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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10340-0.txt b/10340-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd6e5cf --- /dev/null +++ b/10340-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9049 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10340 *** + + DAB KINZER + + A STORY OF A GROWING BOY + + BY + + WILLIAM O. STODDARD + + 1884 + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. +THE KINZER FARM, THE NEW SUIT, AND THE WEDDING. + +CHAPTER II. +DAB'S OLD CLOTHES GET A NEW BOY TO FIT. + +CHAPTER III. +A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE OLDEST FAMILIES MEETS A YOUNG +GENTLEMAN FROM THE CITY. + +CHAPTER IV. +TWO BOYS, ONE PIG, AND AN UNFORTUNATE RAILWAY-TRAIN. + +CHAPTER V. +NEW NEIGHBORS, AND GETTING SETTLED. + +CHAPTER VI. +CRABS, BOYS, AND A BOAT-WRECK. + +CHAPTER VII. +A VERY ACCIDENTAL CALL. + +CHAPTER VIII. +A RESCUE, AND A GRAND GOOD TIME. + +CHAPTER IX. +THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOYS. + +CHAPTER X. +A CRUISE IN "THE SWALLOW". + +CHAPTER XI. +SPLENDID FISHING, AND A BIG FOG. + +CHAPTER XII. +HOW THE GAME OF "FOLLOW MY LEADER" CAN BE PLAYED +AT SEA. + +CHAPTER XIII. +"HOME AGAIN! HERE WE ARE!". + +CHAPTER XIV. +A GREAT MANY THINGS GETTING READY TO COME. + +CHAPTER XV. +DABNEY KINZER TO THE RESCUE. + +CHAPTER XVI. +DAB KINZER AND HAM MORRIS TURN INTO A FIRE-DEPARTMENT. + +CHAPTER XVII. +DAB HAS A WAKING DREAM, AND HAM GETS A SNIFF OF SEA-AIR. + +CHAPTER XVIII. +HOW DAB WORKED OUT ANOTHER OF HIS GREAT PLANS. + +CHAPTER XIX. +A GRAND SAILING-PARTY, AND AN EXPERIMENT BY RICHARD LEE. + +CHAPTER XX. +A WRECK AND SOME WRECKERS. + +CHAPTER XXI. +DAB AND HIS FRIENDS TURN THEMSELVES INTO COOKS AND WAITERS. + +CHAPTER XXII. +THE REAL MISSION OF THE JUG. + +CHAPTER XXIII. +ANOTHER GRAND PLAN, AND A VERY GRAND RUNAWAY. + +CHAPTER XXIV. +DABNEY'S GREAT PARTY. + +CHAPTER XXV. +THE BOYS ON THEIR TRAVELS. A GREAT CITY, AND A GREAT DINNER. + +CHAPTER XXVI. +THE FIRST MORNING IN GRANTLEY, AND ANOTHER EXCELLENT JOKE. + +CHAPTER XXVII. +A NEW KIND OF EXAMINATION. + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF INTRODUCTION. + +CHAPTER XXIX. +LETTERS HOME FROM THE BOYS.--DICK LEE'S FIRST GRIEF. + +CHAPTER XXX. +DABNEY KINZER TRIES FRESH-WATER FISHING FOR THE FIRST TIME. + +CHAPTER XXXI. +A FIGHT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. + +CHAPTER XXXII. +OLD FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF HIS COME TO VISIT DABNEY. + + + + +DAB KINZER + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE KINZER FARM, THE NEW SUIT, AND THE WEDDING. + + +Between the village and the inlet, and half a mile from the great "bay," +lay the Kinzer farm. Beyond the bay was a sandbar, and beyond that the +Atlantic Ocean; for all this was on the southerly shore of Long Island. + +The Kinzer farm had lain right there--acre for acre, no more, no +less--on the day when Hendrik Hudson long ago sailed the good ship "Half +Moon" into New-York Bay. But it was not then known to any one as the +Kinzer farm. Neither was there then, as now, any bright and growing +village crowding up on one side of it, with a railway-station and a +post-office. Nor was there, at that time, any great and busy city of New +York, only a few hours' ride away, over on the island of Manhattan. The +Kinzers themselves were not there then. But the bay and the inlet, with +the fish and the crabs, and the ebbing and flowing tides, were there, +very much the same, before Hendrik Hudson and his brave Dutchmen knew +any thing whatever about that corner of the world. + +The Kinzer farm had always been a reasonably "fat" one, both as to size +and quality; and the good people who lived on it had generally been of a +somewhat similar description. It was, therefore, every way correct and +becoming for Dabney Kinzer's widowed mother and his sisters to be the +plump and hearty beings they were, and all the more discouraging to poor +Dabney that no amount of regular and faithful eating seemed to make him +resemble them at all in that respect. + +Mrs. Kinzer excused his thinness, to her neighbors, to be sure, on the +ground that he was "such a growing boy;" but, for all that, he caught +himself wondering, now and then, if he would never be done with that +part of his trials. For rapid growth has its trials. + +"The fact is," he said to himself one day, as he leaned over the north +fence, "I'm more like Ham Morris's farm than I am like ours. His farm is +bigger than ours, all round; but it's too big for its fences, just as +I'm too big for my clothes. Ham's house is three times as large as ours, +but it looks as if it had grown too fast. It hasn't any paint to speak +of, nor any blinds. It looks as if somebody'd just built it there, and +then forgot it, and gone oft and left it out of doors." + +Dabney's four sisters had all come into the world before him; but he was +as tall as any of them, and was frequently taken by strangers for a good +two years older than he was. It was sometimes very hard for him, a boy +of fifteen, to live up to what was expected of those extra two years. + +Mrs. Kinzer still kept him in roundabouts; but they did not seem to +hinder his growth at all, if that was her object in so doing. + +There was no such thing, however, as keeping the four girls in +roundabouts of any kind; and, what between them and their mother, the +pleasant and tidy little Kinzer homestead, with its snug parlor and its +cosey bits of rooms and chambers, seemed to nestle away, under the +shadowy elms and sycamores, smaller and smaller with every year that +came. + +It was a terribly tight fit for such a family, anyway; and, now that +Dabney was growing at such a rate, there was no telling what they would +all come to. But Mrs. Kinzer came at last to the rescue; and she +summoned her eldest daughter, Miranda, to her aid. + +A very notable woman was the widow. When the new railway cut off part of +the old farm, she had split up the slice of land between the iron track +and the village into "town lots," and had sold them all off by the time +the railway company paid her for the "damage" it had done the property. + +The whole Kinzer family gained visibly in plumpness that year, except, +perhaps, Dabney. + +Of course the condition and requirements of Ham Morris and his big farm, +just over the north fence, had not escaped such a pair of eyes as those +of the widow; and the very size of his great barn of a house finally +settled his fate for him. + +A large, quiet, unambitious, but well-brought-up and industrious young +man was Hamilton Morris, and he had not the least idea of the good in +store for him for several months after Mrs. Kinzer decided to marry him +to her daughter Miranda; but all was soon settled. Dab, of course, had +nothing to do with the wedding arrangements, and Ham's share was +somewhat contracted. Not but what he was at the Kinzer house a good +deal; nor did any of the other girls tell Miranda how very much he was +in the way. He could talk, however; and one morning, about a fortnight +before the day appointed, he said to Miranda and her mother,-- + +"We can't have so very much of a wedding: your house is so small, and +you've chocked it so full of furniture. Right down nice furniture it is +too; but there's so much of it, I'm afraid the minister'll have to stand +out in the front yard." + +"The house'll do for this time," replied Mrs. Kinzer. "There'll be room +enough for everybody. What puzzles me is Dab." + +"What about Dab?" asked Ham. + +"Can't find a thing to fit him," said Dab's mother. "Seems as if he were +all odd sizes, from head to foot." + +"Fit him?" exclaimed Ham. "Oh, you mean ready-made goods! Of course you +can't. He'll have to be measured by a tailor, and have his new suit +built for him." + +"Such extravagance!" emphatically remarked Mrs. Kinzer. + +"Not for rich people like you, and for a wedding," replied Ham; "and +Dab's a growing boy. Where is he now? I'm going to the village, and I'll +take him right along with me." + +There seemed to be no help for it; but that was the first point relating +to the wedding, concerning which Ham Morris was permitted to have +exactly his own way. His success made Dab Kinzer a fast friend of his +for life, and that was something. There was also something new and +wonderful to Dabney himself, in walking into a tailor's shop, picking +out cloth to please himself, and being so carefully measured all over. +He stretched and stretched himself in all directions, to make sure +nothing should turn out too small. At the end of it all, Ham said to +him,-- + +"Now, Dab, my boy, this suit is to be a present from me to you, on +Miranda's account." + +Dab colored and hesitated for a moment: but it seemed all right, he +thought; and so he came frankly out with,-- + +"Thank you, Ham. You always was a prime good fellow. I'll do as much for +you some day. Tell you what I'll do, then: I'll have another suit made +right away, of this other cloth, and have the bill for that one sent to +our folks." + +"Do it!" exclaimed Ham. "Do it! You've your mother's orders for that. +She's nothing to do with my gift." + +"Splendid!" almost shouted Dab. "Oh, but don't I hope they'll fit!" + +"Vit," said the tailor: "vill zay vit? I dell you zay vit you like a +knife. You vait und zee." + +Dab failed to get a very clear idea of what the fit would be, but it +made him almost hold his breath to think of it. + +After the triumphant visit to the tailor, there was still a necessity +for a call upon the shoemaker, and that was a matter of no small +importance. Dab's feet had always been a mystery and a trial to him. If +his memory contained one record darker than another, it was the endless +history of his misadventures with boots and shoes. He and leather had +been at war from the day he left his creeping-clothes until now. But now +he was promised a pair of shoes that would be sure to fit. + +So the question of Dab's personal appearance at the wedding was all +arranged between him and Ham; and Miranda smiled more sweetly than ever +before upon the latter, after she had heard her usually silent brother +break out so enthusiastically about him as he did that evening. + +It was a good thing for that wedding, that it took place in fine summer +weather; for neither kith, kin, nor acquaintances had been slighted in +the invitations, and the Kinzers were one of the "oldest families." + +To have gathered them all under the roof of that house, without either +stretching it out wider or boiling the guests down, would have been out +of the question; and so the majority, with Dabney in his new clothes to +keep them countenance, stood out in the cool shade of the grand old +trees during the ceremony, which was performed near the open door; and +were afterwards served with the refreshments in a style which spoke +volumes for Mrs. Kinzer's good management, as well as for her +hospitality. + +The only drawback to Dab's happiness that day was that his acquaintances +hardly seemed to know him. He had had almost the same trouble with +himself, when he looked in the glass that morning. + +Ordinarily, his wrists were several inches through his coat-sleeves, and +his ankles made a perpetual show of his stockings. His neck, too, seemed +to be holding his head as far as possible from his coat-collar, and his +buttons had no favors to ask of his button-holes. + +Now, even as the tailor had promised, he had received his "first fit." +He seemed to himself, to tell the truth, to be covered up in a prodigal +waste of new cloth. Would he ever, ever, grow too big for such a suit of +clothes as that? It was a very painful thought, and he did his best to +put it away from him. + +Still, it was a little hard to have a young lady, whom he had known +since before she began to walk, remark to him,-- + +"Excuse me, sir, but can you tell me if Mr. Dabney Kinzer is here?" + +"No, Jenny Walters," sharply responded Dab, "he isn't here." + +"Why, Dabney!" exclaimed the pretty Jenny. "Is that you? I declare, you +have scared me out of a year's growth!" + +"I wish you'd scare me, then," said Dab. "Then my clothes would stay +fitted." + +Every thing had been so well arranged beforehand, thanks to Mrs. Kinzer, +that the wedding had no chance at all except to go off well. Ham Morris +was rejoiced to find how entirely he was relieved of every +responsibility. + +"Don't worry about your house," the widow said to him, the night before +the wedding. "We'll go over there, as soon as you and Miranda get away, +and it'll be all ready for you by the time you get back." + +"All right," said Ham. "I'll be glad to have you take the old place in +hand. I've only tried to live in a corner of it. You don't know how much +room there is. I don't, I must say." + +Dabney had longed to ask her if she meant to have it moved over to the +Kinzer side of the north fence, but he had doubts as to the propriety of +it; and just then the boy came in from the tailor's with his bundle of +new clothes. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DAB'S OLD CLOTHES GET A NEW BOY TO FIT. + + +Hamilton Morris was a very promising young man, of some thirty summers. +He had been an "orphan" for a dozen years; and the wonder was that he +should so long have lived alone in the big, square-built house his +father left him. At all events, Miranda Kinzer was just the wife for +him. + +Miranda's mother had seen that at a glance, the moment her mind was +settled about the house. As to that and his great, spreading, +half-cultivated farm, all either of them needed was ready money and +management. + +These were blessings Ham was now made reasonably sure of, on his return +from his wedding-trip, and he was likely to appreciate them. + +As for Dabney Kinzer, he was in no respect overcome by the novelty and +excitement of the wedding-day. All the rest of it, after the departure +of Ham Morris and the bride, he devoted himself to such duties as were +assigned him, with a new and grand idea steadily taking shape in his +mind. He felt as if his brains too, like his body, were growing. Some of +his mother's older and more intimate friends remained with her all day, +probably to comfort her for the loss of Miranda; and two or three of +them, Dab knew, would stay to tea, so that his services would be in +demand to see them safely home. + +All day long, moreover, Samantha and Keziah and Pamela seemed to find +themselves wonderfully busy, one way and another, so that they paid even +less attention than usual to any of the ins and outs of their brother. + +Dabney was therefore able, with little difficulty, to take for himself +whatever of odd time he might require for putting his new idea into +execution. + +Mrs. Kinzer herself noticed the rare good sense with which her son +hurried through with his dinner, and slipped away, leaving her in +undisturbed possession of the table and her lady guests, and neither she +nor either of the girls had a thought of following him. + +If they had done so, they might have seen him draw a good-sized bundle +out from under the lilac-thicket in the back yard, and hurry down +through the garden. + +A few moments more, and Dabney had appeared on the fence of the old +cross-road leading down to the shore. There he sat, eying one passer-by +after another, till he suddenly sprang from his perch, exclaiming,-- + +"That's just the chap! Why, they'll fit him, and that's more'n they ever +did for me." + +Dab would probably have had to search along the coast for miles before +he could have found a human being better suited to his present +charitable purposes than the boy who now came so lazily down the road. + +There was no doubt about his color, or that he was all over of about the +same shade of black. His old tow trowsers and calico shirt revealed the +shining fact in too many places to leave room for a question, and shoes +he had none. + +"Dick," said Dabney, "was you ever married?" + +"Married!" exclaimed Dick, with a peal of very musical laughter, "is I +married? No. Is you?" + +"No," replied Dabney; "but I was very near it, this morning." + +"Dat so?" asked Dick, with another show of his white teeth. "Done ye +good, den; nebber seen ye I look so nice afore." + +"You'd look nicer'n I do if you were only dressed up," said Dab. "Just +you put on these." + +"Golly!" exclaimed the black boy. But he seized the bundle Dab threw +him, and he had it open in a twinkling. + +"Any t'ing in de pockets?" he asked. + +"Guess not," said Dab; "but there's lots of room." + +"Say dar was," exclaimed Dick. "But won't dese t'ings be warm?" + +It was quite likely; for the day was not a cool one, and Dick never +seemed to think of getting off what he had on, before getting into his +unexpected present. Coat, vest, and trousers, they were all pulled on +with more quickness than Dab had ever seen the young African display +before. + +"I's much obleeged to ye, Mr. Kinzer," said Dick very proudly, as he +strutted across the road. "On'y I dasn't go back fru de village." + +"What'll you do, then?" asked Dab. + +"S'pose I'd better go a-fishin'," said Dick. "Will de fish bite?" + +"Oh! the clothes won't make any odds to them," said Dabney. "I must go +back to the house." + +And so he did: while Dick, on whom the cast-off garments of his white +friend were really a pretty good fit, marched on down the road, feeling +grander than he ever had before in all his life. + +"That'll be a good thing to tell Ham Morris, when he and Miranda get +home again," muttered Dab, as he re-entered the house. + +Late that evening, when Dabney returned from his final duties as escort +to his mother's guests, she rewarded him with more than he could +remember ever receiving of motherly commendation. + +"I've been really quite proud of you, Dabney," she said, as she laid her +plump hand on the collar of his new coat, and kissed him. "You've +behaved like a perfect little gentleman." + +"Only, mother," exclaimed Keziah, "he spent too much of his time with +that sharp-tongued little Jenny Walters." + +"Never mind, Kezi," said Dab: "she didn't know who I was till I told +her. I'm going to wear a label with my name on it when I go over to the +village to-morrow." + +"And then you'll put on your other suit in the morning," said Mrs. +Kinzer. "You must keep this for Sundays and great occasions." + +"Any more weddings coming, right away?" said Dab, with a sharp glance +around upon what remained of the family; but the girls were all very +busy just then, with their books and their sewing, and he did not get +any direct reply. Even his mother walked away after something she had +left in the dining-room. + +When the next morning came, Dabney Kinzer was a more than usually early +riser, for he felt that he had waked up to a very important day. + +"Dabney," exclaimed his mother, when he came in to breakfast, "did I not +tell you to put on your other suit?" + +"So I have, mother," replied Dab: this is my other suit." + +"That?" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. + +"So it is!" cried Keziah. + +"So it isn't," added Samantha. "Mother, that is not what he had on +yesterday." + +"He's been trading again," mildly suggested Pamela. + +"Dabney," said Mrs. Kinzer, "what does this mean?" + +"Mean!" replied Dabney. "Why, these are the clothes you told me to buy. +The lot I wore yesterday were a present from Ham Morris. He's a splendid +fellow. I'm glad he got the best of the girls." + +That was a bad thing for Dabney to say just then, for it was vigorously +resented by the remaining three. As soon as quiet was restored, however, +Mrs. Kinzer remarked,-- + +"I think Hamilton should have consulted me about it, but it's too late +now. Anyhow, you may go and put on your other clothes." + +"My wedding suit?" asked Dab. + +"No, indeed! I mean your old ones,--those you took off night before +last." + +"Dunno where they are," slowly responded Dab. + +"Don't know where they are?" responded a chorus of four voices. + +"No," said Dab. "Bill Lee's black boy had em on all yesterday afternoon, +and I reckon he's gone a-fishing again to-day. They fit him a good sight +better 'n they ever did me." + +If Dabney had expected a storm to come from his mother's end of the +table, he was pleasantly mistaken; and his sisters had it all to +themselves for a moment. Then, with an admiring glance at her son, the +thoughtful matron remarked,-- + +"Just like his father, for all the world! It's no use, girls: Dabney's a +growing boy in more ways than one. Dabney, I shall want you to go over +to the Morris house with me after breakfast. Then you may hitch up the +ponies, and we'll do some errands around the village." + +Dab Kinzer's sisters looked at one another in blank astonishment, and +Samantha would have left the table if she had only finished her +breakfast. + +Pamela, as being nearest to Dab in age and sympathy, gave a very +admiring look at her brother's second "good fit," and said nothing. + +Even Keziah finally admitted, in her own mind, that such a change in +Dabney's appearance might have its advantages. But Samantha inwardly +declared war. + +The young hero himself was hardly used to that second suit, as yet, and +felt any thing but easy in it. + +"I wonder," he said to himself, "what Jenny Walters would say to me now. +Wonder if she'd know me." + +Not a doubt of it. But after he had finished his breakfast, and gone +out, his mother remarked,-- + +"It's really all right, girls. I almost fear I have been neglecting +Dabney. He isn't a little boy any more." + +"He isn't a man yet," exclaimed Samantha. "And he talks slang +dreadfully." + +"But then, he does grow so!" remarked Keziah. + +"Mother," said Pamela, "couldn't you get Dab to give Dick Lee the slang, +along with the old clothes?" + +"We'll see about it," replied Mrs. Kinzer. + +It was very clear that Dabney's mother had begun to take in a new idea +about her son. + +It was not the least bit in the world unpleasant to find out that he was +"growing in more ways than one," and it was quite likely that she had +indeed kept him too long in roundabouts. + +At all events, his great idea had been worked out into a triumphant +success; and, before the evening was over, Pamela replied to a remark of +Samantha's,-- + +"I don't care. He's taller than I am, and I'd ever so much rather have a +frock-coat walk beside me to meeting." + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE OLDEST FAMILIES MEETS A YOUNG GENTLEMAN FROM THE +CITY. + + +Dick Lee had been more than half right about the village being a +dangerous place for him, with such an unusual amount of clothing over +his ordinary uniform. + +The very dogs, every one of whom was an old acquaintance, barked at him +on his way home that night; and, proud as were his ebony father and +mother of the improvement in their son's appearance, they yielded to his +earnest entreaties, first, that he might wear his present all the next +day, and, second, that he might betake himself to the "bay" early in the +morning, and so keep out of sight "till he got used to it." + +"On'y, you jist mind wot yer about!" said his mother, "and see't you +keep dem clo'es from gettin' wet. I jist can't 'foard to hab dem spiled +right away." + +The fault with Dab Kinzer's old suit, after all, had lain mainly in its +size rather than its materials; for Mrs. Kinzer was too good a manager +to be really stingy. + +Dick succeeded in reaching the boat-landing without falling in with any +one who seemed disposed to laugh at him; but there, right on the wharf, +was a white boy of about his own age, and he felt a good deal like +backing out. + +"Nebber seen him afore, either," said Dick to himself. "Den I guess I +ain't afeard ob him." + +The stranger was a somewhat short and thick-set, but bright and +active-looking boy, with a pair of very keen, greenish-gray eyes. But, +after all, the first word he spoke to poor Dick was,-- + +"Hullo, clothes! Where are you going with all that boy?" + +"I knowed it, I knowed it!" groaned Dick. But he answered as sharply as +he knew how,-- + +"I's goin' a-fishin'. Any ob youah business?"-- + +"Where'd you learn how to fish?" the stranger asked, "Down South? Didn't +know they had any there." + +"Nebbah was down Souf," was the somewhat surly reply. + +"Father run away, did he?" + +"He nebber was down dar, nudder." + +"Nor his father?" + +"'Tain't no business ob yourn," said Dick, "but we's allers lived right +heah, on dis bay." + +"Guess not," said the white boy knowingly. Dick was right, nevertheless; +for his people had been slaves among the very earliest Dutch settlers, +and had never "lived South" at all. He was now busily getting one of the +boats ready to shove off; but his white tormentor went at him again, +with,-- + +"Well, then, if you've lived round here as long as that, you must know +everybody." + +"Reckon I do." + +"Are there any nice fellows around here? Any like me?" + +"De nicest young gen'lman round dis bay," replied Dick, "is Mr. Dab +Kinzer. But he ain't like you. Not nuff to hurt him." + +"Dab Kinzer," exclaimed the stranger. "Where'd he get his name?" + +"In de bay, I 'spect," said Dick, as he shoved his boat off; "caught 'im +wid a hook." + +"Anyhow," said the strange boy to himself, "that's probably the kind of +fellow my father would wish me to associate with. Only it's likely he's +very ignorant." + +And he walked away towards the village, with the air of a man who had +forgotten more than the rest of his race were ever likely to find out. + +At all events, Dick Lee had managed to say a good word for his +benefactor, little as he could guess what might be the consequences. + +Meantime Dab Kinzer, when he went out from breakfast, had strolled away +to the north fence, for a good look at the house which was thenceforth +to be the home of his favorite sister. He had seen it before, every day +since he could remember; but it seemed to have a fresh and almost +mournful interest for him just now. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed, as he leaned against the fence. "Putting up +ladders? Oh, yes, I see! That's old Tommy McGrew, the house-painter. +Well, Ham's house needs a new coat as badly as I did. Sure it'll fit +too. Only it ain't used to it, any more'n I am." + +"Dabney!" + +It was his mother's voice, and Dab felt like "minding" very promptly +that morning. + +"Dabney, my boy, come here to the gate." + +"Ham Morris is having his house painted," he remarked, as he walked +towards his mother. + +"Is he?" she said. "We'll go and see about it." + +The gate between the two "side-yards" had been there from time +immemorial, and-they walked right through. As they drew nearer the +Morris house, however, Dabney discovered that carpenters as well as +painters were plying their trade in and about the old homestead. There +were window-sashes piled here, and blinds there; a new door or so, ready +for use, a great stack of bundles of shingles, some barrels of lime, and +a heap of sand. Whichever way Dab looked, there were visible signs of an +approaching renovation. + +"Going to fix it all over," he remarked. + +"Yes," replied his mother: "it'll be as good as new. It was well built, +and will bear mending. I couldn't say that of some of the shackling +things they've been putting up around the village." + +When they entered the house it became more and more evident that the +"shabby" days of the Morris mansion were numbered. There were men at +work in almost every room. + +Ham's wedding-trip would surely give plenty of time, at that rate, for +an immense amount of "mending;" and his house would be, as the widow had +promised, "all ready for him on his return." + +There was nothing wonderful to Dabney in the idea of his mother going +about and inspecting work, and finding fault, and giving directions. He +had never seen her do any thing else, and he had the greatest confidence +in her knowledge and ability. He noticed too, before they left the +place, that the customary farm-work was going ahead with even more +regularity and energy than if the owner himself had been present. + +"Ham's farm'll look something like ours, one of these days," he said, +"if things go on at this rate." + +"I mean it shall," replied his mother, a little sharply. "Now go and get +out the ponies, and we'll do the rest of our errands." + +Dab started for the barn at a half trot; for, if there was one thing he +liked better than another, it was to have the reins in his hands and +that pair of ponies before him. Time had been when Mrs. Kinzer did her +own driving, and only permitted Dab to "hold the horses" while she made +her calls, business or otherwise; but that day had been safely put away +among Dab's unpleasant memories for a good while. + +It was but a few minutes before the neat buggy held the widow and her +son, and the ponies were taking them briskly down the road towards the +village. + +It they had only known it, at that very moment Ham Morris and his +blooming bride were setting out for a drive, at the fashionable +watering-place where they had made their first stop in their +wedding-tour. + +"Ham," said Miranda, "it seems to me as if we were a thousand miles from +home." + +"We shall be a good deal farther before we get any nearer," said Ham. + +"But I wonder what they are doing there, this morning,--mother, and the +girls, and dear little Dabney." + +"Little Dabney!" exclaimed Ham, with a queer sort of laugh on his face. +"Why, Miranda, do you think Dab is a baby yet?" + +"No, not a baby, but"-- + +"Well, he's a boy, that's a fact; but he'll be as tall as I am in three +years." + +"Will he? Do you think so? But will he ever get fat?" + +"Not till after he gets his full length," said Ham. "We must have him at +our house a good deal, after we get home, and feed him up. I've taken a +liking to Dab." + +"Feed him up!" said Miranda. "Do you think we starve him?" + +"No, I suppose not; but how many meals a day does he get?" + +"Three, of course, like the rest of us; and he never misses one of +them." + +"Exactly," said Ham: "I shouldn't suppose he would. I never miss a meal, +myself, if I can help it. But don't you think three meals a day is +rather short allowance for a boy like Dab?" + +Miranda thought a moment, but then she answered positively,-- + +"No, I don't. Not if he does as well at each one of them as Dabney is +sure to." + +"Well," said Ham, "that was in his old clothes, that were too tight for +him. Now he's got a good loose fit, with plenty of room, you don't know +how much more he may need. No, Miranda, I'm going to have an eye on +Dab." + +"You're a dear good fellow, anyway," said Miranda, with one of her very +best smiles, "and I hope mother'll have the house all ready for us when +we get back." + +"She will," replied Ham, after a moment spent in somewhat thoughtful +silence. "Do you know, Miranda, I shall hardly be easy about that till I +see what she's done with it? It was in a dreadfully baggy condition." + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO BOYS, ONE PIG, AND AN UNFORTUNATE RAILWAY-TRAIN. + + +"That's him!" + +Dab was standing by his ponies, in front of a store in the village. His +mother was making some purchases in the store, and Dab was thinking how +the Morris house would look when it was finished; and it was at him the +old farmer was pointing in answer to a question which had just been +asked him. + +The questioner was the sharp-eyed boy who had bothered poor Dick Lee +that morning, and he was now evidently making a sort of "study" of Dab +Kinzer. + +At that moment, however, a young lady--quite young--came tripping along +the sidewalk, and was stopped by Dabney, with,-- + +"There, Jenny Walters! If I didn't forget my label!" + +"Why, Dabney! Is that you? How you startled me! Forgot your label?" + +"Yes," said Dab; "I'm in another new suit today; and I meant to have a +label on the collar, with my name on it. You'd have known me then." + +"But I know you now," exclaimed Jenny. "Why, I saw you yesterday." + +"Yes, and I told you it was me. Can you read, Jenny?" + +"Why, what a question!" + +"Because, if you can't, it won't do me any good to wear a label." + +"Dabney Kinzer!" exclaimed Jenny, "there's an other thing you ought to +get." + +"What's that?" + +"Some good manners," said the little lady snappishly. "Think of your +stopping me in the street to tell me I can't read!" + +"Then you mustn't forget me so quick," said Dab. "If you meet my old +clothes anywhere you must call them Dick Lee. They've had a change of +name." + +"So he's in them, is he? I don't doubt they look better than they ever +did before." + +Jenny walked away at once, at the end of that remark, holding her head +pretty high, and leaving her old playmate feeling as if he had had a +little the worst of it. That was often the way with people who stopped +to talk with Jenny Walters, and she was not as much of a favorite as she +otherwise might have been. + +Dabney looked after her with his mouth puckered into shape for a +whistle; but she had hardly disappeared before he found himself +confronted by the strange young gentleman. + +"Is your name Dabney Kinzer?" + +"Yes, I believe so." + +"Well, I'm Mr. Ford Foster, from New York." + +"Come over here to buy goods?" suggested Dabney. "Or to get something to +eat?" + +Ford Foster was apparently of about Dab's age, but a full head less in +height, so that there was more point in the question than there seemed +to be; but he treated it as not worthy of notice, and asked,-- + +"Do you know of a house to let anywhere about here?" + +"House to let?" suddenly exclaimed the voice of Mrs. Kinzer, behind him, +much to Dab's surprise. "Are you asking about a house? Whom for?" + +Ford Foster had been quite ready to "chaff" Dick Lee, and he would not +have hesitated about trying a like experiment upon Mr. Dabney Kinzer; +but he knew enough to speak respectfully to the portly and business-like +lady before him now. + +"Yes, madam," he said, with a ceremonious bow: "I wish to report to my +father that I have found an acceptable house in this vicinity." + +"You do!" + +Mrs. Kinzer was reading the young gentleman through and through, as she +spoke; but she followed her exclamation with a dozen questions, all of +which he answered with a good deal of clearness and intelligence. She +wound up at last, with,-- + +"Go right home, then, and tell your father the only good house to let in +this neighborhood will be ready for him next week. I'll show it to him +when he comes, but he'd better see me at once. Dabney, jump into the +buggy. I'm in a hurry." + +The ponies were in motion, up the street, before Ford Foster quite +recovered from the shock of being told to "go right home." + +"A very remarkable woman," he muttered, as he turned away, "and she did +not tell me a word about the house, after all. I must make some more +inquiries. The boy is actually well dressed, for a place like this." + +"Mother," said Dabney, as they drove along, "you wouldn't let 'em have +Ham's house, would you?" + +"No, indeed. But I don't mean to have our own stand empty." + +With that reply a great deal of light broke in upon Dab's mind. + +"That's it, is it?" he said to himself, as he touched up the ponies. +"Well, there'll be room enough for all of us there, and no mistake. But +what'll Ham say?" + +That was a question which he could safely leave to the very responsible +lady beside him; and she found "errands" enough for him, during the +remainder of that forenoon, to keep him from worrying his mind about any +thing else. + +As for Ford Foster, it was not until late on the following day that he +completed all his "inquiries" to his satisfaction. He took the afternoon +train for the city, almost convinced that, much as he undoubtedly knew +before he came, he had actually acquired a good deal more knowledge +which might be of some value. + +Ford was almost the only passenger in the car he had selected. Trains +going towards the city were apt to be thinly peopled at that time of +day; but the empty cars had to be taken along all the same, for the +benefit of the crowds who would be coming out later in the afternoon and +in the evening. The railway-company would have made more money with full +loads both ways, but it was well they did not have a full load on that +precise train. + +Ford had turned over the seat in front of him, and stretched himself out +with his feet on it. It was almost like lying down, for a boy of his +length; and it was the very best position he could possibly have taken +if he had known what was coming. + +Known what was coming? + +Yes: there was a pig coming. + +That was all; but it was quite enough, considering what that pig was +about to do. He was going where he chose, just then; and not only had he +chosen to walk upon the railroad-track, but he had also made up his mind +not to turn out for that locomotive and its train of cars. + +He saw it, of course, for he was looking straight at it; and the +engineer saw him, but it would have been well for the pig if he had been +discovered a few seconds earlier. + +"What a whistle!" exclaimed Ford Foster at that moment. "It sounds more +like the squeal of an iron pig than any thing else. I"-- + +But at that instant there came to him a great jolt and a shock; and Ford +found himself tumbled all in a heap, on the seat where his feet had +been. Then came bounce after bounce, and the sound of breaking glass, +and then a crash. + +"Off the track," shouted Ford, as he sprang to his feet. "I wouldn't +have missed it for any thing. I do hope, though, there hasn't anybody +been killed." + +In the tremendous excitement of the moment he could hardly have told how +he got out of that car; but it did not seem ten seconds before he was +standing beside the engineer and conductor of the train, looking at the +battered engine, as it lay upon its side in a deep ditch. The +baggage-car, just behind it, was broken all to pieces, but the +passenger-cars did not seem to have suffered very much; and nobody was +badly hurt, as the engineer and fireman had jumped off in time. + +There had been very little left of the pig; but the conductor and the +rest seemed much disposed to say unkind things about him, and about his +owner, and about all the other pigs they could think of. + +"This train'll never get in on time," said Ford to the conductor, a +little later. "How'll I get to the city?" + +The railway man was not in the best of humors; and he answered, a little +groutily, "Well, young man, I don't suppose the city could get along +without you over night. The junction with the main road is only two +miles ahead, and if you're a good walker you may catch a train there." + +Some of the other passengers, none of whom were much more than "badly +shaken up," or down, had made the same discovery; and in a few minutes +more there was a long, straggling procession of uncomfortable people, +marching by the side of the railway-track, in the hot sun. They were +nearly all of them making unkind remarks about pigs, and the faculty +they had of not getting out of the way. + +The conductor was right, however; and nearly all of them managed to walk +the two miles to the junction in time to go in on the other train. + +Ford Foster was among the first to arrive, and he was likely to reach +home in season, in spite of the pig and his outrageous conduct. + +As for his danger, he had hardly thought of that; and he again and again +declared to himself that he would not have missed so important an +adventure for any thing he could think of. It almost sounded once or +twice as if he took to himself no small amount of personal credit, not +to say glory, for having been in so remarkable an accident, and come out +of it so well. + +Ford's return, when he should make it, was to take him to a great, +pompous, stylish, crowded "up-town boarding-house," in one of the +fashionable streets of the great city. There was no wonder at all that +wise people should wish to get out of such a place in such hot weather. +Still it was the sort of home Ford Foster had been acquainted with all +his life; and it was partly owing to that, that he had become so +prematurely "knowing." + +He knew too much, in fact, and was only too well aware of it. He had +filled his head with an unlimited stock of boarding-house information, +as well as with a firm persuasion that there was little more to be +had,--unless, indeed, it might be scraps of such outside knowledge as he +had now been picking up over on Long Island. + +In one of the large "parlor-chambers" of the boarding-house, at about +eight o'clock that evening, a middle-aged gentleman and lady, with a +fair, sweet-faced girl of about nineteen, were sitting near an open +window, very much as if they were waiting for somebody. Such a kind, +motherly lady! She was one of those whom no one can help liking, after +seeing her smile once, or hearing her speak. + +Ford Foster himself could not have put in words what he thought about +his mother. And yet he had no difficulty whatever in expressing his +respect for his father, or his unbounded admiration for his pretty +sister Annie. + +"O husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Foster, "are you sure none of them were +injured?" + +"So the telegraphic report said; not a bone broken of anybody, but the +pig that got in the way." + +"How I wish he would come!" groaned Annie. "Have you any idea, father, +how Ford could get to the city?" + +"Not clearly, my dear," said her father; "but you can trust Ford not to +miss any opportunity. He's just the boy to look out for himself in an +emergency." + +Ford Foster's father took very strongly after the son in whose presence +of mind and ability he expressed so much confidence. He had just such a +square, active, bustling sort of body, several sizes larger; with just +such keen, penetrating, greenish-gray eyes. Anybody would have picked +him out at a glance for a lawyer, and a good one. + +That was exactly what he was; and, if anybody had become acquainted with +either son or father, there would have been no difficulty afterward in +identifying the other. + +It required a good deal more than the telegraphic report of the +accident, or even her husband's assurances, to relieve the motherly +anxiety of good Mrs. Foster, or even to drive away the shadows from the +face of Annie. + +No doubt, if Ford himself had known the state of affairs in his family +circle, they would have been relieved earlier; for, even while they were +talking about him, he had reached the end of his adventures, and was +already in the house. It had not so much as occurred to him that his +mother would hear of the disaster to the pig and the railway-train until +he himself should tell her; and so he had made sure of his supper down +stairs before reporting his arrival. He might not have done it perhaps; +but he had entered the house by the lower way, through the area door, +and that of the dining-room had stood temptingly open, with some very +eatable things spread out upon the table. + +That had been too much for Ford, after his car-ride, and his smash-up, +and his long walk. + +Now, at last, up he came, three stairs at a time, brimful of new and +wonderful experiences, to be more than a little astonished by the manner +and enthusiasm of his welcome. + +"Why, mother," he exclaimed, when he got a chance for a word, "you and +Annie couldn't have said much more if I'd been the pig himself!" + +"The pig!" said Annie. + +"Yes, the pig that stopped us. He and the engine won't go home to their +families to-night." + +"Don't make fun of it, Ford," said his mother gently. "It's too serious +a matter." + +Just then his father broke in, almost impatiently, with,-- + +"Well, Ford, my boy, have you done your errand? or shall I have to see +about it myself? You've been gone two days." + +"Thirty-seven hours and a half, father," replied Ford, taking out his +watch. "I've kept an exact account of my expenses. We've saved the cost +of advertising." + +"And spent it on railroading," said his father, with a laugh. + +"But, Ford," asked Annie, "did you find a house?--a good one?" + +"Yes," added Mrs. Foster: "now I'm sure you're safe, I do want to hear +about the house." + +"It's all right, mother," said Ford confidently. "The very house you +told me to hunt for. Neither too large nor too small. I've only seen the +outside of it, but every thing about it is in apple-pie order." + +There were plenty of questions to answer now, but + +Ford was every way equal to the occasion. Some of his answers might have +made Mrs. Kinzer herself open her eyes, for the material for them had +been obtained from her own neighbors. + +Ford's report, in fact, compelled his father to look at him with an +expression of face which very plainly meant,-- + +"That's my boy. He resembles me. I was just like him, at his age. He'll +be just like me, at mine." + +There was excellent reason, beyond question, to approve of the manner in +which the young gentleman had performed his errand in the country; and +Mr. Foster promptly decided to go over in a day or two, and see what +sort of an arrangement could be made with Mrs. Kinzer. + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +NEW NEIGHBORS, AND GETTING SETTLED. + + +The week which followed the wedding-day was an important one. + +The improvements on the Morris house were pushed along in a way that +astonished everybody. Every day that passed, and with every dollar's +worth of work that was done, the good points of the long-neglected old +mansion came out stronger and stronger. + +The plans of Mrs. Kinzer had been a good while in getting ready, and she +knew exactly what was best to be done at every hole and corner. + +Within a few days after Ford's trip of investigation, he and his father +came over from the city; and Mr. Foster speedily came to a perfect +understanding with Dabney's mother. + +"A very business-like, common-sense sort of a woman," the lawyer +remarked to his son. "But what a great, dangling, overgrown piece of a +boy that is! Still, he seems intelligent, and you may find him good +company." + +"No doubt of it," said Ford. "I may be useful to him too. He looks as if +he could learn if he only had a fair chance." + +"I should say so," responded Mr. Foster. "We must not expect too much of +fellows brought up away out here, as he has been." + +Ford gravely assented, and they went back to report their success to +Mrs. Foster and Annie. + +There was a great surprise in store, consequently, for the people of the +village. Early in the following week it was rumored from house to +house,-- + +"The Kinzers are all a-movin' over to Ham Morris's." + +And then, before the public mind had become sufficiently settled to +inquire into the matter, the rumor changed itself into a piece of +positive news:-- + +"The widder Kinzer's moved over into Ham's house, bag and baggage." + +So it was; although the carpenters and painters and glaziers were still +at work, and the piles of Kinzer furniture had to be stored around as +best could be. Some part of them had even to be locked up over night in +one of the barns. + +The Kinzers, for generations, had been a trifle weak about furniture; +and that was one of the reasons why there had been so little room for +human beings in their house. The little parlor, indeed, had been filled +until it put one in mind of a small furniture-store, with not room +enough to show the stock on hand; and some of the other parts of the +house required knowledge and care to walk about in them. It was bad for +a small house, truly, but not so much so when the same articles were +given a fair chance to spread themselves. + +It was a treat to Dab to watch while the new carpets were put down, and +see how much more at home and comfortable all that furniture looked, +after it was moved into its new quarters. He remarked to Keziah,-- + +"It won't be of any use for anybody to try to sit on that sofa and play +the piano. They'll have to get up and come over." + +Mrs. Kinzer took good care that the house she left should speak well of +her to the eyes of Mrs. Foster, when that lady came to superintend the +arrival of her own household goods. + +The character of these, by the way, at once convinced the village +gossips that "lawyer Foster must be a good deal forehanded in money +matters." And so he was, even more so than his furniture indicated. + +Ford had a wonderful deal to do with the settlement of his family in +their new home; and it was not until nearly the close of the week that +he found time for more than an occasional glance over the north fence, +although he and Dab had several times exchanged a word or two when they +met each other on the road. + +"Take the two farms together," his father had said to him, "and they +make a really fine estate. I learn, too, that the Kinzers have other +property. Your young acquaintance is likely to have a very good start in +the world." + +Ford had found out very nearly as much as that on his own account; but +he had long since learned the uselessness of trying to teach his father +any thing, however well he might succeed with ordinary people, and so he +said nothing. + +"Dabney," said Mrs. Kinzer, that Friday evening, "you've been a great +help all the week. Suppose you take the ponies to-morrow morning, and +ask young Foster out for a drive." + +"Mother," exclaimed Samantha, "I shall want the ponies myself. I've some +calls to make, and some shopping. Dabney will have to drive." + +"No, Sam," said Dabney: "if you go out with the ponies to-morrow, you'll +have my old clothes to drive you. I'll go and speak to them about it." + +"What do you mean?" asked Samantha. + +"I mean, with Dick Lee in them." + +"That would be just as well," said Mrs. Kinzer. "The ponies are gentle +enough, and Dick drives well. He'll be glad enough to go." + +"Dick Lee, indeed!" began Samantha. + +"A fine boy," interrupted Dab. "And he's beginning to dress well. His +new clothes fit him beautifully. All he really needs is a shirt, and +I'll give him one. Mine are getting too small." + +Samantha's fingers fidgeted a little with the tidy they were holding; +but Mrs. Kinzer said composedly,-- + +"Well, Dabney, I've been thinking about it. You ought not to be tied +down all the while. Suppose you take next week pretty much to yourself: +Samantha won't want the ponies every day. The other horses have all got +to work, or I'd let you have one of them." + +Dabney got up, for want of a better answer, and walked over to where his +mother was sitting, and gave the thoughtful matron a good sounding kiss. + +At the same time he could not help thinking,-- + +"This comes of Ham Morris and my new rig." + +"There, Dabney, that'll do," said his mother; "but how'll you spend +Saturday?" + +"Guess I'll take Ford Foster out in the bay, a-crabbing, if he'll go," +replied Dabney. "I'll run over and ask him." + +It was not too late, and he was out of the house before there was any +chance for further remarks from the girls. + +"Now," he muttered, as he walked along, "I'll have to see old lawyer +Foster, and Mrs. Foster, and I don't know who all besides. I don't like +that." + +Just as he came to the north fence, however, he was hailed by a clear, +wide-awake voice,-- + +"Dab Kinzer, is that you?" + +"Guess so," said Dab: "is that you, Ford?" + +"I was just going over to your house," said Ford. + +"Well, so was I just coming over to see you. I've been too busy all the +week, but they've let up on me at last." + +"I've got our family nearly settled," replied Ford; "and I thought I'd +ask if you wouldn't like to go out on the bay with me to-morrow. Teach +you to catch crabs." + +Dabney drew a long, astonished sort of whistle; but he finished it +with,-- + +"That's about what I was thinking of. There's plenty of crabs, and I've +got a tip-top boat. We won't want a heavy one for just us two." + +"All right, then. We'll begin on crabs, but some other day we'll go for +bigger fish. What are you going to do next week?" + +"Got it all to myself," said Dab. "We can have all sorts of a good time. +We can have the ponies, too, when we want them." + +"That's about as good as it knows how to be," responded the young +gentleman from the city. "I'd like to explore the country. You're going +to have a nice place of it, over there, before you get through. Only, if +I'd had the planning of that house, I'd have set it back farther. Too +much room all round it. Not enough trees either." + +Dab came stoutly to the defence of not only that house, but of +Long-Island architecture generally, and was fairly overwhelmed, for the +first time in his life, by a flood of big words from a boy of his own +age. + +He could have eaten up Ford Foster, if properly cooked. He felt sure of +that. But he was no match for him on the building question. On his way +back to his new home, however, after the discussion had lasted long +enough, he found himself inquiring,-- + +"That's all very nice, but what can he teach me about crabs? We'll see +about that to-morrow." + +Beyond a doubt, the crab question was of special importance; but one of +far greater consequence to Dab Kinzer's future was undergoing +discussion, at that very hour, hundreds of miles away. + +Quite a little knot of people there was, in a hotel parlor; and while +the blooming Miranda, now Mrs. Morris, was taking her share of talk very +well with the ladies, Ham was every bit as busy with a couple of elderly +gentlemen. + +"It's just as I say, Mr. Morris," said one of the latter, with a +superfluous show of energy: "there's no better institution of its kind +in the country than Grantley Academy. I send my own boys there; and I've +just written about it to my brother-in-law, Foster, the New-York lawyer. +He'll have his boy there this fall. No better place in the country, +sir." + +"But how about the expenses, Mr. Hart?" asked Ham. + +"Fees are just what I told you, sir, a mere nothing. As for board, all I +pay for my boys is three dollars a week. All they want to eat, sir, and +good accommodations. Happy as larks, sir, all the time. Cheap, sir, +cheap." + +If Ham Morris had the slightest idea of going to school at a New-England +academy, Miranda's place in the improved house was likely to wait for +her; for he had a look on his face of being very nearly convinced. + +She did not seem at all disturbed, however; and probably she knew that +her husband was not taking up the school question on his own account. + +Nevertheless, that was the reason why it might have been interesting for +Dab Kinzer, and even for his knowing neighbor, to have added themselves +to the company Ham and Miranda had fallen in with on their wedding-tour. + +Both of the boys had a different kind of thinking on hand; and that +night Dab dreamed that a gigantic crab was trying to pull Ford Foster +out of the boat, while the latter calmly remarked to him,-- + +"There, my young friend, did you ever see anything just like that +before?" + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CRABS, BOYS, AND A BOAT-WRECK. + + +That Saturday morning was a sad one for poor Dick Lee. + +His mother, the previous night, carefully locked up his elegant apparel, +the gift of Mr. Dabney Kinzer. It was done after Dick was in bed; and, +when daylight came again, he found only his old clothes by the bedside. + +It was a hard thing to bear, no doubt; but Dick had been a bad boy on +Friday. He had sold his fish instead of bringing them home, and then had +gone and squandered the money on a brilliant new red necktie. + +"Dat's good 'nuff for me to wear to meetin'," said Mrs. Lee, when her +eyes fell upon the gorgeous bit of cheap silk. "Reckon it won't be +wasted on any good-for-nuffin boy. I'll show ye wot to do wid yer fish. +You' a-gettin' too mighty fine, anyhow." + +Dick was disconsolate for a while; but his humility took the form of a +determination to go for crabs that day, mainly because his mother had +long since set her face against that tribe of animals. + +"Dey's a wasteful, 'stravagant sort ob fish," remarked Mrs. Lee, in +frequent explanation of her dislike. "Dey's all clo'es and no body, like +some w'ite folks I know on. I don't mean de Kinzers. Dey's all got body +nuff." + +And yet that inlet had a name and reputation of its own for crabs. There +was a wide reach of shallow water, inside the southerly point at the +mouth, where, over several hundred acres of muddy flats, the depth +varied from three and a half to eight feet, with the ebb and flow of the +tides. That was a sort of perpetual crab-pasture; and there it was that +Dick Lee determined to expend his energies that Saturday. + +Very likely there would be other crabbers on the flats; but Dick was not +the boy to object to that, provided none of them should notice the +change in his raiment. At an early hour, therefore, Dab and Ford were +preceded by their young colored friend, they themselves waiting for +later breakfasts than Mrs. Lee was in the habit of preparing. + +Dick's ill fortune did not leave him when he got out of sight of his +mother. It followed him down to the shore of the inlet, and compelled +him to give up, for that day, all idea of borrowing a respectable boat. + +There were several, belonging to the neighbors, from among which Dick +was accustomed to take his pick, in return for errands run and other +services rendered to their owners; but on this particular morning not +one of them all was available. Some were fastened with ugly chains and +padlocks. Two were hauled away above even high-water mark, and so Dick +could not have got either of them into the water even if he had dared to +try; and as for the rest, as Dick said,-- + +"Guess dar owners must hab come and borrered 'em." + +The consequence was, that the dark-skinned young fisherman was for once +compelled to put up with his own boat, or rather his father's. + +The three wise men of Gotham were not much worse off when they went to +sea in a bowl than was Dick Lee in that rickety little old flat-bottomed +punt. + +Did it leak? + +Well, not so very much, with no heavier weight than Dick's; but there +was reason in his remark that,-- + +"Dis yer's a mean boat to frow down a fish in, when you cotch 'im. He's +done suah to git drownded." + +Yes, and the crabs would get their feet wet, and so would Dick; but he +resigned himself to his circumstances, and pushed away. To tell the +truth, he had not been able to free himself from a lingering fear lest +his mother might come after him, before he could get afloat, with orders +for some duty or other on shore; and that would have been worse than +going to sea in the little old scow, a good deal. + +"Reckon it's all right," said Dick as he shoved off. "It'd be an awful +risk to trus' dem nice clo'es in de ole boat, suah." + +Nice clothes, nice boats, a good many other nice things, were as yet +beyond the reach of Dick Lee; but he was quite likely to catch as many +crabs as his more aristocratic neighbors. + +As for Dabney Kinzer and his friend from the city, they were on their +way to the water-side, after all, at an hour which indicated either +smaller appetites than usual or greater speed at the breakfast-table. + +"Plenty of boats, I should say," remarked Ford, as he surveyed the +little "landing" and its vicinity with the air of a man who had a few +fleets of his own. "All sorts. Any of 'em fast?" + +"Not many," said Dab. "The row-boats, big and little, have to be built +so they will stand pretty rough water." + +"How are the sail-boats?" + +"Same thing. There's Ham Morris's yacht." + +"That? Why, she's as big as any in the lot." + +"Bigger; but she don't show it." + +"Can't we take a cruise in her?" asked Ford. + +"Any time. Ham lets me use her whenever I like. She's fast enough, but +she's built so she'll stand 'most any thing. Safe as a house if she's +handled right." + +"Handled!" + +Ford Foster's expression of face would have done honor to the Secretary +of the Navy, or the Chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee in Congress, +or any other perfect seaman, Noah included. It seemed to say,-- + +"As if any boat could be otherwise than well sailed, with me on board!" + +Dabney, however, even while he was talking, had been hauling in from its +"float and grapnel," about ten yards out at low water, the very +stanch-looking little yawl-boat that called him owner. She was just such +a boat as Mrs. Kinzer would naturally have provided for her boy,--stout, +well-made, and sensible,--without any bad habits of upsetting or the +like. Not too large for Dabney to manage all alone, "The Jenny," as he +called her, and as her name was painted on the stern, was all the better +for having two on board, and had room in her then for more. + +"The inlet's pretty narrow for a long reach through the marsh," said +Dabney, "and as crooked as a ram's horn. I'll steer, and you pull, till +we're out o' that, and then I'll take the oars." + +"I might as well row out to the crab-grounds," said Ford, as he pitched +his coat forward, and took his seat at the oars. "All ready?" + +"Ready," said Dab; and "The Jenny" glided gracefully away from the +landing with the starting-push he gave her. + +Ford Foster had had oars in his hands before, but his experience had +been limited to a class of vessels different in some respects from the +one he was in now. + +He was short of something, at all events. It may have been skill, or it +may have been legs or discretion; but, whatever was lacking, at the +third or fourth stroke the oar-blades went a little too deeply below the +smooth surface of the water. There was a vain tug, a little out of +"time;" and then there was a boy on the bottom of the boat, and a pair +of well-polished shoes lifted high in the air. + +"You've got it," shouted Dabney. + +"Got what?" exclaimed an all-but angry voice from down there between the +seats. + +"Caught the first 'crab,'" replied Dabney: "that's what we call it. Can +you steer? Guess I'd better row." + +"No, you won't," was the very resolute reply, as Ford regained his seat +and his oars. "I sha'n't catch any more crabs of that sort. I'm a little +out of practice, that's all." + +"I should say you were, a little. Well, it won't hurt you. 'Tisn't much +of a pull." + +Ford would have pulled it now if he had blistered all the skin off his +hands in doing so; and he did very creditable work for some minutes, +among the turns and windings of the narrow inlet. + +"Here we are," shouted Dabney at last. "We are in the inlet yet, but it +widens out into the bay." + +"That's the bay, out yonder?" + +"Yes; and the island between that and the ocean's no better'n a mere bar +of sand." + +"How d'you get past it?" + +"Right across there, almost in a straight line. We'll run it next week +in Ham's yacht. Splendid weak-fishing right in the mouth of that inlet, +on the ocean side." + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Ford, "I'm in for that. Is the bay deep?" + +"Not very," replied Dabney; "but it gets pretty rough sometimes." + +Ford was getting pretty red in the face just then, with his unaccustomed +exercise; and his friend added,-- + +"You needn't pull so hard: we're almost there. Hullo! if there isn't +Dick Lee, in his dry-goods box. That boat'll drown him some day, and his +dad too. But just see him pull in crabs!" + +Ford came near "catching" one more as he tried to turn around for the +look proposed, exclaiming,-- + +"Dab, let's get to work as quick as we can. They might go away." + +"Might fly?" + +"No; but don't they go and come?" + +"Well, you go and drop the grapnel over the bows, and we'll see 'em come +in pretty quick." + +The grapnel, or little anchor, was thrown over quickly enough; and the +two boys were in such an eager haste that they had hardly a word to say +to Dick, though he was now but a few rods away. + +Now, it happened that when Ford and Dab came down to the water that +morning, each of them had brought a load. The former had only a neat +little japanned tin box, about as big as his head; and the latter, +besides his oars, carried a seemingly pretty heavy basket. + +"Lots of lunch, I should say," had been Ford's mental comment; but he +had not thought it wise to ask questions. + +"Plenty of lunch in that box," thought Dab at the same moment, but only +as a matter of course. + +And they were both wrong. Lunch was the one thing they had both +forgotten. + +But the box and the basket. + +Ford Foster came out, of his own accord, with the secret of the box; for +he now took a little key out of his pocket, and unlocked it with an air +of-- + +"Look at this, will you?" + +Dab Kinzer looked, and was very sure he had never before seen quite such +an assortment of brand-new fish-hooks, of many sorts and sizes, and of +fish-lines which looked as if they had thus far spent their lives on dry +land. + +"Tip-top," he remarked. "I see a lot of things we can use one of these +days, but there isn't time to go over 'em now. Let's go for the crabs. +What made you bring your box along?" + +"Oh!" replied Ford, "I left my rods at home, both of 'em. You don't +s'pose I'd go for crabs with a rod, do you? But you can take your pick +of hooks and lines." + +"Crabs? Hooks and lines?" + +"Why, yes. You don't mean to scoop 'em up in that landing-net, do you?" + +Dab looked at his friend for a moment in blank amazement, and then the +truth broke upon him for the first time. + +"Oh, I see! You never caught any crabs. Well, just you lock up your +jewellery-box, and I'll show you." + +It was not easy for Dab to keep from laughing in Ford Foster's face; but +his mother had not given him so many lessons in good-breeding for +nothing, and Ford was permitted to close his ambitious "casket" without +any worse annoyance than his own wounded pride gave him. + +But now came out the secret of the basket. + +The cover was jerked off; and nothing was revealed but a varied +assortment of clams, large and small, but mostly of good size,--tough +old customers, that no amount of roasting or boiling would ever have +prepared for human eating. + +"What are they for,--bait?" + +"Yes, bait, weight, and all." + +"How's that?" + +Dabney's reply was to draw from his pocket a couple of long, strong +cords, bits of old fishing-lines. He cracked a couple of clams one +against the other; tied the fleshy part of one to each of the cords; +tied bits of shell on, a foot or so from the ends, for sinkers; handed +one cord to Ford, took the other himself, and laid the long-handled +scoop-net he had brought with him down between them, saying,-- + +"Now we're ready. Drop your clam down to the bottom, and it won't be +half a minute before you feel something pull on it. Then you draw it up +gently,--steady as you know how. You mustn't jerk the crab loose. You'll +get the knack of it in five minutes. It's all knack. There isn't any +thing else so stupid as a crab." + +Ford watched carefully, and obeyed in silence the directions he had +received. + +In a minute or so more the operation of the scoop-net was called for, +and the fun began. + +"You got him!" exclaimed Ford in a loud whisper, as he saw Dab quickly +plunge the net into the water, and then shake out of it into the bottom +of the boat a great sprawling "blue-legged" crab. "He's a whopper!" + +"He'll do for one." + +"There's one on mine! I declare, he's let go!" + +"You jerked the clam away from him. Sink it again. He's mad about it. +He'll take right hold again." + +"He's pulling now, or it's another one." + +"Let him pull. Lift him easy. Long as he thinks he's stealing something, +he'll hold on. There he comes,--see him?" + +Ford saw the white flesh of the clam coming slowly up through the water, +and he held his breath; for just behind and below it was a sprawling +shadowy something that was tugging with all its might at that tough +shell-fish. + +"It's an awful big one!" + +"Shall I scoop him?" + +"No, indeed: I want to scoop him myself. I saw how you did it." + +Splash went the net, as the prize came nearer the surface; and Ford +began, somewhat excitedly, to shake it all over the bottom of the boat. + +"Why, where's that crab? You don't mean to say he was quick enough to +dodge away?" + +"Quick? well, no, that isn't just the trouble. I forgot to tell you to +scoop way under him. You hit him, square, and knocked him ever so far. +The water deceives your eyes. Drive the net under him quick, and then +lift. I've got one--now just you see how I scoop." + +Ford felt dreadfully disappointed over the loss of his first crab, but +the rapidity with which he caught the "knack of it" after that was a +great credit to him. He did not miss the next one he pulled up. + +It was great fun; but it had its slack moments, and in one of these Dab +suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"The young black rascal! If he hasn't gone and got a sheep's-head!" + +"A sheep's-head?" + +They were both staring at the old punt, where Dick Lee was apparently +enjoying the most extraordinary good fortune. + +"Yes, that's it. That's why he beats us so badly. They're a sight +better'n clams, only you can't always get one. I wonder where he picked +up that one." + +"But how he does pull 'em in!" + +"We're doing well enough," began Dabney, when suddenly there came a +shrill cry of pain from the black boy's punt. + +"He's barefooted," shouted Dab, with, it must be confessed, something +like a grin; "and one of the little pirates has pinned him with his +nippers." + +That was the difficulty exactly, and there need not have been any very +serious result of such an expression of a crab's bad temper. But Dick +Lee was more than ordinarily averse to any thing like physical pain, and +the crab which now had him by the toe was a very muscular and vicious +specimen of his quarrelsome race. + +The first consequence of that vigorous nip was a momentary dance up and +down in the punt, accompanied by exclamatory howls from Dick, but not by +a word of any sort from the crab. + +The next consequence was, that the crab let go; but so at the same +instant, did the rotten board in the boat-bottom, upon which Dick Lee +had so rashly danced. + +It let go of the rest of the boat so suddenly that poor Dick had only +time for one tremendous yell, as it let him right down through to his +armpits. + +The water was perfectly smooth; but the boat was full in an instant, and +nearly a bushel of freshly-caught and ill-tempered crabs were +manoeuvring in all directions around the woolly head, which was all +their late captor could now keep in sight. + +"Up with the grapnel, Ford," shouted Dab. "Take an oar: we'll both row. +He can swim like a duck, but he might split his throat." + +"Or get scared to death." + +"Or those crabs might go for him, and eat him up." + +"How he does yell!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A VERY ACCIDENTAL CALL. + + +At the very moment when the angry crab closed his nippers on the bare +big toe of Dick Lee, and his shrill note of discomfort rang across the +inlet, the shriller whistle of the engine announced the arrival of the +morning train from the city, at the little station in the village. + +A moment or so later, a very pretty young lady was standing beside a +trunk on the platform, trying to get some information from the flagman. + +"Can you tell me where Mr. Foster lives?" + +"That's the gimlet-eyed lawyer from New Yark?" + +"Yes, he's from New York," said the young lady, smiling in his face. +"Where does he live?" + +"He's got the sassiest boy, thin. Is it him as took the Kinzer house?" + +"I think likely it is. Can you tell me how to get there?" + +"Thim Kinzers is foine people. The widdy married one of the gurrels to +Misther Morris." + +"But how can I get to the house?" + +"Is it there ye're afther goin'?--Hey, Michael, me boy, bring up yer +owld rattlethrap, and take the leddy's thrunk. She'll be goin' to the +Kinzer place. Sharp, now." + +"I should say it was," muttered the young lady, as the remains of what +had been a carryall were pulled up beside the platform by the skinny +skeleton of what might once have been a horse. "It's a rattletrap." + +There was no choice, however; for that was the only public conveyance at +the station, and the trunk was already whisked in behind the dashboard, +and the driver was waiting for her. + +He could afford to wait, as it would be some hours before another train +would be in. + +There was no door to open in that "carriage." It was all door except the +top and bottom, and the pretty passenger was neither helped nor hindered +in finding her place on the back seat. + +If the flagman was more disposed to ask questions than to answer them, +Michael said few words of any kind except to his horse. To him, indeed, +he kept up a constant stream of encouraging remarks, the greatest part +of which would have been difficult for an ordinary hearer to understand. + +Very likely the horse knew what they meant; for he came very near +breaking from a limp into a trot several times, under the stimulus of +all that clucking and "G'lang, now!" + +The distance was by no means great, and Michael seemed to know the way +perfectly. At least he answered, "Yes'm, indade," to several inquiries +from his passenger, and she was compelled to be satisfied with that. + +"What a big house it is! And painters at work on it too," she exclaimed, +just as Michael added a vigorous jerk of the reins to the "Whoa!" with +which he stopped his nag in front of an open gate. + +"Are you sure this is the place?" + +"Yes'm; fifty cints, mum." + +By the time the trunk was out of the carriage and swung inside of the +gate, the young lady had followed; but for some reason Michael at once +sprang back to his place, and whipped up his limping steed. It may have +been from the fear of being asked to take that trunk into the house, for +it was not a small one. The young lady stood for a moment irresolute, +and then left it where it was, and walked on up to the house. + +No bell; no knocker. The workmen had not reached that part of their +improvements yet. But the door was open; and a very neatly furnished +parlor at the left of the hall seemed to say, "Come right in, please;" +and in she went. + +Such an arrival could not possibly have escaped the notice of the +inmates of the house; and, as the young lady from the railway came in at +the front, another and a very different-looking lady marched through to +the parlor from the rear. + +Each one would have been a puzzle to the other, if the elder of the two +had not been Mrs. Kinzer, and the widow had never been very much puzzled +in all her life. At all events, she put out her hand, with a cordial +smile, saying,-- + +"Miss Foster, is it not? I am Mrs. Kinzer. How could he have made such a +mistake?" + +"Yes, Miss Annie Foster. But do please explain Where am I? and how do +you know me?" + +The widow laughed cheerily. + +"How do I know you, my dear? Why, you resemble your mother almost as +much as your brother Ford resembles his father. You are only one door +from home here, and I'll have your trunk taken right over to the house. +Please sit down a moment. Ah! my daughter Samantha, Miss Foster. Excuse +me a moment, while I call one of the men." + +By the time their mother was fairly out of the room, however, Keziah and +Pamela were also in it; and Annie thought she had rarely seen three +girls whose appearance testified so strongly to the healthiness of the +place they lived in. + +The flagman's questions and Annie's answers were related quickly enough, +and the cause of Michael's blunder was plain at once. + +The parlor rang again with peals of laughter; for Dab Kinzer's sisters +were ready at any time to look at the funny side of things, and their +accidental guest saw no reason for not joining them. + +"Your brother Ford is on the bay, crabbing with our Dabney," remarked +Samantha, as the widow returned. But Annie's eyes had been furtively +watching her baggage through the window, and saw it swinging upon a +broad, red-shirted pair of shoulders, just then; and, before she could +bring her mind to bear upon the crab question, Keziah Kinzer +exclaimed,-- + +"If there isn't Mrs. Foster, coming through the garden gate!" + +"My mother!" and Annie was up and out of the parlor in a twinkling, +followed by all the ladies of the Kinzer family. It was really quite a +procession. + +Now, if Mrs. Foster was in any degree surprised by her daughter's sudden +appearance, or by her getting to the Kinzer house first instead of to +her own, it was a curious fact that she did not say so by a word or a +look. + +Not a breath of it. But, for all the thorough-bred self-control of the +city lady, Mrs. Kinzer knew perfectly well there was something odd and +unexpected about it all. If Samantha had noticed this fact, there might +have been some questions asked possibly; but one of the widow's most +rigid rules in life was to "mind her own business." + +The girls, indeed, were quite jubilant over an occurrence which made +them at once so well acquainted with their very attractive new neighbor; +and they might have followed her even beyond the gate in the north +fence, if it had not been for their mother. All they were allowed to do +was to go back to their own parlor, and hold "a council of war," in the +course of which Annie Foster was discussed, from her bonnet to her +shoes. + +Mrs. Foster had been abundantly affectionate in greeting her daughter; +but, when once they were alone in the wee sitting-room of the old Kinzer +homestead, she put her arms around her, saying,-- + +"Now, my darling, tell me what it all means." + +"Why, mother, it was partly my mistake, and partly the flagman's and the +driver's; and I'm sure Mrs. Kinzer was kind. She knew me before I said a +word, by my resemblance to you." + +"Oh, I don't mean that! How is it you are here so soon? I thought you +meant to make a long visit at your uncle Hart's." + +"So I would, mother, if it had not been for those boys." + +"Your cousins, Annie?" + +"Cousins, mother! You never saw such young bears in all your life. They +tormented me from morning till night." + +"But, Annie, I hope you have not offended"-- + +"Offended, mother? Aunt Maria thinks they're perfect, and so does uncle +Joe. They'd let them pull the house down over their heads, you'd think." + +"But, Annie, what did they do? and what did you say?" + +"Do, mother? I couldn't tell you in all day; but when they poured ink +over my cuffs and collars, I said I would come home. I had just one pair +left white to wear home, and I travelled all night." + +Poor Mrs. Foster! A cold shudder went over her at the idea of that ink +among the spotless contents of her own collar-box. + +"What boys they must be! but, Annie, what did your aunt say?" + +"Uncle Joe laughed till he cried; and Aunt Maria said, 'Boys will be +boys;' and I half believe they were sorry; but that was only a sort of a +winding-up, I wouldn't stay there another day." + +Annie had other things to tell; and, long before she had finished her +story, there was no further fault to be found with her for losing her +temper. Still her mother said mildly,-- + +"I must write to Maria at once, for it won't do to let those boys make +trouble between us." + +Annie looked at her with an expression of face which very plainly +said,-- + +"Nobody in the wide world could have the heart to quarrel with you." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A RESCUE, AND A GRAND GOOD TIME. + + +Dab Kinzer and his friend were prompt enough coming to the rescue of +their unfortunate fellow-lubber; but to get him out of the queer wreck +he had made of that punt looked like a tough task to both of them, and +they said as much. + +"I isn't drownin'," exclaimed Dick heroically, as the other boat was +pulled alongside of him. "Jest you take your scoop-net, and save dem +crabs." + +"They won't drown," said Ford. + +"But they'll get away," said Dab, as he snatched up the scoop. "Dick's +head is perfectly level on that point." + +The side-boards of the old punt were under water half the time, but the +crabs were pretty well penned in. Even a couple of them, that had +mistaken Dick's wool for another sheep's-head, were secured without +difficulty, in spite of the firmness with which they clung to their +prize. + +"What luck he'd been having!" said Ford. + +"He always does," said Dab. "I say, Dick, how'll I scoop you in?" + +"Has you done got all de crabs?" + +"Every pinner of 'em." + +"Den you jest wait a minute." + +Waiting was all that was left them to do, for the shining black face and +woolly head disappeared almost instantly. + +"He's sunk," exclaimed Ford. + +"There he comes," replied Dab: "he'd swum ashore from here, and not half +try. Why, I could swim twice as far as that myself, and he can beat me." + +"Could you? I couldn't." + +That was the first time Dab had heard his city acquaintance make a +confession of inability, and he could see a more than usually thoughtful +expression on his face. The coolness and skill of Dick Lee, in his hour +of disaster, had not been thrown away upon him. + +"If I had my clothes off," said Ford, "I believe I'd try that on." + +"Dab Kinzer, you's de bes' feller dar is. But wot'll we do wid de old +boat?" burst out Dick, on coming to the surface. + +"Let the tide carry her in while we're crabbing. She isn't worth +mending, but we'll tow her home." + +"All right," said Dick, as he grasped the gunwale of Dab's boat, and +began to climb over. + +"Hold on, Dick." + +"I is a-holdin' on." + +"I mean, wait a bit. Ain't you wet?" + +"Of course I's wet." + +"Well, then, you stay in there till you get dry It's well you didn't +have your new clothes on." + +"Ain't I glad 'bout dem!" enthusiastically ex-claimed the young African. +"Nebber mind dese clo'es. De water on 'em's all good, dry water, like de +res' ob de bay." + +And, so saying, Dick tumbled over in, with a spatter which made Ford +Foster tread on two of three crabs in getting away from it. It was not +the first time, by many, that Dick Lee had found himself bathing in that +bay without any time given him to undress. + +And now it was discovered that the shipwrecked crabber had never for one +instant lost his hold of the line, to the other end of which was +fastened his precious sheep's-head. + +They made a regular crabbing crew now,--two to pull up, and one to scoop +in; and never had the sprawling game been more plentiful on that +pasture, or more apparently in a greedy hurry to be captured. + +"What on earth shall we do with them all?" asked Ford. + +"Soon's we've got enough for a mess for both our folks," said Dab, +"we'll quit this, and go for some fish. The clams are good bait, and we +can try some of your tackle." + +Ford's face brightened a good deal at that suggestion, for he had more +than once cast a crest fallen look at his pretentious box. But he +replied,-- + +"A mess! How many crabs can one man eat?" + +"I don't know," said Dab. "It depends a good deal on who he is. Then, if +he eats the shells, he can't take in so many." + +"Eat de shells? Yah, yah, yah! Dat beats my mudder! She's allers +a-sayin' wot a waste de shells make," laughed Dick. "I jest wish we +might ketch some fish. I dasn't kerry home no crabs." + +"It does look as if we'd got as many as we'll know what to do with," +remarked Dab, as he looked down on the sprawling multitude in the bottom +of the boat. "We'll turn the clams out of the basket, and fill that; but +we mustn't put any crabs in the fish-car. We'll stow 'em all forward." + +The basket held more than half a bushel, but there was still a "heap" of +what Ford Foster called "the crusties" to pen up in the bow of the boat. + +That duty attended to, the grapnel was pulled up, and Dick was set at +the oars, while Dab selected from Ford's box just the hooks and lines +their owner had made least account of. + +"What'll we catch, Dab?" + +"'Most anything. Nobody knows till he's done it. Perch, porgies, +cunners, black-fish, weak-fish, maybe a bass or a sheep's-head, but more +cunners than any thing else, unless we strike some flounders at the turn +of the tide." + +"That's a big enough assortment to set up a fish-market on." + +"If we catch 'em. We've got a good enough day, anyhow, and the tide'll +be about right by the time we get to work." + +"Why not try here?" + +"'Cause there's no fish to speak of, and because the crabs'll clean your +hook for you as fast as you can put the bait on. We must go out to +deeper water and better bottom. Dick knows just where to go. You might +hang your line out all day and not get a bite, if you didn't strike the +right spot." + +Ford made no answer, but looked on very seriously while Dab skilfully +slit up a tough old Dutch clam into bait. It was beginning to dawn upon +him that he could teach the "'long-shore boys," whether black or white, +very little about fishing. He even allowed Dab to pick out a line for +him, and to put on the hook and sinker; and Dick Lee showed him how to +fix his bait, "so de fust cunner dat rubs agin it won't knock it off. +Dem's awful mean fish. Good for nuffin but 'teal bait." + +A merry party they were; and the salt water was rapidly drying from the +garments of the colored oars-man, as he pulled strongly and skilfully +out into the bay, and around toward a deep cove at the north of the +inlet mouth. + +Then, indeed, for the first time in his life, Ford Foster learned what +it was to catch fish. + +Not but what he had spent many an hour, and even day, on and about other +waters, with a rod or a line in his hand; but he had never before had +two such born fishermen at his elbow to take him to the right place +precisely, and at the right time, and then to show him what to do when +he got there. + +It was fun enough; for the fish bit remarkably well, and some of those +which came into the boat were of a very encouraging size and weight. + +There was one curious thing about those heavier fish. + +Ford would have given half the hooks and lines in his box, if he could +have caught from Dick or Dab the mysterious "knack" they seemed to have +of coaxing the biggest of the finny folk to their bait, and then over +the side of the boat. + +"There's some kind of favoritism about it," he remarked. + +"Never mind, Ford," replied Dab. "Dick and I are better acquainted with +them. They're always a little shy with strangers, at first. They don't +really mean to be impolite." + +Favoritism it was, nevertheless; and there was now no danger but what +Dick would be able to appease the mind of his mother without making any +mention of the crabs. + +At last, almost suddenly, and as if by common consent, the fish stopped +biting, and the two "'long shore boys" began to put away their lines. + +"Going to quit?" asked Ford. + +"Time's up, and the tide's turned," replied Dab. + +"Not another bite, most likely, till late this evening. We might as well +pull up, and start for home." + +"That's a curious kind of a habit for fish to have." + +"They've all got it though, 'round this bay." + +"Mus' look out for wot's lef' ob de ole scow, on de way home," remarked +Dick a little solemnly. "I's boun' to ketch it for dat good-for-noting +ole board." + +"We'll find it, and tow it in," said Dab; "and perhaps we can get it +mended. Anyhow, you can go with us next week. We're going to make a +cruise in Ham Morris's yacht. Will you go?" + +"Will I go? Yoop!" almost yelled the excited boy. "Dat's jest de one +t'ing I'd like to jine. Won't we hab fun! She's jest de bes' boat on dis +hull bay. You ain't foolin' me, is yer?" + +He was strongly assured that his young white associates were in sober +earnest about both their purpose and their promise; and, after that, he +insisted on rowing all the distance home. + +On the way the old punt was taken in tow; but the tide had already swept +it so far inside the mouth of the inlet, that there was less trouble in +pulling it the rest of the way. It was hardly worth the labor, but Dab +knew what a tempest the loss of it might bring around the ears of poor +Dick. + +When they reached the landing, and began to over-haul their very +brilliant "catch," Dabney said,-- + +"Now, Dick, take your string home, leave that basket of crabs at Mr. +Foster's, and then come back with the basket, and carry the rest of 'em +to our house. Ford and I'll see to the rest of the fish." + +"I haven't caught half as many as you have, either of you," said Ford, +when he saw with what even-handed justice the fish were divided in three +piles, as they were scooped out of the fish-car. + +"What of that?" replied Dab. "We follow fishermen's rules, down this +way. Share and share alike, you know. All the luck is outside the boat, +they say. Once the fish are landed, your luck's as good as mine." + +"Do they always follow that rule?" + +"The man that broke it wouldn't find company very easily, hereabouts, +next time he wanted to go a-fishing. No, nor for any thing else. +Nobody'd boat with him." + +"Well, if it's the regular thing," said Ford hesitatingly. "But I'll +tell who really caught 'em." + +"Oh, some of yours are right good ones! Your string'd look big enough, +some days, just as you caught 'em." + +"Would it?" + +"Yes, it would. Don't you imagine we can pull 'em in every time like we +did this morning,--crabs nor fish." + +"No, I s'pose not. Anyhow, I've learned some things." + +"I guess likely. We'll go for some more next week. Now for a tug." + +"Ain't they heavy, though!" + +The boat had already been made fast; and the two boys picked up their +strings of fish, two for each, after Dick Lee had started for home; and +heavy things they were to carry under that hot sun. + +"Come and show the whole lot to my mother," said Ford, "before you take +yours into the house. I'd like to have her see them all." + +"All right," replied Dab, but he little dreamed what was coming; for, +when he and Ford marched proudly into the sitting-room with their finny +prizes, Dabney found himself face to face with, not good, sweet-voiced +Mrs. Foster, but, as he thought, the most beautiful young lady he had +ever seen. + +Ford Foster shouted, "Annie! You here? Well, I never!" + +But Dab Kinzer wished all those fish safely back again swimming in the +bay. