After this, Nicholas Gregory was very steady at his work for a while. He
kept out of the woods as much as possible, and felt that he knew more
already than was good for him. Above all, he avoided that big sandstone
cliff and the Conscripts' Hollow, where the goods lay hidden.
He heard no more of the search that had been made for the burglars and
their booty, and he congratulated himself on his caution in keeping
silent about what he had found.
"Now, ef it hed been that thar wide-mouthed Barney, stid o' me, he'd hev
blabbed fust thing, an' they'd all hev thunk ez he war the boy what them
scoundrels put through the winder ter steal the folkses' truck. They'd
hev jailed him, I reckon."
He had begun to forget his own part in the wrong-doing,--that his
silence was helping to screen "them scoundrels" from the law.
This state of mind continued for a week, perhaps. Then he fell to
speculating about the stolen goods. He wondered whether they were all
there yet, or whether the burglars had managed to carry them away. His
curiosity grew so great that several times he was almost at the point of
going to see for himself; but one morning, early, when an opportunity
to do so was suddenly presented, his courage failed him.
His mother had just come into the log cabin from the hen-house with a
woe-begone face.
"I do declar'!" she exclaimed solemnly, "that I'm surely the
afflictedest 'oman on G'liath Mounting! An' them young fall tur-r-keys
air so spindlin' an' delikit they'll be the death o' me yit!"
They were so spindling and delicate that they were the death of
themselves. She had just buried three, and her heart and her larder were
alike an aching void.
"Three died ter-day, an' two las' Wednesday!" As she counted them on her
fingers she honored each with a shake of the head, so mournful that it
might be accounted an obituary in dumb show. "I hev had no sort'n luck
with this tur-r-key's brood, an' the t'other hev stole her nest away,
an' I hev got sech a mean no-'count set o' chillen they can't find her.
Waal! waal! waal! this comin' winter the Lord'll be _obleeged_ ter
pervide."
This was washing-day, and as she began to scrub away on the noisy
washboard, a sudden thought struck her. "Ye told me two weeks ago an'
better, Nick, that ye hed laid off ter sarch the Conscripts' Hollow; ye
'lowed ye hed been everywhar else. Did ye go thar fur the tur-r-key?"
She faced him with her dripping arms akimbo.
Nick's face turned red as he answered, "That thar tur-r-key ain't a-nigh
thar."
"What ails ye, Nick? thar's su'thin' wrong. I kin tell it by yer looks.
Ye never hed the grit ter sarch thar, I'll be bound; did ye, now?"
Nick could not bring himself to admit having been near the place.
"No," he faltered, "I never sarched thar."
"Ye'll do it now, though!" his mother declared triumphantly. "I'm afeard
ter send Jacob on sech a yerrand down the bluffs, kase he air so little
he mought fall; but he air big enough ter go 'long an' watch ye go down
ter the Hollow--else ye'll kem back an' say ye hev sarched thar, when
ye ain't been a-nigh the bluff."
There seemed for a moment no escape for Nick. His mother was looking
resolutely at him, and Jacob had gotten up briskly from his seat in the
chimney-corner. He was a small tow-headed boy with big owlish eyes, and
Nick knew from experience that they were very likely to see anything he
did _not_ do. He must go; and then if at any time the stolen goods
should be discovered, Jacob and his mother, and who could say how many
besides, would know that he had been to the Conscripts' Hollow, and must
have seen what was hidden there.
In that case his silence on the subject would be very suspicious. It
would seem as if he had some connection with the burglars, and for that
reason tried to conceal the plunder.
He was saying to himself that he would not go--and he must! How could he
avoid it? As he glanced uneasily around the room, his eyes chanced to
fall on a little object lying on the edge of the shelf just above the
washtub. He made the most of the opportunity. As he slung his hat upon
his head with an impatient gesture, he managed to brush the shelf with
it and knock the small object into the foaming suds below.
His mother sank into a chair with uplifted hands and eyes.
"The las' cake o' hop yeast!" she cried. "An' how air the bread ter be
raised?"
To witness her despair, one would think only jack-screws could do it.
"Surely I _am_ the afflictedest 'oman on G'liath Mounting! An'
ter-morrer Brother Pete's wife an' his gals air a-comin', and I hed laid
off ter hev raised bread."
For "raised bread" is a great rarity and luxury in these parts, the
nimble "dodgers" being the staff of life.
"I never went ter do it," muttered Nick.
"Waal, ye kin jes' kerry yer bones down the mounting ter Sister
Mirandy's house, an' ax her ter fotch me a cake o' her yeast when she
kems up hyar ter-day ter holp me sizin' yarn. Arter that I don't keer
what ye does with yerself. Ef ye stays hyar along o' we-uns, ye'll haul
the roof down nex', I reckon. 'Pears like ter me ez boys an' men-folks
air powerful awk'ard, useless critters ter keep in a house; they oughter
hev pens outside, I'm a-thinkin'."
She had forgotten about the turkey, and Nick was glad enough to escape
on these terms.
It was not until after he had finished his errand at Aunt Mirandy's
house that he chanced to think again of the Conscripts' Hollow. As he
was slowly lounging back up the mountain, he paused occasionally on the
steep slope and looked up at the crags high on the summit, which he
could see, now and then, diagonally across a deep cove.
When he came in sight of the one which he had such good reason to
remember, he stopped and stood gazing fixedly at it for a long time,
wondering again whether the robbers had yet carried off their plunder
from its hiding-place.
He was not too distant to distinguish the Conscripts' Hollow, but from
his standpoint, he could not at first determine where was the ledge. He
thought he recognized it presently in a black line that seemed drawn
across the massive cliff.
