Randy of the River | Page 5

initials on the ring."
"What are they?"
"I can't make out very well--they are so worn. I think the first is R."
"Let me see."
Jack passed the find over and Randy examined it.
"I can make it out," said Randy. "R. A. B."
"Robert A. Bangs!" shouted Jack.
"Bob Bangs!" murmured Randy. "Could he have been mean enough to come here and take some of our fish?"
"It certainly looks that way."
"Let us go after him and find out."
"All right. Anyway, we can make him explain how his key ring got here."
Taking what was left of the fish, the two boys hurried back to the rowboat and soon each was seated at an oar and pulling a good stroke in the direction of the town.
"He must have been watching us fish," observed Jack. "And he must have seen us place our catch in the pool."
"And took our best fish because he couldn't catch any of his own," concluded Randy. "Well, if he has my fish he has got to give them up," he added, with determination.
Rowing at a good rate of speed, it did not take the boys long to reach the town. As they moved past one dock after another they looked for Bob Bangs, but the big youth was nowhere in sight.
"I reckon he was afraid of being followed," said Jack.
"There is his boat," answered Randy, and pointed to the craft, which was tied up near an old boathouse and not at the regular Bangs dock.
While the two boys rested on their oars an old man who was lame, and who rented out boats for a living, came from the old boathouse. "Hullo, Isaac!" called out Jack. "Have you seen Bob Bangs around here?"
"Why, yes; he just went ashore," answered Isaac Martin.
"Did he have any fish?"
"Yes, a nice string--some pretty big ones, too."
"How many?"
"Seven or eight."
"Which way did he go?"
"Up Samson Street."
"That's the back way to his house," cried Randy. "Come on!"
"What shall we do with our fish and the boat?"
"Let Isaac take care of them."
"Want me to take care of things, eh?" said the lame boatman. "Very well, I'll do it."
The two boys were soon on the way, on a run. They knew about the route Bob Bangs would take to get home and came in sight of the big boy just as he was entering his father's garden by a rear gate.
"Stop, Bob!" called out Randy.
The big boy looked around hastily and was much chagrined to see the others so close at hand. He held his string of fish behind him.
"What do you want?" he demanded, as they came closer.
"You know well enough what we want," returned Jack. "We want our fish."
"Your fish? Who has got your fish?" blustered Bob.
"You've got them," retorted Randy, and made a snatch at the string. The big boy held fast and a regular tug of war ensued.
"Let go!"
"I won't!"
"You shall!"
"See here, Bob," interposed Jack. "It won't do you any good to hang on. Those are our fish and we want them."
"Bah! How do you know they are your fish?"
"Because you took them from the pool in which we placed them."
"I did not."
"You did."
"You can't prove it."
"Yes, we can."
"How?"
"By this," said Jack, triumphantly, and exhibited the key ring and keys.
CHAPTER III
EXPOSING BOB BANGS
When Bob Bangs saw the key ring his face changed color.
"Where did you get that?" he demanded.
"Got it where you dropped it--at the pool where we left our fish."
"How do you know it is mine?"
"By the initials on it."
"Humph!"
"If you don't want the key ring we'll keep it," put in Randy, quickly.
"No, you won't keep it. Give it to me."
"Then give us our fish," said Randy, quietly but firmly.
"They are not all your fish. I caught two of them."
"The two smallest, I suppose."
"No, the two largest."
"We lost six big fish and these belong to us," said Randy, and took the best fish from the string. "Bob Bangs, it was a contemptible thing to do," he added, with spirit. "I wouldn't do such a dirty thing for a thousand dollars."
"Bah! Don't talk to me, unless you want to get hurt," growled the large youth, savagely.
"I am not afraid of you, even if you are bigger than I am," said Randy, undaunted by the fighting attitude the bully had assumed.
"It certainly was a mean piece of business," came from Jack. "If you wanted some fish why didn't you ask us for them?"
"Humph! I can buy my fish if I want to."
"Then why did you take ours?" demanded Randy.
"I--er--I didn't know they belonged to you. I just saw the strings in the pool and took a few," answered the boy, lamely. "Give me my key ring."
The ring with the keys was passed over, and Randy and Jack restrung their fish. In the meantime Bob Bangs entered his father's garden, slamming the gate after him.
"You just wait--I'll get square with