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CHAPTER XVI. – THE VEILED WOMAN
As may be understood, the members of Frank’s company were individually and collectively delighted with the apparent success of the play and their efforts. Perhaps Agnes Kirk was the only one who complained. She was not at all pleased by the notices she obtained.
Frank immediately secured a supply of Denver papers and, marking the notices, mailed them to the managers of theaters and the editors of papers along the route “True Blue” was to follow.
Then he had typewritten copies made of extracts from these notices, which he added to his collection of press notices already manufactured for advertising purposes, and sent them on to his advance agent, who had been out on the road several days.
Frank knew how to work every point to the best advantage, and he did not lose anything. He was tireless in his efforts, and it was wonderful what an immense amount of work he accomplished. No one knows how much he can do till he makes the test.
Hodge aided him as far as possible, and Frank found Bart a valuable assistant. Hodge was fully as eager as Merriwell for the play to be a great success.
Frank had opened with the piece under its original name in Puelbo, and it had met disaster there. He vowed that he would return to that place with the play and make a success of his engagement. He engaged the leading theater in the city for three nights, being obliged to pay in advance for it, as the manager had no confidence in the revised play.
Frank had been working the papers of the city. One of them was edited by a remarkably genial gentleman by the name of Osgood, and this editor had seen in the original play material for a strong piece. He admired Merry’s pluck in opening the second time in that city, and he literally opened the columns of his paper to Frank, who telegraphed down extracts from the Denver papers as soon as the notices appeared.
The house in Puelbo was to be well “papered” the first night, but was to depend entirely on the drawing qualities of the play for the audience on the following two nights.
Frank was making a great hustle to get away from Denver, and he was returning from the theater to his hotel, after seeing the last of the special scenery moved to the railroad station, when a heavily veiled woman stopped directly in his path. As he was walking hastily, he nearly ran against her.
“I beg your pardon, madam!” exclaimed Frank, lifting his hat. “Very awkward of me.”
“Not at all,” she said, in a low voice, that was not unpleasant nor unmusical. “You were hurrying, and I stopped directly in your way. I am the one who should beg to be excused.”
“Not at all,” he hastened to say. “I assure you that it was entirely on account of my awkwardness.”
He was about to pass on, but her gloved hand fell on his arm, and she said:
“I wish to speak with you, Mr. Merriwell.”
“You know me?” exclaimed Frank, surprised.
“Indeed, I do. Why should I not? All Denver knows you to-day.”
“Am I so famous as that?” smiled Merry. “I fear you flatter, madam.”
“It is not flattery. You must not doubt my sincerity.”
“Very well, I will not; but you must speak hastily, for I have a train to catch in an hour and thirty minutes, and I haven’t too much time to attend to all I have to do.”
“But you must give me a little of your time – you really must,” she said, persuasively, putting her hand on his arm again. “If you will come with me – please do!”
“Where?”
“Oh, I know a nice, quiet place, where we can talk.”
Somehow Frank did not like her words or manner. A feeling that there was something wrong about her came over him.
“Really, you must excuse me,” he said. “I have not the time to go anywhere to talk. If you have anything to say to me, you can say it here.”
“Now, don’t be obstinate. You’ll not regret it if you come.”
“But I do not even know who you are. That veil – ”
“If you come, I may remove the veil,” she murmured.
Frank drew back, so that her hand fell from his arm.
“Madam,” he said, “you have placed me in a very awkward position. I do not like to appear rude to a lady, but – ”
“Of course you do not, and so you will grant my request. It is a small matter.”
“But not to me, for my time is valuable just now. I am ready to hear anything you have to say, but you must say it here.”
“Would you keep a lady standing on the street?” she exclaimed, with a slight show of resentment. “I cannot say all I have to tell you in a minute.”
“And I have explained that I cannot spare time to talk over anything for more than a few moments. I think you will have to excuse me. Good-day.”
