CHAPTER IX.
THE EXCURSION.
Tom was overtaken before he had walked very far; and although he and Bob had consented to Josiah’s inviting Sadie to accompany them on the excursion, neither felt that it was exactly the proper thing for them to have “a girl taggin’ on behind,” as some of their acquaintances afterwards described it.
They would have been glad for Sadie to enjoy herself in some other direction than with them; and during the journey to the Herald office, where Master Foss was to be met, the newsdealers kept considerably in advance of their guest and the match-girl, as if not willing to admit that the two were a portion of their party.
“I expect the fellows will jest ’bout guy the life out of us for takin’ her along,” Bob whispered to Tom; “but I didn’t see any other way after Josiah was so set upon her goin’.”
“Never mind what they say, so long’s we’ve got her,” Tom replied; “but I think we oughter put our foot down against her comin’ in the first place, ’cause she’s goin’ to break the fun all up before night, an’ I don’t feel like puttin’ out good money without gettin’ somethin’ back.”
There was no further opportunity to discuss the unexpected state of affairs; for at this moment Master Foss hailed them from the opposite side of the street, and, before he could cross, Sadie and Josiah had joined the party.
Bill looked first at the match-girl, and then at his friends, in an inquiring manner, and appeared so thoroughly disturbed in mind that Bob motioned him to step into an unoccupied door-way, where he whispered hoarsely:—
“We couldn’t help it, Bill, for a fact. You see, Josiah’s stuck on takin’ her ’round ’cause he thinks she don’t have many good times, an’ we was bound to do as he wanted, for when we was out to his place everything we said went.”
“An’ is she goin’ all the way with us?” Bill asked anxiously.
“That’s jest the size of it.”
“Well, I wish I had known it beforehand; you wouldn’t have caught me givin’ up a day’s work for the sake of haulin’ her ’round.”
“Now see here,” Tom said, as he approached quickly, understanding from the delay that the small newsdealer was entering his protest against this unexpected addition to the party, “there’s no use kickin’, an’ we’ve got to make the best of it. Don’t get on your ear ’bout a little thing like that, an’ we’ll have jest as good a time as we know how.”
Sadie was so thoroughly delighted with the prospect of seeing Coney Island, a place of which she had heard but never visited, that she paid no attention to the delay which was caused by Master Foss; but Josiah fancied he knew why his friends remained so long in the door-way, and it disturbed him not a little that he should have been the means of marring the day’s pleasure in even the slightest degree.
At the same time he would have felt uncomfortable in mind had he gone on this pleasuring alone, knowing it would afford the match-girl so much enjoyment; and he began to talk very loudly to her regarding the vehicles in the street, the pedestrians on the sidewalk, or anything which met his gaze at the instant, in order to prevent her from becoming suspicious as to the true state of affairs.
Fortunately Sadie was so excited that she would hardly have paid attention had the excursion been delayed an hour; and when the three boys finally emerged from the door-way, Bill Foss looking decidedly ill-tempered, she had no idea her coming had caused either embarrassment or ill-feeling.
“I suppose she’ll have to go, now the thing’s fixed,” Bill had said when the interview was brought to an end; “but I won’t walk along the streets with her, that’s all there is about it.”
“You don’t have to,” Bob said soothingly. “Josiah an’ she can take care of themselves, an’ we’ll keep a little ways ahead so’s nobody’ll know Sadie’s with us at all.”
In pursuance of this plan Bill walked rapidly, and more than once before the pier was reached did it become necessary for Bob and Tom to urge their country friend to quicken his pace.
“We want to take the next boat,” the latter said impatiently, “an’ you’ll have time enough to look into the store windows when we get back. If you don’t make him come fast, Sadie, we’ll never get there.”
This threat was sufficient to cause the match-girl to urge Josiah on when he was tempted to stop at any unusual display, and they had ample time in which to make arrangements for the trip on the steamer.
Bob and Tom had proposed to assume all expenses of the day’s outing, and to that end the former stepped toward the ticket-office; but Josiah objected, saying in a whisper as he forced some coins into his friend’s hand:—
“I agreed to stand what Sadie cost, so you must take this.”
“I sha’n’t do anything of the kind. Tom an’ I are treatin’ this time, an’ we’re goin’ to do it in the best shape we know how.”
“But I dragged her along, an’ it ain’t any more’n fair I should pay for it.”
