CHAPTER XXIUNDER ARREST
Forthe moment after the tallow dip went out, Henry, half stunned by his tumble, knew not what to do.
“Hi, Prent!” he called out. “What do you mean by knocking me over and leaving me?”
No answer came back to his query, and a few seconds later he heard a crash of woodwork, followed by several exclamations.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he heard a rough voice demand.
“A thief is here,” answered another voice, which, somehow, sounded familiar.
“A thief? Where?”
“I believe he is in the cellar.”
“After him, men. He must not escape. There has already been too much looting here.”
There was the tramping of half a dozen soldiers on the floor overhead, and then the flash of a bull’s-eyelantern. As the light reached Henry he staggered up the cedar stairs.
“Ha! here he is!”
“Up with your hands, you rascal, or we’ll fire on you!”
“Don’t fire,” gasped the young soldier. “I—I am no thief.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I was after a thief. I followed——”
Before Henry could finish he saw Prent push his way forward and catch the English officer of the guard by the arm.
“That’s the man!” he bawled. “That’s the rascal! Look out, I think he’s a desperate fellow!”
“Is this the man you saw sneaking around?” demanded the officer.
“The same, sir.”
“If that’s the case, we’ve caught you red-handed, fellow.”
“Caught me?” faltered Henry. He was so amazed he could scarcely speak.
“Does it not look like it?”
“But I am no thief.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I came down after that man”—pointing to Prent.
“Do hear that!” ejaculated the would-be thiefin well-assumed surprise. “After me—when I’ve been on guard outside this last hour, and can prove it by the next guard.”
“This soldier told us you were here,” said the officer of the guard. “He wasn’t here himself.”
“He was here!” cried Henry. “I saw him sneak in, and I came after him, to see what he intended to do. Then he knocked me over and ran away.”
“False! utterly false!” roared Prent. He strode forward. “Say that again and I’ll knock you down in truth. I am an honest man.”
“I’ve told the truth,” answered Henry doggedly.
“But we found you here, while he was outside,” insisted the officer.
“He ran away, as I said, after knocking me down. If you’ll search him you’ll find his pockets full of stolen things.”
“Search me, by all means,” cried Prent, who had thrown the stolen articles into a corner when leaving the building. He pulled out several of his pockets. “I haven’t a thing that is not my own.”
“Men, make that fellow a prisoner,” cried the officer of the guard, raising his finger and pointing to Henry.
“But sir——” gasped the young soldier, with a sinking heart.
“And now answer my questions. What is your name?”
“Henry Morris, sir. But——”
“To what command do you belong?”
“To Captain Werrick’s detachment, Royal Americans. But, sir, if you’ll only listen——”
“Are you stationed anywhere?”
“I have been on guard here for the last week.”
“On guard here?” repeated the officer of the guard. He turned to Prent. “And you are on guard here, too?”
“Yes, lieutenant. He went off when I came on. But he did not go to quarters, but hung around, and so I suspected him. In fact, he tried, I think, to get me into some of his plans day before yesterday.”
“How was that?”
“He came to me and said he could show me a way to make money if I could keep my tongue from wagging. He said——”
“You miserable wretch!” interrupt Henry. “You know you are telling a falsehood.” He turned to the officer of the guard. “As a matter of fact, he came to me and wanted me to go into his dirty game——”
“Stop!” interrupted the officer of the guard. “We will examine into the details of this later.Men, make a search, and see if any other thieves are about. But don’t let either of these men get away.”
At once two of the soldiers stood guard over Henry and Prent, while the others scattered through the cellar, which was long and narrow. They had but two lanterns, both small, so the search was made under difficulties.
As one of the guardsmen reached the back end of the cellar there was a slight scraping sound, followed by the fall of a trap door. The men started forward to investigate, but could see nobody.
“What was that, Jameson?”
“Flog me, if I know, Lowder. Somebody went through a door, I think.”
“Exactly my notion. But where is the door?”
It was not long before they found the door, a small, heavy oaken affair, leading to a shaft-like opening, dark and dismal. A lantern was brought forward and on the damp ground the footprints of a man could be seen plainly.
“Another thief, and he has escaped!” cried the officer of the guard.
