Bob Chesters Grit | Page 9

that had led to his
being brought to court, he was still more so with the sudden turn in
events that had resulted in his release, and it was not until one of the
court attachés good-naturedly advised him to leave the court room as
soon as he could, that he realized he was again free.
But in his haste to obey, he suddenly remembered the reporter whose
interest in him had been of such assistance, and he stopped and looked
about the courtroom for him. But Foster and the other reporters were
busy telephoning the story to their papers, and repeating the
magistrate's scathing rebuke to the police of the precinct and the city,
so that Bob could not see them. And, after lingering a moment or so, he
finally decided to return to his guardian without more delay, promising
himself that he would search out his champion and thank him another
time.
CHAPTER IV
BOB DETERMINES TO BE HIS OWN MASTER

Fearing that if he hurried too fast through the dismal corridors of the
court building he might arouse suspicion and get into more trouble,
Bob restrained his impulse to break into a run, and endeavored to walk
as unconcernedly as possible. But it was with a feeling of vast relief
that he stepped forth from the stone portal and again breathed the free
air of the street.
Once he had reached the sidewalk, not long did it take him to mingle
with the throng of passersby.
Like a bad dream did the trying experiences through which he had
passed seem, and he actually pinched himself to see if, after all, it
might not have been some sleep delusion. But the pain of the sharp nip
he gave himself satisfied him that he was indeed awake, and further
evidence of the fact that his experiences had been all too real was given
by the presence of the five-dollar bill in his pocket.
His pace had been rapid, and he was within two blocks of his guardian's
store, when he suddenly remembered that the basket full of groceries,
which he had started out to deliver, had been left in the police station.
That his employer would berate him sharply for their loss, he was
aware, yet he dared not go for them in the fear that he might be
subjected to further unpleasantness.
His steps, however, grew slower and slower as he approached the store,
which had been the only home he had known for years. That his
guardian knew of his arrest, the words of his champion to the
magistrate had told him. How his guardian would take the double blow
of the loss of the groceries and his arrest, he did not know, but past
experience told him that he could expect no sympathy, and perhaps a
beating, and he was sorely tempted not to return at all, but to strike out
for the great West of his hopes and ambitions. In this moment of
indecision, however, the admonition of the magistrate to return to his
guardian recurred to him, and he felt that he would not be entitled to
keep the five dollars did he not obey.
To Bob's surprise, as he entered the store, not a soul was visible, but at

the sound of his footsteps on the hard floor his guardian suddenly
appeared from his private office, his shrewd face suffused by the
ingratiating smirk he always put on when going to meet a prospective
customer. At the sight of his ward standing in the middle of the floor,
however, he started, and then his face assumed a look of forbidding
severity.
"What, you here!" the grocer exclaimed, as he regained control of
himself. "I thought--that is, I was told--I mean, I heard that you had
been arrested, and I didn't expect to see you again for some time; that
is--I mean not here in the store. If you had been sent to prison I should,
of course, have gone to see you."
Never before had Bob seen his guardian so ill at ease, and from his
knowledge of the man, he decided that his entrance must have
interrupted him when he was engaged at some unusual task. But how to
meet the situation, Bob did not know, and he was vainly striving to
think of the right thing to say when their relations were brought back to
their normal plane by his guardian snarling:
"What did you do with my delivery basket? Did you leave it with the
groceries, or didn't you even deliver them?"
The subtle cruelty of this remark stung Bob to the quick. It was the
straw that broke his endurance of the long term of abuse and harsh
words to which he had been subjected.
"No, I didn't deliver the groceries,"