AUNT DORCAS.
When the three had set out from Mrs. Weber's home, the amateur detective
announced that no halt would be made until sunrise.
Joe, whose thoughts were with the princess, gave little heed to this
statement, if, indeed, he understood it, and Master Plummer had been so
terrified by Dan's positive assertion regarding the possibility of an
immediate arrest that he had failed to realise the labour which would be
required in thus prolonging the flight.
Before an hour passed, however, even the detective himself began to
think he might have made a rash statement, and Plums, unaccustomed to
such violent exercise, was well-nigh exhausted.
By this time Joe had come to understand what might be the result if
Dan's advice was followed implicitly, and this, together with the
knowledge that each moment he was increasing the distance between
himself and the princess, served to make him reckless.
"Look here, Dan Fernald," he said, coming to a second halt. "Let's talk
over this thing before we go any further."
"Perhaps you think we can afford to loaf 'round here," the amateur
detective said, sternly. "If you fellers want to keep your noses out of
jail, you'd best hump yourselves till daylight, an', even then, we won't
be far enough away."
"We're jest as far now as I'm goin'," and there was that in Joe's voice
which told his companion that he would not be persuaded into changing
his mind.
"What?" Dan screamed.
"That's all there is to it. I'll stop here, an' you fellers can keep on
if you like."
"But, Joe, if there was woods somewhere near I wouldn't say a word. How
can you hide where there's so many houses close 'round?"
"I don't count on hidin', 'cause I can't afford it. Even if them lawyers
get hold of me to-morrer mornin', I'm goin' to stop here."
"Right here in the road?" Plums asked, with less anxiety than he would
have shown an hour before, when he was not so tired.
"Well, I don't mean to say I'll camp down in the road. But you fellers
listen to me. If the detectives are out after us, an' I s'pose, of
course, they are, we sha'n't be any safer twenty miles away than in this
very spot. We've got to stop sometime, an' it may as well be now. I
promised to go back to see the princess in two days, an' I'll keep my
word."
"But where'll you stay all that time?" Dan asked, as if believing this
was a question which could not be satisfactorily answered.
"I don't know yet; but I'm thinkin' of goin' up to that house," and Joe
pointed to a tiny cottage, which in the gloom could be but dimly seen
amid a clump of trees. "There's a light in the window, so of course the
folks are awake. I'll ask 'em if they haven't got work enough about the
place sich as I could do to pay my board over one day, an' if they say
no, I'll try at the next house."
"You might as well go right into jail as do a thing like that," Dan
said, angrily.
"I ain't so sure but it would have been a good deal better if I had, for
by this time the princess would be with her folks, where she belongs."
"It seems to me you're terribly stuck on that kid."
"Well, what if I am!" and Joe spoke so sharply that Master Fernald did
not think it wise to make any reply.
During fully a moment the three stood silently in the road looking at
each other, and then Joe asked of Master Plummer:
"Will you come with me?"
The possibility of resting his tired limbs in a regular bed appealed
strongly to the fat boy, and, understanding that he was about to agree
to Joe's proposition, Dan said, gloomily:
"This is what a feller gets for tryin' to help you two out of a scrape.
I've kept the detectives away so far, an' now you're goin' to give me
the dead shake."
"There's no reason why you couldn't stay with us--"
"You won't catch me in a house for another month, anyhow."
[Illustration: "JOE POINTED TO A TINY COTTAGE."]
The argument which followed this announcement was not long, but
spirited.
Joe explained that it was his intention to remain in that vicinity, and
within forty-eight hours to return to Weehawken, according to the
promise he had made Mrs. Weber.
Dan continued to insist that it was in the highest degree dangerous to
loiter there, and professed to believe himself deeply injured, because,
after having "taken up the case" in such an energetic fashion, he was
probably in danger of arrest through having aided these two supposed
criminals.
Master Plummer had but little to say; the thought of walking all night
was nearly as painful as that of being imprisoned, and he was willing to
throw all the responsibility of a decision upon his friend.
Before ten minutes had passed, the matter was settled,--not
satisfactorily to all concerned, but as nearly so as could have been
expected.
Joe and Plums were to call at the cottage with the hope of finding
temporary employment, and the amateur detective was to conceal himself
in the vicinity as best he might, until he should be able to learn
something definite regarding the purpose of the lawyers who had
advertised.
