A TIMELY RESCUE
Feeling that a real tragedy had come into the little girl’s life, as
great as perhaps she would ever experience, for Mrs. Lombard fully
realized how strong was the tie between Denise and this well-beloved
pet, and also realizing that which, unhappily, few do realize, that
childhood’s trials and sorrows are fully as keen for the time being as
the trials and sorrows which visit us later in life, although, blessed
provision of providence, less enduring. Had not a beneficent Father so
ordained it there would be no childhood, for we should be old men and
women while still in our teens.
Stepping quickly to her little daughter’s side, Mrs. Lombard put her
arm about her and said, “Come into the sitting-room, darling, and let
mother tell you all about it. I had thought to spare you the anxiety,
for we are confident that all will end well, but now that you have
heard so much you would better know the truth.”
Trembling from sympathy, Pokey had drawn near and taken one of Denise’s
hands, and now stood beside her “pooring” it and looking into her eyes
as though beseeching her not to be quite heart-broken. Hart, with
contrition stamped upon his handsome, boyish face, had crept up the
stairs, and was looking in at the door. Drawing Denise beside her upon
the couch, Mrs. Lombard said in her calm, soothing voice:
“When John went to the stable Monday morning Ned was not there. At
first we thought that he had managed to run away, but later we were
convinced that he could not have gone voluntarily, and a thorough
search has been instituted. Thus far it has been fruitless, but Hart
has just reported that one of the detectives whom papa has pressed
into service has seen one of the men whom we now know to have been
connected with the circus, and has further learned that which surprises
us not a little, that Ned once belonged to another branch of this very
circus. Indeed, that he and Sinbad, the big black horse with whom he
so promptly renewed his acquaintance, were formerly ring companions,
and performed tricks together. All this papa’s men have discovered, and
also that about a year before Ned became yours, the circus then being
in financial straits, Ned was sold, very much to the regret of the
proprietor. When more prosperous days returned, they tried to find him,
but could not, and not until they chanced to come to Springdale did
they ever see their clever little trick pony again. Then this manager
recognized him from the odd mark upon his right temple, and sent a man
down to see if he could buy him back again, but John sent him to the
right-about with a word of advice. Then Ned vanished, and, naturally,
our first thought flew to the circus. But Ned is not with it, nor yet
with the main body of it, for papa has sent everywhere. If they have
taken him they have surely hidden him somewhere till the excitement
shall pass, and they think it safe to bring him upon the scene far from
this section of the country. There, my dear little girl, is all the
truth, and you understand better than any one else can, how very sorry
I am to be forced to tell it to you,” and Mrs. Lombard held Denise
close to her and tenderly kissed her forehead.
Denise had not opened her lips but had grown whiter and whiter as the
story was told. The hand which lay in Pokey’s was icy, and the eyes,
which had never once been removed from her mother’s face while she was
speaking, had the look of a terrified animal’s.
Not a sound was heard in that room for a few moments save the ticking
of the little clock upon the mantel, and then Denise asked in a
strange, hard little voice:
“You say that the man was seen up near Hook Mountain?”
“Yes!” burst in Hart. “He had rowed across the river, they think, and
was prowling along the shore in a great big boat. Patsy Murphy was out
on the river fishing and saw him, and told Mr. Stevens when he got
back.”
“Mamma, could he take Ned in a boat?” asked Denise.
“He might do so if the boat were a very large one and Ned so tied that
he could not struggle.”
“Hart,” she cried suddenly, the big brown eyes filling with a fire
which boded ill for any one minded to take Ned from her, “do you
remember that wild little path we once came upon on Hook Mountain when
you and I were trying to find a short cut over to the lake one day? It
led around the curve of the mountain, and seemed to end, but when we
forced our way through the underbrush it led down to an old brick-yard
dock. We said at the time that it would be a splendid place to play
Captain Kidd and bury a treasure, for nobody would ever think of
scrambling way round there.”
“Of course I remember,” cried Hart, catching her excitement, although
as yet he hardly knew why.
“Have you hunted there?”
“No! I never once thought of that place.”
“Please go quick, _and take Sailor_. Give him something of Ned’s to
smell of and then say: ‘Find Ned, Sailor; find him!’ and he will know
just what you mean, because that is what I always say to him when
he and Ned and Tan and I play hide-and-seek, as we often do when we
are alone. I would go, too, but somehow I don’t feel very well, and
I--guess--I’ll--lie--” and the voice dwindled off into nothingness,
as poor little nearly-heartbroken Denise drew a long sigh and quietly
dropped into her mother’s arms, for the time being oblivious of her
loss and grief.
Raising her hand in warning to the terrified children, Mrs. Lombard
laid the limp little figure upon the couch, and began administering
restoratives with grandma, who, at the first sign of distress, had
appeared upon the scene to help. Pokey promptly sat down at the foot
of the couch and, taking Denise’s feet in her arms, proceeded to bedew
them with tears, begging them piteously to “oh, please get better right
off, and she would go herself to find Ned for them.”
Hart fled, dashing from his eyes the tears that had sought to disgrace
him, and muttering an excited, “Dod blasticate that circus! Wish the
hanged old thing had never showed up in Springdale! I’ll go up to that
place before I’ve lived another minute, and if Ned is anywhere in
the mountain, I’ll have him or bust the whole shebang. Wish I could
catch that man, I’d smash his head for him sure as guns! I’d--I’d--Why
didn’t we think of Sailor before! That girl’s got the longest head
_for a girl_, and if Pinto doesn’t just hustle _this_ time!” and with
his thoughts upon the gallop, Hart rushed across the lawn, calling
to Sailor, who was always ready to follow, and five minutes later was
tearing up the road toward Hook Mountain with Sailor bounding on ahead
of him.
