II
Hutchins brought a newspaper to Tish the next morning at breakfast, andTish afterwards said her expression was positively malevolent in such ayoung and pretty woman.
The newspaper said that an attempt had been made to rob the Newcombplace the night before, but that the thieves had apparently securednothing but a package of oatmeal and a tin sprinkling-can, which theyhad abandoned on the lawn. Some color, however, was lent to the fearthat they had secured an amount of money, from the fact that a silverhalf-dollar had been found on the window sill of a tool-house. TheNewcomb family was at its summer home on the Maine coast.
"You see," Hutchins said to Tish, "that man didn't belong there at all.He was just impertinent and--laughing in his sleeve."
Tish was really awfully put out, having planned to take the Sundayschool there for a picnic. She was much pleased, however, at Hutchins'sastuteness.
"I shall take her along to Canada," she said to me. "The girl hasinstinct, which is better than reason. Her subconsciousness is unusuallyactive."
Looking back, as I must, and knowing now all that was in her small headwhile she whistled about the car, or all that was behind her smile,one wonders if women really should have the vote. So many of them arecreatures of sex and guile. A word from her would have cleared up somuch, and she never spoke it!
Well, we spent most of July in getting ready to go. Charlie Sands saidthe mosquitoes and black flies would be gone by August, and we were inno hurry.
We bought a good tent, with a diagram of how to put it up, some foldingcamp-beds, and a stove. The day we bought the tent we had rather ashock, for as we left the shop the suburban youth passed us. We ignoredhim completely, but he lifted his hat. Hutchins, who was waiting inTish's car, saw him, too, and went quite white with fury.
Shortly after that, Hannah came in one night and said that a man waswatching Tish's windows. We thought it was imagination, and Tish gaveher a dose of sulphur and molasses--her liver being sluggish.
"Probably an Indian, I dare say," was Tish's caustic comment.
In view of later developments, however, it is a pity we did notinvestigate Hannah's story; for Aggie, going home from Tish's late onenight in Tish's car, had a similar experience, declaring that a smallmachine had followed them, driven by a heavy-set man with a mustache.She said, too, that Hutchins, swerving sharply, had struck the smallermachine a glancing blow and almost upset it.
It was about the middle of July, I believe, that Tish received thefollowing letter:--
_Madam_: Learning that you have decided to take a fishing-trip in Canada, I venture to offer my services as guide, philosopher, and friend. I know Canada thoroughly; can locate bass, as nearly as it lies in a mortal so to do; can manage a motor launch; am thoroughly at home in a canoe; can shoot, swim, and cook--the last indifferently well; know the Indian mind and my own--and will carry water and chop wood.
I do not drink, and such smoking as I do will, if I am engaged, be done in the solitude of the woods.
I am young and of a cheerful disposition. My object is not money, but only expenses paid and a chance to forget a recent and still poignant grief. I hope you will see the necessity for such an addition to your party, and allow me to subscribe myself, madam,
Your most obedient servant,
J. UPDIKE.
Tish was much impressed; but Hutchins, in whose judgment she began tohave the greatest confidence, opposed the idea.
"I wouldn't think of it," she said briefly.
"Why? It's a frank, straightforward letter."
"He likes himself too much. And you should always be suspicious ofanything that's offered too cheap."
So the Updike application was refused. I have often wondered since whatwould have been the result had we accepted it!
The worms were doing well, though Tish found that Hannah neglected them,and was compelled to feed them herself. On the day before we started, wepacked them carefully in ice and moss, and fed them. That was the daythe European war was declared.
"Canada is at war," Tish telephoned. "The papers say the whole countryis full of spies, blowing up bridges and railroads."
"We can still go to the seashore," I said. "The bead things will do forthe missionary box to Africa."
"Seashore nothing!" Tish retorted. "We're going, of course,--just as weplanned. We'll keep our eyes open; that's all. I'm not for one side orthe other, but a spy's a spy."
Later that evening she called again to say there were rumors that theCanadian forests were bristling with German wireless outfits.
"I've a notion to write J. Updike, Lizzie, and find out whether he knowsanything about wireless telegraphy," she said, "only there's so littletime. Perhaps I can find a book that gives the code."
[This is only pertinent as showing Tish's state of mind. As a matter offact, she did not write to Updike at all.]
Well, we started at last, and I must say they let us over the borderwith a glance; but they asked us whether we had any firearms. Tish'strunk contained a shotgun and a revolver; but she had packed over thetop her most intimate personal belongings, and they were not disturbed.
"Have you any weapons?" asked the inspector.
