Wizard Will, the Wonder Worker

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XIII.--PUT TO THE TEST.

  Before more could be said by any of the band, a bell rang over in thedumb-waiter, and two men at once stepped to the cupboard and began toplace dishes upon the table, preparatory to having supper.

  Will was told to sit down on a chair, and the coming meal, rather thanthe boy prisoner, seemed to occupy the thoughts of the rude gathering.By the time that the table was set, with a plate, knife, fork, teacupand spoon for each, and a dish of butter and large bowl of sugar in thecentre, a second ring came at the dumb-waiter, and up from the depthsbelow appeared the supper.

  The two men, whose duty it seemed, put the supper on the table, and itwas by no means a repast to be refused, for there was hot coffee, milk,hot biscuit, steak, potatoes and preserves.

  Will was told to "Take a seat youngster, and pitch in, for you don'tknow how soon yer rations will be cut short."

  He had eaten but a light breakfast, and nothing since, so he obeyed theinjunction with a gusto, winning the admiration of the men at his pluckin not losing his appetite when his fate hung so in the balance ofuncertainty.

  But Will had made up his mind that though he was in a tight place, hewould not despair, but find some way to get out, and the means of doingso did not worry him until the time came for action.

  He had read the papers, and he knew that almost under the eyes of thepolice there were bands of evil men who would rob and kill without mercyto gain gold.

  That he had fallen into the hands of some such wicked men he did notdoubt; but he did not despair of working out his own salvation in someway, when he was assured just what their game was that they intended towin by playing him as a trump card.

  So Will ate his supper with apparent relish, and rising, thanked thempolitely and resumed his former seat.

  "You've been well raised, boy," said Jerry. "What is your name?"

  "Will Raymond, sir," said the boy, returning to his old name, for whilewith the colonel he had taken that of Ivey, at his request.

  "What do you do?"

  "Anything I can earn money at to support my sick mother and littlesister."

  "Well, how would you like to become a rich man's son?"

  "I don't know what you mean."

  "The captain sent you here because you resembled somebody, didn't he?"

  "He gave me a letter to bring to you, and said you would give me twodollars for doing the errand."

  "Well, that was a bait to get you here; but if you do as I say, you'lldo better by far than make two dollars."

  "What must I do?"

  "Do you see this photograph?" and he held up a picture before Will of asmall boy, perhaps seven years of age.

  "Yes, sir."

  "This photograph looks just as you did six years ago, and then your namewas Willie Rossmore. Your home was in Baltimore, or rather near it, andthese are photographs of the place, and a handsome one it was.

  "You went out in the grounds, just here, running away from your nurse,and two men, passing along the highway in a buggy, took you with them.

  "They carried you far away, treated you well, and took you to a farm inthe West, where one day I found you, and you told me your story and Iimmediately recognized you as a boy stolen years ago, and whosephotograph I had often seen published in the papers.

  "Your father, Mr. Rossmore, is a very rich man, and he has offered fiftythousand dollars for your return, and I will get it.

  "Now, my boy, I wish you to study these photographs of your old home,and here is the name of the servants who were at the house then, andyour nurse was an old coloured woman, Auntie Peggy.

  "These are the clothes you had on when you were stolen; they are raggednow, for you wore them a long time, and when you got others you keptthese. You had this ring on your forefinger then, but you can wear itnow on your left hand little finger--see, it just fits."

  "What has become of the real little boy that was stolen?" asked Will,quietly.

  The men all exchanged peculiar glances with each other, and one said:"Tell him, Jerry, so that he'll know we won't stand any nonsense."

  "Well, he would not behave as we wished him to, and he would remembertoo much, and so we dared not take him back to get the reward, you see."

  "And is he dead?"

  "You've hit it, he is, for one day he left our camp, as we were crossingthe prairie in Nebraska, not very many miles from Fort McPherson, and wefound him lying under a solitary tree, mighty near dead from starvation;and he died, and we buried him there, cutting his name into the tree, asa monument, as any emigrant folks would who had lost a young one.

  "Poor little fellow, he had better have done as you wished, and so beenable to get home."

  "Boy, you've got wisdom above your years, and you'll play our littlegame for us with a handful of trumps and a card or two up your sleeve, Ican tell you.

  "I guess you've been nipped by hunger, and wish a soft thing of it forlife, don't you?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "And you'll talk our way, won't you?"

  "Oh, yes, sir; only it will be very sad for my poor mother and sister tolose me."

  "No, for you can write them that you had a chance to go West, and I'lltake the letter and some money to them, and you bet we'll keep them fromwant and send them lots of things, while if you don't like it where yougo, you can just skip out after you've got together a nice little sum ofmoney, for we don't care so long as we get the reward for your return,and you shall have five thousand of that, for I'll keep you posted wherewe are, and you can have the money any time you call for it."

  "This looks fair, sir; but I hate to leave my mother and little sister,though I do want to make money."

  "Well, you write your mother a letter, and I'll see that she gets itto-morrow, and I'll put a cool fifty in it for her, too.

  "Now, write your letter, and then study over those photographs, thislist of names, and the lesson I have here for you," and Jerry handedWill various slips of paper.

  "Now, lad," he continued, "if you play this game right, you'll get all Isay; but if you play us false, you'll be knifed sure, so just bear thatin mind."

  "I don't wish to die, and I'd rather be rich than poor, if I can takecare of my mother and sister, and they don't find out I am deceivingthem."

  "They'll never know it, lad, and it was a lucky find the captain made inyou, for you look just what we want, and have got the sense to play thegame through.

  "I tell you, though, we had a time with Willie Rossmore, up to his deaththree years ago, for we had to travel about with him, hide him, watchhim, and were going to take him to an Indian camp to live for a year orso to make him forget, when he ran off and died on the prairie. But youlook like him exactly, though you are older by a year or so, but thatdon't make any difference. Now there's a pen and ink, and here's yourlesson to study, while we play a game of cards."

  Will sat down at a shelf that served as a desk, and began to "study hislesson," as Night Hawk Jerry had called it.

  He wrote a letter to his mother, and at last the men began to turn in,each one going to his bunk, while the boy was also given one, andcrawling into the berth, appeared to be sound asleep, while the last manretiring put out the lamp, and only the light from the stars, twinklingthrough the skylights, pervaded the large room, and the sonorousbreathing of the sleepers soon showed that, guilty beings though theywere, no twinges of conscience kept them awake.