IN WHICH POVERTY CLAIMS THE FOUR
The next day was Thursday. Nelson declared it wasn’t; that it was
only Wednesday; but the blue, red, and yellow calendar advertising
Somebody’s Smokeless Powder, which hung in the hotel office,
contradicted him. But whatever day it was it was anything but a
pleasant one. Last evening’s thundershower had resolved itself into a
steady, persistent drizzle. The boys woke late, in consequence of the
early morning diversions, and when they looked at the sky and the muddy
road they sighed. It was Tom who dared voice what all were thinking.
“This is no kind of weather to go messing around the country in,” he
said disgustedly. “Besides, there’s Dan’s health to think of. Why, he’s
just out of bed, as you might say!”
“A little rain won’t hurt,” said Dan half-heartedly.
“Not a bit,” agreed Bob. “It--it would be rather fun. We haven’t tried
our ponchos yet, you know.”
“I fear you’re lazy, Tommy,” added Nelson sorrowfully.
“Lazy nothing! Look at that street out there and then think what the
country road would be like! I’ll tell you one thing, if you fellows go,
you go without little Tommy.”
“Oh, well, if you won’t go along,” said Nelson, in a somewhat relieved
tone.
“If you want to make us miss a day,” continued Dan.
“I don’t think we ought to break up the crowd,” said Bob. “I don’t
believe our folks would like that. So if Tommy won’t go, why, we’ll all
stay here to-day and go on to-morrow. What do you say?”
“Oh, pshaw,” said Tom disgustedly; “you’re all just as anxious to stay
as I am! You make me tired!”
The others grinned.
“Only consideration for your welfare, Tommy, keeps us here,” said Dan.
“Then you can ju-ju-just let my wu-wu-wu-welfare alone,” answered Tom
aggrievedly.
“Not for worlds, old chap! Come on downstairs and let’s see if we can’t
find something to do.”
They went down and rescued Barry from the admiring attention of the
populace, which, having learned by this time of the early morning
adventure, had flocked in to view the scene and the heroes.
“I wonder what they’ll do to him,” said Dan, in reference to the
marauder, as they pushed their way through the crowd about the office
door.
“Put him in prison, I suppose,” answered Bob.
“Reckon they won’t do anything to him just at present,” volunteered the
driver of the station ’bus who was standing near by.
“Why?” asked Dan.
“’Cause,” said the driver with a chuckle, “they ain’t got him.”
“Ain’t got him!” repeated Dan ungrammatically.
“No; he broke away from Joe Brooks last night just this side of the
jail. Joe fired at him and _he_ says he hit him, but I don’t believe
Joe could hit a barn door, let alone a man runnin’ like all git out!
Anyway, the feller never stopped runnin’; I reckon he’s runnin’ yit!”
“Well,” said Dan, as they went out on to the porch with Barry at
heel, “of course he was a thief and all that, and he had one of the
toughest-looking faces I ever saw, but, just the same, I’m kind of glad
he got away. He looked just about half-starved, Bob. And I’m not stuck
on helping to put anyone in prison. Maybe he’ll behave himself after
this.”
“Well, from what I’ve seen of the tableware,” said Bob dryly, “I guess
the chap’s better off without it. I don’t believe he could have got
thirty cents for the lot!”
Presently they went to writing letters, and even Tom, with the burglar
episode to tell of, managed to fill two pages. Afterwards they were
requested to bring Barry out to the office, and, doing so, found the
proprietor and a couple of dozen others assembled waiting for them.
Barry was placed on the top of the office desk and the proprietor
made him a speech of thanks, frequently interrupted by laughter and
applause, and when he had finished presented to the hero a new collar
and leash. Dan, speaking for Barry, responded somewhat embarrassedly
and the new collar was placed around the dog’s neck. Then everyone went
into dinner in high good humor.
“What did you do with the old leash, Dan?” asked Tom.
“It’s upstairs. Why? It’s busted, you know.”
“I know it is. Give it to me?”
“Sure. What for?”
“Oh, nothing much,” answered Tom.
But after dinner he went up and got it and disappeared for a while.
When he returned he proudly exhibited a black leather cardcase and
three braided leather watch fobs.
“Where’d you get those?” asked Bob.
