THE RETURN HOME
As Mr. Niles's school-term drew to a close, the two boys began to think
of their future.
"I expect to work with my hands, Jack," said Bob; "I haven't got a head
for books, as you have. But I'd like to know a _leetle_ more before I
settle down. I wish I could make enough at something to be able to go to
school next winter."
"If I only had your strength and size, Bob, I'd go to work for somebody
as a farmer. But I have more than myself to look after. I must help
mother after this term is out. I must get something to do, and then
learning will be slow business. They talk about Ben Franklin studying
at night and all that, but it's a little hard on a fellow who hasn't
the constitution of a Franklin. Still, I'm going to have an education,
by hook or crook."
At this point in the conversation, Judge Kane came in. As usual, he said
little, but he got the boys to talk about their own affairs.
"When do you go home?" he asked.
"Next Friday evening, when school is out," said Jack.
"And what are you going to do?" he asked of Bob.
"Get some work this summer, and then try to get another winter of
schooling next year," was the answer.
"What kind of work?"
"Oh, I can farm better than I can do anything else," said Bob. "And I
like it, too."
And then Judge Kane drew from Jack a full account of his affairs, and
particularly of the debt due from Gray, and of his interview with Gray.
"If you could get a few hundred dollars, so as to make your mother feel
easy for a while, living as she does in her own house, you could go to
school next winter."
"Yes, and then I could get on after that, somehow, by myself, I
suppose," said Jack. "But the few hundred dollars is as much out of my
reach as a million would be, and my father used to say that it was a bad
thing to get into the way of figuring on things that we could never
reach."
The Judge sat still, and looked at Jack out of his half-closed gray eyes
for a minute in silence.
"Come up to the house with me," he said, rising.
Jack followed him to the house, where the Judge opened his desk and took
out a red-backed memorandum-book, and dictated while Jack copied in his
own handwriting the description of a piece of land on a slip of paper.
"If you go over to school, to-morrow, an hour earlier than usual," he
said, "call at the county clerk's office, show him your memorandum, and
find out in whose name that land stands. It is timber-land five miles
back, and worth five hundred dollars. When you get the name of the
owner, you will know what to do; if not, you can ask me, but you'd
better not mention my name to anybody in this matter."
Jack thanked Mr. Kane, but left him feeling puzzled. In fact, the
farmer-judge seemed to like to puzzle people, or at least he never told
anything more than was necessary.
The next morning, the boys were off early to Port William. Jack wondered
if the land might belong to his father, but then he was sure his father
never had any land in Kentucky. Or, was it the property of some dead
uncle or cousin, and was he to find a fortune, like the hero of a cheap
story? But when the county clerk, whose office it is to register deeds
in that county, took the little piece of paper, and after scanning it,
took down some great deed-books and mortgage-books, and turned the pages
awhile, and then wrote "Francis Gray, owner, no incumbrance," on the
same slip with the description, Jack had the key to Mr. Kane's puzzle.
It was now Thursday forenoon, and Jack was eager on all accounts to get
home, especially to see the lawyer in charge of his father's claim
against Mr. Gray. So the next day at noon, as there was nothing left but
the closing exercises, the three boys were excused, and bade good-bye
to their teacher and school-mates, and rowed back to their own side of
the river. They soon had the skiff loaded, for all three were eager to
see the folks at Greenbank. Jack's mother had been at home more than a
week, and he was the most impatient of the three. But they could not
leave without a good-bye to Judge Kane and his wife, to which good-bye
they added a profusion of bashful boyish thanks for kindness received.
The Judge walked to the boat-landing with them. Jack began to tell him
about the land.
"Don't say anything about it to me, nor to anybody else but your
lawyer," said Mr. Kane; "and do not mention my name. You may say to your
lawyer that the land has just changed hands, and the matter must be
attended to soon. It won't stand exposed in that way long."
When the boys were in the boat ready to start, Mr. Kane said to Bob:
"You wouldn't mind working for me this summer at the regular price?"
"I'd like to," said Bob.
"How soon can you come?"
