By and by a carriage drove up, and there was a deal of banging at the doors, and tramping around the house. I thought it was an under-official that threw a rock through the window, not a real dignitary. Later there was another carriage, more banging and tramping.
I went to bed after that. I don't know how long they tried to telephone from the City Hall—the telephone didn't say.
CHAPTER XXIV—THE ARREST
WHEN I awoke in the morning, the sunlight was shining brightly through the shutters, and I lay awhile getting things straightened out in my mind, wondering what the authorities would do next, and sorting my own cards. Then I noticed a murmuring all about, not like a conversation of a few people, but like the voices of a crowd at some distance. I took a cautious peek. Oh, my native country! The yard was full of soldiers of the City Guard in their pink uniforms, all squatting on the ground very dejectedly.
“Hi!” I thought. “There's no hurry about getting dressed. The cook must have stayed shy, or they'd have got me.”
I never saw that cook again. I've heard that he came on the soldiers about three o'clock in the morning, camping in the front yard. Their orders were to stay there till I came home. The cook went off into the country to avoid politics.
“Speaking of the cook now,” I said to myself, “they'll arrest me without breakfast. They'll march me into town afoot, like a malefactor. It won't do for the dignity of The Union Electric.”
With that I wrapped myself and the telephone in double blankets, took out the plug, and cautiously rang up a livery-stable.