CHAPTER XIII.
AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION.
As Ruddy raised his right arm over his head to throw the missile, which might have struck some one with deadly effect, a clear, sharp voice rang out over the startling scene, quickly ending the outbreak:
“Hold, boy! don’t throw that stone, or I will horsewhip you within an inch of your life!”
The first word had been sufficient to check the rash boy in his dangerous work, when he turned hastily about to find a man had ridden close to the edge of the crowd, and, standing up in his carriage, held a long, stout whip poised over his head ready to send its stinging lash around his body did he fail to obey him.
“What is all this rumpus about?” demanded this newcomer, who instantly made himself master of the situation.
“These youngsters are raising particular cain with our boys, Dr. Menter. I don’t know but they have killed Ralph,” said ’Squire Hardy.
“Looks as if your boy was coming out of it better than this fellow with the bleeding head,” replied the man in the carriage, who was the village physician, beginning to step out upon the ground.
Ruddy had dropped the rocks in his hands and stood with looks of combined fear and wonder. Chick had already dropped from his perch on a man’s shoulders and sought the side of Ruddy.
“I hope he has been killed!” declared the ’squire.
“Look out what you say, ’Squire Hardy, for such words as those might make you trouble and be inconvenient to explain in a courtroom.”
“So you stand up for the hoodlum, do you, doctor?”
“No, sir; I simply speak for fair play. It was a coward who threw that stone, and he has laid himself open to the law and a serious punishment if this boy has been fatally injured.”
“He began the quarrel, and it was done in self-defense.”
“Let me advise you as a friend, ’squire, not to say too much. I will see if the boy is seriously hurt.”
While the other muttered over something under his breath, Dr. Menter knelt beside Rob, to make an examination of the wound. This was not found to be of a serious nature, and in a few minutes our hero was able to sit up.
“You’ve come out all right, youngster,” said the physician, “but it came pretty near being a close call.”
Upon finding that no one had been killed, the spectators, who had been rather frightened over the outcome of the affair a little while before, now boldly stepped forward.
“Stand back!” ordered Dr. Menter. “The boy is coming around all right, and there is no need of crowding upon us so.”
“Perhaps you have not heard who this fellow is, doctor,” said the ’squire, determined to follow up his side of the question. “He belongs to a herd of cattle the demented Deacon Cornhill brought into our midst yesterday from the slums of New York.”
“The deacon has told me of his colonization scheme,” replied the doctor, smiling. “But I am afraid he will never see it carried out.”
“You are right, there. We are not going to let them stay in town any longer than it takes to get them out.”
“I do not believe you understand me, ’squire. The deacon took a sudden cold in the rain yesterday and is sick in bed threatened with pneumonia.”
As this was a bit of startling news to the spectators, one and all showed considerable concern.
“No business to have been fooling around with sich critters in the rain. He’d been all right if he’d gone right home,” declared the unfeeling ’squire.
“I can’t say about that, but he is a very sick man. There, I guess you will come out in good shape,” said the physician to Rob, as he placed a plaster over the cut the latter had received on his head.
“Thank you, sir. I come down to the town to see Deacon Cornhill,” said Rob. “I do not know what I shall do if he is sick.”
“He certainly cannot do anything for you now. Still, if you want to go up to his house you can ride with me. I am going right back as soon as I can go to the post office.”
Rob thanked the physician, who seemed like an honest man, and concluded to accept his offer. Chick and Ruddy he advised to go back to Break o’ Day. The crowd continued to scowl upon them, but the fact that Dr. Menter had spoken in their behalf kept any one, even ’Squire Hardy, from uttering any further threats against them at that time.
On the way to the home of Deacon Cornhill the doctor questioned Rob closely in regard to his situation, when our hero frankly explained the matter from the time he had met Mr. Cornhill in New York.
“I am afraid you can’t do much,” said Dr. Menter, frankly, as Rob concluded. “You do not seem to have anything to work with. Besides, I should judge that you must all have a very slight idea of getting a living in the country. You say you want to cultivate the land at Break o’ Day. What do you know about taking care of crops?”
Rob had to confess that he and his associates knew nothing. In fact, he realized more than he had ever before the peculiar helplessness of himself and companions.
“The best thing you can do is to go back to the city,” said the doctor.
“We haven’t the money to do it,” acknowledged Rob. “All together, we cannot raise a dime.”
The doctor whistled.
“How do you think you are going to live here? Had the deacon promised you any money?”
“No, sir; but he thought we could get work. We are willing to try our best.”
“It would be surprising if you all felt that way. I should judge a crowd picked up in the way yours was would have at least some who would be deadheads on the hands of the others. You say there are several among you who are unable to work if they wished?”
“Two,” faltered Rob, for the first time losing courage. Somehow the candid words of Dr. Menter struck to his heart as nothing said by others had done.
“Do you know what I think?”
“That we made a mistake in coming?”
“Worse than that, young man. The deacon is famous for his foolish schemes, and that this caps the climax. No other man in town would have gone good for Jonas Lyford, and with the prospect of paying up another’s debt, which is likely to take all he is worth, I should have thought Deacon Cornhill would have felt like letting you and your companions alone.”
“We shall not make Mr. Cornhill any extra trouble, sir.”
“The safest way for you to make good your words will be by leaving town at once. I can see that you have created an unfavorable impression already. Still, I feel very sure that money enough to pay your fare to the city will be forthcoming if you conclude to go. I will give five dollars toward it myself.”
“You are very kind, sir.”
“You think you will go?”
Rob hesitated a moment before replying, but there was no mistaking his meaning when he spoke, low, but firmly:
“I can’t answer for my friends, but I have come to stay.”