"CHICKEN LITTLE" AND JOE
The man and woman who lived in the green cottage had gone to a
neighbor's to stay till their chimney should be fastened on again. There
was no one in sight.
"Here's the place where I went up," said Jimmy, laying his hand on one
of the ridge-poles. "And here's the place where I came down," pointing
to another ridge-pole.
Mrs. Dunlee was stooping and looking around carefully. There was not a
tuft of grass or a clump of weeds behind which even a small article
could be hidden, much less a large bright object like a gold watch. She
took a wooden pencil from her pocket and scraped the earth with it; but
only disturbed a few ants and beetles. If the watch had ever been
dropped here, it certainly was not here now. She and Jimmy turned and
walked home in the twilight,--or as Mrs. McQuilken called it, "the
dimmets," and poor Jimmy drew a cloud of gloom about him like a cloak.
They looked on the ground at every step of the way.
"There's a piece of chaparral over there. Did you go through that?"
asked Mrs. Dunlee.
"No, I never, I'm sure I never. I walked in the road right straight
along. Oh, mamma, if I've lost that watch 'twill break my heart. But
I'll pay papa for it, you see if I don't! I'll save every penny I get
and put it together and pay papa!"
Mrs. Dunlee did not reply for a moment; she took time to reflect. Jimmy
was a dear boy, but very heedless. He had done wrong in the first place
to take the watch from Lucy without his father's permission. He must be
taught to respect other people's property and other people's rights. He
must learn to think, and learn to be careful. Here was a chance for a
lesson.
"Jamie," said she at last, "I am glad you wish to atone for the wrong
you have done; it shows a proper spirit. I agree with you that if the
watch isn't found you ought to give papa what you can toward paying for
it. That is no more than fair."
"I want to, mamma, I just want to!" burst forth Jimmy. "I wish I was
little like Eddo, before 'twas wrong for me to be naughty."
His mother took him in her arms and kissed him, for he was so tired and
miserable that he could not keep the tears back another moment.
Friday night passed and most of Saturday; and though diligent search
was made, the watch was not found.
"Poor papa!" said Kyzie. "He doesn't say much; but how sober he looks!
Grandma Dunlee gave him that watch, Jimmy, when he was a young man; and
he did love it so!"
"I know it. Oh, dear, how can he stand it?" responded jimmy, who had
been deeply touched from the first by his father's forbearance. "Mr,
Pollard punished Nate dreadfully, you know; but here's Papa Dunlee, why,
he hasn't even scolded!"
Papa Dunlee was a wise man. He saw that his little son was suffering
enough already; he was learning a hard lesson, and perhaps would learn
it all the better for being left alone with his own conscience.
On Sunday afternoon the boy was very disconsolate, and Mr. Dunlee patted
him on the head, saying:--
"Maybe we'll find the watch yet, my son. And anyway, I know Jimmum
didn't mean to lose it."
Then he sat down to read, and Jimmy gazed at him reverently. The
sunshine about his head seemed almost like a halo, and the boy thought
of the angels, and wondered if they could possibly be any better than
papa!
"Papa is the best man! Never was cross in his life. I should be cross as
fury! I should shake _my_ boy all to pieces if he should carry off my
gold watch and drop it in the sand!"
Monday morning came and the missing article did not appear. Everybody
looked troubled. Edith walked about, carrying her lame kitten in a
basket, and saying:--
"Zee is getting better all the while, but how can I be happy when papa's
watch is lost!"
"Who knows but I shall be the one to find it?" returned Katharine with
a mysterious smile, as she was leaving the house.
"You forgot to tell us, and we forgot to ask you, How do you like your
school?" said Aunt Vi.
"Oh, ever so much, auntie. I'm making it just as old-fashioned as I can.
I'm going to write Grandma Parlin this week and ask her if what I do is
old-fashioned enough. Good-by."
Jimmy was waiting for her down the path.
"What makes you think you'll find the watch, Kyzie?"
"Oh, I don't know, myself, what I meant. I just said it for fun."
"Well, do you think Joe Rolfe has got it, or Chicken Little? That's what
I want to know."
"Hush, Jimmy! Papa wouldn't allow you to speak names in that way.
Somebody stole it, I suppose, but we don't know who it was."
Still Kyzie's face wore a stern look that morning. It was a thing not to
be spoken of, but she had resolved to "keep an eye" on two or three of
the boys, and see if there was anything peculiar in their appearance.
Should one of them blush or turn pale when spoken to, it would be a sure
sign of guilt, and she should go home and announce with triumph to her
father:--
"Papa, I've found out the thief!"
