BOB'S ASPIRATIONS.
"I think it my duty to inform you that the parties to whom you have
given your order for fifty dozen live quails will certainly
disappoint you. They did not seek the contract for themselves, but
for another person, who knows nothing whatever about trapping, and
who is much too indolent to put forth the necessary exertion if he
did. You will get no birds from him. If, after waiting a reasonable
time--I should think two weeks would be long enough--you become
satisfied of this fact, I shall be happy to receive your order, and
will guarantee you satisfaction."
This was a rough copy of the letter Lester drew up to send to the
advertiser in the "_Rod and Gun_," on the evening of the day on which
he held that interview with Don and Bert, when the former refused to
join his sportsman's club. He read it to Bob in his best style and
was astonished when his friend declared that it wouldn't do at all.
"You seem to forget that I am working for a new shot-gun," said Bob.
"The language isn't half strong enough."
"You can't improve it anywhere," replied Lester, who was rather proud
of the production. "Do you want me to abuse Don and the rest? That
would be poor policy, for the man would say right away that we were
jealous of them and trying to injure them. I have told him that he
will get no birds from David, and if he does, it will be our fault."
Bob could not see the force of this reasoning. There was so much at
stake that it was necessary they should do everything in their power
to secure the contract, and he was sure it would help matters if a
few hard words were added respecting Don and David. So they were put
in, and the letter was copied and dropped into the post-office.
After that Lester took up his abode with Bob Owens. According to an
agreement made between them, Bob went through the ceremony of sending
a note to Lester by a negro boy, inviting him to come over and spend
a week with him, bringing his horse and gun, and they would have a
fine time shooting turkeys and driving the ridges for deer. This
arrangement enabled the two conspirators to be together day and
night. They intended to pass the most of their time in riding about
through the woods, and if a deer or turkey happened to come in their
way and they should be fortunate enough to shoot it, so much the
better; but if the game kept out of their sight they would not spend
any precious moments in looking for it. Their object was to devote
themselves exclusively to destroying all David's chances for earning
the hundred and fifty dollars. They would watch him closely, and when
they found out where his traps were set, they would visit them daily,
and steal every quail they found in them.
During the first few days the boys spent together they found out two
things: one was that there was a pile of traps in the yard behind
Godfrey Evans's cabin, and that they were never touched except when
the family happened to be in want of kindling wood. The other was,
that David left home bright and early every morning and went straight
to General Gordon's. What he did after he got there they could not
find out. They would always wait an hour or two to see if he came
out again, and then they would grow tired of doing nothing, and spend
the rest of the day searching the woods and brier-patches in the
neighborhood of the cabin, in the hope of finding some of David's
traps. But they never found a single one, for the reason that they
were all set on the General's plantation, and the boys never thought
of looking there for them.
"It's my opinion," said Lester, one day, when the two were seated at
a camp-fire in the woods, broiling a brace of squirrels which Bob had
shot, "that David has given it up as a bad job and left the way clear
for us."
"Hurrah!" shouted Bob.
"Well--yes; but I'd hurrah louder if he had only set a dozen or two
traps and given us a chance to rob them. If he'd done that, we might
have had a hundred birds on hand now. The best thing we can do is to
set our own traps and catch the quails as fast as we can. We'll keep
an eye on David all the same, however."
This programme was duly carried out--that is, they spent the rest of
the day in setting their traps, but they did not devote any more time
to watching David's movements. Two incidents happened within a few
hours that suggested new ideas to them, and made them sure that at
last they had the game in their own hands. They had built a good many
traps, and having no mule and wagon at their command, as Don Gordon
had, it took them all the rest of the day to set them, so that it was
dark by the time they reached home. They found the family at supper
and listening with great interest and attention to something Mr.
Owens was saying.
Mr. Owens was like Godfrey Evans in two respects. His ideas ran just
as far ahead of his income as Godfrey's did, and he hated those who
were better off in the world than himself. Especially did he dislike
General Gordon. The latter was looked up to by all the best people as
the leading man in the community, and that was something Mr. Owens
could not endure. He wanted that honor himself; and because he could
not have it, he made it a point to oppose and injure the General in
every possible way.
