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Knights of the Square Table

Summary:   Pooley’s gang, the Knights of the Square Table (including Sadler, Watts, Grimm, Quayle, Ward, and John Loomis), is making trouble around the river bank.  Unknown to Hawkins and the boys, until it is revealed at the end of the book, is that Pooley has come to search for his rightful inheritance, a hoard of gold coins.  Pooley’s family had owned the Lonely House, but Pooley does not know where the gold coins are hidden.  Pooley learns that a mysterious old man is carrying bags of gold coins from the Lonely House to the old mill.  He is Gralerio, former butler at the Lonely House when Pooley’s grandfather owned the place.  Pooley takes the bags of gold from the old mill and hides them in Cliff Cave.  The book ends with a meeting in Judge Granbery’s office, where it is revealed that the gold coins rightfully belong to Pooley, as they were left to him by his grandfather.  The face value of the gold coins is about $100,000.

"Here is a mystery story for boys of all ages - from nine to ninety. It is a typical Seckatary Hawkins tale, told by the young scribe who takes care of all the troubles and mysteries that assail him and his young friends in their old clubhouse on the river bank.  Your boy - and your girl, too, for that matter - will fairly revel in this book, and many will read it over and over again. It teems with the adventure of boyhood, and while it furnishes and abundance of thrills, it does so in a manner that is bound to teach the young reader the importance of thinking for himself and of playing fair and square throughout his lifetime." - from DJ

A Watertown gang of 52 members; hung out initially at the old corner log wharves. They did all their action forays at night. Wore dress uniforms of square caps without peaks and the word "Knight" printed thereon. Long blue capes hung from shoulders with a white square table painted on the left shoulder. These were much older boys. All had ponies or horses - and there was a coach with 3 horses, but no driver.

"The Knights are an interesting lot of youngsters who conduct themselves in and admirable manner when they come upon a mystery in the Lonely House where the miser's gold is supposed to be hidden. To give the outline of the plot would be to spoil a great climax and the keen pleasure that the reader will have in the ending of the book. Suffice it to say that every boy, no matter what your age, no matter how dim those days of boyhood seem, will read this through from cover to cover with great relish." - from DJ.

1926	1926

The Club baseball team was not doing so good this year and Bill Darby was having a problem with only nine players available. Seck refuses to get involved. Then they think that maybe it is time to find a new member, someone who can play ball. Bill says that a new boy had moved in next door to him. They ask him to join and he agrees. And that is how Herb Acomb came to join the Fair and Square club. After a meeting, Herb tells Hawkins that he has an enemy named Pooley who will be after them as soon as he learns that Herb had joined their club.

At a singing practice one evening when Doc Waters is there for a visit, they have callers. Two boys dressed in queer looking square caps and wearing long capes are looking for Herb and when they saw that he was there, they left. During the night, all of the clubs canoes and skiffs are stolen.

The boys send out spying parties looking for their boats. And Herb finally tells them something about Pooley. He informs them that Pooley’s gang hung out on the old log wharf at Watertown. The boys borrow a flatboat from the Pelhams and row up to Watertown. They find the gang’s meeting place is deserted. On the way back down they are passing the place where the old Louisiana Lou used to stop to pick up stolen horses in their troubles with Stormie. They land the flatboat and follow the dry gully up to a hollow where they find a square table. It is marked on each of the corners with a large K and in the middle with a large P.

As Herb is telling them that this is the meeting place of the Pooley gang, they hear the voice of Pooley telling them that the “K” means Knights. They look up to see him standing on the top of the hollow looking down at them. This is the meeting place of the Knights of the Square Table. He tells Herb that he will deal with him later and then moves away.

Robby and Jerry report that they have found the stolen boats up Banklick Creek in a little stillwater near the old deserted mill. He says that they had not taken the boats back because they were being guarded by a boy with a shotgun. Jerry mentions that the old mill is haunted. Rube Mueller who lives nearby on a farm told Jerry that the old mill had been haunted since the miller died. Hawkins says that he is going to get the boats back whether the mill is haunted or not, or if there is a someone with a gun. The other boys support that idea.

