Roland Ashford Phillips

“ Sidwell whirled to face the constable of Rock Siding. “I’m not jumping bail,” he protested. “I intended coming back after lunch. I’ve an appointment in Dover, and——”
“You’d better keep the one in this town first,” interrupted Kent. “Get down. The train’s startin’.”
“Look here,” cried Sidwell, as Kent jerked him from the platform, “how long is this nonsense going to continue? You know I’m not the man you want.”
“Well,” said Kent, “maybe I don’t want you—but McCally does. And when he tells me to lock you up, I got to do it.”
“But you know that telegram was a mistake,” remonstrated the actor. ”

“ I wired you to lock up a certain Walter Sidwell, and the fool in my office sent the telegram as ‘Look up Walter Sidwell.’ I suppose the fellow’s cleared out by this time.”
Constable Kent betrayed none of the excitement he must have felt. “Oh, I looked up the fellow,” he explained, “but I didn’t find out much. What did you want to know about him?”
“Why, this Sidwell is a crook—one of the smartest in the business, too. He’s traveling with a cheap theatrical company, and pulls off different jobs along his route. In Branchville he broke into a jewelry store, and got away with a trayful of stuff. ”

“ Cooper, was standing on the platform of the rear coach.
“We’re too late,” announced Kent, mopping his forehead. “The operator took that train, and he won’t be back until mornin’. We’ll have to let matters rest till——”
“You can’t hold my man in jail all night,” protested the manager; “at least, not on the strength of this fool message. If you do, there’ll be trouble. You mark what I'm saying, too.”
Kent began to look at the matter from another viewpoint. False imprisonment was not a thing to be lightly treated. He studied over the situation while they walked back to the jail. ”

“ Maybe by to-morrow, when I hear from McCally.”
“Better let the man go right now,” suggested Cooper. “You’ll only make matters "worse. You’ve no legal right to hold him.”
But Kent was stubborn. The protests of the operator and the prisoner fell upon deaf ears. So fifteen minutes later Sidwell was locked in the cell he had occupied the previous day, and the constable was sitting in the office with his feet cocked up on the desk.
Ignorant of the actor’s fate, the Peerless Dramatic Company, bag, baggage, and manager, left Rock Siding on the noon train. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1969, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 54 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”