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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN LAW,
NEUROSCIENCE, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Neurolaw
Advances in Neuroscience, Justice & Security

Edited by
Sjors Ligthart · Dave van Toor · Tijs Kooijmans
Thomas Douglas · Gerben Meynen
 Palgrave Studies in Law, Neuroscience, and
Human Behavior

Series Editors
Marc Jonathan Blitz, Law, Oklahoma City University
School of Law, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Jan Christoph Bublitz, University of Hamburg, Hamburg,
Germany
Jane Campbell Moriarty, Duquesne University School of
Law, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Neuroscience is drawing increasing attention from lawyers, judges, and
policy-makers because it both illuminates and questions the myriad
assumptions that law makes about human thought and behavior. Addi-
tionally, the technologies used in neuroscience may provide lawyers with
new forms of evidence that arguably require regulation. Thus, both the
technology and applications of neuroscience involve serious questions
implicating the fields of ethics, law, science, and policy. Simultaneously,
developments in empirical psychology are shedding scientific light on the
patterns of human thought and behavior that are implicated in the legal
system. The Palgrave Series on Law, Neuroscience, and Human Behavior
provides a platform for these emerging areas of scholarship.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15605
 Sjors Ligthart · Dave van Toor ·
Tijs Kooijmans · Thomas Douglas ·
Gerben Meynen
Editors

Neurolaw
Advances in Neuroscience, Justice &
Security
Editors
Sjors Ligthart Dave van Toor
Criminal Law Criminal Law
Tilburg University Utrecht University
Tilburg, The Netherlands Utrecht, The Netherlands

Tijs Kooijmans Thomas Douglas

Criminal Law Philosophy
Tilburg University University of Oxford
Tilburg, The Netherlands Oxford, UK

Gerben Meynen
Forensic Psychiatry
Utrecht University
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Ethics and psychiatry
VU Amsterdam
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Palgrave Studies in Law, Neuroscience, and Human Behavior

ISBN 978-3-030-69276-6 ISBN 978-3-030-69277-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69277-3

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
Chapter “Three Rationales for a Legal Right to Mental Integrity” is licensed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
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 Preface

Neurolaw is a relatively young domain of interdisciplinary research on

the promises and perils of neuroscience for the law, often focusing on
criminal law. It covers a diversity of topics and approaches, some more
theoretical—e.g. regarding the foundations of punishment—others more
practical—e.g. concerning the use of brain scans in the courtroom.1 A
central question for neurolaw is how neuroscience could contribute to
justice and security.
This book aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on neuroscience,
justice, and security, by examining how neuroscience could contribute to
fair and more effective criminal justice systems, and how both neurosci-
entific insights and information can be integrated into criminal law in
a way that respects fundamental rights and moral values. The first part
approaches these questions from a legal perspective, followed by ethical
accounts in part two.

1 See,
e.g. Vincent et al. (2020), Ryberg (2020), Bigenwald and Chambon (2019), Foquaert et al.
(2020), Meynen (2014, 2020), Ligthart et al. (2020), Bublitz (2020), Mecacci and Haselager
(2019), Birks and Douglas (2018), Ienca and Andorno (2017), Kellmeyer et al. (2016), Pardo
and Patterson (2015), Morse and Roskies (2013), Shen (2013), Farahany (2012), Simpson
(2012), Richmond et al. (2012), Greely and Wagner (2011), and Green and Cohen (2004).

v
vi Preface

In the first part, David Linden starts with discussing the possibili-
ties and limitations of neuroscience in criminal legal proceedings. More
specifically, he considers whether and how neuroscience could contribute
to assessing individual mental states and to answering central questions
of criminal law on action responsibility, mens rea, capacity, liability, re-
offending, and prevention. Linden approaches these questions from both
a retributivist as well as a consequentialist perspective on criminal law and
punishment.
Next, Georgia Gkotsi discusses the interpretation of neuroscientific
results by judges in criminal proceedings. She presents preliminary results
of a focus group study, examining how judges would consider neuro-
scientific data in assessing an individual’s risk of future dangerousness.
Since overestimation of the importance of neurobiological data for the
prediction of criminal behaviour is clearly a risk, Gkotsi argues that
judges should be trained and informed about the limitations and the
interpretative nature of neuroscientific data in relation to legal notions.
In the following chapter, Paul Catley considers the law of England and
Wales and he makes a case for recognising an intermediate level of crim-
inal responsibility between those deemed not criminally responsible and
those held to be criminally responsible. This intermediate level would
apply where individuals have a significantly impaired ability to conform
their behaviour to what criminal law requires. In his chapter, Catley anal-
yses how cognitive sciences could be helpful in framing such a partial
defence of diminished capacity.
Subsequently, Lisa Claydon discusses how insights from cognitive
sciences could be helpful to better understand when individuals should
or should not be punished in the context of criminal law. Focussing on
the law of England and Wales, she considers the criminal culpability of
those who are coerced in committing a crime. She examines whether the
law should recognize a criminal defence tailored to coercion and control,
putting emphasis on the potential role of cognitive sciences in this regard.
Turning the perspective towards the empirical and normative limita-
tions of applying neurotechnologies in criminal justice, Ewout Meijer
and Dave van Toor consider the possibility of identifying memories in
the brains of sleeping suspects. Whereas Meijer argues that memory
detection in sleeping participants would, at least in theory, be possible
 Preface vii

from an empirical perspective, Van Toor contends that such employment

of neurotechnological memory detection would infringe the privilege
against self-incrimination under European human rights law.
Bridging the first and second part of this volume, Sjors Ligthart,
Tijs Kooijmans, and Gerben Meynen argue that ethics and the law
could learn from each other when analysing the normative bound-
aries of employing brain-reading technology in criminal justice and
forensic psychiatry. In view of facilitating an integrative legal-ethical
approach on this issue, the authors identify three central ethical values—
autonomy, confidentiality, and trust—and explore whether and how they
are reflected in the legal debate.
In the second part, combining law and ethics, Cristina Scarpazza,
Colleen Berryessa, and Farah Focquaert discuss ethical and legal impli-
cations of the medical distinctions between criminal offenders suffering
from either idiopathic or acquired paedophilia. Based on the current
scientific knowledge regarding both disorders, the authors argue that
retributive punishments are unlikely to tackle the problems related
to future paedophilic behaviour. Instead, alternative strategies may be
needed to prevent future offending by individuals with both idiopathic
and acquired paedophilia.
Next, Thomas Douglas and Lisa Forsberg examine the moral ratio-
nale of recognising a legal right to mental integrity. In view of emerging
neurotechnologies that enable to enter and alter peoples’ minds, it has
been argued that the law should introduce a right against (certain
kinds of ) non-consensual interference with the mind, i.e. a right to
mental integrity. However, as yet, the arguments for its recognition
remain unclear. Douglas and Forsberg seek to make some progress
towards a systematic account of the rationales for a right to mental
integrity, focusing on three distinctive appeals: the appeal to intuition,
to justificatory consistency, and to technological development.
Jesper Ryberg continues the debate on deploying neurointerventions
in crime prevention. He emphasises the importance of how we interpret
the question of ethical legitimacy of administering neurointerventions in
criminal justice: either as asking whether it can ever be justified to use
neurointerventions in a particular way to prevent recidivism, or, alter-
natively, whether it would be justified to use neurointerventions within
viii Preface

