"Tut, tut, tut! I"m awfully sorry miss. But--"
"And he"s had an awfully bad time," broke in Helen. "Curly has. He"s ragged, and he has been ill-treated. And we saw him jump overboard and swim from that steamer before it reached Old Point Comfort, and he was picked up by a fishing boat. Oh! he is awfully brave."
Mr. Ricketts stared and swallowed hard. He could not find voice to reply just then.
"And he saved that cat from drowning. Oh! I had forgotten that," said Nettie, chiming in. "He really is very kind-hearted, as well as brave."
"And," said Ruth, from the stair above, "I am sure he never helped those men rob the Lumberton railroad station. Never!"
"My soul and body, ladies!" exclaimed the deputy sheriff. "You are sho"
more knowin" about this yere boy from the No"th than I am. I only got instructions to _git_ him-and git him I must."
"Oh, Mr. Ricketts!" gasped Helen.
"Please, Mr. Ricketts!" begged Nettie.
"Do consider, Mr. Ricketts!" joined in Ruth. "He"s really not guilty."
"Who says he ain"t?" demanded the deputy sheriff, shooting in the question suddenly.
"He says so," said Ruth, firmly, "and I never knew Curly Smith to tell a story."
Mr. Ricketts was undoubtedly in a very embarra.s.sing position. He was the soul of gallantry-according to his standards. To please the ladies was almost the highest law of his nature.
Behind him, Jimson, his companion, Tom, and the negroes had gathered in a compact crowd to listen. Mr. Ricketts, hat in hand, and perspiring now profusely, did not know what to do. He said, feebly:
"My soul and body, ladies! I dunno what t" say. I"d please yo" if I could. But I"m instructed t" bring this yere boy in, an" I got t" do it.
A broken laig ain"t no killin" matter. I"ve had one myself-ya-as, ma"am!
We kin take him in this yere little launch that b"longs t" Kunnel Peters. He"ll be "tended to fust-cla.s.s."
"Not in your old jail at Pegburg!" cried Nettie. "You know better, Mr.
Ricketts," and she was quite severe.
"I know you, Miss Nettie," Mr. Ricketts said, with humility, "You"re Mrs. Parsons" niece. You say the wo"d an" I"ll take the boy right to my own house."
Ruth had been watching one of the negroes who had stood on the outskirts of the group. He was a big, burly, dull-looking fellow-the very man whom Curly had risked his life to save from the river the night before.
This man stepped softly away from the crowd. He disappeared toward the front of the porch. By craning her neck a little Ruth could see around the corner of the door-jamb and follow the movements of this negro with her eyes.
The man, Tom, had tied the painter of the launch to a post there. The negro stood for a moment near that post; then he disappeared altogether.
Ruth"s heart suddenly beat faster. What had the negro done? She leaned forward farther to see the launch tugging at its rope. _The craft was already a dozen yards away from the hotel!_
"I"m awful sorry, ladies," declared the deputy sheriff, obstinately shaking his head. "I"ve got t" arrest that boy. That"s my sworn and bounden duty. And I got t" take him away in this yere launch of Kunnel Peterses."
He turned to wave a ham-like hand toward the tethered launch. The gesture was stayed in midair. Jimson, turning likewise, burst into a high cackle of laughter.
"Here"s a state of things!" roared the deputy, and rushed out upon the porch. The launch was whirling away down the current, far out of reach.
"Here, Tom! didn"t you hitch that boat?"
"I reckon ye won"t git away with that there little Yankee boy as you expected, Mr. Ricketts," cried Jimson. "Er-haw! haw! haw!"
CHAPTER XXIV-THE CHAMBER CONCERT
"You kin say what you like," Mr. Jimson said later, and in a hoa.r.s.e aside to Ruth Fielding, "the sheriff"s a good old sport. He took it laffin"-after the fust s"prise. You make much of him, Miss Ruth-you and Miss Helen and Miss Nettie-an" yo"ll keep him eatin" out o" your hand, he"s that gentled."
Ruth was afraid at first that somebody would suspect the negro of unleashing the launch. She did not think Mr. Jimson knew who did it. In the first heat, Mr. Ricketts accused his man, Tom, of being careless.
But it all simmered down in a few minutes. Mr. Holloway came out and invited the deputy and his comrade to come back to the rear apartment for a bite of lunch.
Mr. Ricketts seemed satisfied to know that the boy was upstairs and in good hands. He did not-at that time-ask to see him; and Ruth wanted, if she could, to keep news of the deputy"s arrival from the knowledge of the patient.
"Oh, dear me, Ruth!" groaned Helen. "It never rains but it pours."
"That seems very true of the weather in this part of the world," agreed her chum. "I never saw it rain harder than it has during the past few days."
"Goodness! I don"t mean real rain," said Helen. "I mean troubles never come singly."
"What"s troubling you particularly now?" asked Ruth.
"I"ve lost my last handkerchief," said Helen, tragically. "Isn"t it just awful to be here another night without a single change of anything? I feel just as mussy as I can feel. And this pretty dress will never be fit to wear again."
"We"re better off than some of the girls," laughed Ruth. "One of those that room with us danced right through her stockings, heel and toe, the evening of the hop; and now every time she steps there is a great gap at each heel above her low pumps. With that costume she wears she can put on nothing but black stockings, and I saw her just now trying to ink her heels so that when anybody follows her upstairs, they will not be so likely to notice the holes in her stockings."
"Well! if that were all that bothered us!" groaned Helen. "What are we going to do about Curly?"
"What _can_ we do about him?" asked Ruth.
"You don"t want to see him arrested and carried to jail, do you?"
"No, my dear. But how can we help it-when this deputy sheriff manages to find a craft in which to take him away from the island?"
"I wish Nettie"s Aunt Rachel were here," cried the other Northern girl.
"Even Mrs. Parsons, I fear, could not stop the law in its course."
"I don"t know. She is pretty powerful," returned her chum, grinning.
"See how nice they have all begun to treat us since Nettie threatened them with the terrors of her Aunt Rachel"s displeasure."
"Perhaps. But I would rather they were nice to us for our own sakes,"
Ruth said thoughtfully. "If it were not for Nettie, and Curly and the concert we want to give for his benefit, I wouldn"t care whether many of them spoke to us or not. And every time that Miggs woman is in sight she makes me feel awfully unhappy," confessed Ruth. "I don"t believe I ever before disliked anybody quite so heartily as I dislike her."
"Dislike! I _hate_ her!" exclaimed Helen.