A brown water-spaniel waddled2 from the woodshed into the room, four bright-eyed puppies at her heels, and stood half in the glow, half in the shadow, short tail ingratiatingly awag.
"Scoot you!" commanded the woman, and with a wild scurry3 mother dog and puppies turned and fled to the friendly darkness of their retreat.
Mrs. Wilson stood with frowning gaze fastened on the door. She was a tall, angular woman of some forty years, heavy of features, as she was when occasion demanded it, heavy of hand. Tiny fret-lines marred4 a face which under less trying conditions of life might have been winsome5, but tonight the lips of the generous mouth were tightly compressed and the rise and fall of the bosom6 beneath the low cut flannel7 gown hinted of a volcano that would ere long erupt to the confusion of somebody.
As a quick step sounded outside, she lowered herself slowly to a high-backed chair and waited, hands locked closely upon her lap.
The door opened and her husband entered. He cast a quick, apprehensive9 glance at his wife, and the low whistle died on his lips as he passed over to the long roller towel hanging above the wash-bench and proceeded to dry his hands.
He was a medium sized man, with brown wavy10 hair and a beard which failed to conceal11 the glad boyishness of a face that would never quite be old. The eyes he turned upon the woman when she sharply spoke12 his name were blue and tranquil13.
"Yes, Mary?" he responded gently.
"I want'a tell you that I'm tired of bein' the slave of you an' your son," she burst out. "One of these days I'll be packin' up and goin' to my home folks in Nova Scotia."
Wilson averted15 his face and proceeded to straighten the towel on the roller. His action seemed to infuriate the woman.
"You—" she commenced, her voice tense with passion, "you—" she checked herself. Unconsciously one of the groping hands had come in contact with the soft leather cover of a book which lay on the table.
It was the family Bible. She had placed it there after reading her son Anson his evening chapter. Slowly she mastered herself and sank back into her chair.
Wilson came over and laid a work-hardened hand gently on her heaving shoulder.
"Mary," he said, "what is it? What have I done?"
"Oh," she cried miserably18, "what haven't you done, Tom Wilson? Didn't you bring me here to this lonesome spot when I was happy with my son, happy an' contented20?"
"But I told you you'd like find it some lonesome, Mary, you remember?"
"Yes, but did you so much as hint at what awful things I'd have to live through here? Not you! Did you tell me that an old miser19 'ud die and his ghost ha'nt this neighborhood? Did you tell me that blindness 'ud strike one of the best and most useful young men low? Did you tell me," she ran wildly on, "that the sweetest girl in the world 'ud be dyin' of a heartbreak? Did you tell me anythin', Tom Wilson, that a woman who was leavin' her own home folks, to work for you and your son, should a' been told?"
Wilson sighed. "How was I to know these things would happen, Mary? It's been hard haulin', I know, but someday it won't be so hard. Maybe now, you'd find it easier if you didn't shoulder everybody else's trouble, like you do—"
"Shut right up!" she flared21, "I'm a Christian22 woman, Tom Wilson. Do you think I could face God on my knees if I failed in my duty to the sick as calls fer me? Why, I couldn't sleep if I didn't do what little I'm able to do fer them in trial; I'd hear weak voices acallin' me, I'd see pain-wild eyes watchin' fer me to come an' help their first-born into the world."
"But, Mary, there's a doctor at Bridgetown now and—"
"Doctors!" she cried scornfully. "Little enough they know the needs of a woman at such a time. A doctor may be all right in his place, but his place ain't here among us woods folk. I tell you now I know my duty an' I'll do it because they need me."
"We all need you, Mary," spoke her husband quickly. "Didn't I tell you that when I persuaded you to come? I need you; Billy needs you."
She looked up at him, tears filming the fire of anger in her eyes.
"No," she said in low tense tones, "your son don't need me. I'm nuthin' to him. Sometimes I think—I think he cares—'cause I'm longin' fer it, I guess. But somehow he seems to be lookin' beyond me to someone else."
