The Castaways of Pete's Patch

by Carroll Watson Rankin

  CHAPTER XXIV

  A Mutual Friend

  DURING the blissful summer that Jean, Bettie, Mabel, and Marjory hadspent in Dandelion Cottage, and before the coming of Henrietta, thelittle girls had frequently found themselves in need of real money fortheir make-believe housekeeping. In order to procure the needed funds,they had rented a room to a charming young woman named Miss Blossom.

  Miss Blossom's father, an organ tuner by profession, visited many townsin the course of a year. In July, while the castaways were still incamp, some portion of the Presbyterian organ in Lakeville went wrong;and skilful Mr. Blossom, summoned to that town to repair it, wasaccompanied by his very pleasant daughter. Of course the very firstthing she did was to ask for her young friends.

  "We've only three days to spend here," said she, "but I _should_ liketo see those darling girls--I've thought of them so many, many times."

  "Suppose," said Mrs. Bennett, to whom Miss Blossom had appealed, "yougo to Mr. Saunders--he may be sending things up."

  "Mr. William Saunders?" queried the young woman, with interest. "Oh--Imet him when I was here last summer. Thank you--I'll get father to takeme to his office this noon."

  So that is how it happened that the ever-useful Saunders, who hadbeen commissioned to supply Laddie-Billy with a wardrobe, loaded MissBlossom aboard Captain Berry's launch that very afternoon. And then,feeling certain that the pleasant and very pretty young woman wouldbe lonely with no one but the captain for company, Mr. Saunders addedhimself to the load.

  The castaways, always eager for the arrival of parcels from home, wereall on the beach to welcome the unexpected visitors. Even Billy, whodeclared that he had never felt better in his life, was part of thesunburnt group.

  "I know," lamented Billy, "that those clothes'll be too small--I'vegrown a foot since Mr. Black measured me three days ago."

  "Oh, not a whole foot," protested Mrs. Crane, eying her patient withpride. "But I do think you're a credit to my nursing."

  "It isn't everybody," beamed Billy, "that has such a fine nurse--shallI help with that boat, Mr. Black?"

  "No, Dave'll take her out."

  "Why!" cried Marjory, "there are _people_ getting into Captain Berry'sskiff."

  "I think," said Jean, a moment later, "that the man is Mr. Saunders;but I don't know the lady--I can't see her face."

  "She looks young," said Marjory, with a sigh of relief. "Too young tobe Aunty Jane. Just at first--Ugh! I was scared--Oh! It's----"

  "Why!" cried Billy, springing suddenly to his feet and rushing straighttoward the landing place, "it's Miss Blossom!"

  "Miss Blossom!" gasped Jean, gazing in open-eyed amazement at theothers.

  "Miss Blossom!" echoed Mabel.

  "Miss Blossom!" breathed Bettie. "Oh! Look at Billy! It really _is_Miss Blossom, and he knows her!"

  It certainly looked as if Billy, the unknown castaway, had found afriend; for, not waiting for the boat to land, he had rushed into thewater (it was shallow, you remember, for a long distance) and hadseized the surprised young woman in a bearlike hug.

  "Miss Blossom! Miss Blossom!" he cried, hopefully. "What _is_ my name?"

  "Why, my dear Laddie," returned the overwhelmed (and almost overturned)young woman, "what does all this mean? Never before was I so warmlygreeted by any young man. Is this--Oh, I _see_. You're the sick andshipwrecked boy that Mr. Saunders--but _you're_ not sick!"

  "Not any more," gasped excited Billy, still with an arm about MissBlossom, as if fearful she might escape. "But I can't rememberanything. Tell me, quick--where did I come from?--who am I? I know_you_. I pumped the organ for you--a big church--you played--Oh, tellme, _tell_ me."

  "Wait," pleaded Miss Blossom, "until we're on shore--you'll surely tipus over."

  "All right," agreed Billy, reluctantly. But so great was his eagernessto get his friend ashore that he got behind the boat and pushed.

  "Now," demanded excited Billy, the moment Miss Blossom was out of theboat, "what's the rest of my name? Laddie--Laddie _what_?"

  "I don't know," confessed Miss Blossom, coloring with chagrin."Honestly I don't, Laddie. You see, so many boys have pumped organs forus that I don't always remember even their _first_ names."

  "But," panted Billy, with a catch in his throat, "surely you'llremember the name of the town?"

