Show A TEMPORARY POLICEMAN > It was an hour after midnight A policeman was leaning over the fence on the river side of Basset street staring star-ing out into the darkness He heard a door slam behind him and turning around saw the boy coming across the street Is that you Peter the policeman inquired What are you doing outdoors out-doors at this time of night I That screamin out on the river woke me up said Peter soJ slung on my clothes and come out to see what was goin on What do you sup i po e is the matter Mr Fitzgerald 1 dont know said the officer It sounded like a drowning Here he was interrupted by a series of cries far out on the river He and the boy looked at each other Either some ones drowning or some I ones making believe drown said J Fitzgerald But I cant stand it any longer Im going out there Theres ono thing certain though and that is that if that fellers only making bee i be-e drown hell get a good thrashing 1J > fnre ten minutes are over The policeman took off his coat and t1 users and began to unlace his boots Are you going to swim out there Peter asked Of course I am Did you think I was going to church in my underclothes under-clothes NowPeter T vant you to dos do-s for me You take these clothes of mine down to the station house No 11 you know The tides running out strong and if I swim out to that fool over there Ill surely get tarried as far as the station house before be-fore I get back to shoreif I ever dot do-t back I wish some of you folks Kept a boat Now dont drop anything from the pockets The screaming began again Help oh help could be distinctly heard Keep up old feller Im coming I called Fitzgerald in a voice that must have waked every sleeper in the neighborhood neigh-borhood He climbed the fence and stood on the stone wall beyond look ding down at the water ten feet below All right Im coming he called out again and then he jumped into the water with a great splash Peter watched him plow through the black vaves till he disappeared from sight and then turned to pick up his burden Peter was 14 and large for his age It when he had started on his jour I 11 he found the clothes a very un j mfortable > load The boots alone were enormously large and heavy He stopped stop-ped and tried them on outside his own shoes They went on very comfortably lie laced them up andpursued his way J more easll than before Suddenly a thought struck him Why should he not put On the coat and trousers as I well as the boots They would be much easier to carry when he had them on and what ait imposing appearance ap-pearance he would present He pulled on the trousers turned them up about half a foot at tlw bottom shifted his suspenders from his old trousers to his I j ov ones put on the great blue coat with its thick padding and glorious j brass buttons set the helmet on top of I his cap and strapped on the black belt with the billy in it What joy to carry I I a billy if only for a few minutes He pulled it from the belt and belabored a I fnw Imaginary heads He really felt himself to be a policeman as far as appearance went As to courage size and strength he felt that he was hardly hard-ly up to his position As sooii as he was well started upon his trimphal progress he began to explore I ex-plore his pockets In the trousers he A found a dirty handkerchief a bunch of i fc key a silver dollar and a book of rules and regulations of the police force He opened this book under a lamppost and read one of the rules Article 71t shall be the duty of i very man in the force when asked by f stranger or other person the way to I any point in the city to direct such ppiFon definitely and politely to the point desired I Im afraid I shouldnt know where more lonely and sometimes more silent than it is in the country At any rate it seems more silent for you feel that the city ought to be noisy Peter grew I I i nervous He was not used to being out I alone after midnight His great boots 1 seemed to make a tremendous noise on Ithe I sidewalk lie began to remember stories in the newspapers about how I policemen had been assaulted by parties I par-ties of roughs He wondered if there were any parties of roughs lying in wait for him He tried to gather courage I cour-age by flourishing his hilly but some 1 how that did not seem to make him much braver The moon kept coming i out from one cloud and going behind I another and the clouds seemed to be rushing across the sky in a very unnatural un-natural way At last the moon went I i I 0 t I I 1M J c He Could Hoar n Sfcaltlty Footstep Coming Along the Sidewalk behind a very large cloud and did not come out again Peter wished it had stayed Even the moon was some company com-pany He would have run if he could out Ill is boots and clothes were so clumsy I that it was out of the Question He kept thinking about parties of roughs so much that he felt he must have something to distract Iris attention He stopped under another lamppost and I opened the book of rules again This time he lighted