There was a pause--so long a pause that the boy on the gra.s.s sent a sideways glance at the motionless figure on the fence.
"It wa"n"t right, of course," began Jim, at last, awkwardly, "crowin"
over dad as I do. I never thought how--how "t would make the rest of you fellers feel." Bob, on the gra.s.s, bridled and opened his lips, but something in Jim"s rapt face kept him from giving voice to his scorn.
""Course there ain"t any one like dad--there can"t be," continued Jim hurriedly. "He treats me white, an" he"s straight there every time.
Dad don"t dodge. Maybe I should n"t say so much about him, only--well, me an" dad are all alone. There ain"t any one else; they"re dead."
The boy on the gra.s.s turned over and kicked both heels in the air; then he dug at the turf with his forefinger. He wished he would not think of his mother and beloved little sister May just then. He opened his eyes very wide and winked hard, once, twice, and again. He tried to speak; failing in that, he puckered his lips for a whistle. But the lips twitched and would not stay steady, and the whistle, when it came, sounded like nothing so much as the far-away fog-whistle off the sh.o.r.e at night. With a snort of shamed terror lest that lump in his throat break loose, Bob sprang upright and began to turn a handspring with variations.
"Bet ye can"t do this," he challenged thickly.
"Bet ye I can," retorted Jim, landing with a thump at Bob"s side.
It was after supper the next night that the two boys again occupied the fence and the gra.s.s-plot. They had fallen into the way of discussing at this time the day"s fires, dog-fights, and parades. To-day, however, fires had been few, dog-fights fewer, and parades so very scarce that they numbered none at all. Conversation had come to a dead pause, when Jim, his eyes on the rod of sidewalk visible from where he sat, called softly:
"Hi, Bob, who"s the guy with the plug?"
Bob raised his head. He caught a glimpse of checkered trousers, tail-coat, and tall hat, then he dropped to the ground with a short laugh.
"Yes, who is it?" he scoffed. "Don"t ye know?"
"Would I be askin" if I did?" demanded Jim.
"Humph!" grunted the other. "Well, you"ll know him fast enough one of these days, sonny, never fear. There don"t no one hang out here more"n a month "fore he spots "em."
""Spots "em"!"
"Sure! He"s Danny O"Flannigan."
"Well?"
Into Bob"s face came a look of pitying derision.
""Well,"" he mocked. "Mebbe "t will be "well," an" then again mebbe "t won"t. It all depends on yer dad."
"On _dad_!"
"Sure! He"s Danny O"Flannigan, the boss o" this ward."
"But what has that got to do with my dad?"
"Aw, come off--as if ye did n"t know! It all depends whether he"s nailed him or not."
""Nailed him"!"
"Sure. If he nails him fur a friend, he gits customers an" picnics an"
boo-kays all the time. If he don"t--" Bob made a wry face and an expressive gesture.
The frown that had been gathering on Jim"s brow fled.
"Ho!" he laughed. "Don"t you worry. Dad always nails folks--never misses. .h.i.ttin" "em on the head, either," he added, in reckless triumph, confident that there was nothing "dad" could not do.
The boy on the gra.s.s sat up and stared; then he lay back and gave a hoa.r.s.e laugh--a long, chuckling laugh that brought the frown back to Jim"s face.
"Well, what you laughin" at?" demanded Jim sharply.
"Oh, gee, gee!--that"s too good!" gurgled the boy on the gra.s.s, rolling from side to side. "The saint, the sample, the pattern, the feller what treats "em square, a-sellin" his vote! Oh, gee, gee!"
The ground suddenly shook with the impact of two st.u.r.dy little feet, and Bob found his throat in the grasp of two strong little hands.
"Bob Sullivan, quit yer laughin" an" tell me what you"re talkin"
about," stormed a shrill treble. "Who"s a-sellin" their vote?"
Bob squirmed and struggled.
"A feller--can"t talk--without--breathin"!" he choked.
"Well, then,--breathe!" commanded Jim, jerking his companion to a sitting posture and loosening his clasp on his throat. "Now--who"s a-sellin" their vote?"
"Ye said it yerself, I didn"t," snarled Bob sullenly.
"Said what?"
"That yer dad would nail Danny O"Flannigan, sure."
"And is that sellin" his vote?"
"What else is it, then?" demanded Bob wrathfully. "He votes as Danny says, an" Danny sends him trade, an"--oh, oh, q-quit it--q-quit it--I say!" choked Bob, breath and speech almost cut off by the furious clutch of Jim"s lean little fingers.
"I won"t quit it; I won"t!" stormed Jim, shaking his victim with a force that was as strong as it was sudden. "You know I never meant it that way; an" dad won"t sell his vote; he won"t--he won"t--he won"t!"
The next instant a wrathful, palpitating Bob lay alone on the gra.s.s, while a no less wrathful and palpitating Jim vaulted the fence at a bound and disappeared into the next house.
Jim awoke the next morning with a haunting sense that something had happened. In a moment he remembered; and with memory came rage and a defiant up tilting of the chin.
As if dad--_dad_ could do this thing! Very possibly--even probably--Handy Mike had long ago gone down before this creature in the checkered trousers and tall hat; but dad--dad was not Handy Mike!
The ins and outs, the fine points, the ethics of it all were not quite clear to Jim; but the derision in Bob"s laugh was unmistakable; and on that derision and on that laugh hung his unfaltering confidence that dad would not, could not, do anything to merit either.
For three nights the boys shunned the fence and the back yard. On the fourth night, as if by common impulse, each took his accustomed place, wearing an elaborate air of absolute forgetfulness of the past. There had been two fires and a parade that day, so any embarra.s.sment that the situation held was easily talked down. Not until Handy Mike on the side porch of his dilapidated cottage had greeted a visitor did there come a silence between the two boys. Even then it did not last long, for Bob broke it with a hoa.r.s.e whisper.
"It"s Danny O"Flannigan, sure"s a gun! It"s gittin" mos"
"lection-time, an" he"s drummin" "em up. Now, jest watch pap. He hain"t no use fur Danny. Oh, of course," he added, in hurried conciliation, ""t ain"t as if it made any difference ter pap. Pap works fur the women-folks, an" women don"t cut much ice in pol"tics."
And Jim did watch--with his eyes wide open and his hands so tightly clenched they fairly ached. He could not hear the words, but he could the voices, and he noted that for the first five minutes one was jovial, the other sullen; and for the next five minutes one was persuasive, the other contradictory; and for the third five minutes one was angry and the other back to its old sullenness. Then he saw that Danny O"Flannigan jerked himself to his feet and strode away, leaving Handy Mike stolidly smoking on the side porch.
"Humph!" muttered Bob. "Danny hung to longer "n I thought he would.
Must be somethin" special"s up."