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 1. Use the following to answer questions a-c:

Consider taking samples of size 100 from a population with proportion 0.33.

a. Find the mean of the distribution of sample proportions.

A) 0.0033 B) 0.033 C) 0.33 D) 33
Ans: C Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

b. Find the standard error of the distribution of sample proportions.

A) 0.002211 B) 0.0033 C) 0.047 D) 0.33
Ans: C Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

c. Is the sample size large enough for the Central Limit Theorem to apply so that the sample
proportions follow a normal distribution?
A) Yes B) No
Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.2

2. Use the following to answer questions a-c:

Consider taking samples of size 25 from a population with proportion 0.65.

a. Find the mean of the distribution of sample proportions.

A) 0.026 B) 0.65 C) 0.13 D) 16.25
Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

b. Find the standard error of the distribution of sample proportions.

A) 0.0954 B) 0.0091 C) 0.0455 D) 0.0191
Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

c. Is the sample size large enough for the Central Limit Theorem to apply so that the sample
proportions follow a normal distribution?
A) Yes B) No
Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.2

Use the following to answer questions 3-8:

Suppose that the makers of M&M's claim that 24% of their Milk Chocolate M&M's are blue.

3. Assume that Fun-Size bags of Milk Chocolate M&M's hold 20 candies. Find the mean
and standard error of the distribution of sample proportions of blue candies for Fun-Size
bags (i.e., samples of size 20). Use four decimal places when reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.24
0.24*0.76
standard error = = 0.0955
20
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

Page 1
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

4. Assume that the bags of Milk Chocolate M&M's sold in vending machines have 55
candies. Find the mean and standard error of the distribution of sample proportions of
blue candies for vending machine bags (i.e., samples of size 55). Use four decimal
places when reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.24
0.24*0.76
standard error = = 0.0576
55
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

5. Assume that bags of Milk Chocolate M&M's labeled as "Medium" size contain 415
candies. Find the mean and standard error of the distribution of sample proportions of
blue candies for Medium bags (i.e., samples of size 415). Use four decimal places when
reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.24
0.24*.76
standard error = = 0.0210
415
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

6. Would you expect using bags of Milk Chocolate M&M's labeled as "Large" size, which
contain more candies than the "Medium" size bags, to result in a larger or smaller
standard error?
A) Larger B) Smaller
Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

7. For which sample sizes (Fun-Size with 20, Vending Machine with 55, or Medium with
415) would the Central Limit Theorem apply?
Ans: The Central Limit Theorem would apply for the Vending Machine and Medium
size bags (but not the Fun-Size).

Fun-Size: 20(0.24) = 4.8 < 10 <-- no

Vending Machine: 55(0.24) = 13.2 > 10, 55(0.76) = 41.8 > 10 <-- yes
Medium: 415(0.24) = 99.6 > 10, 415(0.76) = 315.4 > 10 <-- yes
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.2

8. Suppose you purchase a bag of Milk Chocolate M&M's from a vending machine and
only 8 of your 55 candies are blue. Assuming that the sample proportions are normally
distributed, what percent of vending machine bags (i.e., samples of size 55) will have a
sample proportion smaller than 0.145? Use two decimal places when reporting your
answer.
Ans: 0.05 (found using Statkey)
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 5.1.0; 6.1.0

Page 2
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 9-13:

Admissions records at a small university indicates that 6.7% of the students enrolled are
international students.

9. Find the mean and standard error of the sample proportion of international students in
random samples of size 50. Use four decimal places when reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.067
0.067*0.933
standard error = = 0.0354
50
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

10. Find the mean and standard error of the sample proportion of international students in
random samples of size 100. Use four decimal places when reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.067
0.067*0.933
standard error = = 0.0250
100
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

11. Find the mean and standard error of the sample proportion of international students in
random samples of size 200. Use four decimal places when reporting the standard error.
Ans: mean = 0.067
0.067*0.933
standard error = = 0.0177
200
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.1

12. For which sample sizes (n = 50, n = 100, and n = 200) would the Central Limit Theorem
apply?
Ans: Only the sample of size n = 200.

n = 50: 50*0.067 = 3.35 < 10 <-- no

n = 100: 100*0.067 = 6.7 < 10 <-- no
n = 200: 200*0.067 = 13.4 > 10, 200*0.933 = 186.6 > 10 <-- yes
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.1.2

13. What proportion of samples of 200 randomly selected students will have at least 8%
international students? Use three decimal places when reporting your answer.
Ans: 0.231 (found using Statkey)
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 5.1.0; 6.1.0

Page 3
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 14-17:

A 2009 study to investigate the dominant paws in cats was described in Animal Behaviour
(Volume 78, Issue 2). The researchers used a random sample of 42 domestic cats. In this study,
each cat was shown a treat (5 grams of tuna), and while the cat watched, the food was placed
inside a jar. The opening of the jar was small enough that the cat could not stick its head inside to
remove the treat. The researcher recorded the paw that was first used by the cat to try to retrieve
the treat. This was repeated 100 times for each cat (over a span of several days). The paw used
most often was deemed the dominant paw (note that one cat used both paws equally and was
classified as "ambidextrous"). Of the 42 cats studied, 20 were classified as "left-pawed".

14. Verify that the sample is large enough to use the normal formula to find a confidence
interval for the proportion of domestic cats that are "left-pawed".
Ans: p̂ = 20/42 = 0.476

npˆ = 20 > 10, n(1 − pˆ ) = 22 > 10 <-- Yes, we can use the normal formula
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.0

15. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of domestic cats that are
"left-pawed". Use three decimal places in your margin of error.
Ans: p̂ = 20/42 = 0.476

(0.476)(1 − 0.476)
0.476  1.96
42
0.476  0.151
0.325 to 0.627
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.1

16. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 95% sure that the proportion of domestic cats that are "left-pawed" is
between 0.325 and 0.627.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.2.0

17. Another researcher wants to conduct a similar study to more precisely estimate the
proportion of cats that are "left-pawed". They want to construct a 95% confidence
interval that has a margin of error of 6%. How many cats does she need to use in her
sample?
Ans: Use the results of the original study as p = 0.476.
2
 1.96 
n=  (0.476)(1 − 0.476) = 266.2
 0.06 
She needs 267 cats to meet her goal.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.2

Page 4
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 18-21:

In an October 2012 survey of 7,786 randomly selected adults living in Germany, 5,840 said they
exercised for at least 30 minutes three or more times per week.

18. Verify that the sample is large enough to use the normal formula to find a confidence
interval for the proportion of Germans who exercises for 30 minutes three or more times
a week.
Ans: p̂ = 5,840/7,786 = 0.75

npˆ = 5,840 > 10, n(1 − pˆ ) = 1,946 > 10 <-- yes, we can use the normal formula
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.0

19. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the proportion of Germans who exercise for 30
minutes three or more times a week. Use three decimal places in your margin of error.
Ans: p̂ = 5,840/7,786 = 0.75

0.75*0.25
0.75  2.575
7, 786
0.75  0.013

0.737 to 0.763
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.1

20. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 99% sure that the proportion of Germans who exercise for 30 minutes three
or more times a week is between 0.737 and 0.763.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.2.0

21. Suppose an exercise scientist wants to estimate the proportion of American adults who
exercise for 30 minutes three or more times per week. He wants to construct a 90%
confidence interval with a margin of error of 1%. Note that Americans are typically
thought to not be as active as individuals in other countries, and thus the estimate from
Germany is likely not a good estimate for Americans. What sample size does he need?
Ans: Use p = 0.5 because 75% is not a good estimate for Americans and we don't have
a better guess.

2
 1.645 
n=  *0.5*0.5 = 6,765.1
 0.01 

He should survey 6,766 people for his study.

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.2

Page 5
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 22-26:

In an August 2012 Gallup survey of 1,012 randomly selected U.S. adults (age 18 and over), 53%
said that they were dissatisfied with the quality of education students receive in kindergarten
through grade 12.

22. Verify that the sample is large enough to use the normal formula to find a confidence
interval for the proportion of Americans who are dissatisfied with the quality of
education students receive in kindergarten through grade 12.
Ans: p̂ = 0.53

npˆ = 536.36 > 10, n(1 − pˆ ) = 475.64 > 10 <-- Yes, we can use the normal formula
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.0

23. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the proportion of U.S. adults who are dissatisfied
with the quality of education students receive in kindergarten through grade 12. Use three
decimal places in your margin of error.
0.53*0.47
Ans: 0.53  1.645
1, 012
0.53  0.026
0.504 to 0.556
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.1

24. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 90% sure that the proportion of U.S. adults who are dissatisfied with the
quality of education students receive in kindergarten through grade 12 is between
0.504 and 0.556.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 2.3.4; 6.2.0

25. Suppose you want to estimate the proportion of local adults who are dissatisfied with the
education students receive in kindergarten through grade 12 with 95% confidence and a
5% margin of error. If you suspect that local adults won't differ drastically from those
Gallup used, how many people should you sample?
Ans: Use p = 0.53 (because we don't suspect the local adults to drastically differ from
the Gallup sample)

2
 1.96 
n=  (0.53)(0.47) = 382.8
 0.05 

You should sample 383 local adults.

