"Firemen would be of little use now," replied the man in charge of the party. "We can do nothing until the blazing embers cool, which won"t be for hours yet. Still, We might go as close to the blaze as possible, and see if there are any signs of a human body in the embers."
While this was being done darkness came down over the summer day.
There was plenty of light, however, around the destroyed cottage.
For some time the searchers explored as well as the heat of the glowing embers would permit.
"I am satisfied," said the tall man at last, "that no human being was consumed in this fire. If so, we would certainly see some evidences of remains. Still, these ashes, when cool, must be searched."
"You don"t need me any more, do you, sir?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Is it near your bedtime yet?" smiled the stranger.
"I haven"t had my supper yet," Prescott smiled. "Neither has Darrin."
"Bless me! What a brute I am to forget a boy"s stomach!" cried the tall one. "Here," taking a banknote from his pocket, "I will have the chauffeur drive you back to town and then return for us. Take this money and get the best supper you can for two, at the best restaurant in Gridley."
"Thank you, sir," replied d.i.c.k, shrinking back; "our parents wouldn"t allow us to do that."
"Are your parents any easier on such questions?" smiled the stranger, turning to Darrin.
"Not a bit, sir, thank you," Dave responded.
"I may at least pay you something for your kindness and trouble in coming out here with me," urged the stranger, still offering the cash.
But both boys shook their heads, declining with thanks. Neither had been reared to accept money for doing a human kindness.
"If you don"t need us any more," d.i.c.k went on, "we"ll just find the road and jog back."
"If you won"t accept anything else," retorted the tall man, "you will at least allow me to send you back in the auto. And you will also accept the thanks of John Winthrop, and of Colonel Garwood, whom I represent."
Both boys protested, with thanks, that they were able to get home on their own feet. Mr. Winthrop, however, insisted on their going in the car. Truth to tell, both youngsters had used their feet so much that day that they did not object to being taken home.
"I hope you will find your man, sir, and alive," d.i.c.k called, as he and Dave were leaving.
"I believe that we shall," replied Mr. Winthrop. "Yet it will be by beginning the search from this point."
The chauffeur drove them home in good time, for he was under orders to report back to Mr. Winthrop as speedily as possible.
Neither d.i.c.k nor Dave had any trouble in getting a late supper served at home.
"You"ve brought home a good tale, as you often do, to pay your mother for her extra trouble," laughed Mr. Prescott.
"I hope that poor, half-witted fellow didn"t destroy himself in his own fire," murmured d.i.c.k, as he fell to at the meal.
By morning the people of Gridley knew that the ruins of the abandoned water-works cottage had been explored, and that the remains of Amos Garwood had not been found there.
But an editorial in the "Blade" suggested that the cottage was not very likely to have taken fire unless the blaze had been started by Garwood. While the latter was declared not to be dangerous, the "Blade" hinted that his malady might suddenly have taken a dangerous turn.
"The good people of this section will feel much easier," concluded the editor, "when they know that Garwood has been found and returned to the sanitarium that awaits him. A cash reward of twenty-five hundred dollars should be incentive enough to set many people to the task of finding the unfortunate man."
Yet, for d.i.c.k & Co., the adventure of the afternoon before dropped very quickly into the background. Here was Monday; on Wednesday the boys of the Central Grammar must meet the boys of the North Grammar on the diamond. Then the first of a series of baseball games was to be played for the local Grammar School championship.
The South Grammar would also enter a nine.
Intense rivalry prevailed between the schools. The fact that the respective nines were made up almost wholly of boys who were soon to be graduated from the Grammar Schools did not in any sense lessen the rivalry. Each young player was proud of his own school and anxious to capture the laurels.
"Are you going to win Wednesday"s game from the North Grammar, d.i.c.k?" asked Len spencer, when that reporter met Prescott on Main Street at noon on Monday.
"Of course we are," d.i.c.k replied instantly.
"You seem very positive about it," quizzed Len.
"That"s the only way to go into athletics," claimed d.i.c.k. "A team must enter with the determination and the knowledge that it is going to win. Then there"s little left to do but to walk home with the victory."
"But Hi Martin was telling me, this morning, that Central hasn"t a ghost of a show against North," pursued Len.
"Hi Martin will know better, day after tomorrow, won"t he, Dave?"
queried d.i.c.k, appealing to Darrin, who had just come along.
"He surely will," nodded Dave.
"By the way," asked Len, "have you seen any of the new uniforms of the North Grammar?"
"No," d.i.c.k admitted, his face falling a trifle. "I understand that Martin"s fellows are going to wear pretty dandy uniforms, though."
"They are," Len nodded. "I"ve had a look at the uniform."
"Well, North Grammar is attended by a lot of sons of pretty well-to-do men," Dave put in. "Our boys don"t come from as wealthy families, so we have to be content with less of the showy things in life."
"What are your uniforms going to be like?" inquired Len Spencer.
"We haven"t any," d.i.c.k replied promptly.
"No uniforms at all?" demanded the "Blade" reporter.
"None at all," d.i.c.k continued. "Neither have the South Grammar boys. In the glories of uniform the North Grammar nine will be all in a cla.s.s by itself."
"It"s too bad," muttered Len.
"No, it isn"t," Prescott retorted. "We fellows from Central are going to show that uniforms don"t necessarily make players. We don"t mind---that is, not very much---the absence of uniforms."
"We"ll try to show that we have something uniform about our team play, and let it go at that," said Dave cheerily. "Come along, d.i.c.k, or we"ll be late at school."
Away the pair raced. Lessons went about as usual that afternoon with Old Dut"s cla.s.s, which was surprising, as nearly every boy in the room had his mind much on baseball.
Captain d.i.c.k Prescott, of the Central Grammar nine, had called practice for that afternoon, from half past four to six o"clock.
At recess, that afternoon, a pleasant, somewhat rotund-looking man was seen engaged in conversation with Old Dut in a corner of the schoolyard. At the close of the afternoon session that same man stepped into the schoolroom, accepting the princ.i.p.al"s offer of a chair on the platform.