the criminal justice context that currently exists (or will exist in the near
future). Ryberg argues that these two ways of understanding the question
on ethical legitimacy may lead to very different answers.
Considering the impact of neuroscience for our understanding of
punishment and criminal law, Bebhinn Donnelly-Lazarov explores
whether persons with an extremely ‘good’ brain are morally better or
worse than the rest of us. In doing so, Bebhinn Donnelly-Lazarov
discusses some ethical implications of neuroenhancement for current
approaches of criminal offending.
Finally, Andrea Lavazza and Flavia Corso argue that both neurosci-
entific insights and the employment of neurotechnologies in criminal
practice will not necessarily conflict with retributivist intuitions. As the
authors contend, by adopting a naturalisation approach of criminal law
and punishment, both the consequentialist model and the retributive
account can be plausibly naturalized and defended within a scientifically
informed theory of punishment and criminal justice.
Altogether, these chapters provide a profound and diverse discussion of
the possible implications of neuroscience for the criminal justice system.
They illustrate the thoroughly interdisciplinary nature of the debate, in
which science, law, and ethics are closely intertwined. We hope that the
essays in this volume help to find valuable ways forward for neuroscience,
justice, and security.

Tilburg, The Netherlands Sjors Ligthart

Utrecht, The Netherlands Dave van Toor
Tilburg, The Netherlands Tijs Kooijmans
Oxford, UK Thomas Douglas
Utrecht, The Netherlands Gerben Meynen

References
Bigenwald, A., & Chambon, V. (2019). Criminal responsibility and neuro-
science: No revolution yet. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
Birks, D., & Douglas, T. (Eds.). (2018). Treatment for crime: Philosophical essays
on neurointerventions in criminal justice. Oxford University Press.
 Preface ix

Bublitz, J. C. (2020). The nascent right to psychological integrity and mental

self-determination. In A. Von Arnauld, K. Von der Decken, & M. Susi
(Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of new human rights: Recognition, novelty,
rhetoric. Padstow: Cambridge University Press.
Farahany, N. A. (2012). Incriminating thoughts. Stanford Law Review, 64,
351–408.
Focquaert, F., Caruso, G., Shaw, E., & Pereboom, D. (2020). Justice without
retribution: Interdisciplinary perspectives, stakeholder views and practical
implications. Neuroethics, 13, 1–3.
Green, J. & Cohen, J. (2004). For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and
everything. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B,
Biological Sciences, 359 (1451), 1775–1785.
Greely, H. T., & Wagner, A. D. (2011). Reference guide on neuroscience.
Washington, DC: National Academies Press/Federal Judicial Center.
Ienca, M., & Andorno, R. (2017). Towards new human rights in the age of
neuroscience and neurotechnology. Life Sciences, Society and Policy, 13(5),
1–27.
Kellmeyer, P., et al. (2016). Effects of closed-loop medical devices on the
autonomy and accountability of persons and systems. Cambridge Quarterly
of Healthcare Ethics, 25, 623–633.
Ligthart, S., Douglas, T., Bublitz, C., Kooijmans, T., & Meynen, G. (2020).
Forensic brain-reading and mental privacy in European human rights law:
Foundations and challenges. Neuroethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-
020-09438-4.
Mecacci, G., & Haselager, P. (2019). Identifying criteria for the evaluation of
the implications of brain reading for mental privacy. Science and Engineering
Ethics, 25, 443–461.
Meynen, G. (2014). Neurolaw: Neuroscience, ethics, and law. Review essay.
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 17 , 819–829.
Meynen, G. (2020). Neuroscience-based psychiatric assessments of criminal
responsibility: Beyond self-report? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics,
29, 446–458.
Morse, S. J., & Roskies, A. L. (Eds.). (2013). A primer on criminal law and
neuroscience. New Yok: Oxford University Press.
Pardo, S., & Patterson, D. (2015). Minds, brains, and law. The conceptual
foundations of law and neuroscience. Oxford University Press.
Richmond, S., Rees, G., & Edwards, S. J. L. (Eds.). (2012). I know what you’re
thinking. Oxford University Press.
Ryberg, J. (2020). Neurointerventions, crime, and punishment. Ethical considera-
tions. New York: Oxford University Press.
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
a vast collection of ebooks across various
genres, available in popular formats like
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x Preface

Shen, F. X. (2013). Neuroscience, mental privacy and the law. Harvard Journal
of Law & Public Policy, 36 , 653–713.
Simpson, J. R. (Ed.). (2012). Neuroimaging in forensic psychiatry: From the clinic
to the courtroom. Wiley-Blackwell.
Vincent, N. A., Nadelhoffer, T., & McCay, A. (2020). Neurointerventions and
the law: Regulating human mental capacity. New York: Oxford University
Press.
 Contents

Legal Perspectives
Possibilities and Limitations of Neuroscience in the Legal
Process 3
David Linden
Neuroscience and Dangerousness Evaluations: The
Effect of Neuroscience Evidence on Judges. Findings
from a Focus Group Study 17
Georgia Gkotsi
The Need for a Partial Defence of Diminished Capacity
and the Potential Role of the Cognitive Sciences
in Helping Frame That Defence 51
Paul Catley
Coercion and Control and Excusing Murder? 77
Lisa Claydon

xi
xii Contents

Reading the Sleeping Mind: Empirical and Legal

Considerations 101
Ewout Meijer and Dave van Toor
‘Brain-Reading’ in Criminal Justice and Forensic
Psychiatry: Towards an Integrative Legal-Ethical Approach 121
Sjors Ligthart, Tijs Kooijmans, and Gerben Meynen

Ethical Perspectives
A Biopsychosocial Approach to Idiopathic Versus
Acquired Paedophilia: What Do We Know and How Do
We Proceed Legally and Ethically? 145
Cristina Scarpazza, Colleen Berryessa, and Farah Focquaert
Three Rationales for a Legal Right to Mental Integrity 179
Thomas Douglas and Lisa Forsberg
Neurointerventions and Crime Prevention: On Ideal
and Non-ideal Considerations 203
Jesper Ryberg
Neuroscience and the Moral Enhancement of Offenders:
The Exceptionally ‘Good’ Brain as a Thought Experiment 229
Bebhinn Donnelly-Lazarov
Retributivism, Consequentialism, and the Role of Science 251
Andrea Lavazza and Flavia Corso