Wilson sighed and sank into a chair.
"I guess maybe it's your fancy playin' pranks25 on you, Mary," he suggested hesitatingly. "Two years of livin' in this lonesome spot has kinder got on your nerves."
"Nerves!" she cried indignantly, sitting bolt upright. "Don't you 'er anybody else dare accuse me of havin' nerves, Tom Wilson. If I wasn't the most sensible-minded person alive I'd be throwin' fits er goin' off into gallopin' hysterics every hour, with the things that Willium does to scare the life out of a body."
"What's Billy been doin' now?" asked Wilson anxiously.
She shivered. "Nothin' out'a the ordinary. What's that limb allars doin' to scare the daylights clean outa me an' the neighbors? If you'd spend a little more of your spare time in the house with your wife an' less in the barn with your precious stock you wouldn't need to be askin' what he's been adoin'. But I'll tell you what he did only this evenin' afore you come home from changin' words with Cobin Keeler.
"Missus Scraff—you know what a fidgety fly-off-the-handle she is, an' how she suffers from the asthma27—well, she'd come over an' was stayin' to supper. I sent that Willium out on the back ridge23 to gather some wild thimble-berries fer dessert. He comes in just as I had the table all set, that wicked old coon he's made a pet of at his heels an' that devil-eyed crow, Croaker, on his shoulder. Afore I could get hold of the broom, he put the covered pail on the table an' went out ag'in. The coon follered him, but that crow jumped right onto the table an' grabbed a piece of cake. I made a dash at him an' he flopped28 to Missus Scraff's shoulder. She was chewin' a piece of slippery-ellum bark fer her asthma, an' when his claws gripped her shoulder she shrieked29 an' like to 'a' choked to death on it.
"It took me all of half an hour to get her quieted, an' then I made to show her what nice berries we got from our back ridge. 'Jest hold your apron30, Mrs. Scraff, an' I'll give you a glimpse of what we're goin' to top our supper off with,' I says, strivin' to get the poor soul's mind off herself.
"She held out her apron, an' I lefted the lid off the pail and pours what's in it into her lap.
"An' what d'ye 'spose was in that pail, Tom Wilson? Four garter snakes and a lizard31; that's what your precious son had gone out and gathered fer our dessert. I spilled the whole caboodle of 'em into her apron afore I noticed, an' she give one screech32 an' fainted dead away. While I was busy bringin' her around, that Willium sneaked33 in an' gathered them squirmin' reptiles34 off the floor. I couldn' do more jest then than look him a promise to settle with him later, 'cause I had my hands full as it was. I found a pail of berries on the table when I got a chance to look about me, an' I ain't sayin' but that boy got them pails mixed, but that don't excuse him none."
Wilson, striving to keep his face grave, nodded. "That's how it's been, I guess, Mary. He kin14 no more help pickin' up every snake and animal he comes across then he kin help breathin'. But he don't mean any harm, Billy don't."
"That's neither here ner there," she snapped. "He doesn't seem to care what harm he does. An' the hard part of it is," she burst out, "I can't take no pleasure in whalin' him same as I might if I was his real mother; I jest can't, that's all. He has a way of lookin' at me out'a them big, grey eyes of his'n—"
Comfortingly her husband's hand covered it from sight, as though he sought to achieve by this small token of understanding that which he could not hope to achieve by mere36 words.
She caught her breath quickly and a flush stole up beneath the sun and wind stain on her cheeks. There was that in the pressure of the hand on hers, strong yet tender, which swept the feeling of loneliness from her heart.
"Mary," said the man, "I guess neither of us understand Billy and maybe we never will, quite. I've often tried to tell you how much your willin'ness to face this life here meant to him and me but I'm no good at that sort'a thing. I just hoped you'd understan', that's all."
