CHAPTER XXIV
BROUGHT TO BOOK
"Let me go! Let me go!" gasped the girl in Ruth's arms. "He will getme."
"Who'll get you?" demanded the wondering Agnes.
"Big Jim, the Gypsy. He's after me," said the strange girl.
"And Tom Jonah and the boys are after _him_," declared Ruth. "Don'tyou fret; Big Jim won't come back here."
"Who _is_ she, Ruth?" asked Agnes.
"Never mind who I am," said the girl, rather sharply. "Let me go."
"I know why you were lurking about here," Ruth said, calmly. "Youheard that Rosa Wildwood is stopping here."
"Well?" demanded the other.
"Then you are June Wildwood. You're her sister. I don't know how youcame to be with those Gypsies, and masquerading as an old woman----"
"My goodness!" gasped Agnes. "Was _she_ that Gypsy queen?"
"Yes," Ruth said, confidently. "Now, weren't you?" to the strangegirl. "And aren't you Rosa's sister who ran away two years ago?"
"Oh, I am! I am!" groaned the girl.
"Well, Rosa's just crazy to see you. And your father has beensearching for you everywhere," said Ruth, quickly. "You must come inand see Rosa. There's Mrs. Bobster opening the front door."
The shadow of the man with the derby hat on his head still wasmotionless upon the shade; but the widow had opened the front door onits chain, and now demanded:
"Who's there? what do you want?"
"It's only me, Mrs. Bobster," cried Ruth.
Tess and Dot were already running toward the cottage door. "Oh, Mrs.Bobster!" Tess cried, "here's the girl that helped us on theisland--me and Dot."
"And my Alice-doll," concluded Dot, likewise excited. "And Ruthie saysshe's Rosa's sister."
"For the good land of liberty's sake!" ejaculated Mrs. Bobster,throwing wide the door. "Come in! Come in!"
The girl whom Ruth had seized hesitated for a moment. Ruth whisperedin her ear:
"Rosa is wearing her heart out for you, June Wildwood. And your fatherisn't drinking any more. He has a steady job. You come back to themand you needn't be afraid of those Gypsies."
"They'll try to get me back. Doc. Raynes' wife was one of them. Theold doctor died a year ago, and since then I've been with that gang,"said June Wildwood.
"Were the doctor and his wife the folks you ran away with?"
"Yes. I danced and sang and dressed up in character to help entertaintheir audiences when he sold bitters and salve," the girl explained."The old doctor treated me all right. But these thieving Gypsies aredifferent. Mrs. Doc. Raynes is Big Jim's sister."
"Don't you be afraid of them any more. We'll set the police afterthem," Ruth declared. "Where have you been since the day my sisterswere with you?"
"I've been washing dishes at a hotel here in Pleasant Cove. But I keptunder cover. I was afraid of them," said the girl.
They reached the door then, and went into the cottage. Mrs. Bobsterushered them right into the sitting-room and at once all the girlshalted in amazement. There was an armchair standing between the windowand the center table, where the lamp sat. Leaning against the chairwas the broom, and on the business end of that very useful householdimplement was a hat that had probably once belonged to the husband ofthe little old woman who lived in a shoe.
"My goodness sake!" ejaculated Agnes, the first to get her breath."Then it was not company you had at all, Mrs. Bobster?"
"No," said the widow, in a business-like way, removing the hat fromthe broom and standing the latter in the corner. "But I didn't wantfolks to know it. There's some stragglers around here after dark, andI wanted 'em to think there was a man in the house."
At that moment Rosa Wildwood came running downstairs in wrapper andslippers. "I heard her! I heard her!" she shrieked, and the nextmoment the two sisters were hugging each other frantically.
Explanations were in order; and it took some time for the little oldlady who lived in a shoe to understand the reunion of her boarder andthe girl who had lived with the Gypsies.
The boys and Tom Jonah came back, having chased the lurking Big Jimfor quite a mile through the woods. "And Tom Jonah brought back apiece of his coat-tail," chuckled Neale O'Neil. "He can considerhimself lucky that the dog didn't bite deeper!"
"I guess that dog doesn't like Gypsies," said June Wildwood, pattingTom Jonah's head.
The boys were just as much interested as their girl friends in thereunion of Rosa and her sister. Meanwhile Mrs. Bobster bustled aboutand found the usual pitcher of cool milk and a great platter ofcookies. The young folk feasted beyond reason while they all talked.
