hours. There were reproductions of photographs of John Baggs,Reginald Paynter, Abigail Prim, Jonas Prim, and his wife, with a largecut of the Prim mansion, a star marking the boudoir of the missingdaughter of the house. As Bridge examined the various pictures anodd expression entered his eyes--it was a mixture of puzzlement,incredulity, and relief. Tossing the paper aside he turned toward TheOskaloosa Kid. They could hear the sullen murmur of the crowd in frontof the jail.
"If they get any booze," he said, "they'll take us out of here andstring us up. If you've got anything to say that would tend to convincethem that you did not kill Paynter I advise you to call the guard andtell the truth, for if the mob gets us they might hang us first andlisten afterward--a mob is not a nice thing. Beppo was an angel of mercyby comparison with one."
"Could you convince them that you had no part in any of these crimes?"asked the boy. "I know that you didn't; but could you prove it to amob?"
"No," said Bridge. "A mob is not open to reason. If they get us I shallhang, unless someone happens to think of the stake."
The boy shuddered.
"Will you tell the truth?" asked the man.
"I will go with you," replied the boy, "and take whatever you get."
"Why?" asked Bridge.
The youth flushed; but did not reply, for there came from without asudden augmentation of the murmurings of the mob. Automobile hornsscreamed out upon the night. The two heard the chugging of motors, thesound of brakes and the greetings of new arrivals. The reinforcementshad arrived from Oakdale.
A guard came to the grating of the cell door. "The bunch from Oakdalehas come," he said. "If I was you I'd say my prayers. Old man Baggs isdead. No one never had no use for him while he was alive, but the wholecounty's het up now over his death. They're bound to get you, an'while I didn't count 'em all I seen about a score o' ropes. They meanbusiness."
Bridge turned toward the boy. "Tell the truth," he said. "Tell thisman."
The youth shook his head. "I have killed no one," said he. "That is thetruth. Neither have you; but if they are going to murder you they canmurder me too, for you stuck to me when you didn't have to; and I amgoing to stick to you, and there is some excuse for me because I have areason--the best reason in the world."
"What is it?" asked Bridge.
The Oskaloosa Kid shook his head, and once more he flushed.
"Well," said the guard, with a shrug of his shoulders, "it's up to youguys. If you want to hang, why hang and be damned. We'll do the best wecan 'cause it's our duty to protect you; but I guess at that hangin'stoo good fer you, an' we ain't a-goin' to get shot keepin' you fromgettin' it."
"Thanks," said Bridge.
The uproar in front of the jail had risen in volume until it wasdifficult for those within to make themselves heard without shouting.The Kid sat upon his bench and buried his face in his hands. Bridgerolled another smoke. The sound of a shot came from the front room ofthe jail, immediately followed by a roar of rage from the mob and adeafening hammering upon the jail door. A moment later this turned tothe heavy booming of a battering ram and the splintering of wood. Thefrail structure quivered beneath the onslaught.
The prisoners could hear the voices of the guards and the jailer raisedin an attempt to reason with the unreasoning mob, and then came a finalcrash and the stamping of many feet upon the floor of the outer room.
Burton's car drew up before the doorway of the Prim home in Oakdale. Thegreat detective alighted and handed down the missing Abigail. Then hedirected that the other prisoners be taken to the county jail.
Jonas Prim and his wife awaited Abigail's return in the spacious livingroom at the left of the reception hall. The banker was nervous. He pacedto and fro the length of the room. Mrs. Prim fanned herself vigorouslyalthough the heat was far from excessive. They heard the motor draw upin front of the house; but they did not venture into the reception hallor out upon the porch, though for different reasons. Mrs. Prim becauseit would not have been PROPER; Jonas because he could not trust himselfto meet his daughter, whom he had thought lost, in the presence of apossible crowd which might have accompanied her home.
