As Ruddy raised his right arm over his head to throw the missile, which
might have struck some one with deadly effect, a clear, sharp voice
rang out over the startling scene, quickly ending the outbreak:
“Hold, boy! don’t throw that stone, or I will horsewhip you within an
inch of your life!”
The first word had been sufficient to check the rash boy in his
dangerous work, when he turned hastily about to find a man had ridden
close to the edge of the crowd, and, standing up in his carriage, held
a long, stout whip poised over his head ready to send its stinging lash
around his body did he fail to obey him.
“What is all this rumpus about?” demanded this newcomer, who instantly
made himself master of the situation.
“These youngsters are raising particular cain with our boys, Dr.
Menter. I don’t know but they have killed Ralph,” said ’Squire Hardy.
“Looks as if your boy was coming out of it better than this fellow
with the bleeding head,” replied the man in the carriage, who was the
village physician, beginning to step out upon the ground.
Ruddy had dropped the rocks in his hands and stood with looks of
combined fear and wonder. Chick had already dropped from his perch on a
man’s shoulders and sought the side of Ruddy.
“I hope he has been killed!” declared the ’squire.
“Look out what you say, ’Squire Hardy, for such words as those might
make you trouble and be inconvenient to explain in a courtroom.”
“So you stand up for the hoodlum, do you, doctor?”
“No, sir; I simply speak for fair play. It was a coward who threw that
stone, and he has laid himself open to the law and a serious punishment
if this boy has been fatally injured.”
“He began the quarrel, and it was done in self-defense.”
“Let me advise you as a friend, ’squire, not to say too much. I will
see if the boy is seriously hurt.”
While the other muttered over something under his breath, Dr. Menter
knelt beside Rob, to make an examination of the wound. This was not
found to be of a serious nature, and in a few minutes our hero was able
to sit up.
“You’ve come out all right, youngster,” said the physician, “but it
came pretty near being a close call.”
Upon finding that no one had been killed, the spectators, who had been
rather frightened over the outcome of the affair a little while before,
now boldly stepped forward.
“Stand back!” ordered Dr. Menter. “The boy is coming around all right,
and there is no need of crowding upon us so.”
“Perhaps you have not heard who this fellow is, doctor,” said the
’squire, determined to follow up his side of the question. “He belongs
to a herd of cattle the demented Deacon Cornhill brought into our midst
yesterday from the slums of New York.”
“The deacon has told me of his colonization scheme,” replied the
doctor, smiling. “But I am afraid he will never see it carried out.”
“You are right, there. We are not going to let them stay in town any
longer than it takes to get them out.”
“I do not believe you understand me, ’squire. The deacon took a
sudden cold in the rain yesterday and is sick in bed threatened with
pneumonia.”
As this was a bit of startling news to the spectators, one and all
showed considerable concern.
“No business to have been fooling around with sich critters in the
rain. He’d been all right if he’d gone right home,” declared the
unfeeling ’squire.
“I can’t say about that, but he is a very sick man. There, I guess you
will come out in good shape,” said the physician to Rob, as he placed a
plaster over the cut the latter had received on his head.
“Thank you, sir. I come down to the town to see Deacon Cornhill,” said
Rob. “I do not know what I shall do if he is sick.”
“He certainly cannot do anything for you now. Still, if you want to go
up to his house you can ride with me. I am going right back as soon as
I can go to the post office.”
Rob thanked the physician, who seemed like an honest man, and concluded
to accept his offer. Chick and Ruddy he advised to go back to Break
o’ Day. The crowd continued to scowl upon them, but the fact that Dr.
Menter had spoken in their behalf kept any one, even ’Squire Hardy,
from uttering any further threats against them at that time.
On the way to the home of Deacon Cornhill the doctor questioned Rob
closely in regard to his situation, when our hero frankly explained the
matter from the time he had met Mr. Cornhill in New York.
“I am afraid you can’t do much,” said Dr. Menter, frankly, as Rob
concluded. “You do not seem to have anything to work with. Besides, I
should judge that you must all have a very slight idea of getting a
living in the country. You say you want to cultivate the land at Break
o’ Day. What do you know about taking care of crops?”
Rob had to confess that he and his associates knew nothing. In fact,
he realized more than he had ever before the peculiar helplessness of
himself and companions.
“The best thing you can do is to go back to the city,” said the doctor.
“We haven’t the money to do it,” acknowledged Rob. “All together, we
cannot raise a dime.”
The doctor whistled.
“How do you think you are going to live here? Had the deacon promised
you any money?”
“No, sir; but he thought we could get work. We are willing to try our
best.”
“It would be surprising if you all felt that way. I should judge a
crowd picked up in the way yours was would have at least some who would
be deadheads on the hands of the others. You say there are several
among you who are unable to work if they wished?”
“Two,” faltered Rob, for the first time losing courage. Somehow the
candid words of Dr. Menter struck to his heart as nothing said by
others had done.
“Do you know what I think?”
“That we made a mistake in coming?”
“Worse than that, young man. The deacon is famous for his foolish
schemes, and that this caps the climax. No other man in town would
have gone good for Jonas Lyford, and with the prospect of paying up
another’s debt, which is likely to take all he is worth, I should have
thought Deacon Cornhill would have felt like letting you and your
companions alone.”
“We shall not make Mr. Cornhill any extra trouble, sir.”
“The safest way for you to make good your words will be by leaving town
at once. I can see that you have created an unfavorable impression
already. Still, I feel very sure that money enough to pay your fare to
the city will be forthcoming if you conclude to go. I will give five
dollars toward it myself.”
“You are very kind, sir.”
“You think you will go?”
Rob hesitated a moment before replying, but there was no mistaking his
meaning when he spoke, low, but firmly:
“I can’t answer for my friends, but I have come to stay.”