“Robbed your store!” cried Ted and Tom. This was getting more and more exciting.
“Yes,” went on Mrs. Ransom, whom the boys were apt to call “Miss,” though she had been married and was a widow. “Some one got into my place last night and took a lot of things. I didn’t miss ’em until just now. And as soon as I did I started for the constable. I’m on my way there now. I hope to find him at home.”
“Did they take any money?” asked Ted.
“Yes, a little. But they took some other things, too. I don’t mind the money so much, nor the other things. But they took a queer box my brother, that used to be a sailor, brought me from a far-off country. It was a very queer box, and I wouldn’t sell it for a lot of money. Now the burglars have it, and I’m going to have them arrested if Constable Juke can find ’em! Land sakes, but I must hurry on! Stay out in the sun, Teddy, until you get dry, and then most of that mud will brush off. Dear me! To think that queer box should be taken after all these years that I’ve kept it! I hope I can get it back!”
CHAPTER V
UNCLE BEN
Mrs. Ransom hurried along the meadow path on her way to the house of Constable Juke. The constable was not like a regular policeman. He did not wear a blue uniform with brass buttons, and he did not walk up and down the street swinging a club. He was just a farmer, and when he was called on to arrest anybody, as he was once in a while in Cresco, he just went out in his regular working clothes and took the person to the jail.
“Say!” exclaimed Tom, as he watched Mrs. Ransom hurrying away, “I’d better go home, I guess, Ted, and so had you.”
“What for?” asked Ted. “Let’s go and see Constable Juke arrest the burglars that robbed Miss Ransom’s store.”
“Nope! I’m going home!” declared Tom.
“But what for?” asked Ted again.