Truant

“ Trant descended the stairs, took his instrument case from the motor, and with young Edwards crossed the street quickly to the saloon.
CHAPTER III. THE CLEVER PENCIL.
A dozen idlers leaned against the bar or sat in chairs tilted against the wall. Trant examined these idlers one after another closely. The only man at whom he did not seem to look was one who, as the only red-headed man in the place, must plainly be Meyan. “Red-headed” was the only description they had of him, but meager as it was, with the landlady’s statement that he was in the saloon, Trant resolved to test him. ”

“ Young Winton Edwards, watching as curiously as the others, saw Trant fasten the sphygmograph on the mechanic's arm, and the stylus point commence to trace on the sooty surface a wavy line, the normal record of the mechanic's pulse.
“You see it!” Trant pointed out to the others the record, as it unwound slowly from the drum. “Every thought you have, every feeling, every sensation— taste, touch, smell—changes the beating of your heart and shows upon this little record. ”

“ Authors of “The Eleventh Hour” and “The Man Higher Up.”
uther Trant, on the rainy morning of April 13th, sat alone in his office. On his wrist, as he bent closely over a heap of typewritten pages spread before him on his desk, a small instrument in continual motion ticked like a watch. It was for him an hour of idleness; he was reading fiction. And with his passion for making visible and recording the workings of the mind, he was taking a permanent record of his feelings as he read.
The instrument strapped on Trant's arm was called a sphygmograph. ”

“ Trunk, "that, as the ladies had so much curiosity, they did not go and see him in his bath."
"Well, the fact is," replied Mr. Parrot, "that they did try, but the monster would only just show them the tip of his nose."
"He has become quite a nuisance to the neighbourhood," said Mr. Trunk.
"I wonder," observed the conveyancer, "if the Alderman could put him down?"
"Put him down!" growled Trunk again; "the fellow's too fat. You might as well try to put down a whale!" ”

“ Ten minutes later a boy showed Trant into the young president's private room. If the psychologist had never seen Walter Eldredge's portrait in the papers he could have seen at a glance that he was a man trained to concentrate his attention on large matters; and he as quickly recognized that the pale, high-bred, but weak features of Eldredge's companion belonged to a dependent, subordinate to the other. ”

“ In the rear, as well as Trant could see it in the indistinct glare of the street lamps, the building seemed to fall away into a single rambling story.
As the psychologist rang the bell and was admitted, he saw at once that he had not been mistaken in believing that the cab which had passed his motor only an instant before had come from the same house; for the mild-eyed, white-haired little man, who opened the door almost before the bell had stopped ringing, had not yet taken off his overcoat. ”

“ Trant, you do not know—you cannot understand—what shadows and pitfalls surround a man in the position Mr. Bronson held. That is why, though for two years we had known and loved each other, he waited so long before asking me to marry him. I am thankful that he spoke in time to give me the right to defend him now before the world! They took his life; they shall not take his good name! No! No! They shall not! Help me, Mr. Trant, if you can—help me!"
"Inspector Walker!" said Trant tensely, "I understand that all of the sixteen men of the ring claimed alibis. ”

“ All the yards, however, were trimmed nicely, showing Trunnell's master hand, and on the mainmast, bellying and straining with the pressure, was a new storm spencer, set snug and true, holding the plunging vessel up to the great rolling sea that came like a living hill from the southwest. Forward, a bit of a staysail was set as taut as a drumhead, looking no bigger than a good-sized handkerchief. Aft, a trysail, set on the spanker boom, helped the tarpaulin in the mizzen to bring her head to the sea. ”

“ Sam Shehan leaned against a tree, dour and unprepossessing, so much so that Elsie said to Trant,
"I can't imagine why you employ that man; he has such a horrid face, and you know people used to say he was a cattle-stealer."
Trant laughed. "He is a reformed character now, Miss Valliant, and he is devoted to me and Blake. You see we gave him his chance. A fellow can't help being born with a sour expression, can he? His appearance is against him. There isn't a better stockman than Sam Shehan on the Luya."
"The half-castes look as if they ought to belong to a pantomime," said Lady Waveryng. ”

