“There’s no possibility of my falling asleep; I am too nervous. I don’t understand what keeps Dick away,” he added petulantly, for he had reached anything but a pleasant frame of mind, in which he conjured up many causes that might explain his brother’s absence. Aside from the difficulty he was likely to find in bringing Bunk to terms, he himself might have met with accident. The fact that he carried a rifle was no guarantee against the very mishap that had befallen Harvey himself.
It would be hours before the moon rose and though the sky was clear and the orb was near the full, the foliage was too abundant to permit its light to reach him. In the hope that Dick might be moving about not far off, the imprisoned young aviator shouted his name at intervals. He ceased to call for Bunk, for he no longer felt any hope that he was in the neighborhood.
When a young man sits on the ground with his back against a support and in an easy posture, and is absolutely certain that he will stay wide awake until morning, such a belief is generally soon followed by profound slumber. Such was the case with Harvey Hamilton, who would have remained unconscious throughout the darkness had he not been roused in the most startling manner conceivable.
CHAPTER XVI.
DICK IS TEMPTED.
YOU will remember that Dick Hamilton was not only a sophomore in Yale University, but had attained his twenty-first year. He was warranted therefore in looking upon himself as a full-grown man, while in his mind his brother Harvey was only a “kid.” He treated him as such, but was none the less fond of him. It need not be added that Dick had a strong affection for Bohunkus Johnson because of his simplicity, honesty, unfailing good nature and love for the two brothers. Consequently when the elder learned of the singular peril in which the colored lad had fallen through no fault of his own, he was as resolute as Harvey that he should be saved if the task was within the range of accomplishment.
But he took an impulsive man’s view of the situation. He was impatient with the regard shown the crazy inventor, Professor Morgan, and what he looked upon as awe and fear on the part of Harvey.
“I’ll end this monkey business when I gain the chance,” he reflected, after parting from his brother on the shore of the lake. “Let me once get within reach of Bunk and I’ll yank him back to common sense quicker than he can say Jack Robinson. If he objects, I’ll wipe the ground with him, and if Harv makes a kick I’ll serve him the same way. As for the lunatic, if he can’t be bluffed I’ll use other means. He ought to be jugged where he can’t get a chance to run off with such numskulls as Bunk. All I want is a show.”
Which it may be said was all that Harvey wanted. Dick was confident that if he could once reach the colored lad all trouble would be over. But that was the crux of the situation: Bunk had not yet been found.