THE FACE AT THE WINDOW.
"What else did you find in what he wrote?" asked Maurice, after
they had dropped each other's hand again.
"Nothing much. He keeps mentioning Bunny often, showing that she
was getting more'n more on his mind. And twice he speaks about me,
and how much he had come to think of me. I'm glad to read that.
Here he even wonders if I'd like to go down river with him in the
Fall. Ain't it a queer world, after all, Maurice? Just to think
how things come around; for here we are right near the place poor
old The wanted to visit, and carrying his little pile to Bunny?"
"Nothing else worth telling?" asked the other.
"He speaks here about feeling bad, and hopes it ain't his old
trouble springing back on him again. Then the writing stops. I
reckon he was taken sick about that time. I tried to nurse him,
you know; but when he went out of his head I got scared, and ran
for a doctor. Then they took him away to that fine hospital at
Evansville, because he used to live there. After that it ended
right soon."
"Well, I guess the best thing for us to do would be to hide the
book and the money where you found it. All these months it's
stayed in that black hole safe, and it can stand another day or
so."
So, taking the advice of Maurice, Thad had placed the bills once
more between the pages of the diary, which he carefully pushed
into its former hiding place.
"Perhaps Bunny'll be glad to have his book, too. If she's his girl
she'd like to read what he said about her," suggested Maurice.
"That's so," replied the other, getting up from his knees.
Maurice saw him look up instinctively toward the little window;
and then spring hastily to his feet.
At the same moment he thought he heard some sound outside, as if a
floating object had struck against the anchored shanty-boat.
It might be a log, as frequently happened, for there were many
such drifting on the surface of the big river, washed from the
banks above by some local flood.
Thad, without wasting any time in thought, sprang to the door.
This had a faculty of catching sometimes, and requiring more or
less labor before it could be thrown open; and of course it had to
play Thad such a trick just then, when he seemed so desirous of
making haste.
Maurice, seeming to scent trouble of some sort from the strange
actions of his chum, waited to snatch up the old faithful Marlin
twelve-bore. It had seen them through other scrapes, and might
come in handy again.
Finally, after considerable exertion, Thad managed to open the
stubborn door, after which he rushed out on deck, followed by his
mate and the barking Dixie.
"What'd you think you saw?" demanded Maurice, as he discovered by
the light of the moon that the deck was devoid of anything in the
way of peril.
"A face at the window! Some man was aboard I Oh! I wonder if he
saw me put that book away?" exclaimed the excited Thad.
"But where is he now?" and the speaker glanced toward the shore,
which was a good twenty feet away, the gap being far too wide to
allow of any man jumping it.
"There's something moving away below there in the shadow of the
trees on the water!" exclaimed Thad.
"A log, p'raps," remarked the other, carelessly.
"But I did see a face, I'm sure of it; and if it was a man he just
jumped into his skiff and put off before I could get out. I wish I
knew for sure."
Thad made a move toward the little dinghy which lay upon the deck,
fastened with a chain and padlock, so that it could not be stolen
by any light-fingered coon.
"Hold on there, none of that. Let me catch you chasing down-river
after an unknown man in a skiff. Why, he'd just as like as not
upset you if you accused him of boarding our boat. Settle down and
try to forget it all. I reckon it was only imagination after all."
But Thad continued to shake his head, and declare that he did not
believe his eyes could play him such a trick.
"If it was a man, Maurice, and he once saw all that money, why
he'd come back again to try and steal it," he said, solemnly.
"Oh, I guess not," laughed his chum, holding up the gun in a
suggestive way; "at least not as long as we could defend our
property with this bully old shooter. But better make up your mind
it was a log, and let it go at that."
"Wish I could," grumbled Thad, shaking that stubborn head: of his.
"Well, how about that trapping expedition--plenty of steel in
sight, and a nice fat young ringtail would be just the boss dish
tomorrow. Anything doing?"
So Thad once more consented to drop the engrossing subject of old
The Badgeley's treasure-trove, and pay attention to the matter of
supplying their scanty larder with meat.
"Nothing to hinder my setting the whole outfit on the bank yonder,
is there?" he demanded, entering the lighted cabin again, and
thinking how snug it seemed after a short time on the cold deck.
"I don't reckon there is, Chum Thad. If one 'possum is good, two
ought to some better, and as for three, oh! my!" and he smacked
his lips as if in joy over the prospect of a feast.
Accordingly Thad carried out his plan. With some dripping from
fried bacon he greased each trap until the jaws worked readily.
Then he went ashore in the little tender, bearing the lantern in
order to make sure of his work.
Maurice sat there and watched the shore.
There was no reason why he should fondle his gun all the while,
but he persisted in doing so; which might be taken as an
indication that the words of his companion had made a deeper
impression on the scoffer than he would admit.
In half an hour Thad came aboard again, with cold fingers, but a
satisfied air.
"It's only a question of how many," he observed, as he once more
fastened the dinghy with the chain and lock.
"All right then. I'm going to make up my mouth for fat pig
tomorrow, and look out for squalls if you disappoint me," and
Maurice, as he spoke, led the way inside.
Thad was very particular how he saw to the fastenings of the door,
an operation his chum watched with many a chuckle.
