HANK LEE’S INFORMATION
For a moment the news came as such a shock to Dan and Mr. Savage that
they did not know what to say. Robberies in the country are few and far
between, consequently they create more excitement than they do in the
city.
“Dr. Maxwell’s house robbed!” repeated Mr. Savage.
“Yep,” replied Silas Martin, the hired man, who also drove the
physician on his sick calls. Silas pulled up his horse. It was the
first chance he had had to tell the news, and he was not going to miss
it, even if the doctor had told him to hurry.
“When did they discover it?” inquired Dan.
“This mornin’, I found it out. I was up early, ’cause the doctor has
t’ make a long trip this mornin’ an’ I see th’ dinin’ room winder up a
bit. I knowed it was locked last night, an’ I got suspicious.”
“I should think ye would,” commented Mr. Savage.
“Yep, I was,” went on Silas, evidently very proud of what he had done.
“I seen th’ winder was up, an’ I was suspicious. I looked around an’ I
seen all th’ silverware was gone!”
“Land sakes! Do tell!” exclaimed Mrs. Savage, who had left her
morning’s work, on seeing Silas stop, and had come out to hear the news.
“Every bit,” went on the hired man. “Then I yelled, an’ th’ doctor an’
his wife come down stairs. Some of their jewelery was gone, too. I tell
ye them thieves got most a thousand dollars’ wuth of stuff!”
“And they got in through the dining room window,” remarked Dan.
“How’d ye know?” asked Silas quickly.
“Didn’t you say it was open?”
“That’s so. I did. Yep, them thieves pried it up with some kind of a
crowbar, or a big screwdriver, or maybe a tack lifter. Ye could see th’
marks on the sill. They broke the catch.”
“Didn’t ye hear any sound in th’ night?” asked Mrs. Savage.
“I didn’t” replied Silas, “but then I’m a turrible heavy sleeper. I
guess th’ doctor didn’t nuther, fer he didn’t say nothin’ about it.”
“Were any suspicious characters seen around?” asked Dan, as he suddenly
thought of something.
“Not as I know of. But I’ve got to git along an’ tell th’ constables.
Th’ doctor told me t’ hurry He tried t’ git ’em on th’ telephone, but
I guess there ain’t nobody up at th’ town hall yit, fer they didn’t
answer.”
“What all did ye say was stole?” asked Mrs. Savage, for she had missed
part of the recital.
“I’ll stop and tell ye on my way back,” called Silas, as he urged the
horse to a gallop.
“Wa’al, of all things!” remarked Mr. Savage, as the hired man rode
away. “Fust thing we know we’ll all be murdered in our beds.”
“Oh, dear! Don’t talk that way, Peter,” begged his wife, who was very
nervous. “What’s that package?”
“Oh, that’s th’ medicine Lucy wouldn’t take,” and Mr. Savage, who had
momentarily forgotten all about the pain-killer, told Mrs. Savage of
Dan’s trip. The two were so indignant over the outcome, partly blaming
the boy for taking the wrong road, and partly blaming Mr. Savage’s
sister, that they took little notice of Dan, who hurried into the
house and got his breakfast, rather a slim one, which was being kept
warm on the stove.
Then, wishing to be alone, to get a chance to think, Dan took his hoe
and went to a distant cornfield to work.
“I wonder if those queer men I saw, who were hiding something in the
woods, weren’t the ones who robbed Dr. Maxwell’s house?” thought Dan.
“They certainly acted very suspiciously. I believe they were. I wonder
what I had better do?”
He pondered over it until he got to the end of a long row.
“I suppose I had better tell Mr. Savage,” he went on. “Yet, if I do,
he’ll say I was loitering along the road. Perhaps I’d better go into
the village, and inform the constables. They at least, would be glad of
the information, but I don’t believe Mr. Savage would even thank me.”
Once more Dan indulged in some hard thinking.
“I suppose I could tell Dr. Maxwell,” he went on to himself, “but it’s
farther to go to his house than it is to the village. I guess I’d
better tell the constables, and not bother Mr. Savage. That’s what I’ll
do. As soon as I get a chance I’ll slip into the village. But I must
finish hoeing this corn, or I’ll be in for another lecture on my lazy
habits.”
In the meantime Silas Martin had proceeded to the village to inform the
authorities of the robbery. There were no police in Hayden. Instead
their place was taken by two rather elderly constables, Jacob Wolff and
Frederick Walker. They both thought themselves as good as any regular
police that ever wore brass buttons, and Mr. Wolff, in particular,
imagined he was quite a detective.