He lifted his hat and started to pass on, but again she placed herself squarely in front of him, to his great annoyance.
“Mr. Merriwell,” she said, “I have seen you on the stage, and I admire you greatly. You will not be rude to one of your admirers, I know. You are far too gallant for that.”
It was plain she sought to cajole him by flattery, and that was the surest way to repulse him.
“Is it possible she is one of those foolish women who fall in love with actors?” Frank asked himself.
Somehow she did not seem like that. There was nothing of the giddy, gushing girl about her. He could not see her face, but her figure was that of a matured woman, and he judged that she must be twenty-five years old, at least. It seemed, too, that there was a purpose in her words and movements.
But Frank resolved on action, for he had found that it was useless to waste words talking to her. He made a quick move to one side and passed her, intending to hasten away.
Barely had he done so when she flung her arms about his neck and screamed loudly!
Frank was astounded by this unexpected move of the veiled woman.
“She’s crazy!”
That was the thought that flashed through Merry’s mind.
He realized that he was in an awkward predicament, and he attempted to whirl about.
The woman was very strong, and, having taken him by surprise, she nearly threw him down. To save himself, he caught hold of her.
“Help!” she cried.
Some men came running up.
“Madam,” said Frank, hurriedly, “are you demented? What is the meaning of this?”
“You wretch!” she blazed. “Oh, you cowardly scoundrel, to assault a lady on the public street in broad daylight!”
“Surely you are – ”
“I saw him do it!” declared a little man, with red whiskers. “I saw him assault you, madam.”
“Call an officer!” palpitated the woman. “Quick, before he gets away!”
“He shall not get away,” declared a big man with a crooked eye, glowering at Frank. “If he tries it, I’ll attend to him!”
“Looks like a would-be masher,” piped a slim man, with a very long neck, ducking and nodding his head in an odd manner. “He should be taught a lesson.”
One or two others expressed themselves in a similar manner.
Frank had thought of making a break and hastening away, but now he saw it would not do, for he would have a howling mob at his heels the instant he attempted such a move. He realized it would seem cowardly to run away in such a manner, and would look like a confession of guilt, which caused him to decide to stay and face it out, even though the predicament was most embarrassing.
“Gentlemen,” he said, looking squarely at them, and seeming to pay very little attention to the mysterious woman, even though he was perfectly on his guard, not knowing what move she might make next, “I trust you will give me a chance to explain what has happened.”
“Explain it in the police court,” growled the big man with a crooked eye. “That’s the proper place for you to make your explanations.”
“The judge will listen to you,” cried the slim man, his head bobbing on his long neck, like the head of a crane that is walking along the edge of a marsh.
“Don’t attempt to escape by means of falsehoods, you rascal!” almost shouted the little man with the red whiskers, bristling up in a savage manner, but dodging back the moment Frank turned on him.
“Gentlemen, I have been insulted by this fellow!” came from behind the baffling veil worn by the woman. “He is a low wretch, who attacked me in a most brutal manner.”
“We will see that you are protected, madam,” assured the little man, his red whiskers seeming to bristle like porcupine quills, as he dodged round Frank and placed himself on the opposite side of the veiled unknown. “Madam,” he repeated, “I will see that you are protected – I will!”
“You are very kind,” she fluttered; “but where is the officer? The reaction – the shock – the weakness!”
“Permit me to offer you any assistance possible,” gallantly spoke a man in a sack coat and a silk hat, stepping forward and raising the latter piece of wearing apparel, thereby disclosing a shining bald spot on the top of his head, which he covered as quickly as possible, evidently hoping it had escaped the woman’s notice. “You are in a city, my dear lady, where insults to the fair sex never go unpunished.”
He attempted to smile on her in a pleasant manner, but there was a sort of leer in his eyes and around his sensual mouth that betrayed his true character plainly enough.
The woman did not accept his arm which was half tendered, but she made a great show of agitation and distress, which affected the various witnesses.
