"Y-e-s, sir."
"What for?"
"To--to see me."
"What about?"
"About--about nothin"."
"What about?"
Jimmie knew that he could conceal nothing.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE BOY TURNED AGAIN TO HIS FRIEND"]
He said, "They"re comin" to--to--to rescue me." He began to whimper.
The doctor sat down heavily.
"What? To rescue you?" he gasped.
"Y-yes, sir."
The doctor"s eyes began to twinkle. "Very well," he said presently. "I will sit here and observe this rescue. And on no account do you warn them that I am here. Understand?"
Of course Jimmie understood. He had been mad to warn his friends, but his father"s mere presence had frightened him from doing it. He stood trembling at the window, while the doctor stretched in an easy-chair near at hand. They waited. The doctor could tell by his son"s increasing agitation that the great moment was near. Suddenly he heard Willie Dalzel"s voice hiss out a word: "S-s-silence!" Then the same voice addressed Jimmie at the window: "Good cheer, my comrade. The time is now at hand. I have come. Never did the Red Captain turn his back on a friend. One minute more and you will be free. Once aboard my gallant craft and you can bid defiance to your haughty enemies. Why don"t you hurry up? What are you standin" there lookin" like a cow for?"
"I--er--now--you--" stammered Jimmie.
Here Hold-up Harry, the Terror of the Sierras, evidently concluded that Willie Dalzel had had enough of the premier part, so he said:
"Brace up, pard. Don"t ye turn white-livered now, fer ye know that Hold-up Harry, the Terrar of the Sarahs, ain"t the man ter--"
"Oh, stop it!" said Willie Dalzel. "He won"t understand that, you know. He"s a pirate. Now, Jimmie, come on. Be of light heart, my comrade. Soon you--"
"I "low arter all this here long time in jail ye thought ye had no friends mebbe, but I tell ye Hold-up Harry, the Terrar of the Sarahs--"
"A boat is waitin"--"
"I have ready a trusty horse--"
Willie Dalzel could endure his rival no longer.
"Look here, Henry, you"re spoilin" the whole thing. We"re all pirates, don"t you see, and you"re a pirate too."
"I ain"t a pirate. I"m Hold-up Harry, the Terrar of the Sarahs."
"You ain"t, I say," said Willie, in despair. "You"re spoilin"
everything, you are. All right, now. You wait. I"ll fix you for this, see if I don"t! Oh, come on, Jimmie. A boat awaits us at the foot of the rocks. In one short hour you"ll be free forever from your ex--exewable enemies, and their vile plots. Hasten, for the dawn approaches."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THEY WHIRLED AND SCAMPERED AWAY LIKE DEER"]
The suffering Jimmie looked at his father, and was surprised at what he saw. The doctor was doubled up like a man with the colic. He was breathing heavily. The boy turned again to his friends. "I--now--look here," he began, stumbling among the words. "You--I--I don"t think I"ll be rescued to-day."
The pirates were scandalized. "What?" they whispered, angrily. "Ain"t you goin" to be rescued? Well, all right for you, Jimmie Trescott.
That"s a nice way to act, that is!" Their upturned eyes glowered at Jimmie.
Suddenly Doctor Trescott appeared at the window with Jimmie. "Oh, go home, boys!" he gasped, but they did not hear him. Upon the instant they had whirled and scampered away like deer. The first lad to reach the fence was the Red Captain, but Hold-up Harry, the Terror of the Sierras, was so close that there was little to choose between them.
Doctor Trescott lowered the window, and then spoke to his son in his usual quiet way. "Jimmie, I wish you would go and tell Peter to have the buggy ready at seven o"clock."
"Yes, sir," said Jimmie, and he swaggered out to the stables. "Pete, father wants the buggy ready at seven o"clock."
Peter paid no heed to this order, but with the tender sympathy of a true friend he inquired, "Hu"t?"
"Hurt? Did what hurt?"
"Yer trouncin"."
"Trouncin"!" said Jimmie, contemptuously. "I didn"t get any trouncin"."
"No?" said Peter. He gave Jimmie a quick shrewd glance, and saw that he was telling the truth. He began to mutter and mumble over his work.
"Ump! Ump! Dese yer white folks act like they think er boy"s made er gla.s.s. No trouncin"! Ump!" He was consumed with curiosity to learn why Jimmie had not felt a heavy parental hand, but he did not care to lower his dignity by asking questions about it. At last, however, he reached the limits of his endurance, and in a voice pretentiously careless he asked, "Didn" yer pop take on like mad er-bout dese yer cay"ge-lamps?"
"Carriage-lamps?" inquired Jimmie.
"Ump."
"No, he didn"t say anything about carriage-lamps--not that I remember.
Maybe he did, though. Lemme see.... No, he never mentioned "em."
VIII
THE KNIFE
I
Si Bryant"s place was on the sh.o.r.e of the lake, and his garden-patch, shielded from the north by a bold little promontory and a higher ridge inland, was accounted the most successful and surprising in all Whilomville township. One afternoon Si was working in the garden-patch, when Doctor Trescott"s man, Peter Washington, came trudging slowly along the road, observing nature. He scanned the white man"s fine agricultural results. "Take your eye off them there mellons, you rascal," said Si, placidly.
The negro"s face widened in a grin of delight. "Well, Mist" Bryant, I raikon I ain"t on"y make m"se"f covertous er-lookin" at dem yere mellums, sure "nough. Dey suhtainly is grand."
"That"s all right," responded Si, with affected bitterness of spirit.
"That"s all right. Just don"t you admire "em too much, that"s all."
Peter chuckled and chuckled. "Ma Lode! Mist" Bryant, y-y-you don"