When Dick returned to the store at the beginning of the new year he
found he was promoted to a regular position in the store proper, with
an increase of wages. His rise had been so far fairly rapid, and was
due to his natural abilities as a salesman, his attractive personality
and magnetic ways, and his strict attention to his duties and to the
interests of his employer. His advancement created no envy among the
other clerks, for they all liked him. He possessed all the elements
that make people popular with those they come in contact with; and
his power extended over both sexes. Dick presided chiefly over the
silverware department, as he was more familiar with that branch than
the others.
He gradually extended his knowledge to watches, and subsequently to
jewelry, but the unset diamond line was a special branch that required
an expert to deal with, and it was attended to by one clerk only. This
man was the head of the jewelry department. His pay was much higher
than that of the other clerks, but then his responsibilities, knowledge
and experience were greater than theirs. The days passed into weeks,
and the weeks resolved themselves into months, and Easter week came
around, bringing its expected invitation to Dick to spend the week-end
with the Masons. He and Madge corresponded regularly now, and the
latest piece of news he got from her was that she was slated for Vassar
College at the beginning of the fall term. The four-year course would
carry her into her twentieth year. Dick would be twenty-two then, if he
lived, and he wondered if they would still think as much of each other
as they did now.
So he went down to Carlin early on Saturday afternoon and was met by
the auto, with Madge in it, and whirled over the road to the house.
They were just turning in at the gate when a seedy, hard-featured man
came along. He scowled when his eyes rested on Dick's face, and then
the boy recognized him as Samuel Parker, one of the two burglars who
had robbed the Mason house. His time, reduced by commutation for good
behavior, had just expired at the State prison, and he had come back to
his old stamping-grounds, to find things about as he had left them.
His wife had managed to get along through the sympathy of neighbors
who had given her various kinds of employment, and many of the farmers
occasionally chipped in a dollar apiece to help her out when she was
hard pressed. She kept a cow, chickens, and raised her own vegetables,
so she did not fare so badly. Now that her husband had returned, the
question arose as to whether he would be able to get any employment on
the farm where he had picked up odd jobs before he got into trouble.
Dick was surprised to see him at liberty, not knowing that his sentence
had expired, and he called Madge's attention to him.
"Yes, he's been around for about a week," she said. "Father said his
time was up."
"I see. He got a commutation of twenty months. Well, he isn't as tough
a nut as his companion, who enticed him into the job. That chap has
three years and a half more to serve, deducting his commutation. Then
he will be arrested as soon as he comes out and taken to New York to
answer to the indictment the district attorney secured against him for
assaulting me in the sample room of our store and stealing $100 worth
of our stock. He'll get another five years at least for that, at Sing
Sing. It will simply be a change of prisons for him."
Dick inquired if the gypsies had taken their departure, and Madge said
she believed they had.
"This is the time that Miriam, the head of the tribe, said I was going
to come into a fortune that she alleged I already possessed, but I
don't see any signs of the matter coming to pass yet," he said.
"I wonder what she meant by saying that you possessed it. She must have
referred to that piece of land father gave you."
"That isn't money."
"You could realize money on it."
"Not over $400 at the most, and that is no fortune."
"Well, she told you so much that you say proved true that I shall be
surprised if she made a mistake in this matter."
"I'll be surprised if she hit the truth, for coming into a fortune in
money is the very last thing I dream of at this moment."
They got out of the auto and entered the house. On the following day
after dinner, as it was a nice afternoon, Dick proposed to Madge
that they take a walk. So they went out and spent a couple of hours
strolling along the road. They passed Dick's property and he saw that
the gypsies had gone away. On their way back he proposed that they go
over to the spring and have a drink.
"I'm not thirsty, but I'll go with you," she said.
The fence rails were wide enough apart for her to get through, while
Dick took the customary way and climbed over. The spring was down in
a gully near the fence which marked the end of Dick's land in that
direction, and taking a silver-plated collapsible cup out of his pocket
the boy filled it and offered it to Madge. She took a drink and then he
helped himself. The young trees, now well advanced, which we mentioned
before as growing at this end of Dick's property were gradually forming
a small wood that would occupy about one acre of the five. On their way
back they walked through these trees, as Dick was somewhat interested
in their growth. They were cedar trees and would ultimately make good
railroad ties.
"I wish the whole property was wooded like this," he said. "I would in
such a case make a good thing out of the trees."
"As lumber?" said Madge.
"As railroad ties. Those articles are always in demand. Hello!" he
exclaimed, stopping, "here's one of the old guard still standing."
He pointed at a hoary-looking old tree that had been dead for years. It
showed evidence of having been struck by lightning a long time since.
This had killed it, and now it stood like the mummified corpse of some
old grizzled veteran of many wars, its two withered arms pointing
heavenward at an acute angle that formed the whole trunk into the shape
of the letter Y. Dick approached it and struck the tree with the palm
of his hand. It gave forth a hollow sound and shook under the blow.
"That old monarch won't last much longer," he said. "It feels as if a
strong wind would blow it over. It seems to be nothing but a shell,
and yet it looks as solid as a rock outside. It's funny how some trees
decay from the inside. I'm going to climb up and see if there's an
opening between those limbs."
He started to do so, with the assistance of the knobby projections,
when he was surprised to hear a noise inside the tree that made him
suspect some kind of an animal had taken refuge there. He kept on
till his head rose above the fork and he saw a great hole extending
downward. He was about to ask Madge to hand him a long stick he saw
lying on the ground, when, to his astonishment, a rough voice floated
upward.
"Is that you, Parker?" were the words that reached his ears.
"Hello! Who are you?" cried Dick.
A muttered imprecation followed, and then silence.
"Who are you?" again asked Dick.
There was no reply. Dick climbed higher after telling the surprised
girl that there was a man inside of the tree, pulled out his match
safe and flashed a light into the tree. He saw a slouched hat, which
evidently covered a head, and a pair of broad shoulders.
"Come on now, I see you. What are you doing in there?" said Dick.
"None of your business," replied a voice from under the hat.
"Maybe it isn't, but it strikes me that you have no business there. So
you're a friend of Parker's, eh? Birds of a feather flock together,
they say, so I guess you're not a very creditable sort of individual.
I'd like you to know that you're trespassing on----"
"Trespassin' be jiggered! I'm just restin' here. Go away and leave me
alone."
"Not until I find out who you are. Your presence in this hollow tree
looks suspicious."
"What's suspicious about it? Can't a fellow roost inside a tree if he
wants to when he ain't got nowhere else to go?"
Dick climbed down the tree and, taking Madge by the arm, started off.
There was a large rock close by of sufficient size for a person to
conceal himself behind.
"You go on, Madge, a little way, and I'll follow in a few minutes. I
have an idea that fellow will show himself presently to see if the
coast is clear, and I'm going to hide behind this rock and catch a
sight of him if he comes up."
The girl kept on at a slow pace and Dick dropped on his hands and knees
behind the stone. Five minutes passed and nothing happened. Dick was
beginning to think that he had calculated wrongly, when he saw the
crown of a hat rise between the fork of the two limbs. A face followed
the hat, a tough-looking face, and Dick gave a gasp as he recognized
it. It was the countenance of Bulger, supposed to be serving the rest
of his time at the Trenton State prison.