HOW GABE MADE GOOD
"Good gracious!" Sid Wells called out
The boys had pushed into the main part of the mill, with their nerves
all on edge, and their muscles set in readiness for a struggle. Whether
they would meet the three tramps who were creating no end of excitement
around the vicinity by their bold robbery of hen-roosts, and even
houses; or some desperate boys ready to fight when caught in a trap,
none of them knew.
They expected trouble of some sort, at least; Bristles was even counting
on it, and would be very much disappointed if it failed to come to pass.
But instead of a group of lads at bay, and ready to give as good as they
received, they discovered what seemed to be just two figures on the
floor of the mill. One of these jumped up, and faced them defiantly,
whirling a piece of flooring in a circle above his head.
"Keep back, you!" he cried, hoarsely.
"Why, if it ain't Gabe Larkins!" exclaimed the astounded Bristles, as
he managed to get a look at the face of the other.
Fred was himself astonished, for he had recognized the butcher's boy
about the same time Bristles did. Gabe here, and apparently concerned in
this abduction of Colon! It raised up a host of wild conjectures. Could
he be in the pay of those reckless Mechanicsburg fellows; or possibly
connected with Buck Lemington's crowd? Even a more sensational theory
flashed through Fred's mind, connected with the men who were looked upon
as thieves. Was Gabe in league with these desperate persons?
"Down him!" exclaimed Bristles, making a forward move, as though ready
to throw himself upon the taller boy without regard for what would
follow when Gabe brought that piece of floor board into play.
The rest were starting to follow his example, as it seemed to be the
only proper course, when to their astonishment there was a movement to
the figure lying on the floor, a kicking of a pair of long legs; and
immediately the well known voice of their chum, Colon, sounded:
"Hold up, boys, don't tackle Gabe; I tell you he's done me a good turn!"
Of course, at that, even the impulsive Bristles held his hand. Perhaps
he was not wholly sorry to declare a temporary truce, pending
negotiations for surrender; because that board had an ugly look, and
Gabe was waving it back and forth just as some players do their bat when
waiting to gauge the delivery of a new pitcher.
"Oh! it's you, fellers, eh?" Gabe remarked, as, bending forward, he
peered at the newcomers who had broken in upon him so suddenly; "call it
off, and we'll say quits. I haven't got any fuss with you."
He thereupon threw the piece of board down, as though that finished the
matter, so far as he was concerned.
"Got a knife, somebody?" sang out the struggling Colon, who was trying
to gain a sitting position, but seemed unable to control his limbs.
"They got me spliced up tight as anything here; and Gabe he didn't have
anything to cut me loose with, so he was chawing the knots to beat the
band when you showed up. We thought it was them fellers come back, and
it gave us both a little scare."
Fred was already at the side of the bound boy. He always kept the blades
of his knife as keen as possible; and once he found where to cut it did
not take him long to set Colon free from the pieces of old rope with
which the unfortunate youth was bound.
"Ow! it pinches like hot cakes!" grunted the late prisoner, as he was
helped to his feet, and doubtless found part of his limbs benumbed or
"asleep," as boys say.
"Tell us first of all, Colon, did they hurt you so you can't run
to-morrow?" demanded Bristles, angrily.
"Oh! I reckon it isn't nothin' much," came the reassuring reply. "Give a
feller a little chance to limber up; won't you? I'll feel all right in a
short time. But it was sure a rough deal for me, and some surprise too,
let me tell you, fellers. I never had the least bit of idea they'd jump
out on me like they did; and would you believe me, the whole bunch had
red handkerchiefs over their faces, so I couldn't tell who they might
be."
"But you heard 'em talk; sure you must; and recognized 'em by their
voices?" declared Bristles, eagerly.
But Colon shook his head in the negative.
"They were cunning about that, too," he declared; "and when they talked
any, it was so low I just couldn't get on to who they were."
"But how about Gabe here, looks funny to see him around. Haven't been
delivering meat to anybody away up here; have you?" asked Sid, with a
strong vein of suspicion in his voice.
"Why, he told me the boss had sent him up here to get a calf that a
farmer had for sale," remarked Colon, who was limping around, and
exercising both arms and legs so as to bring about a return of
circulation in his veins.
"A calf!" echoed Bristles; "well, what next, I wonder? But then they say
a poor excuse is better than none."
"Hold on," interrupted Felix Wagner; "you fellows looked at me like
nothing'd convince you I didn't have a hand in this business. But you
found out that the talk I gave you was straight, after all. Say, perhaps
what he tells is all to the good, too. Didn't Colon say the fellow was
trying to set him free by gnawing at the knots, because he didn't have a
knife along? Suppose you ask him some more questions, Fred."
