"I be, then. I didn"t eat no noonin", recollec"?" returned Jim, and dropped down on the bank with a sigh.
"Oh! I"m sorry I forgot. Of course we"ll stop--just as long as you want," returned the girl, with keen self-reproach, and sat down beside him. As she did so, there came a fresh rumble from the west and the pale light which had guided them so far was suddenly obscured, so that she cried out in fear: "There"s going to be a fearful gust! We shall be wet through!"
"Reckon we will; here"s a chunk o" bread," answered the matter-of-fact youth, reaching through the gloom to place the "chunk" on her lap, and, to his surprise, to find her wringing her hands as if in fright or pain.
"Why, tell me what ails you now."
"No-nothing--only--ouch! Don"t--don"t worry--it"s--Ooo-oh!"
Despite her fierce will to the contrary Dorothy could not restrain a bitter groan. She had not meant to hinder their flight by any breakdown on her own part. She had intended to "travel," to "hoof it" just as rapidly and as "freely" as her guide could; but something had happened just now, though her feet had hurt her almost from the first moment of their walk; but this was worse, and reaching down she felt what she could not see--one end of a great thorn or splinter projecting from the ball of her foot.
"What"s the matter, I say?" demanded Jim, quite fiercely for him. He had no fear but that her pluck would be equal to any strain put upon it, but of her physical endurance he wasn"t so sure.
"It"s a thorn--or a splinter--and oh! it hurts! put your hand here--feel!" Yet as she guided his fingers to that queer thing sticking from her wonderful "sandals" she winced and almost screamed. "I guess you mustn"t touch it. I can"t bear it. I"ve run something in and I daren"t pull it out--I can"t--it"s awful!"
Indeed the agony was making her feel faint and queer and the boy felt, rather than saw, that she swayed where she sat as if she were about to sink down on the ground.
Here was plainly another case of "duty" and an unpleasant one, from which the lad shrank. He would much rather have borne any amount of pain himself than have inflicted more on this forlorn little girl who depended upon him; but all he said was: "Pshaw!" as setting his teeth, he suddenly gripped her foot and--in an instant the great bramble was out!
It was heroic treatment and Dorothy screamed; then promptly fainted away. When she came to herself she was dripping with water from the brook, with which Jim had drenched her--not knowing what better to do; and from a sudden downpour of rain which came almost unhindered through the branches overhead.
"Pshaw! I"d oughter "a" took to the road. I hadn"t no business to try this way, though "tis nigher!"
That was the first thing Dorothy realized; the next that her foot was aching horribly, but not in that sickening way it had before; and lastly that, as the only means of keeping it dry, Jim had thrust their loaf back into the bundle and was sitting upon that! A lightning flash revealed this to her, but did not prepare her for her companion"s next words:
"We got to go back!"
CHAPTER XVI
A GOOD SAMARITAN
"Never! Never! I"d rather die right here in the woods!" cried Dorothy, aghast. "Dead or alive that man shall never get me in his power again.
But I"m not afraid. G.o.d is good to orphan children--He will take care of me--He will, He will!"
In some way she managed to get upon her knees and the next flash of lightning showed her thus, with her face uplifted and her hands clasped, while an agony of supplication was in her wide brown eyes.
Religion was an unknown thing to poor Jim Barlow, whose simple integrity was of nature, not culture. His Sundays had been merely days on which to toil a little harder against the morrow"s market, nor had he ever been inside a church. But something in the sight of this child kneeling there in the night and the storm touched an unknown chord of his soul, and before he knew it he was kneeling beside her. Not to pray, as she did, but to hold her firmly, to comfort her by his human touch for this fresh terror he did not understand.
After a moment she turned and sat down again and said just as firmly as before, but quite calmly now:
"If you want to go back you may. I shall not. G.o.d will take care of me, even if you leave me all alone. I"ve asked Him."
"Leave you alone? I hadn"t thunk of it. What you mean?"
"You said we must go back. I shall not."
