To The West Part 7

"Think we ought to have sent?" said Esau, as we sat together alone.

"I have no one I could send to but Mr John, and I shouldn't like to do that," I said, as I wondered the while whether he would be very angry.

"And I've got n.o.body but mother," said Esau, "and that's what made it so queer."

"What do you mean? Queer?"

"Yes, if I sent to her and she knew I was locked up at the station, she'd come running down here in a dreadful fright and be having fits or something."

"But she'll be horribly frightened now!"

"Not so much frightened. She'll think we've gone to see something, or been asked out to supper."

"But she'll sit up."

"That won't matter, because she's sure to go to sleep."

So no message was sent--no opportunity afforded of our having bail; but after a time this did not trouble us much. In fact, as we were discussing our future in a low tone, wondering what punishment would be meted out to us, and what we could do afterwards, Esau burst into a fit of laughter.

"It was fine," he said, as he sat afterwards wiping his eyes. "And you such a quiet, patient fellow!"

"What was fine?"

"To see you go on as you did. I say, I wonder what he'll say to the judge?"

"We shall not go before a judge," I told him.

"Well, madjistrit then. He'll say anything, and you'll see if we don't get sent to prison."

I said I hoped not, but I felt pretty sure that we should be punished very severely, and the outlook seemed so bad that I began to think my only chance would be to follow Esau's fortune, and go for a soldier.

All at once, just after he had been wondering how long "mother" would be before she dropped off to sleep, and what she would say when she found that we had not been home, I became aware of a low dull guttural sound, which told me that Esau had dropped off, and was sleeping soundly.

But I could not follow his example for thinking. What would Mr John say? What would Mrs John think? They would set me down as a reckless lad with a savage temper, and if we were punished they would never know the truth. Then another idea, one which made me shiver, occurred to me; the whole account would be in the newspapers, given as Police Intelligence, and that completely baffled all my attempts to sleep.

It was a very quiet night at the station. I heard doors opened and closed twice over, with a good deal of talking; and once while I was thinking most deeply, I started and stared curiously at a bright blaze of light, beyond which I could not see; but I felt that a constable had that light in his hand, and that he had come to see if we were asleep.

I had not heard the door open, I suppose I was thinking too deeply; but I heard it shut again, and heavy steps in the long stone pa.s.sage outside. Then I began thinking again intently, full of remorse for what I had done, and how soon it would be morning; and then I began to envy Esau, who could sleep so soundly in spite of our position.

I remember it all--the trampling of feet outside, the dull muttering of voices, and the curious guttural sound Esau made as he slept, one that I was often to hear in years to come; and I sat there with my head resting in a corner, envying him, and wishing that I too could forget. And over and over again came the events of the past day--the struggle in the office, and the savage, malicious look of Mr Dempster as he struck me.

Weary, aching, and with my head throbbing, I sat and wondered now at my daring; and then came all kinds of mental questions as to the amount of punishment I, a poor boy, would receive.

All at once, as these miserable thoughts kept on repeating themselves in a strange, feverish way, that was somehow connected with a throbbing, smarting sensation in one ear, Mr Dempster seemed to have raised me by the arm once more, and to begin shaking me roughly--so vigorously that I made a desperate effort to escape, when he cried--

"Steady, steady! You're all right. Come, rouse up and have a wash, my lad. It's nearly eight. Ready for some coffee and bread and b.u.t.ter?"

I looked up in the dim light to see the big, burly policeman leaning over me, while Esau was giving vent to a noisy yawn. It was morning, indeed, and though not aware of the fact, I must have slept about seven hours.

CHAPTER SIX.

AN ESCAPE, AND A SUGGESTION.

I don't know whether I was any more cowardly than most boys of my age; but I certainly felt a curiously nervous sensation that morning, and I was not alone in it; for Esau had a strange scared look, and his fair hair did not curl nearly so tightly as usual.

"Eh?" he said, "feel frightened?" in answer to a question. "No, I don't think I do; but I wish they'd leave the door open so that a fellow could run."

But there were no doors open for us to escape, and at last, after a weary time of waiting, the big policeman who had us in his charge bent down to us in the place where we were waiting, and said--

"Your case comes on next. There, hold up, my lads. Speak out, both of you, like men, and tell the whole truth. It's Sir Thomas Browning to-day."

I listened to him, but I felt as if I was growing hopelessly confused, and that I should never be able to say a word in my defence, while when I looked at Esau, I found that he was looking at me with his forehead full of wrinkles.

"It's all very well for him to say 'hold up.' He haven't got to be tried," he whispered. "I'm 'fraid it's all up with us, Gordon. Wish we could be together when they sends us off."

"Now then!" said the policeman, clapping me on the shoulder; "it's us.

Don't you be scared. Sir Thomas is a good 'un."

The next minute Esau and I were standing somewhere with our constable close by, and somewhere before us, in places that looked like pews, sat a number of gentlemen, some of whom wore wigs. Some were writing, and, seen as it were through a mist, a number of people looking on. Next, in a confused way, I saw a red-faced, white-headed gentleman, who took off his spectacles to have a good look at us, and put them on again to read a paper before him.

It was all dim and strange, and there was quite a singing in my ears, as I looked vacantly about while some talking went on, ending by a voice saying--

"Kiss the book."

Then the white-headed old gentleman said--

"Well, Mr Dempster, what have you to say?"

At the name Dempster, I started and looked sharply about me, to see that my employer was a little way off, very carefully dressed, and with a glossy hat in his hand.

"That can't be _the_ hat," I remember thinking, as I stared at him wildly.

The mist had cleared away now, and I stood listening to him as he went on speaking, in a very quiet subdued way, about the troubles he had had with the two defendants--boys whom he had taken into his service out of kindness.

"Yes, yes, yes, Mr Dempster," said the old gentleman testily; "but this isn't a sale of house property. There's a very long charge-sheet. You have given these two lads into custody on a charge of a.s.sault. Now, shortly, please, how did it happen?"

"The fact is, your worship," said Mr Dempster, "I have had much trouble with both of them. The boy Dean is idle in the extreme, while Gordon is a lad of vile and pa.s.sionate temper."

"Well, sir--well, sir?"

"I had occasion to speak to them yesterday about idling in my absence, the consequence being that a great many mistakes were made."

"Allus careful as I could be," said Esau, in an ill-used tone.

"Silence, sir! How dare you?" cried the old gentleman. "You shall be heard presently. Now, Mr Dempster, please go on."

"I was angry, Sir Thomas, and I scolded them both severely, when to my utter surprise--stop, I will be perfectly accurate--things had come to such a pa.s.s that I had threatened them with dismissal--when in a fit of pa.s.sion Dean struck my new hat from a chair on which it was laid, jumped upon it, and crushed it."