"Say, if he has as poor luck opening doors as some people I know,
he never would get in here without arousing the dead; get that,
Thad?"
"Well, you never can tell about doors. Just when you want them to
open smart like, they won't budge. Then, when you'd like the pesky
old thing to hang fire she slides open just like the track was
greased with mutton tallow. I'm one of the kind that likes to make
sure!"
"Oh! I reckon you are right. Anyhow, we used to write in school
that it's no use locking the stable door after the horse is
stolen. But looky here, do you know it's turning-in time--ten
o'clock as near as I can tell. Me for the bunk, right quick!"
Thad sat there for some little time after his chum had crawled
into his comfortable, if cramped nest.
Finally he, too, began to get ready to retire. On these cold
nights the boys only partly undressed. They did not have any too
many blankets or comfortables, and it did get mighty dreary in the
cabin after the fire went out, with the wind sweeping over that
wide stretch of flowing water that came out of the wintry North.
But before Thad put out the lantern, he placed it just where he
could lay his hand on it at a second's notice and also made sure
to have matches handy.
Nor was that all. He quietly picked up the old Marlin, and
deposited it alongside his bunk.
Then came darkness, as he blew out the light. Thad heard a sound
not unlike a chuckle from the opposite bunk; but although he
imagined his comrade was laughing at all his preparations for
trouble, the fact did not give him much concern.
When his mind was made up nothing could turn Thad aside.
No doubt he woke up at regular intervals during that night, and
rising to his elbow listened eagerly to the various sounds coming
from without.
The little window was well within the range of his vision, and as
the moon shone brilliantly without he could see its entire
dimensions plainly.
But long ago an iron bar had been fastened across the exact center
of the opening, since the former owner of the shanty-boat did not
enjoy the thought that roving boys might enter and pillage while
he was on his route, peddling the buffalo fish he caught.
It would have to be a pretty small individual who could force his
way through that window; and yet Thad's fears induced him to
observe it with considerable apprehension.
But the night passed without any alarm.
If strangers landed on the deck of the shanty-boat while the young
owners slept, they failed to make their presence known.
Morning came at last.
Both boys were early astir, as was their custom; the coming of
daylight served to lure them from their bunks; and indeed on many
occasions they would have been getting breakfast before, only that
there was need of husbanding their scanty stock of oil.
Maurice, knowing that his chum was eager to learn whether any
spoils had fallen to his traps, volunteered to cook the limited
morning meal, while Thad paddled ashore.
He was almost through, and the coffee was giving a most appetizing
odor to the surrounding air, when the trapper came paddling out.
Maurice watched operations with more or less interest.
First of all Thad threw the traps aboard, trying to look
disappointed while so doing.
"Oh! come off, you!" cried his chum, who could see that there was
something assumed in the actions of the returned sportsman; "think
I don't just glimpse a tail like a round file sticking up over the
gunnel? Just as you said last night, it's only a question of HOW
MANY."
"One!" said Thad, as he tossed a young 'possum on deck.
"But that tail is still there!" cried his comrade.
"Two!"
"My! you make my mouth water some. That tail--"
"Three, and that takes your old tail. Now, what d'ye say to that
for good hick. Ain't we going to live high for a while? I don't
suppose you happened to see anything suspicious around?" and Thad,
as he spoke, handed up the gun which he had made sure to carry
with him "in case any more vicious dogs chanced to be roaming near
by," he had explained at the time he departed.
"Why, no, of course not; but what makes you ask such a silly
question as that, Thad?"
"Silly it may be, but I give you my word I heard a man cough just
as I climbed into the dinghy," asserted Thad.
But Maurice only smiled. Truth to tell he felt positive that there
had been nothing to the scare of the preceding night. Surely the
ordinarily alert Dixie must have barked had any stranger been
moving about on the deck while they sat in the cabin.
They were soon busy at the table. On the preceding day they had
been fortunate enough to buy a loaf of bread from a woman on a
canal-boat that was tied to the bank, her husband being
temporarily employed at some work on shore.
Butter they had none, but the sharp appetites for which the
outdoor life was responsible, craved none, and things tasted good
at all times; the only anxiety that arose was in connection of
quantity.
"Wood's mighty low, and as there's a chance of bad weather today,
after that red in the sky this morning, I move we lay in a stock
while we have the chance."
"Second the motion," quickly added Thad.
"All right. I'll rig up our endless carry then, while you clear
the table, after you get enough to eat," and Maurice went out on
the deck, where he could be heard working with the little tender.
Thad looked after him, and scratched his head. Then he did a most
extraordinary thing, which was nothing more or less than reaching
down and taking the packet from the hole in the wall, stripping
the cover from the book, and wrapping up a piece of wood in its
place.
Then he thrust the deception in the hole, and after a look about
him hid the diary, with its precious contents, INSIDE THE
COFFEEPOT, which he had emptied of its contents, and cleaned.
Perhaps he was playing a practical joke on his chum; but his face
was too sober to indicate this.
The probability was that Thad felt uneasy, and as both of them
were apt to be away from the craft at the same time, in the
process of wood gathering, he intended to make things as secure as
possible during his absence.
Which was conclusive evidence that at least he had not changed his
mind concerning the fact of a human face having been pressed
against that little window on the previous night.