CHAPTER X
HANK LEE’S INFORMATION
FOR a moment the news came as such a shock to Dan and Mr. Savage that they did not know what to say. Robberies in the country are few and far between, consequently they create more excitement than they do in the city.
“Dr. Maxwell’s house robbed!” repeated Mr. Savage.
“Yep,” replied Silas Martin, the hired man, who also drove the physician on his sick calls. Silas pulled up his horse. It was the first chance he had had to tell the news, and he was not going to miss it, even if the doctor had told him to hurry.
“When did they discover it?” inquired Dan.
“This mornin’, I found it out. I was up early, ’cause the doctor has t’ make a long trip this mornin’ an’ I see th’ dinin’ room winder up a bit. I knowed it was locked last night, an’ I got suspicious.”
“I should think ye would,” commented Mr. Savage.
“Yep, I was,” went on Silas, evidently very proud of what he had done. “I seen th’ winder was up, an’ I was suspicious. I looked around an’ I seen all th’ silverware was gone!”
“Land sakes! Do tell!” exclaimed Mrs. Savage, who had left her morning’s work, on seeing Silas stop, and had come out to hear the news.
“Every bit,” went on the hired man. “Then I yelled, an’ th’ doctor an’ his wife come down stairs. Some of their jewelery was gone, too. I tell ye them thieves got most a thousand dollars’ wuth of stuff!”
“And they got in through the dining room window,” remarked Dan.
“How’d ye know?” asked Silas quickly.
“Didn’t you say it was open?”
“That’s so. I did. Yep, them thieves pried it up with some kind of a crowbar, or a big screwdriver, or maybe a tack lifter. Ye could see th’ marks on the sill. They broke the catch.”
“Didn’t ye hear any sound in th’ night?” asked Mrs. Savage.
“I didn’t” replied Silas, “but then I’m a turrible heavy sleeper. I guess th’ doctor didn’t nuther, fer he didn’t say nothin’ about it.”
“Were any suspicious characters seen around?” asked Dan, as he suddenly thought of something.
“Not as I know of. But I’ve got to git along an’ tell th’ constables. Th’ doctor told me t’ hurry He tried t’ git ’em on th’ telephone, but I guess there ain’t nobody up at th’ town hall yit, fer they didn’t answer.”
“What all did ye say was stole?” asked Mrs. Savage, for she had missed part of the recital.
“I’ll stop and tell ye on my way back,” called Silas, as he urged the horse to a gallop.
“Wa’al, of all things!” remarked Mr. Savage, as the hired man rode away. “Fust thing we know we’ll all be murdered in our beds.”
“Oh, dear! Don’t talk that way, Peter,” begged his wife, who was very nervous. “What’s that package?”
“Oh, that’s th’ medicine Lucy wouldn’t take,” and Mr. Savage, who had momentarily forgotten all about the pain-killer, told Mrs. Savage of Dan’s trip. The two were so indignant over the outcome, partly blaming the boy for taking the wrong road, and partly blaming Mr. Savage’s sister, that they took little notice of Dan, who hurried into the house and got his breakfast, rather a slim one, which was being kept warm on the stove.
Then, wishing to be alone, to get a chance to think, Dan took his hoe and went to a distant cornfield to work.
“I wonder if those queer men I saw, who were hiding something in the woods, weren’t the ones who robbed Dr. Maxwell’s house?” thought Dan. “They certainly acted very suspiciously. I believe they were. I wonder what I had better do?”
He pondered over it until he got to the end of a long row.
“I suppose I had better tell Mr. Savage,” he went on. “Yet, if I do, he’ll say I was loitering along the road. Perhaps I’d better go into the village, and inform the constables. They at least, would be glad of the information, but I don’t believe Mr. Savage would even thank me.”
Once more Dan indulged in some hard thinking.
“I suppose I could tell Dr. Maxwell,” he went on to himself, “but it’s farther to go to his house than it is to the village. I guess I’d better tell the constables, and not bother Mr. Savage. That’s what I’ll do. As soon as I get a chance I’ll slip into the village. But I must finish hoeing this corn, or I’ll be in for another lecture on my lazy habits.”
In the meantime Silas Martin had proceeded to the village to inform the authorities of the robbery. There were no police in Hayden. Instead their place was taken by two rather elderly constables, Jacob Wolff and Frederick Walker. They both thought themselves as good as any regular police that ever wore brass buttons, and Mr. Wolff, in particular, imagined he was quite a detective.
