MARK RUNS AWAY
For the moment after his step-father had announced that he had lost
three hundred dollars Mark was so dumfounded that he could not speak.
"I--you--Did you lose three hundred dollars?" he gasped, at last.
"Yes, I did. And you've got the money," returned Jadell Powers.
"Mr. Powers, I haven't a cent of that money. In fact, I didn't know you
had three hundred dollars in the safe."
"I know better. I put the money in there yesterday, and you were there
when I did it."
"Perhaps I was there, but I didn't see you handle any money. Are you
sure it was stolen?"
"Of course I am."
"Didn't you lock the safe door?"
"Yes, but the safe is old and anybody could get it open by trying.
Come, Mark, confess and give back the money. If you don't, you know
what I said."
The youth did not listen to the words. He was thinking of the stranger
he had met on the stairs, when returning from the fire. Could that
individual be the thief?
"Mark, do you hear me?" stormed Jadell Powers. "Tell me where that
money is this instant!"
"I don't know where it is. But I think I know who took it."
"Was there anybody else in the office?"
"I think so, although I am not sure. Did you hear about the fire in
Koster's bakery?"
"Yes."
"Well, when the fire broke out I ran downstairs to see what was the
matter. I stayed down in the street a while. When I started to come
back to the office I met a strange man coming down the stairs. I asked
him if he wanted to see you. He said no, and said he had gotten into
the wrong building. He got out into the street in a terrible hurry."
"Tut, tut, young man! Do you expect me to believe such a cock-and-bull
story as that? Not I! Just you hand over that money, or I'll call a
policeman without delay."
Mark gazed at his step-father in horror. Evidently the close-fisted
lawyer meant just what he said, and the youth had a dim mental vision
of being dragged to prison and of being convicted of an awful crime.
"I haven't got the money, and I don't intend to be locked up!" he burst
out, and with a dexterous twist he freed himself from his step-father's
grasp and bounded down the street.
"Stop! Stop!" yelled Jadell Powers. "Stop, I say! Somebody stop him!
He's a thief!"
He ran after the boy, but Mark was a swift runner and soon put a goodly
distance between himself and his pursuer. Fortunately, no other people
were close at hand, and by the time some men and boys joined in the
chase, Mark was three squares away and still running like a frightened
deer.
"He shan't catch me!" he muttered to himself, as he kept up his running.
He was somewhat hampered by his valise, which was heavy, and on
reaching a street where ran a line of stages, he jumped aboard a
passing vehicle. As the driver was behind time, he whipped up his
horses, and before long Mark was a good mile from home. Nobody seemed
to be in pursuit and this caused him to breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet the youth felt strangely depressed. Contrary to his expectations,
he was leaving home under a heavy cloud.
"Unless the real thief is caught, Mr. Powers will always think I took
that money," he reasoned, dismally. "Perhaps I am to blame, too, for I
left the office during business hours and forgot to lock the door."
At last Mark found himself in the shipping district of the city. It
was growing dark, and the majority of the business people had taken
themselves to their homes. As the stage came to a corner, he alighted
and stared around him, not knowing where to go next.
"I guess I had better get out of town," he told himself. "Mr. Powers
will be after me hot-footed to-night and in the morning. Three hundred
dollars looks like a fortune to him. And it is a big sum of money. Wish
I had it for my own! I'd start West right away, and ride all the way,
too!"
An hour later found Mark on the way out of town. Strange as it may
seem, he fell in with a man who was driving ten horses which had just
come in on a boat. The man wanted to know the way to the village of
Chesbrook.
"I know the way," said the boy, quickly. "Let me ride one of the horses
and I'll show you."
"If you want to go to Chesbrook, hop up," answered the man, and in a
moment Mark was in the saddle for the twenty-mile journey.
"I haven't got much money and I want to save all I can," explained Mark.
"Horseback traveling is good enough for me," answered the man. "I hate
a stage coach, an' them railroad trains is too plaguety risky. I rode
in one once an' I felt sure we was goin' to be killed ev'ry minit!"
"Then you don't belong in the East?"
"No, I belong out to Hankertown, in the western part o' the State."
"Are you going that far?"
"Yes, after a day's stop at Chesbrook."
"Going to take the horses along?"
