AN INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT.
Dock Vincent was appalled to find that he had tumbled Mr. Fairfield
into the chasm; not that he was disturbed by any compunctions of
conscience, but because he wished to keep on the right side of the old
man, from prudential motives. He was in doubt whether to exhibit
himself to the injured man or not. If he showed himself, he might be
suspected of setting the trap into which the miser had fallen.
The old man might be dead, and curiosity, if no stronger motive,
induced him to inquire into his condition; but he took the precaution
to reach the path by a roundabout way, and approach the chasm as though
he had just come from his house. When he reached the abyss, he found
Mr. Fairfield had risen, and was trying to climb up the rocks. He was
groaning and taking on as though he had been badly hurt.
"What's the matter, Squire Fairfield?" demanded Dock. "What you doing
down there?"
"O! O!" groaned the miser.
"Looking for your money in there?"
"O! No! O! I fell in," said the sufferer, in gasps.
"Fell in! Why, how did that happen?" asked Dock, with well-feigned
astonishment.
"I donno. O! that plank gin away, O, and let me down."
"Are you hurt?"
"Most killed," replied Mr. Fairfield, holding his breath, and then
exploding the words.
Dock walked down the shelving bank above the water, and then entered
the chasm.
"Where are you hurt?" he asked.
"My hips is both broke, and I'm jarred e'enamost to pieces."
[Illustration: DOCK VINCENT'S VICTIM.--Page 54.]
"I guess your hips aren't broke; you couldn't stand up if they were,"
suggested Dock.
"Sunthin's broke, I know."
"Sit down on this rock, and let me see what is broke."
Mr. Fairfield complied, and Dock, who, as the master of a vessel, had
had some experience with sickness and injuries, carefully examined the
old man's limbs. He was badly bruised in several places, on the legs
and arms, but no bones appeared to be broken, so far as Dock's surgical
skill could discern. The jar of the fall had doubtless racked his frame
severely; but the miser was still a strong man, physically, and could
bear a pretty hard rap.
After resting a while, and rubbing his limbs, the sufferer was able,
with the assistance of Dock, to walk home. He went to bed, and his wife
bathed his limbs, and dressed the bruises on his legs and arms.
"Shall I go for the doctor, Squire Fairfield?" asked Dock, when he had
assisted the patient into his bed.
"The doctor? No; he charges a dollar a visit," replied the old man,
fearfully; for the idea of paying a physician's bill filled him with
horror. "You say there ain't no bones broke; so I don't need no
doctor."
"He don't need no doctor," added Mrs. Fairfield.
"I don't think you do myself. I've had worse cases than this aboard my
vessel, and I got along without any doctors. You'll be all right in a
week or two, Squire Fairfield."
"It's jest my luck," sighed the miser. "Everything's goin' wrong with
me. I shouldn't be a grain surprised if the house burned down over my
head afore I got out agin. I shan't ketch no dog-fish to-day, that's
sartain. There's ten dollars out o' my pocket, as sure's you live!"
Dock was a rough comforter; but he spoke such words of consolation as
the occasion required and his vocabulary contained.
"It's jest my luck," repeated the miser. "Every other man in town might
have walked over that plank, and it wouldn't gin away. I walked over
that plank last night, and airly this morning. I see, when I stepped on
to it, that somebody had been a movin' on it; but I didn't know the
'tother eend was only just ketched on to the rock."
"Who moved it?" asked Dock, rather disturbed by this suggestion of a
suspicion.
"I don't know nothin' about it; but somebody's been a movin' on it, or
it wouldn't a gin away under me, and let me down."
"But who could have moved the plank?" persisted Dock.
"I donno; the eend I stepped on was kinder hauled up."
"You say the plank was all right in the morning, when you went down?"
"Sartin it was. I went over it, and fixed the dory, ready to go arter
dog-fish, arter breakfast."
"Well, the question is, Who has been down to the P'int since you went?"
"I donno; but I believe somebody's tryin' to kill me--that's what I
believe."
"O, nonsense! who should want to kill you?"
"I donno," replied Mr. Fairfield, hastily, and in a tone which implied
that he knew very well who intended to kill him, but he did not wish to
name the person. "If I hadn't been as tough as an old black-fish, it
would have killed me, as sure as fate; that's the whole truth on't!"
"But who could have set such a trap?" persisted Dock.
"You didn't--did you?" added the old man, innocently.
"Of course I didn't. You don't think I'd do such a thing as that," said
Dock, laughing.
"My wife didn't--did she?"
"Massy sakes! What's got into your head, Nathan?" interposed the old
lady. "Goodness knows I didn't do no sech thing."
Mrs. Fairfield was a simple-minded woman, and she did not comprehend
that her disabled lord was only reasoning by an interrogatory and
inductive method.
