The Adventures of a Country Boy at a Country Fair

by Charles King

  CHAPTER XXX.

  _THE TRIAL._

  It was only natural that both Teddy and Dan should feel highly elatedafter this public expression of admiration which culminated in thepresentation of the purse, but they immediately returned to attend totheir several duties when the ceremonies were finished.

  Dan went back to the exhibition as if he had done nothing worthremembering, and in less than half an hour from the time the deaconconcluded his flowery speech it would have required a very ardentstudent of humanity to discover that anything out of the natural courseof events had taken place.

  At the cane-board Teddy waited upon his customers as before, and withoutthe slightest sign of having been honored by the magnates of the fair,while Dan fired at the target as if he had been a boy with no otherclaim upon the public's attention than his ability to hit a mark.

  Yet it must be confessed that both experienced a very pleasing sense ofhaving satisfied the public, and each, in his own peculiar way, knew hehad risen a little above the average boy.

  There can be no question that any one placed in the same position musthave felt gratified by the many expressions of friendship and good-willwith which these two were literally overwhelmed, and it would have beenmore than could be expected of human nature had they remained unmovedunder the extravagant flattery which was showered upon them immediatelyafter the close of Deacon Jones' speech.

  Although there was not quite as much money flowing into the box as onthe day previous, Teddy was more than pleased with the receipts, becauseevery penny seemed to express just such an amount of good-will.

  Until nearly nightfall he remained at the booth, answering questionsupon the same subject till it seemed to have been worn threadbare, andthen, however great his desire to earn money, he felt a positive senseof relief that his connection with the Peach Bottom fair had finallycome to an end.

  "This is the last time you an' I will pack up the stuff," he said to Timas they put into condition for removal the cane and knife boards. "Ipromised to give you all that was left, and you're more than welcome toit."

  "But you surely don't mean to give me the whole lot," Tim cried insurprise.

  "That's exactly what I'm going to do, and I sincerely hope when you makea stand you'll meet with the same good friends I have here."

  "I can't take these things unless you'll allow me to pay somethingtoward what they cost."

  "Look here, Tim," Teddy said, earnestly, "you have shown yourself to bea friend of mine, an' every cent that has come in here you've accountedfor. Now, whatever may happen, I'm through bein' a fakir; but if youwant to follow the business, I can only hope you'll come out all right.We'll carry this to Mr. Sweet's tent, an' I'll only be so much thebetter pleased, and in case you don't, I'm bound to help you in everyway. Besides, I promised to pay a certain percentage on the profits;that is yet to be settled."

  "It never will be," Tim replied in the most decided tone. "If I takethese goods I've got more than a fair share, an' won't listen toanything else."

  "Very well, we'll leave it that way. You now own everything, an' I oweyou lots of good-will."

  On this basis the remnants of the two boards were packed up for removal,and when they were about to take the goods to Mr. Sweet's tent Danarrived.

  "How much business did you do to-day?" he asked.

  Teddy delayed sufficiently long to count the receipts, and thenreplied:

  "Forty-one dollars and fifteen cents. That gives Tim four-eleven, an' Iget more than would have been the case but for the testimonial thisafternoon. The folks crowded around to see me, rather than to get thecanes, an' so business has picked up better than any one expected."

  "It don't make any difference how the money came in so long as you havegot it," Dan replied, philosophically, "an' now the question is what arewe to do for supper, since we paid our bill at the boarding-house thisafternoon?"

  "Have you got any idea?"

  "Of course, or else I wouldn't have asked the question. Let's invite Mr.Sweet, the bouncer, and the clown to some restaurant down town, an' tryto give them as good a time as we had last night."

  This proposition met with Teddy's approval, and the party was made up ashe suggested, the cost being divided between the two boys who had beenthe recipients of the public testimonial.

  Not until a late hour in the evening did these festivities come to anend, and then the party retired to the museum tent, where they remainedundisturbed until the present season of the Peach Bottom fair had cometo an end.

  It was an unusually late hour for fakirs to arise when Mr. Sweetawakened the boys as he said:

  "Turn out now, lads, an' get your stuff ready for removal. I'm sorry topart company, but we can't stay here forever, an' the museum must beforty miles the other side of Waterville by Monday morning."

  Dan had completed and been paid for his work with the Stevens Company,therefore he had nothing to do; Teddy no longer claimed any interest inthe canes and knives left over from the week's work; consequently he wasfree to go where he pleased, and Tim had his goods in such a conditionthat they could be removed at any moment, which prevented him fromfeeling any anxiety regarding the future.

