"All right. Look for it at the end of the month," said Watts, proceeding
to the door.
"Remember, you are dumb. That's all. Good night."
Jack's sense of honor was not long in convincing him that he had made a
mistake in entering into such a bargain, even with a law-breaker. A dozen
times during the days that followed he would have given anything to have
been able to wipe out the agreement.
Unhappily this dissatisfaction with himself was to prove but a minor
result of the misstep.
Shortly after he had relieved the day operator at the station a week
later he was surprised by the appearance of one of the road detectives,
and with him a stranger.
"Good evening, Orr," said the detective in a peculiar tone. "Let me make
you acquainted with Sheriff Bates."
Jack started, and glanced from one to the other. "Is there anything
wrong?" he asked.
"Very slightly. Your little game is up, that's all. Your older partner
has given the thing away, and we have just found the watch in your room
at the boarding-house," announced the detective.
"Given the thing away? The watch? Why, what do you mean?" exclaimed Jack
in alarm.
"Oh, come! Watts has squealed, and we found the watch hidden, just as he
said, in the mattress of your bed up at the house."
In a flash Jack saw it all. Watts' offer had been a trap! A mere trap to
get him into trouble, probably in revenge!
He sprang to his feet. "It's not true! It's false! Whatever it is, it's
false! I did see Watts, and he asked me to go in with them, but I only
agreed so as to learn who they were, so we could capture them!"
To his utter dismay the two officers only laughed drily.
"No, no! That's quite too thin," declared the detective. "Read this."
Blankly Jack took the letter, and read:
"Chief Detective,
"Middle Western R. R.
"Dear Sir: The young night operator at Midway Junction has joined
the freight-stealing gang that Corry belonged to, and if you will
look under the mattress in his room at the railroad boarding-house
you will find a watch and chain of the lot we stole at Claxton two
weeks ago. I gave it to him last Friday night. I came to Midway by
the Eastfield freight, and when I saw another operator in the
station office, I started up towards the boarding-house, and met
Orr coming down. I mention this to show my story is all straight.
"I heard he was going to give us away as soon as he had got enough
loot himself, and claim he only went in with us to get us. That is
why I am showing him up.
"Yours truly,
"W. Watts."
And the day operator _had_ worked for him that Friday evening, while he
was at the landlady's daughter's birthday party! And he _had_ come down
to the station at about the time the Eastfield night freight came in!
Jack sank back in the chair, completely crushed.
"Changed your mind, eh?" remarked the sheriff sarcastically.
Jack shook his head, but said nothing. What could he say!
"If it's 'false,' as you claim, how do you explain our finding the watch
in your room?" demanded the detective.
"I don't know. Someone must have put it there."
"Very likely. It wouldn't have crept up stairs and got under the bed
itself. And I suppose you will deny also that you saw Watts on the night
of the party, despite the fact that he could not otherwise have known the
unusual hour you came down to the station that night. Eh?"
"I never saw him after the night he called here," affirmed Jack
earnestly, but hopelessly.
"Well, you will have to prove it," declared the sheriff. And to Jack's
unspeakable horror he was informed he must be taken into custody.
* * * * *
Needless to say, the news of Jack's arrest, and of his early trial at
Eastfield, the county seat, came as a tremendous shock to Alex, at
Exeter. Of course he thoroughly disbelieved in Jack's guilt, despite the
net of circumstantial evidence which, according to the newspapers, had
been woven about his friend; and morning and afternoon he read and
re-read the papers, in the hope of something more favorable to Jack
developing.
It was through this close reading that Alex finally came upon the
discovery that was to draw him into the case himself, and to have so
important a bearing on the outcome of the trial.
Early in the evening preceding the day set for the hearing, Alex, before
starting work on his wire, was studying the paper as usual. For the
second time he was reading the letter from the man Watts that had had
such serious results for Jack.
Suddenly as he read Alex started, again read a portion of the letter, a
moment thought deeply, and with a cry sprang to his feet and hastened to
the chief despatcher's desk.