“I might have let you, if you’d got anything out of the woodchuck skins; but they went so awful cheap, I reckon you’ll need all the money you’ve got before your father comes.”
Josiah urged the acceptance of the coins; but all to no purpose, and the young gentleman from Berry’s Corner felt more disturbed in mind than ever as they walked across the gang-plank, for he was aware that by his invitation the amount which Tom and Bob had laid aside for the excursion would be sensibly reduced.
The music of the Italian band, the steamer (for, with the exception of the ferry-boat, he had never been on board one before), as well as the crowds of people, soon served to drive from Josiah’s mind everything save that which was passing immediately before him, and during the trip to the Island he was in a state of surprise and delight amounting almost to bewilderment.
His first sensations were of fear lest the boat, crowded to what he fancied was a dangerous extent, would sink beneath her heavy cargo; but since nothing of the kind happened immediately after leaving the dock, he recovered from his alarm, and began to think it possible she might be seaworthy, although he was confident a dozen more people would swamp her.
The different craft on the river, or lying at the docks, the tooting of whistles, and the confusion on the decks, caused it to seem as if he was in a different world from that in which he had lived while on the farm, and more than once he whispered to Sadie:—
“I’d be willin’ to go home this very minute, if mother an’ father could be here long enough to see these things. I’ve heard ’bout vessels; but I didn’t b’lieve there could be so many in the world, an’ as for water, why the brook at the farm ain’t anywhere!”
Bill Foss, afraid of being suspected as one of the party, remained quite a distance from the others, which forced either Tom or Bob to stay with him in order to play the part of host, therefore both of them were not near Josiah during the entire trip, as they would have preferred; but this enforced absence did not prevent him from seeing all the sights brought into view during the passage, and when they finally arrived at their destination he had a better idea of the size of New York harbor than ever before.
Once on the dock the question arose as to how to begin what Tom and Bob intended should be a “dizzy round of pleasure.”
Bill was quite as much averse to being seen with “a girl in the crowd,” as while in New York; and for a short time the hosts were sadly at a loss to know how the entertainment could be conducted, in order to give the proper amount of attention to each of their guests.
Fortunately, at this moment Sadie and Josiah were delighted by a view of the flying-horses in full operation, and at the same instant Master Foss was attracted by a game of ball in which the target was a negro’s head; and Bob whispered:—
“Here’s our chance! You get them two on the horses, an’ I’ll see that Bill has a show to hit the nigger if he can.”
Neither of the hosts participated in the pleasure, except as a spectator; but it appeared to be enjoyment enough for them, and when fifteen minutes had passed, this portion of the programme was brought to a close.
Bill did not succeed in striking the target; but the exercise, together with the fact that it was what he called “a free blow” so far as he was concerned, had put him in the best of humor, therefore, with a magnanimity which caused his friends no slight amount of pleasure, he was willing to so far unbend his dignity as to walk not more than a few yards in advance of Sadie.
Five cents were invested in “nigger eye-balls,” five more in “bolivars,” and then the sight-seers promenaded the entire length of the beach, past all the booths, stopping here and there to see some free entertainment given as an attraction to a restaurant or saloon, remaining at each one until the proprietor or an employee suggested that it was time for them to be “movin’, for they didn’t bring any trade to the place.”
This portion of the sight-seeing had occupied the remainder of the forenoon, and then came what the hosts intended should be, and Tom announced was, the “boss part of the day.”
“We’re goin’ right in here, an’ every one is to have a plate of clam chowder,” he said with the air of a millionaire, if indeed millionaires indulge in clam chowder at Coney Island.
Sadie’s eyes opened wide with astonishment as the daring Tom led the way into a restaurant even more magnificent than the “Jim Fisk” establishment on Chatham Street; and, halting his party in the centre of the room, he announced to one of the waiters with not so much as a tremor of his eyelids, that they had “come for a chowder.”
The man looked at these intended customers a moment, as if to decide whether they had sufficient money to pay for the desired refreshments, and then motioned them to a table at the farther corner of the room, although one near the window was without an occupant.
Tom was about to obey the mute command, when Bob stopped him by saying in a hoarse whisper:—
“Look here, if we’ve got to pay for these chowders jest the same as anybody else, I’m goin’ to set where I want to;” and he boldly took a chair from the desired table, seating himself with the air of one who knows his rights and is determined to have them, while the others, with more or less trepidation, followed his example.
