THE ROUND-UP--CONCLUSION
Across Roy's mind it flashed in an instant that he had been deceived by
the note--it was a forgery. He had been tricked into coming to the
Bowery. He dwelt but momentarily on this, however, for he needed to
devote all his attention to escaping from the grip of the man who held
him.
Fortunately Roy was of exceptional strength for so young a lad. His
training on the ranch, roping steers, training wild horses, and his
life in the open, made him more than a match for the average man.
He kicked out vigorously, right and left, and squirmed like an eel. He
felt the grip of the man relaxing, and heard him call for aid. Then
another came.
But Roy was fighting desperately. He made up his mind not only not to
let the men take him away again, but to hold them until help came.
With this in view he set up a loud shout.
"Police! Police! Police!" he cried, remembering what the hotel clerk
had said about the bluecoats being on the Bowery.
"Stop his mouth or we'll all be arrested!" exclaimed some one.
"Yes. Can't you manage him?" asked Annister desperately.
"He's as strong as a horse!" Roy heard one man grunt, and this caused
the boy to smile grimly.
The struggle in the dark continued. The boy had a good grip on two
men, and was preventing them from dragging him down the dark hallway.
But help was at hand. His cries had been heard in the street, and, a
moment later the door leading to the thoroughfare opened, and a little
light came in.
At the same time Roy heard the sound of a club striking on the pavement.
"The cops are coming!" cried a voice.
A few seconds later a burly bluecoat entered the door.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing but a drunken row," quickly replied one of the men who had
attacked Roy, at the same time trying to loosen the grip of the lad.
"I'm putting the fellow out."
The plotter would have been glad to drop the matter now and escape, but
Roy had no intention of letting him go.
"Officer!" exclaimed Roy quickly, "they're trying to get me away! I've
got hold of two of 'em. Give us a hand and we'll throw and tie 'em
both."
He talked as though he was on the ranch, handling a pair of refractory
calves.
Somehow the officer recognized the honesty in Roy's voice. He knew it
was not uncommon for thieves and pickpockets to attack persons in dark
hallways. He supposed it was one of those cases.
"I'll help you!" he exclaimed, quickly advancing. Some one in the rear
of the hall had opened a door, and the place was lighter. The
policeman saw two men whom Roy had gripped, holding them by twisting
his hands in their coats. The men tried to escape.
"No, you don't!" exclaimed the officer, grabbing one. "I've got you."
At the same time a second policeman appeared, and took charge of the
other. The rest of the men escaped.
"Now let's see who we've got," said the first bluecoat, as he led his
prisoner to the light in the rear. His brother officer did likewise.
"I don't know either of 'em," announced the first policeman.
"Me either," admitted his colleague. "They must belong to a new
pickpocket gang."
But Roy knew them both. One was Caleb Annister, and the other John
Wakely, alias Dennison Tupper, though Roy did not learn that until
later.
"Do you want to make a charge against these two?" asked the first
officer. "A charge of attempted pocket picking?"
"It's worse than that," replied Roy. "They tried to kidnap me."
"Kidnap you? Then you'd better come to the station, and tell the
sergeant all about it. I'll ring for the wagon."
In a little while the patrol vehicle dashed up with a clanging of the
gong, and, through the great crowd that almost instantly gathered, Roy
followed the two officers and their prisoners into the wagon. They
were soon at the station house.
"How do I know but what you're all of one gang?" asked the sergeant,
when Roy had told his story, while the other two remained obstinately
silent.
"If you will telephone for Mr. Ketchum he will identify me."
The name produced an instant effect, for Mr. Ketchum was a lawyer well
known in police circles, as he prosecuted many criminals.
The sergeant telephoned, and, in a short time, came the answer from Mr.
Ketchum's home that he would come to the station and identify Roy.
He did so, and the sergeant admitted his mistake.
"I'll just lock these two up," he said, indicating Mr. Annister and
Wakely.
"You're not going to lock me up, are you?" asked Caleb Annister, who
seemed to lose all courage as he saw the way matters were going.
"You're not going to prosecute me, are you, Roy Bradner? I'll make
restitution! I'll pay it all back!"
"Then you confess you swindled this boy, and his father?" asked Mr.
Ketchum quickly.
"I--er--I won't say anything," replied the other sullenly, as he saw
the mistake he had made.
"You don't have to. I have evidence enough to convict you without any
admissions on your part. I discovered your scheme in time. A few days
more and it would have been too late to pay the taxes, and save the
property for Mr. Bradner and his son."
"Was he going to take the property?" asked Roy, amazed at the duplicity
of the agent his father had trusted.
"He was. That is why he tried to have you put out of the way. He was
afraid you would interfere with his plan before the two weeks expired.
Fortunately I discovered it in time. To-morrow I will pay the taxes in
your father's name, and the building will remain the property of him
and yourself."
"What's the charge against these two, then?" asked the sergeant.
"Attempted kidnapping and embezzlement against him," replied Mr.
