Roy Blakeley: His Story

by Percy Keese Fitzhugh

  Then Westy said, "Shall I open it?"

  "Sure," I said, "we've got to sometime."

  So he opened it just a little bit and then, all of a sudden, he pushedit wide open and we looked into that other room.

  CHAPTER XXX

  GONE

  In the middle of the room was a table Jimmy always ate his meals at, andon that table was a big square piece of paper and there was a bigenvelope on the floor. But there wasn't any sign of Jimmy. Oh, boy,didn't I feel good on account of that. Westy read the paper out loudand it was something about a convention of the Grand Army, or somethinglike that. It said how all the members of some post or other were askedto go to Saratoga on account of that big convention and it was addressedto "Comrade James Van Dorian." Gee, I felt awful sorry for him, sortof, because I knew how it was with him.

  "He just couldn't help it," Westy said, "he got ready in a hurry andwent. I guess he took all the money he had saved up-poor old Jimmy."

  "He'll lose his job, that's sure," I said.

  Even while we were standing there I could kind of see him getting dressedup in a hurry in that old blue coat he had, with the buttons all fallingoff it, and starting off with his crutch. Maybe he just got his pensionmoney, hey?

  All the while the whistle on the tug was blowing and I was afraid peoplewould come around and maybe they'd all be on the side of the tugboat manand be mad at Uncle Jimmy.

  Jiminy, I wasn't mad at him, anyway. And I could hear that old manshouting about all the things he was going to do and about thebridgeman deserting and leaving him in the mud.

  "Hurry up," Westy said, "let's find the key-bar and we'll open it forhim, we can do it all right."

  So we looked all around in a hurry, but we couldn't find it anywhere.The key-bar is what you open the bridge with, you know. It's kind oflike a crow-bar and you stick it in a certain place and walk aroundpushing it. It isn't so hard when you get started on account of thebridge being balanced right and it's geared up, too. But what's theuse if you can't find the key-bar?

  "It must be somewheres around," Westy said, all excited.

  Oh, didn't we turn things inside out! But it wasn't any use--wecouldn't find it.

  "Don't let's bother," I said, "I've got an idea, come ahead--quick!"I didn't even stop to tell him what I was thinking about, but I hustledback into the boat, with Pee-wee after us, wanting to know what we foundinside.

  "A couple of mysteries," I panted out.

  "How many?" he wanted to know.

  "And a couple of ghosts thrown in," I said, "Hurry up."

  On the way across I told the fellows to please let me talk to the oldman, because I had something particular to say to him. I was panting androwing so hard, that I couldn't tell the fellows then. Anyway, I guessPee-wee had that house haunted and filled with German spies and UncleJimmy murdered and goodness knows what all.

  We pulled up right alongside the tug-boat and I called out to the oldman that I wanted to tell him something and to please let me come up.I was all trembling, but anyway, I said it right out and I didn't waitfor him to say yes, because he was too busy saying other things to sayit.

  Westy and Pee-wee stayed in the rowboat and I went right up into thelittle house where the old man was. Oh, boy, wasn't everything polishedall nice and shiny! Gee, it was nice up in there. The wheel lookedawfully big and the compass, you could just see your face in it. And itsmelled kind of oily and nice up there. Wouldn't I like to live in aplace like that!

  The old man was smoking a pipe and he blew out a lot of smoke--it waskind of like a barrage.

  Then he said very stern and gruff, "Well, sir?"

  Oh, boy, wasn't I shaky! But I started right in, and when you once getstarted it's easy, that's one sure thing.

  I said, "Maybe you'll only be more mad when I tell you but I heard yousay something about Uncle Jimmy deserting. Twice you said that. And Ithought maybe you might be a veteran, hey? Maybe that's a crazy thing tothink, hey?"

  All he said was, "Well, sir," and he blew a lot of tobacco smoke at meand looked at me with a frown, all fierce, but I wasn't scared.

  "I only kind of deduced that," I said, "and anyway I've got to admityou've got reason to be mad."

  Even still, all he said was, "Well, sir," and he held his pipe so Ithought maybe he was going to chuck it at me--good night!