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.2.2

Page 6
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

26. Test, at the 5% level, if this sample provides evidence that the proportion of Americans
who are dissatisfied with education in kindergarten through grade 12 differs significantly
from 50%. Be sure to verify that it is appropriate to use a normal distribution to compute
the p-value and include all of the details of the test.
Ans: p = proportion of U.S. adults who are dissatisfied with education in kindergarten
through grade 12.

Ho: p = 0.50
Ha: p  0.50

npo = n(1-po) = 1,012*0.5 = 506 > 10

Since both are larger than 10, the sample size is large enough to use the normal
distribution to compute the p-value.

0.53 − 0.50
Test statistic: z = = 1.909
0.5*0.5
1, 012

p-value = 0.056 (two-tail probability, using Statkey)

Since the p-value is larger than the 5% significance level, there is no evidence to
reject Ho and thus there is no evidence to conclude that proportion of U.S. adults
who are dissatisfied with education in kindergarten through grade 12 differs
significantly from 50%.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.3.1

Use the following to answer questions 27-30:

A sample of 148 college students at a large university reports getting an average of 6.85 hours of
sleep last night with a standard deviation of 2.12 hours.

27. Verify that it is reasonable to use the t-distribution to construct a confidence interval for
the average amount of sleep students at this university got last night.
Ans: A sample of size 148 is large enough to use the Central Limit Theorem.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

Page 7
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

28. Construct a 98% confidence interval for the average amount of sleep students at this
university got last night. Use two decimal places in your margin of error.
Ans: n = 148  df = 147  t* = 2.352 (using Statkey)

 2.12 
6.85  2.352  
 148 

6.85  0.41
6.44 to 7.26 hours
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3; 6.5.1

29. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 98% sure that the mean amount of sleep students at this university got last
night is between 6.44 and 7.26 hours.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.5.0

30. Suppose you want to conduct a similar study at your university. Assuming that the
standard deviation of this sample is a reasonable estimate of the standard deviation of
sleep time at your university, how many students do you need to survey to estimate the
mean sleep time of students at your university with 95% confidence and a margin of error
of 0.5 hours?
Ans:  = 2.12

2
 1.96* 2.12 
n=  =69.1
 0.5 

You need to survey 70 students.

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.2

Page 8
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 31-34:

An Internet provider contacts a random sample of 300 customers and asks how many hours per
week the customers use the Internet. The responses are summarized in the provided dotplot. The
average amount of time spent on the Internet per week was 7.2 hours, with a standard deviation
of 7.9 hours.

31. Is it reasonable to use the t-distribution to construct a confidence interval for the average
amount of time customers of this Internet provider spend on the Internet each week?
Explain briefly.
Ans: Yes, even though the distribution is skewed with some outliers, the sample size is
extremely large (n = 300).
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

32. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the average amount of time customers of this
Internet provider spend on the Internet each week. Round the margin of error to one
decimal place.
Ans: n = 300  df = 299  t* = 1.968

 7.9 
7.2  1.968  
 300 
7.2  0.9
6.3 to 8.1 hours
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3; 6.5.1

Page 9
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

33. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 95% sure that the average amount of time customers of this Internet
provider spend on the Internet each week is between 6.3 and 8.1 hours.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.5.0

34. If we want a margin of error of 0.5 hours, how large of a sample would we need?
2
 1.96*7.9 
Ans: n =   = 959.02
 0.5 

We would need 960 people.

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.2

35. Use the following to answer questions a-b:

According to the National Science Foundation, individuals who graduated in 2010 with a
doctoral degree had an average of $14,115 graduate debt. Assume that the standard deviation of
graduate debt is $26,400. If we take lots of samples of individuals who graduated in 2010 with a
doctoral degree, what would you expect the mean and standard error of the distribution of
sample mean graduate debt amounts to be in each case? In each case, use two decimal places
when reporting your standard error.

a. n = 200 individuals
Ans: mean:  =$14,115
26, 400
SE = = $1,866.76
200
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

b. n = 500 individuals
Ans: mean:  =$14,115
26, 400
SE = = $1,180.64
500
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

36. Use the following to answer questions a-h:

For each of the following, assume that the sample is a random sample from a distribution that is
reasonably normally distributed and that we are doing inference for a population mean.

a. Find endpoints of a t-distribution with 2.5% beyond them in each tail if the sample has
size n = 15.
Ans: -2.145 and 2.145
Difficulty: Easy L.O.: 6.4.3

Page 10
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

b. Find endpoints of a t-distribution with 10% beyond them in each tail if the sample has
size n = 5.
Ans: -1.533 and 1.533
Difficulty: Easy L.O.: 6.4.3

c. Find endpoints of a t-distribution with 3% beyond them in each tail if the sample has size
n = 60.
Ans: -1.918 and 1.918
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3

d. Find endpoints of a t-distribution with 1.5% beyond them in each tail if the sample has
size 22.
Ans: -2.328 and 2.328
Difficulty: Easy L.O.: 6.4.3

e. Find the area in a t-distribution to the right of 2.6 if the sample has size n = 16.
Ans: 0.01
Difficulty: Easy L.O.: 6.4.3

f. Find the area in a t-distribution to the right of 1.75 if the sample has size n = 4.
Ans: 0.089
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3

g. Find the area in a t-distribution to the left of -2.7 if the sample has size n = 35.
Ans: 0.0054
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3

h. Find the area in a t-distribution to the left of -0.68 if the sample has size n = 20.
Ans: 0.252
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.3

Use the following to answer questions 37-40:

For each of the following, find the mean and standard error of the distribution of sample means.
Use two decimal places when reporting your standard error.

37. Samples of size 15 from a population with mean 25 and standard deviation 4.
Ans: mean:  = 25
4
SE = = 1.03
15
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

Page 11
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

38. Samples of size 50 from a population with mean 450 and standard deviation 75.
Ans: mean:  = 450
75
SE = = 10.61
50
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

39. Samples of size 25 from a population with mean 10 and standard deviation 2.
Ans: mean:  = 10
2
SE = = 0.40
25
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

40. Samples of size 250 from a population with mean 80 and standard deviation of 15.
Ans: mean:  = 80
15
SE = = 0.95
250
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.1

Use the following to answer questions 41-44:

A dotplot and the summary statistics for a sample are provided. In each case, indicate whether or
not it is appropriate to use the t-distribution.

41. n = 12; x = 4.75; s = 1.603

A) Appropriate B) Not Appropriate

Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

Page 12
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

42. n = 10; x = 7.80; s = 9.28

A) Appropriate B) Not Appropriate

Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

43. n = 100; x = 9.93; s = 9.247

A) Appropriate B) Not Appropriate

Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

44. n = 15; x = 44; s = 7.32

A) Appropriate B) Not Appropriate

Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

Page 13
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 45-48:

November 6, 2012 was election day. Many of the major television networks aired coverage of
the incoming election results during the primetime hours. The provided boxplot displays the
amount of time (in minutes) spent watching election coverage for a random sample of 25 U.S.
adults. In this sample, the average time spent watching election coverage was 80.44 minutes with
standard deviation of 43.99 minutes.

45. Is it reasonable to use the t-distribution to construct a confidence interval for the average
amount of time spent watching election coverage by U.S. adults? Explain briefly.
Ans: Yes. We have a moderate sample size (n = 25) and there are no outliers or extreme
skewness in the boxplot.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

46. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the average amount of time U.S. adults spent
watching election coverage. Use two decimal places in your margin of error.
 43.99 
Ans: 80.44  1.711 
 25 
80.44  15.05

65.39 to 95.49 hours

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.1

47. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 90% sure that the average amount of time spent watching election coverage
by U.S. adults is between 65.39 and 95.49 hours.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.5.0

Page 14
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

48. What sample size would we need to estimate the average amount of time U.S. adults
watching election coverage with 99% confidence and a margin of error of  5 hours?
2
 2.575* 43.99 
Ans: n =   = 513.24
 5 

514 U.S. adults

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.2

Use the following to answer questions 49-53:

Turkey is a staple at most traditional Thanksgiving dinners. A random sample of 12 grocery store
customers were asked about the size of the turkey they were purchasing for Thanksgiving. The
average weight was 13.9 pounds with a standard deviation of 2.2 pounds. The boxplot displays
the distribution of the sample turkey weights.

49. Is is reasonable to use the t-distribution to construct a confidence interval for the average
weight of turkeys purchased at this store? Explain briefly.
Ans: Yes, even though we have a small sample size, the boxplot is fairly symmetric and
there are no outliers.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.4.2

Page 15
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

50. Construct a 99% confidence interval for the average weight of turkeys purchased at this
store. Round your margin of error to two decimal places.
 2.2 
Ans: 13.9  3.105  
 12 
13.9  1.97

11.93 to 15.87 pounds

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.1

51. Provide an interpretation of your interval in the context of this data situation.
Ans: We are 99% sure that the mean weight of turkeys purchased at this store is between
11.93 and 15.87 pounds.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 3.2.4; 6.5.0

52. What sample size would we need to reduce the margin of error to  1 pound?
2
 2.575* 2.2 
Ans: n =   =32.09
 1 

We would need 33 turkeys (customers purchasing turkeys).

Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.5.2

53. According to the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association's website, the average weight
of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving dinner is 15 pounds. Test, at the 5% level, if this
sample provides evidence that the average weight of turkeys purchased at this store
differs from 15 pounds. Include all of the details of the test.
Ans:  = mean weight of turkeys purchased at this store

Ho:  = 15
Ho:   15

13.9 − 15
Test Statistic: t = = -1.732
2.2
12

The sample data look roughly symmetric with no outliers, so we can use the
t-distribution with 11 degrees of freedom to compute the p-value.

p-value = 0.111

Because the p-value is larger than the 5% significance level, we have no evidence
to reject Ho and thus have no evidence to conclude that the average weight of
turkeys purchased at this store differs significantly from the 15 pounds reported by
the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.6.1

Page 16
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

Use the following to answer questions 54-56:

A study published in 2008 in the American Journal of Health Promotion (Volume 22, Issue 6)
by researchers at the University of Minnesota (U of M) found that 124 out of 1,923 U of M
females had over $6,000 in credit card debt while 61 out of 1,236 males had over $6,000 in
credit card debt.

54. Verify that the sample size is large enough in each group to use the normal distribution to
construct a confidence interval for a difference in two proportions.
Ans: n f pˆ f = 124 > 10
n f (1 − pˆ f ) = 1,799 > 10

nm pˆ m = 61 > 10
nm (1 − pˆ m ) = 1,175 > 10

Since all are greater than 10, the sample size is large enough in each group to use
the normal distribution to construct the confidence interval.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.8.0

55. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the difference between the proportions of female
and male University of Minnesota students who have more than $6,000 in credit card
debt (pf - pm). Round your sample proportions and margin of error to four decimal places.
Ans: pˆ f − pˆ m = 124/1,923 - 61/1,236 = 0.0645 - 0.0494 = 0.0151

0.0645(1 − 0.0645) 0.0494(1 − 0.0494)

0.0151  1.96 +
1,923 1, 236
0.0151  1.96(0.008328935)
0.0151  0.0163
-0.0012 to 0.0314
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.8.1

Page 17
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

56. Test, at the 5% level, if there is evidence that the proportion of female students at U of M
with more that $6,000 credit card debt is greater than the proportion of males at U of M
with more than $6,000 credit card debt. Include all details of the test.
Ans: Ho: pf = pm
Ha: pf > pm

pf = proportion of female U of M students with more than $6,000 credit card debt
pm = proportion of male U of M students with more than $6,000 credit card debt

61 + 124 185
Pooled proportion (for standard error): pˆ = = = 0.0586
1, 236 + 1,923 3,159

0.0645 − 0.0494
Test statistic: z = = 1.763
 1 1 
0.0586(1 − 0.0586)  + 
 1, 236 1,923 

We can use the normal distribution to compute the p-value because both samples
have at least 10 successes and failures.

p-value = 0.039 (Right tail probability found using Statkey)

Because the p-value is less than the 5% significance level, we have evidence to
reject the null hypothesis and conclude that the proportion of female U of M
students with more than $6,000 in credit card debt is significantly higher than the
proportion of male U of M students with more than $6,000 in credit card debt.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.9.1

57. Use the following to answer questions a-c:

Every year since the 1957-58 academic year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducts
its Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) of all individuals receiving research doctoral degrees
from accredited U.S. institutions. The results from the 2010 survey published on the NSF
website indicate that 78.2% of individuals earning their doctorate in the physical sciences have
no graduate debt while 48.3% of those earning their doctorate in the social sciences have no
graduate debt. Of the 48,069 research doctorates granted in 2010, 93% completed the SED, thus
the information collected by the NSF can be good approximations of the population parameters.

Page 18
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

a. Suppose we take random samples of 100 individuals who earned a doctorate in the
physical sciences (in 2010) and 100 individuals who earned a doctorate in the social
sciences (in 2010). Find the mean and standard error (using four decimal places) of the
distribution of differences in sample proportions ( pˆ P − pˆ S ), and indicate if the sample
sizes are large enough to use the Central Limit Theorem.
Ans: mean = 0.782 - 0.483 = 0.299

0.782(1 − 0.782) 0.483(1 − 0.483)

SE = + = 0.0648
100 100

nPpP = 100*0.782 = 78.2 > 10

nP(1-pP) = 100*(1-0.782) = 21.8 > 10

nSpS = 100*0.483 = 48.3 > 10

nS(1-pS) = 100*(1-0.483) = 51.7 > 10

Since all are greater than 10, the sample sizes are large enough to use the Central
Limit Theorem.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.2; 6.7.3

b. Suppose we take random samples of 25 individuals who earned a doctorate in the

physical sciences (in 2010) and 50 individuals who earned a doctorate in the social
sciences (in 2010). Find the mean and standard error (using four decimal places) of the
distribution of differences in sample proportions ( pˆ P − pˆ S ), and indicate if the sample
sizes are large enough to use the Central Limit Theorem.
Ans: mean = 0.782 - 0.483 = 0.299

0.782(1 − 0.782) 0.483(1 − 0.483)

SE = + = 0.1087
25 50

nPpP = 25*0.782 = 19.55 > 10

nP(1-pP) = 25*(1-0.782) = 5.45 < 10 X

nSpS = 50*0.483 = 24.15 > 10

nS(1-pS) = 50*(1-0.483) = 25.85 > 10

Since nP(1-pP) is not greater than 10, the sample sizes are NOT large enough to
use the Central Limit Theorem.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.2; 6.7.3

Page 19
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

c. Suppose we take random samples of 50 individuals who earned a doctorate in the

physical sciences (in 2010) and 25 individuals who earned a doctorate in the social
sciences (in 2010). Find the mean and standard error (using four decimal places) of the
distribution of differences in sample proportions ( pˆ P − pˆ S ), and indicate if the sample
sizes are large enough to use the Central Limit Theorem.
Ans: mean = 0.782 - 0.483 = 0.299

0.782(1 − 0.782) 0.483(1 − 0.483)

SE = + = 0.1157
50 25

nPpP = 50*0.782 = 39.1 > 10

nP(1-pP) =50*(1-0.782) = 10.9 > 10

nSpS = 25*0.483 = 12.075 > 10

nS(1-pS) = 25*(1-0.483) = 12.925 > 10

Since all are greater than 10, the sample sizes are large enough to use the Central
Limit Theorem.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.2; 6.7.3

58. Use the following to answer questions a-d:

Situations comparing two proportions are described. In each case, determine whether the
situation involves comparing proportions for two groups or comparing two proportions from the
same group.

a. Compare the proportion of U.S. adults who have a positive opinion about the media and
the proportion of U.S. adults who have a negative opinion about the media.
A) Comparing proportions for two groups
B) Comparing two proportions from the same group
Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.1

b. Comparing proportion of milk chocolate M&M's that are blue to the proportion of milk
chocolate M&M's that are green.
A) Comparing proportions for two groups
B) Comparing two proportions from the same group
Ans: B Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.1

c. Comparing the proportion of milk chocolate M&M's that are blue to the proportion of
dark chocolate M&M's that are blue.
A) Comparing proportions for two groups
B) Comparing two proportions from the same group
Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.1

Page 20
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

d. Compare the proportion of female students at a university who play a sport to the
proportion of male students at a university who play a sport.
A) Comparing proportions for two groups
B) Comparing two proportions from the same group
Ans: A Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.7.1

Use the following to answer questions 59-62:

Students in a small statistics class were asked to count the number of scars both on their
"dominant" hand (the one they use most often) and on their "off" hand. The summary statistics
are provided. It is of interest to compare the average number of scars on the dominant and off
hands.

n x s
Dominant 25 1.92 2.326
Off 25 2.72 3.007
Difference (D - O) 25 -0.8 2.363

59. Why is it appropriate to use paired data in this analysis? Explain briefly.
Ans: Paired data difference in means would be more appropriate here because each
student counts the number of scars on both their dominant and their off hand. Since
there are two measurements on each student, this is paired data.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.13.1

Page 21
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

60. Boxplots of the raw data are provided. Would it be appropriate to use a t-distribution to
construct a confidence interval for, or perform a test about, the difference in the mean
number of scars on dominant and off hands? Specifically mention which boxplot(s) you
are using to justify your answer.

Ans: Since this is a paired data problem, we need to look at the boxplot of the
differences. Since the differences look reasonably symmetric, it is appropriate to
construct a confidence interval for, or perform a test about, the difference in the
mean number of scars on dominant and off hands.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.13.0; 6.13.3; 6.13.4

61. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the difference in mean number of scars on
dominant and off hands. Round your margin of error to two decimal places.
Ans: n = 25, so df = 24.
The t endpoint for a 90% confidence interval when there are 24 degrees of freedom
is t = 1.711 (found using Statkey).

