The Princess and Joe Potter Part 29

"George! Don't you allow Joseph to say a single word to-night. He must be kept perfectly quiet, or no one can say what may be the result of his terrible wounds. Go to sleep immediately, both of you, and to-morrow morning I'll do the talking, if Joseph isn't strong enough."

"Go on, an' tell me all about it," Plums whispered. "She won't hear if we talk low."

"I'll do jest exactly as aunt Dorcas told me, even if she said I was to stand on my head for half an hour. A feller who wouldn't mind what she tells him ain't fit to live," and Joe got into bed, refusing to so much as speak when Plums plied him with questions.

Although he had made light of his wounds when talking to aunt Dorcas, they gave him no slight amount of pain, and this, together with his anxiety of mind, would seem to have been sufficient to keep his eyes open until morning; yet within a very short time he was sleeping as peacefully as if attorneys and burglars had never been known in this world.

Not until aunt Dorcas tapped gently on the door next morning did either of the boys awaken, and then Joe would have leaped out of bed immediately after answering her summons, but for the words:

"You're not to get up, Joseph, until I am positive you are out of danger."

Joe laughed aloud, in the gladness of his heart; such solicitude for his welfare was something he had never known before, and it seemed very sweet to him.

"Let me get up, aunt Dorcas, an' if I don't show you I'm all right, I'll come straight back to bed. There's no need of my layin' here, 'cause I'm sound as a nut."

The little woman hesitated, but finally gave the desired permission, and when Joe was in the kitchen once more, she insisted on removing the bandages to examine the wounds before even so much as allowing Master Plummer to partake of the breakfast already prepared.

To Joe and Plums, who were accustomed to such injuries, there appeared to be no reason why the bandages should be replaced, but aunt Dorcas, who could be as firm as she usually was gentle, when occasion required, insisted upon obedience, and once more Joe's face was enveloped in white cloth, until he presented a most comical appearance.

Then aunt Dorcas brought the princess down-stairs, and the little maid, not recognising her young guardian, positively refused to speak to him, but nestled close by the little woman's side until Joe, by dint of much coaxing and bribing, persuaded her to accept him as a new, if not an old, acquaintance.

When the meal was brought to an end, and before the breakfast dishes were cleared away, aunt Dorcas referred to the confession of the previous night, by saying:

"I've been thinking over what you told me, Joseph, and verily believe I should have awakened you before daylight this morning to ask a few questions, if you had not been in such a serious condition. You have no objection to my speaking about the matter before George?"

"Of course not, aunt Dorcas. He knows the whole thing as well as I do, except he believes I must have done something pretty tough."

"You should never think evil of any person, George, no matter how much appearances are against him."

"Well, if Joe didn't do anything, what are these lawyers offerin' to give a whole hundred dollars to catch one of us for?"

"That is what I hope to find out. There is something in connection with the matter which you boys have failed to explain, that will make it all very simple. Have either of you a copy of that advertis.e.m.e.nt?"

"No, aunt Dorcas, I wasn't achin' to lug such a thing as that 'round with me."

"Does it still appear in the papers?"

"It did yesterday mornin', 'cause Dan showed it to me, an' his name and Plums's were 'longside of mine."

"Then George must go to Weehawken and buy one of those papers."

Master Plummer looked up in dismay. A six-mile walk was to him such exercise as amounted almost to torture, and he said, petulantly:

"What good will it do for you to read it in the paper, when we can tell you every word?"

"Indeed, I don't know; but there must be something which you have failed to remember."

"Truly, there isn't, aunt Dorcas. I said over the words jest as they was printed, 'cause I'd be sure to remember a thing like that," Joe replied.

"I am set, when I make up my mind, as all old maids are," the little woman said, grimly, "and it seems to me absolutely necessary I should see that advertis.e.m.e.nt. Now, if George thinks he cannot walk to Weehawken, I must go myself."

"Indeed you mustn't, aunt Dorcas," and Joe spoke in a tone of authority, such as he had never before used. "There's nothin' to prevent my walkin'

a dozen miles, if anything is to be gained by it, an' I'll start this very minute."

To such a proposition as this, aunt Dorcas positively refused to listen.

She was certain Joe's wounds were of such serious nature that violent exercise might be fatal to him, and Master Plummer began to fear he would be forced to take that long walk when there was no real necessity for so doing, until a happy thought came to him, and he cried, animatedly:

"There's no need for anybody to go to Weehawken, 'cause Dan Fernald must have that paper he showed to Joe, in his pocket now."

"Where is he?" aunt Dorcas asked, quickly.

"Loafin' 'round here somewhere," Plums replied. "He counted on comin'

here this afternoon to ask if you'd let him stop a spell, so's the lawyers couldn't catch him. He would have come last night, but Joe hired him to keep away."

Aunt Dorcas looked at Master Potter, inquiringly, and the latter said:

"I promised Dan I wouldn't speak a word to you about what he was goin'

to do; but you'll know it all when he comes."

"_I_ didn't promise, so there's nothing to keep me from tellin'," Master Plummer cried, and, before his friend could prevent him, he had added, "Joe thought it was playin' too steep on you for Dan to come, when you had him, an' me, an' the princess, so he gave him seventy-five cents to keep away till three o'clock this afternoon. He counted on goin' off with the kid before then."

Aunt Dorcas did not appear to fully understand this explanation; but her impatience to see the advertis.e.m.e.nt was so great that she evidently could not wait to ask further concerning the matter.

"Can you find Dan Fernald now?" and she turned to Plums.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't take very long, 'cause he's somewhere close 'round."

"Go out this minute, George, and hunt for him."

"He'll count on stoppin', once he gets in here," Plums said, warningly.

"If the poor boy hasn't any home, and is hidin' here in the country for the same reason you are, I will give him a shelter so long as may be necessary."

"But you see, aunt Dorcas, you can't afford to jam this house full of boys what have got into a sc.r.a.pe," Joe cried. "I'm willin' to go away, so's to give Dan the chance; but I won't hang 'round here when there's a whole crowd."

"You will remain exactly where you are, Joseph Potter, until this matter is settled, so don't let me hear anything more of that kind.

George, go directly and find your friend."

The boys did not dare oppose aunt Dorcas when she spoke in such a tone, and although Plums was not inclined to do even so much as go in search of Dan, when he might be resting quietly in the house, he obeyed.

CHAPTER XIV.

A RAY OF LIGHT.

The amateur detective was a boy who had but little faith in the honesty of his fellows, perhaps because he himself could not be trusted implicitly, and even though Joe Potter had solemnly promised he would say nothing in his disfavour, Dan entertained grave suspicions that the little woman was being prejudiced against him.