mr. wagstaff, on receiving word at the town hall from the janitor who brought the message of the terrified servant to him, forgot, in his excitement, to tell his wife of the fearful news, and rushed out-of-doors without a word.
mrs. wagstaff knew it must be something awful that had called him away in that style, and she lost no time in following, while the children scrambled after them at varying distances.
the husband entered the door through which several of the neighbors had timidly passed, only a few paces ahead of his wife, who was upstairs almost as soon as he.
“oh! my dear tommy,” she wailed, as she caught sight of the silent figure fastened at the foot of the bed; “have they killed you?”
the sight was enough to startle any parent. the father had just jerked the handkerchief loose and flung it to the floor, and the lad’s head was drooping over on one shoulder, his eyes half-closed, and his tongue protruding. the parent caught up a pitcher of water and dashed it in his face, while the mother frantically strove to unfasten the cruel thongs at the wrists and ankles.
the unexpected shock of the water startled tommy into gasping and opening his eyes, but his look was dazed and aimless. his father whipped out his pocket-knife and quickly cut the thongs. the released boy would have fallen had not both parents seized and laid him on the bed, where he moaned as if suffering greatly.
“send for the doctor at once,” said the mother.
“and call in the police,” added the father; “a dastardly outrage has been committed; it may prove murder.”
by this time the room was filled with horrified and sympathizing neighbors. the solicitude of the parents for their child caused them to pay no heed to the visitors until the father, seeing a friend at his elbow, begged him to clear the house of intruders, and to admit no one except the physician or an officer of the law.
it took but a few minutes to comply with this request, and the parents were left to give undivided attention to their suffering child, who continued to moan and roll his eyes as if he were at his last gasp.
the father was anxious, silent, and watchful; the mother demonstrative and weeping. she rubbed her boy’s hands, chafed his limbs, gazing lovingly the meanwhile in his face, and begging him to speak to her. maggie, the servant, had regained her senses, now that she was sure she was alive and the precious heir had not been killed. she took upon herself to fasten the doors and keep out intruders, finding time to make a search up-stairs, which needed to be extended only a few minutes to learn that an extensive robbery had been committed.
“of course,” remarked mr. wagstaff, when the amount of his loss, as well as that of his wife, was reported to him, “i knew what had been done the moment i saw my poor boy.”
“don’t tell me,” said the mother, waving the servant away, “i don’t care if they have taken everything in the house, so long as my darling tommy lives.”
her heart was kept in a state of torture by the alarming symptoms of her heir. at times he seemed about to revive, a look of intelligence coming into his eyes, but, after several gasping efforts to speak, he sank back on his pillow and gave it up as a failure.
by and by, in the midst of the trying scene, the physician arrived and took charge of the patient. he was a wise old gentleman of wide experience, and his cheerful words did much to awaken hope in the parents, who hung on his words and watched his manner.
it required but a few minutes for him to make known that their child was not seriously hurt. during his examination he gleaned the particulars of the outrage, and succeeded in getting tommy into a sitting posture. then he expressed the belief that if the boy’s senses did not come to him very soon he would have to bore a hole through his crown with a large auger.
this astounding declaration was meant for the benefit of tommy alone, a sly wink at the parents preventing them from taking alarm. it was noteworthy that the boy began to pick up at once, and in the course of a few minutes was entirely himself.
when the chief of police arrived the urchin was able to talk with something of his usual facility, and imparted to his awed listeners his account of the daring outrage and crime.
he said he did not feel very well after his folks left for the concert, and he went up-stairs to lie down on his parents’ bed. he thought it strange that the gas was lit, though it was turned down, but he supposed it had been done by maggie.
just as he lay down he fancied he heard a man moving softly about the room. he rose from the bed and was about to call out, when he became sure that there were two persons near him. before he could give the alarm he was seized and told that if he made any noise he would be instantly killed.
still the brave boy tried to shout, when he was gagged, bound, and tied to the bed-post, where he remained while the robbery went on around him.
the doctor having pronounced tommy out of danger, his parents became more composed, and listened quietly to the questioning of the chief of police, who was one of the shrewdest members of his profession.
he listened gravely until the questions of the others were finished, when he asked tommy to describe the appearance of the criminals so far as he could. the lad did so quite glibly. both of the intruders were masked, wore soft, slouch hats, long dark coats buttoned to their chins, had gruff voices, and one of them took a dreadful-looking revolver from his side pocket, and seemed to be on the point of discharging several of the chambers at the captive.
chief hungerford asked the latter about the shots that had broken the glass down-stairs, and given the servant such a fright. at first tommy declared he did not hear them, but upon being questioned further, recalled that he did hear something of the kind just after he was bound.
“is this the handkerchief with which he was gagged?” asked the officer, picking up the article from the floor.
