The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair Part 29

"Then he can take me to jail?" Teddy asked, with quivering lips.

"If he proves what he claims to know there is no question that he will be able to cause your arrest; but whether he can send you to prison is an entirely different matter. I would now like to have a talk with Mr.

Reaves, and shall see you before I leave the grounds. Do not be frightened; but continue your business as usual, and in a few moments I will give you full particulars as to what must be done in the event anything happens."

Teddy understood this to be an intimation that the interview was at an end, and he started toward the cane-board, the lawyer asking as he followed him:

"How shall I find your friend Dan?"

"Go down to the exhibit of the J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company in that yellow-roofed building, and you will see him showing model pocket rifles. I will go with you if you think there is any chance of missing him."

"I can find him without difficulty. Do not leave your place of business until after I have seen you again."

By this time they had arrived at the cane-board, where Mrs. Hargreaves, looking decidedly relieved in mind, was talking with Mr. Reaves.

The lawyer invited the merchant to accompany him, and as the two walked away Mrs. Hargreaves said:

"After talking with Mr. Reaves I will take back what I proposed regarding taking you home. It is not possible that anything but the right shall conquer in a case like this, and I believe you will come out all right, as a boy should who has always been as obedient and loving as you. It is time for me to be going now; but I will come back again in the morning."

"Then take this money with you, for I don't want any more in my pockets than is absolutely necessary," and Teddy counted out the contents of the box which served him as a "safe."

There was but little time for any lengthy leave-taking. The customers were plenty; Tim and his a.s.sistant had been working several hours without cessation, and Teddy felt that it was his duty to relieve them.

"You can trust Mr. Reaves, whatever happens," his mother said, as she kissed him goodby, "and I shall be back to-morrow to learn if you are all right."

"Don't worry about me," Teddy replied, cheerily. "Uncle Nathan can't have everything his own way, and he will soon discover that fact."

It seemed to Teddy that his mother had but just left him, when a party of young men who had been talking in an apparently friendly manner directly in front of his place of business, suddenly began to quarrel, and before he was aware of what had happened his booth was overturned, and a fierce battle being waged upon the ground which he fancied belonged temporarily to him because of the money paid to the managers of the fair as rent.

Canes, knives, rings, and timbers were thrown violently about, and, while trying to save the property, Teddy and his clerk received several severe blows intended for some of the combatants.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_A SECOND ARREST._

When the fight began Teddy's first thought was that it had been prearranged by some one who wanted to do him an injury without taking the chances of being arrested on a charge of malicious mischief.

Tim believed it to be a scheme for robbing the money box, and while the combatants were struggling close around him he emptied the contents into his trousers pockets, regardless of the chance blows received meanwhile.

That both were wrong in their conjectures could be told later, as the fight a.s.sumed the proportions of a small riot, and the battle ground was soon shifted to an open s.p.a.ce in front of the exhibition buildings.

It was nothing more than a causeless row such as is often witnessed at fairs where intoxicating beverages are sold, and which start from comparatively nothing, ill.u.s.trating the proverb: "See what a great fire a little spark can kindle."

"This is goin' to knock our hundred dollars in the head," Tim said, ruefully, as he began to gather up the scattered stock when the combatants had surged to and fro until they were some distance from the wrecked cane-board. "It'll take an hour to straighten things out, an'

all that time will be the same as lost."

"It might be worse," Teddy replied, philosophically, "and, besides, we shouldn't be able to do any business while that row is going on. If you hadn't thought of the money it might have been lost, for there were so many close around me that I couldn't get at the box."

"Oh, if you want to pick somethin' good out of the trouble, I'll help.

This will give us a chance to shorten the board so the stock won't look quite so small."

The young fakirs were ready for business in considerably less time than they had fancied would be the case. Nearly every one on the grounds was attracted by the riot, and among those who came to the scene of the conflict was Dan.

Instead of watching the struggling, yelling throng, he helped Teddy and Tim restore the booth to order, and with such aid as the a.s.sistant could give the work was done very quickly.

Before the spectators had quieted down sufficiently to turn their attention to sport once more everything was ready for business, and when the constables had taken the ringleaders in the fight away, money began once more to roll into Teddy's coffers.

Before Dan returned to his own work he heard of all that had occurred since morning, and his comments on Uncle Nathan's behavior were more forcible than polite.

"He's an old fool what oughter be rode on a rail till he can't see, an'

I'm goin' over to the Run before I start for home jest to give the duffer a piece of my mind."

"I don't believe that would do either you or him any good," Teddy replied, laughingly.

"I don't know what effect it'll have on him; but I'll feel a mighty sight better. He shows himself to be the worst swindler on the grounds when he tries to scare you into givin' him half you've made, for that's what his talk means."

"If he don't do any worse than threaten I won't say a word; but he's so mad there's no knowin' what'll happen."

"The lawyer will see that you pull through all right; but if trouble should come, be sure to send for me. I'll manage to get off somehow."

With this a.s.surance Dan hurried back to the exhibition buildings, and Teddy was free to a.s.sist Tim in waiting upon the customers.

During the remainder of the afternoon the young fakirs had quite as much as they could attend to, and then, just as trade had so fallen off that Tim could wait upon the customers alone with the aid of the a.s.sistant, Teddy received a call from Mr. Harvey, the lawyer.

"Come here behind the booth where we can talk without being overheard,"

he said, peremptorily, and the boy obeyed at once, asking before the attorney had time to speak:

"Do you know if Uncle Nathan is goin' to do anything?"

"He is certainly trying very hard, and in case he should succeed in getting a warrant, you will demand of the officer who serves it to be taken directly to Deacon Jones. Mr. Reaves and I have just had a talk with him, and in our absence he will render such a.s.sistance as you may require."

"That sounds as if you believed Uncle Nathan would be able to do as he threatened."

"It is well to be prepared for any emergency, since no man can say exactly what may happen. During the night two constables will go to the barn on the marshes where you saw the burglars carry some of the goods, although I do not think any good is liable to result from the visit, for the men have probably been frightened away by this time. Enough may be found, however, to prove the truth of your story, and that will be sufficient to give the thick-headed authorities an inkling that their judgment as to who the burglars are is not infallible."

"Have you seen Mr. Hazelton yet?"

"No; but I shall call on him before going home. The best thing which could happen now for all concerned would be the arrest of the man you call Long Jim, and to that end both you and Dan must keep a sharp lookout, for it is barely possible he may be bold enough to come on the grounds again."

"But what could we do in case we did see him?"

"Follow him quietly until you meet a constable, and then insist that he be arrested for swindling you out of fifteen dollars. There is not sufficient proof to connect him with the robbery here or at the Run; but I will take care that he is held long enough as a common swindler to enable us to sift the other matter. Let me see, you said Dan was with you at the time of the transaction in Waterville?"

"No; it was poor Sam, and now that he is dead I'm the only one who saw Long Jim there. Do you know if they have found Sam's body?"