The Princess and Joe Potter
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The princess had no appetite for peanuts just then, and, as the readiest way of giving her guardian such information, she struck the outstretched hand with her tiny fist, sending the nuts flying in every direction.
Joe was considerably surprised that such a dainty-looking little maiden could display so much temper, but did not relax his efforts to please.
One of the sugared cakes had escaped Master Plummer's cyclonic appetite, and with this the amateur nurse tried to tempt the screaming child into silence.
The cake shared the fate of the peanuts, and the princess gave every evidence in her power of a positive refusal to be soothed.
Joe had tossed her in the air, fondled her in his arms, paced to and fro as if walking for a wager, but all without avail, and now it seemed necessary he should have assistance.
Master Plummer's rest had not been disturbed by the noise, but he rose to a sitting posture very suddenly when Joe kicked him almost roughly.
"Wha – wha – what's the matter?" he asked, blinking in the light of the candle, which was directly in front of his eyes.
"I should think you might know by this time! Can't you hear the princess?"
"I thought there'd be a row if she waked up," Master Plummer replied, in a matter-of-fact tone, and then he laid himself down again, evidently intending to continue the interrupted nap.
"See here, Plums, you can't do that!" Joe cried, sharply. "I mustn't be left alone with this poor little thing. It ain't certain but she'll die, she's so frightened."
"Don't fret yourself. She'll come out of it after a spell; all Mis' Carter's kids used to."
"But she isn't like them, I tell you! They could stand 'most anything, an' she's been raised different."
"She cries jest the same's they did."
"Look here, George Plummer, get up on your feet an' help me! This thing is growin' dangerous!"
Plums had no fear the princess would injure herself by crying; but his friend spoke so sternly that he decided it was wisest to obey the command, and a very sleepy-looking boy he was, as he stood yawning and rubbing his eyes, with an expression of discontent amounting almost to peevishness upon his face.
"There ain't anything either you or I can do. Youngsters have to yell jest about so much, – it makes 'em healthy, – an' she'll quiet down after a spell. Why don't you give her somethin' to eat?"
"I tried that, but she wouldn't take a single crumb. The trouble is, we haven't got what she wants. Now, if there was some milk in the house – "
"But there ain't, so what's the use thinkin' of that?"
"It must be near mornin', an' if there is a bakeshop anywhere 'round, you could get some."
"Do you want a feller to turn out in the night an' travel 'round the streets lookin' for milk?" Plums asked, indignantly.
"It is better to do that than have a dear little baby like this die."
"But there's no danger anything of that kind will happen. I've seen lots of worse scrapes than this, but they always ended up all right."
"Look here, Plums, will you go out an' get some milk?"
"What's the use – "
"Will you go an' get the milk?"
Just for an instant Master Plummer stood irresolute, as if questioning the necessity for such severe exertion, and then a single glance at his friend's face decided the matter.
In silence, but with a decided show of temper, the fat boy picked up one of the tomato-cans, jammed his battered hat down over his head, and stalked out of the shanty.
During this brief conversation the princess's outcries had neither ceased nor diminished in volume, and when Plums had thus unwillingly departed, it was as if she redoubled her efforts.
Unfortunately, Joe had had no experience with "old Mis' Carter's kids," and when the child's face took on a purplish hue, he was thoroughly alarmed, believing her to be dying.
"Don't, baby dear, don't! You'll kill yourself if you act this way! I'm doin' the best I know how; but the trouble is, I can't tell what you want!"
Entreaties were as useless as any of his other efforts to soothe, yet he alternately begged her to be silent, and paced to and fro with her in his arms, until, when it seemed to him that at least one whole night must have passed since she awakened, the princess tired of her exertions.
Then it was a tear-stained, grief-swollen face that he looked into, and the childish sobs which escaped her lips gave him deeper pain than had her most energetic outcries.
Believing her to be suffering severely, the big tears of sympathy rolled down Joe's face as he told her again and again of all he would do towards finding her mother when the day had come.
The princess was lying quietly in Joe's arms when Master Plummer finally returned, bringing the can of milk, and yawning as if he had been asleep during the entire journey and had but just awakened.
