Jerrys Reward | Page 6

life; then, as
if answering objections, she said aloud:

"If I can't get anybody to go for me, I will go myself."
She, poor soul, who had never moved unaided for five long years,
except to turn the wheels of her chair for a few yards in her little
narrow room!
She rolled herself away from the fire toward the door. With a little
difficulty she opened it, and peered out. Although she was warmly clad,
the rush of cold air made her shiver, but she wrapped one of her shawls
around her head and watched.
No one passed. Twelve o'clock struck. In a few hours it would be too
late.
[Illustration]
She sighed heavily. "Would it be possible for me to wheel myself over
the common and across the street? Could I ever reach that great house
alive?"
She did not think the Mortons' nurse knew her, though she remembered
the woman distinctly.
Then a new difficulty occurred to her. "Even if I succeed in making the
journey, can I get private speech with the right persons?"
She hesitated, then she added, bravely:
"Shame on me to think of giving up!" and throwing the door wide open,
with a mighty effort she pushed her chair over the sill.
It rolled down with a bump and on for a few feet until it was stopped by
a sharp stone.
It was only several inches from the door to the ground, nevertheless,
the jar gave her so much pain that she nearly fainted. She lay still for
some moments, more dead than alive.
"I must go! I have cut off all way of return now. Bumping down that

step was one thing; getting back would be impossible."
But when she tried to go on, her weakness was so great that she could
not make any progress. Her chair, wedged against the stone, was
immovable.
"O God," she prayed, "I don't know what to do now--help me!"
CHAPTER VI.
THE POLICE ARE SUMMONED
"Well, Mrs. Myer," exclaimed a bright, chirpy voice right behind her,
"whoever would have thought of seeing you spry enough to be
out-of-doors! Won't mother be glad?" and there stood the eldest little
Outcast, smiling broadly, and holding in her chubby hand a tin bucket,
that Peggy had seen many a time before.
"You've come just in time, dear heart," said the thankful Peggy. "Do
you think you could wheel me across the street?"
"Across the street?" reiterated the girl. "Won't it tire you very much?
Let me go for you."
"I fear you are too little for my business," replied Peggy, and as she
spoke the words a new idea for accomplishing her purpose entered her
mind. "Stay, love; I'll tell you what you can do. Take me back to the
house and you shall hear."
Miss Outcast did her best, and as the burden was not great and the chair
rolled easily, after some bumping and shoving and pushing, Mrs. Myer
found herself once more in her own room.
And, as she got her breath, she said: "Have you ever been to the river,
dearie?"
"Oh, yes," answered the child, "father takes us down there every
Sunday. We love to stand on the bridge and watch the water dashing

against the piers. It's such fun; you can't think."
"Could you go there alone?"
"Course I could; what do you want to know for?"
"Jerry is working there to-day, pet, and I have something important to
tell him. If you can find your way to the mail-boat landing where he is
helping to load up, and tell him to come to me right away, you'll be
doing a good action."
"I wonder if mother will scold?"
"Tell her it was my doing, and if she will come hear my reasons she'll
be satisfied. You'll hurry, won't you, dear?"
Miss Outcast promised, and, after repeating the message several times,
started briskly off.
The river and the mail-boat were reached without trouble, but to find
Jerry was another matter. A long stream of porters carrying bags of
something reached from the wharf to the boat. Their heads were
concealed by the burden, and their bodies looked so much alike that the
child was bewildered.
She stood there, frightened and forlorn, almost forgetting why she had
come, when Jerry himself caught sight of her.
"Why, little one," he exclaimed, dropping his load, and coming toward
her. "What on earth are you doing here alone?"
Miss Outcast felt happy once more; she beamed on him. "Oh, Jerry,
you are the very man I came to see; go home just as quick as ever you
can to your wife."
"Peggy, my Peggy! Is she worse?" and the poor fellow looked the
anguish he felt.
"I don't b'lieve she's 'zackly worse," said the child, feeling very big

indeed,