Little Men: Life at Plumfield With Jo's Boys
call it, but the very natural desire of all young people for liberty. I
used to feel just so, and once, I really did think for a minute that I
would bolt.”
“Why didn't you?” said Dan, coming to lean on the low window-ledge, with
an evident desire to continue the subject.
“I knew it was foolish, and love for my mother kept me at home.”
“I haven't got any mother,” began Dan.
“I thought you had now,” said Mrs. Jo, gently stroking the rough hair
off his hot forehead.
“You are no end good to me, and I can't ever thank you enough, but it
just isn't the same, is it?” and Dan looked up at her with a wistful,
hungry look that went to her heart.
“No, dear, it is not the same, and never can be. I think an own mother
would have been a great deal to you. But as that cannot be, you must
try to let me fill her place. I fear I have not done all I ought, or you
would not want to leave me,” she added, sorrowfully.
“Yes, you have!” cried Dan, eagerly. “I don't want to go, and I won't
go, if I can help it; but every now and then I feel as if I must burst
out somehow. I want to run straight ahead somewhere, to smash something,
or pitch into somebody. Don't know why, but I do, and that's all about
it.”
Dan laughed as he spoke, but he meant what he said, for he knit his
black brows, and brought down his fist on the ledge with such force,
that Mrs. Jo's thimble flew off into the grass. He brought it back, and
as she took it she held the big, brown hand a minute, saying, with a
look that showed the words cost her something,
“Well, Dan, run if you must, but don't run very far; and come back to me
soon, for I want you very much.”
He was rather taken aback by this unexpected permission to play truant,
and somehow it seemed to lessen his desire to go. He did not understand
why, but Mrs. Jo did, and, knowing the natural perversity of the human
mind, counted on it to help her now. She felt instinctively that the
more the boy was restrained the more he would fret against it; but leave
him free, and the mere sense of liberty would content him, joined to the
knowledge that his presence was dear to those whom he loved best. It was
a little experiment, but it succeeded, for Dan stood silent a moment,
unconsciously picking the fan to pieces and turning the matter over
in his mind. He felt that she appealed to his heart and his honor,
and owned that he understood it by saying presently, with a mixture of
regret and resolution in his face,
“I won't go yet awhile, and I'll give you fair warning before I bolt.
That's fair, isn't it?”
“Yes, we will let it stand so. Now, I want to see if I can't find some
way for you to work off your steam better than running about the place
like a mad dog, spoiling my fans, or fighting with the boys. What can we
invent?” and while Dan tried to repair the mischief he had done, Mrs.
Jo racked her brain for some new device to keep her truant safe until he
had learned to love his lessons better.
“How would you like to be my express-man?” she said, as a sudden thought
popped into her head.
“Go into town, and do the errands?” asked Dan, looking interested at
once.
“Yes; Franz is tired of it, Silas cannot be spared just now, and Mr.
Bhaer has no time. Old Andy is a safe horse, you are a good driver, and
know your way about the city as well as a postman. Suppose you try it,
and see if it won't do most as well to drive away two or three times a
week as to run away once a month.”
“I'd like it ever so much, only I must go alone and do it all myself. I
don't want any of the other fellows bothering round,” said Dan, taking
to the new idea so kindly that he began to put on business airs already.
“If Mr. Bhaer does not object you shall have it all your own way. I
suppose Emil will growl, but he cannot be trusted with horses, and you
can. By the way, to-morrow is market-day, and I must make out my list.
You had better see that the wagon is in order, and tell Silas to have
the fruit and vegetables ready for mother. You will have to be up early
and get back in time for school, can you do that?”
“I'm always an early bird, so I don't mind,” and Dan slung on his jacket
with despatch.
“The early bird got the worm this time, I'm sure,” said Mrs. Jo,
merrily.
“And a jolly good worm it is,” answered Dan, as he went laughing away to
put a new lash to the whip, wash the wagon, and order Silas about with
all the importance of a young express-man.
“Before he is tired of this I will find something else and have it ready
when the next restless fit comes on,” said Mrs. Jo to herself, as she
wrote her list with a deep sense of gratitude that all her boys were not
Dans.
Mr. Bhaer did not entirely approve of the new plan, but agreed to give
it a trial, which put Dan on his mettle, and caused him to give up
certain wild plans of his own, in which the new lash and the long
hill were to have borne a part. He was up and away very early the next
morning, heroically resisting the temptation to race with the milkmen
going into town. Once there, he did his errands carefully, to Mr.
Bhaer's surprise and Mrs. Jo's great satisfaction. The Commodore did
growl at Dan's promotion, but was pacified by a superior padlock to his
new boat-house, and the thought that seamen were meant for higher honors
than driving market-wagons and doing family errands. So Dan filled
his new office well and contentedly for weeks, and said no more about
bolting. But one day Mr. Bhaer found him pummelling Jack, who was
roaring for mercy under his knee.
“Why, Dan, I thought you had given up fighting,” he said, as he went to
the rescue.
“We ain't fighting, we are only wrestling,” answered Dan, leaving off
reluctantly.
“It looks very much like it, and feels like it, hey, Jack?” said Mr.
Bhaer, as the defeated gentleman got upon his legs with difficulty.
