“Oh! just as Mrs. Joslyn told us, Dock’s a lazy fellow,” Tom suggested; “and now that his father is working steadily he thinks it’s time for him to have a rest. Then we believe he’s expecting sooner or later to get a big lot of money from Mr. Culpepper, when they come to terms.”
“Yes,” added Carl. “And in the meantime perhaps he’s got Amasa to hand him over a few dollars a week, just to keep him quiet. That would supply his cigarettes, you know, and give him spending money.”
“Well, it’s a question how long his father will put up with it,” Tom mused. “One of these fine days we’ll likely hear that Dock has been kicked out, and taken to the road.”
“He’s going with that Tony Pollock crowd you know,” Carl hinted; “and some of them would put him up for a time. But I’m hoping we’ll find a chance to make him own up, and hand back the thing he stole. I’d like to see my mother look happy again.”
“Does Amasa still drop in to call now and then?” asked the other.
“Yes, but my mother insists that I sit up until he goes whenever he does. You’d have a fit laughing, Tom, to see the black looks he gives me. I pretend to be studying to beat the band, and in the end he has to take his hat and go. I’m allowed to sleep an hour later after those nights, you see, to make up. It’s getting to be a regular nuisance, and mother says she means to send him about his business; but somehow his hide is so thick he can’t take an ordinary hint. I think his middle name should have been Rhinoceros instead of Reuben.”
“What will she do when you’re away with the rest of us on that ten day hike over Big Bear Mountain?” asked Tom.
“Oh! she says she’ll have told Mr. Culpepper before then she doesn’t want him to call again,” explained Carl; “either that or else she’ll have to keep all the rest of the children up, and get them to romping like wild Indians. You know Amasa is nervous, and can’t stand noise.”
Tom laughed at the picture thus drawn of three boisterous youngsters employed in causing an ardent wooer to take his departure.
“It’s only a few days now before we can get started, you know, Carl. Nearly all the preparations have been made. Each scout will have his new uniform on, with a few extra clothes in his pack.”