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Page 29
"Baker will do."
"All right, Mr. Baker, friend Baker, you're true blue and the best
friend I ever had, and I want to shake hands with you, and slap you on
the back, and--help you."
A timid, muffled figure shifted into full outline, but not into clear
view, against the side of the car.
Bart took a step nearer. He promptly caught at one hand of the
slouching figure. Then he regarded it in perplexity.
The roustabout held with his other hand a canvas bag on his head so that
it concealed nearly his entire face.
"Why!" said Bart, reaching suddenly up and momentarily pulling the
impromptu hood aside. "What's the matter now? Where is your beard and
long head of hair?"
"Burned."
"False?"
"Yes."
"Then you were disguised?"
"I tried to be," was responded faintly.
Bart stood for a moment or two queerly regarding the roustabout.
"Mr. Baker," he said finally, "I am bound to respect any wish you may
suggest, but I declare I can't understand you."
"Don't try to," advised the roustabout in a dreary way. "I'm not worth
it."
"Oh, yes, you are."
"And it wouldn't do any good."
"It might. It must!" declared Bart staunchly, "See here, I want to ask
you a few questions and then I want to give you some advice, or rather
tender my very friendly services. Do you know what you have done for me
to-day?"
"No. If I have done anything to help you I am glad of it. You have been
a friend to me--the only friend I've found."
"I'll be a better one--that is, if you will let me," pledged Bart
warmly. "You warned me about the burglars last night; you helped me save
my father's life."
"Anybody would do what I have done."
"No one did but yourself, just the same. Don't be cynical--you're
something of a hero, if you only knew it. It was you who went into the
burning express shed and saved the account books and closed the safe
door."
"Who says so?" muttered Baker.
"I say so, and you know it--don't you?"
Baker made no response.
"Do you know what all this means for me and my family?" went on Bart.
"You have done for me something I can never pay you for, something I can
never forget. You are true blue, Mr. Baker! That's the kind of a
worthless good-for-nothing person you are, and I want to call you my
friend! Hello, now what is the matter?"
The matter was that the roustabout was crying softly like a baby. Bart
was infinitely touched.
"I don't know your secrets," continued Bart earnestly, "and I certainly
shall not pry into them without your permission, but I want to repay
your kindness in some way. I can't rest till I do. All I can do is to
guess out that you are in some trouble, maybe hiding. Well, let me share
your troubles, let me hide you in a more comfortable way than lounging
around cold freight cars with half enough to eat. You've done something
grand in the last twenty-four hours--don't lose sight of that in
mourning over your sins, if you have any, or in running away from some
shadow that scares you. I'm not the only one who thinks you're a hero,
either. There's someone else."
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