The chieftain was now hopping with exasperation. "Oh, seize him, can"t you? You"re no good at all!" Then he loosed his wrath upon the Phelps boy: "Stand still, Homer, can"t you? You"ve got to be seized, you know. That ain"t the way. It ain"t any fun if you keep a-dodgin" that way. Stand still, can"t you! You"ve got to be seized."
"I don"t _want_ to be seized," retorted the Phelps boy, obstinate and bitter.
"But you"ve _got_ to be seized!" yelled the maddened chief. "Don"t you see? That"s the way to play it."
The Phelps boy answered, promptly, "But I don"t want to play that way."
"But that"s the _right_ way to play it. Don"t you see? You"ve got to play it the right way. You"ve got to be seized, an" then we"ll hold a trial on you, an"--an" all sorts of things."
But this prospect held no illusions for the Phelps boy. He continued doggedly to repeat, "I don"t want to play that way!"
Of course in the end the chief stooped to beg and beseech this unreasonable lad. "Oh, come on, Homer! Don"t be so mean. You"re a-spoilin" everything. We won"t hurt you any. Not the tintiest bit.
It"s all just playin". What"s the matter with you?"
The different tone of the leader made an immediate impression upon the other. He showed some signs of the beginning of weakness. "Well," he asked, "what you goin" to do?"
"Why, first we"re goin" to put you in a dungeon, or tie you to a stake, or something like that--just pertend, you know," added the chief, hurriedly, "an" then we"ll hold a trial, awful solemn, but there won"t be anything what"ll hurt you. Not a thing."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "FROM THIS BOOT HE EMPTIED ABOUT A QUART OF SNOW"]
And so the game was readjusted. The Phelps boy was marched off between Dan Earl and a Margate twin. The party proceeded to their camp, which was hidden some hundred feet back in the thickets. There was a miserable little hut with a pine-bark roof, which so frankly and constantly leaked that existence in the open air was always preferable. At present it was noisily dripping melted snow into the black mouldy interior. In front of this hut a feeble fire was flickering through its unhappy career. Underfoot, the watery snow was of the color of lead.
The party having arrived at the camp, the chief leaned against a tree, and balancing on one foot, drew off a rubber boot. From this boot he emptied about a quart of snow. He squeezed his stocking, which had a hole from which protruded a lobster-red toe. He resumed his boot.
"Bring up the prisoner," said he. They did it. "Guilty or not guilty?"
he asked.
"Huh?" said the Phelps boy.
"Guilty or not guilty?" demanded the chief, peremptorily. "Guilty or not guilty? Don"t you understand?"
Homer Phelps looked profoundly puzzled. "Guilty or not guilty?" he asked, slowly and weakly.
The chief made a swift gesture, and turned in despair to the others.
"Oh, he don"t do it right! He does it all wrong!" He again faced the prisoner with an air of making a last attempt, "Now look-a-here, Homer, when I say, "Guilty or not guilty?" you want to up an" say, "Not Guilty." Don"t you see?"
"Not guilty," said Homer, at once.
"No, no, no. Wait till I ask you. Now wait." He called out, pompously, "Pards, if this prisoner before us is guilty, what shall be his fate?"
All those well-trained little infants with one voice sung out, "_Death!_"
"Prisoner," continued the chief, "are you guilty or not guilty?"
"But look-a-here," argued Homer, "you said it wouldn"t be nothin" that would hurt. I--"
"Thunder an" lightnin"!" roared the wretched chief. "Keep your mouth shut, can"t ye? What in the mischief--"
But there was an interruption from Jimmie Trescott, who shouldered a twin aside and stepped to the front. "Here," he said, very contemptuously, "let me be the prisoner. I"ll show "im how to do it."
"All right, Jim," cried the chief, delighted; "you be the prisoner, then. Now all you fellers with guns stand there in a row! Get out of the way, Homer!" He cleared his throat, and addressed Jimmie.
"Prisoner, are you guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty," answered Jimmie, firmly. Standing there before his judge--unarmed, slim, quiet, modest--he was ideal.
The chief beamed upon him, and looked aside to cast a triumphant and withering glance upon Homer Phelps. He said: "There! That"s the way to do it."
The twins and Dan Earl also much admired Jimmie.
"That"s all right so far, anyhow," said the satisfied chief. "An" now we"ll--now we"ll--we"ll perceed with the execution."
"That ain"t right," said the new prisoner, suddenly. "That ain"t the next thing. You"ve got to have a trial first. You"ve got to fetch up a lot of people first who"ll say I done it."
"That"s so," said the chief. "I didn"t think. Here, Reeves, you be first witness. Did the prisoner do it?"
The twin gulped for a moment in his anxiety to make the proper reply.
He was at the point where the roads forked. Finally he hazarded, "Yes."
"There," said the chief, "that"s one of "em. Now, Dan, you be a witness. Did he do it?"
Dan Earl, having before him the twin"s example, did not hesitate.
"Yes," he said.
"Well, then, pards, what shall be his fate?"
Again came the ringing answer, "_Death_!"
With Jimmie in the princ.i.p.al role, this drama, hidden deep in the hemlock thicket neared a kind of perfection. "You must blind-fold me,"
cried the condemned lad, briskly, "an" then I"ll go off an" stand, an"
you must all get in a row an" shoot me."
The chief gave this plan his urbane countenance, and the twins and Dan Earl were greatly pleased. They blindfolded Jimmie under his careful directions. He waded a few paces into snow, and then turned and stood with quiet dignity, awaiting his fate. The chief marshalled the twins and Dan Earl in line with their sticks. He gave the necessary commands: "Load! Ready! Aim! Fire!" At the last command the firing party all together yelled, "Bang!"
Jimmie threw his hands high, tottered in agony for a moment, and then crashed full length into the snow--into, one would think, a serious case of pneumonia. It was beautiful.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EXECUTION]
He arose almost immediately and came back to them, wondrously pleased with himself. They acclaimed him joyously.
The chief was particularly grateful. He was always trying to bring off these little romantic affairs, and it seemed, after all, that the only boy who could ever really help him was Jimmie Trescott. "There," he said to the others, "that"s the way it ought to be done."
They were touched to the heart by the whole thing, and they looked at Jimmie with big, smiling eyes. Jimmie, blown out like a balloon-fish with pride of his performance, swaggered to the fire and took seat on some wet hemlock boughs. "Fetch some more wood, one of you kids," he murmured, negligently. One of the twins came fortunately upon a small cedar-tree the lower branches of which were dead and dry. An armful of these branches flung upon the sick fire soon made a high, ruddy, warm blaze, which was like an illumination in honor of Jimmie"s success.
The boys sprawled about the fire and talked the regular language of the game. "Waal, pards," remarked the chief, "it"s many a night we"ve had together here in the Rockies among the b"ars an" the Indyuns, hey?"
"Yes, pard," replied Jimmie Trescott, "I reckon you"re right. Our wild, free life is--there ain"t nothin" to compare with our wild, free life."
Whereupon the two lads arose and magnificently shook hands, while the others watched them in an ecstasy. "I"ll allus stick by ye, pard,"
said Jimmie, earnestly. "When yer in trouble, don"t forgit that Lightnin" Lou is at yer back."