for some of the little bones in his foot were injured, and putting
them to rights was such a painful job, that Dan’s lips were white,
and great drops stood on his forehead, though he never cried out,
and only held Mrs. Jo’s hand so tight that it was red long
afterwards.
“You must keep this boy quiet, for a week at least, and not let him
put his foot to the ground. By that time, I shall know whether he
may hop a little with a crutch, or stick to his bed for a while
longer,” said Dr. Firth, putting up the shining instruments that Dan
did not like to see.
“It will get well sometime, won’t it?” he asked, looking alarmed at
the word “crutches.”
“I hope so;” and with that the doctor departed, leaving Dan much
depressed; for the loss of a foot is a dreadful calamity to an active
boy.
“Don’t be troubled, I am a famous nurse, and we will have you
tramping about as well as ever in a month,” said Mrs. Jo, taking a
hopeful view of the case.
But the fear of being lame haunted Dan, and even Teddy’s caresses
did not cheer him; so Mrs. Jo proposed that one or two of the boys
should come in and pay him a little visit, and asked whom he
would like to see.
“Nat and Demi; I’d like my hat too, there’s something in it I guess
they’d like to see. I suppose you threw away my bundle of
plunder?” said Dan, looking rather anxious as he put the question.
“No, I kept it, for I thought they must be treasures of some kind,
you took such care of them;” and Mrs. Jo brought him his old
straw hat stuck full of butterflies and beetles, and a handkerchief
containing a collection of odd things picked up on his way: birds’
eggs, carefully done up in moss, curious shells and stones, bits of
fungus, and several little crabs, in a state of great indignation at
their imprisonment.
“Could I have something to put these fellers in? Mr. Hyde and I
found ’em, and they are first-rate ones, so I’d like to keep and
watch ’em; can I?” asked Dan, forgetting his foot, and laughing to
see the crabs go sidling and backing over the bed.
“Of course you can; Polly’s old cage will be just the thing. Don’t let
them nip Teddy’s toes while I get it;” and away went Mrs. Jo,
leaving Dan overjoyed to find that his treasures were not
considered rubbish, and thrown away.
Nat, Demi, and the cage arrived together, and the crabs were
settled in their new house, to the great delight of the boys, who, in
the excitement of the performance, forgot any awkwardness they
might otherwise have felt in greeting the runaway. To these
admiring listeners Dan related his adventures much more fully
than he had done to the Bhaers. Then he displayed his “plunder,”
and described each article so well, that Mrs. Jo, who had retired to
the next room to leave them free, was surprised and interested, as
well as amused, at their boyish chatter.
“How much the lad knows of these things! how absorbed he is in
them! and what a mercy it is just now, for he cares so little for
books, it would be hard to amuse him while he is laid up; but the
boys can supply him with beetles and stones to any extent, and I
am glad to find out this taste of his; it is a good one, and may
perhaps prove the making of him. If he should turn out a great
naturalist, and Nat a musician, I should have cause to be proud of
this year’s work;” and Mrs. Jo sat smiling over her book as she
built castles in the air, just as she used to do when a girl, only then
they were for herself, and now they were for other people, which is
the reason perhaps that some of them came to pass in reality for
charity is an excellent foundation to build anything upon.
Nat was most interested in the adventures, but Demi enjoyed the