XVI
THE ACCIDENT
Chippy, Jr., proved to be a great success. Even Mrs. Rusty Wren had to admit, before he had finished his first day"s work, that he was an agreeable person to have about the house.
"Of course he isn"t much of a singer," she remarked to Rusty, "but he seems to have a quick eye for an insect, and he is kind to the children. He is very neat, besides. I have watched him sharply,"
she added, "and I haven"t caught him tracking any dirt into the house--nor brushing any off his clothes onto my clean floor, either."
Rusty, too, declared himself well satisfied with his helper.
"He"s a spry worker," he said. "And he can get through our door as easily as I can. He went in and out of the house two hundred and fifty-seven times to-day; and not once did he get stuck in the doorway."
For several days everything went so smoothly in Rusty Wren"s household that his wife began to feel more like herself again.
Jasper Jay did not come near their house to annoy them; and there was plenty of food for all--thanks to the untiring efforts of Chippy, Jr. Though she tried her hardest, Mrs. Rusty couldn"t think of anything to worry about. And her husband frequently remarked that it was a lucky day for all of them when he decided to hire a boy.
Both Rusty and his wife had quite forgotten the strange feeling of that good little lady"s that some sort of trouble was coming to them on account of taking an outsider into their house.
So the days pa.s.sed happily for them. And all the while their six children were fast growing bigger. The proud parents often remarked that they had never before known youngsters to change so rapidly.
So interested were Rusty and his wife in their children that they failed to see that Chippy, Jr., was growing likewise. Indeed, he now overtopped Rusty by half a head. But the Wrens--both husband and wife--entirely overlooked that fact.
Neither did they happen to notice that Chippy, Jr., was beginning to have a good deal of trouble squeezing through the door. For some reason--due, perhaps, to the way the opening was made--for some reason he could get into the house more easily than he could get out of it.
He said nothing about this new difficulty, not wishing to disturb the happiness of the Wren family, nor find himself out of work, either.
Since he continued to grow from day to day there could be but one outcome. And at last when Rusty came home late one afternoon with a plump insect in his bill he found Chippy, Jr., blocking the doorway. His head peered through the round opening. And his face wore a worried expression.
"Hurry up!" said Rusty Wren. "I want to come in."
And at that Chippy, Jr., began to struggle to get out. But he couldn"t move either forward or back.
"Be spry!" Rusty said impatiently. "Don"t keep me waiting, boy!"
Chippy, Jr., looked actually frightened.
"I"m stuck fast!" he cried. "I can"t move either way!"
XVII
HELP! HELP!
"Help! help!" Rusty Wren called loudly to his wife.
"What"s wrong?" she screamed. Since she was inside the house, and Rusty was outside, with Chippy, Jr., blocking the doorway, of course she was alarmed--for she couldn"t see her husband.
"This boy"s stuck fast in our door," Rusty cried. "And you must help me move him."
"Very well!" she answered in a frightened tone. "But if we can"t stir him, I don"t know what we"ll do." And she began to shriek.
"Don"t worry!" Rusty shouted. "Just say when you"re ready."
"I"m ready now," she replied.
"One, two, three--all together!" Rusty Wren commanded. And he seized the head of Chippy, Jr., and began pulling as hard as he knew how.
Chippy, Jr., at once let out a frightened cry.
"Stop! stop!" he begged. "I don"t know what the trouble is, but I feel as if I should break in two!"
"Well! well!" exclaimed Rusty Wren. And then to his wife he said: "Were you pushing or pulling?"
"Pulling!" she explained. "I was tugging on his coat-tails."
"Ah! That was the trouble," Rusty told poor Chippy, Jr., who looked quite distressed. "I was trying to pull you out; and she was trying to pull you in. But you mustn"t mind a little mistake like that."
"Very well!" said Chippy, Jr., meekly. "But please don"t do it again!"
"Now----" Rusty directed his wife, so that she might understand clearly what was required of her--"now you must push while I pull."
All their efforts, however, failed to move the unfortunate Chippy, Jr. He remained wedged tightly in the doorway. And at last Rusty declared that they might as well stop trying to get him through it.
"What you must do now," he directed his wife, "is to pull on Chippy, Jr."s, coat-tails, while I push against his head. And in that way we may be able to clear our doorway."
That plan worked better. In a short time Mr. Chippy"s unlucky son suddenly slipped backward, knocking Mrs. Rusty Wren flat on her back. And Rusty himself tumbled into the house and fell on top of the heap.
As soon as they had picked themselves up, Rusty Wren and his wife and Chippy, Jr., looked at one another for a few moments without saying a single word.
Mrs. Rusty was the first to break the silence--if a house may be said to be silent when there are six children in it, all clamoring for something to eat.
"I knew we should have some sort of trouble if we took a stranger into our home," she wailed.
"Why, what"s the matter now?" Rusty inquired in surprise.
"Matter?" she groaned. "Here"s this great lout of a boy inside our house! And we"ll never be able to get rid of him. Instead of his helping us to feed our children, we shall have to feed him! And now we are worse off than we ever were before."
XVIII
THE PUZZLE