JAKE GETS INTO DIFFICULTIES
Day was breaking, though it was still dark at the foot of the range, when
Dick returned wearily to his iron shack after a night's work at the dam.
There had been a local subsidence of the foundations on the previous
afternoon, and he could not leave the spot until precautions had been
taken to prevent the danger spreading. Bethune came with him to look at
some plans, and on entering the veranda they were surprised to find the
house well lighted and smears of mud and water upon the floor.
"Looks as if a bathing party had been walking round the shack, and your
boy had tried to clean up when he was half-asleep," Bethune said.
Dick called his colored servant and asked him: "Why are all the lights
burning, and what's this mess?"
"Señor Fuller say he no could see the chairs."
"Why did he want to see them?"
"He fall on one, señor; t'row it wit' mucha force and fall on it again.
Say dozenas of _malditos sillas_. If he fall other time, he kill my
head."
"Ah!" said Dick sharply. "Where is he now?"
"He go in your bed, señor."
"What has happened is pretty obvious," Bethune remarked. "Fuller came
home with a big jag on and scared this fellow. We'd better see if he's
all right."
Dick took him into his bedroom and the negro followed. The room was very
hot and filled with a rank smell of kerosene, for the lamp was smoking
and the negro explained that Jake had threatened him with violence if he
turned it down. The lad lay with a flushed face on Dick's bed; his muddy
boots sticking out from under the crumpled coverlet. He seemed to be
fully dressed and his wet clothes were smeared with foul green slime.
There was a big red lump on his forehead.
"Why didn't you put him into his own bed?" Dick asked the negro.
"He go in, señor, and come out quick. Say no possible he stop. _Maldito_
bed is damp."
Bethune smiled. "There'll be a big washbasket for the _lavenderas_
to-morrow, but we must take his wet clothes off." He shook Jake. "You've
got to wake up!"
After a time Jake opened his eyes and blinked at Bethune. "All right!
You're not as fat as Salvador, and you can catch that chair. The fool
thing follows me and keeps getting in my way."
"Come out," Bethune ordered him, and turned to the negro. "Where's his
pyjamas?"
Salvador brought a suit, and Dick, who dragged Jake out of bed, asked:
"How did you get into this mess?"
"Fell into pond behind the dam; not safe that pond. Put a shingle up
to-morrow, 'Keep off the grass.' No, that'sh not right. Let'sh try again.
'Twenty dollars fine if you spit on the sidewalk.'"
Bethune grinned at Dick. "It's not an unusual notice in some of our
smaller towns, and one must admit it's necessary. However, we want to get
him into dry clothes."
Jake gave them some trouble, but they put him in a re-made bed and went
back to the verandah, where Bethune sat down.
"Fuller has his good points, but I guess you find him something of a
responsibility," he remarked.
"I do," said Dick, with feeling. "Still, this is the first time he has
come home the worse for liquor. I'm rather worried about it, because it's
a new trouble."
"And you had enough already?" Bethune suggested. "Well, though you're not
very old yet, I think Miss Fuller did well to make you his guardian, and
perhaps I'm to blame for his relapse, because I sent him to Santa
Brigida. François was busy and there were a number of bills to pay for
stores we bought in the town. I hope Fuller hasn't lost the money!"
Dick felt disturbed, but he said, "I don't think so. Jake's erratic, but
he's surprised me by his prudence now and then."
Bethune left soon afterwards, and Dick went to bed, but got up again
after an hour or two and began his work without seeing Jake. They did not
meet during the day, and Dick went home to his evening meal uncertain
what line to take. He had no real authority, and finding Jake languid and
silent, decided to say nothing about his escapade. When the meal was
finished, they left the hot room, as usual, for the verandah, and Jake
dropped listlessly into a canvas chair.
"I allow you're more tactful than I thought," he remarked with a feeble
smile. "Guess I was pretty drunk last night."
"It looked rather like it from your clothes and the upset in the house,"
Dick agreed.
Jake looked thoughtful. "Well," he said ingenuously, "I _have_ been on a
jag before, but I really don't often indulge in that kind of thing, and
don't remember drinking enough to knock me out. You see, Kenwardine's a
fastidious fellow and sticks to wine. The sort he keeps is light."
"Then you got drunk at his house? I'd sooner have heard you were at the
casino, where the Spaniards would have turned you out."
"You don't know the worst yet," Jake replied hesitatingly. "As I'm in a
very tight place, I'd better 'fess up. François doesn't seem to have
told you that I tried to draw my pay for some months ahead."
