Chapter 8 Mr. Bascom's Sad Plight

 Joshua turned in alarm, fearing that he was in the hands of a policeman.

 

"What have I done?" he began. Then recognizing Morris, he said, "Why, it's the man who stole my wallet."

 

"You must be crazy," rejoined Morris. "I charge you with theft."

 

"Well, that beats all!" ejaculated Joshua. "Just give me back my ten dollars."

 

"I admire your cheek, my friend," said Morris, "but it won't go down. Where is that ring you stole from my finger?"

 

"You left it in my pocket when you put in your hand and stole my wallet."

 

"Ha, you confess that you have got it. Where is it?"

 

"Give me back my wallet and I may tell you."

 

"My rural friend, you are in great danger. Do you see that policeman coming up the street? Well, I propose to give you in charge unless you give me back my ring."

 

"I haven't got it," said Joshua, beginning to feel uneasy.

 

"Then give me fifty dollars, the sum I paid for it."

 

"Gosh all hemlock¹!" exclaimed Joshua impatiently. "You talk as if I was a thief instead of you."

 

"So you are."

 

"It's a lie."

 

"Of course you say so. If you haven't fifty dollars, give me all you have, and I'll let you off."

 

"I won't do it."

 

"Then you must take the consequences. Here, policeman, I give this man in charge for stealing a valuable ring from me."

 

"When did he do it--just now?"

 

"Yes," answered Morris, with unexpected audacity². "He looks like a countryman but he is a crook³ in disguise."

 

"Come along, my man!" said the policeman, taking Joshua in tow. "You must come with me."

 

"I hain't done nothing," said Joshua. "Please let me go, Mr. Policeman."

 

"That's what they all say," remarked Morris, shrugging his shoulders.

 

"I see, he's an old offender," said the intelligent policeman, who had only been on the force three months.

 

"He's one of the most artful crooks⁴ I ever met," said Morris. "You'd swear he was a countryman."

 

"So I be," insisted Joshua. "I came from Barton, up Elmira way, and I've never been in the city before."

 

"Hear him!" said Morris, laughing heartily⁵. "Ask him his name."

 

"My name's Joshua Bascom, and I go to the Baptist church reg'lar--just write and ask Parson Peabody, and he'll tell you I'm perfectly⁶ respectable."

 

"My friend," said Morris, "you can't fool an experienced officer by any such rigmarole. He can read you like a book."

 

"Of course I can," said the policeman, who felt the more flattered by this tribute because he was really a novice⁷. "As this gentleman says, I knew you to be a crook the moment I set eyes on you."

 

They turned the corner of Thirtieth Street on their way to the station house. Poor Joshua felt keenly the humiliation⁸ and disgrace of his position. It would be in all the papers, he had no doubt, for all such items got into the home papers, and he would not dare show his face in Barton again.

 

"Am I going to jail?" he asked with keen anguish⁹.

 

"You'll land there shortly," said Morris.

 

"But I hain't done a thing."

 

"Is it necessary for me to go in?" asked Ferdinand Morris, with considerable uneasiness, for he feared to be recognized by some older member of the force.

 

"Certainly." replied the policeman, "you must enter a complaint against this man."

 

Morris peered into the station house, but saw no officer likely to remember him, so he summoned up all his audacity and followed the policeman and his prisoner inside. There happened to be no other case ahead, so Joshua was brought forward.

 

"What has this man done?" asked the sergeant¹⁰.

 

"Stolen a ring from this gentleman here," answered the policeman.

 

"Was the ring found on his person?"

 

"No, sergeant. He has not been searched."

 

"Search me if you want to. You won't find anything," said Joshua.

 

"He has probably thrown it away," said Ferdinand Morris, _sotto voce._

 

"No, I hain't."

 

"What is your name, sir?" asked the sergeant, addressing Morris.

 

"My name is Clarence Hale," answered Morris, boldly, taking the name of a young man of respectable family whom he had met casually¹¹.

 

"Where do you live?"

 

"On Fourth Avenue, sir, near Eleventh Street."

 

"Do you swear that this man stole your ring?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"Where?"

 

"In front of the Standard Theater."

 

"How could he do it?" continued the sergeant. "He could not take it from your hand?"

 

"It was in my pocket. I found him with his hand in my pocket," answered Morris, glibly¹².

 

"By gracious!" ejaculated Joshua, his eyes distended¹³ with amazement¹⁴, "I never heard a fellow lie so slick before, in all my life."

 

"Silence!" said the sergeant. "Mr. Hale, will you appear to-morrow morning at Jefferson Market, and testify against this man?"

