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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/30640-8.txt b/30640-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cbaba9 --- /dev/null +++ b/30640-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3535 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant + +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: Anything Once + +Author: Douglas Grant + +Illustrator: Paul Stahr + +Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, +his face whitening beneath its tan.] + + + + +ANYTHING ONCE + +BY DOUGLAS GRANT + +AUTHOR OF "THE SINGLE TRACK," "BOOTY," "THE FIFTH ACE," ETC. + +Frontispiece by PAUL STAHR + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. + +BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. + + + + +CONTENTS + CHAPTER PAGE + I. A Roadside Meeting 1 + II. Partners 17 + III. The Vendor Of Everything 41 + IV. Under The Big Top 55 + V. Concerning An Omelet 69 + VI. The Red Note-Book 83 + VII. Revelations 99 + VIII. Journey's End 118 + IX. The Long, Long Trail 138 + + + + +ANYTHING ONCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A Roadside Meeting + + +The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling +fields of ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy +feet of the plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had +scarcely settled again upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed +which bordered the rail fences on either side when Ebb Fischel's +itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb Fischel's eyes were usually +as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the dust must have obscured his +vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying motionless beside the +road, with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of harvest-time +caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his temple. + +But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time +nothing disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper +and nearer buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to +see what this strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to +tell his associates. + +At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the +field on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders +appeared above the topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with +tow-colored hair, which had been slicked back and braided so tightly +that the short, meager cue curled outward and up in a crescent, as +though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath the coarse +blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked. + +The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and +suddenly thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails, +letting it fall in the high, dusty weeds by the roadside. Next she +climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched there, +displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping, +square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her. + +She looked like a very forlorn, feminine _Monte Cristo_ indeed, as +she scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look +of quiet satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes +which told of a momentous object accomplished. + +Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that +still figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him +and lifted his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually +that he was a clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by +the sun to a warm gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes. + +Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of +one of New York's most exclusive tailors! that the boots were +London-made, and the golf-stockings which met the corduroy +knickerbockers came from one of Scotland's famous mills, it would have +meant just exactly nothing in her young life. + +Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran +unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as +she raised his head. + +The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the +road was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at +either side. She pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet +dangling between her narrow shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy +headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap in the ditch, she deposited +her burden gently upon the grass once more and scrambled over to +investigate her find. + +The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber, +and the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl +filled with clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the +unconscious figure, she poured the contents of the cap over his face and +head. + +The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned a little, and opened astonished +brown eyes upon her. + +"How--how the devil did you come here?" he asked ungallantly. + +"Over the fence." Her reply was laconic, but it bore an unmistakable +hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome. "Just +you lay still while I git some more water, an' I'll tie up that head of +yourn." + +The young man's hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away +brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision's advice, and +remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and +what had happened to him. + +According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had +as assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State +highway, while this---- + +He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and +a confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady +pasture which had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village, +and of something which thundered down upon him from behind and lifted +him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days left! + +"You'd better take a drink of this first an' I kin use the rest on your +head." A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and he looked up +gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress as she +held the brimming cap to his lips. + +He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening +beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles +of his back. + +"Kin you hold the cap steady?" The girl thrust it into his hands without +waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly +turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse +but immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath. + +Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and +then rose. + +"There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or you'll have +sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin'." + +She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one +arm, offering the other to him with a gesture as frank as it was +impersonal. + +"Lean on me, an' try to git along--and please kinder hurry!" + +She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the +same furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the +fence-top, but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful +effort to rise to observe the look, although her change of tone aroused +his curiosity. Was this scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her +people would catch her talking to a stranger by the roadside? + +Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and +down the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest +in the dense thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them +from the road. + +The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside +him, unrolled the apron she had carried. + +"It's the ham that's greased it all up like that," she remarked. "I'd +have brought a pail, only I didn't want to take any more 'n I had to." + +The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the +apron-bundle were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar +in which it had been baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and, +wrapped separately in a piece of newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of +matches, and a bit of broken comb. + +"When there's lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring water, +ain't so bad, an' it's near noon," the girl observed, beginning to cut +the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand. "I should've made +them thicker, but I forgot." + +A starving gleam had come into the young man's eyes at the sight of +food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance +keenly at his companion. + +"You've enough here for an army," he declared. "Were you taking it to +men working in the fields somewhere?" + +"No," she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of finality +with which she had responded to his first question. "You can rest easy +here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin', +an' then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an' give +you a lift on your way. There's a railroad about four miles from here, +an' the slow freight goes by along about ten." + +The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man +smiled, and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had +others thought, whom he had encountered in his journey. + +But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to +how he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed +his hurt, brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her +food with him as unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life. + +That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and +her furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to +one fact--the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had +taken him at his face value, and he had no right in the world to +question her, at least without giving some sort of account of himself. + +"I have no intention of traveling by rail," he assured her. "A little +while before you found me--I don't quite know how long--I was crossing +that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking that this road +might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me from +behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut +open by striking against a stone, for I don't remember anything more +until you poured that water over my face." + +The girl nodded. + +"I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped +off it an' turned over," she averred. "Anybody who goes traipsin' +through old Terwilliger's pasture is apt to meet up with that bull of +his." + +So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the +questions that another girl would have heaped upon him. + +He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes. + +"How did you know that I didn't belong here?" he demanded. + +The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of +amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight +line far too mature for her evident youth. + +"No grown men 'round these parts wears short pants, an', anyhow, I knew +you were different from the way you talk; somethin' like the welfare +workers, with the hell an' brimstone left out," the girl replied +soberly. "I'm goin' to talk like you some day." + +It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and +he was quick to seize his advantage. + +"Who are you, young lady? You've been awfully kind to me, and I don't +know to whom my gratitude is due." + +"Not to anybody." She turned her head away slightly, but not before he +saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and +marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of +the typical farmer's daughter, inured to all weathers, yet her hands, +although small, were toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between +her dark eyes and the pale, flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a +braid. + +"I didn't do any more for you than I'd do for a dog if I found him lyin' +there." + +Her naïve sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary +suggestion, and the young man chuckled, but persisted. + +"What is your name? Mine is James--er--Botts." + +"Lou Lacey. It was 'L' day, you know, an' there was a teeny bit of lace +on my dress. I ain't ever had any since." + +She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his +increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself "Botts" +was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day, and if she +were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about the +future as her manner indicated? + +He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the +right method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how much +could he tell her about himself? James Botts's own face reddened. + +"I'm walking to my home in New York," he explained. "But I'm late; I +ought to make it by a certain date, and I don't think I'll be able to, +since my encounter with Terwilliger's bull. Where do you live? I mean, +where are you going? Where is your home?" + +"Nowheres," Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her eyes the +graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little +stream. + +"Great Scott!" The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his hand to +his head. "Why, everybody has a home, you know!" + +"Not everybody," the girl dissented quietly. + +"But--but surely you haven't been walking the roads?" + +There was genuine horror in his tones. "Where did you come from this +morning when you found me?" + +"From Hess's farm, back up the road a piece," she replied with her usual +unemotional literalness. "I been there a week, but I didn't like it, so +I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was up." + +Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless +manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too +simple. Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind +younger and more innocent-appearing delinquents than she. + +His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside +him, still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he +shuddered. Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been +prison-made, and the striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in +some pictures of female convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the +result of only a few days' exposure to the sun, and he had already +observed the whiteness of the skin beneath; that whiteness which +resembled the prison pallor. + +Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result +not of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct within the +man cried out against the thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty +drove him on. + +"I thought that didn't look like the dress of a farmer's daughter!" He +essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a grating falsetto +in his tones. "You haven't worked in the garden much, either, have you?" + +"Garden!" Lou sniffed. "They promised the welfare workers that they'd +give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I found I +had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an' wait on +them, an' clean up an' all. Said they'd pay me twelve dollars a month, +an' I could take the first month's money out by the week in clothes, an' +for the first week all they gave me was this sunbonnet an' apron. I left +them the other dress an' things I had, an' I figgered the rest of the +money they owed me would just about pay for this ham an' bread an' the +knife an' soap. The comb was mine." + +She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked +very soberly: + +"The welfare workers found this position for you, Lou Lacey? But where +did they find you?" + +"Why, at the institootion," she responded, as though surprised that he +had not already guessed. "I ain't ever been anywhere else; I've always +been a orphin." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Partners + + +For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red +flood of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely, +orphan kid, thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in +her first flight from injustice to help a stranger, only to have him +think her a possible criminal! He was glad that his back twinged and his +head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out into the ditch and left to die +there for harboring such thoughts. + +He was a cur, and she--hang it! There was something appealing about her +in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in +itself betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that +made a fellow want to protect her. + +In his own circle James Botts had never been known as a _Sir +Galahad_, but he had been away from his own circle for exactly +nineteen eventful days now, and in that space of time he had learned +much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned once more to her. + +But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic +understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots +of small pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face. + +"How old are you?" he asked suddenly. + +Lou shrugged. + +"I don't know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least, they +told me six years ago that I was twelve, an' I've kept track ever since. +When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place +somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin' +more babies from the poor-farm than usual, an' I was kinder handy with +them. She had to let me go now because one of the visitin' deaconesses +let out that she'd seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an' I was +toddlin' round then. Oh, I missed him!" + +The frog, with a triumphant _plop_, had disappeared beneath a flat, +submerged stone, and Lou turned to note her companion's pain-drawn face. + +"I'm goin' to fix that bandage on your head again," she declared as she +sprang to her feet. "Is your back hurtin' you very much?" + +"Not very." He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for, despite his +suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon him +filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the +statement that she had "kept track" of her last few years he could not +credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be +nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child +like that should wander about the country alone. + +He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by +handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being +held as a vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the +people with whom she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he +took her back and reasoned with them, insisted upon their keeping to +their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to perform. + +Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of +listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he +could persuade her to return of her own accord. + +"The people you were working for; their name was 'Hess'?" he asked. + +She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his +forehead. + +"Henry Hess an' his wife, Freida, an'--an' Max." + +Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him +demand sharply: + +"Who is Max?" + +"Their son." Her voice was very low, but for the first time it trembled +slightly. + +"You don't like him, do you?" He waited a moment, and then added +abruptly: "Why not?" + +"Because he's a--a beast! I don't want to talk about him! I don't want +even to remember that such _things_ as he is can be let live!" + +James Botts turned and looked at her and then away, for the childish +figure had been drawn up tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity +which sat not ill upon it, and from her dark eyes insulted womanhood had +blazed. + +"I'd like to go back and lick him to a standstill!" to his own utter +amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly. + +The fire had died out of Lou's face and she replied composedly: + +"What for? He don't matter any more, does he? We're goin' on." + +The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in +the world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust +upon his hands? Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his +entire capital at the moment, and if he did put her into the hands of +the county authorities until his journey was completed and he could make +other arrangements for her, it would mean a delay on his part now, when +every hour counted for so much just now. + +"Do you know how far we are from Hudsondale?" he asked. + +"Not more'n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of an +evenin' to the movies." + +The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in +the apron, together with the remains of their repast. + +"They say that not more'n twenty miles from there you can see the big +river, but I ain't ever been." + +"That's the way I was going," he observed thoughtlessly. "From +Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river to +New York." + +Lou sat back on her heels reflectively. + +"All right," she said at last. "I ain't ever figgered on goin's far as +New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I guess I kin +keep up with you now your back's kinder sprained. We'll go along +together." + +James Botts gulped. + +"Certainly not!" he retorted severely, when he could articulate. "It's +utterly out of the question! You're not a little child any longer, and +I'm not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people +would say!" + +"Why must I?" Her clear eyes shamed him. "What's it matter? I guess two +kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an' if I have been in a brick +house with a high fence an' a playground between where never a blade of +grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as if I could take +care of myself a lot better 'n you kin!" + +"But you don't understand!" he groaned. "There are certain conditions +that I can't very well explain, and if I did you'd think I had gone +crazy." + +"Maybe," Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on the +bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt +forced to continue. + +"You know an army has to obey orders, don't you?" he floundered on +desperately. "Well, I'm like a one-man army; there are a lot of rules +I've got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must reach New York +by midnight on Saturday; that's ninety miles or more, and you never +could make it in the world. I've got just a dollar and a half, and I +mustn't beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my +way, and never take any job that'll pay me more than twenty-five cents. + +"Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a +little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can't ask. Even the +money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn't use for traveling, but +only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is +that I cannot explain to a soul why I'm doing all this." + +Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them +again and for an appreciable moment there was silence. + +"Well, I don't see anythin' in that that says you can't have somebody +travelin' along with you," she remarked, and that odd little smile +flashed again across her face. "It don't make any difference to me what +you can or can't do. _I'm_ foot-loose!" + +Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made +manifest to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was that nothing +he had said had moved her an iota from her original decision. They would +go along together. + +Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the +Hess farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would +not be conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to +leave her in the care of some country woman until he could return and +make proper arrangements for her, and the only alternative was that she +must tramp the roads by herself until she found work, and that was out +of the question. + +At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her +skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he, +with his aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they +neared the suburbs of New York he would telephone to a certain +gray-haired, aristocratically high-nosed old lady and persuade her to +send out her car for this waif. + +The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm, +but not for all the gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have +the story of his knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing +heroine of it revealed to his friends. + +The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she +evidently possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day +journey in his company could harm it no more if the truth became known +than if she had tramped upon her way alone. + +"All right," he said. "We'll be partners, and I'll do my best to look +out for you." + +She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook +rippling over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared. +It was the sole attractive thing about her that he had observed. + +"Reckon it'll be me that'll look after you!" she retorted. "Oh, there's +somethin' comin'! Duck in here, quick!" + +Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket +until she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as +he was able, with one hand fending off the supple young shoots from +whipping back upon his wounded forehead. + +He had heard nothing, yet the girl's quick ears had caught the faint +creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat +shrill whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain. + +"That's Lem Mattles," Lou whispered as she reached behind him and drew +the willows yet more screeningly about their trail. "He's whistlin' +'Ida-Ho'; it's the only tune he can remember." + +"Who is he?" demanded her companion. + +"The Hess's next-door neighbor. She'll stop him right away an' ask if +he's seen me on the road, an' they'll all be after me, but they'll never +think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands showed it to me an' told me +it led clear to Hudsondale, an' came out by the freight-yards." + +For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. "Think you +kin make it, Mr. Botts?" + +"Sure!" He smiled and held out his hand. "We're partners now, and I'm +'Jim' to my friends, Lou." + +"All right, Jim," she responded indifferently, but she laid her little +work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. "Come on." + +With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner +followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a +stretch of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail +could be discerned. + +"We're all right now if we kin keep on goin'," announced Lou. "Nobody +comes this way any more, an' the feller said that the tracks runs +through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the yards. Feelin' +all right, Jim?" + +"I guess so." Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath brought a +stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance +catch the motion. "It's pretty in here, isn't it?" + +"It's longer," replied Lou practically. "An' the sun's gittin' low. +Let's hurry." + +There was little further talk between them, for Jim had already +discovered that his companion was not one to speak unless she had +something to say, and he was breathing in short snatches to stifle the +pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the trees, and in the +dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had it not +been for her light touch upon his arm. + +At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led +down to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden +tenements leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging +from lines on the crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed +curiously at them as they passed. + +From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man's oath +roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the +bleating of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air. + +The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the +crash and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his +pain, Jim realized that nowhere in this vicinity could his +self-constituted companion rest for the night; open fields or dense +woodland were safer far for her. + +"Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little," he +suggested. "We can't stay here, and they'll think we are tramps if they +catch us by the railroad." + +"I guess that's what we are." Lou wrinkled her already upturned nose. +"But the country would be nicer again, if you ain't give out." + +He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and +started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered +cottages to where the woodland closed in about them once more. + +Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded +along, while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared. +The girl's step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her +lips determinedly. + +At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time, +with an old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, and by +tacit consent they sank down on the worn step. + +"I don't believe we can go any farther," Jim panted. "I guess this is as +good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can sleep in there." + +He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture +with a reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it, +added hastily: + +"I don't believe there are any rats in there, but if you'll lend me your +matches I'll see." + +"Rats!" she repeated in withering scorn. "There was plenty of them in +the insti--where I come from. I was just thinkin' maybe somebody else +was sleepin' there already." + +She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered, +feeling carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged +survey by the flickering light of the matches assured him that the +ancient, cobwebbed place was deserted, and he turned again to the door, +but its step was unoccupied and nowhere in the starlight could he +discern a flutter of that blue-and-white striped dress. + +Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of +loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started +upon his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened +her, or had a mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a +will-o'-the-wisp into the night? + +"Lou!" he called, and his voice echoed back. "Lou!" + +All at once he noticed what he had not observed before--a single light +by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more +secure shelter. + +His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog's excited barking, +subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the +direction of the clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled +to the road. If Lou had got into any trouble---- + +The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought +his heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his +pain. He had not gained the top of the rise in the road, however, when +the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls which rapidly diminished +in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding carefully before her +something round and white which gleamed in the starlight. + +"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed when she neared him. "What on earth have +you been doing?" + +"Git on back 'round the other side of the mill!" ordered Lou. "I gotta +go slow or I'll spill it." + +"What is it?" + +But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over +the tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then +she set down the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright +tin pan, filled almost to the brim with milk. + +"I thought it would go good with our bread an' ham," she explained +ingenuously. "I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place that +they'd leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they ain't got +any spring-house, an' they won't be likely to miss one pan out of +fifteen. Besides, there's nothin' in them rules you told me that stops +_me_ from beggin' or borrowin', or stealin', either, an' if I +_give_ you some of this you ain't got any call to ask me where it +come from." + +This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp +out: + +"The dog! Didn't he attack you?" + +"I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an' fit him +off." She added, with evident pride. "I never spilled a drop, either!" + +"Good Lord!" Jim ejaculated. "I believe you'd do anything once!" + +"I b'lieve I would, provided I wanted to," Lou agreed placidly. Then her +tone changed. "There's somebody comin' up the road from Hudsondale like +all in creation was after 'em." + +Indeed, the sound of a horse's mad gallop up the steep road by which +they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the +grating jar of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to +side. + +"Think it's a runaway?" Jim rose and strained his eyes into the darkness +at the farther end of the bridge. + +"No; driver's drunk, maybe," Lou responded. "The horse's dead beat an' +he's lashin' it on. Listen!" + +Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to +leap forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as +though the wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he +clenched his hands. + +As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked: + +"Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the +farm where I was treated theirs somethin' terrible. If he don't look out +he'll go over the side of the bridge." + +Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou +followed him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing +an old-fashioned carriage of the "buggy" type containing a single +occupant and drawn by a horse which was streaked with lather. + +The light wagon hit the bridge with a bounce which almost sent it +careening over into the rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou +uttered an odd exclamation, more of anger than fear, and straightened up +to her full height. + +"It's Max!" she informed Jim. "You git back behind the mill; you ain't +fit to fight----" + +"What do you take me for?" Jim demanded indignantly. "Max Hess, eh? The +fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get him +this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself, +and leave me to handle him." + +But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in +front of them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his +haunches. + +"Got yer!" a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly figure +wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground. +"Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!" + +He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly: + +"Are you addressing this young woman?" + +"Young thief, you mean! She's gotter come----" + +But Jim, too, had advanced a pace. + +"Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it," he announced +distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. "If +your name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I +warn you now to be off." + +"So that's it, is it?" the heavy voice sneered. "She's my mother's hired +girl, an' she stole a lot o' food an' ran away this mornin'. Comes o' +takin' in an asylum brat----" + +"Take that back, too, you blackguard!" Jim's voice was beginning to +shake. + +"Take nothin' back, 'cept Lou! What's she doin' with you, anyway? Might +ha' knowed she was this sort----" + +He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and +the blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an +inarticulate roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the +other man, but the other man wasn't there! Then another light, stinging +blow landed upon his fat face and he flailed out again with a force that +turned him completely around, for again his adversary had danced out of +his way. + +Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the +bully and terror of his community, and he could not understand this way +of fighting, nor why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could +dodge in and punish him apparently whenever he chose. + +Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not +unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at +every move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and +Hess seemed to realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in +and landed a stiff body blow which staggered his adversary. + +Hess's left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his +man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him +to his knees. All the bully's blood-lust boiled at sight of his +half-fallen victim, and he drew back his heavily shod foot for a +murderous kick, but it was never delivered. + +Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the +dust, then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until +with a scream of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled +to his feet it sprang again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned +quickly, and scrambling into the buggy seat, gathered up the reins. + +Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the +volley of oaths and clatter of horses's feet until both had been +swallowed up in the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood +swaying, with one hand pressed to his side, and the blood from the +reopened cut upon his forehead making his face look ghastly in the +starlight. + +"Well," she remarked with satisfaction. "I guess he got more 'n he come +for, an' we've seen the last of _him!_" + +"But Lou!" There was admiration and awe in his tones. "Your method of +fighting isn't in the Queensberry rules, although I must say it was +effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the +other way!" + +"Don't know what queen you're talkin' about, nor what rules she made, +but when _I_ fight, I fight with everything I've got," Lou declared +with finality. "Come and let me fix up your head again, an' we'll have +supper." + +An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in +a man's shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill, +while on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel +across his knees, a weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Vendor of Everything + + +When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find +herself deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her +mind. She had found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were +mostly queer, one way or another, but this one was dependable, and she +felt no doubt that he would turn up when he got ready. + +Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and +wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the +bridge she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she +performed her limited toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron +vigorously, she hung it on a bramble bush behind the mill to dry, and +scuttling across the road, made for the woods back of the house where +she had committed her nocturnal depredation. + +An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction +of Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well +hidden in the rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and +approaching it found Lou industriously brushing her coat with a broom +which she had improvised of small twigs tied together. Beside her, +carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a dozen new-laid eggs. + +"Good morning." He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down on the +rock. "Were you frightened to find yourself left all alone?" + +"Oh, no. I knew you would come back," she replied serenely. Then, as she +noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense: +"You needn't think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a +piece. O-oh!" + +He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he +unwrapped it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an +overall apron of bright pink check, a cheap straw hat, and a remnant of +green ribbon. + +"I ain't had a pink dress since I was ten!" Her dark eyes were +perilously glistening. "I'd almost have died for one, but you had to +wear blue after that, 'count of doin' work 'round. Oh, an' that hat! I +kin put that ribbon on it as easy as----" + +She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding: + +"But you hadn't any call to buy them for me; I can't pay you back right +now." + +Jim's reply was irrelevant. + +"Why, your eyes aren't black, after all! They're violet-blue, the +deepest blue I ever saw!" Then he caught himself up, reddening +furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone: "That's all right +about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get some work to do. Now, +go fix yourself up, and we'll have breakfast." + +When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The +child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began +paying her compliments? What had come over him, anyway? He had seen +women with violet-blue eyes in more countries than one; beautiful women +with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could bestow. It must +have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of prettiness at +all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little Lou. + +With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and +presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly +upon her small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight +lines of the all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of +her childish figure, and she didn't seem quite so gawky, after all, as +she moved toward him over the rocks. + +"My, you look nice!" he said cheerfully. "I've brought some rolls +from----" + +"We'll keep them for later," Lou interrupted him firmly. "There's still +the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where we'll eat again!" + +They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and +then boiling the eggs in the pan, but Lou's remark about their next meal +had made Jim think seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a +responsibility which he must fulfill, and his progress thus far under +the handicaps he had spoken of had been difficult enough alone. + +The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat +twenty-five cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition +for the rolls had left but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded +pennies, and he was ninety miles from home, with a host of petty, but +formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an adopted orphan on his +hands. + +He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the +village tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a +good pipe, but he felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou's +honest rapture over the poor things he had been able to get for her. + +Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the +milk-pan, they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and +coming out once more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained +muscles of Jim's back and side were still sore, but they troubled him +less than the lack of a smoke, and for Lou it was as though a new world +had opened before her eyes. + +The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the +road from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere +rutted trail over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses, +each with its patch of cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before +the gate of one of these a huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the +ambitious legend: + +TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE + +BENJ. PERKINS + +A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was +just clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians +gazing at the turnout, and called good-naturedly: + +"Want a lift? I'm goin' inter New Hartz." + +"Thanks. That is just where we are going, too," Jim replied promptly. +"It's awfully good of you to take us along." + +"Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here," the +proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily. +"Yer sister 'd be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter town +on a hot day like this." + +Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her +the driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and +they were off. + +"You are Mr. Perkins?" Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of Lou's +relationship to him. + +"That's me!" The other glanced at the fresh bandage about the young +man's head which Lou had applied just before they started out, and +inquired: "You git hurt, some ways?" + +Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would +have been significant to a less obtuse host. + +"You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr. +Perkins." + +"Reckon I hev," the other agreed complacently. "From a spool of thread +to a pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there +ain't nothin' the folk hereabout hev use for that I don't carry. The big +ottermobile order trucks don't hurt my business none; I ben workin' up +my trade around here fer twenty year." + +Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and +Jim's throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered +the sack. "Hev some?" + +Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head +determinedly. + +"Thanks; I--I don't smoke." + +Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of +articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him. +Surely that hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the +previous night had been the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had +called "violet blue" narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then +blurred as with swift understanding she glanced down at the new pink +apron and stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on talking rather +nervously. + +"You don't get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in these +mountains." + +"Oh, here and thar," Mr. Perkins replied easily. "Here and thar." + +The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her +hat, leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to +sleep. + +She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that +the van had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a +big house which bore a sign labeled: "Congress Hotel." Busy little shops +shouldered it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square. + +"Come down, Lou." Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her hands. +"This is New Hartz." + +Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he +appeared from the door of the hotel. + +"Young man, I wish I was goin' further, but I ain't, and I want ter talk +a little business with you." He drew Jim aside. "You and your sister +wouldn't ha' ben walkin' it in from Hudsonvale if you could ha' paid ter +come any other way." + +"No, Mr. Perkins." Jim backed away smilingly. "We couldn't think of--of +borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift into New Hartz." + +"Glad ter hev your company." Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to the +back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of +its interior. "Wait jest a minute." + +He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square +of something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the +wondering Lou. + +"It's jest a little present fer you, miss," he said. + +Lou accepted it gravely. + +"Thank you, sir," she said primly. "You ain't got any call to give me +this, not after bringin' us all the way from Hudsondale." + +"I guess I can make a little present if I'm a mind ter, ter a pretty +little girl like you." Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. "Wish yer both luck on +your way." + +They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the +village street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling +country road once more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou +glanced up at her companion. + +"Could we set down here for a spell?" she asked. "I ain't tired, Jim, +but I feel like I'd die if I can't open this!" + +She gestured with Mr. Perkins's gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the +grass. + +"Of course. Let's see what's in it." + +Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white. +It contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small +bottle of particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely +resembling coral. The square in which the articles had been wrapped +proved to be a large white silk handkerchief with an American flag +stamped in the corner. + +"That must be for you, Jim," Lou said slowly. As in a trance she slipped +the string of beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few +drops of its contents upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the +rank odor in ecstasy. + +Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little +soul the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he +resolved to see that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something +better for Lou than a servant's position. Education, perhaps---- + +"It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other +way." Her voice broke in upon his meditations. "We'd better eat the +rolls an' ham now. How far is it to where we're goin'?" + +"Eight miles; I'm afraid it is a long way for you----" + +"Then the sooner we git started the better," the girl interrupted. "I'll +take the pan an' run back to that yellow house we just passed for some +water." + +Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully +against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself out +luxuriously in the grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of +noon had a stupefying effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his +thoughts grew nebulous until he finally drifted off into slumber. + +When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon, +and there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about +him in a bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the +grass, and spread upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and +ham, and a huckleberry pie, still warm, and fairly exuding juice. + +"Good Lord, where did you get it?" he demanded. + +"Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?" Lou laughed, but +there was a new note of shyness in her voice. "When we passed it first I +saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an' a woman was out +pickin' them, though it's ironin' day. I figgered if I pick for her +she'd maybe pay me, an' she did. I--I guessed you was out of--this." + +The freckles disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she +held out a bag of tobacco. + +"Lou! Why, you--you precious kid!" Jim stammered. "You worked in all +this heat, while I lay here and slept." + +"It wasn't far back to New Hartz, an' I'd seen where the cigar-store was +when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the pie, an' I've +got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of my own before!