CHAPTER XI GARRY'S STORY AND HARRY STANTON'S
It was around the glowing camp fire on that memorable night that thewondering boys heard Garry Everson's simple, unboastful tale of the newkind of first-aid which had helped him to solve the mystery of JeffreyWaring and put Tom Slade in the way of realizing his fondest dream--thatof returning Harry Stanton to his young sister and his home.
"If we looked like beans, I'd say you were trying to string us," observedRoy, as he sat in his familiar posture near the fire, his knees drawn upand his hands clasped about them. "It beats anything _I_ ever heard. Ourbeloved scoutmaster will have to go away, way back and sit down."
Mr. Ellsworth, still half incredulous, shook his head. "The pity of itis," said he, "that there's no merit badge for this kind of first-aid.There can be no doubt of the truth of this thing, I suppose?" he added.
Garry laughed good-naturedly. "I wish I could be as sure of his havingthe boat for his own--now that he's somebody else. It's one peacherino."
"And you suspected that first night, you say?"
"Well, no--not exactly. You fellows have got to remember that my fatherwas an alienist, if you know what that is, and I've heard him tell aboutjust such troubles as Harry's. So I don't deserve much credit. Only I hadto be very careful. You can see yourselves it wasn't a case for bandagesand splints and things."
"It would be pretty hard to give you too much credit," Doc Carson said.
"The first thing I noticed," Garry went on, "was the way Tom stared whenhe first saw him that night up in the woods. He was sure he'd seen himbefore. I didn't think much about that though till afterwards when otherlittle things set me thinking and then I remembered about it and I beganto put two and two together. When Jeffrey told me where he belonged Iremembered about the old gentleman in Vale Centre who came home one timewith a young fellow he called his nephew and how all the people in thevillage wondered who the nephew was. They didn't live near enough for meto know much about them and I don't know as I ever saw Jeffrey until thatnight up on the mountain.
"Well, it was while we were bringing Mr. Waring down through the woods onthe stretcher that Tom said something about the Stantons--he justmentioned the name sort of off-hand, and I noticed that Jeffrey stared athim and looked sort of worried or puzzled, kind of, and then started inagain chattering in that way of his.
"Then it came jumping into my head all of a sudden that he was trying tothink of something and couldn't. And I was wondering if Tom really everhad seen him before, when I just happened to think--the idea came to me,sort of--that maybe it was his sister that Tom had seen. Of course, Ididn't think so but the idea wouldn't go away and I decided that anywayI'd keep Jeffrey near me if I could and not let him get mixed up with thecrowd where he'd be all the time getting excited, and see if I couldn'tfind out something about him. And even as it was, that was some tall job,believe me."
"You certainly kept by yourselves," some one said.
"I knew the time was short and I wanted to see if maybe he wouldn't getbetter by just being quiet. I knew a person could get to be--sortof--flighty, like, from an accident or something like that, and lose hismemory, and be like a kid, and that sometimes, if he lives quiet anddon't get excited or see many people, he'll begin to remember things----"
"Garry, we've got to hand it to you," said Roy, earnestly. "You've spentyour whole vacation buried alive."
"Even still I didn't exactly think he was Harry Stanton," Garry went on,"but after, a while, just for experiment, kind of, I began springingwords on him that I thought he might remember. I sprung _Stanton_ and_Nyack_ but there wasn't any come-back until one day--it was the dayArnold dropped in to see me--I sprung the word _Nymph_ as a good name fora boat and that seemed to kind of hit him. He just stared and stared andstared. After that I decided to take him down to Catskill Landing to lookat that sumptuous yacht of his and then to show him the _Good Turn_. Iknew that sometimes when a person sees the thing that caused his troubleor goes back to the same place, maybe, or something of that sort, hismemory comes back to him all of a sudden and he wakes up as if he'd beendreaming, as you might say. There's a long name they have for it, but Ican't seem to remember it. Anyway, it's a blamed funny thing, but it'strue. If you want to know what happened when we trespassed on the _GoodTurn_, you'd better let _him_ tell you, hey, Jeff?"
The boy who had been the subject of Garry's simple narrative was smiling,as every one turned toward him, and though the familiar trace ofchildishness was not entirely gone from his smile, there was a suggestionof mental poise or self-possession, even in the face of this publicstare, which had not been there before. And though one or two noticed(for they were scouts and noticed things) that he twirled one fingernervously with his other hand, he at least did not begin to chatter withthat distressing agitation and irrational boastfulness which the camp hadknown so well.
He had not changed his habit and demeanor as a lightning change performerwill doff his costume, but there was a difference and everyone could seeit. The woods and the quiet water and the sympathetic surroundings wereto do much for him yet and it would be a long journey back to mentalkeenness and physical vigor. But he was different, and it seemed all verywonderful. It was a knockout blow to Doc Carson, proficient though he wasin his chosen specialty, for not a word about this kind of business hadhe ever seen in his study of First-Aid.
