“If you’d seen me robbing the safe, you wouldn’t have believed it,” David said softly, his free arm drawing her down to the berth so that he could kiss her.
There was a rustle of whispering, a giggle or two from the audience crammed into the corridor outside the door. But David and Sally did not mind. The kiss was none the shorter or sweeter because it was witnessed by the carnival family.
“Well, sir,” David went on after that unashamed kiss, which had left Sally trembling and radiant, “I got the suitcases into the barn and up a ladder to the hayloft. You’ll find them buried under the hay, unless the Randall horses have made a meal off them by this time.”
“Glory be to the Lord!” Mrs. Bybee screamed, pounding her husband on the back. “The show’ll go on, Winfield! And what are you standing there for? Hustle right out after them suitcases or I’ll go myself! You’ve got to go yourself, or that farmer Randall will take a pot shot at anybody that goes meddling around his barn.”
“All right, Mother, all right!” Bybee protested. “I’ll handle it. Don’t worry. But I want to thank Dave here for what he’s done for the outfit. Dave—” he began, lifting his voice as if he intended to make an oration.
“Oh, that’s all right, Mr. Bybee,” David blushed vividly. “We’ll just call it square. You didn’t turn me over to the police last night, and you’ve taken Sally and me in and given us work and protected us—”
“I’m going to do more than that, by golly!” Bybee shouted. “I’m going to the district attorney of this burg and tell him the whole yarn! I’ll get them charges against you and Sally quashed in less time than it takes to say it! You’re a hero, boy, and by golly, I feel like charging admission for the rubes to look at you! The biggest and bravest hero in captivity! Yes, sir! How’s that for a spiel, Gus?” he shouted to the barker.
“Dave don’t seem to think it’s so grand!” Gus chuckled. “Look at him! A body’d thing he’d been socked in the eye instead of slapped on the back!”
It was true. David was looking so white and sick and his eyes were so filled with embarrassment and distress that Sally was in tears again.
“What’s the matter, Dave?” Bybee asked in bewilderment. “I thought you and the kid would be tickled to death to get a clean bill of health from the cops. What’s wrong?”