CHAPTER XXII--BEHIND TIME
The boy was completely at home in the water, but the present instancewas somewhat extraordinary. The shock and chill of his daring jump,added to his naturally weakened condition after Cohen's stunning blowwith the pitcher, helped to confuse him. But he never lost his presenceof mind, and as he felt himself deprived of his usual buoyancy, hestruck out under water for the shore.
He waited on the bank long enough for the water to drip off from him,and getting his breath, started to regain the railroad tracks.
When he came to a little station he found it closed for the night, buthe knew that the agent must live in some one of the few houses in thesettlement. He might locate him and induce him to come to the stationand telegraph to Stanley Junction. With the aid of a signal lantern,however, Ralph was able to see the clock in the station. It was a fewminutes after ten o'clock.
"There's a train reaches the Junction at eleven twenty-five," hereflected. "By hustling I can catch it at Acton. I can tell more anddo more personally in five minutes than I can in five hours by wiring."
Ralph reached Acton some minutes before the West train came in. He hadsome change in his pocket, paid his fare to the Junction, and went outon the rear platform as they neared the destination.
He left the train a mile from the depot, swinging off at a point thatwould enable him to reach the roundhouse foreman's house by a short cut.
Ralph found the place closed up. There was a light in one upper room,however, and he had only to knock twice when Forgan came to the door inhis shirt-sleeves.
"Is it you, Fairbanks?" he said, in some surprise.
"Yes, sir, and--special!"
"Why, what have you been into?" exclaimed Forgan, catching a glimpse ofRalph's bedraggled form and disfigured head.
"I have been in a freight car for one thing, and in the river foranother," said Ralph. "There is no time to lose, Mr. Forgan, if youwant to get back those stolen fittings."
"You know where they are?"
"I know where they were at eight o'clock," responded Ralph, "but I knowthey won't be there much after midnight.
"Good--wait a minute," directed Forgan.
He hurried back into the house and returned drawing on his coat. "I wasjust going to bed," he explained. "Now, then, Fairbanks," as he led theway to the street. "Tell your story--quick."
Ralph recited his experience of the past four hours, and Forgan hastenedhis steps as the narration developed the necessity of sharp, urgentaction.
"Fairbanks, you are a trump!" commended Forgan, as the story was alltold. "I'll leave you here. You get home, into dry clothes, and haveyour hurt attended to. You had better take the sick-list benefits for aday or two. Good-night--till I have something more definite to say toyou."
A dismissal did not suit Ralph at all. It looked like crowding him outof an exciting and interesting game only half-finished.
"I might help you some further," he began, but Forgan interrupted himwith the words:
"You've done the real work, Fairbanks, and neither of us will care tomuddle in with the details of arrest. I shall put the matter directlyin the hands of the road detective, Matthewson. I am sorry for hisfather's sake if Ike Slump gets caught in the net, but he deserves itfully, and I can't stop to risk the interests of the railway company."
Ralph went home. As he expected, his mother was waiting up for him. Shewas not the kind of a woman to faint or get hysterical at the sight of alittle blood, but she was anxious and trembling as she helped Ralph toget into comfortable trim.
"Don't worry, mother," said Ralph. "This is probably the end of troublewith the Ike Slump complication."
"I always fear an enemy, Ralph," sighed the widow. "It seems as if youare fated to have them at every step. I keep thinking day and nightabout Gasper Farrington's unmanly threat."
"Mother," said Ralph earnestly, "I am trying to do right, am I not?"
"Oh, Ralph--never a boy better!"
"Thank you, mother, that is sweet praise, and worth going through theexperience that will make a man of me. Well, I am going to keep righton doing my duty the best way I know how. I expect ups and downs. Menlike Farrington may succeed for a time, but in the end I believe I shallcome out just right."
Ralph found himself a trifle sore and stiff the next morning, but hestarted for work as usual. He was curious as to the outcome of theforeman's action the night previous. Forgan, however, did not show upat the roundhouse till ten o'clock. He at once called Ralph into hislittle office.
"Well, Fairbanks," he said briskly, "I suppose you will be interested toknow the outcome of last night's affair?"
"Very much so," acknowledged Ralph.
"The road detective and myself were at Cohen's before midnight. Thebirds had flown."
"Had they moved the plunder, too?"
"Yes, what you described as being in boxes was all carted away."
"And Ike Slump had gone?"
"Presumably. We found that two horses and a wagon belonging to Cohenwere missing. The only person we found, outside of Cohen, was a littlefellow asleep in an outside shed."
"Was his name Teddy?" And Ralph gave a rapid description of the countyfarm waif.
"That's the boy. He's in jail with Cohen, now. They want to detain himas a witness. In Cohen's barn, hidden under some hay, we found two oldlocomotive whistles. He claims that he did not know they were there.The road detective, however, says if we can fasten the least realsuspicion on Cohen and break up his fence, we will have rooted out thisrobbery evil, for the crowd he housed and encouraged to steal hasscattered."
"Has Mr. Matthewson tried to overtake the wagon?"
"Yes, he has men out in pursuit. If we can recover those fittings,Fairbanks, it will be a glad day for me and a lucky one for you."
But with the arrest of Cohen, his release on bail, bound over to appearbefore the September grand jury, the affair seemed ended.
The little fellow, Teddy, could not, or would not tell, much and wasalso released. Ike Slump's crowd melted away, and Ike Slump, and histramp friend, and Cohen's two horses and wagon, and the boxed-up brassfittings, had vanished as completely as if the earth had opened andswallowed them up.