the six judges arose, and stood before the culprit.
the cage was critically examined, and steve seemed to find it very amusing to point out its defects. bob was pestered with questions about it, but he maintained a sullen silence, submitting doggedly to the inevitable.
“we must put you into narrow quarters for a little while, bob,” stephen said good-humoredly, “and try to disentangle a few leagues of this good cord.”
two of the heroes supported bob while steve freed him from the rope. the discomfited plotter was too stiff[252] to make much resistance, yet when he found himself free he struggled nervously, but feebly, to break away from his tormentors. then jim, who was trying to make himself useful, threw open the door of the cage, and charles and stephen dumped him gently in.
now, bob had not built the cage for such a purpose; consequently, he did not sit comfortable in it—worse still, it threatened to burst asunder. but it did not.
his feet and legs were got inside somehow, but his head was mercifully left out, exposed to the sun and air. his hat had fallen off when he sprang upon the raft, and been taken over the falls; but george, more humane than the others, took off his own hat, and placed it firmly, but gently, on the exposed head.
unknown to the soi-disant judges, the boy was wedged so fast in his cage that he was powerless to help himself. thus he was virtually a prisoner in the very prison that he had prepared for another! this was turning the tables with a vengeance! this was poetical justice!
poor little villain! he must have been in an exceedingly cramped and uneasy position; but his pride and his orthodoxy came to his relief, and he would not complain to the pitiless arbitrators of his fate.
“look here, boys,” george cried, “if you are bound to punish him, you ought to kick out the end of that box, so that he could sit up straight, like a man, and be comfortable.”
“yes, it is too bad,” steve said pityingly. “but it will soon be over; and if we should go to tampering with the box, we might kick bob in the stomach. besides, bob looks more forlorn than he is; and we have no business to destroy his boxes and things.—now, where’s the rope, and then we will hurry through with it and let bob out.”
about three hundred feet of the cord were disentangled, and once more the raft was set afloat with a prisoner on it.
in order to humble bob still further, steve intended to let carlo carry the end of the rope in his mouth for a little way. but now he had not the heart to do it. as[253] the raft floated along lazily, steve essayed to give a shout of triumph, but it died away in his throat.
the dog, however, began to gambol, sneeze, and bark, in an extraordinary manner. during the trial he had been the only really neutral one, and now he seemed to enjoy himself more than any of the self-styled judges. bob looked on in some uneasiness, but he need not have been alarmed, for the dog made no motion to swim out and attack him.
the boys did not exactly understand it, yet somehow they seemed to take no pleasure in floating herriman down the stream; and instead of an exultant procession along the bank, they marched solemnly onward, hardly speaking, and each one becoming more and more ashamed of himself. george had a theory of his own about this, but he did not make it known.
seeing that matters had gone so far, steve and charles did not wish to stop till bob had had his ride; but they felt ill at ease, and their conscience almost persuaded them that they were in the wrong.
so with the entire five (jim being, as the reader has doubtless divined, a mere supernumerary in this history, although he figures conspicuously once or twice.) from the moment they placed the boy in his cage they began to relent.
to any person coming upon them, this risible spectacle would have been presented: six boys marching gravely down the stream; some three hundred feet in advance a raft drifting lazily along; on said raft a box, from which protruded an enormous head,—large enough for a genius,—neatly covered with a now battered but once respectable—nay, fashionable—straw hat.
thus the raft drifted till within a quarter of a mile of the falls. then stephen said, “ever since i went over the falls i’ve felt too nervous to prowl around very near them; so let us pull her up stream now, and let bob go when we get into port.”
all agreed to this, and the rope, which had hitherto been slack, was pulled taut. the raft stopped its downward course, and was drawn towards them—perhaps, half a foot.
[254]
then something that might have been expected from the beginning happened.
the rope broke!
unknown to them, the jagged edge of the raft had worn the rope all but in two while bob was hauling the raft towards him. in this place it now parted.
there was consternation among the self-constituted punishers. in truth, it is impossible to describe their terror, anguish, and remorse. all through their own foolishness a fellow-creature was in imminent danger. to be swept over the falls in his helpless condition meant death. and whatever was done must be done quickly.
the boys felt as guilty as criminals ought to feel.
“bob,” charles screamed, “climb out, and jump into the river, and swim!”
“oh, he can’t! he can’t!” will cried, seeing that bob was struggling desperately and vainly to get out of the box.