Shadow, Herb and Seck take the borrowed flatboat while the others boys walk to the creek and the old mill. They find the canoes and are about ready to take the boats when they see someone in the bushes. It is a boy with a gun. Another boy walks up and they exchange numbers, “Seventy six” and “Seventy seven”. The newcomer takes the gun and the other boy leaves. The new guard enters the old mill through one of the windows. Hawkins and his group push the canoes and skiffs into the water and start down the creek. Hawkins, Jerry, Shadow and Dick are in the last boat heading down the creek. They see the guard come out of the mill and stand on top of the wheel. He yells down “Seventy six” and Hawkins yells back “Seventy seven”. The guard accepts that signal and waves goodbye. They get the boats away safely.

Harold and Oliver Court come in for their summer visit and that gives the club thirteen members. Johnny and Jerry are against having thirteen members and someone has to go. Hawkins goes outside the clubhouse while the boys are deciding on which of the thirteen had to go. He is looking down river and he sees the white launch coming. He turns and yells to the boys in the meeting that they were wrong all along, that they have fourteen members and the Skinny Guy is coming like a steak of lightning.

Later that evening, the boys are up in the clubhouse singing for Link while he and Hawkins are sitting on the rear deck of the big launch. Link is going to fire his brass cannon to show the boys how much he appreciated their singing. Then they see a big flatboat bringing two ponies with riders across. Link shines his launch’s searchlight on the boat and it scares the ponies and they bolted, throwing their riders plunging into the river. The boys hear sounds of an attack on the clubhouse. The Knights gang had come to get Herb and they think that they have captured him. Hawkins goes back to the launch and fires the little cannon twice to scare the boys away. They find that the Knights had grabbed Jerry by mistake and they release him with a black eye. The fight is over and the Knights run away.

The boys decide that it is time for their summer camp. Hawkins goes to tell Doc Waters to get their equipment ready and at first Doc is against the idea but Hawkins wins him over. They are going to use the Skinny guy’s big launch for the trip. Hawkins suggest Banklick Creek above the old mill. He says that there are a number of good spots to camp and the others agree. They went up to Doc Waters’ house and it took two trips in his car to bring the stuff down to the big launch where they packed for the trip. Perry stays on guard at the clubhouse while they go to set up the camp. Finding a perfect spot at a beautiful bend of the creek, they land the launch and set up the camp. They secure the camp for the night and return to the clubhouse.

At the new campsite the boys took a hike up the winding creek until they came to what had once been a beautiful country home. Nearby was an old coach. Doc told them that the place had been deserted for at least twenty years. They call it the Lonely House. They head back to the camp and here they are told that they had had a visitor who said that he would be back later. Doc had to go back home for awhile. Link and Shadow take him up river in the big launch. Lew asks him to stop at the Preacher’s house and bring his guitar back. When they left, the stranger came back and it was Rube Muller who lived on a nearby farm.

Rube tells them about the Knights who gave him a black eye and were trying to find out all about the haunted mill. He warns them that the Knights do their work at night. Shadow and Link and Doc return. They bring the guitar.

A few tranquil days pass. Swimming and playing during the day and singing at night around the fire. During one song, Shadow slips away and Hawkins follows, knowing that the song would remind Shadow of his brother, the Rolling Stone. While they are talking they hear a twig snap. They wait quietly for some five minutes and then they see a tall boy leave the bushes and head down for the creek. Hawkins recognizes him as one of the Knights, a boy known as Watts.

Later Hawkins is out for a hike by himself and while he is resting, he meets another of the knights, the tall boy known as Grimm. Hawkins wants to know what the Knights have against them and Grimm threatens to take Hawkins to the Knights and moves to attack. But Hawkins beats him with a couple of hard punches and escapes before the other can recover and follow him.

The next night they were sitting around the campfire when they hear what sounds like a shot. Then later, they hear it again. They retire to the tent but Hawkins cannot sleep. After awhile he sees that another of the boys is getting up. The boy goes to the gun rack and picks out a shotgun. Then he finds some ammunition and disappeared into the woods beyond the tent. It was Herb Acomb. Hawkins grabs some ammunition and then he finds the rifle that it fits and follows after Herb.

Herb meets another tall boy with a gun and the two talk. Their talk is a mystery to Hawkins but it involves someone in the camp that the other boy is concerned about. Robby Hood is mentioned as a friend of the other boy in camp. Hawkins cannot recall who the Knight reminds him of but he sounds familiar. He sees Herb and the other part company and Herb heads back to the tent. Hawkins beats him there and is in his bed when Herb comes back.

