Part 1 (1/2)
Two Boys and a Fortune.
by Matthew White, Jr.
PREFACE
Among all my books, this one will always occupy a particularly warm spot in my heart; for listen, reader, and I will let you into a little secret. Riddle Creek is really Ridley, and is a true-enough stream, flowing through one of the most charming regions in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The railroad trestle which plays such an important part in the first chapter forms a picturesque feature of the landscape, in full view of a home where I was wont to spend many a joyous holiday-time and which I had in mind whenever I mentioned the Pellery.
Again, the odd little house on Seventh Street, Philadelphia, described in Chapter XXVII, actually existed until pulled down some years since to make room for a big manufacturing plant. I used to visit there every time I went to the Quaker City, and all the furnis.h.i.+ngs mentioned stand out vividly in my recollection to this day, even to the guitar off in one corner. I never played Fish Pond there, but I have eaten some of the best dinners I ever tasted in that famous kitchen below stairs, which had to serve for dining room as well. That kitchen and the great cat, who used to sun himself in the shop window, loom large in my memories of boyhood.
Matthew White, Jr.
New York City.
Jan. 5, 1907.
CHAPTER I
THE MAN ON THE BRIDGE
”Look there! I believe that man is actually going to try to cross the trestle.”
Roy Pell pulled his sister Eva quickly toward him as he spoke, so that she could look up between the trees to the Burdock side of the railway bridge almost directly above their heads.
”Why, it's Mr. Tyler!” exclaimed Jess, who had a better view from where she sat on the log that spanned Riddle Creek. ”Oh, Roy, something's sure to happen to him! He's awfully feeble.”
”And there's a train almost due,” added Eva. ”What can he be thinking of to attempt such a thing?”
”Oh!” and Jess gave a shrill scream. ”He's fallen!”
Roy said never a word. He quickly pa.s.sed his fis.h.i.+ng-line to Eva, ran nimbly across the tree trunk to the Burdock side of the creek, and then started to climb the steep bank. The girls sat there and watched him breathlessly, now and then darting a look higher up at the spot on the trestle where the figure that had dropped still lay across the ties, as if too badly hurt to rise.
The two Pell girls and their twin brothers, Rex and Roy, had gone down to sit on the log in search of coolness on this blazing hot July afternoon. Rex had been giving vent to his disgust because he wasn't able to accept the invitation to join a jolly party of friends for a trip to Lake George and down the St. Lawrence. Cause why? Lack of funds.
”You ought to have known you couldn't go when Scott asked you, Rex,”
Roy had told him. ”You would need at least fifty dollars for the outing. And that sum will clothe you for almost a year. And clothes with you, Rex, ought to be of sufficient importance to be considered.”
”I suppose I might as well go and tell Scott about it and have it over with,” Rex had replied, creasing his handsome forehead into a frown.
”I dare say he'll be calling me 'Can't Have It Pell' pretty soon. It was only two months ago I asked for a bicycle and didn't get it, and there was the new pair of skates I wanted last winter.”
”Don't be late for tea,” Eva called out after him as he made his way to the sh.o.r.e.
She kept her eyes on the trim figure till it was hidden by the trees which grew thick along the road that led up to town.
”Well, if anybody in this world ought to have money it is that good looking brother of ours,” remarked Jess with a sigh. ”He'd appreciate it so thoroughly. I don't wonder he's crabbed this afternoon. Just think of the chance for a good time he's had to let slip just for lack of a little money.”
”Fifty dollars isn't a little money, Jess,” returned Roy, casting his line.
”I know it isn't to us, but it is to most of the people we know, Scott Bowman for instance. Do you suppose we shall ever be rich, Roy?”