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOYS. + + +Ham Morris was a thoughtful and kind-hearted fellow, beyond a doubt; and +he was likely to be a valuable friend for a growing boy like Dab Kinzer. +It is not everybody's brother-in-law who would find time during his +wedding-trip to hunt up even so pretty a New-England village as +Grantley, and inquire into questions of board and lodging and schooling. + +That was precisely what Ham did, however; and Miranda went with him of +course. + +Mrs. Myers, to the hospitalities of whose cool and roomy-looking house +he had been commended by Mr. Hart, was so "crowded full with summer +boarders," liberally advertised for in the great city, that she had +hardly a corner left in which to stow away Ham and his bride, for even +one night. She was glad enough, however, that she had made the effort, +and found one, after she discovered the nature of the stranger's errand +in Grantley, and that it included "winter board" for a whole boy. + +There was a look of undisguised astonishment on the faces of the regular +guests when they gathered for the next meal. It happened to be supper, +but they all looked at the table and then at one another. It was a pity +Ham and Miranda did not understand the meaning of those glances, or else +that they did not make a longer stay with Mrs. Myers. They might have +learned more about her and her boarding-house, if not about the academy. +As it was, they only gathered a very high opinion of her cookery and +hospitality, as well as an increase of respect for the "institution of +learning," and for that excellent gentleman Mr. Hart; with a dim hope +that Dabney Kinzer might be permitted to enjoy the inestimable +advantages offered by Grantley and Mrs. Myers, and the society of Mr. +Hart's two wonderful boys. + +Miranda was inclined to stand up for her brother somewhat, but finally +agreed with Ham, that,-- + +"What Dabney needs is schooling and polish, my dear. It'll be good for +him to board in the same house with two such complete young gentlemen as +the Hart boys." + +"Of course, Ham. And then, too, we'll feel sure of his having plenty to +eat. There was almost too much on the table." + +"Not if the boarders had all been boys of Dab's age, and with his +appetite. Mrs. Myers is evidently accustomed to provide for them, I +should say." + +So she was; and Ham and Miranda left Grantley next morning, after a very +early breakfast; and, when the regular boarders came to theirs, they +might have guessed at once that the "transient guests" had gone. They +even guessed it out loud at dinner and at supper. + +Mrs. Myers had given Ham and his bride a world of interesting +information about Grantley, and the things and people in it; but there +was one thing she had forgotten or neglected to mention. She had failed +to tell them that the house she lived in, and the outlying farm +belonging to it, and nearly all the house-hold effects it contained, +were the property of Mr. Joseph Hart, having cost that gentleman very +little more than a sharp lawsuit. Neither did she say a word about how +long a time he had given her to pay him his price for it. All that was +her own private affair, and none of Ham's business, or Miranda's. Still, +it might have had its importance in their minds, if they had been +informed of it. + +Perhaps, too, some of their rosy impressions might have been a little +modified if they could have been at the breakfast-table of the Hart +homestead the morning after Annie Foster's sudden departure. + +The table, truly, was there, as usual, with the breakfast-things on it, +and there were husband and wife at either end; but the two side seats +were vacant. + +"Where are Joe and Foster, Maria?" asked Mr. Hart. + +"I'm sure they're up, father. I heard them come down stairs an hour +ago." + +"I can't wait for them"-- + +"You came home late last night, and they haven't seen you since Annie +went away." There had been a suppressed sound of whispers in the entry, +and the door had been held open about half an inch by some hand on the +other side. It is possible, therefore, that Mr. Hart's reply was heard +outside. + +"Oh, I see! it's about Annie. Look here, Maria: they may have gone a +little too far, but if Annie can't take a joke"-- + +"So I tried to say to her," began his wife; but at that instant the +whispers in the entry swelled suddenly to loud voices, and two boys came +noisily in, and filled the side chairs at the table. + +"Sit down, my dears," said Mrs. Hart, with an admiring glance from one +to the other. "I have told your father about the sad trick you played +upon your cousin." + +"Yes, you young rogues," added Mr. Hart, with affected sternness: "you +have driven her out of the house." + +"Joe," said the boy on the left, to his brother across the table, "ain't +you glad she's gone?" + +"You bet I am. She's too stiff and steep for me. Spoiled all the fun we +had." + +"And so you spoiled her cuffs and collars for her. It was too bad +altogether. I'm afraid there won't be much comfort for anybody in this +house till you two get back to Grantley." + +"Fuz," said Joe, "do you hear that? They're going to give us another +term at Grantley." + +"I don't care how soon we go, so we haven't got to board at old mother +Myers's." + +"I can't say about that," said Mr. Hart. "I half made her a promise"-- + +"That we'd board there?" exclaimed Fuz rebelliously. + +"Now, boys," said their mother, in a gentle voice, that sounded a little +like good Mrs. Foster's; but Joe sustained his brother with,-- + +"Prison-fare, and not half enough of it. I just won't stand it another +winter!" + +"I'm not so sure it will be necessary, after all," said their father, +who seemed to have dismissed Annie's grievance from his mind for the +present. "Your cousin Ford is sure to go; and I'm almost certain of +another boy, besides the missionary's son. If she gets a few others +herself, her house'll be full enough, and you can board somewhere else." + +"Hurrah for that!" shouted Fuz. "And, if the new house doesn't feed us +well, we'll tear it down." + +"If you don't tear ours down before you go, I'll be satisfied. Maria, +you must write to your sister, and smooth the matter over. Boys will be +boys, and I wouldn't like to have any coolness spring up. Mr. Foster'll +understand it." + +That was very nearly all that was said about it, and the two boys +evidently had had no need for any hesitation in coming in to breakfast. + +They were not so bad-looking a pair, as boys go; although it may be few +other people would have seen so much to admire in them as their mother +did. + +Joe, the elder, was a loud, hoarse-voiced, black-eyed boy, of seventeen +or thereabouts, with a perpetual grin on his face, as if he had +discovered in this world nothing but a long procession of things to be +laughed at. Foster, so named after his lawyer relative, was a year and a +half younger, but nearly as tall as Joe. He was paler, but with hair and +eyes as dark, and he wore a sort of habitual side-look, as if his mind +were all the while inquiring if anybody within sight happened to have +any thing he wanted. + +They both bore a strong likeness to their father, only they missed +something bluff and hearty in his accustomed manner; and they each had +also a little suggestion of their mother, that did not, however go so +far as to put anybody in mind of their aunt Foster. + +Nobody need have failed to see, at all events, after watching one or two +of their glances at each other, that they were the very boys to play the +meanest kind of practical jokes when they could do it safely. There is +really no accounting for boys; and Joe and Fuz, therefore, might fairly +be set down among the "unaccountables." + +There was no sort of wonder that their easy-going mother and their +joke-admiring father should be quite willing to have them spend +three-quarters of the year at boarding-school, and as much as possible +of the remainder somewhere else than "at home." + +After Mr. Hart went out to his business that morning, and Mrs. Hart set +herself about her usual duties, Joe and Fuz took with them into the +street the whole Grantley question. + +"We'll have to go, Fuz." + +"Of course. But we must have more to eat, and more fun, than we had last +time." + +"Ford's coming, is he? The little prig! We'll roast him." + +"So we will that young missionary." + +"Look out about him, Joe, while he's at our house. He's coming right +here, you know." + +"Don't you be afraid. His folks are old friends of mother's. We'll let +up on him till we get him safe to Grantley." + +"Then we'll fix him." + +They had plots and plans enough to talk about; but neither they, nor any +of the boys they named, nor any of the other boys they did not name, had +the least idea of what the future really had in store for them. Dab +Kinzer and Ford Foster, in particular, had no idea that the world +contained such a place as Grantley, or such a landlady as Mrs. Myers. + +They had as little suspicion of them as they had had of finding Annie +Foster in the sitting-room that day, when they walked in with their +famous strings of fish. + +Ford kissed his sister, but that operation hardly checked him for an +instant in his voluble narrative of the stirring events of his first +morning on the bay. There was really little for anybody else to do but +to listen, and it was worth hearing. + +There was no sort of interruption on the part of the audience; but the +moment Ford paused for breath his mother said,-- + +"Are you sure the black boy was not hurt, Ford?" + +"Hurt, mother? Why, he seems to be a kind of black-fish. The rest all +know him, and they went right past my hook to his, all the while." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Foster: "I forgot. Annie, this is Ford's +friend Dabney Kinzer, our neighbor." + +"Won't you shake hands with me, Mr. Kinzer?" said Annie, with a +malicious twinkle of fun in her merry blue eyes. + +Poor Dabney! He had been in quite a "state of mind" for at least three +minutes; but he would hardly have been his own mother's son if he had +let himself be entirely "posed." Up rose his long right arm, with the +heavy string of fish at the end of it; and Annie's fun broke out into a +musical laugh, just as her brother exclaimed,-- + +"There now, I'd like to see the other boy of your size can do that. Look +here, Dab, where'd you get your training?" + +"I mustn't drop the fish, you see," began Dab; but Ford interrupted him +with,-- + +'No, indeed! You've given me half I've got, as it is. Annie, have you +looked at the crabs? You ought to have seen Dick Lee, with a lot of 'em +gripping in his hair." + +"In his hair?" + +"When he was down through the bottom of his boat. They'd have eaten him +up if they'd had a chance. You see, he's no shell on him." + +"Exactly," said Annie, as Dab lowered his fish. "Well, Dabney, I wish +you would thank your mother for me, for sending my trunk over. Your +sisters too. I've no doubt we shall be very neighborly." + +It was wonderfully pleasant to be called by his first name by so very +pretty a young lady, and yet it seemed to bring up something curious +into Dabney Kinzer's throat. + +"She considers me a mere boy, and she means I'd better take my fish +right home," was the next thought that came to him; and he was right, to +a fraction. So the great lump in his throat took a very wayward and +boyish form, and came out as a reply, accompanied by a low bow,-- + +"I will, thank you. Good-afternoon, Mrs. Foster. I'll see you to-night, +Ford, about Monday and the yacht. Good-afternoon, Annie." + +And then he marched out with his fish. + +"Mother, did you hear him call me 'Annie'?" + +"Yes; and I heard you call him 'Dabney.'" + +"But he's only a boy "-- + +"I don't care," exclaimed Ford. "He's an odd fellow, but he's a good +one. Did you see how wonderfully strong he is in his arms? I couldn't +lift these fish at arm's-length, to save my life." + +He knew, for he had been trying his best with his own. + +It was quite likely that Dab Kinzer's rowing, and all that sort of +thing, had developed in him greater strength of muscle than even he +himself was aware of; but for all that he went home with his very ears +tingling. + +"Could she have thought me ill-bred or impertinent?" he muttered to +himself. + +Thought? About him? + +Poor Dab Kinzer! Annie Foster had so much else to think of just then; +for she was compelled to go over, for Ford's benefit, the whole story of +her tribulations at her uncle's, and the many rudenesses of Joe Hart and +his brother Fuz. + +"They ought to be drowned," said Ford indignantly. + +"In ink," added Annie. "Just as they drowned my poor cuffs and collars." + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CRUISE IN "THE SWALLOW." + + +"Look at Dabney Kinzer," said Jenny Walters to her mother, in church, +the next morning. "Did you ever see anybody's hair as smooth as that?" + +Smooth it was, certainly; and he looked, all over, as if he had given +all the care in the world to his personal appearance. How was Annie +Foster to guess that he had gotten himself up so unusually on her +account? She did not guess it; but when she met him at the church-door, +after service, she was careful to address him as "Mr. Kinzer," and that +made poor Dabney blush to his very eyes. + +"There!" he exclaimed: "I know it." + +"Know what?" asked Annie. + +"Know what you're thinking." + +"Do you, indeed?" + +"Yes: you think I'm like the crabs." + +"What _do_ you mean?" + +"You think I was green enough till you spoke to me, and now I'm boiled +red in the face." + +Annie could not help laughing,--a little, quiet, Sunday-morning sort of +a laugh; but she was beginning to think her brother's friend was not a +bad specimen of a Long Island "country boy." + +She briskly turned away the small remains of that conversation from +crabs and their color; but she told her mother, on their way home, she +was sure Dabney would be a capital associate for Ford. + +That young gentleman was tremendously of the same opinion. He had come +home, the previous evening, from a long conference with Dab, brimful of +the proposed yachting cruise; and his father had freely given his +consent, much against the inclinations of Mrs. Foster. + +"My dear," said the lawyer, "I feel sure a woman of Mrs. Kinzer's +unusual good sense would not permit her son to go out in that way if she +did not feel safe about him. He has been brought up to it, you know; and +so has the colored boy who is to go with them." + +"Yes, mother," argued Ford: "there isn't half the danger there is in +driving around New York in a carriage." + +"There might be a storm," she timidly suggested. + +"The horses might run away." + +"Or you might get upset." + +"So might a carriage." + +The end of it all was, however, that Ford was to go, and Annie was more +than half sorry she could not go with them. In fact, she said so to +Dabney himself, as soon as her little laugh was ended, that Sunday +morning. + +"Some time or other I'd be glad to have you," replied Dab very politely, +"but not this trip." + +"Why not?" + +"We mean to go right across the bay, and try some fishing." + +"Couldn't I fish?" + +"Well, no, I don't think you could." + +"Why couldn't I?" + +"Because,--well, because, most likely, you'd be too sea-sick by the time +we got there." + +Just then a low, clear voice, behind Dabney, quietly remarked, "How +smooth his hair is!" + +Dab's face turned red again. + +Annie Foster had heard it as distinctly as he had; and she walked right +away with her mother, for fear she should laugh again. + +"It's my own hair, Jenny Walters," said Dab almost savagely, as he +turned around. + +"I should hope it was." + +"I should like to know what you go to church for, anyhow." + +"To hear people talk about sailing and fishing. How much do you s'pose a +young lady like Miss Foster cares about small boys?" + +"Or little girls, either? Not much; but Annie and I mean to have a good +sail before long." + +"Annie and I!" + +Jenny's pert little nose seemed to turn up more than ever, as she walked +away, for she had not beaten her old playfellow quite as badly as usual. +There were several sharp things on the very tip or her tongue, but she +was too much put out and vexed to try to say them just then. + +Dab made the rest of his way home without any further haps or mishaps. A +sail on the bay was nothing so new or wonderful for him to look forward +to, and so that Sunday went by a good deal like all his other Sundays. + +As for Ford Foster, on the contrary, his mind was in a stew and turmoil +all day. In fact, just after tea that evening, his father asked him,-- + +"What book is that you are reading, Ford?" + +"Captain Cook's Voyages." + +"And the other, in your lap?" + +"Robinson Crusoe." + +"Well, you might have worse books than they are, that's a fact, even for +Sunday, though you ought to have better; but which of them do you and +Dabney Kinzer mean to imitate to-morrow?" + +"Crusoe!" promptly responded Ford. + +"I see. And so you've got Dick Lee to go along as your man Friday." + +"He's Dab's man, not mine." + +"Oh! and you mean to be Crusoe number two? Well, don't get cast away on +any desolate island, that's all." + +Ford slipped into the library, and put the books away. It had been +Samantha Kinzer's room, and had plenty of book-shelves, in addition to +the elegant "cases" Mr. Foster had brought from the city with him; for +Samantha was inclined to be of a literary turn of mind. All the cases +and shelves were full too; but not on any one of them was Ford Foster +able to discover a volume he cared to take out with him in place of +"Cook" or "Crusoe." + +The next morning, within half an hour after breakfast, every member of +the two families was down at the landing, to see their young sailors +make their start; and they were all compelled to admit that Dab and Dick +seemed to know precisely what they were about. + +As for Ford, that young gentleman was wise enough, with all those eyes +watching him, not to try any thing that he was not sure of; though he +carefully explained to Annie, "Dab is captain, you know. I'm under his +orders to-day." + +Dick Lee was hardly the wisest fellow in the world, for he added +encouragingly,-- + +"And you's doin' tip-top, for a green hand, you is." + +The wind was blowing right off shore, and did not seem to promise any +thing more than a smart breeze. It was easy enough to handle the little +craft in the inlet; and in a marvellously short time she was dancing out +upon the blue waves of the spreading "bay." It was a good deal more like +a land-locked "sound" than any sort of a bay, with that long, low, +narrow sand-island cutting it off from the ocean. + +"I don't wonder Ham Morris called her the 'Swallow,'" said Ford. "How +she skims! Can you get in under the deck, there, forward? That's the +cabin." + +"Yes, that's the cabin," replied Dab. "But Ham had the door put in with +a slide, water-tight. It's fitted with rubber. We can put our things in +there, but it's too small for any thing else." + +"What's it made so tight for?" + +"Oh! Ham says he's made his yacht a life-boat. Those places at the sides +and under the seats are all water-tight. She might capsize, but she'd +never sink. Don't you see?" + +"I see. How it blows!" + +"It's a little fresh, now we are getting away from under the land. How'd +you like to be wrecked?" + +"Good fun," said Ford. "I got wrecked on the cars the first time I came +over here." + +"On the cars?" + +"Why, yes. I forgot to tell you about that." + +Then followed a very vivid and graphic account of the sad fate of the +pig and the locomotive. The wonder was, how Ford should have failed to +give Dab that story before. No such failure would have been possible if +his head and tongue had not been so wonderfully busy about so many other +things, ever since his arrival. + +"I'm glad it was I instead of Annie," he said at length. + +"Of course. Didn't you tell me she came through all alone?" + +"Yes; and she didn't like it much, either. Travelled all night. She ran +away from those cousins of mine. Oh, but won't I pay them off when I get +to Grantley!" + +"Where's that? What did they do?" + +"The Swallow" was flying along nicely now, with Dab at the tiller, and +Dick Lee tending sail; and Dab could listen with all his ears to Ford's +account of his sister's tribulations, and the merciless "practical +jokes" of the Hart boys. + +"Ain't they older and bigger than you?" asked Dabney, as Ford closed his +recital. "What can you do with two of them?" + +"They can't box worth a cent, and I can. Anyhow, I mean to teach them +better manners." + +"You can box?" + +"Had a splendid teacher. Put me up to all sorts of things." + +"Will you show me how, when we get back?" + +"We can practise all we choose. I've two pair of gloves." + +"Hurrah for that! Ease her, Dick. It's blowing pretty fresh. We'll have +a tough time tacking home against such a breeze as this. Maybe it'll +change before night." + +"Capt'in Dab," calmly remarked Dick, "we's on'y a mile to run." + +"Well, what of it?" + +"Is you goin' fo' de inlet?" + +"Of course. What else can we do? That's what we started for." + +"Looks kind o' dirty, dat's all." + +So far as Ford could see, both the sky and the water looked clean +enough; but Dick was entirely right about the weather. In fact, if +Captain Dabney Kinzer had been a more experienced and prudent seaman, he +would have kept "The Swallow" inside the bar that day, at any risk of +Ford Foster's good opinion. As it was, even Dick Lee's keen eyes hardly +comprehended how threatening was the foggy haze that was lying low on +the water, miles and miles away to seaward. + +It was magnificently exciting fun, at all events; and "The Swallow" +fully merited all that had been said in her favor. The "mile to run" was +a very short one, and it seemed to Ford Foster that the end of it would +bring them up high and dry on the sandy beach of the island. + +The narrow "strait" of the inlet between the bay and the ocean was +hardly visible at any considerable distance. It opened to view, however, +as they drew near; and Dab Kinzer rose higher than ever in his friend's +good opinion, as the swift little vessel he was steering shot unerringly +into the contracted channel. + +"Ain't we pretty near where you said we were to try for some fish?" he +asked. + +"Just outside there. Get the grapnel ready, Dick. Sharp, now!" + +Sharp it was, and Ford himself lent a hand; and, in another moment, the +white sails went down, jib and main; "The Swallow" was drifting along +under bare poles, and Dick Lee and Ford were waiting the captain's +orders to let go the neat little anchor. + +"Heave!" + +Over went the iron, the hawser followed briskly. + +"That'll do, Dick: hold her!" + +Dick gave the rope a skilful turn around its "pin," and Dab shouted,-- + +"Now for some weak-fish! It's about three fathoms, and the tide's near +the turn." + +Alas for the uncertainty of human calculations! The grapnel caught on +the bottom, surely and firmly; but, the moment there came any strain on +the seemingly stout hawser that held it, the latter parted like a +thread, and "The Swallow" was all adrift! + +"Somebody's done gone cut dat rope!" shouted Dick, as he frantically +pulled in the treacherous bit of hemp. + +There was an anxious look on Dab Kinzer's face for a moment. Then he +shouted,-- + +"Sharp, now, boys, or we'll be rolling in the surf in three minutes! +Haul away, Dick! Haul with him, Ford! Up with her! There, that'll give +us headway." + +Ford Foster looked out to seaward, even while he was hauling his best +upon the sail halyards. All along the line of the coast, at distances +varying from a hundred yards or so to nearly a mile, there was an +irregular line of foaming breakers--an awful thing for a boat like "The +Swallow" to run into! + +Perhaps; but ten times worse for a larger craft, for the latter would be +shattered on the shoals, where the bit of a yacht would find plenty of +water under her; that is, if she did not, at the same time, find too +much water _over_ her. + +"Can't we go back through the inlet in the bar?" asked Ford. + +"Not with this wind in our teeth, and it's getting worse every minute. +No more will it do to try to keep inside the surf." + +"What can we do, then?" + +"Take the smoothest places we can find, and run 'em. The sea isn't very +rough outside. It's our only chance." + +Poor Ford Foster's heart sank within him, as he listened, and as he +gazed ahead upon the long white line of foaming surf and tossing +breakers. He saw, however, a look of heroic resolution rising in +"Captain Kinzer's" face, and it gave him courage to turn his eyes again +towards the surf. + +"The Swallow" was now once more moving in a way to justify her name; +and, although Ford was no sailor, he could see that her only chance to +penetrate that perilous barrier of broken water was to "take it nose +on," as Dick Lee expressed it. + +That was clearly the thing Dab Kinzer intended to do. There were places +of comparative smoothness, here and there, in the tossing and plunging +line; but they were bad enough, at the best, and they would have been a +good deal worse but for that stiff breeze blowing off shore. + +"Now for it!" shouted Dab, as "The Swallow" bounded on. + +"Dar dey come!" said Dick. + +Ford thought of his mother, and sister, and father; but he had not a +word to say, and hardly felt like breathing. + +Bows foremost, full sail, rising like a cork on the long, strong +billows, which would have rolled her over and over if she had not been +handled so skilfully as she really was; once or twice pitching +dangerously in short, chopping seas, and shipping water enough to wet +her brave young mariners to the skin, and call for vigorous baling +afterwards,--"The Swallow" battled gallantly with her danger for a few +moments; and then Dab Kinzer swung his hat, and shouted,-- + +"Hurrah, boys! We're out at sea!" + +"Dat's so," said Dick. + +"So it is," remarked Ford, a little gloomily; "but how on earth will we +ever get ashore again? We can't go back through that surf." + +"Well," replied Dab, "if it doesn't come on to blow too hard, we'll run +right on down the coast. If the wind lulled, or whopped around a little, +we'd find our way in, easy enough, long before night. We might have a +tough time beating home across the bay, even if we were inside the bar, +now. Anyhow, we're safe enough out here." + +Ford could hardly feel that very strongly, but he was determined not to +let Dab see it; and he made an effort at the calmness of a Mohawk, as he +said, "How about fishing?" + +"Guess we won't bother 'em much, but you might go for a bluefish. +Sometimes they have great luck with them, right along here." + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SPLENDID FISHING, AND A BIG FOG. + + +There is no telling how many anxious people there may have been in that +region that night, a little after supper; but there was no doubt of the +state of mind in at least three family circles. + +Good Mrs. Foster could not endure to stay at home and talk about the +matter; and her husband and Annie were very willing to go over to the +Kinzers' with her, and listen to the encouraging views of Dabney's +stout-hearted and sensible mother. + +They were welcomed heartily; and the conversation began, so to speak, +right in the middle. + +"Oh, Mrs. Kinzer! do you think they are in any danger?" + +"I hope not. I don't see why there need be, unless they try to return +across the bay against this wind." + +"But don't you think they'll try? Do you mean they won't be home +to-night?" exclaimed Mr. Foster himself. + +"I sincerely hope not," said the widow calmly. "I should hardly feel +like trusting Dabney out in the boat again, if he should do so foolish a +thing." + +"But where can he stay?" + +"At anchor somewhere, or on the island; almost anywhere but tacking all +night on the bay. He'd be really safer out at sea than trying to get +home." + +"Out at sea!" + +There was something really dreadful in the very idea of it; and Annie +Foster turned pale enough when she thought of the gay little yacht, and +her brother out on the broad Atlantic in it, with no better crew than +Dab Kinzer and Dick Lee. Samantha and her sisters were hardly as steady +about it as their mother; but they were careful to conceal their +misgivings from their neighbors, which was very kindly indeed in the +circumstances. + +There was little use in trying to think or talk of any thing else beside +the boys, however, with the sound of the "high wind" in the trees out by +the roadside; and a very anxious circle was that, up to the late hour at +which the members of it separated for the night. + +But there were other troubled hearts in that vicinity. Old Bill Lee +himself had been out fishing all day, with very poor luck; but he forgot +all about that, when he learned, on reaching the shore, that Dick and +his white friends had not returned. He even pulled back to the mouth of +the inlet, to see if the gathering darkness would give him any signs of +his boy. He did not know it; but while he was gone Dick's mother, after +discussing her anxieties with some of her dark-skinned neighbors, half +weepingly unlocked her one "clothes-press," and took out the suit which +had been the pride of her absent son. She had never admired them half so +much before, but they seemed now to need a red necktie to set them off; +and so the gorgeous result of Dick's fishing and trading came out of its +hiding-place, and was arranged on the white coverlet of her own bed, +with the rest of his best garments. + +"Jus' de t'ing for a handsome young feller like Dick," she muttered to +herself. + +"Wot for'd an ole woman like me want to put on any sech fool finery? +He's de bestest boy in de worl', he is. Dat is, onless dar ain't not'in' +happened to 'im." + +Her husband brought her home no news when he came, and Dick's good +qualities were likely to be seen in a strong light for a while longer. + +But if the folk on shore were uneasy about "The Swallow" and her crew, +how was it with the latter themselves, as the darkness closed around +them, out there upon the tossing water? + +Very cool and self-possessed indeed had been Captain Dab Kinzer; and he +had encouraged the others to go on with their blue-fishing, even when it +was pretty tough work to keep "The Swallow" from "scudding" at once +before the wind. He was anxious, also, not to get too far from shore; +for there was no telling what sort of weather might be coming. It was +curious, moreover, what very remarkable luck they had; or rather, Ford +and Dick, for Dab would not leave the tiller for a moment. Splendid +fellows were those blue-fish, and hard work it was to pull in the +heaviest of them. That was just the sort of weather they bite best in; +but it is not often that such young fishermen venture to take advantage +of it. No, nor the old ones either; for only the stanchest old "salts" +of Montauk or New London would have felt altogether at home in "The +Swallow" that afternoon. + +"I guess I wouldn't fish any more," said Dab at last. "You've caught ten +times as many now as we ever thought of catching. Some of them are +whoppers too." + +"Biggest fishing ever I did," said Ford, as if that meant a great deal. + +"Or mos' anybody else, out dis yer way," added Dick. "I isn't 'shamed to +show dem fish anywhar." + +"No more I ain't," said Dab; "but you're getting too tired, and so am I. +We must have a good hearty lunch, and put 'The Swallow' before the wind +for a while. I daren't risk any more of these cross seas. We might get +pitched over any minute. They're rising." + +"Dat's so," said Dick. "And I's awful hungry, I is." + +"The Swallow" was well enough provisioned for a short cruise, not to +mention the bluefish, and there was water enough on board for several +days if they should happen to need it; but there was little danger of +that, unless the wind should continue to be altogether against them. + +It was blowing hard when the boys finished their dinner, but no harder +than it had already blown several times that day; and "The Swallow" +seemed to be putting forth her very best qualities as a "sea-boat." + +There was no immediate danger apparently; but there was one "symptom" +which Dab discerned, as he glanced around the horizon, which gave him +more anxiety than either the stiff breeze or the rough sea. + +The coming darkness? + +No; for stars and lighthouses can be seen at night, and steering by them +is easy enough. + +Nights are pretty dark things, sometimes, as most people know; but the +darkest thing to be met with at sea, whether by night or by day, is a +_fog_, and Dabney saw signs of one coming. Rain, too, might come with +it, but that would be of small account. + +"Boys," he said, "do you know we're out of sight of land?" + +"Oh, no, we're not!" replied Ford confidently. "Look yonder." + +"That isn't land, Ford. That's only a fog-bank, and we shall be all in +the dark in ten minutes. The wind is changing, too, and I hardly know +where we are." + +"Look at your compass." + +"That tells me the wind is changing a little, and it's going down; but I +wouldn't dare to run towards the shore in a fog, and at night." + +"Why not?" + +"Why? Don't you remember those breakers? Would you like to be blown +through them, and not see where you were going?" + +"Well, no," said Ford: "I rather guess I wouldn't." + +"Jes' you let Capt'in Kinzer handle dis yer boat," almost crustily +interposed Dick Lee. "He's de on'y feller on board dat un'erstands +nagivation." + +"Shouldn't wonder if you're right," said Ford good-humoredly. "At all +events, I sha'n't interfere. But, Dab, what do you mean to do about it?" + +"Swing a lantern at the mast-head, and sail right along. You and Dick +get a nap, by and by, if you can. I won't try to sleep till daylight." + +"Sleep? Catch me sleeping!" + +"You must; and so must Dick, when the time comes. It won't do for us to +all get worn out together. If we did, who'd handle the boat?" + +Ford's respect for Dabney Kinzer was growing hourly. Here was this +overgrown gawk of a green country boy, just out of his roundabouts, who +had never spent more than a day at a time in the great city, and never +lived in any kind of a boarding-house; in fact, here was a fellow who +had had no advantages whatever,--coming out as a sort of hero. + +Ford looked at him hard, as he stood there with the tiller in his hand, +but he could not quite understand it, Dab was so quiet and +matter-of-course about it all; and, as for that youngster himself, he +had no idea that he was behaving any better than any other boy could, +should, and would have behaved in those very peculiar circumstances. + +However that might be, the gay and buoyant little "Swallow," with her +signal lantern swinging at her mast-head, was soon dancing away through +the deepening darkness and the fog; and her steady-nerved young +commander was congratulating himself that there seemed to be a good deal +less of wind and sea, even if there was more of mist. + +"I couldn't expect to have every thing to suit me," he said to himself. +"And now I hope we sha'n't run down anybody. Hullo! Isn't that a red +light, through the fog, yonder?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GAME OF "FOLLOW MY LEADER" CAN BE PLAYED AT SEA. + + +There was yet another gathering of human beings on the wind-swept +surface of the Atlantic that evening, to whose minds the minutes and +hours were going by with no small burden of anxiety to carry. + +Not an anxiety, perhaps, as great as that of the three families over +there on the shore of the bay, or even of the three boys tossing along +through the fog in their bubble of a yacht; but the officers, and not a +few of the passengers and crew, of the great iron-builded ocean-steamer +were any thing but easy about the way their affairs were looking. It +would have been so much more agreeable if they could have looked at them +at all. + +Had they no pilot on board? + +To be sure they had, for he had come on board in the usual way, as they +drew near their intended port; but they had somehow seemed to bring that +fog along with them, and the captain had a half-defined suspicion that +neither the pilot nor he himself knew exactly where they now were. That +is a bad condition for a great ship to be in at any time, and especially +when it was drawing so near a coast which calls for good seamanship and +skilful pilotage in the best of weather. + +The captain would not for any thing have confessed his doubt to the +pilot, nor the pilot his to the captain; and that was where the real +danger lay, after all. If they could only have choked down their pride, +and permitted themselves to talk of their possible peril, it would very +likely have disappeared. That is, they could at least have decided to +stop the vessel till they were rid of their doubt. + +The steamer was French, and her captain a French naval officer; and it +is possible he and the pilot did not understand each other any too well. + +It was a matter of course that the speed of the ship should be somewhat +lessened, under such circumstances; but it would have been a good deal +wiser not to have gone on at all. Not to speak of the shore they were +nearing, they might be sure they were not the only craft steaming or +sailing over those busy waters; and vessels have sometimes been known to +run against one another in a fog as thick as that. Something could be +done by way of precaution in that direction, and lanterns with bright +colors were freely swung out; but the fog was likely to diminish their +usefulness somewhat. They took away a little of the gloom; but none of +the passengers were in a mood to go to bed, with the end of their voyage +so near, and they all seemed disposed to discuss the fog, if not the +general question of mists and their discomforts. All of them but one, +and he a boy. + +A boy of about Dab Kinzer's age, slender and delicate-looking, with +curly light-brown hair, blue eyes, and a complexion which would have +been fair, but for the traces it bore of a hotter climate than that of +either France or America. He seemed to be all alone, and to be feeling +very lonely that night; and he was leaning over the rail, peering out +into the mist, humming to himself a sweet, wild air in a strange but +exceedingly musical tongue. + +Very strange. Very musical. + +Perhaps no such words had ever before gone out over that part of the +Atlantic; for Frank Harley was a missionary's son, "going home to be +educated;" and the sweet, low-voiced song was a Hindustanee hymn which +his mother had taught him in far-away India. + +Suddenly the hymn was cut short by the hoarse voice of the "lookout," as +it announced,-- + +"A white light, close aboard, on the windward bow." + +That was rapidly followed by even hoarser hails, replied to by a voice +which was clear and strong enough, but not hoarse at all. The next +moment something, which was either a white sail or a ghost, came +slipping along through the fog, and then the conversation did not +require to be shouted any longer. Frank could even hear one person say +to another out there in the mist, "Ain't it a big thing, Ford, that you +know French? I mean to study it when we get home." + +"It's as easy as eating. Dab, shall I tell 'em we've got some fish?" + +"Of course. We'll sell 'em the whole cargo." + +"Sell them? Why not make them a present?" + +"We may need the money to get home with. They're a splendid lot. Enough +for the whole cabin-full." + +"Dat's a fack. Cap'in Dab Kinzer's de sort ob capt'in fo' me, he is!" + +"How much, then?" + +"Twenty-five dollars for the lot. They're worth it,--specially if we +lose Ham's boat." + +Dab's philosophy was a little out of gear; but a perfect rattle of +questions and answers followed in French, and, somewhat to Frank +Harley's astonishment, the bargain was promptly concluded. Fresh fish, +just out of the water, were a particularly pleasant arrival to people +who had been ten days out at sea. + +How were they to get them on board? Nothing easier, since the little +"Swallow" could run along so nicely under the stern of the great +steamer, after a line was thrown her; and a large basket was swung out +at the end of a long, slender spar, with a pulley to lower and raise it. + +There was fun in the loading of that basket: but even the boys from Long +Island were astonished at the number and size of the fine, +freshly-caught blue-fish, to which they were treating the hungry +passengers of the "Prudhomme;" and the basket had to go and come again +and again. + +The steamer's steward, on his part, avowed that he had never before met +so honest a lot of Yankee fishermen. Perhaps not; for high prices and +short weight are apt to go together, where "luxuries" are selling. The +pay itself was handed out in the same basket which went for the fish, +and then "The Swallow" was again cast loose. + +The wind was not nearly so high as it had been, and the sea had for some +time been going down. + +Twenty minutes later Frank Harley heard,--for he understood French very +well,-- + +"Hullo, the boat! What are you following us for?" + +"Oh! we won't run you down. Don't be alarmed. We've lost our way out +here, and we're going to follow you in. Hope you know where you are." + +There was a cackle of surprise and laughter among the steamer's +officers, in which Frank and some of the passengers joined; and the +saucy little "fishing-boat" came steadily on in the wake of her gigantic +tide. + +"This is grand for us," remarked Dab Kinzer to Ford, as he kept his eyes +on the after-lantern of the "Prudhomme." "They pay all our pilot-fees." + +"But they're going to New York." + +"So are we, if to-morrow doesn't come out clear, and with a good wind to +go home by." + +"It's better than crossing the Atlantic in the dark, anyhow. But what a +steep price we got for those fish!" + +"They're always ready to pay well for such things at the end of a +voyage," said Dab. "I expected, though, they'd try and beat us down a +peg. They generally do. We didn't get much more than the fair market +price, after all, only we got rid of our whole catch at one sale." + +That was a good deal better than fishermen are apt to do. + +Hour followed hour; and "The Swallow" followed the steamer, and the fog +followed them both so closely, that sometimes even Dick Lee's keen eyes +could with difficulty make out the "Prudhomme's" light. And now Ford +Foster ventured to take a bit of a nap, so sure did he feel that all the +danger was over, and that Captain Kinzer was equal to what Dick Lee +called the "nagivation" of that yacht How long he had slept, he could +not have guessed but he was awakened by a great cry from out the mist +beyond them, and by the loud exclamation of Captain Kinzer, still at the +tiller,-- + +"I believe she's run ashore!" + +It was a loud cry, indeed, and there was good reason for it. Well was it +for all on board the great steamer, that she was running no faster at +the time and that there was no hurricane of a gale to make things worse +for her. Pilot and captain had both together missed their +reckoning,--neither of them could ever afterward tell how,--and there +they were, stuck fast in the sand, with the noise of breakers ahead of +them, and the dense fog all around. + +Frank Harley peered anxiously over the rail again but he could not have +complained that he was "wrecked in sight of shore," for the steamer was +any thing but a wreck as yet, and there was no shore in sight. + +"It's an hour to sunrise," said Dab to Ford, after the latter had +managed to comprehend the situation. "We may as well run farther in, and +see what we can see." + +It must have been aggravating to the people on board the steamer, to see +that little cockle-shell of a yacht dancing safely along over the shoal +on which their "leviathan" had struck, and to hear Ford Foster sing out, +"If we'd known you meant to run in here, we'd have followed some other +pilot." + +"They're in no danger at all," said Dab, "If their own boats don't take +'em all ashore, the coast-wreckers will." + +"The government life-savers, I s'pose you mean." + +"Yes: they're all alongshore, here, everywhere. Hark! there goes the +distress-gun. Bang away! It sounds a good deal more mad than scared." + +So it did; and so they were,--captain, pilot, passengers, and all. + +"Captain Kinzer" found that he could safely run in for a couple of +hundred yards or so; but there were signs of surf beyond, and he had no +anchor to hold on by. His only course was to tack back and forth as +carefully as possible, and wait for daylight,--as the French sailors +were doing, with what patience they could command. + +In less than half an hour, however, a pair of long, graceful, +buoyant-looking life-boats, manned each with an officer and eight +rowers, came shooting through the mist, in response to the repeated +summons of the steamer's cannon. + +"It's all right, now," said Dab. "I knew they wouldn't be long in +coming. Let's find out where we are." + +That was easy enough. The steamer had gone ashore on a sand-bar, a +quarter of a mile from the beach, and a short distance from Seabright on +the New Jersey coast; and there was no probability of any worse harm +coming to her than the delay in her voyage, and the cost of pulling her +out from the sandy bed into which she had so blindly thrust herself. The +passengers would, most likely, be taken ashore with their baggage, and +sent on to the city overland. + +"In fact," said Ford Foster, "a sand-bar isn't as bad for a steamer as a +pig is for a locomotive." + +"The train you were wrecked in," said Dab, "was running fast. Perhaps +the pig was. Now, the sandbar was standing still, and the steamer was +going slow. My! What a crash there'd have been if she'd been running ten +or twelve knots an hour, with a heavy sea on!" + +By daylight there were plenty of other craft around, including yachts +and sail-boats from Long Branch, and "all along shore;" and the Long +Island boys treated the occupants of these as if they had sent for them, +and were glad to see them. + +"Seems to me you're inclined to be a little inquisitive, Dab," said +Ford, as his friend peered sharply into and around one craft after +another; but just then Dabney sang out,-- + +"Hullo, Jersey, what are you doing with two grapnels? Is that boat of +yours balky?" + +"Mind yer eye, youngster. They're both mine, I reckon." + +"You might sell me one cheap," continued Dab, "considering how you got +'em. Give you ten cents for the big one." + +Ford thought he understood the matter now, and he said nothing; but the +"Jersey wrecker" had "picked up" both of those anchors, one time and +another, and had no sort of objection to "talking trade." + +"Ten cents! Let you have it for fifty dollars." + +"Is it gold, or only silver gilt?" + +"Pure gold, my boy; but, seem' it's you, I'll let you have it for ten +dollars." + +"Take your pay in clams?" + +"Oh, hush! I hain't no time to gabble. Mebbe I'll git a job here, 'round +this yer wreck. If you reelly want that there grapn'I, wot'll you +gimme?" + +"Five dollars, gold, take it or leave it," said Dab, pulling out a coin +from the money he had received for his bluefish. + +In three minutes more "The Swallow" was furnished with a much larger and +better anchor than the one she had lost the day before; and Dick Lee +exclaimed, "It jes' takes Cap'n Kinzer!" + +For some minutes before this, as the light grew clearer and the fog +lifted a little, Frank Harley had been watching them from the rail of +the "Prudhomme," and wondering if all the fisher-boys in America dressed +as well as these two. + +"Hullo, you!" was the greeting which now came to his ears. "Go ashore in +my boat?" + +"Not till I've eaten some of your fish for breakfast," said Frank. +"What's your name?" + +"Captain Dabney Kinzer, of 'most anywhere on Long Island. What's yours?" + +"Frank Harley of Rangoon." + +"I declare," almost shouted Ford Foster, "if you're not the chap my +sister Annie told me of! You're going to Albany, to my uncle Joe Hart's, +ain't you?" + +"Yes, to Mr. Hart's, and then to Grantley to school." + +"That's it. Well, then, you can just come along with us. Get your kit +out of your state-room. We can send over to the city after the rest of +your baggage, after it gets in." + +"Along with you! Where?" + +"To my father's house, instead of ashore among those hotel people, and +other wreckers. The captain'll tell you it's all right." + +Frank had further questions to ask before he was satisfied as to whose +hands he was about to fall into; and the whole arrangement was, no +doubt, a little irregular. So was the present position of the +"Prudhomme" herself, however; and all landing rules were a trifle out of +joint by reason of that circumstance. So the steamer authorities +listened to Frank's request when he made it, and gruffly granted it. + +"The Swallow" lay quietly at her new anchor while her passenger to be +was completing his preparations to board her. Part of them consisted of +a hearty breakfast,--fresh bluefish, broiled; and while he was eating it +the crew of the yacht made a deep hole in what remained of their own +supplies. Nobody who had seen them eat would have suspected that their +long night at sea had interfered with their appetites. In fact, each of +them remarked to the others that it had not, so far as he was concerned. + +"We'll make a good run," said Dab. "It'll be great!" + +"What?" said Ford, in some astonishment; "ain't you going to New York at +all?" + +"What for?" + +"I thought that was what you meant to do. Shall you sail right straight +home?" + +"Why not? If we could do that distance at night, and in a storm, I guess +we can in a day of such splendid weather as this, with the wind just +right too." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"HOME AGAIN! HERE WE ARE!" + + +The wind was indeed "just right;" but even Dab forgot, for the moment, +that "The Swallow" would go faster and farther before a gale than she +was likely to with the comparatively mild southerly breeze now blowing. +He was by no means likely to get home by dinner-time. As for danger, +there would be absolutely none, unless the weather should again become +stormy; and there was no probability of any such thing at that season. +And so, after he had eaten his breakfast, and, with a genuine boy's +confidence in boys, Frank Harley came on board "The Swallow" as a +passenger, the anchor was lifted, and the gay little craft spread her +white sails, and slipped lightly away from the neighborhood of the +forlorn-looking, stranded steamer. + +"They'll have her out of that in less'n a week," said Ford to Frank. "My +father'll know just what to do about your baggage, and so forth." + +There were endless questions to be asked and answered on both sides; but +at last Dab yawned a very sleepy yawn, and said, "Ford, you've had your +nap. Wake up Dick, there, and let him take his turn at the tiller. The +sea's as smooth as a lake, and I believe I'll go to sleep for an hour or +so. You and Frank can keep watch while Dick steers: he's a good +steerer." + +Whatever Dab said was "orders" now on board "The Swallow;" and Ford's +only reply was,-- + +"If you haven't earned a good nap, then nobody has." + +Dick, too, responded promptly and cheerfully; and in five minutes more +the patient and skilful young "captain" was sleeping like a top. + +"Look at him," said Ford Foster to Frank Harley. "I don't know what he's +made of. He's been at that tiller for twenty-three hours by the watch, +in all sorts of weather, and never budged." + +"They don't make that kind of boy in India," replied Frank. + +"He's de bes' feller you ebber seen," added Dick Lee. "I's jes' proud ob +him, I is!" + +Smoothly and swiftly and safely "The Swallow" was bearing her precious +cargo across the summer sea; but the morning had brought no comfort to +the two homes at the head of the inlet, or the humble cabin in the +village. Old Bill Lee was out in the best boat he could borrow, by early +daylight; and more than one of his sympathizing neighbors followed him a +little later. There was no doubt at all that a thorough search would be +made of the bay and the island, and so Mr. Foster wisely remained at +home to comfort his wife and daughter. + +"That sort of boy," mourned Annie, "is always getting into some kind of +mischief." + +"Annie!" exclaimed her mother indignantly, "Ford is a good boy, and he +does not run into mischief." + +"I didn't mean Ford: I meant that Dabney Kinzer. I wish we'd never seen +him, or his sailboat either." + +"Annie," remarked her father a little reprovingly, "if we live by the +water, Ford _will_ go out on it, and he had better do so in good +company. Wait a while." + +Annie was silenced, but it was only too clear that she was not entirely +convinced. Her brother's absence and all their anxiety were positively +due to Dab Kinzer, and his wicked, dangerous little yacht; and he must +be to blame somehow. + +She could not help "waiting a while," as her father bade her; but her +eyes already told that she had been doing more than wait. + +Summer days are long; but some of them are a good deal longer than +others, and that was one of the longest any of those people had ever +known. + +For once, even dinner was more than half neglected in the Kinzer family +circle. At the Fosters' it was forgotten almost altogether. Long as the +day was, and so dreary, in spite of all the bright, warm sunshine, there +was no help for it: the hours would not hurry, and the wanderers would +not return. Tea-time came at last; and with it the Fosters all came over +to Mrs. Kinzer's again, to take tea, and tell her of several fishermen +who had returned from the bay without having discovered a sign of "The +Swallow" or its crew. + +Stout-hearted Mrs. Kinzer talked bravely and encouragingly, +nevertheless, and did not seem to abate an ounce of her confidence in +her son. It seemed as if, in leaving off his roundabouts, particularly +considering the way in which he had left them off, Dabney must have +suddenly grown a great many "sizes" in his mother's estimation. Perhaps, +too, that was because he had not left them off any too soon. + +There they sat around the tea-table, the two mothers and all the rest of +them, looking gloomy enough; while over there in her bit of a brown +house, in the village, sat Mrs. Lee in very much the same frame of mind, +trying to relieve her feelings by smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of +her boy's best clothes, and planning for him any number of bright red +neckties, if he would only come back to wear them. + +The neighbors were becoming more than a little interested, and even +excited about the matter; but what was there to be done? + +Telegrams had been sent to other points on the coast, and all the +fishermen notified. It was really one of those puzzling cases, where +even the most neighborly can do no better than "wait a while." + +Still, there were more than a dozen people, of all sorts, including Bill +Lee, lingering around the "landing" as late as eight o'clock that +evening. + +Suddenly one of them exclaimed,-- + +"There's a light coming in!" + +Others followed with,-- + +"There's a boat under it!" + +"Ham's boat carried a light." + +"I'll bet it's her!" + +"No, it isn't"-- + +"Hold on and see." + +There was not long to "hold on;" for in three minutes more "The Swallow" +swept gracefully in with the tide, and the voice of Dab Kinzer shouted +merrily,-- + +"Home again! Here we are!" + +Such a ringing volley of cheers answered him! + +It was heard and understood away there in the parlor of the Morris +house, and brought every soul of that anxious circle right up standing. + +"Must be it's Dab!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. + +"O mother!" said Annie, "is Ford safe?" + +"They wouldn't cheer like that, my dear, if any thing had happened," +remarked Mr. Foster; but, in spite of his coolness, the city lawyer +forgot to put his hat on, as he dashed out of the front gate and down +the road towards the landing. + +Then came one of those times that it takes a whole orchestra and a +gallery of paintings to tell any thing about: for Mrs. Lee as well as +her husband was on the beach; and within a minute after "Captain Kinzer" +and his crew had landed, poor Dick was being hugged and scolded within +an inch of his life, and the two other boys found themselves in the +midst of a perfect tumult of embraces and cheers. + +Frank Harley's turn came soon, moreover; for Ford Foster found his +balance, and introduced the "passenger from India" to his father. + +"Frank Harley!" exclaimed Mr. Foster. "I've heard of you, certainly; but +how did you--boys, I don't understand"-- + +"Oh! father, it's all right. We took Frank off the French steamer, after +she ran ashore." + +"Ran ashore?" + +"Yes. Down the Jersey coast. We got in company with her in the fog, +after the storm. That was yesterday evening." + +"Down the Jersey coast? Do you mean you've been out at sea?" + +"Yes, father; and I'd go again, with Dab Kinzer for captain. Do you +know, father, he never left the rudder of 'The Swallow' from the moment +we started until seven o'clock this morning." + +"You owe him your lives!" almost shouted Mr. Foster; and Ford added +emphatically, "Indeed we do!" + +It was Dab's own mother's arms that had been around him from the instant +he had stepped ashore, and Samantha and Keziah and Pamela had had to +content themselves with a kiss or so apiece; but dear, good Mrs. Foster +stopped smoothing Ford's hair and forehead just then, and came and gave +Dab a right motherly hug, as if she could not express her feelings in +any other way. + +As for Annie Foster, her face was suspiciously red at the moment; but +she walked right up to Dab after her mother released him, and said,-- + +"Captain Kinzer, I've been saying dreadful things about you, but I beg +pardon." + +"I'll be entirely satisfied, Miss Foster," said Dabney, "if you'll only +ask somebody to get us something to eat." + +"Eat!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. "Why, the poor fellows! Of course they're +hungry." + +"Cap'n Kinzer allers does know jes' de right t'ing to do," mumbled Dick +in a half-smothered voice; and his mother let go of him, with-- + +"Law, suz! So dey be!" + +Hungry enough they all were, indeed; and the supper-table, moreover, was +the best place in the world for the further particulars of their +wonderful cruise to be told and heard. + +Dick Lee was led home in triumph to a capital supper of his own; and as +soon as that was over he was rigged out in his Sunday clothes,--red silk +necktie and all,--and invited to tell the story of his adventures to a +roomful of admiring neighbors. He told it well, modestly ascribing every +thing to Dab Kinzer; but there was no good reason, in any thing he said, +for one of his father's friends to inquire next morning,-- + +"Bill Lee, does you mean for to say as dem boys run down de French +steamah in dat ar' boat?" + +"Not dat. Not zackly." + +"'Cause, ef you does, I jes' want to say I's been down a-lookin' at her, +and she ain't even snubbed her bowsprit." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A GREAT MANY THINGS GETTING READY TO COME! + + +The newspapers from the city brought full accounts of the stranding of +the "Prudhomme," and of the safety of her passengers and cargo. + +The several editors seemed to differ widely in their opinions relating +to the whole affair; but there must have been some twist in the mind of +the one who excused everybody on the ground that "no pilot, however +skilful, could work his compass correctly in so dense a fog as that." + +None of them had any thing whatever to say of the performances of "The +Swallow." The yacht had been every bit as well handled as the great +steamship; but then, she had reached her port in safety, and she was +such a little thing, after all. + +Whatever excitement there had been in the village died out as soon as it +was known that the boys were safe; and a good many people began to +wonder why they had been so much upset about it, anyhow. + +Mrs. Lee herself, the very next morning, so far recovered her peace of +mind as to "wonder wot Dab Kinzer's goin' to do wid all de money he got +for dem bluefish." + +"I isn't goin' to ask him," said Dick. "He's capt'in." + +As for Dab himself, he did an immense amount of useful sleeping, that +first night; but when he awoke in the morning he shortly made a +discovery, and the other boys soon made another. Dab's was, that all the +long hours of daylight and darkness, while he held the tiller of "The +Swallow," he had been thinking as well as steering. He had therefore +been growing very fast, and would be sure to show it, sooner or later. + +Ford and Frank found that Dab had forgotten nothing he had said about +learning how to box, and how to talk French; but he did not say a word +to them about another important thing. He talked enough, to be sure; but +a great, original idea was beginning to take form in his mind, and he +was not quite ready yet to mention it to any one. + +"I guess," he muttered more than once, "I'd better wait till Ham comes +home, and talk to him about it." + +As for Frank Harley, Mr. Foster had readily volunteered to visit the +steamship-office in the city, with him, that next day, and see that +every thing necessary was done with reference to the safe delivery of +his baggage. At the same time, of course, Mrs. Foster wrote to her +sister Mrs. Hart, giving a full account of all that had happened, but +saying that she meant to keep Frank as her own guest for a while, if +Mrs. Hart did not seriously object. + +That letter made something of a sensation in the Hart family. Neither +Mrs. Hart nor her husband thought of making any objection; for, to tell +the truth, it came to them as a welcome relief. + +"It's just the best arrangement that could have been made, Maria, all +around," said he. "Write at once, and tell her she may keep him as long +as she pleases." + +That was very well for them, but the boys hardly felt the same way about +it. They had been planning to have "all sorts of fun with that young +missionary," in their own house. He was, as Fuz expressed it, to be "put +through a regular course of sprouts, and take the Hindu all out of him." + +"Never mind, though," said Joe, after the letter came, and the decision +of their parents was declared: "we'll serve him out after we get to +Grantley. There won't be anybody to interfere with the fun." + +"Well, yes," replied Fuz, "and I'd just as lief not see too much of him +before that. He won't have any special claim on us, neither, if he +doesn't go there from our house." + +That was a queer sort of calculation, but it was only a beginning. They +had other talks on the same subject, and the tone of them all had in it +a promise of lively times at Grantley for the friendless young stranger +from India. + +Others, however, were thinking of the future, as well as themselves; and +Joe and Fuz furnished the subject for more than one animated discussion +among the boys down there by the Long Island shore. Ford Foster gave his +two friends the full benefit of all he knew concerning his cousins. + +"It's a good thing for you," he said to Frank, "that the steamer didn't +go ashore anywhere near their house. They're a pair of born young +wreckers. Just think of the tricks they played on my sister Annie!" + +They were all related in Ford's most graphic style, with comments to +suit from his audience. After that conversation, however, it was +remarkable what good attention Dab Kinzer and Frank Harley paid to their +sparring-lessons. It even exceeded the pluck and perseverance with which +Dab worked at his French; and Ford was compelled to admit, to him in +particular, "You ought to have a grown-up teacher,--somebody you won't +kill if you make out to get in a hit on him. You're too long in the +reach for me, and your arms are too hard." + +What between the boxing-gloves and the boat, there could be no question +but what Frank Harley had landed at the right place to get strong in. + +There was plenty of fishing, bathing, riding, boating, boxing: if they +had worked day and night, they could not have used it all up. Three boys +together can find so much more to do than one can, all alone; and they +made it four as often as they could, for Dick Lee had proved himself the +best kind of company. Frank Harley's East-Indian experience had made him +indifferent to the mere question of color, and Ford Foster was too much +of a "man" to forget that long night of gale and fog and danger on board +"The Swallow." + +It was only a day or two after that perilous "cruise," that Dab Kinzer +met his old playmate, Jenny Walters, just in the edge of the village. + +"How well you look, Dabney!" remarked the sharp-tongued little lady. +"Drowning must agree with you." + +"Yes," said Dab, "I like it." + +"Do you know what a fuss they made over you, when you were gone? I +s'pose they'd nothing else to do." + +"Jenny," said Dab suddenly, holding out his hand, "you mustn't quarrel +with me any more. Bill Lee told me about your coming down to the +landing. You may say any thing to me you want to." + +Jenny colored, and bit her lip; and she would have given her bonnet to +know if Bill Lee had told Dab how very red her eyes were, as she looked +down the inlet for some sign of "The Swallow." Something had to be said, +however; and she said it almost spitefully. + +"I don't care, Dabney Kinzer: it did seem dreadful to think of you three +boys being drowned, and you, too, with your new clothes on. +Good-morning, Dab." + +"She's a right good-hearted girl, if she'd only show it," muttered Dab, +as Jenny tripped away; "but she isn't a bit like Annie Foster." + +His thoughts must have been on something else than his young-lady +acquaintances, nevertheless; for his next words were, "How I do wish Ham +Morris would come home!" + +There was time enough for that, and Ham was hardly likely to be in a +hurry. The days were well employed in his absence; and, as they went by, +the Morris homestead went steadily on looking less and less like its old +self, and more and more like a house made for people to live and be +happy in. Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters had now settled down in their +new quarters as completely as if they had never known any others; and it +seemed to Dab, now and then, as if they had taken almost too complete +possession. His mother had her room, of course; and a big one it was. +There could be no objection to that. Then another big one, of the very +best, had to be set apart and fitted up for Ham and Miranda on their +return home; and Dab had taken great delight in doing all in his power +to make that room all it could be made. But then Samantha had insisted +upon having a separate domain, and Keziah and Pamela had imitated their +elder sister to a fraction. + +The "guest-chamber" had to be provided as well, or what would become of +the good old Long Island notions of hospitality? + +Dab said nothing while the partition was under discussion, nor for a +while afterwards; but one day at dinner, just after the coming of a +letter from Miranda, announcing the speedy arrival of herself and her +husband, he quietly remarked,-- + +"Now I can't sleep in Ham's room any longer, I suppose I'll have to go +out on the roof. I won't sleep in the garret or in the cellar." + +"That will be a good deal as Mrs. Morris says, when she comes," calmly +responded his mother. + +"As Miranda says!" said Dab, with a long breath. + +"Miranda?" gasped Samantha and her sisters in chorus. + +"Yes, my dears, certainly," said their mother. "This is Mrs. Morris's +house,--or her husband's,--not mine. All the arrangements I have made +are only temporary. She and Ham both have ideas and wills of their own. +I've only done the best I could for the time being." + +The girls looked at one another in blank amazement, over the idea of +Mrs. Kinzer being any thing less than the mistress of any house she +might happen to be in; but Dabney laid down his knife and fork, with-- + +"It's all right, then. If Ham and Miranda are to settle it, I think I'll +take the room Sam has now. You needn't take away your books, Sam: I may +want to read some of them, or lend them to Annie. You and Kezi and Mele +had better take that upper room back. The smell of the paint's all gone +now, and there's three kinds of carpet on the floor." + +"Dabney!" exclaimed Samantha, reproachfully, and with an appealing look +at her mother, who, however, said nothing on either side, and was a +woman of too much good sense to take any other view of the matter than +that she had announced. + +Things were again all running on smoothly and pleasantly, before dinner +was over; but Dab's ideas of how the house should be divided were likely +to result in some changes,--perhaps not precisely the ones he indicated, +but such as would give him something better than a choice between the +garret, the cellar, and the roof. At all events, only three days would +now intervene before the arrival of the two travellers, and any thing in +the way of further discussion of the room question was manifestly out of +order. + +Every thing required for the coming reception was pushed forward by Mrs. +Kinzer with all the energy she could bring to bear; and Dab felt called +upon to remark to Pamela,-- + +"Isn't it wonderful, Mele, how many things she finds to do after every +thing's done?" + +The widow had promised her son-in-law that his house should be "ready" +for him, and it was likely to be a good deal more ready than either he +or his wife had expected. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DABNEY KINZER TO THE RESCUE. + + +One of the most troublesome of the annoyances which come nowadays to +dwellers in the country, within easy reach of any great city, is the bad +kind of strolling beggar known as "the tramp." He is of all sorts and +sizes; and he goes everywhere, asking for any thing he wants, very much +as if it belonged to him and he had come for his own--so long as he can +do his asking of a woman or a sickly-looking man. There had been very +few of these gentry seen in that vicinity, that summer, for a wonder; +and those who had made their appearance had been reasonably well +behaved. Probably because there had been so many healthy-looking men +around, as a general thing. But it come to pass, on the very day in +which Ham and Miranda were expected to arrive by the last of the evening +trains, just as Dab Kinzer was turning away from the landing, where he +had been for a look at "The Swallow" and to make sure she was all right +for her owner's eyes, that a very disreputable specimen of a worthless +man stopped at Mrs. Kinzer's to beg something to eat, and then sauntered +away down the road. It was a little past the middle of the afternoon; +and even so mean-looking, dirty a tramp as that had a perfect right to +be walking along then and there. The sunshine, and the fresh salt air +from the bay, were as much his as anybody's, and so was the water in the +bay; and no one in all that region of country stood more in need of +plenty of water than he. + +The vagabond took his right to the road, as he had taken his other right +to beg his dinner, until, half-way down to the landing, he was met by an +opportunity to do a little more begging. + +"Give a poor feller suthin'?" he impudently drawled, as he stared +straight into the sweet fresh face of Annie Foster. + +Annie had been out for only a short walk; but she happened to have her +pocket-book with her, and she thoughtlessly drew it out, meaning to give +the scamp a trifle, if only to get rid of him. + +"Only a dime, miss?" whined the tramp, as he shut his dirty hand over +Annie's gift. "Come, now, make it a dollar, my beauty. I'll call it all +square for a dollar." + +The whine grew louder as he spoke; and the wheedling grin on his +disgusting face changed into an expression so menacing that Annie drew +back with a shudder, and was about returning her little portemonnaie to +her pocket. + +"No, you don't, honey!" + +The words were uttered in a hoarse and husky voice, and were accompanied +by a sudden grip of poor Annie's arm with one hand, while with the other +he snatched greedily at the morocco case. + +Did she scream? + +How could she help it? Or what else could she have done, under the +circumstances? + +She screamed vigorously, whether she would or no, and at the same moment +dropped her pocket-book in the grass beside the path, so that it +momentarily escaped the vagabond's clutches. + +"Shut up, will you!" + +Other angry and evil words, accompanied by more than one vicious threat, +followed thick and fast, as Annie struggled to free herself, while her +assailant peered hungrily around after the missing prize. + +It is not at all likely he would have attempted any thing so bold as +that, in broad daylight, if he had not been drinking too freely; and the +very evil "spirit" which had prompted him to his rash rascality unfitted +him for its immediate consequences. + +These latter, in the shape of Dab Kinzer and the lower joint of a stout +fishing-rod, had been bounding along up the road from the landing, at a +tremendous rate, for nearly half a minute. + +A boy of fifteen assailing a full-grown ruffian? + +Why not? Age hardly counts in such a matter; and then it is not every +boy of even his growth that could have brought muscles like those of Dab +Kinzer to the swing he gave that four-foot length of seasoned ironwood. + +Annie saw him coming; but her assailant did not until it was too late +for him to do any thing but turn, and receive that first hit in front +instead of behind. It would have knocked over almost anybody; and the +tramp measured his length on the ground, while Dabney plied the rod on +him with all the energy he was master of. + +"Oh, don't, Dabney, don't!" pleaded Annie: "you'll kill him!" + +"I wouldn't want to do that," said Dab, as he suspended his pounding; +but he added, to the tramp,-- + +"Now you'd better get up and run for it If you're caught around here +again, it'll be the worse for you." + +The vagabond staggered to his feet, and he looked savagely enough at +Dab; but the latter looked so very ready to put in another hit with that +terrible cudgel, and the whole situation was so unpleasantly suggestive +of further difficulty, that the youngster's advice was taken without a +word. That is, if a shambling kind of double limp can be described as a +"run for it." + +"Here it is: I've found my pocket-book," said Annie, as her enemy made +the best of his way off. + +"He did not hurt you?" + +"No: he only scared me, except that I suppose my arm will be +black-and-blue where he caught hold of it. Thank you ever so much, +Dabney: you're a brave boy. Why, he's almost twice your size." + +"Yes; but the butt of my rod is twice as hard as his head," said Dabney. +"I was almost afraid to strike him with it. I might have broken his +skull." + +"You didn't even break your rod." + +"No; and now I must run back for the other pieces and the tip. I dropped +them in the road." + +"Please, Dabney, see me home first," said Annie. "I know it's foolish, +and there isn't a bit of danger; but I must confess to being a good deal +frightened." + +Dab Kinzer was a little the proudest boy on Long Island, as he walked +along at Annie's side, in compliance with her request. He went no +farther than the gate, to be sure, and then he returned for the rest of +his rod: but before he got back with it, Keziah Kinzer hurried home from +a call on Mrs. Foster, bringing a tremendous account of Dab's heroism; +and then his own pride over what he had done was only a mere drop in the +bucket, compared to that of his mother. + +"Dabney is growing wonderfully," she remarked to Samantha, "He'll be a +man before any of us know it." + +If Dab had been a man, however, or if Ham Morris or Mr. Foster had been +at home, the matter would not have been permitted to drop there. That +tramp ought to have been followed, arrested, and shut up where his +vicious propensities would have been under wholesome restraint for a +while. As it was, after hurrying on for a short distance, and making +sure he was not pursued, he clambered over the fence, and sneaked into +the nearest clump of bushes. From this safe covert he watched Dab +Kinzer's return after the lighter pieces of his rod; and then he even +dared to crouch along the fence, and see which house his young conqueror +went into. + +"That's where he lives, is it?" he muttered, with a scowl of the most +ferocious vengeance. "Well, they'll have some fun there before they git +to bed to-night, or I'll know the reason why." + +It could not have occurred to such a man that he had been given his +dinner at the door of that very house. What had the collection of his +rights as a "tramp" to do with questions of gratitude and revenge? + +The bushes were a good enough hiding-place for the time, and he crawled +back to them with the air and manner of a man whose mind was made up to +something. + +Ford and Frank were absent in the city that day with Mr. Foster, who was +kindly attending to some affairs of Frank's; but when the three came +home, and learned what had happened, it was hard to tell which of them +failed most completely in trying to express his boiling indignation. +They were all on the point of running over to the Morris house to thank +Dab, but Mrs. Foster interposed. + +"I don't think I would. To-morrow will do as well, and you know they're +expecting Mr. and Mrs. Morris this evening." + +It was harder for the boys to give it up than for Mr. Foster, and the +waiting till to-morrow looked a little dreary. They were lingering near +the north fence two hours later, with a faint idea of catching Dab, even +though they knew that the whole Kinzer family were down at the +railway-station, waiting for Ham and Miranda. + +There was a good deal of patience to be exercised by them also; for that +railway-train was provokingly behind time, and there was "waiting" to be +done accordingly. + +The darkness of a moonless and somewhat cloudy night had settled over +the village and its surrounding farms, long before the belated engine +puffed its way in front of the station-platform. + +Just at that moment, back there by the north fence, Ford Foster +exclaimed,-- + +"What's that smell?" + +"It's like burning hay, more than any thing else," replied Frank. + +"Where can it come from, I'd like to know? We haven't had a light out at +our barn." + +"Light?" exclaimed Frank. "Just look yonder!" + +"Why, it's that old barn, 'way beyond the Morris and Kinzer house. +Somebody must have set it on fire. Hullo! I thought I saw a man running. +Come on, Frank!" + +There was indeed a man running just then; but they did not see him, for +he was already very nearly across the field, and hidden by the darkness. +He had known how to light a fire that would smoulder long enough for him +to get away. + +He was not running as well, nevertheless, as he might have done before +he came under the operation of Dab Kinzer's "lower joint." + +Mrs. Kinzer did her best to prevent any thing like a "scene" at the +railway-station when Ham and Miranda came out upon the platform; but +there was an immense amount of "welcome" expressed in words and hugs and +kisses, in the shortest possible space of time. There was no lingering +on the platform, however; for Ham and his wife were as anxious to get at +the "surprise" they were told was waiting for them, as their friends +were to have them come to it. + +Before they were half way home, the growing light ahead of them +attracted their attention; and then they began to hear the vigorous +shouts of "Fire!" from the throats of the two boys, re-enforced now by +Mr. Foster himself, and the lawyer's voice was an uncommonly good one. +Dabney was driving the ponies, and they had to go pretty fast for the +rest of that short run. + +"Surprise?" exclaimed Ham. "I should say it was! Did you light it before +you started, Dabney?" + +"Don't joke, Hamilton," remarked Mrs. Kinzer. "It may be a very serious +affair for all of us. But I can't understand how in all the world that +barn should have caught fire." + +"Guess it was set a-going," said Dab. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DAB KINZER AND HAM MORRIS TURN INTO A FIRE-DEPARTMENT. + + +The Morris farm, as has been said, was a pretty large one; and the same +tendency on the part of its owners which led them to put up so extensive +and barn-like a house, had stimulated them from time to time to make the +most liberal provisions for the storage of their crops. Barns were a +family weakness with them, as furniture had been with the Kinzers. The +first barn they had put up, now the oldest and the farthest from the +house, had been a large one. It was now in a somewhat dilapidated +condition, to be sure, and was bowed a little northerly by the weight of +years that rested on it; but it had still some hope of future usefulness +if it had not been for that tramp and his box of matches. + +"There isn't a bit of use in trying to save it!" exclaimed Ham, as they +were whirled in through the wide-open gate. "It's gone!" + +"But, Ham," said Mrs. Kinzer, "we can save the other barns perhaps. Look +at the cinders falling on the long stable. If we could keep them off +somehow!" + +"We can do it, Ham," exclaimed Dab, very earnestly. "Mother, will you +send me out a broom and a rope, while Ham and I set up the ladder?" + +"You're the boy for me," said Ham. "I guess I know what you're up to." + +The ladder was one the house-painters had been using, and was a pretty +heavy one; but it was quickly set up against the largest and most +valuable of the barns, and the one, too, which was nearest and most +exposed to the burning building and its flying cinders. The rope was on +hand, and the broom, by the time the ladder was in position. + +"Ford," said Dab, "you and Frank help the girls bring water, till the +men from the village get here. There's plenty of pails, but every one of +our hands is away.--Now, Ham, I'm ready." + +Up they went, and were quickly astride of the ridge of the roof. It +would have been perilous work for any man to have ventured farther +unassisted; but Dab tied one end of the rope firmly around his waist, +Ham tied himself to the other, and then Dab could slip down the steep +roof, in any direction, without danger of slipping off to the ground +below. + +But the broom? + +It was as useful as a small fire-engine. The flying cinders of burning +hay or wood, as they alighted upon the sun-dried shingles of the roof, +needed to be swept off as fast as they fell, before they had time to +fulfil their errand of mischief. Here and there they had been at work +for some minutes, and the fresh little blazes they had kindled had so +good a start, that the broom alone would have been insufficient; and +there the rapidly-arriving pails of water came into capital play. + +Ford Foster had never shone out to so good an advantage in all his life +before, as he did when he took his station on the upper rounds of that +ladder, and risked his neck to hand water-pails to Ham. It was hard +work, all around, but hardest of all for the two "firemen" on the roof. +Now and then the strength and agility of Ham Morris were put to pretty +severe tests, as Dab danced around under the scorching heat, or slipped +flat upon the sloping roof. It was well for Ham that he was a man of +weight and substance. + +There were scores and scores of people streaming up from the village +now, arriving in panting squads, every moment; and Mrs. Kinzer had all +she could do to keep them from "rescuing" every atom of her furniture +out of the house, and piling it up in the road. + +"Wait, please," she said to them very calmly. + +"If Ham and Dab save the long barn, the fire won't spread any farther. +The old barn won't be any loss to speak of, anyhow." + +Fiercely as the dry old barn burned, it used itself up all the quicker +on that account; and it was less than thirty minutes from the time Ham +and Dabney got at work before roof and rafters fell in, and the worst of +the danger was over. The men and boys from the village were eager enough +to do any thing that now remained to be done; but a large share of this +was confined to standing around and watching the "bonfire" burn down to +a harmless heap of badly smelling ashes. As soon, however, as they were +no more wanted on the roof, the two "volunteer firemen" came down; and +Ham Morris's first word on reaching the ground was,-- + +"Dab, my boy, how you've grown!" + +Not a tenth of an inch in mere stature, and yet Ham was entirely correct +about it. + +He stared at Dabney for a moment; and then he turned, and stared at +every thing else. There was plenty of light just then, moon or no moon; +and Ham's eyes were very busy for a full minute. He noted rapidly the +improvements in the fences, sheds, barns, the blinds on the house, the +paint, a host of small things that had changed for the better; and then +he simply said, "Come on, Dab," and led the way into the house. Her +mother and sisters had already given Miranda a hurried look at what they +had done, but Ham was not the man to do any thing in haste. Deliberately +and silently he walked from room to room, and from cellar to garret, +hardly seeming to hear the frequent comments of his enthusiastic young +wife. That he did hear all that had been said around him as he went, +however, was at last made manifest, for he said,-- + +"Dab, I've seen all the other rooms. Where's yours?" + +"I'm going to let you and Miranda have my room," said Dab. "I don't +think I shall board here long." + +"I don't think you will either," said Ham emphatically. "You're going +away to boarding-school. Miranda, is there any reason why Dab can't have +the south-west room, up stairs, with the bay-window?" + +That room had been Samantha's choice, and she looked at Dab +reproachfully; but Miranda replied,-- + +"No, indeed. Not if you wish him to have it." + +"Now, Ham," said Dabney, "I'm not big enough to fit that room. Give me +one nearer my size. That's a little loose for even Sam, and she can't +take any tucks in it." + +Samantha's look changed to one of gratitude, and she did not notice the +detested nickname. + +"Well, then," said Ham, "we'll see about it. You can sleep in the spare +chamber to-night.--Mother Kinzer, I couldn't say enough about this house +business if I talked all night. It must have cost you a deal of money. I +couldn't have dared to ask it. I guess you must kiss me again." + +A curious thing it was that came next,--one that nobody could have +reckoned on. Mrs. Kinzer--good soul--had set her heart on having Ham and +Miranda's house "ready for them" on their return; and now Ham seemed to +be so pleased about it, she actually began to cry. She said, too,-- + +"I'm so sorry about the barn!" + +Ham only laughed, in his quiet way, as he kissed his portly +mother-in-law, and said,-- + +"Come, come, mother Kinzer, you didn't set it afire. Can't Miranda and I +have some supper? Dab must be hungry, too, after all that +roof-sweeping." + +There had been a sharp strain on the nerves of all of them that day and +evening; and they were glad enough to gather around the tea-table, while +all that was now left of the old barn smouldered peaceably away with +half the boys in the village on guard. + +Once or twice Ham or Dab went out to see that all was dying out rightly; +but it was plain that all the danger was over, unless a high wind should +come to scatter the cinders. + +By this time the whole village had heard of Dab's adventure with the +tramp, and had at once connected the latter with the fire. There were +those, indeed, who expressed a savage wish to connect him with it +bodily; and it was well for him that he had done his running away +promptly, and had hidden himself with care, for men were out after him +in all directions, on foot and on horseback. Who would have dreamed of +so dirty a vagabond "taking to the water"? + +"He's a splendid fellow, anyway!" + +Odd, was it not? but Annie Foster and Jenny Walters were half a mile +apart when they both said that very thing, just before the clock in the +village church hammered out the news that it was ten, and bedtime. They +were not either of them speaking of the tramp. + +It was long after that, however, before the lights were out in all the +rooms of the Morris mansion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DAB HAS A WAKING DREAM, AND HAM GETS A SNIFF OF SEA-AIR. + + +Sleep? One of the most excellent things in all the world, and very few +people get too much of it nowadays. + +As for Dabney Kinzer, he had done his sleeping as regularly and +faithfully as even his eating, up to the very night after Ham Morris +came home to find the old barn afire. There had been a few, a very few, +exceptions. There were the nights when he was expecting to go +duck-shooting before daylight, and waked up at midnight with a strong +conviction that he was late about starting. There were, perhaps, a dozen +of "eeling" expeditions, that had kept him out late enough for a full +basket and a proper scolding. There, too, was the night when he had +stood so steadily by the tiller of "The Swallow," while she danced, +through the dark, across the rough billows of the Atlantic. + +But, on the whole, Dab Kinzer had been a good sleeper all his life till +then. Once in bed, and there had been for him an end of all wakefulness. + +On that particular night, for the first time, sleep refused to come, +late as was the hour when the family circle broke up. + +It could not have been the excitement of Ham and Miranda's return. He +would have gotten over that by this time. No more could it have been the +fire, though the smell of smouldering hay came in pretty strongly at +times through the wide-open windows. If any one patch of that great +roomy bed was better made up for sleeping than the rest of it, Dab would +surely have found the spot; for he tumbled and rolled all over it in his +restlessness. Some fields on a farm will "grow" wheat better than +others, but no part of the bed seemed to grow any sleep. At last Dab got +wearily up, and took a chair by the window. + +The night was dark, but the stars were shining; and every now and then +the wind would make a shovel of itself, and toss up the hot ashes the +fire had left, sending a dull red glare around on the house and barns +for a moment, and flooding all the neighborhood with a stronger smell of +burnt hay. + +"If you're going to burn hay," soliloquized Dabney, "it won't do to take +a barn for a stove. Not that kind of a barn. But what did Ham Morris +mean by saying that I was to go to boarding-school? That's what I'd like +to know" + +The secret was out. + +He had kept remarkably still, for him, all the evening, and had not +asked a question; but, if his brains were ever to work over his books as +they had over Ham's remark, his future chances for sound sleep were all +gone. It had come upon him so suddenly, the very thing he thought about +that night in "The Swallow," and wished for and dreamed about during all +those walks and talks and lessons of all sorts with Ford Foster and +Frank Harley, ever since they came in from that memorable cruise. + +It was a wonderful idea, and Dab had his doubts as to the way his mother +would take to it when it should be brought seriously before her. Little +he guessed the truth. Ham's remark had gone deep into other ears as well +as Dabney's; and there were reasons, therefore, why good Mrs. Kinzer was +sitting by the window of her own room, at that very moment, as little +inclined to sleep as was the boy she was thinking of. So proud of him +too, she was, and so full of bright, motherly thoughts of the man he +would make, "one of these days, when he gets his growth." + +There must have been a good deal of sympathy between Dab and his mother; +for by and by, just as she began to feel drowsy, and muttered, "Well, +well, we'll have a talk about it to-morrow," Dab found himself nodding +against the window-frame, and slowly rose from his chair, remarking,-- + +"Guess I might as well finish that dream in bed. If I'd tumbled out o' +the window I'd have lit among Miranda's rose-bushes. They've got their +thorns all out at this time o' night." + +It was necessary for them both to sleep hard, after that; for more than +half the night was gone, and they were to be up early. So indeed they +were; but what surprised Mrs. Kinzer when she went into the kitchen was +to find Miranda there before her. + +"You here, my dear? That's right. I'll take a look at the milk-room. +Where's Ham?" + +"Out among the stock. Dab's just gone to him." + +Curious things people will do at times. Miranda had put down the +coffee-pot on the range. There was not a single one of the farm "help" +around, male or female; and there stood the blooming young bride, with +her back toward her mother, and staring out through the open door. And +then Mrs. Kinzer slipped forward, and put her arms around her daughter's +neck. + +Well, it was very early in the morning for those two women to stand +there and cry; but it seemed to do them good, and Miranda remarked at +last, as she kissed her mother,-- + +"O mother, it is all so good and beautiful, and I'm so happy!" + +And then they both laughed, in a subdued and quiet way; and Miranda +picked up the coffee-pot while Mrs. Kinzer walked away into the +milk-room. Such cream as there seemed to be on all the pans that +morning! + +As for Ham Morris, his first visit on leaving the house had been to the +relics of the old barn, as a matter of course. + +"Not much of a loss," he said to himself; "but it might have been, but +for Dab. There's the making of a man in him. Wonder if he'd get enough +to eat, if we sent him up yonder? On the whole, I think he would. If he +didn't, I don't believe it would be his fault. He's got to go; and his +mother'll agree to it, I know. Talk about mothers-in-law! If one of +'em's worth as much as she is, I'd like to have a dozen. Don't know +'bout that, though. I'm afraid the rest would have to take back seats as +long as Mrs. Kinzer was in the house." + +Very likely Ham was right; but just then he heard the voice of Dab, +behind him,-- + +"I say, Ham, when you've looked at the other things, I want to show you +'The Swallow.' I haven't hurt her a bit, and her new grapnel's worth +three of the old one." + +"All right, Dab. I think I'd like a sniff of the water. Come on. There's +nothing else I know of like that smell of the shore with the tide half +out." + +No more there is; and there have been sea-shore men, many of them, who +had wandered away into the interior of the country, hundreds and +hundreds of long miles, and settled there, and even got rich and old +there, and yet who have come all the way back again, just to get another +smell of the salt marshes and the sea-air and the out-going tide. + +Ham actually took a little boat, and went on board "The Swallow," when +they reached the landing, and Dab kept close to him. + +"She's all right, Ham. But what are you casting loose for?" + +"Dab, they won't all be ready for breakfast in two hours. The stock and +things can go: the men'll tend to 'em. Just haul on that sheet a bit. +Now the jib. Look out for the boom. There! The wind's a little ahead, +but it isn't bad. Ah!" + +The last word came out in a great sigh of relief, and was followed by a +chuckle which seemed to gurgle all the way up from Ham's boots. + +"This is better than railroading," he said to Dabney, as they tacked +into the long stretch where the inlet widened toward the bay. "No +pounding or jarring here. Talk of your fashionable watering-places! Why, +Dab, there ain't any thing else in the world prettier than that reach of +water and the sand-island, with the ocean beyond it. There's some ducks +and some gulls. Why, Dab, do you see that? There's a porpoise, inside +the bar!" + +It was as clear as daylight that Ham Morris felt himself "at home" +again, and that his brief experience of the outside world had by no +means lessened his affection for the place he was born in. If the entire +truth could have been known, it would have been found that he felt his +heart warm toward the whole coast and all its inhabitants, including the +clams. And yet it was remarkable how many of the latter were mere empty +shells when Ham finished his breakfast that morning. He preferred them +roasted, and his mother-in-law had not forgotten that trait in his +character. + +Once or twice in the course of the sail, Dabney found himself on the +point of saying something about boarding-schools; but each time his +friend broke away to the discussion of other topics, such as blue-fish, +porpoises, crabs, or the sailing qualities of "The Swallow," and Dab +dimly felt that it would be better to wait until another time. So he +waited. + +It was a grand good time, however, to be had before breakfast; and as +they again sailed up the inlet, very happy and very hungry, Dab suddenly +exclaimed,-- + +"Ham, do you see that? How could they have guessed where we'd gone? +There's the whole Kinzer tribe, and the boys are with them, and Annie." + +"What boys and Annie?" + +"Oh! Ford Foster and Frank Harley. Annie is Ford's sister. They live in +our old house, you know." + +"What's become of Jenny?" + +"You mean my boat? There she is, hitched a little out, just beyond the +landing." + +There was nothing on Dab's face to lead any one to suppose that he +guessed the meaning of the quizzical grin on Ham's. + +It is barely possible, however, that there would have been fewer people +at the landing, if Ham and Dab had not been keeping a whole house-full +of hungry mortals, including a bride, waiting breakfast for them. