Georgina felt that her blushes were burning her up at thus being made the centre of public notice. She almost fell off the wheel in her haste to get down, and in doing so stumbled over a dog which suddenly emerged from under the wagon at that instant.
“Why, it’s Captain Kidd!” she exclaimed in astonishment. “How ever did he get here?”
“Must have scratched under the door and trailed us,” answered Richard. “Go on home, sir!” he commanded, sternly, stamping his foot. “You know they won’t let you into the show with us, and you’ll get into trouble if you stay downtown alone. Go on home I say.”
With drooping tail and a look so reproachful that it was fairly human, Captain Kidd slunk away, starting mournfully homeward. He sneaked back in a few minutes, however, and trailed his party as far as the door of the theatre. Somebody kicked at him and he fled down the street again, retracing the trail that had led him to the wagon.
A long time after when the performance was nearly over he went swinging up the beach with something in his mouth which he had picked up from near the end of the wagon. It was a tobacco pouch of soft gray leather that had never been used for tobacco. There was something hard and round inside which felt like a bone. At the top of the Green Stairs he lay down and mouthed it a while, tugging at it with his sharp teeth; but after he had mumbled and gnawed it for some time without bringing the bone any nearer the surface, he grew tired of his newfound plaything. Dropping it in the grass, he betook himself to the door-mat on the front porch, to await his master’s return.
Chapter XIV
Buried Treasure
When Georgina tiptoed up the walk to the front porch where Belle sat waiting for her in the moonlight, Tippy called down that she wasn’t asleep, and they needn’t stay out there on her account, whispering. It did not seem an auspicious time to present the bottle of liniment, but to Georgina’s surprise Tippy seemed glad to try the new remedy. The long-continued pain which refused to yield to treatment made her willing to try anything which promised relief.
It was vile-smelling stuff, so pungent that whenever the cork was taken out of the bottle the whole house knew it, but it burned with soothing fire and Tippy rose up and called it blessed before the next day was over. Before that happened, however, Georgina took advantage of Belle’s easy rule to leave home as soon as her little morning tasks were done. Strolling down the board-walk with many stops she came at last to the foot of the Green Stairs. Richard sat on the top step, tugging at a knotted string.
“Come on up,” he called. “See what I’ve taken away from Captain Kidd. He was just starting to bury it. Looks like a tobacco pouch, but I haven’t got it untied yet. He made the string all wet, gnawing on it.”