CHAPTER VI
A LITTLE KINDNESS AND WHAT CAME OF IT
Paul and Billy received letters from home in the morning mail. They wereglad to have them,--would have been sorry indeed had their respectivehouseholds neglected for one day to send solicitous inquiries--but theywere so very "busy," they assured themselves, that--well, if they couldjust get the time, they'd write in return that afternoon. Whereupon theyset forth for Willie Creek's establishment.
Mr. Creek was looking over a newspaper. He said he was waiting for apossible customer for a car whom he was to take out for a demonstration.
The boys said they were going to take the Torpedo out for a little goodfresh air. Mr. Creek said, "Sure! She's your car, so far as I can see,though you are out some on the trade you made." This with a friendlysmile.
"We'll just drive back when Willie has had time to get away and we willlook his place over. Not that I think we will find anything, but--"Billy paused.
"Dandy good scheme," Paul assented. "That boy of his--we don't need mindhim at all."
"Better not go far. Let's just wait at the hotel," Worth suggested. Theyhalted the Torpedo in front of the American House accordingly.
From their favorite chairs at the large, screened windows the two ladswatched the occasional passerby, also the clock.
"He'll be miles away by this time. We better hike over to the garage,"proposed Paul when half an hour had passed.
"Well, _sir!_" exclaimed Billy, at the same moment. "There's Mr. Peek.Let's say how do you do!"
Even as he was speaking, Worth hastened out to the sidewalk. The oldgentleman, the tragic story of whose life was written in his stoopingfigure and melancholy face, recognized the boy at once. He was pleasedto be so cordially greeted.
"It's the first time I've been to town for 'most a year," said he, as healso shook hands with Paul. "I don't seem to know any of the youngfolks, any more, and not many of the older ones I meet."
As Mr. Peek said he was just starting for home and that he was on foot,Billy spoke up: "Our car's right here. We will take you home, Mr. Peek."
"We have something on hand, you know. Shall we let it go?" Paulwhispered.
Worth nodded and the visible pleasure of the aged farmer as he climbedawkwardly up to a front seat could not but give his young friendspleasure also.
"You must have been up pretty early if you walked to town this morning,"observed Worth to the old gentleman at his side.
"Y-a-a-a-s," Mr. Peek replied, drawing the word out to great length, asif he were really thinking of something else. And after a long pause hesaid, "Did I tell you t'other day about someone bein' around my house inthe night?"
Yes, he had told them, the boys answered, and he went on: "It hasfretted me every day. An' last evenin' I got to feelin' so down in themouth and glum I just concluded I'd get some cartridges for my oldrifle. It'd make me feel safer to know I had a loaded gun right handy.So I went to town first thing this mornin'. I might 'a' drove, but myold horse is 'bout the same as I be,--almost ready to say good-bye."
Mr. Peek was lost for a time in his own meditations. The Torpedo whirredalong at an easy speed and he seemed to enjoy greatly the pleasantmotion of the car and gentle sweep of the wind. "'Tain't much like waterpower, is it?" he remarked, as if he had been contrasting in his mindthe machinery and appliances of _his_ young manhood with the automobilesand electric motors of the present day. "I suspect you boys never saw awater wheel," he said musingly.
No, they had not, said Billy, and in answer to a question whether theywould like to see one, both he and Paul were quite sure they would.
The car was rumbling along the lonely South Fork now. The old mill, thegray, old house of the miller, empty and cheerless, the pond and theicehouse were but a little way forward.
"If you'd like to stop at the mill, I'll show you a water wheel," saidMr. Peek. "And it'd have been runnin' yet, but--" Not finishing thissentence, the possible conclusion of which the boys could easily guess,the old gentleman after a little hesitation continued: "I can't getaround like I used to and not as much as I ought to. I ain't been in themill for nigh onto two years."
Billy halted the car before the weather-worn buildings. He glancedtoward Paul as if he felt some misgiving in entering the ruins of theonce busy place in company with the ruin of him whose wrecked hopes wereresponsible for all the gloom and decay in this otherwise charmingvalley.
But if Jones was in any degree apprehensive, he did not show it. Truly,too, it was interesting and surely there was nothing to fear, unless itwere from loose or rotting boards beneath their feet. Mr. Peek explainedbriefly the operation of the long-silent water wheel. There was a chokein his voice, and in one way the lads felt relief when they all were inthe outer air again.
"It wa'n't a right convenient place to have a mill, but we had to takeour work to where our power was. Couldn't hitch power up an' make itcarry us anywhere, in my time, as you do with your automobile," observedMr. Peek.
Paul said he would like to take a walk around the old pond. Billy said,"Yes, let's do it, if Mr. Peek doesn't care."
"Just do whatever pleases ye," said the old gentleman kindly. "I'll sithere on the old platform a spell." So he seated himself at the entrancewhere, in the long ago, grain for the mill was unloaded and the two boyssauntered along the one-time race.
They strolled partly around the pond, speaking of the chances of goodfishing and the probable depth of the water, and wondering that theancient dam had not given way long ago. They drew near and walkedalongside of the icehouse between the building and the water.
They saw the black, decaying sawdust oozing from cracks where the sidinghad decayed. They passed around to the east side where were the greatdoors, still hanging loosely on rusty hinges. The lowest one was but afew feet above the ground. It was unlatched and stood ajar an inch ortwo.
"Let's look in," Billy suggested.
A runway of heavy planks, seamy and gray, built wide enough to havedriven a team of horses upon, led up to the lowest door. The two boyswalked easily up the incline. They drew the great door open a foot ortwo. The place seemed very dark after the bright sunlight without. Thedead, heavy odor of the sawdust slowly being consumed by damp rot belowand by dry rot higher up, was strong to their nostrils.
