diff options
Diffstat (limited to '59853-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 59853-0.txt | 8348 |
1 files changed, 8348 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/59853-0.txt b/59853-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e015a71 --- /dev/null +++ b/59853-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8348 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59853 *** + + + + + + + + + ++-------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: | +| | +|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | +| | ++-------------------------------------------------+ + + +[Illustration: "The lion sprang through the air among the terrified +group." --(See page 71.)] + + +A YOUNG HERO; + +OR, + +FIGHTING TO WIN. + +BY EDWARD S. ELLIS, + +_Author of_ + +"Adrift in the Wilds," etc., etc. + +ILLUSTRATED. + +[Illustration: Logo] + +NEW YORK: + +A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER. + + +COPYRIGHT 1888, BY A. L. BURT. + + + + +A YOUNG HERO. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE PEACEMAKER. + + +"A fight! A fight! Form a ring!" A dozen or more excited boys shouted +these words, and, rushing forward, hastily formed a ring around two +playmates who stood in the middle of the road, their hats off, eyes +glaring, fists clenched, while they panted with anger, and were on the +point of flying at one another with the fury of young wildcats. + +They had been striking, kicking and biting a minute before over some +trifling dispute, and they had now stopped to take breath and gather +strength before attacking each other again with a fierceness which had +become all the greater from the brief rest. + +"Give it to him, Sam! Black his eyes for him! Hit him under the ear! +Bloody his nose!" + +Thus shouted the partisans of Sammy McClay, who had thrown down his +school books, and pitched into his opponent, as though he meant to +leave nothing of him. + +The friends of Joe Hunt were just as loud and urgent. + +"Sail in, Joe! You can whip him before he knows it! Kick him! Don't be +a coward! You've got him!" + +A party of boys and girls were on their way home from the Tottenville +public school, laughing, romping and frolicking with each other, when, +all at once, like a couple of bantam chickens, these two youngsters +began fighting. + +The girls looked on in a horrified way, whispering to each other, and +declaring that they meant to tell Mr. McCurtis, the teacher, including +also the respective mothers of the young pugilists. + +The other boys, as is nearly always the case, did their utmost to urge +on the fight, and, closing about Sam and Joe, taunted them in loud +voices, and appealed to them to resume hostilities at once. + +The fighters seemed to be equally matched, and, as they panted and +glared, each waited for the other to renew the struggle by striking the +first blow. + +"You just hit me if you dare! that's all I want!" exclaimed Sammy +McClay, shaking his head so vigorously that he almost bumped his nose +against that of Joe Hunt, who was just as ferocious, as he called back: + +"You touch me, Sam McClay, just touch me! I dare you! double, double +dare you." + +Matters were fast coming to the exploding point, but not fast enough to +suit the audience. Jimmy Emery picked up a chip, and running forward, +balanced it in a delicate position on the shoulder of Sam McClay, and, +addressing his opponent said: "Knock that off, Joe!" + +"Yes, knock it off!" shouted Sam, "I dare you to knock it off!" + +"Who's afraid?" demanded Joe, looking at the chip, with an expression +which showed he meant to flip it to the ground. + +"Well, you just try it--that's all!" + +Joe was in the very act of upsetting the bit of wood, when a boy about +their own age, with a flapping straw hat, and with his trousers rolled +far above his knees, ran in between the two, and used his arms with so +much vigor that the contestants were thrown quite a distance apart. + +"What's the matter with you fellows?" demanded this boy, glancing from +one to the other. "What do you want to make fools of yourselves for?" + +"He run against me," said Sammy McClay, "and knocked me over Jim Emery." + +"Well, what of it?" asked the peacemaker. "Will it make you feel any +better to get your head cracked? What's the matter of _you_, Joe Hunt?" +he added, turning his glance without changing his position, toward the +other pugilist. + +"What did he punch me for, when I stubbed my toe and run agin him?" and +Joe showed a disposition just then to move around his questioner, so as +to get at the offender. + +The other boys did not like this interference with their enjoyment, +and called on the peacemaker to let them have it out; but he stood his +ground, and shaking his right fist at Sammy McClay, and his left at Joe +Hunt, he told them they must let each other alone, or he would whip +them both. + +This created some laughter, for the lad was no older than they, and +hardly as tall as either; but there is a great deal in the manner +of a man or boy. If his flashing eye, his stern voice, and look of +determination show that he means what he says, or is in dead earnest, +his opponent generally yields. + +At the critical juncture, the girls added their voices in favor of +peace, and their champion, stooping down, picked up the hats from the +ground, and jammed them upon their owners' heads with a force that +nearly threw them off their feet. + +"That's enough! now come on!" + +Sam and Joe walked along, rather sullenly at first. They glowered on +each other, shook their heads, muttered and seemed on the point of +renewing the contest more than once; but the passions of childhood are +brief, and the storm soon blew over. Before the boys and girls had +reached the cross-roads, Sam McClay and Joe Hunt were playing with each +other like the best of friends, as indeed they were. + +The name of the lad who had stopped the fight was Fred Sheldon, and he +is the hero of this story. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CALL TO SCHOOL. + + +Fred Sheldon, as I have said, is the hero of this story. + +He was twelve years of age, the picture of rosy health, good nature, +bounding spirits and mental strength. He was bright and well advanced +in his studies, and as is generally the case with such vigorous +youngsters he was fond of fun, which too often, perhaps, passed the +line of propriety and became mischief. + +On the Monday morning after the fight, which Fred Sheldon interrupted, +some ten or twelve boys stopped on their way to the Tottenville Public +School to admire in open-mouthed wonder, the gorgeous pictures pasted +on a huge framework of boards, put up for the sole purpose of making +such a display. + +These flaming posters were devoted to setting forth the unparalleled +attractions of Bandman's great menagerie and circus, which was +announced to appear in the well-known "Hart's Half-Acre," near the +village of Tottenville. + +These scenes, in which elephants, tigers, leopards, camels, sacred +cows, and indeed an almost endless array of animals were shown on a +scale that indicated they were as high as a meeting-house, in which the +serpents, it unwound from the trees where they were crushing men and +beasts to death, would have stretched across "Hart's Half-Acre" (which +really contained several acres), those frightful encounters, in which +a man, single-handed, was seen to be spreading death and destruction +with a clubbed gun among the fierce denizens of the forest; all these +had been displayed on the side of barns and covered bridges, at the +cross-roads, and indeed in every possible available space for the past +three weeks; and, as the date of the great show was the one succeeding +that of which we are speaking, it can be understood that the little +village of Tottenville and the surrounding country were in a state of +excitement such as had not been known since the advent of the preceding +circus. + +Regularly every day the school children had stopped in front of the +huge bill-board and studied and admired and talked over the great show, +while those who expected to go in the afternoon or evening looked down +in pity on their less fortunate playmates. + +The interest seemed to intensify as the day approached, and, now +that it was so close at hand, the little group found it hard to tear +themselves away from the fascinating scenes before them. + +Down in one corner of the board was the picture of a hyena desecrating +a cemetery, as it is well known those animals are fond of doing. This +bad creature, naturally enough, became very distasteful to the boys, +who showed their ill-will in many ways. + +Several almost ruined their new shoes by kicking him, while others +had pelted him with stones, and still others, in face of the warning +printed in big letters, had haggled him dreadfully with their +jack-knives. + +It was a warm summer morning and most of the boys not only were +bare-footed, but had their trousers rolled above their knees, and, +generally, were without coat or vest. + +"To-morrow afternoon the show will be here," said Sammy McClay, +smacking his lips and shaking his head as though he tasted a luscious +morsel, "and I'm going." + +"How are you going," asked Joe Hunt, sarcastically, "when your father +said he wouldn't give you the money?" + +"Never you mind," was the answer, with another significant shake of the +head. "I'm goin'--that's all." + +"Goin' to try and crawl under the tent. I know. But you can't do it. +You'll get a whack from the whip of the man that's watching that you'll +feel for six weeks. Don't I know--'cause, didn't I try it?" + +"I wouldn't be such a dunce as you; you got half way under the tent and +then stuck fast, so you couldn't go backward or forward, and you begun +to yell so you like to broke up the performance, and when the man come +along why he had the best chance in the world to cowhide you, and he +did it. I think I know a little better than that." + +At this moment, Mr. Abijah McCurtis, the school teacher in the little +stone school-house a hundred yards away, solemnly lifted his spectacles +from his nose to his forehead, and grasping the handle of his large +cracked bell walked to the door and swayed it vigorously for a minute +or so. + +This was the regular summons for the boys and girls to enter school, +and he had sent forth the unmusical clangor, summer and winter, for a +full two-score years. + +Having called the pupils together, the pedagogue sat down, drew his +spectacles back astride of his nose, and resumed setting copies in the +books which had been laid on his desk the day before. + +In a minute or so the boys and girls came straggling in, but the +experienced eye of the teacher saw that several were missing. + +Looking through the open door he discovered where the four delinquent +urchins were; they were still standing in front of the great showy +placards, studying the enchanting pictures, as they had done so many +times before. + +They were all talking earnestly, Sammy McClay, Joe Hunt, Jimmy Emery +and Fred Sheldon, and they had failed for the first time in their lives +to hear the cracked bell. + +Most teachers, we are bound to believe, would have called the boys a +second time or sent another lad to notify them, but the present chance +was one of those which, unfortunately, the old-time pedagogue was glad +to have, and Mr. McCurtis seized it with pleasure. + +Rising from his seat, he picked up from where it lay across his desk +a long, thin switch, and started toward the four barefooted lads, who +were admiring the circus pictures. + +Nothing could have been more inviting, for, not only were they +barefooted, but each had his trousers rolled to the knee, and Fred +Sheldon had drawn and squeezed his so far that they could go no +further. His plump, clean legs offered the most inviting temptation to +the teacher, who was one of those sour old pedagogues, of the long ago, +who delighted in seeing children tortured under the guise of so-called +discipline. + +"I don't believe in wearing trousers in warm weather," said Fred, when +anybody looked wonderingly to see whether he really had such useful +garments on, "and that's why I roll mine so high up. Don't you see I'm +ready to run into the water, and----" + +"How about going through the bushes and briars?" asked Joe Hunt. + +"I don't go through 'em," was the crushing answer. "I feel so supple +and limber that I just jump right over the top. I tell you, boys, that +you ought to see me jump----" + +Fred's wish was gratified, for at that moment he gave such an +exhibition of jumping as none of his companions had ever seen before. +With a shout he sprang high in air, kicking out his bare legs in a +frantic way, and ran with might and main for the school-house. + +The other three lads did pretty much the same, for the appearance of +the teacher among them was made known by the whizzing hiss of his long, +slender switch, which first landed on Fred's legs, and was then quickly +transferred to the lower limbs of the other boys, the little company +immediately heading for the school house, with Fred Sheldon at the +front. + +Each one shouted, and made a high and frantic leap every few steps, +believing that the teacher was close behind him with upraised stick, +and looking for the chance to bring it down with effect. + +"I'll teach you not to stand gaping at those pictures," shouted Mr. +McCurtis, striding wrathfully after them. + +A man three-score years old cannot be expected to be as active as a +boy with one-fifth as many years; but the teacher had the advantage of +being very tall and quite attenuated, and for a short distance he could +outrun any of his pupils. + +The plump, shapely legs of Fred Sheldon, twinkling and doubling under +him as he ran, seemed to be irresistibly tempting to Mr. McCurtis, who, +with upraised switch, dashed for him like a thunder-gust, paying no +attention to the others, who ducked aside as he passed. + +"It's your fault, you young scapegrace," called out the pursuer, as he +rapidly overhauled him; "you haven't been thinking of anything else +but circuses for the past month and I mean to whip it out of you--good +gracious sakes!" + +Fred Sheldon had seen how rapidly the teacher was gaining, and finding +there was no escape, resorted to the common trick among boys of +suddenly falling flat on his face while running at full speed. + +The cruel-hearted teacher at that very moment made a savage stroke, +intending to raise a ridge on the flesh of the lad, who escaped it by a +hair's breadth, as may be said. + +The spiteful blow spent itself in vacancy, and the momentum spun Mr. +McCurtis around on one foot, so that he faced the other way. At that +instant his heels struck the prostrate form of the crouching boy, and +he went over, landing upon his back, his legs pointing upward, like a +pair of huge dividers. + +There is nothing a boy perceives so quickly as a chance for fun, and +before the teacher could rise, Sammy McClay also went tumbling over the +grinning Fred Sheldon, with such violence, indeed, that he struck the +bewildered instructor as he was trying to adjust his spectacles to see +where he was. + +Then came Joe Hunt and Jimmy Emery, and Fred Sheldon capped the climax +by running at full speed and jumping on the struggling group, spreading +out his arms and legs in the effort to bear them down to the earth. + +But the difficulty was that Fred was not very heavy nor bony, so that +his presence on top caused very little inconvenience, the teacher +rising so hurriedly that Fred fell from his shoulders, and landed on +his head when he struck the earth. + +The latter was dented, but Fred wasn't hurt at all, and he and his +friends scrambled hastily into the school-house, where the other +children were in an uproar, fairly dancing with delight at the +exhibition, or rather "circus," as some of them called it, which took +place before the school-house and without any expense to them. + +By the time the discomfited teacher had got upon his feet and shaken +himself together, the four lads were in school, busily engaged in +scratching their legs and studying their lessons. + +Mr. McCurtis strode in a minute later switch in hand, and in such a +grim mood that he could only quiet his nerves by walking around the +room and whipping every boy in it. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +STARTLING NEWS. + + +Fred Sheldon was the only child of a widow, who lived on a small place +a mile beyond the village, and managed to eke out a living thereon, +assisted by a small pension from the government, her husband having +been killed during the late war. + +A half-mile beyond stood a large building, gray with age and surrounded +with trees, flowers and climbing vines. The broad bricks of which it +was composed were known to have been brought from Holland long before +the revolution, and about the time when George Washington was hunting +for the cherry-tree with his little hatchet. + +In this old structure lived the sisters Perkinpine--Annie and +Lizzie--who were nearly seventy years of age. They were twins, had +never been married, were generally known to be wealthy, but preferred +to live entirely by themselves, with no companion but three or four +cats, and not even a watch-dog. + +Their ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the section, and +the Holland bricks could show where they had been chipped and broken by +the bullets of the Indians who howled around the solid old structure, +through the snowy night, as ravenous as so many wolves to reach the +cowering women and children within. + +The property had descended to the sisters in regular succession, +and there could be no doubt they were rich in valuable lands, if in +nothing else. Their retiring disposition repelled attention from their +neighbors, but it was known there was much old and valuable silver, and +most probably money itself, in the house. + +Michael Heyland was their hired man, but he lived in a small house some +distance away, where he always spent his nights. + +Young Fred Sheldon was once sent over to the residence of the Misses +Perkinpine after a heavy snowstorm, to see whether he could do anything +for the old ladies. He was then only ten years old, but his handsome, +ruddy face, his respectful manner, and his cheerful eagerness to oblige +them, thawed a great deal of their natural reserve, and they gradually +came to like him. + +He visited the old brick house quite often, and frequently bore +substantial presents to his mother, though, rather curiously, the old +ladies never asked that she should pay them a visit. + +The Misses Perkinpine lived very well indeed, and Fred Sheldon was +not long in discovering it. When he called there he never could get +away without eating some of the vast hunks of gingerbread and enormous +pieces of thick, luscious pie, of which Fred, like all boys, was very +fond. + +There was no denying that Fred had established himself as a favorite in +that peculiar household, as he well deserved to be. + +On the afternoon succeeding his switching at school he reached home +and did his chores, whistling cheerily in the meanwhile, and thinking +of little else than the great circus on the morrow, when he suddenly +stopped in surprise upon seeing a carriage standing in front of the +gate. + +Just then his mother called him to the house and explained: + +"Your Uncle William is quite ill, Fred, and has sent for me. You know +he lives twelve miles away, and it will take us a good while to get +there; if you are afraid to stay here alone you can go with us." + +Fred was too quick to trip himself in that fashion. To-morrow was +circus day, and if he went to his Uncle Will's, he might miss it. + +"Miss Annie asked me this morning to go over and see them again," he +said, alluding to one of the Misses Perkinpine, "and they'll be mighty +glad to have me there." + +"That will be much better, for you will be so near home that you can +come over in the morning and see that everything is right, but I'm +afraid you'll eat too much pie and cake and pudding and preserves." + +"I ain't afraid," laughed Fred, who kissed his mother good-by and +saw the carriage vanish down the road in the gloom of the gathering +darkness. Then he busied himself with the chores, locked up the house +and put everything in shape preparatory to going away. + +He was still whistling, and was walking rapidly toward the gate, when +he was surprised and a little startled by observing the figure of a +man, standing on the outside, as motionless as a stone, and no doubt +watching him. + +He appeared to be ill-dressed, and Fred at once set him down as one of +those pests of society known as a tramp, who had probably stopped to +get something to eat. + +"What do you want?" asked the lad, with an air of bravery which he +was far from feeling, as he halted within two or three rods of the +unexpected guest, ready to retreat if it should become necessary. + +"I want you to keep a civil tongue in your head," was the answer, in a +harsh rasping voice. + +"I didn't mean to be uncivil," was the truthful reply of Fred, who +believed in courtesy to every one. + +"Who lives here, then?" asked the other in the same gruff voice. + +"My mother, Mrs. Mary Sheldon, and myself, but my mother isn't at home." + +The stranger was silent a moment, and then looking around, as if to +make sure that no one was within hearing, asked in a lower voice: + +"Can you tell me where the Miss Perkinpines live?" + +"Right over yonder," was the response of the boy, pointing toward the +house, which was invisible in the darkness, but a star-like twinkle of +light showed where it was, surrounded by trees and shrubbery. + +Fred came near adding that he was on his way there, and would show him +the road, but a sudden impulse restrained him. + +The tramp-like individual peered through the gloom in the direction +indicated, and then inquired: + +"How fur is it?" + +"About half a mile." + +The stranger waited another minute or so, as if debating with himself +whether he should ask some other questions that were in his mind; but, +without another word, he moved away and speedily disappeared from the +road. + +Although he walked for several paces on the rough gravel in front of +the gate, the lad did not hear the slightest sound. He must have been +barefooted, or more likely, wore rubber shoes. + +Fred Sheldon could not help feeling very uncomfortable over the +incident itself. The question about the old ladies, and the man's looks +and manner impressed him that he meant ill toward his good friends, and +Fred stood a long time asking himself what he ought to do. + +He thought of going down to the village and telling Archie Jackson, the +bustling little constable, what he feared, or of appealing to some of +the neighbors; and pity it is he did not do so, but he was restrained +by the peculiar disposition of the Misses Perkinpine, who might be very +much displeased with him. + +As he himself was about the only visitor they received, and as they +had lived so long by themselves, they would not thank him, to say the +least--that is, viewing the matter from his standpoint. + +"I'll tell the ladies about it," he finally concluded, "and we'll lock +the doors and sit up all night. I wish they had three or four dogs and +a whole lot of guns; or if I had a lasso," he added, recalling one of +the circus pictures, "and the tramp tried to get in, I'd throw it over +his head and pull him half way to the top of the house and let him hang +there until he promised to behave himself." + +Fred's head had been slightly turned by the circus posters, and it can +hardly be said that he was the best guard the ladies could have in case +there were any sinister designs on the part of the tramp. + +But the boy was sure he was never more needed at the old brick house +than he was on that night, and hushing his whistle, he started up the +road in the direction taken by the stranger. + +It was a trying ordeal for the little fellow, whose chief fear was that +he would overtake the repulsive individual and suffer for interfering +with his plans. + +There was a faint moon in the sky, but its light now and then was +obscured by the clouds which floated over its face. Here and there, +too, were trees, beneath whose shadows the boy stepped lightly, +listening and looking about him, and imagining more than once he saw +the figure dreaded so much. + +But he observed nothing of him, nor did he meet any of his neighbors, +either in wagons or on foot, and his heart beat tumultuously when he +drew near the grove of trees, some distance back from the road, in the +midst of which stood the old Holland brick mansion. + +To reach it it was necessary to walk through a short lane, lined on +either hand by a row of stately poplars, whose shade gave a cool +twilight gloom to the intervening space at mid-day. + +"Maybe he isn't here, after all," said Fred to himself, as he passed +through the gate of the picket fence surrounding the house, "and I +guess----" + +Just then the slightest possible rustling caught his ear, and he +stepped back behind the trunk of a large weeping willow. + +He was not mistaken; some one was moving through the shrubbery at the +corner of the house, and the next minute the frightened boy saw the +tramp come stealthily to view, and stepping close to the window of the +dining-room, peer into it. + +As the curtain was down it was hard to see how he could discover +anything of the inmates, but he may have been able to detect something +of the interior by looking through at the side of the curtain, or +possibly he was only listening. + +At any rate he stood thus but a short time, when he withdrew and slowly +passed from view around the corner. + +The instant he was gone Fred moved forward and knocked softly on the +door, so softly indeed, that he had to repeat it before some one +approached from the inside and asked who was there. + +When his voice was recognized the bolt was withdrawn and he was most +cordially welcomed by the old ladies, who were just about to take up +their knitting and sewing, having finished their tea. + +When Fred told them he had come to stay all night and hadn't had any +supper, they were more pleased than ever, and insisted that he should +go out and finish a large amount of gingerbread, custard and pie, for +the latter delicacy was always at command. + +"I'll eat some," replied Fred, "but I don't feel very hungry." + +"Why, what's the matter?" asked Miss Annie, peering over her spectacles +in alarm; "are you sick? If you are we've got lots of castor oil and +rhubarb and jalap and boneset; shall I mix you up some?" + +"O my gracious! no--don't mention 'em again; I ain't sick that way--I +mean I'm scared." + +"Scared at what? Afraid there isn't enough supper for you?" asked Miss +Lizzie, looking smilingly down upon the handsome boy. + +"I tell you," said Fred, glancing from one to the other, "I think +there's a robber going to try and break into your house to-night and +steal everything you've got, and then he'll kill you both, and after +that I'm sure he means to burn down the house, and that'll be the last +all of you and your cats." + +When the young visitor made such a prodigious declaration, he supposed +the ladies would scream and probably faint away. But the very hugeness +of the boy's warning caused emotions the reverse of what he anticipated. + +They looked kindly at him a minute or so and then quietly smiled. + +"What a little coward you are, Fred," said Miss Annie; "surely there is +nobody who would harm two old creatures like us." + +"But they want your money," persisted Fred, still standing in the +middle of the floor. + +Both ladies were too truthful to deny that they had any, even to such a +child, and Lizzie said: + +"We haven't enough to tempt anybody to do such a great wrong." + +"You can't tell about that, then I 'spose some of those silver dishes +must be worth a great deal." + +"Yes, so they are," said Annie, "and we prize them the most because our +great, great, great-grandfather brought them over the sea a good many +years ago, and they have always been in our family." + +"But," interposed Lizzie, "we lock them up every night." + +"What in?" + +"A great big strong chest." + +"Anybody could break it open, though." + +"Yes, but it's locked; and you know it's against the law to break a +lock." + +"Well," said Fred, with a great sigh, "I hope there won't anybody +disturb you, but I hope you will fasten all the windows and doors +to-night." + +"We always do; and then," added the benign old lady, raising her head +so as to look under her spectacles in the face of the lad, "you know we +have you to take care of us." + +"Have you got a gun in the house?" + +"Mercy, yes; there's one over the fire-place, where father put it forty +years ago." + +"Is there anything the matter with it?" + +"Nothing, only the lock is broke off, and I think father said the +barrel was bursted." + +Fred laughed in spite of himself. + +"What under the sun is such an old thing good for?" + +"It has done us just as much good as if it were a new cannon--but come +out to your supper." + +The cheerful manner of the old ladies had done much to relieve Fred's +mind of his fears, and a great deal of his natural appetite came back +to him. + +He walked into the kitchen, where he seated himself at a table on which +was spread enough food for several grown persons, and telling him he +must not leave any of it to be wasted, the ladies withdrew, closing the +door behind them, so that he might not be embarrassed by their presence. + +"I wonder whether there's any use of being scared," said Fred to +himself, as he first sunk his big, sound teeth into a huge slice of +buttered short-cake, on which some peach jam had been spread! "If I +hadn't seen that tramp looking in at the window I wouldn't feel so +bad, and I declare," he added in dismay, "when they questioned me, I +never thought to tell 'em that. Never mind, I'll give 'em the whole +story when I finish five or six slices of this short-cake and some +ginger-cake, and three or four pieces of pie, and then, I think, +they'll believe I'm right." + +For several minutes the boy devoted himself entirely to his meal, and +had the good ladies peeped through the door while he was thus employed +they would have been highly pleased to see how well he was getting +along. + +"I wish I was an old maid and hadn't anything to do but to cook nice +food like this and play with the cats--my gracious!" + +Just then the door creaked, and, looking up, Fred Sheldon saw to his +consternation the very tramp of whom he had been thinking walk into the +room and approach the table. + +His clothing was ragged and unclean, a cord being drawn around his +waist to keep his coat together, while the collar was up so high about +his neck that nothing of the shirt was visible. + +His hair was frowsy and uncombed, as were his huge yellow whiskers, +which seemed to grow up almost to his eyes, and stuck out like the +quills on a porcupine. + +As the intruder looked at the boy and shuffled toward him, in his soft +rubber shoes, he indulged in a broad grin, which caused his teeth to +shine through his scraggly beard. + +He held his hat, which resembled a dishcloth, as much as anything, in +his hand, and was all suavity. + +His voice sounded as though he had a bad cold, with now and then an odd +squeak. As he bowed he said: + +"Good evening, young man; I hope I don't intrude." + +As he approached the table and helped himself to a chair, the ladies +came along behind him, Miss Lizzie saying: + +"This poor man, Frederick, has had nothing to eat for three days, and +is trying to get home to his family. I'm sure you will be glad to have +him sit at the table with you." + +"Yes, I'm awful glad," replied the boy, almost choking with the fib. "I +was beginning to feel kind of lonely, but I'm through and he can have +the table to himself." + +"You said you were a shipwrecked sailor, I believe?" was the inquiring +remark of Miss Lizzie, as the two sisters stood in the door, beaming +kindly on the tramp, who began to play havoc with the eatables before +him. + +"Yes, mum; we was shipwrecked on the Jarsey coast; I was second mate +and all was drowned but me. I hung to the rigging for three days and +nights in the awfullest snow storm you ever heard of." + +"Mercy goodness," gasped Annie; "when was that?" + +"Last week," was the response, as the tramp wrenched the leg of a +chicken apart with hands and teeth. + +"Do they have snow storms down there in summer time?" asked Fred, as he +moved away from the table. + +The tramp, with his mouth full of meat, and with his two hands grasping +the chicken-bone between his teeth, stopped work and glared at the +impudent youngster, as if he would look him through and through for +daring to ask the question. + +"Young man," said he, as he solemnly resumed operations, "of course, +they have snow storms down there in summer time; I'm ashamed of your +ignorance; you're rather small to put in when grown-up folks are +talking, and I'd advise you to listen arter this." + +Fred concluded he would do so, using his eyes meanwhile. + +"Yes, mum," continued the tramp; "I was in the rigging for three days +and nights, and then was washed off by the breakers and carried ashore, +where I was robbed of all my clothing, money and jewels." + +"Deary, deary me!" exclaimed the sisters in concert. "How dreadful." + +"You are right, ladies, and I've been tramping ever since." + +"How far away is your home?" + +"Only a hundred miles, or so." + +"You have a family, have you?" + +"A wife and four babies--if they only knowed what their poor father had +passed through--excuse these tears, mum." + +The tramp just then gave a sniff and drew his sleeve across his +forehead, but Fred Sheldon, who was watching him closely, did not +detect anything like a tear. + +But he noted something else, which had escaped the eyes of the +kind-hearted ladies. + +The movement of the arm before the face seemed to displace the +luxuriant yellow beard. Instead of sitting on the countenance as it did +at first, even in its ugliness, it was slewed to one side. + +Only for a moment, however, for by a quick flirt of the hand, as though +he were scratching his chin, he replaced it. + +And just then Fred Sheldon noticed another fact. The hand with +which this was done was as small, white and fair as that of a +woman--altogether the opposite of that which would have been seen had +the tramp's calling been what he claimed. + +The ladies, after a few more thoughtful questions, withdrew, so that +their guest might not feel any delicacy in eating all he wished--an +altogether unnecessary step on their part. + +Fred went out with them, but after he had been gone a few minutes +he slyly peeped through the crack of the door, without the ladies +observing the impolite proceeding. + +The guest was still doing his best in the way of satisfying his +appetite, but he was looking around the room, at the ceiling, the +floor, the doors, windows and fire-place, and indeed at everything, as +though he was greatly interested in them, as was doubtless the case. + +All at once he stopped and listened, glancing furtively at the door, as +if he feared some one was about to enter the room. + +Then he quietly rose, stepped quickly and noiselessly to one of the +windows, took out the large nail which was always inserted over the +sash at night to keep it fastened, put it in his pocket, and, with a +half chuckle and grin, seated himself again at the table. + +At the rate of eating which was displayed, he soon finished, and, +wiping his greasy hands on his hair, he gave a great sigh of relief, +picked up his slouchy hat, and moved toward the door leading to the +room in which the ladies sat. + +"I'm very much obleeged to you," said he, bowing very low, as he +shuffled toward the outer door, "and I shall ever remember you in my +prayers; sorry I can't pay you better, mums." + +The sisters protested they were more than repaid in the gratitude he +showed, and they begged him, if he ever came that way, to call again. + +He promised that he would be glad to do so, and departed. + +"You may laugh all you're a mind to," said Fred, when he had gone, "but +that's the man I saw peeping in the window, and he means to come back +here to-night and rob you." + +The boy told all that he knew, and the ladies, while not sharing his +fright, agreed that it was best to take extra precautions in locking up. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ON GUARD. + + +The sisters Perkinpine always retired early, and, candle in hand, they +made the round of the windows and doors on the first floor. + +When they came to the window from which the nail had been removed, Fred +told them he had seen the tramp take it out, and he was sure he would +try and enter there. + +This served to add to the uneasiness of the sisters, but they had great +confidence in the security of the house, which had never been disturbed +by burglars, so far as they knew, in all its long history. + +"The chest where we keep the silver and what little money we have," +said Lizzie, "is up-stairs, next to the spare bed-room." + +"Leave the door open and let me sleep there," said Fred, stoutly. + +"Gracious alive, what can you do if they should come?" was the amazed +inquiry. + +"I don't know as I can do anything, but I can try; I want that old +musket that's over the fire-place, too." + +"Why, it will go off and kill you." + +Fred insisted so strongly, however, that he was allowed to climb upon +a chair and take down the antiquated weapon, covered with rust and dust. + +When he came to examine it he found that the description he had heard +was correct--the ancient flintlock was good for nothing, and the +barrel, when last discharged, must have exploded at the breach, for it +was twisted and split open, so that a load of powder could only injure +the one who might fire it, were such a feat possible. + +The sisters showed as much fear of it when it was taken down as though +it were in good order, primed and cocked, and they begged the lad to +restore it to its place as quickly as possible. + +But he seemed to think he had charge of the business for the evening, +and, bidding them good-night, he took his candle and went to his room, +which he had occupied once or twice before. + +It may well be asked what young Fred Sheldon expected to do with such a +useless musket, should emergency arise demanding a weapon. + +Indeed, the boy would have found it hard to tell himself, excepting +that he hoped to scare the man or men away by the pretence of a power +which he did not possess. + +Now that the young hero was finally left alone, he felt that he had a +most serious duty to perform. + +The spare bedroom which was placed at his disposal was a large, +old-fashioned apartment, with two windows front and rear, with a door +opening into the next room, somewhat smaller in size, both being +carpeted, while the smaller contained nothing but a few chairs and +a large chest, in which were silver and money worth several thousand +dollars. + +"I'll set the candle in there on the chest," concluded Fred, "and I'll +stay in here with the gun. If he comes up-stairs and gets into the room +I'll try and make him believe I've got a loaded rifle to shoot him +with." + +The door opening outward from each apartment had nothing but the +old-style iron latch, large and strong, and fastened in place by +turning down a small iron tongue. + +It would take much effort to force such a door, but Fred had no doubt +any burglar could do it, even though it were ten times as strong. He +piled chairs against both, and then made an examination of the windows. + +To his consternation, the covered porch extending along the front of +the house, passed beneath every window, and was so low that it would be +a very easy thing to step from the hypostyle to the entrance. + +The room occupied by the ladies was in another part of the building, +and much more inaccessible. + +Young as Fred Sheldon was, he could not help wondering how it was that +where everything was so inviting to burglars they had not visited these +credulous and trusting sisters before. + +"If that tramp, that I don't believe is a tramp, tries to get into the +house he'll do it by one of the windows, for that one is fastened down +stairs, and all he has to do is to climb up the portico and crawl in +here." + +The night was so warm that Fred thought he would smother when he had +fastened all the windows down, and he finally compromised by raising +one of those at the back of the house, where he was sure there was the +least danger of any one entering. + +This being done, he sat down in a chair, with the rusty musket in his +hand, and began his watch. + +From his position he could see the broad, flat candlestick standing +on the chest, with the dip already burned so low that it was doubtful +whether it could last an hour longer. + +"What's the use of that burning, anyway?" he asked himself; "that +fellow isn't afraid to come in, and the candle will only serve to show +him the way." + +Acting under the impulse, he walked softly through the door to where +the yellow light was burning, and with one puff extinguished it. + +The wick glowed several minutes longer, sending out a strong odor, +which pervaded both rooms. Fred watched it until all became darkness, +and then he was not sure he had done a wise thing after all. + +The trees on both sides of the house were so dense that their leaves +shut out nearly all the moonlight which otherwise would have entered +the room. Only a few rays came through the window of the other +apartment, and these, striking the large, square chest showed its dim +outlines, with the phantom-like candlestick on top. + +Where Fred himself sat it was dark and gloomy, and his situation, we +are sure all will admit, was enough to try the nerves of the strongest +man, even if furnished with a good weapon of offence and defence. + +"I hope the ladies will sleep," was the unselfish thought of the little +hero, "for there isn't any use of their being disturbed when they can't +do anything but scream, and a robber don't care for that." + +One of the hardest things is to keep awake when exhausted by some +unusual effort of the bodily or mental powers, and we all know under +how many conditions it is utterly impossible. + +The sentinel on the outpost or the watch on deck fights off his +drowsiness by steadily pacing back and forth. If he sits down for a few +minutes he is sure to succumb. + +When Fremont, the pathfinder, was lost with his command in the Rocky +Mountains, and was subjected to such arctic rigors in the dead of +winter as befell the crew of the Jeannette in the ice-resounding oceans +of the far north the professor, who accompanied the expedition for the +purpose of making scientific investigations, warned all that their +greatest peril lay in yielding to the drowsiness which the extreme cold +would be sure to bring upon them. He begged them to resist it with all +the energy of their natures, for in no other way could they escape with +their lives. + +And yet this same professor was the first one of the party to give up +and to lie down for his last long sleep, from which it was all Fremont +could do to arouse him. + +Fred Sheldon felt that everything depended on him, and with the +exaggerated fears that come to a youngster at such a time he was sure +that if he fell asleep the evil man would enter the room, take all the +money and plate and then sacrifice him. + +"I could keep awake a week," he muttered, as he tipped his chair back +against the wall, so as to rest easier, while he leaned the musket +along side of him, in such position that it could be seized at a +moment's warning. + +The night remained solemn and still. Far in the distance he could hear +the flow of the river, and from the forest, less than a mile away, +seemed to come a murmur, like the "voice of silence" itself. + +Now and then the crowing of a cock was answered by another a long +distance off, and occasionally the soft night wind stirred the +vegetation surrounding the house. + +But among them all was no sound which the excited imagination could +torture into such as would be made by a stealthy entrance into the +house. + +In short, everything was of the nature to induce sleep, and it was not +yet ten o'clock when Fred began to wink, very slowly and solemnly, his +grasp on the ruined weapon relaxed, his head bobbed forward several +times and at last he was asleep. + +As his mind had been so intensely occupied by thoughts of burglars and +their evil doings, his dreams were naturally of the same unpleasant +personages. + +In his fancy he was sitting on the treasure-chest, unable to move, +while an ogre-like creature climbed into the window, slowly raised an +immense club and then brought it down on the head of the boy with a +terrific crash. + +With an exclamation of terror Fred awoke, and found that he had fallen +forward on his face, sprawling on the floor at full length, while the +jar tipped the musket over so that it fell across him. + +In his dream it had seemed that the burglar was a full hour climbing +upon the roof and through the window, and yet the whole vision began +and ended during the second or two occupied in falling from his chair. + +In the confusion of the moment Fred was sure the man he dreaded was +in the room, but when he had got back into the chair he was gratified +beyond measure to find his mistake. + +"I'm a pretty fellow to keep watch," he muttered, rubbing his eyes; "I +don't suppose that I was awake more than a half hour. It must be past +midnight, so I've had enough sleep to last me without any more of it +before to-morrow night." + +He resumed his seat, never more wide awake in all his life. It was not +as late as he supposed, but the hour had come when it was all-important +that he should keep his senses about him. + +Hearing nothing unusual he rose to his feet and walked to the rear +window and looked out. It was somewhat cooler and a gentle breeze felt +very pleasant on his fevered face. The same stillness held reign, and +he moved to the front, where he took a similar view. + +So far as could be told, everything was right and he resumed his seat. + +But at this juncture Fred was startled by a sound, the meaning of which +he well knew. + +Some one was trying hard to raise the dining-room window--the rattling +being such that there was no mistake about it. + +"It's that tramp!" exclaimed the boy, all excitement, stepping softly +into the next room and listening at the head of the stairs, "and he's +trying the window that he took the nail out of." + +The noise continued several minutes--long after the time, indeed, when +the tramp must have learned that his trick had been discovered--and +then all became still. + +This window was the front, and Fred, in the hope of scaring the fellow +away, raised the sash, and, leaning out, peered into the darkness and +called out: + +"Halloo, down there! What do you want?" + +As may be supposed, there was no answer, and after waiting a minute or +two, Fred concluded to give a warning. + +"If I hear anything more of you, I'll try and shoot; I've got a gun +here and we're ready for you!" + +This threat ought to have frightened an ordinary person away, and the +boy was not without a strong hope that it had served that purpose with +the tramp whom he dreaded so much. + +He thought he could discern his dark figure among the trees, but it was +probably fancy, for the gloom was too great for his eyes to be of any +use in that respect. + +Fred listened a considerable while longer, and then, drawing his head +within, said: + +"I shouldn't wonder if I had scared him off----" + +Just then a soft step roused him, and turning his head, he saw that +the very tramp of whom he was thinking and of whom he believed he was +happily rid, had entered the room, and was standing within a few feet +of him. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BRAVE WORK. + + +When Fred Sheldon turned on his heel and saw the outlines of the tramp +in the room behind him he gave a start and exclamation of fear, as the +bravest man might have done under the circumstances. + +The intruder chuckled and said in his rasping, creaking voice: + +"Don't be skeert, young man; if you keep quiet you won't get hurt, but +if you go to yelping or making any sort of noise I'll wring your head +as if you was a chicken I wanted for dinner." + +Fred made no answer to this, when the tramp added, in the same husky +undertone, as he stepped forward in a threatening way: + +"Do you hear what I said?" + +"Yes, sir; I hear you." + +"Well, just step back through that door in t'other room and watch me +while I look through this chest for a gold ring I lost last week." + +Poor Fred was in a terrible state of mind, and, passing softly through +the door opening into his bed-room, he paused by the chair where he +had sat so long, and then faced toward the tramp, who said, by way of +amendment: + +"I forgot to say that if you try to climb out of the winder onto the +porto rico or to sneak out any way I'll give you a touch of that." + +As he spoke he suddenly held up a bull's-eye lantern, which poured a +strong stream of light toward the boy. It looked as if he must have +lighted it inside the house, and had come into the room with it under +his coat. + +While he carried this lantern in one hand he held a pistol, shining +with polished silver, in the other, and behind the two objects the +bearded face loomed up like that of some ogre of darkness. + +The scamp did not seem to think this remark required anything in the +way of response, and, kneeling before the huge oaken chest, he began +his evil work. + +For a few moments Fred was so interested that he ceased to reproach +himself for having failed to do his duty. + +The tramp set the lantern on the floor beside him, so that it threw its +beams directly into the room where the boy stood. + +The marauder, it must be said, did not act like a professional. One +of the burglars who infest society to-day would have made short work +with the lock, though it was of the massive and powerful kind, in use +many years ago; but this person fumbled and worked a good while without +getting it open. + +He muttered impatiently to himself several times, and then caught up +the bull's-eye, and, bending his head over, carefully examined it, to +learn why it resisted his vigorous efforts. + +The action of the man seemed to rouse Fred, who, without a moment's +thought, stepped backward toward the open window at the rear, the one +which had been raised all the time to afford ventilation. + +He thought if the dreadful man should object, he could make excuse on +account of the warmth of the night. + +But the lad moved so softly, or the wicked fellow was so interested +in his own work that he did not notice him, for he said nothing, and +though Fred could see him no longer he could hear him toiling, with +occasional mutterings of anger at his failure to open the chest, which +was believed to contain so much valuable silverware and money. + +The diverging rays from the dark-lantern still shot through the open +door into the bed-room. They made a well-defined path along the floor, +quite narrow and not very high, and which, striking the white wall at +the opposite side, terminated in one splash of yellow, in which the +specks of the whitewash could be plainly seen. + +It was as if a great wedge of golden light lay on the floor, with the +head against the wall and the tapering point passing through the door +and ending at the chest in the other room. + +While Fred Sheldon was looking at the curious sight he noticed +something in the illuminated path. It would be thought that, in the +natural fear of a boy in his situation, he would have felt no interest +in it, but, led on by a curiosity which none but a lad feels, he +stepped softly forward on tip-toe. + +Before he stooped over to pick it up he saw that it was a handsome +pocket-knife. + +"He has dropped it," was the thought of Fred, who wondered how he came +to do it; "anyway I'll hold on to it for awhile." + +He quietly shoved it down into his pocket, where his old Barlow knife, +his jewsharp, eleven marbles, two slate pencils, a couple of large +coppers, some cake crumbs and other trifles nestled, and then, having +succeeded so well, he again went softly to the open window at the rear. + +Just as he reached it he heard an unusual noise in the smaller +apartment where the man was at work, and he was sure the burglar had +discovered what he was doing, and was about to punish him. + +But the sound was not repeated, and the boy believed the tramp had got +the chest open. If such were the fact, he was not likely to think of +the youngster in the next room for several minutes more. + +Fred was plucky, and the thought instantly came to him that he had a +chance to leave the room and give an alarm; but to go to the front and +climb out on the roof of the porch would bring him so close to the +tramp that discovery would be certain. + +At the rear there was nothing by which he could descend to the ground. +It was a straight wall, invisible in the darkness and too high for any +one to leap. He might hang down from the sill by his hands and then let +go, but he was too unfamiliar with the surroundings to make such an +attempt. + +"Maybe there's a tub of water down there," he said to himself, trying +to peer into the gloom; "and I might turn over and strike on my head +into it, or it might be the swill barrel, and I wouldn't want to get my +head and shoulders wedged into that----" + +At that instant something as soft as a feather touched his cheek. The +gentle night wind had moved the rustling limbs, so that one of them in +swaying only a few inches had reached out, as it were, and kissed the +chubby face of the brave little boy. + +"Why didn't I think of that?" he asked himself, as he caught hold of +the friendly limb. "I can hold on and swing to the ground." + +It looked, indeed, as if such a movement was easy. By reaching his +hand forward he could follow the limb until it was fully an inch in +diameter. That was plenty strong enough to hold his weight. + +Glancing around, he saw the same wedge of golden light streaming into +the room, and the sounds were such that he was sure the burglar had +opened the chest and was helping himself to the riches within. + +The next minute Fred bent forward, and, griping the limb with both +hands, swung out of the window. All was darkness, and he shut his eyes +and held his breath with that peculiar dizzy feeling which comes over +one when he cowers before an expected blow on the head. + +The sensation was that of rushing into the leaves and undergrowth, and +then, feeling himself stopping rather suddenly, he let go. + +He alighted upon his feet, the distance being so short that he was +scarcely jarred, and he drew a sigh of relief when he realized that his +venture had ended so well. + +"There," he said to himself, as he adjusted his clothing, "I ain't +afraid of him now, I can outrun him if I only have a fair chance, and +there's plenty of places where a fellow can hide." + +Looking up to the house it was all dark; not a ray from the lantern +could be seen, and the sisters were no doubt sleeping as sweetly as +they had slept nearly every night for the past three-score years and +more. + +But Fred understood the value of time too well to stay in the vicinity +while the tramp was engaged with his nefarious work above. If the +law-breaker was to be caught, it must be done speedily. + +But there were no houses near at hand, and it would take fully an hour +to bring Archie Jackson, the constable, to the spot. + +"The nearest house is Mike Heyland's, the hired man, and I'll go for +him." + +Filled with this thought, Fred moved softly around to the front, passed +through the gate, entered the short lane, and began walking between the +rows of trees in the direction of the highway. + +An active boy of his age finds his most natural gait to be a trot, and +Fred took up that pace. + +"It's so dark here under these trees that if there's anything in the +road I'll tumble over it, for I never miss----" + +"Halloo there, you boy!" + +As these startling words fell upon young Sheldon's ear, the figure of +a man suddenly stepped out from the denser shadows and halted in front +of the affrighted boy, who stopped short, wondering what it meant. + +There was nothing in the voice and manner of the stranger, however, +which gave confidence to Fred, who quickly rallied, and stepping +closer, caught his hand with the confiding faith of childhood. + +"O, I'm so glad to see you! I was afraid I'd have to run clear to +Tottenville to find somebody." + +"What's the matter, my little man?" + +"Why, there's a robber in the house back there; he's stealing all the +silver and money that belongs to the Misses Perkinpine, and they're +sound asleep--just think of it--and he's got a lantern up there and +is at work at the chest now, and said he would shoot me if I made any +noise or tried to get away, but I catched hold of a limb and swung out +the window, and here I am!" exclaimed Fred, stopping short and panting. + +"Well now, that's lucky, for I happen to have a good, loaded pistol +with me. I'm visiting Mr. Spriggins in Tottenville, and went out +fishing this afternoon, but stayed longer than I intended, and was +going home across lots when I struck the lane here without knowing +exactly where I was; but I'm glad I met you." + +"So'm I," exclaimed the gratified Fred; "will you help me catch that +tramp?" + +"Indeed I will; come on, my little man." + +The stranger stepped off briskly, Fred close behind him, and passed +through the gate at the front of the old brick house, which looked as +dark and still as though no living person had been in it for years. + +"Don't make any noise," whispered the elder, turning part way round and +raising his finger. + +"You needn't be afraid of my doing so," replied the boy, who was sure +the caution was unnecessary. + +Fred did not notice the fact at the time that the man who had come +along so opportunely seemed to be quite familiar with the place, but he +walked straight to a rear window, which, despite the care with which it +had been fastened down, was found to be raised. + +"There's where he went in," whispered Fred's friend, "and there's where +we're going after him." + +"All right," said Fred, who did not hesitate, although he could not see +much prospect of his doing anything. "I'll follow." + +The man reached up and catching hold of the sash placed his feet on the +sill and stepped softly into the room. Then turning so his figure could +be seen plainly in the moonlight, he said in the same guarded voice: + +"He may hear me coming, do you, therefore, go round to the front and if +he tries to climb down by way of the porch, run round here and let me +know. We'll make it hot for him." + +This seemed a prudent arrangement, for it may be said, it guarded all +points. The man who had just entered would, prevent the thieving tramp +from retreating by the path he used in entering, while the sharp eyes +of the boy would be quick to discover him the moment he sought to use +the front window. + +"I guess we've got him," thought Fred, as he took his station by the +front porch and looked steadily upward, like one who is studying the +appearance of a new comet or some constellation in the heavens; "that +man going after him ain't afraid of anything, and he looks strong +and big enough to take him by the collar and shake him, just as Mr. +McCurtis shakes us boys when he wants to exercise himself." + +For several minutes the vigilant Fred was in a flutter of excitement, +expecting to hear the report of firearms and the sound of struggling on +the floor above. + +"I wonder if Miss Annie and Lizzie will wake up when the shooting +begins," thought Fred; "I don't suppose they will, for they are so used +to sleeping all night that nothing less than a big thunder-storm will +start them--but it seems to me it's time that something took place." + +Young Sheldon had the natural impatience of youth, and when ten minutes +passed without stirring up matters, he thought his friend was too slow +in his movements. + +Besides, his neck began to ache from looking so steadily upward, so +he walked back in the yard some distance, and leaning against a tree, +shoved his hands down in his pockets and continued the scrutiny. + +This made it more pleasant for a short time only, when he finally +struck the happy expedient of lying down on his side and then placing +his head upon his hand in such an easy position that the ache vanished +at once. + +Fifteen more minutes went by, and Fred began to wonder what it all +meant. It seemed to him that fully an hour had gone since stationing +himself as a watcher, and not the slightest sound had come back to tell +him that any living person was in the house. + +"There's something wrong about this," he finally exclaimed, springing +to his feet; "maybe the tramp got away before I came back; but then, if +that's so, why didn't the other fellow find it out long ago?" + +Loth to leave his post, Fred moved cautiously among the trees a while +longer, and still failing to detect anything that would throw light on +the mystery, he suddenly formed a determination, which was a rare one, +indeed, for a lad of his years. + +"I'll go in and find out for myself!" + +Boy-like, having made the resolve, he acted upon it without stopping +to think what the cost might be. He was in his bare feet, and it was +an easy matter for a little fellow like him to climb through an open +window on the first floor without making a noise. + +When he got into the room, however, where it was as dark as the darkest +midnight he ever saw, things began to appear different, that is so far +as anything can be said to appear where it is invisible. + +He could see nothing at all, and reaching out his hands, he began +shuffling along in that doubting manner which we all use under such +circumstances. + +He knew that he was in the dining-room, from which it was necessary to +pass through a door into the broad hall, and up the stairs to the spare +room, where it was expected he would sleep whenever he favored the twin +maiden sisters with a visit. + +He could find his way there in the dark, but he was afraid of the +obstructions in his path. + +"I 'spose all the chairs have been set out of the way, 'cause Miss +Annie and Lizzie are very particular, and they wouldn't----" + +Just then Fred's knee came against a chair, and before he could stop +himself, he fell over it with a racket which he was sure would awaken +the ladies themselves. + +"That must have jarred every window in the house," he gasped, rubbing +his knees. + +He listened for a minute or two before starting on again, but the same +profound stillness reigned. It followed, as a matter of course, that +the men up-stairs had heard the tumult, but Fred consoled himself with +the belief that it was such a tremendous noise that they would mistake +its meaning altogether. + +"Any way, I don't mean to fall over any more chairs," muttered the lad, +shuffling along with more care, and holding his hands down, so as to +detect such an obstruction. + +It is hardly necessary to tell what followed. Let any one undertake to +make his way across a dark room, without crossing his hands in front +and the edge of a door is sure to get between them. + +Fred Sheldon received a bump which made him see stars, but after +rubbing his forehead for a moment he moved out into the broad hall, +where there was no more danger of anything of the kind. + +The heavy oaken stairs were of such solid structure that when he placed +his foot on the steps they gave back no sound, and he stepped quite +briskly to the top without making any noise that could betray his +approach. + +"I wonder what they thought when I tumbled over the chair," pondered +Fred, who began to feel more certain than before that something was +amiss. + +Reaching out his hands in the dark he found that the door of his own +room was wide open, and he walked in without trouble. + +As he did so a faint light which entered by the rear window gave him a +clear idea of the interior. + +With his heart beating very fast Fred tip-toed toward the front until +he could look through the open door into the small room where the large +oaken chest stood. + +By this time the moon was so high that he could see the interior with +more distinctness than before. + +All was still and deserted; both the men were gone. + +"That's queer," muttered the puzzled lad; "if the tramp slipped away, +the other man that I met on the road ought to have found it out; but +what's become of him?" + +Running his hand deep down among the treasures in his trousers pocket, +Fred fished out a lucifer match, which he drew on the wall, and, as the +tiny twist of flame expanded, he touched it to the wick of the candle +that he held above his head. + +The sight which met his gaze was a curious one indeed, and held him +almost breathless for the time. + +The lid of the huge chest was thrown back against the wall, and all +that was within it were rumpled sheets of old brown paper, which had no +doubt been used as wrappings for the pieces of the silver tea-service. + +On the floor beside the chest was a large pocket-book, wrong side out. +This, doubtless, had once held the money belonging to the old ladies, +but it held it no longer. + +Money and silverware were gone! + +"The tramp got away while we were down the lane," said Fred, as he +stood looking at the signs of ruin about him; "but why didn't my friend +let me know about it, and where is he?" + +Fred Sheldon stopped in dismay, for just then the whole truth came upon +him like a flash. + +These two men were partners, and the man in the lane was on the watch +to see that no strangers approached without the alarm being given to +the one inside the house. + +"Why didn't I think of that?" mentally exclaimed the boy, so overcome +that he dropped into a chair, helpless and weak, holding the candle in +hand. + +It is easy to see how natural it was for a lad of his age to be +deceived as was Fred Sheldon, who never in all his life had been placed +in such a trying position. + +He sat for several minutes looking at the open chest, which seemed +to speak so eloquently of the wrong it had suffered, and then he +reproached himself for having failed so completely in doing his duty. + +"I can't see anything I've done," he thought, "which could have been of +any good, while there was plenty of chances to make some use of myself +if I had any sense about me." + +Indeed there did appear to be some justice in the self-reproach of the +lad, who added in the same vein: + +"I knew, the minute he stopped to ask questions at our front gate, that +he meant to come here and rob the house, and I ought to have started +right off for Constable Jackson, without running to tell the folks. +Then they laughed at me and I thought I was mistaken, even after I had +seen him peeping through the window. When he was eating his supper I +was sure of it, and then I should have slipped away and got somebody +else here to help watch, but we didn't have anything to shoot with, +and when I tried to keep guard I fell asleep, and when I woke up I was +simple enough to think there was only one way of his coming into the +house, and, while I had my eye on that, he walked right in behind me." + +Then, as Fred recalled his meeting with the second party in the lane, +he heaved a great sigh. + +"Well, I'm the biggest blockhead in the country--that's all--and I hope +I won't have to tell anybody the whole story. Halloo!" + +Just then he happened to think of the pocket-knife he had picked +up on the floor, and he drew it out of his pocket. Boy-like, his +eyes sparkled with pleasure when they rested on the implement so +indispensable to every youngster, and which was much the finest one he +had ever had in his hand. + +The handle was pearl and the two blades were of the finest steel and +almost as keen as a razor. + +Fred set the candle on a chair, and leaning over, carefully examined +the knife, which seemed to grow in beauty the more he handled it. + +"The man that dropped that is the one who stole all the silverware and +money, and there's the letters of his name," added the boy. + +True enough. On the little piece of brass on the side of the handle +were roughly cut the letters, "N. H. H." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ON THE OUTSIDE. + + +When Fred Sheldon had spent some minutes examining the knife he had +picked up from the floor, he opened and closed the blades several +times, and finally dropped it into his pocket, running his hand to +the bottom to make sure there was no hole through which the precious +implement might be lost. + +"I think that knife is worth about a thousand dollars," he said, with +a great sigh; "and if Aunt Lizzie and Annie don't get their silverware +and money back, why they can hold on to the jack-knife." + +At this juncture it struck the lad as a very strange thing that the two +ladies should sleep in one part of the house and leave their valuables +in another. It would have been more consistent if they had kept the +chest in their own sleeping apartment, but they were very peculiar in +some respects, and there was no accounting for many things they did. + +"Maybe they went in there!" suddenly exclaimed Fred, referring to the +tramp and his friend. "They must have thought it likely there was +something in their bed-room worth hunting for. I'll see." + +He felt faint at heart at the thought that the good ladies had been +molested while they lay unconscious in bed, but he pushed his way +through the house, candle in hand, with the real bravery which was a +part of his nature. + +His heart was throbbing rapidly when he reached the door of their +apartment and softly raised the latch. + +But it was fastened from within, and when he listened he distinctly +heard the low, gentle breathing of the good souls who had slumbered so +quietly all through these exciting scenes. + +"I am so thankful they haven't been disturbed," said Fred, making his +way back to his own room, where he blew out his light, said his prayers +and jumped into bed. + +Despite the stirring experiences through which he had passed, and the +chagrin he felt over his stupidity, Fred soon dropped into a sound +slumber, which lasted until the sun shone through the window. + +Even then it was broken by the gentle voice of Aunt Lizzie, as she was +sometimes called, sounding from the foot of the stairs. + +Fred was dressed and down in a twinkling, and in the rushing, headlong, +helter-skelter fashion of youngsters of his age, he told the story of +the robbery that had been committed during the night. + +The old ladies listened quietly, but the news was exciting, indeed, and +when Aunt Lizzie, the mildest soul that ever lived, said: + +"I hope you are mistaken, Fred; after breakfast we'll go up-stairs and +see for ourselves." + +"I shall see now," said her sister Annie, starting up the steps, +followed by Fred and the other. + +There they quickly learned the whole truth. Eight hundred and odd +dollars were in the pocketbook, and the intrinsic worth of the silver +tea service amounted to fully three times as much, while ten times that +sum would not have persuaded the ladies to part with it. + +They were thrown into dismay by the loss, which grew upon them as they +reflected over it. + +"Why didn't you call us?" asked the white-faced Aunt Lizzie. + +"Why, what would you have done if I had called you?" asked Fred, in +turn. + +"We would have talked with them and shown them what a wicked thing they +were doing, and reminded them how unlawful and wrong it is to pick a +lock and steal things." + +"Gracious alive! if I had undertaken to call you that first man would +have shot me, and it was lucky he didn't see me when I swung out the +back window; but they left something behind them which I'd rather have +than all your silver," said Fred. + +"What's that?" + +He drew out the pocket-knife and showed it, looking so wistfully that +they did not even take it from his hand, but told the gleeful lad to +keep it for himself. + +"You may be sure I will," was his comment as he stowed it away once +more; "a boy don't get a chance at a knife like that more than once in +a lifetime." + +The old ladies, mild and sweet-tempered as they were, became so faint +and weak as they fully realized their loss, that they could eat no +breakfast at all, and only swallowed a cup of coffee. + +Fred was affected in the same manner, but not to so great an extent. +However, he was anxious to do all he could for the good ladies, and +spending only a few minutes at the table he donned his hat and said he +would go for Constable Archie Jackson. + +The hired man, Michael Heyland, had arrived, and was at work out-doors, +so there was no call for the boy to remain longer. + +As Fred hastened down the lane, he was surprised to hear sounds of +martial music, but when he caught sight of a gorgeous band and a number +of square, box-like wagons with yellow animals painted on the outside, +he recalled that this was the day of the circus, and his heart gave a +great bound of delight. + +"I wish Miss Annie and Lizzie hadn't lost their money and silver," he +said, "for maybe I could have persuaded them to go to the circus with +me, and I'm sure they would have enjoyed themselves." + +Running forward, Fred perched himself on the fence until the last +wagon rattled by, when he slipped to the ground and trotted behind it, +feeling that delight which comes to all lads in looking upon the place +where wild animals are known to be housed. + +At every dwelling they passed the inmates hastened out, and the +musicians increased the volume of their music until the air seemed to +throb and pulsate with the stirring strains. + +When the town of Tottenville was reached, the whole place was +topsy-turvy. The men and wagons, with the tents and poles, had been on +the ground several hours, hard at work, and crowds had been watching +them from the moment of their arrival. + +As the rest of the vehicles gathered in a circle, which was to be +enclosed by the canvas, the interest was of such an intense character +that literally nothing else was seen or thought of by the countrymen +and villagers. + +There was no one who gaped with more open-mouthed wonder than Fred +Sheldon, who forgot for the time the real business which had brought +him to Tottenville. As usual, he had his trousers rolled high above his +knees, and with his hands deep in his pockets, walked about with his +straw hat flapping in the slight breeze, staring at everything relating +to the menagerie and circus, and tasting beforehand the delights that +awaited him in the afternoon, when he would be permitted to gaze until +tired, if such a thing were possible. + +"That's the cage that has the great African lion," said Fred to Jimmy +Emery and Joe Hunt, who stood beside him; "just look at that picture +where he's got a man in his jaws, running off with him, and not caring +a cent for the hunters firing at him." + +"Them's Tottenhots," said Joe Hunt, who was glad of a chance of airing +his knowledge of natural history; "they live in the upper part of +Africa, on the Hang Ho river, close to London." + +"My gracious," said Fred, with a laugh; "you've got Europe, Asia and +Africa all mixed up, and the people are the Hottentots; there isn't +anybody in the world with such a name as Tottenhots." + +"Yes, there is, too; ain't we folks that live in Tottenville +Tottenhots, smarty?" + +"Let's ask that big boy there about them; he belongs to the show." + +The young man to whom they alluded stood a short distance off, with +a long whip in his hand, watching the operations of those who were +erecting the canvas. He was quite red in the face, had a bushy head +of hair almost of the same hue, and was anything but attractive in +appearance. + +His trousers were tucked in his boot-tops; he wore a blue shirt, +sombrero-like hat, and was smoking a strong briar-wood pipe, +occasionally indulging in some remark in which there was a shocking +amount of profanity. + +The boys started toward him, and had nearly reached him when Jimmy +Emery said in an excited undertone: + +"Why, don't you see who he is? He's Bud Heyland." + +"So he is. His father told me last spring he had gone off to join a +circus, but I forgot all about it." + +Bud Heyland was the son of Michael Heyland, the man who did the work +for the sisters Perkinpine, and before he left was known as the bully +of the neighborhood. + +He was a year or two older than the oldest in school, and he played the +tyrant among the other youngsters, whose life sometimes became a burden +to them when he was near. + +He generally punished two or three of the lads each day after school +for some imaginary offense. If they told the teacher, he would scold +and threaten Bud, who would tell some outlandish falsehood, and then +whip the boys again for telling tales. + +If they appealed to Mr. McCurtis, the same programme was gone through +as before; and as the original victims continued to be worsted, +they finally gave it up as a losing business and bore their sorrows +uncomplainingly. + +Fred Sheldon tried several times to get up a confederation against the +bully, with a view of bringing him to justice, but the others were too +timid, and nothing came from it. + +Bud was especially ugly in his actions toward Fred, who had no father +to take the matter in hand, while Mr. Heyland himself simply smoked +his pipe and grunted out that he couldn't do anything with Bud and had +given him up long ago. + +Finally Mr. McCurtis lost all patience, and summoning his energies he +flogged the young scamp most thoroughly and then bundled him out of the +door, forbidding him to come to school any more. + +This suited Bud, who hurled several stones through the window, and then +went home, stayed several days and finally went off with a circus, with +one of whose drivers he had formed an acquaintance. + +The boys were a little backward when they recognized Bud, but concluded +he would be glad to see them, especially as they all intended to visit +the menagerie during the afternoon. + +"Halloo, Bud!" called out Fred, with a grin, as he and his two friends +approached; "how are you?" + +The boy, who was sixteen years old, turned about and looked at them for +a minute, and then asked: + +"Is that you, younkers? What'er you doin' here?" + +"Oh, looking around a little. We're all coming this afternoon." + +"You are, eh? Do you expect to crawl under the tent?" + +"No, we're going to pay our way in; Jim and Joe didn't know whether +they could come or not, but it's all fixed now." + +"I watch outside with this cart-whip for boys that try to crawl under, +and it's fun when I bring the lash down on 'em. Do you see?" + +As he spoke, Bud gave a flourish with the whip, whirling the lash about +his head and causing it to snap like a firecracker. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +"THE LION IS LOOSE!" + + +"I'll show you how it works," he called out, with a grin, and without +a word of warning he whirled it about the legs and bodies of the boys, +who jumped with pain and started to run. + +He followed them just as the teacher did before, delivering blows +rapidly, every one of which fairly burned and blistered where it +struck. Bud laughed and enjoyed it, because he was inflicting +suffering, and he would have caused serious injury had not one of the +men shouted to him to stop. + +Bud obeyed, catching the end of the lash in the hand which held the +whipstock, and slouching back to his position, said: + +"They wanted me to give 'em free tickets, and 'cause I wouldn't they +told me they were going to crawl under the tent; so I thought I would +let 'em have a little taste beforehand." + +"You mustn't be quite so ready," said the man; "some time you will get +into trouble." + +"It wan't be the first time," said Bud, looking with a grin at the poor +boys, all three of whom were crying with pain; "and I reckon I can get +out ag'in, as I've done often enough." + +Fred Sheldon, after edging away from the other lads and his friends, +all of whom were pitying him, recalled that he had come into the +village of Tottenville to see the constable, Archie Jackson, and to +tell him about the robbery that had been committed at the residence of +the Misses Perkinpine the preceding evening. + +Archie, a short, bustling, somewhat pompous man, who turned in his +toes when he walked, was found among the crowd that were admiring the +circus and menagerie, and was soon made acquainted with the alarming +occurrence. + +"Just what might have been expected," he said, severely, when he had +heard the particulars; "it was some of them circus people, you can make +up your mind to that. There's always an ugly crowd going along with +'em, and sometimes a little ahead. It's been some of 'em, I'm sure; +very well, very well, I'll go right out and investigate." + +He told Fred it was necessary he should go along with him, and the boy +did so, being informed that he would be permitted to attend the show in +the afternoon. + +The fussy constable made the investigation, assisted by the sisters, +who had become much calmer, and by Fred, who, it will be understood, +was an important witness. + +The officer went through and through the house, examining the floor +and chairs and windows and furniture for marks that might help him in +ferreting out the guilty parties. He looked very wise, and, when he was +done, said he had his own theory, and he was more convinced than ever +that the two burglars were attachés of Bandman's menagerie and circus. + +"Purely as a matter of business," said he, "I'll attend the +performances this afternoon and evening; I don't believe in circuses, +but an officer of the law must sometimes go where his inclination +doesn't lead him. Wouldn't you ladies like to attend the show?" + +The sisters were quite shocked at the invitation, and said that nothing +could induce them to go to such an exhibition, when they never attended +one in all their lives. + +"In the meantime," added the bustling officer, "I suggest that you +offer a reward for the recovery of the goods." + +"The suggestion is a good one," said Aunt Annie, "for I do not believe +we shall ever get back the silverware unless we make it an inducement +for everybody to hunt for it." + +After some further words it was agreed that the constable should have +a hundred posters printed, offering a reward for the recovery of the +stolen property, nothing being said about the capture and conviction of +the thieves. + +Nor would the conscientious ladies consent to make any offer that +could be accepted by the thieves themselves, by which they could claim +protection against prosecution. + +They would rather bear their irreparable loss than consent to compound +crime. + +"I know Mr. Carter, a very skillful detective in New York," said +Archie Jackson, as he prepared to go, "and I will send for him. He's +the sharpest man I ever saw, and if the property can be found, he's the +one to do it." + +The confidence of the officer gave the ladies much hope, and they +resumed their duties in their household, as they had done so many times +for years past. + +As the afternoon approached, the crowds began streaming into +Tottenville, and the sight was a stirring one, with the band of music +inside, the shouts of the peddlers on the outside, and the general +confusion and expectancy on the part of all. + +The doors were open early, for, as is always the case, the multitude +were ahead of time, and were clamoring for admission. + +As may be supposed, the boys were among the earliest, and the little +fellows who had suffered at the hands of the cruel Bud Heyland forgot +all their miseries in the delight of the entertainment. + +On this special occasion Fred had rolled down his trousers and wore a +pair of shoes, although most of his playmates preferred no covering at +all for their brown, expanding feet. + +The "performance," as the circus portion was called, did not begin +until two o'clock, so that more than an hour was at the disposal of the +visitors in which to inspect the animals. + +These were found to be much less awe-inspiring than they were +pictured on the flaming posters and on the sides of their cages. +The hippopotamus, which was represented as crushing a large boat, +containing several men, in his jaws, was taken for a small, +queer-looking pig, as it was partly seen in the tank, while the grizzly +bear, the "Monarch of the Western Wilds," who had slain any number of +men before capture, did not look any more formidable than a common dog. + +The chief interest of Fred and two or three of his young friends +centered around the cage containing the Numidian lion. He was of pretty +fair size, looked very fierce, and strode majestically back and forth +in his narrow quarters, now and then giving vent to a cavernous growl, +which, although not very pleasant to hear, was not so appalling by any +means as some travelers declare it to be. + +Most of the boys soon went to the cage of monkeys, whose funny antics +kept them in a continual roar; but Fred and Joe Hunt, who were about +the same age, seemed never to tire of watching the king of beasts. + +"Come, move on there; you've been gaping long enough, and it's time +other folks had a chance." + +It was Bud Heyland, who had yielded his position on the outside for +a few minutes to one of the men, and had come in to look around. He +raised his whip in a threatening manner, but did not let it descend. + +"I'm not in anybody's way," replied the indignant Fred, "and I'll stand +here as long as I want to." + +"You will, eh? I'll show you!" + +This time the bully drew back his whip with the intention of striking, +but before he could do so Archie Jackson, standing near, called out: + +"You touch him if you dare!" + +Bud turned toward the constable, who stood at his elbow, with flashing +eyes, and demanded: + +"What's the matter with you?" + +"That boy isn't doing any harm, and if you touch him I'll take you +by the collar and lock you up where you'll stay a while after this +miserable show has gone." + +Bud knew the officer and held him in more fear than any one else in the +community, but he growled: + +"This boy crawled under the tent, and he's no business in here." + +"That's a falsehood, for I saw him buy his ticket. Come now, young man, +I _know something about last night's nefarious proceedings_." + +It would be hard to describe the significance with which these words +were spoken, but it may be said that no one could have made them more +impressive than did the fiery constable, who said them over a second +time, and then, shaking his head very knowingly, walked away. + +It may have been that Bud Heyland was such a bad boy that his +conscience accused him at all times, but Fred Sheldon was certain he +saw the red face grow more crimson under the words of the hot-tempered +constable. + +"Can it be Bud knows anything about last night?" Fred asked himself, +attentively watching the movements of Bud, who affected to be +interested in something going on a rod or two distant. + +He walked rapidly thither, but was gone only a short while when he came +back scowling at Fred, who looked at him in an inquiring way. + +"What are you staring at me so for?" asked Bud, half raising his hand +as if he wanted to strike, but was afraid to do so. + +Fred now did something which bordered on insolence, though the party of +the other part deserved no consideration therefor. The little fellow +looked steadily in the red, inflamed face, and with that peculiar grin +that means so much in a boy, said in a low, confidential voice: + +"Bud, how about last night?" + +Young Sheldon had no warrant to assume that Bud Heyland knew anything +of the robbery, and he was only following up the hint given by Archie +Jackson himself. + +This may have been the reason that Fred fancied he could detect a +resemblance--very slight though it was--between the voice of Bud +Heyland and that of the tramp who sat at the table in the old brick +house, and who, beyond question, had a false beard on. + +The young man with the whip in his hand simply looked back at the +handsome countenance before him, and without any appearance of emotion, +asked in turn: + +"What are you talking about?" + +Fred continued to look and smile, until suddenly Bud lost all +self-command and whirled his whip over his head. + +As he did so, the lash flew through the bars of the cage and struck the +Numidian lion a sharp, stinging blow on the nose. + +He gave a growl of anger, and half-rearing on his hind feet, made +a furious clawing and clutching with both paws. The end of the lash +seemed to have hit him in the eye, for he was furious for a minute. + +Bud Heyland knew what the sounds behind him meant, and instead of +striking the young lad whom he detested so much, he turned about in the +hope of soothing the enraged lion. + +He spoke kindly to the beast, and failing to produce any effect, was +about to call one of the men to bring some meat, but at that instant +every one near at hand was startled by a crashing, grinding sound, and +the cage was seen to sway as if on the point of turning over. + +Then, before any one could comprehend fully what had occurred, a huge +form was seen to bound through the air in front of the cage, landing +directly among the terrified group, who stood spell-bound, scarcely +realizing their fearful peril. + +"The lion is loose! the lion is loose!" was the next cry that rang +through the enclosure. + +[Illustration: "The lion sprang through the air among the terrified +group." --(See page 71.)] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A DAY OF EXCITEMENT IN TOTTENVILLE. + + +If any of our readers were ever so unfortunate as to be in the +neighborhood of a menagerie of animals when one of the fiercest has +broken loose he can form some idea of the confusion, terror and +consternation caused by the escape of the lion from his cage. + +Strong men rushed headlong over each other; parents caught up their +children and struggled desperately to get as far as possible from the +dreadful beast; the other animals uttered fierce growls and cries; +women and children screamed and fainted; brave escorts deserted young +ladies, leaving them to look out for themselves, while they joined in +the frantic struggle for life; some crawled under the wagons; others +clambered upon the top, and one man, original even in his panic, +scrambled into the cage just vacated by the lion, intending to do his +utmost to keep the rightful owner from getting back again. + +Could any one have looked upon the exciting scene, and preserved +his self-possession, he would have observed a burly boy climbing +desperately up the center pole, never pausing until he reached the +point where the heavy ropes of the canvas converged, when he stopped +panting, and looked down on what was passing beneath him. + +The name of that young man was Bud Heyland. + +Among the multitude that swarmed through the entrance to the tent, +which was choked until strong men fought savagely to beat back the +mad tide, were three boys who got outside safely on their feet, and, +drawing in their breath, broke into a blind but very earnest run that +was intended to take them as far as possible from the dangerous spot. + +They were Jimmy Emery, Joe Hunt and Fred Sheldon. + +The last-named saw the lion make a tremendous bound, which landed +him almost at his feet, and Fred was sure it was all over with him; +but he did not stand still and be devoured, but plunged in among the +struggling mass and reached the exterior of the tent without a scratch. + +High above the din and tumult rose the shout of the principal showman: + +"Don't kill the lion! Don't kill the lion!" + +It was hard to see the necessity for this cry, inasmuch as the danger +seemed to be altogether the other way, but the one who uttered the +useless words was evidently afraid some of the people would begin +shooting at the beast, which was altogether too valuable to lose, if +there was any way of avoiding it. + +It may be, too, that he believed a general fusillade, when the +confusion was so great, would be more perilous to the people than to +the lion. + +There is reason in the belief that, as some scientists claim, there +is a sense of humor which sometimes comes to the surface in certain +animals, and the action of the Numidian lion when he broke out tended +to confirm such a statement. + +He seemed to forget all about the sharp cut he had received across the +nose and eyes the moment he was clear of his cage and to enjoy the +hubbub he created. + +Had he chosen he could have lacerated and killed a score of children +within his reach, but instead of doing so he jumped at the terrified +crowd, striking them pretty hard blows with his fore paws, then +wheeling about and making for another group, who were literally driven +out of their senses by the sight of the brute coming toward them. + +One young gentleman who was with a lady left her without a word, and, +catching sight of a small ladder, placed it hastily against the center +pole and ran rapidly up the rounds, but the ladder itself stood so +nearly perpendicular that when he reached the top and looked around to +see whether the king of beasts was following him, it tipped backward, +and he fell directly upon the shoulders of the lion, rolling off and +turning a back somersault, where he lay kicking with might and main, +and shouting to everybody to come and take him away. + +The brute paid no attention to him except to act in a confused manner +for a minute or two, when he darted straight across the ring to an open +space in the wall of the tent, made by some men who had cut it with +their knives. The next moment he was on the outside. + +The bewilderment and consternation seemed to increase every minute, +and did not abate when the lion was seen to be galloping up the road +toward a forest, in which he disappeared. + +A number of the show people ran after him, shouting and calling +continually to others to keep out of his way and not to kill him. + +The beast had entered a track of dense woodland, covering fully a dozen +acres, and abounding with undergrowth, where it was probable he could +hide himself for days from his would-be captors. + +The incident broke up the exhibition for the afternoon, although it +was announced that it would go on again as usual in the evening, when +something like self-possession came back to the vast swarm of people +scattered through the village and over the grounds, it was found that +although a number had been severely bruised and trampled upon, no one +was seriously injured, and what was the strangest fact of all, no one +could be found who had suffered any hurt from the lion. + +This was unaccountable to nearly every one, though the explanation, or +partial one, at least, appeared within the succeeding few days. + +Had the lion been able to understand the peril into which he entered +by this freak of his it may be safely said that he would not have left +his cage, for no sooner had the community a chance to draw breath and +realize the situation than they resolved that it would never do to +allow such a ferocious animal to remain at large. + +"Why, he can hide in the woods there and sally out and kill a half +dozen at a time, just as they do in their native country," said Archie +Jackson, discussing the matter in the village store. + +"Yes," assented a neighbor; "the lion is the awfulest kind of a +creature, which is why they call him the king of beasts. In Brazil and +Italy, where they run wild, they're worse than--than--than a--that +is--than a steam b'iler explosion." + +"We must organize," added the constable, compressing his thin lips; +"self-protection demands it." + +"I think we had better call on the Governor to bring out the military, +and to keep up the hunt until he is exterminated." + +"No need of calling on the military, so long as the civil law is +sufficient," insisted Archie. "A half-dozen of us, well armed, will be +able to smoke him out." + +"Will you j'ine?" asked one of the neighbors. + +The constable cleared his throat before saying: + +"I've some important business on my hands that'll keep me pretty busy +for a few days. If you will wait till that is over, it will give me +pleasure--ahem!