The Unknown Wrestler Part 34

Douglas had now stepped to Tom's side and was bending over him.

"Get up," he ordered, "and explain the meaning of all this."

Tom slowly obeyed, crawled to his knees and then to his feet. His companion, Pete Rollins, did the same. They presented a sorry spectacle, and Douglas could scarcely repress a smile. But Nan laughed outright when she saw them.

"My, what beauties!" she exclaimed. "This isn't Hallowe'en, Tom. Did you think it was? You'll know better next time, won't you?"

"'Deed I will, miss," was the emphatic reply. "No more sich doin's fer me, I tell ye that."

Nell in the meantime had procured a basin of water, a wash-cloth and a towel. She now stood before the battered men.

"Sit down, both of you," she quietly ordered. "It won't do for you to go home looking that way."

Meekly they obeyed and sat very still while she washed the blood from their faces.

"It's good of ye, miss," Tom told her. "We don't deserve sich kindness after what we said an' done to you to-night. Some would have kicked us out of the house an' left us there half dead."

"You, fer instance, Nan, eh?" Empty grinned, as he looked toward the girl.

"No, I wouldn't," Nan stoutly protested. "That would have been too good for them. I would like to keep them and start a travelling show throughout the country. I would make my fortune in a short time. They deserve to be treated like that for disturbing my peaceful slumbers.

And just look at that door, all broken down. Who's going to fix it, I'd like to know?"

"I'll fix it, miss," Pete eagerly replied. "I'll come to-morrow an'

make it as good as new."

"No, you won't. You'll be in jail; that's where you'll be."

"Hush, hush, Nan," Nell ordered, though she found it hard not to smile at the frightened look which came into Pete's eyes. "Don't mind Nan, Pete. She isn't as terrible as she sounds."

"Yes, she is," Empty insisted. "She kin use her hands as well as her tongue. I know it, fer she's often boxed my ears."

"H'm!" and Nan tossed her head disdainfully. "If you'd been a man I would have done more than that; I would have blackened your eyes, and----"

"There, there, Nan, that will do," Nell interrupted, and from the tone of her voice Nan knew that she must obey. With a sigh of resignation she stood with her eyes fixed upon the floor and her hands clasped before her, unheeding Empty, who was grinning at her on the other side of the room.

"Guess we'd better go now," Tom remarked when Nell had finished her ablutions. "It must be purty late. But afore I go I wish to ask ye'r pardon, miss," and he turned to Nell as he spoke. "I wasn't jist meself to-night, an' I guess the rest were in the same fix."

"A moment, Tom," and Douglas laid his hand upon his shoulder. "I want you to tell us why you and your companions made this attack to-night."

"To git you, of course. Didn't ye know that?"

"Yes, indeed I did, but I wanted to hear you say so. Now, what did you want to get me for? What harm have I done to you or to the men who were with you?"

"None, none at all. But, ye see, we were under orders. We were told to come."

"Who told you?"

"Ben Stubbles."

"What did he tell you to do?"

"Lay fer ye by the road, an' give ye a thorough hidin'."

"Didn't you feel ashamed to undertake such a cowardly thing as that?"

"We did, an' we refused at first, an' told him that we didn't want to git into any trouble. But he promised that he would stand by an' take the hull blame. When we still refused, he threatened us, an' when that wouldn't work he produced the whiskey."

"Now, will you swear to all this?" Douglas asked.

"Swear! sure I will. I'll swear to them very words anywhere an' at any time. Won't ye, Pete?"

"Ay, ay," was the reply. "I'll swear any old time, an' I feel mighty like swearin' jist now, 'deed I do."

"But what will Ben say?" Douglas asked. "Won't he make it hot for you?"

"Let him make it hot, then," Pete declared. "I don't have to stay here an' work fer old Stubbles. I kin go somewhere else, an' mebbe it will be jist as well if I do."

"Who were the other men with you to-night besides Pete? It is important that we should have their names."

"D'ye mind if I don't tell ye now, sir?" and Tom lifted his eyes to Douglas' face. "They're all friends of mine, an' I'd hate to squeal on 'em."

"But you didn't mind telling on Ben, did you?"

"Oh, that's different. He ain't a friend of mine, an' never was. He's big feelin' an' mighty, an' has no use fer the likes of me, unless he's got some axe to grind. Oh, no, I don't mind squealin' on the likes of him."

"But we must have the names of the men who were with you to-night,"

Douglas insisted. "I cannot help whether you like it or not."

"Look, sir, I'll tell ye this: Whenever ye want me an' Pete, we'll be there, an' we'll have the rest with us."

"But perhaps they won't come, what then?"

"Don't ye worry a mite about that. They'll come all right. But supposin' they buck an' won't come, then I'll tell ye their names.

I'll give 'em fair warnin', an' if they don't come I'll squeal on 'em then, but not before. Will that do, sir?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Douglas a.s.sented. "But don't you fail to come when you're called. We have all these witnesses to what you have said to-night. You may go now."

CHAPTER XXII

COMPELLED TO SERVE

Douglas and his companions stayed for some time after Tom and Pete left. There was much to talk about, and Nell had to go upstairs to explain everything to her father who was greatly agitated over the unusual disturbance. Then, there was the door to be fixed, and it took Jake a full half hour to get it mended.

"There, I guess that will stand for a while," he commented, as he stood back and viewed his work.

"I thought Pete was going to do it," Douglas remarked.