CHAPTER XIV
A FRIEND IN NEED
The automobile with the constable and two prisoners sped down the road,aiming to stride the main highway leading northward to Augusta. It was agood run, but the machine ought to make it before night closed in, forthe days were long and the course was favorable. The officer could haveboarded the _Gardiner_ at one of the stopping places and made thejourney by water, but nothing was to be gained by so doing.
The chauffeur slowed down and honked as he drew near the turn in theroadway. Just then he saw another auto coming from the north and curvingabout to enter the road leading to Charmount. It was similar to the carin which our friends were riding and held only one passenger who satbeside the chauffeur, the rear seat being empty.
Something in the appearance of the former struck Alvin as familiar. Hewas middle-aged, neatly dressed, with sandy mustache and slightlystooping shoulders. He looked sharply at the youth as the machines drewnearer. A moment before they came opposite, he called out:
"Hello, Alvin! where are you going? Gabe, what's up?"
The latter query was addressed to the constable, the two being oldacquaintances. Each ordered his chauffeur to stop, and they obeyed, withthe machines side by side.
It was at this juncture that Chester, who was the first to recognize theman, called to his companion:
"It's Mr. Keyes Richards from Boothbay Harbor. He used to own theSquirrel Inn, but has shifted over to Mouse Island."
"How do you, do, Mr. Richards?" saluted Alvin. "We are glad to meetyou."
"But I say what are you doing in this part of the world?" continued thepuzzled Richards.
"Ask _him_," replied Alvin, jerking his head toward the officer behindhim.
"Where did you pick up your passengers, Gabe?" inquired the other ofthe officer, who was somewhat puzzled by the turn matters were taking.
"Do you know them?" was his question.
"Well, rather; they're particular friends of mine; they are staying forthe summer on Southport. Are you kidnapping them?"
"That's what he is doing," Chester took upon himself to reply.
Alvin, feeling the humor of the scene, clasped his hands and rolled hiseyes toward heaven:
"Oh save us, kind sir! Save us, for he means to eat us up, and then hangus and burn us at the stake. May I not rush to your loving arms, Mr.Richards, before it is too late?"
Richards was more mystified than ever. He didn't know what to make of itall. He kept his gaze upon his old friend the officer, and waited forhim to speak. The constable's face had turned crimson, for he wasbeginning to suspect the truth.
"You have heard of the robbery of the post office at Rockledge, Keyes?"
"Yes; I look for news of something of the kind every few days. What hasthat to do with my young friends being in a position that looks as ifthey are your prisoners?"
"Banet Raymond tells me that that robbery was done by three men wearingyachting suits. These two are dressed that way and they admit they hadanother chap with them, but he's run off, so I arrested them onsuspicion--what in thunder are you laughing at?"
Keyes Richards had thrown back his head and his laughter might have beenheard half a mile away. As soon as he could speak, he said:
"So you took those two youngsters for burglars of the post office atRockledge! The joke is on you, Gabe, and I'll make sure all your friendshear of it. Haw! haw! haw!"
The poor officer squirmed and asked sullenly:
"How should I know who they were? I never saw 'em before."
"You've had enough experience to judge a little by looks; your own smallamount of sense ought to tell you better than this."
"That's what I did go by. Don't you think that they look like a coupleof desperate criminals?"
And the officer turned his head, scrutinized the youth at his side andthen leaned over and squinted at Alvin, as if he saw both for the firsttime. Chester felt sympathy for the man, and waiting for Richards torecover from his renewed outburst said:
"We must be hard looking fellows, for every one in the crowd who saw usleave Charmount agreed that we were a couple of villains."
"And one woman thought lynching wasn't too good for us."
"Well, Gabe, do you intend to carry them to Augusta?"
"Of course not, now that you vouch for them--unless they want to gothere," he added.
"Can you take us with you, Mr. Richards?"
"I am on my way to Charmount to board the boat for Boothbay. I shall beglad to have your company."
"Have we your permission, officer?" asked Alvin, looking round at theirguardian, as he partly rose to his feet.
The constable was uneasy. Moving about in his seat, he asked:
"I say, young men, you haven't any hard feelings agin me?"
