The "knitting-woman" sat knitting in her chamber that looked up the
mountain side, and thinking how the zebra kitten had suffered from her
enemy, the clam. Mrs. McQuilken's own cats were most of them asleep; the
blind canary was eating her supper of hemp-seed; and the noisy magpie
had run off to chat with the dog and hens. The room seemed remarkably
quiet. Mrs. McQuilken narrowed two stitches and glanced out of the
window.
"Mercy upon us!" she exclaimed, though there was not a soul to hear her.
"Mercy upon us, what are those boyoes doing atop of that house?"
In her astonishment she actually dropped her knitting-work on the floor
and rushed out of the room crying, "Fire!" though there was not a spark
of fire to be seen.
The "boyoes" were Nate and Jimmy. Nate had said to Jimmy just as they
started on the race:--
"You won't dare follow where I lead;" and Jimmy, stung by the defiant
tone, had answered:--
"Poh, yes, I will! Who's afraid?" never once suspecting that Nate was
going to climb the ridge-pole of a house!
The house was a small cabin painted green, but there were people living
in it, and nothing could be ruder than to storm it in this way, as both
boys knew.
"Why, Nate why, _Nate_, what are you doing?"
"Ho, needn't come if you're scared," retorted Nate.
"Who said I was scared? But I'm not your 'caddy,' I won't go another
step," gasped Jimmy.
Still he did not stop climbing. Hadn't Nate "stumped" him; and hadn't he
"taken the stump," agreeing to follow his lead? Besides, Nate was
already on the roof, and it was necessary to catch him at once.
Jimmy reached the roof easily enough and darted toward Nate with both
arms out-stretched. But by that time Nate had turned around and begun to
slide down another ridge-pole, shouting:--
"Here, my caddy, here I am; catch me, caddy!"
It was most exasperating. Jimmy saw that he had been outwitted. On the
solid earth, running a fair race, the chances were that he could have
beaten Nate. But was this a fair race?
"No, I'll leave it out to anybody if it's fair! Nate Pollard is the
meanest boy in California," thought angry Jimmy, as he started to follow
his leader down the ridge-pole.
At this moment something hit him just below the knee and held him fast.
In his haste he had not stopped to notice that the chimney was of the
very sort he had just described to Lucy--built of tiles and held on to
the roof by wires. He was caught in these wires; and whenever he tried
to move he found he was actually pulling the chimney after him! Nate,
safely landed on the ground, called back to him in triumph:--
"Hello, Jimmy-cum-jim! Hello, my caddy! Where are you? Why don't you
come along?"
Jimmy was coming as fast as he could. He lay face downward, sliding
along toward the edge of the roof, and carrying with him that most
undesirable chimney! What would become of him if he should fall
head-first with the chimney on his back?
It was a rough scramble; but he managed to turn over before he reached
the ground--so that he landed on his feet. The chimney landed near him,
a wreck. Jimmy was unhurt except for a few scratches. But oh, it was
dreadful to hear himself laughed at, not only by that mischievous Nate,
but by half a dozen other boys and a few grown people, who had collected
on the spot; among them the landlord and Mrs. McQuilken.
Not that any one could be blamed for laughing. Jimmy was a comical
object. In carrying away a chimney which did not belong to him, he had
of course torn his clothes frightfully and left big pieces sticking on
the broken wires of the roof. A more "raggety" boy never was seen.
"Wouldn't he make a good scarecrow?" said the landlord, shaking his
sides. "Jimmum, chimney, and all!"
It was necessary to tear his clothes still more in order to get them
free from the tangle of wires. As the poor young culprit crept
unwillingly back to the hotel all the cats, dogs, donkeys, and chickens
in Castle Cliff seemed to combine in a chorus of mewing, barking,
braying, and cackling to inform the whole world that here was a boy who
had stolen a chimney!
What wretched little beggar was this coming to the house? No one thought
of its being Jimmy Dunlee.
"We caught this young rogue stealing a chimney," said Mr. Templeton.