"Well, I'm goin' to do my duty by you both, allars," Mrs. Wilson spoke in matter-of-fact tones, as she reached for her sewing-basket. "When I feel you need checkin' up, Tom Wilson, checked you're goin' to be, an' when Willium needs a hidin' he's goin' to get a hidin'. An'," she added, as her husband got up from his chair, saying something about having to turn the horses out to pasture, "you needn't try to side-track me from my duty neither."
"All right, Mary," he agreed, his hand on the door-latch.
"An' if you're agoin' out to the barn do try'nd not carry any more of the barn-yard in on your big feet than you kin help. I jest finished moppin' the floors."
Wilson stepped out into the spicy37 summer darkness and went slowly down the path to the barn. As far as eye could reach, through the partially38 cleared forest, tiny clearing fires glowed up through the darkness, seeming to vie with big low hanging stars. The pungent39 smoke of burning log and sward mingled40 pleasantly with the scent41 of fern and wild blossoms.
Wilson lit his pipe and with arms folded on the top rail of the barnyard fence gazed down across the partially-cleared, fire-dotted sweep to where, a mile distant, a long, densely42 timbered point of land stood darkly silhouetted43 against the sheen of a rising moon.
From the bay-waters came the lonely cry of a loon44, from the marshes45 the booming of night-basking bullfrogs. The hoot46 of the owl8 sounded faintly from the forest beyond; the yap of a foraging47 fox drifted through the night's stillness from the uplands.
A long time Wilson stood pondering. When at length he bestirred himself a full moon swam above a transfigured world. A silvery sheen swept softly the open spaces; through the trees the white bay-waters shimmered48; the clearing fires had receded49 to mere sparks with silvery smoke trails stretching straight up towards a starred infinity50.
He sighed and turned to glance back at the cottage resting in the hardwood grove51. It looked very homey, very restful to him, beneath its vines of clustering wild-grape and honeysuckle. It was home—home it must be always. And Mary loved it just as he loved it; this he knew. She was a fine woman, a great helpmate, a wonderful wife and mother. She was fair minded too. She loved Billy quite as much as she loved her own son, Anson. Billy must be more careful, more thoughtful of her comfort. He would have a heart to heart talk with his son, he told himself as he went on to the barn.
He completed his chores and went thoughtfully back up the flower-edged path to the house. "There's one good thing about Mary's crossness," he reflected, "it don't last long. She'll be her old cheerful self ag'in by now."
But Mrs. Wilson was not her old cheerful self; far from it. Wilson realized this fact as soon as he opened the door. She raised stern eyes to her husband as he entered.
"You see them?" she asked with sinister52 calmness, pointing to a patched and clay-stained pair of trousers on the floor beside her chair. "Them's Willium's. He's jest gone to bed an' I ordered him to throw 'em down to be patched."
Wilson nodded, "Yes, Mary?"
"And do you see this here object that I'm holdin' up afore your dotin' father's eyes?"
He came forward and took the object from her hand.
"It also belongs to your dear, gentle son," she grated, "leastwise I found it in one of his pants pockets."
Wilson whistled softly. "You don't say!" he managed to articulate. "Why, Mary, it's a pipe!"
"Is it?"
"Yes, a corn-cob pipe," he repeated weakly.
"Is it re'lly?" she returned with sarcasm53. "I wasn't sure. I thort maybe it was a fish-line, or a jack-knife. Now what do you think of your precious son?" she demanded.
Wilson shook his head. "It's a new pipe," he ventured to say, "and," sniffing54 the bowl, "it ain't had nuthin' more deadly than dried mullen leaves in it so far. Ain't a great deal of harm in a boy smokin' mullen leaves, shorely, Mary."
"Oh, is that so? Haven't I heered you an' Cobin Keeler say, time and ag'in, that that's how you both got the smoke-habit? And look at you old chimbneys now; the pipe's never out'a your mouths."
"I'll talk things over with Billy in the mornin'," promised Wilson as he took the boot-jack from its peg55.