  "Anyway, if you were a soldier, maybe you'll understand, that's all.Uncle Jimmy, that's what we call him, he went away to the Grand ArmyConvention--that's where he went. I'm not saying he had a right to go,but one thing, big boats like yours never come up this way, so the bridgedoesn't have to be opened very often--sometimes not all summer. It's kindof just bad luck for him, that's all. But, one thing sure, I know how itis to be away when I ought not to be, I do. And I'm no better than he is,that's one sure thing. I'm a boy scout," I told him, "and my scoutmastersays you have no right to make bargains about things that are wrong. Butanyway, maybe you wouldn't think this would be trying to make a bargainwith you and sticking up for somebody that did wrong. So I thought I'dask you if you'll please promise not to write to the government people,and I'll promise you to open the bridge for you in ten minutes. He'slame, Uncle Jimmy is, and he got that way in some battle, and he has touse a crutch. And that's the reason they gave him a job. I see your tugis named General U. S. Grant, and maybe he was fighting with GeneralGrant, hey? You can't tell.

  "We can't find the key-bar, but about a month ago, the old key-bar fellin the river, and I know where it is. Maybe you think I'm crazy, but I'mdive and get it for you, if you'll only promise not to tell on UncleJimmy, because he couldn't help going. Maybe you don't understand, buthe just couldn't. I've got the swimming badge and that's for divingtoo. All you have to do is to give me some rope, so I can take one endof it down and then you can haul it up and the key-bar will be tied toit. You can be dead sure. Because what a fellow has to do, he can do.Only you have to make me the promise first 'cause that'll help me todo it."

  CHAPTER XXXI

  THE CAPTAIN'S ORDERS

  Maybe it wasn't a very good speech, but anyway, he was nicer than he wasbefore and he had an awful funny twinkle in his eye.

  Then he said, "So you know how to dive, huh, sonny? Can you keep yourmouth shut?"

  "Sure, you have to keep your mouth shut when you dive," Pee-wee yelledup from the rowboat, and then the old man just had to laugh.

  "I mean when you're on land, sonny," he said.

  "Sure I can," I told him.

  "Well, then" he said, "if any of you scout kids goes about sayin' as howUncle Jimmy went away to the convention, and I ever meet you in your oldskiff, by the Big Dipper I'll run you down and cut you in half, that'swhat I'll do! Do you hear?" he shouted. "If you ever run afoul of theGeneral Grant in the bay or anywheres else, by thunder, I'm Cap'nSavage, I am, and once upon a time I was Major Savage, and I should beat that there convention myself, instead of standing here blowing awayat a better soldier than me!"

  "Don't you care, we'll forgive you," Pee-wee shouted up.

  "Keep him quiet, will you?" I called down to Westy.

  "Ask me something easy," Westy said.

  "And so you think you can dive," old Captain Savage said, "or is thatjust boy scout talk? Do I stand a chance of getting upstream and downagain to-night, or not. Where do you say that key-bar is?"

  You can bet I knew just exactly where it was. It was under the east spanof the bridge and just underneath about the fifth or sixth plank from thecentre. I knew it was hard bottom down there, too. So Captain Savage andthe other man he had gave me a thin rope and we fastened one end on thedeck. I tied the other end of it around my waist in a loose Frenchsailor's knot, so I could pull it off without any trouble under water.

  Then I dived. I had to come up a couple of times without it, but thethird time I got hold of it lying on the rocks, and quick as a flashI loosened the rope from my waist and tied it onto the keybar. Then Icame up, sputtering.

  "Pull," I sputtered, "you've got it; only pull easy." Then
I scrambledup on the deck. Believe me in less than a minute the tug-man and Westyand Pee-wee were on the bridge and had the key-bar fixed in its socket.Then we started to push and around she went--slow at first; then faster.

  Oh, boy, wasn't I glad to see old General Grant march through. Just as Iwas going to get in the rowboat, Captain Savage stuck his head out ofthe window and shouted, "Here you, youngster; you come in here. We haveto overhaul accounts."

  "Scouts don't accept anything for a service," Westy shouted.

  "I ain't a-talking to you," Captain Savage shouted; "you other feller,scramble aboard and come up here! Don't they learn you nothin' aboutobedience in them thar scouts--huh? you scramble up on board here likeI tell you!" Oh, boy, I knew he meant me.

