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JAKES IN PURSUIT. Coupon bonds, and other stories |  |
5. V.
JAKES IN PURSUIT.
Among the officers sent out in pursuit of the fugitive
from the Asylum was the superintendent of the Asylum
farm, a stout, red-faced man, named Jakes, — a brother,
by the way, of our friend Colonel Jakes of Coldwater.
He took with him an Irish laborer named Collins, also a
strong rope with which to bind, and a coarse farmer's suit
with which to clothe, the madman when caught.
The superintendent and his man put a horse before a
light carryall, and had a fine time driving about on the
pleasant country roads, while others of the pursuing party
scoured fields and woods on foot. At last they struck the
Longtrot road, and turned off toward Coldwater.
They had not driven far in that direction before they
saw a man coming in a buggy.
“A minister, ye may know by his white choker,” observed
Collins.
“You 're right, Patrick,” said Jakes, “and I vow, I
believe I know who he is! I know that bay mare,
anyhow. She 's a brute my brother over in Coldwater got
shaved on by a travelling jockey; and he told me last
week, with a grin on one side of his face, he had put her
off on the minister. I bet my head that 's Parson Dodd!
Jakes reined up on the roadside. “Have you seen — have
you met — hold on, if you please, sir — a minute!”
Thus appealed to, the stranger stopped his horse.
Superintendent Jakes thought that face was somehow
familiar, and so thought Collins. In fact, they had seen
it more than once about the Asylum grounds, within a
few days, as the owner of the said face knew very well.
But since one sometimes fails to recognize old friends
in strange circumstances, it is no wonder that these
farmers did not identify the new patient in Dodd's
clothes.
“We 're looking for a crazy man that got away from the
Asylum this morning,” said Jakes. “A man about five feet
nine or ten. Rather portly. Good-looking and gentlemanly
when dressed; but he ran off naked. Have you
seen or heard of such a man?”
“I have n't seen anybody crazier than you or I,” said
the supposed parson.
This sounded so much like a joke, thought uttered very
gravely, that Jakes was tempted to speak of the bay
mare.
“I think I know that beast you 're driving. You had
her of Colonel Jakes of Coldwater, did n't you? Well,
he 's my brother. Your name is Dodd, I believe.”
“I have been called Dodd. But can you tell me what
my first name is? It begins with E,” said the driver of
the bay mare, with a shrewd, almost a cunning look, which
did not strike Jakes as being very ministerial. Yet he had
heard that Dodd was something of a joker.
“I never heard you called anything but Parson Dodd.
Yes, I have too. You made a speech at the convention;
I read it in the paper. E stands for Ebenezer.”
“Thank you,” said the other. “I 'm glad I 've found
his eyes on the ground.
“How do you find the mare?” said Jakes, by way of
retort.
“Perfect; arrangements all perfect.”
“That so? No bad tricks? Of course she 's all right;
glad you find her so,” grinned Jakes.
“How far is it to Longtrot?” asked the counterfeit Dodd.
“About a mile 'n' a half — two mile — depends upon
where in Longtrot you 're going.”
“Do you know Selwyn?”
“Minister Selwyn, preacher in the yaller meetin'-house?
I don't know him, but I know of him. How does she
start off?”
“You shall see.”
The bay mare started off very well; and the fugitive
from the Asylum, having obtained from his pursuer rather
more valuable information than he gave in return, disappeared
over the crest of the hill, on his way to the “yaller
meetin'-house” in Longtrot.
“Wonder if she re'lly ha'n't balked with him yet?” said
Superintendent Jakes, as he drove on. “I guess he 's a
jolly sort of parson. I 've seen him somewhere, sure 's the
world, though I can't remember where.”
“You have, and I was there,” said Collins; “though
where it was, I remember no more than yourself.”
They made inquiries for the fugitive all along the route,
but could hear of no more extraordinary circumstance, that
Sunday morning, than a runaway horse, seen by one or
two families, as it passed on the road to Longtrot.
“It must have gone by before we turned the corner,”
said Jakes, “for we 've seen no nag but the parson's.”
At last they came in sight of a little red-painted house,
standing well back from the street. “This is the home of
'em a call.”
He turned up the lane, driving between the house and
the rye-field, and stopped in front of the wood-shed. The
dog, still bristling from his recent excitement, gave a surly
bark, and went growling away. At the same time, five
vivacious female faces appeared, three in the doorway and
two at an open window, and “set up such cackling” (as
Jakes ungallantly expressed it) that he could “hardly hear
himself think.”
“Is this Mr. Jakes?” cried one.
“From the Asylum?” cried another.
“I told you so, sister! I told you so!” cried a third.
“I knowed the man was —” cried a fourth.
“Crazy!” cried the fifth, and all together.
“Dog Bruce chased him out of the rye —”
“Sneaked off behind the fences —”
“Over toward Neighbor Lapham's —”
“An' sister Delia declares —”
“Hush, hush, sister!”
“Yes, I will! She declares she believes he had n't a
rag o' clothin' to his back!”
“Thank you,” said Jakes, having got all the information
he wanted almost without the asking. “He 's my man!
Thank ye, sisters! Good morning.”
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JAKES IN PURSUIT. Coupon bonds, and other stories | |