THE ODD MAN
“We’ve got to get him!” cried Jerry to Ned.
“Sure thing! He’ll be burned to death in there in less than a minute!
What’s he mean about Crooked Nose?”
“Hanged if I know! But don’t stop to ask questions. Go on up. I’ll be
right after you. We’ve got to get him. Stand firm, Bob!” Jerry yelled
to his chum at the foot of the ladder.
“Right!” answered the stout one, making his voice heard above the
various noises of the fire.
Up the ladder went Ned and Jerry, pausing a moment as they got to the
point where they could look into the room. The smoke had blown away for
the time being.
“There he is!” cried Ned, pointing to a figure huddled on the floor.
The two boys leaped into the room, taking big gulps of fresh air to
hold in their lungs as long as possible, for they saw that the wind was
blowing the smoke into the room again.
They caught hold of the old man. He appeared to be a Frenchman, though
he spoke good English. The boys lifted him up, and this seemed to
restore his scattered senses.
“Wait! Wait!” he murmured. “My money! I must get my money. And that
jewelry! Crooked Nose got some of it, but I hid the most. He shan’t
have it! I must save it. In the iron box! Get it for me! Don’t let
Crooked Nose have it!”
“He’s raving!” said Ned.
“Don’t talk! Save your breath!” mumbled Jerry, doing just what he
warned his chum against. “Catch hold and----”
He did not finish, but nodded in the direction of the open window. The
room was lighted by the reflection of flames outside. Ned understood,
and, taking hold of the old man’s legs one of which seemed to be
crippled, while Jerry supported his head, they carried him to the
casement.
Jerry got out first, while Ned held the old man, who kept muttering
something about “Crooked Nose,” and “money and jewelry.” The boys paid
little attention then, though the time was to come when the incident
would be brought back to them in a startling manner.
Once again on the ladder, Jerry called:
“Now work him out till he hangs over my shoulder like a sack of flour,
Ned. I can carry him down that way. He isn’t heavy. Hold him steady
until I give the word.”
“All right,” answered his chum, and then the two proceeded to save the
old man. Ned shifted the burden until it rested on the window sill. The
Frenchman was either unconscious now, or incapable of motion, for he
was as limp and inert as Jerry could wish, and he was easier to handle
in that way. Getting him over his shoulder, as he might a sack of
flour, Jerry started down the ladder with his burden.
Ned gave one last look around the room where the old man seemed to have
lived all alone. There was a bed in one corner, and a stove in the
other, with a few poor possessions.
“I don’t see anything of Crooked Nose or a box of money, or jewelry
either,” murmured Ned. “I guess he was out of his head through fear. I
might take another look, but----”
Just then there was a sound indicating that a large portion of the
structure had fallen in. This was followed by such a burst of flame and
smoke into the room that Ned was almost trapped. He made a dive for the
window and got out on the ladder. Down it he hurried, after Jerry and
his burden, and he was not a moment too soon, for an instant later the
flames burst from the window in a volume sufficient to have overwhelmed
any one who had been in the apartment.
“Just in time,” murmured Ned, as he came to the ground, a few seconds
after Jerry reached it.
Willing hands took the burden of the old man, and he was carried to a
place where volunteer nurses and a physician worked over him.
By this time the tenement house was a mass of flames. The fire involved
the end where the old Frenchman had lived, and there was no hope of
saving it. The place was like a tinder-box, and soon after Jerry and
Ned had left it the roof at that end fell in.
Quickly the fire burned itself out, and then came the problem of caring
for the unfortunates who had lost nearly everything, and who were
homeless. Kind friends and neighbors took in such as they could.
“How’s our Frenchman?” asked Ned of Jerry, as they were about to go
to their automobile and depart for home, since the high point of the
excitement had passed.
“I don’t know. We might take a look.”
A policeman directed them to a near-by store, where several firemen
and spectators had been treated for cuts from glass or partial smoke
suffocation, and there the boys found the old Frenchman. He was a
cripple, with a stiff left leg, and had suffered much from shock. He
was in great distress of mind.
“These are the boys who brought you down the ladder, who saved you,”
said a doctor, pointing to Ned and Jerry.
The man murmured something in his own expressive language, and then, as
if realizing that the boys could not understand very well, though they
knew some French, he said, in English:
“I can never thank you enough! You saved my life! But tell me, did you
see Crooked Nose or my iron box of money and jewelry?”
“No,” answered Jerry gently. He thought the old man was still wandering
in his faculties.
“Who is Crooked Nose?” asked Ned.
