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[Illustration: In an instant Sam was off at full speed, crying, "Stop
thief!" at the full strength of his lungs.]
THE ADVENTURES OF A COUNTRY BOY AT A COUNTRY FAIR
by
James Otis
Author of Toby Tyler Etc.
Illustrated
Boston
Charles E. Brown & Co.
Copyright, 1893,
By Charles E. Brown & Co.
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Printers
Boston
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
I.--A Young Fakir
II.--An Old Fakir
III.--A Friend
IV.--Uncle Nathan
V.--The Fair
VI.--A Clue
VII.--The Clerk
VIII.--The Jewelry Fakir
IX.--A Brave Rescue
X.--An Encounter
XI.--Long Jim
XII.--A Discovery
XIII.--Amateur Detectives
XIV.--The Rendezvous
XV.--Sam's Adventures
XVI.--Missing
XVII.--A Terrible Night
XVIII.--A Narrow Escape
XIX.--The Arrest
XX.--A Proposition
XXI.--With the Burglars
XXII.--A Disaster
XXIII.--A Second Arrest
XXIV.--A Third Arrest
XXV.--On Bail
XXVI.--The Fakirs' Party
XXVII.--In Hiding
XXVIII.--A Failure
XXIX.--The Testimonial
XXX.--The Trial
XXXI.--An Arrival
XXXII.--In Conclusion
_THE ADVENTURES OF A COUNTRY BOY AT A COUNTRY FAIR._
CHAPTER I.
_A YOUNG FAKIR._
"I'm going to try it. Deacon Jones says I can have the right to run both
things for ten dollars, and Uncle Nathan is going to lend me money
enough to get the stock."
"What scheme have you got in your head now, Teddy Hargreaves?" and Mrs.
Fernald looked over her spectacles at the son of her widowed sister, who
was literally breathless in his excitement.
"I'm going to run a cane an' knife board at the Peach Bottom fair, and
try to make money enough to pay the debt mother owes on the place."
"You're crazy--mad as a March hare! The idea of a child like you setting
yourself up to earn three or four hundred dollars, when your father
worked all his life and couldn't get so much together."
Mrs. Fernald really appeared to be angry, and she really believed there
was good cause why she should lose her temper. The thought that little
Teddy--a "whiflet" she called him--should set up his opinion in such
matters against his elders, and attempt to earn in one season an amount
which Seth Hargreaves had never been able to repay during his thirty-six
years of life, was so preposterous that the good lady looked upon the
boy's assertion as positive proof that he was not only ready but willing
to "fly in the face of Providence."
"I shall try it all the same," Teddy replied in a most provokingly
matter-of-fact tone, "an' I'm going down to see Uncle Nathan this very
minute."
"Very well, and I consider it my bounden duty to advise your mother to
keep you in the house until the fair is ended," Aunt Sarah said, as she
took from its peg the well-worn gingham sun-bonnet.
Teddy had no desire to prolong the conversation, which had been begun
simply because his aunt insisted on knowing where he had been, but
hurried away from the gate on which he had been swinging while Mrs.
Fernald questioned him, as if fearful lest she might try to detain him
until the matter could be settled according to her own ideas of
propriety.
"I can have the right to run what I want to, every day the fair lasts,
for ten dollars, an' now, if you lend me fifteen, I'll be all right,"
the boy cried as he burst into Nathan Hargreaves' store, just as the old
gentleman was adding a trifle more sand to the sugar, in order to
compensate for what might possibly have been spilled by the careless
clerk.
"Oh, it's fixed, eh? And you're really goin' to turn fakir?" Uncle
Nathan asked, wrinkling his face into the semblance of a laugh, but
remaining silent, as if fearing to waste even such a cheap thing as
mirth.
"What's a fakir?"
"A man, or a boy, for that matter, who goes out to sell things as you
count on doin', if I'm fool enough to let you throw away fifteen good
dollars of mine."
"But you promised to lend me the money."
"An' I'm going to do it; but that don't make me any less a fool jest
because I'm holdin' to my word. Tell me what you count on doin', an'
then we'll come down to the business end of the scheme."
"I'll pay the ten dollars I've got to Deacon Jones for the right to run
the games, an' with what you lend me I'm goin' to Waterville an' buy a
whole lot of knives an' canes. There's a storekeeper over there who
promises to sell that kind of goods for less than they cost him."
"An' he's lyin' when he says it. People don't do business for the fun of
it; but that's neither here nor there so far as our trade is concerned.
I'm goin' to give you the fifteen dollars now--it's a power of money for
a boy of your size, Teddy--, an' if you make anything, as I allow you
will, I'm to have eighteen dollars back; don't forget that part of the
trade."
"I'll stand to what I agreed, Uncle Nathan, and you shall be paid the
very day the fair closes."
"Here it is," and with a sigh which was almost a groan Uncle Nathan took
from a fat calfskin wallet three five-dollar bills, adding, as he handed
them to Teddy: "Be careful of it, my boy, for I'm puttin' almost too
much confidence in a child of your size, an' nobody knows how distressed
I'd be if anything happened to prevent your paying it back."
Teddy placed the money carefully in the inside pocket of his vest, and,
after promising for at least the hundredth time that it should be repaid
by the close of the following week, hurried home confident in the belief
that he was on an extremely short road to wealth.
