“Whe’s my team at, you thief? You stole my wagon! What you done with my wagon you——”
But a hand laid across his lips prevented his saying more.
“There, there, Byny, that’ll do. Lost your wagon, have you? Well, it serves you right. A fellow that takes the pledge ’s often as you do an’ breaks it as often. Now, sober up, or down, and tell what all this rumpus means and who these folks are.”
There was something very winning about this newcomer, with his frank manner and happy face, which smiled even while he reproved, but no words can well describe the utter carelessness of his attire and his general air of a ne’er-do-well. The lads, Melvin and Jim, began to explain, but a lofty wave of the cripple’s crutch bade them yield that point to him.
“I’m Cap’n Jack Hurry, of the Water Lily; a yacht cruisin’ these here waters an’—an’——”
The excited old man paused. The man with the gun was laughing! As for that he, Cap’n Jack, saw nothing laughable in the present situation.
“Cruising in the woods, you mean, eh? Good enough! Haven’t tumbled out of a balloon, have ye? Look ’s if ye’d got soused, anyhow, and ’d ought to get under cover.”
Then Jim took up the tale and in a moment had explained all. He finished by asking:
“Is there any house near where we can take this boy? He’s been overcome with the wet and has done a lot of rowin’, to-day, that he ain’t used to. Is it far to Deer-Copse?”