"But don't I tell you I half raced my legs off to get your organ back for you?" he cried. "Why, I actually believe you think I was one of the fellows that stole it!"
Then, as the man took a still firmer grasp of his coat, and began a louder series of exclamations, the boy became finally convinced that this was really the state of the case.
Explanations were of no avail; indeed, they only seemed to make matters worse, for whenever Art attempted to make himself understood either by loud talk or dumb-show, the organ-grinder only gripped deeper and rattled on faster.
"Well, this is a go!" muttered our hero to himself as he finally gave up all resistance, and tried in vain to call up a word or two of French that would be likely to help him out of the scrape. "He must certainly know that I'm not French, but I don't see that that makes any difference to him. I wonder, though, what he's going to do with me?"
This query was soon answered, for now the man made signs to Art to pick up the organ.
"What! he wants me to carry the thing for him!" and the lad's hatred of injustice again rose up strong within him, causing him to shake his head in a most decided fashion.
For reply the Frenchman simply shrugged his shoulders, and muttered the word "Gens-d'armes."
This was enough for Art. As has been already stated, he had a decided prejudice to becoming intimate with the Paris police, and as the spectacle of his being marched off to jail by one of them, before he could hope to make himself understood, passed before his mental vision, he stooped down, picked up the organ, and walked on by the side of its owner, who all the while kept a hand on his shoulder.
It was certainly a most humiliating situation, but Art managed to extract some degree of consolation from the reflection that he was being wronged. Then he suddenly recollected the snow-ball he had thrown which had nearly overturned the money cup.
"He must have noticed it, after all. What an awful combination of circumstances against me! I wonder if I can't buy him off?" and as he stumbled along beneath his burden, Art began to calculate how much money he had in his various pockets.