CHAPTER XXIV.
WINN DISCOVERS HIS LONG-LOST RAFT.
The morning was gray and chill. The low-hanging clouds were chargedwith moisture, and a thick fog hung above the river. Sabella was sofilled with anxiety concerning the fate of Don Blossom that she wasunable to settle down to any of the light domestic duties with whichshe generally occupied her mornings. She wandered restlessly from doorto window, with the vague hope that her missing pet might be somewherein sight. If the weather had not been so unpleasant, she would havestarted out on a private search for him in the immediate vicinity ofthe landing. All at once, as she was gazing from the window of her ownlittle room on the upper deck at the dreary-looking houses of theriver-front, and as far as she could see up the one muddy street thatcame within her range of vision, she heard shouting and laughter, andsaw a group of persons approaching the boat.
For a few minutes she could not make out who they were, or what theywere doing. Then she saw that the one taller than the others was aman, and that he was surrounded by a group of boys. Several of themran backward in front of him, and all of them seemed greatly excitedover something that he bore in his arms. It was a red bundle thatsquirmed and struggled as though it was alive. Sabella looked for amoment longer, then she darted down the short flight of steps leadingto the living-room, and flung open the outer door.
"It's Don Blossom! It's my own dear, sweet Don Blossom!" she cried,almost snatching the trembling little animal from the man's arms in hereagerness.
The man stepped inside, and closed the door to shut out the boys, who,after lingering a few minutes, gradually dispersed.
"Oh, you dear monkey! How could you run away? You naughty, naughtyDon Blossom! Was he cold and wet and hungry and frightened? But he'ssafe now, and he shall have his breakfast directly; so he shall, thedear blessed!"
While Sabella was so much engrossed with her pet as to be unmindful ofall else, the man who had restored him to her stood just within thedoorway and watched her, with an amused smile.
"So he is your monkey, is he? I thought he must be when I first sawhim," he said at length.
"Yes, indeed, he is; and I have been feeling so badly at losing him.But where did you find him, and how did you know he was mine?" Herethe little girl looked for the first time into the stranger's face."Why, you are the very same one--"
"Yes," he replied, quietly, "I am the very same one whom you remindedof his own little girl, and who has thought of you very often since. Ididn't know that you had reached this place, or I should have come tosee you before. I found this monkey a little while ago in possessionof some boys who were teasing him, and thought I recognized him as soonas I saw him. I became certain he was yours when some of the boys saidthey had seen him on a show-boat last evening, and that, after they hadhad some fun with him, they were going to bring him down here and claima reward. As I wanted the pleasure of bringing him back to you myself,I bought him of them, and here he is."
"Then you are not a bad man, as Winn said, but a very good one, as Itold him, and now I can prove it!" exclaimed Sabella, with a note ofjoyous triumph in her voice. "I'm ever and ever so much obliged toyou, and I only wish I could see your little girl to tell her what asplendid father she has."
"Who is Winn? And what makes him think I am a bad man?" inquired thestranger, curiously.
"Oh, he's a boy, a big boy, that has lost a raft that we are helpinghim find, and he thinks you stole it. So he says you are a bad man;but I know you are not, and you wouldn't do such a mean thing as tosteal a boy's raft, would you?"
"Well, no," hesitated the stranger, greatly taken aback by thisunexpected disclosure and abrupt question. "No, of course not," headded, recovering himself. "I wouldn't steal a raft, or anything else,from a boy, though I might occasionally borrow a thing that I neededvery much. But where is this Winn boy now? And where is your uncle?"
"They have gone out to find Don Blossom, and Mr. Brackett and Solonhave gone too, but they'll all be back directly, and then you can tellthem that you only borrowed Winn's raft, and where you have left it.Oh, I am so glad it was you that found Don Blossom!"
"Who is Mr. Brackett?" inquired the stranger, glancing uneasily out ofthe window.
"Mr. Brackett? Why, he is Winn's uncle, though you wouldn't think hewas an uncle, or any older than Winn, he is so funny, and he is helpingfind the raft. But you'll see him in a few minutes, for they saidthey'd only be gone an hour."
"I think I'll go and find them, and tell them they needn't hunt anylonger for the monkey," said the stranger, hurriedly.
