"He's been worrying," she said to Mary, "principally about town news. He's afraid the Inquirer 'll get ahead of you. It might be good to see him."
"I'll see him," said Mary.
"Mary! Mary!" came faintly in reply to her kindly5 greeting. "Local items, Mary. Society Notes—the flood—logs—bridges—dams—fires. Brief Mention. Town Improvement Society—the Sociable7—anything!"
"Jack will be out after news as soon as he eats his supper," said Mary. "He'll find all there is to find. The printers did a splendid day's work."
"The doctor says not to tell me about anything," said the sick man, despondently8. "You'll fill the paper somehow. Do the best you can, till I get well."
She did not linger, for Mrs. Murdoch was already pulling her sleeve. The three were soon seated at the table, and hardly was a cup of tea poured before Mrs. Murdoch remarked:
"Mary," she said, "Miss Glidden called here to-day, with Mrs. Judge Edwards, in her carriage. They were sorry to find you out. So did Mrs. Mason, and so did Mrs. Lansing, and Mrs. Potter. They wanted you to go riding, and there's a lawn-tennis party coming. I told them all that Mr. Murdoch was sick, and you were editing the Eagle, and Jack was, too. Miss Glidden's very fond of you, you know. So is Mrs. Potter. Her husband wishes he knew what to send Jack for saving his wife from being drowned."
This was delivered steadily9 but not rapidly, and Mary needed only to say she would have been glad to see them all.
"I didn't save anybody," said Jack. "If the logs had hit the bridge while we were on it, nothing could have saved us."
Mary was particularly glad that none of her new friends were coming in to spend the evening, for she felt she had done enough for one day. Mrs. Murdoch, however, told her of a "union Church Sociable," to be held at the house of Mrs. Edwards, the next Thursday evening, and said she had promised to bring Miss Ogden. Of course Mary said she would go, but Jack declined.
After supper, Jack was eager to set out upon his hunt after news-items.
"I mustn't let a soul know what I'm doing," he said to Mary. "We'll see whether I can't find out as much as the Inquirer's man can."
He hurried away from the house, but soon ceased to walk fast and began to peer sharply about.
"There's a new building going up," he said, as he turned a corner; "I'll find out about it."
So he did, but it was only "by the way"; he really had a plan, and the next step took him to Mr. Prodger's livery-stable.
"Well, Ogden," said Prodger, when he came in. "That bay team has earned eight dollars and fifty cents to-day. I'm glad you brought them over. How long are you going to be in town?"
"I can't tell," said Jack. "I'm staying at Murdoch's."
"The editor's? He's a good fellow, but the Eagle is slow. All dry fodder10. No vinegar. No pickles11. He needs waking up. Tell him about Link's bridge!"
That was a good beginning, and Jack soon knew just how high the water had risen in the creek12 at Mertonville; how high it had ever risen before; how many logs had been saved; how near Sam Hutchins and three other men came to being carried over the dam; and what people talked about doing to prevent another flood, and other matters of interest. Then he went among the stable-men, who had been driving all day, and they gave him a number of items. Jack relied mainly upon his memory, but he soon gathered such a budget of facts that he had to go to the public reading-room and work a while with pencil and paper, for fear of forgetting his treasures.
Out he went again, and it was curious how he managed to slip in among knots of idlers, and set them to talking, and make them tell all they knew.
"I'm getting the news," he said to himself; "only there isn't much worth the time." After a few moments he exclaimed, "This is the darkest, meanest part of all Mertonville!"
It was the oldest part of the village, near the canal and the railway station, and many of the houses were dilapidated. Jack was thinking that Mary might write something about improving such a neglected, squalid quarter, when he heard a shriek13 from the door of a house near by.
"Robbers!—thieves!—fire!—murder!—rob-bers!—villains!"
It was the voice of a woman, and had a crack in it that made it sound as if two voices were trying to choke each other.
"Robbers!" shouted Jack springing forward, just as two very short men dashed through the gate and disappeared in the darkness.
If they were robbers they were likely to get away, for they ran well.
