Indeed very suddenly it did look like rain. The clouds began to pile up and turn black. Before the Aldens could go anywhere to spend the night it began to rain. Then it began to pour. The rain came down in sheets. The thunder roared.
“Oh, dear,” called Jessie. “Let’s find some shelter. We can’t get to the motel in this rain. We’ll be soaking wet.”
“I’m soaking wet now,” Benny said. “Raincoats are no good.”
Henry called, “Just watch for any old shed. The water is dripping off my nose and ears.”
“We might find a haystack,” said Benny. “That would be like the days in the boxcar.”
Violet pushed back her wet hair. “A haystack would be soaking wet, too.”
The Aldens watched both sides of the road as they pedaled along. Then they saw the old house.
It was set back from the road, among some trees. Not a soul was around. Every window in the house was broken, and the door was banging in the wind.
“There!” called Benny. “There’s your old house. It’s got a roof, anyway.”
Henry said, “I’m sure the roof leaks, but that won’t make much difference when every window is broken. I’ll go first and you follow me.”
“No,” said Benny firmly. I’ll go with you. We’ll go together and scare out the ghosts.”
They all laughed, for they knew there were no ghosts. The two boys pushed the door back and looked into a big room. There was nothing in the room, not even a carpet.
“Nobody here,” called Henry. “You girls get off your bikes and push them right in.” He and Benny set their own bikes in a corner and looked around.
“Well, the roof doesn’t leak,” said Jessie. “And this side of the room away from the windows isn’t wet at all.”
“Just a little damp,” said Benny. “But no puddles to sit in. Let’s stay here on the dry side and look at our new mansion.”
Violet looked at the bare room and said, “I’m sure the owner of this house won’t mind if we stay here until it stops raining.”
“I don’t think the owner cares about his house,” said Henry. “We can’t hurt it anyway.”
The rain still blew in the windows, and the water began to run into a corner.
Benny said, “I wish that water knew enough to run out the front door.”
Henry replied, “Well, Ben, if the water rises too high, we can go upstairs. In fact, I think I’ll go up and see what it looks like.”
Henry had plenty of company. They all went upstairs to find two empty rooms and a bathroom.
“But the bathroom is no good,” said Benny. “The pipes are all broken.”
“Nobody here for a long time,” Henry said.
Jessie looked at the tub. She said, “This might be a good place to dry our clothes, though. See that rod over the tub? Once they must have had a shower curtain.”
“Good,” said Henry. “Let’s look at the rest of the house.”
The rain came in only at the front, just at it did on the first floor.
“These were the bedrooms,” said Violet. “I do wonder why the owner doesn’t fix this up. It’s a lovely old house.”
Jessie answered, “I don’t think the owner has been around here for a long time.”
“It’s getting dark and I’m hungry,” said Benny. “How about having a little something to eat?”
“There! I was just waiting for you to say that, Ben,” said his brother. “There’s no electricity, and we certainly don’t want to eat by a flashlight. Let’s eat now while we can still see.”
“Wait a minute,” said Jessie. “We all have dry clothes in our packs, and we each have a towel. Let’s get dry first. We can put on our dry clothes and hang the wet ones on the rod over the bathtub.”
“That’s all right with me,” said Benny. “It won’t take long. I’ll be the first one ready.”
And he was. The girls laughed as they heard him clattering down the wooden stairs.
“We’ll have to go to bed early tonight,” Jessie said, “if we want to see our way. And we’ll eat our emergency rations. I never really thought we would use them. I thought we could always get to a motel. But here we are in the pouring rain, and no motel.”
Benny was taking out the emergency rations when his sisters came downstairs.
Violet said suddenly, “Remember the boxcar days? Put down one paper napkin for a tablecloth and save every crumb. If we leave crumbs, we’ll surely have mice.”
“We could have anything,” Benny said cheerfully. “Anything could get through the broken windows. Even a bear.”
“No bears in this part of the country,” said Violet peacefully. “But we could have mice if we leave crumbs.”
Four napkins were soon laid on the floor, and the Aldens began to eat.
Jessie said, “We’d better save some food for breakfast. It may not stop raining. Save some of the milk and crackers.”
“That’s right,” said Henry. “Benny always has to eat before he goes anywhere.”
“Even to bed,” said Benny. He yawned.
There was no trouble about the crumbs. They ate every one. The rain still poured down and blew in at the front windows.
Henry was thinking. He said, “You girls sleep upstairs. Ben and I will put our sleeping bags down here. We’d better sleep in our clothes.”
“You were right, Benny,” Jessie said. “We do need our sleeping bags after all.”
“But I thought we’d be sleeping out,” Benny said.
After their exciting day, the Aldens went to sleep without any trouble. The rain still pounded on the roof, but they were safe and dry.
But just as it was getting light in the morning, Jessie and Violet were wakened by a noise downstairs. It sounded like an animal whining.
“What’s the matter, Henry?” Jessie called down the stairs.
“Well, you might say we have a visitor. A dog wants to come in the window.”
Jessie and Violet then heard Benny laugh softly. “At least we think it’s a dog. He barks anyway. He has come in the window already.”
The dog went on whining, but it was a different sort of whining. Once in a while the dog gave a bark.
Violet turned to Jessie. “Let’s go downstairs and see what kind of dog we have. He doesn’t seem to be very happy.”
“I don’t blame him,” said Jessie. “It’s still raining. No dog would be very happy in this pouring rain. But I should think he’d be glad to get in the house.”
The girls went downstairs.
They looked at the dog. They saw that it was small and smoky gray. Hair hung down all over his face and bright black eyes. His tail was wagging, and he was trying to climb up Benny’s legs.
“Come here, dog,” said Jessie. The dog turned around instantly and trotted over to Jessie.
“Oh,” said Benny, “an obedient dog.”
“Yes,” said Jessie with a nod. “I think he has had some training. Sit!” The dog sat down.
“Well, well,” said Henry. “Come! Heel!”
The dog trotted over to Henry’s left side and looked up at him. Henry began to walk around the room. The dog followed him just behind his left foot.
“He minds better than some children,” said Violet.
Henry turned around and the dog turned around. “Sit!” said Henry, and the dog sat down.
Then Henry said, “Stay!” and walked back to the others. The dog did not move. But he didn’t stop whining.
“Maybe he’s hurt,” Henry said. “Come here, fellow.” The dog came over to him once more. Henry looked him all over and felt the dog’s ears and legs. At last he said, “He seems to be all right.”
Jessie took the little dog in her lap and felt his neck. “My, he’s soft,” she said. She hugged him, and he licked her hand. She said, “No, I don’t think he’s hurt.”
Suddenly Jessie noticed something. “That’s strange,” she said. “He doesn’t have any collar.”
“He’s just a stray dog,” said Benny. “He’ll probably go along soon.”
“I don’t think he’s a stray dog,” said Henry. “I think he belongs to somebody. Somebody must have trained him to obey. And somebody loved him.”
The little dog put his head on one side and looked up at Henry out of one bright eye.
“Oh, look at him!” Violet said. “He’s so cute when he does that. Do you suppose we can find his owner?”
Henry looked thoughtful. “I’d say he has to do that for himself. Let’s see what he does when we get ready to start off on our bikes.”
Benny said, “No collar, no tag, no anything. We don’t even know his name. Not much to go on.”
“You’re right, Ben,” said Jessie. “Nothing to go on.”
Violet said, “Somehow I don’t want to go back to bed.”
Henry laughed. “We all know the answer to that. As Ben would say, ‘Let’s have breakfast!’ ” |