“george,” steve cried wildly, “you spoke about swimming to the raft while carlo was on it—swim now! quick!”
“of course,” the sage replied, still a philosopher, but a perturbed one. “yes, of course, i’ll go.”
to add to the confusion, stunning screams now came from bob. he forgot that he was a villain; all his orthodoxy and stoicism forsook him; and he again brought his stentorian lungs into play. far from having impaired his lungs on the night of george’s “experiment,” he seemed only to have strengthened them; and now he howled and bellowed like a wounded giant.
cannot this be explained logically? the age of the romancer’s younger villains ranges between twenty-seven and thirty-nine; while the age of older villains varies greatly among different authors, and, much to the reader’s sorrow, is not always given. from this it would seem that bob was too young to set up for a knave.
in view of this, the reader, having more discernment than the writer, suggests the following: the only reason why bob had taken it so coolly was because he knew the boys too well to fear any harm from them. besides, he[255] had heard all that was said during the “trial,” and he saw that the boys’ anger towards him had abated. but when he found that the raft was no longer under their control, he naturally became alarmed.
yes, bob again began to discharge atrocious and high-sounding interjections.
all the boys saw that george was more composed than they; and by mutual consent, he was left to plan a rescue. his coat had been off ever since he prepared to swim to carlos relief; and now he stripped off the rest of his clothes, plunged into the river, and swam boldly for the imperilled boy.
he had, however, more self-confidence than self-possession; or he would have run down the bank till opposite to the raft, and so have gained time. he now swam as fast as possible; but the raft was some distance in advance, and steadily drawing nearer the falls.
the boys watched george anxiously, but were too demoralized to aid him in any way.
“hello, you vagabonds!” was thundered behind them. “what does all this noise mean?”
the heroes were startled; and on turning, were appalled to see a burly rustic coming towards them at a round pace.
“oh, dear,” groaned will; “why does this fellow want to come here just at this time?”
“oh, dear,” echoed charles, stephen, marmaduke, and jim.
“what does all this mean, you young villains?” roared the new-comer.
“a boy is floating over,” marmaduke gasped.
“well, do you mean to let him float? why don’t you get up and save him? oh, you awful boys! this is murder—parricide—manslaughter—abduction—gravitation—parsimony! what do you suppose the law’s going to say about this? it—it is un-con-sti-tu-tion-al!”
the five trembled—jim exceedingly. in fact, he seemed on the point of betaking himself to flight.
“i say, i’ll persecute you all for litigation!” the new-comer next observed.
[256]
he was an ignorant, brutal man, an inhabitant of the village. in his boyhood he had been snubbed by old and young; and now, in his manhood, he took delight in bullying all the boys he met.
“george andrews, there, is trying to save him,” will said, pointing at the swimmer.
“humph! much he’ll do!” growled the rustic. “well, i’m going to set here (at this marmaduke shuddered) till that boy is lost or saved. its my duty to the government, and i’ll do it if it takes all day.”
his duty to the government, however, did not prompt him to take an active part in rescuing bob, and he stretched himself along the bank and looked on with dogged composure.
george did not know of this man’s arrival. he swam bravely, but gained on the raft very slowly. his heart sank when he saw this, but he kept on hopefully, and just at the critical moment the raft grounded on a snag, and was held fast. bob was saved! not through human agency, however.
bob ceased from howling, and george called out cheerily: “you are all right, bob; and i’m—”
at that instant a little wave washed down his throat and effectually cut him short.
he had never swum so close to the falls, but he proceeded warily, and managed it so that the shock of striking the raft eased it off the snag. then he scrambled on board, took up an oar, and for a full minute feared that the current would carry them both over. but the raft was brought under control, and slowly, very slowly, rescuer and rescued left their dangerous position.
“bob, when we get a little farther up, i’ll try and get you out of that, and then we can go faster, if you will help.”
the joyful cries of the boys now attracted his attention, and, to his horror, he perceived that some person was with them.
“oh, bob,” he groaned, “who is that man on the bank?”
bob peered in the direction indicated, and said, hesitatingly, “i—i guess it’s somebody else.”
[257]
“now how mean!” george growled. “i can’t land till that fellow goes away; and here i am in a great hurry to get my clothes on, for fear a crowd should gather round us! bob, did you ever moralize how it is crowds gather? let anything happen, and a crowd is sure to come along to see how it will end.”
“no, i never morry-lice,” bob replied, good-humoredly.
