CHAPTER XI
PASSING THE LOAD OF HAY
Later that morning the Big Six was spinning over the road eastward fromthe small village where the preceding debate had occurred. Beforestarting Phil had asked their host if he knew of an old inn some milesahead that had formerly been prosperous during the old stage-coachingdays, before the advent of the railroads. The tavern keeper scratchedhis head as he reflected. Finally he said:
"Can't think of nary place onless it's what they used to call the GhostTavern, but--law me! That place must 'a' rotted down before now."
Phil intimated that this might be what he was after, asking how far theinn with the foreboding name might be.
"Might be thirty mile or it might be fifty or more, I can't say. Youmight pass it not knowing where it is, and yet be within a few rods ofwhere it is--or was. It's a woodsy neighborhood, and seems to me that Iheard it had burned down but I won't be sure. Anyhow, that's the onlyplace I've learned of beyond here, eastward, that in the least is likewhat you been asking about. What might you kids be wanting such a placefor? Looks like I'd ruther pass it not knowing there was such a thingnear as a ghost tavern."
Phil replied evasively, for it was decided to say nothing at present asto what the boys were up to. At least to say nothing that might makeothers think that anything out of the common was embodied in theirpresent purposes.
Before the car started, however, the innkeeper, still scratching hisgrizzled head, looked up again, saying:
"Seems like I heard 'way back yonder that there was a tavern near wherea big railroad robbery took place. But I ain't sure. Old folks like mefind that we forgit easier than we remember. However, I wish ye all goodluck. Keep your eyes open, boys, and don't go it blind--at least noblinder 'n you can help. So long!"
All this strengthened their confidence in the sincerity of Coster's lastbequest to P. Jones, Esq., who plumed himself accordingly, after hiscustomary manner. He pinched Dave's arm as he said:
"Bet your life, Dave, there was more in what Coster gave me than youthought! You're driving. You watch the road. Me and Phil and Billy willkeep up a lookout that will not miss that old tavern, ghost or noghost."
"S'pose the old rookery has been burned or made way with?" Davepropounded this while curving his course round a steep embankment thatmade the roadway barely wide enough for two vehicles to pass. BeforePaul had time to retort a rumble ahead broke in on their ears. Daveinstantly turned towards the bluff on his right, for the shelvingembankment sloped steeply to the left.
"That's right, Mac!" interposed Paul, his attention being thus divertedfrom a witticism at MacLester's expense. "Jam her close to the bluff andlet the other fellow do the worrying."
Just then, round the further end of the curve came a farm wagon loadedwith hay, one man driving as he sat cramped against the dashboard, whileon the load behind was a boy and a girl, both somewhere along theirteens in age. When the farm team saw the purring car they balked, triedto shy dangerously towards the slope, but the man behind reined them upso sharply that they were halted midway of the road and about twentyfeet from the car. Dave at once shut off the power and the purringceased.
"Say, mister!" called the man anxiously. "How we goin' to pass ye?"
"We've tried to give you all the room we could, don't you see?" Thisfrom MacLester as he leaned coolly back in his seat. "You'll have toslow up, then go at a walk to the right, won't you?"
"My team's sorter skeery along here. They ain't used to you autermobilefellers. Whoa thar! What ye up to now?"
The team was trying to shy again as they eyed the strange monster justahead that was as terrifying to them as when some unsuspecting huntersuddenly sees just ahead of him a dangerous beast of prey. MeantimePhil, noting the alarm of the girl on the hay and similar symptoms inthe younger boy, was taking in the possibilities of the situation. Hesignalled to the others to keep silent, then sprang out of the tonneauand made cautiously towards the team, speaking soothingly the while asthe man held them in tightly.
"Let me get hold of their headstalls," he called, raising his voiceslightly. "I think we can manage it. We'll pass each other all right."
By cautious management, speaking calmly to the horses, Phil managed atlast to seize first one bridle, then the other, rubbing his handpropitiatingly over their noses, while securing a good grip on thestartled animals, and began leading them to the left, towards the bluff.At the same time he called to Dave, in a low but distinct tone:
"Loose the brake! Get out, two of you, and back the car gently. Keep herheaded towards the middle of the road. Don't release your clutch, Dave."
With some difficulty Phil's directions were implicitly followed by theboys, all of whom had learned in the past to defer to Phil's judgmentwhen sudden decisions were required. When the Big Six was squarelymidway of the road and pointed slightly outward towards the dangerousslope, the car was halted, and Paul and Billy clambered back into themachine.
"Now, my friend," said Phil, "if I lead them, can you turn in close tothe bluff, right where we were when we first saw you?"
"I'll try mighty hard. Whoa, Jack! Easy now, Jill!"
With Way still at their heads, the wagon and its cumbrous load weresafely jammed against the side of the bluff.
"Perhaps the young lady and the boy better get off on the upper side.We'll try to pass you, but your team may not like the situation." Philsmiled. "It may cause trouble, but we will be as careful as we can."
