CHAPTER XXVII
THE SLOW WATCH
"Well, what do you want?" growled Hogan, for he seemed to feel thatattention was centered on him.
"Nothing much--no more than usual, that is," said one of the detectives,to whom the story of the looted valise had been told. "Where did you putthe stuff you got from this gentleman's bag some time last Spring?" wasthe sharp question.
"Whose bag?" Hogan wanted to know, with a frown.
"Mine!" exclaimed Reggie. "That is, if you're the man. It was a yellowbag, with lions' heads on the clasps and it contained a Swiss watch,with a gold face; some jewelry, including a bracelet of red stones wasalso taken."
Hogan started as this catalog was gone over.
"Now look here!" broke in the officer. "These gentlemen are willing tomake some concessions to you."
"Yes?" spoke Hogan, non-committally. He seemed easier now.
"Yes. If you'll own up, and give back what you've got left we'll call itoff, providing you get out of the State and keep out."
"An' s'posin' I don't?" he asked, defiantly.
"Then it's the jug for yours. You're the one we want. The rest of youcan go--and keep away, too," added the detective, significantly.
The tramps slunk off, glad enough to escape. Only Hogan remained.
"Well," he said, but now his nerve was gone. He looked surlily at Pop,and wet his lips nervously.
"Go on," urged the officer.
"I guess I did get a few things from his bag--leastwise it was a satchellike the one he tells about," confessed Hogan.
"Then that clears me!" cried Joe, joyfully.
Reggie Varley held out his hand to the young pitcher.
"It was silly of me ever to have suspected you," he said, contritely."Will you forgive me?"
"Of course!" Joe would have forgiven Reggie almost anything.
"Where's the stuff now?" asked the chief detective, sharply.
Hogan laughed.
"Where do you s'pose?" he asked. "Think I can afford to carry Swisswatches with gold faces, or ladies' bracelets? I look like it; don'tI?"
Truly he did not, being most disreputable in appearance.
"Did you pawn it?" asked the other officer.
"Yes, and precious little I got out of it. You can have the tickets ifyou like. I'll never redeem 'em," and he tossed a bunch of pawn ticketsover to Reggie, who caught them wonderingly.
"Are--er--are these stubs for the things?" he asked. "How can I get themback?"
"By paying whatever the pawnbrokers advanced on the goods," answered PopDutton, who looked quickly over the tickets. He knew most of the placeswhere the goods had been disposed of.
"I'll be glad to do that," went on the young man. "I'm much obliged toyou, my good fellow."
Hogan laughed again.
"You're a sport!" he complimented. "Is that all you want of me?"
The detectives consulted together a moment. Then one of them asked Joeand his two friends:
"What do you say? There isn't much to be gained by arresting him. You'vegot about all you can out of him. I suppose you might as well let himgo."
"I'm willing," spoke Joe. "All I wanted was to have my name cleared, andthat's been done."
"I don't care to have him prosecuted," spoke Reggie. "It might bring mysister into unpleasant prominence, as most of the things were hers."
"I say, my good fellow," he went on--he would persist in being what hethought was English, "does the ticket for that bracelet happen to beamong these you've given me."
"No, here's the thing itself--catch!" exclaimed Hogan, and he threwsomething to Joe, who caught it. It proved to be a quaint wrist-ornament.
The young pitcher slipped it into his pocket.
"It'll have to be disinfected before she can wear it," he said in a lowvoice to Reggie. "I'll give it to her, after I soak it in formaldehyde."
Reggie nodded--and smiled. Perhaps he understood more than Joe thoughthe did.
"Is that all you want of me?" asked Hogan, looking uneasily about.
"I guess so," answered one of the officers. "But how did you come to getat the valise?"
"Oh, it was easy. I spotted it in the depot and when that chap wasn'tlooking,"--he nodded at Reggie--"I just opened it, took out what Iwanted, and slipped out of the station before anyone saw me. You'd neverhave gotten me, either, if I hadn't been a dub and told him," and hescowled at Pop Dutton.
