by Sewell Ford
CHAPTER XII
You'd most think after that I'd have cut out the country for a while;but say, I'm gettin' so I can stand a whole lot of real breathin' air.Anyway, I've put the Studio on summer schedule, and every Saturday aboutnoon I pikes out to Primrose Park, to see if me estate's growed anydurin' the week.
Well, the last time I does it, I drops off about two stations too soon,thinkin' a little outdoor leg-work would do me good.
It was a grand scheme, and I'd been all right if I'd followed thetrolley track along the post-road; but the gasolene carts was so thick,and I got to breathin' so much gravel, that I switches off. I takes anice-lookin' lane that appears like it might bring me out somewhere nearthe place I was headin' for; but as I ain't much on findin' my way wherethey don't have sign-boards at the corners, the first thing I knows I'vemade so many turns I don't know whether I'm goin' out or comin' back.
It was while I was doin' the stray act, and wonderin' if it was goin' toshower, or was only just bluffin', that I bumps into this Incubatorbunch, and the performance begins.
First squint I took I thought somebody'd been settin' out a new kind ofshrubbery, and then I sized it up for a lot of umbrella jars that hadbeen dumped there. But pretty soon I sees that it's nothin' but a doublerow of kids, all dressed the same. There must have been more'n a hundredof 'em, and they was standin' quiet by the side of the road, just asmuch to home as if that was where they belonged. Now, it ain't thereg'lar thing to find any such aggregation as that on a back lane, andif I'd had as much sense as a family horse in a carryall I'd shied andrambled the other way. But I has to get curious to see what it's allabout, so I blazes ahead, figurin' on takin' a good look as I goes by.
At the head of the procession was a lady and gent holdin' some kind ofexercises, and as I comes up I notices something familiar about thelady's back hair. She turns around just then, gives a little squeal, andmakes for me with both hands out. Sure, it was her--Sadie Sullivan, thatwas. Well, I knew that Sadie was liable to be floatin' around anywherein Westchester County, for that seems to be her regular stampin' groundsince she got to travelin' with the country house set; but I wasn'tlookin' to run across her just then and in that company.
"Oh, Shorty!" says she, "you're a life-saver! I've half a mind to hugyou right here."
"If it wa'n't for givin' an exhibition," says I, "I'd lend you theother half. But how does the life-savin' come in? And where'd youcollect so many kids all of a size? Is that pop, there?" and I jerks methumb at the gent.
"Captain Kenwoodie," says Sadie, "I want you to know my friend,Professor McCabe. Shorty, this is Captain Sir Hunter Kenwoodie, of theBritish war office."
"Woodie," says I, "how goes it?"
"Chawmed to meet you, I'm suah," says he.
"Oh, splash!" says I. "You don't mean it?"
Well, say! he was a star. His get-up was somethin' between that of amounted cop and the leader of a Hungarian band, and he was as stiff asif he'd been dipped in the glue-pot the day before. I'd heard somethin'about him from Pinckney. He'd drawn plans and specifications for a newforage cap for the British army, and on the strength of that he'd beensent over to the States to inspect belt buckles, or somethin' of thekind. Talk about your cinch jobs! those are the lads that can pull 'emout. On his off days--and he had five or six a week--Woodie'd beenornamentin' the top of tally-hos, and restin' up at such places asRockywold and Apawamis Arms.
Seems like he'd discovered Sadie, too, and had booked himself for hersteady company. From her story it looked like they'd been takin' alittle drive around the country, when they ran up against this crowd ofkids in checked dresses from the Incubator home. There was a couple ofnurses herdin' the bunch, and they'd all been sent up the Sound on anexcursion barge, for one of these fresh-air blow-outs that always seemlike an invitation for trouble. Everything had gone lovely until thechowder barge had got mixed up with a tow of coal scows and got bumpedso hard that she sprung a leak.
There hadn't been any great danger, but the excitement came along inchunks. The crew had run the barge ashore and landed the whole crowd,but in the mix-up one of the women had backed off the gangplank intothree feet of water, and the other had sprained an ankle. The pair of'em was all to the bad when Sadie and the Cap came along and found 'emtryin' to lead their flock to the nearest railroad station.
