Chapter XI: How the Plan Worked

According to agreement, Leslie waylaid Dick on the following morning as the latter was hurrying homeward.

“How about that little arrangement of ours, Dick?” he demanded, as he locked arms with his chum and kept pace with the other’s long strides.

“Guess it goes through all right,” Dick replied, smilingly; “if you mean our plan to lie low, and watch the meeting between Billy and his grandfather.”

“It isn’t too late for it, I hope,” ventured Leslie, anxiously.

“Oh! no,” came the confident reply; “I saw Billy’s mother this morning, and she promised not to let him out this afternoon till I gave the high sign.”

“And what was that to be?” continued the other.

“When we get to the corner of the fence where you can see the windows of the old Brandon house, I’m to wave my handkerchief. She’s to be looking, or have Billy do the same, and after I get an answer to my signal we’ll just have time to creep up to where the old deacon is waiting to have his daily chat with the child.”

“You certainly have it all cooked up as neat as anything, Dick,” declared Leslie, admiringly, for he considered that his chum was without a rival when it came down to arranging things.

They hurried on until finally the fence corner was reached from which a good view of the Brandon house could be obtained.

“Now watch me,” Dick remarked, as he commenced to wave his pocket handkerchief slowly to and fro.

“There, I can see some one moving at that upper window!” exclaimed Leslie.

“I reckon it must be Billy,” said Dick, still keeping up the signalling.

“They see you, Dick, and now some one has commenced to answer. The scheme worked like magic. All we have to do is to go and get into the deacon’s grounds.”

“I’ve got that part of it all fixed too,” asserted Dick. “Billy isn’t to start out for five minutes after they get my signal. By that time we ought to be creeping up pretty close to Mr. Nocker.”

“How do you know he’ll be waiting there?” whispered Leslie, as both of them started to climb the fence.

“I don’t know it, but the chances are ten to one we’ll find him walking up and down as nervous as anything, and keeping his eyes fixed on the path Billy usually comes along.”

Once in the Brandon grounds, it was easy enough for them to find the very spot where, on that never-to-be-forgotten Hallowe’en night, the prank-loving crowd had slipped through a gap in the dividing fence.

“You see it’s never been mended,” whispered Dick exultantly. “Of course, the old deacon knows this break is here, but he wouldn’t allow it to be closed for a good deal, because that would stop Billy’s daily visits.”

Creeping through the opening, they began to make a little detour. The object of this move was plain to Leslie, for he understood that if the stern old man chanced to be watching eagerly for the coming of his new little acquaintance, his eyes would be searching the path leading from the break in the fence.

Dick had all this “laid out to a fraction,” as Leslie would have said; and in a short time they could discover a moving figure under the trees.

“Told you so,” whispered Dick, under his breath, as he gave his companion a nudge in the ribs, and carefully pointed ahead.

Just as Dick had figured it was old Deacon Nocker who was walking to and fro in his usual nervous fashion. Every now and then he would stop, shade his eyes with one hand, and gaze long and earnestly beyond.

He was evidently wondering whether anything could have happened to the child, for, as a rule, Billy trotted over to visit him long before this time of the afternoon. And really the storekeeper must have left his place of business early in order to enjoy this, to him, novel treat.

Led by Dick, who knew how to creep along after the manner of an Indian, Leslie presently found himself close enough to the impatient deacon to hear him muttering discontentedly to himself. It thrilled them both to catch the disjointed sentences, for by this they knew that already the chubby little Billy had managed to worm himself into a corner of the sour old man’s long closed heart.

Another nudge from Dick’s elbow caused Leslie to catch his breath, for he knew that it meant the child was coming. No danger of Mr. Nocker discovering the pair of eavesdroppers in the bushes close by, for all his attention was taken up with straining his eyes in the opposite quarter.

The boys could see a sturdy little figure brushing through the bushes. Billy was hurrying to keep his appointment, for evidently he had come to rather enjoy meeting the elderly gentleman, who always had some little present for him.

Mr. Nocker was heard to give utterance to an exclamation of exultation as he caught sight of the lad. He even hurried forward a few paces in order to meet him.

When the two who were in hiding saw the deacon stoop down and actually enclose little Billy in his arms, straining him to his heart, they were thrilled. Nobody in all Cliffwood had ever before known the cold old deacon to exhibit the least bit of tenderness toward any child.

“What kept you so long, Billy boy?” demanded the deacon, reproachfully. “Why, do you know I have been waiting here almost half an hour? I began to think my little playmate had been taken sick again.”

“Mamma kept me in,” said the little fellow in his clear voice that easily reached the strained ears of the two in the bushes. “But I teased and teased and then when she saw _it_ she just said she guessed she’d _have_ to let me come out.”

The deacon looked at him in a puzzled fashion; but evidently he was so well satisfied to have Billy with him, even for a brief time, that he did not think it worth while to ask questions.

Of course, the two listening boys knew what the child meant, since it was Dick’s waving handkerchief that the young widow had seen.

“Mamma told me I could only stay five minutes over here,” continued Billy, who seemed to be an unusually bright little fellow, able to express his thoughts in a sensible manner.

“Oh! naughty mamma, to cut your visit short like that,” complained the deacon. “She must know I enjoy every minute of it so, and she has you the whole of the day and night. But come and sit down with me here while you do stay, Billy.”

He uttered the name almost caressingly. Dick was silently chuckling over the astonishing success of the scheme he had originated. He realized that matters had by this time reached a stage that insured success sooner or later.

Mr. Nocker held one of the boy’s diminutive hands in his, and led him to a bench which looked very new. Undoubtedly, it had been placed there recently by the special orders of the owner of the place, so that he and the child could sit and chat during the brief visit Billy was allowed to pay him each day.

“Some time, Billy,” he was saying, “I must meet your mother. She has been very kind to let you visit a lonely old man like me every day. I am sure she must be a very nice little lady, though I have only seen her at a distance.”

Another fierce nudge from Dick’s elbow and directed in the region of Leslie’s side announced how pleased the other was on hearing this confession.

“My mamma is an angel,” they heard Billy stoutly assert. “The nicest mamma in all the world. And I always tell her how good you are to me. She said some time she hoped to thank you herself, sir.”

“And she shall, Billy, she shall,” declared the deacon, smiling grimly, and evidently enjoying a new sensation.

Finally the clock in the church tower in town struck the hour. Billy immediately jumped from his seat on the bench.

“Oh! my mamma made me promise to come back when the clock struck, so I must be going.”

“I’ll walk as far as the fence with you then, Billy,” said Mr. Nocker, looking quite forlorn. “Try and get your mother’s consent to stay longer tomorrow, please.”

“I will, sir,” replied the little fellow, promptly; “because I like to be over here with you.”

At that the old man bent hastily down and drew Billy into his arms. The watching boys saw him kiss the little chap several times.

“Here is a present for you, Billy,” said the deacon, “but don’t open the package until you are back with your good mother. Tell her that before long I hope to call on her myself.”

Together they walked toward the gap in the division fence. Dick and Leslie changed their position, thinking to make a safe retreat presently. They stopped only long enough to see the stern deacon standing at the fence blowing kisses after little Billy.