The Raid from Beausejour; and How the Carter Boys Lifted the Mortgage Part 13

As Will pa.s.sed along the road he saw Toddles playing in the field where Baizley was digging. Presently he was tickled to observe that the child had discovered Baizley's tin dinner pail, hidden in a clump of raspberry bushes. The mischievous little rascal promptly emptied the contents out upon the sward, and then, with his chubby hands full of cheese and pumpkin pie, scampered over to the edge of the pool.

"Pitty pis.h.i.+es! give pis.h.i.+es 'eir dinner! Pis.h.i.+es! Pis.h.i.+es!" cried the gleeful little voice; and splash into the pool went the cheese and pumpkin pie, frightening the "pis.h.i.+es" nearly out of their wits.

Will exploded with laughter; and at the same moment Baizley, looking up from his work, discovered the fate that had befallen his dinner.

Now Will Hen Baizley was in an unusually bad temper. Digging ditches was not a labor he was accustomed to, and it made his back ache. In his best of humors he was a coa.r.s.e and heartless bully. On this occasion he was filled with rage against the baby depredator. Toddles had annoyed him on several previous occasions, and just now Will's laughter was the one thing best calculated to sting his annoyance into fury. With a roar that frightened Toddles into instant silence, he rushed forward and grabbed the child, giving him a violent cuff on the side of the head.

It happened that Mr. Hand was looking out of the window of his house on the hillside and saw all that happened. With a hoa.r.s.e cry of rage and terror he rushed out to the rescue. But the house was three or four hundred yards away, and his old knees trembled beneath him as he thought of what the little one might suffer before he could get there.

The poor little fellow was dazed by the blow, and could not get his breath to scream. The next moment Baizley had seized him by the legs and soused him in the pool. When he came out again he found his voice, and a long shriek of pain and terror went through Mr. Hand's heart like a knife.

All this had happened so quickly that Will was unable to hinder it.

He was choking with indignant pity, and found himself on the fence and half way across the field before he could yell:

"Drop that, you brute!"

Baizley was too much occupied to hear or heed. He was just about to duck the little one a second time when Will arrived.

With one hand Will seized the child by the petticoats, and with the other dealt the ruffian a blow in the mouth that staggered him and made him release his victim. Will had just time to drop the little fellow to one side and put up his guard when Baizley was upon him with a curse.

The blow was a mighty one, and so sudden that Will parried it with difficulty, at the same time almost staggering upon Toddles, who lay on his face wailing piteously. Afraid lest the child should get injured in the conflict, Will dodged aside and ran off a few paces. Ascribing this movement to fear, Baizley followed him up impetuously, with oaths and taunts.

On a bit of level, dry turf Will faced his big antagonist. Baizley was heavy of build, strong of arm, and not without some knowledge of the pugilistic art. He was also a little taller than Will. To the casual glance the latter appeared no match for him. Fair-skinned, slender, and with something of a studious stoop to his shoulders, Will's appearance gave small indication of the strength that lurked in his well-corded sinews. Under his pale skin he concealed almost as much sheer lifting power as Baizley's big frame could muster; and the steel-like elasticity of his compact muscles gave his blows swiftness and precision.

Keen of eye, and with a cool, provoking, indulgent smile hovering faintly about his mouth at times, he successfully parried several terrific lunges.

He spoke not a word, husbanding his wind prudently, while Baizley, on the other hand, kept interjecting bursts of fragmentary profanity. About this time Mr. Hand arrived upon the scene, panting heavily, and seating himself on the ground, gathered the sobbing Toddles into his arms.

Will's first intention was to act on the defensive till he should weary his opponent; but his opponent's sledge-hammer fists were not easily warded off. He got one heavy blow on the chest that made him gasp for breath; then he tried dodging, and giving ground nimbly and unexpectedly.

At length he saw an opening, and quicker than thought he struck heavily with his left fist on Baizley's eye. At the same instant in came a terrific blow which made his head ring and the stars chase themselves before his eyes.

For a moment the two combatants lurched apart. Will was the first to recover himself. A white rage surged up within him, and he felt his veins p.r.i.c.kle, his sinews tighten. A new access of nervous energy seemed to flow into him, and he imagined his strength had been suddenly doubled. The ruffian's hands struck out both together wildly.

