“Exactly,” replied Walter.
“An’ do all the other byes feel the same way?”
“Of course they do.”
“No they don’t! Anyway, there’s wan that doesn’t.”
“What do you mean?” cried Walter startled.
“Oi mane thot there’s wan dirty blackguard has been winnin’ points roight along wid Pat Malone’s fish. Oi mane thot thot spalpeen thot yez call Harrison, the wan with his pockets lined with money, has been buyin’ me big fish fer the last mont’ an’ payin’ me good money fer ’em. Oi mane thot if yez hadn’t happened in here this marnin’ yez moight hev seen him luggin’ in thot big pickerel this very noight. ’Tis his last fish he’s had from me, the low-down blackguard.” Then he added ruefully: “Sure ’tis a glad day fer Pat Malone an’ a sorry wan fer his pockets ter hev found out what honor manes.”
The two boys returned to the canoe and spent the remainder of the morning in a vain attempt to land another big pickerel. When they parted it was with a mutual respect and liking and a promise on Walter’s part to return the next day in quest of the big fellows. “Oi’m goin’ ter hunt frogs fer bait this afternoon an’ Oi’ll be waitin’ fer ye at sunup,” were Pat’s parting words.
It was a sober boy who paddled back to Woodcraft that afternoon. What he had learned that morning filled him with mingled feelings of contempt and gladness—contempt, for the fellow Scout who had so perjured himself and violated his Scout’s oath, and gladness that his faith in the unkempt boy of the woods had been so fully justified. Any lingering doubt of Pat Malone’s innocence of the theft of Mother Merriam’s pin which he might have entertained had been banished by what he had learned of the boy that morning.
And in his own mind the boy was fighting a battle. Where lay the path of duty? What did his honor as a Scout demand of him? To go report what he had learned? To become a bearer of tales? The very thought was abhorrent to him! On the other hand had he any moral right to allow his fellow tribesmen to suffer through the dishonesty of which he held the proof? And Hal’s own tribesmen, was it fair to them to allow them to profit by points to which, though no fault of theirs, they had no right?
It was a relief to see Harrison’s canoe approaching the landing as he pulled his own out. He would put it up to Hal to do the square thing—redeem himself by playing the man for once.