Read Ebook: The Boy Trapper by Castlemon Harry

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Ebook has 1020 lines and 59582 words, and 21 pages

et firmly on my feet next week, and if I do, I want to try him. Good-by."

"Now, there are two friends worth having," thought David, gazing almost lovingly after the brothers, as they rode away. "I don't wonder that everybody likes them. A hundred and fifty dollars! Whew! won't mother have some nice, warm clothes this winter, and won't she have everything else she wants, too?"

The boy did not see how he could possibly keep his good fortune to himself until his mother came home that night. His first impulse was to go over to the neighbor's house, and tell her all about it, but he was restrained by the thought that that would be a waste of time. He could make one trap in the hour and a half that it would take him to go and return, and the sooner his traps were all completed, the sooner he could get to work. His next thought was that he would let the traps rest for that day, go down to the landing, purchase some nice present for his mother and surprise her with it when she came home. Of course he had no money to pay for it, but what did that matter? Silas Jones was always willing to trust anybody whom he knew to be reliable, and when he learned that his customer would have a hundred and fifty dollars of his own in a few weeks, he would surely let him have a warm dress or a pair of shoes. When his money came he would get his mother something fine to wear to church; and, while he was about it, wouldn't it be a good plan for him to send to Memphis for a nice hunting outfit and a few dozen steel traps? Like his father, when he first thought of the barrel with the eighty thousand dollars in it, David looked upon himself as rich already; and if he had attempted to carry out all the grand ideas that were continually suggesting themselves to him, it was probable that his hundred and fifty dollars would be gone before he had earned them.

"Halloo, there!" shouted a voice.

David looked up and saw another horseman standing beside the fence--Silas Jones, who kept the store at the landing, and the very man of whom he had been thinking but a moment before.

"Come here, David," continued Silas. "I am out collecting bills, and I thought I would ride around and see if you have heard anything of that respected father of yours during the last few days."

"No, sir; we haven't," answered David, hanging his head.

"Well, I suppose you know that he owes me eight dollars, don't you?" said Silas.

"I knew he owed you something, but I didn't think it was as much as that," replied David, opening his eyes. In his estimation, eight dollars was a debt of some magnitude.

"That's the amount, as sure as you live, and if I had charged him as much as I charge others, it would have been more. I made a little reduction to him, because I knew that he didn't own more of this world's goods than the law allows. What is to be done about it? Am I to lose my money because he has run away?"

"O, no," said David, quickly. "I'll pay it, and be glad to do so. We may want groceries some time, you know, when we have no money to pay for them."

"That's the way to talk. Pay up promptly and your credit will always be good."

"Can't do it; can't possibly do it," exclaimed Silas, shaking his head and waving his hands up and down in the air. "Must have money to-day. My creditors are pushing me, and I must push everybody whose name is on my books."

"But my name isn't on your books."

"Your father's is, and if you have any honor about you, you will see the debt paid."

"That's what I mean to do, but I can't pay it now."

"Can't wait a single day," said Silas. "If the money isn't forthcoming at once, you can't get a single thing at my store from this time forward, unless you have the cash to plank right down on the counter."

"I have always paid you for everything I have bought of you," said David, with some spirit.

"I know it; but your father hasn't, and if you want me to show you any favors, you will pay that debt to-day. You have always been called an honest boy, and if you want to keep that reputation, you had better be doing something."

So saying, Silas wheeled his horse and rode away, leaving David lost in wonder.

AN OFFER OF PARTNERSHIP.

This was the first time David had ever heard that a son could be held responsible for debts contracted by his father. At first he did not believe it; but Silas seemed to think it could be done, and he was a business man and ought to know what he was talking about. The truth of the matter was, that Silas Jones was a hard one to deal with. He wanted every cent that was due him and more too, if he could get it. It made no difference how poor his customers were, he always found means to make them pay the bills they contracted at his store. The eight dollars that Godfrey owed him looked almost as large in his eyes as it did in David's. He could not bear to lose it, and he did not care what tricks he resorted to to get it. When he rode away he took all David's peace of mind with him, "Wasn't it lucky that I didn't go down to his store and ask him to trust me for a dress for mother?" thought the boy; as he picked up his hammer and resumed work upon his trap. "He would have refused me sure. Now there is only one way I can pay that debt, and that is to ask Don Gordon for the ten dollars he promised to give me for breaking his pointer. That's something I don't like, for the money isn't fairly earned yet, but I don't see what else I can do. Mother must have something to eat, and the only way I can get it is by making a friend of Silas by paying him this debt father owes him. I don't care for myself, and as for Dan--let him look out for number one. That's what he makes me do."

