William Theophilus Nichols

“ The big dog, as heavy and powerful as many a sledge-team leader of the Far North, bolted wildly, yet with a general purpose; and this purpose being to seek asylum from the infernal machine at his heels, he dashed through the gate and toward the house, Step following, willy-nilly, his long legs flying and his long arms going like the arms of a windmill in a gale; while dangling from the chain between dog and boy, the old lantern emitted great volumes of choking smoke of most evil odor. ”

“ Had he been older and more experienced, he might better have understood that little heed is given to an old story when a new story is being told. Tom Orkney, runaway, was an old story; Tom Orkney, joint adventurer with the club, was a new story. Moreover, Little Perrine had been singing his praises, and Sam and his friends were losing no opportunity to proclaim his pluck and grit. So, when school opened after the holidays, Orkney, to his bewilderment, found himself enjoying a degree of favor in curious contrast to the chill reception for which he had nerved himself. ”

“ Their danger was great. In their plight they had to fight a constant temptation to pause over-long in the partly sheltered hollows among the drifts. There was another temptation to close their eyes and burrow deeper in the snow; but always one or the other roused to the fatal peril of yielding. Now it was Sam, and again it was Orkney, who shook off the numbing spell of the storm, and dragged the other from his resting place in the snow.
There could be no turning back. Each understood [350] that they must push on at all hazards. ”

“ And then the Shark chose to advance.
“Sam’s right,” he announced coolly. “This is no place for a scrap. Besides, there’s no reason for one. Orkney, you’re a chump to be peeved at Step for doing you up in Greek, or at me for putting you out at geometry. See here! You’re a pretty good, all-round performer, but you can’t beat specialists at their own specialties. Get that? And there’s no use in being a general sorehead.”
It was eloquent tribute to the Shark’s moral influence that Orkney appeared to be impressed. ”

“ The dog, sacrificing caution to appetite, came within Poke’s reach; whereupon Poke, dropping the meat, caught the hound as he tried to gobble up the bait; deftly slipped the second chain about the animal’s neck, successfully worked the snap at the first attempt; wheeled; whipped out a match; struck it, and lighted a rag protruding like a fuse from the old tin lantern, which had been brought from behind Step’s back, as that youth gave Sam an object lesson.
The kerosene-soaked rag flamed fiercely; almost instantly, dense black smoke began to pour from the holes in the lantern. ”

“ The squall passed, but left a narrowed horizon. The peak of the big hill, which was to have served as a guide-post, had vanished. There was even a good-natured dispute as to the general direction in which it lay. Step, insisting that he was certain of its bearings, set off again, leading in a détour about the grove. Then came a hill, not lofty but so steep that he circled its base. Down upon the squad swept another squall, fiercer than the first. The boys struggled through it, enjoyed a moment’s respite, and again found themselves in the midst of swirling, stinging clouds of icy particles. ”

“ Plainville had had a taste of the big storm—huge drifts still rose in many places—and was ready to give full credit for plucky endurance of the hardships, both of the club’s wanderings to the old Calleck house and of the forced march of Sam and Orkney to the settlements; while the dash of a rescue party to the stone house and its return with the other members of the club, and Lon and the stricken Peter Groche, formed another chapter which caught the public fancy. ”

“ Sam urged.
“Yes; tell us!” chimed in two or three of the others.
Thus encouraged, Lon told his story, and a strange story it was of captive forced to guide captor; of slow and painful plodding through growing drifts; of halts in the lee of wood or hill, while the storm increased, and the wind blew more fiercely, and the cold deepened. After a time he felt sure that Groche, while avoiding the camp, had some other refuge in mind.
“He’s brute enough,” Lon explained, “to have the brute’s instinct for makin’ for a burrow. ”

“ Perhaps Hannibal, Sam’s bull terrier, was first to perceive, if not to understand, the change. Hannibal was a sagacious animal, beyond the follies of puppyhood, but still full of interest in the doings of his master and his friends; fond of a long tramp in their company; and very pleased to doze comfortably in a corner of the club room. ”

