The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair

During the remainder of the afternoon the young fakirs had quite as much as they could attend to, and then, just as trade had so fallen off that Tim could wait upon the customers alone with the aid of the assistant, Teddy received a call from Mr. Harvey, the lawyer.

"Come here behind the booth where we can talk without being overheard," he said, peremptorily, and the boy obeyed at once, asking before the attorney had time to speak:

"Do you know if Uncle Nathan is goin' to do anything?"

"He is certainly trying very hard, and in case he should succeed in getting a warrant, you will demand of the officer who serves it to be taken directly to Deacon Jones. Mr. Reaves and I have just had a talk with him, and in our absence he will render such assistance as you may require."

"That sounds as if you believed Uncle Nathan would be able to do as he threatened."

"It is well to be prepared for any emergency, since no man can say exactly what may happen. During the night two constables will go to the barn on the marshes where you saw the burglars carry some of the goods, although I do not think any good is liable to result from the visit, for the men have probably been frightened away by this time. Enough may be found, however, to prove the truth of your story, and that will be sufficient to give the thick-headed authorities an inkling that their judgment as to who the burglars are is not infallible."

"Have you seen Mr. Hazelton yet?"

"No; but I shall call on him before going home. The best thing which could happen now for all concerned would be the arrest of the man you call Long Jim, and to that end both you and Dan must keep a sharp lookout, for it is barely possible he may be bold enough to come on the grounds again."

"But what could we do in case we did see him?"

"Follow him quietly until you meet a constable, and then insist that he be arrested for swindling you out of fifteen dollars. There is not sufficient proof to connect him with the robbery here or at the Run; but I will take care that he is held long enough as a common swindler to enable us to sift the other matter. Let me see, you said Dan was with you at the time of the transaction in Waterville?"

"No; it was poor Sam, and now that he is dead I'm the only one who saw Long Jim there. Do you know if they have found Sam's body?"

"I think not; men have been dragging the creek all day, and the probabilities now are that some time will elapse before it can be recovered. I want you to be very careful during the remainder of to-day and to-night. Go to the tent where you sleep before dark, and do not venture outside under any provocation, no matter what message may be brought."

"What do you mean?" Teddy asked, in surprise.

"Nothing particular; I am only taking precautions, that is all. I shall be here to-morrow, and will see you then."

The lawyer turned to go, and had just passed out from behind the end of the booth when Teddy seized his arm, pulling him back very suddenly. "There's Long Jim now!" he whispered, excitedly. "See! That man over there by the striking machine!"

It was indeed the burglar whose partner had warned him against visiting the fair, or even showing himself in the vicinity during the daytime. It could be plainly seen that he was decidedly under the influence of liquor, and he swaggered to and fro as if in his drunken brain was the idea that no one would dare cause him trouble.

"Are you certain there is no mistake?" the lawyer asked, as he watched the man.

"I'd be able to recognize him anywhere, no matter how he was dressed, an' so would Dan, for Sam an' me pointed him out two or three times."

"Then the hardest portion of our work is finished. I shall have him arrested on the charge of swindling you, and can arrange it without the formality of first getting a warrant. It is now more necessary than ever that you should remain where I can find you readily at any hour of the day or night."

"Except when I go for supper, I'll be here or in the tent," Teddy replied, and then there was no further opportunity for conversation.

Long Jim had started leisurely, and on anything rather than a straight course, toward the grand stand, and Mr. Harvey followed so near that he could have placed his hand on the burglar's shoulder.

Teddy watched until the two were lost to view amid the throng, and then said to himself, with a sigh:

"I'll bet the lawyer can't find a constable, an' that Long Jim gets clear somehow. But what I don't understand is how he dares to come here."

He would have run down to tell Dan of the startling news had it not been for Mr. Harvey's injunction to remain in the places designated, and he was so nervous that only with the greatest difficulty could he wait upon an impatient customer.

An hour passed, and nothing had been heard from either the lawyer or the burglar.

The visitors remained later on this day than usual; but the tardy ones were departing, and it was with a decided sense of relief that Teddy began to pack up his stock for the night. Dan arrived before the work was finished, and his excitement was great when he learned of what had happened.

"Can't we go somewhere to find out if the man was arrested?" he asked, eagerly.

"I promised to be on hand in case the lawyer should want me."

"Then we'll get the stuff to the tent, go to supper, an' afterward I'll snoop 'round to hear the news."

All hands worked rapidly, and in ten minutes the three boys were at the boarding-house, eating as if each moment were of the utmost importance, when they overheard a conversation between two men at the next table which caused them no slight degree of relief and pleasure:

"Who was that drunken fellow Constable Ford lugged off this evening?" one of the men asked, and the other replied:

"A man who swindled a boy over at Waterville out of fifteen dollars."

"I didn't see any boy in the crowd."

"He wasn't there. Lawyer Harvey recognized the fellow, and insisted on his arrest, sayin' that the 'Squire already knew about the case."

"I thought at first it might be some one who had been robbing the stores around here."

"Oh, the burglar has been caught already, an' laid in jail since yesterday."

"But he was only arrested on suspicion."

"There'll be proof enough to convict him, I reckon, an' if there isn't he ought to be sent to jail for six months because of what he has done on the grounds."

Then the conversation was changed to a subject in which the boys had no interest, and Dan whispered to Teddy:

"That settles Long Jim, an' now if your lawyer is as smart as he appears to be it won't take long to show that Hazelton didn't have anything to do with the burglar tryin' to get me in jail," Teddy replied, with a sigh.

"Of course it will. Things are turning out all right after all, an' if poor Sam hadn't been drowned we'd have a reg'lar celebration to-night."

CHAPTER XXIV.

A THIRD ARREST

When the boys returned to the museum tent from supper they had a long and interesting story to tell Mr. Sweet; but to their surprise, after the recital was concluded, he said calmly:

"I knew all of that except about the burglar's arrest."

"Why, how did you hear it?" Dan asked.

"The lawyer an' the merchant have been over here twice since noon, pumpin' me about Hazelton, an' tryin' to find out how you boys have behaved yourselves."

"Why did they want to know anything about us?" Teddy asked, in surprise.

"So's to make sure your stories were straight. When men like them take hold of a thing they don't want to run any chances of bein' fooled. What has been done about Sam?"

Dan could best answer this question, and he replied: