the boy partook of a hearty meal in the kitchen of the great house, and while he was eating it, entertained the cook and the other servants with his droll comments on the food that was set before him. having finished, he washed his face and hands at the sink, bowed politely to those who were in the room, and went up to the library where the master of the house was awaiting him.
“do you think,” said the tall man, “that you could find your way to a place two or three hundred miles from here, do an errand for me without telling everything you know, and then come back?”
“i kin,” was skinny’s answer.
“very well,” rejoined the other producing a paper on which was written a number of names, “can you read writing?”
yes, thanks to the night school in the lodging house, skinny could read, and he said so in accents of just pride mingled with contempt for those who were his inferiors in that point of education.
228“all right then,” continued the other. “take this paper and listen to what i tell you. go up to the village of rocky point and try to get work there with some farmer or shopkeeper. that’s just for a blind, you know, so that nobody will guess that you’ve come up there all the way from new york. perhaps it would be better for you to stop off the train at some other village and walk in on foot. as soon as you get a chance, take a walk out to the cemetery and look around for a grave marked decker. i think it’s the grave of mary decker. when you find it, copy the inscription, every word of it, mind, dates and all, and stick it away somewhere where nobody will find it. then see if there are any other graves in the same plot with the same name. see if there is the grave of a young boy, the son of this mary decker there, and if there is a grave without any headstone over it, find out who lies buried there. if there is no other grave, find out from some of the village folks whether this mary decker left any children, and if so what has become of them. it may take you a week, or it may take you only a day to do all this, but as soon as you get the information, come back to me and let me know about it. here is money enough for your 229fare and other expenses, and perhaps you had better write me a letter as soon as you get settled there. here is my address, robert j. korwein,—eldridge street.”
skinny had listened with close attention to all that had been said to him and now, taking the paper with the different names marked on it, he carefully went over it, making a few scratches of his own from time to time which should serve him as memoranda. then without a word, he took the roll of bills which lay on the table before him, counted them carefully and hid them away in the inner pocket of his ragged jacket.
“i understand, boss,” he simply said, “wot time does de train start?”
“to-night at eight,” was the reply, “here’s a time table and remember to change cars at syracuse for oswego. there you will take another train for rocky point. be careful not to attract any attention or set those village fools to gossiping and cackling. above all, don’t let anybody find out that i sent you, or that there’s anybody alive who takes any interest in the grave of mary decker or in the whereabouts of her son. if you get through this trip all right and find out what i want to know, i’ll give you more money than you ever had before in your life.”
230“dere won’t be no slip-up, nor funny business wid me, boss,” said skinny as he buttoned his coat over the roll of greenbacks. “i’ll git you dere names and all and i’ll probably write yer in two or tree days.”
mr. korwein accompanied the boy to the gate and, having repeated his caution to observe secrecy and dispatch in his mission, bade him good-bye, and watched him as he walked down the road and finally disappeared from view; then he returned to the front porch of the house, seated himself on the steps, and for some time sat there smoking and thinking. after awhile, he threw away his cigar, pulled a letter from his pocket and read it carefully through. it was dated paris, and read as follows:
“my dear nephew:
it is a great pleasure to me to hear from you as frequently as i do, and i sincerely hope that you are living up to all that you promised me at our last meeting. i think on the whole, that it is a fortunate thing for me, that you are living in the old homestead, and i am glad that you find the house comfortable. as the years roll by, each one leaves its weight on my shoulders and as i draw nearer to the end i find myself thinking more of the few of my blood who remain. as i told you long ago i have never made a will, fearing that it would bring about an unseemly contest after i had gone. as next of kin you 231will be my principal heir, and i charge you once more to carefully carry out all the wishes which i have made known to you concerning the small bequests to my faithful servants and others whom i wish to reward.
i have not yet determined when to return to my own country, but it is not improbable that you will see me before the end of the year. meantime see that the house and grounds are suitably maintained, and write me from time to time concerning your welfare.
hoping this will find you in good health, i remain,
your affectionate kinsman,
samuel dexter.”
when mr. korwein had finished reading this letter he replaced it carefully in his pocket, lit another cigar, and resumed his meditations, and if anyone could have looked into his heart at that moment he would have been heard to say to himself something like the following:
“i think that after all i have played my cards wonderfully well and unless some brat turns up with a claim on it nothing can prevent me from inheriting the bulk of the estate. so far he knows nothing about the shop down town, but if he ever finds out about it i shall be ruined. i’ll take care that he doesn’t though, and, after all, the city is so big, and there are so many people in it, that the chances of his or anybody else’s connecting me with that shop are very small indeed. the boy has 232got some stuff in him and under my tuition he’ll amount to something. i think i’ll take hold of him if he does this business in the country all right, and give him a steady job, looking after my affairs. he’s a smart little brute and knows enough to keep his mouth shut. it’s easy enough to get some lawyer to go up there and find out what i want to know but a lawyer would be too smart to suit me; he’d suspect something at once, whereas this kid will think of nothing except the money he’s going to get, besides if he did want to blab he’d find no one but some youngster of his own age and class to talk to. i guess i did the best thing i could in sending him up there, but all the same i shall be anxious until he gets back.”
at this point in his reflections, the tall, dark bearded man rose to his feet, walked swiftly down the winding path, passed through the front gate, and then went on down below it till he reached the station of the east side of the elevated railroad. three quarters of an hour later he entered the little office on eldridge street where the bookkeeper was still diligently at work on his big ledger.
“how is business to-day?” he asked of his assistant.
233“pretty fair,” replied the other, as he handed his chief a batch of letters that had arrived in the morning’s mail, and which he had opened and perused. mr. korwein took the letters in his hand, pushed open a small swinging door behind the bookkeeper’s desk and disappeared into the room beyond, leaving the old bookkeeper toiling away with his scratching pen as if he had been at it all his life and never expected to stop.
when skinny the swiper parted from his employer he walked rapidly down the road which led to the elevated station, took the train and proceeded to forty-second street, and then to the grand central depot. here he purchased a ticket for rocky point, and, finding that he still had an hour to wait, determined to employ his time to good advantage in eating another dinner. the fact that he had partaken of a hasty repast in mr. korwein’s kitchen two hours before, made no difference to him. hearty repasts did not come in skinny’s way every day, and he believed in availing himself of every opportunity of the sort that presented itself. he was capable of eating three or four dinners in one day, and nothing at all for two days after, and as he was going into the interior of the country, to a point more distant from 234the city than any that he had ever previously visited, he determined to fortify himself for the journey with a good, square new york meal, the last, he said to himself, that he might have for many a day.
therefore he strolled languidly along, with his hands in his pockets, until he reached third avenue, and not half a block away he found a small oyster house, in which he thought he could be well fed. in taking a seat at one of the small tables, he called the waiter to him in a lordly manner, that caused the other diners in the room to smile broadly, and bade him bring him a beefsteak, potatoes, a piece of apple pie, and “be quick about it.”
“which will you have first, sir, the pie or the steak,” said the waiter with perfect gravity.
“you can bring me de pie, an’ i’ll eat it while de steak is cookin’,” replied skinny, and was astonished to notice that his remarks were greeted with a general roar of laughter, in which the waiter and cashier, as well as the guests, joined heartily.
having eaten his dinner, he returned to the depot, easily found his train, and in a very short time was being whirled along over the smooth road that leads to albany. he had never been twenty miles from the city in his life, and as 235the train sped on, affording him continual glimpses of the broad hudson, he wondered how much further the country extended, and whether the whole of the united states was like that part of it which he saw from his car window. the train was still many miles from albany when the darkness succeeded the twilight, the moon and stars came out, and the little street boy looked down upon the great river that was bathed in moonlight and saw it at its best. after awhile he felt himself growing drowsy, then he stirred himself up on the red plush seat, closed his eyes, and did not open them again until the next morning. when he awoke the car was passing slowly through the street of a town, and skinny wondered if it could be possible that they were back again in new york, after having completed the circuit of the earth. it was some minutes before he could collect his scattered senses, and then the train stopped, the passengers streamed out, and skinny learned that they were in syracuse, and that everybody was going out for breakfast.
thrusting his hand in his inner pocket he found that his money was still there, and as he entered the big dining-room in the railroad depot, he chuckled to think of the meal that 236he was going to enjoy at somebody else’s expense. it was an ordinary railroad restaurant, and a great many of the well-dressed passengers were turning up their nose at the coffee, which was served in thick china cups, and at the sandwiches, triangles of pie, bits of cold chicken that were displayed on the counter under glass cases, like curiosities in a museum, but the little street boy from new york thought it one of the finest places he had ever been in, and the breakfast which he consumed was certainly superior to anything that he had been accustomed to.
breakfast over, he strolled out on the platform, and, with his hands in his pockets and his sharp eyes noting everything and everybody that came within their range of vision, he walked up and down whistling in a shrill manner, and creating no small amount of amusement. having entertained the depot loungers for a few moments, he sought out the oswego train, climbed aboard it, and just as it was on the point of starting, waved his hand cheerfully to the group who were watching him from the depot. at oswego he ate another breakfast, and then boarded the train for rocky point, a small village on the shore of lake ontario.
