“Same here,” agreed Gordon. The next instant he uttered a cautioning “S-s-sh!” and flattened himself out against the side of the roller. Half a block away the officer on the beat had suddenly emerged from the shadows and was standing under the light, gazing, as it seemed to the boys, most interestedly toward them. There was a minute of suspense. “Think he saw us?” whispered Gordon.
“Search me,” said Lanny. “I wish we’d had the sense to put the lantern back on the other side where we got it. Here he comes!”
The officer had begun a slow but determined approach.
“Keep in the shadows,” advised Lanny, “and beat it back to the other roller! Don’t let him see you!”
Silently, like four indistinct shadows, the boys slipped from their places and, keeping as best they could the dark bulk of the roller between them and the approaching policeman, scuttled up the road to where the larger machine stood. There was one doubtful moment when the light of the red lantern fell upon them just before they dodged behind the big roller.
“He will see the fire and know that something’s up,” whispered Way. “Let’s skip, fellows!”
“Hold on a minute,” advised Lanny. “Maybe he won’t. Wait and see.”
They peered anxiously around the edges of the big wheel behind which they were hidden. The policeman was dimly visible as he walked about the smaller roller. Finally he stopped and swung his stick a moment, picked up the red lantern and set it in the road beside the machine and, at last, slowly ambled back along the street. Breathlessly and hopefully they watched him reach the corner and disappear without a backward look. For a long two minutes after that they listened to the sound of his footsteps dying away on the new granolithic sidewalk. Then:
“Saved!” murmured Morris dramatically.
“Come on,” said Lanny. “We’ll have to get that old shebang going even if we have to push it! The moon will be up in a few minutes.”