The Masked Master Mind (The Argosy Library) by George F. Worts

Author:George F. Worts [Worts, George F.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Detective
Publisher: Altus Press
Published: 2015-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVI

BACK IN HIS HOME TOWN

BUT Gilbert was not there to hear that cruel summing up of his heroic capture of the twelve bad and dangerous men. His eyes were staring straight ahead of him. His ears were ringing and burning with the shame of it. And he was stumbling down the road under the reeling stars as fast as his legs would carry him. He was through forever with Steel City. Never again would he look upon a man in a blue uniform with brass buttons without wincing.

There was now no place for him to flee from ridicule except to strange, far-away lands. He was the laughing stock of Maple Hollow because of the brutal way those reporters had quoted his description of the capture of Carter, the counterfeiter.

Boy Sleuth Slams Down Gun on Flannel Money King

And to-morrow morning’s papers would scream with the tidings:

BOY SLEUTH SLAMS DOWN CAP PISTOL ON CRIMINAL GANG

No, there was no place to go to now. Wherever he went the finger of scorn and derision would be pointed at him. Nowhere in the world where newspapers were read would he be safe from ridicule. It occurred to Gilbert that the heart of darkest Africa or China might afford relief, but he didn’t want to go to Africa or China. What he wanted was understanding and sympathy, and he didn’t believe the natives of Central Africa or China were much given to sympathizing with the wrongs done to white men.

In all the world there was but one person from whom he could be sure of getting sympathetic understanding, and he would go to Annie May without any more delay. He would tolerate the wise cracks of his friends in Maple Hollow. No; he wouldn’t mind that. He wanted Annie May to put her arms around him, and he wanted to lay his head upon her gentle, understanding breast.

The mental picture of Annie May folding him in her arms and crooning over him heartened Gilbert considerably. That would compensate for everything. The lights of the Steel City union depot were blurred by the tears that spurted into his eyes—tears compounded of furious resentment against the Steel City police force, of pity for himself, and of joyous relief over the decision he had made.

He slunk through the station to the ticket window, and thence slunk out and aboard the accommodation train, fearing that the press, with its lightning magic, would already have flung his shame before the greedy eyes of the world.

He found himself a seat in the smoking car, and there he sat down and stared sightlessly out of the window over the green and red and white lights of the switchyard.

Presently the train started to move, but Gilbert was only vaguely aware of this. His face was radiant with an inner light. He was walking down the lane toward the house where Annie May lived with her aged grandparents. It was dawn. The sky overhead was still the deep miraculous blue of night, but the horizon all around was pink and gold.

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