Stumpy

“ I want to go to the spring, and clean up a little," replied the clam-digger.
"Can't you do it down by the boat?" suggested the money-digger, who did not feel inclined to answer the questions which the disturbed state of the beach under Coffin Rock would put into the mouth of Stumpy.
"I never wash in salt water when I can get fresh. Besides I want a drink." [Pg 250]
Without intending to be obstinate, Stumpy silently insisted upon having his own way, by directing his steps towards the springs, which flowed from the rocks not twenty feet from the hidden treasure. ”

“ Stumpy shook his head.
"The only furrin language I knows, guv-nor, is a bit o' Spanish."
"Spanish!" said Leicester. "The very thing. I know enough of it to pass muster in a society where it is seldom spoken. Stumpy, I see it all. I must be a Spanish artist, a musician, and you—if you don't mind playing second fiddle—shall be my servant."
Then he decided to tell Stumpy his story; and a wronged man never had a more sympathetic listener.
When it grew dark the two stole along the beach, and entered a village some miles farther along the coast than that against which they had been cast up. ”

“ Stumpy, dressed in his Sunday clothes, looked more like a gentleman than usual. Mr. Redmond tried to make fun of him before the girls, but Stumpy was too much for him, and retorted so smartly that he turned the laugh upon the fop.
Rosabel's long auburn tresses floated on the breeze, and Leopold could not help looking at her all the time, thinking that she was the prettiest girl in the whole world. He was very attentive to her, and when the yacht anchored in the harbor of Rockland, she permitted him to hand her into the boat. ”

“ From time to time he eyed the steel chain that hung from Stumpy’s pocket with such a covetous air that its owner clapped his hand over it in pretended alarm and cried laughingly, “Oh, you Jim Crow! You young, handsome bird! You no want take chain from poor old man.”
“Jim-ery Crow-ery, never-y you-ery mind-ery!” cried Lesley, affectionately. “Bad-ery Stump-ery, tease-ery you-ery!”
“Oh-ery you-ery think-ery Jim-ery never-y bad-ery!” exclaimed Ronald.
“Oh, that secret language! When I learn?” sighed Stumpy. “I tell you many times you better learn Spanish.” ”

“ Ronald was ready to meet him when he reached the safety of the rocks below and to hold out his hand and say, like a man, “I’m sorry, Stumpy, and I’ll never be so careless again. Thank you, and Mother and Father will thank you, too.”
“Oh, no need thank,” smiled Stumpy. “Everybody help friend in trouble. But now other trouble begin. Got to go home and tell boss what you do and Lesley tell she forgot to watch like Mother say.” ”

“ We must go on! Why should you be afraid to go on? This is Ireland, you say. Do you fear anything from the people on the coast? Ah, I forgot!" he added, as the remembrance of his comrade's occupation flashed on him. "You fear the coastguard!"
"That's it," said Stumpy. "I should be in quod in half an hour."
"But how should they know you?" asked Leicester. "You need not proclaim yourself."
"No need for that, sir," said Stumpy, with a grin. "Look here," and he pulled up the bottom of his trousers and showed Leicester a mark branded upon his leg. ”

“ Tich, one of the Duo, Birfer, and Ginger were no longer there to plot out their daily round of "schemes." Clarke, Martel, Stumpy, and Old Casey were left to carry on—and they were quite capable of doing so.
Stumpy formed a friendship with another of his diminutive height and large waistband in the Middlesex, and the two were frequently hobnobbing together in each others' billets.
"We lost a lot of good fellows," Stumpy sighed heavily over his pipe, "wot we couldn't spare. There was three wot never drank rum and who all got 'it." A roar of laughter interrupted him. "Yes, all got 'it. ”

“ Thaxton. "I always knew that Howard Murpoint was a villain, and I was waiting for a Nemesis to track him down. Little did I think that you would be that Nemesis! And who is this?" he asked, motioning toward Stumpy.
"My best and truest friend," said Leicester.
"Then give me your hand," said Mr. Thaxton, and, to Stumpy's astonishment, the respectable lawyer grasped the ex-convict's hand and shook it heartily.
"And now what is to be done with this fellow? He is too precious to be lost sight of." ”

