“I had a frightful twinge while I was coming through the woods, but that didn’t matter so much, because I was alone, and could make faces, and say just what I wanted to. But I do think it was unkind of fate to visit the worst twinge of a jumping toothache on me at the very instant when I stepped into the presence of company; forgive me the face I made, please.” His big eyes were shining gently now, where before they had been blazing. His demeanor was convincing to the unsuspicious Margaret, who, having once experienced a jumping toothache, was prepared to accept it as full justification for any desperate deed. Of the others, May felt a profound relief in finding that he had so swiftly made use of her offered help, and, for the moment, this satisfaction contented her; Roy adjusted his jaw in a less-belligerent fashion, as contempt took the place of anger; Saxe found himself smiling, genuinely amused over the fancy of so piratical-seeming a person in the throes of toothache. Neither of the men, however, had the slightest doubt that May had offered an ingenious excuse to account for the engineer’s savage manner; and forthwith, Saxe and Roy began to wonder mightily as to what, in fact, had occurred to destroy so completely the ordinary suavity of this young gentleman whom they cordially detested.
Mrs. West sent her servant, Chris, in quest of Margaret, and, soon afterward, May and Masters also went to the cottage, without troubling much for an excuse, so that the two friends were left alone together on the dock. But, before they had time to voice their common astonishment over the scene that had just passed, they were confronted by Jake, who, as they looked up at his approach, bobbed his head at them, and winked with a fine air of mystery. When he spoke, he addressed himself directly to Roy, for the love each of them bore to niceties of mechanism sealed their sympathy.
“Well, what’s new, Jake?” Roy demanded, amiably.
Another series of bobbings and winks emphasized the importance of the forthcoming communication. Then, finally, he spoke in a husky whisper, for secrecy’s sake:
“Thought I’d look in on ye, and tell ye I got an idee.”
“Capital, Jake!” Roy’s tone was distinctly encouraging. “What’s it all about?”
“It’s this way,” Jake began, with manifest pride in the importance of the coming revelation. “You see, I know somethin’ ’bout the house up thar—” he nodded over his shoulder in the direction of the cottage—“that you chaps don’t. That’s what!”
At this preamble, Saxe, who had been giving only desultory attention to the old man, quickly ceased looking out over the lake, and gave ear to what the boatman was saying, while Roy, too, displayed a new interest. Jake was plainly gratified by the effect he had wrought on his hearers, and he proceeded with a note of pride in his voice.
“That’s one thing ’bout that-thar cottage that you ain’t onto, and, thinkin’ as how you wa’n’t likely to be, I says to myself, says I, I’ll jest put ’em wise, seein’ as how ye come, to a kind o’ standstill, as it were.”
“Thanks, Jake,” Roy said. “We surely need any help we can get at this stage of the game. Go ahead.”