“It’s a shame!” piped the man with the long neck and the bobbing head.
“It’s an outrage!” blustered the little man with the bristling whiskers and savage manner.
“It’s most unfortunate!” murmured the gallant man with the silk hat and sack coat.
“It’s a bad break for Mr. Masher!” ejaculated the big man with the crooked eye and glowering look.
Frank smiled; he could not help it, for he was impressed by the comedy of the affair, despite the unpleasantness of the situation he was in at that moment.
“This would be good stuff for a scene in a play,” he thought, and he made a mental note of it.
Then he turned to the woman.
“Madam,” he said, “what have I ever done to you that you should attempt to injure me in this manner?”
“Don’t let him speak to me, the scoundrel!” she entreated, appealing to the men.
“But it is no more than fair that you should answer me,” persisted Merry. “I do not know you; I have not even seen your face. Will you not lift your veil and permit me to see your face, so that I may know who has brought me into this unpleasant position?”
“He adds to his insults by requesting me to expose my identity on the street after such an affair as this!” she almost sobbed. “He would disgrace me! He would have my name in all the newspapers!”
“Reprehensible!” purred the gallant man.
“Terrible!” cackled the man with the bobbing head.
“Dastardly!” exploded the individual with the red whiskers.
“Criminal!” grated the giant with the crooked eye.
And they all glared at Frank – at least all of them but the one with the crooked eye. It is possible that he, also, glared at the supposed offender, but he seemed to be glaring at a white horse on the opposite side of the street.
Repressing his laughter with difficulty, Merry said:
“I assure you, gentlemen, I never saw this lady, to my knowledge, before a few minutes ago, when she stopped me on the street, and – ”
Again the woman screamed.
“Will you listen to his base falsehoods?” she cried, with a show of the greatest indignation and distress. “He is trying to disgrace me still further by asserting that I stopped him on the street – stopped him! As if a lady would do such a thing!”
“The idea!” squawked the man with the long neck, his head seeming to bob faster than ever, as if it sought to express by its excited movements the indignant emotions his tongue could not utter.
“My dear lady, I would not remain here to be thus insulted,” declared the gallant man, bending toward her, and endeavoring to summon a look of concern to his treacherous countenance.
“He should be placed in irons!” blurted the fierce-appearing little man, his red whiskers seeming to work and squirm with intense excitement and anger.
“He ought to have his head broken!” roared the big man, his crooked eye still seeming to glare at the white horse in a most terrible and awesome manner.
Others of the assembled crowd murmured to themselves in a most indignant manner, all seeming to regard Frank as the offender.
Frank took out his watch and looked at it.
“Gracious!” he mentally exclaimed, “time is flying. If this keeps up much longer, I’ll not reach Puelbo to-day.”
“Now he shows his anxiety and concern,” said a voice in the crowd.
“He’s beginning to be frightened,” said another voice.
“He’s anxious to get away,” said a third.
“But he can’t get away,” said a fourth.
“This is all very interesting,” thought Frank; “but it is decidedly unpleasant.”
“Waal, whut in time’s sake is goin’ on here, I’d like ter know?” cried a voice that was familiar to Frank, and a tall, lank, countrified-appearing youth came up to the outskirts of the crowd, stood on his tiptoes, and peered over.
It was Ephraim Gallup, and he saw Frank.
“Waal, darned if it ain’t – ”
Merry made a swift movement, clapping a finger to his lips, and Gallup, usually rather slow to tumble to anything, understood him at once, relapsing into silence.
“Let me git in here where I kin see the fun,” he said, and he elbowed the people aside as he forced his way through the crowd.
It did not take him long to reach the center of the throng, although a number of persons were indignant at his manner of thrusting them aside or stepping on their feet.
“Whut’s up?” he asked. “Ef there’s anything goin’ on, I kainder want to see it.”
“This young masher has insulted this lady!” explained the man with the bobbing head.
