A Friend in Need
The automobile with the constable and two prisoners sped down the road, aiming to stride the main highway leading northward to Augusta. It was a good run, but the machine ought to make it before night closed in, for the days were long and the course was favorable. The officer could have boarded the Gardiner at one of the stopping places and made the journey by water, but nothing was to be gained by so doing.
The chauffeur slowed down and honked as he drew near the turn in the roadway. Just then he saw another auto coming from the north and curving about to enter the road leading to Charmount. It was similar to the car in which our friends were riding and held only one passenger who sat beside the chauffeur, the rear seat being empty.
Something in the appearance of the former struck Alvin as familiar. He was middle-aged, neatly dressed, with sandy mustache and slightly stooping shoulders. He looked sharply at the youth as the machines drew nearer. A moment before they came opposite, he called out:
"Hello, Alvin! where are you going? Gabe, what's up?"
The latter query was addressed to the constable, the two being old acquaintances. Each ordered his chauffeur to stop, and they obeyed, with the machines side by side.
It was at this juncture that Chester, who was the first to recognize the man, called to his companion:
"It's Mr. Keyes Richards from Boothbay Harbor. He used to own the Squirrel Inn, but has shifted over to Mouse Island."
"How do you, do, Mr. Richards?" saluted Alvin. "We are glad to meet you."
"But I say what are you doing in this part of the world?" continued the puzzled Richards.
"Ask him," replied Alvin, jerking his head toward the officer behind him.
"Where did you pick up your passengers, Gabe?" inquired the other of the officer, who was somewhat puzzled by the turn matters were taking.
"Do you know them?" was his question.
"Well, rather; they're particular friends of mine; they are staying for the summer on Southport. Are you kidnapping them?"
"That's what he is doing," Chester took upon himself to reply.
Alvin, feeling the humor of the scene, clasped his hands and rolled his eyes toward heaven:
"Oh save us, kind sir! Save us, for he means to eat us up, and then hang us and burn us at the stake. May I not rush to your loving arms, Mr. Richards, before it is too late?"
Richards was more mystified than ever. He didn't know what to make of it all. He kept his gaze upon his old friend the officer, and waited for him to speak. The constable's face had turned crimson, for he was beginning to suspect the truth.
"You have heard of the robbery of the post office at Rockledge, Keyes?"
"Yes; I look for news of something of the kind every few days. What has that to do with my young friends being in a position that looks as if they are your prisoners?"
"Banet Raymond tells me that that robbery was done by three men wearing yachting suits. These two are dressed that way and they admit they had another chap with them, but he's run off, so I arrested them on suspicion—what in thunder are you laughing at?"
Keyes Richards had thrown back his head and his laughter might have been heard half a mile away. As soon as he could speak, he said:
"So you took those two youngsters for burglars of the post office at Rockledge! The joke is on you, Gabe, and I'll make sure all your friends hear of it. Haw! haw! haw!"
The poor officer squirmed and asked sullenly:
"How should I know who they were? I never saw 'em before."
"You've had enough experience to judge a little by looks; your own small amount of sense ought to tell you better than this."
"That's what I did go by. Don't you think that they look like a couple of desperate criminals?"
And the officer turned his head, scrutinized the youth at his side and then leaned over and squinted at Alvin, as if he saw both for the first time. Chester felt sympathy for the man, and waiting for Richards to recover from his renewed outburst said:
"We must be hard looking fellows, for every one in the crowd who saw us leave Charmount agreed that we were a couple of villains."
"And one woman thought lynching wasn't too good for us."
"Well, Gabe, do you intend to carry them to Augusta?"
"Of course not, now that you vouch for them—unless they want to go there," he added.
"Can you take us with you, Mr. Richards?"
"I am on my way to Charmount to board the boat for Boothbay. I shall be glad to have your company."
"Have we your permission, officer?" asked Alvin, looking round at their guardian, as he partly rose to his feet.
The constable was uneasy. Moving about in his seat, he asked:
"I say, young men, you haven't any hard feelings agin me?"
