it through her head, though, that I wasn't a
Johnny-on-the-spot. Because I'd bought a place somewhere in the county,
she thought I could draw a map of the state with my eyes shut. "We ought
to start right away," says she.

She was more or less of a prophet, too. That thunder-storm was gettin'
busy over on Long Island and there was every chance of its comin' our
way. It lets loose a good hard crack, and the Englishman begins to look
worried.

"Aw, I say now!" says he, "hadn't I better jog off and hurry up that
bloomin' coachman?"

"All right, run along," says Sadie.

You should have seen the start of that run. He got under way like a man
on stilts, and he was about as limber as a pair of fire-tongs. But then,
them leather cuffs on his legs, and the way his coat hugged the small of
his back, wa'n't any help. I was enjoyin' his motions so much that I
hadn't paid any attention to the kids, and I guess Sadie hadn't either;
but the first we knows they all falls in behind, two by two, hand in
hand, and goes trottin' along behind him.

"Stop 'em! Stop 'em!" says Sadie.

"Whoa! Cheese it! Come back here!" I yells.

They didn't give us any more notice, though, than as if we'd been
holdin' our breath. The head pair had their eyes glued on the Captain.
They were the leaders, and the rest followed like they'd been tied
together with a rope. They was all girls and I guess they'd average
about five years old. I thought at first they all had on aprons, but now
I sees that every last one of 'em was wearin' a life-preserver. They'd
tied the things on after the bump, and I suppose the nurses had been too
rattled to take 'em off since. Maybe it wa'n't a sight to see them
bobbin' up and down!

Woodie, he looks around and sees what's comin' after him, and waves for
'em to go back. Not much. They stops when he stops, but when he starts
again they're right after him. He unlimbers a little and tries to break
away, but the kids jump into the double-quick and hang to him.

I knew what was up then. They'd sized him up for a cop, and cops was
what they was used to. You've seen those lines of Home kids bein' passed
across the street by the traffic squad? Well, havin' lost their nurses,
and not seein' anything familiar-lookin' about Sadie or me, they'd made
up their minds that Woodie was it. They meant to stick to him until
something better showed up. Once I got this through my nut, I makes a
sprint to the head of the column and gets a gri