CHAPTER XXV--CONCLUSION
For the next few days Fleet kept away from his chums for the greaterpart of the time, and when they pressed him to know how he was occupyinghis time, he merely winked, and said:
"Wait and see."
Hour after hour he spent in his den, the door locked, and the only waythey could communicate with him at such a time was by means of atelephone, and then his answers were sometimes short.
"I'm awfully busy," he said one day to Chot, when his chum rang him upand asked him to go swimming in the creek. "Sorry, but I'll have to ringoff."
And that was all Chot could get out of him. So he and Tom and Hoki wentoff to the creek together, speculating on what Fleet was doing, but notreaching any satisfactory conclusion.
"It may be an invention of some sort," said Tom.
"No; I believe not," said Chot. "Fleet is not of an inventive turn ofmind. He's a good electrician and a good general mechanic, but when itcomes to originating ideas along these lines, he has never displayed anytalent."
"That's right," Tom replied. "Well, I suppose he will tell us about itin due time."
At last one day Fleet came out of his den, his face wreathed in smiles,and when he went to the post office he carried a package of considerablesize, which he stamped and mailed.
Then he joined in the activities with the other boys. Excursions to thewoods, canoeing on the creek, with daily swims in the cool waters,served to make the time pass quickly.
Hoki was initiated into the mysteries of an athletic life. He alreadyknew considerable of his own jiu-jitsu, and he, in turn, taught the boysconsiderable of this, and much of their time was spent in becomingperfect in it, as its many advantages were manifest.
Learned in connection with scientific boxing, it would prove formidableagainst any sort of an antagonist, they felt.
Hoki was a continual source of delight to them, his quaint manners andmethods of speech causing them to laugh uproariously on all occasions.This the little Jap took good naturedly. It did not discourage him inthe least. He was determined to learn thoroughly American ways andcustoms, and in exchange for the knowledge given him by the boys, toldthem many wonderful things about the land of the Mikado.
One afternoon a little incident occurred that proved beyond any doubtthe Jap's loyalty to the Comrades.
Hoki had been down to the post office on an errand for Chot and Tom andwas returning when he was accosted by several of the village boys, ledby a young bully, named Carter Dane. Carter had never liked theComrades, and insisted that since they had been away a year to schoolthey were "stuck up," and did not care for the company of their formerassociates.
"Watch me have some fun with this Jap," he remarked, a sneer curling hislip, as he saw Hoki approaching along the road.
The little Jap was moving at a good pace, despite the hotness of theafternoon, and was right upon the boys, who were sitting on a fence inthe shade, before he saw them. Then, to show his good will, he grinnedand bowed.
"What do you mean by speaking to your betters?" cried Carter Dane, as heconfronted the Jap.
He towered at least a head over Hoki, and was built after a stockyfashion, with plenty of muscle and strength from a life lived mostly inthe open air.
"No understand," said Hoki, pausing and backing away a little, as if indoubt as to Carter's purpose.
"No, I guess you don't understand," continued the bully. "No Jap everunderstands anything worth understanding. I don't know why those fellowsever brought you to Mortonville, but I do know one thing--you can'tspeak to every boy you meet in the village."
Hoki said nothing, unable to fathom Carter's motive for talking thus. Hecould not see where one whom he had never harmed could have a motive forwishing to do him injury.
"So you're afraid, eh?" demanded the bully. "I thought so. You get thatfrom Chot Duncan and his crowd."
"Chot Duncan all right!" said Hoki. His face was expressionless, but hislittle black eyes fairly snapped fire as he glared at his antagonist.
"Oh, he is, is he?" said Carter, advancing toward him. "I think I'dbetter teach you a lesson. You can't talk impudently to your betters.Don't you know that?"
"You're not my better," said the Jap boy, and as he spoke hestraightened up and waited for Carter to approach.
Then, as the bully struck out straight from the shoulder, intending tolay Hoki out with one blow, something surprising happened. The Japsidestepped, linked his arm around the bully's neck, and sent himhurtling over his shoulder into the roadway, where he lay, white andstill.
"You've killed him!" cried one of the other boys.
"No, kill," said Jap, grimly. "Could kill, but don't want to kill--thistime. Tell him it my pleasure is that he avoid me in future."
And with that Hoki started on up the road.
"Here, here," cried one of the boys; "you can't go yet. Wait till wefind how badly he's hurt."
"He only stunned," Hoki replied. "Should you wish me, it would me greatpleasure give to entertain you at the mansion of Mr. Duncan."
Then Hoki went on, while the boys assisted Carter Dane to his feet.Carter and the other boys started immediately for the Duncan residence,bent on vengeance, followed by several villagers who had seen theaffair.
