CHAPTER XIX. AN ENEMY OF THE PAST.
They all recognized Jared now, although he had grown considerably sincelast Rob had seen him, and was a husky looking fellow, easily capable ofdoing a man's work.
In other days he had been a thorn in the flesh of the newly organizedtroop of scouts in Hampton, doing every mean thing his wits could devisein order to annoy them. Then, later on, when some of the boys had visitedthe Panama Canal, in process of being dug at the time, they ran acrossthis same young reprobate, and found him associated with a number ofdesperate foreigners who were trying to blow up the locks of the canal inorder to effect the ruination of the whole grand project to unite the twooceans across the isthmus.
Still later, Rob had run across Jared down in Mexico, where he was havinga hard time of it, having joined forces with some of the rival warringelements that at the time were smashing things right and left. Whateverbecame of Jared, Rob had never learned, nor had he bothered himself verymuch over the disappearance of the unscrupulous young rascal.
And now, to find him trying to steal things from their baggage, wasenough to make them believe the world was a pretty small affair afterall. Of the hundreds of thousands of people in San Francisco it wascertainly queer that Jared, their old-time enemy, should be the one toattempt this thing.
"What's this checkered jumper he's wearing mean?" remarked Andy, when hecould find his breath, which had really been taken away by theastonishing discovery.
"Looks like Jared might be doing some honest work at last," added Hiram."Else he's just put it on to make people believe he belongs here in thehotel."
"No, no, that isn't so, Hiram!" hastily cried the wretched Jared. "I'mreally a sort of porter here, you see. I fetch trunks up to guests'rooms, and all that. Mebbe you didn't know it, but I brought that steamertrunk of yours here when you were out. That's how I got my firstknowledge some of my old schoolmates had come on to the Fair, because Iread the name of Robert Blake on the same, and Hampton, L. I., ditto."
"Oh!" said Andy, "and you felt so warmly drawn to your old schoolmates,Jared, didn't you, that you just couldn't resist sneaking up here whenthey were out, and rooting all through their baggage in hopes of pickingup a windfall?"
The wretched Jared groaned in a way that told how badly he felt, notbecause he repented for anything he had done, as Rob well knew, but onaccount of having had the ill-fortune to be caught in the act. That waswhat pinched the most, though it was not to be expected he would admit asmuch; for Jared had always been one of those tricky, whining, cowardlyfellows who make big promises when in trouble, but forget all about themas soon as the wind blows fair.
"I'm just sick to get back home again, and that's the truth, I give youmy word it is, Rob!" he said, trying to appear very dejected and humble,because he knew from past experiences that this was the best way to workupon the sympathies of these good-hearted former school companions.
"And ready to rob us so as to get the money to take you there, you mean,don't you, Jared?" Rob demanded.
"Oh, it was wicked, I realize that now, but everything has been againstme out here," whined the one who lay on his back on the floor. "I get tothinking of the folks at home on Long Island and it seems I would gocrazy I want to get back there so bad again. If I ever do, I'm meanin' tobe a different feller than in the past. I've had my lesson, Rob; I'vebeen kicked around like a dog till I came to hate nearly everybody thatlived. But if I could only have one more chance I'd try awful hard tomake good, sure I would. Oh, I hope you'll believe me, Rob Blake!"
Now Rob, through so many dealings with this treacherous fellow in thepast, had lost all faith in his possessing the least trait of decency inhis composition. In most bad boys with whom Rob had ever had anything todo he could discover some sign of decency, even though it requiredconsiderable searching to find it; but upon Jared he had come to look asworthless.
All these promises Rob believed were only made with one idea in view, andthis a wild desire to escape the punishment he so richly deserved.
Caught hiding under the bed after their effects had been searched andthrown recklessly around, Jared must certainly be treated as a commonthief if arrested, and the management of the hotel would take greatsatisfaction in prosecuting him if only to discourage other employeesfrom copying his example.
"Let him sit up, boys!" the scout leader told the two who had beenpinning both of Jared's arms to the floor.
They did as Rob requested, but from the way in which Andy and Hiramseemed to watch the culprit, meanwhile holding themselves in completereadiness to hurl their weight upon him at the first show of aggressiveaction on his part, it was evident that they attached small importance tohis claim of repentance.
Rob hardly knew what to do. They had no reason to think well of thisscamp who, in the past, never lost an opportunity to do them an ill turn,whether in the home town on the shore of Long Island, down at Panama, orupon the wide plains of Mexico. In Rob's mind there was no shadow ofbelief with regard to that promise of reformation, or the gnawing desireto return home.
Still, so far as they knew, nothing had been stolen, so that there was noreal reason why they should sink so low as to want to revenge themselveson Jared.
He certainly presented a most pitiable object as he sat there and turnedhis anxious eyes from one face to another of the four boys with whom hehad gone to school for years, and who now held his fate in their hands.
"If I got anything, Rob, I meant to make it up to you later on when Icould earn the money," he was saying again, mistaking that serious lookon Rob's face and fearful that he meant to turn him over to the police."I'm ready to go back to the farm and work it with the old man. Thisthing of knockin' about the world ain't all it's cracked up to be, andI'm dead tired of going hungry half the time. Let me off, Rob, won't you,please? It'd nigh 'bout kill the old woman if she learned I'd been caughttryin' to steal from my schoolmates."