While David was soliloquising in this way he heard a footstep near him, and looking up saw his brother Dan, whose appearance and actions surprised him not a little. His face wore a smile instead of the usual scowl, he had no coat on, his sleeves were rolled up, and he carried a frow in one hand , and a heavy mallet in the other. He really looked as if he had made up his mind to go to work, and David could not imagine what had happened to put such an idea into his head. He stopped on the way to speak to the pointer and give him a friendly pat, and that was another thing that surprised his brother. Dan would have acted more like himself if he had given the animal a kick.

"He's up to something," thought David. "He wouldn't act that way if he wasn't. I shouldn't wonder if he wants part of that money I am going to get from Don Gordon, but he needn't waste his breath in asking for it. Every cent of it goes into mother's hands."

"Halloo, Davy!" said Dan, cheerfully. "I thought mebbe you wouldn't care if I should come out and lend you a hand. I hain't got nothing much to do this morning."

David made no reply. He was waiting to hear what object his brother had in view in offering his assistance, and he knew it would all be made plain to him in a few minutes.

"You got a heap of traps to build, hain't you?" continued Dan. "When be you goin' to set 'em?"

"I am going to set some of them to-night," was David's reply.

"Fifty dozen is a heap of birds, ain't it?" said Dan.

"How do you happen to know anything about it?" demanded David, who was greatly astonished.

"I heerd you an' Don talkin' about it."

"Where were you at the time?"

"O, I was around," answered Dan, who did not care to confess that he had intentionally played the part of eavesdropper.

David was silent, for he wanted to think about it. Here was another piece of ill luck. His experience had taught him that if he wished to make his enterprise successful, he must keep it from the knowledge of his father and Dan. If they found out that he expected to earn so much money, they would insist on a division of the spoils, and if their demand was not complied with, there would be trouble in the cabin. He had no fear of his father now, but here was Dan, who was an unpleasant fellow to have about when he was crossed, and he seemed to know all about it. There were troublous times ahead; David was sure of that.

"What does that feller up North want with so many quails, anyhow?" asked Dan, as he placed one of the oak blocks upon its end and began splitting off a shingle with the frow. "He can't eat 'em all by hisself."

"No, he wants to turn them loose and let them run," replied David, with as much good nature as he could assume. "You see they had an awful hard winter up there last year, and the quails were all killed off."

"Wall, what does the fule want to let 'em go fur, arter he's bought 'em?"

"Why, he wants to stock the country. He belongs to a Sportsman's Club up there. He and his friends will have a law passed keeping folks from shooting them for two or three years, and then there'll be just as many birds as there were before."

"Is that the way them rich fellers does?"

"That's what Don says."

"It's mighty nice to be rich, ain't it, Davy; to have all the money you want to spend, a nice hoss to ride, one of them guns what breaks in two in the middle to do your shootin' with, an' shiny boots an' a straw hat to wear to church! I wish me an' pap had found that thar bar'l with the eighty thousand dollars into it. I wouldn't be wearin' no sich clothes as these yere."

"That's all humbug," exclaimed David. "The silver things that old Jordan buried, the spoons, knives and dishes, were all dug up again and are in use now every day. General Gordon never had eighty thousand dollars in gold and silver."

"Don't you b'lieve no sich story as that ar," replied Dan, with a knowing shake of his head.

"That's what the Gordons say, anyhow."

"In course they do; an' they say it kase they don't want nobody diggin' arter that thar bar'l. They wants to find it theirselves. How much be you goin' to get fur these quail, Davy? As much as twenty-five dollars, mebbe thirty, won't you?"

This question showed that Dan didn't know all about the matter, and David took courage. "Yes, all of that," he replied.

"More, I reckon mebbe, won't ye?"

"I think so."

"You won't get fifty, will you?" said Dan, opening his eyes.

"I hope I shall."

"Whew!" whistled Dan. He threw down his frow and mallet and seated himself on the pile of shingles, with an air which said very plainly, that with such an amount of money in prospect there was no need that any more work should be done. "That's a fortin, Davy. It's an amazin' lot fur poor folks like us, an' I can't somehow git it through my head that we're goin' to git so much. But if we do get it, Davy, we'll have some high old times when it comes, me an' you."

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