“At the leather store. I took the leash back and told the man it was no
good; broke the first time it was used. I said I’d take something else
in exchange.”
“Well, I’ll be blowed!” gasped Dan. “And he did it?”
“He didn’t want to at first. Said he hadn’t sold the leash to me. But
I told him you couldn’t come yourself because you had to stay at the
hotel and hold the dog by the collar to keep him from running away.
Then I offered to take ninety-five cents’ worth of other goods, and
that fetched him; the leash was a dollar, you know. So I got this
cardcase for myself in payment for my trouble, you see, and brought
those fobs for you chaps. Swell, aren’t they?”
“Oh, they’re terribly dressy,” answered Dan sarcastically. “I couldn’t
think of wearing mine on ordinary occasions, Tom.”
They tried to tease him about the transaction, but Tom didn’t mind a
bit; he was quite satisfied with his dickering.
“If you fellows don’t like the fobs,” he told them, “you can go back
and change them. He’s got some dandy things there.”
For the rest of the afternoon they played cards in the smoking room,
and Dan and Nelson won overwhelmingly. Then they took Barry out for
a few minutes of exercise, and Bob squandered more money on souvenir
postals and spent half an hour after supper trying to think of
something to write on them. Dan and Nelson unearthed a box of dominoes
and had an exciting game. Tom went to sleep in an armchair over a New
York paper, and Barry, comfortably curled up in his lap, mingled his
snores with Tom’s.
Friday dawned fair and cool. After breakfast they packed their baggage,
paid their bills--which were suspiciously moderate--and, with the
proprietor’s hearty “Come again, boys!” in their ears, swung off
down the street. When they reached the country road they found that
the rain had done a world of good. The dust was laid and the roadbed
was hard and firm. Barry was in fine fettle and kept them laughing at
his wild sorties after birds and chipmunks. From Kingston their route
led diagonally across the island toward the south shore, which they
intended to reach that evening. By this time their muscles were well
hardened and they reeled the miles off without conscious effort.
They had brought lunch with them in case, as seemed probable, they
should find no hotel on the way. And so when, at a little before noon,
they reached the edge of a big pond where a cluster of willows along
the edge offered inviting shade, they pitched camp.
“I tell you what let’s do,” said Nelson.
“Go ahead,” said Bob lazily from where he was stretched out on his back.
“Let’s have a swim before lunch. What do you say?”
They said various things, the tenor of which was that Nelson sometimes
exhibited almost human intelligence and in the present case had evolved
a brilliant idea.
“But we can’t undress here,” said Bob. “Too many autos and carriages
and things going along this road. Let’s keep along here by the edge
until we get away from the public.”
So they took up their packs and followed the margin of the pond and
after a few minutes found themselves in a thick grove several hundred
feet from the highway. Here they dropped their knapsacks, undressed,
and donned their trunks, Barry viewing proceedings with eager eyes. And
when they raced down to the water he leaped and barked ecstatically.
“I should think,” said Nelson severely, “that you would have had enough
water to last you for some time, Mr. Dog.”
“Oh, that was salt water, wasn’t it, Barry?” answered Dan. “Let’s see
if he’ll come in. Here, Barry! Sic ’em!”
Barry settled the question in an instant, plunging in beside Dan and
swimming about excitedly in circles and biting at the floating twigs
and leaves. The water was quite warm and, as Dan said, reminded them of
Lake Chicora, by whose shore they had all spent the preceding summer.
But it wasn’t deep enough for Dan, to whom bathing meant diving, and he
set off along the shore in search of deeper water. The others followed,
Barry retiring to the shore and barking joyfully as he trotted along.
There were some residences on the opposite side of the lake, almost
half a mile away, and Bob pointed them out.
“Maybe they don’t allow bathing here,” he said.
“Maybe they don’t,” laughed Nelson; “but it’s too late now. There goes
Dan; he’s found a tree trunk to dive off of.”
They had a fine time for half an hour and then swam back in search of
the place they had left.
“I don’t see anything that looks like it,” said Tom.
“Nor I,” said Dan. “Say, wouldn’t it be a joke if we couldn’t find our
clothes?”
“A mighty poor one,” answered Bob. “We’d ought to have made Barry stay
and look after them. Then we’d known where they were.”
