The Princess and Joe Potter Part 36

"h.e.l.lo! We thought you was settin' round up-town with the rest of the dudes. Dan says you come down from the country in a swell turnout,"

Jerry Hayes cried, with something very like envy in his tones.

"Dan couldn't laid it on any too thick, for we've been humpin' ourselves in great style," Master Plummer replied, with an air of satisfaction.

"Did you really go into the dude's house?"

"Yes, an' what's more, we eat dinner there! Say, boys, McGowan's restaurant ain't in it alongside of what we struck up at the princess's house. There was more stuff on the table than this crowd could have got away with,--an' talk 'bout silver dishes! I never had any such time before, an' I thought aunt Dorcas run a pretty fine place!"

"Where's Joe Potter?"

"Up there, actin' like he owned the town."

"Do you mean that he's stoppin' with the dude all this time?" Jerry asked, incredulously.

"Yes, an' that ain't the worst of it. He's likely to hang 'round the place quite a spell. Say, there was a thousand dollars reward to whoever found the princess, an' her father says Joe was to have it!"

"What? A thousand dollars? Go off, Plums; you're dreamin'."

"You'll find out whether I am or not, when you see Joe. Say, I s'pose you think he'll come 'round sellin' papers again, don't you? Well, he won't. He's goin' to work down on Wall Street, for the princess's father; an' him an' me are to live with aunt Dorcas from now out. He'll come into town every mornin', an' I'll hang 'round the place livin'

high, with nothin' to do but tend to things."

"What kind of a stiff are you puttin' up on us, Plums?" Tim Morgan asked, sternly.

"It's all straight as a string. When we got up to the princess's house, she jest went wild at seein' Joe, an', if you'll believe it, she set on his knee more'n half the time I stayed there. Her father made us tell all we'd done from the minute Joe found the kid, an' then he said a thousand dollars was promised to the feller what would find her. Of course we didn't s'pose he'd pay the money after givin' us a ride in his team, an' settin' up the dinner; but he stuck to it like a little man.

Aunt Dorcas is to take care of the wealth, an' seein's how she told him where we fellers was, he's to give her what the advertis.e.m.e.nt promised, an' that's a hundred dollars apiece for the three of us. When all this was fixed, the princess's father offered Joe a job, an' he's to have six dollars a week, with a raise every year if he minds his eye. They're out buyin' clothes now, an' I slipped down to see you fellers, 'cause we're goin' back to aunt Dorcas's house this evenin'."

Master Plummer's friends were not disposed to believe what he told them, until the story had been repeated several times, and all the details had been given.

Then it appeared as if there could be no doubt, and each boy vied with the other in his attentions to Plums, who was now a very desirable acquaintance, since it might possibly be in his power to invite them to that cottage of aunt Dorcas's, concerning which Dan Fernald had given such glowing accounts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'McGOWAN'S RESTAURANT AIN'T IN IT ALONGSIDE OF WHAT WE STRUCK UP AT THE PRINCESS'S HOUSE.'"]

Plums had promised to meet the little woman and Joe at the Weehawken ferry-slip at seven o'clock, and since at that hour there was no business to be done on Newspaper Row, his friends decided to accompany him to the rendezvous.

To the delight of all the boys, aunt Dorcas and Joe arrived in Mr.

Raymond's carriage, and instantly they appeared, the a.s.sembled throng set up such a shout of welcome as caused the little woman to grip Master Potter's hand nervously, as she cried:

"Mercy on us, Joseph, what _is_ the matter?"

Joe had caught a glimpse of Plums's following before the outcry was heard, and replied, with a laugh:

"It's only a crowd of the fellers come to see us off. Most likely Plums has been tellin' 'em about the good luck that has come to me, an' they want to give us a send-off."

"Do try to stop them from making such a noise, Joseph. What will the neighbours think of us?"

"They'll believe you're a howlin' swell, aunt Dorcas, an' everybody will be wantin' to look at you."

"Let us get out as quick as ever we can, or the policeman will accuse us of making a disturbance."

It was necessary aunt Dorcas should remain where she was until the driver had opened the carriage door. By that time Plums's friends had gathered around the vehicle, gazing with open-mouthed astonishment at Joe, who was clad in a new suit of clothes, and looked quite like a little gentleman.

Aunt Dorcas was actually trembling as she descended from the carriage, Joe a.s.sisting her in the same manner he had seen Mr. Raymond, and the cheers which greeted her did not tend to make the little woman any more comfortable in mind.

The princess's father would have sent his carriage the entire distance but for the fact that aunt Dorcas preferred to arrive at her home in such a conveyance as could be hired in Weehawken.

"It is more suitable," she had said. "While I enjoyed every inch of the ride this morning, I could not help feeling as if we were wearing altogether too fine feathers for working people."

Plums's friends insisted on crossing the ferry with him, and during the pa.s.sage aunt Dorcas was presented to each in turn, a proceeding which entirely allayed her fears lest they would create an "unseemly disturbance."

"I know I should come to like every one of them," she whispered to Joe, "and before we go ash.o.r.e you must invite them out to the cottage for a whole day."

"They'd scare the neighbours, aunt Dorcas," Joe said, with a laugh, and the little woman replied, quite sharply:

"Mr. McArthur is the only one who would hear the noise, and if I have not complained because his dogs howled around the cottage night after night these twenty years, I guess he can stand the strain one day."

Joe repeated aunt Dorcas's invitation while the boat was entering the slip, and when the little woman went on sh.o.r.e, the cheers which came from twenty pairs of stout lungs drowned all other sounds.

"Walk quickly, boys," she said, forced to speak very loud, because of the tumult. "Your friends mean well, I have no doubt; but they are making a perfect spectacle of us."

It was not possible for the little woman to walk so rapidly but that she heard distinctly, when at some distance from the ferry-slip, Jerry Hayes's shrill voice, as he cried:

"Now, fellers, give her three more, an' a tiger for the princess an' Joe Potter!"

[Ill.u.s.tration]