“Poor Christina, she can never put that boy out of her mind,” John Herrick said. “He was a good fellow, Olaf Jensen, and I have missed him since he left Ely. He was always in some mischief or other and his last escapade before he went to sea came near to being serious. There are still men in the village telling what they will do to him when he comes back.”
“Olaf was working with one of our ditching gangs, and a good workman he was. Suddenly, one day while they were digging near the river, Olaf pointed to a high rock opposite, called Mason’s Bluff, a well-known and dangerous place. There seemed to be a man hanging by a rope halfway down the face of it, unable, apparently, to get either up or down. The laborers didn’t take much interest—said any one was a fool who would try such a climb; and not one of them would budge an inch to help him. Then Olaf remarked casually, ‘It must be that scientist fellow who was in our camp yesterday. Do you remember that rich tenderfoot who went around spending money and tapping rocks?’ Every man dropped his tools, for if there is a chance for a reward these Bohunks are on the job at once. You should have seen them scurrying down to the river, getting across any way they could, and running like rabbits through the brush, each one determined to be first on the spot.”
“And did they save him?” Beatrice inquired eagerly.
“The first ones were within a hundred yards when the man fell.”
She gasped, but he went on with a dry chuckle.
“They went nearer to pick him up and found he was a dummy man, stuffed with straw. Then they remembered that Olaf had been laughing at them for being willing to do anything for money and nothing without it, and they came back to camp vowing to have his blood. Even I was surprised at what an ugly temper they showed, but Olaf was wise enough to know how they would feel, and when they came back he was gone. Probably he meant to go anyway and wanted to have one final fling.”
Beatrice, glancing at the clock, was horrified to see how long she had stayed and rose at once to go. Both her new friends came to the door with her.
“By the way,” said John Herrick as Beatrice stood on the step below, “my Hester is too informal a person for introductions, and she has not even told me your name. Indeed, I doubt if she knows it herself. Won’t you tell us who you are and who is at the cabin with you?”