, he wrote it down.

In the meanwhile, Paul had approached the man and took him under the arm. “Do you mind if I walk along with you?” he asked.

“Oh, no, no. No, not at all.”

“My name is Paul. What is yours?”

“Who, me? I have no name.”

“That’s too bad,” said Paul. “I thought everybody had a name.”

“Everybody except I,” was the answer.

Paul was at a loss what to do or say. On the spur of the moment, he remarked, “There is a man who wants to see you. I will take you to him.”

“That is very nice of you. Where is he?”

“Straight ahead, down Main Street.”

“That’s fine. Let’s hurry, because I don’t want to keep him waiting. I don’t like to keep people waiting.”

Just then Ken came running up and took the man by the other arm. Together they led the man to police headquarters and into the detectives’ room. Walters was there and as soon as he saw the boys and the man, he jumped to his feet. “Where did you get him?” he cried.

“He was looking for you,” said Ken, “so we thought we would bring him here.”

“Stop kidding, will you, and tell me what it’s all about?” demanded the detective.

The man stood there very innocently looking from one to the other. Ken removed the covering of paper from the rags and showed it to Walters. Paul said, “We saw him come out of the hall of a building....”

“357 South Main Street is the correct address,” said Ken, interrupting. “That bunch of rags was in flames and the wall and the stairs were already beginning to smolder.”

“And so we brought him here,” concluded Paul.

The detective turned to the man. “What’s your name?” he demanded.

The man shrugged his shoulders and opened his arms in a gesture of complete ignorance. “Did you try to start a fire just before at 357 South Main Street?” the detective again asked.

But the man kept his mouth shut, grinned and would say nothing. The detective was growing red in the face. Paul said, “You ought to have him examined by a doctor.”

“Where do you live?” asked Walters.

But questioning him was futile and a waste of breath and effort. The man either would not, could not, or just did not understand enough to answer the simple questions. Walters searched him. In his right coat pocket was found a bunch of white cards. Paul and the detective took out their cards and compared them to the bunch. “Identical,” muttered Walters.

“Hooray!” cried Ken. “The white card mystery is solved.”

The man grinned sheepishly. Walters continued searching him. In the other pockets they found more white cards, various odds and ends such as pieces of string, a pocket knife, several pencils, shoe strings and an empty wallet with a name and address. Paul read, “Jerome Walsh, 321 Applebury Street.”

“Let’s run down there,” suggested Ken.

The detective nodded. “Yes, we’ll do that. First I will have him examined by a doctor.”

Walters took the man by the arm and led him out. The boys waited and two minutes later he returned. “What did you do with him?” asked Ken.

“I gave him over to one of the men to take care of. Let’s go,” said Walters.

They went to the back of the building and got into a police car. Ken plopped into the rear seat and began to laugh uproariously. “What’s the joke?” asked the detective.

“I don’t think you will appreciate it.”

“Take a chance, let’s hear it.”

“What I was laughing at,” said Ken, “is how much it helps when you keep your eyes open.”

“Aw, keep your mouth shut,” cried the detective, and the next moment he was himself enjoying the humor of it.

The car sped through the town and soon pulled up in front of 321 Applebury Street. It was a boarding house. Walters rang the bell and a middle aged woman answered the door. “Does a man by the name of Jerome Walsh live here?” asked the detective.

“Why, yes,” answered the woman hesitantly. “He isn’t in just now, though.”

Walters showed his badge and told her who he was. “That’s all right,” he said. “Take us up to his room.”

“Did he do anything wrong?” asked the woman.

“We just want to search his room,” said Walters.

“And he is such a harmless man,” mused the woman.

They followed the woman to the second floor and she showed them into a small, neatly kept room. The detective and the boys entered. On a little table were several books. Paul examined them. “Look,” he cried, “Professor Link’s book.”

Ken grabbed the volume and looked at it. Inside was the professor’s name. “So,” he mumbled, “the mystery at last is solved.”

The detective searched the room and found many small items that had been no doubt stolen from any number of places. Turning to the woman, he asked, “What do you know about this man, Jerome Walsh?”

“I don’t know anything about him,” she answered meekly. “He has been boarding with me for almost a year. Once a month a man comes, I think it is his brother, and pays for his room and board. Tell me, Mister detective, did Mr. Walsh do anything wrong?”

“Plenty,” was the answer. “Is there supposed to be something wrong with him mentally?”

“I don’t know,” the woman replied. “Every once in a while he acts strangely, but as far as I know, he is harmless.”

“What sort of strange things would he do?” asked Paul.

“Well, he would sometimes talk to himself, sometimes he would go out walking all night long—little things like that.”

The detective said, “The next time this man, his brother or whoever he is, comes to pay his room and board, I want you to call me. In the meanwhile, Mr. Walsh is not coming back here any more.”

“But what did he do?” the woman asked frantically.

“He tried to set a house on fire and he stole an automobile this morning,” the detective told her.

“Which is not all,” added Paul. “Do you have the address of this man who visits him?”

“Why, yes, I think I do; I think I must have it somewhere downstairs.”

“Let’s go down, then,” said Walters.

Downstairs, the woman searched for about ten minutes until at last she found the address and gave it to the detective. “Very good,” he muttered. “We will send for him.”

They left. Ken turned to Paul and said, “Let’s run over to Jack’s and tell him. He’ll drop dead when he hears it.”

“Yes,” said Paul, “let’s do that.”

Walters dropped them off in front of the Stormways home. Paul waved and called, “So long, Walters.”

“So long.”

“Keep your eyes open,” called Ken.

The detective smiled. “And you watch yourself,” he called back and drove off.

The two boys ran into the house, looking for their friend. Mrs. Stormways told them that he was at the garage and they ran out of the house again. Jack waved to them, his hands grimy with grease; he was working on his dad’s car. “Hey!” cried Ken, “the mystery has been broken wide open.”

“You mean....”

Jack stared at his friends with his mouth open. He couldn’t believe it. Paul smiled and said, “That’s right, the mystery is solved.”

“And without me,” moaned Jack, “How could you finish up the whole thing without me! Tell me all about it.”

The boys related how it had all happened. Jack looked very miserable as he listened to the story. His great regret was that he had not been in on the exciting final clearing-up of the mystery.

“It’s all right Jack, next week we’ll start college and we’ll forget all about the Mr. Grey’s and white cards and counterfeiters. We’ll have to put our minds on how to learn all of the hard subjects we’re going to take.” Paul tried to be consoling.

“Yes, Jack, and you can start solving a mystery as soon as we get there. The mystery I mean is this—how are we going to work hard and get good grades, and still play football, go to dances and have a good time? Figuring that out will give you a good tough sleuthing job,” Ken said.

Jack was quite cheerful by now.

“If we can have as good a time at college together as we have here in Stanhope,” he said, “We will be lucky. But I’m rather tired of summer and the town. I get a thrill every time I think of getting on the train Monday.”

“So do I,” Ken added. “We’ve had plenty of adventures since the troop has been together, and we will have plenty more.”

“Sure we will,” said Paul, “And I’m going home and help my mother pack my clothes right now. If I don’t watch her she will only put in my best clothes and leave out things like football sweaters and old pants.”

And with that all three boys started eagerly for home.