Part 2 (1/2)
”Leak? No, it was that pesky Bob Henderson. Wait till I git hold of him! I'll make him smart. An' I'm goin' to sue his father.”
”What did he do? Why, Bill, you walk lame. What's the matter, got rheumatiz?”
”It's all on account of Bob.”
”What did he do?”
”Came here for some lard. When I was down cellar gittin' it he tied a string to the mola.s.ses barrel spigot and stretched it across the doorway.”
”What, the spigot?”
”No, the string. Ye know what I mean. Then he went out on the stoop an' yelled like sin. I thought somebody was killed an' I run out. I tripped over the string an' it pulled the spigot open. I barked my s.h.i.+ns, an' when I looked in the store, after seein'
n.o.body was hurt, the mola.s.ses was runnin' all over. Oh, wait till I git hold of that pesky boy!”
”I s'pose if you hadn't been so curious to see who was killed it wouldn't have happened,” observed Adiran Meelik.
”Curious! Ain't I got a right to run an' see who's killed in front of my store?”
”I s'pose so. But there wasn't anybody killed; only you came near being.”
”That's so. I'll bring an action against Bob Henderson's father for damages for personal injuries, that's what I'll do. Then there's the wasted mola.s.ses.”
”That boy plays too many tricks,” observed Mr. Meelik as he took the brown sugar he had come in to purchase and walked out.
”Altogether too many tricks. Still,” he added with a smile, ”I would like to have seen Bill stumble and watched his face when he seen that mola.s.ses runnin' to waste.”
The storekeeper lost no time in putting his plan into action. But as he was a cautious man, and did not want to waste money hiring a lawyer to bring suit if he could collect damages without doing so, he decided to call on Mr. Henderson himself.
A short time after Mr. Hodge had succeeded in cleaning up as much of the mola.s.ses as possible his wife came in to relieve him of tending the store, as was her custom. She had had an early supper, and was to remain in the place until Mr. Hodge had also satisfied his appet.i.te. By this arrangement there was no need of hiring a clerk. They lived in some rooms over the store.
”Your supper's ready, William,” she said.
”I guess supper'll have to wait to-night.”
”Why?”
”'Cause I'm goin' to see if I can't collect damages from Enos Henderson fer what his son done.”
”What's that?”
Mr. Hodge explained, and his wife agreed with him that it would be wise first to try what a personal demand would do.
It was about six o'clock when Mr. Hodge reached the Henderson home.
Mr. Henderson stopped work at five, and he was at supper when the storekeeper entered. Bob knew the object of the visit, and, making an excuse that he wanted to see one of his boy chums, was about to leave the table.
”My business is with him, too,” said Mr. Hodge in rather surly tones.
”With Bob?” asked Mr. Henderson, and his heart sank. He realized that his son must have been up to some prank in which the storekeeper was involved, for Mr. Hodge was not a person to pay friendly calls.
”Yes. I've come t' see if ye'll settle my claim fer damages without a lawsuit.”