"Oh! I don't know whether it will pay me to go out again, and try to trace her back to Belleville, or some such place," said Hugh. "Doctor Cadmus assured my mother she would certainly be in her rational mind inside of two days at the longest. So I reckon I had better lie on my oars, and wait. I've got plenty to bother about, as it is, with that hot game coming off in the morning."
"Perhaps you're wise about that, Hugh. I know I'm a lot too impatient by half, and can't bear to wait for things to come to me. That's why I always stepped out to meet the ball when at bat; and I often caught it before the break came to make it a sharp drop."
"Mother says she thinks her full name is Judith Walters, though, as far as we know now, that doesn't help any. Still, if she didn't recover, it might assist in finding her family, so they could take the boy. He's a fine little chap, and I've already made great friends with him."
"You say she keeps on speaking to someone she calls grandfather, who seems likely to turn them both out of the house?" Thad persisted, as though he might be trying to figure something out.
"Yes, and so we take it for granted there must be some sort of a pitiful family tragedy about the whole affair," Hugh told him. "Mother suspects she may have married some years ago against her grandfather's will; and, losing her husband suddenly through accident, she is now on her way back, to plead with a hard-hearted old man for a place under his roof. But as you say there's no family named Walters near here, and we certainly don't know of any girl leaving her home that way."
"The chances are," Thad said decisively, "that she was meaning to pass through Scranton, and was heading for some other town, perhaps Allandale. You might find out if any such thing happened there some years ago; or if an old man could be found who would welcome a dear little boy named Joey."
The subject being exhausted for the time being, the boys talked of something else until they finally separated, each heading for his own particular supper table.
Of course, the news of Tip's arrest was soon known all over town. Most people had anticipated such an event, and professed not to be in the least surprised to hear about it. Nevertheless, the clever device of Chief Wambold, which he took care should be passed from lip to lip, so as to add to his popularity, was highly commended.
And there never was a time when Scranton passed a more peaceful night than on that occasion. Already great good was coming of the breaking up of the vicious gang that had held sway much too long. With two of the members locked up, being just as good as on their way to the Reform School, and the leader forsaking his former evil practices, it looked as though the police force of Scranton would soon become fat and lazy through lack of activity.
Hugh did not go out that evening. He was tired, and wished to conserve his energies so as to be in first-class trim for that lively morning brush with Keyport's Big Seven.