Will's chance had come, and he grasped it. The bully reeled under a blow between the eyes, and fell headlong.

For a moment he did not stir. Then he began to gather himself up.

"Have you had enough?" inquired Will.

"Yes, I've quit!" growled Baizley.

"You are a contemptible, cowardly brute," continued Will, "and it's in jail you ought to be. Mind you, now, if I catch you, or hear of you abusing a youngster again, it's in jail you'll certainly be!"

As Baizley slunk away, Mr. Hand came up with Toddles in his arms.

The little one was still shaking with sobs, and his tear-stained face looked so white and pitiful that Will felt like going after Baizley and giving him another thras.h.i.+ng.

"Poor little kid!" he said, compa.s.sionately, taking no notice whatever of Mr. Hand.

But Mr. Hand positively refused to be ignored.

"G.o.d bless you, G.o.d bless you, William!" he exclaimed, with the ring of sincere feeling in his voice. "You're a n.o.ble young man, a _n.o.ble_ young man. I can't thank you; words can't express what I--what I feel toward you for this."

Here he kissed pa.s.sionately the yellow head of Toddles as it lay on his shoulder.

"Don't speak of it, Mr. Hand," said Will, wiping his bleeding face.

"Any other fellow would have done the same if he'd had the chance.

That cowardly brute! I wish I hadn't let him off so easy!"

"I'll have him arrested to-morrow," burst out Mr. Hand, his voice quavering and shrill with anger. "But as for you, William," he continued more quietly, "what you've done for my Toddles I never can forget.

You sha'n't have no cause to say I'm ungrateful to one that's been a friend to Toddles!"

"Well, Mr. Hand," said Will, returning to his wagon, "all I can say is I'm mighty glad I happened along just when I did. Toddles is a great boy, and I've always liked him, whatever I may have had against his grandfather since that night on the dike! I hope Toddles won't be a bit the worse now!"

"Don't talk about that dike," pleaded Mr. Hand, nervously. "_Don't_ mention it again! Don't, William! And, William, you will hear from me in a day or two about business matters. Or, I'll be in to see you!"

CHAPTER V.

A TRANSFER OF THE MORTGAGE.

When Will reached home Ted met him at the gate with a cry of surprise and commiseration.

"What in the world have you been doing to your face?" he questioned.

"Thras.h.i.+ng Baizley!" said Will, tersely.

Ted's exclamations had brought Mrs. Carter to the door in time to hear Will's reply. She was alarmed at the sight of Will's swollen and discolored features; and her alarm made her angry.

"I'm ashamed of you, Willie," she cried, "stooping to brawl with a low fellow like that. It serves you right if you have got hurt. Come, run in and get your face bathed in hot water. Why, it's dreadful! Go right up stairs and get me the arnica, Teddie!"

As Mrs. Carter bathed the swollen face in hot water, Ted standing by with the arnica bottle, Will managed to get out a somewhat grimly jocose account of the affray. Ted, of course, was jubilant. From time to time he sprang up and shouted. At length, clapping Will on the back, so violently that his mother spilled the hot water, he cried:

"Good boy! _Good_ boy! O, if I'd _only_ been there!"

As for Mrs. Carter, her a.s.sumed vexation had quickly disappeared. She listened proudly and in silence. At the end she merely said:

"Dear boy, that was fine of you. It was just what your poor father would have expected of you!"

Will spluttered some discolored water out of his mouth before replying, and twisted his features into a lugubrious attempt at a smile.

"I felt pretty big, myself just after it was over," he said at length, "but now it's sort of different. A fellow can't feel heroic with his face bunged up like this. But say, muz, old Hand can't be as bad as they make out when he's so wrapped up in Toddles. He just wors.h.i.+ps the youngster!"

There was a pause, and in through the window came the rus.h.i.+ng clamor of the creek.

"Well," said Mrs. Carter, rather reluctantly, "Mr. Hand has probably his redeeming qualities. At least, he appreciated your courage. By your account he did speak quite nicely."

"What do you suppose he meant by saying you would hear from him in a day or two?" queried Ted.