Bill Foss did his best to appear perfectly at ease, and so far succeeded that he actually took a fragment of cracker from the plate, and began eating it as if he had a perfect right to indulge his appetite in whatever manner should please him most.
Sadie and Josiah looked uncomfortable, and probably were, during the time of waiting for their refreshments.
Both sat on the edge of their chairs as if undecided whether it would be wise to occupy them in a proper manner; and each gazed at the other in fear and trembling when Bill, emboldened by his first attempt, broke off a second and larger piece of the biscuit, putting it in his mouth at imminent risk of strangling himself.
Tom, thinking of the very important portion of the feast, whispered to Bob:—
“Why didn’t you ask him how much they’d charge to fill us up with chowder?”
“What would I do that for? I reckon they’ll tell us when we get through eatin’, an’ this firm has got money enough to stand the shot, don’t you be afraid of that.”
It certainly seemed as if the waiter was troubled with the same misgivings as Tom; for before bringing them what had been ordered, he returned to the table and asked:—
“Do you want one check, or five, for these chowders?”
He looked directly at Josiah as he spoke; and the boy from Berry’s Corner was beginning to feel much more uncomfortable than before, when Bob said decidedly:—
“I don’t know how many we want; but I’m goin’ to pay for the whole crowd.”
The waiter took a check from among a number of others in his apron pocket, and placed it before the generous host, as if to intimate that it would be better to settle in advance, while a look of consternation, which he tried in vain to hide, came upon Master Green’s face as his eyes rested on the printed figures.
Bill leaned over in order to see more clearly, and then gave vent to a whistle of astonishment; but Bob was determined the waiter should not think him unaccustomed to such bills, and with no little difficulty counted out the required amount.
“How much was it?” Tom asked anxiously, when the waiter had disappeared.
“A dollar and a quarter!”
“What?”
“That’s what I said. I tell you they oughter bring along a slat of stuff if they’re goin’ to charge that much for it. I was countin’ on havin’ a pretty swell dinner; but I guess the chowder is ’bout as far as we’ll go if things keep on at this rate.”
“Well, I reckon they give a good deal, an’ that’s why the price is so high,” Bill said in a soothing tone, and once more made an attack upon the crackers. “Of course if a feller gets all he can eat, I don’t know as it’s very much, considerin’ we’re down to Coney Island.”
Now Josiah was more distressed than ever, because he had added to the liabilities of his friends, and he whispered to Bob:—
“If you’re runnin’ short I can let you have some.”
“Oh, it’s all right. I’ll get through. We didn’t ’low to spend less’n that for dinner, so we’re solid.”
Then the party waited anxiously to see how much chowder they were to receive for the large amount of money expended; and when it was finally brought Bill Foss exclaimed, even before the waiter had left the table:—
“I’ll tell you, fellers, this is growin’ too rich for my blood! Twenty-five cents apiece for them little bowls of chowder, when I can get all I can carry away for five cents, up to the Jim Fisk saloon, kinder looks hard.”
“Well, don’t say anything about it now, Billy. We’ve got inter the scrape, an’ might jest as well enjoy ourselves. There ain’t much of it, I know; but perhaps it’s awful nice,” and Bob set a good example to his friends by attacking his portion without delay.
During the next ten minutes the pleasure-seekers did not indulge in any extended conversation.
The time was fully occupied in trying to extract the value of their money from the food before them, and they had no opportunity for anything else.
It was not until the last crumb had disappeared that Bill Foss asked, as he pushed his chair back a few inches to show that he was perfectly at ease:—
“Well, fellers, now we’ve filled up, whater we goin’ to do?”
“Come outside,” Bob replied; and as the party gained the board-walk he added, “The rest of you stay here while I talk to Tom a minute.”
“They’re goin’ to count up the cash,” Bill Foss whispered as the two stepped behind a candy booth, and Sadie said to Josiah:—
“I’m sorry we went in there to dinner, for the boys spent a good deal more’n they ought to.”
“Now, don’t you go to worryin’ ’bout that. Us fellers will ’tend to the money, an’ if Tom an’ Bob haven’t got enough I’m willin’ to put out all there is in my pocket.”
Then the three waited in something very nearly approaching anxious suspense to learn whether the day’s pleasuring was to end with the eating of the chowder, or if there were sufficient funds at their disposal to admit of a more protracted stay.