 2.363 
-0.8  1.711  
 25 
-0.8  0.81

-1.61 to 0.01
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.13.3

Page 22
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

62. Test to see if the mean number of scars on dominant hands is significantly different from
the mean number of scars on off hands. Use a 10% significance level. Include all of the
details of the test.
Ans: d = difference in mean number of scars on dominant and off hands (dominant -
off) (Note  D − O = mean number of scars on dominant hand - mean number of
scars on off hand would also be acceptable.)

Ho: d = 0
Ha: d  0

−0.8 − 0
Test statistic: t = = -1.693
2.363
25

n = 25, so df = 24

p-value = 0.103 (two-sided p-value found in Statkey using a t distribution with 24

degrees of freedom)

Since the p-value is larger than the 10% significance level, we have no evidence to
reject Ho and thus have no evidence conclude that there is a significant difference
in the mean number of scars on dominant and off hands.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.13.4

Page 23
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

63. A 2009 study to investigate the dominant paws in cats was described in Animal
Behaviour (Volume 78, Issue 2). The researchers used a random sample of 42 domestic
cats. In this study, each cat was shown a treat (5 grams of tuna), and while the cat
watched, the food was placed inside a jar. The opening of the jar was small enough that
the cat could not stick its head inside to remove the treat. The researcher recorded the
paw that was first used by the cat to try to retrieve the treat. This was repeated 100 times
for each cat (over a span of several days). The paw used most often was deemed the
dominant paw (note that one cat used both paws equally and was classified as
"ambidextrous"). The researchers were also interested in comparing the proportion of
"left-pawed" cats for male and female cats. Of the 21 male cats in the sample, 19 were
classified as "left-pawed" while only 1 of the 21 female cats were considered to be
"left-pawed". Explain why it would not be appropriate to use the normal distribution to
construct a confidence interval for the difference in the proportion of male and female
cats that are "left-pawed".
Ans: nM pˆ M = 19 > 10
nM (1 − pˆ M ) = 2 < 10 X

nF pˆ F = 20 > 10
nF (1 − pˆ F ) = 1 < 10 X

Since there are only two "failures" in the sample of male cats and only 1 "failure"
in the sample of female cats, the sample sizes are not large enough to use the
Central Limit Theorem.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.8.1

Use the following to answer questions 64-66:

February 12, 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. To celebrate, Gallup,
a national polling organization, surveyed 1,018 randomly selected American adults about their
education level and their beliefs about the theory of evolution. In their sample, 325 of their
respondents had some college education and 228 were college graduates. Among the 325
respondents with some college education, 133 said that they believed in the theory of evolution.
Among the 228 respondents who were college graduates, 121 said that they believed in the
theory of evolution.

Page 24
 Chapter 6: Inference for Means and Proportions

64. Verify that the sample size is large enough in each group to use the normal distribution to
construct a confidence interval for a difference in proportions.
Ans: pˆ SC = 133 = 0.409 = sample proportion of those with some college education
325
that believe in evolution
pˆ CG = 121 = 0.531 = sample proportion of the college graduates that believe in
228
evolution

nSC pˆ SC = 133 > 10

nSC (1 − pˆ SC ) = 192 > 10

nCG pˆ CG = 121 > 10

nCG (1 − pˆ CG ) = 107 > 10

Since all are greater than 10, the sample sizes are large enough to apply the Central
Limit Theorem and use a normal distribution to construct a confidence interval for
a difference in proportions.
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.8.0

65. Construct a 90% confidence interval for the difference between the proportions of college
graduates and individuals with some college who believe in the theory of evolution.
Round your sample proportions and margin of error to three decimal places.
Ans: pˆ CG = 121 = 0.531 = sample proportion of the college graduates that believe in
228
evolution
pˆ SC = 133 = 0.409 = sample proportion of those with some college education
325
that believe in evolution

0.531 - 0.409 = 0.122

0.531(1 − 0.531) 0.409(1 − 0.409)

0.122  1.645 +
228 325
0.122  1.645(0.04284889)
0.122  0.070

0.052 to 0.192
Difficulty: Medium L.O.: 6.8.1

Page 25
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The River
Motor Boat Boys on the Amazon; Or, The
Secret of Cloud Island
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
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Title: The River Motor Boat Boys on the Amazon; Or, The Secret
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Release date: October 1, 2015 [eBook #50102]

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIVER

MOTOR BOAT BOYS ON THE AMAZON; OR, THE SECRET OF CLOUD
ISLAND ***
Frank’s powerful searchlight showed
the Indian, knife in hand, ready to
spring.
The River Motor Boat Boys on the
Amazon
OR

The Secret of Cloud Island

By HARRY GORDON

Author of
“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Mississippi,”
“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Colorado,”
“The River Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence,”
“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Columbia,”
“The River Motor Boat Boys on the Ohio.”

A. L. Burt Company
New York

Copyright, 1913
By A. L. Burt Company

THE SIX RIVER MOTOR BOYS ON THE AMAZON

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 I. ALL READY FOR THE AMAZON
II. A CALL FROM THE DARKNESS
III. THE BROWN LEATHER BAG
IV. TWO GUESTS AND AN ARREST
V. THE BOY FROM PERU
VI. $500 REWARD—LIGHTS OF PARA
VII. A BOAT FROM THE SOUTH BRANCH
VIII. AN ADDITION TO THE PARTY
IX. AN ALARM IN THE NIGHT
X. A CAMPFIRE IN THE JUNGLE
XI. A HUMAN GUARD WITH HORNS
XII. A PLOT AGAINST THE RAMBLER
XIII. A PLEASANT SURPRISE
XIV. A BATTLE FOR THE BOAT
XV. THE VANISHING “CARGO”
XVI. “KEEP HER HEAD ON!”
XVII. NIGHTS ON THE AMAZON
XVIII. JUST AHEAD OF A MOB
XIX. THE SECRET OF CLOUD ISLAND
XX. A CALL FOR HELP
XXI. “A NICE, QUIET EXCURSION”
XXII. A BATH IN THE NIGHT
XXIII. CLOUD ISLAND

