RAYTON CONFESSES
Old Timothy Fletcher, Captain Wigmore's servant and companion, was more
of a mystery to the people of Samson's Mill Settlement than the captain
himself. He was not as sociable as his master, kept to the house a great
deal, and moved with a furtive air whenever he ventured abroad. In
speech he was reserved to such an extent that he seldom addressed a word
to anybody but Wigmore, and in manner he was decidedly unpleasant. He
was neither liked nor understood by his neighbors. He did not care a rap
what the people thought of him, and yet, with all his queerness and
unsociability, he possessed many common human traits. He served the
captain faithfully, had a weakness for rye whisky and Turkish
cigarettes--weaknesses which he indulged on the sly--and spent much of
his time in the perusal of sentimental fiction.
The afternoon of the day on which Mr. Rayton went across the fields to
borrow a saucepan was bright and warm. The morning had promised rain,
but a change of wind had given to late autumn a few more hours of magic,
unseasonable warmth and glow. Timothy Fletcher, shod with felt, went to
the door of the captain's bedroom and assured himself that the worthy
gentleman was deep in his after-luncheon nap. Then he tiptoed to his own
chamber, produced a paper-covered novel and a box of cigarettes from a
locked trunk, and crept downstairs again. In the kitchen he changed his
felt-soled slippers for a pair of boots. He crossed the garden, the
little pasture beyond, and entered a patch of young firs and spruces. He
walked swiftly and furtively, until he came to a little sun-filled
clearing, on a gently sloping hillside. Here he found his favorite seat,
which was a dry log lying near a big poplar. He seated himself on the
log, leaned back against the poplar, lit a fat cigarette, and opened the
book.
For a whole hour Timothy read steadily, chapter after chapter, and
smoked four cigarettes. Then he placed the book face down upon his knee.
The sun was warm and the air soft and fragrant. He closed his eyes,
opened them with an effort, closed them again. His head sank back and
settled slightly to the left. The book slid from his knee. But he gave
it no heed.
He awoke, struggling violently, but impotently. He opened his eyes upon
darkness. He cried out furiously, and his voice was beaten thunderously
back into his own ears by an enveloping blanket. He knew it for a
blanket by the weight and feeling of it. His back was still against the
familiar poplar tree, but now it was pressed to the trunk by something
that crossed his chest. His hands were bound to his sides. His ankles
were gripped together.
Now it happened that a large widow, named Mrs. Beesley, came to the
little hillside clearing just before sunset. She had been hunting
through the woods all the afternoon for an herb that enjoys the
reputation, in this country, of being a panacea for all ailments of the
stomach. Now she was on her way home.
Rounding the big poplar, she beheld a shapeless, blanket-swathed,
rope-bound form lumped against the trunk. She did not see the ropes
clearly, nor fully comprehend the blanket; in fact she received only a
general impression of something monstrous, bulky, terrific. She uttered
a shrill scream, and, for a few seconds, stood spellbound. A choking
sound, muffled and terrible, came from the shapeless bulk, and one end
of it began to sway and the other to twist and wag. Mrs. Beesley turned
and ran for her very life.
Instinct, rather than reason, directed Mrs. Beesley's fleeing feet
toward the clearings and farmsteads of the settlement. She left the
haunted woods behind her, crossed a lumpy pasture at an amazing pace,
sprang into the middle of a brush fence, and fought through without a
halt, sighted a house with a male figure in the foreground, and kicked
her way toward these signs of protection with such high action that her
elastic-sided boots acknowledged themselves frankly, and Captain
Wigmore's suspicions of white stockings were confirmed. She arrived with
such force as to send the frail old captain reeling backward across an
empty flower bed. Following him, she reclined upon the mold.
"Bless my soul!" cried the captain. "Why, it is Mrs. Beesley! My dear
Mrs. Beesley, what the devil is the matter with you? Allow me to help
you to your feet. You'll ruin your gown in that bed, I'm sure. Did you
see a bear?"
