The Princess and Joe Potter

"That's what's makin' all the trouble, Joe Potter. If you hadn't brought the kid along we'd get through this scrape in good style."

"But I couldn't have left her in Plums's shanty alone."

"It was a fool business pickin' her up in the first place, 'cause if you never'd done it, them lawyers couldn't say you had a kid with you. That's the very best way they have to let folks know who you are. Anyhow, you've got to give her the dead shake now, if you want me to keep hold of this case."

"Then I'll have to get along the best I can without you, for I won't run away from a poor little baby, who counts on my findin' her folks."

Joe spoke so decidedly that the amateur detective understood he could not easily be turned from his purpose, and Master Fernald was astonished. He had supposed that his threat to "drop the case" would have reduced the unfortunate merchant to submission, and it seemed little less than madness for Joe and Plums to continue the flight without the guiding hand of one so wise as himself.

"Of course, if you don't want me, that settles it," he said, sulkily. "I ain't throwin' my time away when folks had rather I wasn't 'round; but you'll get into a heap of trouble without somebody what knows the ropes, to steer you."

"I would like to have you with us, Dan; but I won't leave that poor little princess when she needs me so much."

"But how you goin' to fix it nights? We've got to sleep outdoors mostly all the time, an' she'd soon get wore up with that kind of knockin' 'round."

"Why must we sleep outdoors?"

Dan explained that the search for the supposed criminal was to be prosecuted with such vigour that even Master Plummer was included in the advertisements, which piece of news both alarmed and mystified Joe.

"What are they after him for? Does anybody claim he's been goin' crooked?"

"I s'pose it's 'cause he let you sleep in his shanty. You see, Joe, the lawyers are bound to nab you if the thing can be done, an' you've got to give up sleepin' in houses. It might work once or twice; but you'd be sure to run across somebody what had read the papers, an' then you'd find yourself an' the princess in jail mighty quick. The evenin' papers said a large reward would be paid, an' perhaps, by mornin', they'll raise the price to as much as ten dollars."

It can well be understood how disturbed in mind Joe was at learning that his enemies were so eager to capture him; but yet he had no intention of abandoning the princess, until Plums made a suggestion which seemed like an exceedingly happy one.

"Why not pay old Mis' Weber somethin' to take care of her for two or three days?" he asked. "The little thing would get along a good deal better with a woman, an' we can sneak back here once in awhile to make certain she's all right. I don't believe them lawyers will spend very much more money huntin' for us, 'cause we ain't worth it, no matter what we've done."

"That's the very best snap you could fix up!" Dan cried, approvingly. "I'd been thinkin' of somethin' like that myself; but didn't have time to tell you about it. I've got more'n two dollars that I borrowed to help you fellers through with this scrape, an' that ought'er be a good deal more'n enough to keep her till we can earn more."

Joe understood that it would be to the princess's advantage if he left her with the kind old German lady, and at once decided in favour of the plan.

Never for a moment did he fancy they might be as safe in this house as anywhere else, but firmly believed a continuation of the flight was absolutely necessary, as Dan had announced.

"I'll see what Mis' Weber says about it, an' if she's willin', we'll go right away."

"Don't stay in there all night chinnin', 'cause it's mighty dangerous for us to be hangin' 'round here," Dan called after him as he entered the dwelling, and Joe hastened the matter as much as possible.

The princess was in bed sleeping quietly, and looking, as Plums expressed it, "fit to eat." Mrs. Weber's grandson was ready to act as interpreter, and in a few moments Joe had made the proposition.

The good woman asked no questions concerning the parents of the child it was proposed she should keep, and her silence on this point may have been due to the fact that, even with her grandson's aid, it was difficult to understand all the boys said.

She was willing to take the princess for a week, but not longer, and decided that one dollar would repay her for the labour.

"Tell your grandmother we'll make the trade," Joe said, quickly, delighted because the sum named was so much less than he expected. "I'll be back here in two days at the longest, an' she's to take the very best care of the little thing."

"Granny would be kind even to a mouse," Master Weber replied, with an air of pride, and Joe added, promptly:

"I ought'er know as much by this time, an' if I didn't, the princess wouldn't be left with her. That poor little swell hasn't got anybody to look out for her but me, till we find her folks, an' I ain't takin' chances of her comin' to harm. Here's the dollar, an' you tell your granny I'll be back by the day after to-morrer if all the cops in New York are close after me."

The little German boy looked up in perplexity, for he failed to understand the greater portion of what Joe had said, and the latter was in too great a hurry to heed the fact.

A shrill whistle from the outside told that detective Dan was growing impatient, and Joe started towards the door, after seeing the old lady take the money; but halted an instant later.

"Is there something more you want granny to do?" the German boy asked, and Joe was at a loss for a reply.

"I was thinkin', perhaps, – if, course, it wouldn't make any difference to your granny, – say, I'm goin' to sneak in an' kiss the princess!"

The boy nodded carelessly, but Joe made no effort to carry his threat into execution.

Again the amateur detective whistled, and Master Potter stepped towards the bedroom door, but halted before gaining it.

"Perhaps her folks wouldn't want a duffer like me doin' anything of that kind," he muttered, and straightway walked out of the house as rapidly as his legs would carry him, much as if he feared to remain longer lest the temptation should be too great to resist.

"It begun to look as if you was goin' to stay all night," Dan said, petulantly, when Joe appeared. "There's more'n a hundred people walked past here, an' I'll bet some of 'em was huntin' for us; we've got to get out of this place mighty lively, if you don't want to be chucked into jail."

Plums looked so thoroughly terrified that Joe at once understood the amateur detective had been frightening him by picturing improbable dangers, and said, almost sharply:

"There's no use makin' this thing any worse than it really is."

"That can't be done, Joe Potter. You're in an awful scrape, an' don't seem to know it."

"I wish I'd stood right up like a man till I'd found the princess's folks, an' then gone to jail, if the lawyers are so set on puttin' me there."

"What's comin' over you now?"

"I'm thinkin' of that poor little swell we've brought out here."

"She's a good deal better off than if you let her tag along behind."

"That may be; but I ought'er found her folks instead of runnin' away."

"Now, see here, Joe Potter, you're makin' a fool of yourself, an' all about a kid what's goin' to have a soft snap while she stays here. Of course if you want to be put into jail for two or three years, I won't say another word, an' you can rush right straight back to the city."

"Don't stand here talkin'!" Plums cried, in an agony of apprehension. "We've got to leave, else nobody knows what may happen!"

Dan seized Joe by the arm, literally forcing him onward, and the two who were ignorant of having committed any crime continued the flight from the officers of the law.

CHAPTER VII.

AUNT DORCAS

When the three had set out from Mrs. Weber's home, the amateur detective announced that no halt would be made until sunrise.

Joe, whose thoughts were with the princess, gave little heed to this statement, if, indeed, he understood it, and Master Plummer had been so terrified by Dan's positive assertion regarding the possibility of an immediate arrest that he had failed to realise the labour which would be required in thus prolonging the flight.

Before an hour passed, however, even the detective himself began to think he might have made a rash statement, and Plums, unaccustomed to such violent exercise, was well-nigh exhausted.

By this time Joe had come to understand what might be the result if Dan's advice was followed implicitly, and this, together with the knowledge that each moment he was increasing the distance between himself and the princess, served to make him reckless.