"That fellow is no common rascal," said one of them, "and his nameisn't Patterson, for a dollar bill. They have left the house of course?"
"I judge so, for I haven't heard a sound since I recovered my sensesnearly an hour ago. Besides, the house appears to be locked up from theoutside, or was until you came and got in. How did you manage to do it?"
The policeman told him about finding the key inside of the area gate,where it had evidently been placed by the man when he and the womanleft.
"Well, come along to the police station with us, and we'll lock up thehouse again after we search it thoroughly. How much was the packageworth you brought here?"
"Seven hundred dollars."
"They've got away with that, at any rate."
On their way upstairs Dick went into the library and replaced thetelephone receiver on its hook. The officers were astonished to findthe house so elegantly furnished, and they came to the erroneousconclusion that the family who occupied it was away, and that the crookand his accomplice had learned of the fact and taken possession of itfor the purpose of working that particular job. The truth came outlater when the police made a thorough investigation of the case.
The house was looked over from cellar to the top floor, and nothingwas to be seen but the furniture and furnishings, just as the househad been rented. The officers were of the opinion that Patterson hadcleaned out everything that was worth carrying off. It was aboutmidnight now, and Dick went with the policemen to the station to whichthey were attached, and told his story over again, with more detail, tothe man at the desk. He furnished a first-rate description of Pattersonand of the woman he claimed as his wife, and after Dick was allowedto go home several detectives were put out on the case. Dick got homeabout one o'clock and found his family all exercised over his failureto come home at a reasonable hour.
Only two of his sisters were now living in the flat, as Gertie, theelder, had succeeded in hooking Clarence Peck, and the young couplewere living in a small genteel flat of their own. Dick had to explainthe cause that had detained him, and his mother and two sisters werehorrified over the recital.
"What a narrow escape you had, my dear boy!" said his mother tearfully.
"That's right, but don't let us talk about it. Is there anything handythat I can eat?" he said.
"I'll warm up something," said Nellie, "while May will make you a cupof tea."
The girls prepared him a meal and after eating it he turned in withthe others. His story was in the morning papers, and the first inklingthat Mr. Bacon, his manager and the clerks got of it was through themorning journals. Dick appeared at the store on time, and in advance ofthe other employees, and as they arrived they gathered around him andbombarded him with questions. He satisfied their curiosity as well ashe could, and when the manager turned up he took the boy in his roomand asked him to give him the whole story. Then Mr. Bacon appeared andDick was closeted with him for half an hour.
The manager in the meanwhile had communicated with the police, whotold him they were working on the case, but so far without results.During the day one of the people who lived opposite the house wherethe adventure happened to Dick, after reading the story in the paper,reported to the police that he had seen an expressman take twotrunks and two suitcases out of the house at about half-past eighton the evening before. By that time the police had learned the nameof the owner of the house and its contents, and learned from hisrepresentative that Patterson had leased the place for a year, givingcertain references. He had paid only one month's rent--the first. Thesecond month would be due in a few days, thereby showing that Pattersonand his accomplice had occupied the house but one month. The servanthad been found in the house and interviewed by a policeman. She wasvery much astonished to learn of the character of the parties who hadengaged her as a cook and general domestic.
She had been with them since they took possession, and thought themvery nice people, though she saw little of the man. Under closequestioning she called to mind many things which the detectivesregarded as suspicious. In the course of a day or two some ofPatterson's operations came to light, and the police picked up manyclues concerning his movements while he was living at the house.
It was three days before the expressman who carried the trunks tothe ferry was found, for he had been paid to keep a stiff upper lip,and had tried to keep out of the way, then the authorities got wiseto the fact that the guilty couple had gone out of the city via thePennsylvania road. By following the clue, the pair was traced toPittsburg, and from there to Cincinnati, thence to St. Louis, wherethey were caught and brought back to New York.
Dick was called on to identify them, which he readily did. As he felta certain gratitude toward the little blonde woman who had refused tolay him out with the slungshot, he would liked to have made mattersas easy for her as possible; but there was no getting around her partof the business, and so she was held for grand larceny, and criminalparticipation in the other operations which were brought against theman who was supposed to be her husband. In the end she was sent toAuburn, while Patterson got a long sentence at Sing Sing, but Mr. Baconrecovered none of his loss, not even the diamond ring.
The merchant did not blame Dick for the loss of his goods. It wasclear that the game had been too slickly worked for the boy to haveacted differently than he had done. On the whole, Mr. Bacon thoughthis young clerk a lucky boy to have escaped with his life. Dick spenthis third Christmas week with the Masons, and made further progress inthe good opinion of the gentleman, his wife and the sister-in-law, andmore firmly established himself in the heart of Madge. He visited thegypsy camp again and told Miriam of the peril he had passed through inconnection with the Pattersons.
"Did I not tell you to beware of a tall, dark man and a short, lightwoman?" said the gypsy queen.
"By George, you're right! Do you know, that fact has never occurred tome till this moment," admitted Dick. "The man was tall and dark, andthe woman was a small blonde. I was lucky to fare no worse than I did."
