"Mercy upon us!" she exclaimed, though there was not a soul to hear her.
"Mercy upon us, what are those boyoes doing atop of that house?"
In her astonishment she actually dropped her knitting-work on the floor and rushed out of the room crying, "Fire!" though there was not a spark of fire to be seen.
The "boyoes" were Nate and Jimmy. Nate had said to Jimmy just as they started on the race:--
"You won"t dare follow where I lead;" and Jimmy, stung by the defiant tone, had answered:--
"Poh, yes, I will! Who"s afraid?" never once suspecting that Nate was going to climb the ridge-pole of a house!
The house was a small cabin painted green, but there were people living in it, and nothing could be ruder than to storm it in this way, as both boys knew.
"Why, Nate why, _Nate_, what are you doing?"
"Ho, needn"t come if you"re scared," retorted Nate.
"Who said I was scared? But I"m not your "caddy," I won"t go another step," gasped Jimmy.
Still he did not stop climbing. Hadn"t Nate "stumped" him; and hadn"t he "taken the stump," agreeing to follow his lead? Besides, Nate was already on the roof, and it was necessary to catch him at once.
Jimmy reached the roof easily enough and darted toward Nate with both arms out-stretched. But by that time Nate had turned around and begun to slide down another ridge-pole, shouting:--
"Here, my caddy, here I am; catch me, caddy!"
It was most exasperating. Jimmy saw that he had been outwitted. On the solid earth, running a fair race, the chances were that he could have beaten Nate. But was this a fair race?
"No, I"ll leave it out to anybody if it"s fair! Nate Pollard is the meanest boy in California," thought angry Jimmy, as he started to follow his leader down the ridge-pole.
At this moment something hit him just below the knee and held him fast.
In his haste he had not stopped to notice that the chimney was of the very sort he had just described to Lucy--built of tiles and held on to the roof by wires. He was caught in these wires; and whenever he tried to move he found he was actually pulling the chimney after him! Nate, safely landed on the ground, called back to him in triumph:--
"h.e.l.lo, Jimmy-c.u.m-jim! h.e.l.lo, my caddy! Where are you? Why don"t you come along?"
Jimmy was coming as fast as he could. He lay face downward, sliding along toward the edge of the roof, and carrying with him that most undesirable chimney! What would become of him if he should fall head-first with the chimney on his back?
It was a rough scramble; but he managed to turn over before he reached the ground--so that he landed on his feet. The chimney landed near him, a wreck. Jimmy was unhurt except for a few scratches. But oh, it was dreadful to hear himself laughed at, not only by that mischievous Nate, but by half a dozen other boys and a few grown people, who had collected on the spot; among them the landlord and Mrs. McQuilken.
Not that any one could be blamed for laughing. Jimmy was a comical object. In carrying away a chimney which did not belong to him, he had of course torn his clothes frightfully and left big pieces sticking on the broken wires of the roof. A more "raggety" boy never was seen.
"Wouldn"t he make a good scarecrow?" said the landlord, shaking his sides. "Jimmum, chimney, and all!"
It was necessary to tear his clothes still more in order to get them free from the tangle of wires. As the poor young culprit crept unwillingly back to the hotel all the cats, dogs, donkeys, and chickens in Castle Cliff seemed to combine in a chorus of mewing, barking, braying, and cackling to inform the whole world that here was a boy who had stolen a chimney!
What wretched little beggar was this coming to the house? No one thought of its being Jimmy Dunlee.
"We caught this young rogue stealing a chimney," said Mr. Templeton.
It seemed funny at first, and the Dunlees and Sanfords and Hales all laughed heartily, till it occurred to them that the dear child had been in actual danger; and then they drew long breaths and shuddered, thinking how he might have pitched headlong to the ground and been crushed by the weight of the chimney.
"But my little son," asked Mrs. Dunlee presently, when the child was once more respectably clad, and was walking down to dinner between herself and Aunt Vi, "but my little son, what could have possessed you to climb a roof? Was that a nice thing to do?"
"No, mamma, of course not. But "twas all Nate Pollard"s fault. Nate stumped me to it and I took the stump."
"What _do_ you mean?"
"Why, he said, "You won"t dare follow me," and I said, "Yes, I would."
And I never mistrusted where he was going. Who"d have thought of his climbing top of a house?"
"Why, Jamie Dunlee, you did not follow Nate without knowing where he was going?"
"Yes, mamma; if I _had_ known I wouldn"t have followed. But you see he had stumped me and I"d taken the stump, so I was _obliged_ to go!"
"Obliged to go!" repeated Aunt Vi, laughing, "Isn"t that characteristic of Jimmy?"
The little fellow felt guiltier than ever. When Aunt Vi used that word of five syllables it always meant that people had done very wrong, so he thought.
"Jamie," said his mother very seriously, "I am surprised that you should have promised to follow Nate without knowing where he was going! And you never even asked him where he was going! Is that the way you play, you boys?"
"No, mamma, it isn"t. Nate makes you play his way because he"s the oldest. He"s just as mean! But I couldn"t back out after I was stumped."
"Oh, fie! Backing out is exactly the thing to do when a boy is trying to lead you into mischief! But we"ll talk more of this by and by."
As they entered the dining-room, Jimmy squared his shoulders and would not look toward Nate"s table; and Nate, who had been severely reproved by his parents, never once raised his eyes from his plate. No one felt very happy. Jimmy"s new suit was ruined; and Mr. Dunlee had already learned that it would cost ten dollars to restore the tile chimney. Nor was this all. While Jimmy was trying to console himself with ice-cream he suddenly thought of his father"s watch! It must have dropped out of his pocket when he slid down the roof; but where, oh, where was it now?
Was it still on the ground, or had some one picked it up? Joe Rolfe had been there, so had Chicken Little and a dozen others. He must go and look for that watch, he must go this minute.
"Mamma," he murmured, pushing aside his saucer of ice-cream, "may I--may I be excused?"
There was no answer; his mother had not heard him.
"Mamma," in a louder tone, "oh, mamma!"
"What is it, my son?"
Seeing by his unhappy face that something was wrong, she nodded permission for him to leave the table; and at the same time arose and followed him into the hall.
"Dear child, what is the matter?"
"Papa"s watch," he moaned. "I"m afraid somebody will steal it."
As Mrs. Dunlee knew nothing whatever about the watch this sounded very strange. She wondered if Jimmy had really been hurt by his fall and was out of his head.
"Why, my precious little boy," said she, taking his hot hand in hers.
"Papa"s watch is safe in his vest pocket. n.o.body is going to steal it."
Jimmy looked immensely relieved.
"Oh, has he got it back again? I"m so glad! Where did he find it?"
"Darling," said Mrs. Dunlee, now really alarmed. "Come upstairs with mamma. Does your head ache? I think it will be best for you to go right to bed."