The Boy Trapper Part 6

"Why, I understood you to say that father and Dan had drawn this money," said he, as soon as he could speak.

"So they did, but my father says the loss is mine and not yours."

David drew a long breath. He understood the matter now. "It isn't fair that you should pay it twice," said he.

"I haven't paid it twice; that is, I haven't paid you at all. It's all right, David, you may depend upon it. They'll never fool us again. If I should ever have any more of your money, n.o.body could get it except yourself."

"Or mother," added David.

"O, of course. I wouldn't be afraid to trust her."

"I was in hopes that you would have a good deal of my money in your hands some day," continued David. "I was going to ask you to keep my hundred and fifty dollars for me; but I don't know now whether I shall ever get it or not."

"Of course you'll get it," exclaimed Bert. "You are not going to give up the idea of trapping the quails, are you?"

"No, but I don't know that I shall make anything at it, for Dan and Lester can break up my traps faster than I can make them."

"Well, they'll not break up a single one of your traps, because----"

Here Don began and hurriedly repeated the conversation which he and Bert had had with their father a few hours before. As David listened the look of trouble his face had worn all that day gradually faded away, and the old happy smile took its place. His confidence in his friends had not been misplaced; Dan and Lester Brigham were to be outwitted after all.

The traps and the "figure fours" with which they were to be set, could be built there in the shop, Don said. There were tools and a bench and everything else needful close at hand, so that the work could be done in half the time that David had expected to devote to it. As fast as the traps were completed they were to be set in General Gordon's fields. They would be safe there and Dan Evans or Lester Brigham or anybody else who came near them, would be likely to get himself into trouble. The negroes were always at work in the fields in the daytime, and if they were told to keep their eyes open and report any outsiders who might be seen prowling about the fences, they would be sure to do it. The best course David could pursue would be to say nothing more about trapping the quails. Let Dan believe that he had become discouraged and given up the enterprise. If he wanted to know what it was that took his brother over to General Gordon's house so regularly, David could tell him that he was doing some work there, which would be the truth; and besides it would be all Dan had any right to know.

As fast as the birds were caught, they could be locked up in one of the empty negro cabins; and any one who found out that they were there and tried to steal them, would run the risk of being caught by Don's hounds. It was a splendid plan, taken altogether, and David's eyes fairly glistened while it was unfolded to him. He thanked the brothers over and over again for their kindness and the interest they took in his success, and might have kept on thanking them if Don had not interrupted him with--

"O, that's all understood. Now, before you begin work on those traps we want you to help us one day. We've had a good deal of excitement and some good luck since we last saw you. We have recovered my canoe, which somebody stole from me, and we have found out that there is a bear living on Bruin's Island."

"He must be a monster, too, for such growls I never heard before,"

said Bert.

"Didn't you see him?" asked David.

"No. We landed to explore the island, and while we were going through the cane he growled at us, and we took the hint and left. We didn't have a single load of heavy shot with us. We're going up there to-morrow, and we want you to go with us. We'll go fixed for him, too. We'll have a couple of good dogs with us; I'll take my rifle; Bert will take father's heavy gun; and we'd like to have you take your single-barrel. If he gets a bullet and three loads of buckshot in his head, he'll not growl at us any more. If we don't get a chance to shoot him, we'll build a trap and catch him alive the next time he comes to the island. Will you go?"

Of course David would go. He would have gone anywhere that Don told him to go. He promised to be at the barn at an early hour the next morning, and then showed a desire to leave the shop; so Don unlocked the door, and David hurried out and turned his face toward the landing. He had money now, and that grocery bill should not trouble him any longer.

"If there ever was a lucky boy in the world I am the one," thought David, whose spirits were elevated in the same ratio in which they had before been depressed. "I'll earn my hundred and fifty dollars now, and mother shall have her nice things in spite of Dan and Lester. It isn't every fellow who has such friends as Don and Bert Gordon. But I shall have a hard time of it, anyhow. Dan will be so mad when he finds out that he can't ruin me, that he will do something desperate."

David, however, did not waste much time in thinking of the troubles that might come in the future. He preferred to think about pleasanter things. He was so wholly engrossed with his plans that it seemed to him that he was not more than five minutes in reaching the landing.

There was no one in the street, and nothing there worth looking at, except General Gordon's white horse, which was. .h.i.tched to a post in front of Silas Jones's store. As David approached, the General himself came out, accompanied by the grocer, who was as polite and attentive to his rich customers as he was indifferent to the poor ones.

"Ah, David!" exclaimed the General, extending his hand; "how are times now? Business looking up any?"

"Y-yes, sir," stammered the boy, who could scarcely speak at all. He was not abashed by the rich man's presence, for he had learned to expect a friendly nod or a cordial grasp of the hand every time he met him; but he was very much astonished by the greeting which Silas Jones extended to him. No sooner had the General released David's hand than it was seized by the grocer, who appeared to be as glad to see him as though he knew that the boy had come there to buy a bill of goods worth hundreds of dollars.

"It never does any good to give away to our gloomy feelings," said the General. "There are many times when things don't go just as we would like to have them, but the day always follows the night, and a little perseverance sometimes works wonders."

