"You learned the fact from the thieves?" said the gentleman.
"Yes, sir."
"Pray, who are you, young man? You seem to be a stranger in this vicinity."
"I am a stranger. My name is Dick Darling. I live in New York, and am employed by Roger Bacon, wholesale dealer in watches, jewelry and silverware. I was sent with a package to Mr. Goodrich, of Springville, a few miles from here, this afternoon, but after delivering it I found that the accommodation train for Jersey City, which stops at Springville at six-fifteen, had met with an accident which put it out of business, and being anxious to get home, the agent told me that if I walked to Carlin, six miles north, I could catch the next express, which stopped there at seven-thirty-eight. I started to walk, and got on all right till I came to where the road joined another, this one, in fact. I took this one by mistake and it brought me out here, away from Carlin, though I did not know at the time that I was going wrong. Then the thunderstorm came on and I took refuge in the vacant house up yonder."
Dick then went on to describe the arrival of the two rough characters with a bag each, and how not liking their looks he retreated to another room, from which spot he overheard them speaking about the robbery they had committed, and what their plans were for the immediate future. Then he told how they discovered his presence in the house and made a prisoner of him, and after questioning him closely they took him over to the house where the man named Parker lived, where they locked him up in the barn, after tying him to a post to make sure he wouldn't get away; but he had made his escape in spite of their precautions, and found his way over to that road, his object being to reach Carlin and, after reporting the robbery and all the facts connected with it, take the first train he could get for home. Dick's story interested the gentleman, whose name was Mason. They said they would go and arrest the thieves, while Dick was to stay at Mason's house until they came back. This plan was carried out.
[CHAPTER III.—Dick Meets the Mason Family.]
The gentleman took Dick into the house by a side door and up a back stairs to his own room. Here he provided the boy with a pair of long stockings and his own slippers. Then he showed him where he could wash his hands and face and brush his hair. While Dick was thus employed, his host took his shoes and stockings down to the kitchen, and instructed the cook to start up the fire and dry them as soon as possible. He returned to his room and found that Dick had made a great improvement in his personal appearance.
"Now we will go into the sitting room, and I will make you acquainted with my family," he said. "They are greatly exercised over the robbery, for the thieves made a clean sweep of this floor, and took all the jewelry and other personal belongings of value, including a much-prized set of silverware which my wife inherited from her mother. The loss of the latter has made her quite ill, but when I tell her that we are likely to recover all our property through the information furnished by you, it will make her feel much better, and you will receive her thanks."
Mrs. Mason, her unmarried sister, and Miss Madge were seated in a bunch in the sitting room, looking very much dejected.