“And what are you doing now?” asked Teddy.
The man started slightly, and gave the other a quick look; but evidently he was reassured by the manner of his questioner, who appeared to be solely seeking knowledge, for the inquiry was made in good faith.
“Right now I’m tackling a new dodge,” he chuckled. “I wouldn’t tell everybody, ’cause thar be some fellers as’d take advantage o’ me; but I kin see that you ain’t built that way. Why, I’m hunting roots jest now.”
“Roots!” echoed Dolph, greatly interested because it happened that he was himself more or less interested in botany, and had even gone out on an expedition in search of medicinal roots with a professor of a Cincinnati college, whom his rich father thought a good bit of, and patronized to the extent of sending him to Europe each summer to study.
“That’s it, younker; wild ginseng, golden seal, an’ all them kinder things ye know, that brings good money, if on ’y ye happen on whar they grows. Swamps ain’t too planty up this aways; down in Indiana, now, whar I kim from, why they used to be jest heaps o’ them weeds, but in them days nobody ever thort they was wuth picking up. I hed an ijee o’ hiking back thar; but a letter tole me the place was jest cleaned out o’ every root, and that farmers was aplantin’ ginseng by the acre.”
At least the information was interesting. It might be true, or on the other hand, Gabe Hackett was possibly inventing this plausible excuse for his presence in that neck of the land. Teddy went on to ask a few more questions.
“And have you met with any success at all; p’raps you might show us some of these same roots. I’ve heard a heap about them, but wouldn’t know one from another, though my chum here, Dolph Bradley, from Cincinnati, knows something about—what is it, botany, or rootology or what?”
Gabe shrugged his shoulders, as he replied, with his mouth half full of beef:
“Reckons ye’d never know what they was like, if so be ye had ter depend on the amount I’ve been able ter pick up, this far. Why, I ain’t never set eyes on a thing wuth takin’, and that’s the truth. But I got an agreement ter meet up wid a feller by the name o’ Crawley, as sez he kin pilot me ter whar we kin git jest piles o’ that wild ginseng. Hopes as how he ain’t mistook it fur somethin’ else; ’cause I needs ther money right bad. I gotter try an’ show up at his shack afore mornin’ too, wuss luck, else I’d like ter stay with ye, an’ heve another shake at that prime coffee in ther mornin’.”
Teddy and Dolph could not help exchanging a sly look; they were so glad to hear this last bit of news. It would have been very unpleasant having such a guest all night long; and his presence must have necessitated a constant vigil being kept. Indeed, so far as that went, Teddy was already of a mind that they would be wise to stand guard; for the very fact of his being somewhere in the vicinity, possibly with a boon companion of the same stamp, was enough to make one uneasy with regard to the safety of their belongings.