CHAPTER VIII
"WELL, OF ALL THINGS!"
"All right; I'll be only too glad to do the same," said Paul, as heaccepted what appeared to be a well thumbed letter from Jo.
One glance he gave at the same, and then a load seemed to have beenlifted somehow from his boyish heart; because, after he had seen how JoDavies loved that dear little white-haired mother, he would have felt itkeenly did the circumstances make it appear that the young farmhand wereguilty of robbing the man who trusted him so fully.
So Paul read out the letter. There is no need of giving it here, becauseit was rather long, and written in a very legal-like way, each sentencebeing enveloped in a ponderous atmosphere.
But it was upon the letter-head of a big law firm in Indianapolis, andin so many words informed the said Jo Albion Davies that his respectedaunt, Selina Lee Davies, had passed out of this life, leaving him hersole heir; and that if he were interested, it would be to his advantageto come to the city as speedily as possible, to claim the little sumthat was waiting for him in bank; and to be sure and bring some onealong with him who would be able to vouch for his being the party inquestion.
Luckily Jo had taken Squire McGregor along, who happened to know one ofthe members of the big law firm; for otherwise the heir might have hadsome trouble in proving his identity, since he had forgotten to carryeven the letter in his pocket, it seemed.
But of course after that Mr. Rollins could not say a word about claimingthe tempting display of greenbacks that lay exposed upon the table. Jowas already engaged in tenderly gathering them up, as though meaning tosecrete his little fortune either on his person, or somewhere else.
"Looks like I'm clean busted, don't it?" the farmer said, with a sigh,turning toward Paul, upon whom he had somehow come to rely in thestrangest way possible.
"It does seem as though your money has gone in a queer way, sir,"replied the young scoutmaster, "but honestly now, I find it hard tobelieve that a common hobo would be able to find it so quick, if you hadit hidden away up in a corner of the garret, and hadn't been there forten days."
Jo stopped gathering his fortune together; he had snapped several heavyrubber bands around it, evidently supplied at the city bank when he drewthe money.
"I wonder, now, could that have anything to do with it," they heard himmutter, as he looked curiously at the farmer.
The words were heard by Mr. Rollins, who, ready to grasp at a floatingstraw, in his extremity, even as might a drowning man, quickly observed:
"What do you mean by saying that, Jo? I hope you can give me some sortof hint that will help me find my money again; because I meant to payoff my mortgage with it, and will be hard pushed to make good, if itstays lost."
"I'll tell you, sir," said Jo, readily. "It was just about a week agothat I'd been to town, you remember, and getting home along aboutmidnight I was worried about one of the hosses that had been actin' sicklike. So I walked over here, not wantin' to wait till mornin'. Just whenI was agoin' back I seen a light movin' around over at the house, and Istopped a minute to watch the same."
"Yes, go on; a week ago, you say?" the farmer remarked, as Jo paused tocatch his breath again.
"On Thursday night it was, Mr. Rollins," the other went on. "Well, justthen I saw the back door open, and somebody stepped out. I seen it wasyou, and about the queerest part of it all was that it looked to me asif you might be walkin' around in your pajamas! Do you remember comin'outdoors on that night for anything, sir?"
"I don't even remember walking around that way," replied Mr. Rollins,hastily, and looking as though he did not know whether Jo were trying toplay some sort of joke on him, or not, "but go on and tell the rest.What did I do? Did you stop long enough to see?"
"Well," continued the farm hand, "I saw you go over to the old Dutchoven that hasn't been used this twenty years, and move around there abit; but it wasn't none of my business, Mr. Rollins, and so I went alonghome. I guess any gentleman's got the right to go wanderin' around hisown premises in the middle of the night, if he wants to, and nobodyain't got any right to complain because he don't make the trouble to puton his day clothes."
The farmer looked helplessly at Paul. Plainly his wits were in a stupor,and he could not make head or tail of what Jo was telling him.
"Can you get a pointer on to what it all means?" he asked, almostpiteously.
Paul had conceived a wonderful idea that seemed to give great promise ofsolving the dark puzzle.
"You just as much as said that you could not remember having come out ofyour house that night; and that you never knew yourself to walk aroundout of doors in your pajamas; is that so, sir?" he asked.
"That's what I meant; and if I was put on the stand right now, I couldlift my right hand, and take my solemn affidavit that I didn't do anysuch thing--unless by George! I was walking in my sleep!"
"That's just the point I'm trying to get at, Mr. Rollins," said Paul,quietly. "Jo, here, says he _saw_ you as plain as anything, and yet youdon't recollect doing it. See here, sir, can you ever remember walkingin your sleep?"
"Why, not for a great many years," answered the farmer, somewhatconfused, and yet with a new gleam of hope appearing in his expectanteyes.
"But you admit then that you _have_ done such a thing?" pursued thescoutmaster.
"Yes, as a boy I did a heap of queer stunts when asleep. They had tolock my door for a time, and fasten my windows. Why, one night theyfound me sitting on top of the chimney, and had to wait till I took thenotion to come down; because, if they woke me, it might mean a nastytumble that would like as not break my neck. But I haven't done anythingin that line for thirty years."
"Until one night a week ago, Mr. Rollins," continued Paul, convincingly,"when dreaming that your money was in danger, you got out of your bed,went up and took it from the garret where you had it hidden, walkeddownstairs, passed outside, and stowed it nicely away inside the big oldDutch oven. And chances are you'll find it right there this minute."
"Oh! do you really think so, my boy?" exclaimed the delighted farmer,"then I'm going off right away and find out. If you'll go with me I'llpromise to hitch up, and carry the lot of you back to your camp, nomatter where that may be."
