In spite of Elisha's indignation toward Stanley Heath, and his resolve
to go to the Homestead with the break of dawn, it was noon before he and
Eleazer got under way.
In the first place, the two men disagreed as to the proper method of
arresting the alleged criminal.
"You can't take him on no warrant, 'Lish," Eleazer objected, "'cause you
ain't actually got proof he's guilty."
"Proof? Ain't I got a clear case? Ain't I roundin' him up with the loot
on him?" blustered Elisha.
"Mebbe. Still, it's my opinion you can't do more'n take him on
suspicion."
"Suspicion!" Elisha repeated scornfully. "Suspicion! Would you call a
fistful of diamonds suspicion? I wouldn't."
"P'raps--p'raps you didn't really see the jewels," Eleazer quavered.
"Sometimes folks get to imaginin' things--seein' what ain't there. Are
you plumb certain you saw them things?"
"Certain?"
"Come, come! Don't go up in the air, 'Lish. I ain't doubtin' your word.
Nothin' of the sort. I just want to make sure we don't take no missteps
an' make jackasses of ourselves," Eleazer explained. "This is a big
affair. We've got to move careful."
"Humph! You're shifty as the sands. You didn't talk like this
yesterday."
"No, I didn't. But after sleepin' on the matter, I've thought more 'bout
it."
"Sleepin' on it! You were lucky if you could sleep on it. I didn't. I
never closed my eyes from the time I went to bed 'till mornin'. Heard
the clock strike every hour. You can't 'cuse me of not thinkin'. I'll
bet I've done full as much thinkin' as you--mebbe more. Had you the
prospect of bein' shot ahead of you, you'd think--think pretty hard, I
figger," Elisha growled.
"No doubt I would," conceded Eleazer mildly. "Wal, 'long's we've both
chewed the matter over, I reckon there's nothin' more to be done now but
go ahead."
"Take Heath on suspicion, you mean? Humph! Seems an awful cheap sort of
way to do it, in my opinion. Kinder meechin'. There ain't no dignity to
it."
"What's the use of standin' here bickerin' half the mornin', 'Lish?"
Eleazer said fretfully. "Let's get started. Next we know Heath may get
wind of what we're up to an' light out."
"No danger of that with the Homestead dory on this side of the channel,"
Elisha sniffed.
"For all that, no purpose is served by puttin' off the evil hour. I say
we get under way," Eleazer urged. "Have you got everythin'?"
"I--I--guess so," Elisha said weakly.
"Pete fixed up your badge in great shape, didn't he?" was Eleazer's
cheerful comment. "It's bright as a new dollar. Anybody could see it a
mile away."
Elisha offered no reply.
"An' the handcuffs, too--they look grand. Why don't you kinder dangle
'em so'st they show? Why stuff 'em in your pocket? Was I in your place,
I'd stalk into the Homestead with the handcuffs in one hand an' the
pistol in the other."
"You ain't in my place!" Elisha snapped. "I wish to heaven you were."
"No, I ain't," his confederate returned promptly. "I'm only playin'
second fiddle on this job. The whole responsibility's yours."
"Don't I know it? Why rub it in?"
"I ain't rubbin' it in. I'm just sorter cautionin' myself. You see when
I'm mixed up in a job, I get so interested I'm liable to forget an' go
ahead as if the whole enterprise was my own."
"You're welcome to shoulder this one if you want to. I give you
permission," Elisha said eagerly.
"Oh, I wouldn't think of doin' that, 'Lish. I wouldn't want to steal the
glory from you. You're the big shot on this occasion," cajoled Eleazer.
"Wal, what do you say to our settin' out?"
Elisha did not move.
"Don't it 'most seem as if we'd oughter eat somethin' 'fore we go? I
might turn faint doin' arrestin' on an empty stomach."
"But man alive, you et your breakfast, didn't you?"
"That was some little while ago," argued Elisha. "I'm feelin' a wee mite
gone a'ready. I'd oughter have a lunch or somethin'."
"Wal, since you mention it, I could do with a couple of doughnuts an'
slab of cheese myself," Eleazer confessed.
This information delighted Elisha.
"We might put off goin' 'til after dinner," he suggested. "Then we'd be
primed by a good square meal an' be braced for it."
