WHEN LUCK CAME THEIR WAY.
Andy fairly held his breath in suspense when Judge Collins made that
astonishing suggestion to the little Scotch professor. He had always
known that the judge was a firm believer in the uplift of the Boy Scout
movement, for he had never failed to assist the Hampton Troop by every
means possible. That he would go so far as to recommend two of the scouts
to his friend as responsible enough parties to be entrusted with such an
errand filled Andy with both amazement and delight.
Professor McEwen’s eyes twinkled as he surveyed first the boys and then
their earnest sponsor.
“I ha’e no doobt but that they are responsible and trustworthy, just as
ye say, Judge Collins,” he proceeded to remark presently, with lines of
perplexity visible across his forehead, “and if it were but an ordinary
errand I wouldna hesitate a single instant aboot entrusting it to them.
But I ha’e to consider well before makin’ up me mind. The property
belangs to ithers than mesil’, ye ken; and it is of a scientific value
beyond compare. In fact, it could not well be replaced if lost in
transit; money wouldna be any consideration in exchange, which is why I
wouldna wish to send it by express.”
“Be kind enough to listen while I relate a few facts concerning this same
Rob Blake, and a couple of his friends,” said the judge, smiling, and
shaking his head at Rob when he thought the latter looked as though about
to protest.
“I should be unco’ pleased to hear all you can tell me,” declared the
scientist, “for I must confess that from the verra beginning these braw
lads ha’e made a most favorable impression with me.”
And so Rob had to sit there, squirming rather uneasily, while the judge
told of the perilous trip he and several chums had made to the troubled
republic of Mexico, and how they had cleverly managed to accomplish the
delicate mission with which they had been entrusted by Tubby Hopkins’
uncle.
Then he took up the subject of the tour abroad, where they had been for
days and weeks in the battle zone of the contending armies, managing with
consummate skill to avoid complications, and eventually succeeding in
attaining the object which had been the cause of their undertaking this
perilous mission.
All this while the little Scotch professor sucked away at his pipe as
though he found great consolation in burning the weed that originally
came from Virginia in the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, and was therefore a
strictly American product. Now and then he would let his shrewd eyes roam
from the face of the enthusiastic judge to the burning one of Rob Blake,
and at such times Andy always noticed that he would nod slightly, as
though better pleased than ever.
Andy, by the way, was enduring all manner of torture on account of the
suspense; he had had a glorious prospect opened up before him, if only
the curtain would not suddenly fall and shut it out.
“That is not nearly all that these gallant boys have done,” declared the
narrator, after a time. “I could sit here for an hour and tell you
innumerable instances where Rob, and some of his chums into the bargain,
did things that would be counted big under ordinary conditions. Why, it
has come to that pass in Hampton nowadays that when anything beyond the
ordinary is attempted they have to get the scouts interested in it first,
and then people begin to believe it must have some merit.”
“What you tell me is indeed wonderful,” declared the professor. “After
that recommendation I am strongly disposed to offer them the carrying out
of my mission if they could see their way clear to accept the task.”
“It would give them a chance to spend some weeks at the Exposition
without incurring any expense, is that the idea, Professor McEwen?” asked
the judge, who looked as happy as though he had discovered some wonderful
bug which had been eagerly sought after for years and years by all
scientists and collectors.
“Yes, a month, if they cared to stay that long,” replied the other, who
seemed to have been fully convinced, and ready to throw the load of
responsibility from his own shoulders to those of Rob and his chum. “The
particulars can be gone over a little later, either to-night, if they
care to see me again, or to-morrow. There is no great need o’ haste,
though what I am carrying out to California is being eagerly expected by
my colleagues there.”
“Let me congratulate you, boys, on your good fortune,” said the kindly
judge, as though he wished to settle the matter in such a fashion that
there could be no drawing back on the part of the gentleman. He then
shook hands first with Rob and then with Andy Bowles.
Rob was looking a little pale from excitement, but there was also a happy
glow in his eyes. As for Andy, he could not prevent a wide grin from
spreading over his features. His father owned a livery stable in Hampton,
but was not considered at all well-to-do, so that the boy had never been
able to do more than dream of taking expensive trips. That one down into
Mexico had come like a gleam of golden sunshine, for Tubby Hopkins’ old
uncle had footed all the bills.
“Do I understand you to make this proposition to us, Professor McEwen?”
Rob asked bluntly, not wishing to be laboring under any delusion.
“Aweel, aweel, I dinna ken how I could do better; and I feel that I am
indebted to ye baith for my life. After hearing what bonny lads ye are,
from my friend Judge Collins here, whose opinion carries great weight wi’
me, I am mair than pleased to offer to stand all the cost of a trip to
California and back; as well as the expense which you will necessarily be
under while seeing the great Exposition in San Francisco. Do ye think ye
can ha’e the permission of the auld folks to take so lang a journey?”
