The Last of the Peterkins

  XII.

  "WHERE CAN THOSE BOYS BE?"

  This was the cry in the Wilson family as they sat down to dinner.

  "It is odd," said Aunt Harriet. "I have noticed they are usually readyfor their dinner. They may be out of the way at other times, but theyalways turn up at their meals."

  "They were here at breakfast," said Jane, the eldest daughter.

  "I helped Jack about his Latin before he went to school," said themother of the family.

  "They are probably at the Pentzes'," said Gertrude. "If our boys are notthere, the Pentzes are here; and as long as the Pentzes are not here, Isuppose our boys are there."

  "I should say they were not likely to get so good a dinner at thePentzes' as we have here," said Aunt Harriet, as a plate was set beforeher containing her special choice of rare-done beef, mashed potato,stewed celery, and apple-sauce.

  "Who are the Pentzes?" said Mr. Wilson, looking round the table to seeif everybody was helped.

  "He is a painter and glazier," said Aunt Harriet, "and the mother takesin washing."

  "They are good boys," said Mrs. Wilson. "Jonas Pentz stands high in hisclass, and is a great help to our Sam. Don't you remember him? He is theboy that came and spent a night with Sam a week ago. They have theirfirst lesson in 'Caesar' this afternoon; perhaps they are studying up."

  "Jack always has to go where Sam does," said Gertrude.

  This was the talk at the Wilsons' table. The subject was much the sameat the Pentzes'. There was a large family at the Wilsons'; so there wasat the Pentzes'. Mrs. Pentz was ladling out some boiled apple-pudding toa hungry circle round her. But she missed two.

  "Where are Jonas and Dick?" she asked.

  A clamor of answers came up.

  "I saw Jonas and Dick go off with Sam Wilson after school, and JackWilson, and John Stebbins," said Will, one of the small boys.

  "You don't think Jonas and Dick both went to dine at the Wilsons'?" saidMrs. Pentz. "I should not like that."

  "I dare say they did," said Mary Pentz. "You know the Wilson boys arehere half the time, and the other half our boys are at the Wilsons'."

  "Still, I don't like their going there for meal-times," said Mrs. Pentz,anxiously.

  "Jonas had a new lesson in 'Caesar,'" said Mary Pentz. "I don't believethey planned to spend much time at dinner."

  But at supper-time no boys appeared at the Wilsons'. Mrs. Wilson wasanxious. George, the youngest boy of all, said the boys had been homesince afternoon school; he had seen Jack in the kitchen with JohnStebbins.

  "Jack came to me for gingerbread," said Jane, "and I asked him wherethey had been, and John Stebbins said, with the Pentz boys. He saidsomething about to-morrow being a holiday, and preparing for a lark."

  "I don't like their getting all their meals at the Pentzes'," said Mrs.Wilson, "and I don't much like John Stebbins."

  Again at the Pentzes' the talk was much the same.

  Mary Pentz reported the boys went through their 'Caesar' recitationwell; she had a nod of triumph from Jonas as he walked off with SamWilson. "They had their books, so I suppose they are off for studyagain."

  "I don't like their taking two meals a day at the Wilsons'," said Mrs.Pentz.

  "There's no school to-morrow," said Mary, "because the new furnace is tobe put in. But I dare say the boys, Sam and Jonas, will be studying allthe same."

  "I hope he won't be out late," said Mrs. Pentz.

  "He's more likely to spend the night at the Wilsons'," said Mary. "Youknow he did a week ago."

  "The boys were round here for a candle," said Will.

  "Then they do mean to study late," said Mrs. Pentz. "I shall tell himnever to do it again; and with Dick, too!"

  Mr. Wilson came hurrying home for a late supper, and announced he mustgo to New York by a late train.

  "A good chance for you," he said to his wife, "to go and see yoursister. You won't have more than a day with her, for I shall have totake the night train back, but it will give you a day's talk."

  Mrs. Wilson would like to go, but she felt anxious about the boys. "Theyhave not been home for dinner or supper."

  "But they came home for gingerbread," said Aunt Harriet. "I suppose theydidn't have too hearty a dinner at the Pentzes'."

  "Joanna says they went off with a basket packed up for to-morrow," saidGertrude.

  "If the Pentzes did not live so far off, I would send up," said Mrs.Wilson.

