CHAPTER XII -- Groping After the Truth
Mike Murphy's ready wit did not desert him at the moment when, as may besaid, he discovered he was caught between two fires. One of the trampswas standing on the ground in front or below him, while the second wasapproaching from the rear or only a few paces farther off. And HokeButler, who should have been instant to rush to the help of his friend,was nowhere in sight.
"I say, docther, why don't ye hurry up?" shouted Mike, as if callingover the head of the grinning hobo, whose eyes were fixed upon him witha dangerous expression, as if he had decided to even up matters forprevious humiliations.
The peremptory manner of the lad produced its effect, and Saxy Huttpaused and looked up at him. A scratching, rattling noise caused Mike toturn his head. Biggs was furiously climbing the logs on the other side.Grasping the topmost one, he dived over, sprawling upon his hands andknees, instantly leaping to his feet, and making off at the speed he hadshown in his former flight. He evidently believed in the near approachof the man whom he dreaded.
Mike swung around on his perch, so that his feet hung outside, and gazedcalmly down upon the repulsive face.
"The top of the morning to ye, Saxy," greeted the lad; "I hope ye arewell."
"Huh! yer needn't try that bluff on us," growled the scamp; "it won'twork; thar ain't no doctor round these parts and I wouldn't care a hangif there was. I owe you one, younker, and I'm going to take it out ofyour hide."
To tell the truth, Mike was pleased to hear this declaration. Biggs,whom he regarded as the worst of the couple, had taken himself off andneed not be considered further, so that it was one against one, and theyoungster had a firm grip on his shillaleh. With a fair field and nofavor Mike was content to let the best man win.
The tramp came nearer, clenched his fists and glared upward at theyouth.
"Come down out of that and I'll wring your neck fur yer."
"Step a little closer, so I can reach ye wid a single jump."
Mike was actually gathering his muscles for a leap that would havebrought on a fight as vicious as that of two wildcats, when the tensestillness was broken by the words:
"Right this way, doctor; you'll find them both here, your shots can'tmiss."
Now the peculiarity of this remark was that although plainly heard, itsounded as if the speaker meant that only the man at his side shouldcatch his words. And it was at this juncture that Hoke Butler did athing so clever that it won the everlasting admiration of Mike Murphy.The former dropped his voice several notes, so that one unacquaintedwith the facts, would have been certain it was another who was speaking.
"Show me a sight of them--just for a minute: that's all I ask!"
Mike heard and understood. Saxy heard and misunderstood,--that is hebelieved it was the physician who was looking for him with a loadedweapon in hand. He muttered an exclamation which it will never do toprint, plunged around the log structure, and disappeared with a speedthat must have quickly overhauled the other tramp.
Mike dropped lightly to the ground and confronted the chuckling Hoke.
"Worra! but ye did that well. Where is the docther?"
"How should I know? I suppose he's at his home."
"What put it into yer head to make believe he was near us?"
"I don't know except he was the first person I thought of."
"Ye couldn't have done better if ye had took a month. I don't understandwhy thim tramps hang round so much whin they know what they're likely togit from Dr. Spellman."
Mike now told Hoke of the surprising incidents of the preceding day,when the hobos received the scare of their lives.
"This one who calls himsilf Biggs told me that whin he looked over theside of the canoe, he found himsilf face to face wid the devil."
"Do you think he did, Mike?"
"I have me doubts, as Jerry Jinks said whin Father MacMahon declared hewas an honest man. Anyhow I haven't larned what I wanted to know, andwe've got to look farther."
It was decided to pass around the western end of the lake, circling backin the direction of Dr. Spellman's home, past the cabin of Uncle Elk andgo on to the bungalow. This was likely to take most of the day, even ifthey were not delayed by some unexpected occurrence. Moreover, thiscourse would take them by the spot where Mike had heard voices the nightbefore, and where the hermit darted out from under the overhangingvegetation on his return, going so near the startled Mike that the twosaw each other. The old man and his visitors appeared to have gonethither, and it would seem that something ought to be doing.
"Would you like to know what _my_ idea is?" asked Hoke, when theyresumed their tramping on the line that has been indicated.
"I'm that anxious to know that I won't take anither step till yeixplains the same."
And Mike, who was a few paces in advance, halted abruptly, wheeled aboutand faced his companion, who grinningly responded:
"It is that we keep going till we reach Dr. Spellman's house and accepthis invitation to dinner."
"Suppose we don't get the invitation," suggested Mike.
"I should like to see him avoid giving it, even if the dinner hour ispast, which it is likely to be before we can reach his place."
Mike's rugged health and sturdy strength gave him as keen an appetite asthat of his companion, and a good meal would be as welcome to him-as toHoke. Moreover, the situation was such that they could hardly hope toreach the clubhouse before nightfall. He therefore inclined to the planof calling at the house where they were sure of welcome, but it will beborne in mind that in order to do this, they would have to give over orat least postpone the investigation they had intended to make at thepoint where Mike had heard voices and seen Uncle Elk the night before,since this lay to the westward of the physician's camp.