“ Sam trudged after him. No doubt Orkney had spoken no more than the truth. The members of the club, tarrying with Lon and Peter Groche, would envy the adventurers. Some of them, Sam feared, might find it hard to forgive the preference he had shown Orkney; but he did not repent his choice. Physically, neither Poke nor the Shark was fit for such a forced march; Step was not a powerful fellow; Herman Boyd and the Trojan were sturdy chaps, with plenty of grit, but somewhat dependent upon good leadership. ”

“ Orkney’s cynical grin was a taunt in itself. “Oh-ho! So that’s your lay, eh? You’re after me because you and your gang are after the hundred? Well, you don’t get either—see?”
Orkney had passed the limits of endurance. Rage seized Sam. To be charged with mercenary motives was more than he could bear. He sprang at Tom, and at the same instant that vigilant youth leaped to meet the attack. There was a furious exchange of blows, each [263] combatant seeking to inflict punishment and making no effort to avoid it. ”

“ He was lying, half in, half out of the bunk. The camp was full of smoke, dense, acrid, stifling. His eyes smarted and his throat was parched and burning. At his side lay Poke, breathing stertorously. Sam made him out by a flickering light, which came from the direction of the cook’s quarters. Beyond him was Step, raised on an elbow and coughing chokingly.
“Fire! Fire!” A startled voice raised the alarm, and others repeated the cry. Men began to stagger by him, stumbling as they went and groping wildly. Then three or four, led by Mr. Kane, charged the other way. ”

“ Dusk was falling, and the choppers began to straggle into the camp. With them came the “yard men,” whose business it is to handle and pile the logs, and the teamsters. Strapping big fellows were most of Kane’s crew, roughly clad for rough work, hard as nails, and hungry as bears. Among the last to arrive was Peter Groche, who slouched into the big room, grunted when his eyes fell upon Lon and the boys, halted for an instant, regarding them evilly, and finally made his way to what appeared to be his especial corner. ”

“ Both Orkney and Sam had heard tales of lives lost in the great blizzard of 1888, and other tales of men perishing in storms by no means so furious or prolonged as that famous tempest. Hardly a winter passed without claiming its victims even in the thickly settled region about Plainville; and though these unfortunates for the most part were thinly clad, poorly nourished tramps or human derelicts, there were not lacking instances of able-bodied men losing their way and succumbing to exposure. ”

“ The Major put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “My boy,” he said very gravely, “you’re dealing with a problem which neither I nor anybody else can solve for you. It is a problem to be settled by law, but the law is that of your own conscience. Now, I submit, the court of conscience is supplemental to the courts of the land, but it is severer in its judgments. The other courts may give you the benefit of a doubt, but hardly the court of conscience. ”

“ Parker smiled a little oddly. “I ask only, Sam, that you do your best to be sure. Often you have to take risks—the practical point is to avoid the unnecessary risks. Hear me through! At sixteen you’re not going to develop the wisdom and foresight of a grown man. I’m not going to demand the impossible. I am going, though, to urge you to profit by the mistakes you’ve made—and that, Sam, is the one best use to make of mistakes.” ”

“ Sam instinctively started forward, and forced a way through the ring. Tom fell back a pace.
“That’s right! Pile on—the whole gang of you!” he shouted.
Step, for his part, was more than ready to accept the challenge; but Sam intervened. Impulse—he was willing enough to fight Orkney—had yielded to sobering second thought. It behooved a young man, intent upon establishing his self-control and common sense, to avoid brawling over a trifle on the public street. Sam’s hand caught Step’s collar. ”

“ What easily might have been an embarrassing situation was dealt with capably by the Safety First Club. Hardly had the jovial Mr. Kane welcomed the belated Sam and demanded how in the world he had happened to stray from the rest of the party and what he had been doing to amuse himself out in the cold; and hardly had Sam explained as nonchalantly as might be that he had chanced to meet a schoolmate, who was serving as cookee to the camp, and had paused for a chat with him, when the door in the partition shutting off the cook’s domain opened, and Orkney appeared. ”

“ Languages he endured as unavoidable subjects [101] of study; but he reveled in equations and demonstrations, made child’s play of the required algebra and geometry—thereby earning his nickname of the “Shark”—and carried on advanced work under the eye of the principal, himself an adept of the mathematical brotherhood. Willy, of course, was destined for scientific courses at college; but meanwhile, tarrying with the junior class, he filled his contemporaries with wonder and admiration. For example, he solved at sight a problem to which Tom Orkney had devoted vain and wearisome hours. ”