Camp is over and school is back in session. Briggen and his boys come over to tell Hawkins some news. That he is not only fighting Pooley, but also Long Tom, who had escaped from the School for Bad Boys. That information is reinforced by Judge Granberry who had a report on the escape. Later, Hawkins hears the sound of the old brass horn and he looks in his office and finds that the horn that had been given to him by Stoner’s Boy was missing. He was now certain that Long Tom was back and had joined Pooley.

There is some mystery about how the horn was stolen, as there is no sign of a break-in. On another day Hawkins gets to the clubhouse early and decides to check the treasury as it was about time to take the dues money to the bank. But when he lifted the loose floorboard, the old tin box was gone. Hawkins keeps this to himself for a little private investigation. He goes across to the Pelham side and talks to Ham Gardner. Ham tells about a spy of Pooley who comes around. He also mentions that one night that they had seen an old stagecoach creaking and groaning and tearing through the woods like a shadow. It was pulled by three horses and it was without a driver.

That night they met for singing practice and Hawkins is a little late. Link is outside the clubhouse and they both see the driverless coach with the three horses. They also hear the sound of the old brass horn.

The clubhouse is broken into again and this time Seck’s prized rifle is taken. That night they have singing practice. Hawkins had asked Doc to attend and pretend to leave the clubhouse with the rest of the boys. Doc leads the way out and the others follow him leaving Hawkins alone in the clubhouse. A few minutes after the last boy leaves, Pooley stands in the doorway to Seck’s office with a gun. He and Hawkins have a blunt argument about thieves and Pooley returns the stolen gun. He denies knowing about the old brass horn or the moneybox. He suddenly blows out the lamp on the desk and at the same time the two lamps in the meeting room are extinguished. When the boys and Doc rush in Pooley is gone without any trace.

There is another break-in of the clubhouse and this time they take Link’s picture in a gold frame that Hawkins had on the wall of his office. He determines to find out how the thieves are getting into the clubhouse. While he is sitting in his office writing, he hears a sound out in the clubroom. Wrapping himself in the curtain that covers the door, he sees the old board where the tin box had been kept, move up. Then two more boards are moved and two of the Knights appear in the opening. One is a boy with a sore eye and the other is a slender, pale faced boy. Their conversation reveals that the boy with the bum eye is Saddler and the other is named Quayle.

They are talking about putting the picture frame back without the picture when Briggen also appears in the opening. He told them he knew that they had taken the gold frame back and then he gives them Link’s picture. He threatened them and then he left. The two boys put the picture back in the frame without the glass and then hung it back on the wall in the office. Hawkins steps out and reveals himself. There is some conversation and he thanks them for bringing the picture back and he tells them to go out by the door. He puts the loose boards back and goes to his desk as the rest of the boys come into the clubhouse. The boys noticed the picture had come back and Hawkins tells them that the Pelhams had it.

He and Perry are alone in the clubhouse and Seck lifts the boards and climbs down. He makes his way out under the front porch and on one side he finds where the entrances had been made. They nailed the boards down tight. He would be keeping the treasury in his desk.

The boys decide to get costumes for Halloween, so Hawkins, Shadow and Link go up to Watertown in the big launch where they visit a costume shop. There they see a boy talking to the shopkeeper about feathers. Instead the boy is shown a beautiful helmet with plumes. He says that was just the thing he wanted and he would be back in the morning. As he is leaving, Hawkins sees that it is Saddler, one of the Knights who had been in the clubhouse. The boys bought a dozen costumes, all different. Hawkins had to take a clown suit because none of the others would fit him.

The are all dressed in the clubhouse and getting ready to go uptown for the festivities. Briggen’s crew comes in dressed like Indians and they tell Hawkins that the Pelham hills are full of Knights. They are in the midst of the uptown party when they hear the sound of drums and they see a brass band of sixteen walking Knights and thirty-six of the mounted Knights wearing the silver helmets with plumes. Hawkins leads his boys back down to the clubhouse and they see across the river that the Pelham shack is burning. Pooley comes galloping up demanding to know who had done it. Hawkins tells him that it had to have been his gang. Pooley turns down their offer to fight right then and he leaves.

