A Rude Awakening
"Guess this'll be a surprise for 'em."
His heart throbbing a little faster than it was wont to do, and his
pulses beating tumultuously, Jack crept along a passage, and presently
came to a large door which stood ajar. There was someone within the room
without a doubt; for he heard whispering voices, while, though the place
was not lighted, every now and again a ray swept past the door, and
penetrated through the chink beneath it, as if one of the burglars had a
lamp and were flashing it to and fro. Then he heard the chink of metal.
"Silver!" he heard someone exclaim.
"H--h--ush! You'll wake the house, booby! Silver it is, and plenty of
it. Easier ter take Jem Bowen's glint than dig for gold in Californy.
Put 'em in the sack. Never mind bending the things. They'll all come out
the same in the melting-pot. Here, leave the job ter me and get to the
other cabinet."
The dulled sound of footsteps came to Jack's ear, and every now and
again a metallic sound, as the silver articles were dropped into the
sack. As for himself, he had made no sound as he came along the passage,
for it was luxuriously carpeted. He stood at the door, hesitating
again, eager to enter and face the men, and yet doubting whether the
right moment had yet arrived. And our hero was to discover again to his
cost that indecision does not always pay. In fact, that the man who can
make up his mind on the spur of the moment, in a flash as it were, and
act upon it inflexibly, without doubts, without a second's delay, is the
man who more often succeeds in this life than he who is dilatory. But
expedition in such matters is not to be expected from a lad of Jack's
age. It was only natural that he should hesitate. After all, he was
suddenly face to face with a dilemma which might well have tried the
discretion and courage and steadiness of an elder man. He hesitated.
"If I go now they will get clean away with that silver. If I wait till
they are fully engaged, and then wake someone in the house, then they
may well be captured. Guess I'll wait. Helloo!"
Another dull footfall had come to his ears, and he swung round to see
who had caused it. A big man was stealing up to him along the corridor,
a man dressed in nightshirt and trousers, bearing a small lantern, and
armed with a club. Jack was thoroughly startled, and, to be honest, lost
his head. He was between two fires, and was likely to be singed by both.
"S-s-s-sh!" he whispered, holding up his finger. "In there. In there."
He pointed to the room at the door of which he stood, and again held up
his finger for silence. But the man who was creeping down that passage
had but one idea in his mind. He had been awakened by a sound, and from
his position in one wing of the mansion had caught the flash of a light
in one of the living rooms. The instant he saw Jack he took him for a
burglar, and, now that he was within striking distance, he disregarded
our hero's signs, and, suddenly dashing in, brought his club down with a
furious swish. Fortunately for Jack it missed the mark. But in another
moment they were locked in one another's arms, the newcomer endeavouring
to use his club, while Jack gripped his arm with all his might. They
fell to the ground during the struggle, and continued the contest there.
"Leave go!" shouted Jack at the top of his voice. "Can't you tell I'm on
the same errand as you are. There are two men in there. Burglars! I've
tracked them."
Crash! The club, seized in the man's other hand, came with a resounding
bang against his head, and in a second our hero was unconscious. At the
same moment the door of the room was torn open, and the lamp, which had
rolled to the floor of the passage, but which was not extinguished,
showed the two whom Jack had followed.
"Hands up!" shouted the fellow who had so unexpectedly appeared upon the
scene, and who had made such a stupid error with respect to our hero.
"Yer won't! Then take the consequences!"
He was a sturdy fighter, this caretaker of the mansion and in one brief
half-second had broken the arm of one of the men. Then he attacked the
second, and no doubt would have done him a like injury with his
formidable weapon had not the fellow drawn back. Something bright
glinted in his hand; there was a sharp report, which went echoing down
the corridor, and instantly his attacker fell to the ground.
"Wall! If that don't beat everything! Dead, is he?"
The one with the broken arm bent over, supporting his injured limb with
the other, and looked at the man who had been shot.
"As mutton," he said curtly; "and serve him right. He's broken my arm."
"Who's the other? Seems he must have been following us, and this old
fool took him for one of our gang. Turn him over."
Together they rolled Jack over on to his back and inspected his face.
"Gee!" cried the leader, the one who had come to the forge that morning;
"ef it ain't the youngster who made the key for me. And I thought he was
soft. Phew! Wall, he's brought it on hisself. Get the sack, mate, and
let's be moving. We know the old man was alone in the house, so thar's
no hurry. But it won't do ter wait. Someone else might be in the game.
Get the sack, and we'll drive."
