Bugle recognizes his enemies
Bugle recognizes his enemies.
The young hunters found Oscar's skiff where the owner had left it, drawn high and dry upon the bank, and fastened with a lock and chain to a tree that stood a short distance below Mr. Peck's boat-house.
Mr. Peck, who made a business of fishing and renting sail- and row-boats for the accommodation of the village pleasure-seekers, was standing on his wharf when the boys came up.
"Going ducking?" said he. "Well, I'll tell you what I wish you would do for me," he added, upon receiving an affirmative reply. "I let one of my boats yesterday afternoon to a stranger to go down to Cottonwood. He was to have been back before dark, but I aint seen no signs of him yet. Didn't look to me like a man who would be likely to run offwith a boat, because he wore a gold watch and gold spectacles and that showed that he was able to buy a boat if he'd wanted one."
"How long has this fog been on?" asked Oscar.
"Ever since midnight."
"Then perhaps he became bewildered and tied up somewhere to wait for the fog to lift," continued Oscar. "If he is a stranger, of course he doesn't know the river."
"I don't see how in the world he could get bewildered," observed Sam. "If he had rowed over to this bank, and come straight up stream, he would have found the village without any trouble. He certainly knew enough for that."
"Well, I aint so certain of it, neither, Sam," said Mr. Peck. "'Pears to me, now that I think of it, that he didn't know much of anything. I give him my best boat, too, for he looked as though he was able to pay for it. I wish you'd kinder keep an eye out for him, and set him right if he has missed his reckoning."
"We'll do it, Mr. Peck," said Sam.
Oscar unlocked his boat, turned it right-side up with his companion's assistance, and pushed it into the water.
Here again Leon's description was at fault. Oscar's craft was not a "leaky old scow"; it was a light, easy-running skiff. As he had built it himself, of course it was not as finely modelled as some of Mr. Peck's costly boats, but it answered the purpose for which it was intended.
Leon had seen it come up to Mr. Peck's wharf almost filled with wild ducks. It had more than once beaten his nice little boat in a fair race up the river from Squaw Island.
It was named after Sam's sister Katie, the prettiest girl in the village, who seemed to prefer Oscar's company to Leon's; and perhaps these were the reasons why the latter could not speak well of it.
The skiff having been launched, the sail was put into it.
The game-bags were stowed away in a little locker in the bow, the guns were carefully loaded and put in their proper places—one in the stern and the other on the midship thwart—andthen Sam shipped the rudder, while Oscar got out the oars and rowed away into the fog.
In five minutes Mr. Peck's wharf and boat-house were out of sight, and the boys found themselves enveloped in a cloud which concealed everything that was more than twenty yards distant from their boat.
"How will this do, Sam?" said Oscar, resting on his oars.
"Do you hear that?" asked his companion, in reply. "I think we had better go a little further out."
Oscar thought so too. He dipped the oars into the water again, and the boat moved deeper into the fog.
The sound that had attracted Sam's attention was made by a solitary whistle-wing as he pursued his way down the river.
Oscar pulled steadily for five minutes longer, and then the oars were allowed to swing around by the side of the boat, and each boy, picking up his gun, squared about on his seat and waited—for a quarter of a minute only.
They had scarcely taken their positions before a flock of mallards suddenly emergedfrom the fog, flying so close to the water that the young hunters could have knocked them down with their guns if they had continued on their way; but, of course, they did not.
The ducks arose in the air and sheered off the instant they discovered the boat, and the boys sprang to their feet at the same time.
As the flock flew over their heads, they turnedawayfrom each other, and, when the birds had passed the boat, discharged their double-barrels in quick succession. They pulled the triggers so nearly at the same instant that the four reports sounded like two.
Learn two things here in regard to shooting on the wing, if you do not know them already: Never fire at a wild fowl as he is coming toward you. The thick feathers on his breast will glance the shot, and, if some of them do not chance to hit him in the head, he will continue on his way unharmed. Wait until he has passed you, then aim low and a little in advance of him, keeping both eyes open, andholding so that you can see daylight between him and the muzzle of your gun; then the shot will pass under his feathers, and in a few seconds more you can put him in your game-bag.
If you are hunting with a companion, don't turn toward him when you are getting ready to shoot, but turn away from him. Then, if you accidentally discharge your gun in your excitement (but remember that you must not allow yourself to become excited), the shot will go up into the empty air and no one will be injured.
"That will do for a beginning," said Sam, when the smoke had cleared away so that the boys could see the effect of their shot. "How many ducks were there in that flock?"
"About thirty," said Oscar; "and they were all mallards, too."
"Well, we've got two—four—hold on, there!"
Sam fell to reloading his gun with all possible haste, while Oscar quickly resumed his seat, picked up the oars, and turned the boat's head down the stream. Three of the duckshad come down with broken wings and were now swimming rapidly away into the fog.
It did not take Sam much longer to charge his old-fashioned muzzle-loader than it would take you to charge your new-fashioned breech-loader. He never used loose shot during a hunt. On rainy days, when he had nothing else to do, he put up a lot of cartridges.
He first made a number of paper bags, a little smaller than the bore of his gun, and glued a wad fast to one end of them. When they became dry, he filled them with different kinds of shot, putting bird-shot in one and duck-shot in another, closed the bag and fastened another wad at that end. Then all he had to do, when he wanted to load his gun, was to pour in the powder from his flask, drive home a couple of these cartridges, which he carried loose in his coat-pocket, put on the caps, which he carried loose in hisvest-pocket, and the weapon was ready to be discharged.
All this he did in the same space of time that Oscar occupied in turning the boataround. He made sure work of two of the wounded ducks, and the other, which seemed too badly hurt to dive, was knocked on the head with an oar.
They secured seven ducks that time, and twelve more out of three other flocks which passed over their heads within the next twenty minutes.
"Now, let me row awhile," said Sam, when the last bird had been picked up. "You are doing all the work, and I am having all the fun."
"Yes, you have had all the best of it," answered Oscar, as he exchanged places with his companion. "It is going to blow now, and this fog will all be gone in ten minutes. I think we had better go down to the head of the island and put out our decoys."
It turned out just as Oscar said it would. The breeze, which had sprung up since they left the shore, grew stronger every minute, the fog rapidly faded away, and in a quarter of an hour the young hunters had a clear river before them.