The River Motor Boat Boys on the Amazon

 CHAPTER I.—ALL READY FOR THE AMAZON
The opening of a door cast an oblong shape of light over the
forward deck of a motor boat, against which an April rain drummed
fast or slow, as the uncertain wind came in swift gusts or died down
to whispers. As the illumination traveled past the splashed deck,
bringing out a pier and a warehouse, and a sluggish current pushing
and fussing against the piles of a pier farther down, the tousled
heads of two boys appeared outlined against the ruddy doorway. In
a moment their voices cut through the wind and rain.
“Jule? Oh, Jule!” one of them shouted.
“Last call for dinner in the main cabin, young man!” added the
other.
There was no reply, so the boys, after listening a moment to the
pounding of the rain, the complaining of the river, the roar of the city
which lay all around them, closed the door, producing the effect to
one outside of obliterating the deck and the pier, the warehouse and
the river, as if they had never existed at all.
“Jule will get soaking wet and take cold!” fretted a third voice as
the door closed. “Besides, being on guard, he ought never to have
left the boat!”
One of the boys who had stood in the doorway wiped the rain
from his face as he listened and grinned at the other.
“No need to have a fit about it, even if Jule does get soaked,” he
said. “But he won’t get wet,” he added, entirely for the benefit of the
one who had grumbled, “he’ll be back here in a minute as dry as a
pound of powder.”
“How’s he going to get through all that,” with a swing of the arm
toward the door, “without getting wet? I suppose you think he’ll be
able to dodge the drops!”
“Anyway, what’s the use of getting him wet and sick in our
minds?” cut in another, good-naturedly. “That won’t help any. Most
of the hard luck we’ve had lately never caught up with us—except in
our minds!”
“Case”—Cornelius Witters where full names are insisted on—
turned a dejected face to the others.
“He shouldn’t have gone out,” he grumbled.
“Speaking of hard luck that never caught up with us,” said Clay—
he had inherited from his parents, his only inheritance, by the way,
the name of Gayton Emmett—“do you remember the time we lost
$50 by taking in a counterfeit bill?”
“Yes,” laughed Alex—Alexander Smithwick on state occasions
—“we lost the $50 for one day and one night, until we could get to a
bank. Then it wasn’t lost at all, for the note was genuine! You know
the story how a man hired a professional worrier to take trouble off
his mind? Suppose we hire one? I reckon he’d have enough to do.”
“Quit, boys!” Case broke in. “I know I’ve got a grouch a mile high
to-night, but I’ll soon recover. Wait until I get busy with the supper
we’re going to have, and you’ll see!”
Case seemed ashamed of his complaining, so the boys silently
accepted his implied apology and busied themselves preparing the
supper he had spoken of. In the eyes of the lads that was Case’s one
fault. He was inclined to worry, and also to express his worries in the
most depressing prophecies. But while they laughed at his
premonition of trouble for the absent boy, they listened anxiously for
the absent one’s return.
Directly Clay took a handful of silver from a pocket and laid it in a
shining heap on the table.
“I guess we’d better cash up,” he said. “I got my last pay
envelope from Slade & Co., to-day, and here’s the coin. We must
have more than $200 by this time.”
The other boys drew banknotes and silver from their pockets, and
heaped their contributions on the table.
“Now, we’ll put it with the other,” Clay said, after it had been
counted over at least half a dozen times. “Just where is our bank to-
night? I don’t seem to remember where we deposited last time.”
“It wasn’t in a bank,” Case broke in, forgetting his promise to get
rid of his grouch, “though it should have been. The idea of leaving
$200 lying loose in this old tub!”
“Now you’re losing our money—in your mind!” laughed Clay. “How
many times before to-night have you lost it, Case?”
“Well, it isn’t safe, anyhow,” insisted Case, “even with Jule here to
watch it; and he runs out and leaves the boat alone after dark!”
“When will this professional worrier begin work?” asked Alex with
a sly grin at Clay. “He’s needed here right now. Case doesn’t seem to
be able to acquire any peace of mind!”
Case blushed, as if ashamed of his outburst so soon after having
resolved to mend his ways, and moved toward the back of the cabin.
“I don’t know just where Jule put the money last time we counted
it,” he said, making a great show of looking for it, “but I presume it
is here somewhere.”
In fumbling around next to the rear wall the boy came upon a roll
of drawings, which he brought out and tossed on the table, his quest
of the hidden money momentarily forgotten.
“Here’s the map of the Amazon, boys,” he said, unrolling the
paper. “I brought it in to-night. As we leave to-morrow, we may as
well run over it now. Here’s where we strike the Brazilian coast, at
Para, and here’s where we camp on the Amazon, away up near the
foothills of the Eastern Andes. I guess Jule will get well up there!”
“Of course he will!” Clay asserted. “Didn’t Dr. Holcomb say so? I
guess he knows.”
“He’s a brick, that Dr. Holcomb!” Alex declared. “Only for him we
wouldn’t be so near the roof of the world as we are now.”
“I don’t see any roof of any world!” observed Case, obstinately.
“You will if you stick with us,” Alex continued. “The mountains and
tablelands of South America, along there by Peru, you know, are
often called the roof of the world. When you get up to the top of
some of the mountains, you can’t get any higher in this world,
without going up in an aeroplane, and then you wouldn’t be in the
world at all, but out of it and above it.”
“Well, we aren’t very near it yet,” Case replied.
“But we will be nearer it, physically, to-morrow night at this time,”
Alex kept on. “Think of it! Through the drainage canal like an arrow
in this good little motor boat, down the Mississippi with a rush, into
the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea and out again, and then
along the coast to the mouth of the Amazon! Say, boys, do you
know that the Amazon has a mouth a hundred and fifty miles wide?”
“What a campaign orator she would have made!” laughed Clay.
“But, suppose we find the money before we look over the map.”
The motor boat Rambler lay in a secluded warehouse slip in the
South Branch, as the southwestern arm of the Chicago river is
called, and the three hungry boys referred to and one other, Julian
Shafer, the lad the others were now anxious about, constituted her
crew and passenger list, all in one. Clay, Alex and Case were busy
with supper arrangements, as stated, and all were listening for the
approach of Jule.
The cabin, which was seven feet by nine, did not seem quite like
home without him. The rain, which had come on with the going
down of the sun, drove in spiteful gusts from the southwest, so that
the two foot-square windows on that side were closed, but from the
open casements to the north the odor of sizzling sausage and
bubbling coffee traveled out on the wet winds of the April evening.
Many who passed the head of the driveway which led down to the
warehouse and the pier where the Rambler lay stopped to sniff the
fragrant reminder of what the world owes to its stomach, and to
look in wonder at the odd little residence on the brown river.
A patrolman, rustling along in a rubber coat which came down to
his great heels, swinging his nightstick petulantly, as if in protest of
the storm, drew up at the entrance to the private way and glanced
down at the boat and stood for an instant imagining how a good cup
of that coffee would taste!
It was while he stood there that the door was opened, and it was
while the light from the interior lay over the pier and warehouse that
the officer thought he saw a slim figure skulking in an angle of the
building. When he reached the place where the figure had stood, the
light was gone and the angle was empty, with the rain beating
against it in a particularly determined manner. So the policeman
went on about his business.
The Rambler had lain in the slip by the warehouse all through the
winter, and the boys had called her cabin, which was so low that
they could stand upright only in the center, their “furnished, steam-
heated apartments,” being careful to speak of it in the plural. She
was a trim little craft, twenty feet by seven over all, with the cabin
extending over almost half of the interior of the shell, lengthwise.
The cabin was a strongly-built structure, with two foot-square
windows on each side and one looking out at the stern, where a
platform four feet by the width of the boat formed a floor for chairs,
and also a covering for the gasoline tanks underneath. The front
deck extended to the prow, the powerful motors and other
machinery being mostly under it, near the middle of the craft, just in
front of the cabin door. Under this deck, forward of the motors and
apparatus for supplying electricity, were storage spaces for
provisions and gasoline.
As has, perhaps, been gathered from the conversation engaged in
by the occupants of the cabin on this night, the boys had arranged
to take their winter “bachelor hall” out on a long journey during the
summer. They were now ready to start on the trip they had long
planned—no less an undertaking than a motor boat journey to the
headwaters of the Amazon! In fact, the boat was already stocked
with provisions, and the gasoline was to be taken on the next day.
The boys were all orphans, so far as they knew, having been in
the first instance brought together by their homelessness. They had
been reared in the streets of the city, selling newspapers and
running errands and doing such odd jobs as boys can turn hand to.
Often, when very young, they had slept together in hallways and in
boxes in alleys. When arrived at the age of fourteen, they had
secured employment in printing offices, and had of their own volition
become regular attendants at night schools.
There are to-day thousands of boys in the large cities who are
living just as these boys lived in their younger years, who sleep and
eat where and when they can, and who are too often brought into
crime by those who ought to teach them, from experience, that
crime is never pleasant or profitable in the long run. Sometimes the
law, in the guise of a fat-bellied, egotistical, greedy police officer,
assists these wreckers of youth by arresting boys and seeing that
they are sentenced to months of association with thieves.
 These four boys, the three in the cabin and the one out
somewhere in the rain, had fortunately been spared the attentions
of police officers, and had grown to the age of seventeen with sturdy
figures and fairly-well trained intellects—all save Julian Shafer, who
had long been showing symptoms of tuberculosis.
It was the ill health of Jule that had at first suggested the trip to
the Equator. The boy, ordinarily the merriest one of the lot, as full of
pranks as a young kitten, had been informed by Dr. Holcomb that
