THE STOLEN CHILD
With her eyes sparkling with rage the old queen looked very ferocious.
But Chief Hogg did not quail. It would be a pretty thing to tell if he
had shown the white feather in the face of a woman, no matter if she
was a swarthy gypsy queen.
“I have here,” he went on to say, pompously, never noticing the slur in
her language when she addressed him; “a legally sworn warrant, charging
you with having in your wagon a small child--yes, a girl at that--which
it is claimed you have abducted, kidnapped, carried away from its
proper parents or guardians. And by virtue of my office, and this
document, I am directed by the justice to bring both woman and child
before him at once. So produce the child, and prepare to accompany us
back to town.”
He made a motion, and his men closed in. The old queen looked as though
she might defy the authorities of Columbia; but a glance around showed
that not a single one of her men was within call. So she knew she must
give up.
“I have a child, I confess,” she said, scornfully, addressing Frank
rather than the big policeman; “and it does not belong to my tribe, but
I expected to adopt it after a while, if no one claimed it. A woman
came to us several months ago, when, we were camped far away from here.
She seemed to be out of her mind, and we took her in. The little girl
was with her. She died soon afterwards, and the child was left with us.
All this can be proved. What have I to fear?”
Turning, she spoke to someone behind her, when the girl the boys had
seen before, and whom the queen had called her granddaughter, Mena,
shoved forward. She, too, looked scornfully at the big policeman, and
undoubtedly the defiant nature of the old queen had descended to the
child.
She was leading a small girl, whose hair seemed to be black enough, and
her skin as dusky as that of the genuine gypsy, but whose eyes were a
bonny blue.
She looked eagerly at the boys, and seeing Lanky, held out her hands
toward him.
“What is your name, little girl?” Lanky asked, ready to give a shout,
so filled with excitement did he seem.
“Effie!” was the quick reply, in a childish voice, as the little one
shrank from the old queen, who must have been very cruel to her, Frank
thought.
“That settles it!” yelled Lanky, as he turned on Frank, the light of a
second great victory in one day filling his dancing eyes.
The Chief would take no delay. He realized that should the gypsy men
return and find him arresting their queen, trouble of some sort was apt
to ensue. And while Chief Hogg could look very imposing in his fine
uniform, and possibly frighten boys, and hungry hoboes, everyone knew
he did not particularly like a rough-and-tumble fight.
And so they all climbed up into the wagon, when the return journey to
town was begun. Fortunately they happened to meet none of the gypsies
on the way. And the old queen seemed to be sure that she could prove
her statement, so that she would be held guiltless. If anyone was
guilty of abduction it must have been the half-crazed woman who came
with the child. And she had long since passed to a land where human
laws could never reach her.
It turned out just as the gypsy queen had said. She had been wise
enough long before to write an account of the happening, and have it
published in some little country paper, that, having no circulation
outside of the village where it was printed, was never seen by those
who searched far and wide for traces of the long-lost daughter of the
rich Elversons.
And when she produced a copy of this it was seen that she could not
be held on any charge, unless that of cruelty toward the child. But
she had been smart enough never to whip the little girl in a manner
that would leave any traces; and so, there being no witnesses, and a
mere child’s word not holding against that of the whole tribe, she was
finally allowed to go.
The tribe disappeared that same hour, nor did they ever again come back
to the vicinity of Columbia.
On the day after the rescue of little Effie, her parents arrived. Frank
and Lanky met them at the train. When they saw a beautiful, though
sad-looking, lady, accompanied by a tall gentleman, get off the train,
and look hungrily around, they waited no longer, but rushed up to them.
“I’m the Lanky Wallace that sent the message, Mr. Elverson!” cried the
boy; and his happy face caused the lady to cry:
“Oh! tell me, have you found her, my poor little lamb?”
For answer Lanky just turned and gave a whistle he had arranged with
Effie, who had been left in the station. And as the child came running
toward them, the lady started in amazement; for as yet nobody had been
able to remove the stain that had been used to color her hair and her
whole body, so that even her mother did not recognize her.
But when her childish voice piped up the one word “mommy,” and the lady
had a single look into those laughing blue eyes, she doubted no longer,
but squeezed the little waif to her heart, laughing and crying at the
same time.
Of course they made a great ado over the two boys, and Frank in vain
tried to prove that it had been all Lanky’s doings. His chum declared
that they were partners through it all; and that he would never have
been able to do the least thing toward learning the truth if it had not
been for the advice and backing of Frank.
Later on they had to go over the whole story, telling everything that
had the slightest connection with the gypsies and little Effie.
And before they went away with their recovered darling, Mr. Elverson
and his wife made the two boys accept a most generous reward as a
slight token of their esteem.
“It is only what would have been paid to a stranger who recovered our
child for us,” the former declared, “and which has long been standing
as an inducement for the detectives of the country to exert themselves;
but outside of that, my dear boys, we can never forget what you have
done. Our home shall be open to you always, as though you were kith
and kin to us. And Effie will expect to see you there as often as you
can make it convenient.”
Of course the boys enjoyed all this. The story had leaked out, and was
told in every home in Columbia. Chief Hogg seemed to have an added
strut to his walk; and it puzzled everyone to decide whether this came
from seeing his name mentioned in the big New York dailies, as helping
to recover the long-lost child of the millionaire, Adolph Elverson; or
on account of the bulge in his pocket where he kept his wallet, after
Mr. Elverson had visited him at headquarters.
Columbia High soon settled down to the duties of the season, and that
year Prof. Tyson Parke admitted that the averages had never been so
high. He secretly gave it as his opinion that the encouragement which
clean athletics met with in his school, backed by the far-seeing
trustees, was the cause for this increased interest shown by the pupils
in their studies.
Lanky was very proud of his gold watch. He had to show it about twenty
times a day for weeks after the long run, and the victory won, had
gained him such a prize. And then his father, fearing that it was
making him vain, bought him a dollar nickel timepiece, which he said
was good enough for the rough-and-tumble school life of a boy. The
prize was put away; only to be worn on Sundays, and special occasions;
for it would do him when he grew up.
During the vacation that now loomed up before them, some of the
boys who have figured extensively in these stories were to decide
whether they would go to college, or, as Frank had suggested, take a
post-graduate course under Prof. Parke; since their parents considered
them rather young to break away from all home ties, and face the many
temptations that beset the college student, especially in his freshman
year.
Bill Klemm recovered, though he was laid up for two months. And there
were many who echoed what the good doctor told Bill and his parents,
that only for the first aid to the injured tactics of Frank Allen, the
boy would hardly have pulled through. It doubtless would serve as a
lesson to Bill, and everybody hoped for the sake of his parents that he
would reform his ways.
If, as seems likely, Frank and a number of his chums who reached the
graduation class on the last June school exhibition decide to stay in
Columbia High another year, we shall hope and expect to meet them again
amid scenes of boyish sports, where the honor of the school is the
magnet that leads the contestants on to do their level best.
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.