“Catch me wrestling with him again. He's most knocked my head off,”
snarled Jack, holding on to that portion of his frame as if it really
was loose upon his shoulders.
“The fact is, we began in fun, but when I got him down I couldn't help
pounding him. Sorry I hurt you, old fellow,” explained Dan, looking
rather ashamed of himself.
“I understand. The longing to pitch into somebody was so strong you
couldn't resist. You are a sort of Berserker, Dan, and something to
tussle with is as necessary to you as music is to Nat,” said Mr. Bhaer,
who knew all about the conversation between the boy and Mrs. Jo.
“Can't help it. So if you don't want to be pounded you'd better keep out
of the way,” answered Dan, with a warning look in his black eyes that
made Jack sheer off in haste.
“If you want something to wrestle with, I will give you a tougher
specimen than Jack,” said Mr. Bhaer; and, leading the way to the
wood-yard, he pointed out certain roots of trees that had been grubbed
up in the spring, and had been lying there waiting to be split.
“There, when you feel inclined to maltreat the boys, just come and work
off your energies here, and I'll thank you for it.”
“So I will;” and, seizing the axe that lay near Dan hauled out a tough
root, and went at it so vigorously, that the chips flew far and wide,
and Mr. Bhaer fled for his life.
To his great amusement, Dan took him at his word, and was often seen
wrestling with the ungainly knots, hat and jacket off, red face, and
wrathful eyes; for he got into royal rages over some of his adversaries,
and swore at them under his breath till he had conquered them, when he
exulted, and marched off to the shed with an armful of gnarled oak-wood
in triumph. He blistered his hands, tired his back, and dulled the axe,
but it did him good, and he got more comfort out of the ugly roots than
any one dreamed, for with each blow he worked off some of the pent-up
power that would otherwise have been expended in some less harmless way.
“When this is gone I really don't know what I shall do,” said Mrs. Jo
to herself, for no inspiration came, and she was at the end of her
resources.
But Dan found a new occupation for himself, and enjoyed it some time
before any one discovered the cause of his contentment. A fine young
horse of Mr. Laurie's was kept at Plumfield that summer, running loose
in a large pasture across the brook. The boys were all interested in the
handsome, spirited creature, and for a time were fond of watching him
gallop and frisk with his plumey tail flying, and his handsome head
in the air. But they soon got tired of it, and left Prince Charlie to
himself. All but Dan, he never tired of looking at the horse, and seldom
failed to visit him each day with a lump of sugar, a bit of bread, or
an apple to make him welcome. Charlie was grateful, accepted his
friendship, and the two loved one another as if they felt some tie
between them, inexplicable but strong. In whatever part of the wide
field he might be, Charlie always came at full speed when Dan whistled
at the bars, and the boy was never happier than when the beautiful,
fleet creature put its head on his shoulder, looking up at him with fine
eyes full of intelligent affection.
“We understand one another without any palaver, don't we, old fellow?”
Dan would say, proud of the horse's confidence, and, so jealous of his
regard, that he told no one how well the friendship prospered, and never
asked anybody but Teddy to accompany him on these daily visits.
Mr. Laurie came now and then to see how Charlie got on, and spoke of
having him broken to harness in the autumn.
“He won't need much taming, he is such a gentle, fine-tempered brute. I
shall come out and try him with a saddle myself some day,” he said, on
one of these visits.
“He lets me put a halter on him, but I don't believe he will bear a
saddle even if you put it on,” answered Dan, who never failed to be
present when Charlie and his master met.
“I shall coax him to bear it, and not mind a few tumbles at first. He
has never been harshly treated, so, though he will be surprised at the
new performance, I think he won't be frightened, and his antics will do
no harm.”
“I wonder what he would do,” said Dan to himself, as Mr. Laurie went
away with the Professor, and Charlie returned to the bars, from which he
had retired when the gentlemen came up.
A daring fancy to try the experiment took possession of the boy as he
sat on the topmost rail with the glossy back temptingly near him.
Never thinking of danger, he obeyed the impulse, and while Charlie
unsuspectingly nibbled at the apple he held, Dan quickly and quietly
took his seat. He did not keep it long, however, for with an astonished
snort, Charlie reared straight up, and deposited Dan on the ground. The
fall did not hurt him, for the turf was soft, and he jumped up, saying,
with a laugh,
“I did it anyway! Come here, you rascal, and I'll try it again.”
But Charlie declined to approach, and Dan left him resolving to succeed
in the end; for a struggle like this suited him exactly. Next time he
took a halter, and having got it on, he played with the horse for a
while, leading him to and fro, and putting him through various antics
till he was a little tired; then Dan sat on the wall and gave him bread,
but watched his chance, and getting a good grip of the halter, slipped
on to his back. Charlie tried the old trick, but Dan held on, having had
practice with Toby, who occasionally had an obstinate fit, and tried to
shake off his rider. Charlie was both amazed and indignant; and after
prancing for a minute, set off at a gallop, and away went Dan heels over
head. If he had not belonged to the class of boys who go through all
sorts of dangers unscathed, he would have broken his neck; as it was, he
got a heavy fall, and lay still collecting his wits, while Charlie tore
round the field tossing his head with every sign of satisfaction at