the climate of Chicago would bring his life to a close in two years’
time, so the boys had planned to take him away. Unselfishly they
had set their hands to the task, and now the first step was near
completion.
It was while they were cudgeling their brains for some way of
accomplishing the desire of their hearts that Dr. Holcomb had come
to them, first as a physician for the ailing boy, then as a sincere
friend. After becoming well acquainted with the lads, and after
making a few investigations as to their habits of thought, their
loyalty to each other, the good doctor had said to them, one bright
night in early fall when they were assembled in his office:
“I’ll tell you what, boys,” he had begun, “I have a motor boat
down in the South Branch which is of little use to me. I used to
enjoy trips in her, and she has seen service on many of the lakes
and rivers of the Northwest, but I’m too busy now to take the time
to flirt with her. If you care to look after her this winter, fix her up a
little, and in the spring provision her for a journey to some tropical
climate, you may have the use of her. What do you say?”
What did they say! What would any group of boys of seventeen
say to such a proposition as that? They almost hugged the doctor,
and the occupants of the other offices on that floor afterward
complained that the doctor’s patients were too noisy to be good pay!
As for Jule, when he understood that it was all being done for him,
he said nothing at all, but there was a moisture in his bright eyes, a
tightening of his handclasp that night, which his chums understood.
“But you must save up at least $200,” the doctor had stipulated,
“for I don’t care to have the Rambler tied up in some foreign port for
supply or repair bills. She will carry you anywhere, on ocean or river,
if you learn how to handle her, and you needn’t be afraid of being
caught by anything of her size in a chase. Be good to her and she’ll
be good to you!”
So the boys had slept and cooked for themselves in the Rambler
all that winter, to save more money, and had learned to run the
boat, and had made many little repairs with their own hands. And
now they had saved the sum required, had given up their positions,
and were to sail away to the Amazon and the Andes on the morrow!
It all seemed too good to be true!”
“The money,” Clay said, after looking over the map, “is, I
remember now, in the round box, with the tinned food, in a square
box with a red cover. Get it, Alex.”
Alex brought the box—and found it empty. The money was gone!
 CHAPTER II.—A CALL FROM THE DARKNESS
Yes, the hoarded money was gone!
The square box with the red cover was empty. The boys dropped
back in their chairs and turned their eyes away, neither caring to
read what was in the faces opposite. The money that had been
ready for the hoard still lay on the table. Case was first to break the
silence.
“Our professional worry man,” he said, “would better start on his
job to-night. He’ll have a nice little task to begin on.”
“Don’t get sarcastic, Case,” Clay remonstrated. “This may be one
of the worries that won’t catch up! Perhaps Jule has placed the
money in a safer place.”
“That’s it!” cried Alex. “Of course that’s it! Who would come in
here and get our money?”
“Then, where is Jule?” demanded the boy addressed. “Why
doesn’t he come in and let us know where the money is?
“Jule will be home in good time,” Clay said, grimly, “and for the
present it won’t be healthy for anyone to suggest that he has done
anything mean or dishonest. He’ll be back, all right, and then we’ll
know all about it.”
Case flushed furiously.
“Say,” he expostulated, “I wasn’t saying anything against Jule! At
least I didn’t mean to. I know that he’s true blue. Perhaps he
discovered the robbery before we did and chased off after the thief.
Don’t you ever think I’m blaming him!”
“Of course not,” admitted Clay, doubtfully. “He’s above anything of
that kind, you know. He’s as honest a boy as ever lived!”
“If he has put the money in another place,” began Alex, but Case,
still in bad humor, interrupted him.
“What a pleasant world this would be if there were no if words in
it! Someone said, not long ago, that if it wasn’t for that word he
could put Paris in a bottle! He meant, of course, if Paris was smaller
or the bottle was larger. If he has put the money in another place!”
“I wonder why he doesn’t come?” Alex put in. “We left him here
to look after things, you know.”
“He wasn’t here when I came,” Clay contributed. “Everything was
just as you see it now, only there wasn’t any supper cooking, as
there is now. He never went off like this before.”
There was an apparatus on board the Rambler for making
electricity when the boat was under way, but, this being inoperative
during the winter, the boys had caused the motor boat to be wired
so the light came from the city lines. The cooking was partly done by
electricity, the stove being concealed in a false couch at the back of
the cabin. During the cold weather the cabin had been warmed by a
tiny, soft-coal stove which now stood near the door, and some of the
cooking had been done on that.
A smell of burning meat now filled the room, and Clay hastened
to switch off the current. The coffee, neglected, was bubbling over
on the coils of wire at the bottom of the stove, and he set the
coffee-pot on the floor.
“I don’t think I want any supper right now,” he declared.
“I’m not going to lose my supper,” argued Alex. “I’ve lost my job
and my trip to the Amazon, but I’m not going to lose my supper.
These sausages are all right yet.”
“I haven’t lost my trip to the Amazon,” Clay gritted, his jaws
setting. “Nor Jule hasn’t lost his trip, or his one chance of life! I’ll
have to think out some way, but I’m going, and Jule’s going with
me!”
Alex and Case both sprang up and reached for the speaker’s
hands.
“And we’re with you!” they cried.
“We’re for the Amazon, too! No matter if I do get a grouch on
now and then,” Case continued, giving the hand he held an extra
squeeze, “I’ll show up right in the end!”
“I know you will,” Clay said. “I know you’re an all right boy, Case,
he continued, “but you’d be a better companion if you wouldn’t get
such grouches!”
 “If I ever get another,” pleaded the boy, “just throw me out of the
combination!”
“I’ll set my white monkey on you, after we get into the jungles of
the Amazon valley,” laughed Alex. “Do you know I’ve got a white
monkey there?” he added, with a look which he intended to be
serious. “Surely I have! He’ll throw Brazil nuts down to me. Do you
know how Brazil nuts grow? I’ll tell you. They grow in nests, like
kittens, and when they get ripe the nest opens, just like a kitten
basket, and there you are. The nuts fall to the ground and hunters
gather them and bring them to Chicago and we put them on
Christmas trees.”
Alex was the most imaginative one of the party, and sometimes
he permitted his quaint fancies to break into words. Just now he was
doing his best to seem cheerful, but, after all, it was hard work. The
money had meant so much to them. It had been gathered together
dime by dime, and every dollar of it had meant, to them, an hour or
a day on the Amazon. Now it was gone, and Jule——
But no one should say a word against Jule. That was a point
settled beyond dispute. They could suspend judgment until he came
back.
“I’m going to bring home a cargo of Brazil nuts,” the boy went on,
“all packed in an elephant’s trunk. I’ll sell ’em down on Water street
and build a motor boat that can put the Rambler into her pocket. I
wonder what Dr. Holcomb will say?”
“He’ll just tell us to dig in and get more money!” Case observed.
“And that’s just what we’ll do,” Clay added. Alex brought out
plates and cups and began setting the table, which was not very
large, and which was securely fastened to the floor in the center of
the cabin.
“There’s one thing lacking in Clay,” the boy said, whimsically, as
he rattled the dishes. “If you could take him apart, or look at him
under x-rays, you wouldn’t find any quit in him! The more things
happen to stop him, the more he goes ahead!”
“That’s right!” declared Case. “When I get grouches, and you get
all discouraged and tell monkey stories to hide what’s really in your
mind, Clay just shuts his jaws together and goes right through! I
guess this wouldn’t be much of a boat club if it wasn’t for Clay.”
“Why, boys, there’s nothing else to do in this case,” Clay said, a
flush of pleasure at such an endorsement. “We can’t lie down before
every little hill that looms up before us! We can’t give up this trip,
and leave Jule to die in this beastly climate. Now, can we?”
“Not in a thousand years!” cried Alex.
“That will do for you!” Case suggested, turning to Alex with a grin.
“Never said it!” insisted Alex. “We all agreed not to talk slang, so
slang’s cut out!”
“Slang is cheap,” Clay remarked, to no one in particular.
“Alex will wash the dishes to-night, anyway, for talking slang!”
Case decreed with the air of a judge sentencing a prisoner. “That
was the bargain. If anyone talked slang he was to wash the dishes.”
“And Case will assist,” laughed Clay, “for he talked slang, too.”
“What slang?” demanded Case.
“You said that will do for you, and that was slang!”
“All right! I’ll help. But where do you think Jule is?
He was about to say more, but Clay held up a hand for silence.
While the lads stood there, listening, the sausages and coffee on
the table, over which a snow-white cloth had been spread, there
came a choking cry from somewhere in the darkness which lay over
the pier and the warehouse. The boys still listened. Perhaps the next
cry would give direction.
Presently the cry came again, evidently from the head of the pier.
The boys all headed for the door, crowding against each other in
their efforts to get out. A third cry, which was almost a scream,
caused them to block the doorway.
“That’s Jule!” Case panted. “Let me out!”
“Wait a second, boys!” Clay advised. “That may be Jule, and it
may not. Anyway, we mustn’t all leave the boat at once. This may be
a trick to get us away from it. You remain here and I’ll go up the pier
and call back to you if I need help.”
Still another cry came, followed, this time, by the sound of blows
and running feet.
 “Someone is being murdered out there!” Case exclaimed,
excitedly, as Clay dashed out into the rain. “I’m not going to stay
inside and let someone be killed!”
Alex took him by the shoulder and drew him back as he started
off.
“You’ll obey orders and remain here,” he said. “We can stand in
the doorway and look out.”
“I know it’s Jule!” prophesied Case. “He’s been out after the thief,
and has been attacked. Perhaps he’s brought the money back with
him, and that’s why they’re attacking him.”
“If it is Jule, and he comes in without mentioning the loss of the
money, don’t you say a word to him about it! What’s the use, if he
doesn’t know, of telling him about it to-night? Let the kid get one
more night’s sleep before he knows what’s happened!”
“All right,” Case answered, “and perhaps we can tell by the way
he acts whether he’s the—whether he knows anything about it or