"Now you can see that it was jest as I said!" he exclaimed. "When youngsters start in yellin', they've got to do about so much of it, an' there's no use tryin' to stop 'em. Here I've walked all over this city huntin' for milk when I might jest as well have been sleepin'."
"It won't do you any harm, Plums, an' I honestly think the princess is hungry."
"She can't be very bad off, with Bologna, an' cakes, an' peanuts 'round. I'll bet she won't touch this."
Joe broke into the milk such fragments of cracker as remained in the cupboard-box, after which, and first wiping the spoon carefully on his coat sleeve, he began to feed the little maid.
To Master Plummer's disappointment, she ate almost greedily, and Joe said, in a tone of triumph:
"You may know a good deal 'bout Mis' Carter's babies, but you're way off when it comes to one of this kind."
"I don't know whether I am or not," and Plums laid himself down once more, falling asleep, or pretending to, almost immediately thereafter.
Having eaten with evident relish the food which had cost Plums so much labour, the princess's ill-temper vanished entirely, and she twittered and chirped to Joe until he forgot his former fears and anxieties in the love which sprang up in his heart for the tiny maid who was dependent upon him for a shelter.
The day was close at hand when the amateur nurse and his charge journeyed into dreamland for the second time, and although Joe had gained but little rest during the night, his slumbers were not so profound but that a hum of shrill voices near the building awakened him very shortly afterward.
The one fear in his mind was that the princess would be disturbed, and he stepped quickly outside the shanty to learn the cause of the noise.
"Here he is! Here he is now! We was in big luck to come 'round this way!" one of a party of boys said, excitedly, and Joe recognised in these early visitors three friends and business acquaintances, all of whom were looking very serious, and evidently labouring under great excitement.
"What's brought you fellers up to this part of the town so early?" Joe asked, in surprise, and Dan Fernald, who had under his arm a bundle of morning papers, said, in a mournful tone:
"We've come after you."
"What for? I'm goin' to hang 'round here a spell till I can get enough money ahead to go into business ag'in. Did you fellers think I'd be so mean as to sell papers 'round City Hall after I'd sold out to Dan?"
"It ain't anything like that, Joe Potter," Master Fernald replied, so gravely that the princess's guardian could not fail of being alarmed.
"What's floatin' over you fellers?" he asked, sharply. "Ain't been gettin' into trouble, have you?"
"We're all right; but there's somethin' mighty wrong 'bout you, Joe. Say, did you do anything crooked when you sold that stand to Sim Jepson?"
"Crooked? Why, how could I? He'd been workin' for me at a dollar a week, an' when I hadn't any more money, he took the stand for what I owed him. If you call it crooked to sell out a business for a dollar an' twenty cents, when it cost pretty nigh eight times as much, you're off your base."
"Then what have you been doin'?" Tim Morgan asked.
By this time Joe began to understand that something serious had caused this early visit, and he began to grow alarmed, without knowing why it should disturb him.
"I don't want you to make any noise 'round here, 'cause Plums an' me have got a kid what we picked up in the street last night, an' she's asleep. It won't do to wake her 'less you want to hear the tallest kind of screechin'. But I've got to know what's givin' you fellers the chills; so out with it, but be as quiet as you can."
Dan Fernald looked at his comrades as if hoping one of them would act as spokesman; but since both remained silent, he began by saying:
"See here, Joe, you know we're your friends, an' are willin' to do all we can to help you out of a scrape?"
"Yes," Master Potter replied, growing yet more alarmed because of Dan's solemn manner.
"If you'd come right to us in the first place, we'd helped you, no matter how much money was wanted."
"Look here, Dan, don't give me a stiff like this!" Joe cried, imploringly. "If anything's wrong, out with it, 'stead of mumblin' 'bout helpin' me. I've allers managed to help myself, and you fellers, too, a good many times, so I don't know why you should stand 'round lookin' like as if somethin' was chewin' you."
"If we wasn't your friends, Joe, you might give us a bluff like that, an' even if we didn't take it, we'd make out as though we did. See here," and unfolding a newspaper, Dan pointed to an advertisement, as he added, "I saw this almost 'fore I got out of the Herald office, an' didn't stop for anything but jest to pick up Tim an' Jerry before I come to find you."