Ruth arranged with the little old woman who lived in a shoe to letJune stay with her sister, and she promised June, as well, that if shewould return to Milton with Rosa, employment would be found for her sothat she could be self-supporting, yet live at home with Rosa and BobWildwood.
The Corner House girls offered to leave Tom Jonah to guard thepremises for that night. But Mrs. Bobster said:
"I reckon I won't be scaret none with two great girls in the housewith me. Besides, when I am asleep, being lonesome don't bother menone--no, ma'am!"
"Well, we don't know how long we're going to have old Tom Jonahourselves," sighed Agnes, as the party bound for the tent colonystarted on again.
"How's that!" demanded Neale, quickly.
They told him about the man named Reynolds, from Shawmit, and theclaim he had made to the big dog. Neale was equally troubled with theCorner House girls over this, and he advised Ruth and Agnes to takethe dog wherever they went.
"Don't give the fellow a chance to find Tom Jonah alone, or with thelittle girls," said Neale. "I don't believe he can get the dog legallywithout considerable trouble. And Tom Jonah has shown whom he likesbest."
This uncertainty about Tom Jonah, however, did not keep the CornerHouse girls from continuing their good times at Pleasant Cove. Withone of the ladies of the tent colony for chaperon the girls and theirboy friends had many a "junket"--up the river, down the bay, and evenoutside upon the open sea.
It was on one of these latter occasions that Ruth and Agnes joinedNeale and his friends on the "double-ender," _Hattie G._, and with hercrew spent a night and a day chasing the elusive swordfish.
That _was_ an adventure; and one not soon to be forgotten by the olderCorner House girls. Of course Tess and Dot were too small to go onthis trip and they were fast asleep in one of the neighboring tentswhen Neale O'Neil came and scratched on the canvas of that in whichRuth and Agnes slept.
"Oh!" gasped Agnes. "What's that!"
"Is that you, Neale?" demanded Ruth, calmly.
"Of course. Get a bustle on," advised the boy. "The motorboat will beready in ten minutes."
"Mercy!" ejaculated Agnes, giggling. "You know we don't wear bustles,Neale. They are too old-fashioned for anything."
She and Ruth quickly dressed. There wasn't much "prinking andpreening" before the mirror on this morning, that was sure. In tenminutes the two Corner House girls were running down the beach, withtheir bags (packed over-night) and their rain-coats over their arms.Tom Jonah raced after them.
Everywhere save on the beach itself the shadows lay deep. There was nomoon and the stars twinkled high overhead--spangles sewed on theblack-velvet robe of Night.
Out upon the quietly heaving waters sounded voices--then the pop of alaunch engine.
"Come on!" urged Neale's voice. "They're getting the boat ready,girls."
"But we're not going out to the banks in the _Nimble Shanks_--surely!"cried Agnes.
"No. But we're going down the cove in her to catch the _Hattie G._Skipper Joline sent up a rocket for us half an hour ago. The tide'sgoing out. He won't wait long, I assure you."
"It would be lots more comfortable to go all the way in themotorboat--wouldn't it?" asked Ruth, stepping into the skiff afterAgnes and the dog.
"Skipper Joline would have a fit," laughed Joe Eldred. "A motorboatengine would scare every swordfish within a league of the Banks--so_he_ says. He dec
lares _that_ is what makes them so hard to catch thelast few seasons. These motorboats running about the sea are a greaternuisance than the motor cars ashore--so he declares."
"I suppose the swordfish shy at the motorboats just like the horsesshy at automobiles!" giggled Agnes, as Neale and Joe pushed off andseized the oars.
"Yep," grunted Neale O'Neil. "And the motorboats have frightened allthe horse-mackerel away. That's a joke. I'll tell the Skipper _that_."
Several shadowy figures--being those of the other boys and Mr. andMrs. Stryver, who were members of the swordfishing party, too--werespied about the deck and cockpit of the _Nimble Shanks_. The boys shotthe skiff in beside the motorboat and helped the girls aboard. Thenthey moored the skiff to the motorboat's buoy and soon the _NimbleShanks_ was away, down the cove.
It was past two o'clock--the darkest minutes of a summer's morning.Seaward, a light haze hung over the water--seemingly a veil of mistlet down from the sky to shut out the view of all distant objects fromthe out-sailing mariners.
