CHAPTER XIV

SAM SMALLING MAKES A PROMISE

For the time being Ralph forgot all about the fact that he was nearly due on the baseball field that afternoon. Sam Smalling’s words seemed to indicate that he might be in possession of some knowledge concerning the things which the boy was fairly wild to know.

“Oh! what do you mean?” he asked, in trembling tones, as he came back to clutch the sleeve of the man’s shirt eagerly, and fasten a pair of anxious eyes on his face.

Smalling was visibly shaken. He tried to avoid the gaze of Ralph at first, and looked down at his feet in the manner of a man whose sins had suddenly arisen to confound him.

“You must know something about me, Mr. Smalling, or you wouldn’t have said what you did. I’ve only recently learned that I was adopted by the people I’ve always believed to be my own parents; and ever since that time I’ve been just wild to learn who I am. Do you know?” demanded Ralph.

The other moved uneasily, and his rather shifty eyes still refused to meet the penetrating gaze of the boy.

“Mebbe I do, and again mebbe I don’t. Come and see me again, boy, and perhaps I can help you find out what you want,” he muttered, with a shake of the head, as if not wholly satisfied to speak more plainly off-hand.

“But why not now? Oh! if you only knew how I lie awake nights wondering and wishing, I’m sure you’d tell me all you know, sir. It’s a terrible thing to be ignorant of who you are! No matter what my parents may have been, I’d rather know than keep on this way. Please tell me!” Ralph pleaded.

“Not just now. It comes on me too sudden like. I must have time to think it over and see just where I stand. There’s more than one thing to be considered. But I’ll tell you this, Ralph, after what you’ve done for my little girl to-day I’m mighty much inclined to break my word, and speak soon.”

“Then I suppose I’ll just have to wait, Mr. Smalling; but I do hope you’ll not be too long. When can I come to see you about it, sir?” Ralph went on, meaning to strike while the iron was hot.

“Come to-night, then. And I reckon you can expect to hear something that will do you good. But we must get off now. I’m anxious to get Mary to town, so a doctor can look after her hand; and as for you, the sooner you drop in on that baseball game the better, I reckon,” said the man, hurrying over to where the owner of the flour mill seemed to be working.

Then Ralph remembered that his time was not his own--that there would by now be a tremendous crowd assembled on the athletic grounds, watching the snappy work of the rival teams, and his absence must be causing the Columbia High players considerable anxiety, to say the least.

Some of the spectators, who happened to know that Ralph was slated to go in the box in place of Frank Allen, would even be cruel enough to declare that the novice must have been attacked with a case of stage fright, and retreated from the grounds after seeing the immense throng which he would have to face.

So Ralph tried to forget all his personal affairs for the time being, and think only of his duty toward his school.

Now that she had found her father again, Mary seemed to be satisfied. Ralph used another spare handkerchief to make a loop in which the injured hand could be suspended; and the little girl thanked him with her bright eyes.

By the time this had been done Smalling came up with the team. Ralph lifted the girl to the seat beside her father.

“Come up here with us; plenty of room, Ralph,” said the man; and seeing that he spoke truly, Ralph hastened to comply, although he had been about to swing himself up behind, with his feet dangling over the tailboard.

Consulting his watch, a little nickel affair costing but one dollar, he discovered that he should have been on the field before this. The rescue of Mary, and carrying her all this way, had consumed considerable time.

Smalling urged the horses to do their best. He was naturally anxious about his child, and, moreover, knew that minutes were exceedingly precious to the boy who had stepped aside to do this kindly act.

“I reckon you won’t be sorry for what you did, boy,” he said, turning his head as they pushed forward over the country road.

His words gave Ralph the keenest sort of satisfaction. He was thrilled with the thought of how his good star must have been in the ascendent when it urged him to investigate the meaning of those apparent sobs in the bushes.

“And to think how near I came to passing by, thinking it might only be some fellow trying to trick me,” was what Ralph was saying to himself all the while.

The man who drove seemed to be consumed with a desire to learn something more about the other, for he began to ask questions.

“Did the old folks treat you white, Ralph?” was his first demand.