Joe looked at each of his friends in turn before taking the proffered paper, and then, after considerable difficulty because of the necessity of spelling out each word in turn, he read the following:
JOSEPH POTTER. Information wanted of a newsboy or fruit vendor answering to the name of Joseph Potter. He was last seen in front of the Grand Central Station at about seven o'clock on the evening of yesterday (Tuesday), holding in his arms a child three years old. A liberal reward will be paid for information as to the present whereabouts of the boy. Address Cushman & Morton, Attorneys at Law, 47-1/2 Pine Street, New York.
Immediately below this was an advertisement signed with the same names, requesting information concerning a little girl who had strayed from the Grand Central Station and was last seen in the company of a newsboy; but this Joe did not read.
The fact that he was advertised for, as if he had been a fugitive from justice, terrified him.
He could not so much as speak; but looked alternately at the printed sheet and his companions, until Dan said, sternly:
"Now, Joe, you can tell us 'bout this thing or not, jest as you have a mind. What we've come for is to help you get clear, an' we're bound to do it."
"Get clear of what?" Joe repeated, in bewilderment.
"You know better'n we do, an' I ain't askin' questions if you think it ought'er be kept secret from us."
"But I haven't been doin' anything that wasn't square," Joe replied, with a trembling voice.
"Then what's a couple of lawyers advertisin' you for?" Tim Morgan asked, shrilly. "Do you s'pose sich folks want'er catch a feller what sells papers, jest to look at him?"
"See here, Tim, you know me, an' you know I never did a mean thing to anybody in my life."
"Then what they advertisin' yer for?"
"Say, fellers, I wouldn't try to make out – "
"Now, Joe, this ain't any time for you to stuff us," Dan Fernald said, impatiently. "If you hadn't done anything crooked, your name wouldn't be right there in them big letters. You've allers been willin' to do us a good turn, an' we're goin' to pay you back. You've got to skip! An' you've got to skip bloomin' quick!"
CHAPTER IV.
JOE'S FLIGHT
It was literally impossible for Joe Potter to make any reply to Dan Fernald's positive statement that he must run away in order to escape punishment.
As a matter of course he knew he had done nothing of a criminal nature, and yet the advertisement, which seemed to stand out more conspicuously than any other item in the paper, could not be construed either by himself or his companions to mean anything else.
The fact that it was signed by attorneys seemed to Joe and his friends positive proof that a crime had been committed; otherwise why would representatives of the law have appeared in the matter?
Dan Fernald, as Joe's oldest and nearest friend, took it upon himself to act as master of ceremonies in the affair, and, understanding that his comrade was so overwhelmed by the impending danger as to be absolutely incapable of intelligent movement, led him towards the shanty, as he said, gravely:
"Never mind what it is you've done, Joe, us fellers are goin' to see you through, an' it won't do to hang 'round here very long, if you plan on givin' the perlice the slip. I reckon they'll be hot after you before nine o'clock, an' by that time I'm countin' on havin' you hid. Got anything here you want to take with you?"
Joe shook his head; but Master Fernald seemed to consider it necessary they should enter the building, and his two comrades followed close in the rear.
Once inside the shanty, the visitors, as a matter of course, saw the princess sleeping on the straw, and, despite the fact that her garments were not as cleanly as on the day previous, making a most charming picture.
"Well, I'll be blowed! Where'd you get that?"
Joe had been so bewildered by the terrible knowledge that the officers of the law were probably on his trail, as to have forgotten for the moment that the princess was in his charge, and he stood for an instant staring at her vacantly before making any reply, which odd behaviour served to strengthen the belief in the minds of his friends that he was guilty of some serious crime.
"Oh, that's the princess. She lost her folks somewhere near the depot last night, an' I was countin' on findin' 'em for her this mornin'. Plums an' me had to take her in, else she'd been layin' 'round the streets."
Dan looked at him sharply, while Tim and Jerry raised themselves on tiptoe to gaze at the sleeping child.
"Well, what you goin' to do with her now?" Dan asked, after waiting in vain for his friend to speak.
"I don't know," Joe replied, sadly, and added, in a more hopeful tone, "If you fellers would look after the little thing, she might – "
"We'll have all we can do keepin' you out of jail, without bein' bothered by a kid taggin' everywhere we go. You don't seem to understand, Joe, that it's goin' to take mighty sharp work, an' most likely every feller that ever knew you will be watched by the perlice from this time out."
