Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 220 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

’ F Ce a do over I would fight them again, if the Gov- ernor of New York stood by.” Frank turned and walked away, bis dignity considerably reduced by his appearance. But Mr. Clark looked after him with a thoughtful eye. Something in Frank’s last words had ar- rested his attention. Frank had got rid of considerable of his mud before he reached home, but he was not yet a very inviting object. ** Fillo!” cried his father. Yer a blamed pretty pictur’,” “ Been fighting,” answered Frank quietly, as he proceeded to wash his face. “Fighting?” exclaimed his mother, running to bim in alarm, **T ain’t much hurt, mother,” answered Frank, “I guess I gave as good as I got.” “Well, (ll be dumbflustered!” whistled his father. ‘Frank fightin’! DT’d as_ soon ha’ thought of Tom readin’ hymn books, Hurry and it off them muddy duds, boy, and git on your unday clothes, fer ’ve a bit of news for you. You’ve struck ile, my lad.” ‘* What do you mean, father?’ asked Frank, pausing on his way to the next room. “Ther’s been a gen’leman here after yon, from a bang-up ’stablishment. Mr. Clark, of Thompson, Clark & Co.,” reading from the card. ‘I cal’klate ther’s a prime job waitin’ for you. You’re goin’ to be in clover, my son.” ‘‘T fear not,” replied Frank dejectedly. ‘* 1t’s a bad business, but Mr. Clark saw mein that fight. It’sall up. He told me that I needn’t come and see him.” Frank walked from the room, leaving his father the picture of surprise and growing anger. * Ther’s yer polite son for ye, Mrs, Tanner,” he exclaimed spitefully. ‘‘ I’ve been a-braggin’ up that boy and kickin’ poor Tom out of the house. And thisis what comes of it. Arter all my endeavors to git him a sitiwation too. It’s too confounded bad, Mrs. Tanner, and I’m goin’ to be even with him.” He commenced to look for the discarded ‘* What’s up, boy? be “No, no,” cried his wife inalarm. ‘‘ The boy did not fight without good cause. Hear his story first, Jacob.” ‘lm a-goin’ to git even with him,” remarked Mr. Tanner, very decidedly. But at that moment there came a knock upon the door, Mrs. Tanner hastened to open it, and revealed the portly figure of Mr. Clark. At the same moment Frank emerged from the inner room, dressed in his best suit and presenting a very different appearance from that of five minutes before. --- oer ee CHAPTER VII. DOWN HILL AND UP HILL PATHS. Ir there had been any sense of shame in Tom Tanner’s soul he would have been thoroughl ashamed of himself as be ran off and left his brother to fight his battle alone. But he was far too selfish to care for aught but his own comfort. In his miserable little heart he even felt glad to have got Frank into trouble. ‘It’s him as got me licked by dad,” he cogi- tated. ‘‘I hope them rats "ll give him a good seorchin’. I’m bound to git even with him, the rascally little stuck-up, that’s allers a-gettin’ me into trouble. I jist wish Id stayed there and seen ’em pelt him.” ’ But staying might have involved getting Pp lted himself, and Tom had no fancy for that, f anybody was fool enough to take up his quar- rels, well and good. They might have the fun of fighting them out, for he was going to save a skin at all hazards. e was laughing quietly to himself over the scrape he had got Frank into, when he was ac- costed by a young gentleman who had ap- proached him unnoticed, There was something very peculiar in the ap- earance of this person. e@ was very short and very stout, and looked as if some heavy weight had fallen upon his head, flattening him down and spreading him out. He walked with a peculiar roll, as if he had been to sea in his days. In face he was far from prepossessing. His nose was skort, and very much turned up at the end. His mouth was unusually wide; his eyes small, half shut, but sharp as steel gim- lets. A shock of reddish hair bristled up over his large head. His attire was as odd as his appearance. A pair of wide pantaloons, held up by one sus- pender, and rolled up several inches at the bot- tom; a coat which looked as if made as an over- | | i ——EE mon cf twice his size; and a hat that | on one side than ever. 8 