CHAPTER XXXVI.
RIGHT OR WRONG.
Elsie held out both hands, and there was a welcome light in her eyes. Itseemed to Frank that she was far prettier than when he had last seen herin Fardale.
"Frank, I am so glad to see you!"
He caught her hands and held them, looking into her eyes. The color cameinto her cheeks, and then she noted his rumpled appearance, saw that hewas very pale, and cried:
"What is it, Frank? You are hurt? You are so pale!"
Socato grunted in a knowing way, but said nothing.
"It is nothing, Miss Bellwood," assured the boy. "I have been through alittle adventure, that's all. I am not harmed."
He felt her fingers trembling in his clasp, and an electric thrill ranover him. He remembered that at their last parting she had said it werefar better they should never meet again; but fate had thrown themtogether, and now--what?
He longed to draw her to him, to kiss her, to tell her how happy he wasat finding her, but he restrained the impulse.
Then the voice of Barney Mulloy called from within the hut:
"Phwat ye goin' to do me b'y--shtand out there th' rist av th' doay?Whoy don't yez come in, Oi dunno?"
"Come in, Frank--come in," cried Professor Scotch. "We have been worriedto death over you. Thought you were lost in the Everglades, or hadfallen into the hands of the enemy."
"Your second thought was correct," smiled Frank, as he entered the hut,with Elsie at his side.
"Phwat's thot?" shouted the Irish boy, in astonishment. "Ye don't maneto say thim spalpanes caught yez?"
"That's what they did, and they came near cooking me, too."
Frank then related the adventures that had befallen him since he startedout on his own hook to give Leslie Gage a surprise. He told how Gage hadmade love to him in the boat, and Barney shrieked with laughter. Then herelated what followed, and how his life had been saved by the locket hecarried, and the professor groaned with dismay. Following this, herelated his capture by Gage and how the young desperado flung him, withhis hands bound, into the clutch of the serpent vine.
The narrative first amused and then thrilled his listeners. Finally theywere horrified and appalled by the peril through which he had passed.
"It's Satan's own scum thot Gage is!" grated Barney, fiercely. "Iver letme get a crack at th' loike av him and see phwat will happen to th'whilp!"
"I hate and despise him!" declared Elsie. "He is a monster!"
Then Frank explained how he had been saved by Socato, and the Seminolefound himself the hero of the hour.
"Soc, ould b'y," cried Barney, "thot wur th' bist job ye iver did, an'Oi'm proud av yez! Ye'll niver lose anything by thot thrick, ayther."
"Not much!" roared the little professor, wiping his eyes. "Man, give meyour hand!"
Then the Seminole had his hand shaken in a manner and with a heartinessthat astonished him greatly.
"That was nothing," he declared, "Socato hates the snake vine--fight itany time. Don't make so much row."
When all had been told and the party had recovered from the excitementinto which they had been thrown, Barney announced that breakfast waswaiting.
Elsie, for all of her happiness at meeting Frank, was so troubled abouther father that she could eat very little.
Socato ate hastily, and then announced that he would go out and see whathe could do about rescuing Captain Bellwood.
Barney wished to go with the Seminole, but Socato declared that he coulddo much better alone, and hurriedly departed.
Then Frank did his best to cheer Elsie, telling her that everything wassure to come out all right, as the Indian could be trusted to outwit thedesperadoes and rescue the captain.
Seeing Frank and Elsie much together, Barney drew the professor aside,and whispered:
"It's a bit av a walk we'd better take in th' open air, Oi think."
"But I don't need a walk," protested the little man.
"Yis ye do, profissor," declared the Irish boy, soberly. "A man av yourstudious habits nivver takes ixercoise enough."
"But I do not care to expose myself outdoors."
"Phwat's th' matther wid out dures, Oi dunno?"
"It's dangerous."
"How?"
"There's danger that Gage and his gang will appear."
"Phwat av they do? We can get back here aheed av thim, fer we won't gofur enough to be cut off."
"Then the exercise will not be beneficial, and I will remain here."
"Profissor, yer head is a bit thick. Can't ye take a hint, ur is it akick ye nade, Oi dunno?"
"Young man, be careful what kind of language you use to me!"
"Oi'm spakin' United States, profissor; no Irishmon wauld iver spakeEnglish av he could hilp it."
"But such talk of thick heads and kicks--to me, sir, to me!"
"Well, Oi don't want to give yez a kick, but ye nade it. Ye can't seethot it's alone a bit Frank an' th' litthle girrul would loike to be."
"Why should they wish to be alone?"
"Oh, soay! did ye iver think ye'd loike to be alone wid a pretty swategirrul, profissor? Come on, now, before Oi pick ye up an' lug ye out."
So Barney finally induced the professor to leave the hut, but the littleman remained close at hand, ready to bolt in through the wide open doorthe instant there was the least sign of danger.
Left to themselves, Frank and Elsie chatted, talking over many things ofmutual interest. They sat very near together, and more and more Frankfelt the magnetism of the girl's winning ways and tender eyes. He drewnearer and nearer, and, finally, although neither knew how it happened,their hands met, their fingers interlocked, and then he was sayingswiftly, earnestly:
"Elsie, you cannot know how often I have thought of you since you leftme at Fardale. There was something wrong about that parting, Elsie, foryou refused to let me know where you were going, refused to write to me,expressed a wish that we might never meet again."
She caught her breath. Her head was bowed, and her cheeks were verypale.
"All the while," she softly said, "away down in my heart was a hope Icould not kill--a hope that we might meet again some day, Frank."
"And we have met!" he cried, exultantly. "When we have to part again,Elsie, you will not leave me as you did before? You will let me write toyou? You will write to me occasionally?"
"Would it be right?"
She was looking straight into his eyes now, her face was near his, andthe temptation was too great for his impulsive nature to resist. In amoment his arm was about her neck, and he had kissed her.
"Right!" he cried. "I do not know! Oh, we cannot always be right!"
She quickly released herself from his hold and sprang to her feet, thewarm blood flushing her cheeks.
"We cannot always be right," she admitted; "but we should be right whenwe can. Frank, Inza Burrage befriended me. She thinks more of you thanany one else in the wide world. Do not forget Inza!"
He lifted his hand to a round hole in his coat where a bullet fromLeslie Gage's revolver had cut through, and beneath it he felt theruined and shattered locket that held Inza's picture.
"I will not forget!" he said, his voice far from steady.
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