"It was the benign influence of your favorable planets that saved youfrom death. How old are you?"
"I was eighteen about six months ago," said Dick.
"It is as I thought. You were threatened with a sudden and violentdeath through the position of Saturn in the sky at the moment youentered that house in the city; and but for other planetary influencesin your favor you would have fared badly."
"How can you tell all that without even looking at my hand?"
"I recall much that your hand told me, and the circumstances you haverelated to me enables me to make those deductions."
"Hand-reading and astrology seem to be more or less alike."
"They must agree, or there would be nothing in either. Cartomancy,which means the reading of the past, present or future through cards,also coincides with the other two, reaching the same results. Why, Ican tell your character and all your characteristics by merely studyingyour physical appearance. You have a compact body, well-developedchest, and other traits that show at a glance the influence of the Sunand Jupiter at your birth, and indicate to an ordinary observer thatyou are endowed with good health and a resistance against disease. Thecolor of your eyes, and hair, the size and shape of your hands, yourears, your eyebrows, all tell their story as clearly as if describedin print. The very flush that you bear upon your cheeks shows beyond adoubt that you were born in the cycle of the Sun."
"You gypsies are a great people in your way, I am bound to say," saidDick, regarding Miriam with increased respect.
"Our ancestors came from Egypt. We are an old race."
"Well, I've got to be going," said Dick.
"You are bound back to the city--soon?"
"On the day after New Year's."
"When you return we will have departed, so I will say good-by forever."
"Maybe not. I expect to return at Easter."
"Unless the weather is backward, we will be on the move before then,"she said. "One last look at your hand."
Dick gave it to
her.
"I told you that you were coming into a fortune before long."
"I remember that you did. But there is very little chance of such athing happening."
"The fortune will come to you around Easter."
"In what way?" asked Dick curiously.
"It is already yours. Indeed, you have been in possession of thisfortune for three years."
"I have? Then it can't amount to much."
"It is a fortune in money."
"Why, I have been in possession of no money over a couple of hundreddollars."
"You have, but even now you know it not."
"How can I possess something and not be aware of the fact?"
"You will understand within four months. When the time comes, you willrecall my words and say Miriam was right. She can read that which ishidden from most people. She has the power to see beyond the veil thathides from mankind the mysteries of life. And now good-by. Take thispiece of bone and keep it as your emblem of good luck. Have it mountedin silver or gold and wear it as a charm on your watch chain. It willbe worth your while. That is all."
With a smile she entered the tent, and Dick never saw her more; but heoften had occasion to remember her and her words of truth.
CHAPTER XII.--The Man in the Tree.
When Dick returned to the store at the beginning of the new year hefound he was promoted to a regular position in the store proper, withan increase of wages. His rise had been so far fairly rapid, and wasdue to his natural abilities as a salesman, his attractive personalityand magnetic ways, and his strict attention to his duties and to theinterests of his employer. His advancement created no envy among theother clerks, for they all liked him. He possessed all the elementsthat make people popular with those they come in contact with; andhis power extended over both sexes. Dick presided chiefly over thesilverware department, as he was more familiar with that branch thanthe others.
He gradually extended his knowledge to watches, and subsequently tojewelry, but the unset diamond line was a special branch that requiredan expert to deal with, and it was attended to by one clerk only. Thisman was the head of the jewelry department. His pay was much higherthan that of the other clerks, but then his responsibilities, knowledgeand experience were greater than theirs. The days passed into weeks,and the weeks resolved themselves into months, and Easter week camearound, bringing its expected invitation to Dick to spend the week-endwith the Masons. He and Madge corresponded regularly now, and thelatest piece of news he got from her was that she was slated for VassarCollege at the beginning of the fall term. The four-year course wouldcarry her into her twentieth year. Dick would be twenty-two then, if helived, and he wondered if they would still think as much of each otheras they did now.
So he went down to Carlin early on Saturday afternoon and was met bythe auto, with Madge in it, and whirled over the road to the house.They were just turning in at the gate when a seedy, hard-featured mancame along. He scowled when his eyes rested on Dick's face, and thenthe boy recognized him as Samuel Parker, one of the two burglars whohad robbed the Mason house. His time, reduced by commutation for goodbehavior, had just expired at the State prison, and he had come back tohis old stamping-grounds, to find things about as he had left them.
His wife had managed to get along through the sympathy of neighborswho had given her various kinds of employment, and many of the farmersoccasionally chipped in a dollar apiece to help her out when she washard pressed. She kept a cow, chickens, and raised her own vegetables,so she did not fare so badly. Now that her husband had returned, thequestion arose as to whether he would be able to get any employment onthe farm where he had picked up odd jobs before he got into trouble.Dick was surprised to see him at liberty, not knowing that his sentencehad expired, and he called Madge's attention to him.
"Yes, he's been around for about a week," she said. "Father said histime was up."
