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04 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter four, A new home keep still, whispered Jess. Benny obeyed.
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  The three children were as motionless as stone images, huddled inside the freight car.
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  Jess opened her mouth in order to breathe at all. Her heart was
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  thumping so wildly. She watched like a cat through the open door in the
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  direction of the rustling noise, and in a moment, the trembling bushes parted
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  and out crawled a dog. He was an Airdale and was pulling himself along
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  on three legs, whimpering softly. Jess drew a long breath of relief and
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  said to the children, it's all right, only a dog, but he
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  seems to be hurt. At the sound of her voice, the dog lifted
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  his eyes and wagged his tail feebly. He held up his front foot.
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  Poor doggie, murmured Jess soothingly, as she clambered out of the car.
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  Are let Jess see your poor lame foot. She approached the dog carefully,
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  for she remembered that her mother had always told her never to touch a strange
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  dog unless he wagged his tail. But this dog's tail was wagging certainly,
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  so Jess bent over without fear to look at the paw. An exclamation of
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  pity escaped her when she saw it, for a stiff, sharp thorn had
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  been driven completely through one of the cushions of the dog's foot and around it
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  the blood had dried. I guess I can fix that, said Jess briskly.
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  But taking the thorn out is going to hurt you, old fellow.
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  The dog looked up at her as she laid his paw down and licked her
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  hand. Come here, Violet, and Benny, directed Jess. She took
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  the animal gently in her lap and turned him on his side. She patted
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  his head and stroked his nose with one finger, and offered him the rest
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  of her bread crust, which she had put in her apron pocket. The
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  dog snapped it up as if he were nearly starved. Then she held the
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  soft paw firmly with her left hand and pulled steadily on the thorn with her
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  right hand. The dog did not utter a sound. He lay motionless in
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  her lap until the thorn suddenly let go and lay in Jess's hand. Good
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  good, cried Violet. Wet my handkerchief, Jess ordered, briskly. Violet
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  did so, dipping it in the running brook. Jess wrapped the cool wet
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  folds around the hot paw and gently squeezed it against the wound, the dog,
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  meanwhile trying to lick her hands. We'll sprise Henry, won't we,
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  laughed Benny, delightedly. Now we got a dog, to be sure,
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  said Jess, struck with the thought. But that isn't what I intended for
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  a surprise, you know, I was intending to get a lot of blueberries
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  and maybe find some old dishes in a dump or something. Can't we look
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  while you hold the dog, asked Violet anxiously. Of course you can,
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  pet, said Jess. Look over there by those rocks. Benny and Violet
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  scrambled through the underbrush to the place Jess pointed out and investigated. But they
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  did not hunt long, for the blueberries were so thick that the bushes almost
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  bent over with their weight. Oh, Jessie, screamed Benny. You never
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  saw so many in your life. What do'll we pick em into? Come
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  and get a clean towel, said Jess, who noticed that Benny was already
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  picking into his own mouth. But that's just as well, she thought,
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  because he won't get so hungry waiting for the milk. She watched the two
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  children for a moment as they dropped handfuls of the bluish globes on the towel.
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  Then she carefully got up with her little patient and went over and sat
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  down in the center of the patch. The berries were so thick that she
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  did not have to change her position before the towel held over a quart.
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  Oh dear, sighed Jess. I wish I could hunt for some dishes so
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  we could have blueberries and milk. Never mind, tonight, said Violet.
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  We can just eat a handful of berries and then take a drink of milk
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  when Henry comes. But it was even better than that, For when Henry
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  came, he had two bottles of milk under one arm, a huge loaf
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  of brown bread under the other, and some golden cheese and waxed paper in
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  his pocket. But you should have seen Henry's stare when he saw what Jess
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  was holding. Where in the world began the boy he came to us,
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  volunteered Benny, he came for a spries for you, and he's a nice
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  doggie. Henry knelt down to look at the visitor, who wagged his tail.
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  It wouldn't be a bad thing. To have a watch dog, said
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  Henry. I was worried about you all the time I was gone. Did
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  you bring some milk, inquired Benny, trying to be polite, but looking
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  at the bottles with long, longing eyes. Bless his heart, said Jess,
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  struggling to her feet with the dog. We'll have dinner right away,
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  or is it supper? Call it supper, suggested Henry, for it's the
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  last thing we'll have to eat to day, and then tomorrow we'll start having
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  three meals every day, laughed Jess. It was certainly a queer meal,
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  whatever it was. Jess, who liked above all things to be orderly,
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  spread out the big gray laundry bag on the pine needles for a tablecloth.