“yes, that’s it,” replied the father, who had snatched it from the head of his son the instant he reached the room.
the chief continued talking without looking further at the linen, but when the attention of the couple was diverted he slipped it into his pocket. then he asked liberty to make an examination of the house. permission was cheerfully accorded, and he spent a half-hour in going through the lower story in his own peculiar but thorough manner.
at the end of that period he came back to the room where the parents, brothers, and sisters were coddling poor tommy, who was muffled up in a rocking-chair, sipping lemonade, sucking oranges, and nibbling the choicest candy. now and then he would start convulsively and beg them to take away those bad men, and not let them hurt him. then, when he was reassured by the kind words of the loving ones around him, he complained of his throat, and found it helpful to swallow more lemonade and take an additional suck or two at one of the oranges pressed upon him.
chief hungerford stood in the door of the room, hat in hand, and looked fixedly at the lad for a minute or two before speaking. even then it was only in answer to the question of mr. wagstaff.
“what have you found?”
“nothing special, sir; there have been so many people in the house tramping back and forth, that they have destroyed what clews we might have discovered. then, too, the job was so easy that there was no need of leaving any traces.”
“how was that?”
“why the doors were unlocked, so that they had only to open and enter without forcing a window or fastening anywhere. after they got inside they found you were kind enough to leave keys wherever they were needed, and consequently no violence was required up-stairs.”
“but why did they fire those shots through the window down-stairs?”
“that was to frighten away the servant.”
“it seems a strange proceeding when the reports were sure to be heard and bring people here, while the servant herself was certain to raise the alarm. they might have bound and scared her into quiescence.”
the chief of police had thought of all this before, and looked upon it as one of the peculiar features of the business; but he smiled, and said, in his off-hand fashion:
“it may strike us both as a little odd, but the best proof of the wisdom of what the scamps did is the fact that they got off with the plunder and have not left the first clew behind. well, good-evening all; i will report as soon as i pick up anything worth telling.”
and courteously saluting the family he descended the stairs and passed out of the door. before doing so he questioned the servant on what seemed unimportant points. finally he entered the street and was obliged to answer the innumerable questions that were asked him at every turn. he had found it necessary to station a couple of his men on the premises to keep away the curious people, who persisted in crowding forward through the grounds and even into the house itself.
the rumors on the streets did not astonish him, even though they were to the effect that tommy (everybody called him “tommy” since his mishap) had been strangled to death, his last breath leaving him just as he was caught in his mother’s arms, and that maggie the servant had been attacked and badly wounded, but escaped by leaping from the second story window and running to the town hall, where the family were attending a concert.
when the chief entered his private room he drew the handkerchief from his pocket, spread it out on his desk under a strong gaslight and carefully examined it.
he had little hope of finding anything worth knowing, but he was too wise to neglect the least step. he carefully went over the somewhat soiled piece of linen and smiled to himself when he observed that a name was written in the corner in indelible ink.
“burglars aint apt to carry handkerchiefs around even with their initials written on them, but one of these gentry has been kind enough to give us his whole name. it is written so legibly, too, that i can read it without my glasses. ah, ‘william waylett!’ there it is as plain as print.
“it strikes me,” continued the chief, following the train of thought, “that i’ve heard that name before. jim waylett was my classmate in college, and he has three daughters and one boy. the name of the youngster is william, generally called billy. that chap is the owner of this handkerchief as sure as a gun.”
by this time, as the reader will perceive, the sagacious officer was not only on the right trail, but advancing rapidly to the correct conclusion. he had not heard all of tommy wagstaff’s story before he began to grow suspicious. his experience enabled him to detect more than one inconsistency despite the skill of the tremendous falsifier who built up the structure.
investigation and further questioning confirmed this suspicion until, when he left the house, all doubt was gone. he knew that no man had visited the wagstaff home that night or taken any part in the indignities to which master tommy was subjected.
but it was equally clear that the young rogue had had partners in his shameless trick, and the chief meant to learn who they were.
he was confident that he could find them out from tommy himself, whom he could handle in such a way as to force a confession, but while the parents, especially the mother, were in such a state of excitement, they would be indignant at the first hint of the boy’s trickery, and would defeat what advantage he might gain if left alone with him.
“they will come to it in the course of a few days,” reflected the officer, who had seen similar scenes before, “and it won’t do any harm to wait until then. i will get a chance at the boy before long, and, if i don’t force it out of him, then i’ll resign my office and take to the woods.”
the chief was desirous also of sparing the feelings of the parents of the boy, whom he liked. they would feel much worse if compelled to admit the truth after first refusing to listen to his suggestion. then, too, he had another boy to work upon. billy waylett must know something of the affair. at any rate, he could tell how it was his handkerchief came to be used to gag one of his playmates, and that little piece of information was likely to give him just the clew that was needed.
“i’ll wait until things get cool,” concluded the chief, who happened to have other matters pressing upon his attention just then.
accordingly he gave his whole energies to the business which took him out of ashton for a part of two days. when he returned it was with the resolve to take hold of the matter in earnest, but to his dismay, when he came to make inquiry, he was told that tommy wagstaff, jimmy mcgovern, and billy waylett had disappeared.
