AARON RUSHTON, CREDITOR
If the other boys noticed the involuntary movement, they made no
comment, and Ross went on:
"You fellows may think I'm foolish to go on hunting for the gold when
I've got so little evidence to go on. It seems almost like hunting for a
needle in a haystack. But there's such a lot at stake that I can't give
it up."
"I don't think you're foolish," maintained Teddy stoutly. "It's just
what I'd do, if I were in your place."
"So would I," agreed Fred. "Of course you may never find it. But if you
didn't try for it, you'd feel restless and uneasy all the rest of your
life."
"It's better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all,"
declared Bill.
"You're young enough yet to spare a year or two more at it anyway," said
Lester. "If nothing comes of it, you can settle down at something else."
"Yes," replied Ross, "it isn't a matter of life and death anyway. Mother
is still keeping the old place up in Canada and looking after the
property that father left there. The income is small, but it is enough
to keep us going, and if I finally have to give up looking for the gold,
I can go back there and do pretty well. But it would take me a long time
to get enough together to pay father's debts, and perhaps I could never
do it. That's the real reason why I'm so anxious to find the chest. It
isn't so much for what it would give me, though of course I'd be glad to
have it. But I know how father felt, and I feel that I owe it to his
memory to carry out his wishes, if I possibly can."
"Do the debts mount up to a very large amount?" Bill ventured to ask.
"Larger than I care to think of," answered Ross. "I should say that it
would take about twenty thousand dollars if they were settled now. And,
of course, there's the interest creeping up with every day that passes."
"I guess the creditors would be so glad to get back the principal, that
they wouldn't worry much about the interest," remarked Lester.
"I suppose they would," answered Ross. "But they ought to get both, and
I shall never feel that I'm clear with the world until they do."
It was clear that the son had inherited to the full his father's
independence of spirit, and the boys' liking for him deepened.
"Most of the debts are for small amounts," Ross continued, again taking
the little red memorandum book from his pocket, "that is, comparatively
small. There's one big one that is more than all the rest put together.
The others are for a few hundred dollars each, though one or two of them
run into the thousands."
He turned over the pages.
"Father was very methodical and precise," he went on, showing the pages.
"You see, he has all the names arranged in alphabetical order. There's
Allen, three hundred and twenty-seven dollars; Carey, one hundred and
ninety-two; Linson, eighty-five; Masters, six hundred and eighteen. And
here we come to the big one, Rushton, twelve thousand four hundred
and----"
"What was that?" broke in Teddy excitedly. "Why that's my name and
Fred's."
"Is that so?" asked Ross in surprise, for so far he had heard the boys
speak to each other only by their first names, and there had been no
formal introduction. "It isn't such a common name, either. Perhaps it's
your father. What's his first name?"
"Mansfield," came simultaneously from both of the boys.
"Oh, then he isn't the one," said Ross, consulting his book. "This
is--let me see," as his finger sought the place, "Aaron--Aaron Rushton."
"We have an Uncle Aaron, my father's brother," stated Fred.
"Can it possibly be Uncle Aaron?" asked Teddy, his pulses quickened by
the possibility.
"I shouldn't be a bit surprised," rejoined Ross. "There can't be so many
Aaron Rushtons in this part of the country. This man lived, at that time
in Medford, not far from Boston."
"That's just where Uncle Aaron used to live!" broke in Fred. "He has
some property there yet, although lately he spends a good deal of the
time with us in Oldtown."
"Would you know his handwriting, if you saw it?" asked Ross, feeling in
his pocket.
"Sure we would!" answered Fred. "We've seen it a hundred times."
"Take a look at that then," said Ross, taking a wrinkled sheet of paper
from a collection wrapped in oiled silk and held together by a rubber
band, "and see if it's your uncle's writing."
Fred unfolded the paper with hands that trembled with excitement, while
Teddy looked over his shoulder.
It was a brief note, dated fifteen years before, acknowledging the
receipt of three hundred and sixty dollars, being the semi-annual
interest on notes given by Mr. Montgomery. It had been written from
Medford, and it bore the stiff precise signature of Aaron Rushton.
"That's Uncle Aaron's writing!" exclaimed Fred. "I can't be mistaken."
"It sure is," echoed Teddy. "I'd know it among a thousand."
"Well, what do you think of that?" chimed in Bill, as he and Lester
crowded around to look.
It gave the boys a queer thrill to think of all that had been pressed
into the years between the time that note was written and the present.
