THE STRANGE MESSAGE JEM LEFT
"WELL, we've had a visitor in camp since you fellows all went away!"
George confessed.
Of course every one was interested. Lil Artha seemed to immediately jump
to the conclusion that the guest must have been a four-footed one.
"Bet you now, it was a measly wildcat," he hastened to exclaim. "It's
too bad a fellow with a gun can't be in two places at the same time. I
was needed out with the tenderfoot squad; and seems like I could have
been made useful here at home. Did the varmint get away with any of our
grub, George?"
The camp defender grinned as though amused.
"Go a bit slow, Lil Artha, can't you?" he complained, petulantly. "Don't
rush as if you knew it all. Nobody said the visitor was going on four
feet, did they? Why, it happened to be a biped, a man!"
"Then it was Jem Shock!" ventured Elmer, quickly, as though he had half
guessed the answer before then.
"Just who it was," agreed George, nodding his head in the affirmative,
and looking very important.
"What did he want?" demanded Lil Artha.
"Hold your horses!" continued Elmer; "don't keep jumping at conclusions
so fast. In the first place, remember that we invited Jem to drop in on
us any time he was near our camp. The invitation didn't seem to give him
much joy, but later on he may have concluded to make a call. Now tell us
what he said, and how he looked, George."
"Oh! he carried that gun of his just as we saw him before," the other
explained. "And he certainly looked pretty savage, in the bargain."
"Savage?" echoed Rufus, "why should he act that way? Possibly because my
father owns about all this property up here. Perhaps Jem believes he may
be dispossessed of his cabin. I've heard that squatters always do get to
thinking they own the land they build on, as if possession gave them a
quit claim deed."
"Well," continued George, steadily, and keeping his eye fixed on Rufus,
"to tell the honest truth, he seemed most of all interested about _you_,
Rufus."
"Oh! is that so?" sneered the other; "well, that's just about in line
with what I was telling you. He knows the name of Snodgrass,
apparently."
"I guessed he did from the way he acted after I'd told him about your
father," George went on to say.
"Now, what could you have to say about my dad?" snapped the touchy
Rufus.
"Well, Jem asked me first of all if one of the boys in camp was a
Snodgrass, and of course I told him yes," George explained. "Then he
asked me if I knew what your father's first name was. I told him I had
heard it, but just then, somehow, it seemed to have slipped my memory.
At that he up and asked me if it was Hiram."
Rufus gave a little cry at hearing this.
"It might be this man knew my father once on a time, or they may have
had some business deal together; though that's hardly likely, because
Jem Shock, poacher and farm laborer, would hardly be the one _my_ father
would be friendly with."
"I don't know anything about that," said George, swiftly; "but when I
told him I remembered, on his mentioning it, that Hiram was your
father's name, he gritted those big white teeth of his like everything,
and his eyes certainly looked wicked enough to give a fellow a shiver."
"But didn't he say anything to explain why he had come to the camp?"
asked Lil Artha, deeply interested in the story.
"He asked no favor, neither would he sit down and have a cup of coffee
when I offered to make him one," George went on; "but he asked me to
give you a message which he wanted you to carry to your father when you
went home. He said: 'Tell that Snodgrass boy to say to his father that
Jem Shock never will forgive the rank treachery that handed him over to
a gang of sharpers in the land speculating business. And tell Hiram
Snodgrass, too,' he went on, 'that he ought to thank his stars his son
wasn't treated by Jem Shock as he deserved. Only for the prayers of a
good woman in his cabin, and the influence of a sweet child, Jem Shock'd
be tempted to do something wicked to wipe out the debt he owed your
father.'"
Rufus went white on hearing this. Then the color surged back to his
cheeks and his eyes sparkled like twin fires.
"It's all wrong, I'm sure it must be!" he cried, angrily. "I know my
father better than most people do, and I'm as certain as I breathe that
he wouldn't deliberately betray anybody who trusted in his word. There
must be some terrible mistake about it, don't you see, fellows? I'll
bring you face to face with my dad when I'm telling him about this, and
you'll hear for yourselves what he says. But nothing can shake my
confidence in his integrity; I've seen it tested too many times to doubt
him now, just because this poacher fellow dares accuse him of wrong
doing."
It sounded very fine, this defense on the part of a loyal son, and Elmer
could only admire Rufus for showing himself so faithful. At the same
time, he knew real-estate dealers often have a peculiar code of morals,
and frequently do things that others may not exactly approve of, salving
their own consciences in some way. Elmer was a little afraid that Hiram
Snodgrass might have been tempted to turn a client over to some
combination of operators, some of whom were not just as scrupulous as an
honest man would like to have them in his dealings.
"Was that all he said, George?" asked Lil Artha, out of pity for Rufus,
who appeared to be suffering acutely from mental pain.
"Yes, and after delivering the message, he whirled around and walked
away with the grand air of a lord of the realm," George explained.
