THE "CODFISH"
A few minutes later a very exultant crowd of young folks were starting
back over the road they had just traveled so fast.
In the bottom of the tonneau,--Billie and the two boys were using it as
a foot rest,--was safely stowed the shabby, but, oh! so precious old
trunk, and on Billie's face was the "smile that wouldn't come off;" or
at least that is what Ferd called it.
Teddy was the only member of the party who was not fully satisfied with
the expedition.
"We should have followed and caught the thief," he was saying for the
eleventh time--Billie had counted them. "It would have been like taking
candy from a kid to have caught up with his old flivver, and then we
could have landed him in jail, where he belongs."
"But we wouldn't have time, Teddy," Billie reminded him. "You know the
train guard said there would be a train through about eleven o'clock.
And we can't miss it. Besides," and she shifted her feet happily on her
five thousand dollar footstool, "what do we care about that old man now
that we've got the trunk?"
"Isn't that just like a girl," cried Teddy, almost running them into a
ditch in his indignation. "I suppose you would be willing to let all the
thieves in the world go free if you could only get back what they
stole."
"I certainly would if we had a train to catch," agreed Billie, and Ferd
chuckled.
"Good for you, Billie!" he cried approvingly. "Stick to your guns. I
don't see any use of following up that old chap now that we've got the
goods."
"He wasn't very handsome, was he?" asked Billie, remembering that one
glimpse she had had of him.
"Maybe that's why you didn't want to follow him," chuckled Ferd, and
Teddy scowled blackly at the wind shield.
"But wasn't he ugly?" Billie persisted. "I don't think I ever saw such
red hair. And his mouth--ugh!" She paused reflectively.
"Yes, it looked just like the mouth of a codfish," said Chet.
"The poor fish," remarked Ferd jocularly, but be it said to their credit
that no one laughed at this feeble attempt at a joke. They only stared.
As the car swept into the village again Billie had a sudden and rather
conscience-stricken memory of her chums. For the first time in her life
she had forgotten them completely. But then one doesn't lose five
thousand dollars and recover it every day!
As the car stopped at the station it was surrounded by an eager crowd of
people, among whom was the owner of the car. But for his generosity they
would never have been able to recover the trunk.
"Did you get it?"
"Did you bring back the thief?"
"Say, you must have done some speeding!"
These and other like remarks greeted the adventurers as they climbed
from the car, and under cover of the confusion Billie made her escape.
Teddy, looking around for her a moment later, missed her and started in
pursuit.
"You're always running away," he protested plaintively, when he overtook
her just a little way from the cottage, the owner of which had shown
them such generous hospitality.
Billie wrinkled up her nose in surprise.
"Running away?" she repeated wonderingly. "Why, Teddy, sometimes I
almost think you're foolish."
"That's what Mother says, only she's sure of it," said Teddy, with a wry
little grimace that made Billie laugh.
"Well, she ought to know better than I," she said demurely. "She's known
you longer."
"Not very much," Teddy retorted, opening the gate of the little picket
fence for her. "And, anyway, you haven't answered my question. What did
you run away for?"
"I didn't run away. I escaped," she explained, making a face at the
memory of the crowd. "I wonder what makes people so curious. I do
believe all a person would have to do to collect a crowd would be to
stand on a soap box and say, 'Isn't this beautiful weather?'"
"You bet. Especially if that person were you," said Teddy, and Billie
looked at him reproachfully.
As the two entered the hall they met the girls just coming down stairs.
They all went to the kitchen, where they found Mrs. Jenkins just
finishing a batch of golden brown crullers. She greeted the girls with a
beaming smile and insisted that Laura and Violet sit down while she got
them some breakfast.
"Why, you must be nearly starved," she said.
The girls protested that they were making her too much trouble, but she
gave them a cruller--"to stop their mouths," she said--and then set
cheerily to work to fry some more bacon and eggs, putting in a word now
and then and listening with a smile to the girls' merry chatter.