"Certainly Mrs. Fairfield didn't meddle with the plank," added Dock.
"'Twan't Mr. Watson--was it? nor the Watson gal, nuther?"
"No," answered Dock.
"Who was it, then--don't you see?"
Dock did not choose to see yet, though his mental visuals had perceived
from the beginning what the old man was driving at; and he was greatly
rejoiced to have the suspicion turned away from himself.
"Who else goes down on to that P'int, almost every day of the week,
'cept Sunday?--and he don't go then 'cause he's go'n' to jine the
church," continued the miser, excited by the topic he was discussing.
"You don't mean Levi--do you?" said Dock, opening his eyes as wide as
the hawse-holes of a man-of-war.
"I see The Starry Flag a standin' over to Mr. Watson's new house when I
was goin' down to the P'int."
"Did you?" asked Dock, when the old man paused to note the effect of
the climax of the inductive argument upon the listener.
"I sartainly did. That proves that Levi went down to the P'int afore I
did--don't it?"
"Well--yes; he went down there, of course," added Dock, in rather
deprecating tones. "He couldn't have got his boat if he hadn't gone
down there."
"Then of course Levi done it!" exclaimed the old man. "'Tain't no use
o' beating round the bush no more. Levi done it, and he meant to kill
me."
"'Tain't so!" protested Mrs. Fairfield, warmly. "There ain't no sense
nor reason in sayin' Levi done it. Levi wouldn't do sech a thing."
"He may jine all the churches in town, but I tell you he's a bad boy,
and he's go'n' as straight to the gallows as a chicken goes to her
dough. Don't you know how he used me? how he fit me, and found fault
with his victuals; and then got all the property took away from me,
jest because I wouldn't let him spend it all? Don't tell me! I know
what Levi Fairfield is better 'n any other man."
"What on airth should the boy wan't to break your bones for, let alone
killin' on you?" demanded Mrs. Fairfield.
"O, well, Susan, you're nothin' but a woman; and we can't expect women
folks to see through everything--can we, Dock?"
"Your wife has excellent judgment about things in general, Squire
Fairfield," replied Dock, smoothly.
"There now! Tell me I don't know!" retorted the irate helpmate,
somewhat appeased by the delicate compliment. "'Tain't in reason that
boy meant to do sech a thing."
Mr. Fairfield groaned, and changed his position in the bed. His bones
ached, and his bruises smarted; but the task of showing that Levi was
wicked enough even to plan a deliberate murder was too pleasing a one
to be abandoned, though the twinges of pain that darted through the
miser's limbs indicated rest both for body and mind. The sufferer
rehearsed all the points bearing against his nephew in the heinous act
under consideration, and he succeeded in satisfying himself and his
visitor that the young man intended to shorten his uncle's life. Mrs.
Fairfield,--grateful for the newspapers, which had given her a new
joy in the desolate world, and for the chickens, turkeys, and
roasting-pieces, which afforded her an occasional respite from salt
fish and fresh fish,--Mrs. Fairfield was obstinate, and refused to
believe that Levi--who, by the way, had just added the "Cape Ann Light"
to his aunt's sum total of earthly joys--was capable of doing a wicked
act.
"Women folks don't see through things," said Mr. Fairfield, disgusted
at his wife's want of perception. "I've been thinkin' o' what you said
last night," he added, turning to Dock. "I never thought of sech a
thing before; but, I vow, it's just as you said."
"Well, Squire Fairfield, I didn't say that to set you against the boy;
only to have you keep your eyes open," replied Dock.
"When I fell into that hole, it opened my eyes so wide, I shan't shet
'em agin very soon."
Mrs. Fairfield wanted to know "what on airth all this talk meant;" and
the relations of Levi to his uncle's post-mortem estate were explained,
so that "women folks" could understand them. She did not believe Levi
cared for the property, what there was of it, and she was not yet
willing to believe that he set the trap to destroy his uncle.
"I believe it; and what's more, I know it," persisted the miser. "But
I'll cheat him out of it; I'll make a will this very day! I'll give
what little I have to Susan--I will, by gracious!"
"It's very proper for you to do so," replied Dock, mildly.
"Can't you write a will, Dock?"
"Me! No. I don't know how. You must make it strong, or they'll break
it, you know. Better send for Squire Saunders, and have it done right."
"Squire Saunders!" exclaimed the invalid. "What'll he charge?"
"O, five dollars, perhaps."
"Five dollars! What jest for writin' a little or sunthin?"
"Perhaps he won't charge you more than three."
"I shan't give no three dollars, nuther. I can't afford it. I'm
e'enamost stripped of everything now."
The will was not made, and Dock left the house, promising to call again
in the afternoon.