"Just what he did, and I was along with the crowd," Thad told him. "Well, sir, you never saw such a cool customer. Nick smiled as brazenly in the face of the Chief as anything you ever saw. They searched, and searched, but never a scrap of the stolen goods could they run across."
"Well, what then, Thad?"
"Why, of course the Chief declared that Nick had only been some smarter than his pal in hiding the spoils where no one could find the stuff. He told Nick he would have to arrest him on general suspicion because Leon and he were such great pals, and Leon was already as good as convicted."
"Yes, and what did Nick say to that?" asked Hugh.
"Would you believe it, Hugh, he up and told the Chief that he could prove an alibi. You see, the robbery was done before eleven o'clock last night, because the clock that was knocked down when the thieves were rummaging around in the store had been broken, and it stopped at just a quarter to eleven. Even Chief Wambold agreed on that point."
"Yes, and it was cleverly settled, I must say, Thad. But how about Nick's alibi; would the Chief accept his mother's word, knowing that the chances were Nick had slipped out of the house by a window when she supposed him to be sound asleep in his bed?"
"Oh! Nick had much better proof than that, Hugh. He demanded that Chief Wambold call up old Deacon Joel Winslow, who, you know, is a man much respected around Scranton, and keeps the blacksmith shop out on the road to Allandale where it crosses the one leading to Keyport. Yes, sir, and when the officer did so from Headquarters the blacksmith weather prophet plainly told him Nick had been working alongside himself from seven until a quarter-after-eleven the night before!"
Hugh laughed. It really seemed as though a load had been suddenly taken off his chest. He had begun to fear lest his experiment might have already met with its Waterloo.
"I'm pleased to hear you say that, Thad, I certainly am," he remarked, "And did our wonderful Chief conclude to hold Nick after that?"
"He wanted to, Hugh,—I could see that plain enough; but Nick demanded that he be set at liberty. Say, you know I'm not much of an admirer of Nick Lang, but he did bluff the tall Chief of Police good and hard. He actually told him he'd sue him for damage to his reputation if he dared to hold him when there wasn't a particle of evidence connecting him with the robbery, except that once upon a time he used to go with Leon Disney, as lots of other fellows did, too."