"Well, I'm glad, for my own sake, that you did tell," spoke Joe.
"Now you'd better clear out," warned the officer, "and don't let us findyou near the railroad tracks again, or it will be the jug for yours.Vamoose!"
"Wait a minute," said Pop Dutton, softly. "Have you any money, Hogan?"
"Money! No, how should I get money? I couldn't pawn that bracelet, orI'd have some though. They all said it wasn't worth anything."
"My sister values it as a keepsake," explained Reggie to Joe in a lowvoice. "She'll be awfully glad to get it back."
"Here," went on the old pitcher to his former companion of the highway,and he passed him a bill. "It's all I can spare or I'd give you more."
Hogan was greatly surprised. He stared at the money half comprehendingly.
"You--do you mean it?" he stammered.
"Certainly," answered Pop.
"Well, I--er--I--I'm sorry!" burst out the tramp, and, making a quickgrab for the bill, he turned aside and was soon lost to sight amid thetrees.
"Hum! That's a queer go!" commented one of the officers.
"I guess he's got some feeling, after all," said Joe, softly.
They had accomplished what they set out to do--proved the innocence ofthe young pitcher. And they had done more, for they were in the way ofrecovering most of the stolen stuff. Joe anticipated much pleasure inrestoring to Mabel her odd bracelet.
They motored back to the city from the rendezvous of the tramps, talkingover the strange occurrence. But they took none of the members of theball team into their confidence--Joe and Pop. They thought the fewer whoknew of it the better.
"And now if I was sure dad would be all right, and Pop's arm would getinto pitching shape again, I wouldn't ask for anything more," said Joeto Reggie that night, when he called on the youth and his sister.
"Don't you want to win the pennant?" asked Mabel, softly. She hadthanked Joe--and her brother--with blushing cheeks for the return of herkeepsake bracelet. But her blushes were not for her brother.
"The pennant! Of course!" cried Joe. "I almost forgot about that! Andwe're going to win it!"
"I'm going to see every game, too!" exclaimed Mabel, with brilliantcheeks and eyes.
The first pennant game with Clevefield was a hard-fought one. Collintook the mound in the opening of the battle, and for a time all wentwell. He made some mistakes, and the heavy batters on the other sidebegan "finding" him. But he was well supported by the fielders andbasemen, and three innings ran along with the visitors securing nothingbut zero tallies.
Then came a break. A swift ball glanced off Collin's glove, and CharlieHall, the shortstop, after a magnificent jump, by which he secured thehorsehide, made a wild throw to first. Then began a slump, and Collinhad his share in it.
Joe was called on, but too late to be of any real service, though hestopped the rout.
Score: Pittston three, Clevefield nine.
"We've got to take three straight, or make a tie so as to get anothergame--making five instead of four," said Gregory, gloomily that evening.
The next contest would take place in Clevefield and the teams made anight journey there. Reggie and his sister went on by auto early thenext day, arriving in time to visit Joe before practice was called.
"Joe, you're nervous!" exclaimed Reggie, when he met the young pitcher,just before lunch. "You ought to come out in the country for a littlerun. I'll take you in my car. It will do you good."
"Yes, do come," urged Mabel.
"All right," agreed Joe. "But I'll have to be back soon. No tellingwhich one of us Gregory will call
on to pitch."
"Oh, I'll get you back in time," promised Reggie.
So Joe, with the permission of Gregory, who warned him not to be late,started off for an auto ride.
They went for some distance into the beautiful country and Joe wasbeginning to feel in fit condition to pitch a great game. As they passedthrough one small town, Joe looked at the clock in a jeweler's window.Then he glanced at his watch.
"I say!" he cried in dismay. "Either my watch is slow, or that clock isfast. Why, I haven't time enough to get back to play! What time haveyou, Reggie?"
"My watch has stopped. But we can ask the jeweler if his time is right."
It was, as Joe learned to his dismay. They had been going by his watch,and now it developed that it was nearly an hour slow!
"Jove! If I should be late!" cried the young pitcher in a panic ofapprehension.