Edmund Pendleton

“ Some daring voice shouts:
"Queen Bess! Queen Bess!"
"She is fresh as a daisy!" mutters some one in the box adjoining Jay Gardiner's.
White to the lips, Sally Pendleton sits and watches, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
The babble of voices is so deafening that she can not hear.
Again the gallant steeds are specks in the distance. Now they pass the curve, and are on the home-stretch, dashing swiftly to the finish.
Nearer and nearer sounds the thunder of their oncoming hoofs. Ten thousand people grow mad with excitement as they dash on. ”

“ They wondered that such a man, who looked brave if he was not, should be a hiding slacker.
Meanwhile July had been busy frying thin strips of fresh venison steak, and now announced that supper was ready. The slackers thereupon [Pg 62] took their places round the fire, and the boys had abundant opportunity to study the faces of all—an inspection that, except in one or two instances, found little that was reassuring. Ted and Hubert were politely invited by Buck to join in the feast, but, having already eaten their fill, accepted only a cup of coffee. ”

“ Not for a moment do I now believe in his lapsed memory story. I cannot deny, however, that his air is one of repentance and, as Dibdin has said, who in this world is so hard but he wouldn't give a fellow man a second chance?
Jim Pendleton, now that he has been to a New York tailor's, appears as impressive and debonair as ever. He must be in the middle forties and he is not ill-looking. It is chiefly his eyes that seem changed to me. Do what I will, I cannot look at them. There is a certain disturbing obliqueness about his gaze that makes me turn mine away in a sort of vicarious shame. ”

“ The boys spent most of the day hunting in the woods about the farm, but came home disappointed, having seen few quail or doves and bagged practically nothing.
"To-morrow we'll take a look at the Okefinokee and hunt along the edge of it," proposed Ted at supper.
Hubert agreed, adding, as "Aunt" Clarissa offered them more hot waffles: "And if we get [Pg 24] tired of that, we'll go to town and see Cousin Jim."
When they were about to start off next morning Hubert critically called attention to the fact that Ted was still dressed in his khaki. "Are you going to wear that all the time?" he asked. ”

“ There wasn’t a soul to be seen.
“They’ve all gone to church,” said Pendleton.
This struck Vincelle as grossly inhospitable, someone should have been there to attend to him. But a nice little servant brought them an excellent breakfast in the dining room and after it they sat comfortably in front of the fire, enjoying cigars from an open box on the sideboard.
“As soon as they come back, we’ll go,” said Pendleton. And they did so. Mrs. Mason offered them the use of the family omnibus in which they had returned from church, but Pendleton said they’d rather walk. ”

“ What sort of a stone would a politician be most likely to choose?”
Mrs. Pendleton laughed. “A good idea. If couleur de rose be synonymous with conceit, then I think the ruby must have come from Mr. Trent.”
“I am sure of it. And as your author is always in the dumps, I am certain he takes naturally to the sapphire.”
“But the emerald—”
“Is emblematic of your deluded Teddy. The solitaire therefore falls naturally to Mr. Severance. Well, now that you have got through the first interviews in safety, what are you going to do next?” ”

“ Templin nodded. "Sure."
"Why?"
"The Tunpeshans know why we're here. We've dropped enough hints along those lines. But nobody has mentioned Pendleton; nobody has volunteered any information about him. And he was an attache here for three years. Didn't anybody know him during that time? We've let slip a few discreet statements that we would like to talk to Pendleton's friends, yet nobody's come around. Apparently, in all the three years he was here, Pendleton didn't make any friends. And that's a little hard to believe. ”

“ Ted bounded softly back to the bed and, bending down, shook Hubert.
"Quit pushin' me," complained Hubert, still half asleep.
"Hush!" whispered Ted warningly. "Look at me! Listen, and don't make a noise. Some of the slackers are out there!"
Hubert's rebelliousness disappeared on the instant, and he stared at his cousin in silent fright. Then he, too, heard Jackson's voice, whereupon he started up, looking wildly about, as if for some means of escape.
Without waiting to say more Ted hurried back to his peep-hole.
"Can't we slip out and run?" whispered Hubert as soon as he reached Ted's side. ”

