Chapter XXV: Bert Field’s Revelation

“Hello there, Bert Field!”

“Hello yourself,” answered the lad at the top of the opening, in surprise. “Who are you?”

“I am one of the Putnam Hall cadets, Pepper Ditmore.”

“Oh, one of the fellows I met at the church?”

“Yes. I have a friend with me, Andy Snow. Can you help us to get out of here?”

“I guess I can,” was the answer from the boy above. “Can you climb a rope?”

“I can,” answered Andy quickly. “And if Pepper can’t perhaps the two of us can pull him up.”

“All right, here you are then. But wait till I tie the rope fast,” continued Bert Field.

Quickly the end of a stout rope dropped into the opening. Then came a pause, and then the boy above shouted out:

“All ready!”

Andy caught hold of the rope and now his ability as an acrobat stood him in good stead. Up the line he went, hand over hand, in a manner that would have done credit to a circus performer. Then Pepper tried it, and after a struggle came up, too, although much more slowly.

“How in the world did you get down there?” asked Bert Field, after the two cadets were safe. “I see you are pretty wet,” he continued, glancing at their soaked garments.

“It’s rather a long story,” answered Pepper, with a side glance at Andy, to keep the latter quiet. “By the way, Field, didn’t you say that you were looking for the old mill in this vicinity?”

“I said so, yes,” was the slow reply.

“May I ask what you know about that old mill?” went on Pepper.

“Why, I—that is—it is a personal matter, a family matter,” stammered Bert Field.

“I thought that if you told us something about the old mill we might be able to help you,” went on Pepper. “Has Jabez Trask something to do with it?”

“Yes.”

“And that is why you were looking for Trask?”

“Yes.” Bert Field’s face became a study. He looked at Pepper and Andy with eyes that seemed to pierce them through and through. “I wonder if I can trust you?” he said slowly.

“You can,” answered Pepper.

“If the thing is on the level you can trust me,” added Andy. He saw that the strange lad was laboring under some subdued excitement.

“I—I guess I need a friend,” went on Bert Field. “I said once I might need help. I may be able to solve this mystery alone, but somehow I am beginning to doubt it.”

“Then it is a mystery?”

“Yes.”

“About the old mill?”

“Yes, and about Jabez Trask.”

“I thought so,” said Pepper, with a little smile.

“It’s a long story and maybe you won’t want to listen to it now—with your clothing all wet. You may take cold.”

“Well, that’s true,” answered Pepper. “Can you meet us to-morrow evening near our encampment up the lake shore?”

“I will if you say so. I was going to use this rope to-day—but I can postpone that.”

“And we’ll postpone our story,” said Andy.

Bert Field showed them the way back to the trail through the woods and then separated from them. Andy and Pepper saw the odd youth slouch off with the coil of rope hung over his shoulder.

“He is certainly a queer stick,” was Pepper’s comment. “I venture to say he’ll have a queer story to tell.”

“Well, we’ll have a queer one to tell too,” replied Andy. “Wonder what he was going to do with that rope?”

“That remains to be found out. Maybe he was going to make the ghost a prisoner.”

“Perhaps.”

“I think we ought to keep our adventure a secret,” went on The Imp. “Maybe some day we’ll be able to solve this secret of the old mill.”

“Well, I am willing to keep it a secret for the present. But we want to find out what the others have to say first.”

The boys walked through the woods and on coming out on a regular road saw the hounds in a crowd, evidently hunting for the paper scent.

“There they are!” cried Dale, on seeing them. He ran up, followed by the others. “Where in the world did you go to?” he questioned.

“Went into the water,” answered Andy, pointing to his uniform. “Got a free bath.”

“Well, I never!” burst out another cadet. “No wonder we missed you!”

“How far did you follow us?” asked Pepper.

“Almost to the old mill. But some of the fellows wouldn’t go there, so we went in a semi-circle, but we couldn’t find the scent anywhere.”

“We tumbled into the water before we knew it,” said Pepper, telling the plain truth. “And we had an awful time getting out, for the current carried us quite a distance. We are wet through and through and want to get to camp as soon as possible, to change our clothing.”

“I don’t blame you,” said Dale. “Well, this ends the game,” he added, to his followers.

The whole crowd returned to the camp, and Andy and Pepper lost no time in taking a good rubbing down and in changing their raiment. The others thought they had simply slipped into the river and did not ask for particulars. Nevertheless, that evening, when they got the opportunity, Andy and Pepper gave Jack and Dale the details.

“Well, that is certainly queer,” was the comment of the young major. “Some wicked person must be hanging out at that old mill. But for what purpose?”

“Maybe it’s a counterfeiters’ den,” said Dale.

“I don’t know what it is,” said Pepper. “But somehow I’ve got one idea fixed in my mind and I can’t get it out.”

“What is it, Pep?” asked Jack.

“I think old Jabez Trask is mixed up in it. You’ll remember how he acted at his mansion. Well, isn’t this a good deal like that?”

“Perhaps, but what would Trask be doing at the old mill?”

“I don’t know. He may be trying to keep others from going there.”

“But why? An old, tumble-down mill like that is of no account. I doubt if there is anything about the place worth stealing. A thief couldn’t take the ground, and that is all there is of value.”

“Well, we’ll learn what this Bert Field has to say,” said Andy.

“Wish we could all meet him,” came from Dale, who was now as much interested in the mystery as anybody.

“Perhaps we can,” said Pepper. “Anyway, I can ask him about it.”

Promptly at the time appointed, Andy and Pepper went off to meet Bert Field. They had mentioned an old tree with a broken limb, and they found the strange boy there, pacing the ground nervously. He gave a start when Andy called to him, but when he recognized them he called up a faint smile.

“He is as nervous as a cat,” whispered Andy.

“Perhaps he has good cause to be,” was Pepper’s answer.

As soon as the cadets reached Bert Field, they mentioned Jack and Dale and the strange boy said they might be summoned if desired. Andy let out a shrill whistle, which Dale answered, and soon the latter and the young major appeared, and the whole crowd walked along the shore road and sat down on a grassy bank in the starlight.

“I said I’d tell you my story and I will,” said Bert Field, after an awkward pause. “I am an American like yourselves, but I was born in Japan, while my folks were on a trip around the world. My folks are dead now and about the only relative I have in the world is Jabez Trask.”

“Jabez Trask your relative!” cried Pepper.

“Yes, and he isn’t much of a one, sort of a third cousin, that’s all. I had another relative, a Robertson, but he is dead too.”

“The one that owned the old mill?” asked Jack.

“Yes. That mill was in the Robertson family for years, and they got rich from it, so I am told. Well, to cut a long story short, when my folks died they were in New York City and I was placed in the care of Jabez Trask, who sent me to a boarding school in Connecticut, the Haley Oaks School.”

“I’ve heard of that place!” said Dale. “Very strict institution.”

“It is a miserable place!” cried Bert Field. “The pupils are half starved and sometimes beaten. I had more than one row with the master, and about six months ago I ran away.”

“But you said you didn’t know where Jabez Trask was?” said Pepper, questioningly.

“True, for he had moved to the country—to the mansion he now occupies and which belonged to the Robertson estate. I tried to locate him, but I didn’t do it openly—for reasons I’ll tell you later. Well, at last I found him—and then I found the old mill.”

“But I don’t understand at all what you are driving at,” came from Andy. “Why all this secrecy?”

“I’ll tell you,” answered Bert Field earnestly. “Jabez Trask has a fortune in his keeping. He pretends that it belongs to him, but I think it belongs to me.”