“No, he didn’t,” replied the constable, “an’ that’s what he’d oughter done. I live near Hank’s store, an’ if I’d a heard Doc yell fer help I’d a come on th’ run, and we’d had th’ burglars now. As it was, Doc thought mebby it might be boys playin’ a trick on Hank, and he didn’t say nothin’. He got back in his carriage an’ druv home.”
“Then how did you know he saw the robbers?” asked Dan.
“Soon as Hank discovered he’d been robbed, it become known all over town. Si Martin come in fer some groceries, an’ he heard it. Then he told Doc when he got back, an’ Doc, puttin’ two an’ two together, knowed them fellers he seen were th’ burglars. He come right over an’ told me, an’ I’m workin’ on th’ case now.” And then the constable departed.
“I wonder if they can be the same two thieves who got into the doctor’s house?” said Dan.
“Perhaps,” spoke Mr. Harrison. “At any rate, I think this will be in your favor. A second robbery, much like the first, will show that you are not the only burglar in town, Dan,” and the old soldier laughed.
“And I think I can prove a good alibi in this case,” said Dan, joining in the merriment. “I was with you all last night.”
As the construction of the machine shop was at a point where it needed much attention from Mr. Harrison, he wasted no more time thinking of the robbery of Hank Lee’s store. Nor did Dan, though he vaguely wondered who the burglars might be, and if they were the same ones who had stolen the doctor’s silver.
When Mr. Harrison and Dan went home for dinner that noon, they received an unpleasant surprise. They met Truem Mellock near their cottage. Truem was a sort of village gossip, being a lazy, shiftless man, who did odd jobs enough to make a bare living, but who would stick at nothing long.
“I s’pose ye heard all about th’ robbery?” he said.
“I think we have, unless they have caught the burglars,” replied Mr. Harrison.