"Just what I meant to do, Felix," returned the other; "because, for my
part, I believe every word Gabe has said," and turning on the butcher's
boy, he continued:
"Where did you leave your cart, Gabe; for you must have had it along if
you expected to take the calf back with you?"
"It's over at the farmer's right now," replied the other, frankly. "They
said he was in Tenafly, and wouldn't be back short of a hour or more.
And as my boss told me not to come home without the veal, I tied up the
hoss. Used to come over here to the old place when I was a kid, along
with the rest, but I ain't never been up here for years now. Thought,
seein' I was so clost, I'd just take a walk over to find out how she
looked, to pass the time away."
"Oh! I see," Fred broke in; "and when you got here you heard somebody
calling inside the mill, did you?"
"I heard a queer sound, more like a groan than anything else," admitted
the boy.
"That was me, all right," chuckled Colon. "Yelled till I got tired, and
I was so husky I just couldn't let out another peep. And as I kept on
tryin' to slip an arm out, I reckon I did some gruntin'. I was mad all
through; because, you see, I'd guessed what it was all about, and that
they didn't want me to run to-morrow."
"Say, when you heard that groan, didn't you feel like skipping out?"
asked Bristles, with a vein of secret admiration in his voice now.
"Me? Well, I guess not," replied the other, pugnaciously. "I just
reckoned there was somebody inside there that was sick; and when I
couldn't open any door, I crawled up the wheel, and slid in through the
hole, just like we used to do long ago, Sid Wells, when we came up here
to swim and fish."
"That's all there is to it," declared Colon. "I heard somebody coming
along, and called out, so he found me lying here, tied up like a turkey
used to be when they cooked him on the old time spit. And while Gabe
chawed away at the knots we did some chinning, believe me. But boys,
I'm right glad to see you. What's the latest news from home?"
"Why, the whole town's in an uproar about the way you went off without
so much as saying good-bye," Bristles said; which of course, caused
Colon to chuckle; for any boy would feel good to know that, for once,
his worth was appreciated.
Possibly some of those same good people who were now so much concerned
about his welfare had many times in the past referred to him as "that
long-legged imp who ought to be taught better manners at home;" for
Colon as a younger boy had been rather inclined to be saucy.
Hearing the sound of voices, Corney and Semi-Colon had by now entered
the mill, and were working the arm of their newly-found chum like a pump
handle.
"But one thing makes me sore," said Bristles; "and that is, we don't
know any more'n we did before who did this business. They were boys, you
said, Colon; but how can we tell whether they hailed from Riverport or
Mechanicsburg?"
"I give you my word----" began Felix Wagner; when Colon interrupted him.
"Say, there might be a way to tell," he remarked, jubilantly.
"As how?" demanded the eager Bristles.
"Why, you see, when they jumped me I gave 'em all I knew how, and
kicked and hit as hard as I could," the tall boy went on.
"Think you marked any of 'em for keeps, Colon?" asked Bristles,
feverishly.
"I'm dead sure," Colon continued; "that once I landed a straight from
the shoulder jab square in the eye of a feller; because I heard him yell
out like it hurt. And say, perhaps if you look around, you might find
somebody with a black and blue eye."
Bristles gave a whoop that echoed through the dusty, cobwebbed mill.
"You got him, all right, sure you did, Colon!" he cried. "And it was a
peach of a hit, too. It was Buck and his crowd that played this mean
trick on you. How do I know? Why right now one of his fellers, Oscar
Jones, is nursing a bruised left eye. Heard him tellin' how he got up
last night, thinkin' he heard the fire bell ring, and run plumb into the
corner of the bureau. Oh! there ain't any more suspicion restin' on your
team-mates, Felix. We all ask you to forget it."
"And let's be getting out of this, boys," Colon spoke up. "I've seen all
I ever want to of the old mill. Never catch me coming up here again, I
tell you."
And so they trooped out into the cheery October sunlight. The broken
door was propped up the best they could manage. No one was caring much,
anyway. They had accomplished their main object in the morning jaunt;
Colon had been found, and he declared that he was as fit as ever to run,
despite his long condition of helplessness, and his hungry state. What
more could they ask?
And as Gabe, the butcher's boy, made a move as if to leave them at the
end of the winding, overgrown lane, Fred insisted on every fellow
shaking his hand heartily.
"You've sure made good, Gabe," declared Bristles, remembering what he
had thought of the other when his aunt's opals were taken by the
thoughtless butcher's boy; "and I'm proud to shake hands with you."