It seemed funny at first, and the Dunlees and Sanfords and Hales all
laughed heartily, till it occurred to them that the dear child had been
in actual danger; and then they drew long breaths and shuddered,
thinking how he might have pitched headlong to the ground and been
crushed by the weight of the chimney.
"But my little son," asked Mrs. Dunlee presently, when the child was
once more respectably clad, and was walking down to dinner between
herself and Aunt Vi, "but my little son, what could have possessed you
to climb a roof? Was that a nice thing to do?"
"No, mamma, of course not. But 'twas all Nate Pollard's fault. Nate
stumped me to it and I took the stump."
"What _do_ you mean?"
"Why, he said, 'You won't dare follow me,' and I said, 'Yes, I would.'
And I never mistrusted where he was going. Who'd have thought of his
climbing top of a house?"
"Why, Jamie Dunlee, you did not follow Nate without knowing where he
was going?"
"Yes, mamma; if I _had_ known I wouldn't have followed. But you see he
had stumped me and I'd taken the stump, so I was _obliged_ to go!"
"Obliged to go!" repeated Aunt Vi, laughing, "Isn't that characteristic
of Jimmy?"
The little fellow felt guiltier than ever. When Aunt Vi used that word
of five syllables it always meant that people had done very wrong, so he
thought.
"Jamie," said his mother very seriously, "I am surprised that you should
have promised to follow Nate without knowing where he was going! And you
never even asked him where he was going! Is that the way you play, you
boys?"
"No, mamma, it isn't. Nate makes you play his way because he's the
oldest. He's just as mean! But I couldn't back out after I was
stumped."
"Oh, fie! Backing out is exactly the thing to do when a boy is trying to
lead you into mischief! But we'll talk more of this by and by."
As they entered the dining-room, Jimmy squared his shoulders and would
not look toward Nate's table; and Nate, who had been severely reproved
by his parents, never once raised his eyes from his plate. No one felt
very happy. Jimmy's new suit was ruined; and Mr. Dunlee had already
learned that it would cost ten dollars to restore the tile chimney. Nor
was this all. While Jimmy was trying to console himself with ice-cream
he suddenly thought of his father's watch! It must have dropped out of
his pocket when he slid down the roof; but where, oh, where was it now?
Was it still on the ground, or had some one picked it up? Joe Rolfe had
been there, so had Chicken Little and a dozen others. He must go and
look for that watch, he must go this minute.
"Mamma," he murmured, pushing aside his saucer of ice-cream, "may I--may
I be excused?"
There was no answer; his mother had not heard him.
"Mamma," in a louder tone, "oh, mamma!"
"What is it, my son?"
Seeing by his unhappy face that something was wrong, she nodded
permission for him to leave the table; and at the same time arose and
followed him into the hall.
"Dear child, what is the matter?"
"Papa's watch," he moaned. "I'm afraid somebody will steal it."
As Mrs. Dunlee knew nothing whatever about the watch this sounded very
strange. She wondered if Jimmy had really been hurt by his fall and was
out of his head.
"Why, my precious little boy," said she, taking his hot hand in hers.
"Papa's watch is safe in his vest pocket. Nobody is going to steal it."
Jimmy looked immensely relieved.
"Oh, has he got it back again? I'm so glad! Where did he find it?"
"Darling," said Mrs. Dunlee, now really alarmed. "Come upstairs with
mamma. Does your head ache? I think it will be best for you to go right
to bed."
But Jimmy persisted in talking about the watch.
"Where did papa find it? He let Lucy have it; don't you know?"
"No, I did not know."
"And I took it away from Lucy. I was afraid she'd lose it. And
then,--oh, dear, oh, dear,--then I went and lost it myself!"
Mrs. Dunlee understood it all now. Jimmy's head was clear enough; he
knew perfectly well what he was talking about. The watch was gone, a
very valuable one. Search must be made for it at once. Without waiting
to speak to her husband, Mrs. Dunlee put on her hat and went with Jimmy
up the hill. He limped a little from the bruise of his fall and she
steadied him with her arm as they walked.