CHAPTER V
"STUNG!"
"Here, hold on there! Stop that gasolene contraption! I'll have th' lawon ye fer runnin' down my calf-critter! What right ye got t' go racin'around th' land killin' a poor man's critters right an' left? Hold on,I'll sue ye fer damages!"
A grizzled old man, wearing a pair of ragged overalls, with a raggedblue jacket to match, and with a bunch of white whiskers on his chinwiggling up and down as he shouted the above words, rushed down thelane out of which the spotted calf had come, and shook his fist at thelads in the auto.
"Hold on there!" he repeated.
"We are holding on," remarked Jerry grimly, as he got out and lookedunder the car at the calf.
The creature had not been touched by the wheels, but lay between them.Unnaturally still it lay, nor did it bleat or give a sign of life.Jerry took hold of the tail, and was about to pull it out, hoping itwas not much hurt, though his heart misgave him.
"Here, what ye goin' t' do?" demanded the angry farmer.
"I was going to pull the calf out from under our car," replied Jerry."It--it fell there."
"Humph! A likely story. I saw ye deliberately run down my calf-critter.You let it alone until I git some witnesses, an' prove a case agin ye!Let it alone!"
"I guess it's dead, anyhow," said Ned in a low voice, as he stoodbeside Jerry.
"Deader than a lobster," added Bob. "You must have hit it an awfulpoke, Jerry."
"Keep quiet, can't you?" urged Ned. "This skinflint of a farmer willhear you," for the man was gazing at the trio of lads with angry eyes.
Noddy Nixon, with a look of triumphant gloating on his face, cameforward, followed by Bill Berry. Professor Snodgrass, oblivious toeverything save his favorite pursuit, was some distance down the road,using his net with energy.
"I didn't hit it hard at all," Jerry said. "The calf ran right acrossthe road. Why I hardly struck it at all. I had the brakes on ready tostop, anyhow."
"Don't talk to me about brakes!" snapped the farmer. "Ye broke mycalf's neck, an' it was a valuable critter. Don't ye dare touch it tillI git some witnesses, an' prove a case on ye. I want damages, an' heavydamages, too! I want witnesses."
"We'll be witnesses for you!" broke in Noddy eagerly. "It was entirelythe fault of those fellows that your calf was killed, Mr.--er--Mr.--?"he paused suggestively.
"Sackett is my name--Ebenezer Sackett, of Tewkesbury Township,"supplied the farmer. "I live right over that way a short piece, jestbelow th' hill. I was drivin' my calf down the lane, when all to onctthis rip-snortin' ragin' and tearin' automobile comes along an' killshim. I want damages, an' heavy damages, too!"
"We saw them kill the calf," went on Noddy, seemingly eager to arrayhimself against the motor boys, and on the side of the farmer. "Didn'twe, Bill?"
"Sure we did," answered the bully's crony.
"Then you must have very good eyesight," remarked Jerry cuttingly, "foryou were in your car, and how you could observe the calf, when it is sosmall that it doesn't come to the top of our radiator, is more than Ican understand."
"Well, we saw it just the same, Mr. Sackett," went on the ugly bully."They killed your animal, and you ought to make them pay for it."
"That's what I intend," asserted the farmer. "I'll attach theirmachine, that's what I'll do ef they don't pay. Hi there, Abner!" hecalled, as a man, evidently one of the hired help, came hurrying alongthe lane. "Abner, you go notify Constable Higbie that I got a case ferhim. I want these fellers arrested fer killin' my spotted calf!"
"Gosh all hemlock!" cried Abner, as he stared at the scene before him.
"You go git th' constable," repeated Mr. Sackett, "an' I'll hold thesefellers until you come back with him. I'll show 'em that they can'tmonkey with Ebenezer Sackett of Tewkesbury Township."
"Isn't it against the law to let animals run at large on the highway?"asked Ned of Mr. Sackett.
"He wasn't runnin' at large," was the answer. "I was leading him, an'he broke away from me. Ye can't git out of it that way. I want damagesan' I'm goin' t' have 'em! Th' constable will be here soon, an' ye kintake yer choice of payin' or goin' t' jail."
How long this dispute might have been kept up it is difficult to say,but Professor Snodgrass arrived just then, and, hearing the story,endeavored to conciliate the angry farmer. But there was no subduingMr. Sackett.
"I want damages!" he declared firmly.
"Oh, say, there's only one way to end this," said Ned finally, puttinghis hand in his pocket. "It wasn't our fault, but I suppose we've gotto stand being gouged by this fellow. I'll pay him, Jerry, as this tripis on my father's account, and then we can get along. How much was yourcalf worth, Mr. Sackett?"
"Fifty dollars ef he was a cent!"
"Fifty dollars!" gasped Bob.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Professor Snodgrass, who could be very practicalon occasions. "I know something of farm animals. Pull that calf out,Jerry, and let's look at him."