"Do we look like persons carrying weapons?" Tish demanded haughtily. Andof course we did not. Still, there was an untruth of the spirit and noneof us felt any too comfortable. Indeed, what followed may have been apunishment on us for deceit and conspiracy.
Aggie had taken her cat along--because it was so fond of fish, she said.And, between Tish buying ice for the worms and Aggie getting milk forthe cat, the journey was not monotonous; but on returning from one ofher excursions to the baggage-car, Tish put a heavy hand on my shoulder.
"That boy's on the train, Lizzie!" she said. "He had the impudence toask me whether I still drive with the license plates under a cushion.English roses--importations!" said Tish, and sniffed. "You don't supposehe went into that tent shop and asked about us?"
"He might," I retorted; "but, on the other hand, there's no reason whyour going to Canada should keep the rest of the United States at home!"
However, the thing did seem queer, somehow. Why had he told us thingsthat were not so? Why had he been so anxious to know who we were? Why,had he asked us to take the Sunday-school picnic to a place that did notbelong to him?
"He may be going away to forget some trouble. You remember what he saidabout happier days," said Tish.
"That was Updike's reason too," I relied. "Poignant grief!"
For just a moment our eyes met. The same suspicion had occurred to usboth. Well, we agreed to say nothing to Aggie or Hutchins, for fear ofupsetting them, and the next hour or so was peaceful.
Hutchins read and Aggie slept. Tish and I strung beads for the Indians,and watched the door into the next car. And, sure enough, about themiddle of the afternoon he appeared and stared in at us. He watched usfor quite a time, smoking a cigarette as he did so. Then he came in andbent down over Tish.
"You didn't take the children out for the picnic, did you?" he said.
"I did not!" Tish snapped.
"I'm sorry. Never saw the place look so well!"
"Look here," Tish said, putting down her beads; "what were you doingthere that night anyhow? You don't belong to the family."
He looked surprised and then grieved.
"You've discovered that, have you?" he said. "I did, you know--word ofhonor! They've turned me off; but I love the old place still, and onsummer nights I wander about it, recalling happier days."
Hutchins closed her book with a snap, and he sighed.
"I perceive that we are overheard," he said. "Some time I hope to tellyou the whole story. It's extremely sad. I'll not spoil the beginning ofyour holiday with it."
All the time he had been talking he held a piece of paper in his hand.When he left us Tish went back thoughtfully to her beads.
"It just shows, Lizzie," she said, "how wrong we are to trust toappearances. That poor boy--"
I had stoo
ped into the aisle and was picking up the piece of paper whichhe had accidentally dropped as he passed Hutchins. I opened it and readaloud to Tish and Aggie, who had wakened:--
"'Afraid you'll not get away with it! The red-haired man in the carbehind is a plain-clothes man.'"
Tish has a large fund of general knowledge, gained through CharlieSands; so what Aggie and I failed to understand she interpreted at once.
"A plain-clothes man," she explained, "is a detective dressed as agentleman. It's as plain as pikestaff! The boy's received this warningand dropped it. He has done something he shouldn't and is escaping toCanada!"
I do not believe, however, that we should have thought of his being apolitical spy but for the conductor of the train. He proved to be a verynice person, with eight children and a toupee; and he said that Canadawas honeycombed with spies in the pay of the German Government.
"They're sending wireless messages all the time, probably from remoteplaces," he said. "And, of course, their play now is to blow up thetranscontinental railroads. Of course the railroads have an army ofdetectives on the watch."
"Good Heavens!" Aggie said, and turned pale.
Well, our pleasure in the journey was ruined. Every time the whistleblew on the engine we quailed, and Tish wrote her will then and there onthe back of an envelope. It was while she was writing that the truthcame to her.
"That boy!" she said. "Don't you see it all? That note was a warning tohim. He's a spy and the red-haired man is after him."
None of us slept that night though Tish did a very courageous thingabout eleven o'clock, when she was ready for bed. I went with her. Wehad put our dressing-gowns over our nightrobes, and we went back to thecar containing the spy.
He had not retired, but was sitting alone, staring ahead moodily. Thered-haired man was getting ready for bed, just opposite. Tish spokeloudly, so the detective should hear.
"I have come back," Tish said, "to say that we know everything. A wordto the wise, Mister Happier Days! Don't try any of your tricks!"
He sat, with his mouth quite open, and stared at us: but the red-hairedman pretended to hear nothing and took off his other shoe.
None of us slept at all except Hutchins. Though we had told her nothing,she seemed inherently to distrust the spy. When, on arriving at the townwhere we were to take the boat, he offered to help her off with Aggie'scat basket, which she was carrying, she snubbed him.
"I can do it myself," she said coldly; "and if you know when you're welloff you'll go back to where you came from. Something might happen to youhere in the wilderness."
