FRANKIE'S SECRET.—THE INVISIBLE PURSUER.
"AUNT ESTHER," whispered Frankie, "come out near the breaking pretty
soon; I want to see you alone."
The prudent spinster repaired thither without attracting notice.
"Well, what do you want, Frankie?" she inquired.
"About this Mr. Simmons," he replied, coming directly to the point.
"I believe he's a bad fellow, and will do us some mischief yet, if we
don't get rid of him."
"Have you found out anything?" she asked anxiously.
"Enough to make me determined to find out more," said he. "Did you
notice how suddenly he left off eating that day the Swallows called?"
"Yes; and I thought it strange."
"So did I; but I know the reason. He's mighty quick to hear the least
sound. He's like a cat watching for a mouse—only he acts sometimes as
if he was the mouse, and was expecting the cat to catch him. He heard
that woman's voice, and hurried to the stable. I followed without his
seeing me. I'm on his track most of the time. He seems to know it, too;
and how he glares at me when none of the family see! But he can't shake
me off. Well, he hurried to saddle and bridle his horse, and ride away.
You know he keeps his in the farther stall from the door. One of our
horses happened to be in the way, and this Simmons kicked him terribly
in the stomach, and swore like a pirate."
"Right after asking a blessing at the table!" murmured aunt Esther.
"Yes, the old hypocrite! I knew he did that to comb the wool over
mother's eyes. Then hastening to mount, he drove to the other side of
the grove, and waiting there till the Swallows had gone to bed,—the
woman, saying she was sick, had us all retire early,—he drove like
blazes across the prairie, the rain pouring down all the while like a
deluge.
"But after the Swallows had left, he came back, tied up his horse, and
went to work fencing as peacefully, as if he had staid by, and wasn't
drenched to the skin in the shower."
"How queer!" ejaculated the lady.
"Isn't it queer, too," continued the dwarf, fixing his large eyes
suggestively on hers, "that he's kept that splendid horse here so long?
When he agreed for the boys to take charge of the animal, it was for
only two or three days, and because, he stated, that the horse had been
overdriven, and needed to recruit. But the creature is so ambitious and
high, that Simmons will not allow him to be grained. He's in tip-top
order. Yet his master never uses him to go out of sight of our cabin,
but 'walks' to and from the places where he so often goes. What's all
that for?"
"I'm sure I can't tell," she answered, perplexed.
"Well, 'I' can," asserted her diminutive informant; "that's a stolen
horse!"
"'Stolen?'"
"Yes!"
"What makes you suspect that?"
"Come with me, and I'll convince you," was the reply.
And the Hunchback, cautiously peering about to be certain no curious
eyes observed their movements, led the way to the stable. Then,
pointing between the legs to the animal's head, he asked,—
"Do you see that white spot?"
"Certainly."
Then turning a corner of the stable,—
"And that scar on the inner side of the left hind leg? Look sharp."
"I do."
[Illustration: AUNT ESTHER AND FRANKIE.]
"Mr. Swallow told me that the horse that was stolen from him had those
marks, and this animal in all other respects perfectly answers his
description."
"That accounts for his hurrying off in the shower," mused the lady.
"What do you propose doing about it, Frankie?"
"In the first place, mother and those boys mustn't know what we think
about it, for they'd ask him if 'twas so, and thus put him on his
guard, and perhaps he'd murder us all. He has a savage disposition, and
a man that will lie as he has, and pretend to be pious, and steal a
horse, would kill you if you were in his path."
Aunt Esther shuddered and turned pale.
"We are completely at the mercy of this cold-blooded schemer," she
exclaimed. "He'll get the land and everything from us; and even our
lives are not secure."
"We mustn't let him," interposed the dwarf, fiercely. "It's put upon me
to foil this villain, and I will do it." And the piping voice rang out
shrill as a fife.
"Be careful!" remarked aunt Esther. "Some one may overhear you. Tell me
what your plan is, and if I can assist in it," she added, resolutely.
"He'll be here to-night—it's his time—I've studied his habits.
To-morrow he'll leave again, for he only comes now to see if his horse
is safe. Then I shall 'follow' him; yes," added the dwarf, his tones
dropping to a hiss, and his eyes gleaming, "I'll track him to his
haunts, as a hound would a panther, and the instant I get the proof I
want, he'll be in the hands of an officer."
"O, what if he should see you following?" she said, in terror.
"He won't. Look, auntie!" And sinking into the grass, he piped, "I can
hide at his very heels—almost."
"But you are weakly, Frankie; he can travel faster and farther than
you. You would not be able to keep him in sight."
"Wouldn't?" exclaimed the Hunchback, rising, and looking her
confidently in the face.
"How do you know you could?"
"Because I've tried," chuckled the dwarf. "I've tracked him mile after
mile—been behind him—before him—at his right—at his left—sat down
when he sat down—heard him talk to himself when he supposed only the
prairie hens and the snakes heard him. O, how lazy he is!" And his face
expressed intense disgust. "He walks lazy, and he works lazy. He 'can'
be swifter and stronger than the swiftest and strongest man I ever saw?