“ Hamilton and Leopold. Mrs. Wormbury cried with joy, and was not less happy than her son.
"Come, Stumpfield, don't go crazy," said she.
"The house is paid for, mother, and you don't owe a single dollar in the whole world to any man, woman or child—except Leopold," shouted Stumpy, checking himself at the end of his enthusiastic discourse. "We ought to give him five hundred dollars of this money."
"Not a cent of it to me!" protested the skipper of the Rosabel; "but you may do it in the other way if you like." ”

“ Once upon a time there was an old pig called Aunt Pettitoes. She had eight of a family: four little girl pigs, called Cross-patch, Suck-suck, Yock-yock and Spot; and four little boy pigs, called Alexander, Pigling Bland, Chin-Chin and Stumpy. Stumpy had had an accident to his tail. The eight little pigs had very fine appetites—"Yus, yus, yus! they eat and indeed they DO eat!" said Aunt Pettitoes, looking at her family with pride. Suddenly there were fearful squeals; Alexander had squeezed inside the hoops of the pig trough and stuck. ”

“ Whatever interest the volume may possess, however, does not wholly depend upon the experience in fog and gale of the hero and his friends, for the plot is as much of the land as of the sea.
Leopold Bennington and Stumpy are the chief characters. They are both working boys, who earn their own living, and do nothing more surprising than other young men have done before them. ”

“ Unshaven, tattered and unwashed, Stumpy, lamed in the left foot, potted shot after shot at each retirement, aiming at no one target, but, as he observed. "Even if I don't 'it 'im, I might puncture 'is bloomin' rum ration."
"But wot are you aimin' at?"
"Nothin'. Just 'igh in the air. Like—that there. Who knows: why it might just ketch ole Kaiser Bill in the bloomin' belly if 'e came up close 'nough."
Uncouth, uncultured, rough of manner, of speech. Good-natured, full of courage, humour. Stumpy ... short, fat and clumsy. Withal a man, a warrior. ”

“ Eustace would never have thought of dancing with me if it hadn't been for you."
"I seem to have a good deal to answer for," said Scott, with his rather tired smile.
"I owe you—everything," said Dinah.
"Stumpy has many debtors," said Isabel.
Eustace uttered a brief laugh. "Stumpy scores without running," he observed. "He always has. Saves trouble, eh, Stumpy?"
"Quite so," said Scott with precision. "It's easy to be kind when it costs you nothing." ”

“ Both children hung their heads and blushed, but [54] they knew their duty well enough and had known it without Stumpy’s reminder, so they set off for the Lighthouse, hand in hand, with a sorrowful good-bye for Stumpy.
The soft-hearted old man watched them go with a half-smile and a half-sigh. “Good children!” he said. “Good boy, that Ronnie, but too much like little cat. Climb up so far she can go; never think how she get down!”
Mr. and Mrs. McLean heard the children’s story quietly and laid the blame on Ronald, where it rightfully belonged. ”

“ Whatever property your father left—this money included—belongs to his family. I suppose an administrator ought to be appointed."
"Creation! That would be Squire Moses!" exclaimed Stumpy, aghast.
"No; your mother may be appointed."
"My mother! Well, now I think of it, I believe she was appointed. I didn't know much about such things at the time."
"Be that as it may, before you lend the money to Mr. Bennington, or give any to Leopold, you had better see your mother. I will [Pg 307] go to the house with you, for I am really quite interested in this matter." ”

“ Fenn hastened to add.
"Where could we have it?" asked Lem.
"In our barn," replied Fenn. "There's lots of room, and we don't keep horses any more. It's nice and clean. We could put some boards over saw-horses to make tables, and have a fine time. We can make all the noise we want, and no one would say a word."
"That's the stuff!" cried Bart. "The very thing! Stumpy, you're a committee of one to see about it."
"I'm not going to do all the work!" objected Stumpy.
"I'll help," put in Ned. "Where'll we get the stuff?"
"I guess there's enough in the club treasury for a little spread," said Bart. ”

“ They were of the nature of established institutions. Such were Stumpy, the freak-legged dachshund-setter; James Edward, the wild gander; Butters, the woodchuck; Melindy and Jim, the two white cats; Bones, the brown owl, who sat all day on the edge of a box in the darkest corner of the cabin; and Ananias-and-Sapphira, the green parrot, so named, as MacPhairrson was wont to explain, because she was so human and he never could quite make her out. ”