After a meeting they hear the old brass horn and Seck sends Link out to try to find out what that call meant. Then, a little latter he and Perry followed along. They see a mounted rider on the cliff and at the sound of the horn, he disappears. They see him swimming the river on his pony. He reaches the other shore where he gallops away. Hawkins and Perry follow to a hollow in the hills where they see Pooley meeting with two other boys, one of whom was Long Tom. They see Long Tom blow the horn and the rest of the Knights come down into the hollow where they dismount and set up the table and hold a meeting, Then they all left, Hawkins and Perry were not close enough to hear but they meet Link who had also been spying on them. He had been able to hear and he tells Hawkins that the plan is to attack the clubhouse tonight at quarter to nine.

That evening Hawkins is talking to Lew hunter before singing practice and he tells him that he is expecting about fifty of Pooley’s boys to attack. The gang does arrive and Pooley said that he will fight fair so he sends all of his boys away except twelve and they then have a battle. Hawkins manages to knock Pooley out. Long Tom blows the horn three times and that means “warning”. The rest of the Knights leave the area. Doc Waters arrives and Pooley tells him that they were having a fair fight. He leaves the clubhouse to rejoin his gang.

Hawkins and Shadow and Herb had escaped the over heated clubhouse singing practice and were sitting on the cold porch when they see the creaking old coach coming down the path from the main road. It stopped by the clubhouse and Pooley got out followed by Saddler. They have come for Herb Acomb. Herb goes willingly. They put Herb into the coach and they follow. Then Pooley tells the lead horse to take them home. Hawkins, Shadow and Perry follow on three of the Dobel horses that had been tied nearby. They trail the old coach to the Lonely house where the gang puts Herb in the old stable and locks the door. Hawkins and his boys find a way in, rescue Herb and bring him back to the clubhouse.

The captain makes a rule that no one is allowed near the old Lonely house. Link complains to Hawkins that as their spy he cannot be bound by that rule. He also says that Rube Muller, who lives on a nearby farm, had told him that he had seen a ghostly light in the tower room. Hawkins and link and Perry borrow two of Dobel’s horses and ride up to the Lonely house. There they see the Knights beginning to gather for their meeting. But just then a light shines in the tower room and the Knights, fear stricken of what they think of as a ghost, ride and run away. Hawkins climbs to the tower room window and looks inside, He sees an old man studying some papers by candlelight. Then the light goes out and the boys leave the area. Hawkins says that there is no ghost, it is only an old man.

Pooley pays a visit to Hawkins at the clubhouse and it seems that he had decided that Long Tom was taking some of the gang away from him. He had decided to break away and take the few remaining loyal boys with him. Then Herb Acomb comes in and the old animosity flares. Angrily, Pooley announces that he had changed his mind and that he is not going to break away and that he would get Herb later.

The old man Hawkins and Link had seen in the Lonely House tower room came to see Hawkins. He asks Hawkins to read something from one of the papers he had brought with him. Hawkins reads it aloud and it is a letter from a father to his son telling about a gift of gold. The old man is named Gralerio and after Hawkins promises to keep his secrets the old man leaves. Hawkins had promised not to reveal the letter and he rationalized that he had not promised not to look for the gold. So he and Link and Shadow went down to Banklick Creek and paddled up past the mill to the Lonely house.

As they went up on the porch a man with a mustache and a pointed beard came out and told them that he was the real estate agent. The boys left hurriedly but another man approaches from the stables He is carrying a club and warns them from using the basement of the old house for meetings. Hawkins tells him that it was Pooley and not their boys. The tramplike man tells them that they do not want anyone around there anymore. They leave and paddle back to the clubhouse.

Link, as the official spy, learns that Long Tom and some of his gang had made friends with the men in the Lonely house. Pooley comes in and tells them that he has taken his boys out of Long Tom’s gang. He has no fight with Seck’s boys only with Herb and that he will fight it out with Herb. Hawkins insists on boxing with gloves to settle it. Pooley agrees and tells them that long Tom and his gang now meets in the old Mill. He says that since Long Tom and his gang have become friendly with the men in the old house that chickens have been disappearing from the farms along the creek. Pooley denies any knowledge of why the two men would want to make the old house look haunted.

They hear two blasts on the old brass horn and Perry comes running in to tell that they had a fight with Long Tom and his gang. Jerry told about the big boy with the scarred face. That he was the toughest nut to crack. They had also lost the Christmas tree they had cut down on the creek for their Christmas decorations.