  "They will be in by the time we are off, or soon after," said Mr.Wilson. "It looks like rain, but it won't hurt us."

  Mrs. Wilson and he went, but no boys appeared all the evening.

  Aunt Harriet, who had not been long in the family, concluded this wasthe way boys acted.

  Jane sat up some time finishing a novel, and hurried off to bed,startled to find it so late, and waking up Gertrude to say, "It is oddthose boys have not come home!"

  Why hadn't they?

  They couldn't.

  This is what happened.

  Wednesday afternoon, after school, the younger boys had gone to playat the old Wilson house, far away at the other end of the Main Street,beyond the Pentzes'. This was an old deserted mansion, where the Wilsonsthemselves had lived once upon a time. But it had taken a fortune andtwo furnaces to warm it in winter, and half a dozen men to keep thegarden in order in summer, and it had grown now more fashionable to liveat the other end of the town; so the Wilson family had moved down yearsago, where the girls could see "the passing" and Mr. Wilson would benear his business. Of late years he had not been able to let the house,and it had been closely shut to keep it from the tramps. The boys hadoften begged the keys of their father, for they thought it would be suchfun to take possession of the old house. But Mr. Wilson said, "No; if aparcel of boys found their way in, all the tramps in the neighborhoodwould learn how to get in too." Still, it continued the object of theboys' ambition to get into the house, and they were fond of going up toplay in the broad grassy space by the side of the house; and they keptgood oversight of the apple crop there.

  On this Wednesday afternoon they were playing ball there, and lost theball. It had gone through a ventilation hole into the cellar part of thehouse.

  Now, everybody knows that if a boy loses a ball it must be recovered,especially if he knows where it is. There is not even a woman sostony-hearted but she will let in a troop of muddy-shoed boys throughher entry (just washed) if they come to look for a ball, even if ithas broken a pane of glass on its way. So the boys got a ladder fromthe Pentzes', and put it up at one of the windows where the blind wasbroken. Jack went up the ladder. The slat was off, but not in the rightplace to open the window. There could not be any harm in breaking offanother; then he could reach the middle of the sash and pull up thewindow. No; it was fastened inside. John Stebbins tried, but it was ofno use.

  "It would not help if we broke the window by the fastening," said John;"for the shutters are closed inside with old-fashioned inside shutters."

  Here was the time to ask for the key. They must have the key to findthat ball, and the boys trudged back to meet Sam just going home fromthe Pentzes'.

  But Sam refused to ask for the key again, He didn't want to bother hisfather so soon, and he didn't want the bother himself. He had his new"Caesar" lesson to study; to-morrow, after school, he and Jonas wouldlook round at the house, and find some way to recover the ball, for eventhe stern and studious Sam knew the value of a ball.

  So Thursday noon the boys all hurried up to the Wilson house,--Sam,Jonas, and all. They examined it on every side. They came back to thehole where the ball was lost.

  "There's the cold-air box," said Jonas. "Could not Dick crawl in?"

  Now, Dick was a very small pattern of a boy, indeed, to be still a boy.Really he might crawl into the cold-air box. He tried it! He did get in!He had to squeeze through one part, but worked his way down fairly intothe cellar, and screamed out with triumph that he had found the ballclose by the hole! But how was Dick to get out again? He declared hecould never scramble u
p. He slipped back as fast as he tried. He wouldlook for the cellar stairs, only it was awful dark except just by thehole. He had a match in his pocket. Jack ran to the Pentzes' and got acandle, and they rolled it in to Dick, and waited anxiously to see wherehe would turn up next. They heard him, before long, pounding at a doorround the corner of the house. He had found the cellar stairs, and adoor with bolts and a great rusty key, which he succeeded in turning.The boys pulled at the door and it opened; and there stood Dick with theball in one hand, picking up the candle with the other!

  What a chance to enter the house! Down the cellar stairs, up into theattics! Strange echoes in the great halls, and dark inside; for all thewindows were closed and barred,--all but in one room upstairs thatopened on a back veranda. It was a warm late-autumn day, and the sunpoured down pleasantly upon a seat in the corner of the veranda, wherea creeper was shedding its last gay leaves.

  "What a place to study!" exclaimed Sam.

  "Let's come and spend to-morrow," said John Stebbins; "there's noschool."