"Well, boss," said the man, "you sure are good boys. My team--well, Idon't know what they might have done if I'd tried to pass you on theoutside."
He turned back to the couple on the hay. "Say, Danny, you slide off andthen help Nan down. Be keerful! Remember she's your sister, and if shegets a fall you'll have to settle with me later."
Danny, a straw-hatted, barefooted lad with a freckled face and danglinglegs, managed to slide himself down against the bluff and also managedto assist the girl in following him to a spot where they could uneasilyawait further developments.
"Better not start your car until I git by," remarked the farmer, whilePhil, still holding the bridles, aided the loaded wagon to slip by thered monster, now quiet enough on the dangerous side of the road. Oncetheir backs were towards the machine the team quieted down quicklyenough.
"Let me help you down, miss," said Phil, who never forgot his manners,springing back towards the young couple climbing down to the roadway.
Danny, like many brothers, having scrambled down unaided, went to hisfather's aid, though aid was now unnecessary. Phil soon helped Nan down,the weight of her plump young body convincing him that she must beseveral years older than Dan.
"I'm mightily obliged, sir," she lisped, with an upward glance at theboy as he landed her squarely on her feet, not bare like her brother'sbut clad in fairly dainty footwear. "I don't know what we'd 'a' done butfor you."
"Pshaw, that's nothing! I'm sure glad we were on hand, Miss--" Hehesitated. "Is there anything more we can do?"
Nothing, apparently; but before starting the car again, Paul called out:
"Say, Mister! How far is it to the nearest town on this road?"
"Ten mile, I reckon. We live three miles beyond."
As the car started Phil waved a hand from the auto, whereat a whitehandkerchief fluttered back an answering signal.
Dave turned back to Way, saying:
"Blame if I don't believe you've made a regular mash on that girl--hey,Paul?" Paul, now at the wheel, was too busy to reply.
"Wonder what they were doing so far from home with a load of hay?" saidDave.
"It's past haying time now," was Worth's comment. "Must be taking it offsomewhere to sell. If so, that explains why the girl was dressed sonicely."
"How about the man and boy?" asked Paul. "They looked like realhayseeds."
"How'd you want 'em to look?" This from Dave. "When you're selling hayyou can't load or unload in your Sunday go-to-meeting clothes."
"Well," remarked Phil, "whoever and whatever they a
re, we tried to bedecent to them. I reckon they're all right."
"Especially the girl, eh?" laughed Paul. "Oh, you Nan! Wasn't that hername, Phil? You ought to know."
Phil passed this by without reply, as he talked about other matters.Little did any of them then think that they had not seen the last ofthose three whom they had saved from possible accident and bodily dangerby giving them the safest side of the road.
From then on for half an hour the car glided smoothly through a richfarming section where the houses and barns looked prosperous and thenumerous stacks of grain and hay and the sleek herds of cattle betokenedthat the owners or tenants were by no means on the wrong side ofprosperity. Then the timbered tracts increased, and a series of low,rugged hillsides opened up until at a sudden bend they saw the townwhose smoke had been for some time indicative of this break in thehitherto uninterrupted rural expanse of their morning's ride.
It was not a big town, being off the railroad lines, which were a mileor so to one side, but it looked prosperous and was doubtless the centerof the rural trade activities for some miles around. It being now aboutthe noon hour, the car stopped before a modest hotel for a noondaylunch. There were two larger hostelries on the main street, but frommotives of prudent economy the boys preferred the less expensivetaverns.
"Yes, we will have dinner ready in a few minutes," remarked acomfortable looking woman who seemed to be in charge of the tiny office."Make yourselves at home. Why, are you lads from Lannington?" This afterreading the register.
"That is our home town, madam," replied Phil. "Do you know the place?"
"Well, I should say I did!" The woman smiled. "I was raised there. Beenoff here ever since I married."
"Lannington is where we live," remarked Worth, after inscribing his nameon the register with a flourish. "We're on a vacation trip, ma'am."
"It might be that you knew our folks when you lived there," was Dave'scontributing remark, for he saw that she was reading their names andsmiling more broadly than before.
"Why, yes, I do know some of them. I knew Dr. Way, and there was hisfriend Lawyer Dilworth, and the MacLesters. I feel as if I knew you allright now."
And she offered her plump hand, which was cordially shaken as the boysexplained more about their folks, then added:
"My name now is Ewing. I'm known as the Widow Ewing round here. Myhusband has been dead three years or so. Before that, in Lannington, Iwas a McKnight. One of my brothers runs a garage there. Know him?"
"Well, rather! Hey, Phil? We got this car mainly through his aid.McKnight & Wilder--they're some punkins when it comes to automobiles!"
After this all was plain sailing for the boys. Mrs. Ewing insisted thatthey should remain until the morrow.
"Won't cost you much. We'll cut the regular bill in half, for you'rehome folks, aren't you?"