By the time they arrived, Hoki had told his story, and Chot, Tom andFleet, with the Jap, were out in the yard, ready to receive them.
"Chot Duncan, you've got to give us that Jap," said Carter Dane.
"What do you want with the Jap?" Chot calmly asked.
"He played me a dirty trick down there, and we're going to beat him."
"What about the trick you played him, Dane?"
"I played him no trick."
"He says you stopped him in the road and threatened him, telling him notto talk to his betters, and from what I know of your reputation, I'minclined to believe him."
"Of course you'll take his word before mine, but these boys saw theaffair."
Several of the boys nodded, but they did not seem at all anxious toconfirm Dane's statements.
"I saw it, too," said one of the villagers, "and the Jap was in no wayto blame. Dane confronted him and made him fight, and then got madbecause the Jap threw him over his shoulder into the road. The Jap's gotpluck and I admire him for it."
"That's right," said several of the others.
"Now, listen to me, Dane," said Chot. "Hoki is under our protection. Ibrought him to Mortonville as my guest. When you insult him you insultme. I want you to beg his pardon right now, or you'll have me to settlewith."
"I won't!"
"Very well." Chot rolled up his sleeves and leaped quickly over thefence into the road. "You and I had it once before, about two years ago,Dane, and you know what happened. Will you beg his pardon?"
"Aw, I don't want to fight you," growled the bully. "I didn't meananything. It was only a joke as far as I was concerned."
"Then let's call it a joke. It reacted on you, that's all. Do you beghis pardon?"
"Yes; I beg his pardon."
"All right. The next time I bring anyone to Mortonville as my guest, youeither be civil to him or leave him alone. Understand?"
But Carter Dane's only response was a growl, as he slunk off down theroad.
Hoki rose even in the estimation of the Comrades by his thrashing of thebully, and when a letter arrived the following day from CommandantCullum, telling them that he would be glad to receive the Jap at Winton,and overlook some deficiencies in his education, everyone was delighted,Hoki most of all.
The same mail brought a letter from Lucy. It was a big official-lookingenvelope, and when Chot opened it, he saw besides the letter thecertificate of stock. The letter read, in part, as follows:
"Dear Chot:
"I am sending the mining stock as you request. Do as you wish with it. As I told you before, the matter is entirely in your hands. I know that whatever you do will be right. Have been staying with my aunt since leaving Mortonville. Hope to see you again before the fall term of
school opens. I shall be at Professor Pinchum's Academy as usual."
There were several other things in the letter which Chot did not readaloud to Tom and Fleet. But he saw the wink that passed between them,and seizing a couple of the sofa pillows from a couch in his den, sentthem hurtling at the heads of his chums.
The certificate was shown to Mr. Duncan and Mr. Kenby, a check was madeout for one thousand dollars in favor of Lucy, and another in favor ofLuther Pendleton. In case the mine never amounted to anything, Lucywould have her thousand. Mr. Kenby insisted on this, and the boys knewthat his generous heart was overflowing with kindness toward the girlwho had been placed in such an unfortunate position.
"Someday we shall perhaps be able to do more for her," said he.
"If the mine pans out, you three boys and Lucy shall divide yourthree-fifths share among you, and something seems to tell me thatPendleton is not fooling his time away out there for nothing," said Mr.Duncan.
So with that the matter was allowed to rest, and the time was nowapproaching when the boys would go back to Winton. They could notforesee the incidents to be recorded in "Winton Hall Cadets," the nextbook of this series, and went enthusiastically about the preparationsfor their leave taking.
The opening date for the fall term was September 7, and three daysbefore they left they received a letter from Pod, another from TruemWright, and still another from Bert Creighton, telling the days theywere starting for school. The day before leaving letters came fromWilkes Davis, Randy Denton and Dan Kirlicks, with the information thatthey, too, were leaving at once for Winton.
"Looks like it's going to be a grand reunion," said Fleet, "and I'll betyou fellows won't jolly me any more about not being a poet."
As he spoke he held up triumphantly a letter he had just received from aNew York publishing house. Then the truth of Fleet's secret work in hisden dawned upon Chot and Tom.
"They accepted the manuscript I sent them, and will use one of my naturepoems," Fleet continued. "Now congratulate me, you lobsters, and I'llforgive what you said to me on the trip that night."
Of course they congratulated him. They had known all along that he wasdestined to make his mark and if their criticism had been at timessevere, they felt that it was now bearing results, though, of course,they did not tell Fleet that.
THE END.
Comrades on River and Lake Page 25