Without a thought for the man they had shot, or for poor Jack, they
decamped from the mansion, leaving the two victims lying on the floor.
Ten minutes later their buggy was whirling them away, so that no trace
was left of them when the morning came. And it was not till then that
the crime was discovered. A gardener found the door open, and, being
unable to make the caretaker hear, entered the mansion. An hour later
Hopeville's solitary policeman was there.
"Hm! A burglary," he said knowingly; "and the old man came in at the
right moment. Is he dead?"
"Left for dead, but still breathing ever so gently," answered the
gardener. "I've sent for the doctor."
"And t'other fellow?"
"Head pretty nigh bashed in. Insensible, and likely to remain so for a
day," was the report. "Reckon Davy caught him nicely. What'll you do?"
"Note the surroundings first. Then, when the doctor arrives, get 'em to
bed. Reckon the thief couldn't be moved yet awhile."
It was an hour before surgical aid arrived, and very soon afterwards
Jack was put into a bed in one of the attics, with a groom to watch him,
and make sure that he did not escape. As for Davy, he was carried to a
sofa, the movement nearly shaking the slender thread of life still
remaining out of his body. He rallied slightly, opened his eyes, and in
a feeble voice gave an account of the burglary. Then he closed his eyes,
and died within ten minutes.
"Which makes the case worse for that young blackguard upstairs," said
the man of law. "To think that James Orring's man should take to such
ways. I've sent along for him, so as to ask a few questions. Guess he'll
be mighty put about. It was only yesterday that he passed me on the
road, and got to talking about young Jack Kingsley. It'll be a case
of----" He jerked his head back, and indicated a hanging.
"Y-e-e-es," agreed the other doubtfully, "ef it's proved. In the States
a man ain't guilty, and don't hang in consequence, till he's proved to
have done murder."
"Proved! It's a clear case," exclaimed the policeman. "Clear as
daylight. Here's the young blackguard discovered on the premises,
knocked silly by Davy's club, and Davy himself dyin'. Ef that ain't
clear, what is?"
His familiarity with the law, the necessity for showing greater
knowledge than the gardener, caused the policeman to sniff with
indignation. To his legal mind Jack was not only guilty of the offence,
but was already condemned. Indeed, looking at the evidence clearly,
things wore a black aspect for him. Now that Davy was dead there was no
one to give evidence but himself, and the poor fellow who had so
recently died had definitely stated that Jack was one of the burglars,
believing that to be the case himself.
Let the reader imagine our hero's feelings when at length he regained
consciousness, and was taken to the station-house.
"Taken for one of the burglars, just because that poor, stupid fellow
made the mistake! Surely not," he groaned. "That would be too cruel! I
can prove that I was not. I can describe what happened--how I met them
on the heath and followed. I can speak about the key, and----"
He broke off with a groan, for as he reviewed the matter he realized
that he could but make a statement of what had happened, but that there
was no one to bear it out. After all, facts were glaringly against him.
Indeed he realized that to the full when he was brought up before the
sheriff and judges.
"The prisoner states that he was at work in the forge when a man entered
and desired to have a key made," counsel for the prosecution announced,
when summing up the case. "That may or may not be the case, though we
can believe that it happened, for there were footmarks in the mud
outside the smithy which correspond with others on the lawn outside the
mansion. But we maintain that those marks were those of an accomplice.
The prisoner made the key to match a wax impression supplied by this
accomplice, and carelessly left the impression in the smithy. Now let us
follow the prisoner's movements. He shuts the smithy and goes off in the
evening, as he has done many times before. But let us bear in mind an
important item of evidence. On ordinary days he would have to be back by
nine o'clock at the latest. But on this particular evening he owns that
he walked so far that a return at that hour was impossible. With that we
place the fact that James Orring and his wife were lured away from
Hopeville for the night. Is that not very suggestive of prisoner's
complicity in this crime? He lures his patron away, so that his absence
shall not be detected. And why should he walk farther on this particular
occasion? To meet the buggy with his two accomplices. The tracks on the
heather are clear enough to show that three men were about the buggy. It
stands to reason that one man could not have been spying, for he would
certainly have been detected.
"And now we come to the mansion. Davy declares that this man was one of
the miscreants, though he did not say who fired the shot. That is his
dying deposition. Is it probable that he would have thrown himself upon
a defenceless youth? Highly improbable. Unbelievable. Contrary to common
sense. And had he done so, is it possible that he could still have
persevered in his error? No, a thousand times no! Davy, at death's
door, gave us his honest conviction."
