"He is," Tom nodded. "Have you any interest in him?"
"Mr. Hinman is my father."
"Come right in," Tom invited, throwing open the flap of the tent.
"Hold my horse, will you?"
Something in the younger Hinman"s way of making the request caused Reade"s backbone to stiffen.
"I see that you have a piece of halter rope," Tom replied. "You may tie your horse to any one of the trees. They don"t belong to me."
The son frowned, but led his mount to a tree, hitching it there.
Then he turned and entered the tent.
"How are you, father?" asked the younger Hinman, crossing to the cot and bending over the old man.
"Better, already, I think," replied Reuben Hinman feebly.
"I should hope so," replied Timothy Hinman, looking more than a trifle annoyed. "You had no business to be out in that storm."
"I couldn"t help-----" began the old man slowly, but Dr. Hewitt broke in almost fiercely:
"Your father is in no condition to talk, Mr. Hinman. I telephoned you so that you might come over and take charge of the horse and wagon. There is quite a bit of stock on the wagon, too, I believe."
"My father must have considerable money with him," the young man hinted.
"He has some," d.i.c.k replied. "I do not know how much."
"I will take charge of his money for him," offered young Hinman.
"You will do nothing of the sort," broke in Dr. Hewitt, scowling.
"Hinman, your father will be some time at the hospital, and he will want to be able to pay his bills there. He will also want to be able to purchase some comforts for himself while convalescing.
So your father will take his money with him to the hospital."
"He can turn it over to me, if he has a mind to do so," insisted the younger man.
"You get out of here!" ordered the doctor, speaking decisively, though in a low tone. At the same time he pointed to the doorway of the tent. Just then the doctor looked as though he might rather enjoy the opportunity of throwing young Hinman out into the open air. The peddler"s son walked outside of the tent with an air of offended dignity.
"Now, will four of you young men take hold of that cot, gently, and carry it out to my car?" asked Dr. Hewitt.
d.i.c.k, Dave, Tom and Greg served as the litter bearers. Then, under Dr. Hewitt"s instructions, they lifted the old man into the tonneau of the car as though he had been an infant. The boss tramp had already taken his place in the tonneau of the machine.
After blankets brought by the physician had been wrapped about the peddler the tramp contrived to rest the old man against his own broad shoulder.
"Good-bye, father," said the younger Hinman, who had looked on with a frown on his face. "I hope you"ll be all right soon."
Reuben Hinman tried to smile. He also moved as though trying to stretch out a hand to his son, but the folds of the blankets prevented.
Dr. Hewitt went back to the tent to get his medicine case, which he had intentionally left behind. As he went he signed to d.i.c.k & Co. to accompany him.
"You young men haven"t done anything for the old man for which I am going to commend you," said the physician bluntly. "You"ve simply done what any upright, humane, decent people would have done for a stricken old man, and you"ve done it well. But by contrast you noticed the younger Hinman"s conduct. He is not worried that his father is ill, but hopes that the old man will soon be back at his work. Of course, he hopes that his father will be at work, soon; for when the old man stops working the younger man will very likely have to go to work himself."
"You don"t mean, doctor, that that big, healthy-looking fellow is supported by his father?" gasped d.i.c.k Prescott.
"That"s just what I mean," nodded the man of medicine.
"Why, I didn"t suppose that old Mr. Hinman earned much."
"In the tin-peddler"s business it"s nearly all profit except the wear and tear on horse and wagon," smiled the physician. "One who isn"t fitted for that line of work would starve to death at it, but Reuben Hinman has always been a shrewd, keen dealer in his own line of work. Strange as it may seem, Reuben is believed to make more than three hundred dollars a month. He gives it all to that son and two daughters. He wanted to bring his children up to be ladies and gentlemen---and they are! They are all three of them too shiftless to do any work. They take the old man"s money, but they won"t live with him. They are too busy in "society"
to bother with the old man. On what he is able to turn over to his children every month they keep a rather pretentious home in Fenton, though they live a full mile away from their father. They never go near him, except for more money. If they meet him on his wagon, or when he is walking in his old clothes, they refuse to recognize him. Yet, though Reuben Hinman isn"t a fool in anything else, he is very proud of the fact that his son is a "gentleman,"
and that his daughters are "ladies." Now, in a nutsh.e.l.l, you know the tragedy of the old man"s life. Young Tim Hinman would, if he could, take the old man"s money away from him at once and let him go to the hospital as a charity patient."
"Humph!" muttered d.i.c.k, and then was silent.
Timothy Hinman, when Dr. Hewitt and the boys stepped outside the tent, was inspecting the dingy old red wagon with a look of contempt on his face.
"What am I going to do with this crazy old rattle-trap?" inquired young Hinman plaintively. "Would one of you boys accept a dollar to drive this over to Fenton, and put the horse up in my father"s barn? The trip can be made in two days of good driving."
d.i.c.k Prescott shook his head in order that he might avoid speaking.
"I came by train, within five miles of here, then hired a horse and rode over here," the younger Hinman went on. "So I"ve got to take the horse back to where I got it, and then return by train.
So I"ll pay a dollar and a half to the boy who will drive this rig back to Fenton."
This time there was no response to the magnificent offer.
"See here," muttered young Hinman half savagely, "it"s more than the job is worth, but I"ll pay two dollars to have this rig driven home. Will you take the job?"
He looked directly at d.i.c.k Prescott, who replied bluntly:
"Thank you; I won"t."
"But what on earth am I going to do with the horse and wagon, then?" demanded Timothy Hinman, as though he found Prescott"s refusal preposterous.
"I would suggest," offered d.i.c.k coolly, "that you drive your father"s rig home yourself."
"I drive it?" gasped the son.
"Certainly."
"But it"s no job for a gentleman!" protested the younger Mr. Hinman, looking very much aghast.
"Then I don"t know whether or not the owner of these woods would consent to your leaving your father"s property here," replied Prescott, as he turned on his heel.
Dr. Hewitt had watched the scene with a good deal of amus.e.m.e.nt.
Now the physician turned to see whether his patient were as comfortable as possible.
"My man," said the doctor, to the boss tramp, "you hold my patient as comfortably and skillfully as though you had once been a nurse.
Were you ever one?"