IN WHICH BOBBY GETS INTO A SCRAPE, AND TOM SPICER TURNS UP AGAIN
Bobby had a poorer opinion of human nature than ever before. It seemed
almost incredible to him that words so fairly spoken as those of Tom
Spicer could be false. He had just risen from a sick bed, where he had
had an opportunity for long and serious reflection. Tom had promised
fairly, and Bobby had every reason to suppose he intended to be a good
boy. But his promises had been lies. He had never intended to reform,
at least not since he had got off his bed of pain. He was mortified
and disheartened at the failure of this attempt to restore him to
himself.
Like a great many older and wiser persons than himself, he was prone
to judge the whole human family by a single individual. He did not
come to believe that every man was a rascal, but, in more general
terms, that there is a great deal more rascality in this world than
one would be willing to believe.
With this sage reflection, he dismissed Tom from his mind, which very
naturally turned again to the air castle which had been so ruthlessly
upset. Then his opinion of "the rest of mankind" was reversed; and he
reflected that if the world were only peopled by angels like Annie
Lee, what a pleasant place it would be to live in. She could not tell
a lie, she could not use bad language, she could not steal, or do
anything else that was bad; and the prospect was decidedly
pleasant. It was very agreeable to turn from Tom to Annie, and in a
moment his air castle was built again, and throned on clouds of gold
and purple. I do not know what impossible things he imagined, or how
far up in the clouds he would have gone, if the arrival of the train
at the city had not interrupted his thoughts, and pitched him down
upon the earth again.
Bobby was not one of that impracticable class of persons who do
nothing but dream; for he felt that he had a mission to perform which
dreaming could not accomplish. However pleasant it may be to think of
the great and brilliant things which one _will_ do, to one of
Bobby's practical character it was even more pleasant to perform
them. We all dream great things, imagine great things; but he who
stops there does not amount to much, and the world can well spare him,
for he is nothing but a drone in the hive. Bobby's fine imaginings
were pretty sure to bring out a "now or never," which was the pledge
of action, and the work was as good as done when he had said it.
Therefore, when the train arrived, Bobby did not stop to dream any
longer. He forgot his beautiful air castle, and even let Annie Lee
slip from his mind for the time being. Those towns upon the Kennebec,
the two hundred books he was to sell, loomed up before him, for it was
with them he had to do.
Grasping the little valise he carried with him, he was hastening out
of the station house when a hand was placed upon his shoulder.
"Got off slick--didn't I?" said Tom Spicer, placing himself by Bobby's
side.
"You here, Tom!" exclaimed our hero, gazing with astonishment at his
late companion.
It was not an agreeable encounter, and from the bottom of his heart
Bobby wished him anywhere but where he was. He foresaw that he could
not easily get rid of him.
"I am here," replied Tom. "I ran through the woods to the depot, and
got aboard the cars just as they were starting. The old man couldn't
come it over me quite so slick as that."
"But you ran away from home."
"Well, what of it?"
"A good deal, I should say."
"If you had been in my place, you would have done the same."
"I don't know about that; obedience to parents is one of our first
duties."
"I know that; and if I had had any sort of fair play, I wouldn't have
run away."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Bobby, somewhat surprised, though he
had a faint idea of the meaning of the other.
"I will tell you all about it by and by. I give you my word of honor
that I will make everything satisfactory to you."
"But you lied to me on the road this morning."
Tom winced; under ordinary circumstances he would have resented such a
remark by "clearing away" for a fight. But he had a purpose to
accomplish, and he knew the character of him with whom he had to deal.
"I'm sorry I did, now," answered Tom, with every manifestation of
penitence for his fault. "I didn't want to lie to you; and it went
against my conscience to do so. But I was afraid, if I told you my
father refused, up and down, to let me go, that you wouldn't be
willing I should come with you."
"I shall not be any more willing now I know all about it," added
Bobby, in an uncompromising tone.
"Wait till you have heard my story, and then you won't blame me."
"Of course you can go where you please; it is none of my business; but
let me tell you, Tom, in the beginning, that I won't go with a fellow
who has run away from his father and mother."
"Pooh! What's the use of talking in that way?"
Tom was evidently disconcerted by this decided stand of his
companion. He knew that his bump of firmness was well developed, and
whatever he said he meant.
"You had better return home, Tom. Boys that run away from home don't
often amount to much. Take my advice, and go home," added Bobby.
"To such a home as mine!" said Tom, gloomily. "If I had such a home
as yours, I would not have left it."
Bobby got a further idea from this remark of the true state of the
case, and the consideration moved him. Tom's father was a notoriously
intemperate man, and the boy had nothing to hope for from his precept
or his example. He was the child of a drunkard, and as much to be
pitied as blamed for his vices. His home was not pleasant. He who
presided over it, and who should have made a paradise of it, was its
evil genius, a demon of wickedness, who blasted its flowers as fast as
they bloomed.
Tom had seemed truly penitent both during his illness and since his
recovery. His one great desire now was to get away from home, for home
to him was a place of torment. Bobby suspected all this, and in his
great heart he pitied his companion. He did not know what to do.