But what was that upon it? A moving figure! He gazed at it spell-bound
for a moment, as it slowly made its way along toward the Hollow. Then he
wanted to see no more; he wanted to know no more. He turned and fled at
full speed along the narrow cow-path among the bushes.
Suddenly there was a rustle among them. Something had sprung out into
the path with a light bound, and as he ran, he heard a swift step behind
him. It seemed a pursuing step, for, as he quickened his pace, it came
faster too. It was a longer stride than his; it was gaining upon him. A
hand with a grip like a vise fell upon his shoulder, and as he was
whirled around and brought face to face with his pursuer, he glanced up
and recognized the constable of the district.
This was a tall, muscular man, dressed in brown jeans, and with a bushy
red beard. He knew Nick well, for he, too, was a mountaineer.
"Ye war a-dustin' along toler'ble fast, Nicholas Gregory," he exclaimed;
"but nothin' on G'liath Mounting kin beat me a-runnin' 'thout it air a
deer. Ye'll kem along with me now, and stir yer stumps powerful lively,
too, kase I hain't got no time ter lose."
"What am I tuk up fur?" gasped Nick.
"S'picious conduc'," replied the man curtly.
Nick knew no more now than he did before. The officer's next words made
matters plainer. "Things look mightily like ye war set hyar ter watch
that thar ledge. Ez soon ez ye seen our men a-goin' ter the Conscripts'
Hollow ter sarch fur that thar stole truck, ye war a-goin' ter scuttle
off an' gin the alarm ter them rascally no-'count burglars. I saw ye and
yer looks, and I suspicioned some sech game. Ye don't cheat the law in
_this_ deestrick--not often! Ye air the very boy, I reckon, what
holped ter rob Blenkins's store. Whar's the other burglars? Ye'd better
tell!"
"I dunno!" cried Nick tremulously. "I never had nothin' ter do with
'em."
"Ye hev told on yerself," the man retorted. "Why did ye stand a-gapin'
at the Conscripts' Hollow, ef ye didn't know thar was suthin special
thar?"
Nick, in his confusion, could invent no reply, and he was afraid to tell
the truth. He looked mutely at the officer, who held his arm and looked
down sternly at him.
"Ye air a bad egg,--that's plain. I'll take ye along whether I ketches
the other burglars or no."
They toiled up the steep ascent in silence, and before very long were on
the summit of the mountain, and within view of the crag.
There on the great gray cliff, in the midst of the lonely woods, were
several men whom Nick had never before seen. Their busy figures were
darkly defined against the hazy azure of the distant ranges, and as they
moved about, their shadows on the ground seemed very busy too, and
blotted continually the golden sunshine that everywhere penetrated the
thinning masses of red and bronze autumn foliage.
A wagon, close at hand, was already half full of the stolen goods, and a
number of men were going cautiously up and down the face of the cliff,
bringing articles, or passing them from one to another.
"Well, this _is_ a tedious job!" exclaimed the sheriff, John Stebbins by
name. He was a quick-witted, good-natured man, but being active in
temperament, he was exceedingly impatient of delay. "How long did it
take 'em to get all those heavy things down into the Conscripts'
Hollow,--hey, bub?" he added, appealing to Nick, who had been brought to
his notice by the constable. It was terrible to Nick that they should
all speak to him as if he were one of the criminals. He broke out with
wild protestations of his innocence, denying, too, that he had had any
knowledge of what was hidden in the Conscripts' Hollow.
"Then what made ye run, yander on the slope, when ye seen thar war
somebody on the ledge?" demanded the constable.
Nick had a sudden inspiration. "Waal," he faltered, with an explanatory
sob, which was at once ludicrous and pathetic, "I war too fur off ter
make out fur sure what 'twar on the ledge. 'Twar black-lookin', an' I
'lowed 'twar a b'ar."
All the men laughed at this.
"I sot out ter run ter Aunt Mirandy's house ter borry Job's gun ter kem
up hyar, an' mebbe git a crack at him," continued Nick.
"That doesn't seem unnatural," said the sheriff. Then he turned to the
constable. "This ain't enough to justify us in holding on to the boy,
Jim, unless we can fix that scrap with the button on him. Where is it?"
"D'ye know whose coat this kem off'n?" asked the constable, producing a
bit of brown jeans, with a dark-colored horn button attached to it.
"How'd it happen ter be stickin' ter them blackberry-bushes on the
ledge?"
Nick recognized it in an instant. It was Barney Pratt's button, and a
bit of Barney Pratt's coat. But he knew well enough that he himself must
have torn it when he wore it down to the Conscripts' Hollow.
He realized that he should have at once told the whole truth of what he
knew about the stolen goods. He was well aware that he ought not to
suffer the suspicion which had unjustly fallen upon him to be unjustly
transferred to Barney, who he knew was innocent.
But he was terribly frightened, and foolishly cautious, and he did not
care for justice, nor truth, nor friendship, now. His only anxiety was
to save himself.
"That thar piece o' brown jeans an' that button kem off'n Barney Pratt's
coat. I'd know 'em anywhar," he answered, more firmly than before. He
noted the fact that the searching eyes of both officers were fixed upon
his own coat, which was good and whole, and lacked no buttons. He had
not even a twinge of conscience just now. In his meanness and cowardice
his heart exulted, as he saw that suspicion was gradually lifting its
dark shadow from him. He cared not where it might fall next.
"We'll have to let you slide, I reckon," said the sheriff. "But what
size is this Barney Pratt?"
"He air a lean, stringy little chap," said Nick.
"Is that so?" said the sheriff. "Well, this is a bit of his coat and his
button; and they were found on the ledge, close to the Conscripts'
Hollow where the plunder was hid; and he's a small fellow, that maybe
could slip through a window-pane. That makes a pretty strong showing
against him. We'll go for Barney Pratt!"