"I wish it would," he replied in quite a tragic manner.
[As Tish said then, a man is probably often forced by circumstances intohateful situations. No spy can really want to be a spy with every brickwall suggesting, as it must, a firing-squad.]
Well, to make a long story short, we took the little steamer that goesup the river three times a week to take groceries and mail to thelogging-camps, and the spy and the red-haired detective went along. Thespy seemed to have quite a lot of luggage, but the detective had only asuitcase.
Tish, watching the detective, said his expression grew more and moreanxious as we proceeded up the river. Cottages gave place tologging-camps and these to rocky islands, with no sign of life; still,the spy stayed on the steamer, and so, of course, did the detective.
Tish went down and examined the luggage. She reported that the spy wastraveling under the name of McDonald and that the detective's suitcasewas unmarked. Mr. McDonald had some boxes and a green canoe. Thedetective had nothing at all. There were no other passengers.
We let Aggie's cat out on the boat and he caught a mouse almostimmediately, and laid it in the most touching manner at the detective'sfeet; but he was in a very bad humor and flung it over the rail. Shortlyafter that he asked Tish whether she intended to go to the ArcticCircle.
"I don't know that that's any concern of yours," Tish said. "You're notafter me, you know."
He looked startled and muttered something into his mustache.
"It's perfectly clear what's wrong with him," Tish said. "He's got tostick to Mr. McDonald, and he hasn't got a tent in that suitcase, oreven a blanket. I don't suppose he knows where his next meal's comingfrom."
She was probably right, for I saw the crew of the boat packing a box ortwo of crackers and an old comfort into a box; and Aggie overheard thedetective say to the captain that if he would sell him some fishhooks hewould not starve anyhow.
Tish found an island that suited her about three o'clock that afternoon,and we disembarked. Mr. McDonald insisted on helping the crew with ourstuff, which they piled on a large flat rock; but the detective stood onthe upper deck and scowled down at us. Tish suggested that he was awoman-hater.
"They know so many lawbreaking women," she said, "it's quite natural."
Having landed us, the boat went across to another island and depositedMr. McDonald and the green canoe. Tish, who had talked about a lodge insome vast wilderness, complained at that; but when the detective got offon a little tongue of the mainland, in sight of both islands, she saidthe place was getting crowded and she had a notion to go farther.
The first thing she did was to sit on a box and open a map. The CanadianPacific was only a few miles away through the woods!
Hutchins proved herself a treasure. She could work all round the threeof us; she opened boxes and a can of beans for supper with the samehatchet, and had tea made and the beans heated while Tish was selectinga site for the tent.
But--and I remembered this later--she watched the river at intervals,with her cheeks like roses from the exertion. She was really a prettygirl--only, when no one was looking, her mouth that day had a way ofsetting itself firmly, and she frowned at the water.
We, Hutchins and I, set up the stove against a large rock, and when theteakettle started to boil it gave the river front a homey look. Sittingon my folding-chair beside the stove, with a cup of tea in my hand anda plate of beans on a doily on a packing-box beside me, I was entirelycomfortable. Through the glasses I could see the red-haired man onthe other shore sitting on a rock, with his head in his hands; but Mr.McDonald had clearly located on the other side of his island and wasnot in sight.
Aggie and Tish were putting up the tent, and Hutchins was feeding thetea grounds to the worms, which had traveled comfortably, when I saw acanoe coming up the river. I called to Tish about it.
"An Indian!" she said calmly. "Get the beads, Aggie; and put my shotgunon that rock, where he can see it." She stood and watched him."Primitive man, every inch of him!" she went on. "Notice his uncoveredhead. Notice the freedom, almost the savagery, of the way he uses thatpaddle. I wish he would sing. You remember, in Hiawatha, how they singas they paddle along?"
She got the beads and went to the water's edge; but the Indian stoopedjust then and, picking up a Panama hat, put it on his head.
"I have called," he said, "to see whether I can interest you in a set ofbooks I am selling. I shall detain you only a moment. Sixty-three steelengravings by well-known artists; best hand-made paper; and the workitself is of high educational value."
Tish suddenly put the beads behind her back and said we did not expectto have any time to read. We had come into the wilderness to rest ourminds.
"You are wrong, I fear," said the Indian. "Personally I find that I canread better in the wilds than anywhere else. Great thoughts in greatsurroundings! I take Nietzsche with me when I go fishing."
Tish had the wretched beads behind her all the time; and, to makeconversation, more than anything else, she asked about venison. Heshrugged his shoulders. J. Fenimore Cooper had not prepared us for anIndian who shrugged his shoulders.