on the following pas I I sage Article 21No member of the force shall receive a pecuniary compensation compensa-tion for doing his duty Peter kept I repeating this till he knew it by heart Unfortunately he found I that he was thinking about the roughs too He must try something else He recollected that he had seen Fitzgerald trying the doors of shops to see if they were locked So he began to try them without any definite idea of what he should do if he found one open He tried ten of them and they were all locked Then he remembered that Fitzgerald must have tried them already so he did not try any more Oh if he could I only run It was so lonely and he had not gone more than half way lie found a little kitten asleep on a doorstep I door-step He picked it lip and stood for some time stroking it while it purred I softlY He would have liked to carry it to the station house for company but the poor little thing might get lost and besides it was hardly dignified for a policeman to carry a kitten so as not to be afraid Ah What was that noise lie put the kitten down and listened I He could hear ai i stealthy footstep coming along the sidewalk on the other side of the street lie stole into the I dark doorway of the shop and looked G f I I 11 Ii nJ7mu z i e Zt p I t Jj c L r n j I = 4 3 = d I 4 j I There AVas Fitzgerald in Citizens Clothes Sitting at iie Ciputiiis Iesk it was said Peter to himself But I dont believe many strangers or > other persons will ask me any questions tonight to-night In the breast pocket of the coat there was a revolver Peter took it out and j looked at it but to tell the truth he t was a little afraid of it so he put it bark again He felt something heavy in the tails of his coat and when after some difficulty he had found his coattail > coat-tail pockets he discovered in one of j them a pairof handcuffs This made him prouder than ever With the billy the revolver the book of rules and I I le handcuffs he felt himself a match J for a whole gang of thieves His high spirits however did not J list long It Js very lonely in rao streets of a city at 1 oclock at night I f I I 1 with all his eyes while > his heart beat as if it would break his ribs The steps came near a lamppost and then he I could see that there were two men instead in-stead of one as he had supposed Just before they came opposite to hln they separated One of them hid himself in a dark bit of shadow on one side of a shbp that wns still lighted and the other crawled across in front of the I shop 011 his hands and knees and con i ccaled himself in a doorway on the I other side Then = they both waited per I ifectly still and Peter waited too A great sign hung above it with the in I J ssriptfon Phineas Gould Jewelry andl I Silverware and Money i to Loan was J I painted across one of the windows j I Neither Peter nor the men tod long ta i vait In less than ten minutes thai i light i was put ojit Then Peter could E vr i > hear a faint footstep inside of the shop and a moment later a man came out locked the door and started down the street The fellow behind him left his place of concealment and crept after him The shopkeeper heard him and turned round At the same instant the second man also lift his hiding place and both sprang upon their victim and threw him down Evidently one of them covered his mouth in some way for though he1 struggled violently he tlid < not cry out for help Peter was not especially brave but he could not allow a man to TJ = assaulted assault-ed and possibly murderad before his eyes without trying to prevent it The courage of desperation seized him and with the ungrammatical cry of Let alone him he sprang across the street Ita the rescue As he ran he drew the revolver from his breast pocket and fired it several times in the air feeling feel-ing that he might as well die now as any time One of the men turned and ran when he saw what he not unreasonably unreason-ably supposed to be an officer of the law who was full of fight The other tried to follow his comrade but Gould who fet that help was at hand held him tight till Peter arrived It was rather hard for Peter to ascertain which was the jeweler and which was the thief but judging with much sagacity that the man with the necktie must be ilr Gould he began to tap the other mans head with the billy till the poor fellow lay quite still and Gould sat on him Then Peter drew out the handcuffs They were clumsy looking things and he did not have the least idea hOw to put them on He handed them to Gould You put em on he said trying to speak as gruffly as possible an Ill look out that the other fellow dont come back Gould took the handcuffs and examined exam-ined them He seemed to know something some-thing about them for he slipped then on the prisoners wrists without difficulty difficul-ty Meanwhile Peter picked up his revolver re-volver which he had thrown away when lie came to close quarters with the enemy en-emy emyDid Did any of those three shots take effect inquired