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.