John Fitzgerald (11 page)

"And I don't
want to go, but I have to."

   
Frankie was waiting at the front gate for
me when I came home for lunch. He took hold of my hand and held it tight as if
he'd missed me. Papa arrived a few minutes later with news. But he didn't tell
us until we were eating lunch.

   
Uncle Mark had dropped in at the Advocate
office and told Papa he'd received a telegram from the marshal in Sedalia,
Missouri. Frankie was right. His paternal grandparents had died before his
father left Missouri. His maternal grandparents had died after his mother left
Missouri. His father had a sister who had died when she was a child. His mother
had two brothers who had died during a smallpox epidemic. After receiving the
telegram, Uncle Mark had got a court order from Judge Potter and the Pennyworth
farm would be sold at auction. My uncle had left town to arrange for the
auction and would return on Wednesday.

   
Uncle Mark did return on Wednesday. He had
sold the farm lock, stock, and barrel for five hundred dollars. The money was
given to Judge Potter to be put in trust at the
Adenville
bank for Frankie.

   
Aunt Cathie arrived home on the afternoon
train the next day. She came to our house with Uncle Mark right after supper
that evening. I guess you would call my aunt beautiful. She has dark brown hair
and eyes that seem always to have a sparkle in them. Uncle Mark introduced her to
Frankie and he seemed fascinated by her.

"You're
pretty," he said.

   
"Thank you, Frankie," she said as
she sat down on the couch beside her husband. "And you are a very handsome
young man."

   
That "young man" pleased him. I
could see his chest swell up. And I couldn't help feeling jealous. I knew it
was ridiculous to feel jealous of my own aunt but that is how I felt.

   
Uncle Mark leaned forward. "Do you
know what adoption is, Frankie?" he asked.

"I don't
think so," Frankie said.

   
"When a boy's parents are dead,"
Uncle Mark said, "and he has no living relatives to give him a home, a
judge, like Judge Potter, can sign papers letting somebody who isn't a relative
adopt the boy. My wife and I want to adopt you. That means when the judge signs
the papers I'll legally become your father and Cathie your mother. We have no
little boy of our own and would love to have you for our son. We promise to
love you and take care of you just the same as if you were our own son. Do you
understand?"

   
Frankie stared at Uncle Mark for a moment.
"You mean you want to be my new papa and my new mamma?" he asked.

   
Aunt Cathie nodded her head. "Yes,
dear, please," she said.

   
"And I would have to go live in your
house instead of here?" Frankie asked.

"That is
right," Uncle Mark said.

   
Mamma leaned forward and smiled at Frankie.
"Mark and Cathie can't have any children unless they adopt them. They want
to adopt you very much. You will make them happy and they will make you
happy."

   
I could feel Frankie's hands on my knees
begin to tremble.

   
"You don't ask me what I want,"
he cried as tears came into his eyes. "You only ask me what they
want."

   
"But, Frankie . . ." Mamma
started to say something, but Uncle Mark interrupted her.

   
"Let him talk,
Tena
,"
my uncle said. Then he looked at Frankie. "What do you want, son?"

"I want to
stay here!" Frankie cried.

   
He broke away from me and ran over to
Mamma, who picked him up and held him on her lap. He put his arms around her
neck.

   
"I won't go!" he cried.
"Why can't you be my new mamma and John's papa my new papa and
John my new brother?"

Uncle Mark placed
his hand over Aunt Cathie's hand. "I guess that settles it," he said
and his voice was hoarse.

   
Aunt Cathie's eyes were blurred with tears
as she nodded. "I know, dear," she said.

   
"I know how much this meant to you and
to me," Uncle Mark said, "so we will do the next best thing. Sheriff
Baker will be
back
Monday. We will go to the orphanage
in Salt Lake City and adopt a boy."

Aunt Cathie's
face brightened with a smile. "And a little girl," she said.

Then Uncle Mark
smiled. "And a little girl," he said.

   
Frankie pulled his head back and stared
into Mamma's face. "Does that mean you're going to adopt me?" he
asked and seemed to be holding his breath waiting for her answer.

"Yes,
dear," Mamma said as she kissed him on the cheek.

   
Uncle Mark turned to Papa. "I'll have
Judge Potter draw up the adoption papers in the morning," he said. Then he
smiled at Frankie. "Well, Frankie, at least I'll get to be your uncle and
Cathie your aunt."

   
Frankie pointed to Aunt Bertha. "Aunt
Bertha will be my aunt too," he said with a happy smile.

   
When I arrived home from school the next
afternoon, Aunt Bertha told me that Papa, Mamma, and Frankie had gone to Judge
Potter's chambers. I was too excited and curious to go out and play. I waited
in the parlor for them. In a few minutes the front doorbell rang. I opened the
door and saw Mr. Kramer.

"I stopped
at your father's newspaper office but he wasn't there," he said. "Is
he home?"

   
"No, sir," I said. "He is
with Judge Potter and I don't know exactly when he will be back."

   
Alex Kramer took out a purse and removed a
twenty-dollar gold piece, which he handed to me. "Please give this to your
father for me and thank him for the loan. I am leaving town right away."

"You got Mr.
Ferguson the team of mules," I said.

   
"Yes," Mr. Kramer said. "And
he paid me a very handsome price for them."

   
"I tried your system but it didn't
work," I said, because I thought he should know.

"Perhaps you
don't have the knack for it," he said.

"That is
what Papa said."