"A pile of good your talkin''ll do," she cried. "I'm goin' to talk things over with that boy with a hickory ram-rod, jest as soon as I feel he's proper asleep; that's what I'm goin' to do! Who's trainin' that boy, you er me?" she demanded.
"You, of course, Mary."
"Well then, you best let me be. What I feel he should get, he's goin' to get, and get right. You keep out'a this, Tom Wilson, if you want me to keep on; that's all."
"It don't seem right to wake boys up just to give 'em a whalin', Mary," he protested. "My Ma used to wake me up sometimes, but never to whale me. I'd rather remember—"
"Shut up! I tell yun, I'm goin' to give him the hickory this night or I'm goin' to know the reason why. I'll break that boy of his bad habits er I'll break my arm tryin'. You let me be!"
"I'm not findin' fault with your methods of trainin' boys, Mary," her husband hastened to say. "You're doin' your best by Billy, I know that right well. And Billy is rather a tough stick of first-growth timber to whittle56 smooth and straight, I know that, too. But the gnarliest hickory makes the best axe-handle, so maybe he'll make a good man some day, with your help."
"Humph! well that bein' so, I'm goin' to help him see the error of his ways this night if ever I did," she promised grimly.
Something like a muffled57 chuckle58 came from behind the stairway door, but the good woman, intent on her grievance60, did not hear it. Wilson heard, however, and let the boot-jack fall to the floor with a clatter61. He picked it up and carried it over to its accustomed peg on the wall, whistling softly the tune62 which he had whistled to Billy in the old romping63, astride-neck days:
Oh, you'd better be up, and away, lad.
You better be up and away!
It's a heap of trouble you've made, lad—
So you'd better be up and away!
"That's right!" she sighed. "Whistle! It shows all you care. That boy could do anythin' he wanted to do an' you wouldn't say a word; no, not a word!"
Wilson did not answer. He was listening for the stairs to creak, telling him that Billy had left his eaves-dropping for the security of the loft66.
Billy had heard and understood. When his dad sent him one of those "up and away" signals he never questioned its significance. He didn't like listening in secret, but surely he reasoned, a boy had a right to know just what was coming to him. And he knew what was coming to him, all right—a caning67 from the supple68 hickory ramrod—maybe!
Up in the roomy loft which he and his step-brother, Anson, shared together, he lit the lamp. Anson was sleeping and Billy wondered just what he would say when he woke up in the morning and found his pants gone. Their mother had demanded that a pair of pants be thrown down to her. Billy needed his own so he had thrown down Anson's.
But how in the world was he ever going to get out of that window with Anson's bed right up against it, and Anson sleeping in the bed? Anson would be sure to hear the ladder when Walter Watland and Maurice Keeler raised it against the wall. He must get Anson up and out of that bed!
Billy placed the lamp on a chair and reaching over shook Anson's long, regular snore into fragments of little gasps69. He shook harder and Anson sat up, sandy hair rumpled70 and pale blue eyes blinking in the light.
"What's'amatter?" he asked sleepily.
"Hush," cautioned Billy. "Ma's downstairs wide awake and she's awful cross. What you been doin' to rile her, Anse?"
Anson frowned and scratched his head. "Did you tell her 'bout35 my lettin' the pigs get in the garden when I was tendin' gap this afternoon?" he asked suspiciously.
"No, it ain't that. I guess maybe she's worried more'n cross, an' she's scared too—scared stiff. Well, who wouldn't be with that awful thing prowlin' around ready to claw the insides out'a people in their sleep?"
Anson sat up suddenly.
"What you talkin' 'bout, Bill? What thing? Who's it been clawin'? Hurry up, tell me."
Billy glanced at the window, poorly protected by a cotton mosquito screen, and shivered.
"Nobody knows what it is," he whispered. "Some say it's a gorilla71 and others say it's a big lynx. Ol' Harry72's the only one who saw it, an' he's so clawed and bit he can't describe it to nobody."
"Great Scott! Bill, you mean to say it got ol' Harry?"
