Betty was glad to hear this, for she did not want Bob to leave Bramble Farm without seeking the advice of the fine young police recorder who had been so good to them and whose friendship both she and Bob valued as only those can who need real friends.
"I came to bid on a secretary," Doctor Guerin confided presently.
"It"s the only good thing in the whole house. Rest of the stuff is nothing but trash. That antique dealer from Petria is here, too, and I suspect he has his eye on the same piece. Don"t you want to bid for me Bob, to keep him in the dark?"
Bob was delighted to do the doctor a service, and when the mahogany secretary was put up for sale the few other bidders soon dropped out, leaving the field to the Petria dealer and the lad in the faded overalls. The dealer, of course, knew that Bob must represent some buyer, but he could not decide for whom he was bidding, and so was in the dark as to how high his opponent would go. Had he known that Doctor Hal Guerin was bidding against him, he would have been enlightened, for the doctor"s collection of antiques was really famous and the envy of many a professional collector.
"I suppose some rube wants the desk for his sitting room," thought the Petria man lazily, his eye, keen as it was, failing to see the doctor in the crowd. "Let him have it, and I"ll buy it from him for ten dollars more before he leaves the sale. He can"t resist turning over his money quick like that."
So when the auctioneer boomed "Sold for forty dollars," and in answer to his request for the buyer"s name Bob said clearly, "Doctor Guerin," in his own language, the man from Petria was "just plain sick."
After the household things were sold--and Betty noted with satisfaction that the three tubs and the ingrain carpet went to the woman who had so coveted them--she and Bob went out to the barn and watched the horses and cows, wagons, harnesses and farm machinery sold. It was an absorbing and colorful scene, and the boy and girl, fascinated, lingered till the last item was checked off. Then, with a start, Bob heard a farmer announce that it was half past five.
"Oh dear!" sighed Betty nervously, "you ought to be milking this minute. Oh, Bob, let"s not go home! Couldn"t we stay overnight with Doctor Guerin?"
"Now don"t you be afraid, there won"t anything happen to scare you,"
responded Bob soothingly. It must be confessed that the knowledge of the little sum of money tucked away under the rosebush gave him a bolder outlook on the future.
Hiram Keppler, who owned the farm just beyond the Peabody place, gave them a lift as far as their lane, and as they hurried down the road Betty tried her best to master her dread of the coming interview. She had not a doubt but that Bob"s absence would have been noticed. Looking ahead fearfully, she saw a sight that confirmed her worst forebodings.
Joseph Peabody stood at the barnyard gate, a horsewhip in his hand
CHAPTER V
CONSEQUENCES
"Oh, Bob!" Betty clutched the boy"s sleeve in a panic. "And the balers have come!"
"So!" began Mr. Peabody, in tones of cold fury. "That"s the way you carry out my orders! Not one forkful of hay pitched down, and the men ready to go to work to-morrow. You miserable, sneaking loafer, where have you been?"
"To the vendue," said Bob defiantly.
"Flatly refuse to mind, do you? Well, I"ll give you one lesson you won"t forget!" the man reached over and gripped Bob by his shirt collar. Struggling violently, he was pulled over the five-barred gate.
"I"ll learn you!" snarled Peabody, raising the whip.
Betty sprang up on the gate, her eyes blazing.
"How dare you!" she cried, her voice shaking with anger. "How dare you strike him! I"ll scream till some one comes if you touch him.
Those men at the barn won"t stand by and see you beat a boy."
"Hoity toity!" sputtered the amazed farmer, confronting the angry girl in the middy blouse with the blazing cheeks and tangled dark braids.
Bob tried to pull himself free, but was brought up short by a quick twist.
"I"m not through with you," Peabody informed him grimly. He glanced quickly toward the barn and observed the men watching him covertly.
It was the better part of discretion, something told him, not to flog the boy before so many witnesses.
"I"m through with you!" declared Bob through clenched teeth. "I"m going! You"ve had all out of me you"re going to get. Let go of me!"
