LOBSTER POTS
“What are you doing with those?” demanded a rough voice so suddenly that
Desiré dropped the marker she held, and gave a little scream, while René
rolled over and lay with his head on the unfortunate jellyfish. Jack, the
only cool person of the group, replied quietly, “Getting them ready to
sink.”
“You get yourself ready to go along with me. These belong to Simon
Denard, and you’ve no right to touch ’em. So come along.”
The man laid a heavy hand on Jack’s arm, and attempted to jerk him off
somewhere.
“I know they belong to Simon,” replied Jack. “We’re friends of his, and
he has lent us the place for a few weeks. We’re going to live here, my
sister and I.” Jack gazed calmly into the dark, determined face and keen
black eyes confronting him.
Desiré was too frightened to utter a word, and stood at her brother’s
other side, holding fast to his coat. René suddenly recovered his voice
and began to cry.
“Hush your noise!” ordered the man, without turning his head; and so
great was the child’s astonishment that he really _did_ stop.
“There’s no need of getting excited about this,” said Jack. “You can
easily prove that I’m telling the truth if you’ll ask Mrs. Chaisson,
Simon’s daughter, and—”
“I’ve no time to be running to Yarmouth; and it’s a likely story anyway,”
answered the man shortly.
None of them saw René get up and run toward the road, where he saw a man
passing by; so when he now hurried across the sand as fast as his short
legs could move, dragging his captive by the arm, they all looked up in
astonishment.
“Hullo!” cried the newcomer, “what’s the matter here, Marvine?”
“The young fellow claims old Simon lent him the outfit. Did you ever
hear—”
“Maybe he did,” interrupted the other man indifferently, his blue eyes
roaming from one face to another. “Saw all these folks here yesterday
with the old man and his daughter.”
“Did, eh? Well, maybe it’s as he says then,” letting go of Jack’s arm as
he spoke. “How’d you happen to be stopping here?”
“The kid dragged me off the road saying someone was going to carry away
his brother.”
“Well,” said the man called Marvine, turning to Jack and Desiré, “sorry
to have bothered you. No harm meant. Was only looking out for Simon’s
things.”
“Quite all right,” replied Jack. “I suppose you do have to be careful.”
The two strangers strode out to the road again without further farewell,
and were soon lost to sight. Desiré sank down on the sand as if she could
not stand another minute.
“I’m most awfully sorry you were so frightened, dear,” said Jack, sitting
down beside her and taking her hand in his, while René piled on top of
his brother, crying exultantly, “I saved you, Jack; didn’t I?”
Desiré soon recovered her composure and got up to continue her work; but
although he did not comment on the fact, Jack saw that her hands were
still a bit shaky. Presently he suggested—“Hadn’t you better go in and
start supper, Dissy? René can help me finish here.”
“Sure,” agreed the small boy importantly. “I can help Jack.”
Desiré went in, and the two boys sank the pots and set the markers, Jack
of course doing most of the work, but René fully convinced that his
brother could never have managed without his aid.
“There are some other pots right next to where Simon told me to put
ours,” observed Jack, as they were finishing supper.
René was so sleepy that he had left the table and curled himself up in an
old rocker to take a nap.
“Oh, I do hope that they don’t belong to either of those awful men who
were here this afternoon,” said Desiré with a shudder.
“They’re rough, of course, but they weren’t really so bad, Desiré. They
have to protect their interests, and of course were looking after
Simon’s. I hardly think, though, that either of them is our next-door
neighbor. The hut beyond here looks deserted, but the pots and markers
are there all right.”
Desiré took the tiny bedroom, and the boys had a couple of cots in the
other room. Everybody was tired out with the unaccustomed work and
excitement, and slept heavily until far later than usual. Jack, who was
the first to waken, looked across at the other cot to see if René was
still asleep, and was astonished to see that the cot was empty.
“Now where is that rascal?” he thought, crossing the room to the outside
door, which was ajar.
He glanced out and saw his brother calmly playing in the sand a short
distance from the hut.
“Don’t go any farther away, Renny,” he called softly, hoping not to
disturb Desiré.
“No,” replied the child, vigorously slapping the sand into shape.
“What’s the matter?” called Desiré, who had wakened instantly at the
sound of his voice.
“Nothing at all. Renny got up ahead of us and went out to play in the
sand. He’s quite all right.”
“But what time is it?”
“You’d never guess. It’s eight o’clock.”
“Why, Jack, how dreadful!”
“Not at all; it’s quite all right. There’s nothing to hurry us here. Take
your time. I’ll set the coffee on.”
“We’re certainly fashionable folk this morning,” laughed Desiré when,
half an hour later, the three sat down to breakfast. “Renny, your feet
are all wet,” as the child’s foot touched her under the table. “Let me
see.”
“No!”
“René,” ordered Jack, “turn and stick your feet out.”
Slowly, most reluctantly, the boy obeyed; and Desiré exclaimed with
dismay. He was wet to the waist. Their backs had been turned when he came
in, and he had slid into his place at the table with all possible haste.
“How did you get like that?” asked Jack, but René only hung his head.
“Answer me, Renny.”
“Went in the water.”
“But haven’t I told you _never_ to go into the water alone?”
The child nodded.
“You’ll have to go back to bed,” decreed his brother sternly, getting up
from the table. “Sit still,” he directed Desiré. “I’ll attend to him.”
“Hadn’t you better put him in my room?” she asked.
“If you don’t mind,” replied Jack, leading the reluctant youngster from
the room.
After a short interval he returned to resume his interrupted breakfast,
saying as he sat down, “After we finish I’ll take him something. It will
do him no harm to wait a while. He’s certainly always getting into
difficulties.”
“But it’s quite a while now since he has done anything really bad,”
objected Desiré; “and he loves the water so, it must be quite a
temptation.”
“I know, but his going in like this by himself might result in serious
consequences; and I intend to keep him in bed most of the day. But you
don’t need to stay in the house all the time. He’s perfectly safe here
alone, and I’m sure he won’t get up without permission. I laid heavy
penalties on such a procedure.”
At this point there was a sharp knock at the door, and when Jack opened
it, a short, grey-bearded man stood before them. Not liking the look in
the stranger’s eyes, Desiré crossed the room and stood beside her
brother. Were all the people they were to meet on this venture
undesirable? How she wished they had never heard of the lobster business!