Billy nodded. "Yep, last night. He was asleep when that thing climbed in his winder an' tried to suck his blood away."
"Ugh!" Anson shuddered74 and pulled the bed clothes up about his ears. "How did it get it, Bill! Does anybody know?"
"Well, there was a tree standin' jest outside his winder same as that tree stands outside this one. It climbed that tree and jumped through the mosquito nettin' plumb75 onto ol' Harry. He was able to tell the doctor that much afore he caved under."
Anson's blue eyes were staring at the wide unprotected window. Outside, the moon swam hazily76 above the forest; shadows like huge, misshapen monsters prowled on the sward; weird77 sounds floated up and died on the still air.
"Bill," Anson's voice was shaking, "I don't feel like sleepin' longside this winder. That awful thing might come shinnin' up that tree an' gulp78 me up. I'm goin' down and ask Ma if I can't sleep out in the shed with Moll an' the pups."
Billy promptly79 scented80 a new danger to his plans. "If I was you I wouldn't do that, Anse," he advised.
"Well, I'm goin' to do it." Anson sat up in bed and peered onto the floor.
"Where the dickens are my pants?" he whispered. "See anythin' of 'em, Bill?"
"Anse," Billy's voice was sympathetic. "I see I have to tell you everythin'. Ma, she's goin' fo give you the canin' of your young life, jest as soon as she thinks we're proper asleep."
"Canin'? Me? Whatfer?"
"Why, seems she was up here lookin' fer somethin' a little while ago. She saw your pants layin' there an' she thought maybe they needed patchin', so she took 'em down with her."
"Well, what of it?"
"Oh, nuthin', only she happened to find a pipe in one of the pockets, that's all."
"Jerusalem!" Anson's teeth chattered81. "Well, I'm goin' down anyway. I don't mind a hidin', but I'm derned if I'm goin' to lay here and get clawed up by no gorilla."
"Anse, listen," Billy put a detaining hand on his brother's shoulder. "You don't need to do that, an' you needn't sleep in this bed neither. I'll sleep in it, an' you kin sleep in mine. That gorilla, er whatever it is, can't hurt me, cause I've got that rabbit-foot charm that Tom Dodge82 give me. I'll tie it round my neck."
"That's the boys," Billy told himself. "I've gotta move fast."
Aloud he urged: "Come on, Anse. Get Out an' pile into my bed. I ain't scared to sleep in yours, not a bit. Besides," he added, "it'll save you a canin' from Ma."
"How will it, I'd like to know?"
"Why this way. Ma'll come creepin' up here in the dark, when she thinks we're asleep an' she'll come straight to this—your bed. She'll turn down the clothes an' give me a slash85 or two, thinkin' it's you. I'll let her baste86 me some—then I'll speak to her. She'll be so surprised she'll ferget all about whalin' you. She's that way, you know. Like as not she'll laugh to think she basted87 me—an' she'll be good-natured. You needn't worry any about a lickin', Anse."
"Well, I'll take a chance, Bill."
Anson got out of bed, his white legs gleaming in the yellow lamp-light as he tiptoed softly across to Billy's cot and lay down.
Billy blew out the lamp and went through the motions of undressing. He removed one shoe, let it fall on the floor, waited an interval88 and let the same shoe fall again. Then he put it back on. By and by he lay down and gave a long, weary sigh. Then he held his breath and listened.
Below his window sounded a whippoorwill's call. From the opposite side of the room came the long, regular snores of Anson. Billy sat up in bed and started to remove the tacks89 from the window screen.
Something fell with a thud against the wall outside, and brushed against the boards. A cat mewed directly beneath the window. Gently Billy rolled the bed quilts into an oblong shape resembling a human form, then silently made his way out of the window.
His feet struck the top round of a ladder. A moment more and he was crouching90 in the shadow of the wall, two shadowy forms squatting91 beside him.
"All hunky?" a voice whispered in his ear.
"All hunky," Billy whispered back.
"Then come on."