She had no breath for words, just then, and her legs felt as if they had
melted. Wigmore possessed himself of her fat hands, set his heels in
the edge of the flower bed, and pulled. He suggested a small terrier
worrying a large and sleepy pig. Presently he desisted from his efforts,
retreated a few paces, and wiped his face with his handkerchief.
"Collect yourself, my dear Mrs. Beesley," he pleaded. "I'm afraid you'll
catch your death sitting there. Come now, try to tell me all about the
bear--and try to rise."
The widow found her voice, though she did not move.
"It weren't a b'ar, captain," she cried. "Sakes alive! No b'ar 'u'd
scare me like that. Don't know what to call it, captain. The devil, I
reckon--or a ghost, maybe--or a annerchrist. You better git yer gun,
captain, and go back and take a look. Oh, lor'! Oh, sakes alive! I never
thought to see the day Mary Beesley 'u'd jump fences like a breechy
steer!"
"Calm yourself, Mrs. Beesley," returned old Wigmore, "and tell me where
you saw this creature. Did it chase you?"
"It was in the little clearin' where the spring is," replied the widow.
"No, it didn't chase me, captain, as far's I know. I didn't look 'round
to see. It jes' growled and wiggled--and then I lit out, captain, and
made no more to-do about a fence than I would about crossin' a hooked
mat on the kitchen floor."
"Come in and sit down, Mrs. Beesley," said Wigmore. "I'll get my man
Timothy and go up to the spring and look 'round. I haven't a doubt about
it being a bear."
Wigmore went through the house shouting vainly for Timothy Fletcher.
Then he went out to the road and caught sight of Benjamin Samson in the
distance. He whistled on his fingers and waved a hand violently to the
miller. Benjamin came to him as fast as his weight allowed.
"What's bitin' you, cap'n?" he asked.
"There is something by the spring up in the little clearing," said
Wigmore--"something that frightened Mrs. Beesley, and growled and wagged
itself. She is in the house, recovering from her fright. She ran like a
deer."
"Then I'll bet it wasn't a man up by the spring," said Benjamin.
The captain let this mild attempt at humor pass without notice.
"I want to go up and take a look 'round," he said, "but I can't find
Timothy anywhere. It may be a bear--and I am an old man. Will you come
along with me, Benjamin?"
"Sure. If you can lend me a gun," replied Mr. Samson.
They found a shot-gun, slipped two cartridges loaded with buckshot into
the breech, bade Mrs. Beesley sit quiet and be of good heart, and set
out to investigate the little hillside clearing. It was now dusk. The
sun had slipped from sight, and the shadows were deep in the woods. The
captain carried a lighted lantern, and Benjamin the ready fowling piece.
They soon reached the poplar tree and the blanket-swathed figure bound
against it. By lantern light it looked more grotesque and monstrous than
by day, and Mr. Samson came within an ace of taking a snap shot at it,
and then beating a hasty retreat. The captain was too quick for him,
however, noticed the twitch of the miller's arm, and gripped him by the
wrist.
"It's tied fast, whatever it is," he said.
"Don't you see the ropes? Come on, Benjamin, and keep a grip on your
nerve. Here, let me take the gun!"
"I ain't scart," replied Samson thickly. "It gave me a start for a
second, that's all."
They approached the shapeless figure cautiously.
"Who are you?" cried Wigmore.
The thing twisted and squirmed, and a muffled, choking, bestial sound
came from it.
"I'll bet a dollar it's a man," said Benjamin. "Now what kind o' trick
is this, I'd like to know? Maybe there's bin murder done. There's bin
too many queer tricks 'round here lately to suit me."
"It is tied up in a blanket," said the captain. "Feel it, Benjamin, and
find out what it is."
"Not me," returned Samson. "I guess it's only a man, but I ain't
particular about feelin' of it. You go ahead, cap'n. I'll hold the light
for you."