And it may be said that she had her way. The Big Six was put in thehotel garage and the boys were made comfortable in two adjoining rooms;and in the morning even Phil was astonished at the exceedingly smallbill which they had to pay. He could only thank the comely widow, wholaughed it off with:
"If you boys are simply on a vacation trip, you're bound to spend morethan you think you will. I'd gladly keep you for nothing, but times arehard and I have to make some charge."
Cautious inquiries by Phil resulted in learning that there had been, andstill might be further on an old inn of the pre-railroad days. But itwas off the main road, in the roughest, heaviest wooded section,somewhere about eight or ten miles off to the east. That region, itappeared, was poor, swampy, and so inferior to other land lying allabout that hardly anyone lived there, even though in the midst of athickly settled country.
In the privacy of their rooms the four lads concluded that they wouldsay nothing directly referring to the railroad robbery or the hiding ofsupposed treasure. They were so near the scene that any revival of thatnow old-time tragedy might cause annoying inquisitiveness even ifnothing more resulted.
After breakfast, while the boys were making a few purchases and takingon a generous supply of gasoline, they learned from Mrs. Ewing that "Danand Nan, with their Daddy, old Pat Feeney," had just gone by.
"And who are they?" queried Phil carelessly, though with a shrewdsuspicion in his mind at the time.
"Oh, he's an Irishman and lives three or four miles from here on theedge of some marshland where he pretends to farm. But I guess the mostof his farming consists in cutting the marsh-grass during the summer andselling it for hay to those who don't know what good hay really is."
"I guess we must have met him some ten or twelve miles back. We hadquite a time passing him, for it was where the road runs along a sidehill, with the bluff on one side and a steep embankment on the other. Westopped our car for his team was scared and after some delay theypassed. They seemed to appreciate what we did, instead of rushing by andprobably scaring the whole outfit into the ditch. The girl was ratherpretty."
"Ah, you boys!" The widow smiled shrewdly. "Always an eye out for thegirls! But don't you allow yourselves to think that what a girl looks,so she always is underneath the surface."
"Are you coming back this way?" the widow finally asked, as the car wasabout to start. "If you don't stop, I--I will feel hurt. I'm homesick attimes for the town where I was raised."
"Tell you what," said Billy after the car had left the small but busytown a mile or two in their rear, "Mrs. Ewing treated us bang up, butshe's a keen one, after all. I'm glad we saw her. It will be somethingto tell McKnight when we get home. Do you reckon those Feeneys are theones we passed?"
"What if they are or if they ain't?" demanded Paul. "We won't be likelyto meet 'em again, will we?"
"Oh, you shut up, Jonesy. There's no one interested in 'em but Phil, andthe best way to define that is by a lesson in spelling." Here Billy madea comical face as he began: "N-a-n, Nan. That, translated into plainlingo, means pretty girl--ouch! Quit, Phil!" For Phil, seated in thetonneau with Worth, had administered a decided pinch.
On sped the Big Six, easily showing what she could do along anincreasingly rough road that might once have been a much traveledhighway but now showed ample signs of the neglect of later years. Thewooded tracts increased, growing larger in area; the half cultivatedfields evinced even more of the neglect and shagginess that wait onlands wholly or in part abandoned by man. Sundry denizens of the woodssuch as rabbits, squirrels, even a stray fox, together with many birds,and upflying broods of quail, also indicated that nature was graduallyreplacing human inactivity in her own way.
"By the way," remarked Worth, "didn't that man with the hay say he livedsome three miles from that town we stopped in--what's the confoundedname?"
"Midlandville, stupid!" This from P. Jones, Esq., with a superior air."That was one of the first things I heard."
"Coster's paper didn't mention that burg, did it?" asked Dave.
"Reckon not. But on this envelope," here Phil took out the pencilledscrap, "there's a dot with the word 'town' beside it that I take to meanthe same thing. Here runs the railroad, going east and west. Look atthis line running due southeast. Somewhere along that line I figurethere ought to be signs of the old tavern. I guess we've left that townat least six or eight miles behind."
Where they were now much of the timber appeared to be second growth, andsuch hemlocks as they saw were small.
In a shaded spot to the right of the ill-kept highway they stopped at asmall rivulet for the noonday lunch. This was eaten rather silently. Infact, so gloomy were their surroundings that after eating Phil Wayproposed that they should divide themselves, two in each party, andexplore to the north and south of the highway for a mile or so, making adetour into the forest as they went.
"I'm with you," said Paul briskly. "I'm getting tired of all thisguessing. Let's start from here, Phil, and take a half circle northwest,then west, then south, crossing the highway. After another mile, we'llturn east, then northeast, then north until we strike the road again.Dave, you and Billy do the same thing, only turn northeast
, east, thensouth and so on so as to bring you back to the road not far from wherewe all are now."
But before any comment could be made on this plan there came a suddeninterruption.