The Unknown Wrestler Part 7

"Oh, never mind that. Do you want me? That is more important."

"Well, I do need help very bad, but I must know what wages ye want before I hire ye. I can't make an offer until I find out what ye kin do."

"I'll work a week with you for board and lodging. That will give you time to try me out, and then you will know what I am worth. I'll bet almost anything, though, that I am just as good a man as you are."

"Ho, ho," Jake laughed. "As good a man as I am! Ye don't know what ye're sayin'. Would ye like to try a back-hold with me? There isn't a man in the whole parish of Rixton who has been able to put me down yit, though many of 'em have tried."

As a lad at school, and also while at college, Douglas had excelled in wrestling, but for several years he had not engaged in the sport, and was not in proper condition. He knew that if it came to the matter of physical endurance he would have little chance against this st.u.r.dy farmer. But it was necessary for him to do something of a worthy nature at the outset of his career in this parish.

"So you think you can put me down, do you?" he asked, as he stepped from the barn out upon the gra.s.s. "Well, then, here's your opportunity."

Nothing loath, Jake accepted the challenge, and in a trice the two were locked together in a friendly yet desperate encounter. Douglas soon found that Jake was depending mostly upon his great strength of body to win, and that he was acquainted with hardly any of the tricks of the game. He, therefore, watched his opportunity, at the same time being careful not to allow his opponent to make use of his bear-like crushing grip. This was what Jake was striving for, and he was much worried when he found that he could not carry out the plan which had always proved so effective in the past. He became puzzled, and so confused that ere long he allowed himself to be caught off guard, with the result that his feet went suddenly from under him and he came to the ground upon his hack with a thud. The shock affected his pride more than it did his body, especially when his opponent sat upon him and smiled calmly down into his face.

"Are you satisfied now?" Douglas asked. "You may get up if you are."

"Great punkins!" Jake exclaimed, as he scrambled to his feet. "How in the world did ye do it? Ye're the first one who ever put me down, blister me shins if ye ain't."

"Oh, you are an easy mark," Douglas replied. "Why, I didn't half try."

"Ye didn't!" and Jake's eyes and mouth opened wide in amazement. "What could ye have done if ye really tried?"

Douglas was amused at Jake's astonishment.

"Are you willing to hire me now?" he asked. "Perhaps you want some further proof of my ability to hold my own?"

"I don't want to try any more back-holds with ye," Jake ruefully replied, as he rubbed his bruised right shoulder. "Ye've got the cinch on me in that game all right, and I'd like to know how ye did it. But I'll try ye in runnin', and if ye beat me in that ye're a better all round man than I am."

"All right," Douglas laughingly a.s.sented. "How far shall we run? I guess we'll have big appet.i.tes after all this morning's exercise."

"See that tree?" and Jake pointed to the graceful elm down by the sh.o.r.e. "Let's run down around that an' back to this barn."

"I'm ready," Douglas cried. "One, two, three, go!" he shouted.

They got a fair start and bounded over the field like two greyhounds slipped from the leash. Shoulder to shoulder they ran, and by the time they reached the tree there was not the slightest difference between them. They both strove for the advantage of the upper ground in drawing near the elm, with the result that they nearly collided with each other. With a whoop Jake took the lead in his dash around the tree, with Douglas right at his heels. But at that instant a form leaped suddenly to his feet with a wild cry of fear, and then went down again as the two runners dashed into him, and then sprawled full length forward.

Douglas was first to recover, for Jake had some difficulty in extricating himself from the thicket of tangled bushes into which he had plunged. Standing nearby was the cause of their mishap. He was a tall, lank youth of about seventeen, very thinly clad, and bare-footed.

His expression of fear had changed to one of astonishment as he watched the two intruders upon his quietness.

As soon as Jake had scrambled to his feet and saw who it was who had caused the disaster, he rushed straight toward the motionless youth.

"Ye good fer nothin' thing!" he roared, "I'll teach ye to be layin'

round here at night. Take that, ye goat!" and he administered a sound box upon the youth's ear.

The lad gave vent to a howl of pain, and tried to get away, but Jake held him in a firm grip and was about to repeat the blow when Douglas interfered.

"Here, let up on that," he ordered, at the same time laying a firm hand upon Jake's arm.

"But he deserves to be thumped," the latter insisted. "He's Empty in name and empty in head, that's what he is. What business has he to be sleepin' behind this tree?"

"He has as much business to be here as we have," Douglas defended, "and don't you dare to touch him again. Take your hands off him, or you'll go down quicker than you did up by the barn."

The memory of his recent defeat was so fresh in Jake's mind that reluctantly he relinquished his hold upon the youth's arm.

"I'll let ye off this time," he growled, "but don't let me ever catch ye hangin' around this place agin."

"I wasn't doin' nuthin'," the lad protested, speaking for the first time.

"Ye've been up to some mischief," Jake charged.

"No, I haven't."

"What have ye been doin', then?"

"Fishin'; that's what I've been doin', and I came here to git a little sleep."

"Where's yer net?"

"Out there," and the lad pointed with his finger across the water.

"Didn't ye know I was fishin'?"

"Naw, never heard of ye workin' before. Ho, ho, that's a good one! To think of Empty Dempster workin'! What's goin' to happen!"

At that instant the blast of a tin horn fell upon their ears, which caused Jake to start and look across the field.

"Great punkins!" he exclaimed. "It's Susie, an' I fergot all about them cows!"

CHAPTER VI

DOWN BY THE RIVER

The neglected cattle had been having a fine time roving at will wherever their fancy led. They had left the uninviting rectory grounds and were revelling in their master's turnip patch when discovered by Mrs. Jukes. When the men at last arrived and dislodged them from this delectable spot, they scampered across the fields, trampling through the young corn and potato patch until they reached the peas, beets and carrots, where they stopped for another feast. Jake was almost in despair. He shouted frantically, waved his arms, and hurled stones at his wayward herd. It was only with the greatest difficulty that the cattle were at last rounded up in the barn-yard, and the gate closed.

Mrs. Jukes had taken an important part in this affair, and now stood facing her crestfallen husband, with her eyes ablaze with anger. The presence of the stranger did not deter her in the least.

"Where have you been?" she demanded. "Breakfast has been ready for half an hour, and if it hadn't been for me, the cows would have eaten everything up on the place. Were you asleep?"

"I--I was gettin' a man to help with the work," Jake stammered. "He's here now."

"H'm," and Mrs. Jukes tossed her head. "I guess there wouldn't have been any need for a man to help with the work if the cows had been left much longer. Where did you come from, Empty?" and she turned toward the youth standing near Douglas.

"I was fishin'," the lad replied.

"Had your breakfast yet?"

"Naw."