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Under the Big Top + + +A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill +just before sundown and paused, with Lou's hand instinctively clutching +Jim's arm. + +"Is that it; the Hudson?" She pointed over the fringe of treetops below +them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here +and there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far +overhead. + +Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have +upon the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known +only the "brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a +blade of grass grew." + +Her big eyes followed the river's course until it was lost in a creeping +mist behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath. + +"How far does it go?" she asked. + +"To New York; to the sea," he responded. "The ocean, you know." + +"My!" There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. "What a waste +of good wash-water!" + +Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily: + +"Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for you +to sleep, and remember, Lou, you're my sister if anyone starts to +question you." + +"All right; I don't mind, if you don't." She gave the floppy hat a yank +that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle, and then +stopped suddenly in the road. "O-oh, look!" + +A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly +pasted upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The +enthusiastic admiration which she had denied to her first view of the +great river glowed now in Lou's eyes, and she stood transfixed. + +"What is it, Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an' the other one up on +the swing thing without--without any skirt to her, and the man with the +funny pants an' the big hat that's shootin'----" + +"There must be a circus in Highvale--yes, the date says to-night," Jim +replied. + +"'Trimble & Wells Great Circus & Sideshow,'" she read slowly. "I heard +about them circuses; some of the children seen them before they came +to--to where I was, an' once one come to town an' sent free tickets to +us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful an' so we couldn't go. It +don't look sinful to me; it looks just grand--grand!" + +She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the +poster, but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy. +Poor little kid! What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had, +and how he wished that he might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair +and watch her naïve enjoyment. + +But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the +tickets, and there was supper to be thought of, and the hazards of the +immediate future. For the present the circus must remain an unattained +dream to Lou. + +The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight +was almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a +circular tent was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones +clustered at one side. + +A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching +the corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on +by a bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout, +choleric man who bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping +his hands to improvise a megaphone. + +Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration +came to him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road. + +"Sit down here and wait for me," he told her. "I won't be long. That's +where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I can fix it for you to see +it." + +Turning, he shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and +entering the lot, approached the stout gentleman. + +"Want an extra hand?" he asked. "Anything from a ballyhoo to a +rough-rider?" + +The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath +at the interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the +tall, lean, well-knit figure before him, and he demanded: + +"How the h--l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked to +pieces?" + +"It isn't now," Jim smiled. "Lend me a horse and a pair of chaps, and +I'll show you in five minutes what's going to be your star act +to-night." + +"You're no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither." The boss still stared. +"And you don't look like a bum. What's your game, anyway?" + +"To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees +again." + +The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the +roadside kept Jim's smile steady, and added a desperate artificial +buoyancy to his tired tones: + +"Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that's what +you want, isn't it?" + +There was an instant's pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian +order and grabbed him by the arm. + +"Come on. I'll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but if +you're takin' up my time on a bluff I'll break every bone in your ---- +---- body!" + +He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there +appeared a living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco +seemingly held down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men. + +As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling +viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail? +It was long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had +made him in demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days, +and longer yet since he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch, +which had been Bill Hollis's hobby for a season. + +What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he +should be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl +who was waiting patiently for him? + +The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle, +the two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out +viciously with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running +start, attempted to throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him +like a burr; he flung himself down and rolled over, but the young man +jumped clear and was back into the saddle as the enraged animal regained +his feet. + +The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing +that none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little +brute was realizing that he had at length been mastered. + +When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where +the boss stood with the two other men. + +"Want me to pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old +stunts, now?" he asked. "Don't want to tire this old plug too much for +the show." + +The boss chuckled. + +"Get down and talk business with me, young feller," he said. "You won't +ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he's the rottenest, most treacherous +little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to call your +bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in +the last town with a broken leg." + +Jim shook his head. + +"Only for to-night," he replied. "My sister and I are beating it South." + +"Well, I'll give you five dollars----" + +"No, you won't," Jim smiled. "I'll work for you to-night for just +twenty-five cents." + +"Say, you ain't bughouse, are you?" The boss stared again. + +"The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!" Jim replied doggedly. Then his +gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added: +"However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and +something else for a little girl who has never seen a circus, Mr. +Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for me in the road----" + +The boss roared. + +"D--d if I don't think you're dippy, but you certainly can ride like +h--l!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up on that; go get the kid and bring +her in to supper, and I'll see that she gets a reserved seat for the +show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz, and wants to work for +a quarter!" + +Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the +blaring of the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon +her hat and her violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with +excitement was perched on one of the front row planks which served as +seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and waiting in an ecstasy for the +wonders about to be unfolded. + +The ride in the pedler's van, the hours of currant-picking, and the hot, +hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching +herself to see if she would wake up all of a sudden to find herself once +more back in the attic at the Hess farm. + +The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe +and jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with +the high silk hat and the long whip; the other lady "without any skirt +to her" flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and +the performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air +of a resigned philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced. + +Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on +a wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the +poster that afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and +the red handkerchief knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do +marvelous things. + +It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had +been given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers +surrounding her in densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of +horsemanship, and they expressed themselves with vociferous applause +when he uncoiled a rope from the peak of his saddle and dexterously +brought down the bewildered steer which had been chivvied into the ring. + +In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out +of place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing +themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath +their long silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round +hats, and the gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up +on their caps. + +Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back +to the girl's ears between pauses in the louder comments of her +immediate neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was +amazed. + +Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing +that was called a "circus?" Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend +that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world? + +They didn't laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded +daintily, and once the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: "Good +work!" as the rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other +gentleman consulted his flimsy play bill. + +Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou's mind, for the rider +had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon +the sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn't that bit of +color in a corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her +that he was to do some work outside for the circus people that night, +and the boss had kindly offered her a seat, but that handkerchief---- + +Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping +down, seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang +with applause, Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her "partner," +whom the people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all +these wonderful things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath +that big hat, and his smile sort of fixed. + +The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced +it was hidden, but she could not have been mistaken. What if he were +suffering, if his back and side were paining him again? She recalled the +exhaustion with which he had slept at noontime, and the long, weary hike +that followed it, and her heart contracted within her. It was for her +that he was doing this, so that she might see the show! + +One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed: + +"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn't know that he was on a +fishing trip up in Canada----" + +Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the +rider and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final +flourish he dashed for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to +let him pass. It did not close quickly enough behind him, however; not +quickly enough to conceal from the gaping audience his lurching fall +from the saddle into the group of acrobats waiting to come on in their +turn. + +Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows +of closely packed humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain, +while above the clamor of the band arose a shrill cry; "Jim! Jim!" + +"Did you see her?" The lady who had commented upon the rider's +appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. "She called him Jim, +too; isn't that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the circus; +that little country girl?" + +"Oh, it was only part of the show," the stout gentleman replied in a +bored tone. "Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he had +some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around here?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Concerning an Omelet + + +There was a confused babel of sound in Jim's ears when he awoke +Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes, +shouting and cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some +protesting animal. + +He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a +husky-looking individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers +and yawning vociferously. + +Jim's head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind +cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was +this, and how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and +there came a horrifying thought. What had become of Lou? + +"Where's Lou? M--my sister?" he demanded, sitting bolt upright. + +"Hello, there! Come out of it all right, did you?" The occupant of the +tent hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. "The +kid's took care of! She's with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header you +took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour." + +"Oh, I'm all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out there +before all of them?" Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought. "Fall +off the horse like that, I mean?" + +"In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw it +but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out +after you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from +you till we could find out what had struck you." The other grinned once +more. + +"Some sister, ol'-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on your +side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of +days ago, we didn't wonder you keeled over." + +Jim sat up dizzily. + +"It was mighty good of you people to take us in for the night," he said. +"Who is Ma Billings?" + +"Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin' rings until she +got too hefty," his companion explained. "Now she takes care of the +wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don't get lost in +the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I'll give you a +rub-down with some liniment." + +Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader. + +"You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin', but I'm the Strong +Man in the sideshow, and you haven't a chance." + +Meekly Jim submitted to his companion's kindly ministrations, and then +dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning +sun. + +The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on +long trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon +the air from the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be +rushing all over the lot in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse +of a bit of pink-and-white check through the mêlée, and headed for it. + +Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a +melancholy-looking, lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up +precipitately and ran to him. + +"Oh, Jim, you feelin' all right?" There was a little tremble in her +voice. "I knew it was you the minute you rode past an' picked up that +handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an' when you pitched off +that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn't no call to take any chance +like that with your back hurt an' that long tramp an' all; but it was +splendid." + +She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn't +look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to +her little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her +face, and where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold. + +"I'm fine," he assured her. "But who was that man you were talking to +just now?" + +"Him? Oh, that was the clown," Lou replied. "He says the old man is just +crazy 'bout your ridin', an' if you'll stay along with the show he can +teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got scared, +an' quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The clown +says I got the nerve for it, an' I guess I have, only they ain't goin' +towards New York." + +She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The +knife-thrower! What wouldn't the little dare-devil be willing to try +next? + +"I guess you have got the nerve," he admitted grimly. "But we're going +to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I get my +quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest, we'll +be on our way." + +But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss +insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were +good-bys to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as +friends. Except for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last +vestiges of the circus were being removed from the lot as they finally +departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous, glittering pageant had +become but a memory. + +"I dunno but I'd as lief join a circus," she observed, meditatively, +after they had traveled a mile or more. "Maybe I could learn in New York +how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business up +on them swings in no time, only I don't like the way that girl +dressed----" + +"Nonsense!" Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation. "We'll +find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to school----" + +"School!" she interrupted him in her turn. "I--I'd like to learn things +an' be like other folks, but I ain't--I mean I'm not--goin' to any +institootion." + +He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any +conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given +that she had noted the difference between his speech and hers. + +"I didn't mean an institution, but a real school, Lou," he explained +gently. "One where you'll have no uniform to wear, and no work to do +except to learn." + +"I quit learnin' when I was twelve." There was an unconscious note of +wistfulness in her tones. "I kin read an' do a little figgerin', but I +don't know much of anythin' else. I couldn't go to school an' begin +again where I left off, Jim; I'd be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that +big wagon drivin' out of that gate! Maybe we'll git a lift." + +She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with +crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed +expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose +and a tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set +eyes straight ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to +the two wayfarers. + +"He looks kinder mean, don't he?" Lou remarked. Then impulsively she ran +after the wagon: "Say, mister, will you give us a lift?" + +The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly. + +"What'll you pay?" he demanded. + +"What's in them crates," she parried. + +"Eggs." The response was laconic. "What you gittin' at, sis?" + +"Who unloads them when you git to where you're goin'?" Lou persisted. + +"At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I'm late, an' then I have to give +a couple o' them loafers around there a quarter apiece to help. I'm late +to-day, an' if you ain't got any money to ride--Giddap!" + +But Lou halted him determinedly. + +"If you'll give me and Jim--I mean my brother--a ride, he'll unload the +crates for you for nothin' when we git there. You'll be savin' fifty +cents, and the ride won't cost you nothin'." + +"Well"--the old man considered for a moment--"I'll do it, if it's only +to spite them fellers that's allus hangin' 'round the docks. Reg'lar +robbers, they be. Quarter apiece, an' chicken-feed gone up the way't is. +Git in." + +Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief +conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted Lou +up over the wheel and climbed in beside her. + +As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him: + +"Hope you're a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the wagon in +a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat. Don't you +try no scuttlin' off on me after I give you the ride; Riverburgh's a +reg'lar city, an' they's a policeman on the docks." + +"I'll keep the bargain my sister made for me," Jim answered shortly. He +had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started, with +its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of +chicken-runs, and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its +owner. "You needn't be afraid I'll shirk." + +"Well," grumbled the other, "I don't hold with pickin' up tramps in the +road, but I'm sick of handin' out good money to them loafers at the dock +to unload, an' I ain't got a hired man to take along no more; they're +allus lazy, good-for-nothin' fellers that eat more'n they work out, let +alone their wages goin' sky-hootin'!" + +"But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going +up, too, all the time," Jim remarked. + +The old man gave him a sly glance. + +"That's how you look at it," he replied. "They oughter go up twice the +price they be. My wife's doin' the hired man's work now, an' she's allus +pesterin' me to git an incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight +of money, an' I don't hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to +them. You can allus sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but +what're you going to do with a wore-out incubator?" + +He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again. "The +way things is, there ain't no profit skeercely in nothin'." + +They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old +man continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own +commodity, and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over +the hilly road. The mountains had been left behind, and all over the +rolling hillsides about them on either hand the vineyards stretched in +undulating lines, each heavy with the load of purpling grapes. + +Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon; +noon came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last, +on the rise of a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip +to the spreading sweep of brick buildings fronting on the river's edge +below. + +"There's the town," he announced, adding, with a touch of regret: "We're +ahead of time, after all, an' I could have unloaded by myself. Well, it +don't matter noways except for the extra drag on the horses. Giddap!" + +"There's--there's an ottermobile comin' up behind," Lou ventured. "They +been tootin' at you for some time, mister." + +"Let 'em," the old man cackled shrilly once more. "I've been drivin' on +these roads afore them things was heard of, an' I don't calc'late to +turn out for 'em." + +The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush +of the oncoming car could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man, +and, noting the stubborn set of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke +again, and her voice held no note of alarm, but rather indignation at +the obvious lack of fair play. + +"But they got a right; you're on their side of the road," she exclaimed. +"If you'd give them their half, mister, they could pass easy." + +"Don't calc'late to let 'em," he responded obstinately. "Ain't goin' to +take their dust if I kin help it." + +Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight +across the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and +behind, and then gripped Jim's arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of +her set face, and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt +themselves lifted into the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in +the ditch. + +"Lou, are you hurt?" Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from his eyes +and ears with his sleeve. "Where are you?" + +The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses' hoofs down the hill, and the +old man's vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of +the rest of the entourage even before Lou replied. + +"Not hurt a mite, but I'm laughin'!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Oh, +Jim, you--you should have seen it. That ottermobile hit square in the +middle of the wagon, and there ain't--isn't--a single egg----" + +"Here, you!" the old man, dripping from head to foot with the golden +slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim's arm. "Come on an' help me +to ketch them horses! What'd I bring you along for? Let the girl be, I +don't ker if her neck's broke! I got to lodge a complaint against them +rascals, an' have 'em stopped! You're my witnesses that they run into +me, an' I'll make 'em pay a pretty penny----" + +"I care whether my sister's neck is broken or not!" Jim retorted grimly. +"Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and it looks as if +the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you're all right?" + +The old man danced up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg +about him. + +"We'll see about that," he shrilled. "You come along with me! You're my +witnesses----" + +"We'll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the road, +and knew it," Jim helped Lou to her feet. "They warned you, and you +wouldn't turn out." + +With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the +road, and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim's slippery sleeve. + +"Don't mind him," she gasped. "Old skinflint! Oh, Jim, you l-look like +an omelet." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Red Note-Book + + +For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their +situation was borne in upon him, and his face sobered. + +"It's the kind of an omelet that won't come off in a hurry, I'm afraid," +he said. "How on earth are we going to walk into Riverburgh like this?" + +It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou's laughter +ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her. + +"We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that's all," she +replied practically. "Most anybody would let you do that, I guess, if +you told them what happened, an' if you can't ask--why, I kin. Anybody +'cept a mean old thing like that! I s'pose I ought to be sorry that his +wagon's broke an' his eggs are all over us instead of where they was +goin', but I'm not a mite. Long's he wasn't hurt, I'm kinder glad." + +"Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent +of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way," +Jim observed. "The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when +he said he didn't care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn't +have helped him if I could." + +"'Goat'?" Lou repeated. + +Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded +gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing +them, stopped, with one hand at her breast. + +"Oh!" she gasped. "There's wasn't anyone hurt, was there? I saw the +accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I could." + +Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed. + +"You both come straight along with me," she invited when he had +finished. "I'll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl can +just sit around while your clothes dry." + +She led the way back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers +blooming in the door-yard and a well-tended truck-garden in the rear. +Broad hay-fields stretched on either side, but only two little boys were +visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with pitchforks almost bigger than +they were themselves. + +The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then +came out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of +overalls and shirt, which, although immaculately clean, bore many +patches and darns, and were deeply creased, as though they had been laid +away a long time. + +"Take these down to the barn." She handed them to Jim. "You'll find a +spigot there, and cold water's best for egg-stains. I left some rags in +the empty box-stall that you can use to clean your shoes, and then, if +you'll give me your clothes that you've got on now, I'll soak them and +get them out while the sun's high; corduroy takes a long time to dry." + +When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the +woman led Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with clean +garments, she dragged a wash-tub out on the porch. + +"I--if you'll let me, I'd like to wash my own things and Jim's." Lou +appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes too large for her. +"He'd like it, too, I think, and he can help with the hayin' till the +things git dried out enough, so's we kin go on." + +"Oh, would he?" the woman asked quickly. "I'd pay him well if he's +looking for work; I can't get any hands, though I've tried, and the hay +is rotting for want of being turned. I didn't think I'd seen you two +around here before, but I've known old Mr. Weeble always." + +"You mean that--that with the egg-wagon? He was givin' us a lift into +Riverburgh; we're just traveling through," Lou added shortly. + +"Did he pick you up back near his place?" At Lou's nod the woman +exclaimed: "Then you two haven't had a bite of dinner! You put your +things to soak and I'll go right in the house and get you up a little +something; it's past two." + +Lou started to protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and +Jim appeared from the barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at +his broad shoulders, and overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops. + +The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look +toward the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a +red-leather note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged +now from the all too small overall-pocket. + +"You can bet I'll pitch hay for her till sundown," he declared, when Lou +had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub the bundle +of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: "It is mighty good +of her to do all this for us, isn't it? I tell you, Lou, the credit side +of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this +morning, and you're the biggest item on it." + +This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the +tub without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a +slip of some sort. + +"I wonder where all the men of the family are? She can't get any +hands----" + +"_There_ are all the men of the family." The woman had reappeared +in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two +small toilers with a faint smile. "There was another, their father--my +son--but he died; so we're doin' the best we can by ourselves. But +there's a little bite ready for you on the end of the kitchen-table, and +it's getting cold." + +The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was +clean, but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere +visible to Jim's eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of +farm-hands than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went +at once to the hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the +dishes away, went back to the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to +her own belated ironing. + +Upon the girl's usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as +she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward +glance which she had given from the egg-wagon to the approaching car +just before the crash came she had recognized in its occupants the +quartet who sat in front of her at the circus the previous evening. The +ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she remembered the +distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman who sat +between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the +excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had +called out "Good work!" when Jim was performing on the horse. + +The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove +the car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to +avoid the crash. + +The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous +clarity, but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the +remark which the younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim +rode toward the exit-flap of the curtain had returned and could not be +banished from her mind: + +"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott?" + +Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond +that, and the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed +no further information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not +understand why his journey was hedged about with so many silly rules, +nor why he chose to obey them; that was his affair, and he was just a +part of this wonderful adventure which had started with her departure +from the Hess farm. + +Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could +not have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him, +and he would not have lied to her, but could there really be another +"Jim" in the world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so +nearly the same? + +She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of +her lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from +herself, but from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet +could he really be that grand young lady's "Jimmie," after all? + +As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments +had fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something +that yielded with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the +little red note-book which she had seen in Jim's overall-pocket when he +came from the barn; it must have fallen out as he crossed the porch to +go to the hay-field. + +It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of +her heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly +and picked it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were +written across it in a bold, characteristic hand: + + JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT + +There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou +closed the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though +it burned her fingers. For a moment she stood very still with her eyes +closed and her little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in +that instant of time the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two +marvelous days vanished, and in his place there appeared a stranger, a +man of the world, in which that young lady of the motor-car moved. + +For the first time in Lou's life a panic seized her, a desperate longing +to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to +where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones. +Even from that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn't the same +Jim. + +Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and, +descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the +bleaching grass to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned +all at once to a black shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently +that she had never seen it nor those rich people who had come to make a +mock of it, but had stayed to applaud Jim. + +But why shouldn't they, even if they hadn't recognized him? He belonged +to their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came +to her; what was her world, anyway? She didn't belong anywhere; there +was no place for her unless she made one for herself, some time. + +With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her +heart, Lou's indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth +clamped together. She _would_ make herself a place somewhere, +somehow. + +Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess's +hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish +voices came to her ears, and Jim's merry, laughing tones in reply sent a +quick stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly +out on the porch. + +The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to +feel of his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her. + +"It's wet still, I'm afraid," she remarked composedly, as she picked up +the red note-book and held it out to him. "Is this yourn? It looks as +though it must have dropped out of your pocket an' somebody stepped on +it." + +If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no +sign as he came forward and took the book from her hands. + +"Yes, it's mine." He opened and closed it again, and then looked up +uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou +was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still +shimmering in the last rays of the sun. "I--I'll tell you about this +some time, Lou. It's funny." + +"What's funny?" she asked, with a little start, as though he had +interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful +little red books. + +"If you think it's goin' to be funny to travel in wet clothes to-night, +just wait till you git started." + +But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all. +Their kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at +least, and when the supper dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by +herself down the little lane which led to the pasture. + +There would be three days more, and then their journey's end. Upon one +thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going +to work as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott +must be paid back for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the +green bow, and then she would drop from his sight. Surely in that great +city, with its hundreds and hundreds of people, she would be able to +disappear. + +Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon +the topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a +step behind her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim's voice asked +quietly: + +"What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn't know +what had become of you, and I've been looking everywhere." + +"I dunno," Lou answered truthfully enough. "I been thinkin' 'bout the +institootion where I come from; it was seein' them little boys put me in +mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin' what it would be like to +really belong to anybody." + +There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold, +dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which +rose to his lips, and he remained silent. + +"I did once, you know," she continued, "belong to some--body, I mean. I +had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they found me in the +station at the junction an' took me up to the institootion; it was the +only white dress I ever had." + +"Where was this institution, Lou?" Jim asked. "You've never told me, you +know." + +Lou shrugged. + +"Oh, it was 'way up at a place called Mayfield's Corners; I was most +three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess's +farm." + +A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable +thing in him which set him apart from her and made him one with the +world in which those others moved; that stout gentleman and the young +lady who had called him Jimmie. She added deliberately: + +"I told you what I did there--at the institootion, I mean: scrubbed an' +cooked an' washed an' tended babies an' wore a uniform, just like any +other norphin, I guess. Slep' in the garret with the rats runnin' over +the floor, an' got up in the mornin' to the same old work. It warn't a +State institootion, you see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the +deacons of the church; I ain't got much use for charity." + +"I shouldn't think you would have," he exclaimed. "But it's all behind +you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day from Highvale--or will have +when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh to-morrow, and it is only sixty +miles further to New York." + +"That's good," Lou said, but without enthusiasm. "Do we start at +sun-up?" + +"I thought I'd like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours first +and get the hay turned in that south field," Jim answered. "She's been +so good to us, and she'll need the stuff this winter for those two old +plugs out there." + +He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of +deeper shadow beneath a tree. + +Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling, +liquid note had vanished. + +"What's funny?" he asked. + +"Oh, nothin'. I was just thinkin' of you last night in that circus. You +rode so--so wonderfully. I wasn't laughin' at that, but it just come to +me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was to have seen +you!" + +Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely +amused as at a whimsical thought. + +"Why would it have been funny?" he insisted. "Of course I never rode in +a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why would my +friends have laughed?" + +"I dunno." Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned away. +"Let's go back to the house. I--I'm pretty tired." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Revelations + + +The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that +something was the matter, but the girl's manner baffled him, and he +could not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the +note-book or not. It did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if +she had he could only make things worse by broaching the subject, since +he was not at the moment in a position to explain. + +As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but +dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole +nature rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from +betraying her disappointment in him and running away. She told herself +fiercely that he didn't care what she thought of him; they were only +partners met by chance on the road, and perhaps never to see each other +again after the city was reached. + +If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she +would not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only +reason for the strange, hurt feeling about her heart. + +She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which +Mrs. Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the +table by the time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the +barn, where he had slept in the loft. + +While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she +finished the ironing, and by ten o'clock they were ready once more to +start upon their way. + +Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was +only out of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty +cents of the two dollars she offered him. + +"I only work for a quarter a time," he told her gravely. "One for +yesterday and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I--I +would like to write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will +you tell me what address will find you? You see, I want to thank you +properly for all your kindness to us, and I don't know whether this is +the township of Riverburgh or not." + +"It's the Stilton post-office," the little woman stammered. "Of course, +I'd like to hear from both of you, but you mustn't thank me! I don't +know what I should have done without your help with the hay! And your +sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you're going." + +To Lou's amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the +address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one +side. Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave. + +"That makes a dollar and ten cents!" he remarked confidentially as he +and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city +nestled at the river's edge. "Quite a fortune, isn't it?" + +"She gave me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that's +thirty-five that I've got." Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner +of her handkerchief. "I couldn't get all of the egg out of my hat, but +it's good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?" + +Jim gave a groan of mock despair. + +"That's the dev--I mean, the deuce of it!" he exclaimed. "We've got to +cross the river there someway, and go on down on the other side. We +can't keep on this, or we will run into New Jersey and--and I mustn't +leave the State." + +He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not +appear to notice his change of tone. + +"Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin' back an' forth," she +observed placidly. "I guess we can get over." + +"But you don't understand. I--I can't pay our way over; that's another +of the things I mustn't do." Jim flushed hotly. + +"I wish I could tell you all about it." + +"It don't make any difference." Lou kept her eyes fixed straight ahead +of her. "There ought to be some way for you to work your way across." + +The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined +street with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and +north hung the smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led +them through the modest residential quarter. The street presently turned +into a paved one, and trolley lines appeared; then brick buildings and +shops, and before they knew it they were in the busy, crowded business +thoroughfare. + +Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be +anything like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way +which led to the ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the +waiting-room. + +"Sit here and wait for me," he directed. "I'm going to run back up to +the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and then I'll +arrange about getting across. I shan't be long." + +When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with +packages, he found Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house, +with a little exultant smile about her lips. + +"Come on," she commanded shortly. "I've fixed it for us to get over, but +we gotta hurry. The boat's a'most ready to start." + +"How in the world----" he began, but without deigning to explain she led +him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her that he +saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile. + +"Lou!" he exclaimed reproachfully. + +"Well, it's all right, isn't it?" she demanded. "You kin ride if anybody +asks you, can't you? I'm invitin' you to ride on this boat with me, Mr. +Botts!" + +In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a +silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the +settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that +the intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on +opposite sides of the road, and neither could bridge the distance +between. + +Both doggedly immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly +in spite of the heat and with no thought of time or distance until Jim +realized that his companion was lagging, and glanced up to see that the +sun had started well upon the western trail. + +"By Jove! You must be almost starved!" he cried. "I never thought--why +didn't you wake me out of this trance I seem to have been in, and tell +me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked miles!" + +"I didn't think, either." Lou glanced about her wearily. "I don't see +any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook somewhere, don't +you? Let's find it, an' then hurry on; if we've got to do sixty miles by +the day after to-morrow we got to be movin' right steady." + +They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank +heartily, for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the +carefree joyousness seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when +Lou discovered that the knot in the corner of her handkerchief had +become untied and the remainder of her capital was gone, it appeared to +be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom. + +Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she +shook her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped +determinedly out into the road after him. She had accepted his +companionship to New York, and she would drop in her tracks before she +would be a drag on him and prevent his reaching there in the time which +was so mysteriously important to him. + +A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and +seated at the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep, +her head sagging unconsciously against Jim's shoulder. He did not touch +her, but moved so that her head should fall into a more comfortable +position, and looked down with new tenderness at the tow-colored hair. +The ridiculous, outstanding braid was gone, and instead, a soft knot +appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck, with tiny tendrils of +curls escaping from it. + +What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how +many girls of his own set would have had the courage and endurance for +such a test. Then to his own amazement he found himself thinking of them +with a certain sense of disparagement, almost contempt. They would not +have had the moral courage, let alone physical endurance. + +Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly +impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a +mere venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children. +And Saturday it must end! + +At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman +who sat behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes. + +"My sister and I don't want to go right into the town, so we'll get out +here if you don't mind," Jim said. "This lift has been a godsend, and I +can't thank you, but I've got the name of the company you're working for +in New York and I'll drop around some night when I'm flush and you're +knocking off, and we'll see if the old burg is as dry as it's supposed +to be." + +"You're on!" The driver grinned. "Got a job waitin' for yer? We need +some helpers." + +"I've got a job." Jim thought of that "job" in the mahogany-lined suite +of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did not smile. "I'll +look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here's where we change cars." + +She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering +darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off. + +"Where--where are we now?" she asked sleepily. + +"Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?" he replied. "We +must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van came along, +so it isn't any wonder that you were tired, even if you wouldn't admit +it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!" + +He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night. +He had not enough money to secure even the humblest of lodgings for her, +and he knew that if they ventured as vagrants into the town they would +be in danger of apprehension by the authorities. But Lou solved the +question quite simply. + +"Isn't that big thing stickin' up in that field a haystack? I--I'd like +a piece of that sponge cake that's left from what we ate at noon, and +then crawl in there an' sleep straight through till to-morrow," she +declared. "Did you want to go on any further to-night?" + +"Heavens, no. I was just wondering--I don't see why it couldn't be +done," he replied somewhat haltingly. "There isn't any house near, and I +don't think anything will hurt you." + +The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again +with her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in +the hay as though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first +night at the deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of +the haystack, on guard. + +It was well for them, however, that the haying was done in that +particular field, and no farmer appeared from the big white house just +over the hill, for in spite of his most valiant efforts Jim, too, +slumbered, and it was broad day when he awoke. + +Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring +in a strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they +breakfasted hastily, conserving the last fragments of food for their +midday meal, and started off. + +They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim +suddenly observed: + +"You're limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes." + +She drew away from him. + +"It's nothin'," she denied. "My shoes are all right. I--I must've slept +too long last night an' got sort of stiffened up." + +The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated +insistently: "Hold up your foot, Lou." + +Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered sole through the worn +places of which something green showed. + +"I--I stuffed it with leaves," she confessed, defensively. "They're real +comfortable, honestly. I'm just stiff----" + +Jim groaned. + +"I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you +should have told me." + +"I kin take care of myself," Lou asserted. "I've walked in pretty near +as bad as these in the institootion. We'd better get along to where +there's some houses 'cause it looks to me like a storm was comin' up." + +The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky +haze, and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested +thunder heads were mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense +blackness spread. + +"You're right; I never noticed----" Jim paused guiltily. After leaving +the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a detour back +into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the river +front were the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting +them in his tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was +Lou, too, to be considered. He might have offered some possible +explanation for his own appearance, but no interpretation could be +placed upon her presence at his side save that which he must prevent at +all costs. + +Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of +the road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while +the clouds mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air. +The sun had vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped +them, broken only by that hollow muttering. + +"It's comin' up fast." Lou broke the silence with one of her seldomly +volunteered remarks. "Shall we git into the woods? I'd as lief dodge +trees as be drowned in the road." + +"No!" Jim shook his head. "There is some kind of a shack just ahead +there; I think we can make it before the storm comes." + +They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a +fork of lightning darted blindingly across their path. The object which +Jim had taken for a shack proved to be merely a pile of rotting +telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered, and they crouched in the +lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain. + +"Take this, Lou." Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her +protestations. "You're not afraid, are you?" + +"No, I ain't--I'm not--but you're goin' to get soaked through! I heard +you coughin' once or twice at the bottom of that haystack last night." +He thrilled unconsciously to the motherliness in her tone. Then she +added reflectively: "I don't guess I'm afraid of anythin' I've seen yet, +but I ain't--I haven't seen much." + +She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind +whirled the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light +flashed before their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst. + +The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the +trees back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like tortured +creatures while great branches lashed over their heads with now and then +an ominous crackle, but it was lost in the surge of the winds and the +ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged forks of lightning +played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the rain came. + +The brim of Lou's hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the +previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it +off and gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain +pelted down. Jim's coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath +clung to her drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while +each volley of thunder shook her as with invisible hands. + +Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned +to see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at +their farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning +seemed to split the air between them and the huge old tree which reared +its branches just above his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some +giant heel. + +Lou saw the great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of +branches filled the air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she +hurled herself upon Jim. With all the strength borne of her terror she +pushed him from the heap of poles, sending him rolling out into the +middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring after him, but a +hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then with a +mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles. + +Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast +of the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a +sharp cry sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of +telegraph poles was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across +the place where she had crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone. + +"Lou!" The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and began +to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. "Oh, God, +she isn't crushed! Don't take her now, she's so little and young, and I +want her, I need her so! God!" + +He was unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words +which issued sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches +while the skin ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped +back to raise great welts upon his face. + +He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree +and a rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a +prairie dog emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and +sitting up, sneezed. + +At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about. + +"Lou!" + +"Jim! Oh, Jim! You're not killed!" A muddy, bedraggled little figure +that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two soft +arms swept about him and clung convulsively. "I seen it comin', an'--an' +I tried to shove you out of the way----" + +"Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren't hurt!" he murmured +brokenly. "I thought the tree had fallen on you!" + +"Only the boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you'd been +killed I wouldn't 'a' cared what happened to me!" + +His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naïve, +unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once +he realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he +thought that she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both, +revealed as by a flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward +the east, and in the wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment +and then put her gently from him. + +Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he +said quietly: + +"Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find shelter." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Journey's End + + +The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came +out even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the +distance, and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well +back among a group of dripping trees. + +"Take your coat, Jim," Lou said, breaking a long silence which had +fallen between them. "That porch is so wet now that we can't get it any +wetter an' I'm goin' to ask for a chance to get dry." + +But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened +and a young woman rushed out. + +"Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the +doctor?" she cried, all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her +breast heaved convulsively. + +Jim quickened his pace. + +"Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?" he asked +pleasantly. + +"It's just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr. Blair's +number. My husband would go himself but he can't step on his hurt foot +and I don't dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it's the baby! He's +dying, and I don't know what to do!" + +Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward. + +"Baby! I've been takin' care of babies all my life, seems like. You let +me look at it, ma'am." + +"Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like you?" + +The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather +doubtfully, but something she read in Lou's steady, confident gaze +seemed to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. "Come in, please! +He's all blue." + +Lou unceremoniously pushed past her down the clean little hallway and +paused for a moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a +kitchen, small, but as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a +rocking-chair near the window sat an anxious-eyed young man with his +bandaged foot up on another chair before him, and in his arms a tiny, +rigid little form. + +Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the +baby. + +Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and +half-closed, glazing eyes. + +"How long's it been like this?" Lou demanded sharply. + +"Only just a few minutes. It--it seemed like a sort of fit that he had." +The young woman turned to her husband. "Jack, this little girl stopped +by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he's gone +for----" + +"I want some hot water, quick!" Lou interrupted the explanations +brusquely. "Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle +on?" + +"Y-yes, but I'm afraid I've let the fire go out," the woman faltered. "I +was so worried----" + +With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had +been examining and thrust it into the man's arms. Then turning to the +woman with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded: + +"I s'pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can't you? If I don't +get this baby into a hot bath right away it'll be all up with him." + +The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in +the chair groaned: + +"It's awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could only +put my foot to the floor----" + +"How old is he, anyway?" Lou, who was busily searching the shelf of +groceries, asked over her shoulder. "He looks to be under a year." + +"Ten months, miss," he answered. "What do you think is the matter with +him?" + +"Convulsion," Lou replied succinctly, as the woman rushed in once more +with her apron full of chips. "Git some more, it don't matter how you +clog the stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin' water as quick as +we kin." + +Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having +accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and +knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went +down the hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman +stammered: + +"I d-don't think there are any dry kindlings left." + +"Then chop some! Ain't you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!" Lou caught sight +of him in the doorway. "Find a hatchet and some light, dry wood, will +you?" + +The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in +boiling, and the little figure in the man's arms seemed to be undergoing +a subtle but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no +faintest stir of breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken +on a marble-like cast. + +The mother bent over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in +swift scorn. + +"For goodness' sake, where's that tub or pan I asked you for? He's got a +chance, a _good_ chance if you don't waste any more time! What you +been givin' him, anyway?" she added, as the woman flew to do her +bidding. + +"Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it's so cute to +see him try to chew it----" + +"Green corn!" Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and began +pouring its steaming contents into the tub. "Ain't _nobody_ in your +family ever had any babies before?" + +She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can +which she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched +determinedly over to the man who was seated in the chair. + +"Give me that baby!" she demanded. + +"But, miss, that water's boiling!" he gasped. + +"You're not going to put my baby in that?" The woman came quickly from +her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced, his +anxiety for another reason. + +"Lou! You'll blister yourself horribly----" + +"Let me alone, all of you!" Lou turned upon them even as she stripped +the wrappings from the child. "Haven't I done this a hundred times? He +ain't even goin' to feel the heat of the mustard, he's so far gone! I +guess I know what I'm doin'!" + +The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned +away his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured +little nurse. There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and +then after a period which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice +remarked: + +"He's comin' round." + +The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its +dreadful rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a +shawl and laid it in its mother's arms. + +"He'll do now, anyway till that doctor comes." + +Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded: + +"Let me see your arms." + +"They're all right--" She tried to put them behind her as she spoke, but +he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to the +shoulders. + +"Oh, Lou! Lou!" he murmured brokenly. "What won't you do next?" + +She smiled faintly. + +"You said I'd do anything once, but I've done this lots of times +before----" + +"Well, well, good people! What's going on here?" A kindly voice sounded +from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry. + +"Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water +and held him right there with her hands, and she's burned herself +something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver----" + +"Let me see." + +The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked +up. + +"I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn't have done better +for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours." + +After he had bandaged her blisters the woman prepared food and coffee +for them all and then took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his +soaking clothes by the kitchen fire and the three men talked in a +desultory way of the topics of the countryside. + +Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his "sister" were strangers, +traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the +trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared +with Lou, and Jim stared with all his eyes. + +Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only +five days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the +dark blue silk gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and +wrists, and soft puffs of blond hair over her ears? + +"It's me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!" Lou answered his +unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added: "Mis' Tooker--that's +her name--gave me a pair of shoes, too, an' a hat an' five whole +dollars! Are we goin' to a place called Pelton?" + +Jim nodded. + +"That is where I hoped we would be by to-night, but it must be at least +twelve miles away." + +"Well, Mis' Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and she gave +me a letter to a friend of hers there who'll take us in for the +night----" + +The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be +visited, and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started +away. The sun was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up +with each turn of the wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished. + +"Jennie Tooker always was a fool!" Dr. Blair grumbled. "How many babies +have you taken care of, young woman?" + +"More'n twenty, I guess, off an' on," Lou responded. "I--I used to work +in an institootion up-State." + +Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the +conversation, and he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was +reached. There, when they had descended from the little car Lou turned +to Jim and asked a trifle shyly: + +"You--you're goin' to let me ask you to ride, aren't you? You bought all +the food in Riverburgh, you know." + +"And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip," he said with a +rueful laugh. "I thought, when you suggested that we should travel +together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the +other way around. Oh, Lou, I've so much to say to you when we reach our +journey's end!" + +They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker's friend, who +ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take +them in at a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although +Lou waited long for him on the little porch, he did not return until +through sheer fatigue she was forced to go to bed. + +In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower +hall he jingled a handful of silver in his pocket. + +"However did you git it?" she demanded. + +"Garage," he responded succinctly. "Didn't know I was a chauffeur, did +you, Lou?" + +A peculiar little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she +merely remarked: + +"I thought you wouldn't only take a quarter----" + +"For each job," he interrupted her. "A lot of cars came in that needed +tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made +more than two dollars, and we'll ride in state into Hunnikers!" + +Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little +porch. + +"Jim, I--I'm not goin' on." + +"What!" he exclaimed. + +"The woman that runs this place, she--she wants a girl to help her, an' +I guess I'll stay." Lou's tones were none too steady, and she did not +meet his eyes. "I--I don't believe I'd like New York." + +"You, a servant here?" He took one of her hands very gently in his. "I +didn't mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as it is, there +is a lot that I can't tell you even now, but this much I want you to +know. You're not going to work any more, Lou. You're going to a lovely +old lady who lives in a big house all by herself, and there you are +going to study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much +as anybody." + +She smiled and shook her head. + +"This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn't meant for anythin' +else, an' if I should live to be a hundred I could never know as much as +that lady at the circus who called you 'Jimmie Abbott.'" + +"What--" Jim exploded for the second time. + +"At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn't know you were +in Canada----" + +"Good Lord! What was she doing there?" + +"She was with another lady an' two gentlemen, an' I guess they come in +an ottermobile," Lou explained. "They was in one the next day, +anyway--the one that slammed into the egg-wagon." + +She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably: + +"I didn't mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I'm not goin' on with +you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book back there +on Mrs. Bemis's porch. It had fallen open on the floor, an' when I +picked it up I couldn't help seein' the name that was written across the +page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn't want to give +your real name to anybody----" + +"Listen, Lou." He had caught her other hand now and was holding them +both very tightly. "You _are_ going on with me! I can't explain now +about my name, but it doesn't matter; nothing matters except that you +are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New York +with me, and you're going to keep your word." + +"I know better now," she replied quietly. "It's--it's been a wonderful +time, but I've got to work an' earn my keep an' try to learn as I go +along. It isn't just exactly breakin' my word; I didn't realize----" + +"Realize what?" he demanded as she hesitated. + +"I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn't until I saw +that lady an' found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were +different." + +Her eyes were still downcast, and now a tinge of color mounted in her +cheeks. "I couldn't bear to have you take me to that other lady in the +city and be a-ashamed of me----" + +"Ashamed of you!" he repeated, and something in his tone deepened the +color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. "Lou, look at me!" + +Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again +quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice: + +"All right, Jim. I--I'll go. I guess I wouldn't just want to be a--a +quitter, after all." + +It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they +had come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between, +they bore no traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been +treading on air, and although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further +reference to the future, there was a certain buoyant assurance about him +which indicated that in his own mind, at least, there remained no room +for doubt. + +He needed all the assurance he could muster as, after ensconcing Lou at +the soda counter in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth +farthest from her ears and closed the door carefully behind him. Lou +consumed her soda to its last delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at +the worn, but spotless, little silk gown to see if she had spilled any +upon it, and then wandered over to the showcase. + +Jim's voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a +full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but +triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his +brow. He suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain +gray-haired, aristocratic old lady was having violent hysterics to the +immediate concern of three maids and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did +not disturb his equanimity. + +"It's all right," he announced. "Aunt Emmy expects you; I didn't tell +you, did I, that the lady I'm taking you to is my aunt? No matter. She's +awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; I've always managed +her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and you'll have her rolling over +and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles more to go, Lou, and we'll +be----" + +"Hello, there, Jim." An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his shoulder +and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: "Oh, I +beg your pardon----" + +"'Lo, Harry!" Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more tanned +than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an +abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves. +"What are you doing in this man's town?" + +"Motoring down from the Hilton's," the other responded. "Pete was coming +with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over the week-end. +I'm off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; sailing next +Wednesday for Labrador, you know." + +"Then you're alone?" Jim turned. "Miss Lacey, let me present Mr. Van +Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find something +to kill. Miss Lacey is a young friend of my aunt's; I'm taking her down +to her for a visit." + +The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to +grasp it, and bowed. + +"You're motoring, too?" he asked. + +"No. I--The fact is--" Jim stammered in his turn. "We were thinking of +taking the train----" + +"Why not let me take you both down in the car?" The other rose to the +occasion with evident alacrity. "Miss Lacy will like it better than the +train, I'm sure, and I haven't seen you for an age, old man." + +Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its +final burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to +his car, and they were alone at a far corner of the counter. + +"How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It's been a +long pull sometimes, and we've had some rough going, but it was worth +it, wasn't it?" + +Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated +softly: + +"'The last lap.' Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady's +house where you are takin' me?" + +"Every day," he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity: "I dine with +her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou. Harry's waving at +us." + +Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge, +wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops +with the trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped, +while the two men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back +in her corner of the roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams. + +Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar +with more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou +found herself being borne swiftly through street after street of +towering houses out upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had +never dreamed of on one side, and on the other the seared, drooping +green of a city park in late summer. + +It was still light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of +brownstone houses of an earlier and still more exclusive period, and +stopped before the proudest of these. + +Jim alighted and held out his hand. + +"Come, Lou," he said. "Journey's end." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Long, Long Trail + + +Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady +with gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor +of her drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion. + +"I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, is +highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing +trip when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with +a--a most extraordinary message----" + +She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and +added: "He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this +evening. Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I +cannot get a word out of you!" + +"All I can tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night, +I've got to pay him a thousand bones--dollars, I mean. It was a sort of +a wager, and that must be what he wants to tell you about." + +It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance +standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at +him sharply. + +"A wager? H-m! Possibly." She paused suddenly. "There's the bell." + +A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner +clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he +encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him. + +"Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!" + +"With a few hours to spare." Jim darted a questioning glance at his +aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head. + +"I knew we'd lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had telephoned to +her from just a little way out of town to-day," Jack Trimble responded. +"I ran over on my way to the club to give her a message from my mother. +Did you have a hard time of it, old man?" + +"Hard?" Jim smiled. "I've been a rough-rider in a circus----" + +Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble's eyes opened as roundly and wide +as his mouth. + +"Thundering--So it was you after all!" + +"Me?" Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste. + +"You--rough-rider--circus!" Jack exclaimed. "Vera said the chap looked +like you, but it never occurred to me that it could possibly be!" + +"So it was Vera, was it?" Jim smiled. "I heard what she said--I mean, it +was repeated to me. You were one of that party?" + +"Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing +happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn't turn +out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight +through his wagon!" Jack laughed. "W-what do you think it was loaded +with?" + +"Eggs!" responded Jim crisply. "I happened to be on it at the time, my +boy, and your sense of humor--I hope you all got what I did! But I must +explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite +mad!" + +"And I must be off to the club," Jack announced. "I'll break the news to +Billy Hollis that we've lost. See you later, and we'll all settle up. +Good evening, Mrs. Abbott." + +When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to +her nephew between laughter and tears. + +"James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!" + +"Jack doesn't know anything about Lou?" Jim demanded anxiously. + +"Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept +her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean +to marry this nameless waif?" + +"Stop right there, Aunt Emmy," he interrupted her firmly. "I'm going to +marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I +mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. But I +don't intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I'm +going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you +bring her out. I saw her first!" + +"H-m. We shall see," Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: "But that can +wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how +did you get into such horrible scrapes?" + +"The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy +Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It +drifted into a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown +toward strangers by country folk in particular, with myself in the +minority, of course," Jim explained. + +"They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I couldn't +walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five dollars +in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor +accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any +one time. + +"The idea was to see how many of these hard-boiled up-State farmers we +hear so much about would offer you the hospitality reputed to be +extended only by the rural population of the South and West, and how +many would give a foot-sore and weary traveler a lift upon the way. +There were other conditions, too; I was not to use my own surname, not +to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or New Jersey. I +was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional twenty-five +cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, not +use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides +on boats or trains or any other conveyances." + +While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced +his little red note-book and laid it before her. + +"There's the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account for +each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove +my contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State +are as big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack's money and Billy's +says that they are! + +"I'm going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two +little boys near Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to +do the farm work of men. They are going to a good school this winter, +and there are a few other people who are going to be surprised! By Jove, +I never realized what money was for until now! But best of all, I found +Lou!" + +"And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate her +and bring her out?" demanded Aunt Emmy. "My dear boy, when you started +on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something +extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so +bizarre as this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this +child?" + +"Because you won't be able to help it." His face had sobered, and there +was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. "You won't +be able to help loving her when you find out how courageous she is, and +sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most candid, naïve +little----" + +"She is quite that!" Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis. +"How I am ever to hide her away until I've had her coached not to drop +her g's, and to realize that there is a 'u' in the alphabet I don't +know, but I'll try. James--I think there are distinct possibilities +there." + +"I knew it!" Jim cried. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist her! For +the Lord's sake, Aunt Emmy, don't let them spoil her! She's so sweet and +simple-hearted, don't let them make her cynical and worldly-wise! I'll +promise not to speak to her, not to let her know how I feel until you +say that I may." + +"Will you, James?" There was a faint smile about the delicately lined +lips. "She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most impressions to +be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, and I +rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a +surprise." + +"You old dear!" Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his +embrace which threatened her coiffure. "Where is she?" + +"In the library waiting for you, Jamie!" + +She used the old nursery name, and caught his arm. "She is very young, +but the heart sometimes breaks easily then. Don't speak unless you +yourself are very sure." + +Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly +old eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the +door. + + * * * * * + +"And you're going to be happy here?" It was some time later when Jim had +explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the +window-seat. + +"Happy? Why, Jim, I can't believe I'm awake! I'm going to study an' work +an' try my best to be like her. Seems to me it'll take the rest of my +life, but she says that in a year or two there won't anybody hardly tell +the difference." + +"And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?" + +"I don't know." Her tone was serenely unconcerned. + +"That trail we've followed together for the last week wasn't so bad, was +it?" he asked. "You were happy in spite of the hardships?" + +"It was wonderful!" She drew a deep breath. "I--I wish we could start +again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the way!" + +"If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished +your studies we will start again on a longer trail." He took one of the +little toil-worn hands in his. "The long, long trail, Lou, only we will +be together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?" + +She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of +his shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she +stirred and smiled. + +"Well--" she hesitated. "You knew from the very beginning, Jim, that I'd +do anything once!" + + THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + +***** This file should be named 30640-8.txt or 30640-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/4/30640/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Anything Once + +Author: Douglas Grant + +Illustrator: Paul Stahr + +Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/anything-fpc.jpg' id="img001" alt='' /> +<p class='center caption'> +He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening beneath its tan. +</p></div> + +<hr class='pb' /> + +<div class='tp'> +<p style='font-size:2.0em;margin-bottom:20px;'>ANYTHING ONCE</p> +<p style=''>BY</p> +<p style='font-size:1.4em;margin-bottom:10px;'>DOUGLAS GRANT</p> +<p style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:40px;'>AUTHOR OF<br />“THE SINGLE TRACK,” “BOOTY,”“THE FIFTH ACE,” ETC.</p> +<p style=''>Frontispiece by<br />PAUL STAHR</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/anything-emb.png' id="img002" alt='' /> +</div> + +<div class='tp'> +<p style='font-variant:small-caps;'>New York</p> +<p style='font-variant:small-caps;'>W. J. Watt & Company</p> +<p style='font-size:smaller;'>PUBLISHERS</p> +</div> + +<hr class='pb' /> + +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;margin-bottom:20px;'>COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY<br />W. J. WATT & COMPANY</p> +<p class='tp' style='font-size:smaller;'>PRESS OF<br />BRAUNWORTH & CO.<br />BOOK MANUFACTURERS<br />BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> + +<table summary='TOC'> +<tr><td colspan='3' style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em;'>CONTENTS</td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1' style='font-size:smaller;'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td class='tcol3' style='font-size:smaller;'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>I.</td><td class='tcol2'>A Roadside Meeting</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_1'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>II.</td><td class='tcol2'>Partners</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_2'>17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>III.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Vendor Of Everything</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_3'>41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>IV.</td><td class='tcol2'>Under The Big Top</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_4'>55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>V.</td><td class='tcol2'>Concerning An Omelet</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_5'>69</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>VI.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Red Note-Book</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_6'>83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>VII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Revelations</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_7'>99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>VIII.</td><td class='tcol2'>Journey’s End</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_8'>118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class='tcol1'>IX.</td><td class='tcol2'>The Long, Long Trail</td><td class='tcol3'><a href='#link_9'>138</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class='pb' /> + +<h1>ANYTHING ONCE</h1> + +<hr class='pb' /> + +<p class='tp' style='font-size:1.6em;'><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span>ANYTHING ONCE</p> + +<h2><a id='link_1'></a>CHAPTER I<br /><span class='h2fs'>A Roadside Meeting</span></h2> + +<p>The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling fields of +ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy feet of the +plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had scarcely settled again +upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed which bordered the rail fences on +either side when Ebb Fischel’s itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb +Fischel’s eyes were usually as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the +dust must have obscured his vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying +motionless beside the road, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_2'></a>2</span>with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of +harvest-time caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his +temple.</p> + +<p>But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time nothing +disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper and nearer +buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to see what this +strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to tell his +associates.</p> + +<p>At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the field +on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders appeared above the +topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with tow-colored hair, which had +been slicked back and braided so tightly that the short, meager cue curled +outward and up in a crescent, as though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath +the coarse blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked.</p> + +<p>The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and suddenly +thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails, letting it fall in the +high, dusty weeds <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span>by +the roadside. Next she climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched +there, displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping, +square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her.</p> + +<p>She looked like a very forlorn, feminine <i>Monte Cristo</i> indeed, as she +scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look of quiet +satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes which told of a +momentous object accomplished.</p> + +<p>Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that still +figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him and lifted +his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually that he was a +clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by the sun to a warm +gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes.</p> + +<p>Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of one +of New York’s most exclusive tailors! that the boots were London-made, and +the golf-stockings which met the corduroy knickerbockers came <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span>from one of Scotland’s +famous mills, it would have meant just exactly nothing in her young life.</p> + +<p>Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran +unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as she +raised his head.</p> + +<p>The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the road +was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at either side. She +pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet dangling between her narrow +shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap +in the ditch, she deposited her burden gently upon the grass once more and +scrambled over to investigate her find.</p> + +<p>The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber, and +the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl filled with +clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the unconscious figure, +she poured the contents of the cap over his face and head.</p> + +<p>The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_5'></a>5</span>a little, and opened astonished brown eyes upon her.</p> + +<p>“How–how the devil did you come here?” he asked +ungallantly.</p> + +<p>“Over the fence.” Her reply was laconic, but it bore an +unmistakable hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome. +“Just you lay still while I git some more water, an’ I’ll tie +up that head of yourn.”</p> + +<p>The young man’s hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away +brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision’s advice, and +remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and what had +happened to him.</p> + +<p>According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had as +assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State highway, +while this─</p> + +<p>He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and a +confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady pasture which +had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village, and of something which +thundered down upon <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span>him +from behind and lifted him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days +left!</p> + +<p>“You’d better take a drink of this first an’ I kin use the +rest on your head.” A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and +he looked up gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress +as she held the brimming cap to his lips.</p> + +<p>He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening +beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles of his +back.</p> + +<p>“Kin you hold the cap steady?” The girl thrust it into his hands +without waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly +turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse but +immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath.</p> + +<p>Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and then +rose.</p> + +<p>“There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or +you’ll have sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin’.”</p> + +<p>She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one arm, +offering the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span>other to +him with a gesture as frank as it was impersonal.</p> + +<p>“Lean on me, an’ try to git along–and please kinder +hurry!”</p> + +<p>She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the same +furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the fence-top, +but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful effort to rise to +observe the look, although her change of tone aroused his curiosity. Was this +scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her people would catch her talking +to a stranger by the roadside?</p> + +<p>Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and down +the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest in the dense +thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them from the road.</p> + +<p>The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside him, +unrolled the apron she had carried.</p> + +<p>“It’s the ham that’s greased it all up like that,” +she remarked. “I’d have brought a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_8'></a>8</span>pail, only I didn’t want to take any more ’n I had +to.”</p> + +<p>The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the apron-bundle +were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar in which it had been +baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and, wrapped separately in a piece of +newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of matches, and a bit of broken comb.</p> + +<p>“When there’s lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring +water, ain’t so bad, an’ it’s near noon,” the girl +observed, beginning to cut the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand. +“I should’ve made them thicker, but I forgot.”</p> + +<p>A starving gleam had come into the young man’s eyes at the sight of +food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance keenly at +his companion.</p> + +<p>“You’ve enough here for an army,” he declared. “Were +you taking it to men working in the fields somewhere?”</p> + +<p>“No,” she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of +finality with which she <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_9'></a>9</span>had responded to his first question. “You can rest +easy here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin’, +an’ then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an’ +give you a lift on your way. There’s a railroad about four miles from +here, an’ the slow freight goes by along about ten.”</p> + +<p>The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man smiled, +and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had others thought, +whom he had encountered in his journey.</p> + +<p>But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to how +he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed his hurt, +brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her food with him as +unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life.</p> + +<p>That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and her +furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to one +fact–the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had taken him +at his face value, and he had no <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_10'></a>10</span>right in the world to question her, at least without +giving some sort of account of himself.</p> + +<p>“I have no intention of traveling by rail,” he assured her. +“A little while before you found me–I don’t quite know how +long–I was crossing that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking +that this road might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me +from behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut +open by striking against a stone, for I don’t remember anything more until +you poured that water over my face.”</p> + +<p>The girl nodded.</p> + +<p>“I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped +off it an’ turned over,” she averred. “Anybody who goes +traipsin’ through old Terwilliger’s pasture is apt to meet up with +that bull of his.”</p> + +<p>So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the questions +that another girl would have heaped upon him.</p> + +<p>He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span>“How did you +know that I didn’t belong here?” he demanded.</p> + +<p>The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of +amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight line far +too mature for her evident youth.</p> + +<p>“No grown men ’round these parts wears short pants, an’, anyhow, +I knew you were different from the way you talk; somethin’ like the +welfare workers, with the hell an’ brimstone left out,” the girl +replied soberly. “I’m goin’ to talk like you some +day.”</p> + +<p>It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and he +was quick to seize his advantage.</p> + +<p>“Who are you, young lady? You’ve been awfully kind to me, and I +don’t know to whom my gratitude is due.”</p> + +<p>“Not to anybody.” She turned her head away slightly, but not +before he saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and +marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of the +typical farmer’s daughter, inured to all <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_12'></a>12</span>weathers, yet her hands, although small, were +toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between her dark eyes and the pale, +flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a braid.</p> + +<p>“I didn’t do any more for you than I’d do for a dog if I +found him lyin’ there.”</p> + +<p>Her naïve sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary suggestion, +and the young man chuckled, but persisted.</p> + +<p>“What is your name? Mine is James–er–Botts.”</p> + +<p>“Lou Lacey. It was ’L’ day, you know, an’ there was a teeny +bit of lace on my dress. I ain’t ever had any since.”</p> + +<p>She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his +increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself +“Botts” was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day, +and if she were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about +the future as her manner indicated?</p> + +<p>He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the right +method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span>much could he tell her about himself? +James Botts’s own face reddened.</p> + +<p>“I’m walking to my home in New York,” he explained. +“But I’m late; I ought to make it by a certain date, and I +don’t think I’ll be able to, since my encounter with +Terwilliger’s bull. Where do you live? I mean, where are you going? Where +is your home?”</p> + +<p>“Nowheres,” Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her +eyes the graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little +stream.</p> + +<p>“Great Scott!” The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his +hand to his head. “Why, everybody has a home, you know!”</p> + +<p>“Not everybody,” the girl dissented quietly.</p> + +<p>“But–but surely you haven’t been walking the +roads?”</p> + +<p>There was genuine horror in his tones. “Where did you come from this +morning when you found me?”</p> + +<p>“From Hess’s farm, back up the road a piece,” she replied +with her usual unemotional literalness. “I been there a week, but <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span>I didn’t like it, so +I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was +up.”</p> + +<p>Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless +manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too simple. +Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind younger and more +innocent-appearing delinquents than she.</p> + +<p>His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside him, +still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he shuddered. +Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been prison-made, and the +striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in some pictures of female +convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the result of only a few +days’ exposure to the sun, and he had already observed the whiteness of +the skin beneath; that whiteness which resembled the prison pallor.</p> + +<p>Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result not +of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span>within the man cried out against the +thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty drove him on.</p> + +<p>“I thought that didn’t look like the dress of a farmer’s +daughter!” He essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a +grating falsetto in his tones. “You haven’t worked in the garden +much, either, have you?”</p> + +<p>“Garden!” Lou sniffed. “They promised the welfare workers +that they’d give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I +found I had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an’ +wait on them, an’ clean up an’ all. Said they’d pay me twelve +dollars a month, an’ I could take the first month’s money out by the +week in clothes, an’ for the first week all they gave me was this +sunbonnet an’ apron. I left them the other dress an’ things I had, +an’ I figgered the rest of the money they owed me would just about pay for +this ham an’ bread an’ the knife an’ soap. The comb was +mine.”</p> + +<p>She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked very +soberly:</p> + +<p>“The welfare workers found this position <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span>for you, Lou Lacey? But where did they +find you?”</p> + +<p>“Why, at the institootion,” she responded, as though surprised +that he had not already guessed. “I ain’t ever been anywhere else; +I’ve always been a orphin.”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span><a id='link_2'></a>CHAPTER II<br /><span class='h2fs'>Partners</span></h2> + +<p>For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red flood +of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely, orphan kid, +thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in her first flight from +injustice to help a stranger, only to have him think her a possible criminal! He +was glad that his back twinged and his head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out +into the ditch and left to die there for harboring such thoughts.</p> + +<p>He was a cur, and she–hang it! There was something appealing about her +in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in itself +betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that made a fellow want +to protect her.</p> + +<p>In his own circle James Botts had never <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_18'></a>18</span>been known as a <i>Sir Galahad</i>, but he had been +away from his own circle for exactly nineteen eventful days now, and in that +space of time he had learned much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned +once more to her.</p> + +<p>But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic +understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots of small +pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face.</p> + +<p>“How old are you?” he asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>Lou shrugged.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least, +they told me six years ago that I was twelve, an’ I’ve kept track +ever since. When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place +somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin’ more +babies from the poor-farm than usual, an’ I was kinder handy with them. +She had to let me go now because one of the visitin’ deaconesses let out +that she’d seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an’ I was +toddlin’ round then. Oh, I missed him!”</p> + +<p>The frog, with a triumphant <i>plop</i>, had disappeared <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span>beneath a flat, submerged stone, and Lou +turned to note her companion’s pain-drawn face.</p> + +<p>“I’m goin’ to fix that bandage on your head again,” +she declared as she sprang to her feet. “Is your back hurtin’ you +very much?”</p> + +<p>“Not very.” He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for, +despite his suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon +him filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the +statement that she had “kept track” of her last few years he could +not credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be +nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child like +that should wander about the country alone.</p> + +<p>He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by +handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being held as a +vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the people with whom +she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he took her back and reasoned +with them, insisted upon their keeping to <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_20'></a>20</span>their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to +perform.</p> + +<p>Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of +listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he could +persuade her to return of her own accord.</p> + +<p>“The people you were working for; their name was ‘Hess’?” +he asked.</p> + +<p>She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his +forehead.</p> + +<p>“Henry Hess an’ his wife, Freida, an’–an’ +Max.”</p> + +<p>Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him demand +sharply:</p> + +<p>“Who is Max?”</p> + +<p>“Their son.” Her voice was very low, but for the first time it +trembled slightly.</p> + +<p>“You don’t like him, do you?” He waited a moment, and then +added abruptly: “Why not?”</p> + +<p>“Because he’s a–a beast! I don’t want to talk about +him! I don’t want even to remember that such <i>things</i> as he is can be +let live!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span>James Botts turned +and looked at her and then away, for the childish figure had been drawn up +tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity which sat not ill upon it, and from +her dark eyes insulted womanhood had blazed.</p> + +<p>“I’d like to go back and lick him to a standstill!” to his +own utter amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly.</p> + +<p>The fire had died out of Lou’s face and she replied composedly:</p> + +<p>“What for? He don’t matter any more, does he? We’re +goin’ on.”