It seemed like a link between the living and the dead. The man who had
received it was in his grave, and the one who had sent it had long since
given up all hope of hearing of the matter again. And now chance had
brought together the son of one and the nephews of the other on this
stormy night on the seacoast, and they sat tracing out the faded lines
by the flickering light of the brush fire.
Fred sat back and drew a long breath.
"Do you remember what Dave Parloe said--that it was a small world after
all?" he asked Bill. "I know now that he was right."
"To think that it was you who saved my life this afternoon, and that it
was your uncle who helped my father when he was in business trouble!"
exclaimed Ross. "I feel that I owe you more than ever now. You see, Mr.
Aaron Rushton lent part of the twelve thousand dollars to father when he
started into business in Canada."
"Just think of Uncle Aaron's doing a thing like that!" exclaimed Teddy.
"You don't owe me anything," affirmed Fred, "and as for what you owe
Uncle Aaron, he's stopped worrying over that long ago."
"But won't he be surprised when we write and tell him all about this?"
demanded Teddy.
"If we could only pitch in and help Ross find the gold, we'd square
ourselves with Uncle Aaron for the rest of our lives," remarked Fred.
"Why, has he anything against you now?" asked Ross, in surprise.
Teddy's eyes twinkled as he looked at Fred.
"Oh, no," he explained, "not especially. Down in his heart I think he's
rather fond of us. But he's a bachelor, and he hasn't much use for boys.
I got in bad with him last year when I sent a baseball against the horse
of a coach he was riding in and made the team run away. He jumped just
as they got to a bridge and went head first into the river. Do you
remember how he looked, Fred, when he came up dripping?"
"Will I ever forget it?" chuckled Fred, as the picture of his uncle,
with his hair plastered over his face and the water streaming from his
bony frame, came up before him.
"He was furious," explained Teddy, "and he was worse yet when he found
that he'd spoiled his watch and lost some valuable papers. We got those
back for him, though, and that made things better, though I don't think
he approves of us yet. But if we could get this money for him, he'd sure
give us a clean bill of health."
"Uncle Aaron likes money, all right," added Fred, "though I will say
that when he does spend, he does it royally. He certainly fixed us up in
style when he bought the tickets for us to go out to Bill's ranch. He's
got a hair-trigger temper, but take him all in all, he's a good old
chap."
"I think he must be, from what mother has told me," said Ross. "He might
have seized what property we've got in payment of the debt, but when he
learned that father had died and that mother had just enough to get
along on, he did not trouble us. And that's one thing that makes me all
the more eager to pay what father owed him."
"I tell you what we fellows ought to do!" exclaimed Fred. "We ought to
spend the rest of our vacation here helping Ross look for the gold.
There'll be lots of fun and excitement in it anyway, even if we never
lay eyes on it."
"And think what it would mean if we did really find it," gloated Teddy.
"Think what Uncle Aaron would say, and how proud father and mother would
be if we had a hand in it."
"To say nothing of how Ross would feel, if we got back his father's
money," added Bill.
"The idea looks good to me," declared Lester. "I have the _Ariel_,
and if we can get the motor boat back for Ross, there won't be a spot on
the coast within fifty miles that we can't explore. Between us, we may
run across some clue, and even if we don't, we'll get lots of fun out of
the hunt."
"Like the old darky with his lottery ticket," laughed Bill. "His boss
reproved him for spending money on a mere chance. 'Oh, I dunno, boss,'
the old fellow answered. 'T'ree dollars ain't much to spend fur a whole
year's hopin'.'"
"It's mighty good of you fellows to help me out this way," said Ross
gratefully, when the laugh had subsided. "Of course, if you do find it,
there'll be a great big reward in it for you. I know that isn't what you
are looking for, but you'll get it just the same."
"We'll leave that all to you," answered Lester. "We've got to find it
first."
"Like the old English recipe for cooking rabbit that begins: 'First
catch the hare,'" chuckled Fred.
The lads sat about the fire for another hour, too excited by all that
had happened to think of sleep. Then Lester gave the signal.
"Come, boys," he said, "we'll have plenty of time to talk this over, but
now we must get some rest. I want to get an early start in the morning,
if the storm has blown over. It's me for the downy couch now and the
early bird stunt in the morning."
The "downy couch" resolved itself into beds hollowed out in the sand
with the boys' coats rolled up for pillows. But no king in his bed of
state ever enjoyed a sounder sleep than that into which the tired boys
fell at once, while the fire died down and the surf beat on the rocks
outside.