"For the love av goodness, an" how is it yer after askin" me that now?
Sure an" I heard the story many a time, an" I"m after hearin" the ghost last night, an" it"s a-shiverin" yit Oi am."
"What did you hear, Granny?"
"Och, an" it was the most divilish yells iver let out av a soul in h.e.l.l. Shure the Dog and the Cat both av thim was scairt, and the owld white-faced cow come a-runnin" an" jumped the bars to get aff av the road."
Here was what Caleb wanted, and he kept her going by his evident interest. After she tired of providing more realistic details of the night"s uproar, Caleb deliberately tapped another vintage of t.i.ttle-tattle in hope of further information leaking out.
"Granny, did you hear of a robbery last week down this side of Downey"s Dump?"
"Shure an" I did not," she exclaimed, her eyes ablaze with interest--neither had Caleb, for that matter; but he wanted to start the subject--"An" who was it was robbed?"
"Don"t know, unless it was John Evans"s place."
"Shure an" I don"t know him, but I warrant he could sthand to lose.
Shure an" it"s when the raskils come after me an" Cal Conner the moment it was talked around that we had sold our Cow; then sez I, it"s gittin" onraisonable, an" them divils sh.o.r.ely seems to know whin a wad o" money pa.s.ses."
"That"s the gospel truth. But when wuz you robbed, Granny?"
"Robbed? I didn"t say I wuz robbed," and she cackled. "But the robbers had the best av intintions when they came to me," and she related at length her experience with the two who broke in when her Cow was reported sold. She laughed over their enjoyment of the Lung Balm, and briefly told how the big man was sulky and the short, broad one was funny. Their black beards, the "big wan" with his wounded head, his left-handedness and his accidental exposure of the three fingers of the right hand, all were fully talked over.
"When was it, Granny?"
"Och, shure an" it wuz about three years apast."
Then after having had his lungs treated, old Caleb left Granny and set out to do some very hard thinking.
There had been robberies all around for the last four years; There was no clue but this: They were all of the same character; nothing but cash was taken, and the burglars seemed to have inside knowledge of the neighbourhood, and timed all their visits to happen just after the householder had come into possession of a roll of bills.
As soon as Caleb turned in at the de Neuville gate, Yan, acting on a belated thought, said:
"Boys, you go on to camp; I"ll be after you in five minutes." He wanted to draw those tracks in the mud and try to trail that man, so went back to the grave.
He studied the marks most carefully and by opening out the book he was able to draw the boot tracks life-size, noting that each had three rows of small hobnails on the heel, apparently put in at home because so irregular, while the sole of the left was worn into a hole. Then he studied the hand tracks, selected the clearest, and was drawing the right hand when something odd caught his attention.
Yes! It appeared in all the impressions of that hand--the middle finger was gone.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The three-fingered hand-print]
Yan followed the track on the road a little way, but at the corner it turned southward and was lost in the gra.s.s.
As he was going back to camp he overtook Caleb also returning.
"Mr. Clark," he said. "I went back to sketch those tracks, and do you know--that man had only three fingers on his right hand?"
"Consarn me!" said Caleb. "Are you sure?"
"Come and see for yourself."
Yes! It surely was true, and Caleb on the road back said, "Yan, don"t say a word of this to the others just now."
The old Trapper went to the Pogue house at once. He found the tracks repeated in the dust near the door, but they certainly were not made by d.i.c.k. On a line was a pair of muddy trousers drying.
From this night Yan went up and Guy went down in the old man"s opinion, for he spoke his own mind that day when he gave first place to grit. He invited Yan to come to his shanty to see a pair of snow-shoes he was making. The invitation was vague and general, so the whole Tribe accepted. Yan had not been there since his first visit.
The first part of their call was as before. In answer to their knock there was a loud baying from the Hound, then a voice ordering him back. Caleb opened the door, but now said "Step in." If he was displeased with the others coming he kept it to himself. While Yan was looking at the snow-shoes Guy discovered something much more interesting on the old man"s bunk; that was the white revolver, now cleaned up and in perfect order. Caleb"s delight at its recovery, though not very apparent, was boundless. He had not been able to buy himself another, and this was as warmly welcomed back as though a long-lost only child.
"Say, Caleb, let"s try a shot. I bet I kin beat the hull gang,"
exclaimed Sapwood.
Caleb got some cartridges and pointed to a white blaze on a stump forty yards away. Guy had three or four shots and Yan had the same without hitting the stump. Then Caleb said, "Lemme show you."
His big rugged hand seemed to swallow up the little gun-stock. His long k.n.o.bbed finger fitted around the lock in a strange but familiar way. Caleb was a bent-arm shot, and the short barrel looked like his own forefinger pointing at the target as he pumped away six times in quick succession. All went into the blaze and two into the charcoal spot that marked the centre.
"By George! Look at that for shooting!" and the boys were loud in their praise.
"Well, twenty year ago I used to be a pretty good shot," Caleb proceeded to explain with an air of unnecessary humility and a very genial expression on his face. "But that"s dead easy. I"ll show you some real tricks."
Twenty-five feet away he set up three cartridges in a row, their caps toward him, and exploded them in succession with three rapid shots.
Then he put the revolver in the side pocket of his coat, and recklessly firing it without drawing, much less sighting or even showing it, he peppered a white blaze at twenty yards. Finally he looked around for an old fruit tin. Then he c.o.c.ked the revolver, laid it across his right hand next the thumb and the tin across the fingers. He then threw them both in the air with a jerk that sent the revolver up ten feet and the tin twenty. As the revolver came down he seized it and shot a hole through the tin before it could reach the ground.
The boys were simply dumbfounded. They had used up all their exclamations on the first simple target trial.
Caleb stepped into the shanty to get a cleaning-rag for his darling, and Sam burst out:
"Well, now I know he never shot at Da, for if he did he"d "a" got him sure."
It was not meant for Caleb"s ears, but it reached him, and the old Trapper came to the door at once with a long, expressive "H-m-m-mrr."
Thus was broken the dam of silent scorn, for it was the first time Caleb had addressed himself to Sam. The flood had forced the barrier, but it still left plenty of stuff in the channel to be washed away by time and wear, and it was long before he talked to Sam as freely as to the others, but still in time he learned.
There was an air of geniality on all now, and Yan took advantage of this to ask for something he had long kept in mind.
"Mr. Clark, will you take us out for a c.o.o.n hunt? We know where there are lots of c.o.o.ns that feed in a corn patch up the creek."
If Yan had asked this a month ago he would have got a contemptuous refusal. Before the visit to Carney"s grave it might have been, "Oh, I dunno--I ain"t got time," but he was on the right side of Caleb now, and the answer was:
"Well, yes! Don"t mind if I do, first night it"s coolish, so the Dog kin run."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Racc.o.o.n in tree]
XXI
The Triumph Of Guy
The boys had hunted the Woodchuck quite regularly since first meeting it. Their programme was much the same--each morning about nine or ten they would sneak out to the clover field. It was usually Guy who first discovered the old Grizzly, then all would fire a harmless shot, the Woodchuck would scramble into his den and the incident be closed for the day. This became as much a part of the day"s routine as getting breakfast, and much more so than the washing of the dishes. Once or twice the old Grizzly had narrow escapes, but so far he was none the worse, rather the better, being wiser. The boys, on the other hand, gained nothing, with the possible exception of Guy. Always quick-sighted, his little washed-out optics developed a marvellous keenness. At first it was as often Yan or Sam who saw the old Grizzly, but later it was always Guy.