  "No school Friday, on account of the furnace!" exclaimed Jack. "Let'sbring a lot of provisions and stay the whole day here."

  "We might lay it in to-night," said John Stebbins; "we'll come up afterschool this afternoon!"

  "And I'll tell father about the key this evening," said Sam; "he won'tmind, if he finds we have got one."

  "Jack and I will see to the provisions," said John Stebbins, "if therest of you boys will come here as soon as school is over."

  It was all so interesting that they were too late for dinners, and hadto content themselves with gingerbread as they hurried to school.

  "Be sure you tell mother," was Sam's last warning to Jack and JohnStebbins, as they parted for their separate schoolrooms.

  After school the party hastened to the old house. Sam took the entry keyfrom his pocket and opened the door, leaving Dick to wait for Jack andJohn Stebbins. They appeared before long with a basket of provisions,and were ready for a feast directly, but delayed for a furtherexamination of the house. It was dark soon, and Sam would not let themstay long in any one room. They must just take a look, and then gohome,--no waiting for a feast.

  "I'll talk to father this evening, and ask him if we may have it if wekeep the whole thing secret."

  They fumbled their way down to the lower back door, but could not get itopen. It was locked!

  "We left the key in the door outside," said Dick, in a low whisper.

  "You ninnies!" exclaimed Sam, "somebody saw you and has locked us in."

  "Some of the boys, to plague us," said John Stebbins.

  "Mighty great secrecy, now," said Sam, "if half the boys in town know weare here. It all comes of that great basket of provisions you saw fit tobring round."

  "You'll be glad enough of it," said John Stebbins, "if we have to spendthe night here."

  "Let's have it now," said Jack.

  "We may as well occupy ourselves that way," said Sam, in a resignedtone, "till they choose to let us out."

  "Suppose we go up to the room with the bed and the sofa," said JohnStebbins; "and we've got a surprise for you. There's a pie,--let's eatthat."

  They stumbled their way back. The provident John Stebbins had laid inmore candles, and they found an old table and had a merry feast.

  Sam and Jonas had their books. When Sam had hold of a fresh Latin bookhe could not keep away from it. Jonas's mind was busy with a newinvention. The boys thought he would make his fortune by it. He wasdetermined to invent some use for coal ashes. They were the only thingsthat were not put to some use by his mother in their establishment. Hethought he should render a service to mankind if he could do somethinguseful with coal ashes. So he had studied all the chemistry books, andhad one or two in his pockets now, and drew out a paper with H O, andother strange letters and figures on it. The other boys after supperbusied themselves with arranging the room for a night's sleep.

  "It's awful jolly," said Dick. "This bed will hold four of us. I'llsleep across the foot, and Sam shall have the sofa."

  But Sam rose up from his study. "I've no notion of spending the nighthere. The door must be open by this time."

  He went to the window that looked out on the veranda. There was a heavyrain-storm; it was pouring hard. It was hard work getting down to thedoor in the dark. The candle kept going out; and they found the doorstill locked when they reached it.

  "Why not spend the night?" said Jonas. "They'll have got over theirworries at home by this time."

  "Nobody could come up here to see after us in this rain," said Sam."I suppose they think that as we have made our bed we may as well sleepin it."

  Sleep they did until a late hour in the morning. All the windows but theone upon the veranda closed with shutters. They woke up to find snow andrain together. They went all over the house to find some way of gettingout, but doors and windows were well closed.

  "It's no use, boys," said Sam. "We've tried it often enough from outsideto get in, and now it is as hard to get out. I was always disgusted thatthe windows were so high from the ground. Anyhow, father or some of thefolks will be after us sometime. What was it you told mother?" Samasked.

  John Stebbins had to confess that he had not seen Mrs. Wilson, andindeed had been vague with the information he had left with Jane. "Itold them we were with the Pentz boys," he said; "I thought it just aswell to keep dark."

  "Mighty dark we all of us are!" said Sam, in a rage. He was so angrythat John Stebbins began to think he had made Jane understand where theywere, and he tried to calm Sam down. Jonas proposed that Dick should beput through the cold-air box again. With a little squeezing from behindhe must be able to get through. Everybody but Dick thought it such anice plan that he was obliged to agree. But what was their horror whenthey reached the place to find some boards nailed across the outside!

