CHAPTER VII
THE "GOOD TURN"
It was a draggled and exceedingly dubious-looking trio that made their way up the main street of Nyack. They had no difficulty in finding the office of "Old Man Stanton," which bore a conspicuous sign:
WILMOUTH STANTON COUNSELLOR AT LAW
"He"d--he"d have to get out a warrant for us first, wouldn"t he?"
Pee-wee asked, apprehensively.
"That"ll be easy," said Roy. "If all goes well, I don"t see why we shouldn"t be in Sing Sing by three o"clock."
"We"re big fools to do this," said Pee-wee. "A scout is supposed to be--cautious." But he followed the others up the stairs and stepped bravely in when Tom opened the door.
They found themselves in the lion"s den with the lion in close proximity glaring upon them. He sat at a desk opening mail and looked frowningly at them over his spectacles. He was thin and wiry, his gray hair was rumpled in a way which suggested perpetual perplexity or annoyance, and his general aspect could not be said to be either conciliatory or inviting.
"Well, sir," he said, crisply.
"Are you Mr. Stanton?" Tom asked. "We are Scouts," he added, as the gentleman nodded perfunctorily, "and we came from Bridgeboro. We"re on our way to camp. Last night we got caught in the rain and we ran----"
"Took refuge," whispered Pee-wee.
"For that old boat on the marsh. This morning we heard it was yours, so we came to tell you that we camped in it last night. We made a fire in a can, but I don"t think we did any harm, except we chopped up a couple of old stanchions. We thought they were no good, but, of course, we shouldn"t have taken them without leave."
Mr. Stanton stared at him with an ominous frown. "Built a fire in a can?" said he. "Do you mean in the boat?"
"We used the exhaust for a draught," said Roy.
"Oh--and what brings you here?"
"To tell you," said Tom, doggedly. "A man came and told us you owned the boat. He said you might have us arrested, so we came to let you know about what we did."
"We didn"t come because we wanted to be arrested," put in Pee-wee.
"I see," said Mr. Stanton, with the faintest suggestion of a smile.
"Isn"t it something new," he added, "running into the jaws of death?
Boys generally run the other way and don"t go hunting for trouble."
"Well, I"ll tell you how it is," said Pee-wee, making the conversation his own, somewhat to Roy"s amus.e.m.e.nt. "Of course, a scout has got to be cautious--but he"s got to be fearless too. I was kind of scared when I heard you were a lawyer----"
Mr. Stanton"s grim visage relaxed into an unwilling, but unmistakable, smile.
"And another thing I heard scared me, but----"
Tom, seeing where Pee-wee was drifting, tried to stop him, but Roy, knowing that Pee-wee always managed to land on top, and seeing the smile on Mr. Stanton"s forbidding countenance, encouraged him to go on, and presently the mascot of the Silver Foxes was holding the floor.
"A scout has to deduce--that"s one of the things we learn, and if you heard somebody called "Old Man Something-or-other," why, you"d deduce something from it, wouldn"t you? And you"d be kind of scared-like. But even if you deduce that a man is going to be mad and gruff, kind of, even still you got to remember that you"re a scout and if you damaged his property you got to go and tell him, anyway. You got to go and tell him even if you go to jail. Don"t you see? Maybe you don"t know much about the scouts----"
"No," said Mr. Stanton, "I"m afraid I don"t. But I"m glad to know that I am honored by a nickname--even so dubious a one. Do you think you were correct in your deductions?" he added.
"Well, I don"t know," began Pee-wee. "I can see--well, anyway there"s another good thing about a scout--he"s got to admit it if he"s wrong."
Mr. Stanton laughed outright. It was a rusty sort of laugh, for he did not laugh often--but he laughed.
"The only things I know about Boy Scouts," said he, "I have learned in the last twenty-four hours. You tell me that they can convert an exhaust pipe into a stove flue, and I have learned they can bring a bird down out of a tree without so much as a bullet or a stone (I have to believe what my little daughter tells me), and that they take the road where they think trouble awaits them on account of a principle--that they walk up to the cannon"s mouth, as it were--I am a very busy man and no doubt a very hard and disagreeable one, but I can afford to know a little more about these scouts, I believe."
