Chapter XXII: DID Uncle Silas’ Ears Burn?

Dick braced himself. Not for worlds did he want these chums of his to see how badly he felt at hearing such lavish praise for the effort of his foremost rival. He wanted that golden prize, and would be deeply disappointed if he failed to capture it. But his pride made him laugh now, and assume an indifferent air.

“Oh! don’t worry about me, Peg,” he told the other, hastily. “I’m doing my little best, but if Nat is a genius in that line, why, I suppose I’ll have to knuckle down and take my medicine, that’s all. I hope I’ve got grit enough for that.”

“And you won’t think of giving up, will you, Dick?” asked Leslie, anxiously.

“I was getting a little weak-kneed a while back,” admitted the other, frankly; “but since then I seem to have got my second wind. No-siree, I’ll fight it out on this line if it takes all winter. And say, if I do get knocked out you’ll see my ship going down with her colors flying. Hear that?”

“Bully for you, Dick!” ejaculated Peg, slapping him on the back as he arose to go to some other part of the big room. It was now filling up with older fellows and some of the town people who wanted to hear the lecture.

Dick and Leslie continued to sit there. Others were constantly passing one way or another, but paying no particular attention to the two boys; so they did not hesitate to continue their conversation as they saw fit.

“I’m glad you feel that way about keeping in the fight to the end, Dick,” Leslie went on to say.

“What else can I do, now that every fellow knows I’ve entered for the prize?” demanded Dick. “I’m not the one to give up easily, you understand. My mother seems to think a heap of what I’ve done so far on that farce, and I’ve just _got_ to finish the same, no matter if it comes in the last of the string.”

“Well, there’s no fear of that!” declared Leslie, positively. “I’ve heard enough of it to say it’s just bully stuff.”

“Oh! that’s nice of you to say so,” laughed Dick, a little harshly; “but then you’re my chum, and naturally prejudiced. I thought the same when Dit told how great Nat’s stuff was; but now that Peg has endorsed it too, there must be something in the thing. But I won’t allow myself to get discouraged, I promise you that, Leslie. Now, let’s change the subject again.”

“All right, Dick. How are things going over at your house nowadays--of course, I mean with your wonderful prodigal Uncle Silas, who spent his life knocking around the world having a good time, and when old age and sickness overtook him suddenly remembered that he had a sister somewhere, and hunted her up so she could take care of him?”

Leslie spoke pretty bitterly, because this was a sore subject with him. On the other hand, Dick shook his head as though in disapproval of such radical views.

“I’d rather you didn’t say such things to me, you know, old fellow,” he told his chum.

“But sure you must be suspecting something like that deep down in your own heart, Dick!” protested Leslie, earnestly.

“I don’t let myself think of poor old Uncle Silas that way,” said Dick, firmly. “He’s told us a whole lot of his struggles, and how often he thought he had his hand on a big fortune, only to get fooled time and again. And he always says that the one thing he thought of was to hunt his young sister up, if she still lived, and provide for her if fortune was kind to him.”

Leslie gave an incredulous snort at hearing Dick say that.

“Bah! that’s a clever little yarn he’s gotten up to pull the wool over your eyes,” he went on to say, indignantly. “If he ever had struck it rich, none of you’d ever’ve heard from him. Like as not he’d have gone in for a big time. But after he began to feel old age and sickness gripping him, of course he wanted to hunt Sister Polly up, and spin a tale of hard luck.”

“Well, I reckon you and I will never agree on that subject, Leslie.”

“I’m really surprised at you being taken in and fooled so easy, Dick.”

“Perhaps it’s just as you say,” continued the other, “but there’s something about old Uncle Silas that seems to appeal to me. I like the look in his mild blue eyes. He may have been an adventurer all his life, but for all that, Leslie, let me tell you he’s a lovable old fellow, say what you will.”

“Whee! he certainly has cast a spell over you folks for a fact!” declared the other, shrugging his shoulders as though almost ready to despair of Dick.

“I guess he has,” admitted Dick, “for mother has taken to him even more than I have. And as for grandpop, he loves to sit and listen to Uncle Silas telling of the dozens and dozens of strange things he’s run across.”

“Birds of a feather flock together, they say, Dick,” chuckled Leslie; “and now your fine old grandfather can exchange stories with another who has seen a lot of lively times. But for all you say, I still hang on to my suspicions, and believe he’s either an impostor, not your uncle at all, or else that he’s just bent on settling down on your folks to be fed and housed for the rest of his natural life.”

“All you can say isn’t going to convince me,” Dick told him. “Once or twice in the beginning I admit I did begin to lean that way, but I’ve been ashamed of feeling suspicious.”

“Oh! well, let it pass,” ventured Leslie. “‘Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise,’ they say; and if you’re happy in believing all that old chap stuffs into your ears why keep on being so, Dick. Only, as your friend, I’ve felt it my duty to warn you, that’s all.”

“If you want to find guilt it’s easy to explain every look or chuckle or action that way,” Dick went on. “As for me I have come to put considerable confidence in Uncle Silas. I’m awful sorry he’s had such hard luck; and I feel sure he won’t think of staying with us right along, so as to be a burden.”

“But I heard your mother say only a few days ago, Dick, that if only she had a little more ready cash to meet expenses, he should never quit her house.”

“That’s right,” quickly asserted the other, proudly. “Her heart is as big as a bushel basket. It’s one of the Horner traits, or weak points, I guess.”

“Sure, and you’re a Horner in the bargain,” said Leslie.

“I’m afraid I am,” laughed the other boy. “But if this little affair would only turn out half as well as the other one did--about Mrs. Nocker and her boy, I mean, it’d be just bunkum.”

“No danger of that happening, believe me.”

“Did I hear you say the books ordered by your Uncle Henry had come, Leslie?”

“Why, yes, we got notice this evening that there was a big box for us down at the railroad freight house, and it must be the books, Dick.”

“Our library will look pretty fine once they’re in place,” remarked Dick; “and the more I get to thinking about Peg’s scheme the better I like it. Let me tell you the boys of Cliffwood will owe a lot to that uncle of yours, Leslie.”

“He’s the right kind of an uncle to have,” boasted the other, boy-like.

Just then Leslie turned around, and was immediately heard to give a low exclamation that caught the attention of his chum.

“What is it?” demanded Dick, himself turning to look.

The room was beginning to fill up with all manner of people, and many the boys knew, young and old, were moving about.

“Why, would you believe it!” snapped Leslie, “the miserable old humbug was sitting right behind us all the while?”

“Do you mean my Uncle Silas?” asked Dick, uneasily.

“Did you know he expected to come over and listen to the lecture tonight?” continued the other boy.

“He asked me some questions about it at the supper table,” explained Dick, “and whether an admission fee was to be charged those who were not members of the Y. M. C. A., but so far as I remember, Uncle Silas didn’t say anything about meaning to attend.”

“Well, he’s here all right. And say, I bet you he heard every word we said, if he’s got any ears at all. He just couldn’t have helped it, Dick.”

Dick smiled.

“So far as I’m concerned, Leslie, I’ve no reason to be ashamed of anything I said. I’m only sorry if he heard you speak of him being an impostor and a fraud. Uncle Silas is pretty sensitive, I’ve found out. I hope it won’t cause him to make up his mind to leave us in a hurry, thinking he’s a burden. What little he eats doesn’t amount to much, and he sure has made both my mother and grandfather happier since he dropped in among us.”

Leslie looked hard at his chum, and shook his head in abject despair.