"Ah!" said Dick, remembering with uneasiness what he had learned from
Bethune. "That sounds ominous. Did you----"
"Let me get it over," Jake interrupted. "Richter was there, besides a
Spanish fellow, and a man called Black. We'd been playing cards, and I'd
won a small pile when my luck began to turn. It wasn't long before I was
cleaned out and heavily in debt. Kenwardine said I'd had enough and had
better quit. I sometimes think you don't quite do the fellow justice."
"Never mind that," said Dick. "I suppose you didn't stop?"
"No; I took a drink that braced me up and soon afterwards thought I saw
my chance. The cards looked pretty good, and I put up a big bluff and
piled on all I had."
"But you had nothing; you'd lost what you began with."
Jake colored. "Bethune had given me a check to bearer."
"I was afraid of that," Dick said gravely. "But go on."
"I thought I'd bluff them, but Black and the Spaniard told me to play,
though Kenwardine held back at first. Said they didn't want to take
advantage of my rashness and I couldn't make good. Well, I saw how I
could put it over, and it looked as if they couldn't stop me, until Black
brought out a trump I didn't think he ought to have. After that I don't
remember much, but imagine I turned on the fellow and made some trouble."
"Can you remember how the cards went?"
"No," said Dick awkwardly, "not now, and I may have been mistaken about
the thing. I believe I fell over the table and they put me on a couch.
After a time, I saw there was nobody in the room, and thought I'd better
get out." He paused and added with a flush: "I was afraid Miss Kenwardine
might find me in the morning."
"You can't pay back the money you lost?"
"I can't. The check will show in the works' accounts and there'll sure be
trouble if the old man hears of it."
Dick was silent for a few moments. It was curious that Jake had tried to
defend Kenwardine; but this did not matter. The lad's anxiety and
distress were plain.
"If you'll leave the thing entirely in my hands, I'll see what can be
done," he said. "I'll have to tell Bethune."
"I'll do whatever you want, if you'll help me out," Jake answered
eagerly, and after asking some questions about his losses, Dick went to
Bethune's shack.
Bethune listened thoughtfully to what he had to say, and then remarked:
"We'll take it for granted that you mean to see him through. Have you
enough money?"
"No; that's why I came."
"You must get the check back, anyhow," said Bethune, who opened a drawer
and took out a roll of paper currency. "Here's my pile, and it's at your
service, but it won't go far enough."
"I think it will, with what I can add," said Dick, after counting the
bills. "You see, I don't mean to pay the full amount."
Bethune looked at him and smiled. "Well, that's rather unusual, but if
they made him drunk and the game was not quite straight! Have you got his
promise not to play again?"
"I haven't. What I'm going to do will make it awkward, if not impossible.
Besides, he'll have no money. I'll stop what he owes out of his pay."
"A good plan! However, I won't lend you the money; I'll lend it Jake,
which makes him responsible. But your pay's less than mine, and you'll
have to economize for the next few months."
"That won't matter," Dick answered quietly. "I owe Fuller something, and
I like the lad."
He went back to his shack and said to Jake, "We'll be able to clear off
the debt, but you must ask no questions and agree to any arrangement I
think it best to make."
"You're a good sort," Jake said with feeling; but Dick cut short his
thanks and went off to bed.
Next morning he started for Santa Brigida, and when he reached
Kenwardine's house met Clare on a balcony at the top of the outside
stairs. Somewhat to his surprise, she stopped him with a sign, and then
stood silent for a moment, looking disturbed.
"Mr. Brandon," she said hesitatingly, "I resented your trying to prevent
Mr. Fuller coming here, but I now think it better that he should keep
away. He's young and extravagant, and perhaps----"
"Yes," said Dick, who felt sympathetic, knowing what her admission must
have cost. "I'm afraid he's also rather unsteady."
Clare looked at him with some color in her face. "I must be frank.
Something happened recently that showed me he oughtn't to come. I don't
think I realized this before."
"Then you know what happened?"
"Not altogether," Clare replied. "But I learned enough to alarm and
surprise me. You must understand that I didn't suspect----" She paused
with signs of confusion and then resumed: "Of course, people of different
kinds visit my father on business, and sometimes stay an hour or two
afterwards, and he really can't be held responsible for them. The customs
of the country force him to be friendly; you know in Santa Brigida one's
office is something like an English club. Well, a man who doesn't come
often began a game of cards and when Mr. Fuller----"
"Just so," said Dick as quietly as he could. "Jake's rash and not to be
trusted when there are cards about; indeed, I expect he's a good deal to
blame, but I'm now going to ask your father not to encourage his visits.
I've no doubt he'll see the reason for this."
