Dave Porter and His Rivals: or, The Chums and Foes of Oak Hall

CHAPTER XIII

IN WHICH SOME SHOES ARE MISSING

"What do you think of it?"

"Who took them?"

"We can't go downstairs in our bare feet."

Such were some of the remarks made, as the lads of dormitories Nos. 11 and 12 looked at each other. The closets had been searched thoroughly but without success.

"See here, if anybody in these rooms hid those shoes, I want to know it!" demanded Sam, gazing around sharply.

"I hardly think a fellow would hide his own shoes, too," answered Luke.

"He might, – just to hide his own guilt."

"I believe this is the work of some outsider," declared Dave. "Most likely Nat Poole and his crowd."

"By Jove, Dave, I believe you are right!" exclaimed Phil. "It would be just like them to do it, if they got the chance."

"Did you say Nat Poole?" queried Shadow, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"I did. Most likely Nat heard of our feast, and it made him extra sore to think we were having a good time and he wasn't invited."

"That is true, and I guess – " Shadow stopped short, and a curious look crossed his face.

"What is it, Shadow? Do you know anything of this?" asked Roger.

"Why, I – er – that is, I had a dream last night," stammered the story-teller of the school. "Or, maybe it wasn't a dream after all," he went on, in confusion.

"See here, Shadow, have you been sleep-walking again, and did you make off with our shoes?" demanded Phil. He remembered only too well how poor Shadow was addicted to walking in his sleep, and how he had once walked off with a valuable collection of rare postage stamps belonging to Doctor Clay.

"I – I don't think so," stammered Shadow, and got as red as a beet. "But I had a queer dream. I forgot about it at first, but now it comes back to me. I somehow dreamed that somebody came into this room and bent over me while I was in bed, and then picked up something. I started to stop him – and then I went sound asleep again."

"Who was the person?" questioned Polly Vane.

"I don't know."

"See here, Shadow, I'll wager a new necktie that you walked off with our shoes!" declared Sam. "And if you did, please be kind enough to tell us where you put them."

"Oh, Sam! I really – I don't think I did!" stammered the sleep-walker, in much confusion.

"The feast must have been too much for you, and it set you to sleep-walking," said Roger. "Now just see if you can't remember where you went with the shoes."

"The whole bunch must have made quite a load – all one fellow could carry," said Luke.

"Yes, and he'd have to put them in a box or a sheet at that," added Plum.

"Try to think real hard," suggested Roger.

"If he did it, it is funny that he took his own shoes, too," remarked Dave.

Poor Shadow was so confused he did not know what to say or do. He sat on the edge of the bed the picture of despair.

"I – I thought I was all over sleep-walking," he murmured. "The doctor at home was treating me all summer."

"One thing is certain – we can't stay up here all morning," burst out the senator's son. "I'm going to borrow a pair of shoes somewhere."

"So am I," added Dave. "We'll hunt for the missing shoes later on."

"Say!" burst out Shadow, half desperately. "You – you won't tell Doctor Clay about this, will you?"

"Not if you did it without knowing it, Shadow," answered Dave, promptly.

"I won't say a word," answered Plum.

"I – I don't know if I did it or not," went on Shadow, his face as red as ever. "I didn't know I took those postage stamps and those class pins that time. But if I did take 'em, – and we don't find 'em – I'll buy new shoes for all hands, if it takes every dollar I can scrape up."

The boys donned their clothing and then went on a tour of some of the other dormitories. Thus several borrowed shoes, while the others had to be content with slippers and foot coverings usually worn on the athletic field.

"Not very elegant," remarked Phil, as he gazed at the slippers he had borrowed, "but 'any port in a storm,' as the sailors say. I hope we get our shoes back."

"So do I, Phil," returned Dave. "But if Shadow went off with them he may have gone a long distance. Remember, he carried those postage stamps away up the river, and used a rowboat to do it. Maybe he rowed off with our foot coverings."

"He doesn't act as if he was tired – and he would be tired if he went very far with the shoes. Why, we didn't get to sleep until about one o'clock or half-past."

"I know that. It certainly is a mystery."

With several of the boys appearing at breakfast wearing slippers the secret of what had happened could not very well be kept, and it soon was whispered around that Nos. 11 and 12 had been cleaned out of shoes, boots, and slippers during the night, and that Shadow was suspected of having walked again in his sleep. His chums tried to hush the matter up, yet enough was said to make the story-teller of the school thoroughly uncomfortable.

"I'd give ten dollars to locate those shoes!" said Shadow to Dave, later on.

"So would I," answered Dave. "We can make a hunt after school."

Half a dozen of the students joined in the search for the missing foot coverings, and the lads looked high and low, but without success.

"Only one place more that I know of," said Dave. "That is the old granary."

"I don't think they can be there, but we can look," said Shadow.

The old granary was a building located behind some of the carriage sheds. It had once held grain, but was now used for the storage of garden implements. The lads found the door unlocked, and pushing it open they entered and gazed around in the semi-darkness.

"I don't see much that looks like shoes," remarked Roger.

"I'll strike a light," said Dave, and did so. The match flared up, and as it did so, several uttered cries.

"There they are, over in the corner!"