--to j'ine you." + +"By that time there won't be any of us left to j'ine," said the +neighbor with a contemptuous sniff. "It looks very much, Archie, as +though you were trying to get out of it." + +The constable grew red in the face at the general smile this caused, +and said, in his most impressive manner: + +"Gentlemen, I'll go with you in search of the lion; more than that, +gentlemen and fellow-citizens, I'll lead you." + +"That's business; you ain't such a big coward as people say you are." + +"Who says I'm a coward--show him to me----" + +At this moment one of the young men attached to the menagerie and +circus entered, and when all became still said: + +"Gentlemen, my name is Jacob Kincade, and I'm the keeper of the lion +which broke out to-day and is off somewhere in the woods. He is a very +valuable animal to us, we having imported him directly from the Bushman +country, at a great expense. His being at large has created a great +excitement, as was to be expected, but we don't want him killed." + +"Of course not," said Archie Jackson, who echoed the sentiment of his +neighbors, as he added, "You prefer that he should go raging 'round the +country and chaw us all up instead. My friend, that little scheme won't +work; we're just on the point of organizing an exploring expedition +to shoot the lion. Our duty to our wives and families demands that we +should extirpate the scourge. Yes, sir," added Archie, rising from his +chair and gesticulating like an orator, "as patriots we are bound to +prevent any foreign monsters, especially them as are worshiped by the +red-coats, to squat on our soil and murder our citizens. The glorious +American eagle----" + +"One minute," interrupted Mr. Kincade, with a wave of his hand. "It +isn't the eagle, but the lion we are considering. The menagerie, +having made engagements so far ahead, must show in Lumberton to-morrow +evening, but two of us will stay behind to arrange for his recapture. +Bud Heyland, whose home is in this vicinity, and myself would like to +employ a dozen of you to assist. You will be well paid therefor, and +whoever secures him, without harm, will receive a reward of a hundred +dollars." + +While these important words were being uttered, Archie Jackson remained +standing on the floor, facing the speaker, with his hand still raised, +as if he intended resuming his patriotic speech at the point where it +had been broken in upon. + +But when the showman stopped Archie stood staring at him with mouth +open, hand raised and silent tongue. + +"Go on," suggested one at his elbow. + +But the constable let his arm fall against his side, and said: + +"I had a good thing about the emblem of British tyranny, but he put me +out. Will give a hundred dollars, eh? That's another matter altogether. +But I say, Mr. Kincade, how shall we go to work to capture a lion? That +sort of game ain't abundant in these parts, and I don't think there's +any one here that's ever hunted 'em." + +Old Mr. Scrapton, who was known to be the teller of the most amazing +stories ever heard in the neighborhood, opened his mouth to relate how +he had lassoed lions forty years before, when he was hunting on the +plains of Texas, but he restrained himself. He thought it best to wait +till this particular beast had been disposed of and was out of the +neighborhood. + +"I may say, gentlemen," added the showman, with a peculiar smile, "that +this lion is not so savage and dangerous as most people think. You +will call to mind, although he broke loose in the afternoon, when the +tent was crowded with people, and when he had every opportunity he +could wish, yet he did not hurt any one." + +"That is a very remarkable circumstance," said the constable, in a low +voice, heard by all. + +"I am warranted, therefore," added Mr. Kincade, "in saying that there +is no cause for such extreme fright on your part. You should fix some +sort of cage and bait it with meat. Then watch, and when he goes in +spring the trap, and there he is." + +"Yes, but will he stay there?" + +"If the trap is strong enough." + +"How would it do to lasso him?" + +"If you are skilled in throwing the lasso and can fling several nooses +over his head simultaneously from different directions. By that I +mean if three or four of you can lasso him at the same instant, from +different directions, so he will be held fast, why the scheme will work +splendidly." + +All eyes turned toward old Mr. Scrapton, who cleared his throat, threw +one leg over the other and looked very wise. + +It was known that he had a long buffalo thong looped and hanging over +his fire-place at home, with which, he had often told, he used to lasso +wild horses in the Southwest. + +When the old gentleman saw the general interest he had awakened, he +nodded his head patronizingly and said: + +"Yes, boys, I'll go with you and show you how the thing is done." + +The important conversation, of which we have given a part, took place +in the principal store in Tottenville late on the evening succeeding +the escape of the lion and after the performance was over. + +Mr. Kincade, by virtue of his superior experience with wild animals, +gave the men a great many good points and awakened such an ambition +in them to capture the beast that he was quite hopeful of his being +retaken in a short time. + +It was understood that if the lion was injured in any way not a penny's +reward would be paid, and a careful observer of matters would have +thought there was reason to fear the neighbors were placing themselves +in great personal peril, through their anxiety to take the king of +beasts alive and unharmed. + +On the morrow, when the children wended their way to the old stone +school-house again, they stopped to look at Archie Jackson, who was +busy tearing down the huge posters of the menagerie and circus, +preparatory to tacking up some others which he had brought with him and +held under his arm. + +The constable dipped into several professions. He sometimes dug wells +and helped to move houses for his neighbors. Beside this, he was known +as the auctioneer of the neighborhood, and tacked up the announcement +posters for himself. + +As soon as he had cleared a space, he posted the following, printed in +large, black letters: + + + ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD. + + The above reward will be paid for the capture of the lion which + escaped from Bandman's great menagerie and circus on Tuesday + the twenty-first instant. Nothing will be paid if the animal is + injured in any manner. The undersigned will be at the Tottenville + Hotel for a few days, and will hand the reward named to any one + who will secure the lion so that he can be returned to his cage. + + JACOB KINCADE. + + +Directly beneath this paper was placed a second one, and it seemed a +curious coincident that it also was the announcement of a reward. + + + FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD. + + The above reward will be paid for the recovery of the silver + tea-service stolen from the residence of the Misses Perkinpine + on the night of the twentieth instant. A liberal price will be + given for anything in the way of information which may lead to the + recovery of the property or the detection of the thieves. + + +Attached to the last was a minute description of the various articles +stolen, and the information that any one who wished further particulars +could receive them by communicating with Archibald Jackson, constable, +in Tottenville. + +The menagerie and circus had departed, but the excitement which it left +behind was probably greater and more intense than that which preceded +its arrival. + +Its coming was announced by a daring robbery, and when it went the most +terrible animal in its "colossal and unparalleled collection" remained +to prowl through the woods and feast upon the men, women, boys and +girls of the neighborhood, to say nothing of the cows, oxen, sheep, +lambs and pigs with which it was to be supposed the king of beasts +would amuse himself when he desired a little recreation that should +remind him of his native, far-away country. + +Around these posters were gathered the same trio which we pictured on +the opening of our story. + +"I tell you I'd like to catch that lion," said Jimmy Emery, smacking +his lips over the prospect; "but I don't see how it can be done." + +"Why couldn't we coax him into the school-house this afternoon after +all the girls and boys are gone?" asked Joe Hunt; "it's so low and flat +he would take it for his den, that is, if we kill a calf and lay it +inside the door." + +"But Mr. McCurtis stays an hour after school to set copies," said Fred +Sheldon. + +Joe Hunt scratched his arms, which still felt the sting of the blows +for his failure in his lessons, and said: + +"That's one reason why I am so anxious to get the lion in there." + +"Well, younkers, I s'pose you're going to earn both of them rewards?" + +It was Bud Heyland who uttered these words, as he halted among the +boys, who were rather shy of him. + +Bud had his trousers tucked in the top of his boots, his sombrero and +blue shirt on, his rank brier-wood pipe in his mouth, and the whip, +whose lash looked like a long, coiling black snake, in his hand. + +His face was red as usual, with blotches on his nose and cheeks, such +as must have been caused by dissipation. He was ugly by nature, and had +the neighborhood been given the choice between having him and the lion +as a pest it may be safely said that Bud would not have been the choice +of all. + +"I don't think there's much chance for us," said Fred Sheldon, quietly +edging away from the bully; "for I don't see how we are to catch and +hold him." + +"It would not do for him to see you," said Bud, taking his pipe from +his mouth and grinning at Fred. + +"Why not?" + +"He's so fond of calves he'd be sure to go for you." + +"That's why he tried so hard to get at you, I s'pose, when you climbed +the tent pole and was so scared you've been pale ever since." + +Bud was angered by this remark, which caused a general laugh, and he +raised his whip, but just then he saw the teacher, Mr. McCurtis, close +at hand, and he refrained. Although large and strong, like all bullies, +he was a coward, and could not forget the severe drubbing received from +this severe pedagogue, "all of ye olden times." + +He walked sullenly away, resolved to punish the impudent Fred Sheldon +before he left the neighborhood, while the ringing of the cracked bell +a minute or two later drew the boys and girls to the building and the +studies of the day were begun. + +Young Fred Sheldon was the brightest and best boy in school, and he got +through his lessons with his usual facility, but it may be said that +his thoughts were anywhere but in the school-room. + +Indeed, there was plenty to rack his brain over, for during the few +minutes when Bud Heyland stood talking to the boys before school Fred +was impressed more than ever with the fact that his voice resembled +that of the tramp who had been entertained by the Misses Perkinpine a +couple of nights before. + +"I s'pose he tried to make his voice sound different," thought Fred, +"but he didn't remember it all the time. Bud's voice is coarser than it +used to be, which I s'pose is because it's changing, but every once in +awhile it sounded just like it did a few minutes ago. + +"Then it seems to me," added our hero, pursuing the same train of +perplexing thought, "that the voice of the other man--the one that come +on to me in the lane--was like somebody I've heard, but I can't think +who the person can be." + +Fred took out his new knife and looked at it in a furtive way. When he +had admired it a few minutes he fixed his eyes on the three letters cut +in the brass piece. + +"They're 'N. H. H.,'" he said, "as sure as I live; but 'N. H. H.' don't +stand for Bud Heyland, though the last name is the same. If that was +Bud who stole the silver then he must have dropped the knife on the +floor, though I don't see how he could do it without knowing it. I +s'pose he stole the knife from some one else." + +The boy had not shown his prize to any of his playmates, having thought +it best to keep it out of sight. He could not help believing that Bud +Heyland had something to do with the robbery, but it was difficult to +think of any way by which the offense could be proven against him. + +"He'll deny it, of course, and even Aunt Annie and Lizzie will declare +that it wasn't him that sat at the table the other night and eat enough +for a half-dozen men, or as much as I wanted, anyway. He's such a mean, +ugly boy that I wish I could prove it on him--that is, if he did it." + +That day Fred received word from his mother that she would not return +for several days, and he was directed to look after the house, while he +was permitted to sleep at the old brick mansion if he chose. + +Accordingly Fred saw that all his chores were properly done after he +reached home that afternoon, when he started for the home of the maiden +ladies, where he was more than welcome. + +The boy followed the same course he took two nights before, and +his thoughts were so occupied that he went along at times almost +instinctively, as may be said. + +"Gracious," he muttered, "but if I could find that silver for them--she +don't say anything about the money that was taken--that would be +an awful big reward. Five hundred dollars! It would more than pay +the mortgage on our place. Then that one hundred dollars for the +lion--gracious alive!" gasped Fred, stopping short and looking around +in dismay. "I wonder where that lion is. He's been loose twenty-four +hours, and I should like to know how many people he has killed. I heard +he was seen up among the hills this morning, and eat a whole family and +a team of horses, but I think maybe there's some mistake about it. + +"I wonder why he didn't kill somebody yesterday when he had such a good +chance. He jumped right down in front of me, and I just gave up, and +wished I was a better boy before I should go and leave mother alone; +but he didn't pay any attention to me, nor anybody else, but he's a +terrible creature, for all that." + +Now that Fred's thoughts were turned toward the beast that was prowling +somewhere in the neighborhood, he could think of nothing else. There +was the fact that this peril was a present one, which drove all +thoughts of Bud Heyland and the robbery from the mind of the boy. + +The rustling wind, the murmur of the woods, and the soft, hollow roar +of the distant river were all suggestive of the dreaded lion, and Fred +found himself walking on tip-toe and peering forward in the gloom, +often stopping and looking behind and around, and fancying he caught an +outline of the crouching beast. + +But at last he reached the short lane and began moving with a rapid and +confident step. The moon was shining a little more brightly than when +he went over the ground before, and here and there the rays found their +way between the poplars and served to light the road in front. + +"I guess he is asleep in the woods and will keep out of sight till he's +found----" + +The heart of Fred Sheldon rose in his throat, and, as he stopped short, +it seemed that his hair rose on end. + +And well it might, for there, directly in the road before him, where +the moon's rays shot through the branches, the unmistakable figure of +the dreaded lion suddenly appeared. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SEVERAL MISHAPS. + + +On this same eventful evening, Archie Jackson, the constable of +Tottenville, started from the residence of the Misses Perkinpine for +his own house in the village. + +He had been out to make some inquiries of the ladies, for it will +be remembered that he had two very important matters on hand--the +detection of the robbers who had taken the property of the sisters and +the leadership of the party who were to recapture the lion. + +At the close of the day, as he moved off toward the village, some time +before the arrival of Fred Sheldon, he could not console himself with +the knowledge that anything like real progress had been made in either +case. + +"I've sent for that New York detective, Carter, to come down at once, +and he ought to be here, but I haven't seen anything of him. Like +enough he's off somewhere and won't be heard from for a week. I don't +know as I care, for I begin to feel as though I can work out this +nefarious proceeding myself. + +"Then the lion. Well, I can't say that I desire to go hunting for +that sort of game, for I never studied their habits much, but as this +cretur' doesn't seem to be very ferocious we ought to be able to run +him in. I've organized the company, and Scrapton says he'll bring out +his lasso and show two or three of us how to fling the thing, so we can +all neck him at the same time. + +"If I can work up this matter and the other," continued the constable, +who was "counting his chickens before they were hatched," "I shall make +a nice little fee. I'm sure the lion will stay in the woods till he's +pretty hungry. All the wild reports we've heard to-day have nothing +in them. Nobody has seen him since he took to the forest yesterday +afternoon, and what's more, nobody will----" + +And just then came the greatest shock of Archie Jackson's life. + +He was walking along the road toward Tottenville, and had reached a +place where a row of trees overhung the path. He had taken a different +route home from that pursued by Fred Sheldon, and was in quite a +comfortable frame of mind, as the remarks quoted will show, when he +gave a gasp of fright, for there, at the side of the path, he was sure +he saw the lion himself sitting on his haunches and waiting for him to +come within reach of his frightful claws and teeth. + +The constable did not observe him until he was within arm's length, as +may be said, and then the poor fellow was transfixed. He stood a minute +or so, doing nothing but breathe and staring at the monster. + +The lion seemed to comprehend that he was master of the situation, for +he quietly remained sitting on his haunches, no doubt waiting for his +victim to prepare for his inevitable fate. + +Finally, Archie began to experience something like a reaction, and he +asked himself whether he was to perish thus miserably, or was there not +some hope, no matter how desperate, for him. + +Of course he had no gun, but he generally carried a loaded revolver, +for his profession often demanded the display of such a weapon; but to +his dismay, when he softly reached his right hand back to his hip to +draw it, he recalled that he had cleaned it that afternoon, and left it +lying on his stand at home. + +The situation was enough to make one despair, and for an instant after +the discovery the officer felt such a weakness in the knees that it +was all he could do to keep from sinking to the ground in a perfect +collapse; but he speedily rallied, and determined on one great effort +for life. + +"I will strike him with my fist--that will knock him over--and then run +for a tree." + +This was his resolve. Archie could deliver a powerful blow, and, +believing the lion would not wait any longer, he drew back his clenched +hand and aimed for the forehead directly between the eyes. + +He measured the distance correctly, but the instant the blow landed he +felt he had made a mistake; it was not the runaway lion which he had +struck, but the stump of an old tree. + +It is hardly necessary to say that the constable suffered more than did +the stump, and for a minute or two he was sure he had fractured the +bones of his hand, so great was the pain. He danced about on one foot, +shaking the bruised member and bewailing the stupidity that led him to +make such a grievous error. + +"That beats anything I ever knowed in all my life," he exclaimed, "and +how glad I am that nobody else knows it; if the folks ever hear of it, +they will plague me forever and----" + +"Halloo, Archie, what's the matter?" + +The cold chills ran down the officer's back as he heard this hail, +and suppressing all expression of pain, he shoved his hands into his +pockets and looked quickly around. + +In the dim moonlight he saw old man Scrapton and two neighbors, Vincent +and Emery, fathers respectively of two playmates of Fred Sheldon. + +Each carried a coil of long, strong rope in his right hand and seemed +to be considerably excited over something. + +"We're after the lion," said Mr. Scrapton; "have you seen him?" + +"No, I don't think he's anywhere around here." + +"I've had Vincent and Emery out in the meadow nearly all day, +practicing throwing the lasso, and they've got the hang of it exactly. +Emery can fling the noose over the horns of a cow a dozen yards away +and never miss, while Vincent, by way of experiment, dropped the noose +over the shoulders of his wife at a greater distance." + +"Yes," said Mr. Vincent, "but I don't regard that as much of a success. +Mrs. Vincent objected, and before I could let go of my end of the +lasso, she drawed me to her and--well, I'd prefer to talk of something +else." + +The constable laughed and said: + +"It's a good thing to practice a little beforehand, when you are going +into such a dangerous business as this." + +"I suppose that's the reason you've been hammering that white oak +stump," suggested Mr. Scrapton, with a chuckle. + +Archie Jackson saw he was caught, and begged his friends to say nothing +about it, as he had already suffered as much in spirit as body. + +"But do you expect to find the lion to-night?" he asked, with +unaffected interest. + +"Yes, we know just where to look for him," said Mr. Scrapton; "he +stayed in the woods all day, but just as the sun was setting I catched +sight of him along the edge of the fence, and he isn't far from there +this very minute." + +"Do you want me to go with you?" + +"Certainly." + +"But I have no weapon." + +"All the better; I made each leave his gun and pistols at home, +for they'd be so scared at the first sight of the cretur' they'd +fire before they knowed it and spoil everything. Like the boys at +Ticonderoga, if their guns ain't loaded, they can't shoot 'em." + +"But I don't see what help I can give you, as I haven't got a rope; and +even if I had, I wouldn't know how to use it." + +"Come along, any way; we'll feel safer if we have another with us." + +It cannot be said that the constable was very enthusiastic, for there +was something in the idea of hunting the king of beasts without +firearms which was as terrifying as it was grotesque. + +However, he could not refuse, and the four started down the road and +across the field, in the direction of the large tract of forest in +which it was known the lion had taken refuge when he broke from his +cage the day before. + +A walk of something like a third of a mile took the party to the edge +of the wood, where they stopped and held a consultation in whispers. + +None of them were so brave as they seemed a short time before, and all +secretly wished they were safe at home. + +"I don't see how you can expect to find him by hunting in the night +time, when you have made no preparation," said Archie Jackson, strongly +impressed with the absurdity of the whole business. + +"But I have made preparation," answered Scrapton, in the same guarded +undertone. + +"How?" + +"I killed a pig and threw him over the fence yonder by that pile of +rocks--good heavens!" + +At the moment of pointing his finger to indicate the spot, all heard a +low cavernous growl, which sent a shiver of affright from head to foot. + +They were about to break into a run, when the constable said: + +"If you start, he will be after us; let's stand our ground." + +"Certainly," assented Mr. Vincent, through his chattering teeth. + +"Certainly, certainly," added his neighbor, in the same quaking voice. + +Toning down their extreme terror as best they could, the four +frightened friends strained their eyes to catch a sight of the animal. + +"He's there," said Scrapton, fingering his lasso in a way which showed +he was very eager to hurl it. + +"Where?" + +"Right behind the fence; I see him; he's crouching down and eating the +carcass of the pig." + +"When he gets through with that he will come for us." + +"Like enough--but that will be all right," said the old gentleman, who +really showed more self-possession than any of the others; "for it will +give us just the chance we want." + +"How so?" + +"When he comes over the fence we'll sort of scatter and throw our +lassoes together; then each will pull with all his might and main." + +"But," said Mr. Vincent, "s'posing we pull his head off, we won't get +any of the reward." + +"We can't pull hard enough to do that, but if we hold on we'll keep him +fast, so he can't move any way at all, and bime-by he'll get so tired +that he'll give up, and we'll have him, certain sure." + +"That is, if he don't happen to have us," said Mr. Jackson. "As I +haven't got any rope, s'pose I climb over the fence and scare him up +so he will come toward you." + +The idea seemed to be a good one, as the others looked at it, but when +the constable moved off to carry out his proposition they thought he +was making altogether too extended a circuit, and that it would be a +long while before he would succeed in his undertaking. + +Archie finally vanished in the gloom, and climbing over the fence into +the woods moved a short distance toward the spot where the animal lay, +when he paused. + +"The man who goes to hunt a wild lion with nothing but a jack-knife +with both blades broke out is a natural-born idiot, which his name +isn't Archie Jackson. I've business elsewhere." + +And thereupon he deliberately turned about and started homeward by a +circuitous route. + +Meanwhile old Mr. Scrapton and Vincent and Emery stood trembling and +waiting for the appearance of the lion, which, judging from the sounds +that reached their ears, was busy crunching the bones of the young +porker that had been slain for his special benefit. + +They didn't know whether to stay where they were or to break into a +run. The danger seemed great, but the reward was so tempting that they +held their ground. + +"He may start to run away," weakly suggested Mr. Vincent. + +"I don't think so, now that he's tasted blood, but if he does," said +the leader of the party, "we must foller." + +"But he can run faster than we----" + +"There he comes!" + +In the darkness they saw the faintly-outlined figure of an animal +clambering over the fence, with growls and mutterings, and hardly +conscious of what they were doing, the three men immediately separated +several yards from each other and nervously clutched their ropes, ready +to fling them the instant the opportunity presented itself. + +"There he comes!" called out Mr. Scrapton again; "throw your lassoes!" + +At the same instant the three coils of rope whizzed through the air as +a dark figure was seen moving in a direction which promised to bring +him to a point equidistant from all. + +Mr. Vincent was too enthusiastic in throwing his noose, for it went +beyond the animal and settled around the neck of the astonished Mr. +Emery, who thought the lion had caught him in his embrace, thrown as he +was off his feet and pulled fiercely over the ground by the thrower. + +Mr. Emery missed his mark altogether, although Mr. Scrapton had to +dodge his head to escape the encircling coil. + +The old gentleman would have lassoed the animal had he not discovered +at the very instant the noose left his hand that it was his own +mastiff, Towser, that they were seeking to capture instead of a runaway +lion. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A BRAVE ACT. + + +Meanwhile Fred Sheldon had become involved in anything but a pleasant +experience. + +There might be mistakes ludicrous and otherwise in the case of others, +but when he saw the animal in the lane before him, as revealed by the +rays of the moon, there was no error. + +It was the identical lion that had escaped from the menagerie the day +previous, and the beast must have noted the presence of the terrified +lad, who stopped such a short distance from him. + +Master Fred was so transfixed that he did not stir for a few seconds, +and then it seemed to him that the best thing he could do was to turn +about and run, and yell with might and main, just as he did some weeks +before when he stepped into a yellow-jackets' nest. + +It is hard to understand how the yelling helps a boy when caught in +such a dilemma, but we know from experience that it is easier to +screech at the top of one's voice, as you strike at the insects that +settle about your head, than it is to concentrate all your powers in +the single act of running. + +Almost unconsciously, Fred began stepping backward, keeping his gaze +fixed upon the lion as he did so. If the latter was aware of the +stratagem, which is sometimes used with advantage by the African +hunter, he did not immediately seek to thwart it, but continued facing +him, and occasionally swaying his tail, accompanied by low, thunderous +growls. + +The boys of the school had learned a great deal of natural history +within the last day or two, and Fred had read about the king of beasts. +He knew that a lion could crouch on his belly, and, with one prodigious +bound, pass over the intervening space. + +The lad was afraid the one before him meant to act according to the +instincts of his nature, and he retreated more rapidly, until all +at once he whirled about and ran for dear life, directly toward the +highway. + +He did not shout, though, if he had seen any other person, he would +have called for help; but, when he reached the road, he cast a glance +over his shoulder, expecting to feel the horrible claws at the same +instant. + +The lion was invisible. Fred could scarcely believe his eyes; but such +was the fact. + +"I don't understand him," was the conclusion of the boy, who kept +moving further away, scarcely daring to believe in his own escape even +for a few brief minutes. + +Fred had been too thoroughly scared to wish to meet the lion again, but +he wanted to get back to the house that the Misses Perkinpine could be +told of the new danger which threatened them. + +"I think they'll be more likely to believe me than night before last," +said the lad to himself. + +But nothing could tempt him to venture along the lane again after such +an experience. + +It was easy enough to reach the house by a long detour, but the half +belief that the lion was lurking in the vicinity made the effort +anything but assuring. + +However, Fred Sheldon thought it his duty to let his good friends know +the new peril to which they were subject, in the event of venturing out +of doors. + +So slow and stealthy was his next approach to the building that nearly +an hour passed before he found himself in the small yard surrounding +the house; but, when once there, he hastened to the front door and gave +such a resounding knock with the old-fashioned brass knocker that it +could have been heard a long distance away, on the still summer night. + +It seemed a good while to Fred before the bolt was withdrawn, and Aunt +Annie appeared in her cap and spectacles. + +"Oh, it's you, Fred, is it?" she exclaimed with pleasure, when she +recognized the young man who was so welcome at all times. "You are so +late that we had given you up, and were going to retire." + +"I started early enough, but it seems to me as if every sort of awful +thing is after us," replied Fred, as he hastily followed the lady into +the dining-room, where the sisters began preparing the meal for which +the visitor, like all urchins of his age, was ready at any time. + +"What's the matter now, Freddy?" asked Aunt Lizzie. + +"Why, you had a tramp after you night before last, and now you've got a +big, roaring lion." + +"A what?" asked the two in amazement, for they had not heard a syllable +of the exciting incident of the day before. + +"Why, there's a lion that broke out of the menagerie yesterday, and +they haven't been able to catch him yet." + +"Land sakes alive!" gasped Aunt Annie, sinking into a chair and raising +her hands, "what is the world coming to?" + +Aunt Lizzie sat down more deliberately, but her pale face and amazed +look showed she was no less agitated. + +Fred helped himself to some more of the luscious shortcake and golden +butter and preserves, and feeling the importance of his position +told the story with which our readers are familiar, though it must +be confessed the lad exaggerated somewhat, as perhaps was slightly +excusable under the circumstances. + +Still it was not right for him to describe the lion as of the size of +an ordinary elephant, unless he referred to the baby elephant, which +had never been seen in this country at that time. + +Nor should he have pictured his run down the lane, with the beast +behind him all the way, snapping at his head, while Fred only saved +himself by his dexterity in dodging him. + +There was scarcely any excuse for such hyperbole, though the narrative +was implicitly believed by the ladies, who felt they were in greater +danger than if a score of burglarious tramps were planning to rob them. + +"They've offered one hundred dollars to any one who catches the lion +without hurting him," added Fred, as well as he could speak with his +mouth filled with spongy gingerbread. + +"A hundred dollars!" exclaimed Aunt Lizzie; "why, he'll kill anybody +who goes near him. If I were a man I wouldn't try to capture him for a +million dollars." + +"I'm going to try to catch him," said Fred, in his off-hand fashion, as +though it was a small matter, and then, swallowing enough of the sweet +food to allow him to speak more plainly, he added: + +"Lions ain't of much account when you get used to 'em; I'm beginning to +feel as though I'm going to make that hundred dollars." + +But the good ladies could not accept this statement as an earnest +one, and they chided their youthful visitor for talking so at random. +Fred thought it best not to insist, and finished his meal without any +further declarations of what he intended to do. + +"They've left two persons behind to look after the lion," he said; "one +is named Kincade and the other is Bud Heyland, you know him--the son of +Michael, your hired man." + +"Yes; he called here to-day." + +"He did. What for?" + +"Oh, nothing in particular; he said he heard we had had our silverware +stolen, and he wanted to tell us how sorry he felt and to ask whether +we had any suspicion of who took it." + +"He did, eh?" said Fred, half to himself, with a belief that he +understood the real cause of that call. + +"I think Bud is getting to be a much better boy than he used to be," +added Aunt Annie; "he was real sorry for us, and talked real nice. He +said he expected to be at home for two or three days, though he didn't +tell us what for, and he would drop in to see us." + +Master Sheldon made no answer to this, but he "had his thoughts," and +he kept them to himself. + +The hour was quite advanced, for the days were long, so that the +fastenings of the house were looked to with great care, and Fred went +to the same room he had occupied two nights before, the one immediately +preceding having been spent at home, as he partly expected the return +of his mother. + +After saying his prayers and extinguishing the light, he walked to the +rear window and looked out on the solemn scene. + +Everything was still, but he had stood thus only for a minute or +two, when in the quiet, he detected a peculiar sound, which puzzled +him at first; but as he listened, he learned that it came from the +smoke-house, a small structure near the wood-house. + +Like the residence, it was built of old-fashioned Holland brick, and +was as strong as a modern prison cell. + +"Somebody is in there stealing meat," was the conclusion of Fred; "I +wonder who it can be." + +He listened a moment longer, and then heard the same kind of growl he +had noticed the day before when standing in front of the lion's cage. + +Beyond a doubt the king of beasts was helping himself to such food as +suited him. + +In a twinkling Fred Sheldon hurried softly down stairs, cautiously +opened the kitchen door, and looked out and listened. + +Yes, he was in there; he could hear him growling and crunching bones, +and evidently enjoying the greatest feast of his life. + +"Now, if he don't hear me coming, I'll have him sure," Fred said to +himself, as he began stealing toward the door through which the lion +had passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A REWARD WELL EARNED. + + +The smoke-house attached to the Perkinpine mansion, as we have already +said, was made of bricks, and was a strong, massive structure. Although +originally used for a building in which meat was cured, it had been +adapted to the purposes of a milk store-house. A stream of water ran +through one side and the milk and fresh meats were kept there so long +as it was possible during the summer weather. + +A supply of mutton and lamb had been placed in it the evening before +by Michael, the hired man, a portion for the use of the ladies and a +portion for himself, when he should come to take it away in the morning. + +There had never been an ice-house on the property, that luxury having +been much less known a half a century ago than it is to-day. + +The lion, in snuffing around the premises, had scented this store-house +of meat, and was feasting himself upon it when detected by Fred +Sheldon, who, with very little hesitation, covered the couple of rods +necessary to reach it. + +It is difficult to comprehend the trying nature of such a venture, +but the reward was a gigantic one in the eyes of Fred, who was very +hopeful also of the chance being favorable for capturing the animal. + +Having started he did not dare to turn back, but hastened forward on +tip-toe, and with a firm hand caught the latch of the door. The instant +he did so the latter was closed and fastened. + +He expected the lion would make a plunge against it, and break out. +Having done all he could to secure him, Fred scurried back through the +kitchen door, which he nervously closed after him, and then scampered +in such haste to his room that he feared he had awakened the two ladies +in the other part of the house. + +Hurrying to the window, the lad looked anxiously out and down upon the +smoke-house as it was called. + +To his delight he saw nothing different in its appearance from what it +was when he left it a few moments before. + +It followed, therefore, that the lion was within, as indeed was proven +by the sounds which reached the ears of the listening lad. + +But was the little structure strong enough to hold him? When he broke +through his own cage with such ease, would he find any difficulty in +making his way out of this place? + +These were the questions our hero asked himself, and which he could not +answer as he wished. + +While the walls of the little building were strong and secure, yet the +door was an ordinary one of wood, fastened by a common iron latch and +catch, supplemented by a padlock whenever Michael Heyland chose to +take the trouble; but the door was as secure against the animal within +with the simple latch in place as it was with the addition of the +lock, for it was not to be expected that he would attempt to force his +way out in any manner other than by flinging himself against the door +itself whenever he should become tired of his restraint. + +After a while all became still within the smoke-house, and it must have +been that the unconscious captive, having gorged himself, had lain down +for a good sleep. + +Fred Sheldon was all excitement and hope, for he felt that if the +creature could be kept well supplied with food, he was likely to remain +content with his quarters for a considerable time. + +Tired and worn out, the boy finally lay down on his bed and slept till +morning. The moment his eyes were open, he arose and looked out. The +smoke-house showed no signs of disturbance, the door remaining latched +as it was the night before. + +"He's there yet," exclaimed the delighted boy, hurriedly donning his +clothes and going down the stairs in three jumps. + +He was right in his guess, for when he cautiously peeped through the +slats of the window he saw the monster stretched out upon the floor in +a sound slumber. + +When Fred told the Misses Perkinpine that the lion was fastened in the +smoke-house their alarm passed all bounds. They instantly withdrew +to the uppermost room, where they declared they would stay until the +neighbors should come and kill the creature. + +Fred tried to persuade them out of their fears, but it was useless, +and gathering what meat he could in the house he shoved it through the +small window, and then hurried off toward Tottenville. + +"The lion has got plenty of food, and there is the little stream of +water running through the smoke-house, so he ought to be content to +stay there for the day." + +Jacob Kincade sat on the porch of the Tottenville Hotel, smoking a +cigar and talking with a number of the villagers, who were gathered +around him. Bud Heyland stayed with his folks up the road, and he had +not come down to the village yet. + +The talk, as a matter of course was about the lion, which was believed +to be ranging through the country, and playing havoc with the live +stock of the farmers. + +Among the listeners were several boys, with open mouths and eyes, and +when Fred joined them no one paid any attention to him. + +"As I was saying," observed Mr. Kincade, flinging one of his legs over +the other, and flirting the ashes from his cigar, "the lion is one of +the most valuable in the country. He has a wonderful history, having +killed a number of people before he was captured in Africa. Colonel +Bandman has been offered a large price for him, which explains why he +is so anxious to secure him unhurt." + +"What is the reward?" asked one of the bystanders. + +"It was originally a hundred dollars, but I've just received a letter +from Colonel Bandman, in which he instructs me to make the reward two +hundred, provided the animal is not injured at all." + +"What does that offer imply?" asked another of the deeply interested +group. + +"The only feasible plan, in my judgment, is to construct a large cage +and to lure the lion into that. I have a couple of carpenters hard +at work, but the trouble is the animal has such a good chance now of +getting all the meat he wants that it will be difficult to get him +inside of anything that looks like a cage." + +"If he could be got into a place where he could be held secure +until you brought up his own cage, that would be all you would +ask?" continued the speaker, who evidently was forming some plan of +operations in his own mind. + +"That is all, sir." + +"_I've got your lion for you!