“Sho!” exclaimed Gallup. “Yeou don’t say so, mister! Waal, I am s’prised!”
“He has treated her in an outrageous manner!” added the man with the agitated and fiery whiskers.
“I do declare!” ejaculated Ephraim. “I’d never thought it of him, by thutter!”
“The lady requires protection,” declared the gallant man with the mismated wearing apparel.
“Yeou don’t tell me!” gasped the Vermonter, his surprise seeming to increase. “Ain’t it awful!”
“But the fellow needs a lesson!” rasped the man with the eye that persisted in looking in the wrong direction. “I think I’ll hit him once or twice.”
“My gracious!” fluttered Gallup. “Hev ye gotter hit him real hard? Don’t yeou s’pose he might hit back?”
“Let him try it!” came fiercely from the giant.
“Be yeou goin’ to hit where ye’re lookin’?” asked the country youth. “Cause ef yeou be, I’d advise that man with the wart on his nose to move.”
At this the man who owned the wart dodged with a suddenness that provoked a titter of laughter from several witnesses.
Ephraim was adding to the comedy of the affair, and Frank bit his lips to keep from laughing outright, despite his annoyance over being thus detained.
The big man with the crooked eye flourished his fists in the air in a most belligerent fashion, and instantly Merriwell gazed at him sternly, saying:
“Be careful, sir! You are imperiling the lives of everyone near you, and you may strain yourself.”
“That’s right, by gum!” nodded Gallup, whimsically. “Yeou may warp one of them air arms, flingin’ it araound so gol-darn permiscuous like.”
“Here comes an officer!”
Somebody uttered the cry.
“It is high time!” exclaimed the little man, trying to soothe his agitated whiskers by pulling at them.
“It surely is,” croaked the lank individual, his head bobbing with renewed excitement.
“Madam, the law will give you redress,” bowed the gallant man, again taking off his silk hat and again clapping it on suddenly, as if a breath of cool air on his shining pate had warned him of the exposure he was making.
“Oh, why didn’t the officer stay away a minute longer, so I might have thumped him!” regretfully grunted the fighting man with the misdirected eye.
The policeman came up and forced his way through the crowd, demanding:
“What does this mean? What is happening here?”
“A lady is in trouble,” the bobbing man hastened to explain.
“In serious trouble,” chirped the bewhiskered man.
“She has been insulted,” declared the gallant man.
“By a masher,” finished the man with the errant eye.
“Where is the lady?” asked the officer.
“There!”
All bowed politely toward the masked woman.
“Where is the masher?” was the next question.
“There!”
Their scornful fingers were leveled straight at Frank Merriwell.
CHAPTER XVII. – ARRESTED
“Oh, sir!” exclaimed the woman, “I beg you to protect me from his insults!”
The officer was a gallant fellow. He touched his hat and bowed with extreme politeness. Then he frowned on Merry, and that frown was terrible to behold. He gripped Frank by the collar, gruffly saying:
“You’ll have to come with me.”
Merry knew it was useless to attempt to explain under such circumstances. Every one of the assembled crowd would be a witness against him.
“Very well,” he said, quietly. “I am quite willing to do so. Please do not twist my necktie off.”
“Don’t worry about your necktie!” advised the policeman, giving it a still harder twist. “I know how to deal with chaps of your caliber.”
Now of a sudden Ephraim Gallup began to grow angry. He did not fancy seeing his idol treated in such a manner, and his fists were clenched, while he glared at the officer as if contemplating hitting that worthy.
“It’s a gol-dern shame!” he grated. “This jest makes my blood bile!”
“I don’t wonder a bit,” piped the long-necked man, misunderstanding the Vermonter; “but the officer will take care of him now. He’ll get what he deserves.”
“Oh, will he!” exploded Gallup. “Waal, ef I was yeou, I’d hire myself aout to some dime museum as the human bobber. Yeou teeter jest like a certun bird that I won’t name.”
