The Telegraph Messenger Boy by Edward Sylvester Ellis (fantasy novels to read TXT) 📖

as he observed that four of his best officers were awaiting his orders.


CHAPTER XXV

IN THE NICK OF TIME

Ben would have liked to accompany the officers, but that would have been unprofessional on their part, and he did not make the request. He waited until they had been gone several minutes, when he slipped out and passed down the street, determined to see what was to be seen.

The chief managed the delicate and dangerous business with great skill.

The first notice the burglars had of danger was from the rear. They were down behind a screen of dark muslin they had put up, carefully working at the safe, which contained diamonds and jewelry of immense value. They had already drilled a considerable distance into the chilled iron, when the "Philistines descended upon them."

The burglars sprang up like tigers, but they were caught so fairly that they were borne to the floor and handcuffs clicked around their wrists in a twinkling. There were only two, and the three policemen mastered them without difficulty.

But there were two others on the street outside, and they were quick to discover what was going on within. One of these was Dandy Sam, who ran forward and peered through the front window. His companion was at his elbow, and they instantly saw that something was wrong.

They turned to flee, when they found themselves face to face with the chief and his aid.

"Hold up your hands!" commanded the chief, leveling his pistol at the villains.

One of them complied, but Dandy Sam fired point-blank at the chief, whirled on his heel, and ran like a deer down the street. The chief was not touched, and pistol in hand he started after the criminal, leaving his aid to attend to the second one.

Dandy Sam was fleet of foot and was gaining on his pursuer, when he came face to face with Ben Mayberry, who was hurrying toward the scene of the burglary with a view of seeing how it terminated.

The two encountered where the lamp-light showed the face of each. Ben knew the scamp on the instant, from the description given him, and the sight of the flying rascal told him the truth.

Ben had his pistol in his pocket, but he could not bear the thought of shooting a person, especially when there was a possible doubt of the necessity.

Ben compromised matters by darting into the road, where he caught up a stone weighing fully a pound.

The chief was some distance away shouting "Stop thief!" and firing his pistol over his head, so there could be no doubt that Dandy Sam was "wanted."

Ben Mayberry stood about as far from the fugitive as the space between first and second base--thirty yards--when the stone left his hand like a thunderbolt. As before, it sped true to its aim, but struck higher than then, sending the scoundrel forward on his face, and stunning him; only for a minute or so, but this was sufficient.

While he was in the act of climbing to his feet again, the chief dropped upon him; there was a click, and Dandy Sam was at the end of his career of crime, at least for a considerable time to come.

The chief started for the station-house with his man, whom he watched closely despite the stunning blow he had received.

A few minutes later the other three officers came in with their prisoners, who were caught in the very act of committing burglary.

The aid was absent so long that the chief felt uneasy, and started out in quest of him, but at that moment he appeared with his man.

"He went peaceably enough for a while," explained the aid, "and then he tried to bribe me to let him go. When he found that wouldn't work he became ugly, and I had to use my club, but he ain't hurt much."

His face was bleeding, but Ben Mayberry, with a shock, recognized the prisoner as G. R. Burkhill, the uncle of Dolly Willard.

The capture of the burglars made great excitement in Damietta, and the part taken by Ben Mayberry once more placed his name in everyone's mouth. It was he who discovered the criminals, and was the direct means of securing the desperado, Dandy Sam, the leader of the notorious gang.

It was a great shock to all, except a few, to find that Burkhill, the brother-in-law of Dolly Willard's father, was also one of the guilty ones. But there were others (and among them Mr. Willard and Mr. Grandin) who were not surprised in the least. The facts in this singular affair, as they ultimately came to light, were as follows:

George R. Burkhill was the black sheep in a most estimable family, of which Mrs. Willard, the mother of Dolly, was a member. She was the sister of Burkhill, and the only one who clung to the bad brother, pronounced incorrigible by everyone else, even when a small boy. She believed there was some good in him, and, in the face of protests, she labored to bring him to a sense of right. It was through her influence that he was saved from condign punishment for more than one serious offense.

All four of the burglars were duly tried, found guilty, and sentenced to the penitentiary for ten years. Rather curiously, both Dandy Sam and Burkhill died during the third year of their imprisonment, and it is safe to say the world was the gainer thereby.

Some few days after the capture of the burglars, came a glowing letter from Dolly, who had gone home to New York, in which she said that her father insisted that Ben should come and make them a visit, and would accept no excuse for refusing.

"I'll go this time!" exclaimed Ben, knowing he would have no trouble in obtaining permission to take a brief vacation.

And go he did.


CHAPTER XXVI

CONCLUSION

In closing the history of Ben Mayberry, the telegraph messenger boy, it seems to me I can do no better than by using the words of the hero himself. The following letter I received only a few days since. It is the last which has come to hand from Ben, who writes me regularly, as he has done ever since I was transferred from the office in Damietta. I should add that the date of the letter is nine years subsequent to that of his visit to the metropolis as the guest of Mr. James Willard:

"My Dear Mr. Melville,--I am now in my twenty-fifth year.
In looking back it seems only a few years ago that you
called me to you, on the street of my native city, and
offered to make me general utility boy in the telegraph
office of Damietta. My mother and I were nearly starving
at the time, and no kindness could have been more
appropriate than yours, nor could anyone have shown
greater tact and wisdom in cultivating the good instincts
of a ragged urchin, who, otherwise, was likely to go to
ruin.

"You awakened my ambition and incited me to study; you
impressed upon me the beauty and truth of the declaration
that there is no royal road to learning; that if I
expected to attain success in any walk of life it could
only be done by hard, unremitting, patient work. There are
many rounds to the ladder, and each must climb them one by
one.

"Good fortune attended me in every respect. It was the
providence of God which saved me and enabled me to help
save sweet Dolly when the bridge went down in the storm
and darkness, and her mother was lost; yet, but for my
determination to do my best at all times, and never to
give up so long as I could struggle, I must have
succumbed.

"It was extremely fortunate that I saw the burglars at
work in the jewelry establishment of Mr. Grandin on that
memorable night in Damietta. The same stroke of fortune
might have fallen to any boy, but it was incomplete until
I was able to bring the leader to the ground with the
stone which I hurled at him.

"It may be said that all these are but mere incidents of
my history, and possibly I may have magnified their
importance; but, though my progress was rapid, it never
could have carried me successfully along without the
regular, systematic, hard work with which I employed my
spare hours, when not devoted to exercise. In this world
that which wins, is work, work, work!

"When I was fifteen years old, I was made the manager of
the office in Damietta, with a larger salary than I was
entitled to. Three years later, the partiality of Mr.
Musgrave made me assistant superintendent, and now I have
been general superintendent of the district for more than
two years, with a handsome salary, which enables me to
give my dear mother comforts and elegances of which the
good lady never dreamed.

"I married Dolly shortly after my promotion to the office
of general superintendent, and the little fellow that is
learning to lisp 'papa,' you know, has been named after
you, my old, true, and invaluable friend, to whose counsel
and kindness I feel I am so much indebted.

"Dolly sits at my elbow and continually reminds me that I
must insist that you come down and spend Christmas with
us. A chair and plate will be placed at the table for you,
and you must allow nothing less than Providence itself to
keep you away.

"As ever,
"Your devoted friend,
"Ben."

THE END