Course, Sadie had piled right out, loaded the nurses into the carriage,tellin' the driver to find the next place where the cars stopped andcome back after the kids with all the buggies he could find, while sheand Woodie stood by to see that the Incubators didn't stampede and getscattered all over the lot.
"So, here we are," says Sadie, "with all these children, and a showercoming up. Now, what shall we do and where shall we go?"
"Say," says I, "I may look like an information bureau, but I don't feelthe part."
Sadie couldn't get it through her head, though, that I wasn't aJohnny-on-the-spot. Because I'd bought a place somewhere in the county,she thought I could draw a map of the state with my eyes shut. "We oughtto start right away," says she.
She was more or less of a prophet, too. That thunder-storm was gettin'busy over on Long Island and there was every chance of its comin' ourway. It lets loose a good hard crack, and the Englishman begins to lookworried.
"Aw, I say now!" says he, "hadn't I better jog off and hurry up thatbloomin' coachman?"
"All right, run along," says Sadie.
You should have seen the start of that run. He got under way like a manon stilts, and he was about as limber as a pair of fire-tongs. But then,them leather cuffs on his legs, and the way his coat hugged the small ofhis back, wa'n't any help. I was enjoyin' his motions so much that Ihadn't paid any attention to the kids, and I guess Sadie hadn't either;but the first we knows they all falls in behind, two by two, hand inhand, and goes trottin' along behind him.
"Stop 'em! Stop 'em!" says Sadie.
"Whoa! Cheese it! Come back here!" I yells.
They didn't give us any more notice, though, than as if we'd beenholdin' our breath. The head pair had their eyes glued on the Captain.They were the leaders, and the rest followed like they'd been tiedtogether with a rope. They was all girls and I guess they'd averageabout five years old. I thought at first they all had on aprons, but nowI sees that every last one of 'em was wearin' a life-preserver. They'dtied the things on after the bump, and I suppose the nurses had been toorattled to take 'em off since. Maybe it wa'n't a sight to see thembobbin' up and down!
Woodie, he looks around and sees what's comin' after him, and waves for'em to go back. Not much. They stops when he stops, but when he startsagain they're right after him. He unlimbers a little and tries to breakaway, but the kids jump into the double-quick and hang to him.
I knew what was up then. They'd sized him up for a cop, and cops waswhat they was used to. You've seen those lines of Home kids bein' passedacross the street by the traffic squad? Well, havin' lost their nurses,and not seein' anything familiar-lookin' about Sadie or me, they'd madeup their minds that Woodie was it. They meant to stick to him untilsomething better showed up. Once I got this through my nut, I makes asprint to the head of the column and gets a grip on the Cap.
"See here, Woodie!" says I, "you're elected. You'll have to stay by thekids until relieved. They've adopted you."
"Aw, I say now," says he, "this is too beastly absurd, y'know. It's abore. Why, if I don't find some place or other very soon I'll get awetting."
"You can't go anywhere without those kids," says I; "so come along backwith us. We need you in our business."
He didn't like it a little bit, for he'd figured on shakin' the bunch ofus; but he had to go, and when he came right-about-face the processiondid a snake movement there in the road that would have done credit tothe Seventh Regiment.
I'd been lookin' around for a place to make for. Off over the treestoward the Sound was a flag-pole that I reckoned stood on some kind of abuildin' and there was a road runnin' that way.
"We'll mosey down towards th
at," says I; "but we could make better time,Cap'n, if you'd get your party down to light-weight marchin' order.Suppose you give the command for them to shed them cork jackets."
"Why, really, now," says he, lookin' over the crowd kind of helpless, "Ihaven't the faintest idea how to do it, y'know."
"Well, it's up to you," says I. "Make a speech to 'em."
Say, that was the dopiest bunch of kids I ever saw. They acted like theywa'n't more'n half alive, standin' there in pairs, as quiet as sheep,waitin' for the word. But that's the way they bring 'em up in theseHomes, like so many machines, and they didn't know how to act any otherway. Sadie saw it, and dropped down on her knees to gather in as many asshe could get her arms around.
"Oh, you poor little wretches!" says she, beginnin' to sniffle.
"Cut it out, Sadie!" says I. "There ain't any time for that. Unbucklethem belts. Turn to, Cap, and get on the job. You're in this."
