CHAPTER XXII

WHERE PROFESSOR DIMP COMES IN BIG

"What under the sun are you talking about, Bobby?" demanded Lil Pendleton; and Nell cried:

"Professor Dimp! What do you know about the professor?"

"Is _he_ here?" demanded Dora.

"Not Old Dimple?" chimed in her twin.

"You surprise me, Clara," said Mrs. Morse. "Are you referring to your Latin teacher? and is he anywhere near here?"

"Oh, gracious! I'm always putting my foot into it whenever I open my mouth," groaned Bobby.

"A highly impossible athletic feat, I am sure, Bobby," said Jess, unable to keep from laughing, although she knew Bobby deserved chiding.

"I want to know what this means," exclaimed Lil again. "Who is this sheriff after? And why is Old Dimple mixed up in it?"

"It's the fellow who came and robbed our larder!" shrieked Nell, guessing the enigma at last.

"I am afraid that is who the sheriff is looking for," admitted Laura, gravely.

"And why _here_?" cried Lil. "Didn't that fellow take the food and get away from the island?"

"We did not find him--that's sure!" said Dora Lockwood.

"Barnacle found his camp, and we saw Professor Dimp there," explained Laura seeing that a clean breast of it was the better way.

"Who's 'we?'" demanded Lil.

"Jess and Bobby and I. We spoke to the old professor, and he was real cross to us. He would not tell us anything about the young man."

"Then Liz _did_ see that Mr. Norman the night we were robbed?" said Nell.

"Yes. I expect so."

"'Mr. Norman?'" Nell repeated, reflectively. "And the fellow who robbed that bank in Albany is Norman Halliday? The very same!"

"And you knew this all along, Laura Belding?" cried Lil. "You mean thing!"

"Oh, quit, Lil," advised Bobby, gruffly. "Why should Laura stir up a row and scare you all? I never till this very moment guessed who the fellow might be, myself. Of course the sheriff is looking for him!"

"And on this island!" murmured Lil. "A criminal!"

"We don't know how much of a criminal he is," said Laura, stoutly. "He was the fellow that saved Short and Long from that dog yesterday, I verily believe," and she wagged her head. "_He_ didn't look very desperate, I can tell you!"

"My goodness! that's so," said Bobby, eagerly. "Let's keep the sheriff off."

"How are you going to do it?" asked Jess. "Go down there and stone him when the barge comes near?" and she chuckled.

"He hasn't any permit. This is private land----"

"But can't he search the island for a lawbreaker?" asked Dorothy.

"I don't know that he has a right to, without a warrant."

"But if we try to stop him," said Laura, slowly, "won't he suspect that we don't want him to search the island?"

"Say!" exclaimed Lil, angrily. "What do _we_ care?"

"We don't want him to find that poor fellow," said Bobby.

"Why not?" repeated Lil, sharply.

"After he saved Short and Long's life?"

"Humph! should we pa.s.s a vote of thanks to him for _that_?" demanded Lil, with, sarcasm.

"Not for that, perhaps," Laura said, gently. "But think of the old professor."

"Old Dimple!"

"The old Prof?"

"What about him?"

The chorus rose loud and general. Laura flushed, but held her ground.

"Our loyalty to Central High ought to be enough to prompt us to help one of our teachers. In some way the old professor is connected with this young man who is in danger of arrest. I don't mean that we should actually thwart the officer of the law. But I, for one, certainly will not help the officer."

"You are right, Mother Wit!" cried Bobby. "I'll go a step farther.

I'll try to keep that man from landing here with his dogs."

"I know nothing about the right or wrong of the case," said Mrs.

Morse; "but I am afraid of those awful beasts. There are five of them!"

"And Barnacle will only get into a fight with them if they land,"

declared Jess, rather amused. "Let's go down to the lake in a body and refuse to allow the dogs to come ash.o.r.e."

Liz Bean had listened from the cook-tent, but said nothing. Her plain face was as expressionless as ever.

Now, when Mrs. Morse and the girls of Central High started down the slope on the northern side of the knoll, Liz slipped into the woods to the west, and quickly disappeared in the thick underbrush.

The big mainsail of the barge had been dropped and the men with the sheriff were paddling the craft in to the sh.o.r.e. Now and then a hound would lift its head and utter a mournful bay. Then Barnacle would strive to bark his own head off!

Laura recognized one of the paddlers with a start of surprise. It was the vicious farmer who had set his dog on Short and Long, on Bang-up Creek!