BIG BOB CONFESSES
"Look here, Bob, suppose we adjourn over to my house and have our
little talk out in my den. I've got some comfortable chairs there, as
you happen to know; and it'll be a heap better than standing here,
where people may come along any old time and interrupt us."
That last line of argument seemed to convince Bob, for he immediately
agreed.
"The fact is, Jack," he went on to say, "I wouldn't want to have
anybody hear what I'm going to tell you now. It certainly is a shame
how I've muddled this thing up, and I guess I deserve all I'm getting
in the shape of worry. It's going to be a lesson to me, I give you my
word on that, Jack."
They were trudging along in company when Big Bob said that. Of course
such talk could only excite Jack's natural curiosity still more. He
began to understand that whatever the other had been searching for was
not his own property, for he was hardly the kind of fellow, inclined
to be careless, and free from anxiety, to let such a personal loss
bother him greatly.
Presently the pair found themselves in Jack's particular room, which
he, like most boys of the present day, liked to call his "den." It was
an odd-shaped room for which there had really been no especial use,
and which the boy had fitted up with a stove, chairs, table and
bookcases, also covering the walls with college pennants, and all
manner of things connected with boys' sports.
Jack closed the door carefully.
"Pick your chair, Bob, and I'll draw up close to you," he said,
briskly, as though bent on raising the other's drooping spirits
without any delay, just by virtue of his own cheery manner.
Bob looked as though he had lost his last friend. He sighed and then
started to tell just what ailed him.
"Seems like I've grown three years older since I suddenly failed to
remember about that particular letter father gave me to be sure to
post before the afternoon mail went out. I had some others, you see,
two of my own, and three that Mom gave me. I can recollect shoving
them in the shute one by one; but for the life of me, Jack, I can't
say positively that the one going across to England was with the
bunch. Oh! it gave me a cold chill when I first had that awful thought
I'd lost it on the way. I remembered pulling something out of my
pocket when crossing that shortcut path, and that's why I hurried
there with my light, hoping to discover it in the grass."
Jack understood what lay back of this. He chanced to know Bob's father
was reckoned a very stern man, and that he had grown weary of Bob's
customary way of forgetting things, or doing them in a slipshod
fashion. He even knew that Mr. Jeffries had laid down the law to his
son, and promised to punish him severely the next time he showed such
carelessness.
"It's too bad, Bob, of course it is, but then don't despair yet," Jack
told the other boy. "There is always a good chance that you did put
that particular letter in the post-office. We'll try to find out if
Mr. Dickerson, the postmaster, or his assistant, chanced to notice a
letter addressed to England. It must have been of considerable
importance, I take it from what you've said already."
"It was just that, Jack; and father impressed its importance on me
when he handed it to me stamped, and ready to go. I think it means
something big in a business deal of his. Now, in these times when war
has gripped nearly the whole world, Uncle Sam with the rest, it's a
long wait before you can expect an answer to a letter going abroad,
even if the German submarines allow it to reach there. And if I don't
find out the truth now, just think of the days and weeks I'll be
worrying my head off about that letter! Oh! it makes me just sick to
even think of it. I could kick myself with right good pleasure."
Jack realized that this was bound to be the long-needed lesson, by
means of which careless Bob would cut loose from his pernicious habit
of taking everything free--and--easy. Good might spring from evil, and
what now seemed to be a crowing disaster, the boy was likely in later
days to look upon as a blessing in disguise.
"If you'd like, Bob," he told his friend, to ease the strain, "I'll
see the postmaster in the morning, and without arousing his suspicions
find out if he noticed a letter directed to England in the mail
yesterday. There are not so many foreign letters going out of Chester
these days but what such a thing might happen to catch his eye. If he
says there was, of course that'll settle the matter. Even if he didn't
happen to notice any such, you mustn't believe it is absolutely
certain you dropped it."
"I'd give anything to just know, one way or another. Then I could, if
the worst turned out to be true, tell my father, and stand the
consequences, for he'd be able to rewrite the letter, you see. But,
Jack, it would hit me terribly hard if he has to know what a fool I've
been; because he told me if he caught me in any bit of carelessness
again this Fall he'd force me to give up all my connection with the
football squad, and not even allow me to attend the gym this Winter.
Oh! he's in dead earnest this time, and I'm afraid my goose is cooked.
It'd almost break my heart to be shut off from connection with my
mates in athletic sports, because I'm crazy about such things, you
know; it's in the blood, I guess."
Big Bob stretched out his massive arms when saying this, as though to
call the attention of his companion to his splendid physique. Indeed,
he did look like a boy whom a generous Nature intended to take part in
every conceivable manner of athletic sports; no fellow in all Chester
was built in quite such a massive mould as Big Bob Jeffries.