"But I can't leave her here alone," Master Potter wailed.
"Why not take her down where Plums used to live? Mis' Carter's got a reg'lar raft of kids, an' ought'er know how to take care of another."
"It would jest 'bout break the little thing's heart to put her in with that Carter gang, an' I can't do it. I'd sooner the perlice nabbed me."
"Now you're talkin' through your hat. Of course you don't want to go up to Sing Sing for two or three years, an' that's what's bound to happen if them lawyers get hold of you. What's Plums snorin' away for, when things are all mixed up so bad?" Dan asked, impatiently, and without further delay he proceeded to arouse Master Plummer to a knowledge of the terrible danger that threatened Joe, by shaking him furiously.
"What do you want now, – more milk?" the fat boy asked, without opening his eyes, and Dan pulled him suddenly to his feet.
"Wake up, an' see what we want! Here's the perlice after Joe, red-hot, an' we've got to get him out'er town."
"After Joe?" Master Plummer repeated, stupidly. "What's he been doin'?"
"We don't know, an' he won't tell us."
"I haven't been doin' a thing, Plums, as true as I live; but there it all is in the paper," Master Potter replied, in a tearful voice. "Of course there's no gettin' away from that."
Not until Plums had spelled out for himself the ominous advertisement was it possible for those who would rescue Joe Potter from the impending doom to do anything towards his escape, and, once having mastered the printed lines, the fat boy gazed at his grief-stricken friend in mingled astonishment and reproach.
"Of course the perlice are goin' to know you slept here last night, an' jest as likely as not I'll be pulled for takin' you in."
"Course you will!" Jerry Hayes cried, shrilly. "You're in a pretty tight box, Plums."
Joe protested vehemently that he was innocent of any intentional wrong-doing; but with that unexplainable advertisement before him, Plums received the statement with much the same incredulity as had the others.
"Where you goin' to take him?" he asked of Dan; and the latter replied:
"I don't know; but we've got to get him out of town by the shortest cut, an' I reckon that'll be Thirty-fourth Street Ferry. How much money you fellers got?"
Master Plummer took from his pocket that which remained of the amount given him by Joe the night previous, and, after counting it twice, replied:
"Here's sixteen cents what belongs to Joe, an' I've got twenty of my own."
"Us fellers have anteed up a dollar an' a quarter towards seein' you through, an' here it is," Master Fernald said, as he gave Plums a handful of small coins.
Joe did not so much as glance at the money, and Dan said, impatiently:
"Now, don't hang 'round here any longer, you two, 'cause it's mighty near sunrise."
"But what about the kid?" Plums asked, as if until that moment he had entirely forgotten the sleeping child.
"I reckon she'll have to take her chances," Dan replied, carelessly. "Some one will look out for her, of course, – turn her over to McDaniels, the blacksmith."
This suggestion aroused Joe very suddenly, and he glanced at each of his companions in turn, as if to read the thoughts of all, after which he said, sharply:
"You fellers can believe me or not, but I haven't done anything to set the perlice after me. I can't say as I blame you for thinkin' it ain't so, 'cause there's that advertisement; but it's a fact all the same, an' I'm goin' to let the cops take me."
"What?" Tim Morgan screamed. "You're goin' to jail?"
"What else can I do?"
"Run away, of course, the same's we're fixin' it."
"In the first place, we haven't got money enough to go very far, an' then, ag'in, I won't leave the princess knockin' 'round the streets."
"You'd have to if you went to jail."
"I could take her with me for a spell, anyhow."
Joe appeared so thoroughly determined to give himself up to the officers of the law that his comrades were seriously alarmed.
Although there was but little question in their minds that he was guilty of some crime, not one of them was willing he should yield to the order of arrest which they believed had already been issued.
Plums looked at Dan imploringly, and the latter said, as he laid hold of Joe's arm:
"Now see here, old man, we ain't goin' to stand by with our hands in our pockets while you go to jail, 'cause there's no need of it. The perlice won't be 'round for two or three hours, an' it's pretty hard lines if we can't get you out of town before they come."
"I won't leave the princess," Joe replied, doggedly.
