Mark Mason's Victory: The Trials and Triumphs of a Telegraph Boy
Page 31
CHAPTER XXXI.
PHILIP FINDS A FRIEND.
WHEN the two unauthorized ministers of justice had departed Oscar andhis father looked at each other in anger and stupefaction.
"It's an outrage!" exclaimed Nahum Sprague.
"I'd like to shoot them!" returned Oscar. "I'd like to see them flayedwithin an inch of their lives."
"So would I. They are the most audacious desperadoes I everencountered."
"Do you know them, dad?"
"Yes; they are Bill Murphy and Joe Hastings. They are always hanginground the drinking saloon."
"We can lick Philip at any rate!" said Oscar, with a furious look atpoor Phil. "He brought it on us."
But Nahum Sprague was more prudent. He had heard the threat of Bill andJoe to repeat the punishment if Philip were attacked, and he thought itbest to wait.
"Leave it to me," he said. "I'll flog him in due time."
"Ain't you going to do anything to him, dad?" asked Oscar indisappointment.
"Yes. Come here, you, sir!"
Phil approached his stern guardian with an uncomfortable sense ofsomething unpleasant awaiting him.
Nahum Sprague seized him by the collar and said, "Follow me."
He pushed the boy before him and walked him into the house, then up thestairs into an attic room, where he locked him in. Just then the bellrang for dinner.
Poor Phil was hungry, but nothing was said about dinner for him. A dreadsuspicion came to him that he was to be starved. But half an hour laterthe door opened, and Oscar appeared with two thin slices of breadwithout butter.
"Here's your dinner," he said.
It was a poor enough provision for a hungry boy, but Phil ate them withrelish, Oscar looking on with an amused smile.
"Is that all I am to have?" asked Phil.
"Yes; it is all you deserve."
"I don't know what I have done."
"You don't, hey? You broke the bottle and spilled the whisky."
"I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't pushed me."
"There you go, laying it off on me. You'd better not."
"But it's true, Oscar."
"No, it isn't. You broke the bottle to spite pa."
"I wouldn't have dared to do it," said Philip.
"You dared a little too much, anyway. Didn't you get those men to followyou and interfere with what was none of their business?"
"No, I didn't."
"Hadn't you spoken with them at the saloon?"
"Yes."
"I thought so."
"They asked me who sent me for the whisky and I told them."
"You didn't need to tell them. If it hadn't been for that they wouldn'thave come round to our place and assaulted pa and me. They'll catch it,pa says. Shouldn't wonder if they'd be put in prison for five years."
Young as he was Phil put no faith in this ridiculous statement, but hethought it best not to make any comment.
"How long is your father going to keep me here?" he asked.
"Maybe a month."
This opened a terrible prospect to poor Phil, who thought Mr. Spraguequite capable of inflicting such a severe punishment.
"If he does I won't live through it," he said desperately.
"You don't mean to kill yourself?" said Oscar, startled.
"No, but I shall starve. I am awfully hungry now."
"What, after eating two slices of bread?"
"They were very thin, and I have exercised a good deal."
"Then I advise you to make it up with pa. If you get down on your kneesand tell him you are sorry, perhaps he will forgive you, and let youout."
Phil did not feel willing to humiliate himself in that way, and remainedsilent.
"There ain't any bed for me to sleep on," he said, looking around.
"You will have to sleep on the floor. I guess you'll get enough of it."
Oscar locked the door on the outside and went down-stairs. Disagreeableas he was Phil was sorry to have him go. He was some company, and whenleft to himself there was nothing for him to do. If there had been anypaper or book in the room it would have helped him tide over the time,but the apartment was bare of furniture.
There was one window looking out on the side of the house. Phil postedhimself at this, and soon saw Oscar and his father leave the premisesand go down the street. Nahum had a bottle in his hand, and Philconcluded he was going to the drinking saloon to get a fresh bottle ofwhisky.
Phil continued to look out of the window.
Presently he saw a boy pass whom he knew--a boy named Arthur Burks.
He opened the window and called out eagerly, "Arthur!"
Arthur turned round and looking up espied Philip.
"Hello!" he cried. "What are you doing up there?"
"I am locked in."
"What for?"
"I accidentally dropped a bottle of whisky, and spilled it. Mr. Spraguegot mad and locked me up here."
"That's a shame. How long have you got to stay?"
"Oscar says he may keep me here a month."
"He's only frightening you. Old Sprague wouldn't dare to do it."
"That isn't all. I am half starved. He only gave me two small slices ofbread for dinner."
"He's a mean old hunks. I just wish you could come round to our house.We'd give you enough to eat."
"I wish I were there now," sighed Philip.
"I've got an idea," said Arthur, brightening up. "What time do Mr.Sprague and Oscar go to bed?"
"Very early. About nine o'clock."
"Would you run away if you could?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll tell you what I'll do. At half-past nine Albert Frost and Iwill come around with a tall ladder--Mr. Frost has got one--and we'llput it up against your window. Will you dare to get out of the window,and come down?"
"Yes, I'll do anything to get away. But can you get the ladder?"
"Yes; Albert will manage it. Do you think the old man will be likely tosee or hear us?"
"No; he sleeps on the other side of the house."
"All right! You can expect us. I guess I had better go now, for fear Imay be seen, and they might suspect something."
"But where can I go when I leave here?"
"Come to our house. You can sleep with Rob, my little brother."
"Thank you, Arthur. I'll expect you."
Philip felt a good deal more cheerful after Arthur had gone. He knewthat in Arthur's house he would be very differently treated from what hehad been by Nahum Sprague. He did not feel it wrong to leave theSpragues', as they were constantly complaining that he was a burden.
"If Mr. Burks would only let me live with him," he thought, "I should behappy, and I would be willing to work hard."
At half-past five Oscar came up to the room again, this time accompaniedby his father.
"How do you like being locked up here?" asked Nahum.
"Not very well."
"Get down on your knees and beg my pardon for your bad conduct, and Iwill let you out."
"I would rather not, sir."
"Do you hear that, Oscar? He would rather not."
"I heard it, pa."
"It is only right that he should suffer the penalty of his headstrongconduct. Give him his supper and we will leave him to think of hissinfulness."
Oscar produced two more thin slices of bread and a cup of very weaktea.
"You are not entitled to tea," said Nahum. "It is only because we arekind-hearted that I permitted Mrs. Sprague to send up a cup. I have notput in milk or sugar because I refuse to pamper you."
Philip made no comment, but disposed of the tea and bread in a veryshort space of time. He felt ready to join in with Oliver, in Dickens'simmortal story, when he asked for "more." But he knew it would be of nouse.
"Now, we will go down, Oscar."
"All right, pa. I hope the house won't catch fire in the night," headded, with the laudable purpose of terrifying Philip, "for we might notbe able to come up and unlock the door."
Phil
ip felt uncomfortable, but he reflected that before many hours, ifArthur Burks kept his promise, he would no longer be an inmate of Mr.Sprague's home.
"He'll have a sweet time sleeping on the floor, pa," said Oscar as theywent down-stairs.
"It will serve the little fool right," returned Nahum Sprague grimly.