The village was out of sight behind thepoint, and Squaw Island—their favorite camping and shooting ground—was in plain view and about two miles away.
Oscar directed the boat toward it, and Sam, after taking off his coat, laid out his strength on the oars. The wind came up the river in strong, but fitful gusts, and finally raised a sea that made the little boat dance about right merrily.
"I don't think we are going to have such a splendid day, after all," observed Sam, who had grown very weatherwise during his numerous excursions down the river. "I wish this wind would hold up and let the fog settle down again. I don't like it."
"Neither does that fellow," answered Oscar, looking over his companion's shoulder toward some object further down the river. "The wind must be cutting up some strange shines down there, or else he doesn't know what he is about. Just look at him."
Sam released his hold upon the oars, allowing them to swing back alongside the skiff, and, facing about on his seat, directed his gaze down the river.
Off the head of Squaw Island, he discovered a sail-boat, which was acting in a very singular manner.
The wind was blowing straight up the river, and it would have been no trouble at all for one who understood his business to make rapid headway against the current. But it soon became plain to Oscar and Sam, both of whom were as good sailors as boys ever get to be who have had no opportunity to try their skill on deep water, that the man who was seated at the helm of the sail-boat didnotunderstand his business.
Instead of letting out the sheet, as he ought to have done, he had drawn it taut, at the same time holding the bow of his boat up the river. The consequence was that the sail was shaking violently, and he was making no headway at all.
"That's the boat Mr. Peck is looking for," said Sam; "and if that is the way she has been handled ever since she left the village, I don't wonder that she didn't get back last night."
"Perhaps we had better go down there,"replied Oscar. "That man doesn't seem to be quite up to—my gracious! There he goes! Give me an oar, quick!"
Before the words had fairly left Oscar's lips, one of the oars was unshipped and placed in his hands.
The sail-boat had been upset through the ignorance or carelessness of her skipper. The latter, becoming dissatisfied with the very slow progress he was making, had brought his craft around upon the other tack, but he did not change his own position.
He pushed the boom over his head as it swung around, and, instead of moving over to the windward side, he kept his seat on the leeward gunwale, and his own weight, added to the weight of the sail and the pressure of the wind against the canvas, overturned the boat before he could think twice.
"If you ever pulled in your life, pull now!" exclaimed Oscar, as he shipped his oar and tugged at it until he fairly made things snap.
"You're stroke; do your level best!" cried Sam. "You'll not drive your end of the boat ahead of mine, I'll promise you that."
Oscar's skiff had never travelled so rapidly under the "white-ash breeze" before. The boys being both good oarsmen, knew how to make every stroketell, and they brought all their strength and skill into requisition.
Guided by Sam, who sat in the bow, and looked over his shoulder occasionally to make sure of her course, theKatieflew over the waters like a wild-fowl, on the wing, and in much less time than the boys had expected, she came up with and passed the overturned boat, which was floating, bottom up, with the current.
The young hunters ceased rowing, and, springing to their feet, looked in every direction. They could see nobody, and the fear that, after all their efforts, they had arrived too late to save the luckless skipper of the sail-boat was already half formed in their minds, when a shrill, piping voice called to them from the water:
"This way, if you please. I have met with a most untoward accident, and I believe I am in need of a little assistance."
"Well, he is a cool one, whoever he is," saidSam, in a low tone. "If I were in his situation I should think I stood in need of a good deal of assistance."
Just in time
Just in time.
Sam quickly shipped the oar, which his companion handed to him, and pulled toward the disabled boat, while Oscar threw off his coat, pushed back his sleeves, and, jumping upon the stern-sheets, showed Sam, by signs, how to guide the skiff.
A few of the latter's long, sweeping strokes brought them around the stern of the sail-boat, and there, clinging to the swaying rudder with both hands, and apparently so nearly overcome by his sudden immersion in the cold water that he was on the very point of letting go his hold, was a bald-headed old gentleman in spectacles.
As the boys came up he extended one hand toward them, and at the same instant the other slipped off the rudder. He went down like a piece of lead, and in a second more would have been out of sight, had not Oscar dashed forward, plunged his arms into the water up to his shoulders, and seized him by the collar.
This action on his part would have overturned the skiff in an instant, or else Oscar would have gone overboard, had it not been for an equally prompt action on the part of Sam Hynes.
The latter, who never lost his head under any circumstances, threw himself as far as he could over the opposite side of the boat to counterbalance Oscar's weight, at the same time bracing his feet firmly and seizing his friend by the waistband of his trousers.
"Hang on to him," he shouted, "and I can trim the boat and heave you both in!"
Sam was noted among his fellows for his strength, but on this occasion it seemed that he had undertaken more than he could accomplish. The skipper of the sail-boat was so completely benumbed with the cold, and so nearly strangled, that he could not help himself.
Oscar was pretty large and heavy for a boy of his age, and Sam found that it was not so easy to haul them both into the boat. But, after pulling and tugging until he was red in the face, he succeeded in bringing Oscar to anupright position, so that the latter could use some of his own strength, and then the work was quickly done.
The old gentleman was pulled over the side and placed on the bottom of the skiff, where he would be somewhat protected from the wind.
Sam's hat was put upon his head, and Oscar's coat was snugly wrapped about his shoulders. He had had a very narrow escape; but, to the great amazement of the boys who had saved him, he did not seem to be at all disconcerted.
He wiped the water from his face, coughed once or twice, and said in a shrill voice, addressing himself to Oscar:
"This is neither the time nor the place, young gentleman, to thank you for the gallant service you have rendered me, but I assure you it shall not be forgotten. I have to-day received a new insight into meteorological phenomena, of which I have been a close student for a life-time. Winds, as I now know, are——"
How long the rescued man would havecontinued to talk in this strain it is hard to tell; but just then he began to shiver all over, and his teeth chattered so violently that he could not utter a word.
The boys, who had listened to this speech with the greatest astonishment, exchanging significant glances the while, were recalled to themselves by these signs of suffering.
"Give me an oar!" exclaimed Oscar. "We must get back to the village without the loss of a moment."
"Then hoist the sail," said Sam, "and we'll go up flying."