Jack Ogden did not run very far. He heard other footsteps. There were people coming from the opposite direction, but he paid no attention to them, until just as he was passing the gate.
Then he felt a hand on his left shoulder, and another hand on his right shoulder, and suddenly he found himself lying flat on his back upon the sidewalk.
"Hold him, boys!"
"We've got him!"
"Hold him down!"
"Tie him! We needn't gag him. Tie him tight! We've got him!"
There were no less than four men, and two held his legs, while the other two pinioned15 his arms, all the while threatening him with terrible things if he resisted.
It was in vain to struggle, and every time he tried to speak they silenced him. Besides, he was too much astonished to talk easily, and all the while an unceasing torrent16 of abuse was poured upon him, over the gate, by the voice that had given the alarm.
"We've got him, Mrs. McNamara! He can't get away this time. The young villain14!"
"They were goin' to brek into me house, indade," said Mrs. McNamara. "The murdherin' vagabones!"
"What'll we do with him now, boys?" asked one of his captors. "I don't know where to take him—do you, Deacon Abrams?"
"What's your name, you young thief?" sternly demanded another.
Jack had begun to think. One of his first thoughts was that a gang of desperate robbers had seized him. The next idea was, that he never met four more stupid-looking men in Mertonville, nor anywhere else. He resolved that he would not tell his name, to have it printed in the Inquirer, and so made no answer.
"That's the way of thim," said Mrs. McNamara. "He's game, and he won't pache. The joodge'll have to mak him spake. Ye'd betther lock him up, and kape him till day."
"That's it, Deacon Abrams."
"That's just it," said the man spoken to. "We can lock him up in the back room of my house, while we go and find the constable18."
Away they went, guarding their prisoner on the way as if they were afraid of him.
They soon came to the dwelling19 of Deacon Abrams.
It was hard for Jack Ogden, but he bore it like a young Mohawk Indian. It would have been harder if it had not been so late, and if more of the household had been there to see him. As it was, doors opened, candles flared20, old voices and young voices asked questions, a baby cried, and then Jack heard a very sharp voice.
"Sakes alive, Deacon! You can't have that ruffian here! We shall all be murdered!"
"Only till I go and find the constable, Jerusha," said the deacon, pleadingly. "We'll lock him in the back room, and Barney and Pettigrew'll stand guard at the gate, with clubs, while Smith and I are gone."
There was another protest, and two more children began to cry, but Jack was led on into his prison-cell.
It was a comfortable room, containing a bed and a chair. There was real ingenuity21 in the way they secured Jack Ogden. They backed a chair against a bedpost and made him sit down, and then they tied the chair, and the wicked young robber in it, to the post.
"There!" said Deacon Abrams. "He can't get away now!" and in a moment more Jack heard the key turn in the lock, and he was left in the dark, alone and bound,—a prisoner under a charge of burglary.
"I never thought of this thing happening to me," he said to himself, gritting22 his teeth and squirming on his chair. "It's pretty hard. May be I can get away, though. They thought they pulled the ropes tight, but then—"
The hempen23 fetters24 really hurt him a little, but it was partly because of the chair.
"May be I can kick it out from under me," he said to himself, "and loosen the ropes."
Out it came, after a tug25, and then Jack could stand up.
"I might climb on the bed, now the ropes are loose," he said, "and lift the loops over the post. Then I could crawl out of 'em."
He was excited, and worked quickly. In a moment he was standing26 in the middle of the room, with only his hands tied behind him.
"I can cut that cord," he thought, "if I can find a nail in the wall."
He easily found several, and one of them had a rough edge on the head of it, and after a few minutes of hard sawing, the cord was severed27.
"It's easy to saw twine," said he. "Now for the next thing."
He went to the window and looked out into the darkness.
"I'm over the roof of the kitchen," he said, "and that tree's close to it."
Up went the window—slowly, carefully, noiselessly—and out crept Jack upon that roof. It was steep, but he stole along the ridge6. Now he could reach the tree.