not.”
“Don’t you say it!” warned Alex. “Don’t you ever look at Jule with
suspicion in your face! He’s the one that will lose most by this, and
you just keep your thoughts and your sneers to yourself.”
“I never——”
“Oh, I know,” Alex hastened to say, as they waited, anxiously, in
the doorway, the rain beating in on their uncovered heads, “I know
you don’t really believe anything wrong about Jule. You’d fight for
him if anyone said there was, just as quick as I would. It is only your
grouchy way of looking at things. You go and imagine the very worst
that can ever happen, and then try to make yourself believe that is
the way of it!”
Case was about to tell Alex how right he was in his analysis of his
character, how thankful he was that he was so well understood,
when a call came from some distance up the street.
“That’s Clay!” Alex exclaimed.
“I’m going up there!” insisted Case.
“You’ll stay right here with me and watch,” Alex declared, taking
his uneasy chum by the arm and holding on tight.
 It was dark up at the end of the pier by the side of which the
Rambler lay, but farther up, on the north and south street which
paralleled the river, a corner lamp threw spears of light toward the
stream.
There was no one in sight. Even what could be seen of the
thoroughfare under the lamp, and this was not much, seemed
deserted. Rainy, windy nights are not popular with pedestrians in
Chicago any more than elsewhere.
Even the occupants of vessels tied up at piers above and below
the motor boat were silent in cabins or asleep in their bunks. A dull,
heavy roar came out of the city, telling of activities in the noisy loop
district, but there was little more than the dash of the rain on the
deck where the boys stood listening and waiting.
Presently they saw a figure detach itself from the shadows at an
angle of the warehouse, where it seemed to have been hiding, and
step into the lighted space. There it acted queerly, walking up and
down, up and down in the rain! It was too dark for the boys to see
the face.
“I don’t believe it is Jule, though,” Case said.
 CHAPTER III.—THE BROWN LEATHER BAG
While Alex and Case waited in the doorway, watching the figure near
the warehouse, the circle of light in the street beyond, the whole
gloomy prospect along the pier, the shrill voice of a police whistle cut
the heavy air. The boys started nervously.
“It wouldn’t be strange if Clay got into trouble up there.”
This from Case, who was still in his despondent mood, and was,
as Alex had explained, imagining the worst and making himself think
that was what was coming!
Alex nudged him with his elbow, in gentle reminder of his failing,
and nodded toward the head of the pier. Through the falling drops,
they saw the figure which had recently left the shelter of the
warehouse coming toward the boat.
“Whoever it is,” muttered Case, “he’s alarmed at the police
whistle, and is coming down here to hide away!”
“Oh, Case——”
Alex got no farther with his protest against his chum’s idle
croakings of evil, for the figure was now almost at the pier, a few
yards from the prow of the Rambler. It was moving slowly, in spite
of the storm beating upon it, hands in pockets, chin buried in a
turned-up coat collar, eyes on the ground.
When almost to the head of the pier the boy, for such the queer-
acting stranger appeared to be, turned sharply about and went back
over the course he had taken, head down, eyes evidently searching
the ground. This was repeated three times, then the ring of
footsteps above caused him to seek the shelter of the warehouse
again.
Then Clay dashed into view, running at top speed and bending
low as if to better resist the storm, or to avoid any attack which
might be made upon him. The boys could see the silent figure
standing in the shadow of the warehouse, standing there in a
listening, observant attitude. The thought came to Alex that this
might mean peril to Clay, and so he called out to warn the skulker
that help was at hand.
“Hurry, Clay!” he shouted.
Clay did not reply, but dashed on at increased speed to the rotting
planks of the pier, and was soon inside the cabin, shaking the rain
from his clothes like a great dog just out of a pond. Alex closed the
door and locked it.
“Did you see Jule?” Case asked, eagerly.
Clay shook his head. His excursion into the storm had evidently
proved a disappointment to him, but he made an effort not to show
it.
“Of course not,” he replied. “How could I find Jule out in all that
smother? He’s warm and dry somewhere.”
“Did you see the boy skulking by the warehouse as you came in?”
asked Alex. “He’s been there, watching the boat, ever since you
went out.”
Clay shook his head.
“There’s something odd going on around here to-night,” he said.
“I don’t know what to make of it. Whew, but I’m all out of wind!” he
continued, dropping down into a chair and taking off his soaked
shoes.
“Where did you go?” asked Case. “What was the cop blowing his
whistle for. Why did you have to run?”
“One at a time,” panted Clay. “When I got out there I found a
man and a boy fighting at the end of the pier. At any rate the man
was trying to get something away from the boy, and the boy was
letting into him with teeth and nails. The boy was calling for help.
That’s the sound we heard, only it was faint, on account of the man
trying to choke him.”
“What sort of a boy was it?” asked Case, thinking of the figure he
had seen walking to and fro under the light and skulking into the
shelter of the warehouse when Clay came running up.
“Wait a minute,” Clay panted, “and I’ll tell you all about it. Say,
who’s going to give a cup of that hot coffee? My tummy has a hole
in it as big as a rainwater barrel.”
“That’s pretty close to slang!” warned Case.
 “Not so you could notice—that is, not intended as such,” corrected
the boy with a grin as he took a cup of steaming coffee from Alex’s
hand and sat back in his chair with a look of contentment on his
face.
“Now what about it?” asked Alex, when the cup was empty.
“Well, when I ran up, the man gave a vicious yank and got
something away from the boy. It looked like, a leather bag. The boy
let out a great cry and fell flat down on his face. I saw his face just a
minute, looking like a snowflake in the mud, it was so white and so
small.
I thought the thing which had been taken from him must mean a
lot, to cause him to look like that, and so I left him lying there and
chased on after the man. It looked to me like a case of highway
robbery, and I just ached to get my hands on the man.”
“What is that in your hand?” asked Case, indicating a brown
object which was half concealed in Clay’s coat-sleeve, but which
dropped down to his palm, and lay with an end resting there.
“Never you mind!” Clay answered, with a chuckle as he drew the
object up the sleeve and out of sight. “Just wait a minute. I overtook
the man, who couldn’t run at all, but lumbered along like an old cow,
and tripped him up by— Oh, you know how to drop and catch a
fellow by the ankles! He went down kerflop in the muck, where
wagons had broken the pavement and cut the earth into a puddle. I
didn’t stop to see if he was hurt, but picked up the thing I had seen
him take from the boy and started back with it.
“When I got back to the place where I had left the boy, with his
pale face in the dirt, he wasn’t there, so I just brought the object
along with me, for safe keeping, of course,” he added, with a laugh
as he drew a brown leather bag from his sleeve and held it up to the
light.
“That’s certainly a brown leather bag!” exclaimed Case. “What’s in
it?”
“Guess!” was the provoking answer.
“It must be something valuable, with all the fuss that’s been made
over it,” Alex suggested. “Open up!”
“Do you know what’s in it?” asked Case.
 “Of course I do; I peeked in as I came along.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Diamonds!”
“Not real diamonds?”
“Certainly not!” Case ventured. “Just fake stones, like the glad-
hand men carry. They couldn’t be real diamonds, hustled about in
the rain like this!”
“But they are real diamonds,” insisted Clay. “If I ever saw the real
thing this is it.”
He untied the brown leather bag, pressed open the mouth with
his fingers, and poured a gleaming current of diamonds on the table,
where they rolled about like sparks of fire caught and held in
captivity. Alex and Case stood dumbly regarding their chum, moving
their eyes, presently, from his inscrutable face to the gems on the
table. This seemed to them to be a leaf out of a fairy book. It was
more fantastic, more unreal, than one of Alex’s ridiculous
imaginings.
“I wish Jule was here to see ’em!” Clay spoke, breaking the
silence with a long sigh. “He can’t be long in coming now.”
“What are you going to do with them?” asked Alex.
“First,” Clay answered, gathering up the stones and looking
cautiously about, “I’m going to get them out of sight! Did you hear
that motion at the door while they lay here sparkling with a “come-
and-get-me” expression?”
“I heard nothing,” Case replied, as Clay put the gems back in the
bag. “Where are you going to hide them now? You know this isn’t a
very safe treasure house—this old boat.”
“I think I have good reason to know that,” replied Clay, looking
ruefully at the box which had held the stolen money. “Guess I’ll put
them in the coffee-pot, for the time being. Anybody want any
more?”
Both boys declared they did, naturally! So the coffee was poured
and consumed. Then the pot was emptied and the brown leather
bag was deposited therein.
“What was it you said about someone being at the door while the
stones were on the table?” asked Alex.
 “Did you see anyone there?” added Case.
For answer Clay nodded his head toward the single pane in the
cabin door, which might have been a panel of black velvet, so
heavily did the darkness press upon it.
“What did you see there?” he asked.
“Nothing at all.”
Clay moved toward the door and listened between short steps as
he walked.
“If anyone rushes the door,” he said, amazing the others by the
seeming irrelevance of the remark, “you both stand by to fight ’em
off. They will be after the diamonds—understand. You hold ’em off
and I’ll grab the coffee-pot and run. They will go away without
hurting you when they find out the gems are not here. After the row
is over I’ll come back.”
“What are you getting at?” demanded Alex.
“You are surely getting ahead of yours truly in the monkey-story
record! Who’s going to rush the door?”
“Listen!”
As Clay spoke there was a light step on the deck outside, then a
hand crept over the outer surface of the door and came, fumbling,
to the knob, which turned a fraction of an inch under their eyes. The
lads stood quite still. Clay’s eyes were fixed on the coffee-pot, now
standing within reach of his hand on the table. Case and Alex were
closer to the door, against which there now came the brushing of
wet garments.
“It may be Jule!” Case whispered.
“No, it is someone after the diamonds!” contended Alex.
There was no farther movement at the door, but the boys stood in
the old positions, ready for whatever might come.
