“LOOK a-here, Dan Hardy!” sputtered Mr. Savage, “don’t ye talk that way t’ me. I say ye’re goin’ back t’ th’ farm, an’ back ye shall go. Th’ idea! After all I done fer ye, now ye’re out on bail, an’ ye won’t come an’ work fer me.”
“Why didn’t you offer to go his bond, if you are so anxious to have him come and work for you?” asked Mr. Harrison.
“Wa’al, I—er—that is I was—What’s that your business, anyhow?” burst out Mr. Savage, for the question confused him. “I say he’s comin’ back with me. Come here, young man, step lively.”
“I’m not going with you, Mr. Savage,” answered Dan firmly.
“I say ye be! Squire, make him come. I’ve got a claim on him.”
“What sort of a claim?” inquired the blacksmith.
“Are you his guardian, legally appointed by the court?”
“No, I ain’t his guardian, but I’ve got a claim on him.”
“Have you legally adopted him?”
“Course not. Think I’d adopt sech a lazy boy?”
“It’s rather strange that you should be so insistent on having a ‘lazy’ boy, as you call him, work for you. But can you produce any papers, showing that you have a legal claim on him?”
“I ain’t got no papers, an’ I don’t want none. I’ve got a claim on him, an’ I’m goin’ t’ have him. Didn’t I save him from goin’ t’ th’ poorhouse, an’ ain’t I fed an’ clothed him since?”
“If you have, he has more than earned what he got. Dan,” went on the aged veteran, “you need not go back to the farm unless you want to. Squire Perkfell will tell you that Mr. Savage has no legal claim on you.”
“I guess that’s right,” ventured the Justice though he rather disliked to side with the boy who had been a prisoner before him.
“All right then!” exclaimed the angry farmer, “go t’ th’ poorhouse! That’s th’ place fer ye! But mind ye, don’t ye come around me, askin’ t’ be took back. I’ll never let ye set foot in my place ag’in. Now who’s goin’ t’ look after ye?”
“I am!” exclaimed Mr. Harrison. “Dan shall come and live with me. I have enough for both of us.”
“Humph!” sneered Mr. Savage. “He’ll make a fine blacksmith.”
“I intend giving up the blacksmithing business,” said the old soldier. “Fortunately this legacy of ten thousand dollars makes me independent. But I do not intend to be idle. I am going into business, and Dan can help. Come, Dan.”
There were more murmurs of surprise from the crowd in the courtroom. So many surprises had never before occurred in one day. There was enough to talk about for a month.
“Good riddance t’ ye!” exclaimed Peter Savage, giving Dan an ugly look.
The boy stepped forward.
“I have a case of books at your house, Mr. Savage,” he said. “I want to get them. May I?”
“No, ye can’t have ’em!”
“But they are mine. They were given to me by my father, and I want them.”
“Wa’al, ye can’t have ’em.”
“What right have you to retain books belonging to Dan?” asked the blacksmith.
“I’ll keep ’em t’ make up fer all th’ trouble he made me. I may have t’ pay damages fer what th’ bull done, an’ it was his fault.”
“It was not!” exclaimed Dan.
“Hush! Never mind,” advised Mr. Harrison. “Don’t dispute with him now, Dan,” he added in a whisper. “I’ll find a way to get the books.”
Mr. Savage left the courtroom, with a leer on his hard looking face. He felt that he had the best of Dan, though he was somewhat put out that the boy was not coming back with him. It meant that the old farmer would have to do more work himself, and he knew his wife would miss Dan around the house.
“I can’t thank you enough for all you did for me, Mr. Harrison,” said the boy, as he and his friend went out of the Justice’s room, part of the crowd following them.
“Then don’t try, Dan. I only did my duty by you. I am glad I had the opportunity of going on your bond. I could not have done it a week ago.”
“And have you really fallen heir to ten thousand dollars?”
“Yes, strange as it may seem, I have. I was the most surprised man in the world when the lawyer sent me the papers, and the deeds to the property, which is located in the northern part of this township.”
“I’m afraid you have undertaken too big a contract, to take me home with you,” went on Dan. “I don’t want to be a bother to you.”
“Never fear, you and I will get along nicely together. It is true I have not a very fine home now, but I intend soon to have a better one. If you will not mind putting up with a few inconveniences we shall do very well.”
“I’m sure it is very kind of you. Nothing could be more inconvenient than where I was. I slept in the attic, and in the winter the snow used to come in on my bed through a crack in the roof. It was not so bad in the summer time.”
“Well, there is nothing much at my house, but, as I say, we will soon have a better one. I intend to sell out my business as soon as I can, and start a small machine shop in the village. I think one is needed. Part of the property I inherited is near the river, and I can build a shop run by water power, which will be economical. I will hire several men, and if you wish, you can work for me.”
“I should not ask anything better,” said Dan. “I did not like farm work, but I did it because there was nothing else to do. I am fond of machinery.”
“Perhaps we shall make an engineer of you.”
“That would be fine. But I wish I had my books from the farm house. I want to keep on with my studies.”
“Never mind. I’ll find a way to secure them for you.”
Thus Dan found a new home, and a much better one than he had had since his mother died.