"I see. He got a commutation of twenty months. Well, he isn't as tougha nut as his companion, who enticed him into the job. That chap hasthree years and a half more to serve, deducting his commutation. Thenhe will be arrested as soon as he comes out and taken to New York toanswer to the indictment the district attorney secured against him forassaulting me in the sample room of our store and stealing $100 worthof our stock. He'll get another five years at least for that, at SingSing. It will simply be a change of prisons for him."
Dick inquired if the gypsies had taken their departure, and Madge saidshe believed they had.
"This is the time that Miriam, the head of the tribe, said I was goingto come into a fortune that she alleged I already possessed, but Idon't see any signs of the matter coming to pass yet," he said.
"I wonder what she meant by saying that you possessed it. She must havereferred to that piece of land father gave you."
"That isn't money."
"You could realize money on it."
"Not over $400 at the most, and that is no fortune."
"Well, she told you so much that you say proved true that I shall besurprised if she made a mistake in this matter."
"I'll be surprised if she hit the truth, for coming into a fortune inmoney is the very last thing I dream of at this moment."
They got out of the auto and entered the house. On the following dayafter dinner, as it was a nice afternoon, Dick proposed to Madgethat they take a walk. So they went out and spent a couple of hoursstrolling along the road. They passed Dick's property and he saw thatthe gypsies had gone away. On their way back he proposed that they goover to the spring and have a drink.
"I'm not thirsty, but I'll go with you," she said.
The fence rails were wide enough apart for her to get through, whileDick took the customary way and climbed over. The spring was down ina gully near the fence which marked the end of Dick's land in thatdirection, and taking a silver-plated collapsible cup out of his pocketthe boy filled it and offered it to Madge. She took a drink and then hehelped himself. The young trees, now well advanced, which we mentionedbefore as growing at this end of Dick's property were gradually forminga small wood that would occupy about one acre of the five. On their wayback they walked through these trees, as Dick was somewhat interestedin their growth. They were cedar trees and would ultimately make goodrailroad ties.
"I wish the whole property was wooded like this," he said. "I would insuch a case make a good thing out of the trees."
"As lumber?" said Madge.
"As railroad ties. Those articles are always in demand. Hello!" heexclaimed, stopping, "here's one of the old guard still standing."
He pointed at a hoary-looking old tree that had been dead for years. Itshowed evidence of having been struck by lightning a long time since.This had killed it, and now it stood like the mummified corpse of someold grizzled veteran of many wars, its two withered arms pointingheavenward at an acute angle that formed the whole trunk into the shapeof the letter Y. Dick approached it and struck the tree with the palmof his hand. It gave forth a hollow sound and shook under the blow.
"That old monarch won't last much longer," he said. "It feels as if astrong wind would blow it over. It seems to be nothing but a shell,and yet it looks as solid as a rock outside. It's funny how some treesdecay from the inside. I'm going to climb up and see if there's anopening between those limbs."
He started to do so, with the assistance of the knobby projections,when he was surprised to hear a noise inside the tree that made himsuspect some kind of an animal had taken refuge there. He kept ontill his head rose above the fork and he saw a great hole extendingdownward. He was about to ask Madge to hand him a long stick he sawlying on the ground, when, to his astonishment, a rough voice floatedupward.
"Is that you, Parker?" were the words that reached his ears.
"Hello! Who are you?" cried Dick.
A muttered imprecation followed, and then silence.
"Who are you?" again asked Dick.
There was no reply. Dick climbed higher after telling the surprisedgirl that there was a man inside of the tree,
pulled out his matchsafe and flashed a light into the tree. He saw a slouched hat, whichevidently covered a head, and a pair of broad shoulders.
"Come on now, I see you. What are you doing in there?" said Dick.
"None of your business," replied a voice from under the hat.
"Maybe it isn't, but it strikes me that you have no business there. Soyou're a friend of Parker's, eh? Birds of a feather flock together,they say, so I guess you're not a very creditable sort of individual.I'd like you to know that you're trespassing on----"
"Trespassin' be jiggered! I'm just restin' here. Go away and leave mealone."
"Not until I find out who you are. Your presence in this hollow treelooks suspicious."
"What's suspicious about it? Can't a fellow roost inside a tree if hewants to when he ain't got nowhere else to go?"
Dick climbed down the tree and, taking Madge by the arm, started off.There was a large rock close by of sufficient size for a person toconceal himself behind.
"You go on, Madge, a little way, and I'll follow in a few minutes. Ihave an idea that fellow will show himself presently to see if thecoast is clear, and I'm going to hide behind this rock and catch asight of him if he comes up."
The girl kept on at a slow pace and Dick dropped on his hands and kneesbehind the stone. Five minutes passed and nothing happened. Dick wasbeginning to think that he had calculated wrongly, when he saw thecrown of a hat rise between the fork of the two limbs. A face followedthe hat, a tough-looking face, and Dick gave a gasp as he recognizedit. It was the countenance of Bulger, supposed to be serving the restof his time at the Trenton State prison.