"I"ll tell you all about them," said Pee-wee, sociably. "Jiminys, I never dreamed you were that girl"s father."
Mr. Stanton swung around in his chair and looked at him sharply. "Who are you boys?"
"We came from Bridgeboro in New Jersey," spoke up Roy, "and we"re going up the river roads as far as Catskill Landing. Then we"re going to hit inland for our summer camp."
Mr. Stanton was silent for a few moments, looking keenly at them while they stood in some suspense.
"Well," he said, soberly, "I see but one way out of the difficulty. The stanchions you destroyed were a part of the boat. The boat is of no use to me without them. I suggest, therefore, that you take the boat along with you. It belonged to my son and it has been where it now lies ever since the storm in which his life was lost. I have not seen the inside of it since--I do not want to see the inside of it," he added brusquely, moving a paperweight about on his desk. "It is only three years old," he went on after a moment"s uncomfortable pause, "and like some people it is not as bad as it looks."
The boys winced a little at this thrust. Mr. Stanton was silent for a few moments and Pee-wee was tempted to ask him something about his son, but did not quite dare to venture.
"I think the boat can very easily be removed to the river with a little of the ingenuity which you scouts seem to have, and you may continue your journey in her, if you care to. You may consider it a--a present from my daughter, whom you made so happy yesterday."
For a moment the boys hardly realized the meaning of his words. Then Tom spoke.
"We have a rule, Mr. Stanton, that a scout cannot accept anything for a service. If he does, it spoils it all. It"s great, your offering us the boat and it seems silly not to take it, but----"
"Very well," said Mr. Stanton, proceeding to open his letters, "if you prefer to go to jail for destroying my stanchions, very well. Remember you are dealing with a lawyer." Roy fancied he was chuckling a little inwardly.
"That"s right," said Pee-wee in Tom"s ear. "There"s no use trying to get the best of a lawyer--a scout ought to be--to be modest; we better take it, Tom."
"There"s a difference between payment for a service and a token of grat.i.tude," said Mr. Stanton, looking at Tom. "But we will waive all that. I cannot allow the Boy Scouts to be laying down the law for me. By your own confession you have destroyed my stanchions and as a citizen it is my duty to take action. But if I were to give you a paper dated yesterday, a.s.signing the boat to you, then it would appear that you had simply trespa.s.sed and burglariously entered your own property and destroyed your own stanchions and I would not have a leg to stand upon.
My advice to you as a lawyer is to accept such a transfer of t.i.tle and avoid trouble."
He began ostentatiously to read one of his letters.
"He"s right, Tom," whispered Pee-wee, "It"s what you call a teckinality.
Gee, we better take the boat. There"s no use trying to beat a lawyer.
He"s got the right on his side."
"I don"t know," said Tom, doubtfully. He, too, fancied that Mr. Stanton was laughing inwardly, but he was not good at repartee and the lawyer was too much for him. It was Roy who took the situation in hand.
"It seems ungrateful, Mr. Stanton, even to talk about whether we"ll take such a peach of a gift. Tom here is always thinking about the law--our law--and Pee-wee--we call this kid Pee-wee--he"s our specialist on doing good turns. They"re both cranks in different ways. I know there"s a difference, as you say, between just a present and a reward. And it seems silly to say thank you for such a present, just as if it was a penknife or something like that. But we do thank you and we"ll take the boat. I just happened to think of a good name for it while you were talking. It was the good turn Pee-wee did yesterday--about the bird, I mean--that made you offer it to us and your giving it to us is a good turn besides, so I guess we"ll call it the "Good Turn.""
"You might call it the "Teckinality,"" suggested Mr. Stanton with a glance at Pee-wee.
"All right," he added, "I"ll send one of my men down later in the day to see about getting her in the water. I"ve an idea a block and falls will do the trick. But you"d better caulk her up with lampwick and give her a coat of paint in the meantime."