"There'll be no rain to-day," said Almira Jane as Master Sunshine slipped off gayly to school next morning. "Your geese are sure to be good weather-prophets, and I notice that they are dressing their feathers and diving comfortably in the little duck-pond."
"And what would they be doing if it were going to rain?" inquired Master Sunshine.
"Geese always get noisy and fidgety before storms," answered Almira Jane. "That was partly what was the matter with the Wanderer and his Wife the day you brought them here. They were doing their best to tell you that there was trouble in the air."
"There is a great lot of sense, after all, even in creatures that people think are foolish," thought Master Sunshine to himself as he set off. Then he turned to wave his hand to his mother, who threw a kiss at him from an upper window as he disappeared down the road.
Tommy and he strolled along, swinging their school satchels as they went. Presently a sound came to them on the still, morning air, something like a frightened yet angry sob, then a noise as of distant laughter.
"I wonder what the boys are up to to-day," said Tommy, with a lively look of interest.
Master Sunshine said nothing, but broke from a walk into a smart run. He was just a bit afraid that his friend, the half-witted boy, was in trouble.
Sure enough! when they had turned the sharp bend in the road, they came to the scene of the mischief. And then, somehow, all Master Sunshine's smiles vanished, and a sad, troubled expression fell on his face.
A group of schoolboys were teasing Billy Butler, by calling him mocking names, and even by throwing balls of soft mud at him; while poor Billy was growing white with rage and was gesticulating wildly.
It was not the first time that the schoolboys had made a butt of poor Billy; and Master Sunshine wished, oh, so much! that he were not quite so young and small. He was sure that these big boys would not stop their rude play for him.
Tommy was by his side now, and the boys were calling to them to join the crowd. Tommy looked rather undecided. He knew well enough that the boys were doing wrong, but he feared they would laugh at him unless he took part too; but Master Sunshine could not stand the sight.
"Come, Dick, make the boys stop teasing Billy," cried he, going up to the big boy who was leading in the rude sport. "He has never done you any harm."
Dick looked angrily around. "Listen to bow-legged Norton," he answered rudely.
"Run along," jeered another; "you better go and play with the a-b-c boys at the schoolhouse."
Master Sunshine could not bear to be teased; but neither had he the heart to turn away when Billy's eyes were following him so piteously. His mind was quite made up now, and his temper was rising fast.
"If you can do without me, you can do without Billy too," he said firmly, making his way through the group. "You can call me any names you like, and throw mud if you want to; but I'm not going to leave Billy till he can go safely home."
The boys looked at one another in amazement. Here was Fred Norton dictating to them what they should and should not do,—a little chap who had scarcely been a year at school.
For a moment they were too surprised to make any objection; and Master Sunshine had actually elbowed his way through the crowd, and, with Billy by the hand, was making his way back towards home before they realized what was happening.
Then a rude lad threw a great handful of mud that spattered on Master Sunshine's back, and another cried, "Look at his bow-legs."
Master Sunshine looked back at his tormentors, for the taunt was harder to bear than the mud itself. The boys were quick to see this, and a half dozen of them at once joined in the teasing chorus: "Did you ever see such legs? Before I'd have crooked legs like that?"
And then his first tormentor would set in with the taunt of "Bow-legged Norton! bow-legged Norton!"
But somehow the fun was quite gone out of it now. A number of the better-minded boys had left the group, and were walking quietly along. Tommy was talking vigorously to them.
"Fred Norton is all right," he exclaimed; "he's as manly and honest as he can be. He can't bear to see anything ill-treated, not even a dog; and it is just like him to take Billy's part."
"He made me feel small somehow," said Ralph, the largest boy of all. "I suppose I could have stopped the row if I'd thought, but I was afraid the fellows would be angry at me for spoiling their sport. I'll not let them tease him any more, though;" and at a sharp word from him the boys ceased their rude fun.
Master Sunshine was quite late for school that morning, and when he did arrive he was so flushed in the face, and so muddy in his dress, that Mr. Sinclair the teacher guessed that something was amiss; and a few quiet questions at recess brought out part of the story from Tommy, who was but too delighted to sing his friend's praises.
That afternoon when lessons were over, Mr. Sinclair gathered his pupils about him. "Boys," he said, "something that happened to-day makes me afraid that some of you do not know what manliness means; and, if there is a boy among you who does not wish to grow into a manly man, I would like him to leave the schoolroom now."
Tommy Dane turned around and looked very hard at Dick, who had been the chief of Billy's persecutors; but the boy, though looking very shame-faced, made no effort to move.
"Some of you," continued the master, "have been making Billy Butler very unhappy. Do you think the boy has too much pleasure in his life?"
Every boy there made a picture to himself of Billy's life, and wondered what the master could mean. Billy's home was the worst in the village, his parents were often unkind to him, his clothes were always in rags, he had no friends to play with, no one ever thought of asking him to a party or a picnic or even to play quietly in the back yard. He had never even had a chum.
The teacher read their thoughts very easily. "Then," said he, "if he has no pleasures, why do you not try giving him a few instead of making his life a burden. A manly boy tries to do what good he can to his fellow-creatures, and it seems that the manliest boy among you is one of the youngest pupils."
The boys looked at Master Sunshine as he spoke, for they knew that his words could have but one meaning. Some of them smiled as they did so; but Dick looked away again quickly, as if there was something in the sight that he could not bear.
Master Sunshine was sound asleep. His head, all a glitter with its yellow curls, was cradled on his arm. There were bits of the dried mud still clinging to the back of his coat. Even the boys who smiled were deeply touched. They remembered then what a very little boy he was, and they did not wonder that the excitement of the morning and the work of the day had quite exhausted him.
There was something like a tear in Dick's hard gray eyes.
"Boys," continued the teacher, "tell me what is your idea of a hero."
"A man who does what is right whether he likes to or not," said Ralph, who was feeling much ashamed of his share in the morning's doings.
"A man who defends the weak," said Tommy proudly. The teacher nodded.
"You are both right," said he; "and I hope from this out to have not one, but a whole roomful of heroes."
When the breaking-up of school aroused Master Sunshine, he rubbed his eyes open and stared about wonderingly. He could not think what had made him do such a silly thing as to go to sleep in school.
The boys crowded around him as he said good-by to Mr. Sinclair and started for home. Tommy grabbed his books, another lad gave him a little penknife with a tortoise-shell handle, and a third offered him a great, shiny, winter apple.
These delicate attentions were so unexpected that Master Sunshine was quite bewildered, and he was even more puzzled and perhaps a little frightened, when Dick caught him up upon his shoulder, and carried him home in state.
It was all so new and so unexpected, and he was so tired, that he did not ask why it was that the boys, led by Mr. Sinclair, gave three rousing cheers for the "hero of Hill-top school" just as he and his bearer went out of the school gate.
He half dozed again, even on his high perch; and it was not until the shrill voices of the Wanderer and his Wife warned him, that he realized that he was home at last and that another rainstorm was drawing near.
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