Keyes Richards overheard the question and his waggishness could not be repressed.
"You boys have a clear case against Gabe; you ought to have no trouble in soaking him for ten or twenty thousand dollars damages."
"Is that a fact?" asked Alvin, pausing in stepping from one car to another, as if suddenly impressed by the idea.
"Gabe owns one of the finest farms in Lincoln county; you will have no trouble at all to get it from him."
The officer would have been scared almost out of his wits had he not caught the wink of Richards and the responsive smile of Alvin. The sympathetic youth replied:
"It is all right, officer, though we should have felt different if you had put those handcuffs on us. We have had a little fun and don't mind it. Good-by."
Each boy shook hands with the grim fellow, who was vastly relieved by their good will.
"You know we have to take chances now and then, but I always try to do my duty regardless of consequences."
"You have a hard job before you, Gabe, but I hope you will win; no one deserves it more," said Richards.
And the parties separated in the best of humor.
The run to Charmount was quickly made. Nearly all who saw the departure of the officer with the prisoners witnessed their return in the company of Keyes H. Richards, who was well known to nearly everybody from Augusta to the mouth of the Kennebec. He saluted a number of persons and the chauffeur who had brought him to that point circled his machine about, and skimmed off after the fleeing constable, who must have been many miles up the road by that time.
It was some minutes before the little group could understand the turn of affairs. Alvin lifted his cap to the woman who had thought that he and his companion deserved lynching and said:
"If you feel that we should be executed we are here to receive our sentence."
She stared at the impudent youngster, sniffed and flirted away without reply. The tennis player who insisted that the looks of the lads proved their villainy did not at first quite grasp the situation. He aimlessly patted his hip with his racquet and looked and wondered. Alvin with his winsome grin addressed him:
"We are unlucky that our faces give us away, but it can't be helped. The constable became so disgusted with us that he turned his prisoners over to Mr. Richards."
"Does he know you?" asked the other unabashed.
"It looks that way, doesn't it?"
"I have no doubt he was the third burglar who stuck up the Rockledge post office. You are all tarred with the same stick. However, I'll promise to drop in on you if they send you to Atlanta to keep company with Uncle Sam's guests—for I intend to make a business trip South next month."
"Are you sure it is solely on business?" was the pointed inquiry of Chester.
"That is the present outlook, but if this post office robbing industry picks up a little more, you and I might join hands and whack up."
"Chester, we aren't making much here," said Alvin. "Suppose we pay our respects to the pert young lady who rattles the telegraph key."
They walked into the little building, while Richards stayed outside and explained that the fathers of the boys owned about half the city of New York and most of the railway lines westward to the Rocky Mountains; that they would probably buy Southport, Squirrel, Outer Heron and a number of other islands by the close of next season; that their sons were two of the finest-grained young gentlemen that had ever honored Maine with a visit; that young Landon was the owner of the prettiest motor boat ever seen in those waters, and that it was stolen exactly as they had described, and he was going to give them all the help he could in recovering it. If any one of his listeners wished to earn a handsome reward, all he had to do was to find the boat. Suffice it to say, the story of Mr. Richards made a sensation, and Alvin and Chester became objects of profounder interest than when they were prisoners charged with the crime of robbing a post office.
The young heroes never heard anything of these amazing yarns, for they had entered the telegraph office to see the bright-eyed operator who had had her fling at them. She glanced up from her table as she finished clicking off a message, and remarked:
"Out on bail I suppose; the next thing no doubt, you will skip."
"Would you blame us?" asked Alvin. "The punishment for that sort of thing is pretty severe."
"Ten or twenty years, I believe."
"Something like that, with considerable off for good behavior."
"You're not likely to get any allowance for that—there's your boat!" she exclaimed, as the hoarse whistle of a steamer sounded from the river. Alvin would have liked to make appropriate reply to this irony, but really he had no time to think one up. He and his chum hurried out, merely calling good-by to her.