"I am sorry for you, Tom," said he, after he had considered the matter
in this new light; "but I don't see what I can do for you. I doubt
whether it would be right for me to help you run away from your
parents."
"I don't want you to help me run away. I have done that already."
"But if I let you go with me, it will be just the same thing. Besides,
since you told me those lies this morning, I haven't much confidence
in you."
"I couldn't help that."
"Yes, you could. Couldn't help lying?"
"What could I do? You would have gone right back and told my father."
"Well, we will go up to Mr. Bayard's store, and then we will see what
can be done."
"I couldn't stay at home, sure," continued Tom, as they walked along
together. "My father even talked of binding me out to a trade."
"Did he?"
Bobby stopped short in the street; for it was evident that, as this
would remove him from his unhappy home, and thus effect all he
professed to desire, he had some other purpose in view.
"What are you stopping for, Bob?"
"I think you had better go back, Tom."
"Not I; I won't do that, whatever happens."
"If your father will put you to a trade, what more do you want?"
"I won't go to a trade, anyhow."
Bobby said no more, but determined to consult with Mr. Bayard about
the matter; and Tom was soon too busily engaged in observing the
strange sights and sounds of the city to think of anything else.
When they reached the store, Bobby went into Mr. Bayard's private
office and told him all about the affair. The bookseller decided that
Tom had run away more to avoid being bound to a trade than because his
home was unpleasant; and this decision seemed to Bobby all the more
just because he knew that Tom's mother, though a drunkard's wife, was
a very good woman. Mr. Bayard further decided that Bobby ought not to
permit the runaway to be the companion of his journey. He also
considered it his duty to write to Mr. Spicer, informing him of his
son's arrival in the city, and clearing Bobby from any agency in his
escape.
While Mr. Bayard was writing the letter, Bobby went out to give Tom
the result of the consultation. The runaway received it with a great
show of emotion, and begged and pleaded to have the decision
reversed. But Bobby, though he would gladly have done anything for him
which was consistent with his duty, was firm as a rock, and positively
refused to have anything to do with him until he obtained his father's
consent; or, if there was any such trouble as he asserted, his
mother's consent.
Tom left the store, apparently "more in sorrow than in anger." His
bullying nature seemed to be cast out, and Bobby could not but feel
sorry for him. Duty was imperative, as it always is, and it must be
done "now or never."
During the day the little merchant attended to the packing of his
stock, and to such other preparations as were required for his
journey. He must take the steamer that evening for Bath, and when the
time for his departure arrived, he was attended to the wharf by Mr.
Bayard and Ellen, with whom he had passed the afternoon. The
bookseller assisted him in procuring his ticket and berth, and gave
him such instructions as his inexperience demanded.
The last bell rang, the fasts were cast off, and the great wheels of
the steamer began to turn. Our hero, who had never been on the water
in a steamboat, or indeed anything bigger than a punt on the river at
home, was much interested and excited by his novel position. He
seated himself on the promenade deck, and watched with wonder the
boiling, surging waters astern of the steamer.
How powerful is man, the author of that mighty machine that bore him
so swiftly over the deep blue waters! Bobby was a little philosopher,
as we have before had occasion to remark, and he was decidedly of the
opinion that the steamboat was a great institution. When he had in
some measure conquered his amazement, and the first ideas of sublimity
which the steamer and the sea were calculated to excite in a poetical
imagination, he walked forward to take a closer survey of the
machinery. After all, there was something rather comical in the
affair. The steam hissed and sputtered, and the great walking beam
kept flying up and down; and the sum total of Bobby's philosophy was,
that it was funny these things should make the boat go so like a race
horse over the water.
Then he took a look into the pilot house, and it seemed more funny
that turning that big wheel should steer the boat. But the wind blew
rather fresh at the forward part of the boat, and as Bobby's
philosophy was not proof against it, he returned to the promenade
deck, which was sheltered from the severity of the blast. He had got
reconciled to the whole thing, and ceased to bother his head about the
big wheel, the sputtering steam, and the walking beam; so he seated
himself, and began to wonder what all the people in Riverdale were
about.
"All them as hasn't paid their fare, please walk up to the cap'n's
office and s-e-t-t-l-e!" shouted a colored boy, presenting himself
just then, and furiously ringing a large hand bell.
"I have just settled," said Bobby, alluding to his comfortable seat.
But the allusion was so indefinite to the colored boy that he thought
himself insulted. He did not appear to be a very amiable boy, for his
fist was doubled up, and with sundry big oaths, he threatened to
annihilate the little merchant for his insolence.
"I didn't say anything that need offend you," replied Bobby. "I meant
nothing."
"You lie! You did!"
He was on the point of administering a blow with his fist, when a
third party appeared on the ground, and without waiting to hear the
merits of the case, struck the negro a blow which had nearly floored
him.
Some of the passengers now interfered, and the colored boy was
prevented from executing vengeance on the assailant.
"Strike that fellow and you strike me!" said he who had struck the
blow.
"Tom Spicer!" exclaimed Bobby, astonished and chagrined at the
presence of the runaway.