But he won't—only for a little while, to deceive folks. He managed to
give those boys the heavy lifting, and the quick moving; but he talked
so glib, and bossed them so well, that they thought he was doing his
part. He don't expect to get his living by hurry or labor, but by
trickery and fraud. I've hovered around the sneaking scamp till every
crook and turn of his body is as plain to me beforehand as that the sun
will rise and set. Ah, I'll fix him!"
"I dread to have you follow this man," expostulated his aunt, "for if
he 'should' discover you—"
"Aunt Esther," interrupted the dwarf, "look at me once more. Am I not
ugly, misshapen? Can I run, leap, wrestle, or swing the axe and scythe?
Doesn't every one wonder that I endure to live? If he throttles me,
better me than the beautiful and the able-bodied. He cannot, however.
But if I were too cowardly and selfish to risk it, who would? And who
can imagine what mischief might fall on the family! It's 'put upon me'
to do this, and I must."
"How far would you be obliged to follow him?" she asked.
"Somewhere from twelve to eighteen miles—can't judge exactly."
"Frankie, dear, I suppose I must trust you on this strange and perilous
mission. It's hard, though," and the tears fell; "and you are so noble
about it! I shall pray for you. Here's a little money," handing him a
bill. "You may need it to get out a warrant, or secure the services
of an officer,—I don't understand these matters,—or for your own
expenses." And struggling to appear cheerful, she reentered the cabin.
Mr. Simmons, as Frankie predicted, tenanted his shanty that night,
and on the succeeding fore-noon, after patting Georgie and praising
Ferdie for their smartness and ability at fencing, hinting at the
reward in store for them for acting as hostlers, and lamenting that
little Frankie was such a burden to them, took his departure, swinging
along at a masterly gate, till an ample space with was between himself
and the Willards. Then, with indolent saunter, he moved at the other
extreme of pedestrian locomotion.
Behind him, in the distance, had he looked critically back with a
magnifying glass, perhaps he would have detected a black speck moving
after in the distance. It was the dwarf's cap in the prairie grass.
Mr. Simmons's well-developed figure stood distinctly outlined against
the sky, but the pursuing pygmy was too near the earth to be easily
discerned. The Hunchback's eyes were clear, determined, alert, though
more than ever deep and thoughtful. His face expressed mingled
satisfaction, wariness, and resentment. The unconsciously pursued
instinctively hated his pursuer, and had he been aware of the latter's
propinquity, how quickly he would have crushed him, with no hand to
interpose!
But the Hunchback, though bodily contemptible, compared with Mr.
Simmons, had a "head,"—you need not be certified of that, were you to
meet him,—and his physical minuteness was, under the circumstances, to
his advantage. Blessed are short legs when one on the prairies must not
be seen! With his singularly precocious intellect, sharpened by sorrow,
and roused by the emergencies of his present undertaking, Mr. Simmons
had in the despised dwarf no mean antagonist.
What a scene! In front loomed Mr. Simmons's towering form; in the rear
was the squat proportions of the pertinacious young Hunchback. And thus
they proceeded for miles—the leader, in his careless indolence, barely
putting one foot before the other, often stopping to gaze skyward, or
at the various points of the compass, or to cast himself at length on
the plain; the follower, steadily gaining on him, yet maintaining a
discreet distance.
Across Mr. Simmons's route there flowed a shallow creek. Here he was
accustomed to solace himself with a smoke. Of this circumstance the
little hunchback seemed aware, for striking into the luxuriant growths
lining the banks of the stream, he curled himself up triumphantly
within a few rods of his enemy. Evidently this was a feat he had before
accomplished, and of which he was particularly proud.
Mr. Simmons rested, and the dwarf waited. An hour glided by, then
another. Hunchback became impatient, he was so anxious to reach the end
of his pursuit and face the villain, as he felt confident he was to do
with the fist of justice—not his own fist that lacked knuckle. Why did
the man "laze" so? The dwarf obtained information on this point by a
method on which he did not reckon.
"I see you, old boy!" said Simmons, suddenly resuming an upright
position, and looking the direction of the lad.
The dwarf trembled. Had the cunning horse-stealer been cognizant of his
pursuit, and permitted him to approach, that he might deal out summary
vengeance? His impulse was to rise and defend himself to the last
extremity—a forlorn extremity indeed, for him. Flee he could not with
the least chance of escape.
But something held him quiet. How fortunate!
For Mr. Simmons, forming a tube of his hands, shouted as if to some one
remote.
"Ahoy, there!"
"Ay, ay!" was the response.
And the Hunchback, assured that he had not been seen, noiselessly
turned to ascertain who the last speaker was. The long strides of the
new comer soon brought him to view—a rough, ill-visaged customer, with
bushy whiskers, and carrying a gun. Approaching obliquely, his course
lay directly across the Hunchback's hiding-place. Nor did the dwarf
dare move, for Mr. Simmons stood overlooking his concealment, and the
least motion or rustling might betray him. He had, however, escaped one
danger by keeping still; this encouraged him not to precipitate his
fate by useless action. The friendly sedges put their blossoming tops
together to screen him; but already he lay exposed to the advancing
foot of the stranger, when the latter, springing aside, exclaimed,—
"A rattlesnake, old hoss, sure's you're alive!"
