sorry, indeed, were the young homesteaders to see their new-found friend depart, for before he was out of sight, the storekeeper opened a bombardment of questions, some of them very personal.
resenting the attempt to learn their private affairs, the boys parried the most pointed inquiries, though they feared to do so too openly lest they should arouse peleg’s hostility.
consequently it was with great relief that they heard a shrill voice call:
“you kin show the gents up to their room now, pap.”
at the words phil and ted sprang to their feet and began to pick up their luggage.
“jest let that be!” commanded peleg. “hey, jennie, didn’t i tell you to come and git them duds? do you want to make these gents wait on theirselves?”
“we don’t mind in the least, we’d really rather,” hastily interposed ted.
jennie, however, evidently understood her father’s moods, and quickly she appeared in the door, gave a timid glance at the boys, and started to relieve them of their parcels.
while awaiting her coming, phil and ted had wondered whether she were young or old, pretty or homely, but neither of them was prepared to see the small, wizened hunchback who stood before them, her face crimson.
“the idea of your carrying our things!” exclaimed phil, his impulsiveness getting the better of his tact.
“oh, i don’t mind. i’m stronger tha—than i look,” stammered jennie.
“she can tote a bag of meal,” proudly declared her father.
“and you let her?” flared ted, savagely, for he was angry at his brother for his words and at peleg for allowing the poor little cripple to perform such work.
“why not? i’m sixty-five and she’s twenty. ain’t it better for her to tote meal than an old man like me?”
ted opened his mouth to give vent to a sharp retort, when jennie, with a smile at her champion, averted further unpleasantness by asking:
“will any of the men be down from camp tonight, pap?”
“they’d better not. there ain’t a dollar in the whole outfit, and i don’t charge nothin’ more, i told ’em so last night.”
“won’t your refusing credit drive them to bradley?”
“not while the company they are working for owns this store. the boss fired five of them the other day for spending real money in bradley.”
“well, i hope there won’t any come tonight,” declared the girl, adding, as the boys followed her inside the store, “they call me ‘spider’ and make fun of me awful.”
“they won’t while we are here,” snapped phil.
again the girl flashed the young homesteaders a look of gratitude, then mounted the stairs and opened a door in the loft.
“my room ain’t much to look at, but it’s clean,” she apologized, pausing in the evident hope that her words would be denied; then, as neither boy spoke, she said: “supper will be ready when you come down.”
until they could no longer hear her footsteps on the stairs, phil and ted kept silence.
“it’s a shame the way that brute peleg bullies the poor little thing!” growled ted. “just look at the way she has tried to decorate her room. four lithographs and three of them beer advertisements. i’ve brought a bunch of etchings for my room and i’ll give some of them to her. but when momsy comes, we’ll have her take jennie to live with us.”
“easy, ted, easy! we shall have about all we can do to take care of momsy and the girls. what do you think of andy?”
“that he’s better educated than he makes out. but about jennie. we can take her all right. just think of those lumberjacks calling her ‘spider.’ didn’t you see how she winced when she said it?”
“it’s too bad. i’ll admit. however, we can talk about her later. i’m as hungry as a bear, so let’s get into some comfortable clothes as quickly as we can and go down to the kitchen.”
when peleg had announced that none of the men from the camp would appear at the store, he was mistaken. while the boys were eating the delicious flapjacks that jennie was frying, there sounded the tramp of heavy feet in the front part of the building and a voice called:
“spider, come here!”
“set still!” snapped peleg, as his daughter looked at him, her face white.
again came the call, more peremptory than before.
“that’s the ‘black swede,’ hadn’t i better go?” asked jennie, in a whisper.
“no. he was one of the five the boys fired for trading in bradley,” returned her father. “go on with your suppers, gents.”
“come out here, you spider, or i’ll put another hump on your back!” roared the voice.
at the brutal words phil and ted sprang from their chairs with one accord and rushed into the store.
“stop ’em! stop ’em! i’ll go, pap!” pleaded the girl. “they’ll git hurted.”
but though the young homesteaders heard her words, they paid no heed to them, but when they caught a glimpse of the black swede, they halted.
more than six feet tall, his feet encased in spiked boots, a slouch hat pulled down over his villainous face, the man presented an awesome appearance.
“what do you want? i called the spider,” he snarled.
two companions, no more prepossessing than the other, were with the swede, and they grinned and chuckled as they beheld the two slender boys facing the giant.
“miss jennie is busy. come back later and peleg will attend to you,” returned ted, quietly.
an instant the lumberjack blinked at him, then burst into a roar of laughter.
“did you hear that?” he asked, turning to his friends. “called the ‘spider’ ‘miss jennie,’ says she’s busy and we can come back later?” then he faced the boys again. “well, we won’t go! so jump and hustle out the ‘spider’!”
“miss jennie is busy,” repeated ted.
“then i’ll find her maself.”
“no, you won’t,” snapped phil.
“who’ll stop me?”
“we will.”
“you? why, with one hand i could wring—”
“that will do, jonson. i told you to leave chikau on the day i discharged you,” exclaimed a quiet voice.
as they heard it, the lumberjacks wheeled toward the door and gazed, in amazement, at a powerfully built man who stood just inside the entrance, having come in unobserved while the swede was baiting the boys.
“the boss!” gasped the trio, making a rush to escape.
but the newcomer placed himself in the doorway.
“you didn’t go when i ordered you to, jonson. now you will not go until i tell you that you can. i found, on looking over peleg’s accounts, that you owe the store six dollars. i heard you were hanging around, so i came down from camp. you will go back and work out your bill.”
“when?” snarled the giant.
“right now. if you hurry, you will get there in plenty of time to get a nap before breakfast.”
“wall, i won’t.”
“oh yes, you will.”
“what makes you think so?”
“because i tell you to.”
a moment the two men looked each other straight in the eyes, then the black swede growled, “all right,” and the boss stepped aside to allow his man to pass from the store.
as he departed, the other two men started to follow him.
“where are you going?” demanded the boss. “with blackie,” answered one of them.
“oh no, you’re not. jonson is too good a man for you to spoil him. if it hadn’t been for you, he never would have gone to bradley. i’m going to take you down to the station and ship you on the first train passing. come along.”
again there was the clash of eyes. again the boss won, and the two men slunk out the door while their master followed, saying:
“i’ll be back later, peleg.”