They heard the closing of an automobile door and the sound of foot stepscoming up the concrete walk. The Prim butler was already waiting at thedoorway with the doors swung wide to receive the prodigal daughter ofthe house of Prim. A slender figure with bowed head ascended thesteps, guided and assisted by the detective. She did not look up at theexpectant butler waiting for the greeting he was sure Abigail would havefor him; but passed on into the reception hall.
"Your father and Mrs. Prim are in the living room," announced thebutler, stepping forward to draw aside the heavy hangings.
The girl, followed by Burton, entered the brightly lighted room.
"I am very glad, Mr. Prim," said the latter, "to be able to return MissPrim to you so quickly and unharmed."
The girl looked up into the face of Jonas Prim. The man voiced anexclamation of surprise and annoyance. Mrs. Prim gasped and sank upona sofa. The girl stood motionless, her eyes once again bent upon thefloor.
"What's the matter?" asked Burton. "What's wrong?"
"Everything is wrong, Mr. Burton," Jonas Prim's voice was crisp andcold. "This is not my daughter."
Burton looked his surprise and discomfiture. He turned upon the girl.
"What do you mean--" he started; but she interrupted him.
"You are going to ask what I mean by posing as Miss Prim," she said. "Ihave never said that I was Miss Prim. You took the word of an ignorantlittle farmer's boy and I did not deny it when I found that you intendedbringing me to Mr. Prim, for I wanted to see him. I wanted to ask him tohelp me. I have never met him, or his daughter either; but my father andMr. Prim have been friends for many years.
"I am Hettie Penning," she continued, addressing Jonas Prim. "My fatherhas always admired you and from what he has told me I knew that youwould listen to me and do what you could for me. I could not bear tothink of going to the jail in Payson, for Payson is my home. Everybodywould have known me. It would have killed my father. Then I wanted tocome myself and tell you, after reading the reports and insinuations inthe paper, that your daughter was not with Reginald Paynter when he waskilled. She had no knowledge of the crime and as far as I know may nothave yet. I have not seen her and do not know where she is; but I waspresent when Mr. Paynter was killed. I have known him for years and haveoften driven with him. He stopped me yesterday afternoon on the streetin Payson and talked with me. He was sitting in a car in front of thebank. After we had talked a few minutes two men came out of the bank.Mr. Paynter introduced them to me. He said they were driving out intothe country to look at a piece of property--a farm somewhere northof Oakdale--and that on the way back they were going to stop at TheCrossroads Inn for dinner. He asked me if I wouldn't like to comealong--he kind of dared me to, because, as you know, The Crossroads hasrather a bad reputation.
"Father had gone to Toledo on business, and very foolishly I took hisdare. Everything went all right until after we left The Inn, althoughone of the men--his companion referred to him once or twice as TheOskaloosa Kid--attempted to be too familiar with me. Mr. Paynterprevented him on each occasion, and they had words over me; but afterwe left the inn, where they had all drunk a great deal, this man renewedhis attentions and Mr. Paynter struck him. Both of them were drunk.After that it all happened so quickly that I could scarcely follow it.The man called Oskaloosa Kid drew a revolver but did not fire, insteadhe seized Mr. Paynter by the coat and whirled him around and then hestruck him an awful blow behind the ear with the butt of the weapon.
"After that the other two men seemed quite sobered. They discussed whatwould be the best thing to do and at last decided to throw Mr. Paynter'sbody out of the machine, for it was quite evident that he was dead.First they rifled his pockets, and joked as they did it, one of themsaying that they weren't getting as much as they had planned on; butthat a little was better than nothing. They took his watch, jewelry,and a large roll of bills. We passed a
round the east side of Oakdale andcame back into the Toledo road. A little way out of town they turnedthe machine around and ran back for about half a mile; then they turnedabout a second time. I don't know why they did this. They threw the bodyout while the machine was moving rapidly; but I was so frightened thatI can't say whether it was before or after they turned about the secondtime.
"In front of the old Squibbs place they shot at me and threw me out; butthe bullet missed me. I have not seen them since and do not know wherethey went. I am ready and willing to aid in their conviction; but,please Mr. Prim, won't you keep me from being sent back to Payson or tojail. I have done