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06 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter six, Earning a Living. Henry had all sorts of packages under his
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  arm and in his pockets, but he wouldn't open them or tell a thing
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  about his adventures until dinner was ready. He said, Yes, you're a
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  wonder, he exclaimed, when he saw the dishes and the shelf. The
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  big kettle was selected, and they all began to pick blueberries as fast as
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  they could, telling Henry meanwhile all about the wonderful dump. At last,
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  the tablecloth was spread, and Henry unwrapped his parcels before the whole excited family.
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  I bought some more brown bread, he said, producing the loaves,
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  and some more milk, in the same little store where I went yesterday.
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  It's kept by a little old man, and it's called a delicatessen shop.
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  He has everything in his store to eat. I've bought some dried beef because
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  we can eat it in our fingers. And I bought a big bone for
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  the dog. His name is Watch. Jess interrupted. All right, said
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  Henry, accepting the name. I bought a bone for Watch. Watch fell
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  on the bone as if he were famished, which indeed he nearly was.
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  It was a rapturous moment when Jess poured the yellow milk into four cups or
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  bowls, and each child proceeded to crumble the brown bread into it with a
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  liberal scattering of blueberries, and then when they ate it with spoons. Nobody
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  was able to speak a word for several minutes. Then Henry began slowly to
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  tell his tale. I earned a dollar just this morning, he began,
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  proudly. I walked along the first shady street. I came to nice houses,
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  you know, and there was a fellow out mowing his own lawn.
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  He's a nice fellow too, I can tell you. A young doctor.
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  Henry paused to chew blissfully. He was pretty hot. Henry went on,
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  and just as I came to the gate, his telephone rang. I heard
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  it and called after him and asked if he didn't want me to finish up,
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  and he said he did, cried Jess, Yes, he said,
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  for goodness sake, yes, Henry answered, smiling. You see, he
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  wasn't used to it. So I mowed the lawn and trimmed the edges.
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  And he said he never had a boy trim it as well as I did.
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  And then he asked me if I wanted a steady job. Oh,
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  Henry cried, Violet and Jess together. I told him I did so.
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  He said to come back this afternoon any time I wanted, or tomorrow.
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  He said he didn't care, just when, any time. Henry gave his
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  cup a last polish with his spoon and set it down dreamily. It's a
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  pretty house, he went on. And there's a big garden behind it,
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  vegetable garden, and an orchard behind that, cherry orchard. He ought to
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  see the cherry trees well. When I was trimming the edges near the kitchen
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  door, the cook came and watched me. She's a fat irishwoman, Henry
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  laughed at the recollection. She asked me if I liked cookies. Oh,
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  if you had smelled them baking, you'd have died, laughing, Benny delicious,
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  So I said I did, and she passed me out one, and
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  when she went back in, I put it in my pocket. Did she
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  see you, asked jess anxiously. Oh no, said Henry confidently, For
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  I carefully chewed away for a long time on nothing at all. Benny began
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  to look fixedly at Henry's pocket. It certainly was still rather bulgy. When
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  I went the doctor paid me a dollar, and the cook gave me this
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  bag. Henry grinned as he tossed the paper bag to Jess. Inside were
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  twelve ginger cookies with scalloped edges, smelling faintly of cinnamon and sugar. I'm
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  going to keep track of everything I earn and spend, said Henry, watching
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  Jess as she handed around the cookies with reverence. How are you going to
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  write without a pencil, asked Jess. There are pieces of tailor chalk in
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  my work bag, said Violet. Henry gave his younger sister a gentle pat
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  as she returned with her work bag and fished for the chalk. While the
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  girls rinsed the empty dishes in the brook and stored away the food for supper,
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  Henry was beginning his cash account on the wall of his bedroom. It
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  was never erased, and Henry often now looks at the account with great affection.
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  Soon the girls came to inspect it. Meanwhile, Benny looked on with
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  great delight as Watch tried to bury his bone. With only one paw to
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  dig with earned one dollar cash on hand, three dollars eighty five cents,
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  read Jess aloud. Below he had written milk twenty four cents, bread ten
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  cents, bread twenty cents, cheese ten cents, milk twenty four cents,
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  beef twenty cents, bone five cents, cloth ten cents cloth, exclaimed Violet,
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  What on earth? Henry laughed a little and watched her face as he
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  drew out his last package and handed it to her. I thought we ought
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  to have a tablecloth, he explained, So I got a yard at the
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  ten cent store. But it isn't hemmed. Of course, with a cry
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  of delight, Violet unwrapped the brown cloth with its edge of blue. Her
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  clever fingers were already evening the two ends. She was never so happy as
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  when with a needle. Henry set off again with a light heart. Here
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  was one sister curled up happily against a big tree, setting tiny stitches into
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  a very straight hem Here was another sister busily gathering pliant twigs into a bundle
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  for a broom with which to sweep the stray pine needles from the house.