</p> + +<p>The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in the +world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust upon his hands? +Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his entire capital at the +moment, and if he did put her into the hands of the county authorities until his +journey was completed and he could make other arrangements for her, it would +mean a delay on his part now, when every hour counted for so much just now.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span>“Do you know +how far we are from Hudsondale?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Not more’n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of +an evenin’ to the movies.”</p> + +<p>The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in the +apron, together with the remains of their repast.</p> + +<p>“They say that not more’n twenty miles from there you can see the +big river, but I ain’t ever been.”</p> + +<p>“That’s the way I was going,” he observed thoughtlessly. +“From Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river +to New York.”</p> + +<p>Lou sat back on her heels reflectively.</p> + +<p>“All right,” she said at last. “I ain’t ever figgered +on goin’s far as New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I +guess I kin keep up with you now your back’s kinder sprained. We’ll +go along together.”</p> + +<p>James Botts gulped.</p> + +<p>“Certainly not!” he retorted severely, when he could articulate. +“It’s utterly out of the question! You’re not a little child +any longer, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span>and +I’m not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people +would say!”</p> + +<p>“Why must I?” Her clear eyes shamed him. “What’s it +matter? I guess two kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an’ if I +have been in a brick house with a high fence an’ a playground between +where never a blade of grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as +if I could take care of myself a lot better ’n you kin!”</p> + +<p>“But you don’t understand!” he groaned. “There are +certain conditions that I can’t very well explain, and if I did +you’d think I had gone crazy.”</p> + +<p>“Maybe,” Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on +the bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt forced +to continue.</p> + +<p>“You know an army has to obey orders, don’t you?” he +floundered on desperately. “Well, I’m like a one-man army; there are +a lot of rules I’ve got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must +reach New York by midnight on Saturday; that’s ninety miles or more, and +you never could make it in the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_24'></a>24</span>world. I’ve got just a dollar and a half, and I +mustn’t beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my way, +and never take any job that’ll pay me more than twenty-five cents.</p> + +<p>“Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a +little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can’t ask. Even the +money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn’t use for traveling, but +only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is that I +cannot explain to a soul why I’m doing all this.”</p> + +<p>Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them again +and for an appreciable moment there was silence.</p> + +<p>“Well, I don’t see anythin’ in that that says you +can’t have somebody travelin’ along with you,” she remarked, +and that odd little smile flashed again across her face. “It don’t +make any difference to me what you can or can’t do. +<i>I’m</i> foot-loose!”</p> + +<p>Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made manifest +to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span>that nothing he had said had moved her an +iota from her original decision. They would go along together.</p> + +<p>Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the Hess +farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would not be +conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to leave her in the +care of some country woman until he could return and make proper arrangements +for her, and the only alternative was that she must tramp the roads by herself +until she found work, and that was out of the question.</p> + +<p>At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her +skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he, with his +aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they neared the suburbs of +New York he would telephone to a certain gray-haired, aristocratically +high-nosed old lady and persuade her to send out her car for this waif.</p> + +<p>The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm, but +not for <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span>all the +gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have the story of his +knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing heroine of it revealed to +his friends.</p> + +<p>The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she evidently +possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day journey in his +company could harm it no more if the truth became known than if she had tramped +upon her way alone.</p> + +<p>“All right,” he said. “We’ll be partners, and +I’ll do my best to look out for you.”</p> + +<p>She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook rippling +over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared. It was the sole +attractive thing about her that he had observed.</p> + +<p>“Reckon it’ll be me that’ll look after you!” she +retorted. “Oh, there’s somethin’ comin’! Duck in here, +quick!”</p> + +<p>Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket until +she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as he was able, +with one hand fending <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_27'></a>27</span>off the supple young shoots from whipping back upon +his wounded forehead.</p> + +<p>He had heard nothing, yet the girl’s quick ears had caught the faint +creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat shrill +whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain.</p> + +<p>“That’s Lem Mattles,” Lou whispered as she reached behind +him and drew the willows yet more screeningly about their trail. +“He’s whistlin’ ‘Ida-Ho’; it’s the only tune he +can remember.”</p> + +<p>“Who is he?” demanded her companion.</p> + +<p>“The Hess’s next-door neighbor. She’ll stop him right away +an’ ask if he’s seen me on the road, an’ they’ll all be +after me, but they’ll never think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands +showed it to me an’ told me it led clear to Hudsondale, an’ came out +by the freight-yards.”</p> + +<p>For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. “Think you +kin make it, Mr. Botts?”</p> + +<p>“Sure!” He smiled and held out his hand. <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span>“We’re partners now, and +I’m ‘Jim’ to my friends, Lou.”</p> + +<p>“All right, Jim,” she responded indifferently, but she laid her +little work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. “Come on.”</p> + +<p>With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner +followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a stretch +of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail could be +discerned.</p> + +<p>“We’re all right now if we kin keep on goin’,” +announced Lou. “Nobody comes this way any more, an’ the feller said +that the tracks runs through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the +yards. Feelin’ all right, Jim?”</p> + +<p>“I guess so.” Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath +brought a stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance +catch the motion. “It’s pretty in here, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>“It’s longer,” replied Lou practically. “An’ +the sun’s gittin’ low. Let’s hurry.”</p> + +<p>There was little further talk between them, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_29'></a>29</span>for Jim had already discovered that his companion was +not one to speak unless she had something to say, and he was breathing in short +snatches to stifle the pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the +trees, and in the dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had +it not been for her light touch upon his arm.</p> + +<p>At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led down +to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden tenements +leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging from lines on the +crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed curiously at them as they +passed.</p> + +<p>From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man’s oath +roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the bleating +of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air.</p> + +<p>The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the crash +and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his pain, Jim +realized that nowhere <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_30'></a>30</span>in this vicinity could his self-constituted companion +rest for the night; open fields or dense woodland were safer far for her.</p> + +<p>“Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little,” +he suggested. “We can’t stay here, and they’ll think we are +tramps if they catch us by the railroad.”</p> + +<p>“I guess that’s what we are.” Lou wrinkled her already +upturned nose. “But the country would be nicer again, if you ain’t +give out.”</p> + +<p>He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and +started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered cottages +to where the woodland closed in about them once more.</p> + +<p>Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded along, +while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared. The girl’s +step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her lips +determinedly.</p> + +<p>At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time, with an +old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span>and by tacit consent they sank down on the +worn step.</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe we can go any farther,” Jim panted. +“I guess this is as good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can +sleep in there.”</p> + +<p>He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture with a +reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it, added hastily:</p> + +<p>“I don’t believe there are any rats in there, but if you’ll +lend me your matches I’ll see.”</p> + +<p>“Rats!” she repeated in withering scorn. “There was plenty +of them in the insti–where I come from. I was just thinkin’ maybe +somebody else was sleepin’ there already.”</p> + +<p>She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered, feeling +carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged survey by the +flickering light of the matches assured him that the ancient, cobwebbed place +was deserted, and he turned again to the door, but its step was unoccupied and +nowhere in the starlight <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_32'></a>32</span>could he discern a flutter of that blue-and-white +striped dress.</p> + +<p>Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of +loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started upon +his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened her, or had a +mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a will-o’-the-wisp into the +night?</p> + +<p>“Lou!” he called, and his voice echoed back. +“Lou!”</p> + +<p>All at once he noticed what he had not observed before–a single light +by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more secure +shelter.</p> + +<p>His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog’s excited barking, +subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the direction of the +clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled to the road. If Lou had +got into any trouble─</p> + +<p>The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought his +heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his pain. He had not +gained the top <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span>of the +rise in the road, however, when the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls +which rapidly diminished in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding +carefully before her something round and white which gleamed in the +starlight.</p> + +<p>“Good Heavens!” he exclaimed when she neared him. “What on +earth have you been doing?”</p> + +<p>“Git on back ’round the other side of the mill!” ordered Lou. +“I gotta go slow or I’ll spill it.”</p> + +<p>“What is it?”</p> + +<p>But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over the +tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then she set down +the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright tin pan, filled +almost to the brim with milk.</p> + +<p>“I thought it would go good with our bread an’ ham,” she +explained ingenuously. “I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place +that they’d leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they +ain’t got any spring-house, an’ they won’t be likely to miss +one <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span>pan out of +fifteen. Besides, there’s nothin’ in them rules you told me that +stops <i>me</i> from beggin’ or borrowin’, or stealin’, +either, an’ if I <i>give</i> you some of this you ain’t got any call +to ask me where it come from.”</p> + +<p>This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp +out:</p> + +<p>“The dog! Didn’t he attack you?”</p> + +<p>“I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an’ +fit him off.” She added, with evident pride. “I never spilled a +drop, either!”</p> + +<p>“Good Lord!” Jim ejaculated. “I believe you’d do +anything once!”</p> + +<p>“I b’lieve I would, provided I wanted to,” Lou agreed placidly. +Then her tone changed. “There’s somebody comin’ up the road +from Hudsondale like all in creation was after ’em.”</p> + +<p>Indeed, the sound of a horse’s mad gallop up the steep road by which +they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the grating jar +of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to side.</p> + +<p>“Think it’s a runaway?” Jim rose and <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span>strained his eyes into the darkness at the +farther end of the bridge.</p> + +<p>“No; driver’s drunk, maybe,” Lou responded. “The +horse’s dead beat an’ he’s lashin’ it on. +Listen!”</p> + +<p>Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to leap +forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as though the +wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he clenched his hands.</p> + +<p>As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked:</p> + +<p>“Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the +farm where I was treated theirs somethin’ terrible. If he don’t look +out he’ll go over the side of the bridge.”</p> + +<p>Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou followed +him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing an old-fashioned +carriage of the “buggy” type containing a single occupant and drawn +by a horse which was streaked with lather.</p> + +<p>The light wagon hit the bridge with a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_36'></a>36</span>bounce which almost sent it careening over into the +rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou uttered an odd exclamation, +more of anger than fear, and straightened up to her full height.</p> + +<p>“It’s Max!” she informed Jim. “You git back behind +the mill; you ain’t fit to fight─”</p> + +<p>“What do you take me for?” Jim demanded indignantly. “Max +Hess, eh? The fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get +him this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself, and +leave me to handle him.”</p> + +<p>But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in front of +them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his haunches.</p> + +<p>“Got yer!” a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly +figure wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground. +“Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!”</p> + +<p>He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span>“Are you +addressing this young woman?”</p> + +<p>“Young thief, you mean! She’s gotter come─”</p> + +<p>But Jim, too, had advanced a pace.</p> + +<p>“Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it,” he announced +distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. “If your +name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I warn you now to +be off.”</p> + +<p>“So that’s it, is it?” the heavy voice sneered. +“She’s my mother’s hired girl, an’ she stole a lot +o’ food an’ ran away this mornin’. Comes o’ takin’ +in an asylum brat─”</p> + +<p>“Take that back, too, you blackguard!” Jim’s voice was +beginning to shake.</p> + +<p>“Take nothin’ back, ’cept Lou! What’s she doin’ with +you, anyway? Might ha’ knowed she was this sort─”</p> + +<p>He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and the +blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an inarticulate +roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the other man, but the other +man wasn’t there! <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_38'></a>38</span>Then another light, stinging blow landed upon his fat +face and he flailed out again with a force that turned him completely around, +for again his adversary had danced out of his way.</p> + +<p>Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the bully and +terror of his community, and he could not understand this way of fighting, nor +why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could dodge in and punish him +apparently whenever he chose.</p> + +<p>Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not +unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at every +move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and Hess seemed to +realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in and landed a stiff body +blow which staggered his adversary.</p> + +<p>Hess’s left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his +man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him to his +knees. All the bully’s blood-lust boiled at sight of his half-fallen <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span>victim, and he drew back +his heavily shod foot for a murderous kick, but it was never delivered.</p> + +<p>Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the dust, +then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until with a scream +of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled to his feet it sprang +again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned quickly, and scrambling into +the buggy seat, gathered up the reins.</p> + +<p>Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the volley +of oaths and clatter of horses’s feet until both had been swallowed up in +the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood swaying, with one hand pressed +to his side, and the blood from the reopened cut upon his forehead making his +face look ghastly in the starlight.</p> + +<p>“Well,” she remarked with satisfaction. “I guess he got +more ’n he come for, an’ we’ve seen the last of +<i>him!</i>”</p> + +<p>“But Lou!” There was admiration and awe in his tones. “Your +method of fighting <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_40'></a>40</span>isn’t in the Queensberry rules, although I must +say it was effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the +other way!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t know what queen you’re talkin’ about, nor what +rules she made, but when <i>I</i> fight, I fight with everything I’ve +got,” Lou declared with finality. “Come and let me fix up your head +again, an’ we’ll have supper.”</p> + +<p>An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in a +man’s shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill, while +on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel across his knees, a +weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard.</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span><a id='link_3'></a>CHAPTER III<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Vendor of Everything</span></h2> + +<p>When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find herself +deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her mind. She had +found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were mostly queer, one way +or another, but this one was dependable, and she felt no doubt that he would +turn up when he got ready.</p> + +<p>Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and +wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the bridge +she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she performed her limited +toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron vigorously, she hung it on a bramble +bush behind the mill to dry, and scuttling across the road, made for <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span>the woods back of the house +where she had committed her nocturnal depredation.</p> + +<p>An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction of +Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well hidden in the +rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and approaching it found Lou +industriously brushing her coat with a broom which she had improvised of small +twigs tied together. Beside her, carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a +dozen new-laid eggs.</p> + +<p>“Good morning.” He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down +on the rock. “Were you frightened to find yourself left all +alone?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no. I knew you would come back,” she replied serenely. Then, +as she noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense: +“You needn’t think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a +piece. O-oh!”</p> + +<p>He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he unwrapped +it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an overall apron of +bright pink <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span>check, a +cheap straw hat, and a remnant of green ribbon.</p> + +<p>“I ain’t had a pink dress since I was ten!” Her dark eyes +were perilously glistening. “I’d almost have died for one, but you +had to wear blue after that, ’count of doin’ work ’round. Oh, an’ +that hat! I kin put that ribbon on it as easy as─”</p> + +<p>She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding:</p> + +<p>“But you hadn’t any call to buy them for me; I can’t pay +you back right now.”</p> + +<p>Jim’s reply was irrelevant.</p> + +<p>“Why, your eyes aren’t black, after all! They’re +violet-blue, the deepest blue I ever saw!” Then he caught himself up, +reddening furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone: +“That’s all right about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get +some work to do. Now, go fix yourself up, and we’ll have +breakfast.”</p> + +<p>When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The +child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began paying her +compliments? <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span>What had +come over him, anyway? He had seen women with violet-blue eyes in more countries +than one; beautiful women with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could +bestow. It must have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of +prettiness at all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little +Lou.</p> + +<p>With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and +presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly upon her +small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight lines of the +all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of her childish figure, +and she didn’t seem quite so gawky, after all, as she moved toward him +over the rocks.</p> + +<p>“My, you look nice!” he said cheerfully. “I’ve +brought some rolls from─”</p> + +<p>“We’ll keep them for later,” Lou interrupted him firmly. +“There’s still the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where +we’ll eat again!”</p> + +<p>They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and then +boiling the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span>eggs in +the pan, but Lou’s remark about their next meal had made Jim think +seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a responsibility which he must +fulfill, and his progress thus far under the handicaps he had spoken of had been +difficult enough alone.</p> + +<p>The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat twenty-five +cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition for the rolls had left +but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded pennies, and he was ninety miles from +home, with a host of petty, but formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an +adopted orphan on his hands.</p> + +<p>He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the village +tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a good pipe, but he +felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou’s honest rapture over the +poor things he had been able to get for her.</p> + +<p>Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the milk-pan, +they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and coming out once +more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained muscles of <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span>Jim’s back and side +were still sore, but they troubled him less than the lack of a smoke, and for +Lou it was as though a new world had opened before her eyes.</p> + +<p>The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the road +from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere rutted trail +over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses, each with its patch of +cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before the gate of one of these a +huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the ambitious legend:</p> + +<p>TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE</p> + +<p>BENJ. PERKINS</p> + +<p>A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was just +clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians gazing at the +turnout, and called good-naturedly:</p> + +<p>“Want a lift? I’m goin’ inter New Hartz.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks. That is just where we are going, <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span>too,” Jim replied promptly. +“It’s awfully good of you to take us along.”</p> + +<p>“Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here,” +the proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily. +“Yer sister ’d be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter +town on a hot day like this.”</p> + +<p>Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her the +driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and they were +off.</p> + +<p>“You are Mr. Perkins?” Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of +Lou’s relationship to him.</p> + +<p>“That’s me!” The other glanced at the fresh bandage about +the young man’s head which Lou had applied just before they started out, +and inquired: “You git hurt, some ways?”</p> + +<p>Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would have +been significant to a less obtuse host.</p> + +<p>“You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr. +Perkins.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span>“Reckon I +hev,” the other agreed complacently. “From a spool of thread to a +pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there ain’t +nothin’ the folk hereabout hev use for that I don’t carry. The big +ottermobile order trucks don’t hurt my business none; I ben workin’ +up my trade around here fer twenty year.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and +Jim’s throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered +the sack. “Hev some?”</p> + +<p>Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head +determinedly.</p> + +<p>“Thanks; I–I don’t smoke.”</p> + +<p>Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of +articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him. Surely that +hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the previous night had been +the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had called “violet blue” +narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then blurred as with swift +understanding she glanced down at the new pink apron and <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span>stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on +talking rather nervously.</p> + +<p>“You don’t get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in +these mountains.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, here and thar,” Mr. Perkins replied easily. “Here and +thar.”</p> + +<p>The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her hat, +leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to sleep.</p> + +<p>She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that the van +had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a big house which +bore a sign labeled: “Congress Hotel.” Busy little shops shouldered +it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square.</p> + +<p>“Come down, Lou.” Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her +hands. “This is New Hartz.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he +appeared from the door of the hotel.</p> + +<p>“Young man, I wish I was goin’ further, but I ain’t, and I +want ter talk a little business <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_50'></a>50</span>with you.” He drew Jim aside. “You and +your sister wouldn’t ha’ ben walkin’ it in from Hudsonvale if +you could ha’ paid ter come any other way.”</p> + +<p>“No, Mr. Perkins.” Jim backed away smilingly. “We +couldn’t think of–of borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift +into New Hartz.”</p> + +<p>“Glad ter hev your company.” Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to +the back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of its +interior. “Wait jest a minute.”</p> + +<p>He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square of +something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the wondering +Lou.</p> + +<p>“It’s jest a little present fer you, miss,” he said.</p> + +<p>Lou accepted it gravely.</p> + +<p>“Thank you, sir,” she said primly. “You ain’t got any +call to give me this, not after bringin’ us all the way from +Hudsondale.”</p> + +<p>“I guess I can make a little present if I’m a mind ter, ter a +pretty little girl like you.” <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_51'></a>51</span>Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. “Wish yer both luck +on your way.”</p> + +<p>They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the village +street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling country road once +more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou glanced up at her +companion.</p> + +<p>“Could we set down here for a spell?” she asked. “I +ain’t tired, Jim, but I feel like I’d die if I can’t open +this!”</p> + +<p>She gestured with Mr. Perkins’s gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the +grass.</p> + +<p>“Of course. Let’s see what’s in it.”</p> + +<p>Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white. It +contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small bottle of +particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely resembling coral. The +square in which the articles had been wrapped proved to be a large white silk +handkerchief with an American flag stamped in the corner.</p> + +<p>“That must be for you, Jim,” Lou said slowly. As in a trance she +slipped the string <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span>of +beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few drops of its contents +upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the rank odor in ecstasy.</p> + +<p>Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little soul +the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he resolved to see +that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something better for Lou than a +servant’s position. Education, perhaps─</p> + +<p>“It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other +way.” Her voice broke in upon his meditations. “We’d better +eat the rolls an’ ham now. How far is it to where we’re +goin’?”</p> + +<p>“Eight miles; I’m afraid it is a long way for +you─”</p> + +<p>“Then the sooner we git started the better,” the girl +interrupted. “I’ll take the pan an’ run back to that yellow +house we just passed for some water.”</p> + +<p>Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully +against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span>out luxuriously in the +grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of noon had a stupefying +effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his thoughts grew nebulous until he +finally drifted off into slumber.</p> + +<p>When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon, and +there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about him in a +bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the grass, and spread +upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and ham, and a huckleberry pie, +still warm, and fairly exuding juice.</p> + +<p>“Good Lord, where did you get it?” he demanded.</p> + +<p>“Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?” Lou +laughed, but there was a new note of shyness in her voice. “When we passed +it first I saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an’ a woman +was out pickin’ them, though it’s ironin’ day. I figgered if I +pick for her she’d maybe pay me, an’ she did. I–I guessed you +was out of–this.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span>The freckles +disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she held out a bag of +tobacco.</p> + +<p>“Lou! Why, you–you precious kid!” Jim stammered. “You +worked in all this heat, while I lay here and slept.”</p> + +<p>“It wasn’t far back to New Hartz, an’ I’d seen where +the cigar-store was when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the +pie, an’ I’ve got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of +my own before!”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span><a id='link_4'></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><span class='h2fs'>Under the Big Top</span></h2> + +<p>A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill just +before sundown and paused, with Lou’s hand instinctively clutching +Jim’s arm.</p> + +<p>“Is that it; the Hudson?” She pointed over the fringe of treetops +below them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here and +there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far overhead.</p> + +<p>Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have upon +the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known only the +“brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a blade of +grass grew.”</p> + +<p>Her big eyes followed the river’s course <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span>until it was lost in a creeping mist +behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath.</p> + +<p>“How far does it go?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“To New York; to the sea,” he responded. “The ocean, you +know.”</p> + +<p>“My!” There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. +“What a waste of good wash-water!”</p> + +<p>Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily:</p> + +<p>“Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for +you to sleep, and remember, Lou, you’re my sister if anyone starts to +question you.”</p> + +<p>“All right; I don’t mind, if you don’t.” She gave the +floppy hat a yank that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle, +and then stopped suddenly in the road. “O-oh, look!”</p> + +<p>A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly pasted +upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The enthusiastic admiration +which she had denied to her first view of the great river glowed now in +Lou’s eyes, and she stood transfixed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span>“What is it, +Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an’ the other one up on the swing thing +without–without any skirt to her, and the man with the funny pants +an’ the big hat that’s shootin’─”</p> + +<p>“There must be a circus in Highvale–yes, the date says +to-night,” Jim replied.</p> + +<p>“‘Trimble & Wells Great Circus & Sideshow,’” she +read slowly. “I heard about them circuses; some of the children seen them +before they came to–to where I was, an’ once one come to town +an’ sent free tickets to us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful +an’ so we couldn’t go. It don’t look sinful to me; it looks +just grand–grand!”</p> + +<p>She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the poster, +but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy. Poor little kid! +What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had, and how he wished that he +might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair and watch her naïve enjoyment.</p> + +<p>But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the tickets, +and there was <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span>supper +to be thought of, and the hazards of the immediate future. For the present the +circus must remain an unattained dream to Lou.</p> + +<p>The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight was +almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a circular tent +was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones clustered at one side.</p> + +<p>A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching the +corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on by a +bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout, choleric man who +bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping his hands to improvise a +megaphone.</p> + +<p>Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration came to +him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road.</p> + +<p>“Sit down here and wait for me,” he told her. “I +won’t be long. That’s where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I +can fix it for you to see it.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span>Turning, he +shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and entering the lot, +approached the stout gentleman.</p> + +<p>“Want an extra hand?” he asked. “Anything from a ballyhoo +to a rough-rider?”</p> + +<p>The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath at the +interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the tall, lean, +well-knit figure before him, and he demanded:</p> + +<p>“How the h–l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked +to pieces?”</p> + +<p>“It isn’t now,” Jim smiled. “Lend me a horse and a +pair of chaps, and I’ll show you in five minutes what’s going to be +your star act to-night.”</p> + +<p>“You’re no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither.” The boss +still stared. “And you don’t look like a bum. What’s your +game, anyway?”</p> + +<p>“To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees +again.”</p> + +<p>The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the roadside +kept Jim’s <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_60'></a>60</span>smile steady, and added a desperate artificial +buoyancy to his tired tones:</p> + +<p>“Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that’s +what you want, isn’t it?”</p> + +<p>There was an instant’s pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian +order and grabbed him by the arm.</p> + +<p>“Come on. I’ll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but +if you’re takin’ up my time on a bluff I’ll break every bone +in your ─ ─ body!”</p> + +<p>He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there appeared a +living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco seemingly held +down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men.</p> + +<p>As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling +viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail? It was +long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had made him in +demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days, and longer yet since +he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_61'></a>61</span>which had been Bill Hollis’s hobby for a +season.</p> + +<p>What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he should +be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl who was waiting +patiently for him?</p> + +<p>The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle, the +two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out viciously +with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running start, attempted to +throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him like a burr; he flung +himself down and rolled over, but the young man jumped clear and was back into +the saddle as the enraged animal regained his feet.</p> + +<p>The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing that +none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little brute was +realizing that he had at length been mastered.</p> + +<p>When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where the +boss stood with the two other men.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span>“Want me to +pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old stunts, now?” he +asked. “Don’t want to tire this old plug too much for the +show.”</p> + +<p>The boss chuckled.</p> + +<p>“Get down and talk business with me, young feller,” he said. +“You won’t ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he’s the rottenest, +most treacherous little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to +call your bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in +the last town with a broken leg.”</p> + +<p>Jim shook his head.</p> + +<p>“Only for to-night,” he replied. “My sister and I are +beating it South.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I’ll give you five dollars─”</p> + +<p>“No, you won’t,” Jim smiled. “I’ll work for you +to-night for just twenty-five cents.”</p> + +<p>“Say, you ain’t bughouse, are you?” The boss stared +again.</p> + +<p>“The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!” Jim replied doggedly. +Then his gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added: +“However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span>something else for a little +girl who has never seen a circus, Mr. Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for +me in the road─”</p> + +<p>The boss roared.</p> + +<p>“D–d if I don’t think you’re dippy, but you certainly +can ride like h–l!” he exclaimed. “I’ll take you up on +that; go get the kid and bring her in to supper, and I’ll see that she +gets a reserved seat for the show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz, +and wants to work for a quarter!”</p> + +<p>Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the blaring of +the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon her hat and her +violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with excitement was perched on one +of the front row planks which served as seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and +waiting in an ecstasy for the wonders about to be unfolded.</p> + +<p>The ride in the pedler’s van, the hours of currant-picking, and the +hot, hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching herself +to see if she would wake up all of <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_64'></a>64</span>a sudden to find herself once more back in the attic +at the Hess farm.</p> + +<p>The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe and +jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with the high +silk hat and the long whip; the other lady “without any skirt to +her” flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and the +performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air of a resigned +philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced.</p> + +<p>Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on a +wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the poster that +afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and the red handkerchief +knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do marvelous things.</p> + +<p>It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had been +given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers surrounding her in +densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of horsemanship, and they +expressed themselves with <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_65'></a>65</span>vociferous applause when he uncoiled a rope from the +peak of his saddle and dexterously brought down the bewildered steer which had +been chivvied into the ring.</p> + +<p>In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out of +place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing +themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath their long +silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round hats, and the +gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up on their caps.</p> + +<p>Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back to the +girl’s ears between pauses in the louder comments of her immediate +neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was amazed.</p> + +<p>Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing that +was called a “circus?” Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend +that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world?</p> + +<p>They didn’t laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded +daintily, and <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span>once +the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: “Good work!” as the +rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other gentleman consulted his +flimsy play bill.</p> + +<p>Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou’s mind, for the +rider had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon the +sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn’t that bit of color in a +corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her that he was to do +some work outside for the circus people that night, and the boss had kindly +offered her a seat, but that handkerchief─</p> + +<p>Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping down, +seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang with applause, +Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her “partner,” whom the +people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all these wonderful +things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath that big hat, and his +smile sort of fixed.</p> + +<p>The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced it was +hidden, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span>but she could +not have been mistaken. What if he were suffering, if his back and side were +paining him again? She recalled the exhaustion with which he had slept at +noontime, and the long, weary hike that followed it, and her heart contracted +within her. It was for her that he was doing this, so that she might see the +show!</p> + +<p>One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>“Didn’t he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn’t know that +he was on a fishing trip up in Canada─”</p> + +<p>Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the rider +and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final flourish he dashed +for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to let him pass. It did not +close quickly enough behind him, however; not quickly enough to conceal from the +gaping audience his lurching fall from the saddle into the group of acrobats +waiting to come on in their turn.</p> + +<p>Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows of +closely <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span>packed +humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain, while above the clamor of +the band arose a shrill cry; “Jim! Jim!”</p> + +<p>“Did you see her?” The lady who had commented upon the +rider’s appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. “She called +him Jim, too; isn’t that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the +circus; that little country girl?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, it was only part of the show,” the stout gentleman replied +in a bored tone. “Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he +had some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around +here?”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span><a id='link_5'></a>CHAPTER V<br /><span class='h2fs'>Concerning an Omelet</span></h2> + +<p>There was a confused babel of sound in Jim’s ears when he awoke +Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes, shouting and +cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some protesting animal.</p> + +<p>He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a husky-looking +individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers and yawning +vociferously.</p> + +<p>Jim’s head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind +cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was this, and +how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and there came a +horrifying thought. What had become of Lou?</p> + +<p>“Where’s Lou? M–my sister?” he demanded, sitting bolt +upright.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span>“Hello, +there! Come out of it all right, did you?” The occupant of the tent +hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. “The +kid’s took care of! She’s with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header +you took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I’m all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out +there before all of them?” Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought. +“Fall off the horse like that, I mean?”</p> + +<p>“In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw +it but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out after +you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from you till we +could find out what had struck you.” The other grinned once more.</p> + +<p>“Some sister, ol’-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on +your side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of days +ago, we didn’t wonder you keeled over.”</p> + +<p>Jim sat up dizzily.</p> + +<p>“It was mighty good of you people to take <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span>us in for the night,” he said. +“Who is Ma Billings?”</p> + +<p>“Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin’ rings +until she got too hefty,” his companion explained. “Now she takes +care of the wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don’t get +lost in the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I’ll give you a +rub-down with some liniment.”</p> + +<p>Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader.</p> + +<p>“You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin’, but +I’m the Strong Man in the sideshow, and you haven’t a +chance.”</p> + +<p>Meekly Jim submitted to his companion’s kindly ministrations, and then +dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning sun.</p> + +<p>The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on long +trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon the air from +the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be rushing all over the lot +in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse of a bit of pink-and-white <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span>check through the mêlée, +and headed for it.</p> + +<p>Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a melancholy-looking, +lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up precipitately and ran to +him.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Jim, you feelin’ all right?” There was a little +tremble in her voice. “I knew it was you the minute you rode past +an’ picked up that handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an’ +when you pitched off that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn’t no call +to take any chance like that with your back hurt an’ that long tramp +an’ all; but it was splendid.”</p> + +<p>She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn’t +look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to her +little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her face, and +where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold.</p> + +<p>“I’m fine,” he assured her. “But who was that man you +were talking to just now?”</p> + +<p>“Him? Oh, that was the clown,” Lou replied. <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span>“He says the old man is just crazy +’bout your ridin’, an’ if you’ll stay along with the +show he can teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got +scared, an’ quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The +clown says I got the nerve for it, an’ I guess I have, only they +ain’t goin’ towards New York.”</p> + +<p>She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The knife-thrower! +What wouldn’t the little dare-devil be willing to try next?</p> + +<p>“I guess you have got the nerve,” he admitted grimly. “But +we’re going to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I +get my quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest, +we’ll be on our way.”</p> + +<p>But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss +insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were good-bys +to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as friends. Except +for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last vestiges of the circus +were <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span>being removed +from the lot as they finally departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous, +glittering pageant had become but a memory.