CHAPTER V.
AN ENCOUNTER.
Believing his only enemies were those whom he had seen driving up theroad, Jack paid no attention to anything in front of him, save when itwas absolutely necessary in order to guide his footsteps, but kept hiseyes fixed upon the dusty highway.
Owing to the straggling line of bushes, he was forced to make a widedetour to reach the barn unseen by any travellers, and he had nottraversed more than half the required distance when a loud cry from aclump of alders which bordered the duck pond caused him to come to afull stop.
"Hello, Hunchie! What are you doin' here?"
Jack looked up quickly in alarm, fancying the voice sounded like TomPratt's, and for an instant believed his pursuers had apparentlycontinued their journey only for the purpose of taking him by surprisein the rear.
There was no person in sight, however, and during a few seconds he stoodmotionless, trying to decide whether it would be safest to run directlytoward the farmhouse, or attempt to make his escape through the fields.
Then the question was repeated, and before Jack could have fled, had hebeen so disposed, three boys came out from among the alders, approachingvery near as if to prevent flight on the part of the hunchback.
"Who are you?" one of the strangers asked, "an' where did you comefrom?"
"I'm Jack Dudley."
"Where do you live?"
"I'm stayin' over to Aunt Nancy Curtis's awhile," Jack repliedhesitatingly, doubtful if it would be well to give these notover-friendly looking boys all the information they desired.
"What are you doin' there?" another of the party asked.
"Helpin' 'round at whatever she wants done till the summer boarders goaway."
"Oh! So you're the hired man, are you?" the first boy said in a sneeringtone.
"I ain't so very much of a man; but I reckon I can do her work, an' Imustn't fool 'round here, for I'm pretty busy this mornin'."
"You'll stay till we find out what right you've got to run across thisfield," the boy who had first spoken said decidedly. "We've always doneAunt Nancy's chores, an' you're makin'a big mistake by takin' our jobaway."
Jack looked once more toward the road to make certain Farmer Pratt andhis son were not returning.
Then he glanced in the direction of the house, hoping Aunt Nancy mightbe in sight, for he understood from the tone and attitude of thestrangers that they were bent on mischief.
Not a person could be seen, and he had no other alternative save toremain where he was until such time as the boys should be willing to lethim pass.
Any attempt at flight could have been easily checked, since, owing tohis deformity, he was not able to run as fast as others of his age.
Probably he felt just a trifle frightened; but he stood his groundboldly, determined not to let the strangers see a show of weakness, ashe said,--
"I didn't come here to take any feller's job. Aunt Nancy gave me achance to stay this summer, an' I jumped at it, 'cause there's no boyneeds a home more'n I do jest now."
"Well, see here, Hunchie," the elder of the party replied in athreatening tone, "we don't know how much you need a home, nor we don'tcare; but there's one thing certain, you ain't goin' to stay 'round herethis summer." "Us fellers can do all Aunt Nancy's chores an' a good dealmore. The job belongs to us. If you say you'll leave before night, it'llbe all right, an' if not, we'll thump the life out of you."
"Does that mean you ain't goin' to leave?" And the boyadvanced threateningly with clinched fists, until he stood within a fewinches of the deformed lad.--Page 55.]
"Perhaps that can't be done," Jack said calmly, with an assumption ofcourage which was far from natural.
"Last summer there was a feller come snoopin' 'round to help on thesummer-boarder business, but he soon found it wasn't safe to steal jobsfrom them as lives here the whole year. We jest about killed him."
"Why didn't you stuff his skin an' set it up on the road here, so'sother fellers would know enough not to stop?" Jack asked in a sarcastictone as he stepped back a few paces toward a thicker clump of bushes,where it would be impossible for the strangers to make an attack fromthe rear. "You can't be any tougher than you look, an' I guess I'll beable to keep on livin' till summer's over, even if I do stay."
"Does that mean you ain't goin' to leave?" And the boy advancedthreateningly with clinched fists until he stood within a few inches ofthe deformed lad, who now understood that a fight was inevitable.