Silas found the two constables in Hank Lee’s store, which they used as
a sort of headquarters, since the town hall was rather lonesome, few
persons calling there. At the store the constables could be sure of
meeting many friends and hearing all the news there was.
“Come on, quick! Out t’ Dr. Maxwell’s,” Silas called to the officers.
“What’s the matter. Has he been murdered?” asked Jacob Wolff who was
always on the lookout for big sensations.
“No, but he’s been robbed. He wants you t’ come right away.”
“I s’pose he wants me t’ arrest th’ robber,” said Frederick Walker.
“I’ll do it right off. I can do it alone, Jake,” addressing his
companion. “Ye needn’t come. Guess I’m a match fer any robber. I’ve
got my badge an’ my revolver,” and he looked at the big nickel-plated
star on his breast, and pulled out an old horse pistol.
“There ain’t no robber t’ arrest,” spoke Silas with a grin. “He got
away, an’ took all th’ doctor’s silver with him.”
“Got away, eh?” exclaimed Jacob Wolff. “Then it’s a mystery. It’s
me they want, Fred, not you. Th’ doctor has heard of my detective
abilities. Are there any clues?” he asked of Silas.
“Clues? What’s them?”
“Did the robbers leave anything behind so’s I could identify ’em?”
“You mean did they leave their names an’ addresses?”
“No, of course not! Who ever heard of robbers doin’ that? I mean did
they leave any marks, footprints, or anything belonging to ’em?”
“They left some marks of a screwdriver or suthin’ on th’ winder sill,
where they pried th’ winder up,” replied Silas.
“Nothing else?”
“Wa’al, th’ doctor found a strange handkerchief under th’ winder.”
“That a clue!” exclaimed Jacob Wolff eagerly. “That’s a clue! I’ll go
right out, an’ look at it.”
“I don’t see what good it’ll do,” observed Silas. “It’s jest a plain
handkerchief, with nothin’ on it.”
“Never you mind,” declared Constable Wolff. “Real detectives can see
clues where other folks can’t see nothin’. I’ll have a look at that
clue.”
“An’ I’ll go along an’ arrest th’ robber when ye find him,” volunteered
his companion. “I reckon between us both, Jake, we’ll be able t’ land
him behind th’ bars.”
“Wait until I see that clue,” said Constable Wolff, with a mysterious
air.
“Guess you won’t need much of a clue to tell who robbed the doctor’s
house,” suddenly remarked Hank Lee, who had been listening to the talk.
“Not need any clues? Of course I need clues,” replied Constable Wolff.
“Not to my way of thinking.”
“Why not? Do you mean t’ say ye know who the robber was?”
“Well, I can come pretty near guessing. If you was to ask Dan Hardy
what he was doing out all night last night an’ what he has in a bundle
that he took such care of, an’ why he was riding horse back before
sun-up this morning, I reckon he’d be some embarrassed to answer you,”
went on Hank.
“Do you mean Dan robbed that house?” asked Constable Walker, while
Silas and Jacob looked astonished.
“Well, I’m not going to make any charge, for it might get me into
trouble, and he’d sue me. But I’ll tell what I know about it. I got
up quite early this morning because I had the toothache, and I wanted
something to stop it. I got some toothache drops, and when I finished
using ’em, I looked out of the window and I see some one riding by on
a horse. I knowed in a minute who it was, ’cause I know Peter Savage’s
mare, Bess, as well as I know my own critters. I see it was Dan on her,
and he had some sort of a package in his pocket. It was quite a big
package, too, and he was taking good care of it. Maybe if you was to
ask him, he’d tell you.”
“I’ll bet it was the stolen silver, and he was hidin’ it!” exclaimed
Constable Walker. “Come on, Jake, we’ll arrest him before he can skip
out.”
“Don’t seem very likely Dan Hardy would be a robber,” remarked Jacob.
“I’ve knowed him quite a while, an’ he’s always been honest. His father
was a good man, and his mother used to teach in th’ Sunday School.”
“That isn’t saying Dan takes after them,” interposed Hank Lee. “I’m
not making any charges, understand, but I’m telling you what I saw.”
“I don’t believe he done it,” ventured the doctor’s hired man.
“Ye don’t know nothin’ about it,” declared Constable Walker. “I believe
he’s guilty, an’ I’m goin’ t’ arrest him ’fore he escapes. Ye needn’t
come unless ye want t’, Jake.”
But Constable Wolff was not going to let his companion get the glory of
the arrest alone, and together they started for the farm to take Dan
into custody.