David understood what the General meant, but it was plain that the grocer did not, for he looked both bewildered and surprised. He bowed to his rich customer, as he rode off, and then, turning to David, conducted him into the store with a great deal of ceremony.

"Mr. Jones," said David, who began to think that the grocer must have taken leave of his senses, "I have come here to settle father's bill."

"O, that's all right," was the smiling reply. "It isn't fair that I should hold you responsible for that debt, and I have concluded that I will not do it. Your father will pay me some time, perhaps, and if he doesn't, I'll let it go. The loss of it won't break me. Can I do anything for you this evening?"

David was more astonished than ever. Was this the man who had spoken so harshly to him no longer ago than that very morning? What had happened to work so great a change in him? It was the General's visit that did it. When Don and Bert left their father, after holding that short consultation with him in the field, the latter took a few minutes to think the matter over, and when his hands had finished their work, he mounted his horse and rode down to the landing, to have a talk with Mr. Jones. What pa.s.sed between them no one ever knew, but it was noticed that from that day forward, whenever David came into the store to trade, he was treated with as much respect as he would have been had he been known to have his pockets full of money.

"Want anything in my line this evening?" continued the grocer, rubbing his hands; "a hat or a pair of shoes and stockings for yourself, a nice warm dress for mother, or----"

"O, I want a good many things," replied David, "but I shall have only two dollars left after your bill is paid, and that must keep us in groceries for at least a month--perhaps longer."

To David's great amazement, the merchant replied: "Your credit is good for six months. As for your father's debt, I wouldn't let you pay it if you were made of money. Better take home some tea, coffee and sugar with you, hadn't you? It is always a good plan to replenish before you get entirely out, you know."

"O, we were out long ago," said David, who could not help smiling at the mistake Silas made in supposing that tea, coffee and sugar appeared on his mother's table every day. "We haven't had any in our house for almost a month."

"Is that so?" exclaimed the grocer, "Then I'll put up some for you, and lend you a basket to carry it home in."

David leaned upon the counter and began a little problem in mental arithmetic, with the view of ascertaining how much of his money it would take to keep his mother supplied with the luxuries the grocer had mentioned for one month, and how much he would have left to invest in clothing for her; but before the problem was solved the grocer had placed three neat packages, good-sized ones, too, on the counter, and was looking for a basket to put them in.

"Now, then," said he, briskly, "what next? A dress for mother or a pair of shoes for yourself? The mornings are getting to be pretty cold now, and you can't run around barefooted much longer. Ah, Dan!

how do you do?"

David looked up and was surprised to see his brother standing by his side. He was surprised, too, to notice that the grocer greeted him almost as cordially as he had greeted himself but a few minutes before. David was not glad that he was there, for the expression on Dan's face told him that he had seen and heard more than he had any business to know. David made haste to finish his trading after that, and when he had purchased a dress and a pair of shoes for his mother, and a pair of shoes and stockings for himself, he handed out his ten-dollar bill in payment. Dan's eyes seemed ready to start from their sockets at the sight of it.

"Never mind that, now," said the grocer, pus.h.i.+ng it back. "Perhaps you will need it some day and I can wait six months, if you are not ready to settle up before."

Dan's eyes opened still wider, and when his brother, after thanking the grocer for his kindness and confidence, gathered up his purchases and left the store, he followed slowly after him, so wholly lost in wonder that he never recollected that he had six dollars in his own pocket, and that he had come there to spend the best part of five of it. He walked along at a little distance behind his brother, looking thoughtfully at the ground all the while, as if he were revolving some perplexing question in his mind, and then quickened his pace to overtake him.

"Le' me carry some of them things," said he, as he came up with David.

"No, I thank you," replied the latter, who knew that Dan never would have offered to help him, if he had not hoped to gain something by it. "I can get along very well by myself. The load is not a heavy one."

"You're an amazin' lucky feller, Davy," continued Dan. "What you been a doin' to Silas, to make him speak so kind to us poor folks?"

"I haven't done anything to him. I don't know how to account for it, any more than you do."

"What's the matter, now? Forgot something?" asked Dan, as his brother suddenly stopped and looked toward the landing, as if he had half a mind to turn around and go back there.

Yes, David had forgotten something, and it was very important too, he thought. He knew that Dan was always on the lookout for a chance to make a penny without work, and David was afraid that he might be tempted to repeat the trick which he and his father had played upon Don and Bert with so much success.

It would be a very easy matter for Dan to make up some plausible story to tell the grocer, and perhaps on the strength of his brother's almost unlimited credit, he might be able to obtain a few little articles of which he stood in need. David had never thought to put Silas on his guard.

"I'll hold them things fur you, if you want to run back thar," said Dan, reaching out his hand for the basket.

"No, I'll let it go until the next time I come down," answered David.

"A day or two will not make much difference."

"Whar did you get them ten dollars, any how?" asked Dan, as the two once more turned their faces homeward.

"That's the money you tried to cheat me out of," replied his brother.

"Don says the loss was his and not mine."