OFF ON THE TRIP
For a few seconds both the cook and the hired man, whose feet Susan
had knocked from under him, did not move. The suddenness of it all
was too much for them. Then Dent arose after a struggle.
"Did you do that on purpose?" he asked Susan, an angry look coming
over his face.
"Do what on purpose? What do you mean?"
"Did you upset my ladder?"
"Upset your ladder? Well, I guess not! But I'd like to know why
you tried to throw that pail of water over me. If it was meant for
a joke, I think it was a pretty poor one."
The woman started to arise, but found herself somewhat tangled up
in the cord and ladder.
"Throw water on you?" repeated Dent with a puzzled look. "I didn't
throw any water. It got on me as much as it did on you."
This was as near to a quarrel as these two had ever approached.
Bob, listening around the corner of the house, was holding his
sides to keep from bursting into laughter, though my own opinion is
that he should have felt sorry for his "joke." It might have
resulted disastrously, for either Susan or the hired man might have
broken a leg or an arm. But Bob never thought of that. His sole
idea was to create a laugh for himself.
Dent and Susan, dripping wet, looked at each other. Then the cook,
wiping some of the water from her face, got up. As she did so the
cord tied to her apron strings became tightened, and as Dent was
partly standing on the step-ladder, Susan's progress was suddenly
stopped.
"There!" she exclaimed, "That's what did it. My apron string got
tangled in the ladder."
Dent examined the cord.
"No, it didn't get tangled," he announced. "It was tied there by
some one, and I know who did it."
"Who?"
"Bob Henderson. Wait till I catch him! He did this for a joke.
The young rascal! pretending he wanted some rheumatism medicine for
his father! I'll fix him!"
Bob thought it was time to be moving on. He did not like the tone
of Dent's voice.
But if the boy hoped to get off unseen he was disappointed. As he
started to run he slipped and fell. Dent heard the noise the lad
made, and while Susan was loosening the cord from her apron the man
ran forward.
Bob, however, was up like a flash and ran off, but not before Dent
had nearly caught him. Then the hired man knew it would be of no
use to chase the mischievous lad, as Bob was very fleet of foot.
"You wait!" cried Dent, shaking his fist at Bob. "I'll fix you!"
"You can't!" was the answer. "I'm going on a voyage!"
"I hope you never come back here!" said Dent angrily. "I hope you
get lost on a desert island where there's nothing to eat but
seaweed!"
"That would serve him right," added the cook "The idea of hinting
for some of my doughnuts! I'll tell his mother on him."
"And I'll tell his father," added Dent.
Bob was a little afraid lest Mrs. Dodson might come out, and seeing
the state her employees were in, would know the lad had had a hand
in it. The effects might be more unpleasant than they now promised
to be. So Bob hastened his pace, and was soon out of sight of the
big house on the hill. He left behind him two very angry persons,
yet when they glanced at each other neither Susan nor Dent could
help laughing. They looked as if they had been through a cyclone
and cloud-burst, both at the same time, as the hired man expressed
it.
Bob's father did hear of the trick, but not in the way the lad
expected he would. On cooling down neither the hired man nor the
cook felt like going and making a complaint about what Bob had
done. The trick, however, had been witnessed by the coachman, and
he told some friends in the village. In this way it became known
to several persons, and Mr. Henderson heard of it.
"Bob," he said to his son very sternly that night, "I thought you
had given up such foolishness as playing those tricks."
"I thought I had, too, dad, but I couldn't help doing this. Her
apron strings came just in the right place."
"Do you think it was a nice thing to do?"
"No, sir. I s'pose not."
Mr. Henderson sighed. Bob was so frank to acknowledge a fault that
it was hard to punish him.
"I don't know what's going to become of you," he said.
"Well, that was my last land joke, dad."
"Your last land joke? What do you mean?"
"I'm going to sail with Captain Spark soon, and I'll not have time
for any more."
"That's so, and I'm glad of it. If you try any jokes on the
sailors you may find they know a trick or two themselves."
"Oh, I'm going to turn over a new leaf."
"It's about time."
Bob really intended to mend his ways. This, perhaps, was due as
much to a fear of what the sailors on the ship might do to him if
he played any pranks on them as it was to a desire to reform.
That same night Captain Spark arrived at the Henderson home a
little ahead of time. He announced that his ship was ready to
sail, and that he and Bob would depart the next morning for the
seaport town.
"All ready, Bob?" he asked.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"That's the way to talk. We may have to lay at the dock for a
couple of days longer than I calculated on, but that will give you
a chance to get acquainted with the ship before we strike blue
water."
"That will be good."
With the return of the captain, Bob's visions of a life on the
ocean wave were redoubled.
Mrs. Henderson cried a little when it came time to part the next
morning, and there was a suspicious dampness in the eyes of Mr.
Henderson. Bob also, in spite of the happy life he thought lay
before him, was not altogether devoid of emotion. He felt the
separation more than he thought he would.
"Now be a good boy, Bob," counseled his mother.
"I will." "It's your first long trip, and it certainly is a big
one," spoke his father. "Prove yourself a man, Bob."
"I'll try, sir."
Bob felt new responsibilities now, and made any number of good
resolutions.
"Ahoy, my hearties!" called the bluff, cheerful voice of Captain
Spark. "Heave up the anchor, brace around the yards, for we've got
a good wind, a free course and a fair sky!"
And with a chorus of good-bys the two started off toward the depot.
The trip was begun.