A SYSTEMATIC SEARCH.
Josiah did not regret his reckless extravagance in spending twenty
cents for admission to the “circus.”
Without seeing the collection of alleged wonders he never could have
believed so many strange and odd things ever had an existence, and not
until fully two hours had elapsed was he willing to listen to Sadie’s
oft-repeated assertion that it “was time to go home.”
Very reluctantly he allowed himself to be led out of the building, and
once on the sidewalk again found it necessary to place the valise on
the curb in order that he might the better free his mind.
“Well, I declare! It beats anything I ever saw or heard tell of! Do you
s’pose that fat woman could be all alive, or was she blowed up the way
we do toads out our way?”
“She was a truly woman,” Sadie replied. “I used to know where one of
them kind of people lived, an’ she was so big she couldn’t hardly
get into a hoss car. If you want to see a dime show that’s better’n
this one, you oughter go up on the Bowery. All the boys say it’s just
gorgeous.”
“When I sell my woodchuck skins I’ll go, an’ you shall come along too.
We’ll stay all the afternoon, ’cause Bob an’ Tom’ll be with us, an’ I
reckon they’ll want to see it as much as I do.”
Sadie made no reply to this generous proposition, possibly because
she did not believe it would ever be carried into effect; and Josiah,
taking up his valise once more, followed as she led him toward Mother
Hunter’s.
Now that the glamour of the “circus” was partially dispelled by the
more prosaic appearance of surrounding objects, the boy from Berry’s
Corner began to question himself as to whether he had not, as his
companion suggested, spent too much money.
“I s’pose mother would think I was gettin’ reckless,” he said to
himself, “an’ I reckon it comes pretty nigh bein’ true; but p’rhaps the
woodchuck skins will bring a good price, so it won’t make very much
difference after all. I guess I’d better sell ’em before I go to that
other show.”
Having thus quieted his conscience, Josiah was enabled to take more
heed of his own movements, and asked his companion:--
“How far do you live from here?”
“It’s quite a walk; but you see I want to go there before we begin to
find Baker’s Court, ’cause I don’t know where the place is, an’ it may
take us a good while. Mother Hunter will be jest ravin’ if I ain’t back
to give her some money pretty soon.”
“How much have you got for her?”
“Eight cents.”
“That won’t buy a great deal.”
“It’ll be better’n nothin’, an’ kinder keep her quiet. If she knows I
ain’t got any more she can’t say very much, though she does raise awful
rows when I don’t bring home enough to pay for fillin’ her bottle.”
“What bottle?”
“The one she drinks from, of course. She gets terrible drunk sometimes,
an’ lays right down on the floor.”
“An’ do you stay in the house then?” Josiah asked.
“Of course. Where else could I go? You see, that is my home so long as
I pay what she asks, an’ it’s got to be there or on the street, though
I did walk ’round one night when she was on a tantrum.”
Josiah was shocked. He knew that at Berry’s Coiner on certain
occasions, Daniel Downs was known to be intoxicated, and it always
caused a great deal of excitement in the little settlement: but that
women could so far demean themselves had never entered his mind, and
more than once he decided Sadie must be mistaken.
It was destined he should have positive proof of the truth of the
statement; for when they arrived at the building, and after he had
followed her through an unlighted hall to as wretched a room as he
had ever seen, the girl stood pointing to what at first looked like a
bundle of rags on the floor.
“There she is! She must have been out beggin’, ’cause I know there
wasn’t any money in the house when I left.”
One hasty glance at the unconscious woman was sufficient for the boy
from the country, and, turning away to avoid looking at her, he asked
Sadie:--
“Now what are you goin’ to do?”
“Try to find your chums, of course.”
“I mean after that?”
“Why, I’m comin’ back here.”
“An’ stay all night in the same room with her?”
“Cert; what else could I do?”
“Well, I’m sure I can’t tell,” Josiah replied as he rubbed his chin
reflectively; “but it don’t seem safe.”
“Why not?”
“Nobody knows what she might do to you.”
“She couldn’t any more’n thump me, an’ I’ve got used to that since I’ve
been livin’ here.”
“Do you mean to say she really whips you?”