Index 275
 Notes on Contributors

Dr. Colleen Berryessa is assistant professor at the school of a crim-

inal justice at Rutgers university. In her research, utilizing both qual-
itative and quantitative methods, she considers how different psycho-
logical processes, perceptions, attitudes, and social contexts affect the
criminal justice system, particularly related to courts and sentencing.
She primarily examines these issues, using both social psychological and
socio-legal lenses, in relation to two areas: (1) how these phenomena
affect the discretion of criminal justice actors in their responses to
offending and decision-making in courts; (2) how these phenomena
affect lay views and consideration of courts, sentencing systems, and
punishment practices.
Paul Catley is Professor of Neurolaw and until April 2021 was Head of
the Open University Law School. His research focuses on the use and
potential use of neuroscientific and genetic evidence in the courts and
within justice systems more widely. His interests are wide ranging and
include the use of neuroscientific evidence to detect memory and lies, the
use of brain scanning to inform treatment and end of life decisions for
patients with persistent disorders of consciousness and the appropriate

xiii
xiv Notes on Contributors

approaches of the law in cases where brain impairment or brain injury

may affect responsibility and/or capacity.
Dr. Lisa Claydon examines criminal law, with a particular interest
in mental condition and other defences that are based on excusing
conditions. She is actively researching the intersection between cogni-
tive neuroscience and the criminal law. She was co-investigator on an
AHRC-funded project entitled A Sense of Agency. This project exam-
ined neurocognitive and legal approaches to a personal sense of agency.
Currently, she is researching what neuroscience may tell us about
memory in the courtroom and looking at the effect of alcohol and drugs
on criminal responsibility.
Dr. Flavia Corso holds a II level master degree from the University of
Genoa.
She collaborates with Andrea Lavazza on a variety of neuroethical
issues, mainly focusing on the role of neuroscience in the field of
criminal justice. Recently, she contributed to an Italian volume on
neuroethics, discussing the neuro-legal issue of responsibility in the age
of neuroscience.
Bebhinn Donnelly-Lazarov As Professor of Neuroscience, Law and
Legal Philosophy, Bebhinn’s research interests lie in jurisprudence and
criminal law theory. Her book on criminal attempts, published by
Cambridge University Press in 2015, is structured around an Anscom-
bian account of intentional action. Recent and ongoing work explores
our understanding of the mind and considers its implications for crim-
inal responsibility, mens rea, and for defences. Bebhinn has begun to write
a book on law and consciousness.
Thomas Douglas is Professor of Applied Philosophy at the Oxford
Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, where he is Director of Research
and Development. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College,
Editor of the Journal of Practical Ethics, and Principal Investigator on
the project ‘Protecting Minds: The Right to Mental Integrity and the
Ethics of Arational Influence’, funded by a Consolidator Award from the
European Research Council. His research lies mainly in practical and
normative ethics and currently focuses on the ethics of predicting and
influencing behaviour.
 Notes on Contributors xv

Dr. Farah Focquaert is Professor of philosophical anthropology at the

Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, affili-
ated with the Bioethics Institute Ghent and Co-director of the Interna-
tional Justice Without Retribution Network. Her research interest lies in
the philosophy of free will, responsibility and punishment, and in the
field of neuroethics. She is the first editor of the Routledge Handbook of
the Philosophy and Science of Punishment (2021).
Dr. Lisa Forsberg is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the
Faculty of Law, and (in Philosophy) at Somerville College and the
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. Her main research interests lie
in normative and practical ethics, and in the philosophy of medical and
criminal law. Her postdoctoral project, ‘Changing One’s Mind: Neuroin-
terventions, Autonomy, and the Law on Consent’, is on medical consent
and examines the extent to which English law on consent sufficiently
protects morally salient patient interests.
Dr. Georgia Gkotsi is a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law of the
University of Athens, Greece. After receiving a law degree from the
University of Athens, she completed a Master’s in Philosophy of Law
and Bioethics at the same University, followed by a Master’s in Compar-
ative Law at the Universite Paris 1 - Pantheon Sorbonne. She received
her PhD from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Her dissertation
dealt with the ethical and legal implications of the use of neuroimaging
techniques in criminal courts. Her research expertise lies in the area of
mental health law, human rights of mentally disabled persons, neurolaw,
and bioethics.
Tijs Kooijmans is a full Professor of Criminal Law at Tilburg University
and a substitute judge at the ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeals. He is a
co-author of a leading handbook about Dutch criminal procedure and a
commentator of Dutch leading criminal cases. His research interest lies
in criminal law in general, confiscation and seizure of illegally obtained
assets, forensic psychiatry, and neurolaw.
Dr. Andrea Lavazza is a Senior Research Fellow in Neuroethics at
Centro Universitario Internazionale, and adjunct Professor at the Univer-
sity of Pavia. He specializes in philosophy of mind and neuroethics. His
main research is in the field of neuroethics. He has published papers
xvi Notes on Contributors

on enhancement, memory manipulation, cognitive freedom, and human

brain organoids. His interests are focused on moral philosophy, free will,
and law at the intersection with cognitive sciences. He is working on
naturalism and its relations with other kinds of causation and explanation
in philosophy of mind and philosophical anthropology.
Sjors Ligthart holds a Master’s in Criminal Law. He is currently
completing his PhD thesis on coercive brain-reading in criminal law.
Other research interests include the introduction of neurointerventions
and virtual reality systems into the domain of criminal justice, the debate
on fundamental neurorights, and the concept of legal insanity. He is a
lecturer of Penitentiary Law and editorial secretary of the leading Dutch
journal on criminal law.
David Linden is full Professor of Translational Neuroscience and Scien-
tific Director of the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience. He is a
Psychiatrist at Maastricht University Medical Centre. His specialist clin-
ical areas include neuropsychiatry, genetic syndromes in psychiatry, mood
disorders, psychosis, and alcohol dependence. His research focuses on
mechanisms and treatment of mental and neurodegenerative disorders.
His group combines neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, genetics, and
clinical research in order to develop new biological models and find new
treatment targets.
Dr. Ewout Meijer is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology
and Neuroscience. He obtained his PhD in 2008 with a dissertation on
the use of psychophysiological measures in lie and memory detection.
He has published about a variety of topics, including deception detec-
tion, investigative interviewing, and cheating behaviour. He served as a
Research Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2011–2012,
and as a fellow of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in 2020–2021.
Gerben Meynen is Psychiatrist and Professor of Forensic Psychiatry,
Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology (Utrecht
Centre for Accountability and Liability Law, UCALL), Utrecht Univer-
sity, and professor of Ethics and Psychiatry, Department of Philosophy,
Humanities, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research interests include
legal insanity and the implications of neuroscience for criminal law and
forensic psychiatry.
 Notes on Contributors xvii

