HOW THE PLAN WORKED
According to agreement, Leslie waylaid Dick on the following morning as
the latter was hurrying homeward.
“How about that little arrangement of ours, Dick?” he demanded, as he
locked arms with his chum and kept pace with the other’s long strides.
“Guess it goes through all right,” Dick replied, smilingly; “if you
mean our plan to lie low, and watch the meeting between Billy and his
grandfather.”
“It isn’t too late for it, I hope,” ventured Leslie, anxiously.
“Oh! no,” came the confident reply; “I saw Billy’s mother this morning,
and she promised not to let him out this afternoon till I gave the high
sign.”
“And what was that to be?” continued the other.
“When we get to the corner of the fence where you can see the windows
of the old Brandon house, I’m to wave my handkerchief. She’s to be
looking, or have Billy do the same, and after I get an answer to my
signal we’ll just have time to creep up to where the old deacon is
waiting to have his daily chat with the child.”
“You certainly have it all cooked up as neat as anything, Dick,”
declared Leslie, admiringly, for he considered that his chum was
without a rival when it came down to arranging things.
They hurried on until finally the fence corner was reached from which a
good view of the Brandon house could be obtained.
“Now watch me,” Dick remarked, as he commenced to wave his pocket
handkerchief slowly to and fro.
“There, I can see some one moving at that upper window!” exclaimed
Leslie.
“I reckon it must be Billy,” said Dick, still keeping up the signalling.
“They see you, Dick, and now some one has commenced to answer. The
scheme worked like magic. All we have to do is to go and get into the
deacon’s grounds.”
“I’ve got that part of it all fixed too,” asserted Dick. “Billy isn’t
to start out for five minutes after they get my signal. By that time we
ought to be creeping up pretty close to Mr. Nocker.”
“How do you know he’ll be waiting there?” whispered Leslie, as both of
them started to climb the fence.
“I don’t know it, but the chances are ten to one we’ll find him
walking up and down as nervous as anything, and keeping his eyes fixed
on the path Billy usually comes along.”
Once in the Brandon grounds, it was easy enough for them to find the
very spot where, on that never-to-be-forgotten Hallowe’en night, the
prank-loving crowd had slipped through a gap in the dividing fence.
“You see it’s never been mended,” whispered Dick exultantly. “Of
course, the old deacon knows this break is here, but he wouldn’t allow
it to be closed for a good deal, because that would stop Billy’s daily
visits.”
Creeping through the opening, they began to make a little detour. The
object of this move was plain to Leslie, for he understood that if the
stern old man chanced to be watching eagerly for the coming of his new
little acquaintance, his eyes would be searching the path leading from
the break in the fence.
Dick had all this “laid out to a fraction,” as Leslie would have said;
and in a short time they could discover a moving figure under the trees.
“Told you so,” whispered Dick, under his breath, as he gave his
companion a nudge in the ribs, and carefully pointed ahead.
Just as Dick had figured it was old Deacon Nocker who was walking to
and fro in his usual nervous fashion. Every now and then he would
stop, shade his eyes with one hand, and gaze long and earnestly beyond.
He was evidently wondering whether anything could have happened to the
child, for, as a rule, Billy trotted over to visit him long before this
time of the afternoon. And really the storekeeper must have left his
place of business early in order to enjoy this, to him, novel treat.
Led by Dick, who knew how to creep along after the manner of an Indian,
Leslie presently found himself close enough to the impatient deacon to
hear him muttering discontentedly to himself. It thrilled them both to
catch the disjointed sentences, for by this they knew that already the
chubby little Billy had managed to worm himself into a corner of the
sour old man’s long closed heart.
Another nudge from Dick’s elbow caused Leslie to catch his breath, for
he knew that it meant the child was coming. No danger of Mr. Nocker
discovering the pair of eavesdroppers in the bushes close by, for all
his attention was taken up with straining his eyes in the opposite
quarter.
The boys could see a sturdy little figure brushing through the bushes.
Billy was hurrying to keep his appointment, for evidently he had come
to rather enjoy meeting the elderly gentleman, who always had some
little present for him.
[Illustration: THE DEACON STOOPED DOWN AND ENCLOSED LITTLE BILLY IN HIS
ARMS.]
Mr. Nocker was heard to give utterance to an exclamation of exultation
as he caught sight of the lad. He even hurried forward a few paces
in order to meet him.
When the two who were in hiding saw the deacon stoop down and actually
enclose little Billy in his arms, straining him to his heart, they were
thrilled. Nobody in all Cliffwood had ever before known the cold old
deacon to exhibit the least bit of tenderness toward any child.
“What kept you so long, Billy boy?” demanded the deacon, reproachfully.
“Why, do you know I have been waiting here almost half an hour? I began
to think my little playmate had been taken sick again.”
“Mamma kept me in,” said the little fellow in his clear voice that
easily reached the strained ears of the two in the bushes. “But I
teased and teased and then when she saw _it_ she just said she guessed
she’d _have_ to let me come out.”
The deacon looked at him in a puzzled fashion; but evidently he was so
well satisfied to have Billy with him, even for a brief time, that he
did not think it worth while to ask questions.
Of course, the two listening boys knew what the child meant, since it
was Dick’s waving handkerchief that the young widow had seen.
“Mamma told me I could only stay five minutes over here,” continued
Billy, who seemed to be an unusually bright little fellow, able to
express his thoughts in a sensible manner.
“Oh! naughty mamma, to cut your visit short like that,” complained the
deacon. “She must know I enjoy every minute of it so, and she has you
the whole of the day and night. But come and sit down with me here
while you do stay, Billy.”
He uttered the name almost caressingly. Dick was silently chuckling
over the astonishing success of the scheme he had originated. He
realized that matters had by this time reached a stage that insured
success sooner or later.
Mr. Nocker held one of the boy’s diminutive hands in his, and led him
to a bench which looked very new. Undoubtedly, it had been placed there
recently by the special orders of the owner of the place, so that he
and the child could sit and chat during the brief visit Billy was
allowed to pay him each day.
“Some time, Billy,” he was saying, “I must meet your mother. She has
been very kind to let you visit a lonely old man like me every day. I
am sure she must be a very nice little lady, though I have only seen
her at a distance.”
Another fierce nudge from Dick’s elbow and directed in the region of
Leslie’s side announced how pleased the other was on hearing this
confession.
“My mamma is an angel,” they heard Billy stoutly assert. “The nicest
mamma in all the world. And I always tell her how good you are to me.
She said some time she hoped to thank you herself, sir.”
“And she shall, Billy, she shall,” declared the deacon, smiling grimly,
and evidently enjoying a new sensation.
Finally the clock in the church tower in town struck the hour. Billy
immediately jumped from his seat on the bench.
“Oh! my mamma made me promise to come back when the clock struck, so I
must be going.”
“I’ll walk as far as the fence with you then, Billy,” said Mr. Nocker,
looking quite forlorn. “Try and get your mother’s consent to stay
longer tomorrow, please.”
“I will, sir,” replied the little fellow, promptly; “because I like to
be over here with you.”
At that the old man bent hastily down and drew Billy into his arms. The
watching boys saw him kiss the little chap several times.
“Here is a present for you, Billy,” said the deacon, “but don’t open
the package until you are back with your good mother. Tell her that
before long I hope to call on her myself.”
Together they walked toward the gap in the division fence. Dick
and Leslie changed their position, thinking to make a safe retreat
presently. They stopped only long enough to see the stern deacon
standing at the fence blowing kisses after little Billy.