Dick in the Everglades Part 28

"Well, boys," said Mr. Barstow, "if you are ready we will go aboard.

I don't see much that you will care to take with you."

"Nothing but Tom," said d.i.c.k. "Can't he go? He'll be good."

"Of course he can. But who is Tom?"

"Oh, he's nothing but a savage old wildcat," replied Ned. "He'll probably eat us all up but d.i.c.k. He has eaten some of him already."

"Oh, what a beauty!" cried Molly, when Tom, who had been sitting in a tree over their heads, was pointed out to her. d.i.c.k soon coaxed the lynx, which sat there looking suspiciously at the strangers, down to his shoulder.

"Can't I pet him?" asked Molly.

"No!" said Ned.

"Yes," said d.i.c.k, and Molly stepped forward and laid her hand fearlessly on the soft fur of the beautiful creature. Tom began a low growl, but d.i.c.k talked soothingly to him, and in a few minutes he became quite friendly with the girl.

"There!" said Molly. "Now we're friends, and I can play with him all I want to."

"Oh, no, not yet. You must promise that you won't touch him unless I am with you," said d.i.c.k.

"Of course, I won't promise. I'll pet him when I please."

"Then poor Tom will have to stay here."

"Do you mean to say that if I don't make that ridiculous promise I can't have Tom?"

"Tom belongs to you the minute you make that promise, but not before."

"Well, Mr. Williams, I make the promise rather than lose Tom, but as for you--" And the blank which Molly left was filled with feminine possibilities.

A bunk was fixed up in the cabin of the launch for d.i.c.k, and the throb of the heavy engines became a steady hum as the boat turned down the stream, with water and spray curling up from its bow and heavy waves from its propeller breaking with a sullen roar on the banks of the river. d.i.c.k's bunk must have been uncomfortable, for very soon he crawled up on deck and, going forward to where he could lean back against the cabin, sat down, looking pale, but not unhappy. Molly, who happened to be on the bow of the boat, was so indignant with him that she told him he ought to have a guardian, and then went below and brought back an armful of pillows and cushions, with which she proceeded to make life a burden to d.i.c.k.

Then, as she seemed about to go away, d.i.c.k began to talk to her about the old plantations on the river and tell her the ghost stories that belonged to them, until she sat down near him. "I hope you don't think I was rude about Tom? I was only--" But Molly interrupted him.

"You need to be good and strong before I tell you what I think of that." And the girl walked away from him so indignant that she didn't return for nearly two minutes.

As the launch neared the mouth of the river a yawl-rigged craft with an auxiliary engine had just entered it. Her captain was sitting on deck with his right hand grasping the wheel, his body leaning forward, rigid as bronze, while his roving eye scanned water and sky, reefs, banks and keys. A roll of the wheel, and the launch darted toward him. When within a hundred yards the whir of the big engine and the chugging of the two-cycle motor of the yawl stopped, and as the boats were pa.s.sing each other, Mr. Barstow hailed the skipper of the yawl.

"Oh, Captain Hull! All's well. The boys have been found. Spread the news. Hunt up the other boats and all hands report to me at Myers."

"Aye, aye, sir!" came from the bronze statue, and the chugging and the whirring began again as the yawl resumed its course, while the launch wove in and out among the oyster reefs, that guard the mouth of the river, at a speed that would have torn the propeller out of her had she struck one of them.

d.i.c.k's eyes sparkled as the Gulf opened out, and the launch turned down the coast to clear the bar before making her course. Before him were the waters where the waterspout destroyed the _Etta_; the Shark River bight was near, and in the distance the cocoa-palms of the Northwest Cape could be made out. He turned eagerly to the girl beside him, and was telling her the story of the waterspout when Mr.

Barstow came to them and said:

"Run away, little girl, I want to talk to d.i.c.k."

"So do I," said Molly as she made a little face at her father, who laughed at her.

"You mustn't think you own d.i.c.k. Go play with Tom, there. He looks pretty amiable just now."

"But he won't let me play with Tom. He's mean about that."

d.i.c.k began to explain, but the girl had gone.

"What are your plans for your future, d.i.c.k?" asked Mr. Barstow.

"I am going home and going to work at anything I can find to do."

"How would you like to work for me?"

"I don't know of anything else in the world I would like so well."

And d.i.c.k fairly beamed.

"Then, if the work suits you, your engagement will date from to-day."

"What will be my duties, sir?"

"First a vacation to get well in and visit your mother. Then you and Ned will go to my timber property in Canada, familiarize yourselves with the present methods of working it, and suggest any improvements that occur to you, and make the best estimate you can of the amount and kind of lumber I have. I don't care for present returns, but I wish the property administered in accordance with the most advanced knowledge of the science of forestry."

"Mr. Barstow, you are good to me, too good, and I am as grateful as I can be, but I can't take money for amusing myself. You would be paying me for taking the most delightful excursion in the world, and there wouldn't be any other side to it. I couldn't make good to you in any way. I don't know anything about lumbering, forestry or practical surveying."

"Don't begin by criticizing your employer, d.i.c.k. Just make believe that he knows what he is about. I am not paying you for what you know now, but for what you will know in a few months. I am expecting great things of you. The science of forestry and economic methods of lumbering are fairly well understood in Canada. You will find yourselves with young men of education and enterprise, enthusiasts who think nothing of starting out alone on snowshoes for a week or a month in the woods, where the mercury in the thermometer often freezes. You will find your work cut out for you if you only keep up with them, and I am hoping that you will get near the head of your cla.s.s. I want you to learn the business from the beginning to the end from the planting to the cutting of the tree, and from forest to freight car. So don't fear that you will not have a chance to earn your salary. Your pay and Ned's will be the same. It will take good care of you, but you will not find much over to waste. Here, Molly, come back and hear the rest of that romance that I interrupted. And don't look so cross at me next time I speak to d.i.c.k."

"Isn't he the nice old daddy?" said the girl to d.i.c.k, as she sat down near him. d.i.c.k looked as if he thought so too, but was troubled to find words to express all he felt. The launch, which was now flying up the coast, was just opposite the shack of the fisherman whom the boys had hired to help with the manatee which couldn't be found. d.i.c.k was telling the girl the story of the manatee when Ned put in an appearance.

"Run away, Molly. I want to talk to d.i.c.k."

"Neddy Barstow, when daddy says 'Run away, Molly,' I have to go, but when you say it, I stay right where I am. See?"

"But this is important, Molly. It's business."

"So am I important, even if I'm not business. If business is in a hurry, it can go ahead; if it isn't it can wait."

"d.i.c.k," said Ned, "Dad thinks we need a little vacation before going to work, and he offers to take us on a cruise in the _Gypsey_ to the Bahamas and to Cuba, or to charter a light-draft boat that could go through the Bay of Florida and let us finish our cruise in the crocodile country, beginning where we turned back when the fresh water gave out. Maybe he will let Molly go."

"Let Molly go!" repeated the girl mockingly. "Only question is whether she will let you go. But I thought you said it was business.

That isn't business; it's fun. We choose the small boat and the crocodiles. That will be new. I know all about the _Gypsey_ now."

"Shall we let it go at that, d.i.c.k?"

"Sure. Wonder if we can find my crocodile again."

CHAPTER XXIII

MOLLY AND THE MANATEE