Tom Tanner, Scalawas and Scapeprrace. was set very much on one side of his shock of | him doubtfully for a minute, and then he start- hair, completed the outward appearance of this youthful individual. He took a clay pipe from his mouth on , = i heed Tom, and addressed him very famili- arly. ‘* The top o’ the mornin’ to ye, my jolly cove. Pass over yer flippers, Tom ‘Tanner, and say what in the blazes is bu’sted: fur yer nose is barked like all thunder, and ye’ve had a nor’- wester plumb in yer starboard eye.” ** A little bit of a scrimmage,” Tom modestly answered. ‘*Got into a row with three skin- ners, and laid them out. But a feller can’t save his face when there’s three to one.” ‘‘Lay it right there, bully boy!” exclaimed the other delightedly. ‘‘ Why yer a hoss, Tom, if yer ain’tJyin’. But blame yer jolly eyes ye kin lie faster than a mule kin swaller oats. What’s the lay?” ‘Lookin’ for a job,” answered Tom, ** Lookin’ fer dunder and blitzen! A chap like you, with ten fingers and ten toes of yer own, and a-wantin’ to go to work. Why, I never hearn tell of sich an idyot. Trot yer shanks along arter yer uncle, and [ll rake ye inter a perfession. I like ye like blazes, Tom, and I’m goin’ to do the sound thing by you, right chock up. Lookin’ fur work, you beggar! Why, I'll make a gentleman of ye. A tight lad like you, as has got his wits about him! Work be fiddled! Foller me, my charmer.” Tom hesitated a moment. He knew some- thing of the antecedents of this promising youth, and was not sure whether it was advis- able to follow his lead. “‘See here, Bandy Ben,” replied Tom dubi- ously. ‘' What’sin the wind? I ain’t no fool, to foller every chap that chooses to whistle.” ‘All serene,” rejoined Bandy, bitching up his trowsers. ‘‘ I’m not goin’ to git down on my shin bones to beg ye. Go home to yer daddy, and don’t be cavortin’ round ’mong folks as has cut the’r eye teeth.” He clapped his pipe > between his lips and sent out a long puff of smoke, as he looked at Tom with a sidewise glance from his cunning little eyes. ; ““Can’t go home,” answered Tom. ‘“ Dad’s kicked up the awfulest scrimmage. Laid it on to me like a forty-knot breeze. cut stick and run fur it, Bandy, Don’t think [ll back water that-a-way soon.” Bandy burst into such a fit of laughter that the pipe fell from lips and smashed into flinders on the pavement, while a mouthful of smoke went down his windpipe, and half choked him. His mirth was followed by a strangling, cough- ing, stamping and cursing that made Tom draw back in some alarm. It was several minutes before Bandy recovered from the effects of his explosion. “PDurn yer eyes!” he cried, taking Tom by thecollar. ‘‘If ye say anything as funny as that ag’in, blame meif I don’t bu’st yer b’iler! My eyes, it must ’a’ been jolly! Wouldn’t I liked to seen er old dad a-bastin’ ye! Make ye skip, Tom? ake ye holler St. Martin? S’pose he brung all the dust outen yer coat, hey?’ And Bandy broke into another fit of laughter. ‘Dry up,” exclaimed Tom, angrily, ‘‘or Vl punch your head!” | ‘‘That’s my meat!” cried Bandy delightedly. ‘“Git in yer flippers, my covey! Why, I ain’t had a scrimmage fur a week, and I’m gittin’ as rusty as an old hulk, Squar’ yerself, my bully bu’ster!” . The dwarfish imp flung himself into an atti- tude before Tom, and threw up his muscular arms in professional style. ‘‘Oh, drop all that, Bandy!” cried Tom, a little seared. ‘‘ I’ve had enough of that fun for one day.” “Ye ain’t goin’ to back down?’ Bandy’s voice was full of regret. ‘* Won’t let a feller gitin one left hander? Why, shoot ye, I’ve a notion to give yea sockdologer anyhow, jist to keep my hand in. I’m sp’ilin’ fur practice.” om backed off in alarm as he saw the look of professional disappointment in Bandy’s eye. ‘*T won't fight you, anyhow,” answered Tom. ‘‘ Tt’d be like a cat fightin’ an elephant, ‘You're more than my match, Bandy.” ‘‘Wish I could plane meself down,” said Bandy, regretfully. .