_" + +This rather weighty assertion was made by Fred Sheldon, from his +position in the group. An instant hush fell upon all, who looked +wonderingly at the lad, as if uncertain whether they had heard aright. + +Before any comment was made our hero, somewhat flushed in the face, as +he summoned up his courage, added: + +"I've got the lion fast, and if you will go with me I will show you +where he is." + +Mr. Kincade laughed, as did one or two others. Taking a puff or two of +his cigar, the showman added: + +"Run home, sonny, and don't bother us any more." + +But in that little party were a number who knew Fred Sheldon to be +an honest and truthful boy. They made inquiries of him, and when his +straightforward answers had been given they told the showman he could +rely on what had been said. + +Mr. Kincade thereupon instantly made preparations, the group swelling +to large proportions, as the news spread that the wild beast had been +captured. + +The cage of the lion, which had been strongly repaired, was driven to +the front of the hotel; Jake Kincade mounted, took the lines in hand +and started toward the home of the Misses Perkinpine, the villagers +following close beside and after him. + +Just as they turned into the short lane leading to the place, whom +should they meet but Bud Heyland in a state of great excitement. + +He was seen running and cracking his whip over his head, and +shouting---- + +"I've got him! I've got him! I've got the lion!" + +The wagon and company halted for him to explain. + +"I've got him up here in the old maids' smoke-house. I put some meat in +there last night, for I seen tracks that showed me he had been prowling +around, and this morning when me and the old man went over to look +there he was! I'll take that reward, Jacob, if you please." + +And the boy grinned and ejected a mouthful of tobacco juice, while the +others turned inquiringly toward Fred Sheldon, whose cheeks burned with +indignation. + +"He tells a falsehood," said Fred. "He never knew a thing about it till +this morning." + +"I didn't, eh?" shouted Bud. "I'll show you!" + +Thereupon he raised his whip, but Mr. Emery stepped in front and said, +calmly: + +"Bud, it won't be well for you to strike that boy." + +"Well, I don't want anybody telling me I don't tell the truth, for I'm +square in everything I do, and I won't be insulted." + +Mr. Kincade was on the point of taking the word of Bud Heyland that the +reward had been earned by him, when he saw from the disposition of the +crowd that it would not permit any such injustice as that. + +"If you've got the animal secure I'm satisfied," called out the showman +from his seat, as he assumed an easy, lolling attitude. "You two chaps +and the crowd can settle the question of who's entitled to the reward +between you, and I only ask that you don't be too long about it, for +the critter may get hungry and eat his way out." + +Mr. Emery, at the suggestion of several, took charge of the +investigation. + +Turning to Fred he said: "The people here have heard your story, and +Bud can now tell his." + +"Why, I hain't got much to tell," said the big boy, in his swaggering +manner. "As I said awhile ago, I seen signs around the place last night +which showed the lion was sneaking about the premises. He likes to eat +good little boys, and I s'pose he was looking for Freddy there," said +young Heyland, with a grinning leer at our hero, which brought a smile +to several faces. + +"So I didn't say anything to the old man but just flung a lot of meat +in the smoke-house and went home to sleep. This morning the old man +awoke afore I did, which ain't often the case, and going over to his +work found the trap had been sprung and the game was there. + +"The old man (Bud seemed to be proud of calling his father by that +disrespectful name) came running home and pitched through the door as +white as a ghost, and it was a minute or two before he could tell his +story. When he had let it out and the old woman begun to shiver, why +I laughed, and told 'em how I'd set the trap and earned the reward. +With that the old man cooled down, and I got him back with me to +look at the beast, which is still asleep, and then I started to tell +you about it, Jake, when I meets this crowd and hears with pain and +surprise the awful whopper this good little boy tells. I believe he +slept in the house there last night, and when he woke up and went out +in the smoke-house to steal a drink of milk and seen the lion, he was +so scared that he nearly broke his neck running down to the village to +tell about it." + +This fiction was told so well that several looked at Fred to see what +he had to say. + +The lad, still flushed in the face, stepped forward and said: + +"I'd like to ask Bud a question or two." + +As he spoke, Fred addressed Mr. Emery, and then turned toward the +grinning bully, who said: + +"Go ahead with all you're a mind to." + +"You say you put the meat in there on purpose to catch the lion last +night?" + +"That's just what I done, Freddy, my boy." + +"Where did you get the meat?" + +"At home of the old woman." + +"After you put it in the smoke-house, you didn't go back until this +morning?" + +"No, sir; my little Sunday school lad." + +"Who, then, shut and fastened the door, after the lion walked in the +smoke-house to eat the meat?" + +Bud Heyland's face flushed still redder, and he coughed, swallowed and +stuttered---- + +"Who shut the door? Why--that is--yes--why what's the use of asking +such infarnal questions?" demanded Bud in desperation, as the listeners +broke into laughter. + +Mr. Emery quietly turned to Kincade, who was leaning back on his +elevated seat and said: + +"The reward of two hundred dollars belongs to Master Fred here," and +the decision was received with shouts of approbation. + +Bud Heyland's eyes flashed with indignation, and he muttered to +himself; but, in the face of such a number, he dared not protest, and +he followed them as they pushed on toward the little structure where +the escaped beast was restrained of his liberty. + +A reconnoissance showed that he was still there, and the arrangements +for his transfer were speedily made and carried out with much less +difficulty than would have been supposed. + +The cage was placed in front of the door of the smoke-house, +communication being opened, after an inclined plane was so arranged +that the beast could not walk out without going directly into his old +quarters. + +Several pounds of raw, bleeding meat were placed in the cage, and then +the animal was stirred up with a long pole. + +He growled several times, got on his feet, looked about as if a little +confused, and then seemed to be pleased at the familiar sight of his +old home, for he walked deliberately up the inclined plane into the +cage, and lay down as if to complete his nap, so rudely broken a few +minutes before. The door was quickly closed and fastened, and the +escaped lion was recaptured! + +When all saw how easily it was done, and recalled the fact that the +king of beasts, so far as was known, had injured no person at all, +there was a great deal of inquiry for the explanation. + +Why was it that, with such opportunities for destroying human life, he +had failed to rend any one to fragments? + +Jacob Kincade, after some laughter, stated that the lion, although once +an animal of tiger-like ferocity and strength, was now so old that he +was comparatively harmless. His teeth were poor, as was shown by the +little progress he had made with the bony meat in the smoke-house. If +driven into a corner he might make a fight, but if he had been loose +for a month it was hardly likely he would have killed anybody. + +The blow which he received in the eye from Bud Heyland's whip incited +him to fury for the moment, but by the time he got fairly outside he +was comparatively harmless, and the hurried climbing of the center-pole +by Bud Heyland was altogether a piece of superfluity. + +As Fred Sheldon had fairly earned the two hundred dollars, he was told +to call at the hotel in Tottenville that afternoon and it would be paid +him. + +It is not necessary to say that he was there punctually, for the sum +was a fortune in his eyes. + +As he came to the porch a number of loungers were there as usual, and +Fred found himself quite a hero among his playmates and fellows. + +Not only was Jake Kincade present, with his cigar alternately between +his finger and lips, but Bud Heyland and a stranger were sitting on the +bench which ran along the porch, their legs crossed, one smoking his +briar-wood and the other a cigar. + +Despite Fred's agitation over his own prospects, he could not help +noticing this stranger whom, he believed, he had never seen before. + +His dress and appearance were much like those of a cattle drover. He +wore a large, gray sombrero, a blue flannel shirt, had no suspenders, +coarse corduroy trousers, though the weather was warm, with the legs +tucked in the tops of his huge cowhide boots, the front of which +reached far above his knees, like those of a cavalryman. + +He had frowsy, abundant hair, a smoothly-shaven face--that is, the +stubby beard was no more than two or three days old--and he seemed to +be between twenty-five and thirty years of age. + +Looking at his rather regular features, it would be hard to tell +whether he was a good or evil man, but it was very evident that he and +Bud Heyland had struck up a strong intimacy, which was growing. + +They sat close together, chatted and laughed, and indulged in jokes at +the expense of those around them, careless alike of the feelings that +were hurt or the resentment engendered. + +As Fred approached he saw Bud turn his head and speak to the stranger, +who instantly centered his gaze on the boy, so there could be no doubt +that his attention was called to him. + +Fred was moving rather timidly toward Kincade, when the stranger raised +his hand and crooked his finger toward him. Wondering what he could +want, Fred Sheldon diverged toward him and took off his hat. + +"I wouldn't stand bareheaded, Freddy, dear," said Bud, with his old +grin; "you might catch cold in your brains." + +Neither of the others noticed this course remark, and the stranger, +scrutinizing the boy with great interest, said: + +"What is your name, please?" + +"Frederick Sheldon." + +"And you are the boy who locked the lion in the smoke-house last night +when you heard the poor fellow trying to use his aged teeth on some +bones?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, you deserve credit; for you thought, like everybody else, that +he was as fierce as he was a dozen years ago. Well, all I want to +say, Fred, is that I'm Cyrus Sutton, stopping here at the hotel, and +I'm somewhat interested in cattle. Bud, here, doesn't feel very well, +and he's got leave of absence for two or three days and is going to +stay at home. Bud and I are strong friends, and I've formed a rather +good opinion of you and I congratulate you on having earned such a +respectable pile of money. Mr. Kincade is ready and glad to pay you." + +Squire Jones, a plain, honest, old man, who had been justice of the +peace for fully two score years, went into the inner room with Fred +Sheldon and Jacob Kincade to see that everything was in proper shape; +for as the boy was a minor his rights needed careful protection. + +All was done deliberately and carefully, and the entire amount of +money, in good, crisp greenbacks, was placed in the trembling hands of +Fred Sheldon, who felt just then as though he would buy up the entire +village of Tottenville, and present it to his poor friends. + +"Come over to my office with me," said the squire, when the transaction +was finished. + +The lad willingly walked across the street and into the dingy quarters +of the old man, who closed the door and said: + +"I am real glad, Frederick, that you have earned such a sum of money, +for your mother needs it, and I know you to be a truthful and honest +boy; but let me ask you what you mean to do with it?" + +"Save it." + +"I know, but how and where? It will not be safe in your house nor at +the Misses Perkinpines', as the events of the other night prove. It +ought to be placed somewhere where it will be safe." + +"Tell me where to put it." + +"There is the Lynton Bank ten miles away, but you couldn't drive there +before it would be closed. I have a good, strong, burglar-proof safe, +in which I have many valuable papers. If you wish it, I will seal the +money in a large envelope, write your name on the back and lock it up +for you. Then, whenever you want it, I will turn it over to you." + +Fred replied that he would be glad to have him do as proposed, and +the old squire, with solemn deliberation, went through the ceremony +of placing the two hundred dollars safely among his other papers and +swinging the ponderous safe-door upon them. + +Fred would have liked to keep the money to look at and admire and show +to his playmates, but he saw how much wiser the course of the squire +was, and it was a great relief to the boy to have the custody of such +riches in other hands. + +When he came out on the street again he looked across to the hotel and +noticed that Bud Heyland and Cyrus Sutton were no longer visible. He +supposed they were inside visiting the bar, and without giving them +any further thought, Fred started for his home to complete his chores +before going over to stay with the Misses Perkinpine. + +After reaching a certain point up the road a short cut was almost +always used by Fred, who followed quite a well-beaten path through a +long stretch of woods. + +The boy was in high spirits, for he could not feel otherwise after the +wonderful success which had attended his efforts to capture the astray +lion. + +"If I could only get on the track of the men that stole the silverware +and money, why, I would retire wealthy," he said to himself, with a +smile; "but I don't see where there is much chance----" + +"Halloo, there, Freddy dear!" + +It was Bud Heyland who hailed the startled youngster in this fashion, +and when our hero stopped and looked up, he saw the bully standing +before him, whip in hand and waiting for him to approach. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A BUSINESS TRANSACTION. + + +When Fred Sheldon saw Bud Heyland standing before him in the path, his +impulse was to whirl about and run, for he knew too well what to expect +from the bully; but the latter, reading his thoughts called out: + +"Hold on, Freddy, I won't hurt you, though you deserve a good +horsewhipping on account of the mean way you cheated me out of the +reward for capturing the lion; but I have a little business with you." + +Wondering what all this could mean Fred stood still while the red-faced +young man approached, though our hero wished as fervently that he was +somewhere else as he did when he found himself face to face with the +lion in the lane. + +"Jake sent me," added Bud in his most persuasive manner, and with +a strong effort to win the confidence of the boy, who was somewhat +reassured by the last words. + +"What does Mr. Kincade want?" asked Fred. + +"Why, he told me to hurry after you and say that he had made a mistake +in paying you that money." + +"I guess he didn't make any mistake," replied the surprised boy. + +"Yes, he did; it's twenty dollars short." + +"No, it isn't, for Squire Jones and I counted it over twice." + +"That don't make any difference; I tell you there was a mistake and he +sent me to correct it." + +"Why didn't you come over to Squire Jones' office, then, and fix it?" + +"I didn't know you was there." + +Fred knew this was untrue, for Bud sat on the porch and watched him as +he walked across the street with the squire. + +"Well, if you are so sure of it, then you can give me the twenty +dollars and it will be all right." + +"I want you to take out the money and count it here before me." + +"I sha'n't do it." + +"I guess you will; you've got to." + +"But I can't." + +"What's the reason you can't?" + +"I haven't got the money with me." + +"You haven't!" exclaimed Bud, in dismay. "Where is it?" + +"Locked up in Squire Jones' safe." + +The bully was thunderstruck, and gave expression to some exclamations +too forcible to be recorded. + +It was evident that he was unprepared for such news, and he seemed to +be eager to apply his cruel whip to the little fellow toward whom he +felt such unreasonable hatred. + +"I've got a settlement to make with you, any way," he said, advancing +threateningly toward him. + +"What have I done," asked Fred, backing away from him, "that you should +take every chance you can get, Bud, to hurt me?" + +"What have you done?" repeated the bully, "you've done a good deal, as +you know well enough." + +But at this juncture, when poor Fred thought there was no escape for +him, Bud Heyland, very curiously, changed his mind. + +"I'll let you off this time," said he, "but it won't do for you to try +any more of your tricks. When I come to think, it was ten dollars that +the money was short. Here is a twenty-dollar bill. I want you to get it +changed and give me the ten dollars to-morrow." + +Fred Sheldon was bewildered by this unexpected turn to the interview, +but he took the bill mechanically, and promised to do as he was told. + +"There's another thing I want to say to you," added Bud, stopping as +he was on the point of moving away: "You must not answer any questions +that may be asked you about the bill." + +The wondering expression of the lad showed that he failed to take in +the full meaning of this warning, and Bud added, impatiently. + +"Don't tell anybody I gave it to you. Say you found it in the road if +they want to know where you got it; that's all. Do you understand?" + +Fred began to comprehend, and he resolved on the instant that he would +not tell a falsehood to save himself from a score of whippings at the +hands of this evil boy, who would not have given the caution had he not +possessed good reasons for doing so. + +Bud Heyland repeated the last warning, word for word, as first uttered, +and then, striding by the affrighted Fred, continued in the direction +of Tottenville, while the younger boy was glad enough to go homeward. + +The sun had not set yet when he reached the house where he was born, +and he hurried through with his work and set out for the old brick +dwelling, which had been the scene of so many stirring incidents within +the last few days. + +He was anxious to see his mother, who had been away several days. He +felt that she ought to know of his great good fortune, that she might +rejoice with him. + +"If she doesn't get there by to-morrow or next day I'll have to go +after her," he said to himself, "for I'll burst if I have to hold this +news much longer. And won't she be glad? It's hard work for us to get +along on our pension, and I can see she has to deny herself a good many +things so that I can go to school. I thought I would be happy when I +got the money, and so I am, but it is more on her account than on my +own--halloo!" + +It seemed as if the lane leading to the old brick mansion was destined +to play a very important part in the history of the lad, for he had +reached the very spot where he met the lion the night before, when a +man suddenly stepped out from behind one of the trees and stood for +a moment, with the setting sun shining full on his back, his figure +looking as if it were stamped in ink against the flaming horizon beyond. + +As Fred stared at him, he held up his right hand and crooked his +finger for him to approach, just as he did when sitting on the porch of +the village hotel, for it was Cyrus Sutton. + +The boy was not pleased, by any means, to meet him in such a place, for +he had felt suspicious of him ever since he saw him sitting in such +familiar converse with Bud Heyland and Jacob Kincade. + +Nevertheless, our hero walked boldly toward him, and with a faint +"Good-evening, sir," waited to hear what he had to say. + +"Your name is Frederick Sheldon, I believe?" + +Fred nodded to signify that he was correct in his surmise. + +"You met Bud Heyland in the woods over yonder, didn't you?" + +"Yes, sir; how could you know it?" + +"I saw him going in that direction, and I saw you come out the path; +what more natural than that I should conclude you had met? He gave you +a twenty-dollar bill to get changed, didn't he?" + +"He did, sir," was the answer of the amazed boy, who wondered how it +was this person could have learned so much, unless he got the news from +Bud Heyland himself. + +"Let me see the money." + +Fred did not like this peremptory way of being addressed by a person +whom he had never seen until that afternoon, but he drew the bill from +his pocket. + +As he did so he brought several other articles with it, among them his +new knife, which dropped to the ground. He quickly picked them up, and +shoved them hurriedly out of sight. + +Mr. Sutton did not seem to notice this trifling mishap, but his eyes +were bent on the crumpled bill which was handed to him. + +As soon as he got it in his hands he turned his back toward the setting +sun, and placing himself in the line of some of the horizontal rays +which found their way between the trees he carefully studied the paper. + +He stood full a minute without moving, and then merely said, "Ahem!" as +though he were clearing his throat. Then he carefully doubled up the +piece of national currency, and opening his pocket-book placed it in it. + +"Are you going to keep that?" asked Fred. "It isn't yours." + +"He wanted you to get it changed, didn't he?" + +"Yes, sir; but he didn't want me to give it away." + +"Of course not, of course not; excuse me, but I only wanted to change +the bill for you. Here you are." + +Thereupon he handed four five-dollar bills to Fred, who accepted them +gladly enough, though still wondering at the peculiar actions of the +man. + +"One word," he added. "Bud told you not to answer any questions when +you got the bill changed. I haven't asked you any, but he will have +some to ask himself, which he will be very anxious you should answer. +Take my advice, and don't let him know a single thing." + +"I won't," said Fred, giving his promise before he thought. + +"Very well, don't forget it; he will be on the lookout for you +to-morrow, and when you see him, hand him his ten dollars and keep the +rest for yourself, and then end the interview. Good evening, my son." + +"Good evening," and Fred was moving on, when Mr. Cyrus Sutton said: + +"Hold on a minute," at the same time crooking his forefinger in a way +peculiar to himself; "I understand you were in the house there the +other night, when it was robbed by a tramp." + +"I was, sir; the whole village knows that." + +"You were lucky enough to get away while it was going on, though you +were deceived by the man whom you met here in the lane." + +The lad assured him he was correct, as he seemed to be in every +supposition which he made. + +"Do you think you would know either of those men if you met them again?" + +The question was a startling one, not from the words themselves, but +from the peculiar manner in which it was asked. + +Cyrus Sutton bent forward, thrusting his face almost in that of the boy +and dropping his voice to a deep guttural bass as he fixed his eyes on +those of Fred. + +The latter looked up and said: + +"The voice of the man I met in the lane sounded just like yours. Are +you the man?" + +It surely was a stranger question than that to which the lad had made +answer, and Sutton, throwing back his head, laughed as if he would sink +to the earth from excess of mirth. + +"Well, that's the greatest joke of the season. Am I the other tramp +that led you on such a wild-goose chase? Well, I should say not." + +Nevertheless Fred Sheldon felt absolutely sure that this was the man he +accused him of being. + +Mr. Sutton, with a few jesting remarks, bade the boy good-evening, and +the latter hastened on to the brick mansion, where he busied himself +for a half hour in doing up a few chores that Michael, the hired man, +had left for him. + +When these were finished, he went into the house, with a good appetite +for his supper, which was awaiting him. + +The old ladies were greatly pleased to learn he had been paid such a +large sum for capturing the lion, and they did not regret the fright +they had suffered, since it resulted in such substantial good for their +favorite. + +"Now, if you could only find our silverware," said Aunt Annie, "what a +nice sum you would earn!" + +"Wouldn't I? I'd just roll in wealth, and I'd make mother so happy +she'd feel miserable." + +"But I'm afraid we shall never see the silver again," observed Miss +Lizzie, with a deep sigh. + +"Wasn't there some money taken, too?" + +"Yes; several hundred dollars. But we don't mind that, for we can get +along without it; but the silverware, you know, has been in the family +for more than two centuries." + +"You haven't owned it all that time, have you?" + +"My goodness! How old do you suppose we are?" asked the amused old +lady. + +"I never thought, but it would be a good thing to get the money, too, +wouldn't it? Has Archie Jackson been here to-day?" + +"Yes. He says that the officer he sent for doesn't come, and so he's +going to be a detective himself." + +"A detective," repeated Fred to himself. "That's a man, I believe, that +goes prying around after thieves and bad people, and is pretty smart in +making himself look like other folks." + +"Yes," said Aunt Lizzie, "he went all over the house again, and climbed +out on top of the porch, and was crawling around there, 'looking for +signs,' as he called them. I don't know how he made out, but he must +have been careless, for he slipped off and came down on his head and +shoulders, and when we ran out to help him up, said some awful bad +words, and went limping down the lane." + +"He don't know how to climb," said Fred, as he disposed of his usual +supply of gingerbread; "it takes a boy like me to climb, a man is +always sure to get in trouble." + +"Archibald seems to be very unfortunate," said Aunt Annie mildly, and +with a meek smile on her face, "for just before he fell off the roof of +the porch, he came bumping all the way down-stairs and said the bad man +had put oil on them, so as to make him slip to the bottom. I am quite +anxious about him, but I hope no bones were broken." + +"I saw that his hand was swelled up too," said the sister, "and when +I inquired about it he said he caught it in the crack of the door, +playing with his little boy, though I don't see how that could make +such a hurt as his was. But there has been some one else here." + +"Who was that?" asked Fred, excitedly. + +"A very nice, gentlemanly person, though he wasn't dressed in very fine +clothes. His name was--let me see, circus-circum--no----" + +"Cyrus Sutton?" + +"That's it--yes, that's his name." + +"What was he after?" demanded Fred, indignantly. + +"He said he was staying in the village a little while, and, having +heard about our loss, he came out to make inquiries." + +"I would like to know what business he had to do that," said the boy, +who was sure the old ladies were altogether too credulous and kind to +strangers who presented themselves at their doors. + +"Why, Frederick, it was a great favor for him to show such an interest +in our affairs." + +"Yes; so it was in them other two chaps, I s'pose; this ain't the first +time Mr. Cyrus Sutton has been in your house." + +"What do you mean, Frederick?" + +"I mean this," answered Fred, wheeling his chair about and slapping his +hand several times upon the table, by way of emphasis, "that Mr. Cyrus +Sutton, as he calls himself, is the man I met in the lane the other +night, and who climbed into the window and helped the other fellow +carry off your plate and money; there!" + +The ladies raised their hands in protesting amazement. + +"Impossible! You must be mistaken!" + +"I know it, and I told him so, too!" + +"You did! Didn't he kill you?" + +"Not that I know of," laughed Fred. "I don't feel very dead, anyway; +but though he had on whiskers the other night as the other one did, I +knew his voice." + +Young Sheldon did not think it best to say anything about the suspicion +he had formed against Bud Heyland, for that was coming so near home +that it would doubtless cause immediate trouble. + +Nor did he tell how he was sure, only a short time before, that Jacob +Kincade was the partner of Bud in the theft, but that the latter, who +handed him the two hundred dollars, was relieved from all suspicion, at +least so far as the lad himself was concerned. + +"Have you told Archibald of this?" asked Aunt Lizzie, when Fred had +repeated his declaration several times. + +"What's the use of telling him? He would start in such a hurry to +arrest him that he would tumble over something and break his neck. +Then, he'd get the reward, too, and I wouldn't have any of it." + +"We will see that you have justice," said Miss Lizzie, assuringly; "you +deserve it for what you have already done." + +"I don't want it, and I won't have it until I can earn it, that's +certain. I must go to school to-morrow, and I brought over two of my +books to study my lessons. I had mother's permission to stay home to go +to the circus, but I was out to-day, and I s'pose Mr. McCurtis will +give me a good whipping for it to-morrow. Anyway, I'll wear my trousers +down, instead of rolling 'em up, till I learn how the land lies." + +This seemed a prudent conclusion, and as the ladies were anxious that +their favorite should keep up with his classes they busied themselves +with their household duties while the lad applied himself with might +and main to his mental work. + +At the end of half an hour he had mastered it, and asked the ladies if +there was anything he could do for them. + +"I forgot to tell Michael," said Aunt Annie, "before he went home, that +we want some groceries from the store, and I would like him to give the +order before coming here in the morning." + +"I'll take the order to him if you will write it out." + +Thanking him for his courtesy, the order was prepared, and, tucking it +in his pocket, Fred Sheldon started down the road on a trot to the home +of Michael Heyland, the hired man. + +"I wonder whether Bud is there?" he said to himself, as he approached +the humble house. "I don't s'pose he'll bother me, but he'll want to +know about that money as soon as he sees me." + +Without any hesitation the lad knocked at the door and was bidden to +enter. As he did so he saw that Mrs. Heyland was the only one at home. + +"Michael has gone to the village," said the lady of the house, in +explanation; "but I'm expecting him home in the course of an hour or +so, and perhaps you had better wait." + +"I guess there isn't any need of it. Aunt Annie wants him to take an +order to the store to-morrow morning before he comes up to the house, +and I can leave it with you." + +"Is it writ out?" + +"Yes; here it is," said Fred, laying the piece of folded paper on +the stand beside the Bible and a copy of the Tottenville _Weekly +Illuminator_. + +The lad had no particular excuse for staying longer, but he was anxious +to ask several questions before going back, and he was in doubt as to +how he should go about it. + +But when he was invited to sit down he did so, and asked, in the most +natural manner: + +"Where is Bud?" + +"He's down to the village, too." + +"When will he be home?" + +"That's a hard question to answer, and I don't think Bud himself could +tell you if he tried. You know he's been traveling so long with the +circus and has so many friends in the village that they are all glad to +see him and won't let him come home. Bud was always a good boy, and I +don't wonder that everybody thinks so much of him." + +Fred Sheldon indulged in a little smile for his own amusement, but he +took care that the doting mother did not notice it. + +"Michael was always hard on Bud, but he sees how great his mistake +was, and when he rode by on the big wagon, cracking his whip, he felt +as proud of him as I did." + +"Is Bud going to be home long?" + +"He got leave of absence for a few days, because the boy isn't feeling +very well. They've worked him too hard altogether. You observed how +pale-looking he is?" + +Fred could not say that he had noticed any alarming paleness about the +young man, but he did not deny the assertion of the mother. + +"Does Bud like it with the circus?" + +"Oh, yes, and they just dote on him. Bud tells me that Colonel Bandman, +the owner of the circus and menagerie, has told him that if he keeps on +doing so well he's going to take him in as partner next year." + +"Mrs. Heyland, why do you call him Bud?" + +"He was such a sweet baby that we nick-named him 'Birdy,' and it has +stuck by him since. When he went to school he was called Budman, +that being a cunning fancy of the darling boy, but his right name is +Nathaniel Higgens, though most people don't know it." + +Fred Sheldon had got the information he was seeking. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE EAVESDROPPER. + + +Fred Sheldon had learned one most important fact. Beyond all doubt +the letters "N. H. H." stood for the name Nathaniel Higgens Heyland, +who for some months past had been attached as an employee to Colonel +Bandman's menagerie and circus. + +By some means, hard to understand, this young man had dropped his +pocket-knife, bearing these initials, on the floor of the upper room of +the brick mansion, at the time he entered it disguised as an ordinary +tramp, and with the sole purpose of robbery. + +It was proven, therefore, that Bud had committed that great offense +against the laws of his country, as well as against those of his Maker, +and he was deserving of severe punishment. + +But young, as bright, honest Fred Sheldon was, he knew that the hardest +work of all remained before him. + +How was the silver plate to be recovered, for the task would be less +than half performed should the owners fail to secure that? + +How could the guilt of Bud Heyland be brought home to him, and who was +his partner? + +Although Fred was sure that the stranger who called himself Cyrus +Sutton was the other criminal, yet he saw no way in which that fact +could be established, nor could he believe that the proof which he held +of Bud's criminality would convince others. + +Bud was such an evil lad that he would not hesitate to tell any number +of falsehoods, and he was so skilled in wrong talking, as well as wrong +doing, that he might deceive every one else. + +Fred Sheldon felt that he needed now the counsel of one person above +all others. The one man to whom his thoughts first turned was Archie +Jackson, the constable, and he was afraid to trust him, for the +temptation of obtaining the large reward offered was likely to lead him +to do injustice to the boy. + +The one person whom he longed to see above all others was his +mother--that noble, brave woman whose love and wisdom had guided him so +well along his journey of life, short though it had been. + +It was she who had awakened in him the desire to become a good and +learned man, who had cheered him in his studies, who had entertained +him with stories culled from history and calculated to arouse an +honorable ambition in his heart. + +The memory of his father was dim and misty, but there was a halo of +glory that would ever envelop that sacred name. + +Fred could just remember the bright spring morning when the patriot, +clad in his uniform of a private, had taken his wee baby boy in his +arms, tossed him in the air, and, as he came down, kissed him over and +over again, and told him that he was the son of a soldier who intended +to fight for his country; and commending him to God and his wife, had +resigned him to the weeping mother, who was pressed to his heart, and +then, catching up his musket he had hurried out the little gate and +walked rapidly down the road. + +Held in the mother's arms, Fred had strained his baby eyes until the +loved form of his father faded out in the distance, and then the +heavy-hearted wife took up the burden of life once more. + +But, though she shaded her weary eyes and looked down the road many a +time, the husband never came back again. Somewhere, many long miles +away, he found his last resting place, there to sleep until the last +trump shall wake the dead, and those who have been separated in this +life shall be reunited, never to part again. + +Fred's memories of those sad days, we say, were dim and shadowy, but he +saw how bravely his mother fought her own battle, more sorrowful than +that in which the noble husband went down, and Fred, young though he +was, had been all that the fondest mother could wish. + +"Let him be spared to me, oh, Heavenly Father," she plead, and +henceforth she lived only for him. + +It was she who taught him to kneel at her knee and to murmur his +prayers morning and evening; who told him of the Gracious Father who +will reward every good deed and punish every evil one not repented of; +it was she who taught him to be manly and truthful and honest and brave +for the right, and whose counsel and guidance were more precious than +those of any earthly friend ever could be. + +Fred had no secret from her, and now that so much had taken place +in the last few days he felt that he could not stand it much longer +without her to counsel and direct him. + +"I sha'n't tell anybody a word of what I've found out," he said to +himself, as he walked thoughtfully along the road, in the direction +of the old brick mansion, where he expected to spend the night; "the +Misses Perkinpine are such simple souls that they can't help a big +boy like me, and though they might give me something, I don't want it +unless I earn it. I'll bet mother can give me a lift." + +And holding this very high and not exaggerated opinion of his parent's +wisdom, he continued onward, fervently hoping that she would return on +the morrow. + +"We've never been apart so long since I can remember," he added, "and +I'm beginning to feel homesick." + +The night was clear and starlight, the moon had not yet risen, but he +could see very distinctly for a short distance in the highway. He was +thinking of nothing in the way of further incident to him, but, as +it sometimes happens in this world, the current of one's life, after +flowing smoothly and calmly for a long time, suddenly comes upon shoals +and breakers and everything is stormy for a while. + +Fred, in accordance with his favorite custom, had his trousers rolled +high above his knees, and was barefooted. In the dust of the road he +walked without noise, and as the night was very still he could hear the +least sound. + +Though involved in deep thought he was of such a wide-awake nature +that he could never be insensible to what was going on around him. +He heard again the soft murmur of the wind in the forest, the faint, +distant moan of the river, the cock crowing fully a mile away, answered +by a similar signal of a chanticleer still further off, and then all at +once he distinctly caught the subdued sound of voices. + +He at once stopped in the road and looked and listened. He could see +nothing, but his keen ears told him the faint noise came from a point +directly ahead, and was either in or at the side of the road. + +His intimate knowledge of the highway, even to the rocks and fences and +piles of rails, that here and there lined it, enabled him to recall +that there was a broad, flat rock, perhaps a hundred rods ahead, on the +right side of the path, and that it was the one on which many a tired +traveler sat down to rest. + +No doubt the persons whose voices reached him were sitting there, +holding some sort of conference, and Fred asked himself how he should +pass them without discovery, for, like almost every one, he was timid +of meeting strangers on a lonely road after dark. + +His recourse suggested itself the next minute--he had only to climb the +fence and move around them. + +At this point there was a meadow on each side of the highway, without +any trees near the road, so that great care was needed to avoid +observation, but in the starlight night Fred had little doubt of being +able to get by without detection. + +Very carefully he climbed the fence, and, dropping gently upon the +grass on the other side, he walked off across the field, peering +through the gloom in the direction of the rock by the roadside, whence +came the murmur of voices. + +The boy was so far away that, as yet, he had not caught a glimpse of +the others, but when he stopped at the point where he thought it safe +to begin to approach the road again, one of the parties gave utterance +to an exclamation in a louder voice than usual. + +Fred instantly recognized it as that of Cyrus Sutton, the cattle +drover, who had formed such a strong friendship for Bud Heyland. + +"I'll bet that Bud is there, too," muttered Fred, moving stealthily in +the direction of the rock; "they are always--halloo!" + +In imitation of the loud voice of Sutton, the other did the same, and +in the still night there could be no mistaking it; the only son of +Michael Heyland was sitting at the roadside, in conversation with Cyrus +Sutton. + +It was natural that Young Sheldon should conclude they were discussing +the subject of the robbery, and he was at once seized with the desire +to learn what it was they were saying, for, more than likely, it would +throw some light on the matter. + +Fred had been taught by his mother that it was mean to tell tales of, +or to play the eavesdropper upon, another, but in this case he felt +warranted in breaking the rule for the sake of the good that it might +do. + +Accordingly, he crept through the grass toward the highway until he +caught the outlines of the two figures between the fence rails and +thrown against the sky beyond. At the same time the rank odor of +tobacco came stealing through the summer air, as it floated from the +strong briar-wood pipe of Bud Heyland. + +It was not to be supposed that two persons, engaged in an unlawful +business, would sit down beside a public highway and hold a +conversation in such a loud voice that any one in the neighborhood +would be able to learn all their secrets. + +Fred Sheldon got quite close, but though the murmur was continued with +more distinctness than before, he could not distinguish many words nor +keep the run of the conversation. There may have been something in the +fact that the faces of the two, as a rule, were turned away from the +listener, but now and then in speaking one of them would look at the +other and raise his voice slightly. + +This indicated that he was more in earnest just then, and Fred caught +a word or two without difficulty, the fragments, as they reached him, +making a queer jumble. + +Bud Heyland's voice was first identified in the jumble and murmur. + +"Big thing--clean two thousand--got it down fine, Sutton." + +The reply of the companion was not audible, but Bud continued staring +at him and smoking so furiously that the boy, crouching behind them, +plainly saw the vapor as it curled upward and tainted the clear summer +air above their heads. + +In a moment, however, Fred caught the profile of Cyrus Sutton +against the starlight background, while that of young Heyland and his +briar-wood looked as if drawn in ink against the sky. + +Both were looking at each other, and the words reached him more +distinctly. + +"Must be careful--dangerous business--been there myself, Bud, don't be +in a hurry." + +This, of course, was spoken by the cattle drover, and it was plain that +it must refer to the robbery. Bud was laboring under some impatience +and was quick to make answer. + +"Can't play this sick bus'ness much longer--must join the circus at +Belgrade in a few days--must make a move pretty soon." + +"Won't keep you waiting long--but the best jobs in--country--spoiled by +haste. Take it easy till you can be sure how the land lies." + +"That may all be--but----" + +Just then Bud Heyland turned his head so that only the back portion was +toward the listener, and his voice dropped so low that it was some time +before another word could be distinguished. + +Fred Sheldon was deeply interested, for a new and strong suspicion was +beginning to take possession of him. + +It seemed to him on the sudden that the two worthies were not +discussing the past so much as they were the future. + +That is, instead of talking about the despoiling of the Perkinpine +mansion, a few nights before, they were laying plans for the commission +of some new offense. + +"That Sutton is a regular burglar," thought Fred, "and he has come +down here to join Bud, and they're going to rob all the houses in the +neighborhood. I wonder whom they're thinking about now." + +The anxiety of the eavesdropper to hear more of what passed between the +conspirators was so great that he grew less guarded in his movements +than he should have been. + +His situation was such already that had the suspicion of the two been +directed behind them they would have been almost sure to discover the +listener; but, although they should have been careful themselves, it +was hardly to be expected that they would be looking for spies in such +a place and at such a time. + +Fred caught several words, which roused his curiosity to such a point +that he determined to hear more, though the risk should be ten times as +great. + +As silently, therefore, as possible, he crept forward until he was +within a dozen feet of the rock on which Heyland and Sutton sat. + +The fact that the two had their faces turned away from him, still +interfered with the audibility of the words spoken in a lower tone than +the others, but the listener heard enough to fill him not only with +greater anxiety than ever, but with a new fear altogether. + +Without giving all the fragments his ear caught, he picked up enough to +convince him that Bud Heyland and Cyrus Sutton were discussing their +past deeds and laying plans for the commission of some new act of evil. + +It was the latter fact which so excited the boy that he almost forgot +the duty of using care against being discovered, and gradually crept up +near enough to keep the run of the conversation. + +But, when he had secured such a position, he was annoyed beyond bearing +by the silence, occasionally broken, of the two. It looked, indeed, as +if they had got through the preliminaries of some evil scheme, and were +now speaking in a desultory way of anything which came in their heads, +while one smoked his pipe and the other his cigar. + +Cyrus Sutton held a jack-knife in his hand, which he now and then +rubbed against a portion of the rock, as if to sharpen the blade, while +he puffed the smoke first on the one side of his head and then on the +other. Bud was equally attentive to his pipe, the strong odor of which +at times almost sickened young Sheldon. Bud had not his whip with him, +and he swung his legs and knocked his heels against the rock and seemed +as well satisfied with himself as such worthless fellows generally are. + +"It's a pretty big thing and it will take a good deal of care and skill +to work it through." + +This remark was made by Sutton, after a minute's pause on the part of +both, and was instantly commented upon by Bud in his off-hand style. + +"Of course it does, but don't you s'pose we know all that? Haven't we +done it in more than one other place than Tottenville?" + +"Yes," said Sutton, "and I've run as close to the wind as I want to, +and closer than I mean to again, if I can help it." + +"Well, then," said Bud, "we'll fix it to-morrow night." + +"All right," said the drover, "but remember you can't be too careful, +Bud, for this is a dangerous business." + +"I reckon I'm as careful as you or any one else," retorted the youth, +"and ain't in any need of advice." + +These words disclosed one important fact to Fred Sheldon; they showed +that the unlawful deed contemplated was fixed for the succeeding night. + +"They're going to break into another house," he mentally said, "and +to-morrow is the time. Now, if I can only learn whose house it is, I +will tell Archie Jackson." + +This caused his heart to beat faster, and again the lad thought of +nothing else than to listen and catch the words of the conspirators. + +"Do you think we can manage it alone?" asked Sutton, turning his head +so that the words were unmistakably distinct. + +"What's to hinder? Halloo! what's that?" + +Bud Heyland straightened himself and looked up and down the road. The +affrighted Fred Sheldon saw his head and shoulders rise to view as he +glanced about him, while his companion seemed occupied also in looking +and listening. + +What was it they had heard? The lad was not aware that he had made the +slightest noise, but the next guarded remark of Heyland startled him. + +"I heard something move, as if in the grass." + +"It would be a pretty thing if some one overheard our plans," said +Cyrus Sutton, turning squarely about, so that his face was toward the +crouching lad; "we ought to have looked out for that. Where did it seem +to come from?" + +"Maybe I was mistaken; it was very faint, and I couldn't think of the +right course; it may have been across the road or behind us." + +Fred Sheldon began to think it was time for him to withdraw, for his +situation was becoming a dangerous one, indeed. + +"I guess you were mistaken," said Sutton, off-hand; "this is a slow +neighborhood and the people don't know enough to play such a game as +that." + +"You was saying a minute ago that you couldn't be too careful; I'll +take a look across the road and up and down, while you can see how +things are over the fence there." + +The last clause referred to the hiding place of Fred Sheldon, who +wondered how it was he had not already been seen, when he could +distinguish both forms so plainly, now that they stood up on their feet. + +It looked as if detection was certain, even without the two men +shifting their positions in the least. + +The lad was lying flat on the ground and so motionless that he might +have hoped to escape if special attention were not called to him. + +But he felt that if the cattle-drover came over the fence it would be +useless to wait a second. + +As Bud Heyland spoke he started across the highway, while Cyrus Sutton +called out: + +"All right!" + +As he did so he placed his hand on the top rail of the fence and with +one bound leaped over, dropping upon his feet within a few steps of +poor Fred Sheldon, who, with every reason for believing he had been +seen, sprang to his feet and ran for dear life. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +FRED'S BEST FRIEND. + + +Fred Sheldon sprang up from his hiding-place in the grass, almost +before the drover vaulted over the fence, and ran across the meadow in +the manner he did when he believed the wandering lion was at his heels. + +Cyrus Sutton seemed to be confused for the minute, as though he had +scared up some strange sort of animal, and he stared until the dark +figure began to grow dim in the distance. + +Even then he might not have said or done anything had not Bud Heyland +heard the noise and come clambering over the fence after him. + +"Why don't you shoot him?" demanded Bud; "he's a spy that has been +listening! Let's capture him! Come on! It will never do for him to get +away! If we can't overhaul him, we can shoot him on the fly!" + +The impetuous Bud struck across the lot much the same as a frightened +ox would have done when galloping. He was in dead earnest, for he and +Sutton had been discussing some important schemes, which it would not +do for outsiders to learn anything about. + +He held his pistol in hand, and was resolved that the spy should not +escape him. The skurrying figure was dimly visible in the moonlight, +but in his haste and excitement Bud probably did not observe that the +object of the chase was of very short stature. + +Sutton kept close beside Bud, occasionally falling a little behind, as +though it was hard work. + +"He's running as fast as we," said Sutton; "you had better hail him." + +Bud Heyland did so on the instant. + +"Hold on there! Stop! Surrender and you will be spared! If you don't +stop I'll shoot!" + +Master Frederick Sheldon believed he was running for life, and, finding +he was not overtaken, he redoubled his exertions, his chubby legs +carrying him along with a speed which astonished even himself. + +The terrible hail of his pursuer instead of "bringing him to," +therefore, only spurred him to greater exertions. + +"I give you warning," called out Bud, beginning to pant from the +severity of his exertion, "that I'll shoot, and when I take aim I'm +always sure to hit something." + +"That's what makes me so afraid," said Sutton, dropping a little +behind, "for I think I'm in more danger than the one ahead." + +Bud Heyland now raised his revolver and sighted as well as he could +at the shadowy figure, which was beginning to edge off to the left. A +person on a full run is not certain to make a good shot, and when the +weapon was discharged, the bullet missed the fugitive by at least a +dozen feet if not more. + +Bud lowered the pistol and looked to see the daring intruder fall +to the ground, but he did not do so, and continued on at the same +surprising gait. + +"That bullet grazed him," said Bud, bringing up his pistol again; "just +see how I'll make him drop this time; fix your eye on him, and when I +pull the trigger he'll give a yell and jump right up in the air." + +To make his aim sure, beyond all possibility of failure, the panting +pursuer came to a halt for a moment, and resting the barrel on his left +arm, as though he were a duelist, he took "dead aim" at the lad and +again pulled the trigger. + +But there is no reason to believe that he came any nearer the mark than +in the former instance; and when Sutton said with a laugh: + +"I don't see him jump and yell, Bud," the marksman, retorted: + +"You'd better shoot yourself, then." + +"No; I was afraid you would shoot me instead of him. I think you came +nearer me than you did him. Hark! Did you hear the man laugh then. He +don't mind us so long as we keep shooting at him." + +"Did he laugh?" demanded Bud, savagely. "If he laughed at me he shall +die!" + +Hurriedly replacing his useless pistol in his pocket he resumed his +pursuit with fierce energy, for he was resolved on overhauling the man +who had dared to listen to what had been said. + +Had Bud been alone he would have left the pursuit to some one else, but +with the muscular Cyrus Sutton at his back he was running over with +courage and vengeance. + +Although the halt had been a brief one, yet it could not fail to prove +of advantage to the fugitive, who was speeding with might and main +across the meadow, and had begun to work off to the left, because he +was anxious to reach the shelter of some woods, where he was hopeful of +dodging his pursuers. + +It would seem that Bud Heyland and Cyrus Sutton could easily outspeed +such a small boy as Fred Sheldon, but they were so bulky that it was +much harder work for them to run, and they could not last so long. + +Hitherto they had lumbered along pretty heavily, but now they settled +down to work with all the vigor they possessed, realizing that it was +useless to expect to capture the fugitive in any other way. + +Meanwhile Fred Sheldon was doing his "level best;" active and quick in +his movements he could run rapidly for one of his years, and could keep +it up much longer than those behind him, though for a short distance +their speed was the greater. + +Dreading, as he did, to fall into the hands of Bud Heyland and his +lawless companion, he put forth all the power at his command, and +glancing over his shoulder now and then he kept up his flight with an +energy that taxed his strength and endurance to the utmost. + +When he found that they were not gaining on him he was encouraged, but +greatly frightened by the pistol-shots. He was sure that one of the +bullets went through his hat and the other grazed his ear, but so long +as they didn't disable him he meant to keep going. + +He was nearly across the meadow when he recalled that he was speeding +directly toward a worm-fence which separated it from the adjoining +field. It would take a few precious seconds to surmount that, and he +turned diagonally toward the left, as has been stated, because by +taking such a course, he could reach the edge of a small stretch of +woods, in whose shadows he hoped to secure shelter from his would-be +captors. + +This change in the line of flight could not fail to operate to +the disadvantage of the fugitive, for a time at least, for, being +understood by Bud and Cyrus, they swerved still more, and sped along +with increased speed, so that they rapidly recovered the ground lost a +short time before. + +They were aiming to cut off Fred, who saw his danger at once, and +changed his course to what might be called "straight away" again, +throwing his pursuers directly behind him. + +This checked the scheme for the time, but it deprived Fred of his great +hope of going over the fence directly into the darkness of the woods. + +As it was, he was now speeding toward the high worm-fence which +separated the field he was in from the one adjoining. + +Already he could see the long, crooked line of rails, as they stretched +out to the right and left in front of him, disappearing in the gloom +and looking like mingling lines of India ink against the sky beyond. + +Even in such stirring moments odd thoughts come to us, and Fred, while +on the dead run, compared in his mind the fence rails to the crooked +and erratic lines he had drawn with his pen on a sheet of white paper. + +Although he could leap higher in the air and further on the level than +any lad of his age, he knew better than to try and vault such a fence. +As he approached it, therefore, he slackened his gait slightly, and +springing upward with one foot on the middle rail, he placed the other +instantly after on the topmost one and went over like a greyhound, with +scarcely any hesitation, continuing his flight, and once more swerving +to the left toward the woods on which he now fixed his hopes. + +Possibly Bud Heyland thought that the fact of his being attached to +Colonel Bandman's great menagerie and circus called upon him to perform +greater athletic feats; for instead of imitating the more prudent +course of the fugitive, he made a tremendous effort to clear the fence +with one bound. + +He would have succeeded but for the top three rails. As it was his +rather large feet struck them, and he went over with a crash, his hat +flying off and his head ploughing quite a furrow in the ground. + +[Illustration: Bud Heyland fell headlong over the fence in pursuit of +Fred. --(See page 151.)] + +He rolled over several times, and as he picked himself up it seemed +as if most of his bones were broken and he never had been so jarred in +all his life. + +"Did you fall?" asked Cyrus Sutton, unable to suppress his laughter, as +he climbed hastily after him. + +"I tripped a little," was the angry reply, "and I don't see anything to +laugh at; come on! we'll have him yet!" + +To the astonishment of the cattle dealer, Bud caught up his hat and +resumed the pursuit with only a moment's delay, and limping only +slightly from his severe shaking up. + +Fred Sheldon was dimly visible making for the woods, and the two +followed, Sutton just a little behind his friend. + +"You might as well give it up," said the elder; "he's got too much of a +start and is making for cover." + +"I'm bound to have him before he can reach it, and I'll pay him for all +this." + +No more than one hundred feet separated the parties, when Fred, +beginning to feel the effects of his severe exertion, darted in among +the shadows of the wood, and, hardly knowing what was the best to do, +threw himself flat on the ground, behind the trunk of a large tree, +where he lay panting and afraid the loud throbbing of his heart would +betray him to his pursuers, who were so close behind him. + +Had he been given a single minute more he would have made a sharp turn +in his course, and thus could have thrown them off the track without +difficulty; but, as it was--we shall see. + +Bud Heyland rushed by within a few feet, and halted a couple of yards +beyond, while Sutton stopped within a third of that distance, where +Fred lay flat on the ground. + +"Do you hear him?" asked Bud. + +"Hear him? No; he's given us the slip, and it's all time thrown away to +hunt further for him." + +Bud uttered an angry exclamation and stood a few minutes listening for +some sound that would tell where the eavesdropper was. + +But nothing was heard, and Sutton moved forward, passing so close to +Fred that the latter could have reached out his hand and touched him. + +"How could he help seeing me?" the boy asked himself, as the man joined +Bud Heyland, and the two turned off and moved in the direction of the +highway. + +Some distance away Bud Heyland and Sutton stopped and talked together +in such low tones that Fred Sheldon could only hear the murmur of their +voices, as he did when he first learned of their presence beside the +road. + +But it is, perhaps, needless to say that he was content to let them +hold their conference in peace, without any effort on his part to +overhear any more of it. He was only too glad to let them alone, and to +indulge a hope that they would be equally considerate toward him. + +Bud would have continued the search much longer and with a strong +probability of success had not Sutton persuaded him that it was only a +waste of time to do so. Accordingly they resumed their walk, with many +expressions of impatience over their failure to capture the individual +who dared to discover their secrets in such an underhanded way. + +"He looked to me like a very small man," said Bud, as he walked slowly +along, dusting the dirt from his clothing and rubbing the many bruised +portions of his body. + +"Of course he was," replied Sutton, "or he wouldn't have gone into that +kind of business." + +"I don't mean that; he seemed like a short man." + +"Yes, so he was, but there are plenty of full-grown men in this world +who are no taller than he." + +"It's too bad, I broke my pipe all to pieces when I fell over the +fence, and jammed the stem half way down my throat." + +"I thought you had broken your neck," said Sutton, "and you ought to be +thankful that you did not." + +Bud muttered an ill-natured reply, and the two soon after debouched +into the highway, along which they continued until the house of the +younger was reached, where they stopped a minute or so for a few more +words, when they separated for the night. + +Fred Sheldon waited until they were far beyond sight and hearing, when +he cautiously rose to his feet and stood for a short time to make sure +he could leave the spot without detection. + +"I guess I've had enough for one night," he said with a sigh, as he +turned off across the meadow until he reached the border of the lane, +along which he walked until he knocked at the door of the Misses +Perkinpine, where he was admitted with the same cordiality that was +always shown him. + +They seemed to think he had stayed at the hired man's house for a chat +with Bud, and made no inquiries, while the boy himself did not deem it +best to tell what had befallen him. + +His recent experience had been so severe upon him that he felt hungry +enough to eat another supper, and he would not have required a second +invitation to do so, but, as the first was not given, he concluded to +deny himself for the once. + +Fred expected to lie awake a long time after going to bed, trying to +solve the meaning of the few significant words he had overheard, but he +fell asleep almost immediately, and did not wake until called by Aunt +Lizzie. + +This was Friday, the last school-day of the week, and he made sure +of being on hand in time. As he had been absent by the permission of +his mother, made known through a note sent before she went to see her +brother, Mr. McCurtis could not take him to task for his failure to +attend school, but a number of lads who had been tempted away by the +circus and the excitement over the escaped lion were punished severely. + +However, they absented themselves with a full knowledge of what would +follow, and took the bitter dregs with the sweet, content to have the +pain if they might first have the pleasure. + +"I have excused several of you," said the teacher, peering very keenly +through his glasses at Fred, "for absence, but I have not been asked +to excuse any failure in lessons, and I do not intend to do so. Those +who have been loitering and wasting their time will soon make it +appear when called on to recite, and they must be prepared for the +consequences." + +This remark was intended especially for Fred, who was thankful that he +found out what the lessons of the day were, for he had prepared himself +perfectly. + +And it was well he did so, for the teacher seemed determined to puzzle +him. Fred was asked every sort of question the lesson could suggest. +It had always been said by Mrs. Sheldon that Fred never knew a lesson +so long as he failed to see clear through it, and could answer any +question germane to it. + +He felt the wisdom of such instruction on this occasion, when the +teacher at the end of the examination allowed him to take his seat and +remarked, half angrily: + +"There's a boy who knows his lessons, which is more than I can say of a +good many of you. I think it will be a good thing for him to go out and +hunt a few more lions." + +This was intended as a witticism on the part of the teacher, and, like +the urchins of Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," they all laughed with +"counterfeit glee," some of the boys roaring as if they would fall off +the benches from the excess of their mirth. + +Mr. McCurtis smiled grimly, and felt it was another proof that when he +became a school teacher the world lost one of its greatest comedians +and wits. + +At recess and noon Fred was quite a hero among the scholars. They +gathered about him and he had to tell the story over and over again, as +well as the dreadful feelings that must have been his when he woke up +in the night and found that a real, live burglar was in his room. + +Like most boys of his age, Fred unconsciously exaggerated in telling +the narratives so often, but he certainly deserved credit, not only +for his genuine bravery, but for the self-restraint that enabled him +to keep back some other things he might have related which would have +raised him still more in the admiration of his young friends. + +"I'm going to tell them to mother first of all," was his conclusion, +"and I will take her advice as to what I should do." + +He brought the lunch the Misses Perkinpine had put up for him, and +stayed in the neighborhood of the school-house all noon, with a number +of others, who lived some distance away. As the weather was quite warm, +the boys sat under a tree, talking over the stirring incidents of the +preceding few days. + +Fred was answering a question for the twentieth time, when he was +alarmed by the sudden appearance of Bud Heyland, with his trousers +tucked in his boots, his briar-wood pipe--that is, a new one--in his +mouth, and his blacksnake-whip in hand. + +As he walked along he looked at the school-house very narrowly, almost +coming to a full stop, and acting as though he was searching for some +one. He did not observe that half a dozen boys were stretched out in +the shadow of the big tree across the road. + +"Keep still!" said Fred, in a whisper, "and maybe he won't see us." + +But young Heyland was not to be misled so easily. Observing that the +school was dismissed, he looked all around him, and quickly espied the +little fellows lolling in the shade, when he immediately walked over +toward them. + +Fred Sheldon's heart was in his mouth on the instant, for he was sure +Bud was looking for him. + +"He must have known me last night," he thought, "and as he couldn't +catch me then he has come to pay me off now." + +But it would have been a confession of guilt to start and run, and Bud +would be certain to overtake him before he could go far, so the boy did +not stir from the ground on which he was reclining. + +"Halloo, Bud," called out several, as he approached. "How are you +getting along?" + +"None of your business," was the characteristic answer; "is Fred +Sheldon there?" + +"I'm here," said Fred, rising to the sitting position. "What do you +want of me?" + +Bud Heyland acted curiously. He looked sharply at the boy, and then +said: + +"I don't want anything of you just now, but I'll see you later," and +without anything further he moved on, leaving our hero wondering why he +had not asked for the ten dollars due him. + +Fred expected he would return, and was greatly relieved when the +teacher appeared and school was called. Fearful that the bully would +wait for him on the road, Fred went to the old brick mansion first, +where he stayed till dark, when he decided to run over to his own home, +look after matters there, and then return by a new route to the old +ladies who were so kind to him. + +He kept a sharp lookout on the road, but saw nothing of either Bud or +Cyrus Sutton. + +"It seems to me," said Fred to himself, as he approached the old +familiar spot, "that I ought to hear something from mother by this +time. There isn't any school to-morrow, and I'll walk over to Uncle +Will's and find out when she's coming home, and then I'll tell her all +I've got to tell, which is so much, with what I want to ask, that it'll +take me a week to get through--halloo! What does that mean?" + +He stopped short in the road, for through the closed blinds of the +lower story he caught the twinkling rays of a light that some one had +started within. + +"I wonder whether it is our house they're going to rob to-night," +exclaimed Fred, adding the next moment, with a grim humor: "If it is, +they will be more disappointed than they ever were in their lives." + +A minute's thought satisfied him that no one with a view to robbery was +there, for the good reason that there was nothing to steal, as anyone +would be quick to learn. + +"It must be some tramp prowling around in the hope of getting something +to eat. Anyway, I will soon find out----" + +Just then the window was raised, the shutters thrown wide open by some +person, who leaned part way out the window in full view. + +One glance was enough for Fred Sheldon to recognize that face and form, +the dearest on earth, as seen in the starlight, with the yellow rays of +the lamp behind them. + +"Halloo, mother! Ain't I glad to see you? How are you? Bless your dear +soul! What made you stay away so long?" + +"Fred, my own boy!" + +And leaning out the window she threw both arms about the neck of the +lad, who in turn threw his about her, just as the two always did when +they met after a brief separation. + +The fact of it was, Fred Sheldon was in love with his mother and always +had been, and that sort of boy is sure to make his mark in this world. + +A few minutes later the happy boy had entered the house and was sitting +at the tea table, eating very little and talking very much. + +The mother told him that his uncle had been dangerously ill, but had +begun to mend that day, and was now believed to have passed the crisis +of his fever, and would soon get well. She therefore expected to stay +with her boy all the time. + +And then the delighted little fellow began his story, or rather series +of stories, while the kind eyes of the handsome and proud parent were +fixed on the boy with an interest which could not have been stronger. + +Her face paled when, in his own graphic way, he pictured his lonely +watch in the old brick mansion, and the dreadful discovery that the +wicked tramp had entered the building stealthily behind him. She +shuddered to think that her loved one had been so imperiled, and was +thankful indeed that Providence had protected him. + +Then the story of the lion, of its unexpected breaking out from the +cage, the panic of the audience, his encounter with it in the lane, +its entry into the smoke-house, his shutting the door, and finally how +he earned and received the reward. All this was told with a childish +simplicity and truthfulness which would have thrilled any one who had a +less personal interest than the boy's mother. + +As I have said, there were no secrets that the son kept from his +parent. He told how he saw that the tramp wore false whiskers and how +he dropped a knife on the floor, which he got and showed to his mother, +explaining to her at the same time that the letters were the initials +of the young man known through the neighborhood as "Bud" Heyland. + +"That may all be," said she, smilingly, "and yet Bud may be as innocent +as you or I." + +"How is that?" asked Fred, wonderingly. + +"He may have traded or lost the knife, or some one may have stolen it +and left it there on purpose to turn suspicion toward Bud. Such things +have been done many a time, and it is odd that anyone could drop a +knife in such a place without knowing it." + +Fred opened his eyes. + +"Then Bud is innocent, you think?" + +"No, I believe he is guilty, for you say you were pretty sure of his +voice, but it won't do to be too certain. As to the other man, who +misled you when you met him in the lane, it is a hard thing to say who +he is." + +"Why, mother, I'm surer of him than I am of Bud, and I'm dead sure of +him, you know." + +"What are your reasons?" + +Fred gave them as they are already known to the reader. The wise little +woman listened attentively, and said when he had finished: + +"I don't wonder that you think as you do, but you once was as sure, as +I understand, of Mr. Kincade, the one who paid you the reward." + +"That is so," assented Fred, "but I hadn't had so much time to think +over the whole matter." + +"Very probably you are right, for they are intimate, and they are +staying in the neighborhood for no good. Tell me just what you heard +them say last night, when they sat on the rock by the roadside. Be +careful not to put in any words of your own, but give only precisely +what you know were spoken by the two." + +The boy did as requested, the mother now and then asking a question and +keeping him down close to the task of telling only the plain, simple +truth, concerning which there was so much of interest to both. + +When he was through she said the words of the two showed that some +wicked scheme was in contemplation, though nothing had been heard to +indicate its precise nature. + +The matter having been fully told the question remained--and it was the +great one which underlay all others--what could Fred do to earn the +large reward offered by the two ladies who had lost their property? + +"Remember," said his mother, thoughtfully, "you are only a small +boy fourteen years old, and it is not reasonable to think you can +out-general two bad persons who have learned to be cunning in all they +do." + +"Nor was it reasonable to think I would out-general a big lion," said +Fred, with a laugh, as he leaned on his mother's lap and looked up in +her eyes. + +"No; but that lion was old and harmless; he might have spent the +remainder of his days in this neighborhood without any one being in +danger." + +"But we didn't know that." + +"But you know that Bud Heyland and this Mr. Sutton are much older than +you and are experienced in evil doing." + +"So was the lion," ventured Fred, slyly, quite hopeful of earning the +prize on which he had set his heart. "I have been thinking that maybe I +ought to tell Mr. Jackson, the constable, about the knife, with Bud's +name on it." + +"No," said the mother. "It isn't best to tell him anything, for he has +little discretion. He boasts too much about what he is going to do; the +wise and skilful man never does that." + +Mrs. Sheldon had "gauged" the fussy little constable accurately when +she thus described him. + +"Fred," suddenly said his mother, "do not the Misses Perkinpine expect +you to stay at their house to-night?" + +"Yes, I told them I would be back, and they will be greatly surprised, +for I didn't say anything about your coming home, because I thought +Uncle Will was so sick you wouldn't be able to leave him." + +"Then you had better run over and explain why it is you cannot stay +with them to-night." + +The affectionate boy disliked to leave his mother when they were +holding such a pleasant conversation, but he could please her only by +doing so, and donning his broad-brimmed straw hat, and bidding her +good-night, passed out the door, promising soon to return. + +Fred was so anxious to spend the evening at home that he broke into +a trot the instant he passed out the gate, and kept it up along the +highway until he reached the short lane, which was so familiar to him. + +The same eagerness to return caused him to forget one fact that had +hitherto impressed him, which was that the conspiracy of Bud Heyland +and Cyrus Sutton was intended to be carried out this same evening. + +The boy had gone almost the length of the lane when he was surprised to +observe a point of light moving about in the shadow of the trees, the +night being darker than the previous one. + +"What under the sun can that be?" he asked, stopping short and +scrutinizing it with an interest that may be imagined. + +Viewed from where he stood, it looked like a jack-o'-lantern, or a +candle which some one held in his hand while moving about. + +It had that swaying, up-and-down motion, such as a person makes when +walking rapidly, while now and then it shot up a little higher, as +though the bearer had raised it over his head to get a better view of +his surroundings. + +"Well, that beats everything I ever heard of," muttered Fred, resuming +his walk toward the house; "it must be some kind of a lantern, and +maybe it's one of them dark ones which robbers use, and they are taking +a look at the outside to see which is the best way of getting inside, +though I don't think there is anything left for them." + +The distance to the house was so short that Fred soon reached the yard. +On his way thither the strange light vanished several times, only to +reappear again, its occasional eclipse, no doubt, being due to the +intervening vegetation. + +When the boy came closer he saw that the lantern was held in the hand +of Aunt Lizzie, who was walking slowly around the yard, with her sister +by her side, while they peered here and there with great deliberation +and care. + +"Why, Aunt Lizzie!" called out Fred, as he came up, "what are you +looking for?" + +The good ladies turned toward him with a faint gasp of fright, and then +gave utterance to an expression of thankfulness. + +"Why, Frederick, we are looking for you," was the reply, and then, +complimenting his truthfulness, she added, "you promised to come back, +and we knew you wouldn't tell a story, and sister and I thought maybe +you were hungry and sick somewhere around the yard, and if so we were +going to get you into the house and give you some supper." + +"Why, aunties, I've had supper," laughed Fred, amused beyond measure at +the simplicity of the good ladies. + +"We didn't suppose that made any difference," was the kind remark of +the good ladies, who showed by the observation that they had a pretty +accurate knowledge after all of this particular specimen of boyhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE MEETING IN THE WOOD. + + +Fred Sheldon told his good friends that inasmuch as his mother had +returned, he would stay at home hereafter, though he promised to drop +in upon them quite often and "take dinner or supper." + +The lantern was blown out and the sisters went inside, where, for the +present, we must bid them good-night, and the lad started homeward. + +He had not quite reached the main highway, when, in the stillness of +the night, he caught the rattle of carriage or wagon wheels. There was +nothing unusual in this, for it was the place and time to look for +vehicles, many of which went along the road at all hours of the day and +night. + +But so many strange things had happened to Fred during the week now +drawing to a close that he stopped on reaching the outlet of the lane, +and, standing close to the shaded trunk of a large tree, waited until +the wagon should go by. + +As it came nearer he saw that it was what is known in some parts of the +country as a "spring-wagon," being light running, with a straight body +and without any cover, so that the driver, sitting on the front seat, +was the most conspicuous object about it. + +As it came directly opposite Fred could see that the driver wore a +large sombrero-like hat, and was smoking a pipe. At the same moment, +too, he gave a peculiar sound, caused by an old habit of clearing his +throat, which identified him at once as Bud Heyland. + +"That's odd," thought Fred, stepping out from his place of concealment +and following after him; "when Bud goes out at night with a strange +wagon or alone, or with Cyrus Sutton, there's something wrong on foot." + +Not knowing what was best for him to do, Fred walked behind the wagon a +short distance, for the horse was going so slow that this was an easy +matter. But all at once Bud struck the animal a sharp blow, which sent +him spinning forward at such a rate that he speedily vanished in the +darkness. + +Young Sheldon continued walking toward home, his thoughts busy until he +reached the stretch of woods, where the courage of any boy would have +been tried in passing it after nightfall. Brave as he undoubtedly was, +Fred felt a little shiver, when fairly among the dense shadows, for +there were some dismal legends connected with it, and these had grown +with the passage of years. + +But Fred had never turned back for anything of the kind, and he was now +so cheered by the prospect of being soon again with his mother that he +stepped off briskly, and would have struck up one of his characteristic +whistling tunes had he not heard the rattle of the same wagon which Bud +Heyland drove by a short while before. + +"That's strange," thought the lad; "he couldn't have gone very far, or +he wouldn't have come back so soon." + +The darkness was so profound over the stretch of road leading through +the wood that Fred had no fear of being seen as he stepped a little to +one side and waited for the vehicle to pass. + +Fortunately for night travel, the portion of the highway which led +through the forest was not long, for, without the aid of a lantern, no +one could see whither he was going, and everything had to be left to +the instinct of the horse himself. + +The beast approached at a slow walk, while Bud no doubt was perched +on the high front seat, using his eyes for all they were worth, which +was nothing at all where the gloom was so impenetrable. He must have +refilled his pipe a short time before, for he was smoking so vigorously +that the ember-like glow of the top of the tobacco could be seen, and +the crimson reflection even revealed the end of Bud's nose and the +faintest possible glimpse of his downy mustache and pimply cheeks, as +they glided through the darkness. + +The light from this pipe was so marked that Fred moved back a step or +two, afraid it might reveal him to his enemy. + +His withdrawal was not entirely satisfactory to himself, as he could +not observe where to place his feet, and striking his heels against a +fallen limb, he went over backward with quite a bump. + +"Who's that?" demanded Bud Heyland, checking his horse and glaring +about in the gloom; "is that you, Sutton?" + +Fred thought it wiser to make no response, and he silently got upon +his feet again. Bud repeated his question in a husky undertone, and +receiving no reply muttered some profanity and started the horse +forward at the same slow, deliberate pace. + +Wondering what it could all mean, young Sheldon stood in the middle of +the road, looking in the direction of the vanishing wagon, of which, +as a matter of course, he could not catch the slightest glimpse, and +asking himself whether it would be wise to investigate further. + +"There's some mischief going on, and it may be that I can--halloo!" + +Once more Bud Heyland drew his horse to a halt, and the same solemn +stillness held reign as before. But it was only for a minute or two, +when Bud gave utterance to a low whistle, which sounded like the +tremolo notes of a flute, on the still air. + +Fred Sheldon recalled that the bully used to indulge in that peculiar +signal when he attended school, merely because he fancied it, and when +there could be no significance at all attached to it. + +It was now repeated several times, with such intervals as to show that +Bud was expecting a reply, though none could be heard by the lad, who +was listening for a response. + +All at once, yielding to a mischievous impulse, Fred Sheldon replied, +imitating Bud's call with astonishing accuracy. + +Instantly the bully seized upon it, and the signal was exchanged +several times, when Bud sprang out of his wagon and came toward the +spot where the other stood. + +Fred was frightened when he found there was likely to be a meeting +between him and the one he dreaded so much, and he became as silent as +the tomb. + +Bud advanced through the gloom, continually whistling and giving +utterance to angry expressions because he was not answered, while Fred +carefully picked his way a few paces further to the rear to escape +discovery. + +"Why don't you speak?" called out Bud; "if you can whistle you can use +your voice, can't you?" + +Although this question could have been easily answered, Fred Sheldon +thought it best to hold his peace. + +"If you ain't the biggest fool that ever undertook to play the +gentleman!" added the disgusted bully, groping cautiously among the +trees; "everything is ready for----" + +Just then an outstretching limb passed under the chin of Bud Heyland, +and, though walking slowly, he thought it would lift his head off his +shoulders before he could stop himself. + +When he did so he was in anything but an amiable mood, and Fred, +laughing, yet scared, was glad he had the friendly darkness in which to +find shelter from the ugliness of the fellow. + +Bud had hardly regained anything like his self-possession when he +caught a similar signal to those which had been going on for some +minutes between Fred Sheldon and himself. It came from some point +beyond Fred, but evidently in the highway. + +The angry Heyland called out: + +"What's the matter with you? Why don't you come on, you fool?" + +The person thus addressed hurried over the short distance until he was +close to where Bud stood rubbing his chin and muttering all sorts of +bad words at the delay and pain to which he had been subjected. + +"Halloo, Bud, where are you?" + +Guarded as the voice was, Fred immediately recognized it as belonging +to Cyrus Sutton, the cattle drover. + +"I'm here; where would I be?" growled the angry bully. + +"Tumbling over a fence, or cracking your head against a tree, I +suppose," said Sutton, with a laugh; "when I whistled to you, why +didn't you whistle back again, as we agreed to do?" + +It is easy to picture the scowling glare which Bud Heyland turned upon +Sutton as he answered: + +"You're a purty one to talk about signals, ain't you? After answering +me half a dozen times, and I got close to you, you must shut up your +mouth, and while I went groping about, I came near sawing my head off +with a knotty limb. When you heard me, why did you stop?" + +"Heard you? What are you talking about?" + +"Didn't you whistle to me a while ago, and didn't you keep it up till I +got here, and then you stopped? What are you talking about, indeed!" + +"I was a little late," said Sutton, who began to suspect the truth, +"and have just come into the wood; I whistled to you, and then you +called to me in a rather more personal style than I think is good +taste, and I came forward and here I am, and that's all there is about +it." + +"Wasn't that you that answered my whistling a little while ago?" asked +Bud Heyland in an undertone, that fairly trembled with dread. + +"No, sir; as I have explained to you, I signaled to find where you were +only a minute since, and I heard nothing of the kind from you." + +"Then we're betrayed!" + +Words would fail to depict the tragic manner in which Bud Heyland +gave utterance to this strange remark. His voice was in that peculiar +condition, known as "changing," and at times was a deep bass, sometimes +breaking into a thin squeak. + +He sank it to its profoundest depths as he slowly repeated the +terrifying expression, and the effect would have been very impressive, +even to Cyrus Sutton, but for the fact that on the last word his voice +broke and terminated with a sound like that made by a domestic fowl +when the farmer seizes it by the head with the intention of wringing +its neck. + +But Cyrus Sutton seemed to think that it was anything else than a +laughing matter, and he asked the particulars of Bud, who gave them in +a stealthily modulated voice, every word of which was plainly heard by +Fred Sheldon, who began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. + +"You remember the man that was behind us listening when we sat on the +rock last night?" asked Bud. + +"Of course I do." + +"Well, he's watching us still, and ain't far off this very minute. I +wish I had a chance to draw a bead on him." + +"You drew several beads last night," said Sutton. + +"See here," snarled Bud, "that's enough of that. I'll give you a little +advice for your own good--let it drop." + +"Well, Bud," said the other, in an anxious voice, "it won't do to try +it on now if some one is watching us. So drive back to Tottenville, put +the horse away and we'll take a look around to-morrow night. If the +coast is clear we'll wind the business up." + +"It's got to be wound up then," said the bully, earnestly; "it won't do +for me to wait any longer; I've got to j'ine the circus on Monday, and +I must start on Sunday to make it." + +"Very well; then we'll take a look around to-morrow and fix things at +night." + +"Agreed," said Bud, "for you can see that if some officer is watching +us--halloo!" + +This exclamation was caused by the sudden sound of wagon wheels, and +man and boy knew at once that Bud's horse, probably tired of standing +still, had started homeward with the enthusiasm of a steed who believes +that a good supper is awaiting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +BUD'S MISHAPS. + + +When a horse takes it into his head to go home, with a view of having a +good meal, the attraction seems to become stronger from the moment he +makes the first move. + +Bud Heyland's animal began with a very moderate pace, but he increased +it so rapidly that by the time the angry driver was on the run, the +quadruped was going almost equally as fast. + +In the hope of scaring the brute into stopping Bud shouted: + +"Whoa! whoa! Stop, or I'll kill you!" + +If the horse understood the command, he did not appreciate the threat, +and, therefore, it served rather as a spur to his exertion, for he went +faster than ever. + +It is well known, also, that under such circumstances the sagacious +animal is only intent on reaching home with the least delay, and he +does not care a pin whether his flight injures the vehicle behind him +or not. In fact, he seems to be better pleased if it does suffer some +disarrangement. + +When, therefore, the animal debouched from the wood into the faint +light under the stars he was on a gallop, and the wagon was bounding +along from side to side in an alarming way. Bud was not far behind +it, and shouting in his fiercest manner, he soon saw that he was only +wasting his strength. He then ceased his outcries and devoted all his +energies to overtaking the runaway horse. + +"It'll be just like him to smash the wagon all to flinders," growled +Bud, "and I'll have to pay for the damages." + +As nearly as could be determined, horse and lad were going at the same +pace, the boy slightly gaining, perhaps, and growing more furious each +minute, for this piece of treachery on the part of the horse. + +Some twenty yards separated the pursuer from the team, when a heavy, +lumbering wagon loomed to view ahead. + +"Get out of the road!" called Bud, excitedly. "This hoss is running +away, and he'll smash you if you don't!" + +At such times a farmer is slow to grasp the situation, and the old +gentleman, who was half asleep, could not understand what all the +rumpus was about, until the galloping horse was upon him. Then he +wrenched his lines, hoping to pull his team aside in time, but his +honest nags were as slow as their owner, and all they did was to get +themselves out of the way, so as to allow the light vehicle to crash +into that to which they were attached. + +It is the frailer vessel which generally goes to the wall at such +times, though Bud's was armed with a good deal of momentum. As it was +the front wheel was twisted off, and the frightened horse continued +at a swifter gait than ever toward his home, while Bud, seeing how +useless it was to try to overtake him, turned upon the old farmer, who +was carefully climbing out of his wagon to see whether his property had +suffered any damage. + +"Why didn't you get out the way when I hollered to you?" demanded the +panting Bud, advancing threateningly upon him. + +"Why didn't you holler sooner, my young friend?" asked the old +gentleman, in a soft voice. + +"I yelled to you soon enough, and you're a big fool that you didn't +pull aside as I told you. I hope your old rattle-trap has been hurt so +it can't be fixed up." + +"I can't diskiver that it's been hurt at all, and I'm very thankful," +remarked the farmer, stooping down and feeling the spokes and axletree +with his hands; "but don't you know it is very disrespectful for a boy +like you to call an old man a fool?" + +Bud snarled: + +"I