“Have you fellows forgotten that we are hungry, and that dinner was to be served immediately?” he asked. “Now make yourselves useful as well as ornamental, while I go out and shoot a squirrel. I just saw one run up that hickory tree.”
Dick moved away with stealthy footsteps, holding his gun in readiness for a shot, and Bob and George went about their work in that listless, die-away manner that boys always assume when they are compelled to do something in which they feel no interest. Their excitement had taken away their appetites.
Their tongues were busier than their hands, and as soon as Bob found an opportunity to do so, he asked George why it was that Uncle Ruben had manifested so strong a desire to get him into trouble. The latter replied by telling as much of his private history as he cared to reveal to a boy who was almost a stranger to him, and when he ceased speaking, Bob said:
“You may have the satisfaction of knowing that from this time on you need never see him again, unless you are willing to do so. Wallace and the others will be brought to trial, of course, and you will have to appear as a witness. When you go down to the village in obedience to the summons, be sure and take all your clothes with you, for you are not coming back here to live like a wild Injun,” he added with a laugh.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that our old janitor is going to leave next Monday night—he’s real hateful, and the boys played so many tricks on him, that he can’t stand it any longer—and you are to take his place. Dick and I have settled it.”
George could hardly believe that he had heard aright. If Uncle Ruben had succeeded in proving that he was a chicken-thief, he could not have been more amazed. He saw a bright prospect opening before him. All he asked was an opportunity to get an education, and he would answer for his own future.
“Lend me your knife long enough to open this can of milk,” said Bob. “It’s bigger and stronger than mine. That’s the way the thing stands. You are to take care of the buildings—there is another fellow there who looks out for the grounds—ring the bell at certain hours, and see to it that the boys don’t run off with it, or the ropes belonging to it, every chance they get. You’ll have to report us for every violation of the rules, and take a good thrashing every time you do it. You’ll have to attend to lots of things that I can’t think of now, and, in return, you’ll get your books and schooling free, and money enough to keep you in clothes. Professor Boyle says he thinks you are just the boy he has been looking for.”
“But I don’t know him,” stammered George.
“No matter. I know him, and so does Dick. My father knew him well when they were boys together, and that is the reason he sends me so far away from home to go to school.”