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  The brown loaf was cut by a very excited little Hostess into five thick squares,
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  the cheese into four dogs. Don't eat cheese, Benny remarked, cheerfully.
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  The poor little fellow was glad of it too, for he was very
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  hungry. He could hardly wait for Jess to set the milk bottles in the
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  center of the table and heap the blueberries in four little mounds, one at
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  each place. I'm sorry we haven't cups. Jess remarked, we'll just have
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  to drink out of the same bottle. No, we won't, said Henry.
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  We'll drink half of each bottle, so that will make at least two
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  things to drink out of. Good for you, Henry, said Jess,
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  much relieved. You and Bennie use one, and Violet and I will use
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  the other. So the meal began, look, Benny directed Henry. Eat
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  a handful of berries. Then take a bite of brown bread, then a
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  nibble of cheese. Now a drink of milk. It's good, it's good,
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  mumbled Benny to himself. All through the meal. You must not imagine
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  that the poor wandering dog was neglected, for Jess fed him gently as he
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  lay in her lap, poking morsels of bread into his mouth and pouring milk
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  into her own hand for him to lap up. When the meal was over,
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  and exactly half of each bottle of milk remained, Jess said, we
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  are going to sleep on beds tonight, and just as soon as we get
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  our beds made, we are all going to be washed. That'll be fun,
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  Benny added Violet. We'll wash our paws and the brook just the way
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  cinnamon does first, let's gather armfuls of dry pine needles, ordered Jess.
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  Get those on top that have been lying in the sunshine. Jess laid the
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  dog down on a bed of moss as she spoke, and started energetically to
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  scoop up piles of the fragrant needles. Soon a pile as high as her
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  head stood just under the freight car door. I think we have enough,
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  she said at last. Taking the scissors from Violet's work bag, she cut
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  the laundry bag carefully into two pieces, saving the cord for a clothes sign.
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  One of the big squares was laid across Benny's hay, and tucked under
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  that was the softest bed of all, Violet's apron and her own. She
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  cut off at the belt. I'll sleep next to Benny, said Henry,
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  with my head up by the door. Then I can hear what is going
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  on. A big pile of pine needles loaded into the freight car for Henry's
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  bed and covered with the other half of the laundry bag. The remainder of
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  the needles, Jess piled into the farthest corner of the car for herself and
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  Violet. We'll all sleep on one side, so we can call it the
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  bedroom. What'll be the other side, inquired Benny. The other side,
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  repeated Jess. Let me think. I guess that'll be the sitting room,
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  and perhaps some of the time the kitchen on rainy days, maybe the dining
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  room, added Henry with a wink. Couldn't it be the parlor, begged
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  Benny. Certainly the parlor. We forgot that, agreed Jess, returning the
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  wink. She was covering the last two soft beds with the two aprons.
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  The tops of these aprons are washcloths, she said severely. Then, armed
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  with the big cake of soap, she led the way to the brook.
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  The dog watched them anxiously, but when Jess said, lie still, he
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  obeyed. From the moment Jess drew the thorn from his foot, he was
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  her dog to obey her slightest command and to follow her wherever she went.
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  The clean, cool brook was delightful, even to Benny. The children rolled
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  up their sleeves and plunged their dusty arms into its waters, coarreling good naturedly
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  over the soap and lathering their stained faces and necks with it. When they
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  were well rinsed with clear water, they dried themselves with the towel. Then
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  Jess washed both towels nicely with soap, rinsed them, and hung them on
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  the clothes sign of tape, which she had stretched between two slender birch trees.
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  They flapped lazily in the wind. Looks like home already, Jess,
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  said Henry, smiling at the washing. The tired children clambered into the bedroom,
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  Jess coming last with the wounded dog. We'll have to leave the door
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  open, it's so hot, said Henry, lying down with a tired sigh.
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  And less than ten minutes they were fast asleep dog, and all asleep
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  at six o'clock, asleep, without naming the dog, without locking the door,
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  without fear. For this was the first night in four that they had
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  been able to go to sleep at night as children should. End of Chapter four