"What do you think Gordon is trying to do now?" Mr. Owens asked, just
as the boys came in and took their seats at the table. "Gardner's
mail contract has run out, and as he doesn't intend to put in another
bid, that meddlesome Silas Jones asked the General who would be a
good man to take his place; and Gordon hadn't any more sense than to
recommend Dave Evans."
"Well, of all the things I ever heard of!" exclaimed Bob.
"That's what I thought," continued Mr. Owens. "I heard them talking
about it at the post-office. Gordon was as busy as a candidate on
election day. He was going around speaking to all the men about it,
and asking them if they would lend their influence to secure the
contract for David, and, although I put myself in his way two or
three times, he never said a word to _me_. I suppose he thought my
influence didn't amount to anything one way or the other, but perhaps
he'll see his mistake some day."
"What's the pay, father?" asked Bob.
"Thirty dollars a month was Gardner's bid, and he rode the route only
twice each week. But he had to go rain or shine. How would you like
it, Bob?"
"The best in the world!" exclaimed the boy, eagerly. "Three hundred
and sixty dollars a year! Couldn't I sport just as fine a hunting and
fishing rig as anybody? Can't you get it for me, father?"
"I was thinking about it on the way home, and I made up my mind that
I could try. Gordon thinks he holds the whole state of Mississippi
under his thumb, but he hasn't got me there."
"Nor my father, either," said Lester. "He'll help you, Mr. Owens."
"I was counting on him. When I send in the application, I'll have to
send a bond for a few hundred dollars with it."
"Father will go on it, if I ask him, and I will, for I'll do anything
to help Bob and beat that beggar, Dave Evans."
The conversation continued for an hour or more in this strain, and
when the boys had heard David and all his friends soundly abused, and
Bob had provided for the spending of every cent of the money he would
earn during the first year he rode the route, if his father succeeded
in obtaining the appointment for him, he and Lester went out to
attend to their horses and talk the matter over by themselves. Bob
was in ecstacies; and while he was counting off on his fingers the
various articles he intended to purchase with his wages, Lester
suddenly laid his hand on his arm.
"What's that?" said he, in a suppressed whisper.
Bob looked in the direction indicated by his companion, and saw a
dark figure creeping stealthily along the fence. His actions plainly
showed that he had no business there, and, as if moved by a common
impulse, the two boys dropped to the ground and waited to see what
he was going to do.
"It's some thieving nigger," whispered Bob. "If he lays a hand on
anything we'll jump up and catch him."
"Hadn't I better go into the house and call your father?" asked
Lester.
"O, no; you and I can manage him. Do you see those fence pickets over
there? Well, we'll sneak up and get one apiece, and then if he
attempts any resistance, we shall be ready for him."
The pickets, of which Bob spoke, were piled about twenty yards nearer
to the barn than the boys then were, and they succeeded in creeping
up to them and arming themselves without attracting the notice of
the prowler. The latter followed the fence until he reached a point
opposite the spot where the barn, corn-cribs and other out-buildings
were located, and there he stopped to survey the ground before him.
Having made sure that there was no one in sight, he moved quickly
toward the smokehouse and tried the door.
"I don't think you'll make much there, my friend," whispered Bob.
"That door is locked."
The prowler found it so, and after a few ineffectual attempts to
force it open by pushing with his shoulder against it, he faced about
and disappeared in the barn. While the boys were trying to make up
their minds whether or not they ought to run up and corner him there,
he came out again, and he did not come empty-handed either. He
carried a bag of meal on his shoulder--the one Mr. Owens had put in
the barn that morning for the use of his horses--and in his hand
something that looked like a stick of stove-wood; but it was in
reality a strong iron strap, which he had found in the barn and which
he intended to use to force an entrance into the smokehouse. He
deposited his bag of meal upon the ground, set to work upon the hasp
with his lever and in a few minutes more the door swung open.
"Now is our time," whispered Bob, as the robber disappeared in the
smoke-house. "Stand by me and we'll have a prisoner when we go back
to the house."
