CHAPTER VIII. THE CONSPIRATORS ARE FOILED.
|Roque and the doctors loosened their hold of William Penrose when theyheard the new voice. Then Roque in a supercilious tone said, "You hadbetter attend to your business if you have any."
He clutched his cousin once more.
"Let us lose no time," he whispered to the doctors.
"Look here!" said the miner, striding to the group, "you're trying tokidnap an inoffensive man, and are going clear against the law. This isa free country, and it can't be done."
"Sir," said Roque, "this is an escaped lunatic, and I propose to carryhim back to the asylum. I don't owe you any explanation, but I don'tmind telling you that. Now, get out of the way!"
"He's no more a lunatic that I am."
"Thank you, sir," said Penrose, with reviving hope. "It is a cruelattempt at abduction. Save me from a fate worse than death."
"I will!" responded the Yankee miner resolutely.
"No man is going to be abducted when Josh Staekpole is around."
"Clear out!" said James Roque, incensed.
"Clear out, or----"
"Or what?"
"I'll have you arrested."
"And I'd have you lynched if you were out in Colorado."
"You are officious and impertinent."
"Call me all the hard names you like, squire. It won't do me any harm."
"I will do you harm. Landlord, are you going to permit this impertinentperson to interfere with me?"
"Really, gentlemen, I don't know what to say," answered the landlord,who was a weak and vacillating man. "If I knew the law----"
"I'll tell you what the law is," said the miner. "Before I went out WestI spent a year in a law office at Burlington, Vermont. These men haven'tshown any papers--they haven't proved this gentleman to be out of hismind. It's just a high-handed violation of the law they are trying."
"In that case, I guess you'd better stop," said the landlord. "Thisgentleman is probably right, and----"
"He's a fool!" interposed Roque angrily.
"Haven't these eminent physicians declared my cousin to be a lunatic?"
"They look more like tramps than eminent physicians," remarked JoshuaStackpole.
"We have wasted time enough with this fool," said Roque. "Dr. Brown,take one arm, and you, Dr. Jones, take the other, and we will soon putan end to this foolery."
"Do it at your peril!" exclaimed Joshua Stackpole sternly.
The doctors looked somewhat apprehensive, but at a nod from James Roque,and confident in the realization that they were three to one, theyproceeded to obey orders. Then something unexpected happened.
Joshua Stackpole sprang upon James Roque and pitched him headlong fromthe piazza. Then he started for Dr. Brown, and that luckless physicianfollowed his principal.
The miner was about to turn his attention to Dr. Jones when the latterthrew up his hands and begged for mercy.
"This is an outrage!" exclaimed Mr. Snowdon, much disconcerted. "Isn'tthere a constable at hand, landlord, to arrest this bold ruffian?Bernard Brooks, I want you."
"Aha!" said Stackpole, "what do you want him for? Is he anotherlunatic?"
"No; but he is my pupil, who has rebelled against my lawful authority,and run away from his happy home at Snowdon Institute."
"How is that, sonny?" asked Joshua Stackpole.
"He tried to horsewhip me," said Bernard.
"And I will do it yet," cried Mr. Snowdon, with more anger thanprudence.
"Ha! It seems there is more work for me to do. You are an old man, and Idon't want to hurt you, but if you don't get into your wagon and hurryhome, I'll----"
Joshua Stackpole looked so determined that Mr. Snowdon was alarmed.
"Come, Septimus," he said; "we'd better be going. I'll go to amagistrate and get a warrant for this man's arrest."
By this time James Roque had risen from his recumbent position.
"Dr. Brown and Dr. Jones," he exclaimed in a passion, "are we to beworsted by a single man? Seize William Penrose."
"Excuse me!" said Dr. Brown, rubbing his shins.
"And me, too!" added Dr. Jones, with an apprehensive look at JoshuaStackpole.
"Sir," said James Roque, addressing Mr. Snowdon, "as I can get no helpfrom these cowards, will you lend me your co-operation?"
"I wish you success, sir," replied Snowdon hurriedly, "but I ought toreturn to Snowdon Institute, where my presence is imperativelyrequired."
"I think, squire, you'd better give it up for a bad job," saidStackpole. "If you make another attempt to abduct this man I'll treatyou worse than before."
With a look of baffled rage James Roque entered his carriage, followedby the two doctors.
"You have escaped this time," he said to William Penrose, "but I willhave you yet."
Penrose shuddered as he saw the evil look on his cousin's face.
"I've got something to say to that, squire," remarked
Joshua Stackpole coolly. "Do you see that?" and he displayed a revolver.
"Don't shoot!" exclaimed James Roque, falling back, his face assuming asickly pallor.
"I don't intend to--now," said Stackpole composedly, "but I can't answerfor what I would do if I heard of your trying to abduct your cousin."
"I should like to lock you up in an insane asylum," said Roque, with anugly look.
"So you think me insane, do you?"
"You are stark, staring mad!"
"Thank you, squire. If I should happen to shoot you accidentally,that'll let me off."
James Roque did not think it wise to reply, but drove off hurriedly.
"My friend," said Penrose, offering his hand, "you have done me a greatfavor. But for you that man would have carried me to an asylum."
"What is his object?"
"Unfortunately I am rich and he is poor. As a near relative, he wants toget control of my property. Your brave interference has saved me."
"Don't mention it! There wasn't anything brave about it. The whole packof them are cowards. Have those doctors ever seen you before?"
"Never."
"Yet after a mere glance they are ready to pronounce you insane. I don'tbelieve they are doctors at all."
"Nor I. They are tools of my cousin. But nothing is easier than to throwa sane man into an asylum on the evidence of such creatures."
"They'd have a lively time making out me to be insane."
"James Roque says you are stark, staring mad," said Penrose, with asmile.
"He'd have reason to think so if I got hold of him," returned Stackpolegrimly. "And now, my friend. I am going to give you a piece of advice."
"What is it?"
"Get out of this as soon as you can. There's an ugly look about yourcousin's face, and he may make you trouble yet. Of course, he has nolegal right to interfere with you, but that won't stop a man like him.He hasn't got hold of your property yet?"
"No."
"Then if you have money at command, go off where he will not be able totrack you. Why not go to Europe, or to Colorado, my State? If he triedany of his tricks there, we'd soon stop him with a rope."
"Your advice is good and I will follow it. But I don't like to leave myyoung friend here. He, too, is in a tight place."
"Don't trouble about him. I'll look after him for a time. It will bebetter for you to part, as your cousin will probably describe you astraveling in his company."
"All right! I will make my way at once to New York and take passage forEurope. I have long intended to go there, and this is a favorableopportunity. But I must first show my good will to Bernard by offeringhim this."
He drew a ten-dollar bill from his pocketbook and handed it to Bernard.
"Ought I to take so much, Mr. Penrose?" asked Bernard, in a tone ofhesitation.
"I am rich. I can spare it," said William Penrose. "You need nothesitate."
"Then, I will take it with thanks, for I have got to make my own way,and I have no one to depend upon. My guardian will be angry when helearns that I h
ave run away from Mr. Snowdon."
"You can adopt me for your guardian for a short time," said Mr.Stackpole. "And now I move that we get away from Poplar Plains as soonas possible." A carriage was secured, and within fifteen minutes thethree were on their way to the nearest railroad station.