"It looked real enough to give me a bad turn," admitted the editor dryly.
Then, in whispers, Harry told the story as rapidly as he could.
Mr. Pollock"s face took on a broader grin as he listened.
"I"d hate to have young Prescott for my enemy," confessed the "Blade"s" editor. "But this is the most atrocious joke I"ve ever known him to put up."
"We had to put a stop to Dodge and Bayliss," Harry smiled. "Perhaps you"d better go back to Dodge and Bayliss, now---but please don"t let "em know that it"s all a joke."
"I won"t spoil the thing," promised the editor, and hastened out.
"I"ll be with you in just a minute, gentlemen," nodded Mr. Pollock to Dodge and Bayliss, as he entered the editorial room, then sprang into the telephone closet, closing the door after him.
Mr. Pollock telephoned the sheriff of the county, and also the officer in charge at the Gridley police station, giving the officials a hint of the joke at the second lake, so they wouldn"t rush away on a fool"s errand in case the wild story reached their ears.
"Now I"ll listen to what you two may have to tell me," announced Mr. Pollock, coming out of the telephone closet. "Then I"ll have to ask you to hurry away, as Hazelton will have to be attended to and many things done. Talk fast, if you please."
Dodge and Bayliss poured out what they knew of the night"s business.
"And how did you two happen to be there?" inquired Mr. Pollock.
"Oh, we---we---we were touring in that part of the country, and were fixing a break-down when Hazelton came running up," stammered Bert Dodge.
"It was fortunate, indeed, for Hazelton, that you had that break-down,"
replied the editor. Then his manner showed Dodge and Bayliss that it was time for them to go. Both were glad to get out of the "Blade" office, for they feared to stand too much questioning from one as keen as the newspaper man.
CHAPTER XXI
REAL NEWS AND "PUNK HEROES"
"Bayliss, no matter what happens," whispered Dodge, as the two young men climbed into the car outside, "don"t you ever let it be found out that we went to the camp of d.i.c.k & Co. to play a joke on Prescott and the others. The awful way this night"s work has turned out would make the town too hot for us."
"Don"t you be afraid of my becoming loose-tongued," chattered Bayliss. "Ugh! I don"t believe I"ll ever want to talk to anyone again. Bert, do you really believe that all of the fellows but Hazelton were really wiped out?"
"They---they must have been," gasped Dodge.
"It"s fearful!"
"It is," Dodge a.s.sented, as he threw on the speed. "I never liked Prescott, but to-night"s awful work is something that I"d have been willing to have saved him from if there had been a way to do it.
"Which way are you heading?" asked Bayliss suddenly.
"To Dr. Bentley"s. If he"s at home, I want to hustle him to the "Blade" office. I believe he"s the Hazelton family"s physician.
Bayliss, any sign of attention to Hazelton on our part will look well for us at a time when we"re likely to be asked many questions about how we came to be so near to their camp. We"ve got to be mighty careful, or in the excitement that will follow the awful fate of Prescott and his friends the town might grow so hot for us that we"d be all but lynched. Now, no one can prove that we weren"t on a trip, and that our car broke down on the road; that we heard the fire of rifles, and the next thing we knew Hazelton, badly wounded, came rushing up to us, and that we brought him in as fast as we could. Now, let"s make up a story as to just what trip we were taking when we broke down on the road a mile from their camp."
The two plotters quickly planned out their story.
"Here"s Dr. Bentley"s office," said Dodge, as they turned a corner.
"You stay in the car, Bayliss. I can attend to this better."
So Dodge was soon pouring a tale of woe and tragedy up through the night speaking tube into the astounded, half-suspicious ears of Dr. Bentley.
Then Bert Dodge drove with Bayliss to the latter"s home, after which Bert quakingly drove the car around to his own home, where he roused his father to hear the strange news. Nor was it long ere the whole Dodge family was listening, awe struck.
In the meantime Hazelton was exhibiting to Mr. Pollock, with many a chuckle, the "Quaker" rifle that he had brought into the office wrapped in his jacket. Harry also displayed the bottle of strawberry coloring for ice cream that had supplied the color to his head bandage.
Ting-a-ling! rang the telephone. It was Dr. Bentley on the wire, inquiring whether Dodge had been guilty of a hoax in calling him up to go to the "Blade" office in order to attend Hazelton.
With many a chuckle Mr. Pollock told Dr. Bentley, under injunction of secrecy, the story of the night"s doings. When Dr. Bentley heard the story of this latest "outrage" by d.i.c.k & Co. he laughed heartily. "Well, well," he mused, "what will d.i.c.k and his friends be up to next?"
"Hazelton," ordered Mr. Pollock, "you take the old overcoats you"ll find in that closet and arrange them on top of one of these long tables. Get some sleep. I"ll call you in time for you to get word to the parents of d.i.c.k & Co. after six in the morning. As for me, I shall expect to get no sleep until I"ve put this big news story in shape."
Yet that morning"s issue of the "Blade" didn"t contain a word on the subject. Mr. Pollock was wise enough to write the story, then save it for appearance at the proper time.
By six o"clock Harry was aroused. A closed cab, its driver pledged to secrecy, was at the door to carry Harry on his rounds. He visited the parents of all the members of d.i.c.k & Co., informing them that the story they might soon hear was not based on any facts that need alarm them.
Before seven o"clock that morning Dodge and Bayliss, wild-eyed and haggard looking, met at Bert"s home. Mr. Dodge took them, soon after, down onto Main Street with him.
The first public whisper of the news sent it flying fast over Gridley.
By nine o"clock Main Street was unwontedly crowded. Groups of men, women and young people everywhere discussed the "awful news."
Those who had been privileged to hear Dodge and Bayliss tell the story were looked upon as most interesting people.
Of course a few Gridleyites tried to find the parents of the "slain"
boys and express their sympathy, but the parents of the members of d.i.c.k & Co., strangely enough, could not be found.
With many repet.i.tions of the story, Dodge and Bayliss almost unintentionally began to picture themselves as heroes, who had risked their lives in order to bring the single survivor away to safety.
"There"s some good in young Dodge and Bayliss, after all," was a not infrequent comment that morning.
"It must have taken real nerve, anyway, for them to make that thrilling rescue of Hazelton," said others.
So Dodge and Bayliss, much to their astonishment and not a little to their delight, found themselves somewhat in the hero cla.s.s.
Their exhausted, wild-eyed, haggard appearance gave more color to the story of the harrowing experience they claimed to have undergone in rescuing Hazelton from that awful field of carnage up by the second lake.
At ten o"clock Mr. Pollock"s automobile drew up at the rear door of the "Blade" building. Hazelton slipped out, crouching low in the car, that he might not be seen and recognized, while Mr.
Pollock and his star reporter, Len Spencer, openly entered and drove away. They made straight for the wilderness camp of d.i.c.k & Co. Once out of the town Harry rose to a comfortable seat, and made up some of his lost sleep during the trip.
One thing that puzzled the excited citizens of Gridley was the placid way in which the chief of police and the sheriff of the county appeared to take the sad news.
Mr. Pollock drove his car as close to camp as he could, after which he and his companions hurried over the uneven ground until they came upon five high school boys seated outside.
"How did it all work out, Harry?" shouted d.i.c.k, leaping up as soon as he saw his approaching comrade.
"It is working in great shape, you young scoundrel!" roared Editor Pollock, gripping d.i.c.k Prescott"s hand. "And the yarn is going to make the biggest and best midsummer sensation that the "Blade"
has ever had!"