"I'm sure he'll help you when he understands," Clare replied, and after
giving Dick a grateful look moved away.
Dick went along the balcony, thinking hard. It was obvious that Clare had
found the interview painful, though he had tried to make it easier for
her. She had been alarmed, but he wondered whether she had given him the
warning out of tenderness for Jake. It was probable that she really
thought Kenwardine was not to blame, but it must have been hard to
acknowledge that his house was a dangerous place for an extravagant lad.
Still, a girl might venture much when fighting for her lover. Dick
frowned as he admitted this. Jake was a good fellow in spite of certain
faults, but it was disturbing to think that Clare might be in love with
him.
It was something of a relief when Kenwardine met him at the door of his
room and took him in. Dick felt that tact was not so needful now, because
the hospitality shown him was counterbalanced by the theft of the plans,
and he held Kenwardine, not Clare, accountable for this. Kenwardine
indicated a chair, and then sat down.
"As you haven't been here since you got better, I imagine there's some
particular reason for this call," he said, with a smile.
"That is so," Dick agreed. "I've come on Fuller's behalf. He gave you a
check the other night. Have you cashed it yet?"
"No. I imagined he might want to redeem it."
"He does; but, to begin with, I'd like to know how much he lost before he
staked the check. I understand he increased the original stakes during
the game."
"I dare say I could tell you, but I don't see your object."
"I'll explain it soon. We can't get on until I know the sum."
Kenwardine took a small, card-scoring book from a drawer, and after a few
moments stated the amount Jake had lost.
"Thank you," said Dick. "I'll pay you the money now in exchange for the
check."
"But he lost the check as well."
Dick hesitated. He had a repugnant part to play, since he must accuse the
man who had taken him into his house when he was wounded of conspiring to
rob a drunken lad. For all that, his benefactor's son should not be
ruined, and he meant to separate him from Kenwardine.
"I think not," he answered coolly. "But suppose we let that go? The check
is worthless, because payment can be stopped, but I'm willing to give you
what Fuller had already lost."
Kenwardine raised his eyebrows in ironical surprise. "This is a somewhat
extraordinary course. Is Mr. Fuller in the habit of disowning his debts?
You know the rule about a loss at cards."
"Fuller has left the thing in my hands, and you must hold me responsible.
I mean to stick to the line I've taken."
"Then perhaps you won't mind explaining on what grounds you take it."
"Since you insist! Fuller was drunk when he made the bet. As you were his
host, it was your duty to stop the game."
"The exact point when an excited young man ceases to be sober is
remarkably hard to fix," Kenwardine answered dryly. "It would be awkward
for the host if he fixed it too soon, and insulting to the guest."
"That's a risk you should have taken. For another thing, Fuller states
that a trump was played by a man who ought not to have had it."
Kenwardine smiled. "Doesn't it strike you that you're urging conflicting
reasons? First you declare that Fuller was drunk, and then that he was
able to detect clever players at cheating. Your argument contradicts
itself and is plainly absurd."
"Anyhow, I mean to urge it," Dick said doggedly.
"Well," said Kenwardine with a steady look, "I've no doubt you see what
this implies. You charge me with a plot to intoxicate your friend and
take a mean advantage of his condition."
"No; I don't go so far. I think you should have stopped the game, but
Fuller accuses a man called Black of playing the wrong card. In fact, I
admit that you don't mean to harm him, by taking it for granted that
you'll let me have the check, because if you kept it, you'd have some
hold on him."
"A firm hold," Kenwardine remarked.
Dick had partly expected this, and had his answer ready. "Not so firm as
you think. If there was no other way, it would force me to stop payment
and inform my employer. It would be much better that Jake should have to
deal with his father than with your friends."
"You seem to have thought over the matter carefully," Kenwardine
rejoined. "Well, personally, I'm willing to accept your offer and give up
the check; but I must consult the others, since their loss is as much as
mine. Will you wait while I go to the telephone?"
Dick waited for some time, after which Kenwardine came back and gave him
the check. As soon as he got it Dick left the house, satisfied because he
had done what he had meant to do, and yet feeling doubtful. Kenwardine
had given way too easily. It looked as if he was not convinced that he
must leave Fuller alone.
On reaching the dam Dick gave Jake the check and told him how he had got
it. The lad flushed angrily, but was silent for a moment, and then gave
Dick a curious look.
"I can't deny your generosity, and I'll pay you back; but you see the
kind of fellow you make me out."
"I told Kenwardine you left me to deal with the matter, and the plan was
mine," said Dick.
Jake signified by a gesture that the subject must be dropped. "As I did
agree to leave it to you, I can't object. After all, I expect you meant
well."