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOW DAB WORKED OUT ANOTHER OF HIS GREAT PLANS. + + +There was a sort of council at the breakfast-table of the Foster family +that morning; and Ford and Annie found their side of it "voted down." + +That was not at all because they did not debate vigorously, and even +"protest;" but the odds were too much against them. + +"Annie, my dear," said Mrs. Foster at last, in a gentle but decided way, +"I'm sure your aunt Maria, if not your uncle, must feel hurt at your +coming away so suddenly. If we invite Joe and Foster to visit us, it +will make it all right." + +"Yes," sharply exclaimed Mr. Foster: "we must have them come. They'll +behave themselves here. I'll write to their father: you write to Maria." + +"They're her own boys, you know," added Mrs. Foster soothingly. + +"Well, mother," said Annie, "if it must be. But I'm sure they'll make us +all very uncomfortable if they come." + +"I can stand 'em for a week or so," said Ford, with the air of a man who +can do or bear more than most people. "I'll get Dab Kinzer to help me +entertain them." + +"Excellent," said Mr. Foster; "and I hope they will be civil to him." + +"To Dabney?" asked Annie. + +"Fuz and Joe civil to Dab Kinzer?" exclaimed Ford. + +"Certainly: I hope so." + +"Father," said Ford, "may I say just what I was thinking?" + +"Speak it right out." + +"Well, I was thinking what a good time Fuz and Joe would be likely to +have, trying to get ahead of Dab Kinzer." + +Annie looked at her brother, and nodded; and there was a bit of a +twinkle in the eyes of the lawyer himself, but he only remarked,-- + +"Well, you must be neighborly. I don't believe the Hart boys know much +about the seashore." + +"Dab and Frank and I will try and educate them." + +Annie thought of the ink, and her box of spoiled cuffs and collars, +while her brother was speaking. Could it be that Ford meant a good deal +more than he was saying? At all events, she fully agreed with him on the +Dab Kinzer question. + +That was one "council;" and it was one of peace or war, probably a good +deal as the Hart boys themselves might thereafter determine. + +At the same hour, however, matters of even greater importance were +coming to a decision around the well-filled breakfast-table in the +Morris mansion. Ham had given a pretty full account of his visit to +Grantley, including his dinner at Mrs. Myers's, and all he had learned +relating to the academy. + +"It seems like spending a great deal of money," began Mrs. Kinzer, when +Ham at last paused for breath; but lid caught her up at once, with-- + +"I know you've been paying out a good deal, mother Kinzer, but Dab must +go, if I pay"-- + +"You pay, indeed? For my boy? I'd like to see myself! Now I've found out +what he is, I mean he shall have every advantage. If this Grantley's the +right place"-- + +"Mother," exclaimed Samantha, "it's the very place Mr. Foster is going +to send Ford to, and Frank Harley." + +"Exactly," said Ham; "Mr. Hart spoke of a Mr. Foster,--his +brother-in-law,--a lawyer." + +"Why," said Keziah, "he's living in our old house now. Ford Foster is +Dab's greatest crony. They're the very people you met at the landing." + +"Yes, I've heard all that," said Ham, "but somehow I hadn't put the two +things together. Now, mother Kinzer, do you really mean Dab is to go?" + +"Of course I do," said she. + +"Well, if that isn't doing it easy! Do you know, it's about the nicest +thing I've heard since I got here?" + +"Except the barn," said Dabney, unable to hold in any longer. "Mother, +may I stand on my head a while?" + +"You'll need all the head you've got," said Ham. "You won't have much +time to get ready." + +"He'll have books enough after he gets there," said Mrs. Kinzer +decidedly. "I'll risk Dabney." + +"And they'll make him give up all his slang," added Samantha. + +"Yes, Sam; when I come back I'll talk nothing but Greek and Latin. I'm +getting French now from Ford, and Hindu from Frank Harley. Then I know +English, and slang, and Long-Islandish. Think of one man with seven +first-rate languages!" + +But Dabney soon found himself unable to sit still, even at the +breakfast-table. Not that he got up hungry, for he had done his duty by +Miranda's cookery; but the house itself, big as it was, seemed too small +to hold him, with all his new prospects swelling within him. Perhaps, +moreover, the rest of the family felt that they would be better able to +discuss the important subject before them, after Dab had taken himself +out into the open air; for none of them tried to stay his going. + +"This beats dreaming, all hollow," he said to himself, as he stood, with +his hands in his pockets, half way down to the gate between the two +gardens. "Now I'll see what can be done about that other matter." + +Two plans in one head, and so young a head as that? + +Yes; and it spoke well for Dab's heart, as well as his brains, that his +plan number two was not a selfish one. The substance of it came out in +the first five minutes of the talk he had, a trifle later, with Ford and +Frank, on the other side of the gate. + +"Ford, you know there's twenty dollars left of the money the Frenchman +paid us for the bluefish." + +"Well, what of it? Isn't it yours?" + +"One share of it's mine. The rest is yours and Dick's." + +"He needs it more'n I do." + +"Ford, did you know Dick Lee was real bright?" + +"'Cute little chap as ever I saw. Why?" + +"Well, he ought to go to school." + +"Why don't he go?" + +"He does, except in summer. He might go to the academy, if they'd take +him, and if he had money enough to go with." + +"Academy? What academy?" + +"Why, Grantley, of course. I'm going, and so are you and Frank. Why +shouldn't Dick go?" + +"You're going? Hurrah for that! Why didn't you say so before?" + +"Wasn't sure till this morning. You fellows 'll be a long way ahead of +me, though. But I mean to catch up." + +For a few minutes poor Dick was lost sight of in a perfect storm of +talk; but Dab came back to him, with,-- + +"Dick's folks are dreadful poor, but we might raise it. Twenty dollars +to begin with." + +"I've ten dollars saved up, and I know mother'll say 'Pass it right +in,'" exclaimed Ford. + +It was hardly likely Mrs. Foster would express her assent in precisely +that way; but Frank Harley promptly added,-- + +"I think I can promise five." + +"I mean to speak to Ham Morris and mother about it," said Dab. "All I +wanted was to fix it about the twenty dollars to start on." + +"Frank," shouted Ford, "let's go right in, and see our crowd!" + +Ford was evidently getting a little excited; and it was hardly five +minutes later that he wound up his story, in the house, with,-- + +"Father, may I contribute my ten dollars to the Richard Lee Education +Fund?" + +"Of course; but he will need a good deal more money than you boys can +raise." + +"Why, father, the advertisement says half a year for a hundred and +fifty. He can board for less than we can. Perhaps Mrs. Myers would let +him work out a part of it." + +"I can spare as much as Ford can," here put in Annie. + +"Do you leave me out entirely?" said her mother, with a smile that was +even sweeter than usual. + +As for sharp-eyed lawyer Foster himself, he had been hemming and +coughing in an odd sort of way for a moment, and he had said, "I +declare," several times; but he now remarked, somewhat more to the +purpose,-- + +"I don't believe in giving any man a better education than he will ever +know what to do with; but then, this Dick Lee and you boys,--well, see +what you can do; but no one must be allowed to contribute outside of the +Foster and Kinzer families, and Frank. As for the rest, hem!--ah--I +think I'll say that there won't be any difficulty." + +"You, father?" + +"Why not, Annie? Do you s'pose I'm going to let myself be beaten in such +a matter by a mere country-boy like Dabney Kinzer?" + +"Father," said Ford, "if you'd seen how Dick behaved, that night, out +there on the ocean, in 'The Swallow'!" + +"Just as well, just as well, my son." + +"Hurrah!" shouted Ford. "Then it's all right, and Dick Lee'll have a +fair shake in the world!" + +"A what, my son?" exclaimed his mother. + +"I didn't mean to talk slang, mother: I only meant--well, you know how +dreadfully black he is; but then, he can steer a boat tiptop, and he's +splendid for crabs and bluefish; and Dab says he's a good scholar too." + +"Dab's a very good boy," said Mrs. Foster; "but your friend Dick will +need an outfit, I imagine,--clothing, and almost every thing. I must see +Mrs. Kinzer about it." + +Meantime Dick Lee's part in the matter, and that of his family, had been +taken for granted, all around. An hour later, however, Mrs. Kinzer's +first reply to her son, after listening to a calculation of his, which +almost made it seem as if Dick would make money by going to Grantley, +was,-- + +"What if Mrs. Lee should say she can't spare him?" + +Dab's countenance fell. He knew Mrs. Lee, but he had not thought so far +as that. + +He said something not very intelligible, but to that effect. + +"Well, Dabney, if we can make the other arrangements, I'll see her about +it." + +Ham Morris had been exchanging remarkable winks with Miranda and +Samantha, and now gravely suggested,-- + +"Maybe the academy authorities will refuse to take him." + +"Ford says they had a blacker boy than he is, there, last year." + +"Now, Dab!" exclaimed Ham. + +"Well, I know he's pretty black; but it don't come off." + +"Mother," said Samantha, "Mrs. Foster and Annie are coming through the +gate." + +Dab waited just long enough after that to learn the news concerning the +"Richard Lee Education Fund" and Mr. Foster's offer, and then he was off +towards the shore. + +He knew very well in which direction it was best to go; and, half way to +the landing, he met Dick coming up the road with a basket of eels on his +arm. + +"Dick," shouted Dabney, "I'm going away to boarding-school, at an +academy." + +"'Cad'my? Whar?" + +"Up in New England. They call it Grantley Academy,--where Frank and Ford +are going." + +"Dat spiles it all," said Dick ruefully. "Now I's got to fish wid +fellers 'at don't know nuffin." + +"No, you won't. You're going with us. It's all fixed,--money and all." + +Dick would never have thought, ordinarily, of questioning a statement +made by "Captain Kinzer;" but the rueful expression deepened on his +face, the basket of eels dropped heavily on the grass, the tough black +fingers of his hands twisted nervously together for a moment, and then +he sat mournfully down beside the basket. + +"It ain't no use, Dab." + +"No use? Why not?" + +"I ain't a w'ite boy." + +"What of it? Don't you learn well enough, over at the school?" + +"More dar like me. Wot'd I do in a place whar all de res' was w'ite?" + +"Well as anybody." + +"Wot'll my mudder say, w'en she gits de news? You isn't a-jokin', is +you, Dab Kinzer?" + +"Joking? I guess not." + +"You's lit onto me powerful sudden 'bout dis. Yonder's Ford an' Frank +a-comin'. Don't tell 'em. Not jes' yit." + +"They know all about it. They helped raise the money." + +"Did dey? I's obleeged to 'em. Well, 'tain't no use. All I's good for is +eels and crabs and clams and sech. Har dey come. Oh, my!" + +Ford and Frank brought a fresh gust of enthusiasm with them, and they +had Dick and his eels up from the grass in short order. + +"We must see Mrs. Lee right away," said Ford. "It would never do to let +Dick tell her." + +"Guess dat's so," said Dick. + +Quite an embassy they made, those four boys, with Dab Kinzer for +spokesman, and Dick Lee almost crouching behind them. Mrs. Lee listened +with open mouth while Dab unfolded his plan, but when he had finished +she shut her lips firmly together. They were not very thin, and not at +all used to being shut, and in another instant they opened again. + +"Sho! De boy! Is dat you, Dick? Dat's wot comes ob dressin' on 'im up. +How's he goin' to git clo'es? Wot's he got to do wid de 'Cad'my, anyhow? +Wot am I to do, yer all alone, arter he's gone? Who's goin' to run +err'nds an' do de choahs? Wot's de use ob bringin' up a boy an' den hab +him go trapesin' off to de 'Cad'my? Wot good'll it do 'im?" + +"I tole yer so, Dab," groaned poor Dick. "It ain't no use. I 'most wish +I was a eel!" + +Dabney was on the point of opening a whole broadside of eloquence, when +Ford Foster pinched his arm, and whispered,-- + +"Your mother's coming, and our Annie's with her." + +"Then let's clear out. She's worth a ten-acre lot full of us. Come on, +boys!" + +If Mrs. Lee was surprised by their very sudden and somewhat +unceremonious retreat, she need not have been, after she learned the +cause of it. She stood in wholesome awe of Mrs. Kinzer; and a "brush" +with the portly widow, re-enforced by the sweet face of Annie Foster, +was a pretty serious matter. + +She did not hesitate about beginning the skirmish, however; for her +tongue was already a bit loosened, and in fine working-order. + +"Wot's dis yer, Mrs. Kinzer, 'bout sendin' away my Dick to a furrin +'Cad'my? Isn't he 'most nigh nuff spiled a'ready?" + +"Oh! it's all arranged nicely. Miss Foster and I only came over to see +what we could do about getting his clothes ready. He must have things +warm and nice, for the winters are cold up there." + +"I hasn't said he might go--Dick, put down dem eels; an' he hasn't said +he'd go--Dick, take off yer hat; an' his father"-- + +"Now, Glorianna," interrupted Mrs. Kinzer, calling Dick's mother by her +first name, "I've known you these forty years, and do you suppose I'm +going to argue about it? Just tell us what Dick'll need, and don't let's +have any nonsense. The money's all provided. How do you know what'll +become of him? He may be governor yet." + +"He mought preach!" + +That idea had suddenly dawned upon the perplexed mind of Mrs. Lee, and +Dick's fate was settled. She was prouder than ever of her boy; and, +truth to tell, her opposition was only what Mrs. Kinzer had considered +it, a piece of unaccountable "nonsense," to be brushed away by just such +a hand as the widow's own. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A GRAND SAILING-PARTY, AND AN EXPERIMENT BY RICHARD LEE. + + +That was a great day for the boys; but, before the close of it, Ford +Foster had told his friends the news that Joe Hart and his brother Fuz +had been invited to visit with him. + +"Will they come?" asked Dab. + +"Certainly. That kind of boy always comes. Nobody wants to keep him from +coming." + +"When do you look for them?" + +"Right away. Vacation's almost gone, you know." + +"Won't they be ashamed to meet your sister?" + +"Not a bit. They'll try their tricks, even after they get here." + +"All right. We'll help 'em all we know how. But, boys, I'll tell you +what we must try for." + +"What's that?" + +"One grand good sailing-party in 'The Swallow,' before they get here." + +"Hurrah for that! Annie was wishing for one, only yesterday." + +"We'll have all of your folks and all of ours. 'The Swallow' is plenty +big enough." + +"Mother wouldn't go, and father can't just now. He's trying a case. But +there's Annie and Frank and me"-- + +"And my mother, and Ham and Miranda, and our girls. Ham'll go, sure. +Then we must take Dick Lee along. It'd make him sick if we didn't." + +"Of course. Ain't I glad about him! Could we get ready and go +to-morrow?" + +"Guess not so quick as that. We might by the day after, if the weather's +all right." + +Exactly. There is always a large-sized "if" to be put in, where any +thing depends on the weather, Mrs. Kinzer took the matter up with +enthusiasm, and so did the girls, Miranda included; and Ford Foster was +quite right about his part of the company. + +But the weather! + +It looked well enough, to unpractised eyes; but Ham Morris shook his +head, and went to consult his fishermen friends. There was a good deal +of head-shaking done thereupon; for every human barometer among them +advised him to wait a day or so, and hardly any two of them gave him the +same reason for doing it. + +Ford Foster was at the house when Ham made his report, and was a little +surprised to see how promptly Dab Kinzer yielded his assent to the +verdict. + +"Such warm, nice weather as this is," he remonstrated; "and there isn't +any wind to speak of." + +"There's too much of it coming," was Ham's response; and there was no +help for it after that, not even when the mail brought word from "Aunt +Maria" that both of her dear boys would arrive in a day or two. + +"Our last chance is gone, Annie," said Ford, when the news came. + +"O mother!" she said despondingly, "what shall we do?" + +"Have your sail, just the same, and invite your cousins." + +"But the Kinzers"-- + +"Why, Annie! Mrs. Kinzer will not think of neglecting them. She's as +kind as kind can be." + +"And we are to pay her with Joe and Fuz," said Ford. "Well, I wish Ham +Morris's storm would come along." + +He only had to wait until the next day for it, and he felt quite +contented to be safe on shore while it lasted. There was no call for any +laughter at the prophecies of the fishermen after it began to blow. +Still the blow was not a long one, and Ham Morris remarked,-- + +"This is only an outside edge of it. It's a good deal worse than this +out at sea. I'm glad we're not out in it." + +Ford Foster thought that about the worst of that weather was when the +afternoon train came in, and he had to show a pair of tired, moist, and +altogether unpleasant cousins to the room set apart for them. The clouds +in his mind did not clear away perceptibly even when, just after supper, +a note came in from Mrs. Kinzer, inviting the Hart boys to join the +yachting-party next morning. + +"The storm may not be over," growled Ford a little sulkily. + +"Oh!" said Annie, "Mrs. Kinzer adds that the weather will surely be fine +after such a blow, and the bay will be quite safe and smooth." + +"Does she know the clerk of the weather?" asked Joe Hart. + +"Got one of her own," said Ford. + +Joe and Ford both found something to laugh at in that, but they said +nothing. They were both feeling a little "strange," as yet, and were +almost inclined to try and behave themselves; the main difficulty in the +way of it being a queer idea they had that their ordinary way of doing +things made up a fair article of "good behavior." Nobody had taken the +pains to bounce them out of the notion. + +When the morning really came, sea and earth and sky seemed to be all the +better for the trial they had been through, and the weather was all that +Mrs. Kinzer had prophesied of it. The grass and trees were greener, and +the bay seemed bluer; while the few clouds visible were very white and +clean, as if all the storms had been recently washed out of them. + +There was no question now to be raised concerning the yachting-party, or +any part of it. Not a single thing went wrong in Mrs. Kinzer's +management of the "setting out," and that was half the day won to begin +with. Ford had some difficulty in getting Joe and Fuz out of bed so +early as was necessary; but he gave them an intimation which proved +quite sufficient:-- + +"You'd better hop, boys. Ham Morris wouldn't wait five minutes for the +Queen of England, or even for me." + +"Joe," whispered Fuz, a little while after they got on board the yacht, +"are we to be gone a week?" + +"Why? What's up?" + +"Such piles of provisions as they've stowed away in that kennel!" + +The bit of a water-tight cabin under the half-deck, at which Fuz +pointed, was pretty well filled, beyond a doubt; but Mrs. Kinzer knew +what she was about. She had provided luncheon for most of that party +before, and the effect on them of the sea-air was also to be taken into +account. + +"Dab," said Ford Foster, "you've forgotten to unhitch the 'Jenny,' Here +she is, towing astern." + +"That's all right. We may need her. She's too heavy to be taken on +board." + +A careful fellow was Mr. Hamilton Morris, and he well knew the value of +a rowboat to a sea-going picnic-party. As for Joe and Fuz, they were +compelled to overcome a strong inward inclination to cast the boat +loose. Such a good joke it would have been! But Ham Morris was in the +way of it, so long as he stood at the tiller. + +"The Swallow" was steady enough to inspire even Annie Foster with a +feeling of confidence; but Ford carefully explained to her the +difference between slipping over the little waves of the landlocked bay, +and plunging into the gigantic billows of the stormy Atlantic. + +"I prefer this," said Annie. + +"But I wouldn't have missed the other for any thing," replied Ford. +"Would you, Dick?" + +Mr. Richard Lee had taken his full share in the work of starting, and +had made himself singularly useful; but, if all the rest had not been so +busy, they would surely have noticed his remarkable silence. Hardly a +word had he uttered that anybody could remember; and, now he was forced +to say something, his mouth opened slowly, as if he had never tried to +speak before, and was not quite sure he knew how. + +"No--Mr.--Foster,--I--would--not--have--missed--that--trip--for--a--good +--deal." + +Every word came out by itself, "afoot and alone," and as different from +Dick's ordinary speech as a cut stone is from a rough one. Ham Morris +opened his eyes wide, and Ford puckered his lips into the shape of a +still whistle; but Annie caught the meaning of it quicker than they did. + +"Dick," she said at once, "are we to fish to-day?" + +"May--be,--but--that--depends--on--Mr. Morris." + +Every word was slowly and carefully uttered, a good deal in the manner +of a man counting over a lot of money, and looking out sharp for +counterfeits. + +"Look here, Dick," suddenly exclaimed Dab Kinzer, "I give it up: you can +do it. But don't you try to keep it up all day. Kill you, sure as any +thing, if you do." + +"Did I say 'em all right, Cap'n Dab?" anxiously inquired Dick, with a +happy look on his merry black face. + +"Every word," said Dab; "but it's well for you they were all short. Keep +on practising." + +"I'll jes' do dat, shuah!" + +Practising? Dick? + +Yes, that was it; and he joined heartily in the peal of laughter with +which the success of his first attempt at "w'ite folks' English" was +received by that party. + +Dab explained, that, as soon as Dick found he was really to go to the +academy, he determined to teach his tongue new habits; and the whole +company heartily approved, even while they joined Dab in advising him +not to attempt too much at a time. + +"You might sprain your tongue over a big word," said Ford. + +There was an abundance of talk and fun all around, as "The Swallow" +skimmed onward; and the outlines of the long, low sand-island were +rapidly becoming more distinct. + +Nearer they drew, and nearer. + +"Is that a light-house, away over there?" asked Annie of Dab. + +"Yes, that's a light-house; and there's a wrecking-station, close down +by it." + +"A wrecking-station?" + +"I say," said Ford, "are there men there all the while? Are there many +wrecks on this coast?" + +"Ever so many wrecks," said Dab, "and they keep a sharp lookout. There +used to be more before there were so many light-houses. It was a bad +place to go ashore in, too,--almost as bad as Jersey." + +"Why?" + +"Well, the coast itself is mean enough, for shoals and surf; and then +there were the wreckers." + +"Oh! I understand," said Ford. "Not the Government men." + +"No, the old sort. It was a bad enough piece of luck to be driven in on +that bar, or another like it; but the wreckers made it as much worse as +they knew how to." + +They were all listening now, even his sisters; and Dabney launched out +into a somewhat highly-colored description of the terrors of the +Long-Island "south shore," in old times and new, and of the character +and deeds of the men who were formerly the first to find out if any +thing or anybody had been driven ashore. + +"What a prize to them that French steamer would have been!" said Annie; +"the one you and Ford took Frank from." + +"No, she wouldn't. Why, she wasn't wrecked at all. She only stuck her +nose in the sand, and lay still till the tugs came and pulled her off. +That isn't a wreck. A wreck is where the ship is knocked to pieces, and +people are drowned, and all that sort of thing. The crew can't help +themselves, after that. Then, you see, the wreckers have a notion that +every thing that comes ashore belongs to them. Why, I've heard some of +our old fishermen--best kind of men too--talk of how Government has +robbed them of their rights." + +"By the new system?" said Annie. + +"Well, first by having wrecks prevented, and then by having all property +kept for the owners." + +"Isn't that strange! Did you say they were good men?" + +"Some of 'em. Honest as the day is long about every thing else. But they +weren't all so. There was old Peter, now, and he lives on the island +yet. There's his cabin. You can just see it sticking out of the edge of +that big sand-hill." + +"What a queer thing it is!" + +"Queer? I guess you'd say so, if you could have a look at the things +he's picked up along shore, and stowed inside of it. There isn't but +just room for him to cook and sleep in." + +"Is he a fisherman too?" + +"Why, that's his trade. Sometimes the storms drift the sand high all +over that cabin, and old Pete has to dig it out again. He gets snowed +under two or three times every winter." + +Annie Foster, and probably some of the others, were getting new ideas +concerning the sea-coast and its inhabitants, every minute; and she felt +a good deal like Dick Lee,--she "wouldn't have missed that trip for any +thing." + +They were now coasting along the island, at no great distance; and, +although it was not nearly noon, Dabney heard Joe Hart say to his +brother,-- + +"Never was so hungry in all my life. Glad they did lay in a good stock +of provisions." + +"So am I," returned Fuz; and he added in a whisper, + +"Isn't there any way for us to get into that cabin?" + +Joe shook his head. There was not the slightest chance for any small +piracy to be worked on that craft, so long as Mrs. Kinzer remained the +"stewardess" of it; and the two hungry boys were compelled to wait her +motions. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A WRECK AND SOME WRECKERS. + + +Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the bay and +the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds of +sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere did +it show a tree, or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster found +herself getting melancholy, as she gazed upon it, and thought of how the +winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain and +hail, or with the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter. + +"Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and +yesterday?" + +"Worse than it was over on our side of the bay, ten times." + +"Were there any vessels wrecked?" + +"Most likely, but it's too soon to know just where." + +At that moment "The Swallow" was running around a sandy point, jutting +out into the bay from the foot of the highest mound on the bar, not half +a mile from the light-house, and only twice as far from the low wooden +roof of the "wrecking-station," where, as Dab had explained to his +guests, the lifeboats and other apparatus of all sorts were kept safely +housed. The piles of drifted sand had for some time prevented the +brightest eyes on board "The Swallow" from seeing any thing to seaward; +but now, as they came around the point and a broad level lay before +them, Ham Morris sprang to his feet in sudden excitement, as he +exclaimed,-- + +"In the breakers! Why, she must have been a three-master! It's all up +with her now." + +"Look along the shore!" shouted Dab. "Some of 'em saved, anyhow. The +coast-men are there, too, life-boats and all." + +So they were; and Ham was right about the vessel, though not a mast was +left standing in her now. If there had been, indeed, she might have been +kept off the breakers, as they afterwards learned. She had been +dismasted in the storm, but had not struck until after daylight that +morning, and help had been close at hand and promptly given. There was +no such thing as saving that unfortunate hull. She would beat to pieces +just where she lay, sooner or later, according to the kind of weather +that might take the job in hand, and the size and force of the waves it +should bring with it. + +The work done already by the life-boat men had been a good one; and it +had not been very easy, either, for they had brought the crew and +passengers safely through the boiling surf, and landed them all upon the +sandy beach. They had even saved for them some items of baggage. In a +few hours the coast "wrecking-tugs" would be on hand to look out for the +cargo. There was therefore no chance for the 'long-shore men to turn an +honest penny without working hard for it. Work and wages enough there +would be, to be sure, helping to unload, whenever the sea, now so heavy, +should go down a little; but "work" and "wages" were not the precise +things some of them were most hungry for. + +Two of them, at all events,--one a tall, grizzled, weather-beaten, +stoop-shouldered old man, in tattered raiment, and the other more +battered still, but with no "look of the sea" about him,--stood on a +sand-drift, gloomily gazing at the group of shipwrecked people on the +shore, and the helpless mass of timber and spars out there among the +beatings of the surf. + +"Not more'n three hunder' yards out She'd break up soon, 'f there was no +one to hender. Wot a show we'd hev!" + +"I reckon," growled the shorter man. "'S your name Peter?" + +"Ay. I belong yer. Allers lived 'bout high-water mark. Whar'd ye come +from?" + +The only answer was a sharp and excited exclamation. Neither of them had +been paying any attention to the bay side of the bar; and, while they +were gazing at the wreck, a very pretty little yacht had cast anchor, +close in shore; and then, with the help of a rowboat, quite a party of +ladies and gentlemen--the latter somewhat young-looking for the greater +part--had made their way to the land, and were now hurrying forward. +They did not pay the slightest attention to Peter and his companion, but +in a few minutes more they were trying to talk to those poor people on +the seaward beach. Trying, but not succeeding very well; for the wreck +had been a Bremen bark, with an assorted cargo and some fifty +passengers, all emigrants. German seemed to be their only tongue, and +none of Mrs. Kinzer's pleasure-party spoke German. + +"Too bad," Ford Foster was saying about it, when there came a sort of +wail from a group at a little distance, and it seemed to close with,-- + +"_Pauvre enfant!_" + +"French!" exclaimed Ford. "Why, they look as Dutch as any of the rest. +Come on, Annie, let's try and speak to them." + +The rest followed, a good deal like a flock of sheep; and it was a sad +enough scene that lay before them. No lives had been lost in the wreck; +but there had been a good deal of suffering among the poor passengers, +cooped up between decks, with the hatches closed, while the storm +lasted. Nobody drowned, indeed; but all had been dreadfully soaked in +the surf in getting ashore, and among the rest had been the fair-haired +child, now lying there on his mother's lap, so pinched and blue, and +seemingly so nearly lifeless. + +French, were they? + +Yes and no; for the father, a tall, stout young man, who looked like a +farmer, told Ford they were from Alsace, and spoke both languages. + +"The child, was it sick?" + +Not so much "sick" as dying of starvation and exposure. Oh, such a sad, +pleading look as the poor mother lifted to the moist eyes of Mrs. +Kinzer, when the portly widow pushed forward and bent over the silent +boy! Such a pretty child he must have been, and not over two years old; +but the salt water was in his tangled curls now, and his poor lips were +parted in a weak, sick way, that told of utter exhaustion. + +"Can any thing be done, mother?" + +"Yes, Dabney, there can. You and Ham and Ford and Frank go to the yacht, +quick as you can, and bring the spirit-heater, lamp and all, and bread +and milk, and every dry napkin and towel you can find. Bring Keziah's +shawl." + +Such quick time they made across that sand-bar! + +They were none too soon, either; for, as they came running down to their +boat a mean-looking, slouching sort of fellow walked rapidly away from +it. + +"He was going to steal it!" + +"Can't go for him now, Dab; but you'll have to mount guard here, while +we go back with the things." + +There was a good deal of the "guard mounted" look in Dab's face, when +they left him, a few minutes later, standing there by the boat, and he +had one of the oars in his hand. An oar is almost as good a club as the +lower joint of a fishing-rod, and that was exactly the thought in Dab's +mind. + +Ham and Frank and Ford hurried back to the other beach, to find that +Mrs. Kinzer had taken complete possession of that baby. Every rag of his +damp things was already stripped off; and now, while Miranda lighted the +"heater," and made some milk hot in a minute, the good lady began to rub +the little sufferer as only an experienced mother knows how. + +Then there was a warm wrapping-up in cloths and shawls, and better +success than anybody had dreamed of in making the seemingly half-dead +child eat something. + +"That was about all the matter with him," said Mrs. Kinzer. "Now, if we +can get him and his mother over to the house, we can save both of them. +Ford, how long did you say it was since they'd eaten any thing?" + +"About three days, they say." + +"Mercy on me! And that cabin of ours holds so little! Glad it's full, +anyhow. Let's get every thing out and over here, right away." + +"The cabin?" + +"No, Hamilton, the provisions." + +Not a soul among them all thought of their own lunch, any more than Mrs. +Kinzer herself did; but Joe and Fuz were not among them just then. On +the contrary, they were over there by the shore, where the "Jenny" had +been pulled up, trying to get Dab Kinzer to put them on board "The +Swallow." + +"Somebody ought to be on board of her," said Fuz, in as anxious a tone +as he could assume, "with so many strange people around." + +"It isn't safe," added Joe. + +"Fact," replied Dab; "but then, I kind o' like to feel a little unsafe." + +The Hart boys had a feeling, at that moment, that somehow or other Dab +knew why they were so anxious to go on board; and they were right +enough, for he was saying to himself, "They can wait. They do look +hungry, but they'll live through it. There ain't any cuffs or collars in +Ham's locker." + +All there was then in the locker was soon out of it, after Mrs. Kinzer +and the rest came, for they brought with them the officers of the +wrecked bark; and neither Joe nor Fuz had an opportunity to so much as +"help distribute" that supply of provisions. Ham went over to see that +the distribution should be properly made; while Mrs. Kinzer saw her +little patient, with his father and mother, safely stowed on board "The +Swallow." + +"I'll save that baby, anyhow," she said to Miranda; "and Ford says his +father's a farmer. We can find plenty for 'em to do. They'll never see a +thing of their baggage, and I guess they hadn't a great deal." + +She was just the woman to guess correctly about such a matter. + +At that moment Dabney was saying to Annie Foster,-- + +"Whom do you guess I've seen to-day?" + +"I can't guess. Who was it?" + +"The tramp!" + +"The same one?" + +"The very same. There he goes, over the sandhill yonder, with old Peter +the wrecker. We've got to hurry home now, but I'm going to set Ham +Morris on his track before we get through." + +"You'll never find him again." + +"Do you s'pose old Peter'd befriend a man that did what he did? Right on +the shore of the bay? No, indeed! There isn't a fisherman from here to +Montauk, that wouldn't join to hunt him out. He's safe to be found +whenever Ham wants him, if we don't scare him away now." + +"Don't scare him, then," almost whispered Annie. + +The wind was fair; and the home sail of "The Swallow" was really a swift +and short one, but it did seem dreadfully long to her passengers. + +Mrs. Kinzer was anxious to see that poor baby and his mother safely in +bed. Ham wanted to send a whole load of refreshments back to the +shipwrecked people. Dab Kinzer could not keep his thoughts from +following that "tramp." And then, if the truth must come out, every soul +on board the beautiful little yacht was getting more and more painfully +aware with every minute that passed, that they had had a good deal of +sea-air and excitement, and a splendid sail across the bay, but no +dinner,--not so much as a red herring and a cracker. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +DAB AND HIS FRIENDS TURN THEMSELVES INTO COOKS AND WAITERS. + + +As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in such +matters; but none of their friends had ever before been so near an +out-and-out shipwreck. + +It is quite possible, moreover, that they had never before been so +nearly starved as they were that day. At least, something to that effect +was remarked by Joe Hart and Fuz, more than a dozen times apiece, while +"The Swallow" was threading the crooked inlet, and making her way to the +landing. + +"Ham," said Dab, "are you going right back again?" + +"Course I am,--soon as I can get a load of eatables together, from the +house and the village. You'll have to stay here." + +"Why can't I go with you?" + +"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you +can't go." + +Dab seemed to have expected as much; for he turned to Ford with,-- + +"Then, Ford, I'll tell you what we must do." + +"What's that?" + +"We must see about the famine. Can you cook?" + +"No." + +"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his +cargo ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half." + +"Mother won't be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the +day. Annie knows something." + +"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed pretty +soon. Look at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut." + +Joe and his brother seemed to know as if by instinct that the dinner +question was under discussion, and they were soon taking at least their +share of the talk. Oh, how they did wish it had been a share of +something to eat, instead! + +"The Swallow" was carefully moored, after discharging her passengers; +but Dab did not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He +even managed to detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones too. + +"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart. "Let's put for the village. +We'll starve here." + +"A fellow that'll starve here, just deserves to, that's all," said +Dabney. "Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're +all right. One of 'em's a dredger." + +Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab was +not doing any sort of guessing. + +"Bill," he shouted, as Dick Lee's father came within hearing,--"Bill! +put a lot of your best panfish in this basket, and then go and fetch us +some lobsters. There's half a dozen in your pot. Did those others have +any luck?" + +"More clams'n 'ysters," responded Bill. + +"Then we'll take both lots." + +The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long-Island shore +in a time of famine began to rise rapidly a few moments later; for, not +only was one of Dab's baskets promptly laden with "panfish," such as +porgies, blackfish, and perch, but two others received all the clams and +oysters they were at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time +Bill Lee offered, as an amendment on the lobster question,-- + +"Yer wrong 'bout de pot, Dab." + +"Wrong? Why"-- + +"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' biled ebery one on 'em, an' +dey're all nice an' cold by dis time." + +"All right. I never did eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them, +Dick. Bring 'em right over to Ford's house." + +Bill Lee would have sent his house and all, on a suggestion that the +Kinzers or the Fosters were in need of it; and Dick would have carried +it over for him. + +As for "Glorianna," when her son came running in with his errand, she +exclaimed,-- + +"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem ain't good nuff. Dey sha'n't have 'em. I'll jes' +send de ole man all roun' de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey isn't +no kine ob lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't." + +Dick insisted, however; and by the time he reached the back door of the +old Kinzer homestead with his load, the kitchen beyond that door had +become almost as busy a place as was that of Mrs. Miranda Morris, a few +rods away. + +"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy, +"what if mother should make a mistake!" + +"Make a mistake! How?" + +"Cook that baby. It's awful!" + +"Why, its mother's there." + +"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come the +lobsters. Now, Ford"-- + +The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not even +heard by Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever, as +she busied herself around the kitchen-fire. The bloom that was coming up +into her face was a sight worth seeing. As for the Hart boys, Mrs. +Foster had invited them to come into the parlor and talk with her until +dinner should be ready. She added, with her usual smile, that there were +cooks enough in the kitchen. + +Such a frying and broiling! + +Before Ham Morris was ready with his cargo for his trip back to the +wreck, and right in the midst of his greatest hurry, word came over from +Mrs. Foster that "the table was waiting for them all." + +Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction. There +was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then, for +either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents; and she was beginning to +worry about her son-in-law, and how she should manage to get him to eat +something. For Ham Morris had worked himself into a high state of +excitement, in his benevolent haste, and did not seem to know that he +was hungry. Miranda had entirely sympathized with her husband until the +arrival of that message from Mrs. Foster. + +"O Hamilton! And good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it all herself!" + +"No, Miranda," said Ham thoughtfully. "Our Dabney went home with Ford +and Annie. I can't stay more than a minute, but I think we'd better go +right over. There's a good many things to come yet, from the village." + +Go they did; while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up +concerning the wreck, attended to the completion of the cargo of "The +Swallow." More than that was true; for at least one other good and +kind-hearted boat would be ready to accompany her on her return trip +across the bay, laden with creature comforts of all sorts. + +Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best man +in the world, had come waddling down to the landing with a demijohn of +old "apple-brandy;" and his gift had been kindly accepted, by the +special advice of the village physician. + +"That sort of thing has made plenty of shipwrecks around here," said the +man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed so much salt +water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em." + +Maybe the doctor was wrong about it; but the demijohn went over to the +wreck in "The Swallow," very much to the gratification of old Jock. + +Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one: there were no large rooms +in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather around +the table,--all except Dab and Ford. + +"Dab is head cook, and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation. +"Frank and the boys are company." + +Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee +was excellent. The fish was done to a turn. The oysters, roasted, +broiled, or stewed, and likewise the clams, were all that could have +been asked of them. Bread there was in abundance; and all things were +going finely, till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face +showed itself at the kitchen-door,-- + +"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables. We're waiting for them." + +Dab's face grew redder, and he came near dropping a plate he held in his +hand. + +"Vegetables? Oh, yes! Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now. +I've got them all ready." + +Annie opened her eyes, and looked hard at her brother; for she knew very +well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their +preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer; but he marched right +out, white apron and all. A minute or so later the two boys came in +again, each bearing aloft a huge platter. + +One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table. + +"Vegetables?" + +"Why--they're lobsters!" + +"O Ford! how could you?" + +The last exclamation came from Annie Foster, as she clapped her hands +over her face. Bright-red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows, +every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a +little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders +were adorned with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while +every ungainly "flipper" wore a "cuff" which had been manufactured for a +different kind of wrist. + +There were plenty of cuffs and collars, and queer enough the lobsters +looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and linen was +variegated with huge black spots and blotches, as if some one had begun +to wash it in ink. + +Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters; and Mrs. Foster's face +looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal. The +Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris and +the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh. + +"Joe," said Fuz snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got the +laugh on us this time." + +"I?" exclaimed Annie indignantly: "no, indeed! That's some of Ford's +work, and Dabney's.--Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you." + +Poor Dab! + +He muttered something about those being all the vegetables he had, and +retreated to the kitchen. + +Joe and Fuz, however, were not of the sort that take offence easily; and +they were shortly helping themselves quite liberally to lobster, cuffs +or no cuffs. That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the +table, but Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete +failure. + +As Ford told him afterwards: + +"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam with a pin." + +"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," said Dab. "Well, +I'll never try any thing like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz ain't +comfortable they ate too many roasted clams and a good deal too much +lobster." + +There was a certain degree of consolation to be had from such a fact as +that. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE REAL MISSION OF THE JUG. + + +Ham Morris ate well, when he once got at it; but he did not linger long +at the dinner-table, for his heart was in "The Swallow." Dab would have +given more than ever for the privilege of going with him. Not that he +felt so dreadfully charitable, but that he did not care to prolong his +stay at Mrs. Foster's, as "cook" or otherwise. He had not by any means +lost his appetite,--although he seemed disposed to neglect the lobsters; +and when he had taken proper care of it he hurried away "on an errand +for his mother," in the direction of the village. Nearly everybody he +met had some question or other to ask him about the wreck, and it was +not to have been expected that Jenny Walters would let her old +acquaintance pass her without a word or so. + +Dab answered as well as he could, considering the disturbed state of his +mind; but he wound up with,-- + +"Jenny, I wish you'd come over to our house by and by." + +"What for?" + +"Oh! I've got something to show you--something you never saw before." + +"Do you mean your new baby? the one you found on the bar?" + +"Yes, but that baby, Jenny!" + +"What's wonderful about it?" + +"Why, it's only two years old, and it can squall in two languages. +That's a good deal more than you can do." + +"They say your friend, Miss. Foster, speaks French," retorted Jenny. +"Was she ever shipwrecked?" + +"In French? May be so; but not in German." + +"Well, Dabney, I don't propose to squall in any thing. Are your folks +going to burn any more of their barns this year?" + +"Not unless Samantha gets married. Jenny, do you know what's the latest +fashion in lobsters?" + +"Changeable green, I suppose." + +"No: I mean after they're boiled. It's to have 'em come on the table in +cuffs and collars. Lace around their necks, you know." + +"And gloves?" + +"No, not any gloves. We had lobsters to-day, at Mrs. Foster's, and you +ought to have seen 'em." + +"Dabney Kinzer, it's time you went to school again." + +"I'm going, in a few days." + +"Going? Do you mean you're going away somewhere?" + +"Ever so far; and Dick Lee's going with me." + +"I heard about him, but I didn't know he meant to take you along. That's +very kind of Dick. I s'pose you won't speak to common people when you +get back." + +"Now, Jenny"-- + +"Good-afternoon, Dabney. Perhaps I'll come over before you go, if it's +only to take a look at that shipwrecked baby." + +A good many of Mrs. Kinzer's lady friends, young and old, deemed it +their duty to come and do that very thing within the next few days. Then +the sewing-circle took the matter up, and both the baby and its mother +were provided for as they never had been before. It would have taken +more languages than two, to fairly express the gratitude of the poor +Alsatians. As for the rest of them, out there on the bar, they were +speedily taken off, and carried to "the city," none of them being +seriously the worse for their sufferings, after all. Ham Morris declared +that the family he had brought ashore "came just in time to help him out +with his fall work, and he didn't see any charity in it." + +Good for Ham! + +It was the right way to feel about it, but Dab Kinzer thought he could +see something in it that looked like "charity" when he met his tired-out +brother-in-law on his late return from that second trip across the bay. + +Real charity never cares to make an exhibition of itself. + +They were pretty thoroughly worn out, both of them; but they carefully +moored "The Swallow" in her usual berth before they left her. + +She had effectually "discharged her cargo," over on the sand-island; but +they Had enough of a load to carry home, in the shape of empty baskets +and things of that sort. + +"Is every thing out of the locker, Dab?" inquired Ham. + +"All but the jug. I say, did you know it was nearly half full? Would it +do any hurt to leave it here?" + +"The jug? No, not if you just pour out the rest of the apple-jack over +the side." + +"Make the fish drunk." + +"Well, it sha'n't do that for anybody else, if I can help it." + +"Well, if it's good for water-soaked people, I guess it can't hurt the +fish." + +"Empty it, Dab. Empty it, and come along. The doctor wasn't so far +wrong, and I was glad to have it with me. Seemed to do some of 'em a +power of good. But medicine's medicine, and I only wish some people I +know of would remember it." + +"Some of 'em do a good deal of that kind of doctoring." + +The condemned liquor was already gurgling from the mouth of the demijohn +into the salt water, and neither fish nor eel came forward to get a +share of it. They were probably all feeling pretty well that night. When +the demijohn was empty and the cork replaced, it was set down again in +the "cabin;" and that was left unlocked, for there was no more danger in +it for anybody. Dab and Ham were altogether too tired to take any pains +there was no call for. + +Dab's mind must have been tired, as well as his body; for he decided to +postpone until the morrow the report he had to make about the tramp. He +was strongly of the opinion that the latter had not seen him to +recognize him; and, at all events, the matter could wait. + +So it came to pass that all the shore, and the road that led away from +it, and the village the road led into, were deserted and silent, an hour +or so later, when a stoutly-built "cat-boat," with her one sail lowered, +was quietly sculled up the inlet. + +There were two men on board, a tall one and a shorter one; and they ran +their boat right alongside "The Swallow," as if that were the precise +thing they had come to do. + +"Burgin," remarked the tall man, "wot ef we don't find any thin', arter +all this sailin' and rowin' and scullin'? Most likely he's kerried it to +the house. In course he has." + +The keenly watchful eyes of Burgin had noted the arrival of that +apple-jack at the island; and they had closely followed its fortunes, +from first to last. He had more than half tried, indeed, to work himself +in among the crowd, as one of the "sufferers," but with no manner of +success. + +The officers of the ship knew every face that had any right to a +spoonful, and Burgin's failed to pass him. He had not failed, however, +to note that his coveted "medicine" was by no means exhausted, and to +see Ham stow the demijohn carefully away, at last, under the half-deck +of "The Swallow." That information had given all the inducement required +to get old Peter and his boat across the bay; and the ancient "wrecker" +was as anxious about the result as the tramp himself could be. It was +hard to say, now, which of them was the first on board "The Swallow." + +"It ain't locked!" + +"Then the jug ain't thar." + +"Wall, it is," exclaimed Burgin triumphantly, as he pulled it out; but +his under jaw dropped a little when he felt "how light it lifted." + +"Reckon they helped themselves on thar way hum." + +It was a good deal worse than that; and an angry and disappointed pair +were they when the cork and the truth came out. + +"Thar's jest a good smell!" + +That was old Peter's remark; and it sounded as if words failed him to +add to it, but Burgin's wrath exploded in a torrent of bitter abuse of +the man or men who had emptied that demijohn. He gave old Peter a +capital chance to turn upon him morosely with,-- + +"Look a-yer, my chap, is this 'ere your boat?" + +"No: I didn't say it was, did I?" + +"Is that there your jug? I don't know if I keer to sit and hear one of +my neighbors--and he's a good feller too, he is--abused all night, jest +bekase I've been and let an entire stranger make a fool of me." + +"Do you mean me?" + +"Well, ef I didn't I wouldn't say it. Don't you git mad, now. It won't +pay ye. Jest let's take a turn 'round the village." + +"You kin go ef you want ter. I'll wait for ye. 'Pears like I didn't feel +much like doin' any trampin' 'round." + +"Stay thar, then. But mind you don't try on any runnin' away with my +boat." + +"If I want a boat, old man, there's plenty here that's better worth +stealin' than yourn." + +"That's so. I didn't know you'd been makin' any kalkilation on it. I +won't be gone any great while." + +He was gone some time, however, whatever may have been his errand. Old +Peter was not the man to be at a loss for one, of some sort, even at +that hour of the night; and his present business, perhaps, did not +particularly require company. + +When he returned at last, he found his own boat safe enough, and he +really could not tell if any of the others had walked away; but he +looked around in vain for any signs of his late comrade. Not that he +spent much time or wasted any great pains in searching for him; and he +muttered to himself, as he gave it up,-- + +"Gone, has he? Well, then, it's a good riddance to bad rubbidge. I ain't +no aingil, but that feller's a long ways wuss'n I am." + +Whether or not old Peter was right in his estimate of himself or of +Burgin, in a few moments more he was all alone in his "cat-boat," and +was sculling it rapidly out of the crooked inlet. + +His search for Burgin had been a careless one, for he had but glanced +over the gunwale of "The Swallow." A second look might have shown him +the form of the tramp, half covered by a loose flap of the sail, deeply +and heavily sleeping on the bottom of the boat. It was every bit as +comfortable a bed as he had been used to; and there he was still lying, +long after the sun had looked in upon him, the next morning. + +Other eyes than the sun's were to look in upon him before he awakened +from that untimely and imprudent nap. + +It was not so very early when Ham Morris and Dabney Kinzer were stirring +again; but they had both arisen with a strong desire for a "talk," and +Ham made an opportunity for one by saying,-- + +"Come on, Dab. Let's go down and have a look at 'The Swallow.'" + +Ham had meant to talk about school and kindred matters, but Dab's first +words about the tramp cut off all other subjects. + +"You ought to have told me," he said. "I'd have had him tied up in a +minute." + +Dab explained as well as he could; but, before he had finished, Ham +suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"There's Dick Lee, on board 'The Swallow!' What on earth's he there +for?" + +"Dick!" shouted Dabney. + +"Cap'n Dab, did yo' set this yer boat to trap somebody?" + +"No. Why?" + +"'Cause you's done gone an' cotched 'im. Jes' you come an' see." + +The sound of Dick's voice, so near them, reached the dull ears of the +slumbering tramp; and as Ham and Dabney sprang into a yawl, and pushed +along-side the yacht, his unpleasant face was slowly and sleepily lifted +above the rail. + +"It's the very man!" excitedly shouted Dabney. + +"The tramp?" + +"Yes,--the tramp!" + +No one would have suspected Ham Morris of so much agility, although his +broad and well-knit frame promised abundant strength; but he was on +board "The Swallow" like a flash, and Burgin was "pinned" by his iron +grasp before he could so much as guess what was coming. + +"Le' go o' me!" + +"I've got you!" + +It was too late for any such thing as resistance; and the captive +settled at once into a sullen, dogged silence, after the ordinary custom +of his kind when they find themselves cornered. It is a species of dull, +brute instinct, more than cunning, seemingly; but not a word more did +Ham and Dab obtain from their prisoner,--although they said a good many +to him,--until they delivered him over to the safe-keeping of the lawful +authorities at the village. That done, they went home to breakfast, +feeling that they had made a good morning's work of it, but wondering +what would be the end and result of it all. + +"Ten years, I guess," said Ham. + +"In State prison?" + +"Yes. Breaking stone. He'll get his board free, but it'll be total +abstinence for him. I wonder what took him on board 'The Swallow,'" + +"I know,--the jug!" + +"That's it, sure's you live. I saw him over on the island. I declare! To +think of an empty demijohn having so much good in it!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ANOTHER GRAND PLAN, AND A VERY GRAND RUNAWAY. + + +The whole community was stirred up over the news of the capture of the +tramp. It made a first-class excitement for a place of that size; but +none of the inhabitants took a deeper interest in the matter than did +Ford and Frank and the two Hart boys. It was difficult for them to get +their minds quite right about it, especially the first pair, to whom it +was a matter of unasked question just how much help Ham had given Dab in +capturing the marauder. Mr. Foster himself got a little excited about +it, when he came home; but poor Annie was a good deal more troubled than +pleased. + +"O mother!" she exclaimed. "Do you suppose I shall have to appear in +court, and give my testimony as a witness?" + +"I hope not, my dear. Perhaps your father can manage to prevent it +somehow." + +It would not have been an easy thing to do, even for so good a lawyer as +Mr. Foster, if Burgin himself had not saved them all trouble on that +score. Long before the slow processes of country criminal justice could +bring him to actual trial, so many misdeeds were brought home to him, +from here and there, that he gave the matter up, and not only confessed +to the attack on Annie's pocket-book, but to the barn-burning, to which +Dab's cudgelling had provoked him. He made his case so very clear, that +when he finally came before a judge and jury, and pleaded "guilty," +there was nothing left for them to do but to say just what he was guilty +of, and how long he should "break stone" to pay for it. It was likely to +be a good deal more than "ten years," if he lived out his "time." + +All that came to pass some months later, however; and just now the +village had enough to talk about in discussing the peculiar manner of +his capture. + +The story of the demijohn leaked out, of course; and, while it did not +rob Dab and Ham of any part of their glory, it was made to do severe +duty in the way of a temperance lecture. + +Old Jock, indeed, protested. + +"You see, boys," said he, "real good liquor, like that, don't do nobody +no harm. That was the real stuff,--prime old apple-jack 'at I'd had in +my cellar ten year last Christmas; an' it jest toled that feller across +the bay, and captered him, without no manner of diffikilty." + +There were some among his auditors who could have testified to a +decidedly different kind of "capture." + +One effect of Dab's work on the day of the yachting-trip, including his +special performances as cook, and as milliner to the lobsters, was, that +he felt himself thenceforth bound to be somewhat carefully polite to Joe +and Fuz. The remaining days of their visit would have been altogether +too few for the varied entertainments he laid out for them, in his own +mind, by way of reparation for his unlucky "practical joke." They were +to catch all there was in the bay. They were to ride everywhere. They +were to be shown every thing there was to see. + +"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good fellow. +Mother says so." + +"Does she?" said Dab; and he evidently felt a good deal relieved, after +that. + +Mr. Richard Lee, when his friends once more found time to think of him, +had almost disappeared from the public eye. + +Some three days after "the trip," while all the other boys were out in +the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, Dick's +mother made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room, or Miranda's, +with a face that was even darker than usual, with a cloud of motherly +anxiety. + +"Miss Kinzer," she said, "has you seen my Dick, dis week?" + +"No: he hasn't been here at all. Is there any thing the matter with +him?" + +"Dat's de berry question. I jes' doesn't know wot to make ob 'im." + +"Why, Glorianna, do you think he's studying too hard?" + +"It ain't jes' de books; I isn't so much afeard ob dem: but it's all +'long ob de 'Cad'my. I wish you'd jes' take a good look at 'im, fust +chance ye git." + +"Does he look badly?" + +"No: 'tain't jes' altogedder his looks. He's de bes' lookin' boy 'long +shoah. But den de way he's a-goin' on to talk. 'Tain't natural. He used +to talk fust-rate." + +"Can't he talk now?" + +"Yes, Miss Kinzer, he kin talk; but den de way he gits out his words. +Nebber seen sech a t'ing in all my born days. Takes him ebber so long +jes' to say good-mornin'. An' he doesn't say it like he use ter. I wish +you'd jes' take a good look at 'im." + +Mrs. Kinzer promised, and she gave her black friend what comfort she +could; but Dick Lee's tongue would never again be the free-and-easy +member of society it had been. Even when at home, and about his +commonest "chores," he was all the while struggling with what he called +his "pronounciation." If he should succeed as well with the rest of his +"schooling," it was safe to say that it would not be thrown away upon +him. + +Glorianna went her way that morning; and the next to intrude upon Mrs. +Kinzer's special domain was her son-in-law himself, accompanied by his +blooming bride. + +"We've got a plan." + +"You? Apian? What about?" + +"Dab and his friends." + +That was the beginning of a tolerably long consultation, and the results +of it were duly reported to Dabney when he came home with his fish. + +"A party?" he exclaimed, when his mother finished her brief but +comprehensive statement: "Ham and Miranda to give a party for us boys? +Well, now, if they're not right down good! But, mother, we'll have to +get it up mighty quick." + +"I know it, Dab; but that's easy enough, with all the help we have. I'll +take care of that." + +"A party! but, mother, what can we do? There's only a few of 'em know +how to dance. I don't, for one." + +"You must talk it over with Ford. Perhaps Annie and Frank can help you." + +They were all taken into counsel soon enough; and endless were the plans +and propositions made, till even Mrs. Kinzer found her temper getting a +little fretted and worried over them. + +At all events, it was a settled fact that the "party" was to be; and the +invitations went out in due and proper form. + +"Miranda," said her mother, on the morning of the important day, "we +must manage to get rid of Dabney and those boys for a few hours." + +"Send 'em for some greens to rig the parlor with," suggested Ham. "Let +'em take the ponies." + +"Do you think the ponies are safe for them to drive, just now?" + +"Oh! Dab can handle 'em. They're a trifle skittish, that's all. They +need a little exercise." + +So they did; but it was to be doubted if the best way to secure it for +them was to send them out in a light, two-seated wagon, with a load of +five lively boys. + +"Now, don't you let one of the other boys touch the reins," said Mrs. +Kinzer. + +Dab's promise to that effect proved a hard one to keep; for Fuz and Joe +almost tried to take the reins away from him, before they had driven two +miles from the house. He was firm, however, and they managed to reach +the strip of woodland, some five miles inland, where they were to gather +their load, without any disaster; but it was evident to Dab, all the +way, that his ponies were in uncommonly "high" condition. He took them +out of the wagon, while the rest began to gather their liberal harvest +of evergreens; and he did not bring them near it again until all was +ready for the start homeward. + +"Now, boys," he said, "you get in; Joe and Ford and Fuz on the back +seat, to hold down the greens. Frank, get up there, forward, while I +hitch in the ponies. These fellows are chuck full of mischief." + +Very full, certainly; nor did Dab Kinzer know exactly what the matter +was for a minute or so after he seized the reins and sprang up beside +Frank Harley. + +Then, indeed, as the ponies kicked and reared and plunged, he thought he +saw something work out from under their collars, and fall to the ground. +An acorn-burr is just the thing to worry a restive horse, if put in such +a place; but Joe and Fuz had hardly expected their "little joke" to be +so very successful as it was. + +The ponies were off now! + +"Joe," shouted Fuz, "let's jump!" + +"Don't let 'em, Ford," exclaimed Dab, giving his whole energies to the +horses. "They'll break their necks if they do. Hold 'em in." + +Ford, who was in the middle, promptly seized an arm of each of his +panic-stricken cousins, while Frank clambered over the seat to help him. +They were all down on the bottom now, serving as a, weight to hold the +evergreen branches, as the light wagon bounced and rattled along over +the smooth, level road. + +In vain Dab pulled and pulled at the ponies. Run they would, and run +they did; and all he could do was to keep them fairly in the road. + +Bracing strongly back, with the reins wound around his tough hands, and +with a look in his face that should have given courage even to the Hart +boys, Dab strained at his task as bravely as when he had stood at the +tiller of "The Swallow" in the storm. + +There was no such thing as stopping those ponies. + +And now, as they whirled along, even Dabney's face paled a little. + +"I must reach the bridge before he does: he's just stupid enough to keep +right on." + +It was very "stupid," indeed, for the driver of that one-horse +"truck-wagon" to try and reach the little narrow unrailed bridge first. +It was an old, used-up sort of a bridge, at best. + +Dab loosened the reins a little, but could not use his whip. + +"Why can't he stop!" + +It was a moment of breathless anxiety, but the wagoner kept stolidly on. +There would be barely room to pass him on the road itself; none at all +on the narrow bridge. + +The ponies did it. + +They seemed to put on an extra touch of speed on their own account, just +then. + +There was a rattle, a faint crash; and then, as the wheels of the two +vehicles almost touched each other in passing, Ford shouted,-- + +"The bridge is down!" + +Such a narrow escape! + +One of the rotten girders, never half strong enough, had given way under +the sudden shock of the hinder wheels; and that truck-wagon would have +to find its road across the brook as best it could. + +There were more wagons to pass, as they plunged forward, and rough +places in the road for Dabney to look out for; but even Joe and Fuz were +now getting confidence in their driver. Before long, too, the ponies +themselves began to feel that they had had enough of it. Then it was +that Dab used his whip again, and the streets of the village were +traversed at a rate to call for the disapprobation of all sober-minded +people. + +"Here we are, Ham! Greens and all." + +"Did they run far, Dab?" asked Ham quietly. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +DABNEY'S GREAT PARTY. + + +The boys returned a good deal earlier than anybody had expected, but +they made no more trouble. As Ford Foster remarked, "they were all +willing to go slow for a week," after being carried home at such a rate +by Dab's ponies. + +There was a great deal to be said, too, about the runaway, and Mrs. +Foster longed to see Dabney, and thank him on Ford's account; but he +himself had no idea that he had done any thing remarkable, and was very +busy decking Miranda's parlors with the evergreens. + +A nice appearance they made, too, all those woven branches and clustered +sprays, when they were in place; and Samantha declared for them that,-- + +"They had kept Dab out of mischief all the afternoon." + +At an early hour, after supper, the guests began to arrive; for Mrs. +Kinzer was a woman of too much good sense to have night turned into day +when she could prevent it. As the stream of visitors steadily poured in, +Dab remarked to Jenny Walters,-- + +"We shall have to enlarge the house, after all." + +"If it were only a dress, now!" + +"What then?" + +"Why, you could just let out the tucks. I've had to do that with mine." + +"Jenny, shake hands with me." + +"What for, Dabney?" + +"I'm so glad to meet somebody else that's outgrowing something." + +There was a tinge of color rising in Jenny's face; but, before she could +think of any thing to say, Dab added,-- + +"There, Jenny: there's Mrs. Foster and Annie. Isn't she sweet?" + +"One of the nicest old ladies I ever saw." + +"Oh! I didn't mean her mother." + +"Never mind. You must introduce me to them." + +"So I will. Take my arm." + +Jenny Walters had been unusually kindly and gracious in her manner that +evening, and her very voice had less than its accustomed sharpness; but +her natural disposition broke out a little, some minutes later, while +she was talking with Annie Foster. Said she,-- + +"I've wanted so much to get acquainted with you." + +"With me?" + +"Yes: I've seen you in church, and I've heard you talked about, and I +wanted to find out for myself." + +"Find out what?" asked Annie a little soberly. + +"Why, you see, I don't believe it's possible for any girl to be as sweet +as you look. I couldn't, I know. I've been trying these two days, and +I'm nearly worn out." + +Annie's eyes opened wide with surprise; and she laughed merrily, as she +answered,-- + +"What can you mean! I'm glad enough if my face doesn't tell tales of +me." + +"But mine does," said Jenny. "And then I'm so sure to tell all the rest +with my tongue. I do wish I knew what were your faults." + +"My faults? What for?" + +"I don't know. Seems to me, if I could think of your faults instead of +mine, it wouldn't be so hard to look sweet." + +Annie could but see that there was more earnestness than fun in the +queer talk of her new acquaintance. + +The truth was, that Jenny had been having almost as hard a struggle with +her tongue as Dick Lee with his, though not for the same reason. Before +many minutes she had frankly told Annie all about it, and she could not +have done that if she had not somehow felt that Annie's "sweetness" was +genuine. + +The two girls were sure friends after that, much to the surprise of Mr. +Dabney Kinzer. He, indeed, had been too much occupied in caring for all +his guests, to pay especial attention to any one of them. + +His mother had looked after him again and again, with eyes brimful of +pride and of commendation of the way in which he was acquitting himself +as "host." + +Mrs. Foster herself remarked to her husband, who had now arrived,-- + +"Do you see that? Who would have expected as much from a raw, green +country boy?" + +"But, my dear, don't you see? The secret of it is, that he's not +thinking of himself at all he's only anxious that his friends should +have a good time." + +"That's it; but then, that, too, is a very rare thing in a boy of his +age." + +"Dabney," exclaimed the lawyer in a louder tone of voice. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Foster. I'm glad you've found room. The house isn't +half large enough." + +"It'll do. I understand your ponies ran away with you to-day." + +"They did come home in a hurry, that's a fact; but nobody was hurt." + +"I fear there would have been, but for you. Do you start for Grantley +with the other boys, tomorrow?" + +"Of course. Dick Lee and I need some one to take care of us. We never +have travelled so far before." + +"On land, you mean. Is Dick here to-night?" + +"Came and looked in, sir; but he got scared by the crowd, and went +home." + +"Poor fellow! I don't wonder. Well, we will all do what we can for him." + +Poor Dick Lee! + +And yet, if Mr. Dabney Kinzer had known his whereabouts at that very +moment, he would half have envied him. + +Dick's mother was in the kitchen, helping about the "refreshments;" but +she had not left home until she had compelled her son to dress himself +in his best,--white shirt, red necktie, shining shoes, and all; and she +had brought him with her, almost by force. + +"You's goodnuff to go to de 'Cad'my and leab yer pore mother, an' I +reckon you's good nuff for de party." + +Dick had actually ventured in from the kitchen, through the dining-room, +and as far as the door of the back parlor, where few would look. + +How his heart did beat, as he gazed upon the merry gathering, a large +part of whom he had "known all his born days"! + +But there was a side-door opening from that dining-room upon the long +piazza which Mrs. Kinzer had added to the old Morris mansion; and Dick's +hand was on the knob of that door, almost before he knew it. + +Then he was out on the road to the landing; and in five minutes more he +was vigorously rowing the "Jenny" out through the inlet, towards the +bay. + +His heart was not beating unpleasantly any longer; but as he shot out +from the narrow passage through the flags, and saw the little waves +laughing in the cool, dim starlight, he suddenly stopped rowing, leaned +on his oars, gave a great sigh of relief, and exclaimed,-- + +"Dar, I's safe now. I ain't got to say a word to nobody out yer. Wonder +'f I'll ebber git back from de 'Cad'my, an' ketch fish in dis yer bay. +Sho! Course I will. But goin' 'way's awful!" + +Dab Kinzer thought he had never before known Jenny Walters to appear so +well as she looked that evening; and he must have been right, for good +Mrs. Foster said to Annie,-- + +"What a pleasant, kindly face your new friend has! You must ask her to +come and see us. She seems to be quite a favorite with the Kinzers." + +"Have you known Dabney long?" Annie had asked of Jenny a little before +that. + +"Ever since I was a little bit of a girl, and a big boy, seven or eight +years old, pushed me into the snow." + +"Was it Dabney?" + +"No; but Dabney was the boy that pushed him in for doing it, and then +helped me up. Dab rubbed his face with snow for him, till he cried." + +"Just like him!" exclaimed Annie with emphasis. "I should think his +friends here will miss him." + +"Indeed they will," said Jenny, and then she seemed disposed to be quiet +for a while. + +The party could not last forever, pleasant as it was; and by the time +his duties as "host" were all done and over, Dabney was tired enough to +go to bed and sleep soundly. His arms were lame and sore from the strain +the ponies had given them; and that may have been the reason why he +dreamed, half the night, that he was driving runaway teams, and crashing +over rickety old bridges. + +There was some reason for that; but why was it that every one of his +dream-wagons, no matter who else was in it, seemed to have Jenny Walters +and Annie Foster smiling at him from the back seat? + +He rose later than usual next morning, and the house was all in its +customary order by the time he got down stairs. + +Breakfast was ready also; and it was hardly over before Dab's great new +trunk was brought down into the front-door passage by a couple of the +farmhands. + +"It's an hour yet to train-time," said Ham Morris; "but we might as well +get ready. We must be on hand in time." + +What a long hour that was! And not even a chance given to Dab to run +down to the landing for a good-by look at the "Jenny" and "The Swallow." + +His mother and Ham, and Miranda, and the girls, seemed to be all made up +of "good-by" that morning. + +"Mother," said Dab. + +"What is it, my dear boy?" + +"That's it exactly. If you say 'dear boy' again, Ham Morris'll have to +carry me to the cars. I'm all kind o' wilted now." + +Then they all laughed, and before they got through laughing they all +cried except Ham. + +He put his hands in his pockets, and drew a long whistle. + +The ponies were at the door now. The light wagon was a roomy one; but, +when Dab's trunk had been put in, there was barely room left for the +ladies, and Dab and Ham had to walk to the station. + +"I'm kind o' glad of it," said Dab. + +It was a short walk, and a silent one; but when they came in sight of +the platform, Dab exclaimed,-- + +"There they are,--all of them!" + +"The whole party?" + +"Why, the platform's as crowded as our house was last night." + +Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters were already the centre of a talkative +crowd of young people; and Ford Foster and Frank Harley, with Joe and +Fuz Hart, were asking what had become of Dab, for the train was in +sight. + +A moment later, as the puffing locomotive pulled up in front of the +water-tank, the conductor stepped out on the platform, exclaiming,-- + +"Look a-here, folks, this ain't right. If there was going to be a picnic +you ought to have sent word, and I'd have tacked on an extra car. You'll +have to pack in now, best you can." + +He seemed much relieved when he found how small a part of that crowd +were to be his passengers. + +"Dab," said Ford, "this is your send-off, not ours. You'll have to make +a speech." + +Dab did want to say something; but he had just kissed his sisters and +his mother, and half a dozen of his school-girl friends had followed the +example of Jenny Walters; and then Mrs. Foster had kissed him, and Ham +Morris had shaken hands with him; and Dab could not have said a word to +have saved his life. + +"Speech!" whispered Ford mischievously, as Dab stepped upon the +car-platform; but Dick Lee, who had just escaped from the tremendous hug +his mother had given him, and had got his breath again, came to his +friend's relief in the nick of time. Dick felt, as he afterwards +explained, that he "must shout, or he should go off;" and so, at the top +of his shrill voice he shouted,-- + +"Hurrah for Cap'n Kinzer! Dar ain't no better feller lef long shoah!" + +And then, amid a chorus of cheers and laughter, and a grand waving of +white handkerchiefs, the engine gave a deep, hysterical cough, and +hurried the train away. + +Three homesteads by the Long Island shore were lonely enough that +evening, and they were all likely to be lonelier still before they got +fairly accustomed to the continued absence of "those boys." + +It was well understood that the Fosters had determined to prolong their +"summer in the country" until the arrival of cold weather, they had +found all things so pleasant; and the Kinzers were well pleased with +that, as Samantha remarked,-- + +"If it's only to compare letters. I do hope Dabney will write as soon as +he gets there, and tell us all about it." + +"He will," said his mother; but Ham's face put on a somewhat doubtful +look. + +"I'm not quite sure about Dab," he said slowly. "If things ain't just +right, he's the sort of boy that wouldn't say a word about it. Well, I +must say I liked what I saw of Mrs. Myers's notions about feeding +people." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE BOYS ON THEIR TRAVELS. A GREAT CITY, AND A GREAT DINNER. + + +The conductor of that train need not have been much alarmed at falling +in with a "picnic" of any moderate size, for he would have had room in +his train to seat a good part of it, at least. + +The boys had no difficulty in getting seats "all together." That is, +they found four empty ones, two on each side, right opposite; and when +they had turned over the front seats, there they were. Ford and Frank +were facing Dabney and Dick on the right; and the two Hart boys were +facing each other on the left, each with a whole seat to himself. + +Almost the first thing Joe did, after taking possession, was to lean +over, and whisper,-- + +"Look out, Fuz,--keep your secret." + +"Catch me spoiling a good joke." + +The other party seemed disposed to keep pretty quiet for a while; the +first break of any consequence, in the silence, coming when Ford Foster +exclaimed,-- + +"Dab, it was right along here." + +"What was?" + +"Where the pig had his collision with my train, first time I was over +here." + +"Did you hear him squeal?" asked Frank, as he peered through the window. + +"The pig? No; but you ought to have heard the engine squeal, when it saw +him coming." + +The story had to be all told over again, of course, and did good service +in getting their thoughts in order for the trip before them. Up to the +mention of the pig, it had somehow seemed to Dab as if the +railway-platform at the station, and all the people on it, had kept +company with the train; and Frank Harley found himself calculating the +distance between that car and the "mission" at Rangoon in far-away +India. + +As for Ford Foster, he stood in less need of any "pig" than the rest, +from the fact that he had a large-sized idea in his head. + +He kept it there, too, until that train pulled up within reaching +distance of one of the Brooklyn ferries. Before them lay the swift tide +of the broad East River; and beyond that, with its borders of crowded +docks and bristling masts, lay the streets and squares, and swarmed the +multitudes, of the great city of New York. + +"Ford," said Dabney, "you're captain this time. What are we to do now?" + +"Well, if I ain't captain, I guess I'd better do a little steering. We +must give our checks to the expressman, and have our luggage carted over +to the Grand Central Depot." + +"Will it be sure to get there in good time?" + +"Of course it wouldn't if we were in any hurry; but our train doesn't +leave until three o'clock, and the express won't fail to have it there +before that." + +Ford was all alive with the responsibilities of his position, as the +only boy in the party who had been born in the city, and had travelled +all over it, and a little out of it. + +"Joe and Fuz," he said, "will want to take the night boat for Albany. +They've more time on their hands than we have. Joe?--Fuz?--why can't you +come along with us after you've checked your trunks? We'll be getting +dinner before long." + +The Hart boys promptly assented, after a look at each other, and a sort +of chuckle. + +"Might as well keep together," said Joe. "We'd like to take a look at +things." + +"Come along. I'll show you." + +Frank Harley had seen quite a number of great cities, and he could +hardly help saying something about them while they were going over on +the ferryboat. They were all as far forward as they could get. + +"Did you ever see any thing just like this?" asked Dab. + +"Well, no, not just like it"-- + +"In India, or in China, or in London, or in Africa?" said Ford. + +"It's a little different from any thing I ever saw." + +"Well, isn't it bigger?" + +That was a question Frank might have undertaken to answer if there had +been proper time given him; but just then the boat was running into her +"slip," away down town, and Ford exclaimed,-- + +"Hurrah, boys! Now for Fulton Market and some oysters." + +"Oysters?" said Dab. + +"Yes, sir! There's more oysters in that old shanty than there are in +your bay." + +"I don't know about that," said Dab, staring at the queer, huge, rickety +old mass of unsightly wood and glass that Ford was pointing at, after +they got ashore. "I'm hungry, anyhow." + +"Hungry? So am I. But no man ought to say he's been in New York till +he's tried some Fulton-Market oysters." + +"Let's take 'em raw," said Fuz. "Then we can go ahead." + +Dick Lee had been in the city before, but never in such company, nor in +such very good clothes; and there was an expression on his face a good +deal like awe, when he actually found himself standing at an +"oyster-counter," in line with five well-dressed young white boys. + +The man behind the counter served him, too, in regular turn; and Dick +felt it a point of honor to empty the half-shell before him as quickly +as any of the rest. There was no delay about that, anywhere along that +line of boys. + +"Dick," said Ford, "where's your lemon? There it is!" + +Ford had already explained to the rest that it was "against the +constitution and by-laws of Fulton Market to eat a raw oyster without +the lemon-juice," and Dick would have blushed if he could. + +"Dat's so. I forgot um!" and then he added, with great care, "Yes, Mr. +Foster, the lemon improves the oyster." + +"I declare!" muttered Ford. "He's keeping it up!" + +The oysters were eaten, and then it was "Come on, boys;" and away they +went up Fulton Street to Broadway. They walked two and two, as well as +the streams of people would let them, but the Hart boys kept a little in +the rear. + +"What do you think of it, Joe?" + +"Think of what?" + +"Walking over New York with Dick Lee, just as if he was one of us?" + +"Guess nobody'll think we're walking with him. Anybody can tell what we +are, just by looking at us." + +"Dick's face shows just what he is too. I don't care for this once, but +it's awful." + +If any such thought were troubling Ford Foster, he made no confession of +it, and was even specially careful, now and then, to turn around and +address some remark or other to "the member from Africa," as he called +him. + +"Dick," said Dab in an undertone, as they were leaving the market, "you +look out, now: you must have as good a time as any of us, or I won't +feel right about it." + +"Jes' you sail right ahead, Cap'n Dab. I's on hand." + +Ford was determined to "do the honors," and he led them down Broadway to +the Battery before he started "up town;" and he had something to say +about a great many of the buildings. Dab felt his respect for city boys +increasing rapidly, and Dick remarked,-- + +"Ef he don't know dis coas' mos' as well as I know de bay!" + +It looked like it, and he also seemed to be on terms of easy +acquaintance with some of the human "fish" they fell in with. Not that +he spoke to any of them; but he pointed out the several +kinds,--policemen, firemen, messenger-boys, loafers, brokers, +post-office carriers, a dozen more, with a degree of confidence which +fairly astonished his friends. + +"I could learn to tell all of them that wear uniforms, myself," said +Dabney; "but how do you know the others?" + +"How do I know 'em? Well, it's just like knowing a miller or a +blacksmith, when you see him. They all have some kind of smut on them +that comes from their trade." + +There may have been something in that, or it may be barely possible that +Ford now and then mixed his men a little, and pointed out brokers as +"gamblers," and busy attorneys as probable pickpockets. He may have been +too confident. + +On they went, till the brains of all but Ford and Frank were in a sort +of whirl. Even Dab Kinzer was contented to look without talking; and +Dick Lee, although he had not a word to say, found unusual difficulty in +keeping his mouth shut. It positively would come open, every time Ford +pointed out another big building, and told him what it was. + +They were not travelling very fast, but they were using a good deal of +time in all that sight-seeing; and walking is hungry business, and a few +raw oysters could not last six hearty boys very long. + +"I say, Ford," sung out Joe from the rear, "isn't it getting pretty near +time for us to think of getting something to eat?" + +"We're 'most there now. We're going to have our dinner at the +Magnilophant to-day." + +"What's that?" said Frank. + +"Never heard of it? Oh! You're the member from India. Well, it's the +greatest restaurant in the known world, or in Paris either. Beats any +thing on Long Island. Serve you up any thing there is, and no living man +can tell what he's eating." + +Ford was in high spirits, and seemed all one chuckle of self-confidence. +It was indeed a remarkably elegant establishment in its line, into which +he led them a few minutes later. + +There certainly was nothing like it on Long Island, whatever might be +true of Paris and other places outside of the "known world." + +Dab Kinzer felt like walking very straight as he followed his "leader," +and Dick Lee had to use all the strength he had to keep himself from +taking his hat right off when he went in. + +There was any amount of glitter and shine, in all directions; and Dab +had a confused idea that he had never before believed that the world +contained so many tables. Ford seemed wonderfully at home and at ease; +and Dick found voice enough to say, half aloud,-- + +"Ain't I glad he's got de rudder, dis time? Cap'n Dab couldn't steer +t'rough dis yer." + +The "steering" was well done; and it brought them nearly to the farther +end of the great, splendid room, and seated them at a round table that +seemed as well furnished as even Mrs. Foster's own. They all imitated +Ford in hanging their hats on the appointed pegs before sitting down. + +"Now, boys, what shall we have?" he said, as he gazed learnedly up and +down the printed bill of fare. "Speak up, Joe, Fuz, what's your +weakness?" + +Every boy of them was willing to let Ford do his best with that part of +the dinner; and he was hard at work deciding what soup and fish he had +better pick out, when the tall waiter who had bustled forward to receive +the coming "order," bent over his shoulder, and pointed to Dick Lee, +inquiring,-- + +"Beg pardon, sah! Is dis young colored gen'l-man of youah party? It's +'gainst de rules ob de establishment, sah." + +Dab Kinzer felt his face flush fiery red; and he was on the point of +saying something, he hardly knew what, when Ford looked calmly up into +the mahogany face of the mulatto waiter, with,-- + +"You refer to my friend from Africa? We'll talk about that after dinner. +Gumbo soup and Spanish mackerel if you please. Sharp, now!" + +"But, sah"-- + +"Don't be afflicted, my friend. He's as white as anybody, except on +Fridays: this is his black day. Hurry up the soup and fish." + +Joe and Fuz were looking as if they were dreadfully ashamed of +something; but poor Dick was sitting up as straight as a ramrod, under +the influence of a glance that he had taken at the face of Dab Kinzer. + +"I isn't goin' back on him and Ford," he said to himself. "I'd foller +dem fellers right fru' dis yer eatin'-house." + +Frank Harley seemed to be getting some information. In the country he +had lived in nearly all his life, "colored people" were as good as +anybody if they were of the right sort; and a man's skin had little to +do with the degree of respect paid him, although even there it was an +excellent thing to be "white." + +As for the mulatto waiter, after a moment more of hesitation, he took +Ford's order, and walked dignifiedly away, muttering,-- + +"Nebber seen de like afore. Reckon I isn't g'wine to tote soup and fish +for no nigger: I'll see de boss." + +That meant an appeal to the lordly and pompous but quite gentlemanly +"head waiter," a man as white as Ford Foster. A word or two to him, a +finger pointed towards the upper end of the hall, and the keen eyes of +the "man in authority" took it all in. + +"Six of them,--five white and one black. Well, Gus, do they look as if +they could pay their bill before they go?" + +"Yes, sah, dey does. De young gen'lman wid de bill ob fare in his han', +he's got moah cheek, an' moah tongue, an' moah lip, sah"-- + +"Well then, Gus, you just tramp right along. If he and the rest don't +care, I don't. It'll be time enough for me to make a fool of myself when +somebody offers to pay me for it. Give 'em their dinner! Sharp!" + +"It's jes' a mons'ous outrage," growled the offended waiter, as he +stalked away; but he took good care to obey his orders, for he had a +consciousness that the eyes of his "master" were on him. He could hardly +have guessed how completely his errand had been understood by the six +boys, or how closely Ford Foster had "hit it." Said he, in reply to an +angry remark from Dab Kinzer,-- + +"It's all humbug. They run this concern to make money, and they want +some of ours. Mr. Marigold'll be sent right back with our soup." + +He was right; but, before they had eaten their way to the pie and +pudding, Ford was dignifiedly informed,-- + +"If you please, sah, my name isn't Mr. Marigold, sah, it is Mr. +Bellerington, sah; an' my first name isn't Coffee, sah, it's Augustus." + +"You don't say," replied Ford: "well, Augustus, don't forget the little +remark I made about pie and the other things." + +It was a capital dinner; and Ford was proud of it, for he had picked out +every item of it, from the soup to the macaroons. Dick Lee had enjoyed +it hugely, after he began to feel that his first social victory had been +fairly won for him. Still, he had doubts in his own mind as to whether +he would ever dare such another undertaking with less than five white +boys along to "see him through." + +Joe and Fuz ate well; but their spirits were manifestly low, for they +were painfully conscious of having forever lost the good opinion of that +mulatto waiter. + +"But for Dick Lee's being with us," they thought, "he and everybody else +would have known we were gentlemen. We'll never be caught in such a trap +again." + +It is a very sad matter, no doubt, to lose the intelligent respect of +such gentlemen as Mr. Augustus Bellerington, but it sometimes has to be +done; that is, unless their good opinion is to be gained by some nice +little stroke of sneaking cowardice. + +Joe and Fuz stood it out, indeed, mainly because they were in some way +more afraid of Dab and Ford and Frank than they were of even Augustus. + +That, too, was strange; for they were older than either of the others, +and taller than any but Dabney himself. + +The dinner was well eaten, and it was well paid for, as Dabney remarked +when he paid his share and half of Dick's; and then they were all in the +street again, marching along, and "sight-seeing," towards the Grand +Central Railroad Depot. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE FIRST MORNING IN GRANTLEY, AND ANOTHER EXCELLENT JOKE. + + +Ford Foster was the only one of those six boys who had ever seen the +great railway-building, and he confessed that it looked a little large, +even to him. Frank Harley freely declared that he had seen nothing like +it in India; and Dick Lee's eyes showed all the white they had to show, +before he had seen the whole of it. + +Their first errand was to the baggage-room; and they were on their way +when Dab Kinzer thoughtfully remarked,-- + +"Now, Joe, here we've dragged you and Fuz away up here, miles and miles +out of your way." + +"That's so," said Ford, "but they can take a street-car down. They've +got hours of time to spare." + +"No hurry," said Joe: "we'll see you off." But Fuz whispered to him,-- + +"Time's up, Joe. Joke's got to come out now." + +It came out at the baggage-room; for there were the trunks of the Hart +boys, and they had to go with the others to the ticket-office for their +tickets, before they could get their checks. + +"Do you mean you're to go right on now, with us?" said Ford in some +astonishment. "I thought you were going home first." + +"No. We got a letter three days ago, telling us what to do. Our other +things'll be sent on by express." + +The "joke" was out, and the two jokers were laughing as though it were a +remarkably good one in their estimation; but Ford nodded his head +approvingly. + +"Uncle Joseph is a wise and careful man about his children," he said +slowly. "He didn't mean you should make the trip alone. I'm much obliged +to him for such an expression of his confidence in me." + +The laugh somehow died away, as if a sudden fit of sickness had carried +it off, while a broad smile widened on the faces of the other boys, +notably including Dick Lee; but the baggage-checks were to be looked +after, and there were seats in the sleeping-car to be secured. The lost +joke could hide itself easily in all that hurry and excitement. + +"The sleeper'll carry us the best part of the way," said Ford, when at +last they took their seats; "but we'll have a doleful little ride on a +small railway, early in the morning." + +"But that'll take us right up north to Grantley," added Dab, with a +long-drawn breath of expectation. The remaining hours of that Friday +were largely spent by all six of them in looking out of the windows. +When they were not doing that, it was mostly because Joe or Fuz was +telling some yarn or other about Grantley and its academy. + +They agreed perfectly in their somewhat extravagant praise of Mrs. Myers +and her daughter Almira. "She's such a good, kind-hearted, liberal, +motherly woman," said Joe. + +"And Almira's a sweet young lady," added Fuz, "only she's a little timid +about boys." + +"Needn't be afraid of us, I guess," said Ford Foster, with a benevolent +and protecting expression on his face; while Dab drew a mental picture +of the fair Almira as a sort of up-country copy of Annie Foster. After +the darkness came, and the "sleeper" was turned into a great +travelling-box full of little shaky bedrooms, there was no more talking +to be done, and all the boys were tired enough to go to sleep. + +One consequence of their beginning their slumbers so early, however, +was, that they felt bright and fresh when the porter aroused them before +daylight next morning; and they hurriedly dressed themselves for their +ride on what Ford Foster called "the switch." + +It was quite a respectable railway, however, and it carried them through +scenery so different from any that Dabney or Dick was accustomed to, +that they lost a good deal of what Joe and Fuz were saying about Dr. +Abiram Brandegee, the learned principal of Grantley Academy. It was of +less importance, perhaps, because they had heard it all before, and had +gathered a curious collection of ideas concerning the man under whose +direction they were to get their new stocks of learning. + +"Dab," said Dick, "if it was any fellers but them said it, I'd want to +go home." + +"Well, yes," said Dab quietly; "but then, that's just it. You can't +guess when they're telling the truth, and when they ain't." + +"Is dar really any fun in lyin', do you s'pose, Dab?" + +"Can't say, Dick. Guess there wouldn't be much for you or me." + +"Dar's lots ob fun in Ford; an' he tells de truth mos' all de time, +stiddy. So does Frank, jes' a little bit stiddier." + +"Ford never lies, Dick." + +"No, sir, he don't. But w'en anoder feller's lyin', he kin make believe +he don't know it bes' of any feller I ebber seen." + +"Dick," exclaimed Dabney, "what if Dr. Brandegee had heard you say +that!" + +"I would tell him I was imitating somebody I had heard," solemnly +responded Dick, with fair correctness. + +The ride began in the dark hour that comes before the dawn, and the +train ran fast. The sun was above the horizon, but had not yet peered +over the high hills around Grantley, when the excited schoolboys were +landed at the little station in the outskirts of the village. It was on +a hillside; and they could almost look down upon a large part of the +scene of their "good time coming,"--or their "bad time," a good deal as +they themselves might make it. + +Dab and his friends saw that valley and village often enough afterwards; +but never again did it wear to them precisely the same look it put on +that morning, in the growing light of that noble September day. As for +Joe and Fuz, it was all an old story to them; and, what was more, they +had another first-rate joke on hand. + +"There's the academy," said Joe: "that big white concern in the middle +of the green, and with so short a steeple." + +"Steeple enough," said Ford. "Are the rest churches?" + +"Yes; and, if you don't go to church reg'lar, Old By'll be sure to hear +of it." + +"Old By" was the irreverent nickname they had selected for Dr. Abiram +Brandegee; and Fuz added,-- + +"Never mind him, boys. He's a raspy old fellow; but he's such a little, +old, withered wisp of a chap, you'll soon get used to him." + +Dab was bewildered enough, just then, to wonder how such a weak-minded, +malicious old dwarf as had been painted to him, could have managed to +get and keep so high a position in so remarkably beautiful a place as +Grantley. He said something about the village being so pretty; but Dick +Lee had been staring eagerly in all directions, and replied with,-- + +"Jes' one little mite of a patch ob water! Is dar any fish to ketch?" + +"Fish? In that pond?" said Fuz. "Why, it's alive with 'em. The people of +Grantley just live on fish." + +"Guess I knows 'bout how many dey is now," said Dick soberly; and he was +not far from right, for there were no fish to speak of in that +willow-bordered mill-pond. + +"Mrs. Myers will hardly be up so early as this," said Dab. "We can get +our trunks over by and by. Let's have a look at the village. Joe, it's +your turn to steer now. You and Fuz know how the land lies." + +They were ready enough to tell all they knew, and a good deal more; but +the listeners they had that morning were not without eyes of their own, +and it was not a very fatiguing task to walk all over the village of +Grantley. + +The first house to be studied with special care was the neat white +residence of Dr. Brandegee, with its shady trees and its garden; for Joe +said,-- + +"That's where you fellows'll have to come right after breakfast, to be +examined. Oh, but won't Old By put you through!" + +Dick Lee's mouth came open as he stared at the knob on the doctor's +front door, and Dabney caught himself doubting if he knew the +multiplication-table. Even Ford Foster wondered if there was really any +thing he could teach Dr. Brandegee, and remarked to Frank Harley,-- + +"I s'pose you're about the only man among us that he can't corner." + +"How's that?" + +"Why, if he's too hard on you, you can answer him in Hindustanee. He's +never been a heathen in all his life: you'd have him"-- + +"Shuah!" chuckled Dick. + +The "green" was large and well-kept, and looked like the best kind of a +ball-ground; but there was nothing wonderful about the academy building, +except that it evidently had in it room enough for a great many boys. + +"You'll see enough of it before you get through," said Fuz. "But +there'll have to be lots of whittling done this fall." + +"Whittling? what for?" + +"Why, don't you see? They've gone and painted the old thing all over +new. Every boy cut his name somewhere before we left last term. They're +all painted over now: maybe they're puttied up level. They did that once +before, and we had to cut 'em all out again." + +"Oh!" said Ford, "I see: you were afraid they'd forget you. I don't +believe they would." + +"You haven't pointed out Mrs. Myers's," said Dabney. "It must be pretty +near breakfast-time. Where is it?" + +The Hart boys broke out into a joint giggle of enjoyment as Joe +responded,-- + +"There it is,--right across there, beyond the harness-shop, opposite the +other end of the green. Handy in bad weather." + +"It's a pretty decent-looking house too," said Ford. "Come on: let's go +over, and let her know we've arrived in port." + +"Well, no," said Joe: "you fellows go over, soon as you please. Fuz and +I won't take our breakfast there this morning." + +"Going somewhere else, eh? Well, we'll have an eye to your trunks when +they come." + +The giggle grew rapidly into a laugh, as Fuz exclaimed,-- + +"Trunks! why, our baggage'll go to our boarding-house. We don't put up +with Mother Myers this time: got a new place. Oh, but won't you fellows +just love her and Almira!" + +It was all out, that deep secret about their change of boarding-house; +and the Hart boys had something to enjoy this time, for Dab and his +friends looked at each other for a moment in blank amazement. + +"All right, boys," shouted Ford, at the end of it: "here's for some +breakfast. Good-morning, Joe. Day-day, Fuz. See you again by and by." + +They all followed him, but they could see that there was something more +hidden under the mirth of Joe and Fuz as they walked away; and they were +hardly out of hearing before Dab Kinzer remarked,-- + +"Look a' here, boys, I move we don't give those two any fun at our +expense." + +"How?" asked Ford. + +"If there's any thing at Mrs. Myers's that we don't like, we mustn't let +them know it." + +"I's keep my mouf shet if I foun' de house was an ole eel-pot," said +Dick emphatically; and Frank and Ford came out even more strongly. They +all seemed to feel as if some kind of a trick had been played upon them, +to begin with. + +However, it served to put them on their guard, and prevented any change +of countenance among them when their knock at the front door of that +house was answered, and the freckled face of Mrs. Myers beamed out upon +them from under its thin, smooth, glistening thatch of carroty hair. She +was not a handsome woman, and she had a thin nose, and a narrow mouth, +and very pale blue eyes; but she was all one smile of welcome as she +stood in that doorway. + +"Mrs. Myers?" said Ford, with an extraordinary bow. "We arrived on the +morning train. I am Mr. Foster." And then, with a half turn to the +right, he continued, "Mrs. Myers--Mr. Richard Lee, Mr. Dabney Kinzer, +Mr. Francis Harley. Our baggage will come over pretty soon." + +"Walk in, young gentlemen, walk in. I'm happy to see you.--Almira? Here +they are: put breakfast on the table right away." + +"That isn't a bad beginning," thought Dab. "That sounds a good deal like +what Ham said of her. She knew we must be hungry." + +"Walk into the parlor, please. Breakfast'll be ready in one minute. I'll +show you your rooms afterwards." + +That, too, was considerate; and, when Almira herself came to the door +between the parlor and the dining-room, she, too, looked as if it were +quite her habit to smile, when she said,-- + +"Breakfast's ready." + +Almira smiled, but she was too much like her mother. There was nothing +at all about her to put Dabney in mind of Annie Foster, or of either of +his own sisters. Samantha, or Keziah, or Pamela could have been "made +over" into two Almiras, in every thing but height; and Dab made up his +mind at once that either of them could beat her at smiling,--not so +much, perhaps, as to mere quantity, but as to quality. + +That was a breakfast which would have fully justified Ham Morris's +report, for it was well cooked and plentiful. The "johnnycake," in +particular, was abundant; and all the boys took to it kindly. + +"Glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, that's one thing we +mustn't forget. I was always proud of my johnny cake. There's very few +know what to do with their corn-meal, after they've got it." + +She did evidently, and the boys all said so except Dick Lee. He could do +full justice to his breakfast, indeed; but he was saying to himself all +the while,-- + +"I won'er 'f I'll ebber git used to dis yer. It's jes' awful, dis goin' +to de 'cad'my." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A NEW KIND OF EXAMINATION. + + +Three large trunks and one small one were delivered at Mrs. Myers's +front door before that first breakfast was disposed of; and Miss Almira +remarked of the boys, a few minutes later,-- + +"How strong they are, especially Mr. Kinzer!" + +"Don't make a mistake, Almira," said her mother in an undertone. "I'm +glad the trunks are up stairs, but we mustn't begin by saying 'mister' +to them. I've got all their first names. They mustn't get it into their +heads that they're any thing more'n just so many boys." + +She hurried up stairs, however; and it did not take long to make her new +boarders "know their places," so far as their rooms were concerned. That +house was largely made up of its one "wing," on the first floor of which +was the dining-room and sitting-room, all in one. In the second story of +it were two bedrooms, opening into each other. The first and larger one +was assigned to Dab and Ford, and the inner one to Frank. + +"Yours is a coop," said Ford to his friend from India; "but ours is big +enough. You can come in here to study, and we'll fix it up prime. The +stove's a queer one. Guess they burn wood up here mostly." + +Of course, so long as there was a good "wood-lot" on the outlying farm +that belonged to Mr. Hart's speculation. + +The stove was a little box of an affair, with two "griddles" on top, and +was quite capable of warming that floor. + +"She's putting Dick away in back somewhere," said Frank. "We must look +and see what she's done for him." + +The main building of that house was only big enough for a "hall," a +good-sized parlor opening into it on the right, a bedroom and large +closet back of that, and two rooms overhead; but the kitchen and +milk-room back, which must have been stuck on at a later day, had only +one wide, low garret of a room in the space under the roof. It was +lighted by a dormer window, and it did not contain any stove. The floor +was bare, except in the spot covered by an old rug before the little +narrow bed; but there was a table and a chair, by standing on either of +which Dick would be able to put his hand upon the unceiled rafters and +boards of the roof. On the whole, it was a room well calculated to be as +hot as possible in summer, and as cold as possible in winter, but that +would do very well in spring and autumn. At all events, it was "as good +as he had been used to at home." Mrs. Myers herself said that to Almira; +and the answer was,-- + +"Guess it is, and better too." + +Dick never dreamed of making any criticisms. In fact, his young brains +were in a whirl of excitement, through the dust of which every thing in +and about Grantley took on a wonderfully rosy color. + +"Dis room?" he said to his inquiring friends when they looked in on him. +"How does I like dis room? It's de bes' room in de house. I +shall--study--hard--in--this--room." + +"Bully for you," said Ford; "but you mustn't forget there's a stove in +our room, when cold weather comes. Got your books out?" + +"Here they are. I will pile them upon the table." + +"Stick to it, Dick," said Ford. "But it's about time we set out for Dr. +Brandegee's.--Dab, hadn't we better kindle a fire before we go? It makes +me feel chilly to think of it." + +"We'll all be warm enough before he gets through with us," said Dab. +"But the sooner we get there, the better. Maybe there are other boys, +and we must go in first." + +"Come on, Dick." + +Not one of them seemed to be in a hurry, in spite of Dab's prudent +suggestion; and at the bottom of the stairs they were met by Mrs. Myers. + +"Going for your examination? That's right. Dinner'll be ready at +half-past twelve. When, school's opened, it will be a few minutes +earlier, so you'll have plenty of time to eat and get back. Dick, as +soon as your examination's over, I want you to come right back here, so +I can finish making my arrangement with you." + +"Yes, ma'am. I will return at once." + +"You said that tip-top," said Dab, the moment they were on the sidewalk; +"but I can't guess what she means. Ham Morris made all the bargain for +you when he settled for me. S'pose it's all right, though." + +"Course it is. I's got to work out half my board a-doin' chores. Jes' +wot I's been used to all my life." + +Frank Harley had seen a great many people, considering how young he was; +and he had done less talking than the rest, that morning, and more +"studying" of his landlady and her daughter. The results of it came out +now. + +"Tell you what, boys: if I'm not mistaken, Dick Lee'll pay more for his +board than we will for ours." + +"I don't care," said Dick bravely. "It's wuff a good deal to feed a boy +like me." + +His mother had told him so, many a time; and in that matter "Glorianna" +had not been so far from the truth. + +Ham Morris had indeed made a careful and particular bargain for Dick, +and that his duties about the house should not interfere with his +studies. He had done more; for he had insisted on buying Dick's +text-books for him, and had made him promise to write to him about the +way things went at Grantley. + +Up the street marched the four new boys, still a little slowly, until +Ford broke out into a sudden word of encouragement,-- + +"Look here, boys, we're a set of wooden-heads! I'd like to know if we +need be afraid of any thing Joe and Fuz Hart could go through?" + +"Well, I guess not," replied Dab. "Let's push ahead." + +He found himself leading the procession when it went through Dr. +Brandegee's front gate; and there was a look of admiration on Dick's +face, when he saw how promptly and courageously "Captain Dab Kinzer" +pulled that door-bell. + +"This way, please," said the servant who opened the door,--"into the +library. The doctor'll see you in a minute." + +"And we'll see him," muttered Ford, as they walked in, and he added in a +whisper to Dick,-- + +"That's his portrait. There, over the mantel." + +"Jes' so," said Dick, coming dangerously near smiling; "an' his name den +was Oliver Cromwell, an' dey dressed him up in sheet iron." + +That was the name printed under the engraving; but the smile had barely +time to fade from Dick's face, before a door opened on the opposite side +of the room, and the dreaded Principal of Grantley Academy walked in. + +"Good-morning, my young friends. Glad to see you so early." + +His hand was out towards Dick Lee, as he spoke; and they all had what +Ford afterwards called "a good square shake of it," by the time they +recovered their tongues, and replied to that genial, hearty, encouraging +welcome. + +Dick couldn't have helped it, if he had tried,--and he somehow forgot to +try,--a broad grin of delight spread all over his face, as he looked up +in that of the doctor. + +The latter himself was smiling a good deal as if he could not help it, +but he did not know the exact reason why every one of those boys looked +so cheerful just then. + +The thought in Ford's mind came within an inch of getting out over his +tongue. + +"Dwarf? Why, he's more like a giant. How Joe and Fuz Hart did spin it!" + +The great man was certainly a good "six feet two," and all his bodily +proportions were correspondingly ample. + +Frank Harley was the last to be shaken hands with, and so had time to +think,-- + +"Afraid of him? Why, he's too big to be afraid of. We're all right." + +That was the whole truth. Dr. Brandegee was too big, in mind as well as +body, for any boy of their size to feel at all uneasy after the first +half-minute of looking in his calm, broad, thoughtful face. Every member +of that quartet began to feel a queer sort of impatience to tell all he +knew about books. + +The doctor mentioned the fact that he had that morning received letters +from their parents and friends, announcing their arrival; but the oddity +of it was that he seemed to know, at sight, the right name for each boy, +and the right boy for each name. + +"He might have guessed at Dick," thought Ford; "but how did he know me?" + +Perhaps a quarter of a century spent in receiving, classifying, and +managing young gentlemen of all sorts had given the man of learning +special faculties for his work. + +"I shall have to ask you a few questions, my young friends; but I think +there will be little difficulty in assigning you your places and +studies. Be seated, please." + +That library was plainly a place where no time was to be wasted, for in +less than a minute more Ford Foster was suddenly stopped in the middle +of a passage of easy Latin,-- + +"That will do. Give me a free translation." + +Ford did so, glibly enough; but there followed no word of comment, +favorable or otherwise. Similar brief glimpses were taken of three or +four other studies; and then the doctor suddenly remarked to him, in +French,-- + +"Your father has written me very fully concerning your previous studies. +You are well prepared, but you have plenty of hard work before you." + +Ford fairly strained his best French in the reply he made; and the +doctor observed,-- + +"I see. Constant practice. I wish more parents would be as wise.--Mr. +Harley, I had not been informed that you spoke French. You noticed Mr. +Foster's mistake. Please correct it for him." + +Frank blushed to his eyes, but he obeyed; and he hardly knew how it was, +that, before the doctor's rapid questioning was over, his answers had +included the whole range of his schooling and acquirements. + +"Isn't dey doin' fine!" was the proud thought in the mind of Dick Lee. +"But jes' wait till he gits hol' ob Cap'n Dab!" + +Dick's confidence in his friend was at least ten times greater than +Dabney's in himself. The very air of the room he was in seemed, to the +latter, to grow oppressively heavy with learning, and he dreaded his own +turn more than ever. While he was waiting for it to come, however, some +casual reference to Long Island by the doctor, and a question as to the +precise character of its southern coast, rapidly expanded into a wider +range of geography, upon the heels of which history trod a little +carelessly, and other subjects came tumbling in, until Dabney discovered +that he was computing, at the doctor's request, sundry arithmetical +results, which might with greater propriety have been reserved for his +"examination." That, too, was the way poor Dick Lee came to make so bad +a breakdown. His shining face would have told, even to eyes less +practised than those of Dr. Brandegee, exactly the answer, as to kind +and readiness, which he would have made to every question put to his +white friends. That is, unless he had been directly called upon to +"answer out aloud." There is no telling what he would have done in such +a case as that. + +The doctor found out, for he quietly shifted his last question over +Dab's left shoulder, and let it fall upon Dick in such a way as not to +scare him. + +"You's got me, dis time! Dat's de berry place whar we stopped at de end +of our school, las' year." + +"Then, I think I know about where it's best for you to begin. I'll have +another talk with you about it, Richard. You must come up and see me +again." + +It was not a great deal to say; but the way in which he said it plainly +added,-- + +"I mean to be your friend, my dear boy. I'll do all I can to help you +along." + +Dick understood it too, but he was feeling dolefully about his tongue +just then. + +"Missed fire de fust time!" he said to himself; but he carefully +replied, aloud,-- + +"Thank you, sir. Will you tell me when to come?" + +"To-night, right away after tea. Now, young gentlemen, I must bid you +good-morning. Bear in mind that the first law of Grantley Academy is +punctuality. I expect you to be in your places promptly at nine o'clock, +Monday morning." + +"We will, sir," said Dabney. "But will you please tell us when we are to +be examined?" + +"I believe, Mr. Kinzer, I have a fair idea of the use you have made of +your books up to this time. No further examination will be necessary. I +will see you all, with others, after school is opened, next Monday." + +They were politely shown out of the library, but they did not clearly +comprehend the matter until they had drawn each a good long breath in +the open air. + +"Dab," said Ford, "can't you see it?" + +"I'm beginning to. Seems to me we've been through the sharpest +examination I ever heard of. I say, Frank, do you know any thing he +didn't make you tell him?" + +"Nothing but Hindustanee and a little Teloogoo. Well, yes, I know a +Karen hymn. He got all the rest, if I'm not mistaken." + +There was no doubt at all but what Dr. Brandegee had gained a correct +view of the attainments of his new pupils. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF INTRODUCTION. + + +The front door of Dr. Brandegee's library had hardly closed behind that +earliest flock of his autumn birds, before the door by which he had +entered swung open, and a fine-looking, middle-aged matron stood in it, +remarking,-- + +"My dear, there are more than a dozen waiting in the parlor. Have you +not spent a great deal of time on those four?" + +"They're worth it, Mary. There's enough in every one of them to make a +man of, and they've all started fairly well." + +"I fear that is more than you will be able to say of all these others." + +"Of course it will. Their fathers and mothers have had a great deal to +do with that." + +They were all "examined," however, in due season, some in one way and +some in another; and during all that time Dab Kinzer and his friends +were inwardly wondering, whether they said so or not, precisely what +impression they had made upon the doctor. + +It was just as well, every way, that they did not know. + +It was a curious fact, that with one accord they accompanied Dick on his +return to their boarding-house; and, while he disappeared through the +door at the end of the hall with Miss Almira, some invisible +leading-string dragged them up stairs. Not that they really had any +studying to do; but it was dinner-time before they had finished turning +over the leaves of their text-books, and estimating the amount of hard +work it would cost to prepare for an "examination" on them. + +There was no good reason for complaint of that dinner any more than of +their breakfast; and it wound up with a very excellent Indian-meal +pudding, concerning which Dabney went so far as to say he would like to +send the recipe home to his mother. + +"I'm so glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, just remember that. +They can have it as often as they please." + +She asked them, too, how they proposed to spend their afternoon, and +smilingly explained, as to Dick Lee, that,-- + +"Saturday is one of my busy days, and he will have to stay at home and +help. Errands to run, and I want him to learn how. He's a bright, active +little fellow." + +That was all "according to contract;" but Dick did not come in for his +dinner until the rest had eaten theirs; and then he barely had time to +say to Dab Kinzer,-- + +"Did you ebber shell corn?" + +"Course I have. Why?" + +"'Cause dar's a bigger heap ob corn out in de barn dan you ebber see." + +"Bigger'n Ham's?" + +"Well, no, not so big as his'n, mebbe; but dar's more ob it. I's got it +to shell." + +Dab went off with the other two, vaguely beginning to ask himself if +shelling corn came fairly into the proper meaning of the word "chores." + +All that sort of thing was quickly forgotten, however; for there were a +dozen groups of boys scattered here and there over the broad expanse of +the "green," and Ford Foster at once exclaimed,-- + +"Boys, let's examine that crowd. It'll take all the afternoon to find +what they know." + +Getting acquainted is apt to be a slow process in cases of that sort, +unless it is taken hold of with vigor; and Ford was the very fellow to +hurry it up. Before the afternoon was over, every boy on that green knew +who he was, and where he came from; and a good share of them had tried +their hands at "chaffing" him and his friends. Of these latter it may +safely be said that not a single one could afterwards remember that he +had seemed to himself to get the best of it. + +"First day" at school is pretty safe to be a peace-day also; and none of +the wordy collisions went too far, although it was plain that the +new-comers had not yet attained any high degree of popularity. + +After supper Dick Lee set off for Dr. Brandegee's, and his friends +attended him nearly to the gate. + +They would have been glad to have had a report of his visit from him, on +his return; but he had his "chores" to do then, and any amount of +careful instruction concerning them to receive from Mrs. Myers and +Almira. + +The other three were more thoroughly tired out than they had at all +expected, and were all quite ready to agree with Frank Harley,-- + +"We'd better get to bed, boys. I want to see if this is a good house to +sleep in." + +"Sleep?" said Ford. "I could go to sleep in an omnibus." + +Early to bed meant early to rise, necessarily; and they were all up and +dressed the next morning, when Dick Lee slipped in on them. Before they +had time to ask him a question, he exclaimed,-- + +"I say, Cap'n Dab, is you goin' to church dis mornin'?" + +"Of course. We're all going." + +"So I heerd Mrs. Myers tell Miss Almiry. She's goin' to take you along +wid her when she goes." + +"Richard," said Ford, "are you going?" + +"Habn't heerd a word about dat." + +"Don't you go back on your friends, Richard. Be all ready in time, +sure's you live, and go with us, or I'll complain to Dr. Brandegee." + +Dick's grin was a wide one; but he responded,-- + +"I'll be ready. See 'f I ain't." + +The voice of Almira, calling his name at the foot of the stairs, +prevented any further conversation just then; and Dick found, +afterwards, that he had undertaken a task of some difficulty. He hardly +knew when or where he squeezed out the time for the proper polishing of +his shoes, or the due arrangement of his magnificent red necktie; but +both feats were accomplished most faithfully. + +The subject of church-going came up again, incidentally, at the +breakfast-table; and the remarks of her young boarders met the emphatic +approval of Mrs. Myers and her daughter. Perhaps because neither of them +had been near enough, after Dick dodged out of their room at the end of +his early call, to hear Dabney Kinzer remark,-- + +"Ford, don't you think we can find our way across the green without any +help from the ladies?" + +"I am pondering that matter. What do you say, Frank?" + +"We must get out of it if we can politely. I don't just see how we'll do +it." + +"Do it? Why, we'll all wait for Dick Lee." + +Mrs. Myers took a little too much for granted; and when the hour came +for starting, there came a slight disturbance in the smooth current of +her calculations. + +"Mr. Foster," she called out, in her best voice, from half way up the +stairs, "the first bell is ringing. Are you and your friends ready?" + +"Ringing?" responded Ford. "So it is! I regret to say we are not yet +ready to go." + +At the same moment Dab was whispering,-- + +"We mustn't start until it's nearly done tolling." + +"What's that?" asked Frank. + +"Don't you know? It's always so in the country. First they ring the +bell, as it's ringing now. That's to set people a-going. Then they toll +it. You'll hear in a few minutes. That means, the time's up." + +Ford Foster's city training had not taught him as much as that, but he +was glad to know it. + +Mrs. Myers once more urged upon them the necessity of making haste. + +"It won't do to be late," she said. "I never allow myself to be a minute +behind time." + +The last clause sounded a very, very little impatient; but Ford once +more politely expressed his sorrow, and abstained from putting on his +coat. At that moment, too, Dick Lee came tiptoeing in from his cheerless +garret, and looking astonishingly spruce. The "shine" on his shoes was a +brilliancy to be remembered; and so was the shine on his face, and the +sunset glow of his necktie. + +"Sh! Dick," said Dab. "Hold still a minute. The bell's beginning to +toll." + +"I fear Almira and I will be compelled to start," said Mrs. Myers +regretfully. "Perhaps you can overtake us if you hurry." + +"Perhaps we could," replied Ford, "but I beg you will not let yourself +be late on our account. We're coming." + +He began to put his coat on as she and Almira went through the gate. In +such a village as that, no one was afraid to leave a house alone for an +hour or two. Not only was the door-lock "on the latch" as usual, but +Dick Lee had been vaguely expected to stay at home. There, again, Mrs. +Myers had taken too much for granted; and she had not said a word to him +about it. + +Just as she heard the bell give its last few rapid and warning strokes, +and disappeared through the church-door, she might have seen, had she +turned back and looked once more towards her own front gate, four +well-dressed youngsters hurrying from it across the street as if a great +deal depended on their reaching church before service could begin. + +"It's very kind of Mrs. Myers to invite us," remarked Ford, "but she +never thought how bashful we'd be about it." + +They were quickly within the ample porch of the roomy and not at all +overcrowded edifice, and were greeted by two or three benevolent-looking +elderly gentlemen, with a degree of prompt cordiality which left little +to be asked for. + +The deacons were awake to their duty relating to new +scholars,--"students" they called them; and every attention was paid +these four who had begun so well their first Sunday. + +So it would be at every church on that green; and it would really be +about the middle of the term before stray "academy boys" would be left +to find their own way to well-whittled benches in the galleries. + +One of the best pews in the house, well forward in the middle aisle, and +they had it all to themselves. There was not another pew in church that +morning which seemed to attract so large a share of the attention of the +congregation. Mrs. Myers and Almira were several pews behind, and on the +other side of the house; and there had been no opportunity to capture +her four boarders, or any of them, while they were marching in. + +"Almira! If they haven't brought Dick with them." + +"Yes, mother; but how very well they look! Mr. Kinzer is really quite +handsome." + +That was hardly Dab's opinion of himself, and nobody had ever taken +pains to tell him so; but the four of them, standing up together, and +all singing, made quite a picture. Dick Lee was between Dab Kinzer and +Frank Harley, and seemed to feel in honor bound to sing his best. That +was very well too. + +If Glorianna could but have had a look at her boy that morning, there is +no such thing as telling how proud she would have felt about him. It was +too bad she could not have done so, especially as Dick was most loyally +thinking of her, and wishing that she could. + +There was no fault to be found by Mrs. Myers, or anybody else, with the +strict decorum of her boarders, and their profound attention to the +service and sermon; but she felt that she had a duty to perform, and she +only waited the proper time for its performance. + +The last hymn had been duly sung, and the boys were drifting along with +the tide in the aisle towards the door, when Dabney nudged Ford with his +elbow. + +"We're nabbed, Ford." + +"No escape this time, that's a fact. Don't let's try. She means it all +for politeness." + +They would have been quite willing to have been allowed to get out and +go home unnoticed; but there in the porch awaiting them were Mrs. Myers +and Almira, and there was no possibility of an escape. It would have +been unkind to try in the face of so much smiling. Besides, they did +board with her; and she had her rights of property, one of which was to +show them off, and introduce them. She proceeded to exercise it at once; +and it was to the credit of the three white boys that they came promptly +to her assistance, and added any little matter she might happen to miss +in the hurry of the moment. + +"Deacon Short, this is Mr. Dabney Kinzer, of Long Island; this is Mr. +Frank Harley, of Rangoon, son of Rev. Dr. Harley, our well-known +missionary; this is Mr. Ford Foster, son of the eminent New-York +lawyer." + +"Delighted"--began the deacon, rapidly grasping and shaking hand after +hand, with a peculiar lift of his elbow, that placed most of what might +be called the "action" at the point of it; but Ford was thinking of the +thing Mrs. Myers had omitted, and he promptly added,-- + +"Glad to meet you, Deacon Short; and this is my friend Mr. Richard Lee, +of Long Island." + +To do the good deacon justice, his grasp of Dick's hand was every bit as +cordial as any other of his grasps; and he beamed on the smiling black +boy in a way that gave him back, after the manner of a reflection, a +great glow of the best and broadest "beaming." + +Mrs. Myers did not stop a moment in the repetition of her formula, and +there was sharp work before her; but Dab's tongue was also loose now, +and Elder Potter had hardly time to hear who he was before Deacon Short +had to let go of Dick, and hear Dab say,-- + +"How d'ye do, Elder Potter? and this is my near neighbor and friend, Mr. +Richard Lee." + +"Mrs. Sunderland," began Mrs. Myers, to a lady whose face and dress +declared her a social magnate, "my new boarder, Mr. Frank Harley:" and +the rest of her introduction speech followed; and stately Mrs. +Sunderland had just time to utter a few words of gracious inquiry about +the "precious health" of Frank's father and mother, when he, too, took +up the "omission," and Dick Lee's introduction stepped into the place of +any other answer for a moment. + +It was a good thing for Dick, as Mrs. Sunderland was a member of a +society for promoting emigration to Liberia, and was seized at once with +a dim idea that a part of her "mission" was standing before her in very +brilliant shoes and a new red necktie. She did not know how utterly she +and the other good people and those three boys were demolishing a +curious vision of Almira's and her mother's, of some social advantage +they might derive, thenceforward, from having "a colored servant" in +their employ. Dick's own chance was coming right down upon him, a little +before he was quite ready for it; for the minister and his wife came out +a few moments later, and Mrs. Sunderland took upon herself the duty of +presenting Richard Lee to them, very much if as she would have said,-- + +"My dear Mr. Fallow,--my dear Mrs. Fallow,--see what I've found! Is he +not remarkable?" + +The words she really uttered were somewhat more formal; but the good, +quiet-looking little minister and very quiet-looking little wife were +still shaking hands with Dick, that is, with his right hand, when he +turned almost eagerly, and caught hold of Dab Kinzer with his left. + +"Yes, sir, an' dis is Cap'n Dab--I mean, this is my friend Mr. Dabney +Kinzer, of Long Island,--de bes'--" + +"How do you do, Mr. Kinzer? Glad to make your acquaintance," said Mr. +Fallow; and Dick's success was complete, except that he was saying to +himself,-- + +"I jes' can't trus' my tongue wid de oder boys. Dey's got to take dar +chances." + +"Now, Mr. Kinzer," said Miss Almira, at that moment, "it's time we were +going home." + +"Yes, Frank," said her mother patronizingly, "I think we had better be +going." + +If such an exercise as "introduction" could earn it, they were both +entitled to good appetites; and, after all, it had been quite a nice +little affair. + +Dabney was quite as tall as Miss Almira; but as they walked across the +green, side by side, he could not avoid a side-glance that gave him a +very clear idea of the difference between his present company and Annie +Foster. It was at that very moment that it occurred to Frank that he had +last walked home from church under the protecting wing of the portly and +matronly Mrs. Kinzer; and he could but draw some kind of a comparison +between her and Mrs. Myers. + +"They're both widows," he thought; "but there isn't any other +resemblance." + +Ford and Dick brought up the rear; and for some reason, or there may +have been more than one, they were both in capital good spirits. + +"Tell you wot," exclaimed Dick: "if goin' to de 'cad'my is all like dis +yer--I am very glad indeed that I ever came." + +"Oh! you're all right," said Ford; "but there's more good people in this +village than I'd any idea of. I'm glad we came to church." + +"Dick," said Mrs. Myers a little sharply, when they reached the gate, "I +want some wood and a pail of water. You'd better hurry up stairs, and +put on your every-day clothes." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +LETTERS HOME FROM THE BOYS.--DICK LEE'S FIRST GRIEF. + + +There was a large number of new scholars assembled in the "great room" +of Grantley Academy on the first Monday morning of that "fall term." +There were also many who had been there before, but the new-comers were +in the majority. There were boys from the village, boys from the +surrounding country, and boys from even farther away than the southern +shore of Long Island; and they were of many kinds and ages. The youngest +may have been "under twelve," and entitled to ride in a street-car at +half-price; and several of the very older ones had already cast their +first vote as grown-up men. + +Counting them all, and adding those who were to make their appearance +during the week, they made a little army of nearly two hundred. There +was also a young ladies' department, with about a hundred pupils; and +there was quite as great a variety among them as among their young +gentlemen fellow-students. + +The class-rooms assigned to the lady teachers and their several grades +of learners were all on the northern side of the academy building. There +was a large wing there that belonged to them, and they only met the boys +face to face in the "great room" during morning exercises. Even those of +them who lived or boarded in the southern half of the village found +their way across the green, coming and going, under the shade of the +most northerly row of trees. + +As to the "great room" itself, there had been much trouble about the +name of it. Dr. Brandegee called it "the lecture-room," and he did a +great deal towards making it so. There were those who tried to say +"chapel" when they spoke of it; but so many others refused to know what +place they were speaking of, that they had to give it up. "Hall" would +not fit, because it was square; and the boys generally rejected the +doctor's name because of unpleasant-ideas connected with the word +"lecture." So it came to be "the great room," and no more; and a great +thing it was for Dick Lee to find himself sitting on one of the front +seats of it, with his friends all in line at his right, waiting their +turn with him to be "classified," and sent about their business. + +Dr. Brandegee made wonderfully rapid work of it; and his several +assistants seemed to know exactly what to do. + +"The fact is," said Ford, the first chance he had to speak to Dab, "I've +been studying that man. He's taught school before." + +"Guess he knows how, too. And I ain't afraid about Dick Lee, now I've +seen the rest. He can go right ahead of some of them." + +"They'll bounce him if he does. Tell you what, Dab, if you and I want to +be popular here, we'd better wear our old clothes every day but Sunday." + +"And miss about half the questions that come to us. Dick won't be sharp +enough for that." + +"He says he's going to write a letter home tonight. Made him turn pale +too." + +Those first letters home! + +Ford's was a matter of course, and Frank Harley had had some practice +already; but Dab Kinzer had never tried such a thing before, and Dick +Lee would not come to anybody else for instructions. Neither would he +permit anybody, not even "Captain Dab," to see his letter after it was +written. + +"I's been mighty partikler 'bout de pronounciation," he said to himself, +"specially in wot I wrote to Mr. Morris, but I'd like to see dem all +read dem letters. Guess dar'll be a high time at our house." + +It would be a long while before Frank Harley's epistle would reach the +eyes that were anxiously waiting for it, but there were indeed "high +times" in those three houses on the Long-Island shore. + +Old Bill Lee was obliged to trust largely to the greater learning of his +wife, but he chuckled over every word he managed to pick out, as if he +had pulled in a twenty-pound bluefish; and the signature at the bottom +affected him somewhat as if he had captured a small whale. + +"Sho! De boy!" said Glorianna. "He's doin' fust-rate. Dar ain't anoder +young gen'lman at dat ar' 'cad'my jes' like him. Onless it's young Mr. +Kinzer. I hasn't a word to say 'gin him or Mr. Foster, or dat ar' young +mish'nayry." + +"Glorianna," said Bill doubtfully, "do you s'pose Dick did all dat +writin' his own self?" + +"Sho! Course he did! Don't I know his hand-writin'? Ain't he my own +blessed boy? Guess he did, and I's goin' ober to show it to Mrs. Kinzer. +It'll do her good to hear from de 'cad'my." + +So it did; for Dick's letter to his mother, like the shorter one he sent +to Ham Morris, was largely made up of complimentary remarks concerning +Dabney Kinzer. + +When Glorianna knocked at the kitchen door of the Morris mansion, +however, it was opened by "the help;" and she might have lost her errand +if Mrs. Kinzer had not happened to hear her voice. It is just possible +it was pitched somewhat higher than usual that morning. + +"Glorianna? Is that you? Come right in. We've some letters from the +boys. Something in them about Dick that you'll be glad to hear." + +"Sho! De boy! Course dey all had to say somet'ing 'bout him! I's jes' +like to know wot 'tis, dough." + +In she went, but more than the Kinzer family were gathered in the +sitting-room. + +Mrs. Foster and Annie had brought Jenny Walters with them, and Ham was +there, and all the rest; and they all sat still as mice while Glorianna +listened to Dab's account, and Ford's, of the journey to Grantley, and +the arrival, and the examination, and their boarding-house. + +There was not a word of complaint anywhere; and it did seem as if Ham +Morris was right when he said,-- + +"We've hit it this time, Mrs. Foster. I think I ought to write to Mr. +Hart, and thank him for his recommendation." + +"Just as you please, Hamilton," said Mrs. Kinzer; "but this is their +very first week, you know." + +"Guess dey won't fool Dick much, anyhow," said the radiant Glorianna. +"But wot's dat 'bout de corn-shellin'?" + +"That's all right," said Ham. "Shelling corn won't hurt him. Glad +there's plenty of it. Mother Kinzer, you and Miranda must try that +recipe Dab sent for the new pudding." + +"New pudding, indeed! Why, she doesn't put in half eggs enough. But I'm +glad she's a good cook. We'll have that pudding for dinner this very +day." + +"So will we," said Mrs. Foster. + +"Miss Kinzer," said Dick's mother, "jes' won't you show me how to make +dat puddin'? I's like to know jes' wot dey eat at de 'cad'my." + +It was a great comfort to know that the boys were so well satisfied; but +there was her usual good sense in Mrs. Kinzer's suggestion about its +being the very first week. + +There are never any more such letters as "first letters," nor any other +weeks like the first. The fact that there were so many boys together, +all old acquaintances, shut out any such thing as loneliness, and it was +not time to be homesick. All that week was really spent in "getting +settled," and there did not seem to be more than a day or so of it. +Saturday came around again somewhere in the place commonly taken by +Wednesday, and surprised them all. + +They had all been busy enough, but Dick Lee had never in all his life +found so little spare time on his hands. + +"It's no use, Cap'n Dab," he remarked on Friday: "we can't eat up all de +corn I've shelled, not if we has johnnycake from now till nex' summer." + +Dab was looking a little thoughtful at that moment. + +"Ford," he said slowly, "has she missed a day yet?" + +"A corn day? No." + +"Or a meal?" + +"No, I said I'd cut a notch on my slate first time she did, and it's all +smooth yet." + +He held it up as he spoke; and Frank remarked,-- + +"Yes, smooth enough on that side; but you've nicked it all down on the +other, end to end. What's that for?" + +"That? Oh! that's quite another thing. I'm keeping tally of Joe and Fuz. +Every time one of 'em asks a question about our boarding-house, or Mrs. +Myers, or Almira, or' little Dr. Brandegee, I nick it down. Got to quit +pretty soon, or buy another slate." + +"They've kind o' kept away from us," said Dab. "They're in only one of +my classes, but they're in three of yours." + +"Ain't in any ob mine," said Dick; "but Dr. Brandegee says he'll promote +me soon." + +Dick's tongue always began to work better, the moment he mentioned the +academy-principal. + +"I don't mind their keeping away from us," said Frank. + +"Nor I," said Ford. + +At that moment they reached their own gate, and Dick darted forward in +response to an imaginary call from Mrs. Myers. + +Ford went on,-- + +"They can keep away all they please, but they won't do it long. They're +bound on mischief of some kind." + +"To us?" asked Frank. + +"Well, yes; but it'll light on Richard Lee first. He won't say a word to +us about it, but they've bothered him." + +"I'll ask him," said Dab, in whose face a flush was rising. "They must +let Dick alone." + +"They won't, then. And there's plenty of others just like 'em. They're +getting together in a kind of a flock these last two or three days. Some +of 'em are pretty big ones." + +"Boys," exclaimed Frank, "how about our boxing lessons?" + +"Guess we haven't forgotten 'em all in one week," said Ford. "I was +thinking about to-morrow." + +So were they all; and they held a council-of-war about it, in their own +room, before supper. The result was, that, by a unanimous vote, that +Saturday was to be devoted to the catching of fish, rather than to +playing ball, or any thing else that would bring them into immediate +contact with Joe and Fuz. + +They had all brought their fishing-tackle with them, as a matter of +course; plenty of worms for bait were to be dug in the garden; and Dab +Kinzer had learned, by careful inquiry, that both bait and tackle could +be used to good purpose in the waters of "Green Pond," and sundry other +small bits of lakes, miles and miles away among the hills to the north +of Grantley. + +"We'll have a grand time," he said, "and it'll do us all good. No crabs, +though. Wonder if those fresh-water fish bite like ours down in the +bay." + +"Some do, and some don't," said Ford. "I've caught 'em." + +It did not occur to him now, however, that he could probably teach Dab; +and they all obeyed the supper-bell. + +There were three kinds of corn-cake on the table, but the boys were +thinking of something more important; and Dab hardly received his first +cup of tea before he remarked,-- + +"We're all going a-fishing to-morrow, Mrs. Myers; but we may get home in +time for supper. Can you spare Dick?" + +"What, on Saturday? The very day I need him most? Three loads of wood'll +be over from the farm to-night." + +Dick had been in the kitchen, and had advanced as far as the door while +Dab was speaking. + +"Wood?" he muttered to himself. "Guess I know wot dat means. T'ree load +ob wood, an' no fishin'! It's jes' awful!" + +"Now, Mrs. Myers," said Ford, "if you knew what a fisherman Dick is! He +might bring you home a load of them." + +"I am sorry," said Mrs. Myers, with more of firmness and less of smile +than they had ever seen on her face before. "I have no objection to the +rest of you going. You may do as you please about that, but I must keep +Richard at his work." + +"I am particularly well pleased to learn that you have no objection to +our going," remarked Ford, with extreme politeness, and Dabney added,-- + +"It does me good too. We'll take Dick with us some other time. Mrs. +Myers, if you will have breakfast pretty early I'll be much obliged to +you." + +Even Almira had never seen Dabney look quite so tall as he did at that +moment. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +DABNEY KINZER TRIES FRESH-WATER FISHING FOR THE FIRST TIME. + + +Conversation did not flourish at the supper-table that Friday evening. +There was a puzzled look on the faces of Mrs. Myers and her daughter, +and their three boarders seemed to be running a kind of race with each +other as to which of them should make out to be the most carefully +polite. As for poor Dick Lee, out there in the kitchen, the nearest he +came to breaking the silence was in a sort of smothered groan, and a +half-uttered determination to "git up good and early, an' dig dem +fellers de bes' worms dey is in de gardin." + +There was talk enough in the room up stairs in the course of the +evening; but the door was closed, and there was no chance for any one in +the passage outside, no matter how silently he or she might go by, to +hear a distinct word of it. + +"You see, boys," said Ford Foster, at the end of some extended remarks, +"I'm not at all mean or exacting. My father only pays Mrs. Myers three +dollars a week, and all she agreed to give was board. I can't expect her +to be any kind of an aunt, too, and let me go a-fishing. I'll take it +all off her hands, and let myself go." + +"It's hard on Dick, though," said Dab, "and she's kind o' got the right +of it." + +"I s'pose she has. But if he isn't earning all he gets, I'm mistaken. +Boys, if she puts any more work on him, what'll we do?" + +"Eat," said Dab: "that's the only way we can make it up." + +"We can't do it, Dab. Not unless the price of corn-meal goes up. Think +of eating another three dollars' worth of hasty-pudding every week!" + +Their landlady came out in all her smiles at breakfast, and hoped they +would have good success with their fishing. + +"Only," she added, "I'm not very fond of fish, and I never take the +trouble to clean them." + +"We will try and catch ours ready cleaned, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Now, +boys, if you're ready, I am." + +They were ready, bait and all, thanks to Dick; and the breakfast had +been an early one. Dab thanked Mrs. Myers for that, even while he wished +he had Ford Foster's tongue to do it with. + +In fact, he had been noticing of late that his ideas came to him a +little slowly. Not but what he had plenty of them, but they seemed +disposed to crowd one another; so that whenever there was any thing to +be said in a hurry, Ford was sure to get ahead of him, and sometimes +even quiet Frank Harley. + +"Must be I'm growing, somehow," he said to himself, "or I wouldn't be so +awkward." + +The north road from Grantley led through a region that was, as the old +farmers said of it, "a-goin' back," and was less thickly peopled than it +had been two or three generations before. There had once been pretty +well cultivated farms all around some of the little lakes that were now +bordered by stout growths of forest; and the roads among the hills wore +a neglected look, many of them, as if it had ceased to profit anybody to +keep them in order. + +There was "coming and going" over them, nevertheless; and the boys +managed to get a "lift" of nearly five miles in a farmer's wagon, so +that they reached the vicinity of Green Pond sooner than they had +expected, and with much less fatigue. The same farmer, in response to +anxious questioning by Dab, informed him,-- + +"Fish? Wall, ye-es. Nobody don't ketch 'em much nowadays. Time was when +they was pretty much all fished out, but I heerd there was some fellers +turned in a heap of seedlin' fish three or four year ago. Right away +arter that, my boys went over, and put in three days a hand runnin', but +they didn't get nothin' but pumpkin-seeds. Plenty of them yit, I +s'pose." + +That was encouraging; but Ford at once remarked,-- + +"Pumpkin-seeds? A fine-looking fish, are they not? I know them. Somewhat +depressed, and extended laterally?" + +"Guesso. You're 'tendin' school at the 'cadummy, ain't ye?" + +"Yes, we're there." + +"Thought so. Ye-es. We-ell, it's a good thing for the 'cadummy. Hope +you'll ketch some o' them seedlin' fish. Ef ye do, you kin jest stuff +'em with big words, and bake 'em. They do say as how fish is good for +the brains." + +"Don't we turn off somewhere along here?" asked Dabney. + +"Ye-es. Green Pond's right down there, through the woods. Not more'n a +mile. See't ye don't lose yer way. What bait have ye got?" + +"Bait? Angle-worms. Are they the right thing?" + +"Worms? Ye-es. They'll do. Somebody told ye, did they? 'Twon't take ye +long to larn how to put 'em on." + +There was not a great deal to be made out of that old New-England +farmer; and his good-natured contempt for a lot of ignorant young "city +fellers," in good clothes, did not require any further expression. + +They left him with a wide grin on his wrinkled face, and followed his +directions over the nearest fence; but with ideas concerning their +probable string of fish, that were rather "depressed" than "extended." + +It was a long mile, but it did not contain any danger of getting lost; +and at the end of it they had quite enough of a surprise to pay them for +their trouble. + +"Why, Ford, it's a beauty!" + +"Dab, do you s'pose as nice a pond as that hasn't any thing in it but +pumpkin-seeds?" + +"No boat that I can see," remarked Frank. + +"We'll fish from the shore," said Dab. "There's a log that runs away out +in. Rocks too." + +Rocks and trees and natural ruggedness all around, and some ten or a +dozen acres of clear, cold, beautiful water, with little brooks and +springs running into it, and a brook running out on the opposite shore +that would have to grow considerably before it would be fit for +mill-turning. + +"Boys," said Dabney, "we've missed it!" + +"How's that?" asked Ford. + +"Put on the smallest hooks you've got, right away, and try for minnows. +There must be pickerel and bass here." + +"Bass? Of course! Didn't he say something about seed-fish? That's what +they put in; and they weren't as big as pins when his boys came for +'em." + +"Minnow-poles," as they called them, could be cut from the bushes at the +margin, and little fish could be taken at the same time that they were +trying for large ones. They found too, before long, that sometimes a +very respectable perch or bass would stoop to nibble at one of the +"elegant worms" with which Dick Lee had provided them. + +"No turn of the tide to wait for here, Dab," said Ford, "and no crabs to +steal your bait off. Hey! There comes one. Perch! First game for my +hook." + +"We'll stay till dark, but we'll get a good string. Frank, your cork's +under." + +"Never fished with one before," said Frank. "I'll soon get the hang of +it." + +That was a capital school for it, at all events; and they learned that +it might be a good thing for a little lake like that to have a bad +reputation. + +"Fished out years ago. I understand now," said Dab. + +"Understand what?" + +"Why, those fellows in the village that sent me out here were playing a +joke on us,--a good deal like one of Joe and Fuz Hart's." + +"Best kind of a joke. But if we tell about it when we get home, the +whole village'll be over here next week." + +"Then we won't tell. Hurrah! I'll get him in. Steady, now. If he isn't a +two-pounder! see him run? Boys, this is going to be fun." + +They did not neglect their minnow-catching; and before a great while +they were varying their bait, very much to their advantage. How they did +wish for a boat, so they could try the deeper water! They worked their +way along, from point to point, looking for the best spot, if such there +were; and Dabney at last found himself quite a distance ahead of his +companions. + +"Boys! Ford! Frank! A boat! Come on!" + +Lying behind the trunk of a tree that had fallen into the water,--not +much of a boat, to be sure, and without any oars or even rowlocks; but +when the water was tipped out of it, and it was shoved in again, it +actually floated. + +"Careful, Ford," said Dab. "Remember Dick Lee. The old thing may come to +pieces. It wasn't made yesterday." + +"Look's as if Christopher Columbus owned it, and forgot just where he +left it. We can paddle with pieces of bark, as far out as we need go." + +Now the fun was doubled; and some of the pickerel they pulled in +reminded Dabney of small blue-fish, while the bass and perch were every +way as respectable as ordinary porgies and black-fish, except for size. +He had even to confess that the sea itself contained a great many small +fish, and that he had often had much poorer luck in his own beloved bay. + +The boat was a great acquisition; but when they were paddling ashore for +the fourth time, "to turn her over and let the water out," Dabney +remarked,-- + +"It's after dinner-time, boys. Could either of you fellows eat any +thing?" + +"Eat?" said Frank. "I'd forgotten that. Yes, let's have lunch. But +there's more cold johnny-cake than any thing else in the basket." + +"There's plenty of salt and pepper though; and it won't take any time at +all to make a fire, and broil some fish. Didn't you ever go on a +chowder-party, and do your own cooking?" + +"No, I never did." + +"Nor I," said Ford very reluctantly. "Can we do it?" + +"Do it? I'll show you. No kettle. We'll have to broil. You fellows make +a fire, while I clean some of these fish." + +It was every bit as good fun as catching those fish, to cook them there +on the shore of that lovely little lake. Dabney did know all about it, +as became a "'longshore boy;" and he took a particular pride in showing +Ford and Frank how many different ways there were of cooking a fish +without an oven or a kettle or a gridiron. + +It was another fine point to discover, after they had eaten all they +could, including the cold johnny-cake, that they did not seem to have +made their strings of fish look perceptibly smaller. + +"Tell you what, boys," said Dabney: "next time we come out we'll bring a +hammer and nails, and some oakum, and I'll calk up that old punt so +she'll float well enough. Only it won't do to dance in her." + +"Then," said Ford, "I move we don't try her again to-day. If we've got +to carry all these fish, it'll be a long pull home. We're not half sure +of catching another ride." + +"We can pole our fish, though, and make it easy carrying." + +"How's that?" + +"I'll show you. Cut two poles, hang your strings half way, shoulder the +poles, and take turns carrying. One boy getting rested, all the while, +and no cords cutting your hands." + +That was as sensible as if his own mother had told him; and it was a +good thing he thought of it, for they did not "catch a ride" till they +were half way home. All the wagons were coming the other way, of course, +on Saturday afternoon; but the one chat then caught up with them had +been carrying a new stove home, and was returning empty. + +"Fine strings of fish," remarked the stove-man as they clambered in. +"Where'd you catch 'em?" + +"Over in one of the lakes." + +"Did ye though? You don't say! Guess I know the place. You must have had +an all-killin' walk, though. I declare! I'm goin' to try that pond first +day I get away." + +"Want some of these?" + +"Wouldn't rob ye,--but you've got a-plenty--that pickerel? Thank ye, +now. Oh!--and the bass tew? You're good fellers." + +He seemed to be another; and Dab warned him at parting, that, "when he +wanted to get a string of fish, if he'd come to him he'd tell him just +where to go." + +"All right. Glad I had the luck to ketch up with ye." + +"Dab," said Ford as they reached the outskirts of Grantley, "I know it's +late; but we must walk through the village with these fish, if it's only +to have the whole town ask us where we caught them." + +"That's so. I'm rested now too. Let's get right out." + +They were nearly at the southerly end of the village, and there was +quite a walk before them. + +"Dab," said Frank, "we've more fish than we'll need at our house, if we +have 'em for breakfast and dinner both." + +"I've been thinking of that. Let's vote on it now. What do you say? One +string for the minister?" + +"Yes," said Ford, "a bass for Mr. Fallow, a small pickerel for Mrs. +Fallow, and a perch or a pumpkin-seed for each of the six little +Fallows." + +"All right; and that big pickerel I caught, for Dr. Brandegee, and the +biggest bass in the lot to keep it company. Let's make him up a prime +good mess." + +"One that'll stand an examination," said Ford. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +FIGHT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. + + +Dick Lee was an unwise boy that afternoon. + +He knew how to turn his hand to a great many things, thanks to his +home-training; and a woodpile was one of the matters he had learned how +to deal with, but he had not taken hold of that of Mrs. Myers with any +heart for his work. + +It was simply impossible for him to imagine that he was pulling in fish, +or having any other kind of fun, while he was sawing wood, or even while +splitting it. + +There was, however, something almost vicious in the way he came down +with his axe upon some of the more obstinate pieces. + +"He will be a very useful boy," remarked Mrs. Myers, as she watched him +from the window; "but I fear I shall have some difficulty with the +others. They are very much inclined to be uppish." + +Dick toiled faithfully; and he felt it as a kind of relief, late in the +day, to be sent to the grocery-store, at the lower end of the village, +with a basket that was to bring home the usual Saturday assortment for +Mrs. Myers. + +He did well enough in going; but on his way home, if the truth must be +told, Dick Lee loitered dreadfully. It was so nice a day, and he had +been so long at his woodpile, and he had had so little time to call his +own that week. + +Over on the green, the boys of the village were playing a sort of +"match-game" of base-ball, with a picked nine from the academy; and +there seemed no reason why Dick and his basket should not stroll along +inside the barrier-fence of the green, and see them play it. + +That was where his unwisdom showed itself; for among the boys who were +not playing were Joe and Fuz Hart and all their "crowd," and this was +the first time they had seen Dick on the green "all alone." + +That would have been quite enough of itself, considering how black he +was, and that he was a "new boy" at the academy; but the additional fact +that he had his basket on his arm opened the way to trouble for him all +the sooner. + +He was standing still, on the walk near the fence, gazing at the batting +and catching with so deep an interest that his mouth would stay open, +when he suddenly found himself "surrounded." + +"Hullo, Dick, what you got in your basket?" + +"Groceries! Groceries! Fresh from Afriky." + +"Let's see 'em." + +"Jes' you keep off, now." + +"Give us that basket." + +"Don't you tech a thing!" + +"What you got, Midnight?" + +"None ob youah business. I's 'tendin' to mine. Put dat back, now, will +you?" + +Dick had promptly retreated against the fence, in his surprise and +vexation, and was defending himself and his cargo vigorously, but he was +sadly outnumbered. + +They were a cowardly lot: for their all but helpless victim had even +received several sharp blows, in return for his grasps and pushes; and +the matter threatened to end unpleasantly for him, when suddenly Joe +Hart felt his feet jerked from under him. Down he went, and over went +Fuz on top of him; and then there were four or five boys all in a heap, +with Dick's basket upset just beyond them, and Dick himself diving +hither and thither after its late contents, and exclaiming,-- + +"Cap'n Dab's come! I's all right now. Jes' let me pick up some ob dese +t'ings." + +There was a resentful ring in the last remark, as if he were thinking of +something like war after the recovery of his groceries; but it was +indeed the voice of Dab Kinzer, shouting full and clear,-- + +"Pick 'em up, Dick! we're just in time." + +A boy somewhat larger than the rest, a good half-head taller than +Dabney, but with a somewhat pasty and unhealthy complexion, had selected +Ford Foster, as the shortest of the new arrivals, and demanded,-- + +"What are you meddling for?" just as he aimed a clumsy blow at his head. +That blow did not hit Ford; but a shorter young ruffian had also picked +him out, perhaps for the same reason, and the hit he aimed reached its +mark, for Ford had no extra pair of arms behind to box with. Frank +Harley seemed, just then, to be remarkably busy with the heap of boys on +the ground. + +"Spat!"--that was the way something sounded; and Dab Kinzer added,-- + +"Go for that fellow on the grass, Ford: I'll take care of the long one." + +"You will,--will you?" + +Spat--spat--spat! + +"Oh! I see: you don't know how to box; weak in the arms too. Better go +home." + +The tall boy was stepping backwards quite rapidly, with one hand on his +nose, and the other swinging wildly in the air above him; and Ford was +keeping the "fellow on the grass" from getting up, when all the noise +around them suddenly ceased. + +"Dr. Brandegee!" + +"Where? Where?" + +"Coming across the green, at the upper end." + +"He's coming this way." + +Several of the late assailants started on a run at once; but Dab Kinzer +had caught a sharp whisper from Frank Harley, and he shouted,-- + +"No you won't, Joe Hart! Hold on, Fuz! That other chap must stay too. +Give Dick back his groceries." + +"Dey's hooked a pile ob 'em," said Dick, his eyes dancing with triumph. +"Jes' make 'em hand ober." + +"Do you mean to say we've been stealing?" fiercely demanded Joe. + +"What, me? me, steal?" almost gasped Fuz. + +"They wouldn't do such a thing as that," said Ford, not quite +comprehending the situation. + +"That's it," said Dab: "let 'em empty their pockets"-- + +Joe was indignantly turning inside out the side pockets of his neat +"cut-away," and a small, brown-paper-covered parcel dropped upon the +ground. + +"Dem's de cloves," shouted Dick, as he darted forward, and picked it up. + +The fingers of Fuz almost unconsciously imitated those of his elder +brother, and with a like result. + +"Dat's de cinnamon. If de oder feller didn't git de tea an' de +sal'ratus! Whar's de nutmegs?" + +These, too, were forthcoming, as well as a paper of "indigo blue" for +the next Monday's washing, and other items which testified strongly as +to "how much at a time" Mrs. Myers was in the habit of buying. + +It was all over in less than half a minute, but Dick's assailants looked +very much as if they wanted to sink right down through the grass. + +"Go home, Joseph," said Ford; "go home, Foster. I'll write to your +father that you're out of these things at your boarding-house. We _buy_ +all our groceries, where we live." + +"I never touched a thing," roared Joe. "Somebody put 'em in my pockets." + +"Don't say any thing more, Joseph," said Ford calmly. "If you don't get +enough to eat, come over to our house: we won't let you starve. Give you +all the bluing you want too." + +They did not seem to need any just then; and there was such a crowd of +boys gathering that they were glad to take Ford's advice, and hurry +away. Even then a good deal more attention might have been paid them, +all around, but for the excitement created in the mind of every boy who +looked at the great strings of fish Dab and his friends had dropped when +they went in to the rescue of Dick Lee. + +Questions as to where they were caught, and how, poured upon the young +fishermen so fast that it was not easy to dodge them all at once, or +prevent a general stampede of the academy boys to Green Pond. + +"They'd use up the boat in one day, and all the fish in the next," said +Dab to Frank; "but where'd you learn to do what you did for Fuz and +Joe?" + +"Sleight-of-hand? Oh! one of father's Hindu converts had been a juggler. +He taught me. They're the best in the world, but father doesn't like me +to do much of it. We can have some fun with it yet, though. It came to +me like a flash when I saw those things on the ground." + +"Served 'em right. Spoiling 'em on the ground was next thing to +stealing." + +"Come on, boys," said Ford. "It's after five o'clock." + +They were all glad to escape from the crowd, especially Dick Lee; and it +was not until they were across the street that the tall form of Dr. +Brandegee came slowly down past the ball-players. He seemed particularly +interested in that game. It was currently reported, indeed, that he had +been a first-class athlete in his younger days, and that he took a quiet +half-hour in the morning with his dumb-bells now, before doing any thing +at all with his Greek and Latin. + +The "short-stop" was a well-built, sunburned student of at least twenty; +and the doctor noticed how neatly he had been doing his work. + +"Wish I could catch an equation as well as I can a ball," said the young +fellow, coloring a little, perhaps at the memory of something in +mathematics which had "got by him." + +"You will, I think. By the way, didn't I see what looked like a +disturbance down here among the boys, just now?" + +"Disturbance? Well, yes, I should say there was. Came near interrupting +the game." + +"Any thing serious?" + +"Well, it might have been. Some of the boys made a set on that little +colored chap. Mean thing to do. I'd ha' stopped it myself; but that +Kinzer boy, and the other two that board with Mrs. Myers, they cleared +it all up in no time." + +"No fighting, I hope?" + +"Well, no; but I tell you what, doctor, the rest of the boys'll let that +nigger alone. His friends can box." + +"Ah, yes! I understand. They stood by him. Wouldn't see him imposed +upon." + +"They just wouldn't. They're prime little chaps. The other boys were +bigger'n they are. I'd ha' helped 'em, but they didn't need any help." + +"No. Yes,--I see. It won't do to have any fighting, but then! H'm! They +stood right by him! Good-afternoon, Mr. Pulsifer." + +"Good-afternoon, Dr. Brandegee. There, if he hasn't made me lose a hit! +I'd ha' fetched it. But I'm glad I had a chance to set him right about +that scrimmage. I thought those three chaps were kind o' stuck up, but +everybody'll know where to place 'em now." + +There was nothing like anger, or even disapproval, on Dr. Brandegee's +face when he walked away; but he was muttering,-- + +"Know how to box, do they? I thought I saw something like it. They're a +fine lot of young fellows. I must keep my eye on them. They'll be MEN +one of these days!" + +They were only boys yet, however; and they were hardly arrived in front +of the kitchen-door before they began to make the proposed division of +the fish. + +Mrs. Myers came to meet Dick, and receive an account of his errand. + +"You've been gone twice as long--I declare, Almira, come here and see +these fish. You have had wonderful luck, I must say. More'n we'll know +what to do with." + +"I will attend to the cleaning of them," began Dabney; but Dick +interrupted him with,-- + +"Guess not, Cap'n Dab. I's cleaned loads ob fish. Won't be no time at +all puttin' t'rough jes' a string or two." + +"Dick will clean them," said Mrs. Myers; "but it's too late to cook any +for supper." + +She turned away into the house as she spoke, and took Almira with her. + +"Now, boys," said Dabney, "we've just time, before supper, to go with +these other strings, and get back." + +They would have been late indeed, if they had stopped to talk with every +one who wanted to admire Dab's big pickerel and Ford's remarkable bass; +but a little good management brought them to Dr. Brandegee's in not much +more than five times the number of minutes needed to walk the distance. +The fish were handed to the door-opener with,-- + +"The compliments of Mr. Harley, Mr. Kinzer, and Mr. Foster," and a great +flourish of a bow from the latter, which could hardly be made to keep +that string company till the doctor should see it. + +"Now for the minister's." + +The good man himself replied to the ring at his door-bell; but Dabney +was half sorry he had consented to be spokesman this time. + +"My young friends?" said Mr. Fallow inquiringly. + +"Fish, sir," said Dab. "Some we caught to-day over in Green Pond. We +thought we'd bring you a mess of 'em." + +He thought, too, without saying it,-- + +"Now I've made a mess of it. Why didn't I let Ford do it?" + +"Thank you. Thank you, my young friends. Very kind and thoughtful. Won't +you walk in?" + +"No, sir, thank you. It's most supper-time. We must hurry back." + +"Mary! Come and see these fish. Some very fine ones. Going? Indeed? Saw +you in church last Sunday. Hope I'll see you there again to morrow. +Good-afternoon, my dear young friends." + +"Good-afternoon, sir." + +They walked away a little rapidly, but with a vivid and decidedly +pleasant impression that they had given the pale-faced, earnest-eyed +minister an extraordinary amount of comfort. + +"The fish ain't worth much," said Ford. "It couldn't have been just +them!" + +No, indeed, it was not, and they failed to make it out to their +satisfaction; but it might have helped them if they had seen him hand +the fish to "Mary," and say,-- + +"There, what do you think of that? The very boys I told you of." + +"The ones you saw on the green, fighting?" + +"Exactly. I must see Dr. Brandegee. They can't be altogether bad." + +"Bad? No! There must be something about it. The doctor always knows. He +will be able to explain it, I know." + +Great was the confidence of the Grantley people in Dr. Brandegee, as to +any and all things relating to "his boys;" and that of Mrs. Fallow was +none the less when her husband returned from his evening call. + +"Defending that colored boy? You don't say. The dear, brave little +fellows! Fighting is dreadful. Did any of them get hurt?" + +"Hurt, dear? No; and they gave those young ruffians--H'm! Well--David +had to do a great deal of fighting, Mary, but we must not approve +too."-- + +"My dear! I say they did right." + +And the little woman's tired face flushed into sudden beauty, with her +honest enthusiasm over "those boys." + +They had not reached the end of their day's experiences, however, when +they left the minister's gate, or even when they arrived at their own. + +At that very moment Mrs. Myers was once more standing in the kitchen +doorway. + +"Dick, as soon as you've had your supper, you may take one of those +strings of fish over to Deacon Short's, and another to Mrs. +Sunderland's. You may clean all the rest." + +"Yes'm," said Dick vaguely, "but dar's on'y one string." + +"Only one? Where are all the rest, I'd like to know?" + +Dabney and his friends were around the corner of the house now, and her +last question was plainly directed to them. + +"The rest of what, Mrs. Myers'?" + +"Why, the fish. What have you done with them?" + +"Oh! they're all right, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Fish are good for +brains. That's what we've done with 'em." + +"Brains? What"-- + +"Exactly. Next to us three, the men that work their brains the hardest +around here are Mr. Fallow and my friend Dr. Brandegee." + +"And you never asked me a word about it!" + +"About what?" inquired Dabney. "I must say I don't quite understand. Do +you mean, about what we were to do with our fish?" + +"Of course I do. I can't allow"-- + +She hesitated a moment, as if the next words were slow in coming; and +Dab helped her out with,-- + +"Can't allow what, Mrs. Myers?" and Ford added,-- + +"Now, Mrs. Myers, there's nothing healthier than fish. It won't hurt +either of 'em. Is supper ready?" + +"I hope it is," said Dab. "I'm getting hungry again." + +Mrs. Myers looked at them in amazement; and so did Miss Almira, for, if +one thing was plainer than another, it was that neither of those three +boys understood the nature of her complaint. It did not seem to occur to +them, that she had, or could, or would claim any control over the +results of their day's fun; not even when she said,-- + +"I intended one string for Deacon Short, and another for Mrs. +Sunderland"-- + +"Don't work their brains, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Don't need any fish. +But then, if we have as good luck next time, we'll bear them in mind. +We've kept enough pan-fish for breakfast, and the big ones'll be just +the thing for dinner." + +That had been the plan of Mrs. Myers herself; for she had already said +to Almira,-- + +"It'll be a real saving, and the corned beef'll be just as good on +Monday." + +More talk would hardly improve such a case as that; and it was really +beginning to dawn upon Mrs. Myers, that her three boy boarders had minds +and wills of their own, moreover, that they had not the most distant +idea of failing to exercise them on every proper occasion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +OLD FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF HIS COME TO VISIT DABNEY. + + +"Boys," remarked Dab Kinzer, when they gathered in their own room after +supper, "I can't say we've learned a great deal this first week; but +we've found a tiptop fishing-ground, and we've settled the Hart boys." + +"Shouldn't wonder if Mrs. Myers feels a good deal more settled than she +did too," said Ford. "But I'm thinking what Frank Harley's going to do +with his fingers, when we can give him a chance. We've loads of fun +ahead, or I'm mistaken." + +"I won't try it on very often," said Frank. "Fun's fun, that's a fact; +but I came here to learn something." + +"My dear young friend," said Ford, with a sudden imitation of Mr. +Fallow, "think of how much you've learned in seven days. Dab's beginning +to know so much, he can't talk." + +"I'm not just comfortable about Dick," said Dabney. + +"Oh! he'll come out all right: the corn's mostly shelled, and the +woodpile can't last forever. He doesn't know how to run a +sewing-machine. She tried making him read aloud to her and Almira, last +night; but Dick thinks she won't ask him to do it again. Don't be +troubled about Richard: his future is safe." + +Part of it undoubtedly; and the boys had "settled" more things for +themselves and him than those they mentioned. + +They had settled their own position among the boys of the academy and +the village, old and young; for every soul of them had heard about "the +big fight on the green" before he went to bed that night. They had +secured Dick Lee's position for him: not that they had given him a false +one, but that he would be safe to enjoy, almost unmolested, whatever +position his own conduct might earn for him. That was all any boy ought +to have, black or white. + +They had done much, as Ford said, to settle their own position at their +boarding-house; but that was nothing of importance compared to the +impression they had made upon the large heart and brain of the stately +academy principal. They had made a firm friend of him, and of others +whose friendship was worth having. + +All that was a great deal to have accomplished in one short week, but +there was much more that would require their immediate attention. + +Books, fishing, lectures, base-ball, French, pigeon-shooting, elocution, +kites, composition, nutting, and the academy debating society; and the +list of the future demands upon their time grew as they talked, until +Ford exclaimed,-- + +"Hold on, boys: my brains won't stand any more till after I've eaten a +supply of fish." + +They ought all to have been able to think harder, after the next day's +breakfast and dinner; but the "corned beef" came on Monday, and with it, +as usual, came corn in other forms. "The farm" had done well that year, +with that particular crop; but so had all the other farms, east and +west, and Mrs. Myers found her best market for her maize harvest at her +own table. It would take a good while to dispose of what Dick had +already shelled, and all she could do was to be liberal as to quantity. +There was no fault to be found with her on that score, but Dabney did +not ask for any more recipes to send home to his mother. + +The second week was much longer than the first. Saturday came around +very nearly in its own turn this time; but it brought with it such a +storm of wind and rain as not only shut Green Pond out of all possible +calculations, but kept the village green as well, clear of all boys. + +It was a good time to write letters in, and those written were long +ones; but they did not contain a solitary complaint of any thing the +boys had yet discovered in or about Grantley. + +"Hamilton," said Mrs. Kinzer, after pondering a little over her letter +when it came, "Dabney seems to be well satisfied." + +"Mrs. Foster says Ford and Frank are." + +"But I notice he doesn't say any thing about his appetite. I do hope he +isn't losing it. He seems to be studying hard." + +"Dabney? Lose his appetite in less than two weeks? No, mother Kinzer, it +would take him longer than that." + +It was just one week later that he showed her a part of a curious +epistle he had himself received from Dab. It had evidently been written +in a moment of what is called "confidence." + +"I tell you what, Ham," he wrote, "mother doesn't know what can be done +with corn. Mrs. Myers does. She raised a heap of it, this year; and the +things she turns it into would drive a cook-book crazy. I've been giving +them Latin names; and Frank, he turns them into Hindustanee. It's real +fun sometimes, but I sha'n't be the boy I was. I'm getting corned. My +hair is silkier, and my voice is husky. My ears are growing. I'd like a +few clams and some fish, once in a while, just for a change. A crab +would taste wonderfully good. So would some oysters, and they don't have +any up here. We've had one good day's fishing, since we came; but we had +to go miles and miles after it. Now, don't you tell mother we don't get +enough to eat. There's plenty of it, and you ought to see Mrs. Myers +smile when she passes the johnnycake. We're all trying to learn that +heavenly smile. Ford does it best. I think Dick Lee is getting a little +pale. Perhaps corn doesn't agree with him. He's learning fast, though, +and so am I; but we have to work harder than Ford and Frank. I guess the +Hart boys know more than they did when they got here; and they didn't +learn it all out of their books, either. We keep up our French and our +boxing; but oh, wouldn't I like to go for some blue-fish just now! Has +mother made any mince-pies yet? I've almost forgotten how they taste. I +was going by a house, the other day, and I smelt some ham cooking. I was +real glad I hadn't forgotten. I knew what it was, right away. Don't you +be afraid about my studying; for I'm at it all the while, except when +we're playing ball or eating corn. They say they have sleighing here +earlier than we do, and more of it, and plenty of skating. Well, now, +don't say any thing to mother about the corn; but won't I eat when I get +home! Yours all the while, + DABNEY KINZER." + +"Why, the poor fellow!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. "It's enough to stop his +growth." + +It was not many days after that, before Dabney received a couple of +boxes by express. The "marks" told where they came from; and he and the +other boys carried them right up stairs, in the face of a kind +suggestion from Mrs. Myers that "they might take them right out into the +kitchen, and open them there." + +She had almost ceased from putting her wishes in any more dictatorial +form; but she and Almira wondered exceedingly what might be the contents +of those boxes. + +Dab was only a minute or so in finding out what was in one of them. + +"Boiled ham! A whole one! Out with it, Frank. All that brown +paper,--why, it's a pair of chickens, all ready to roast." + +"Something more's down under those slats," said Ford, in a tone of great +excitement. + +"Mince-pies! And they're not much mashed, either. It's wonderful how +they did pack them." + +"Slats and shingles and paper," said Ford. "What can there be in that +other box?" + +"Shall we eat first, or open it?" + +"Open it! Open it! Maybe they've sent you some corn." + +Opened it was, with a desperate display of energy. + +"Ice!" said Frank Harley. + +"Sawdust!" shouted Ford. + +"Fish!" said Dabney. "Clams, oysters, crabs, lobsters." + +Dick Lee had gazed in absolute silence up to that very moment; and all +he could say now was,-- + +"Ah-h-h! O-h-h-h! Jes' ain't dey fine!" + +"Boys," said Dab, with a sort of loving look at the contents of that +box, "do you suppose we can eat those fellows?" + +"Eat 'em!" exclaimed Ford. "Why, after they're cooked!" + +"Well, I s'pose we can; but I feel more like shaking hands with 'em all +around, just now. They're old friends and neighbors of mine, you know." + +"Yes; but I guess we'd better eat them." + +"Cap'n Dab," said Dick, "dey jes' knock all de correck pronounciation +out ob me, dey does." + +"Ford, Frank, I'll ask Mrs. Myers and Almira up here right away. Those +oysters and clams have got to be eaten this very evening." + +They did not need twice asking; and there was a thoughtful expression on +the face of Mrs. Myers when she looked from one box into the other. It +was fairly on her tongue's end to suggest what share of those luxuries +should be taken at once to Deacon Short's or Mrs. Sunderland's; but she +stopped in time, for that thought was followed by another,-- + +"What could the boys have been writing home about her cooking and her +table?" + +There might be something serious in it; for boarders were people who +came and went, boys or no boys, and Dab and his friends were just the +kind of boys to "come and go." At all events, she could not object to +their having such a supply as that sent them; and she took up the +responsibility of all the cookery required, at once. + +It was a feast while it lasted, and the effects of it upon the character +of Mrs. Myers's table were permanent. + +There was no further danger that Dab's growth would be checked in any +such manner as his mother had feared. + +Nor was there any great doubt remaining as to the steadiness of his +growth in other ways, during his school days at Grantley; for he and his +friends were now "settled;" and they had made that most important +success in life,--a Good Beginning. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dab Kinzer, by William O. Stoddard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10340 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc0f803 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10340 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10340) diff --git a/old/10340.txt b/old/10340.