"Oh, we can't wait that long," his comrade immediately objected.
"N--o, I s'pose we can't. Wal, anyhow, I'll go hunt up a snack of
somethin'."
"Don't bring nothin' but doughnuts an' cheese," Eleazer bellowed after
him. "We can munch on them while walkin' to the beach."
The stroll to Crocker's Cove was not a hilarious one, even May Ellen's
twisted crullers failing to stimulate Elisha's rapidly ebbing strength.
With each successive step his spirits dropped lower and lower.
"You walk like as if you was chief mourner at your own funeral, 'Lish,"
Eleazer fretted. "We'll never make the Cove if you don't brace up."
"My shoes kinder pinch me."
"Walk on your toes."
"It's my toes that hurt."
"Walk on your heels then. Walk anywhere that's most comfortable, only
come along."
"I am comin'."
"At a snail's pace," Eleazer retorted. "Soon folks will be comin' from
the noon mail an' what we're doin' will get noised abroad."
Reluctantly Elisha quickened his steps.
At last they came within sight of the bay.
"Where'd you leave the boat?" Eleazer questioned.
"I pulled her up opposite the fish-shanty."
"She ain't here."
"Ain't here!"
"No. Look for yourself."
"My soul an' body!"
"I told you you hadn't oughter dally. What's to be done now?"
"I reckon we'll just have to give it all up," the sheriff responded with
a sickly grin. "Call it off."
"Call it off? But you can't call it off. Officers of the law have got to
do their duty no matter what."
"Yes--yes! Of course. I only meant we'd call it off for the
present--for today, p'raps."
"An' let the thief escape? No sir--ee! We've got to go through with
this thing now we've started if it takes a leg. We'll walk round by the
shore."
"It's too far. My feet would never carry me that distance."
"They've got to. Come along."
"I can't walk in all these clothes. This collar is murderin' me."
"Oh, shut up, 'Lish. Quit whinin'."
"I ain't whinin'. Can't a man make a remark without your snappin' him
up, I'd like to know? Who's sheriff anyhow--me or you?"
Eleazer vouchsafed no reply.
In high dudgeon the two men plodded through the sand, its grit seeping
into their shoes with every step.
It was not until they came within sight of the Homestead that the
silence between them was broken.
"Wal, here we are!" Eleazer announced more genially.
"Yes--here--here we are!" his comrade panted. "S'pose we set down a
minute an' ketch our breath. My soul an' body--what a tramp! There's
blisters on both my heels. I can hardly rest 'em on the ground."
"You do look sorter winded."
"I'm worse'n winded. I'm near dead! It's this infernal collar. It's
most sawed the head off me," groaned Elisha.
"I don't see how it could. Every mite of starch is out of it. It's limp
as a pocket handkerchief."
"Mebbe. Still, for all that, it's sand-papered my skin down to the raw.
Collars are the devil's own invention. Nobody oughter wear 'em. Nobody
oughter be made to wear 'em," raged Elisha. "Had I known when I was made
sheriff I'd got to wear a collar, I'd never have took the job--never.
'Twarn't fair play not to tell me. In fact, there was nothin' fair 'bout
any of it. This arrestin', now! I warn't justly warned 'bout that."
"Mebbe not," Eleazer agreed. "Still, I don't see's there's anything to
be done 'bout all that now. You're sheriff an' your duty lies straight
ahead of you. You've got to do it. Come along."
"Wait a minute, Eleazer. Just hold on a second. Let's take 'count of
stock an' decide how we're goin' to proceed. We've got to make a plan,"
pleaded Elisha.
"But we've made a plan a'ready."
"No, we ain't--not a real plan. We've got to decide 'xactly how we'll go
'bout the affair," contradicted his companion. "After you've knocked at
the door an' gone in--"
"I knocked an' gone in?"
"Yes, yes," Elisha repeated. "After that, you'll sorter state the case
to Marcia, 'xplainin' why we've come an' everythin'--"
"An' what'll you be doin' meantime?" Eleazer inquired, wheeling sharply.
"Me? Why, I'll be waitin' outside, kinder loiterin' 'til it's time for
me to go in--don't you see?"
"I don't. The time for you to go in is straight after the door is
opened. It's you that'll enter first an' you who'll do the explainin'."
