the sun cast a broad column of quivering gold across the river at the foot of our street, just as i reached the doorstep of the nutter house. kitty collins, with her dress tucked about her so that she looked as if she had on a pair of calico trousers, was washing off the sidewalk.
"arrah you bad boy!" cried kitty, leaning on the mop handle. "the capen has jist been askin' for you. he's gone up town, now. it's a nate thing you done with my clothes-line, and, it's me you may thank for gettin' it out of the way before the capen come down."
the kind creature had hauled in the rope, and my escapade had not been discovered by the family; but i knew very well that the burning of the stage-coach, and the arrest of the boys concerned in the mischief, were sure to reach my grandfathers ears sooner or later.
"well, thomas," said the old gentleman, an hour or so afterwards, beaming upon me benevolently across the breakfast table, "you didn't wait to be called this morning."
"no, sir," i replied, growing very warm, "i took a little run up town to see what was going on."
i didn't say anything about the little run i took home again! "they had quite a time on the square last night," remarked captain nutter, looking up from the rivermouth barnacle, which was always placed beside his coffee-cup at breakfast.
i felt that my hair was preparing to stand on end.
"quite a time," continued my grandfather. "some boys broke into ezra wingate's barn and carried off the old stagecoach. the young rascals! i do believe they'd burn up the whole town if they had their way."
with this he resumed the paper. after a long silence he exclaimed, "hullo!" upon which i nearly fell off the chair.
"'miscreants unknown,'" read my grandfather, following the paragraph with his forefinger; "'escaped from the bridewell, leaving no clew to their identity, except the letter h, cut on one of the benches.' 'five dollars reward offered for the apprehension of the perpetrators.' sho! i hope wingate will catch them."
i don't see how i continued to live, for on hearing this the breath went entirely out of my body. i beat a retreat from the room as soon as i could, and flew to the stable with a misty intention of mounting gypsy and escaping from the place. i was pondering what steps to take, when jack harris and charley marden entered the yard.
"i say," said harris, as blithe as a lark, "has old wingate been here?"
"been here?" i cried, "i should hope not!"
"the whole thing's out, you know," said harris, pulling gypsy's forelock over her eyes and blowing playfully into her nostrils.
"you don't mean it!" i gasped.
"yes, i do, and we are to pay wingate three dollars apiece. he'll make rather a good spec out of it."
"but how did he discover that we were the -- the miscreants?" i asked, quoting mechanically from the rivermouth bamacle.
"why, he saw us take the old ark, confound him! he's been trying to sell it any time these ten years. now he has sold it to us. when he found that we had slipped out of the meat market, he went right off and wrote the advertisement offering five dollars reward; though he knew well enough who had taken the coach, for he came round to my father's house before the paper was printed to talk the matter over. wasn't the governor mad, though! but it's all settled, i tell you. we're to pay wingate fifteen dollars for the old go-cart, which he wanted to sell the other day for seventy-five cents, and couldn't. it's a downright swindle. but the funny part of it is to come."
"o, there's a funny part to it, is there?" i remarked bitterly.
"yes. the moment bill conway saw the advertisement, he knew it was harry blake who cut that letter h on the bench; so off he rushes up to wingate -- kind of him, wasn't it? -- and claims the reward. 'too late, young man,' says old wingate, 'the culprits has been discovered.' you see sly-boots hadn't any intention of paying that five dollars."
jack harris's statement lifted a weight from my bosom. the article in the rivermouth barnacle had placed the affair before me in a new light. i had thoughtlessly committed a grave offence. though the property in question was valueless, we were clearly wrong in destroying it. at the same time mr. wingate had tacitly sanctioned the act by not preventing it when he might easily have done so. he had allowed his property to be destroyed in order that he might realize a large profit.
without waiting to hear more, i went straight to captain nutter, and, laying my remaining three dollars on his knee, confessed my share in the previous night's transaction.
the captain heard me through in profound silence, pocketed the bank-notes, and walked off without speaking a word. he had punished me in his own whimsical fashion at the breakfast table, for, at the very moment he was harrowing up my soul by reading the extracts from the rivermouth barnacle, he not only knew all about the bonfire, but had paid ezra wingate his three dollars. such was the duplicity of that aged impostor.
i think captain nutter was justified in retaining my pocketmoney, as additional punishment, though the possession of it later in the day would have got me out of a difficult position, as the reader will see further on. i returned with a light heart and a large piece of punk to my friends in the stable-yard, where we celebrated the termination of our trouble by setting off two packs of fire-crackers in an empty wine-cask. they made a prodigious racket, but failed somehow to fully express my feelings. the little brass pistol in my bedroom suddenly occurred to me. it had been loaded i don't know how many months, long before i left new orleans, and now was the time, if ever, to fire it off. muskets, blunderbusses, and pistols were banging away lively all over town, and the smell of gunpowder, floating on the air, set me wild to add something respectable to the universal din.
when the pistol was produced, jack harris examined the rusty cap and prophesied that it would not explode.