And making a circuit to avoid the reptile, he avoided the Hunchback too.
"Even a rattlesnake can do some good," thought the dwarf, breathing
freer.
"How 'are' yer, Grimes?" said the stranger. "Give us yer paw!"
"Ah, 'Grimes!'" soliloquized the dwarf. "Then Simmons isn't his true
name!"
"And you, Scroggs? They haven't nabbed you yet, hey?"
"No, nor you nuther. But jist you see here! Isn't that a purty toy?"
The Hunchback, peering from his nest, saw that it was a gold watch and
chain.
"Took the critter from a cabin not more'n two hours ago. Door was
open—walked in. Nobody there. This thing hanging agin the logs. Says I,
'It's no place for jewelry, in a log cabin,' and having an affection
for sich trash, jist tuck it 'long. Scare up any 'game' out here, old
fellow?"
"Slim picking, compared with better. 'Tain't like the Mississip,"
replied Simmons. "Got a horse to sell, and some geese to pluck. Tell
yer what, that animal is wuth five hundred dollars, if it's wuth a
cent. Belonged to a rhinoceros in hat and boots—travelling for his
lady's health. Isn't she a screamer? Took the horse off while she
was trotting her man round doing family chores. Stabled him way off
on the prairie, where he'll be safe from his 'former' owner till the
excitement's over; then he's on the market. Don't fancy waitin' 'fore
realizin'; but I gets free gratis. The boys take care of the animal
because they love me like a father; they've put me up some hay,—that's
already engaged—and have fenced 'my' breaking to help me jump 'their'
claim—ha, ha, ha!"
"'Ha, ha, ha!'" mocked the dwarf, in the grass, too angry to contain
himself.
"What's that?" exclaimed Scroggs, turning around. "Did you hear that
laugh?"
"Yes," replied his companion, "plain enough!"
Rising, they gazed silently about them.
"Wal, one thing's sartin," observed Scroggs, as they seated themselves
again; "there's not a 'human' on 'this' prairie."
"But, Grimes, you spoke on the boys; whar's the old uns?"
"Wal, fust comes their dear mamma—the piousest shemale afloat—'twould
do your gizzard good, old boss, to hear me pray over her cooking!"
"You didn't try 'that' on!"
"I did, though; but it didn't come a mite natural. I expected an
invitation to say grace, as they call it, and having a minister in
tow, I jist noticed how he went on, and repeated it word for word—shut
eyes—clasped hands—went the whole figger."
"Ha, ha, ha!" they roared, slapping their sides.
"Ha, ha, ha!" shrilly echoed the irascible dwarf.
"There's that sound agin—it fairly chills me," said Scroggs. "What you
s'pose it is, hoss?"
"It must either be an echo or a bird, I judge," replied the other,
deliberating.
"Next is an old maid, aunt Esther, my 'sweetheart,' you
understand—don't swaller soft soap as easy as the other. Then a
miserable imitation of a human with a hunch back. Blast him—his eyes
follow me everywhere. I'd 'strangle him' if I had a chance!"
"Eny money there?"
"Not much show. Don't know, though, 'bout the old maid. She's
close-mouthed as an oyster. That's what I'm courting her for—to find
out."
"You ain't mentioned the old man."
"Haven't any. That weasel of a Hunchback told me, when I fust
introduced myself to the interesting household, that they left 'him'
behind. So they had, with a vengeance. The mother opened her innocent
heart to me pretty free. He was robbed on the steamer, and thrown
overboard."
His comrade rose, and laying his freckled red hand on Grimes's
shoulder, said,—
"Who do you s'pose did that job?"
"'Twasn't you?"
"Me and Brooks. That's why I'm here. I'm doubtful if 'twas done
thorough. His wife was a callin' to him, an' his brat was comin' to see
whar he was, an' me an' Brooks clutched him in a hurry, and I relieved
him of his valuables, and touched him up with the steel, and histed him
out of the boat all at onst, as you may say. An' Brooks stands to it
he saw him arterwards hugging a snag. Now, boss, 'ef' that's so, and
he was helped off by some one, I wouldn't jist like to light upon him
among folks. So I've taken to travelling on the prairies till it blows
one way or t'other.
"But ain't you going to jine our company? You're skittish, come to the
scratch; a reg'lar born coward; but you're cute. There's 'leven of us.
Has our headquarters on the river. Have a woman to cook, an' wash, an'
spy for us; she's a buster—fight like a tiger—cry like a baby."
"Where's your hiding-place?" asked Simmons.
"'Bout three miles an' a half, 'bove Cole's whiskey shop. Cave under
the bluff. Nobody can scent it. Small island just opposite—big tree
on't—dead—struck by lightning."
"What's the password?"
"Whistle three times—so!" And he made the sounds. "Our fellars 'll be
mighty glad to see yer. Shall go back soon myself—dry pickin' on the
prairies."
"Well, I must start on," said Simmons.
"So must I," answered Scroggs; "good-by, hoss." And the latter went his
way, and the former his—accompanied by the vigilant and dewless dwarf.