HE IS RECOGNIZED

"Why, it's Mr. Bush!" Said Angus, smiling. "Thought you was Gilby at first."

"Are you expecting Gilby Pitts?"

"Yeah. He phoned about that wild boy, said -" Angus stopped, his eyes widening as he saw Little Jon behind Thomas. "Tom, I declare, is that really him?"

Thomas Bean ignored him. There's Gilby Pitts coming now," he growled as lights swung up the road. "Going to be a nice party!" He said with a slight chuckle.

The approaching truck stopped behind the deputy's car. Gilby and Emma Pitts got out and came up on the porch. "There's that boy!" Gilby whispered hoarsely.

And Emma said, "I want to see 'im, I want to see 'im in the light!"

They followed Angus into the big ugly living room, where a single glaring bulb hung from the ceiling. A pinched woman, with her hands wadded nervously in her apron, stared at them from the back hall. Little Jon guessed she must be Mrs. Macklin. He was wondering about the Macklin boys when Emma Pitts suddenly grabbed his arm and jerked him under the light.

She was dressed in overalls just as he had seen her in the field that first morning. He forced himself to look steadily into her hard pebble eyes and was surprised to see the sudden dawn of fer in them.

All at once she was backing away, exclaiming, "That's 'im! You cut his hair an' changed his clothes, Tom Bean, but you ain't hidin' what he is! He's that same wild boy, an' there's something mighty queer . . ."

"He ain't natural!" Muttered Gilby Pitts.

"He sure ain't," said Angus Macklin, backing away. "I can see it in his face! Anything that runs with wild critters and jumps like 'em . . ."

Thomas burst out in angry disgust, for Pete's sake, Jon's not going to bite any of you, but it would serve you right if he did! Mr. Bush, I'll thank you to settle this business and take us home. We haven't had Supper yet. . ."

"Hold your horses," Anderson Bush ordered. "Mr. Macklin, where are Tip and Lenny?"

"Round the barn somewhere," Angus replied. They got chores."

Little Jon tugged at Thomas Bean's sleeve and whispered the thing that Angus was worried about. Thomas straightened. "Angus" he demanded, do those chores take your boys as far over as the Johnson's place?"

"How come you say that, Tom?"

"Because we just came by the Johnson's place. It's not too dark to see a couple of boys crossing your pasture, if you happen to be watching. Couldn't make out what they were carrying, but it's not hard to guess."

The smile had frozen on Angus Macklin's face. You don't sound very neighborly, Tom."

"I've missed too many hams last winter to be in a very neighborly mood," Thomas snapped back, finally sure of his ground. "You told Bush you'd taken Tip and Lenny to Blue Lake Sunday, but you told me they were out hunting that wild boy."

"You heard me wrong! I never said no such . . ."

"Pipe down!" Thomas' voice had a military ring that made Angus flinch. "I'm settling this right now! Your kids ran off Sunday and swiped that stuff from Holliday's. Lenny went through the window, he's small enough. They thought they could blame it on the wild boy. But with the law buzzing around all day, you got to worrying about having stolen property on the place.

So, tonight you sent Tip and Lenny off to hide the things near the Johnsons'."

Thomas swung determinedly toward the door. "Come on, Bush. Get your flashlight. We don't need a search warrant for this. I'll bet those things are hidden on the edge of Johnson's woods. They won't be hard to find."

"You're taking a lot on yourself," Anderson Bush said coldly. You'd better be sure what you're doing."

Emma Pitts cried, "If you find them things in the woods, it'll be because that wild varmint put 'em there! You've got a lot of nerve, Tom Bean, trying to blame it on Angus's boys!"

"There'll be fingerprints," Thomas reminded her and limped outside gently.

Reluctantly, Anderson Bush got a flashlight from his car, and they started across the pasture below the house. A mist was settling down from the Ridge, making the night darker than it had been. After a hundred yards, the deputy stopped.

"Mr. Bean," he grated, "I've heard enough lies for one night. It would have been impossible to have seen anyone out here when we drove by. What kind of trick are you trying to pull?"

Little Jon tugged at Thomas Bean's sleeve. "Over there," he said, pointing into the mist.

The deputy swung his light, and Thomas called, "Tip! Lenny! Come here!"

Two vague forms materialized in the beams of the light. They started to run, then halted as the deputy shouted. Slowly they came over, two slender boys in soiled patched jeans, with something secretive in their knobby faces that reminded Little Jon of Mrs. Macklin. Suddenly, he felt sorry for Mrs. Macklin and for Tip and Lenny.

Anderson Bush demanded, "what are you boys doing out here?"

"We got a right to be here," Tip, the taller one, said defiantly. "This here's our land"

Thomas said, "you kids were coming from Johnson's woods. Take us back the way you came."

"What for? We ain't been over there."

"You were seen over there. Get going!"

"You never seen us!" Cried lenny. "It musta been that wild boy."

Tip said, "We was coming back from the barn when we thought we seen something out here. Bet it was that wild boy!"

"Get going!" Thomas Bean repeated. "Take us where you his those things."

There were loud denials. Tip cried, "How you think we gonna find something in the dark we don't know nothing about?"

They were approaching the lower fence. Poplar thickets and brush loomed dimly on the other side. Anderson Bush began moving slowly along the fence, directing his light into the brush. Once Little Jon plucked silently at Thomas Bean's leave and pointed. Thomas nodded and whispered, "Wait. We don't want this to look easy."

They reached the corner near the road, and the deputy turned back. Now he crawled through the fence and very carefully began scuffling through the brush as he swept his light about. Thomas and Little Jon followed him, but Tip and Lenny stubbornly refused to leave the pasture.

The mist settled lower, and presently it became so thick that the power of the light beam was lost after a few yards.