Gould No I guess not said Peter truth fully Now wlvatll we do with the man Do yon suppose hss dead Oh no hes not dead Here you getup get-up And pulling at the handcuffs Gould administered a kick to the prostrate pros-trate thief The prisoner satup with some Qifii culty Peter took him by one arm while Gould grasped the other and they raised him to his feet A number of windows had been opened open-ed at the niose of the revolver and it i was obviously best to be off without delay de-lay Well take him to station fourteen said Peter proudly and away they went The prisoner was quite cowed and he allowed himself to be led along quietly enough hut Peter was not especially pleased with either of his new acquaintances acquain-tances Gould he had often heard of as the richest and stingiest man in the neighborhood and it was hard to have 4i charitable opinion of the prisoner As to Gould he kept looking at Peter It seemed to him that this little policeman police-man who had rescued him was the most peculiar looking policeman he had ever beheld For a man perhaps five feet three inches tall to have boots afoot a-foot and a quarter long was something he had never seen before The young policemans face too looked if the din gas light did not deceive him like the face of a child How long have you been on the force inquired the money lender Peter reflected If he said that this was his first day the prisoner would see that he was a novice and might try to escape So instead of answering the asked another t Is your name Mc Gould he inquired in-quired Yes Well Mr Gould if a feller asked you how much money you had in your safe inside the store there whatd you say Mr Gould was silent Youd say None o your business Peter continued An thats what I say now Gould took the hint and asked no more questions Peter was jubilant He did not feel lonely a bit now although his companions compan-ions were not very good company What i luck he had had He had not been a policeman po-liceman for half an hour and yet he had made an arrest When they reached reach-ed the station house he hauled the prisoner up the steps with Goulds assistance in true policeman style When they entered the captains room the only person there was Fitzgerald Fitz-gerald in citizens clothes sitting at the captains desk Peter pulled his helmet over his eyes and changed his voice Into in-to a kind of grumble Wheres the captain he asked Fitzgerald did not look at the little policeman His attention was absorbed jy the prisoner Good Heavens youve jot Faxx he exclaimed Ive been laying for him for the last six months He rang a bell and two policemen cams iii Take him down stairs he said and the officers went out with the prisoner pris-oner Then for the first time Fitzgerald turned his attention to the selfmade policeman He looked at the boy harder and harder and Peter in spite of all his efforts could not help trailing Who in thunder are you anyway Fitzgerald asked at last Peter pulled down his helm so that his face was completely invisible Ive been taking Fitzgeralds place for the last half hour he said Fitzgerald laughed aloud and brought his list down on the desk I should salt you had well too You little rascal y oltre Peter Burke you areA are-A step was heard in the hallway and th captain came in He was a tall broad man with a long rsd heard Too bad you had that long swim for nothing Fitzgerald he said as he C I red but you might have known no one was drowning By the waYr Wilson says Faxon3 arrested Who got himFitzgerald g I Fitzgerald pDintefl to Peter Peter t took off his helmet and saluted thai I I I captain The captain and Phineas I i I GOuld stared at him in amazement I You exclaimed the captain at last Where did you get the clothesJ 1 Theyre my clothes said Fitzgerj I aid He explained to the captain how Peter had gained temporary possession 1of I them I I You see said Peter a he sat down on a chair and pulled off his blue trousers trou-sers they was heavy an I put emI em-I on sO as to carry em An then I found a couple o fellers jumpin on Mr Gould an I jumped on them One of iem ran away but we tackled the other didnt we Mr Gould By this time he hat the trousers off and looked funny enough In Fitzgeralds long bue coat and his own shout trousers The three speptators looked qn in wonder At last Peter had taken off all I 3ifs ta cl > thes and ceased f to bi appjlceinan o j Ive fired three car triages Mr Fitz geraWh paid jjiN Q > I guess Tit go home it y61idonftrniiifutMrrGouldH tell you all about it Gould loojeednncamfortable He fumbled fum-bled with hialitin j his pockets At last when f f ed speaking he tookout a quarter of ajdJDllar Youve done me a goo turn young feller he said Now youd young take this t remember majby The captain look ff displeased Fitzgerald Fitz-gerald scowled K Peter stood up very straight arid gave a military salute Article 21 he said No mem bar of the force shall receivea pecuniary pecu-niary duty compensation for dtiing his ROBERT BEVERLY HALE |