Old Wigmore stepped closer to the blanketed form and touched it gingerly
with his left hand. It squirmed beneath his fingers, and again gave
utterance to that amazing sound.
"Yes, it's a human being," said the captain. And then, "Bless my soul,
look at his feet! It's poor Timothy Fletcher, by Heaven! Quick,
Benjamin, lend a hand here! Cut that rope, man!"
In less than half a minute old Timothy was free. Lacking the support of
the rope that had circled his chest and the tree, he tipped forward and
slid heavily to the ground. The captain knelt beside him.
"Run to the house and get some brandy," he ordered. "You'll find some in
my bedroom, behind the wardrobe. Make haste, Benjamin!"
"Well," replied Benjamin Samson, "I reckon I don't have to, cap'n. Queer
thing, cap'n, but I happen to have a drop o' rye whisky in my pocket.
Ain't carried sech a thing for years and years--but I've had a spell o'
toothache lately and t' only thing does it any good's rye whisky. I hold
some in my mouth now and again--and always spit it out, of course. Here
you are, cap'n, and welcome."
Wigmore twisted out the cork and held the bottle to Timothy's lips.
Timothy's eyes were shut, but his lips were open. His throat seemed to
be in working order.
"He takes it like a baby takes its milk," said Benjamin. "I guess he
ain't bin murdered, after all. There! I reckon he's had about all that's
good for him. Wake up, Mr. Fletcher, and tell us all about it."
"Tell me who did this, my good Timothy, and I'll make it hot for him,"
said Wigmore. "When did it happen, my worthy friend?"
"This here country's gettin' that lawless it ain't fit fer honest men
like us to live in no longer," said Mr. Samson.
Timothy growled and sat up. He glared at Benjamin, then turned his gaze
upon his master.
"Ah! You feel better!" exclaimed the captain. "I am glad of it, my
trusty friend. Tell me, now, when and how did this outrageous thing
happen?"
"I'll trouble ye for another drop of that tonic, Mr. Samson," said
Timothy.
"I reckon not," returned the miller. "Doctor Nash says as how too much
is a long sight worse nor too little."
"Then where's my book?" demanded Timothy. "And my cigarettes?"
"You have not answered my questions, my dear fellow," said the captain.
"Chuck it!" returned the old servant. "I ain't in the mood for answerin'
fool questions."
"I fear his nerves are badly shaken," whispered the captain to the
miller. "We must get him home and put him to bed."
"But you ain't intendin' to leave the ropes and blanket behind,
surely!" exclaimed Benjamin. He stooped, picked up the blanket, and held
it to the light of the lantern. "Hah!" he cried. "It's my blanket! It's
my new hoss blanket, by gosh! I missed it fust, last Sunday. And the
rope's mine, too--my new hay rope, all cut to bits. I'll have the law on
whoever done this, sure's my name's Benjamin Samson."
"_Your_ blanket?" queried Captain Wigmore. "_Your_ blanket and rope? But
no, Benjamin. I don't suspect you, my friend, for I know you to be an
honest man. But others--people who don't know you as I do--might think
you were the person who tied Timothy to the tree."
"Chuck it!" growled Mr. Fletcher, picking up the lantern and limping
away.
Thanks to Mrs. Beesley and Benjamin Samson, the story of the mysterious
attack upon old Timothy Fletcher soon spread to the farthest outskirts
of the settlement. Some inspired person connected this with the burning
of David Marsh's camp, and it became a general belief that some
desperate character was at work in the country. Samson suggested an
escaped convict, but where escaped from he could not say. Timothy looked
more unpleasant than ever, and kept his jaws together like the jaws of
a spring fox trap. He did not seem to enjoy his position in the
limelight. Mrs. Beesley found herself a heroine for a little while, but
this did not make amends for the speedy ruination of her dreams
concerning Captain Wigmore.