“Well, I guess you’d think so if you should see her. She throws things,
an’ knocks ’round terribly when she’s gettin’ over a spree; but say,
it must be growin’ late, an’ if we don’t hurry them fellers won’t be
awake.”
“I wonder what time it is?”
“’Bout ten o’clock.”
“Ten o’clock!” Josiah exclaimed. “Why, I never was up so late as this
except once, when the sewin’ circle was at our house, an’ Deacon Jones
an’ father was talkin’ so long that the deacon forgot to go home. You
see, mother didn’t want to send me to bed ’cause he’d think it was a
hint to him. I can’t go up there at this time of night.”
“Then you can stay here; there’s plenty of floor,” Sadie replied in a
matter-of-fact tone.
“Do you lay down there when you go to bed?”
“I can have my choice of doin’ that or standin’ up, so I stretch right
out, an’ am mighty glad of the chance most of the time.”
Josiah looked around the wretched apartment, then out of the window,
and back at the girl for whom he was beginning to entertain a very
friendly feeling.
“I’ll stay here too,” he said decidedly. “I don’t reckon there’ll be
much chance to sleep; but that old wretch sha’n’t pound you to-morrow,
unless she waits till I’ve gone out,” and Josiah laid his satchel in
one corner of the room, that it might serve him as a pillow.
Sadie was perfectly willing to defer the search for Tom and Bob until
morning.
This fellow from the country had treated her more kindly than the
majority of her boy acquaintances; and she was well content to have him
act as her guardian when the old woman, half crazed with the desire for
more liquor, should begin her usual tirade.
If the worthy Mother Hunter ever owned household goods, they had all
found their way to the second-hand stores or the pawnbroker’s shop
before this; for now one table, very shaky as to legs and with a
portion of the top missing, and two dilapidated chairs, comprised the
entire list of furniture.
Sadie’s preparations for the night were very simple.
She curled herself in the corner opposite Josiah, pulled her hat yet
farther down on her head to serve as a screen against the wind which
came in through the many crevices, and said “good-night.”
“Good-night,” Josiah replied absently, wondering how it was that a
frail girl like his new acquaintance could accustom herself to such
hardships; and then, thinking more earnestly than ever before of his
own rest-inviting bed with its lavender-scented sheets at home, he
followed her example.
It was the first time in his life he had ever attempted to pass a night
on the floor; and, despite the hardness of the boards, he slept soundly
until awakened by a shrill voice raised high in threatening tones.
Springing to his feet, it was several seconds before he fully
realized where he was; and then the rays of the rising sun falling
directly athwart the sleeping girl, served to clear from his mind the
bewilderment caused by the sudden outburst.
Mother Hunter was awake, and, if such a thing could be possible, looked
even more hideous than when asleep.
She was moving excitedly about the room, calling upon Sadie in no
gentle tones, and evidently searching for something which could not be
found.
“Who are you?” she asked, seeing Josiah for the first time.
“I’m a feller from Berry’s Corner. I met Sadie last night, an’ came
back here with her ’cause it was too late to find Tom an’ Bob.”
By this time the girl had awakened, and she said quickly:--
“It don’t make any difference to you who he is. He gave me a supper,
an’ that’s more’n I’d had if I’d come here.”
“So he’s got money to spend on sich as you, has he? An’ I’m starvin’
to death for a drop of somethin’ to warm my stomach!” the old woman
snarled.
“Well, starve then; he won’t give you anything to buy whiskey with.”
“Pay what you owe me, an’ that before you leave this house!”
Sadie took the eight cents from her pocket, knowing what a refusal
might cost, and gave them to the besotted wretch.
“Is that all you’ve got?” the old woman cried in a rage. “Give me the
whole of it, you little huzzey!”
“That’s what she made yesterday,” Josiah said firmly, thinking it time
he came to the rescue, “an’ now she’s goin’ out with me.”
The woman looked at him as if in surprise that he should dare speak in
such a tone to her, and while she was apparently lost in amazement
Josiah took advantage of the opportunity to lead Sadie from the room.
