CHAPTER VIII
UNCLE IKE PRESENTS HIMSELF
Mrs. Brady and Buck walking together, Ned and Frank discussed thesituation thoroughly as they descended the mountainside.
"This may be a frame-up," Ned observed, "but it is up to us to see itthrough. The boy who has just been brought in may be the prince, orhe may be the grandson, and we are here to get the answer."
"Or there may be no boy at the cabin at all!" Frank suggested. "Theconspirators know that we are in the mountains for the purpose oflooking up the prince. What better plan than the one now workingcould they have settled on? If they are sharp at all, they wouldunderstand that a story of a child brought on from Washington wouldset us in motion--would be likely to get us into a trap!"
They scrambled on down the slope for some distance, too busy keepingupright to do any talking, then Frank went on.
"You know very well that I'm no prophet of evil, Ned, but it looks tome that we have betrayed our mission here by taking such an interestin the child. Would a lot of boys looking for snap-shots trail off inthe night to see a boy when they might have taken a look at him thenext day?"
"If I know anything about human nature," Ned answered, "those twopeople ahead of us are honest. If it is a frame-up, they are not init."
"Anyway," Frank went on, "I'm glad the plans were changed by thearrival of Buck. It is much better for us to meet whatever is comingto us side by side than to have me sneaking back in the distance!"
Ned agreed to this, and the two quickened their pace in order to comeup with Buck and Mrs. Brady, who were now turning from the west tothe south, keeping along the slope of the mountain. Directly theycame to a narrow trail which led into a green valley.
Following this, they soon came to a couple of acres of cleared land,in the middle of which stood a rough cabin of peeled logs. A dimlight came from a square window by the door, and there came from theinterior the sound of a man's voice humming a song.
The woman drew up and looked suspiciously at Buck.
"Who is that?" she asked. "You didn't tell me my son came, too."
"No," replied Buck, "I didn't, because, you see, Mike didn't come! Hesent this young fellow in with the kid, bringing word that he wouldbe along later."
"And who is it?" demanded the woman.
"A likely young chap," was the reply. "He asked me to get you hometo-night, because he wants to leave early in the morning."
"He won't leave early in the morning if he sees us here," Nedwhispered to Frank. "If that is the prince in there, the man with himmay be the fellow who made his way into Jack's house and listenedfrom the attic."
"What are we going to do about it, then?" asked Frank, anxiously.
"We've got to meet him," Ned replied. "Whoever he is, he knows fromBuck that Mrs. Brady went up the mountain to visit a camp ofstrangers. We've got to go in and face him! I wish we had kept awayfrom here to-night."
Mrs. Brady and Buck now opened the door and entered the cabin, theboys close behind them. A log fire was burning on a stone hearth, anda tall, rather handsome young man with light hair and blue eyes wassitting in a homemade chair before it.
He stirred the fire to a brighter blaze as they entered, and theleaping flames disclosed a dark-haired child of perhaps seven yearsasleep on a bed in a corner of the small room. Without speaking,without so much as a glance at the visitor, the old lady walkedswiftly to the bed and took the child in her arms.
The boy opened his eyes and started to cry, but she quieted him withlow words and sat down on the edge of the bed, swinging him back andforth with a motion of her arms and shoulders. The man at the fireglanced sharply at the woman and then turned his eyes to the boys,now standing not far from the bed.
"The little dear!" the woman cried, mothering the child. "He's alltired out with his long journey!"
"This is the man that brung the boy in," Buck said, pointing to thefigure by the fire. "A mess of a time he must have had of it, too."
"You are the grandmother?" asked the stranger. "Yes, I understand.And are these boys your sons, too?" he added, nodding at Ned andFrank, suspiciously.
"Only New York boys spending a vacation in the mountains," Ned said,answering the question. "Mrs. Brady came to our camp tonight lookingfor her son and we came home with her. We are looking for goodpictures," he added.
The stranger pointed to the old lady, sitting with the sleeping childon her breast.
"There is one," he said.
"Yes, and I'm sorry I haven't my camera with me."
"Are you thinking of remaining in this section long?" the visitorasked.
"We can't say," laughed Ned. "We may move on to-morrow, and may stayhere a week."
The man's suspicions seemed to have vanished. He talked frankly withthe boys, and occasionally addressed a word to the old lady. He gaveher, briefly, a good report of her son's progress in Washington, andhanded her a roll of bank-notes.
"He is coming here himself soon," he said, "and he will bring more.He is doing very nicely there."