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  And here was Benny, curled up sound asleep on the ground with the dog
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  for a pillow. It was quite late when Henry returned. In fact,
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  it was nearly seven o'clock, although he didn't know that several treasures had been
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  added in his absence. The broom stood proudly in the corner with a slim
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  stick for a handle. The new tablecloth had been washed and was drying on
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  the line, and Jess, who had decided to wash one garment a day,
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  had begun with Benny's stockings. When Henry came, they were being put
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  on again with much pride by Benny himself. Violet had darned a big hole
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  in each. This time, Henry himself could not wait to tell his sisters
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  what he had. He passed them the package at once with shining eyes.
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  Butter, cried Jess with a radiant face. It was butter, cool and
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  sweet. Nobody remembered that they had been a week without tasting either butter or
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  meat when at last they sat down to their royal supper. These are trick
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  spoons, explained Henry. Turn them upside down and use the handle, and
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  they become knives. They were knives anyway. They were used to spread the
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  delicious morsels of butter on the brown loaf with dried beef and a cookie for
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  dessert. Who could ask for better fare? Certainly not the four children,
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  who enjoyed it more than the rarest dainties. I washed the doctor's automobile this
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  afternoon, Henry related. Then I washed both piazzas with the hose, and
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  tomorrow I'm going to hoe in the garden. Oh, wouldn't I love to
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  have a nice cold swim in that brook? Henry was hot and sticky.
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  Certainly, he looked with longing eyes at the waterfall as he finished the last
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  crumbs of his supper. I wonder if we couldn't fix up a regular swimming
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  pool, he said, half to himself. Of course we could, replied
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  Violet, as if nothing were too difficult. Jess and I know where there
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  are big logs and big flat stones. You do, eh, said Henry,
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  staring at his gentle little sister. Well why couldn't we, Henry struck
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  in Jess. Just a little below this there is a sort of pool already,
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  only not big enough. We sure could, cried Henry. Some day
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  I'll stay home from work and we'll see. Nobody realized that Henry had been
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  working only one day and all anyway, it seemed as if they had always
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  lived in the comfortable home in the freight car with Henry, plying back and
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  forth from the city each day, bringing them new surprises. Henry went to
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  bed that night with a head full of plans for damming up the brook.
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  He almost shouted when he thought suddenly of Benny's wheels. He began to plan
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  to make a cart to carry the heavy stones to the brook, and that
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  was when he first noticed that Watch was not asleep. He could see his
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  eyes shining red in the darkness. It must have been around eleven o'clock.
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  Henry reached over and patted his rough little back. Watch licked the hand but
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  didn't close his eyes. Suddenly he began to growl softly, sh said Henry
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  to the dog. Now thoroughly startled, he sat up. Jess sat up.
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  They did not hear a sound. Better shut the door, breathed Henry.
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  Together they rolled the door very slowly and softly, until it was shut.
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  Still, they did not hear anything, but still Watch continued his uneasy
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  growling. Violet and Benny slumbered on. Jess and Henry sat motionless with their
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  hearts and their mouths. Supposing it was some other tramp, whispered Jess.
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  Somebody that wanted to sleep here, Watch would bite em whispered Henry briefly.
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  Jess never knew what confidence Henry had in the faithful dog. Then a branch
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  cracked sharply outside, and Watch barked out loud. Jess smothered the dog instantly
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  in her arms, but it had been a bark, and it was loud,
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  clear and unmistakable. That settles it, thought Henry, whoever it is,
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  knows there's some one in here. And the boy waited with the new
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  broom in his hand, expecting every moment to see the door opened from the
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  outside. But nothing happened, nothing at all. The children sat in perfect
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  silence for at least a half hour, and nothing more was heard. Watch
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  sniffed a little when Henry finally rolled the door open again, but he then
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  turned around three times and lay down beside Jess, apparently satisfied at last,
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  Taking the dog's conduct as a sure guide, Henry composed himself for sleep.
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  It must have been a rabbit or something, he said to Jess. The
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  occupants of the freight car slept peacefully until morning. End of Chapter six