Jim Spurling, Fisherman.
by Albert Walter Tolman.
I
SMASHED UP
"Here comes J. P. Whittington, Junior, Esquire, in his new Norman! Some speed--what?"
The three Graffam Academy seniors, Jim Spurling, Roger Lane, and Winthrop Stevens, who were sitting on the low, wooden fence before the campus, earnestly discussing the one thing that had engrossed their minds for the past two weeks, stopped talking and leaned forward.
On the broad, elm-lined street beyond the Mall suddenly appeared a cloud of dust, out of which shot a gray automobile. Its high speed soon brought it to the academy grounds, and it came to an abrupt stop before the fence.
"Pile in, fellows!" shouted the driver, a bareheaded youth in white flannels, "and I"ll take you on a little spin."
He was a slim, sallow lad of seventeen, with a straw-colored pompadour crowning his freckled forehead. The sleeves of his outing shirt were rolled up above his elbows, revealing his bony, sunburnt arms. He wore a gay red tie, and a tennis blazer, striped black and white, lay on the seat beside him.
"No, thanks, Percy," replied Lane. "Sorry we can"t go; but we"re too busy."
Spurling and Stevens nodded as Whittington"s light-blue eyes traveled inquiringly from one to the other.
"Ah, come on!" he invited. "Be sports! Let"s celebrate the end of the course. Just to show how good I feel, I"m going to scorch a three-mile hole through the atmosphere between here and Mount Barlow faster than it was ever done before. Tumble aboard and help hold this barouche down on the pike while I burn the top off it for the last time."
Pulling out a book of tissue wrappers and a sack of tobacco, he began to roll a cigarette with twitching, yellowed fingers.
"Anybody got a match? No? Then I"ll have to dig one up myself."
He fumbled in his pocket and brought out a lucifer. Soon he was inhaling the smoke and talking rapidly.
"I"m so glad this is my last week here I feel like kicking my head off.
Once I shake the dust of this dump off my tires, you can bet you"ll never catch me here again. Say, do you know what this Main Street reminds me of? An avenue in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, with a row of white tombs on each side. I saw it last Christmas. They bury "em aboveground there, too. The Rubes in this burg are just as dead, only they don"t know it."
Drawing a final, long, luxurious whiff, he tossed the half-smoked cigarette away.
"Well, so long! My dad"s coming on the five-ten to see his only son graduate _c.u.m laude_. And me loaded down with conditions a truck-horse couldn"t haul! Wouldn"t that jar you? Guess I"ll have to do my road-burning before he gets here. Hold a watch on me, will you? I"m out for the record."
"Careful, or you"ll get pinched for over-speeding," cautioned Stevens.
Whittington spat contemptuously.
"Pinch your grandmother!" he jeered. "I"ve been pinched too many times to mind a little thing like that."
Off darted the gray car. The three gazed after it in silence. Then Spurling spoke.
"Must seem rather pleasant to have a bank-account you can"t touch the bottom of, mustn"t it? They say his father"s all sorts of a millionaire.
Hope he doesn"t get smashed up or run over somebody."
"He"s a good-natured fool," commented Lane. "But you can"t help liking him, after all. Now let"s get back to business."
It was Commencement week in mid-June at the old country academy nestled among the New England hills. The lawns before the substantial white houses were emerald with the fresh, unrivaled green of spring. Fragrant lilacs sweetened the soft air. The walks under the thick-leafed elms were thronged with talking, laughing groups. Bright-colored dresses dotted the campus before the dingy brick buildings. Tennis-courts and ball-field were alive with active figures. A few days more and students and strangers would be gone, and the old town would sink into the drowsy quiet of the long summer vacation.
Lounging on the notched, whittled fence, Lane, Spurling, and Stevens fell once more into earnest conversation.
Spurling came from a Maine coast town. He was nineteen, tall, broad-shouldered, dark-complexioned, deliberate in speech and movements.
Physically very strong, he had caught on the academy ball team and played guard in football. Mentally he was a trifle slow; but in the whole school there was no squarer, more solid fellow. So far as finances went, he was dependent on his own resources; whatever education he got he must earn himself.
Lane afforded in many respects a decided contrast to Spurling. Reared on a New Hampshire farm in the shadow of the White Mountains, he was of medium build, wiry and active, a practical joker, full of life and spirit. He had red hair and the quick temper that goes with it. Though not much of a student, he had at eighteen a keen, clear business head.
Like Spurling, he had been obliged to make his own way; and, like Spurling, he was abundantly able to make it.
Winthrop Stevens, or "Throppy," as his friends nicknamed him, claimed a small Ma.s.sachusetts city as his home. He was the best scholar of the three, dark, quiet, studious, with a decided trend toward mechanics and electricity. Though not obliged to work for his schooling, he had always chummed with the other two, and with them had been a waiter at a sh.o.r.e hotel the previous season.
The trio were endeavoring to decide what they should do the coming summer.
"Well," said Lane, "what shall it be? Juggling food again at the Beachmont?"
"Not for me," answered Spurling, decidedly. "I"m sick of hanging round a table, pretending to do as many unnecessary things as you can, wondering whether the man you"ve waited on is going to give up a half-dollar or a nickel, knowing that the more uncomfortable you can make him feel the bigger fee you"ll pull down. No more tipping for me! I"d rather earn my money, even if I don"t get so much."
"Hits me, Jim," a.s.sented Stevens. "What do you say, Budge?"
"Same here," agreed Roger.
The long-drawn shriek of a locomotive rose from the valley-bottom.
"There"s the five-ten!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Lane. "I pity Whittington when his dad finds how things have gone."
"Percy isn"t the only one who needs sympathy," said Spurling, soberly.
"What about his father?"
"I"m sorry for "em both," was Lane"s comment. "But the Whittington family"ll have to handle its own troubles. Now, fellow-members, to the question before the house! Unless I raise at least two hundred dollars in the next three months, it"s no college for me in September."
A short silence followed. Spurling took out his knife and deliberately slithered a long, splintery shaving off the fence-top.
"I"ve an idea," he said, slowly. "Give me till evening and I"ll tell you about it. What d"you say to a last game of tennis?"
The others agreed and slipped off the fence. Lane glanced up the road.
"Here comes Whittington, scorching like a blue streak! And there"s Bill Sanders"s old auto crawling up May Street hill from the railroad station! If Percy should hit him--good-night!"
The gray machine rapidly grew larger. The people on the sidewalks stood still and watched.
May Street crossed Main at right angles, and a high cedar hedge before the corner house made it impossible for the two drivers to see each other until they were close together. On sped the gray car.
"Isn"t he humming!"
Suddenly Whittington thrust out his left arm.
"He"s going to turn down May Street!" shouted Lane. "Bound to the station after his father. He"ll hit Sanders, sure as fate! Hi! Hi there, Percy!"