Penn Shirley

“ Their home was just across the street, and she had watched for Paul, and rushed out to meet him, and now stood leaning against the front wheel of the wagon, chatting with him. She was a warm-hearted, impulsive girl, rather too heedless and outspoken at times. She had no mother to guide her, and lacked the gentle manners of her friend, Molly Rowe.
“You ought to put on your hat, Polly. You’re getting as brown as a Mexican,” remarked Paul, with brotherly frankness, as he attacked a second roll. ”

“ Why, you little goosie, Mexico is within sight of us, and Europe is ’way off to the other side of the world.”
“Truly? Then I’m not going to any old Europe!”
And Weezy’s lip began to quiver.
“Not with papa and mamma, darling?” said Molly. “They’ll go with us and so will Captain Bradstreet, and they’ll all take care of The Merry Five.”
“Here’s three cheers for Europe!” shouted Kirke, swinging his cap. “And hurrah! Three cheers for The Merry Five!”
[11] “Hurrah! Free chairs for Mary Five!” echoed little Donald, flapping his arms like a windmill in a gale. “Hurrah! Free chairs for Mary Five!” ”

“ Mrs. Rowe had feared lest her sociable little daughter might annoy the stranger; but after hearing Weezy’s story about her, changed her mind.
“The poor girl looks very sad and lonely,” she said, watching the sweet, sensitive face, which she had observed at dinner. “I’ll go back with you, Weezy, and speak to her.”
And having crossed the deck, she gracefully introduced herself to the desolate young lady in mourning, who in return gave her own name as Miss Evans.
“Cannot I prevail upon you, Miss Evans, to make my little daughter and the rest of us happy, by joining us?” said Mrs. Rowe cordially. ”

“ On her return the child had vanished, and his little blue sailor-suit lay in a tumbled heap upon the brink of the pool.
“Donny had been teasing again to go in bathing, and I wouldn’t let him go,” wailed his despairing little sister; “so I s’pect when I wasn’t there he skipped into the ocean all alone by himself. Donald, Don-ald, where are you? Oh, dear, dear. I wish I was dead!”
“Run to the inn, Weezy, for papa and mamma; run as fast as you can,” cried Molly, in a husky voice. ”

“ The ruddy-faced captain suppressed a smile, and listened patiently, while Kirke proceeded to sing the praises of the graceful white terrier, who would not obey his master.
“He loves me tremendously; he can’t bear to stay away from me: there’s the trouble.” ”

“ Her head drooped; but before the tears could fall, Captain Bradstreet soothed her wounded feelings by whispering in her ear that little girls who had never been to sea couldn’t be expected to know about stokers. He would tell her in confidence that stokers [99] are the men who tend the fires on a steamboat.
“The poor souls weren’t more than half dressed,” said Paul, when peace had been restored. “But still they looked ready to melt. You never saw such a fire as they keep up in those furnaces, girls.”
“Threw coal into the fire-boxes every minute or two,” interposed Kirke. ”

“ Paul called for Kirke on the following Saturday, long before breakfast-time. He had driven in from the ranch in Mr. Keith’s two-seated wagon, drawn by a pair of little brown mules, and was evidently in a prodigious hurry.
“Hello, Selkirk!” he shouted to the side of the house. “Stir around lively. Mr. Keith wants Sing Wung to get to work on the well early.”
“I’ll be there in two seconds,” returned Kirke, thrusting a tumbled head through an open window. “All dressed but my hair.”
“Good! Can’t you eat your breakfast on the road?”
[32] “To be sure. I can eat anywhere, everywhere.” ”

“ But when her eyes fell upon the little empty sailor-suit, she gathered it in her arms with the bitter cry, “O Donald, my little Donald, come back to your poor mamma!”
Then it was that something unexpected happened—something which changed her mourning into gladness. A little golden head shot suddenly up from behind a neighboring rock, and a shrill little voice cried out, [142] “Here I is, mamma. Oh, please come qui-ck.”
Everybody jumped as if an earthquake had swallowed the cliff.
“It’s Donald, it’s Donald! I didn’t drown him at all!” shouted Weezy, dancing up and down in frantic joy. ”