Ned was wishing the boy would waken when the old lady arose from thebed and laid him gently down. He stirred uneasily in his sleep andshe stood by his side, smoothing his dark hair away from hisforehead.
"He favors my side of the family, being dark," she said. "The Stilesesare all dark. If one of you boys will sit with him a moment," sheadded, with mountain hospitality, "I'll get you all a snack. It was along road over the mountains."
Ned accepted the invitation eagerly and sat down by the child. Theface was dark and slender, the eyebrows turned up a trifle at theouter comers.
"Is it Mike III., or is it the prince?" he was asking himself whenthe boy awoke and sat up in bed with a jerk.
"What's comin' off here?" he demanded, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Whatkind of a bum game is this? I want my daddy."
The visitor by the fire laughed.
"He's up in city slum talk," he said. "And he's learned something ofFrench, too, knocking around with the boys in school."
"I can talk Franch like a native," asserted the boy.
"And what else?" asked the man by the fire.
"Any old thing!" boasted the child. "They keep me at books all thetime. I'm glad I'm with grandmother in the hills. Are you mygrandmother?" he asked, pointing to the old woman, now bending overthe fire.
"Yes, deary," was the reply. "I'm going to take care of you now."
"I'm glad!"
The boy tumbled back on the bed again and closed his eyes. Franklooked at Ned significantly.
"There's no doubt about it!" his eyes said. "This child is Mike III."
The old lady made hot corn bread and brewed a pot of mountain tea.The boys were not at all hungry, but managed to eat and drinkmoderately. Then Ned arose.
"We've got to be on our way," he said. "It will be morning before weget back to camp if we don't start pretty soon!"
When the boys, after a cordial good night from Mrs. Brady and Buck,left the cabin the visitor followed them out. Ned stopped breathing,almost, as he took him by the arm.
"There's one thing I want you to explain to the old lady after atime," the man said. "I suppose I might do it myself, but I prefer tolet her know from personal observation something of the case first.That boy is not exactly right."
"Not mentally sound, you mean?" asked Ned. "He appeared to be allright just now."
"Oh, he's bright enough," answered the other, "but he's been ill andhas been in a hospital at Washington, and has been cuddled andhumored so long that he likes to boss! Not good people to boss, theattendants in a hospital, you will say, but I guess they let this kidhave his way. When he was delirious they told him all sorts of fairytales about kings and princes, and he actually thinks some of themare true. If he breaks out in any of his tantrums before you leave,kindly tell the old lady what I am telling you, will you?"
Ned almost gasped! So the boy was likely to talk of kings andprinces! He was likely to become masterful in his manners!
"I may have to change my mind,
" he thought. "This may be the prince,and not Mike III. But the boy's English, and there's his streetslang! What about that? I reckon that we have a job on our hands!"
The two stood talking together in the moonlight for some moments, thestranger evidently resolved to make a good impression on the boys,while Frank walked on along the trail, looking back now and then tosee if his chum was coming.
"This boy's father," the man went on, "has permitted him to have hisown way about everything. That was a mistake, of course, but he istrying to rectify it now by placing him under the care of hisgrandmother, who, if I mistake not, will see that he is properlydisciplined."
"It has been a long time since the father left here," Ned suggested.
"Yes, along time."
"He is doing well in Washington?"
"Yes, he is connected with the State department."
Ned made a mental note of that!
"And is receiving a fair salary?" he asked.
"Oh, yes; he's doing nicely, far better than his mother has anynotion of."
Here was more food for thought. Why had the father delegated thepleasant duty of taking the boy back to the old mountain home toanother if he had been situated so that he might have taken thejourney himself?
"Is it the prince, or is it Mike III.?" he kept asking himself.
While they stood there together a great clattering came down thetrail, and they saw Frank turn aside and stand at attention, as ifwaiting for some object, seen in the distance, to come up. Directlythe sounds settled down to the rattling of stones and the steadypounding of hoofs.
"Look what's here!" Frank shouted, pointing.
Ned moved forward, closer to the trail, and in a moment caught sightof a tall, lank, ungainly mule coming galloping toward him!
"What do you think of him?" called Frank. "He's come to tell us thatit is time we were home and in bed."
"Uncle Ike!" called Ned. "Come here, you foolish mule!"
Uncle Ike, now in plain sight, kicked up his heels in derision butfinally came to an abrupt halt in front of Ned, and stood with earspitched forward and forelegs braced back, evidently very muchfrightened.