The people fell back and made a lane. Dan went up to the policeman and spoke to him.
The constable stepped beside the prisoner.
He did not raise any objections when Tom and Dave, still armed, walked behind until they came up to the lock-up, with the crowd at their heels, talking excitedly, and jostling one another along the roadway.
When Tom and Dave passed inside the station with Dan and George Chard, the people lined along the fence, theorising and arguing. It was nearly an hour before Dan re-appeared, and he had to get up on a stump and tell the people what had happened. The town would have signed a unanimous petition to the Postmaster-General to remove him at once if he had not done it.
So he got up and spoke all he knew about Petit, and about the way Tom had acted on the island. He said that he probably owed his life to Tom, who was a juvenile hero and a credit to the district. There had, he believed, been a lot of talk in Wharfdale about the bank robbery, and suspicion had fallen on an innocent man, but the recovery of the five hundred sovereigns (which he had just had the pleasure of handing over to the officer in charge, until such time as the whole matter was dealt with by a jury) showed that they had been wrong. It should be a lesson to them. The matter of the bank robbery was practically cleared up. The prisoner inside, on being questioned by the police, had admitted the robbery. He was a desperate man, an escapee from New Caledonia, and a charge of murder would be preferred against him at once.
The crowd cheered Dan. When George Chard came out of the station a prominent resident rushed and caught him by the hand. He was a J.P., and congratulated George fervently. When the people saw that the law as well as the evidence was with George, they all wanted to shake hands and congratulate him, too.
But George said simply that it was Tom Pagdin who deserved their congratulations and applause. Only for Tom the affair might never have been cleared up, and he might have lived on for years under a vague cloud of suspicion. It was Tom’s pluck and promptness which had brought them all out of the mess, and probably saved more than one life.
The constable brought Tom and Dave to the door of the station, gave them a good friendly clap on the back each, and handed them over to Wharfdale. And Wharfdale made a rush and got hold of the boys and lifted them shoulder high and carried them up the street in the direction of the principal hotel.
They made Tom get on the table, and tell the whole story, and the Pirate proved equal to the occasion.
He spoke continuously for two hours, with frequent pauses for the absorption of soft drinks, and cakes and gingerbread. And Dave stood at his right hand, like the trusty Sancho Panza he was, and corroborated every word, and more.