Then, before Sabella could remonstrate, he had bent down and kissedher, saying, "Good-bye, and God bless you, little one," opened thedoor, and was gone.
"Seems to me that is very foolish, when he might have seen them by justwaiting a few minutes," said Sabella to herself, as she pulled off DonBlossom's gay but soaked and mud-bespattered coat. "Now perhaps hewill miss them after all."
The stranger had hardly disappeared before Solon returned to the boat,grumbling at the weather, the mud, and, above all, at the rheumatismthat forbade him to remain out in the wet any longer.
"Hit hain't no use, honey," he said, as he opened the door, "dat ar Donmonkey gone fur good an' all dish yer time. Yo' nebber see him no mo'.Wha--wha--whar yo fin' him? He ben yeah all de time, while ole Solonben er traipsin' fro de mud, an' er huntin', an' er huntin'?"
"No, indeed, he hasn't!" cried Sabella, laughing merrily, as she heldDon Blossom up to the astonished gaze of the old negro. "He has justcome home." Then she explained at length how her pet had been broughtback to her by such a good kind man.
"Well, ef dat ar ain't a beater!" ejaculated Solon. "I's mighty gladde lil rasc'l is foun', anyway, 'kase now we kin be gittin' outen dishyer rheumatizy place. I'll go an' hitch up dat mewel, so to hab himready to start when de Cap'n come."
Upon leaving the _Whatnot_, Cap'n Cod had turned to the left, or upalong the river-front of the town; Billy Brackett had plunged directlyinto its business portion, intending to keep on until he reached thehills beyond, on which stood the better class of residences; and Winnhad turned to the right.
The young engineer, closely followed by Bim, walked for several blockswithout seeing or hearing anything of the runaway monkey. Suddenly,with a low growl, Bim started across the street. His master was justin time to see a man spring into the open doorway of a store, and slamthe door to as the dog leaped furiously against it.
The glimpse he caught of the man's face was like a lightning flash, butit was enough. He knew him to be the raftsman who had kicked Bim, andwhom he had rescued from the dog's teeth at Mandrake, more than a weekbefore. "He is one of those scoundrels who stole the _Venture_, and ifI can only trace him I'll find the raft," thought the young man, as hedashed across the street after Bim.
Seizing the dog's collar, and bidding him be quiet, he opened the doorof the store and stepped inside. There was no one to be seen, save theproprietor and two or three startled-looking clerks.
"Where is he?" demanded Billy Brackett, hurriedly. "The man, I mean,who ran in here just now!"
"That dog ought to be killed, and if you don't take him out of here atonce I'll call the police," said the proprietor of the store,indignantly. "It's an outrage to allow such brutes to run at large."
"That's the reason I'm holding him," said Billy Brackett; "but where isthe man?"
"I don't know; but I hope he has gone for his gun, and will know how touse it too. If he don't, I--"
The young engineer did not wait to hear more, for at that moment hespied a back door standing partly open. That was where his man hadgone, and without paying any further attention to the irate shopkeeper,he dashed out through it with Bim at his heels.
Winn searched high and low, with the utmost faithfulness, until hereached the outskirts of the town, but without finding a trace of themissing Don Blossom. There was a growth of timber lining theriver-bank, just beyond the houses, and the boy ventured a little wayinto
this, arguing that a monkey would naturally take to trees. It wasso wet and dripping in the timber that he only remained there a fewminutes; but as he turned to retrace his steps, his attention wasdiverted by a new object of interest.
He was on a bank of the river, beside which was moored a raft. It wasa timber raft, with a single large "shanty," that had a strangelyfamiliar look, standing amidship.
"It isn't the _Venture_, of course," thought Winn; "but I'll just stepaboard and inquire if they have seen anything of a raft with a 'shanty'and a tent on it. It will save us some time when we get started downthe river again."
So thinking, the boy stepped lightly aboard. His footfalls weredeadened by the wet, so that he gained the forward end of the "shanty"without attracting attention. The door was closed, and Winn wasstartled to note how very familiar that gable end of the buildinglooked. He raised his hand to knock at the door, when suddenly it wasflung open, and a harsh voice asked, "What do you want? and what areyou doing here, young man?"
As Winn was about to reply his glance penetrated the interior of the"shanty," and for an instant he stood speechless.