WHAT A "HAYSEED" DID.
Billy opened his eyes. His head swam dizzily, and he felt sick and
faint. The hot sun was beating down on him, but at first he thought he
was at home and in bed. Then he began to remember. He sat up, and then,
not without an effort, rose to his feet dizzily.
"Where on earth am I?" he thought. "And what happened? Let's see what
time it is."
But his watch pocket was empty, and then full recollection of what had
occurred came back to him. He was still rather painfully trying to
regain the road when he heard the sound of a voice. It was a very loud
voice, even though the owner of it was not yet in sight.
"Looks like we might have rain. I said it looks like we might have a
shower."
Then another voice--a boyish one--shouted back:
"YES--IT--DOES."
"Gid-ap," came in the first voice, and then came hoof-beats and the
rumble of wheels. The next minute a ramshackle, two-seated rig, with a
man and a boy on the front seat, came into sight. Billy gave one long
stare, as one who doubted the evidence of his own eyes. Then he broke
into a glad shout:
"Jack!"
"Billy, old fellow, what in the world? Why, you're white as a sheet."
With alarm on his face, Jack sprang out, as Abner stopped the rig, and
rushed toward Billy.
"How did you get here? What has happened?" demanded Jack.
Billy told his story in as few words as possible.
"Oh, the rascal," broke out Jack, when Billy described the hold-up.
"That was Bill Sniggers. He's the man who led the way to the stone
house--but get in and I'll tell you my story as we go along."
"Where are you going?"
"Back to Musky Bay; but a few hours ago I didn't think I'd ever see it
again."
Jack had to shout both his story and Billy's for Abner's benefit. But he
gave them in highly condensed versions, as his sorely taxed vocal organs
had almost reached the limit of their strength. He had just reached the
conclusion, having been interrupted several times by Abner's
exclamations, when, ahead of them, on the road, they spied a figure
shuffling along in the dust. The two boys were on the rear seat of the
rig, so that the man, when he saw the rig approaching, having turned his
head at the sound of hoofs, did not see the boys.
"Reckon that feller means ter ask fer a ride," remarked Abner, as a bend
in the road ahead screened the man from view for a few minutes.
A sudden idea had come into Jack's head.
"Let him have it," he said; "and then drive to the nearest village and
up to the police station. I'll pay you well for it."
"But--but--who is he?" demanded Abner, stopping his horse.
"Bill Sniggers, the rascal who is in league with Judson."
"Great hemlock! You bet I'll pick him up right smart. But he'll see you
boys and scare."
"No, we'll hide in here," and Jack raised a leather flap that hung from
the back seat. "It will be a tight fit, but there'll be room."
"Wa'al, if that don't beat all," said Abner. "Git in thar, then, and
then the show kin go on."
As Jack had said, it was a "tight fit" in the recess under the seat,
but, as Abner's rig had been made to take produce to market, there was a
sort of extension at the back, which gave far more room than would
ordinarily have been the case. Pretty soon the boys, in their
hiding-place, felt the rig come to a stop. Then came a voice both
recognized as Bill's.
"Say, gimme a ride, will yer?"
"Did ye say my harness was untied?"
"No, I said gimme a ride," roared Bill, at the top of his powerful
lungs.
"Oh, all right. Git in. Whoa thar', consarn yer (this to the horse).
Whar yer goin'?"
"Nearest village. I'm campin' up the bay. I want to get some grub,"
shouted Bill.
"Yer a long ways frum ther river," remarked Abner.
"Maybe; but I reckon that ain't your business," growled Bill.
"Not ef you don't want ter tell it, 'tain't," said Abner apologetically.
He had heard enough of Bill's character not to argue with him.
"That's a nice-looking watch you've got there," the boys heard Abner say
pleasantly.
There was a pause and then Bill roared out:
"What's that to you if it is?"
"Oh, nothing, only I jest saw that printing on it, and calkilated it
might have bin a present to yer."
Jack could almost see Bill hurriedly thrusting the watch back into his
pocket. Then, after a little while, he spoke again.
"Didn't see nothing of a kid back there in the road, did yer?"
