Part 13 (1/2)
He was shown the letter as well, the cause of all the excitement.
Jasper read it over several times, and then stepping over to David he grasped his hand.
”Allow me to congratulate you, sir,” he began. ”Such good luck does not come to many in this country. I am so thankful that your plans are to be carried out after all.”
”And they are to consult me, and carry out my every wish,” David replied. ”It is so stated there,” and he pointed to the letter.
The enthusiasm of the old man was so intense and childlike that Jasper had not the heart to say one word that would in any way dampen his joy.
To him, however, the whole thing was a great puzzle. Was it a joke, he wondered, which some people were playing upon this simple-minded man?
A company was mentioned, but its name was not given. And further, why should any company be willing to pay five thousand dollars for David's idea, which was not new? It had been successfully carried out in other localities. Surely a concern which was able to make such a liberal offer must have full and accurate knowledge about hydro-electric plants and what they had accomplished in the past. And why should David be made Honorary President of the company? Was Robert Westcote, the stranger, the cause of it all? He had not heard from him since the day of their visit to Mrs. Bean's, and but for the cheque which he had received he would have been inclined to consider the whole thing as a hoax.
Jasper kept his thoughts, however, to himself, and sat for some time on the verandah taking but little part in the conversation. Betty and the captain did most of the talking, while David sat near with a happy expression upon his face.
”When are you thinking of starting housekeeping on your own account?”
the captain enquired. ”You'll be so mighty important now that you won't want to stay with us any longer.”
”Don't you worry, Captain,” Betty laughingly replied. ”We're not going to leave you just yet. You see, we haven't any house to go to, and it will take the rest of the summer to make arrangements.”
When Jasper left the Haven he walked slowly down the road toward the post office thinking over carefully all that he had just heard. Every day he had been expecting news from Mr. Westcote, giving information as to what was expected of him. Hitherto he had been disappointed. But to-day he was rewarded when the postmaster, in addition to his daily paper, handed him out a letter. Jasper felt that this was the one he had been looking for, and he hurried out of the building and carted homeward. Reaching a shady tree by the side of the road, he sat down upon the ground and tore open the letter. A week of thought and inactivity had made him anxious to know something more of what was expected of him, and he was quite certain that now the veil was to be lifted and the mystery partly solved.
The letter was from Robert Westcote, and although it was somewhat brief it brought him considerable satisfaction. His eyes kindled with animation and his pulse quickened as he considered the message he had just received and meditated upon the possibilities of the future.
CHAPTER XI
CURIOSITY AND ANXIETY
Never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant had Creekdale been so greatly excited. How the news first arrived no one could tell. But everybody seemed to have heard the rumor at once, and immediately there was much running to and fro among the villagers. The store was the princ.i.p.al place where the men gathered to discuss the report and to find out what was the latest bit of information. Men would find some excuse for leaving their work in the fields in order to drop into the store during the afternoon lest some choice morsel of news should be missed. Every evening they would gather there such as they had never done before in the summer months. It was always in the winter that they made the store their headquarters when work was not so pressing.
It was Andy Forbes, the storekeeper, who made it a point of keeping abreast of the times. What he didn't know of the events of the parish was not considered of any importance. He had a way of appearing to know more than he really did. But concerning this affair at the falls he was completely blocked.
”The whole thing stumps me,” he acknowledged one night, after an animated discussion had taken place as to the purpose of it all. ”I can understand about the engineers making the surveys to find out how much power can be obtained from the falls. That Light and Power Company in the city has been playing the hog too long, and robbing the people. It is something fierce what they charge. It is only natural that an opposition company should be formed to force down the prices.
But the question is, Who is back of this new movement? and what has Crazy David to do with it?”
”And so you really think he knows something about at?” Ben Logan enquired.
”Sure. I could tell you a number of things but my position as postmaster compels me to be silent.” This was merely another of Andy's methods, and it always impressed his hearers in a marked degree.
”But what about that chap who was working for old Squabbles?” Billy Dexter asked. ”He seems to be mixed up somehow with the affair. He spends most of his time now at the falls with the engineers. I understand that he was the one who got the Petersons to take in Crazy David and that girl, Betty Bean.”
”Oh, he's a queer one,” Sandy Morton replied. ”I met him the other day on the road and asked him what was going on up at the falls and who were the men back of the work? My, you should have seen the look he gave me. It was 'Mind your own business,' as plain as if he had said it in words. I ought to have knocked him down, for it was a dead insult.”
”Better not try anything like that, Sandy,” Ben Logan laughingly gibed.
”He'd wipe up the dust with you in no time, if I'm not much mistaken.
Anyway, he minds his own business, and that's something in his favour.”
”I believe he's working for the bunch,” the store-keeper volunteered.
”I cashed a cheque of his some time ago, and---- But, there, I must not let out secrets.”