Part 7 (1/2)
Hugh would have liked to laugh, but he refrained, not wis.h.i.+ng to offend Jim, who was evidently suffering from an overweening sense of his own importance, since he had graduated into a temporary occupancy of the editorial chair. Jim was considerably short of twenty at that, so it could not have been more than a year or two since he used to play ball, and train with the other boys of Scranton High.
Thad got busy, and began to tell how they had first ran across the strange hobo in his camp, cooking a meal. He continued the story with a description of how the long wandering Brother Lu had been so warmly welcomed by Matilda and her sick husband, and thereupon deliberately settled down to enjoying himself at their expense.
Thad was a pretty good hand at narrating a yarn, and he worked the interest up by degrees until he had Jim's eyes as round as saucers, while he hung upon every word that was spoken. Hugh only broke in once in a while to add a few sentences to something his chum said.
Finally the climax was reached when Thad explained the scheme he and Hugh had concocted between them, and how much they would appreciate the a.s.sistance of Jim in this dilemma.
The temporary editor pursed up his lips and looked serious. He was thinking, and gradually a grin began to creep across his thin little face.
”Why, I guess it could be worked out, fellows,” he finally remarked, greatly to the satisfaction of the eager Thad. ”Course I can do the writeup part as easy as falling off a fence, because it comes natural for me to be able to put any old thing down on paper and hash it up in a most interesting way. I'll have a story that will make folks sit up and take notice all right.”
”I hope, though, Jim,” said Thad, ”you won't overdo the thing, because you see we haven't a peg to hang it on, since we don't know what sort of a crime the man might have done away down there in Texas to make Marshal Hastings come so far after him. You'll draw it a bit mild, won't you, Jim? Just strong enough to strike terror to the heart of that rascal, Brother Lu?”
”That's all right, Thad, you leave it to me,” a.s.serted Jim, with a confidence born of experience, as well as reliance on his powers of description and invention. ”Yes, I can do the thing to the king's taste. Why, in such a case it's my habit to make myself actually believe in my work. Right now I can actually see the ferocious and not-to-be-denied Marshal Hastings. I could even describe how he looks so that you recognize the picture. And say, I'll give such broad hints, without actually saying it's Brother Lu he wants, that the poor old wretch will b.u.mp himself getting out of town on the first freight that pulls in here. It's a scream of a joke; and I'm obliged to you boys for putting me up to it. I need all sorts of practice, you understand, to fit myself for a prominent post down in New York City, where I expect to land a job as a star reporter on one of the big dailies.”
Of course Thad and Hugh were pleased with matters so far as they had gone.
”I'm in with you, boys,” continued Jim, as they arose to leave the _Courier_ office, ”to the limit; but there's one favor I want to ask of you in return.”
”Name it, Jim!” cried Thad, grasping the cold hand of the reporter, for just at that moment he felt as though willing to do almost anything in return for this real kindness on the part of his old-time a.s.sociate.
”Listen, then,” said the other, briskly, for he at least had a rapid mind, and was in many other ways well qualified for the position which he meant to a.s.sume in the world of newspaperdom, besides, an abundance of nerve, or as Thad liked to call it, ”cheek,”---”I don't believe Mrs. Hosmer ever sees our sterling paper, because the name isn't on our mailing list, or the carrier's either. But tomorrow morning I'll have Jenkins, our boy here, go around particularly to Matilda's cottage and leave a paper, telling her we are sending out a large number of free complimentary copies, hoping to induce more people to subscribe. Get that, boys?”
”Yes, and it sounds good to me, Jim; you know how to work the mill, all right,” said the judicious Thad, well aware of the power flattery possesses to grease the wheels of human machinery.
”Well, the three of us will be in hiding close by, just as Thad was today when his mother and those other good ladies paid their unprofitable visit to the Hosmer home. If we're lucky we may see Brother Lu come das.h.i.+ng out of the place, and strike a blue streak for the railroad, distant half a mile or so. Should that happen, we can make up our minds it's all serene, and that Scranton, as well as his poor sister, will have seen the last of him. But you must promise to come around here and wait for me, as I may have a little business on my hands. Holding down all the positions on even a local sheet is no easy job, you must know; and I'm the PooBah of this joint right now.”
Willingly Thad gave the desired promise. He would have done anything else which the autocrat of the enterprise chose to demand just then, since they looked upon Jim as their main reliance. Fortunately the other did not see fit to bind them to any further promises, and when they had left the newspaper office, it was with a sense of elation such as comes after a successful venture.
Thad was fairly bubbling over with delight.
”Why, Hugh, I think we ought to shake hands, with ourselves over getting up such a smart little scheme as that,” he broke out with, as they walked along the main street of Scranton, meeting many persons whom they knew, and most of them ready with a cheery nod or a word of recognition, for both lads were well liked by the best people of the community, and particularly those who knew boy nature best, so that they could appreciate what manly fellows the chums were.
”You're a sanguine sort of chap, Thad,” laughed Hugh. ”Right now you believe we've as good as got Brother Lu on the run for the tall timber. Don't be too sure, or you may be disappointed. There's many a slip, remember, between cup and lip. But Jim took to the game like a terrier does to a rat, didn't he?”
”It was right in Jim's favorite line of business,” explained the other. ”He fairly dotes on writing up imaginary things, and making them seem real. He says it's his long suit, whatever he means by that. I only hope he doesn't make it seem too ridiculous, and so overdo the matter.”
Hugh seemed to have pretty fair confidence in Jim's judgment.
”He's a clever chap,” he remarked, ”and will know just where to draw the line. I could that already he had drawn upon his imagination to supply him with something in place of facts. It'll be a thrilling bit of reading, and ought to give our pet aversion a cold s.h.i.+ver when he gets its import. Having Marshal Hastings come away up here after him will upset all Brother Lu's plans for a soft berth during the remainder of his fast-ebbing life; and he may suddenly determine that it's better to run away and live to eat another day, than to try and stick it out here, and be landed in a Texas jail.”
”It'll seem an awful long time till tomorrow comes,” sighed the impatient Thad. ”We told him we'd be around by nine in the morning, didn't we? Well, let's call it eight-and-a-half, then. He may be able to get off earlier than he expects, and that would cut Brother Lu out of another meal at the expense of Matilda, whose supplies must be running low by now, I should judge, and her money ditto in the bargain.”
”Have it your own way, Thad, and drop in for me,” said Hugh. ”In the midst of all this fuss and feathers over that miserable hobo, we mustn't forget we promised to be on hand in the afternoon to play on the team against Mechanicsville; for you know there has been a switch, and the programme changed. That team is considered a strong aggregation from the mills over there, and, we may get our fingers burned unless we are careful. After knocking Belleville down last Sat.u.r.day, it would look bad for Scranton to be snowed under by an outside nine without any reputation, as they have hardly played together this season so far.”
”Oh! I haven't forgotten my promise to Mr. Saunders and you, Hugh,”
protested the reliable backstop of the high-school team ”I'm too fond of baseball to neglect any chance for playing. But we'll try and put this other affair over in the A.M., and that'll leave us free to play ball after lunch. I wonder how far away our friend, Brother Lu, will be this time tomorrow?”
”Perhaps many miles,” suggested Hugh, ”and then again he may be taking things as easy as ever over there at Sister Matilda's cottage. It's going to be a toss-up whether our game works as we hope, or falls flat to the ground.”
CHAPTER X