The Princess and Joe Potter

"I didn't get over here any too soon, if you fellers have gone to stoppin' at a house."

"But why shouldn't we, when we found one like that where they'll take us in mighty cheap? An' say, that old woman is the boss cook!"

"An' she'll get in jail, too, if you keep on this way. Here's you an' Joe advertised for by the lawyers, an' yet are sich chumps as to settle right down where the detectives will get on to you the very first thing."

"I ain't been advertised for."

"Well, that's where you make a mistake, Master Smartie. Perhaps you haven't seen the evenin' papers."

"What's in them?" Plums cried, in a tone of alarm.

"Pretty much the same as what you saw in the Herald this mornin', only that they're offerin' to pay for any news of Joe Potter an' a feller what's called 'Plums.'"

"Do you mean that, Dan? Are they really advertisin' for me?" Master Plummer asked, in a tone of terror.

"That's what they're doin', an' the way the cops are chasin' 'round town huntin' up bootblacks an' newsboys is a caution. Three different ones asked Jerry Hayes if he knew you or Joe; but you can bet they didn't find out very much. Jerry's sharp enough to keep his mouth shut."

"But what do they want me for? What have I done?"

"I reckon it's 'cause Joe slept at your house. Now the only safe thing is for us to strike off into the country as quick as we know how. We've got to walk all night before we so much as think of stoppin'."

"But what about the princess? We can't make that little thing travel from post to pillar."

"If Joe Potter hadn't been a fool he'd left her in town. It jest makes my blood boil when I think of his havin' a kid taggin' 'round after him, an' every detective in New York on his track!"

"I don't believe he'd be willin' to leave the princess, not even if he knew he was goin' to be 'rested the next minute."

"He's got to, or I'll throw up the job of tryin' to save him. Now we'll go up to this Dutch woman's house that you've been talkin' 'bout, an' snake him out. All I hope is we'll get away in time."

Master Plummer turned to walk out of the hallway in obedience to this command, when Dan, clutching him by the arm, brought the boy to a sudden standstill.

"What kind of a way is that to go out when the streets are full of detectives huntin' after you?"

"How else can I go?" Plums asked, in surprise.

"I'll show you. Watch out on what I do, an' act the very same way. I'll go on one side of the street, an' you on the other, so's folks sha'n't know we're together."

Master Plummer was puzzled to understand why it might work them mischief if the public knew they were acquainted with each other; but Dan was so peremptory in his commands that the boy did not venture to ask a question.

Then Master Fernald went out from the hallway, in what he evidently believed was the most approved detective fashion of walking, and, as Plums confidentially told Joe later, "he acted like he was a jumpin'-jack, with some one pullin' the string mighty hard."

The two went slowly up the street, one on either side, and such of the citizens of Weehawken who saw them were mystified by their singular method of proceeding.

Dan quieted down somewhat after half an hour had passed, for no slight amount of labour was required to continue the supposed detective manner of walking, and, before arriving at the house where Joe had taken refuge, he behaved very nearly like other and more sensible boys.

"No, I won't go in," he said, decidedly, when Plums proposed that he call upon the old lady. "You don't catch me showin' myself 'round this place any more'n I can help, 'cause there's no tellin' when the perlice will be here askin' questions, an' I'm goin' to steer clear of trouble."

"Shall I tell Joe to come out?" Plums asked, timidly, for Dan's superior wisdom awed him.

"Of course, else how can I see him? Don't let that kid tag on behind, for it's mighty dangerous to be on the street with her. That advertisement about you had in it that you was last seen with a little girl."

Master Plummer entered the dwelling, and Dan paced to and fro on the sidewalk, with a consequential air, until Joe appeared.

"Why don't you come in?" the latter asked. "Mrs. Weber – that's the name of the lady who owns the house – is mighty nice, even if you can't talk to her."

"I ain't so foolish as to show myself in such places, an' you ought'er let your head be cut off before takin' all these chances."

"But we couldn't keep the princess out-of-doors from mornin' till night, an' – "

"That's what's makin' all the trouble, Joe Potter. If you hadn't brought the kid along we'd get through this scrape in good style."

"But I couldn't have left her in Plums's shanty alone."