  "A regular siege!" said Sam. "Well, if they can stand it I guess wecan." His mettle was up. "We'll stay till relief forces come. It is sometrick of the boys. Lucky there's no school. They can't hold out long."

  "A state of siege! What fun!" cried the boys.

  "I only wish we had brought two pies," said John Stebbins. "But there'splenty of gingerbread."

  Now they would ransack the house at their leisure. There was lightenough in the attics to explore the treasures hidden there. They foundold coal-hods for helmets, and warming-pans for fiery steeds, and theyhad tournaments in the huge halls. They piled up carpets for theircomfort in their bedroom,--bits of old carpet,--and Jonas and Samdiscovered a pile of old worm-eaten books. The day seemed too short,and the provender lasted well.

  The night, however, was not so happy. The candles were growing shortand matches fewer. Sam and Jonas had to economize in reading, and toldstories instead, and the stories had a tendency to ghosts. Dick and Jackmurmured to John Stebbins it was not such fun after all; when, lo! theirown talk was interrupted by noises below! A sound of quarrelling voicescame from the rooms beneath. Voices of men! They went on tiptoe to thehead of the stairs to listen.

  Tramps, indeed!

  How had they got in? Was it they who had locked the door? Did they comein that way?

  "Suppose we go down," said Sam, in a whisper. But John Stebbins and thelittle boys would not think of it. The men were swearing at each other;there was a jingle of bottles and sound of drinking.

  "It's my opinion we had better keep quiet," said Jonas. "It is a poorset, and I don't know what they would do to us if they saw we had foundthem out and would be likely to tell of them."

  So they crept back noiselessly. In a state of siege, indeed! JohnStebbins, with help of the others, lifted the sofa across the door andbegged Sam to sleep on it. But that night there was not much sleep! Thestorm continued, snow, hail, and rain, and wind howling against thewindows. Toward morning they did fall asleep. It was at a late hour theywaked up and went to peer out from the veranda window. There was apoliceman passing round the house!

  * * * * *

  Meanwhile the
re had been great anxiety at the Wilsons'.

  "If it were not for the storm," said Aunt Harriet, "I should send up tothe Pentzes' to inquire about those boys."

  "I suppose it's the storm that keeps them," said Jane.

  "If it were not for the storm," Mrs. Pentz was saying to Mary, "I shouldlike you to go down to the Wilsons' and see what those boys are about."

  As to Mrs. Stebbins, John was so seldom at home it did not occur to herto wonder where he was.

  But when Saturday morning came, and no boys, Aunt Harriet said, "There'sa little lull in the storm. I can't stand it any longer, Jane. I amgoing to put on my waterproof and go up to the Pentzes'."

  "I will go too," said Jane; and Gertrude and George joined the party.

  Half-way up the long street they met the Pentz family coming down tomake the same inquiries,--Mr. and Mrs. Pentz, Mary, Sophy, Will, and therest.

  "Where are the boys?" was the exclamation as they met half-way betweenthe two houses.

  Mr. Johnson, one of the leading men of the town, crossed the street toask what was the commotion in the two families. "Our boys are missing,"said Mr. Pentz. "Five boys!"

  "We haven't seen them since Thursday morning," said Aunt Harriet.

  "They were at home Thursday afternoon," said Mary Pentz.

  "I must speak to the police," said Mr. Pentz.

  "He is up at the Wilson House," said Mr. Johnson. "There were tramps inthe house there last night, and the police came very near catching them.He found the door unlocked night before last. The tramps kept off thatnight, but turned up last night in the storm. They have got off,however. There is only one policeman, but we've sworn in a special tokeep guard on the house."

  "I'll go up and see him," said Mr. Pentz.

  "We'll all go up," said Harriet.

  "Perhaps the tramps have gone off with the boys," said Gertrude.

  Quite a crowd had collected with the party as they moved up the street,and all together came to the front of the house. The policeman was justdisappearing round the other side. They turned to the back to meet him,and reached the corner where the veranda looked down upon the yard.

  At this moment Mr. and Mrs. Wilson appeared. They had arrived at thestation from New York, and heard there the story of the disappearance ofthe boys, and of tramps in the house. They hastened to the scene, Mrs.Wilson almost distracted, and now stood with the rest of the Wilsons andthe Pentzes awaiting the policeman. They heard a cry from above, andlooked up to the veranda.

  There were all the boys in a row.