Jesper Ryberg is Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Law at the

Department of Philosophy. He writes and teaches in the areas of ethics
and philosophy of law. He is the head of the Research Group for Crim-
inal Justice Ethics and is currently also head of the Neuroethics and
Criminal Justice research project. Ryberg has published in philosoph-
ical journals such as The Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Papers,
Theoria, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, The Journal of Ethics,
Res Publica, Journal of Medical Ethics, Neuroethics, Journal of Applied
Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, International Journal of Applied
Philosophy, Criminal Law and Philosophy, Analysis, Utilitas, Ratio, and
AJOB Neuroscience.
Dr. Cristina Scarpazza is Assistant Professor at the Department of
General Psychology, University of Padova. Her research interest lies in
psychology and neuroscience, with particular emphasis on early diagnosis
of psychiatric disorders, identification of neuroanatomical signature of
psychiatric illness, group to individual inferences, and forensic psychiatry
(with particular focus on insanity evaluation). She is particularly inter-
ested in cognitive biases and their impact in the interpretation of scien-
tific findings. Through her long-standing collaboration with the King’s
College London, she was actively involved in different projects aiming to
improve the translational impact of neuroimaging findings from research
to clinical practice.
Dr. Dave van Toor joined the Department of Criminal of the Radboud
University Nijmegen in 2008. He started at the Universität Bielefeld in
September 2014, first as a Research Assistant, later as Research Associate
at the Department of Criminal (Procedural) Law & Criminology. In the
meantime, he completed his doctoral dissertation on the legal impli-
cations of using coerced neuroscientific memory detection in criminal
cases. Currently, he is Assistant Professor in Criminal (Procedural) Law
at Utrecht University. His main research interest lies in the legitimacy of
police investigations in view of human rights.
Legal Perspectives
 Possibilities and Limitations
of Neuroscience in the Legal Process
David Linden

Introduction
The neurosciences (broadly defined as comprising clinical and basic
neuroscience and the science and clinical practice of mental health) are
relevant to law and legal practice in two main ways. They contribute
to jurisprudence by providing insight into the causes and mechanisms
underlying human action (and people’s perceptions about them) and
they can contribute to individual cases with information about relia-
bility of evidence, responsibility and dangerousness of the perpetrator
(Jones et al., 2013). The first contribution has been discussed in detail by
Greene and Cohen in an essay with the programmatic title “For the law,
neuroscience changes nothing and everything”(Greene & Cohen, 2004).
The authors argue that the current retributivist penal system, with the

D. Linden (B)
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and
Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3

Switzerland AG 2021
S. Ligthart et al. (eds.), Neurolaw, Palgrave Studies in Law,
Neuroscience, and Human Behavior,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69277-3_1
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
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Other documents randomly have
different content
“That is perfectly all right,” the reporter smiled. “Shall I
ask Mr. Gates sometime if that was the cup?”

“No, it won’t be necessary,” Don replied, casually. “We

know that it is the cup he won at Woodcrest, because
he won one in that year. I suppose he locked it up in the
vault again?”

“No!” was the unexpected reply. “He left all of the other
valuables there, but he took the cup back to his home
with him!”

“Maybe he feels so much pride in it that he wants it at

hand,” suggested Jim as a venture.

“I don’t know, I’m sure, but I know that he took it home

with him,” the reporter concluded.

When they had thanked him once more the boys left
the office and started back to school, talking the
situation over between them.

“Well, the cup is still in our midst, and we may have

another try at it,” Don remarked.

“As long as it is at the house, yes,” agreed Jim. “Maybe 157

he feels that it will be safest where he can keep an eye
on it.”

“Um,” observed Terry, sarcastically. “All we have to do is

to get in and get at it!”

“Something may turn up and give us the chance,” said

Don, hopefully. “You never can tell.”

158
 Chapter 19
A Conversation in the Dark

Early one February morning a committee of ladies and

gentlemen waited on Colonel Morrell. He saw them
come up the drive, and was surprised to note that the
group was made up of a clergyman, two well-known
businessmen, and two ladies whom he knew to be
leaders of women’s activities in Portville. When they had
all been seated in his office, the clergyman, a fine,
straight-forward young man who was making good in
the largest church in the town, broached the subject to
him.

“Colonel Morrell,” began Dr. Bicknell. “You may be a bit 159

surprised to see such a formidable gathering bear down
on you, but I assure you that we have good intentions. I
don’t know whether you have heard anything about it or
not, but on Washington’s Birthday Portville is to
celebrate its small but honored share in the events of
the Revolutionary War. We are a committee in charge of
arrangements and have come to ask you for you co-
operation on that day. The center of attraction will be
the old Gannon House and the picturization of the
stirring events that happened in it.”

“The Gannon House?” asked the colonel. “I’ve heard of

it, but I don’t just recall where it is.”
“It is the house at present occupied by Mr. Melvin Gates
and his family. You know the place now?”

“Oh, yes, surely,” affirmed the colonel. “Now I do

remember. That is the most historic house in Portville,
eh?”

“Yes,” replied Dr. Bicknell. “At the time of the Revolution

our armies were harried by one particular spy who
seemed to find out every move that the Continental
Army made. At last this spy was run down by two
determined citizens of Portville, and was found to be a
young teacher who lodged at the Gannon House. He
was taken from the house by indignant patriots and
hanged just outside the town. The act was most
fortunate, for from that moment there was no more
leaking of news to the British.

“On Washington’s Birthday we propose to have a 160

pageant which will show most of that, all but the actual
hanging, which people can dispense with, I imagine.
The events leading up to the capture of the British spy
were highly dramatic, and we wish to show them in the
pageant, which will take place in the daytime. What we
want you to do, Colonel Morrell, is to permit your boys
to parade in the morning. There will be a parade of ex-
service men, fraternal organizations and business clubs,
to say nothing of the patriotic organizations, and we feel
that the line of march would not be complete unless
your splendid boys marched with us.”

“In the name of the cadet corps, I thank you,”

acknowledged the colonel. “I shall be most happy to
have the cadet units march in the parade. The boys
haven’t been in a public parade for a number of years
and it would do them good to get in one. Yes, I shall be
very happy to allow the boys to parade.”

“That is very helpful, and we are grateful to you for your

co-operation,” smiled the pleasant young pastor. “Now,
there is one other thing we would like to request. In the
evening there will be a public inspection of the Gannon
House and at that time we would like to post some of
your cadets at various points about the house, to act as
guides or whatever else may come up. Can you see
your way clear to let us use a few of your honor pupils,
say one at the front and rear doors, and one on each
side and the staircases? That will add an impressive
tone to the whole thing.”

“Yes, that can be easily done,” promised the colonel. “I

shall be glad to help in any way possible. I shall detail
my captains and lieutenants to take posts in the house
and do whatever else you wish them to do.”

The members of the committee once more thanked the 161

colonel, and after a few plans were made they left him.
In due time the news was circulated among the corps
and the cadets looked forward with more or less
pleasure to the event.

“It will be something different,” Terry expressed it.

“Won’t I enjoy marching through town, the center of all
eyes.”

“You mean the town will be the center of all eyes?”

asked Jim, slyly.

“No, dope! I will be!”