“There will be no trouble on that score, Professor,” urged the judge.
“These lads have so amply demonstrated their sterling ability to look out
for themselves that I really believe Rob’s parents would not object if he
wanted to go to hunt for the South Pole, or explore the unknown regions
of tropical Brazil. And so we shall call it settled, I presume,
Professor?”
“I ha’e made the offer, and shall tak’ it hard if they turn it down,”
said the peculiar little man of science, whose name, Rob afterward
learned, was known throughout the whole length and breadth of the world
wherever men of intellect gathered to discuss their theories and
discoveries.
“So far as we are concerned,” said Rob, after receiving an entreating
look from the excited Andy, “we are disposed to accept right on the spot,
subject to the reservation that our parents may have the final deciding
of the matter. We will run over here by moonlight to-night, Professor,
and if everything is satisfactory, we will talk matters over with you,
and make all arrangements.”
“That suits me nicely, laddie,” declared the visitor pleasantly; “and I
shall ha’e to think mysel’ unco’ lucky to have found competent and
trustworthy messengers so soon after the necessity arose. I shall look
for ye then this same evening; and I hope that there may be no barrier
thrown in the way of your acceptance of my offer. The mair I see of ye
the better satisfied I feel that I will ha’e no regrets after entrusting
my mission in your hands.”
Soon afterward the two scouts said good-by to the professor, and started
down to the dock. Even in his distress of body and mind, the thoughtful
scientist had not forgotten Captain Jerry; and the boys were entrusted
with a message to him to the effect that ten pounds awaited his
acceptance when he was ready to install that new three-horse-power engine
in his launch.
The old bayman was glad of the chance to have his wrecked boat towed back
home; and when Rob delivered the message of the professor, the look of
concern on his weatherbeaten face vanished as the mist does with the
coming of the sun.
All the way across the broad bay the two scouts were jabbering to each
other in connection with the astonishing streak of good fortune that had
just come their way.
“Seems to me I must be dreaming!” Andy declared for the fourth time.
“Please give me a pinch, Rob, to let me make sure I’m awake.”
“Oh! you’ll get used to it by degrees,” the other told him, though he
felt somewhat uncertain himself at times, and had to convince himself
that it had all actually happened, and was not the result of a fevered
imagination.
“Talk to me about luck,” continued Andy rapturously, “there never could
happen again such a wonderful combination of things. First, that the
feed-pipe aboard the _Sea Gull_ should be leaking a trifle; second, that
Professor McEwen was aboard the same; then he tossed that lighted match
the wrong way, so instead of going overboard it fell down and slipped
between the bars of the wooden grating into the oil-covered bilge water,
and last of all that we chanced to be close by at the critical moment,
ready fixed with a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, and capable of
hauling the ship-wrecked mariners aboard.”
“Everything of that kind is always a combination of minor happenings that
seem to dovetail in with each other,” Rob explained. “In this case it
worked perfectly. All other boats were so far away that there’s no
telling what might not have happened.”
“We’re getting close in now, and, Rob, there’s somebody waving to us from
the dock. Why, it looks like our inventor chum and fellow scout, Hiram
Nelson, the queerest fellow in the Eagle Patrol. He must want us to stop
and take him out for a ride on the bay. You didn’t promise him anything
like that, did you, Rob?”
“Why, no, not that I remember,” replied the other slowly; “but now that
you mention him acting as though he wanted to see us so badly, I remember
that Hiram has been talking to me several times lately about some
wonderful secret he was carrying around with him. He said he hoped to be
in a position soon to open up and take me into his confidence; and that
he might have a proposition to make that would give me a great, though a
pleasant shock.”
“You don’t say?” chuckled the happy Andy. “Well, seems to me the shoe is
on the other foot just now, and that we’ve got something to tell Hiram
that will take his breath away for a minute. Look at him dancing around,
Rob! I suppose now he’s gone and invented some sort of contraption that
never can be made to work, and he wants to tell you he’s saved up enough
hard cash to get a patent on the same. But chances are it’ll be money
wasted, because, so far as I know, nothing Hiram has done so far has
proved much of a success.”
“I’m a little afraid it’s as you say,” added Rob, in a low tone, for they
were now fast nearing the dock where the other boy waited for them, his
face wreathed in such broad smiles that they could easily see his news
was of a pleasant nature. “Three times Hiram has tried to go up in that
aëroplane of his and failed. I hope he’s switched his genius off on some
safer track than this sky traveling. But we’ll soon know, for here we are
at the dock.”
Andy stood by with the boathook to fend off, and old Captain Jerry got in
readiness to take charge of his launch and pole it along the border of
the bay to the mouth of the creek, up which he had his mooring place.
When Rob had made the motorboat fast to a cleat on the dock, he joined
his chum, and the two of them advanced toward the spot where Hiram
awaited their coming, his face still betraying the great excitement under
which he seemed to be laboring.