Silas found the two constables in Hank Lee’s store, which they used as a sort of headquarters, since the town hall was rather lonesome, few persons calling there. At the store the constables could be sure of meeting many friends and hearing all the news there was.
“Come on, quick! Out t’ Dr. Maxwell’s,” Silas called to the officers.
“What’s the matter. Has he been murdered?” asked Jacob Wolff who was always on the lookout for big sensations.
“No, but he’s been robbed. He wants you t’ come right away.”
“I s’pose he wants me t’ arrest th’ robber,” said Frederick Walker. “I’ll do it right off. I can do it alone, Jake,” addressing his companion. “Ye needn’t come. Guess I’m a match fer any robber. I’ve got my badge an’ my revolver,” and he looked at the big nickel-plated star on his breast, and pulled out an old horse pistol.
“There ain’t no robber t’ arrest,” spoke Silas with a grin. “He got away, an’ took all th’ doctor’s silver with him.”
“Got away, eh?” exclaimed Jacob Wolff. “Then it’s a mystery. It’s me they want, Fred, not you. Th’ doctor has heard of my detective abilities. Are there any clues?” he asked of Silas.
“Clues? What’s them?”
“Did the robbers leave anything behind so’s I could identify ’em?”
“You mean did they leave their names an’ addresses?”
“No, of course not! Who ever heard of robbers doin’ that? I mean did they leave any marks, footprints, or anything belonging to ’em?”
“They left some marks of a screwdriver or suthin’ on th’ winder sill, where they pried th’ winder up,” replied Silas.
“Nothing else?”
“Wa’al, th’ doctor found a strange handkerchief under th’ winder.”
“That a clue!” exclaimed Jacob Wolff eagerly. “That’s a clue! I’ll go right out, an’ look at it.”
“I don’t see what good it’ll do,” observed Silas. “It’s jest a plain handkerchief, with nothin’ on it.”
“Never you mind,” declared Constable Wolff. “Real detectives can see clues where other folks can’t see nothin’. I’ll have a look at that clue.”
“An’ I’ll go along an’ arrest th’ robber when ye find him,” volunteered his companion. “I reckon between us both, Jake, we’ll be able t’ land him behind th’ bars.”
“Wait until I see that clue,” said Constable Wolff, with a mysterious air.
“Guess you won’t need much of a clue to tell who robbed the doctor’s house,” suddenly remarked Hank Lee, who had been listening to the talk.
“Not need any clues? Of course I need clues,” replied Constable Wolff.
“Not to my way of thinking.”
“Why not? Do you mean t’ say ye know who the robber was?”
“Well, I can come pretty near guessing. If you was to ask Dan Hardy what he was doing out all night last night an’ what he has in a bundle that he took such care of, an’ why he was riding horse back before sun-up this morning, I reckon he’d be some embarrassed to answer you,” went on Hank.
“Do you mean Dan robbed that house?” asked Constable Walker, while Silas and Jacob looked astonished.
“Well, I’m not going to make any charge, for it might get me into trouble, and he’d sue me. But I’ll tell what I know about it. I got up quite early this morning because I had the toothache, and I wanted something to stop it. I got some toothache drops, and when I finished using ’em, I looked out of the window and I see some one riding by on a horse. I knowed in a minute who it was, ’cause I know Peter Savage’s mare, Bess, as well as I know my own critters. I see it was Dan on her, and he had some sort of a package in his pocket. It was quite a big package, too, and he was taking good care of it. Maybe if you was to ask him, he’d tell you.”
“I’ll bet it was the stolen silver, and he was hidin’ it!” exclaimed Constable Walker. “Come on, Jake, we’ll arrest him before he can skip out.”
“Don’t seem very likely Dan Hardy would be a robber,” remarked Jacob. “I’ve knowed him quite a while, an’ he’s always been honest. His father was a good man, and his mother used to teach in th’ Sunday School.”
“That isn’t saying Dan takes after them,” interposed Hank Lee. “I’m not making any charges, understand, but I’m telling you what I saw.”
“I don’t believe he done it,” ventured the doctor’s hired man.
“Ye don’t know nothin’ about it,” declared Constable Walker. “I believe he’s guilty, an’ I’m goin’ t’ arrest him ’fore he escapes. Ye needn’t come unless ye want t’, Jake.”
But Constable Wolff was not going to let his companion get the glory of the arrest alone, and together they started for the farm to take Dan into custody.