generally say just what I mean, and what are you going to do about +it, old Hay Seed?" + +The gentleman thus alluded to showed what he meant to do about it, for +he reached quietly upward and lifted his whip from its socket in the +front of the wagon. + +"I say again," added Bud, not noticing the movement, and swaggering +about, "that any man who acts like you is a natural born fool, and the +best thing you can do is to go home----" + +Just then something cracked like a pistol shot and the whip of the +old farmer whizzed about the legs of the astounded scapegrace, who, +with a howl similar to that which Fred Sheldon uttered under similar +treatment, bounded high in air and started on a run in the direction of +his flying vehicle. + +At the second step the whip descended again, and it was repeated +several times before the terrified Bud could get beyond reach of the +indignant gentleman, who certainly showed more vigor than any one not +knowing him would have looked for. + +"Some boys is very disrespectful, and should be teached manners," he +muttered, turning calmly about and going back to his team, which stood +sleepily in the road awaiting him. + +"What's getting into folks?" growled Bud Heyland, trying to rub his +smarting legs in half a dozen places at once; "that's the sassiest old +curmudgeon I ever seen. If I'd knowed he was so sensitive I wouldn't +have argued the matter so strong. Jingo! But he knows how to swing a +whip. When he brought down the lash on to me, I orter just jumped right +into him and knocked him down, and I'd done it, too, if I hadn't been +afraid of one thing, which was that he'd knocked me down first. Plague +on him! I'll get even with him yet. I wish----" + +Bud stopped short in inexpressible disgust, for just then he recalled +that he had his loaded revolver with him, and he ought to have used it +to defend himself. + +The assault of the old gentleman was so sudden that his victim had no +time to think of anything but to place himself beyond reach of his +strong and active arm. + +"I don't know what makes me so blamed slow in thinking of things," +added Bud, resuming the rubbing of his legs and his walk toward +Tottenville, "but I must learn to wake up sooner. I'm sure I got in +some good work to-day, and I'll finish it up in style to-morrow night, +or my name ain't Nathaniel Higgins Heyland, and then I'm going to skip +out of this slow place in a hurry and have a good time with the boys. +What's that?" + +He discerned the dim outlines of some peculiar looking object in the +road, and going to it, suddenly saw what it was. + +"Yes, I might have knowed it!" he muttered, with another forcible +expression; "it's a wagon wheel; the second one off that +good-for-nothing one I hired of Grimsby, and I'll have a pretty bill to +pay when I get there. I 'spose I'll find the rest of the wagon strewed +all along the road; yes----" + +Bud was not far wrong in his supposition, for a little further on he +came upon a third wheel, which was leaning against the fence, as though +it were "tired," and near by was the fourth. + +After that the fragments of the ruined vehicle were met with +continually, until the angered young man wondered how it was there +could be so much material in such an ordinary structure. + +"It's about time I begun to find something of the horse," he added, +with a grim sense of the grotesque humor of the idea; "I wouldn't care +if I came across his head and legs scattered along the road, for I'm +mad enough agin him to blow him up, but I won't get the chance, for +old Grimsby won't let me have him agin when I go out to take a ride +to-morrow night." + +Things could not have been in a worse condition than when Bud, tired +and angry, walked up on the porch of the hotel and dropped wearily into +one of the chairs that were always there. + +Old Mr. Grimsby was awaiting him, and said the animal was badly +bruised, and as for the wagon, the only portion he could find any trace +of was the shafts, which came bounding into the village behind the +flying horse. + +Mr. Grimsby's principal grief seemed to be that Bud himself had not +shared the fate of the wagon, and he did not hesitate to so express +himself. + +"The damages won't be a cent less than a hundred dollars," added the +angry keeper of the livery stable. + +"Will you call it square for that?" asked Bud, looking at the man, who +was leaning against the post in front of him. + +"Yes, of course I will?" + +"Very well; write out a receipt in full and sign it and I'll pay it." + +Mr. Grimsby scanned him curiously for a minute, and then said: + +"If you're in earnest come over to my office." + +Bud got up and followed him into his little dingy office, where he kept +a record of his humble livery business, and after considerable fumbling +with his oil-lamp, found pen and paper and the receipt was written and +signed. + +While he was thus employed Bud Heyland had counted one hundred dollars +in ten-dollar bills, which he passed over to Mr. Grimsby, who, as was +his custom, counted them over several times. + +As he did so he noticed that they were crisp, new bills, and looked as +if they were in circulation for the first time. + +He carefully folded them up and put them away in his wallet with a grim +smile, such as is apt to be shown by a man of that character when he +thinks he has got the better of a friend in a bargain or trade. + +And as Bud Heyland walked out he smiled, too, in a very meaning way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +TWO UNEXPECTED VISITORS. + + +Fred Sheldon did not give much attention to Bud Heyland after he +started in pursuit of his runaway horse, but, turning in the opposite +direction, he moved carefully through the wood toward his mother's +house. + +He did not forget that Cyrus Sutton was somewhere near him, and the boy +dreaded a meeting with the cattle drover almost as much as he did with +Bud Heyland himself; but he managed to get out of the piece of wood +without seeing or being seen by him, and then he made all haste to his +own home, where he found his mother beginning to wonder over his long +absence. + +Fred told the whole story, anxious to hear what she had to say about a +matter on which he had made up his own mind. + +"It looks as though Bud Heyland and this Mr. Sutton, that you have told +me about, are partners in some evil doing." + +"Of course they are; it can't be anything else, but what were they +doing in the woods with the wagon?" + +"Perhaps they expected to meet some one else." + +"I don't think so, from what they said; it would have been better if I +hadn't whistled to Bud, wouldn't it?" + +"Perhaps not," replied the mother, "for it looks as if by doing so you +prevented their perpetrating some wrong for which they had laid their +plans, and were frightened by finding some one else was near them." + +"I'm going to take a look through that wood to-morrow and keep watch; I +think I will find out something worth knowing." + +"You cannot be too careful, Fred, for it is a wonder to me that you +have kept out of trouble so long----" + +Both were startled at this moment by the closing of the gate, followed +by a rapid footstep along the short walk, and then came a sharp +knocking on the door. + +Fred sprang up from his seat beside his mother and quickly opened the +door. The fussy little constable, Archie Jackson, stood before them. + +"Good evening, Frederick; good evening, Mrs. Sheldon," he said, looking +across the room to the lady and taking off his hat to her, as he +stepped within. + +The handsome little lady arose, bowed and invited him to a seat, which +he accepted, bowing his thanks again. + +It was easy to see from the manner of Archie that he was full of the +most important kind of business. He was in danger of tipping his chair +over, from the prodigious extent to which he threw out his breast, as +he carefully deposited his hat on the floor beside him and cleared his +throat, with a vigor which could have been heard by any one passing +outside. + +"A pleasant night," he remarked, looking benignantly upon Mrs. Sheldon, +who nodded her head to signify that she agreed with him in his opinion +of the weather. + +After this preliminary he came to the point--that is, in his own +peculiar way. + +"Mrs. Sheldon, you have a very fine boy there," he said, nodding toward +Fred, who turned quite red in the face. + +"I am glad to hear you have such a good opinion of him," was the modest +manner in which the mother acknowledged the compliment to her only +child. + +"I understand that he is the brightest scholar in school, and has +the reputation of being truthful and honest, and I know him to be as +full of pluck and courage as a--a--spring lamb," added the constable, +clearing his throat again, to help him out of his search for a metaphor. + +Mrs. Sheldon simply bowed and smiled, while Archie looked at his right +hand, which was still swollen and tender from its violent contact with +the stump that he mistook for the lion some nights before. + +He remarked something about hurting it in the crack of the door when +playing with his children, and added: + +"Fred has become quite famous from the shrewd manner in which he +captured the lion." + +"I don't see as he deserves any special credit for that," observed +the mother, "for I understand the animal was such an old one that he +was almost harmless, and then he was kind enough to walk into the +smoke-house and give Fred just the chance he needed. I regard it rather +as a piece of good fortune than a display of courage." + +"You are altogether too modest, Mrs. Sheldon--altogether too modest. +Think of his stealing up to the open door of the smoke or milk-house +when the creatur' was crunching bones inside! I tell you, Mrs. Sheldon, +it took a great deal more courage than you will find in most men to do +that." + +The lady was compelled to admit that it was a severe test of the +bravery of a boy, but she insisted that Fred had been favored by +Providence, or good fortune, as some called it. + +"What I want to come at," added Archie, clearing his throat again and +spitting in his hat, mistaking it for the cuspidor on the other side, +"is that I would be pleased if he could secure the reward which the +Misses Perkinpine have offered for the recovery of their silverware, to +say nothing of the money that was taken." + +"It would be too unreasonable to hope that he could succeed in such a +task as that." + +"I'm not so sure, when you recollect that he saw the two parties who +were engaged in the burglarious transaction. I thought maybe he might +have some clew which would enable the officers of the law to lay their +fingers on the guilty parties." + +Fred was half tempted to say that he had such a clew in his pocket that +very minute, but he was wise enough to hold his peace. + +Once more the constable cleared his throat. + +"But such is not the fact--ah, excuse me--I thought that was the +spittoon, instead of my hat--how stupid!--and to relieve his mind +of the anxiety which I know he must feel, I have called to make a +statement." + +Having said this much the visitor waited until he thought his auditors +were fully impressed, when he added: + +"When this robbery was made known to me I sent to New York city at once +for one of the most famous detectives, giving him full particulars +and urging him to come without delay; but for some reason, which I +cannot understand, Mr. Carter has neither come nor written--a very +discourteous proceeding on his part, to say the least; so I undertook +the whole business alone--that is, without asking the help of anyone." + +"I hope you have met with success," was the truthful wish expressed by +Mrs. Sheldon. + +"I have, I am glad to inform you. I have found out who the man was +that, in the disguise of a tramp, eat a meal at the house of the Misses +Perkinpine on Monday evening, and who afterward entered the building +stealthily, and with the assistance of a confederate carried off all +their valuable silverware and a considerable amount of money." + +"You've fastened it on Bud, eh?" asked Fred, greatly interested. + +The constable looked impressively at the lad, and said: + +"There's where you make a great mistake; in fact, nothing in this world +is easier than to make an error. I was sure it was Bud from what you +told me, and you will remember I hinted as much to him on the day of +the circus." + +"Yes, and he turned red in the face and was scared." + +"His face couldn't turn much redder than it is, and blushing under such +circumstances can't always be taken as a proof of guilt; but I set to +work and I found the guilty man." + +"And it wasn't Bud?" + +"He hadn't anything to do with it." + +"But there were two of them, for I saw them." + +"Of course; and I know the other man also." + +This was important news indeed, and mother and son could only stare at +their visitor in amazement. The constable, with all the pomposity of +which he was master, picked up his hat from the floor and arose to his +feet. + +"Of course a detective doesn't go round the country boasting of what +he has done and is going to do. Those who know me, know that I am one +of the most modest of men and rarely speak of my many exploits. But I +may tell you that you can prepare yourselves for one of the greatest +surprises of your life." + +"When is it going to come?" asked Fred. + +"Very soon; in a day or two; maybe to-morrow; at any rate by Monday at +the latest." + +Mrs. Sheldon saw that the fussy officer was anxious to tell more and +needed but the excuse of a question or two from her. + +But she did not ask him anything, for with the intuition of her sex she +had read his nature the first time she talked with him, and she had +little faith in his high-sounding declaration of success. + +Still, she knew that it was not unlikely he had stumbled upon the +truth, while groping about; but she could form no idea, of who the +suspected parties were, and she allowed her visitor to bid her good +evening without gaining any further knowledge of them. + +Archie was heard walking down the path and out the gate, still clearing +his throat, and doubtless with his shoulders thrown to the rear so far +that he was in danger of falling over backwards. + +Mrs. Sheldon smiled in her quiet way after his departure, and said: + +"I can't feel much faith in him, but it may be he has found who the +guilty ones are." + +"I don't believe it," replied Fred, stoutly; "for, when he declares +that Bud had nothing to do with it, I know he is wrong. Suppose I had +taken out this knife and told him all about it, what would he have +said?" + +"It wouldn't have changed his opinion, for he is one of those men whose +opinions are set and very difficult to change. He is confident he is +right, and we shall know what it all means in a short time." + +"Perhaps I will find out something to-morrow." + +"More than likely you will fail altogether----" + +To the surprise of both, they heard the gate open and shut again, +another series of hastening steps sounded upon the gravel, and in a +moment a quick, nervous rap came upon the door. + +"Archie has come back to tell us the rest of his story," said Fred, +springing up to answer the summons; "I thought he couldn't go away +without letting us know----" + +But the lad was mistaken, for, when he opened the door, who should he +see standing before him but Cyrus Sutton, the cattle drover, and the +intimate friend of Bud Heyland? + +He smiled pleasantly, doffed his hat, bowed and apologized for his +intrusion, adding: + +"I am sure you hardly expected me, and I only came because it was +necessary that I should meet you both. Ah!" + +Mrs. Sheldon had risen and advanced a couple of steps to greet her +visitor, but, while the words were in her mouth she stopped short and +looked wonderingly at him. + +And Cyrus Sutton did the same respecting her; Fred, beholding the +interesting spectacle of the two, whom he had believed to be utter +strangers, staring at each other, with a fixidity of gaze, followed the +next moment by an expression of looks and words which showed that this +was not the first time they had met. + +Fred's first emotion was that of resentment that such a worthless and +evil-disposed man should presume to smile, extend his hand and say, as +he advanced: + +"This is a surprise, indeed! I had no idea that Mrs. Sheldon was you." + +"And when I heard of Mr. Cyrus Sutton I never dreamed that it could be +you," she answered. + +She was about to add something more when he motioned her not to speak +the words that he had reason to believe were on her tongue, and Fred +knew not whether to be still angrier or more amazed. + +Mr. Cyrus Sutton took the chair to which he was invited and began +talking about unimportant matters which it was plain were of no +interest to either and were introductory to something that was to +follow. + +This continued several minutes, and then Mrs. Sheldon asked her visitor +to excuse her for a minute or two while she accompanied her son to bed. + +"My dear boy," she said, after they were alone in his little room, and +he was about to kneel to say his prayers, "you must not be displeased +at what you saw to-night. I know Mr. Cyrus Sutton very well and he has +called on some business which he wishes to discuss with me alone." + +"But he's a thief and robber," said Fred, "and I don't like to have him +in the house unless I'm awake to take care of you." + +"You need have no fears about me," replied the mother, stroking back +his hair and kissing the forehead of the manly fellow. "I would be +willing to talk before you, but I saw that he preferred not to do so, +and as the matter is all in my interest, which you know is yours, it is +proper that I should show that much deference to him." + +"Well, it's all right if you say so," was the hearty response of Fred, +who now knelt down and went through his prayers as usual. + +His mother kissed him good-night and descended the stairs, and in a few +minutes the murmur of voices reached the ears of the lad, who could +have crept part way down-stairs and heard everything said. + +But nothing in the world would have induced him to do such a +dishonorable thing, and he finally sank to slumber, with the dim words +sounding to him, as they do to us in dreams. + +In the morning his mother laughingly told him he would have to restrain +his curiosity for a day or two, but she would tell him all as soon as +Mr. Sutton gave his permission. + +Fred felt all the eagerness natural to one of his years to know the +meaning of the strange visit, but he was content to wait his mother's +own good time, when she could make known the strange story which he +realized she would soon have to tell him. + +This day was Saturday, and Fred Sheldon determined to use it to the +utmost, for he knew the singular incidents in which he had become +involved were likely to press forward to some conclusion. + +After breakfast and his morning chores, he started down the road in +the direction of the village, it being his intention to pass through +or rather into the wood where Sutton and Bud Heyland had held their +meeting of the night before. + +He had not reached the stretch of forest when he caught sight of +Bud himself coming toward him on foot. The sombrero-like hat, the +briar-wood pipe and the big boots, with the trousers tucked in the top, +could be recognized as far as visible. + +The bully had not his whip with him, both hands being shoved low down +in his trousers pockets. He slouched along until close to Fred, when he +stopped, and, leaning on the fence, waited for the boy to come up. + +Fred would have been glad to avoid him, but there was no good way of +doing so. He walked forward, whistling a tune, and made a move as if to +go by, nodding his head and saying: + +"Halloo, Bud." + +"Hold on; don't be in a hurry," said the other, "I want to see you." + +"Well, what is it?" asked Fred, stopping before him. + +"You want to play the thief, do you?" + +"I don't know what you mean," replied Fred, a half-dozen misgivings +stirring his fears. + +"How about that twenty dollars I gave you to get changed?" + +"I declare I forgot all about it," replied Fred, greatly relieved that +it was no worse. + +"Did you get it changed?" + +"Yes, and here are your ten dollars." + +Bud took the bills and scanned them narrowly, and Fred started on again. + +"Hold on!" commanded the other; "don't be in such a hurry; don't start +ahead agin till I tell you to. Did they ask you any questions when you +got it changed?" + +"Nothing very particular, but changed it very gladly." + +"Who was it that done it for you?" + +"I told him the one who gave me the bill didn't wish me to answer any +questions, and then this gentleman said it was all right, and just for +the fun of the thing I mustn't tell anything about him." + +Bud Heyland looked at the fellow standing a few feet away as if he +hardly understood what this meant. Finally he asked, in his gruff, +dictatorial way: + +"Who was he?" + +"I cannot tell you." + +"You cannot? You've got to." + +"But I can't break my promise, Bud; I wouldn't tell a story to save my +life." + +"Bah, that's some of your mother's stuff; I'll soon take it out of +you," said the bully, advancing threateningly toward him. "If you don't +tell me all about him I'll break every bone in your body." + +"You can do it then, for you won't find out." + +Believing that he would have to fight for his very life, as the bully +could catch him before he could get away, Fred drew his knife from his +pocket, intending to use it as a weapon of defense. + +While in the act of opening it, Bud Heyland caught sight of it, and +with an exclamation of surprise, he demanded: + +"Where did you get that?" + +"I found it," replied Fred, who saw how he had forgotten himself in his +fear; "is it yours?" + +"Let me look at it," said Bud, reaching out his hand for it. Fred +hardly knew whether he ought to surrender such a weapon or not, but, as +the interest of the bully seemed to center entirely in it, he thought +it best to do so. + +Bud Heyland examined the jack-knife with great interest. One glance was +enough for him to recognize it as his own. He opened the blades and +shut them two or three times, and then dropped it into his pocket with +the remark: + +"I'll take charge of that, I reckon." + +"Is it yours?" + +"I rather think it is, now," answered Bud, with an impudent grin! +"Where did you find it?" + +"Down yonder," answered Fred, pointing in a loose kind of way toward +the old brick mansion. + +"It was stole from me two weeks ago by a tramp, and it's funny that he +lost it in this neighborhood. You can go now; I'll let you off this +time, 'cause I'm so glad to get my old knife agin that was give to me +two years ago." + +And to the surprise and delight of Fred Sheldon, he was allowed to pass +on without further questioning. + +"I wonder whether I was wrong," said Fred, recalling the words of the +bully; "he said he had it stolen from him two weeks ago by a tramp, +and mother says that it isn't any proof that Bud is guilty because +his knife was found there. Some one might have put it on the floor on +purpose, and she says that just such things have been done before by +persons who didn't want to be suspected." + +"That agrees with what the constable says, too," added the boy, still +following the same line of thought, "he is sure he has got the right +man and it isn't Bud or Cyrus Sutton. Bud is bad enough to do anything +of the kind, but maybe I was mistaken." + +The lad was sorely puzzled, for matters were taking a shape which would +have puzzled an older head than his. Everything he had seen and heard +for the last few days confirmed his theory that Heyland and Sutton +were the guilty ones, and now the theory was being upset in a singular +fashion. + +Fred was in this mental muddle when he awoke to the fact that he had +passed the boundary of the wood and would soon be beyond the place +where he had intended to make some observations that day. + +"I don't know whether there's any use in my trying to do anything," he +said, still bewildered over what he had seen and heard within the last +few hours. + +Nevertheless, he did try hard, and we may say, succeeded, too. + +He first looked hastily about him, and seeing no one, turned around and +ran back into the wood. He did not remain in the highway itself, but +entered the undergrowth, where it would be difficult for any one in the +road to detect him. + +"I noticed that when I spoke about coming here this morning, mother +encouraged me, and told me to be careful, and so I will." + +He now began picking his way through the dense wood with the care of a +veritable American Indian stealing upon the camp of an enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +EUREKA! + + +This was the wood where Bud Heyland and Cyrus Sutton held their stolen +interview the night before. The former was now in the immediate +neighborhood, so that Fred Sheldon had reason to think something would +be done in the same place before the close of day, or at most, before +the rising of to-morrow's sun. + +No one could have been more familiar with this small stretch of forest +than was our young hero, who did not take a great while to reach a +point close to the other side. + +He was near the road which wound its way through it, but was on the +watch to escape being seen by any one passing by. + +Having reached this point, Fred stood several minutes, uncertain what +he ought to do. Evidently there was nothing to be gained by advancing +further, nor by turning back, so he waited. + +"I wonder where Bud has gone. There is something in the wood which he +is interested in----" + +The thought was not expressed when the rustling of leaves was heard, +and Fred knew some one was near him. Afraid of being discovered, he +shrank close to the trunk of a large tree, behind which he could hide +himself the moment it became necessary. + +No doubt the person moving through the wood was using some care, but he +did not know how to prevent the rustling of the leaves, and it is not +likely he made much effort. + +At any rate the advantage was on the side of Fred, who, a minute later, +caught sight of a slouchy sombrero and briarwood pipe moving along at +a height of five feet or so above the ground, while now and then the +motion of the huge boots was seen beneath. + +"It's Bud, and he's looking for something," was the conclusion of Fred, +fairly trembling with excitement; "and it won't do for him to see me +watching him." + +The trouble was that it was now broad daylight, and it is no easy +matter for one to shadow a person without being observed; but Fred had +the advantage of the shelter in the dense growth of shrubbery which +prevailed in most parts of the wood. + +However, he was in mortal dread of discovery by Bud, for he believed +the ugly fellow would kill him should he find him watching his +movements. + +It was this fear which caused the lad to wait a minute or two after Bud +Heyland had disappeared, and until the rustling of the leaves could no +longer be heard. + +Then, with the utmost care, he began picking his way through the +undergrowth, stopping suddenly when he caught the sound again. + +The wood was not extensive enough to permit a very extended hunt, and +when Fred paused a second time he was sure the end was at hand. + +He was alarmed when he found, from the stillness, that Bud Heyland was +not moving. Fred waited quietly, and then began slowly rising until he +stood at his full height, and looked carefully around him. + +Nothing could be seen of the bully, though the watcher was confident he +was not far off, and it would not do to venture any further just then. + +"If it was only the night time," thought Fred, "I wouldn't be so +scared, for he might take me for a man; but it would never do for him +to find me here." + +The sudden ceasing of the rustling, which had betrayed the passage of +Bud Heyland a few minutes previous could not be anything else but proof +that he was near by. + +"Maybe he suspects something, and is waiting to find whether he is +seen by any one. Strange that in looking round he does not look up," +whispered Fred to himself, recalling an anecdote which he had once +heard told in Sunday-school: "Bud looks everywhere but above, where +there is that Eye which never sleeps, watching his wrong-doing." + +A boy has not the patience of a man accustomed to watching and waiting, +and when several minutes had passed without any new developments, Fred +began to get fidgety. + +"He has gone on further, and I have lost him; he has done this to lead +me off, and I won't see anything more of him." + +But the boy was in error, and very speedily saw a good deal more of Bud +Heyland than he wished. + +The rustling of the leaves, such as is heard when one is kicking them +up as he walks along, aroused the watcher the next minute, and Fred +stealthily arose, and scanned his surroundings. + +As he did so, he caught sight of Bud Heyland walking in such a +direction that he was certain to pass close to him. Luckily the bully +was looking another way at that moment, or he would have seen the +scared face as is presented itself to view. + +As Fred dropped out of sight and hastily crept behind the large +tree-trunk he felt that he would willingly give the two hundred dollars +that he received in the way of a reward could he but be in any place +half a mile or more away. + +It would never do to break into a run as he felt like doing, for then +he would be sure to be discovered and captured, while there was a +slight probability of not being seen if he should remain where he was. + +Shortly after Fred caught sight of a pair of huge boots stalking +through the undergrowth, and he knew only too well what they contained. +He shrank into as close quarters as possible, and prayed that he might +not be noticed. + +The prayer was granted, although it will always remain a mystery to +Fred Sheldon how it was Bud Heyland passed so very close to him and yet +never turned his eyes from staring straight ahead. + +But Bud went on, vanished from sight, and in a few minutes the rattling +of the dry leaves ceased and all was quiet. The sound of wagon wheels, +as a vehicle moved over the road, was heard, and then all became still +again. + +Not until sure the fellow was out of sight did Fred rise to his feet +and move away from his hiding place. Then, instead of following Bud, he +walked in the opposite direction. + +"He has been out here to hunt for something and didn't find it." + +Looking down to the ground the bright-eyed lad was able to see where +Bud had stirred the leaves, as he carelessly walked along, no doubt +oblivious of the fact that his own thoughtlessness might be used +against him. + +"He's the only one who has been here lately, and I think I can track +him through the wood. If he had been as careful as I, he wouldn't have +left such tell-tale footprints." + +The work of trailing Bud, as it may be called, was not such an easy +matter as Fred had supposed, for he soon found places where it was hard +to tell whether or not the leaves had been disturbed by the boots of a +person or the hoofs of some quadruped. + +But Fred persevered, and at the end of half an hour, by attentively +studying the ground, he reached a point a little over two hundred yards +from where he himself had been hiding, and where he was certain Bud +Heyland had been. + +"Here's where he stopped, and after a while turned about and went back +again," was the conclusion of Fred; "though I can't see what he did it +for." + +It was no longer worth while to examine the ground, for there was +nothing to be learned there, and Fred began studying the appearance of +things above the earth. + +There were a number of varieties of trees growing about him--oak, +maple, birch, chestnut and others, such as Fred had looked on many a +time before, and nothing struck him as particularly worthy of notice. + +But, hold! only a short ways off was an oak, or rather the remains of +one, for it had evidently been struck by lightning and shattered. It +had never worn a comely appearance, for its trunk was covered with +black, scraggy excrescences, like the warts which sometimes disfigure +the human skin. + +Furthermore, the lower portion of the trunk was hollow, the width of +the cavity being fully a foot at the base. The bolt from heaven had +scattered the splinters, limbs and fragments in all directions, and no +one could view this proof of the terrific power of that comparatively +unknown force in nature without a shudder. + +Fred Sheldon stood looking around him until his eye rested on this +interesting sight, when he viewed it some minutes more, with open eyes +and mouth. + +Then, with a strange feeling, he walked slowly toward the remains of +the trunk, and stepping upon one of the broken pieces, drew himself up +and peered down into the hollow, rotten cavity. + +He had been standing in the sunshine but a short time before, and it +takes the pupil of the eye some time to become adapted to such a sudden +change. + +At first all was blank darkness, but shortly Fred saw something +gleaming in the bottom of the opening. He thought it was that peculiar +fungus growth known as "fox-fire," but his vision rapidly grew more +distinct, and drawing himself further up, he reached down and touched +the curious objects with his hand. + +Eureka! + +There was all the silver plate which had been stolen from the old brick +mansion a few nights before. Not a piece was missing! + +Fred Sheldon had discovered it at last, and as he dropped back again +on his feet, he threw his cap into the air and gave a shout, for just +about that time he felt he was the happiest youngster in the United +States of America! + +[Illustration: On finding the stolen silver, Fred threw his cap in the +air and gave a shout.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A SLIGHT MISTAKE. + + +When Archibald Jackson, constable of Tottenville and the surrounding +country, strode forth from the home of Widow Sheldon on the night of +the call which we have described, he felt like "shaking hands with +himself," for he was confident he had made one of the greatest strikes +that ever came in the way of any one in his profession--a strike that +would render him famous throughout the country, and even in the city of +New York. + +"A man has to be born a detective," he said, as he fell over a +wheelbarrow at the side of the road; "for without great natural gifts +he cannot attain to preeminence, as it were, in his profession. I was +born a detective, and would have beaten any of those fellows from Irish +Yard or Welsh Yard or Scotland Yard, or whatever they call it. + +"Queer I never thought of it before, but that was always the trouble +with me; I've been too modest," he added, as he climbed over the fence +to pick up his hat, which a limb had knocked off; "but when this +robbery at the Misses Perkinpine's occurred, instead of relying on my +own brains I must send for Mr. Carter, and was worried half to death +because he didn't come. + +"I s'pose he found the task was too gigantic for him, so he wouldn't +run the risk of failure. Then for the first time I sot down and begun +to use my brains. It didn't take me long to work the thing out; it came +to me like a flash, as it always does to men of genius--confound that +root; it's ripped the toe of my shoe off." + +But Archie was so elevated in the region of conceit and +self-satisfaction that he could not be disturbed by the petty +annoyances of earth; he strode along the road with his chest thrust +forward and his head so high in air that it was no wonder his feet +tripped and bothered him now and then. + +"I don't see any use of delaying the blow," he added, as he approached +his home; "it will make a sensation to-morrow when the exposure is +made. The New York papers will be full of it and they will send +their reporters to interview me. They'll print a sketch of my life +and nominate me for governor, and the illustrated papers will have +my picture, and my wife Betsey will find what a man of genius her +husband--ah! oh! I forgot about that post!" + +He was recalled to himself by a violent collision with the +hitching-post in front of his own house, and picking up his hat and +waiting until he could gain full command of his breath, he entered the +bosom of his family fully resolved to "strike the blow" on the morrow, +which should make him famous throughout the country. + +With the rising of the sun he found himself feeling more important +than ever. Swallowing his breakfast hastily and looking at his bruised +knuckles, he bade his family good-by, telling his wife if anybody +came after him they should be told that the constable had gone away on +imperative business. + +With this farewell Archie went to the depot, boarded the cars and +started for the country town of Walsingham, fifty miles distant. He +bought a copy of a leading daily, and after viewing the scenery for +several miles, pretended to read, while he gave free rein to his +imagination and drew a gorgeous picture of the near future. + +"To-morrow the papers will be full of it," he said, not noticing that +several were smiling because he held the journal upside down, "and +they'll want to put me on the force in New York. They've got to pay me +a good salary if they get me--that's sartin." + +Some time after he drew forth a couple of legal documents, which +he read with care, as he had read them a score of times. They were +correctly-drawn papers calling for the arrest of two certain parties. + +"The warrants are all right," mused the officer, as he replaced them +carefully in the inside pocket of his coat, "and the two gentlemen--and +especially one of them--will open his eyes when I place my hand on his +shoulder and tell him he is wanted." + +A couple of hours later, the constable left the cars at the town of +Walsingham, which was in the extreme corner of the county that also +held Tottenville, and walked in his pompous fashion toward that portion +where Colonel Bandman's menagerie and circus were making ready for the +usual display. + +It was near the hour of noon, and the regular street parade had taken +place, and the hundreds of people from the country were tramping back +and forth, crunching peanuts, eating lunch and making themselves ill on +the diluted stuff sold under the name of lemonade. + +The constable paid scarcely any heed to these, but wended his way to +the hotel, where he inquired for Colonel Bandman, the proprietor of the +establishment which was creating such an excitement through the country. + +Archie was told that he had just sat down to dinner, whereupon he said +he would wait until the gentleman was through, as he did not wish to be +too severe upon him. Then the officer occupied a chair by the window on +the inside, and feeling in his pockets, to make sure the warrants were +there, he kept an eye on the dining-room, to be certain the proprietor +did not take the alarm and get away. + +After a long time Colonel Bandman, a tall, well-dressed gentleman, came +forth, hat in hand, and looked about him, as if he expected to meet +some one. + +"Are you the gentleman who was inquiring for me?" he asked, advancing +toward the constable, who rose to his feet, and with all the +impressiveness of manner which he could assume, said, as he placed his +hand on his shoulder: + +"Colonel James Bandman, you are my prisoner!" + +The other donned his hat, looked somewhat surprised, as was natural, +and with his eyes fixed on the face of the constable, asked: + +"On what charge am I arrested?" + +"Burglary." + +"Let me see the warrant." + +"Oh, that's all right," said Mr. Jackson, drawing forth a document from +his pocket and opening it before him; "read it for yourself." + +The colonel glanced at it for a moment, and said with a half smile: + +"My name is not mentioned there; that calls upon you to arrest Thomas +Gibby, who is my ticket agent." + +"Oh, ah--that's the wrong paper; here's the right one." + +With which he gave Colonel James Bandman the pleasure of reading the +document, which, in due and legal form, commanded Archibald Jackson to +take the gentleman into custody. + +"I presume the offense is bailable?" asked the colonel, with an odd +smile. + +"Certainly, certainly, sir; I will accompany you before a magistrate +who will fix your bail. Where can I find Mr. Gibby?" + +"I will bring him, if you will excuse me for a minute." + +Colonel Bandman started to enter the hotel again, but the vigilant +constable caught his arm: + +"No you don't; I'll stay with you, please; we'll go together; I don't +intend you shall slip through my fingers." + +The colonel was evidently good-natured, for he only laughed and then, +allowing the officer to take his arm, started for the dining-room, but +unexpectedly met the individual whom they wanted in the hall. + +When Gibby had been made acquainted with the business of the +severe-looking official he was disposed to get angry, but a word and a +suggestive look from Colonel Bandman quieted him, and the two walked +with the officer in the direction of a magistrate. + +"I've got this thing down fine on you," ventured Mr. Jackson, by way of +helping them to a feeling of resignation, "the proofs of the nefarious +transaction in which you were engaged being beyond question." + +Colonel Bandman made no answer, though his companion muttered something +which their custodian did not catch. As they walked through the street +they attracted some attention, but it was only a short distance to the +magistrate's office, where the official listened attentively to the +complaints. When made aware of its character he turned smilingly toward +the chief prisoner and said: + +"Well, colonel, what have you to say to this?" + +"I should like to ask Mr. Jackson on what grounds he bases his charge +of burglary against me." + +"The house of the Misses Perkinpine, near Tottenville, in this county, +was robbed of a lot of valuable silver plate and several hundred +dollars in money on Monday night last. It was the night before the +circus showed in that town. Fortunately for the cause of justice the +two parties were seen and identified, especially the one who did the +actual robbing. A bright young boy, who is very truthful, saw the +robber at his work, identified him as the ungrateful wretch who was +given his supper by the two excellent ladies, whom he basely robbed +afterward. The description of the pretended tramp corresponds exactly +with that of Colonel Bandman--so closely, indeed, that there can be +no mistake about him. The account of his confederate is not so full, +but it is sufficient to identify him as Mr. Gibby, there. When I was +assured beyond all mistake that they were the two wretches I took out +them warrants in proper form, as you will find, and I now ask that they +may be held to await the action of the grand jury." + +Having delivered himself of this rather grandiloquent speech, Mr. +Jackson bowed to the court and stepped back to allow the accused to +speak. + +Colonel Bandman, instead of doing so, turned to the magistrate and +nodded for him to say something. That official, addressing himself to +the constable, asked: + +"You are certain this offense was committed on last Monday evening?" + +"There can be no possible mistake about it." + +"And it was done by these two?" + +"That is equally sartin." + +"If one is guilty both are; if one is innocent so is the other?" + +"Yes, sir; if you choose to put it that way." + +"It becomes my duty to inform you then, Mr. Jackson, that Colonel +Bandman has not been out of the town of Walsingham for the past six +weeks; he is an old schoolmate of mine, and on last Monday night he +stayed in my house with his wife and daughter. This complaint is +dismissed, and the best thing you can do is to hasten home by the next +train. Good day, sir." + +Archie wanted to say something, but he could think of nothing +appropriate, and, catching up his hat, he made haste to the station +where he boarded the cars without a ticket. He was never known to refer +to his great mistake afterward unless some one else mentioned it, and +even then the constable always seemed anxious to turn the subject to +something else. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ALL IN GOOD TIME. + + +Between nine and ten o'clock on the Saturday evening succeeding the +incidents I have described, a wagon similar to the one wrecked the +night before, drove out of Tottenville with two persons on the front +seat. + +The driver was Jacob Kincade, who, having safely passed the recaptured +lion over to Colonel Bandman, secured a couple of days' leave of +absence and hurried back to Tottenville, where he engaged the team, +and, accompanied by Bud Heyland, drove out in the direction of the wood +where matters went so unsatisfactorily when Bud assumed charge. + +"I was awful 'fraid you wouldn't come to time," said Bud, when they +were fairly beyond the village, "which is why I tried to run the +machine myself and got things mixed. Sutton insisted on waiting till +you arriv', but when he seen how sot I was he give in and 'greed to +meet me at the place." + +"That was all well enough," observed Mr. Kincade; "but there's some +things you tell me which I don't like. You said some one was listening +behind the fence the other night when you and Sutton was talking about +this business." + +"That's so; but Sutton showed me afterwards that the man, who was short +and stumpy, couldn't have heard anything that would let him know what +he was driving at. We have a way of talking that anybody else might +hear every word and yet he wouldn't understand it. That's an idee of +mine." + +"But you said some one--and I've no doubt it's the same chap--was +whistling round the wood last night and scared you, so you made up your +mind to wait till to-night." + +"That rather got me, but Sut says that no man that 'spected anything +wrong would go whistling round the woods in that style. That ain't the +way detectives do." + +"Maybe not, but are you sure there ain't any of them detectives about?" + +"Me and Sut have been on the watch, and there hasn't been a stranger +in the village that we don't know all about. That's the biggest joke I +ever heard of," laughed Bud, "that 'ere Jackson going out to Walsingham +and arresting the colonel and Gibby." + +"Yes," laughed Kincade, "it took place just as I was coming away. I +wish they'd locked up the colonel for awhile, just for the fun of the +thing. But he and Gibby were discharged at once. I came on in the same +train with Jackson, though I didn't talk with him about it, for I saw +he felt pretty cheap. + +"However," added Kincade, "that's got nothing to do with this business, +which I feel a little nervous over. It was a mighty big load for us to +get out in the wood last Monday night, and I felt as though my back +was broke when we put the last piece in the tree. S'pose somebody has +found it!" + +"No danger of that," said Bud. "I was out there to-day and seen that it +was all right." + +"Sure nobody was watching you?" + +"I took good care of that. We'll find it there just as we left it, and +after we get it into the wagon we'll drive over to Tom Carmen's and +he'll dispose of it for us." + +Tom Carmen lived at the "Four Corners," as the place was called, and +had the reputation of being engaged in more than one kind of unlawful +business. It was about ten miles off, and the thieves intended to drive +there and place their plunder in his hands, he agreeing to melt it up +and give them full value, less a small commission for his services. + +The arrangement with Carmen had not been made until after the robbery, +which accounts for the hiding of the spoils for several days. It did +not take long, however, to come to an understanding with him, and the +plunder would have been taken away the preceding night by Bud Heyland +and Cyrus Sutton but for the mishaps already mentioned. + +"You're sure Sutton will be there?" asked Kincade, as they approached +the wood. + +"You can depend on him every time," was the confident response; "he +was to go out after dark to make sure that no one else is prowling +around. He's one of the best fellows I ever met," added Bud, who was +enthusiastic over his new acquaintance; "we've fixed up half a dozen +schemes that we're going into as soon as we get this off our hands." + +"Am I in?" + +"Of course," said Bud; "the gang is to be us three, and each goes in +on the ground floor. We're going to make a bigger pile than Colonel +Bandman himself, even with all his menagerie and circus." + +"I liked Sutton--what little I seen of him," said Kincade. + +"Oh, he's true blue--well, here we are." + +Both ceased talking as they entered the shadow of the wood, for, bad +as they were, they could not help feeling somewhat nervous over the +prospect. + +The weather had been clear and pleasant all the week, and the stars +were shining in an unclouded sky, in which there was no moon. A few +minutes after they met a farmer's wagon, which was avoided with some +difficulty, as it was hard to see each other, but the two passed in +safety, and reached the spot they had in mind. + +Here Bud Heyland took the reins, because he knew the place so well, and +drew the horse aside until he and the vehicle would clear any team that +might come along. + +To prevent any such accident as that of the preceding night the animal +was secured, and the man and big boy stepped carefully a little further +into the wood, Bud uttering the same signal as before. + +It was instantly answered from a point near at hand, and the next +minute Cyrus Sutton came forward, faintly visible as he stepped close +to them and spoke: + +"I've been waiting more than two hours, and thought I heard you coming +a half dozen times." + +He shook hands with Kincade and Bud, the latter asking: + +"Is everything all right?" + +"Yes, I've had my eyes open, you may depend." + +"Will there be any risk in leaving the horse here?" asked Kincade. + +"None at all--no one will disturb him." + +"Then we had better go on, for there's a pretty good load to carry." + +"I guess I can find the way best," said Bud, taking the lead. "I've +been over the route so often I can follow it with my eyes shut." + +Sutton was also familiar with it, and though it cost some trouble +and not a little care, they advanced without much difficulty. Bud +regretted that he had not brought his bull's eye lantern with him, +and beyond question it would have been of service, but Sutton said it +might attract attention, and it was better to get along without it if +possible. + +The distance was considerable, and all of half an hour was taken in +making their way through the wood, the darkness being such in many +places that they had to hold their hands in front of them to escape +collision with limbs and trunks of trees. + +"Here we are!" + +It was Bud Heyland who spoke, and in the dim light his companions saw +that he was right. There was a small, natural clearing, which enabled +them to observe the blasted oak without difficulty. + +The little party stood close by the hiding-place of the plunder that +had been taken from the old brick mansion several nights before. + +"You can reach down to it, can't you?" asked Sutton, addressing Bud +Heyland. + +"Yes; it's only a little ways down." + +"Hand it out, then," added Kincade; "I shan't feel right till we have +all this loot safely stowed away with Tom Carmen at the 'Four Corners.'" + +"All right," responded Bud, who immediately thrust his head and +shoulders into the cavity. + +He remained in this bent position less than a minute, when he jerked +out his head as though some serpent had struck at him with his fangs, +and exclaimed: + +"It's all gone!" + +"What?" gasped Jake Kincade. + +"Somebody has taken everything away----" + +In the dim light, Bud Heyland at that juncture observed something which +amazed him still more. Instead of two men there were three, and two of +them were struggling fiercely together. + +These were Cyrus Sutton and Jacob Kincade, but the struggle was short. +In a twinkling the showman was thrown on his back, and the nippers +placed on his wrists. + +"It's no use," said Sutton, as he had called himself, in a low voice; +"the game is up, Jacob." + +Before Bud Heyland could understand that he and Kincade were entrapped, +the third man sprang forward and manipulated the handcuffs so +dexterously that Bud quickly realized he was a helpless captive. + +This third man was Archie Jackson, the constable, who could not avoid +declaring in a louder voice than was necessary. + +"We've got you both, and you may as well take it like men. This +gentleman whom you two took for Cyrus Sutton, a cattle drover, is my +old friend James Carter, the detective, from New York." + +And such was the truth indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +HOW IT WAS DONE. + + +As was intimated at the close of the preceding chapter, the individual +who has figured thus far as Cyrus Sutton, interested in the cattle +business, was in reality James Carter, the well-known detective of the +metropolis. + +When he received word from Archie Jackson of the robbery that had been +committed near Tottenville, he went out at once to the little town to +investigate. Mr. Carter was a shrewd man, who understood his business, +and he took the precaution to go in such a disguise that the fussy +little constable never once suspected his identity. The detective +wished to find out whether it would do to trust the officer, and he was +quick to see that if Jackson was taken into his confidence, he would be +likely to spoil everything, from his inability to keep a secret. + +So the real detective went to work in his own fashion, following up the +clews with care, and allowing Jackson to disport himself as seemed best. + +He was not slow to fix his suspicions on the right parties, and he then +devoted himself to winning the confidence of Bud Heyland. It would +have been an easy matter to fasten the guilt on this bad boy, but the +keen-witted officer was quick to perceive that he had struck another +and more important trail, which could not be followed to a successful +conclusion without the full confidence of young Heyland. + +He learned that Bud was being used as a tool by other parties, who +were circulating counterfeit money, and Jacob Kincade was one of the +leaders, with the other two who composed the company in New York. The +detectives in that city were put to work and captured the knaves almost +at the same time that Bud and Kincade were taken. + +It required a little time for Mr. Carter to satisfy himself beyond +all mistake that the two named were the ones who were engaged in the +dangerous pursuit of "shoving" spurious money, and he resolved that +when he moved he would have the proof established beyond a shadow of +doubt. + +He easily drew the most important facts from Bud, and thus it will be +seen the recovery of the stolen silverware became secondary to the +detection of the dealers in counterfeit money. + +The officer was annoyed by the failure of Kincade to appear on the +night he agreed, and was fearful lest he suspected something and would +keep out of the way. He could have taken him at the time Fred Sheldon +was paid his reward, for he knew the showman at that time had a lot of +bad money in his possession, though he paid good bills to Fred, who, it +will be remembered, placed them in the hands of Squire Jones. + +Bud was determined to exchange bad currency for this, and waylaid +Fred for that purpose, but failed, for the reason already given. He, +however, gave Fred twenty dollars to change, which it will also be +remembered fell into the hands of the detective a few minutes later, +and was one of the several links in the chain of evidence that was +forged about the unsuspecting youth and his employer. + +Then Bud, like many beginners in actual transgression, became careless, +and worked off a great deal of the counterfeit money in the village +where he was staying, among the lot being the one hundred dollars which +he paid the liveryman for wrecking his wagon. + +When Fred Sheldon came into the village to claim his reward for +securing the estray lion, Cyrus Sutton, as he was known, who was +sitting on the hotel porch, became interested in him. He scrutinized +him sharply, but avoided asking him any questions. It was natural, +however, that he should feel some curiosity, and he learned that +what he suspected was true; the boy was the child of Mary Sheldon, +who was the widow of George Sheldon, killed some years before on the +battle-field. + +George Sheldon and James Carter had been comrades from the beginning of +the war until the former fell while fighting for his country. The two +had "drank from the same canteen," and were as closely bound together +as if brothers. Carter held the head of Sheldon when he lay dying, and +sent the last message to his wife, who had also been a schoolmate of +Carter's. + +An aptitude which the latter showed in tracing crime and wrong-doers +led him into the detective business, and he lost sight of the widow of +his old friend and their baby boy, until drawn to Tottenville in the +pursuit of his profession. + +He reproached himself that he did not discover the truth sooner, but +when he found that Mrs. Sheldon was absent he could only wait until she +returned, and as we have shown, he took the first occasion to call upon +her and renew the acquaintance of former years. + +But the moment Carter identified the brave little fellow who had earned +his reward for capturing the wild beast he made up his mind to do a +generous thing for him and his mother; he was determined that if it +could possibly be brought about Fred should receive the five hundred +dollars reward offered for the recovery of the silver plate stolen from +the Misses Perkinpine. + +Circumstances already had done a good deal to help him in his laudable +purpose, for, as we have shown, Fred had witnessed the robbery, and, in +fact, had been brought in contact with both of the guilty parties. + +Mr. Carter was afraid to take Fred into his entire confidence, on +account of his tender years; and though he was an unusually bright and +courageous lad, the detective was reluctant to bring him into any more +intimate association with crime than was necessary from the service he +intended to do him. + +As he was too prudent to trust the constable, Archie Jackson, it will +be seen that he worked entirely alone until the night that Mrs. Sheldon +returned home. + +Then he called upon her and told her his whole plans, for he knew that +Fred inherited a good deal of his bravery from her, and though it +was contrary to his rule to make a confidant of any one, he did not +hesitate to tell her all. + +She was deeply grateful for the kindness he contemplated, though +she was not assured that it was for the best to involve Fred as was +proposed. + +The detective, however, succeeded in overcoming her scruples, and they +agreed upon the plan of action. + +The boy was encouraged to make his hunt in the wood, for Carter had +already learned from Bud Heyland that the plunder was hidden somewhere +in it, and he had agreed to assist in bringing it forth, though Bud +would not agree to show him precisely where it was, until the time +should come for taking it away. + +When Fred found the hiding place he was so overjoyed that for awhile he +did not know what to do; finally he concluded, as a matter of safety, +to remove and hide it somewhere else. + +Accordingly he tugged and lifted the heavy pieces out one by one, and +then carried them all some distance, placed them on the ground at the +foot of a large beech tree and covered them up as best he could with +leaves. + +This took him until nearly noon, when he ran home to tell his mother +what he had done. Within the next hour James Carter knew it and he +laughed with satisfaction. + +"It was the wisest thing that could have been done." + +"Why so?" asked the widow. + +"Don't you see he has already earned the reward, and, what is more, he +shall have it, too. He has recovered the plate without the slightest +assistance from any one." + +"But the thieves have not been caught." + +"That is my work; I will attend to that." + +"And what shall Fred do?" + +"Keep him home to-night, give him a good supper and put him to bed +early, and tell him it will be all right in the morning." + +Mrs. Sheldon did not feel exactly clear that it was "all right," but +the good-hearted Carter had a way of carrying his point, and he would +not listen to any argument from her. + +So she performed her part of the programme in spirit and letter, and +when Fred Sheldon closed his eyes in slumber that Saturday evening +it was in the belief that everything would come out as his mother +promised, even though he believed that one of the guiltiest of the +criminals was the man known as Cyrus Sutton. + +Mrs. Sheldon wanted to tell the little fellow the whole story that +night, but the detective would not consent until the "case was closed." + +When Archie Jackson was called upon late in the afternoon by James +Carter and informed how matters stood, he was dumfounded for several +minutes. It seemed like doubting his own senses, to believe that the +cattle drover was no other than the famous New York detective, but he +was convinced at last, and entered with great ardor into the scheme for +the capture of the criminals. + +Mr. Carter impressed upon the constable the fact that the offered +reward had already been earned by Master Fred Sheldon. Archie was +disposed to demur, but finally, with some show of grace, he gave in and +said he would be pleased to extend his congratulations to the young +gentleman. + +A little judicious flattery on the part of the detective convinced +Archie that a point had been reached in the proceedings, where his +services were indispensable, and that, if the two law breakers were +to be captured, it must be through the help of the brave Tottenville +constable, who would receive liberal compensation for his assistance. + +Accordingly, Archie was stationed near the spot where it was certain +Bud Heyland and Jacob Kincade would appear, later in the evening. + +At a preconcerted signal, he sprang from his concealment, and the +reader has learned that he performed his part in really creditable +style. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +AN ATTEMPTED RESCUE. + + +Now since the reader knows how it happened that Archie Jackson and he +who had masqueraded under the name of Cyrus Sutton chanced to be at +this particular spot in the woods when the thieves would have removed +their booty, and also why the silver could not be found by these +worthies, it is necessary to return to the place where the arrest was +made. + +Bud Heyland did not take kindly to the idea of being a prisoner. None +knew better than himself the proofs which could be brought against him, +and, after the first surprise passed away, his only thought was of how +he might escape. + +While the valiant Archie stood over him in an attitude of triumph, the +detective was holding a short but very concise conversation with the +second captive. + +"I'll make you smart for this," Bud heard Kincade say. "Things have +come to a pretty pass when a man who is invited by a friend to stop on +the road a minute in order to look for a whip that was lost while we +were hunting for the lion, gets treated in this manner by a couple of +drunken fools." + +Taking his cue from the speech, Bud added in an injured tone: + +"That's a fact. I was on my way to join the show; but thought it might +be possible to find the whip, for it belongs to Colonel Bandman, an' he +kicked because I left it." + +"After the plans we have laid, Heyland, do you think it is well to try +such a story on me," Carter asked sternly. + +"I don't know what you're talkin' about. Jake has told how we happened +to come here." + +"He didn't explain why you wanted Fred Sheldon to change a +twenty-dollar bill for you, nor how it happened that you had an hundred +dollars to pay for the wagon which was smashed." + +"I've got nothing to do with any counterfeit money that has been +passed, and I defy you to prove it," Kincade cried, energetically. + +"Who said anything about counterfeits?" the detective asked, sternly. +"It will be well for you to keep your mouth shut, unless you want to +get deeper in the mire than you are already. It so chances, however, +that I have ample proof of your connection with the robbery, aside from +what Bud may have let drop, and, in addition, will show how long you +have been engaged in the business of passing worthless money, so there +is no need of any further talk. Will you walk to the road, or shall we +be forced to carry you?" + +This question was asked because Bud had seated himself as if intending +to remain for some time; but he sprung to his feet immediately, so +thoroughly cowed, that he would have attempted to obey any command, +however unreasonable, in the hope of finding favor in the sight of his +captors. + +"We've got to do what you say, for awhile, anyhow," Kincade replied, +sulkily; "but somebody will suffer because of this outrage." + +"I'll take the chances," Carter replied, laughingly. "Step out lively, +for I intend to get some sleep to-night." + +"Hold on a minute," the fussy little constable cried, as he ran to the +side of the detective and whispered: + +"I think we should take the silver with us. There may be more of this +gang who will come after it when they find we have nabbed these two." + +"I fancy it's safe," was the careless reply, "and whether it is or not, +we must wait until we see Fred again, for I haven't the slightest idea +where he hid it." + +"But, you see----" + +"Now, don't fret, my friend," the detective interrupted, determined +that Fred should take the silver himself to the maiden ladies. "You +have conducted the case so admirably thus far that it would be a shame +to run the risk of spoiling the job by loitering here where there may +be an attempt at a rescue." + +This bit of flattery, coupled with the intimation that there might be a +fight, caused Archie to remain silent. He was eager to be in town where +he could relate his wonderful skill in trapping the thieves, as well as +his fear lest there should be a hand-to-hand encounter with desperate +men, and these desires caused him to make every effort to land the +prisoners in jail. + +He even lost sight of the reward, for the time being, through the +anxiety to sing his own praises, and in his sternest tones, which were +not very dreadful, by the way, he urged Bud forward. + +"If you make the slightest show of trying to run away, I'll put a dozen +bullets in your body," he said, and then, as he reached for his weapon +to further intimidate the prisoner, he discovered, to his chagrin, +that, as on a previous occasion, his revolver was at home; but in its +place, put there while he labored under great excitement, was the +tack-hammer, symbol of his trade as bill-poster. + +The two men went toward the road very meekly, evidently concluding that +submission was the best policy, and for once Carter made a mistake. + +Having worked up the case to such a satisfactory conclusion, and +believing these were the only two attachés of the circus in the +vicinity, he allowed Archie Jackson to manage matters from this point. + +The valiant constable, thinking only of the glory with which he would +cover himself as soon as he was at the hotel amid a throng of his +acquaintances, simply paid attention to the fact that the prisoners +were marching properly in front of him, heeding not the rumble of +distant wheels on the road beyond. + +Kincade heard them, however, and he whispered softly to Bud: + +"There's just a chance that some of our people are coming. I heard +Colonel Bandman say he should send Albers and Towsey back to look up +some harness that was left to be repaired, and this is about the time +they ought to be here." + +"Much good it will do us with that fool of a Jackson ready to shoot, +the first move we make," Bud replied petulantly. + +"Go on without so much talk," Archie cried fiercely, from the rear. +"You can't play any games on me." + +"From what I've heard, you know pretty well how a man can shoot in the +dark, an' I'll take my chances of gettin' a bullet in the back rather +than go to jail for ten years or so. When I give the word, run the best +you know how." + +Bud promised to obey; but from the tone of his voice it could be told +that he had much rather shoot at a person than act as target himself, +and Archie ordered the prisoners to quicken their speed. + +Carter was several paces in the rear, remaining in the background in +order, for the better carrying out of his own plans in regard to Fred, +it should appear as if the constable was the commanding officer, and +when the party arrived at the edge of the road where Bud had fastened +the horse, the rumble of the approaching team could be heard very +distinctly. + +"Now's our time! Run for your life!" Kincade whispered, staring up +the road at the same instant, and as Bud followed at full speed both +shouted for help at the utmost strength of their lungs. + +It was as if this daring attempt at escape deprived Archie of all power +of motion. He lost several valuable seconds staring after his vanishing +prisoners in speechless surprise, and followed this officer-like +proceeding by attempting to shoot the fugitives with the tack-hammer. + +Carter, although not anticipating anything of the kind, had his wits +about him, and, rushing past the bewildered constable, darted up the +road in silence. He was well armed; but did not care to run the risk of +killing one of the thieves, more especially since he felt positive of +overtaking both in a short time, owing to the fact that the manacles +upon their wrists would prevent them from any extraordinary speed. + +Neither Bud nor Kincade ceased to call for help, and almost before +Carter was well in pursuit a voice from the oncoming team could be +heard saying: + +"That's some of our crowd. I'm sure nobody but Jake could yell so loud." + +"It _is_ me!" Kincade shouted. "Hold hard, for there are a couple of +officers close behind!" + +By the sounds which followed, Carter understood that the new-comers +were turning their wagon, preparatory to carrying the arrested parties +in the opposite direction, and he cried to the valiant Archie, who as +yet had not collected his scattered senses sufficiently to join in the +pursuit: + +"Bring that team on here, and be quick about it!" + +Now, to discharge a weapon would be to imperil the lives of the new +actors on the scene, and this was not to be thought of for a moment. +Carter strained every muscle to overtake his prisoners before they +could clamber into the wagon; but in vain. + +Even in the gloom he could see the dark forms of the men as they leaped +into the rear of the vehicle, and in another instant the horse was off +at a full gallop in the direction from which he had just come. + +For the detective to go on afoot would have been folly, and once more +he cried for Archie to bring the team, which had been left by the +roadside when Kincade and Bud arrived. + +The little constable had by this time managed to understand at least +a portion of what was going on around him, and, in a very bungling +fashion, was trying to unfasten the hitching-rein; but he made such a +poor job of it that Carter was forced to return and do the work himself. + +"Get in quickly," the detective said, sharply, as he led the horse into +the road, and following Archie, the two were soon riding at a mad pace +in pursuit, regardless alike of possible vehicles to be met, or the +danger of being overturned. + +"Why didn't you shoot 'em when you had the chance?" Archie asked, as +soon as he realized the startling change in the condition of affairs. + +"Because that should be done only when a man is actually in fear of his +life, or believes a dangerous prisoner cannot be halted in any other +way." + +"But that was the only chance of stoppin' them fellers." + +"I'll have them before morning," was the quiet reply, as the driver +urged the horse to still greater exertions. "Those men have been +traveling a long distance, while our animal is fresh, therefore it's +only a question of time; but how does it happen that you didn't shoot? +I left the fellows in your charge." + +"I was out putting up some bills this afternoon, and had my hammer with +me, of course. When we got ready for this trip, I felt on the outside +of my hip pocket, and made sure it was my revolver that formed such a +bunch." + +"Another time I should advise you to be certain which of your many +offices you intend to represent," Carter said, quietly. "I'm not +positive, however, that we haven't cause to be thankful, for somebody +might have been hurt." + +"There's no question about it, if I had been armed," was the reply, in +a blood-thirsty tone, for Archie was rapidly recovering his alleged +courage. + +"And I, being in the rear, stood as good a chance of receiving the +bullet as did the men." + +"You have never seen me shoot," the little constable said, proudly. + +"Fortunately, I never did," Carter replied, and then the conversation +ceased, as they were at the forks of a road where it was necessary to +come to a halt in order to learn in which direction the fugitives had +gone. + +This was soon ascertained, and as the detective applied the whip +vigorously, he said, warningly: + +"Now keep your wits about you, for we are where they will try to give +us the slip, and it is more than possible Heyland and Kincade may jump +out of the wagon, leaving us to follow the team, while they make good +their escape." + +Archie tried very hard to do as he was commanded; he stared into +darkness, able now and then to distinguish the outlines of the vehicle +in advance, and at the same time was forced to exert all his strength +to prevent being thrown from his seat, so recklessly was Carter driving. + +"We'll be upset," he finally said, in a mild tone of protest. "The road +seems to be very rough, and there must be considerable danger in going +at such a pace." + +"No more for us than for them. I'll take a good many chances rather +than go back to Tottenville and admit that we allowed two prisoners to +escape after we had them ironed." + +The little constable had nothing more to say. He also thought it would +be awkward to explain to his particular friends how, after such a +marvelous piece of detective work, the criminals had got free. This, +coupled with the story of his bruised hand, would give the fun-loving +inhabitants of the village an opportunity to make his life miserable +with pointless jokes and alleged witticisms, therefore he shut his +teeth firmly, resolved not to make any further protest even though +convinced that his life was actually in danger. + +During half an hour the chase continued, and for at least twenty +minutes of this time the pursuers were so near the pursued that it +would have been impossible for either occupant of the wagon to leap out +unnoticed. + +Now the foremost horse was beginning to show signs of fatigue, owing to +previous travel and the unusual load. Both whip and voice was used to +urge him on; but in vain, and Carter said, in a low tone to Archie: + +"The chase is nearly ended! Be ready to leap out the instant we stop." +Then, drawing his revolver, he cried, "There's no chance of your +giving us the slip. Pull up, or I shall fire! If the prisoners are +delivered to me at once there will be nothing said regarding the effort +to aid them in escaping; but a delay of five minutes will result in +imprisonment for the whole party." + +Kincade's friends evidently recognized the folly of prolonging the +struggle, and, to save themselves from possible penalties of the law, +the driver shouted: + +"I'll pull up. Look out that you don't run into us!" + +It required no great effort to bring both the panting steeds to a +stand-still, and in a twinkling Carter was standing at one side of the +vehicle with his revolver in hand, while Archie, with a boldness that +surprised him afterward, stationed himself directly opposite, holding +the tack-hammer as if on the point of shooting the culprits. + +Kincade realized that it was best to submit to the inevitable with +a good grace, and he descended from the wagon, saying to the little +constable as he did so: + +"Don't shoot! I'll agree to go peacefully." + +"Then see that you behave yourself, or I'll blow the whole top of your +head off," Archie replied, in a blood-thirsty tone; but at the same +time he took very good care to keep the hammer out of sight. + +Bud Heyland resisted even now when those who had tried to aid were +ready to give him up. + +"I won't go back!" he cried, kicking vigorously as the detective +attempted to pull him from the wagon. "I've done nothing for which I +can be arrested, and you shan't take me." + +The long chase had exhausted all of Carter's patience, and he was +not disposed to spend many seconds in expostulating. Seizing the +kicking youth by one foot he dragged him with no gentle force to the +ground, and an instant later the men in the wagon drove off, evidently +preferring flight to the chances that the detective would keep his +promise. + +"Bundle them into the carriage, and tie their legs," Carter said to the +constable, and in a very short space of time the thieves were lying in +the bottom of the vehicle unable to move hand or foot. + +Now that there was not the slightest possibility the culprits could +escape, Archie kept vigilant watch over them. The least movement on the +part of either, as Carter drove the tired horse back to the village, +was the signal for him to use his hammer on any portion of their bodies +which was most convenient, and this repeated punishment must have +caused Bud to remember how often he had ill-treated those who were +quite as unable to "strike back" as he now was. + +Not until the prisoners were safely lodged in the little building which +served as jail did Archie feel perfectly safe, and then all his old +pompous manner returned. But for the detective he would have hurried +away to tell the news, late in the night though it was, for in his own +opinion at least, this night's work had shown him to be not only a true +hero, but an able detective. + +"It is considerably past midnight," Carter said, as they left the +jail, "and we have a great deal to do before this job is finished." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Are we to leave the silver and money?" + +"Of course not; but you said we'd have to wait until we saw Fred." + +"Exactly so; but what is to prevent our doing that now? When the +property has been delivered to its rightful owners you and I can take +our ease; until then we are bound to keep moving." + +Archie was disappointed at not being able to establish, without loss of +time, his claim to being a great man; but he had no idea of allowing +anything to be done in the matter when he was not present, if it could +be avoided, and he clambered into the wagon once more. + +The two drove directly to the Sheldon home, and Fred was dreaming that +burglars were trying to get into the house, when he suddenly became +conscious that some one was pounding vigorously on the front door. + +Leaping from the bed and looking out of the window he was surprised at +seeing the man whom he knew as Cyrus Sutton, and at the same moment he +heard his mother ask: + +"What is the matter, Mr. Carter?" + +"Nothing, except that we want Fred. The case is closed, and to save +time we'd better get the property at once. Have you any objection to +his going with me?" + +"Not the slightest. I will awaken him." + +"I'll be down in a minute," Fred cried, as he began to make a hurried +toilet, wondering meanwhile why Bud Heyland's friend should be trusted +so implicitly by his mother. + +As a matter of course it was necessary for Mrs. Sheldon to explain to +her son who Cyrus Sutton really was and Fred was still in a maze of +bewilderment when his mother admitted the detective. + +"Why didn't you tell me," he cried reproachfully. + +"No good could have come of it," the gentleman replied laughingly, +"and, besides, I can't see how you failed to discover the secret, +either when you ran away after listening behind the rock on the +road-side, or when I passed so near while supposed to be hunting for +you." + +"Did you see me then?" + +"Certainly, and but for such slight obstructions as I placed in Bud's +way, he might have overtaken you." + +"Where is Archie?" + +"Out in the wagon waiting for you. Kincade and Bud are in the lock-up +where we just left them, and now it is proposed to get the silver in +order to deliver it early in the morning." + +"Did mother tell you I found it?" + +"She did, and I am heartily glad, since now the reward will be yours, +and with it you can clear your home from debt." + +Fred did not wait to ask any further questions. In a very few moments +he was ready for the journey, and, with the promise to "come home as +soon as the work was done," he went out to where Archie greeted him in +the most effusive manner. + +"We have covered ourselves with glory," the little constable cried. +"This is a case which will be told throughout the country, and the fact +that we arrested the culprits and recovered the property when there was +absolutely no clew on which to work, is something unparalleled in the +annals of detective history." + +Fred was neither prepared to agree to, nor dispute this statement. The +only fact which remained distinct in his mind was that the reward would +be his, and if there was any glory attached he felt perfectly willing +Archie should take it all. + +"Get into the wagon, Fred," Carter said impatiently. "It will take us +until daylight to get the stuff, and we don't want to shock the good +people of Tottenville by doing too much driving after sunrise." + +Fred obeyed without delay, and during the ride Archie gave him all the +particulars concerning the capture of the thieves, save in regard to +his own stupidity which permitted the temporary escape. + +Knowing the woods in the vicinity of his home as well as Fred did, it +was not difficult for him to go directly to the place where he had +hidden the silver, even in the night, and half an hour later the stolen +service was in the carriage. + +"It is nearly daylight," Carter said, when they were driving in the +direction of the village again, "and the best thing we can do will be +to go to Fred's home, where he and I can keep guard over the treasure +until it is a proper time to return it to its owners." + +"In that case I may as well go home awhile," Archie said reflectively. +"Doubtless my wife will be wondering what has kept me, and there is no +need of three to watch the silver." + +"Very well, we shall not leave there until about nine o'clock," and +Carter reined in the horse as they were in front of the fussy little +constable's house, for him to alight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE SILVERWARE RETURNED. + + +The sabbath morning dawned cool, breezy and delightful, and the +maiden twin sisters, Misses Annie and Lizzie Perkinpine, made their +preparations for driving to the village church, just as they had been +in the habit of doing for many years. + +It required a storm of unusual violence to keep them from the Sunday +service, which was more edifying to the good souls than any worldly +entertainment could have been. + +They were not among those whose health permits them to attend secular +amusements, but who invariably feel "indisposed" when their spiritual +duties are involved. + +"I was afraid, sister," said Annie, "that when our silver was stolen, +the loss would weigh so heavily upon me that I would not be able to +enjoy the church service as much as usual, but I am thankful that it +made no difference with me; how was it with _you_?" + +"I could not help feeling disturbed for some days," was the reply, "for +it _was_ a loss indeed, but, when we have so much to be grateful for, +how wrong it is to repine----" + +"What's that?" interrupted the other, hastening to the window as she +heard the rattle of carriage wheels; "some one is coming here as sure +as I live." + +"The folks must have forgot that it is the Sabbath," was the grieved +remark of the other. + +"But this is something out of the common. Heigho!" + +This exclamation was caused by the sight of Cyrus Sutton, as he leaped +lightly out of the wagon and tied his horse, while Fred Sheldon seemed +to be tugging at something on the floor of the vehicle, which resisted +his efforts. + +Mr. Sutton, having fastened the horse, went to the help of the +youngster, and the next moment the two approached the house bearing a +considerable burden. + +"My gracious!" exclaimed Aunt Lizzie, throwing up her hands, and +ready to sink to the floor in her astonishment; "they have got our +silverware." + +"You are right," added her sister, "they have the whole six pieces, +slop-jar, sugar bowl, cream pitcher--not one of the six missing. They +have them _all_; _now_ we can go to church and enjoy the sermon more +than ever." + +The massive service of solid silver quaintly fashioned and carved by +the puffy craftsmen of Amsterdam, who wrought and toiled when sturdy +old Von Tromp was pounding the British tars off Goodwin Sands, more +than two centuries ago, was carried into the house with considerable +effort and set on the dining-room table, while for a minute or two the +owners could do nothing but clasp and unclasp their hands and utter +exclamations of wonder and thankfulness that the invaluable heirlooms +had at last come back to them. + +The detective and lad looked smilingly at the ladies, hardly less +pleased than they. + +"Where did you find them?" asked Aunt Lizzie, addressing herself +directly to Mr. Carter, as was natural for her to do. + +The detective pointed to the boy and said: + +"Ask him." + +"Why, what can Fred know about it?" inquired the lady, beaming kindly +upon the blushing lad. + +"He knows everything, for it was not I, but he, who found them." + +"Why, Fred, how can that be?" + +"I found them in an old tree in the woods," replied the little fellow, +blushing to his ears. "This gentleman helped me to bring them here, for +I never could have lugged them alone." + +"Of course you couldn't, but since you have earned the reward, you +shall have it. To-day is the holy Sabbath, and it would be wrong, +therefore, to engage in any business, but come around early to-morrow +morning and we will be ready." + +"And I want to say," said Aunt Annie, pinching the chubby cheek of the +happy youngster, "that there isn't any one in the whole world that we +would rather give the reward to than you." + +"And there is none that it will please me more to see receive it," was +the cordial remark of Mr. Carter, who, respecting the scruples of the +good ladies, was about to bid them good-morning, when Aunt Lizzie, +walking to the window, said: + +"I wonder what is keeping Michael." + +"I am afraid he will not be here to-day," said the officer. + +"Why not?" asked the sisters together in astonishment. + +"Well, to tell you the truth, he is in trouble." + +"Why, what has Michael done." + +"Nothing himself, but do you remember the tramp who came here last +Monday night, and, after eating at your table, stole, or rather helped +to steal, your silver service?" + +"Of course we remember him." + +"Well, that tramp was Michael's son Bud, who had put on false whiskers +and disguised himself so that you never suspected who he was. Bud is a +bad boy and is now in jail." + +"What is the world coming to?" gasped Aunt Lizzie, sinking into a chair +with clasped hands, while her sister was no less shocked. In their +kindness of heart they would have been glad to lose a large part of the +precious silverware could it have been the means of restoring the boy +to honesty and innocence. + +But that was impossible, and the sisters could only grieve over the +depravity of one whom they had trusted. + +They asked nothing about the money that was taken with the silver, but +Mr. Carter handed more than one-half of the sum to them. + +"Bud had spent considerable, but he gave me this; Kincade declared that +he hadn't a penny left, but I don't believe him; this will considerably +decrease your loss." + +At this moment, there was a resounding knock on the door, and in +response to the summons to enter, Archie Jackson appeared, very red in +the face and puffing hard. + +Bowing hastily to the ladies, he said impatiently to the officer: + +"It seems to me you're deef." + +"Why so?" + +"I've been chasing and yelling after you for half a mile, but you +either pretended you didn't hear me or maybe you didn't." + +"I assure you, Archie, that I would have stopped on the first call, +if I had heard you, for you know how glad I am always to have your +company, and how little we could have done without your help." + +The detective knew how to mollify the fussy constable, whose face +flushed a still brighter red, under the compliments of his employer, as +he may be termed. + +"I knowed you was coming here," explained Archie, "and so I come along, +so as to vouch to these ladies for you." + +"You are very kind, but they seem to be satisfied with Master Fred's +indorsement, for he has the reputation of being a truthful lad." + +"I'm glad to hear it; how far, may I ask," he continued, clearing his +throat, "have you progressed in the settlement of the various questions +and complications arising from the nefarious transaction on Monday +evening last?" + +"The plate has been returned to the ladies, as your eyes must have told +you; but, since this is the first day of the week, the reward will not +be handed over to Fred until to-morrow morning. + +"Accept my congratulations, sir, accept my congratulations," said the +constable, stepping ardently toward the boy and effusively extending +his hand. + +The ladies declined to accept the money which the detective offered, +insisting that it belonged to him. He complied with their wishes, +and, since it was evident that Archie had hastened over solely to +make sure he was not forgotten in the general distribution of wages, +the detective handed him one hundred dollars, which was received with +delight, since it was far more than the constable had ever earned in +such a short time in all his life before. + +"Before I leave," said Mr. Carter, addressing the ladies, "I must +impress one important truth upon you." + +"You mean about the sin of stealing," said Aunt Annie; "Oh, we have +thought a good deal about _that_." + +The officer smiled in spite of himself, but quickly became serious +again. + +"You mistake me. I refer to your practice of keeping such valuable +plate as loosely as you have been in the habit of doing for so many +years. The fact of the robbery will cause it to be generally known +that your silver can be had by any one who chooses to enter your house +and take it, and you may rest assured, that if you leave it exposed it +won't be long before it will vanish again, beyond the reach of all the +Fred Sheldons and detectives in the United States." + +"Your words are wise," said Aunt Annie, "and I have made up my mind +that we must purchase two or three more locks and put them on the +chest." + +"I think I know a better plan than _that_," Aunt Lizzie hastened to say. + +"What's that?" inquired the visitor. + +"We'll get Michael to bring some real heavy stones to the house and +place them on the lid of the chest, so as to hold it down." + +"Neither of your plans will work," said Mr. Carter solemnly; "you must +either place your silver in the bank, where you can get it whenever you +wish, or you must buy a burglar-proof safe and lock it up in that every +night." + +"I have heard of such things," said Aunt Lizzie, "and I think we will +procure a safe, for it is more pleasant to know that the silver is in +the house than it is to have it in the bank, miles off, where it will +be so hard to take and bring it. What do you think, sister?" + +"The same as you do." + +"Then we will buy the safe." + +"And until you do so, the silver must be deposited in the bank; though, +as this is Sunday, you will have to keep it in the house until the +morrow." + +"I shall not feel afraid to do that," was the serene response of sister +Lizzie, "because no man, even if he is wicked enough to be a robber, +would be so abandoned as to commit the crime on _Sunday_." + +The beautiful faith of the good soul was not shocked by any violent +results of her trust. Though the silver remained in her house during +the rest of that day and the following night, it was not disturbed, +and on the morrow was safely delivered to the bank, where it stayed +until the huge safe was set up in the old mansion, in which the +precious stuff was deposited, and where at this writing it still +remains, undisturbed by any wicked law-breakers. + +You may not know it, but it is a fact that there are circuses traveling +over the country to-day whose ticket-sellers receive no wages at all, +because they rely upon the short change and the bad money which they +can work off on their patrons. Not only that, but I know of a case +where a man paid twenty dollars monthly for the privilege of selling +tickets for a