Part 16 (2/2)

Darry made his regular pilgrimage to the marsh in spite of the rain, and this time found only two prizes to reward his diligence.

From this he determined that it was time to make a change of base, and set his traps in other places where the game might not be so wary.

At any rate he was having no further trouble with the Dilks crowd, and in that he found more or less satisfaction.

Unconscious of the fact that he was being watched from time to time by one of the cronies of which Jim boasted, Darry went about his business, satisfied to do his daily duties, and each night count some progress made.

Twice had he crossed the bay to the strip of sandy beach where the tides of the mighty Atlantic pounded unceasingly, day and night.

His coming was always eagerly antic.i.p.ated by the whole crew of the life-saving station, and for a good reason.

It happened that on his visit just after the easterly storm had blown out, while they were all gathered around just before dark, chatting and joking, Darry c.o.c.ked up his ear at the tweeking sound of a fiddle, which one of the men had drawn out of its case, and was endeavoring to play.

Altogether he made a most doleful series of sounds, which upon a.n.a.lysis might prove to be an attempt to play ”Annie Laurie,” though one would need all his wits about him to settle whether this were the tune, or ”Home, Sweet Home.”

The men looked daggers at the player, for the screeching sounds were certainly anything but pleasant.

Darry sauntered over. He had played since a little lad, some Italian having first taught him; and on the brigantine Captain Harley had a violin of more than ordinary make, with which he had coaxed the cabin boy to make melody by the hour.

”Sounds like a pretty good instrument?” suggested Darry to the would-be performer.

”They tell me that, boy; but you see I ain't much of a judge. P'raps in time I may get on to the racket, that is if the boys don't fire me and the fiddle out before-hand,” replied the surfman, grinning, for his clumsy hands were really never intended by Nature to handle a violin bow.

”Would you mind letting me try it? I used to play a little.”

At the first sound of that bow crossing the strings, after Darry had properly tuned the instrument every man sat up and took notice; and as the boy bent down and lovingly drew the sweetest chords from the violin that they had ever heard, they actually held their breath.

After that he was kept busy; indeed they would hardly let him have any rest, and that was why those rough men looked forward eagerly to the expected coming of Abner Peake's new boy.

It seemed as though he must know everything there was, and the music would turn from riotous ragtime to the most tender chords, capable of drawing tears from those eyes so unused to weeping.

It was a rare treat to Darry, too, for he dearly loved music, and the absence of his fiddle had made a gap in his life.

The month was now pa.s.sing, and closer drew the stormy period when, with the advent of grim November, the duties of the beach patrol naturally grow more and more laborious, since there are greater possibilities of wrecks, with the strong winds and the fogs that bewilder mariners, and allow them to run upon the reefs when they believe they are scores of miles away from the danger zone.

The boom of guns could now be heard all day, and frequently Darry saw Northern sportsmen in the village; though as a rule they kept on board their yachts or else stayed at the various private clubs up or down the sound.

Jim Dilks and his gang still lay low. They awaited a favorable opportunity to carry out some evil scheme, whereby the boy they had come to fear, as well as hate, might be injured.

Well, they knew that he made daily trips into the marsh, and it would seem that they might find the chance they craved at such times; but there was one thing to deter them, and this was the fact that Darry never went to examine his traps without carrying that steady-shooting old shotgun.

The burnt child dreads the fire, and Jim had hardly ceased to rub his injured parts, so that the possibility of getting a second dose was not at all alluring in his eyes.

He was a good waiter, and he felt that sooner or later fortune would turn the trick for him, and the chance arise whereby he might pay back the debt he owed the ”interloper,” as he chose to deem Darry.

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