very near the
station-house. Just as Ben pronounced the last words, the thief gathered
all his strength, and broke from the grasp of the officer, whose hold
was momentarily relaxed. Once free he showed an astonishing rapidity.

The officer hesitated for an instant, for he had another prisoner to
guard.

"Go after him," exclaimed Ben, eagerly. "Don't let him escape. I'll stay
where I am."

The conviction that the escaped party was the real thief determined the
policeman to follow Ben's advice. He let him go, and started in rapid
pursuit of the fugitive.

Ben sat down on a doorstep, and awaited anxiously the result of the
chase.

CHAPTER XX.

HOW ALL CAME RIGHT IN THE MORNING.

It is quite possible that the pickpocket would have made good his
escape, if he had not, unluckily for himself, run into another
policeman.

"Beg your pardon," he said, hurriedly.

"Stop a minute," said the officer, detaining him by the arm, for his
appearance and haste inspired suspicion. He was bare-headed, for his hat
had fallen off, and he had not deemed it prudent to stop long enough to
pick it up.

"I'm in a great hurry," panted the thief. "My youngest child is in a
fit, and I am running for a physician."

This explanation seemed plausible, and the policeman, who was himself
the father of a family, was on the point of releasing him, when the
first officer came up.

"Hold on to him," he said; "he's just broken away from me."

"That's it, is it?" said the second policeman. "He told me he was after
a doctor for his youngest child."

"I think he'll need a doctor himself," said the first, "if he tries
another of his games. You didn't stop to say good-by, my man."

"I told you I had an important engagement," said the pickpocket,
sulkily,--"one that I cared more about than the money. Where's the boy?"

"I had to leave him to go after you."

"That's a pretty way to manage; you let the thief go in order to chase
his victim."

"You're an able-bodied victim," said the policeman, laughing.

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm going back for the boy. He said he'd wait till I returned."

"Are you green enough to think you'll find him?" sneered the man in
charge.

"Perhaps not; but I shouldn't be surprised if I did. If I guess right,
he'll find it worth his while to keep his promise."

When they returned to the place where the thief had first effected his
escape, our hero was found quietly sitting on a wooden step.

"