Read Ebook: Harper's Young People January 17 1882 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

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Ebook has 648 lines and 61431 words, and 13 pages

JUST FOR FUN.

BY MATTHEW WHITE, JUN.

Percy Vance was a stranger in the town and a new scholar at the grammar school. His age was set down in the roll-book as twelve, but judging from his height the girls thought he must be past fifteen, while the boys, after noting the slimness of his figure, the paleness of his face, and the timid look in his great gray eyes, declared he could not be over ten.

None of the lads had ever seen him run, and as for playing games, Ted Harley affirmed that he "didn't know a marble from a top."

"He must study straight along from the time school's out till supper, and I say it isn't fair," Dan Tregwin was wont to complain; "for a fellow who wants to have some fun now and then don't stand any chance at all."

But the boys soon forgot all about "Percy, the Prig," as he was called by some, in the joys of the first big snow-storm the town had been favored with for several years.

In the afternoon of the day succeeding the storm Ted Harley and Dan Tregwin were taking turns dragging one another on Ted's long "coaster" toward the steepest hill in town, when Dan suddenly stopped so short that the sled caught him by the legs and threw him down.

"Well, what next?" he exclaimed, as he picked himself up. "Here's Percy Vance actually coasting!" And he called Ted's attention to a boy rapidly approaching them down a side street.

As he reached the bottom of the slope Percy guided himself around the corner, and went skimming on in the same direction as his school-mates.

It was at this moment that an unusually loud jingle of bells was heard behind them, and as the lads swerved to one side a large handsome sleigh, drawn by four coal-black horses, passed them like a flash.

Dan and Ted instinctively shouted "Hurrah!" and even Percy stood up to stare after the merry party with longing eyes.

"Hi, quick!" suddenly cried Ted, "they've stopped at that house down there. Let's cut along and get a good look;" and all three boys were soon by the side of the four-in-hand, the occupants of which had gone in to make a call, leaving the sleigh in charge of the coachman.

"Whose is it, I wonder?" whispered Dan, feasting his eyes on the silver-mounted harness, the Russian bells, and the gayly colored plumes.

"I'm pretty certain it doesn't belong in town here," returned Ted.

But just then the coachman called out: "I say, lads, will ye stand by thim layders' heads a bit?"

Dan and Ted at once sprang forward.

"And you," continued the man, turning to Percy, "just climb up to that sate, and hould these lines whilst I take a look at that off-whaler's foot. Don't pull on 'em now, mind ye," concluded the good-natured Irishman, as he assisted young Vance to his high perch, and placed the reins in his hands.

At the same instant Ted and Dan exchanged whispers in which the word "fun" might have been heard. Then, as the coachman's right foot left the step, they both chirruped softly to the horses, and let go their hold.

The effect was almost magical. All four of the spirited animals started off with a jerk that threw the coachman on his back in the street, and came near sending Percy after him.

The terrified driver leaped to his feet in an instant, but how could he hope to stop the team? His shouts and the wild clangor of the bells speedily brought the whole party out of the house, but they, too, were powerless.

Dan and Ted, who had merely meant to make the restive horses rear a bit "just for fun," to frighten "the prig," thinking that the coachman could easily clamber up again and pull them in, rushed from the spot with faces paler than Percy's and hearts that beat fast and loud from other causes than running.

Meantime how fared it with the victim of the "fun"?

As soon as he recovered from the shock of the sudden start, Percy pulled on the lines with all his might. But the flying animals scarcely noticed the tightening rein. Only aware that the iron grip with which they were usually held was no longer there to restrain them, they tore along at a mad pace, plunging and snorting with the joy of unaccustomed freedom.

Fortunately the street was but little travelled, but then there was the steep hill to go down.

The boy's naturally timid heart almost failed him utterly as he fully realized the danger, and for a moment he was tempted to throw himself back among the robes and hide his face from the disaster that was all but certain.

But suddenly his eye lit up with an unusual fire; he took a fresh hold on the lines, braced his feet, leaned back, and prepared to face the worst.

