LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
Jack had been sitting in the dark for several minutes when he heard a
sound from the loft overhead.
Some one was stirring, there was a yawn, then a step on the floor and
then some one said impatiently:
"Hello, down there! Can't you show a light? Where are you all, anyway,
and what time is it?"
The boy started for he knew that voice and had hoped that he would never
again hear it.
It was that of the man with the white mustache and the dark hair and
eyebrows whom he had met in the woods near the foot of the hill leading
from the Academy.
He said nothing and then he heard steps moving about in the loft and the
man spoke again.
"I'll fall down there before I know it. There's a hole somewhere, but
where is it? Hello, there! can't you show a light? Isn't there anyone
about? Where have you all gone?"
Then he heard a footstep on the ladder and knew that the man was coming
down, grumbling as before.
"What's that man doing here?" he thought. "I had hoped I would never see
him again. If he is not careful he will be taken and spend more of his
time in prison."
Then a thought occurred to him and he said quietly:
"Wait a moment and I will give you a light."
There was a startled exclamation and then the man asked:
"Who is that? Is that you, John Sheldon?"
"Yes, it is I."
"What are you doing here? Have you come to hunt me down?"
"No, I am a prisoner but I don't know who brought me here. I have not
come to hunt you down. I did not know that you were anywhere about and I
don't know where I am myself."
Then the boy lighted a match and looked around him, seeing an old rusty
tin candlestick with the butt of a candle in it on a shelf under one of
the windows.
He lighted this and the man came forward, looked fixedly in his face and
said:
"You say you are a prisoner here? How did that happen?"
"I was run away with by two men who jumped into the runabout I was
driving when I stopped but I don't know who they are nor why they did
it. Why do you remain in this neighborhood? Don't you know it's
dangerous to be so near the place where----"
"You had a runabout? Yours?"
"No, a friend's. I was down at Riverton on business and was just going
back to the Academy."
"Where is it? Is it a fast one?"
"Yes, but----"
"You are right about the danger of remaining here but we are not as near
the place as you think. This place must be miles away and nowhere near
the river. It is safe enough but if I had a good car and a fair start I
could----"
There was a step outside and then the turning of a key in a lock and the
door was opened.
Two men were outside, both rough looking fellows whom Jack had not seen
before and one of them now said:
"Waitin' for your supper? Hungry, are you? Well, we'll fix up something
in a jiffy and then you can go to bed as soon as you like. Hello! there
wasn't two of you, was there?"
"What are you keeping the boy here for?" asked the man with Jack.
"I donno, some business of keeping him away from school till arter
examinations, I guess, but I don't see why that should worry him. I
never was anxious to go to school myself and if anybody had said I
shouldn't it wouldn't have bothered me none," with a hoarse laugh.
"Keep me away from school till after examination?" thought Jack. "Oh, I
see! This is a plot of some of the Hilltop boys, Herring and his set, no
doubt. No one else would do it."
"Where have Byke and Tyke gone?" asked the man.
"To take back a car. We don't want it."
"Ha! I might have wanted it myself," muttered the other. "Why didn't
they let me know?"
"Couldn't tell you. Friend of theirs, hey? Well, they'll come back after
a bit. Folks don't like to have other fellows' autos with 'em. It ain't
allus safe."
"No, but I could have taken it back as well as they could and I wanted
to go that way besides."
"Well, we come to get supper for the boy and to see that he didn't get
away. If you want to go it ain't nothin' to us as I know."
One of the men now unfastened one of the windows while the other went
outside where there was a rusty little cook stove and began to make a
fire.
Then the other got some bacon and a half dozen potatoes from a locker
under the shelf, produced a greasy frying-pan from a dusty corner and
went outside to get the supper.
"I would have taken the car and got away," muttered the strange man.
"This is far enough away but it might not be safe for all that and the
sooner I get away the better."
"The car will be missed and advertised," replied Jack, "and you would be
taken. Where were you going?"
"Out West somewhere. It is not safe around here nowadays."
"If you had lived a decent life it would have been safe for you
anywhere, George Williamson," said Jack.
"Sh! not a word! they don't know me and I don't want them to," cautioned
the man, looking anxiously about him. "What you say may be true but it's
too late now. Don't you feel sorry for your father, Jack?"
"You are not my father and I wish that neither my mother nor I had ever
seen you. You made her life miserable, wasted the money my father had
left her, ill-treated and abused her and then showed yourself what you
were, a burglar and thief! Is it any wonder that my mother should want
to take her first husband's name again when we moved as far away as we
could from the scene of your evil deeds?"
"Maybe not," said the other carelessly. "Have you any money, Jack? I
would like to have some to get me to the nearest seaport town."
"You said you were going west."
"Well, to some good and far away town, then. That will do."
"I have very little money with me but I could get it if I thought you
would go away never to see my mother again. There is little use in
asking you to promise for you have promised before."
"I saw you this time only by accident, Jack," replied the man. "Never
mind. I will go so far away this time that you will never see me. So
you would help me, would you?" with an odd smile.
"Only to keep you away from my mother," Jack answered. "You never did me
any good and I have no reason to like you. If I helped you it would be
for my mother's sake alone."
"And you are a prisoner here, so that you will not be able to pass the
examinations?" asked the other carelessly.
"Yes, so it seems, but I do not mean to be kept here."
"You can get away now, Jack, if you wish it," said the other in a low
tone. "I'll do that much for you for all that you don't do things for me
on my own account. Do you wish to leave here?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then I will help you get away, will go with you till everything is
safe. Maybe I did not treat your mother right, Jack. Never mind that
now. I can help you and I will. Come, there is no time like the
present."
The two stepped to the door when one of the rough fellows said, putting
himself in the way:
"Here, Mister, you can go if you like but not the boy. We've got orders
to keep him here."
"And I have a notion to take him away with me and if you oppose me it
will be the worst for you."
The man attempted to argue the point and was promptly knocked down.