"We Indians are allowed to kill deer," he said; "but I fear you areprohibited. I am not even permitted to sell it."
"I should think," said Tish sharply, "that, since we are miles from agame warden, you could safely sell us a steak or two."
He gazed at her disapprovingly. "I should not care to bre
ak the law,madam," he said.
Then he picked up his paddle and took himself and his scruples and hishand-made paper and his sixty-three steel engravings down the river.
"Primitive man!" I said to Tish, from my chair. "Notice the freedom,almost the savagery, with which he swings that paddle."
We had brought a volume of Cooper along, not so much to read as toremind us how to address the Indians. Tish said nothing, but she got thebook and flung it far out into the river.
There were a number of small annoyances the first day or two. Hutchinswas having trouble with the motor launch, which the steamer had towed upthe day we came, and which she called the "Mebbe." And another civilizedIndian, with a gold watch and a cigarette case, had rented us a leakycanoe for a dollar a day.
[We patched the leak with chewing gum, which Aggie always carried forindigestion; and it did fairly well, so long as the gum lasted.]
Then, on the second night, there was a little wind, and the tentcollapsed on us, the ridgepole taking Aggie across the chest. It wasthat same night, I think, when Aggie's cat found a porcupine in thewoods, and came in looking like a pincushion.
What with chopping firewood for the stove, and carrying water, andbailing out the canoe, and with the motor boat giving one gasp and thendying for every hundred times somebody turned over the engine, we had notime to fish for two days.
The police agent fished all day from a rock, for, of course, he hadno boat; but he seemed to catch nothing. At times we saw him diggingfrantically, as though for worms. What he dug with I do not know; but,of course, he got no worms. Tish said if he had been more civil shewould have taken something to him and a can of worms; but he had beenrude, especially to Aggie's cat, and probably the boat would bring himthings.
What with getting settled and everything, we had not much time to thinkabout the spy. It was on the third day, I believe, that he brought hisgreen canoe to the open water in front of us and anchored there, justbeyond earshot.
He put out a line and opened a book; and from that time on he was a partof the landscape every day from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. At noon he would eatsome sort of a lunch, reading as he ate.
He apparently never looked toward us, but he was always there. It wasthe most extraordinary thing. At first we thought he had found aremarkable fishing-place; but he seemed to catch very few fish. It wasTish, I think, who found the best explanation.
"He's providing himself with an alibi," she stated. "How can he be a spywhen we see him all day long? Don't you see how clever it is?"
It was the more annoying because we had arranged a small cove forsoap-and-water bathing, hanging up a rod for bath-towels and suspendinga soap-dish and a sponge-holder from an overhanging branch. The cove waswell shielded by brush and rocks from the island, but naturally was opento the river.
It was directly opposite this cove that Mr. McDonald took up hisposition.
This compelled us to bathe in the early morning, while the water wasstill cold, and resulted in causing Aggie a most uncomfortable half-houron the fourth morning of our stay.
She was the last one in the pool, and Tish absent-mindedly took herbathrobe and slippers back to the camp when she went. Tish went outin the canoe shortly after. She was learning to use one, with a lifepreserver on--Tish, of course, not the canoe. And Mr. McDonald arrivingsoon after, Aggie was compelled to sit in the water for two hours andtwenty minutes. When Hutchins found her she was quite blue.
This was the only disagreement we had all summer: Aggie's refusing tospeak to Tish that entire day. She said Mr. McDonald had seen her headand thought it was some sort of swimming animal, and had shot at her.
Mr. McDonald said afterward he knew her all the time, and was uncertainwhether she was taking a cure for something or was trying to commitsuicide. He said he spent a wretched morning. At five o'clock thatevening we began to hear a curious tapping noise from the spy's island.It would last for a time, stop, and go on.
Hutchins said it was woodpeckers; but Tish looked at me significantly.
"Wireless!" she said. "What did I tell you?"
That decided her next move, for that evening she put some tea and cannedcorn and a rubber blanket into the canoe; and in fear and trembling Iwent with her.
"It's going to rain, Lizzie," she said, "and after all, that detectivemay be surly; but he's doing his duty by his country. It's just asheroic to follow a spy up here, and starve to death watching him, as itis to storm a trench--and less showy. And I've something to tell him."
The canoe tilted just then, and only by heroic effort, were we able tocalm it.
"Then why not go comfortably in the motor boat?"
Tish stopped, her paddle in the air. "Because I can't make that drattedengine go," she said, "and because I believe Hutchins would drown us allbefore she'd take any help to him. It's my belief that she's known himsomewhere. I've seen her sit on a rock and look across at him withmurder in her eyes."