</p> + +<p>“I dunno but I’d as lief join a circus,” she observed, +meditatively, after they had traveled a mile or more. “Maybe I could learn +in New York how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business +up on them swings in no time, only I don’t like the way that girl +dressed─”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense!” Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation. +“We’ll find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to +school─”</p> + +<p>“School!” she interrupted him in her turn. +“I–I’d like to learn things an’ be like other folks, but +I ain’t–I mean I’m not–goin’ to any +institootion.”</p> + +<p>He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any +conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given that she +had noted the difference between his speech and hers.</p> + +<p>“I didn’t mean an institution, but a real school, Lou,” he +explained gently. “One <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_75'></a>75</span>where you’ll have no uniform to wear, and no +work to do except to learn.”</p> + +<p>“I quit learnin’ when I was twelve.” There was an +unconscious note of wistfulness in her tones. “I kin read an’ do a +little figgerin’, but I don’t know much of anythin’ else. I +couldn’t go to school an’ begin again where I left off, Jim; +I’d be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that big wagon drivin’ out of +that gate! Maybe we’ll git a lift.”</p> + +<p>She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with +crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed +expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose and a +tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set eyes straight +ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to the two wayfarers.</p> + +<p>“He looks kinder mean, don’t he?” Lou remarked. Then +impulsively she ran after the wagon: “Say, mister, will you give us a +lift?”</p> + +<p>The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly.</p> + +<p>“What’ll you pay?” he demanded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_76'></a>76</span>“What’s in them crates,” she +parried.</p> + +<p>“Eggs.” The response was laconic. “What you gittin’ +at, sis?”</p> + +<p>“Who unloads them when you git to where you’re +goin’?” Lou persisted.</p> + +<p>“At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I’m late, an’ then I +have to give a couple o’ them loafers around there a quarter apiece to +help. I’m late to-day, an’ if you ain’t got any money to +ride–Giddap!”</p> + +<p>But Lou halted him determinedly.</p> + +<p>“If you’ll give me and Jim–I mean my brother–a ride, +he’ll unload the crates for you for nothin’ when we git there. +You’ll be savin’ fifty cents, and the ride won’t cost you +nothin’.”</p> + +<p>“Well”–the old man considered for a +moment–“I’ll do it, if it’s only to spite them fellers +that’s allus hangin’ ’round the docks. Reg’lar robbers, they be. +Quarter apiece, an’ chicken-feed gone up the way’t is. Git +in.”</p> + +<p>Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief +conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span>Lou up over the wheel and +climbed in beside her.</p> + +<p>As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him:</p> + +<p>“Hope you’re a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the +wagon in a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat. +Don’t you try no scuttlin’ off on me after I give you the ride; +Riverburgh’s a reg’lar city, an’ they’s a policeman on the +docks.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll keep the bargain my sister made for me,” Jim answered +shortly. He had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started, +with its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of chicken-runs, +and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its owner. “You +needn’t be afraid I’ll shirk.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” grumbled the other, “I don’t hold with +pickin’ up tramps in the road, but I’m sick of handin’ out +good money to them loafers at the dock to unload, an’ I ain’t got a +hired man to take along no more; they’re allus lazy, +good-for-nothin’ fellers that eat more’n <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span>they work out, let alone their wages +goin’ sky-hootin’!”</p> + +<p>“But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going +up, too, all the time,” Jim remarked.</p> + +<p>The old man gave him a sly glance.</p> + +<p>“That’s how you look at it,” he replied. “They +oughter go up twice the price they be. My wife’s doin’ the hired +man’s work now, an’ she’s allus pesterin’ me to git an +incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight of money, an’ I +don’t hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to them. You can allus +sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but what’re you going to do +with a wore-out incubator?”</p> + +<p>He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again. +“The way things is, there ain’t no profit skeercely in +nothin’.”</p> + +<p>They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old man +continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own commodity, +and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over the hilly road. The +mountains had been left behind, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_79'></a>79</span>and all over the rolling hillsides about them on +either hand the vineyards stretched in undulating lines, each heavy with the +load of purpling grapes.</p> + +<p>Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon; noon +came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last, on the rise of +a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip to the spreading sweep +of brick buildings fronting on the river’s edge below.</p> + +<p>“There’s the town,” he announced, adding, with a touch of +regret: “We’re ahead of time, after all, an’ I could have +unloaded by myself. Well, it don’t matter noways except for the extra drag +on the horses. Giddap!”</p> + +<p>“There’s–there’s an ottermobile comin’ up +behind,” Lou ventured. “They been tootin’ at you for some +time, mister.”</p> + +<p>“Let ’em,” the old man cackled shrilly once more. +“I’ve been drivin’ on these roads afore them things was heard +of, an’ I don’t calc’late to turn out for ’em.”</p> + +<p>The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush of +the oncoming <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span>car +could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man, and, noting the stubborn set +of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke again, and her voice held no note of +alarm, but rather indignation at the obvious lack of fair play.</p> + +<p>“But they got a right; you’re on their side of the road,” +she exclaimed. “If you’d give them their half, mister, they could +pass easy.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t calc’late to let ’em,” he responded +obstinately. “Ain’t goin’ to take their dust if I kin help +it.”</p> + +<p>Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight across +the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and behind, and +then gripped Jim’s arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of her set face, +and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt themselves lifted into +the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in the ditch.</p> + +<p>“Lou, are you hurt?” Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from +his eyes and ears with his sleeve. “Where are you?”</p> + +<p>The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses’ hoofs <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span>down the hill, and the old man’s +vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of the rest of the +entourage even before Lou replied.</p> + +<p>“Not hurt a mite, but I’m laughin’!” she exclaimed +breathlessly. “Oh, Jim, you–you should have seen it. That +ottermobile hit square in the middle of the wagon, and there +ain’t–isn’t–a single egg─”</p> + +<p>“Here, you!” the old man, dripping from head to foot with the +golden slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim’s arm. “Come on +an’ help me to ketch them horses! What’d I bring you along for? Let +the girl be, I don’t ker if her neck’s broke! I got to lodge a +complaint against them rascals, an’ have ’em stopped! You’re +my witnesses that they run into me, an’ I’ll make ’em pay a +pretty penny─”</p> + +<p>“I care whether my sister’s neck is broken or not!” Jim +retorted grimly. “Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and +it looks as if the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you’re all +right?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span>The old man danced +up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg about him.</p> + +<p>“We’ll see about that,” he shrilled. “You come along +with me! You’re my witnesses─”</p> + +<p>“We’ll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the +road, and knew it,” Jim helped Lou to her feet. “They warned you, +and you wouldn’t turn out.”</p> + +<p>With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the road, +and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim’s slippery sleeve.</p> + +<p>“Don’t mind him,” she gasped. “Old skinflint! Oh, +Jim, you l-look like an omelet.”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span><a id='link_6'></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Red Note-Book</span></h2> + +<p>For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their situation +was borne in upon him, and his face sobered.</p> + +<p>“It’s the kind of an omelet that won’t come off in a hurry, +I’m afraid,” he said. “How on earth are we going to walk into +Riverburgh like this?”</p> + +<p>It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou’s laughter +ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her.</p> + +<p>“We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that’s +all,” she replied practically. “Most anybody would let you do that, +I guess, if you told them what happened, an’ if you can’t +ask–why, I kin. Anybody ’cept a mean old thing like that! I s’pose I ought +to be sorry that his wagon’s broke an’ his eggs are all over us +instead of where they <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_84'></a>84</span>was goin’, but I’m not a mite. +Long’s he wasn’t hurt, I’m kinder glad.”</p> + +<p>“Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent +of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way,” Jim +observed. “The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when he +said he didn’t care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn’t +have helped him if I could.”</p> + +<p>“‘Goat’?” Lou repeated.</p> + +<p>Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded +gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing them, +stopped, with one hand at her breast.</p> + +<p>“Oh!” she gasped. “There’s wasn’t anyone hurt, +was there? I saw the accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I +could.”</p> + +<p>Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed.</p> + +<p>“You both come straight along with me,” she invited when he had +finished. “I’ll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl +can just sit around while your clothes dry.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span>She led the way +back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers blooming in the door-yard and +a well-tended truck-garden in the rear. Broad hay-fields stretched on either +side, but only two little boys were visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with +pitchforks almost bigger than they were themselves.</p> + +<p>The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then came +out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of overalls and shirt, +which, although immaculately clean, bore many patches and darns, and were deeply +creased, as though they had been laid away a long time.</p> + +<p>“Take these down to the barn.” She handed them to Jim. +“You’ll find a spigot there, and cold water’s best for +egg-stains. I left some rags in the empty box-stall that you can use to clean +your shoes, and then, if you’ll give me your clothes that you’ve got +on now, I’ll soak them and get them out while the sun’s high; +corduroy takes a long time to dry.”</p> + +<p>When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the woman led +Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span>clean garments, she dragged a wash-tub out +on the porch.</p> + +<p>“I–if you’ll let me, I’d like to wash my own things +and Jim’s.” Lou appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes +too large for her. “He’d like it, too, I think, and he can help with +the hayin’ till the things git dried out enough, so’s we kin go +on.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, would he?” the woman asked quickly. “I’d pay him +well if he’s looking for work; I can’t get any hands, though +I’ve tried, and the hay is rotting for want of being turned. I +didn’t think I’d seen you two around here before, but I’ve +known old Mr. Weeble always.”</p> + +<p>“You mean that–that with the egg-wagon? He was givin’ us a +lift into Riverburgh; we’re just traveling through,” Lou added +shortly.</p> + +<p>“Did he pick you up back near his place?” At Lou’s nod the +woman exclaimed: “Then you two haven’t had a bite of dinner! You put +your things to soak and I’ll go right in the house and get you up a little +something; it’s past two.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span>Lou started to +protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and Jim appeared from the +barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at his broad shoulders, and +overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops.</p> + +<p>The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look toward +the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a red-leather +note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged now from the all +too small overall-pocket.</p> + +<p>“You can bet I’ll pitch hay for her till sundown,” he +declared, when Lou had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub +the bundle of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: “It is +mighty good of her to do all this for us, isn’t it? I tell you, Lou, the +credit side of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this +morning, and you’re the biggest item on it.”</p> + +<p>This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the tub +without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a slip of some +sort.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span>“I wonder +where all the men of the family are? She can’t get any +hands─”</p> + +<p>“<i>There</i> are all the men of the family.” The woman had +reappeared in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two +small toilers with a faint smile. “There was another, their +father–my son–but he died; so we’re doin’ the best we +can by ourselves. But there’s a little bite ready for you on the end of +the kitchen-table, and it’s getting cold.”</p> + +<p>The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was clean, +but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere visible to +Jim’s eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of farm-hands +than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went at once to the +hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the dishes away, went back to +the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to her own belated ironing.</p> + +<p>Upon the girl’s usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as +she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span>glance which she had given +from the egg-wagon to the approaching car just before the crash came she had +recognized in its occupants the quartet who sat in front of her at the circus +the previous evening. The ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she +remembered the distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman +who sat between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the +excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had called +out “Good work!” when Jim was performing on the horse.</p> + +<p>The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove the +car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to avoid the +crash.</p> + +<p>The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous clarity, +but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the remark which the +younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim rode toward the exit-flap of +the curtain had returned and could not be banished from her mind:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_90'></a>90</span>“Didn’t he look like Jimmie +Abbott?”</p> + +<p>Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond that, and +the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed no further +information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not understand why his +journey was hedged about with so many silly rules, nor why he chose to obey +them; that was his affair, and he was just a part of this wonderful adventure +which had started with her departure from the Hess farm.</p> + +<p>Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could not +have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him, and he would +not have lied to her, but could there really be another “Jim” in the +world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so nearly the same?</p> + +<p>She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of her +lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from herself, but +from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet could he <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span>really be that grand young +lady’s “Jimmie,” after all?</p> + +<p>As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments had +fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something that yielded +with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the little red note-book which +she had seen in Jim’s overall-pocket when he came from the barn; it must +have fallen out as he crossed the porch to go to the hay-field.</p> + +<p>It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of her +heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly and picked +it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were written across it in +a bold, characteristic hand:</p> + +<div class='center'> +<p class='center'>JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT</p> +</div> + +<p>There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou closed +the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though it burned her +fingers. For a moment <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_92'></a>92</span>she stood very still with her eyes closed and her +little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in that instant of time +the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two marvelous days vanished, and +in his place there appeared a stranger, a man of the world, in which that young +lady of the motor-car moved.</p> + +<p>For the first time in Lou’s life a panic seized her, a desperate +longing to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to +where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones. Even from +that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn’t the same Jim.</p> + +<p>Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and, +descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the bleaching grass +to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned all at once to a black +shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently that she had never seen it nor +those rich people who had come to make a mock of it, but had stayed to applaud +Jim.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span>But why +shouldn’t they, even if they hadn’t recognized him? He belonged to +their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came to her; +what was her world, anyway? She didn’t belong anywhere; there was no place +for her unless she made one for herself, some time.</p> + +<p>With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her +heart, Lou’s indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth +clamped together. She <i>would</i> make herself a place somewhere, somehow.</p> + +<p>Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess’s +hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish voices +came to her ears, and Jim’s merry, laughing tones in reply sent a quick +stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly out on the +porch.</p> + +<p>The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to feel of +his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her.</p> + +<p>“It’s wet still, I’m afraid,” she remarked +composedly, as she picked up the red note-book <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_94'></a>94</span>and held it out to him. “Is this yourn? It looks +as though it must have dropped out of your pocket an’ somebody stepped on +it.”</p> + +<p>If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no sign +as he came forward and took the book from her hands.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it’s mine.” He opened and closed it again, and then +looked up uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou +was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still shimmering +in the last rays of the sun. “I–I’ll tell you about this some +time, Lou. It’s funny.”</p> + +<p>“What’s funny?” she asked, with a little start, as though +he had interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful +little red books.</p> + +<p>“If you think it’s goin’ to be funny to travel in wet +clothes to-night, just wait till you git started.”</p> + +<p>But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all. Their +kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at least, and +when the supper <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_95'></a>95</span>dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by herself +down the little lane which led to the pasture.</p> + +<p>There would be three days more, and then their journey’s end. Upon one +thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going to work +as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott must be paid back +for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the green bow, and then she +would drop from his sight. Surely in that great city, with its hundreds and +hundreds of people, she would be able to disappear.</p> + +<p>Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon the +topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a step behind +her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim’s voice asked quietly:</p> + +<p>“What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn’t +know what had become of you, and I’ve been looking everywhere.”</p> + +<p>“I dunno,” Lou answered truthfully enough. “I been +thinkin’ ’bout the institootion <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_96'></a>96</span>where I come from; it was seein’ them little +boys put me in mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin’ what it would +be like to really belong to anybody.”</p> + +<p>There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold, +dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which rose to +his lips, and he remained silent.</p> + +<p>“I did once, you know,” she continued, “belong to +some–body, I mean. I had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they +found me in the station at the junction an’ took me up to the +institootion; it was the only white dress I ever had.”</p> + +<p>“Where was this institution, Lou?” Jim asked. “You’ve +never told me, you know.”</p> + +<p>Lou shrugged.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it was ’way up at a place called Mayfield’s Corners; I was +most three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess’s +farm.”</p> + +<p>A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable thing +in him which set him apart from her and made him one <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span>with the world in which those others +moved; that stout gentleman and the young lady who had called him Jimmie. She +added deliberately:</p> + +<p>“I told you what I did there–at the institootion, I mean: +scrubbed an’ cooked an’ washed an’ tended babies an’ +wore a uniform, just like any other norphin, I guess. Slep’ in the garret +with the rats runnin’ over the floor, an’ got up in the +mornin’ to the same old work. It warn’t a State institootion, you +see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the deacons of the church; I +ain’t got much use for charity.”</p> + +<p>“I shouldn’t think you would have,” he exclaimed. +“But it’s all behind you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day +from Highvale–or will have when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh +to-morrow, and it is only sixty miles further to New York.”</p> + +<p>“That’s good,” Lou said, but without enthusiasm. “Do +we start at sun-up?”</p> + +<p>“I thought I’d like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours +first and get the hay turned in that south field,” Jim answered. <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span>“She’s been so +good to us, and she’ll need the stuff this winter for those two old plugs +out there.”</p> + +<p>He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of +deeper shadow beneath a tree.</p> + +<p>Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling, liquid +note had vanished.</p> + +<p>“What’s funny?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Oh, nothin’. I was just thinkin’ of you last night in that +circus. You rode so–so wonderfully. I wasn’t laughin’ at that, +but it just come to me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was +to have seen you!”</p> + +<p>Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely +amused as at a whimsical thought.</p> + +<p>“Why would it have been funny?” he insisted. “Of course I +never rode in a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why +would my friends have laughed?”</p> + +<p>“I dunno.” Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned +away. “Let’s go back to the house. I–I’m pretty +tired.”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span><a id='link_7'></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><span class='h2fs'>Revelations</span></h2> + +<p>The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that +something was the matter, but the girl’s manner baffled him, and he could +not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the note-book or not. It +did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if she had he could only make +things worse by broaching the subject, since he was not at the moment in a +position to explain.</p> + +<p>As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but +dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole nature +rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from betraying her +disappointment in him and running away. She told herself fiercely that he <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span>didn’t care what +she thought of him; they were only partners met by chance on the road, and +perhaps never to see each other again after the city was reached.</p> + +<p>If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she would +not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only reason for the +strange, hurt feeling about her heart.</p> + +<p>She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which Mrs. +Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the table by the +time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the barn, where he had +slept in the loft.</p> + +<p>While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she finished the +ironing, and by ten o’clock they were ready once more to start upon their +way.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was only out +of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty cents of the two +dollars she offered him.</p> + +<p>“I only work for a quarter a time,” he told <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span>her gravely. “One for yesterday +and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I–I would like to +write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will you tell me what +address will find you? You see, I want to thank you properly for all your +kindness to us, and I don’t know whether this is the township of +Riverburgh or not.”</p> + +<p>“It’s the Stilton post-office,” the little woman stammered. +“Of course, I’d like to hear from both of you, but you mustn’t +thank me! I don’t know what I should have done without your help with the +hay! And your sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you’re +going.”</p> + +<p>To Lou’s amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the +address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one side. +Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave.</p> + +<p>“That makes a dollar and ten cents!” he remarked confidentially +as he and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city +nestled at the river’s edge. “Quite a fortune, isn’t +it?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span>“She gave +me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that’s thirty-five that +I’ve got.” Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner of her +handkerchief. “I couldn’t get all of the egg out of my hat, but +it’s good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?”</p> + +<p>Jim gave a groan of mock despair.</p> + +<p>“That’s the dev–I mean, the deuce of it!” he +exclaimed. “We’ve got to cross the river there someway, and go on +down on the other side. We can’t keep on this, or we will run into New +Jersey and–and I mustn’t leave the State.”</p> + +<p>He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not +appear to notice his change of tone.</p> + +<p>“Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin’ back an’ +forth,” she observed placidly. “I guess we can get over.”</p> + +<p>“But you don’t understand. I–I can’t pay our way +over; that’s another of the things I mustn’t do.” Jim flushed +hotly.</p> + +<p>“I wish I could tell you all about it.”</p> + +<p>“It don’t make any difference.” Lou kept her eyes fixed +straight ahead of her. “There <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_103'></a>103</span>ought to be some way for you to work your way +across.”</p> + +<p>The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined street +with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and north hung the +smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led them through the modest +residential quarter. The street presently turned into a paved one, and trolley +lines appeared; then brick buildings and shops, and before they knew it they +were in the busy, crowded business thoroughfare.</p> + +<p>Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be anything +like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way which led to the +ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the waiting-room.</p> + +<p>“Sit here and wait for me,” he directed. “I’m going +to run back up to the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and +then I’ll arrange about getting across. I shan’t be long.”</p> + +<p>When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with +packages, he <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span>found +Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house, with a little exultant smile +about her lips.</p> + +<p>“Come on,” she commanded shortly. “I’ve fixed it for +us to get over, but we gotta hurry. The boat’s a’most ready to +start.”</p> + +<p>“How in the world─” he began, but without deigning to +explain she led him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her +that he saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile.</p> + +<p>“Lou!” he exclaimed reproachfully.</p> + +<p>“Well, it’s all right, isn’t it?” she demanded. +“You kin ride if anybody asks you, can’t you? I’m +invitin’ you to ride on this boat with me, Mr. Botts!”</p> + +<p>In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a +silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the +settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that the +intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on opposite sides of +the road, and neither could bridge the distance between.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span>Both doggedly +immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly in spite of the heat +and with no thought of time or distance until Jim realized that his companion +was lagging, and glanced up to see that the sun had started well upon the +western trail.</p> + +<p>“By Jove! You must be almost starved!” he cried. “I never +thought–why didn’t you wake me out of this trance I seem to have +been in, and tell me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked +miles!”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t think, either.” Lou glanced about her wearily. +“I don’t see any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook +somewhere, don’t you? Let’s find it, an’ then hurry on; if +we’ve got to do sixty miles by the day after to-morrow we got to be +movin’ right steady.”</p> + +<p>They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank heartily, +for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the carefree joyousness +seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when Lou discovered that the knot +in the corner of her handkerchief had become untied and the remainder <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span>of her capital was gone, +it appeared to be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom.</p> + +<p>Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she shook +her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped determinedly +out into the road after him. She had accepted his companionship to New York, and +she would drop in her tracks before she would be a drag on him and prevent his +reaching there in the time which was so mysteriously important to him.</p> + +<p>A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and seated at +the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep, her head sagging +unconsciously against Jim’s shoulder. He did not touch her, but moved so +that her head should fall into a more comfortable position, and looked down with +new tenderness at the tow-colored hair. The ridiculous, outstanding braid was +gone, and instead, a soft knot appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck, +with tiny tendrils of curls escaping from it.</p> + +<p>What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how many +girls <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span>of his own +set would have had the courage and endurance for such a test. Then to his own +amazement he found himself thinking of them with a certain sense of +disparagement, almost contempt. They would not have had the moral courage, let +alone physical endurance.</p> + +<p>Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly +impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a mere +venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children. And Saturday +it must end!</p> + +<p>At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman who sat +behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes.</p> + +<p>“My sister and I don’t want to go right into the town, so +we’ll get out here if you don’t mind,” Jim said. “This +lift has been a godsend, and I can’t thank you, but I’ve got the +name of the company you’re working for in New York and I’ll drop +around some night when I’m flush and you’re knocking off, and <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span>we’ll see if the +old burg is as dry as it’s supposed to be.”</p> + +<p>“You’re on!” The driver grinned. “Got a job +waitin’ for yer? We need some helpers.”</p> + +<p>“I’ve got a job.” Jim thought of that “job” in +the mahogany-lined suite of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did +not smile. “I’ll look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here’s where +we change cars.”</p> + +<p>She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering +darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off.</p> + +<p>“Where–where are we now?” she asked sleepily.</p> + +<p>“Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?” he +replied. “We must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van +came along, so it isn’t any wonder that you were tired, even if you +wouldn’t admit it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!”</p> + +<p>He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night. He +had not enough money to secure even the humblest of <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span>lodgings for her, and he knew that if +they ventured as vagrants into the town they would be in danger of apprehension +by the authorities. But Lou solved the question quite simply.</p> + +<p>“Isn’t that big thing stickin’ up in that field a haystack? +I–I’d like a piece of that sponge cake that’s left from what +we ate at noon, and then crawl in there an’ sleep straight through till +to-morrow,” she declared. “Did you want to go on any further +to-night?”</p> + +<p>“Heavens, no. I was just wondering–I don’t see why it +couldn’t be done,” he replied somewhat haltingly. “There +isn’t any house near, and I don’t think anything will hurt +you.”</p> + +<p>The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again with +her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in the hay as +though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first night at the +deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of the haystack, on +guard.</p> + +<p>It was well for them, however, that the haying <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span>was done in that particular field, and +no farmer appeared from the big white house just over the hill, for in spite of +his most valiant efforts Jim, too, slumbered, and it was broad day when he +awoke.</p> + +<p>Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring in a +strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they breakfasted hastily, +conserving the last fragments of food for their midday meal, and started +off.</p> + +<p>They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim +suddenly observed:</p> + +<p>“You’re limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes.”</p> + +<p>She drew away from him.</p> + +<p>“It’s nothin’,” she denied. “My shoes are all +right. I–I must’ve slept too long last night an’ got sort of +stiffened up.”</p> + +<p>The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated +insistently: “Hold up your foot, Lou.”</p> + +<p>Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span>sole through the worn places of which +something green showed.</p> + +<p>“I–I stuffed it with leaves,” she confessed, defensively. +“They’re real comfortable, honestly. I’m just +stiff─”</p> + +<p>Jim groaned.</p> + +<p>“I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you +should have told me.”</p> + +<p>“I kin take care of myself,” Lou asserted. “I’ve +walked in pretty near as bad as these in the institootion. We’d better get +along to where there’s some houses ’cause it looks to me like a storm was +comin’ up.”</p> + +<p>The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky haze, +and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested thunder heads were +mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense blackness spread.</p> + +<p>“You’re right; I never noticed─” Jim paused +guiltily. After leaving the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a +detour back into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the +river front <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span>were +the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting them in his +tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was Lou, too, to be +considered. He might have offered some possible explanation for his own +appearance, but no interpretation could be placed upon her presence at his side +save that which he must prevent at all costs.</p> + +<p>Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of the +road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while the clouds +mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air. The sun had +vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped them, broken only by +that hollow muttering.</p> + +<p>“It’s comin’ up fast.” Lou broke the silence with one +of her seldomly volunteered remarks. “Shall we git into the woods? +I’d as lief dodge trees as be drowned in the road.”</p> + +<p>“No!” Jim shook his head. “There is some kind of a shack +just ahead there; I think we can make it before the storm comes.”</p> + +<p>They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a fork +of lightning <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span>darted +blindingly across their path. The object which Jim had taken for a shack proved +to be merely a pile of rotting telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered, +and they crouched in the lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain.</p> + +<p>“Take this, Lou.” Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her +protestations. “You’re not afraid, are you?”</p> + +<p>“No, I ain’t–I’m not–but you’re +goin’ to get soaked through! I heard you coughin’ once or twice at +the bottom of that haystack last night.” He thrilled unconsciously to the +motherliness in her tone. Then she added reflectively: “I don’t +guess I’m afraid of anythin’ I’ve seen yet, but I +ain’t–I haven’t seen much.”</p> + +<p>She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind whirled +the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light flashed before +their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst.</p> + +<p>The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the trees +back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span>tortured creatures while great branches +lashed over their heads with now and then an ominous crackle, but it was lost in +the surge of the winds and the ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged +forks of lightning played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the +rain came.</p> + +<p>The brim of Lou’s hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the +previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it off and +gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain pelted down. +Jim’s coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath clung to her +drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while each volley of thunder +shook her as with invisible hands.</p> + +<p>Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned to +see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at their +farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning seemed to split +the air between them and the huge old tree which reared its branches just above +his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some giant heel.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span>Lou saw the +great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of branches filled the +air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she hurled herself upon Jim. With all +the strength borne of her terror she pushed him from the heap of poles, sending +him rolling out into the middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring +after him, but a hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then +with a mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles.</p> + +<p>Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast of +the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a sharp cry +sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of telegraph poles +was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across the place where she had +crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone.</p> + +<p>“Lou!” The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and +began to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. “Oh, +God, she isn’t crushed! Don’t take her now, she’s so little +and young, and I want her, I need her so! God!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span>He was +unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words which issued +sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches while the skin +ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped back to raise great +welts upon his face.</p> + +<p>He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree and a +rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a prairie dog +emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and sitting up, +sneezed.</p> + +<p>At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about.</p> + +<p>“Lou!”</p> + +<p>“Jim! Oh, Jim! You’re not killed!” A muddy, bedraggled +little figure that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two +soft arms swept about him and clung convulsively. “I seen it comin’, +an’–an’ I tried to shove you out of the way─”</p> + +<p>“Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren’t hurt!” he +murmured brokenly. “I thought the tree had fallen on you!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span>“Only the +boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you’d been killed I +wouldn’t ’a’ cared what happened to me!”</p> + +<p>His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naïve, +unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once he +realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he thought that +she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both, revealed as by a +flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward the east, and in the +wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment and then put her gently from +him.</p> + +<p>Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he said +quietly:</p> + +<p>“Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find +shelter.”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span><a id='link_8'></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><span class='h2fs'>Journey’s End</span></h2> + +<p>The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came out +even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the distance, +and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well back among a group +of dripping trees.</p> + +<p>“Take your coat, Jim,” Lou said, breaking a long silence which +had fallen between them. “That porch is so wet now that we can’t get +it any wetter an’ I’m goin’ to ask for a chance to get +dry.”</p> + +<p>But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened and +a young woman rushed out.</p> + +<p>“Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the +doctor?” she cried, <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_119'></a>119</span>all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her +breast heaved convulsively.</p> + +<p>Jim quickened his pace.</p> + +<p>“Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?” he +asked pleasantly.</p> + +<p>“It’s just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr. +Blair’s number. My husband would go himself but he can’t step on his +hurt foot and I don’t dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it’s the +baby! He’s dying, and I don’t know what to do!”</p> + +<p>Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward.</p> + +<p>“Baby! I’ve been takin’ care of babies all my life, seems +like. You let me look at it, ma’am.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like +you?”</p> + +<p>The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather +doubtfully, but something she read in Lou’s steady, confident gaze seemed +to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. “Come in, please! He’s +all blue.”</p> + +<p>Lou unceremoniously pushed past her <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_120'></a>120</span>down the clean little hallway and paused for a +moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a kitchen, small, but +as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a rocking-chair near the window sat an +anxious-eyed young man with his bandaged foot up on another chair before him, +and in his arms a tiny, rigid little form.</p> + +<p>Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the +baby.</p> + +<p>Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and +half-closed, glazing eyes.</p> + +<p>“How long’s it been like this?” Lou demanded sharply.</p> + +<p>“Only just a few minutes. It–it seemed like a sort of fit that he +had.” The young woman turned to her husband. “Jack, this little girl +stopped by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he’s +gone for─”</p> + +<p>“I want some hot water, quick!” Lou interrupted the explanations +brusquely. “Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle +on?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span>“Y-yes, +but I’m afraid I’ve let the fire go out,” the woman faltered. +“I was so worried─”</p> + +<p>With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had been +examining and thrust it into the man’s arms. Then turning to the woman +with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded:</p> + +<p>“I s’pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can’t you? If I +don’t get this baby into a hot bath right away it’ll be all up with +him.”</p> + +<p>The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in the +chair groaned:</p> + +<p>“It’s awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could +only put my foot to the floor─”</p> + +<p>“How old is he, anyway?” Lou, who was busily searching the shelf +of groceries, asked over her shoulder. “He looks to be under a +year.”</p> + +<p>“Ten months, miss,” he answered. “What do you think is the +matter with him?”</p> + +<p>“Convulsion,” Lou replied succinctly, as the <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span>woman rushed in once more with her apron +full of chips. “Git some more, it don’t matter how you clog the +stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin’ water as quick as we +kin.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having +accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and +knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went down the +hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman stammered:</p> + +<p>“I d-don’t think there are any dry kindlings left.”</p> + +<p>“Then chop some! Ain’t you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!” Lou +caught sight of him in the doorway. “Find a hatchet and some light, dry +wood, will you?”</p> + +<p>The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in boiling, +and the little figure in the man’s arms seemed to be undergoing a subtle +but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no faintest stir of +breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken on a marble-like cast.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span>The mother bent +over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in swift scorn.</p> + +<p>“For goodness’ sake, where’s that tub or pan I asked you +for? He’s got a chance, a <i>good</i> chance if you don’t waste any +more time! What you been givin’ him, anyway?” she added, as the +woman flew to do her bidding.</p> + +<p>“Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it’s so +cute to see him try to chew it─”</p> + +<p>“Green corn!” Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and +began pouring its steaming contents into the tub. “Ain’t +<i>nobody</i> in your family ever had any babies before?”</p> + +<p>She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can which +she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched determinedly over to the +man who was seated in the chair.</p> + +<p>“Give me that baby!” she demanded.</p> + +<p>“But, miss, that water’s boiling!” he gasped.</p> + +<p>“You’re not going to put my baby in that?” The woman came +quickly from her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced, +his anxiety for another reason.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span>“Lou! +You’ll blister yourself horribly─”</p> + +<p>“Let me alone, all of you!” Lou turned upon them even as she +stripped the wrappings from the child. “Haven’t I done this a +hundred times? He ain’t even goin’ to feel the heat of the mustard, +he’s so far gone! I guess I know what I’m doin’!”</p> + +<p>The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned away +his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured little nurse. +There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and then after a period +which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice remarked:</p> + +<p>“He’s comin’ round.”</p> + +<p>The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its dreadful +rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a shawl and laid it +in its mother’s arms.</p> + +<p>“He’ll do now, anyway till that doctor comes.”</p> + +<p>Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded:</p> + +<p>“Let me see your arms.”</p> + +<p>“They’re all right–” She tried to put <span +class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span>them behind her as she +spoke, but he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to +the shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Lou! Lou!” he murmured brokenly. “What won’t you +do next?”</p> + +<p>She smiled faintly.</p> + +<p>“You said I’d do anything once, but I’ve done this lots of +times before─”</p> + +<p>“Well, well, good people! What’s going on here?” A kindly +voice sounded from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water +and held him right there with her hands, and she’s burned herself +something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver─”</p> + +<p>“Let me see.”</p> + +<p>The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked +up.</p> + +<p>“I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn’t have done +better for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours.”</p> + +<p>After he had bandaged her blisters the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_126'></a>126</span>woman prepared food and coffee for them all and then +took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his soaking clothes by the kitchen +fire and the three men talked in a desultory way of the topics of the +countryside.