"It's pretty nigh the size of it," Jack replied; and despite allefforts, his voice trembled slightly, for he knew full well it would beimpossible to hold his own against three bullies. "But before beginnin'the row I want you to understand one thing: if I don't work forsomebody, I've got to live out of doors, for I haven't a cent. I ain'tsayin' but the three of you can lick me, of course, but you'll have todo it every day in the week before I'll leave this farm."
Perhaps the bully was a trifle ashamed for threatening one so muchsmaller than himself, and deformed, for, instead of immediately strikinga blow as at first had seemed to be his purpose, he drew back a fewpaces to hold a whispered consultation with his companions, after whichhe said,--
"Look here, Hunchie, we're willin' to give you a show, but won't allowno fellers 'round takin' away money we could earn as well as not. AuntNancy's always hired us to do her chores when the city folks was here,till she got that feller last year, an' then the old fool said she'dnever pay us another cent jest 'cause we didn't jump spry enough toplease her. Now we're goin' to show that it's got to be us or nobody.We're willin' to wait till to-morrow night if you say you'll go then.There's plenty of jobs up Old Orchard way, so there ain't any need ofyour feedin' on wind."
"Why don't you go there?"
"'Cause we don't want to. This is where we live, an' anything that's tobe done 'round here belongs to us. Now cross your throat that you'llleave before to-morrow night, an' we won't say another word."
"I'll go an' see what Aunt Nancy thinks about it," Jack replied, notwith any intention of obeying these peremptory demands, but in order toescape from what was a very awkward predicament.
"You won't do anything of the kind! Promise before leavin' this place orwe'll thump you!"
"Then thump away, for I won't go," Jack replied determinedly as hebacked still farther into the bushes and prepared to defend himself asbest he might against such an overwhelming force, although knowing therewas no question but that he would receive a severe whipping.
"Give it to him, Bill!" the boys in the rear cried. "You can polish himoff with one hand, so there's no need of our chippin' in."
Bill did not wait for further encouragement.
Jack's defence was necessarily very slight, and before he was able tostrike a blow in his own behalf, Bill had him on the ground, poundinghim unmercifully, while his companions viewed the scene with evidentsatisfaction.
Jack made no outcry: first, because he feared that by bringing AuntNancy on the scene the fact of Louis's being at the farm would be madeknown; and, secondly, he fancied Farmer Pratt might be near enough tohear his appeals for help.
Therefore he submitted to the cruel and uncalled-for punishment withouta word, although every blow caused severe pain, and when Bill hadpummelled him for fully five minutes the other boys interrupted bysaying,--
"Come, let up on him! That's enough for the first, an' if he ain't outof town by to-morrow we'll give him another dose. Let's cool him off inthe pond."
Jack struggled in vain against this last indignity. It was a simplematter for the three boys to lift and throw him half a dozen feet fromthe bank into the muddy water.
There was no danger the little fellow would be drowned, for the duckpond was not more than two feet deep, and as his assailants ranhurriedly away he scrambled out, presenting a sorry sight as he stood onthe firm ground once more with mud and water dripping from his face andevery angle of his garments.
Jack was as sore in mind as he was in body; but even while making hisway toward the house he did not ne
glect any precautions which mightprevent his being seen by Farmer Pratt.
He skirted around through the straggling line of alders until he reachedthe rear of the barn, and then, coming across crumple-horn's yard, hewas confronted by Aunt Nancy, who had just emerged from the shed.
"For mercy's sake!" the little woman screamed, raising her hands indismay as she surveyed the woe-begone Jack, who looked more like amisshapen pillar of mud than a boy. "Where _have_ you been, and what_have_ you done to yourself? It _is_ strange that boys _will_ be forevermussing in the dirt. I thought I'd had some bad ones here, but you beatanything I ever saw! Why, you must have been rolling in the pond to getyourself in such a condition."
"Yes, ma'am, I have," Jack replied meekly as he again tried to brush themud from his face, but only succeeded in grinding it in more deeply.
"What's the matter with your nose? It's bleeding!" Aunt Nancy screamedin her excitement; while Louis, who was sitting on the grass near thebroad doorstep, crowed and laughed as if fancying she was talking tohim.
