TIP SATISFIES HIS CRAVING--AND LOSES
"Let's step over and see how it happened, Hugh!"
As Hugh himself was not averse to picking up some information along
that same line, the two chums entered the station-house just after
the Chief and his man. The latter officer had placed the large
package done up in a burlap bag on the floor. He was grinning, as
though considerably pleased with the final results of the raid.
Chief Wambold, too, was indulging in a smile as the boys entered; he
even winked one eye at Thad, as though in a particularly good humor.
But there was one person present who did not seem to be in a happy
frame of mind. That was Tip. He looked "in the dumps," as Thad
expressed it; and on seeing the boys enter dropped his chin upon his
breast in shame. All the bravado was gone from his demeanor now; he
knew that with that evidence against him he was headed for the House
of Refuge on a fast train.
The man took him through a door into another room, the Chief's
private office. From this Hugh guessed that Tip was about to be
questioned at length, in the hope of his possibly implicating still a
third party in the theft.
"So you found his secret cache, did you, Chief?" remarked Thad
boldly. "When Owen Dugdale left us he said he was going straight to
you, to tell about meeting Tip on the road smoking a cigarette; and
he showed us that it bore the same trademark as those stolen from
Paul Kramer's place."
Thad went into detail so as to let the tall Chief understand they
already knew all about the discovery, and had been told, in fact,
even before he was.
"Yes, we took a hunt up there in the woods this morning," explained
the other, with a broad smile; "and ran across some tracks that
looked like Tip's. When we followed the trail it led us direct to a
big tree that was hollow; and inside the cavity lay that bundle,
wrapped in a burlap sack. It was almost too easy. An experienced
crook would never have committed such a blunder, and left so plain a
trail. Why, it looked as if we were being taken by the hand and led
there."
"But I guess you didn't carry away the stuff right then, did you,
Chief?" Thad went on to say, a wise look on his face.
"Hardly, son, hardly," replied the other, with a gesture of his
hands. "That would have been too silly for anything. What we did
was to back away, and cover our own footprints as well as we could.
Then we hid to await developments. I left my man up there while I
came back to town to conduct my business. Later in the day I once
more joined him. I expected the boy might be getting hungry for a
smoke about the same time Owen met him on the road. Well, he came,
and we pounced down on him just when he had opened the pack, and was
lighting a weed with his trembling, tobacco-stained fingers; because,
just like Leon Disney, and that slick Nick Lang, Tip is a confirmed
cigarette fiend, you know."
"Well, for one, Nick has cut the habit out, Chief, I happen to know,
for he told me so," Hugh ventured to say.
The big police officer sneered, as though he refused to believe there
could any good come out of the boy who bore that detested name of
Nick Lang. During the whole of the time he occupied his present
exalted position, Chief Wambold had been plagued by the pranks of
Nick and his cronies; and, in spite of all his efforts, up to now he
had been unable to fasten anything serious upon them, although he
gave them credit for every piece of maliciousness practiced in
Scranton during that period.
"Well, perhaps some people may believe Nick didn't have a hand in
this outrage," he went on to say, "but I'll never think otherwise
than that it was his genius for organizing raids that was responsible
for the robbery. At the least, he may have changed his mind, seeing
things getting too warm in police circles here. But never forget to
keep one eye open when dealing with such a slippery customer, for his
repentance is only skin-deep at the best."
Hugh made no reply. He knew it would have been utterly useless,
because the Chief was not only a very stubborn man, but inclined to
be a narrow-minded one in the bargain. So he and Thad walked out.
The last they heard the officer call after them was:
"Make up your minds, boys, Scranton is going to be purged now as
never before. We've made a good beginning, and it'll be pretty
unhealthy for anybody to start a racket from now on. Tip and Leon
will be going to the Reform School inside of a few days, after
they've had their trial before the Justice; and the town will be well
rid of a pair of scapegraces. And thank you for what assistance you
may have given us, boys."
As they walked along Thad vented his feelings in the matter.
"It looks as if that episode might be called closed, eh, Hugh? The
evidence is so powerfully strong that neither of the boys can put up
anything like a half-way decent defense. They're going to be sent
away, and we'll not be bothered with the bunch again. With Nick on
the mourners' bench, the old town is going to be pretty orderly for a
while, until some fresh spirits break loose."
"Let's hope it may be a long time before Nick has a successor," said
Hugh. "This whole thing is going to be a lesson to such fellows as
were inclined to run around with the street gangs, and play practical
jokes nights."
"I notice one thing," remarked Thad, "which is that some of those
fellows who used to loaf on the street corners in summer are now
coming to the club-house at the baseball park, now it's opened three
nights a week. The only trouble is they haven't got half enough
magazines and games there to go around, so many visit the big room to
get in out of the cold these nights."