Ketchum, indicating Annister, "and against Wakely, a charge of actual
kidnapping. I think we shall be able to arrest the others in the gang,
also."
"Hold on!" exclaimed a voice, and Roy turned around to behold Mortimer
De Royster. "There's another charge to be made."
"Who against?" asked the sergeant, impressed by the apparently wealthy
air of the jewelry salesman.
"Against him," pointing to Wakely.
"What is the charge?"
"Robbery. He and three others stole my gold watch and diamond pin."
Wakely uttered an exclamation.
"I now recognize him as one of the robbers, even though he has shaved
his moustache off," went on De Royster, and Roy, now, also knew where
it was he had heard Wakely's voice before.
"Lock 'em up!" called the sergeant to the doorman, as he made an entry
on the blotter, against the prisoners' names. "You can see the Judge
in the morning," he went on. "I suppose you will be here, Mr. Ketchum?"
"Oh, yes. I will prosecute this case to a finish. It was a wicked and
bold attempt at swindling."
"Well, you seem to turn up every time I need you," remarked Roy to
Mortimer De Royster. "How did you know I was here?"
"I called at your hotel shortly after you left. I had forgotten to
tell you, when we parted, that I would call for you early to-morrow
morning. The clerk said you had gone to the Bowery, after receiving a
note.
"I was suspicious, and I followed. I got there just as the patrol
wagon left, and I came on to the station house. Well, I guess you
'rounded them up' as you call it, Roy."
"Yes, they're roped and in the corral now, all right. That is, part of
them are."
"The police will get the others. They'll make Annister and Wakely tell
who their confederates are."
Mortimer De Royster's surmise proved correct. Later that night Hynard,
Baker and Sutton were arrested, just as they were about to leave the
city. On Sutton were found pawn tickets representing De Royster's
watch and diamond, and he got them back in due time. There were also
some envelopes and letter heads secured in some criminal way from Mr.
Ketchum's office. On one of them the note to Roy had been written.
After a hearing the swindlers and Annister, the rascally real estate
agent, were sent to jail, in default of bail, there to await trial on
several charges.
Eventually they were sent to prison for long terms.
"Well, you saved your father's building for him," remarked Mr. Ketchum
to Roy, a few days later.
"Do you really think Annister could have gotten it into his possession?"
"He could, under the law. Of course we might have contested it, but it
would have been a long and expensive proceeding. He would have had a
tax deed to it, and that is considered pretty good. Your father can be
proud of you. What are you going to do now?"
"Go back to the ranch, I guess. I've done all dad told me to, except
get a good man to look after the property. Perhaps you can suggest
some one?"
"I think I can arrange that without difficulty."
"Then I wish you would. I know my father would be glad to have you."
This was done a few days later, and Mr. Bradner was informed, by
telegraph, of what had transpired. He could now be sure of getting all
the rent money from the Bleeker Building. Little was ever recovered of
the money that Mr. Annister had unlawfully retained, for his property
was so tied up that the law could not touch it.
"Now, since your business is all attended to, why can't you stay in New
York a few weeks longer, and see more of the sights?" proposed Mortimer
De Royster to the boy from the ranch.
"I think I will," decided Roy.
"Besides, you have still a visit to make."
"A visit?"
"Exactly. You must call on that lady of the runaway."
"Oh! I reckon she has forgotten me," answered the boy from the ranch.
But he had not been forgotten, as a visit to the lady's home quickly
proved. He was royally entertained, and the lady's husband insisted
upon presenting him with a ruby scarf pin, doing so in the names of
both his wife and his little daughter.
"And now you've got to make me a promise," said Roy to Mortimer De
Royster, when the boy from the ranch was ready to go home.
"All right, Roy, anything you say goes."
"You must visit our ranch soon. I'll show you the best time possible."
"I don't know what sort of a figure I'd cut on a ranch," answered the
jewelry salesman, with a faint smile. "Don't forget how I got mixed up
with those sharpers when I was out in your neighborhood."
"We haven't any sharpers at our ranch. If they came around where we
were our cowboys would treat them pretty rough, I can tell you that.
I'd like to get you on one of our ponies and ride you across the
ranges. You'd find it the best kind of outdoor exercise."
"I believe you there, Roy."
"Then you will come? I want you to meet my father. You'll soon get
used to our style of living--just as I got used to city ways." And the
boy from the ranch grinned as he thought of the experiences he had
undergone.
"I'll come if I possibly can," answered Mortimer De Royster. Let me
add here that he did come, during the following July, and he and Roy
had many a good time together, hunting, fishing, and rounding-up cattle.
It must be admitted that Roy was anxious to get home, to see his father
and tell his parent the details of what had transpired. He found his
father much improved, for which he was thankful.
"Roy, you did well--as well as any man could have done," said Mr.
Bradner. "I am proud of you." And his beaming face showed he meant
what he said.
It was a happy reunion. The cowboys were also glad to have the boy
among them again, and that night they held a sort of jollification,
lighting a big bonfire and shooting off their firearms as if it was the
Fourth of July. And here let us take our leave of The Boy from the
Ranch.