CHAPTER II.
FRANKLIN FINDS EMPLOYMENT.
On the instant there was great excitement throughout the Bell family and their friends. All the games and the experiments with Franklin's battery were forgotten, and everybody crowded to the front door.
"Papa has been killed!" shrieked Daisy, and fell in a dead faint upon the hall settee.
"No, mum, he is not killed," said the man who had brought the sad news. "He is only badly hurted about the shoulders, mum."
Mrs. Bell was too dazed to speak or move as the men with the truck entered the yard and approached the front piazza.
Franklin drew a deep breath, thus trying to throw off some imaginary weight from his breast, and led his aunt into the parlor.
"Will you show the men to my uncle's room?" he said to Mrs. Charleigh. "It is the one in the front."
"Certainly," was the reply. "Perhaps they will want bandages. Where can I find them?"
