The Princess and Joe Potter Part 32

"If anybody can straighten things out, she's the one, though I don't see how it's goin' to be done. Let's go into the house, an' do the work. I b'lieve I can wash the dishes without breakin' any of 'em."

"What's the use to rush 'round like this? I'm all tired out goin' over to McArthur's, an' there's no knowin' what'll happen if I can't get a chance to rest."

"Now, don't be so foolish, Plums. You haven't done enough to hurt a kitten, since we come here, an' all I'll ask of you is to take care of the princess while I'm fixin' up."

With this understanding, Master Plummer agreed to his friend's proposal, and during the next half hour Joe laboured faithfully at the housework, while Plums amused the princess, when it was possible for him to do so without too great an exertion.

Then it was that the child, who had been looking out of the window for a moment, clapped her tiny hands, and screamed, as she pointed towards the orchard, thereby causing Master Plummer to ascertain the cause of the sudden outburst.

"There goes Dan Fernald!" he exclaimed.

"Where?"

"Sneakin' up through the orchard. It looks like he was goin' to the barn."

"He's on some of his detective sprees, I s'pose. That feller can make an awful fool of hisself without tryin' very hard," and Joe would have gone back to his work but that Plums prevented him, by saying:

"He ain't sneakin' 'round there for any good. It would be different if he thought we was in the garden. I wouldn't be 'fraid to bet he was where he could see aunt Dorcas, when she went away, an' is countin' on makin' it hot for us."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'COME ON QUICK, PLUMS! DAN'S SET THE BARN A-FIRE.'"]

"It would be a sore job for him if he did. Look out for the princess, an' I'll snoop 'round to see what he's doin'."

Joe went through the shed door, which led out of the garden, but could see no one. If the amateur detective had not gone inside the barn, he must be loitering at the further end, where he was screened from view of any one on either side the building.

"If I go 'round there, he'll think it's because I'm 'fraid he'll make trouble for us, an' that's what would please him," Joe said to himself.

Then, pa.s.sing through the shed, he looked out of the door on the opposite side.

No one could be seen from this point, and he returned to the garden just as Dan came out from around the corner of the barn, running at full speed towards a grove, situated a mile or more from the main road.

"What have you been doin' 'round here?" Joe shouted, angrily, and the amateur detective halted long enough to say:

"You think you're mighty smart, Joe Potter, but you'll find there are some folks that can give you points. What I've done to you this time ain't a marker 'longside of what it'll be when I try my hand again."

Then Master Fernald resumed his flight, much to Joe's surprise, and halted not until he was within the friendly shelter of the trees.

"Now, I wonder what he meant by all that talk? It seems like he was more of a fool this mornin' than I ever knew him to be before."

At that moment Joe saw, or fancied he saw, a tiny curl of blue vapour rising from the corner of the barn, and, as he stood gazing in that direction, uncertain whether his eyes might not have deceived him, another puff of smoke, and yet another, arose slowly in the air, telling unmistakably of what Master Fernald had done.

Joe darted into the house, and seized the water-pail, as he cried, excitedly:

"Come on quick, Plums! Dan's set the barn a-fire! Get anything that you can carry water in, and hump yourself lively!"

"But what'll I do with the princess?" Master Plummer asked, helplessly.

"She'll have to take care of herself," Joe cried, as he ran at full speed towards the smoke, which was now rising in small clouds, giving token of flames which might soon reduce aunt Dorcas's little home to ashes.

CHAPTER XV.

AN UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL.

It was really the princess who saved aunt Dorcas's home from destruction. Had she not seen Dan Fernald, as he made his way through the orchard, the barn would most likely have been in a blaze before Joe or Plums were aware of the fact.

Thanks to her warning, Joe saw the smoke before the fire gathered headway, and when he arrived on the scene, the flames had but just fastened upon the side of the barn.

Plums, aroused to something like activity by the knowledge of danger, followed Joe with remarkable promptness, and the amount of water thus brought by both was sufficient to extinguish what, a few moments later, would have been a conflagration.

Not until he had pulled the charred sticks from beneath the end of the barn, and a.s.sured himself every spark had been drowned out, did Joe speak, and then it was to relieve his mind by making threats against the would-be incendiary.

"It's all well enough for a woman like aunt Dorcas to tell about doin'

good to them what tries to hurt you, for she couldn't so much as put up her hands. If you keep on forgivin' duffers like Dan Fernald, you're bound to be in such sc.r.a.pes as this all the time. What he needed was a sound thumpin', when he begun talkin' so rough to aunt Dorcas; then he wouldn't dared to try a game of this kind. When I get hold of him again, I'll make up for lost time."

"I'll bet he's somewhere 'round here, watchin' out, an' when he sees this game didn't work, he'll try somethin' else."

"Not much he won't. I know pretty near where he is, an' I'm goin' to make him--"

At this moment the voice of the princess could be heard in vehement protest against thus being left alone, and Joe was forced to defer his punishment of the amateur detective until a more convenient season.

"Stay here, Plums, an' watch for Dan, while I go and get the princess.

He went among them trees over there, so's to have a reserved seat while the house was burnin'; but he's got to come out some time."

"Don't stay away too long, for I ain't certain as I'd dare to tackle him alone,--you see I'm too fat to be much of a fighter."

A certain quaver in Plums's voice told that he was afraid to be alone even while Dan was a long distance away, and Joe thought it extremely comical that any one should fear the amateur detective.

The princess did not object to taking a walk, fortunately for Master Plummer's peace of mind, and, in a short time, the three were patrolling the grounds, Joe carrying the little maid whenever she insisted upon such service.

At noonday, a certain amount of food was brought out on the lawn in front of the house, and, even while the boys ate, they continued their self-imposed duty of guarding the premises.

Then the princess wanted to sleep, and Joe sat by her side, while Plums kept watch from the windows, or walked rapidly around the buildings.

So far as Dan was concerned, they might as well have amused themselves according to their own fancies, for he never showed himself after having sought refuge in the grove.

When the excitement consequent upon the attempt to destroy aunt Dorcas's home had subsided in a measure, the boys began to speculate upon the reasons for the little woman's hurried departure, but could arrive at no satisfactory conclusion as to what it might be she hoped to accomplish.

"Of course she could do a pile of beggin' off for a feller, 'cause anybody would have to listen to her; but when the lawyers are willin' to pay a hundred dollars for either one of us three, I don't believe she can do very much by talkin'," Joe said, reflectively, as he summed up the situation according to his belief. "I expect she'll be terribly disappointed when we see her again, 'cause she counts on straightenin'

things out in a jiffy."

"Do you s'pose Dan Fernald will hang 'round here till he gets a chance to do her some mischief?"

"As soon as aunt Dorcas gets back I'm goin' to skirmish through them trees, an', if he's there, it won't take more'n three minutes to make him sick of this part of the country."

The boys were yet discussing what should be done to Dan to prevent him from attempting to work more mischief, when a covered carriage, drawn by two horses, whose harness was resplendent with silver, and driven by a coachman in livery, turned from the highway into the lane leading to the cottage.