"He means you, Billy," whispered Jack.
"No, I didn't see nothing of nobody," was Abner's comprehensive
rejoinder.
There was a long silence, during which the boys sweltered in their close
confinement. But they would have gone through more than that for the
sake of what they hoped to bring about--the apprehension of at least one
of Judson's aides.
"Getting near a village?" asked Bill presently.
"Yep; 'bout half a mile more," rejoined Abner.
In a short time the rig began to slacken its pace. Then it stopped.
"Here, what's this?" the boys heard Bill exclaim. "You're stopping in
front of a police station."
"Sure. The chief is Araminta's--that's my wife--cousin. I'm goin' in ter
see him a minit. Hold the horse, will yer, he's a bit skittish."
The boys heard Abner get out, and then an eternity seemed to elapse.
Then a door banged and a sharp voice snapped out:
"Throw up your hands, gol ding yer. I'm the chief uv perlice, an' I
arrest ye fer ther robbery of one gold watch and assault and batt'ry."
"Confound it, the old hayseed led me into a trap!" exclaimed Bill.
He threw himself out of the rig and started to run. But, as he did so,
Jack and Billy, who had crawled out from the back, suddenly appeared.
Bill gave a wild shout, and the next instant he was sprawling headlong
in the dusty street, while a crowd came rushing from all directions.
Jack had tripped him by an old football trick. With an oath the
desperado reached for his revolver. But, before he could reach it, he
was pinioned by a dozen pairs of hands, and marched, struggling and
swearing, into the police station.
He was searched, and Billy's watch found on him, as well as the money.
Then he was locked up. He refused to give any information about the
Judsons, in which he showed his astuteness, for, if they had been
caught, his plight would have been worse than it was, for they would
have been certain to implicate him deeply. So he contented himself by
saying that he knew nothing about them. They had hired him to help the
elder Judson recover his nephew from another uncle, who had treated him
badly. He knew nothing more about the case, he declared, except that,
after Jack's escape, the Judsons had left for New York. (It may be said
here that he was eventually found guilty of the theft and the assault
and received a jail sentence.)
Abner was well rewarded for the clever way he had brought about Bill's
capture; and, well pleased with the way everything had come out, the
boys resumed their journey.
"I hope Abner will invest part of what I gave him in an ear-trumpet,"
said Jack, as they entered Musky Bay.
"I hope so," laughed Billy. He was going to add something, but a shout
stopped him.
"There's Captain Simms and Noddy," shouted Jack, as the two came running
toward the vehicle. There is no need to go into the details of the
reunion, or to relate what anxious hours the captain and Noddy had gone
through after their discovery that the boys had vanished. If they had
not reappeared when they did, Captain Simms was preparing to organize
posses and make a wide search for them, as well as enlisting the aid of
the authorities. In the vague hope that the Judsons and Jarrow might
have remained in the stone house, waiting Bill's return, a party
searched it next day, under the guidance of a native who knew the trail
to it. But it was empty. A search for the black motor boat, too,
resulted in nothing being found of her.
As a matter of fact, not many minutes after Bill, from whom they wished
to be separated, had left the house, the Judsons--father and son--and
Jarrow, had made all speed to the point where the motor craft had been
left and had hastily made off in her. They knew that the search for Jack
would be hot and wished to get as far away from Bill as he treacherously
wished to get from them. In their case there was certainly none of the
proverbial honor among thieves.
The black motor boat was left at Clayton and afterward claimed by a
relative of Bill, who, by reason of "circumstances over which he had no
control," was unable to claim her himself. As for the Judsons, they
vanished, leaving no trace behind them. The same was the case with
Jarrow.
A message had been sent to Uncle Toby, telling him of the reason for the
boys' delay at Musky Bay, _via_ a small mail steamer that plied those
waters. His reply was characteristic:
"Them buoys is as hard to hurt as gotes, and as tuff as ship's
biskit on a Cape Horner. Best wishes to awl. Awl well here at eight
bells.
"Cap'n Toby Ready,
"_Inventor and Patentee of the Universal Herb Medicine, Guaranteed
to Cure All Ills, Both of Man and Quadruped._"