WHEN BOB CAME BACK.
THE other boys of course shared in Bob's deep feeling of satisfaction.
Perhaps he might be expecting too much from the old mountaineer; but
then, Bob had lived among these people during a good portion of his
life, and ought to be able to judge as to the amount of gratitude they
were capable of feeling.
"But you ought to be off across the valley yourself, Bob," ventured
Thad, presently.
"I know it, suh," the Southern lad replied, quickly; "and let me tell
you I'm starting right now in better spirits than I ever dreamed would
be the case. I want to get back heah in good time, so as to go up yondah
with you, and meet Polly."
"If you're not too much played out," suggested Allan.
Bob drew his figure up proudly, as he went on to say:
"I'd have to be mighty nigh a collapse, suh, let me tell you, to keep
from goin' to where I've got a chance to hear about _him_!" and they did
not need to be told who was meant, for they knew Bob was thinking of
his missing father, whom everybody had long believed to be surely dead.
And so he presently vanished, with a farewell wave of the hand.
The other scouts gathered around the fire, chatting on various subjects,
but principally in connection with the recent happening. They thought it
the strangest thing in the world how two girls came to play a part in
the affair which their good comrade, Bob Quail, was trying to put
through; and of such vastly different types too, the one a plain
mountain maid, and the other, according to what they themselves had
seen, quite a dainty little thing, cultured and refined.
"Smithy, I'm going to tell you to reverse that badge of yours," said the
scoutmaster, as they sat there around the fire, waiting for the return
of the absent comrade.
Smithy looked up in surprise. He had been smoothing his coat sleeve
after a peculiar habit he had, as though he imagined he had discovered
some dust there. And for the moment he fancied that Thad must be joking
him on account of those "finicky" ways, as Giraffe called them, which he
could not wholly throw aside, since extreme neatness had long ago become
a part of his very nature.
"That's very kind of you, Thad," he remarked, trying to appear calm;
"and I'm sure I feel grateful for the privilege, which should always be
a matter of pride I take it, with every Boy Scout. But I am not aware,
sir, just how I've gained the right to reverse my badge."
"By handing me that stick when I asked for it, and thereby becoming a
partner with me in assisting that wounded man. You notice that I'm
turning my own badge, because I think I've earned it by this act, if I
didn't by what Bob and myself did to that bobcat. And Allan, you're in
this deal also; you brought me that roll of stout muslin when I wanted
it, so you did all you could."
"And I helped get him on his feet!" declared Giraffe, quickly.
"So did I!" exclaimed Bumpus, excitedly; "anyhow, I started to lend a
hand; but there was so many around I just got crowded out. But I
_wanted_ to do something, sure I did, Thad!"
"Turn your badge, then," ordered the scoutmaster, smiling. "In fact,
every scout was full of sympathy, and ready to assist if called on. And
under the circumstances, I just guess there needn't be any badge in this
camp unturned right now. To-morrow we'll start fresh again, and let's
see how quick all of us can follow after Step Hen's example, and help
some worthy object along."
"Even if it is only a poor little tumble-bug that can't push his ball
home," remarked Giraffe, with a grin.
The time hung heavily upon their hands. No doubt this was partly caused
by their intense eagerness to learn just how Bob was coming out. Would
Bertha meet him; or might she have been shut up in the house by her
guardian, stern Reuben Sparks? If she did come, would she bring that
paper which she said was signed with her dead father's name; and
supposing it proved to be all Bob hoped and prayed it would, was it
possible, if placed in the hands of a competent lawyer in Asheville,
that this document would take Bertha from the custody of Reuben, and
give her a home with Bob's mother up in Cranford?
All these things were debated from every standpoint; and wide-awake boys
can see the weak links in the chain about as quickly as any one; so that
Thad was kept busy explaining, and building up plans to suit the altered
conditions.
"Ought to be time he was here," Giraffe remarked, as he stifled a huge
yawn.
"It's sure nearly a whole hour since we heard that row across there,"
Bumpus went on to say. "Seemed like a whole crowd had started to yell,
and dogs to bark. We none of us could make up our minds what it meant.
Some thought the wounded man must a got to the cabins, an' all that
noise meant the kind of reception a brave feller gets in these parts
when he's brought home on a shutter. But others, they seemed to b'lieve
it might have had to do with our chum Bob, and that p'raps he'd been
surrounded, and trapped by the wise old Reuben."
"We hope not, for a fact," declared Thad.
"Well, there's somebody coming right now, I give you my word!" observed
Smithy, who happened to be on the windward side of the fire, and able to
hear better than some of the rest.