"Next Wednesday evening."
"I'll expect you," said the Judge, and he turned away up the bank, with
a slight nod and a curt "Good-bye," while Bob said: "What a curious man
he is!"
"Yes, and as good as he's curious," added Jack.
It was a warm day for rowing, but the boys were both a little homesick.
Under the shelter of a point where the current was not too strong the
two rowed and made fair headway, sometimes encountering an eddy which
gave them a lift. But whenever the current set strongly toward their
side of the river, and whenever they found it necessary to round a
point, one of them would leap out on the pebbly beach and, throwing the
boat-rope over his shoulder, set his strength against the stream. The
rope, or _cordelle_,--a word that has come down from the first French
travellers and traders in the great valley,--was tied to the row-locks.
It was necessary for one to steer in the stern while the other played
tow-horse, so that each had his turn at rest and at work. After three
hours' toil the wharf-boat of the village was in sight, and all sorts of
familiar objects gladdened their hearts. They reached the landing, and
then, laden with things, they hurriedly cut across the commons to their
homes.
As soon as Jack's first greeting with his mother was over, she told him
that she thought she might afford him one more quarter of school.
"No," said Jack, "you've pinched yourself long enough for me; now it's
time I should go to work. If you try to squeeze out another quarter of
school for me you'll have to suffer for it. Besides, I don't see how
you can do it, unless Gray comes down, and I think I have now in my
pocket something that will make him come down." And Jack's face
brightened at the thought of the slip of paper in the pocket of his
roundabout.
Without observing the last remark, nor the evident elation of Jack's
feelings, Mrs. Dudley proceeded to tell him that she had been offered a
hundred and twenty dollars for her claim against Gray.
"Who offered it?" asked Jack.
"Mr. Tinkham, Gray's agent. Maybe Gray is buying up his own debts,
feeling tired of holding property in somebody else's name."
"A hundred and twenty dollars for a thousand! The rascal! I wouldn't
take it," broke out Jack, impetuously.
"That's just the way I feel, Jack. I'd rather wait forever, if it
wasn't for your education. I can't afford to have you lose that. I'm to
give an answer this evening."
"We won't do it," said Jack. "I've got a memorandum here," and he took
the slip of paper from his pocket and unfolded it, "that'll bring more
money out of him than that. I'm going to see Mr. Beal at once."
Mrs. Dudley looked at the paper without understanding just what it was,
and, without giving her any further explanation, but only a warning to
secrecy, Jack made off to the lawyer's office.
"Where did you get this?" asked Mr. Beal.
"I promised not to mention his name--I mean the name of the one who gave
me that. I went to the clerk's office with the description, and the
clerk wrote the words: 'Francis Gray, owner, no incumbrance.'"
"I wish I had had it sooner," said the lawyer. "It will be best to have
our judgment recorded in that county to-morrow," he continued. "Could
you go down to Port William?"
"Yes, sir," said Jack, a little reluctant to go back. "I could if I
must."
"I don't think the mail will do," added Mr. Beal. "This thing came just
in time. We should have sold the claim to-night. This land ought to
fetch five hundred dollars."
Mr. Tinkham, agent for Francis Gray, was much disappointed that night
when Mrs. Dudley refused to sell her claim against Gray.
"You'll never get anything any other way," he said.
"Perhaps not, but we've concluded to wait," said Mrs. Dudley. "We can't
do much worse if we get nothing at all."
After a moment's reflection, Mr. Tinkham said:
"I'll do a little better by _you_, Mrs. Dudley. I'll give you a hundred
and fifty. That's the very best I _can_ do."
"I will not sell the claim at present," said Mrs. Dudley. "It is of no
use to offer."
It would have been better if Mrs. Dudley had not spoken so positively.
Mr. Tinkham was set a-thinking. Why wouldn't the widow sell? Why had she
changed her mind since yesterday? Why did Mr. Beal, the lawyer, not
appear at the consultation? All these questions the shrewd little
Tinkham asked himself, and all these questions he asked of Francis Gray
that evening.