“There’s no use foolin’ with such a thing as that,” he said, as they
went through the long hall-way into the street. “The best way is to
skin right out an’ leave ’em alone. I reckon she’ll get enough to drink
with that eight cents to keep her quiet for a while, won’t she?”
“It don’t make any difference to me what she does, ’cause I sha’n’t
have to go back agin ’till night. Now we’ll try to find your chums, an’
then I’ll go to work.”
“But you haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“That don’t make any difference; I’ve been without so often I’ve kinder
got used to it.”
“Well, you’ll have one this mornin’; but I don’t b’lieve I can afford
to spend thirty cents more. S’posin’ we try to find somethin’ cheaper?”
“We can go ’round the corner an’ get two rolls an’ two sausages for
five cents, if Tony has come.”
“Who’s Tony?”
“He’s a Italian. There he is now!”
Looking in the direction indicated by Sadie, Josiah saw a dark-skinned
little man standing in front of a huge tin boiler, on the cover of
which was displayed, in what was intended to be a tempting array, a
collection of rolls and sausages.
In order that they might have an ample supply, the boy from the country
invested ten cents, and, eating as they walked, the two turned their
attention to finding Tom and Bob.
“I don’t reckon they’d be at home, if they sell newspapers for a
livin’, ’cause it’s time for the early editions already. S’pose we go
down by the City Hall, an’ we’ll be sure to find somebody what knows
’em.”
Josiah was ready to act upon any suggestion she might make, and
followed her unquestioningly, after asking whether or no she was
neglecting her own business by devoting so much time to him.
“Oh, no, folks don’t buy matches so early in the mornin’. Plenty of
time for me at ten o’clock,” Sadie replied; and then, seeing a small
boy on the opposite side of the street, she called loudly, “Hi! you
Sim! Sim!”
The boy turned in answer to her summons.
“Say, do you know the newsboys this feller’s huntin’ for?”
“What’s their names?”
“Tom Bartlett an’ Bob Green,” Josiah replied.
“Know ’em? Course I do. Why, they went down town not more’n half an
hour ago, an’ I reckon you’ll find ’em ’round the Astor House. Who is
that feller, anyhow?” he added, pointing to Josiah.
“He’s a boy from the country, an’ is goin’ to stay at Baker’s Court, so
we wanter find Tom an’ Bob as soon as we can;” and Sadie hurried away
as if time was too precious to admit of her spending many moments in
conversation, while Sim muttered as he was left alone on the sidewalk:--
“Well, it kinder strikes me Sadie Mitchell’s puttin’ on a good many
airs this mornin’, jest ’cause she’s got that country Jake in tow,” and
the young gentleman appeared aggrieved that more information had not
been given him.
“I didn’t want to stop an’ have a long talk,” Sadie said in a low tone,
when they were a short distance from Sim. “He’s terrible rough. Seems
as if he didn’t want to do anything but jest fight. First time he sees
another feller he always puts up his ‘props’ as he calls it, an’ I was
’fraid he might try it on you.”
“I don’t want to get into any row, ’cause this valise is as much as I
can take care of; but I tell you what it is, these city chaps mustn’t
try to pick on me jest on account of my comin’ from the country, for
I won’t stand it;” and the young gentleman from Berry’s Corner looked
very fierce, as if wishing his companion to believe him a dangerous
character.
Sadie was not at all alarmed by the belligerent attitude assumed by her
newly-found friend, and continued on her way in search of Tom and Bob,
much as though Josiah was a veritable lamb in disguise.
On the way down town the match-girl made inquiries of every
acquaintance she met, regarding the whereabouts of the boys she desired
to find, and received the same answer as given by Sim, except in one
instance.
A young gentleman in the boot-blackening business, by the name of Jimmy
Skip, informed her that he had seen the merchants in question entering
a certain building devoted to offices, on Chatham Street, and stated
that he had no doubt they were yet there serving their patrons.
When Sadie reached the place designated, she halted, and said to
Josiah:--
“Wait here, an’ I’ll look for ’em. There’s no need of your travelin’
’round so much while you’ve got that big valise.”
Josiah was perfectly willing to do as she suggested, and stood leaning
against the building with his burden at his feet, watching the
pedestrians, an occupation of which it seemed as if he would never
tire.