"It's an apple-tree," he said. "I can reach that longest branch, and swing off, and go down it hand over hand."
At an ordinary time, few boys would have thought it could be done, and Jack had to gather all his courage to make the attempt; but he slid down and reached for that small, frail28 limb, from his perilous29 perch30 in the gutter31 of the roof.
"Now!" said Jack to himself.
Off he went with a quick grasp, and then another lower along the branch, before it had time to break, but his third grip was on a larger limb, below, and he believed he was safe.
"I must be quick!" he said. "Somebody is striking a light in that room!"
Hand over hand for a moment, and then he was astride of a limb. Soon he was going down the trunk; and then the window (which he had closed behind him) went up, and he heard Deacon Abrams exclaiming:
"He couldn't have got out this way, could he? Stop thief! Stop thief!"
"Let 'em chase!" muttered Jack, as his feet reached the ground. "This is the liveliest kind of news-item!"
Jack vaulted32 over the nearest fence, ran across a garden, climbed over another fence, ran through a lot, and came out into a street on the other side of the square.
"I've got a good start, now," he thought, "but I'll keep right on. They don't expect me at Murdoch's to-night. If I can only get to the Eagle office! Nobody'll hunt for me there!"
He heard the sound of feet, at that moment, around the next corner. Open went the nearest gate, and in went Jack, and before long he was scaling more fences.
"It's just like playing 'Hare-and-Hounds,'" remarked Jack, as he once more came out into a street. "Now for the Eagle, and it won't do to run. I'm safe."
He heard some running and shouting after that, however, and he did not really feel secure until he was on his bed, with the doors below locked and barred.
"Now they can hunt all night!" he said to himself, laughing. "I've made plenty of news for Mary."
So she thought next morning; and the last "news-item" brought out the color in her cheeks and the brightness in her eyes.
"I'll write it out," she said, "just as if you were the real robber, and we'll print it!"
"Of course," said Jack; "but I'd better keep shady for a day or so. I wish I was on my way to New York!"
"Seems to me as if you were," said Mary. "They won't come here after you. The paper's nearly full, now, and it'll be out to-morrow!"
Mr. Murdoch would have been gratified to see how Mary and Jack worked that day. Even Mr. Black and the type-setters worked with energy, and so did Mr. Bones, and there was no longer any doubt that the Eagle would be printed on time. Mr. Murdoch felt better the moment he was told by Mary, at tea-time, that she had found editing no trouble at all. He was glad, he said, that all had been so quiet, and that nobody had called at the editor's office, and that people did not know he was sick. As to that, however, Mr. Bones had not told Mary how much he and Mr. Black had done to protect her from intrusion. They had been like a pair of watch-dogs, and it was hardly possible for any outsider to pass them. As for Jack, he was not seen outside of the Eagle all that day.
"If any of Deacon Abram's posse should come in," he remarked to Mary, "they wouldn't know me with all the ink that's on my face."
"Mother would have to look twice," laughed Mary. "Don't I wish I knew what people will think of the paper!"
She did not find out at once, even on Thursday. Jack had the engine going on time, and as fast as papers were printed, the distribution of them followed. It was a very creditable Eagle, but Mary blushed when she read in print the account Mr. Murdoch had written of the doings in Crofield.
"They'll think Jack's a hero," she said, "and what will they think of me?—and what will Miss Glidden say? But then he has complimented her."
Jack, too, was much pleased to read the vivid accounts she had written of the capture and escape of the daring young burglar who had broken into the house of Mrs. McNamara, and of the falling of Link's bridge. Neither of them, however, had an idea of how some articles in the paper would affect other people. Before noon, there was such a rush for Eagles, at the front office, that Mr. Black got out another ream of paper to print a second edition, and Mr. Bones had almost to fight to keep the excited crowd from going up-stairs to see for themselves whether the editor was there. Before night, poor Mrs. Murdoch went to the door thirty times to say to eager inquirers that Mr. Murdoch was in bed, and that Dr. Follet had forbidden him to see anybody, or to talk one word, or to get himself excited.