“Wh – a – at?” squealed the individual addressed, in great excitement. “This to me! Why, I’ll – ”
“I wish ter great goshfrey yeou would!” hissed Ephraim, glaring at him. “I’d jest like to hev yeou try it! I’d give yeou a jolt that’d knock yeou clean inter the middle of next week!”
“Why, who is this fellow that seeks to create a disturbance?” blustered the little man, his fiery whiskers beginning to bristle and squirm again. “He should be sat upon.”
The country youth turned on him.
“I wish yeou’d tackle the job, yeou condemned little red-whiskered runt;” he shot at the blusterer with such suddenness that the little man staggered back and put up his hands, as if he had been struck. “Yeou are another meddler! I’d eat yeou, an’ I’d never know I’d hed a bite!”
“This is very unfortunate, madam,” purred the gallant man at the veiled woman’s side. “I am extremely sorry that you have had such an unpleasant experience. Now, if that creature – ”
He designated Ephraim by the final word, and Gallup cut him short right there.
“Yeou’re the cheapest one of the hull lot, old oil-smirk!” he flung at the speaker. “Such fellers as yeou are more dangerous to real ladies than all the young mashers goin’, fer yeou are a hypocrite who pretends to be virtuous.”
The man gasped and tried to say something, but seemed stricken speechless.
Now the cock-eyed man was aroused once more. He seemed on the point of making a swing at somebody or something. He pushed his face up close to Ephraim, but still his rebellious eye seemed looking in quite another direction.
“If you want any trouble here,” he said, hoarsely, “I’ll attend to you. I can do that very well.”
Ephraim looked at him, began to smile, broke into a grin, and burst into a shout of laughter.
“Haw! haw! haw!” he roared. “I couldn’t fight with yeou ef I wanted to, fer I’d think yeou didn’t mean me all the time, but that yeou really ought to be fightin’ with some other feller yeou was lookin’ at. Yeou’re the funniest toad in the hull puddle!”
“I’ll arrest the whole lot of you!” threatened the policeman. “Quit that business! Come along to the police station if you want to make any complaints.”
Then he turned to the woman, saying:
“Madam, I presume you will make a complaint against this fellow,” indicating Frank.
“I certainly shall,” she promptly answered; “for it is my duty to teach him a lesson.”
“Will you come to the station?”
“Yes.”
“Permit me to accompany you,” urged the gallant man.
“You are very kind,” she said; “but I think I can get along. I will follow at a distance.”
“All right,” nodded the officer, once more gripping Merriwell’s collar savagely. “March, sir!”
And then they started toward the station.
The bobbing man, the little man, the cock-eyed man, and the gallant man formed behind. Then the crowd fell in, and away they went, with the mysterious veiled woman following at a distance.
Ephraim placed himself at Frank’s side.
“This is a gol-darn outrage!” fumed the Vermonter, speaking to Merry. “Whut be yeou goin’ to do abaout it?”
“I shall have to do the best I can,” answered the unfortunate youth, quietly.
“But yeou won’t be able to start for Puelbo with the rest of the people.”
“It doesn’t look that way now.”
“That’s tough!”
“It is decidedly unfortunate, but I hope to get off in time to join the company before the first performance to-morrow night.”
“Haow did it happen?”
“I hardly know. The woman stopped me and insisted that I should go somewhere to talk with her. I explained that my time was limited, but that seemed to make no impression on her. When I tried to get away she flung her arms around me and screamed. That brought a crowd together, and then she declared I had assaulted her.”
The policeman on the other side of Frank laughed in ridicule. Although he said nothing, it was plain he took no stock in Frank’s story.
“Larf!” grated Gallup, under his breath. “Yeou think yeou know so gol-darned much that – ”
“Hush!” warned Frank. “I do not wish you to get into trouble. You must inform the others what has happened to me.”
“It’s purty gol-darn hard to keep still,” declared Ephraim. “I never see sich a set of natteral born fools in all my life! How many of the craowd saw what happened ’tween yeou an’ the woman?”
