The Princess and Joe Potter

Illustrated by

VIOLET OAKLEY

BOSTON
ESTES AND LAURIAT
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1898
By Estes and Lauriat
Colonial Press:
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, U. S. A.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Ruined Merchant 11
II. The Princess 26
III. An Advertisement 41
IV. Joe's Flight 60
V. In the City 73
VI. Dan, the Detective 86
VII. Aunt Dorcas 98
VIII. A Hungry Detective 115
IX. A Fugitive 127
X. The Journey 141
XI. A Bribe 157
XII. A Struggle in the Night 171
XIII. A Confession 188
XIV. A Ray of Light 201
XV. An Unexpected Arrival 219
XVI. The Reward 234

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
Joe Finding the Princess Frontispiece
"He Began to Feed the Little Maid" 51
"Dan Pointed to an Advertisement" 57
"'May We Come in an' Stay a Little While?'" 81
"Joe Pointed to a Tiny Cottage" 101
"She Had a Plate Heaped High with Cookies" 108
"'Well, Bless the Boy, He Don't Even Know How to Plant Potatoes!'" 143
"The Princess Suffered Aunt Dorcas to Kiss Her" 167
"A Dark Form Leaped through the Open Window" 185
Joe and Dan Disagree 207
"Come on Quick, Plums! Dan's Set the Barn A-fire!'" 215
"Joe, Believing Himself Alone, Began to Sob as if His Heart Were Breaking" 225
"Then Aunt Dorcas and Her Family Were Ready for the Ride" 241
"'McGowan's Restaurant Ain't in It Alongside of What We Struck up at the Princess's House'" 245
Tailpiece 249

[Pg 11]

CHAPTER I.

A RUINED MERCHANT.

"Hello, Joe Potter! What you doin' up in this part of the town?"

The boy thus addressed halted suddenly, looked around with what was very like an expression of fear on his face, and then, recognising the speaker, replied, in a tone of relief:

"Oh, it's you, is it, Plums?"

"Of course it's me. Who else did you think it was? Say, what you doin' 'round here? Who's tendin' for you now?"

"Nobody."

"It don't seem as though this was the time of day when you could afford to shut up shop."

"But that's what I have done."

"Got some 'portant business up here at the depot, eh?"

Joe shook his head mournfully, stepped back a few paces that he might lean against the building, and[Pg 12] looked about him with a languid air, much as if there was no longer anything pleasing for him in life.

Plums, or to give him his full name, George H. Plummer, gazed at his friend in mild surprise.

Any other boy of Joe Potter's acquaintance would have been astonished at the great change which had come over him; but Plums was not given to excesses of any kind, save in the way of eating. That which would have excited an ordinary lad only served to arouse Plums in a mild degree, and perhaps it was this natural apathy which served to give Master Plummer such an accumulation of flesh. He was what might be called a very fat boy, and was never known to move with sufficient energy to reduce his weight.