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"Officer, have you ever arrested this man before?" went on the sergeant.

 

"I'm not quite sure, sir. You see he's in disguise now. I think he's _wan_ of the gang."

 

Things began to look bad for poor Joshua, who was in a fair way to be railroaded to the penitentiary¹⁵, as no doubt more than one innocent man has been before now, through an unfortunate complication.

 

"I wish I had some friend to speak up for me," he said, almost sobbing¹⁶. "This is awful!"

 

"So you have!" said an unexpected voice.

 

Joshua turned, and to his inexpressible relief saw Fred standing¹⁷ on the threshold.

 

"It's the train boy!" he exclaimed joyfully¹⁸.

 

Fred had set out to call upon Joshua that evening, and had chanced to see him going into the station house with the confidence man. He had followed to find out what it meant.

 

There was one who was not so well pleased to see him. Ferdinand Morris turned pale, and tried to make his escape.

 

"Excuse me," he said. "I am faint, and must get out into the air."

 

But Fred stood in his way.

 

"Not so fast, Mr. Ferdinand Morris," he said. "What trick are you up to now?"

 

"Do you know this man, Fred?" asked the sergeant, who had known the train boy for three years, for he lived only one block away on the same street.

 

"Yes, sir, he stole the wallet of this young man on my train on the Erie less than a week since."

 

"But he said the prisoner stole his ring."

 

"He left the ring in Mr. Bascom's pocket, when he was feeling for the wallet."

 

"This is a great mistake," said Morris, hurriedly. "I never saw this train boy before, and haven't traveled on the Erie road for a year."

 

"This man is telling a falsehood," said Fred.

 

"Will you swear that he was on your train and robbed this countryman?" asked the sergeant.

 

"Yes, sir."

 

"Is there any officer who recognizes him?" the sergeant inquired, looking round the room.

 

"I do," answered a stout¹⁹ policeman, who just then entered the station house. "I arrested him six months since, but he managed to slip away."

 

"The prisoner is discharged," said the sergeant. "Hold the complainant instead."

 

To his great joy Joshua was set free, and Mr. Morris, alias²⁰ Hale, was collared by a policeman, though he made a desperate struggle to escape.

 

"I'll get even with you, boy!" said Morris savagely²¹, addressing Fred.

 

"Come along, Mr. Bascom," said Fred. "I presume you don't care to stay here any longer."

 

"Not if I know it," said Joshua, fervently²². "If I live till to-morrow morning, I'll start back to Barton. I've seen all I want to of York. I won't feel safe till I get home, in sight of the old meetin' house. I wouldn't have dad know I'd been arrested for a load of pumpkins²³." 

1 hemlock   

n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉

参考例句：

• He was condemned to drink a cup of hemlock.判处他喝一杯毒汁。
• Here is a beech by the side of a hemlock,with three pines at hand.这儿有株山毛榉和一株铁杉长在一起，旁边还有三株松树。

2 audacity   

n.大胆，卤莽，无礼

参考例句：

• He had the audacity to ask for an increase in salary.他竟然厚着脸皮要求增加薪水。
• He had the audacity to pick pockets in broad daylight.他竟敢在光天化日之下掏包。

3 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

4 crooks   

n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The police are getting after the crooks in the city. 警察在城里追捕小偷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cops got the crooks. 警察捉到了那些罪犯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

6 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

7 novice   

adj.新手的，生手的

参考例句：

• As a novice writer,this is something I'm interested in.作为初涉写作的人，我对此很感兴趣。
• She realized that she was a novice.她知道自己初出茅庐。

8 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

9 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

10 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

11 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

12 glibly   

adv.流利地，流畅地；满口

参考例句：

• He glibly professed his ignorance of the affair. 他口口声声表白不知道这件事。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He put ashes on his head, apologized profusely, but then went glibly about his business. 他表示忏悔，满口道歉，但接着又故态复萌了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 distended   

v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
• The balloon was distended. 气球已膨胀。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

15 penitentiary   

n.感化院；监狱

参考例句：

• He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
• While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候，她的父亲死了，家庭就拆散了。

16 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

17 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

18 joyfully   

adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地

参考例句：

• She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着，脚底下轻飘飘的。
• During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里，她干得很高兴。

20 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。

21 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

22 fervently   

adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地

参考例句：

• "Oh, I am glad!'she said fervently. “哦，我真高兴！”她热烈地说道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• O my dear, my dear, will you bless me as fervently to-morrow?' 啊，我亲爱的，亲爱的，你明天也愿这样热烈地为我祝福么？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

23 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）