by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER II.
A SHORT AND DECISIVE CONFLICT.
Dory Dornwood appeared to be in no hurry to get home after hisdischarge. The steamer stopped at Burlington after his fate had beendecided, and the steward expected him to take his things on shore. Theex-waiter evidently had other views, for he kept out of sight untilafter the boat had left the wharf.
When the steamer reached Plattsburg, Dory Dornwood went on shore. Hevisited all the hotels in the place, and endeavored to obtain asituation as a waiter, or as any thing else--he did not care what--bywhich he could earn some money to help support the family. He couldobtain no situation, though he heard of a place a few miles out in thecountry where a boy was wanted. Dory had no money,--not a penny; for hisfather collected his wages. He decided to visit the place at once, so asto be the first to apply for the position.
After he had walked a couple of miles, and had one more to go, he cameto a piece of woods through which the road extended. He began to feelvery tired, for he had done a day's work before he landed from thesteamer. It was now nearly eight o'clock in the evening. He had eaten nosupper, and not much dinner; for the events in the cabin had taken offhis appetite. With no money and no friends, he was not very clear as towhere his supper was to come from. The question of a lodging wasinvolved in quite as much doubt.
The weather was warm; and, if he was compelled to lodge in the woods, itwould not be the first time he had slept in the open air. Though he hadrather more than his fair share of pride, any farmer would give him ameal of victuals for the asking. But just now he was tired, and hewanted rest. He walked a short distance from the road, and seatedhimself on a rock. It was not comfortable; and he stretched his bodyupon the ground, which was covered with a clean carpet of fine needles.
Of course he could not help thinking of the great event of the day; and,while he was considering it, he fell asleep. Possibly his slumbercontinued an hour; and it might have continued another hour, or even allnight, if he had not been disturbed by footsteps near him. The nails inthe heel of a heavy boot grated upon a flat rock, and this was the noisethat awakened the tired sleeper.
Dory half rose from his reclining posture, and discovered a man movingstealthily towards the road. He was creeping with the utmost care: andprobably the scraping of his boot against the rock had admonished him tobe more careful; at any rate he acted as though such were the case.
The seeker for a situation was wide awake as soon as he was awake atall. He sat on the ground watching the stranger as he crawled towardsthe road. It was quite dark, but the opening made by the highwayadmitted some light from the stars. Dory thought the stranger hadsomething in his hand. If the man had walked right along, the boy wouldhave thought nothing of the fact that he was in the woods after dark;but he was creeping like a cat, and Dory's curiosity was aroused.
He got upon his feet, and walked after the mysterious stranger. He didnot care to show himself, and he kept one of the big trees betweenhimself and the man all the time. Near the road a fringe of bushes hadsprung up, and in their foliage the man concealed himself. Dory hadobtained a better view of what the stranger had in his hand; and, thoughhe was not sure of it, he thought it was a gun. Was the man out huntingin the dark? There were no deer so near the town, and it was hardlylikely that the person was gunning in the darkness.
Dory continued to creep from tree to tree until he could not have beenmore than a couple of rods from the concealed night wanderer. If he hadnot believed the man had a gun in his hand, he would have left hisconcealment and gone about his business; for he had come to theconclusion that the affair, whatever it was, did not concern him. But hefelt a little bashful about leaving, lest the gun might go off, and theshot accidentally strike him.
The next minute he was confident that he heard footsteps in the road.Before he had time to satisfy himself fully on this point, the gun inthe hand of the stranger went off; and its going-off proved to Dorythat it was a gun, as he had supposed, and even believed.
"Help! help!" shouted some one in the road; and the voice proved thatthere was some one there.
Scarcely had the word been uttered before the man in the bushes brokefrom his place of concealment, and rushed towards the road. Dory was toomuch interested in the affair to remain at a distance any longer. It wasnone of his business; but it was plain enough that the mysteriousstranger had fired his gun at the person who shouted for assistance fromthe road. Dory reasoned, that, as he had fired the gun once, he couldnot fire it again without reloading it; and he had not had time to dothis.
But there was some sort of wickedness in progress, and Dory ran with allhis might to the road; and, even if he had not run with all his might,it would not have taken him a great while to accomplish two rods. Whenhe came to the opening, he saw one man spring upon another. The formerdropped the gun he carried in his hand, and it was plain that he hadfired the shot.