A little wind had come up, and the wretched canoe was leaking, thechewing gum having come out. Tish was paddling; so I was compelled tosit over the aperture, thus preventing water from coming in. Despite mybest efforts, however, about three inches seeped in and washed about me.It was quite uncomfortable.
The red-haired man was asleep when we landed. He had hung the comfortover a branch, like a tent, and built a fire at the end of it. He hadhis overcoat on, buttoned to the chin, and his head was on hissuit-case. He sat up and looked at us, blinking.
"We've brought you some tea and some canned corn," Tish said; "and arubber blanket. It's going to rain."
He slid out of the tent, feet first, and got up; but when he tried tospeak he sneezed. He had a terrible cold.
"I might as well say at once," Tish went on, "that we know why you arehere--"
"The deuce you do!" he said hoarsely.
"We do not particularly care about you, especially since the way youacted to a friendly and innocent cat--one can always judge a man by theway he treats dumb animals; but we sympathize with your errand. We'lleven help if we can."
"Then the--the person in question has confided in you?"
"Not at all," said Tish loftily. "I hope we can put two and twotogether. Have you got a revolver?"
He looked startled at that. "I have one," he said; "but I guess I'll notneed it. The first night or two a skunk hung round; two, in fact--motherand child--but I think they're gone."
"Would you like some fish?"
"My God, no!"
This is a truthful narrative. That is exactly what he said.
"I'll tell you what I do need, ladies," he went on: "If you've gota spare suit of underwear over there, I could use it. It'd stretch,probably. And I'd like a pen and some ink. I must have lost my fountainpen out of my pocket stooping over the bank to wash my face."
"Do you know the wireless code?" Tish asked suddenly.
"Wireless?"
"I have every reason to believe," she said impressively, "that one ofthe great trees on that island conceals a wireless outfit."
"I see!" He edged back a little from us both.
"I should think," Tish said, eyeing him, "that a knowledge of thewireless code would be essential to you in your occupation."
"We--we get a smattering of all sorts of things," he said; but he wasuneasy--you could see that with half an eye.
He accompanied us down to the canoe; but once, when Tish turnedsuddenly, he ducked back as though he had been struck and changed color.He thanked us for the tea and corn, and said he wished we had a sparerazor--but, of course, he supposed not. Then:--
"I suppose the--the person in question will stay as long as you do?" heasked, rather nervously.
"It looks like it," said Tish grimly. "I've no intention of being drivenaway, if that's what you mean. We'll stay as long as the fishing'sgood."
He groaned under his breath. "The whole d--d river is full of fish," hesaid. "They crawled up the bank last night and ate all the crackers I'dsaved for to-day. Oh, I'll pay somebody out for this, all right! Goodgrac
ious, ladies, your boat's full of water!"
"It has a hole in it," Tish replied and upturned it to empty it.
When he saw the hole his eyes stuck out. "You can't go out in that leakycanoe! It's suicidal!"
"Not at all," Tish assured him. "My friend here will sit on the leak.Get in quick, Lizzie. It's filling."
The last we saw of the detective that night he was standing on the bank,staring after us. Afterward, when a good many things were cleared up, hesaid he decided that he'd been asleep and dreamed the whole thing--thewireless, and my sitting on the hole in the canoe, and the wind tossingit about, and everything--only, of course, there was the tea and thecanned corn!
We did our first fishing the next day. Hutchins had got the motor boatgoing, and I put over the spoon I had made from the feather duster.After going a mile or so slowly I felt a tug, and on drawing my line inI found I had captured a large fish. I wrapped the line about a part ofthe engine and Tish put the barrel hoop with the netting underneath it.The fish was really quite large--about four feet, I think--and it brokethrough the netting. I wished to hit it with the oar, but Hutchins saidthat might break the fin and free it. Unluckily we had not broughtTish's gun, or we might have shot it.
At last we turned the boat round and went home, the fish swimmingalongside, with its mouth open. And there Aggie, who is occasionallyalmost inspired, landed the fish by the simple expedient of getting outof the boat, taking the line up a bank and wrapping it round a tree. Byall pulling together we landed the fish successfully. It was forty-nineinches by Tish's tape measure.
Tish did not sleep well that night. She dreamed that the fish had a redmustache and was a spy in disguise. When she woke she declared there wassomebody prowling round the tent.
She got her shotgun and we all sat up in bed for an hour or so.
Nothing happened, however, except that Aggie cried out that there was asmall animal just inside the door of the tent. We could see it, too,though faintly. Tish turned the shotgun on it and it disappeared; butthe next morning she found she had shot one of her shoes to pieces.
Tish: The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions Page 16
