第 12 页

their stock. There were boxes of copper and brass ship and house

fittings, and a very large quantity of rope, principally of the sizes

in which the stock had been found deficient; but to these Captain

Dave was unable to swear. In addition to these articles the cellar

contained a number of chests, all of which were found to be filled

with miscellaneous articles of wearing apparel--rolls of silk,

velvet, cloth, and other materials--curtains, watches, clocks,

ornaments of all kinds, and a considerable amount of plate. As among

these were many articles which answered to the descriptions given of

goods that had been stolen from country houses, the whole were

impounded by the Chief Constable, and carried away in carts. The

upper part of the house was carefully searched, the walls tapped,

wainscotting pulled down, and the floors carefully examined. Several

hiding-places were found, but nothing of any importance discovered in

them.

"I should advise you," the Chief Constable said to Captain Dave, "to

put in a claim for every article corresponding with those you have

lost. Of course, if anyone else comes forward and also puts in a

claim, the matter will have to be gone into, and if neither of you

can absolutely swear to the things, I suppose you will have to settle

it somehow between you. If no one else claims them, you will get them

all without question, for you can swear that, to the best of your

knowledge and belief, they are yours, and bring samples of your own

goods to show that they exactly correspond with them. I have no doubt

that a good deal of the readily saleable stuff, such as ropes, brass

sheaves for blocks, and things of that sort, will have been sold, but

as it is clear that there is a good deal of your stuff in the stock

found below, I hope your loss will not be very great. There is no

doubt it has been a splendid find for us. It is likely enough that we

shall discover among those boxes goods that have been obtained from a

score of robberies in London, and likely enough in the country. We

have arrested three men we found in the place, and two women, and may

get from some of them information that will enable us to lay hands on

some of the others concerned in these robberies."

CHAPTER V

KIDNAPPED

That afternoon Captain Dave went down to the Bridewell, and had an

interview with Tom Frost, in the presence of the Master of the

prison.

"Well, Tom, I never expected to have to come to see you in a place

like this."

"I am glad I am here, master," the boy said earnestly, with tears in

his eyes. "I don't mind if they hang me; I would rather anything than

go on as I have been doing. I knew it must come, and whenever I heard

anyone walk into the shop I made sure it was a constable. I am ready

to tell everything, master; I know I deserve whatever I shall get,

but that won't hurt me half as much as it has done, having to go on

living in the house with you, and knowing I was helping to rob you

all along."

"Anything that you say must be taken down," the officer said; "and I

can't promise that it will make any difference in your sentence."

"I do not care anything about that; I am going to tell the truth."

"Very well, then, I will take down anything you say. But wait a

minute."

He went to the door of the room and called.

"Is the Chief Constable in?" he asked a man who came up. "If he is,

ask him to step here."

A minute later the Chief Constable came in.

"This prisoner wishes to make a confession, Master Holmes. I thought

it best that you should be here. You can hear what he says then, and

it may help you in your inquiry. Besides, you may think of questions

on points he may not mention; he understands that he is speaking

entirely of his own free will, and that I have given him no promise

whatever that his so doing will alter his sentence, although no doubt

it will be taken into consideration."

"Quite so," the constable said. "This is not a case where one

prisoner would be ordinarily permitted to turn King's evidence

against the others, because, as they were caught in the act, no such

evidence is necessary. We know all about how the thing was done, and

who did it."

"I want to tell how I first came to rob my master," the boy said. "I

never thought of robbing him. When I came up to London, my father

said to me, 'Whatever you do, Tom, be honest. They say there are

rogues up in London; don't you have anything to do with them.' One

evening, about a year ago I went out with Robert, and we went to a

shop near the wall at Aldgate. I had never been there before, but

Robert knew the master, who was the old man that was taken in the

lane. Robert said the man was a relation of his father's, and had

been kind to him. We sat down and talked for a time, and then Robert,

who was sitting close to me, moved for something, and put his hand

against my pocket.

"'Hullo!' he said; 'what have you got there?'

"'Nothing,' I said.

"'Oh, haven't you?' and he put his hand in my pocket, and brought out

ten guineas. 'Hullo!' he said; 'where did you get these? You told me

yesterday you had not got a groat. Why, you young villain, you must

have been robbing the till!'

"I was so frightened that I could not say anything, except that I did

not know how they came there and I could swear that I had not touched

the till. I was too frightened to think then, but I have since

thought that the guineas were never in my pocket at all, but were in

Robert's hand.

"'That won't do, boy,' the man said. 'It is clear that you are a

thief. I saw Robert take them from your pocket, and, as an honest

man, it is my duty to take you to your master and tell him what sort

of an apprentice he has. You are young, and you will get off with a

whipping at the pillory, and that will teach you that honesty is the

best policy.'

"So he got his hat and put it on, and took me by the collar as if to

haul me out into the street. I went down on my knees to beg for

mercy, and at last he said that he would keep the matter quiet if I

would swear to do everything that Robert told me; and I was so

frightened that I swore to do so.

"For a bit there wasn't any stealing, but Robert used to take me out

over the roof, and we used to go out together and go to places where

there were two or three men, and they gave us wine. Then Robert

proposed that we should have a look through the warehouse. I did not

know what he meant, but as we went through he filled his pockets with

things and told me to take some too. I said I would not. Then he

threatened to raise the alarm, and said that when Captain Dave came

down he should say he heard me get up to come down by the rope on to

the warehouse, and that he had followed me to see what I was doing,

and had found me in the act of taking goods, and that, as he had

before caught me with money stolen from the till, as a friend of his

could testify, he felt that it was his duty to summon you at once. I

know I ought to have refused, and to have let him call you down, but

I was too frightened. At last I agreed to do what he told me, and

ever since then we have been robbing you."