"It would be of no use. The wind is dying away, and that fog will be down on us in a quarter of an hour thicker than ever."
Oscar, who pulled the stroke-oar, kept his friend Sam exceedingly busy during the next forty-five minutes, and tested that young gentleman's endurance and muscle in a way they had never been tested before.
They were both tired and quite out of breath when they reached the wharf, where they found Mr. Peck and Mr. Hall, the miller, waiting for them.
The boys were glad to see Mr. Hall there.His grist-mill was located but a few rods away, and they knew that there was a good fire in the office, in front of which their half-frozen passenger would soon be thoroughly dried and thawed out.
The two men had seen the skiff coming up the river, and knowing by the way the oars were handled that there was something wrong, they had waited to see what it was. When they discovered the rescued man sitting on the bottom of the boat, they knew what had happened, and there was no need of inquiries.
"Give us your hand, sir," said Mr. Hall, as the boys lifted the old gentleman to his feet, "and I'll take you right over to my office. I've got a red hot stove there. Just catch hold of his other arm, Sam, and help him along."
"Where did you find him?" asked Mr. Peck, when he was left alone with Oscar. "And where's my boat?"
"We saw him capsize off the head of the island," replied the boy.
"Didn't I tell you that he didn't seem toknow much of anything?" exclaimed Mr. Peck, in disgust. "There's no excuse for upsetting that boat in this wind."
"None whatever," was Oscar's answer. "When he jibed the sail he didn't move over to windward, and it was his weight and the sails that overturned the boat. The wind wasn't to blame for it at all. We left the boat as we found it, keel up, and going down the river as fast as the current could take it. Our passenger was so nearly exhausted that we couldn't stop to pick it up."
Mr. Peck remarked that he would go down after it himself, and charge the bald-headed old gentleman a good round sum, too, for his carelessness; and just then Sam came back, wearing one of Mr. Hall's old caps and carrying Oscar's coat over his arm. He had left his own cap, he said, for the gentleman to wear, for, of course, he couldn't let him walk to his hotel bareheaded.
While Sam was speaking, he jumped down into the boat, which was at once pushed out into the stream and headed toward Squaw Island.
The young hunters had lost more than an hour and a half of the best part of the day, but still there was time enough for them to double the size of their bag if the ducks would only be accommodating enough to come within range of their double-barrels.
Contrary to Oscar's predictions, the breeze which had so suddenly sprung up, and driven off the fog, continued to blow steadily for three hours.
Within twenty minutes after leaving Mr. Peck's wharf they reached the island, but they did not add a single duck to their bag on the way. They saw plenty of birds, but every flock flew wild.
Oscar at once put Sam and his double-barrel on shore, and then pulled back into the stream a short distance, to set out his decoys.
While he was thus employed, Sam was engaged in cutting branches from the willows that grew near by, and filling up the gaps the winds had made in the blind they had put up there the year before.
It was built upon the top of a little knoll,about thirty yards from the place where the decoys were anchored, and so completely was it concealed by the tall weeds and grass which grew on every side that anyone who did not know just where to look for it would have hard work to find it.
When their preparations were all completed, the skiff was hidden in a little bay, surrounded by the thicket of willows before spoken of; and the boys, with their guns in their hands, sat down behind their blind, opposite two loopholes, which commanded a view as far up as the point, and talked over the incidents of the morning while waiting for the first flock of ducks to swing to their decoys.
They came to three conclusions concerning the man they had saved from going to the bottom of the river. He was well-to-do in the world, judging by his appearance; he knew something about physical geography, and he was not a proper person to be entrusted with the management of a sail-boat.
Thus far they agreed, and then they began to differ in their opinions.
Sam declared that there was something wrongwith his upper story. No man, with a level head on his shoulders, would talk as he did immediately after being rescued from a watery grave.
Oscar, however, had other ideas, and, as it happened, they were correct.
"He is completely wrapped up in his books," said the boy. "Perhaps he does not know much outside of them, but you take him there, and he is perfectly at home. There's more knowledge in that little bald head of his than you and I can ever hope to acquire."
Sam shrugged his shoulders with an air which said, "Perhaps there is, and perhaps there isn't," and just then the discussion was cut short by the appearance of a flock of mallards, which drew to their decoys.
They circled around them once or twice, and were on the point of alighting among them, when one wary old fellow in the flock, not liking the looks of the wooden deceptions, mounted higher into the air with a warning quack. Some of the flock followed him, and others tried to do so, but could not.
Even the wary old fellow himself did not gofar, for Oscar brought him down, in company with two others, before his warning note was fairly uttered.
The volley was not as effective as the boys intended it should be, for only five ducks fell. The current carried them to the shore in a few minutes, and Oscar brought them in and placed them behind the blind.
The sport continued for two hours and a half, and then, the breeze having died away, the fog settled down again, this time bringing rain with it.
When the decoys were shut out from view, the boys laid aside their guns, and Oscar, after placing his game-bag within easy reach of his friend's hand, arose to his feet and walked off toward the willows, while Sam began to cut up some dry branches with his knife.
By the time Oscar returned with an armful of wood he had found in the thicket, Sam had raised a good-sized pile of shavings and kindling-wood, and a roaring fire was under way in short order.
While Oscar continued to make regulartrips between the thicket and the fire, bringing his arms full of wood each time, Sam selected a duck from the pile behind the blind, plucked and cleaned it with skill that would have done credit to any professional cook, and, having impaled it upon a forked stick, thrust the stick into the ground beside the fire and left it there, while he proceeded to overhaul the contents of his game-bag and Oscar's.
The dinner being well under way, and all the firewood they were likely to need having been placed close at hand, the young hunters sat down to take a rest; for the exertions they had made to rescue the skipper of the sail-boat and carry him to the village before he froze to death had wearied them not a little.
Now and then a hoarse "quack, quack!" came to their ears through the thick mist, followed by a loud splashing in the water as a flock of ducks settled into if, and occasionally they heard a lonely whistle-wing flying down the river; but the fog concealed everything from their view outside of a radius of twenty yards, and they were reluctantly compelled to allow the birds to pass unharmed.
They had made themselves comfortable in spite of the moist condition of things. The branches that Oscar had spread over the ground kept their feet out of the mud; the high blind, behind which the fire was built, served to protect them from the gusts of rain that came out of the fog, and the boys were well contented and were prepared to enjoy their dinner as heartily as though they had a tight roof over their heads.
