As he trotted on, thinking of many things, he took out the red handkerchief and examined it again. He smelt it curiously. His nose was keen, like a wild animal’s. As he sniffed, a pang went through him, clutching at his heart. He sniffed again. His long stride shortened. He dropped into a walk. He thought over, word by word, his conversation with Mary that night beside the mill. His face went grey. After a brief struggle he shouted to Jim, trying to call him back. But the eager dog was already far beyond hearing. Then Blackstock broke into a desperate run, shouting from time to time. He thought of Jim’s ferocity when on the trail.
Meanwhile, the figure of a slim boy, very light of foot, was speeding far down the river bank, clutching a brown slouch hat in one hand as he ran. He had an astonishing crop of hair, wound in tight coils about his head. He was panting heavily, and seemed nearly spent. At last he halted, drew a deep sigh of relief, pressed his hands to his heart, and plunged into a clump of bushes. In the depth of the bushes lay a small birch-bark canoe, carefully concealed. He tugged at it, but for the moment he was too weary to lift it. He flung himself down beside it to take breath.
In the silence, his ears caught the sound of light feet padding down the shore. He jumped up, and peered through the bushes. A big black dog was galloping on his trail. He drew a long knife, and his mouth set itself so hard that the lips went white. The dog reached the edge of the bushes. The youth slipped behind the canoe.
“Jim,” said he softly. The dog whined, wagged his tail, and plunged in through the bushes. The youth’s stern lips relaxed. He slipped the knife back into its sheath, and fondled the dog, which was fawning upon him eagerly.
“You’d never go back on me, would you, Jim, no matter what I’d done?” said he, in a gentle voice. Then, with an expert twist of his lithe young body, he shouldered the canoe and bore it down to the water’s edge. One of his swarthy hands had suddenly grown much whiter, where Jim had been licking it.
Before stepping into the canoe, this peculiar youth took a scrap of paper from his shirt pocket, and an envelope. He scribbled something, sealed it up, addressed the envelope, marked it “private,” and gave it to Jim, who took it in his mouth.
“Give that to Tug Blackstock,” ordered the youth clearly. Then he kissed the top of Jim’s black head, pushed off, and paddled away swiftly down river. Jim, proud of his commission, set off up the shore at a gallop to meet his master.
Half-a-mile back he met him. Blackstock snatched the letter from Jim’s mouth, praising Heaven that the dog had for once failed in his duty. He tore open the letter. It said:
Yes, I did it. I had to do it. But you could have saved me, if you’d dared—for I do love you, Tug Blackstock.—Mary.
A month later, a parcel came from New York for Woolly Billy, containing an air-gun, and a toy steam-engine that would really go. But it contained no address. And Brine’s Rip said that Tug Blackstock had been bested for once, because he never succeeded in finding out who burnt down the mills.