"Hey, Stanton, you old Jekyll and Hyde," Garry repeated, cheerily; "youcame near getting me in Dutch with this bunch. Tell them about the_Nymph_."
Harry Stanton smiled naturally and now Tom Slade, who was watching hisevery movement, realized how much like his young sister he looked. Hisnose wrinkled a little, just like hers, when he smiled. There was nodoubt as to who he was.
"I knew it was my boat," he said. "I thought it was the next morning. Itseemed as if I was just waking up. I don't mean it's my boat, now, ofcourse----"
"It sure is yours, all right," said Roy.
"I've got my other one and I don't want it. But it seemed as if I hadfallen asleep on it and----"
"He thought I was Benty Willis for a minute," said Garry.
"And then--then, sort of, I knew all about what happened. When I sawmy--the--boat, I knew. I knew for sure."
There were a few seconds of silence, broken by Mr. Ellsworth's saying,"It's wonderful, almost unbelievable." And still no one else spoke, thecompany only gazing at Harry Stanton, as one might look at an apparition.
Then Doc Carson, Raven and First-Aid Scout, said, "Garry, you're awonder."
"And all the thanks he got----" began Connie Bennet.
"Oh, I didn't mind that," laughed Garry; "I had my little trail tofollow, and I followed it, that's all. I just kept my eyes on the trailand not on you fellows--just as Jeb is all the time telling us. If he hadseen that boat too soon, or been jollied or got too much excited or tiredhe might have gone nutty, for sure. Tell us a camp-fire yarn, Roy, I wantHarry to see that we've got a real 'nut' in the camp."
But Roy told no yarn, and still they were all silent. After a while, Tomspoke.
"I don't want to make you talk about it, if you don't feel like it," hesaid, "or if you don't remember, but I always thought that maybe you werealive because a board belonging to your launch's skiff was in the launchwhen we got her."
Garry laughed. "Tell him how it happened, Stanton," said he.
"I remember all about it," said Harry. "I was in the launch and Benty wasin the tender, bailing it out. There was a long rope from the tender tothe _Nymph_. He was singing and I was sitting in the cabin talking tohim. We had a light on the launch. That's the same way as I told it toyou--isn't it?" he questioned, turning to Garry.
"Sure--go on."
"Then I heard a speed-boat coming--down?"
"That's what you said," Garry encouraged.
"Maybe it was up. Anyway I called, but I suppose they couldn't hear me onaccount of their exhaust."
"You see," said Garry. "He wanted to warn them about the
small boat whichwas about thirty feet away and had no light."
"They crashed into it and Benty yelled that he was hurt and said he hadhold of the rope. And then--and then--" Stanton broke off, lookingfrightened and perplexed, and rubbed his hands together distressingly.
"You let me finish it for you and see if I don't get it right," saidGarry, soothingly. "Jeff pulled the rope so as to save Benty, whocouldn't swim very well. But Benty must have let go. That right, Jeff?"
"Yes, and--"
"Now wait a minute." Garry looked across the fire at Tom. "And all therewas at the end of the rope was a board from the skiff. The skiff musthave been all smashed to pieces. It was the board that had the ring in itthat the boat was tied to----"
"Yes?" said Tom.
"Well, that's all there is to it. Stanton pulled it aboard thinking hisfriend was clinging to it. And when he saw how it was he dived forhim----"
"I dived right away," interrupted Harry Stanton, shuddering, "and I swamall around and I called--I swam way out and then there was a big lightthat dazzled me----"
"And that's all," concluded Garry. "He can't tell you any more because hedoesn't remember any more till he was in Mr. Waring's house. We're goingto try to find out about it, aren't we. Stan?"
He moved closer to the boy and put his arm about his shoulder with asignificant look at the others as if to ask them not to question himfurther.
"And he wants us all to go down to Nyack with him in his own boat whichhas the other one beat forty-'leven ways. He says he wouldn't ride inthat old tub now, hey, Stan? And you can keep it or sink it just as youplease. And when we get to Nyack he wants a committee of three scouts togo home with him while the rest of us stay on the boat. And after that,if we can fix it up, we're all going to take a cruise up the river andthrough the lakes for a little call on Uncle Sam at Plattsburg. Hey,Stan?"
"And the three scouts that he wants to go up home with him (he's veryparticular about it) are Tom Slade and Roy and Pee-wee Harris, becausethey're the ones who were there last year and they know his sister, soit's up to them to take him back."
"How about you?" Roy promptly demanded.
"Oh, I'm out of it," said Garry.
Then, suddenly, such a shout as might have raised the dead resounded. Itwas Pee-wee Harris, flying off the handle, as he realized the meaning ofGarry's proposal.
"Oh, crinkums, won't it be great!" he shouted. "And--and--I'll think up alittle kind of a speech to make to her--gee, it's just like a story,with--with--yachts and long lost brothers and things----"
"Especially things," said Roy.