Accordingly the youths turned deeper into the wood, going well beyondsight of the lake, intending to approach their destination by acircuitous course. Not wishing to run against Uncle Elk and thestrangers, they made sure of not doing so.
You need not be reminded that one of the easiest things in the world isto lose your way in a wilderness. Mike Murphy seemed peculiarly subjectto this misfortune, as has been shown in the previous pages. He kept inthe lead, as he had done from the first, his friend quietly followingand paying no attention to his own footsteps. By and by it struck Hokethat it was time they reached the doctor's dwelling. He lookedsearchingly ahead and around, but saw nothing except the tall,column-like trunks, with considerable undergrowth here and there. Naughtthat resembled the most primitive dwelling was in sight, nor was there asign of any person having passed that way.
"Hold on, Mike!" he called abruptly to his friend, and the latter haltedand looked back.
"I'm doing that, and what is it ye want of me?"
"Where are we?" asked the puzzled fellow.
"I'm thinking we're here, as I remarked whin I fell off the house. Whatdo _ye_ think?"
"Of course we are somewhere near Gosling Lake, but I believe we havestrayed off and are lost."
"It's mesilf that don't see how that can be, though I can beat anygentleman that walks on two legs in going the wrong way. The first timeI started to go upstairs, I opened the cellar dure and bumped all theway to the bottom, and when I was faaling me way fur the cellar dure, Itumbled out the parlor windy. Then mither sent me on an errand to WidowMulligan's and instead of stepping onto the porch, I put my fut over thewell curb and didn't find out the difference till I hit the bottom ofthe well. So you see, Hoke, that that wakeness is my strongest p'int."
"Where do you think the lake lies?"
"I'm not as far gone as that; head that way and you'll walk straightonto the same." Mike pointed his shillaleh to the left, whereupon hisfriend laughed.
"Just what I expected; you're away off."
"What do _ye_ make it,--since you saam to think you can make nomistake?"
"I never lose my bearings,--you can depend on me. _That_ direction leadsto the lake."
The joke of it was that Hoke instea
d of deviating more or less from thecourse pointed out by Mike, chose one that was the opposite.
"Are ye in airnest?" asked Mike.
"Never more so."
"I'm glad to larn that, for I don't like such jokes, as Jim O'Hara saidwhin the policeman broke his club over his head. Ye are wrong."
"I'm positive I am not."
"And I'm positive ye are,--and the only way to sittle the questionaccording to common sinse is to toss up. What do ye say?"
"I don't see how that can settle any question; but have it your ownway."
Mike took a Lincoln penny from his pocket and balanced it in his hand.
"If it comes down a hid, ye take my course; if a tail, yours."
Hoke nodded to signify he agreed, and the other flipped the coin aloft,each watching as it turned over rapidly and fell upon the leaves betweenthem, but lo! it rested on its edge, being supported vertically againsta pine cone. In other words it was neither a head nor tail, but a"cock."
Usage requires that in such a case a new toss must be made, but whenMike picked up the penny he shoved it into his pocket and shook hishead.
"The maaning of that," he explained, "is that we are both wrong."
"How then shall we find the true course?"
"Make a guess, as I used to do in answering the taycher'squestions--Hist!"
Before the experiment could be made, they were startled by hearing thereport of a gun or a pistol from some point not far off, though thedirection was different from either that had been indicated.
As they listened, a second, third and fourth report rang through theforest arches, followed quickly by two more, and all was still.
There might be several explanations of the incident, but it was idle tospend time in guessing, when it was easy to learn the truth. Mike,followed by his friend, walked rapidly toward the point whence thereports had come, and a few minutes later everything was clear.
Dr. Spellman was standing in a space free from undergrowth andpractising with his revolver. With his knife he had gashed the bark offa sapling several feet above the ground, so as to show a white spot thesize of a dollar. Standing a dozen or more paces distant, he aimedcarefully and put the whole six bullets within a spot not more than twoinches in diameter, three of them being bull's eyes.
"I couldn't do better mesilf!" exclaimed Mike, when he understood thefeat.
"You can't tell till you try; I am not sure you are not an expert."
"Nor am I, though I have me doubts."
Having reloaded the weapon the doctor handed it to Mike, who slowlyraised his arm to a level, shut one eye, and squinted some seconds overthe short barrel, while the doctor and Hoke, standing a foot or two tothe rear, kept their eyes upon the little white spot in the distance.Then a sharp crack sounded and the marksman lowered the pistol.
"Did ye obsarve where me shot landed?" he asked of his friends.
"I think it nipped the leaves somewhere overhead," replied Hoke.
"I scorn to notice yer slur: what do ye say, docther?"
The physician said nothing, but walked to the sapling, the otherstrailing after him. Taking out his pocket knife, he began digging withthe blade into the soft wood. From the very center of the white spot, hegouged out a pellet of lead, and held it out to Mike.
"That is yours; you made a perfect bull's eye."
"Av course; did ye doubt I would do the same?"
"Hooh! all chance! you can't do it again," called Hoke, uttering a truththat was as apparent to Mike as to the others.
"It's yer turn," replied the hero of the exploit; "do ye make theattempt yersilf; if ye can equal me, then I'll take me turn again."