Tlie Higli Point Scout
Vol. I
High Point, N. C., May, 1919
No. 3
TOM and the counterfeiters.
By Nady Cates.
CHiAPTBR II.
“Hands Up!”
When Tom came to, Bill was
standing over him sprinkling cold
water over his face. As he gave a
gasp and sat up, Bill stepped back
and gave a sigh of relief.
“Say, Kid!” he exclaimed, “I was
just ’bout ready to calc’late on yer
sleeping all night.”
Tom was .weak and dazed and could
hardly distinguish the appearance of
the place that he was in. But finally
his eyes grew accustomed to the
place and he began looking around at
what seemed to be his new home.
He .saw that he was lying, or rather
sitting, on a small cot in one corner of
a square room, scantily provided .with
domestic needs and comforts. The
floor was covered with sacks, old
pieces of carpet, and other remnantg
of a waste basket. In one corner was
a number of small machines and
around these on shelves were stacks
of colored paper about the size of a
paper bill.
Tom tried to recognize this room,
for he was familiar with the only cabin
in these .woods, if these were the
woods that he had been knocked un
conscious in; but he could not, try as
he might. He was just on the point
of asking Bill where he was, when
that worthy individual arose from the
chair in which he had been sitting and
put on his half dilapidated hat.
“Now, I want yer to keep yerself
out o’ mischief while I’m gone,” he
muttered. “And mebbe—just mebbe
and that’s all, old Groggs '11 let yer go
with half o’ yer hide, at least.”
Tom made no reply, but he was
thinking on some way to make good
his escape.
Bill turned and strided toward one
end of the room and to Tom’s surprise
he pulled back a canvass colored a
dn.rk tan, that could hardly be dis
tinguished from the walls. He pro
duced a key from his pocket, inserted
it in the lock of a secret door just on
the opposite .side of the canvass and
with a last piercing look at Tom he
disappeared through the door and
slaniniied it shut as the canvass fell
back into its original position.
It was Tom’s first impulse to run to
the canvass exit, but when he heard
the lock click, he sat down in the chair
that Bill had previously occupied,
buried his face in his hands and began
to think deeply about his mother.
“If I do escape,” thought Tom,
“I’ll make it hot for these rascals.”
As Tom sat thinking over the criti
cal position that he was in, his mind
refhrned to the conversation between
Groggs and these two villians. He re
membered those striking words, “and
the bank won’t be as rich as ft has
been.” The purpose of these men
then dawned upon him. They were
robbers!
Even as Tom sat there, he suddenly
became determined to find out just
where he was and what the purpose
of this place was.
He at once began examining the
walls. They were as cold and slimy
as a frog’s back. This was an arti
ficially made cave; but what was its
purpose? Tom soon found an answer
to this last question.
He went over to the corner where
the machinery wag located and began
examining those green slips that were
packed up in small stacks.
This solved the whloe of the puzzle.
It was counterfeit money and he was
with the makers of it. These men
were going to rob the bank, leave a
pile of false greenbacks in the safes,
and apt as not leave him to bear the
blame. It made Tom’s head swim. He,
an honorable Scout, mixed up in a
thing like this!
Tom had been successful in finding
the purpose ef these counterfeiters
and perhaps he could be successful in
escaping. At least it would do no
harm to try: so his first movement
was toward the exit that Bill had only
a quarter of an hour before passed
through.
But Tom did not reach this passage
way. As he got half way across the
room his foot caught in a piece of
carpet and he fell sprawling upon the
dirty combination of rags and sacks
that covered the floor. As it was, ho
was walking very swiftly and the f.afl
nearly stunned him; but he soon re
gained his feet
He went hack to the place wdienc he
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