“ Besides, I wanted to follow up John Stumpy. I was certain I could do it fully as well as the constable.
"Come, Roger, there is no help for it," said Parsons, as I still lingered. "It's the law, and it won't do any good to kick." ”

“ If only I could get John Stumpy arrested, perhaps it would be possible to force him to make a confession. But how was this to be done?
While I sat on the edge of a feed box, a form darkened the doorway, and Farmer Decker appeared.
"Hello!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I took the liberty to come in out of the rain," I replied. "Have you any objections to my remaining until the shower is over?"
"No, guess not. It's a mighty heavy one. Where're you from? ”

“ The old boat was sailed back to her usual moorings. The tinkers were equally divided between the young fishermen, and they went home.
By eleven o'clock Stumpy had poured into the lap of his astonished mother the proceeds of his morning's work, and Leopold had informed his father of the second big haul he had made that season. As before, Mr. Bennington—but with some additional cautions—told his son to keep the money he had made.
"The sick man is in a peck of trouble this morning," added the landlord of the Cliff House, when the exciting business of the occasion had been disposed of. ”

“ Why I should do so I cannot to this day explain, but from the instant he mentioned my parent's name the man was firmly fixed in my memory.
In a few moments Mr. John Stumpy had puffed his pipe out, leaving the place filled with a heavy and vile smoke which gave me all I could do to keep from coughing. Then he slowly knocked the ashes from the bowl and restored the pipe to his pocket.
"Now I reckon I'm in pretty good trim to go ahead," he muttered as he arose. "No use of talking; there ain't anything like a good puff to steady a man's nerves. ”

“ And John Stumpy brought his fist down on the table with a bang.
"Hold on; don't make so much noise," cried Mr. Aaron Woodward in alarm. "There is no use of rousing the household."
"I don't care. Either you'll come down or I'll rouse the whole of Darbyville," cried the tramp, vehemently.
"I haven't any money."
"You can't tell me that."
"It's true. Times are getting worse every day."
"Didn't the woman who lives here just pay you?"
"Yes; thirty dollars&—"
"And didn't you put the bills in with a big roll in your vest pocket?" went on Stumpy, triumphantly. ”

“ You can see five miles off quite plainly through it.”
“That’s all to the good!” exclaimed Stumpy.
“What beats me,” put in Frank, “is how that man came to hire Sandy, and why they’re so afraid [101] of being seen, or of having any one on that particular land?”
“Maybe we’ll find out pretty soon,” spoke Bart.
“I thought Lem said it was a man with a black moustache who was talking to Sandy that day,” said Frank. “This fellow has a light beard.”
“Might be another man, or this one might be disguised,” spoke Fenn.
“It’s getting just like a story in a book,” remarked Ned. ”

“ He thought if he got the house, he could buy the [Pg 191] furniture, and set Ethan up by the middle of July, or the first of August."
"It's a mean trick," muttered Leopold.
"That's what I say; but it isn't any meaner than a thousand other things the old man does. Only think of his turning his son's wife, with three children, out of house and home! But you can tell your father all about it, Le, and perhaps he may be able to get an anchor out to windward," continued Stumpy, whose sympathy for his friend was hardly less than his fear for his mother's future. ”

“ The police had practically given up looking for the diamond bracelet, and Professor Long made no further references to it, though it was easy to see by his manner that he had not forgotten it. An undefinable air of suspicion hung over the four chums, though Fenn, from the fact that he had not entered the school, was, more or less, exempt. But he would not have it so.
“No,” Stumpy said, “if one of us is guilty we all are—only, as a matter of fact, none of us is. We’ll find that bracelet yet, and the missing turtle, too. If not this fall or winter, we will this spring. ”

“ As Babcock stepped aside to let the boy pass he heard Cully shouting in answer to the little cripple's cries. “Cheese it, Patsy. Here's Pete Lathers comin' down de yard. Look out fer Stumpy. He'll have his dog on him.”
Patsy laid down the pail and crept through the door again, drawing the crutch after him. The yardmaster passed with a bulldog at his heels, and touching his hat to the contractor, turned the corner of the coal-shed.
“What is your name?” said Babcock gently. A cripple always appealed to him, especially a child. ”