“If you mean Mr. and Mrs. West,” replied the other, quickly, “I can say yes, perhaps far better than I deserved, since I was none of their flesh and blood. I think I’ve always looked on them just as other boys do their own parents--up to lately, when money started to come to me every month from an unknown source, and then doubts began to awaken in my head, for I saw them talking together often as though trying to make up their minds to tell me something.”

“Money--how was that?” asked Smalling looking deeply interested.

“Why, along last summer I got a letter from the office of a New York lawyer. It had forty dollars in it, and just a couple of lines saying that I was to accept the gift with the idea of getting an education, and that the same amount would come every month.”

“Phew! Looks like something had touched his heart after all! Forty dollars, eh? And has it always come, Ralph?” asked the driver, keeping his eyes fixed upon the horses’ heads, as if unwilling to meet the boy’s questioning gaze.

“Yes, always. That was how I came to Columbia to attend the high school, for I was wild to get an education,” replied Ralph, soberly.

“Just so, and naturally, too. You come by that desire all right, I guess,” muttered Smalling, who seemed to be more or less embarrassed.

A strange thought came into Ralph’s mind. What could this confusion on the part of the other signify? He looked eagerly into the face of the little girl sitting beside him. Truth to tell, he was wondering if it could possibly be that Mary might turn out to be his sister!

And, as if something had told Smalling what was flitting through the brain of the boy, he turned his head and looked at him.

“Oh, no, it ain’t that, Ralph. You’re nothing to me. I’ve been a bad man in my day, but I give you my word I’d never desert a kid that belonged to me. Drink has been at the bottom of all my evildoing, though it is my own fault. Latterly, I’ve managed to get a grip on myself, and p’raps it ain’t too late to wipe out some of my past. You come to see me this night, lad, and don’t fail. I reckon I’ll be in a frame of mind to let a few things drop. I ought to, I know. There’s something more than accident in our meeting up in this way. It means Fate, that’s what!”

“I’ll be there, without fail, sir. How could I keep away? And, oh, I hope and pray you won’t change your mind between now and night,” faltered the boy, as he put his hand out and touched that of the driver.

Perhaps it was that confiding touch that did it, or possibly Smalling’s eyes chanced to fall upon the neatly bandaged hand of Mary just then, and he was overwhelmed by a sense of the debt he owed this lad.

At any rate he impulsively grasped that extended hand and squeezed it warmly.

“I’m going to do more than give a half promise, Ralph. Take my word for it, that when you come to-night I’ll clear up pretty much all this affair about who and what you are. And, lad, you needn’t worry any more, because it’s goin’ to be all right,” was what he said.

“Oh, thank you ever so much for that promise! It will give me heart to do my level best to-day; and I have need of such a spur, I assure you, Mr. Smalling. There, I had a glimpse of the baseball field just then; and listen, what can they be shouting for?” asked Ralph, as a mighty cheer came rolling toward them.

“Some feller has made a star play in practice, I reckon. I’m some keen on ball myself, and calculated on getting over later to the game. P’raps I’ll stop off on the way out from town, though the girl had better be took home to her ma.”

“Your wife is living, then?” asked Ralph, even while he was trying to steady his nerves for the sight that would soon break upon his vision as he entered the big enclosure where Columbia High boys usually met to enjoy baseball, football, and most outdoor sports.

“Oh, yes, and Mary has several brothers and sisters. But she always wants to be the one to fetch my dinner,” and from the way he looked down at the girl it was evident that she must be his favorite.

“Here’s where I must jump out, sir,” said Ralph, suiting the action to the word as they came opposite a big open gate.

“Then I’ll look for you to-night?” asked Smalling, his eyes ranging up and down the clean built figure of the lad approvingly, and with a light kindling in his eyes.

“Unless they do me up so well this afternoon that I can’t walk, I’ll be there,” replied the other, smilingly.

“Goodby, Ralph,” said the little girl, holding out her well hand. “I won’t forget how nice you was. And I’m going to do up these for you, too,” pointing to the several handkerchiefs Ralph had used to bind up her hand, and make a sling.

“All right. That’ll be fine. Goodby, both of you, until to-night!”

He turned away with a sigh. It seemed almost too good to be true that he was going to hear great news so very soon. Ralph could hardly believe that he was not dreaming.

And then as he entered through the gate vehicles used, he saw the athletic field and the tremendous throng that packed it.