The dinner was well worth eating, as all Sam's dinners were; and when ample justice had been done to it, Oscar brought up the ducks that were in the boat and placed them with those that were piled behind the blind.
"Sam," said he, when he had counted them, "we've got just forty-two."
"A pretty good day's work," replied Sam. "I want six of them. You take the rest and ship them to Yarmouth."
"I guess not," answered Oscar promptly. "We'll divide, as we have always done. Twenty-one of these ducks belong to you, and if you want any of them shipped to the city, you can attend to the matter yourself."
"So I can. I didn't think of that."
Sam spoke as though he did not care what was done with the ducks, but there was something in his tone that caused Oscar to sit up on his knees and look at him very sharply.
He knew well enough that if Sam sent any of the ducks to Yarmouth they would be sent in his (Oscar's) name, and that his friend would expect him to receive the proceeds and apply them to his own use. Sam did not need the money himself, for he had a rich and indulgent father; but that made no difference to Oscar, who wanted to earn every cent he spent.
"Sam," said he earnestly, "if you do that I shall be very angry at you."
"If I do what?" returned Sam innocently.
"Oh, you can't fool me! If you do it, I'll never go hunting with you again."
"Then I'll not do it, of course; but I don't know what you mean all the same. Now, as we have nothing else to do, let's draw these birds. Our shooting is over for the day."
And so it proved. The boys remained behind their blind until it was three o'clock by Sam's watch, but not another duck showedhimself. They heard them splashing in the water on both sides of the island, but the mist shut them out from view.
The rain having by this time put out their fire, and the birds having been cleaned and made ready for the market, the skiff was launched, the ducks were packed away in the bows, the guns and empty game-bags were stowed in the stern, and, after the decoys had been picked up, the boys pulled through the fog toward the village.
When they came alongside the wharf, they found Mr. Peck and Mr. Hall there, as before.
The former was hard at work upon the wreck of his sail-boat, which he had found near the foot of the island, and towed home after infinite trouble, and Mr. Hall stood by, with his hands in his pockets, looking at him.
"Well, boys," said the miller, "your crazy man is all right. He stayed by my stove until he was warmed and dried, and then he started for his hotel."
"There!" exclaimed Sam, turning to Oscar with a triumphant air. "What did I tell you? Didn't I say he was cracked?"
"That accounts for his upsetting the boat," remarked Mr. Peck. "I knew well enough that no man, who had any sense into his head, could capsize in such a breeze as he did."
"Thereissomething wrong with him," continued Mr. Hall. "While he was standing there, shivering in front of my stove, he discovered my pet squirrels and canaries, and he walked over to their cages, and talked to them in the strangest language I ever heard. I took it to be Greek or Latin. He said he had been down the river after—what did he call those things he was looking for, Peck?"
"Blessed if I know," was the answer. "I never heard of any such things before."
"He's got an idea that he is connected with some college," continued Mr. Hall, "and that somebody has given him a lot of money to spend in some foolish way. He didn't think, until he got ready to start for his hotel, that he had lost his gun when his boat upset. The only sensible thing he did while he was in my office was to give me ten dollars to pay Mr. Peck for his trouble, and take down Oscar's name and street. I told him that you had a fancy forshooting birds and animals, and he said he would make it a point to drop around and see you."
As the miller ceased speaking, he walked off toward his office; Mr. Peck resumed his work upon the wreck; Oscar went into the boat-house after his wheelbarrow, and Sam began unloading the skiff.
When everything had been taken out of it, the boat was drawn up on the bank, turned bottom upward, and made fast to a tree with a chain and padlock. The sail and the oars belonging to it, as well as the decoys, were stowed away in one corner of Mr. Peck's boat-house, where they were to remain until Oscar could find time to come after them. The ducks made as large a load as he could take to the village in his wheelbarrow.
When all this work had been done, Sam selected six of the finest ducks from the pile, and, after tying their feet together with a piece of stout twine, placed them by the side of the boat-house, out of the way, and began to assist Oscar in packing the others away in the wheelbarrow.
"Hold on there!" exclaimed the latter. "How many did you put in then?"
"Don't know," answered Sam, depositing another armful on top of the first. "Didn't count 'em."
"But I want you to count them. I own just twenty-one of these ducks."
"Don't you want the others?"
"Of course not. We're going to divide. Those ducks will all have to come out of that wheelbarrow again, so that I can count them."
"All right," exclaimed Sam, "out they come!" And suiting the action to the word, he overturned the wheelbarrow, spilling the ducks upon the wharf. "Now, count them yourself," said he, "and then you'll know that you have got what you want."
Oscar proceeded to count out his share of the birds, which he packed away in the wheelbarrow, and, having placed his gun, game-bag, and powder- and shot-flasks on top of them, he stopped and looked around for Sam.
He was standing near the shore-end of the wharf, with his double-barrel on one shoulder and his bunch of game slung over the other.
"If you are all ready, come on," said he.
"But what are you going to do with the rest of those ducks?"
"I am not going to do anything with them. If it is too much trouble for you to ship them to the city, and make forty cents a pair out of them, you had better leave them where they are. I've got all I want."
Oscar looked first at his friend, then at the ducks, and finally began packing them away in the wheelbarrow with the others, while Sam struck up a lively whistle to keep from laughing outright.
He had done his best shooting that day on purpose to make a large bag, fully intending that Oscar should ship the surplus birds and receive pay for them; and this was the way he took to accomplish his object. Indeed, he almost always found a way to make Oscar do just as he wanted him to do.
Having placed the game in the hands of the express agent at the depot, and sent a notice of shipment to Calkins & Son, the two boys started for home, well satisfied with their day's sport.
Oscar was very tired when he reached home that night, but he spent some hours at his bench before he went to bed. He was anxious to have his case of birds ready for delivery by the time it had been promised. So as soon as he had eaten his supper, and answered all the questions his mother had to ask regarding the man he and Sam had saved from drowning, he lighted the lamp in his shop and went to work.
Everything being ready to his hand, he made rapid progress, and when he locked his shop, at ten o'clock, he told himself that by Monday, at noon, if nothing unforeseen happened, the case would be safely mounted in Mr. Jackson's dining-room.
