THE OBJECT LESSON
"WASN'T that a knock?" asked George, who apparently had not heard the
sound so plainly as the others.
"Seemed like it to me," replied Toby, "but say, neighbors can't be so
plenty up here in the woods, to have one running in after supper for
enough coffee to last over breakfast. P'raps, after all, it was only a
limb scraping against the roof; or a squirrel up in the loft huntin'
nuts Uncle's laid away."
"It is some one at the door!" remarked the owner of the cabin, quietly.
Elmer saw him getting to his feet. There was a sparkle in the eyes of
Uncle Caleb; and his jaw seemed set in a determined way. This suddenly
caused Elmer to remember what had been recently told about the tough
hard-drinking guide who believed he had a grudge against the old
scientist--Uncle Caleb.
"Let me go to the door for you, Uncle Caleb," said Elmer, hurriedly.
"It is my cabin, son, and therefore my duty to answer any summons," was
the steady reply of the old gentleman; "so please stay where you are,
unless I need any assistance."
"Great governor! what if it should be _that man_?" Lil Artha was heard
to mutter as he reached out a hand, and clutched his own Marlin, which
chanced to be standing in a corner conveniently near by.
Every one fairly held his breath as Uncle Caleb was seen to move toward
the door. He had not thought it worth while to arm himself, and Elmer
considered this positive evidence, going to prove the other's bravery.
He himself hardly knew what to expect, and his whole frame fairly
quivered with a mixture of eagerness and dread as he saw the owner of
the cabin start to open the door, which had been secured by a simple
old-fashioned bar that fell into a brace of sockets, one on either side.
Immediately the barrier was removed they saw a figure stagger into view.
Uncle Caleb stretched out his hand, and took hold of it. Then the sound
of muttered words came to their ears, after which the old gentleman
turned, closed the door, and led his unexpected guest toward the fire.
The staring scouts saw that this was a very large man. He seemed to be
coarsely dressed as might a woods guide, wearing a heavy sweater under
his outer coat. No weapons were visible, and one of his arms hung limply
at his side as though it might have been broken in some sort of
accident.
The man's face was distorted by pain, but they could see that it was
bearded, and looked bearish. In fact, every one of the boys' first
impression was that they would not care to meet this fellow while
wandering through some lonely part of the forest, and do anything
calculated to excite his anger; for he appeared to be a man with a
violent temper.
"It's _him_, I just bet you, Elmer!" whispered Lil Artha in the scout
master's ear and Elmer nodded as though he fully agreed with the other.
There seemed to be no need to mention names, for the memory of what
Uncle Caleb had recently told them was fresh in every fellow's mind.
Curiously they watched what was going on. Lil Artha still caressed his
gun. He had hardly made up his mind whether or not this might be a
clever trick on the part of Zack Arnold, calculated to gain him an
entrance to the cabin of the man he hated so bitterly, though without
any reasonably just cause.
It was only the other day that Lil Artha had been reading in school of
the wooden horse which played such an important part in the capture of
Troy in olden times, being filled with the enemy, who, issuing forth in
the night-time, opened the gates of the fortified city to their allies
without. Perhaps that was what made the boy suspect the visitor might be
shamming in order to catch Uncle Caleb off his guard.
But if this idea had seized hold of Lil Artha he soon realized its utter
absurdity. Men may go to considerable lengths in order to carry out
their schemes; but he certainly did not believe even a determined fellow
like Zack Arnold would deliberately break his arm in the effort to
divert suspicion.
It was an ugly break, too, as was shown as soon as Uncle Caleb had
divested the other of his garments, with the assistance of Elmer, who
sprang to his side when he realized what was needed. That thick, hairy
arm was covered with blood, and the sight of it made Toby and George
shudder.
"Get a kettle of water on the fire in a hurry, please!" said Uncle
Caleb, "because the first thing to be done is to wash this arm so we can
see how to set the bone. Toby, at the same time start that coffee to
going again, will you? A few hot drinks would take some of the chill out
of this poor fellow. He's had a terrible tumble, and is covered with
bruises, besides this broken arm. But we'll fix him up as comfortable as
we can; and he luckily managed to get to my cabin before it was too
late!"
While the old gentleman was speaking in this way the keen black eyes of
Zack Arnold kept following his every move. Elmer wondered what must be
passing through the mind of the vindictive man just then. He did not
doubt in the least but what some terrible plan to revenge himself upon
Uncle Caleb for what the other had done to him on that previous occasion
had been the cause for his coming to this particular region, for his own
camping grounds lay many miles away to the west, where sportsmen
congregated in the season for either fly fishing or deer hunting.
With some black plan in his mind the man had started to even up his
score with Uncle Caleb; but a strange fate had caused him to meet with a
terrible accident; and now he was compelled to actually seek shelter and
assistance from the very man he had been about to injure.