</p> + +<p>Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his “sister” were +strangers, traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the +trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared with Lou, +and Jim stared with all his eyes.</p> + +<p>Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only five +days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the dark blue silk +gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and wrists, and soft puffs of +blond hair over her ears?</p> + +<p>“It’s me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!” Lou +answered his unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added: +“Mis’ Tooker–that’s her name–gave me a pair of +shoes, too, an’ a hat an’ five whole dollars! Are we goin’ to +a place called Pelton?”</p> + +<p>Jim nodded.</p> + +<p>“That is where I hoped we would be by <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_127'></a>127</span>to-night, but it must be at least twelve miles +away.”</p> + +<p>“Well, Mis’ Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and +she gave me a letter to a friend of hers there who’ll take us in for the +night─”</p> + +<p>The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be visited, +and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started away. The sun +was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up with each turn of the +wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished.</p> + +<p>“Jennie Tooker always was a fool!” Dr. Blair grumbled. “How +many babies have you taken care of, young woman?”</p> + +<p>“More’n twenty, I guess, off an’ on,” Lou responded. +“I–I used to work in an institootion up-State.”</p> + +<p>Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the conversation, and +he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was reached. There, when they +had descended from the little car Lou turned to Jim and asked a trifle +shyly:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_128'></a>128</span>“You–you’re goin’ to let me +ask you to ride, aren’t you? You bought all the food in Riverburgh, you +know.”</p> + +<p>“And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip,” he said +with a rueful laugh. “I thought, when you suggested that we should travel +together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the other way +around. Oh, Lou, I’ve so much to say to you when we reach our +journey’s end!”</p> + +<p>They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker’s friend, who +ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take them in at +a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although Lou waited long for +him on the little porch, he did not return until through sheer fatigue she was +forced to go to bed.</p> + +<p>In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower hall he +jingled a handful of silver in his pocket.</p> + +<p>“However did you git it?” she demanded.</p> + +<p>“Garage,” he responded succinctly. “Didn’t know I was +a chauffeur, did you, Lou?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span>A peculiar +little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she merely remarked:</p> + +<p>“I thought you wouldn’t only take a quarter─”</p> + +<p>“For each job,” he interrupted her. “A lot of cars came in +that needed tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made +more than two dollars, and we’ll ride in state into Hunnikers!”</p> + +<p>Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little +porch.</p> + +<p>“Jim, I–I’m not goin’ on.”</p> + +<p>“What!” he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>“The woman that runs this place, she–she wants a girl to help +her, an’ I guess I’ll stay.” Lou’s tones were none too +steady, and she did not meet his eyes. “I–I don’t believe +I’d like New York.”</p> + +<p>“You, a servant here?” He took one of her hands very gently in +his. “I didn’t mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as +it is, there is a lot that I can’t tell you even now, but this much I want +you to know. You’re not going to work any more, Lou. You’re going to +a lovely old lady who lives in a big <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_130'></a>130</span>house all by herself, and there you are going to +study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much as +anybody.”</p> + +<p>She smiled and shook her head.</p> + +<p>“This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn’t meant for +anythin’ else, an’ if I should live to be a hundred I could never +know as much as that lady at the circus who called you ‘Jimmie +Abbott.’”</p> + +<p>“What–” Jim exploded for the second time.</p> + +<p>“At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn’t know +you were in Canada─”</p> + +<p>“Good Lord! What was she doing there?”</p> + +<p>“She was with another lady an’ two gentlemen, an’ I guess +they come in an ottermobile,” Lou explained. “They was in one the +next day, anyway–the one that slammed into the egg-wagon.”</p> + +<p>She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably:</p> + +<p>“I didn’t mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I’m not +goin’ on with you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book +back there on Mrs. Bemis’s porch. It had fallen <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span>open on the floor, an’ when I +picked it up I couldn’t help seein’ the name that was written across +the page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn’t want to give +your real name to anybody─”</p> + +<p>“Listen, Lou.” He had caught her other hand now and was holding +them both very tightly. “You <i>are</i> going on with me! I can’t +explain now about my name, but it doesn’t matter; nothing matters except +that you are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New +York with me, and you’re going to keep your word.”</p> + +<p>“I know better now,” she replied quietly. +“It’s–it’s been a wonderful time, but I’ve got to +work an’ earn my keep an’ try to learn as I go along. It isn’t +just exactly breakin’ my word; I didn’t realize─”</p> + +<p>“Realize what?” he demanded as she hesitated.</p> + +<p>“I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn’t until +I saw that lady an’ found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were +different.”</p> + +<p>Her eyes were still downcast, and now a <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_132'></a>132</span>tinge of color mounted in her cheeks. “I +couldn’t bear to have you take me to that other lady in the city and be +a-ashamed of me─”</p> + +<p>“Ashamed of you!” he repeated, and something in his tone deepened +the color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. “Lou, look at me!”</p> + +<p>Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again +quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice:</p> + +<p>“All right, Jim. I–I’ll go. I guess I wouldn’t just +want to be a–a quitter, after all.”</p> + +<p>It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they had +come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between, they bore no +traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been treading on air, and +although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further reference to the future, there +was a certain buoyant assurance about him which indicated that in his own mind, +at least, there remained no room for doubt.</p> + +<p>He needed all the assurance he could <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_133'></a>133</span>muster as, after ensconcing Lou at the soda counter +in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth farthest from her ears and +closed the door carefully behind him. Lou consumed her soda to its last +delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at the worn, but spotless, little silk +gown to see if she had spilled any upon it, and then wandered over to the +showcase.</p> + +<p>Jim’s voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a +full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but +triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his brow. He +suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain gray-haired, aristocratic +old lady was having violent hysterics to the immediate concern of three maids +and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did not disturb his equanimity.</p> + +<p>“It’s all right,” he announced. “Aunt Emmy expects +you; I didn’t tell you, did I, that the lady I’m taking you to is my +aunt? No matter. She’s awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; +I’ve always managed <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_134'></a>134</span>her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and +you’ll have her rolling over and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles +more to go, Lou, and we’ll be─”</p> + +<p>“Hello, there, Jim.” An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his +shoulder and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: +“Oh, I beg your pardon─”</p> + +<p>“’Lo, Harry!” Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more +tanned than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an +abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves. “What +are you doing in this man’s town?”</p> + +<p>“Motoring down from the Hilton’s,” the other responded. +“Pete was coming with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over +the week-end. I’m off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; +sailing next Wednesday for Labrador, you know.”</p> + +<p>“Then you’re alone?” Jim turned. “Miss Lacey, let me +present Mr. Van Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find +something to kill. Miss Lacey is a young <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_135'></a>135</span>friend of my aunt’s; I’m taking her down +to her for a visit.”</p> + +<p>The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to grasp +it, and bowed.</p> + +<p>“You’re motoring, too?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“No. I–The fact is–” Jim stammered in his turn. +“We were thinking of taking the train─”</p> + +<p>“Why not let me take you both down in the car?” The other rose to +the occasion with evident alacrity. “Miss Lacy will like it better than +the train, I’m sure, and I haven’t seen you for an age, old +man.”</p> + +<p>Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its final +burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to his car, and +they were alone at a far corner of the counter.</p> + +<p>“How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It’s +been a long pull sometimes, and we’ve had some rough going, but it was +worth it, wasn’t it?”</p> + +<p>Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated +softly:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span>“‘The last +lap.’ Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady’s house where +you are takin’ me?”</p> + +<p>“Every day,” he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity: +“I dine with her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou. +Harry’s waving at us.”</p> + +<p>Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge, +wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops with the +trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped, while the two +men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back in her corner of the +roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams.</p> + +<p>Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar with +more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou found +herself being borne swiftly through street after street of towering houses out +upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had never dreamed of on one side, +and on the other the seared, drooping green of a city park in late summer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span>It was still +light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of brownstone houses of an +earlier and still more exclusive period, and stopped before the proudest of +these.</p> + +<p>Jim alighted and held out his hand.</p> + +<p>“Come, Lou,” he said. “Journey’s end.”</p> + +<hr class='pb' /> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span><a id='link_9'></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><span class='h2fs'>The Long, Long Trail</span></h2> + +<p>Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady with +gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor of her +drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion.</p> + +<p>“I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, +is highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing trip +when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with a–a most +extraordinary message─”</p> + +<p>She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and added: +“He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this evening. +Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I cannot get a word +out of you!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span>“All I can +tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night, I’ve got to +pay him a thousand bones–dollars, I mean. It was a sort of a wager, and +that must be what he wants to tell you about.”</p> + +<p>It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance +standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at him +sharply.</p> + +<p>“A wager? H-m! Possibly.” She paused suddenly. +“There’s the bell.”</p> + +<p>A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner +clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he +encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him.</p> + +<p>“Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!”</p> + +<p>“With a few hours to spare.” Jim darted a questioning glance at +his aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head.</p> + +<p>“I knew we’d lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had +telephoned to her from just a little way out of town to-day,” Jack Trimble +responded. “I ran over on my way to the <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_140'></a>140</span>club to give her a message from my mother. Did you +have a hard time of it, old man?”</p> + +<p>“Hard?” Jim smiled. “I’ve been a rough-rider in a +circus─”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble’s eyes opened as roundly and wide +as his mouth.</p> + +<p>“Thundering–So it was you after all!”</p> + +<p>“Me?” Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste.</p> + +<p>“You–rough-rider–circus!” Jack exclaimed. “Vera +said the chap looked like you, but it never occurred to me that it could +possibly be!”</p> + +<p>“So it was Vera, was it?” Jim smiled. “I heard what she +said–I mean, it was repeated to me. You were one of that party?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing +happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn’t turn out +on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight through his +wagon!” Jack laughed. “W-what do you think it was loaded +with?”</p> + +<p>“Eggs!” responded Jim crisply. “I happened to be on it at +the time, my boy, and <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_141'></a>141</span>your sense of humor–I hope you all got what I +did! But I must explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both +quite mad!”</p> + +<p>“And I must be off to the club,” Jack announced. +“I’ll break the news to Billy Hollis that we’ve lost. See you +later, and we’ll all settle up. Good evening, Mrs. Abbott.”</p> + +<p>When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to her +nephew between laughter and tears.</p> + +<p>“James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever +done!”</p> + +<p>“Jack doesn’t know anything about Lou?” Jim demanded +anxiously.</p> + +<p>“Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept +her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean to marry +this nameless waif?”</p> + +<p>“Stop right there, Aunt Emmy,” he interrupted her firmly. +“I’m going to marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have +legally adopted; I mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span>But I don’t +intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I’m going to +have everything settled before her studies are finished and you bring her out. I +saw her first!”</p> + +<p>“H-m. We shall see,” Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: “But +that can wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how +did you get into such horrible scrapes?”</p> + +<p>“The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy +Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It drifted into +a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown toward strangers by +country folk in particular, with myself in the minority, of course,” Jim +explained.</p> + +<p>“They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I +couldn’t walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five +dollars in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor +accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any one +time.</p> + +<p>“The idea was to see how many of these <span class='pagenum pncolor'><a +id='page_143'></a>143</span>hard-boiled up-State farmers we hear so much about +would offer you the hospitality reputed to be extended only by the rural +population of the South and West, and how many would give a foot-sore and weary +traveler a lift upon the way. There were other conditions, too; I was not to use +my own surname, not to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or +New Jersey. I was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional +twenty-five cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, +not use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides on +boats or trains or any other conveyances.”</p> + +<p>While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced his +little red note-book and laid it before her.</p> + +<p>“There’s the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account +for each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove my +contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State are as +big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack’s money and Billy’s says +that they are!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span>“I’m +going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two little boys near +Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to do the farm work of men. +They are going to a good school this winter, and there are a few other people +who are going to be surprised! By Jove, I never realized what money was for +until now! But best of all, I found Lou!”</p> + +<p>“And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate +her and bring her out?” demanded Aunt Emmy. “My dear boy, when you +started on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something +extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so bizarre as +this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this child?”</p> + +<p>“Because you won’t be able to help it.” His face had +sobered, and there was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. +“You won’t be able to help loving her when you find out how +courageous she is, and sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most +candid, naïve little─”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span>“She is +quite that!” Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis. “How +I am ever to hide her away until I’ve had her coached not to drop her +g’s, and to realize that there is a ‘u’ in the alphabet I +don’t know, but I’ll try. James–I think there are distinct +possibilities there.”</p> + +<p>“I knew it!” Jim cried. “I knew you wouldn’t be able +to resist her! For the Lord’s sake, Aunt Emmy, don’t let them spoil +her! She’s so sweet and simple-hearted, don’t let them make her +cynical and worldly-wise! I’ll promise not to speak to her, not to let her +know how I feel until you say that I may.”</p> + +<p>“Will you, James?” There was a faint smile about the delicately +lined lips. “She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most +impressions to be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, +and I rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a +surprise.”</p> + +<p>“You old dear!” Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his +embrace which threatened her coiffure. “Where is she?”</p> + +<p>“In the library waiting for you, Jamie!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span>She used the old +nursery name, and caught his arm. “She is very young, but the heart +sometimes breaks easily then. Don’t speak unless you yourself are very +sure.”</p> + +<p>Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly old +eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the door.</p> + +<hr style='border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; height: 1px; width: 80%; text-align: center; margin: 10px auto;' /> + +<p>“And you’re going to be happy here?” It was some time later +when Jim had explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the +window-seat.</p> + +<p>“Happy? Why, Jim, I can’t believe I’m awake! I’m +going to study an’ work an’ try my best to be like her. Seems to me +it’ll take the rest of my life, but she says that in a year or two there +won’t anybody hardly tell the difference.”</p> + +<p>“And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know.” Her tone was serenely unconcerned.</p> + +<p>“That trail we’ve followed together for the <span class='pagenum +pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span>last week wasn’t so bad, was +it?” he asked. “You were happy in spite of the hardships?”</p> + +<p>“It was wonderful!” She drew a deep breath. “I–I wish +we could start again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the +way!”</p> + +<p>“If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished +your studies we will start again on a longer trail.” He took one of the +little toil-worn hands in his. “The long, long trail, Lou, only we will be +together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?”</p> + +<p>She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of his +shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she stirred and +smiled.</p> + +<p>“Well–” she hesitated. “You knew from the very +beginning, Jim, that I’d do anything once!”</p> + +<div class='center'> +<p class='center'>THE END</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + +***** This file should be named 30640-h.htm or 30640-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/4/30640/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: Anything Once + +Author: Douglas Grant + +Illustrator: Paul Stahr + +Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30640] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, +his face whitening beneath its tan.] + + + + +ANYTHING ONCE + +BY DOUGLAS GRANT + +AUTHOR OF "THE SINGLE TRACK," "BOOTY," "THE FIFTH ACE," ETC. + +Frontispiece by PAUL STAHR + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK + +W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY W. J. WATT & COMPANY + +PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. + +BOOK MANUFACTURERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. + + + + +CONTENTS + CHAPTER PAGE + I. A Roadside Meeting 1 + II. Partners 17 + III. The Vendor Of Everything 41 + IV. Under The Big Top 55 + V. Concerning An Omelet 69 + VI. The Red Note-Book 83 + VII. Revelations 99 + VIII. Journey's End 118 + IX. The Long, Long Trail 138 + + + + +ANYTHING ONCE + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A Roadside Meeting + + +The white dust, which lay thick upon the wide road between rolling +fields of ripened grain, rose in little spirals from beneath the heavy +feet of the plodding farm-horses drawing the empty hay-wagon, and had +scarcely settled again upon the browning goldenrod and fuzzy milkweed +which bordered the rail fences on either side when Ebb Fischel's +itinerant butcher-jitney rattled past. Ebb Fischel's eyes were usually +as sharp as the bargains he drove, but the dust must have obscured his +vision. Otherwise he would have seen the man lying motionless beside the +road, with his cap in the ditch and the pitiless sun of harvest-time +caking the blood which had streamed from an ugly cut upon his temple. + +But the meat-cart jolted on and out of sight, and for a long time +nothing disturbed the stillness except the distant whirring of a reaper +and nearer buzzing of a fat, inquisitive bluebottle fly, which paused to +see what this strange thing might be, and then zoomed off excitedly to +tell his associates. + +At length there came a dry rustling in the tall standing wheat in the +field on the opposite side of the road, and a head and shoulders +appeared above the topmost fence-rail. It was a small head covered with +tow-colored hair, which had been slicked back and braided so tightly +that the short, meager cue curled outward and up in a crescent, as +though it were wired, and the shoulders beneath the coarse +blue-and-white striped cotton gown were thin and peaked. + +The girl darted a swift, furtive glance up and down the road, and +suddenly thrust a bundle tied in a greasy apron between the rails, +letting it fall in the high, dusty weeds by the roadside. Next she +climbed to the top of the fence, and for a moment perched there, +displaying a slim length of coarse black stocking above clumping, +square-toed shoes at least two sizes too large for her. + +She looked like a very forlorn, feminine _Monte Cristo_ indeed, as +she scanned the world from her vantage-point, and yet there was a look +of quiet satisfaction and achievement in her incongruously dark eyes +which told of a momentous object accomplished. + +Then all at once they stared and softened as she caught sight of that +still figure lying across the road, and in two bounds she was beside him +and lifted his head against her sharp knees. She noted only casually +that he was a clean-shaven, tanned young man with brown hair bleached by +the sun to a warm gold, and that he wore shabby, weather-beaten clothes. + +Had she realized that those same worn, faded garments bore the stamp of +one of New York's most exclusive tailors! that the boots were +London-made, and the golf-stockings which met the corduroy +knickerbockers came from one of Scotland's famous mills, it would have +meant just exactly nothing in her young life. + +Her immediate attention was concentrated upon the jagged gash which ran +unpleasantly close to his temple, and which had begun to bleed afresh as +she raised his head. + +The girl looked about her again and saw that a short distance ahead the +road was bisected by a bridge of planks with willows bordering it at +either side. She pulled at the strings which held a blue sunbonnet +dangling between her narrow shoulder-blades, regarded the sleazy +headgear ruefully, and then spying the cap in the ditch, she deposited +her burden gently upon the grass once more and scrambled over to +investigate her find. + +The cap had an inner lining of something which seemed to be like rubber, +and the girl flew off down the road to return with her improvised bowl +filled with clear, cold spring water. Dropping on her knees beside the +unconscious figure, she poured the contents of the cap over his face and +head. + +The young man sputtered, gasped, moaned a little, and opened astonished +brown eyes upon her. + +"How--how the devil did you come here?" he asked ungallantly. + +"Over the fence." Her reply was laconic, but it bore an unmistakable +hint that further query along that line would be highly unwelcome. "Just +you lay still while I git some more water, an' I'll tie up that head of +yourn." + +The young man's hand went unsteadily to his aching brow and came away +brightly pink, so he decided to take this uncomely vision's advice, and +remained quiescent, wondering how he himself had come to be there, and +what had happened to him. + +According to the map, he had surely been on the right road, yet it had +as assuredly not looked like this one; the other had been a broad, State +highway, while this---- + +He closed his burning eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun, and +a confused memory returned to him of that invitingly green, shady +pasture which had tempted him as a short cut toward the next village, +and of something which thundered down upon him from behind and lifted +him into chaos. Good Lord, and he had only six days left! + +"You'd better take a drink of this first an' I kin use the rest on your +head." A composed, practical voice advised by his side, and he looked up +gratefully into the snub-nosed, freckled face of his benefactress as she +held the brimming cap to his lips. + +He drank deeply, then struggled to a sitting posture, his face whitening +beneath its tan at the sudden wrench of pain which twisted the muscles +of his back. + +"Kin you hold the cap steady?" The girl thrust it into his hands without +waiting for a reply, and, sitting down with her back to him, calmly +turned back the hem of her gown and tore a wide strip from the coarse +but immaculately white cambric petticoat beneath. + +Dipping it into the water, she bandaged his head not unskilfully, and +then rose. + +"There! I gotta git you over to the shade of them trees, or you'll have +sunstroke. Wait till I fetch somethin'." + +She ran across the road and returned with her greasy bundle under one +arm, offering the other to him with a gesture as frank as it was +impersonal. + +"Lean on me, an' try to git along--and please kinder hurry!" + +She added the last with a note of sudden urgency in her tones and the +same furtively darting glance with which she had swept the road from the +fence-top, but the young man was too deeply engrossed with his painful +effort to rise to observe the look, although her change of tone aroused +his curiosity. Was this scrawny but good-natured kid afraid some of her +people would catch her talking to a stranger by the roadside? + +Somehow he managed to hobble, with her aid, across the little bridge and +down the bank of the swiftly racing brook at its farther side to a nest +in the dense thicket of willow-shoots which completely screened them +from the road. + +The girl eased him down then upon the sward, and, seating herself beside +him, unrolled the apron she had carried. + +"It's the ham that's greased it all up like that," she remarked. "I'd +have brought a pail, only I didn't want to take any more 'n I had to." + +The young man gasped with astonishment as the contents of the +apron-bundle were exposed: a whole ham glistening with the brown sugar +in which it had been baked, a long knife, a huge loaf of bread, and, +wrapped separately in a piece of newspaper, a bar of soap, a box of +matches, and a bit of broken comb. + +"When there's lots of them, ham sandwiches, together with spring water, +ain't so bad, an' it's near noon," the girl observed, beginning to cut +the loaf into meager slices with a practised hand. "I should've made +them thicker, but I forgot." + +A starving gleam had come into the young man's eyes at the sight of +food, but he paused with the sandwich half-way to his lips to glance +keenly at his companion. + +"You've enough here for an army," he declared. "Were you taking it to +men working in the fields somewhere?" + +"No," she replied without hesitation, but with the same air of finality +with which she had responded to his first question. "You can rest easy +here till sundown, when the men begin to come in from the harvestin', +an' then if you holler real loud some of them will maybe stop an' give +you a lift on your way. There's a railroad about four miles from here, +an' the slow freight goes by along about ten." + +The slow freight! So the girl thought he was a tramp! The young man +smiled, and glanced down ruefully at his shabby attire. Well, so had +others thought, whom he had encountered in his journey. + +But who and what was the girl herself? She had asked no questions as to +how he had come to the condition in which she found him, but had nursed +his hurt, brought him to this cool resting-place; and was sharing her +food with him as unconcernedly as though she had known him all her life. + +That quantity of provisions, the package of humble toilet articles, and +her furtiveness and haste to get away from the open road all pointed to +one fact--the girl was running away. But from whom or what? She had +taken him at his face value, and he had no right in the world to +question her, at least without giving some sort of account of himself. + +"I have no intention of traveling by rail," he assured her. "A little +while before you found me--I don't quite know how long--I was crossing +that pasture which adjoins the wheat-field, thinking that this road +might be a short cut to Hudsondale, when something came after me from +behind and butted me over the fence. I think my head must have been cut +open by striking against a stone, for I don't remember anything more +until you poured that water over my face." + +The girl nodded. + +"I seen the stone with blood on it right near you; you must have bumped +off it an' turned over," she averred. "Anybody who goes traipsin' +through old Terwilliger's pasture is apt to meet up with that bull of +his." + +So she had reasoned his predicament out without asking any of the +questions that another girl would have heaped upon him. + +He turned to her suddenly with a fresh spark of interest in his eyes. + +"How did you know that I didn't belong here?" he demanded. + +The corners of her lips curled upward in a comical little grimace of +amusement, and he realized that before they had been set in a straight +line far too mature for her evident youth. + +"No grown men 'round these parts wears short pants, an', anyhow, I knew +you were different from the way you talk; somethin' like the welfare +workers, with the hell an' brimstone left out," the girl replied +soberly. "I'm goin' to talk like you some day." + +It was the first remark she had made voluntarily concerning herself, and +he was quick to seize his advantage. + +"Who are you, young lady? You've been awfully kind to me, and I don't +know to whom my gratitude is due." + +"Not to anybody." She turned her head away slightly, but not before he +saw a flush mount beneath the superficial coating of freckles, and +marveled at the whiteness of her skin. Hers was not the leathery tan of +the typical farmer's daughter, inured to all weathers, yet her hands, +although small, were toil-worn, and there was an odd incongruity between +her dark eyes and the pale, flaxen hue of that ridiculous wisp of a +braid. + +"I didn't do any more for you than I'd do for a dog if I found him lyin' +there." + +Her naive sincerity robbed the statement of its uncomplimentary +suggestion, and the young man chuckled, but persisted. + +"What is your name? Mine is James--er--Botts." + +"Lou Lacey. It was 'L' day, you know, an' there was a teeny bit of lace +on my dress. I ain't ever had any since." + +She added the last with unconscious pathos in her tones, but in his +increasing interest and mystification the man who called himself "Botts" +was unaware of it. What on earth could she mean about L day, and if she +were running away why did she appear so serenely unconcerned about the +future as her manner indicated? + +He felt that he must draw her out, and he seemed to have hit upon the +right method by giving confidence for confidence; but just how much +could he tell her about himself? James Botts's own face reddened. + +"I'm walking to my home in New York," he explained. "But I'm late; I +ought to make it by a certain date, and I don't think I'll be able to, +since my encounter with Terwilliger's bull. Where do you live? I mean, +where are you going? Where is your home?" + +"Nowheres," Lou Lacey replied offhandedly, following with her eyes the +graceful swoop of a dragonfly over the tumbling waters of the little +stream. + +"Great Scott!" The astounded young man sat up suddenly, with his hand to +his head. "Why, everybody has a home, you know!" + +"Not everybody," the girl dissented quietly. + +"But--but surely you haven't been walking the roads?" + +There was genuine horror in his tones. "Where did you come from this +morning when you found me?" + +"From Hess's farm, back up the road a piece," she replied with her usual +unemotional literalness. "I been there a week, but I didn't like it, so +I came away. The welfare workers got me that place when my time was up." + +Her time! Good Heavens, could this little country girl with her artless +manner and candid eyes be an ex-convict? Surely she was too young, too +simple. Yet the gates of hideous reformatories had clanged shut behind +younger and more innocent-appearing delinquents than she. + +His eyes wandered over her thin, childish figure as she sat there beside +him, still intent upon the movements of the glittering dragonfly, and he +shuddered. Those horrible, shapeless shoes might very well have been +prison-made, and the striped dress was exactly like those he had seen in +some pictures of female convicts. Her freckles, too, might have been the +result of only a few days' exposure to the sun, and he had already +observed the whiteness of the skin beneath; that whiteness which +resembled the prison pallor. + +Could it be that her very gawkiness and frank simplicity were the result +not of bucolic nature, but of dissimulation? Every instinct within the +man cried out against the thought, but a devil of doubt and uncertainty +drove him on. + +"I thought that didn't look like the dress of a farmer's daughter!" He +essayed to laugh, but it seemed to him that there was a grating falsetto +in his tones. "You haven't worked in the garden much, either, have you?" + +"Garden!" Lou sniffed. "They promised the welfare workers that they'd +give me outdoor chores to build me up, but when I got there I found I +had to cook for eighteen farm-hands, as well as the family, an' wait on +them, an' clean up an' all. Said they'd pay me twelve dollars a month, +an' I could take the first month's money out by the week in clothes, an' +for the first week all they gave me was this sunbonnet an' apron. I left +them the other dress an' things I had, an' I figgered the rest of the +money they owed me would just about pay for this ham an' bread an' the +knife an' soap. The comb was mine." + +She added the last in a tone of proud possession, and James Botts asked +very soberly: + +"The welfare workers found this position for you, Lou Lacey? But where +did they find you?" + +"Why, at the institootion," she responded, as though surprised that he +had not already guessed. "I ain't ever been anywhere else; I've always +been a orphin." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Partners + + +For a moment James Botts turned his head away lest she see the deep red +flood of shame which had suffused his face. Poor little skinny, homely, +orphan kid, thrown out to buck the world for herself, and stopping in +her first flight from injustice to help a stranger, only to have him +think her a possible criminal! He was glad that his back twinged and his +head throbbed; he ought to be kicked out into the ditch and left to die +there for harboring such thoughts. + +He was a cur, and she--hang it! There was something appealing about her +in spite of her looks. Perhaps it was the sturdy self-reliance, which in +itself betrayed her utter innocence and ignorance of the world, that +made a fellow want to protect her. + +In his own circle James Botts had never been known as a _Sir +Galahad_, but he had been away from his own circle for exactly +nineteen eventful days now, and in that space of time he had learned +much. His heart went out in sympathy as he turned once more to her. + +But at the moment Lou Lacey seemed in no momentary need of sympathetic +understanding. She was pursuing a hapless frog with well-directed shots +of small pebbles, and there was an impish grin upon her face. + +"How old are you?" he asked suddenly. + +Lou shrugged. + +"I don't know. About seventeen or eighteen, I reckon; at least, they +told me six years ago that I was twelve, an' I've kept track ever since. +When I was sixteen, though, and it was time for me to be got a place +somewhere, the matron put me back a couple of years; we were gettin' +more babies from the poor-farm than usual, an' I was kinder handy with +them. She had to let me go now because one of the visitin' deaconesses +let out that she'd seen me there sixteen years ago herself, an' I was +toddlin' round then. Oh, I missed him!" + +The frog, with a triumphant _plop_, had disappeared beneath a flat, +submerged stone, and Lou turned to note her companion's pain-drawn face. + +"I'm goin' to fix that bandage on your head again," she declared as she +sprang to her feet. "Is your back hurtin' you very much?" + +"Not very." He forced a smile, but his face was grave, for, despite his +suffering, the problem which this accidental meeting had forced upon him +filled his thoughts. What was he to do with this girl? In spite of the +statement that she had "kept track" of her last few years he could not +credit the fact that she was approximately eighteen; fourteen would be +nearer the guess he would have made, and it was unthinkable that a child +like that should wander about the country alone. + +He could not bear the thought of betraying her innocent confidences by +handing her over to the nearest authorities; it would mean her being +held as a vagrant and possibly sent to the county poor-farm. Perhaps the +people with whom she had been placed were not so bad, after all; if he +took her back and reasoned with them, insisted upon their keeping to +their bargain, and giving her lighter tasks to perform. + +Then he remembered his own appearance, and smiled ruefully. Instead of +listening they would in all probability set the dog on him. Perhaps he +could persuade her to return of her own accord. + +"The people you were working for; their name was 'Hess'?" he asked. + +She nodded as she finished fastening the cool compress about his +forehead. + +"Henry Hess an' his wife, Freida, an'--an' Max." + +Something in the quality of her tone more than her hesitation made him +demand sharply: + +"Who is Max?" + +"Their son." Her voice was very low, but for the first time it trembled +slightly. + +"You don't like him, do you?" He waited a moment, and then added +abruptly: "Why not?" + +"Because he's a--a beast! I don't want to talk about him! I don't want +even to remember that such _things_ as he is can be let live!" + +James Botts turned and looked at her and then away, for the childish +figure had been drawn up tensely with a sort of instinctive dignity +which sat not ill upon it, and from her dark eyes insulted womanhood had +blazed. + +"I'd like to go back and lick him to a standstill!" to his own utter +amazement Botts heard his own voice saying thickly. + +The fire had died out of Lou's face and she replied composedly: + +"What for? He don't matter any more, does he? We're goin' on." + +The last sentence recalled his problem once more to his mind. What in +the world was he to do with this young creature whom fate had thrust +upon his hands? Four quarters and a fifty-cent piece represented his +entire capital at the moment, and if he did put her into the hands of +the county authorities until his journey was completed and he could make +other arrangements for her, it would mean a delay on his part now, when +every hour counted for so much just now. + +"Do you know how far we are from Hudsondale?" he asked. + +"Not more'n two miles, the farm-hands used to walk there often of an +evenin' to the movies." + +The girl had cleaned her knife in the brook and was now wrapping it in +the apron, together with the remains of their repast. + +"They say that not more'n twenty miles from there you can see the big +river, but I ain't ever been." + +"That's the way I was going," he observed thoughtlessly. "From +Hudsondale to Highvale, and right on down the west bank of the river to +New York." + +Lou sat back on her heels reflectively. + +"All right," she said at last. "I ain't ever figgered on goin's far as +New York, but I might as well go there as anywhere, and I guess I kin +keep up with you now your back's kinder sprained. We'll go along +together." + +James Botts gulped. + +"Certainly not!" he retorted severely, when he could articulate. "It's +utterly out of the question! You're not a little child any longer, and +I'm not old enough to pose as your father. You must think what people +would say!" + +"Why must I?" Her clear eyes shamed him. "What's it matter? I guess two +kin puzzle out the roads better than one, an' if I have been in a brick +house with a high fence an' a playground between where never a blade of +grass grew, for about eighteen years, it looks to me as if I could take +care of myself a lot better 'n you kin!" + +"But you don't understand!" he groaned. "There are certain conditions +that I can't very well explain, and if I did you'd think I had gone +crazy." + +"Maybe," Lou observed non-committally, but she settled herself on the +bank once more with such an air of resigned anticipation that he felt +forced to continue. + +"You know an army has to obey orders, don't you?" he floundered on +desperately. "Well, I'm like a one-man army; there are a lot of rules +I've got to follow. This is Monday afternoon, and I must reach New York +by midnight on Saturday; that's ninety miles or more, and you never +could make it in the world. I've got just a dollar and a half, and I +mustn't beg, borrow, or steal food or a lift or anything, but work my +way, and never take any job that'll pay me more than twenty-five cents. + +"Of course, if people invite me to get up and ride with them for a +little I can accept, or if they offer me food, but I can't ask. Even the +money I earn in quarters here and there I mustn't use for traveling, but +only to buy food or medicine or clothes with. And the worst of it is +that I cannot explain to a soul why I'm doing all this." + +Lou regarded him gravely, and opened her lips to speak, but closed them +again and for an appreciable moment there was silence. + +"Well, I don't see anythin' in that that says you can't have somebody +travelin' along with you," she remarked, and that odd little smile +flashed again across her face. "It don't make any difference to me what +you can or can't do. _I'm_ foot-loose!" + +Not until later was the meaning of that final statement to be made +manifest to her companion; the one fact upon his mind was that nothing +he had said had moved her an iota from her original decision. They would +go along together. + +Well, why not? It was obvious that he could not send her back to the +Hess farm nor hand her over to the authorities. His own appearance would +not be conducive to confidence in his assurances if he attempted to +leave her in the care of some country woman until he could return and +make proper arrangements for her, and the only alternative was that she +must tramp the roads by herself until she found work, and that was out +of the question. + +At least, he could protect her, and she looked wiry in spite of her +skinniness; it was as possible that she might make the distance as he, +with his aching back. But on one point he was determined: when they +neared the suburbs of New York he would telephone to a certain +gray-haired, aristocratically high-nosed old lady and persuade her to +send out her car for this waif. + +The child had been kind to him, and he would protect her from all harm, +but not for all the gilt-edged securities in Wall Street would he have +the story of his knight-errantry get abroad, nor the unprepossessing +heroine of it revealed to his friends. + +The old lady would find some suitable position for her, and, as she +evidently possessed no reputation of any sort at the moment, a six-day +journey in his company could harm it no more if the truth became known +than if she had tramped upon her way alone. + +"All right," he said. "We'll be partners, and I'll do my best to look +out for you." + +She laughed outright, a merry, tinkling little laugh like the brook +rippling over the pebbles at her feet, and the man involuntarily stared. +It was the sole attractive thing about her that he had observed. + +"Reckon it'll be me that'll look after you!" she retorted. "Oh, there's +somethin' comin'! Duck in here, quick!" + +Seizing her bundle, she wiggled like an eel through the willow thicket +until she was completely hidden from view, and Botts followed as well as +he was able, with one hand fending off the supple young shoots from +whipping back upon his wounded forehead. + +He had heard nothing, yet the girl's quick ears had caught the faint +creaking of a cart along the road, and now a cheerful but somewhat +shrill whistle came to him in a vaguely reminiscent strain. + +"That's Lem Mattles," Lou whispered as she reached behind him and drew +the willows yet more screeningly about their trail. "He's whistlin' +'Ida-Ho'; it's the only tune he can remember." + +"Who is he?" demanded her companion. + +"The Hess's next-door neighbor. She'll stop him right away an' ask if +he's seen me on the road, an' they'll all be after me, but they'll never +think of the old cow-trail; one of the hands showed it to me an' told me +it led clear to Hudsondale, an' came out by the freight-yards." + +For a moment she paused with a little catch in her breath. "Think you +kin make it, Mr. Botts?" + +"Sure!" He smiled and held out his hand. "We're partners now, and I'm +'Jim' to my friends, Lou." + +"All right, Jim," she responded indifferently, but she laid her little +work-worn hand in his for a brief minute. "Come on." + +With the bundle under her arm once more she led the way, and her partner +followed her to where the brook dwindled and the thicket gave place to a +stretch of woodland, between the trees of which a faint, narrow trail +could be discerned. + +"We're all right now if we kin keep on goin'," announced Lou. "Nobody +comes this way any more, an' the feller said that the tracks runs +through the woods clear to the Hunkie settlement by the yards. Feelin' +all right, Jim?" + +"I guess so." Jim put his hand to his side, where each breath brought a +stab of pain, but brought it down again quickly lest her swift glance +catch the motion. "It's pretty in here, isn't it?" + +"It's longer," replied Lou practically. "An' the sun's gittin' low. +Let's hurry." + +There was little further talk between them, for Jim had already +discovered that his companion was not one to speak unless she had +something to say, and he was breathing in short snatches to stifle the +pain. The track wound endlessly in and out among the trees, and in the +dim light he would have lost it altogether more than once had it not +been for her light touch upon his arm. + +At length the track turned abruptly through the thinning trees and led +down to a rough sort of road, on either side of which ramshackle wooden +tenements leaned crazily against each other, with dingy rags hanging +from lines on the crooked porches. Slatternly, dark-skinned women gazed +curiously at them as they passed. + +From somewhere came the squalling of a hurt child and a man's oath +roughly silencing it, while through and above all other sounds came the +bleating of a harmonica ceaseless reiterating a monotonous, foreign air. + +The sun had set, and from just beyond the squalid settlement came the +crash and clang of freight-cars being shunted together. In spite of his +pain, Jim realized that nowhere in this vicinity could his +self-constituted companion rest for the night; open fields or dense +woodland were safer far for her. + +"Let us cross the tracks and push on up that hill road a little," he +suggested. "We can't stay here, and they'll think we are tramps if they +catch us by the railroad." + +"I guess that's what we are." Lou wrinkled her already upturned nose. +"But the country would be nicer again, if you ain't give out." + +He assured her doggedly that he had not, and they crossed the tracks and +started up the steep hill road past the coal-dump and the few scattered +cottages to where the woodland closed in about them once more. + +Jim picked up a stout stick and leaned heavily upon it as they plodded +along, while the twilight deepened to darkness and the stars appeared. +The girl's step lagged now, but she kept up in little spurts and set her +lips determinedly. + +At length they came to another stream, a rushing mill-race this time, +with an old mill, moss-covered and fallen into decay beside it, and by +tacit consent they sank down on the worn step. + +"I don't believe we can go any farther," Jim panted. "I guess this is as +good a place as any to camp for the night, and you can sleep in there." + +He indicated the sagging door behind him, and Lou followed his gesture +with a reluctant eye. Jim noted the glance and, misunderstanding it, +added hastily: + +"I don't believe there are any rats in there, but if you'll lend me your +matches I'll see." + +"Rats!" she repeated in withering scorn. "There was plenty of them in +the insti--where I come from. I was just thinkin' maybe somebody else +was sleepin' there already." + +She handed over the matches and Jim pushed open the door and entered, +feeling carefully for rotten boards in the decayed flooring. A prolonged +survey by the flickering light of the matches assured him that the +ancient, cobwebbed place was deserted, and he turned again to the door, +but its step was unoccupied and nowhere in the starlight could he +discern a flutter of that blue-and-white striped dress. + +Could she have run away from him? At the thought a forlorn sense of +loneliness swept over him greater than he had known since he had started +upon his tramp. She was tired out; could he in some way have frightened +her, or had a mad spirit of adventure sent her on like a +will-o'-the-wisp into the night? + +"Lou!" he called, and his voice echoed back. "Lou!" + +All at once he noticed what he had not observed before--a single light +by the roadside in a clearing ahead. Perhaps she had gone there for more +secure shelter. + +His cogitations were abruptly interrupted by a dog's excited barking, +subdued by distance, but deep-throated. The sound came from the +direction of the clearing, and, taking up his heavy stick, Jim hobbled +to the road. If Lou had got into any trouble---- + +The barking turned to growls; horrible, crunching growls which brought +his heart up into his throat as he broke into a run, forgetting his +pain. He had not gained the top of the rise in the road, however, when +the growls gave place to wild yelps and howls which rapidly diminished +in the distance and presently Lou appeared holding carefully before her +something round and white which gleamed in the starlight. + +"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed when she neared him. "What on earth have +you been doing?" + +"Git on back 'round the other side of the mill!" ordered Lou. "I gotta +go slow or I'll spill it." + +"What is it?" + +But she vouchsafed him no reply until they reached a ledge of rock over +the tumbling stream, well out of sight of that light on the hill. Then +she set down the object she was carrying and he saw that it was a bright +tin pan, filled almost to the brim with milk. + +"I thought it would go good with our bread an' ham," she explained +ingenuously. "I figgered from what I learned at that Hess place that +they'd leave some out in the summer cellar to cream, for they ain't got +any spring-house, an' they won't be likely to miss one pan out of +fifteen. Besides, there's nothin' in them rules you told me that stops +_me_ from beggin' or borrowin', or stealin', either, an' if I +_give_ you some of this you ain't got any call to ask me where it +come from." + +This feminine logic left Jim almost speechless, but he managed to gasp +out: + +"The dog! Didn't he attack you?" + +"I guess that was what he intended, but I put down the pan an' fit him +off." She added, with evident pride. "I never spilled a drop, either!" + +"Good Lord!" Jim ejaculated. "I believe you'd do anything once!" + +"I b'lieve I would, provided I wanted to," Lou agreed placidly. Then her +tone changed. "There's somebody comin' up the road from Hudsondale like +all in creation was after 'em." + +Indeed, the sound of a horse's mad gallop up the steep road by which +they had come was plainly to be heard increasing in volume, and the +grating jar of wheels as though a wagon were being thrown from side to +side. + +"Think it's a runaway?" Jim rose and strained his eyes into the darkness +at the farther end of the bridge. + +"No; driver's drunk, maybe," Lou responded. "The horse's dead beat an' +he's lashin' it on. Listen!" + +Jim heard the wild gallop falter and drop into a weary trot, only to +leap forward again with a wild scramble of hoofs on the rocky road as +though the wretched animal was spurred on by sudden pain, and he +clenched his hands. + +As though reading his thoughts, Lou remarked: + +"Only a beast himself would treat a horse that way. The folks at the +farm where I was treated theirs somethin' terrible. If he don't look out +he'll go over the side of the bridge." + +Jim had already started for the road in front of the mill, and Lou +followed him, just as a perilously swaying lantern came to view, showing +an old-fashioned carriage of the "buggy" type containing a single +occupant and drawn by a horse which was streaked with lather. + +The light wagon hit the bridge with a bounce which almost sent it +careening over into the rushing stream below, and at the same moment Lou +uttered an odd exclamation, more of anger than fear, and straightened up +to her full height. + +"It's Max!" she informed Jim. "You git back behind the mill; you ain't +fit to fight----" + +"What do you take me for?" Jim demanded indignantly. "Max Hess, eh? The +fellow who treated you so badly back at that farm? I wanted to get him +this morning, the hound! You go straight back into the mill yourself, +and leave me to handle him." + +But he was too late. The wagon had crossed the bridge and halted in +front of them so suddenly that the horse slid along for a pace upon his +haunches. + +"Got yer!" a thick voice announced triumphantly, as a burly figure +wrapped the reins around the whip socket and lumbered to the ground. +"Yah! I thought there was a feller in it, somewheres!" + +He approached them with menacingly clenched fists, but Jim asked coldly: + +"Are you addressing this young woman?" + +"Young thief, you mean! She's gotter come----" + +But Jim, too, had advanced a pace. + +"Take that back and get in your wagon and beat it," he announced +distinctly, with a calmness which the other mistook for mildness. "If +your name is Hess, this young woman is not going back with you, and I +warn you now to be off." + +"So that's it, is it?" the heavy voice sneered. "She's my mother's hired +girl, an' she stole a lot o' food an' ran away this mornin'. Comes o' +takin' in an asylum brat----" + +"Take that back, too, you blackguard!" Jim's voice was beginning to +shake. + +"Take nothin' back, 'cept Lou! What's she doin' with you, anyway? Might +ha' knowed she was this sort----" + +He got no further, for something landed like a hammer upon his nose and +the blood streamed down between his thick lips, choking him. With an +inarticulate roar of rage he lowered his bull neck and drove at the +other man, but the other man wasn't there! Then another light, stinging +blow landed upon his fat face and he flailed out again with a force that +turned him completely around, for again his adversary had danced out of +his way. + +Every drop of bad blood in the lout was aroused now, for he was the +bully and terror of his community, and he could not understand this way +of fighting, nor why his own blows failed to land when this tramp could +dodge in and punish him apparently whenever he chose. + +Jim was many pounds lighter, and although the science of boxing was not +unknown to him, he was dog-tired and his wrenched back agonized him at +every move. The sheer weight of the other man was bearing him down, and +Hess seemed to realize it, for with a grunt of satisfaction he swung in +and landed a stiff body blow which staggered his adversary. + +Hess's left eye was closed, and his lips split, but he hammered at his +man relentlessly, and at length caught him with a blow which brought him +to his knees. All the bully's blood-lust boiled at sight of his +half-fallen victim, and he drew back his heavily shod foot for a +murderous kick, but it was never delivered. + +Something caught that foot from behind and tripped him heavily into the +dust, then landed upon him like a wildcat and bit and tore at him until +with a scream of pain he managed to throw it off. Even as he struggled +to his feet it sprang again upon him, kicking and clawing, and he turned +quickly, and scrambling into the buggy seat, gathered up the reins. + +Lou stood where he had torn himself from her grasp, listening to the +volley of oaths and clatter of horses's feet until both had been +swallowed up in the distance. Then she turned to where Jim stood +swaying, with one hand pressed to his side, and the blood from the +reopened cut upon his forehead making his face look ghastly in the +starlight. + +"Well," she remarked with satisfaction. "I guess he got more 'n he come +for, an' we've seen the last of _him!