But Billy plucked at the speaker's sleeve. "Wait a minute, Fatty," he urged. "Anson's up there asleep, an' he's goin' to have a wakin' nightmare in about four seconds. I jest heard Ma goin' up."
Silence, deep and brooding, fell. Then suddenly from the loft came a long wail, followed by a succession of shorter gasps and gulps92, and above the swish of a hickory ram-rod a woman's voice exclaiming angrily.
"Now let's get while the gettin's good," whispered Billy; and the three crept off into the shadows.
Down through the night-enshrouded woods the boys made their way noiselessly, Billy leading, Walter Watland, nicknamed Fatty on account of his size, close behind him and Maurice Keeler, Billy's sworn chum and confidant, bringing up the rear. Occasionally a soft-winged owl fluttered up from its kill, with a muffled "who-who." Once a heavy object plunged94 from the trail with a snort, and the boys felt the flesh along their spines95 creeping. They kept on without so much as a word, crossing a swift creek96 on a fallen tree, holding to its bank and making a detour97 into the woods to avoid passing close to a dilapidated log cabin which in the moonlight bore evidence of having fallen into disuse. As they skirted the heavy thicket98 of pines, which even in the summer night's stillness sighed low and mournfully, the leader halted suddenly and a low exclamation99 fell from his lips.
"Look!" he whispered. "Look! There's a light in the ha'nted house."
His companions crept forward and peered through the trees. Sure enough from the one unglazed window of the old building came the twinkle of a light, which bobbed about in weird, uncertain fashion.
"Old Scroggie's ghost huntin' fer the lost money," whispered Walter, "Oh, gosh! let's leg it!'
"Leg nuthin'!" Billy removed his hand from his trousers-pocket and waved something before two pairs of fear-widened eyes.
"'No ghost kin harm where lies this charm,'" he recited solemnly. "Now if you fellers feel like beatin' it, why beat it; but so long as I'm grabbin' onto this left hind59 foot of a graveyard100 rabbit I don't run away from no ghost—not even old man Scroggie's."
"That's all right fer you, Bill," returned Walter, "but what's goin' t' happen t' Maurice an' me, supposin' that ghost takes a notion to gallop26 this way? That's what I want'a know!"
Billy turned upon him. "Say, Fatty, haven't I told you that this here charm protects everybody with me?" he asked cuttingly.
"There's never been a ghost that ever roamed nights been able to get near it. You kin ask Tom Dodge er any of the other Injuns if there has."
"Oh it might lay an Injun ghost," said the unreasonable101 Fatty, "but how about a white man's? How about old man Scroggie's, fer instance? You know yourself, Bill, old man Scroggie was a tartar. Nobody ever fooled him while he was alive an' nobody need try now he's dead. If he wants to come back here an' snoop round lookin' fer the money he buried an' forgot where, it's his own funeral. I'm fer not mixin' up in this thing any—"
"Keep still!" cautioned Billy, "an' look yonder! See it?"
He pointed102 through the trees to an open glade in the grove. The full moon, riding high in the sky, threw her light fair upon the fern-sown sod; across the glade a white object was moving—drifting straight toward the watchers. Billy, tightly gripping his rabbit's foot charm in one sweaty hand and a rough-barked sapling in the other, felt Walter's hands clutching his shoulders.
"Oh Jerusalem!" groaned103 the terrified Fatty, "It's the ghost! Look, it's sheddin' blue grave-mist! Fer the love of Mike let's git out'a this!"
"Wait," gulped104 Billy, but it was plain to be seen he was wavering. His feet were getting uneasy, his toes fairly biting holes through his socks in their eagerness to tear up the sward. But as leader it would never do for him to show the white feather.
The approaching terror had drifted into the shadow again. Suddenly, so near that it fairly seemed to scorch105 the frowsy top of the sapling to which he was hanging, a weird blue light twisted upward almost in Billy's eyes. At the same moment a tiny hoot-owl, sleeping off its early evening's feed in the cedar106 close beside the boys, woke up and gave a ghostly cry. It was too much for overstrained nerves to stand. Billy felt Fatty's form quiver and leap even before his agonized107 howl fell on his ears—a cry which he and Maurice may have echoed, for all he knew.
