"Well, Ogden," said Prodger, when he came in. "That bay team has earned eight dollars and fifty cents to-day. I"m glad you brought them over. How long are you going to be in town?"
"I can"t tell," said Jack. "I"m staying at Murdoch"s."
"The editor"s? He"s a good fellow, but the _Eagle_ is slow. All dry fodder. No vinegar. No pickles. He needs waking up. Tell him about Link"s bridge!"
That was a good beginning, and Jack soon knew just how high the water had risen in the creek at Mertonville; how high it had ever risen before; how many logs had been saved; how near Sam Hutchins and three other men came to being carried over the dam; and what people talked about doing to prevent another flood, and other matters of interest.
Then he went among the stable-men, who had been driving all day, and they gave him a number of items. Jack relied mainly upon his memory, but he soon gathered such a budget of facts that he had to go to the public reading-room and work a while with pencil and paper, for fear of forgetting his treasures.
Out he went again, and it was curious how he managed to slip in among knots of idlers, and set them to talking, and make them tell all they knew.
"I"m getting the news," he said to himself; "only there isn"t much worth the time." After a few moments he exclaimed, "This is the darkest, meanest part of all Mertonville!"
It was the oldest part of the village, near the ca.n.a.l and the railway station, and many of the houses were dilapidated. Jack was thinking that Mary might write something about improving such a neglected, squalid quarter, when he heard a shriek from the door of a house near by.
"Robbers!--thieves!--fire!--murder!--rob-bers!--villains!"
It was the voice of a woman, and had a crack in it that made it sound as if two voices were trying to choke each other.
"Robbers!" shouted Jack springing forward, just as two very short men dashed through the gate and disappeared in the darkness.
If they were robbers they were likely to get away, for they ran well.
Jack Ogden did not run very far. He heard other footsteps. There were people coming from the opposite direction, but he paid no attention to them, until just as he was pa.s.sing the gate.
Then he felt a hand on his left shoulder, and another hand on his right shoulder, and suddenly he found himself lying flat on his back upon the sidewalk.
"Hold him, boys!"
"We"ve got him!"
"Hold him down!"
"Tie him! We needn"t gag him. Tie him tight! We"ve got him!"
There were no less than four men, and two held his legs, while the other two pinioned his arms, all the while threatening him with terrible things if he resisted.
It was in vain to struggle, and every time he tried to speak they silenced him. Besides, he was too much astonished to talk easily, and all the while an unceasing torrent of abuse was poured upon him, over the gate, by the voice that had given the alarm.
"We"ve got him, Mrs. McNamara! He can"t get away this time. The young villain!"
"They were goin" to brek into me house, indade," said Mrs. McNamara.
"The murdherin" vagabones!"
"What"ll we do with him now, boys?" asked one of his captors. "I don"t know where to take him--do you, Deacon Abrams?"
"What"s your name, you young thief?" sternly demanded another.
Jack had begun to think. One of his first thoughts was that a gang of desperate robbers had seized him. The next idea was, that he never met four more stupid-looking men in Mertonville, nor anywhere else. He resolved that he would not tell his name, to have it printed in the _Inquirer_, and so made no answer.
"That"s the way of thim," said Mrs. McNamara. "He"s game, and he won"t pache. The joodge"ll have to mak him spake. Ye"d betther lock him up, and kape him till day."
"That"s it, Deacon Abrams."
"That"s just it," said the man spoken to. "We can lock him up in the back room of my house, while we go and find the constable."
Away they went, guarding their prisoner on the way as if they were afraid of him.
They soon came to the dwelling of Deacon Abrams.
It was hard for Jack Ogden, but he bore it like a young Mohawk Indian.
It would have been harder if it had not been so late, and if more of the household had been there to see him. As it was, doors opened, candles flared, old voices and young voices asked questions, a baby cried, and then Jack heard a very sharp voice.
"Sakes alive, Deacon! You can"t have that ruffian here! We shall all be murdered!"
"Only till I go and find the constable, Jerusha," said the deacon, pleadingly. "We"ll lock him in the back room, and Barney and Pettigrew"ll stand guard at the gate, with clubs, while Smith and I are gone."
There was another protest, and two more children began to cry, but Jack was led on into his prison-cell.
It was a comfortable room, containing a bed and a chair. There was real ingenuity in the way they secured Jack Ogden. They backed a chair against a bedpost and made him sit down, and then they tied the chair, and the wicked young robber in it, to the post.
"There!" said Deacon Abrams. "He can"t get away now!" and in a moment more Jack heard the key turn in the lock, and he was left in the dark, alone and bound,--a prisoner under a charge of burglary.
"I never thought of this thing happening to me," he said to himself, gritting his teeth and squirming on his chair. "It"s pretty hard. May be I can get away, though. They thought they pulled the ropes tight, but then--"
The hempen fetters really hurt him a little, but it was partly because of the chair.
"May be I can kick it out from under me," he said to himself, "and loosen the ropes."
Out it came, after a tug, and then Jack could stand up.
"I might climb on the bed, now the ropes are loose," he said, "and lift the loops over the post. Then I could crawl out of "em."
He was excited, and worked quickly. In a moment he was standing in the middle of the room, with only his hands tied behind him.
"I can cut that cord," he thought, "if I can find a nail in the wall."
He easily found several, and one of them had a rough edge on the head of it, and after a few minutes of hard sawing, the cord was severed.
"It"s easy to saw twine," said he. "Now for the next thing."
He went to the window and looked out into the darkness.
"I"m over the roof of the kitchen," he said, "and that tree"s close to it."
Up went the window--slowly, carefully, noiselessly--and out crept Jack upon that roof. It was steep, but he stole along the ridge. Now he could reach the tree.
"It"s an apple-tree," he said. "I can reach that longest branch, and swing off, and go down it hand over hand."
At an ordinary time, few boys would have thought it could be done, and Jack had to gather all his courage to make the attempt; but he slid down and reached for that small, frail limb, from his perilous perch in the gutter of the roof.