Mrs. Hargreaves was by no means as sanguine as her son concerning the
success of the scheme, and actually appeared frightened when Teddy
showed her the money he had received from his Uncle Nathan, who was
reputed to be the "closest-fisted" merchant to be found within a day's
ride of Peach Bottom Run.
"If you should lose it, Teddy, and be unable to pay him back at the
exact time you promised, it would be the undoing of us, for we could
never expect to get another dollar. I know he is not generous, but have
always believed that if we should be in yet more straitened
circumstances he would give us some assistance. He has neither charity
nor mercy for any one who does not pay a little more than his just
debts--"
"But I shall give back every cent of this, mother, so don't look as if
you were in such distress. I want to go to Waterville to buy my stock in
the morning, an' am counting on walking. It's only seven miles, an' I'll
save fifty cents by traveling on shanks' mare."
"I will have breakfast ready by four o'clock; but you must come back on
the stage, Teddy."
"Yes, if I feel very tired; but I don't know of any easier way to earn a
dollar than by walking both ways."
The young "fakir" believed he knew exactly what kind and amount of stock
he wished to purchase on the following day, therefore he had no
preparations to make for the journey save to get his limbs in the best
possible condition for the tramp by retiring very early, in order to
"scoop in" plenty of sleep.
The thought of the success which should attend him in his new venture
kept his eyes open a long while after getting into bed, and when he
finally succeeded in crossing over to the land of Nod, dreams of the
fortune to be made during the coming week visited his brain, and
remained there until his mother's voice summoned him to breakfast.
The sun had not yet come up from behind the hills when he was trudging
sturdily along over the dusty road, carrying a generous luncheon tied in
a snowy-white napkin, and with his money secured by many pins in the
lining of his cap.
"Be careful not to lose it, for your Uncle Nathan would never forgive
you," his mother had said, and he cried cheerily, as he walked swiftly
down the lane to the highway:
"There's no fear of anything like that happening; the bills can't get
away without my knowing it so long as they stay here," and Teddy pulled
his cap yet more closely down on his head.
In a trifle more than two hours he was at Waterville, wondering why the
stores were not open, no matter how early it was, when such an important
customer as himself came to town.
Since the merchants were evidently ignorant of his arrival, as was
evidenced by the fact that their places of business yet remained closed,
there was no more profitable occupation for him than to eat a second
breakfast, which he proceeded to do, using a hand-truck on the
depot-platform as a seat.
The train which left New York on the evening before had arrived some
time previous, and the station was temporarily deserted by all save a
boy of about Teddy's age, who was walking to and fro in an aimless
manner.
By the time the young "fakir" had finished his second biscuit he noticed
that the stranger was watching him narrowly, and, holding forth the
napkin with its generous store, he asked:
"Have one?"
"I don't care if I do," said the boy, carelessly, and he continued:
"I reckon you live 'round here?"
"No, I jest come up from Peach Bottom Run, an' am waiting for the stores
to be opened."
"Why, you're from the same place where the fair is goin' to be held."
"No; I live at the Run, an' the fair is over to Peach Bottom, most five
miles from my house. Are you goin' there?"
"I should reckon I was. Why, I'm goin' to help run it."
"You are?" and Teddy's mouth opened wide in astonishment.
"Yes, sir-ree, an' you fellers will be jest about crazy when I tell you
what I've come to do."
"Don't flash it upon us too quick, for we wanter kind of keep our wits
about us till the fun is over."
The tone of sarcasm in Teddy's voice appeared to nettle the stranger.
"I've come down here to give away a steamboat what's worth five hundred
dollars."
"Then there ain't any need for you to go any farther, 'cause I'm willin'
to take it now."
"If you won't be so smart I'll tell you about it," was the dignified
reply. "There's a firm out in Detroit what's goin' to do that very thing
to the feller that can guess how much she weighs, an' I've been hired to
help the man who is comin' down to Peach Bottom to show off a lot of
boats."
"What are you goin' to do?" and now Teddy was interested.
"Row around in the creek while he looks out for the stuff in the fair.
It won't be any more'n fun, an' if you'll come over I'll take you out."
"I don't s'pose you could help me guess how much the steamer weighs,
could you?"
"There ain't anybody as can do that, 'cause you see she ain't built yet;
but you can find out all about it by lookin' on the fair grounds for the
circulars what the Davis Boat and Oar Company of Detroit will throw
around, an' if there's somethin' else you wanter know jest ask for Sam
Balderston; all the folks will know me before I've been there very
long."
"I'm going to work at the fair myself," Teddy replied, and then, in
response to his new friend's questions, he gave him all the particulars
of his proposed venture.
"I reckon you'll get along all right, an' come out way ahead, if some of
these smart fakirs don't try to get the best of you. Say, why can't I go
to your house, an' stay till it's time to go over to the fair? I'll pay
my way."
"If mother's willin', I'd like to have you, an' I don't believe she'll
care. Now, I've got to buy my stuff. Where'll I meet you afterward?"
"I'm goin' with you," Sam said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "I know a good
deal about such things, an' won't see you cheated."
Teddy hardly thought he was in need of any assistance; but since he did
not want to offend this fellow who was concerned in giving away a
steamboat, he could not well refuse, therefore the two started up the
street together.