The Boy Scouts Down in Dixie; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp

by Herbert Carter

  CHAPTER XXV. PLAYING "SECOND FIDDLE" TO A BOY.

  Action must now take the place of words, with Thad.

  From the moment that he separated from his chums, and started off onthis scout in company with the swamp guide, he would have little or noopportunity to exchange confidences with any one.

  It suited his mood exactly, because he was wishing to do, rather thanplan; and gladly welcomed the opportunity to accomplish something.

  He quickly discovered that Alligator Smith had changed his courseconsiderably, and could guess the reason for this. The other judged itbest that they try and come up on the concealed shack where the fugitivewas in all likelihood hidden, from the other side. And as Tom Smith hadbeen here before, he undoubtedly must know what he was about.

  Being quite content to take things as he found them, Thad did not eventry to ask a single question, which he might have done by placing hislips close to the other's ear.

  When the hunter got down, and wriggled along past some spot that wasmore open than usual, Thad followed suit; and it was fortunate that heknew as much concerning the ways of the tracker as he did, and couldimitate him to the life.

  After a little while he saw Smith making motions as though to call hisattention to something ahead. This caused Thad to find an opening in thebrush that shielded them; and the first thing he saw was what appearedto be a primitive shelter made of slabs and branches, though capable ofshedding rain, no doubt.

  In front of this a small fire was burning, though throwing up verylittle smoke, as the man had been careful to select such wood as wouldnot give off the black oozy results that come from Southern pine.

  This in itself was enough to tell Thad they were in luck. A fire couldnot be started without some human agency. Undoubtedly Alligator Smithmust have figured correctly when he "allowed" that this same Jasper,wishing to remain hidden from everybody for a time, would come to thisformer retreat where, as a boy he had been wont to retire from theparental wrath.

  And if Jasper were here, of course the girl must be also.

  Thad was straining his eyes to the utmost now, in the wild hope that hemight discover her somewhere by.

  He had often thought deeply over this part of the matter, and wonderedwhether it would be possible for him to recognize this girl. Should hemeet her on the street would there be _something_ about her that musttell him he was looking on a Brewster?

  When he failed to see anything of her, he confessed to a sense ofdisappointment; but even as he looked there was a movement at the doorof the shack, and a man came slowly out.

  He was fixing a pipe for a smoke, and seemed to be entirely at his ease,so Thad made up his mind that at any rate no suspicion of the dangerthat hovered over his head had come to Felix Jasper.

  Lying there perfectly motionless the boy tried to study the man whom hehad come so many hundreds of miles to find. So this was the unfaithfulsteward whom his mother had been compelled to discharge; and who, it wasbelieved, had revenged himself in the most cowardly way possible bystealing the Brewster baby, and so cleverly that all the detectives whohad been hired at great expense to search for the same, had been unableto accomplish anything.

  No wonder Thad shivered and then grew fiery hot as he fixed his eyes onthe figure of the man who had once been in the employ of his parents,and proved treacherous to his trust.

  He had always hated the name because he believed that if Jasper werereally to blame for the disappearance of his baby sister his act hadcertainly shortened the life of his dear mother, for whom Thad hadgrieved many a year.

  Jasper was a slender sort of a man; but then, knowing this fact already,Thad was more concerned about his features. He saw that when the otherglanced up and looked around there was a hunted expression on his face;just as though he must have known that this last desperate act of hiswould make him a much sought prize with all the sheriffs and marshals ofthe country.

  He must have figured on remaining in hiding for a certain length oftime, after which in some sort of disguise, and carrying his stolen lootas well as the girl along, he could make his way to New Orleans, andtake passage on some steamer bound for a Mexican port, or else one inCentral America, where he could buy a plantation, and live at his ease.

  Neither of the concealed scouts dared move hand or foot so long as theman was in plain sight; for the least action might have caught hisattention, with the result that the plans of the sheriff would beoverturned. A dead man was not worth more than half as much as a liveprisoner, to the law.

  After puffing away at his pipe for a few minutes the man knocked it onhis heel, as though after all the flavor did not appeal to him. Helooked around once more, shrugged his shoulders, yawned once or twice;and then taking out a revolver from a hip pocket he seemed to be idlyturning the cylinder, as though to make sure the chambers were allloaded.