And so it was. It was finished at eight o'clock, and Oscar, who was a good judge of such matters, declared, with no littlesatisfaction, that he had never seen a finer piece of work.
There was one thing about it that did not look just right, and the boy wondered what Mr. Jackson would say when he saw it.
The wheelbarrow was again brought into requisition, and the case having been placed upon it, and covered with a sheet to protect it from the dust, Oscar trundled it off toward Mr. Jackson's house.
His pull at the bell was answered by that gentleman himself, who, not being an early riser, had not yet eaten his breakfast.
He assisted Oscar to carry the case through the hall and place it upon the little side-table on which it was to stand, and, when the sheet had been removed, he stood off and looked at it critically. Then he called Miles and all the rest of his family in, to pass judgment upon it.
"It is just what I wanted, Oscar," said Mr. Jackson, at length, "and you could not improve it in any way. It is splendid, and I am entirely satisfied. Hold on, here; what's this?"
He walked close up to the case, and placedhis finger on one of the panes of glass opposite a bird in resplendent plumage, with a green and purple crest, marked with two narrow lines of white.
"That's a very pretty bird!" continued Mr. Jackson; "but what is he doing up there? You wouldn't put any woodcock or snipe in the tree, because you said they didn't belong there; and now you've gone and put a duck in it! What sort of work is that?"
"That bird does belong there," said Oscar. "I shot him out of a tree."
Mr. Jackson was well posted in drugs, but he knew nothing of natural history.
He looked toward Miles for an explanation, but as the latter was no better acquainted with birds and their habits than his uncle was, he could give him no information.
"I'll take him out of there, if you wish me to do so, and put a grouse in his place," said Oscar.
"Oh, no!" replied Mr. Jackson quickly. "If he belongs there, let him stay; butInever saw a duck in a tree. Sit down, and have some coffee with us."
"Thank you, sir! I had my breakfast three hours ago."
"You did!" exclaimed Mr. Jackson, as he followed Oscar through the hall toward the front door. "Well, I never could see any sense in eating during the night. You will have the dyspepsia some day if you don't stop it. There's your money, and good-by, if you must go.
"Miles," he continued, as he came back into the dining-room, where the rest of the family were seated at the table, "what sort of work would you make of it if you were turned loose in the world, as that boy is, and had no one to depend on but yourself?"
"I am sure I don't know," replied Miles. "I hope I shall never be in that situation."
"So do I," said his uncle. "I hope you will associate with Oscar all you can, for his influence and example will help any boy. If you hear anything said against his honesty, I hope you will have pluck enough to resent it on the spot."
"Oh, I don't think that anyone will everhear another word said about his stealing money!" exclaimed Miles, recalling the exciting interview which he and his friend Sam had had with Mr. Smith on the previous Friday.
Then, believing that he ought to give some reason for thinking so, he added:
"It wouldn't be safe to slander Oscar, for Sam Hynes says he will thrash any fellow who does it."
"He's another good one; a little too blunt sometimes, but as true as steel," observed Mr. Jackson. "I can't quite understand why Oscar put a duck in that tree. I believe he has made a mistake, and I am going to find out about it."
And he did.
While he was on the way to his store, he met a tall, dignified gentleman, who stopped to exchange a few words with him.
It was Mr. Chamberlain, the principal of the High School. The two men had met on that very street, at that very hour and near that same spot, every day except Saturdays and Sundays, for more than a year. Theprincipal was the best educated man in town, and a good many hard nuts were brought to him to crack.
"You know everything, professor," said Mr. Jackson, after the usual greetings had been exchanged; "but you never knew of a duck being shot out of a tree, did you?"
"Certainly," was the unexpected answer. "The wood-duck of Audubon, commonly called summer duck. It is the most beautiful species of the duck family, and reflects all the colors of the rainbow. It never makes its nest upon the ground, but always in some hollow tree that hangs over the water. As soon as the young are hatched, they throw themselves down into the stream below without the least injury. There goes the first bell! Good-morning, Mr. Jackson!"
"I've learned something," thought the druggist, as he continued his walk toward the store. "Oscar was right when he put that duck in the tree. It beats me where that boy found time to pick up so much information about birds and things."
Meanwhile Oscar, with his forty dollars inhis pocket, was trundling his wheelbarrow merrily over the sidewalk toward home.
He wanted first to place his money in his mother's hands—he thought it would be safer there than in his pocket—and then he intended to go down to Mr. Peck's boat-house after the decoys, sail, and oars he had left there on Saturday.
He placed his wheelbarrow in the front yard, but when he tried to open the door he found it was locked.
"Mother has gone over to visit some of the neighbors," thought he. "I'll stay here until she comes back. I've got the key of the shop in my pocket, and I can find plenty to do there."
During the time Oscar had worked in the store, the shop had not been kept as neat and tidy as it usually was. The tools he had found time to use now and then were scattered about over the bench; the shavings and dust had accumulated everywhere, and it was a good hour's work to straighten up things. But it was work that Oscar liked to do, and he whistled merrily as he set about it, Buglemeanwhile stationing himself in the open door and keeping a close watch over everybody that passed along the street. Presently he uttered a loud bay and sprang out into the yard.
Oscar, knowing that somebody was coming, hurried to the door to see who it was, and discovered the hound following at the heels of a little dried-up man, who was coming around the house toward the shop. It was the same man he and Sam Hynes had found clinging to the rudder of the wrecked sail-boat.
Oscar knew him at once, for he still wore Sam's cap on his head.
"Come here, Bugle!" shouted Oscar. "Don't be afraid of him, sir. He is friendly, even to strangers."
"Good-morning," exclaimed the visitor. "I knocked at the front door, but no one answered my summons. I heard someone whistling, however; so I made bold to come around here."
"Mother went out while I was absent," replied Oscar. "I am glad to see you again, sir, and hope you did not suffer any inconvenience from your cold bath on Saturday.Will you walk in? I have a fire in here. I am sorry I can't take you into the house."
The visitor made no reply whatever. He came into the wood-shed, stopped in front of the door that gave entrance into the shop, and said:
"I believe your name is—ah—is—ah——"
He thrust his hand into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a small notebook. Opening it, he began turning over the leaves to find Oscar's name, which the miller had given him on Saturday.