When Joe, followed by Master Plummer, turned from the highway into the
lane which led to the cottage, the amateur detective scrambled over the
fence on the opposite side of the road, and scurried through the field
as if believing he was hotly pursued.
Not until they had arrived nearly at the house did Master Plummer make
any remark, and then he said, with a long-drawn sigh:
"Dan Fernald makes too much work out of his detective business to suit
me. I couldn't walk all night if it was to save me life."
"I don't believe there's any reason why we should, Plums. Because Dan
thinks the cops have followed us over to Weehawken doesn't make it so,
an' if we can't hide here, we can't anywhere, 'cordin' to my way of
thinkin'. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to go off so far that we can't
get back to the princess."
Then Joe advanced to the side door, and knocked gently, Plums
whispering, hoarsely, meanwhile:
"Be ready to skip, if you hear a dog. I've been told that folks out this
way keep reg'lar bloodhounds to scare away tramps."
"I ain't 'fraid of dogs as much as I am that the man who lives here will
run us off the place the first minute he sees our faces," Joe replied,
and at that instant the door was opened.
Holding a lamp high above her head, and peering out into the gloom as if
suffering from some defect of vision, stood a little woman, not very
much taller than Joe, whose wrinkled face told she had passed what is
termed the "middle age" of life.
Joe's surprise at seeing this tiny lady, when he had expected to be
confronted by a man, prevented him from speaking at once, and the small
woman asked, with mild curiosity:
"Whose children are you?"
This was a question Joe was not prepared to answer, and he stammered and
stuttered before being able to say:
"I don't know as we're anybody's, ma'am. You see we ain't got any place
to stop in for a day or two, an' thought perhaps a farmer lived here
what would have work we could do to pay for our board."
"Are you hungry, child?" the small woman asked, quickly, and, as it
seemed to Joe, anxiously.
"Not very much now, 'cause we've had a good supper; but we will be in
the mornin', you know."
And Master Plummer interrupted, as he pinched his companion's arm to
reduce him to silence:
"We've been walkin' a good while since then, an' it seems like I was
most starved."
"You poor child! Come right into the house, an' it'll be strange if I
can't find something to eat; though, to tell the truth, I didn't have
real good luck with this week's batch of bread; but if custard pie--"
"_If_ custard pie!" Master Plummer cried, ecstatically. "Why, I'd be
fixed great if I could have some!"
He was following the small woman as he spoke, and, after closing and
barring the outer door, the hostess ushered them into such a kitchen as
they had never seen before.
A spacious room, in which it seemed as if a hundred persons might have
found ample elbow-room, with a yellow, painted floor, on which not a
grain of dirt could be seen, and with numerous odd, stiff-looking
chairs ranged around the sides at regular intervals. At one end an
enormous fireplace, in front of which was a cook-stove actually
glittering with polish, and on the mantel behind it an array of shining
tins.
As seen from the road, in the gloom, the cottage had not appeared even
as large as this kitchen, and because of such fact the boys were more
surprised than they otherwise would have been.
Once in the room, where everything was so cleanly that, as Master
Plummer afterwards expressed it, "it come near givin' him a pain," the
boys stood awkwardly near the door, uncertain as to what might be
expected of them.
"You can sit right here while I get you something to eat," and the
hostess placed two chairs in front of a small table in one corner of the
room.
Master Plummer advanced eagerly, thinking only of the pleasure which was
about to be his, when the small lady exclaimed, as if in alarm:
"Mercy on us, child! You're tracking dust all over the floor. Go right
back into the entry, and wipe your feet."
Plums failed to see that he had soiled the floor to any extent, but both
he and Joe obeyed the command instantly, and while they were engaged in
what seemed to them useless labour, the small woman wiped carefully,
with a damp cloth, the dusty imprints of their shoes from the floor.
"I never had any experience in my own family with boys," the
odd-looking little woman said, half to herself, "and perhaps that's why
I don't understand 'em any better; but I never could make out why they
should be so reckless with dirt."
"I didn't think my shoes were so dusty when I come in, else I'd taken
them off," Joe said, apologetically. "You see, ma'am, we never saw a
floor as clean as this one."