“If I remember correctly, you will be perched on the

rear of a gun carriage,” retorted Jim. “But just think of
me, my boy! I’ll be sitting on a horse, the captain of the
cavalry, as proud as you please, bowing to the ladies.”

“With all due respect to your exalted position,” grinned

Terry. “I would advise you not to bow too much. You
might tumble over the neck of the horse and bump your
nose!”

“I guess I’ll be the only one who won’t shine at all,” said
Don. “I’m just a poor, plain little infantry soldier! A
lieutenant on foot doesn’t show up much.”

“I thought that Gates’ house looked like a very old one

when we were in it,” said Don. “But I never guessed
that it had such a history. Now that we know the history
we can account for the huge doors, the massive bolts
and the wide, spreading staircase.”

An account in the newspaper interested the boys. It 162

related how, at a time when the British raided Portville,
the Gannon family took their silver plate and buried it
out in the garden. The British had stolen everything in
sight, but the silver was later dug up by the members of
the family and saved.

“I’d like to see the spot where it was buried, sometime,”

said Terry. “That must have been an interesting sight.
Imagine the men out in the garden in the dead of night,
burying the boxes of silver plate!”

Parade orders were given two days before Washington’s

Birthday and the cadets found themselves in for a busy
time. Dress uniforms were brought out and cleaned,
swords polished and bayonets rubbed down. Rifles were
inspected and the horses well groomed, for the colonel
was anxious for his boys to give a good account of
themselves.
Good fortune fell to Jim. As an officer he had received a
post inside the historic house. In high spirits he told Don
and Terry of his good fortune.

“Nice going, kid!” approved Don, generously. “Where is

your post to be?”

Jim made a wry face. “I’m not so sure that the post is a
good one, for I am stationed at the back door. I won’t
be able to see much of what goes on there, but at least
I’ll be in the house.”

“Maybe we’re luckier than you are, at that,” chuckled

the red-headed boy. “Those of us who are not to be on
post in the house will be able to roam around the town,
for the colonel has given us full liberty on that day. But
just the same, I think I’d rather be in the house.”

“So should I,” nodded Don. “At any rate, keep your eyes 163
open, Jim. There is no telling what you may see.”

“I’ll do that,” Jim promised.

On Washington’s Birthday the school showed the marks

of feverish activity. After breakfast and the school
exercises the corps assembled on the campus. It was
indeed a splendid sight. The cavalry, with Captain Jim
and Lieutenant Thompson at the head, assembled on
the road in front of the campus, while the cadet brigade
took up the campus. Back of the infantry the artillery
unit stood at attention, the several guns polished to the
last degree. All of the cadets were in dress uniform,
with the tall military hats, the braided coats, and the
white gloves. When the corps was fully formed and the
orders of the day read, they started out to join the other
divisions of the parade, the citizen units.
With the jangle of trappings the cavalry, in perfect
formation four abreast, moved off down the road, and
the infantry, also marching four abreast, with the band
playing a lively march and the heels of the young men
ringing out on the pavement, followed. A dull rumble to
the rear marked the progress of the artillery division.
When they struck the center of town they fell into place
behind the patriotic clubs. The parade began at eleven
o’clock.

It was a fine parade from start to finish. A number of 164

ex-service men led the van, with the town organizations
following. They made up fully one-half of the parade
and then came the Woodcrest Military Institute corps.
Afterward, everyone gave praise to the young soldiers
from the school up in the hills. The cavalry was superb,
the infantry marched with precision, every foot in step
and every white glove swinging with accuracy, the flags
drooping colorfully and the young men erect. The field
guns rolled along looking grim and effective, and when
the parade finally came to an end the colonel was more
than satisfied.

In the afternoon the pageant was held and the cadets,

no longer under orders, watched the display.
Fortunately, the Gannon House stood back from the
street and was favored with wide lawns, and the people
who came to see the spectacle, and that included
practically the entire town, were all able to see the
display. Actors dressed in the costumes of Revolutionary
times took part and it proved to be most entertaining. A
young man came to the door of the Gannon House,
dressed in the Colonial costume, and asked for lodging,
explaining that he was a teacher and wanted to earn his
living in the town. He was graciously received by the
Gannon family and installed as one of the family. But no
sooner had this young man settled himself than he
began to entertain strange visitors. Very erect men
visited him, listening to his low-spoken talk with great
attention and then going away. At night the teacher left
the house, wrapped in a great cloak, explaining to Mr.
Gannon, who asked his purpose, that he was merely
walking for exercise and recreation. Then came two
patriots who pretended great friendship for the young
teacher and watched him at night, crouching beneath
the windows to do so. Toward the end of the pageant
they unmasked the spy and Mr. Gannon was the first to
condemn him to the fate of hanging. The last scene
showed the Gannon family hearing from the lips of
American officers that no more information was
“leaking” to the British.

The pageant was well given and the spectators enjoyed 165
it. Gates’ house was then opened to the public for a
supper, which was served to the members of the
committee. At eight o’clock the doors were formally
opened to the general public, and Jim took his post at
the back door.

Hudson, as senior captain of the corps, occupied the

central position at the front door. Other captains and
lieutenants had posts throughout the house. There were
two cadets on the lower floor, one in the center of the
house and another in the huge, Colonial kitchen, a
cadet on the central staircase and one on the landing of
the second floor. One cadet stood post on the third floor,
where the quarters of the servants still stood unchanged
since the days of the building of the house. And at the
back door stood Jim.

He was not sure that his post was the best in the world, 166
but he did have an active one. Early in the evening
numbers of townsfolk, some of them brilliantly dressed,
entered the house and were led through it by members
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who were
all dressed in costumes of that period. When they
finished inspecting the house they went to the grounds
in the back and kept Jim active. When he heard a step
on the other side of the door he would step quickly to
the door, open it wide and step back, holding it open
until the persons had passed through and then closing
it. The yard had been lighted only in the immediate
vicinity of the house. The back gardens remained in
darkness.

Of course much was seen of the Gates family. Melvin

Gates, who had recovered from his accident, was
everywhere in evidence, easily the center of the affair. A
few knew that the senior Gates was more than
delighted at the entire circumstance, as it was raising
him vastly in the eyes of the townspeople in general. He
had not himself offered his house for inspection, but
had been very willing when the subject had been
broached to him by the leaders of the movement.
Arthur Gates was also much in the public eye as he
moved with immense sociability around the house, his
wife beside him, bowing and smiling. When the party
happened to be composed of persons of wealth and
distinction in Portville the bow and the smile became
very genial indeed.

However, not only the rich and influential came that 167
night to the old Gannon House, but also the poor and
humble. Many a plain working man, interested in the
history of his country or the structure of the house,
came to look through it and Jim opened the door to
such as well as to the others who swept by him with a
swish of costly garments. To all of them Jim extended
the same unfailing courtesy.

Toward nine o’clock in the evening a man who looked to

be a laborer passed out of the back door and went into
the garden. Jim noted that the man looked at his watch
and then seemed to be waiting. After a time he went
down to the gardens, losing himself in the blackness
beyond the electric lights.

