TELLS ABOUT HOW I TOLD A SECRET
I don't know how it got out, but inside of an hour every fellow in that
camp knew. I bet Mr. Ellsworth never said anything. Maybe somebody went
with him to the house-boat, or maybe somebody followed him, hey? But
that's always the way it is at Temple Camp. Things get out.
The first thing I did was to go straight to see Bert Winton. I said,
"I've got something to tell you. Can you come out alone?" Because,
honest, that fellow was so popular he could never get away from his
troop.
He said, "Come on out on the lake for a row."
So we went down to the landing and on the way a couple of fellows asked
us if we'd heard about little Skinny. Anyway, we didn't pay any
attention to them. One fellow who belonged in a troop from Boston,
said, "I hear his patrol isn't going to bother with him any more."
I said to Bert--that's what I called him now--I said, "If that was
true about the money, he wouldn't get the gold cross, would he?"
He said, "Nope, I guess not. Bravery doesn't count for much if a fellow
is crooked. A highwayman is brave if it comes to that."
By that I knew that there's a lot to being a hero besides just being
brave. Crinkums, I learned a lot of things from that fellow.
"But as long as he didn't do it, we should worry," I told him.
"That's us," he said
When we got in the boat he took the oars and I sat in the stern and we
just flopped around. There aren't many fellows out rowing mornings,
because they're either tracking or stalking or cleaning up or maybe in
for a dip. We could see the fellows busy about the cabins and hear them
shouting and it made me feel awful sorry for Skinny, somehow. I didn't
see him anywheres and I wondered where he was.
"Well, kid," Bert said (most always he called me that), "things get
worser and worser, hey?"
"Do you still say he didn't do it?" I asked him; "I don't know _what_
to think--look at that money."
"Ever take a good look at Skinny?" he said.
"Yes, but look at the money," I said.
"What do I want to look at it for?" he said; "it ought to be hung out
on the clothesline from all I've heard," he said.
Oh, boy, I was glad to hear him say that. "I wouldn't let any fellow in
this camp except you call me 'kid,'" that's what I told him.
He just rowed around a little while, making dandy feather strokes, and
then he said,
"Mr. Ellsworth didn't send that money over to Daniel Boone and Buffalo
Bill yet, did he?"
I said, "You mean the gold dust twins? No, I don't think he did."
He said, "Well then, we've got to fix _that_ and We can't ask Mr. E.
not to do it The tide's against us, kid; nobody's going to listen to
us--not yet."
Then all of a sudden he sat up, got his oars set right, and oh, bibbie,
you should have seen that fellow row. Every stroke he took he almost
lay down flat, and oh, Christmas, couldn't he feather! Pretty soon we
were over near the shore where the campers were. You could see their
tent in among the trees.
"You're not going to tell _them_, are you?" I said.
But he didn't answer me, only just called out, "Hey, there, you wild
Indians!"
One of them came through the woods and stopped and looked at us.
"Aren't you fellows going to the boat races down at Catskill?" Winton
shouted. "You're going to miss the time of your lives if you don't.
Better get a hustle."
"What time are they?" the camper shouted.
"Just about now," Bert shouted; "follow the old Bowl Creek bed and
you'll get there quicker." Then he rowed away again. "That'll fix 'em
for to-day," he said. "More than one way to kill a cat, hey?"
"There _are_ some races, aren't there?" I asked him.
"Sure there are. That pair won't get back till midnight if they once
hit Catskill."
I said, "You think of everything, don't you?"
"Now, Blakeley," he said, kind of more serious like, while he rowed
around; "what are we going to do about it? Skinny didn't take the
money, that's settled. All right then, who did? Nobody. Correct, be
seated. All right then, what became of it? Mr. David Jones has it--our
old college chum, Davy. It's at the bottom of Black Lake. How do I know
all this? Because I know young mackinaw jacket and because I know
Skinny--see? Simple as eating pie."
"Gee, I've got to admit that eating pie is easy--especially mince," I
told him.
He said, "All right, now I'm going to ask you a question and if you
want to, you can say 'none of your business.' You told me you were
keeping still about something. Has it anything to do with Skinny?"
"No, siree, it has not," I told him.
"All right, has it anything to do with the key?"
He shot it out just like that and oh, boy, wasn't I up in the air.
I said, "Maybe, kind of; yes, it has."
"Well then, you'd better tell me all about it," he said.
"I can't," I told him.
He said, "Oh, yes, you can."
"I promised I wouldn't," I said.
"Well then," he said, "we're all up in the air and I guess I can't help
you much. I just thought that maybe two heads would be better than one,
that's all. The money came out of the locker, that's sure. Any idea who
it belongs to?"
For a minute I just sat there thinking, watching him dip his oars. He
lifted them up and I could hear the water drip from them, and then it
would be all quiet till he did it again.
"I couldn't row ashore with one oar," he said; "I'd just have to scull.
Two oars are better than one. Same with heads, Blakeley. Skinny's got
till Wednesday. You've done a good job so far. I dare say the cross
will be here by Wednesday. Ever try to row feather-stroke, Blakeley?"
Gee, I just couldn't help what I did--I just couldn't resist that
fellow. I said, "Bert, you've got more brains than I have, that's one
sure thing, and I can't help doing just what you say. I have to admit
you're a wonder. I can't do any more alone, I can't. We have to be
partners, kind of. Do you believe that about the Elks throwing him
down? Bert, there was a fellow, a big fellow, and he's a son of the man
that owns this boat, and he's a lieutenant." This is just what I told
him. I said, "He's had a whole lot of dandy adventures and he took his
uniform off to go fishing and hid it in the house-boat. And then when
he came to get it, the boat was gone, because his father told our troop
that we could use it. And after we got way down as far as Staten Island
he sneaked on board one night and put his old clothes in the locker and
took his uniform, and afterwards he dropped the key when he tried to
give me some money and Skinny found it. He found the money, too, and he
gave it to Mr. Ellsworth, but he forgot about the key."
"He gave it to Mr. Ellsworth, huh?" Bert said.
"Yes, he did," I told him, "and that's why I'm going to stick to him
through thick and thin, I am, I don't care what. So now I told and I
have to be to blame."
"I'll be to blame," Bert said.
"But anyway, it's on account of Skinny," I said, "and a fellow doesn't
know what to do all alone and I like you--gee, I like you a lot," I
said it right out to him, just like that. He looked at me steady, but
didn't say a word. And then I could feel my eyes all glistening and
everything looked funny and all of a sudden I didn't know what I was
saying at all. "You have to help me," I said, "because you're a regular
scout, I can see that, and you bet I'd like to be just like you if I
only could--I would--you can bet--that fellow had lots of adventures
and he called me 'Skeezeks' and kind of laughed at me and kidded me
along--but, anyway, maybe he's all right, hey? I guess it's his money,
but anyway, you've got to help me--you have.
"That's one sure thing, because Skinny's more important. Maybe he'll
think that a little fellow like Skinny isn't important, and that's the
trouble, hey? Because he kind of punched me in the chest and laughed
and said I was a good little sport. He said fellows by the name of Roy
are all right."
All the while Bert Winton just sat there holding his oars out of the
water and watching me steady, like a fellow watching a bird that he's
been stalking.
Then he just said, "Well, I guess the big fellow was right."