A Reversible Santa Claus | Page 7

for
examination.
"Ye gotta move quick, Hop," Humpy urged. "The white card's what we
wuz all goin' to play. We wuz fixed nice here, an' things goin' easy; an'
the yard full o' br'ilers. I don't want to do no more time. I'm an ole man,
Hop."
"Cut ut!" ordered The Hopper, taking the locket from Mary and
weighing it critically in his hand. They bent over him as he scrutinized
the face on which was inscribed:--
Roger Livingston Talbot June 13, 1913
"Lemme see; he's two an' a harf. Ye purty nigh guessed 'im right,
Mary."
The sight of the gold trinket, the probability that the Shaver belonged to
a family of wealth, proved disturbing to Humpy's late protestations of
virtue.
"They'd be a heap o' kale in ut, Hop. His folks is rich, I reckon. Ef we
wuzn't playin' the white card--"
Ignoring this shocking evidence of Humpy's moral instability, The
Hopper became lost in reverie, meditatively drawing at his pipe.
"We ain't never goin' to quit playin' ut square," he announced, to Mary's
manifest relief. "I hadn't ought t' 'a' done th' dippin'. It were a mistake.
My ole head wuzn't workin' right er I wouldn't 'a' slipped. But ye
needn't jump on me no more."
"Wot ye goin' to do with that kid? Ye tell me that!" demanded Mary,
unwilling too readily to accept The Hopper's repentance at face value.
"I'm goin' to take 'im to 'is folks, that's wot I'm goin' to do with 'im,"
announced The Hopper.

"Yer crazy--yer plum' crazy!" cried Humpy, slapping his knees
excitedly. "Ye kin take 'im to an orphant asylum an' tell um ye found
'im in that machine ye lifted. And mebbe ye'll git by with ut an' mebbe
ye won't, but ye gotta keep me out of ut!"
"I found the machine in th' road, right here by th' house; an' th' kid was
in ut all by hisself. An' bein' humin an' respectible I brought 'im in to
keep 'im from freezin' t' death," said The Hopper, as though repeating
lines he was committing to memory. "They ain't nobody can say as I
didn't. Ef I git pinched, that's my spiel to th' cops. It ain't kidnapin'; it's
life-savin', that's wot ut is! I'm a-goin' back an' have a look at that place
where I got 'im. Kind o' queer they left the kid out there in the
buzz-wagon; mighty queer, now's I think of ut. Little house back from
the road; lots o' trees an' bushes in front. Didn't seem to be no lights. He
keeps talkin' about Chris'mas at his grandpa's. Folks must 'a' been goin'
to take th' kid somewheres fer Chris'mas. I guess it'll throw a skeer into
'em to find him up an' gone."
"They's rich, an' all the big bulls'll be lookin' fer 'im; ye'd better 'phone
the New Haven cops ye've picked 'im up. Then they'll come out, an' yer
spiel about findin' 'im'll sound easy an' sensible like."
The Hopper, puffing his pipe philosophically, paid no heed to Humpy's
suggestion even when supported warmly by Mary.
"I gotta find some way o' puttin' th' kid back without seein' no cops. I'll
jes' take a sneak back an' have a look at th' place," said The Hopper. "I
ain't goin' to turn Shaver over to no cops. Ye can't take no chances with
'em. They don't know nothin' about us bein' here, but they ain't fools,
an' I ain't goin' to give none o' 'em a squint at me!"
He defended his plan against a joint attack by Mary and Humpy, who
saw in it only further proof of his tottering reason. He was obliged to
tell them in harsh terms to be quiet, and he added to their rage by the
deliberation with which he made his preparations to leave.
He opened the door of a clock and drew out a revolver which he
examined carefully and thrust into his pocket. Mary groaned; Humpy

beat the air in impotent despair. The Hopper possessed himself also of
a jimmy and an electric lamp. The latter he flashed upon the face of the
sleeping Shaver, who turned restlessly for a moment and then lay still
again. He smoothed the coverlet over the tiny form, while Mary and
Humpy huddled in the doorway. Mary wept; Humpy was awed into
silence by his old friend's perversity. For years he had admired The
Hopper's cleverness, his genius for extricating himself from difficulties;
he was deeply shaken to think that one who had stood so high in one of
the most exacting of professions should have fallen so low. As The
Hopper imperturbably buttoned his coat and walked toward the door,
Humpy set his back against it in a last attempt to save his friend from