“Yes, we must look them up,” went on Bart, but he felt that a further chase would be useless.
“Say, you fellows aren’t going to disappear until you do me a favor,” began the rescued lineman, good naturedly. “I want you to come to my house, and meet my wife. She’ll want to know the boy who saved me from a horrible death. It isn’t far,” he added, as he saw Bart was about to decline. “Please come. I’m not going to work any more to-day. I’m too shaky.”
They saw that it would not be kind to refuse, and the electrician led the way for Bart and Fenn through the crowd, who parted with murmurs of admiration for the lad who had made such a plucky shot. There was no sign of Ned or Frank.
“Well, I don’t know how to begin to thank you,” said the man, feelingly, when they were in a somewhat secluded place on the main street. The work of preparing for the ushering in of the New Year was almost completed. “I never can properly thank you,” he went on. “My name’s George Lang, and if ever you boys want a friend, or if you want anything done in the line business, you call for George,” and he meant what he said.
“I’m glad I was able to fire, and sever the wire,” said Bart, as he walked along with Mr. Lang, “but I wish it had happened a few minutes earlier—or later,” he added.
“I’m sorry it happened at all,” declared Mr. Lang. “I never had an accident like that, and I don’t want another. But what difference did the time make?”
“Because we were on the trail of a thief,” explained Bart, “and he skipped out just before you got caught on top of the pole. He was a chap who had stolen a diamond bracelet, and we boys are accused of the crime. We wanted to capture him to prove our innocence. My two chums are after him, but I don’t believe they’ll catch him. He saw us and skipped out. By the way,” the lad added, as he recollected the incident, “he waved his hand to you, and you waved back to him from the top of the pole, just before the wire broke loose.”
“Me?” exclaimed Mr. Lang in great astonishment. “I waved to a diamond-bracelet thief?”
“I don’t say you knew him,” declared Bart, fearing he had been misunderstood, “but you certainly greeted him. He had on a light cap, and he stood at the foot of the pole, and——”
“Him? Oh, you mean him—that—why——” the lineman seemed to be choking—“a thief—stole a diamond bracelet——” He had to stop to catch his breath, but whether it was from laughter, or because he choked, the lads could not decide. “Him a thief?” asked Mr. Lang.