David struggled upon the elbow of his right arm, his white face twitching with a spasm of pain. “I’d be glad to be free of those charges, Mr. Bybee, but I guess we’d better let them stand for a while. I might get off all right, but—it’s Sally. You see, sir, she’s not of age, and the state would make her go back to the orphanage. The law in this state makes her answerable to the orphanage till she’s eighteen, and it would kill her to go back. I couldn’t bear it, either, Mr. Bybee. Sally and I belong together, and we’re going to be married when this trouble blows over.” Although he was blushing furiously, his voice was strong and clear, his eyes unwavering as they met the bright, frowning blue eyes of Pop Bybee.
“But man alive,” Pop protested, and it was noticeable to both Sally and David that he did not call him “boy” after David’s declaration of his intentions toward Sally. “We can’t simply hush this whole thing up! You did follow the crooks and take the money away from them! I’ve got to notify the police that the swag has been recovered.”
“Can’t you tell them it was all a mistake and call off the case?” David pleaded earnestly.
“And let that Hula-hussy get off Scot-free?” Bybee hooted. “No, siree! She ain’t a member of this family no more, and she’ll have to pay for double-crossing me! I was good to that girl! Staked her to cakes and clothes when she joined up, whining she didn’t have a cent to her name! Stringing me all along! Just joined up to learn the lay of the land!
“Besides, we’ve already put the case in the hands of the police and they’ve seen the safe for themselves. The sergeant said it was a professional job, all right, as neat a safe-cracking trick as he’d ever seen turned. I couldn’t hush it up if I wanted to.”
“I’ll do what I can for Sally, lie like a gentleman for her, say she never joined up with us, we don’t know where she is—anything you like, but I’m afraid you’re bound to be the hero of Capital City before you’re twenty-four hours older. Too bad, son, but I don’t see how it can be helped,” he twinkled.
“I don’t care a rap about being a hero,” David snapped. “The only thing in God’s world I care about is Sally Ford. Listen, Mr. Bybee, tell the police that one of the other boys chased the crooks and took the money away from them. Let Eddie Cobb be the hero! Eddie’d like that, wouldn’t you, Eddie?” he sang out to the freckle-faced youngster who was looking on, goggle-eyed, among the crowd that jammed the door of the stateroom.
“Aw, Dave!” Eddie protested, flushing brightly under his freckles.
“Sure you would like it!” David laughed feebly, sinking back to his pillows. “Listen, Mr. Bybee: this is Eddie Cobb’s home town. He was raised in the orphanage, like Sally. He’d get a great kick out of being a hero to the kids at the Home. He can go with you to get the suitcases, after you’ve sent for the police to go along with you.
“I’ll lie low, Eddie can tell the story I’ve told you, and the cops will never be the wiser. I can give him a pretty good description of Steve. I had plenty of chances to study his face after I’d knocked him out. I imagine he’s beat it in his car by this time, if he was able to drive; otherwise you’ll find him in the road just as I told you. Of course he’d know it wasn’t Eddie that fought with him, but the police wouldn’t have any reason to doubt Eddie’s word.”