"It wasn't the coins, because they don't count for much; but just think how I felt at even suspecting that some fellow who was my friend had been taking them," said Jack, as he and Paul followed Scissors into the empty house.
And from the sneer on the other's face as he looked back, Paul was inclined to believe that this was just what he had been doing the thing for. He disliked Jack as much now as he had once cared for him; and would probably enjoy nothing better than to see him turn on some friend, perhaps even his best chum.
The coins were found, as he had said, in a marble-bag in the attic. While Jack was counting them, Paul knelt at the window, and experimented with the long fishing rod he found on the floor. He discovered that he could manage to tilt the little box on the table quite easily, though it needed some labor before he brought one of the coins across the open space, glued to the pitch at the point of the rod.
"All there, ain't they?" demanded Scissors.
"Yes," replied Jack; "though so sticky I'll have to wash them in something like benzine. Perhaps you did do it for a lark, Scissors; but I'll make sure that a screen is in that window whenever it's open after this."
"Huh! I guess the feller that invented this racket could get up somethin' just as good if he wanted," and that was all Scissors ever said about it to the boy he had wronged.
Jack, having recovered his property, did not care to do anything further about the robbery. Later on Scissors himself told his cronies, thinking it to his credit; and they more than a few times tried to joke Jack about his disappearing coins. But he took it all in good humor, and after a while the thing was apparently forgotten, because the boys of Stanhope had many other things of importance to engage their undivided attention.
In season and out, the boys of industrious Stanhope Troop worked. Never had the good people known such a wave of enthusiasm to sweep over the town on the Bushkill. It seemed as catching as the measles, this spirit of energy, and a desire to do things worth while, which had taken possession of most of the boys.
Parents got together, and conferring, admitted that this new fad was by all odds the best thing that had ever happened. They determined to encourage it to the limit. Even those who were doubtful at the start, found themselves obliged to admit that never before had Stanhope presented such a clean appearance; and not within the recollection of the oldest inhabitant had boys been so obliging.