“No one, I think.”
“An’ I’ll bet a squash they’ll all go up an’ swear to any kind of a story she’ll tell. Who is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s queer. Wut was her little game?”
“Don’t know that.”
“By gum! it’s some kind of a put-up job!”
“I have a fancy there is something more than appears on the surface. It is an attempt to make trouble for me.”
“That’s right.”
“I hope to see the woman’s face at the police station.”
“Yeou won’t!”
“Why not?”
“She won’t show it.”
“Perhaps the judge will request her to lift her veil.”
“Not by a gol-darned sight! Men are too big fools over women. They’ll take any old thing she’ll say abaout yeou, an’ lock yeou up fer it. She’ll give some kind of name and address, an’ they’ll let her go at that.”
“Well, unless I can get bail right away I shall be in a bad fix. If Kent Carson were in town he would pull me out of it, as he did before.”
The officer pricked up his ears.
“Ha!” he exclaimed. “Then you have been arrested in Denver before? This is a second offense! I rather think you’ll not get off as easy as you did the first time.”
“Oh, yeou are enough to – ”
“Ephraim!”
With that word Frank cut Gallup short.
In a short time they approached the police station.
“I have been here before,” said Merry, quietly. “This is the station to which I was taken when Leslie Lawrence made his false charge against me.”
Entering, he was taken before the desk of the sergeant, the bobbing man, the little man, the cock-eyed man, and the gallant man following closely, while others also came in.
The sergeant looked up.
“Ah, Brandon,” he said to the officer, “another one?”
“Yes, sir,” answered the policeman.
“What is the charge?”
“Insulting a lady on the street.”
“Who was the lady?”
“She is coming. She will be here directly to make the complaint against him.”
Then the sergeant took a good look at the accused. He started, bent forward, and looked closer.
“Mr. Merriwell!” he exclaimed; “is it you?”
“Yes, sergeant,” bowed Frank, with a smile. “It seems to be my luck to cause you trouble once more.”
“Trouble!” ejaculated the man behind the desk. “Why, this is very surprising! And you are accused of insulting a lady?”
“I am,” was the quiet answer.
“Well! well! well! It hardly seems possible. I fail to understand why you should do such a thing. It was very kind of you to send me tickets for your performance yesterday, and I was fortunate to be able to attend. I was greatly pleased, both with your play and yourself, to say nothing of your supporting company. I see the papers have given you a great send-off, but it is no better than you merit.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Frank, simply.
The policeman began to look disturbed, while the bobbing man, the little man, the gallant man, and the cock-eyed man all stared at Frank and the sergeant in surprise.
“You seem to recognize the offender, sir,” said the officer who had arrested Frank.
“I recognize the gentleman, Brandon,” said the sergeant, putting particular emphasis on the word “gentleman.”
“He said he had been arrested before.”
“He was, on a trumped-up charge, and he was promptly dismissed by me.”
The officer looked still more disturbed.
“But this is no trumped-up charge,” he declared. “I have witnesses.”
“Where are they?”
“Here.”
He motioned toward the men, who had followed closely on entering the station, whereupon the little man drew himself up stiffly, as if he imagined he must be six feet tall, at least; the bobbing man bobbed in a reckless manner, as if he had quite lost control of himself; the gallant man lifted his hat and mopped the shiny spot on the top of his head with a silk handkerchief, attempting to appear perfectly at ease; and the cock-eyed man made a desperate attempt to look the sergeant straight in the eye, but came no nearer than the upper corner of the station window, which was several yards away to the left.
“And where is the lady who makes the charge?” demanded the man behind the desk.
Where, indeed! It was time for her to appear, but all looked for her in vain.
“She must be here directly,” said the sergeant, “if she is coming at all.”
“Oh, she is coming!” hastily answered the officer.
“She may be waiting outside, hesitating about coming in,” said the sergeant. “You may go out and bring her in, Brandon.”
