Harry Castlemon

“ Oscar, knowing that somebody was coming, hurried to the door to see who it was, and discovered the hound following at the heels of a little dried-up man, who was coming around the house toward the shop. It was the same man he and Sam Hynes had found clinging to the rudder of the wrecked sail-boat.
Oscar knew him at once, for he still wore Sam's cap on his head.
"Come here, Bugle!" shouted Oscar. "Don't be afraid of him, sir. He is friendly, even to strangers." ”

“ We'll hide our guns in the barn, and walk into the house as we do every night when we come from school."
"I wish I needn't go home at all," said Leon spitefully. "I could have enjoyed myself to-day if I hadn't been continually haunted by the fear that something is going to happen. I declare, it is growing dark already. What time is it?"
"Three o'clock," replied Frank, consulting his watch.
"Is it as late as that?" cried Leon, jumping to his feet. "Where has the day gone? We mustn't stay here a minute longer. ”

“ Sam walked over to the drawer of the work-bench and opened it, standing with his back toward Oscar.
"I know now what that rascal came here for," said he, in a scarcely audible whisper, "and I want you for a witness."
"What's that?" asked Miles, in his ordinary tone of voice, as his companion raised a sheet of sand-paper, and brought to light the article Stuart had placed there a few minutes before.
"Say not a word," cautioned Sam, "but come with me and I'll tell you all about it."
"Don't you fellows know that it is very rude to whisper in the presence of a third party?" said Oscar gravely. ”

“ But when I ask a man for work, and he wants to know why I was discharged, what shall I say? That's what hurts me."
"Here you are, Oscar!" exclaimed a cheery voice, breaking in upon his meditations. "It is easier riding than walking. Jump in."
An elegant top-buggy, drawn by a stylish, high-stepping horse, dashed up beside the boy, and the gentleman who was driving drew his reins with one hand, while with the other he threw back the heavy lap-robe so that the boy could get in. It was Mr. Parker—Leon's father.
"I am obliged to you, but I believe I would rather walk," was Oscar's reply. ”

“ We got into this trouble together, and we'll stick to each other until we are safely out of it."
"I've just thought of something," said Leon suddenly. "How are we going to get an excuse to-morrow? You can't write one, for the professor has found out through that little snipe, Miles Jackson, that we ran away."
"We'll not say a word about it," replied his cousin. "If your father feels like giving us an excuse, all right; if he doesn't we'll go without one."
Frank spoke as though he had no interest in the matter, but it troubled him not a little. ”

“ Go down and steal that bank-book, and be quick about it, for it is almost school-time."
"I am almost afraid to do it," answered Leon. "Mother may have occasion to go to that bureau drawer some time during the day, and what would become of us if she should miss the book and make inquiries about it? The risk is too great. Whenever I steal that book, we must draw the money and get out of town without an hour's delay."
"Now, how in the world are we going to do that?" questioned Frank impatiently. "We can't walk out of town with our guns and carpet-bags in broad daylight. ”

“ Save the rest of my hens by knocking that there feller over, and I'll give you as good a dinner as you ever eat in a farmhouse."
"I'll try him on Monday, if nothing happens to keep me at home; but if he can get away from such hunters as I know your boys to be, no doubt he will get away from me, too. Do you know anything about his runways?"
"What's them?" asked Mr. Bacon.
"Why, a fox has regular courses which he always follows when he is started by a hound, and they are just as plain to him, and to a hunter who knows the country and understands the habits of the animal, as this road is to you. ”

“ The dinner was well worth eating, as all Sam's dinners were; and when ample justice had been done to it, Oscar brought up the ducks that were in the boat and placed them with those that were piled behind the blind.
"Sam," said he, when he had counted them, "we've got just forty-two."
"A pretty good day's work," replied Sam. "I want six of them. You take the rest and ship them to Yarmouth."
"I guess not," answered Oscar promptly. "We'll divide, as we have always done. ”

“ At the end of half an hour—it seemed an age to the impatient runaway—a door opened in the commandant's quarters, voices sounded in the hall, and presently the visitor came out, accompanied by the colonel, the post surgeon, and several subordinate officers.
They walked leisurely down the path, conversing gayly, and Leon's heart seemed to stop beating when he heard the colonel say:
"Mr. Preston, when you write to the professor, give him my kindest regards, and assure him that I will do all in my power to assist you. Hallo, here!" ”

“ Off the head of Squaw Island, he discovered a sail-boat, which was acting in a very singular manner.
The wind was blowing straight up the river, and it would have been no trouble at all for one who understood his business to make rapid headway against the current. But it soon became plain to Oscar and Sam, both of whom were as good sailors as boys ever get to be who have had no opportunity to try their skill on deep water, that the man who was seated at the helm of the sail-boat did not understand his business. ”

“ This is the position the grouse always assumes when it is sitting in a tree and sees a hunter approaching. It draws itself up so stiffly, and remains so motionless, that the sportsman often mistakes it for a part of the limb on which it is sitting, and passes on without trying a shot at it. ”

“ But it is after nine o'clock, and I ought to be in bed and fast asleep. Some of the folks might come out here to look for me."
"I know they might, but they won't. Now, what have you been doing with that ball-club? I know you have been up to something, for your face got as red as a beet when Mr. Chamberlain spoke about it."
"I never saw so obstinate and persistent a fellow as you are when you once get your mind set on a thing," said Sam, leaning his elbow on the fence, and trying to look like a boy who was very badly persecuted. ”

“ We were not put here in this world to quarrel with everybody who doesn't like us. If we did that, we'd have time for little else. You are not going?" said Oscar, as Sam started for the door, with Miles close at his heels. ”