Meantime Denise had come to her senses, but was limp as a little rag,
for she had not yet recovered from the effects of her terrible stings,
and the news had been as a thunderbolt to her. But Mrs. Lombard was a
wise nurse, and presently had the satisfaction of seeing her patient
succumb to the gentle influence of hyoscyamus, and slip away into
dreamland. Then, motioning to Pokey to leave the room, she drew the
shades, and followed her, saying to the distressed girl:
“Something tells me that Ned will come home to-day, and that Hart and
Sailor will find him. So run out into the sunshine and keep a sharp
watch, dearie, and be ready to report at the first sign of good news.”
Pokey, with Beauty Buttons close upon her heels, went downstairs, and
out into the grounds, making her way from force of habit to the Birds’
Nest. But the place was so deserted and silent that she gave a little
shiver and turned away from it, to wander aimlessly about with her
thoughts filled with Denise and Ned. Hardly knowing what she did, she
walked out of the grounds and turned toward the road which Hart had so
lately galloped over, and began walking along it.
Meanwhile Hart had passed through the village, and was galloping toward
Hook Mountain. Before long he came to the point at which the main road
turned aside to wind its way by a circuitous route over the mountain,
and this was the only way known to the ordinary traveler to reach the
fairy-like lake which lay in the lap of the mountain. But not so to the
children, who had scoured the country for miles in every direction. A
little path which seemed to end at the edge of an adjoining field did
not end there at all, but made its way through the undergrowth, up,
down, in, and out until it finally scrambled over to the other side of
the steep cliff, at whose base years before a small dock had been built
for the accommodation of a long-since-dismantled brick-yard. Stopping
at the entrance to the path, Hart called Sailor to him and, taking from
under his arm the saddle-cloth of Ned’s saddle, said to the dog: “Here,
old boy, see this? Smell it good, it’s Ned’s, Ned’s! Find him, Sailor,
find him! That’s a good dog!”
If ever an animal’s eyes spoke, Sailor’s did then, for, giving Hart
one comprehensive glance from those big brown eyes, so full of love
and faith, he began to bark and caper about like a puppy. Then Hart
started Pinto forward, and he and Sailor began their search. On and
on they went, furlong after furlong measured off behind them, brushed
by overhanging boughs, stumbling through the tangled undergrowth, and
repeatedly stopping to call and listen; Hart telling Sailor to bark
for Ned, and the deep bark waking the echoes of the silent woods. As
though he understood what they were doing, Pinto, too, would often
join in with a loud neigh, but no responsive neigh could be heard.
Nearly three hours had slipped away since Hart left Mrs. Lombard, and
the boy was beginning to lose hope, when they came upon the old dock,
and Sailor uttered a low growl, as, with hair bristling, he walked
toward it in that peculiar manner a Newfoundland dog advances upon
his enemy--a sort of “Come on and face me fairly and squarely” air.
Hart drew rein and called, while down his boyish spine crept a wee bit
of a chill, for he was far from home, and entirely defenseless. But
there was no sign of living thing, and, thinking that Sailor must have
been mistaken, Hart called to him, and went on into the wood again.
Had he been able to see the lower side of the old dock he might have
discovered a large flat-bottomed boat tied close under an overhanging
shed of it, while, from beneath the rickety boards peered a pair
of steely eyes which watched his every movement. Hart was indeed in
greater peril than he suspected, for this man would be the richer by a
considerable sum of money if he carried out successfully the dastardly
scheme of the one who offered the money to him, and to sit hidden there
and see his plans balked before his very eyes, unless he resorted to
far worse villainy than that already afoot, was a sore temptation.
With hair still bristling, and an occasional admonitory growl, Sailor
stalked very slowly after Hart, looking back from time to time to guard
against trouble from the rear. They reached the point where the path
wound its way up the jagged rocks, and where they had been forced to
pause when he and Denise explored it before, and a feeling of despair
began to settle upon him, for it seemed utterly hopeless to look
further. Sailor stood panting beside Pinto, evidently trying to ask,
What next? when suddenly he supplied the answer himself for, putting
his head close to the ground, he gave one long sniff, and then uttered
a joyous bark and dashed into the woods. As it was almost impossible
for Pinto to make way through the tangle, Hart slipped from his back,
and tore after Sailor. Just as he did so, Sailor barked again, and
far off in the distance a faint whinny answered him. “Gee whillikens,
Christmas! If that ain’t Ned’s whinny, I’m a bluefish!” shouted Hart,
and the next moment he almost tumbled into a little dell at the bottom
of which a sight greeted him that made him throw his cap into the air
and simply yell. In a little cleared space, firmly tied to a tree, a
dirty old blanket strapped upon him, and the remains of his last meal
scattered upon the ground near him, stood little Ned, with Sailor
licking his velvety nose and whining over him as though he were a lost
puppy. The next second Hart had his arms around Ned’s neck, laughing,
talking, asking questions as though he were speaking to a human being
who could answer if he only would. And Ned very nearly did, for the
little fellow’s joy was pathetic to witness. When Hart had somewhat
calmed down, he discovered how Ned had been led into his hiding-place,
for at the other side of it from the one he had entered there were
distinct traces of hoof-marks, and Hart lost not a second more in
untying the rope which held him and leading him out that way. This path
came out upon the wood-path somewhat below the point where Pinto had
been waiting, but, at Hart’s call, Pinto came picking his way down the
path and was greeted by his old friend with a joyous neigh. They had
not gone far when Sailor gave signs of anger, and, without a moment’s
warning, sprang upon a man who suddenly barred their progress.