“ It was now midday, and before attacking the tree, the party sat down on the wiregrass and ate the lunch which July had prepared. Then James and Carter rose and vigorously plied their axes [Pg 154] on opposite sides of the tree. Scarcely had the chips begun to fly when Buck turned to Ted and said:
"If you boys want to, you kin take your guns and run around for a little hunt while we're cuttin' the tree and getherin' the honey." ”

“ Both Louise and Sally were in exuberant spirits.
It was the first race which they had ever attended, and, girl-like, they were dying with curiosity to see what it would be like.
"Which horse have you picked for the winner?" asked Mr. Pendleton, leaning over and addressing Jay.
"Either General or Robin Adair. Both seem to stand an equal chance. Well, I declare!" exclaimed Gardiner, in the same breath, "if there isn't Queen Bess! It's laughable to see her entered for the race. She's very speedy, but she isn't game. ”

“ You saw him?” cried Pendlam.
“Yes, and remember distinctly seeing him at least twice before; once as the Practical Organizer of the Initial Association of Free Disciples, and once as the self-appointed castigator of unfortunate temperance missionaries.“
“You are pleased to be sarcastic,” said Pendlam, mildly. “He is a very useful man to us. I welcome his visits to my house; for I consider his magnetism highly beneficial to Susan.”
“Then, by all the gods at once, you wrong me!” I said. “If that man’s magnetism is what she needs, to suppose that mine is, also, is an insult. ”

“ After all, there aren't many trains, anyway, that they can come on, you know."
"Hm-m, I know," said John Pendleton. "Jim, I admire your nerve, but not your judgment. I'm glad you're going to follow your nerve and not your judgment, however—and I wish you good luck."
"Thank you, sir," smiled the young man dolefully. "I need 'em—your good wishes—all right, all right, as Nancy says." ”

“ We humans are not so much whited sepulchers as masked and silent volcanoes.
And Jim Pendleton—what is he thinking, feeling? He is suave, quiet, controlled. He is very gentle with them all, and particularly soft-spoken with Alicia. He has taken to consulting and confabulating with her touching the characteristics and the needs of the children. At times it seems to me that I cannot bear it and once at least I have called her and spoken harshly to her, and charged her with having mislaid a volume of Book Prices Current.
How childish on my part! But my nerves are not what once they were. ”

“ As the three men and the boys were climbing [Pg 292] the ladder, July quietly disappeared. Stealing into the bushes bent double, he skirted the clearing, treading very softly. Five minutes later he lay in the brush within earshot of the four slackers who still stood in consultation. [Pg 293]
XXIII TED went to bed a very happy boy, seeing nothing but the wonderful achievement of his fond dream. Hubert alone noted that the three men put their guns within reach of their hands when they lay down, and he alone heard Al Peters whisper:
"What if them fellows want to make trouble?" ”

“ He would not tell him why, even if Don inquired. So, with everything almost within his grasp, Pendleton would go. Of course, he might land another place; but it was no easy thing to find the second opportunity, having failed in the first.
Yet this was all so unnecessary. Mr. Pendleton had in him everything Farnsworth wanted. If the latter could have heard him talk as she had heard him talk, he would have known this. Farnsworth ought to send him out of the office––let him get among men where he could talk. And that would come only if Mr. Pendleton could hold on here long enough. ”

“ He started in that direction and saw the man stoop beside Conrad’s mare, Brown Betty.
“Hello, pard! Where’s Curt?” Pendleton called loudly. The man straightened up quickly, and put away a knife. He looked at the curious figure coming toward him, and burst into a loud guffaw. “Gee whillikens, stranger! where’d you drop from?” he shouted back.
Pendleton explained, and asked the other to help him find his saddle-bags. They were discovered in the chuck-wagon, and the invalid offered his flask, with a cordial admonition to “drink hearty, pard.” ”

“ Just think how much better off we are than some people. Think of our soldiers in the trenches at night in bad weather. In some ways we are as uncomfortable, but think how much safer we are. There are no Germans to sneak poison-gas over on us in the dark."
"There are no Germans, but there are moccasins," said Hubert dolefully.
"I'll just bet that was the only one on this island," Ted declared stoutly, although he feared there were at least a dozen. "Don't think about them. Think of what we are going to do tomorrow, and we are going to get out of this swamp—or pretty nearly. ”

