as jimmieboy proceeded along the icy road he observed that everything was beginning to thaw, and then, peering as far into the distance as he could, he saw a great flame burning fiercely and scorching everything with which it came in contact. it was quite evident that the gas stove had brought with him the most effective ammunition possible for his purposes.
"i don't see exactly how he does it," said the newly appointed secretary of state, as he ran hurriedly toward the devastating fire.
"easy enough," returned the voice. "he has brought along a large quantity of gas and a garden hose, and he has turned on the gas just as you would turn on water, lit it, and there you are. there is absolutely no withstanding him,[pg 202] and unless he can be induced to stop very shortly, he'll destroy this whole kingdom, and we'll have nothing but a desert ocean; and i can tell you, jimmieboy, a desert ocean where there is nothing but water is worse than a desert desert where there is nothing but sand."
"it seems almost a pity to destroy such a beautiful place as this," said jimmieboy, looking about him, taking note of the great tall ice-covered trees and the frost flowers and grasses at the road-side. "but, you know, jack frost bit my little brother, which was very cowardly of him, and that's why the gas stove and i have come here to fight."
"i think you are wrong there," said the voice. "i don't believe jack any more than kissed him; but if he did bite him, it was because he loved him."
jimmieboy had never thought of it in that light before. all he knew was that whatever jack frost had done, it had brought tears to little russ's eyes and woe to his heart.
"it's rather a funny way to show love to bite a person," said jimmieboy.
"just let me ask you a few questions," said the voice. "do you like cherries and peaches?"
[pg 203]
"oh, don't i!" cried jimmieboy, smacking his lips. "i just dote on 'em!"
"then," said the voice,
"why do you bite the cherry sweet?
why in the peach do your teeth meet?"
"never thought of it that way," said jimmieboy.
"i suppose not," returned the voice. "are you fond of apples and gingerbread?"
"well, rather!" ejaculated jimmieboy.
"then tell me this," asked the voice:
"why do you gnaw the apple red?
why do you chew your gingerbread?"
"because i like 'em," returned jimmieboy.
"why do you crunch your taffy brown?
why do you nibble your jumble down?
why do you munch your candy ball?
why do you chew at all—at all?"
continued the voice.
"to make things last longer. 'tain't proper to gulp 'em all down at once," answered jimmieboy.
"and that's why jack frost bit little russ," asserted the voice. "in the first place, he loved him. little russ was to him as sweet as a cherry is to you. in the second place, he took a[pg 204] little wee bite, because it wasn't proper to gulp him all down. to-morrow that bite spot will be well, and little russ will be none the worst for it. now i don't see why you should want to ruin all this beautiful country just for that. it isn't a crime to love babies or to eat cherries."
"that's so," said jimmieboy. "but jack frost has done other things. he killed a lot of mamma's flowers."
"no, he didn't," returned the voice. "your mamma left 'em out-doors all night, and jack came along and did just what the bees do. he took all the sweetness he could find out of 'em, and brought them here, where he planted them and made them appear like flowers of silver. you see what the heat down there is doing?"
jimmieboy looked, and saw the icy covering melting off the flowers and trees, and as the silver coating fell away they would wave softly in the balmy air for a moment, and then wither and crumble away.
"isn't that too bad?" he said.
"it is, indeed," replied the voice. "those flowers and trees would have stood and lived on forever in their ice coats—ever fresh, ever happy. the warmth from the invader's fire gives them one glad mad moment of ecstasy,[pg 205] and then they wither away, and are lost forever. is that worth while, my boy?"
the voice quivered a little as it uttered these words, and jimmieboy felt tears rising in his own eyes too. jack frost was not so bad a fellow, after all, as he had been made out.
"but he made our hired man's back ache when he went to dig some holes for the fence posts," said jimmieboy, who now felt that he should have some excuse for his presence in frostland, and on a mission of destruction. "was that right of him?"
"even if it was his fault, it was right," said the voice. "i don't believe it was his fault, though. hired men have a way of having back-ache when there's lots to do. but supposing jack did give it to him. that hired man was taking a spade and scarring mother earth with its sharp edge. jack frost gets all that he has from mother earth. she has given him work to do—work that has made him what he is—and it was his duty to protect her."
"well, i don't know what to do," said jimmieboy, beginning to sob. "i came here for revenge, and i don't think——"
"there is only one thing for you to do, be true to those who trust you," said the voice. "now[pg 206] who trusts you? your nurse doesn't—she wouldn't let you out of her sight. your papa believes in you, but he never would have intrusted such a mission as this to your hands; nor would your mamma or little russ. on the other hand, jack frost has made you secretary of state, and you promised to help him in this dreadful trial—he trusts you. as the poem says,
"e'en though it's sure to take and bust you,
be ever true to them that trust you."
"i'll save them," said jimmieboy. and then he started off on a run down the road, and ere long stood face to face with the gas stove. the latter immediately threw down his hose, turned off the gas, and clasped jimmieboy to his heart.