"If there's such a thing as spooks, they'd like to live here, I'll bet,"said Paul Jones.
The dense gloom within was slowly giving way to a heavy, blue-blacklight as the boys' eyes became accustomed to the dark interior. They sawthat the sawdust filled the lower part of the building up to within afew inches of the incline they stood upon, so they stepped down upon it,and to give more light as they casually looked about, Paul pushed thegreat door wide open.
And there before the astonished eyes of the two young gentlemen stood anautomobile--the Big Six of the Auto Boys, apparently sound and whole.
"Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah!" screamed Paul Jones in the most extravagantdelight imaginable. "What d'ye _know_ about it? What d'ye know about it?What d'ye KNOW about it?" he cried, adding emphasis each time.
But if Mr. Billy Worth was answering the question, his manner ofimparting information was somewhat strange, to say the least. For afterhis first astonished, "What in the world!" he simply seized a rearfender, as if the car might take fright and escape immediately, andthere he stood, saying: "Oh, my! I'm so glad! Oh, I am thankful for thisday!" For while Paul's emotion found vent in an ecstacy of joy Billy,really more deeply moved, scarcely knew what he did or said. The prayerof thanksgiving in his heart was very earnest and sincere--so much ofboth that words entirely failed to give his feelings expression.
The first sharp edge of their surprise, excitement and delight was gonein a minute or two and the boys began a rapid inspection of the Six andits contents. Even as they did so Mr. Peek, attracted by Paul'sdelighted yells, came slowly up the incline. His surprise was verymanifest, though of a decidedly less demonstrative character thanPaul's, for instance.
While Worth and Jones inspected the car, Mr. P
eek was making a study ofthe manner in which the machine had been gotten down from the road andinto the icehouse.
"Except for being so muddy inside as well as outside, she's just as weleft her," announced Billy Worth presently. At the same instant Paul,who had been looking at the engine, switched on the spark, touched thestarter, and lo! the motor hummed as sweetly and powerfully as anyonecould possibly desire.
"But how in time did they put it in here and who in thunder doneit?"--Jones was apt to lose accuracy and gain a certain inelegance inhis speech as his force of expression increased.
As if answering Paul's question, Mr. Peek called from outside: "Sureenough, they knew the place!" And he pointed out to the two boys as theyran out to him how the automobile had been brought down the steep bankfrom the road above by means of heavy planks. There were four of thethick, unplaned boards.
"How'd they ever get here, do you suppose?" asked Mr. Peek. "For more'ntwenty year, I tell ye, them plank has laid in a pile way over on yonside of the hill. Somebody must 'a' knowed where to lay hands on 'em."
"Do you mean that somebody must have expected to steal our car andbrought the boards to be ready?" asked Billy.
"Not exactly that," said Mr. Peek, "but them plank was carried way downhere for the purpose. No stranger would 'a' known where to look for'em."
Instantly Billy remembered that Alfred Earnest and Alex Hipp werefamiliar with all this neighborhood. He started to speak but a quicksecond thought bade him refrain.
"Gosh! We've got the car and we're mighty glad of the planks to help herup to the road again!" cried Paul. He did not grasp the significance ofMr. Peek's words as Billy did. "We're going to take her right toGriffin, ain't we? We'll telegraph Phil and Dave in a hurry if we canonly find where they're at."
It was agreed that the Big Six should be gotten out of the old icehouseand in readiness to go to Griffin, even before Mr. Peek had been takenhome. The old gentleman was eager to help, but his services were hardlyneeded. With the same heavy boards the thieves had used, a runway wasmade out from the sawdust to the outside incline. Carefully the machinewas backed up. All went well and in three minutes the mud-stained butstill handsome automobile stood in the sunshine again.
By a similar process the planks bridged the way up the steep embankmentof the road, running directly over the low rail fence. The ascent wassteep but with a quick start Billy made the upward run nicely. Themachine's long body swung prettily around at the top, once more on theopen highway.
Finding his services were of no value in the moving of the car, Mr. Peekhad been making further search inside and outside the icehouse. NowBilly and Paul joined him. But all their eager scrutiny was withoutreward. No sign was discovered which might show who had stolen the BigSix or what the purpose of the thieves may have been in concealing thecar where it was found.
"This little trip has done me a world of good. I do believe I could beright spry again if I had some spry young fellows to help me getstarted, as you have done," said Mr. Peek. The boys were just leavinghim at his home. "It's a pretty mysterious business about them planks,"he remarked a moment later. "Don't you let that automobile out o' yourhands again."
There was little danger that the boys would do so, it is needless tosay. Paul had driven the large car right behind Billy and Mr. Peek inthe Torpedo, and similarly, each driving a machine, they returnedtriumphantly to Griffin and to Willie Creek's garage.
To say that Mr. Creek was surprised would be but a part of the truth. Hewas literally dumfounded. The story of where and how the stolen car wasfound seemed to surprise him still more.
"Better hike over to the American pretty quick," said he a little later."There's a telegram for you."
So did Billy and Paul receive the message from Phil and Dave.
"Who cares for that Torpedo thing? We've got the _Six_," said Jones,reading the telegram over Worth's shoulder.
"We'll wire 'em! Wow! but won't they be some surprised?" Billy returned.And forthwith the two rushed to the telegraph office.
"We have found her. Pretty muddy inside but not hurt."
And such was the message received by Way and MacLester in Syracuse.