Terribly black was the evidence, and it may be imagined with what a
sinking heart our unfortunate hero listened to it all. There was no one
to speak for him, save honest James Orring, who sturdily maintained that
his apprentice was innocent.
"Find the weapon with which he shot the man Davy," he asked savagely,
"and then talk of the lad's guilt. A steadier boy never worked in a
forge. Him a burglar! Not much! And ef he was, do yer think I shouldn't
have spotted it, with him under my eyes day and night?"
Jack's case stirred the countryside, and filled the columns of the
paper. Discussion as to his guilt or innocence waxed loud and furious,
and was responsible for many incidents. People took up the cudgels for
him in the saloons, and often enough that led to angry words and to
broken heads. Even the jury wavered. Looking at Jack in the dock they
were bound to confess that a franker face never before was seen. The
prisoner faced his terrible position with a courage and fortitude which
were commendable, while his answers were so direct, so evidently
spontaneous and sincere, that even with that damning evidence before
them the most experienced of the jury felt a qualm, hesitated a little,
and was inclined to give some benefit to the prisoner.
"It'll be manslaughter," said James dolefully, "as he discussed the
matter with his wife. They'll never hang Jack, even though the evidence
is so black against him. He'll be given ten years, ten long years, in
prison."
Mrs. Orring wept, and was joined by Jack's mother, who had come to stay
with them during the trial.
"Ten long years," she moaned. "He'll be an old man by then. To think
that a bonny fellow such as he must be shut up for the finest years of
his life, must be treated like a wild beast. Oh, it is horrible!"
"He shan't! I tell yer he shan't!" cried James, banging his fist on the
parlour table till the whole floor shook. "Even though I war the victim
of a hoax that cleared me away for the time being, I ain't never had
ought but a friendly feelin' for young Jack, and I'm dead sartin that
he's as innocent as a babe. If them skunks who were in it had the pluck
of sparrows, they'd come forward and declare theirselves. But they
won't--trust 'em! And they'll see this young chap nigh hanged and put in
prison, while they're free ter burglar other places. Jack's up against
it hot and strong, and I'm his friend. I say again, he shan't go to
prison."
His vehemence was remarkable, and stirred his listeners.
"Not go to prison! You won't----" commenced Mrs. Orring.
"Silence, woman!" thundered James, his brows knit close together, his
eyes staring at the opposite wall. "Ye've heard what I've had to say.
Then silence! Not another word! Don't breathe a syllable to a soul. Good
night!"
The usually pleasant and easy-going smith got up and left the room
abruptly, while the two women stared at one another, half-laughing and
half-weeping.
"This is how I look at it," said James, when he was well away from the
house. "I can't get to think in there with women round me, but here a
man can see things clearer. Jack's done. If he ain't hanged, he'll be
put away fer ten solid years. And how's he ter prove his innocence when
he's cooped up within four walls? He can't, and thar's no one else to do
it fer him. And supposin' he goes fer the ten years, he's branded as a
felon, and won't have the spirit or the energy ter try to clear himself
when at last he gets free. I don't, as a rule, get advisin' a man as is
innocent ter skip before his trial's finished. It makes things all the
blacker agin him. But here's a case where no good can come with waitin'.
He's branded, sure, and he'll stay branded if he goes to prison. I'll go
and see Pete."
Pete was an old friend of James's, and because of help he had had at a
critical time, from the owner of the smithy, he always had an indulgent
ear for James.
"Ef yer could get ter chat along with the policeman, maybe I'd be able
ter take a look at Jack," said James, accosting his friend, and passing
him a wink. "Not yet awhile, though, 'cos I'm busy. But after tea. Jest
about sevin o'clock."
Pete looked up quickly, and a sharp glance shot from his eyes. He was a
man of sixty-five, perhaps, though he looked older, and was already as
white as snow as to his hair and beard. But he was no fool, was Pete,
and his glance showed that he half-understood James.
"You aer thinkin' that boy's innocent?" he asked, as he sucked at his
pipe.
"Dead sartin," replied James. "Sit down and have a smoke. Try mine."
He handed out his tobacco skin, and Pete filled from it gratefully.
"Up!" he remarked, as he pulled at the pipe; "and you was thinkin' maybe
that Jack----"
"Yer know what I was thinkin', Pete," exclaimed James bluntly. "Look ye
here. Have yer ever been dead down on yer luck, right clean hard up agin
it?"
Pete nodded, his ferrety little eyes watching the smoke curl up from the
bowl, and his whole expression denoting satisfaction.
