"Sold!"
"These are a lot of old stuff thrown away long ago!"
It was true--the shoes they had located were worn out and covered with mildew. Shadow kicked them savagely.
"What a sell--and just after I was sure we had found them," he muttered.
Heavy at heart the students left the granary and put away the lantern. They had exhausted their resources, and walked back to the school in a decidedly sober mood.
"Well, all I can offer is this:" said Shadow, at last. "Each of you buy new shoes and slippers, and turn the bills over to me--and I'll pay them as quickly as I can."
"Don't you bother about my shoes, Shadow," said Dave, kindly. "I can get others easily enough."
"So can I," added Roger and Phil.
"But I would like to really know whether you walked off with them in your sleep, or if this is some trick of our rivals," continued Dave.
"You don't want to know any more than I do," declared the sleep-walker.
There seemed no help for it, and the next day all the boys paid a visit to Oakdale and purchased new shoes. They did not bother with slippers or boots, thinking that sooner or later the missing foot coverings would turn up. The shoe dealer was all attention, for never before had he had such a rush of trade.
Dave, Phil, and Roger got fitted first, and with their purchases under their arms, they quitted the shoe shop and strolled up the main street of the town.
"There are some girls we know!" cried the senator's son, presently, and pointed across the way. Coming in their direction were Mary Feversham and Vera Rockwell, two girls who lived in that vicinity, and who had come to the lads' school entertainment the year before. Vera had a brother with whom the senator's son was well acquainted.
"Why, how do you do!" cried Mary, as the boys crossed the street and tipped their caps. "So you are all back at school, eh?"
"I thought you must be back," added Vera, giving all a warm smile.
"Yes, we are back," answered Dave. "How have you been since we saw you last?"
"Very well indeed," answered Vera. "And how did you like it on the ranch? We heard you had turned into regular cowboys."
"Hardly that," said Dave. "But we went in for bronco-busting, and rounding-up, and all that."
"Somebody said you had some trouble with cattle thieves," went on Vera.
"Oh, Vera, don't mention that!" cried Mary, and blushed a little.
"Why shouldn't we?" demanded the other girl. "I don't believe those stories, and I think Mr. Porter and his friends ought to know what is being said."
"What is being said?" repeated Roger.
"Yes."
"Who is talking about us?" demanded Phil.
"Mr. Merwell,--the young man who used to go to Oak Hall. He goes to Rockville Military Academy now."
"And what did he say?" questioned Dave.
"Oh, he said a great many things--not to me but to some girls I know. He said all of you had gotten mixed up with some cattle thieves, and had tried to get out of the trouble by blaming him, but that he and his father had made you stop talking about him."
"Well, if that doesn't take the cake!" exclaimed Phil. "Isn't that Merwell to a T?"
"The shoe was on the other foot," explained Roger. "Merwell was the one who was mixed up in the affair, and he and his father had to pay for a lot of horses that--well, disappeared. We exposed him, and that is what made him mad."
"Did Mr. Merwell steal some horses?" asked Vera, in alarm.
"Not exactly--according to his story," answered Dave. "He says he took them in fun. Then the regular cattle thieves took them from him--and let him have some money. He claimed that he was going to return the horses, but didn't get the chance."
"And he and his father had to pay for the horses in the end?"
"Yes,--they paid Mr. Endicott, the owner of the ranch at which we were stopping."
"Then I guess Link Merwell was guilty," said Mary. "And after this I don't want him to even speak to me--he or that friend of his, Mr. Nick Jasniff."
"You'll do well to steer clear of the pair," warned Roger.
"It is a shame that they are allowed to talk about you as they do," said Vera. "If they keep on, they will give you a very bad name."
"I don't believe folks in Rockville will believe much of what Jasniff says," said Phil. "They'll remember his evil-doings of the past."
"He and Merwell seem to have made themselves popular at the Academy," was Mary's reply. "How they have done it I don't know. But perhaps they have money, or else----"
The girl did not finish, for just then an automobile swung around the corner and came to a halt in front of a store near which the young people had halted. The automobile contained Merwell, Jasniff, and two other students of the Academy, all attired in the cadet uniforms of that institution.
CHAPTER XIV
WHAT THE GIRLS HAD TO TELL
One of the strange cadets was driving the automobile, and hardly had it come to a stop when Merwell and Jasniff bounded out on the sidewalk, directly in front of Dave and his friends.
"Why--er--hello!" stammered Jasniff, and then, recognizing the girls, he grinned broadly, and tipped his cap.
"How do you do?" said Merwell, to Mary and Vera, and at the same time ignoring Dave and his chums.
The two girls stared in astonishment, for they had not expected to see the very lads about whom they had been conversing. But they quickly recovered and turned their backs on the newcomers.
"What's the matter--don't you want to speak to me?" demanded Jasniff, a sickly look overspreading his face.
"I assuredly do not, Mr. Jasniff," answered Vera, stiffly.
"And I suppose you don't want to speak to me either," came sourly from Link Merwell.
"You are right, Mr. Merwell--I do not."
"After this you will please us best by not recognizing us," added Mary, coldly.
"Oh, I see how it is--these chaps have been filling you up with stories about us!" cried Merwell, roughly. "Well, if you want to believe them you can do it. I don't care!" And he turned on his heel and entered a nearby store.
"Some day you'll wish you hadn't made such friends of Porter & Company," said Jasniff, and he glared defiantly at Dave and his chums. "Maybe you'll find that they are not just what you thought they were," and having thus delivered himself, he, too, entered the store. In the meantime the automobile had gone on along the street to the post-office, where the two strange cadets went in to see about mail.
"Say, I think I'll lay for Merwell and Jasniff and----" began Phil, when a warning pinch on his arm from Dave caused him to break off.
There was an awkward pause, neither the boys nor the girls knowing exactly what to say or do.
"Well, we must be going," said Vera. "I promised to be home by dark."
"And I have some errands to do before I go back," added Mary. "So