For answer, Peabody tightened his hold on the worn shirt collar.
"Is that so?" he drawled. "Let me tell you, Mr. Smarty, you"ll go out to that barn and pitch down the hay you were supposed to do this afternoon or you"ll go back to the poorhouse. You can take your choice. The county has a place for incorrigible boys, and if you go far enough you"ll land in the reform school. Are you going out to the barn or not?"
"I"ll go," agreed Bob sullenly.
"Then see that you do. And you needn"t bother to stop for supper --you"ve several hours" lost time to make up," said Peabody nastily.
"Now go!"
He shook the boy till his teeth rattled and then released him with a powerful sling that sent him spinning into the dust. Bruised and shaken, Bob picked himself up and started for the barn.
"You hold your tongue a bit better, or something"ll come your way,"
said Peabody shortly, eyeing Betty with disfavor and turning on his heel at a shout of "Ho, Boss!" from the foreman of the balers.
"Hateful!" cried Betty stormily, climbing down from the gate. "He"s the most absolutely hateful man that ever lived! I wonder if he could send Bob back to the poorhouse?"
The same thought was troubling Bob, she found, when after supper she went out to the barn and climbed the loft ladder to see him. She had brought him some bread and water, the latter contributed by the Peabody pump and the bread saved from Betty"s own meal.
"Do you know, Betty," confided the boy, wiping the heavy perspiration from his face with a distressingly hot looking red cotton handkerchief, "I"ve been thinking over what old Peabody said.
He might take it into his head to send me back to the poorhouse. He really needs a younger boy, one he can slam about more. I"m getting so I can fight back. I don"t fancy hanging on here till he makes up his mind to get another boy, and running away from the poorhouse isn"t a simple matter. I"d better make the plunge while there"s good swimming."
It was stifling in the loft, and Betty felt almost giddy. She sat at the top of the ladder, her feet hanging over the edge of the floor and regarded Bob anxiously.
"Well, perhaps you had better go early next week," she said judiciously. "It would be dreadful if he did return you to the poorhouse."
"Therefore, I"m going to-night," announced Bob coolly. "There"s an eleven-thirty train from Glenside that will make some sort of connection with the southern local at the Junction. Wish me luck, Betty!"
"To-night!" gasped Betty in dismay. "Oh, Bob! don"t go to-night.
Wait just one night more, ah, please do!"
Betty had the truly feminine horror of quick decisions, and she was frankly upset by this determination of Bob"s. Even as she pleaded she knew he had made up his mind and that it was useless to ask him to change it.
"I don"t see how you can go--you"re not ready," she argued feverishly. "Your shirts are on the line; I saw them. You"re dead tired after all this work, and it"s a long walk to Glenside. Wait just till to-morrow, Bob, and I won"t say a word."
"No, I"m going to-night," said Bob firmly. "I haven"t so much packing to do that it will take me over fifteen minutes. I"ll help myself to the shirts on the line as I go in. By to-morrow morning I"ll be as far away from Bramble Farm as the local can take me."
"But--but--I"ll miss you so!" protested Betty, the catch in her voice sounding perilously close to tears. "What shall I ever do all alone in this hateful place!"
"Oh, now, Betty!" Bob put a clumsy hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "Don"t you care--you"ll be going to Washington as soon as you get word from your uncle. Maybe I"ll be there when you come, and we"ll go sightseeing together."
"Are you going right to Washington?" asked Betty, drying her eyes.
"And are you sure you have enough money?"
"Oceans of cash," Bob a.s.sured her cheerfully. "That"s right, brace up and smile. Think what it will mean to have one peaceful breakfast, for the last week Peabody has ragged me every meal. Sure I"m going to Washington to dig out a few facts from this Lockwood Hale. Now I"ll throw down a little more hay for good measure and we"ll go on in.
Mustn"t rouse suspicions by staying out too long. Peabody will probably sit up for me to come in to-night."