The two men clutched each other, though one of them tried to saysomething to the other. Dory had lots of blood in his veins, and itbegan to boil as though it was over a hot fire. All his sympathies werewith the man who had been attacked. The other had crept upon him like athief in the night, had fired at him, and then had followed up theattack with a hand-to-hand onslaught.
"Don't, Pearl!" pleaded the man who had been attacked. "Consider whatyou are doing! You will ruin yourself! You are sure to be discovered,even if you kill me!"
Dory did not wait to hear any more. He had a strong impulse to take ahand in the affair, though it was none of his business. The stranger whohad wakened him from his slumbers was back to him, and the boy thoughthis opportunity at the present instant was too good to be lost.
The supperless wanderer flung himself upon the shoulders of theassailant, and grappled him around the throat with all his strength. Hewas well aware, that, if he failed at the first dash, his chance wouldnot only be gone, but he would be in danger of being entirely wiped outby his intended victim.
Dory was not a very heavy boy, but he was remarkably active. He dug hisknees into the back of the man, and in a moment he brought him to theground. The stranger then turned his attention to his assailant, and hemade short work of him. He seemed only to shake himself, and Dory wenthalf way across the road.
The ex-waiter was on his feet again in an instant. He looked at theassailant, and saw that he had a sort of cloth mask on his face. As theboy sprang to his feet, the stranger was in the act of picking up hisgun. He snatched it from the ground, and then fled into the woods. Theconflict appeared to be ended.
Dory puffed like a fish out of water. He had been laboring undertremendous excitement, which is not at all strange; for it would havestirred the blood of any one to see another attacked with a deadlyweapon.
Dory watched the woods, and rather expected that a bullet would soon betravelling from that direction towards him and the person who had beenattacked. But his companion in the road did not seem to be at allalarmed: at least he did not make any haste to seek a safer position.
"It is dangerous being safe just here," said Dory, when he had collectedhis scattered thoughts, and realized that it was time something wasdone. "I think we had better move on, or that gun will go off again."
"I don't think it will go off again," replied the man in the road, in avery sad, rather than an alarmed or indignant tone.
"Didn't that man fire at you? Won't he do it again?" demanded Dory.
"I don't think he intended to hit me; though he fired at me, or he firedhis gun. I don't believe he fired it at me," answered the stranger in aconfused manner.
"If he fired at you, of course he meant to hit you. What in the worldshould he fire at you for if he didn't mean to hit you?" asked Dory,wondering at the reasoning of his companion in the road.
"I am confident I am right; but we won't say any thing more about itjust now," added the stranger, who seemed to be struggling with otheremotions than those of fear or indignation.
"That's very queer," said Dory, puzzled at the strange conduct of theman who had been
fired at. "I think you will get a bullet through yourhead if you stay here much longer."
"I am not afraid of a bullet; but I don't think I had better stay hereany longer," replied the stranger. "Which way are you going, young man?"
"I was going over to a place they call Belzer's."
"That is a mile from here. Were you going there when that gun wasfired?" asked the man eagerly.
"Well, not just at that minute. I was tired out, and I lay down in thewoods to rest me. I was going over to Belzer's to see if I could get aplace to work. I"--
"You are too late: they hired a boy at Belzer's this afternoon," addedthe man.
"That's just my luck," added Dory, discouraged at this intelligence.
"The luck shall not go against you this time. You have no errand atBelzer's now; and, if you will walk to Plattsburgh with me, I will makeit all right with you; and you shall not be sorry that you did not finda place at Belzer's, which is not a proper place for a boy like you."
"If there is no place there for me, and it is not the place for me, Ishall return to Plattsburgh," answered Dory, as he started with thestranger in the direction from which he had come when he took to thewoods.
In a short time they came out into the open country; and there was nolonger any danger that the attack from the mysterious assailant would berenewed.
"Young man, you have done me a great service; and you have done agreater one to another person," said the stranger.
"Who's that?" asked Dory, puzzled by the strange speech of hiscompanion.
"I mean the one who fired the gun at me," answered his fellow-traveller.
"That's funny!" exclaimed Dory. "You and he seem to be fooling with eachother. He shot at you, and didn't mean to hit you; and now I have donehim a great service. I suppose you don't mean to pay me for the serviceI did him," laughed Dory.
"I should be willing to pay you more for what you did for him than forwhat you did for me."
Dory was bewildered.