"Hey, dere! Stop dot train, quick! Me! I am not off board, yet!"
It was Herr Schimmelpodt, hot, perspiring and gasping, who now raced upon the platform. For one of his weight, combined with his lack of nimbleness, it was hazardous to attempt to board the moving train.
Yet Herr Schimmelpodt made a wild dash for the train. He would have been mangled or killed, had not Officer Hemingway caught the anxious German and pulled him back.
"Hey, you! Vot for you do dot?" screamed Herr Schimmelpodt.
"Hey? Answer me dot vun, dumm-gesicht!" (Foolish-faced one.)
"I did it to save you from going under the wheels," retorted Officer Hemingway dryly.
"Und now I don"t go me by dot game today!" groaned Herr Schimmelpodt.
"Me! I dream apout dot game all der veek, und now I don"t see me by it."
"But, man-----"
"Hal"s maul." (Literally" "Shut your mouth!")
"Me! Und I Couldn"t lose dot game for ein dollar!" glared the prosperous German.
He stared after the departed second section, from the open windows of which fluttered or wildly waved many a banner; for few of the Gridley crowd had yet discovered that one of the most prized members of the team had been left behind.
Herr Schimmelpodt it was, who, a wealthy retired contractor, had found his second youth in his enthusiasm over the High School baseball nine the season before.
Though thrifty enough in most matters, the German had become a liberal contributor to the High School athletic fund, to the great dismay of his good wife, who feared that his new outdoor fads would yet land them both in the poorhouse.
"Vot you doing here, Bresgott?" demanded Herr Schimmelpodt, turning upon the young prisoner. "Vy you ain"t by dot elefen? How dey going to vin bis you are behint left?"
"You have company in your misery, sir," said Officer Hemingway.
"I"m awfully sorry to say that d.i.c.k Prescott can"t see today"s game, either. It"s a whopping shame, but sometimes the law is powerless to do right."
"What foolishness are you talking mit, vonce alretty?" demanded Herr Schimmelpodt, looking bewildered.
"I"ve just been arrested, on a false charge of a.s.sault," d.i.c.k stated quietly.
"You? Und you don"t blay by der game yet" By der beard of Charlemagne,"
howled Herr Schimmelpodt excitedly, "ve see apoud dot!"
Digging down into a trouser"s pocket this enthusiastic old High School "rooter" brought up a roll of bills almost as large around as a loaf of bread.
CHAPTER XV
A "FACER" FOR THE PLOTTER
"What are you going to do with all that wallpaper, Mr.Schimmelpodt?"
laughed Officer Hemingway.
"Me? I gif bail, don"t I?" demanded the German.
"Well, you can"t do it here. That"s a matter to be fixed in court."
"Und dot train going by a mile a minute, I bet you!" gasped the German ruefully.
"Come along, lad," urged Hemingway gently. "On Sat.u.r.days court opens at one o"clock. We"ll get right up there and see this matter through."
"I bet you"ve see dis matter through---right through someone, ain"t it?" exploded Herr Schimmelpodt, ranging himself on the other side of the young prisoner.
As they went along the German, using all his native and acquired shrewdness, quickly got at the bottom of the matter.
In the meantime indignant Dave Darrin was telling all he knew about the business to an indignant lot of High School youngsters in the day coach.
"You keep your upper eyebrow stiff, Bresgott," urged the warm-hearted German. "I see you through by dis business. Don"t you worry."
"Thank you, but it isn"t the arrest that is really bothering me,"
Prescott answered. "It"s the feet that I"m fooled out of playing this afternoon. And Darrin and I had been trained for so many special tricks for today"s game that I"m almost afraid my absence will make a difference in the score. But, Herr Schimmelpodt, if you want to help me, do you really mind dropping in at the store and telling my father, so that he can come down to the court room? Yet please be careful not to scare Dad. He has a horror of courts and criminal law."
"I bet you I do der chob---slick," promised the German, and hurried away.
"There goes a man that"s all right, from his feet up to the top of his head," declared Officer Hemingway.
On the streets d.i.c.k"s appearance with Hemingway attracted little notice. Folks were used to seeing the High School reporter of "The Blade" walking with this policeman-detective. The few who really did notice merely wondered why d.i.c.k Prescott was not on his way to the Tottenville gridiron today.
When Hemingway and his prisoner reached the court room there were only two or three loungers there, for it was still some minutes before the time for the a.s.sembling of the court.
Presently Bert Dodge and his friend, Bayliss, dropped in. They glanced at the young left end with no attempt to conceal their feelings of triumph. Bert looked much the worse for wear.
d.i.c.k returned their looks coolly, but without defiance. He was angry only that he should have been cheated of his right to play in that big game.
Then in came the elder Dodge, only just back from a sanitarium.
Beside him walked Lawyer Ripley, who immediately came over to d.i.c.k, just before Herr Schimelpodt and d.i.c.k"s father entered the room hastily.
"Prescott," began the old lawyer, sitting down beside the young player, and speaking in a low tone, "I"ve just been called into this matter, as I"m the Dodge family lawyer. Had my advice been asked I would have demanded much more investigation. From what knowledge I have of you, I don"t regard you as one who is likely to commit an unprovoked a.s.sault. Have you any objection to stating your side of the case bearing in mind, of course, the fact that I"m the Dodge lawyer."
"Not the least in the world," d.i.c.k replied promptly.
It was just at this moment that Herr Schimmelpodt and the elder Prescott came hastening into the room.
Bert Dodge and Bayliss looked over uneasily, several times, to where Lawyer Ripley and the young prisoner sat. d.i.c.k"s father stood by in silence. He already knew his son"s version of the affair of the day before. Herr Schimmelpodt didn"t say anything, but sat down, breathing heavily.
Then the clerk of the court and two court officers came in. Justice Vesey entered soon after and took his seat on the bench.
"The case of Dodge versus Prescott---I mean, the people against Prescott, your honor, is the only thing on the docket this afternoon,"
explained the clerk.
"Is the case ready" inquired the justice mildly.