It was a remarkable freak of fate, and Elmer found himself wondering
what the outcome of it all might be.
Lil Artha had quietly replaced his Marlin in the corner when he first
glimpsed that tortured arm, for he realized then that there was going to
be no need of weapons. When Uncle Caleb called for a kettle of warm
water he was the first to leap to his feet and place one on the fire;
while Toby, just as eager to help, began to brew the coffee.
This latter was ready even before the kettle began to sing, and Uncle
Caleb himself poured a brimming cup of the beverage, which he handed to
the wounded man. No doubt Zack Arnold needed some stimulant the worst
kind. He must have exhausted his pet flask on the way, for he did not
seem to have a drop about him; and when the fragrant Java beverage was
placed in his possession he swallowed the contents of the big aluminum
cup in great gulps, as though his throat might be made of cast iron,
which no hot stuff could scald.
Uncle Caleb asked no questions. He must know very well what had brought
this revengeful guide so far out of his beaten track; but to see him
tenderly washing that arm, and then gently setting the broken bones,
after which he bound it up with a splint almost as well as any
professional surgeon could, you might have thought he was attending his
best friend instead of a bitter enemy.
Lil Artha could hardly keep his eyes off the man's face. He, too, had
finally managed to grasp the same idea that had come long before to
Elmer; and now he wondered again and again what the outcome of this
remarkable adventure was going to be. He even chuckled a little to
himself as he saw those eyes of Zack following Uncle Caleb back and
forth, as the other went to get more bandages, or it might be the
soothing salve which he wished to rub upon several ugly black-and-blue
spots visible on the left side of the brawny woodsman.
"Huh! I've heard before about heaping coals of fire on your enemy's
head," Lil Artha whispered to Elmer, when he found a good chance, "but I
never just understood what it meant. Now I know to a fraction. Say, did
you ever hear of such a queer thing in all your life? And I bet you he
was coming up here to make a lot of trouble for Toby's uncle, too. Well,
this _is_ an object lesson for scouts, ain't it, Elmer?"
"Just as you say, Lil Artha, but better not try and talk any more about
it. He might hear something you wouldn't want him to. Just keep your
eyes and ears open, and you'll be well paid."
So after that the tall scout sat still and kept on the alert. He was
enjoying things exceedingly. In fact he could not remember having ever
felt such a keen interest in anything before as he did in this coming of
Zack Arnold to the cabin of his hated enemy, and under such queer
conditions.
When in the end Uncle Caleb finished attending to his injured guest, and
with the help of Elmer the guide's sweater had been secured in such
fashion that it gave him the required warmth, he seemed to remember
something else looking to the comfort of Zack Arnold.
"Do you think you could manage to eat something if we cooked it for you,
Zack?" he asked, with such an earnest manner that the man writhed in his
seat, and his eyes fell in what Lil Artha believed to be utter shame,
though he quickly spoke up in reply.
"Ye've made me feel so comfy-like, suh, that I jest reckon I _could_
take a few bites. Hain't had nawthin' sence mornin'. Ye see, I took this
tumble 'long 'bout noon, an' I lost nigh everything I had with me in the
way o' eatin's an' same with the drinkin's. Been jest walkin' ever
sence, ahopin' I mout hold out long enuff ter strike yer shack; but I
kim near throwin' up the sponge an' lettin' the freeze do the bizness
for me."
George saw a chance to get his hand in had come at last.
"What shall I cook him, Uncle Caleb!" he hastened to ask.
"I've got just two eggs left from the lot I fetched back with me," said
the old scientist, without hesitation, "and you can fry them for him
with a slice of ham. You'll find the eggs in that can where I keep my
rice, the one with the name on the front, George. And there's plenty
more coffee in the pot. In his present exhausted condition it will be
the best thing he can take, far better than liquor!"
The guide opened his mouth as though about to say something, but his
emotions must have overcome him, for he gulped several times, blinked
his eyes quickly, and then sat there staring hard at the fire, possibly
with strange thoughts surging through his mind.
Elmer noted these things. He felt that a revolution might be taking
place within the soul of that tough woodsman.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised," was what Elmer told himself, as he
later on watched Zack devouring the supper George had prepared, "but
what this is going to turn out to be the making of that man. He's surely
seen a great light, and already looks at things in a different way from
what he ever did before. And if I know Uncle Caleb, as I think I do from
having studied him, the chances are ten to one he'll wait his chance,
and all he'll ask in return for what he's done will be for Zack to get
on the water wagon, and stay there the rest of his life. Well, I hope it
does turn out that way. But who'd ever think we'd run across such a
wonderful object lesson away off up here in the snow forest?"
And yet later on, when Elmer allowed himself to survey the matter at
closer range, he was not greatly surprised; for he realized that
occasions are apt to spring up at the most unexpected times when
observing scouts can read a lesson in passing events, if only they keep
their wits about them.