"It was a fool business pickin' her up in the first place, 'cause if you never'd done it, them lawyers couldn't say you had a kid with you. That's the very best way they have to let folks know who you are. Anyhow, you've got to give her the dead shake now, if you want me to keep hold of this case."

"Then I'll have to get along the best I can without you, for I won't run away from a poor little baby, who counts on my findin' her folks."

Joe spoke so decidedly that the amateur detective understood he could not easily be turned from his purpose, and Master Fernald was astonished. He had supposed that his threat to "drop the case" would have reduced the unfortunate merchant to submission, and it seemed little less than madness for Joe and Plums to continue the flight without the guiding hand of one so wise as himself.

"Of course, if you don't want me, that settles it," he said, sulkily. "I ain't throwin' my time away when folks had rather I wasn't 'round; but you'll get into a heap of trouble without somebody what knows the ropes, to steer you."

"I would like to have you with us, Dan; but I won't leave that poor little princess when she needs me so much."

"But how you goin' to fix it nights? We've got to sleep outdoors mostly all the time, an' she'd soon get wore up with that kind of knockin' 'round."

"Why must we sleep outdoors?"

Dan explained that the search for the supposed criminal was to be prosecuted with such vigour that even Master Plummer was included in the advertisements, which piece of news both alarmed and mystified Joe.

"What are they after him for? Does anybody claim he's been goin' crooked?"

"I s'pose it's 'cause he let you sleep in his shanty. You see, Joe, the lawyers are bound to nab you if the thing can be done, an' you've got to give up sleepin' in houses. It might work once or twice; but you'd be sure to run across somebody what had read the papers, an' then you'd find yourself an' the princess in jail mighty quick. The evenin' papers said a large reward would be paid, an' perhaps, by mornin', they'll raise the price to as much as ten dollars."

It can well be understood how disturbed in mind Joe was at learning that his enemies were so eager to capture him; but yet he had no intention of abandoning the princess, until Plums made a suggestion which seemed like an exceedingly happy one.

"Why not pay old Mis' Weber somethin' to take care of her for two or three days?" he asked. "The little thing would get along a good deal better with a woman, an' we can sneak back here once in awhile to make certain she's all right. I don't believe them lawyers will spend very much more money huntin' for us, 'cause we ain't worth it, no matter what we've done."

"That's the very best snap you could fix up!" Dan cried, approvingly. "I'd been thinkin' of somethin' like that myself; but didn't have time to tell you about it. I've got more'n two dollars that I borrowed to help you fellers through with this scrape, an' that ought'er be a good deal more'n enough to keep her till we can earn more."

Joe understood that it would be to the princess's advantage if he left her with the kind old German lady, and at once decided in favour of the plan.

Never for a moment did he fancy they might be as safe in this house as anywhere else, but firmly believed a continuation of the flight was absolutely necessary, as Dan had announced.

"I'll see what Mis' Weber says about it, an' if she's willin', we'll go right away."

"Don't stay in there all night chinnin', 'cause it's mighty dangerous for us to be hangin' 'round here," Dan called after him as he entered the dwelling, and Joe hastened the matter as much as possible.

The princess was in bed sleeping quietly, and looking, as Plums expressed it, "fit to eat." Mrs. Weber's grandson was ready to act as interpreter, and in a few moments Joe had made the proposition.

The good woman asked no questions concerning the parents of the child it was proposed she should keep, and her silence on this point may have been due to the fact that, even with her grandson's aid, it was difficult to understand all the boys said.

She was willing to take the princess for a week, but not longer, and decided that one dollar would repay her for the labour.

"Tell your grandmother we'll make the trade," Joe said, quickly, delighted because the sum named was so much less than he expected. "I'll be back here in two days at the longest, an' she's to take the very best care of the little thing."

"Granny would be kind even to a mouse," Master Weber replied, with an air of pride, and Joe added, promptly:

"I ought'er know as much by this time, an' if I didn't, the princess wouldn't be left with her. That poor little swell hasn't got anybody to look out for her but me, till we find her folks, an' I ain't takin' chances of her comin' to harm. Here's the dollar, an' you tell your granny I'll be back by the day after to-morrer if all the cops in New York are close after me."

