The Transformation
Into the village nearest the Carder farm rolled Ben Barry's roadster. He
stopped at the inn which made some pretension to furnishing
entertainment to the motorists who found it on their route, and after a
luncheon put up his car and walked to the village center to the
post-office and grocery store. He had most hope of the latter as a
bureau of information.
After buying some cigarettes and chocolate, and exchanging comments on
the weather with the proprietor, he introduced his subject.
"I believe Rufus Carder lives near here," he remarked.
"Yus, oh, yus," agreed the man, who was in his shirt-sleeves, and who
here patronized the cuspidor.
"He's pretty well-to-do, I understand. I should suppose if he is
public-spirited his being in the neighborhood would be a great
advantage to the village."
"Yus, _if_," returned the grocer, scornfully. "The bark on a tree ain't
a circumstance to him. Queer now, ain't it?" he went on argumentatively.
"Carder's a rich man, and so many o' these-here rich men, they act as if
they wasn't ever goin' to die. Where's the satisfaction in not usin'
their money? You know him?" The speaker cocked an eye up at the handsome
young stranger.
"I--I've met him," returned Ben.
"You might be interested, then, to hear about what happened out to the
farm yisterday. P'r'aps it'll be in the paper to-night. A young girl
visitin' the Carders was kidnapped right out o' the field by an
areoplane. Yes, sir, slick as a whistle." Ben's look of interest and
amazement rewarded the narrator. "One o' the hands from the farm come in
last night and told about it, but the editor o' the paper thought't was
a hoax and he didn't dare to work on it last night. Lots of us saw the
plane, but the feller's story did sound fishy, and if the
_Sunburst_--that's our paper--should print a lot o' stuff about Carder
shootin' guns and foamin' at the mouth when he saw the girl he was
goin' to marry fly up into the sky _and't wa'n't so_--ye see, 't would
go mighty hard with our editor."
"Why didn't he send somebody right out to the farm to inquire?" asked
Ben.
The grocer smiled, looked off, and shook his head.
"You say you've met Rufus Carder? Well, ye don't know him or else ye
wouldn't ask that. Don't monkey with the buzz-saw is a pretty good
motter where he's concerned. I'm lookin' fer Pete now. This is his day
to come in an' stock up. He's so stupid he couldn't make up anything,
and we'll know fer sure if there's any truth at all in the story."
"Who is Pete--a son?" Ben put the question calmly, considering his
elation at his good luck. He had made up his mind that he might have to
spend days in this soporific hamlet.
The grocer looked at him quickly from under his bushy eyebrows.
"What made ye ask that? Some folks say he is. Say, are you one o' these
here detectives? Be you after Carder? Pete's a boy they took out of an
asylum, and if he'd ever had any care he wouldn't be bandy-legged and
undersized, but don't you say I've told ye anything, 'cause I haven't."
Ben smiled into the startled, suspicious face. "Not a bit of it," he
answered. "I'm just motoring about these parts on a little vacation, and
I got out of cigarettes, so I called on you."
"There's Pete now!" exclaimed the grocer eagerly, hurrying out from
behind the counter and to the door.
Other of the neighbors recognized the Carder car and came out to
question the boy, who by the time he entered the grocery found himself
confronting an audience who all asked questions at once. Pete's shock of
hair stood up as usual like a scrubbing-brush; he wore no hat, and his
dull eyes looked about from one to another eager face. Ben had strolled
back of a tall pile of starch-boxes.
"Is it true an areoplane come down in Mr. Carder's field yisterday?" The
question volleyed at the dwarf from a dozen directions.
He stared at them all dumbly, and they cried at him the more, one woman
shaking him by the shoulder.
"Look here, shut up, all of you!" said the proprietor; "let the boy do
his business first. Ye'll put it all out of his head. What d'ye want,
Pete?"
The dwarf drew a list out of his pocket and handed it to the grocer upon
which the bystanders all fell upon him again.
As Ben regarded the dwarf, he felt some reflection of Geraldine's
compassion for the forlorn little object in his ragged clothes, and he
realized that it was a wonder that the poor, stultified brain had
possessed enough initiative to carry out the important part he had
played in their lives.
While the grocer's clerk was putting up the packages the man himself
laid his hand on Pete's shoulder.
"Now then, boy," he said kindly, "an areoplane dived down out o' the sky
into your medder yisterday and picked up a homely, stupid girl and flew
off with her."
"She was an angel!" exclaimed the dwarf. His dull eyes brightened and
looked away. "She was more beautiful than flowers."
"She was, eh?" returned the grocer, and the crowd listened
breathlessly. "They say your master was goin' to marry her? That a
fact?"
The light went out of Pete's face and his lips closed.
The grocer shook him gently by the shoulder. "Speak up, boy. Was there
any shootin'? Did the air turn blue 'round there?"
