Part 6 (1/2)

Thad showed signs of intense interest.

”I sort of thought you'd be wanting to cultivate his acquaintance so as to study the chap at closer range, Hugh,” he hastened to say. ”Well, did he entertain you with some accounts of his adventures in different parts of the world, as he promised he'd do if we'd drop around at his new home and see him?”

”He certainly can talk a blue streak, once he gets started,” admitted Hugh, with a little whistle. ”Why, that man would have made a splendid lawyer, if he'd ever had the ambition to try; and as a promoter for land schemes he'd take the cake. But he says he was born with the wanderl.u.s.t in his veins that would not let him rest anywhere for a decent length of time. No sooner would he get settled nicely, and perhaps own some big piece of land, down in Brazil once, or it may have been out in our own West, than along would come that awful yearning to be on the move again; and so, unable to resist, he would sacrifice his property, and get on the jump again.”

”If you could only rely on all he says, Hugh,” admitted the deeply interested Thad, ”he'd be a mighty interesting character; but for one, I firmly believe it's a great big lie; he's never been anywhere but around this country, and that traveling on freight-car beams, and walking the ties.”

”Well,” Hugh went on, ”he certainly has a mighty intimate acquaintance with all sorts of countries, for he can describe things in the most minute way you ever heard. He kept me fairly chained while he was talking of Borneo, Sumatra, Hong Kong, China, j.a.pan, the Philippines, and all those far-away countries in the South Seas. If he's only read about them, the man has the most astonis.h.i.+ng memory I ever ran across.”

”Oh! he's no doubt a character,” admitted the skeptical Thad, as though he begrudged acknowledging even this much; ”but I still believe him to be a fake. Keep right on telling me what you did, Hugh.”

”For that matter, I didn't do much of anything except listen to his stories, for he kept up a steady stream of talk for a whole hour or more, and covered a wide territory in that time.”

”I sort of think Brother Lu has conceived a liking for me which is hardly returned in the same ratio; though I confess there's something almost fascinating about the fellow.”

Thad acted as though alarmed.

”Be careful, and keep on your guard, Hugh, or else he'll be hypnotizing you just like he seems to have done with poor Matilda and her husband.

That slick tongue of his can do all sorts of stunts. Why if you don't look out we'll have you going around taking up a subscription to fit Brother Lu out with a brand new suit of togs; and perhaps buying the poor chap a bully meerschaum pipe; for it must be dreadful that he is now compelled to use one of Mr. Hosmer's old corncob affairs.”

His sarcasm was lost upon his chum, for Hugh laughed merrily at the gruesome picture Thad drew of his complete subjugation to the wiles of the schemer.

”Of course,” he continued, calmly, ”I didn't forget what I was there for princ.i.p.ally, and all the while he was talking so fluently and holding my interest, I kept watching him and trying to study his real character. Thad, I own up to failure. Once I thought I was a pretty clever hand at that sort of thing, but now I'm mixer-up, and have lost considerable confidence.

”I kept changing my mind again and again. When he'd tell some of the most astonis.h.i.+ng stories of the strange lands he'd roved through, I'd begin to say to myself that he must surely be just lying. Then the fellow'd mention some little happening that he'd describe so vividly, would you believe it, I felt the tears in my eyes, for it would be sort of pathetic. So during that whole hour I sat there and changed my mind every ten minutes, now blowing hot, and again cold. I came away in as muddled a state as I went there. His actions seem to stamp him a rogue if ever there was one; and yet, Thad, I seemed to see something different in the depths of his twinkling blue eyes.”

”Oh! thunder! however are we going to get rid of such a sticker?”

groaned Thad, as though at a loss to know what next to do.

”Listen,” resumed Hugh. ”Among other things he mentioned was an account of his adventures down in Texas in the big oil field there, where he said men make fortunes one day and lose them the next in speculation. He went into some details to tell me of a strange thing he had witnessed there, and among other names mentioned, he chanced to speak of a Marshal Hastings, who, it seems, is much feared by the bad men of that community. Somehow, I thought I could detect a little quaver in Brother Lu's voice whenever he spoke of this party; and, Thad, do you know, the idea flashed through my brain that perhaps he'd had an unpleasant half hour with that same Marshal Hastings himself.”

”I take it that you mean the officer may have warned Lu to shake the dust of that region off his brogans, and make himself scarce, if he didn't want to pull hemp; is that your idea, Hugh?”

”Something along that order,” came the steady reply. ”At least he could not think of Marshal Hastings without some memory that was unpleasant, making him s.h.i.+ver.”

Thad's eagerness increased by jumps, and showed itself on his face, which was now lighted up with antic.i.p.ation.

”I'm beginning to sense something coming, Hugh,” he hastened to say.

”What you saw gave you a sort of idea, didn't it? You reckon right now that there may be a way to frighten this lazy loafer, so that of his own free will he'll cut stick and clear out. Well, perhaps after all something like that would be the best way to get rid of him. I don't believe the people in this civilized section of country would stand for any night-riding business like they did in the Kentucky tobacco district; or such a thing as that tar and feather picnic. So go on and tell me your scheme.”

”Well,” Hugh continued, ”you could hardly call it by such a name as yet, because the idea is hardly more than half hatched. But when he told me about the way the bad men used to shake at mention of that brave marshal's very name, and I saw him doing something along the same order, why, I began to figure out that if only Brother Lu could be made to believe Marshal Hastings was here from Texas, looking for _somebody_ he meant to take back with him, why, he might get such a bad scare he'd skip by the light of the moon between days, and never, never come back again.”

Thad gave his chum a vigorous pound on the back that made the other wince; but then he was accustomed to taking things of this nature from expressive Thad.

”Oh! that sounds good to me, Hugh!” he burst out with. ”I honestly believe you are getting close to a bully scheme that may pan out firstcla.s.s. Argument and all kinds of pleading wouldn't influence that man a bit, because he's selfish, I know he must be, or else he wouldn't burden his poor sister, and see her working for his miserable comfort every day, and all day long. But, Hugh, he could be moved by fear. If so be he has ever done anything down there in Texas that he could be arrested for, why, just the mere knowledge that this marshal, who always gets those he goes after, has come north, and is looking for some one, ought to start Brother Lu on a gallop for another distant section of country.”

”It might,” said Hugh, reflectively, as though the exuberance of his comrade was having an effect on his mind.