“He is a villain!” exclaimed the Frenchman, whose name, some one said,
was Jules Cardon. “He is a villain who tried to rob me of all I had. He
got some of my money and some of the jewelry, but the rest I put in the
iron box and locked. Then I hid it. But the fire came and I could not
find it. Then I remember no more. But if you find Crooked Nose you will
catch a great scoundrel, and perhaps find my money and the precious
jewelry.”
“Is Crooked Nose a man?” asked Jerry.
“Yes. He came to see me this evening. He knew me in France--many years
ago. He demanded money. I would not give it to him, and he said he
would take it, or he would---- Well, he made threats. I hid most of the
money and the jewelry, but I forgot where I put it when the fire came.
Oh, was it burned?”
“Well, if it was left in there I should say it was,” replied Jerry, as
he looked at the glowing ruins. “Nothing much left there.”
“But maybe Crooked Nose took it,” suggested Mr. Cardon. “He is a
villain.”
“What’s his name?” asked Bob.
The crippled old Frenchman shook his head.
“It would be of no use to tell you,” he said. “He changes his name too
often. Crooked Nose, I call him. He can’t change that!”
The old man seemed much improved, bodily, but his mental anguish was
pitiable. Again and again he implored to be allowed to go back and look
for his money, but of course this could not be. What was left of the
ruins was a mass of blazing wood.
Then, when he seemed to think that all was lost, the old man became
calmer, and told a more connected story.
The old Frenchman was an engraver by trade and had worked for many
years in New York, doing fine engraving for some leading jewelers. Then
he had become crippled by an accident and had moved to Cresville for
his health. In Cresville he had managed to pick up considerable work
from the local jewelers, doing the engraving on rings, watches, and
silver and gold ware for them.
“I have much jewelry to engrave!” he said, with a sorrowful shake
of his head. “I have a fine gold watch, and a silver tea set, and a
magnificent diamond brooch, and other things. Now--where are they?” and
he shrugged his shoulders despairingly.
“Gee, that will be a big loss for somebody!” remarked Ned.
Just before the fire broke out the old Frenchman had had a visitor.
This, as he explained, was a “queer stick of a man with a very crooked
nose.”
“He got it in a fight in France many years ago,” said Mr. Cardon. “I
had not seen him in a long time. How he found me and my money and the
jewelry I do not know. But he threatened, and would have hurt me, had I
not given him some. But I hid the most of it, and then the fire came.
It came after Crooked Nose went out. Maybe he set the blaze. He was
wicked enough. Oh, my money is lost--and that jewelry I was trusted
with!”
“It is if it was in there. But maybe that fellow you call Crooked Nose
got it,” suggested Jerry. “You can have a look in the ruins after they
cool.”
There was nothing more the motor boys could do, and, learning that some
of the neighbors would care for the old Frenchman, they got ready to
go home.
“Hadn’t we better go back and see what has become of Professor
Snodgrass?” asked Bob, as they reached their automobile.
“Well, it might be a good plan,” agreed Jerry.
“Some of the bugs he is after may have carried him off,” suggested Ned,
with a laugh.
They started for the place where the runaway fire horses had been
caught by Mr. Snodgrass.
“This has been what you might call a ‘large’ evening,” remarked Jerry,
as he guided the car.
“Somewhat juicy,” added Ned.
“Speaking of juicy reminds me of a broiled steak,” put in Bob. “What do
you say to a little supper? I’m hungry.”
“For once I agree with your gastronomic suggestion,” replied Jerry.
“What say, Ned?”
“I’m with you. Let’s include the professor if we can find him.”
They reached the scene where they had last observed their friend, but
he was not in sight. The horse lay there, having been shot to end its
suffering, and then the boys went on into town.
There they telephoned to their people that they were all right and
would be home later, at the same time mentioning the fact that
Professor Snodgrass was in town, and would probably call if he did not
get on some bug-hunting chase that kept him out all night.
As the boys entered a restaurant they almost collided with, or, rather,
were fairly run into by, a man who seemed in great haste. He acted in
a peculiar manner, turning his face aside as if to escape observation,
and hurried on out.
“Well, you’re a gentleman!” angrily murmured Jerry, who had received
the full impact of the odd character.
“Didn’t even say: ‘Excuse me!’ did he?” asked Ned.
“Nothing like it. He must be going to catch a train!”
Bob, who was just behind his chums, turned quickly and looked after the
man.
“Did you see him?” he asked.
“Did I _see_ him. I _felt_ him!” declared Jerry, with a rueful laugh.
“And did you notice?” went on Bob, in some excitement.
“Notice what?” Ned inquired.
“His crooked nose! It was all on one side of his face. Say, fellows,
maybe that’s the man who tried to rob the old Frenchman!” exclaimed Bob
in a tense whisper.