“well,” said the sage, fetching a great sigh, “i don’t know but that you are just as well off.”
one by one the five were now coming along the bank, each one looking pleased, yet crest-fallen.
“c-can we help you in any way, george?” marmaduke asked.
george looked his indignation. however, he soon recovered his equilibrium, and said, frigidly, “if one or two of you would bring my clothes down here, and if the rest of you would stay up there with that man, to keep him from coming here, i should be very much obliged to you all.”
this was done, and george brought the raft to the bank and dressed, screened by three of his doughty school-fellows.
“i’ll see you all again,” shouted the law-abiding rustic. and he walked away, muttering learnedly about “burglarious incendiarism.”
george was soon dressed, and then he set about liberating bob, who was still cooped up in his cage.
“i’m afraid this will have to be broken open,” george said.
“break it, then!” said bob, glaring fiendishly at his sometime darling contrivance.
the sage, with the help of the other boys, then forced the top, or roof, off the cage; and bob was again at large. poor boy! he did not linger, nor make any threats, but after mumbling in george’s ear, “you’re the best of them all,” set forward at a business-like pace.
then, at last, the boys got over their fright.
george was quite satisfied with himself, and he looked about him with a peaceful expression on his face that the others tried in vain to assume. but now and then he[258] would glance furtively up and down the river, to the right and to the left.
“what are you looking for, george?” steve finally asked, breaking the silence.
“i—i—well, its rather strange that a crowd doesn’t come. now in all that you read, in newspapers or stories, a crowd always gathers.”
“not generally in murders—in the stories,” marmaduke corrected.
“well, this is a pretty nice business!” will said, ruefully. “i—i’m ashamed of myself!”
“so am i,” said charles and stephen.
“george, i couldn’t possibly have swum out and saved that boy,” charles admitted, frankly. “my heart was beating like a——”
“yes you could,” george interrupted, not wishing to receive more praise than he deserved.
“how is it that it turned out so badly?” steve asked. “bob used us very badly; and we got the worst of it when we punished him!”
“we ought to have been merciful, and let him go as soon as will gave him up to us,” george commented. “that’s a good way to cure some people of meanness,” he added, in a “moralizing” mood.
“well, now!” steve ejaculated. “jim has made off too! i guess he skedaddled while mr. reiter was around.”
“yes; and bob has left the spoils in our hands!” will observed. “what shall we do with them?”
“they are not ours, but bob won’t hanker for them,” charley replied, jocosely. “suppose we let the prison float over the falls, with the long rope dragging behind. perhaps we should not be so melancholy doing that as we were when we made a floating battery of bob.”
“hurrah! hurrah! bravo! well done! that’s just what we want! now, we can sail up to our harbor on our raft, and tow this oriental bird-cage behind, and let it drift away whenever we choose.”
this felicitous expression was made by stephen, of course.
this programme was carried out, and then the boys[259] went home, feeling that they had had a little satisfaction from herriman, after all.
although a crowd refused to gather on the banks of the stream, yet the news of this exploit travelled throughout the village,—which established moralizing george’s theory,—and as each hero passed through his doors, a storm of righteous indignation burst over his devoted head; for very properly, honest parents were scandalized to find that their children could commit such atrocities.
whether bob still meditated vengeance is not known, as shortly after this occurrence, mr. herriman borrowed some of mr. horner’s romances, which so unhinged his mind that he turned gold-hunter,—or silver-hunter, he was not morally certain which,—and removed, with his family, to a far-off territory, and the six heard of bob no more.
poor bob! the horror of being swept over the falls made a deep, but not lasting, impression on his mind.
as for the six boys, they profited little by that lesson.
it would be wise to close this chapter here; but doubtless the reader is aware that the writer of this tale is not wise.
that night marmaduke waded through the verb and adverb in five different grammars:—one, a dog’s-eared, battered, and soiled volume, which his father was supposed to have studied in his youth; another, a venerable ruin, which, tradition said, had been his grandfather’s; still another, his mother’s, whose bescribbled fly-leaves held the key to a long-buried and almost forgotten romance; his little brother’s “elementary;” and his own “logical and comprehensive.”
what wonder is it that the poor boy went to bed with an aching head, feeling, like stephen, that it is “all a muddle,” and that he did not understand it at all?
the object is not to ridicule the noble science of grammar, but to point the finger of scorn at those grammarians who suppose that children can understand that science; and also to check those juveniles who flatter themselves that they are perfect in it.