_" + +"But Lou!" There was admiration and awe in his tones. "Your method of +fighting isn't in the Queensberry rules, although I must say it was +effective. I was going to try to protect you, and it turned out the +other way!" + +"Don't know what queen you're talkin' about, nor what rules she made, +but when _I_ fight, I fight with everything I've got," Lou declared +with finality. "Come and let me fix up your head again, an' we'll have +supper." + +An hour later and throughout the night, a slim little figure, rolled in +a man's shabby coat, lay sleeping peacefully in a corner of the mill, +while on the doorstep in his shirt sleeves and with a stout cudgel +across his knees, a weary man drowsed fitfully, on guard. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Vendor of Everything + + +When Lou awakened the next morning at dawn it was her turn to find +herself deserted, but the fact failed to arouse any misgivings in her +mind. She had found in her brief experience with menfolks that they were +mostly queer, one way or another, but this one was dependable, and she +felt no doubt that he would turn up when he got ready. + +Unwrapping her bundle, she took the apron, soap, and broken comb, and +wandered down the bank of the stream until in the seclusion beneath the +bridge she came upon a pool formed by outjutting rocks, where she +performed her limited toilet. Then, scrubbing the greasy apron +vigorously, she hung it on a bramble bush behind the mill to dry, and +scuttling across the road, made for the woods back of the house where +she had committed her nocturnal depredation. + +An hour later when Jim came slowly up the hill road from the direction +of Hudsondale, he saw a tiny smudge of smoke rising from a rock well +hidden in the rank undergrowth at the edge of the stream, and +approaching it found Lou industriously brushing her coat with a broom +which she had improvised of small twigs tied together. Beside her, +carefully cradled in her sunbonnet, were half a dozen new-laid eggs. + +"Good morning." He greeted her with a little bow, and sank down on the +rock. "Were you frightened to find yourself left all alone?" + +"Oh, no. I knew you would come back," she replied serenely. Then, as she +noted his glance fall upon the eggs she added in swift self-defense: +"You needn't think I stole those; I found them back in the woods a +piece. O-oh!" + +He had carried a large paper package under his arm, and now as he +unwrapped it her wonderment changed to swift rapture. It contained an +overall apron of bright pink check, a cheap straw hat, and a remnant of +green ribbon. + +"I ain't had a pink dress since I was ten!" Her dark eyes were +perilously glistening. "I'd almost have died for one, but you had to +wear blue after that, 'count of doin' work 'round. Oh, an' that hat! I +kin put that ribbon on it as easy as----" + +She halted suddenly and lowered her eyelashes, adding: + +"But you hadn't any call to buy them for me; I can't pay you back right +now." + +Jim's reply was irrelevant. + +"Why, your eyes aren't black, after all! They're violet-blue, the +deepest blue I ever saw!" Then he caught himself up, reddening +furiously, and after a moment said in a casual tone: "That's all right +about the things, Lou; you can pay me when you get some work to do. Now, +go fix yourself up, and we'll have breakfast." + +When she had disappeared into the mill he cursed himself for a fool. The +child had trusted him as a comrade; what would she think if he began +paying her compliments? What had come over him, anyway? He had seen +women with violet-blue eyes in more countries than one; beautiful women +with every enhancement which breeding and wealth could bestow. It must +have been sheer surprise in discovering any attribute of prettiness at +all about so uncompromisingly homely a girl as poor little Lou. + +With this reassuring reflection he set about replenishing the fire, and +presently his companion reappeared. The large, flapping hat sat oddly +upon her small head with its tightly drawn-back hair, but the straight +lines of the all-enveloping pink gown brought out the slender curves of +her childish figure, and she didn't seem quite so gawky, after all, as +she moved toward him over the rocks. + +"My, you look nice!" he said cheerfully. "I've brought some rolls +from----" + +"We'll keep them for later," Lou interrupted him firmly. "There's still +the end of the bread left, and goodness knows where we'll eat again!" + +They breakfasted gaily, drinking the remainder of the milk first and +then boiling the eggs in the pan, but Lou's remark about their next meal +had made Jim think seriously of the immediate future. He had assumed a +responsibility which he must fulfill, and his progress thus far under +the handicaps he had spoken of had been difficult enough alone. + +The little pink apron-frock had cost half of his capital, the hat +twenty-five cents more, and the ribbon a dime. Five cents in addition +for the rolls had left but thirty-five of the preciously hoarded +pennies, and he was ninety miles from home, with a host of petty, but +formidable, restrictions barring his way, and an adopted orphan on his +hands. + +He had been forced to turn his head sharply away when he passed the +village tobacco store, for every nerve cried out for the solace of a +good pipe, but he felt more than repaid for the sacrifice by Lou's +honest rapture over the poor things he had been able to get for her. + +Breakfast finished, and the remainder of the ham stowed away in the +milk-pan, they carefully skirted the house on the rise of the hill, and +coming out once more upon the road, they forged ahead. The strained +muscles of Jim's back and side were still sore, but they troubled him +less than the lack of a smoke, and for Lou it was as though a new world +had opened before her eyes. + +The pleasant, wheat-growing valley had been left behind them, and the +road from being hilly grew steeper and more steep until it became a mere +rutted trail over the mountains. More or less dilapidated farm-houses, +each with its patch of cleared ground, appeared now and then, and before +the gate of one of these a huge, canvas-covered wagon stood, bearing the +ambitious legend: + +TRAVELING DEPARTMENT STORE + +BENJ. PERKINS + +A genial-looking fat man in a linen duster and a wide-brimmed hat was +just clambering in over the wheel when he spied the two pedestrians +gazing at the turnout, and called good-naturedly: + +"Want a lift? I'm goin' inter New Hartz." + +"Thanks. That is just where we are going, too," Jim replied promptly. +"It's awfully good of you to take us along." + +"Git right in; plenty of room with me on the front seat here," the +proprietor of the extraordinary department store responded heartily. +"Yer sister 'd be nigh tuckered out ef you tried ter walk her inter town +on a hot day like this." + +Jim hoisted Lou in over the big wheel and as he climbed up beside her +the driver slapped the reins over the broad backs of the two horses, and +they were off. + +"You are Mr. Perkins?" Jim asked, ignoring the assumption of Lou's +relationship to him. + +"That's me!" The other glanced at the fresh bandage about the young +man's head which Lou had applied just before they started out, and +inquired: "You git hurt, some ways?" + +Jim explained briefly, and changed the subject with a haste which would +have been significant to a less obtuse host. + +"You seem to have a little of everything back here in the van, Mr. +Perkins." + +"Reckon I hev," the other agreed complacently. "From a spool of thread +to a pitchfork, and from a baby rattle to wax funeral wreaths, there +ain't nothin' the folk hereabout hev use for that I don't carry. The big +ottermobile order trucks don't hurt my business none; I ben workin' up +my trade around here fer twenty year." + +Mr. Perkins paused to draw a pipe and tobacco sack from his pocket, and +Jim's throat twitched. After filling the pipe the genial pedler offered +the sack. "Hev some?" + +Jim hesitated, and his face reddened, but at last he shook his head +determinedly. + +"Thanks; I--I don't smoke." + +Lou, who had hunched about in her seat to stare at the assorted array of +articles in the body of the van, turned and looked curiously at him. +Surely that hard bulge in the coat upon which she had slept on the +previous night had been the bowl of a pipe! The eyes which Jim had +called "violet blue" narrowed for an instant in puzzled wonderment, then +blurred as with swift understanding she glanced down at the new pink +apron and stroked it softly. But Jim had gone on talking rather +nervously. + +"You don't get much trade around here, do you? Not many houses in these +mountains." + +"Oh, here and thar," Mr. Perkins replied easily. "Here and thar." + +The conversation which ensued was all Greek to Lou, who took off her +hat, leaned her head against the side of the van, and went peacefully to +sleep. + +She was awakened by a hand gently shaking her shoulder and found that +the van had been halted in the middle of a maple-lined street before a +big house which bore a sign labeled: "Congress Hotel." Busy little shops +shouldered it on either side, and a band-stand stood in the open square. + +"Come down, Lou." Jim stood on the sidewalk reaching up for her hands. +"This is New Hartz." + +Mr. Perkins was not in the van, but as Lou scrambled over the wheel he +appeared from the door of the hotel. + +"Young man, I wish I was goin' further, but I ain't, and I want ter talk +a little business with you." He drew Jim aside. "You and your sister +wouldn't ha' ben walkin' it in from Hudsonvale if you could ha' paid ter +come any other way." + +"No, Mr. Perkins." Jim backed away smilingly. "We couldn't think of--of +borrowing, but thanks for the ten-mile lift into New Hartz." + +"Glad ter hev your company." Mr. Perkins suddenly dived around to the +back of the van and his voice came to them muffled from the depths of +its interior. "Wait jest a minute." + +He emerged, red and perspiring, with a small package wrapped in a square +of something shimmering and white in his hands, which he offered to the +wondering Lou. + +"It's jest a little present fer you, miss," he said. + +Lou accepted it gravely. + +"Thank you, sir," she said primly. "You ain't got any call to give me +this, not after bringin' us all the way from Hudsondale." + +"I guess I can make a little present if I'm a mind ter, ter a pretty +little girl like you." Mr. Perkins turned to Jim. "Wish yer both luck on +your way." + +They took leave of the kindly little fat man and moved off up the +village street and beyond the inevitable car tracks to the dwindling +country road once more. In the shade of a big tree at a crossroads, Lou +glanced up at her companion. + +"Could we set down here for a spell?" she asked. "I ain't tired, Jim, +but I feel like I'd die if I can't open this!" + +She gestured with Mr. Perkins's gift, and Jim dropped laughingly on the +grass. + +"Of course. Let's see what's in it." + +Gravely she seated herself beside him and unknotted the square of white. +It contained three little handkerchiefs with pink borders, a small +bottle of particularly strong scent, and a string of beads remotely +resembling coral. The square in which the articles had been wrapped +proved to be a large white silk handkerchief with an American flag +stamped in the corner. + +"That must be for you, Jim," Lou said slowly. As in a trance she slipped +the string of beads over her head, opened the bottle, and poured a few +drops of its contents upon one of the little handkerchiefs, inhaling the +rank odor in ecstasy. + +Jim watched her, amused but touched also. To that luxury-starved little +soul the coarse handkerchiefs and cheap perfume meant rapture, and he +resolved to see that the gray-haired lady in New York provided something +better for Lou than a servant's position. Education, perhaps---- + +"It must be past noon, for the shadows have started to go the other +way." Her voice broke in upon his meditations. "We'd better eat the +rolls an' ham now. How far is it to where we're goin'?" + +"Eight miles; I'm afraid it is a long way for you----" + +"Then the sooner we git started the better," the girl interrupted. "I'll +take the pan an' run back to that yellow house we just passed for some +water." + +Without waiting for a reply she tilted the little scent bottle carefully +against the tree-trunk and departed, while Jim stretched himself out +luxuriously in the grateful shade. He was tired, and the still heat of +noon had a stupefying effect. Lou seemed long in returning, and his +thoughts grew nebulous until he finally drifted off into slumber. + +When he awakened the shadows had lengthened to those of mid-afternoon, +and there was a delicious, unaccustomed aroma in the air. He gazed about +him in a bewildered fashion to find Lou sitting cross-legged in the +grass, and spread upon it on the apron between them were the rolls and +ham, and a huckleberry pie, still warm, and fairly exuding juice. + +"Good Lord, where did you get it?" he demanded. + +"Remember that yellow house where I went to git water?" Lou laughed, but +there was a new note of shyness in her voice. "When we passed it first I +saw that the currant bushes were just loaded down, an' a woman was out +pickin' them, though it's ironin' day. I figgered if I pick for her +she'd maybe pay me, an' she did. I--I guessed you was out of--this." + +The freckles disappeared in a rosy blush as with a red-stained hand she +held out a bag of tobacco. + +"Lou! Why, you--you precious kid!" Jim stammered. "You worked in all +this heat, while I lay here and slept." + +"It wasn't far back to New Hartz, an' I'd seen where the cigar-store was +when we came by. The woman at the house, she give me the pie, an' I've +got ten cents left besides. I never had ten cents of my own before!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Under the Big Top + + +A very weary and dust-covered couple trudged to the top of the last hill +just before sundown and paused, with Lou's hand instinctively clutching +Jim's arm. + +"Is that it; the Hudson?" She pointed over the fringe of treetops below +them to the broad, winding ribbon of sparkling gray-blue, touched here +and there with the reflection of the fleecy pink clouds drifting far +overhead. + +Jim turned to look at her, wondering what reaction the view would have +upon the emotions of this child who, until a brief week ago, had known +only the "brick house with a high fence and a playground where never a +blade of grass grew." + +Her big eyes followed the river's course until it was lost in a creeping +mist behind high hills, and she drew a deep breath. + +"How far does it go?" she asked. + +"To New York; to the sea," he responded. "The ocean, you know." + +"My!" There was wonder and a certain regret in her tone. "What a waste +of good wash-water!" + +Jim emitted an inarticulate remark, and added hastily: + +"Let us get along down into Highvale. I must try to find a place for you +to sleep, and remember, Lou, you're my sister if anyone starts to +question you." + +"All right; I don't mind, if you don't." She gave the floppy hat a yank +that slued the ridiculous green bow to a more rakish angle, and then +stopped suddenly in the road. "O-oh, look!" + +A barn had been built close up to the side of the fence, and freshly +pasted upon it was the vividly colored poster of a circus. The +enthusiastic admiration which she had denied to her first view of the +great river glowed now in Lou's eyes, and she stood transfixed. + +"What is it, Jim? The pretty lady on the horse an' the other one up on +the swing thing without--without any skirt to her, and the man with the +funny pants an' the big hat that's shootin'----" + +"There must be a circus in Highvale--yes, the date says to-night," Jim +replied. + +"'Trimble & Wells Great Circus & Sideshow,'" she read slowly. "I heard +about them circuses; some of the children seen them before they came +to--to where I was, an' once one come to town an' sent free tickets to +us, but the deaconesses said it was sinful an' so we couldn't go. It +don't look sinful to me; it looks just grand--grand!" + +She could have stood for an hour drinking in all the wonders of the +poster, but Jim hurried her on although he was filled with sympathy. +Poor little kid! What a rotten, black sort of life she must have had, +and how he wished that he might take her to this tawdry, cheap affair +and watch her naive enjoyment. + +But their combined capital would not have covered the price of the +tickets, and there was supper to be thought of, and the hazards of the +immediate future. For the present the circus must remain an unattained +dream to Lou. + +The steep little hill down to the village seemed very long, and twilight +was almost upon them when they came to a big, open lot upon which a +circular tent was in process of erection, with lesser oblong ones +clustered at one side. + +A fringe of small boys and village loungers lined the roadway watching +the corps of men who were working like beavers within the lot, urged on +by a bawling, cursing voice which seemed to proceed from a stout, +choleric man who bounded about, alternately waving his arms and cupping +his hands to improvise a megaphone. + +Jim was tired, and his side throbbed dully, but a sudden inspiration +came to him, and he drew Lou over to the other side of the road. + +"Sit down here and wait for me," he told her. "I won't be long. That's +where the circus is going to be, and perhaps I can fix it for you to see +it." + +Turning, he shouldered his way through the knot of loungers, and +entering the lot, approached the stout gentleman. + +"Want an extra hand?" he asked. "Anything from a ballyhoo to a +rough-rider?" + +The stout man wheeled and surveyed him in momentarily speechless wrath +at the interruption. Then his eyes narrowed appraisingly as he noted the +tall, lean, well-knit figure before him, and he demanded: + +"How the h--l did you know that the Wild West act was all knocked to +pieces?" + +"It isn't now," Jim smiled. "Lend me a horse and a pair of chaps, and +I'll show you in five minutes what's going to be your star act +to-night." + +"You're no circus man, nor a Westerner, neither." The boss still stared. +"And you don't look like a bum. What's your game, anyway?" + +"To pick up a little loose change and get a horse between my knees +again." + +The thought of the forlorn little figure which he had left by the +roadside kept Jim's smile steady, and added a desperate artificial +buoyancy to his tired tones: + +"Never mind who I am or where I came from; I can ride, and that's what +you want, isn't it?" + +There was an instant's pause, and then the boss bawled a stentorian +order and grabbed him by the arm. + +"Come on. I'll give you a chance to show me what you can do, but if +you're takin' up my time on a bluff I'll break every bone in your ---- +---- body!" + +He led Jim to an open space behind the tents where presently there +appeared a living convulsion in the shape of a bucking, squealing bronco +seemingly held down to earth by two sweating, shirtless men. + +As Jim surveyed that wickedly lowered head with its small eyes rolling +viciously, his heart misgave him for a moment. What if he should fail? +It was long since he had practiced those rough-riding stunts that had +made him in demand for those society circuses of the ante-bellum days, +and longer yet since he had learned to break a bronco on the ranch, +which had been Bill Hollis's hobby for a season. + +What if that devil of a pony should best him in the struggle, and he +should be thrown ignominiously from the lot before the eyes of the girl +who was waiting patiently for him? + +The next instant he had vaulted lightly into the high, Western saddle, +the two men had jumped back, and the fight was on. The bronco lashed out +viciously with his heels, leaped sidewise, and then, after a running +start, attempted to throw his rider over his head, but Jim clung to him +like a burr; he flung himself down and rolled over, but the young man +jumped clear and was back into the saddle as the enraged animal regained +his feet. + +The struggle was strenuous but brief, and Jim found himself rejoicing +that none of the old tricks had failed him, and that the wicked little +brute was realizing that he had at length been mastered. + +When the bronco was thoroughly subjected, Jim rode quietly up to where +the boss stood with the two other men. + +"Want me to pick up a handkerchief for you, or any other of the old +stunts, now?" he asked. "Don't want to tire this old plug too much for +the show." + +The boss chuckled. + +"Get down and talk business with me, young feller," he said. "You won't +ride Jazz in the ring to-night; he's the rottenest, most treacherous +little wretch with the outfit, and I only put you on him to call your +bluff. Want to join the show? We had to leave our rough-rider back in +the last town with a broken leg." + +Jim shook his head. + +"Only for to-night," he replied. "My sister and I are beating it South." + +"Well, I'll give you five dollars----" + +"No, you won't," Jim smiled. "I'll work for you to-night for just +twenty-five cents." + +"Say, you ain't bughouse, are you?" The boss stared again. + +"The fourth part of a dollar, two bits!" Jim replied doggedly. Then his +gaze wandered as though casually over to the cook tent, and he added: +"However, if you could suggest anything to two hungry people, and +something else for a little girl who has never seen a circus, Mr. +Trimble-and-Wells, and who is waiting for me in the road----" + +The boss roared. + +"D--d if I don't think you're dippy, but you certainly can ride like +h--l!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up on that; go get the kid and bring +her in to supper, and I'll see that she gets a reserved seat for the +show. Holy smoke! A feller that can stick on Jazz, and wants to work for +a quarter!" + +Thus it was that when the clown came tumbling into the ring to the +blaring of the band that night, a girl with the green bow all askew upon +her hat and her violet-blue eyes a shade darker and snapping with +excitement was perched on one of the front row planks which served as +seats, clutching a bag of peanuts and waiting in an ecstasy for the +wonders about to be unfolded. + +The ride in the pedler's van, the hours of currant-picking, and the hot, +hilly, eight-mile trudge were forgotten, and she felt like pinching +herself to see if she would wake up all of a sudden to find herself once +more back in the attic at the Hess farm. + +The beautiful lady with the fluffy skirts rode round the ring on tiptoe +and jumped through the flaming hoops at the behest of the gentleman with +the high silk hat and the long whip; the other lady "without any skirt +to her" flew dizzily through the air from one trapeze to the other, and +the performing elephant went through his time-worn tricks with the air +of a resigned philosopher, and still Lou sat entranced. + +Then the dingy curtains parted, and a man loped easily into the ring on +a wiry, little Western horse. He was the same man she had seen in the +poster that afternoon; the one with the funny pants and the big hat and +the red handkerchief knotted around his throat, and he proceeded to do +marvelous things. + +It is highly probable that many a better exhibition of rough-riding had +been given beneath the big top, but to Lou, as to the villagers +surrounding her in densely packed rows, it was a supreme display of +horsemanship, and they expressed themselves with vociferous applause +when he uncoiled a rope from the peak of his saddle and dexterously +brought down the bewildered steer which had been chivvied into the ring. + +In the row directly in front of Lou sat a quartet who were obviously out +of place among their bucolic neighbors, but as obviously bent on amusing +themselves. The ladies of the party wore brilliant sweaters beneath +their long silk motor coats, and veils floated from their small round +hats, and the gentlemen wore long coats, too, and had goggles pushed up +on their caps. + +Bits of their chatter, and low-voiced, well-bred laughter drifted back +to the girl's ears between pauses in the louder comments of her +immediate neighbors and the intermittent din of the band, and Lou was +amazed. + +Could it be that they were laughing at this glorious, wonderful thing +that was called a "circus?" Were they ridiculing it, trying to pretend +that they had seen anything more marvelous in all the world? + +They didn't laugh at the rough-rider, she noticed. The ladies applauded +daintily, and once the stouter of the two gentlemen called out: "Good +work!" as the rider executed a seemingly daring feat, and the other +gentleman consulted his flimsy play bill. + +Then all thought of the four was banished from Lou's mind, for the rider +had cantered from the ring and dropped a large white handkerchief upon +the sawdust of the outer circle just before her. Wasn't that bit of +color in a corner of a handkerchief an American flag? Jim had told her +that he was to do some work outside for the circus people that night, +and the boss had kindly offered her a seat, but that handkerchief---- + +Suddenly the rider swept by with his horse at a dead run, and swooping +down, seized the square of white in his teeth, and while the tent rang +with applause, Lou sat very still. It was Jim! It was he, her "partner," +whom the people were all clapping their hands at, who was doing all +these wonderful things! But his face had looked somewhat pale beneath +that big hat, and his smile sort of fixed. + +The bandage was gone from his head, and the plaster which had replaced +it was hidden, but she could not have been mistaken. What if he were +suffering, if his back and side were paining him again? She recalled the +exhaustion with which he had slept at noontime, and the long, weary hike +that followed it, and her heart contracted within her. It was for her +that he was doing this, so that she might see the show! + +One of the ladies in the seats before her leaned forward and exclaimed: + +"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott? If we didn't know that he was on a +fishing trip up in Canada----" + +Lou did not catch the rest of the remark. Her eyes were glued upon the +rider and her ears stilled to everything around her. With a final +flourish he dashed for the dingy curtain at the exit and it parted to +let him pass. It did not close quickly enough behind him, however; not +quickly enough to conceal from the gaping audience his lurching fall +from the saddle into the group of acrobats waiting to come on in their +turn. + +Then it was that a small, pink-checked cyclone whirled through the rows +of closely packed humanity and half-way round the arena to the curtain, +while above the clamor of the band arose a shrill cry; "Jim! Jim!" + +"Did you see her?" The lady who had commented upon the rider's +appearance demanded of the gentleman beside her. "She called him Jim, +too; isn't that odd? Do you suppose, Jack, that she is with the circus; +that little country girl?" + +"Oh, it was only part of the show," the stout gentleman replied in a +bored tone. "Or else the chap was tight. He certainly rode as if he had +some red-eye tucked under his belt; wonder where he got it around here?" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Concerning an Omelet + + +There was a confused babel of sound in Jim's ears when he awoke +Wednesday morning; hammering and clanging and the squeak of ropes, +shouting and cursing, and now and then the roar or yell of some +protesting animal. + +He was lying on a narrow bunk in a tent, and opposite him a +husky-looking individual was climbing into a pair of checked trousers +and yawning vociferously. + +Jim's head ached confoundedly, and he was stiff and sore, but his mind +cleared rapidly from the mists of slumber. What sort of a place was +this, and how had he got there? Then all at once he remembered, and +there came a horrifying thought. What had become of Lou? + +"Where's Lou? M--my sister?" he demanded, sitting bolt upright. + +"Hello, there! Come out of it all right, did you?" The occupant of the +tent hitched a suspender over one shoulder and grinned cheerfully. "The +kid's took care of! She's with Ma Billings. That was a nasty header you +took last night. O. K. now? We gotter pull out in an hour." + +"Oh, I'm all right; but say, did I pull that bonehead stuff out there +before all of them?" Jim reddened beneath his tan at the thought. "Fall +off the horse like that, I mean?" + +"In the ring? No, you made a grand exit, and then slumped; nobody saw it +but the little girl, and she beat it right down to the ring and out +after you. Fit like a wildcat, too, when we tried to keep her away from +you till we could find out what had struck you." The other grinned once +more. + +"Some sister, ol'-timer! When we found that big muscle bruise on your +side, and she told us that you had been tossed by a bull a couple of +days ago, we didn't wonder you keeled over." + +Jim sat up dizzily. + +"It was mighty good of you people to take us in for the night," he said. +"Who is Ma Billings?" + +"Marie LaBelle she used to be; worked up on the flyin' rings until she +got too hefty," his companion explained. "Now she takes care of the +wardrobes and sort of looks out that the Human Doll don't get lost in +the shuffle; the midget, you know. Now peel, and I'll give you a +rub-down with some liniment." + +Jim tried to protest, but the husky individual only grinned the broader. + +"You may be some boy when it comes to bronco-bustin', but I'm the Strong +Man in the sideshow, and you haven't a chance." + +Meekly Jim submitted to his companion's kindly ministrations, and then +dressing quickly, made his way out into the glare of the early morning +sun. + +The big top was down, and poles and animal cages were being loaded on +long trucks as he emerged. An appetizing odor of fried pork floated upon +the air from the direction of the cook tent, and people seemed to be +rushing all over the lot in wildest confusion, but Jim caught a glimpse +of a bit of pink-and-white check through the melee, and headed for it. + +Lou was sitting on the grass in cordial confab with a +melancholy-looking, lantern-jawed man, but at his approach she jumped up +precipitately and ran to him. + +"Oh, Jim, you feelin' all right?" There was a little tremble in her +voice. "I knew it was you the minute you rode past an' picked up that +handkerchief Mr. Perkins give you yesterday, an' when you pitched off +that horse I thought you was dead. You hadn't no call to take any chance +like that with your back hurt an' that long tramp an' all; but it was +splendid." + +She paused, breathless, and he patted her shoulder. Somehow she didn't +look so downright homely this morning, or else he was growing used to +her little, turned-up nose. Her tow-colored hair was looser about her +face, and where the sun struck a strand of it, it shone like spun gold. + +"I'm fine," he assured her. "But who was that man you were talking to +just now?" + +"Him? Oh, that was the clown," Lou replied. "He says the old man is just +crazy 'bout your ridin', an' if you'll stay along with the show he can +teach me to stand still for the knife-thrower; the last girl got scared, +an' quit just because she got a little scratch on the neck. The clown +says I got the nerve for it, an' I guess I have, only they ain't goin' +towards New York." + +She added the last almost reluctantly, and Jim shuddered. The +knife-thrower! What wouldn't the little dare-devil be willing to try +next? + +"I guess you have got the nerve," he admitted grimly. "But we're going +to be in New York by Saturday night, remember. As soon as I get my +quarter from the stout gentleman over there with the striped vest, we'll +be on our way." + +But it was nearly an hour before they took to the road again. The boss +insisted on starting them off with a hearty breakfast, and there were +good-bys to be said to the rough, kindly folk who had taken them in as +friends. Except for the litter of hand-bills and peanut-shells, the last +vestiges of the circus were being removed from the lot as they finally +departed, and what had been to Lou a wondrous, glittering pageant had +become but a memory. + +"I dunno but I'd as lief join a circus," she observed, meditatively, +after they had traveled a mile or more. "Maybe I could learn in New York +how to do some of them tricks. I could git the hang of that business up +on them swings in no time, only I don't like the way that girl +dressed----" + +"Nonsense!" Jim snapped, and wondered at his own indignation. "We'll +find something suitable for you to do, or you can go to school----" + +"School!" she interrupted him in her turn. "I--I'd like to learn things +an' be like other folks, but I ain't--I mean I'm not--goin' to any +institootion." + +He glanced at her curiously. This was the first time she had made any +conscious effort to correct herself, the first evidence she had given +that she had noted the difference between his speech and hers. + +"I didn't mean an institution, but a real school, Lou," he explained +gently. "One where you'll have no uniform to wear, and no work to do +except to learn." + +"I quit learnin' when I was twelve." There was an unconscious note of +wistfulness in her tones. "I kin read an' do a little figgerin', but I +don't know much of anythin' else. I couldn't go to school an' begin +again where I left off, Jim; I'd be sort of ashamed. Oh, look at that +big wagon drivin' out of that gate! Maybe we'll git a lift." + +She had turned at the creak of wheels, and now, as the cart loaded with +crates and pulled by two lean, sorry-looking horses passed, she gazed +expectantly at the driver. He was as lean as his team, with a sharp nose +and a tuft of gray hair sticking out from his chin, and his close-set +eyes straight ahead of him, as though he were determined not to see to +the two wayfarers. + +"He looks kinder mean, don't he?" Lou remarked. Then impulsively she ran +after the wagon: "Say, mister, will you give us a lift?" + +The old man pulled in his horses and regarded her sourly. + +"What'll you pay?" he demanded. + +"What's in them crates," she parried. + +"Eggs." The response was laconic. "What you gittin' at, sis?" + +"Who unloads them when you git to where you're goin'?" Lou persisted. + +"At the Riverburgh dock? I do, unless I'm late, an' then I have to give +a couple o' them loafers around there a quarter apiece to help. I'm late +to-day, an' if you ain't got any money to ride--Giddap!" + +But Lou halted him determinedly. + +"If you'll give me and Jim--I mean my brother--a ride, he'll unload the +crates for you for nothin' when we git there. You'll be savin' fifty +cents, and the ride won't cost you nothin'." + +"Well"--the old man considered for a moment--"I'll do it, if it's only +to spite them fellers that's allus hangin' 'round the docks. Reg'lar +robbers, they be. Quarter apiece, an' chicken-feed gone up the way't is. +Git in." + +Jim had overtaken the wagon in time to hear the end of the brief +conversation, and he wasted no further time in parley, but hoisted Lou +up over the wheel and climbed in beside her. + +As the reluctant horses started off once more the driver turned to him: + +"Hope you're a hustler, young man; got to git them eggs off the wagon in +a jiffy when we git to Riverburgh, in time to ketch the boat. Don't you +try no scuttlin' off on me after I give you the ride; Riverburgh's a +reg'lar city, an' they's a policeman on the docks." + +"I'll keep the bargain my sister made for me," Jim answered shortly. He +had observed the poultry-farm from which the old man had started, with +its miserable little hovel of a house and immense spread of +chicken-runs, and drawn his own conclusions as to the character of its +owner. "You needn't be afraid I'll shirk." + +"Well," grumbled the other, "I don't hold with pickin' up tramps in the +road, but I'm sick of handin' out good money to them loafers at the dock +to unload, an' I ain't got a hired man to take along no more; they're +allus lazy, good-for-nothin' fellers that eat more'n they work out, let +alone their wages goin' sky-hootin'!" + +"But you must be making a handsome profit, with the price of eggs going +up, too, all the time," Jim remarked. + +The old man gave him a sly glance. + +"That's how you look at it," he replied. "They oughter go up twice the +price they be. My wife's doin' the hired man's work now, an' she's allus +pesterin' me to git an incubator, but them things cost a powerful sight +of money, an' I don't hold with new-fangled notions; too much resk to +them. You can allus sell hens when they git too old to set or lay, but +what're you going to do with a wore-out incubator?" + +He cackled shrilly at his own witticism and then grew morose again. "The +way things is, there ain't no profit skeercely in nothin'." + +They jogged along drowsily through the slumberous heat, while the old +man continued his harangue against the cost of everything except his own +commodity, and the underfed horses strained to drag their burden over +the hilly road. The mountains had been left behind, and all over the +rolling hillsides about them on either hand the vineyards stretched in +undulating lines, each heavy with the load of purpling grapes. + +Mile after mile passed slowly beneath the creaking wheels of the wagon; +noon came, and still Riverburgh remained tantalizingly ahead. At last, +on the rise of a hill, the old man pulled up and pointed with his whip +to the spreading sweep of brick buildings fronting on the river's edge +below. + +"There's the town," he announced, adding, with a touch of regret: "We're +ahead of time, after all, an' I could have unloaded by myself. Well, it +don't matter noways except for the extra drag on the horses. Giddap!" + +"There's--there's an ottermobile comin' up behind," Lou ventured. "They +been tootin' at you for some time, mister." + +"Let 'em," the old man cackled shrilly once more. "I've been drivin' on +these roads afore them things was heard of, an' I don't calc'late to +turn out for 'em." + +The warning of the siren sounded again disturbingly close, and the rush +of the oncoming car could be plainly heard. Jim glanced at the old man, +and, noting the stubborn set of his jaw, said nothing; but Lou spoke +again, and her voice held no note of alarm, but rather indignation at +the obvious lack of fair play. + +"But they got a right; you're on their side of the road," she exclaimed. +"If you'd give them their half, mister, they could pass easy." + +"Don't calc'late to let 'em," he responded obstinately. "Ain't goin' to +take their dust if I kin help it." + +Deliberately he tugged on the left reins and headed the team straight +across the road. Lou gave a quick glance over the side of the wagon and +behind, and then gripped Jim's arm. He turned and caught one glimpse of +her set face, and then with a roar and a grinding crash they both felt +themselves lifted into the air and landed in some golden, slimy fluid in +the ditch. + +"Lou, are you hurt?" Jim tried to wipe the clinging stuff from his eyes +and ears with his sleeve. "Where are you?" + +The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses' hoofs down the hill, and the +old man's vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of +the rest of the entourage even before Lou replied. + +"Not hurt a mite, but I'm laughin'!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Oh, +Jim, you--you should have seen it. That ottermobile hit square in the +middle of the wagon, and there ain't--isn't--a single egg----" + +"Here, you!" the old man, dripping from head to foot with the golden +slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim's arm. "Come on an' help me +to ketch them horses! What'd I bring you along for? Let the girl be, I +don't ker if her neck's broke! I got to lodge a complaint against them +rascals, an' have 'em stopped! You're my witnesses that they run into +me, an' I'll make 'em pay a pretty penny----" + +"I care whether my sister's neck is broken or not!" Jim retorted grimly. +"Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and it looks as if +the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you're all right?" + +The old man danced up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg +about him. + +"We'll see about that," he shrilled. "You come along with me! You're my +witnesses----" + +"We'll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the road, +and knew it," Jim helped Lou to her feet. "They warned you, and you +wouldn't turn out." + +With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the +road, and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim's slippery sleeve. + +"Don't mind him," she gasped. "Old skinflint! Oh, Jim, you l-look like +an omelet." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Red Note-Book + + +For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their +situation was borne in upon him, and his face sobered. + +"It's the kind of an omelet that won't come off in a hurry, I'm afraid," +he said. "How on earth are we going to walk into Riverburgh like this?" + +It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou's laughter +ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her. + +"We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that's all," she +replied practically. "Most anybody would let you do that, I guess, if +you told them what happened, an' if you can't ask--why, I kin. Anybody +'cept a mean old thing like that! I s'pose I ought to be sorry that his +wagon's broke an' his eggs are all over us instead of where they was +goin', but I'm not a mite. Long's he wasn't hurt, I'm kinder glad." + +"Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent +of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way," +Jim observed. "The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when +he said he didn't care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn't +have helped him if I could." + +"'Goat'?" Lou repeated. + +Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded +gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing +them, stopped, with one hand at her breast. + +"Oh!" she gasped. "There's wasn't anyone hurt, was there? I saw the +accident from my porch, and I came just as quick as I could." + +Jim explained, and the woman listened, wide-eyed. + +"You both come straight along with me," she invited when he had +finished. "I'll lend you some overalls, and you and the little girl can +just sit around while your clothes dry." + +She led the way back to a tiny but very neat cottage, with flowers +blooming in the door-yard and a well-tended truck-garden in the rear. +Broad hay-fields stretched on either side, but only two little boys were +visible, tossing the hay awkwardly with pitchforks almost bigger than +they were themselves. + +The woman left them standing for a minute on the back porch, and then +came out to them, bearing a cake of soap, a towel, and a pair of +overalls and shirt, which, although immaculately clean, bore many +patches and darns, and were deeply creased, as though they had been laid +away a long time. + +"Take these down to the barn." She handed them to Jim. "You'll find a +spigot there, and cold water's best for egg-stains. I left some rags in +the empty box-stall that you can use to clean your shoes, and then, if +you'll give me your clothes that you've got on now, I'll soak them and +get them out while the sun's high; corduroy takes a long time to dry." + +When Jim had expressed his gratitude and departed for the barn, the +woman led Lou into the kitchen, and, providing her also with clean +garments, she dragged a wash-tub out on the porch. + +"I--if you'll let me, I'd like to wash my own things and Jim's." Lou +appeared shyly in the door in a gown several sizes too large for her. +"He'd like it, too, I think, and he can help with the hayin' till the +things git dried out enough, so's we kin go on." + +"Oh, would he?" the woman asked quickly. "I'd pay him well if he's +looking for work; I can't get any hands, though I've tried, and the hay +is rotting for want of being turned. I didn't think I'd seen you two +around here before, but I've known old Mr. Weeble always." + +"You mean that--that with the egg-wagon? He was givin' us a lift into +Riverburgh; we're just traveling through," Lou added shortly. + +"Did he pick you up back near his place?" At Lou's nod the woman +exclaimed: "Then you two haven't had a bite of dinner! You put your +things to soak and I'll go right in the house and get you up a little +something; it's past two." + +Lou started to protest, but the woman disappeared into the kitchen, and +Jim appeared from the barn. He was attired in a shirt which strained at +his broad shoulders, and overalls which barely reached his shoe-tops. + +The girl noticed something else also as he turned for a moment to look +toward the field where the little boys were so valiantly at work; a +red-leather note-book, which she had never known that he carried, bulged +now from the all too small overall-pocket. + +"You can bet I'll pitch hay for her till sundown," he declared, when Lou +had explained the situation to him. He dropped beside the tub the bundle +of egg-soaked clothing which he carried, and added: "It is mighty good +of her to do all this for us, isn't it? I tell you, Lou, the credit side +of the list is going up even if it did have a bit of a jolt this +morning, and you're the biggest item on it." + +This speech was wholly unintelligible to the girl, but she bent over the +tub without reply, and Jim went on hurriedly, aware that he had made a +slip of some sort. + +"I wonder where all the men of the family are? She can't get any +hands----" + +"_There_ are all the men of the family." The woman had reappeared +in time to catch his last remark, and she pointed out toward the two +small toilers with a faint smile. "There was another, their father--my +son--but he died; so we're doin' the best we can by ourselves. But +there's a little bite ready for you on the end of the kitchen-table, and +it's getting cold." + +The food tasted good, and the little red cloth beneath the dishes was +clean, but the signs of carefully concealed poverty were everywhere +visible to Jim's eyes, and he suspected another reason for the lack of +farm-hands than scarcity of labor. He hurried through his meal, and went +at once to the hay-field, while Lou, after insisting on clearing the +dishes away, went back to the wash-tub, and their hostess returned to +her own belated ironing. + +Upon the girl's usually serene brow there was a frown of perplexity as +she worked, and her thoughts were far afield, for in that backward +glance which she had given from the egg-wagon to the approaching car +just before the crash came she had recognized in its occupants the +quartet who sat in front of her at the circus the previous evening. The +ladies were closely swathed in their veils, but she remembered the +distinctive plaids of their silk coats, and the stout gentleman who sat +between them in the tonneau, with goggles and hat snatched off in the +excitement of the impending smash-up, was unmistakably the one who had +called out "Good work!" when Jim was performing on the horse. + +The other gentleman who had made up the quartet was the one who drove +the car, and her quick glance showed her that he was even then trying to +avoid the crash. + +The details had been photographed upon her brain with instantaneous +clarity, but it was not with these that her thoughts were busied; the +remark which the younger lady had made at the circus just before Jim +rode toward the exit-flap of the curtain had returned and could not be +banished from her mind: + +"Didn't he look like Jimmie Abbott?" + +Her companion had told the girl that his name was Botts, but beyond +that, and the fact that he was on the way to New York, he had vouchsafed +no further information about himself, nor had Lou asked. She could not +understand why his journey was hedged about with so many silly rules, +nor why he chose to obey them; that was his affair, and he was just a +part of this wonderful adventure which had started with her departure +from the Hess farm. + +Yet away down in her heart was a little hurt feeling for which she could +not have assigned a cause even to herself. Of course she trusted him, +and he would not have lied to her, but could there really be another +"Jim" in the world who looked quite like him, and whose name was so +nearly the same? + +She had sensed instinctively, and the more clearly perhaps because of +her lack of worldly experience, that he was different, not only from +herself, but from all whom they had encountered upon their journey, yet +could he really be that grand young lady's "Jimmie," after all? + +As she stepped aside to lift the basket into which the sodden garments +had fallen from the wringer, her foot chanced to crunch upon something +that yielded with a crisp rustle, and she glanced down. It was the +little red note-book which she had seen in Jim's overall-pocket when he +came from the barn; it must have fallen out as he crossed the porch to +go to the hay-field. + +It had opened, and the front cover was pressed back, with the stamp of +her heel, showing plainly upon the first page, and as she stooped slowly +and picked it up Lou could not help reading the three words which were +written across it in a bold, characteristic hand: + + JAMES TARRISFORD ABBOTT + +There was something else, an address, no doubt, written below, but Lou +closed the book quickly and dropped it upon a near-by bench, as though +it burned her fingers. For a moment she stood very still with her eyes +closed and her little water-shriveled hands tightly interlocked, and in +that instant of time the happy, careless co-adventurer of the last two +marvelous days vanished, and in his place there appeared a stranger, a +man of the world, in which that young lady of the motor-car moved. + +For the first time in Lou's life a panic seized her, a desperate longing +to run away. She opened her eyes and looked across the hay-fields to +where that tall, stalwart figure worked beside the two smaller ones. +Even from that distance he looked different, somehow; he wasn't the same +Jim. + +Slowly, with a mist before her eyes she picked up the heavy basket, and, +descending the steps of the porch, spread the garments upon the +bleaching grass to dry. The glittering glories of the circus had turned +all at once to a black shadow in her memory, and she wished fervently +that she had never seen it nor those rich people who had come to make a +mock of it, but had stayed to applaud Jim. + +But why shouldn't they, even if they hadn't recognized him? He belonged +to their world, not hers. Then a new, inexpressibly forlorn thought came +to her; what was her world, anyway? She didn't belong anywhere; there +was no place for her unless she made one for herself, some time. + +With that, in spite of this strange, new weariness which dragged at her +heart, Lou's indomitable spirit reasserted itself, and her small teeth +clamped together. She _would_ make herself a place somewhere, +somehow. + +Returning to the house, she took the ironing from her tired hostess's +hands, and worked steadily until at sundown the high treble of childish +voices came to her ears, and Jim's merry, laughing tones in reply sent a +quick stab through her, but she put down the iron and went determinedly +out on the porch. + +The two little boys came shyly on up the steps, but Jim had paused to +feel of his coat, as it lay on the grass, and looked ruefully at her. + +"It's wet still, I'm afraid," she remarked composedly, as she picked up +the red note-book and held it out to him. "Is this yourn? It looks as +though it must have dropped out of your pocket an' somebody stepped on +it." + +If the girl noted the swift change which came over his face she gave no +sign as he came forward and took the book from her hands. + +"Yes, it's mine." He opened and closed it again, and then looked up +uncertainly into her face as she stood on the steps above him, but Lou +was gazing in seeming serenity out over the fields, which were still +shimmering in the last rays of the sun. "I--I'll tell you about this +some time, Lou. It's funny." + +"What's funny?" she asked, with a little start, as though he had +interrupted some train of thought of her own, far removed from hateful +little red books. + +"If you think it's goin' to be funny to travel in wet clothes to-night, +just wait till you git started." + +But they did not start upon their journey again that night, after all. +Their kindly hostess insisted upon their remaining until the morning, at +least, and when the supper dishes were cleared away Lou wandered off by +herself down the little lane which led to the pasture. + +There would be three days more, and then their journey's end. Upon one +thing she had decided: there would be no school for her! She was going +to work as quickly as she could find something to do. Mr. James Abbott +must be paid back for the little pink-checked frock and the hat with the +green bow, and then she would drop from his sight. Surely in that great +city, with its hundreds and hundreds of people, she would be able to +disappear. + +Reaching the pasture, she stood at the gate with her arms resting upon +the topmost rail, and was so deep in reflection that she did not hear a +step behind her until a hand touched her shoulder, and Jim's voice asked +quietly: + +"What are you doing off here by yourself, Lou? Mrs. Bemis didn't know +what had become of you, and I've been looking everywhere." + +"I dunno," Lou answered truthfully enough. "I been thinkin' 'bout the +institootion where I come from; it was seein' them little boys put me in +mind of it, I reckon. I was kinder wonderin' what it would be like to +really belong to anybody." + +There was neither pathos nor self-pity in her tone, but rather a cold, +dispassionate speculation that froze the words of awkward sympathy which +rose to his lips, and he remained silent. + +"I did once, you know," she continued, "belong to some--body, I mean. I +had on a white dress all trimmed with lace when they found me in the +station at the junction an' took me up to the institootion; it was the +only white dress I ever had." + +"Where was this institution, Lou?" Jim asked. "You've never told me, you +know." + +Lou shrugged. + +"Oh, it was 'way up at a place called Mayfield's Corners; I was most +three hours on the train before I got to the station nearest Hess's +farm." + +A vicious desire came over her to shock and repulse that inexplicable +thing in him which set him apart from her and made him one with the +world in which those others moved; that stout gentleman and the young +lady who had called him Jimmie. She added deliberately: + +"I told you what I did there--at the institootion, I mean: scrubbed an' +cooked an' washed an' tended babies an' wore a uniform, just like any +other norphin, I guess. Slep' in the garret with the rats runnin' over +the floor, an' got up in the mornin' to the same old work. It warn't a +State institootion, you see; just a kind of a charity one, run by the +deacons of the church; I ain't got much use for charity." + +"I shouldn't think you would have," he exclaimed. "But it's all behind +you now, Lou. We made fourteen miles to-day from Highvale--or will have +when we walk down the hill to Riverburgh to-morrow, and it is only sixty +miles further to New York." + +"That's good," Lou said, but without enthusiasm. "Do we start at +sun-up?" + +"I thought I'd like to work for Mrs. Bemis for a couple of hours first +and get the hay turned in that south field," Jim answered. "She's been +so good to us, and she'll need the stuff this winter for those two old +plugs out there." + +He pointed out into the pasture, where two horses made mere blotches of +deeper shadow beneath a tree. + +Lou laughed suddenly, softly, but it seemed to him that the rippling, +liquid note had vanished. + +"What's funny?" he asked. + +"Oh, nothin'. I was just thinkin' of you last night in that circus. You +rode so--so wonderfully. I wasn't laughin' at that, but it just come to +me how funny it would have been if any of your friends was to have seen +you!" + +Jim glanced at her sharply, but in the starlight her face seemed merely +amused as at a whimsical thought. + +"Why would it have been funny?" he insisted. "Of course I never rode in +a real circus before, and I guess I was pretty rotten, but why would my +friends have laughed?" + +"I dunno." Lou dropped her arms from the fence-rail and turned away. +"Let's go back to the house. I--I'm pretty tired." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Revelations + + +The next morning was a trying one for them both. Jim felt dully that +something was the matter, but the girl's manner baffled him, and he +could not make up his mind as to whether she had glanced in the +note-book or not. It did not seem like her to do so deliberately, but if +she had he could only make things worse by broaching the subject, since +he was not at the moment in a position to explain. + +As for Lou, she was trying her best to appear her old self with him, but +dissimulation was an art in which she was as yet unversed, and her whole +nature rebelled against playing a part. Only her pride kept her from +betraying her disappointment in him and running away. She told herself +fiercely that he didn't care what she thought of him; they were only +partners met by chance on the road, and perhaps never to see each other +again after the city was reached. + +If he had lied to her about his name that was his own business, and she +would not admit even to herself that this deception was not the only +reason for the strange, hurt feeling about her heart. + +She rose at dawn, and, creeping down from the clean little room which +Mrs. Bemis had given her, she had the stove going and breakfast on the +table by the time the little family was awake, and Jim appeared from the +barn, where he had slept in the loft. + +While he worked in the field during the early morning hours, she +finished the ironing, and by ten o'clock they were ready once more to +start upon their way. + +Mrs. Bemis insisted upon paying them both for their work, but it was +only out of consideration for her pride that Jim would accept fifty +cents of the two dollars she offered him. + +"I only work for a quarter a time," he told her gravely. "One for +yesterday and one for this morning; my sister can tell you that. I--I +would like to write to you if I may when we reach home, Mrs. Bemis. Will +you tell me what address will find you? You see, I want to thank you +properly for all your kindness to us, and I don't know whether this is +the township of Riverburgh or not." + +"It's the Stilton post-office," the little woman stammered. "Of course, +I'd like to hear from both of you, but you mustn't thank me! I don't +know what I should have done without your help with the hay! And your +sister, too; I do hope you both find work where you're going." + +To Lou's amazement Jim produced the little red note-book and wrote the +address carefully in it, adding what appeared to be some figures at one +side. Then he thanked their good Samaritan and they took their leave. + +"That makes a dollar and ten cents!" he remarked confidentially as he +and Lou went down the hill road together toward the bustling little city +nestled at the river's edge. "Quite a fortune, isn't it?" + +"She gave me a quarter for helping with the ironing, too, so that's +thirty-five that I've got." Lou exhibited a hard knot tied in the corner +of her handkerchief. "I couldn't get all of the egg out of my hat, but +it's good enough. Where do we go from Riverburgh?" + +Jim gave a groan of mock despair. + +"That's the dev--I mean, the deuce of it!" he exclaimed. "We've got to +cross the river there someway, and go on down on the other side. We +can't keep on this, or we will run into New Jersey and--and I mustn't +leave the State." + +He blurted the last out in a dogged, uncomfortable way, but Lou did not +appear to notice his change of tone. + +"Well, there look to be plenty of boats goin' back an' forth," she +observed placidly. "I guess we can get over." + +"But you don't understand. I--I can't pay our way over; that's another +of the things I mustn't do." Jim flushed hotly. + +"I wish I could tell you all about it." + +"It don't make any difference." Lou kept her eyes fixed straight ahead +of her. "There ought to be some way for you to work your way across." + +The road dipped sharply, and became all at once a pleasant, tree-lined +street with pretty suburban cottages on either hand. To the east and +north hung the smoke cloud of countless factories, but their way led +them through the modest residential quarter. The street presently turned +into a paved one, and trolley lines appeared; then brick buildings and +shops, and before they knew it they were in the busy, crowded business +thoroughfare. + +Lou would have paused, gaping and wondering if New York could be +anything like this, but Jim hurried her down the steep, cobbled way +which led to the ferry. Once there, he took her to a seat in the +waiting-room. + +"Sit here and wait for me," he directed. "I'm going to run back up to +the shops and get some provisions for us to carry along, and then I'll +arrange about getting across. I shan't be long." + +When he came down the hill again some twenty minutes later laden with +packages, he found Lou waiting for him at the door of the ferry-house, +with a little exultant smile about her lips. + +"Come on," she commanded shortly. "I've fixed it for us to get over, but +we gotta hurry. The boat's a'most ready to start." + +"How in the world----" he began, but without deigning to explain she led +him to the gate. It was only after he had perforce preceded her that he +saw her hand two tickets to the officials at the turnstile. + +"Lou!" he exclaimed reproachfully. + +"Well, it's all right, isn't it?" she demanded. "You kin ride if anybody +asks you, can't you? I'm invitin' you to ride on this boat with me, Mr. +Botts!" + +In spite of her assumed gaiety, however, the trip across the river was a +silent one, and when the landing was reached and they hurried out of the +settlement to the open country once more, both were acutely aware that +the intangible rift was widening. It was as though they walked on +opposite sides of the road, and neither could bridge the distance +between. + +Both doggedly immersed in their own reflections, they walked on rapidly +in spite of the heat and with no thought of time or distance until Jim +realized that his companion was lagging, and glanced up to see that the +sun had started well upon the western trail. + +"By Jove! You must be almost starved!" he cried. "I never thought--why +didn't you wake me out of this trance I seem to have been in, and tell +me it was long past time for chow? We must have walked miles!" + +"I didn't think, either." Lou glanced about her wearily. "I don't see +any house, but I kinder think I hear a little brook somewhere, don't +you? Let's find it, an' then hurry on; if we've got to do sixty miles by +the day after to-morrow we got to be movin' right steady." + +They found the little brook, and ate of their supplies and drank +heartily, for they were both famished by the long walk, but all the +carefree joyousness seemed to have gone out of the adventure, and when +Lou discovered that the knot in the corner of her handkerchief had +become untied and the remainder of her capital was gone, it appeared to +be the last cloud needed to immerse her in gloom. + +Her feet were blistered and every muscle ached with fatigue, but she +shook her head when Jim asked if she were too tired to go on, and limped +determinedly out into the road after him. She had accepted his +companionship to New York, and she would drop in her tracks before she +would be a drag on him and prevent his reaching there in the time which +was so mysteriously important to him. + +A mile farther on, however, an empty motor van picked them up, and +seated at the back with her feet hanging over, Lou promptly fell asleep, +her head sagging unconsciously against Jim's shoulder. He did not touch +her, but moved so that her head should fall into a more comfortable +position, and looked down with new tenderness at the tow-colored hair. +The ridiculous, outstanding braid was gone, and instead, a soft knot +appeared low on the slender, sun-burned neck, with tiny tendrils of +curls escaping from it. + +What a game little sport she had proved herself to be! He wondered how +many girls of his own set would have had the courage and endurance for +such a test. Then to his own amazement he found himself thinking of them +with a certain sense of disparagement, almost contempt. They would not +have had the moral courage, let alone physical endurance. + +Of course, this sort of vagabondage would be outrageous and utterly +impossible from a conventional standpoint, but with Lou it had been a +mere venture into Arcady, as innocent as the wanderings of two children. +And Saturday it must end! + +At the outskirts of Parksville he called to the good-natured truckman +who sat behind the wheel, and the latter obligingly put on the brakes. + +"My sister and I don't want to go right into the town, so we'll get out +here if you don't mind," Jim said. "This lift has been a godsend, and I +can't thank you, but I've got the name of the company you're working for +in New York and I'll drop around some night when I'm flush and you're +knocking off, and we'll see if the old burg is as dry as it's supposed +to be." + +"You're on!" The driver grinned. "Got a job waitin' for yer? We need +some helpers." + +"I've got a job." Jim thought of that "job" in the mahogany-lined suite +of offices which bore his name on the door, but he did not smile. "I'll +look you up soon. Come on, Lou; here's where we change cars." + +She rubbed her eyes and gazed about her bewilderedly in the gathering +darkness as he lifted her to the ground and the truck rumbled off. + +"Where--where are we now?" she asked sleepily. + +"Just outside Parksville; see those lights over there?" he replied. "We +must have walked more than ten miles before that motor van came along, +so it isn't any wonder that you were tired, even if you wouldn't admit +it. Just think, nineteen miles to-day!" + +He was wondering, even as he spoke, what they were to do for the night. +He had not enough money to secure even the humblest of lodgings for her, +and he knew that if they ventured as vagrants into the town they would +be in danger of apprehension by the authorities. But Lou solved the +question quite simply. + +"Isn't that big thing stickin' up in that field a haystack? I--I'd like +a piece of that sponge cake that's left from what we ate at noon, and +then crawl in there an' sleep straight through till to-morrow," she +declared. "Did you want to go on any further to-night?" + +"Heavens, no. I was just wondering--I don't see why it couldn't be +done," he replied somewhat haltingly. "There isn't any house near, and I +don't think anything will hurt you." + +The latter probability seemed of no moment to Lou. She fell asleep again +with her sponge cake half eaten, and he picked her up and nestled her in +the hay as though she were in very truth a child. Then, as on the first +night at the deserted mill near Hudsondale, he sat down at the foot of +the haystack, on guard. + +It was well for them, however, that the haying was done in that +particular field, and no farmer appeared from the big white house just +over the hill, for in spite of his most valiant efforts Jim, too, +slumbered, and it was broad day when he awoke. + +Lou had vanished from the haystack, but he found her at a little spring +in a strip of woodland on the other side of the road, and they +breakfasted hastily, conserving the last fragments of food for their +midday meal, and started off. + +They had left the last chimney of Parksville well behind them when Jim +suddenly observed: + +"You're limping, Lou. Let me see your shoes." + +She drew away from him. + +"It's nothin'," she denied. "My shoes are all right. I--I must've slept +too long last night an' got sort of stiffened up." + +The freckles were swamped in a deep flood of color, but Jim repeated +insistently: "Hold up your foot, Lou." + +Reluctantly she obeyed, disclosing a battered sole through the worn +places of which something green showed. + +"I--I stuffed it with leaves," she confessed, defensively. "They're real +comfortable, honestly. I'm just stiff----" + +Jim groaned. + +"I suppose they will have to do until we reach the next town, but you +should have told me." + +"I kin take care of myself," Lou asserted. "I've walked in pretty near +as bad as these in the institootion. We'd better get along to where +there's some houses 'cause it looks to me like a storm was comin' up." + +The sun was still blazing down upon them, but it was through a murky +haze, and the air seemed lifeless and heavy. Great, white-crested +thunder heads were mounting in the sky, and behind them a dense +blackness spread. + +"You're right; I never noticed----" Jim paused guiltily. After leaving +the vicinity of Parksville he had purposely led her on a detour back +into the farming country to avoid the main highway, for along the river +front were the estates of some people he knew and he shrank from meeting +them in his tramplike condition if they should motor past. There was +Lou, too, to be considered. He might have offered some possible +explanation for his own appearance, but no interpretation could be +placed upon her presence at his side save that which he must prevent at +all costs. + +Rolling fields and woodland stretched away illimitably on both sides of +the road, and not even a cow shed appeared as they hurried onward, while +the clouds mounted higher, and the rumble of thunder grew upon the air. +The sun had vanished, and a strange, anticipatory stillness enveloped +them, broken only by that hollow muttering. + +"It's comin' up fast." Lou broke the silence with one of her seldomly +volunteered remarks. "Shall we git into the woods? I'd as lief dodge +trees as be drowned in the road." + +"No!" Jim shook his head. "There is some kind of a shack just ahead +there; I think we can make it before the storm comes." + +They were fairly running now, but the darkness was settling fast and a +fork of lightning darted blindingly across their path. The object which +Jim had taken for a shack proved to be merely a pile of rotting +telegraph poles, but no other shelter offered, and they crouched in the +lee of it, awaiting the onslaught of rain. + +"Take this, Lou." Jim wrapped his coat about her in spite of her +protestations. "You're not afraid, are you?" + +"No, I ain't--I'm not--but you're goin' to get soaked through! I heard +you coughin' once or twice at the bottom of that haystack last night." +He thrilled unconsciously to the motherliness in her tone. Then she +added reflectively: "I don't guess I'm afraid of anythin' I've seen yet, +but I ain't--I haven't seen much." + +She ended with a sharp intake of her breath as a sudden gust of wind +whirled the dust up into their faces and another streak of white light +flashed before their eyes. Then with a rush and roar the storm burst. + +The woods marched straight down to the roadside at this point, and the +trees back of the heap of poles moaned and writhed like tortured +creatures while great branches lashed over their heads with now and then +an ominous crackle, but it was lost in the surge of the winds and the +ceaseless crash and roar of the thunder. Jagged forks of lightning +played all about them like rapiers of steel, and at last the rain came. + +The brim of Lou's hat, hopelessly limp since its cleansing of the +previous day, now flopped stringily against her face until she tore it +off and gasping, buried her head in her arms as the sheets of rain +pelted down. Jim's coat was sodden, and the thin cotton gown beneath +clung to her drenched body, but she crouched closer to the poles while +each volley of thunder shook her as with invisible hands. + +Her lashes were glued to her cheeks, but she forced them open and turned +to see how Jim was faring. He had flattened himself against the poles at +their farther end, and just as she looked his way a flash of lightning +seemed to split the air between them and the huge old tree which reared +its branches just above his head, snapped like a dry twig beneath some +giant heel. + +Lou saw the great oak totter and then sway, while a sickening swirl of +branches filled the air, and scarcely conscious of her own act she +hurled herself upon Jim. With all the strength borne of her terror she +pushed him from the heap of poles, sending him rolling out into the +middle of the road, to safety. Then she tried to spring after him, but a +hideous, waiting lethargy seemed to encompass her, and then with a +mighty crash the tree fell athwart the poles. + +Half stunned by the unexpected onslaught upon him and the rending blast +of the falling tree, Jim lay motionless for an instant, then with a +sharp cry sprang to his feet and turned to look for Lou, but the pile of +telegraph poles was hidden beneath a broad sweep of branches and across +the place where she had crouched the great trunk of the tree lay prone. + +"Lou!" The cry burst from his very heart as he sprang forward and began +to tear frantically at the stout limbs which barred his way. "Oh, God, +she isn't crushed! Don't take her now, she's so little and young, and I +want her, I need her so! God!" + +He was unconscious that he was praying aloud, unconscious of the words +which issued sobbingly from his lips. He tugged and tore at the branches +while the skin ripped like ribbons from his hands and the boughs whipped +back to raise great welts upon his face. + +He was unconscious, too, of a stir at the other side of the fallen tree +and a rustle of sodden leaves, as, very much after the manner of a +prairie dog emerging from his hole, Lou crawled out into the rain, and +sitting up, sneezed. + +At the sound of that meek sternutation Jim whirled about. + +"Lou!" + +"Jim! Oh, Jim! You're not killed!" A muddy, bedraggled little figure +that once had been pink and white flew straight to him, and two soft +arms swept about him and clung convulsively. "I seen it comin', an'--an' +I tried to shove you out of the way----" + +"Thank God, little girl! Thank God you aren't hurt!" he murmured +brokenly. "I thought the tree had fallen on you!" + +"Only the boughs of it, but they held me down. Oh, Jim, if you'd been +killed I wouldn't 'a' cared what happened to me!" + +His heart leaped, and his own arms tightened about her at the naive, +unconscious revelation which had issued from her lips. Then all at once +he realized what it had meant, that hideous feeling of loss when he +thought that she lay buried beneath the tree. It had come to them both, +revealed as by a flash of the lightning which was now traveling toward +the east, and in the wonder and joy of it he held her close for a moment +and then put her gently from him. + +Sternly repressing the words which would have rushed from his heart, he +said quietly: + +"Thank God we were both spared. Come, little Lou, we must find shelter." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Journey's End + + +The rain had ceased, and as they walked down the muddy road the sun came +out even before the final mutterings of the thunder had died away in the +distance, and so they came at last upon a little house which sat well +back among a group of dripping trees. + +"Take your coat, Jim," Lou said, breaking a long silence which had +fallen between them. "That porch is so wet now that we can't get it any +wetter an' I'm goin' to ask for a chance to get dry." + +But they had scarcely passed through the gate when the front door opened +and a young woman rushed out. + +"Oh! Will you run to the next house for me and telephone for the +doctor?" she cried, all in one breath. Her eyes were staring and her +breast heaved convulsively. + +Jim quickened his pace. + +"Where is the next house, and what doctor shall I send for?" he asked +pleasantly. + +"It's just over the ridge there; the Colberts. They know Dr. Blair's +number. My husband would go himself but he can't step on his hurt foot +and I don't dare leave. Tell the Colberts that it's the baby! He's +dying, and I don't know what to do!" + +Jim turned, and hurried off over the ridge, but Lou took a step forward. + +"Baby! I've been takin' care of babies all my life, seems like. You let +me look at it, ma'am." + +"Oh, do you think you could do anything, a little thing like you?" + +The young woman eyed the forlornly drenched figure before her rather +doubtfully, but something she read in Lou's steady, confident gaze +seemed to reassure her, and she threw wide the door. "Come in, please! +He's all blue." + +Lou unceremoniously pushed past her down the clean little hallway and +paused for a moment upon the threshold of the room at its end. It was a +kitchen, small, but as immaculately clean as the hall, and in a +rocking-chair near the window sat an anxious-eyed young man with his +bandaged foot up on another chair before him, and in his arms a tiny, +rigid little form. + +Lou went straight to him and unceremoniously possessed herself of the +baby. + +Its small face was waxen, with a bluish tinge about the mouth, and +half-closed, glazing eyes. + +"How long's it been like this?" Lou demanded sharply. + +"Only just a few minutes. It--it seemed like a sort of fit that he had." +The young woman turned to her husband. "Jack, this little girl stopped +by and said she knew all about babies, and the man with her, he's gone +for----" + +"I want some hot water, quick!" Lou interrupted the explanations +brusquely. "Boiling hot, and a tub or a big pan. Have you got the kettle +on?" + +"Y-yes, but I'm afraid I've let the fire go out," the woman faltered. "I +was so worried----" + +With an exclamation of impatience Lou rewrapped the baby which she had +been examining and thrust it into the man's arms. Then turning to the +woman with exasperation in her eyes and voice she demanded: + +"I s'pose you can find some dry chips, somewhere, can't you? If I don't +get this baby into a hot bath right away it'll be all up with him." + +The woman gasped, and ran out of the back door while the young man in +the chair groaned: + +"It's awful to sit here helpless and watch him suffer! If I could only +put my foot to the floor----" + +"How old is he, anyway?" Lou, who was busily searching the shelf of +groceries, asked over her shoulder. "He looks to be under a year." + +"Ten months, miss," he answered. "What do you think is the matter with +him?" + +"Convulsion," Lou replied succinctly, as the woman rushed in once more +with her apron full of chips. "Git some more, it don't matter how you +clog the stove with wood ashes; we gotta git boilin' water as quick as +we kin." + +Meanwhile Jim found the Colbert house, explained his mission, and having +accomplished it, hastened back. He pulled the bell, but no one came, and +knocking, found that the door yielded to his touch. Entering, he went +down the hall and paused at the kitchen door just as the woman +stammered: + +"I d-don't think there are any dry kindlings left." + +"Then chop some! Ain't you got any old boxes? Oh, Jim!" Lou caught sight +of him in the doorway. "Find a hatchet and some light, dry wood, will +you?" + +The fire was roaring in the stove at last, but the water was long in +boiling, and the little figure in the man's arms seemed to be undergoing +a subtle but inevitable change. His lips were still parted, but no +faintest stir of breath emanated from them, and the rigidity had taken +on a marble-like cast. + +The mother bent over him, moaning once more, but Lou turned upon her in +swift scorn. + +"For goodness' sake, where's that tub or pan I asked you for? He's got a +chance, a _good_ chance if you don't waste any more time! What you +been givin' him, anyway?" she added, as the woman flew to do her +bidding. + +"Nothing but a little green corn. He relishes it, and it's so cute to +see him try to chew it----" + +"Green corn!" Lou repeated, as she seized the heavy kettle and began +pouring its steaming contents into the tub. "Ain't _nobody_ in your +family ever had any babies before?" + +She hastily added to the tub a quantity of yellowish powder from a can +which she had found upon the shelf of groceries, and marched +determinedly over to the man who was seated in the chair. + +"Give me that baby!" she demanded. + +"But, miss, that water's boiling!" he gasped. + +"You're not going to put my baby in that?" The woman came quickly from +her apathy of dismay and sprang forward, while Jim, too, advanced, his +anxiety for another reason. + +"Lou! You'll blister yourself horribly----" + +"Let me alone, all of you!" Lou turned upon them even as she stripped +the wrappings from the child. "Haven't I done this a hundred times? He +ain't even goin' to feel the heat of the mustard, he's so far gone! I +guess I know what I'm doin'!" + +The woman buried her face in her hands with a sob, and even Jim turned +away his eyes, but no one thought to interfere further with the assured +little nurse. There was a splash of water, a little gasp from Lou, and +then after a period which seemed interminable her matter-of-fact voice +remarked: + +"He's comin' round." + +The tiny body was scarcely tinged with pink, but it had lost its +dreadful rigidity, and a faint cry came from it as Lou wrapped it in a +shawl and laid it in its mother's arms. + +"He'll do now, anyway till that doctor comes." + +Amid the rejoicing of the parents Jim advanced to Lou and demanded: + +"Let me see your arms." + +"They're all right--" She tried to put them behind her as she spoke, but +he drew them forward. A network of blisters covered them almost to the +shoulders. + +"Oh, Lou! Lou!" he murmured brokenly. "What won't you do next?" + +She smiled faintly. + +"You said I'd do anything once, but I've done this lots of times +before----" + +"Well, well, good people! What's going on here?" A kindly voice sounded +from the doorway, and the woman turned with a little cry. + +"Oh, Dr. Blair, she saved the baby! Put him down in that scalding water +and held him right there with her hands, and she's burned herself +something terrible, but she saved him! I never saw a braver----" + +"Let me see." + +The doctor examined the baby with professional gravity and then looked +up. + +"I should say you did save him, young woman! I couldn't have done better +for him myself! Now let me have a look at those arms of yours." + +After he had bandaged her blisters the woman prepared food and coffee +for them all and then took Lou upstairs with her, while Jim dried his +soaking clothes by the kitchen fire and the three men talked in a +desultory way of the topics of the countryside. + +Dr. Blair had just ascertained that Jim and his "sister" were strangers, +traveling toward New York, and had offered to drive them both to the +trolley line in his little car, when the woman of the house reappeared +with Lou, and Jim stared with all his eyes. + +Could this be the little scarecrow of a girl he had met on the road only +five days before; this unbelievably tall, slender young woman in the +dark blue silk gown with filmy ruffles falling about her neck and +wrists, and soft puffs of blond hair over her ears? + +"It's me, though I kin hardly believe it myself!" Lou answered his +unspoken thought. Then drawing him aside she added: "Mis' Tooker--that's +her name--gave me a pair of shoes, too, an' a hat an' five whole +dollars! Are we goin' to a place called Pelton?" + +Jim nodded. + +"That is where I hoped we would be by to-night, but it must be at least +twelve miles away." + +"Well, Mis' Tooker says the trolley goes right into Pelton, and she gave +me a letter to a friend of hers there who'll take us in for the +night----" + +The doctor interrupted with an intimation of another patient to be +visited, and they bade farewell to the grateful young couple and started +away. The sun was still high, and save for the mud which splashed up +with each turn of the wheels, all traces of the storm had vanished. + +"Jennie Tooker always was a fool!" Dr. Blair grumbled. "How many babies +have you taken care of, young woman?" + +"More'n twenty, I guess, off an' on," Lou responded. "I--I used to work +in an institootion up-State." + +Fearing further revelations, Jim hastily took a hand in the +conversation, and he and the doctor chatted until the trolley line was +reached. There, when they had descended from the little car Lou turned +to Jim and asked a trifle shyly: + +"You--you're goin' to let me ask you to ride, aren't you? You bought all +the food in Riverburgh, you know." + +"And you seem to have financed all the rest of the trip," he said with a +rueful laugh. "I thought, when you suggested that we should travel +together, I would be the one to take care of you, but it has been the +other way around. Oh, Lou, I've so much to say to you when we reach our +journey's end!" + +They arrived at Pelton before dark and found Mrs. Tooker's friend, who +ran a small boarding-house for store employees, and was glad to take +them in at a dollar a head. Lou disappeared after supper, and although +Lou waited long for him on the little porch, he did not return until +through sheer fatigue she was forced to go to bed. + +In the morning, however, when they met before breakfast in the lower +hall he jingled a handful of silver in his pocket. + +"However did you git it?" she demanded. + +"Garage," he responded succinctly. "Didn't know I was a chauffeur, did +you, Lou?" + +A peculiar little smile hovered for a moment about her lips, but she +merely remarked: + +"I thought you wouldn't only take a quarter----" + +"For each job," he interrupted her. "A lot of cars came in that needed +tinkering with after the storm, and they were short of hands. I made +more than two dollars, and we'll ride in state into Hunnikers!" + +Lou made no reply, but after breakfast she drew him out on the little +porch. + +"Jim, I--I'm not goin' on." + +"What!" he exclaimed. + +"The woman that runs this place, she--she wants a girl to help her, an' +I guess I'll stay." Lou's tones were none too steady, and she did not +meet his eyes. "I--I don't believe I'd like New York." + +"You, a servant here?" He took one of her hands very gently in his. "I +didn't mean to tell you until we were nearly there, and as it is, there +is a lot that I can't tell you even now, but this much I want you to +know. You're not going to work any more, Lou. You're going to a lovely +old lady who lives in a big house all by herself, and there you are +going to study and play until you are really grown up, and know as much +as anybody." + +She smiled and shook her head. + +"This is the sort of place for me, Jim. I wasn't meant for anythin' +else, an' if I should live to be a hundred I could never know as much as +that lady at the circus who called you 'Jimmie Abbott.'" + +"What--" Jim exploded for the second time. + +"At least, she said you looked like him, and if she didn't know you were +in Canada----" + +"Good Lord! What was she doing there?" + +"She was with another lady an' two gentlemen, an' I guess they come in +an ottermobile," Lou explained. "They was in one the next day, +anyway--the one that slammed into the egg-wagon." + +She described in detail the two occurrences, and added miserably: + +"I didn't mean to tell you, Jim, but as long as I'm not goin' on with +you I might as well. It was me that walked on your note-book back there +on Mrs. Bemis's porch. It had fallen open on the floor, an' when I +picked it up I couldn't help seein' the name that was written across the +page. It was your own business, of course, if you didn't want to give +your real name to anybody----" + +"Listen, Lou." He had caught her other hand now and was holding them +both very tightly. "You _are_ going on with me! I can't explain now +about my name, but it doesn't matter; nothing matters except that you +are not going to be a quitter! You said that you would go on to New York +with me, and you're going to keep your word." + +"I know better now," she replied quietly. "It's--it's been a wonderful +time, but I've got to work an' earn my keep an' try to learn as I go +along. It isn't just exactly breakin' my word; I didn't realize----" + +"Realize what?" he demanded as she hesitated. + +"I thought at first that you were kinder like me; it wasn't until I saw +that lady an' found you were a friend of hers, that I knew you were +different." + +Her eyes were still downcast, and now a tinge of color mounted in her +cheeks. "I couldn't bear to have you take me to that other lady in the +city and be a-ashamed of me----" + +"Ashamed of you!" he repeated, and something in his tone deepened the +color in her cheeks into a crimson tide. "Lou, look at me!" + +Obediently she raised her eyes for an instant; then lowered them again +quickly, and after a pause she said in a very small voice: + +"All right, Jim. I--I'll go. I guess I wouldn't just want to be a--a +quitter, after all." + +It was mid-afternoon when they walked into Hunnikers and although they +had come ten long miles with only a stop for a picnic lunch between, +they bore no traces of fatigue. Rather they appeared to have been +treading on air, and although Jim had scrupulously avoided any further +reference to the future, there was a certain buoyant assurance about him +which indicated that in his own mind, at least, there remained no room +for doubt. + +He needed all the assurance he could muster as, after ensconcing Lou at +the soda counter in the drug-store, he approached the telephone booth +farthest from her ears and closed the door carefully behind him. Lou +consumed her soda to its last delectable drop, glanced down anxiously at +the worn, but spotless, little silk gown to see if she had spilled any +upon it, and then wandered over to the showcase. + +Jim's voice came to her indistinguishably once or twice, but it was a +full half-hour before he emerged from the booth. He looked wilted but +triumphant, and he beamed blissfully as he came toward her, mopping his +brow. He suspected that at the other end of the wire a certain +gray-haired, aristocratic old lady was having violent hysterics to the +immediate concern of three maids and an asthmatic Pekinese, but it did +not disturb his equanimity. + +"It's all right," he announced. "Aunt Emmy expects you; I didn't tell +you, did I, that the lady I'm taking you to is my aunt? No matter. She's +awfully easy if you get on the right side of her; I've always managed +her beautifully ever since I was a kid, and you'll have her rolling over +and playing dead in no time. Fifteen miles more to go, Lou, and we'll +be----" + +"Hello, there, Jim." An oil-soaked and greasy glove clapped his shoulder +and as he turned, the same voice, suddenly altered, stammered: "Oh, I +beg your pardon----" + +"'Lo, Harry!" Jim turned to greet a tall, lean individual more tanned +than himself, with little, fine, weather lines about his eyes and an +abrupt quickness of gesture which denoted his hair-triggered nerves. +"What are you doing in this man's town?" + +"Motoring down from the Hilton's," the other responded. "Pete was coming +with me, but at the last minute he decided to stay over the week-end. +I'm off to Washington to-night to see about my passport; sailing next +Wednesday for Labrador, you know." + +"Then you're alone?" Jim turned. "Miss Lacey, let me present Mr. Van +Ness; he spends his time trailing all over the earth to find something +to kill. Miss Lacey is a young friend of my aunt's; I'm taking her down +to her for a visit." + +The explanation sounded somewhat involved, but Mr. Van Ness seemed to +grasp it, and bowed. + +"You're motoring, too?" he asked. + +"No. I--The fact is--" Jim stammered in his turn. "We were thinking of +taking the train----" + +"Why not let me take you both down in the car?" The other rose to the +occasion with evident alacrity. "Miss Lacy will like it better than the +train, I'm sure, and I haven't seen you for an age, old man." + +Jim accepted with a promptitude which proclaimed a mind relieved of its +final burden, and he turned to Lou. Mr. Van Ness had gone out to see to +his car, and they were alone at a far corner of the counter. + +"How about it, Lou? The last lap! The last fifteen miles. It's been a +long pull sometimes, and we've had some rough going, but it was worth +it, wasn't it?" + +Her eyes all unconsciously gave him answer even before she repeated +softly: + +"'The last lap.' Oh, Jim, shall I see you some time, at this lady's +house where you are takin' me?" + +"Every day," he promised, adding with cheerful mendacity: "I dine with +her nearly all the time; have for years. Come on, Lou. Harry's waving at +us." + +Through the village and the pleasant rolling country beyond; past huge, +wide-spreading estates and tiny cottages, and clusters of small shops +with the trolley winding like a thread between, the big maroon car sped, +while the two men talked together of many things, and the girl sat back +in her corner of the roomy tonneau and gave herself up to vague dreams. + +Then the cottages gave place to sporadic growths of brick and mortar +with more open lots between, but even these gaps finally closed, and Lou +found herself being borne swiftly through street after street of +towering houses out upon a broad avenue with palaces such as she had +never dreamed of on one side, and on the other the seared, drooping +green of a city park in late summer. + +It was still light when the big car swept into an exclusive street of +brownstone houses of an earlier and still more exclusive period, and +stopped before the proudest of these. + +Jim alighted and held out his hand. + +"Come, Lou," he said. "Journey's end." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Long, Long Trail + + +Three hours later, in that same proudly exclusive house, an elderly lady +with gray hair and an aristocratically high, thin nose paced the floor +of her drawing-room with a vigor which denoted some strong emotion. + +"I must say, John, that I think the whole affair, whatever it may be, is +highly reprehensible. I supposed James to be up in Canada on a fishing +trip when he telephoned me this morning from somewhere near town with +a--a most extraordinary message----" + +She broke off, glancing cautiously toward a room across the hall, and +added: "He said he had something to tell me, and he would be here this +evening. Now you come, and you appear to know something about it, but I +cannot get a word out of you!" + +"All I can tell you, Mrs. Abbott, is that if Jimmie does come to-night, +I've got to pay him a thousand bones--dollars, I mean. It was a sort of +a wager, and that must be what he wants to tell you about." + +It was an exceedingly stout young man with a round, cherubic countenance +standing by the mantel who replied to her, and the old lady glanced at +him sharply. + +"A wager? H-m! Possibly." She paused suddenly. "There's the bell." + +A moment later James Tarrisford Abbott, in the most immaculate of dinner +clothes, entered and greeted his aunt, halting with a slight frown as he +encountered the beaming face of the young man who fell upon him. + +"Good boy, Jimmie! You made it, after all!" + +"With a few hours to spare." Jim darted a questioning glance at his +aunt, and seemed relieved at her emphatic shake of the head. + +"I knew we'd lost when Mrs. Abbott told me that you had telephoned to +her from just a little way out of town to-day," Jack Trimble responded. +"I ran over on my way to the club to give her a message from my mother. +Did you have a hard time of it, old man?" + +"Hard?" Jim smiled. "I've been a rough-rider in a circus----" + +Mrs. Abbott groaned, but Jack Trimble's eyes opened as roundly and wide +as his mouth. + +"Thundering--So it was you after all!" + +"Me?" Jim demanded with ungrammatical haste. + +"You--rough-rider--circus!" Jack exclaimed. "Vera said the chap looked +like you, but it never occurred to me that it could possibly be!" + +"So it was Vera, was it?" Jim smiled. "I heard what she said--I mean, it +was repeated to me. You were one of that party?" + +"Yes. We were with the Lentilhons in their car, and the funniest thing +happened the next day on the way home! Crusty old farmer wouldn't turn +out on the road, and Guy Lentilhon lost control and smashed straight +through his wagon!" Jack laughed. "W-what do you think it was loaded +with?" + +"Eggs!" responded Jim crisply. "I happened to be on it at the time, my +boy, and your sense of humor--I hope you all got what I did! But I must +explain to Aunt Emmy here, or she will think that we are both quite +mad!" + +"And I must be off to the club," Jack announced. "I'll break the news to +Billy Hollis that we've lost. See you later, and we'll all settle up. +Good evening, Mrs. Abbott." + +When the stout young man had taken his departure, Mrs. Abbott turned to +her nephew between laughter and tears. + +"James, this is the maddest of all mad things that you have ever done!" + +"Jack doesn't know anything about Lou?" Jim demanded anxiously. + +"Certainly not. He has only been here a quarter of an hour, and I kept +her out of the way. But, James, you cannot be serious! You cannot mean +to marry this nameless waif?" + +"Stop right there, Aunt Emmy," he interrupted her firmly. "I'm going to +marry, if she will have me, your ward whom you have legally adopted; I +mean, you will have adopted her by the time she has grown up. But I +don't intend to be nosed out by any of these debutante-grabbers; I'm +going to have everything settled before her studies are finished and you +bring her out. I saw her first!" + +"H-m. We shall see," Aunt Emmy remarked dryly, adding: "But that can +wait for the moment. What was this ridiculous wager all about, and how +did you get into such horrible scrapes?" + +"The whole thing came out of an idle discussion Jack Trimble, Billy +Hollis and I had at the club one night concerning human nature. It +drifted into a debate about charity in general and the kindness shown +toward strangers by country folk in particular, with myself in the +minority, of course," Jim explained. + +"They each wagered me a thousand against my five hundred that I couldn't +walk from Buffalo to New York in twenty-five days with only five dollars +in my pocket to start with, and work my way home without begging nor +accepting more than a quarter for each job I managed to secure in any +one time. + +"The idea was to see how many of these hard-boiled up-State farmers we +hear so much about would offer you the hospitality reputed to be +extended only by the rural population of the South and West, and how +many would give a foot-sore and weary traveler a lift upon the way. +There were other conditions, too; I was not to use my own surname, not +to go a foot out of the State into either Pennsylvania or New Jersey. I +was not to beg, borrow, or steal, and for the occasional twenty-five +cents I might earn I could only purchase food or actual necessities, not +use it for transportation, and I must not beat my way by stealing rides +on boats or trains or any other conveyances." + +While Aunt Emmy sat staring at him in speechless amazement, Jim produced +his little red note-book and laid it before her. + +"There's the route I chose over the mountains, my expense account for +each day, and the names and addresses of the people who helped to prove +my contention that, take them by and large, the people of my own State +are as big-hearted as any in the Union, and Jack's money and Billy's +says that they are! + +"I'm going to return some of that kindness, Aunt Emmy. There are two +little boys near Riverburgh whose father is dead and who are trying to +do the farm work of men. They are going to a good school this winter, +and there are a few other people who are going to be surprised! By Jove, +I never realized what money was for until now! But best of all, I found +Lou!" + +"And what makes you so sure that I am going to adopt her and educate her +and bring her out?" demanded Aunt Emmy. "My dear boy, when you started +on this Canadian fishing trip of yours I knew that something +extraordinary would come of it, but I did not anticipate anything so +bizarre as this! Why do you think that I will interest myself in this +child?" + +"Because you won't be able to help it." His face had sobered, and there +was a note in his voice that his aunt had never heard before. "You won't +be able to help loving her when you find out how courageous she is, and +sincere and true! She is the biggest-hearted, most candid, naive +little----" + +"She is quite that!" Aunt Emmy interrupted in her turn, with emphasis. +"How I am ever to hide her away until I've had her coached not to drop +her g's, and to realize that there is a 'u' in the alphabet I don't +know, but I'll try. James--I think there are distinct possibilities +there." + +"I knew it!" Jim cried. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist her! For +the Lord's sake, Aunt Emmy, don't let them spoil her! She's so sweet and +simple-hearted, don't let them make her cynical and worldly-wise! I'll +promise not to speak to her, not to let her know how I feel until you +say that I may." + +"Will you, James?" There was a faint smile about the delicately lined +lips. "She is a child in many ways, a blank page for most impressions to +be made upon, but in other things she is very much of a woman, and I +rather fancy that what you have to tell her will not be so much of a +surprise." + +"You old dear!" Jim sprang to his feet and folded his aunt in his +embrace which threatened her coiffure. "Where is she?" + +"In the library waiting for you, Jamie!" + +She used the old nursery name, and caught his arm. "She is very young, +but the heart sometimes breaks easily then. Don't speak unless you +yourself are very sure." + +Jim smiled, and throwing back his head looked straight into the kindly +old eyes. Then without a word he turned and disappeared through the +door. + + * * * * * + +"And you're going to be happy here?" It was some time later when Jim had +explained about the wager, and they were sitting together in the +window-seat. + +"Happy? Why, Jim, I can't believe I'm awake! I'm going to study an' work +an' try my best to be like her. Seems to me it'll take the rest of my +life, but she says that in a year or two there won't anybody hardly tell +the difference." + +"And then, Lou, when the time is past? What then?" + +"I don't know." Her tone was serenely unconcerned. + +"That trail we've followed together for the last week wasn't so bad, was +it?" he asked. "You were happy in spite of the hardships?" + +"It was wonderful!" She drew a deep breath. "I--I wish we could start +again, Jim, and do it all over again, every step of the way!" + +"If you feel like that, dear, perhaps some day when you have finished +your studies we will start again on a longer trail." He took one of the +little toil-worn hands in his. "The long, long trail, Lou, only we will +be together! When that day comes, will you take the new road with me?" + +She bowed her head, and somehow he found it nestling in the hollow of +his shoulder, and his arms were about her. After a long minute, she +stirred and smiled. + +"Well--" she hesitated. "You knew from the very beginning, Jim, that I'd +do anything once!" + + THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anything Once, by Douglas Grant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANYTHING ONCE *** + +***** This file should be named 30640.txt or 30640.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/6/4/30640/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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