"Well, well, you don"t tell me!" replied the man eagerly. "Why, I heard a grandfather saying back there in the crowd that he was looking for his little grandson. Come along and I"ll help you find him."
The short man was very kind, for he knelt down and unbuckled the stubborn skate straps and tied them over Sunny Boy"s arm. Then he took his hand and led him back into the crowd up to a worried-looking old gentleman.
"Excuse me, sir, I think I"ve found your little grandson," he said. "I discovered this little fellow over by the edge of the pond. He is looking for his grandpa."
The worried-looking old gentleman was tall and thin. He had no white mustache and no gray-and-white m.u.f.fler. He was not Grandpa Horton at all.
"What ails the man!" cried this grandpa, glaring at the short man. "I am looking for my granddaughter and he brings me a lost boy!"
"Oh, my!" murmured the short man, dropping Sunny Boy"s hand. "I"m sorry. I"m so absent-minded. I hardly ever get things straight. I thought you said you had lost your grandson. Excuse me," and he turned and stepped back into the crowd, leaving Sunny Boy alone again.
This other grandpa stared at Sunny Boy silently for a few minutes and Sunny Boy stared back. Then the old gentleman threw back his head and laughed and laughed. He laughed so heartily that Sunny Boy had to laugh, too, though he could not see that there was anything funny to laugh at.
"Well, poor James Ridley has made a mess of it as usual," said the old gentleman, when he could stop laughing. "I suppose, because I called Adele my little girl, he went about looking for a child. She is seventeen and able to take care of herself almost anywhere. Well, child, if I were your grandfather I"d want some one to look after you, so suppose you stay with me till we see if your grandpa is here. He wouldn"t go home without you, that much I know."
Sunny Boy felt better, with a tall, kindly old gentleman to walk about with him, but he wished that they could find Grandpa Horton before his feet were too cold to walk on. And then, just as he was sure his shoes were frozen fast to his toes, he saw dear Grandpa Horton!
"Grandpa!" he shouted. "Here I am, Grandpa! We"ve been looking all over for you."
"And I"ve been about crazy, looking for you," said Grandpa Horton, hurrying up to them. "Are you all right, Sunny Boy? Are you cold?
Are you wet? How did you get ash.o.r.e?"
The other grandfather laughed again as he shook hands with Grandpa Horton.
"He"s all right, though I suspect his feet are pretty wet," he said.
"I would have bundled him off home, but I knew you would be terribly anxious and I couldn"t pick you out of the crowd without his help.
You"d better hurry, now. I"m going to get out of this crowd as soon as I find my granddaughter."
Grandpa Horton thanked the old gentleman for taking care of Sunny Boy and then they shook hands again and Sunny Boy and his grandpa hurried toward the Park gates.
They walked as fast as they could all the way home, and sometimes they ran a little. Grandma Horton, who had been taking a nap when they left for the Park, was downstairs in the living-room with Mrs. Horton, knitting, when she happened to look out of the window and see Grandpa and Sunny Boy coming.
"Has anything happened to you?" she cried, opening the door as they dashed up the steps. "Are either of you hurt?"
Dear, dear, there was a great deal of excitement, you may be sure, when Sunny Boy and Grandpa told what had happened at the pond. Harriet brought hot water bottles and dry shoes and stockings and hot lemonade and her best box of peppermint drops. Grandma Horton insisted on wrapping Sunny Boy from chin to feet in a hot blanket and she made Grandpa take little white pills. Mother Horton rubbed their hands and lighted the electric heater, although the room was very warm and comfortable, and put on all the wood in the fire-basket till the fireplace was ablaze with flames.
And all this loving care and attention agreed with both Sunny Boy and Grandpa Horton, for neither one of them took the tiniest bit of cold and they were all right again the next day. Sunny Boy said he knew it was the peppermint drops, and Harriet thought so, too.
CHAPTER III
WHO WAS THE BIG BOY?
Although Sunny Boy and Grandpa were quite well the next morning, Daddy Horton said he thought they had better stay in the house till after lunch.