‘“‘I’'m jist wastin’ away fur a scrimmage. Howsomdever, we'll let that slide. Jist ye sail alongin my wake, my hearty. I kinder freeze to ye, Tom. I’m goin’ to make aman of ye. Werk be fiddled! Ill gin yea perfession as ye kin be proud of all yer life.” Bandy rolled independently away, with one hand in his pocket, and a finger of the other in a button-hole of his coat. is hat was set more Ton.’s eves followed we (owe Se 4 ed after him. It had been an instant of the utmost import- ance to his future life. He had come to the parting of two ways, one leading to honesty and virtue, one to vice and crime. He may well have hesitated. But he had chosen according to his nature. He had taken the path of crime. Nor was it done blindly; for he knew well to what Bandy Ben was leading him. But leaving Tom Tanner to tread the path which he had chosen, we must return to bis bro- ther, whom we also left at a critical period of aye life. e had, as we have related, come from the inner room of the Tanner apartments at the same moment as Mr. Clark appeared at the door of the outer room. Frank’s heart sunk within him on seeing who was there. This gentleman must have come to upbraid him, and the boy’s first impulse was to slip back into the room from which he had come. Yet Frank was too manly for that. He felt that he bad no reason for shame, and he nerved himself boldly for the unpleasant interview be- fore him. Yet Mr. Clark did not look very angry. There was a half smile on his face, as bis eyes fell up- on the altered appearance of the boy. Mr. Tanner slyly dropped the whip which he held, and came forward with a great show of politeness, ‘*Glad to see you ag’in, Mr. Clark,” he ejacu- lated. ‘‘Weren’t no use for yer comin’ back though, az I'd been sure to send the lad round, ’cordin’ to promise.” ‘‘But perbaps I may not want him around,’ answered Mr. Clark. | Mrs. Tanner sunk into a chair at this, while Frank clinched his hands in quiet determination to get a position somewhere. + “We want straightforward, energetic, well- trained boys,” continued the merchant. ‘*‘ Now I am sorry to say that 1 just caught your boy in a fight with a party of ragamufliins. Rolling in the mud with them, Mr. Tanner. Of course that kind of a boy won’t suit us.” ‘My boy Frank fightin’!” cried Mr. Tanner. ‘Why, ther’s no fight in him. Speak up for erself, Frank. Tell this gentleman as it must a’ been some other little cove,” Mr. Clark waited curiously for Frank’s an- swer. ‘‘That would be telling a lie, father,” an- swered the boy, quietly. ‘* Mr. Clark is right. I was fighting,” Mr. Tanner darted an angry look at Frank, as if he felt that this was more truthfulness than was called for. ‘‘ What were you fighting about?’ asked his mother, sure that Frank must have a good reason. ‘*T got into it, and I had to go through with it,” replied Frank. ‘‘I wish you wouldn’t say any more about it. Mr. Clark is not interested.” ‘*T would like to know what it was all about, Frank,” remarked that gentleman. ‘‘Tt was a private matier,” answered Frank decidedly. ‘‘I am very sorry, Mr. Clark, for ’d like to be in your store, But I can’t tell you what that fight was about.” ‘‘Why don’t you tell the gentleman, you young fool?” cried Mr. Tanner harshly. “There is no need,” Mr. Clark quietly re- joined. ‘I know already.” ‘You know?” exclaimed Frank, starting up eagerly. ‘* Yes, my lad, and I honor you for your si- lence. I made those boys tell me the cause of the trouble, and find you were only seeking to xrevent your brother from being pummeled. Vhy, Frank, I would have fought myself, on a less provocation. But how came you there alone? What became of your brother?’ ‘‘T—T don’t—” hesitated Frank. ‘‘ I guess he was hurt, and got away.” ‘Was it that young villain, Tom?” broke in Mr. Tanner hotly. ‘‘Out with it, Frank. He got you into a fight and then ran away? Come out, boy, square and honest.” ‘“Oh, never mind!” answered Frank un- easily. ‘‘Tom didn’t mean no barm, I know. He must have been hurt. Mr. Clark don’t want to hear our family matters.” Mr. Clark made no answer. He rose from his seat, took his hat from the table, and care- fully adjusted it upon his head. He then eration to the door, which stood open. Reach- ing the door, he turned and fixed his eyes on Frank. ‘‘Get your hat, my boy,” he said, you to take a little walk with me.” It need not be said that Frank leaped from dejection into hope at these words. In an in- “T want | JOO eoilm (E S (E@)