A GRAVE ACCUSATION
"We haven't time now!" yelled back Mark, looking in the direction of the voice, and seeing a short, stout man, who appeared greatly excited.
"Stop or I'll shoot!" the man exclaimed.
"The fire must have made him crazy," said Jack. "Go on, Mark, it's getting hot up above!"
Mark did not linger on the ladder and soon the two boys were in the street, surrounded by an excited crowd.
"Are you hurt?" asked several.
"I guess not," replied Mark. "What caused the fire?"
"Some sort of an explosion," answered a policeman. "Part of the hotel was blown up. If you boys wish you can go to a station house where you'll be comfortable until morning."
"I guess we will," said Mark.
They started to work their way through the crowd but did not notice that the strange man followed them. The fire was now burning fiercely, and once they had gotten clear of the press the lads halted to look at the spectacle.
The hotel was now a mass of flames and the firemen were kept busy. What with the puffing of engines, the whistling of the steamers, the roar of the flames, and the shouts of the crowd, pandemonium reigned.
The boys watched the fire for some time. Gradually the flames came under the control of the men and the leaping tongues died out.
"I guess we'd better go to the police station," suggested Jack.
Mark agreed this would be a good thing to do, as both of them felt rather chilly in the night air with only half of their clothes on. They inquired their way of the first policeman they saw, and he volunteered to escort them.
"Sure an' you'll have plenty of company," he said. "The hotel was full an' the people have no place to go except to the lock-up. Some swells will be glad to take a place behind the bars to-night I'm thinkin'. I wonder how some of those English aristocrats will like it?"
"English aristocrats?" repeated Jack. "Are any here?"
"Sure. There's a lot of them burned out. Lord Peckham was stoppin' at the hotel with a big crowd of people, an' their apartments was all destroyed. Some of 'em went to the police station."
The boys followed their uniformed guide through the streets of Easton, and were soon at the station house. There they were received by the sergeant in charge, while the matron gave them each a cup of hot coffee, a large pot of the beverage having been brewed.
"I'll have to give you boys one bed between you," said the sergeant. "We're rather crowded for room to-night."
"Anything will do us," said Jack with a laugh.
Just then there was some excitement at the entrance of the police station.
"I tell you they're in here! I will see them!" a voice exclaimed. "I want them arrested at once!"
"Go easy now," counseled the doorman as he tried to hold back a short, stout, excited man who was pushing his way into the station.
"There they are!" exclaimed the man, pointing to Jack and Mark.
"Why those boys are from the burned hotel," said the doorman.
"I know it! They are the very ones I want!"
"What do you of us?" spoke up Mark. He recognized the man as the one who had called to him as he and Jack were escaping.
"I charge you with being sons of James Darrow, the notorious English anarchist!" cried the little man, pointing his finger at the boys, "and I accuse you of trying to kill Lord Peckham with a bomb, the explosion of which set fire to the hotel!"
For a moment the surprising charge so astonished every one that not a word was said. Then the little man, advancing toward the boys went on:
"I arrest you in the name of His Royal Highness, Edward VII, King of England, Scotland and Wales."
He threw back the lapel of his coat and showed a badge.
"King of England, Scotland and Wales, is it!" exclaimed the doorman with a twinkle in his eye. "An' why didn't ye say Ireland into the bargain."
"Ireland, of course," went on the little man. "I'm an officer of His Most Gracious Majesty," he added, "and I demand the assistance of the United States authorities in general and the police of Easton in particular in taking these desperate criminals into custody!"
"Hold your horses," advised the desk-sergeant. "Those boys are not liable to run away. They're to stay here over night, and if you have any charge to make against them why you'll have to come and see the judge in the morning."
"But they are sons of an anarchist! They are anarchists themselves!" exclaimed the man, "I must arrest them!"
"You're not going to arrest anybody," said the sergeant, "until you get a warrant from the judge. This isn't England."
"Then I'm going to stay with these boys the rest of the night," insisted the man. "I can't take any chances on their giving me the slip."
"This place is going to be crowded with people from the burned hotel," objected the sergeant. "There will be no room for you. Besides, how do I know these boys are anarchists?"
"Look in their valise," cried the stranger. "It is filled with bombs."
"You can't look in this satchel," exclaimed Jack, for he remembered the valise contained parts of the professor's secret machines.
"What did I tell you?" cried the Englishman with triumph in his tones. "They are the guilty ones. They are afraid to open their valise."
"We are, but not because it has bombs in it," said Mark. "It has parts of an unpatented machine and the owner does not want any one to see them," for Mark remembered Mr. Henderson's strict injunctions to let no one but the mechanist to whom they had gone catch a glimpse of the parts that were to be duplicated. The machinist was sworn to secrecy.
"It's none of our affair," said the sergeant, though he seemed a little impressed by the Englishman's words and the reluctance Mark and Jack showed to letting the valise be opened. "The boys will be here until morning, and then you can see the judge. Now you'll have to get out. You boys get to bed."
Muttering threats, the stranger went from the station house, and Mark and Jack, in response to a nod from the doorman, followed him upstairs to a part of the police station used to detain witnesses. They were shown to a small room with a single bed.
"Are ye really anarchists?" asked the doorman.
"Not a bit," replied Jack, and he told as much of their story as he dared.
"I was kind-of hopin' ye was," said the officer with a twinkle in his eye. "It wouldn't do any harm to scare that uppish Englishman a bit. Sure he an' his kind have done enough to poor old Ireland."
"I'm sorry we can't oblige you," said Mark with a laugh.
"I guess ye're all right," went on the doorman. "I hope ye sleep good the rest of the night."
Then he left them alone. What with the excitement of the fire and the startling accusation against them, the boys' brains were too excited to let them sleep much. They had a few fitful naps throughout the remainder of the night.
It was just getting daylight when Mark was awakened by some one shaking him.
"What is it?" he asked. "Another fire?"
"Not this time," replied a voice, and Mark, now that his eyes were fully opened, saw the doorman bending over him.
"What's the matter?" asked Jack waking up in his turn.
"Easy!" exclaimed the doorman in a whisper. "I happened to think ye might want to be leavin'."
"Leaving?" asked Mark in bewilderment.
"Yes. Ye know that Englishman is liable to be back any minute, an' he may make trouble for ye. I know ye're innocent lads, an' I'd hate to see ye mixed up in a mess with that fellow. So I slips up here early, an' ye can leave by the back door if ye want to, an' the officer of His Imperial Majesty, King Edward VII, will never know a thing about it."
"It looks like running away," objected Jack.
"Sure there's no charge agin ye," went on the doorman. "Ye're free to come an' go as far as we're concerned, an' ye'd better go whilst ye have the chance."
Jack reflected. It was true that the charge of the Englishman, baseless as it was, might make trouble for them, and cause them endless delays in getting back to Professor Henderson. Suddenly Jack made up his mind.