In the clubhouse they had their decorations all set up and were singing when there was a sound at the door. It was the boy with the long ragged scar asking for a favor. He had broken with Long Tom and they were after him. He sees Herb and greets him, Herb says that he is OK and calls him Rags. Just then there is a pounding at the door. It is Grimm who says that he came from Long Tom and they want Rags. As Hawkins is about to punch Grimm, the old brass horn sounds again and the intruders jump off the porch and run towards the woods. They had seen Santa Claus coming up the path. It was Doc Waters paying his annual Christmas call. As they say goodbye to Doc and come inside with their presents, Pooley arrives to take Rags safely to his home.

Shadow received a camera and the developing equipment for Christmas and he and Robby and Seck had spent the day taking pictures. After dark they had lighted the little red safety light, mixed the chemicals and developed the pictures. Then they had hung them to dry while they went to Seck’s house for dinner. On their return they found the scarred boy there. He started to say, “He wished” something and then he changed his mind and went out. Later Grimm and Watts come in to tell that they had left Long Tom and were looking for Pooley and the boy with the scar. Hawkins could not tell them where to find them.

On New Year’s eve Doc stopped in saying the Judge and the Sheriff would be along later. Long Tom came in to tell them that he was through, That his gang was all gone and that he was going away. He gave Seck the old brass horn. He said that it come from Hawkins and he was giving it back. Then he ran away. Doc and the boys go up to the Judge’s house to pay him a Happy New Year’s Visit.

Link reports that he had seen Pooley and about a dozen of his knights across the river. Hawkins, Shadow and Link paddle across the river and down towards the hollow. They see a line of riders on a ridge. They beach the canoe and are following on foot when they see ahead of them Long Tom also following the Knights. He meets another boy who turns out to be Oder, one of the old Red Runners who had been sent to the School for Bad boys and escaped. They all follow the sound of brass band music and they find Pooley’s Knights in the hollow practicing their music. Pooley takes Grimm and Watts back into the Knights and the meeting breaks up with a bugle call.

Hawkins and Shadow and Link are taking pictures and Hawkins wants to get one of the old mill. As they are doing this, they see Pooley come out of the old mill, mount his pony and ride away. Then a minute later, Long Tom and Oder also come out, jump to the ground and run away. Something had scared them away.

Jerry and Roy Dobel were down near Hobbs ferry when they ran into Saddler and a small group of the Knights. Jerry had made some remark about the ponies and a fight started. Jerry had earned a black eye and Roy was almost pounded to death. Pooley sends word that he would like to talk to Hawkins about the fight and suggested the hollow where the Knights meet. Hawkins goes there with Link and Shadow and Perry. But although there were signs that the Knights had been there, they were gone now, and no one came to meet them. Hawkins suggested that they walk up the frozen creek to see if they could find Pooley. They went under the main Road Bridge and then Hawkins has them stop.

They see Herb Acomb come down the bank from the bridge and start running up the frozen creek. He meets the boy known as Rags who asks him if another boy, apparently in Seck’s gang, had been asking about him. Herb tells him that the boy never mentions him. They hear the bugle call again and Rags runs into the woods. Pooley comes out on the ice with Saddler and they see Herb waiting. Herb and Pooley start the long delayed fight and then Long Tom comes out and tells Herb that he was going to help. He hits Pooley who falls down on the ice. The other boys were just about to come out of their hiding places to join in the fight, but Rags comes running up, pulls Long Tom off of Pooley and throws him across the ice. Then he punches Oder and chases them both away. Herb helps Pooley to his feet and their fight is over. Pooley and Saddler ride away and Herb walks back down the creek. The boys let him go without revealing their presence.

The boys are all anxious to check out the old mill but Hawkins holds out and will not go. The next day the boys head for the mill leaving Hawkins and Perry. There is a visit from Rube Muller, who lives on Banklick creek. Rube takes them on a sleigh ride down to the Muller’s farm. On the way back they see the Knights’. bonfire. They take the sleigh up to the creek where they meet the other boys. At first the old mill is dark but then they see a light begin to shine and every window in the mill gave out a soft light. The other boys ran back to the sleigh, leaving Hawkins and Link, who stayed. They saw the old man come up out of a trapdoor in the floor. They follow him to the Lonely House where they see him go in. They enter, but they cannot find him anywhere in the old house.

Seck tells Doc Waters about the current events and Doc decides that perhaps he should accompany them to Banklick Creek and look around. Seck agrees to meet him later at the clubhouse and he goes to the meeting where he learns that Shadow had had a fight with Rags.