“ James wid dat cut face. You better look out for him. You better not move a foot till 'way late 'bout two o'clock."
Hubert fell asleep soon after they had lain down on their bed of moss in the corner of the [Pg 196] loft, but Ted lay awake for hours, listening and waiting. He had been rendered the more anxious by a suggestion that was made as the slackers were taking off their shoes and preparing to lie down.
"Don't you reckon we'd better tie them boys?" proposed Sweet Jackson.
"Oh, no," answered the more humane Jenkins. "They've had their lesson." ”

“ I've seen preachers that didn't live up to ther preachin' before to-day."
Ted broke the silence that followed.
"I confessed I was wrong the other time," he said, "but I thought this was different. We could have shot the mother, but we didn't. As for the [Pg 163] cub, even if we can't tame it it can be kept until it is needed for food. Do you think it can be tamed, Mr. Hardy?"
"Don't worry, kid; you're all right, whether you can tame it or not," said Buck, after a steady look at Sweet Jackson that produced a noticeably sobering effect. ”

“ Pendleton glanced at her wrist watch. “It’s not much past eight.”
“Why not leave it until the morning?” said her husband, with a lingering glance at the cheery glow of the log-fire in the lounge. “It’s a beast of a night to be out. Hark to the wind!”
“If it is to be settled, it must be settled to-night,” said Mrs. Pendleton decisively. “There’ll be no time in the morning for anything, if we are to catch the ten o’clock train for London. Beside, Austin would see us if we went there in daylight, and I do not want him to know anything about it—he would only try and put obstacles in our way.” ”

“ Ted followed readily enough, for, though older, he was no heavier than Hubert, and was even more active; but he lingered behind to watch and softly encourage July. Because of his far greater weight and the bending of the branches beneath him, the negro might well hesitate and move cautiously. He soon saw that his only hope was in a bold leap into the branches of the neighboring tree, trusting to his quick, firm grasp to arrest his descent to the ground. ”

“ Pendleton’s mind awoke to a belated realization of the scandal which would fasten on Sisily and her birth if Robert succeeded in establishing his claim to the title. A peer of the realm with an illegitimate, disinherited daughter! The story would be pounced upon by a sensational press, avid for precisely such topics. In imagination Mrs. Pendleton saw the flaming headlines, the photographs, and the highly spiced reports in which every detail of her brother’s private life was laid bare for a million curious eyes. ”

“ Isn't it wonderful how things come out all right? And I'm always expecting it, too. In the very [Pg 316] worst times in the swamp I told Hubert we'd get out of it and even be glad of what we'd gone through. And now I'm expecting, I'm sure of, the greatest thing of all—our victory over the Germans!"
An hour later, just as the white front of the Ridgway house showed through the trees from afar, Judge Ridgway and Ted joined the others, and, looking around upon all his friends, the boy exclaimed:
"Won't we have a party to-night!" ”

“ If only they had not been such cowards and sleepyheads!
"Don't hurt them boys! You can't blame 'em for tryin' to get away," called Mitch' Jenkins sharply, as Sweet Jackson began kicking July to wake him.
Ted hurriedly wakened Hubert and they both rose to their feet, turning away their indignant eyes from the severe kicking and cuffing bestowed upon July before he was allowed to rise.
"Thought you'd give us the slip along with them boys, did you?" shouted Sweet. "I'll teach you to give notice before you quit yer job."
"He's got a right to go home and so have we," cried Ted indignantly. ”

“ But during all the journey she had been intensely bored; more, she was deeply provoked, and in that state of mind where everything jars and trifles loom as mountains. Pendleton's silly chatter seemed unendurable; she resented his nonsense almost as if it were an insult thrown at the sacredness of the battlefield. She hated his story of the cucumbers and cream. When the landlord told them they would have half an hour to wait before luncheon, she walked to the farthest end of the veranda, and stood, looking down the little narrow street. ”