"saved! saved!" he cried. "i have found you at last. dear me, how anxious i have been about you!" and then he burst out in song:
"but now, o joy?
my averdupoy
will steadily increase;
for, now you're back,
my woes will pack
their clothes in their valise,
"and fly afar,
to the uttermost star
[pg 207]that shines up in the skies,
while you and i
will warble high
the gleesomest of cries.
"we'll sing and sing,
and warble and sing,
and warble, and sing, and sing,
and warble and sing,
and sing, sing, sing,
and warble and sing, sing, sing,"
"come off!" ejaculated the voice. "that's mighty poor poetry for a stove that's as glad as you are."
"why, jimmieboy, you pain me," said the gas stove, who thought that it was his little friend that had spoken. "i didn't think you would criticize my song of happiness that way."
"i never said a word," said jimmieboy. "it was my friend the voice, who helped me when i was in trouble, and——"
"and by whose efforts," interrupted the voice, "our jimmieboy here is now the right honorable jamesboy. secretary of state to his majesty the emperor of frostland, prince of iceberg, marquis thawberry, and chief ice-cream freezer to all the crowned heads of europe, asia, africa, austrilia and new jersey. i'd advise you to take off your hat, mr. stove, for you are in the presence of a great man."
[pg 208]
"no, no," cried jimmieboy, as the gas stove doffed his iron lid; "don't take off your hat to me, stovey. i am all that he says, but i am still jimmieboy, and your friend."
"but what becomes of your war?" queried the gas stove, ruefully. "i can't fight against you, and you are a part of the government."
"that's a very sensible conclusion," said the voice. "only i wouldn't let king jack know that, or he wouldn't ever let jimmieboy go away from here. what you want to do is to make terms that will be satisfactory to both parties, get jack frost to agree to 'em, and there you are. if he won't agree, the gas stove will have to go on with the war until he does agree."
"that's the thing to do, i suppose," said the stove. "what shall i insist upon, mr. secretary?"
"well, i think jack ought to quit biting babies, no matter if he does love 'em," said jimmieboy.
"i insist upon it," said the gas stove, firmly.
"i think, too," said jimmieboy, "that he ought not to run off with so many flowers."
"if you do not agree to that, mr. secretary," returned the stove, "i shall turn on my canned devastation again."
[pg 209]
"i shall endeavor to secure the king's consent," replied jimmieboy. "and, furthermore, he must keep away from the water-pipes in my papa's house. he froze 'em all up last winter."
"that is my ultimatum," said the stove.
"your what?" queried jimmieboy.
"my last word," explained the stove.
"it's long enough to have been a half-dozen of your last words," laughed the voice. "but is that all you're to agree upon?"
"i don't know of anything more," said jimmieboy.
"nor i," said the stove.
"you're a mean couple," ejaculated the voice, angrily. "if i had my way, you'd do something for one who has served you when you were in trouble," he added, addressing jimmieboy. "where would you have been if it hadn't been for—for—well, for a friend of mine?"
"i don't know who you mean," said jimmieboy.
"he wants something for himself," whispered the gas stove, "and he is right."
"oh, you don't know who i mean, eh?" sneered the voice. and then he added:
"who saved you from the icy sea.
and brought you through s-a-f-e?
[pg 210]why, me!
"who thought about that jubilee,
and filled jack frost chock up with glee?
why, me!
"who all your goings did o'ersee,
and got this lofty place for thee?
why, me!
"that's who. now what are you going to do about it?"
"he's going back to jack frost," said the gas stove, "and he is going to demand that you shall be made secretary of state in his place, and he is going to tell jack that if he ever removes you from that position i shall return and destroy the country."
"you are very moderate in your demands," said the voice. "i think king jack will be very foolish if he refuses to accede to them, particularly that one having reference to myself. i do[pg 211] not care for the office, of course, but since there seems to be a demand for me, i shall accept."
so jimmieboy, followed by the gas stove and the voice, returned to the palace, and the demands of the stove were laid before the monarch.
"i'll agree to 'em all gladly," said he, "save that which forces me to deprive myself of your valuable services. was he quite firm about that?"
"he was!" shouted the voice, before jimmieboy could speak.
here somebody else in the distance seemed to call: "jimmieboy! hi! jimmieboy!"
[pg 212]
"shall i accede or stand by you?" asked jack, taking jimmieboy by the hand.
"you'd better accede," said jimmieboy, looking around to see who was calling him, "for i have just heard some one calling me—my papa, i think—and i guess it's time for me to get up."
what jack's response to this curious remark would have been no one knows, for just then a most strange thing took place. jack frost and his palace in an instant faded completely from view, and jimmieboy in surprise closed his eyes, rubbed them with both his fists, and then opened them again, to find himself in his little cot in the nursery, the gas-stove burning merrily and winking at him from the fire-place, and the friendly voice, as usual, nowhere to be seen, and now not even to be heard.
no sole remnant of the frozen country remained, save a few beautiful frost pictures on the windows, which, it seemed to jimmieboy, jack had left there in remembrance of the services jimmieboy had done him; and as for the frost kiss on little russ's chin, it had become as invisible as that far sweeter kiss that mamma had placed upon that very same spot when she first discovered what jack had done.