The book was filled with writing, and on every page the visitor seemed to find something that he wanted to remember, for he stopped to read it over, in a half audible tone, before turning to the next one.
Oscar stood there in the door of the shop, with the broom in his hand, for fully five minutes, waiting for him to say something.
"Your name is Oscar Preston," said the visitor, at length, "and you are the boy who rendered me a very important service two days ago."
"I am the one who caught you as you were sinking, but I never could have brought youinto the boat if it hadn't been for Sam Hynes," replied Oscar.
He did not want all the honor himself, for the absent Sam, who was at that moment puzzling his brains over his Vergil, was entitled to a good share of it, and Oscar intended that he should have it.
The visitor, however, seemed to think that the boy who had kept him from sinking was the one who deserved all the credit, and he did not act as though he heard Sam's name mentioned.
"I am greatly indebted to you, my young friend," he continued, "and I regret that I cannot reward you as you deserve. My name is Potter, and I am president of the Yarmouth University. I was down the river in search of some specimens of theFuligula Valisneria, which I am told are now and then to be found here."
"Oh, that's what he went after, is it?" thought Oscar. "Well, I am no wiser than I was before. I don't know what those things are, and it is no wonder that Mr. Hall and Mr. Peck didn't understand him."
"I became bewildered, and was obliged to pass the night alone upon an island, without food or fire," continued the visitor. "In the morning I attempted to reach the village, but the wind overturned the boat, and I lost a valuable gun and all the equipments belonging to one of the faculty, who had kindly loaned it to me. Perhaps it was just as well, after all, for I was afraid to use it, having never fired a gun in my life, although I hoped to gain courage enough to discharge it, if I saw an opportunity to secure a specimen or two. Your name is" (here he consulted his notebook again) "Oscar Preston, and I am informed that you are an expert taxidermist."
"I am an amateur taxidermist, sir," answered Oscar. "I do not claim to be an expert. I have a few specimens, which I shall be glad to show you, if you are interested in such things. Will you walk in?"
Oscar deposited his broom in one corner, and drew aside the curtain concealing the recess in which his birds and animals were placed.
The professor entered, and instantly seemedto become entirely unconscious of Oscar's presence, so engrossed was he with what he saw before him. He stopped in front of each bird, and talked to it in an undertone, and finally he began to speak his words aloud, so that Oscar could understand them.
"Ah," said he, "a very fine specimen of the orderRasores, familyTetraonidæ, vulgo partridge; theTetrao Umbellusof Linnæus, and theBonasia Umbellusof Bonaparte, which is incorrect. This is a specimen of the orderInsessores, familyAmpelidæ, genusBombycilla Carolinensis. Very finely mounted, I should say; much better than some of the specimens we have at the university."
All these hard words were rolled off without the least hesitation, and it was evident that the professor had them at his tongue's end. Oscar listened in genuine amazement, and then seizing a piece of pine board, that happened to be lying near him on the bench, hastily wrote something upon it with a pencil he drew from his pocket, and moved up a little closer to his visitor, so that he could catch every word he said.
"Young man," said the latter, "do you know anything about comparative anatomy?"
"No, sir," replied Oscar, who had never heard this expression before.
"You ought to study it," continued the professor, "for it belongs to your business. If you will give a scientist a single bone, he can build the skeleton of the beast or bird to which that bone belongs, although he may never have seen it. The species may even be extinct. Some of my students once brought me a bone they had found in the woods, and which they thought was the bone of a mastodon of the orderPachydermata; but it proved to belong to one of the orderRuminantia, being the bone of an ox."
Oscar wrote two words more on his board, and waited for the professor to go on; and when hedidgo on, Oscar heard something for which he was not at all prepared, and which astonished him beyond measure.
"I think you are the person we want," continued the visitor.
He stood with his hands behind his back,and his spectacles on the end of his nose, looking up at the specimens on the shelves; and he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Oscar.
"A generous and public-spirited citizen of Yarmouth has given to our university a hundred thousand dollars, which is to be expended in founding as fine a museum as that amount of money will pay for. The birds and animals of our country are to be represented first, mounted in a life-like manner, and looking, if possible, as natural as they do in their wild haunts. Those of other countries are to be taken in hand afterward.
"We have already gathered a few specimens, though in a desultory way, and some of them are declared by experts to be very imperfect. Of the orderRuminantia, familyCervidæ, we have obtained but one species—theCervus Virginianus." (Oscar wrote these words on his board. He could easily do it, for his visitor did not seem to be paying the least attention to him.) "We have theAlces Americanusand theCervus Tarandus, as well as the hollow-horned ruminants, of whichthere is but one species in this country, as you are no doubt aware, yet to procure. Of theDigitigrades, familyCanidæ, we have but one—the red fox.
"We should be willing to give something handsome for a gray-cross, or black fox. Of thePlantigrades, we have two—Ursus AmericanusandProcyon lotor. We should like a specimen of theUrsus horribilisand theUrsus maritimus, and also of the cinnamon bear, which seems to be gaining some notoriety for voracity and fierceness; but I don't suppose that a boy of your years would care to face animals of that description.
"We have been trying to engage an accomplished taxidermist, who is at the same time a successful hunter, to work for us for a term of years at a stated salary; but thus far we have not succeeded in our object, for the reason that those to whom we have applied demand more money than the committee, in whose hands the matter is placed, think they can afford to pay. We are quite willing to give a hundred dollars a month and expenses, provided the collector iswilling to go where we want to send him; but more than that we could not promise, under the terms on which the money was given to us. Ah, here's aDigitigrade!" he exclaimed, when he discovered the fox, which was one of Oscar's first specimens. "Now, if you think you can afford to work for us for that amount of money, we shall be glad to employ you. I know that the committee will indorse any bargain I may make with you; but in order to make 'assurance doubly sure,' perhaps I had better consult with them before we come to any definite understanding."
Oscar had stood with his board in one hand and his pencil in the other, ready to note down as many of the visitor's hard words as he could catch; but while he listened, his hands gradually fell, until they rested by his side, and when the professor ceased speaking, he backed up against his work-bench and leaned heavily upon it.
