“Well, Mr. Calvert, you have got me at last.”
“Yes; and a right merry chase you have led me. You won’t get away this time.”
“I suppose not.”
“Sit down, Mike,” said the caller, drawing up a chair for himself. “I have something I would like very much to say to thee, Orestes.”
At this moment Aunt Maggie swung through the door again. She had seen the man enter and wished to know what it meant. Calvert sprang to his feet and bowed.
“I have found a couple of good friends of mine, who I am sure are greatly indebted to you for your hospitality. One cannot fail to tell by your looks that you have a wonderfully kind heart——”
“Arrah, now,” replied Mrs. McCaffry, pushing away the hair in front of her face with her fat hand, “but ye are the worst blarney of thim all. I’ll have nothing to do wid ye till dinner time, whin I’ll stuff ye all so full of roast pig and praties that ye’ll be obleeged to kaap quiet regarding dacent folks.”
She knew the three wished to talk over private matters, and made sure they were left alone for the next hour or two.
“Mr. Calvert,” said Noxon, “Mike here has proved himself a true friend to me—so you may talk freely before him. He doesn’t know my right name and says he doesn’t care to know. So we will let that pass. What caused you to look here for me?”
“Warner Hagan met me in Wiscasset yesterday to give what help he could in running Kit Woodford and his gang to earth. Early this morning we heard of the attempted robbery of the Beartown post office. We hired a launch and got there as soon as we could. Nobody in Beartown suspects our business. It did not take us long to pick up all that was known. We learned that one of the three got peppered with bird shot, and managed to limp off in the woods. Of course I recognized the three young gentlemen who were accepting the hospitality of Mrs. Friestone, the postmistress. They required no immediate attention and were sure to turn up all right in the end.