Dexter got down out of the willow-tree with a seed in his brain.
Bob Dimsted had dropped that seed into his young mind, and there it had
struck root directly, and continued to grow. A hard fight now
commenced.
So long as he was with Helen or the doctor, he could think of nothing
but the fact that they were so kind to him, and took so much interest in
his welfare, that it would be horribly ungrateful to go away without
leave, and he vowed that he would not go.
But so sure as he was alone, a series of dissolving views began to float
before his vivid imagination, and he saw Sir James Danby's boat managed
by Bob Dimsted and himself, gliding rapidly along through river and
along by sunlit shores, where, after catching wonderfully tinted fish,
he and the boy landed to light a fire, cook their food, and partake of
it in a delightful gipsy fashion. Then they put to sea again, and
glided on past wondrous isles where cocoa-nut palms waved in the soft
breeze.
Try how he would, Dexter could not keep these ideas out of his head, and
the more he thought, the brighter and more attractive they became; and
day after day found him, whenever he had an opportunity, waiting about
by the river-side in the expectation of seeing Bob Dimsted.
Bob did not come, but as Dexter climbed up into his nest in the willow
pollard his vivid imagination supplied the words he had said, and he
seemed to see himself sailing away, with the boy for his companion, down
the river, and out into the open sea; a portion of this globe which he
formed out of his own fancy, the result being wonderfully unlike the
truth.
Bob did not come, but Helen noticed how quiet and thoughtful the boy
seemed, and also how he affected that portion of the garden.
"Why don't you fish, Dexter?" she said to him one day, as she saw him
gazing disconsolately at the river.
He had not thought of this as an excuse for staying down by the river,
but he snatched at the idea now, and for the next week, whenever he
could get away from his lessons or their preparation, he was down on the
bank, dividing his time between watching his float and the opposite
shore.
But still Bob Dimsted did not come; and at last Dexter began to settle
down seriously to his fishing, as the impressions made grew more faint.
Then all at once back they came; for as he sat watching his float one
day, a voice said sharply--
"Now then! why don't you strike!"
But Dexter did not strike, and the fish went off with the bait as the
holder of the rod exclaimed--
"Why haven't you been fishing all this time!"
"What was the good?" said Bob, "I was getting ready to go, and talking
to my mate, who's going with me."
"Your mate!" exclaimed Dexter, whose heart sank at those words.
"Yes, I know'd you wouldn't go, so. I began to look out for a chap who
would."
"But I didn't say that I really would not go," said Dexter, as he laid
his tackle under the bushes.
"Oh yes, you did; I could see what you meant. Do they bite to-day!"
"I don't know," said Dexter dolefully. "But, I say, you couldn't have
that boat if you wanted to."
"Oh yes, I could if I liked."
"But it isn't yours."
"Tchah! couldn't you borrow it!"
Dexter did not see how, and he climbed into the willow, while Bob went
on fishing.
"I hate a chap who is always trying to find out things to stop a fellow
from doing anything. Why don't you say you won't go and ha' done with
it?"
Dexter sighed as he thought of the wonderful fish to be caught, and the
great nuts on the trees, each of which nuts would make a meal. Then of
the delight of sailing away in that beautiful boat down the river, and
then out to sea, where they could land upon the sands and light their
fire; and it seemed to him that such a life would be one long time of
delight.
He sat in his nest picking the buds off the willow twigs, and bending
and lacing them together, furtively glancing at grubby-looking Bob
Dimsted, whose appearance was not attractive; but what were appearances
to a boy who possessed such gifts of knowledge in fishing and managing a
boat, and had learned so much about foreign lands?
Dexter sighed again, and Bob gave him a furtive look, as with evident
enjoyment he took a red worm out of some moss and stuck his sharp hook
into it, drew the writhing creature over the shank, and then passed the
point through again and again.
So to speak, he had impaled Dexter on a moral hook as well, the barb had
gone right in so that it could not be drawn out without tearing; and
Dexter writhed and twined, and felt as if he would have given anything
to get away.
Bob went on fishing, throwing the twisting worm just down among the
roots of a willow-tree, and the float told directly after that the cast
was not without avail, for there was a quick bobbing movement, then a
sharp snatch, Bob struck, and, after a good deal of rushing about and
splashing, a good-sized perch was landed, with its sharp back fin erect,
and its gilded sides, with their black markings, glistening in the
sunshine.
"What a beauty!" cried Dexter enthusiastically, as for the moment the
wonders of the boating expedition were forgotten.
But they were brought back directly.
"Pooh!" exclaimed Bob contemptuously. "That's nothing; only a little
perch. Why, if we went off fishing in that boat, you'd chuck a fish
like that in again."
But Bob did not "chuck" that perch in again; he placed it in his basket,
and directly after caught up his various articles of fishing-gear and
ran off.
Dexter was about to speak, but just then he heard a harsh cough, and,
glancing through the screen of willow twigs which surrounded him, he saw
old Dan'l coming hastily down over the grass path towards the tree.
"Yes, I can see yer," he shouted, as he reached the water's edge; and,
to Dexter's surprise, he found that it was not he the old gardener was
addressing. "You come over there fishing again, I'll send the police
arter yer."
Bob, safe at a distance, made a derisive gesture.
"None of your sarse, you poaching young vagabond. I know what you came
there for. Be off with you."
"Shan't," cried Bob, as he settled down to fish a hundred yards away.
"Always coming here after that boy," grumbled Dan'l. "If I could have
my way I'd bundle 'em both out of the town together. Young robbers,--
that's what they are, the pair of 'em."
Dexter's face flushed, and he was about to respond, but the old gardener
began to move away.
"Doctor ought to be ashamed of himself," he grumbled, as he stood for a
moment or two looking round in search of Dexter, but never looking above
the brim of his broad straw hat, and the next moment Dexter was left
alone seated in the crown of the old willow, very low-spirited and
thoughtful, as he came down from his perch, brushed the bits of green
from his clothes, and then walked slowly up toward the house, taking the
other side of the garden; but of course coming right upon Dan'l, who
followed him about till he took refuge in the doctor's study, with a
book whose contents seemed to be a history of foreign lands, and the
pictures records of the doings of one Dexter Grayson and his companion
Bob. For the old effervescence consequent upon his having been kept
down so long was passing off, and a complete change seemed to be coming
over the boy.