The astounding offer of a hundred dollars a month and expenses almost knocked him over.
"You are not engaged in any regular occupation now, I believe?" continued the professor.
"No, sir, I am not," answered Oscar, as soon as he could speak.
"Then I suggest that you keep yourself at liberty until you hear from some of us. I shall return to the city by the first train, and, as soon as I can see the committee, our secretary will drop you a line. I am confident that I can put you in the way of making a name and a living for yourself. Good-morning!"
The professor disappeared through the door, and Oscar, having seen him close the gate behind him, drew a long breath, thrust his hands deep into his pockets, and walked up and down the shop, thinking over what had transpired. He was so highly excitedthat he could not have kept still to save his life.
It hardly seemed possible that the art of taxidermy, which he had taken up simply as a recreation, should be the means of making him rich and famous, and he could not bring himself to believe that such was the fact.
There was one thing that stood in his way. Everybody who came in contact with his late visitor seemed to think that there was something wrong with him, and Oscar himself had seen and heard enough to prove that the professor was a very strange man.
Perhaps his name wasn't Potter, and perhaps, too, he had no connection whatever with the Yarmouth University.
"I'll not build any hopes upon it," said the boy, as these thoughts passed through his mind, "and neither will I say a word to mother when she comes home. She would be very much disappointed if it turned out to be a hoax, and I don't see how she can stand any more trouble. Sam will be around some time to-day, most likely, and I'll ask him what he thinks about it. He has good, soundsense, and, besides, he knows how to keep a secret."
Oscar picked up his broom again, but very soon found that he had lost interest in everything except Professor Potter and his astonishing proposition.
He could not keep his mind on anything else, nor could he calm his excitement; and believing that a brisk walk in the open air would be more agreeable than working in the dusty shop, he locked the door, picked up his wheelbarrow as he passed through the yard, and set out for Mr. Peck's boat-house, Bugle leading the way.
He found his decoys, sail, and oars where he had left them, and having packed them away in his wheelbarrow, he turned his face toward home.
As he was passing across the park he heard someone calling to him. He stopped, and looking across the street, saw Mr. Anderson running toward him and beckoning with his hand.
"What does he want, I wonder?" thought the boy. "I don't care to see him; but ifhe wants to see me, he can come where I am."
He set down the wheelbarrow, and taking his seat on one of the handles, looked at Mr. Anderson, who stopped in the middle of the street and waved his hand to him.
"Come over here!" he shouted.
"I can't see it," said Oscar to himself. "I have been insulted in that store once, and I never want to see the inside of it again. If he has anything to say to me, we'll have the interview right here, for this is neutral ground."
Oscar kept his seat on the wheelbarrow, and resting his elbows on his knees, looked up and down the street in an indifferent sort of way, as if he meant to show that Mr. Anderson and his movements did not interest him in the least.
The junior partner, finding that the boy paid no attention to his words and signals, came across the street and hurried up to him.
Our hero was astonished at his greeting. He thrust out his hand, and Oscar placed his own within it.
"I am glad to see you again," said Mr. Anderson cheerfully. "It looks natural to see you around. Come over to the store. Mr. Smith has something very particular to say to you."
"I guess I had better not go," replied Oscar. "I am not in your employ now; and I may say something I shall be sorry for."
"No, you won't, for the opportunity will not be given you!" exclaimed Mr. Anderson earnestly. "You'll have no cause for saying hard things. Be guided by me, just this once, and come in. You will never regret it."
Oscar took a few minutes in which to think about it. Finally he arose to his feet, and pushing his wheelbarrow off the walk, out of the way, he followed the junior partner across the street, and into the store.
When they entered the office, Mr. Anderson closed and locked the door. Mr. Smith occupied his usual place on his high stool, but he scrambled down from it with great haste and gave his former clerk a most cordial welcome.
"Oscar," said he, "I find that I have doneyou very great injustice, and I am sorry for it."
The boy's face relaxed on the instant. Knowing Mr. Smith as well as he did, he had never expected him to make such a confession as this.
"Then perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me why I was discharged, and why you refused to give me the letter of recommendation for which I asked," said Oscar.
Mr. Smith cleared his throat two or three times, and climbed back to his high stool again. It was hard work for him to answer that question; and when he met the gaze of the clear, honest eyes that were looking straight into his own, he wondered how he could ever have suspected their owner of being a thief.
"Well, the amount of it is, that somebody has been robbing our till systematically," said he, when he had mustered up courage enough to give utterance to the words. "All our clerks except you had been with us for a long term of years. We had the utmost confidence in their honesty, and—and——"
"And you suspected me!" exclaimed Oscar, his face reddening with indignation.
"Well, yes; that's the plain English of it. But we have since found out that we made a woeful mistake. The guilty one has been discovered, and has made a full confession, in which he took particular pains to clear you of all suspicion. Now, we are anxious to make all the amends in our power. Do you want to come back here at thirty dollars a month?"
"No, sir," replied Oscar promptly.
The two grocers seemed very much surprised at this answer. They looked at each other and at Oscar, as if they were waiting for him to say something more, but as he did not speak, Mr. Smith continued:
"Then we'll say thirty-five; and that is almost double the amount we paid you before."
"I am very much obliged to you, but I cannot accept the offer," answered Oscar.
"You do not bear us any ill-will, I hope," said Mr. Anderson.
"None whatever, I assure you. I am overjoyed to know that you no longer believe me to be dishonest, and I shall think of you withas kindly feelings as I ever did; but I can't come back to the store, for I have something better in prospect."
"For your sake, I am very glad to hear it; for my own, I am sorry," said Mr. Smith, and the words came from his heart. "If the time ever comes when we can advance your interests in any way, do not hesitate to call upon us. You are at perfect liberty to use the firm's name whenever it will be of benefit to you. We know you to be an honest, capable boy, and we shall take pleasure in recommending you as such."
"I am greatly obliged to you, sir, and I may some day be glad to take advantage of your kind offer. Now, I will bid you good-by."
"Just one word more, Oscar," said Mr. Anderson, as the boy laid his hand upon the door-knob; "if you don't secure that better thing of which you were speaking, remember that your old position is open to you."
"At thirty-five dollars a month," chimed in Mr. Smith.
"Thank you; I'll bear it in mind."