"What's the matter with the people?" she said wearily. "Can it be possible that anything's the matter with the Eagle? Mary Ogden said she'd taken the very best editorials from the city papers."
The Inquirer was nowhere that Thursday, and the excitement over the Eagle increased all the afternoon.
Just out.
Just out.
"It's all right, Mrs. Murdoch," said Jack, at supper. "Bones says he has sold more than two hundred extra copies."
"I'm glad of that," she said, "and I'll tell Mr. Murdoch; but he mustn't read it."
When she did so, he smiled faintly and with an effort feebly responded:
"Thank Mary for me. I suppose they wanted to read about the flood."
Mr. Bones had not seen fit to report to Mary that a baker's dozen of old subscribers had ordered their paper stopped; nor that one angry man with a big club in his hand had inquired for the editor; nor that Deacon Abrams, and the Town Constable, and three other men, and a lawyer had called to see the editor about the robbery at Mrs. McNamara's; nor that the same worthy33 woman, with her arms akimbo and her bonnet34 falling back, had fiercely demanded of him:
"Fwhat for did yez print all that about me howlin'? Wudn't ony woman spake, was she bein' robbed and murdhered?"
Bones had pacified35 Mrs. McNamara only by sitting still and hearing her out, and he would not for anything have mentioned it to Miss Ogden. She therefore had only good news to tell at the house, and Mrs. Murdoch's replies related chiefly to the union Church Sociable at Judge Edwards's.
"Mr. Murdoch is quiet," she said, "and he may sleep all the time we're gone."
"I'll be on hand to look out for him," said Jack, "I'm not going anywhere."
That reassured36 them as to leaving home, and Mrs. Murdoch and Mary departed without anxiety; but they had hardly entered the Edwards's house before they found that many other people were very much less placid2.
The first person to come forward, after Mrs. Edwards had welcomed them, was Miss Glidden.
"Oh, Mary Ogden!" she exclaimed, very sweetly and benevolently37. "My dear! Why did you say so much about me in the Eagle?"
"That was Mr. Murdoch's work," said Mary. "I had nothing to do with it."
"And that robbery and escape was really shocking."
"Exactly!" They heard a sharp, decided38 voice near them, and it came from a thin little man in a white cravat39. "You are right, Elder Holloway! When a leading journal like the Eagle finds it needful to denounce so sternly the state of the public streets in Mertonville, it is time for the people to act. We ministers must hold a council right away."
Mary remembered a political editorial she had taken from a New York paper, and had cut down to fit the Eagle; but its effect was something unexpected.
A deeper voice on her left spoke17 next.
"There was serious talk among the hotel-men and innkeepers of mobbing the Eagle office to-day!"
"That," thought Mary, "must be the high-license editorial from that Philadelphia weekly."
"We must act, Judge Edwards!" exclaimed another voice. "Nobody knows Murdoch's politics, but his denunciation of the prevailing40 corruption41 is terrible. There's a storm rising. The Republican Committee has called a special meeting to consider the matter, and we Democrats42 must do the same. The Eagle is right about it, too; but it was a daring step for him to take."
"That's the editorial from the Chicago daily," thought Mary; "the last part was from that Boston paper! Oh, dear me! What have I done?"
She had to ask herself that question a dozen times that evening, and she wished Jack had been there to hear what was said.
The sociable went gayly on, nevertheless, and all the while Jack sat in Mrs. Murdoch's dining-room, his face fairly glowing red with the interest he took in something spread out upon the table before him. It was a large map of New York city that he had found in the Eagle office and brought to the house.
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1
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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7
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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despondently
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| adv.沮丧地，意志消沉地 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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fodder
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| n.草料；炮灰 | |
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11
pickles
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| n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 )；处于困境；遇到麻烦；菜酱 | |
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12
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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14
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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17
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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19
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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21
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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gritting
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| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的现在分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
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hempen
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| adj. 大麻制的, 大麻的 | |
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24
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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33
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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35
pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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38
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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39
cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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40
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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41
corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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42
democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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