Bobby Blake on a Plantation; Or, Lost in the Great Swamp
Page 16
CHAPTER XVI
JIM BOOLUS APPEARS
The three boys slept the deep and dreamless sleep of healthy boyhood,and only woke when the sun was streaming in at their windows.
“What do you know about that?” said Fred, as he leaped out of bed andstarted dressing in a wild attempt to overcome lost time. “We were goingto get an early start, and here it is nearly eight o’clock and we’rejust getting up.”
“Well, Lee said they never had breakfast before eight or half past,”said Bobby, “so probably if we hurry we’ll be all right anyway. There’sno use our rushing ourselves when nobody else does.”
“Yes, but that motor boat may need some fixing,” said Fred. “Motor boatsalmost always do, as far as I can see.”
“Mrs. Cartier said that this boat was in perfect order,” Bobby remindedhim.
“There never was a motor boat that was in perfect order,” retorted Fred.“At least, that’s what I heard my uncle tell my father, and he’s had somany of them he ought to know by this time.”
“You don’t seem very hopeful about it,” said Bobby, laughing. “But hereI am dressed before you, even though you started first. That proves thatit doesn’t pay to get excited.”
“Well, I never did anything yet that did pay,” declared Fred. “The onlykind of things I seem to know how to do are the things that _cost_money.”
“Aw, come on and have breakfast,” said Bobby, “maybe you’ll feel betterthen.”
“Well, I’m willing to find out, anyway,” grinned Fred, and the twosallied forth in the direction of the breakfast room. At the head of thestairs they almost bumped into Lee as he came tearing around a corner.
“Confound it!” exclaimed the Southern lad, “I’ve pretty near killedmyself hurrying, thinking that you fellows would be all throughbreakfast, by this time, and here you are just going down.”
“Yes,” said Bobby, slyly, “if we stay here much longer, we’ll be just aslazy as the other people in this part of the world.”
“I don’t see how either one of you could get any lazier than you alwayshave been,” laughed Lee.
“I’m not too lazy to beat you downstairs, anyway,” said Bobby, and asLee instantly accepted the challenge by starting downstairs three stepsat a time, they made a tremendous racket which brought Mrs. Cartier tothe door of the breakfast room in alarm.
“Good gracious!” she exclaimed, as the boys jumped the last six stepstogether and landed in a heap at the bottom. “Did you fall? Is any onehurt?”
“I guess nobody’s hurt,” gasped Lee, as the laughing boys pickedthemselves up. “We were just trying to see who could get down first. Yousaw the finish, Mother—tell us who won. We’ll leave it to you.”
“I should say it was a tie,” she laughed, greatly relieved. “It lookedto me as though you all landed in a heap at the same time. Bobby seemedto be on top, so probably he won.”
“Well, we’ll let it go at that,” grinned her son. “I wonder what AuntDinah has fixed us up for breakfast.”
“Perhaps you’d better go in and see,” answered his mother, and the boyswere not slow in following her advice. The old Southern mammy hadprovided in her usual bounteous manner, but the boys were in too much ofa hurry to properly appreciate all the good things spread out beforethem. Even Lee hurried, with the result that in a very short time theyfound themselves out at the barn, where Mose had a horse alreadyharnessed.
“We’ll make the best time we can, and get back early,” promised Lee, ashe and Bobby climbed into the buggy.
“All right, I’ll be waiting for you,” responded Fred, and his twofriends dashed out of the yard, upsetting the dignity of numerous hens,who flapped wildly to right and left, squawking their protests.
“Now, if you’ll show me the motor boat, Mose,” said Fred. “I’ll look itover and make sure everything is all right.”
“Yassuh,” said the darkey, “it’s a goodish piece from here, but Ahreckons us kin walk it in fifteen minutes.”
“Guess I can stand it if you can,” said Fred, and they started out.
Meantime, Lee and Bobby had reached the dusty highroad and were goingalong at a spanking pace. Their horse had been in pasture several dayswith nothing to do, and seemed to enjoy a good run with nothing but thelight buggy behind him.
“If we can keep this up, it won’t take us long,” observed Bobby.
“Yes, but we can’t,” said Lee. “There is some pretty sandy going beforewe hit town, and that will slow old Jerry down.”
They soon reached a bad stretch of sandy road, which was so narrow thatthere was no more than room enough for one carriage. When two met, eachhad to pull partly off the road in order to pass, and this happened onceor twice, the drivers of the other outfits recognizing Lee and greetinghim pleasantly.
After passing the last rig, they had gone perhaps half a mile, old Jerrystopping at frequent intervals to rest, when they saw another buggyapproaching them. As it drew nearer, Lee gave an exclamation.
“What’s the matter?” inquired Bobby. “Anything wrong?”
Lee’s face was flushed as he pointed to the oncoming buggy.
“There comes the meanest man in the world,” he exclaimed, his voiceshaking. “That’s Jim Boolus, the fellow that’s trying to steal ourland.”
The buggies were quite close together by this time, and the man in theother one evidently overheard Lee’s last words. He was a lean, dyspepticlooking old fellow, and the look of hatred and rage that his face nowwore did little to improve his appearance.
“You’d better be keerful, young feller,” he snarled, as the buggies cameclose, “there’s a law in the land for them as uses hard words.”
“Yes, and there’s a law for people who try to steal what doesn’t belongto them, too,” retorted Lee. “Pull out there and let us pass, please.”