"And from the right direction, too," added Allan.
The patter of footsteps came closer, and presently a dim figure loomed
up, almost staggering.
"It's Bob, all right!" cried Bumpus; and Thad heaved a sigh of relief,
for he had begun to fear that something might have happened to disturb
the carefully laid plans of his companion.
The Southern boy came into camp, breathing heavily. He seemed to be very
much exhausted, but Thad could detect a look of triumph on his face that
seemed to tell of something worth while having been accomplished.
Dropping down, Bob motioned for a drink of water, and Step Hen made
haste to get him one from the collapsible bucket they had brought along
with them. Draining the tin cup, Bob sighed as though the cooling liquid
went just to the right spot, and had refreshed him wonderfully.
"It's all right, Thad!" he managed to say, noticing the questioning look
that the other was bending upon him.
"Then you saw your cousin, and got the paper?" asked the scoutmaster,
eagerly, while the rest of the boys fairly hung upon every word.
Bob nodded his head.
"Get my breath right soon now," he remarked; "then tell you all about
it. Phew! I had a smart run, believe me!"
The boys exchanged expressive looks. They drew their own conclusions
from the little Bob had already dropped; and began to believe that he
must have been hotly pursued. Evidently then, if this were indeed the
case, Bob had met with an adventure since leaving the camp-fire, and a
serious one at that.
It is always a difficult thing for the ordinary boy to restrain his
impatience, and several of the scouts squirmed about uneasily while Bob
was trying to calm himself down, so that he might talk with reasonable
comfort.
Thad let him have his own time. He understood that Bob was even more
anxious to tell, than any of them were to hear; and that just as quickly
as he could, he was sure to start in.
That time came presently, when his heart began to beat less violently;
and as a consequence Bob started to breathe more naturally.
"I met Bertha," he began to say, "and she gave me the paper. Boys, it's
everything I hoped it'd be; and once I manage to get it in the hands of
a good lawyer, good-bye to Mr. Reuben Sparks' authority over little
Bertha, and her fortune."
"Wow! that's going some!" burst out Giraffe, rubbing his thin hands one
over the other, as though decidedly pleased by the news.
"Was she disappointed when you told her how impossible it would be for
us to take her away right now, when these moonshiners have got us
marooned up here in their blessed old mountains; and we can't turn
whichever way without runnin' slap up against a sentry with his old
gun?" asked Bumpus.
"That's right, she _was_ upset when I told her that same," answered the
other. "It made me feel right bad too, suh, to see how she took it; and
I tell you right now I came mighty neah givin' in, and sayin' we'd make
a try. But I remembered what Thad heah had told me, and how it was best
for all of us that we let the cou'ts summon old Reuben to bring Bertha
before the bar of justice. An' finally, after I'd explained it all to
her, she began to see it the same way. My cousin has got the spirit of
the Quails all right, I tell you, fellows, even if she is young and
little."
"I reckon you stayed so long tryin' to convince her, Bob, that you clean
forgot how you'd promised to get back here as soon as you could?"
remarked Step Hen, under the belief, no doubt, that he was giving the
other a sly dig.
"Well, perhaps you are correct about that same, suh," replied Bob,
quite unabashed; "she was like most girls, and had to be argued into
seeing things like boys see 'em. Of course, I couldn't break away till
she had arranged to go back to the house, and wait for things to begin
to move, as they surely would, just as soon as I get to Asheville. But
there was one real smart thing she did do, and I've just got to tell you
about that befo' I come to my own adventure."
"That's right, don't skip anything, old chum," remarked Giraffe, warmly,
as he settled down to listen.
"When Bertha took that document from the little pigeonhole in the safe
where he had it hidden, she thought to make up another as much like it
as she could, and put that in place of the one she carried off. Some of
you scouts ought to take pattern from the smartness of that little girl;
don't you think so, Thad?" and Bob turned his now smiling face upon the
patrol leader.
"They couldn't improve very much on that sort of work," Thad declared;
"and if girls were allowed to join our troop I'd vote every time to let
your cousin come in. I'm sure she'd be an honor to any organization."
"Now tell us what happened to you, Bob!" asked Bumpus.
"Well," continued the other, drawing a long breath as though what he was
about to say stirred him once more; "I was just ready to say good-bye,
when we heard loud voices, together with the barking of a big dog, and
Old Reuben, with a man, and a mastiff about hip-high burst into view,
both men carrying lanterns, and heavy sticks in their hands. And you can
believe me, fellows, I understood that I was in for a little excitement
about that time!"