JACK RUNS AWAY
Jack closed the door of his apartment and sat down in a chair by the
bed. His mind was in a whirl. He wondered if the professor would carry
out his threat, and call an officer.
“He’s mean enough to,” thought the boy. “But I don’t see how he can
accuse me of taking that cup. I know he values it very highly, and
feels very badly over its loss, if it is gone, but I had nothing to do
with it. I can easily prove, by Tom Berwick, that it was a glove I had
in the bundle.”
Then another thought came to Jack. He remembered that, after getting
out of sight of the house, he had thrown away the paper from the
catching glove. All Tom could say was that his chum had sold him a
glove. Tom would know nothing about any bundle that Jack had carried
away from the professor’s house.
“I may have hard work proving that I only took the glove with me,”
mused Jack. “The professor is so quick tempered that he’ll not believe
such proof as I can bring forward. It looks as if I was in a hole.”
The more Jack thought it over the less inclined he was to await the
return of the professor with an officer.
“I’ll not submit to the disgrace of an arrest, even though I know I am
innocent,” he declared. “That’s carrying things too far. If dad was
only here----”
He stopped suddenly, and a lump came into his throat, while there was
suspicious moisture in his eyes.
“This is the limit!” the boy exclaimed, at length. “I’m not going to
stand it! I’ll skip out! I’ll run away! I’ll go anywhere rather than
stay in this house any longer!
“Whatever happens to me, or wherever I go I can’t be much worse off
than I have been here, with old Klopper and his sister. I’ve got a
little money left, and I guess I can get work somewhere. I’ll pack up
my clothes and leave. Dad wouldn’t blame me, if he knew. Neither would
mother. I’ll go; that’s what I’ll do!”
Once he had formed this resolution Jack set about ways and means. First
he looked to see how much money he had.
“Two dollars and fifteen cents,” he said, as he counted the change.
“Not an awful lot, but I’ll have to make it do. I wish there was
another show coming to town. Maybe I could make a little money doing
my clown stunt on amateur night. But I haven’t any time to wait for
such a thing as that. I’ve got to get out at once.”
Next he began to consider what he had better take with him. He had
several suits of clothes, and a plentiful supply of other garments.
Selecting the best he placed them in his dress-suit case.
“Now to get away,” he murmured. “The professor will have to go to town
for an officer, and he can’t get back inside a half hour. I’ve got
about fifteen minutes left. Guess I’d better go by the window. That old
cat of a sister of his will probably be on the watch downstairs if I go
out the door.”
Jack gave a last look around the room that had been his for the past
year. There were no very pleasant memories connected with it. He saw
his school books lying on a shelf.
“I won’t need you, where I’m going,” he said. “The term is almost
closed. By the time I get ready to come back, or hear from my folks I
can start a new term, but I hope I’ll never have anything more to do
with Professor Klopper.”
Jack went to the window to look out, to see if it would be safe to drop
the suit case, and then follow himself. To his surprise, coming over
the back path, which he often used as a short cut to the village, he
saw the professor and a policeman.
“It’s too late!” he exclaimed. “He took the short way home, and got
here quicker than I thought he would. He kept his threat, and is going
to have me arrested. What’ll I do?”
Jack thought rapidly. He had made up his mind that he would not submit
to the indignity of being taken into custody, even though he thought he
could, after some trouble, prove his innocence of the charge.
“I’m not going to let them get me,” said Jack softly. “What had I
better do? I know. I’ll hide in the big attic closet. He’ll never think
to look for me there. But, before I go I’ll just make them think I got
away out of the window. Then they won’t spend so much time looking for
me.”
Jack took a piece of rope, one of the many things in his room which he
had stowed away, thinking he might some day find a use for it. He tied
one end to his bed, and threw the other out of the window, taking care
that the approaching professor and the officer should not see him.
“There, they’ll think I got down by that,” he said, “though I never use
it. The lightning rod is good enough for me. Now to hide!”
Softly opening his door, which, fortunately was not bolted, and
carrying his dress-suit case, he went up to the big attic, which took
up the entire third story of the professor’s house. There was a roomy
closet, or store room in it, and, selecting a place behind a large
chest, Jack sat down there, stowing his case away out of sight.
“I don’t believe they’ll find me here,” he said, with a smile. “Gee,
but I’m glad I decided to skip out! I couldn’t stand it any longer!”
He listened intently, and soon he heard his name being called by the
professor.
“They’ve found out I’m not in my room,” he said. “Well, let ’em hunt.”
He heard his name being shouted again.
“That’s Miss Klopper,” he remarked. “I’ve fooled ’em.”
Then he heard confused sounds throughout the house, and he knew they
were searching for him. But he had selected his hiding place well.
Besides, the dangling rope did deceive the professor and the policeman.
“The rascal has gotten away,” said Mr. Klopper, when a superficial
search of the house failed to reveal the boy. “I did not think he would
do that.”
“Most any boy would, under the circumstances,” observed the policeman
grimly. “You shouldn’t have told him you were going to have him
arrested. If you’d come away quietly and got me we would have him now.”
“I’ll get him yet,” declared the professor savagely. “I will compel him
to tell me where he pawned my gold loving cup. I shall also cable to
his father of what he has done, as soon as I get his address. I never
supposed, after all my teaching, that Jack would prove such a rascal.”
“Maybe he didn’t take the cup,” suggested the officer.
“I know he did,” insisted the former teacher, as if that settled it.
Meanwhile, Jack remained in hiding. He heard the house grow more quiet
after the officer took his departure. The professor had given up the
search, though he had asked the authorities to send out a general alarm
for the runaway boy.
“It must be quite dark outside by now,” thought Jack, after an hour
or more behind the big chest. “I wonder if it’s safe to venture
downstairs? I’m almost starved, for I didn’t have any supper. Guess I’d
better wait a while. The professor and his sister go to bed early, and
they’re sound sleepers. Then I’ll sneak out and get something from the
pantry.”
He waited another hour. Then, taking off his shoes, and carrying them
in one hand, while in the other he carried the dress-suit case, he
stole down the attic stairs.
He listened intently. There was not a sound. The house was dark, and,
as he stood there, anxiously waiting, he heard a clock strike ten.
“They’re asleep,” he said softly. “Now for something to eat.”
He made his way to the pantry. He struck a match, one of a supply he
always carried, and found a piece of candle. This he lighted, and, by
its flickering glow, he made a meal from cold victuals which were on
the shelves.
“Guess I’ll take a little lunch with me,” he remarked softly. “It may
come in handy.”
He did up some bread and meat, a bit of cake, and a piece of pie in a
paper, which he thrust into his pocket. Then, having put on his shoes,
and grasping his case, he let himself out of the front door.
“Well, I’ve run away,” he remarked grimly, as he looked back at the
dark and silent house. “Now for a free life, without being scolded
every minute by old Klopper. I’ve got the whole world before me, and I
shouldn’t care if I never came back, if I could only get to where dad
and mom are.”
Poor Jack! he little realized what was in store for him before he would
see his parents again.