by Morgan Scott
CHAPTER XXIV
SHULTZ SEES A LIGHT.
Amazed beyond expression, Osgood continued to gaze downward at thehaggard, woe-begone face of Shultz. Presently, recovering a bit, heasked:
"What in the world are you doing here, Charley?"
"Hush! Keep still!" pleaded the boy beneath the bushes. "He'll hear you!There he is, calling again! Don't answer! Don't answer!"
"Why, it's only Nelson," said Ned, squatting beside the bushes. "We werechasing you. We thought you might be Hooker."
"Hooker--oh!"
There was inexpressible terror and anguish in those two words, whichseemed almost to choke the boy who uttered them.
Nelson was approaching, continuing to call Osgood's name.
"Hide! hide!" urged Shultz. "Don't leave me! Oh, don't leave me now! Lethim go! Get into these bushes and he won't see you!" Grasping Ned'scoat, the pleading fellow sought to draw him into the shelter of the lowbushes.
"Why don't you want him to see you?"
"I'll tell you--I'll tell you when he's gone. Quick! get in here!"
Wondering at the agitation of the fellow who had always seemed utterlyincapable of such emotion, Osgood humored him by creeping into the thickmass of shrubbery. Thus concealed, he saw the dark figure of Nelsonpassing at a little distance, and all the while Shultz clung to him withhands that quivered and shook and seemed silently to beg him not torespond to the calls of the searching lad.
After a time Nelson could be heard no more. Then Ned crept forth,followed by Charley, who remained sitting on the ground with one legoutstretched.
"What's the meaning of this tomfoolery?" demanded Osgood, a bit sharply."How in the name of the seven wonders did you come to be here, anyhow?You weren't with the bunch that started out to find Hooker."
Again, at the sound of that name, Shultz shrank and cowered as if strucka blow.
"Don't speak of him--don't!" he sobbed. "It's an awful thing! Oh, if youonly knew what I've suffered to-night!"
"Why, you're all to pieces, old man. You're completely broken up."
"I'm a wreck. I'm done for. It's a wonder I'm not crazy. I have beenhalf-crazy. Why shouldn't I be, chased and hunted like a wild beast?It's enough to drive any one insane."
"Chased and hunted? What do you mean?"
"Oh, I know the whole town is after me. I barely got away from two ofthem who caught me flinging pebbles at your windows to wake you up."
Osgood stiffened a bit. "You--did--what?"
"When I found out what had happened, when I knew the worst, I cut acrosslots to Mrs. Chester's to wake you and tell you that I was going to runaway. I was so excited I threw the pebbles against the wrong window, andwhen I went back to the street for more the men saw me and chased me. Idoubled on them and threw them off the track."
"Those men must have been Turner and Crabtree. They thought they werechasing Roy Hooker."
"Hooker!" palpitated Shultz. "Hooker? He's dead! His ghost came to mywindow! It was perched on the ridgepole of the ell. I was just going tobed when I saw it. I'll never forget the terrible look in those eyes!"
Squatting on the ground beside the trembling fellow, Osgood grasped himfirmly by the arm.
"What is this stuff you're telling me, Shultz?" he demanded. "You sawHooker looking in at your window?"
"I tell you it was his ghost. I've never believed in such things, but Ido now, for I've seen one. I saw it again, too, here in these verywoods. It spoke to me. I heard it speak. Then I ran and ran, until Ifell into a gully and thought I'd broken my leg. It was my ankle. It'ssprained and swollen, but I've been hobbling on it just the same. Oh,Osgood, isn't there any way for me to escape? If I hadn't hurt my ankle,I'd be miles on the road to Barville before this. I didn't mean to killhim. You know I didn't mean that, don't you? If they bring me to trial,you'll tell them you know that much, won't you, Ned?"
Osgood was moved almost to tears by this pathetic pleading.
"Now listen to me, Shultz," he commanded. "You've deceived yourself.Hooker isn't dead, unless he's died since he got out of bed to-night,escaped observation and left his home. If you really saw something thatlooked like Hooker on the roof of Caleb Carter's ell, it was Royhimself. If you met something in these woods that looked like Hooker, itwas Hooker. He's wandering about somewhere in a deranged condition, andhe's the one the people are searching for, not you."
Overwrought by the terror of his experience, it was no simple matter forCharley Shultz to comprehend the meaning of his companion's words.
"Hooker--not dead?" he muttered wildly. "Why, I--I was sure of it. How doyou know, Ned? You may be mistaken."
Compelling Shultz to listen, Osgood finally succeeded in convincing him."Let us hope with all our hearts," he concluded, "that they find Roy andget him safely home, and that he recovers. Let us hope, regardless ofwhat it may mean to us, that, restored to his right mind, he'll soon beable to tell everything."
"Oh, I don't care if he does now," asserted Shultz. "If we'd only toldin the first place, it would have been better. Piper was right; I shouldhave owned up like a man. That was the thing for me to do. I refused tosee it then, but what I've been through since has opened my eyes."
