It seemed to Peter Washington that the Bryants absolutely consulted
their own wishes in regard to the time for retiring; but at last he
saw the lighted windows fade briskly from left to right, and after a
moment a window on the second floor blazed out against the darkness.
Si was going to bed. In five minutes this window abruptly vanished,
and all the world was night.
Peter spent the ensuing quarter-hour in no mental debate. His mind was
fixed. He was here, and the melon was there. He would have it. But an
idea of being caught appalled him. He thought of his position. He was
the beau of his community, honored right and left. He pictured the
consternation of his friends and the cheers of his enemies if the
hands of the redoubtable Si Bryant should grip him in his shame.
He arose, and going to the fence, listened. No sound broke the
stillness, save the rhythmical incessant clicking of myriad insects,
and the guttural chanting of the frogs in the reeds at the lake-side.
Moved by sudden decision, he climbed the fence and crept silently and
swiftly down upon the melon. His open knife was in his hand. There
was the melon, cool, fair to see, as pompous in its fatness as the
cook in a monastery.
Peter put out a hand to steady it while he cut the stem. But at the
instant he was aware that a black form had dropped over the fence
lining the lane in front of him and was coming stealthily towards him.
In a palsy of terror he dropped flat upon the ground, not having
strength enough to run away. The next moment he was looking into the
amazed and agonized face of old Alek Williams.
There was a moment of loaded silence, and then Peter was overcome by a
mad inspiration. He suddenly dropped his knife and leaped upon Alek.
"I got che!" he hissed. "I got che! I got che!" The old man sank down
as limp as rags. "I got che! I got che! Steal Mist' Bryant's mellums,
hey?"
Alek, in a low voice, began to beg. "Oh, Mist' Peter Wash'ton, don' go
fer ter be too ha'd on er ole man! I nev' come yere fer ter steal 'em.
'Deed I didn't, Mist' Wash'ton! I come yere jes fer ter _feel_ 'em.
Oh, please, Mist' Wash'ton--"
"Come erlong outa yere, you ol' rip," said Peter, "an' don' trumple on
dese yer baids. I gwine put you wah you won' ketch col'."
Without difficulty he tumbled the whining Alek over the fence to the
roadway, and followed him with sheriff-like expedition! He took him by
the scruff. "Come erlong, deacon. I raikon I gwine put you wah you kin
pray, deacon. Come erlong, deacon."
The emphasis and reiteration of his layman's title in the church
produced a deadly effect upon Alek. He felt to his marrow the heinous
crime into which this treacherous night had betrayed him. As Peter
marched his prisoner up the road towards the mouth of the lane, he
continued his remarks: "Come erlong, deacon. Nev' see er man so
anxious like erbout er mellum-paitch, deacon. Seem like you jes must
see'em er-growin' an' _feel_ 'em, deacon. Mist' Bryant he'll be
s'prised, deacon, findin' out you come fer ter _feel_ his mellums.
Come erlong, deacon. Mist' Bryant he expectin' some ole rip like you
come soon."
They had almost reached the lane when Alek's cur Susie, who had
followed her master, approached in the silence which attends dangerous
dogs; and seeing indications of what she took to be war, she appended
herself swiftly but firmly to the calf of Peter's left leg. The melee
was short, but spirited. Alek had no wish to have his dog complicate
his already serious misfortunes, and went manfully to the defence
of his captor. He procured a large stone, and by beating this with
both hands down upon the resounding skull of the animal, he induced
her to quit her grip. Breathing heavily, Peter dropped into the long
grass at the road-side. He said nothing.
[Illustration: "THE NEXT MOMENT HE WAS LOOKING INTO THE AMAZED AND
AGONIZED FACE OF OLD ALEK"]
"Mist' Wash'ton," said Alek at last, in a quavering voice, "I raikon I
gwine wait yere see what you gwine do ter me."
Whereupon Peter passed into a spasmodic state, in which he rolled to
and fro and shook.
"Mist' Wash'ton, I hope dish yer dog 'ain't gone an' give you fitses?"
Peter sat up suddenly. "No, she 'ain't," he answered; "but she gin me
er big skeer; an' fer yer 'sistance with er cobblestone, Mist'
Willums, I tell you what I gwine do--I tell you what I gwine do." He
waited an impressive moment. "I gwine 'lease you!"