Mr. Pollock and Len Spencer remained at camp for something like an hour and a half, enjoying a trout luncheon before they left.
It was four o"clock in the afternoon when editor and reporter reached the "Blade" office.
At five o"clock the "Blade" put out a bulletin, around which a crowd collected in no time. The crowd grew to such proportions that the policeman on the beat tried in vain to make it "move on."
That bulletin read:
"Lake Tragedy All a Tremendous Hoax: Read the "Blade"s" six o"clock extra."
At a few minutes before six o"clock Len Spencer began to arrange one of the street windows of the "Blade" office.
First of all, from hooks, he suspended Dodge and Bayliss" "ghosts"
of the night before.
"What does that mean?" asked the wondering onlookers.
Then an unexploded bomb bearing the trademark of the Sploderite Company was put in the window. It was followed by the _siren_ whistle that Bayliss had dropped in his flight. Then four "Quaker" wooden guns, a red-stained bandage and a partly used bottle of strawberry ice cream coloring appeared.
Promptly at six o"clock newsboys appeared on the street with the exciting announcement:
"Extree! Extree "Bla-ade"! All about d.i.c.k & Co."s latest! The best joke of the season!"
Papers went off like hot cakes. Before the evening was over more than two thousand copies of that edition had been sold. Many more than two thousand people had crowded to the "Blade"s" show window to catch a glimpse of the exhibits described in the rollicking news story.
"Pshaw! Dodge and Bayliss, the heroes!" shouted one man in the crowd, as he ran his eye through the story.
"Punk heroes!" answered someone else in the crowd.
The story was cleverly told. Dodge and Bayliss were not mentioned by name, but described only as a pair of amateur jokers whose plans had miscarried. Yet the plain, unvarnished story cast complete ridicule over Bert and his friend.
While the fever of the reading crowd was at its height someone shouted:
"Here they come now!"
Bert and Bayliss had just driven around the corner in the car.
During the last three hours both had slept at Bert"s, but now they were out and abroad again in order to hear the latest developments.
Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd. Bert and Bayliss were allowed to drive in silence to the curb.
Then, just as suddenly, a dozen men leaped at the car, dragging both youths to the sidewalk.
"Wha-a-at"s wrong?" faltered Bert Dodge.
"We"ll soon show you!" came the jeering answer of the captors.
Then a mighty shout of derision went up from the crowd.
CHAPTER XXII
TOM TELLS THE BIG SECRET
"Take "em to the horse trough!" roared more than one voice.
So Dodge and Bayliss, the centre---of a jeering, resolute crowd, were dragged down the street a short distance. The crowd swelled in numbers.
"Stand Dodge on the edge of the trough, and make him read the paper!" shouted one man.
That was accordingly done. Bert was shaking so that he had to be supported in the place chosen for him.
Bayliss was whimpering in abject terror.
"Now, read this in the "Blade," Dodge," ordered a tormentor, shoving a paper forward. "Read it aloud."
Bert began, in a wavering voice.
"Louder!" yelled a score of voices from different points in the crowd.
Bert tried to obey, but his voice was shaky.
However, he read the article through to the end, while the crowd waited ominously.
"Heroes, weren"t you?" jeered many voices when white-faced Bert had finished the reading.
"Duck him!" came the answer.
Bert was well splashed in the water of the trough. Then Bayliss shared the same fate.
"Now---git! Travel fast---both of you!" came the order.
Nor did Bert or Bayliss need any further commands. Frightened as they were, they nevertheless summoned the strength to run desperately. No one struck them, even in fun. Only jeers a.s.sailed them. Neither boy made any effort to get back to the automobile, but both kept on until they had turned a corner and vanished from sight.
"Pity we didn"t have some rifle fire to tie to their coat tails,"
laughed one citizen. For the "Blade" had made it plain that firecrackers, exploded in packs, had provided the sounds of gun fire up at the camp on the second lake.
"Oh, we"ll make somebody sweat for this outrage!" quivered Bert, his face dark and scowling, as he and Bayliss slowed up on a quiet side street. "There are laws in this land! We might even get damages out of someone!"
"I feel as if I had collected about all the damage I want for a few days," muttered Bayliss, gazing down ruefully at his drenched clothing and water-logged shoes.
"I wonder who"ll take this car home?" asked one of the men in front of the "Blade" office.
"Where is my son?" inquired Mr. Dodge, pushing his way through the crowd without any suspicion of what had lately happened.
"Isn"t my son here to take this car home?"
"I doubt if he"ll come back," replied one man, with a twinkle in his eyes.