The boy went directly from the jail to the railroad tracks, nearly a
mile past the depot. He hid in the weeds along the track until a slow
freight passed, then climbed into the open door of a boxcar.
The string of freight cars was cut out of the train in the St. Paul
yards. The boy stayed inside his car until several hours after dark,
when he left his hiding place and went along the Mississippi, past
Carlson's Landing, and up to the post office. There he stopped and
seemed to be deciding what he should do next.
A half block away a policeman was checking the tires of parked cars.
The boy saw him and began walking rapidly in the opposite direction. He
hesitated at the street corner, then walked boldly out into the lighted
area of the intersection. He had nearly reached the opposite sidewalk
when he heard a shout behind him. He began to run. A police whistle
sounded shrilly.
* * * * *
When the boy entered the park he appeared to wander casually, with his
interest centered on no particular person or place, but his steps took
him down a diagonal walk that led to the young mother and the carriage.
The child of about six inside the carriage had a large head that
wobbled spasmodically above its thin frame.
The boy walked past the mother without attracting her attention, and
bent toward the child.
A terrified scream at his side jerked him erect.
"The beast!" The woman screamed with all the power in her lungs. She
sprang at the boy, still screaming, and dug clawed fingers into his
cheeks. "Get away from him, you beast! You horrible beast!"
Fear blossomed up into the boy's face at the woman's scream. He pushed
her aside and glared wildly about him.
The nearest exit from the park was just ahead. Swiftly he put his head
down and scurried through the exit. Once in the street he increased his
speed and ran for six blocks, past the auditorium, and across Seven
Corners, until the breath whistled in his throat. As he staggered to a
stop a police siren sounded behind him.
The boy forced his tired legs to move again and sprinted down an alley
that opened to his left. Halfway through the alley he heard the screech
of tires behind him--and the police siren was at his back. He came to
a low fence bordering the alley, between an apartment building and an
older, private, home. Without pausing he rested a hand on the fence
railing and vaulted over.
Beneath him as he hung suspended he saw a child's large sand box. His
right foot, with his weight behind it, landed on the handle of a toy
wagon, and his ankle twisted painfully under him. He sprawled forward,
ripping the skin of his forearm on the side of the sand box as he fell.
As quickly as he was able he pulled himself to his feet and limped
across the yard, past the small house, and out into the street. The
police siren still sounded behind him, and now another started up in
the block ahead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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