As the party neared the fishing fleet, voices carried flatly acrossthe water, and now and then a dog barked. Tom Jonah answered thesecanines ashore with explosive growls. He stood forward, his pawsplanted firmly on the deck, and snuffing the sea air. Tom Jonah was agood sailor.
"Got your scare?" a voice came out of the darkness, quavering acrossthe cove. "Going to be thick outside."
Neale grabbed the fish-horn and blew a mighty blast on it. Similarhorns answered from all about the fleet.
A towering mast, with its big sail bending to the breeze, shot pastthem--the big cat-boat, _Susie_, bound for her lines of lobster-potsjust off the mouth of the cove. Her crew hailed the launch and herparty--four sturdy young fellows in jerseys and high sea-boots.
"Whew!" said Joe. "Smell that lobster bait! I'd hate to go for apleasure trip on the _Susie_."
The _Hattie G._ was just ahead and Mr. Stryver shut off the engine.The drab, dirty looking old craft tugged sharply at her taut mooringcable. She had two short masts, and on these heavy canvas was beingspread by the crew, which consisted of five men and a boy.
One of the men was the skipper, another the mate, a third the cook;but all hands had to turn to to make sail. There were several sweeps(heavy oars) held in bights of rope along the rail. Both ends of the_Hattie G._ were sharp; in other words she had two bows. Thus thename, "double-ender"--a build of craft now almost extinct save in afew New England ports out of which ply the swordfishermen.
Skipper Joline came to the rail. He was a hoarse, red-faced man with awhite beard, cut like a paintbrush, on his chin.
"Climb aboard, folks," he said. "Steve will get breakfast shortly.There's a bit of fog and some swell outside. Better all lay in a goodfoundation of scouse and sody biscuit. Ye'll need it later."
"That sounds rather suggestive, Ruth," whispered Agnes. "Do yousuppose he expects us landlubbers to be really _sick_?"
"I hope not," replied her sister. "But I don't care! I'm going to eatthat breakfast if it kills me! I was never so hungry in all my lifebefore."
They left the _Nimble Shanks_ moored at the double-ender'sanchor-buoy, and the latter lurched away on the short leg of her tackfor the entrance to the cove. There was a fresh breeze and the waterbegan to sing under the sharp bows of the _Hattie G._
The cook got busy in the galley and the fragrance of coffee and friedfish smothered all other smells about the craft--for it must beconfessed that the double-ender had an ancient and fishy smell of herown that was not altogether pleasant to the nostrils of a fastidiousperson.
These hearty boys and girls were out for fun, however, and they hadbeen long enough at Pleasant Cove to get used to most fishy odors.Before breakfast was over the _Hattie G._ had run through the"Breach," as the cove entrance was called, and they were sailingstraight out to sea.
The mournful wail of a horn in the fog now and then announced thelocation of some lobsterman. The _Hattie G._ answered these "scares"with her own horn and swept on through the fog.
But now the mist began to lift. A golden glow rose, increased, andspread all along the eastern horizon. Suddenly they shot out of thefog and sailed right into the bright path of the rising sun.
This wonderful sight of sunrise at sea delighted Ruth and Agnesintensely. It was just as though they had sailed suddenly into a newworld.
The fog masked the land astern. Ahead was nothing but the heaving,greenish-gray waves, foam-streaked at their crowns to the distantskyline, with only a few sails crossing the line of vision. Not aspeck of land marred the seascape.
Later, when the _Hattie G._ reached the Banks, there was somethingbeside the view to interest and excite the Corner House girls.
The big sails were lowered and only a riding sail spread to keep the_Hattie G._ on an even keel. A "pulpit" was set up on each of hershort booms--both fore and aft.
At the top of a mast was rigged a barrel-like thing in which thelookout stood with a glass, on the watch for the swordfish.
These can only be caught asleep on the surface of the sea. When one issighted either the sails are hoisted, or the sweeps are used, to bringthe vessel near enough for the skipper or his mate to make a cast ofthe harpoon.
Once one of the huge fish was spied, everybody aboard the _Hattie G._was on the _qui vive_. The boys climbed the ratlines to see. The girlsborrowed the cook's old-fashioned spyglass to get a better view of thecreature.
The _Hattie G._ was brought softly near the fish. Skipper Joline hadwarned his guests to keep quiet. Ruth kept her hand upon Tom Jonah'scollar so that he should not disturb the proceedings.
