"And I am glad to say," chirruped Mr. Snavely, "that I have found a small piece of work for you, which will be worth a dollar and a half a day."
Cadge"s brow was still gloomy.
"Of course, it is real work," added his kind-hearted creditor, briskly, "no sitting in the sun and watching other people"s shovels; but a customer of mine, a widow lady, that lives along Catnip Creek, wants a man to pile up a wall of loose stones to keep her land from washing away in high water."
Thomas Cadge shook his head with the air of Caesar virtuously refusing the crown.
"No, no, Snavely, it wouldn"t do," he said. "I can see that it would interfere with my present h"occupation, and I can"t afford to risk losing this "ere job. Supposin" my family was to be turned out of doors!"
"Nonsense! It will only take you about four days to build the wall, and at one-fifty per day, that will be six dollars, twice your week"s wages right there, and almost enough to pay what you owe me."
"I am afraid it can"t be done, Snavely; the company might not like it; you see, I would be competing with them, that"s their line."
"They wouldn"t handle so small a job. You know that, Cadge."
"Yes, but a man can"t draw pay for two positions at once; "t ain"t honest."
"Why, this is not a regular situation," protested the upright Snavely, who saw his bill still unpaid; "you could work on it at odd times if you like. She"ll pay you by the piece, I am pretty sure, and you will get your six dollars cash when the wall is done."
The furtive eyes of the hunter of work avoided those of his benefactor.
He was pondering a new excuse when he happened to notice Master Cadge, aged nine, Thomas Cadge, Jr., aged eight, and Arabella Cadge, whose years were six, busily constructing a fort of cobblestones, and an idea struck him.
"Very well," he said, loftily waving his pipe, "I"ll drop in Monday and talk this over with you, Snavely. Then if the job suits me I may take it. I don"t like to talk business on Sunday, you know."
Thus rebuked, Mr. Snavely resumed his homeward way.
The following Monday Cadge overslept; Tuesday found him with a headache as a result, which by Wednesday had settled in a tooth; Thursday he felt so much better that he feared to do anything which might check his convalescence; Friday was an unlucky day, but so desirous was he of work that he manfully conquered his superst.i.tious qualms and strolled over to the little shop where Mr. Job Snavely dealt in groceries and vegetables.
The details regarding the work were furnished with cheerful alacrity, the tradesman going so far as to accompany his protege to the home of their patron, Mrs. Pipkin, a withered little lady who lived with her cats on the bank of the creek.
The work to be performed demanded more brawn than brain and no vast amount of either. All that was required was to pile up the boulders and cobblestones which littered the bed of the stream, as a rough, unmortared wall, along the sloping bank of Mrs. Pipkin"s property.
It was evident that Mrs. Pipkin herself had not the slightest notion of how much a wall should cost, as she was ignorant of the two factors which determined it, namely, the wages of day-laborers and the time required to build the wall; therefore she requested Mr. Snavely, as a man of affairs, to make the bargain for her.
It was well that she did so, for Mr. Cadge"s ideas on the subject were as boundless as hers were limited. Day wages, he affirmed, ranged from two dollars up for common labor, and as building a wall was highly skilled labor he thought three and a half or four dollars per diem would be about right, going on the basis of at least six days of eight hours each.
Mr. Snavely, on the contrary, after looking over the ground declared that four days" steady work would build a wall running the entire length of the widow"s lot. Furthermore, that a dollar and a quarter a day was fair wages for such employment, while laborers would scramble for the job at a dollar and a half. As a concession to Mr. Cadge, he was willing to allow him to take his own time and agreed to pay six dollars when the wall should be completed.
Mr. Cadge waxed indignant and very voluble, while Mr. Snavely was a mild man of few words; but the simple laborer was no match for a man who made his living by small chaffering. He was forced to give in, and Sat.u.r.day morning, bright and early, he appeared on the banks of Catnip Creek accompanied by Master Cadge, Thomas Cadge, Jr., and Arabella Cadge.
"Daddy"s going to give you kids a treat to-day," he announced. "My eye!
wot larks we will "ave. Nothing to do all day long but play building a stone fort right on the brook, and Daddy will show you "ow to build it."
The little Cadges were perfectly charmed at this condescension on the part of their sire, who seldom acknowledged their presence except with a cuff in pa.s.sing. They were eager to begin, and as they had no need to strip their legs, which were always bare, the work proceeded apace.
Cadge, Sr., ensconced himself in the sunniest nook of the bank, and directed his offspring what stones to select and where to place them, and above all, to make haste, since the enemy would soon appear to attack the fort.