“ Sit down, and tell me all about how you pulled Tom Orkney and me out of the pond. The folks won’t tell me half enough.”
Sam drew a chair close to the bed.
“Oh, it isn’t much of a yarn,” he said modestly. “I happened to have a plank, so it was no trick at all.”
Little Perrine smiled. “That’s what you say! Doesn’t match the stories other people tell—and I guess they’re nearer the real truth. Everybody declares you did a star job. Funny, isn’t it, that I don’t remember anything about your part of it? One instant Tom Orkney was grabbing for me, and trying to drag me back, and the next—crash! ”

“ The baby’s troubles were ridiculously like his own, and for a trying second he realized the resemblance. Then he was frowning harder than ever, with mouth drooping still more sulkily.
In sunnier moods Sam Parker was a good-looking boy. Nobody would have called him pretty; he wasn’t of the “pretty” type, being, indeed, rather wholesome and hearty, with plenty of color in his cheeks—and not a few freckles. For a youth who was rapidly adding to his inches, in the process known as getting his growth, he carried himself well ”

“ Tom seemed to find a certain grim consolation in this aspect of the case.
“That’s so. But—but what do you want me to do now?”
“Stand up!” said Sam promptly. “We’ll brush the snow off each other. Then we’ll go back to the camp. You’d better slip in the way you slipped out. I’ll go in at the front door, and tell the fellows you’re working here, and I’ve had a talk with you. Then you’ll happen along naturally. The crowd will be decent.”
Orkney made a grimace. “S’pose I’ll have to see ’em—might as well have it over. But see here, Parker! Mind you, I haven’t promised to go back to Plainville.” ”

“ Poke wagged his head. “There you are! Makes the business all the queerer. Each of them is a sticker, in his own way. And the Major had Groche just where he wanted him. And then, all of a sudden, he let up! What do you make of that, now?”
“Beats me,” Step confessed.
“What’s your notion, Sam?”
Sam did not meet Poke’s inquiring glance. “I think,” he said slowly, “that something must have happened to show the Major that Groche hadn’t shot him.” ”

“ The Shark turned, and deliberately inspected Sam from head to foot. “You could do him up,” he said with cold-blooded calmness.
“Perhaps. That isn’t saying Step could, though. He hasn’t weight enough.”
At this instant Orkney, catching sight of Sam in the background, changed his tactics. He moved away from Step, and lowered his hands.
“So that’s the game, is it?” he taunted. “Keep blustering, but be sure not to hit a fellow till your gang’s here to back you—that’s your way, Step Jones. Had to wait for Sam Parker, didn’t you?” ”

“ Sam had not been home for dinner, Mrs. Parker announced; and now he appeared to have forgotten the supper hour.
“I don’t know what has come over the boy,” she said. “He went out right after breakfast, and nobody but Maggie has seen him since. She says he came in about two o’clock and had lunch; and then went out again. I think you’d better talk to him seriously. He doesn’t understand how important it is to a growing boy to have his meals regularly.”
“Very well; I’ll take him in hand,” said the father.
Mrs. Parker gave a little sigh. “Ah! I feel, sometimes, as if Sam were growing away from me. ”

“ The whole school had a hand.”
“That doesn’t relieve us of responsibility for our part.”
“You’re right, Sam,” said Poke very soberly; for like the others he felt the influence of Sam’s earnestness. “You’re right. We’ve got some responsibility. We were boasting of it the other day, and we can’t crawfish and shirk it now. But what’s the practical thing? What can we do about it?”
“That’s it! What can we do?” echoed Step and the Trojan.
“We can talk, argue,” Sam explained. “We can tell people Orkney has been misjudged. We can spread everywhere the truth about Little Perrine.” ”

“ Indeed, the case promised to go hard with the unpopular Orkney, even if more encouraging tidings were received from those caring for one regarded generally as the victim of his malicious pursuit.
The Shark came hurrying up the walk, carrying a great bundle of books. He nodded at his clubmates, but did not halt. Poke chuckled softly as he passed them.
“There’s cold-blooded science for you!” said he. “Much the Shark cares for a trifling matter of life or death when he’s got a real juicy lot of equations on hand! ”