"I've been dead down on the rocks, with the pinnacles comin' clear
through," he admitted, as if the recollection caused him enjoyment.
"I've had fortune play me so scurvily that I couldn't see a crust
anywheres, and hadn't but one friend ter turn to. Yes, James, I've knowd
what it is ter be clean up agin it."
"And yer didn't want help?"
"Ye've struck it wrong. Every man wants help some day. It may be only
when he's old and tottery, like me----" he stopped to smile, and watch
the smoke again--"jest like me," he repeated. "Sometimes he don't want
it even then. But there's others want it, soon and plenty, when they're
just cuttin' their teeth. Guess Jack's one of 'em."
"And he's jest got one friend," said James slowly. "That's me."
"Then you've struck it wrong agin. Jack's got two. Jack's friend is my
friend. I don't forget the time when I was up agin it."
The shrewd, sharp look came again from the old man, and James noted it.
Taking his courage in both hands he blurted out his news.
"I'm goin' to fetch him out of that ere jug of a prison," he said
curtly. "Help me with the policeman, and--and----"
"Why, bless us! what am I doin'," cried Pete, suddenly taking his pipe
from his mouth. "It's five o'clock now, and I must be goin'. I've got a
'pointment with the constable at sivin, jest to do a bit of talkin'. So
long, James."
"And bless you," thought the owner of the smithy, as Pete departed. "Now
ef I don't fix it, my name ain't James Orring. First thing's an aliby."
He stood thinking for a few moments, and then hastened back home. Tea
was ready, and after that, and a smoke, it wanted only a quarter to
seven.
"Missus," said James suddenly, "I'm agoin' to bed. I've a headache. Jest
come in and put the light out, will yer."
Mrs. Orring was not gifted with a brilliant wit, and stood for a while
regarding her husband with questioning eyes. For James certainly did not
look to have a headache. If ever a man looked in robust and absolute
health it was he. But Jack's mother saved the situation.
"I think I should go and do as he says in a few moments, dear," she
whispered. "You see, to-morrow you will be able to tell the people that
James went to bed, and that you left him there, sick with a headache."
It dawned upon Mrs. Orring that this manoeuvre of her husband's might
have something to do with Jack, and promptly she carried out his wishes.
"And jest sit right there in the front parlour," said James, as the
light was put out. "Then I shan't be disturbed with the talking. Yer
can come in and see how my head's doin' when I call. Not before, 'cos I
shall likely be sleepin'."
He yawned, turned over, and drew the clothes well across him, as if
disposing himself for sleep. But within a minute of Mrs. Orring's
departure, James was out of bed. To open the window and leap out was the
work of a moment. Then he went straight to the smithy, procured a file
and a hammer, and, covering his face with a scarf, set off towards the
prison, choosing a path at the back of the houses.
"Better see as Pete's got the constable in tow," he said to himself as
he went. "Now's the time to work a liberation, 'cos this jail ain't by
noways strong. But after the trial's over, and the verdict's given,
guess Jack'll be taken to a place as strong as could be wanted. Now what
in thunder aer we ter do with him when he's out."
The difficulty almost floored James, and for a time he sat pondering.
"Got it!" he cried at last. "Thar's bound ter be a hue and cry, and a
dickens of a fuss; and the country-side'll be searched high and low.
Guess I'll help ter put 'em off the tracks."
Some ten minutes later he was close to the prison, and had safely hidden
himself in the angle of a house from which he could watch the street.
Hopeville boasted of a town hall and a jail, both perched at the edge of
a square, which, now that the township was a dozen years old, had become
the fashionable promenade of the inhabitants. It was lighted by some
half-dozen swaying oil lamps, and was provided with a few benches. On
one of these, some distance from the tiny prison, Pete was seated as
James looked, smoking quietly, and engaged in earnest conversation with
the only constable that Hopeville possessed. And if that conversation
could have been overheard, it would have appeared at once that the
artful Pete was playing on the constable's vanity.
"Good for me! Good for Jack!" thought James. "Now, I won't lose no time
about it, and I'll go at it like a man."
Being the only smith in the place, he was thoroughly acquainted with the
ins and outs of the prison, and knew the solitary cell it boasted. James
was no believer in half-measures. He clambered on to a wall at the back
of the prison, made his way along it, and gained a roof. The grilled
window of the cell looked on to this, and in a twinkling James was at
it.
"Hist!" he called through the bars. "That you, Jack!"
