The Princess and Joe Potter Part 7

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 sc.r.a.pe?"

"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 advertis.e.m.e.nt, 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "DAN POINTED TO AN ADVERTIs.e.m.e.nT."]

"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 advertis.e.m.e.nt, 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 _de_pot 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'?"