Читать книгу Lefty Leighton - Percy Keese Fitzhugh - Страница 8

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Lefty had a few minutes to think of the rather odd situation in which he had placed himself. Without having been lucky enough to get even within calling distance of his brother and Chilton he must now put the spotlight upon himself doubly, by entering Donellen alone after giving his comrades the slip so furtively. And the heart-sickening part of it was he would be compelled to explain something that was inexplicable for he had accomplished nothing by his mad chase; he had learned nothing.

And too, there was Kenneth’s good name at stake. He wasn’t forgetting the promise he had made to his aunt and, furthermore, it wasn’t doing justice to his brother to sow the seed of suspicion in other people’s minds by telling them that it was true—Chilton Cole and Kenneth Leighton were together.

After all, the mere fact of their being seen sauntering the streets of New York City together, did not mean anything. It was not incriminating exactly; it was just unfortunate and Lefty decided, as the cab neared the station, that he was not going to add to that misfortune. He would have to know it all before he would tell anything.

“I’ve got to hear it straight from Ken first,” he resolved in a breathless whisper. “Aunt would say that was best. It looks pretty funny, but so does everything that a feller can’t understand. I still believe what I told Fen that day after Ken went away—I still believe he didn’t have any hand in Chilton’s monkey business, whatever it was.”

He learned from one of the gatemen that the next train for Ticonderoga would leave in five minutes and he hurried back to the ticket window not without misgivings. Five minutes was a very short time and it would bring him to Donellen much sooner than he liked. He had secretly hoped that the entire camp would be in bed and sound asleep by the time he arrived.

“That’s just my luck,” he mumbled to himself as he pocketed his change and his ticket. “I’ll catch a bus right on time, everything . . .”

Someone tapped his shoulder. “Lefferts, where have you been?”

Lefty wheeled around, taken completely unawares. “Mr. Corlett! Gosh. . . .”

“I’ve been sitting over there on that bench for the past hour, I guess,” the scoutmaster said. “I knew if you were coming at all you’d be sure to stop and get your ticket and I’ve been watching every door and ticket window in the place. If you hadn’t shown up for this train I was going to telephone your aunt and uncle and ask their advice. Why, I didn’t know what to make of it—I was on the verge of going to the police.”

“I know, I’m awful sorry,” said Lefty with flushed cheeks. “I—I. . . .”

“All right, my boy,” said the scoutmaster, kindly. “Save your explanation until we get on the train. Time is short, as you must know.”

“Where—where are all the fellers?” Lefty ventured as he picked up his knapsack and hurried along with the scoutmaster.

“They left on the train as scheduled and I put Cromwell in charge. The bus will meet them at Ticonderoga so everything will be all right, I hope. I couldn’t leave the city with you having disappeared so mysteriously. You must realize I’m responsible to your aunt and uncle for anything that happens to you—I’m responsible for every boy in my troop, Lefferts.”

“I know, I know,” Lefty acknowledged, nervously.

They passed through the gate and made their way to the train in silence. After they were seated comfortably and Lefty’s knapsack was consigned to its proper place, the train moved out of the station.

“No more time than we needed,” said Scoutmaster Corlett. “I sent my luggage on with the boys. It’s good you showed up or I would have had to go all the way back to Mapletown until morning.”

“Gosh, you don’t think I would have stayed away—you don’t think that, do you?” Lefty asked, as if it were unthinkable.

“It’s hard to tell what a boy will do,” answered the scoutmaster whimsically. “Especially the Leighton boys. Kenneth shows a disposition to disappear for long periods and Lefferts shows a disposition to disappear for short periods. I wonder if you have any idea of how worried I was. From the time young Cole and Brown came running up to me with the news that they couldn’t find you until the time I spied you at that ticket window, I was pretty anxious.”

“Gosh,” said Lefty, contritely, “I realize that. I realized it as soon as I came to my senses. I got awful excited, Mr. Corlett. I thought sure that two fellers I saw were—were two fellers I—I once knew.”

Scoutmaster Corlett looked at his charge thoughtfully, but said nothing.

Lefty went on. “I was so excited I never thought anything about it—I didn’t think about Dill or Fenton or anything. I just kept chasing through the crowds down Broadway trying to catch up to them, but I was fooled. I didn’t find them and I searched the side streets and everything but I might as well have saved myself the trouble. It was all of a sudden that I realized what a mean trick I was playing on you and the fellers, so I came here as quick as I could. I even took a taxi.”

Charles Corlett was a young man of twenty-five. He was dark, with kindly blue eyes that had a way of studying one even while they twinkled, and it was said among the boys of his troop that “you could never put anything over on him.” He had a well-earned reputation of knowing “his boys” and they well knew that he knew when they were telling the truth and when they were not.

Perhaps that is why Lefty made no effort to conceal his movements, albeit he did not tell the full truth. And yet he did not feel that he had kept the truth from his scoutmaster—he knew from long experience that what he had left untold was already known by this keen young man who had the reputation of knowing his boys.

With this in mind, he drummed his knuckles upon the window sill and said, “I’ve—I’ve got my reasons, Mr. Corlett, because I can’t tell the whole of it when I only know the half of it. Gosh, you understand.”

“Yes, I do understand, Lefferts. Perfectly. Forget about it and enjoy the summer while it’s yours to enjoy.”

And by that understanding attitude, Scoutmaster Corlett endeared himself to the heart of Lefty Leighton.