The little German boy looked up in perplexity, for he failed to understand the greater portion of what Joe had said, and the latter was in too great a hurry to heed the fact.

A shrill whistle from the outside told that detective Dan was growing impatient, and Joe started towards the door, after seeing the old lady take the money; but halted an instant later.

"Is there something more you want granny to do?" the German boy asked, and Joe was at a loss for a reply.

"I was thinkin', perhaps, – if, course, it wouldn't make any difference to your granny, – say, I'm goin' to sneak in an' kiss the princess!"

The boy nodded carelessly, but Joe made no effort to carry his threat into execution.

Again the amateur detective whistled, and Master Potter stepped towards the bedroom door, but halted before gaining it.

"Perhaps her folks wouldn't want a duffer like me doin' anything of that kind," he muttered, and straightway walked out of the house as rapidly as his legs would carry him, much as if he feared to remain longer lest the temptation should be too great to resist.

"It begun to look as if you was goin' to stay all night," Dan said, petulantly, when Joe appeared. "There's more'n a hundred people walked past here, an' I'll bet some of 'em was huntin' for us; we've got to get out of this place mighty lively, if you don't want to be chucked into jail."

Plums looked so thoroughly terrified that Joe at once understood the amateur detective had been frightening him by picturing improbable dangers, and said, almost sharply:

"There's no use makin' this thing any worse than it really is."

"That can't be done, Joe Potter. You're in an awful scrape, an' don't seem to know it."

"I wish I'd stood right up like a man till I'd found the princess's folks, an' then gone to jail, if the lawyers are so set on puttin' me there."

"What's comin' over you now?"

"I'm thinkin' of that poor little swell we've brought out here."

"She's a good deal better off than if you let her tag along behind."

"That may be; but I ought'er found her folks instead of runnin' away."

"Now, see here, Joe Potter, you're makin' a fool of yourself, an' all about a kid what's goin' to have a soft snap while she stays here. Of course if you want to be put into jail for two or three years, I won't say another word, an' you can rush right straight back to the city."

"Don't stand here talkin'!" Plums cried, in an agony of apprehension. "We've got to leave, else nobody knows what may happen!"

Dan seized Joe by the arm, literally forcing him onward, and the two who were ignorant of having committed any crime continued the flight from the officers of the law.

CHAPTER VII.

AUNT DORCAS

When the three had set out from Mrs. Weber's home, the amateur detective announced that no halt would be made until sunrise.

Joe, whose thoughts were with the princess, gave little heed to this statement, if, indeed, he understood it, and Master Plummer had been so terrified by Dan's positive assertion regarding the possibility of an immediate arrest that he had failed to realise the labour which would be required in thus prolonging the flight.

Before an hour passed, however, even the detective himself began to think he might have made a rash statement, and Plums, unaccustomed to such violent exercise, was well-nigh exhausted.

By this time Joe had come to understand what might be the result if Dan's advice was followed implicitly, and this, together with the knowledge that each moment he was increasing the distance between himself and the princess, served to make him reckless.

"Look here, Dan Fernald," he said, coming to a second halt. "Let's talk over this thing before we go any further."

"Perhaps you think we can afford to loaf 'round here," the amateur detective said, sternly. "If you fellers want to keep your noses out of jail, you'd best hump yourselves till daylight, an', even then, we won't be far enough away."

"We're jest as far now as I'm goin'," and there was that in Joe's voice which told his companion that he would not be persuaded into changing his mind.

"What?" Dan screamed.

"That's all there is to it. I'll stop here, an' you fellers can keep on if you like."

"But, Joe, if there was woods somewhere near I wouldn't say a word. How can you hide where there's so many houses close 'round?"

"I don't count on hidin', 'cause I can't afford it. Even if them lawyers get hold of me to-morrer mornin', I'm goin' to stop here."

"Right here in the road?" Plums asked, with less anxiety than he would have shown an hour before, when he was not so tired.

"Well, I don't mean to say I'll camp down in the road. But you fellers listen to me. If the detectives are out after us, an' I s'pose, of course, they are, we sha'n't be any safer twenty miles away than in this very spot. We've got to stop sometime, an' it may as well be now. I promised to go back to see the princess in two days, an' I'll keep my word."

