CHAPTER XXIII
"THIS TIME IS AS GOOD AS ANY OTHER"
"There he is!" breathed Greg, who ran with the foremost rank of pursuing boys, as they turned into Abbott Street.
A policeman saw the commotion and ran fast after the crowd of youngsters. As the officer caught up with Ross he found out that they were "chasing Fits."
Though the man ahead ran rapidly, the foremost boys gradually overtook him. The policeman, too, was well in the front of the running.
Then the fugitive stumbled and fell to the ground. He sat up, but made no further move to get away.
"I may as well give meself up," remarked the recent fugitive resignedly.
"The law is always sure to git a feller."
"Why, this isn"t Mr. Fits!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed d.i.c.k and Greg in the same accent of disgust.
"Who"s going to gimme fits?" demanded the man, looking stupidly about him, while the crowd circled him and the policeman peered down into his face. "Who"s going to gimme fits, I ask? Will it be Jack Ryan?"
"This fellow is Dock Breslin, a teamster," muttered the policeman disgustedly. "Who said it was the thief that the chief wants so badly?"
"I--I thought it was, when I saw him," stammered Greg Holmes, rather abashed now. "He"s the same build as Fits, and looked like him at a distance. And this man, Breslin, was peering around the corner and acting suspiciously. He ran away, too, when we started after him."
"I"ll go with ye, peaceable like," promised Dock Breslin, getting upon his feet and addressing the blue coated one. ""Twas Jack himself swore out the warrant, I suppose."
"What warrant?" demanded the policeman.
"Didn"t he swear out one?" insisted Breslin.
"Who?"
"Jack Ryan. "Twas meself that gave Ryan a big wallopin" this afternoon, all on account of a bit of a dispute we had. Jack swore he"d be even with me, and I heard he"d sworn out a warrant against me," explained Breslin, who had the air of one stupidly rejoicing that his suspense was ended.
"I heard of no warrant for you, Dock, when the night watch had the orders read before we came out to-night," replied the policeman.
"Then Jack didn"t do it?" demanded Breslin.
"If he did, he didn"t let the police know about it," laughed the policeman. "If there"d been a warrant against you, Dock, the orders would have been read to the night watch at the station house. Did you run from the boys because you thought there was a warrant against you?"
"I did," the teamster admitted.
"Then Jack Ryan will be laughing at you to-morrow," grinned the officer.
"Go home, Breslin, and behave yourself. Boys, you"d better scatter."
It was not long after that that Gridley Grammar School boys were at home and in bed. By morning they were on the street again, as there was still some of the holiday vacation left.
There was news, too, this morning. The Dodge house had been entered late in the night, but the Dodge coachman, returning late, had caught sight of a burglar near an open dining room window. In investigating more closely the coachman had scared the burglar, who leaped from the window, struck the coachman over the head, and then vanished. But the coachman"s description of his a.s.sailant tallied with the personal appearance of Mr.
Fits.
"Then the bold scoundrel is still operating in Gridley?" pa.s.sed from mouth to mouth. "What nerve!"
"The thief is likely to stay here for a night or two longer," the chief of police warned business men along Main Street. "The truth appears to be that the rascal whom the boys have named Mr. Fits is without funds to get away. The loot that d.i.c.k & Co. found out at the camp was what the scoundrel had expected to take away with him and sell. That stuff not being in his possession, he must steal something else on which to raise money before he can go far from here."
"Why doesn"t the rascal try some other town, then, where he"s not as well known?" inquired Mr. Dodge.
"Because he has houses that he and his confederates, now locked up in jail, had spotted for robbery," replied the police chief. "Burglars don"t usually enter a house until they"ve looked it well over and know just about what they expect to find. I"ll have all my men alert to-night, and well to do people will do well to be on the lookout, too.
As soon as this "Mr. Fits" gets loot enough he"ll probably leave Gridley."
That same forenoon d.i.c.k, Dave and Tom, acting as a self-appointed committee, called on Lawyer Ripley at that gentleman"s office. They thanked the lawyer for the use of the camp, and mentioned the burning down of the cook shack.
Hardly had they begun to speak when Fred Ripley sauntered into his father"s office. Silently Fred stepped over to a part of the office that lay behind his father"s back.
"How did the fire happen?" inquired the lawyer. "Some of you young men just a bit frisky and careless?"
Fred, from behind his father, scowled at the three Grammar School boys.
It was plain enough that he dreaded having his father told the truth.
Nor did d.i.c.k and his chums want to tell if it could be avoided. They had all of a schoolboy"s aversion to carrying tales.
"No, sir; it wasn"t carelessness on the part of any of our party,"
Prescott answered truthfully.
"Oh, well, it doesn"t matter, at any rate," the lawyer a.s.sured them.
"The whole camp is worth nothing in these days, and the shack was the least valuable part of all. If it"s burned down, then it"s gone. Mrs.
Dexter wouldn"t want any of you boys made uncomfortable over the affair for a moment, so you needn"t tell me another word about it. But the cabin is still standing, and you may want to use it again. As Mrs.
Dexter"s attorney and agent, I offer you the use of it at any time when you please. You needn"t even come to ask my permission. The use of the cabin belongs solely to you boys, and it"s yours at any time without asking."
d.i.c.k & Co. took their leave promptly, and Fred escaped, for the time being, an investigation by his stern father.
"I hear that word is going around to the wealthy people in town to look out for Mr. Fits to-night," remarked Tom, as the trio of Grammar School boys returned to the street.
"That lets our families out," laughed d.i.c.k.
"Are you so very sure of that?" Dave inquired. "Fits might pay one of our homes a visit by way of revenge--yours, for instance, d.i.c.k."
"I don"t believe he"ll do it, just for revenge," Prescott replied, with a shake of his head. "Fits is probably superst.i.tious, and he has most likely come to the conclusion that he runs to bad luck in pursuing our crowd. All of his ill luck, and that of his confederates, now in jail, has come through bothering us."
"Don"t be too sure that you won"t have another visit from the rascal,"
warned Tom. "d.i.c.k, Mr. Fits knows you"re the leader of our crowd, and that"s why he"ll single out your house, if any, for a visit of revenge."
"I"d like to stay awake and see," smiled d.i.c.k. "Yet I"m almost certain that I"d fall into a sound doze before midnight."
During the day there were a lot of the Central Grammar School boys to be met, and each one had to have some account of the wonderful s...o...b..und days. By evening d.i.c.k had very nearly forgotten the possible danger from Mr. Fits.
After supper Dave sauntered into the Prescott store.