Pete's lips did not open for a moment. "Master told me not to talk," he
said at last.
A burst of excited laughter came from the crowd. "Then it's true, it's
true!" they cried.
The grocer kept his hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "Ye might as well
tell," he said, "'cause Hiram Jones come in last night and told us all
about it."
Pete's lips remained closed.
"Give ye a big lump o' chocolate if ye'll tell us," said one woman.
"Master told me not to talk," was all the boy would say.
The grocer's clerk went out to the auto with a basket and packed the
purchases into it.
Ben came from behind the starch boxes, went out the door, and accosted
him.
"Do you want to make five dollars?" he asked.
"Do I?" drawled the boy, winking at him. "Ain't I got a girl?"
"Then jump in and drive this car out to the Carder farm. I want to talk
to Pete."
"Eh-h-h! You're a reporter!" cried the boy. "Less see the money."
Ben promptly produced it. "In with you now."
"Sure, I'll have to speak to Pete," the boy demurred. "He can't walk out
to the farm with them phony legs."
"In with you," repeated the tall stranger firmly. "Go now or not at
all." He held the bill before the boy's eyes. "I have my car at the inn.
I'll take care of Pete."
The boy looked eagerly at the money. "Can't I tell the boss?"
"I'll fix it with the boss. Here's your money. In with you."
The next minute the car was rattling down the street and Ben went back
into the store where Pete was still being badgered by a laughing crowd
persisting in questions about the angel.
As Pete caught sight of him, the obstinate expression in his dull eyes
did not at first change, but in a minute something familiar in the look
of the stranger impressed him, and suddenly he knew.
"Was it you? Was it you?" the boy blurted out, elbowing the others aside
and approaching Ben eagerly.
The bystanders looked curiously at the stranger and at the excited boy.
"I want to have a little talk with you, Pete," said Ben. The dwarf's
staring eyes had filled.
"Is she here? Has she come down again?" he cried, unmindful of the
gaping listeners.
"Be quiet," returned Ben. Then he turned to the grocer. "I've sent your
boy on an errand," he said, and he handed the man a bill. "Will that pay
you for his time? I've paid him."
He put his hand on Pete's shoulder and led him through the crowd out to
the street.
"Master's car has gone," cried the dwarf, looking wildly up and down the
street.
"I have taken care of it," said Ben quietly.
"But I must find it," declared Pete, beginning to shake.
Ben saw his abject terror.
"There's nothing to be afraid of, Pete, nothing any more," said Ben. "Do
you want to see Miss Melody?"
"Oh, Master!" exclaimed the boy, looking up and meeting a kindly look.
"Then come with me. Let us hurry." Reaching the inn, Ben paid his bill
while Pete's eyes roved about in all directions for his goddess.
Leading the boy out to the garage he bade him enter the machine. Even
here Pete hesitated, his weight of terrifying responsibility still
hanging over him.
"Master's car!" he gasped, looking imploringly up into Ben's face.
"It has gone home, back to the farm," said Ben. "Don't worry. There's
nothing to worry about."
Pete was trembling as he entered the roadster. He wondered if he were
dreaming. All this couldn't be real. Nothing had ever happened to him
before except his goddess.
Ben put on speed and the car flew out of the village and along the
highroad. They entered another village, but halted not. Through it they
sped and again out into the open country.
Pete felt dazed, but the man of the motor-cycle, Master had said, was the
man of the aeroplane. He was here beside him, big, powerful. The dwarf
felt that he was risking his own life on the hope of seeing his goddess,
for what would Rufus Carder say to him when he finally returned to the
farm, a deserter from his duty.
Silently they sped on. Just once Pete spoke, for his heart had sunk.
"Shall we see her, Master?" he asked unsteadily.
Ben turned and smiled at him cheerfully.
"Sure thing," he answered. "She is well and she wants to see you."
Pete had had no practice in smiling, but a joyful reassurance pervaded
him. Let Rufus Carder kill him, if it must be. This would come first.
Darkness had fallen when they finally entered a town and drove to a
hotel. Ben looked rather ruefully at the poor little scarecrow beside
him with his hatless scrubbing-brush of a head, but the keeper of the
garage consented to give the boy a place to sleep.
"At least," thought Ben, "it will be more comfortable than the boards
outside Geraldine's door."
He saw to it that the dwarf should have a good supper, after which Pete
presented himself at Ben's room as he had been ordered to do. Never
before in his life had he had all the meat and potato he wanted, and
still marveling at the wonderful things happening to him he was
conducted to Ben, and stood before him with questioning eyes.
"Is she here, Master?" he asked.
"No, but we shall see her to-morrow."
"When--when do I go back to the farm?" asked the boy.
"Never," replied Ben calmly.