This compliment was evidently pleasing, for the small woman looked up
kindly at her guests, and said, in a friendly tone:
"Don't call me 'ma'am,' child. I've been 'aunt Dorcas' to all the
children in this neighbourhood ever since I can remember, and anything
else doesn't sound natural."
"Do you want us to call you 'aunt Dorcas'?" Joe asked, in surprise, and
Plums winked gravely at his companion.
"Of course I do. Now, if your feet are clean, sit down, and I'll get the
pie."
The boys tiptoed their way to the table, as if by such method they would
be less liable to soil the floor, and aunt Dorcas, taking the lamp with
her, disappeared through a door which evidently led to the cellar,
leaving them in the darkness.
"Say, ain't this the greatest snap you ever struck?" Plums whispered.
"I'll bet aunt Dorcas is a dandy, an' if Dan Fernald knew what he's
missin', he'd jest about kick hisself black an' blue."
Master Plummer was still better satisfied with the situation when their
hostess returned with a large custard pie, which she placed on the
table, and immediately afterwards disappeared within the cellar-way
again.
"She's gone for more stuff!" Plums said, in a tone of delight. "If there
ain't too much work to be done 'round this place, I'd like to stay here
a year."
[Illustration: "SHE HAD A PLATE HEAPED HIGH WITH COOKIES."]
When aunt Dorcas entered the kitchen again, she had a plate heaped high
with cookies, on the top of which were three generous slices of cheese.
This collection was placed by the side of the pie; the odd little woman
brought plates, knives, and forks, and two napkins from the pantry,
and, having arranged everything in proper order, said, as she stood
facing the boys, with her head slightly inclined to one side, until to
Joe she presented much the appearance of a sparrow:
"If you can eat all there is here, I'll bring more, an' willingly.
Afterwards, we will talk about what is to be done for the night."
"I can eat an' talk, too, jest as well as not," Plums said, as he drew
the pie towards him.
Perhaps aunt Dorcas thought he intended to appropriate the whole to
himself, for she hurriedly cut it into four pieces, one of which she
placed on his plate.
From Plums's manner of beginning the feast, there was good reason to
believe he had told the truth when he said he was starving, and, as she
watched him, an expression of deepest sympathy came over aunt Dorcas's
face.
"It's too bad I haven't some meat to give you, child, for you must be
famishing."
"I'd rather have this," Plums replied, speaking with difficulty, because
of the fullness of his mouth, and it appeared to his hostess as if he
had no sooner begun on a quarter of the pie than it disappeared.
She gave the fat boy another section of the yellow dainty, watching him
like one fascinated, as he devoured it. Then Plums began an onslaught on
the cookies, after casting a wistful glance at the remaining quarter of
the pie.
Joe was ashamed because his companion ate so greedily, and kicked him,
under the table, as a warning that he restrain his appetite; but Master
Plummer failed to understand the signal, and ate all the more greedily,
because he believed Joe thought it time to bring the feast to a close.
"You mustn't think anything of his stuffin' hisself like this, ma'am,--I
mean, aunt Dorcas," Joe said, apologetically. "Plums always was the
biggest eater in New York, an' I guess he always will be."
"What did you call him?" aunt Dorcas asked.
"Plums was what I said. That ain't exactly his name, but it comes mighty
near to it. George H. Plummer is what he calls hisself when he wants to
be swell."
"I think 'George' sounds much better than 'Plums,'" aunt Dorcas said,
thoughtfully.
"Perhaps it does; but it don't fit him half so well."
Meanwhile, the subject of this conversation was industriously engaged
devouring the cookies, and one would have said that he had no interest
in anything else.
Aunt Dorcas stood looking questioningly at Joe, and, thinking he
understood that which was in her mind, he said:
"My name is Joe Potter. I used to keep a fruit-stand down on West
Street, in New York, till I busted up, an' then I found the princess,
but--"
Joe checked himself in time to preserve his secret. An instant later he
wished he had explained to aunt Dorcas why he was there, because of the
sympathy he read in her face.
The little woman waited a few seconds for him to continue, but, since
he remained silent, she asked, with mild curiosity:
"Who is the princess?"
"She's a swell little girl what's lost her folks, an' I'm takin' care of
her for a spell. Say, ma'am,--I mean, aunt Dorcas,--is there any work
Plums an' I can do to pay for a chance of stoppin' here over to-morrow?"