   
"Well, goodbye, John," he said.
"And once again, please thank your father for the favor."

   
Papa, Mamma, and Frankie returned about
fifteen minutes after Alex Kramer had left. They were all very happy.

   
"You are now my very own son,"
Mamma said, picking Frankie up in her arms and hugging him. "I promise
that I will love you just as your own mother loved you."

   
Papa patted Frankie on the head. "And
I promise I will love you just as your own father loved you," he said.

   
Papa then left for his newspaper office.
Mamma went to change her clothes. I was alone with Frankie. I held out my hand.

   
"We are brothers now," I said as
we shook hands. "Do you know what that means?"

   
He nodded. "You want back your wagon
and the other things," he said.

   
"No," I said. "A deal is a
deal. But you don't get anything else I own just by saying it is yours. The
most important thing about being brothers is that when they share a secret,
they don't tell anybody, not even their mother and father."

   
"You mean about the ghost," he
said. "I wasn't really going to tell on you even if you didn't give me all
those things. I don't tattletale on people I love."

   
I wasn't one for getting mushy but I
couldn't help it. I picked him up and hugged him.

CHAPTER SIX

The Escape of Cal Roberts

   
I NEVER REALIZED UNTIL Frankie became my
adopted brother how nice it was having a younger brother. I enjoyed teaching
him how to play dominoes and checkers and other games. I liked reading to him.
It was fun just to read aloud books like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I got
a nice warm feeling inside making a slingshot, whistles from tree branches, and
other things for him. And the way he looked up to me made me feel important. It
was terrific knowing he would be waiting at the front gate for me when I came
home from school, and would run to meet me as if I was the greatest fellow in
the world. I think the bond between us was even greater than if he had been my
real brother.

   
In the middle of November I got Tom's bike
back from Sammy. It was a mess. The tires were worn down to where you could
hardly see the treads. Both of them had been punctured several times. Sammy had
fixed the punctures himself. We didn't have a bicycle shop in
Adenville
. There was a special needle that came with the
tool case. Elastic bands were stretched on it and then dipped in
a special
glue. The needle and elastic bands were inserted
in the hole in the tire. Then the needle was withdrawn, leaving the elastic
bands with glue in the hole. Finally, matches were used to burn off the elastic
bands and vulcanize the hole. The sprocket was in even worse condition. It slipped,
and the brake was rusty and didn't work right. Mr. Harmon at the Z.C.M.I,
stored looked it over and said it would be better to order a new sprocket. I
was able to clean up the chain and spokes.

   
It was just a week after I got the bike
back that Papa came home one evening looking worried. As usual, he postponed
the bad news until after supper when we were all sitting in the parlor. Mamma
could always tell when something was bothering Papa just as I could.

"What is the
matter, dear?" she asked.

   
Papa exhaled some smoke from the cigar he
was smoking. "Mark received a telegram this afternoon stating that Cal
Roberts and five of his gang escaped from the penitentiary," Papa said
solemnly. "They are believed to be heading this way."

"Oh
dear God!"
Mamma
cried.

   
I didn't blame Mamma for being alarmed. Cal
Roberts and his gang had terrorized southwestern Utah until they finally had
been captured and convicted. They were cattle rustlers who stole cattle from
big ranchers and drove them over the Nevada line to sell. Papa had often said
the gang had committed enough crimes, including murder, to hang all of them ten
times. But the only witnesses they ever left behind were dead witnesses. They
wouldn't have been arrested and convicted this time if the night herder they
shot had been dead as they believed him to be.

   
Mr. James Bowman owned a big ranch about
twenty miles from
Adenville
. All the ranchers
employed night herders for several reasons. The night herders protected the
steers, especially calves, from wolves and coyotes and mountain lions. They
also played a harmonica or sang to the cattle if there was a storm to prevent
the herd from stampeding. And they acted as lookouts for rustlers.

   
About a year before a night herder named
Charlie
Felkner
had been riding night herd on the
Bowman ranch. One of the Cal Roberts gang got close enough to shoot
Felkner
in the back with a rifle. The night herder fell
from his horse. He was wounded and knew he couldn't fight off the gang by
himself so he pretended he was dead. In the bright moonlight he recognized Cal
Roberts. The rustlers cut out fifty head of prime beef and began driving the
cattle toward the Nevada line.

   
The rustlers would have got away this time
too if
Felkner
had been dead, because he wasn't due
to be relieved by another night herder for four days. That would give the
rustlers plenty of time to drive the stolen cattle over the Nevada line and
sell them.

   
Felkner
managed
to climb on his horse after the rustlers had left and ride to the ranch house.
Mr. Bowman got six of his cowboys and rode into
Adenville
about eleven o'clock that night. Uncle Mark swore them in as deputies and also
deputized several other men.

   
The posse caught up with the rustlers the
next morning. There was a gun battle during which one of the rustlers was
killed and one deputy wounded. Gal Roberts and the other five of his gang
surrendered, knowing they didn't have a chance against the posse. They were
brought to
Adenville
for trial. They couldn't be
charged with murder because they had only wounded the night herder and deputy.
District Attorney Vickers decided to prosecute them for cattle-rustling. They
were convicted by a jury and each of them sentenced to twenty years in the
penitentiary.

   
Cal Roberts stood up in court after the
sentence was pronounced. He swore he would break out of the penitentiary and
get even with Judge Potter, District Attorney Vickers, and the foreman of the
jury. Papa had been the foreman of the jury. That was why Mamma was so worried.