Essie clung yet more tightly to him. "They sha'n't hurt you, an' if there's any more funny business of runnin' into us tried, I'll break the feller's jaw what does it."
The child seemed reassured by the sound of his voice, and at once began to tell him something which was evidently interesting to herself.
"If I could understand what you say, things would be all right," Joe said, with a laugh, and then, as he emerged from the shadows cast by the overhead railway structure, he came face to face with Master Plummer.
"Well, I'd begun to think you never was comin'," that young gentleman began, but ceased speaking very suddenly, as he observed the burden in Joe's arms. "What you got there?"
"Can't you see for yourself?" and Joe lowered the little maid gently to the sidewalk, that Master Plummer might have a full view of his treasure.
"Well, I'll be blowed! Where'd you get it?"
"She's lost, 'cordin' to my way of thinkin', an' I've been tryin' to find her folks, but it's no use huntin' 'round in the night, an' I'll tell you what it is, Plums, we've got to take care of her till mornin'."
"Take care of her! What's creepin' on you, Joe Potter? How do you think we're goin' to look after a kid like that?"
"I don't know why we can't," Joe replied, sharply. "It'll be pretty tough if a couple of fellers ain't able to tend out on a mite of a thing such as her. Say, Plums, don't she look like somethin' you see in the store windows?"
"She's fine as silk, there's no gettin' over that," and Master Plummer would have touched one pink-and-white cheek but that his friend prevented him.
"Now don't go to hurtin' her! She's in hard luck enough as it is, without your mussin' her all up."
"Who's a-hurtin' of her? I was jest goin' to put one finger on her cheek."
"There's no need of doin' so much as that. It might frighten the little thing, and besides, she's too fine to be handled by you and me, Plums. She's a reg'lar little princess, that's what she is," and Joe raised the child quickly, as if to remove the temptation from Master Plummer's path.
"What's her name?" the fat boy asked, as he gazed admiringly at the child.
"I can't seem to make out, she talks so queer," and as if to illustrate his meaning, Joe's princess began to chatter, while she clasped both tiny arms around her self-elected guardian's neck.
"Well, say, I'd give up what I made this afternoon jest for the sake of havin' her hug me like that! Ain't she a daisy?"
"It would be mighty hard to find anything finer in this town."
"That's a fact; but say, Joe, it's no kind of use, your talkin' 'bout our takin' care of her, 'cause it can't be done."
"I'd like to know why?"
"Jest run your eye over her, an' then look at us! Why, she's been kept rolled up in silk all the time, an' you talk 'bout takin' her down to the blacksmith's shop!"
There was little need for Master Plummer to make further explanation. Joe had so thoroughly lost himself in admiration of the treasure he had found that, until this moment, he had not realised how poor was the home to which he proposed to carry her.
Now he looked about him in perplexity, and the princess, impatient because of the delay and her guardian's silence, began to protest most vehemently.
"See here, Plums, we've got to take her down to your place, an' that's all there is to it! There ain't any chance of findin' her folks to-night, so what else can we do?"
"It's goin' to be mighty tough on her," Master Plummer replied, with a shake of the head, and Joe put an end to further discussion by starting off at a rapid pace down the street, regardless of the fact that he was in ignorance of the whereabouts of his friend's lodging-place.
The princess, satisfied now that they were moving, cooed and chattered in Joe's ear, much to his delight, and Master Plummer was forced to follow or allow himself to be left behind.
"There's no use in rushin' as if we hadn't another minute to live," he cried, when, by dint of rapid running, he overtook his friend. "I don't like to race 'round when we can jest as well go slow."
"It would be a good deal better if you walked fast once in awhile, 'cause then you wouldn't be so fat."
"S'pose I'd rather be fat than as lean as some fellers I know?"
"Then it would be all right to creep along the street same's we're doin' now. Say, how far off is your shanty?"
"Down here a bit; but you don't count on goin' right there, do you?"
"Why not? Where else should we go?"
"Seems to me it would be better to get that stew first, an' then we sha'n't have to come out again to-night."
"Look here, Plums," and Joe spoke sharply, "do you think I'm goin' to take the princess into a place where they sell five-cent stews?"
"She's got to go somewhere, if she wants anything to eat."
"We'll bring her supper to your shanty. I won't carry this little thing into a saloon for a crowd of toughs to look at."
Master Plummer sighed. He had been anticipating a feast of stew from the moment Joe left him to engage in his new vocation, and it was a grievous disappointment that the pleasure should be so long delayed.
"We'll go down to your place an' try an' fix things up; then you can leave us there – "
"But you want somethin' to eat as well as I do."
"I guess I can get along without anything, for a spell. It's the princess I'm thinkin' about; she's got to have somethin' fine, you know. Stew'd never do for her."
"How's custard pie? I know where they've got some that's great, – two inches thick, with the crust standin' up 'round the edge so the inside won't fall out while you're eatin' it."
"Perhaps the princess might like the custard; but I ain't so sure about the crust. It seems to me she's been fed mostly on candy, an' sich stuff as that. Anyhow, you take my money an' buy whatever you think she'd like. Got any candles down to your place?"
"I did have one last week; but the rats ate most of it, an' I don't s'pose it would burn very well now."
"Take this nickel, an' buy some in that grocery store."
"Why don't you come, too?"
"I don't believe the princess would like to go into sich a place, an' besides, folks might want to take hold of her. I ain't goin' to have any Dutch groceryman slobberin' over her."
Master Plummer took the nickel and crossed the street in his ordinarily slow fashion, while Joe and the princess held a long and animated conversation, to the evident satisfaction of the little maid and the mystification of the boy.
Owing to his being thus engaged, Joe did not grow impatient because of Master Plummer's long absence, as he might have done under other circumstances, and said to his princess when the newsdealer rejoined them:
"Now, little one, we're goin' to Plums's home, an' you must try not to feel bad 'cause it ain't very swell. It's bound to be better'n stayin' out in the street all night, for I've tried that game a good many times, an' there's
