Part 14 (1/2)

”I think I'll go, too,” suggested Bob Strahan who scented a story.

”Have you seen George Was.h.i.+ngton, the self-supporting cat?” he asked Miss Thorley and Miss Carter.

”All of you come,” begged Mary Rose, glowing happily again. ”Mr.

Jerry'd be glad to have you and there's plenty of room in the back yard. I'd like to have you see my cat. Isn't it wonderful that George Was.h.i.+ngton and Solomon are self-supporting? That's being independent, isn't it, Miss Thorley? Will you come?” she caught her hand and drew her to her feet.

Miss Thorley hesitated. If George Was.h.i.+ngton had been boarding with anyone but Jerry Longworthy she would have gone at once but Jerry Longworthy was very apt to forget that she preferred work to love. If she went to his back yard he would be sure to think that her coming was an inch and proceed to make an ell out of it. It would be far wiser to stay away. So she shook her head. ”Not now, Mary Rose,” she said gently. ”Some other time.”

After a quick glance at her face Mary Rose did not tease but went off with the others. They found Mr. Jerry in the back yard. He looked beyond them as if he found the party too small but as no one followed to complete it he gave his attention to Solomon and p.r.o.nounced him something of a dog. When Jimmie had put him through his tricks again Mr. Jerry gravely shook hands with both boy and dog.

”You've been a fine teacher,” he said to Jimmie. ”I congratulate you.”

Jimmie's face was as scarlet as the poppies in Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary's garden. ”Oh, go on!” he murmured in delighted embarra.s.sment.

”Just think, they walked all the way from Mifflin!” exclaimed Mary Rose in a voice of awe. ”It took an automobile and a train and a taxicab to bring me.”

”Well, I didn't have money for an auto nor a train nor a taxi,” grinned Jimmie, ”so Sol and I walked. Not all the way. Folks gave us a lift now and then.”

”Of course they did. You'd be sure to find friends,” Mary Rose told him jubilantly. ”That's the beautiful part of traveling. You find friends everywhere.”

”Sure!” Jimmie winked at Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan. ”I found one friend so glad to see me that he had me arrested.”

”Why, Jimmie Bronson!” Mary Rose's eyes were as large as the largest kind of saucers. ”What for? Was Solomon arrested, too?” She looked reprovingly at her dog.

Jimmie chuckled. ”I told you I had more than one chance to sell the brute,” with a loving kick at Solomon. ”And one man was so mad when I told him 'nothing doing' that he had me arrested. Said I had stolen the dog from him. You see there's some cla.s.s to old Sol but there isn't much to me. The judge didn't know which of us was lying until I told him that Sol was a trick dog and would the man who was trying to put one over on me run through his tricks to show they had worked together. The cuss turned green and stammered that he wasn't no animal tamer. The judge gave me a chance and we had a great performance in the courtroom. When it was over the judge said he guessed if I'd had Solomon long enough to teach him so much the man, if he was the owner, should have found him before. He fined the other chap a greenback and gave it to me. We had beefsteak and potatoes for supper instead of going to jail, didn't we, old sport?”

”Good for you!” Mr. Jerry gave him a comradely slap on the shoulder.

Bob Strahan nodded significantly to Miss Carter. ”Didn't I say I'd get a story out of this?” he whispered.

”What are you going to do now, Jimmie?” asked Mary Rose. ”You aren't going back to Mifflin?”

No, Jimmie wasn't going back to Mifflin. He thought, rather vaguely, he'd stay in Waloo and see the world. There must be something there for a boy to do if he were strong and willing.

”Oh, there is! Isn't there?” Mary Rose looked appealingly from Mr.

Jerry to Bob Strahan.

”Sure, there is,” Mr. Jerry told her heartily. He asked for further particulars. Just what would Jimmie like to do? Had he any plans?

Jimmie hadn't any plans just at present beyond food and shelter but in ten years or so he hoped to be an electrician. Of course, that couldn't be until he was a man. In the meantime he'd take anything and if he could get a job that would let him go to school he'd be about the happiest kid in the world.

”You can get that kind of job,” Bob Strahan told him easily. ”I'll write a little story about your trip and your arrest for the _Gazette_ and I'll bet you'll have a lot of jobs offered you.”

”And until you do you can stay here. There's a little room up there,”

Mr. Jerry nodded toward his attic, ”that would just about fit a boy of your size. Do you know anything about autos? Have you ever met a lawn mower? I guess I can find work for you until you get a regular job.”

Every freckle on Jimmie's freckled face glowed gratefully. Mary Rose jumped up and down.

”Mr. Jerry!” she began in a choked voice. She ran to him and hid her face against his hand. ”First you took my cat,” she gasped chokingly, ”and then you took my dog and now my friend from Mifflin. I--I don't believe a friendlier man ever lived!”