As soon as Woodie showed 'em what was wanted, though, they skinnedthemselves out of those canvas sinkers in no time at all. We left thetruck in the road, and with the English gent for drum-major, Sadie inthe middle, and me playin' snapper on the end, we starts for theflag-pole. I thought maybe it might be a hotel; but when we got wherethe road opened out of the woods to show us how near the Sound we was, Isees that it's a yacht club, with a lot of flags flyin' and a wholebunch of boats anchored off. About then we felt the first wet spots.
"They've got to take us into that club-house," says Sadie.
We'd got as far as the gates, one of these fancy kind, with a hood topover the posts, like the roof of a summer-house, when the sprinkler wasturned on in earnest. Woodie was gettin' rain-drops on his new uniform,and he didn't like it.
"I'll stay here," says he, and bolts under cover.
The Incubator kids swings like they was on a pivot, and piles in afterhim. There wasn't anything to do then but stop under the gate, seein' asthe club-house was a hundred yards or so off. I snaked Woodie out,though, and made him help me range the youngsters under the middle ofthe roof; and when we'd got 'em packed in four deep, with Sadie squeezedin too, there wa'n't an inch of room for either of us left.
And was it rainin'? Wow! You'd thought four eights had been rung in andall the water-towers in New York was turned loose on us. And the thunderkept rippin' and roarin', and the chain-lightnin' streaked things uplike the finish of one of Colonel Pain's exhibits.
"Sing to them!" shouts Sadie. "It's the only way to keep them from beingscared to death. Sing!"
"Do you hear that, Woodie?" says I across the top of their heads. "Singto 'em, you lobster!"
The Captain was standing just on the other side of the bunch. He'd gotthe front half of him under cover, but there wasn't room for the rest;so it didn't do him much good, for the roof eaves was leakin' down theback of his neck at the rate of a gallon a minute.
"Only fu-fu-fawncy!" says he. "I don't fu-feel like singing, y'know."
"Make a noise like you did then," says I. "Come on, now!"
"But really, I cawn't," says he. "I n-never sing, y'know."
Say, that gave me the backache. "See here, Woodie," says I, lookin' aswicked as I knew how, "you sing or there'll be trouble! Hit 'er up,now!"
That fetched him. He opened his face like he'd swallowed somethingbitter, made one or two false starts, and strikes up "God save theKing." I didn't know the words to that, so I makes a stab at "EverybodyWorks but Father," and Sadie tackles somethin' else.
For a trio that was the limit. The kids hadn't seemed to mind thethunder and lightnin' a whole lot, but when that three-cornered symphonyof ours cut loose they begins to look wild. Some of 'em was diggin'their fists into their eyes and preparin' to leak brine, when all of asudden Woodie gets into his stride and lets go of three or four notesthat sounded as if they might belong together.
That seemed to cheer those youngsters up a lot. One or two pipes up,kind of scared and trembly, but hangin' onto the tune, and the nextthing we knew they was all at it, givin' us "My Country 'Tis of Thee" inas fine shape as you'd want to hear. We quit then, and listened. Theyfollowed up with a couple of good old hymns and, if I hadn't been afloatfrom my shoes up, I might have enjoyed the program. It was a goodexhibition of nerve, too. Most kids of that size would have gone up inthe air and howled blue murder. But they didn't even show white aroundthe gills.
Inside of ten minutes it was all over. The shower had moved off up intoConnecticut, where maybe it was wanted worse, and we got our headstogether to map out the next act. Sadie had the say. She was for takin'the kids over to the swell yacht club there, and waitin' until thenurses or some one else came to take 'em off our hands. That suited me;but when it came to gettin' Captain Sir Hunter to march up front and setthe pace, he made a strong kick.
"Oh, by Jove, now!" says he, "I couldn't think of it. Why, I've been aguest here, y'know, and I might meet some of the fellows."
"What luck!" says Sadie. "That'll be lovely if you do."
"You come along, Woodie," says I. "We've got our orders."
He might have been a stiff-lookin' Englishman before, but he was limpenough now. He looked like a linen collar that had been through the washand hadn't reached the starch tub. His coat-tails was still drippin'water, and when he walked it sounded like some one was moppin' up amarble floor.
"Only fancy what they'll think!" he kept sayin' to himself as we gotunder way.