He had to repeat the summons before our hero put in an appearance.
"What is it?" he asked sleepily. "You! James!"
"Fer sure. Look here, Jack! Ye're innocent, and we knows it."
Our hero nodded curtly. He had heard the same tale from James before,
and had blessed him for his support. But the iron of this terrible time
had seared his mind; his feelings were dulled; he felt that he was
already branded a thief and a murderer.
"And I've made up me mind ter give yer a chance. Look here, lad! Ef yer
go to prison it'll be fer ten solid years, and thar'll be no one ter
clear you."
"Well," asked Jack, his eyes brightening a little.
"Ef yer bolts, people can't say more than they have done. Yer ain't more
guilty than yer wur afore, but yer have a chance ter get hold of that
chap and make him clear yer. Savvy? Wall, yer can take yer liberty or
leave it. It's right here, outside the windy. Will yer have it?"
Jack thought for a moment. He realized that to leave was practically to
declare his guilt. Then he looked at the other side, the prison side:
the impossibility of being able to show his innocence--the hopelessness
of his future life. Rightly or wrongly he chose liberty.
"I'll take it," he said breathlessly. "How'll you manage the bars? I'll
leave 'em to you, while I scribble a note."
He went across to the far side of the cell, where light entered the
place in a thin stream from a candle placed in a niche in the corridor
outside. Pulling out a pocket-book, he wrote boldly and in large
letters:
"This is to declare solemnly, on my word of honour, that I am entirely
innocent, and that every word I have uttered is true. I have to face
death or imprisonment under the brand of a felon, and without hope of
justice reaching me. On the far side of my prison bars I see liberty: if
I can gain it, the chance to clear my good name and bring the right men
to justice. I choose the last, whether it stamps me guilty or not. I
will return when the time arrives, and will deliver myself up again to
the law."
He scrawled his name boldly beneath the words, and left the sheet of
paper on the tiny table. Meanwhile James had stripped off his coat, had
wrapped it into a thick buffer, and, placing this against the bars, had
broken them with a few lusty blows from his hammer. In a minute Jack was
free, shaking himself like a dog just emerged from the water.
"And now?" he asked.
"Jest come along with me, and doggo aer the order. Do yer remember the
store of scrap, back of the smithy? Then ye're goin' thar. Thar's a
place pretty well built all ready for yer. I'll look after things when
ye're hid, and send 'em off on the wrong scent. But doggo it's got ter
be. Yer must lie as quiet as any mouse."
James led him swiftly from the broken cell and took him to the smithy.
At the back, in the open, was a mass of odds and ends of iron.
Axletrees, plough-irons, swingle-bars, rods and hoops, and old
horseshoes galore. The heap was piled high, and leaned against the side
of the smithy. But James was a tidy man, and for a long while had
insisted on piling his old horseshoes wall-fashion, and in course of
time quite a big wall had been formed.
"Thar's room and plenty for yer," he whispered to Jack, indicating the
heap. "Get along in, while I sling a few bars up agin it. And not a word
till I give the signal, not even if you're starvin'."
Jack crept into the hole, which, by the way, he had never noticed before
in the scrap heap, and James threw a number of bars and hoops up against
the opening.
"Ter-morrow there'll be shoes and sichlike to sling," he said. "So long,
and don't forget it, it's doggo."
Running as fast as possible, James made for the river, and in ten
minutes had beaten in the boards of an old dinghy which had once been
Pete's, and which was now old and useless. He cut the painter and let
the wreck drift.
"It'll be down ten foot and more in a jiffy," he said, "and in a while
it'll reach the bottom, or get broken up and float away. Anyway, it'll
give 'em a scent. They'll turn to the river, or the far shore."
Satisfied with his labours he retreated to his house, clambered in
through the window of the bedroom, and presently called loudly for his
wife.
"Wuss," he said as she entered, sitting up and treating her to a broad
wink. "It's wuss, that head of mine. Feels like a swollen pertater.
Can't think. Can't even sleep. What's the clock?"
"The time? Why, ten," answered Mrs. Orring. "You've been asleep, sure."
"That's likely. I thought it war somewhere's in the neighbourhood of
sevin. Good night!"
James threw himself flat again, and grunted, while Mrs. Orring retired.
"He's been fast asleep all this while, I do believe," she said,
addressing Jack's mother, and nodding significantly. "Poor dear, I've
left him to it!"
Having safely established his alibi, James Orring fell into a deep
slumber, and indeed was still snoring heavily when the constable
appeared and insisted on searching the premises.