The officer sent three men into the passageway, the leader with one of the lanterns. They were gone the best part of ten minutes, and when theyreturned they reported that the passageway led to the cellar of a house on the next street.
“Was anybody in the house?” demanded the officer of the guard.
“The place was deserted,” answered one of the soldiers. “A back window was wide open and on the window sill was some mud, the same as that of the passageway down here.”
“Was anybody with you?” demanded the officer, turning to Henry.
“No, sir. But there may have been somebody down here with Prent.”
“At it again!” howled the soldier mentioned. “I was never down here until now. I am an honest man.”
“We will see about that later. At present I arrest you both and will have you taken to the guard-house. We must find out something about the rascal who escaped—if we can.”
The officer of the guard was obdurate, and inside of half an hour Henry found himself at the guard-house, which, in this case, was a small private dwelling, from which the owner had fled when first Quebec was bombarded. He was placed in one room, while Prent was placed in another.
As luck would have it, Prent was well acquainted with one of the guards at the house, and throughthis fellow he managed to send a message to Fenley and Harkness, in which he asked to see one or the other. Fenley came, and saw him for a few minutes on the sly, and a scheme was concocted by which all promised to stand by Prent in the affair, declaring Henry the sole guilty one.
It is easy to imagine that Henry felt thoroughly miserable when he found himself in solitary confinement in the temporary prison.
“Instead of taking chances with Prent, I should have had him arrested on the spot,” he thought dismally. “Now he has turned the tables on me, and how I am to clear myself I do not know.”
The search for the man who had escaped through the narrow passage was continued for several days, but without success. In the meantime Henry was held without examination.
But at last he was told that he was appear before General Murray and a board of officers, and the next day he was marched off to where the general and his staff had their headquarters.
He could not help feeling nervous, and when he saw the general and his fellow officers, sitting at a long table, each in full uniform, his peace of mind was not increased.
“Henry Morris, you are charged with attempted robbery,” said one of the officers. “General Murraywishes to hear what you have to say for yourself. Tell your story in as few words possible.”
As well as he was able, Henry told of his duty as a guard, told of what Prent had said to him, and of how he had followed the soldier to the cellar and tried to get him to come away without taking anything. Then he spoke of the alarm, and of how Prent had knocked him from the stairs, and of how the officer of the guard had come and placed him under arrest.
The officers listened in silence, each watching his face closely. All were evidently impressed by his sincerity.
“Do you not know it was your duty to report Prent when you saw him go into the building?” questioned General Murray.
“I wanted to make sure of what he was doing, sir. Besides, I didn’t want to see him turn thief and be hanged for it.”
Henry was then removed, and Prent was called in, followed by Fenley and Harkness. All three of the conspirators told of how they had suspected Henry for several nights and of how they had seen him on one occasion carrying away something bulky under his coat.
“Why did you not have him searched?” questioned General Murray.
“We couldn’t make ourselves believe that such a young fellow could be a thief,” answered Fenley glibly.
“We can’t say that he was a thief, exactly,” put in Prent. “He may have been only looking at the things.” Bad as the soldier was, he did not wish to see Henry hanged.
“But what of that bundle you saw him carry under his coat?”
“That might have been something else,” said Fenley.
“Do you want to shield him?”
“Oh, no, general!”
“Do you know anything about this other man who was in the cellar?” asked another officer, after he whispered to General Murray. He addressed Prent.
“No, sir.”
“Then you don’t know he was caught last night?”
At this Prent’s knees began to knock together.
“Wh—who is he?” he faltered.
“Never mind just now. As he was in the cellar he, of course, heard all that went on there.”
Prent grew white and it was with difficulty that he kept his knees from sinking beneath him.
“I—I—he didn’t hear anything—that is, hedoesn’t know anything about me,” he said weakly. “He must be in league with Henry Morris.”
“Perhaps,” said the officer dryly. “But I imagine not.”
At this moment an aid came in hurriedly, and asked permission to deliver a message.
“What is it, Lieutenant Caswell?” questioned General Murray.
“We have information that the French intend to attack the post at Lorette this afternoon,” said the aid.
“In that case, this hearing is postponed indefinitely,” said General Murray. “Let the guards remove the prisoners.”