A Reversible Santa Claus | Page 8

his own foolhardiness.
"Ef anybody turns up here an' asks for th' kid, ye kin tell 'em wot I said.
We finds 'im in th' road right here by the farm when we're doin' th'
night chores an' takes 'im in t' keep 'im from freezin'. Ye'll have th'
machine an' kid here to show 'em. An' as fer me, I'm off lookin' fer his
folks."
Mary buried her face in her apron and wept despairingly. The Hopper,
noting for the first time that Humpy was guarding the door, roughly
pushed him aside and stood for a moment with his hand on the knob.
"They's things wot is," he remarked with a last attempt to justify his
course, "an' things wot ain't. I reckon I'll take a peek at that place an'
see wot's th' best way t' shake th' kid. Ye can't jes' run up to a house in a
machine with his folks all settin' round cryin' an' cops askin' questions.
Ye got to do some plannin' an' thinkin'. I'm goin' t' clean ut all up before
daylight, an' ye needn't worry none about ut. Hop ain't worryin'; jes'
leave ut t' Hop!"
There was no alternative but to leave it to Hop, and they stood mute as
he went out and softly closed the door.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]

V
The snow had ceased and the stars shone brightly on a white world as
The Hopper made his way by various trolley lines to the house from
which he had snatched Shaver. On a New Haven car he debated the
prospects of more snow with a policeman who seemed oblivious to the
fact that a child had been stolen--shamelessly carried off by a man with
a long police record. Merry Christmas passed from lip to lip as if all
creation were attuned to the note of love and peace, and crime were an
undreamed of thing.
For two years The Hopper had led an exemplary life and he was keenly
alive now to the joy of adventure. His lapses of the day were
unfortunate; he thought of them with regret and misgivings, but he was
zestful for whatever the unknown held in store for him. Abroad again
with a pistol in his pocket, he was a lawless being, but with the
difference that he was intent now upon making restitution, though in
such manner as would give him something akin to the old thrill that he
experienced when he enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most
skillful yeggs in the country. The successful thief is of necessity an
imaginative person; he must be able to visualize the unseen and to deal
with a thousand hidden contingencies. At best the chances are against
him; with all his ingenuity the broad, heavy hand of the law is likely at
any moment to close upon him from some unexpected quarter. The
Hopper knew this, and knew, too, that in yielding to the exhilaration of
the hour he was likely to come to grief. Justice has a long memory, and
if he again made himself the object of police scrutiny that little
forty-thousand dollar affair in Maine might still be fixed upon him.
When he reached the house from whose gate he had removed the
roadster with Shaver attached, he studied it with the eye of an
experienced strategist. No gleam anywhere published the presence of
frantic parents bewailing the loss of a baby. The cottage lay snugly
behind its barrier of elms and shrubbery as though its young heir had
not vanished into the void. The Hopper was a deliberating being and he
gave careful weight to these circumstances as he crept round the walk,

in which the snow lay undisturbed, and investigated the rear of the
premises. The lattice door of the summer kitchen opened readily, and,
after satisfying himself that no one was stirring in the lower part of the
house, he pried up the sash of a window and stepped in. The larder was
well stocked, as though in preparation for a Christmas feast, and he
passed on to the dining-room, whose appointments spoke for good taste
and a degree of prosperity in the householder.
Cautious flashes of his lamp disclosed on the table a hamper, in which
were packed a silver cup, plate, and bowl which at once awoke the
Hopper's interest. Here indubitably was proof that this was the home of
Shaver, now sleeping sweetly in Humpy's bed, and this was the
porridge bowl for which Shaver's soul had yearned. If Shaver did not
belong to the house, he had at least been a visitor there, and it struck
The Hopper as a reasonable assumption that Shaver had been deposited
in the roadster while his lawful guardians returned to the cottage for the
hamper preparatory to an