"But where'll you stay all that time?" Dan asked, as if believing this was a question which could not be satisfactorily answered.

"I don't know yet; but I'm thinkin' of goin' up to that house," and Joe pointed to a tiny cottage, which in the gloom could be but dimly seen amid a clump of trees. "There's a light in the window, so of course the folks are awake. I'll ask 'em if they haven't got work enough about the place sich as I could do to pay my board over one day, an' if they say no, I'll try at the next house."

"You might as well go right into jail as do a thing like that," Dan said, angrily.

"I ain't so sure but it would have been a good deal better if I had, for by this time the princess would be with her folks, where she belongs."

"It seems to me you're terribly stuck on that kid."

"Well, what if I am!" and Joe spoke so sharply that Master Fernald did not think it wise to make any reply.

During fully a moment the three stood silently in the road looking at each other, and then Joe asked of Master Plummer:

"Will you come with me?"

The possibility of resting his tired limbs in a regular bed appealed strongly to the fat boy, and, understanding that he was about to agree to Joe's proposition, Dan said, gloomily:

"This is what a feller gets for tryin' to help you two out of a scrape. I've kept the detectives away so far, an' now you're goin' to give me the dead shake."

"There's no reason why you couldn't stay with us – "

"You won't catch me in a house for another month, anyhow."

The argument which followed this announcement was not long, but spirited.

Joe explained that it was his intention to remain in that vicinity, and within forty-eight hours to return to Weehawken, according to the promise he had made Mrs. Weber.

Dan continued to insist that it was in the highest degree dangerous to loiter there, and professed to believe himself deeply injured, because, after having "taken up the case" in such an energetic fashion, he was probably in danger of arrest through having aided these two supposed criminals.

Master Plummer had but little to say; the thought of walking all night was nearly as painful as that of being imprisoned, and he was willing to throw all the responsibility of a decision upon his friend.

Before ten minutes had passed, the matter was settled, – not satisfactorily to all concerned, but as nearly so as could have been expected.

Joe and Plums were to call at the cottage with the hope of finding temporary employment, and the amateur detective was to conceal himself in the vicinity as best he might, until he should be able to learn something definite regarding the purpose of the lawyers who had advertised.

When Joe, followed by Master Plummer, turned from the highway into the lane which led to the cottage, the amateur detective scrambled over the fence on the opposite side of the road, and scurried through the field as if believing he was hotly pursued.

Not until they had arrived nearly at the house did Master Plummer make any remark, and then he said, with a long-drawn sigh:

"Dan Fernald makes too much work out of his detective business to suit me. I couldn't walk all night if it was to save me life."

"I don't believe there's any reason why we should, Plums. Because Dan thinks the cops have followed us over to Weehawken doesn't make it so, an' if we can't hide here, we can't anywhere, 'cordin' to my way of thinkin'. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to go off so far that we can't get back to the princess."

Then Joe advanced to the side door, and knocked gently, Plums whispering, hoarsely, meanwhile:

"Be ready to skip, if you hear a dog. I've been told that folks out this way keep reg'lar bloodhounds to scare away tramps."

"I ain't 'fraid of dogs as much as I am that the man who lives here will run us off the place the first minute he sees our faces," Joe replied, and at that instant the door was opened.

Holding a lamp high above her head, and peering out into the gloom as if suffering from some defect of vision, stood a little woman, not very much taller than Joe, whose wrinkled face told she had passed what is termed the "middle age" of life.

Joe's surprise at seeing this tiny lady, when he had expected to be confronted by a man, prevented him from speaking at once, and the small woman asked, with mild curiosity:

"Whose children are you?"

This was a question Joe was not prepared to answer, and he stammered and stuttered before being able to say:

"I don't know as we're anybody's, ma'am. You see we ain't got any place to stop in for a day or two, an' thought perhaps a farmer lived here what would have work we could do to pay for our board."

"Are you hungry, child?" the small woman asked, quickly, and, as it seemed to Joe, anxiously.

"Not very much now, 'cause we've had a good supper; but we will be in the mornin', you know."