“ Well,—to go on with the story,—one May morning before school-time, as Kirke was amusing his little brother upon the veranda, Molly came rushing out in great excitement, crying,—
“O Kirke, you can’t guess what’s going to happen to The Merry Five!”
[8] Kirke, engaged in attaching a string to the neck of a speckled horned toad, answered coolly without looking up,—
“No; and I never said I could. Fortune-telling is not my trade.”
“What is your trade, you funny boy?” asked little Miss Weezy, suddenly appearing from the garden. ”

“ Keith great anxiety, and it was a matter of rejoicing to him that the explosions were now safely over and the hard pan penetrated to a copious supply of water beneath.
“Shot stares at me and stares at me, and barks for nothing; but I don’t mind,” said Weezy, stroking the little terrier as he frisked up to her to be petted.
Kirke smiled approvingly. Shot was, indeed, a privileged character in these days and received few rebukes. He might even have been allowed to accompany his master to the Old World had not Captain Bradstreet looked upon the proposal with disfavor. ”

“ Is that so?” The captain raised the glass and peered through it himself. “Yes, you’re right, Bright-Eyes. The fog is ‘going to begin’ to bear down upon us.”
And in a few moments the white fog had shrouded the vessel from stem to stern. Then came at frequent intervals the dreary sound of the fog-horn.
“What a hoarse old thing!” exclaimed Weezy, stopping her ears in disgust. “It brays just like Kirke’s burro, only awful worse.”
“As if it had a long sore throat,” laughed Molly, buttoning her sister’s cape at the neck.
“They’re manning all the lookouts,” remarked the wise Pauline. ”

“ Miss Evans followed more slowly, pausing [164] midway to peep over the rail down into the sluggish water of the moat beneath her. Owing to a vegetable growth upon its surface, this water was as green and velvety as a meadow.
“I should think that pasture-y look would fool near-sighted cows, shouldn’t you, Miss Evans?” said Kirke at her elbow; and he was gratified that she positively laughed at his nonsense. This made the second time she had laughed that day. Entranced by the beauty and antiquity of the spot, she ran about the park with Weezy like a gay young girl ”

“ How can he, right in the height of the barley harvest?”
“He can hire somebody else.”
“No, he can’t for love or money. The Mexicans and Chinamen are all engaged for the season by this time. Besides, there’s the well not half done.”
Kirke bit his lip. He knew that this well was needed at once. He had seen for himself how Mr. Keith’s young orange-trees were turning yellow for want of proper irrigation. As they approached the Chinese quarter of the city, he broke the silence by remarking grimly,—
“I sha’n’t speak to Sing Wung. I want him to know I suspect him.” ”

“ It is over there between those two rocks near the foot of the chalk cliffs.”
“Thank you, Miss Edith, you’re very kind to tell us about it,” replied Molly, wiping Donald’s eyes, again beginning to twinkle. “You are sure it is perfectly safe?”
“Oh, yes, it’s so far from the sea that the waves never wash into it except at high tide.”
This was all true; and thinking she had done a kindness to the young Americans, Miss Edith gave them a pleasant nod and followed her sisters to the bath-house lower down the beach, to prepare for a plunge into the ocean. ”

“ S’pose he’s got up to heaven yet, Kirke?”
“The idea, Weezy!” Kirke’s tone was at once grieved and scornful. “Who ever heard of a fox-terrier’s going to heaven?”
“Don’t good little fox-terriers go to heaven? Nobody ever told me that before,” sighed Weezy, as Paul turned the mules [35] toward Chinatown. “O Kirke, don’t you wish Shot had been a good little skye-terrier ’stead of a fox? He would have gone to heaven then, you know!”
“It’s no sign Shot is dead, Weezy, dear, because he just happened to lose his collar,” cried Pauline, stepping back from the wheel with a smothered laugh. ”

“ Weezy laughed. It was pleasant to have Kirke at home again. For weeks he had spent half his time out of school hours at the ranch, for of course he must see that well finished. After quite a long illness, Yeck Wo had recovered and come to the aid of Sing Wung, who could drill hard pan well enough, but would not light another fuse.
“It will never do to trust Sing Wung with gunpowder again,” Mr. Keith had said in confidence to the boys; “he is too excitable, he loses his head.” ”

“ That is something that has never yet been done by any man with two legs.”
“Oh, I should hope not,” said Molly; “it makes me shudder to think of it.”
“Look, look,” cried Pauline; “see what he is doing now!”
Some one was playing the fiddle, and this extraordinary young man was actually dancing in perfect time with one foot. He was laughing, too, and seemed to enjoy the performance as much as any one else.
He was always in good spirits, so his wife said; and he assured the boys that he did not mind the loss of his leg.
“There’s a philosopher for you,” said Mr. Rowe to Captain Bradstreet ”

