“Mebbe he fooled ’em. P’r’aps he had the handkerchief in his pocket and jest flung it on the bush when they wasn’t lookin’. Then he could call their attention to it and make b’lieve he’d jest seen it.”
“I have thought of that myself, Bunk, and I’m going to ask Springer and Piper a few questions. In the meantime, however, I’m some anxious to interrogate another chap. I wonder where Davis is? He told me they had you up there in the lawyer’s office, and I left him out here.”
But Spotty had vanished, and he was not to be found anywhere in the vicinity.
“He’s a thin-blooded rat,” said Bunk. “I always knowed it, but he was the only feller who’d have anything to do with me arter I come back to Oakdale, so I picked up with him. I say, Rod, it ain’t done you much good chummin’ with us two; for we’re both marked, and it don’t make no difference what we do, folks is bound to say we’re tough nuts and can’t be any different. That’s what makes me raw all the way through. If a feller happens to make one bad mistake and gits into a tight box people never seem to forget it, and they’re always lookin’ for him to do the same thing over again, or worse. It’s discouraging, Rod. Why, even if I wanted to be a decent feller and tried to be, who’d give me any encouragement? Not a blame soul.”
“You’re mistaken, Lander, old chap; I would.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right; but then, you’re different from these narrer-laced, hide-bound muckers ’round here. If they could only catch me foul now, so they could put me down and out for good, it would make ’em bust wide open with glee. No, ’tain’t no use for a feller to try to be square and decent.”
“Don’t you believe it, Lander; the fellow who will try to be decent, and stick to it in spite of everything, is right sure to come out on top and win universal respect in the end. It’s only a matter of strength and resolution to fight to the finish, that’s all.”
“Mebbe so,” admitted the other boy, hunching his shoulders and shaking his head doubtfully; “but I ain’t never seen nothing to make me believe it. Do you think you’re goin’ to come out on top here in Oakdale? Have you got a notion that you’ll succeed, in spite of Barker and everybody else that’s turned against ye, in winnin’ the respect of the majority of folks ’round these parts? Say, old pal, forget it! You never will. It’s a losing game, and you might as well make up your mind to that fust as last. You ain’t obliged to stay here, and if I was in your place I own up I wouldn’t stay no longer’n I could pack my duds and catch a train bound for other parts.”
“Lander, my father sent me here to school because I have an aunt in this town with whom I can live, and unless he takes me away in opposition to my wishes you can safely bet I’m going to stay here and finish my course at Oakdale Academy. I’ll admit it’s not any too pleasant for me, but my blood is up, and I’m a Grant. I’ve never known a quitter by that name.”
Bunk peered admiringly at the speaker, even as he observed: “Funny the fellers ’round here should size you up as a quitter, but I cal’late you’re to blame for that by the way you sorter let Barker run over you to start with. Why you done it I can’t make out, for I’ve seen enough of ye to know that you ain’t no coward.”