"It seems to me," said Ned gently, "that we've both had our eyes opened.Come, old fellow, let me help you to your feet. You've got to get backto the village somehow, if I have to pack you on my back."
"I can hobble. If you'll give me an arm, I'll manage to cripple along.But I'm afraid to go back to Oakdale."
"It's the only thing you can do. There's no other way, old man. We'veboth of us got to face the worst, whatever it may be."
Shultz, indeed very lame, hung heavily on Osgood's arm, gritting histeeth and groaning at times with the pain his injured ankle gave him. Inthis manner they moved along slowly enough, keeping to the westward ofTurkey Hill and making for the Barville road, as this was now theshortest and most direct course back to the village.
At intervals, as they went along, Shultz persisted in talking of theterrible experiences he had passed through that night, repeating overand over that he was intensely thankful because in all probability RoyHooker was still living.
"If he had died without telling a word, I'd never had a minute's peacein the world," he asserted. "I'd always felt like a murderer. I hopethey find him all right. I don't care if he does tell."
"I didn't urge you to confess, did I, Shultz?"
"No, no, but I should have done it. I was afraid, that was the trouble.I was a coward. I didn't think it was fear at the time, but it was, justthe same. I tried to make myself believe I was keeping still on youraccount. Well, really, I did think about what it would mean to you, Ned.You're different from me. You're a gentleman, and I'm just a plainrotter, I guess."
"Oh, I don't know as there's so much difference between us, after all."
"Yes, there is. You've got some family behind you, and you're naturallyproud of it. I've never had any particular reason to be proud of mypeople. Why, my father is a saloonkeeper. I never told you that, did I?I didn't tell you, for I thought you might be disgusted and turn againstme if you knew. I've always growled about my old man, because he didn'tgive me a lot of spending money. The reason why he didn't was because Iraised merry blazes when I had money. He used to let me have enough--toomuch. When I blew it right and left, like an idiot, and kept gettinginto scrapes, he cut my allowance down. You see the kind of a fellowyou've been friendly with, Osgood, old man. You can see he's arotter--just a plain rotter. Oh, you'll help me back to town. You'll dothe right thing, because you're the right sort. But, now that you knowwhat I am, we never could be friends any more, even if this Hookerbusiness hadn't come up."
Osgood had permitted him to talk on in this fashion, although again andagain Shultz's words made Ned cringe inwardly. At this point thelistener interrupted.
"You're wrong, old man, if you believe anything you've said will make methink any the less of you. On the contrary, it will have precisely theopposite effect. You've told me all this abo
ut yourself, but there are alot of things about myself that I've never told you. This is hardly thetime for it, but you shall know, and then you'll understand that we'repractically on a common level. I'm no better than you are."
"You say that because you _are_ better--because you're a naturalgentleman, with blood and breeding. I don't think I ever beforeunderstood what makes a true gentleman. Oh, I've got my eyes open toheaps of things to-night."
"It's not impossible for a man to be a gentleman, even if he doesn'tknow who his own father and mother were," returned Osgood. "Breeding isall right, but there's a lot of rot in this talk about blood andancestry."
"You never seemed specially proud of the fact that you had such fineancestors behind you. I guess you're true American in your ideas,Osgood. For all of your family, you've always sort of pooh-poohedancestry; and you with a perfect right to use a crest!"
Shultz was startled by the short, contemptuous laugh that burst from hiscompanion's lips.
"The world is full of faking and fraud," said Ned. "It seems that halfthe people in it, at least, are trying to make other people believethey're something which they are not. Does the ankle hurt bad, oldchap?"
"Like blazes," answered Charley through his teeth.
"Let me see if I can't get you on to my back and carry you."
"Not on your life! I'm going to walk back to town on that pin if I neverstep on it again. I'll just take it as part of the punishment Ideserve."
They came presently to the path which the boys had taken on their way tothe island in the swamp, and at last they issued from the woods andreached the Barville road. Rounding the base at Turkey Hill, they sawthe village lying before them in the valley, and to the right, over thetops of trees, they beheld the shimmering waters of Lake Woodrim. Thesweet and peaceful scene seemed to hold no hint of the exciting eventsof that remarkable night.
Some distance down the road Shultz perceived a few dark, moving objects,and suddenly he halted in alarm.
"Some one coming, Ned!" he palpitated. "Look! you can see them. It's aparty of searchers after Hooker! I can't face them! They'll askquestions. Come on, let's cut across into the pines yonder."
Not far away to the right was a growth of pine timber, which reached tothe very shore of Lake Woodrim. Releasing Osgood's arm, Shultz madesuddenly for the side of the road, scrambled over a low stone wall andstarted at a hobbling run toward the pines.
Osgood followed, quickly overtaking him. They were running side by side,Shultz's breath whistling through his teeth with a sound like hissingsteam, when up before them from a little hollow, as if rising out of thevery ground itself, came a human being, head bare, and all in white toits waist. One look he gave them, and then like a frightened deer hewent bounding straight for the woods.
"Merciful wonders!" burst from Osgood. "It's Roy Hooker!"