And Master Plummer interrupted, as he pinched his companion's arm to reduce him to silence:

"We've been walkin' a good while since then, an' it seems like I was most starved."

"You poor child! Come right into the house, an' it'll be strange if I can't find something to eat; though, to tell the truth, I didn't have real good luck with this week's batch of bread; but if custard pie – "

"If custard pie!" Master Plummer cried, ecstatically. "Why, I'd be fixed great if I could have some!"

He was following the small woman as he spoke, and, after closing and barring the outer door, the hostess ushered them into such a kitchen as they had never seen before.

A spacious room, in which it seemed as if a hundred persons might have found ample elbow-room, with a yellow, painted floor, on which not a grain of dirt could be seen, and with numerous odd, stiff-looking chairs ranged around the sides at regular intervals. At one end an enormous fireplace, in front of which was a cook-stove actually glittering with polish, and on the mantel behind it an array of shining tins.

As seen from the road, in the gloom, the cottage had not appeared even as large as this kitchen, and because of such fact the boys were more surprised than they otherwise would have been.

Once in the room, where everything was so cleanly that, as Master Plummer afterwards expressed it, "it come near givin' him a pain," the boys stood awkwardly near the door, uncertain as to what might be expected of them.

"You can sit right here while I get you something to eat," and the hostess placed two chairs in front of a small table in one corner of the room.

Master Plummer advanced eagerly, thinking only of the pleasure which was about to be his, when the small lady exclaimed, as if in alarm:

"Mercy on us, child! You're tracking dust all over the floor. Go right back into the entry, and wipe your feet."

Plums failed to see that he had soiled the floor to any extent, but both he and Joe obeyed the command instantly, and while they were engaged in what seemed to them useless labour, the small woman wiped carefully, with a damp cloth, the dusty imprints of their shoes from the floor.

"I never had any experience in my own family with boys," the odd-looking little woman said, half to herself, "and perhaps that's why I don't understand 'em any better; but I never could make out why they should be so reckless with dirt."

"I didn't think my shoes were so dusty when I come in, else I'd taken them off," Joe said, apologetically. "You see, ma'am, we never saw a floor as clean as this one."

This compliment was evidently pleasing, for the small woman looked up kindly at her guests, and said, in a friendly tone:

"Don't call me 'ma'am,' child. I've been 'aunt Dorcas' to all the children in this neighbourhood ever since I can remember, and anything else doesn't sound natural."

"Do you want us to call you 'aunt Dorcas'?" Joe asked, in surprise, and Plums winked gravely at his companion.

"Of course I do. Now, if your feet are clean, sit down, and I'll get the pie."

The boys tiptoed their way to the table, as if by such method they would be less liable to soil the floor, and aunt Dorcas, taking the lamp with her, disappeared through a door which evidently led to the cellar, leaving them in the darkness.

"Say, ain't this the greatest snap you ever struck?" Plums whispered. "I'll bet aunt Dorcas is a dandy, an' if Dan Fernald knew what he's missin', he'd jest about kick hisself black an' blue."

Master Plummer was still better satisfied with the situation when their hostess returned with a large custard pie, which she placed on the table, and immediately afterwards disappeared within the cellar-way again.

"She's gone for more stuff!" Plums said, in a tone of delight. "If there ain't too much work to be done 'round this place, I'd like to stay here a year."

When aunt Dorcas entered the kitchen again, she had a plate heaped high with cookies, on the top of which were three generous slices of cheese.

This collection was placed by the side of the pie; the odd little woman brought plates, knives, and forks, and two napkins from the pantry, and, having arranged everything in proper order, said, as she stood facing the boys, with her head slightly inclined to one side, until to Joe she presented much the appearance of a sparrow:

"If you can eat all there is here, I'll bring more, an' willingly. Afterwards, we will talk about what is to be done for the night."

"I can eat an' talk, too, jest as well as not," Plums said, as he drew the pie towards him.

Perhaps aunt Dorcas thought he intended to appropriate the whole to himself, for she hurriedly cut it into four pieces, one of which she placed on his plate.

From Plums's manner of beginning the feast, there was good reason to believe he had told the truth when he said he was starving, and, as she watched him, an expression of deepest sympathy came over aunt Dorcas's face.