  When Thad saw him yawn again he concluded that Jasper must be doing moreor less sleeping day and night, to make up for lost time; or else hardlyknew what to do with himself while in hiding.

  He did not like the man's face. To his mind it expressed cunning, and hewondered how any one could trust him; but then Jasper may not havealways looked this way in those days far back, when he had charge of theBrewster estate.

  Now he was gone again, having passed back into the shack. Thad couldcatch what seemed to be the sound of voices within, and again he felt athrill, because this went to prove that the man was not alone.

  If only the girl would show herself, Thad thought, he would besatisfied. Besides, it might give him a chance to get in communicationwith her, and if such came about there could be no telling what thehappy result might be.

  And while he was wishing this it came to pass; for suddenly the boyrealized that she stood there in front of the lowly shack. Imagine thefeelings that swept over him as he lay there, his eager eyes fairlyglued upon her face.

  Yes, she was pretty, but that alone did not occur to Thad. He believedthat he could surely see a Brewster strain there--something hard todescribe, but which reminded him of the picture he had of his father inhis own room at home.

  So this was the girl Jasper was now calling his daughter. Why, she nomore resembled the man than she did Bumpus Hawtree; and that was sayingit as strong as any one possibly could, for the fat scout had a red andfreckled face, marked more by good nature than rare intelligence.

  Thad was seized with an almost irresistible impulse to rush forward andcarry her off; but he held himself in with an iron hand. That would be asilly thing to attempt, because she would be apt to look on him withdistrust, perhaps call out in wild alarm, and bring Jasper hurrying tothe spot, angry, and ready to do all sorts of terrible deeds in order todefend himself against arrest.

  As Thad lay there, and watched her every move he saw the girl stoop downand take hold of a galvanized bucket which, with other things, Jaspermust have purchased at the time he laid in his supplies looking to anindefinite stay in the swamp.

  She was undoubtedly going to some spring for water.

  Thad never gave the fact of fresh water bubbling up on that elevatedground in the heart of Alligator Swamp the slightest thought; thoughlater on he might consider it a singular thing. What flashed into hishead was the sudden wild hope that in some way he might cut off herreturn to the shack; and thus manage to separate her from her guardian.

  As soon as she started away, swinging the bucket in her hand, andhumming some little air that she had possibly learned in the conventschool in New Orleans, where it was afterwards discovered Jasper hadkept her all these years, Thad gave evidence of meaning to follow afterher.

  The old swamp man had kept just as still as the boy all this time; butsomehow he must have divined what influenced Thad now, for he made nosign to show that he considered it an unwise thing to do, but followedalong at the heels of the patrol leader. And perhaps that was the veryfirst time in all his life that Alligator Smith ever played "secondfiddle" to a boy.

  They backed away, f
irst of all, so that another growth of bushes wouldcome between their moving bodies and the shack; in case the man chancedto issue forth again he would not be quite so likely to discover them asthough they kept to the open.

  Thad could still catch glimpses of the girl; for her pail flashed in thesun's rays as she swung it idly to and fro. Then again her dresshappened to be something along the red order, and in contrast to thebrowns and greens of the "island" in the quaking bog it stood outvividly.

  One thing that pleased Thad was the fact that the spring would seem tobe some little distance away from the cabin. He felt that every yardcounted in a case of this kind. And too, she was going in a direction atright angles to the course that must lead to the place where the sheriffand his posse lay concealed, waiting to be "called to the feast."

  He meant that when he disclosed his presence to the girl he and theswamp guide would be standing between, so that should she be alarmed,and try to return, they could prevent such a thing from coming to pass.

  But Thad was fervently hoping that he would be able to convince her howmuch it would be to her interest to at least stop and listen to what hehad to say before either trying to flee, or even raising a cry to warnJasper.

  Much depended on how she felt toward the man. If he was a tyrant itwould all be easy enough; but on the other hand, should he have beengood to her, and did she believe him to be really her father, Thadfeared he might have a hard task cut out for him.

  He had made up his mind though, that since the girl was separated fromJasper she must not be allowed to rejoin him, even though force had tobe temporarily used in order to effect this result. It was a gloriouschance that had been raised up, and he would be a queer sort of a scoutif he hesitated to take advantage of the golden opportunity.

  And presently he saw that she had reached the spring, for she wasbending down as though to fill her bucket.