“I got it,” said Robin with a sheepish grin.
Mouse need never have worried, for it all happened just as Duck had laid it out. Quill followed Robin. Robin led him the usual merry chase until he gave out. Robin “hightailed” it back to St. Something. Mouse “hightailed” it to The Whole Hog, and then at last raced back with his report to four anxious, impatient boys.
“Wot took you?” asked Duck, even though Mouse had actually returned in little over an hour. This was confirmed by Robin’s all-important watch, which had been consulted at least once every other minute. Mouse, fortunately, was too out of breath from running to let Duck know what he thought of the question.
“Did … did you see Hawker Doak?” Robin asked hesitantly.
“I seed him,” replied Mouse.
“Quill too?” Robin asked.
Mouse nodded.
“Well, wot did you find out?” asked Duck.
“Was … was I right, I mean what I was thinking about Quill, and that he might not say anything to Hawker about finding me?” asked Robin.
Mouse stared at Robin for a few moments, and then slowly shook his head.
“Maybe I’d best tell you wot happened from the beginnin’, an’ you c’n figger it out,” he said with a shrug. “You were right ’bout one thing. This feller wot were thin’s a stick, like you said, come draggin’ in after I done arrived, and I knowed it were Quill. I’d got me a seat nex’ from where Hawker Doak were sittin’ with a fat man wot I guessed might o’ been this Maggot wot you tol’ us ’bout. There I sits holdin’ this can wot I picked up on the street, lookin’ like I were waitin’ ter git it filled fer me pa, when this Quill comes in and plunks hisself down like a stone nex’ ter Hawker.”
“‘Hawker, I ain’t goin’ ter do that no more,’ he says. His voice aint’ much more’n a whisper an’ got a queer little whistle in it. It gives me the creeps, I’ll tell you. ‘I’m wore ter a bone,’ he says, which are a ’orse laugh, ’cause he ain’t much more’n a bone any-ways.”
“C’mon, Mouse, git on with it,” said Duck. “Yer killin’ us all.”
“So Hawker says,” continued Mouse calmly, “‘You can’t quit on me now, Quill. Wot kind o’ friend are you? Besides, I’m payin’ you handsome, ain’t I?’
“‘He’s doin’ that, all right,’ says this feller Maggot.
“Then this Quill, he jist grumbles roun’ a bit. Then he says, ‘Whyn’t you jist let me pick him up where he’s shinin’ shoes and drag ’im back? I think he’s on ter me, one night he’s goin’ ter lead me plumb inter the nex’ county. Let me jist pick him up. Why not, Hawker?’
“‘I tol’ you why not,’ says Hawker. ‘It ain’t him I want. It’s the brat I want. The boy c’n go drown fer all I care. You keep follerin’ him. One day he’s goin’ ter let down ’is guard an’ lead you ter wot I’m lookin’ fer.’
“‘Nice thing, Hawker,’ says this Quill. ‘You git me all wore out, but you still ain’t tellin’ wot’s this all ’bout.’
“‘That’s right. I ain’t. It’s my business an’ ain’t nobody else’s. An’ now I’m starvin’. I’m goin’ home an’ git me some grub.’
“So Hawker got up an’ went,” concluded Mouse. “I stuck roun’ a while ter listen ter them two, Quill an’ Maggot, goin’ on ’bout wot Hawker were makin’ Quill do. But Maggot kep’ on tellin’ Quill wot good money Hawker were payin’ ’im, an’ if he knowed wot were good fer ’im, he’d shut right on up an’ do wot Hawker wanted. Then they upped an’ lef’. But Robin, I wanted you sh’d hear all I heerd, so you ain’t thinkin’ I were makin’ a mistake when I said as how I b’lieve you was wrong. It ain’t Quill wot’s back o’ all this. It’s yer Hawker Doak!”
“And it’s not me he wants,” said Robin. “It’s not even me and Danny. It’s just Danny, my baby brother.”
“Why?” asked Piggy, with round eyes.
Why? Robin had no answer to the question. All he knew was that it gave him a terrible feeling of dread deep inside him.
Why Danny?
Why?
Chapter XIII
Pawnshop Revisited
The next day it started to rain early in the morning. The rain continued all day. It continued the next day. And the next. And the next. It continued to rain and drizzle for six days, and there was no sign that it had any intention of letting up.
There was no use in anyone going out with a shoe-shine box in such weather, for who wanted to have their shoes shined standing out in the wet? And what was the point anyway of having shoes shined only to have them immediately in need of shining again? So while it was true that Robin was freed for the time being of having to escape from Quill, it was also true that nobody, including Robin, was earning any money.
For the first day, and perhaps even the second, it was pleasant to stay in the nice warm cellar and not feel guilty in the least about being there. And now that they had been found out and welcomed by Mr. Gribbins, there were no worries on that score.
The boys played skip rope with an old piece of rope Mr. Gribbins found for them. They played ball in the hallway, courtesy of a ball from the same source. They took turns wheeling Danny all around the cellar in a cart Mr. Gribbins had made for him. And they especially spent a great deal of time with their pencil stubs and pieces of paper, practicing the letters Robin was teaching them. But by the fourth day, they had become restless. And
