“You’ve got to live to learn,” quoth he. “Now, who’d have thought—no use, though, crying over spilt milk! And what on earth made Step want to chain himself up—no; we won’t talk about that, either. But I say, Sam, I tell you there’s a lot of sense in that notion of yours! Safety First for me after this—yes, sir; Safety First every time!”
CHAPTER X
QUEER TROUBLES
It is not to be supposed that Sam Parker, in spite of his exhibition of new self-control in the affair of Step and Tom Orkney, had taken on the gravity of years. There was, indeed, a change in the boy, but it was subtle rather than manifest. Sam worked a little harder than before, but played with no lack of zest. It was to be noted, however, that there was a decrease in the number of scrapes into which he fell.
Perhaps Hannibal, Sam’s bull terrier, was first to perceive, if not to understand, the change. Hannibal was a sagacious animal, beyond the follies of puppyhood, but still full of interest in the doings of his master and his friends; fond of a long tramp in their company; and very pleased to doze comfortably in a corner of the club room. The new days were much to Hannibal’s liking. Sam never had been cruel to him, but at times may have been a bit thoughtless. Now, though, Hannibal enjoyed a degree of consideration quite unparalleled in his experience.
Lon Gates, shrewdly observant, began to remark that Sam’s visits to the barn resulted in less disturbance of its orderly arrangements.
“Ain’t had a hedgehog day lately, have you, Sam?” he queried. “World don’t seem to be so all-fired uncomfortably crowded as it was, eh? And I dunno’s there’s so much genooine solace in kickin’ over buckets as a feller might think there was.”
“True enough, Lon,” said the boy soberly.
The hired man grinned cheerfully. “They say nobody has to hunt for trouble, and I guess there’s sense in that. Still, it’s amazin’ how often trouble’ll let you alone if you don’t go stirrin’ it up. There’s that wuthless scamp, Peter Groche, now. He wouldn’t ’a’ been locked up over night if he hadn’t been so cantankerous. Course, they really took him in on suspicion, and I must say Groche is about the suspicionest nuisance that infests these parts. And all he got out of bein’ ugly was a sleep behind the bars.”
“That’s so,” said Sam.
“Funny how close-mouthed the Major is ’bout the whole business,” Lon went on. “If only he’d talk he’d make things easier for quite a lot of the chaps that was out gunnin’ that day.”