  "No--o," faltered Miss Blossom, "I'm afraid I don't. I remember yourface and your very bright hair--I can _see_ that bright head bobbingup and down in the light of a stained glass window--but I _don't_know which town or even which state I saw you in. But don't worry,Laddie-boy. My father has a list of all the organs he has ever mended.Now, it must be some time within the last two years that you pumped forus; and it is probable that we stayed with that particular organ for anumber of days, else I wouldn't have had time to learn that you were'Laddie'--I usually call the organ-pumper 'Boy.' Now, when I've lookedat father's list, I'll pick out all the _long_ jobs, discover whattowns they were in, and perhaps Mr. Saunders, here, will write a noticeto insert in the papers that are published in those towns. Don't worry.One of them will certainly be your town. And here are all my preciousgirls patiently waiting to be hugged!"

  Miss Blossom proved a most delightful visitor. The girls wanted tokeep her, Mrs. Crane urged her to stay; but Miss Blossom declared thatshe owed it to Laddie-Billy to get back to Lakeville as speedily aspossible. Captain Berry, also, would remain for only two hours; buteverybody visited fast and furiously for that precious interval oftime--it went all too quickly.

  "I'm quite sure," declared Miss Blossom, at parting, "that father'slist will help."

  "Let me know," pleaded Billy, who had donned his becoming new clotheswithout delay and happily found them sufficiently large, "if you findanything."

  "I surely will," promised Miss Blossom.

  Three days later, Mr. Saunders, this time on horseback, rode into camp.

  "I'm commissioned," he explained, "to say a certain word in Billy'shearing. Where is he?"

  "Getting washed for dinner," replied Henrietta, flourishing thebread-knife toward the river.

  "Don't mention my errand," said Saunders. "I'll spring it on Billy whenwe're all at table--I've invited myself to dinner."

  "We'll let everybody get seated before we call Billy," agreedHenrietta. "And I'll warn the girls. You might tie your horse behindthose bushes and perhaps he won't know you're here until you speak."

  Sure enough, hungry Billy plunged to his place without observing thevisitor; but when the plates were filled, Mr. Saunders suddenly leanedforward, looked at Billy, and remarked casually: "The last time I wasin Pittsburg----"

  "Pittsburg!" gasped Billy, with widening eyes. "Were you ever inPittsburg?"

  "No," admitted Saunders, rather sheepishly. "Were you?"

  "Yes!" yelled Billy, joyously waving his slice of bread."Two-twenty-four Jefferson Street, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; populationthree hundred and twenty-one thousand. _Sure!_ I was _born_ there!That's where I _live_."

  "But how," queried Henrietta, strong in all matters geographical,"could a person set sail from Pittsburg and be wrecked at Pete's Patch,Upper Michigan?"

  "He couldn't," replied Mr. Black.

  "Nevertheless," said Saunders, "I've sent notices to all the Pittsburgpapers--what's that street number again?"

  "I--I don't know," stammered Billy. "It's gone again. I guess it'seasier to think when you're not trying to."

  "Jefferson Street," supplied Marjory, who had remembered.

  Billy nodded. "Yes," said he, "that sounds right. But how did you guessPittsburg, Mr. Saunders?"

  "In Mr. Blossom's note-book there was an item, under the heading'Pittsburg,' that read: 'Paid Laddie one dollar.'"

  "Wonder where it went?" said the boy, turning his empty pockets insideout.

  "By this time to-morrow," promised Saunders, "all Pittsburg will knowthat a Pittsburg boy name Laddie, wrecked on Lake Superior, is aliveand well in--or near--Lakeville."

  "Lost:" murmured Laddie, "a brindle pup; answers to
the name of Billy.Well, I'm awfully obliged, Mr. Saunders; and my folks--I wonder if myfolks _want_ to find me? Do you s'pose they do?"

  "I'm sure of it," declared Mrs. Crane. "But if they don't, _I'll_ keepyou."

  "Nobody'd ever think," sniffed Mabel, overcome with emotion, "that_I'd_ found that boy--everybody adopting him all the time."

  "You found Rosa Marie, too, didn't you?" teased Billy. "Well, I refuseto be a twin sister to Rosa Marie."

  "Who," asked Saunders, "is Rosa Marie?"

  "She's a relative," remarked Mr. Black, dryly, "that Dave imported forthe express purpose of eating our berries. Dave, it seems, not onlylives here himself but entertains his relatives at our expense."

  "And Peter encourages Dave in all his iniquity," added Mrs. Crane.

  "And," laughed Bettie, "Mrs. Crane cooks for Dave and all his visitors."

  "Well," admitted Mrs. Crane, "they'd either starve or steal if Ididn't."

  "Dave," said Marjory, who had learned much of the Gurneau familyhistory from the friendly Indian, "has nine brothers and sevensisters--his mother had seventeen children."

  "Good gracious!" exclaimed Mr. Black, "do they _all_ live here attimes?"

  "No," laughed Marjory. "Most of them are in Canada."

  "Dear me," breathed Mrs. Crane, fervently, "I hope they'll stay there."