“ The sooner the quicker, eh? Supposen the question was asked you, Mr. Rolling, what'd you say, hey? Why is Mr. Trunnell like a lady's bouquet, hey? Why is the little man like a bunch of flowers? Don't insult him, Mr. Rolling. The sanitary outfit of the cabin is all right. 'Tain't that. No, split me, it ain't that. Think a minute."
Trunnell walked to and fro without a word, while the captain grinned. The fellow at the wheel, Bill Spielgen, a square-cut man with an angular face and enormous hands, stared sullenly into the binnacle.
"It's because he's a daisy," rapped out the skipper. ”

“ Trant stooped to the keyhole and found it plugged with paper. He caught the transom bar, set his foot upon the knob and, drawing himself up, pushed against the transom. It resisted; but he pounded it in, and, as its glass panes fell tinkling, the fumes of illuminating gas burst out and choked him.
"A foot," he called down to his trembling companions, as he peered into the darkened room. "Some one on the lounge!"
Dropping down, he hurried to a recitation room across the corridor and dragged out a heavy table. ”

“ Trant's voice. It couldn't have been Mr. Trant. It can't be anything you know of. Tell me." She caught his arm. And yet the idea was absurd. His laugh dispelled her vague fancy.
"Cattle stealing! Yes, most likely. If Sam Shehan is up to that devilry it must be stopped. Trant, why what are you thinking of? He went away half an hour ago, and now I think of it that couldn't have been Sam Shehan, for he had to have the horses ready, and they were all going together. No, Elsie, my dear, whatever Trant's sins may be, he is not accessory to cattle-stealing." ”

“ Then Trant picked up the testimony of Miss Hendricks, which read as follows:
It so happened that I was looking out of the library window—though I do not often look out at the window for fear people will think I am watching them—when I saw the automobile containing Mrs. Eldredge, Edward, the maid, and the chauffeur stop at the edge of the park driveway opposite the Eldredge home. The chauffeur descended and began doing something to the front of the car. But Mrs. Eldredge looked eagerly around in all directions, and finally toward the street corner on which our house stands ”

“ Glad to see more of the splendid garden, Trudel did what he asked, and with a good deal of fluttering, scolding, and pecking, the Prince was again settled on his perch.
"Your arm is bleeding! Let me tie it up for you; and here is my cake to pay you for helping me. Mamma would have been very angry if Prince had been lost," said the boy, as he wet his little handkerchief in a tank of water near by, and tied up Trudel's arm.
The tank was surrounded by pots of tulips; and on a rustic seat lay the lad's hat and a delicious large kuchen, covered with comfits and sugar. ”

“ The test I am going to make may seem so trivial to these gentlemen that I am glad to have a practical man like yourself here who has seen more in such a test as the one I am going to make now, than can appear on the surface."
"'More than appears on the surface' is the word, Mr. Trant," the captain cried impulsively. "Mr. Sheppard, it's myself has told you about Mr. Trant before; and I'll back anything he does to the limit, since I see him catch the Bronson murderer, as I just told you, by a one-cell battery that would not ring a door bell." ”

“ The glass front of the cabinet in which my papers were kept had been broken, and a charred mass, still smoking, in the center of the composition floor of the study was all that we could find of the papers which represented my father's and my own life work, Mr. Trant. The woman whose footsteps only the instant before had been heard in the study by Iris and the gardener besides the others, had completely disappeared, in spite of the fact that there was no possible place for a woman, or even a child, to conceal herself in the study, or to leave it except by the door which the others entered! ”

“ The wall isn't really so steep as it looks. But," he added hastily, "it is far more likely that there has been a stockman here at some time—Sam Shehan, who threw the shoe against the rock and struck our hole with it probably, for I am quite of Mr. Frank Hallett's opinion," added Trant with candour, "that in the days before his reformation, Sam Shehan did a little cattle-duffing business and made use of this place, which is out of the way, and yet close at hand, as a plant." ”

“ The Trunk is as the Father, because both the Branches and Fruit are produc'd from it; the Branches are as the Son, in that they are produc'd from the Trunk as so many Arms or Conveyance for distributing to Mankind, all that proceeds from the Trunk. ”

