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"Haven't you a faint recollection of having been in a big accident sometime; say, for instance, a railroad disaster?" "No I don't think I have. I think I must 'a' dreamed sumpthin' like that once, but I guess it never happened to me, or I'd 'member more about it." "Well, Ralph, it did happen to you. You were riding in a railroad car with your father and mother, and the train went through a bridge.
Now, then, you're off to the circus; good-by." The lad took a step or two forward, hesitated a moment, and then turned back. The breaker boss and the screen-room boss were already gone and he was alone with Mr. Burnham. "Would it make any dif'rence to you," he asked, holding up the silver coin, "if I spent this money for sumpthin' else, an' didn't go to the circus with it?"
He ate the food with great relish, while the watchman stood by and looked on approvingly. When the meal was finished, Ralph said: "Now, I'll be a-goin'. I can't never thank you enough. Maybe I can do sumpthin' for you, some time, but " "Howld your tongue, now! Didn't I tell ye not to shpake of it?" The boy opened the door and looked out upon the dawning day. "Ain't it nice!" he said.
An' don't it show he's goin' to try to make things square?" "I guess we might as well think that as anything." "I claim the boys has a right t' take sumpthin' out o' his hide," Bent Wilson stubbornly insisted. "Ain't enough t' go 'round," laughed McPhail. "Besides, I can't have it. Link an' I own the biggest share in 'im, an' we can't have him hurt." McIlvaine and Vance grinned.
He was enjoying the lawyer's diplomacy with Ralph, exceedingly. The lad was again in the depths of anxiety. He looked from one to the other of the men with appealing eyes. "Ain't they some way to fix it, Mr. Sharpman?" he said. "Can't you do sumpthin' for me?" "Oh! I couldn't be your guardian, my boy, the law wouldn't allow that; and Mr. Craft, here, hasn't money enough.
"What'll you tell me?" "Sumpthin' I bet you don't know." "I bet I do." "Well, come here an' I'll tell you." He advanced towards her suspiciously. Through the open door he could see a bed in a corner of the dark, dirty room and a woman's white face upon the pillow. "Oh, come on!" said the little girl impatiently. He came on and sat down beside her.
And here the memory of this kindness became so vivid in Ralph's mind that he broke down and cried outright. "It was jes' like 'im," said one in the crowd; "he was always a-doin' sumpthin' jes' like that. D'ye 'member that time w'en I froze my ear, an' he give me money to buy a new cap with ear-laps on to it?"
"Why, no!" said the man, wonderingly, "I suppose not; but I thought you boys would rather spend your money at the circus than to spend it in almost any other way." "Oh! I'd like to go well enough. I al'ays did like a circus, an' I wanted to go to this one, 'cause it's a big one; but they's sumpthin' else I want worse'n that, an' I'm a-tryin' to save up a little money for it."
I slep' with Buck the bootblack that night, an' nex' mornin', early, I started out in the country. I was 'fraid they'd find me if I stayed aroun' the city. It was pirty near afternoon 'fore I got out where the fields is, an' then a woman, she give me sumpthin' to eat.
An ye'll mind both carriages for a bit when they start up, Andy, I'll go t' the lad," and he hurried across the tracks and down the dark and devious way that led to the surface of the earth. At the door of the pump-room he met Ralph. "Uncle Billy!" shouted the boy, "I want to see you; I've got sumpthin' to tell you."
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