"never mind," said i, "let's try it."
i had fired the pistol once, secretly, in new orleans, and, remembering the noise it gave birth to on that occasion, i shut both eyes tight as i pulled the trigger. the hammer clicked on the cap with a dull, dead sound. then harris tried it; then charley marden; then i took it again, and after three or four trials was on the point of giving it up as a bad job, when the obstinate thing went off with a tremendous explosion, nearly jerking my arm from the socket. the smoke cleared away, and there i stood with the stock of the pistol clutched convulsively in my hand -- the barrel, lock, trigger, and ramrod having vanished into thin air.
"are you hurt?" cried the boys, in one breath.
"n -- no," i replied, dubiously, for the concussion had bewildered me a little.
when i realized the nature of the calamity, my grief was excessive. i can't imagine what led me to do so ridiculous a thing, but i gravely buried the remains of my beloved pistol in our back garden, and erected over the mound a slate tablet to the effect that "mr. barker formerly of new orleans, was killed accidentally on the fourth of july, 18 -- in the 2nd year of his age." binny wallace, arriving on the spot just after the disaster, and charley marden (who enjoyed the obsequies immensely), acted with me as chief mourners. i, for my part, was a very sincere one.
as i turned away in a disconsolate mood from the garden, charley marden remarked that he shouldn't be surprised if the pistol-butt took root and grew into a mahogany-tree or something. he said he once planted an old musket-stock, and shortly afterwards a lot of shoots sprung up! jack harris laughed; but neither i nor binny wallace saw charley's wicked joke.
we were now joined by pepper whitcomb, fred langdon, and several other desperate characters, on their way to the square, which was always a busy place when public festivities were going on. feeling that i was still in disgrace with the captain, i thought it politic to ask his consent before accompanying the boys.
he gave it with some hesitation, advising me to be careful not to get in front of the firearms. once he put his fingers mechanically into his vest-pocket and half drew forth some dollar bills, then slowly thrust them back again as his sense of justice overcame his genial disposition. i guess it cut the old gentleman to the heart to be obliged to keep me out of my pocket-money. i know it did me. however, as i was passing through the hall, miss abigail, with a very severe cast of countenance, slipped a brand-new quarter into my hand. we had silver currency in those days, thank heaven!
great were the bustle and confusion on the square. by the way, i don't know why they called this large open space a square, unless because it was an oval -- an oval formed by the confluence of half a dozen streets, now thronged by crowds of smartly dressed towns-people and country folks; for rivermouth on the fourth was the centre of attraction to the inhabitants of the neighboring villages.
on one side of the square were twenty or thirty booths arranged in a semi-circle, gay with little flags and seductive with lemonade, ginger-beer, and seedcakes. here and there were tables at which could be purchased the smaller sort of fireworks, such as pin-wheels, serpents, double-headers, and punk warranted not to go out. many of the adjacent houses made a pretty display of bunting, and across each of the streets opening on the square was an arch of spruce and evergreen, blossoming all over with patriotic mottoes and paper roses.
it was a noisy, merry, bewildering scene as we came upon the ground. the incessant rattle of small arms, the booming of the twelve-pounder firing on the mill dam, and the silvery clangor of the church-bells ringing simultaneously -- not to mention an ambitious brass-band that was blowing itself to pieces on a balcony -- were enough to drive one distracted. we amused ourselves for an hour or two, darting in and out among the crowd and setting off our crackers. at one o'clock the hon. hezekiah elkins mounted a platform in the middle of the square and delivered an oration, to which his "feller-citizens" didn't pay much attention, having all they could do to dodge the squibs that were set loose upon them by mischievous boys stationed on the surrounding housetops.