"Four of 'em. The others are for a man at Chesbrook."
"Then maybe you won't mind if I ride to Hankertown with you," went on
Mark, after pausing in thought.
"Oh, are you goin' West?"
"Yes--if I can get there."
"Say, you ain't goin' to try for Californy?" cried the man, with added
interest.
"Perhaps--I haven't made up my mind exactly. Maybe I'll get tired of
the trip after I've been on the road a while."
"I'd like to take the trip to Californy myself. But I don't know as I
can git away. I've been away from hum a good spell already."
It was well on towards midnight when Chesbrook was reached. It was only
a small village, with a small square building that went by the name of
hotel. Here the man put up for the night, and Mark did the same, the
boy paying "four shillings"--fifty cents--for his bed and breakfast in
the morning.
By ten o'clock the man with the horses had transacted his business at
the village and he and Mark began their journey further westward. It
was a clear day and a night's rest had put the boy in fine condition
physically, although he was still worried, fearing that his step-father
might be on his track.
Towards the middle of the afternoon Mark and Jed Dickson--such was the
man's name--came to a fork in the road.
"Which is the right road?" questioned the boy, as he drew rein.
"I allow as how the road to the right is right," answered Jed Dickson.
They turned in that direction, but scarcely had they covered half a
mile when they saw that the road was very poor and that there had been
no traveling upon it for several days.
"This looks like a side road to me," observed Mark.
"Reckon you're correct," answered the man. He scratched his head.
"Ain't nothin' to do but to go back."
"Wait, I hear talking!" went on Mark. "Somebody must be coming. Perhaps
we can find out which way to go."
They waited and heard two persons coming along, each on horseback. One
was a burly fellow of fifty, with a heavy beard, and the other a youth
of Mark's age, dressed in a sailor suit.
"Say, messmate, it looks to me like we were on the wrong tack," came
from the sailor boy, as he drew rein just around a bend from where Mark
and Jed Dickson were waiting.
"Oh, we're all right," came from the burly man. "By the way, how much
money did you say you had with you?" he continued.
"One hundred and forty dollars--and I don't want to lose it, either."
"Let me carry it for you, lad."
"No, I'll carry it myself. And I reckon I'll go back," went on the
sailor boy.
"You'll hand that money over to me," cried the burly man.
"What, would you rob me?" gasped the youth.
"I want that money, and I am bound to have it," came coolly from the
burly individual. "We are alone out here, so it won't help you to make
a fuss about it."
"You brought me here to rob me!" cried the sailor boy. "I thought
something was wrong. Well, you ain't going to rob me just yet. Get up
there!" The last words to his horse.
"Stop!" roared the burly man, and urging his own steed forward he
caught the other horse. "That money, I say, or I'll----"
"Hi! leave him alone!" cried Mark, riding forward. "Leave him alone,
you villain!"
"We don't allow no highway robbery in these parts," sang out Jed
Dickson.
Both came up alongside of the burly fellow, who drew back in commingled
alarm and disgust.
"Hullo--friends!" sang out the sailor boy, joyfully. "Here's luck for
me sure!"
"And no luck for me!" growled the burly man, and urging his steed
around, he disappeared back of some bushes and was gone.
"Do you know that man?" asked Mark.
"Never clapped eyes on him until this morning," answered the other boy.
"He said he would show me the way to Hopeville, but I guess he wanted
to get me in some lonely spot and then rob me. You two came up in the
nick of time,--and I'm mighty glad of it!" He gave Mark and Jed Dickson
a grateful look.
"Where did you come from?" asked Dickson.
"From Philadelphia. You see, I'm just ashore from a whaling voyage,"
was the answer. "I got tired of the sea and thought I'd try it on land
for a spell. I've got an old aunt living at Hopeville and I allowed I'd
pay her a visit. My name is Bob Billings. Who are you?"
"I am Mark Radley."
"And I am Jed Dickson. Don't you want to go after that rascal?"
"I don't reckon we can catch him, for he'll do his best to keep out of
sight," answered Bob Billings. "I was a fool to let him know what money
I was carrying with me. I got paid off four days ago, and I thought if
my aunt needed anything I'd let her have some of the cash. She's the
only relative I've got in the world."