  CHAPTER XXXII

  I MAKE A DANDY FRIEND

  That was the first time I ever rode in a tug-boat, and believe me, it wasgreat. I stood right beside the wheel in that little house and pointedout the channel to Captain Savage all the way up to North Bridgeboro.That's one thing I sure know--the channel. Anyway, if you don't know it,follow the abrupt shore. But with a tug-boat, good night, you have to becareful because a tug 'draws so much water. He was going up there after alumber barge, he said.

  First, he didn't say anything, only smoked, and it was like a fog inthere. Pretty soon he said: "So you youngsters don't take nuthin' ferservices, huh?"

  "We have to do a good turn if we see a chance," I told him.

  Then he wanted to know all about the scouts, how they were divided intotroops and patrols and everything, and after I told him all that, we gotto talking about our vacation and about Temple Camp, and especially aboutthe house-boat. I asked him if he thought a three horsepower engine woulddrive the house-boat up the Hudson, so we could get as far as CatskillLanding in a couple of weeks.

  He said, "It would be more like a couple of years, I reckon."

  "Good night!" I said, "if it takes us two years to get there and we haveto be home inside of a month, I see our finish. I suppose it costs a lotof money to get towed."

  He said, "Wall now, whin I bring in a Cunarder and back her into herstall, it stands them in a few pennies."

  "You said something," I told him.

  "'N I don't suppose your troop has got as much money as the CunardLine," he said.

  "Gee, we've only got about four dollars now," I told him; "I supposewe couldn't get towed as much as a mile for that, hey?"

  "Wall, four dollars don't go as far as it used ter," he said; "maybeit would go a half a mile."

  Then he, didn't say anything, only puffed and puffed and puffed on hispipe, and kept looking straight ahead of him, and turning the wheelever so little. After a while he said there wasn't water enough in ourriver to drown a gold fish, and he didn't know why we called it a riverat all. He said he couldn't imagine what the tide was thinking about towaste its time coming up such a river. He said if a bird took a drink inthe river while he was upstream, it would leave him on the flats. He wasawful funny, but he never smiled.

  Illustration #5

  "Roy dived after the key-bar"

  When we got up to the mill at North Bridgeboro, he got the barge andstarted downstream with the barge alongside. All the while he keptasking me about the scouts, and I told him about Skinny, and how wewere going to take him up to Temple Camp with us, so he could getbetter, maybe.

  Then for quite a while he didn't say anything, only puffed away andpretty soon we could see the bridge and I knew we'd have to open itagain.

  But anyway, I could see a lot of fellows there and I knew they were allfrom our troop and that they were waiting to open the bridge for GeneralGrant.

  Pretty soon Captain Savage took his pipe out of his mouth and beganspeaking, only he didn't notice me only kept looking straight ahead.

  "You know how to port a helm?" he said.

  I told him no--not on a big boat like that anyway.

  Then he said, "Wall, there's lots o' things you got to learn, youngster.And there's one thing about tug cap'ns that you got to learn, see?"

  I told him that was what I wanted to do--learn--

  "Wall, then, I'll tell you," he said-this is just what he said--"I'lltell you, you are in a mighty ticklish place 'n I don't just see howyou're going to get out of it."

  For a minute I was kind of scared.

  "I ain't sayin' you're not a brisk lot, you youngsters, because you are,and no denyin'. All I'm sayin' is you're in a peck of trouble--that'sall."

  Then he didn't say anything only looked straight ahead out of the windowand kept on smoking. Gee, I felt awful funny.

  Then I said if we did anything that wasn't right, cracky, we didn't meanit anyway, that was sure, and we'd do whatever he said. And I said I knewit wasn't right for us to break into Uncle Jimmy's shanty, because Icouldn't think of anything else we'd done that was wrong.

  Then he said, "'Tain't so much wrong, as 'tis a conflict of rules, as thefeller says. Yer see, the trouble is tug-boat captains are a prettypesky, ugly lot, as yer can see from me, and when it comes ter services,it's give or take. Now I was thinkin', that if you youngsters don't letme tow you up as far as Poughkeepsie next week, I'll just have to writeand notify the authorities about Uncle Jimmy and make a complaint. Ikinder don't like to do it by reason of him being an old veteran, butit's up to you youngsters. Either scratch out that rule of yours, orelse see Uncle Jimmy lose his job. Take your choice, it's all the sameto me."