Not fifteen minutes after he had gone there was

another step inside the kitchen and Jim quickly opened
the door. Arthur Gates stepped out, looked all around
him without paying any attention to Jim, and then set
off at a rapid pace for the garden, following the same
direction taken by the man. Jim was curious at once.

“I’d like to know what is going on,” he reflected. “I

wonder if I ought to go down and see? Very few people
are coming through any more, and besides, if I do leave
my post, it will be thought I did so to run an errand. I
guess I’ll take a chance on it.”

Seeing that no one was about Jim slipped quickly to the

side of the yard and away from the glare of the lights.
Then, following a path which wound down into the
farther reaches of the place he moved forward, treading
with infinite care, avoiding gravelled walks where
possible and fairly creeping over them when they could
not be avoided. In a short time he reached the garden
and saw ahead of him in the darkness two forms.

A screen of bushes loomed between him and the two 168

men and Jim crouched as he made his way to them.
Once in their shelter he was able to hear plainly what
was being said.
“—close against the back wall,” Gates was saying.

“You want me to mark the spot so you’ll know the

place?” the man asked.

“No,” replied Gates. “I don’t care if I never see it again.”

“Not valuable, eh?” the man asked, cautiously.

“No, only a trinket I won at school, but I’m sick and

tired of having it around. It is better off buried. But
never mind that; all you have to do is to bury the thing.
I don’t want it done by daylight, either. Will you do it
tomorrow night?”

“Sure, around ten o’clock. I got to work up until that

time. Right here will be all right eh?” the laborer said.

“Yes. I’ll pay you well for it, but you are to keep your
mouth shut. Good heavens! this thing you’re to bury
isn’t worth a dollar, and yet I’ve had more trouble with it
than if it cost a thousand. Now, let’s get back and you
be sure to go to work tomorrow night.”

With that they separated and Jim could see them going
toward the house, but the laborer branched off and left
the grounds while Arthur Gates went in the back door.
Before he went to his post again Jim looked carefully
around the garden where he stood. There was a high
wall nearby and he knew that he was at the end of the
property.

Then he went back to his post, taking care to approach 169

it from the side of the house, casually and as though he
was coming from an errand. Once more he took up his
post at the back door.
“So Gates is going to bury the cup?” he reflected. “And
it had given as much trouble as though it cost a
thousand dollars. Of course, it may not be the cup, after
all, but I’ll bet it is. Well, we’ll just dig it up as soon as
he gets it planted!”

In another hour all inspection of the Gannon House was

over and it once more became simply the home of the
Gates family. The cadets on post assembled and
marched up to the school reporting in from duty, and
soon after that Jim was relating his remarkable story to
Don and Terry.

170
 Chapter 20
The Digger in the Garden

“This must be the place!”

Jim whispered it cautiously and the two shadows with

him nodded silently. Don and Terry crouched down
beside him behind the high wall which ran back of the
home of Arthur Gates.

It was on the following night, and three cadets were

there with the full permission of Colonel Morrell. Jim,
after his talk with his friends, had gone straight to the
headmaster with the story. The colonel had also been of
the opinion that it was the cup that Gates planned to
bury. He agreed that it would be best for them to watch
the digging and to get the object at once, before the
time elapsing would give the ground a chance to freeze.
So the three cadets crouched behind the wall bordering
Gates’ place on this February night.

“You think this is the right spot?” Don whispered. 171

“Yes,” returned Jim. “What time is it?”

Terry consulted a watch with a lighted dial. “Just five

minutes of ten,” he replied. “We got here just in time.”

They had reached the property a few minutes before

and had skirted the wall, halting at the place which Jim
had believed to be opposite the spot where Gates and
the man had conferred on the previous night. They
straightened up and Jim reached upward, finding that
he was just able to place his fingertips on the top of the
wall.

“Give me a boost up,” he ordered.

Don cupped his hand and by the aid of this step Jim
sprang onto the wall. For a moment there was silence
as he peered down into the garden inside, and then he
leaned toward them.

“This is the place,” he whispered. “Come on up.”

Terry formed the step by which Don joined his brother

on the wall and then they both pulled the red-head up.
Jim then looked carefully back of him.

“There are no lights back of us,” he said. “I’m pretty

sure that no one can see us.”

They settled themselves to wait and the minutes

dragged by. It seemed an age, though it was in reality
only fifteen minutes when Terry hissed warningly.

“Somebody is coming!”

They crouched low as they saw a bobbing light coming 172

down the path toward them. It was a man with a
lantern and as he drew nearer they saw that it was a
short man, whom Jim recognized as the man who had
talked with Gates. Near the wall the man halted, and
placed a wooden box on the ground. Setting the lantern
down, and without looking around him, he dropped a
pick and shovel from his shoulder. He took up the pick,
raised it above his head and brought it down with a
thump on the hard earth.

The boys, when talking the situation over at school,

were agreed that Gates had received his idea from the
newspaper account of the burying of the silver plate by
the Gannon family. When they saw the wooden box on
the ground they were firmly convinced that it held the
disputed silver cup, for it was just the right size.

The digger in the garden worked steadily at his task,

breaking the stiff earth with his pick and then shovelling
it away with his shovel. He had made a hole perhaps
three feet deep when something wholly unexpected
happened.

There was a sudden flash of fire back of the watching

cadets and they were bathed in an embarrassing glow
of light. Turning startled heads over their shoulders they
saw that a garage nearby had caught fire and that a
pan of oil was blazing up to the sky. The man working in
the garden looked up with a grunt of fright, but
fortunately not in their immediate direction, for the
glare was spreading and he looked slightly to one side
of them. Seeing how things stood the three cadets
dropped from the wall swiftly and with as little noise as
possible, crouching at the bottom of the wall outside
Gates’ property. The glare died down abruptly.

“Did he see us?” questioned Don, eagerly. 173

“No,” whispered Jim. “But that was a narrow escape.”

“You bet,” agreed Terry. “There we were, sitting on the

wall like three chickens! That was a lucky escape.”
“We had better wait here until he finishes his digging,”
Jim suggested. “Listen; he has gone back to work.”

They could hear the man resume his digging. But it was
unfortunate that they could not see into the garden, for
real trouble was coming their way rapidly.

Arthur Gates, uneasy over the affair, had been standing

at an upper window when the flare had illuminated the
sky, and clearly and distinctly he had seen the three
cadets on the wall. Uttering an exclamation the man ran
from the house and made his way to the digger.
Unknown to the boys a rapid interchange of words
followed and then Gates took up the box and went back
to the house. The man who was doing the digging
dropped his shovel and waited a moment, until he was
joined by the caretaker of the property. Some
whispering passed between them and then they silently
made their way to a gate in the wall.

The three cadets crouched there in the blackness of the

night beside the wall and waited. They strained their
ears to hear continued sounds of the digging but they
heard nothing.

“He must be finished,” Terry whispered. 174

“I should think that we would hear him replacing the

dirt,” suggested Jim.