"What say, shall we go, fellows?" asked the patrol leader, turning tothe others.
There was not one dissenting voice. Every boy was just wild to ascertainhow this strange mystery would turn out. And as it would be just aboutas long a walk to Alabama Camp as going to the farmer's place, theydecided the matter without any argument.
"And you just bet I'm going along, after what I've heard about thisthing," declared Jo Davies, "maw, you ain't afraid to stay alone alittle while longer, be you? You c'n sit on this blessed windfall whileI'm gone, but don't go to fingerin' the same, because walls often haveeyes as well as ears, remember."
When the six scouts started off in company with Mr. Rollins, Jo Daviestagged along with them. In his own good fortune the farm hand was onlyhoping that the money which his employer had missed might be found inthe old Dutch oven, just like this smart Boy Scout had suggested.
They covered the distance in short order. You would never have believedthat those agile lads had been walking for nearly twelve hours that day,if you could see how they got over the ground, even with two of themlimping.
It can be easily understood that there was more or less speculationamong the scouts as they hurried along. Would the farmer find hismissing wad snugly secreted in the old Dutch oven, as Paul soconfidently suggested? And if such turned out to be the case, wouldn'tit prove that the scoutmaster was a wonder at guessing things that werea blank puzzle to everybody else?
So they presently came again to the farm. The ashes were still glowingwhere the big barn had so recently stood. Here and there a cow or ahorse could be seen, nosing around in the half light, picking at thegrass in forbidden corners, and evidently about done with their recentfright.
Straight toward the back of the house the farmer led the way, and up tothe old Dutch oven tha
t had been built on to the foundation, for thebaking of bread, and all family purposes, many years back; but which hadfallen into disuse ever since the new coal range had been placed in thekitchen.
Everybody fairly held their breath as Mr. Rollins dropped down on hishands and knees, struck a match, and half disappeared within the hugereceptacle. He came backing out almost immediately; and before his headand shoulders appeared in view Paul knew that he had made a gloriousfind, because they could hear him laughing almost hysterically.
"Just like you said, my boy, it was there!" he cried, holding up whatproved to be the missing tin box that held his hoard. "And to think thatI stole my own cash while I was asleep! I guess my wife'll have to tiemy feet together every night after this, for a while; or perhaps I'll berunning away with everything we've got. Say, Jo, I hope you ain't goingto hold it against me that I suspected you'd been and had your moralscorrupted by some of them horse jockeys you met at the county fair thissummer? And about that Thatcher place, Jo, we'll easy make terms,because nobody ain't going to have it but you and your maw, hear that?"
"Well, of all things," exclaimed the delighted Seth.
Jo evidently did not hold the slightest ill feeling against his oldfriend and employer, for he only too gladly took the hand Mr. Rollinsheld out.
"Turns out just like the fairy story, with everybody happy; only wedon't see the princess this time," said Seth, after the scouts had giventhree cheers for Jo, and then three more for Mr. Rollins.
"Oh!" remarked Jo, with a huge grin, "she's comin' along purty soon now;and my gettin' this windfall'll hurry up the weddin' a heap. Drop pastthe Thatcher farm along about Thanksgivin' time, boys, and I'll be gladto introduce you to her."
"Say, perhaps we will," Seth declared, with boyish enthusiasm, "because,you see, we all live at Beverly, which ain't more'n twenty miles away asthe crow flies. How about it, fellows?"
"We'll come along with you, Seth, never fear. And now, the sooner we getover to camp the better, because some of us are feeling pretty well usedup," Andy went on to admit with charming candor.
"All right, boys, just give me a minute to run indoors, and put thispackage away, and I'll be with you. It won't take long to hitch up,because we managed to save the harness and wagons, me and the missus."
True to his word Mr. Rollins was back in a very brief space of time, andcatching the two horses he wanted, he attached them to a big wagon.
"Tumble in, boys," he called out, as he swung himself up on the driver'sseat, after attaching the lighted lantern to the front, so that he couldsee the road as they went along.
The scouts waited for no second invitation, but speedily secured placesin the body of the vehicle. As there was half a foot of straw in it,they found things so much to their liking that on the way, at leastthree of the boys went sound asleep, and had to be aroused when the campwas finally reached.
Eben and Noodles were poor sentinels, it seemed, for both were lying onthe ground asleep, nor did they know when the other returned until toldabout it in the morning. But fortune had been kind to the "babes in thewood," as Seth called them in derision, for nothing had happened whilethe main body of the patrol chanced to be away on duty.
And so it was another little adventure had come along, with wonderfulresults, and the happiest of endings. Really, some of the boys werebeginning to believe that the strangest of happenings were always lyingin wait, as if desirous of ambushing the members of the Beaver Patrol.Why, they could even not start off on a hike, it seemed, without beingdrawn into a series of events, the like of which seldom if ever befellordinary lads.
During the hours of darkness that followed all of them slept soundly,nor was there any alarm given to disturb them. And as nothing in thewide world brings such satisfaction and contentment as good sleep, whenat dawn they awoke to find the last day of the great hike at hand, everyfellow declared that he was feeling especially fit to make thatconcluding dash with a vim.
Breakfast was hastily eaten; indeed, their stock of provisions had bythis time gotten to a low ebb, and would not allow of much variety;though they managed to scrape enough together to satisfy everybody butFritz, who growled a little, and wanted to know however a scout could dohis best when on short rations?
Then to the inspiring notes of Eben's silver-plated bugle the boys ofthe Beaver Patrol left Alabama Camp, and started on the last lap fortheir home goal.
Boy Scouts on a Long Hike; Or, To the Rescue in the Black Water Swamps Page 8