  Thus it was that all three of the boys were at liberty to assist theproprietor of the museum, and this they did with a will until thearrival of Lawyer Harvey caused them to think of what had almost beenforgotten in the bustle and confusion of breaking camp.

  "We are due at the 'Squire's office at nine o'clock, and it is time youboys were getting over that way," he said, briskly; "our case won't comeup to-day, but it has been decided to give Hazelton a hearing, and I amvery much afraid he's going to get the worst of it."

  "What do you mean?" Teddy asked, anxiously.

  "Well, you see I have not been able to get any information in additionto what you boys furnished, and there seems little doubt that the'Squire must perforce bind him over for trial. The fact that he hasdeliberately swindled so many people will work against him, and we cando very little to save him."

  "What will be the result of his being bound over?" Teddy asked.

  "He must remain in jail, unless he can get bail, until next fall."

  "But that in itself will be a terrible punishment."

  "True; yet it cannot be avoided. If he had worked honestly the casewould be different; but now he will be fortunate even to get out in thefall."

  "Yet Uncle Nathan says I am equally guilty."

  "We can easily show you had nothing to do with the robbery, and that isour only care this morning."

  "What about Long Jim?"

  "He remains silent, refusing to answer the simplest questions, andunless he speaks Hazelton must be bound over; the 'Squire can pursue noother course."

  Believing as they did that Hazelton was innocent of the charge uponwhich he had been arrested, both Teddy and Dan felt it was a greathardship for the fakir to remain so long in prison; but since it wasbeyond their power to give him any relief, neither expressed an opinionother than has been recorded.

  Mr. Harvey had come for them to accompany him to the Squire's office,and since there was nothing to detain them they set out, after firstbidding Mr. Sweet a cordial 'goodby, for he had announced his intentionof leaving Peach Bottom on the noon train.

  "I shall see one or both of you at some time in the future," he said,with considerable feeling, "an' there'll be no complaint to make if Inever fall in with worse boys."

  The bouncer and the clown also had something to say in the form of anadieu, and when the boys left the proprietor of the alleged wonderfulmuseum it was like parting with an old friend, for he had shown himselfto be a "very present help in time of trouble."

  Tim did not propose to start for the Run until his companions hadconcluded their business; his goods were packed ready for removal, andthere was nothing better for him to do than accompany them to thecourt-room where it seemed as if all they might say would result only ina long term of imprisonment for Hazelton before he could be tried on thebaseless charge brought agai
nst him, simply because of the disreputablebusiness in which he was engaged.

  Mr. Harvey had little or nothing to say during the walk to the 'Squire'soffice, and arriving there the jewelry fakir was seen looking thoroughlydespondent.

  "Can I speak with him?" Teddy asked the lawyer. "What do you want tosay?"

  "Nothing in particular, except to tell him how bad I feel because wecould do nothing to clear him."

  "Very well; but do not talk long, for it may prejudice your own case.The people whom he has swindled are here to see that some form ofpunishment is meted out to him, and it can do you no good to be seenacting as a consoler."

  This possibility troubled Teddy very little since he was confident ofhis own innocence, and he approached the prisoner as he said:

  "I wish I could do something, Mr. Hazelton, to prove you as innocent asI believe you to be."

  "There's no need of that, my boy. I've put you in a hole already, andyou've done more for me than some others who call themselves friends."

  "I know it was Long Jim who committed the burglary; but how can it beproven now?"

  "There was only one way, and that was to catch the real thieves withtheir plunder. Mr. Harvey tells me his attempt was a failure, an' itwouldn't surprise me if I was not only remanded for trial, but receiveda sentence for something of which I am absolutely innocent. I don'tprofess to be very good, my boy, as you may understand after seeing mework on the fair grounds; but I never yet descended to do such things asI am charged with now."

  "I am certain of that," and Teddy pressed the prisoner's hand in tokenof friendship, "and only wish it was possible to aid you."

  "You have already done more than my partners did," was the gratefulreply, and then further conversation was prevented as the 'Squire calledthe assembly to order.

  It was not a regular court of law; but one would have thought it themost dignified judicial body in the country had he seen the air withwhich the 'Squire took his seat at the head of the long table as hecalled the case.

  "That settles Hazelton," Dan whispered as Teddy left the prisoner andrejoined his friends. "Somebody has got to suffer in order to make thelaw come out square, an' he's the feller what'll have to stand the bruntof everything."