They were fully24 a mile away from the place of terror before sheer exhaustion108 forced them to abate109 their wild speed and tumble in a heap beneath a big elm tree, along the trail of the forest.
For a time they lay gasping110 and quivering. Maurice Keeler was the first to speak. "Say, Bill," he shivered, "is it light enough fer you to see if the hair is scorched111 off one side o' my head? That—that ghost's breath shot blue flame square in my face."
"It grabbed me in its bony fingers," whispered Fatty. "Gosh, it tore the sleeve fair out'a my shirt. Look!" And to prove the truth of his statement he lifted a fat arm to which adhered a tattered112 sleeve.
Billy sat up and surveyed his companions with disgust.
"A nice pair of scare-babies you two are," he said, scathingly. "A great pair you are to help me find old Scroggie's will an' money. Why, say, if you'd only kept your nerve a little, that ghost would'a led us right to the spot, most likely; but 'stead o' that you take to your heels at first sight of it. Say! I thought you both had more sand."
Maurice squirmed uncomfortably. "Now look here, Bill," he protested, "Fatty an' me wasn't any scarter than you was, yourself. Who made the first jump, I want'a know; who?"
"You did," Maurice affirmed. "An' you grabbed Fatty by the arm an' pulled his shirt sleeve out. I saw you. And you can't say you didn't run neither, else how did you get here same time as Fatty an' me?"
"Well, I didn't run, but I own I follered you," compromised Billy. "There wasn't anythin' else I could do, was there? How did I know what you two scared rabbits ud do? You might'a run plumb into Lake Erie an' got drownded, you was so scared. Somebody's had to keep his head," he said airily.
"Well I kept mine by havin' a good pair of legs," groaned Fatty. "I'm not denyin' that. And by gravy114, if they had been good enough fer a thousand miles I'd've let 'em go the limit. Scared! Oh yowlin' wildcats! I'll see ghosts an' smell brimstone the rest o' my life."
"What's gone?" asked his companions in a breath.
Billy was feeling frantically115 in his pockets. "My rabbit foot charm," he groaned. "I fell over a log an' it must'a slipped out'a my pocket."
"You had it in your hand when th' ghost poked116 its blue tongue in our faces," affirmed Maurice. "I saw it."
"You throwed somethin' at the ghost afore you howled an' run," Fatty stated. "Maybe it was the rabbit foot?"
Billy turned on him. "If you want'a make fun of a charm, why all right, go ahead," he said coldly. "Only I know I wouldn't do it, not if I wanted it to save me from a ghost, anyway."
Maurice looked frightened. "I wasn't pokin' fun at the charm, Bill, cross my heart, I wasn't," he said earnestly.
"All right then, see that you don't. Now, see here, I'll tell you somethin'. I did throw my rabbit's foot charm but that was to keep that ghost from follerin'. Maybe you two didn't hear it snort when it got to that charm an' tried to pass it, so's to catch up to us; but I heard it. Oh say, but wouldn't it be mad though?"
"An' that's why you throwed it," exclaimed the admiring Maurice. "Gosh, nobody else would'a thought of that."
"Nobody," echoed Fatty, "nobody but Bill."
"Well, somebody has to think in a case o' that kind," admitted Billy, "an' think quick. It was up to me to save you, an' I did the only thing I could think of right then."
Just here the whistle of bob-white sounded from a little distance along the trail.
"That's Elgin Scraff and Tom Holt comin' to look fer us," cried Maurice.
"Answer 'em," said Billy.
Maurice puckered118 up his lips and gave an answering call. It was returned almost immediately. A moment later two more boys came into the moonlight.