“ There is only one species in the United States, and that is the pronghorn of our Western plains. If you should go out there to hunt him, you would see no end of sport, Oscar, and, I suppose, no end of hard times. I hope you will not expect to find it all plain sailing, simply because you have stepped into an agreeable and profitable situation. Ursus Americanus is the American black bear; Ursus horribilis—you mustn't have anything to do with him—that's the grizzly bear, the most dangerous and dreaded animal in the country. ”

“ It was now Oscar's turn to laugh.
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"I can put a grouse in the tree," said he; "but who ever heard of a snipe or wood-cock in such a situation? Those birds are not perchers or climbers; they are waders, and live wholly on the ground."
"Oh! ah!" said Mr. Jackson, settling back in his chair with an air which said that Oscar had not made matters much clearer to him by his explanation. "But I'll tell you what's a fact," he added, straightening up again as a bright idea struck him—"I know I have seen quails in trees." ”

“ They sat at the window and talked about the glorious times they expected to have when they reached the plains, and when Mr. Parker and Mr. Fuller went out of the gate and started for the village, Frank took occasion to comment upon it.
"They are free to go and come as they please," said he, with no little show of temper, "and here we are shut up like a couple of thieves."
"You are not shut up," said Leon. "Your father didn't tell you to stay in." ”

“ Oscar was a young athlete, even if he was nothing but a market-shooter. Although he was a few months younger than Leon, he was a good deal larger and stronger, and it would have been no trouble at all for him to take Leon by the collar with one hand and Frank with the other, and give them both a hearty shaking. ”

“ The trader told me so. He wouldn't let me stay about where he was."
Oscar and the surgeon looked at each other in surprise, and the latter said:
"Why, my young friend, you're homesick. There's nothing else the matter with you."
"But that's bad enough," said Leon, who was, nevertheless, greatly encouraged. "I shall never see my home again."
"Yes, you will," exclaimed Oscar. "You can start to-morrow, if you are strong enough to sit on a stage-coach." ”

“ Sam greeted it with a series of frightful yells, flourishing it in triumph over his head, then rubbed it briskly with an oiled rag, which he drew from his game-bag, all the while making running comments upon the general appearance of the weapon, and finally he passed it over to his companion.
[Pg 201]
"Isn't it a beauty?" cried Oscar, holding it off at arm's length and giving it a good looking over. "If it shoots as well as it looks, it is certainly a valuable gun. We have saved somebody a hundred and fifty dollars." ”

“ Contrary to Oscar's predictions, the breeze which had so suddenly sprung up, and driven off the fog, continued to blow steadily for three hours.
Within twenty minutes after leaving Mr. Peck's wharf they reached the island, but they did not add a single duck to their bag on the way. They saw plenty of birds, but every flock flew wild.
Oscar at once put Sam and his double-barrel on shore, and then pulled back into the stream a short distance, to set out his decoys. ”

“ Of course, Oscar took the nearer way, for his experience had taught him that in foxhunting, when one is sometimes obliged to run [Pg 204] a mile or two through a thick wood in order to reach a runway before the game passes, every step counts.
Bugle, much to his disgust, was kept at heel all the way, for his master's heart was set upon securing a black fox, and he had no time to waste with hares, grouse, or common red foxes.
Just as the sun was rising, the young hunter came to a standstill upon the brink of a high bluff, and saw below him the "hollow" in which Mr. Bacon's farm was situated. ”

“ Smith," said Sam, when there was a little pause in the conversation, "we will leave this matter in your hands. I am ready to be a witness at any time, if you decide to prosecute; but I shall not spread any damaging reports about Stuart, and neither will Miles. We don't believe in hitting a person when he's down. We have one favor to ask of you, and that is that you will make Oscar all the amends in your power for the great injustice you have done him." ”

“ I am a pretty good shot with a rifle, and I should try to work myself in somewhere as post-hunter. Others have done it, and I don't see why I couldn't."
"What is a post-hunter?" asked Leon.
"Why, he is a man whose business it is to keep the garrison supplied with fresh meat. If the soldiers go out on an expedition to explore the country or hunt Indians, he goes with them and shoots all the game they want to eat. He is regularly employed and paid by the government. If I couldn't get a position like that, I'd hunt buffaloes for their hides. ”

“ You go and get the lunch just as if we were going to school, and then come out to the barn, and you will find me there with the guns."
To this Leon silently assented, and went into the closet after his hunting accoutrements, which he handed over to Frank.
While the latter was slinging the game-bag and the powder- and shot-flasks over his shoulders, Leon opened the door and ran downstairs.
In the hall he met his mother.
"I was just coming to call you," said she. "You boys will be late at school if you do not make haste. Your lunch is all ready." ”

“ He knew very well that the ambitious and high-spirited Oscar was not a market-shooter from choice. He followed the business for the same reason that a good many others follow a business they do not like—because he could find nothing else to do, and he was not the one to stand idly by and see his mother suffer for the want of the necessaries of life.
"Father says he deserves a good deal of credit, and that there isn't one boy in a thousand who would do as well as he has done," thought Leon ”

“ If you do, you know one whom all his teachers like.
"I am glad to see you again, Oscar," said Mr. Chamberlain, as he shook his visitors warmly by the hand and placed chairs for them; "and I must congratulate you on your good fortune. I knew it would come after awhile."
"Thank you, sir," replied Oscar, wondering how the gentleman had heard of it.
"It never does any good to allow ourselves to get discouraged," continued Mr. [Pg 178] Chamberlain, sinking back into his easy-chair. "It is always darkest just before daylight, you know. ”