The next day Pooley comes to see Hawkins and they take a pony ride. Pooley tells Hawkins that Rags is gone and that if Hawkins sees him, to tell him to come back to the Knights. He leaves Seck at the clubhouse. Seck thinks that he was supposed to meet Doc at the house, but Doc is gone and there is a note there saying that he will meet Seck at the old house. He and Link take a skiff down river through the ice to the frozen creek. They have to leave the skiff there and walk up the frozen creek to the old house. They see a light in a first floor widow and Doc is there with another man he introduces as Jeckerson, a Watertown detective. They are all going to spend the night in the old house.

They go to the kitchen where they find an old oil stove the tramps had been using. Jeckerson makes tea and then they hear a thump overhead. They drink their tea and then go up stairs to find out what had caused that noise. They search the entire house and find nothing. Jeckerson sends Hawkins upstairs to find out what caused the noise. Hawkins sees a light appear in the second floor of the tower and it is the old man carrying a lantern. Hawkins goes down to tell the others that someone is coming down. The old man is carrying a lantern in one hand and a bag made of white cloth in the other.

He leads them to the old mill where he goes inside and opens the trap door. Then he comes back without the cloth sack. They let him go back to the old house and then they enter the mill and find the cloth bag. It is full of gold coins. They chase after the old man and they see his light but he disappears again. They search but find nothing. They sit down to watch for the rest of the night. While Doc and Jeckerson seem to be sleeping, Hawkins and Link are awake. Hawkins paces the floor of the lower room and counts sixteen paces. Then upstairs he paces again and he counts only twelve. There is a hidden room there. As Jeckerson is rapping on the wall they hear the old man asking if it is the boy with the sad face.

Then they hear someone enter the old house and come up to the second floor to stand before the secret room. The old man opens the hidden door and the boy who turns out to be Rags, brings him his supper. They talk about the bags and that there is always only one at the old mill. Rags tells him that something funny is going on and he left the house. Jeckerson steps into the secret room and sooths the startled old man. He tells him that he had played the part of one of the tramps.

The next day Doc comes to the clubhouse to explain that the old man was in the hospital. And that if his calculations were correct that the cloth sack had contained one thousand and twenty seven dollars. That the old man said that he had been carrying one sack of gold each night to the old mill for the past ninety days. That figured out to be about a hundred thousand dollars in the old secret room. Doc left and Hawkins is in his office writing. Rags come into the clubhouse. He brings thirteen bags of gold and he says that he had been taking it for the old man. He said that Pooley had been taking the old man’s gold before that. The boys come into the clubhouse and Shadow was angry with Rags and Rags told him that he could never fight him back. Hawkins holds the others back and sends Rags on his way.

The boys capture Pooley with the rest of the stolen gold up in the old cliff cave. Pooley defends his right to take the gold. Doc sends Perry for the Sheriff and then they all go up to the Cave. Seck sees Rags at the entrance. They enter the cave and find the bags of gold. Rags is there with a torch saying that the gold belongs to the old man and he was going to see that he got it. Then he fell into the pit and onto the rocks below. Seck leads the way down to Cave River and there they find the dying Rags on the rocks. Shadow comes forward and cries that it is his brother John, the old Rolling Stone.

There is a trial at Judge Granberry’s office. He calls it an investigation rather than a trial and Pooley was under questioning. The Judge asks him if he knows how much he stole and Pooley answer “Not a cent”. The Judge goes on to ask Pooley where he bought the ponies for his gang and Pooley’s father tells the Judge that the ponies were his and that he ran a pony track. The boys used the ponies with his permission. Pooley insists that the gold was his, not his father’s, and that he can prove it. He brings out the bundle of papers and tells how he found them in the secret room. The gold was to be his and not his father’s. The old man comes into the room and he knows Pooley’s father. He is Gralerio, the former servant of Pooley’s grandfather. That establishes that the gold belongs to Pooley.

Later in the clubhouse Shadow is talking to Hawkins about the death of his brother John. Herb comes in to tell how Rags had asked him to keep an eye on Shadow and to let him know how he was getting along. Herb resigns from the club and leaves. Shadow and Hawkins are left there. They decide that before the Judge can order it, that they would seal up the old cliff cave to close it up forever more.

Which they did.

DID YOU KNOW?

*RFS used the mis-spelling - "Rejiment" for the first club name to illustrate the young age of the boys.
"Seckatary" is how he recorded his elected office of club secretary since could not spell very well.