"We wondered what kept you fellers, so came lookin' fer you," spoke Tom Holt as they came up. "Thought you'd be comin' by the tamarack swamp trail, an' we stuck around there fer quite a while, waitin'. Then Elgin said maybe you had come the ha'nted house way, so we struck through the bush an' tried to pick up your trail. Once we thought we saw the ghost, but it turned out to be old Ringold's white yearlin' steer120. It had rubbed up ag'inst some will-o-the-wisp fungus121 an' it fair showered sparks of blue fire. If we hadn't heered it bawlin' we'd have run sure."
Somewhere behind him Billy heard a giggle122, which was immediately suppressed as he turned and looked over his shoulder.
"Yep," he replied, "we saw that steer, too. We've been waitin' here, hopin' we'd hear your whistle. I wonder what time it's gettin' to be?"
Tom Holt, the proud possessor of a watch, consulted it. "Ten twelve an' a half," he answered, holding the dial to the moon-light. "Sandtown'll be sound asleep. Come on, let's go down to the lake an' make a haul."
"I s'pose we might be goin'," said Billy. "All right, fellers, come along."
Arriving at the lake the boys learned after careful reconnoitering that everything was clear for immediate119 action. Not a light glimmered123 from the homes of the fishermen, to show that they were awake and vigilant124.
The white-fish run was on and when the boys, launching the big flat-bottomed fish boat, carefully cast and drew in the long seine it held more great gleaming fish than they knew how to dispose of.
"Only one thing to do," reasoned Billy, "take what we want an' let the rest go."
And this they did. When they left the beach the moon was low above the Point pines, the draw-seine was back in its place on the big reel and there was nothing to show the lake fishermen that the Scotia Fish Supply Company had been operating on their grounds.
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1
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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2
waddled
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
scurry
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| vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马 | |
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4
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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5
winsome
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| n.迷人的，漂亮的 | |
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6
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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7
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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8
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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9
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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10
wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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11
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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12
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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13
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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14
kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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15
averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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16
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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17
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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19
miser
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| n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly) | |
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20
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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21
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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23
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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24
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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25
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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26
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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27
asthma
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| n.气喘病，哮喘病 | |
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28
flopped
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| v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅 | |
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29
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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31
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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32
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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33
sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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34
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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35
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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36
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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37
spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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38
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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39
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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40
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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41
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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42
densely
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| ad.密集地；浓厚地 | |
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43
silhouetted
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| 显出轮廓的，显示影像的 | |
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44
loon
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| n.狂人 | |
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45
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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46
hoot
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| n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭 | |
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47
foraging
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| v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西） | |
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48
shimmered
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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50
infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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51
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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52
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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53
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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54
sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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55
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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56
whittle
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| v.削（木头），削减；n.屠刀 | |
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57
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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58
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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59
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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60
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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61
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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62
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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63
romping
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| adj.嬉戏喧闹的，乱蹦乱闹的v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的现在分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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64
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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65
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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66
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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67
caning
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| n.鞭打 | |
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68
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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69
gasps
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| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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70
rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
gorilla
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| n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手 | |
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72
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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73
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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74
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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75
plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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76
hazily
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| ad. vaguely, not clear | |
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77
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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78
gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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79
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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80
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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81
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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82
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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83
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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84
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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85
slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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86
baste
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| v.殴打，公开责骂 | |
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87
basted
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| v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
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88
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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89
tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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90
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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91
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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92
gulps
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| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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93
outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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94
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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95
spines
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| n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 )；脊椎；（动植物的）刺；书脊 | |
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96
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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97
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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98
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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99
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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100
graveyard
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| n.坟场 | |
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101
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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102
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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103
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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104
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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105
scorch
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| v.烧焦，烤焦；高速疾驶；n.烧焦处，焦痕 | |
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106
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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107
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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108
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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109
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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110
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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111
scorched
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| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
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112
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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113
glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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114
gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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115
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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116
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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117
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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119
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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120
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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121
fungus
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| n.真菌，真菌类植物 | |
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122
giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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123
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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