"Master!" exclaimed the dwarf, and could say no more. His tanned face
grew darker with the rush of crimson.
"You're my servant now," said Ben, and his good-humored expression shone
upon an eager face that worked pitifully.
"What--what can I do?" stammered Pete, his rough hands with their
broken nails working together.
"You can get into the bathtub."
"Wha--what, Master?"
Ben threw open the door of his bathroom.
"Draw that tub full of water and use up all the soap on yourself. Make
yourself clean for to-morrow. Understand?"
Pete didn't understand anything. He was in a blissful daze. He had never
seen faucets except the one in the Carder kitchen. Ben had to draw the
water for him, showing him the hot and the cold; finally making him
understand that he was not to get in with his clothes on, and that he
was to use any and all of those fresh white towels, the like of which
the boy had never seen; then his new master came out, closed the door,
and laughing to himself sat down to wait and read a magazine.
There was a mighty splashing in the bathroom.
"Clean to see her. Clean to see her," Pete kept saying to himself. He
was going to be able to speak to her with no one to object. He was going
to work for this god who could fly down out of the sky. Rufus Carder
might come to find him later and kill him, but that was no matter.
When finally the bathroom door opened and again arrayed in his
disreputable clothes the dwarf appeared, Ben spoke without looking up
from his magazine.
"Did you let the water out of the tub?"
"No, Master. I didn't know."
Ben got up, and Pete followed him, eager for the lesson. Ben viewed the
color of the water frothing with suds.
"I think you must be clean," he remarked dryly, as he opened the
waste-pipe, "or at least you will be after a few more ducks."
"Yes, Master, to see her."
He showed the boy how to wash out the tub which the little fellow did
with a will.
"Now, then, to bed with you, and we'll have an early breakfast, for we
have a busy day to-morrow. Good-night."
Pete ambled away to the garage so happy that he still felt himself in a
dream. To see his goddess, and never to go back to Rufus Carder! Those
two facts chased each other around a rosy circle in his brain until he
fell asleep.
When Ben Barry came out of his room the next morning he found Pete
squatting outside his door. He regarded the broken, earth-stained shoes
and the ragged coat and trousers, which if they had ever been of a
distinct color were of none now, and the thick mop of hair. The eyes
raised to his met a gay smile.
"Hello, there," said Ben. "Did you think I might get away?"
The dwarf rose. "I--I didn't--didn't know how much--much was a dream,"
he stammered.
"I hope you had a real breakfast," said Ben.
The dwarf smiled. It was a dreary, unaccustomed sort of crack in his
weather-beaten face. "I had coffee, too," he replied in an awestruck
tone.
Ben laughed. "Good enough. You go out to the car and wait till I come.
I'm going to my breakfast now."
In less than an hour they were on their way. Pete's eyes had lost their
dullness.
Ben drove to a department store, on a small scale such as the cities
boast. He parked his car, and when he told Pete to get out the boy
began looking about at once for Geraldine.
"Is she here, Master?" he asked as they entered the store.
"No, we shall see her to-night," was the reply.
Then more miracles began to happen to Pete. He was taken from one
section to another in the store and when he emerged again into the
street, he hardly knew himself. He was wearing new underclothes,
stockings, shoes, coat, vest; even the phony legs had been cared for in
the trousers, cut off to suit the little fellow's peculiar needs, and
his eyes seemed to have grown larger in the process. Under his arm he
carried a box containing more underwear.
Next they drove to a barber's where Pete's hair was properly cut; then
to a hat store and he was fitted to a hat.
When they came out, Ben regarded his work whimsically. The boy was not a
bad-looking boy. He liked the direct manner of the dwarf's grateful,
almost reverent, gaze up into his own merry eyes. There was nothing
shifty there.
When they reentered the roadster, Ben spoke to him before he started the
car.
"Do you know why I have done all this, Pete?"
The boy shook his head. "Because you came down out of the sky?" he
questioned.
"No, it is just because you took care of Miss Melody; because you put
those letters underneath her door."
Pete's face crimsoned with happiness. "I helped her--I--I helped her get
away," he said.
"Yes, and she will never forget it, and neither will I."
"You--you--asked me if I loved her," said Pete, his mind returning to
the day of the motor-cycle visit.
"Yes, and you did, didn't you?"
"Yes, and--and when she was gone up to--to heaven, I wanted to die till
I--I remembered that she--she wanted to go."
"Yes, wanted to go just as much as you did, and more. Now _that_ life is
all over, Pete. Just as much gone as those old clothes of yours that we
left to be burned. You've been a faithful, brave boy, and Miss Melody
and I are going to look after you henceforth."
Pete couldn't speak. Ben saw him bite his lip to control himself. The
roadster started and moving slowly out of the town sped again along a
country road.