"Somehow, poacher that he may be, because he believes like a good many
persons that wild game isn't the property of the State, there's
something about Jem Shock that tells me he isn't a common dickey. He
hates all human kind because his nature has been soured by some wrong
he's endured, that's all."
"Well, I'm going to find out what it all means, and as soon as I get the
chance," Rufus asserted, between his set teeth. "If it was a mistake, it
shall be righted. I tell you my father is too big a man to play mean
toward anybody. But while we're up here nothing can be done. I wish I
had a chance to ask this fellow what it's all about, so I could get the
hang of things."
"H'm! if I were you, Rufus," suggested wise George, "I'd go slow about
showing myself to Jem Shock. He hates the sound of your name, and if you
gave him half an excuse, why he might forget his good resolutions, and
hurt you, with the idea of revenging himself on your dad. How about
that, Elmer; is my logic sound?"
"Yes, there's no use taking unnecessary risks," admitted the
scout-master, "and common prudence demands that Rufus should keep away
from Jem. Later on, if he does find that a terrible mistake has been
made, it would be easy to come back up here and square things up with
the poacher. But it certainly pleases me to know that the home influence
is working on Jem's revengeful mind. If the mother is anything like that
splendid little clear-eyed chap I don't wonder at it, either."
Secretly, Elmer was more determined than ever to try and make the
personal acquaintance of Conrad's mother, the daughter of that once
famous Swedish violinist whose bow had thrilled countless thousands, and
drawn genuine tears from their eyes.
The subject was by common consent dropped then and there, though, of
course, it would remain to agitate the mind of Rufus long afterwards.
Indeed, the boy seemed to be unusually quiet during the balance of that
afternoon, and even while they sat around the crackling camp-fire after
supper had been disposed of.
Elmer could guess the reason why. The tenderfoot had, in the first
place, been under a most severe strain when he experienced that peril
with the deadly snake. It would have an effect upon his nervous system
for some little time; and possibly he might even awaken from sleep
occasionally with a half-suppressed cry of horror, as though in his
dreams he again saw that horrid reptile with its great coils, its flat
square head drawn back for striking, and its tail elevated so that the
monotonous danger signal at the tip could continue to buzz angrily.
Then again the boy had taken that accusation on the part of the poacher
quite to heart. It could be easily seen that he had a great affection
for his father, even though it was his fond mother who had always given
in to his whims, and come near utterly spoiling Rufus by her favors.
"It galls him to have heard any one accuse his father of being a
trickster," was what Elmer told himself, as he noticed the soberness of
Rufus, while the others in the circle about the fire chattered away, and
seemed to be enjoying themselves hugely.
He had not changed his own plans a particle on account of hearing about
the visit paid to the camp by Jem Shock. If anything, his resolution was
stronger than ever to see more of Conrad, and perhaps meet his mother.
All of them were pretty tired, and, of course, as the tenderfoot pair
had secured so little sleep on the first night, it was likely they
would soon be "dead to the world" after letting their heads fall on
their crude pillows. These were made out of a slip filled with sweet
hemlock browse stripped by hand fresh from the tree, and fragrant as
could be, with the incense of the woods. This bosky odor in itself is
said to be conducive to sound slumber; at least all who spend their
vacations close to Nature's heart so affirm, and they should know.
The night passed without any sort of alarm. Indeed, Alec and Rufus, once
they got to sleep, knew next to nothing up to the time Lil Artha aroused
them by beating on his frying-pan gong, as "the first call to
breakfast."
They were glad to see that again the weather favored them, since there
were all the signs of a pleasant day ahead. Elmer, however, warned the
new recruits not to be too optimistic, because after the warmth of the
last few days, it was likely that some sort of storm might develop.
It was arranged that George should change places with Lil Artha on this
day, and accompany the two surveyors as a guard. The tall scout insisted
on his carrying the gun along with him.
"Of course you won't need it to shoot any deer you happen to scare up,
George," the owner went on to tell him, "but, as we saw yesterday, there
may crop up conditions that make the having of a shooting-iron mighty
handy. You may not need a gun at all, but if you do you want it right
there."
Lil Artha possibly had something in mind which he wanted to do while
left behind. He kept his own counsel, however, and Elmer, knowing that
the tall scout was to be thoroughly trusted, did not ask questions.
So along about nine in the morning, when he thought it likely he would
be apt to find Conrad seated in his favorite nook and playing some of
his dreamy airs, all of them creations of his own brain, Elmer started
forth. Lil Artha of course could easily surmise from the direction he
took that he meant to look the boy up again, but immersed in his own
affairs, he said nothing, only waved a cheery goodbye after the other.
So Elmer strode along, and this time he paid a little less attention to
the many interesting things that cropped up on this side or that, for
his thoughts were mostly concerned with Conrad, and his quaint thrilling
music, which he yearned to hear again.