The Boy Scounts on a Submarine | Page 4

lookin' all the time. You mean about there
bein' two just alike. Kind o'queer, loud pattern. And funny buttons. You
know that man in the road was right under the big light, so we seen it
plain, didn't we?"
"Sure!" said Beany. He shifted elbows, and in a minute Porky did the
same. "But the man we passed in the road didn't look like the murderer,
did he? Kind of square built. Looked worse than the real one, I
thought."
"I thought so too, agreed Porky. "But they got the real one all right on
account of the tear in the collar."
"Yes, of course," agreed Beany. "But suppose they was pals. Think we
ought to tell?"
"Naw!" decided Porky. "They bought 'em at the same store like as not.
Don't butt in with foolishness. Le's go home and tell mom an pop."

CHAPTER II
OFF TO SEE THE COLONEL
A week went by. In the jail a sullen prisoner, always swearing his
innocence, lay awaiting the outcome of Lester's injury, while day after
day he lay tossing on his bed, delirious, or deep in a stupor from which
it was difficult to rouse him.
The police were satisfied that they had the man who had struck down
Lester, and had killed the dog, but doubts were creeping into Wugs'
mind. He himself had interviewed the prisoner, not telling him who he
was. The man would say nothing, but Wugs came off with the feeling
that there was something queer afoot.
"It's the wrong man," his brain kept telling him over and over; and
when he told the police that, and heard their shouts of laughter, the
words kept repeating themselves over and over, "The wrong man!"
There was a Boy Scout meeting one night, and Wugs went. After the
usual business was over, gathering them around him in a close group,
Wugs went over the story of his brother's great invention, its try-out on
the herd of cows, his home-coming, and the terrible ending to his
triumphant day. Then in a still lower tone, as though he feared the very
walls might turn traitor, he told them of his feeling that the man waiting
trial for the attack on poor Lester was not the spy who had taken the
formula.
"That's the thing to find out," said Wugs. "The Police are dead sure
they have the right fellow, but I'll never believe it until I find that paper.
You see, he didn't have a chance to mail it unless he had a confederate
waiting outside to take it away. That's what we have got to find out."
"Why, 'course he had a what-you-call-it!" the Potter twins broke in.
"Slow down! Slow down!" begged Wugs. "Gee, how do you suppose

anybody can tell what you say when you both talk at once? Let's have
Porky; you claim to be the oldest."
"See how it was," said Porky, with a free field, leering at his disgusted
brother. "'Me 'n' Beany'd been swimmin'. We went down to the old
water hole where the springboard is, and some cloze was sitting the
bank. We saw a man in the water, an' we watched him. Say, he could
swim, he could! He could just live in the water. Well, we took off our
cloze by-en-by, and went in, and pretty soon he come out. He never
noticed us any more'n if we wasn't there; only he come out a good ways
from us and walked back where was his things, without lookin' our way.
But we seen him; his lip was twisted sort of funny, and made him look
like a grin. We'll, he dressed like a streak, and stalked off; and Beany
whispered, 'Where did you get that coat?' but seems we didn't like to
yell it right at him. He had a funny look. So we swam and by-en-by we
come away too."
"You forgot what we found," reminded Beany. "When we came where
his cloze had been we found two papers. One was just a plain paper in a
plain envelope, and the other was a card written all up, something about
admit bearer to all parts of fairgrounds. I suppose he is going to show
something at the fair next week. Anyhow he'll have to get another,
because Porky lost it out the hole in his pants pocket goin' home. And
the other paper--"
"Wait till you get to it, can't you?" said the other twin, glaring fiercely
at himself, or so it seemed to the boys watching. "We ain't come to that.
But we seen the coat all right. Well, we got on our wheels and started
home."
"I had the paper in my pocket," interrupted Beany.
"Yes," said Porky simply. "Beany's pants was new. We come along
through the village,