CHAPTER V
AT BAY
A queer-looking boy about eighteen years of age was proceeding slowly down the pavement. He was stockily built, and had an unusually massive head and great broad shoulders. He was a boy who would be remarked about almost anywhere. His hair was long, and this gave him a somewhat leonine aspect.
The hat of this boy was pushed far back on his head, and his eyes were fixed and his attention apparently deeply absorbed upon an object he held in his hand. This was a thin wooden rod with two cardboard wheels attached to it. These he would blow, causing them to revolve rapidly. Then he would study their gyrations critically, wait till they had run down, and then repeat the maneuver.
His side coat pockets were bulging, one with a lot of papers. From the other protruded what seemed to be a part of a toy, or some real mechanical device having also wheels in its construction.
"Well, there's a queer make-up!" observed Clark in profound surprise.
"He is certainly eccentric in his appearance," said Ralph. "I wonder who he can be."
"No, what he can be," corrected Clark, "for he's an odd genius of some kind, I'll wager."
The object of their interest and curiosity had heard the derisive hail from across the street. He halted dead short, stared around him like a person abruptly aroused from a dream, traced the call to its source, thrust the device with which h« had been experimenting into his pocket, and fixing his eyes on his mockers, started across the street The hoodlum crowd nudged one another, blinked, winked, and looked as if expecting developments of some fun. The object of their derision looked them over in a calculating fashion.
"Did any one here speak to me?" he asked.
"No, Wheels—it was the birdies calling you!" hooted a jocose voice.
"You sort of suggest something, somehow," drawled the lad in an abstracted, groping way. "Yes, certainly, let me see. What is it? Ah, perhaps I've made a memorandum of it."
The lad poked into several vest pockets. Finally he unearthed a card which seemed to be all written over, and he ran his eye down this. The crowd chuckled at the profound solemnity of his manner.
"H'm," observed the boy designated as "Wheels." "Let me see. 'Get shoes mended.' No, that isn't it. I have such a bad memory. 'Order some insulated wire.' No, that's for an uptown call. 'Buy Drummond on Superheated Steam.' That's for the bookstore. Ah, here we have it. 'Kick Jim Scroggins.' Who's Jim? Aha! you young villain, I remember you well enough now," and with an activity which could scarcely be anticipated from so easy-going an individual, Wheels made a dive for a big hulking fellow on the edge of the crowd. He chased him a few feet, and planted a kick that lifted the yelling hoodlum a foot from the ground. Then, calmly taking out a pencil, he crossed off the memorandum—"Kick Jim Scroggins"—gave the crowd a warning glance, and proceeded coolly down the sidewalk, resuming his occupation with the contrivance he had placed in his pocket.
The gang of loafers had drawn back. A sight of the massive arms and sledge hammer fists of the young giant they had derided, and his prompt measures with one of their cronies, dissuaded them from any warlike move.
"Whoop!" commented Clark in an exultant undertone, and he fairly leaned against his companion in a paroxysm of uncontrollable laughter. "Quick, nifty and entertaining, that! Say Engineer Fairbanks, I don't know who that fellow Wheels is, but I'd be interested and proud to make his acquaintance. Now steam up and air brake ready, while we pass the crossing!"
"Passing the crossing," as Clark designated it, proved, however, to be no difficult proceeding. The crowd of hoodlums had got a set-back from the boy with the piston-rod arm, it seemed. They scanned Ralph and Clark keenly as they passed by, but made no attempt to either hail or halt them.
"We've run the gauntlet this time," remarked Clark. "Hello—four times!"
The vigilant companion of the young engineer was glancing over his shoulder as he made this sudden and forcible remark.
"Four times what?" inquired Ralph.
"That fireman of yours."
"Mr. Fogg?"
"Yes."
"What about him?"
"Say," replied Clark, edging close to Ralph, "just take a careless backward look, will you? About half the square down on the opposite side of the street you'll see Fogg."
"Why such caution and mystery?" propounded Ralph.
"I'll tell you later. See him?" inquired Clark, as Ralph followed out the suggestion he had made.
Ralph nodded assentingly. He had made out Fogg as Clark had described. The fireman was walking along in the direction they were proceeding. There was something stealthy and sinister in the way in which he kept close to the buildings lining the sidewalk.
"That's four times I've noticed Fogg in this vicinity this morning," reported Clark. "I discovered him opposite the lodging house when I first came out this morning. When I came back he was skulking in an open entry, next door. When we left the house together I saw him a block away, standing behind a tree. Now he bobs up again."
"I can't understand his motive," said Ralph thoughtfully.
"I can," declared Clark with emphasis.
"What's your theory?"
"It's no theory at all, it's a dead certainty," insisted Clark. "Your fireman and that gang of hoodlums hitch together in some way, you mark my words. Well, let it slide for a bit. I'm hungry as a bear, and here's the restaurant."
It was a neat and inviting place, and with appetizing zeal the two boys entered and seated themselves at a table and gave their order for wheat cakes with honey and prime country sausages. Just as the waiter brought in the steaming meal, Clark, whose face was toward the street, said:
"Fogg just passed by, and there goes the crowd of boys. I'm thinking they'll give us a chance to settle our meal, Engineer Fairbanks!"
"All right," responded Ralph quietly, "if that's the first task of the day, we'll be in trim to tackle it with this fine meal as a foundation."
Their youthful, healthy appetites made a feast of the repast. Clark doubled his order, and Ralph did full credit to all the things set before him.
"I was thinking," he remarked, as they paid their checks at the cashier's counter, "that we might put in the day looking around the town."
"Why, yes," assented his companion approvingly, "that is, if you're going to let me keep with you."
"Why not?" smiled Ralph. "You seem to think I may need a guardian."
"I've got nothing to do but put in the time, and get a signed voucher from you that I did so in actual railroad service and in good company," explained Clark. "I think I will go back to Stanley Junction on your return run, if it can be arranged."
"It is arranged already, if you say so," said Ralph. "We seem to get on together pretty well, and I'm glad to have you with me."
"Now, that's handsome, Engineer Fairbanks!" replied Clark. "There's some moving picture shows in town here, open after ten o'clock, and there's a mechanics' library with quite a museum of railroad contrivances. We've got time to take it all in. Come on. Unless that crowd stops us, we'll start the merry program rolling. No one in sight," the youth continued, as they stepped into the street and he glanced its length in both directions. "Have the enemy deserted the field, or are they lying in ambush for us?"
They linked arms and sauntered down the pavement. They had proceeded nearly two squares, when, passing an alley, both halted summarily.
"Hello! here's business, I guess," said Clark, and he and Ralph scanned closely the group they had passed just before the breakfast meal.
The hoodlum gang had suddenly appeared from the alleyway, and forming a circle, surrounded them. There was an addition to their ranks Ralph noted this instantly. He was a rowdy-looking chunk of a fellow, and the swing of his body, the look on his face and the expression in his eyes showed that he delighted in thinking himself a "tough customer." Backed by his comrades, who looked vicious and expectant, he marched straight up to Ralph, who did not flinch a particle.
"You look like Fairbanks to me—Fairbanks, the engineer," he observed, fixing a glance upon Ralph meant to dismay.
"Yes, that is my name," said Ralph quietly.
"Well," asserted the big fellow, "I've been looking for you, and I'm going to whip the life out of you."