Part 17 (1/2)

CHAPTER XVI

DARRY MEETS WITH A REBUFF

During these weeks Darry had accomplished many little jobs around his new home, things that had been wanting looking after for a long time; for Abner's visits were so few and far between that he had little time to mend broken doors, or put up shelves where they would save the ”missus” steps.

If he went off with Paul Singleton later he would have no chance to look after these things, and so he made good use of his opportunities.

He had not seen the young gentleman once since, and upon making inquiries of the storekeeper, learned that he had gone to a very exclusive club to spend some little time.

Darry wondered whether he had been utterly forgotten.

Perhaps the youth had regretted asking him to keep him company; it may have been done on the spur of the moment, simply because he chanced to resemble someone he knew.

Once in the comfortable club, with experienced guides to attend him, and the very best points for shooting reserved, doubtless Paul Singleton had forgotten that there was such a boy as Darry in existence.

So he tried to forget about it, and make up his mind that he could find plenty of congenial work looking after his traps and a.s.sisting Abner's wife during the winter, with occasional trips across the sound, and possibly a chance to pull an oar in the surfboat, should luck favor him.

All this while he had taken toll of the feathered frequenters of the marsh, and many a plump fowl graced the table of the Peake family, thanks to the faithful old gun, and the steady nerves back of it.

Darry soon learned where there were squirrels to be found, and twice he had brought in a mess of the gray nutcrackers, though not so fond of hunting them as other game.

And one day he had delighted the good housewife with four nice quail, or as they were known in this section, ”pa'tridge,” which he had dropped out of a bevy that got up before him in the brush close to the woods where he looked for squirrel.

He knew that something had been troubling Mrs. Peake, but it was a long time before he could tempt her to speak of it.

It concerned money matters, of course, as is nearly always the case when trouble visits the poor.

Abner had been incautious enough to put a little mortgage upon his humble home in order to help a relative who was in deep distress because of several sudden deaths in her family.

He should not have done it, to be sure, but Abner had a big heart, as Darry well knew, and simply could not resist the pleading of his cousin.

No doubt she meant well, but circ.u.mstances had arisen that prevented her from repaying the debt, and for the want of just one hundred dollars the Peakes were in danger of being dispossessed.

Of course the mortgage was in the hands of a money shark, for even little villages boast their loan offices, where some usurer expects to get ten per cent. on his money, and will not hesitate to foreclose if it is not forthcoming.

Abner's friends were all as poor as he was, and besides, he was so bashful about such things that he could never muster enough courage to mention his financial troubles to anybody.

When by degrees Darry managed to draw this story from Mrs. Peake he thought it all over while off on one of his swamp trips, and reached a conclusion.

That very day he stepped into the store of a man who as he chanced to know purchased the few furs that were taken in a season around that section.

He learned that pelts were bringing unusually good prices, and the party quoted as high as eighty cents for fall muskrat skins, properly treated.

When he got home, Darry counted his catch and found that he had some twenty-six in stock; with these he went back to the dealer, and struck a bargain whereby he came away with fourteen dollars in his pocket.

Then he made for the office of the lawyer who held the mortgage, thinking he could pay up the arrears of interest, and bring happiness to the face of his kind benefactress.

Just there he struck a snag.

The loan shark refused to accept the money.