Just Between Boys
“Why, they’re all wet, boys, if you’ll believe me!” exclaimed Sim,
as soon as Tubby and Andy arrived in the car.
Tubby got out, laboriously, and then proceeded to exhibit as fine a
string of bass as the heart of any enthusiastic angler could wish.
“But the biggest got away from us, I’m sorry to say,” he remarked.
“’Course I know well enough that that’s an _awful_ old excuse, but
in this case it’s a fact. Our condition proves it, too. I held on
like grim death, even after he upset the boat, and, say, he dragged
me under twice, and then--shucks! the line broke. I guess he snagged
it on a sharp rock. These bass are mighty smart fish, I’m finding
out.”
Andy was grinning, as though it may have been something of a
“circus” to him even if he had also been thrown into the water by
the capsizing of their cranky boat when the clumsy Tubby became
excited with such a large fish on his hook.
“Believe me, it was a lively time,” he admitted. “Tubby was
swimming, and spouting the water out of his mouth like a whale, all
the while holding on to his rod, and trying to yell. I think he
would have landed that monster bass if only the line hadn’t gone
back on him. He was the most disappointed fellow you ever saw when
he found his prize had skipped out.”
“Were you far from the shore, and what did you do?” asked Rob.
“It happened that we were fishing past that big rock where Tubby
caught his other noble bass,” explained Andy. “So we didn’t have far
to swim, pushing the boat between us. I knew that was the easiest
way to manage, because Tubby would have had a tough job climbing
over the stern.”
“Huh! must have weighed nearly a ton with my soaked clothes,” the
fat boy agreed. “But we didn’t lose anything, except a hook, and
that monster bass. It wasn’t such a terrible experience, either. If
the day had been chilly at all we’d have started a fire, and dried
out; but neither of us cared to bother going to all that trouble; so
we baled out the boat, and just commenced fishing again; but I never
got another bully strike like that one.”
They were not feeling uncomfortable in the least; as their clothes
had by this time pretty well dried out upon their backs, neither of
the boys took the trouble to make any change.
“I’m too hungry to wait a minute,” announced Tubby, showing that he
had heard the summons to lunch as the car approached the farmhouse.
It was high noon, and still no Peleg. Rob continued to wonder what
could be keeping the farm boy in town. Still, it was a good ten mile
tramp in case he thought to make it afoot. On the other hand, Rob
thought he might be waiting for a chance to ride with some farmer
returning home, and that the opportunity may not as yet have come
along.
“What, no frogs’ legs today?” remarked Tubby, when the meal had
progressed far enough to show this lack of his favorite delicacy.
“Oh! we’ve decided to leave all that to you, Tubby,” laughed Ralph.
“It seems that the rest of us have had all we want of that
fish-chicken combination. There’s the pond, and whenever you feel
like having a mess take my Flobert and get busy. The rest of us have
other fish to fry.”
“What’s the programme for this afternoon?” asked Sim.
Rob looked toward Ralph, fully expecting to hear the other suggest
that they go to town. Again he was mistaken, for nothing of the kind
came about.
“Why,” Ralph started to say, “father has asked me to take the car
and run over to Flemington to attend to some business that needs
looking after. If any or all of you feel like going along, now’s
your chance to say the word. There’ll be room for you, and it’s
worth going thirty miles uphill and down, for you’ll get some mighty
fine views. How about you, Rob?”
“I’m game if the rest are,” came the ready reply.
In rapid succession Tubby, Sim and Andy announced themselves willing
to take part in the excursion. It would show them a section of
country that was new; and promised to be quite an enjoyable
diversion. Evidently, then, Rob concluded, Ralph did not mean to
look that curio dealer up in a hurry, so as to settle the question
of Peleg’s innocence or guilt.
“I wouldn’t be much surprised,” Rob told himself, “if Ralph sort of
shrinks at doing that. He would like to get his stamps back, but
while the case is open and unsettled he can try and convince himself
that the boy isn’t guilty. Once he has the proof dead to rights and
Peleg must go. It does Ralph a whole lot of credit, this trying to
give the boy all the chance he can.”
They certainly had a glorious run of it on the way to Flemington,
and the scenery was all that the enthusiastic Ralph had promised. He
also managed to return by another roundabout road, so that they
could see still another section of country.
“Ralph, slow up, won’t you?” suddenly called out Sim, who was
sitting on the back seat. “I want to get a better look at something
through the trees over here on the right. There, I saw him again,
and now I’m dead sure of it.”
“Why, it certainly does look mighty much like our Peleg,” agreed
Tubby, who had also managed to crane his fat neck so as to obtain a
passing view; “but whatever would he be doing away over here, a long
way from your place; and he seemed to be driving a horse and buggy,
too. Ralph, what do you know about this?”
Ralph stopped the car, and also glanced back, for as he had to keep
his eyes on the road most of the time, it was not easy for him to
turn around, lest by so doing he land them in a ditch.
“Yes, that’s Peleg,” he announced, presently, and Rob could see that
the altogether strange appearance of the farm boy over in this
section when he should have turned up at the Jeffords’ place
surprised Ralph.