"It is much colder to-day. The thermometer dropped several degrees last night," Daddy explained. "I think if you wait a few hours you"ll find it pleasanter out."
So Sunny Boy and Grandpa took this good advice and stayed in by the living-room fire. They again told Grandma and Mother Horton about the ice cracking, and Harriet, who was cleaning the dining-room, could not get along very fast with her dusting because she was always coming to the door to listen.
"That must have been Judge Layton, Father," said Mrs. Horton, when Grandpa described the old gentleman whom Sunny Boy insisted on calling "the other grandpa."
"I believe I did hear some one in the crowd call him "judge,"" answered Grandpa Horton.
"He has a granddaughter, Adele, I know," said Mrs. Horton. "And he is so proud of her he goes everywhere with her. I hope he found her and that she was not hurt."
"Oh, no one was hurt," replied Grandpa Horton. "There was a great deal of shouting and screaming, but a pair of wet feet was the most any one suffered, I feel sure. What is it, laddie?"
Sunny Boy had been standing quietly beside his grandfather"s chair, waiting for a chance to say something very important.
"I wish, Grandpa--" he began excitedly, "I wish the big boy who pulled me off the ice had waited to see you. He was afraid of the policeman, or maybe he might have stayed."
"I wish I had seen him," said Grandpa Horton seriously. "He must have had his wits about him to get you out of that crowd so easily. That was what was worrying me all the time--I was afraid that a little chap like you would be knocked down by that struggling crowd."
"I wish I could see the boy," said Mrs. Horton wistfully. "I would like so much to thank him, and Daddy would, too. Don"t you even know his name, Sunny?"
Sunny Boy shook his head.
"I forgot to ask him," he admitted.
"Well, never mind," said Grandpa cheerily. He did not believe, he often said, in feeling sad over things you could not help. "Perhaps we will see him again. You would know him, wouldn"t you, Sunny Boy, if you should see him on the street?"
"Ye-s, I guess I would," answered Sunny Boy. "His coat was ripped in the back and where it didn"t b.u.t.ton, and he wore a blue sweater with green b.u.t.tons. I would know the green b.u.t.tons, Grandpa."
Grandpa Horton laughed, but Mrs. Horton and Grandma looked grave.
"I"d like to knit him a good sweater," said Grandma. "Like as not the child needs warm things to wear."
"Boys wear old clothes to skate in, of course," Mrs. Horton said. "But last night when Sunny Boy told me how rough and red his hands were and that his skate straps were tied with string, I wondered if he wasn"t a boy from the River Section. He may need more than our thanks for taking care of Sunny Boy."
"We"ll go out and try to find him after lunch," promised Grandpa.
"Shall we, Sunny Boy?"
"Oh, yes, let"s!" cried Sunny Boy joyfully. "Let"s go skating again, Grandpa."
And after lunch they put on their m.u.f.flers and overcoats and caps and Sunny Boy hung his skates on his arm and they set out for Wilkins Park and the skating pond.
But first Mother had to kiss Sunny Boy and Harriet had to kiss him and they all waved their hands to him till he and Grandpa turned the corner and could not be seen from the house any more.
"We have to find the big boy, don"t we?" said Sunny Boy, trying not to gasp as the wind blew down the avenue and almost took his breath away.
"Yes, we must be on the look-out for him," Grandpa Horton replied. "I have an idea he may be at the pond."
But, though they looked carefully when they came to the skating pond, they could not find a boy who looked like the one Sunny remembered.
The pond was crowded again with skaters and they were laughing and singing as though they had never heard of the ice cracking.
Sunny Boy put on his skates, and this time he had better luck with his lesson. Grandpa said he was doing finely. And, indeed, he did not fall down more than twice, and one of those times, as he explained, was a mistake. Another boy skated into him and "tipped him over," Sunny Boy said. Just as Grandpa said it was time to stop, Sunny Boy looked up and saw his friend, the tall policeman, standing on the sh.o.r.e.