“What are you going to do with the diamonds?” asked Case.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Clay answered, almost fretfully. “I can’t decide
on a thing like that in a second—not right off the handle, you see. I
found them, you know, and——”
“Finders keep and losers seek,” half chanted Case.
“That’s what’s in my mind,” Clay went on. “I know that it isn’t just
right, but I found them; and, then, I don’t see no philanthropic
person bringing back our stolen money.”
“No one knows we found them,” Alex suggested.
Then the three boys looked into each other’s eyes and smiled.
“You know you won’t keep them!” Case declared. “You know very
well that you’ll hunt the city, or the world, over for the owner if he
doesn’t come after them.”
“You know you never meant to keep them,” Alex added. “When I
hinted that no one knew about them being here I didn’t mean
anything by it. You know I didn’t.”
“For just a second I meant to keep them,” Clay confessed. “I was
thinking what we might do with them, you see. If we kept them Jule
need never know about the robbery. He really ought not to have left
the boat, not with all that money here, you see, and so he’ll blame
himself just as much as if he had taken the money himself. But of
course that was just an impulse. I really don’t mean to keep them!”
“There’s that hand moving on the door again!” whispered Alex.
“How do you know it is a hand?” demanded Case. “It may be the
muzzle of a gun or the billy of a policeman.”
“The only way to find out,” suggested Clay, “is to open the door
and see who’s there.”
Before this intention could be carried out, however, another
element forced itself into the case. There came a shout from the
shore and the sound of heavy footfalls on the planking of the pier.
“What’s going on here!” demanded a gruff voice. “What’s all this
running round in circles about?”
There was no answer from the outside, and the boys in the cabin
did not feel qualified to answer any such questions, so they
remained perfectly quiet, until, in a second, the heavy voice came
again.
“Come out of that, you wharf rat!” it said. “Come out where I can
see you.”
“That’s a member of the river police,” Clay suggested. “They
always talk about wharf rats.”
“Who is he talking to?” queried Case, puzzled. “The person on our
deck, whoever he is,” Clay decided.
Then the nervous sounds on the door continued, and a voice said:
 “Will you let me in, please?”
“Sounds like a girl’s voice.”
This from Alex, who stepped forward as he spoke.
“Perhaps it is the boy I saw fighting the man on the pier,” Clay
suggested. “He looked pale and sick, and that voice doesn’t belong
to a healthy boy.”
“I’m afraid of the police!” came the voice again. “Please let me in.
I’ll go away as soon as they are gone.”
“Anyway,” Clay decided, “risk or no risk, diamonds or no
diamonds, I’m going to open the door and let him in!”
“Surely,” echoed Alex, with a grin. “Let him in. We’ve been chased
by the river police, ourselves, before now.”
“Do you think the policeman saw you get the brown leather bag?”
asked Case, “and if he did will he accuse you of stealing the
diamonds?”
“We’ll soon know all about it,” replied Clay, unlocking the door.
 CHAPTER IV.—TWO GUESTS AND AN ARREST
The other boys made no protest, although the fear and dread of
having gems which probably had been stolen—which, at least, did
not belong to them—discovered in the cabin was in their hearts, so
Clay swung the door open.
A slender, black-eyed boy of about sixteen stood there, an
appealing look on his face. When he dodged into the cabin they saw
that his clothing was shabby and insufficient for such a night, and
that it was soaked with rain. He shivered as he stood by the table
and motioned to Clay to lock the door. Before he could thank them
for the hospitality so grudgingly extended, the policeman’s strident
voice came again from the deck.
“Here!” he said, angrily. Don’t try to make a fool of me. You come
on out here! You don’t belong in there, you know. There’s been
robbery on the river to-day, and I want you.”
“If you’ll only tell him I belong here——”
The boy did not finish the sentence, for now the ring of the
officer’s club came on the door in good earnest, rattling the glass
panel and echoing through the little space within like the crack of
doom, as Alex afterward expressed it.
“Open up! Open up, or I’ll break the door in! I want the diamonds
you stole, and I want you!”
The boys looked at each other with apprehension showing in their
manner, and the stranger seemed to sense that something not on
the surface was going on in their minds.
“Well, officer, what do you want?”
Clay spoke the words with his head half out of the doorway, his
eyes momentarily blinded by the gleam of an electric flashlight in the
red, wet hands of a heavy man in the uniform of the Chicago police.
There was a short hesitation on the policeman’s part.
“Where’s the lad who just ran in here?” he then demanded,
inserting his club into the crack of the door and forcing it wide open,
in spite of the efforts of the boy to retain control of it. “You?”
“No,” answered Clay, “I’m not the lad who just ran in here. What
do you want?”
“You ought to know,” was the insolent rejoinder. “There’s been a
diamond robbery somewhere about this pier, and I’m looking for the
stones and the thief. Let me in for a look around, or it will be the
station for yours.”
Clay stepped aside, unwillingly, and the officer stooped down so
as to clear the low doorway and brushed into the cabin. His great
bulk, his fat red face, his arrogant manner, seemed to reduce the
size of the small room by at least half. His helmet was running water,
and he removed it and shook the drops over the table.
In a moment he flashed his light around, resting it longest, it
seemed to the boys, on the coffee-pot sitting on the electric stove. It
seemed to the imaginative Alex that he must see right through the
tin to the brown leather bag, and through the folds of the brown
leather bag to the stolen diamonds!
Next the policeman felt of Clay’s clothes and sniffed suspiciously
when he found them wet. He seemed disappointed when the
garments of Case and Alex proved dry to his touch. His face
brightened again when he found evidences of recent retreat from
the storm in the clothes of the stranger.
“So you are the one who just ducked in here?” he said. “You’re
the lad I saw skulking behind the corner of the warehouse beyond
not long ago. What?”
The stranger looked the policeman straight in the face with his
black eyes, but made no reply. The chums looked on, wondering
how they were to get rid of the incriminating coffee-pot.
They felt certain that the officer would make a search of the place
and discover the diamonds.
Then they would, in all probability, be hustled off to the police
station. They were still anxious about the strange absence of Jule,
but, after all, right glad that the boy was not there to share this
suspicion.
“Come,” grumbled the officer, shaking the stranger roughly by the
shoulder, “the game is up! Give up the diamonds and come along.”
 “I haven’t got the diamonds,” faltered the lad. “I don’t know
where they are. I’m not a thief. I belong here with these boys.”
The officer turned to Clay, whom he now recognized as one he
had often seen about the boat, and of whom he knew nothing
discreditable.
“Does he belong here?” he asked.
Clay hesitated. The stranger looked so cold and hungry, and his
eyes were appealing, and his manner asked for sympathy! He was
sorely tempted to make a statement in his behalf which was not
true, and which he knew would be regretted as long as he lived.
To deny the story told by the shivering lad would certainly cause
his arrest as a diamond thief. The policeman might go away with his
prisoner without searching the cabin if he was told that the lad had
never set foot there before. In that case the gems would not be
discovered in the possession of the occupants of the place.
It was certainly in the interest of the boys that the policeman
should leave without searching the cabin, and yet the stranger stood
so in need of protection that Clay could not for an instant decide
what to do. Then he caught the eyes of his chums, fixed anxiously
upon himself, and moved toward the stove where the diamonds
reposed in the coffee-pot, surely an odd receptacle for so valuable a
parcel.
“I’m going to tell you the truth, officer,” he said, “though it may
get me into trouble. I——”
The stranger stepped forward, interrupting his progress to the
place where the stones were secreted.
“Wait,” the boy said, “I’m not going to get you all into trouble.
Officer,” he continued, turning to the wondering policeman, “I told
you a lie just now. I don’t belong here with these boys. I’ve never
been in this cabin before—before to-night. I’ve often watched the
boat when it was lighted up on cold nights, and when there was a
smell of cooking coming from the windows, as there was to-night,
but I don’t belong here. If you’ll take me away now, I’ll be glad,
because I don’t want to get these boys into any scrape.”
“So you have loitered about here nights, have you?” demanded
Case, his sympathy for the lad turning to suspicion. “What were you
doing out there by the warehouse a short time ago? Were you in
here after our chum went away. Are you the thief who stole our
money?”
Clay tried to check the boy, but his words poured out in a torrent
of suspicion and reproach until the officer interrupted him.
“So ho!” he cried, “there’s been another robbery in your vicinity
to-night, has there? You’ve kept yourself busy, eh? How much did
you lose, lad?” he continued, turning to Clay.
“Case shouldn’t have mentioned it, because we really don’t know,
yet, whether it has been stolen or not,” Clay explained, “but the sum
we miss now is two hundred dollars.”
The policeman whistled softly.
“Do you happen to have it with you, lad?” he asked, facing the
stranger with accusing eyes.
“I never took it!” insisted the boy.
“Search him!” cried Case, who seemed determined to say and do
exactly the wrong thing that night.
“He doesn’t look like a thief,” Clay suggested, glad to be able to
say something in the dejected lad’s favor.
“Much you know what a thief looks like!” said the officer.
“I don’t believe he is a thief,” declared Alex. “I don’t believe he
ever stole the diamonds!”
“We’ll pass it on to the judge,” grinned the policeman. “Many’s the
innocent face with a black heart behind it. So I’ll be taking the boy
to the sergeant, and asking you boys to come to the trial.”
A fierce dash of rain came against the cabin windows and a burst
of thunder for an instant drowned all other sounds. When the quick
shock of it was over the policeman was outside, pushing against the
wind and rain with his prisoner.
“What kind of a dream is this?” asked Alex, whimsically.
“A dream of a thief!” responded Case.
“Oh, quit it!” interposed Alex. “I think sometimes you haven’t got
common sense. I don’t believe that boy ever stole our money.”
“What was he hanging about for, then? I shouldn’t wonder if he
did worse—if he attacked Jule and left him lying dead somewhere.”