“It’s Dora Dane Daring,” she said. “So there, Mr. Smarty. And I’m a girl scout.”
“Girls are afraid of snakes,” he shouted.
She said, “Well, they’re not afraid of canary birds.”
“They’re afraid of black men and—and—bandits,” he yelled. “Didn’t you ever hear of wild canary birds? That shows how much you know about botany—I mean zoology.”
By that time everybody was screaming. Even the whole police department was laughing. He said, “Well, now, what’s all this about? Have you youngsters been dreaming or what?”
“What,” I said; “you guessed right the second time.”
I guess if it hadn’t been for Westy maybe that fellow with the cap would be up on the top of the wheel yet.
He said to the policeman, “I’ll tell you how it was if these fellows will keep still.”
I said, “Let’s have a large chunk of silence.”
So then Westy told him all about our meeting Detective Pinchem and how he was looking for a fellow that had robbed an auto party and how he had stolen a boat and left it in the marshes. He told him all about what happened at the old ferris-wheel and how I had found footprints there and how they showed that some one had come from the river. Most all the people that crowded around listening were serious. Two or three men said they guessed it was the auto bandit all right. The policeman said they’d soon find out.