"Mr. Allen," he said excitedly, "in this letter Watts says he reached
Midway Junction that Friday night by the Eastfield freight, and that he
met and gave Jack Orr the watch after that.
"Now I remember distinctly that it was Jack reported the arrival of the
Eastfield freight that night. She was twenty minutes late, and I recall
asking if she was in sight yet, and his reply that she had just whistled.
"That means Jack was back at the station before the time at which Watts
claims he met him!"
"Ward, why in the world didn't you think of this before?" the chief
exclaimed. "It is the most important piece of evidence your friend could
have.
"Call Eastfield right away on the long-distance, and get Orr's lawyer,
and tell him."
Alex hastily did so, and a few minutes after he heard the lawyer's voice
from the distant town, and quickly told his story.
To his surprise the lawyer for a moment remained silent, then said
slowly, "Of course I would like to believe that. In fact it would make an
invaluable piece of evidence--practically conclusive.
"But really now, how could you be sure it was Orr you heard? What
possible difference can there be between the ticks made over a telegraph
wire by one distant operator, and those made by another?"
"Why, all the difference in the world, sometimes, sir," declared Jack.
"Any operator would tell you that. I would recognize Jack Orr's sending
anywhere I heard it."
But the lawyer at the other end was still incredulous. "Well," he said at
last, "if the jury was made up of telegraph operators, perhaps your claim
might go. As it is, however--"
"Say, I have it!" cried Alex. "Let me give a demonstration right there in
court of my ability to identify the sending of as many different
operators as we can get together, including Jack Orr. Could you arrange
that?"
The lawyer was interested at last. "But could you really do it? Are you
really that sure?"
"I am absolutely positive," declared Alex.
"Then you come right ahead," was the decisive response. "Come down here
by the first train in the morning, and bring two or three other
operators, and the necessary instruments.
"And if you can prove what you claim, I'll guarantee that your friend is
clear."
"Hurrah! Then he is clear!" cried Alex joyously.
Accompanied by three other operators from the Exeter office, and with a
set of telegraph instruments and a convenient dry-battery, Alex reached
the court-room at Eastfield at 10 o'clock the following morning.
The trial, which had attracted a crowd that packed the building to its
capacity, already had neared its conclusion. Jack's demeanor, and that of
his father, who was beside him, quickly informed Alex that matters were
looking serious for his chum. Confidently he waited, however, and at last
the court clerk arose and called his name.
The preliminary questions were passed, and Jack's attorney at once
proceeded. "Now Alex," he said, "this letter here, which has been put in
evidence, declares that the writer, Watts, went to Midway Junction by the
Eastfield freight on the Friday night in question, and that he then met
the defendant coming down to the station from his boarding-house, and
gave him the watch.
"Have you anything to say to this?"
"Yes, sir. Jack Orr was at the telegraph instruments in the Midway
Junction station several minutes before the Eastfield freight reached
there that night. It was he who reported her coming over the wire to me
at Exeter."
The lawyer for the prosecution looked up with surprise, then smiled in
amusement, while Jack and his father started, and exchanged glances of
new hope.
"You are positive it was the defendant you heard over the wire?" asked
Mr. Brown.
"Positive, sir."
"If necessary could you give a demonstration here in court of your
ability to identify the defendant's transmitting on a telegraph
instrument?"
"Yes, sir, I could."
When the lawyer for the other side arose to cross-examine Alex he smiled
somewhat derisively.
"You are a friend of the defendant, are you not?" he asked significantly.
"Yes, sir; and so know his sending over the wire unusually well,"
responded Alex, cleverly turning the point of the question.
The lawyer shrugged his shoulders, and put the next question with
sarcasm. "And, now, do you mean to stand there and tell this court that
the clicks--the purely mechanical clicks--made over a telegraph wire by
an operator miles away will sound different to the clicks made by any
other operator?"
"I do," said Alex quietly. "And I am ready to demonstrate it."
"Oh, you are, are you? And how, pray?"