Lester would have been very glad indeed to have had some excuse for
remaining in his place of concealment, and allowing his companion to
go on and capture the robber alone; but he could not think of any,
and when Bob jumped up and ran toward the smoke-house, Lester
followed him, taking care, however, to regulate his pace so that his
friend could keep about ten or fifteen feet in advance of him. Bob,
who was in earnest and not in the least alarmed, moved with noiseless
footsteps, while Lester, preferring to let the robber escape rather
than face him with no better weapon than a fence picket in his hand,
made all the noise he conveniently could, hoping that the man would
take the alarm and run out of the smoke-house before they could reach
it. But the thief was so busily engaged that he did not hear their
approach, and never dreamed of danger until the boys halted in front
of the door and ordered him to come out and give himself up. We ought
rather to say that Bob halted in front of the door and boldly stood
his ground there, while Lester took care to shelter himself behind
the building, and showed only the top of his cap to the robber.
"We've got you now, you rascal!" exclaimed Bob, bringing his club
against the side of the smokehouse with a sounding whack. "Come out
and surrender yourself, or we'll come in and take you out."
"Yes," chimed in Lester, in a trembling voice, at the same time
hitting the building a very feeble blow with his fence picket. "Come
out, and be quick about it. There are a dozen of us here, enough to
make----"
Lester finished the sentence with a prolonged shriek of terror, for
just then something that seemed to move with the speed and power of
a lightning express train, dashed out of the intense darkness which
concealed all objects in the interior of the smoke-house, and Lester
received a glancing blow on the shoulder that floored him on the
instant. While the latter was calling upon the robber to surrender,
Bob heard a slight rustling in the smoke-house, and knowing very well
what it meant, he jumped back out of the door-way, and raised his
club in readiness to strike; but the thief was out and gone before he
could think twice. The instant the robber landed on his feet outside
the door, he turned toward the place where he had left his bag of
meal and happened to come into collision with Lester, who went down
with a jar that made him think every bone in his body was broken. It
was a minute or two before he could collect his scattered wits and
raise himself to his feet, and then he found that he was alone. Bob
was scudding across the field in pursuit of the robber, who carried
a side of bacon on one shoulder and the bag of meal on the other;
but burdened as he was he ran quite fast enough to distance Bob, who
presently came back to the smoke-house, panting and almost exhausted.
"Is he gone?" asked Lester, who was groping about on the ground in
search of his club.
"I should say he was," Bob managed to reply. "He ran like a deer. He
knocked you flatter than a pancake, didn't he?"
"He didn't hurt me as badly as I hurt him," said Lester. "Did you
hear my club ring on his head?"
"No, but I heard you yell. You didn't strike him."
"What's the reason I didn't? I did, too, but it must have been a
glancing blow, for if I had hit him fairly, I should have knocked him
flatter than he knocked me. I yelled just to frighten him."
"I guess you succeeded, for I never saw a man run as he did. He got
away, and he took the meal and bacon with him. They'll not do him any
good, however, for he'll be in the calaboose by this time to-morrow,
if there are men enough in the settlement to find him. I know him."
"You do? Who was he?"
"Godfrey Evans. He's been hiding in the cane ever since he and
Clarence Gordon got into that scrape, and no one has ever troubled
him. But somebody will trouble him now. I'll tell my father of it
the first thing. I wonder how Dave will feel when he sees his father
arrested and packed off to jail?"
"I wouldn't do anything of the kind, if I were you," said Lester.
"You wouldn't?" cried Bob, greatly astonished. "Well, I won't let
this chance to be revenged on Dave slip by unimproved, now I tell
you."
"We can take revenge in a better way than that. We've got just as
good a hold on him now as we want, and we'll make him promise that
he will make no effort to catch those quails."
"O, I am no longer interested in that quail business," said Bob,
loftily. "I'd rather have three hundred and sixty dollars than
seventy-five."
"But you must remember that you haven't been appointed mail carrier
yet, so you are by no means sure of your three hundred and sixty
dollars. And even if you were, it would be worth your while to earn
the seventy-five dollars, if you could, for that amount of money
isn't to be found on every bush."