“What do you reckon he’s doing over here?” continued Tubby, bound to
“pump” the other until Ralph yielded up all the information at his
disposal.
“Well, I can explain that part of it,” was the reply. “You see,
Peleg’s sister is working out at that house where he’s going right
now. Evidently Peleg has hired that rig in town for the purpose of
paying his sister a visit.”
“Oh! seeing that he was off work, he must have just made up his mind
he might as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb; is that it,
Ralph?” demanded Tubby.
“Something like it, I guess,” answered the other, at the same time
giving Rob at his side a queer look, together with a frown.
Rob could easily guess what was passing through the mind of the boy
at the wheel of the car; he believed that Peleg must be spending the
money he had received for those packets of foreign stamps in paying
for the horse and buggy with which he was driving over to see his
sister.
It was not a pleasant thought to Rob. He wished the whole affair
would make haste to reach a settlement; if Peleg were guilty, the
sooner the fact became known to Ralph the better; if, on the other
hand, he could prove his innocence, it was too bad to keep up this
feeling of suspicion.
They started on again. So far as they knew, Peleg had not once
looked toward the road as he drove up along the lane leading to the
farmhouse just beyond the brow of the rise. Apparently he was at the
time so excited over the thought of seeing his sister again that he
had eyes and ears for nothing else; and the mere passing of a car
held no attraction for him. Rob thought it was just as well, for
Peleg might have signalled to them; and in some way Ralph was likely
to burst forth, perhaps openly accusing the boy in the presence of
the others.
So they went on. Ralph kept his thoughts to himself, not even
speaking of Peleg to Rob at his side. The others, very naturally,
continued to exchange remarks that Ralph could not help hearing
above the purr of the engine.
“Well, anyhow,” Tubby was saying, with his accustomed zeal, “I’m
glad to know he wasn’t hurt any in the fire. When he failed to show
up at the time we were leaving I felt worried. Lots of people got
injured, I’m sure, for the crowd acted like it was crazy, running
back and forth, and knocking everybody over who got in the way.”
“Peleg is all right, we know now,” interjected Andy. “He’s wanted to
see this sister of his for some time, I reckon, and took this chance
to get around. Oh! look at that bull chasing after that dog in the
field, will you? The little barker is too smart for the clumsy
beast; but if ever he gets those horns underneath him, I give you my
word for it he’ll clear thirty feet in the air if he does one.”
Little escaped their eyes as they rode along. First one and then
another would call attention to something of interest that was seen,
now on the right and again on the left. Tubby even declared that he
was beginning to believe he had a regular “rubber-neck,” they kept
him looking so much.
Back at the farm again, they lounged around the balance of the
afternoon. Ralph often looked along the road they had so recently
driven over, and Rob made up his mind that the other was hoping to
see Peleg coming. To his mind this proved that while Ralph had kept
unusually quiet on the subject, he was still worrying about the
status of the farm boy.
It was getting along toward sunset when finally Ralph, as if unable
to longer hold in, introduced the subject himself.
Perhaps the fact that he and Rob chanced to be alone at the time had
something to do with it. They were looking over the flashlight
apparatus, which the owner had been explaining to Ralph, who agreed
that the manipulation of the little “trick” was simplicity itself,
and could be easily managed by any one with a fair degree of
intelligence.
“It begins to look to me as though Peleg knows he must be under
suspicion, and doesn’t mean to come back to work here, much as I
hate to believe that, Rob,” was what he said, watching the face of
his companion so as to read his opinion even before the other made
any sort of reply.
“Oh! I wouldn’t say that until you know more about his actions,” Rob
told him. “You yourself said he had a queer and powerful affection
for his brothers and sisters. His going out there today proves that,
too. Now as a scout I’ve been taught never to believe wrong of any
one unless the proof is overwhelming; and even then to try and think
the best you can of him, perhaps by your influence causing him to
repent and make restitution.”
“I understand what you mean, Rob,” muttered the other, “and if Peleg
really showed any sign of being sorry for what he has done, I’d
forgive him, and keep his secret. I’m not one of the hard kind to
hold a thing against any chap, because I know we’re not all alike.
Peleg, being tempted, would mean ten times the strain on his honesty
that the same thing would to me. Yes, I’ve already made up my mind
to go easy with him.”
Rob was glad to hear this. At the same time he still hoped there
would be no occasion to exercise this clemency on the part of his
friend. It was pleasant for him to know Ralph was that sort of boy;
and he believed the other would make a model member of the new scout
troop, when it was organized in Wyoming.
“There’s just one more thing I want to say, Rob,” the other remarked
when they were about to pass out again to the open air, and join the
rest of the fellows on the shady porch. “Meeting you has been a
revelation to me, and given me a lot of new ideas. And let me tell
you I’ve never known any one who had such faith in finding a streak
of good in every boy that lives!”
“Oh!” said Rob with a laugh, “that’s easy enough when you figure out
your own struggles between right and wrong. All boys pass through
the same, more or less.”