care if he does,” muttered Dan.
“We’ll ask him not to, all of us,” said Demi, and the others assented.
Dan only said, “Don’t bother about me.”
When Mr. Bhaer saw the animal, and heard the story, he said very little. Buttercup was made comfortable in her stall, and the boys sent to their rooms till supper-time. Dan whistled briskly in his room. He knew they tried to help him, and at the bottom of his heart he was grateful, but his rough life had made him hard and careless, suspicious and wilful. He hated restraint of any sort, and fought against it like an untamed creature.
Mr. Bhaer came in, and said,
“I have heard all about it, Dan, and though you have broken the rules again, I am going to give you one more trial, to please Mother Bhaer.”
“I didn’t know there was any rule about bull-fighting.”
“As I never expected to have any at Plumfield, I never did make such a rule,” answered Mr. Bhaer. Then he added gravely, “But one of the first and most important of our few laws is the law of kindness to every dumb creature on the place. I want everybody and everything to be happy here, to love and trust, and serve us, as we try to love and trust and serve them faithfully and willingly. I have often said that you were kinder to the animals than any of the other boys, and Mrs. Bhaer liked that trait in you very much. She thought it showed a good heart. But you have disappointed us in that, and we are sorry, for we hoped to make you quite one of us. Shall we try again?”
Dan’s eyes had been on the floor, but when he heard the kind voice ask that question, he looked up quickly,
“Yes, please.”
“Very well, then, we will say no more, only you will stay at home from the walk tomorrow.”
“I will.”
“Now, go down to supper, and do your best, my boy.”
Dan tried for a day or two, but soon relapsed into his old wilful ways. Mr. Bhaer was called from home on business one day, and the boys had no lessons. They liked this, and played till bedtime. Dan, however, had a plan in his head, and when he and Nat were alone, he unfolded it.
“Look here!” he said, taking from under his bed a bottle, a cigar, and a pack of cards, “I’m going to have some fun. Here’s some beer, I got if of the old man at the station, and this cigar. You can pay for them or Tommy will, he’s got heaps of money and I haven’t a cent.”
“The folks won’t like it,” began Nat.
“They won’t know. Daddy Bhaer is away, and Mrs. Bhaer’s busy with Ted; she can’t leave him. We shan’t sit up late or make any noise, so where’s the harm?”
“Asia will know if we burn the lamp long, she always does.”
“No, she won’t, I’ve got a dark lantern[17]; it don’t give much light. We can shut it quick if we hear anyone coming,” said Dan.
Nat obeyed, and returned in a minute with Tommy half dressed, but quite ready for fun as usual.
“Now, keep quiet, and I’ll show you how to play a wonderful game called ‘Poker,’” said Dan, as the three revellers gathered round the table, on which were set forth the bottle, the cigar, and the cards. “First we’ll all have a drink, then we’ll smoke, and then we’ll play. Men do like this, and it’s jolly fun.”
All three drank beer, though Nat and Tommy did not like it. The cigar was worse still, but they dared not say so, and each smoked till he was dizzy or choked. Dan liked it very much. He drank, and smoked, and swaggered, and he soon began to swear.
“You mustn’t; it’s wicked to say ‘Damn!’” cried Tommy.
“Oh! Don’t you preach, but play. It’s part of the fun to swear.”
“I’d rather say ‘thunder turtles,’” said Tommy, who had composed this interesting exclamation and was very proud of it.
“And I’ll say ‘The Devil;’ that sounds well,” added Nat.
Dan scoffed at their “nonsense,” and swore stoutly as he tried to teach them the new game. But Tommy was very sleepy, and Nat’s head began to ache with the beer and the smoke. The room was nearly dark, for the lantern burned badly. They could not laugh loud, for Silas slept next door in the shed-chamber, and altogether the party was dull. In the middle of the game Dan stopped suddenly, and called out, “Who’s that?”, and at the same moment drew the slide over the light. A voice in the darkness said tremulously, “I can’t find Tommy”.
“It’s Demi! Go to bed, Tom, and be silent!” cried Dan, beginning to tear off his clothes, while Nat did the same.
Tommy flew to his room and dived into bed, where he lay, laughing till something burned his hand, when he discovered that he was still clutching the stump of the festive cigar, which he was
smoking.
Tommy was snoring in ten minutes. The cigar did not go out, but smouldered away, and a hungry little flame went along the bedcover. It caught the sheets, and then the bed itself. The beer made Tommy sleep heavily, and the smoke stupefied Demi, so they slept on till the fire began to scorch them.
Franz was studying that time, and as he left the school-room he smelt the smoke, dashed up-stairs and saw it coming in a cloud from the left wing of the house. He ran into the room, dragged the boys from the blazing bed, and splashed the water to the flames. It did not quench
the fire, and the children wakened and began to roar. Mrs. Bhaer instantly appeared, and a minute after Silas burst out of his room shouting, “Fire!” in a tone that raised the whole house. For a minute every one was panic-stricken.
Then Mrs. Bhaer sent Franz and Silas downstairs for some tubs of wet clothes which she flung on the bed, over the carpet, and up against the curtains. Most of the boys stood dumbly looking on, but Dan and Emil worked bravely, running to and fro with water from the bath-room, and helping to pull down the curtains.
The peril was soon over. Mrs. Bhaer and Franz went to see how the poor boys got on. Demi had escaped with one burn and a grand scare. Tommy had not only most of his hair scorched off his head, but a great burn on his arm, that made him half crazy with the pain. Franz took Demi away to his own bed, where the kind lad soothed his fright and hummed him to sleep as cosily as a woman. Nursey watched over poor Tommy all night, trying to ease his misery.
When Mr. Bhaer got home next morning he found a nice state of things. Tommy in bed, Teddy wheezing like a little grampus, Mrs. Jo exhausted, and the boys so excited that they all talked at once, and almost dragged him to view the ruins.
There was no school that morning, but by afternoon the invalids were better, and there was time to hear and judge the little culprits quietly. Nat and Tommy told their parts in the mischief, and were honestly sorry for the danger they had brought to the dear old house and all in it. But Dan put on his devil-may-care look[18].
Mr. Bhaer hated drinking, gambling, and swearing. It grieved and angered him deeply to find that the boy, with whom he had tried to be most forbearing, took advantage of his absence to introduce these forbidden vices, and teach his innocent little lads to think it manly and pleasant to indulge in them. He talked long and earnestly to the assembled boys,
“I think Tommy is punished enough, and that scar on his arm will remind him for a long time to let these things alone. Nat’s fright will be enough for him, for he is really sorry, and does try to obey me. But you, Dan, have been many times forgiven, and yet it does no good. I cannot have my boys hurt by your bad example, nor my time wasted in talking to deaf ears. So you can say good-bye to them all, and tell Nursey to put up your things in my little black bag.”
“Oh! sir, where is he going?” cried Nat.
“To a pleasant place up in the country, where I sometimes send boys when they don’t do well here. Mr. Page is a kind man, and Dan will be happy there, I hope.”
“Will