"_Pshaw!_" It was several seconds before honest Jim could say anything more, but those five letters held a world of meaning. Finally, he was able to add to them and to help her seat herself again on the ground, and he is scarcely to be blamed if he did this with some force. From his point of view Dorothy was stupid. She should have known that he never gave up doing that to which he had set his hand. He had promised to get her back to Baltimore, some way, and he would keep his promise. With another, rather milder "Pshaw!" he explained:
"Go back an" try the road, silly! These cross-cuts are dreadful onsartain. Full o" blackberry bushes an" th.o.r.n.y stuff would hurt a tougher foot "an yourn. More"n that: shoes made out o" rags an" paper ain"t much good in a rain storm. We"ll get back to the road. Even that"s a long way off, but it"s over open medders an" it"s so dark n.o.body won"t see us er stop us. It ain"t rainin" nigh so hard now. You eat a bite, then we"ll try agin."
"Oh! forgive me, Jim Barlow, for thinking you would be so mean. I"ll trust you now, no matter what happens, but I don"t want to eat. I can"t--yet."
"Does your foot hurt bad?"
"Not--not--so very!"
"Well, hold on. I"ll break that there sapling off an" make you a stick to help walk on. "Tother hand you can lean on my shoulder. Now, soon"s you say the word we"ll go. Not the way we come, but another, slatin"er.
Try?"
They stood up: Dorothy with more pain than she would acknowledge, but putting a brave face on the matter, and Jim more anxious than he had ever been about anybody in his life. He didn"t speculate as to why all these strange things had come into his life, as Dorothy had done, but he accepted them as simple facts of which he must make the best. The best he could make of this present situation was to get this lamed girl to a public highway as soon as he could. Even that might be deserted now, on a rainy Sat.u.r.day night, but he hoped for some help there.
"Now--come."
Dorothy made a valiant effort and managed to get ahead a few inches.
Then, half-laughing, half-crying, she explained:
"I can"t manage it. I can"t walk on one foot and drag the other.
I--Can"t you hide me here, somewhere, and go on by yourself, then send somebody back after me? Would it be safe, do you think?"
"No, "twouldn"t, an" I shan"t. If you can"t walk--then hop!"
So, resting one hand on his shoulder and the other upon the stick he had broken, the girl--hopped! It was very awkward, very painful, and very slow; but it was only the slowness that mattered. This was exasperating to one whose blood was in a ferment of anxiety to be at her journey"s end. Even Jim lost patience after they had gone some distance and stopped short, saying, with a sigh:
"This won"t do. I"ll have to haul you. You"re limpin" worse all the time, an" it"d take a month o" Sundays to travel a mile this gait. Now, whilst I stoop down, you reach up an" put your arms "round my neck. Make yourself light"s you can, an" we"ll try it that way a spell. When I gin out we"ll wait an" rest. Now ketch hold!"
He took her staff in one hand, stooped his back like a bow, and Dorothy clasped her arms about his shoulders. Then he straightened himself and her feet swung clear of the ground. Fortunately, she was slight and he strong, and for another little while they proceeded quite rapidly. Also, he knew perfectly well the direction he ought to take, even in this darkness of night; and he was accustomed to walking in the fields. Then, suddenly, he had to stop.
"Guess we better rest a spell. "Twon"t do to get _all_ tuckered out first off;" and with that he dumped her on the wet gra.s.s, very much as he might a sack of meal. Then he sat down himself, while she merrily cried:
"That"s the first time I"ve been carried pick-a-back since I was ever so little! How splendid and strong you are! Do you suppose we have come half-way yet?"
"Half-way? Pshaw! We ain"t got no furder "an the first half-mile, if so fur. My sake, girls are orful silly, ain"t they?"
Dorothy"s temper flamed. She felt she had been very brave, for her foot had swollen rapidly and pained her greatly, yet she had suppressed every groan and had made "herself as light as she could," according to Jim"s command. Now she would have none of his help. No matter what she suffered she would go on by herself. Then some evil thing tempted her to ask:
"Do you know where you"re going, Jim Barlow, anyway?"
And he retorted with equal spirit:
"D" you s"pose I"d haul such a heavy creatur" "s you so fur on a wrong road?"
After which little interchange of amenities, the pair crawled forward again and came at last to a hedge of honeysuckle bordering a wide lane.
The fragrance brought back to Dorothy"s memory her own one, carefully tended vine in the little garden on Brown Street, and sent a desolate feeling through her heart. Sent repentant tears, also, to her eyes and made her reach her hand out toward her companion, with a fresh apology:
"Jim, I"ve got to say "forgive me," again and--I do say it--yet I hate it. You"ve been so good and--Smell the honeysuckle! My darling father John told me there were quant.i.ties of it growing wild all through Maryland, but I never half-believed it before. It makes me cry!"