“Suppose you go aloft and see?” said Don, in a low

voice.

Jim straightened up and Don gave him a hand to the

top of the wall. Once there Jim peered carefully over to
see how far the man had gotten in his work. But in a
moment he was down again.
“The man is gone!” he told them, in wonder.

“Then he has finished,” concluded Don, but Jim shook

his head.

“I don’t know why he should be. The lantern is still

there and the hole is open, but the box is gone!”

“Gone?” the others cried guardedly.

“Yes, and I don’t see a sign of the man,” Jim replied.

“Let me take a look,” Don directed briefly.

When he had been hoisted up he made the same

observation that Jim had. The three boys were puzzled.

“Confound that fire!” growled Terry. “If it hadn’t been

for that we would know what was going on.”

“It doesn’t look very good to me,” observed Jim.

They waited for a moment, undecided as to what to do.

The only sound that reached their ears was the sound
of men in the nearby garage, who had put out the
unexpected fire and who were talking about it. They
were not near enough to cause the cadets any
misgivings, however.

“Give me another boost,” said Don, but Jim caught his 175
arm in a firm grasp.

“Listen!” commanded his brother.

There had been a faint sound near them, along the wall,
the sound as of a small stick breaking. There was no
further noise but they had heard that one plainly. A
suspicion leaped into Don’s mind.
“Maybe someone saw us and they are after us,” he
whispered.

No sooner had he spoken than two distinct shadows

loomed up before them along the wall.

“Run, you guys!” cried Jim.

They dashed away from the wall as fast as they could

go toward the open field, the two men hard at their
heels. Jim and Terry were slightly ahead of Don and
running swiftly, breaking their way recklessly through
the bushes that barred their way. Don had been a bit
slower but was sufficiently ahead of his pursuers to
keep him out of danger. They ran in the general
direction of the school, trusting to luck to keep them out
of holes and other pitfalls.

But Don was the unlucky one. Jim and Terry veered to 176
the right across the fields but Don kept on going, failing
to follow their lead closely. When he noticed that they
had changed their course he swung around to follow
them. There was nothing ahead of him, but as he ran
forward he felt himself flung back abruptly, to tumble
breathless to the ground. Before him was a long chicken
run, with high chicken wire strung from pole to pole to
pole, and Don had run against this net in the dark, to be
playfully tossed for a considerable loss.

It proved to be a fatal loss. Just as he scrambled to his

feet the two men swooped down on him and two pairs
of strong arms gripped him. He struggled but the men
held him fast.

“Let go of me,” he demanded, somewhat breathlessly.

“Nothing doing, bub,” growled the man who had been
digging. “You come along with us.”

“Where are you taking me?” Don asked, as they led him
along.

“Back to the house,” replied the other, an older man.

“We want to find out what you were doing snooping
around there. I’m caretaker at the house and I can have
you arrested for trespassing.”

Don had a pretty fair idea that Arthur Gates would not
have him arrested but he realized that he was in a
tough spot.

177
 Chapter 21
The Cup at Last

There was nothing more said until they reached the

house, where Don was quickly ushered into the
presence of Arthur Gates. The man was seated in the
library when they entered, with a book in his hand, and
he looked up in apparent surprise when Don was
brought in.

“What is this, Garry?” he asked of the caretaker.

“Caught this fellow trespassing on the grounds, sir,” said

the caretaker.

“You did not!” denied Don. “You caught me way over in

the next field.”

“But you must have been on the grounds, in order for

Garry to have seen you,” declared Gates, putting his
book down. He looked keenly at Don. “Why, you are
one of the cadets from Woodcrest, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” nodded Don. “I am.”

“What are you doing out at this late hour?” asked Gates. 178
“Taking French leave, I suppose?”

“Yes,” said Don, seeing his course.

“You should be in bed by this time at the school,” Gates
went on. “What were you doing on my property?”

“I haven’t been on your property yet,” said Don.

“The wall is my property,” flashed Gates.

“Oh, so you saw me on the wall?” questioned Don.

Gates bit his lip. He had not intended to say so much.

“Never mind who saw you there; you were there.” He
turned to the other two. “You may go now.” To the
laborer he said: “I won’t need you any more tonight,
Tom. Drop around to see me in the morning.”

The two men went out and Gates turned to Don once
more. “Now, young man, what is your name?”

“Mercer,” replied Don.

“What were you snooping around here for tonight,

Mercer?”

“Three of us were out on a lark and we looked over

your wall on the way back,” replied Don.

“You were sitting on the wall,” accused Gates.

“Yes, we sat on the wall,” confessed Don. “But we didn’t

trespass on your property and so you can’t hold us. All
you can do is report us to the colonel.”

“I think you were prowling around here for something

else, young man,” growled Gates, rising.

“What for?” asked Don, looking straight into Gates’

eyes.
“How should I know?” the man evaded. “I’m going to 179
take you into custody for a time at least, Mercer. You
come with me.”

“Where are you taking me?” Don asked, as Gates took

hold of his arm.

“Never mind asking so many questions, but come along.

Don’t make any resistance or I shall call in the police. By
the way, aren’t you one of those cadets who brought in
my father from that accident?”

“Yes,” acknowledged Don.

“Too bad you had to mix yourself up in this business.”

“What business are you talking about?” asked Don

pointedly.

“Never mind that. What became of your companions?”

“I suppose they got away.”

“Well, I’ll find out who they were and have them
punished, too. Now, out this way.”

Curiously Don followed his captor out into the hall and
up the big staircase to the second floor, down that hall
and up a flight of stairs to the third floor. Coming to a
door there Gates opened it and thrust Don inside,
closing the door after him. A moment later and Don
heard a key rattle in the lock. Then the sound of rapidly
retreating footsteps came to his ears.

He attempted to move around the room and bumped 180

into something sharp that poked into his waist. Striking
a match that he found in his pocket, Don saw that he
was in a billiard room and that he had bumped the
table. Seeing a light switch on the wall he moved
toward it and turned on the lights. Then he looked
curiously around his prison.

There were no windows in the room, but a skylight gave

it illumination in the daytime. If necessary Don was sure
that he could jump from the table to the skylight and
make his way to the roof, but he had no intention of
trying it at present. Instead, he went to the door and
tried it carefully, finding it locked.

“They won’t keep me in here long,” he thought grimly.

“I’ll raise such a racket that he’ll be glad to let me out.
But I wonder if that will be the best thing to do?”

He began to shake the door, to try its strength, and at

last pressed against the lock with all his strength.
Although that had no effect on the lock directly it had
an unexpected outcome. There was a step out in the
hall, and the key was turned in the lock. When the door
was thrown open Don stared into the face of a butler.

He was the first one to recover himself. “Oh, thanks a

lot for opening the door,” he said, carelessly, seeing his
way out. “Someone must have turned the key in the
lock.”

“But what—who are you, sir?” the surprised butler

stammered.

