The Judge threw back his burly form against the side of the car and
exhaled a thick cloud of smoke.
"Now, young feller, if you have any legal right to detain your prisoner,
let's hear it. This court's goin' to adjourn in just ten minutes by the
watch, and I reckon when it adjourns it'll take the prisoner with it."
The spectators, who had seated themselves as best they could, looked
expectantly toward the New Yorker.
Jack arose, holding the book impressively before him. The gusts from the
storm outside penetrated the cracks of the loosely hung sliding
baggage-door and made the feeble lantern swing and flicker. The smoke
from twenty cigars swirled round the ceiling. The conductor placed his
own lantern on a trunk by Jack's side.
"If the Court please," began Dockbridge, "while it's entirely true that
no warrant issued out of a court of the United States or by a governor
of one of the United States gives any jurisdiction over the person of a
fugitive who is held in custody in the Dominion of Canada, it is
nevertheless a fact that under the principle of comity between friendly
nations the government of one will not interfere with an officer of
another who is performing an official act under color of authority."
["Sounds well," said Jack to himself, "but don't mean a blame thing."]
"This principle is as old as the law itself, and is sustained by a long
series of decisions in our international tribunals. The doctrine is
clearly set forth by Grotius" ["that ought to nail him!"] "when he says:
'No nation will voluntarily interfere with a duly authorized officer of
another nation in the performance of his duty, whose act does not
interfere with the functions of government of the other.'" He
pronounced this balderdash with much solemnity and with great effect
upon the assembled train hands. "Now, your Honor, I am a duly authorized
officer of the State of New York, the same being at peace with the
Dominion of Canada."
"Bosh!" interrupted the Judge. "You're talkin' nonsense. I won't be made
a fool of any longer. Prisoner discharged. This court stands adjourned,
and, as I said, it is goin' to take the prisoner with----"
A jerk of the train prevented the conclusion of his sentence. There came
another pull from the engine, followed by a succession of violent puffs.
The train started.
"My God! The engine!" shouted the fireman, making a spring for the door.
"Locked! Locked!" he yelled, and threw himself upon it. The conductor
dived for the platform. The Judge started to his feet.
"This is an infernal trick!" he cried. "Stop this train! D'ye hear? Stop
this train at once!"
But the train was gathering head-way every moment, and was fast dropping
down the grade. A triumphant whistle shrilled through the night with a
succession of short toots.
"For God's sake, open the door!" gasped the engineer. "Get a crow-bar,
somebody! We'll be going a hundred miles an hour inside of a minute!"
But no crow-bar was to be found, and the door resisted all their
efforts. On rushed the train, thundering down the pass, swaying around
curves until the frightened occupants of the baggage-car clung to one
another to retain their foothold, and every moment adding to its speed.
The baggage-man threw open the side door. The night dashed by in a solid
wall of white.
"Damme! This is a crime!" roared the Judge. "I'm being kidnapped. Your
Government shall be notified--if we're not all killed. Can't somebody
stop this train? Do you hear? Stop it, I say!"
For an instant Dockbridge had been as startled as the others. Then it
came to him in one inspired moment. Peggy was on the engine! A series of
whistles came across the tender.
"Toot--toot--toot! Toot--toot--toot! Toot--toot--toot! Toot--toot!"--the
old Harvard cheer that Peggy had heard echoing across the foot-ball
field a hundred times.
Of course! She was going to fetch them out of Canada, and then to
thunder with all the judges of the Dominion! He began to laugh
hysterically. On and on, faster and faster, rushed the train. The pallid
faces of the passengers and crew stared strangely out of the blue haze.
Breathless, each man struggled to keep his footing, momentarily
expecting to be dashed into eternity. The minutes dragged as hours,
until at last, from somewhere in the rear of the train, the fireman
returned with a wrench, and throwing his whole weight upon the padlock,
quickly snapped its staples. The door burst open, sending him flying
headlong. Through the car poured a furious gust of wind and snow,
blinding, suffocating, and into the midst of this jumped the engineer,
and, clambering desperately upon the tender, disappeared.
Perhaps it was the dimness of the light, but Andrews had suddenly begun
to look white and old.
At the same moment a red light flashed by alongside the track and the
train roared across a suspension bridge without slackening speed.
"Red River!" gasped the fireman, clambering to his feet.
The blood leaped in Jack's veins. Red River! Then they were across the
line. Peggy had won! God bless her! With a triumphant glance at the
cowering Andrews, he turned upon the frightened crowd.
"You can't beat the Yankee girl!" he shouted. "Judge, you're right.
We've adjourned court, and are taking the prisoner with us--INTO THE
UNITED STATES!"
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note: In the original edition, the title of each story
appeared twice, first on a page by itself in all capitals, followed by a
blank page, and then on the first page of the story in title case. These
duplicate titles have been deleted. The first title for "The
Extraordinary Adventure of the Baron de Ville" appeared in a shortened
form as "THE BARON DE VILLE". In the HTML version of this text, page
numbers have been included only on those pages which originally
contained them, not on blank pages or title pages.
In "McAllister's Christmas", a quotation mark in front of "One as 'as
white 'air" was deleted, and a second chapter V was renumbered as VI.
In "The Governor-General's Trunk", "The head bagage-man nodded" was
changed to "The head baggage-man nodded".
In "The Golden Touch", missing quotation marks were added in front of
"When the Colonel realized what it was all about" and "Oh, my leg!" and
after "And it's worth what you ask--five thousand dollars?", "Where had
he seen that fact?" was changed to "Where had he seen that face?", "that
old VanVorst" was changed to "that old Van Vorst", and "VanVorst sat
there" was changed to "Van Vorst sat there".
In "McAllister's Data of Ethics", a quotation mark was removed after
"his scented wife, and gilded chairs--".
In "McAllister's Marriage", "Don' you want to show me the boy-horse" was
changed to "Don't you want to show me the boy-horse".
In "The Course of Justice", "slowyl arose" was changed to "slowly
arose".
In "The Maximilian Diamond", _"What day?" asked the clerk._ was changed
to _"'What day?' asked the clerk._