  G--o--o--d night! Jiminy, I didn't know what to say to him. I guess Ijust stood there staring and he looked straight ahead out of the windowand smoked his pipe, as if he didn't care either way.

  Pretty soon he said, "I'm going up to Poughkeepsie next Saturday with abarge, and I'll give you youngsters till Friday to decide. You can sendme a line to the barge office or the Pilots' Association, or else youcan leave me and old Uncle Jimmy fight it out between our two selvesand Uncle Sam."

  The fellows opened the bridge for General Grant to go through and CaptainSavage let me out on one of the cross-beams, without even stopping. Hedidn't even look at the fellows as the tug went through, only lookedstraight ahead of him and puffed away on his pipe, as if he didn't evenknow that there were such things as scouts. We just stood there watchingthe tug churning up the water, as she went faster and faster until shewas gone around the bend.

  "He's a kind of an old grouch," Pee-wee said.

  "It's good you happened to think about how he used that word desert,"Doc said.

  Then Connie said he wouldn't want to be his son, and Artie said hewouldn't want to be around the house with him on a rainy Sunday, andI let them go on knocking him, until they got good and tired and thenI said, "Do you know what he wants to do?"

  "I bet he wants us to go and be witnesses against Uncle Jimmy," Pee-weesaid; "he'll never get me to be a witness, you can bet."

  "Wrong the first time, as usual," I said; "he wants to tow thehouse-boat up as far as Poughkeepsie for us next week."

  Well, you should have seen those fellows.

  "What did you tell him?" Pee-wee yelled.

  "I told him that I was sorry, but that scouts couldn't accept anythingfor a service--not even favors."

  "You're crazy!" Pee-wee shouted; "did you tell him that?"

  "Sure I did," I said, very sober, "and he got so mad he's going to haveold Uncle Jimmy sent to jail--just because I told him we couldn't lethim tow us to Poughkeepsie."

  "You make me tired!" Pee-wee screamed, "do you mean to say that if afellow does a good turn to another--an old man--and it turns out to bea good turn on somebody else, and he says--the other one that has aboat--that he'll make a lot of trouble for the other one we did aservice for--do you mean to tell me that the other one has a right tosay he'll make trouble for him, and if he does we haven't got a rightto let him do a good turn to us, so that the other one we did a good turnfor can get under a bridge--it's a good turn to let him do us a goodturn, isn't it? Let's hear you deny that?"

  "You're talking in chunks," Doc said; "pick up the wo
rds you spilled andstraighten 'em out."

  "Hold him or he'll fall off the bridge," Artie said.

  "Do you mean to tell me that we haven't got to let him pay us back so asto save Uncle Jimmy?" Pee-wee fairly screeched.

  Oh, boy, you should have seen him.

  "There is yet time," I said, just like an actor, sort of. I said, "Thereis yet time to fool him--I mean foil him. We have till Friday to accepthis offer."

  "Who's got a pencil?" Pee-wee shouted.

  Good night! You should have seen that kid.

  CHAPTER XXXIII

  SO LONG-SEE YOU LATER

  So that's about all I can tell you now, but pretty soon I'll tell youabout our cruise up the Hudson and all about the fun we had on thehouse-boat and on Captain Savage's tug. Oh, boy, he turned out to beone fine man. And I'm going to tell you all about Skinny too, and aboutthe fix we got into about that tramp that slept in the house-boat. Youremember that fellow, don't you. Some scare we had, believe me.

  And you'll hear about Temple Camp and Jeb Rushmore, and you'll get toknow us fellows a lot better. Gee, I hope you'll like us. Mr. Ellsworthsays I'm a pretty good author, only I took such a long run there wasn'tany space left to jump in. I should worry. Some authors don't run atall, they only walk. Believe me, you have to drag some of them with arope.

  Anyway, we've got acquainted now and that's something. In the next storythere's going to be some girls--and some snakes, too. Especially onesnake. Gee, but girls hate snakes--snakes and mice. Anyway, Mr. Ellsworthtold me to write just the same as I talked, so if it's no good, maybethat's the reason. You should worry. Maybe you'll like the next onebetter, hey?