"I suppose I might find enough, Joseph, for there's always plenty to be
done around a place, no matter how small it is; but I'm not certain
you'd be strong enough to spade up the garden, and clear the drain, even
if you knew how. They say city boys are dreadful unhandy when it comes
to outdoor work."
"Jest you try us an' see!" Joe cried, with animation. "We ain't sich
chumps but that we know how to do most anything, after we've studied
over it a spell. Will you let us stay if we do work enough?"
"I surely ought to be willing to do that much for my fellow creatures,
Joseph, even though I get nothing in return; but I can't say it won't be
a trial for me to have two boys around the house after I've lived alone
so long. Martha, Mary, and I took care of this place, with the help of a
man in summer, a good many years after our parents died, and I suppose
we got fussy and old-maidish-like in our ways," aunt Dorcas said,
growing reminiscent. "Martha went home to heaven seven years ago in
September, and Mary followed her the next January. Since then I've been
alone, and it stands to reason I'm more old-maidish than ever; but I
hope I could keep two homeless boys twenty-four hours without
fretting."
Then aunt Dorcas crossed the room to the mantel, in order to light
another lamp, and Plums whispered, hoarsely:
"Say, Joe, what do you s'pose she put this clean towel here for? I've
got custard on it, an' I'm afraid that'll make her mad."
Joe unfolded his napkin inquisitively, and looked at it an instant
before he understood for what purpose it must have been intended.
Then, his cheeks reddening, he replied, in a low tone:
"She must have counted on our bein' willin' to wash our faces, but
didn't want to say so right out, so put the towels here to remind us,
an' I'm as ashamed as I can be 'cause I didn't think of it before."
The meal had come to an end, for the very good reason that there was
nothing more on the table to be eaten.
While aunt Dorcas was talking with Joe, Plums had slyly taken the last
remaining section of pie, having previously devoured the cookies and
cheese, and, with a long-drawn sigh of content, he replied to his
friend's remark by saying:
"I guess I couldn't eat any more if I'd washed my face a dozen times, so
it don't make much difference."
Joe arose from the table, and seated himself in one of the chairs which
were ranged precisely against the wall, Master Plummer following his
example.
Aunt Dorcas, having lighted the second lamp, said:
"I'll leave you boys here alone while I attend to making up a bed. You
could sleep in the spare-room, I suppose; but my best sheets are there,
and I don't just like to--Why, you didn't use the napkins!"
Joe's face was of a deep crimson hue, as he replied:
"If I'd seen any soap an' water I'd known what they meant; but it's been
so long since I was in a reg'lar house that I've kind'er forgot how to
behave."
Aunt Dorcas turned away quickly, and when she had left the room Plums
said, as he unbent from the awkward position he had at first assumed in
the straight chair:
"Dan Fernald ain't in this! He may be a mighty big detective, but he
slips up when it comes to hustlin' for these kind of snaps!"
"Aunt Dorcas is nice, ain't she?"
"She's a corker!"
"If the princess was only here we'd be jest about as snug as any two
fellers that could be found in this world."
"I'm going to give you the chamber over the kitchen; it is clean and
comfortable, but, of course, not as nice as the spare-room," aunt Dorcas
said, as she entered suddenly, causing Master Plummer to instantly
assume a less negligent attitude.
"Plums an' me ain't slept in a reg'lar bed for so long that a blanket
spread out on the floor would seem mighty good to us," Joe replied, and
the little woman held up both hands in astonishment.
"Haven't slept in a bed! Well, I've heard of the heathen in our midst,
but never believed I'd be brought in contact with them. How did
you--But, there, I won't ask questions to-night, when I know you must
be tired. We'll read a chapter, and then you can go to bed. I will wash
the dishes afterwards."
Reverentially the little woman took a well-worn Bible from the small
table beneath one of the windows, and while the two boys who were
fleeing from the officers of the law, as they believed, gazed at her in
wonderment and surprise, but not understanding that which they heard,
she read one of the psalms.
Then kneeling, she prayed in simple language which reached their hearts,
for the homeless ones within her gates.
Joe's eyes were moist when she rose to her feet, and Plums whispered, in
a voice choked with emotion:
"She's a daisy, that's what's the matter with her!"