Arrow in a Sunbeam, and Other Tales Read online

  A BRAVE BOY.

  "Speaking of courage," said my friend Tom Barton, as we met one dayafter a long separation, "reminds me of an incident that happened atthe doctors' school the first winter after you left.

  "It was during the Christmas holidays, and all of the boys had gonehome except two brothers, named Fred and Albert Kobb, and myself. Theywere obliged to stay during the vacation because their parents werespending the season in Florida, and I,--well, as you know, my home wasat a distance, and we were poor, so I remained at school.

  "The brothers were very unlike, both in appearance and character.Fred, the elder of the two, was a large, muscular, ruddy-faced boy, notmuch in love with books. He was of an over-bearing disposition, andhad a great deal of conceit.

  "Albert, on the contrary, was pale and slender. He was very quiet andstudious, and had such a love of honesty and truth, and suchdetestation of meanness and wrong, that we boys had dubbed him the'Parson.'

  "It was the Saturday night between Christmas and New Year's. We threeboys were hugging the stove in the little room adjoining the doctor'sstudy. Doctor was in the study writing a sermon for the following day,as he had to preach at Milltown.

  "We could hear his pen scratching over the paper during the lulls inour conversation. Occasionally that 'ahem!' of his would come throughthe partially opened door; but somehow his 'ahems' seemed to lose theirominous character during holidays.

  "The subject of our conversation was a robbery that had beenperpetrated at Squire Little's store the previous night.

  "Robberies, as you know, were unusual occurrences in the little villageof Acme. Of course this one furnished a topic for abundance of talk.

  "Wherever we had been that day we had found some groups of men and boystalking about robberies in general, and this one in particular.

  "It was but natural that in the evening we boys should discuss the samesubject, and each of us offered various speculations as to who therobber was, where he had gone, and whether he would be captured or not.

  "Then we told stories of all the daring burglaries of which we had everheard or read, and finally described such as had happened in our ownhouses.

  "In the descriptions of our personal experiences Fred gave a glowingaccount of an incident that had occurred in his father's family. Onenight he said the coachman thought he saw a man prowling in thechicken-yard. He fired a pistol at him, and had summoned the otherservants to go in pursuit of the robber. He told us how the brave men,armed with lanterns, pokers, and blunderbusses, had reached thechicken-yard, and there found traces of blood, which they followed upfor a few yards, and found, lying in the last throes of death, thevictim of the coachman's prowess,--a fine black Spanish rooster!

  "At length said I, 'What would you do if you should hear a burglar somenight trying to enter your house?'

  "Fred straightened himself and squared his shoulders. 'I wouldn'thesitate a moment to shoot him,' said he, valiantly. 'I tell you, itwould be a good burglar that could get away from me.'

  "Al rested his chin in his hands, and gazed thoughtfully into theglowing coals.

  "'Well,' said he slowly, 'it is hard to tell what a fellow might dounder such circumstances. I rather believe, though, I would take goodcare to keep out of his way. What would you do, Tom?'

  "'Me?" I exclaimed. 'Very likely I'd cover my head with the bedclothesand leave him to carry off house and all if he could.'

  "Fred was about to make another remark, but was prevented by thedoctor, who appeared in the doorway. 'Well, boys,' said he, 'don't youthink we've had enough talk about robberies for one evening? It isgetting late now, and your continual talking has bothered me so that Ihave only written one page during the last half hour, and on that pageI have written four times the word "burglar" instead of "bravery."'

  "Bidding him good-night we went up stairs, and were soon fast asleep.

  "About midnight I awoke with the consciousness of having been arousedby some unusual noise. Slightly raising my head I listened, and hearda scraping sound at the back hall window.

  "We three boys occupied the front room on the third floor, the samethat you and Atkinson had at one time. It was a bright moonlightnight. Glancing towards the Kobbs' bed, I saw them both sitting up.The noise had aroused them also.

  "'There's some one trying to get in that hall window,' said Al, in awhisper. 'I'm going to see.'

  "'Wait and listen awhile,' urged Fred.

  "'And give the fellow a chance to get in?' exclaimed Al. 'No; webetter stop him where he is.'

  "'Let's call the doctor,' said Fred.

  "'There isn't time for that. Don't you hear him unfastening thewindow-bolt? Come, hurry! I'm going to take the old-musket; you takethe bat.'

  "'The gun isn't loaded,' said Fred; and his voice actually trembled.Whether he was shivering from cold or fright, I don't know.

  "'It will scare him just the same,' said Al; and taking down the rustyfirearm, he hurried out into the hall, followed at a little distance byhis brother, armed with the base-ball bat.

  "I was never very brave, and therefore I took good care to keep as farbehind Fred as he was behind his brother; in fact to be more honest, Imerely ventured as far as the door, and there peeped into the hall.

  "A man's form was crawling through the window, but he seemed to be sooccupied by keeping the sash up that he had not as yet noticed the twoboys. As he threw one leg over the sill, he thrust his hand into hisbreast pocket and drew out a small, dark object.

  "'Murder! he's drawing a pistol!' roared Fred in terror; and turninghastily to fly, he ran against me in the doorway, and we both fellsprawling upon the floor.

  "'Robbers! fire!' shrieked Fred. 'Here's another one!' and dartinginto an opposite room, he crawled under the bed there.

  "'Move another inch and I'll fire!' cried Al, pointing the musket atthe man's breast.

  "Och!--murther! Masther Al, don't be afther a-shootin' me!' came afamiliar voice in broad Hibernian accents.

  "It was Pat, the doctor's man.

  "'What! is that you, Pat?' exclaimed Al, lowering the weapon.

