“Say, bye, did ye tell the docther av the low-down thrick this Harrison has been afther playin’?” Pat suddenly inquired.
Walter confessed that he had not. Then in a sudden burst of confidence he told the Irish lad all about the dilemma in which he had become involved. “What would you do, Pat?” he concluded.
“Me? Shure Oi dunno at all, at all. Oi’m thinkin’ Oi’d side-step,” replied Pat, with a twinkle in his eyes.
“But that’s the trouble, I can’t side-step,” responded Walter.
The freckled face of the woods boy sobered. “’Tis a quare thing, this honor ye be tellin’ about, but Oi’m thinkin’ ’tis a moighty foine thing too,” he said. Then, his Irish humor rising to the surface, he added: “There be wan thing Oi wud do; Oi’d knock the block clane off av that blackguard that’s made all the throuble.”
Walter laughed. “I’d like to,” he confessed.
They were now at the entrance and setting Pat ashore Walter turned his canoe toward camp. His arrival with the big pickerel, to say nothing of the smaller ones, created a wave of excitement among the boys who were in camp, and great jubilation among the Delawares. It happened that Harrison was among those present.
“So,” he sneered when no one was near, “you’ve tried the silver bait! How much did you pay for the bunch?”
Walter turned on his heel and walked away. All the joy of the day had vanished. He wanted to be alone to fight out to a finish the battle of honor. So immediately after noon mess he slipped away unseen, and sought the cool depths of the forest to find in the peace of the great woodland the solution of his difficulty.
Late that afternoon, his mind made up, he turned toward camp. As he approached he became aware of an air of suppressed excitement about the camp. Buxby was the first to see him.