The scholars all appeared pretty much as usual; raising their hands very
often to ask, "May I speak?" or, "May I have a drink of water?" The
little teacher had always wished they would not do so, but how could she
help it? It was "an old-fashioned school," perhaps that was why it was
so noisy. Whatever went wrong, Kyzie always said to herself, "Oh, it's
just an old-fashioned school."
Nate Pollard and Jimmy sat to-day as far apart as possible, almost
turning their backs upon each other. At the bottom of his heart Nate was
truly ashamed of himself, though he would not have owned it. There were
five new scholars, and Katharine wrote down their names with much pride.
Best of all, some of the children really seemed to be trying to get
their lessons.
She had never known Joe Rolfe to study like this. "Is it because he is
guilty?" thought the little teacher watching him from under her
eyebrows. She walked along toward him so softly that he did not hear her
footsteps.
"Joseph!" she exclaimed, suddenly. Her voice startled him; he looked up
in surprise.
"I'm glad to see you studying, Joseph."
Did he blush? His face was of a brownish red hue at any time, being
much tanned; she could not be quite sure of the blush. But why did he
look so sober? Children generally smile when they are praised.
She had been to Bab and Lucy and said, "How still you are, darlings!"
and they had seemed delighted.
Next she tried Chicken Little. He certainly jumped when she spoke his
name close to his ear, "Henry." Now why should he jump and seem so
confused unless he knew he had done something wrong? She forgot that he
was a very timid boy.
"Henry, what is the matter with you?" she asked, frowning severely.
She had never frowned on him before, for she liked the little fellow,
and was trying her best to "make a man of him."
"What is the matter, Henry?"
By this time he was scared nearly out of his wits, and stole a side
glance at her to see if she had a switch in her hand.
"Don't whip me," he pleaded in a trembling voice. "Don't whip me,
teacher; and I'll give you f-i-v-e thousand dollars!"
As he offered this modest sum to save himself from her wrath, the little
teacher nearly laughed aloud, Henry did not know it, however; her face
was hidden behind a book.
"What made you think, you silly boy, that I was going to punish you?"
she asked as soon as she could find her voice. "Have you done something
wicked?"
She spoke in a low tone for his ear alone, but he writhed under it as if
it had been a blow.
"I--don'--know."
"He is the thief," thought Kyzie. "Oh, Henry, if you've done something
wrong you must know it. Tell me what it was."
"I--can't!"
She put her lips nearer his ear. "Was it you and Joseph Rolfe together?
Perhaps you _both_ did something wicked?"
"I--don'--know."
"Was it last Friday?"
"I--don'--know!"
"Will you tell me after school?"
Henry was unable to answer. Worn out with contending emotions he put his
head down on the seat and cried.
This did not seem like innocence. Joseph Rolfe was looking on from
across the aisle, as if he wished very much to know what she and Henry
were talking about.
"I'll make them tell me the whole story, the wicked boys," thought
Kyzie, indignantly. "But I can't hurry about it; I must be very
careful. I think I'll wait till to-morrow."
So she calmed herself and called out her classes. Katharine was a
"golden girl," and had a strong sense of justice. She would say nothing
yet to her father, for the boys might possibly be innocent; still she
went home that afternoon feeling that she had almost made a discovery.
"Good evening, Grandmother Graymouse," said Uncle James, as they were
all seated on the veranda after dinner, "do I understand that you are
hunting for a watch?"
"I'm hunting for it, oh, yes," replied Kyzie, trying not to look too
triumphant; "but I haven't found it yet. Just wait till to-morrow, Uncle
James."
"I don't believe we'll wait another minute!" declared Mr. Sanford,
looking around with a roguish smile. "I see the Dunlee people are all
here, Jimmum, Lucy, and all. Attention, my friends! The thief has been
found!"
"What thief?" asked Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Dunlee.
"Why, _the_ thief! The one we're looking for! The one that stole the
watch!"
"Do you really mean it?" asked the ladies again. "Did he bring it back?"
"Come and see," said Uncle James, leading the way upstairs.
"Of course it's Joe Rolfe," thought Kyzie. "I suppose he was frightened
by what I said to Henry Small."
"Is the thief in your room, Uncle James?" said Jimmy. "Why didn't you
put him in jail?"
"Ah, Jimmum, do you think all thieves ought to go to jail? I once knew a
little boy who stole a chimney right off a house; yet I never heard a
word said about putting _him_ in jail!
"But here we are at the chamber door. Stand behind me, all of you, in
single file."
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