"They'll take you for an anti-race-suicide club," says I; "so brace up."
We hadn't more'n struck the club-house porch, and the steward had rushedout to drive us away, when Sadie gives another one of them squeals thatmeans she's sighted something good.
"Oh, there's the Dixie Girl!" says she.
"You must have 'em bad," says I. "I don't see any girl."
"The yacht!" says she, pointin' to the end of the dock. "That big whiteone. It's Mrs. Brinley Cubbs' Dixie Girl. You wait here until I see ifshe's aboard," and off she goes.
So we lined up in front to wait, the Incubators never takin' their eyesoff'n Woodie, and him as pink as a sportin' extra, and sayin' thingsunder his breath. Every time he took a hitch sideways the whole linedressed. All hands from the club turned out to see the show, and therockin'-chair skippers made funny cracks at us.
"Ahoy the nursery!" says one guy. "Where you bound for?"
"Ask popper," says I. "He's got the tickets."
Woodie kept his face turned and his jaw shut, and if he had any friendsin the crowd I guess they didn't spot him. I'll bet he wa'n't sorry whenSadie shows up on deck and waves for us to come on.
Mrs. Brinley Cubbs was there, all right. She was a tall, loppy kind offemale, ready to gush over anything. As well as I could size up thegame, she was one of the near-swells, with plenty of gilt but not enoughsense to use it right. Her feelin's were in good workin' order though,and she was willin' to listen to any program that Sadie had on hand.
"Bring the little dears right aboard," says she, "and we'll have themhome before dark. Why, Sir Hunter, is it really you?"
"I'm not altogether sure," says Woodie, "whether it's I or not," and hemade a dive to get below.
Well, say, that was a yacht and a half, that Dixie Girl! The inside ofher was slicker'n any parlor car you ever saw. While they was gettin' upsteam, and all the way down to the East river, Mrs. Cubbs had the hiredhands luggin' up everything eatable they could find, from chicken saladto ice-cream, and we all took a hand passin' it out to that Incubatorbunch.
They knew what grub was, yes, yes! There wasn't any holdin' back for animitation cop to give the signal. The way they did stow in good thingsthat they'd probably never dreamed about before was enough to make a manwish he had John D.'s pile and Jake Riis's heart. I forgot all aboutbein' wet, and so did Woodie. To see him jugglin' stacks of loadedplates you'd think he'd graduated from a ham-and factory. He seemed tolike it, too, and he was wearin' what passes for a grin among theEnglish aristocracy. By the time we got to the dock at East 34th-st.there was more solid comfort and stomach-ache in that c
abin than it'llhold again in a thousand years.
Sadie had me go ashore and telephone for two of them big rubber-neckwagons. That gave us time to get the sleepers woke up and arrange 'em onthe dock. Just as we was gettin' the last of the kids loaded in fortheir ride up to the Home, a roundsman shows up with two cops.
"Where do you kids belong?" he sings out.
With that there comes a howl, and the whole bunch yells:
Hot pertater--cold termater--alligater--Rome! We're the girls from the Incubator Home!
"Caught with the goods!" says he, turnin' to the Cap'n and me. "You'rearrested for wholesale kidnappin'. There's a general alarm out foryouse."
"Ah, back to the goats!" says I. "You don't think we look nutty enoughto steal a whole orphan asylum, do you, Rounds?"
"I wouldn't trust either of you alone with a brick block," says he. "Andyour side partner with the Salvation Army coat on looks like a yegg manto me."
"Now will you be nice, Cap?" says I.
At this Sadie and Mrs. Cubbs tries to butt in, but that roundsman had ahead like a choppin' block. He said the two nurses had come to town andreported that they'd been held up in the woods and that all the kids hadbeen swiped. As Woodie fitted one of the descriptions, we had to go tothe station, that was all there was about it.
And say, if the Sarge hadn't happened to have been one of my oldbackers, we'd have put in the night with the drunk and disorderlies.Course, when I tells me little tale, the Sarge give me the ha-ha andscratches our names off the book. We didn't lose any time either, inhittin' the Studio, where there was a hot bath and dry towels.
But paste this in your Panama: Next time me and Woodie goes out torescue the fatherless, we takes along our raincoats. We've shook handson that.