so it must be the doctor she sent after.”
This proved to be the case, for the young man spoke to them on entering, and seemed very agreeable.
“What’s happened here?” he asked, as though his hasty summons, and the sight of that excited crowd outside, had aroused his curiosity greatly.
Jack thought the doctor should be told what necessity there was for his services; as such knowledge would prepare him for what must follow. Accordingly he very briefly explained, making light of what connection he and Perk had with the matter.
Thus forewarned the doctor smiled his thanks, and hastened to pass into the room where the old lady and the child were located. Some little time afterwards the doctor came out again. Perk could see from the look on his face it was not so very serious, nor was he mistaken in his diagnosis.
“A simple sprain, just as you suspected,” the physician assured them; “and he’ll be running around again inside of five days.”
He shook hands with them very earnestly, which fact caused Perk to remark, after the doctor had passed out of the door:
“Huh! it’s mighty plain to be seen, Jack, he’s smart enough to smell a rat – the grip he gimme said as he kinder guessed we had a finger in the pie. Look for yeourself, partner – he’s talkin’ to some o’ the folks out there, an’ I jest bet yeou they’re a makin’ out we done somethin’ grand. Rats! why caint a gink do a simple thing like we done without people wantin’ to gush over him? Makes me fair sick to see so much o’ the stuff wasted. Do we get a move on right away, mate?”
“Better wait up a bit until he starts back to his office,” suggested Jack, also peeping out of the window.
“Yeou said it, Jack – if we stepped eout right neow it’d look like we wanted ’em to give us a cheer – as for me I’d be glad if we could slip away by the back door, an’ give ’em the laugh. There, he’s gettin’ into his car, an’ the coast’s clear.”
Jack stepped into the other room to say goodbye to the old lady – for she did seem to be of a higher class than one would think from the humble cottage she called home – truth to tell Jack wished to have another look at that bright-faced little lad, whom he was apt to remember for a long time.
The boy had come-to, and shook hands at Jack’s request, also gave him a sweet smile.
“If he owes either of us any thanks,” Jack told Granny, as he turned to leave, “it should go to my chum; who chanced to have a gun in his pocket, having had it cleaned and repaired at a shop here – he threw himself between the ugly dog and the child, and shot the mad brute dead. The lad wasn’t touched, I assure you, madam.”
“Thank him for me a thousand times, please, young man – it was a brave act, and his mother surely has cause to be grateful for having such a son. Come and see us sometime later on; both of us will be very glad to have you drop in.”
Jack hurried out, with a strange thought racing through his brain; he could not help wondering what that fine elderly woman would think if only she knew how the two young men thus befriending her grandson (who must have been so precious to her heart) had been the chief instrument in shape of the outraged Law to run down and send her son-in-law Slim Garrabarnt, up to the penitentiary for a long term of years, as a much wanted criminal.
It was hardly a pleasant thought, but nothing to be ashamed of, since he merely represented the Government in all he had done, and could not be blamed any more than the judge who dealt out the grim sentence.
Perk was eager to be gone, and led the way outside. They pushed a passage through the still jabbering crowd, and walked off, followed by admiring looks from those gathered there.
On the way back to the city Perk seemed to be wrapped in his own thoughts much of the time, which was such an unusual occurrence that Jack marveled to take note of his silence.
“Still o’ the opinion the kid might be his’n?” Perk asked his companion, as they finally drew near the location of the building in which they had a furnished room.
“Feel pretty sure of it,” he was told, without the slightest hesitation. “I explained to the old lady that it was you who kept the dog from contact with the child, and she asked me to thank you with all her heart.”
“Shucks! why did yeou ever mention sech a thing, Pal Jack? ’Twan’t nawthin’ ’tall – jest a soft snap for a chap what was yearnin’ for action. But it gives me a queer thrill to know heow we run up agin his folks – ’bout a hundred-an’-thirty million people in this here country, an’ to think we’d pick ’em aout o’ all that mob – it sure has got me buffaloed for keeps.”
As Jack opened the locked door of their room he stooped to pick up some object that had been thrust underneath. Perk saw it was a letter, with a special delivery stamp on the same. Somehow its coming gave him a sudden thrill around the region of his heart, as though he could sense important news in the offing – apparently this was destined to be a red-letter day in their experiences, with a decided break in the long release from active duty.
CHAPTER IV
By Special Delivery
Somewhat to the disappointment of Perk his comrade did not evince any haste about opening his letter, thrusting the same into his pocket, while he washed his hands, and brushed his hair.
“Somehow I seem to be as hungry as a wolf,” Jack remarked; “and as it’s long past our usual time for lunch I move we drop around to our beanery, and lay in some stores in the way of chow.”
Of course such a proposition appealed strongly to Perk, who was seldom able to resist a call to meals. For the moment he quite forgot his recent curiosity to know what was in the letter, the receipt of which had caused Jack to smile; and which moreover had certain familiar marks about it to make Perk feel certain it came from Headquarters.
“Queer heow a feller c’n nigh ’bout forget certain stirrin’ events in his past,” he observed with a shake of his head; “an’ suddenly have the same bob up in his mind, as clear as if they might a happened on’y yesterday.”
“I reckon you’re referring to our old friend, Cool Slim Garrabrant, eh, Perk?” queried the other, indifferently.
“None other,” came the reply. “There was a man as might be called the king o’ the counterfeiters, who’d had his thumb to his nose ever so long, alaughin’ at Uncle Sam’s slick boys, an’ sendin’ ’em all sorts o’ tauntin’ notes; so in the end the Chief he come down off’n his high perch, an’ gave us a chanct to knock down the persimmons with a long pole; which we done as neat as any body’d choose.”
“Bad taste to boast, Perk, you want to remember.”
“Can’t help sayin’ a few things, Jack, an’ pattin’ us two flyin’ cops on the chest. Honest, I got an idea Slim’s sun had begun to set jest as soon as the job o’ runnin’ him in was placed in aour hands. Nobody but them as knew haow to handle an airship could a fetched home the bacon in that case; ’cause Slim he knowed how to get his long-green stuff clear withaout leavin’ any trace, usin’ that ole crate to carry the coney supplies east an’ west o’ his hidin’ place, where he carried on the work along a big scale.”
“Of course what you say is all true enough,” ventured Jack as they walked along, heading for the nearest eatingplace, which they sometimes patronized when close by; “but both of us would do well to try