The skipper stepped into the pulpit--a framework of iron against whichhe leaned when he cast the harpoon. All was ready for the suprememoment.
The coil of the line was laid behind him. The crew brought the _HattieG._ just to the spot Skipper Joline indicated with a wave of his hand.
Back swung the mighty arm of the skipper, the muscles swelling likecables under the sleeve of his blue jersey.
"Now!" breathed the mate, as eager as any of the boys or girls amongthe spectators.
Ping!
The skipper had let drive. The harpoon sank deeply into the fish. Fora brief instant they saw blood spurt out and dye the sea.
Then the huge fish leaped almost its length from the sea. The crewdrove the _Hattie G._ back. Good reason why the swordfishing craft arebuilt sharp at both ends!
How the fish thrashed and fought! Its sword beat the water to foam.Had it found the double-ender, the latter's bottom-planks would havebeen no protection against the creature's blows.
A swordfish has been known to thrust its weapon through the bottom ofa boat and break it off in its struggles to get free.
"Oh, Agnes!" gasped Ruth, when the fight was over and the huge fishkilled. "Who would ever believe, while buying a slice of swordfish,that it was so dangerous to capture one of the creatures?"
The crew of the _Hattie G._ got four ere they set sail for PleasantCove again, and the Corner House girls became quite used to themethods of the fishermen and the tactics of the swordfish on beingstruck.
They sailed back to Pleasant Cove with what was called the prize catchof the season. When a fish is as big as a good-sized dining-table andsells for twenty-five cents a pound, retail, it does not take many tomake a good catch.
Ruth and Agnes, and Neale and the other boys, were glad they went onthe trip. They arrived at the camp late in the evening, filled withenthusiasm over the adventures of the day.
And Skipper Joline presented the Corner House girls with a four-footsword which, later, occupied a place of honor over the sitting-roommantelpiece in the old Corner House at Milton.
Ruth took Tom Jonah up to see the Wildwood girls with her the verynext time she went to call.
The Corner House girl found Rosa and June shelling peas under thearbor, while Mrs. Bobster was talking with Kuk Somes over a "mess" ofclams she had bought.
"You ain't honest enough to count out a hunderd clams, Kuk," declaredthe plain-sp
oken old lady. "Ye got such a high-powered imaginationthat ye can't count straight."
"Now, Mis' Bobster, thet thar's a hard statement ter make," said Kuk,shaking his head, but grinning. "Don't make me out so 'fore these hereyoung ladies."
"I reckon they know ye!" cried the widow. "If they've ever hearn yespin one o' yer sea-farin' yarns----"
"And we have," interposed Ruth, smiling. "He's told us about how hesailed in the _Spanking Sal_ and lost his leg fighting pirates."
"For the good land o' liberty!" gasped Mrs. Bobster. "He never told ye_that_?"
"Oh, yes. It was very interesting," laughed Ruth.
"Why," said the widow, angrily, "that fellow never sailed in adeep-water craft in his life. The only time he ever went out in adouble-ender as fur as the swordfish banks, he was so sick they hadter bring him ashore on a stretcher!"
"Now, Mis' Bobster----" began the clam digger, faintly.
"Ain't that _so_? Ye daren't deny it," she declared. "He ain't nosailor. He's jest an old beach-comber. Don't never go in _any_ boatoutside of the cove. Lost his leg fightin' pirates, did he? Huh!"
"So he told us," said the much amused Ruth.
"Why, th' ridiculous old thing!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobster, laughingherself now. "He lost that leg in Mr. Reynolds' sawmill atShawmit--that's how he did it. And he was tipsy at the time or hewouldn't never have got hurt."
"Oh!" cried Ruth, staring at the sheepish clam digger.
"And he goes over there to Shawmit ev'ry month an' collects tendollars from Reynolds, who's good-natured and helps him out with apension. Ain't that so, Kuk Somes!"
The wooden-legged clam digger nodded. "Whar's the harm?" he murmured."Ye know these city folks likes ter hear my yarns. An' it don't hurt'em none."
"But that's how Mr. Reynolds heard about our having Tom Jonah,"declared Ruth, accusingly. "You told him."
"Yep. That's his old dawg," said Kuk.
"Well, you've made us a lot of trouble," said Ruth, sadly. "For I amafraid that Mr. Reynolds will try to take Tom Jonah away. And," sheadded, in secret, "how wrong I was to accuse Trix Severn, withoutstronger evidence."