Free Conquering Kilmarni by Hugh Cave

long Zackie Leonard came walking down the driveway, Mongoose at his heels.
    At the sight of them, Peter thought his heart would stop beating. It was obvious Zackie did not know Corporal Buckley was standing by the veranda steps. Evidently he hadn't even considered the possibility that a policeman might be waiting for him. As he hurried to the table, with Mongoose bouncing along after him, he waved to Peter and said, "Hi!" Then when he stepped into the line, he had his back to the yard and did not see Corporal Buckley coming up behind him.
    There had been a hum of voices in the yard, as there always was when the workers assembled for their pay. It stopped dead now, and the policeman took his last few steps in a kind of frightening silence.
    Suddenly Zackie must have sensed he was the reason for that silence. A look of fear touched his face, and he spun around to see what was happening.
    The corporal's right hand closed on his arm. Mongoose voiced a shrill yelp of protest and dashed forward to grab a red-striped trouser leg in his teeth. Zackie all but twisted himself into a knot in his strug gle to escape, but it was no use. The corporal simply stood there and held him. Trying to help him, Mongoose tugged wildly at the man's pant leg. At the table, Peter leaned forward, almost not breathing as he waited to see what the policeman would do next.
    What he did was a surprise, in a way. Still holding on to Zackie, he looked down at the dog, gave the captured leg a shake, and said almost mildly, "Hey! You stop that now!" Then when Mongoose ignored him, he didn't kick the dog, as Peter thought he might, but only reached down with his free hand, picked Mongoose up by the scruff of the neck, and held him off the ground until he let go. When he was dropped, Mongoose backed away a yard or so and sat there looking up at the corporal, as if puzzled by such nonviolent behavior.
    Then the corporal turned his attention to the boy and did what he had told Peter's father he would do. He asked questions. "Zackie," he said, "there has been a lot of thieving going on around here in the past few days. Are you the one doing it?"
    Zackie stopped staring at Mongoose and shifted his gaze to the corporal. "No!" he answered loudly.
    "Why should I believe you when you say that?" the policeman demanded. "Tell me why, please. You were caught stealing in Mr. Lee's shop not long ago."
    "That different! Me daddy, him sick with a bad headache and did want some aspirin, and me didn't have nuh money fe buy it!" Zackie meant, Peter supposed, that he hadn't had any money in his pockets, because even then he must have had some hidden in his secret garden. "Anyway, me never did steal the aspirin," Zackie protested loudly. "Mr. Lee did run me out of him shop before me could take it."
    The corporal continued to hold him, while everyone present, including Mongoose, watched and waited. "Zackie, I went to your house last night to talk to you, and you weren't there. Where were you?" he demanded.
    Zackie hesitated for a few seconds while returning the man's stare. Then he said defiantly, "Me not saying where in front of all these people, Corpie. Someone could tell me daddy."
    "You mean your father doesn't know where you were? What's going on here, anyway? Are you hiding from him?"
    Zackie nodded reluctantly.
    "Why?" the policeman wanted to know.
    Mr. Devon answered that from the table. "Because this boy shot a wild pig on my property, Corporal, and his father wanted it."
    The tall policeman turned his head. "I thought you didn't allow shooting on this property, Mr. Devon."
    "I don't. But that's a matter for the boy and me to settle."
    "And his father wanted the pig? To sell, you mean?"
    "To sell, yes. So he could buy more rum to stay drunk on, it would seem. And I believe there are some other things you ought to know before you accuse this boy of stealing," Mr. Devon added quietly. "So why don't you and I have a little talk at the house, Corporal, as soon as I'm finished