“ Mr. Keith found that the hole drilled by the Chinaman had been enlarged by the giant powder to the size of a great kettle. Into this hole he poured about four quarts of black gunpowder and inserted the end of a fresh fuse. Finally he filled the rest of the cavity with fine dry earth and “tamped” this down very firmly.
“I’ve put in a heavy charge, Sing Wung,” he said, as he turned from the man and stepped back into the bucket. “After you’ve lighted the fuse, you must run for your life. You mustn’t go to sleep.” ”

“ After chatting awhile, Captain Bradstreet went into the lemon-house to speak with his cousin, Mr. Keith, leaving the boys to entertain [22] each other. Paul, acting as host, at once invited Kirke to visit the well that had been begun; and they sauntered by the lemon-grove to a deep hole sunk in the ground. Above the hole stood a windlass with a bucket attached to it.
“Is anybody down there now?” asked Kirke, dropping upon his knees and peering into the dark cavern.
“No, Yeck Wo is sick to-day; so Sing Wung left off working here, and is cultivating in the orchard.” ”

“ And phew! isn’t the road dusty!”
“Sneezing dusty,” answered Kirke; “I don’t believe the people that live in that shanty over yonder have to spend any money for snuff.”
As he spoke he pointed to a wretched hut a little removed from the highway, and entirely surrounded by dirt.
“Mateo lives there,” said Paul carelessly.
“Who’s Mateo?”
“Mateo? Oh, he’s a lazy, no-account Indian, who helps sometimes on the ranch.”
“I wonder if he isn’t the fellow that mended our thill for us the other day?” mused Kirke. “We broke down somewhere near here. How does he look? Is he fat?” ”

“ Molly meekly dropped the perfumery back into her hand-bag, and hung the bag upon a large hook beside the plate-glass mirror.
“You scare me to death, Polly,” she said, with a shiver. “I almost wish I weren’t going to sea.”
“Oh, nonsense, you’ll like the ocean when [80] you get used to its tricks,” returned Pauline, with the assurance of an old sailor. “How big your eyes have grown, Miss Scared-to-death! ”

“ You mean concierge,” corrected his sister. “One would think you had never been abroad before. You must use the French names.”
“A queer country,” said Molly. “No matter how gray-headed a man is, they call him garçon; and garçon means boy.”
It had been Miss Evans’s original plan to proceed directly from Havre to Paris; but on being urged by her Silver Gate friends to visit with them various points of interest along the road, she could not resist the invitation.
“I came to France mainly on account of an important errand in Paris,” she said to Mrs. Rowe. ”

“ Why, of course he had, and there was no knowing just where he would come out.
“He must be here soon, Molly,” said Pauline impatiently, “and it’s getting hotter and hotter. Why can’t we be going on slowly?”
“Will you keep Donald happy till Kirke gets here, darling?” asked Molly, smiling at her sister. “If you will, I’ll give you a nickel.”
“I’ll give you another, and that’ll be a dime,” added Pauline.
Weezy gladly consented to the bargain. She was filling a scrap-book with paper flags of all nations, and a dime would purchase several of these. ”

“ People there are watching out and every time an ocean steamer comes in, they telegraph about it to New York.”
“Why, Paul, I think that’s telling tales. Can’t a ship”—began Weezy; but was interrupted by this glad cry from Kirke,—
“The pilot boat! Paul, the pi-lot boat!”
A white-winged yacht was approaching. When it had come near enough, the steamer stopped and took the pilot on board. The passengers smiled as he mounted the rope-ladder at the vessel’s side, for now they knew they should land in France the next morning. [108] No vessel is ever allowed to land without a pilot to show her the way. ”

“ They entertained themselves by gazing from the car window, telling stories and getting acquainted with some young girls bound for Chicago.
But when at the approach of night the colored porter came to make up the sleeping-berths, Donald cried for his own little “cribby,” and objected to going to bed in “a cupboard with a curtain to it.”
“’Tisn’t a cupboard, it’s a berth, you dear little niggeramus,” explained Weezy; and when the others laughed at the miscalled word, she thought they were laughing at Donald. ”