"What have you done with the money you got for the things?" the

constable asked.

"I had a groat sometimes," the boy said, "but that is all. Robert

said first that I should have a share, but I said I would have

nothing to do with it. I did as he ordered me because I could not

help it. Though I have taken a groat or two sometimes, that is all I

have had."

"Do you know anything about how much Robert had?"

"No, sir; I never saw him paid any money. I supposed that he had some

because he has said sometimes he should set up a shop for himself,

down at some seaport town, when he was out of his apprenticeship; but

I have never seen him with any money beyond a little silver. I don't

know what he used to do when we had given the things to the men that

met us in the lane. I used always to come straight back to bed, but

generally he went out with them. I used to fasten the gate after him,

and he got back over the wall by a rope. Most times he didn't come in

till a little before daybreak."

"Were they always the same men that met you in the lane?"

"No, sir. The master of the shop was very seldom there. The big man

has come for the last three or four months, and there were two other

men. They used to be waiting for us together until the big man came,

but since then one or other of them came with him, except when the

master of the shop was there himself."

"Describe them to me."

The boy described them as well as he could.

"Could you swear to them if you saw them?"

"I think so. Of course, sometimes it was moonlight, and I could see

their faces well; and besides, the light of the lantern often fell

upon their faces."

The constable nodded.

"The descriptions answer exactly," he said to Captain Dave, "to the

two men we found in the shop. The place was evidently the

headquarters of a gang of thieves."

"Please, sir," the boy said, "would you have me shut up in another

place? I am afraid of being with the others. They have sworn they

will kill me if I say a word, and when I get back they will ask me

who I have seen and what I have said."

Captain Dave took the other two men aside.

"Could you not let the boy come home with me?" he said. "I believe

his story is a true one. He has been terrified into helping that

rascal, Robert Ashford. Of course he himself was of no good to them,

but they were obliged to force him into it, as otherwise he would

have found out Robert's absences and might have reported them to me.

I will give what bail you like, and will undertake to produce him

whenever he is required."

"I could not do that myself," the constable said, "but I will go

round to the Court now with the boy's confession, and I have no doubt

the Alderman will let him go. But let me give you a word of advice:

don't let him stir out of the house after dark. We have no doubt that

there is a big gang concerned in this robbery, and the others of

which we found the booty at the receiver's. They would not know how

much this boy could tell about them, but if he went back to you they

would guess that he had peached. If he went out after dark, the

chances would be against his ever coming back again. No, now I think

of it, I am sure you had better let him stay where he is. The Master

will put him apart from the others, and make him comfortable. You

see, at present we have no clue as to the men concerned in the

robberies. You may be sure that they are watching every move on our

part, and if they knew that this boy was out, they might take the

alarm and make off."

"Well, if you think so, I will leave him here."

"I am sure that it would be the best plan."

"You will make him comfortable, Master Holroyd?"

"Yes; you need not worry about him, Captain Dowsett."

They then turned to the boy.

"You will be moved away from the others, Tom," Captain Dave said,

"and Mr. Holroyd has promised to make you comfortable."

"Oh, Captain Dave," the boy burst out, "will you forgive me? I don't

mind being punished, but if you knew how awfully miserable I have

been all this time, knowing that I was robbing you while you were so

kind to me, I think you would forgive me."

"I forgive you, Tom," Captain Dave said, putting his hand on the

boy's shoulder. "I hope that this will be a lesson to you, all your

life. You see all this has come upon you because you were a coward.

If you had been a brave lad you would have said, 'Take me to my

master.' You might have been sure that I would have heard your story

as well as theirs, and I don't think I should have decided against

you under the circumstances. It was only your word against Robert's;

and his taking you to this man's, and finding the money in your

pocket in so unlikely a way, would certainly have caused me to have

suspicions. There is nothing so bad as cowardice; it is the father of

all faults. A coward is certain to be a liar, for he will not

hesitate to tell any falsehood to shelter him from the consequences

of a fault. In your case, you see, cowardice has made you a thief;

and in some cases it might drive a man to commit a murder. However,

lad, I forgive you freely. You have been weak, and your weakness has

made you a criminal; but it has been against your own will. When all

this is over, I will see what can be done for you. You may live to be

an honest man and a good citizen yet."

Two days later Cyril was returning home late in the evening after

being engaged longer than usual in making up a number of accounts for

one of his customers. He had come through Leadenhall Street, and had

entered the lane where the capture of the thieves had been made, when

he heard a footstep behind him. He turned half round to see who was

following him, when he received a tremendous blow on the head which

struck him senseless to the ground.

After a time he was dimly conscious that he was being carried along.

He was unable to move; there was something in his mouth that

prevented him from calling out, and his head was muffled in a cloak.

He felt too weak and confused to struggle. A minute later he heard a

voice, that sounded below him, say,--

"Have you got him?"

"I have got him all right," was the answer of the man who was

carrying him.

Then he felt that he was being carried down some stairs.

Someone took him, and he was thrown roughly down; then there was a

slight rattling noise, followed by a regular sound. He wondered