"Three fellers out there tried to make me promise I'd go away beforeto-morrow night, an' when I wouldn't, they gave me an awful poundin'.Then the fun was wound up by throwin' me in the pond."
"Three boys!" and Aunt Nancy's tone was an angry one. "I'll venture tosay William Dean was among the party; and if he thinks he's going todrive off every decent child in the neighborhood, he is mistaken. I'd domy chores alone, and wait on the city folks too, before he should comehere again!"
Then Aunt Nancy peered in every direction as if fancying the evil-doersmight yet be in the vicinity where she could punish them immediately,while Jack stood silent, if not quite motionless, wiping the mixture ofblood and mud from his face in a most disconsolate manner.
Aunt Nancy's anger vanished, however, as she turned again toward thecripple.
All her sympathies were aroused, but not to such an extent as to smotherher cleanly instincts.
"Did they hurt you very much?" she asked solicitously.
"They wasn't any too careful about hittin'," Jack replied with a feebleattempt at a smile, to show that his injuries were not really serious."If there hadn't been more than one, I'd have hurt him some before hegot me into the pond."
"I wish you had flogged every single member of that party in the mostsevere--No, I don't either, for it wouldn't be right, Jack. We are toldwhen anybody smites us on one cheek, we must turn the other also; butit's terrible hard work to do right sometimes. I'm glad you didn'tstrike them, though I _do_ wish they could be punished."
Again Aunt Nancy showed signs of giving way to anger, and one could seethat a severe conflict was going on in her mind as she tried to obey theinjunctions of the Book she read so often.
As if to turn her attention from vengeful thoughts, she immediately madepreparations for dressing Jack's wounds.
"If you can stand a little more water," she said, "we'll try to get youinto something like a decent condition."
"I reckon I can stand almost anything after the dose I've had," Jackreplied grimly; and Aunt Nancy led him under the pump, stationing himdirectly beneath the spout as she said,--
"Now I'll wash the mud off; but if the water feels too cold let me know,and we'll heat it."
"I'll take it as long as you can keep the handle goin'," Jack replied ashe bent his head and involuntarily drew a long breath preparatory toreceiving the expected shock.
Aunt Nancy could pump a long while when it was for the purpose ofremoving dirt; and during the next five minutes she deluged Jack withthe cold spring water until he stood in the centre of a miniature pond,no longer covered with mud, but dripping tiny streams from every portionof his face and garments.
Sitting on the grass near by, Louis clapped his hands and laughed withglee at what he probably thought a comical spectacle designed for hisown especial amusement.
It was not until Jack had been, as he expressed it, "so well rinsed itwas time to wring him out," that either he or Aunt Nancy remembered thevery important fact that he had no clothes to replace those which wereso thoroughly soaked.
"Now what _are_ we going to do?" Aunt Nancy asked in dismay, as shesurveyed the dripping boy, who left little rivers of water behind himwhenever he moved. "You haven't got a second shirt to your back, and Ican't let you remain in these wet clothes."
"I might go out to the barn an' lay 'round there till they dried," Jacksuggested.
"Mercy on us, child, you'd get your death of cold! Wait right here whileI go into the attic and see if there isn't something you can wear for afew hours. Don't step across the threshold."
This last admonition was unnecessary.
Short a time as Jack had known Aunt Nancy, he was reasonably wellacquainted with her cleanly habits, and to have stepped on that floor,which was as white as boards can be, while in his present condition,would have been to incur the little woman's most serious displeasure.
He was also forced to remain at a respectful distance from Louis, wholaughed and crowed as if begging to be taken, and while moving fartheraway he whispered,--
"It wouldn't do at all to touch you when I'm so wet, old fellow, butI'll lug you around as much as you want as soon as I'm dried off. AfterAunt Nancy comes back, I'm goin' to talk with her about Farmer Pratt,an' see if she'll agree to say we ain't here in case he calls. You an'I'll be in a pretty hard box if she don't promise to tell a lie forus."