Dorothy on a House Boat Part 11

The air with which Ephy bowed and sc.r.a.ped sent the boys into roars of laughter but didn't in the least lessen the gloom of the farmer's face. At last he opened his lips, closed them, reopened them and answered:

"Ye-es. I have. But--I cayn't sell 'em. They ain't never no sale for _my_ truck. Is they, Billy?"

The mournfulness of his voice was absurd. As absurd as to call the solemn-visaged mule by the frivolous name of "Billy." Evidently the animal understood human speech, for in response to his owner's appeal the creature opened his own great jaws in a prodigious bray. Whereupon the farmer nodded, gravely, as if to say:

"You see. Billy knows."

"How much yo' tax 'em at?" asked Chloe, gazing over the fence with longing eyes and mentally selecting the ripest and juiciest of the fruit.

"I ain't taxin' 'em. I leave it to you."

Then he immediately sat down upon the rock beside the fence where he had been "resting" for most of that afternoon, or "evenin'" as he called it. Billy doubled himself up and sprawled on the ground near his master, to the injury of the vines and one especially big melon.

"O, suh! _Doan'_ let him squush it!" begged Chloe; while Ephraim turned upon her with a reproving:

"You-all min' yo' place! _Ah_ 'm 'tendin' to dis yeah business."

"Va'y well. Jes' gimme mah millyoun ter tote home to Miss Betty. Ah mus' ha' left mah pocket-book behin' me!" she jeered. Then, before they knew what she was about, she had sprung over the fence and picked up the melon she had all along selected as her own.

n.o.body interfered, not even the somber owner of the patch; and with amazing lightness Chloe scrambled back again, the great melon held in the skirt of her red gown, and was off down the slope at the top of her speed.

Ephraim put on his "specs" and gravely stared after her; then shook his head, saying:

"Dat yeah gell's de flightiest evah! Ain't it de trufe?"

But now a new idea had come to Jim, and laying a hand on the collars of the other lads, he brought their heads into whispering nearness of his own:

"Say, fellows, _let's buy Billy_! A mule that understands English is the mule to draw the Water Lily!"

A pause, while the notion was considered, then Melvin exclaimed:

"Good enough! If he doesn't ask too much. Try him!"

"Yes, ask him. I'll contribute a fiver, myself," added Gerald.

Ephraim had now struggled over the fence and was pottering about among the melons, with the eye of a connoisseur selecting and laying aside a dozen of the choicest. Those which were not already black of stem he pa.s.sed by as worthless, as he did those which did not yield a peculiar softness to the pressure of his thumb. His face fairly glittered and his "roomaticals" were wholly forgotten; till his attention was suddenly arrested by the word "money," spoken by one of the boys beyond the fence. At that he stood up, put his hands on his hips, and groaned; then keenly listened to what was being said.

"Ye-es. I _might_ want to sell Billy, but I cayn't. I cayn't never sell anything."

"Well, we're looking for a mule, a likely mule. One strong enough to haul a house-boat. Billy's pretty big; looks as if he could."

"Billy can do anything he's asked to. Cayn't you, Billy?"

It was funny to see the clever beast rise slowly to his feet, shake the dust from his great frame, turn his sorrowful gaze upon his master's face, and utter his a.s.senting bray.

Melvin flung himself on the gra.s.s and laughed till his sides ached; then sprang up again wild with eagerness to possess such a comical creature:

"Oh! Buy him--buy him--no matter the price! He'd be the life of the whole trip! I'll give something, too, as much as I can spare!"

Jim tried to keep his face straight as he inquired:

"What is the price of Billy, sir?"

The farmer sighed, so long and deeply, that the mule lay down again as if pondering the matter.

"Young man, that there Billy-mule is beyond price. There ain't another like him, neither along the Magothy nor on the Eastern Sho'. I cayn't sell Billy."

During his life upon the mountains James Barlow had seen something of "horse-traders" and he surmised that he had such an one to deal with now. He expected that the man would name a price, after a time, much higher than he really would accept, and the boy was ready for a "d.i.c.ker." He meant to show the other lads how clever and astute he could be. So he now returned:

"Oh, yes. I think you can if you get your price. Everything has its price, I've read somewhere--even mules!"

"Young man, life ain't no merry jest. I've found that out and so'll you. _I cayn't sell Billy._"

"Ten dollars?"

No reply, but the man sat down again beside his priceless mule and reopened the old book he had been reading when interrupted by these visitors.

"Fifteen?"

"Twenty?" volunteered Gerald.

"Twenty-five?" asked Melvin. Then in an aside to the other boys: "I wonder if Dorothy will help pay for him!"

"Sure. This is her racket, isn't it? It was Mrs. Calvert, or somebody, said we could be towed along sh.o.r.e, as if the Lily were a ca.n.a.l-boat.

Sure! We'll be doing her a kindness if we buy it for her and save her all the trouble of looking for one;" argued Gerald, who had but a small stock of money and wasn't eager to spend it.

Jim cast one look of scorn upon him, then returned to his "d.i.c.kering."

He had so little cash of his own that he couldn't a.s.sume payment, but he reasoned that, after he had written an account of their predicament to Mr. Winters, the generous donor of the Lily would see that she was equipped with the necessary "power," even if that power lay in the muscles of a gigantic mule.

"Oh! sir, please think it over. Hark, I'll tell you the whole story, then I'm sure you'll want to help a lady--several ladies--out of a sc.r.a.pe," argued Jim, with such a persuasive manner that Melvin was astonished. This didn't seem at all like the rather close-tongued student he had known before.

But the truth was that Jim had become infatuated with the idea of owning at least a share in Billy. He was used to mules. He had handled and lived among them during his days upon Mrs. Stott's truck-farm. He was sure that the animal could be made useful in many ways and--in short, he wanted, he must have Billy!

In a very few moments he had told the whole tale of the house-boat and its misfortunes, laying great stress upon the "quality" of its owners, and thus shrewdly appealing to the chivalry of this southern gentleman who was playing at farming.

For a time his only apparent listener was old Ephraim, who had picked up a hoe somewhere and now leaned upon it, resting from his selection of the melons. But, though he didn't interfere with the glib narrative, he confirmed it by nods of his gray head, and an occasional "Dat's so, Cunnel."

Evidently, the farmer was impressed. He stopped pretending to read and folding his arms, leaned back against the rails, his eyes closed, an expression of patient, sad endurance upon his long face. His manner said as plainly as words:

"If this young gabbler _will_ talk I suppose I must listen."

But gradually this manner changed. His eyes opened. The book slid to the ground. In spite of his own unwillingness he was interested. A house-boat! He'd never heard of such a thing; but, if the tale were true, it would be something new to see. Besides, ladies in distress?

That was an appeal no gentleman could deny, even though that gentleman were as poor as himself. He might well have added "as shiftless;" for another man in his position would have been stirring himself to get that fine crop of melons into market.

Jim finished his recital with the eager inquiry:

"Now, sir, don't you think you can sell Billy and put a reasonable price on him?"