Stuyvesant: A Franconia Story

“Now,” said Phonny, “we must go ahead.”

They rode on rapidly for some time. At length, on ascending a hill, they were obliged to slacken their pace a little.

“If it should prove to be a gray squirrel,” said Phonny, “what a capital bargain I shall have made. A squirrel worth a quarter of a dollar, for ten cents.”

“I don’t see why a gray squirrel is so much more valuable than a red one,” said Wallace. “Is gray considered prettier than red?”

“Oh, it is not his color,” said Phonny, “it is the shape and size. The gray squirrels are a great deal larger, and then, they have a beautiful bushy tail, that lays all the time over their back, and curls up at the end, like a plume. The red squirrels are very small.”

“Besides,” continued Phonny, “they are not red exactly. They are a kind of reddish brown, so that they are not very pretty, even in color. I am afraid that my squirrel will be a red one.”

“I am afraid so, too,” said Wallace.

“The red squirrels are altogether the most common,” said Phonny.

“There are the bars,” said Wallace, “now we shall soon see.”

They had arrived in fact, at the bars. Phonny jumped off his horse and gave Wallace the bridle, and then went to take down the bars. As soon as he had got them down, he left Wallace to go through with the horses, at his leisure, and he himself ran off toward the rock where he had left the trap, to see what sort of a squirrel he had.

Wallace went through the bars in a deliberate manner, as it was in fact necessary to do in conducting two horses, and then dismounted, intending to put the bars up. He had just got off his horse when he saw Phonny coming from the direction of the place where the trap had been left, with a countenance expressive of great surprise and concern.

“Wallace,” exclaimed Phonny, “the squirrel has gone, trap and all.”

“Has it?” said Wallace.

“Yes,” said Phonny; “I left it on that rock, and it is gone.”

So saying Phonny ran to the place and put his foot upon the rock, looking up to Wallace, and added,

“There is the very identical spot where I put it, and now it is gone.”

Wallace seemed at a loss what to think.

“Somebody must have taken him away,” said he.

“Hark!” said Phonny.

Wallace and Phonny listened. They heard the voices of some boys in the woods.

“There they are now,” said Phonny.

“Mount the horse,” said Wallace, “and we will go and see.”

Phonny mounted his horse as expeditiously as possible, and he and Wallace rode off through the woods in the direction of the voices. They followed a path which led down a sort of glen, and after riding a short distance they saw the boys before them, standing in a little open space among the trees. The boys had stopped to see who was coming.

There were three boys, one large and two small. The large boy had the trap under his arm.

“Halloa!” said Phonny, calling out aloud to the boys, “stop carrying off that trap.”

The boys did not answer.

“I have bought that squirrel,” said Phonny, “you must give him to me.”

“No,” said the great boy; “it belongs to Espy, and I am going to keep it for him.”

“Hush,” said Wallace, in a low tone to Phonny; “I will speak to him.”

Then calling out aloud again, he said, “We have just been down to Espy’s and have bought the squirrel, and have now come to take him home.”

The boy did not move from the place where he stood, and he showed very plainly by his countenance and his manner, that he did not mean to give the squirrel up. Presently they heard him mutter to the small boys,

“I don’t believe they have bought him, and they shan’t have him.”

“Let us go down and take the squirrel away from them,” said Phonny, in a low tone to Wallace; “I don’t believe they will give him up, unless we do.”

“We can not do that,” said Wallace. “We might take the trap away, perhaps, but they would first open the trap and let the squirrel go.”

“What shall we do, then?” asked Phonny.

Wallace did not answer this question, directly, but called out again to the boy who held the trap, saying,

“We found the squirrel here in the woods, and then went down to tell Espy, and we bought the squirrel of him. But we can’t carry him home very well on horseback, at least till we get out of the woods, because the road is so steep and rough. Now if you will carry him down the road for us, till we get out of the woods, I will give you six cents.”

“Well,” said the boy, “I will.”

He immediately began to come toward Wallace and Phonny, so as to go back with them into the road which they were to take. Wallace and Phonny led the way, and he followed. As soon as he came within convenient distance for talking, Phonny asked him what sort of a squirrel it was.

“A gray squirrel,” said he. “The prettiest gray squirrel that ever I saw.”

Phonny was very much elated at hearing this intelligence, and wanted to get off his horse at once, and take a peep at the squirrel; but Wallace advised him to do no such thing. In due time the whole party got out of the woods. Wallace gave the boy his six cents, and the boy handed the trap up to Phonny. Phonny held it upon the pommel of the saddle, directly before him. He found that the squirrel had gnawed through the board so as to get his nose out, but he could not gnaw any more, now that the box was all the time in motion. So he gave it up in despair, and remained crouched down in a corner of the trap during the remainder of the ride, wondering all the time what the people outside were doing with him.

“You managed that boy finely,” said Phonny. “He is one of the worst boys in town.”

“It is generally best,” said Wallace, “in dealing with people, to contrive some way to make it for their interest to do what you want, rather than to quarrel with them about it.”

For the rest of the way, Phonny rode on without meeting with any difficulty, and arrived at home, with his squirrel all safe, just at the time when Beechnut and Stuyvesant were talking about the poultry.

Chapter V

Plans for the Squirrel

As soon as Phonny had told Stuyvesant about his squirrel and had lifted up the lid of the trap a little, so as to allow him to peep in and see, he said that he was going in to show the squirrel to the people in the house, and especially to Malleville. He accordingly hurried away with the box under his arm. Stuyvesant went back toward the barn.

Phonny hastened along to the house. From the yard he went into a shed through a great door. He walked along the platform in the shed, and at the end of the platform he went up three steps, to a door leading into the back kitchen. He passed through this back kitchen into the front kitchen, hurrying forward as he went, and leaving all the doors open.

Dorothy was at work at a table ironing.

“Dorothy,” said Phonny, “I’ve got a squirrel – a beautiful squirrel. If I had time I would stop and show him to you.”