"You mustn't scold me when you're hungry," Billie said, and the gladness
in her voice made the girls look at her eagerly. "No, I'm not going to
tell you a word," she said firmly as they started to ply her with
questions. "Not till you've had some breakfast, anyway. Eat, pretty
creatures, eat."
Billie looked up at pretty Mrs. Jenkins and invitingly patted the empty
chair beside her.
"Sit down here, please," she coaxed. "I want you to hear this too."
"Now tell us," Laura commanded impatiently. "Why did you leave us asleep
and go out? And, oh, Billie! have you found your trunk?"
So Billie told the story while the girls listened open-eyed and
open-mouthed, completely forgetting their breakfast, which lay untouched
before them.
Mrs. Jenkins seemed almost as excited as they did, and leaned over the
table, one hand clutching the bread knife, while her rosy face fairly
beamed. Here was adventure such as rarely came to the village.
Billie had just come to the part where the thief dropped the trunk in
the road when Mr. Bradley and the two other boys burst in upon them with
the news that the train was due in about fifteen minutes.
Laura and Violet left their almost untouched breakfast, mumbled an
excuse to Mrs. Jenkins, and rushed with Billie up to the bedroom they
had occupied the night before to gather up their things and put on their
hats and coats.
"Laura, you have my comb," said Violet accusingly, as Laura was stuffing
that article hastily into her hand bag.
"Well, take your old comb," replied Laura, throwing it over to her. "It
isn't as good as mine, anyway. It has a tooth out."
"Somebody will have more than one tooth out if she doesn't hurry,"
threatened Billie. "Girls, we mustn't lose that train. Listen! There's
the whistle."
Thereupon the girls forgot to quarrel and combined forces for a rush to
the train.
They rushed down the stairs, falling over their suitcases and each
other, and found Mrs. Jenkins waiting for them at the bottom of the
stairs.
Mr. Bradley had insisted upon paying her for her hospitality, but she
had stubbornly refused to take a cent.
"No, sir," she had said, shaking her head decidedly. "Do you think I'm
going to let you pay me for having a good time? I love the girls and
boys, bless 'em, and I hate to see 'em go. Pay me--well, I guess not!"
So Mr. Bradley had shaken her hand and thanked her heartily, which was
the best that he could do.
And now the girls even risked missing the train to give her the only
kind of pay she wanted. Billie dropped her bag and impulsively threw her
arms about the comely woman.
"You've just been sweet to us," she said, "and we'll never, never,
_never_ forget how kind you've been. I--I'd like to kiss you, if you
don't mind."
Shyly she kissed Mrs. Jenkins' rosy cheek, and Violet and Laura followed
suit. The boys and Mr. Bradley shook hands with her heartily, and then
they picked up their belongings and fairly ran down the steps and out at
the little white gate.
They turned to wave to Mrs. Jenkins, and she waved back at them until
they disappeared around the corner; and when she started to go into the
house she was surprised to find that there were tears in her eyes.
"The precious lambs," she said. "The precious little lambs! They kissed
me, too, bless 'em!" and she put her hand up gently to her face.
Meanwhile the train that was to carry the North Bend party back home had
thundered into the station, and all the passengers who had been stranded
in the place overnight were crowding on board.
As Billie was being hurried up the steps, she suddenly paused and looked
back at her father.
"Where's the trunk?" she asked nervously.
"In the baggage car," Mr. Bradley assured her. "We'll get it safely to
North Bend--unless we have another wreck."
As soon as he had made the speech he regretted it. Billie's face went
white and Laura and Violet looked back at him with startled eyes, then
went on more slowly into the car.
The luggage had been stowed away in the racks overhead and the girls
were removing their hats when the train moved slowly from the station.
"You know, I'm terribly afraid," Violet confided in a whisper to Billie.
"I--I won't feel safe for a minute until we reach North Bend."
Billie looked a little uncertain herself, but suddenly there floated
across her vision a shabby, odd, little trunk, filled to the brim with
old coins and postage stamps. Then she laughed.
"After this morning," she said, "I'm not afraid of anything. The luck's
all on our side!"