“ Trant will do—for some one unknown to him—the greatest possible service—to save perhaps a life—a life! I beg him to come to —— Ashland Avenue between seven and nine o'clock to-night! Eleven! For God's sake come—between seven and nine! Later will be too late. Eleven! I tell you it may be worse than useless to come after eleven! So for God's sake—if you are human—help me! You will be expected.
"W. Newberry."
The psychologist glanced at his watch swiftly. ”

“ At once the needle of the galvanometer leaped across the scale, and Crowley and Walker both stared.
"Thank you, inspector," said Trant as he rose from the chair. "It works very well; you see, my palms couldn't help sweating when you snapped the gun at me before I appreciated that it wasn't loaded. Now, we'll test Caylis as we did Kanlan."
The inspector went to the door, took Caylis from Sweeny, and led him to the chair.
"Sit down," he said. "Mr. Trant wants to talk to you." ”

“ At this point the shutter lifted and exposed a word. "What was the word, please, Mrs. Eldredge?"
"'Sedate,'" the woman faltered.
"But though the tests seem pointless, Mrs. Eldredge, they are not really so. To the trained investigator each test word is as full of meaning as each mark upon the trail is to the backwoodsman on the edge of civilization. Now what word was that?" he questioned quickly, as the shutter raised and lowered again.
The woman turned her dilated eyes on Trant. "That—that," she hesitated—"I could make it out only as 'p-i-o-s-e-e-r,'" she spelled, uneasily. ”

“ Just short of the end of the open dock houses, where a string of arc lamps threw their white and flickering light upon the huge, black side of a moored steamer, Rentland turned into a little shed, and the two came suddenly upon Customs Officer Dickey.
"This one next to us," the little man whispered, eagerly, to Trant, as he grasped his hand, "is the scale house where whatever is being done is done—No. 3." ”

“ Trunnell seldom bragged, and we crowded around, looking for quick results.
"A little bit o' trunk a-breakin' the backs o' a pair o' fellows as has the impudence to say they are men an' question the discipline o' the ship!" he said, with a loud grunt of disgust. "Stan' clear an' let a man have a chanst. If it's gold, an' ye're right, it'll rattle an' jingle fast enough; an' I hopes then ye'll be satisfied." ”

“ As may be imagined, a tree that has been robbed of three or four truncheons, is not improved in appearance, and it takes much time to cover up the space left bare. The limbs once cut off, should be placed in the holes prepared for them as soon as possible; so much so, that both acts should be performed simultaneously, but if through an unavoidable delay, owing to distance of transportation, or some similar cause, the truncheon should have dried somewhat, soak it in water for a day or two, and then put it in wet earth to a depth of two, or two and a half feet. ”

“ Trunnell straightened up quickly, staggered for an instant, and then pitched forward over the trunk, uttering a fierce oath.
Mrs. Sackett screamed. Jennie burst into a wild fit of laughter. Chips and Gunning stood staring with open mouths and eyes, while Trunnell picked himself up, with the trunk handle in his iron fist.
"Faith, an' ye are a good strong man," said the carpenter. "Ye'd make a fortune as a porter a-liftin' trunks at a hotel."
"He can lift a little thing like that," said Jennie, mimicking the mate's tone to perfection. ”

“ Yes, sir, wimmen have been my ruin, an' I'm that scared o' them I can raise them afore their topmast is above the horizon. Sink me, if that ain't one." And he leered at the figure of the third mate, whom we knew as Mr. Bell.
"What would a woman be doing here as third mate?" I asked; for although I had come to the same conclusion some days before, I had said nothing to any one about it.
"That's the old man's affair," said Trunnell; "it may be his wife, or it may be his daughter, but any one can see that the fellow's pants are entirely too big in the heft for a man. ”

“ I was quite tired from the effects of the gale, and the morning watch is always a cheerless one. The steward had coffee ready, however, and after a good drink I felt better, and got out the glass to see if I could make out the Sovereign. We had been drifting all night, so that in the mid-watch Trunnell wore ship and stood up for her to keep in sight. There she lay, about three miles away off our port beam. Her topsail was the only canvas she had set, and she was so low in the water that I could not see her deck amidships at that distance. ”