With a whirl, a rush, and a swaying from side to side, the four-horse runaway neared the steep descent. In an instant the boys toiling up with their sleds gave the cry of warning, and the hill was cleared. Then, with eyes almost starting from their heads, they gaze after the brief vision of Percy Vance driving a four-in-hand at lightning speed.

As for Percy himself, he can scarcely realize that the dreaded coasting hill has been left behind with no wrecked sleigh, wounded horses, and bruised boy to keep it company. But hardly has he had time to congratulate himself on his escape when another noise mingles with the rattle of the bells, and the next instant he finds that he is started on a mad race with a train of cars.

With a cold thrill of terror coursing through his frame, Percy now recollects that the road runs parallel with the railroad track for a mile or more in the open country, and then crosses it. And here is the train beside him.

Spurred on to yet greater speed by the thunder of the cars the horses rush onward. The keen wind cuts Percy's face almost as sharply as a knife, while the thought of the crossing fairly burns itself into his brain.

Oh, why does not the engineer remember it too, and put an end to the terrible contest?

But still ever on, tearing, whirling, rushing, plunging, go engine and cars, horses and sleigh, neither gaining on the other.

To Percy it seemed as if the race had lasted all his life-time. But in reality it had only continued a moment or two, when the engine slowed up, the horses were allowed to dash on ahead, and the sleigh flew victoriously over the crossing just in front of the iron monster, that, puffing forth great clouds of steam and smoke, waited for it to pass.

Another narrow escape; but how long could this go on? Percy's hands were becoming numb from the cold, his head was beginning to swim from the long-sustained excitement, and-- Here is a sharp turn in the road, the point thickly grown with trees, and the sound of bells coming from the other side.

A brief instant of suspense, and the corner is reached. There are shouts of warning, cries of horror, and then it seemed to Percy as if he had suddenly gone to sleep.

At that same moment, in the loft of Mr. Harley's barn, two figures were stretched upon the hay, face downward.

"Oh, Ted," one of them is saying, in a hoarse whisper, "Percy Vance hasn't any father, you know!"

"And I remember now," replied the other, in equally dismal tones, "somebody's telling me his mother was always so afraid something would happen to him."

Then both boys lay quiet in their misery until it grew dark, when, under cover of the night, Dan hurried off to his own home, and Ted went in to eat his supper, feeling as if every mouthful would choke him.

The next morning Dan stopped for his friend, and together the two proceeded to school.

"I wonder what they can do to us?" whispered Ted. But Dan could only shake his head and put a finger on his lips.

On reaching the school-house the boys found a group of their school-fellows eagerly discussing some important matter. The first words they heard were:

"He's been arrested, and as they've just come here there was nobody to go bail, so Percy was taken to prison."

At this there was a chorus of horrified "ohs!" from the girls, and grave shakings of the head on the part of the boys.

Ted and Dan stood mute, with white lips and dilated eyes, waiting to hear more.

At this moment Ralph Minting, one of the "big boys," pushed his way in among the crowd, demanding to know what had happened.

"Why, haven't you heard?" cried three or four in a breath, and then George Binder began:

"Only think, Percy Vance tried to run off with a four-horse sleigh! The coachman gave him the lines to hold for a minute, when the 'prig' started the team up. The man was knocked off the step, and away went Percy like the wind, until he ran into Mr. Renford's cutter, three miles from here, when he was thrown out and stunned. The cutter was upset, and Mr. Renford bruised a bit, while the horses ran into a stable-yard half a mile farther on, and stopped, with sleigh and all safe and sound. But the owner was in a towering rage, and as soon as Percy was brought back, he had him arrested for petit larceny, as they call it, and--"

Here the nine-o'clock bell cut short the narrative, but Ted and Dan had heard enough.

Without daring to look at one another, they went in and took their seats. But instead of studying, they sat most of the time gazing in a dazed sort of way at Percy Vance's vacant seat.

At recess Tom Wayne, whose father was justice of the peace, came running breathlessly into the yard with the news that Percy had been "brought up," and firmly denied the crime charged against him.

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