Lester went on to tell his friend of a bright idea that had just then
occurred to him, and before he had fully explained how the events of
the night could be made to benefit them, he had won Bob over to his
way of thinking. The latter promised that he would say nothing to his
father about the theft of which Godfrey had been guilty, until he and
Lester had first told David of it and noted the effect it had upon
him. If they could work upon his feelings sufficiently to induce him
to give up the idea of trapping the quails, well and good. Godfrey
might have the meal and bacon, and welcome. But if David was still
obstinate and refused to listen to reason, they would punish him by
putting the officers of the law on his father's track.
"It is a splendid plan and it will work, I know it will,"
exclaimed Bob, in great glee. "It will be some time before my
appointment--those folks in Washington move very slowly--and while I
am waiting for it, I may as well make seventy-five dollars. I can get
my shot-gun with it, and spend my three hundred and sixty for the
other things I need."
Bob slept but little that night for excitement, and dreaming about
the glorious things that might be in store for him, kept him awake.
He and Lester were up long before the sun, and as soon as they had
eaten breakfast, they mounted their horses and rode off in the
direction of Godfrey Evans's house. Early as it was when they arrived
there, they found the cabin deserted by all save Dan, who sat on the
bench by the door. David was hastening through the woods toward his
father's camp, intent on finding the pointer, and Mrs. Evans had gone
to her daily labor.
"He's just went over to the General's house, Dave has," said Dan, in
reply to a question from Lester; and he thought he told the truth,
for we know that David went in that direction on purpose to mislead
his brother. "Yes, he's went up thar, an' 'tain't no ways likely that
he'll be to hum afore dark."
The visitors turned their horses about and rode away, and as soon as
they were out of sight of the cabin, they struck into the woods to
make one more effort to find David's traps, if he had set any. But,
as usual, they met with no success, and Lester again gave it as his
opinion, that David had no intention of trying to trap the quails.
Bob thought so too; but in less than half an hour, they received
positive proof that they were mistaken. They were riding around the
rear of one of the General's fields, on their way home, when they
happened to cast their eyes through the bushes that lined the fence,
and saw something that surprised them greatly, and caused them to
draw rein at once. There was a wagon in the field, and Don and Bert
Gordon were passing back and forth between it and a little thicket of
bushes and briers that stood a short distance away. They left the
wagon with empty hands, and when they came back, they brought their
arms full of something, which they stowed away in a box. While Lester
and Bob were looking at them, a small, dark object suddenly arose
from the box and came toward them, passing swiftly over their heads
and disappearing in the woods.
"That's a quail!" exclaimed Bob. "It escaped from Don's hands."
"Yes, sir, and we have made a discovery," said Lester. "Dave Evans
hasn't given up trapping the quails after all. He's catching them
every day, and Don and Bert are helping him."
"It's just like them," replied Bob, in great disgust. "They're always
poking their noses into other people's business. But I don't feel as
badly over it as I did a short time ago."
"I know what you are counting on. You are as sure of that mail
carrier's berth as you would be if you were to ride the route for the
first time to-day; but if you should happen to slip up on it, you'd
be glad to have the seventy-five dollars to fall back on."
"O, I am willing to work for it," replied Bob, quickly, "not only
because I want it myself, but because I don't want Dave Evans to have
it. What's to be done?"
"That trap must have been as full as it could hold," said Lester,
thoughtfully. "They have made five or six trips between the wagon and
that clump of bushes since we have been here. We know where one of
the traps is set now, and that will guide us in finding the rest.
When we do find them, we'll carry out our plan of robbing them every
day. They must have trapped some birds before, and if we watch them
when they go home we can find out where they keep them. What do you
say to that?"
Bob replied that he was willing, and so the two dismounted, and
having hitched their horses, set themselves to watch the wagon. They
followed it at a respectful distance, as it made the rounds of the
traps (they did not know that they also were followed by somebody,
who kept a sharp eye on all their movements), and Bob grew angry
every time he saw more quails added to those already in the coop.
"Those fellows are always lucky," he growled. "I'll warrant that if
we visit those traps we set yesterday, we'll not find a single bird
in them. Don and Bert are hauling them in by dozens."
"So much the better for us," returned his companion. "Every quail
they catch makes it just so much easier for us to earn seventy-five
dollars apiece."
Bob, feeling somewhat mollified by this view of the case, turned his
attention to Don and his brother, who, having visited all their traps
by this time, climbed into the wagon and drove toward home.