TRYING TO HELP TOM
"You were locked in a trunk and almost smothered!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown,
looking first at Sue and then at Mr. Bixby, as though she thought he
might have had some hand in the matter.
"Yes, it was over in Mrs. Preston's attic. But it was my own fault, I
never should have got in the trunk, for it closed with a spring lock and
they had to get a carpenter to saw me out."
"Oh! And spoil Mrs. Preston's trunk?"
"'Tisn't spoiled," said Bunny. "She's going to let us use it for a dog
kennel."
"And it will make such a nice one for Splash," said Sue. "You see, we
can put hinges on the little square place the carpenter cut out to make
a hole for me to get through, and we can make something fast to it that
Splash can get hold of with his teeth, like a knob, so he can pull the
door shut when it rains. It will be awful nice. I don't mind having been
shut up a bit when I think of Splash."
"But how did it all happen?" asked Mrs. Brown, while her husband and Mr.
Bixby were talking together.
The children told of Sue's adventure and of Charlie and Rose, and of the
big porch and of the lunch.
"But what does Mr. Bixby want, Mother? Is he really going to take Tom
away from us?" asked Sue.
"I don't know, my little girl. I hope not. But he seems to have the law
on his side."
"Well, you have your way of looking at it and I have mine," Mr. Bixby
was saying to Mr. Brown. "I hired this boy from the poorhouse and agreed
to pay him certain wages. Part he keeps for himself and the rest goes to
the poorhouse managers for his board in the Winter when he can't work.
"Then this boy ups and leaves me and comes to you. It isn't fair, and
I'm not getting the worth of the money I paid. For though he is a lazy
chap I managed to get some chores out of him."
"Of course," said Mr. Brown, "you may be right in what you say about
having the right to this boy's work because you paid for it. As for his
being lazy, I don't agree with you there. He has certainly been a help
to us about the camp."
"Oh, yes, where there's any fun in it Tom's right there! I s'pose he's a
good fisherman?"
"I never saw a better one," said Mr. Brown earnestly, while Bunny Brown
and Sue sat together on a big stump and wondered what it was all about.
"Yes, Tom'd rather fish than eat," said Mr. Bixby slowly, as he crossed
one ragged-trousered leg over the other.
"Who wouldn't with what I got to eat at your cabin?" burst out Tom who
had been standing back near the cook tent. "All I got was potatoes, and
once in a while bacon; I got so hungry I just _had_ to go out and fish."
"Well, we won't go into any argument about it," said Mr. Bixby. "I'm
entitled to work from you and I'm goin' to have you. That's all there
is about it."
"I'll never go back to you to be stung with them needles!" cried Tom.
At this Mr. Brown asked a question.
"What are these 'needles' Tom speaks of?" he asked. "I think I have a
right to know, as he is in my charge now, and if I let him go to you,
and he is hurt, I should feel I was to blame. I want to know about this
needle business."
"There wasn't anything to it. He just imagined it. I used to grab hold
of his arm, to shake him awake mornings, and I'd happen to hit his funny
bone in his elbow. You know how it is when you hit your elbow in a
certain place--it makes it feel as though pins and needles were sticking
in you."
"I have felt that," said Mrs. Brown.
"And so have I," added Bunny. "It's funny!"
"Well, that's all there is to it," said Mr. Bixby. "But I want Tom back.
I'm going to have him, too!"
"You shall have him if you have a right to him. But I shall look into
this first," said Mr. Brown. "You can't take him to-night."
"Oh, well, we sha'n't quarrel over that, as long as I get him to-morrow
to help dig potatoes. But you'll find I'm in the right, and that the boy
belongs to me for the Summer," said the hermit. "I'll do just as I
agreed to by him."
"Well, I'll look it up to make sure," said Mr. Brown. "It may be that
you are right, and it may be you are wrong. If you are, I'll say to you
now that you'll never get Tom away from me."
"That's right. Don't let him take me!" cried Tom, who seemed very much
afraid. "I don't want any more of his funny needles stuck in me. Let me
stay with you!"
"I will if I can, Tom my boy," said Mr. Brown.
"You'll find you can't keep him away from me," said Mr. Bixby, as he got
up to go. "And I won't hurt him, as he and you folks seem to think. All
I want are my rights."
The two men talked together a little longer, but Tom wanted to hear all
about Sue's having been shut in the trunk, so Bunny and his sister took
turns telling the story once more, while Tom listened eagerly.
"If I'd been there," he cried as Sue finished, "I'd a given that trunk
one kick and busted her clean open, Sue! I wouldn't have waited for no
carpenter."
One look at Tom's big feet seemed to indicate that he could easily have
"busted the trunk clean open."
"But it was better to saw a little door, to make a kennel for Splash,"
said Sue. "Anyhow I wasn't in there very long, and I could breathe a
little."
"Well, be careful about getting into trunks again," said her mother, and
Sue said she would.
The children played in the woods about the camp with Tom after supper,
while Mr. and Mrs. Brown sat off to one side talking earnestly.
"I guess they're talking about you," said Sue. "About your going away,
Tom."
"Well, I'm not going back to Mr. Bixby!" declared the lad.
"And we're not going to let you!" cried Bunny. "If he comes after you
we'll get in a boat and go down the lake and hide in that cave. We'll
take something to eat with us, and some fish lines to catch fish, and
we'll cook 'em over a campfire and we'll live in the big woods forever."
"What'll we do when Winter comes?" asked Sue.
"Oh, then daddy and mother will be back in the city and we can go and
live with them," replied her brother.
Early the next morning, while the children and Tom were having
breakfast, Mr. Brown was seen setting off toward the village.
"Where are you going, Daddy?" cried Sue.
"Can't you take us with you?" asked Bunny.
"No, I'm going off to see some of the townspeople--the authorities--the
head of the poorhouse and others, to find out what right Mr. Bixby has
to Tom."
"Oh, if you're going to help Tom that's all right!" said Sue. "We can
have some games among ourselves, can't we Bunny?" she added, turning to
her brother.
"Yes, but I wish I had my electric train."
"Well, you can play with the car you found in the hay," said Sue. "And
then we've got to make that trunk-kennel for Splash."
"Oh, so we have!" exclaimed Bunny. "I forgot about that. We'll have some
fun anyhow."
"And I'll help," said Tom. "Might as well have what fun I can if I have
to go back to Mr. Bixby's."
"You won't have to go back," said Bunny. "My father will fix it so you
can stay with us."