Oscar's excitement, which had been workedup to almost fever-heat by the conversation he had had with the professor in his work-shop that morning, was greatly increased by this interview; but still he managed to keep a few of his wits about him, and when he passed out into the store he ran his eyes hastily around to see if any of the clerks were missing. They were all there except one.
"I'm glad to see you, Oscar!" cried Hudson, the oldest clerk in the store. "You look as happy as a clam. Coming back?"
"It is hardly probable," was the reply. "Where's Stuart?"
"Stuart has been sick in bed ever since Friday—something like brain fever, I think," answered Hudson.
"He works here yet, I suppose?"
"Oh, yes; he'll be back as soon as he gets well. And I'll tell you something, Preston, which surprised me when I first found it out: Mr. Smith's got a heart. I heard him say that Stuart's wages would go right on."
"It is very strange," thought Oscar, as he closed the door behind him. "None of the clerks have been discharged, so the till-tapper,whoever he is, must still be in the store. I was dismissed when there was not the least proof against me, and now a confessed thief is allowed to retain his situation. I don't see much justice in that. Well, perhaps the guilty fellow is one of their trusted men, and Smith & Anderson don't want to make any stir about it."
"Morning, Oscar!" exclaimed the post-office clerk, who just then hurried by, with his face buried in the collar of his overcoat. "Letter in your box."
Oscar, thanking him for the information, turned down the street, and crossed over to the post-office, and all the while he seemed to be treading on air, so light and buoyant were his spirits.
He had heard good news from two sources that forenoon, and there was something else agreeable in store for him, as he found when the letter was placed in his hands.
It proved to be from Calkins & Son, who acknowledged the receipt, in good order, of the eighteen brace of ducks that had been sent to them on Saturday, asked for a shipment of grouse, quails, or hares at once, and enclosedtheir check for $7.20, made payable to Oscar's order.
After reading the letter, he put it into his pocket, seized the wheelbarrow, which now seemed as light as a feather, and trundled it home in much less time than he had ever consumed in making the journey before.
He let himself into the shop, and while he was busy putting away his decoys, a lively whistle sounded in the yard, and Sam Hynes came rushing in.
"O Sam!" exclaimed Oscar.
"Hallo! What's the matter with you?" demanded the visitor, who saw that his friend was greatly excited about something.
"I've had the best luck in the world to-day," answered Oscar. "In the first place, the fellow who got me into all that trouble with Smith & Anderson has been discovered, and has made a full confession."
"No!" cried Sam, opening his eyes and looking very much surprised.
"It's a fact. Mr. Smith informed me, not an hour ago, that he had done me great injustice, and he was sorry for it."
"You don't tell me so!" cried Sam, seating himself on the bench and looking the very picture of amazement and delight. "Who was the guilty rascal?"
"I don't know, and I couldn't find out. I didn't ask Mr. Smith, and he didn't volunteer the information. The clerks were busy in the store to-day, and they were all there except Stuart. He is ill, and will come back as soon as he gets well; so the thief, whoever he is, still holds his position."
Sam was really astonished now, and the delight he feigned became genuine when Oscar continued:
"Mr. Smith told me that my old situation was open to me at thirty-five dollars a month."
"Good!" exclaimed Sam, jumping off the bench and extending his hand. "When do you go back?"
"I am not going back at all. I have something better."
Sam opened his eyes again, and listened attentively while Oscar went on to describe the interview he had had with Professor Potter,and to tell him of the liberal offer the latter had made him.
He did not forget to inform his friend that the professor still wore his (Sam's) cap on his head, and that he had probably carried it to the city with him.
As Oscar proceeded with his story, the look of astonishment on Sam's face gradually gave way to an altogether different expression, and when Oscar ceased speaking, he seated himself on the bench again, and gazed down at the floor in a brown study.
"Now, then, what's the matter withyou?" demanded Oscar.
"If I answer your question at all, I shall say just what I think," replied Sam.
"That is what I want you to do. Speak out."
"I will. You have missed it. If you are wise, you will lose no time in telling Mr. Smith that you will take those thirty-five dollars a month."
"But, Sam, I can't do it. I promised the professor that I would keep myself free until I heard from him."
"Professor!" exclaimed Sam, with great disgust. "He is about as much a professor as I am."
"If you had heard him talk this morning, you wouldn't think so. I tell you he is educated."
"That may be; but a man who will go on as he did when we pulled him out of the water, and who hasn't sense enough to know when he is wearing a cap belonging to somebody else, can't have much wit. Professor! He never saw Yarmouth University, and you'll never hear from him again, either. What have you got there?" added Sam, glancing at a piece of wood which his companion just then took from the work-bench.
"I wrote down some of his hard words," replied Oscar, passing the board over to Sam. "You are fresh from your books, and I'd like to have you translate them for me. I'll tell you what's a fact: I have come to the conclusion that I don't know anything about natural history."
"He talked in a regular scientific style, didn't he?" said Sam, after he had run hiseyes over the board. "The animal kingdom, as you know, is divided into branches, classes, orders, families, genera, and species. The branchVertebratesis divided into five classes—fishes, batrachians, reptiles, birds, and mammalia. The class birds is divided into seven orders, two of which you have put down here. TheRasoresare scratchers, such as the turkey and grouse, and theInsessoresare perchers. To this order belong all our songbirds."
"Well, he went down the river after some specimens of theFuligula Valisneria," said Oscar. "What are they?"
"That's a conundrum," replied Sam.
"What's aBombycilla Carolinensis?"
"I give it up. There are only a few words more here that I can understand; and, Oscar, I'll say this much for you: your spelling is simply fearful. ThePachydermataare thick-skinned animals, such as the elephant and rhinoceros; theRuminantiaare those that chew the cud, like the cow and sheep; theDigitigradeswalk on their toes—the cat and dog belong to this family—and thePlantigradeswalk on their heels. To this family the bear belongs. That is as far as I can help you. But I'll tell you what we will do," added Sam, jumping down from the bench and pulling out his watch. "I'll be around here to-night, within fifteen minutes after school is dismissed, and you go home and take supper with me. In the early part of the evening I'll beat you playing a game of chess, and then we'll go over and call on Mr. Chamberlain. He will make everything clear to you. I don't believe you have been near him since you left school."