circus. + +From this statement, I must except any and all enterprises with which +my old friend, P. T. Barnum, has any connection. Nothing could induce +him to countenance such dishonesty. + +Trained in this pernicious school, Jacob Kincade did not hesitate +to launch out more boldly, and finally he formed a partnership with +two other knaves, for the purpose of circulating counterfeit money, +engaging now and then in the side speculation of burglary, as was the +case at Tottenville, where he arrived a few hours in advance of the +show itself. + +He and his two companions were deserving of no sympathy, and each was +sentenced to ten years in the State prison. + +The youth of Bud Heyland, his honest repentance and the grief of his +father and mother aroused great sympathy for him. It could not be +denied that he was a bad boy, who had started wrong, and was traveling +fast along the downward path. In truth, he had already gone so far that +it may be said the goal was in sight when he was brought up with such a +round turn. + +A fact greatly in his favor was apparent to all--he had been used as +a cat's paw by others. He was ignorant of counterfeit money, though +easily persuaded to engage in the scheme of passing it upon others. +True, the proposition to rob the Perkinpine sisters came from him, but +in that sad affair also he was put forward as the chief agent, while +his partner took good care to keep in the background. + +Bud saw the fearful precipice on whose margin he stood. His parents +were almost heart-broken, and there could be no doubt of his anxiety to +atone, so far as possible, for the evil he had done. + +Fortunately, the judge was not only just but merciful, and, anxious +to save the youth, he discharged him under a "suspended sentence," as +it was called, a most unusual proceeding under the circumstances, but +which proved most beneficent, since the lad never gave any evidence of +a desire to return to his evil ways. + +As for Master Fred Sheldon, I almost feel as though it is unnecessary +to tell you anything more about him, for, with such a mother, with +such natural inclinations, and with such training, happiness, success +and prosperity are as sure to follow as the morning is to succeed the +darkness of night. + +I tell you, boys, you may feel inclined to slight the old saying that +honesty is the best policy, but no truer words were ever written, and +you should carry them graven on your hearts to the last hours of your +life. + +Fred grew into a strong, sturdy boy, who held the respect and esteem of +the neighborhood. The sisters Perkinpine, as well as many others, took +a deep interest in him and gave him help in many ways, and often when +the boy was embarrassed by receiving it. + +The time at last came, when our "Young Hero" bade good-by to his +loved mother, and went to the great city of New York to carve his +fortune. There he was exposed to manifold more temptations than ever +could be the case in his simple country home, but he was encased in +the impenetrable armor of truthfulness, honesty, industry and right +principles, and from this armor all the darts of the great adversary +"rolled off like rustling rain." + +Fred is now a man engaged in a prosperous business in the metropolis of +our country, married to a loving and helpful wife, who seems to hold +the sweetest and tenderest place in his affection, surpassed by that of +no one else, but equalled by her who has been his guardian angel from +infancy--HIS MOTHER. + + + + +THE WALNUT ROD. + +BY R. F. COLWELL. + + +My father was a physician of good practice in a wealthy quarter of +Philadelphia, and we boys, four in number, were encouraged by him to +live out of doors as much as possible. We played the national game, +rowed, belonged to a well-equipped private gymnasium, and were hale and +hearty accordingly; but especially did we prize the spring vacation +which was always spent at our grandfather's farm, a beautiful spot in +the Juanita valley, shut in by hills and warmed by the sunshine, which +always seemed to us to shine especially bright on our annual visit, as +if to make up for the cloudy and stormy weather of March. + +At the time of which I speak, the anticipations before starting were +especially joyous. Harry, Carl and Francis, aged respectively eleven, +fourteen and sixteen, had after earnest efforts in their school work +been promoted each to the class above his former rank, and were in +consequence proud and happy, though tired. I, Royal by name, a junior +in a well-known New England college, working steadily in the course, +was not unwilling to spend a week or two in quiet, searching the +well-stored library which had the best that three generations of book +lovers could buy on its shelves, and before whose cheery open fire we +gathered at evening for stories and counsel from older and wiser minds. + +We packed our bags, took our rods--for trout fishing was often +good, even in early April, in a well-stocked brook that ran along +willow-fringed banks in the south pasture--and boarded the train. At +the station the hired man met us with a pair of Morgan horses than +which I do not remember to have seen better from that day to this, +and we were soon at the hall door, shaking hands with grandmother and +grandfather, and, to our pleasant surprise, with Aunt Celia, who, +unexpectedly to us, was at home. She was a widow, having lost her +husband in the Mexican war, and was a teacher of modern languages in a +girl's private school in southern New York. She was one of those rare +natures that the heart instinctively trusts, and no one of the many +grandchildren hesitated about telling Aunt Celia his or her troubles, +always confident that something would be done toward making the rough +place smooth or gaining the object sought. + +We had a cozy tea. The special good things that only grandmothers +seem to remember that a boy likes were found beside our plates, and we +did them ample justice. This was Saturday evening. The next morning we +occupied the family pew, and raised our young voices in the familiar +hymns so clearly and joyously, that I remember to have seen many of the +older people looking in our direction, and one old lady remarked as we +were going out, "Henry's boys take after him for their good voices." +Father had led the village choir for several years before he went away +from his home to the medical school. + +The next morning we took our rods and went off for a long tramp. We +fished some, and between us brought home enough for next morning's +breakfast. The next day we climbed the favorite hills and gathered four +large bunches of that spring beauty _Epigæa repens_, arbutus, or May +flowers, whose pink cups and delicious woody fragrance we entrusted +to damp moss, and sent the box with our cards to mother, for we knew +how she loved the flowers she had picked from these same hills. Their +scent comes back to me now, though it is many years since I have picked +one. Carl and Francis were just at the age when feats of daring were +a delight to them. Harry was of a naturally timid nature, modest, and +lacking sometimes in confidence, and so was often urged on by the other +two, when he shrank from attempting anything, by such expressions as +"Don't be a coward, Harry!" "A girl could do that!" which, by such a +sensitive spirit, were felt more than blows of the lash would be. When +I was by, the boys would not indulge in these trials of strength or +endurance, but in my absence I knew they hurt his tender feelings by +their taunts, though really they did not intend to. A boy looks for +what he calls courage in his playmate, and, if he does not see what +apparently corresponds to his own, he thinks him a coward, while the +braver of the two may really be the more diffident and shrinking one. + +It was Saturday afternoon; we were to leave Monday morning, and I had +gone to the post-office to mail a letter to our father, telling him to +expect us Monday noon. Behind the barn was a large oak tree from whose +trunk a long branch ran horizontally toward the shed roof, though at +a considerable distance above it. The boys had been pitching quoits +near the tree, and, having finished the game, looked about for some +more exciting sport. Francis thought he saw it, so he climbed the tree, +crept out on the limb, hung by the arms a moment and then dropped, +with something of a jar, to be sure, but safely, on the roof, where +he sat with a satisfied look. He called to Carl to follow him. Carl, +though unwilling to try it, was still more unwilling to acknowledge any +superiority of his older brother in that line, so he, too, climbed up, +crept out, and, when he had found what he thought was a good place, and +had called out two or three times, "Fran, shall I strike all right?" +dropped and was happy. Then they both called to Harry, "Come on, Hal," +but he, overcome by the fear he had felt that they would fall while +attempting it, refused to make the trial. When they began to speak +about what "a girl could do," grandfather came out of the back door, +where he had been a silent spectator of the whole affair, patted Harry +on the shoulder, assuring him that he'd more good sense than Carl and +Francis together, and bade the climbers come down at once. + +Grandfather was a man of few words, and they obeyed. Nothing more was +said. I returned soon after. We had tea as usual and adjourned to the +library, where a genial fire of hickory logs warmed and lighted the +room. Grandmother and grandfather sat in their armchairs on each side +of the broad hearth. I occupied an antique chair I had found in the +attic, and which I was to carry home for my own room. Carl and Francis +sat on old-fashioned crickets, while Aunt Celia had her low willow +rocker in front of the fire, and Harry leaned against her, with her arm +around his neck. + +We remained silent for some moments, when grandfather said quietly, +"Celia, hadn't you better tell the boys the story of the walnut rod?" +We looked up in swift surprise. The walnut rod spoken of was one that +had rested, ever since we could remember, across a pair of broad +antlers over the fireplace, with an old sword and two muskets that +had seen service at Bunker Hill and Yorktown. Often had we, in boyish +curiosity, asked what it was, and why it was kept there, tied by a +piece of faded ribbon to one of the antlers, but had always been put +off with "by-and-by," and "when you are older." Now, when we saw a +chance to know about it, we chorused, "Oh, yes, Aunt Celia, do tell, +please," and she quietly saying, "I suppose they can learn its lesson +now," began: + +"I was, as you know, the only girl of the family, and also the youngest +child, your father being two years older. There were few neighbors when +we first came here to live; indeed, our nearest was fully a quarter of +a mile away, so we saw few beside our own family. Your uncles, John, +William, and Elijah, were several years older, and so were busy helping +father in clearing the land and in its care. Accordingly, Henry and +I were much together. We studied the same book at our mother's knee, +played with the same toys, and were together so much that the older +boys sometimes called us 'mother's two girls.' But your father, though +tender and gentle in appearance, had a brave heart under his little +jacket, and I knew better than they, that he was no coward. They called +him so sometimes, thinking, because he seemed fearful about some things +they counted trifles, that he really had no courage. I'm afraid boys +have forgotten nowadays, that mere daring is no test of true courage." +Here Francis and Carl felt their faces grow hot, but Aunt Celia said no +more and went on. + +"It was one day in April, very like to-day, that we all went upon the +side hill to pick May flowers. Henry was nearly twelve years old--his +birthday, as you know, is next month--and I was ten. It had always been +a habit, when people went out in the spring for flowers, to cut a stout +stick, to be used partly as a walking-stick, and partly as a protection +against snakes, which were often seen, but which usually escaped before +they could be reached. Old people told of rattlesnakes that used to be +seen, but they were very scarce, even then, and none of us had ever +seen one. + +"We all had sticks, cut from a bunch of hickory saplings that grew +beside the path, and your uncle Elijah said, as we were going along, 'I +wonder what Hen would do if he heard a rattlesnake; turn pale and faint +away, I guess,' at which the others laughed loudly, but Henry said +nothing, though I saw his lips quiver at the taunt. + +"We found the flowers, thick and beautiful, just as you have this week. +We picked all we wished, ate the lunch which mother had put up for us, +and were sitting on a large, flat stone, talking of starting for home. +I saw a bit of pretty moss under some twigs at the edge of the stone, +and stepped down to get it, when suddenly a peculiar whir-r-r, that +we never had heard before, struck our ears. All the boys started up, +looking about eagerly. The bushes at my side parted slightly, and the +flattened head of a large rattlesnake protruded, and again came that +dreadful sound. Then the boys jumped from the rock, each in a different +direction, and screamed, rather than cried, 'Jump, Celia, it's a +rattlesnake!' + +"I could not move. I must have been paralyzed by fear, for, though I +was but a child, I could not misunderstand my danger. Of course, what I +am telling happened in a few seconds, but I remember hearing the swish +that a stick makes when it cuts through the air, and the horrible head, +with its forked, vibrating tongue, was severed from the writhing body, +and fell at my feet. + +"Harry had quietly stepped down by my side, and with his stick--the +one you see on the antlers yonder--had saved me from a dreadful death. +There he stood, pale and trembling to be sure, but with such a light +in his blue eyes, that none of his older brothers dared ever call him +coward, or girl, again. We walked quietly home, bringing the body with +its horrible horny scales to show to father and mother. I shall never +forget how they clasped us in their arms as they listened to the story, +and how I wondered, as a child will, if everybody, when they were grown +up, cried when they were very glad. + +"Nothing was ever said to the older boys. They had learned what true +bravery was, the scorn of self-protection when another needed help, +and they have been better for it ever since. Your father has never had +the story told to you, thinking that some time it might also teach you +the lesson that true courage from its root word, the Latin _cor_, and +down through the French _coeur_, is both below and above any outward +manifestations, and belongs to the heart. + +"The snake must have come out into the sun from his den under the rock, +and was not as active as in warmer weather, or the bite would have +followed the first alarm. There has never since been seen another in +this locality." + +We sat in silence for awhile, and then grandfather spoke, laying his +hand on Harry's curls: "I seem to see my boy Henry again in his son, +Harry. I hope he will grow up into the same brave, though tender +manhood of his father, and remember, boys," he said, turning toward +Francis and Carl, "that recklessness and a desire to be thought +bold and daring are not an index of true courage and often have no +connection with it. If the walnut rod teaches you this lesson, its +story will be of great value to you." + + + + +HOW THE HATCHET WAS BURIED. + +BY OCTAVIA CARROLL. + + +A feud, as fierce as that between the Montagues and Capulets, had for +several years raged between the boys of Valleytown and the country lads +living on the breezy hills just above the small village. Originating in +a feeling of jealousy, it waxed hotter and more bitter with every game +of ball and every examination at the "Academy" where they were forced +to meet the rival factions, tauntingly dubbing each other "Lilies of +the Valley" and "Ground Moles," while if a Lily chanced to whip a Mole +in a fair fight all the town-bred youths immediately stood on their +heads for joy, and if a Mole went above a Lily in class, the entire +hill company crowed as loudly as the chanticleers of the barnyard. By +general consent two boys had come to be considered the leaders of the +respective factions; handsome, quick-witted Roy Hastings of the former, +and stronger, bright Carl Duckworth of the latter; while it was an +annoyance to each that their sisters had struck up a "bosom friendship" +and stubbornly refused to share in their brothers' feud. + +"It is so absurd in Roy," said Helen Hastings, "to want me not to visit +Maizie, whom I love so dearly, just because one of her family has +beaten him at baseball and shot more pigeons this spring." + +"And Helen shall come to tea as often as she likes to put up with our +plain fare," declared little Miss Duckworth, "even if Carl does look +like a thunder-cloud all supper time and has hardly enough politeness +to pass the butter." + +So matters stood when, one evening in early June, the commander of the +heights' coterie summoned his followers to a meeting in the loft of an +old barn on his father's estate, that was only used as a storehouse +since a better one had been built. + +"Hello, fellows, what is this pow-wow about?" asked agile Mark Tripp, +as he sprang up a rickety ladder and popped his head through the square +opening in the attic floor. + +"Dun'no; some bee, Duckworth, here, has buzzing round in his bonnet," +replied lazy Hugh Blossom from the hay, where he reclined. "It takes +the captain to have 'happy thoughts,'" while, playfully pulling a +refractory lock of hair sticking out from Carl's head, he gaily +chanted: + + + "And the duck with the feather curled over his back, + He leads all the others, with his quack! quack! quack!" + + +"Good enough! All right, Ducky, proceed with your quacking! Let's know +what's up! Are the 'low-ly lil-is of the val-ly' once more on the war +path? And to what do they challenge us--a spelling match or a swimming +race?" + +"To neither. Those very superior posies are about to seek glory in +another way. I have learned from a most reliable source that they are +now hoarding all their pocket money in order to astonish the natives. +In fact, fellers, they intend to fresco Valleytown a decided carmine on +the 'Glorious Fourth,' and we have got to make the hills hum to quench +'em." + +"What form is their celebration to take?" asked little Peter Wheatly. + +"Fireworks, principally. Real stunners! Not just a few Roman candles +and sky-rockets, but flower-pots throwing up colored balls that burst +into stars, zigzagging serpents, and all sorts of things, such as have +never been seen round here before. Why, our big bonfire and giant +crackers will be nowhere." + +"Right you are there, Cap," said Hugh. "They will have all the country +down on the Green patting them on the back for their public spirit, +while we occupy a back seat. It's a pretty bright move for the Lilies, +and I don't see how we can prevent it." + +"Get up a counter-attraction. Pyro--pyro--what do you call 'em will +make a good deal finer show from Round Knob than down yonder in the +dale." + +"Sure. But where are your pyrotechnics to come from?" + +"From the city, of course. See here, I wrote to a firm there as soon +as I learned the Lilies' secret, and they sent me a price-list." Young +Duckworth produced a very gay red and yellow circular, but the boys +only looked at each other in blank amazement. The hillside farmers were +nearly all land poor, gaining but a bare subsistence out of the rocky +New England soil and seldom had a dime, much less dollars, to squander +on mere amusement. + +"Guess you think we are Rothschilds or Vanderbilts," snickered small +Peter. + +"Pennies always burn a hole in my pocket and drop right out," said Mark. + +"I might chip in a copper cent and a nickel with a dig in it," drawled +Hugh, and there was no one else who could do better. + +"Well, I know you are an impecunious lot," continued Carl, "but next +week the strawberries will be dead ripe. If you fellows will only be +patriotic and pitch in and pick for the cause we can put Roy Hastings +and his top-lofty crowd to the blush by getting up a really respectable +show with a 'piece' as a topper off. I don't believe the Valleyites +ever thought of a 'piece.'" + +"What sort of a piece?" asked Bud Perkins. + +"Why, a fancy piece of fireworks, of course. Just listen to what Powder +& Co. offer!" and Carl read aloud: "'Realistic spectacle of Mother +Goose, in peaked hat and scarlet cloak, with her gander by her side. +The head of George Washington, the Father of his Country, surrounded +by thirteen stars. Very fine. Superb figure of Christopher Columbus +landing from his Spanish galleon upon the American shore. One of our +most magnificent designs." + +"There, don't that sound prime? They're expensive, awfully expensive, +but we can economize on the rockets and little things to come out +strong, in a blaze of glory, at the end. I warrant a Mother Goose or, +better yet, a Washington would shut up the Lilies' leaves in a jiffy." + +"Or Christopher Columbus--I vote for old Chris," shouted Mark. + +"Yes, yes, Chris and his galleon," chorused the others. + +"It is the dearest of them all," remarked Carl, somewhat dubiously. + +"No matter, 'Chris or nothing,' say we." So it was decided, and before +the boys parted they had all agreed, if they could win their parents' +consent, to hire out for the berry-picking and to contribute every cent +thus earned toward the Fourth of July celebration. + +There is no spur like competition, and for the next three weeks the +ambitious youths devoted themselves heart, and soul, and fingers to +the cause; but the pickers had their reward, when, the berry harvest +over, they found they could send a tolerably satisfactory order to +Powder & Co., and when, on the third of July, a great box arrived +by express, was unpacked, and its contents secretly, and under the +cover of night, stored away in the lower part of Farmer Duckworth's +discarded barn, their exuberant delight burst forth in sundry ecstatic +somersaults and Indian-like dances. + +It may be, however, that their exultation might have been tempered with +caution had they been aware of two figures gliding stealthily through +the darkness without, and known that the case, bearing the name of the +city firm, when it was taken from the train, had not escaped the sharp +eyes of Roy Hastings and his chum Ed Spafford. + +"How do you suppose they ever raised the money to buy all those +fireworks?" asked one shadow of another shadow, as they flitted down +the hill. + +"I don't know, confound 'em! But I do know their show is better than +ours, and something has got to be done!" + +"Yes, indeed, and surely, Roy, there must be some way!" + +"There always is where there is a will, and--and--_matches_!" + +Boom, boom, boom! Old Captain Stone's ancient cannon announced the +advent of another Independence Day shortly after midnight, and Young +America was quickly abroad with the Chinese cracker and torpedo. + +Helen Hastings disliked the deafening racket of the village and, +therefore, early beat a retreat to the hills, determined to enjoy the +day in her own fashion with Maizie, who welcomed her with open arms. + +"I am so glad you have come, Nell, dear, for I was feeling as blue as +your sash, if it is the Fourth of July!" + +"Why, darling, what is the matter?" + +"Oh, I am so worried because pa is worried. He don't act a bit like his +dear, jolly, old self, but goes round with a long face and can neither +eat nor sleep. Ma says it is because a mortgage or something is coming +due, and the crops have been so bad for several years that he is afraid +he may have to sell the farm and move out West. It would just break my +heart to leave this place." + +"So it would mine. But there, Maizie, it is foolish to be troubled +about what may never happen. It is so warm let us find a nice cool spot +and finish the book we commenced the other day." + +"There is a good current of air through the loft of the old barn. We +will go there if you can scramble up the ladder." + +This, with some assistance, Helen succeeded in doing, and the two +girls were soon nestling in the sweet, new-mown hay. + +"Eleven o'clock," announced Helen, consulting her little chatelaine +watch as they finally laid down the entertaining story they had been +reading, "and I am both sleepy and thirsty." + +"Well, my dear, lie back and take a nap and I will go and make lemonade +for us both." + +"Really? Oh, that will be delicious!" and throwing herself back on +the fragrant mow she closed her eyes as her blithe, hospitable friend +skipped off toward the house. + +The twittering of the swallows in the eaves and the hum of the insects +in the meadows without were curiously soothing, and the fair maid +fell into a light doze from which, however, she was rudely awakened +by a terrific explosion. She sprang to her feet in alarm to find the +floor heaving like the deck of a ship at sea and feel the tumble-down +building rocking as though shaken to its very foundation. + +"What has happened! Is it an earthquake?" she gasped, rushing to the +ladder-way; but she started back in affright at sight of a mass of +flame and flying, fiery objects below. "Oh, this is terrible!" Was +she, Helen Hastings--her father's pride, her brothers' pet--to meet +a violent death here in this lonely spot? Expecting every instant to +have the boards give way beneath her, she flew to the window and, in +her desperation, would have leaped out, regardless of a huge pile of +stones beneath, had not the voice of Maizie at that moment reached her +ear calling: "Don't jump, Helen; don't jump! You will be killed! Wait! +courage! I am going for help." Even as she faltered hesitatingly, her +strength failed, her senses reeled and she fell fainting to the ground. + +Across lots from Round Knob, where they had been preparing for the +evening exhibition, came Carl Duckworth, Hugh Blossom and Bud Perkins. +They were in high spirits, discussing with animation the anticipated +fun, when Bud suddenly stopped short, asking, "Who are those fellows +making tracks so fast down the road?" + +"Looks like Roy Hastings and Ed Spafford," replied Hugh. "Though what +brings them this way on such a day as this puzzles me." + +"I hope they haven't got wind of our plans and been up to some +mischief," said Carl, uneasily, instinctively quickening his footsteps. + +A moment later, as they entered the farm gate, the explosion that had +awakened Helen made them also start and gaze at each other in dismay. +Then a howl of mingled rage, grief and astonishment burst from the +trio as through the open door of the old barn shot a confused medley +of rockets, pin-wheels, snakes and grasshoppers, popping and fizzing +madly in the garish sunlight; a howl that culminated in a shriek when +whirling and spinning out whizzed the famous "piece," the Landing of +Columbus, thrown by the concussion far upon the grass, where it went +off in a highly erratic manner, poor Christopher appearing perfectly +demoralized as he stood on his head in the brilliant galleon, with his +feet waving amid a galaxy of stars. + +"All our three weeks' labor and all our money gone up in smoke!" +groaned Bud, flinging himself down in an agony of despair. + +"And it is Roy Hastings' mean, dastardly work," growled Hugh; while +Carl turned pale with wrath and shook his fist in a way that boded no +good to his enemy. Indeed, at that instant, he felt that revenge, swift +and telling, would be the sweetest thing in life. + +Truly, then, it seemed the very irony of fate, when, from amid the +wreaths of smoke pouring from the upper loft window, emerged for +a brief second a girlish, white-robed figure, with beseeching, +outstretched hands, that paused, swayed, then fell back and +disappeared, while Maizie rushed toward them crying, "Oh, Carl, Carl! +The old barn is on fire, and Helen is in there!" + +"What! Roy Hastings' sister?" and Hugh actually laughed aloud. + +"Serves the mean rascal right, too, if she was killed, for he would +have no one but himself to blame," said Bud Perkins, whose bark was +always worse than his bite, and who was really as kind-hearted a chap +as ever lived. + +"Oh, you bad, cruel boys!" exclaimed Maizie; "but Carl, I know, will +not be so wicked," and she turned imploringly to her brother, in +whose mind a fierce struggle was going on. In a flash, he saw his foe +bowed and crushed with remorse, a "paying back" far beyond anything +he could have dreamed of! Besides, the risk was tremendous, and why +should he endanger his life? But the next moment humanity triumphed, +and shouting, "We can't stand idle and see a girl perish before our +eyes! So here goes," he sped off toward the burning building, stripping +off his jacket, as he ran, which he plunged into a barrel of water +and then wrapped closely about his head. Thus protected, he bravely +dashed through the flames lapping at him with their fiery tongues. +His breath came in short, quick pants, he was nearly suffocated, and +falling rafters warned him that he had no time to spare. Valiantly, +however, he struggled to the already charred ladder and groped his way +up it, until, gasping and exhausted, he reached the window with the +unconscious girl in his arms, as the fire was eating through the floor +at his feet. + +To the anxious watchers outside, it appeared an eternity before the lad +reached the window and deftly caught the rope they had ready to toss +to him. With trembling fingers he knotted this about Helen's waist, +gently let her down into the arms of Bud and Hugh and then prepared to +descend himself, when a groan of horror from the onlookers rent the +air; there was a quiver, a sudden giving way, a deafening crash and +roar. The flooring had at length succumbed to the destroying element +and gone down. Mrs. Duckworth sank on her knees sobbing. "Oh, my boy! +my boy!" and Maizie hid her face. But, as the smoke cleared away, the +groan changed to a joyous shout and all looked up to behold the youth +clinging to the casement, which was still upheld by two feeble supports. + +Hugh sprang forward. "Carl, drop! Let yourself drop," he called. "We +will catch you," and Carl, as a great darkness overwhelmed him, dropped +like a dead weight and was borne, a begrimed and senseless burden, to +his own little room in the cozy old homestead. + +Summer was over ere a mere wraith of sturdy, lively Carl Duckworth was +able to creep down stairs to sit on the veranda and gaze listlessly +out upon the mountain landscape in its early autumn dress. But, after +weary weeks of pain and anxiety, he was on the mend, and there was +something of the old merriment in his laugh when he caught sight of +a row of urchins, perched on the fence like a motley flock of birds, +singing with hearty good will, "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" and he +was surprised to recognize in the welcoming choristers many "Lilies" of +Valleytown, as well as his own familiar friends. + +It was something of an astonishment, too, to have Roy Hastings hurry +forward to offer his hand and say: + +"I can't tell you, Duckworth, how glad I am to see you out again and +only wish you would give me a good sound kicking;" while surely there +were tears in his eyes and a curious break in his voice. + +It was a boy's way of begging pardon, but, being a boy, Carl +understood, while as he looked into the other's white worn face, so +changed since he saw it last, he dimly comprehended that there might +be "coals of fire" which burn more sharply even than the blisters and +stings that had caused him such days and nights of agony. + +So the grasp he gave Roy was warm and cordial as he said, "Well, I'm +not equal to much kicking yet, old fellow; but, for one, I am tired of +this old feud and think it is time we buried the hatchet." + +"Oh, I am so glad!" cried a merry voice in the doorway, and out danced +Helen with her hands full of flowers. "You dear, heroic Carl. I have +come to thank you, too, though I never, never can, for rescuing me on +that dreadful day, and, as some small return, they have let me be the +first to tell you of the silver lining hidden behind that cloud of +smoke." + +"What do you mean?" asked Carl, thoroughly mystified. + +"I mean that Christopher Columbus and his combustible companions did +a pretty good turn after all. They plowed up the ground under the old +barn so well that when the rubbish was cleared away there came to light +what promises to be the finest paint mine in the whole country." + +"Paint mine!" + +"Yes, sir. Non-inflammable, mineral paint that will not only save the +farm, but, perhaps, make all our fortunes." + +"It's true, Carl, every word true," laughed Maizie, who had stolen +softly up. "Papa has had the ore analyzed, and is so happy he beams +like a full moon. Judge Hastings, too, has been so kind, advancing +funds, getting up a company and preparing to build a kiln. It has been +quite the excitement of the summer in Valleytown." + +"Well, well! This is glorious news! Hip, hip, hooray!" a feeble cheer +that was echoed and re-echoed by the faction on the fence. + +"Dear me, haven't you finished your revelations yet?" exclaimed Mark +Tripp, suddenly tumbling up the steps. "For if you have the 'Lilies +of the Valley' request the captain of the 'Ground Moles' and the +young ladies to occupy the piazza chairs and witness a pyrotechnical +display postponed from the Fourth of July, but now given in honor of +the recovery of our esteemed citizen, Carl Duckworth, and of our Peace +Jubilee." + +All laughed at Mark's pompous little speech and hastened to take their +places. So at last in a shower of golden sparks they buried the hatchet +and the feud between Valleytown and Hillside ended forever amid a +generous display of fire-works. + + + + +HANSCHEN AND THE HARES. + +FROM THE GERMAN, BY ELLEN T. SULLIVAN. + + +Long ago, in a little house near a forest in Germany lived a shoemaker +and his wife. They were poor but contented and happy; for they were +willing to work and they had their snug little house and food enough +for themselves and their little Hanschens. + +"Oh! if Hanschen would only grow like other boys, I should be the +happiest woman in the land," the mother used to say. "He is six years +old, yet he can stand on the palm of my hand." + +"Well, if he is not so big as some of our neighbors' boys, he is +brighter than many of them," the father used to answer. Then the mother +felt so glad she would dance around the room with Hans and say, "Yes, +he is bright as a child can be and as spry too. When he runs around the +room I can hardly catch him." + +One day she said to her husband, "I am going to the forest meadow to +cut fodder for the goat. The grass there is so sweet and juicy that, +if the goat eats it, we shall have the richest milk for Hanschen. That +will make him grow faster. I will take him with me; he can sit in the +grass and play with the flowers." + +"Very well," said the father; "take care that he does not stray away +from you. Give him some clover blossoms to suck. We are too poor to buy +candy for him." + +Out through the green forest went Hanschen and his mother. The boy +was so happy that his mother could hardly hold him, as he laughed and +jumped and clapped his hands. He thought the blue sky was playing +hide-and-seek with him through the treetops; that the birds were +singing a welcome to him, and that the bees, the butterflies, and great +dragon-flies were all glad to see him. When they came to the meadow his +mother put him down and gave him some clover blossoms. Then she began +to cut the grass and soon she was quite a way from Hanschen, who was +entirely hidden by the tall grass. + +While the mother was working Hanschen sat sucking his sweet clover +blossoms. All at once he heard a rustling, and there, beside him were +two little hares. He was not at all afraid. He nodded to them and said, +"How do you do?" The little hares had never seen a child. They thought +he was a hare, dressed up in a coat and having a different kind of face +from their own. They stared at him a minute and then one said, "Hop! +hop!" and sprang over a grass stalk. "Can you do that?" said they to +Hanschen. "Yes, indeed!" said he, leaping quickly over a stalk, as +he spoke. "Now," said the hares, "we shall have a fine time playing +together." And a fine time they did have, leaping and racing until the +sun was low in the west, and the little hares began to think of supper +and bed. + +"Come home with us; our father and mother will be good to you;" they +said to Hanschen. So he leaped away with the little hares toward the +green bushes where they lived. + +Now there was another little hare, who had staid at home with his +mother that day. His bright eyes were the first to see the three merry +friends leaping toward the bushes. "Oh, mammy! mammy!" he cried: "Just +look through the bushes. Did you ever see such a queer-looking hare as +that little chap with my brothers?" + +"Bring me my spectacles, child," said Mrs. Hare. "It may be the poor +thing has been hurt. That terrible hunter is around again. He chased +your poor father yesterday. Then that wicked old fox is prowling about, +too. It may be that one of them hurt the poor little stranger so that +he does not look natural. If so, I'll soon cure him by good nursing." + +That was what kind Mrs. Hare said to her little son. He brought her +spectacles, which she wiped and put on. + +Then she cried out, "Why bless me! this is no hare! This is a human +child! He is lost and his parents will be wild with grief for him. My +children, I fear you led him astray. Tell just where you found him and +we will carry him back there in the morning. It is so late now he must +stay with us to-night." + +"We thought he was a hare because he can spring and leap as well as we +can. We found him in the forest meadow and we have had splendid fun +together," said the little hares. + +Then good Mrs. Hare gave Hanschen some hares' bread for his supper, and +soon after she tucked him snugly in bed with her sons. Before putting +him to bed she drew over him, a soft silky hare coat. It fitted him +nicely from the two furry ears to the little stubby tail. The three +little hares were delighted and said, "He's a hare now, isn't he, +mammy?" "Well, dears, he does look just like one of you; but you must +all lie still now and go to sleep for we must get up with the sun, +to-morrow," said Mrs. Hare. + +In the meantime Hanschen's mother had finished cutting the grass, and +she looked for Hanschen and called him until it grew quite dark. Then +she went home, weeping bitterly, and told her husband that their child +was lost. Out ran the father then to look for his boy; but he could +not find him. All that night the poor parents wept and moaned, while +Hanschen was sleeping peacefully with the little hares. + +The Hare family got up at daylight, and all of them put on their Sunday +clothes, for Mr. Hare had said to his wife, "I want folks to see that +their child has been with good company; so please put on your very best +cap and brush all our children's coats until they shine. I'll wear a +high collar and my tall silk hat, and you must tie my cravat in a nice +bow." + +When all were dressed they ate a good breakfast, locked up their green +gate and started for the meadow. + +They had scarcely reached the edge of the forest, when they heard +Hanschen's mother calling, "Hanschen! Hanschen! darling!" "Here I am, +mother;" cried he. "I hear him! I hear him! Oh husband! don't you?" +said the mother. "I do hear his voice but I can see nothing except a +little brown hare." + +Hanschen laughed in delight--sprang forward and pulled off his furry +coat. How surprised his father and mother were! By this time the Hare +family had come up and Mr. Hare took off his hat and bowing very low, +he said, "Mr. Man, this is my good wife and these youngsters are my +three sons. Their mother and I try to teach them to do right, and they +really are pretty good children. Two of them were playing around here +yesterday, and invited your son to play with them, not knowing what +sorrow and trouble they caused you by leading him astray. They brought +him home with them last night. My good wife gave him plenty to eat; +he slept with my sons and you see the fine suit of hare-clothes he has +just taken off. I hope you will let him keep it to remember us by. It +is a present from all of us. We are only hares but we have done by your +child just what we should like you to do by one of our children if you +should find one of them astray. And now, my dear sir, we will bid you +farewell and go back to our home." + +"Not yet! not yet!" cried Hanschen's father and mother. "Tell us, do +you have sorrows or troubles? One good turn deserves another. We should +be so glad to do something for you." + +"Sorrows and troubles are plentiful in our lives," said Mr. Hare. "If +you can stop that terrible hunter from chasing us; and if you can +manage to trap that wicked Mr. Fox, will make us very happy. And good +Mrs. Man, if you will just throw a few cabbage leaves out on the snow +for us in the winter, when every green thing is dead or buried; then we +shall not have to go to bed hungry." + +Hanschen's father and mother gladly promised to do all they could for +the good Hare family; then the two happy families went home. + +One day soon after Hanschen's visit to the hares, his father got up +very early, for he had two pairs of shoes to finish that day. He had +scarcely begun his work when a very loud knock was heard at the door. +"Who can it be so early as this?" thought the shoemaker. He opened the +door and there stood--Mr. Fox! "Good morning, shoemaker," said he; "I +want you to make me a pair of shoes and do it right off, too, or I'll +kill every one of your hens to-night. I'm hare hunting, to-day. I know +where a whole family of hares live, down near the forest. I mean to bag +them all before they leave their house this morning. They run so fast +it is hard to catch them when they are out. But, see one of my shoes is +torn, so I must have a new pair before I can walk so far." + +The shoemaker bowed and invited the fox to come in and sit down. Then +he said, "Mr. Fox, a great hunter like you ought to wear high boots; +not low shoes like common folks." That pleased Mr. Fox, so he said, +"Well, make high boots; but make them of the finest, softest leather, +and do not make them tight." The shoemaker took the hardest, heaviest, +leather he could find and soon finished the boots. He put a piece of +sticky wax into each boot. He said to himself, "Mr. Fox thinks he is +very sly but we'll see whether he can catch our friends, the hares, +when he puts on these boots." + +Mr. Fox proudly drew on his boots but he said: "They seem stiff and +tight. I fear I cannot run very fast in them." + +"Just wait till you have worn them a little while--new boots generally +feel stiff," said the shoemaker. + +"Well, I will hurry off now; but I'll soon come back and bring you the +hares' skins to pay for the boots," said Mr. Fox. + +A little while after the fox had gone the shoemaker's wife jumped up in +alarm from her chair. A hare had leaped in through the window behind +her. It was one of their friends--the father of the Hare family. "Save +me! the hunter is after me," he cried. "Here, quick! jump into bed," +said the shoemaker's wife. He did so, and she covered him up, then she +dressed Hanschen in the suit that the hares had given him. She had +scarcely done so when the hunter came in and said, "Give me the hare +that I have been chasing. I saw him leap into your window. I must have +him. There he is now, springing on your table." + +"There is my little Hanschen," said the shoemaker. "No wonder you think +he is a hare, for he can run as fast and leap as well as any hare." +"Yes," said Hanschen's mother, "and he often goes out to play in this +hare-suit--see how nicely it fits him. But, Mr. Hunter, you must not +shoot my Hanschen when you are out chasing hares." + +"Well," said the hunter, "if that isn't wonderful. But say, good +people, how in the world am I to know whether I am chasing Hanschen +or a hare?" "Oh, easily enough," said the shoemaker. "You have only +to wait a minute and call out, 'Hanschen!' If the little creature +sits up still and straight like a child, don't shoot, for that will be +Hanschen." "I will remember and call out," said the hunter. + +"Well, then, to pay you for your kindness, I'll tell you that if you +hurry toward the forest, now, you will be able to bag a fox that cannot +be far away; for the rogue has on a pair of boots of my making, and he +has hard work to move with them by this time, I'll be bound." + +"Thank you, Mr. Shoemaker," said the hunter; "I'll soon finish him and +bring you his hide to prove it. Only last night he killed three of my +hens." The hunter soon caught up with the fox, brought his hide to the +shoemaker and went away. + +Then Hanschen's father told the hare to go home to his folks and tell +them that the old fox would never trouble them again, and when they +heard the hunter they were just to sit still and straight on their hind +legs. Mr. Hare flew over the ground on his way home. His good news made +him light-hearted and swift-footed. Oh, how happy the hares were! To +this day hares often sit up like a child. + +Hanschen often spent a day with the hares, and learned to run so well, +and spring forward so quickly, that all the people said when he grew +up, "He is the best man to have for a postman for the villages around." +So Hanschen became postman. He never forgot his friends, the hares, +but always carried some cabbage leaves for them when snow and ice +covered up or killed the green leaves. 'Tis said the hares used to +watch for his coming, and sing this song when they caught sight of him: + + + "Our good friend, Hans, + Is a brave young man; hip, hurrah! + He springs as well + As the best hare can; hip, hurrah! + Beneath his coat + Is a good, warm heart; hip, hurrah! + We may be sure + He will take our part; hip, hurrah! + We need not starve + Though the world be white; hip, hurrah! + Our good friend, Hans + Will give us a bite; hip, hurrah! + This is his time + He is drawing near; hip, hurrah! + Off with hats; now + Cheer upon cheer; hip, hip, hurrah!" + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Young Hero, by Edward Ellis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59853 *** |