"Then take her with you. Of course there's a good deal of risk in it, seein's how the advertisement said you had her; but it's a blamed sight better'n givin' right up same's any chump would do."
"I counted on findin' her folks this mornin'."
"The way things have turned out, you can't; an' what's the odds if you wait two or three days? I'll see that you have money enough to keep you goin' for a spell, anyhow, 'cause all the fellers what know you an' Plums will chip in to help."
"Am I goin', too?" Master Plummer asked, in surprise.
"I can't see any other way out of it. When the perlice find where Joe slept last night, they're bound to pull you in. It don't look to me as if it was goin' to be sich a terrible hard thing to go off in the country for a spell, now the weather's warm, an' if it wasn't for the kid here, I'd say you'd have a great time."
At this moment the princess awakened, and, fortunately, in an amiable mood.
She raised her hands towards Joe as if asking to be taken in his arms, and, instantly the mute request was complied with, the ruined merchant's courage failed him.
Burying his face in her dress, regardless of the possible injury to be done the delicate fabric, the poor boy gave way to tears, and the little maid must have understood that he was suffering, for she patted him on the ear, or ruffled his hair gently with her hands, all of which served but to make his grief more intense.
"Now's the time to get him right away," Dan said, in a low tone to Master Plummer. "We've fooled 'round here too long already, and if he kicks ag'in goin', why, we've got to lug him, that's all. I won't see Joe Potter put in jail if it can be helped."
"What do you s'pose he's been doin'?" Plums asked, in a terrified whisper.
"Blamed if I know; but it must be somethin' pretty tough, else they wouldn't spend money advertisin' for him."
"I don't b'lieve he'd kill anybody."
"Neither do I; but it must be somethin' 'bout as bad as that. While he's takin' on so we can get him off without much trouble. We'd better walk to the ferry, 'cause there might be somebody on the horse-car what would know him."
"If I've got to leave the town, I don't want to hang 'round Long Island, 'cause there ain't so much chance of gettin' further away," Plums objected, and Dan began to show signs of ill temper at being thus thwarted in his efforts to do a favour.
"You'll be blamed lucky if you get anywhere, except to jail."
"But what's the difference if we go over to Jersey? It ain't much further to the Weehawken Ferry than it is Thirty-fourth Street way."
"All right, go there, then, – anywhere, so's you get a move on."
Master Plummer took the precaution to gather up such provisions as remained in the cupboard, and, after one long look around at the home he might be leaving for ever, shook Joe gently.
"Come on, old man; this thing's got to be done, an' the sooner we start the better. There's no show for you to give yourself up 'less I'm with you, 'cordin' to what Dan says, an' you can bet I ain't countin' on goin' to jail so long as it can be helped."
Joe rose to his feet obediently, still holding the princess tightly in his arms, and Dan ordered Jerry to precede them into the street, in order to make certain the officers of the law were not in the vicinity.
"If you whistle once, we'll know nobody's there, an' twice means that we're surrounded."
Jerry, looking as important as the occasion demanded, set about doing the scouting for the party, and an instant later a shrill call rang out on the morning air, telling that the coast was clear.
Dan and Plums ranged themselves either side of Joe; Tim marched in advance, wary as an Indian hunter; and in this order the little party gained the street, the princess in high glee because of the numbers who were escorting her.
Joe neither spoke nor looked back. His heart was as heavy as though the shadow of a real crime hung over him, and, had he been going directly to prison, could not have appeared more despondent.
On the other hand, Dan Fernald was enjoying himself hugely.
Aiding a desperate criminal to escape from the clutches of the law was to him a most exciting adventure. He had always believed he possessed remarkable detective ability, and this was the first time an opportunity of establishing such fact had presented itself.
"If I don't get you two fellers out of this scrape, then I'm willin' to lay right down," he said, as Tim and Jerry led the way towards the west side of the city at a rapid pace. "I've kept myself posted on the detective business pretty sharp, 'cause I've made up my mind to go into it before long, an' by the time we finish this job I guess the perlice will find out what I'm made of. I ain't so sure but I shall join the force after you're straightened out."
"They wouldn't take on a feller of your size," Master Plummer said, with something very like a sneer; which was not seemly, in view of the fact that Dan was at this moment giving him the full benefit of his wonderful ability, simply through friendship.