“I’m an acquaintance of Mr. Gates,” said Don. “I came

up here with him and he left me to go down stairs.
Someone must have turned the lock while I was in
here.”
“But, sir,” protested the butler. “No one has been past 181
this door. I sleep in the next room and I came out
before going to bed because I heard you rattle the
door.”

“And that was very kind of you,” said Don. He saw that
the butler was not overly bright and that he would
probably have no trouble with the man. “It must have
been an accident, my getting locked in here. Well, I’ll go
downstairs and join Mr. Gates. Thank you very much.”

“You are very welcome, sir. But—”

“But what?” inquired Don, frowning at the man. “Do you

think I am a burglar, man? Can’t you see the uniform I
have on? I’m a cadet at Woodcrest School.”

“No offense meant, sir,” hastily replied the butler. “It was
just—hum—irregular, sir, and I wondered. Goodnight,
sir.”

“Goodnight,” responded Don, hoping that Gates had not

heard the talking.

Apparently he had not, for there was no movement as

he walked cautiously down to the second floor. The
butler had gone back to his room and no one was in the
hall. The young cadet was undecided as to what to do
now that he was free.

“I ought to make a good effort to get hold of that cup,

now that I am in the house,” he reasoned. “But I don’t
know how to go about it.”

He tiptoed along the second floor hall, determined to go 182

to the lower floor and look around down there for the
cup. He was not greatly worried about the whole
situation for he knew that the colonel was back of him
in whatever he did, and even in the event that the
Gates family got highhanded about things he was sure
that the significant word spoken to them would serve to
cool their temper. So he had some degree of comfort in
the fact that it would probably come out right in the
end. And when he stopped to think of the heavy
injustice that George Long had suffered all these years
because of the flagrant villainy of these same people he
had no scruples against prowling around Gates’ house.

A light showed under the door of the room into which

the cadets had carried Melvin Gates the night of the
accident and Don stopped there, struck by an idea. He
moved up close to the door and listened, being
rewarded by the murmur of voices inside. Although they
were pitched in a low key he was nevertheless able to
make out what was being said.

“But you cannot keep that young man a prisoner,” he

heard Melvin Gates say.

“Well, what am I going to do with him?” his son asked

impatiently.

“I do not know, Arthur. You think he was prowling

around to find that cup?”

“Oh, of course!” cried the son, wearily. “That cup has

cost me more anxiety than anything I ever had anything
to do with in my life!”

“That is entirely your own fault, Arthur. If you had not 183
been so dishonest all of your life you wouldn’t be in
such a fix.”

“Don’t preach to me, father,” snapped the son, angrily.

“It is too bad I didn’t preach to you when you were
smaller, instead of filling your pockets with money that
you didn’t have the sense to take care of. Where is the
cup now?”

“I threw it in the closet in my study, at the end of the

hall,” was the answer, which sent a thrill of hope
through Don.

There was a rustle inside the room, much as though

someone was getting out of bed. “Tomorrow we’ll
dispose of that cup by melting it in the furnace,” said
the elder Gates. “Wait until I get a bathrobe on and
we’ll go up and interview that young man in the billiard
room.”

Don waited to hear no more. Arthur Gates had given

him the clue he needed and like a shot he darted off
down the hall to the room at the end. This was the
room which tallied with the brief description the man
had given, but Don poked his head carefully in the door
before entering, as he did not wish to walk into
anyone’s bedroom.

But it was a small study which lay before him. In the

dim light which flooded in from the hall he could see the
outline of a table, an easy chair and a pile of books on
the table. On the other side of the room he made out a
door. He entered the room and made his way to it,
finding it slightly open. At that moment he heard the
two Gates leave the room of the older man and begin to
mount the stairs to the third floor.

Don’s groping hands encountered a wooden box on the 184

floor of the closet. It seemed to be the same size as the
one which had been in the garden that night, and as
there was no other object on the floor or on the single
shelf he was sure that he had at last come across the
1933 class trophy.

“I’ve got the cup at last,” he reflected. “Now, the big job
is to get out of this house!”

185
 Chapter 22
Direct Action

Terry and Jim ran with all the speed they could muster
across the fields, believing that Don was close behind
them.

But Jim finally realized that no one was close to them

and he came to a halt, calling to Terry in a low tone.
The red-headed boy stopped and joined him.

“Did we lose our pursuers?” Terry panted.

“Yes,” gasped Jim, gulping in the fresh air. “And I’m

afraid that we have lost Don!”

“Isn’t he around?” cried Terry.

“No. I don’t know what has happened to him. I heard

him pounding along after us and then I lost the sound.
Maybe he just branched off in another direction.”

“Let’s give him the old signal,” urged Terry, puckering up 186
his lips. He whistled in a low, penetrating note, the
signal which had always been known to the three
friends and which had been agreed upon before they
had left on their night’s quest. The sound went across
the fields but there was no answer, though they strained
their ears to listen.

“I wonder if those men caught Don?” said Jim.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” reassured Terry. “I guess he just
got separated from us. Before we came out we agreed
to meet under the lamp post in case we got separated.
Let’s go over to the street and see if he is waiting
there.”

Together they crossed the lots and emerged on the

street upon which the Gannon House faced,
approaching the lamp light with some degree of
caution. But after they had waited in the shadow of a
tree for ten minutes they were both forced to the same
conclusion.

“Not a doubt in the world that he was captured,” sighed

Terry.

“I’m afraid so,” agreed Jim. “If he had gone off in

another direction he would surely have come here
directly. At this moment he must be a prisoner in Gates’
house.”

“What are we going to do about it?” demanded Terry

practically.

“What can we do?” asked Jim helplessly.

“I think we need a little direct action,” said Terry. “Let’s

go back to the house and see if we can get a look at
him. We may even be able to set him free.”

“OK, I’m willing,” responded Jim, moving off down the

street. “Perhaps they have turned him over to the
police.”

“That isn’t likely to do them any good,” explained Terry. 187

“We have the colonel back of us and have nothing to
worry about. Anyway, I think that Don will drop a word
or two that will give ’em something to think about.”

“Take it easy now,” warned Jim, as they drew close to

the gate before the big house. “No telling who is
snooping around the grounds.”

Seeing no one in immediate range of vision they flitted

across the sidewalk and entered the grounds of the old
place. Keeping close to the hedge they made their way
along it up to the house and then paused.

“Lights are none too plentiful in the house,” whispered

Terry.

There was only one lighted room in the downstairs. A

low light burned in a bedroom on the second floor and
two rooms were lighted on the third floor. With one
accord, after a hasty glance around, the two cadets
crept to the window and looked under the shade into
the library.

“No one in there,” Jim whispered.

The room was empty. A single reading lamp burned in

the place but there was no sign of life. At that moment
Terry nudged his companion’s arm.

“Say! Doesn’t something occur to you?”

“No,” said Jim. “What?”

“It was under this same window that the patriots stood
and saw that spy school teacher talking with British
officers!”
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