"But--but--s'pose Heath was to put up a fight an' rush past me?"
"Then I'll be outside to stop him," Eleazer cut in. "That's where I'm
goin' to be--outside."
"You promised you'd stand by me," reproached Elisha with an injured air.
"Wal, ain't I? If I stay outside ready to trip up the criminal should he
make a dash for freedom, ain't that standin' by you? What more do you
want?"
"I think 'twould be better was you to go ahead an' pave the way for me.
That's how it's done in plays. Some kinder unimportant person goes first
an' afterward the hero comes in."
"So you consider yourself the hero of this show, do you?" commented
Eleazer sarcastically.
"Ain't I?"
"Wal, you don't 'pear to me to be. Where'd you 'a' got that pistol but
for me? Who egged you on an' marched you here--answer me that? You'd
'a' given up beat hadn't I took you by the scruff of the neck an'
hauled you here," Eleazer burst out indignantly. "If you ain't the most
ungrateful cuss alive! I've a big half mind to go back home an' leave
you to do your arrestin' alone."
"There, there, Eleazer, don't misunderstand me," Elisha implored. "I was
only jokin'. 'Course it's you an' not me that's the hero of the day.
Don't I know it? That's why I was sayin' 'twas you should go into the
house first. In that way you'll get all the attention an'--"
"An' all the bullets!" supplemented Eleazer grimly. "No--sir--ee! You
don't pull the wool over my eyes that way, 'Lish Winslow. You're goin'
to be the first one inside that door an' the last one out. See? You're
to do the arrestin'. If there's undertakin' to be done afterwards, I
'tend to do it. You get that clear in your head. Otherwise, I go home."
"Don't do that, Eleazer, don't do that!" Elisha begged. "Don't go home
an' leave me--now--at the last minute."
"You'll do the knockin' at the door? The announcin' of our errand?"
"Yes. Yes. I swear I will."
"Very well," Eleazer agreed magnificently. "Then I'll remain an' give
you my moral support."
"I hope you'll do more'n that," urged Elisha timidly.
"I may. I'll see how matters work out," Eleazer returned pompously.
With lagging feet, the sheriff approached the door of the big grey
house.
"There's the dory," observed Eleazer, pointing in the direction of the
float. "Somebody's rowed it over."
"I wonder who?"
"P'raps an accomplice has arrived to aid Heath. What's the matter? You
ain't sick, are you?"
"I dunno. I feel kinder--kinder queer."
"Indigestion! Them doughnuts most likely. You et 'em in a hurry," was
Eleazer's tranquil reply. "Want a soda mint? I most generally carry some
in my pocket."
"No. I--I--I think it's my heart."
"Heart--nothin'. It's just plain indigestion--that's what it is. I often
have it. Don't think 'bout it an' 'twill go away. Put your mind on
somethin' pleasanter--the arrestin' of Heath."
"That ain't pleasanter."
"Wal, think of somethin' that is then. Anything. An' while you're
thinkin', be walkin' towards the house. You can think as well walkin' as
settin' still, I reckon."
"I don't believe I can."
"Wal, try it, anyhow."
Eleazer had a compelling personality. Under the force of his will,
Elisha found his own weaker one yielding.
He got up and, dragging one foot after the other, moved toward the
house.
"Now knock," commanded the dictator.
Twice the sheriff reached forth his hand, wavered and withdrew it.
"Why don't you knock, man?" Eleazer demanded.
"I'm goin' to."
Tremulously he tapped on the door.
No answer came.
"Knock, I tell you! That ain't knockin'. Give the door a good smart
thump so'st folks'll hear it an' be made aware somethin' important's
goin' on. I'll show you."
Eleazer gave the door a spirited bang.
"Law, Eleazer! A rap like that would wake the dead," Elisha protested.
"I want it should--or at any rate wake the livin'," Eleazer frowned.
"I hear somebody. Stand by me, Eleazer. Where are you goin'? Come back
here, can't you? You promised--"
"I didn't promise to go in first, remember. We had that out an' settled
it for good an' all. You was to do that," Eleazer called from his
vantage ground round the corner.
"But--but--" Elisha whimpered.
There was no more time for argument.
The door swung open and Marcia stood upon the sill.