Part 21 (1/2)
”Do you think the story about the lost channel had anything to do with his sudden departure?” asked Clay.
”Yes, sir. Yes, sir,” was the reply. ”He didn't tell me what he suspected or feared, but he hurried away to find out what was going on just the same. And he hurried away right soon.”
”Is he in any way interested in the Fontenelle charter?” asked Clay.
”Interested?” repeated the other. ”I should say he was! Why, he's the lawyer for all of us fellows who will be turned off our farms if the charter should be found and sustained.”
”I see,” said Clay, ”I see!”
”Now,” whispered Jule, giving Clay a nudge in the side, ”we'll find out who the disguised man was. It might have been this Lawyer Martin.”
”What kind of a looking man is Mr. Martin?” asked Clay.
”Mighty nice looking fellow,” was the reply. ”Shows breeding and culture all the way through, just like a thoroughbred horse shows what he's got in him. His face is as white as a woman's and his eyes are as clear as a girl's!
”He neither drinks nor smokes, and he is about the best play actor you ever saw on the stage. Put a river man's rig on him and he looks like a river man.
”Dress him up like a preacher, and you'd think he had the bible by heart. He's been in our schoolhouse many a time on his trips here, showing the boys and girls how to conduct a commencement exhibition.
Oh, he's mighty popular all along the river!”
Another nudge and whisper from Jule.
”Blonde or black?” the boy suggested.
”I think I know the man,” Clay went on, following the lead again. ”He has very black eyes, hasn't he? And a nose with a little hump on it, and a wide, straight mouth and thin lips.”
”No, sir. No, sir,” was the reply. ”He's got light hair and blue eyes, and a straight nose, and a mouth that isn't wide nor straight. Mighty handsome man, is Lawyer Martin. We all like him up here!”
”And you will lose your farm if this charter is found and sustained?”
asked Clay. ”You and many of your neighbors?”
”That's what they say,” replied the other, ”though, of course, it will depend upon what young Fontenelle says about it.”
”The courts might not sustain the charter,” suggested Clay.
”Oh well, we're not worrying about it,” was the reply. ”We're leaving the whole case to Lawyer Martin.”
As the night advanced the residents left the campfire and returned to their homes, while the boys sought their bunks on board the _Rambler_.
”What was it some one said about a small world?” asked Clay. ”Who was it that said that a face once seen was sure to cross our paths in future years? Was it the same man who said that a note of music once struck revolves around the earth for countless millions of years, never ceasing, never reaching mortal ears, but making its way through s.p.a.ce forever?”
”Hold on!” Alex cried. ”Come down from the stars if you want to talk to us.”
”Well,” Clay went on, ”every person we have met at our stopping-places has been seen or heard of at the next stopping-place. We meet a disguised man on the street at Montreal. We come to a campfire by the riverside, miles above the city, to learn why he was disguised, and why he was following us. As we have said several times lately, this is a pretty small world. The man you meet to-day may walk in your path forever!”
The boys were astir early in the morning. They cooked breakfast on the sh.o.r.e, watched by inquisitive boys and girls, and then proceeded upstream. They pa.s.sed beautiful Lake St. Frances long before noon, and just as night fell tied up at a lower pier at Ogdensburg. As soon as supper had been eaten, Alex and Captain Joe started away together.
”Here, where are you boys going?” asked Clay. ”I say boys because Captain Joe has more sense than Alex,” he added, turning to the others. ”At least Captain Joe doesn't get lost very often.”
”Right over here on the river front,” Alex replied, ”is where the Rutland Transit Company boats dock. Those boats are fresh from Chicago, and I'm going over to see if I can get a drink of Lake Michigan water!”