A Young Inventor's Pluck: or, The Mystery of the Willington Legacy. Stratemeyer Edward

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СКАЧАТЬ and a little later the order came to take up the hose and go home.

      Jack worked with a will. He had done his duty, and now he was anxious to return, tell Deb all about it, and get to bed again.

      While helping to wind the hose upon its carriage, he was suddenly approached by Mr. Gray, accompanied by a stranger.

      "There he is!" were Mr. Gray's first words, addressed to the stranger.

      The man laid his hand upon Jack's shoulder.

      "I want you," he said, quietly.

      "What for?" asked Jack.

      "I arrest you for setting fire to Mr. Gray's house," was the startling reply.

      "Arrest me!" exclaimed the young machinist. "What do you mean? I never set fire to any one's house."

      "Oh, yes, you did," put in the manufacturer. "Only you didn't expect to be caught."

      "It's false, I-"

      "It's true. You shall suffer heavily for this night's work," went on Mr. Gray, bitterly. "We'll see if the law allows tenants who won't pay their rents to set their landlords' houses on fire! Watch him Parker, don't let him escape you!"

      "Mr. Gray, I never-" began Jack.

      "Come along," broke in the officer, roughly. "You can do your talking in the morning."

      And without further words Jack was marched off to the Corney jail.

      CHAPTER IV

      BAD NEWS FOR DEB

      After her brother Jack had gone, Deb stood by the window a long time, watching the progress of the fire. She beheld the flames shoot up, heard the shrill whistle of the engines, and the shouts of the firemen, and finally saw the light subside.

      She opened the window, and from the conversation of the passers-by she learned that it was Mr. Felix Gray's mansion that had been burned.

      The little bronze clock upon the kitchen shelf struck four.

      "Jack will be returning soon," she thought, "and he'll be awfully tired, too."

      An hour passed. She had put on a loose wrapper and sat in the rocker, moving gently forward and backward. Presently the curly head began to nod, and after one or two feeble attempts to rouse up, Deb sank calmly into the land of dreams.

      When she awoke, she found it was broad daylight, and the tread of many feet upon the pavement outside told that work had already begun.

      "Eight o'clock!" exclaimed the girl. "What can keep Jack so long?"

      Then the thought struck her that her brother had returned and retired without waking her, but a glance revealed the empty bed.

      Deb's face blanched a trifle as the idea crossed her mind that maybe something had happened, after all. Fires were such dreadful things, with falling chimneys and half-burned staircases, and Jack was so daring, and so ready to risk his life for the benefit of others.

      "I'll go down to Mrs. Snitzer's and find out about it," was her conclusion, and locking the door she descended the stairs.

      Mrs. Snitzer was a German woman, who, with her husband and three stalwart sons, occupied the floor below. She was a stout, kindly-faced woman of about fifty, had been Deb's neighbor for a year, and took a genuine interest in the girl and her brother.

      "Your brudder no got home yet from der fire?" she said, after Deb had stated the object of her morning call; "I thought der fire vas out long ago. Mine boys come home, and vent to ped again, aput five o'clock. Da don't work now, so da say: 'Mudder, ve take a goot sleep for vonce in our lifes;'" she added, with a broad smile.

      "Jack's out of work, too," said Deb, soberly.

      "Yah? Vat a shame! Nefer mind, it don't last forefer. Come, have some coffee mit me. My man ist gone out for the baber. He come back soon."

      The good woman set out one of her low chairs, and knowing that Mrs. Snitzer's invitations were genuine, the girl sat down, and allowed herself to be helped to a bowl of the steaming beverage, accompanied by several slices of sugared zweibach.

      Just as the two were finishing Mr. Snitzer came in, paper in hand.

      His face grew troubled upon seeing Deb.

      "I vas sorry for you," he said, approaching her.

      "Sorry for me?" repeated the girl, with a puzzled look. "Why, Mr. Snitzer?"

      "Gracious! Didn't you hear?" returned the man, dropping his paper in astonishment.

      "Hear what?" faltered Deb.

      Mr. Snitzer spoke in German to his wife, who jumped to her feet.

      "Nein! nein!" exclaimed the woman, vehemently. "He nefer done dot-nefer in his whole life!"

      And then as gently as possible Mrs. Snitzer related how Jack had been accused by Mr. Felix Gray of setting fire to the mansion, and was now languishing in the town jail.

      Deb's outburst was dreadful to behold. She threw herself upon the old German woman's breast and sobbed as if her heart would break. Her Jack-her own dear brother, in prison! The only one she had in the wide world taken away from her, and sent to a criminal's cell! It was too horrible to realize.

      "How cruel of them to do it!" she moaned. "And he is innocent, too. He was home when the fire broke out;" and she shook her head in despair.

      "Of course he didn't do it," said Mr. Snitzer. "All der men say so. Jack vas as steady as anypody. I dink it vas some of der hot-headed men vas guilty."

      "So don't cry, my dear girl," added Mrs. Snitzer, sympathetically. "It vill come out all right by der end;" and she took one corner of her clean gingham apron and wiped the tear-stained cheeks.

      "Where is the-the jail?" asked Deb presently, in a low voice.

      Mr. Snitzer described its location.

      "You don't vas going there!" exclaimed the German woman.

      "Yes, I am," declared the girl, resolutely, with a sudden, strong look in her beautiful eyes.

      "But it vas a terrible bad blace," Mrs. Snitzer ventured to remark.

      "I don't care," replied Deb. "I won't mind going where Jack is. I must see if I can't do something for him."

      Deb ran up stairs. Her heart was full of fear, and beat wildly.

      She exchanged her wrapper for a suitable dress, and arranged her hair. As she was adjusting her hat, there was a knock on the door, and thinking Mrs. Snitzer had come up, she bid the person enter.

      "Ah, just in time, I see!" was the exclamation, made in Mr. Hammerby's voice.

      Deb's face clouded even more than before.

      "Oh, dear, you here?" she ejaculated in vexed tones.

      "Yes; on hand, as I always am," replied the agent, removing his hat. "I suppose you are ready with the rent?"

      "No, I haven't the money," replied СКАЧАТЬ