"Three other operators from the Exeter office are in the court-room, with
a set of instruments and a battery. Let them place the instruments on the
table down there; blindfold me, then have them and Jack Orr by turns
write something on the key. I'll identify every one of them before he
sends a half-dozen words."
A wave of surprise, then smiles of incredulity passed over the crowded
room.
"Very well," agreed the lawyer readily. "Set up the instruments."
The three Exeter operators came forward, and the prosecutor, producing a
handkerchief, himself stepped into the witness-box and proceeded to bind
Alex's eyes. That done, to make doubly sure, he turned Alex face to the
wall.
When the lawyer returned to the counsel-table the proceedings were
momentarily interrupted by a whispered consultation with his assistant,
at the end of which, while the spectators wondered, the latter hastened
from the room.
Curiosity as to the junior counsel's mission was quickly forgotten,
however, as the prosecutor then called Jack Orr to the table beside the
telegraph instruments, and stood Jack and the three Exeter operators in a
row before him.
"Now," said he in a low voice, "each of you, as I touch you, step quietly
to the key, and send these words: 'Do you know who this is?'"
A moment the lawyer paused, while spectators, judge and jury waited in
breathless silence, then reaching out, he lightly touched one of the
Exeter men.
"Do you know who this is?" clicked the sounder.
All eyes turned toward Alex. Without a moment's hesitation he answered,
"Johnson."
The operator nodded, and a flutter passed over the court-room.
"Huh! A guess," declared the prosecutor audibly, and still smiling
confidently, he touched another of the Exeter operators. The instruments
repeated the question.
"Bradley," said Alex promptly.
The flutter of surprise was repeated. Quickly the prosecutor made as
though to touch the third Exeter man, then abruptly again touched
Bradley.
"Bradley again," said Alex.
A ripple like applause swept over the crowded room. With tightening lips
the prosecutor turned again toward the third Exeter operator. At the
moment the door opened, and he paused as his assistant reappeared, with
him two young ladies.
The newcomers were operators from the local commercial telegraph office.
At once Jack's lawyer, recognizing the prosecution's purpose, was on his
feet in protest. For of course the young women were utter strangers to
the blindfolded boy in the witness-stand.
The judge promptly motioned him down, however, and with a smile of
anticipated triumph the prosecutor greeted the two local operators, and
whispering his instructions to one of them, led her to the telegraph key.
In a silence that was painful the sounder once more rattled out its
inquiry, "Do you know who this is?"
Alex started, hesitated, made as though to speak, again paused, then
suddenly cried, "That's a stranger!
"And it's awfully like the light, jumpy sending of a girl!"
A spontaneous cheer broke from the excited spectators. "Silence!
Silence!" shouted the judge.
It was not necessary to repeat the order, for the disconcerted
prosecutor, whirling about, had grasped Jack Orr by the arm and thrust
him toward the key.
[Illustration: "AND IT'S AWFULLY LIKE THE LIGHT, JUMPY SENDING OF
A GIRL!"]
The final test had come.
Jack himself realized the significance of the moment, and for an instant
hesitated, trembling. Then determinedly gripping himself he reached
forward, grasped the key, and sent,
"Do you know--"
"Orr! Orr! That's he!" cried Alex.
With a shout the entire court-room was on its feet, women waving their
handkerchiefs and men cheering wildly again and again. And equally
disregarding the etiquette of the court, Alex tore the handkerchief from
his eyes, and leaping down beside Jack, fell to shaking his hand as
though he would never let go, while Jack vainly sought to express
himself, and to keep back the tears that came to his eyes.
Ten minutes later, with order restored, Jack was formally declared "Not
guilty," and with Alex on one side and his father on the other, left the
room, free and vindicated.
"Well, good-by, my lad," said Mr. Orr, as he and Alex that evening
dropped Jack off their returning train at Midway Junction. "And I suppose
it is unnecessary to warn you against understandings with such men as
Watts in the future, no matter for what purpose."
"Hardly, Dad," responded Jack earnestly. "No more agreements of any kind
for me unless they are on the levellest kind of level, no matter who they
are with, or for what purpose."