ABOUT A POCKET-KNIFE.
Ralph was as much interested as any one else in the fact that the Westville
post office had been robbed. He mingled with the crowd in his eagerness to
learn the particulars.
But, being a boy, he was pushed aside by the men, and no attention was paid
to the story he had to tell about the two men and the boy he had seen
running away.
Then the thought of his mother suffering at home rushed into Ralph's mind.
What would she think of his long absence?
"Robbery or no robbery, I must go to the doctor's, and get back home as
fast as I can," he said to himself.
And five minutes after the excitement began he was once more on his way to
Dr. Foley's residence.
When he reached the physician's place it was several minutes before he
could arouse the doctor and make him understand what was wanted. Then it
took ten minutes more for the doctor to fix up a plaster and some medicine.
Ralph had lost so much time that, although he wished to learn more of the
robbery, he decided to go home by a short cut across the fields instead of
by the village streets.
He set out on a run through the darkness. He knew the path well, and did
not mind the rough places which had to be crossed or the spots where the
bushes grew thickly.
When he reached the little woods just in front of the house he fancied he
heard a footstep near at hand. He stopped short, wondering what it could
be.
"There can't be any animals about," he thought. "Perhaps it's Luke
Jackson's dog--he comes about here occasionally."
He heard the steps again, coming from toward the cottage. Then, before he
could locate them closely, they ceased altogether.
"Tige! Tige!" he called, for that was the name of the dog to which he had
referred.
No answer came back, nor did any dog put in an appearance. Ralph waited a
few seconds longer, and then made straight for the house.
He found his mother sitting in the kitchen, nursing her pain as best she
could.
"You have been quite long, Ralph," she said. "Or else it is my pain makes
the time seem longer."
"I lost a little time at the post office, mother."
"At the post office! Why, what were you doing there at this time of night?"
"The safe has been blown open and robbed. It happened just as I came
along."
"You don't say! Did you learn the particulars?"
"I did not wait for that. There was a crowd gathering, and everybody was as
excited as could be. But I think I saw the robbers."
"You did?"
"I saw two men and a boy running, and each had a satchel."
"That was certainly suspicious," returned Mrs. Nelson. She was in too much
pain to say more just then, and set about making use of the things Ralph
had brought from the doctor's. Fortunately, these did her much good, and
inside of half an hour she was considerably better.
"I thought I heard you coming a quarter of an hour before you did,"
remarked Mrs. Nelson, presently. "I certainly heard somebody walking in the
dooryard."
Ralph was interested at once.
"I heard footsteps, too," he said. "Somebody must have been prowling about.
Who could it have been?"
"Perhaps the post office robbers," suggested Mrs. Nelson, somewhat
nervously.
"I don't see what they would be doing about here," rejoined Ralph,
seriously.
"Did they come in this direction?"
"They came down the main street, yes."
Mrs. Nelson sighed deeply. She did not like the idea of any one prowling
about her home after dark.
"I am going to take a look around again," said Ralph, noticing her
uneasiness. "Perhaps it was a sneak-thief who has stolen the ax or the saw
from the woodshed."
Ralph walked outside. It was now growing lighter in the east, for it was
after four o'clock in the morning. He looked about the woodshed and the
cottage, but everything appeared to be all right. Certainly nothing had
been stolen.
The boy was about to return to the kitchen, when he heard several men
coming down the road from the village. He halted in the dooryard to see who
they were.
"There is somebody now!" one of the men exclaimed, and Ralph recognized
Uriah Dick's voice.
"It is Ralph Nelson himself," replied Bart Haycock, the blacksmith, who was
one of the party.
"Hallo, there, Nelson!" called out the third man. It was Jack Rodman, the
district constable.
"Hallo, Rodman!" returned the boy, as he ran down to the gate. "Are you
after the post office robbers?"
"I guess we are that," put in Uriah Dicks. "An' we ain't far from one of
'em!"
"Hush!" put in Jack Rodman, hastily. "Wait till I have a talk with the
boy."
"It ain't no use for to talk," insisted Uriah. "There's the evidence plain
enough."
"There may be a mistake," suggested Bart Haycock. "I cannot believe Ralph
would do anything wrong."
"Why, what--what do you mean?" stammered the boy, hardly catching the drift
of their talk.
"Is this your knife, Ralph?" asked the constable, producing a buck-handle
pocketknife.
"Why, yes, it is," returned Ralph, promptly. "Where did you get it?" he
went on, in surprise, for he had thought the blade safe in his own pocket.
"Jess where you dropped it a couple of hours ago," returned Uriah Dicks,
eagerly. "In the post office."
"The post office? I haven't been in the post office since yesterday."
"What are you doing out so early in the morning?" asked the constable.
"My mother is sick, and I have been over to Dr. Foley's for medicine for
her."
"And you weren't near the post office?"
"Oh, yes, I was only a few hundred feet away when the explosion took
place."
"There, didn't I say I saw him in the crowd?" exclaimed Uriah, eagerly.
"What were you doing in the crowd?"
"I wanted to see what was up."
"You didn't stay very long," said the constable, dryly.
"I couldn't. Mother was waiting for me."
"You are quite sure you weren't in the post office just before the
explosion occurred?"
"Why, of course I wasn't in the place! What are you driving at?"
"We found the pocketknife in the building--found it not ten feet from the
wrecked safe. It had been used, evidently, for ripping open some sealed
packages."
"My knife!" ejaculated Ralph.
"Exactly, Ralph," put in Bart Haycock. "But don't think I believe you
guilty, my boy," he went on, feelingly.
"Guilty of what?"
"Robbin' the post office!" cried Uriah Dicks. "He is guilty to my way of
thinkin'!"
"Robbing the post office!" ejaculated Ralph.
"That's it, Ralph," said the constable, seriously. "It has been discovered
that there were two men and a boy, and they think you were the boy."
"Me!" Ralph could hardly believe his ears. "Oh, Rodman, you don't mean it?"
"He does mean it!" said Uriah, sharply. "Wasn't your knife found there?"
"I must have dropped the knife in the office yesterday when I was hanging
up Mr. Dunham's circulars."
"Did you use the knife then?" asked Bart Haycock.
Ralph thought for a moment.
"Yes, I did. The cord was too long, and I remember taking out my knife and
cutting it."
"That wouldn't put the knife inside the postmaster's office," said Uriah.
Ralph looked at the knife again. It was really his--with his name carved on
the handle. There was no disputing that point.
"I can't understand it," he said. "But I can give you my word of honor that
I was not inside the building to-night."
"I guess Benjamin Hooker ain't taking your word for it," grumbled Uriah
Dicks. "He is responsible to the Government, an' he's goin' to find out who
robbed him, that's what he's goin' to do!"
"You had better come with me," said Jack Rodman. "You can tell your story
to Mr. Hooker and to Squire Paget."
"Better make a search around here first," suggested Uriah. "The men that
helped do the robbin' may be hiding here. Bart and I can hold Ralph so he
don't run away."