"That is going to be remedied before long," Hugh told him. "Some of
the men of the town, and Deacon Winslow heads the list, I understand,
have arranged to spend a lot more money on certain improvements; and
among other things there will be a pretty fair gymnasium, as well as
more reading matter of the right sort for boys."
"Now, that's news to me, Hugh!" exclaimed the delighted Thad; "queer
that I hadn't heard a word about it before. But then you get wind of
everything that's going on. Folks think they ought to ask your
advice on all sorts of subjects. That's what it means to be the most
popular boy in a town."
Hugh laughed.
"Thanks for the compliment, Thad," he said; "but just think of the
weight of responsibility I have to stagger under, even as the captain
of the Scranton Seven. Why, everybody stops me on the street, and
asks the most remarkable questions. They seem to think I'm gifted
with prophetic vision. They ask me to tell them just how badly we're
going to whip Keyport to-morrow morning, and lots of other things
that I know no more about than a baby might."
"Well, have you decided to give up trying to learn where the woman
with the little child came from?" asked Thad, again switching the
subject in an abrupt fashion he had.
"Oh! I don't know whether it will pay me to go out again, and try to
trace her back to Belleville, or some such place," said Hugh.
"Doctor Cadmus assured my mother she would certainly be in her
rational mind inside of two days at the longest. So I reckon I had
better lie on my oars, and wait. I've got plenty to bother about, as
it is, with that hot game coming off in the morning."
"Perhaps you're wise about that, Hugh. I know I'm a lot too
impatient by half, and can't bear to wait for things to come to me.
That's why I always stepped out to meet the ball when at bat; and I
often caught it before the break came to make it a sharp drop."
"Mother says she thinks her full name is Judith Walters, though, as
far as we know now, that doesn't help any. Still, if she didn't
recover, it might assist in finding her family, so they could take
the boy. He's a fine little chap, and I've already made great
friends with him."
"You say she keeps on speaking to someone she calls grandfather, who
seems likely to turn them both out of the house?" Thad persisted, as
though he might be trying to figure something out.
"Yes, and so we take it for granted there must be some sort of a
pitiful family tragedy about the whole affair," Hugh told him.
"Mother suspects she may have married some years ago against her
grandfather's will; and, losing her husband suddenly through
accident, she is now on her way back, to plead with a hard-hearted
old man for a place under his roof. But as you say there's no family
named Walters near here, and we certainly don't know of any girl
leaving her home that way."
"The chances are," Thad said decisively, "that she was meaning to
pass through Scranton, and was heading for some other town, perhaps
Allandale. You might find out if any such thing happened there some
years ago; or if an old man could be found who would welcome a dear
little boy named Joey."
The subject being exhausted for the time being, the boys talked of
something else until they finally separated, each heading for his own
particular supper table.
Of course, the news of Tip's arrest was soon known all over town.
Most people had anticipated such an event, and professed not to be in
the least surprised to hear about it. Nevertheless, the clever
device of Chief Wambold, which he took care should be passed from lip
to lip, so as to add to his popularity, was highly commended.
And there never was a time when Scranton passed a more peaceful night
than on that occasion. Already great good was coming of the breaking
up of the vicious gang that had held sway much too long. With two of
the members locked up, being just as good as on their way to the
Reform School, and the leader forsaking his former evil practices, it
looked as though the police force of Scranton would soon become fat
and lazy through lack of activity.
Hugh did not go out that evening. He was tired, and wished to
conserve his energies so as to be in first-class trim for that lively
morning brush with Keyport's Big Seven.
So he spent considerable time playing with little Joey; and, being
still hopeful of learning something that would afford a clue to the
mysterious past of the boy's young mother, Hugh often plied him with
questions.
But his success was hardly flattering to his acumen, for the little
fellow could not tell him anything that would be of material help.
Hugh guessed that they had once been out in some mining country, from
certain things the boy chanced to mention. He also had reason to
believe the father had come to his death through such a catastrophe
as so often happens in the mines; for the boy spoke of many families
losing those they loved when "poppy" was buried in the cold ground.
It was slow work, and anyone less tenacious than Hugh might have
given up all hope of making a discovery. He believed, however, that
if no other way arose by means of which they could find out what they
sought, some time or other Joey was apt to let fall a word that might
lead to discoveries.
The doctor came before bedtime, and said his patient was getting
along nicely.
"Given one more day, and possibly by Sunday she may come into her
senses again," he told them before leaving. "And then she can thank
you, madam, for all your kind heart has done for her. But that
little boy is a sunbeam for any house. I have half a mind to steal
him myself."