She had expected a warm continuation and a quick and romantic
development of the friendly--aye, more than friendly--relations
commenced by that adventure. But, alas, it had all ended as suddenly as
it had commenced. The poor woman sometimes wondered if she had made a
mistake in sitting for so long in the captain's flower bed.
"Men are queer critters," she said. "The late Mr. Beesley was touchy as
a cat about them little things, and maybe the captain's the same. But he
was that friendly and perlite, I really did think his intentions was
serious."
Mr. Banks was keenly interested in Timothy's adventure. He talked to
Captain Wigmore about it for fully an hour.
Two days after the mysterious, and apparently meaningless attack upon
Wigmore's servant, the first snow of the coming winter descended upon
the wilderness. Jim Harley had two full crews of lumbermen in the woods
by now, but was himself spending half his time in the settlement. David
Marsh's arm was still in splints, and Dick Goodine had not yet gone out
to his bleak hunting grounds, beyond the fringes of the made roads and
buckwheat-stubble belt.
Dick spent much of his time with Mr. Banks and Reginald Rayton. As for
Mr. Harvey P. Banks, he seemed to have forgotten both his business and
his distant home. He had still one hundred of those long cigars, and a
tin box of fat cigarettes--and he knew he was welcome to his bed and
board. He felt a warm friendship for his host and the Harleys, and a
deep interest in all the other people of the place. Captain Wigmore and
his old servant excited his curiosity like the first--or last--volume of
an old-style novel. They suggested a galloping story; but Benjamin
Samson, David Marsh, and the others suggested nothing more exciting than
character studies. Doctor Nash did not interest the New Yorker at all,
but of course the doctor could not realize this fact, and persisted in
considering himself to be Mr. Banks' only congenial companion in the
neighborhood.
On the day of the first snow Dick Goodine walked over to Rayton's farm
to borrow a drawknife. He was making an extra pair of snowshoes, and
overhauling his outfit for the winter's trapping. Banks and Turk were
afield, looking for hares and grouse; but Dick found the Englishman in
his red barn, threshing buckwheat. Rayton threw his flail aside and the
two shook hands.
"Have you sech a thing as a drawknife, Mr. Rayton?"
"Two of them, Dick. I use them mostly to cut my fingers with."
"Can I have the loan of one for a few days?"
"I'll give you one, Dick. You'll be doing me a kindness to take it and
keep it, old chap, for I am a regular duffer with edged tools."
He found the knife and spent ten minutes in forcing it upon the trapper
as a gift. At last Dick accepted it.
"But I tell you right now, Mr. Rayton," he said, "I'll git mad if you
try givin' me a horse, or a cow, or your farm. You've already give me
something of pretty near everything you own. It ain't right."
Rayton laughed. Then his face became suddenly very grave.
"See here, Dick, I've something serious to say to you," he said.
"Something I've been worrying over for the last day or two. You've
always been honest with me--the soul of honesty--so I must be honest
with you."
"What have I bin doin'?" asked the trapper uneasily.
"You? Oh, you haven't done anything that you shouldn't, old man. I am
thinking of myself. You told me, a little while ago, that you
were--ah--very fond of Miss Harley. But you told me in such a way, old
man, as to lead me to think that--that you didn't believe yourself to
have--much chance--in the quarter."
"That's right, Mr. Rayton," replied the trapper frankly. "I knew there
wasn't any chance for me, and I know it still. I said that _you_ was the
kind of man she'd ought to marry, some day. I'm a good trapper, and I
try to be an honest friend to them as act friendly to me; but I'm just a
tough, ignorant bushwhacker. She ain't my kind--nor David Marsh's
kind--and neither is Jim. She's more like you and Mr. Banks."
Rayton blushed deeply.
"My dear chap, you must not talk like that," he said. "You live in the
bush, of course, but so do I, and so do all of us. But--but what I want
to say, Dick, is this: I am--I am in love with Miss Harley!"
"Good for you!" exclaimed the trapper. He extended his hand. "Lay it
there! And good luck to you!"