第43章

Oh, no! Nobody's frightened.Every thin's all ri'.Ain't it, Bill?" he said, addressing the driver."On'y been overboard twish;knocked down a hatchway once.Thash nothin'! On'y two men unner doctor's han's at Stockton.Thash nothin'! Six hunner dollarsh cover all dammish."I was too much disheartened to reply, but moved toward the wagon.

The stranger eyed me with an astonishment that almost sobered him.

"Do you reckon to tackle that animile yourself?" he asked, as he surveyed me from head to foot.

I did not speak, but, with an appearance of boldness I was far from feeling, walked to the wagon, and called "Baby!""All ri'.Cash loose them straps, Bill, and stan' clear."The straps were cut loose; and Baby, the remorseless, the terrible, quietly tumbled to the ground, and, rolling to my side, rubbed his foolish head against me.

I think the astonishment of the two men was beyond any vocal expression.Without a word, the drunken stranger got into the wagon, and drove away.

And Baby? He had grown, it is true, a trifle larger; but he was thin, and bore the marks of evident ill usage.His beautiful coat was matted and unkempt; and his claws, those bright steel hooks, had been ruthlessly pared to the quick.His eyes were furtive and restless; and the old expression of stupid good humor had changed to one of intelligent distrust.His intercourse with mankind had evidently quickened his intellect, without broadening his moral nature.

I had great difficulty in keeping Mrs.Brown from smothering him in blankets, and ruining his digestion with the delicacies of her larder; but I at last got him completely rolled up in the corner of my room, and asleep.I lay awake some time later with plans for his future.I finally determined to take him to Oakland--where Ihad built a little cottage, and always spent my Sundays--the very next day.And in the midst of a rosy picture of domestic felicity, I fell asleep.

When I awoke, it was broad day.My eyes at once sought the corner where Baby had been lying; but he was gone.I sprang from the bed, looked under it, searched the closet, but in vain.The door was still locked; but there were the marks of his blunted claws upon the sill of the window that I had forgotten to close.He had evidently escaped that way.But where? The window opened upon a balcony, to which the only other entrance was through the hall.He must be still in the house.

My hand was already upon the bell-rope; but I stayed it in time.

If he had not made himself known, why should I disturb the house?

I dressed myself hurriedly, and slipped into the hall.The first object that met my eyes was a boot lying upon the stairs.It bore the marks of Baby's teeth; and, as I looked along the hall, I saw too plainly that the usual array of freshly-blackened boots and shoes before the lodgers' doors was not there.As I ascended the stairs, I found another, but with the blacking carefully licked off.On the third floor were two or three more boots, slightly mouthed; but at this point Baby's taste for blacking had evidently palled.A little farther on was a ladder, leading to an open scuttle.I mounted the ladder, and reached the flat roof, that formed a continuous level over the row of houses to the corner of the street.Behind the chimney on the very last roof, something was lurking.It was the fugitive Baby.He was covered with dust and dirt and fragments of glass.But he was sitting on his hind-legs, and was eating an enormous slab of peanut candy, with a look of mingled guilt and infinite satisfaction.He even, I fancied, slightly stroked his stomach with his disengaged fore-paw as Iapproached.He knew that I was looking for him; and the expression of his eye said plainly, "The past, at least, is secure."I hurried him, with the evidences of his guilt, back to the scuttle, and descended on tiptoe to the floor beneath.Providence favored us: I met no one on the stairs; and his own cushioned tread was inaudible.I think he was conscious of the dangers of detection; for he even forebore to breathe, or much less chew the last mouthful he had taken; and he skulked at my side with the sirup dropping from his motionless jaws.I think he would have silently choked to death just then, for my sake; and it was not until I had reached my room again, and threw myself panting on the sofa, that I saw how near strangulation he had been.He gulped once or twice apologetically, and then walked to the corner of his own accord, and rolled himself up like an immense sugarplum, sweating remorse and treacle at every pore.

I locked him in when I went to breakfast, when I found Mrs.Brown's lodgers in a state of intense excitement over certain mysterious events of the night before, and the dreadful revelations of the morning.It appeared that burglars had entered the block from the scuttles; that, being suddenly alarmed, they had quitted our house without committing any depredation, dropping even the boots they had collected in the halls; but that a desperate attempt had been made to force the till in the confectioner's shop on the corner, and that the glass show-cases had been ruthlessly smashed.Acourageous servant in No.4 had seen a masked burglar, on his hands and knees, attempting to enter their scuttle; but, on her shouting, "Away wid yees!" he instantly fled.

I sat through this recital with cheeks that burned uncomfortably;nor was I the less embarrassed, on raising my eyes, to meet Mrs.

Brown's fixed curiously and mischievously on mine.As soon as Icould make my escape from the table, I did so, and, running rapidly up stairs, sought refuge from any possible inquiry in my own room.