Hold on! puffed Sammy, coming finally to the bottom of the slope. I aint going to run my head off for any old calf Huh!
From behind a clump
hands again and bowed low before her.
Please! Excuse! he said. I admire all your family, oh, so very much! But it is to you who put in the paper the words here, about the very ancient silver bracelet. Again that woodpecker rapping on the Lost and Found column in the Post . No?
Yes. I put the advertisement in the paper, acknowledged Agnes, but wishing very much that she had not, or that Neale ONeil was present at this exciting moment to help her handle the situation.
So! I have come for it, cried the swarthy man, as though the matter were quite settled.
But Agnes mind began to function pretty well again. She determined not to be rushed. This strange foreigner might be perfectly honest. But there was not a thing to prove that the bracelet given to Tess and Dot by the Gypsy women belonged to him.
How do you know, she asked, that the bracelet we have in our possession is the one you have lost?
I? Oh, no, lady! I did not lose the ancient heirloom. Oh, no.
But you say
I am only its rightful owner, he explained. Had Queen Almas bracelet been in my possession it never would have been lost and so found by the so gracious Kenway. Indeed, no!
Then, what have you come here for? cried Agnes, in some desperation. I cannot give the bracelet to anybody but the one who lost it
You say here the owner! cried the man, beginning again the woodpecker tapping on the paper.
But how do I know you own it? she gasped.
Show it me. In one moments time can I tell at the one glance, was the answer of assurance. Oh, yes, yes, yes!
These yeses were accompanied by the emphatic tapping on the paper. Agnes wondered that the Post at that spot was not quite worn through.
Perhaps it was fortunate that at this moment Neale ONeil came in. That he came direct from the garage and apparently from a struggle with oily machinery, both his hands and face betrayed.
Hey! he exploded. If we are going to take Mr. Pinkney out on a cross-country chase after that missing pirate this afternoon, weve got to get a hustle on. You going to be ready, Aggie? Mr. Pinkney gets home at a quarter to one.
Oh, Neale! cried Agnes, turning eagerly to greet the boy. Talk to this man do! I dont know what to say to him.
The boys countenance broadened in a smile.
Say Hullo! and How-de-do!Hows the world a-using you?
Costello that me, interposed the strange junkman. He gazed curiously at Neale with his snapping black eyes. You are not Kenway here in the pape?
Again the finger tapped upon the Lost and Found column in the Post . Neale shook his head. He glanced out of the open door and spied the wagon and its informative sign.
You are a junkman, are you, Mr. Costello?
Yes, yes, yes! I buy the pape, buy the rag and bot buy anytheeng I get cheap. But not to buy do I come this time to Mees Kenway. No, no! I come because of this in the paper.
His tapping finger called attention again to the advertisement of the bracelet. Neale expelled a surprised whistle.
Oh, Aggie! he said, is he after the Gypsy bracelet?
The swarthy mans face was all eagerness again.
Yes, yes, yes! he sputtered. I am Gypsy. Spanish Gypsy. Of the tribe of Costello. I am what you say? direct descendent of Queen Alma who live three hunder maybe more year ago, and she own that bracelet the honest Kenway find!
She shes dead, then? This Queen Alma? stammered Neale.
Si, si! Yes, yes! But the so-antique bracelet descend by right to our family. That Beeg Jeem
He burst again into the language he had used before which was quite unintelligible to either of his listeners; but Neale thought by the mans expression of countenance that his opinion of Beeg Jeem was scarcely to be told in polite English.
Wait! Neale broke in. Lets get this straight. We we find a bracelet which we advertise. You say the bracelet is yours. Where and how did you lose it?
I already tell the honest Kenway, I do not lose it.
It was stolen from you, then?
Yes, yes, yes! It was stole. A long ago it was stole. And now Beeg Jeem say he lose it. You find yes?
This seems to be complicated, Neale declared, shaking his head and gazing wonderingly at Agnes. If you did not lose it yourself, Mr. Costello
But it is mine! cried the man.
We dont know that, said Neale, somewhat bruskly. You must prove it.
Prove
that, answered Neale. All the more reason why we must be careful who gets it now. If it is honestly your bracelet you will get it, Mr. Costello. But you will have to see Miss Kenways guardian and let him decide.
Her what you call it does he have the bracelet? cried the man.
He will have it. You go there to-morrow. I will give you his address. To-morrow he will talk to you. He is not in his office to-day. He is a lawyer.
Oh, la, la! The law! I no like the law, declared Costello.
No, I presume you Gypsies dont, muttered Neale, pulling out an envelope and the stub of a pencil with which to write the address of Mr. Howbridges office. There it is. Now, that is the best we can do for you. Only, nobody shall be given the bracelet until you have talked with Mr. Howbridge.