  "'Sorra the day for me an' it wur,' said the Irishman, as he carefullydeposited on the floor the pistol Fred had seen him draw, which wassimply a small, flat bottle. He then leisurely lifted his otherponderous foot over the window-sill, shook himself, as if to ascertainwhether he had a whole skin, and shut the window. Then he picked upthe bottle, and carefully replaced it in his coat pocket.

  "Meanwhile, Al had been quietly laughing, and I was still on the floorlaughing and rubbing the bruises on my legs, which had been caused byFred's collision.

  "'What's the meaning of this?' whispered Al. 'How is it, Pat, that youcome into the house in this way instead of by the door?"

  "'Well, you see,' said Pat, 'I just wint the night to say me cousin,who is a-workin' at the Smit's, an' not moindin' to disturb the doctheran' his wife, sure didn't I put the long laddher forninst the windew,intindin' to tak out that new pane of glass that was raycintly tackedin, an' inter in as nate an' quiet as ye plaze: but the lad was scareda bit. Where is he?'

  "'Who? Fred?' asked Al.

  "'Ay, it's Fred I mane,' said Pat.

  "Having by this time rubbed my bruises sufficiently and picked myselfup, I led them to Fred's place of concealment. His feet and legs werein plain sight, for, ostrich-like, he seemed to have imagined that ifhis head alone were covered, he was perfectly safe. Pat grasped him bythe ankle, and despite of his kicking hauled him out.

  "'Oh,' cried Fred, in abject terror, supposing it was the burglar whohad caught him, 'don't kill me! don't kill me! My money is all in thetrunk in the opposite room!'

  "'Do keep still, and don't make such a fool of yourself! It's onlyPat,' said Al, with suppressed laughter, while Pat and I indulged inlaughter that was far from suppressed.

  "In the midst of this racket we heard a door open below, and thedoctor's voice called,--

  "'What is the matter up there?'

  "'N
othin', sur,' replied Pat, with Irish readiness, 'only the lads gotfreighted as I was comin' to bed.'

  "'Tell them to be quiet, or I shall come up,' said doctor.

  "'D'ye hear that, b'ys?' said Pat. 'Get to bed now; ye'll tak' yourdeath runnin' round in the cowld widout your clothes on.'

  "In our excitement we had forgotten that the mercury outside was nearlydown to zero, and had not noticed the cold; but Pat's words quickenedour sensitiveness, so we hastened shivering to bed, and the house wasagain quiet.

  "Monday morning the doctor summoned us all to his study, and thereinstituted one of his usual courts of inquiry. He was judge, jury andcounsel. Pat was the principal witness, and we boys were there inorder to corroborate or refute Pat's testimony, and also to sustainsomewhat the respectability of the court I suppose.

  "'Patrick,' said the doctor, in opening the case, 'what was the causeof that noise up stairs Saturday night?'

  "'Well, Your Riverence,' began Pat, and his small gray eyes twinkled ashe cast a sly glance at me, 'Sathurday noight I fought I'd call on mecousin, who has just coom from the ould counthry, an' is workin' in thevillage'--

  "'At Smith's,' put in Al, by way of explanation."

  The doctor was not very strict when he held court during holidays,otherwise he might have told Al to remain silent until he wasquestioned.

  "'At Smit's,' repeated Pat, 'an' moindin' not to disturb yez by comin'in late, sure I just climbed up to the hall winder, an' as I wur halft'rough, an' wur' takin' somethin' from me pocket'--

  "'A flat bottle,' interposed Al.

  "'A bottle, eh? And what was in it?' asked the doctor, suspiciously,in an unprecedented manner beginning the cross-examination before thedirect was concluded.

  "'Only a wee dhrap of medicine, sur,' said Pat. 'Me cousin was afearedI had the influenzys, an' gave it to me for it.'

  "'Go on,' said doctor, with a smile.

  "'As I wur a-sayin', sur, I dhrew forth the bottle, whin there came wanyell from Masther Fred in the back part of the hall, an' says he, "Och!murther! he's dhrawin' his pistol!" an' thin' he run like--like'--

  "'Ay, ay!' exclaimed doctor, warningly.

  "'Like a deer,' said Pat; 'an' as I wur a-sayin', sur, I looked up andsaw Masther Al fornist me, with a gun dhrawed up to his shoulder an'pintin' at me, an' says I, "Don't murther me!"

  "'An' sure, sir, he did not, an' thin we wint an' pullt Fred out fromunder the bed, where he'd crawled wid his two legs stickin' out in themoonlight, an' Tam an' messel' wur smilin' quiet like, an' YourRiverence towld us to shut up, an' we wint to bed, sur.'

  "'And how did Tom act?' said the doctor. 'Eh, Tom, you young rogue,what are you snickering and giggling at behind Pat's back? Are youlaughing at him or me?'

  "'Neither,' I replied; 'but the truth is, doctor, that Pat told me hemight be out late Saturday night, and that I needn't be frightened if Iheard any unusual noise. But I forgot to tell the boys, and was sostartled and confused in waking from a sound sleep, that I at firstthought it was a burglar, and after I did recollect that it was onlyPat, I concluded not to say anything, but test their courage, as Isupposed there was no danger in it.'

  "'Well, Pat,' said doctor, 'when you visit your cousin again, don'tclimb through the window on your return. And, boys, the next time youhear any suspicious sound at midnight, come and call me the first thingyou do.'

  "So having brought in a verdict of 'not guilty of any evil intentions,'the doctor adjourned the court.

  "Poor Fred was never heard to boast of his bravery, or even to mentionthe word 'burglar,' after that. So true it is that boasters usuallyprove cowards when put to the test."

  C. S. SLEIGHT.

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