Jerry and Ned grasped the tail, and soon had the creature out in thehighway. The farmer offered no further objections to it being moved,now that it seemed as if he was in a fair way to collect damages.
"Humph! A very young calf," commented Mr. Snodgrass. "Hardly fit tokill for veal. And it doesn't seem to have been hit very hard."
"No, it was a very gentle blow," said Jerry. "The car was almost at astandstill when he ran into it."
"It must have died easily," went on the scientist. "Now, Mr. Sackett,you'll have to lower your figure, for I know that calf was never worthany fifty dollars."
"Well, it's wuth forty."
"Forty? Nonsense. If you sold it for fifteen you'd be getting more thanit was worth. We'll give you twenty dollars for the animal, and notanother cent."
"I'll not take it," stormed the farmer.
"That's right! Make 'em pay more, or sue 'em!" put in Noddy.
"You mind your own affairs, Nixon!" said the professor curtly, andNoddy slunk back toward his machine.
"Will you take twenty dollars, or will you let the matter go to court?"asked the scientist, taking some bills from his pocket, and motioningto the boys that he would conduct the case for them.
"I want thirty dollars, anyhow," said Mr. Sackett. "Ha! Here comesAbner with the constable. Now we'll see what happens."
"Offer him twenty-five, and I think he'll take it," said Ned in a lowvoice. "We can't stay here any longer."
"All right, if you say so," agreed the professor, "but I think I couldget him down to twenty. Well, Mr. Sackett," went on the scientist,"we'll pay you twenty-five dollars, and not another cent. If that's notsatisfactory we'll give the constable a bond, and we'll fight the casein the courts."
This was said with such an air of decision that the farmer saw that itwas useless to stand out for more.
"I'll take it," said Mr. Sackett reluctantly, "but th' calf was wuthforty dollars ef it was a cent."
"Nonsense!" declared the professor, as he paid over the money. "Haulthe carcass out of the way, and we'll be getting on, boys."
"It's a regular case of hold-up," muttered Ned, as he dragged the calffarther out of the path of the auto.
The farmer pocketed the money with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.Noddy Nixon, looking disappointed, perhaps because the motor boys hadnot been arrested, started back to his machine, followed by his crony,and soon they were chugging away down the road. Our friends and theprofessor entered their car.
"Whew! That was a hot time while it lasted!" remarked Bob, when theyhad gone on some distance.
"Yes, and all Noddy Nixon's fault," added Ned.
"Talk about highway robbers," declared Jerry, "Mr. Sackett comes prettynearly being one."
They were filled with righteous anger against Mr. Sackett, and thiswas added to when they learned something about him when they stopped alittle later at a country hotel for dinner.
While they were waiting for the meal to be prepared they got talking tothe hotel clerk. They mentioned their experience with Mr. Sackett, andtold of paying for th
e calf.
"Excuse me, strangers," broke in a farmer who was seated near a tablereading, "but was this calf you speak of a brown and white spotted one?"
"It was," answered Jerry.
"With a very long tail?" the man wanted to know.
"Very long," spoke Ned, who had particularly noted the appendage as hedragged the creature out of the way.
"And was it a thin, poor-looking sort of a calf?" went on the man.
"It was," said Mr. Snodgrass. "You seem to know this calf in question."
"Know it? I guess I do!" was the answer. "And I know Eb Sackett, too.Why that calf had been condemned by the county inspector of cattle, an'Eb had been ordered to kill it. Th' calf had some catchin' disease, an'Eb was under orders t' git rid of it inside of twenty-four hours, orpay a fine of fifty dollars. He was takin' it off to shoot it, when youmust have bunked into it."
"Are you sure of this?" asked Ned.
"Course I am, strangers. Why, I'm a deputy cattle inspector, an' I'm onmy way now to see if Eb carried out the orders he got. But if you saythe calf is dead there ain't no use in me goin' on."
"Oh, it's dead all right," replied Jerry with a queer look at his chums.
"And we paid twenty-five dollars for the privilege of killing a calfthat had been condemned, and would have been killed, anyhow," murmuredNed. "Well, if we weren't----"
"Stung!" interrupted Bob. "Stung good and proper!"
"By Mr. Ebenezer Sackett," added Jerry.
"I guess his name ought to be Mr. 'Sock-it,' instead of Sackett,"commented the hotel clerk. "That certainly was a swindle he worked onyou, gentlemen, and he socked it to you!"
"And it ain't the fust time Eb's done a trick like that, nor it won'tbe the last," spoke the deputy cattle inspector. "I'm sorry for youboys, an' if you want to go back, an' make him give up your money, I'lldo all I can for ye."
"I'd like to, but we haven't time now," replied Ned, as he thought ofthe necessity for hurrying on to see Mr. Jackson.