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5230b86 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10340.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9472 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dab Kinzer, by William O. Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Dab Kinzer + A Story of a Growing Boy + +Author: William O. Stoddard + +Release Date: November 30, 2003 [EBook #10340] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAB KINZER *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jimmy O'Regan and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + DAB KINZER + + A STORY OF A GROWING BOY + + BY + + WILLIAM O. STODDARD + + 1884 + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. +THE KINZER FARM, THE NEW SUIT, AND THE WEDDING. + +CHAPTER II. +DAB'S OLD CLOTHES GET A NEW BOY TO FIT. + +CHAPTER III. +A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE OLDEST FAMILIES MEETS A YOUNG +GENTLEMAN FROM THE CITY. + +CHAPTER IV. +TWO BOYS, ONE PIG, AND AN UNFORTUNATE RAILWAY-TRAIN. + +CHAPTER V. +NEW NEIGHBORS, AND GETTING SETTLED. + +CHAPTER VI. +CRABS, BOYS, AND A BOAT-WRECK. + +CHAPTER VII. +A VERY ACCIDENTAL CALL. + +CHAPTER VIII. +A RESCUE, AND A GRAND GOOD TIME. + +CHAPTER IX. +THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOYS. + +CHAPTER X. +A CRUISE IN "THE SWALLOW". + +CHAPTER XI. +SPLENDID FISHING, AND A BIG FOG. + +CHAPTER XII. +HOW THE GAME OF "FOLLOW MY LEADER" CAN BE PLAYED +AT SEA. + +CHAPTER XIII. +"HOME AGAIN! HERE WE ARE!". + +CHAPTER XIV. +A GREAT MANY THINGS GETTING READY TO COME. + +CHAPTER XV. +DABNEY KINZER TO THE RESCUE. + +CHAPTER XVI. +DAB KINZER AND HAM MORRIS TURN INTO A FIRE-DEPARTMENT. + +CHAPTER XVII. +DAB HAS A WAKING DREAM, AND HAM GETS A SNIFF OF SEA-AIR. + +CHAPTER XVIII. +HOW DAB WORKED OUT ANOTHER OF HIS GREAT PLANS. + +CHAPTER XIX. +A GRAND SAILING-PARTY, AND AN EXPERIMENT BY RICHARD LEE. + +CHAPTER XX. +A WRECK AND SOME WRECKERS. + +CHAPTER XXI. +DAB AND HIS FRIENDS TURN THEMSELVES INTO COOKS AND WAITERS. + +CHAPTER XXII. +THE REAL MISSION OF THE JUG. + +CHAPTER XXIII. +ANOTHER GRAND PLAN, AND A VERY GRAND RUNAWAY. + +CHAPTER XXIV. +DABNEY'S GREAT PARTY. + +CHAPTER XXV. +THE BOYS ON THEIR TRAVELS. A GREAT CITY, AND A GREAT DINNER. + +CHAPTER XXVI. +THE FIRST MORNING IN GRANTLEY, AND ANOTHER EXCELLENT JOKE. + +CHAPTER XXVII. +A NEW KIND OF EXAMINATION. + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF INTRODUCTION. + +CHAPTER XXIX. +LETTERS HOME FROM THE BOYS.--DICK LEE'S FIRST GRIEF. + +CHAPTER XXX. +DABNEY KINZER TRIES FRESH-WATER FISHING FOR THE FIRST TIME. + +CHAPTER XXXI. +A FIGHT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. + +CHAPTER XXXII. +OLD FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF HIS COME TO VISIT DABNEY. + + + + +DAB KINZER + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE KINZER FARM, THE NEW SUIT, AND THE WEDDING. + + +Between the village and the inlet, and half a mile from the great "bay," +lay the Kinzer farm. Beyond the bay was a sandbar, and beyond that the +Atlantic Ocean; for all this was on the southerly shore of Long Island. + +The Kinzer farm had lain right there--acre for acre, no more, no +less--on the day when Hendrik Hudson long ago sailed the good ship "Half +Moon" into New-York Bay. But it was not then known to any one as the +Kinzer farm. Neither was there then, as now, any bright and growing +village crowding up on one side of it, with a railway-station and a +post-office. Nor was there, at that time, any great and busy city of New +York, only a few hours' ride away, over on the island of Manhattan. The +Kinzers themselves were not there then. But the bay and the inlet, with +the fish and the crabs, and the ebbing and flowing tides, were there, +very much the same, before Hendrik Hudson and his brave Dutchmen knew +any thing whatever about that corner of the world. + +The Kinzer farm had always been a reasonably "fat" one, both as to size +and quality; and the good people who lived on it had generally been of a +somewhat similar description. It was, therefore, every way correct and +becoming for Dabney Kinzer's widowed mother and his sisters to be the +plump and hearty beings they were, and all the more discouraging to poor +Dabney that no amount of regular and faithful eating seemed to make him +resemble them at all in that respect. + +Mrs. Kinzer excused his thinness, to her neighbors, to be sure, on the +ground that he was "such a growing boy;" but, for all that, he caught +himself wondering, now and then, if he would never be done with that +part of his trials. For rapid growth has its trials. + +"The fact is," he said to himself one day, as he leaned over the north +fence, "I'm more like Ham Morris's farm than I am like ours. His farm is +bigger than ours, all round; but it's too big for its fences, just as +I'm too big for my clothes. Ham's house is three times as large as ours, +but it looks as if it had grown too fast. It hasn't any paint to speak +of, nor any blinds. It looks as if somebody'd just built it there, and +then forgot it, and gone oft and left it out of doors." + +Dabney's four sisters had all come into the world before him; but he was +as tall as any of them, and was frequently taken by strangers for a good +two years older than he was. It was sometimes very hard for him, a boy +of fifteen, to live up to what was expected of those extra two years. + +Mrs. Kinzer still kept him in roundabouts; but they did not seem to +hinder his growth at all, if that was her object in so doing. + +There was no such thing, however, as keeping the four girls in +roundabouts of any kind; and, what between them and their mother, the +pleasant and tidy little Kinzer homestead, with its snug parlor and its +cosey bits of rooms and chambers, seemed to nestle away, under the +shadowy elms and sycamores, smaller and smaller with every year that +came. + +It was a terribly tight fit for such a family, anyway; and, now that +Dabney was growing at such a rate, there was no telling what they would +all come to. But Mrs. Kinzer came at last to the rescue; and she +summoned her eldest daughter, Miranda, to her aid. + +A very notable woman was the widow. When the new railway cut off part of +the old farm, she had split up the slice of land between the iron track +and the village into "town lots," and had sold them all off by the time +the railway company paid her for the "damage" it had done the property. + +The whole Kinzer family gained visibly in plumpness that year, except, +perhaps, Dabney. + +Of course the condition and requirements of Ham Morris and his big farm, +just over the north fence, had not escaped such a pair of eyes as those +of the widow; and the very size of his great barn of a house finally +settled his fate for him. + +A large, quiet, unambitious, but well-brought-up and industrious young +man was Hamilton Morris, and he had not the least idea of the good in +store for him for several months after Mrs. Kinzer decided to marry him +to her daughter Miranda; but all was soon settled. Dab, of course, had +nothing to do with the wedding arrangements, and Ham's share was +somewhat contracted. Not but what he was at the Kinzer house a good +deal; nor did any of the other girls tell Miranda how very much he was +in the way. He could talk, however; and one morning, about a fortnight +before the day appointed, he said to Miranda and her mother,-- + +"We can't have so very much of a wedding: your house is so small, and +you've chocked it so full of furniture. Right down nice furniture it is +too; but there's so much of it, I'm afraid the minister'll have to stand +out in the front yard." + +"The house'll do for this time," replied Mrs. Kinzer. "There'll be room +enough for everybody. What puzzles me is Dab." + +"What about Dab?" asked Ham. + +"Can't find a thing to fit him," said Dab's mother. "Seems as if he were +all odd sizes, from head to foot." + +"Fit him?" exclaimed Ham. "Oh, you mean ready-made goods! Of course you +can't. He'll have to be measured by a tailor, and have his new suit +built for him." + +"Such extravagance!" emphatically remarked Mrs. Kinzer. + +"Not for rich people like you, and for a wedding," replied Ham; "and +Dab's a growing boy. Where is he now? I'm going to the village, and I'll +take him right along with me." + +There seemed to be no help for it; but that was the first point relating +to the wedding, concerning which Ham Morris was permitted to have +exactly his own way. His success made Dab Kinzer a fast friend of his +for life, and that was something. There was also something new and +wonderful to Dabney himself, in walking into a tailor's shop, picking +out cloth to please himself, and being so carefully measured all over. +He stretched and stretched himself in all directions, to make sure +nothing should turn out too small. At the end of it all, Ham said to +him,-- + +"Now, Dab, my boy, this suit is to be a present from me to you, on +Miranda's account." + +Dab colored and hesitated for a moment: but it seemed all right, he +thought; and so he came frankly out with,-- + +"Thank you, Ham. You always was a prime good fellow. I'll do as much for +you some day. Tell you what I'll do, then: I'll have another suit made +right away, of this other cloth, and have the bill for that one sent to +our folks." + +"Do it!" exclaimed Ham. "Do it! You've your mother's orders for that. +She's nothing to do with my gift." + +"Splendid!" almost shouted Dab. "Oh, but don't I hope they'll fit!" + +"Vit," said the tailor: "vill zay vit? I dell you zay vit you like a +knife. You vait und zee." + +Dab failed to get a very clear idea of what the fit would be, but it +made him almost hold his breath to think of it. + +After the triumphant visit to the tailor, there was still a necessity +for a call upon the shoemaker, and that was a matter of no small +importance. Dab's feet had always been a mystery and a trial to him. If +his memory contained one record darker than another, it was the endless +history of his misadventures with boots and shoes. He and leather had +been at war from the day he left his creeping-clothes until now. But now +he was promised a pair of shoes that would be sure to fit. + +So the question of Dab's personal appearance at the wedding was all +arranged between him and Ham; and Miranda smiled more sweetly than ever +before upon the latter, after she had heard her usually silent brother +break out so enthusiastically about him as he did that evening. + +It was a good thing for that wedding, that it took place in fine summer +weather; for neither kith, kin, nor acquaintances had been slighted in +the invitations, and the Kinzers were one of the "oldest families." + +To have gathered them all under the roof of that house, without either +stretching it out wider or boiling the guests down, would have been out +of the question; and so the majority, with Dabney in his new clothes to +keep them countenance, stood out in the cool shade of the grand old +trees during the ceremony, which was performed near the open door; and +were afterwards served with the refreshments in a style which spoke +volumes for Mrs. Kinzer's good management, as well as for her +hospitality. + +The only drawback to Dab's happiness that day was that his acquaintances +hardly seemed to know him. He had had almost the same trouble with +himself, when he looked in the glass that morning. + +Ordinarily, his wrists were several inches through his coat-sleeves, and +his ankles made a perpetual show of his stockings. His neck, too, seemed +to be holding his head as far as possible from his coat-collar, and his +buttons had no favors to ask of his button-holes. + +Now, even as the tailor had promised, he had received his "first fit." +He seemed to himself, to tell the truth, to be covered up in a prodigal +waste of new cloth. Would he ever, ever, grow too big for such a suit of +clothes as that? It was a very painful thought, and he did his best to +put it away from him. + +Still, it was a little hard to have a young lady, whom he had known +since before she began to walk, remark to him,-- + +"Excuse me, sir, but can you tell me if Mr. Dabney Kinzer is here?" + +"No, Jenny Walters," sharply responded Dab, "he isn't here." + +"Why, Dabney!" exclaimed the pretty Jenny. "Is that you? I declare, you +have scared me out of a year's growth!" + +"I wish you'd scare me, then," said Dab. "Then my clothes would stay +fitted." + +Every thing had been so well arranged beforehand, thanks to Mrs. Kinzer, +that the wedding had no chance at all except to go off well. Ham Morris +was rejoiced to find how entirely he was relieved of every +responsibility. + +"Don't worry about your house," the widow said to him, the night before +the wedding. "We'll go over there, as soon as you and Miranda get away, +and it'll be all ready for you by the time you get back." + +"All right," said Ham. "I'll be glad to have you take the old place in +hand. I've only tried to live in a corner of it. You don't know how much +room there is. I don't, I must say." + +Dabney had longed to ask her if she meant to have it moved over to the +Kinzer side of the north fence, but he had doubts as to the propriety of +it; and just then the boy came in from the tailor's with his bundle of +new clothes. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DAB'S OLD CLOTHES GET A NEW BOY TO FIT. + + +Hamilton Morris was a very promising young man, of some thirty summers. +He had been an "orphan" for a dozen years; and the wonder was that he +should so long have lived alone in the big, square-built house his +father left him. At all events, Miranda Kinzer was just the wife for +him. + +Miranda's mother had seen that at a glance, the moment her mind was +settled about the house. As to that and his great, spreading, +half-cultivated farm, all either of them needed was ready money and +management. + +These were blessings Ham was now made reasonably sure of, on his return +from his wedding-trip, and he was likely to appreciate them. + +As for Dabney Kinzer, he was in no respect overcome by the novelty and +excitement of the wedding-day. All the rest of it, after the departure +of Ham Morris and the bride, he devoted himself to such duties as were +assigned him, with a new and grand idea steadily taking shape in his +mind. He felt as if his brains too, like his body, were growing. Some of +his mother's older and more intimate friends remained with her all day, +probably to comfort her for the loss of Miranda; and two or three of +them, Dab knew, would stay to tea, so that his services would be in +demand to see them safely home. + +All day long, moreover, Samantha and Keziah and Pamela seemed to find +themselves wonderfully busy, one way and another, so that they paid even +less attention than usual to any of the ins and outs of their brother. + +Dabney was therefore able, with little difficulty, to take for himself +whatever of odd time he might require for putting his new idea into +execution. + +Mrs. Kinzer herself noticed the rare good sense with which her son +hurried through with his dinner, and slipped away, leaving her in +undisturbed possession of the table and her lady guests, and neither she +nor either of the girls had a thought of following him. + +If they had done so, they might have seen him draw a good-sized bundle +out from under the lilac-thicket in the back yard, and hurry down +through the garden. + +A few moments more, and Dabney had appeared on the fence of the old +cross-road leading down to the shore. There he sat, eying one passer-by +after another, till he suddenly sprang from his perch, exclaiming,-- + +"That's just the chap! Why, they'll fit him, and that's more'n they ever +did for me." + +Dab would probably have had to search along the coast for miles before +he could have found a human being better suited to his present +charitable purposes than the boy who now came so lazily down the road. + +There was no doubt about his color, or that he was all over of about the +same shade of black. His old tow trowsers and calico shirt revealed the +shining fact in too many places to leave room for a question, and shoes +he had none. + +"Dick," said Dabney, "was you ever married?" + +"Married!" exclaimed Dick, with a peal of very musical laughter, "is I +married? No. Is you?" + +"No," replied Dabney; "but I was very near it, this morning." + +"Dat so?" asked Dick, with another show of his white teeth. "Done ye +good, den; nebber seen ye I look so nice afore." + +"You'd look nicer'n I do if you were only dressed up," said Dab. "Just +you put on these." + +"Golly!" exclaimed the black boy. But he seized the bundle Dab threw +him, and he had it open in a twinkling. + +"Any t'ing in de pockets?" he asked. + +"Guess not," said Dab; "but there's lots of room." + +"Say dar was," exclaimed Dick. "But won't dese t'ings be warm?" + +It was quite likely; for the day was not a cool one, and Dick never +seemed to think of getting off what he had on, before getting into his +unexpected present. Coat, vest, and trousers, they were all pulled on +with more quickness than Dab had ever seen the young African display +before. + +"I's much obleeged to ye, Mr. Kinzer," said Dick very proudly, as he +strutted across the road. "On'y I dasn't go back fru de village." + +"What'll you do, then?" asked Dab. + +"S'pose I'd better go a-fishin'," said Dick. "Will de fish bite?" + +"Oh! the clothes won't make any odds to them," said Dabney. "I must go +back to the house." + +And so he did: while Dick, on whom the cast-off garments of his white +friend were really a pretty good fit, marched on down the road, feeling +grander than he ever had before in all his life. + +"That'll be a good thing to tell Ham Morris, when he and Miranda get +home again," muttered Dab, as he re-entered the house. + +Late that evening, when Dabney returned from his final duties as escort +to his mother's guests, she rewarded him with more than he could +remember ever receiving of motherly commendation. + +"I've been really quite proud of you, Dabney," she said, as she laid her +plump hand on the collar of his new coat, and kissed him. "You've +behaved like a perfect little gentleman." + +"Only, mother," exclaimed Keziah, "he spent too much of his time with +that sharp-tongued little Jenny Walters." + +"Never mind, Kezi," said Dab: "she didn't know who I was till I told +her. I'm going to wear a label with my name on it when I go over to the +village to-morrow." + +"And then you'll put on your other suit in the morning," said Mrs. +Kinzer. "You must keep this for Sundays and great occasions." + +"Any more weddings coming, right away?" said Dab, with a sharp glance +around upon what remained of the family; but the girls were all very +busy just then, with their books and their sewing, and he did not get +any direct reply. Even his mother walked away after something she had +left in the dining-room. + +When the next morning came, Dabney Kinzer was a more than usually early +riser, for he felt that he had waked up to a very important day. + +"Dabney," exclaimed his mother, when he came in to breakfast, "did I not +tell you to put on your other suit?" + +"So I have, mother," replied Dab: this is my other suit." + +"That?" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. + +"So it is!" cried Keziah. + +"So it isn't," added Samantha. "Mother, that is not what he had on +yesterday." + +"He's been trading again," mildly suggested Pamela. + +"Dabney," said Mrs. Kinzer, "what does this mean?" + +"Mean!" replied Dabney. "Why, these are the clothes you told me to buy. +The lot I wore yesterday were a present from Ham Morris. He's a splendid +fellow. I'm glad he got the best of the girls." + +That was a bad thing for Dabney to say just then, for it was vigorously +resented by the remaining three. As soon as quiet was restored, however, +Mrs. Kinzer remarked,-- + +"I think Hamilton should have consulted me about it, but it's too late +now. Anyhow, you may go and put on your other clothes." + +"My wedding suit?" asked Dab. + +"No, indeed! I mean your old ones,--those you took off night before +last." + +"Dunno where they are," slowly responded Dab. + +"Don't know where they are?" responded a chorus of four voices. + +"No," said Dab. "Bill Lee's black boy had em on all yesterday afternoon, +and I reckon he's gone a-fishing again to-day. They fit him a good sight +better 'n they ever did me." + +If Dabney had expected a storm to come from his mother's end of the +table, he was pleasantly mistaken; and his sisters had it all to +themselves for a moment. Then, with an admiring glance at her son, the +thoughtful matron remarked,-- + +"Just like his father, for all the world! It's no use, girls: Dabney's a +growing boy in more ways than one. Dabney, I shall want you to go over +to the Morris house with me after breakfast. Then you may hitch up the +ponies, and we'll do some errands around the village." + +Dab Kinzer's sisters looked at one another in blank astonishment, and +Samantha would have left the table if she had only finished her +breakfast. + +Pamela, as being nearest to Dab in age and sympathy, gave a very +admiring look at her brother's second "good fit," and said nothing. + +Even Keziah finally admitted, in her own mind, that such a change in +Dabney's appearance might have its advantages. But Samantha inwardly +declared war. + +The young hero himself was hardly used to that second suit, as yet, and +felt any thing but easy in it. + +"I wonder," he said to himself, "what Jenny Walters would say to me now. +Wonder if she'd know me." + +Not a doubt of it. But after he had finished his breakfast, and gone +out, his mother remarked,-- + +"It's really all right, girls. I almost fear I have been neglecting +Dabney. He isn't a little boy any more." + +"He isn't a man yet," exclaimed Samantha. "And he talks slang +dreadfully." + +"But then, he does grow so!" remarked Keziah. + +"Mother," said Pamela, "couldn't you get Dab to give Dick Lee the slang, +along with the old clothes?" + +"We'll see about it," replied Mrs. Kinzer. + +It was very clear that Dabney's mother had begun to take in a new idea +about her son. + +It was not the least bit in the world unpleasant to find out that he was +"growing in more ways than one," and it was quite likely that she had +indeed kept him too long in roundabouts. + +At all events, his great idea had been worked out into a triumphant +success; and, before the evening was over, Pamela replied to a remark of +Samantha's,-- + +"I don't care. He's taller than I am, and I'd ever so much rather have a +frock-coat walk beside me to meeting." + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE OLDEST FAMILIES MEETS A YOUNG GENTLEMAN FROM THE +CITY. + + +Dick Lee had been more than half right about the village being a +dangerous place for him, with such an unusual amount of clothing over +his ordinary uniform. + +The very dogs, every one of whom was an old acquaintance, barked at him +on his way home that night; and, proud as were his ebony father and +mother of the improvement in their son's appearance, they yielded to his +earnest entreaties, first, that he might wear his present all the next +day, and, second, that he might betake himself to the "bay" early in the +morning, and so keep out of sight "till he got used to it." + +"On'y, you jist mind wot yer about!" said his mother, "and see't you +keep dem clo'es from gettin' wet. I jist can't 'foard to hab dem spiled +right away." + +The fault with Dab Kinzer's old suit, after all, had lain mainly in its +size rather than its materials; for Mrs. Kinzer was too good a manager +to be really stingy. + +Dick succeeded in reaching the boat-landing without falling in with any +one who seemed disposed to laugh at him; but there, right on the wharf, +was a white boy of about his own age, and he felt a good deal like +backing out. + +"Nebber seen him afore, either," said Dick to himself. "Den I guess I +ain't afeard ob him." + +The stranger was a somewhat short and thick-set, but bright and +active-looking boy, with a pair of very keen, greenish-gray eyes. But, +after all, the first word he spoke to poor Dick was,-- + +"Hullo, clothes! Where are you going with all that boy?" + +"I knowed it, I knowed it!" groaned Dick. But he answered as sharply as +he knew how,-- + +"I's goin' a-fishin'. Any ob youah business?"-- + +"Where'd you learn how to fish?" the stranger asked, "Down South? Didn't +know they had any there." + +"Nebbah was down Souf," was the somewhat surly reply. + +"Father run away, did he?" + +"He nebber was down dar, nudder." + +"Nor his father?" + +"'Tain't no business ob yourn," said Dick, "but we's allers lived right +heah, on dis bay." + +"Guess not," said the white boy knowingly. Dick was right, nevertheless; +for his people had been slaves among the very earliest Dutch settlers, +and had never "lived South" at all. He was now busily getting one of the +boats ready to shove off; but his white tormentor went at him again, +with,-- + +"Well, then, if you've lived round here as long as that, you must know +everybody." + +"Reckon I do." + +"Are there any nice fellows around here? Any like me?" + +"De nicest young gen'lman round dis bay," replied Dick, "is Mr. Dab +Kinzer. But he ain't like you. Not nuff to hurt him." + +"Dab Kinzer," exclaimed the stranger. "Where'd he get his name?" + +"In de bay, I 'spect," said Dick, as he shoved his boat off; "caught 'im +wid a hook." + +"Anyhow," said the strange boy to himself, "that's probably the kind of +fellow my father would wish me to associate with. Only it's likely he's +very ignorant." + +And he walked away towards the village, with the air of a man who had +forgotten more than the rest of his race were ever likely to find out. + +At all events, Dick Lee had managed to say a good word for his +benefactor, little as he could guess what might be the consequences. + +Meantime Dab Kinzer, when he went out from breakfast, had strolled away +to the north fence, for a good look at the house which was thenceforth +to be the home of his favorite sister. He had seen it before, every day +since he could remember; but it seemed to have a fresh and almost +mournful interest for him just now. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed, as he leaned against the fence. "Putting up +ladders? Oh, yes, I see! That's old Tommy McGrew, the house-painter. +Well, Ham's house needs a new coat as badly as I did. Sure it'll fit +too. Only it ain't used to it, any more'n I am." + +"Dabney!" + +It was his mother's voice, and Dab felt like "minding" very promptly +that morning. + +"Dabney, my boy, come here to the gate." + +"Ham Morris is having his house painted," he remarked, as he walked +towards his mother. + +"Is he?" she said. "We'll go and see about it." + +The gate between the two "side-yards" had been there from time +immemorial, and-they walked right through. As they drew nearer the +Morris house, however, Dabney discovered that carpenters as well as +painters were plying their trade in and about the old homestead. There +were window-sashes piled here, and blinds there; a new door or so, ready +for use, a great stack of bundles of shingles, some barrels of lime, and +a heap of sand. Whichever way Dab looked, there were visible signs of an +approaching renovation. + +"Going to fix it all over," he remarked. + +"Yes," replied his mother: "it'll be as good as new. It was well built, +and will bear mending. I couldn't say that of some of the shackling +things they've been putting up around the village." + +When they entered the house it became more and more evident that the +"shabby" days of the Morris mansion were numbered. There were men at +work in almost every room. + +Ham's wedding-trip would surely give plenty of time, at that rate, for +an immense amount of "mending;" and his house would be, as the widow had +promised, "all ready for him on his return." + +There was nothing wonderful to Dabney in the idea of his mother going +about and inspecting work, and finding fault, and giving directions. He +had never seen her do any thing else, and he had the greatest confidence +in her knowledge and ability. He noticed too, before they left the +place, that the customary farm-work was going ahead with even more +regularity and energy than if the owner himself had been present. + +"Ham's farm'll look something like ours, one of these days," he said, +"if things go on at this rate." + +"I mean it shall," replied his mother, a little sharply. "Now go and get +out the ponies, and we'll do the rest of our errands." + +Dab started for the barn at a half trot; for, if there was one thing he +liked better than another, it was to have the reins in his hands and +that pair of ponies before him. Time had been when Mrs. Kinzer did her +own driving, and only permitted Dab to "hold the horses" while she made +her calls, business or otherwise; but that day had been safely put away +among Dab's unpleasant memories for a good while. + +It was but a few minutes before the neat buggy held the widow and her +son, and the ponies were taking them briskly down the road towards the +village. + +It they had only known it, at that very moment Ham Morris and his +blooming bride were setting out for a drive, at the fashionable +watering-place where they had made their first stop in their +wedding-tour. + +"Ham," said Miranda, "it seems to me as if we were a thousand miles from +home." + +"We shall be a good deal farther before we get any nearer," said Ham. + +"But I wonder what they are doing there, this morning,--mother, and the +girls, and dear little Dabney." + +"Little Dabney!" exclaimed Ham, with a queer sort of laugh on his face. +"Why, Miranda, do you think Dab is a baby yet?" + +"No, not a baby, but"-- + +"Well, he's a boy, that's a fact; but he'll be as tall as I am in three +years." + +"Will he? Do you think so? But will he ever get fat?" + +"Not till after he gets his full length," said Ham. "We must have him at +our house a good deal, after we get home, and feed him up. I've taken a +liking to Dab." + +"Feed him up!" said Miranda. "Do you think we starve him?" + +"No, I suppose not; but how many meals a day does he get?" + +"Three, of course, like the rest of us; and he never misses one of +them." + +"Exactly," said Ham: "I shouldn't suppose he would. I never miss a meal, +myself, if I can help it. But don't you think three meals a day is +rather short allowance for a boy like Dab?" + +Miranda thought a moment, but then she answered positively,-- + +"No, I don't. Not if he does as well at each one of them as Dabney is +sure to." + +"Well," said Ham, "that was in his old clothes, that were too tight for +him. Now he's got a good loose fit, with plenty of room, you don't know +how much more he may need. No, Miranda, I'm going to have an eye on +Dab." + +"You're a dear good fellow, anyway," said Miranda, with one of her very +best smiles, "and I hope mother'll have the house all ready for us when +we get back." + +"She will," replied Ham, after a moment spent in somewhat thoughtful +silence. "Do you know, Miranda, I shall hardly be easy about that till I +see what she's done with it? It was in a dreadfully baggy condition." + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO BOYS, ONE PIG, AND AN UNFORTUNATE RAILWAY-TRAIN. + + +"That's him!" + +Dab was standing by his ponies, in front of a store in the village. His +mother was making some purchases in the store, and Dab was thinking how +the Morris house would look when it was finished; and it was at him the +old farmer was pointing in answer to a question which had just been +asked him. + +The questioner was the sharp-eyed boy who had bothered poor Dick Lee +that morning, and he was now evidently making a sort of "study" of Dab +Kinzer. + +At that moment, however, a young lady--quite young--came tripping along +the sidewalk, and was stopped by Dabney, with,-- + +"There, Jenny Walters! If I didn't forget my label!" + +"Why, Dabney! Is that you? How you startled me! Forgot your label?" + +"Yes," said Dab; "I'm in another new suit today; and I meant to have a +label on the collar, with my name on it. You'd have known me then." + +"But I know you now," exclaimed Jenny. "Why, I saw you yesterday." + +"Yes, and I told you it was me. Can you read, Jenny?" + +"Why, what a question!" + +"Because, if you can't, it won't do me any good to wear a label." + +"Dabney Kinzer!" exclaimed Jenny, "there's an other thing you ought to +get." + +"What's that?" + +"Some good manners," said the little lady snappishly. "Think of your +stopping me in the street to tell me I can't read!" + +"Then you mustn't forget me so quick," said Dab. "If you meet my old +clothes anywhere you must call them Dick Lee. They've had a change of +name." + +"So he's in them, is he? I don't doubt they look better than they ever +did before." + +Jenny walked away at once, at the end of that remark, holding her head +pretty high, and leaving her old playmate feeling as if he had had a +little the worst of it. That was often the way with people who stopped +to talk with Jenny Walters, and she was not as much of a favorite as she +otherwise might have been. + +Dabney looked after her with his mouth puckered into shape for a +whistle; but she had hardly disappeared before he found himself +confronted by the strange young gentleman. + +"Is your name Dabney Kinzer?" + +"Yes, I believe so." + +"Well, I'm Mr. Ford Foster, from New York." + +"Come over here to buy goods?" suggested Dabney. "Or to get something to +eat?" + +Ford Foster was apparently of about Dab's age, but a full head less in +height, so that there was more point in the question than there seemed +to be; but he treated it as not worthy of notice, and asked,-- + +"Do you know of a house to let anywhere about here?" + +"House to let?" suddenly exclaimed the voice of Mrs. Kinzer, behind him, +much to Dab's surprise. "Are you asking about a house? Whom for?" + +Ford Foster had been quite ready to "chaff" Dick Lee, and he would not +have hesitated about trying a like experiment upon Mr. Dabney Kinzer; +but he knew enough to speak respectfully to the portly and business-like +lady before him now. + +"Yes, madam," he said, with a ceremonious bow: "I wish to report to my +father that I have found an acceptable house in this vicinity." + +"You do!" + +Mrs. Kinzer was reading the young gentleman through and through, as she +spoke; but she followed her exclamation with a dozen questions, all of +which he answered with a good deal of clearness and intelligence. She +wound up at last, with,-- + +"Go right home, then, and tell your father the only good house to let in +this neighborhood will be ready for him next week. I'll show it to him +when he comes, but he'd better see me at once. Dabney, jump into the +buggy. I'm in a hurry." + +The ponies were in motion, up the street, before Ford Foster quite +recovered from the shock of being told to "go right home." + +"A very remarkable woman," he muttered, as he turned away, "and she did +not tell me a word about the house, after all. I must make some more +inquiries. The boy is actually well dressed, for a place like this." + +"Mother," said Dabney, as they drove along, "you wouldn't let 'em have +Ham's house, would you?" + +"No, indeed. But I don't mean to have our own stand empty." + +With that reply a great deal of light broke in upon Dab's mind. + +"That's it, is it?" he said to himself, as he touched up the ponies. +"Well, there'll be room enough for all of us there, and no mistake. But +what'll Ham say?" + +That was a question which he could safely leave to the very responsible +lady beside him; and she found "errands" enough for him, during the +remainder of that forenoon, to keep him from worrying his mind about any +thing else. + +As for Ford Foster, it was not until late on the following day that he +completed all his "inquiries" to his satisfaction. He took the afternoon +train for the city, almost convinced that, much as he undoubtedly knew +before he came, he had actually acquired a good deal more knowledge +which might be of some value. + +Ford was almost the only passenger in the car he had selected. Trains +going towards the city were apt to be thinly peopled at that time of +day; but the empty cars had to be taken along all the same, for the +benefit of the crowds who would be coming out later in the afternoon and +in the evening. The railway-company would have made more money with full +loads both ways, but it was well they did not have a full load on that +precise train. + +Ford had turned over the seat in front of him, and stretched himself out +with his feet on it. It was almost like lying down, for a boy of his +length; and it was the very best position he could possibly have taken +if he had known what was coming. + +Known what was coming? + +Yes: there was a pig coming. + +That was all; but it was quite enough, considering what that pig was +about to do. He was going where he chose, just then; and not only had he +chosen to walk upon the railroad-track, but he had also made up his mind +not to turn out for that locomotive and its train of cars. + +He saw it, of course, for he was looking straight at it; and the +engineer saw him, but it would have been well for the pig if he had been +discovered a few seconds earlier. + +"What a whistle!" exclaimed Ford Foster at that moment. "It sounds more +like the squeal of an iron pig than any thing else. I"-- + +But at that instant there came to him a great jolt and a shock; and Ford +found himself tumbled all in a heap, on the seat where his feet had +been. Then came bounce after bounce, and the sound of breaking glass, +and then a crash. + +"Off the track," shouted Ford, as he sprang to his feet. "I wouldn't +have missed it for any thing. I do hope, though, there hasn't anybody +been killed." + +In the tremendous excitement of the moment he could hardly have told how +he got out of that car; but it did not seem ten seconds before he was +standing beside the engineer and conductor of the train, looking at the +battered engine, as it lay upon its side in a deep ditch. The +baggage-car, just behind it, was broken all to pieces, but the +passenger-cars did not seem to have suffered very much; and nobody was +badly hurt, as the engineer and fireman had jumped off in time. + +There had been very little left of the pig; but the conductor and the +rest seemed much disposed to say unkind things about him, and about his +owner, and about all the other pigs they could think of. + +"This train'll never get in on time," said Ford to the conductor, a +little later. "How'll I get to the city?" + +The railway man was not in the best of humors; and he answered, a little +groutily, "Well, young man, I don't suppose the city could get along +without you over night. The junction with the main road is only two +miles ahead, and if you're a good walker you may catch a train there." + +Some of the other passengers, none of whom were much more than "badly +shaken up," or down, had made the same discovery; and in a few minutes +more there was a long, straggling procession of uncomfortable people, +marching by the side of the railway-track, in the hot sun. They were +nearly all of them making unkind remarks about pigs, and the faculty +they had of not getting out of the way. + +The conductor was right, however; and nearly all of them managed to walk +the two miles to the junction in time to go in on the other train. + +Ford Foster was among the first to arrive, and he was likely to reach +home in season, in spite of the pig and his outrageous conduct. + +As for his danger, he had hardly thought of that; and he again and again +declared to himself that he would not have missed so important an +adventure for any thing he could think of. It almost sounded once or +twice as if he took to himself no small amount of personal credit, not +to say glory, for having been in so remarkable an accident, and come out +of it so well. + +Ford's return, when he should make it, was to take him to a great, +pompous, stylish, crowded "up-town boarding-house," in one of the +fashionable streets of the great city. There was no wonder at all that +wise people should wish to get out of such a place in such hot weather. +Still it was the sort of home Ford Foster had been acquainted with all +his life; and it was partly owing to that, that he had become so +prematurely "knowing." + +He knew too much, in fact, and was only too well aware of it. He had +filled his head with an unlimited stock of boarding-house information, +as well as with a firm persuasion that there was little more to be +had,--unless, indeed, it might be scraps of such outside knowledge as he +had now been picking up over on Long Island. + +In one of the large "parlor-chambers" of the boarding-house, at about +eight o'clock that evening, a middle-aged gentleman and lady, with a +fair, sweet-faced girl of about nineteen, were sitting near an open +window, very much as if they were waiting for somebody. Such a kind, +motherly lady! She was one of those whom no one can help liking, after +seeing her smile once, or hearing her speak. + +Ford Foster himself could not have put in words what he thought about +his mother. And yet he had no difficulty whatever in expressing his +respect for his father, or his unbounded admiration for his pretty +sister Annie. + +"O husband!" exclaimed Mrs. Foster, "are you sure none of them were +injured?" + +"So the telegraphic report said; not a bone broken of anybody, but the +pig that got in the way." + +"How I wish he would come!" groaned Annie. "Have you any idea, father, +how Ford could get to the city?" + +"Not clearly, my dear," said her father; "but you can trust Ford not to +miss any opportunity. He's just the boy to look out for himself in an +emergency." + +Ford Foster's father took very strongly after the son in whose presence +of mind and ability he expressed so much confidence. He had just such a +square, active, bustling sort of body, several sizes larger; with just +such keen, penetrating, greenish-gray eyes. Anybody would have picked +him out at a glance for a lawyer, and a good one. + +That was exactly what he was; and, if anybody had become acquainted with +either son or father, there would have been no difficulty afterward in +identifying the other. + +It required a good deal more than the telegraphic report of the +accident, or even her husband's assurances, to relieve the motherly +anxiety of good Mrs. Foster, or even to drive away the shadows from the +face of Annie. + +No doubt, if Ford himself had known the state of affairs in his family +circle, they would have been relieved earlier; for, even while they were +talking about him, he had reached the end of his adventures, and was +already in the house. It had not so much as occurred to him that his +mother would hear of the disaster to the pig and the railway-train until +he himself should tell her; and so he had made sure of his supper down +stairs before reporting his arrival. He might not have done it perhaps; +but he had entered the house by the lower way, through the area door, +and that of the dining-room had stood temptingly open, with some very +eatable things spread out upon the table. + +That had been too much for Ford, after his car-ride, and his smash-up, +and his long walk. + +Now, at last, up he came, three stairs at a time, brimful of new and +wonderful experiences, to be more than a little astonished by the manner +and enthusiasm of his welcome. + +"Why, mother," he exclaimed, when he got a chance for a word, "you and +Annie couldn't have said much more if I'd been the pig himself!" + +"The pig!" said Annie. + +"Yes, the pig that stopped us. He and the engine won't go home to their +families to-night." + +"Don't make fun of it, Ford," said his mother gently. "It's too serious +a matter." + +Just then his father broke in, almost impatiently, with,-- + +"Well, Ford, my boy, have you done your errand? or shall I have to see +about it myself? You've been gone two days." + +"Thirty-seven hours and a half, father," replied Ford, taking out his +watch. "I've kept an exact account of my expenses. We've saved the cost +of advertising." + +"And spent it on railroading," said his father, with a laugh. + +"But, Ford," asked Annie, "did you find a house?--a good one?" + +"Yes," added Mrs. Foster: "now I'm sure you're safe, I do want to hear +about the house." + +"It's all right, mother," said Ford confidently. "The very house you +told me to hunt for. Neither too large nor too small. I've only seen the +outside of it, but every thing about it is in apple-pie order." + +There were plenty of questions to answer now, but + +Ford was every way equal to the occasion. Some of his answers might have +made Mrs. Kinzer herself open her eyes, for the material for them had +been obtained from her own neighbors. + +Ford's report, in fact, compelled his father to look at him with an +expression of face which very plainly meant,-- + +"That's my boy. He resembles me. I was just like him, at his age. He'll +be just like me, at mine." + +There was excellent reason, beyond question, to approve of the manner in +which the young gentleman had performed his errand in the country; and +Mr. Foster promptly decided to go over in a day or two, and see what +sort of an arrangement could be made with Mrs. Kinzer. + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +NEW NEIGHBORS, AND GETTING SETTLED. + + +The week which followed the wedding-day was an important one. + +The improvements on the Morris house were pushed along in a way that +astonished everybody. Every day that passed, and with every dollar's +worth of work that was done, the good points of the long-neglected old +mansion came out stronger and stronger. + +The plans of Mrs. Kinzer had been a good while in getting ready, and she +knew exactly what was best to be done at every hole and corner. + +Within a few days after Ford's trip of investigation, he and his father +came over from the city; and Mr. Foster speedily came to a perfect +understanding with Dabney's mother. + +"A very business-like, common-sense sort of a woman," the lawyer +remarked to his son. "But what a great, dangling, overgrown piece of a +boy that is! Still, he seems intelligent, and you may find him good +company." + +"No doubt of it," said Ford. "I may be useful to him too. He looks as if +he could learn if he only had a fair chance." + +"I should say so," responded Mr. Foster. "We must not expect too much of +fellows brought up away out here, as he has been." + +Ford gravely assented, and they went back to report their success to +Mrs. Foster and Annie. + +There was a great surprise in store, consequently, for the people of the +village. Early in the following week it was rumored from house to +house,-- + +"The Kinzers are all a-movin' over to Ham Morris's." + +And then, before the public mind had become sufficiently settled to +inquire into the matter, the rumor changed itself into a piece of +positive news:-- + +"The widder Kinzer's moved over into Ham's house, bag and baggage." + +So it was; although the carpenters and painters and glaziers were still +at work, and the piles of Kinzer furniture had to be stored around as +best could be. Some part of them had even to be locked up over night in +one of the barns. + +The Kinzers, for generations, had been a trifle weak about furniture; +and that was one of the reasons why there had been so little room for +human beings in their house. The little parlor, indeed, had been filled +until it put one in mind of a small furniture-store, with not room +enough to show the stock on hand; and some of the other parts of the +house required knowledge and care to walk about in them. It was bad for +a small house, truly, but not so much so when the same articles were +given a fair chance to spread themselves. + +It was a treat to Dab to watch while the new carpets were put down, and +see how much more at home and comfortable all that furniture looked, +after it was moved into its new quarters. He remarked to Keziah,-- + +"It won't be of any use for anybody to try to sit on that sofa and play +the piano. They'll have to get up and come over." + +Mrs. Kinzer took good care that the house she left should speak well of +her to the eyes of Mrs. Foster, when that lady came to superintend the +arrival of her own household goods. + +The character of these, by the way, at once convinced the village +gossips that "lawyer Foster must be a good deal forehanded in money +matters." And so he was, even more so than his furniture indicated. + +Ford had a wonderful deal to do with the settlement of his family in +their new home; and it was not until nearly the close of the week that +he found time for more than an occasional glance over the north fence, +although he and Dab had several times exchanged a word or two when they +met each other on the road. + +"Take the two farms together," his father had said to him, "and they +make a really fine estate. I learn, too, that the Kinzers have other +property. Your young acquaintance is likely to have a very good start in +the world." + +Ford had found out very nearly as much as that on his own account; but +he had long since learned the uselessness of trying to teach his father +any thing, however well he might succeed with ordinary people, and so he +said nothing. + +"Dabney," said Mrs. Kinzer, that Friday evening, "you've been a great +help all the week. Suppose you take the ponies to-morrow morning, and +ask young Foster out for a drive." + +"Mother," exclaimed Samantha, "I shall want the ponies myself. I've some +calls to make, and some shopping. Dabney will have to drive." + +"No, Sam," said Dabney: "if you go out with the ponies to-morrow, you'll +have my old clothes to drive you. I'll go and speak to them about it." + +"What do you mean?" asked Samantha. + +"I mean, with Dick Lee in them." + +"That would be just as well," said Mrs. Kinzer. "The ponies are gentle +enough, and Dick drives well. He'll be glad enough to go." + +"Dick Lee, indeed!" began Samantha. + +"A fine boy," interrupted Dab. "And he's beginning to dress well. His +new clothes fit him beautifully. All he really needs is a shirt, and +I'll give him one. Mine are getting too small." + +Samantha's fingers fidgeted a little with the tidy they were holding; +but Mrs. Kinzer said composedly,-- + +"Well, Dabney, I've been thinking about it. You ought not to be tied +down all the while. Suppose you take next week pretty much to yourself: +Samantha won't want the ponies every day. The other horses have all got +to work, or I'd let you have one of them." + +Dabney got up, for want of a better answer, and walked over to where his +mother was sitting, and gave the thoughtful matron a good sounding kiss. + +At the same time he could not help thinking,-- + +"This comes of Ham Morris and my new rig." + +"There, Dabney, that'll do," said his mother; "but how'll you spend +Saturday?" + +"Guess I'll take Ford Foster out in the bay, a-crabbing, if he'll go," +replied Dabney. "I'll run over and ask him." + +It was not too late, and he was out of the house before there was any +chance for further remarks from the girls. + +"Now," he muttered, as he walked along, "I'll have to see old lawyer +Foster, and Mrs. Foster, and I don't know who all besides. I don't like +that." + +Just as he came to the north fence, however, he was hailed by a clear, +wide-awake voice,-- + +"Dab Kinzer, is that you?" + +"Guess so," said Dab: "is that you, Ford?" + +"I was just going over to your house," said Ford. + +"Well, so was I just coming over to see you. I've been too busy all the +week, but they've let up on me at last." + +"I've got our family nearly settled," replied Ford; "and I thought I'd +ask if you wouldn't like to go out on the bay with me to-morrow. Teach +you to catch crabs." + +Dabney drew a long, astonished sort of whistle; but he finished it +with,-- + +"That's about what I was thinking of. There's plenty of crabs, and I've +got a tip-top boat. We won't want a heavy one for just us two." + +"All right, then. We'll begin on crabs, but some other day we'll go for +bigger fish. What are you going to do next week?" + +"Got it all to myself," said Dab. "We can have all sorts of a good time. +We can have the ponies, too, when we want them." + +"That's about as good as it knows how to be," responded the young +gentleman from the city. "I'd like to explore the country. You're going +to have a nice place of it, over there, before you get through. Only, if +I'd had the planning of that house, I'd have set it back farther. Too +much room all round it. Not enough trees either." + +Dab came stoutly to the defence of not only that house, but of +Long-Island architecture generally, and was fairly overwhelmed, for the +first time in his life, by a flood of big words from a boy of his own +age. + +He could have eaten up Ford Foster, if properly cooked. He felt sure of +that. But he was no match for him on the building question. On his way +back to his new home, however, after the discussion had lasted long +enough, he found himself inquiring,-- + +"That's all very nice, but what can he teach me about crabs? We'll see +about that to-morrow." + +Beyond a doubt, the crab question was of special importance; but one of +far greater consequence to Dab Kinzer's future was undergoing +discussion, at that very hour, hundreds of miles away. + +Quite a little knot of people there was, in a hotel parlor; and while +the blooming Miranda, now Mrs. Morris, was taking her share of talk very +well with the ladies, Ham was every bit as busy with a couple of elderly +gentlemen. + +"It's just as I say, Mr. Morris," said one of the latter, with a +superfluous show of energy: "there's no better institution of its kind +in the country than Grantley Academy. I send my own boys there; and I've +just written about it to my brother-in-law, Foster, the New-York lawyer. +He'll have his boy there this fall. No better place in the country, +sir." + +"But how about the expenses, Mr. Hart?" asked Ham. + +"Fees are just what I told you, sir, a mere nothing. As for board, all I +pay for my boys is three dollars a week. All they want to eat, sir, and +good accommodations. Happy as larks, sir, all the time. Cheap, sir, +cheap." + +If Ham Morris had the slightest idea of going to school at a New-England +academy, Miranda's place in the improved house was likely to wait for +her; for he had a look on his face of being very nearly convinced. + +She did not seem at all disturbed, however; and probably she knew that +her husband was not taking up the school question on his own account. + +Nevertheless, that was the reason why it might have been interesting for +Dab Kinzer, and even for his knowing neighbor, to have added themselves +to the company Ham and Miranda had fallen in with on their wedding-tour. + +Both of the boys had a different kind of thinking on hand; and that +night Dab dreamed that a gigantic crab was trying to pull Ford Foster +out of the boat, while the latter calmly remarked to him,-- + +"There, my young friend, did you ever see anything just like that +before?" + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CRABS, BOYS, AND A BOAT-WRECK. + + +That Saturday morning was a sad one for poor Dick Lee. + +His mother, the previous night, carefully locked up his elegant apparel, +the gift of Mr. Dabney Kinzer. It was done after Dick was in bed; and, +when daylight came again, he found only his old clothes by the bedside. + +It was a hard thing to bear, no doubt; but Dick had been a bad boy on +Friday. He had sold his fish instead of bringing them home, and then had +gone and squandered the money on a brilliant new red necktie. + +"Dat's good 'nuff for me to wear to meetin'," said Mrs. Lee, when her +eyes fell upon the gorgeous bit of cheap silk. "Reckon it won't be +wasted on any good-for-nuffin boy. I'll show ye wot to do wid yer fish. +You' a-gettin' too mighty fine, anyhow." + +Dick was disconsolate for a while; but his humility took the form of a +determination to go for crabs that day, mainly because his mother had +long since set her face against that tribe of animals. + +"Dey's a wasteful, 'stravagant sort ob fish," remarked Mrs. Lee, in +frequent explanation of her dislike. "Dey's all clo'es and no body, like +some w'ite folks I know on. I don't mean de Kinzers. Dey's all got body +nuff." + +And yet that inlet had a name and reputation of its own for crabs. There +was a wide reach of shallow water, inside the southerly point at the +mouth, where, over several hundred acres of muddy flats, the depth +varied from three and a half to eight feet, with the ebb and flow of the +tides. That was a sort of perpetual crab-pasture; and there it was that +Dick Lee determined to expend his energies that Saturday. + +Very likely there would be other crabbers on the flats; but Dick was not +the boy to object to that, provided none of them should notice the +change in his raiment. At an early hour, therefore, Dab and Ford were +preceded by their young colored friend, they themselves waiting for +later breakfasts than Mrs. Lee was in the habit of preparing. + +Dick's ill fortune did not leave him when he got out of sight of his +mother. It followed him down to the shore of the inlet, and compelled +him to give up, for that day, all idea of borrowing a respectable boat. + +There were several, belonging to the neighbors, from among which Dick +was accustomed to take his pick, in return for errands run and other +services rendered to their owners; but on this particular morning not +one of them all was available. Some were fastened with ugly chains and +padlocks. Two were hauled away above even high-water mark, and so Dick +could not have got either of them into the water even if he had dared to +try; and as for the rest, as Dick said,-- + +"Guess dar owners must hab come and borrered 'em." + +The consequence was, that the dark-skinned young fisherman was for once +compelled to put up with his own boat, or rather his father's. + +The three wise men of Gotham were not much worse off when they went to +sea in a bowl than was Dick Lee in that rickety little old flat-bottomed +punt. + +Did it leak? + +Well, not so very much, with no heavier weight than Dick's; but there +was reason in his remark that,-- + +"Dis yer's a mean boat to frow down a fish in, when you cotch 'im. He's +done suah to git drownded." + +Yes, and the crabs would get their feet wet, and so would Dick; but he +resigned himself to his circumstances, and pushed away. To tell the +truth, he had not been able to free himself from a lingering fear lest +his mother might come after him, before he could get afloat, with orders +for some duty or other on shore; and that would have been worse than +going to sea in the little old scow, a good deal. + +"Reckon it's all right," said Dick as he shoved off. "It'd be an awful +risk to trus' dem nice clo'es in de ole boat, suah." + +Nice clothes, nice boats, a good many other nice things, were as yet +beyond the reach of Dick Lee; but he was quite likely to catch as many +crabs as his more aristocratic neighbors. + +As for Dabney Kinzer and his friend from the city, they were on their +way to the water-side, after all, at an hour which indicated either +smaller appetites than usual or greater speed at the breakfast-table. + +"Plenty of boats, I should say," remarked Ford, as he surveyed the +little "landing" and its vicinity with the air of a man who had a few +fleets of his own. "All sorts. Any of 'em fast?" + +"Not many," said Dab. "The row-boats, big and little, have to be built +so they will stand pretty rough water." + +"How are the sail-boats?" + +"Same thing. There's Ham Morris's yacht." + +"That? Why, she's as big as any in the lot." + +"Bigger; but she don't show it." + +"Can't we take a cruise in her?" asked Ford. + +"Any time. Ham lets me use her whenever I like. She's fast enough, but +she's built so she'll stand 'most any thing. Safe as a house if she's +handled right." + +"Handled!" + +Ford Foster's expression of face would have done honor to the Secretary +of the Navy, or the Chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee in Congress, +or any other perfect seaman, Noah included. It seemed to say,-- + +"As if any boat could be otherwise than well sailed, with me on board!" + +Dabney, however, even while he was talking, had been hauling in from its +"float and grapnel," about ten yards out at low water, the very +stanch-looking little yawl-boat that called him owner. She was just such +a boat as Mrs. Kinzer would naturally have provided for her boy,--stout, +well-made, and sensible,--without any bad habits of upsetting or the +like. Not too large for Dabney to manage all alone, "The Jenny," as he +called her, and as her name was painted on the stern, was all the better +for having two on board, and had room in her then for more. + +"The inlet's pretty narrow for a long reach through the marsh," said +Dabney, "and as crooked as a ram's horn. I'll steer, and you pull, till +we're out o' that, and then I'll take the oars." + +"I might as well row out to the crab-grounds," said Ford, as he pitched +his coat forward, and took his seat at the oars. "All ready?" + +"Ready," said Dab; and "The Jenny" glided gracefully away from the +landing with the starting-push he gave her. + +Ford Foster had had oars in his hands before, but his experience had +been limited to a class of vessels different in some respects from the +one he was in now. + +He was short of something, at all events. It may have been skill, or it +may have been legs or discretion; but, whatever was lacking, at the +third or fourth stroke the oar-blades went a little too deeply below the +smooth surface of the water. There was a vain tug, a little out of +"time;" and then there was a boy on the bottom of the boat, and a pair +of well-polished shoes lifted high in the air. + +"You've got it," shouted Dabney. + +"Got what?" exclaimed an all-but angry voice from down there between the +seats. + +"Caught the first 'crab,'" replied Dabney: "that's what we call it. Can +you steer? Guess I'd better row." + +"No, you won't," was the very resolute reply, as Ford regained his seat +and his oars. "I sha'n't catch any more crabs of that sort. I'm a little +out of practice, that's all." + +"I should say you were, a little. Well, it won't hurt you. 'Tisn't much +of a pull." + +Ford would have pulled it now if he had blistered all the skin off his +hands in doing so; and he did very creditable work for some minutes, +among the turns and windings of the narrow inlet. + +"Here we are," shouted Dabney at last. "We are in the inlet yet, but it +widens out into the bay." + +"That's the bay, out yonder?" + +"Yes; and the island between that and the ocean's no better'n a mere bar +of sand." + +"How d'you get past it?" + +"Right across there, almost in a straight line. We'll run it next week +in Ham's yacht. Splendid weak-fishing right in the mouth of that inlet, +on the ocean side." + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Ford, "I'm in for that. Is the bay deep?" + +"Not very," replied Dabney; "but it gets pretty rough sometimes." + +Ford was getting pretty red in the face just then, with his unaccustomed +exercise; and his friend added,-- + +"You needn't pull so hard: we're almost there. Hullo! if there isn't +Dick Lee, in his dry-goods box. That boat'll drown him some day, and his +dad too. But just see him pull in crabs!" + +Ford came near "catching" one more as he tried to turn around for the +look proposed, exclaiming,-- + +"Dab, let's get to work as quick as we can. They might go away." + +"Might fly?" + +"No; but don't they go and come?" + +"Well, you go and drop the grapnel over the bows, and we'll see 'em come +in pretty quick." + +The grapnel, or little anchor, was thrown over quickly enough; and the +two boys were in such an eager haste that they had hardly a word to say +to Dick, though he was now but a few rods away. + +Now, it happened that when Ford and Dab came down to the water that +morning, each of them had brought a load. The former had only a neat +little japanned tin box, about as big as his head; and the latter, +besides his oars, carried a seemingly pretty heavy basket. + +"Lots of lunch, I should say," had been Ford's mental comment; but he +had not thought it wise to ask questions. + +"Plenty of lunch in that box," thought Dab at the same moment, but only +as a matter of course. + +And they were both wrong. Lunch was the one thing they had both +forgotten. + +But the box and the basket. + +Ford Foster came out, of his own accord, with the secret of the box; for +he now took a little key out of his pocket, and unlocked it with an air +of-- + +"Look at this, will you?" + +Dab Kinzer looked, and was very sure he had never before seen quite such +an assortment of brand-new fish-hooks, of many sorts and sizes, and of +fish-lines which looked as if they had thus far spent their lives on dry +land. + +"Tip-top," he remarked. "I see a lot of things we can use one of these +days, but there isn't time to go over 'em now. Let's go for the crabs. +What made you bring your box along?" + +"Oh!" replied Ford, "I left my rods at home, both of 'em. You don't +s'pose I'd go for crabs with a rod, do you? But you can take your pick +of hooks and lines." + +"Crabs? Hooks and lines?" + +"Why, yes. You don't mean to scoop 'em up in that landing-net, do you?" + +Dab looked at his friend for a moment in blank amazement, and then the +truth broke upon him for the first time. + +"Oh, I see! You never caught any crabs. Well, just you lock up your +jewellery-box, and I'll show you." + +It was not easy for Dab to keep from laughing in Ford Foster's face; but +his mother had not given him so many lessons in good-breeding for +nothing, and Ford was permitted to close his ambitious "casket" without +any worse annoyance than his own wounded pride gave him. + +But now came out the secret of the basket. + +The cover was jerked off; and nothing was revealed but a varied +assortment of clams, large and small, but mostly of good size,--tough +old customers, that no amount of roasting or boiling would ever have +prepared for human eating. + +"What are they for,--bait?" + +"Yes, bait, weight, and all." + +"How's that?" + +Dabney's reply was to draw from his pocket a couple of long, strong +cords, bits of old fishing-lines. He cracked a couple of clams one +against the other; tied the fleshy part of one to each of the cords; +tied bits of shell on, a foot or so from the ends, for sinkers; handed +one cord to Ford, took the other himself, and laid the long-handled +scoop-net he had brought with him down between them, saying,-- + +"Now we're ready. Drop your clam down to the bottom, and it won't be +half a minute before you feel something pull on it. Then you draw it up +gently,--steady as you know how. You mustn't jerk the crab loose. You'll +get the knack of it in five minutes. It's all knack. There isn't any +thing else so stupid as a crab." + +Ford watched carefully, and obeyed in silence the directions he had +received. + +In a minute or so more the operation of the scoop-net was called for, +and the fun began. + +"You got him!" exclaimed Ford in a loud whisper, as he saw Dab quickly +plunge the net into the water, and then shake out of it into the bottom +of the boat a great sprawling "blue-legged" crab. "He's a whopper!" + +"He'll do for one." + +"There's one on mine! I declare, he's let go!" + +"You jerked the clam away from him. Sink it again. He's mad about it. +He'll take right hold again." + +"He's pulling now, or it's another one." + +"Let him pull. Lift him easy. Long as he thinks he's stealing something, +he'll hold on. There he comes,--see him?" + +Ford saw the white flesh of the clam coming slowly up through the water, +and he held his breath; for just behind and below it was a sprawling +shadowy something that was tugging with all its might at that tough +shell-fish. + +"It's an awful big one!" + +"Shall I scoop him?" + +"No, indeed: I want to scoop him myself. I saw how you did it." + +Splash went the net, as the prize came nearer the surface; and Ford +began, somewhat excitedly, to shake it all over the bottom of the boat. + +"Why, where's that crab? You don't mean to say he was quick enough to +dodge away?" + +"Quick? well, no, that isn't just the trouble. I forgot to tell you to +scoop way under him. You hit him, square, and knocked him ever so far. +The water deceives your eyes. Drive the net under him quick, and then +lift. I've got one--now just you see how I scoop." + +Ford felt dreadfully disappointed over the loss of his first crab, but +the rapidity with which he caught the "knack of it" after that was a +great credit to him. He did not miss the next one he pulled up. + +It was great fun; but it had its slack moments, and in one of these Dab +suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"The young black rascal! If he hasn't gone and got a sheep's-head!" + +"A sheep's-head?" + +They were both staring at the old punt, where Dick Lee was apparently +enjoying the most extraordinary good fortune. + +"Yes, that's it. That's why he beats us so badly. They're a sight +better'n clams, only you can't always get one. I wonder where he picked +up that one." + +"But how he does pull 'em in!" + +"We're doing well enough," began Dabney, when suddenly there came a +shrill cry of pain from the black boy's punt. + +"He's barefooted," shouted Dab, with, it must be confessed, something +like a grin; "and one of the little pirates has pinned him with his +nippers." + +That was the difficulty exactly, and there need not have been any very +serious result of such an expression of a crab's bad temper. But Dick +Lee was more than ordinarily averse to any thing like physical pain, and +the crab which now had him by the toe was a very muscular and vicious +specimen of his quarrelsome race. + +The first consequence of that vigorous nip was a momentary dance up and +down in the punt, accompanied by exclamatory howls from Dick, but not by +a word of any sort from the crab. + +The next consequence was, that the crab let go; but so at the same +instant, did the rotten board in the boat-bottom, upon which Dick Lee +had so rashly danced. + +It let go of the rest of the boat so suddenly that poor Dick had only +time for one tremendous yell, as it let him right down through to his +armpits. + +The water was perfectly smooth; but the boat was full in an instant, and +nearly a bushel of freshly-caught and ill-tempered crabs were +manoeuvring in all directions around the woolly head, which was all +their late captor could now keep in sight. + +"Up with the grapnel, Ford," shouted Dab. "Take an oar: we'll both row. +He can swim like a duck, but he might split his throat." + +"Or get scared to death." + +"Or those crabs might go for him, and eat him up." + +"How he does yell!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A VERY ACCIDENTAL CALL. + + +At the very moment when the angry crab closed his nippers on the bare +big toe of Dick Lee, and his shrill note of discomfort rang across the +inlet, the shriller whistle of the engine announced the arrival of the +morning train from the city, at the little station in the village. + +A moment or so later, a very pretty young lady was standing beside a +trunk on the platform, trying to get some information from the flagman. + +"Can you tell me where Mr. Foster lives?" + +"That's the gimlet-eyed lawyer from New Yark?" + +"Yes, he's from New York," said the young lady, smiling in his face. +"Where does he live?" + +"He's got the sassiest boy, thin. Is it him as took the Kinzer house?" + +"I think likely it is. Can you tell me how to get there?" + +"Thim Kinzers is foine people. The widdy married one of the gurrels to +Misther Morris." + +"But how can I get to the house?" + +"Is it there ye're afther goin'?--Hey, Michael, me boy, bring up yer +owld rattlethrap, and take the leddy's thrunk. She'll be goin' to the +Kinzer place. Sharp, now." + +"I should say it was," muttered the young lady, as the remains of what +had been a carryall were pulled up beside the platform by the skinny +skeleton of what might once have been a horse. "It's a rattletrap." + +There was no choice, however; for that was the only public conveyance at +the station, and the trunk was already whisked in behind the dashboard, +and the driver was waiting for her. + +He could afford to wait, as it would be some hours before another train +would be in. + +There was no door to open in that "carriage." It was all door except the +top and bottom, and the pretty passenger was neither helped nor hindered +in finding her place on the back seat. + +If the flagman was more disposed to ask questions than to answer them, +Michael said few words of any kind except to his horse. To him, indeed, +he kept up a constant stream of encouraging remarks, the greatest part +of which would have been difficult for an ordinary hearer to understand. + +Very likely the horse knew what they meant; for he came very near +breaking from a limp into a trot several times, under the stimulus of +all that clucking and "G'lang, now!" + +The distance was by no means great, and Michael seemed to know the way +perfectly. At least he answered, "Yes'm, indade," to several inquiries +from his passenger, and she was compelled to be satisfied with that. + +"What a big house it is! And painters at work on it too," she exclaimed, +just as Michael added a vigorous jerk of the reins to the "Whoa!" with +which he stopped his nag in front of an open gate. + +"Are you sure this is the place?" + +"Yes'm; fifty cints, mum." + +By the time the trunk was out of the carriage and swung inside of the +gate, the young lady had followed; but for some reason Michael at once +sprang back to his place, and whipped up his limping steed. It may have +been from the fear of being asked to take that trunk into the house, for +it was not a small one. The young lady stood for a moment irresolute, +and then left it where it was, and walked on up to the house. + +No bell; no knocker. The workmen had not reached that part of their +improvements yet. But the door was open; and a very neatly furnished +parlor at the left of the hall seemed to say, "Come right in, please;" +and in she went. + +Such an arrival could not possibly have escaped the notice of the +inmates of the house; and, as the young lady from the railway came in at +the front, another and a very different-looking lady marched through to +the parlor from the rear. + +Each one would have been a puzzle to the other, if the elder of the two +had not been Mrs. Kinzer, and the widow had never been very much puzzled +in all her life. At all events, she put out her hand, with a cordial +smile, saying,-- + +"Miss Foster, is it not? I am Mrs. Kinzer. How could he have made such a +mistake?" + +"Yes, Miss Annie Foster. But do please explain Where am I? and how do +you know me?" + +The widow laughed cheerily. + +"How do I know you, my dear? Why, you resemble your mother almost as +much as your brother Ford resembles his father. You are only one door +from home here, and I'll have your trunk taken right over to the house. +Please sit down a moment. Ah! my daughter Samantha, Miss Foster. Excuse +me a moment, while I call one of the men." + +By the time their mother was fairly out of the room, however, Keziah and +Pamela were also in it; and Annie thought she had rarely seen three +girls whose appearance testified so strongly to the healthiness of the +place they lived in. + +The flagman's questions and Annie's answers were related quickly enough, +and the cause of Michael's blunder was plain at once. + +The parlor rang again with peals of laughter; for Dab Kinzer's sisters +were ready at any time to look at the funny side of things, and their +accidental guest saw no reason for not joining them. + +"Your brother Ford is on the bay, crabbing with our Dabney," remarked +Samantha, as the widow returned. But Annie's eyes had been furtively +watching her baggage through the window, and saw it swinging upon a +broad, red-shirted pair of shoulders, just then; and, before she could +bring her mind to bear upon the crab question, Keziah Kinzer +exclaimed,-- + +"If there isn't Mrs. Foster, coming through the garden gate!" + +"My mother!" and Annie was up and out of the parlor in a twinkling, +followed by all the ladies of the Kinzer family. It was really quite a +procession. + +Now, if Mrs. Foster was in any degree surprised by her daughter's sudden +appearance, or by her getting to the Kinzer house first instead of to +her own, it was a curious fact that she did not say so by a word or a +look. + +Not a breath of it. But, for all the thorough-bred self-control of the +city lady, Mrs. Kinzer knew perfectly well there was something odd and +unexpected about it all. If Samantha had noticed this fact, there might +have been some questions asked possibly; but one of the widow's most +rigid rules in life was to "mind her own business." + +The girls, indeed, were quite jubilant over an occurrence which made +them at once so well acquainted with their very attractive new neighbor; +and they might have followed her even beyond the gate in the north +fence, if it had not been for their mother. All they were allowed to do +was to go back to their own parlor, and hold "a council of war," in the +course of which Annie Foster was discussed, from her bonnet to her +shoes. + +Mrs. Foster had been abundantly affectionate in greeting her daughter; +but, when once they were alone in the wee sitting-room of the old Kinzer +homestead, she put her arms around her, saying,-- + +"Now, my darling, tell me what it all means." + +"Why, mother, it was partly my mistake, and partly the flagman's and the +driver's; and I'm sure Mrs. Kinzer was kind. She knew me before I said a +word, by my resemblance to you." + +"Oh, I don't mean that! How is it you are here so soon? I thought you +meant to make a long visit at your uncle Hart's." + +"So I would, mother, if it had not been for those boys." + +"Your cousins, Annie?" + +"Cousins, mother! You never saw such young bears in all your life. They +tormented me from morning till night." + +"But, Annie, I hope you have not offended"-- + +"Offended, mother? Aunt Maria thinks they're perfect, and so does uncle +Joe. They'd let them pull the house down over their heads, you'd think." + +"But, Annie, what did they do? and what did you say?" + +"Do, mother? I couldn't tell you in all day; but when they poured ink +over my cuffs and collars, I said I would come home. I had just one pair +left white to wear home, and I travelled all night." + +Poor Mrs. Foster! A cold shudder went over her at the idea of that ink +among the spotless contents of her own collar-box. + +"What boys they must be! but, Annie, what did your aunt say?" + +"Uncle Joe laughed till he cried; and Aunt Maria said, 'Boys will be +boys;' and I half believe they were sorry; but that was only a sort of a +winding-up, I wouldn't stay there another day." + +Annie had other things to tell; and, long before she had finished her +story, there was no further fault to be found with her for losing her +temper. Still her mother said mildly,-- + +"I must write to Maria at once, for it won't do to let those boys make +trouble between us." + +Annie looked at her with an expression of face which very plainly +said,-- + +"Nobody in the wide world could have the heart to quarrel with you." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A RESCUE, AND A GRAND GOOD TIME. + + +Dab Kinzer and his friend were prompt enough coming to the rescue of +their unfortunate fellow-lubber; but to get him out of the queer wreck +he had made of that punt looked like a tough task to both of them, and +they said as much. + +"I isn't drownin'," exclaimed Dick heroically, as the other boat was +pulled alongside of him. "Jest you take your scoop-net, and save dem +crabs." + +"They won't drown," said Ford. + +"But they'll get away," said Dab, as he snatched up the scoop. "Dick's +head is perfectly level on that point." + +The side-boards of the old punt were under water half the time, but the +crabs were pretty well penned in. Even a couple of them, that had +mistaken Dick's wool for another sheep's-head, were secured without +difficulty, in spite of the firmness with which they clung to their +prize. + +"What luck he'd been having!" said Ford. + +"He always does," said Dab. "I say, Dick, how'll I scoop you in?" + +"Has you done got all de crabs?" + +"Every pinner of 'em." + +"Den you jest wait a minute." + +Waiting was all that was left them to do, for the shining black face and +woolly head disappeared almost instantly. + +"He's sunk," exclaimed Ford. + +"There he comes," replied Dab: "he'd swum ashore from here, and not half +try. Why, I could swim twice as far as that myself, and he can beat me." + +"Could you? I couldn't." + +That was the first time Dab had heard his city acquaintance make a +confession of inability, and he could see a more than usually thoughtful +expression on his face. The coolness and skill of Dick Lee, in his hour +of disaster, had not been thrown away upon him. + +"If I had my clothes off," said Ford, "I believe I'd try that on." + +"Dab Kinzer, you's de bes' feller dar is. But wot'll we do wid de old +boat?" burst out Dick, on coming to the surface. + +"Let the tide carry her in while we're crabbing. She isn't worth +mending, but we'll tow her home." + +"All right," said Dick, as he grasped the gunwale of Dab's boat, and +began to climb over. + +"Hold on, Dick." + +"I is a-holdin' on." + +"I mean, wait a bit. Ain't you wet?" + +"Of course I's wet." + +"Well, then, you stay in there till you get dry It's well you didn't +have your new clothes on." + +"Ain't I glad 'bout dem!" enthusiastically ex-claimed the young African. +"Nebber mind dese clo'es. De water on 'em's all good, dry water, like de +res' ob de bay." + +And, so saying, Dick tumbled over in, with a spatter which made Ford +Foster tread on two of three crabs in getting away from it. It was not +the first time, by many, that Dick Lee had found himself bathing in that +bay without any time given him to undress. + +And now it was discovered that the shipwrecked crabber had never for one +instant lost his hold of the line, to the other end of which was +fastened his precious sheep's-head. + +They made a regular crabbing crew now,--two to pull up, and one to scoop +in; and never had the sprawling game been more plentiful on that +pasture, or more apparently in a greedy hurry to be captured. + +"What on earth shall we do with them all?" asked Ford. + +"Soon's we've got enough for a mess for both our folks," said Dab, +"we'll quit this, and go for some fish. The clams are good bait, and we +can try some of your tackle." + +Ford's face brightened a good deal at that suggestion, for he had more +than once cast a crest fallen look at his pretentious box. But he +replied,-- + +"A mess! How many crabs can one man eat?" + +"I don't know," said Dab. "It depends a good deal on who he is. Then, if +he eats the shells, he can't take in so many." + +"Eat de shells? Yah, yah, yah! Dat beats my mudder! She's allers +a-sayin' wot a waste de shells make," laughed Dick. "I jest wish we +might ketch some fish. I dasn't kerry home no crabs." + +"It does look as if we'd got as many as we'll know what to do with," +remarked Dab, as he looked down on the sprawling multitude in the bottom +of the boat. "We'll turn the clams out of the basket, and fill that; but +we mustn't put any crabs in the fish-car. We'll stow 'em all forward." + +The basket held more than half a bushel, but there was still a "heap" of +what Ford Foster called "the crusties" to pen up in the bow of the boat. + +That duty attended to, the grapnel was pulled up, and Dick was set at +the oars, while Dab selected from Ford's box just the hooks and lines +their owner had made least account of. + +"What'll we catch, Dab?" + +"'Most anything. Nobody knows till he's done it. Perch, porgies, +cunners, black-fish, weak-fish, maybe a bass or a sheep's-head, but more +cunners than any thing else, unless we strike some flounders at the turn +of the tide." + +"That's a big enough assortment to set up a fish-market on." + +"If we catch 'em. We've got a good enough day, anyhow, and the tide'll +be about right by the time we get to work." + +"Why not try here?" + +"'Cause there's no fish to speak of, and because the crabs'll clean your +hook for you as fast as you can put the bait on. We must go out to +deeper water and better bottom. Dick knows just where to go. You might +hang your line out all day and not get a bite, if you didn't strike the +right spot." + +Ford made no answer, but looked on very seriously while Dab skilfully +slit up a tough old Dutch clam into bait. It was beginning to dawn upon +him that he could teach the "'long-shore boys," whether black or white, +very little about fishing. He even allowed Dab to pick out a line for +him, and to put on the hook and sinker; and Dick Lee showed him how to +fix his bait, "so de fust cunner dat rubs agin it won't knock it off. +Dem's awful mean fish. Good for nuffin but 'teal bait." + +A merry party they were; and the salt water was rapidly drying from the +garments of the colored oars-man, as he pulled strongly and skilfully +out into the bay, and around toward a deep cove at the north of the +inlet mouth. + +Then, indeed, for the first time in his life, Ford Foster learned what +it was to catch fish. + +Not but what he had spent many an hour, and even day, on and about other +waters, with a rod or a line in his hand; but he had never before had +two such born fishermen at his elbow to take him to the right place +precisely, and at the right time, and then to show him what to do when +he got there. + +It was fun enough; for the fish bit remarkably well, and some of those +which came into the boat were of a very encouraging size and weight. + +There was one curious thing about those heavier fish. + +Ford would have given half the hooks and lines in his box, if he could +have caught from Dick or Dab the mysterious "knack" they seemed to have +of coaxing the biggest of the finny folk to their bait, and then over +the side of the boat. + +"There's some kind of favoritism about it," he remarked. + +"Never mind, Ford," replied Dab. "Dick and I are better acquainted with +them. They're always a little shy with strangers, at first. They don't +really mean to be impolite." + +Favoritism it was, nevertheless; and there was now no danger but what +Dick would be able to appease the mind of his mother without making any +mention of the crabs. + +At last, almost suddenly, and as if by common consent, the fish stopped +biting, and the two "'long shore boys" began to put away their lines. + +"Going to quit?" asked Ford. + +"Time's up, and the tide's turned," replied Dab. + +"Not another bite, most likely, till late this evening. We might as well +pull up, and start for home." + +"That's a curious kind of a habit for fish to have." + +"They've all got it though, 'round this bay." + +"Mus' look out for wot's lef' ob de ole scow, on de way home," remarked +Dick a little solemnly. "I's boun' to ketch it for dat good-for-noting +ole board." + +"We'll find it, and tow it in," said Dab; "and perhaps we can get it +mended. Anyhow, you can go with us next week. We're going to make a +cruise in Ham Morris's yacht. Will you go?" + +"Will I go? Yoop!" almost yelled the excited boy. "Dat's jest de one +t'ing I'd like to jine. Won't we hab fun! She's jest de bes' boat on dis +hull bay. You ain't foolin' me, is yer?" + +He was strongly assured that his young white associates were in sober +earnest about both their purpose and their promise; and, after that, he +insisted on rowing all the distance home. + +On the way the old punt was taken in tow; but the tide had already swept +it so far inside the mouth of the inlet, that there was less trouble in +pulling it the rest of the way. It was hardly worth the labor, but Dab +knew what a tempest the loss of it might bring around the ears of poor +Dick. + +When they reached the landing, and began to over-haul their very +brilliant "catch," Dabney said,-- + +"Now, Dick, take your string home, leave that basket of crabs at Mr. +Foster's, and then come back with the basket, and carry the rest of 'em +to our house. Ford and I'll see to the rest of the fish." + +"I haven't caught half as many as you have, either of you," said Ford, +when he saw with what even-handed justice the fish were divided in three +piles, as they were scooped out of the fish-car. + +"What of that?" replied Dab. "We follow fishermen's rules, down this +way. Share and share alike, you know. All the luck is outside the boat, +they say. Once the fish are landed, your luck's as good as mine." + +"Do they always follow that rule?" + +"The man that broke it wouldn't find company very easily, hereabouts, +next time he wanted to go a-fishing. No, nor for any thing else. +Nobody'd boat with him." + +"Well, if it's the regular thing," said Ford hesitatingly. "But I'll +tell who really caught 'em." + +"Oh, some of yours are right good ones! Your string'd look big enough, +some days, just as you caught 'em." + +"Would it?" + +"Yes, it would. Don't you imagine we can pull 'em in every time like we +did this morning,--crabs nor fish." + +"No, I s'pose not. Anyhow, I've learned some things." + +"I guess likely. We'll go for some more next week. Now for a tug." + +"Ain't they heavy, though!" + +The boat had already been made fast; and the two boys picked up their +strings of fish, two for each, after Dick Lee had started for home; and +heavy things they were to carry under that hot sun. + +"Come and show the whole lot to my mother," said Ford, "before you take +yours into the house. I'd like to have her see them all." + +"All right," replied Dab, but he little dreamed what was coming; for, +when he and Ford marched proudly into the sitting-room with their finny +prizes, Dabney found himself face to face with, not good, sweet-voiced +Mrs. Foster, but, as he thought, the most beautiful young lady he had +ever seen. + +Ford Foster shouted, "Annie! You here? Well, I never!" + +But Dab Kinzer wished all those fish safely back again swimming in the +bay. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOYS. + + +Ham Morris was a thoughtful and kind-hearted fellow, beyond a doubt; and +he was likely to be a valuable friend for a growing boy like Dab Kinzer. +It is not everybody's brother-in-law who would find time during his +wedding-trip to hunt up even so pretty a New-England village as +Grantley, and inquire into questions of board and lodging and schooling. + +That was precisely what Ham did, however; and Miranda went with him of +course. + +Mrs. Myers, to the hospitalities of whose cool and roomy-looking house +he had been commended by Mr. Hart, was so "crowded full with summer +boarders," liberally advertised for in the great city, that she had +hardly a corner left in which to stow away Ham and his bride, for even +one night. She was glad enough, however, that she had made the effort, +and found one, after she discovered the nature of the stranger's errand +in Grantley, and that it included "winter board" for a whole boy. + +There was a look of undisguised astonishment on the faces of the regular +guests when they gathered for the next meal. It happened to be supper, +but they all looked at the table and then at one another. It was a pity +Ham and Miranda did not understand the meaning of those glances, or else +that they did not make a longer stay with Mrs. Myers. They might have +learned more about her and her boarding-house, if not about the academy. +As it was, they only gathered a very high opinion of her cookery and +hospitality, as well as an increase of respect for the "institution of +learning," and for that excellent gentleman Mr. Hart; with a dim hope +that Dabney Kinzer might be permitted to enjoy the inestimable +advantages offered by Grantley and Mrs. Myers, and the society of Mr. +Hart's two wonderful boys. + +Miranda was inclined to stand up for her brother somewhat, but finally +agreed with Ham, that,-- + +"What Dabney needs is schooling and polish, my dear. It'll be good for +him to board in the same house with two such complete young gentlemen as +the Hart boys." + +"Of course, Ham. And then, too, we'll feel sure of his having plenty to +eat. There was almost too much on the table." + +"Not if the boarders had all been boys of Dab's age, and with his +appetite. Mrs. Myers is evidently accustomed to provide for them, I +should say." + +So she was; and Ham and Miranda left Grantley next morning, after a very +early breakfast; and, when the regular boarders came to theirs, they +might have guessed at once that the "transient guests" had gone. They +even guessed it out loud at dinner and at supper. + +Mrs. Myers had given Ham and his bride a world of interesting +information about Grantley, and the things and people in it; but there +was one thing she had forgotten or neglected to mention. She had failed +to tell them that the house she lived in, and the outlying farm +belonging to it, and nearly all the house-hold effects it contained, +were the property of Mr. Joseph Hart, having cost that gentleman very +little more than a sharp lawsuit. Neither did she say a word about how +long a time he had given her to pay him his price for it. All that was +her own private affair, and none of Ham's business, or Miranda's. Still, +it might have had its importance in their minds, if they had been +informed of it. + +Perhaps, too, some of their rosy impressions might have been a little +modified if they could have been at the breakfast-table of the Hart +homestead the morning after Annie Foster's sudden departure. + +The table, truly, was there, as usual, with the breakfast-things on it, +and there were husband and wife at either end; but the two side seats +were vacant. + +"Where are Joe and Foster, Maria?" asked Mr. Hart. + +"I'm sure they're up, father. I heard them come down stairs an hour +ago." + +"I can't wait for them"-- + +"You came home late last night, and they haven't seen you since Annie +went away." There had been a suppressed sound of whispers in the entry, +and the door had been held open about half an inch by some hand on the +other side. It is possible, therefore, that Mr. Hart's reply was heard +outside. + +"Oh, I see! it's about Annie. Look here, Maria: they may have gone a +little too far, but if Annie can't take a joke"-- + +"So I tried to say to her," began his wife; but at that instant the +whispers in the entry swelled suddenly to loud voices, and two boys came +noisily in, and filled the side chairs at the table. + +"Sit down, my dears," said Mrs. Hart, with an admiring glance from one +to the other. "I have told your father about the sad trick you played +upon your cousin." + +"Yes, you young rogues," added Mr. Hart, with affected sternness: "you +have driven her out of the house." + +"Joe," said the boy on the left, to his brother across the table, "ain't +you glad she's gone?" + +"You bet I am. She's too stiff and steep for me. Spoiled all the fun we +had." + +"And so you spoiled her cuffs and collars for her. It was too bad +altogether. I'm afraid there won't be much comfort for anybody in this +house till you two get back to Grantley." + +"Fuz," said Joe, "do you hear that? They're going to give us another +term at Grantley." + +"I don't care how soon we go, so we haven't got to board at old mother +Myers's." + +"I can't say about that," said Mr. Hart. "I half made her a promise"-- + +"That we'd board there?" exclaimed Fuz rebelliously. + +"Now, boys," said their mother, in a gentle voice, that sounded a little +like good Mrs. Foster's; but Joe sustained his brother with,-- + +"Prison-fare, and not half enough of it. I just won't stand it another +winter!" + +"I'm not so sure it will be necessary, after all," said their father, +who seemed to have dismissed Annie's grievance from his mind for the +present. "Your cousin Ford is sure to go; and I'm almost certain of +another boy, besides the missionary's son. If she gets a few others +herself, her house'll be full enough, and you can board somewhere else." + +"Hurrah for that!" shouted Fuz. "And, if the new house doesn't feed us +well, we'll tear it down." + +"If you don't tear ours down before you go, I'll be satisfied. Maria, +you must write to your sister, and smooth the matter over. Boys will be +boys, and I wouldn't like to have any coolness spring up. Mr. Foster'll +understand it." + +That was very nearly all that was said about it, and the two boys +evidently had had no need for any hesitation in coming in to breakfast. + +They were not so bad-looking a pair, as boys go; although it may be few +other people would have seen so much to admire in them as their mother +did. + +Joe, the elder, was a loud, hoarse-voiced, black-eyed boy, of seventeen +or thereabouts, with a perpetual grin on his face, as if he had +discovered in this world nothing but a long procession of things to be +laughed at. Foster, so named after his lawyer relative, was a year and a +half younger, but nearly as tall as Joe. He was paler, but with hair and +eyes as dark, and he wore a sort of habitual side-look, as if his mind +were all the while inquiring if anybody within sight happened to have +any thing he wanted. + +They both bore a strong likeness to their father, only they missed +something bluff and hearty in his accustomed manner; and they each had +also a little suggestion of their mother, that did not, however go so +far as to put anybody in mind of their aunt Foster. + +Nobody need have failed to see, at all events, after watching one or two +of their glances at each other, that they were the very boys to play the +meanest kind of practical jokes when they could do it safely. There is +really no accounting for boys; and Joe and Fuz, therefore, might fairly +be set down among the "unaccountables." + +There was no sort of wonder that their easy-going mother and their +joke-admiring father should be quite willing to have them spend +three-quarters of the year at boarding-school, and as much as possible +of the remainder somewhere else than "at home." + +After Mr. Hart went out to his business that morning, and Mrs. Hart set +herself about her usual duties, Joe and Fuz took with them into the +street the whole Grantley question. + +"We'll have to go, Fuz." + +"Of course. But we must have more to eat, and more fun, than we had last +time." + +"Ford's coming, is he? The little prig! We'll roast him." + +"So we will that young missionary." + +"Look out about him, Joe, while he's at our house. He's coming right +here, you know." + +"Don't you be afraid. His folks are old friends of mother's. We'll let +up on him till we get him safe to Grantley." + +"Then we'll fix him." + +They had plots and plans enough to talk about; but neither they, nor any +of the boys they named, nor any of the other boys they did not name, had +the least idea of what the future really had in store for them. Dab +Kinzer and Ford Foster, in particular, had no idea that the world +contained such a place as Grantley, or such a landlady as Mrs. Myers. + +They had as little suspicion of them as they had had of finding Annie +Foster in the sitting-room that day, when they walked in with their +famous strings of fish. + +Ford kissed his sister, but that operation hardly checked him for an +instant in his voluble narrative of the stirring events of his first +morning on the bay. There was really little for anybody else to do but +to listen, and it was worth hearing. + +There was no sort of interruption on the part of the audience; but the +moment Ford paused for breath his mother said,-- + +"Are you sure the black boy was not hurt, Ford?" + +"Hurt, mother? Why, he seems to be a kind of black-fish. The rest all +know him, and they went right past my hook to his, all the while." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Foster: "I forgot. Annie, this is Ford's +friend Dabney Kinzer, our neighbor." + +"Won't you shake hands with me, Mr. Kinzer?" said Annie, with a +malicious twinkle of fun in her merry blue eyes. + +Poor Dabney! He had been in quite a "state of mind" for at least three +minutes; but he would hardly have been his own mother's son if he had +let himself be entirely "posed." Up rose his long right arm, with the +heavy string of fish at the end of it; and Annie's fun broke out into a +musical laugh, just as her brother exclaimed,-- + +"There now, I'd like to see the other boy of your size can do that. Look +here, Dab, where'd you get your training?" + +"I mustn't drop the fish, you see," began Dab; but Ford interrupted him +with,-- + +'No, indeed! You've given me half I've got, as it is. Annie, have you +looked at the crabs? You ought to have seen Dick Lee, with a lot of 'em +gripping in his hair." + +"In his hair?" + +"When he was down through the bottom of his boat. They'd have eaten him +up if they'd had a chance. You see, he's no shell on him." + +"Exactly," said Annie, as Dab lowered his fish. "Well, Dabney, I wish +you would thank your mother for me, for sending my trunk over. Your +sisters too. I've no doubt we shall be very neighborly." + +It was wonderfully pleasant to be called by his first name by so very +pretty a young lady, and yet it seemed to bring up something curious +into Dabney Kinzer's throat. + +"She considers me a mere boy, and she means I'd better take my fish +right home," was the next thought that came to him; and he was right, to +a fraction. So the great lump in his throat took a very wayward and +boyish form, and came out as a reply, accompanied by a low bow,-- + +"I will, thank you. Good-afternoon, Mrs. Foster. I'll see you to-night, +Ford, about Monday and the yacht. Good-afternoon, Annie." + +And then he marched out with his fish. + +"Mother, did you hear him call me 'Annie'?" + +"Yes; and I heard you call him 'Dabney.'" + +"But he's only a boy "-- + +"I don't care," exclaimed Ford. "He's an odd fellow, but he's a good +one. Did you see how wonderfully strong he is in his arms? I couldn't +lift these fish at arm's-length, to save my life." + +He knew, for he had been trying his best with his own. + +It was quite likely that Dab Kinzer's rowing, and all that sort of +thing, had developed in him greater strength of muscle than even he +himself was aware of; but for all that he went home with his very ears +tingling. + +"Could she have thought me ill-bred or impertinent?" he muttered to +himself. + +Thought? About him? + +Poor Dab Kinzer! Annie Foster had so much else to think of just then; +for she was compelled to go over, for Ford's benefit, the whole story of +her tribulations at her uncle's, and the many rudenesses of Joe Hart and +his brother Fuz. + +"They ought to be drowned," said Ford indignantly. + +"In ink," added Annie. "Just as they drowned my poor cuffs and collars." + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CRUISE IN "THE SWALLOW." + + +"Look at Dabney Kinzer," said Jenny Walters to her mother, in church, +the next morning. "Did you ever see anybody's hair as smooth as that?" + +Smooth it was, certainly; and he looked, all over, as if he had given +all the care in the world to his personal appearance. How was Annie +Foster to guess that he had gotten himself up so unusually on her +account? She did not guess it; but when she met him at the church-door, +after service, she was careful to address him as "Mr. Kinzer," and that +made poor Dabney blush to his very eyes. + +"There!" he exclaimed: "I know it." + +"Know what?" asked Annie. + +"Know what you're thinking." + +"Do you, indeed?" + +"Yes: you think I'm like the crabs." + +"What _do_ you mean?" + +"You think I was green enough till you spoke to me, and now I'm boiled +red in the face." + +Annie could not help laughing,--a little, quiet, Sunday-morning sort of +a laugh; but she was beginning to think her brother's friend was not a +bad specimen of a Long Island "country boy." + +She briskly turned away the small remains of that conversation from +crabs and their color; but she told her mother, on their way home, she +was sure Dabney would be a capital associate for Ford. + +That young gentleman was tremendously of the same opinion. He had come +home, the previous evening, from a long conference with Dab, brimful of +the proposed yachting cruise; and his father had freely given his +consent, much against the inclinations of Mrs. Foster. + +"My dear," said the lawyer, "I feel sure a woman of Mrs. Kinzer's +unusual good sense would not permit her son to go out in that way if she +did not feel safe about him. He has been brought up to it, you know; and +so has the colored boy who is to go with them." + +"Yes, mother," argued Ford: "there isn't half the danger there is in +driving around New York in a carriage." + +"There might be a storm," she timidly suggested. + +"The horses might run away." + +"Or you might get upset." + +"So might a carriage." + +The end of it all was, however, that Ford was to go, and Annie was more +than half sorry she could not go with them. In fact, she said so to +Dabney himself, as soon as her little laugh was ended, that Sunday +morning. + +"Some time or other I'd be glad to have you," replied Dab very politely, +"but not this trip." + +"Why not?" + +"We mean to go right across the bay, and try some fishing." + +"Couldn't I fish?" + +"Well, no, I don't think you could." + +"Why couldn't I?" + +"Because,--well, because, most likely, you'd be too sea-sick by the time +we got there." + +Just then a low, clear voice, behind Dabney, quietly remarked, "How +smooth his hair is!" + +Dab's face turned red again. + +Annie Foster had heard it as distinctly as he had; and she walked right +away with her mother, for fear she should laugh again. + +"It's my own hair, Jenny Walters," said Dab almost savagely, as he +turned around. + +"I should hope it was." + +"I should like to know what you go to church for, anyhow." + +"To hear people talk about sailing and fishing. How much do you s'pose a +young lady like Miss Foster cares about small boys?" + +"Or little girls, either? Not much; but Annie and I mean to have a good +sail before long." + +"Annie and I!" + +Jenny's pert little nose seemed to turn up more than ever, as she walked +away, for she had not beaten her old playfellow quite as badly as usual. +There were several sharp things on the very tip or her tongue, but she +was too much put out and vexed to try to say them just then. + +Dab made the rest of his way home without any further haps or mishaps. A +sail on the bay was nothing so new or wonderful for him to look forward +to, and so that Sunday went by a good deal like all his other Sundays. + +As for Ford Foster, on the contrary, his mind was in a stew and turmoil +all day. In fact, just after tea that evening, his father asked him,-- + +"What book is that you are reading, Ford?" + +"Captain Cook's Voyages." + +"And the other, in your lap?" + +"Robinson Crusoe." + +"Well, you might have worse books than they are, that's a fact, even for +Sunday, though you ought to have better; but which of them do you and +Dabney Kinzer mean to imitate to-morrow?" + +"Crusoe!" promptly responded Ford. + +"I see. And so you've got Dick Lee to go along as your man Friday." + +"He's Dab's man, not mine." + +"Oh! and you mean to be Crusoe number two? Well, don't get cast away on +any desolate island, that's all." + +Ford slipped into the library, and put the books away. It had been +Samantha Kinzer's room, and had plenty of book-shelves, in addition to +the elegant "cases" Mr. Foster had brought from the city with him; for +Samantha was inclined to be of a literary turn of mind. All the cases +and shelves were full too; but not on any one of them was Ford Foster +able to discover a volume he cared to take out with him in place of +"Cook" or "Crusoe." + +The next morning, within half an hour after breakfast, every member of +the two families was down at the landing, to see their young sailors +make their start; and they were all compelled to admit that Dab and Dick +seemed to know precisely what they were about. + +As for Ford, that young gentleman was wise enough, with all those eyes +watching him, not to try any thing that he was not sure of; though he +carefully explained to Annie, "Dab is captain, you know. I'm under his +orders to-day." + +Dick Lee was hardly the wisest fellow in the world, for he added +encouragingly,-- + +"And you's doin' tip-top, for a green hand, you is." + +The wind was blowing right off shore, and did not seem to promise any +thing more than a smart breeze. It was easy enough to handle the little +craft in the inlet; and in a marvellously short time she was dancing out +upon the blue waves of the spreading "bay." It was a good deal more like +a land-locked "sound" than any sort of a bay, with that long, low, +narrow sand-island cutting it off from the ocean. + +"I don't wonder Ham Morris called her the 'Swallow,'" said Ford. "How +she skims! Can you get in under the deck, there, forward? That's the +cabin." + +"Yes, that's the cabin," replied Dab. "But Ham had the door put in with +a slide, water-tight. It's fitted with rubber. We can put our things in +there, but it's too small for any thing else." + +"What's it made so tight for?" + +"Oh! Ham says he's made his yacht a life-boat. Those places at the sides +and under the seats are all water-tight. She might capsize, but she'd +never sink. Don't you see?" + +"I see. How it blows!" + +"It's a little fresh, now we are getting away from under the land. How'd +you like to be wrecked?" + +"Good fun," said Ford. "I got wrecked on the cars the first time I came +over here." + +"On the cars?" + +"Why, yes. I forgot to tell you about that." + +Then followed a very vivid and graphic account of the sad fate of the +pig and the locomotive. The wonder was, how Ford should have failed to +give Dab that story before. No such failure would have been possible if +his head and tongue had not been so wonderfully busy about so many other +things, ever since his arrival. + +"I'm glad it was I instead of Annie," he said at length. + +"Of course. Didn't you tell me she came through all alone?" + +"Yes; and she didn't like it much, either. Travelled all night. She ran +away from those cousins of mine. Oh, but won't I pay them off when I get +to Grantley!" + +"Where's that? What did they do?" + +"The Swallow" was flying along nicely now, with Dab at the tiller, and +Dick Lee tending sail; and Dab could listen with all his ears to Ford's +account of his sister's tribulations, and the merciless "practical +jokes" of the Hart boys. + +"Ain't they older and bigger than you?" asked Dabney, as Ford closed his +recital. "What can you do with two of them?" + +"They can't box worth a cent, and I can. Anyhow, I mean to teach them +better manners." + +"You can box?" + +"Had a splendid teacher. Put me up to all sorts of things." + +"Will you show me how, when we get back?" + +"We can practise all we choose. I've two pair of gloves." + +"Hurrah for that! Ease her, Dick. It's blowing pretty fresh. We'll have +a tough time tacking home against such a breeze as this. Maybe it'll +change before night." + +"Capt'in Dab," calmly remarked Dick, "we's on'y a mile to run." + +"Well, what of it?" + +"Is you goin' fo' de inlet?" + +"Of course. What else can we do? That's what we started for." + +"Looks kind o' dirty, dat's all." + +So far as Ford could see, both the sky and the water looked clean +enough; but Dick was entirely right about the weather. In fact, if +Captain Dabney Kinzer had been a more experienced and prudent seaman, he +would have kept "The Swallow" inside the bar that day, at any risk of +Ford Foster's good opinion. As it was, even Dick Lee's keen eyes hardly +comprehended how threatening was the foggy haze that was lying low on +the water, miles and miles away to seaward. + +It was magnificently exciting fun, at all events; and "The Swallow" +fully merited all that had been said in her favor. The "mile to run" was +a very short one, and it seemed to Ford Foster that the end of it would +bring them up high and dry on the sandy beach of the island. + +The narrow "strait" of the inlet between the bay and the ocean was +hardly visible at any considerable distance. It opened to view, however, +as they drew near; and Dab Kinzer rose higher than ever in his friend's +good opinion, as the swift little vessel he was steering shot unerringly +into the contracted channel. + +"Ain't we pretty near where you said we were to try for some fish?" he +asked. + +"Just outside there. Get the grapnel ready, Dick. Sharp, now!" + +Sharp it was, and Ford himself lent a hand; and, in another moment, the +white sails went down, jib and main; "The Swallow" was drifting along +under bare poles, and Dick Lee and Ford were waiting the captain's +orders to let go the neat little anchor. + +"Heave!" + +Over went the iron, the hawser followed briskly. + +"That'll do, Dick: hold her!" + +Dick gave the rope a skilful turn around its "pin," and Dab shouted,-- + +"Now for some weak-fish! It's about three fathoms, and the tide's near +the turn." + +Alas for the uncertainty of human calculations! The grapnel caught on +the bottom, surely and firmly; but, the moment there came any strain on +the seemingly stout hawser that held it, the latter parted like a +thread, and "The Swallow" was all adrift! + +"Somebody's done gone cut dat rope!" shouted Dick, as he frantically +pulled in the treacherous bit of hemp. + +There was an anxious look on Dab Kinzer's face for a moment. Then he +shouted,-- + +"Sharp, now, boys, or we'll be rolling in the surf in three minutes! +Haul away, Dick! Haul with him, Ford! Up with her! There, that'll give +us headway." + +Ford Foster looked out to seaward, even while he was hauling his best +upon the sail halyards. All along the line of the coast, at distances +varying from a hundred yards or so to nearly a mile, there was an +irregular line of foaming breakers--an awful thing for a boat like "The +Swallow" to run into! + +Perhaps; but ten times worse for a larger craft, for the latter would be +shattered on the shoals, where the bit of a yacht would find plenty of +water under her; that is, if she did not, at the same time, find too +much water _over_ her. + +"Can't we go back through the inlet in the bar?" asked Ford. + +"Not with this wind in our teeth, and it's getting worse every minute. +No more will it do to try to keep inside the surf." + +"What can we do, then?" + +"Take the smoothest places we can find, and run 'em. The sea isn't very +rough outside. It's our only chance." + +Poor Ford Foster's heart sank within him, as he listened, and as he +gazed ahead upon the long white line of foaming surf and tossing +breakers. He saw, however, a look of heroic resolution rising in +"Captain Kinzer's" face, and it gave him courage to turn his eyes again +towards the surf. + +"The Swallow" was now once more moving in a way to justify her name; +and, although Ford was no sailor, he could see that her only chance to +penetrate that perilous barrier of broken water was to "take it nose +on," as Dick Lee expressed it. + +That was clearly the thing Dab Kinzer intended to do. There were places +of comparative smoothness, here and there, in the tossing and plunging +line; but they were bad enough, at the best, and they would have been a +good deal worse but for that stiff breeze blowing off shore. + +"Now for it!" shouted Dab, as "The Swallow" bounded on. + +"Dar dey come!" said Dick. + +Ford thought of his mother, and sister, and father; but he had not a +word to say, and hardly felt like breathing. + +Bows foremost, full sail, rising like a cork on the long, strong +billows, which would have rolled her over and over if she had not been +handled so skilfully as she really was; once or twice pitching +dangerously in short, chopping seas, and shipping water enough to wet +her brave young mariners to the skin, and call for vigorous baling +afterwards,--"The Swallow" battled gallantly with her danger for a few +moments; and then Dab Kinzer swung his hat, and shouted,-- + +"Hurrah, boys! We're out at sea!" + +"Dat's so," said Dick. + +"So it is," remarked Ford, a little gloomily; "but how on earth will we +ever get ashore again? We can't go back through that surf." + +"Well," replied Dab, "if it doesn't come on to blow too hard, we'll run +right on down the coast. If the wind lulled, or whopped around a little, +we'd find our way in, easy enough, long before night. We might have a +tough time beating home across the bay, even if we were inside the bar, +now. Anyhow, we're safe enough out here." + +Ford could hardly feel that very strongly, but he was determined not to +let Dab see it; and he made an effort at the calmness of a Mohawk, as he +said, "How about fishing?" + +"Guess we won't bother 'em much, but you might go for a bluefish. +Sometimes they have great luck with them, right along here." + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SPLENDID FISHING, AND A BIG FOG. + + +There is no telling how many anxious people there may have been in that +region that night, a little after supper; but there was no doubt of the +state of mind in at least three family circles. + +Good Mrs. Foster could not endure to stay at home and talk about the +matter; and her husband and Annie were very willing to go over to the +Kinzers' with her, and listen to the encouraging views of Dabney's +stout-hearted and sensible mother. + +They were welcomed heartily; and the conversation began, so to speak, +right in the middle. + +"Oh, Mrs. Kinzer! do you think they are in any danger?" + +"I hope not. I don't see why there need be, unless they try to return +across the bay against this wind." + +"But don't you think they'll try? Do you mean they won't be home +to-night?" exclaimed Mr. Foster himself. + +"I sincerely hope not," said the widow calmly. "I should hardly feel +like trusting Dabney out in the boat again, if he should do so foolish a +thing." + +"But where can he stay?" + +"At anchor somewhere, or on the island; almost anywhere but tacking all +night on the bay. He'd be really safer out at sea than trying to get +home." + +"Out at sea!" + +There was something really dreadful in the very idea of it; and Annie +Foster turned pale enough when she thought of the gay little yacht, and +her brother out on the broad Atlantic in it, with no better crew than +Dab Kinzer and Dick Lee. Samantha and her sisters were hardly as steady +about it as their mother; but they were careful to conceal their +misgivings from their neighbors, which was very kindly indeed in the +circumstances. + +There was little use in trying to think or talk of any thing else beside +the boys, however, with the sound of the "high wind" in the trees out by +the roadside; and a very anxious circle was that, up to the late hour at +which the members of it separated for the night. + +But there were other troubled hearts in that vicinity. Old Bill Lee +himself had been out fishing all day, with very poor luck; but he forgot +all about that, when he learned, on reaching the shore, that Dick and +his white friends had not returned. He even pulled back to the mouth of +the inlet, to see if the gathering darkness would give him any signs of +his boy. He did not know it; but while he was gone Dick's mother, after +discussing her anxieties with some of her dark-skinned neighbors, half +weepingly unlocked her one "clothes-press," and took out the suit which +had been the pride of her absent son. She had never admired them half so +much before, but they seemed now to need a red necktie to set them off; +and so the gorgeous result of Dick's fishing and trading came out of its +hiding-place, and was arranged on the white coverlet of her own bed, +with the rest of his best garments. + +"Jus' de t'ing for a handsome young feller like Dick," she muttered to +herself. + +"Wot for'd an ole woman like me want to put on any sech fool finery? +He's de bestest boy in de worl', he is. Dat is, onless dar ain't not'in' +happened to 'im." + +Her husband brought her home no news when he came, and Dick's good +qualities were likely to be seen in a strong light for a while longer. + +But if the folk on shore were uneasy about "The Swallow" and her crew, +how was it with the latter themselves, as the darkness closed around +them, out there upon the tossing water? + +Very cool and self-possessed indeed had been Captain Dab Kinzer; and he +had encouraged the others to go on with their blue-fishing, even when it +was pretty tough work to keep "The Swallow" from "scudding" at once +before the wind. He was anxious, also, not to get too far from shore; +for there was no telling what sort of weather might be coming. It was +curious, moreover, what very remarkable luck they had; or rather, Ford +and Dick, for Dab would not leave the tiller for a moment. Splendid +fellows were those blue-fish, and hard work it was to pull in the +heaviest of them. That was just the sort of weather they bite best in; +but it is not often that such young fishermen venture to take advantage +of it. No, nor the old ones either; for only the stanchest old "salts" +of Montauk or New London would have felt altogether at home in "The +Swallow" that afternoon. + +"I guess I wouldn't fish any more," said Dab at last. "You've caught ten +times as many now as we ever thought of catching. Some of them are +whoppers too." + +"Biggest fishing ever I did," said Ford, as if that meant a great deal. + +"Or mos' anybody else, out dis yer way," added Dick. "I isn't 'shamed to +show dem fish anywhar." + +"No more I ain't," said Dab; "but you're getting too tired, and so am I. +We must have a good hearty lunch, and put 'The Swallow' before the wind +for a while. I daren't risk any more of these cross seas. We might get +pitched over any minute. They're rising." + +"Dat's so," said Dick. "And I's awful hungry, I is." + +"The Swallow" was well enough provisioned for a short cruise, not to +mention the bluefish, and there was water enough on board for several +days if they should happen to need it; but there was little danger of +that, unless the wind should continue to be altogether against them. + +It was blowing hard when the boys finished their dinner, but no harder +than it had already blown several times that day; and "The Swallow" +seemed to be putting forth her very best qualities as a "sea-boat." + +There was no immediate danger apparently; but there was one "symptom" +which Dab discerned, as he glanced around the horizon, which gave him +more anxiety than either the stiff breeze or the rough sea. + +The coming darkness? + +No; for stars and lighthouses can be seen at night, and steering by them +is easy enough. + +Nights are pretty dark things, sometimes, as most people know; but the +darkest thing to be met with at sea, whether by night or by day, is a +_fog_, and Dabney saw signs of one coming. Rain, too, might come with +it, but that would be of small account. + +"Boys," he said, "do you know we're out of sight of land?" + +"Oh, no, we're not!" replied Ford confidently. "Look yonder." + +"That isn't land, Ford. That's only a fog-bank, and we shall be all in +the dark in ten minutes. The wind is changing, too, and I hardly know +where we are." + +"Look at your compass." + +"That tells me the wind is changing a little, and it's going down; but I +wouldn't dare to run towards the shore in a fog, and at night." + +"Why not?" + +"Why? Don't you remember those breakers? Would you like to be blown +through them, and not see where you were going?" + +"Well, no," said Ford: "I rather guess I wouldn't." + +"Jes' you let Capt'in Kinzer handle dis yer boat," almost crustily +interposed Dick Lee. "He's de on'y feller on board dat un'erstands +nagivation." + +"Shouldn't wonder if you're right," said Ford good-humoredly. "At all +events, I sha'n't interfere. But, Dab, what do you mean to do about it?" + +"Swing a lantern at the mast-head, and sail right along. You and Dick +get a nap, by and by, if you can. I won't try to sleep till daylight." + +"Sleep? Catch me sleeping!" + +"You must; and so must Dick, when the time comes. It won't do for us to +all get worn out together. If we did, who'd handle the boat?" + +Ford's respect for Dabney Kinzer was growing hourly. Here was this +overgrown gawk of a green country boy, just out of his roundabouts, who +had never spent more than a day at a time in the great city, and never +lived in any kind of a boarding-house; in fact, here was a fellow who +had had no advantages whatever,--coming out as a sort of hero. + +Ford looked at him hard, as he stood there with the tiller in his hand, +but he could not quite understand it, Dab was so quiet and +matter-of-course about it all; and, as for that youngster himself, he +had no idea that he was behaving any better than any other boy could, +should, and would have behaved in those very peculiar circumstances. + +However that might be, the gay and buoyant little "Swallow," with her +signal lantern swinging at her mast-head, was soon dancing away through +the deepening darkness and the fog; and her steady-nerved young +commander was congratulating himself that there seemed to be a good deal +less of wind and sea, even if there was more of mist. + +"I couldn't expect to have every thing to suit me," he said to himself. +"And now I hope we sha'n't run down anybody. Hullo! Isn't that a red +light, through the fog, yonder?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GAME OF "FOLLOW MY LEADER" CAN BE PLAYED AT SEA. + + +There was yet another gathering of human beings on the wind-swept +surface of the Atlantic that evening, to whose minds the minutes and +hours were going by with no small burden of anxiety to carry. + +Not an anxiety, perhaps, as great as that of the three families over +there on the shore of the bay, or even of the three boys tossing along +through the fog in their bubble of a yacht; but the officers, and not a +few of the passengers and crew, of the great iron-builded ocean-steamer +were any thing but easy about the way their affairs were looking. It +would have been so much more agreeable if they could have looked at them +at all. + +Had they no pilot on board? + +To be sure they had, for he had come on board in the usual way, as they +drew near their intended port; but they had somehow seemed to bring that +fog along with them, and the captain had a half-defined suspicion that +neither the pilot nor he himself knew exactly where they now were. That +is a bad condition for a great ship to be in at any time, and especially +when it was drawing so near a coast which calls for good seamanship and +skilful pilotage in the best of weather. + +The captain would not for any thing have confessed his doubt to the +pilot, nor the pilot his to the captain; and that was where the real +danger lay, after all. If they could only have choked down their pride, +and permitted themselves to talk of their possible peril, it would very +likely have disappeared. That is, they could at least have decided to +stop the vessel till they were rid of their doubt. + +The steamer was French, and her captain a French naval officer; and it +is possible he and the pilot did not understand each other any too well. + +It was a matter of course that the speed of the ship should be somewhat +lessened, under such circumstances; but it would have been a good deal +wiser not to have gone on at all. Not to speak of the shore they were +nearing, they might be sure they were not the only craft steaming or +sailing over those busy waters; and vessels have sometimes been known to +run against one another in a fog as thick as that. Something could be +done by way of precaution in that direction, and lanterns with bright +colors were freely swung out; but the fog was likely to diminish their +usefulness somewhat. They took away a little of the gloom; but none of +the passengers were in a mood to go to bed, with the end of their voyage +so near, and they all seemed disposed to discuss the fog, if not the +general question of mists and their discomforts. All of them but one, +and he a boy. + +A boy of about Dab Kinzer's age, slender and delicate-looking, with +curly light-brown hair, blue eyes, and a complexion which would have +been fair, but for the traces it bore of a hotter climate than that of +either France or America. He seemed to be all alone, and to be feeling +very lonely that night; and he was leaning over the rail, peering out +into the mist, humming to himself a sweet, wild air in a strange but +exceedingly musical tongue. + +Very strange. Very musical. + +Perhaps no such words had ever before gone out over that part of the +Atlantic; for Frank Harley was a missionary's son, "going home to be +educated;" and the sweet, low-voiced song was a Hindustanee hymn which +his mother had taught him in far-away India. + +Suddenly the hymn was cut short by the hoarse voice of the "lookout," as +it announced,-- + +"A white light, close aboard, on the windward bow." + +That was rapidly followed by even hoarser hails, replied to by a voice +which was clear and strong enough, but not hoarse at all. The next +moment something, which was either a white sail or a ghost, came +slipping along through the fog, and then the conversation did not +require to be shouted any longer. Frank could even hear one person say +to another out there in the mist, "Ain't it a big thing, Ford, that you +know French? I mean to study it when we get home." + +"It's as easy as eating. Dab, shall I tell 'em we've got some fish?" + +"Of course. We'll sell 'em the whole cargo." + +"Sell them? Why not make them a present?" + +"We may need the money to get home with. They're a splendid lot. Enough +for the whole cabin-full." + +"Dat's a fack. Cap'in Dab Kinzer's de sort ob capt'in fo' me, he is!" + +"How much, then?" + +"Twenty-five dollars for the lot. They're worth it,--specially if we +lose Ham's boat." + +Dab's philosophy was a little out of gear; but a perfect rattle of +questions and answers followed in French, and, somewhat to Frank +Harley's astonishment, the bargain was promptly concluded. Fresh fish, +just out of the water, were a particularly pleasant arrival to people +who had been ten days out at sea. + +How were they to get them on board? Nothing easier, since the little +"Swallow" could run along so nicely under the stern of the great +steamer, after a line was thrown her; and a large basket was swung out +at the end of a long, slender spar, with a pulley to lower and raise it. + +There was fun in the loading of that basket: but even the boys from Long +Island were astonished at the number and size of the fine, +freshly-caught blue-fish, to which they were treating the hungry +passengers of the "Prudhomme;" and the basket had to go and come again +and again. + +The steamer's steward, on his part, avowed that he had never before met +so honest a lot of Yankee fishermen. Perhaps not; for high prices and +short weight are apt to go together, where "luxuries" are selling. The +pay itself was handed out in the same basket which went for the fish, +and then "The Swallow" was again cast loose. + +The wind was not nearly so high as it had been, and the sea had for some +time been going down. + +Twenty minutes later Frank Harley heard,--for he understood French very +well,-- + +"Hullo, the boat! What are you following us for?" + +"Oh! we won't run you down. Don't be alarmed. We've lost our way out +here, and we're going to follow you in. Hope you know where you are." + +There was a cackle of surprise and laughter among the steamer's +officers, in which Frank and some of the passengers joined; and the +saucy little "fishing-boat" came steadily on in the wake of her gigantic +tide. + +"This is grand for us," remarked Dab Kinzer to Ford, as he kept his eyes +on the after-lantern of the "Prudhomme." "They pay all our pilot-fees." + +"But they're going to New York." + +"So are we, if to-morrow doesn't come out clear, and with a good wind to +go home by." + +"It's better than crossing the Atlantic in the dark, anyhow. But what a +steep price we got for those fish!" + +"They're always ready to pay well for such things at the end of a +voyage," said Dab. "I expected, though, they'd try and beat us down a +peg. They generally do. We didn't get much more than the fair market +price, after all, only we got rid of our whole catch at one sale." + +That was a good deal better than fishermen are apt to do. + +Hour followed hour; and "The Swallow" followed the steamer, and the fog +followed them both so closely, that sometimes even Dick Lee's keen eyes +could with difficulty make out the "Prudhomme's" light. And now Ford +Foster ventured to take a bit of a nap, so sure did he feel that all the +danger was over, and that Captain Kinzer was equal to what Dick Lee +called the "nagivation" of that yacht How long he had slept, he could +not have guessed but he was awakened by a great cry from out the mist +beyond them, and by the loud exclamation of Captain Kinzer, still at the +tiller,-- + +"I believe she's run ashore!" + +It was a loud cry, indeed, and there was good reason for it. Well was it +for all on board the great steamer, that she was running no faster at +the time and that there was no hurricane of a gale to make things worse +for her. Pilot and captain had both together missed their +reckoning,--neither of them could ever afterward tell how,--and there +they were, stuck fast in the sand, with the noise of breakers ahead of +them, and the dense fog all around. + +Frank Harley peered anxiously over the rail again but he could not have +complained that he was "wrecked in sight of shore," for the steamer was +any thing but a wreck as yet, and there was no shore in sight. + +"It's an hour to sunrise," said Dab to Ford, after the latter had +managed to comprehend the situation. "We may as well run farther in, and +see what we can see." + +It must have been aggravating to the people on board the steamer, to see +that little cockle-shell of a yacht dancing safely along over the shoal +on which their "leviathan" had struck, and to hear Ford Foster sing out, +"If we'd known you meant to run in here, we'd have followed some other +pilot." + +"They're in no danger at all," said Dab, "If their own boats don't take +'em all ashore, the coast-wreckers will." + +"The government life-savers, I s'pose you mean." + +"Yes: they're all alongshore, here, everywhere. Hark! there goes the +distress-gun. Bang away! It sounds a good deal more mad than scared." + +So it did; and so they were,--captain, pilot, passengers, and all. + +"Captain Kinzer" found that he could safely run in for a couple of +hundred yards or so; but there were signs of surf beyond, and he had no +anchor to hold on by. His only course was to tack back and forth as +carefully as possible, and wait for daylight,--as the French sailors +were doing, with what patience they could command. + +In less than half an hour, however, a pair of long, graceful, +buoyant-looking life-boats, manned each with an officer and eight +rowers, came shooting through the mist, in response to the repeated +summons of the steamer's cannon. + +"It's all right, now," said Dab. "I knew they wouldn't be long in +coming. Let's find out where we are." + +That was easy enough. The steamer had gone ashore on a sand-bar, a +quarter of a mile from the beach, and a short distance from Seabright on +the New Jersey coast; and there was no probability of any worse harm +coming to her than the delay in her voyage, and the cost of pulling her +out from the sandy bed into which she had so blindly thrust herself. The +passengers would, most likely, be taken ashore with their baggage, and +sent on to the city overland. + +"In fact," said Ford Foster, "a sand-bar isn't as bad for a steamer as a +pig is for a locomotive." + +"The train you were wrecked in," said Dab, "was running fast. Perhaps +the pig was. Now, the sandbar was standing still, and the steamer was +going slow. My! What a crash there'd have been if she'd been running ten +or twelve knots an hour, with a heavy sea on!" + +By daylight there were plenty of other craft around, including yachts +and sail-boats from Long Branch, and "all along shore;" and the Long +Island boys treated the occupants of these as if they had sent for them, +and were glad to see them. + +"Seems to me you're inclined to be a little inquisitive, Dab," said +Ford, as his friend peered sharply into and around one craft after +another; but just then Dabney sang out,-- + +"Hullo, Jersey, what are you doing with two grapnels? Is that boat of +yours balky?" + +"Mind yer eye, youngster. They're both mine, I reckon." + +"You might sell me one cheap," continued Dab, "considering how you got +'em. Give you ten cents for the big one." + +Ford thought he understood the matter now, and he said nothing; but the +"Jersey wrecker" had "picked up" both of those anchors, one time and +another, and had no sort of objection to "talking trade." + +"Ten cents! Let you have it for fifty dollars." + +"Is it gold, or only silver gilt?" + +"Pure gold, my boy; but, seem' it's you, I'll let you have it for ten +dollars." + +"Take your pay in clams?" + +"Oh, hush! I hain't no time to gabble. Mebbe I'll git a job here, 'round +this yer wreck. If you reelly want that there grapn'I, wot'll you +gimme?" + +"Five dollars, gold, take it or leave it," said Dab, pulling out a coin +from the money he had received for his bluefish. + +In three minutes more "The Swallow" was furnished with a much larger and +better anchor than the one she had lost the day before; and Dick Lee +exclaimed, "It jes' takes Cap'n Kinzer!" + +For some minutes before this, as the light grew clearer and the fog +lifted a little, Frank Harley had been watching them from the rail of +the "Prudhomme," and wondering if all the fisher-boys in America dressed +as well as these two. + +"Hullo, you!" was the greeting which now came to his ears. "Go ashore in +my boat?" + +"Not till I've eaten some of your fish for breakfast," said Frank. +"What's your name?" + +"Captain Dabney Kinzer, of 'most anywhere on Long Island. What's yours?" + +"Frank Harley of Rangoon." + +"I declare," almost shouted Ford Foster, "if you're not the chap my +sister Annie told me of! You're going to Albany, to my uncle Joe Hart's, +ain't you?" + +"Yes, to Mr. Hart's, and then to Grantley to school." + +"That's it. Well, then, you can just come along with us. Get your kit +out of your state-room. We can send over to the city after the rest of +your baggage, after it gets in." + +"Along with you! Where?" + +"To my father's house, instead of ashore among those hotel people, and +other wreckers. The captain'll tell you it's all right." + +Frank had further questions to ask before he was satisfied as to whose +hands he was about to fall into; and the whole arrangement was, no +doubt, a little irregular. So was the present position of the +"Prudhomme" herself, however; and all landing rules were a trifle out of +joint by reason of that circumstance. So the steamer authorities +listened to Frank's request when he made it, and gruffly granted it. + +"The Swallow" lay quietly at her new anchor while her passenger to be +was completing his preparations to board her. Part of them consisted of +a hearty breakfast,--fresh bluefish, broiled; and while he was eating it +the crew of the yacht made a deep hole in what remained of their own +supplies. Nobody who had seen them eat would have suspected that their +long night at sea had interfered with their appetites. In fact, each of +them remarked to the others that it had not, so far as he was concerned. + +"We'll make a good run," said Dab. "It'll be great!" + +"What?" said Ford, in some astonishment; "ain't you going to New York at +all?" + +"What for?" + +"I thought that was what you meant to do. Shall you sail right straight +home?" + +"Why not? If we could do that distance at night, and in a storm, I guess +we can in a day of such splendid weather as this, with the wind just +right too." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"HOME AGAIN! HERE WE ARE!" + + +The wind was indeed "just right;" but even Dab forgot, for the moment, +that "The Swallow" would go faster and farther before a gale than she +was likely to with the comparatively mild southerly breeze now blowing. +He was by no means likely to get home by dinner-time. As for danger, +there would be absolutely none, unless the weather should again become +stormy; and there was no probability of any such thing at that season. +And so, after he had eaten his breakfast, and, with a genuine boy's +confidence in boys, Frank Harley came on board "The Swallow" as a +passenger, the anchor was lifted, and the gay little craft spread her +white sails, and slipped lightly away from the neighborhood of the +forlorn-looking, stranded steamer. + +"They'll have her out of that in less'n a week," said Ford to Frank. "My +father'll know just what to do about your baggage, and so forth." + +There were endless questions to be asked and answered on both sides; but +at last Dab yawned a very sleepy yawn, and said, "Ford, you've had your +nap. Wake up Dick, there, and let him take his turn at the tiller. The +sea's as smooth as a lake, and I believe I'll go to sleep for an hour or +so. You and Frank can keep watch while Dick steers: he's a good +steerer." + +Whatever Dab said was "orders" now on board "The Swallow;" and Ford's +only reply was,-- + +"If you haven't earned a good nap, then nobody has." + +Dick, too, responded promptly and cheerfully; and in five minutes more +the patient and skilful young "captain" was sleeping like a top. + +"Look at him," said Ford Foster to Frank Harley. "I don't know what he's +made of. He's been at that tiller for twenty-three hours by the watch, +in all sorts of weather, and never budged." + +"They don't make that kind of boy in India," replied Frank. + +"He's de bes' feller you ebber seen," added Dick Lee. "I's jes' proud ob +him, I is!" + +Smoothly and swiftly and safely "The Swallow" was bearing her precious +cargo across the summer sea; but the morning had brought no comfort to +the two homes at the head of the inlet, or the humble cabin in the +village. Old Bill Lee was out in the best boat he could borrow, by early +daylight; and more than one of his sympathizing neighbors followed him a +little later. There was no doubt at all that a thorough search would be +made of the bay and the island, and so Mr. Foster wisely remained at +home to comfort his wife and daughter. + +"That sort of boy," mourned Annie, "is always getting into some kind of +mischief." + +"Annie!" exclaimed her mother indignantly, "Ford is a good boy, and he +does not run into mischief." + +"I didn't mean Ford: I meant that Dabney Kinzer. I wish we'd never seen +him, or his sailboat either." + +"Annie," remarked her father a little reprovingly, "if we live by the +water, Ford _will_ go out on it, and he had better do so in good +company. Wait a while." + +Annie was silenced, but it was only too clear that she was not entirely +convinced. Her brother's absence and all their anxiety were positively +due to Dab Kinzer, and his wicked, dangerous little yacht; and he must +be to blame somehow. + +She could not help "waiting a while," as her father bade her; but her +eyes already told that she had been doing more than wait. + +Summer days are long; but some of them are a good deal longer than +others, and that was one of the longest any of those people had ever +known. + +For once, even dinner was more than half neglected in the Kinzer family +circle. At the Fosters' it was forgotten almost altogether. Long as the +day was, and so dreary, in spite of all the bright, warm sunshine, there +was no help for it: the hours would not hurry, and the wanderers would +not return. Tea-time came at last; and with it the Fosters all came over +to Mrs. Kinzer's again, to take tea, and tell her of several fishermen +who had returned from the bay without having discovered a sign of "The +Swallow" or its crew. + +Stout-hearted Mrs. Kinzer talked bravely and encouragingly, +nevertheless, and did not seem to abate an ounce of her confidence in +her son. It seemed as if, in leaving off his roundabouts, particularly +considering the way in which he had left them off, Dabney must have +suddenly grown a great many "sizes" in his mother's estimation. Perhaps, +too, that was because he had not left them off any too soon. + +There they sat around the tea-table, the two mothers and all the rest of +them, looking gloomy enough; while over there in her bit of a brown +house, in the village, sat Mrs. Lee in very much the same frame of mind, +trying to relieve her feelings by smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of +her boy's best clothes, and planning for him any number of bright red +neckties, if he would only come back to wear them. + +The neighbors were becoming more than a little interested, and even +excited about the matter; but what was there to be done? + +Telegrams had been sent to other points on the coast, and all the +fishermen notified. It was really one of those puzzling cases, where +even the most neighborly can do no better than "wait a while." + +Still, there were more than a dozen people, of all sorts, including Bill +Lee, lingering around the "landing" as late as eight o'clock that +evening. + +Suddenly one of them exclaimed,-- + +"There's a light coming in!" + +Others followed with,-- + +"There's a boat under it!" + +"Ham's boat carried a light." + +"I'll bet it's her!" + +"No, it isn't"-- + +"Hold on and see." + +There was not long to "hold on;" for in three minutes more "The Swallow" +swept gracefully in with the tide, and the voice of Dab Kinzer shouted +merrily,-- + +"Home again! Here we are!" + +Such a ringing volley of cheers answered him! + +It was heard and understood away there in the parlor of the Morris +house, and brought every soul of that anxious circle right up standing. + +"Must be it's Dab!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. + +"O mother!" said Annie, "is Ford safe?" + +"They wouldn't cheer like that, my dear, if any thing had happened," +remarked Mr. Foster; but, in spite of his coolness, the city lawyer +forgot to put his hat on, as he dashed out of the front gate and down +the road towards the landing. + +Then came one of those times that it takes a whole orchestra and a +gallery of paintings to tell any thing about: for Mrs. Lee as well as +her husband was on the beach; and within a minute after "Captain Kinzer" +and his crew had landed, poor Dick was being hugged and scolded within +an inch of his life, and the two other boys found themselves in the +midst of a perfect tumult of embraces and cheers. + +Frank Harley's turn came soon, moreover; for Ford Foster found his +balance, and introduced the "passenger from India" to his father. + +"Frank Harley!" exclaimed Mr. Foster. "I've heard of you, certainly; but +how did you--boys, I don't understand"-- + +"Oh! father, it's all right. We took Frank off the French steamer, after +she ran ashore." + +"Ran ashore?" + +"Yes. Down the Jersey coast. We got in company with her in the fog, +after the storm. That was yesterday evening." + +"Down the Jersey coast? Do you mean you've been out at sea?" + +"Yes, father; and I'd go again, with Dab Kinzer for captain. Do you +know, father, he never left the rudder of 'The Swallow' from the moment +we started until seven o'clock this morning." + +"You owe him your lives!" almost shouted Mr. Foster; and Ford added +emphatically, "Indeed we do!" + +It was Dab's own mother's arms that had been around him from the instant +he had stepped ashore, and Samantha and Keziah and Pamela had had to +content themselves with a kiss or so apiece; but dear, good Mrs. Foster +stopped smoothing Ford's hair and forehead just then, and came and gave +Dab a right motherly hug, as if she could not express her feelings in +any other way. + +As for Annie Foster, her face was suspiciously red at the moment; but +she walked right up to Dab after her mother released him, and said,-- + +"Captain Kinzer, I've been saying dreadful things about you, but I beg +pardon." + +"I'll be entirely satisfied, Miss Foster," said Dabney, "if you'll only +ask somebody to get us something to eat." + +"Eat!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. "Why, the poor fellows! Of course they're +hungry." + +"Cap'n Kinzer allers does know jes' de right t'ing to do," mumbled Dick +in a half-smothered voice; and his mother let go of him, with-- + +"Law, suz! So dey be!" + +Hungry enough they all were, indeed; and the supper-table, moreover, was +the best place in the world for the further particulars of their +wonderful cruise to be told and heard. + +Dick Lee was led home in triumph to a capital supper of his own; and as +soon as that was over he was rigged out in his Sunday clothes,--red silk +necktie and all,--and invited to tell the story of his adventures to a +roomful of admiring neighbors. He told it well, modestly ascribing every +thing to Dab Kinzer; but there was no good reason, in any thing he said, +for one of his father's friends to inquire next morning,-- + +"Bill Lee, does you mean for to say as dem boys run down de French +steamah in dat ar' boat?" + +"Not dat. Not zackly." + +"'Cause, ef you does, I jes' want to say I's been down a-lookin' at her, +and she ain't even snubbed her bowsprit." + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A GREAT MANY THINGS GETTING READY TO COME! + + +The newspapers from the city brought full accounts of the stranding of +the "Prudhomme," and of the safety of her passengers and cargo. + +The several editors seemed to differ widely in their opinions relating +to the whole affair; but there must have been some twist in the mind of +the one who excused everybody on the ground that "no pilot, however +skilful, could work his compass correctly in so dense a fog as that." + +None of them had any thing whatever to say of the performances of "The +Swallow." The yacht had been every bit as well handled as the great +steamship; but then, she had reached her port in safety, and she was +such a little thing, after all. + +Whatever excitement there had been in the village died out as soon as it +was known that the boys were safe; and a good many people began to +wonder why they had been so much upset about it, anyhow. + +Mrs. Lee herself, the very next morning, so far recovered her peace of +mind as to "wonder wot Dab Kinzer's goin' to do wid all de money he got +for dem bluefish." + +"I isn't goin' to ask him," said Dick. "He's capt'in." + +As for Dab himself, he did an immense amount of useful sleeping, that +first night; but when he awoke in the morning he shortly made a +discovery, and the other boys soon made another. Dab's was, that all the +long hours of daylight and darkness, while he held the tiller of "The +Swallow," he had been thinking as well as steering. He had therefore +been growing very fast, and would be sure to show it, sooner or later. + +Ford and Frank found that Dab had forgotten nothing he had said about +learning how to box, and how to talk French; but he did not say a word +to them about another important thing. He talked enough, to be sure; but +a great, original idea was beginning to take form in his mind, and he +was not quite ready yet to mention it to any one. + +"I guess," he muttered more than once, "I'd better wait till Ham comes +home, and talk to him about it." + +As for Frank Harley, Mr. Foster had readily volunteered to visit the +steamship-office in the city, with him, that next day, and see that +every thing necessary was done with reference to the safe delivery of +his baggage. At the same time, of course, Mrs. Foster wrote to her +sister Mrs. Hart, giving a full account of all that had happened, but +saying that she meant to keep Frank as her own guest for a while, if +Mrs. Hart did not seriously object. + +That letter made something of a sensation in the Hart family. Neither +Mrs. Hart nor her husband thought of making any objection; for, to tell +the truth, it came to them as a welcome relief. + +"It's just the best arrangement that could have been made, Maria, all +around," said he. "Write at once, and tell her she may keep him as long +as she pleases." + +That was very well for them, but the boys hardly felt the same way about +it. They had been planning to have "all sorts of fun with that young +missionary," in their own house. He was, as Fuz expressed it, to be "put +through a regular course of sprouts, and take the Hindu all out of him." + +"Never mind, though," said Joe, after the letter came, and the decision +of their parents was declared: "we'll serve him out after we get to +Grantley. There won't be anybody to interfere with the fun." + +"Well, yes," replied Fuz, "and I'd just as lief not see too much of him +before that. He won't have any special claim on us, neither, if he +doesn't go there from our house." + +That was a queer sort of calculation, but it was only a beginning. They +had other talks on the same subject, and the tone of them all had in it +a promise of lively times at Grantley for the friendless young stranger +from India. + +Others, however, were thinking of the future, as well as themselves; and +Joe and Fuz furnished the subject for more than one animated discussion +among the boys down there by the Long Island shore. Ford Foster gave his +two friends the full benefit of all he knew concerning his cousins. + +"It's a good thing for you," he said to Frank, "that the steamer didn't +go ashore anywhere near their house. They're a pair of born young +wreckers. Just think of the tricks they played on my sister Annie!" + +They were all related in Ford's most graphic style, with comments to +suit from his audience. After that conversation, however, it was +remarkable what good attention Dab Kinzer and Frank Harley paid to their +sparring-lessons. It even exceeded the pluck and perseverance with which +Dab worked at his French; and Ford was compelled to admit, to him in +particular, "You ought to have a grown-up teacher,--somebody you won't +kill if you make out to get in a hit on him. You're too long in the +reach for me, and your arms are too hard." + +What between the boxing-gloves and the boat, there could be no question +but what Frank Harley had landed at the right place to get strong in. + +There was plenty of fishing, bathing, riding, boating, boxing: if they +had worked day and night, they could not have used it all up. Three boys +together can find so much more to do than one can, all alone; and they +made it four as often as they could, for Dick Lee had proved himself the +best kind of company. Frank Harley's East-Indian experience had made him +indifferent to the mere question of color, and Ford Foster was too much +of a "man" to forget that long night of gale and fog and danger on board +"The Swallow." + +It was only a day or two after that perilous "cruise," that Dab Kinzer +met his old playmate, Jenny Walters, just in the edge of the village. + +"How well you look, Dabney!" remarked the sharp-tongued little lady. +"Drowning must agree with you." + +"Yes," said Dab, "I like it." + +"Do you know what a fuss they made over you, when you were gone? I +s'pose they'd nothing else to do." + +"Jenny," said Dab suddenly, holding out his hand, "you mustn't quarrel +with me any more. Bill Lee told me about your coming down to the +landing. You may say any thing to me you want to." + +Jenny colored, and bit her lip; and she would have given her bonnet to +know if Bill Lee had told Dab how very red her eyes were, as she looked +down the inlet for some sign of "The Swallow." Something had to be said, +however; and she said it almost spitefully. + +"I don't care, Dabney Kinzer: it did seem dreadful to think of you three +boys being drowned, and you, too, with your new clothes on. +Good-morning, Dab." + +"She's a right good-hearted girl, if she'd only show it," muttered Dab, +as Jenny tripped away; "but she isn't a bit like Annie Foster." + +His thoughts must have been on something else than his young-lady +acquaintances, nevertheless; for his next words were, "How I do wish Ham +Morris would come home!" + +There was time enough for that, and Ham was hardly likely to be in a +hurry. The days were well employed in his absence; and, as they went by, +the Morris homestead went steadily on looking less and less like its old +self, and more and more like a house made for people to live and be +happy in. Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters had now settled down in their +new quarters as completely as if they had never known any others; and it +seemed to Dab, now and then, as if they had taken almost too complete +possession. His mother had her room, of course; and a big one it was. +There could be no objection to that. Then another big one, of the very +best, had to be set apart and fitted up for Ham and Miranda on their +return home; and Dab had taken great delight in doing all in his power +to make that room all it could be made. But then Samantha had insisted +upon having a separate domain, and Keziah and Pamela had imitated their +elder sister to a fraction. + +The "guest-chamber" had to be provided as well, or what would become of +the good old Long Island notions of hospitality? + +Dab said nothing while the partition was under discussion, nor for a +while afterwards; but one day at dinner, just after the coming of a +letter from Miranda, announcing the speedy arrival of herself and her +husband, he quietly remarked,-- + +"Now I can't sleep in Ham's room any longer, I suppose I'll have to go +out on the roof. I won't sleep in the garret or in the cellar." + +"That will be a good deal as Mrs. Morris says, when she comes," calmly +responded his mother. + +"As Miranda says!" said Dab, with a long breath. + +"Miranda?" gasped Samantha and her sisters in chorus. + +"Yes, my dears, certainly," said their mother. "This is Mrs. Morris's +house,--or her husband's,--not mine. All the arrangements I have made +are only temporary. She and Ham both have ideas and wills of their own. +I've only done the best I could for the time being." + +The girls looked at one another in blank amazement, over the idea of +Mrs. Kinzer being any thing less than the mistress of any house she +might happen to be in; but Dabney laid down his knife and fork, with-- + +"It's all right, then. If Ham and Miranda are to settle it, I think I'll +take the room Sam has now. You needn't take away your books, Sam: I may +want to read some of them, or lend them to Annie. You and Kezi and Mele +had better take that upper room back. The smell of the paint's all gone +now, and there's three kinds of carpet on the floor." + +"Dabney!" exclaimed Samantha, reproachfully, and with an appealing look +at her mother, who, however, said nothing on either side, and was a +woman of too much good sense to take any other view of the matter than +that she had announced. + +Things were again all running on smoothly and pleasantly, before dinner +was over; but Dab's ideas of how the house should be divided were likely +to result in some changes,--perhaps not precisely the ones he indicated, +but such as would give him something better than a choice between the +garret, the cellar, and the roof. At all events, only three days would +now intervene before the arrival of the two travellers, and any thing in +the way of further discussion of the room question was manifestly out of +order. + +Every thing required for the coming reception was pushed forward by Mrs. +Kinzer with all the energy she could bring to bear; and Dab felt called +upon to remark to Pamela,-- + +"Isn't it wonderful, Mele, how many things she finds to do after every +thing's done?" + +The widow had promised her son-in-law that his house should be "ready" +for him, and it was likely to be a good deal more ready than either he +or his wife had expected. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +DABNEY KINZER TO THE RESCUE. + + +One of the most troublesome of the annoyances which come nowadays to +dwellers in the country, within easy reach of any great city, is the bad +kind of strolling beggar known as "the tramp." He is of all sorts and +sizes; and he goes everywhere, asking for any thing he wants, very much +as if it belonged to him and he had come for his own--so long as he can +do his asking of a woman or a sickly-looking man. There had been very +few of these gentry seen in that vicinity, that summer, for a wonder; +and those who had made their appearance had been reasonably well +behaved. Probably because there had been so many healthy-looking men +around, as a general thing. But it come to pass, on the very day in +which Ham and Miranda were expected to arrive by the last of the evening +trains, just as Dab Kinzer was turning away from the landing, where he +had been for a look at "The Swallow" and to make sure she was all right +for her owner's eyes, that a very disreputable specimen of a worthless +man stopped at Mrs. Kinzer's to beg something to eat, and then sauntered +away down the road. It was a little past the middle of the afternoon; +and even so mean-looking, dirty a tramp as that had a perfect right to +be walking along then and there. The sunshine, and the fresh salt air +from the bay, were as much his as anybody's, and so was the water in the +bay; and no one in all that region of country stood more in need of +plenty of water than he. + +The vagabond took his right to the road, as he had taken his other right +to beg his dinner, until, half-way down to the landing, he was met by an +opportunity to do a little more begging. + +"Give a poor feller suthin'?" he impudently drawled, as he stared +straight into the sweet fresh face of Annie Foster. + +Annie had been out for only a short walk; but she happened to have her +pocket-book with her, and she thoughtlessly drew it out, meaning to give +the scamp a trifle, if only to get rid of him. + +"Only a dime, miss?" whined the tramp, as he shut his dirty hand over +Annie's gift. "Come, now, make it a dollar, my beauty. I'll call it all +square for a dollar." + +The whine grew louder as he spoke; and the wheedling grin on his +disgusting face changed into an expression so menacing that Annie drew +back with a shudder, and was about returning her little portemonnaie to +her pocket. + +"No, you don't, honey!" + +The words were uttered in a hoarse and husky voice, and were accompanied +by a sudden grip of poor Annie's arm with one hand, while with the other +he snatched greedily at the morocco case. + +Did she scream? + +How could she help it? Or what else could she have done, under the +circumstances? + +She screamed vigorously, whether she would or no, and at the same moment +dropped her pocket-book in the grass beside the path, so that it +momentarily escaped the vagabond's clutches. + +"Shut up, will you!" + +Other angry and evil words, accompanied by more than one vicious threat, +followed thick and fast, as Annie struggled to free herself, while her +assailant peered hungrily around after the missing prize. + +It is not at all likely he would have attempted any thing so bold as +that, in broad daylight, if he had not been drinking too freely; and the +very evil "spirit" which had prompted him to his rash rascality unfitted +him for its immediate consequences. + +These latter, in the shape of Dab Kinzer and the lower joint of a stout +fishing-rod, had been bounding along up the road from the landing, at a +tremendous rate, for nearly half a minute. + +A boy of fifteen assailing a full-grown ruffian? + +Why not? Age hardly counts in such a matter; and then it is not every +boy of even his growth that could have brought muscles like those of Dab +Kinzer to the swing he gave that four-foot length of seasoned ironwood. + +Annie saw him coming; but her assailant did not until it was too late +for him to do any thing but turn, and receive that first hit in front +instead of behind. It would have knocked over almost anybody; and the +tramp measured his length on the ground, while Dabney plied the rod on +him with all the energy he was master of. + +"Oh, don't, Dabney, don't!" pleaded Annie: "you'll kill him!" + +"I wouldn't want to do that," said Dab, as he suspended his pounding; +but he added, to the tramp,-- + +"Now you'd better get up and run for it If you're caught around here +again, it'll be the worse for you." + +The vagabond staggered to his feet, and he looked savagely enough at +Dab; but the latter looked so very ready to put in another hit with that +terrible cudgel, and the whole situation was so unpleasantly suggestive +of further difficulty, that the youngster's advice was taken without a +word. That is, if a shambling kind of double limp can be described as a +"run for it." + +"Here it is: I've found my pocket-book," said Annie, as her enemy made +the best of his way off. + +"He did not hurt you?" + +"No: he only scared me, except that I suppose my arm will be +black-and-blue where he caught hold of it. Thank you ever so much, +Dabney: you're a brave boy. Why, he's almost twice your size." + +"Yes; but the butt of my rod is twice as hard as his head," said Dabney. +"I was almost afraid to strike him with it. I might have broken his +skull." + +"You didn't even break your rod." + +"No; and now I must run back for the other pieces and the tip. I dropped +them in the road." + +"Please, Dabney, see me home first," said Annie. "I know it's foolish, +and there isn't a bit of danger; but I must confess to being a good deal +frightened." + +Dab Kinzer was a little the proudest boy on Long Island, as he walked +along at Annie's side, in compliance with her request. He went no +farther than the gate, to be sure, and then he returned for the rest of +his rod: but before he got back with it, Keziah Kinzer hurried home from +a call on Mrs. Foster, bringing a tremendous account of Dab's heroism; +and then his own pride over what he had done was only a mere drop in the +bucket, compared to that of his mother. + +"Dabney is growing wonderfully," she remarked to Samantha, "He'll be a +man before any of us know it." + +If Dab had been a man, however, or if Ham Morris or Mr. Foster had been +at home, the matter would not have been permitted to drop there. That +tramp ought to have been followed, arrested, and shut up where his +vicious propensities would have been under wholesome restraint for a +while. As it was, after hurrying on for a short distance, and making +sure he was not pursued, he clambered over the fence, and sneaked into +the nearest clump of bushes. From this safe covert he watched Dab +Kinzer's return after the lighter pieces of his rod; and then he even +dared to crouch along the fence, and see which house his young conqueror +went into. + +"That's where he lives, is it?" he muttered, with a scowl of the most +ferocious vengeance. "Well, they'll have some fun there before they git +to bed to-night, or I'll know the reason why." + +It could not have occurred to such a man that he had been given his +dinner at the door of that very house. What had the collection of his +rights as a "tramp" to do with questions of gratitude and revenge? + +The bushes were a good enough hiding-place for the time, and he crawled +back to them with the air and manner of a man whose mind was made up to +something. + +Ford and Frank were absent in the city that day with Mr. Foster, who was +kindly attending to some affairs of Frank's; but when the three came +home, and learned what had happened, it was hard to tell which of them +failed most completely in trying to express his boiling indignation. +They were all on the point of running over to the Morris house to thank +Dab, but Mrs. Foster interposed. + +"I don't think I would. To-morrow will do as well, and you know they're +expecting Mr. and Mrs. Morris this evening." + +It was harder for the boys to give it up than for Mr. Foster, and the +waiting till to-morrow looked a little dreary. They were lingering near +the north fence two hours later, with a faint idea of catching Dab, even +though they knew that the whole Kinzer family were down at the +railway-station, waiting for Ham and Miranda. + +There was a good deal of patience to be exercised by them also; for that +railway-train was provokingly behind time, and there was "waiting" to be +done accordingly. + +The darkness of a moonless and somewhat cloudy night had settled over +the village and its surrounding farms, long before the belated engine +puffed its way in front of the station-platform. + +Just at that moment, back there by the north fence, Ford Foster +exclaimed,-- + +"What's that smell?" + +"It's like burning hay, more than any thing else," replied Frank. + +"Where can it come from, I'd like to know? We haven't had a light out at +our barn." + +"Light?" exclaimed Frank. "Just look yonder!" + +"Why, it's that old barn, 'way beyond the Morris and Kinzer house. +Somebody must have set it on fire. Hullo! I thought I saw a man running. +Come on, Frank!" + +There was indeed a man running just then; but they did not see him, for +he was already very nearly across the field, and hidden by the darkness. +He had known how to light a fire that would smoulder long enough for him +to get away. + +He was not running as well, nevertheless, as he might have done before +he came under the operation of Dab Kinzer's "lower joint." + +Mrs. Kinzer did her best to prevent any thing like a "scene" at the +railway-station when Ham and Miranda came out upon the platform; but +there was an immense amount of "welcome" expressed in words and hugs and +kisses, in the shortest possible space of time. There was no lingering +on the platform, however; for Ham and his wife were as anxious to get at +the "surprise" they were told was waiting for them, as their friends +were to have them come to it. + +Before they were half way home, the growing light ahead of them +attracted their attention; and then they began to hear the vigorous +shouts of "Fire!" from the throats of the two boys, re-enforced now by +Mr. Foster himself, and the lawyer's voice was an uncommonly good one. +Dabney was driving the ponies, and they had to go pretty fast for the +rest of that short run. + +"Surprise?" exclaimed Ham. "I should say it was! Did you light it before +you started, Dabney?" + +"Don't joke, Hamilton," remarked Mrs. Kinzer. "It may be a very serious +affair for all of us. But I can't understand how in all the world that +barn should have caught fire." + +"Guess it was set a-going," said Dab. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +DAB KINZER AND HAM MORRIS TURN INTO A FIRE-DEPARTMENT. + + +The Morris farm, as has been said, was a pretty large one; and the same +tendency on the part of its owners which led them to put up so extensive +and barn-like a house, had stimulated them from time to time to make the +most liberal provisions for the storage of their crops. Barns were a +family weakness with them, as furniture had been with the Kinzers. The +first barn they had put up, now the oldest and the farthest from the +house, had been a large one. It was now in a somewhat dilapidated +condition, to be sure, and was bowed a little northerly by the weight of +years that rested on it; but it had still some hope of future usefulness +if it had not been for that tramp and his box of matches. + +"There isn't a bit of use in trying to save it!" exclaimed Ham, as they +were whirled in through the wide-open gate. "It's gone!" + +"But, Ham," said Mrs. Kinzer, "we can save the other barns perhaps. Look +at the cinders falling on the long stable. If we could keep them off +somehow!" + +"We can do it, Ham," exclaimed Dab, very earnestly. "Mother, will you +send me out a broom and a rope, while Ham and I set up the ladder?" + +"You're the boy for me," said Ham. "I guess I know what you're up to." + +The ladder was one the house-painters had been using, and was a pretty +heavy one; but it was quickly set up against the largest and most +valuable of the barns, and the one, too, which was nearest and most +exposed to the burning building and its flying cinders. The rope was on +hand, and the broom, by the time the ladder was in position. + +"Ford," said Dab, "you and Frank help the girls bring water, till the +men from the village get here. There's plenty of pails, but every one of +our hands is away.--Now, Ham, I'm ready." + +Up they went, and were quickly astride of the ridge of the roof. It +would have been perilous work for any man to have ventured farther +unassisted; but Dab tied one end of the rope firmly around his waist, +Ham tied himself to the other, and then Dab could slip down the steep +roof, in any direction, without danger of slipping off to the ground +below. + +But the broom? + +It was as useful as a small fire-engine. The flying cinders of burning +hay or wood, as they alighted upon the sun-dried shingles of the roof, +needed to be swept off as fast as they fell, before they had time to +fulfil their errand of mischief. Here and there they had been at work +for some minutes, and the fresh little blazes they had kindled had so +good a start, that the broom alone would have been insufficient; and +there the rapidly-arriving pails of water came into capital play. + +Ford Foster had never shone out to so good an advantage in all his life +before, as he did when he took his station on the upper rounds of that +ladder, and risked his neck to hand water-pails to Ham. It was hard +work, all around, but hardest of all for the two "firemen" on the roof. +Now and then the strength and agility of Ham Morris were put to pretty +severe tests, as Dab danced around under the scorching heat, or slipped +flat upon the sloping roof. It was well for Ham that he was a man of +weight and substance. + +There were scores and scores of people streaming up from the village +now, arriving in panting squads, every moment; and Mrs. Kinzer had all +she could do to keep them from "rescuing" every atom of her furniture +out of the house, and piling it up in the road. + +"Wait, please," she said to them very calmly. + +"If Ham and Dab save the long barn, the fire won't spread any farther. +The old barn won't be any loss to speak of, anyhow." + +Fiercely as the dry old barn burned, it used itself up all the quicker +on that account; and it was less than thirty minutes from the time Ham +and Dabney got at work before roof and rafters fell in, and the worst of +the danger was over. The men and boys from the village were eager enough +to do any thing that now remained to be done; but a large share of this +was confined to standing around and watching the "bonfire" burn down to +a harmless heap of badly smelling ashes. As soon, however, as they were +no more wanted on the roof, the two "volunteer firemen" came down; and +Ham Morris's first word on reaching the ground was,-- + +"Dab, my boy, how you've grown!" + +Not a tenth of an inch in mere stature, and yet Ham was entirely correct +about it. + +He stared at Dabney for a moment; and then he turned, and stared at +every thing else. There was plenty of light just then, moon or no moon; +and Ham's eyes were very busy for a full minute. He noted rapidly the +improvements in the fences, sheds, barns, the blinds on the house, the +paint, a host of small things that had changed for the better; and then +he simply said, "Come on, Dab," and led the way into the house. Her +mother and sisters had already given Miranda a hurried look at what they +had done, but Ham was not the man to do any thing in haste. Deliberately +and silently he walked from room to room, and from cellar to garret, +hardly seeming to hear the frequent comments of his enthusiastic young +wife. That he did hear all that had been said around him as he went, +however, was at last made manifest, for he said,-- + +"Dab, I've seen all the other rooms. Where's yours?" + +"I'm going to let you and Miranda have my room," said Dab. "I don't +think I shall board here long." + +"I don't think you will either," said Ham emphatically. "You're going +away to boarding-school. Miranda, is there any reason why Dab can't have +the south-west room, up stairs, with the bay-window?" + +That room had been Samantha's choice, and she looked at Dab +reproachfully; but Miranda replied,-- + +"No, indeed. Not if you wish him to have it." + +"Now, Ham," said Dabney, "I'm not big enough to fit that room. Give me +one nearer my size. That's a little loose for even Sam, and she can't +take any tucks in it." + +Samantha's look changed to one of gratitude, and she did not notice the +detested nickname. + +"Well, then," said Ham, "we'll see about it. You can sleep in the spare +chamber to-night.--Mother Kinzer, I couldn't say enough about this house +business if I talked all night. It must have cost you a deal of money. I +couldn't have dared to ask it. I guess you must kiss me again." + +A curious thing it was that came next,--one that nobody could have +reckoned on. Mrs. Kinzer--good soul--had set her heart on having Ham and +Miranda's house "ready for them" on their return; and now Ham seemed to +be so pleased about it, she actually began to cry. She said, too,-- + +"I'm so sorry about the barn!" + +Ham only laughed, in his quiet way, as he kissed his portly +mother-in-law, and said,-- + +"Come, come, mother Kinzer, you didn't set it afire. Can't Miranda and I +have some supper? Dab must be hungry, too, after all that +roof-sweeping." + +There had been a sharp strain on the nerves of all of them that day and +evening; and they were glad enough to gather around the tea-table, while +all that was now left of the old barn smouldered peaceably away with +half the boys in the village on guard. + +Once or twice Ham or Dab went out to see that all was dying out rightly; +but it was plain that all the danger was over, unless a high wind should +come to scatter the cinders. + +By this time the whole village had heard of Dab's adventure with the +tramp, and had at once connected the latter with the fire. There were +those, indeed, who expressed a savage wish to connect him with it +bodily; and it was well for him that he had done his running away +promptly, and had hidden himself with care, for men were out after him +in all directions, on foot and on horseback. Who would have dreamed of +so dirty a vagabond "taking to the water"? + +"He's a splendid fellow, anyway!" + +Odd, was it not? but Annie Foster and Jenny Walters were half a mile +apart when they both said that very thing, just before the clock in the +village church hammered out the news that it was ten, and bedtime. They +were not either of them speaking of the tramp. + +It was long after that, however, before the lights were out in all the +rooms of the Morris mansion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DAB HAS A WAKING DREAM, AND HAM GETS A SNIFF OF SEA-AIR. + + +Sleep? One of the most excellent things in all the world, and very few +people get too much of it nowadays. + +As for Dabney Kinzer, he had done his sleeping as regularly and +faithfully as even his eating, up to the very night after Ham Morris +came home to find the old barn afire. There had been a few, a very few, +exceptions. There were the nights when he was expecting to go +duck-shooting before daylight, and waked up at midnight with a strong +conviction that he was late about starting. There were, perhaps, a dozen +of "eeling" expeditions, that had kept him out late enough for a full +basket and a proper scolding. There, too, was the night when he had +stood so steadily by the tiller of "The Swallow," while she danced, +through the dark, across the rough billows of the Atlantic. + +But, on the whole, Dab Kinzer had been a good sleeper all his life till +then. Once in bed, and there had been for him an end of all wakefulness. + +On that particular night, for the first time, sleep refused to come, +late as was the hour when the family circle broke up. + +It could not have been the excitement of Ham and Miranda's return. He +would have gotten over that by this time. No more could it have been the +fire, though the smell of smouldering hay came in pretty strongly at +times through the wide-open windows. If any one patch of that great +roomy bed was better made up for sleeping than the rest of it, Dab would +surely have found the spot; for he tumbled and rolled all over it in his +restlessness. Some fields on a farm will "grow" wheat better than +others, but no part of the bed seemed to grow any sleep. At last Dab got +wearily up, and took a chair by the window. + +The night was dark, but the stars were shining; and every now and then +the wind would make a shovel of itself, and toss up the hot ashes the +fire had left, sending a dull red glare around on the house and barns +for a moment, and flooding all the neighborhood with a stronger smell of +burnt hay. + +"If you're going to burn hay," soliloquized Dabney, "it won't do to take +a barn for a stove. Not that kind of a barn. But what did Ham Morris +mean by saying that I was to go to boarding-school? That's what I'd like +to know" + +The secret was out. + +He had kept remarkably still, for him, all the evening, and had not +asked a question; but, if his brains were ever to work over his books as +they had over Ham's remark, his future chances for sound sleep were all +gone. It had come upon him so suddenly, the very thing he thought about +that night in "The Swallow," and wished for and dreamed about during all +those walks and talks and lessons of all sorts with Ford Foster and +Frank Harley, ever since they came in from that memorable cruise. + +It was a wonderful idea, and Dab had his doubts as to the way his mother +would take to it when it should be brought seriously before her. Little +he guessed the truth. Ham's remark had gone deep into other ears as well +as Dabney's; and there were reasons, therefore, why good Mrs. Kinzer was +sitting by the window of her own room, at that very moment, as little +inclined to sleep as was the boy she was thinking of. So proud of him +too, she was, and so full of bright, motherly thoughts of the man he +would make, "one of these days, when he gets his growth." + +There must have been a good deal of sympathy between Dab and his mother; +for by and by, just as she began to feel drowsy, and muttered, "Well, +well, we'll have a talk about it to-morrow," Dab found himself nodding +against the window-frame, and slowly rose from his chair, remarking,-- + +"Guess I might as well finish that dream in bed. If I'd tumbled out o' +the window I'd have lit among Miranda's rose-bushes. They've got their +thorns all out at this time o' night." + +It was necessary for them both to sleep hard, after that; for more than +half the night was gone, and they were to be up early. So indeed they +were; but what surprised Mrs. Kinzer when she went into the kitchen was +to find Miranda there before her. + +"You here, my dear? That's right. I'll take a look at the milk-room. +Where's Ham?" + +"Out among the stock. Dab's just gone to him." + +Curious things people will do at times. Miranda had put down the +coffee-pot on the range. There was not a single one of the farm "help" +around, male or female; and there stood the blooming young bride, with +her back toward her mother, and staring out through the open door. And +then Mrs. Kinzer slipped forward, and put her arms around her daughter's +neck. + +Well, it was very early in the morning for those two women to stand +there and cry; but it seemed to do them good, and Miranda remarked at +last, as she kissed her mother,-- + +"O mother, it is all so good and beautiful, and I'm so happy!" + +And then they both laughed, in a subdued and quiet way; and Miranda +picked up the coffee-pot while Mrs. Kinzer walked away into the +milk-room. Such cream as there seemed to be on all the pans that +morning! + +As for Ham Morris, his first visit on leaving the house had been to the +relics of the old barn, as a matter of course. + +"Not much of a loss," he said to himself; "but it might have been, but +for Dab. There's the making of a man in him. Wonder if he'd get enough +to eat, if we sent him up yonder? On the whole, I think he would. If he +didn't, I don't believe it would be his fault. He's got to go; and his +mother'll agree to it, I know. Talk about mothers-in-law! If one of +'em's worth as much as she is, I'd like to have a dozen. Don't know +'bout that, though. I'm afraid the rest would have to take back seats as +long as Mrs. Kinzer was in the house." + +Very likely Ham was right; but just then he heard the voice of Dab, +behind him,-- + +"I say, Ham, when you've looked at the other things, I want to show you +'The Swallow.' I haven't hurt her a bit, and her new grapnel's worth +three of the old one." + +"All right, Dab. I think I'd like a sniff of the water. Come on. There's +nothing else I know of like that smell of the shore with the tide half +out." + +No more there is; and there have been sea-shore men, many of them, who +had wandered away into the interior of the country, hundreds and +hundreds of long miles, and settled there, and even got rich and old +there, and yet who have come all the way back again, just to get another +smell of the salt marshes and the sea-air and the out-going tide. + +Ham actually took a little boat, and went on board "The Swallow," when +they reached the landing, and Dab kept close to him. + +"She's all right, Ham. But what are you casting loose for?" + +"Dab, they won't all be ready for breakfast in two hours. The stock and +things can go: the men'll tend to 'em. Just haul on that sheet a bit. +Now the jib. Look out for the boom. There! The wind's a little ahead, +but it isn't bad. Ah!" + +The last word came out in a great sigh of relief, and was followed by a +chuckle which seemed to gurgle all the way up from Ham's boots. + +"This is better than railroading," he said to Dabney, as they tacked +into the long stretch where the inlet widened toward the bay. "No +pounding or jarring here. Talk of your fashionable watering-places! Why, +Dab, there ain't any thing else in the world prettier than that reach of +water and the sand-island, with the ocean beyond it. There's some ducks +and some gulls. Why, Dab, do you see that? There's a porpoise, inside +the bar!" + +It was as clear as daylight that Ham Morris felt himself "at home" +again, and that his brief experience of the outside world had by no +means lessened his affection for the place he was born in. If the entire +truth could have been known, it would have been found that he felt his +heart warm toward the whole coast and all its inhabitants, including the +clams. And yet it was remarkable how many of the latter were mere empty +shells when Ham finished his breakfast that morning. He preferred them +roasted, and his mother-in-law had not forgotten that trait in his +character. + +Once or twice in the course of the sail, Dabney found himself on the +point of saying something about boarding-schools; but each time his +friend broke away to the discussion of other topics, such as blue-fish, +porpoises, crabs, or the sailing qualities of "The Swallow," and Dab +dimly felt that it would be better to wait until another time. So he +waited. + +It was a grand good time, however, to be had before breakfast; and as +they again sailed up the inlet, very happy and very hungry, Dab suddenly +exclaimed,-- + +"Ham, do you see that? How could they have guessed where we'd gone? +There's the whole Kinzer tribe, and the boys are with them, and Annie." + +"What boys and Annie?" + +"Oh! Ford Foster and Frank Harley. Annie is Ford's sister. They live in +our old house, you know." + +"What's become of Jenny?" + +"You mean my boat? There she is, hitched a little out, just beyond the +landing." + +There was nothing on Dab's face to lead any one to suppose that he +guessed the meaning of the quizzical grin on Ham's. + +It is barely possible, however, that there would have been fewer people +at the landing, if Ham and Dab had not been keeping a whole house-full +of hungry mortals, including a bride, waiting breakfast for them. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +HOW DAB WORKED OUT ANOTHER OF HIS GREAT PLANS. + + +There was a sort of council at the breakfast-table of the Foster family +that morning; and Ford and Annie found their side of it "voted down." + +That was not at all because they did not debate vigorously, and even +"protest;" but the odds were too much against them. + +"Annie, my dear," said Mrs. Foster at last, in a gentle but decided way, +"I'm sure your aunt Maria, if not your uncle, must feel hurt at your +coming away so suddenly. If we invite Joe and Foster to visit us, it +will make it all right." + +"Yes," sharply exclaimed Mr. Foster: "we must have them come. They'll +behave themselves here. I'll write to their father: you write to Maria." + +"They're her own boys, you know," added Mrs. Foster soothingly. + +"Well, mother," said Annie, "if it must be. But I'm sure they'll make us +all very uncomfortable if they come." + +"I can stand 'em for a week or so," said Ford, with the air of a man who +can do or bear more than most people. "I'll get Dab Kinzer to help me +entertain them." + +"Excellent," said Mr. Foster; "and I hope they will be civil to him." + +"To Dabney?" asked Annie. + +"Fuz and Joe civil to Dab Kinzer?" exclaimed Ford. + +"Certainly: I hope so." + +"Father," said Ford, "may I say just what I was thinking?" + +"Speak it right out." + +"Well, I was thinking what a good time Fuz and Joe would be likely to +have, trying to get ahead of Dab Kinzer." + +Annie looked at her brother, and nodded; and there was a bit of a +twinkle in the eyes of the lawyer himself, but he only remarked,-- + +"Well, you must be neighborly. I don't believe the Hart boys know much +about the seashore." + +"Dab and Frank and I will try and educate them." + +Annie thought of the ink, and her box of spoiled cuffs and collars, +while her brother was speaking. Could it be that Ford meant a good deal +more than he was saying? At all events, she fully agreed with him on the +Dab Kinzer question. + +That was one "council;" and it was one of peace or war, probably a good +deal as the Hart boys themselves might thereafter determine. + +At the same hour, however, matters of even greater importance were +coming to a decision around the well-filled breakfast-table in the +Morris mansion. Ham had given a pretty full account of his visit to +Grantley, including his dinner at Mrs. Myers's, and all he had learned +relating to the academy. + +"It seems like spending a great deal of money," began Mrs. Kinzer, when +Ham at last paused for breath; but lid caught her up at once, with-- + +"I know you've been paying out a good deal, mother Kinzer, but Dab must +go, if I pay"-- + +"You pay, indeed? For my boy? I'd like to see myself! Now I've found out +what he is, I mean he shall have every advantage. If this Grantley's the +right place"-- + +"Mother," exclaimed Samantha, "it's the very place Mr. Foster is going +to send Ford to, and Frank Harley." + +"Exactly," said Ham; "Mr. Hart spoke of a Mr. Foster,--his +brother-in-law,--a lawyer." + +"Why," said Keziah, "he's living in our old house now. Ford Foster is +Dab's greatest crony. They're the very people you met at the landing." + +"Yes, I've heard all that," said Ham, "but somehow I hadn't put the two +things together. Now, mother Kinzer, do you really mean Dab is to go?" + +"Of course I do," said she. + +"Well, if that isn't doing it easy! Do you know, it's about the nicest +thing I've heard since I got here?" + +"Except the barn," said Dabney, unable to hold in any longer. "Mother, +may I stand on my head a while?" + +"You'll need all the head you've got," said Ham. "You won't have much +time to get ready." + +"He'll have books enough after he gets there," said Mrs. Kinzer +decidedly. "I'll risk Dabney." + +"And they'll make him give up all his slang," added Samantha. + +"Yes, Sam; when I come back I'll talk nothing but Greek and Latin. I'm +getting French now from Ford, and Hindu from Frank Harley. Then I know +English, and slang, and Long-Islandish. Think of one man with seven +first-rate languages!" + +But Dabney soon found himself unable to sit still, even at the +breakfast-table. Not that he got up hungry, for he had done his duty by +Miranda's cookery; but the house itself, big as it was, seemed too small +to hold him, with all his new prospects swelling within him. Perhaps, +moreover, the rest of the family felt that they would be better able to +discuss the important subject before them, after Dab had taken himself +out into the open air; for none of them tried to stay his going. + +"This beats dreaming, all hollow," he said to himself, as he stood, with +his hands in his pockets, half way down to the gate between the two +gardens. "Now I'll see what can be done about that other matter." + +Two plans in one head, and so young a head as that? + +Yes; and it spoke well for Dab's heart, as well as his brains, that his +plan number two was not a selfish one. The substance of it came out in +the first five minutes of the talk he had, a trifle later, with Ford and +Frank, on the other side of the gate. + +"Ford, you know there's twenty dollars left of the money the Frenchman +paid us for the bluefish." + +"Well, what of it? Isn't it yours?" + +"One share of it's mine. The rest is yours and Dick's." + +"He needs it more'n I do." + +"Ford, did you know Dick Lee was real bright?" + +"'Cute little chap as ever I saw. Why?" + +"Well, he ought to go to school." + +"Why don't he go?" + +"He does, except in summer. He might go to the academy, if they'd take +him, and if he had money enough to go with." + +"Academy? What academy?" + +"Why, Grantley, of course. I'm going, and so are you and Frank. Why +shouldn't Dick go?" + +"You're going? Hurrah for that! Why didn't you say so before?" + +"Wasn't sure till this morning. You fellows 'll be a long way ahead of +me, though. But I mean to catch up." + +For a few minutes poor Dick was lost sight of in a perfect storm of +talk; but Dab came back to him, with,-- + +"Dick's folks are dreadful poor, but we might raise it. Twenty dollars +to begin with." + +"I've ten dollars saved up, and I know mother'll say 'Pass it right +in,'" exclaimed Ford. + +It was hardly likely Mrs. Foster would express her assent in precisely +that way; but Frank Harley promptly added,-- + +"I think I can promise five." + +"I mean to speak to Ham Morris and mother about it," said Dab. "All I +wanted was to fix it about the twenty dollars to start on." + +"Frank," shouted Ford, "let's go right in, and see our crowd!" + +Ford was evidently getting a little excited; and it was hardly five +minutes later that he wound up his story, in the house, with,-- + +"Father, may I contribute my ten dollars to the Richard Lee Education +Fund?" + +"Of course; but he will need a good deal more money than you boys can +raise." + +"Why, father, the advertisement says half a year for a hundred and +fifty. He can board for less than we can. Perhaps Mrs. Myers would let +him work out a part of it." + +"I can spare as much as Ford can," here put in Annie. + +"Do you leave me out entirely?" said her mother, with a smile that was +even sweeter than usual. + +As for sharp-eyed lawyer Foster himself, he had been hemming and +coughing in an odd sort of way for a moment, and he had said, "I +declare," several times; but he now remarked, somewhat more to the +purpose,-- + +"I don't believe in giving any man a better education than he will ever +know what to do with; but then, this Dick Lee and you boys,--well, see +what you can do; but no one must be allowed to contribute outside of the +Foster and Kinzer families, and Frank. As for the rest, hem!--ah--I +think I'll say that there won't be any difficulty." + +"You, father?" + +"Why not, Annie? Do you s'pose I'm going to let myself be beaten in such +a matter by a mere country-boy like Dabney Kinzer?" + +"Father," said Ford, "if you'd seen how Dick behaved, that night, out +there on the ocean, in 'The Swallow'!" + +"Just as well, just as well, my son." + +"Hurrah!" shouted Ford. "Then it's all right, and Dick Lee'll have a +fair shake in the world!" + +"A what, my son?" exclaimed his mother. + +"I didn't mean to talk slang, mother: I only meant--well, you know how +dreadfully black he is; but then, he can steer a boat tiptop, and he's +splendid for crabs and bluefish; and Dab says he's a good scholar too." + +"Dab's a very good boy," said Mrs. Foster; "but your friend Dick will +need an outfit, I imagine,--clothing, and almost every thing. I must see +Mrs. Kinzer about it." + +Meantime Dick Lee's part in the matter, and that of his family, had been +taken for granted, all around. An hour later, however, Mrs. Kinzer's +first reply to her son, after listening to a calculation of his, which +almost made it seem as if Dick would make money by going to Grantley, +was,-- + +"What if Mrs. Lee should say she can't spare him?" + +Dab's countenance fell. He knew Mrs. Lee, but he had not thought so far +as that. + +He said something not very intelligible, but to that effect. + +"Well, Dabney, if we can make the other arrangements, I'll see her about +it." + +Ham Morris had been exchanging remarkable winks with Miranda and +Samantha, and now gravely suggested,-- + +"Maybe the academy authorities will refuse to take him." + +"Ford says they had a blacker boy than he is, there, last year." + +"Now, Dab!" exclaimed Ham. + +"Well, I know he's pretty black; but it don't come off." + +"Mother," said Samantha, "Mrs. Foster and Annie are coming through the +gate." + +Dab waited just long enough after that to learn the news concerning the +"Richard Lee Education Fund" and Mr. Foster's offer, and then he was off +towards the shore. + +He knew very well in which direction it was best to go; and, half way to +the landing, he met Dick coming up the road with a basket of eels on his +arm. + +"Dick," shouted Dabney, "I'm going away to boarding-school, at an +academy." + +"'Cad'my? Whar?" + +"Up in New England. They call it Grantley Academy,--where Frank and Ford +are going." + +"Dat spiles it all," said Dick ruefully. "Now I's got to fish wid +fellers 'at don't know nuffin." + +"No, you won't. You're going with us. It's all fixed,--money and all." + +Dick would never have thought, ordinarily, of questioning a statement +made by "Captain Kinzer;" but the rueful expression deepened on his +face, the basket of eels dropped heavily on the grass, the tough black +fingers of his hands twisted nervously together for a moment, and then +he sat mournfully down beside the basket. + +"It ain't no use, Dab." + +"No use? Why not?" + +"I ain't a w'ite boy." + +"What of it? Don't you learn well enough, over at the school?" + +"More dar like me. Wot'd I do in a place whar all de res' was w'ite?" + +"Well as anybody." + +"Wot'll my mudder say, w'en she gits de news? You isn't a-jokin', is +you, Dab Kinzer?" + +"Joking? I guess not." + +"You's lit onto me powerful sudden 'bout dis. Yonder's Ford an' Frank +a-comin'. Don't tell 'em. Not jes' yit." + +"They know all about it. They helped raise the money." + +"Did dey? I's obleeged to 'em. Well, 'tain't no use. All I's good for is +eels and crabs and clams and sech. Har dey come. Oh, my!" + +Ford and Frank brought a fresh gust of enthusiasm with them, and they +had Dick and his eels up from the grass in short order. + +"We must see Mrs. Lee right away," said Ford. "It would never do to let +Dick tell her." + +"Guess dat's so," said Dick. + +Quite an embassy they made, those four boys, with Dab Kinzer for +spokesman, and Dick Lee almost crouching behind them. Mrs. Lee listened +with open mouth while Dab unfolded his plan, but when he had finished +she shut her lips firmly together. They were not very thin, and not at +all used to being shut, and in another instant they opened again. + +"Sho! De boy! Is dat you, Dick? Dat's wot comes ob dressin' on 'im up. +How's he goin' to git clo'es? Wot's he got to do wid de 'Cad'my, anyhow? +Wot am I to do, yer all alone, arter he's gone? Who's goin' to run +err'nds an' do de choahs? Wot's de use ob bringin' up a boy an' den hab +him go trapesin' off to de 'Cad'my? Wot good'll it do 'im?" + +"I tole yer so, Dab," groaned poor Dick. "It ain't no use. I 'most wish +I was a eel!" + +Dabney was on the point of opening a whole broadside of eloquence, when +Ford Foster pinched his arm, and whispered,-- + +"Your mother's coming, and our Annie's with her." + +"Then let's clear out. She's worth a ten-acre lot full of us. Come on, +boys!" + +If Mrs. Lee was surprised by their very sudden and somewhat +unceremonious retreat, she need not have been, after she learned the +cause of it. She stood in wholesome awe of Mrs. Kinzer; and a "brush" +with the portly widow, re-enforced by the sweet face of Annie Foster, +was a pretty serious matter. + +She did not hesitate about beginning the skirmish, however; for her +tongue was already a bit loosened, and in fine working-order. + +"Wot's dis yer, Mrs. Kinzer, 'bout sendin' away my Dick to a furrin +'Cad'my? Isn't he 'most nigh nuff spiled a'ready?" + +"Oh! it's all arranged nicely. Miss Foster and I only came over to see +what we could do about getting his clothes ready. He must have things +warm and nice, for the winters are cold up there." + +"I hasn't said he might go--Dick, put down dem eels; an' he hasn't said +he'd go--Dick, take off yer hat; an' his father"-- + +"Now, Glorianna," interrupted Mrs. Kinzer, calling Dick's mother by her +first name, "I've known you these forty years, and do you suppose I'm +going to argue about it? Just tell us what Dick'll need, and don't let's +have any nonsense. The money's all provided. How do you know what'll +become of him? He may be governor yet." + +"He mought preach!" + +That idea had suddenly dawned upon the perplexed mind of Mrs. Lee, and +Dick's fate was settled. She was prouder than ever of her boy; and, +truth to tell, her opposition was only what Mrs. Kinzer had considered +it, a piece of unaccountable "nonsense," to be brushed away by just such +a hand as the widow's own. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A GRAND SAILING-PARTY, AND AN EXPERIMENT BY RICHARD LEE. + + +That was a great day for the boys; but, before the close of it, Ford +Foster had told his friends the news that Joe Hart and his brother Fuz +had been invited to visit with him. + +"Will they come?" asked Dab. + +"Certainly. That kind of boy always comes. Nobody wants to keep him from +coming." + +"When do you look for them?" + +"Right away. Vacation's almost gone, you know." + +"Won't they be ashamed to meet your sister?" + +"Not a bit. They'll try their tricks, even after they get here." + +"All right. We'll help 'em all we know how. But, boys, I'll tell you +what we must try for." + +"What's that?" + +"One grand good sailing-party in 'The Swallow,' before they get here." + +"Hurrah for that! Annie was wishing for one, only yesterday." + +"We'll have all of your folks and all of ours. 'The Swallow' is plenty +big enough." + +"Mother wouldn't go, and father can't just now. He's trying a case. But +there's Annie and Frank and me"-- + +"And my mother, and Ham and Miranda, and our girls. Ham'll go, sure. +Then we must take Dick Lee along. It'd make him sick if we didn't." + +"Of course. Ain't I glad about him! Could we get ready and go +to-morrow?" + +"Guess not so quick as that. We might by the day after, if the weather's +all right." + +Exactly. There is always a large-sized "if" to be put in, where any +thing depends on the weather, Mrs. Kinzer took the matter up with +enthusiasm, and so did the girls, Miranda included; and Ford Foster was +quite right about his part of the company. + +But the weather! + +It looked well enough, to unpractised eyes; but Ham Morris shook his +head, and went to consult his fishermen friends. There was a good deal +of head-shaking done thereupon; for every human barometer among them +advised him to wait a day or so, and hardly any two of them gave him the +same reason for doing it. + +Ford Foster was at the house when Ham made his report, and was a little +surprised to see how promptly Dab Kinzer yielded his assent to the +verdict. + +"Such warm, nice weather as this is," he remonstrated; "and there isn't +any wind to speak of." + +"There's too much of it coming," was Ham's response; and there was no +help for it after that, not even when the mail brought word from "Aunt +Maria" that both of her dear boys would arrive in a day or two. + +"Our last chance is gone, Annie," said Ford, when the news came. + +"O mother!" she said despondingly, "what shall we do?" + +"Have your sail, just the same, and invite your cousins." + +"But the Kinzers"-- + +"Why, Annie! Mrs. Kinzer will not think of neglecting them. She's as +kind as kind can be." + +"And we are to pay her with Joe and Fuz," said Ford. "Well, I wish Ham +Morris's storm would come along." + +He only had to wait until the next day for it, and he felt quite +contented to be safe on shore while it lasted. There was no call for any +laughter at the prophecies of the fishermen after it began to blow. +Still the blow was not a long one, and Ham Morris remarked,-- + +"This is only an outside edge of it. It's a good deal worse than this +out at sea. I'm glad we're not out in it." + +Ford Foster thought that about the worst of that weather was when the +afternoon train came in, and he had to show a pair of tired, moist, and +altogether unpleasant cousins to the room set apart for them. The clouds +in his mind did not clear away perceptibly even when, just after supper, +a note came in from Mrs. Kinzer, inviting the Hart boys to join the +yachting-party next morning. + +"The storm may not be over," growled Ford a little sulkily. + +"Oh!" said Annie, "Mrs. Kinzer adds that the weather will surely be fine +after such a blow, and the bay will be quite safe and smooth." + +"Does she know the clerk of the weather?" asked Joe Hart. + +"Got one of her own," said Ford. + +Joe and Ford both found something to laugh at in that, but they said +nothing. They were both feeling a little "strange," as yet, and were +almost inclined to try and behave themselves; the main difficulty in the +way of it being a queer idea they had that their ordinary way of doing +things made up a fair article of "good behavior." Nobody had taken the +pains to bounce them out of the notion. + +When the morning really came, sea and earth and sky seemed to be all the +better for the trial they had been through, and the weather was all that +Mrs. Kinzer had prophesied of it. The grass and trees were greener, and +the bay seemed bluer; while the few clouds visible were very white and +clean, as if all the storms had been recently washed out of them. + +There was no question now to be raised concerning the yachting-party, or +any part of it. Not a single thing went wrong in Mrs. Kinzer's +management of the "setting out," and that was half the day won to begin +with. Ford had some difficulty in getting Joe and Fuz out of bed so +early as was necessary; but he gave them an intimation which proved +quite sufficient:-- + +"You'd better hop, boys. Ham Morris wouldn't wait five minutes for the +Queen of England, or even for me." + +"Joe," whispered Fuz, a little while after they got on board the yacht, +"are we to be gone a week?" + +"Why? What's up?" + +"Such piles of provisions as they've stowed away in that kennel!" + +The bit of a water-tight cabin under the half-deck, at which Fuz +pointed, was pretty well filled, beyond a doubt; but Mrs. Kinzer knew +what she was about. She had provided luncheon for most of that party +before, and the effect on them of the sea-air was also to be taken into +account. + +"Dab," said Ford Foster, "you've forgotten to unhitch the 'Jenny,' Here +she is, towing astern." + +"That's all right. We may need her. She's too heavy to be taken on +board." + +A careful fellow was Mr. Hamilton Morris, and he well knew the value of +a rowboat to a sea-going picnic-party. As for Joe and Fuz, they were +compelled to overcome a strong inward inclination to cast the boat +loose. Such a good joke it would have been! But Ham Morris was in the +way of it, so long as he stood at the tiller. + +"The Swallow" was steady enough to inspire even Annie Foster with a +feeling of confidence; but Ford carefully explained to her the +difference between slipping over the little waves of the landlocked bay, +and plunging into the gigantic billows of the stormy Atlantic. + +"I prefer this," said Annie. + +"But I wouldn't have missed the other for any thing," replied Ford. +"Would you, Dick?" + +Mr. Richard Lee had taken his full share in the work of starting, and +had made himself singularly useful; but, if all the rest had not been so +busy, they would surely have noticed his remarkable silence. Hardly a +word had he uttered that anybody could remember; and, now he was forced +to say something, his mouth opened slowly, as if he had never tried to +speak before, and was not quite sure he knew how. + +"No--Mr.--Foster,--I--would--not--have--missed--that--trip--for--a--good +--deal." + +Every word came out by itself, "afoot and alone," and as different from +Dick's ordinary speech as a cut stone is from a rough one. Ham Morris +opened his eyes wide, and Ford puckered his lips into the shape of a +still whistle; but Annie caught the meaning of it quicker than they did. + +"Dick," she said at once, "are we to fish to-day?" + +"May--be,--but--that--depends--on--Mr. Morris." + +Every word was slowly and carefully uttered, a good deal in the manner +of a man counting over a lot of money, and looking out sharp for +counterfeits. + +"Look here, Dick," suddenly exclaimed Dab Kinzer, "I give it up: you can +do it. But don't you try to keep it up all day. Kill you, sure as any +thing, if you do." + +"Did I say 'em all right, Cap'n Dab?" anxiously inquired Dick, with a +happy look on his merry black face. + +"Every word," said Dab; "but it's well for you they were all short. Keep +on practising." + +"I'll jes' do dat, shuah!" + +Practising? Dick? + +Yes, that was it; and he joined heartily in the peal of laughter with +which the success of his first attempt at "w'ite folks' English" was +received by that party. + +Dab explained, that, as soon as Dick found he was really to go to the +academy, he determined to teach his tongue new habits; and the whole +company heartily approved, even while they joined Dab in advising him +not to attempt too much at a time. + +"You might sprain your tongue over a big word," said Ford. + +There was an abundance of talk and fun all around, as "The Swallow" +skimmed onward; and the outlines of the long, low sand-island were +rapidly becoming more distinct. + +Nearer they drew, and nearer. + +"Is that a light-house, away over there?" asked Annie of Dab. + +"Yes, that's a light-house; and there's a wrecking-station, close down +by it." + +"A wrecking-station?" + +"I say," said Ford, "are there men there all the while? Are there many +wrecks on this coast?" + +"Ever so many wrecks," said Dab, "and they keep a sharp lookout. There +used to be more before there were so many light-houses. It was a bad +place to go ashore in, too,--almost as bad as Jersey." + +"Why?" + +"Well, the coast itself is mean enough, for shoals and surf; and then +there were the wreckers." + +"Oh! I understand," said Ford. "Not the Government men." + +"No, the old sort. It was a bad enough piece of luck to be driven in on +that bar, or another like it; but the wreckers made it as much worse as +they knew how to." + +They were all listening now, even his sisters; and Dabney launched out +into a somewhat highly-colored description of the terrors of the +Long-Island "south shore," in old times and new, and of the character +and deeds of the men who were formerly the first to find out if any +thing or anybody had been driven ashore. + +"What a prize to them that French steamer would have been!" said Annie; +"the one you and Ford took Frank from." + +"No, she wouldn't. Why, she wasn't wrecked at all. She only stuck her +nose in the sand, and lay still till the tugs came and pulled her off. +That isn't a wreck. A wreck is where the ship is knocked to pieces, and +people are drowned, and all that sort of thing. The crew can't help +themselves, after that. Then, you see, the wreckers have a notion that +every thing that comes ashore belongs to them. Why, I've heard some of +our old fishermen--best kind of men too--talk of how Government has +robbed them of their rights." + +"By the new system?" said Annie. + +"Well, first by having wrecks prevented, and then by having all property +kept for the owners." + +"Isn't that strange! Did you say they were good men?" + +"Some of 'em. Honest as the day is long about every thing else. But they +weren't all so. There was old Peter, now, and he lives on the island +yet. There's his cabin. You can just see it sticking out of the edge of +that big sand-hill." + +"What a queer thing it is!" + +"Queer? I guess you'd say so, if you could have a look at the things +he's picked up along shore, and stowed inside of it. There isn't but +just room for him to cook and sleep in." + +"Is he a fisherman too?" + +"Why, that's his trade. Sometimes the storms drift the sand high all +over that cabin, and old Pete has to dig it out again. He gets snowed +under two or three times every winter." + +Annie Foster, and probably some of the others, were getting new ideas +concerning the sea-coast and its inhabitants, every minute; and she felt +a good deal like Dick Lee,--she "wouldn't have missed that trip for any +thing." + +They were now coasting along the island, at no great distance; and, +although it was not nearly noon, Dabney heard Joe Hart say to his +brother,-- + +"Never was so hungry in all my life. Glad they did lay in a good stock +of provisions." + +"So am I," returned Fuz; and he added in a whisper, + +"Isn't there any way for us to get into that cabin?" + +Joe shook his head. There was not the slightest chance for any small +piracy to be worked on that craft, so long as Mrs. Kinzer remained the +"stewardess" of it; and the two hungry boys were compelled to wait her +motions. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A WRECK AND SOME WRECKERS. + + +Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the bay and +the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds of +sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere did +it show a tree, or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster found +herself getting melancholy, as she gazed upon it, and thought of how the +winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain and +hail, or with the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter. + +"Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and +yesterday?" + +"Worse than it was over on our side of the bay, ten times." + +"Were there any vessels wrecked?" + +"Most likely, but it's too soon to know just where." + +At that moment "The Swallow" was running around a sandy point, jutting +out into the bay from the foot of the highest mound on the bar, not half +a mile from the light-house, and only twice as far from the low wooden +roof of the "wrecking-station," where, as Dab had explained to his +guests, the lifeboats and other apparatus of all sorts were kept safely +housed. The piles of drifted sand had for some time prevented the +brightest eyes on board "The Swallow" from seeing any thing to seaward; +but now, as they came around the point and a broad level lay before +them, Ham Morris sprang to his feet in sudden excitement, as he +exclaimed,-- + +"In the breakers! Why, she must have been a three-master! It's all up +with her now." + +"Look along the shore!" shouted Dab. "Some of 'em saved, anyhow. The +coast-men are there, too, life-boats and all." + +So they were; and Ham was right about the vessel, though not a mast was +left standing in her now. If there had been, indeed, she might have been +kept off the breakers, as they afterwards learned. She had been +dismasted in the storm, but had not struck until after daylight that +morning, and help had been close at hand and promptly given. There was +no such thing as saving that unfortunate hull. She would beat to pieces +just where she lay, sooner or later, according to the kind of weather +that might take the job in hand, and the size and force of the waves it +should bring with it. + +The work done already by the life-boat men had been a good one; and it +had not been very easy, either, for they had brought the crew and +passengers safely through the boiling surf, and landed them all upon the +sandy beach. They had even saved for them some items of baggage. In a +few hours the coast "wrecking-tugs" would be on hand to look out for the +cargo. There was therefore no chance for the 'long-shore men to turn an +honest penny without working hard for it. Work and wages enough there +would be, to be sure, helping to unload, whenever the sea, now so heavy, +should go down a little; but "work" and "wages" were not the precise +things some of them were most hungry for. + +Two of them, at all events,--one a tall, grizzled, weather-beaten, +stoop-shouldered old man, in tattered raiment, and the other more +battered still, but with no "look of the sea" about him,--stood on a +sand-drift, gloomily gazing at the group of shipwrecked people on the +shore, and the helpless mass of timber and spars out there among the +beatings of the surf. + +"Not more'n three hunder' yards out She'd break up soon, 'f there was no +one to hender. Wot a show we'd hev!" + +"I reckon," growled the shorter man. "'S your name Peter?" + +"Ay. I belong yer. Allers lived 'bout high-water mark. Whar'd ye come +from?" + +The only answer was a sharp and excited exclamation. Neither of them had +been paying any attention to the bay side of the bar; and, while they +were gazing at the wreck, a very pretty little yacht had cast anchor, +close in shore; and then, with the help of a rowboat, quite a party of +ladies and gentlemen--the latter somewhat young-looking for the greater +part--had made their way to the land, and were now hurrying forward. +They did not pay the slightest attention to Peter and his companion, but +in a few minutes more they were trying to talk to those poor people on +the seaward beach. Trying, but not succeeding very well; for the wreck +had been a Bremen bark, with an assorted cargo and some fifty +passengers, all emigrants. German seemed to be their only tongue, and +none of Mrs. Kinzer's pleasure-party spoke German. + +"Too bad," Ford Foster was saying about it, when there came a sort of +wail from a group at a little distance, and it seemed to close with,-- + +"_Pauvre enfant!_" + +"French!" exclaimed Ford. "Why, they look as Dutch as any of the rest. +Come on, Annie, let's try and speak to them." + +The rest followed, a good deal like a flock of sheep; and it was a sad +enough scene that lay before them. No lives had been lost in the wreck; +but there had been a good deal of suffering among the poor passengers, +cooped up between decks, with the hatches closed, while the storm +lasted. Nobody drowned, indeed; but all had been dreadfully soaked in +the surf in getting ashore, and among the rest had been the fair-haired +child, now lying there on his mother's lap, so pinched and blue, and +seemingly so nearly lifeless. + +French, were they? + +Yes and no; for the father, a tall, stout young man, who looked like a +farmer, told Ford they were from Alsace, and spoke both languages. + +"The child, was it sick?" + +Not so much "sick" as dying of starvation and exposure. Oh, such a sad, +pleading look as the poor mother lifted to the moist eyes of Mrs. +Kinzer, when the portly widow pushed forward and bent over the silent +boy! Such a pretty child he must have been, and not over two years old; +but the salt water was in his tangled curls now, and his poor lips were +parted in a weak, sick way, that told of utter exhaustion. + +"Can any thing be done, mother?" + +"Yes, Dabney, there can. You and Ham and Ford and Frank go to the yacht, +quick as you can, and bring the spirit-heater, lamp and all, and bread +and milk, and every dry napkin and towel you can find. Bring Keziah's +shawl." + +Such quick time they made across that sand-bar! + +They were none too soon, either; for, as they came running down to their +boat a mean-looking, slouching sort of fellow walked rapidly away from +it. + +"He was going to steal it!" + +"Can't go for him now, Dab; but you'll have to mount guard here, while +we go back with the things." + +There was a good deal of the "guard mounted" look in Dab's face, when +they left him, a few minutes later, standing there by the boat, and he +had one of the oars in his hand. An oar is almost as good a club as the +lower joint of a fishing-rod, and that was exactly the thought in Dab's +mind. + +Ham and Frank and Ford hurried back to the other beach, to find that +Mrs. Kinzer had taken complete possession of that baby. Every rag of his +damp things was already stripped off; and now, while Miranda lighted the +"heater," and made some milk hot in a minute, the good lady began to rub +the little sufferer as only an experienced mother knows how. + +Then there was a warm wrapping-up in cloths and shawls, and better +success than anybody had dreamed of in making the seemingly half-dead +child eat something. + +"That was about all the matter with him," said Mrs. Kinzer. "Now, if we +can get him and his mother over to the house, we can save both of them. +Ford, how long did you say it was since they'd eaten any thing?" + +"About three days, they say." + +"Mercy on me! And that cabin of ours holds so little! Glad it's full, +anyhow. Let's get every thing out and over here, right away." + +"The cabin?" + +"No, Hamilton, the provisions." + +Not a soul among them all thought of their own lunch, any more than Mrs. +Kinzer herself did; but Joe and Fuz were not among them just then. On +the contrary, they were over there by the shore, where the "Jenny" had +been pulled up, trying to get Dab Kinzer to put them on board "The +Swallow." + +"Somebody ought to be on board of her," said Fuz, in as anxious a tone +as he could assume, "with so many strange people around." + +"It isn't safe," added Joe. + +"Fact," replied Dab; "but then, I kind o' like to feel a little unsafe." + +The Hart boys had a feeling, at that moment, that somehow or other Dab +knew why they were so anxious to go on board; and they were right +enough, for he was saying to himself, "They can wait. They do look +hungry, but they'll live through it. There ain't any cuffs or collars in +Ham's locker." + +All there was then in the locker was soon out of it, after Mrs. Kinzer +and the rest came, for they brought with them the officers of the +wrecked bark; and neither Joe nor Fuz had an opportunity to so much as +"help distribute" that supply of provisions. Ham went over to see that +the distribution should be properly made; while Mrs. Kinzer saw her +little patient, with his father and mother, safely stowed on board "The +Swallow." + +"I'll save that baby, anyhow," she said to Miranda; "and Ford says his +father's a farmer. We can find plenty for 'em to do. They'll never see a +thing of their baggage, and I guess they hadn't a great deal." + +She was just the woman to guess correctly about such a matter. + +At that moment Dabney was saying to Annie Foster,-- + +"Whom do you guess I've seen to-day?" + +"I can't guess. Who was it?" + +"The tramp!" + +"The same one?" + +"The very same. There he goes, over the sandhill yonder, with old Peter +the wrecker. We've got to hurry home now, but I'm going to set Ham +Morris on his track before we get through." + +"You'll never find him again." + +"Do you s'pose old Peter'd befriend a man that did what he did? Right on +the shore of the bay? No, indeed! There isn't a fisherman from here to +Montauk, that wouldn't join to hunt him out. He's safe to be found +whenever Ham wants him, if we don't scare him away now." + +"Don't scare him, then," almost whispered Annie. + +The wind was fair; and the home sail of "The Swallow" was really a swift +and short one, but it did seem dreadfully long to her passengers. + +Mrs. Kinzer was anxious to see that poor baby and his mother safely in +bed. Ham wanted to send a whole load of refreshments back to the +shipwrecked people. Dab Kinzer could not keep his thoughts from +following that "tramp." And then, if the truth must come out, every soul +on board the beautiful little yacht was getting more and more painfully +aware with every minute that passed, that they had had a good deal of +sea-air and excitement, and a splendid sail across the bay, but no +dinner,--not so much as a red herring and a cracker. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +DAB AND HIS FRIENDS TURN THEMSELVES INTO COOKS AND WAITERS. + + +As for the Kinzers, that was by no means their first experience in such +matters; but none of their friends had ever before been so near an +out-and-out shipwreck. + +It is quite possible, moreover, that they had never before been so +nearly starved as they were that day. At least, something to that effect +was remarked by Joe Hart and Fuz, more than a dozen times apiece, while +"The Swallow" was threading the crooked inlet, and making her way to the +landing. + +"Ham," said Dab, "are you going right back again?" + +"Course I am,--soon as I can get a load of eatables together, from the +house and the village. You'll have to stay here." + +"Why can't I go with you?" + +"Plenty for you to do at the house and around while I'm gone. No, you +can't go." + +Dab seemed to have expected as much; for he turned to Ford with,-- + +"Then, Ford, I'll tell you what we must do." + +"What's that?" + +"We must see about the famine. Can you cook?" + +"No." + +"I can, then. Ham'll have one half of our house at work getting his +cargo ready, and that baby'll fill up the other half." + +"Mother won't be expecting us so soon, and our cook's gone out for the +day. Annie knows something." + +"She can help me, then. Those Hart boys'll die if they're not fed pretty +soon. Look at Fuz. Why, he can't keep his mouth shut." + +Joe and his brother seemed to know as if by instinct that the dinner +question was under discussion, and they were soon taking at least their +share of the talk. Oh, how they did wish it had been a share of +something to eat, instead! + +"The Swallow" was carefully moored, after discharging her passengers; +but Dab did not start for the house with his mother and the rest. He +even managed to detain some of the empty lunch-baskets, large ones too. + +"Come on, Mr. Kinzer," shouted Joe Hart. "Let's put for the village. +We'll starve here." + +"A fellow that'll starve here, just deserves to, that's all," said +Dabney. "Ford, there's Bill Lee's boat and three others coming in. We're +all right. One of 'em's a dredger." + +Ford and Frank could only guess what their friend was up to, but Dab was +not doing any sort of guessing. + +"Bill," he shouted, as Dick Lee's father came within hearing,--"Bill! +put a lot of your best panfish in this basket, and then go and fetch us +some lobsters. There's half a dozen in your pot. Did those others have +any luck?" + +"More clams'n 'ysters," responded Bill. + +"Then we'll take both lots." + +The respect of the city boys for the resources of the Long-Island shore +in a time of famine began to rise rapidly a few moments later; for, not +only was one of Dab's baskets promptly laden with "panfish," such as +porgies, blackfish, and perch, but two others received all the clams and +oysters they were at all anxious to carry to the house. At the same time +Bill Lee offered, as an amendment on the lobster question,-- + +"Yer wrong 'bout de pot, Dab." + +"Wrong? Why"-- + +"Yes, you's wrong. Glorianny's been an' biled ebery one on 'em, an' +dey're all nice an' cold by dis time." + +"All right. I never did eat my lobsters raw. Just you go and get them, +Dick. Bring 'em right over to Ford's house." + +Bill Lee would have sent his house and all, on a suggestion that the +Kinzers or the Fosters were in need of it; and Dick would have carried +it over for him. + +As for "Glorianna," when her son came running in with his errand, she +exclaimed,-- + +"Dem lobsters? Sho! Dem ain't good nuff. Dey sha'n't have 'em. I'll jes' +send de ole man all roun' de bay to git some good ones. On'y dey isn't +no kine ob lobsters good nuff for some folks, dey isn't." + +Dick insisted, however; and by the time he reached the back door of the +old Kinzer homestead with his load, the kitchen beyond that door had +become almost as busy a place as was that of Mrs. Miranda Morris, a few +rods away. + +"Ford," suddenly exclaimed Dab, as he finished scaling a large porgy, +"what if mother should make a mistake!" + +"Make a mistake! How?" + +"Cook that baby. It's awful!" + +"Why, its mother's there." + +"Yes, but they've put her to bed, and its father too. Hey, here come the +lobsters. Now, Ford"-- + +The rest of what he had to say was given in a whisper, and was not even +heard by Annie Foster, who was just then looking prettier than ever, as +she busied herself around the kitchen-fire. The bloom that was coming up +into her face was a sight worth seeing. As for the Hart boys, Mrs. +Foster had invited them to come into the parlor and talk with her until +dinner should be ready. She added, with her usual smile, that there were +cooks enough in the kitchen. + +Such a frying and broiling! + +Before Ham Morris was ready with his cargo for his trip back to the +wreck, and right in the midst of his greatest hurry, word came over from +Mrs. Foster that "the table was waiting for them all." + +Even Mrs. Kinzer drew a long breath of relief and satisfaction. There +was nothing more in the wide world that she could do, just then, for +either "that baby" or its unfortunate parents; and she was beginning to +worry about her son-in-law, and how she should manage to get him to eat +something. For Ham Morris had worked himself into a high state of +excitement, in his benevolent haste, and did not seem to know that he +was hungry. Miranda had entirely sympathized with her husband until the +arrival of that message from Mrs. Foster. + +"O Hamilton! And good Mrs. Foster must have cooked it all herself!" + +"No, Miranda," said Ham thoughtfully. "Our Dabney went home with Ford +and Annie. I can't stay more than a minute, but I think we'd better go +right over. There's a good many things to come yet, from the village." + +Go they did; while the charitable neighbors whom Ham had stirred up +concerning the wreck, attended to the completion of the cargo of "The +Swallow." More than that was true; for at least one other good and +kind-hearted boat would be ready to accompany her on her return trip +across the bay, laden with creature comforts of all sorts. + +Even old Jock, the village tavern-keeper, not by any means the best man +in the world, had come waddling down to the landing with a demijohn of +old "apple-brandy;" and his gift had been kindly accepted, by the +special advice of the village physician. + +"That sort of thing has made plenty of shipwrecks around here," said the +man of medicine; "and the people on the bar have swallowed so much salt +water, the apple-jack can't hurt 'em." + +Maybe the doctor was wrong about it; but the demijohn went over to the +wreck in "The Swallow," very much to the gratification of old Jock. + +Mrs. Foster's dining-room was not a large one: there were no large rooms +in that house. Nevertheless, the entire party managed to gather around +the table,--all except Dab and Ford. + +"Dab is head cook, and I'm head waiter," had been Ford's explanation. +"Frank and the boys are company." + +Certainly the cook had no cause to be ashamed of his work. The coffee +was excellent. The fish was done to a turn. The oysters, roasted, +broiled, or stewed, and likewise the clams, were all that could have +been asked of them. Bread there was in abundance; and all things were +going finely, till Mrs. Kinzer asked her son, as his fire-red face +showed itself at the kitchen-door,-- + +"Dabney, you've not sent in your vegetables. We're waiting for them." + +Dab's face grew redder, and he came near dropping a plate he held in his +hand. + +"Vegetables? Oh, yes! Well, Ford, we might as well send them in now. +I've got them all ready." + +Annie opened her eyes, and looked hard at her brother; for she knew very +well that not so much as a potato had been thought of in their +preparations. Ford himself looked a little queer; but he marched right +out, white apron and all. A minute or so later the two boys came in +again, each bearing aloft a huge platter. + +One of these was solemnly deposited at each end of the table. + +"Vegetables?" + +"Why--they're lobsters!" + +"O Ford! how could you?" + +The last exclamation came from Annie Foster, as she clapped her hands +over her face. Bright-red were those lobsters, and fine-looking fellows, +every one of them, in spite of Mrs. Lee's poor opinion; but they were a +little too well dressed, even for a dinner-party. Their thick shoulders +were adorned with collars of the daintiest material and finish, while +every ungainly "flipper" wore a "cuff" which had been manufactured for a +different kind of wrist. + +There were plenty of cuffs and collars, and queer enough the lobsters +looked in them. All the queerer because every item of lace and linen was +variegated with huge black spots and blotches, as if some one had begun +to wash it in ink. + +Joe and Fuz were almost as red as the lobsters; and Mrs. Foster's face +looked as severe as it could, but that is not saying a great deal. The +Kinzer family knew all about those cuffs and collars, and Ham Morris and +the younger ladies were trying hard not to laugh. + +"Joe," said Fuz snappishly, "can't you take a joke? Annie's got the +laugh on us this time." + +"I?" exclaimed Annie indignantly: "no, indeed! That's some of Ford's +work, and Dabney's.--Mr. Kinzer, I'm ashamed of you." + +Poor Dab! + +He muttered something about those being all the vegetables he had, and +retreated to the kitchen. + +Joe and Fuz, however, were not of the sort that take offence easily; and +they were shortly helping themselves quite liberally to lobster, cuffs +or no cuffs. That was all that was necessary to restore harmony at the +table, but Dab's plan for "punishing the Hart boys" was a complete +failure. + +As Ford told him afterwards: + +"Feel it? Not they. You might as well try to hurt a clam with a pin." + +"And I hurt your sister's feelings instead of theirs," said Dab. "Well, +I'll never try any thing like it again. Anyhow, Joe and Fuz ain't +comfortable they ate too many roasted clams and a good deal too much +lobster." + +There was a certain degree of consolation to be had from such a fact as +that. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE REAL MISSION OF THE JUG. + + +Ham Morris ate well, when he once got at it; but he did not linger long +at the dinner-table, for his heart was in "The Swallow." Dab would have +given more than ever for the privilege of going with him. Not that he +felt so dreadfully charitable, but that he did not care to prolong his +stay at Mrs. Foster's, as "cook" or otherwise. He had not by any means +lost his appetite,--although he seemed disposed to neglect the lobsters; +and when he had taken proper care of it he hurried away "on an errand +for his mother," in the direction of the village. Nearly everybody he +met had some question or other to ask him about the wreck, and it was +not to have been expected that Jenny Walters would let her old +acquaintance pass her without a word or so. + +Dab answered as well as he could, considering the disturbed state of his +mind; but he wound up with,-- + +"Jenny, I wish you'd come over to our house by and by." + +"What for?" + +"Oh! I've got something to show you--something you never saw before." + +"Do you mean your new baby? the one you found on the bar?" + +"Yes, but that baby, Jenny!" + +"What's wonderful about it?" + +"Why, it's only two years old, and it can squall in two languages. +That's a good deal more than you can do." + +"They say your friend, Miss. Foster, speaks French," retorted Jenny. +"Was she ever shipwrecked?" + +"In French? May be so; but not in German." + +"Well, Dabney, I don't propose to squall in any thing. Are your folks +going to burn any more of their barns this year?" + +"Not unless Samantha gets married. Jenny, do you know what's the latest +fashion in lobsters?" + +"Changeable green, I suppose." + +"No: I mean after they're boiled. It's to have 'em come on the table in +cuffs and collars. Lace around their necks, you know." + +"And gloves?" + +"No, not any gloves. We had lobsters to-day, at Mrs. Foster's, and you +ought to have seen 'em." + +"Dabney Kinzer, it's time you went to school again." + +"I'm going, in a few days." + +"Going? Do you mean you're going away somewhere?" + +"Ever so far; and Dick Lee's going with me." + +"I heard about him, but I didn't know he meant to take you along. That's +very kind of Dick. I s'pose you won't speak to common people when you +get back." + +"Now, Jenny"-- + +"Good-afternoon, Dabney. Perhaps I'll come over before you go, if it's +only to take a look at that shipwrecked baby." + +A good many of Mrs. Kinzer's lady friends, young and old, deemed it +their duty to come and do that very thing within the next few days. Then +the sewing-circle took the matter up, and both the baby and its mother +were provided for as they never had been before. It would have taken +more languages than two, to fairly express the gratitude of the poor +Alsatians. As for the rest of them, out there on the bar, they were +speedily taken off, and carried to "the city," none of them being +seriously the worse for their sufferings, after all. Ham Morris declared +that the family he had brought ashore "came just in time to help him out +with his fall work, and he didn't see any charity in it." + +Good for Ham! + +It was the right way to feel about it, but Dab Kinzer thought he could +see something in it that looked like "charity" when he met his tired-out +brother-in-law on his late return from that second trip across the bay. + +Real charity never cares to make an exhibition of itself. + +They were pretty thoroughly worn out, both of them; but they carefully +moored "The Swallow" in her usual berth before they left her. + +She had effectually "discharged her cargo," over on the sand-island; but +they Had enough of a load to carry home, in the shape of empty baskets +and things of that sort. + +"Is every thing out of the locker, Dab?" inquired Ham. + +"All but the jug. I say, did you know it was nearly half full? Would it +do any hurt to leave it here?" + +"The jug? No, not if you just pour out the rest of the apple-jack over +the side." + +"Make the fish drunk." + +"Well, it sha'n't do that for anybody else, if I can help it." + +"Well, if it's good for water-soaked people, I guess it can't hurt the +fish." + +"Empty it, Dab. Empty it, and come along. The doctor wasn't so far +wrong, and I was glad to have it with me. Seemed to do some of 'em a +power of good. But medicine's medicine, and I only wish some people I +know of would remember it." + +"Some of 'em do a good deal of that kind of doctoring." + +The condemned liquor was already gurgling from the mouth of the demijohn +into the salt water, and neither fish nor eel came forward to get a +share of it. They were probably all feeling pretty well that night. When +the demijohn was empty and the cork replaced, it was set down again in +the "cabin;" and that was left unlocked, for there was no more danger in +it for anybody. Dab and Ham were altogether too tired to take any pains +there was no call for. + +Dab's mind must have been tired, as well as his body; for he decided to +postpone until the morrow the report he had to make about the tramp. He +was strongly of the opinion that the latter had not seen him to +recognize him; and, at all events, the matter could wait. + +So it came to pass that all the shore, and the road that led away from +it, and the village the road led into, were deserted and silent, an hour +or so later, when a stoutly-built "cat-boat," with her one sail lowered, +was quietly sculled up the inlet. + +There were two men on board, a tall one and a shorter one; and they ran +their boat right alongside "The Swallow," as if that were the precise +thing they had come to do. + +"Burgin," remarked the tall man, "wot ef we don't find any thin', arter +all this sailin' and rowin' and scullin'? Most likely he's kerried it to +the house. In course he has." + +The keenly watchful eyes of Burgin had noted the arrival of that +apple-jack at the island; and they had closely followed its fortunes, +from first to last. He had more than half tried, indeed, to work himself +in among the crowd, as one of the "sufferers," but with no manner of +success. + +The officers of the ship knew every face that had any right to a +spoonful, and Burgin's failed to pass him. He had not failed, however, +to note that his coveted "medicine" was by no means exhausted, and to +see Ham stow the demijohn carefully away, at last, under the half-deck +of "The Swallow." That information had given all the inducement required +to get old Peter and his boat across the bay; and the ancient "wrecker" +was as anxious about the result as the tramp himself could be. It was +hard to say, now, which of them was the first on board "The Swallow." + +"It ain't locked!" + +"Then the jug ain't thar." + +"Wall, it is," exclaimed Burgin triumphantly, as he pulled it out; but +his under jaw dropped a little when he felt "how light it lifted." + +"Reckon they helped themselves on thar way hum." + +It was a good deal worse than that; and an angry and disappointed pair +were they when the cork and the truth came out. + +"Thar's jest a good smell!" + +That was old Peter's remark; and it sounded as if words failed him to +add to it, but Burgin's wrath exploded in a torrent of bitter abuse of +the man or men who had emptied that demijohn. He gave old Peter a +capital chance to turn upon him morosely with,-- + +"Look a-yer, my chap, is this 'ere your boat?" + +"No: I didn't say it was, did I?" + +"Is that there your jug? I don't know if I keer to sit and hear one of +my neighbors--and he's a good feller too, he is--abused all night, jest +bekase I've been and let an entire stranger make a fool of me." + +"Do you mean me?" + +"Well, ef I didn't I wouldn't say it. Don't you git mad, now. It won't +pay ye. Jest let's take a turn 'round the village." + +"You kin go ef you want ter. I'll wait for ye. 'Pears like I didn't feel +much like doin' any trampin' 'round." + +"Stay thar, then. But mind you don't try on any runnin' away with my +boat." + +"If I want a boat, old man, there's plenty here that's better worth +stealin' than yourn." + +"That's so. I didn't know you'd been makin' any kalkilation on it. I +won't be gone any great while." + +He was gone some time, however, whatever may have been his errand. Old +Peter was not the man to be at a loss for one, of some sort, even at +that hour of the night; and his present business, perhaps, did not +particularly require company. + +When he returned at last, he found his own boat safe enough, and he +really could not tell if any of the others had walked away; but he +looked around in vain for any signs of his late comrade. Not that he +spent much time or wasted any great pains in searching for him; and he +muttered to himself, as he gave it up,-- + +"Gone, has he? Well, then, it's a good riddance to bad rubbidge. I ain't +no aingil, but that feller's a long ways wuss'n I am." + +Whether or not old Peter was right in his estimate of himself or of +Burgin, in a few moments more he was all alone in his "cat-boat," and +was sculling it rapidly out of the crooked inlet. + +His search for Burgin had been a careless one, for he had but glanced +over the gunwale of "The Swallow." A second look might have shown him +the form of the tramp, half covered by a loose flap of the sail, deeply +and heavily sleeping on the bottom of the boat. It was every bit as +comfortable a bed as he had been used to; and there he was still lying, +long after the sun had looked in upon him, the next morning. + +Other eyes than the sun's were to look in upon him before he awakened +from that untimely and imprudent nap. + +It was not so very early when Ham Morris and Dabney Kinzer were stirring +again; but they had both arisen with a strong desire for a "talk," and +Ham made an opportunity for one by saying,-- + +"Come on, Dab. Let's go down and have a look at 'The Swallow.'" + +Ham had meant to talk about school and kindred matters, but Dab's first +words about the tramp cut off all other subjects. + +"You ought to have told me," he said. "I'd have had him tied up in a +minute." + +Dab explained as well as he could; but, before he had finished, Ham +suddenly exclaimed,-- + +"There's Dick Lee, on board 'The Swallow!' What on earth's he there +for?" + +"Dick!" shouted Dabney. + +"Cap'n Dab, did yo' set this yer boat to trap somebody?" + +"No. Why?" + +"'Cause you's done gone an' cotched 'im. Jes' you come an' see." + +The sound of Dick's voice, so near them, reached the dull ears of the +slumbering tramp; and as Ham and Dabney sprang into a yawl, and pushed +along-side the yacht, his unpleasant face was slowly and sleepily lifted +above the rail. + +"It's the very man!" excitedly shouted Dabney. + +"The tramp?" + +"Yes,--the tramp!" + +No one would have suspected Ham Morris of so much agility, although his +broad and well-knit frame promised abundant strength; but he was on +board "The Swallow" like a flash, and Burgin was "pinned" by his iron +grasp before he could so much as guess what was coming. + +"Le' go o' me!" + +"I've got you!" + +It was too late for any such thing as resistance; and the captive +settled at once into a sullen, dogged silence, after the ordinary custom +of his kind when they find themselves cornered. It is a species of dull, +brute instinct, more than cunning, seemingly; but not a word more did +Ham and Dab obtain from their prisoner,--although they said a good many +to him,--until they delivered him over to the safe-keeping of the lawful +authorities at the village. That done, they went home to breakfast, +feeling that they had made a good morning's work of it, but wondering +what would be the end and result of it all. + +"Ten years, I guess," said Ham. + +"In State prison?" + +"Yes. Breaking stone. He'll get his board free, but it'll be total +abstinence for him. I wonder what took him on board 'The Swallow,'" + +"I know,--the jug!" + +"That's it, sure's you live. I saw him over on the island. I declare! To +think of an empty demijohn having so much good in it!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ANOTHER GRAND PLAN, AND A VERY GRAND RUNAWAY. + + +The whole community was stirred up over the news of the capture of the +tramp. It made a first-class excitement for a place of that size; but +none of the inhabitants took a deeper interest in the matter than did +Ford and Frank and the two Hart boys. It was difficult for them to get +their minds quite right about it, especially the first pair, to whom it +was a matter of unasked question just how much help Ham had given Dab in +capturing the marauder. Mr. Foster himself got a little excited about +it, when he came home; but poor Annie was a good deal more troubled than +pleased. + +"O mother!" she exclaimed. "Do you suppose I shall have to appear in +court, and give my testimony as a witness?" + +"I hope not, my dear. Perhaps your father can manage to prevent it +somehow." + +It would not have been an easy thing to do, even for so good a lawyer as +Mr. Foster, if Burgin himself had not saved them all trouble on that +score. Long before the slow processes of country criminal justice could +bring him to actual trial, so many misdeeds were brought home to him, +from here and there, that he gave the matter up, and not only confessed +to the attack on Annie's pocket-book, but to the barn-burning, to which +Dab's cudgelling had provoked him. He made his case so very clear, that +when he finally came before a judge and jury, and pleaded "guilty," +there was nothing left for them to do but to say just what he was guilty +of, and how long he should "break stone" to pay for it. It was likely to +be a good deal more than "ten years," if he lived out his "time." + +All that came to pass some months later, however; and just now the +village had enough to talk about in discussing the peculiar manner of +his capture. + +The story of the demijohn leaked out, of course; and, while it did not +rob Dab and Ham of any part of their glory, it was made to do severe +duty in the way of a temperance lecture. + +Old Jock, indeed, protested. + +"You see, boys," said he, "real good liquor, like that, don't do nobody +no harm. That was the real stuff,--prime old apple-jack 'at I'd had in +my cellar ten year last Christmas; an' it jest toled that feller across +the bay, and captered him, without no manner of diffikilty." + +There were some among his auditors who could have testified to a +decidedly different kind of "capture." + +One effect of Dab's work on the day of the yachting-trip, including his +special performances as cook, and as milliner to the lobsters, was, that +he felt himself thenceforth bound to be somewhat carefully polite to Joe +and Fuz. The remaining days of their visit would have been altogether +too few for the varied entertainments he laid out for them, in his own +mind, by way of reparation for his unlucky "practical joke." They were +to catch all there was in the bay. They were to ride everywhere. They +were to be shown every thing there was to see. + +"They don't deserve it, Dab," said Ford; "but you're a real good fellow. +Mother says so." + +"Does she?" said Dab; and he evidently felt a good deal relieved, after +that. + +Mr. Richard Lee, when his friends once more found time to think of him, +had almost disappeared from the public eye. + +Some three days after "the trip," while all the other boys were out in +the "Jenny," having a good time with their hooks and lines, Dick's +mother made her appearance in Mrs. Kinzer's dining-room, or Miranda's, +with a face that was even darker than usual, with a cloud of motherly +anxiety. + +"Miss Kinzer," she said, "has you seen my Dick, dis week?" + +"No: he hasn't been here at all. Is there any thing the matter with +him?" + +"Dat's de berry question. I jes' doesn't know wot to make ob 'im." + +"Why, Glorianna, do you think he's studying too hard?" + +"It ain't jes' de books; I isn't so much afeard ob dem: but it's all +'long ob de 'Cad'my. I wish you'd jes' take a good look at 'im, fust +chance ye git." + +"Does he look badly?" + +"No: 'tain't jes' altogedder his looks. He's de bes' lookin' boy 'long +shoah. But den de way he's a-goin' on to talk. 'Tain't natural. He used +to talk fust-rate." + +"Can't he talk now?" + +"Yes, Miss Kinzer, he kin talk; but den de way he gits out his words. +Nebber seen sech a t'ing in all my born days. Takes him ebber so long +jes' to say good-mornin'. An' he doesn't say it like he use ter. I wish +you'd jes' take a good look at 'im." + +Mrs. Kinzer promised, and she gave her black friend what comfort she +could; but Dick Lee's tongue would never again be the free-and-easy +member of society it had been. Even when at home, and about his +commonest "chores," he was all the while struggling with what he called +his "pronounciation." If he should succeed as well with the rest of his +"schooling," it was safe to say that it would not be thrown away upon +him. + +Glorianna went her way that morning; and the next to intrude upon Mrs. +Kinzer's special domain was her son-in-law himself, accompanied by his +blooming bride. + +"We've got a plan." + +"You? Apian? What about?" + +"Dab and his friends." + +That was the beginning of a tolerably long consultation, and the results +of it were duly reported to Dabney when he came home with his fish. + +"A party?" he exclaimed, when his mother finished her brief but +comprehensive statement: "Ham and Miranda to give a party for us boys? +Well, now, if they're not right down good! But, mother, we'll have to +get it up mighty quick." + +"I know it, Dab; but that's easy enough, with all the help we have. I'll +take care of that." + +"A party! but, mother, what can we do? There's only a few of 'em know +how to dance. I don't, for one." + +"You must talk it over with Ford. Perhaps Annie and Frank can help you." + +They were all taken into counsel soon enough; and endless were the plans +and propositions made, till even Mrs. Kinzer found her temper getting a +little fretted and worried over them. + +At all events, it was a settled fact that the "party" was to be; and the +invitations went out in due and proper form. + +"Miranda," said her mother, on the morning of the important day, "we +must manage to get rid of Dabney and those boys for a few hours." + +"Send 'em for some greens to rig the parlor with," suggested Ham. "Let +'em take the ponies." + +"Do you think the ponies are safe for them to drive, just now?" + +"Oh! Dab can handle 'em. They're a trifle skittish, that's all. They +need a little exercise." + +So they did; but it was to be doubted if the best way to secure it for +them was to send them out in a light, two-seated wagon, with a load of +five lively boys. + +"Now, don't you let one of the other boys touch the reins," said Mrs. +Kinzer. + +Dab's promise to that effect proved a hard one to keep; for Fuz and Joe +almost tried to take the reins away from him, before they had driven two +miles from the house. He was firm, however, and they managed to reach +the strip of woodland, some five miles inland, where they were to gather +their load, without any disaster; but it was evident to Dab, all the +way, that his ponies were in uncommonly "high" condition. He took them +out of the wagon, while the rest began to gather their liberal harvest +of evergreens; and he did not bring them near it again until all was +ready for the start homeward. + +"Now, boys," he said, "you get in; Joe and Ford and Fuz on the back +seat, to hold down the greens. Frank, get up there, forward, while I +hitch in the ponies. These fellows are chuck full of mischief." + +Very full, certainly; nor did Dab Kinzer know exactly what the matter +was for a minute or so after he seized the reins and sprang up beside +Frank Harley. + +Then, indeed, as the ponies kicked and reared and plunged, he thought he +saw something work out from under their collars, and fall to the ground. +An acorn-burr is just the thing to worry a restive horse, if put in such +a place; but Joe and Fuz had hardly expected their "little joke" to be +so very successful as it was. + +The ponies were off now! + +"Joe," shouted Fuz, "let's jump!" + +"Don't let 'em, Ford," exclaimed Dab, giving his whole energies to the +horses. "They'll break their necks if they do. Hold 'em in." + +Ford, who was in the middle, promptly seized an arm of each of his +panic-stricken cousins, while Frank clambered over the seat to help him. +They were all down on the bottom now, serving as a, weight to hold the +evergreen branches, as the light wagon bounced and rattled along over +the smooth, level road. + +In vain Dab pulled and pulled at the ponies. Run they would, and run +they did; and all he could do was to keep them fairly in the road. + +Bracing strongly back, with the reins wound around his tough hands, and +with a look in his face that should have given courage even to the Hart +boys, Dab strained at his task as bravely as when he had stood at the +tiller of "The Swallow" in the storm. + +There was no such thing as stopping those ponies. + +And now, as they whirled along, even Dabney's face paled a little. + +"I must reach the bridge before he does: he's just stupid enough to keep +right on." + +It was very "stupid," indeed, for the driver of that one-horse +"truck-wagon" to try and reach the little narrow unrailed bridge first. +It was an old, used-up sort of a bridge, at best. + +Dab loosened the reins a little, but could not use his whip. + +"Why can't he stop!" + +It was a moment of breathless anxiety, but the wagoner kept stolidly on. +There would be barely room to pass him on the road itself; none at all +on the narrow bridge. + +The ponies did it. + +They seemed to put on an extra touch of speed on their own account, just +then. + +There was a rattle, a faint crash; and then, as the wheels of the two +vehicles almost touched each other in passing, Ford shouted,-- + +"The bridge is down!" + +Such a narrow escape! + +One of the rotten girders, never half strong enough, had given way under +the sudden shock of the hinder wheels; and that truck-wagon would have +to find its road across the brook as best it could. + +There were more wagons to pass, as they plunged forward, and rough +places in the road for Dabney to look out for; but even Joe and Fuz were +now getting confidence in their driver. Before long, too, the ponies +themselves began to feel that they had had enough of it. Then it was +that Dab used his whip again, and the streets of the village were +traversed at a rate to call for the disapprobation of all sober-minded +people. + +"Here we are, Ham! Greens and all." + +"Did they run far, Dab?" asked Ham quietly. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +DABNEY'S GREAT PARTY. + + +The boys returned a good deal earlier than anybody had expected, but +they made no more trouble. As Ford Foster remarked, "they were all +willing to go slow for a week," after being carried home at such a rate +by Dab's ponies. + +There was a great deal to be said, too, about the runaway, and Mrs. +Foster longed to see Dabney, and thank him on Ford's account; but he +himself had no idea that he had done any thing remarkable, and was very +busy decking Miranda's parlors with the evergreens. + +A nice appearance they made, too, all those woven branches and clustered +sprays, when they were in place; and Samantha declared for them that,-- + +"They had kept Dab out of mischief all the afternoon." + +At an early hour, after supper, the guests began to arrive; for Mrs. +Kinzer was a woman of too much good sense to have night turned into day +when she could prevent it. As the stream of visitors steadily poured in, +Dab remarked to Jenny Walters,-- + +"We shall have to enlarge the house, after all." + +"If it were only a dress, now!" + +"What then?" + +"Why, you could just let out the tucks. I've had to do that with mine." + +"Jenny, shake hands with me." + +"What for, Dabney?" + +"I'm so glad to meet somebody else that's outgrowing something." + +There was a tinge of color rising in Jenny's face; but, before she could +think of any thing to say, Dab added,-- + +"There, Jenny: there's Mrs. Foster and Annie. Isn't she sweet?" + +"One of the nicest old ladies I ever saw." + +"Oh! I didn't mean her mother." + +"Never mind. You must introduce me to them." + +"So I will. Take my arm." + +Jenny Walters had been unusually kindly and gracious in her manner that +evening, and her very voice had less than its accustomed sharpness; but +her natural disposition broke out a little, some minutes later, while +she was talking with Annie Foster. Said she,-- + +"I've wanted so much to get acquainted with you." + +"With me?" + +"Yes: I've seen you in church, and I've heard you talked about, and I +wanted to find out for myself." + +"Find out what?" asked Annie a little soberly. + +"Why, you see, I don't believe it's possible for any girl to be as sweet +as you look. I couldn't, I know. I've been trying these two days, and +I'm nearly worn out." + +Annie's eyes opened wide with surprise; and she laughed merrily, as she +answered,-- + +"What can you mean! I'm glad enough if my face doesn't tell tales of +me." + +"But mine does," said Jenny. "And then I'm so sure to tell all the rest +with my tongue. I do wish I knew what were your faults." + +"My faults? What for?" + +"I don't know. Seems to me, if I could think of your faults instead of +mine, it wouldn't be so hard to look sweet." + +Annie could but see that there was more earnestness than fun in the +queer talk of her new acquaintance. + +The truth was, that Jenny had been having almost as hard a struggle with +her tongue as Dick Lee with his, though not for the same reason. Before +many minutes she had frankly told Annie all about it, and she could not +have done that if she had not somehow felt that Annie's "sweetness" was +genuine. + +The two girls were sure friends after that, much to the surprise of Mr. +Dabney Kinzer. He, indeed, had been too much occupied in caring for all +his guests, to pay especial attention to any one of them. + +His mother had looked after him again and again, with eyes brimful of +pride and of commendation of the way in which he was acquitting himself +as "host." + +Mrs. Foster herself remarked to her husband, who had now arrived,-- + +"Do you see that? Who would have expected as much from a raw, green +country boy?" + +"But, my dear, don't you see? The secret of it is, that he's not +thinking of himself at all he's only anxious that his friends should +have a good time." + +"That's it; but then, that, too, is a very rare thing in a boy of his +age." + +"Dabney," exclaimed the lawyer in a louder tone of voice. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Foster. I'm glad you've found room. The house isn't +half large enough." + +"It'll do. I understand your ponies ran away with you to-day." + +"They did come home in a hurry, that's a fact; but nobody was hurt." + +"I fear there would have been, but for you. Do you start for Grantley +with the other boys, tomorrow?" + +"Of course. Dick Lee and I need some one to take care of us. We never +have travelled so far before." + +"On land, you mean. Is Dick here to-night?" + +"Came and looked in, sir; but he got scared by the crowd, and went +home." + +"Poor fellow! I don't wonder. Well, we will all do what we can for him." + +Poor Dick Lee! + +And yet, if Mr. Dabney Kinzer had known his whereabouts at that very +moment, he would half have envied him. + +Dick's mother was in the kitchen, helping about the "refreshments;" but +she had not left home until she had compelled her son to dress himself +in his best,--white shirt, red necktie, shining shoes, and all; and she +had brought him with her, almost by force. + +"You's goodnuff to go to de 'Cad'my and leab yer pore mother, an' I +reckon you's good nuff for de party." + +Dick had actually ventured in from the kitchen, through the dining-room, +and as far as the door of the back parlor, where few would look. + +How his heart did beat, as he gazed upon the merry gathering, a large +part of whom he had "known all his born days"! + +But there was a side-door opening from that dining-room upon the long +piazza which Mrs. Kinzer had added to the old Morris mansion; and Dick's +hand was on the knob of that door, almost before he knew it. + +Then he was out on the road to the landing; and in five minutes more he +was vigorously rowing the "Jenny" out through the inlet, towards the +bay. + +His heart was not beating unpleasantly any longer; but as he shot out +from the narrow passage through the flags, and saw the little waves +laughing in the cool, dim starlight, he suddenly stopped rowing, leaned +on his oars, gave a great sigh of relief, and exclaimed,-- + +"Dar, I's safe now. I ain't got to say a word to nobody out yer. Wonder +'f I'll ebber git back from de 'Cad'my, an' ketch fish in dis yer bay. +Sho! Course I will. But goin' 'way's awful!" + +Dab Kinzer thought he had never before known Jenny Walters to appear so +well as she looked that evening; and he must have been right, for good +Mrs. Foster said to Annie,-- + +"What a pleasant, kindly face your new friend has! You must ask her to +come and see us. She seems to be quite a favorite with the Kinzers." + +"Have you known Dabney long?" Annie had asked of Jenny a little before +that. + +"Ever since I was a little bit of a girl, and a big boy, seven or eight +years old, pushed me into the snow." + +"Was it Dabney?" + +"No; but Dabney was the boy that pushed him in for doing it, and then +helped me up. Dab rubbed his face with snow for him, till he cried." + +"Just like him!" exclaimed Annie with emphasis. "I should think his +friends here will miss him." + +"Indeed they will," said Jenny, and then she seemed disposed to be quiet +for a while. + +The party could not last forever, pleasant as it was; and by the time +his duties as "host" were all done and over, Dabney was tired enough to +go to bed and sleep soundly. His arms were lame and sore from the strain +the ponies had given them; and that may have been the reason why he +dreamed, half the night, that he was driving runaway teams, and crashing +over rickety old bridges. + +There was some reason for that; but why was it that every one of his +dream-wagons, no matter who else was in it, seemed to have Jenny Walters +and Annie Foster smiling at him from the back seat? + +He rose later than usual next morning, and the house was all in its +customary order by the time he got down stairs. + +Breakfast was ready also; and it was hardly over before Dab's great new +trunk was brought down into the front-door passage by a couple of the +farmhands. + +"It's an hour yet to train-time," said Ham Morris; "but we might as well +get ready. We must be on hand in time." + +What a long hour that was! And not even a chance given to Dab to run +down to the landing for a good-by look at the "Jenny" and "The Swallow." + +His mother and Ham, and Miranda, and the girls, seemed to be all made up +of "good-by" that morning. + +"Mother," said Dab. + +"What is it, my dear boy?" + +"That's it exactly. If you say 'dear boy' again, Ham Morris'll have to +carry me to the cars. I'm all kind o' wilted now." + +Then they all laughed, and before they got through laughing they all +cried except Ham. + +He put his hands in his pockets, and drew a long whistle. + +The ponies were at the door now. The light wagon was a roomy one; but, +when Dab's trunk had been put in, there was barely room left for the +ladies, and Dab and Ham had to walk to the station. + +"I'm kind o' glad of it," said Dab. + +It was a short walk, and a silent one; but when they came in sight of +the platform, Dab exclaimed,-- + +"There they are,--all of them!" + +"The whole party?" + +"Why, the platform's as crowded as our house was last night." + +Mrs. Kinzer and her daughters were already the centre of a talkative +crowd of young people; and Ford Foster and Frank Harley, with Joe and +Fuz Hart, were asking what had become of Dab, for the train was in +sight. + +A moment later, as the puffing locomotive pulled up in front of the +water-tank, the conductor stepped out on the platform, exclaiming,-- + +"Look a-here, folks, this ain't right. If there was going to be a picnic +you ought to have sent word, and I'd have tacked on an extra car. You'll +have to pack in now, best you can." + +He seemed much relieved when he found how small a part of that crowd +were to be his passengers. + +"Dab," said Ford, "this is your send-off, not ours. You'll have to make +a speech." + +Dab did want to say something; but he had just kissed his sisters and +his mother, and half a dozen of his school-girl friends had followed the +example of Jenny Walters; and then Mrs. Foster had kissed him, and Ham +Morris had shaken hands with him; and Dab could not have said a word to +have saved his life. + +"Speech!" whispered Ford mischievously, as Dab stepped upon the +car-platform; but Dick Lee, who had just escaped from the tremendous hug +his mother had given him, and had got his breath again, came to his +friend's relief in the nick of time. Dick felt, as he afterwards +explained, that he "must shout, or he should go off;" and so, at the top +of his shrill voice he shouted,-- + +"Hurrah for Cap'n Kinzer! Dar ain't no better feller lef long shoah!" + +And then, amid a chorus of cheers and laughter, and a grand waving of +white handkerchiefs, the engine gave a deep, hysterical cough, and +hurried the train away. + +Three homesteads by the Long Island shore were lonely enough that +evening, and they were all likely to be lonelier still before they got +fairly accustomed to the continued absence of "those boys." + +It was well understood that the Fosters had determined to prolong their +"summer in the country" until the arrival of cold weather, they had +found all things so pleasant; and the Kinzers were well pleased with +that, as Samantha remarked,-- + +"If it's only to compare letters. I do hope Dabney will write as soon as +he gets there, and tell us all about it." + +"He will," said his mother; but Ham's face put on a somewhat doubtful +look. + +"I'm not quite sure about Dab," he said slowly. "If things ain't just +right, he's the sort of boy that wouldn't say a word about it. Well, I +must say I liked what I saw of Mrs. Myers's notions about feeding +people." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE BOYS ON THEIR TRAVELS. A GREAT CITY, AND A GREAT DINNER. + + +The conductor of that train need not have been much alarmed at falling +in with a "picnic" of any moderate size, for he would have had room in +his train to seat a good part of it, at least. + +The boys had no difficulty in getting seats "all together." That is, +they found four empty ones, two on each side, right opposite; and when +they had turned over the front seats, there they were. Ford and Frank +were facing Dabney and Dick on the right; and the two Hart boys were +facing each other on the left, each with a whole seat to himself. + +Almost the first thing Joe did, after taking possession, was to lean +over, and whisper,-- + +"Look out, Fuz,--keep your secret." + +"Catch me spoiling a good joke." + +The other party seemed disposed to keep pretty quiet for a while; the +first break of any consequence, in the silence, coming when Ford Foster +exclaimed,-- + +"Dab, it was right along here." + +"What was?" + +"Where the pig had his collision with my train, first time I was over +here." + +"Did you hear him squeal?" asked Frank, as he peered through the window. + +"The pig? No; but you ought to have heard the engine squeal, when it saw +him coming." + +The story had to be all told over again, of course, and did good service +in getting their thoughts in order for the trip before them. Up to the +mention of the pig, it had somehow seemed to Dab as if the +railway-platform at the station, and all the people on it, had kept +company with the train; and Frank Harley found himself calculating the +distance between that car and the "mission" at Rangoon in far-away +India. + +As for Ford Foster, he stood in less need of any "pig" than the rest, +from the fact that he had a large-sized idea in his head. + +He kept it there, too, until that train pulled up within reaching +distance of one of the Brooklyn ferries. Before them lay the swift tide +of the broad East River; and beyond that, with its borders of crowded +docks and bristling masts, lay the streets and squares, and swarmed the +multitudes, of the great city of New York. + +"Ford," said Dabney, "you're captain this time. What are we to do now?" + +"Well, if I ain't captain, I guess I'd better do a little steering. We +must give our checks to the expressman, and have our luggage carted over +to the Grand Central Depot." + +"Will it be sure to get there in good time?" + +"Of course it wouldn't if we were in any hurry; but our train doesn't +leave until three o'clock, and the express won't fail to have it there +before that." + +Ford was all alive with the responsibilities of his position, as the +only boy in the party who had been born in the city, and had travelled +all over it, and a little out of it. + +"Joe and Fuz," he said, "will want to take the night boat for Albany. +They've more time on their hands than we have. Joe?--Fuz?--why can't you +come along with us after you've checked your trunks? We'll be getting +dinner before long." + +The Hart boys promptly assented, after a look at each other, and a sort +of chuckle. + +"Might as well keep together," said Joe. "We'd like to take a look at +things." + +"Come along. I'll show you." + +Frank Harley had seen quite a number of great cities, and he could +hardly help saying something about them while they were going over on +the ferryboat. They were all as far forward as they could get. + +"Did you ever see any thing just like this?" asked Dab. + +"Well, no, not just like it"-- + +"In India, or in China, or in London, or in Africa?" said Ford. + +"It's a little different from any thing I ever saw." + +"Well, isn't it bigger?" + +That was a question Frank might have undertaken to answer if there had +been proper time given him; but just then the boat was running into her +"slip," away down town, and Ford exclaimed,-- + +"Hurrah, boys! Now for Fulton Market and some oysters." + +"Oysters?" said Dab. + +"Yes, sir! There's more oysters in that old shanty than there are in +your bay." + +"I don't know about that," said Dab, staring at the queer, huge, rickety +old mass of unsightly wood and glass that Ford was pointing at, after +they got ashore. "I'm hungry, anyhow." + +"Hungry? So am I. But no man ought to say he's been in New York till +he's tried some Fulton-Market oysters." + +"Let's take 'em raw," said Fuz. "Then we can go ahead." + +Dick Lee had been in the city before, but never in such company, nor in +such very good clothes; and there was an expression on his face a good +deal like awe, when he actually found himself standing at an +"oyster-counter," in line with five well-dressed young white boys. + +The man behind the counter served him, too, in regular turn; and Dick +felt it a point of honor to empty the half-shell before him as quickly +as any of the rest. There was no delay about that, anywhere along that +line of boys. + +"Dick," said Ford, "where's your lemon? There it is!" + +Ford had already explained to the rest that it was "against the +constitution and by-laws of Fulton Market to eat a raw oyster without +the lemon-juice," and Dick would have blushed if he could. + +"Dat's so. I forgot um!" and then he added, with great care, "Yes, Mr. +Foster, the lemon improves the oyster." + +"I declare!" muttered Ford. "He's keeping it up!" + +The oysters were eaten, and then it was "Come on, boys;" and away they +went up Fulton Street to Broadway. They walked two and two, as well as +the streams of people would let them, but the Hart boys kept a little in +the rear. + +"What do you think of it, Joe?" + +"Think of what?" + +"Walking over New York with Dick Lee, just as if he was one of us?" + +"Guess nobody'll think we're walking with him. Anybody can tell what we +are, just by looking at us." + +"Dick's face shows just what he is too. I don't care for this once, but +it's awful." + +If any such thought were troubling Ford Foster, he made no confession of +it, and was even specially careful, now and then, to turn around and +address some remark or other to "the member from Africa," as he called +him. + +"Dick," said Dab in an undertone, as they were leaving the market, "you +look out, now: you must have as good a time as any of us, or I won't +feel right about it." + +"Jes' you sail right ahead, Cap'n Dab. I's on hand." + +Ford was determined to "do the honors," and he led them down Broadway to +the Battery before he started "up town;" and he had something to say +about a great many of the buildings. Dab felt his respect for city boys +increasing rapidly, and Dick remarked,-- + +"Ef he don't know dis coas' mos' as well as I know de bay!" + +It looked like it, and he also seemed to be on terms of easy +acquaintance with some of the human "fish" they fell in with. Not that +he spoke to any of them; but he pointed out the several +kinds,--policemen, firemen, messenger-boys, loafers, brokers, +post-office carriers, a dozen more, with a degree of confidence which +fairly astonished his friends. + +"I could learn to tell all of them that wear uniforms, myself," said +Dabney; "but how do you know the others?" + +"How do I know 'em? Well, it's just like knowing a miller or a +blacksmith, when you see him. They all have some kind of smut on them +that comes from their trade." + +There may have been something in that, or it may be barely possible that +Ford now and then mixed his men a little, and pointed out brokers as +"gamblers," and busy attorneys as probable pickpockets. He may have been +too confident. + +On they went, till the brains of all but Ford and Frank were in a sort +of whirl. Even Dab Kinzer was contented to look without talking; and +Dick Lee, although he had not a word to say, found unusual difficulty in +keeping his mouth shut. It positively would come open, every time Ford +pointed out another big building, and told him what it was. + +They were not travelling very fast, but they were using a good deal of +time in all that sight-seeing; and walking is hungry business, and a few +raw oysters could not last six hearty boys very long. + +"I say, Ford," sung out Joe from the rear, "isn't it getting pretty near +time for us to think of getting something to eat?" + +"We're 'most there now. We're going to have our dinner at the +Magnilophant to-day." + +"What's that?" said Frank. + +"Never heard of it? Oh! You're the member from India. Well, it's the +greatest restaurant in the known world, or in Paris either. Beats any +thing on Long Island. Serve you up any thing there is, and no living man +can tell what he's eating." + +Ford was in high spirits, and seemed all one chuckle of self-confidence. +It was indeed a remarkably elegant establishment in its line, into which +he led them a few minutes later. + +There certainly was nothing like it on Long Island, whatever might be +true of Paris and other places outside of the "known world." + +Dab Kinzer felt like walking very straight as he followed his "leader," +and Dick Lee had to use all the strength he had to keep himself from +taking his hat right off when he went in. + +There was any amount of glitter and shine, in all directions; and Dab +had a confused idea that he had never before believed that the world +contained so many tables. Ford seemed wonderfully at home and at ease; +and Dick found voice enough to say, half aloud,-- + +"Ain't I glad he's got de rudder, dis time? Cap'n Dab couldn't steer +t'rough dis yer." + +The "steering" was well done; and it brought them nearly to the farther +end of the great, splendid room, and seated them at a round table that +seemed as well furnished as even Mrs. Foster's own. They all imitated +Ford in hanging their hats on the appointed pegs before sitting down. + +"Now, boys, what shall we have?" he said, as he gazed learnedly up and +down the printed bill of fare. "Speak up, Joe, Fuz, what's your +weakness?" + +Every boy of them was willing to let Ford do his best with that part of +the dinner; and he was hard at work deciding what soup and fish he had +better pick out, when the tall waiter who had bustled forward to receive +the coming "order," bent over his shoulder, and pointed to Dick Lee, +inquiring,-- + +"Beg pardon, sah! Is dis young colored gen'l-man of youah party? It's +'gainst de rules ob de establishment, sah." + +Dab Kinzer felt his face flush fiery red; and he was on the point of +saying something, he hardly knew what, when Ford looked calmly up into +the mahogany face of the mulatto waiter, with,-- + +"You refer to my friend from Africa? We'll talk about that after dinner. +Gumbo soup and Spanish mackerel if you please. Sharp, now!" + +"But, sah"-- + +"Don't be afflicted, my friend. He's as white as anybody, except on +Fridays: this is his black day. Hurry up the soup and fish." + +Joe and Fuz were looking as if they were dreadfully ashamed of +something; but poor Dick was sitting up as straight as a ramrod, under +the influence of a glance that he had taken at the face of Dab Kinzer. + +"I isn't goin' back on him and Ford," he said to himself. "I'd foller +dem fellers right fru' dis yer eatin'-house." + +Frank Harley seemed to be getting some information. In the country he +had lived in nearly all his life, "colored people" were as good as +anybody if they were of the right sort; and a man's skin had little to +do with the degree of respect paid him, although even there it was an +excellent thing to be "white." + +As for the mulatto waiter, after a moment more of hesitation, he took +Ford's order, and walked dignifiedly away, muttering,-- + +"Nebber seen de like afore. Reckon I isn't g'wine to tote soup and fish +for no nigger: I'll see de boss." + +That meant an appeal to the lordly and pompous but quite gentlemanly +"head waiter," a man as white as Ford Foster. A word or two to him, a +finger pointed towards the upper end of the hall, and the keen eyes of +the "man in authority" took it all in. + +"Six of them,--five white and one black. Well, Gus, do they look as if +they could pay their bill before they go?" + +"Yes, sah, dey does. De young gen'lman wid de bill ob fare in his han', +he's got moah cheek, an' moah tongue, an' moah lip, sah"-- + +"Well then, Gus, you just tramp right along. If he and the rest don't +care, I don't. It'll be time enough for me to make a fool of myself when +somebody offers to pay me for it. Give 'em their dinner! Sharp!" + +"It's jes' a mons'ous outrage," growled the offended waiter, as he +stalked away; but he took good care to obey his orders, for he had a +consciousness that the eyes of his "master" were on him. He could hardly +have guessed how completely his errand had been understood by the six +boys, or how closely Ford Foster had "hit it." Said he, in reply to an +angry remark from Dab Kinzer,-- + +"It's all humbug. They run this concern to make money, and they want +some of ours. Mr. Marigold'll be sent right back with our soup." + +He was right; but, before they had eaten their way to the pie and +pudding, Ford was dignifiedly informed,-- + +"If you please, sah, my name isn't Mr. Marigold, sah, it is Mr. +Bellerington, sah; an' my first name isn't Coffee, sah, it's Augustus." + +"You don't say," replied Ford: "well, Augustus, don't forget the little +remark I made about pie and the other things." + +It was a capital dinner; and Ford was proud of it, for he had picked out +every item of it, from the soup to the macaroons. Dick Lee had enjoyed +it hugely, after he began to feel that his first social victory had been +fairly won for him. Still, he had doubts in his own mind as to whether +he would ever dare such another undertaking with less than five white +boys along to "see him through." + +Joe and Fuz ate well; but their spirits were manifestly low, for they +were painfully conscious of having forever lost the good opinion of that +mulatto waiter. + +"But for Dick Lee's being with us," they thought, "he and everybody else +would have known we were gentlemen. We'll never be caught in such a trap +again." + +It is a very sad matter, no doubt, to lose the intelligent respect of +such gentlemen as Mr. Augustus Bellerington, but it sometimes has to be +done; that is, unless their good opinion is to be gained by some nice +little stroke of sneaking cowardice. + +Joe and Fuz stood it out, indeed, mainly because they were in some way +more afraid of Dab and Ford and Frank than they were of even Augustus. + +That, too, was strange; for they were older than either of the others, +and taller than any but Dabney himself. + +The dinner was well eaten, and it was well paid for, as Dabney remarked +when he paid his share and half of Dick's; and then they were all in the +street again, marching along, and "sight-seeing," towards the Grand +Central Railroad Depot. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE FIRST MORNING IN GRANTLEY, AND ANOTHER EXCELLENT JOKE. + + +Ford Foster was the only one of those six boys who had ever seen the +great railway-building, and he confessed that it looked a little large, +even to him. Frank Harley freely declared that he had seen nothing like +it in India; and Dick Lee's eyes showed all the white they had to show, +before he had seen the whole of it. + +Their first errand was to the baggage-room; and they were on their way +when Dab Kinzer thoughtfully remarked,-- + +"Now, Joe, here we've dragged you and Fuz away up here, miles and miles +out of your way." + +"That's so," said Ford, "but they can take a street-car down. They've +got hours of time to spare." + +"No hurry," said Joe: "we'll see you off." But Fuz whispered to him,-- + +"Time's up, Joe. Joke's got to come out now." + +It came out at the baggage-room; for there were the trunks of the Hart +boys, and they had to go with the others to the ticket-office for their +tickets, before they could get their checks. + +"Do you mean you're to go right on now, with us?" said Ford in some +astonishment. "I thought you were going home first." + +"No. We got a letter three days ago, telling us what to do. Our other +things'll be sent on by express." + +The "joke" was out, and the two jokers were laughing as though it were a +remarkably good one in their estimation; but Ford nodded his head +approvingly. + +"Uncle Joseph is a wise and careful man about his children," he said +slowly. "He didn't mean you should make the trip alone. I'm much obliged +to him for such an expression of his confidence in me." + +The laugh somehow died away, as if a sudden fit of sickness had carried +it off, while a broad smile widened on the faces of the other boys, +notably including Dick Lee; but the baggage-checks were to be looked +after, and there were seats in the sleeping-car to be secured. The lost +joke could hide itself easily in all that hurry and excitement. + +"The sleeper'll carry us the best part of the way," said Ford, when at +last they took their seats; "but we'll have a doleful little ride on a +small railway, early in the morning." + +"But that'll take us right up north to Grantley," added Dab, with a +long-drawn breath of expectation. The remaining hours of that Friday +were largely spent by all six of them in looking out of the windows. +When they were not doing that, it was mostly because Joe or Fuz was +telling some yarn or other about Grantley and its academy. + +They agreed perfectly in their somewhat extravagant praise of Mrs. Myers +and her daughter Almira. "She's such a good, kind-hearted, liberal, +motherly woman," said Joe. + +"And Almira's a sweet young lady," added Fuz, "only she's a little timid +about boys." + +"Needn't be afraid of us, I guess," said Ford Foster, with a benevolent +and protecting expression on his face; while Dab drew a mental picture +of the fair Almira as a sort of up-country copy of Annie Foster. After +the darkness came, and the "sleeper" was turned into a great +travelling-box full of little shaky bedrooms, there was no more talking +to be done, and all the boys were tired enough to go to sleep. + +One consequence of their beginning their slumbers so early, however, +was, that they felt bright and fresh when the porter aroused them before +daylight next morning; and they hurriedly dressed themselves for their +ride on what Ford Foster called "the switch." + +It was quite a respectable railway, however, and it carried them through +scenery so different from any that Dabney or Dick was accustomed to, +that they lost a good deal of what Joe and Fuz were saying about Dr. +Abiram Brandegee, the learned principal of Grantley Academy. It was of +less importance, perhaps, because they had heard it all before, and had +gathered a curious collection of ideas concerning the man under whose +direction they were to get their new stocks of learning. + +"Dab," said Dick, "if it was any fellers but them said it, I'd want to +go home." + +"Well, yes," said Dab quietly; "but then, that's just it. You can't +guess when they're telling the truth, and when they ain't." + +"Is dar really any fun in lyin', do you s'pose, Dab?" + +"Can't say, Dick. Guess there wouldn't be much for you or me." + +"Dar's lots ob fun in Ford; an' he tells de truth mos' all de time, +stiddy. So does Frank, jes' a little bit stiddier." + +"Ford never lies, Dick." + +"No, sir, he don't. But w'en anoder feller's lyin', he kin make believe +he don't know it bes' of any feller I ebber seen." + +"Dick," exclaimed Dabney, "what if Dr. Brandegee had heard you say +that!" + +"I would tell him I was imitating somebody I had heard," solemnly +responded Dick, with fair correctness. + +The ride began in the dark hour that comes before the dawn, and the +train ran fast. The sun was above the horizon, but had not yet peered +over the high hills around Grantley, when the excited schoolboys were +landed at the little station in the outskirts of the village. It was on +a hillside; and they could almost look down upon a large part of the +scene of their "good time coming,"--or their "bad time," a good deal as +they themselves might make it. + +Dab and his friends saw that valley and village often enough afterwards; +but never again did it wear to them precisely the same look it put on +that morning, in the growing light of that noble September day. As for +Joe and Fuz, it was all an old story to them; and, what was more, they +had another first-rate joke on hand. + +"There's the academy," said Joe: "that big white concern in the middle +of the green, and with so short a steeple." + +"Steeple enough," said Ford. "Are the rest churches?" + +"Yes; and, if you don't go to church reg'lar, Old By'll be sure to hear +of it." + +"Old By" was the irreverent nickname they had selected for Dr. Abiram +Brandegee; and Fuz added,-- + +"Never mind him, boys. He's a raspy old fellow; but he's such a little, +old, withered wisp of a chap, you'll soon get used to him." + +Dab was bewildered enough, just then, to wonder how such a weak-minded, +malicious old dwarf as had been painted to him, could have managed to +get and keep so high a position in so remarkably beautiful a place as +Grantley. He said something about the village being so pretty; but Dick +Lee had been staring eagerly in all directions, and replied with,-- + +"Jes' one little mite of a patch ob water! Is dar any fish to ketch?" + +"Fish? In that pond?" said Fuz. "Why, it's alive with 'em. The people of +Grantley just live on fish." + +"Guess I knows 'bout how many dey is now," said Dick soberly; and he was +not far from right, for there were no fish to speak of in that +willow-bordered mill-pond. + +"Mrs. Myers will hardly be up so early as this," said Dab. "We can get +our trunks over by and by. Let's have a look at the village. Joe, it's +your turn to steer now. You and Fuz know how the land lies." + +They were ready enough to tell all they knew, and a good deal more; but +the listeners they had that morning were not without eyes of their own, +and it was not a very fatiguing task to walk all over the village of +Grantley. + +The first house to be studied with special care was the neat white +residence of Dr. Brandegee, with its shady trees and its garden; for Joe +said,-- + +"That's where you fellows'll have to come right after breakfast, to be +examined. Oh, but won't Old By put you through!" + +Dick Lee's mouth came open as he stared at the knob on the doctor's +front door, and Dabney caught himself doubting if he knew the +multiplication-table. Even Ford Foster wondered if there was really any +thing he could teach Dr. Brandegee, and remarked to Frank Harley,-- + +"I s'pose you're about the only man among us that he can't corner." + +"How's that?" + +"Why, if he's too hard on you, you can answer him in Hindustanee. He's +never been a heathen in all his life: you'd have him"-- + +"Shuah!" chuckled Dick. + +The "green" was large and well-kept, and looked like the best kind of a +ball-ground; but there was nothing wonderful about the academy building, +except that it evidently had in it room enough for a great many boys. + +"You'll see enough of it before you get through," said Fuz. "But +there'll have to be lots of whittling done this fall." + +"Whittling? what for?" + +"Why, don't you see? They've gone and painted the old thing all over +new. Every boy cut his name somewhere before we left last term. They're +all painted over now: maybe they're puttied up level. They did that once +before, and we had to cut 'em all out again." + +"Oh!" said Ford, "I see: you were afraid they'd forget you. I don't +believe they would." + +"You haven't pointed out Mrs. Myers's," said Dabney. "It must be pretty +near breakfast-time. Where is it?" + +The Hart boys broke out into a joint giggle of enjoyment as Joe +responded,-- + +"There it is,--right across there, beyond the harness-shop, opposite the +other end of the green. Handy in bad weather." + +"It's a pretty decent-looking house too," said Ford. "Come on: let's go +over, and let her know we've arrived in port." + +"Well, no," said Joe: "you fellows go over, soon as you please. Fuz and +I won't take our breakfast there this morning." + +"Going somewhere else, eh? Well, we'll have an eye to your trunks when +they come." + +The giggle grew rapidly into a laugh, as Fuz exclaimed,-- + +"Trunks! why, our baggage'll go to our boarding-house. We don't put up +with Mother Myers this time: got a new place. Oh, but won't you fellows +just love her and Almira!" + +It was all out, that deep secret about their change of boarding-house; +and the Hart boys had something to enjoy this time, for Dab and his +friends looked at each other for a moment in blank amazement. + +"All right, boys," shouted Ford, at the end of it: "here's for some +breakfast. Good-morning, Joe. Day-day, Fuz. See you again by and by." + +They all followed him, but they could see that there was something more +hidden under the mirth of Joe and Fuz as they walked away; and they were +hardly out of hearing before Dab Kinzer remarked,-- + +"Look a' here, boys, I move we don't give those two any fun at our +expense." + +"How?" asked Ford. + +"If there's any thing at Mrs. Myers's that we don't like, we mustn't let +them know it." + +"I's keep my mouf shet if I foun' de house was an ole eel-pot," said +Dick emphatically; and Frank and Ford came out even more strongly. They +all seemed to feel as if some kind of a trick had been played upon them, +to begin with. + +However, it served to put them on their guard, and prevented any change +of countenance among them when their knock at the front door of that +house was answered, and the freckled face of Mrs. Myers beamed out upon +them from under its thin, smooth, glistening thatch of carroty hair. She +was not a handsome woman, and she had a thin nose, and a narrow mouth, +and very pale blue eyes; but she was all one smile of welcome as she +stood in that doorway. + +"Mrs. Myers?" said Ford, with an extraordinary bow. "We arrived on the +morning train. I am Mr. Foster." And then, with a half turn to the +right, he continued, "Mrs. Myers--Mr. Richard Lee, Mr. Dabney Kinzer, +Mr. Francis Harley. Our baggage will come over pretty soon." + +"Walk in, young gentlemen, walk in. I'm happy to see you.--Almira? Here +they are: put breakfast on the table right away." + +"That isn't a bad beginning," thought Dab. "That sounds a good deal like +what Ham said of her. She knew we must be hungry." + +"Walk into the parlor, please. Breakfast'll be ready in one minute. I'll +show you your rooms afterwards." + +That, too, was considerate; and, when Almira herself came to the door +between the parlor and the dining-room, she, too, looked as if it were +quite her habit to smile, when she said,-- + +"Breakfast's ready." + +Almira smiled, but she was too much like her mother. There was nothing +at all about her to put Dabney in mind of Annie Foster, or of either of +his own sisters. Samantha, or Keziah, or Pamela could have been "made +over" into two Almiras, in every thing but height; and Dab made up his +mind at once that either of them could beat her at smiling,--not so +much, perhaps, as to mere quantity, but as to quality. + +That was a breakfast which would have fully justified Ham Morris's +report, for it was well cooked and plentiful. The "johnnycake," in +particular, was abundant; and all the boys took to it kindly. + +"Glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, that's one thing we +mustn't forget. I was always proud of my johnny cake. There's very few +know what to do with their corn-meal, after they've got it." + +She did evidently, and the boys all said so except Dick Lee. He could do +full justice to his breakfast, indeed; but he was saying to himself all +the while,-- + +"I won'er 'f I'll ebber git used to dis yer. It's jes' awful, dis goin' +to de 'cad'my." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A NEW KIND OF EXAMINATION. + + +Three large trunks and one small one were delivered at Mrs. Myers's +front door before that first breakfast was disposed of; and Miss Almira +remarked of the boys, a few minutes later,-- + +"How strong they are, especially Mr. Kinzer!" + +"Don't make a mistake, Almira," said her mother in an undertone. "I'm +glad the trunks are up stairs, but we mustn't begin by saying 'mister' +to them. I've got all their first names. They mustn't get it into their +heads that they're any thing more'n just so many boys." + +She hurried up stairs, however; and it did not take long to make her new +boarders "know their places," so far as their rooms were concerned. That +house was largely made up of its one "wing," on the first floor of which +was the dining-room and sitting-room, all in one. In the second story of +it were two bedrooms, opening into each other. The first and larger one +was assigned to Dab and Ford, and the inner one to Frank. + +"Yours is a coop," said Ford to his friend from India; "but ours is big +enough. You can come in here to study, and we'll fix it up prime. The +stove's a queer one. Guess they burn wood up here mostly." + +Of course, so long as there was a good "wood-lot" on the outlying farm +that belonged to Mr. Hart's speculation. + +The stove was a little box of an affair, with two "griddles" on top, and +was quite capable of warming that floor. + +"She's putting Dick away in back somewhere," said Frank. "We must look +and see what she's done for him." + +The main building of that house was only big enough for a "hall," a +good-sized parlor opening into it on the right, a bedroom and large +closet back of that, and two rooms overhead; but the kitchen and +milk-room back, which must have been stuck on at a later day, had only +one wide, low garret of a room in the space under the roof. It was +lighted by a dormer window, and it did not contain any stove. The floor +was bare, except in the spot covered by an old rug before the little +narrow bed; but there was a table and a chair, by standing on either of +which Dick would be able to put his hand upon the unceiled rafters and +boards of the roof. On the whole, it was a room well calculated to be as +hot as possible in summer, and as cold as possible in winter, but that +would do very well in spring and autumn. At all events, it was "as good +as he had been used to at home." Mrs. Myers herself said that to Almira; +and the answer was,-- + +"Guess it is, and better too." + +Dick never dreamed of making any criticisms. In fact, his young brains +were in a whirl of excitement, through the dust of which every thing in +and about Grantley took on a wonderfully rosy color. + +"Dis room?" he said to his inquiring friends when they looked in on him. +"How does I like dis room? It's de bes' room in de house. I +shall--study--hard--in--this--room." + +"Bully for you," said Ford; "but you mustn't forget there's a stove in +our room, when cold weather comes. Got your books out?" + +"Here they are. I will pile them upon the table." + +"Stick to it, Dick," said Ford. "But it's about time we set out for Dr. +Brandegee's.--Dab, hadn't we better kindle a fire before we go? It makes +me feel chilly to think of it." + +"We'll all be warm enough before he gets through with us," said Dab. +"But the sooner we get there, the better. Maybe there are other boys, +and we must go in first." + +"Come on, Dick." + +Not one of them seemed to be in a hurry, in spite of Dab's prudent +suggestion; and at the bottom of the stairs they were met by Mrs. Myers. + +"Going for your examination? That's right. Dinner'll be ready at +half-past twelve. When, school's opened, it will be a few minutes +earlier, so you'll have plenty of time to eat and get back. Dick, as +soon as your examination's over, I want you to come right back here, so +I can finish making my arrangement with you." + +"Yes, ma'am. I will return at once." + +"You said that tip-top," said Dab, the moment they were on the sidewalk; +"but I can't guess what she means. Ham Morris made all the bargain for +you when he settled for me. S'pose it's all right, though." + +"Course it is. I's got to work out half my board a-doin' chores. Jes' +wot I's been used to all my life." + +Frank Harley had seen a great many people, considering how young he was; +and he had done less talking than the rest, that morning, and more +"studying" of his landlady and her daughter. The results of it came out +now. + +"Tell you what, boys: if I'm not mistaken, Dick Lee'll pay more for his +board than we will for ours." + +"I don't care," said Dick bravely. "It's wuff a good deal to feed a boy +like me." + +His mother had told him so, many a time; and in that matter "Glorianna" +had not been so far from the truth. + +Ham Morris had indeed made a careful and particular bargain for Dick, +and that his duties about the house should not interfere with his +studies. He had done more; for he had insisted on buying Dick's +text-books for him, and had made him promise to write to him about the +way things went at Grantley. + +Up the street marched the four new boys, still a little slowly, until +Ford broke out into a sudden word of encouragement,-- + +"Look here, boys, we're a set of wooden-heads! I'd like to know if we +need be afraid of any thing Joe and Fuz Hart could go through?" + +"Well, I guess not," replied Dab. "Let's push ahead." + +He found himself leading the procession when it went through Dr. +Brandegee's front gate; and there was a look of admiration on Dick's +face, when he saw how promptly and courageously "Captain Dab Kinzer" +pulled that door-bell. + +"This way, please," said the servant who opened the door,--"into the +library. The doctor'll see you in a minute." + +"And we'll see him," muttered Ford, as they walked in, and he added in a +whisper to Dick,-- + +"That's his portrait. There, over the mantel." + +"Jes' so," said Dick, coming dangerously near smiling; "an' his name den +was Oliver Cromwell, an' dey dressed him up in sheet iron." + +That was the name printed under the engraving; but the smile had barely +time to fade from Dick's face, before a door opened on the opposite side +of the room, and the dreaded Principal of Grantley Academy walked in. + +"Good-morning, my young friends. Glad to see you so early." + +His hand was out towards Dick Lee, as he spoke; and they all had what +Ford afterwards called "a good square shake of it," by the time they +recovered their tongues, and replied to that genial, hearty, encouraging +welcome. + +Dick couldn't have helped it, if he had tried,--and he somehow forgot to +try,--a broad grin of delight spread all over his face, as he looked up +in that of the doctor. + +The latter himself was smiling a good deal as if he could not help it, +but he did not know the exact reason why every one of those boys looked +so cheerful just then. + +The thought in Ford's mind came within an inch of getting out over his +tongue. + +"Dwarf? Why, he's more like a giant. How Joe and Fuz Hart did spin it!" + +The great man was certainly a good "six feet two," and all his bodily +proportions were correspondingly ample. + +Frank Harley was the last to be shaken hands with, and so had time to +think,-- + +"Afraid of him? Why, he's too big to be afraid of. We're all right." + +That was the whole truth. Dr. Brandegee was too big, in mind as well as +body, for any boy of their size to feel at all uneasy after the first +half-minute of looking in his calm, broad, thoughtful face. Every member +of that quartet began to feel a queer sort of impatience to tell all he +knew about books. + +The doctor mentioned the fact that he had that morning received letters +from their parents and friends, announcing their arrival; but the oddity +of it was that he seemed to know, at sight, the right name for each boy, +and the right boy for each name. + +"He might have guessed at Dick," thought Ford; "but how did he know me?" + +Perhaps a quarter of a century spent in receiving, classifying, and +managing young gentlemen of all sorts had given the man of learning +special faculties for his work. + +"I shall have to ask you a few questions, my young friends; but I think +there will be little difficulty in assigning you your places and +studies. Be seated, please." + +That library was plainly a place where no time was to be wasted, for in +less than a minute more Ford Foster was suddenly stopped in the middle +of a passage of easy Latin,-- + +"That will do. Give me a free translation." + +Ford did so, glibly enough; but there followed no word of comment, +favorable or otherwise. Similar brief glimpses were taken of three or +four other studies; and then the doctor suddenly remarked to him, in +French,-- + +"Your father has written me very fully concerning your previous studies. +You are well prepared, but you have plenty of hard work before you." + +Ford fairly strained his best French in the reply he made; and the +doctor observed,-- + +"I see. Constant practice. I wish more parents would be as wise.--Mr. +Harley, I had not been informed that you spoke French. You noticed Mr. +Foster's mistake. Please correct it for him." + +Frank blushed to his eyes, but he obeyed; and he hardly knew how it was, +that, before the doctor's rapid questioning was over, his answers had +included the whole range of his schooling and acquirements. + +"Isn't dey doin' fine!" was the proud thought in the mind of Dick Lee. +"But jes' wait till he gits hol' ob Cap'n Dab!" + +Dick's confidence in his friend was at least ten times greater than +Dabney's in himself. The very air of the room he was in seemed, to the +latter, to grow oppressively heavy with learning, and he dreaded his own +turn more than ever. While he was waiting for it to come, however, some +casual reference to Long Island by the doctor, and a question as to the +precise character of its southern coast, rapidly expanded into a wider +range of geography, upon the heels of which history trod a little +carelessly, and other subjects came tumbling in, until Dabney discovered +that he was computing, at the doctor's request, sundry arithmetical +results, which might with greater propriety have been reserved for his +"examination." That, too, was the way poor Dick Lee came to make so bad +a breakdown. His shining face would have told, even to eyes less +practised than those of Dr. Brandegee, exactly the answer, as to kind +and readiness, which he would have made to every question put to his +white friends. That is, unless he had been directly called upon to +"answer out aloud." There is no telling what he would have done in such +a case as that. + +The doctor found out, for he quietly shifted his last question over +Dab's left shoulder, and let it fall upon Dick in such a way as not to +scare him. + +"You's got me, dis time! Dat's de berry place whar we stopped at de end +of our school, las' year." + +"Then, I think I know about where it's best for you to begin. I'll have +another talk with you about it, Richard. You must come up and see me +again." + +It was not a great deal to say; but the way in which he said it plainly +added,-- + +"I mean to be your friend, my dear boy. I'll do all I can to help you +along." + +Dick understood it too, but he was feeling dolefully about his tongue +just then. + +"Missed fire de fust time!" he said to himself; but he carefully +replied, aloud,-- + +"Thank you, sir. Will you tell me when to come?" + +"To-night, right away after tea. Now, young gentlemen, I must bid you +good-morning. Bear in mind that the first law of Grantley Academy is +punctuality. I expect you to be in your places promptly at nine o'clock, +Monday morning." + +"We will, sir," said Dabney. "But will you please tell us when we are to +be examined?" + +"I believe, Mr. Kinzer, I have a fair idea of the use you have made of +your books up to this time. No further examination will be necessary. I +will see you all, with others, after school is opened, next Monday." + +They were politely shown out of the library, but they did not clearly +comprehend the matter until they had drawn each a good long breath in +the open air. + +"Dab," said Ford, "can't you see it?" + +"I'm beginning to. Seems to me we've been through the sharpest +examination I ever heard of. I say, Frank, do you know any thing he +didn't make you tell him?" + +"Nothing but Hindustanee and a little Teloogoo. Well, yes, I know a +Karen hymn. He got all the rest, if I'm not mistaken." + +There was no doubt at all but what Dr. Brandegee had gained a correct +view of the attainments of his new pupils. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF INTRODUCTION. + + +The front door of Dr. Brandegee's library had hardly closed behind that +earliest flock of his autumn birds, before the door by which he had +entered swung open, and a fine-looking, middle-aged matron stood in it, +remarking,-- + +"My dear, there are more than a dozen waiting in the parlor. Have you +not spent a great deal of time on those four?" + +"They're worth it, Mary. There's enough in every one of them to make a +man of, and they've all started fairly well." + +"I fear that is more than you will be able to say of all these others." + +"Of course it will. Their fathers and mothers have had a great deal to +do with that." + +They were all "examined," however, in due season, some in one way and +some in another; and during all that time Dab Kinzer and his friends +were inwardly wondering, whether they said so or not, precisely what +impression they had made upon the doctor. + +It was just as well, every way, that they did not know. + +It was a curious fact, that with one accord they accompanied Dick on his +return to their boarding-house; and, while he disappeared through the +door at the end of the hall with Miss Almira, some invisible +leading-string dragged them up stairs. Not that they really had any +studying to do; but it was dinner-time before they had finished turning +over the leaves of their text-books, and estimating the amount of hard +work it would cost to prepare for an "examination" on them. + +There was no good reason for complaint of that dinner any more than of +their breakfast; and it wound up with a very excellent Indian-meal +pudding, concerning which Dabney went so far as to say he would like to +send the recipe home to his mother. + +"I'm so glad you like it," said Mrs. Myers. "Almira, just remember that. +They can have it as often as they please." + +She asked them, too, how they proposed to spend their afternoon, and +smilingly explained, as to Dick Lee, that,-- + +"Saturday is one of my busy days, and he will have to stay at home and +help. Errands to run, and I want him to learn how. He's a bright, active +little fellow." + +That was all "according to contract;" but Dick did not come in for his +dinner until the rest had eaten theirs; and then he barely had time to +say to Dab Kinzer,-- + +"Did you ebber shell corn?" + +"Course I have. Why?" + +"'Cause dar's a bigger heap ob corn out in de barn dan you ebber see." + +"Bigger'n Ham's?" + +"Well, no, not so big as his'n, mebbe; but dar's more ob it. I's got it +to shell." + +Dab went off with the other two, vaguely beginning to ask himself if +shelling corn came fairly into the proper meaning of the word "chores." + +All that sort of thing was quickly forgotten, however; for there were a +dozen groups of boys scattered here and there over the broad expanse of +the "green," and Ford Foster at once exclaimed,-- + +"Boys, let's examine that crowd. It'll take all the afternoon to find +what they know." + +Getting acquainted is apt to be a slow process in cases of that sort, +unless it is taken hold of with vigor; and Ford was the very fellow to +hurry it up. Before the afternoon was over, every boy on that green knew +who he was, and where he came from; and a good share of them had tried +their hands at "chaffing" him and his friends. Of these latter it may +safely be said that not a single one could afterwards remember that he +had seemed to himself to get the best of it. + +"First day" at school is pretty safe to be a peace-day also; and none of +the wordy collisions went too far, although it was plain that the +new-comers had not yet attained any high degree of popularity. + +After supper Dick Lee set off for Dr. Brandegee's, and his friends +attended him nearly to the gate. + +They would have been glad to have had a report of his visit from him, on +his return; but he had his "chores" to do then, and any amount of +careful instruction concerning them to receive from Mrs. Myers and +Almira. + +The other three were more thoroughly tired out than they had at all +expected, and were all quite ready to agree with Frank Harley,-- + +"We'd better get to bed, boys. I want to see if this is a good house to +sleep in." + +"Sleep?" said Ford. "I could go to sleep in an omnibus." + +Early to bed meant early to rise, necessarily; and they were all up and +dressed the next morning, when Dick Lee slipped in on them. Before they +had time to ask him a question, he exclaimed,-- + +"I say, Cap'n Dab, is you goin' to church dis mornin'?" + +"Of course. We're all going." + +"So I heerd Mrs. Myers tell Miss Almiry. She's goin' to take you along +wid her when she goes." + +"Richard," said Ford, "are you going?" + +"Habn't heerd a word about dat." + +"Don't you go back on your friends, Richard. Be all ready in time, +sure's you live, and go with us, or I'll complain to Dr. Brandegee." + +Dick's grin was a wide one; but he responded,-- + +"I'll be ready. See 'f I ain't." + +The voice of Almira, calling his name at the foot of the stairs, +prevented any further conversation just then; and Dick found, +afterwards, that he had undertaken a task of some difficulty. He hardly +knew when or where he squeezed out the time for the proper polishing of +his shoes, or the due arrangement of his magnificent red necktie; but +both feats were accomplished most faithfully. + +The subject of church-going came up again, incidentally, at the +breakfast-table; and the remarks of her young boarders met the emphatic +approval of Mrs. Myers and her daughter. Perhaps because neither of them +had been near enough, after Dick dodged out of their room at the end of +his early call, to hear Dabney Kinzer remark,-- + +"Ford, don't you think we can find our way across the green without any +help from the ladies?" + +"I am pondering that matter. What do you say, Frank?" + +"We must get out of it if we can politely. I don't just see how we'll do +it." + +"Do it? Why, we'll all wait for Dick Lee." + +Mrs. Myers took a little too much for granted; and when the hour came +for starting, there came a slight disturbance in the smooth current of +her calculations. + +"Mr. Foster," she called out, in her best voice, from half way up the +stairs, "the first bell is ringing. Are you and your friends ready?" + +"Ringing?" responded Ford. "So it is! I regret to say we are not yet +ready to go." + +At the same moment Dab was whispering,-- + +"We mustn't start until it's nearly done tolling." + +"What's that?" asked Frank. + +"Don't you know? It's always so in the country. First they ring the +bell, as it's ringing now. That's to set people a-going. Then they toll +it. You'll hear in a few minutes. That means, the time's up." + +Ford Foster's city training had not taught him as much as that, but he +was glad to know it. + +Mrs. Myers once more urged upon them the necessity of making haste. + +"It won't do to be late," she said. "I never allow myself to be a minute +behind time." + +The last clause sounded a very, very little impatient; but Ford once +more politely expressed his sorrow, and abstained from putting on his +coat. At that moment, too, Dick Lee came tiptoeing in from his cheerless +garret, and looking astonishingly spruce. The "shine" on his shoes was a +brilliancy to be remembered; and so was the shine on his face, and the +sunset glow of his necktie. + +"Sh! Dick," said Dab. "Hold still a minute. The bell's beginning to +toll." + +"I fear Almira and I will be compelled to start," said Mrs. Myers +regretfully. "Perhaps you can overtake us if you hurry." + +"Perhaps we could," replied Ford, "but I beg you will not let yourself +be late on our account. We're coming." + +He began to put his coat on as she and Almira went through the gate. In +such a village as that, no one was afraid to leave a house alone for an +hour or two. Not only was the door-lock "on the latch" as usual, but +Dick Lee had been vaguely expected to stay at home. There, again, Mrs. +Myers had taken too much for granted; and she had not said a word to him +about it. + +Just as she heard the bell give its last few rapid and warning strokes, +and disappeared through the church-door, she might have seen, had she +turned back and looked once more towards her own front gate, four +well-dressed youngsters hurrying from it across the street as if a great +deal depended on their reaching church before service could begin. + +"It's very kind of Mrs. Myers to invite us," remarked Ford, "but she +never thought how bashful we'd be about it." + +They were quickly within the ample porch of the roomy and not at all +overcrowded edifice, and were greeted by two or three benevolent-looking +elderly gentlemen, with a degree of prompt cordiality which left little +to be asked for. + +The deacons were awake to their duty relating to new +scholars,--"students" they called them; and every attention was paid +these four who had begun so well their first Sunday. + +So it would be at every church on that green; and it would really be +about the middle of the term before stray "academy boys" would be left +to find their own way to well-whittled benches in the galleries. + +One of the best pews in the house, well forward in the middle aisle, and +they had it all to themselves. There was not another pew in church that +morning which seemed to attract so large a share of the attention of the +congregation. Mrs. Myers and Almira were several pews behind, and on the +other side of the house; and there had been no opportunity to capture +her four boarders, or any of them, while they were marching in. + +"Almira! If they haven't brought Dick with them." + +"Yes, mother; but how very well they look! Mr. Kinzer is really quite +handsome." + +That was hardly Dab's opinion of himself, and nobody had ever taken +pains to tell him so; but the four of them, standing up together, and +all singing, made quite a picture. Dick Lee was between Dab Kinzer and +Frank Harley, and seemed to feel in honor bound to sing his best. That +was very well too. + +If Glorianna could but have had a look at her boy that morning, there is +no such thing as telling how proud she would have felt about him. It was +too bad she could not have done so, especially as Dick was most loyally +thinking of her, and wishing that she could. + +There was no fault to be found by Mrs. Myers, or anybody else, with the +strict decorum of her boarders, and their profound attention to the +service and sermon; but she felt that she had a duty to perform, and she +only waited the proper time for its performance. + +The last hymn had been duly sung, and the boys were drifting along with +the tide in the aisle towards the door, when Dabney nudged Ford with his +elbow. + +"We're nabbed, Ford." + +"No escape this time, that's a fact. Don't let's try. She means it all +for politeness." + +They would have been quite willing to have been allowed to get out and +go home unnoticed; but there in the porch awaiting them were Mrs. Myers +and Almira, and there was no possibility of an escape. It would have +been unkind to try in the face of so much smiling. Besides, they did +board with her; and she had her rights of property, one of which was to +show them off, and introduce them. She proceeded to exercise it at once; +and it was to the credit of the three white boys that they came promptly +to her assistance, and added any little matter she might happen to miss +in the hurry of the moment. + +"Deacon Short, this is Mr. Dabney Kinzer, of Long Island; this is Mr. +Frank Harley, of Rangoon, son of Rev. Dr. Harley, our well-known +missionary; this is Mr. Ford Foster, son of the eminent New-York +lawyer." + +"Delighted"--began the deacon, rapidly grasping and shaking hand after +hand, with a peculiar lift of his elbow, that placed most of what might +be called the "action" at the point of it; but Ford was thinking of the +thing Mrs. Myers had omitted, and he promptly added,-- + +"Glad to meet you, Deacon Short; and this is my friend Mr. Richard Lee, +of Long Island." + +To do the good deacon justice, his grasp of Dick's hand was every bit as +cordial as any other of his grasps; and he beamed on the smiling black +boy in a way that gave him back, after the manner of a reflection, a +great glow of the best and broadest "beaming." + +Mrs. Myers did not stop a moment in the repetition of her formula, and +there was sharp work before her; but Dab's tongue was also loose now, +and Elder Potter had hardly time to hear who he was before Deacon Short +had to let go of Dick, and hear Dab say,-- + +"How d'ye do, Elder Potter? and this is my near neighbor and friend, Mr. +Richard Lee." + +"Mrs. Sunderland," began Mrs. Myers, to a lady whose face and dress +declared her a social magnate, "my new boarder, Mr. Frank Harley:" and +the rest of her introduction speech followed; and stately Mrs. +Sunderland had just time to utter a few words of gracious inquiry about +the "precious health" of Frank's father and mother, when he, too, took +up the "omission," and Dick Lee's introduction stepped into the place of +any other answer for a moment. + +It was a good thing for Dick, as Mrs. Sunderland was a member of a +society for promoting emigration to Liberia, and was seized at once with +a dim idea that a part of her "mission" was standing before her in very +brilliant shoes and a new red necktie. She did not know how utterly she +and the other good people and those three boys were demolishing a +curious vision of Almira's and her mother's, of some social advantage +they might derive, thenceforward, from having "a colored servant" in +their employ. Dick's own chance was coming right down upon him, a little +before he was quite ready for it; for the minister and his wife came out +a few moments later, and Mrs. Sunderland took upon herself the duty of +presenting Richard Lee to them, very much if as she would have said,-- + +"My dear Mr. Fallow,--my dear Mrs. Fallow,--see what I've found! Is he +not remarkable?" + +The words she really uttered were somewhat more formal; but the good, +quiet-looking little minister and very quiet-looking little wife were +still shaking hands with Dick, that is, with his right hand, when he +turned almost eagerly, and caught hold of Dab Kinzer with his left. + +"Yes, sir, an' dis is Cap'n Dab--I mean, this is my friend Mr. Dabney +Kinzer, of Long Island,--de bes'--" + +"How do you do, Mr. Kinzer? Glad to make your acquaintance," said Mr. +Fallow; and Dick's success was complete, except that he was saying to +himself,-- + +"I jes' can't trus' my tongue wid de oder boys. Dey's got to take dar +chances." + +"Now, Mr. Kinzer," said Miss Almira, at that moment, "it's time we were +going home." + +"Yes, Frank," said her mother patronizingly, "I think we had better be +going." + +If such an exercise as "introduction" could earn it, they were both +entitled to good appetites; and, after all, it had been quite a nice +little affair. + +Dabney was quite as tall as Miss Almira; but as they walked across the +green, side by side, he could not avoid a side-glance that gave him a +very clear idea of the difference between his present company and Annie +Foster. It was at that very moment that it occurred to Frank that he had +last walked home from church under the protecting wing of the portly and +matronly Mrs. Kinzer; and he could but draw some kind of a comparison +between her and Mrs. Myers. + +"They're both widows," he thought; "but there isn't any other +resemblance." + +Ford and Dick brought up the rear; and for some reason, or there may +have been more than one, they were both in capital good spirits. + +"Tell you wot," exclaimed Dick: "if goin' to de 'cad'my is all like dis +yer--I am very glad indeed that I ever came." + +"Oh! you're all right," said Ford; "but there's more good people in this +village than I'd any idea of. I'm glad we came to church." + +"Dick," said Mrs. Myers a little sharply, when they reached the gate, "I +want some wood and a pail of water. You'd better hurry up stairs, and +put on your every-day clothes." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +LETTERS HOME FROM THE BOYS.--DICK LEE'S FIRST GRIEF. + + +There was a large number of new scholars assembled in the "great room" +of Grantley Academy on the first Monday morning of that "fall term." +There were also many who had been there before, but the new-comers were +in the majority. There were boys from the village, boys from the +surrounding country, and boys from even farther away than the southern +shore of Long Island; and they were of many kinds and ages. The youngest +may have been "under twelve," and entitled to ride in a street-car at +half-price; and several of the very older ones had already cast their +first vote as grown-up men. + +Counting them all, and adding those who were to make their appearance +during the week, they made a little army of nearly two hundred. There +was also a young ladies' department, with about a hundred pupils; and +there was quite as great a variety among them as among their young +gentlemen fellow-students. + +The class-rooms assigned to the lady teachers and their several grades +of learners were all on the northern side of the academy building. There +was a large wing there that belonged to them, and they only met the boys +face to face in the "great room" during morning exercises. Even those of +them who lived or boarded in the southern half of the village found +their way across the green, coming and going, under the shade of the +most northerly row of trees. + +As to the "great room" itself, there had been much trouble about the +name of it. Dr. Brandegee called it "the lecture-room," and he did a +great deal towards making it so. There were those who tried to say +"chapel" when they spoke of it; but so many others refused to know what +place they were speaking of, that they had to give it up. "Hall" would +not fit, because it was square; and the boys generally rejected the +doctor's name because of unpleasant-ideas connected with the word +"lecture." So it came to be "the great room," and no more; and a great +thing it was for Dick Lee to find himself sitting on one of the front +seats of it, with his friends all in line at his right, waiting their +turn with him to be "classified," and sent about their business. + +Dr. Brandegee made wonderfully rapid work of it; and his several +assistants seemed to know exactly what to do. + +"The fact is," said Ford, the first chance he had to speak to Dab, "I've +been studying that man. He's taught school before." + +"Guess he knows how, too. And I ain't afraid about Dick Lee, now I've +seen the rest. He can go right ahead of some of them." + +"They'll bounce him if he does. Tell you what, Dab, if you and I want to +be popular here, we'd better wear our old clothes every day but Sunday." + +"And miss about half the questions that come to us. Dick won't be sharp +enough for that." + +"He says he's going to write a letter home tonight. Made him turn pale +too." + +Those first letters home! + +Ford's was a matter of course, and Frank Harley had had some practice +already; but Dab Kinzer had never tried such a thing before, and Dick +Lee would not come to anybody else for instructions. Neither would he +permit anybody, not even "Captain Dab," to see his letter after it was +written. + +"I's been mighty partikler 'bout de pronounciation," he said to himself, +"specially in wot I wrote to Mr. Morris, but I'd like to see dem all +read dem letters. Guess dar'll be a high time at our house." + +It would be a long while before Frank Harley's epistle would reach the +eyes that were anxiously waiting for it, but there were indeed "high +times" in those three houses on the Long-Island shore. + +Old Bill Lee was obliged to trust largely to the greater learning of his +wife, but he chuckled over every word he managed to pick out, as if he +had pulled in a twenty-pound bluefish; and the signature at the bottom +affected him somewhat as if he had captured a small whale. + +"Sho! De boy!" said Glorianna. "He's doin' fust-rate. Dar ain't anoder +young gen'lman at dat ar' 'cad'my jes' like him. Onless it's young Mr. +Kinzer. I hasn't a word to say 'gin him or Mr. Foster, or dat ar' young +mish'nayry." + +"Glorianna," said Bill doubtfully, "do you s'pose Dick did all dat +writin' his own self?" + +"Sho! Course he did! Don't I know his hand-writin'? Ain't he my own +blessed boy? Guess he did, and I's goin' ober to show it to Mrs. Kinzer. +It'll do her good to hear from de 'cad'my." + +So it did; for Dick's letter to his mother, like the shorter one he sent +to Ham Morris, was largely made up of complimentary remarks concerning +Dabney Kinzer. + +When Glorianna knocked at the kitchen door of the Morris mansion, +however, it was opened by "the help;" and she might have lost her errand +if Mrs. Kinzer had not happened to hear her voice. It is just possible +it was pitched somewhat higher than usual that morning. + +"Glorianna? Is that you? Come right in. We've some letters from the +boys. Something in them about Dick that you'll be glad to hear." + +"Sho! De boy! Course dey all had to say somet'ing 'bout him! I's jes' +like to know wot 'tis, dough." + +In she went, but more than the Kinzer family were gathered in the +sitting-room. + +Mrs. Foster and Annie had brought Jenny Walters with them, and Ham was +there, and all the rest; and they all sat still as mice while Glorianna +listened to Dab's account, and Ford's, of the journey to Grantley, and +the arrival, and the examination, and their boarding-house. + +There was not a word of complaint anywhere; and it did seem as if Ham +Morris was right when he said,-- + +"We've hit it this time, Mrs. Foster. I think I ought to write to Mr. +Hart, and thank him for his recommendation." + +"Just as you please, Hamilton," said Mrs. Kinzer; "but this is their +very first week, you know." + +"Guess dey won't fool Dick much, anyhow," said the radiant Glorianna. +"But wot's dat 'bout de corn-shellin'?" + +"That's all right," said Ham. "Shelling corn won't hurt him. Glad +there's plenty of it. Mother Kinzer, you and Miranda must try that +recipe Dab sent for the new pudding." + +"New pudding, indeed! Why, she doesn't put in half eggs enough. But I'm +glad she's a good cook. We'll have that pudding for dinner this very +day." + +"So will we," said Mrs. Foster. + +"Miss Kinzer," said Dick's mother, "jes' won't you show me how to make +dat puddin'? I's like to know jes' wot dey eat at de 'cad'my." + +It was a great comfort to know that the boys were so well satisfied; but +there was her usual good sense in Mrs. Kinzer's suggestion about its +being the very first week. + +There are never any more such letters as "first letters," nor any other +weeks like the first. The fact that there were so many boys together, +all old acquaintances, shut out any such thing as loneliness, and it was +not time to be homesick. All that week was really spent in "getting +settled," and there did not seem to be more than a day or so of it. +Saturday came around again somewhere in the place commonly taken by +Wednesday, and surprised them all. + +They had all been busy enough, but Dick Lee had never in all his life +found so little spare time on his hands. + +"It's no use, Cap'n Dab," he remarked on Friday: "we can't eat up all de +corn I've shelled, not if we has johnnycake from now till nex' summer." + +Dab was looking a little thoughtful at that moment. + +"Ford," he said slowly, "has she missed a day yet?" + +"A corn day? No." + +"Or a meal?" + +"No, I said I'd cut a notch on my slate first time she did, and it's all +smooth yet." + +He held it up as he spoke; and Frank remarked,-- + +"Yes, smooth enough on that side; but you've nicked it all down on the +other, end to end. What's that for?" + +"That? Oh! that's quite another thing. I'm keeping tally of Joe and Fuz. +Every time one of 'em asks a question about our boarding-house, or Mrs. +Myers, or Almira, or' little Dr. Brandegee, I nick it down. Got to quit +pretty soon, or buy another slate." + +"They've kind o' kept away from us," said Dab. "They're in only one of +my classes, but they're in three of yours." + +"Ain't in any ob mine," said Dick; "but Dr. Brandegee says he'll promote +me soon." + +Dick's tongue always began to work better, the moment he mentioned the +academy-principal. + +"I don't mind their keeping away from us," said Frank. + +"Nor I," said Ford. + +At that moment they reached their own gate, and Dick darted forward in +response to an imaginary call from Mrs. Myers. + +Ford went on,-- + +"They can keep away all they please, but they won't do it long. They're +bound on mischief of some kind." + +"To us?" asked Frank. + +"Well, yes; but it'll light on Richard Lee first. He won't say a word to +us about it, but they've bothered him." + +"I'll ask him," said Dab, in whose face a flush was rising. "They must +let Dick alone." + +"They won't, then. And there's plenty of others just like 'em. They're +getting together in a kind of a flock these last two or three days. Some +of 'em are pretty big ones." + +"Boys," exclaimed Frank, "how about our boxing lessons?" + +"Guess we haven't forgotten 'em all in one week," said Ford. "I was +thinking about to-morrow." + +So were they all; and they held a council-of-war about it, in their own +room, before supper. The result was, that, by a unanimous vote, that +Saturday was to be devoted to the catching of fish, rather than to +playing ball, or any thing else that would bring them into immediate +contact with Joe and Fuz. + +They had all brought their fishing-tackle with them, as a matter of +course; plenty of worms for bait were to be dug in the garden; and Dab +Kinzer had learned, by careful inquiry, that both bait and tackle could +be used to good purpose in the waters of "Green Pond," and sundry other +small bits of lakes, miles and miles away among the hills to the north +of Grantley. + +"We'll have a grand time," he said, "and it'll do us all good. No crabs, +though. Wonder if those fresh-water fish bite like ours down in the +bay." + +"Some do, and some don't," said Ford. "I've caught 'em." + +It did not occur to him now, however, that he could probably teach Dab; +and they all obeyed the supper-bell. + +There were three kinds of corn-cake on the table, but the boys were +thinking of something more important; and Dab hardly received his first +cup of tea before he remarked,-- + +"We're all going a-fishing to-morrow, Mrs. Myers; but we may get home in +time for supper. Can you spare Dick?" + +"What, on Saturday? The very day I need him most? Three loads of wood'll +be over from the farm to-night." + +Dick had been in the kitchen, and had advanced as far as the door while +Dab was speaking. + +"Wood?" he muttered to himself. "Guess I know wot dat means. T'ree load +ob wood, an' no fishin'! It's jes' awful!" + +"Now, Mrs. Myers," said Ford, "if you knew what a fisherman Dick is! He +might bring you home a load of them." + +"I am sorry," said Mrs. Myers, with more of firmness and less of smile +than they had ever seen on her face before. "I have no objection to the +rest of you going. You may do as you please about that, but I must keep +Richard at his work." + +"I am particularly well pleased to learn that you have no objection to +our going," remarked Ford, with extreme politeness, and Dabney added,-- + +"It does me good too. We'll take Dick with us some other time. Mrs. +Myers, if you will have breakfast pretty early I'll be much obliged to +you." + +Even Almira had never seen Dabney look quite so tall as he did at that +moment. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +DABNEY KINZER TRIES FRESH-WATER FISHING FOR THE FIRST TIME. + + +Conversation did not flourish at the supper-table that Friday evening. +There was a puzzled look on the faces of Mrs. Myers and her daughter, +and their three boarders seemed to be running a kind of race with each +other as to which of them should make out to be the most carefully +polite. As for poor Dick Lee, out there in the kitchen, the nearest he +came to breaking the silence was in a sort of smothered groan, and a +half-uttered determination to "git up good and early, an' dig dem +fellers de bes' worms dey is in de gardin." + +There was talk enough in the room up stairs in the course of the +evening; but the door was closed, and there was no chance for any one in +the passage outside, no matter how silently he or she might go by, to +hear a distinct word of it. + +"You see, boys," said Ford Foster, at the end of some extended remarks, +"I'm not at all mean or exacting. My father only pays Mrs. Myers three +dollars a week, and all she agreed to give was board. I can't expect her +to be any kind of an aunt, too, and let me go a-fishing. I'll take it +all off her hands, and let myself go." + +"It's hard on Dick, though," said Dab, "and she's kind o' got the right +of it." + +"I s'pose she has. But if he isn't earning all he gets, I'm mistaken. +Boys, if she puts any more work on him, what'll we do?" + +"Eat," said Dab: "that's the only way we can make it up." + +"We can't do it, Dab. Not unless the price of corn-meal goes up. Think +of eating another three dollars' worth of hasty-pudding every week!" + +Their landlady came out in all her smiles at breakfast, and hoped they +would have good success with their fishing. + +"Only," she added, "I'm not very fond of fish, and I never take the +trouble to clean them." + +"We will try and catch ours ready cleaned, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Now, +boys, if you're ready, I am." + +They were ready, bait and all, thanks to Dick; and the breakfast had +been an early one. Dab thanked Mrs. Myers for that, even while he wished +he had Ford Foster's tongue to do it with. + +In fact, he had been noticing of late that his ideas came to him a +little slowly. Not but what he had plenty of them, but they seemed +disposed to crowd one another; so that whenever there was any thing to +be said in a hurry, Ford was sure to get ahead of him, and sometimes +even quiet Frank Harley. + +"Must be I'm growing, somehow," he said to himself, "or I wouldn't be so +awkward." + +The north road from Grantley led through a region that was, as the old +farmers said of it, "a-goin' back," and was less thickly peopled than it +had been two or three generations before. There had once been pretty +well cultivated farms all around some of the little lakes that were now +bordered by stout growths of forest; and the roads among the hills wore +a neglected look, many of them, as if it had ceased to profit anybody to +keep them in order. + +There was "coming and going" over them, nevertheless; and the boys +managed to get a "lift" of nearly five miles in a farmer's wagon, so +that they reached the vicinity of Green Pond sooner than they had +expected, and with much less fatigue. The same farmer, in response to +anxious questioning by Dab, informed him,-- + +"Fish? Wall, ye-es. Nobody don't ketch 'em much nowadays. Time was when +they was pretty much all fished out, but I heerd there was some fellers +turned in a heap of seedlin' fish three or four year ago. Right away +arter that, my boys went over, and put in three days a hand runnin', but +they didn't get nothin' but pumpkin-seeds. Plenty of them yit, I +s'pose." + +That was encouraging; but Ford at once remarked,-- + +"Pumpkin-seeds? A fine-looking fish, are they not? I know them. Somewhat +depressed, and extended laterally?" + +"Guesso. You're 'tendin' school at the 'cadummy, ain't ye?" + +"Yes, we're there." + +"Thought so. Ye-es. We-ell, it's a good thing for the 'cadummy. Hope +you'll ketch some o' them seedlin' fish. Ef ye do, you kin jest stuff +'em with big words, and bake 'em. They do say as how fish is good for +the brains." + +"Don't we turn off somewhere along here?" asked Dabney. + +"Ye-es. Green Pond's right down there, through the woods. Not more'n a +mile. See't ye don't lose yer way. What bait have ye got?" + +"Bait? Angle-worms. Are they the right thing?" + +"Worms? Ye-es. They'll do. Somebody told ye, did they? 'Twon't take ye +long to larn how to put 'em on." + +There was not a great deal to be made out of that old New-England +farmer; and his good-natured contempt for a lot of ignorant young "city +fellers," in good clothes, did not require any further expression. + +They left him with a wide grin on his wrinkled face, and followed his +directions over the nearest fence; but with ideas concerning their +probable string of fish, that were rather "depressed" than "extended." + +It was a long mile, but it did not contain any danger of getting lost; +and at the end of it they had quite enough of a surprise to pay them for +their trouble. + +"Why, Ford, it's a beauty!" + +"Dab, do you s'pose as nice a pond as that hasn't any thing in it but +pumpkin-seeds?" + +"No boat that I can see," remarked Frank. + +"We'll fish from the shore," said Dab. "There's a log that runs away out +in. Rocks too." + +Rocks and trees and natural ruggedness all around, and some ten or a +dozen acres of clear, cold, beautiful water, with little brooks and +springs running into it, and a brook running out on the opposite shore +that would have to grow considerably before it would be fit for +mill-turning. + +"Boys," said Dabney, "we've missed it!" + +"How's that?" asked Ford. + +"Put on the smallest hooks you've got, right away, and try for minnows. +There must be pickerel and bass here." + +"Bass? Of course! Didn't he say something about seed-fish? That's what +they put in; and they weren't as big as pins when his boys came for +'em." + +"Minnow-poles," as they called them, could be cut from the bushes at the +margin, and little fish could be taken at the same time that they were +trying for large ones. They found too, before long, that sometimes a +very respectable perch or bass would stoop to nibble at one of the +"elegant worms" with which Dick Lee had provided them. + +"No turn of the tide to wait for here, Dab," said Ford, "and no crabs to +steal your bait off. Hey! There comes one. Perch! First game for my +hook." + +"We'll stay till dark, but we'll get a good string. Frank, your cork's +under." + +"Never fished with one before," said Frank. "I'll soon get the hang of +it." + +That was a capital school for it, at all events; and they learned that +it might be a good thing for a little lake like that to have a bad +reputation. + +"Fished out years ago. I understand now," said Dab. + +"Understand what?" + +"Why, those fellows in the village that sent me out here were playing a +joke on us,--a good deal like one of Joe and Fuz Hart's." + +"Best kind of a joke. But if we tell about it when we get home, the +whole village'll be over here next week." + +"Then we won't tell. Hurrah! I'll get him in. Steady, now. If he isn't a +two-pounder! see him run? Boys, this is going to be fun." + +They did not neglect their minnow-catching; and before a great while +they were varying their bait, very much to their advantage. How they did +wish for a boat, so they could try the deeper water! They worked their +way along, from point to point, looking for the best spot, if such there +were; and Dabney at last found himself quite a distance ahead of his +companions. + +"Boys! Ford! Frank! A boat! Come on!" + +Lying behind the trunk of a tree that had fallen into the water,--not +much of a boat, to be sure, and without any oars or even rowlocks; but +when the water was tipped out of it, and it was shoved in again, it +actually floated. + +"Careful, Ford," said Dab. "Remember Dick Lee. The old thing may come to +pieces. It wasn't made yesterday." + +"Look's as if Christopher Columbus owned it, and forgot just where he +left it. We can paddle with pieces of bark, as far out as we need go." + +Now the fun was doubled; and some of the pickerel they pulled in +reminded Dabney of small blue-fish, while the bass and perch were every +way as respectable as ordinary porgies and black-fish, except for size. +He had even to confess that the sea itself contained a great many small +fish, and that he had often had much poorer luck in his own beloved bay. + +The boat was a great acquisition; but when they were paddling ashore for +the fourth time, "to turn her over and let the water out," Dabney +remarked,-- + +"It's after dinner-time, boys. Could either of you fellows eat any +thing?" + +"Eat?" said Frank. "I'd forgotten that. Yes, let's have lunch. But +there's more cold johnny-cake than any thing else in the basket." + +"There's plenty of salt and pepper though; and it won't take any time at +all to make a fire, and broil some fish. Didn't you ever go on a +chowder-party, and do your own cooking?" + +"No, I never did." + +"Nor I," said Ford very reluctantly. "Can we do it?" + +"Do it? I'll show you. No kettle. We'll have to broil. You fellows make +a fire, while I clean some of these fish." + +It was every bit as good fun as catching those fish, to cook them there +on the shore of that lovely little lake. Dabney did know all about it, +as became a "'longshore boy;" and he took a particular pride in showing +Ford and Frank how many different ways there were of cooking a fish +without an oven or a kettle or a gridiron. + +It was another fine point to discover, after they had eaten all they +could, including the cold johnny-cake, that they did not seem to have +made their strings of fish look perceptibly smaller. + +"Tell you what, boys," said Dabney: "next time we come out we'll bring a +hammer and nails, and some oakum, and I'll calk up that old punt so +she'll float well enough. Only it won't do to dance in her." + +"Then," said Ford, "I move we don't try her again to-day. If we've got +to carry all these fish, it'll be a long pull home. We're not half sure +of catching another ride." + +"We can pole our fish, though, and make it easy carrying." + +"How's that?" + +"I'll show you. Cut two poles, hang your strings half way, shoulder the +poles, and take turns carrying. One boy getting rested, all the while, +and no cords cutting your hands." + +That was as sensible as if his own mother had told him; and it was a +good thing he thought of it, for they did not "catch a ride" till they +were half way home. All the wagons were coming the other way, of course, +on Saturday afternoon; but the one chat then caught up with them had +been carrying a new stove home, and was returning empty. + +"Fine strings of fish," remarked the stove-man as they clambered in. +"Where'd you catch 'em?" + +"Over in one of the lakes." + +"Did ye though? You don't say! Guess I know the place. You must have had +an all-killin' walk, though. I declare! I'm goin' to try that pond first +day I get away." + +"Want some of these?" + +"Wouldn't rob ye,--but you've got a-plenty--that pickerel? Thank ye, +now. Oh!--and the bass tew? You're good fellers." + +He seemed to be another; and Dab warned him at parting, that, "when he +wanted to get a string of fish, if he'd come to him he'd tell him just +where to go." + +"All right. Glad I had the luck to ketch up with ye." + +"Dab," said Ford as they reached the outskirts of Grantley, "I know it's +late; but we must walk through the village with these fish, if it's only +to have the whole town ask us where we caught them." + +"That's so. I'm rested now too. Let's get right out." + +They were nearly at the southerly end of the village, and there was +quite a walk before them. + +"Dab," said Frank, "we've more fish than we'll need at our house, if we +have 'em for breakfast and dinner both." + +"I've been thinking of that. Let's vote on it now. What do you say? One +string for the minister?" + +"Yes," said Ford, "a bass for Mr. Fallow, a small pickerel for Mrs. +Fallow, and a perch or a pumpkin-seed for each of the six little +Fallows." + +"All right; and that big pickerel I caught, for Dr. Brandegee, and the +biggest bass in the lot to keep it company. Let's make him up a prime +good mess." + +"One that'll stand an examination," said Ford. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +FIGHT, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. + + +Dick Lee was an unwise boy that afternoon. + +He knew how to turn his hand to a great many things, thanks to his +home-training; and a woodpile was one of the matters he had learned how +to deal with, but he had not taken hold of that of Mrs. Myers with any +heart for his work. + +It was simply impossible for him to imagine that he was pulling in fish, +or having any other kind of fun, while he was sawing wood, or even while +splitting it. + +There was, however, something almost vicious in the way he came down +with his axe upon some of the more obstinate pieces. + +"He will be a very useful boy," remarked Mrs. Myers, as she watched him +from the window; "but I fear I shall have some difficulty with the +others. They are very much inclined to be uppish." + +Dick toiled faithfully; and he felt it as a kind of relief, late in the +day, to be sent to the grocery-store, at the lower end of the village, +with a basket that was to bring home the usual Saturday assortment for +Mrs. Myers. + +He did well enough in going; but on his way home, if the truth must be +told, Dick Lee loitered dreadfully. It was so nice a day, and he had +been so long at his woodpile, and he had had so little time to call his +own that week. + +Over on the green, the boys of the village were playing a sort of +"match-game" of base-ball, with a picked nine from the academy; and +there seemed no reason why Dick and his basket should not stroll along +inside the barrier-fence of the green, and see them play it. + +That was where his unwisdom showed itself; for among the boys who were +not playing were Joe and Fuz Hart and all their "crowd," and this was +the first time they had seen Dick on the green "all alone." + +That would have been quite enough of itself, considering how black he +was, and that he was a "new boy" at the academy; but the additional fact +that he had his basket on his arm opened the way to trouble for him all +the sooner. + +He was standing still, on the walk near the fence, gazing at the batting +and catching with so deep an interest that his mouth would stay open, +when he suddenly found himself "surrounded." + +"Hullo, Dick, what you got in your basket?" + +"Groceries! Groceries! Fresh from Afriky." + +"Let's see 'em." + +"Jes' you keep off, now." + +"Give us that basket." + +"Don't you tech a thing!" + +"What you got, Midnight?" + +"None ob youah business. I's 'tendin' to mine. Put dat back, now, will +you?" + +Dick had promptly retreated against the fence, in his surprise and +vexation, and was defending himself and his cargo vigorously, but he was +sadly outnumbered. + +They were a cowardly lot: for their all but helpless victim had even +received several sharp blows, in return for his grasps and pushes; and +the matter threatened to end unpleasantly for him, when suddenly Joe +Hart felt his feet jerked from under him. Down he went, and over went +Fuz on top of him; and then there were four or five boys all in a heap, +with Dick's basket upset just beyond them, and Dick himself diving +hither and thither after its late contents, and exclaiming,-- + +"Cap'n Dab's come! I's all right now. Jes' let me pick up some ob dese +t'ings." + +There was a resentful ring in the last remark, as if he were thinking of +something like war after the recovery of his groceries; but it was +indeed the voice of Dab Kinzer, shouting full and clear,-- + +"Pick 'em up, Dick! we're just in time." + +A boy somewhat larger than the rest, a good half-head taller than +Dabney, but with a somewhat pasty and unhealthy complexion, had selected +Ford Foster, as the shortest of the new arrivals, and demanded,-- + +"What are you meddling for?" just as he aimed a clumsy blow at his head. +That blow did not hit Ford; but a shorter young ruffian had also picked +him out, perhaps for the same reason, and the hit he aimed reached its +mark, for Ford had no extra pair of arms behind to box with. Frank +Harley seemed, just then, to be remarkably busy with the heap of boys on +the ground. + +"Spat!"--that was the way something sounded; and Dab Kinzer added,-- + +"Go for that fellow on the grass, Ford: I'll take care of the long one." + +"You will,--will you?" + +Spat--spat--spat! + +"Oh! I see: you don't know how to box; weak in the arms too. Better go +home." + +The tall boy was stepping backwards quite rapidly, with one hand on his +nose, and the other swinging wildly in the air above him; and Ford was +keeping the "fellow on the grass" from getting up, when all the noise +around them suddenly ceased. + +"Dr. Brandegee!" + +"Where? Where?" + +"Coming across the green, at the upper end." + +"He's coming this way." + +Several of the late assailants started on a run at once; but Dab Kinzer +had caught a sharp whisper from Frank Harley, and he shouted,-- + +"No you won't, Joe Hart! Hold on, Fuz! That other chap must stay too. +Give Dick back his groceries." + +"Dey's hooked a pile ob 'em," said Dick, his eyes dancing with triumph. +"Jes' make 'em hand ober." + +"Do you mean to say we've been stealing?" fiercely demanded Joe. + +"What, me? me, steal?" almost gasped Fuz. + +"They wouldn't do such a thing as that," said Ford, not quite +comprehending the situation. + +"That's it," said Dab: "let 'em empty their pockets"-- + +Joe was indignantly turning inside out the side pockets of his neat +"cut-away," and a small, brown-paper-covered parcel dropped upon the +ground. + +"Dem's de cloves," shouted Dick, as he darted forward, and picked it up. + +The fingers of Fuz almost unconsciously imitated those of his elder +brother, and with a like result. + +"Dat's de cinnamon. If de oder feller didn't git de tea an' de +sal'ratus! Whar's de nutmegs?" + +These, too, were forthcoming, as well as a paper of "indigo blue" for +the next Monday's washing, and other items which testified strongly as +to "how much at a time" Mrs. Myers was in the habit of buying. + +It was all over in less than half a minute, but Dick's assailants looked +very much as if they wanted to sink right down through the grass. + +"Go home, Joseph," said Ford; "go home, Foster. I'll write to your +father that you're out of these things at your boarding-house. We _buy_ +all our groceries, where we live." + +"I never touched a thing," roared Joe. "Somebody put 'em in my pockets." + +"Don't say any thing more, Joseph," said Ford calmly. "If you don't get +enough to eat, come over to our house: we won't let you starve. Give you +all the bluing you want too." + +They did not seem to need any just then; and there was such a crowd of +boys gathering that they were glad to take Ford's advice, and hurry +away. Even then a good deal more attention might have been paid them, +all around, but for the excitement created in the mind of every boy who +looked at the great strings of fish Dab and his friends had dropped when +they went in to the rescue of Dick Lee. + +Questions as to where they were caught, and how, poured upon the young +fishermen so fast that it was not easy to dodge them all at once, or +prevent a general stampede of the academy boys to Green Pond. + +"They'd use up the boat in one day, and all the fish in the next," said +Dab to Frank; "but where'd you learn to do what you did for Fuz and +Joe?" + +"Sleight-of-hand? Oh! one of father's Hindu converts had been a juggler. +He taught me. They're the best in the world, but father doesn't like me +to do much of it. We can have some fun with it yet, though. It came to +me like a flash when I saw those things on the ground." + +"Served 'em right. Spoiling 'em on the ground was next thing to +stealing." + +"Come on, boys," said Ford. "It's after five o'clock." + +They were all glad to escape from the crowd, especially Dick Lee; and it +was not until they were across the street that the tall form of Dr. +Brandegee came slowly down past the ball-players. He seemed particularly +interested in that game. It was currently reported, indeed, that he had +been a first-class athlete in his younger days, and that he took a quiet +half-hour in the morning with his dumb-bells now, before doing any thing +at all with his Greek and Latin. + +The "short-stop" was a well-built, sunburned student of at least twenty; +and the doctor noticed how neatly he had been doing his work. + +"Wish I could catch an equation as well as I can a ball," said the young +fellow, coloring a little, perhaps at the memory of something in +mathematics which had "got by him." + +"You will, I think. By the way, didn't I see what looked like a +disturbance down here among the boys, just now?" + +"Disturbance? Well, yes, I should say there was. Came near interrupting +the game." + +"Any thing serious?" + +"Well, it might have been. Some of the boys made a set on that little +colored chap. Mean thing to do. I'd ha' stopped it myself; but that +Kinzer boy, and the other two that board with Mrs. Myers, they cleared +it all up in no time." + +"No fighting, I hope?" + +"Well, no; but I tell you what, doctor, the rest of the boys'll let that +nigger alone. His friends can box." + +"Ah, yes! I understand. They stood by him. Wouldn't see him imposed +upon." + +"They just wouldn't. They're prime little chaps. The other boys were +bigger'n they are. I'd ha' helped 'em, but they didn't need any help." + +"No. Yes,--I see. It won't do to have any fighting, but then! H'm! They +stood right by him! Good-afternoon, Mr. Pulsifer." + +"Good-afternoon, Dr. Brandegee. There, if he hasn't made me lose a hit! +I'd ha' fetched it. But I'm glad I had a chance to set him right about +that scrimmage. I thought those three chaps were kind o' stuck up, but +everybody'll know where to place 'em now." + +There was nothing like anger, or even disapproval, on Dr. Brandegee's +face when he walked away; but he was muttering,-- + +"Know how to box, do they? I thought I saw something like it. They're a +fine lot of young fellows. I must keep my eye on them. They'll be MEN +one of these days!" + +They were only boys yet, however; and they were hardly arrived in front +of the kitchen-door before they began to make the proposed division of +the fish. + +Mrs. Myers came to meet Dick, and receive an account of his errand. + +"You've been gone twice as long--I declare, Almira, come here and see +these fish. You have had wonderful luck, I must say. More'n we'll know +what to do with." + +"I will attend to the cleaning of them," began Dabney; but Dick +interrupted him with,-- + +"Guess not, Cap'n Dab. I's cleaned loads ob fish. Won't be no time at +all puttin' t'rough jes' a string or two." + +"Dick will clean them," said Mrs. Myers; "but it's too late to cook any +for supper." + +She turned away into the house as she spoke, and took Almira with her. + +"Now, boys," said Dabney, "we've just time, before supper, to go with +these other strings, and get back." + +They would have been late indeed, if they had stopped to talk with every +one who wanted to admire Dab's big pickerel and Ford's remarkable bass; +but a little good management brought them to Dr. Brandegee's in not much +more than five times the number of minutes needed to walk the distance. +The fish were handed to the door-opener with,-- + +"The compliments of Mr. Harley, Mr. Kinzer, and Mr. Foster," and a great +flourish of a bow from the latter, which could hardly be made to keep +that string company till the doctor should see it. + +"Now for the minister's." + +The good man himself replied to the ring at his door-bell; but Dabney +was half sorry he had consented to be spokesman this time. + +"My young friends?" said Mr. Fallow inquiringly. + +"Fish, sir," said Dab. "Some we caught to-day over in Green Pond. We +thought we'd bring you a mess of 'em." + +He thought, too, without saying it,-- + +"Now I've made a mess of it. Why didn't I let Ford do it?" + +"Thank you. Thank you, my young friends. Very kind and thoughtful. Won't +you walk in?" + +"No, sir, thank you. It's most supper-time. We must hurry back." + +"Mary! Come and see these fish. Some very fine ones. Going? Indeed? Saw +you in church last Sunday. Hope I'll see you there again to morrow. +Good-afternoon, my dear young friends." + +"Good-afternoon, sir." + +They walked away a little rapidly, but with a vivid and decidedly +pleasant impression that they had given the pale-faced, earnest-eyed +minister an extraordinary amount of comfort. + +"The fish ain't worth much," said Ford. "It couldn't have been just +them!" + +No, indeed, it was not, and they failed to make it out to their +satisfaction; but it might have helped them if they had seen him hand +the fish to "Mary," and say,-- + +"There, what do you think of that? The very boys I told you of." + +"The ones you saw on the green, fighting?" + +"Exactly. I must see Dr. Brandegee. They can't be altogether bad." + +"Bad? No! There must be something about it. The doctor always knows. He +will be able to explain it, I know." + +Great was the confidence of the Grantley people in Dr. Brandegee, as to +any and all things relating to "his boys;" and that of Mrs. Fallow was +none the less when her husband returned from his evening call. + +"Defending that colored boy? You don't say. The dear, brave little +fellows! Fighting is dreadful. Did any of them get hurt?" + +"Hurt, dear? No; and they gave those young ruffians--H'm! Well--David +had to do a great deal of fighting, Mary, but we must not approve +too."-- + +"My dear! I say they did right." + +And the little woman's tired face flushed into sudden beauty, with her +honest enthusiasm over "those boys." + +They had not reached the end of their day's experiences, however, when +they left the minister's gate, or even when they arrived at their own. + +At that very moment Mrs. Myers was once more standing in the kitchen +doorway. + +"Dick, as soon as you've had your supper, you may take one of those +strings of fish over to Deacon Short's, and another to Mrs. +Sunderland's. You may clean all the rest." + +"Yes'm," said Dick vaguely, "but dar's on'y one string." + +"Only one? Where are all the rest, I'd like to know?" + +Dabney and his friends were around the corner of the house now, and her +last question was plainly directed to them. + +"The rest of what, Mrs. Myers'?" + +"Why, the fish. What have you done with them?" + +"Oh! they're all right, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Fish are good for +brains. That's what we've done with 'em." + +"Brains? What"-- + +"Exactly. Next to us three, the men that work their brains the hardest +around here are Mr. Fallow and my friend Dr. Brandegee." + +"And you never asked me a word about it!" + +"About what?" inquired Dabney. "I must say I don't quite understand. Do +you mean, about what we were to do with our fish?" + +"Of course I do. I can't allow"-- + +She hesitated a moment, as if the next words were slow in coming; and +Dab helped her out with,-- + +"Can't allow what, Mrs. Myers?" and Ford added,-- + +"Now, Mrs. Myers, there's nothing healthier than fish. It won't hurt +either of 'em. Is supper ready?" + +"I hope it is," said Dab. "I'm getting hungry again." + +Mrs. Myers looked at them in amazement; and so did Miss Almira, for, if +one thing was plainer than another, it was that neither of those three +boys understood the nature of her complaint. It did not seem to occur to +them, that she had, or could, or would claim any control over the +results of their day's fun; not even when she said,-- + +"I intended one string for Deacon Short, and another for Mrs. +Sunderland"-- + +"Don't work their brains, Mrs. Myers," said Ford. "Don't need any fish. +But then, if we have as good luck next time, we'll bear them in mind. +We've kept enough pan-fish for breakfast, and the big ones'll be just +the thing for dinner." + +That had been the plan of Mrs. Myers herself; for she had already said +to Almira,-- + +"It'll be a real saving, and the corned beef'll be just as good on +Monday." + +More talk would hardly improve such a case as that; and it was really +beginning to dawn upon Mrs. Myers, that her three boy boarders had minds +and wills of their own, moreover, that they had not the most distant +idea of failing to exercise them on every proper occasion. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +OLD FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS OF HIS COME TO VISIT DABNEY. + + +"Boys," remarked Dab Kinzer, when they gathered in their own room after +supper, "I can't say we've learned a great deal this first week; but +we've found a tiptop fishing-ground, and we've settled the Hart boys." + +"Shouldn't wonder if Mrs. Myers feels a good deal more settled than she +did too," said Ford. "But I'm thinking what Frank Harley's going to do +with his fingers, when we can give him a chance. We've loads of fun +ahead, or I'm mistaken." + +"I won't try it on very often," said Frank. "Fun's fun, that's a fact; +but I came here to learn something." + +"My dear young friend," said Ford, with a sudden imitation of Mr. +Fallow, "think of how much you've learned in seven days. Dab's beginning +to know so much, he can't talk." + +"I'm not just comfortable about Dick," said Dabney. + +"Oh! he'll come out all right: the corn's mostly shelled, and the +woodpile can't last forever. He doesn't know how to run a +sewing-machine. She tried making him read aloud to her and Almira, last +night; but Dick thinks she won't ask him to do it again. Don't be +troubled about Richard: his future is safe." + +Part of it undoubtedly; and the boys had "settled" more things for +themselves and him than those they mentioned. + +They had settled their own position among the boys of the academy and +the village, old and young; for every soul of them had heard about "the +big fight on the green" before he went to bed that night. They had +secured Dick Lee's position for him: not that they had given him a false +one, but that he would be safe to enjoy, almost unmolested, whatever +position his own conduct might earn for him. That was all any boy ought +to have, black or white. + +They had done much, as Ford said, to settle their own position at their +boarding-house; but that was nothing of importance compared to the +impression they had made upon the large heart and brain of the stately +academy principal. They had made a firm friend of him, and of others +whose friendship was worth having. + +All that was a great deal to have accomplished in one short week, but +there was much more that would require their immediate attention. + +Books, fishing, lectures, base-ball, French, pigeon-shooting, elocution, +kites, composition, nutting, and the academy debating society; and the +list of the future demands upon their time grew as they talked, until +Ford exclaimed,-- + +"Hold on, boys: my brains won't stand any more till after I've eaten a +supply of fish." + +They ought all to have been able to think harder, after the next day's +breakfast and dinner; but the "corned beef" came on Monday, and with it, +as usual, came corn in other forms. "The farm" had done well that year, +with that particular crop; but so had all the other farms, east and +west, and Mrs. Myers found her best market for her maize harvest at her +own table. It would take a good while to dispose of what Dick had +already shelled, and all she could do was to be liberal as to quantity. +There was no fault to be found with her on that score, but Dabney did +not ask for any more recipes to send home to his mother. + +The second week was much longer than the first. Saturday came around +very nearly in its own turn this time; but it brought with it such a +storm of wind and rain as not only shut Green Pond out of all possible +calculations, but kept the village green as well, clear of all boys. + +It was a good time to write letters in, and those written were long +ones; but they did not contain a solitary complaint of any thing the +boys had yet discovered in or about Grantley. + +"Hamilton," said Mrs. Kinzer, after pondering a little over her letter +when it came, "Dabney seems to be well satisfied." + +"Mrs. Foster says Ford and Frank are." + +"But I notice he doesn't say any thing about his appetite. I do hope he +isn't losing it. He seems to be studying hard." + +"Dabney? Lose his appetite in less than two weeks? No, mother Kinzer, it +would take him longer than that." + +It was just one week later that he showed her a part of a curious +epistle he had himself received from Dab. It had evidently been written +in a moment of what is called "confidence." + +"I tell you what, Ham," he wrote, "mother doesn't know what can be done +with corn. Mrs. Myers does. She raised a heap of it, this year; and the +things she turns it into would drive a cook-book crazy. I've been giving +them Latin names; and Frank, he turns them into Hindustanee. It's real +fun sometimes, but I sha'n't be the boy I was. I'm getting corned. My +hair is silkier, and my voice is husky. My ears are growing. I'd like a +few clams and some fish, once in a while, just for a change. A crab +would taste wonderfully good. So would some oysters, and they don't have +any up here. We've had one good day's fishing, since we came; but we had +to go miles and miles after it. Now, don't you tell mother we don't get +enough to eat. There's plenty of it, and you ought to see Mrs. Myers +smile when she passes the johnnycake. We're all trying to learn that +heavenly smile. Ford does it best. I think Dick Lee is getting a little +pale. Perhaps corn doesn't agree with him. He's learning fast, though, +and so am I; but we have to work harder than Ford and Frank. I guess the +Hart boys know more than they did when they got here; and they didn't +learn it all out of their books, either. We keep up our French and our +boxing; but oh, wouldn't I like to go for some blue-fish just now! Has +mother made any mince-pies yet? I've almost forgotten how they taste. I +was going by a house, the other day, and I smelt some ham cooking. I was +real glad I hadn't forgotten. I knew what it was, right away. Don't you +be afraid about my studying; for I'm at it all the while, except when +we're playing ball or eating corn. They say they have sleighing here +earlier than we do, and more of it, and plenty of skating. Well, now, +don't say any thing to mother about the corn; but won't I eat when I get +home! Yours all the while, + DABNEY KINZER." + +"Why, the poor fellow!" exclaimed Mrs. Kinzer. "It's enough to stop his +growth." + +It was not many days after that, before Dabney received a couple of +boxes by express. The "marks" told where they came from; and he and the +other boys carried them right up stairs, in the face of a kind +suggestion from Mrs. Myers that "they might take them right out into the +kitchen, and open them there." + +She had almost ceased from putting her wishes in any more dictatorial +form; but she and Almira wondered exceedingly what might be the contents +of those boxes. + +Dab was only a minute or so in finding out what was in one of them. + +"Boiled ham! A whole one! Out with it, Frank. All that brown +paper,--why, it's a pair of chickens, all ready to roast." + +"Something more's down under those slats," said Ford, in a tone of great +excitement. + +"Mince-pies! And they're not much mashed, either. It's wonderful how +they did pack them." + +"Slats and shingles and paper," said Ford. "What can there be in that +other box?" + +"Shall we eat first, or open it?" + +"Open it! Open it! Maybe they've sent you some corn." + +Opened it was, with a desperate display of energy. + +"Ice!" said Frank Harley. + +"Sawdust!" shouted Ford. + +"Fish!" said Dabney. "Clams, oysters, crabs, lobsters." + +Dick Lee had gazed in absolute silence up to that very moment; and all +he could say now was,-- + +"Ah-h-h! O-h-h-h! Jes' ain't dey fine!" + +"Boys," said Dab, with a sort of loving look at the contents of that +box, "do you suppose we can eat those fellows?" + +"Eat 'em!" exclaimed Ford. "Why, after they're cooked!" + +"Well, I s'pose we can; but I feel more like shaking hands with 'em all +around, just now. They're old friends and neighbors of mine, you know." + +"Yes; but I guess we'd better eat them." + +"Cap'n Dab," said Dick, "dey jes' knock all de correck pronounciation +out ob me, dey does." + +"Ford, Frank, I'll ask Mrs. Myers and Almira up here right away. Those +oysters and clams have got to be eaten this very evening." + +They did not need twice asking; and there was a thoughtful expression on +the face of Mrs. Myers when she looked from one box into the other. It +was fairly on her tongue's end to suggest what share of those luxuries +should be taken at once to Deacon Short's or Mrs. Sunderland's; but she +stopped in time, for that thought was followed by another,-- + +"What could the boys have been writing home about her cooking and her +table?" + +There might be something serious in it; for boarders were people who +came and went, boys or no boys, and Dab and his friends were just the +kind of boys to "come and go." At all events, she could not object to +their having such a supply as that sent them; and she took up the +responsibility of all the cookery required, at once. + +It was a feast while it lasted, and the effects of it upon the character +of Mrs. Myers's table were permanent. + +There was no further danger that Dab's growth would be checked in any +such manner as his mother had feared. + +Nor was there any great doubt remaining as to the steadiness of his +growth in other ways, during his school days at Grantley; for he and his +friends were now "settled;" and they had made that most important +success in life,--a Good Beginning. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dab Kinzer, by William O. 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