"I tell you what let's do," said Jack, immediately afterwards; "I'll
get my lantern, and we'll walk back over that path. Possibly the wind
may have carried the letter further away than where you looked. How
about that, Bob?"
"It's mighty kind of you to take so much trouble for such a stupid
comrade, Jack, and let me tell you I appreciate it a heap. Yes, and
I'll also get out before dawn in the morning to scour every yard of
ground on the way from my house to the post-office. If I could only
find that letter I'd be the happiest fellow in Chester, believe me."
So they once more donned their caps, and Jack lighted the lantern he
had mentioned. While its rays might not be as strong as the glow of
the hand-torch, it was able to cover much more ground at a time; and
with its help a white envelope half hidden in the long grass could not
escape detection.
Jack could easily understand just what had happened to Big Bob. He had
become so "rattled" when that dreadful suspicion first flashed into
his brain after supper that for the life of him he found it impossible
to say positively one thing or the other. Now he thought he could
remember distinctly pushing the important letter through the slot or
drop inside the post-office; and immediately afterwards doubts again
assailed him, leaving him worse off. after each experience.
If they failed to find the letter, and the postmaster and his
assistant had no recollection of having noticed it in cancelling the
stamps of the heap that went out with the afternoon mail, then there
was no help for it; and poor Bob was doomed to wait day after day, as
even weeks went on, always dreading lest each morning was destined to
usher in the time when his great crime must come to light, and his
punishment begin.
They were soon on the spot, and each with his separate light started
to carefully examine the long and tangled grass, now partly dead, that
lay on either side of the well-worn path across the lots.
Doubtless Bob's heart still beat high with hope and anticipation; for
when Jack on one occasion started to say something he saw the other
whirl around as though thrilled with expectations that were
immediately doomed to disappointment.
Nothing rewarded their search. Bob might further satisfy himself, and
believe he was only doing his duty, by coming out again at peep of
dawn and once more covering the ground before giving it up as
hopeless; but Jack felt certain nothing would be found. If that letter
had dropped from the boy's pocket, then some one must have long since
picked it up. He believed he would hear of it if this person, being
honest, delivered the letter at the post-office, and told how he had
come to find it on the vacant lot.
"Well, it's no use looking any further, I guess, Jack," Big Bob now
remarked, in a decidedly dejected tone, after they had gone twice over
the entire width of the three lots, and without any success attending
their efforts.
"I'm afraid not, Bob," the other admitted with genuine regret, because
he felt just as sorry as could be for the poor chap. "I suppose you'll
sleep mighty little tonight, for worrying over this thing. Try your
level best to follow out all you did when in the post-office. Some
little thing may recall to your mind that you certainly did drop that
particular letter in the slot."
"I will, Jack, surely I will," Bob told him, vigorously; "but I'm
afraid it won't do much good. You see, I've become so mixed up by now,
thinking one thing and then another, that no matter what did happen I
couldn't honestly say I remembered it. But I still have a little hope
you'll hear good news from Mr. Dickerson; or that in the morning it
may be handed in at our house, for my dad put his full address on the
back flap, I remember that very distinctly. Yes, I'd be willing to
stand my gruelling and not whimper if only it turned up."
He walked away looking quite down-hearted, Jack saw. Really he felt
very sorry for Big Bob Jeffries. The latter was well liked, having a
genial disposition, like nearly all big boys do, the smaller runts
being the scrappy ones as a rule, as every one knows who has observed
the lads in their play hours, and made any sort of a study of their
characteristics.
On another occasion Jack well remembered he had come very nearly
losing one of the best players on the baseball nine, when the pitcher,
Alec Donohue, appeared exceedingly gloomy, and confessed to Jack that
as his father was unable to obtain work in the Chester mills and
shops, and had been offered a position over in Harmony, he feared that
he would thus become ineligible to pitch for Chester.
But Jack, as so often happened when trouble beset him, took the bull
by the horns. He went and saw a gentleman who could give Mr. Donohue
employment, and enlisted his sympathy. It had all ended right, by a
place being found for the man who was out of work; and so Alec pitched
the great game whereby Harmony's famous team went down to a crushing
defeat.
Jack could not but take note of the similar conditions by which
Chester was to be threatened with the loss of one of the strongest
members of her team.
"Looks as though history liked to repeat itself," Jack mused, as he
walked back home after parting company with Big Bob; "only in this
case it's the football eleven that's liable to be weakened if Bob's
father takes him out; and we never could scare up a fullback equal to
him if we raked old Chester with a fine-tooth comb. So I certainly
hope it'll all come out right yet, I surely do!"