Like all cowards, Jared, when he found himself face to face with theconsequences of his folly, was ready to play the part of the prodigalson, and bring in his parents as a reason why he should escapepunishment. Rob and the other scouts knew his mother and father, andwhile they had no reason to respect Farmer Applegate, still the fact thatJared was his son and must have almost broken the hearts of his people athome, was bound to influence Rob.
"Get up, Jared!" said the scout leader, shortly.
Andy gave a grunt of displeasure. He could guess what Rob was about todo, and felt like expressing his disgust, though it was seldom any of theboys ventured to differ with Rob, such confidence did they have in hislong-headed policies.
Hiram simply contented himself with shrugging his shoulders. If Robconsidered it best that they let the contemptible sneak thief off, aftercatching him in the very act as it were, well, it must be all right.Scouts were taught that when a foe was on his back and begging for mercythey must not be too hard-hearted. Jared was deceiving them, Hiram feltsure of that, but after all why should they bother with punishing him anyfurther?
"Are you meanin' to let me go, Rob?" quavered the fellow, as he managedto get upon his feet, with the four scouts clustered around him.
"Yes, because we haven't lost anything through you as far as we can findout," the scout leader told him, at which Jared's face lost some of itsstrained look, and Andy thought he caught some of the old-time craftygleam in his shifting eyes.
"I give you my word for it, Rob, I never took a single living thing," hehastened to say.
"Well, we'll make sure of that by taking a look through your pockets!"declared Rob, sternly. "You don't seem to like that, do you? But make upyour mind that if you start to show the first sign of resistance we'llnot only pile on you, but hand you over to the police afterward withoutlistening to any more promises. Andy, you tap his pockets, and see whathe's got."
Andy did not hesitate an instant; indeed, to see the way he started inone might believe this was an avocation with the scout, and that he hadbeen employed
a long time at police headquarters searching the pockets ofprisoners before they were thrust into cells.
A number of things were brought to light, which did not possess anyparticular interest for the scouts. When, however, from an inside pocketAndy drew a roll of bills, fastened with a rubber band, Tubby was heardto give a "whee!" and Hiram nudged Rob in the side as if to say: "See howhe yarned when he vowed he wanted to get back on the farm, but didn'thave the railroad fare East!"
Andy deliberately proceeded to count the contents of the roll, while thewretched owner followed his every move, as though he feared that by somehocus-pocus or sleight of hand process, with which he himself waspossibly familiar, some of the money might take wings and fly away.
"Just ninety-seven dollars here, Rob!" announced Andy.
"Yes, that's right," declared Jared, cringing before Rob's look, "and Iearned every cent of that roll by honest days' labor, every cent of it. Ithought I needed just a little more to see me through all the way East. Iwas told it'd take about--say a hundred and ten clear. But I c'n wait nowtill I get my next wages. I was a silly fool to think to rob my old palsof the days in Hampton."
"You never said truer words than those, Jared," Rob told him, plainly,but with a feeling that nothing the other declared would be believedunder oath, for truth and Jared Applegate had never been friends.
"But, Rob, I hope now you ain't a-goin' to keep any of my cash roll, orhand it over to the manager of the hotel. I've been working here quitesome time now, and they treat me white so I'd hate to get bounced whenI'm so near makin' up the amount I need. It's all clean money, Rob, youbelieve me, don't you? Look at my hands and see how calloused they are?That's a pretty good sign, I take it, that I ain't been layin' around, orplayin' cards like I used to."
He had certainly been doing some sort of hard labor, though Rob wasrather inclined to believe Jared must have been working in the mines withpick and shovel, and had only come to the city when driven out of thecamp because of some crooked doings.
"You shouldn't judge everybody by your own standard, Jared," he told theother. "None of us could be hired to take a single cent of yours, nomatter how you got the money, which is no affair of ours. Give it back tohim, Andy; and I guess you've searched enough to satisfy us he iscarrying away nothing that belongs to us."
Jared clutched the money as might a miser, and hastened to stow it awayagain.
"And you mean me to go, don't you, Rob? I take it you're too high-mindedto want to have revenge on a poor devil who's down in the world, even ifhe has done you dirt in the past. Say I c'n skip out, won't you, Rob? I'ma changed boy, I tell you; and you'll never be sorry you acted white withme!"
"Open the door, Tubby," said Rob, and the fat scout did so, though withapparent reluctance, for Tubby did not have the slightest faith inJared's wonderful reformation, and thought he ought to be punished insome way.
"Now go, and I only hope we never set eyes on you again, Jared Applegate.Only for the fact that you've already brought enough trouble on the headsof your folks at home I'd be in favor of handing you over to the policeto deal with. Hurry up and leave before I change my mind."
Jared did not linger a second longer than he could help. He gave each ofthe three scouts a look, and although he tried to appear grateful, theycould see that there was the same old crafty gleam in his eyes as thoughdeep down in his heart there existed not a trace of the desire to reformof which his lips had boasted. Passing through the open door, he vanishedfrom their sight.