“Oh, they’re right along here somewhere,” said Nelson. “We went in
opposite that big white house over there, the one with the high chimney
on the outside.”
“Huh!” said Dan. “That’s a half mile away. Any place over here is
opposite. Let’s go out here and look around.”
They did, and they looked a long time. But finally there was a shout
from Tommy, who had meandered off on his own hook.
“Here they are!” he called. Then, a moment later,
“We’ve been ru-ru-ru-ru-robbed!” yelled Tom.
“_What?_” cried Dan.
“Oh, it’s one of Tommy’s jokes,” muttered Nelson anxiously as they
raced toward where he was standing. But it wasn’t. It needed but one
glance to prove that. The contents of the knapsacks were scattered
about under the trees, the lunches were gone, and their clothes had
evidently been handled. Bob picked up his coat and thrust his hand
into a pocket. Then he seized his trousers and went through the same
performance. And the others followed suit as though it had been a game
of follow-your-leader. Then they all dropped the garments and looked at
each other blankly.
“Stripped!” said Dan.
“Every blessed cent gone,” said Nelson. “Watch too!”
“I had twenty-six dollars,” said Tom mournfully.
“You shouldn’t carry so much wealth about with you,” answered Dan with
a grin. “It ought to be a lesson to you. I only had eight.”
“You shut up!” growled Tom.
“Well, whoever they were,” said Bob ruefully, “they made a pretty good
haul. I had about fifteen dollars. And they got my watch too. But it
was only a cheap one.”
“Mine wasn’t,” said Nelson. “It cost forty dollars. Say, what’s the
matter with Barry?”
The terrier was running excitedly about, smelling and sniffing and
giving vent to short yelps. Once or twice he started off through the
trees as though nothing could stop him. But each time he turned back,
whining, and began sniffing the ground again.
“Barry’s got the fellow’s scent,” said Nelson.
“And the fellow’s got every cent of mine,” said Dan.
“Gee!” said Tom sorrowfully, “I don’t see anything to ju-ju-joke about!”
“Hello!” Bob stooped and picked up a piece of paper. It was part of an
envelope which had inclosed a letter to Nelson and had reposed in that
youth’s coat pocket. On the blank side a few words had been laboriously
scrawled with a pencil.
“‘I gess this wil tech you Not to But in,’” read Bob slowly.
“What’s that mean?” asked Dan.
“Search me,” said Nelson. “Who’s butted in?”
“Du-du-don’t you su-su-su-see?” cried Tom. “I-i-i-it’s the fu-fu-fellow
that su-su-stole the su-su-su-su----!”
“Silver! That’s right, Tommy!” cried Dan. “That’s just who did it. And
I said yesterday I was glad he’d got away! I wish one of you chaps
would kick me!”
“He was probably hiding in the woods here and saw us undress,” said
Bob. “I wish----”
“I wish I had hold of him again,” said Nelson angrily. “What’ll we do?”
“Get to the nearest town as soon as we can and report it to the
police,” replied Bob.
“Where is the nearest town? Couldn’t we find a telephone somewhere
around? How about those houses over there?”
“It would be a good two miles around there, I guess,” said Bob,
consulting his map. “And there’s some sort of a town about a mile and a
half ahead of us. We’d better light out for there.”
“All right,” said Nelson.
“I’m glad he left us our clothes, anyhow,” said Dan. “And look, maybe
we can find which way he went. Here, Barry, seek him out! Get after
him, sir!”
Barry whined and sniffed and ran around, but every time he started off
on the trail he lost it and had to come back.
“Seems to me,” said Tom, “if I had a watchdog I’d make him watch.”
“Maybe he’s lost his watch, like the rest of us,” said Nelson
soothingly. “Come on; I’m ready. What’s the odds, anyhow? It’s all in
the day’s work--or rather walk. We’ll feel fine after we’ve had some
lunch.”
“Lunch!” sniffed Tom, struggling with his trousers. “Lunch! Where are
we going to get it, I’d like to know?”
“Oh, we’ll find something in this village Bob’s talking about.”
“Wu-wu-wu-well, s’posing we du-du-do? How we gu-gu-gu-going to
pu-pu-pu-pay for it?”
“By Jove!” muttered Nelson blankly. “I hadn’t thought of that!”