TAKEN TO JAIL
Even the hired man, good friend as he was to Dan, could not but admit
that matters looked black for the boy. Dan had been away all night,
and, though those at Mr. Savage’s farm knew where he had been sent,
they could not give evidence that he had not gone to Dr. Maxwell’s
house, as well as to the Randall place. Getting on the wrong road, and
being delayed, had operated against Dan.
“Have you got to take me with you?” he asked of the constables.
“’Course we’re goin’ t’ take ye with us,” replied Mr. Walker. “Think
we’re goin’ t’ all this trouble catchin’ a robber, an’ then let him go?
Not much!”
“But where is Mr. Savage? He can prove that I was gone all night,
taking a bottle of medicine to his sister.”
“He’s not here now, an’ no matter what he said, we’d have t’ take ye,
after all th’ evidence we’ve discovered,” replied Constable Wolff.
“You had better say nothing more, Dan,” advised the hired man. “Go with
the constables. I will tell Mr. Savage what has happened, as soon as he
comes back, and I think he will testify in your favor. I’ll come to the
village as soon as I can.”
“You’ll find him in th’ jail,” called Mr. Wolff, as he moved away, with
his hands tightly clenched in Dan’s collar.
“In jail! Oh, you’re not going to put me in jail, are you?” pleaded the
unfortunate boy.
“’Course we are. That’s where all prisoners has t’ go, an’ ye ain’t any
better than any one else.”
“I know that,” admitted Dan, trying hard not to let the hot tears come
into his eyes, “but I am innocent of this charge.”
“Then ye can tell th’ Squire so, an’ he’ll let ye go,” spoke Mr. Walker.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mrs. Savage, who, unable to restrain her
curiosity any longer, had come out to see where the constables were.
“What has Dan done?”
“He’s arrested fer robbin’ Dr. Maxwell’s house,” declared Constable
Walker.
“For robbery! Oh, I allers knowed he’d come t’ some bad end,” and the
woman shook her head, as if this was what she had always expected.
“Do you believe I did it, Mrs. Savage?” asked Dan.
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say,” replied the woman. “I don’t know nothin’
about law business. I’m not goin’ t’ be a witness in th’ police court.”
“I don’t believe ye done it, Dan,” put in Silas Martin, who had been
too astonished at the sudden turn of events to say anything up to this
time. “Them was professional burglars what done th’ job. I’ll tell Dr.
Maxwell, and he’ll come t’ see ye.”
“Thank you, Silas,” said Dan.
“Huh! I s’pose ye think, ’cause ye discovered it, that ye know all
about th’ robbery,” sneered Mr. Wolff. “Let me tell ye it takes a
detective t’ decide whether a job was done by professional robbers or
not. I’ll take a look at th’ house soon as I’ve got my prisoner safe
behind th’ bars.”
“Are you--are you going t’ lock me up?” asked Dan, his heart fluttering
in fear and shame.
“Of course. I’m not goin’ t’ take any chances on ye’re escapin’, like
ye most done. I’ve got ye, an’ I’m goin’ t’ keep ye,” and Constable
Walker, who made this heartless speech, nodded his head vigorously, in
which he was imitated by his companion.
“I thought maybe you could let me stay in the town hall without locking
me up,” went on Dan. “Mr. Savage will surely be able to prove that I
was far away when this robbery occurred. Until then, why need you lock
me up? It will only be a little while.”
“We ain’t takin’ no chances,” declared Constable Wolff. “Come on now,”
and he started to lead Dan away.
“You’d better go in a wagon,” interposed the hired man. “I’ll hitch up
for you.”
“That’s a good idea,” declared Mr. Wolff. “He might escape if we walked
with him.”
“Ef ye take one of our hosses or wagons ye’ll have t’ pay fer it,”
warned Mrs. Savage.
“We will,” replied Mr. Walker. “Ye kin send yer bill t’ th’ county.
They allow th’ use of a rig in bringin’ prisoners from a distance.”
Hanging his head in shame at the disgrace that had come to him, just at
the time when he thought he was serving the ends of justice, poor Dan
got into the wagon, between his captors, the hot tears coming into his
eyes.
“I’ll come to you, or send Mr. Savage as soon as he gets back,”
promised the hired man, but Dan felt that he would receive little
consolation from his mean employer, though the farmer could not refuse
to testify in his favor.
“And I’ll tell Dr. Maxwell,” added Silas Martin, as he rode back to the
house that had been robbed.
There was great excitement in the village when the two constables drove
in, with Dan seated between them. The news of the robbery had spread
like wildfire, and, to the eager inquiries that were met with on every
side, the two officials told of Dan’s arrest.
“There he is! There’s the robber!” he could hear persons in the crowd
exclaim. Most of the villagers knew him, and curious as it may seem,
there were few who did not believe him guilty, though they had always
up to this time, been certain he was an honest boy. Very often, when a
man or a boy is in misfortune, many take pleasure in adding to it by
harsh words.
The crowd increased as word of Dan’s arrest spread. At first he hung
his head, and pulled his cap down over his eyes, but, though he was
much ashamed of his plight, he knew he was innocent, and he determined
to hold up his head and look every one in the face.
Even this action was not regarded rightly by most of the curious ones.
“Oh, see how bold he is!” exclaimed a gossiping woman, whom Mrs. Hardy
in her life time, had often befriended. “He brazens it right out. But
them Hardy folks was always uppish, and considered themselves too good
to associate with common folks. I wonder what Dan’s relations would
say, if they saw him now.”
“I don’t believe he has any,” replied another woman. “He is all alone
in the world.”
At length the wagon came to a stop in front of the town hall, part of
which was finished off into two cells, that made up the jail of Hayden.
There were not often prisoners in the cells, as crime was rather
infrequent in the village.
In spite of the shame and disgrace of it, Dan was rather glad to be
taken into the building, as he hoped to escape the curious throng, many
persons in which were making unkind remarks about him.
But in this he was doomed to disappointment. Quite a crowd followed
the constables, for an arrest was a novelty in Hayden, especially one
involving a village character, and on such a serious charge as this.
“Now then, you people have all got t’ git back!” ordered Constable
Wolff.
“Guess this is a public place, and we’ve got a right here,” said some
one.
“Wa’al, maybe ye have, at th’ trial. But ye can’t come in th’ jail,
’less ye want t’ be locked up, in which case we can oblige ye,” and the
officer grinned at his joke.
Though the crowd tried to follow, to see Dan locked in a cell, the
constables drove them back, and fastened the door leading to the jail
part of the building. Dan shuddered when he saw before him two cages,
made of steel bars.
“Do I have to go in there?” he asked hopelessly.
“Yes, ye do!” snapped Constable Wolff. In fact he was just a little bit
ashamed to be locking up a boy, but he did not want to give in before
his official companion, and, probably Constable Walker felt the same
way. If both of them had been a little kinder, and not so insistent on
doing their duty to the very limit, Dan could have remained in an outer
room.
As it was they thrust him into a cell, clanged the heavy door shut, and
locked it.
Dan sank on the cot bed in the steel-barred cage. The footsteps of the
constables echoed away down the hall, and the boy was left alone in the
jail.