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 shined outside the front doors of St. Something! Eyes that now seemed to be piercing Robin’s brain as he studied Robin’s face curiously with narrowed eyes.
“Do you shine shoes?” he asked abruptly.
Robin had no choice but to nod. After all, it was what Quill had found him doing for a number of days, and there was no reason to think it had not been reported to Hawker.
“Then are you not the boy who shined my shoes for me outside St. Katherine’s Church some days ago?” the man asked.
“No, sir. I … I don’t know where that is,” replied Robin, praying that the man’s eyes were not actually able to see into his brain, or could hear his heart pounding in his chest. For St. Katherine’s Church was, in truth, no other than St. Something!
The man continued studying Robin’s face. “I don’t often make such mistakes,” he said. Then he added as if it were an indifferent afterthought, “You’re not a boy given to lying, are you?”
“N-no, sir,” replied Robin, hoping his face did not betray him, which he felt was what the question was supposed to accomplish. It otherwise made no sense, for who in their right mind would have answered “yes” to it?
“All right, boy,” Hawker said roughly. “You wait for me on the steps until I finish talkin’ with Mr. Highcrofft.”
When Robin had left them, the men continued talking in low voices. Mr. Highcrofft appeared agitated and angry. And as he walked back to the apartment with Robin, Hawker was sunk in deep silence.
The following afternoon, Robin was not taken out with Hawker, but was left locked in the apartment. When the supper hour came, as announced by the chipped enamel clock sitting on the kitchen counter, there was nothing to prepare for a meal, because the kitchen cupboards were empty. The food brought in for Robin, who was naturally not allowed out to buy any for himself, was as little as Hawker felt obliged to provide just to keep him alive. So Robin stayed hungry most of the time. He would only have something to eat that evening when Hawker returned home.
But it was not too much longer before Hawker came stamping through the front door. And he was smiling! Or at least what passed for a smile with him.
“Well, now we got a treat for supper tonight,” he said. “It’s cake with real sugar frostin’ on it. And I’ll sit down and share it with you b-b … Robin.”
Cake? Sharing? Robin? Was Hawker ill? Was his mind gone? What was this all about? Robin could not even begin to guess, and he could not see himself asking Hawker to explain.
Hawker’s attempt at making conversation as he sat stuffing the larger portion of the cake into himself was purely laughable.
“How was your day?” he asked Robin.
“It … it was fine,” replied Robin, whose day had been as dull and dreary as always. But should he now ask Hawker how his own day was? Was it expected? “H-how was yours?” he finally blurted.
“Good,” replied Hawker, his mouth so full of cake the crumbs were spilling out. “Hey, you know somethin’? If you keep on bein’ a good boy like you been doin’, I’m givin’ some thought to sendin’ you back to school. How’d you like that, eh?”
“I … I … I would, thank you,” the stunned Robin managed to reply.
Hawker then stood up, putting a welcome end to the conversational attempt. “All right, I’ll be thinkin’ more about it,” he said, giving a swipe across his mouth with his shirt sleeve. “Now I’m goin’ out. See you go to bed and get your rest.”
Robin was too startled by this last expression of interest in him even to reply. But Hawker, undoubtedly up to his neck with being pleasant, stumped out and slammed the door in his usual manner. That did not bother Robin one bit. His stomach wonderfully full of cake, all he could think about was that there might not be a factory in his future after all. Only school! And freedom! If only that freedom would come soon enough for him to somehow make it to St. Something, his friends, and most especially—Danny.
The following day, however, although Hawker remained as pleasant as was possible for him to be, he still left Robin locked up in the apartment. And he left something else as well, the jewelry drawer wide open, and a pile of money sitting in full view on top of the chest of drawers. As Robin already knew where the jewelry and money were hidden, what was this all about? Was it to serve as a strong temptation for Robin to help himself to whatever he wanted? And why?
Then, that evening, after Hawker had come home with more food for Robin than usual and was leaving again, he turned to Robin and said, “Well, I told you, you been bein’ a good boy, never tryin’ to run off again or nothin’ like that. Now I see how honest you been. No money gone. No more lockets and pins missin’. So,” he paused to see how this was settling with Robin, “tomorrow maybe you can come out with me, and I’ll see to lettin’ you off the hook a little. What do you think of that?”
“I wouldn’t mind,” said Robin. Would not mind? His heart was racing so fast he thought it would burst right out of his chest.
But Hawker had no sooner left than he began thinking over what had just been said. And he decided that Hawker was either very stupid or very clever. “Never tryin’ to run off,” he had said. Well, how could Robin run off anywhere, being either locked up or, but for rent collecting, never out of Hawker’s sight? As for taking money or jewelry, did Hawker think Robin such an idiot as to take anything at all of his, and then sit there in the locked apartment waiting for him to return and find out about it? It must have been some sort of test that put him in no danger of losing his money or the jewels. But why was Hawker suddenly being so nice to Robin? What was behind it?
And then it came to him. Clever Hawker might be, but not so clever that he knew a certain conversation—one he had had with his friends Quill and Maggot at The Whole Hog—had been heard by a certain friend of Robin’s. Mouse! In Mouse’s words, Hawker had said, “One day’s he’s goin’ ter let down his guard an’ lead you ter wot I’m lookin’ fer.”
Let down his guard! That was exactly what Hawker was working toward—Robin letting down his guard. He must never have believed Robin’s tale of Danny being kidnapped while he, Robin, sat on the steps sleeping. But why did all this niceness start right after Hawker’s meeting with that man, Mr. Highcrofft? There was no question that Hawker had been sunk in unhappy thought after the two men had met. What was Mr. Highcrofft’s connection to all this? But most of all, why had Robin had that feeling of dread when he looked into the man’s eyes, not once, but twice?
This was not only more puzzling. It was more terrifying. Robin knew that he was now going to have to be more careful than ever. Oh yes, very, very careful indeed!