Yes, there they were! Was there ever such a piece of absurdity?
He had actually carried those despatches across the creek! After all the labor and expense of building the telegraph, this had been the way that the first business messages had crossed Crooked Creek! When Harry made this discovery he burst out laughing.

Why, he might as well have carried them to Hetertown from Charity's cabin.

It would really have been better, for the distance was not so great.
Although he laughed, he felt a little humiliated.

How Tom Selden, and indeed everybody, would laugh if they knew it! But there was no need to tell everybody, and so when he telegraphed the fact to Harvey, he enjoined secrecy.

He knew he could trust Harvey.
And now he became anxious about Jim.