Keyes Richards overheard the question and his waggishness could not berepressed.
"You boys have a clear case against Gabe; you ought to have no troublein soaking him for ten or twenty thousand dollars damages."
"Is that a fact?" asked Alvin, pausing in stepping from one car toanother, as if suddenly impressed by the idea.
"Gabe owns one of the finest farms in Lincoln county; you will have notrouble at all to get it from him."
The officer would have been scared almost out of his wits had he notcaught the wink of Richards and the responsive smile of Alvin. Thesympathetic youth replied:
"It is all right, officer, though we should have felt different if youhad put those handcuffs on us. We have had a little fun and don't mindit. Good-by."
Each boy shook hands with the grim fellow, who was vastly relieved bytheir good will.
"You know we have to take chances now and then, but I always try to domy duty regardless of consequences."
"You have a hard job before you, Gabe, but I hope you will win; no onedeserves it more," said Richards.
And the parties separated in the best of humor.
The run to Charmount was quickly made. Nearly all who saw the departureof the officer with the prisoners witnessed their return in the companyof Keyes H. Richards, who was well known to nearly everybody fromAugusta to the mouth of the Kennebec. He saluted a number of persons andthe chauffeur who had brought him to that point circled his machineabout, and skimmed off after the fleeing constable, who must have beenmany miles up the road by that time.
It was some minutes before the little group could understand the turn ofaffairs. Alvin lifted his cap to the woman who had thought that he andhis companion deserved lynching and said:
"If you feel that we should be executed we are here to receive oursentence."
She stared at the impudent youngster, sniffed and flirted away withoutreply. The tennis player who insisted that the looks of the lads provedtheir villainy did not at first quite grasp the situation. He aimlesslypatted his hip with his racquet and looked and wondered. Alvin with hiswinsome grin addressed him:
"We are unlucky that our faces give us away, but it can't be helped. Theconstable became so disgusted with us that he turned his prisoners overto Mr. Richards."
"Does he know you?" asked the other unabashed.
"It looks that way, doesn't it?"
"I have no doubt he was the third burglar who stuck up the Rockledgepost office. You are all tarred with the same stick. However, I'llpromise to drop in on you if they send you to Atlanta to keep companywith Uncle Sam's guests--for I intend to make a business trip South nextmonth."
"Are you sure it is solely on _business_?" was the pointed inquiry ofChester.
"That is the present outlook, but if this post office robbing industrypicks up a little more, you and I might join hands and whack up."
"Chester, we aren't making much here," said Alvin. "Suppose we pay ourrespects to the pert young lady who rattles the telegraph key."
They walked into the little building, while Richards stayed outside andexplained that the fathers of the boys owned about half the city of NewYork and most of the railway lines westward to the Rocky Mountains; thatthey would probably b
uy Southport, Squirrel, Outer Heron and a number ofother islands by the close of next season; that their sons were two ofthe finest-grained young gentlemen that had ever honored Maine with avisit; that young Landon was the owner of the prettiest motor boat everseen in those waters, and that it was stolen exactly as they haddescribed, and he was going to give them all the help he could inrecovering it. If any one of his listeners wished to earn a handsomereward, all he had to do was to find the boat. Suffice it to say, thestory of Mr. Richards made a sensation, and Alvin and Chester becameobjects of profounder interest than when they were prisoners chargedwith the crime of robbing a post office.
The young heroes never heard anything of these amazing yarns, for theyhad entered the telegraph office to see the bright-eyed operator who hadhad her fling at them. She glanced up from her table as she finishedclicking off a message, and remarked:
"Out on bail I suppose; the next thing no doubt, you will skip."
"Would you blame us?" asked Alvin. "The punishment for that sort ofthing is pretty severe."
"Ten or twenty years, I believe."
"Something like that, with considerable off for good behavior."
"You're not likely to get any allowance for _that_--there's your boat!"she exclaimed, as the hoarse whistle of a steamer sounded from theriver. Alvin would have liked to make appropriate reply to this irony,but really he had no time to think one up. He and his chum hurried out,merely calling good-by to her.