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Updated: June 26, 2025
"And Flukey's doin' all this for me! And he's so sick! I stealed from yer table he didn't! Will ye let him lay in yer barn tonight, if I go up for the stealin'?" Never had Horace Shellington felt so keenly the sorrows of other human beings as when this girl, in her crude boy clothes, lifted her agonized, tearless eyes to his. His throat filled.
"Then you're not Flukey's father, either?" she whispered. "Nope; yer pappy and mammy both be livin' and waitin' fer ye. They've been lookin' fer ye fer years and yet they'll never git ye. Do ye hear, Flea? I hate 'em both so that I could kill ye I could tear yer throat open with these!" The squatter put his strong, crooked fingers in the girl's face.
The year following Flea's and Flukey's fourteenth birthday the boy was taken into his foster-father's trade of thieving. At first he was allowed only to enter the houses and deftly unbar the door for an easier egress for Eli Cronk and Lem Crabbe. Later he was commanded to snatch up anything of value he could.
Horace's next words banished that fear: "I shall have to have you identified by one of them before I should even, consider your statement." Cronk smiled in relief; and Ann shuddered, as she thought of Flukey's frail body in the man's thick, twisting fingers. "That be easy enough to do. Jest call the gal or the boy."
When she had added pathos to the story by telling of Flukey's illness, Mrs. Vandecar broke in. "I'm glad Ann stayed, dear girl! It's like her to nurse that sick child." She said no more; but turned away with misty eyes.
Through the clear glass the children saw a table dressed in all the gorgeousness of silver and crystal. At the spectacle a clamor for food set up in both aching stomachs, and the two passed as if by one accord to the porch. As they peered into the window with longing eyes, Squeaky was held tightly under Flea's arm; but Snatchet, resting wearily on Flukey's, suddenly sat up.
Grandma'm Cronk had told her that her dresses made the difference between her ability and Flukey's. With this impediment removed, she could turn her face toward the shining land predicted by Scraggy for Flukey and herself; she could follow her brother over hills and into valleys, until at last "I could wear a pair of yer pants and be a boy, too, and you could chop off my hair," she exclaimed.
Snatchet was hugged tight in Flukey's arms; for other dogs laid back their ears and growled at the yellow cur. Suddenly they came upon the athletic field. Here, reared high in the air, was a slender greased pole, on the top of which fluttered a five-dollar bill. Several youngsters, dressed in bathing suits, awaited the hour when they should be allowed to try and win the money.
It was necessary first to dispense entirely with Lon Cronk, to feel absolutely free from Lem. Until then, how could she feel secure? The eyes bent upon hers affected her strangely. They were spotted like Flukey's, and had the same trick of not moving when they received another's glance. Then Ann's exclamation seemed to awaken her lethargic soul, and she seized upon the word "mother."
"Six months is about the shortest sentence given to a fellow for breaking into a house. And what about the pig? I see him in the act of theft. Shall he go with you?" "He were hungry, that's why Prince Squeaky stealed," exclaimed Flea, dropping Flukey's fingers. There was something in the kindly eyes of the man that forced her forward a step. She thrust out her hand in appealing anxiety.
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