Before their Sat.u.r.day holiday was over, the children had discovered that their father was a strenuous playfellow. In vain they suggested fishing, hunting Injuns, or gathering wild flowers; they had set out to build a fort on Catnip Creek, and build it they must.
They entertained hopes of sneaking off alone when they should go home for lunch, but Mr. Cadge had provided for this contingency. His wife appeared at noon with slices of bread and b.u.t.ter for the Cadgelings, to which was added a cold beefsteak and a bucket of beer for the support of their house. Having already lunched at home, she was permitted to lay a tier of heavier stones along the wall while waiting for her family to finish the repast.
It was an arduous day for the tribe of Cadge, excepting, of course, its head. Not until the first star came out and the owls began to hoot along the Catnip did he declare himself satisfied with the day"s work and proceed homeward to supper. Widow Pipkin"s wall was half finished.
Not until Sat.u.r.day was the patient father able to enlist once more the services of his offspring, for, "What if they are your own kids!"
retorted Mrs. Cadge from her wash-board. "I"ve rubbed my "ands raw to give "em the eddication you and me lacks, and to school they go. You build that wall yourself, or wait until the week"s end for your pay."
The former alternative was not to be thought of, and the Widow Pipkin wondered mildly whether the half finished wall was ever to be completed.
But Sat.u.r.day at dawn Cadge once more appeared, driving before him three tear-stained and reluctant Cadgelets. They had inherited part of their father"s disposition in regard to real work, likewise his unwillingness to be imposed upon. Constructing fortifications along the Catnip was well enough for one Sat.u.r.day, but their backs still ached from their exertions, and they had only disdain for the restricted paternal imagination which suggested that this time they build stone castles.
Their sire waxed eloquent over the art of castle building and the sport of imprisoning ogres in them, but was finally compelled to a.s.sume the att.i.tude of an ogre himself, and threatened to skin them alive if they did not do as they were bid.
It was a long, hard day for the whole Cadge family. The little Cadges worked like galley-slaves in fear of the lash; their mother, out of pity for them, laid two tiers of cobbles when she came at noon, and even Cadge himself was tempted on one or two occasions to descend from his nook and lend a hand, but restrained himself.
Again the owls hooted along the stream and bullfrogs croaked from the reedy places. Cadge knocked the dottle out of his pipe and arose, stretching his short, muscular limbs, which had become cramped from sitting still so long.
"Run along "ome, kiddies," he said, "and tell the old woman not to wait supper for me. There"s a man down town as wants to see me about a job.
I"ll "ave a bite with "im."
The little Cadges disappeared in the twilight and their father presented himself at the Widow Pipkin"s door to receive his hard-earned wages.
"Oh, dear me! I can"t pay you to-night," answered Mrs. Pipkin. "I never keep any money in the house."
Cadge grumbled something about, a check would do. He was pretty sure that the barkeeper at Spider Grogan"s place would cash it.
"Oh, but mine is a savings account, and I will have to go down to the bank myself and get the money; but, never mind, you shall have it first thing Monday morning."
The thirsty man could find no solution to this problem and, although he urged the Widow Pipkin to think of a way, as his "missus needed the medicine something orful," that kind-hearted old lady could suggest nothing more to the point than going at once with a mustard poultice to the sufferer.
Old women are so set in their notions that the anxious husband was a full half hour dissuading her, and, when he reached home with both hands in his empty pockets, Mrs. Cadge was washing the dishes.
"Did the man give you a job?" inquired his wife brightly.
"Wot man? Wot job? Where"s my supper?" snapped Cadge. Then, as the ingenious ruse occurred to him, a flood of language rose to his lips and would not be dammed, though everything else was.
"Gone and hogged all the supper, did you!" he growled. "H"it"s a nice state of affairs, when a man comes "ome from a "ard day"s work to a h"empty table."
"But it was such a little steak, Tom," urged his wife, "and the children were so hungry that I let them finish it."
There was no money in the house, and Snavely, the only credit grocer, had closed his shop, so Mr. Cadge"s supper that night was bread and cheese without kisses.
Sunday was a long-remembered day of misery for Cadge"s wife and children, who played the scapegoat for Mr. Snavely and whipping-boy for Mrs. Pipkin.
Monday morning the head of the house arose early and, before Mrs. Pipkin had finished her beauty sleep, that hard-working man was at the door demanding his pay. An hour was all the time she required for dressing.
Mr. Cadge wished he had broken his fast before leaving home.
"Really, I don"t know whether I ought to pay you," replied Widow Pipkin when she finally answered his last, desperate ring. "Mr. Snavely made the bargain, and I should like to have him see the work before settling with you."