CHAPTER XXIV
THE FAKER CAUGHT
Several things happened at about the same time, and so quickly that thegirls confessed afterward that they were fairly dizzy. Consequently theywere not altogether sure of the sequence of events themselves.
But as that does not so much matter as does the ultimate effect, I willset down the various happenings in such order as will best indicate tothe reader the proceedings.
Naturally the attention of Mr. Blackford, and the girls, was first drawnto Mr. Bailey, the farmer, who was shaking his fist at the man sellingtooth powder on the platform. His announcement that this was the man hesought was sufficiently dramatic.
Then came Carrie's startled cry. Betty and Mollie turned around to lookat her.
"Are you sure he is the man who called himself your guardian?" askedMollie. "Don't make any mistake."
"I am not making a mistake," murmured Carrie, still holding herselfbehind Amy and Grace. "He is that horrid man! Oh, don't let him see me!"
"What, have you a case ag'in him, too?" asked Mr. Bailey.
"She thinks so," explained Mr. Blackford. "We've got to act quicklyhere. Go up a little closer, Mollie."
A lane was opened for the auto, amid the crowd. The faker stopped in themidst of the "patter" concerning his wonderful powder, which "would makethe teeth like unto the milky pearls of the Orient."
The man on the platform turned pale, and then a sort of sickly greencolor spread over his face. He had caught sight of the farmer standingin the auto. Perhaps he also had had a glimpse of Carrie Norton. At anyrate he said:
"And now, my dear people, I must leave you. This is the last chance youwill have to purchase Tuckerman's Tooth Tester at this price. I thankyou one and all for your attention, and for your patronage. I must leaveat once. I have been summoned by telegraph to attend a conference of theInternational Dental Society, who wish to purchase the secret of mywonderful invention. I will bid you good-day," and he started to descendfrom his platform.
"No, you don't!" cried Mr. Bailey. "No, you don't get away like that!The dental society kin wait until you pay me back the money you swindledout of me on that soap deal! Hold him, somebody, until I kin swear out awarrant. I've caught you, old fellow!"
The faker kept his nerve. He came down from the platform carrying hisvalise. The crowd was around him.
"Good people, let me pass!" he cried, authoritatively.
Mr. Blackford sensed the danger. The man might get away after all.
"Here!" he called to a constable in the crowd. "That man is a swindler!He should be arrested."
"I haven't any warrant," answered the officer, weakly.
"You will have one in five minutes!" said Mr. Blackford. "I tell you tohold that man. Mr. Bailey, get to the nearest justice of the peace assoon as you can. Swear out a warrant and have it brought here. Officer,arrest that man!"
There was something more than disinterested authority in Mr. Blackford'stone. The constable worked his way through the crowd.
"Good people, let me pass! Let me pass!" the faker was saying. "I haveto catch a train!"
"Not much you won't! If I have to hold you myself!" muttered Mr. Bailey,angrily.
"You get to that justice as fast as you can," directed Mr. Blackford."We'll hold this man, if we have to chloroform him!"
The farmer jumped from the auto, and hurried off, a dozen hands pointingout the office he desired in the court house. The constable reached thetooth powder vendor.
"You're under arrest!" the officer said, laying a hand on the man's arm.
"Don't you touch me! Under arrest? On what charge?"
He shook himself loose, and stroked his beard nervously, also hisluxurious hair, but this time it was black, instead of white--dyedobviously.
"On the charge--on the charge," began the constable nervously. "You'rearrested on a charge that's soon to be here. Now don't make any fuss,but come along with me."
"I decline to go with you unless I know what I am charged with!" shoutedthe faker. "You let me go, or it will be the worse for you!"
Mollie arose in her place at the steering wheel.
"He's arrested on the charge of assault and battery!" she called in herfresh, strong voice. "I make the charge, Girls!" she exclaimed, turningto the others, "that's the man who thrust me into that room, and lockedme there. That's the ghost. I recognize him by the scar on his thumb!"
The crowd was in an uproar as the constable caught hold of the man, andquickly snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.
Then as the girls in the auto stood up, the better to see, Carrie wasrevealed. The faker, closely held by the constable who had arrested him,and by a brother officer who had hurried up, gave the strange girl onelook. Then those who were near him heard him mutter:
"I guess the game is up!"