The policeman hesitated an instant, as if he feared to leave Frank.
“It is all right,” asserted the sergeant. “I will guarantee that Mr. Merriwell is quite safe.”
Then Brandon hurried out.
“I believe you are going on the road with your play, Mr. Merriwell?” said the sergeant, in a most friendly and affable manner.
“I am,” answered Frank, “if I succeed in getting started.”
“How is that?”
“Well,” smiled Merry, “I was due to take a train in one hour and thirty minutes when I was accosted by the unknown woman whom it is said I insulted. I hardly think I shall be able to catch that train now.”
The sergeant looked at his watch.
“How much time have you now?” he asked.
Frank consulted his timepiece.
“Just forty-one minutes,” he said.
“Will you kindly tell me what occurred on the street?” invited the sergeant. “But wait – first I wish to know who witnessed this assault.”
There was some hesitation as the official behind the desk looked the assembled crowd over.
“Come,” he cried, sharply. “Who knows anything about this affair?”
“I do,” asserted the man with the cock-eye, summoning courage to step forward a bit. “And here are others.”
“Which ones?”
“Him, and him, and him,” answered the crooked-eyed man, jabbing a pudgy and none too clean forefinger at the gallant man, the little man, and the bobbing man, although he seemed to look at three entirely different persons from those he named.
The gallant man was perspiring, and looked as if he longed to escape. He also seemed anxious over the non-appearance of the veiled lady.
The bobbing man took a step backward, but somebody pushed him from behind, and he bobbed himself nearly double.
The little man tugged at his fluttering whiskers, looking to the right and left, as if thinking of dodging and attempting to escape in a hurry.
“And these are the witnesses?” said the sergeant, his eyes seeming to pierce them through and through. “Their testimony against you shall be carefully heard, Mr. Merriwell, and it will be well for them to be careful about giving it.”
“If I understand what is proper,” said the cock-eyed man, who seemed the only one who dared speak outright, “this is not the court, and you are not the judge.”
But he subsided before the piercing eyes of the sergeant, so that his final words were scarcely more than a gurgle in his throat.
“Now, Mr. Merriwell,” said the sergeant, “I will listen to your story. Officer at the door, take care that none of the witnesses depart until they are given permission.”
Frank told his story briefly, concisely, and convincingly. Barely had he finished when the officer who made the arrest came in, looking crestfallen and disgusted.
“Where is the lady, Brandon?” asked the sergeant.
“I can’t find her, sir,” confessed the policeman. “She is nowhere in the vicinity.”
“Then it seems you have been very careless in permitting her to slip away. Now there is no one to make a charge against the prisoner.”
“The witnesses – perhaps some of them will do so.”
The sergeant turned sharply on the little man, to whom he fired the question:
“Did you witness this assault on the unknown lady, sir?”
The little man jumped.
“No, sus-sus-sir,” he stammered; “but I – ”
“That will do!” came sternly from the man behind the desk. “Step aside.”
The little man did so with alacrity, plainly relieved.
Then the sergeant came at the gallant man with the same question:
“Did you witness the assault on the lady, sir?”
“I was not present when it took place, but I – ”
“That will do! Step aside.”
The gallant man closed up and stepped.
Next the bobbing man was questioned:
“Did you witness the assault on the lady, sir?”
“I arrived just after it was committed, but I can tell you – ”
“Nothing! That will do! Step aside.”
The cock-eyed man folded his arms across his breast and glared fiercely at the window, which seemed to offend him.
“You are next.” said the sergeant. “What did you see?”
“I saw quite enough to convince me that the assault had been committed before I reached the spot, but – ”
“Another ‘but.’ ‘But me no buts.’ There seems to be no one present who witnessed the assault, and so no one can prefer a charge against Mr. Merriwell. Mr. Merriwell, you have now exactly thirty minutes in which to catch your train. Don’t stop to say a word, but git up and git. You are at liberty.”
