“He’s leavin’ with me,” snapped Hawker.
“Jist askin’,” said the boy.
As they had been talking, Robin had been digging into his jacket pocket, and managed to find something Hawker had missed in his earlier search. It was a one cent piece. As they turned to leave, Robin managed to flip the coin in an underhanded throw, and turn his head enough to see the boy catch it expertly and stuff it in his pocket. With another grin, he tipped his cap at Robin.
Robin was learning to like these street boys more and more. This one had saved his skin. He only wished he had had more to give, but he had to be satisfied knowing that the cent would buy the boy another chunk of bread.
As for Robin himself, what was to happen to him?
“Where are we going now?” he asked Hawker.
“You’re goin’ to your old home, boy,” snarled Hawker. “Where did you think?”
Chapter XV
A GOOD BOY
Robin was now Hawker Doak’s prisoner. He had seen Hawker remove the key from the inside lock, making certain, of course, that Robin had seen him doing it. And there had been a final click of a key turning in the lock outside when Hawker had gone out again. Oh yes, Robin was now his prisoner. Hawker left no doubt about that. It seemed that Robin was being guarded like one of Hawker’s precious stolen jewels.
Yet had Mouse not heard Hawker saying Robin could drown for all he cared? It was Danny he wanted. So, perhaps, like the spider who weaves his web to catch his prey, Robin was to be the web meant to catch Danny. But how? And when? All Robin knew was that Hawker made no further mention of him. It looked as if he had forgotten Danny altogether.
Instead, Robin continued a prisoner, himself the prey caught in Mr. Slyke’s cleverly woven web. And he was not only a prisoner in the apartment, but when he left it as well. For he was always in the company of Hawker, who never took his eyes off Robin for a moment.
Robin felt desperate. How was he ever to get word to the boys of what had happened to him, or find out from them if Danny was all right? As several days went by, this began to seem more and more impossible. And then one day, as he was going with Hawker to collect the rents, there was Mouse coming right toward them swinging his shoe box!
What was Mouse doing there? Robin knew Mouse was dangerously near his old neighborhood, and if caught by his pa, might well have a whole new crop of welts and bruises on his thin body by evening. Could Mouse be out scouting for Robin and not worrying about his own safety? But what if he spotted Robin and, without thinking, ran up to him before even noticing that Robin was with Hawker? Then, known to be Robin’s friend, might Hawker not cleverly have him followed by Quill, who could be led right to Danny? Much as Robin wanted to talk to Mouse, he must warn him away. Carefully, Robin lowered his hand to his side, and made a fist. Would Mouse understand that this time it meant danger, stay away?
Mouse, with a blank look on his face, drew closer and closer. He was soon so close that Robin could see the freckles on his nose. But what was that curious blinking he was doing with his eyes, looking up and down at a furious rate. Robin followed his eyes down, and there saw it—the fist matching his own at Mouse’s side!
It had all taken place in one heart-stopping moment. Mouse, without so much as a muscle twitching on his face, had passed them right by, and was gone. But he knew! And now they would all know that Robin was back in Hawker’s clutches and was his prisoner. There was nothing they could do to rescue him, any more than he could find a way to escape. But Robin knew he would at least sleep a little better that night, now that the boys knew what had happened to him.
There were actually times when Robin was not locked in the apartment and was out of Hawker’s sight. That was when he, Robin, was collecting rents in the dark, dank halls of the buildings Hawker managed, while Hawker himself sat outside waiting. But unless Robin could come up with a way of climbing out the window of one of the apartments, there was no escaping any building but through the front door.
It was the same, day in and day out. No one to talk to except Hawker, growling, grunting, snapping, or snarling at him. And still no mention of Danny. But Robin had to believe Hawker was up to something. He was certain of it. And the prospect was frightening. Then one day something happened that added to his fears.
He always dreaded collecting the rents, and dreaded even more finishing the job, coming out, and seeing the hulking body of Hawker Doak waiting for him at the side of the stairs. But one day he came from a building to find Hawker missing, not sitting in his usual place. Instead he was standing beside a carriage and horses that had stopped outside the building and was talking to a strange man. The man caught sight of Robin as soon as he stepped through the door, and said something to Hawker, nodding his head in Robin’s direction.
“Get over here, boy!” Hawker commanded him. “And be quick about it.” He had a sound in his voice Robin had never heard there before. It was a kind of nervous fear.
Robin ran over to the carriage, looking up at Hawker and waiting for his next instructions. But it was the man who spoke.
“Look up at me, boy,” he snapped.
And Robin found himself once again looking up into the cruel, dark eyes of the man whose shoes he had
