TOM INWOLD.
As soon as the boy saw Matt he stopped short, and then endeavored to
retreat. But Matt was coming up the steps in a tremendous hurry, and
in ten seconds he was close enough to the boy to catch him by the
arm.
"Let go of me!" cried the boy, badly frightened.
"What have you done?" questioned Matt sternly, and without waiting for
a reply, forced the boy to accompany him into the rooms.
A glance around revealed the cause of the flood below. In one of the
rooms was a sink with city water. The water had been turned on full,
and the sink-holes stopped up with putty. The sink had overflowed, and
the water was running through several cracks in the floor.
As rapidly as he could Matt turned off the faucet. Then leaving the
water still in the sink to the brim, he dashed downstairs.
"You come with me and help me save my stock!" he cried to the boy.
"If you don't I'll hand you over to the first policeman I can find."
"Oh, please don't have me arrested!" howled the boy, almost scared out
of his wits by the threat. "I--I--didn't mean any harm!"
"You didn't mean any harm? We'll see. Come down now."
The boy hesitated, and then followed Matt into the store. Here a
portion of the stock had to be removed, and then the young auctioneer
set the boy to work mopping up the water on the counter and the
floor.
"Say, please don't have me arrested, will you?" asked the boy, almost
in tears over what he considered a very serious predicament.
"You ought to be taught a lesson," returned Matt severely. "What put
you up to the idea of letting the water overflow?"
"What Mr. Gissem said. He was awful mad after he was in here, and he
told Mr. Fillow he wished that you would burn out or that the water
pipes would burst and drown you out. Then he asked me if I couldn't
worry you a bit, and I said I'd try, and that's the truth of it."
"Well, that man ought to be cowhided!" was Matt's vigorous exclamation.
"Excuse me, but is he any relation to you?"
"Oh, no."
"Is Mr. Fillow?"
"No, neither of them."
"Then how do you come to be traveling with them?"
The boy's face took on a sober look, and he swallowed something like a
lump in his throat.
"I--I got tired of going to school and I ran away from home."
"What do you mean--" Matt stopped short as a certain thought flashed
over his mind. "Say, is your name Tom Inwold, and do you come from
Plainfield?"
At this unexpected question the boy looked at Matt in amazement, his
mouth wide open, and his eyes as big as they could well be.
"Who told you who I was?" he gasped.
"No one; I guessed it."
"But I don't know you."
"That's true. We stopped in Plainfield a number of weeks ago, and
there I met your mother."
"And what did she say?" faltered Tom Inwold.
"She told me that you had run away with an auctioneer."
"And--and was that all?" went on the boy, his voice trembling with
emotion.
"No; she was very anxious to have you come home again. She missed you
very much, and she could not understand how you could have the heart
to leave her."
At these words, which Matt delivered very seriously, the tears sprang
into Tom Inwold's eyes. Evidently he was not hard-hearted, and had
been led astray purely by bad associates.
"I--I wish I was back home again," he said in a low voice.
"You do not like being an auctioneer's helper, then?"
"No, I don't. I might like you, but Gissem and Fillow treat me
awful."
"In what way?"
"Well, in the first place they don't half feed me, and then they don't
pay me the wages they promised."
"What did they promise you?"
"Five dollars a week to start on, and ten dollars when I was worth it.
I've been with them a long time, but I was never able to get a cent
out of them."
"Supposing you had the money, would you go home?" asked Matt kindly,
for he saw that the boy's better feelings had been touched.
"I don't know if I would dare. Ma might whip me and have me sent to
the reform school, or something like that."
"I don't think she would--not if you promise to turn over a new leaf.
I should think you would rather go home than remain where you have to
work for nothing."
"I guess I would go home if I had a railroad ticket and some clothes
fit to wear. You can see how this suit looks," and Tom Inwold showed
up his ragged elbows and patched trousers.
"I'll see if I can do something for you," said Matt.
When Andy came back he told his partner Tom Inwold's story. To this
the boy himself added the tale of his hardships while with the rival
auctioneers, and added that he was very sorry he had endeavored to do
any injury to the stock in the store.
"I believe he means it," said Matt, as he and Andy walked a little to
one side. "And I would like to do something for the lad, for his
mother's sake as much as his own."
"I think I can fix it," replied Andy. "I'll have a talk with this
Gissem."
"He ought to pay the boy something for his work."
"I reckon he will--when I tell him that he is liable to arrest for
enticing the boy from home."
Andy told Tom Inwold to accompany him to the store next door. At first
the boy hung back, but when Andy promised that he would take the
responsibility of the coming interview entirely upon his own
shoulders, the lad consented to go along.
They were gone nearly an hour, and during that time Matt heard some
pretty loud talking through the partition which separated the two
stores. But when Andy and Tom Inwold came back he saw by their faces
that they had triumphed.
"At first Gissem was in for facing me down," said Andy. "Said he had
nothing to do with the boy, and all that. But I threatened him with
immediate arrest, and promised to have the mother of the boy here to
testify against him, and then he weakened, and at length gave Tom
thirty dollars, with which to buy a new suit of clothes, a pair of
shoes, a hat, and a railroad ticket, upon conditions that he would not
be prosecuted. I reckon he was badly scared, too."
Matt was much pleased. Leaving Andy in charge of the store, he went
out to dinner, taking Tom Inwold along with him. After the meal the
wearing apparel was purchased and donned, and then they made their way
to the depot. Here a ticket for Plainfield was procured, and the
young auctioneer saw to it that the boy boarded the proper train.
"I'll never forget you, never," said Tom Inwold on parting, and he
never has, nor has Mrs. Inwold, who was grateful to the last degree
for what Matt had been instrumental in doing for her.
On the following morning, on going down to the store to open up, Andy
and Matt saw that the entire stock of the store adjoining had been
removed during the night. Gissem had been fearful of trouble, despite
what Andy had promised, and had taken time by the forelock, and left
for parts unknown. The young auctioneers never met him or his partner
again.
By having the entire field to themselves the young auctioneers did a
splendid business, and when they were ready to pack up and start for
Scranton they found that they had cleared nearly ninety dollars by
their stay in Wilkes-Barre.
In the meantime the weather had been growing steadily colder, and they
found it necessary to invest in a second-hand robe to keep them warm
when driving.
"It looks a bit like snow," remarked Andy, as they drove out of the
city one morning. "I hope we don't catch it before we reach where we
are going to. A snowstorm in the mountains is not a very pleasant
thing to encounter."
"We must run our chances," returned Matt, and Billy was urged forward,
and soon the city outskirts were left far behind.
The sun had shone for awhile, but about nine o'clock it went under a
heavy cloud. Then it began to get slightly warmer, and Andy was
certain that snow was coming.
His prediction was fulfilled. By ten o'clock it was snowing furiously,
and by eleven the ground was covered to the depth of half a foot.
"That settles it; we can't make Scranton to-day, nor even Pittston,"
said Matt. "We had better hunt up some sort of a house with a barn
attached, where we can put up."
But Andy was for continuing the journey, so onward they went, until at
last, just before the noon hour, they found the road getting too heavy
for Billy. They went down into a hollow which the falling snow had
covered, and there the wagon remained, despite every effort to budge
it.
They looked around in some dismay. Not even a house nor a building of
any sort was in sight.
"This is a pretty pickle," muttered Andy. "I wish we had followed your
advice and sought shelter."
"We've got to do something," returned Matt. "If we stay here we'll be
completely snowed under. The snow is coming down thicker every minute.
What's to be done?"
Ah! what was to be done? That was a question not easy to answer. Both
of the young auctioneers were much disturbed.