Part 8 (1/2)
”Well, he's a plucky lad, I must say,” declared the officer spokesman.
”That fellow is dangerous, he was just about to be committed to the asylum. He's a lunatic, and should never have been in jail--”
”Oh,” cried Dorothy. ”If he should turn on Ned--”
”Not the least danger as long as the lad humors him,” said the officer.
”We saw that,” said Nat, ”and my brother knows how to manage him, I guess.”
”And you are stalled now, can't get home until the machine comes back?”
asked one of the blue-coats, looking at Dorothy's pale face.
”I might walk, but the girls never could,” answered Nat.
”Then suppose you go with us?” suggested the officer. ”If the young ladies would not mind riding in a patrol.”
”Oh, not at all,” declared Tavia, but Dorothy looked askance at the wagon, in which so many criminals had ridden from their freedom.
”The best thing we can do,” said Nat, realizing how much better any kind of ride would be than the uncertainty of waiting there as night came on.
”Jump in then,” invited the officer. ”We must be moving. I don't know what the captain will think of our prisoner coming up in an automobile, and the wagon bringing in this party.”
Up the back step sprang Tavia, while Dorothy followed with less alacrity--it did not seem pleasant to get in the big ugly black wagon; a girl of Dorothy's nature feels the mere touch of things tainted by real crime.
”All right?” asked Nat, as he stepped in last.
”Yes,” answered Dorothy, timidly, taking her place on the leather seat.
”Isn't it too jolly!” burst out Tavia. ”I bet on the horse every time.
Of course the auto is delightful, but when night cometh on,--Get a horse! Get a horse!”
”The horse is a good old stand-by,” admitted Nat. ”But isn't this great, though! Riding into Dalton in the hurry-up wagon!” and he joined Tavia in the laugh over their new adventure.
”But we must watch for Ned,” spoke Dorothy, ”He might go back to that lonely place.”
”I've told the officer at front to look out for him,” remarked Nat.
”He has to come this way.”
”And to think,” whispered Dorothy, ”that the man was crazy, and the officer said he should never have been in jail!”
”Don't you worry about him,” Nat told her. ”That fellow has the faculty of making himself comfortable any place. Look at his nerve in the Fire-Bird.”
”We were lucky to have gotten away in time,” reflected Tavia. ”We would scarcely have known how to entertain a lunatic.”
”Oh, don't talk so!” Dorothy checked her. ”I am so nervous and so anxious about Ned.”
”Now, Dorothy,” declared Nat, ”Ned is certainly all right, and will be the first person to meet us when we alight from this chariot. Thunder, but this is fun!”
The officers outside were talking of the strange capture. A reward had been offered for the taking of the lunatic, for he had been at large for some days, and now the bluecoats had just missed the capture.