said Davie, and sank down; "O dear me, Ben, I"m so tired."
Joel told his story, rattling it off so that Ben had to shake his jacket many times. "Hold on there, Joe," he said, "you haven"t seen half that. You"ve been asleep."
"Come up and see," cried Joel, excitedly. "Oh, Ben, come up and see."
"What"s all this?" asked Farmer Blodgett, drawing near. So Ben told it as well as he could for Joel, who wanted to go over every word again, and at last they made him understand.
"Now that boy," said Mr. Blodgett, shifting his quid of tobacco into the other cheek, "bein"s he"s a Pepper, knows what he"s a-talkin" of. I"m of th" opinion pretty strong that I"m a-goin" up Bandy Leg."
"Oh, good! Mr. Blodgett," exclaimed Joel, hopping up and down in his delight. "Do please hurry this minute and come on."
"Bein"s I"ve lost more hens and chickens the last two weeks than I ever have in my life before, and only yest"day wife had a hull pan o" doughnuts took off from the back steps where she"d set "em to cool, why I"m of the opinion pretty strong that Bandy Leg Mountain will bear lookin" into. So I"ll call Peter an" Jed, an" we"ll hoof it up there right away."
"Oh, Mr. Blodgett, do hurry," begged Joel, "and come." And he began to dance off impatiently.
"Hold on!" cried the farmer, turning back, "you ain"t goin"."
Joel stood absolutely still. "Not going!"
"Th" idee o" takin" a leetle chap like you," laughed Deacon Blodgett. "Why, I couldn"t look your Ma in the face, Joel Pepper, ef I sh"d do sech a thing."
Joel scanned Ben"s face.
"I"m sorry, Joe," said Ben, "but Mamsie wouldn"t like it, you know."
Joel gave a howl. "They"re mine. And he"s my man who stole our bread; an" they all b"long to me, for I found "em." He kept screaming on.
"Mercy me!" cried Ben, shaking his arm, "stop screaming so, Joe, you"re scaring all Mr. Blodgett"s men. They"ll think you"re half killed. See "em running here."
"I don"t have to go after "em, to call "em, s"long as you yell like that," observed Farmer Blodgett, grimly.
"An" they all b"long to me, every single one of "em," screamed Joel, harder than ever, "so there! an" Mamsie"d let me," he added in a fresh burst.
"Well, I can"t let you," declared Ben, decidedly, "without she says so; and if we wait here much longer, all those fellows will be slipping off, maybe. They can hear you up there, for all I know, you make such a noise."
"See here," cried Deacon Blodgett, sternly, "Joe Pepper, you stop that noise! Ain"t you "shamed, bein" Mrs. Pepper"s boy, to take on so? Now I"ll tell you what I"ll do. You"ve done a good thing a-drummin" up those scamps, an" I don"t wonder you want to go an" see "em ketched."
"I want to help catch "em, and they"re mine," said Joel, through his tears.
"Well,"--and the farmer smiled grimly,--"I don"t wonder, so now I"ll tell you what I"ll do. Peter shall go along with you home, an" if your Ma says come, he"ll bring you after us. So march lively."
"Mother isn"t home," said Ben. "She"s at Miss Perkins" working, to-day." While Joel screamed shrilly, "Oh, dear-dear-dear, p"r"aps she won"t let me go!"
"Then you hadn"t ought to want to," said Deacon Blodgett, sternly. "Start lively, now, and see."
But Mrs. Pepper, looking into her boy"s eyes, and hearing his story, stood quite still, and Joel"s heart went down to his toes.
"I think a boy who can act as bravely as you have, Joe," she said at last, slowly, "ought to go and see the job finished.
Mother can trust you. Run along," and Joel"s feet twinkled so fast that Peter could hardly see them go.
VI
AB"M"s BIRTHDAY PARTY
The robbers were caught, and were lodged in the county jail, and all the farmers who had hen-roosts robbed, and the farmers"
wives who had their doughnuts stolen, kept coming over to the little brown house or stopping Mrs. Pepper after church on Sunday to thank her for what her boy had done, until it got so that when Joel saw a bonnet coming along the dusty road, or a wagon stop in front, he would run and hide.
"I won"t have "em put their hands on my head and call me good boy," he cried, shaking his black hair viciously. "I"ll kick "em--so there!" So one day, when he caught sight of a wagon just about to stop, he ran, as usual, as fast as he could, off over to Grandma Bascom"s.
"Now that"s too bad," said a big tall woman, who got out of the wagon and made her way up to the door, "for Mis" Beebe said in partic"ler I was to bring Joel, an" he ain"t to home."
"Go and call him, Polly," said Mrs. Pepper, "Come in, won"t you, and sit down?"
Phronsie tried to drag forward a chair, while Polly ran out the back door, calling, "Joel--Joel!"
"Bless her heart!" exclaimed the visitor, looking at Phronsie.
"No, I can"t set; I"ve got to keep an eye on that horse." As Mr.
Beebe, who ran the little shoe shop up in the town, owned a horse that nothing but a whip could make go, this seemed unnecessary. However, Mrs. Pepper only smiled hospitably, while the woman went on.
"You see, I"ve only jest about come, as "twere, on from the West, an" bein" my boy"s got a birthday, an" him bein" grandson, as you may say, to Mis" Beebe, she thought she"d give him a party."
"Oh, are you Mr. Beebe"s daughter?" asked Mrs. Pepper, in perplexity. "I thought the old people hadn"t any children."
"No more"n they hain"t," said the visitor, leaning composedly against the door jamb and keeping her eye on the horse; "but as you may say, Ab"m"s their grandson, for my husband"s mother was sister to Mis" Beebe, an" she"s dead, so you see it"s next o"
kin, an" it comes in handy to call her Grandma."
"Oh, yes," said Mrs. Pepper.
"Well, an" so Mis" Beebe"s goin" to give Ab"m a party. La! she"s been a-bakin" doughnuts all this mornin", got up at four o"clock an" begun "em. I never see such sugary ones. They"re sights, I tell you."
Polly now ran in. "I can"t find Joel, Mamsie," she said sadly.
"Well, Mis" Beebe said I was to bring him most partic"ler; she"d rather see him than any of the rest o" you. She said, "Marinthy, be sure to bring that boy who was so brave about them robbers.
Tell him I"ve made some doughnuts special for him.""
"O dear!" exclaimed Polly, clasping her hands, "whatever can we do, Mamsie, to find him?"
"You must not wait any longer," said Mrs. Pepper, remembering how, the day before, Joel, had run down to the brook, and been gone for hours, following along its course, never coming home till dinner-time. "Get Phronsie ready, and Davie and yourself.
But I"m sorry for Joey to lose the treat," she said sadly.
"So"m I," said Abram"s mother, "an" Mis" Beebe"ll feel dreadful bad. Well, I"m afraid that horse"ll start, so I"ll get in, an"
you can all come out when you get ready."
Pretty soon Polly emerged from the bedroom with a sad look on her rosy face, and her brown eyes drooped as she led Phronsie along as fresh and sweet as a rose, all ready.