our little party which had picked up recruits here and there, not being swayed by eloquence, withdrew to a booth on the outskirts of the crowd, where we regaled ourselves with root beer at two cents a glass. i recollect being much struck by the placard surmounting this tent:
root beer
sold here
it seemed to me the perfection of pith and poetry. what could be more terse? not a word to spare, and yet everything fully expressed. rhyme and rhythm faultless. it was a delightful poet who made those verses. as for the beer itself -- that, i think, must have been made from the root of all evil! a single glass of it insured an uninterrupted pain for twenty-four hours.
the influence of my liberality working on charley marden -- for it was i who paid for the beer -- he presently invited us all to take an ice-cream with him at pettingil's saloon. pettingil was the delmonico of rivermouth. he furnished ices and confectionery for aristocratic balls and parties, and didn't disdain to officiate as leader of the orchestra at the same; for pettingil played on the violin, as pepper whitcomb described it, "like old scratch."
pettingil's confectionery store was on the corner of willow and high streets. the saloon, separated from the shop by a flight of three steps leading to a door hung with faded red drapery, had about it an air of mystery and seclusion quite delightful. four windows, also draped, faced the side-street, affording an unobstructed view of marm hatch's back yard, where a number of inexplicable garments on a clothes-line were always to be seen careering in the wind.
there was a lull just then in the ice-cream business, it being dinner-time, and we found the saloon unoccupied. when we had seated ourselves around the largest marble-topped table, charley marden in a manly voice ordered twelve sixpenny icecreams, "strawberry and verneller mixed."
it was a magnificent sight, those twelve chilly glasses entering the room on a waiter, the red and white custard rising from each glass like a church-steeple, and the spoon-handle shooting up from the apex like a spire. i doubt if a person of the nicest palate could have distinguished, with his eyes shut, which was the vanilla and which the strawberry; but if i could at this moment obtain a cream tasting as that did, i would give five dollars for a very small quantity.
we fell to with a will, and so evenly balanced were our capabilities that we finished our creams together, the spoons clinking in the glasses like one spoon.
"let's have some more!" cried charley marden, with the air of aladdin ordering up a fresh hogshead of pearls and rubies. "tom bailey, tell pettingil to send in another round."
could i credit my ears? i looked at him to see if he were in earnest. he meant it. in a moment more i was leaning over the counter giving directions for a second supply. thinking it would make no difference to such a gorgeous young sybarite as marden, i took the liberty of ordering ninepenny creams this time.
on returning to the saloon, what was my horror at finding it empty!
there were the twelve cloudy glasses, standing in a circle on the sticky marble slab, and not a boy to be seen. a pair of hands letting go their hold on the window-sill outside explained matters. i had been made a victim.
i couldn't stay and face pettingil, whose peppery temper was well known among the boys. i hadn't a cent in the world to appease him. what should i do? i heard the clink of approaching glasses -- the ninepenny creams. i rushed to the nearest window. it was only five feet to the ground. i threw myself out as if i had been an old hat.
landing on my feet, i fled breathlessly down high street, through willow, and was turning into brierwood place when the sound of several voices, calling to me in distress, stopped my progress.
"look out, you fool! the mine! the mine!" yelled the warning voices.
several men and boys were standing at the head of the street, making insane gestures to me to avoid something. but i saw no mine, only in the middle of the road in front of me was a common flour-barrel, which, as i gazed at it, suddenly rose into the air with a terrific explosion. i felt myself thrown violently off my feet. i remember nothing else, excepting that, as i went up, i caught a momentary glimpse of ezra wingate leering through is shop window like an avenging spirit.
the mine that had wrought me woe was not properly a mine at all, but merely a few ounces of powder placed under an empty keg or barrel and fired with a slow-match. boys who didn't happen to have pistols or cannon generally burnt their powder in this fashion.
for an account of what followed i am indebted to hearsay, for i was insensible when the people picked me up and carried me home on a shutter borrowed from the proprietor of pettingil's saloon. i was supposed to be killed, but happily (happily for me at least) i was merely stunned. i lay in a semi-unconscious state until eight o'clock that night, when i attempted to speak. miss abigail, who watched by the bedside, put her ear down to my lips and was saluted with these remarkable words: "strawberry and verneller mixed!"
"mercy on us! what is the boy saying?" cried miss abigail.
"rootbeersoldhere!"
this inscription is copied from a triangular-shaped piece of slate, still preserved in the garret of the nutter house, together with the pistol butt itself, which was subsequently dug up for a postmortem examination.
