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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced from the 1914 Gay and Hancock, Ltd. +edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +A SUMMER IN A CANYON: A CALIFORNIA STORY + +by Kate Douglas Wiggin + + + + +SCENE: A Camping Ground in the Canyon Las Flores. + +PEOPLE IN THE TENTS. + +DR. PAUL WINSHIP Mine Host +MRS. TRUTH WINSHIP The Guardian Angel +DICKY WINSHIP A Small Scamp of Six Years +BELL WINSHIP The Camp Poetess +POLLY OLIVER A Sweet but Saucy Lass +MARGERY NOBLE A Nut-Brown Mayde +PHILIP NOBLE The Useful Member +GEOFFREY STRONG A Harvard Boy +JACK HOWARD Prince of Mischief +HOP YET A Heathen Chinee. +PANCHO GUTIERREZ A Mexican man-of-all-work. + + + +CHAPTER I: PREPARATION AND DEPARTURE + + + +'One to make ready, and two to prepare.' + + +It was nine o'clock one sunny California morning, and Geoffrey Strong +stood under the live-oak trees in Las Flores Canyon, with a pot of +black paint in one hand and a huge brush in the other. He could have +handled these implements to better purpose and with better grace had +not his arms been firmly held by three laughing girls, who pulled not +wisely, but too well. He was further incommoded by the presence of a +small urchin who lay on the dusty ground beneath his feet, fastening +an upward clutch on the legs of his trousers. + +There were three large canvas tents directly in front of them, yet no +one of these seemed to be the object of dissension, but rather a +redwood board, some three feet in length, which was nailed on a tree +near by. + +'Camp Frolic! Please let us name it Camp Frolic!' cried Bell +Winship, with a persuasive twitch of her cousin's sleeve. + +'No, no; not Camp Frolic,' pleaded Polly Oliver. 'Pray, pray let us +have Camp Ha-Ha; my heart is set upon it.' + +'As you are Strong, be merciful,' quoted Margery Noble, coaxingly; +'take my advice and call it Harmony Camp.' + +At this juncture, a lovely woman, whose sweet face and smile made you +love her at once, came up the hill from the brookside. 'What, what! +still quarrelling, children?' she asked, laughingly. 'Let me be +peacemaker. I've just asked the Doctor for a name, and he suggests +Camp Chaparral. What do you say?' + +Bell released one coat-tail. 'That isn't wholly bad,' she said, +critically, while the other girls clapped their hands with approval; +for anything that Aunt Truth suggested was sure to be quite right. + +'Wait a minute, good people,' cried Jack Howard, flinging his +fishing-tackle under a tree and sauntering toward the scene of +action. 'Suppose we have a referee, a wise and noble judge. Call +Hop Yet, and let him decide this all-important subject.' + +His name being sung and shouted in various keys by the assembled +company, Hop Yet appeared at the door of the brush kitchen, a broad +grin on his countenance, a plucked fowl in his hand. + +Geoffrey took the floor. 'Now, Hop Yet, you know I got name, you got +name, everybody got name. We want name this camp: you sabe? Miss +Bell, she say Camp Frolic. Frolic all same heap good time' (here he +executed a sort of war-dance which was intended to express wild joy). +'Miss Pauline, she say Camp Ha-Ha, big laugh: sabe? Ha! ha! ha! ha! +ha! ha!' (chorus joined in by all to fully illustrate the subject). +'Miss Madge, she say Camp Harmony. Harmony all same heap quiet time, +plenty eat, plenty drink, plenty sleep, no fight, no too muchee talk. +Mrs. Winship, she say Camp Chaparral: you sabe? Chaparral, Hop Yet. +Now what you say?' + +Hop Yet seemed to regard the question with mingled embarrassment and +amusement, but being a sharp and talkative Chinaman gave his answer +promptly: 'Me say Camp Chap-lal heap good name; plenty chap-lal all +lound; me hang um dish-cloth, tow'l, little boy's stockin', on chap- +lal; all same clo'se-line velly good. Miss Bell she folic, Miss +Polly she ha! ha! allee same Camp Chap-lal.' + +And so Camp Chaparral it was; the redwood board flaunted the +assertion before the eyes of the public (which was a rather limited +one, to be sure) in less than half an hour, and the artist, after +painting the words in rustic letters a foot long, cut branches of the +stiff, ungracious bushes and nailed them to the tree in confirmation +and illustration of the fact. He then carefully deposited the paint- +pot in a secret place, where it might be out of sight and touch of a +certain searching eye and mischievous hand well known and feared of +him; but before the setting sun had dropped below the line of purple +mountain tops, a small boy, who will be known in these annals as +Dicky Winship, might have been seen sitting on the empty paint-pot, +while from a dingy pool upon the ground he was attempting to paint a +copy of the aforesaid inscription upon the side of a too patient +goat, who saw no harm in the operation. He was alone, and very, very +happy. + +And now I must tell you the way in which all this began. You may not +realise it, dear young folks, but this method of telling a story is +very much the fashion with grown-up people, and of course I am not to +blame, since I didn't begin it. + +The plan is this: You must first write a chapter showing all your +people, men, women, children, dogs, and cats, in a certain place, +doing certain things. Then you must go back a year or two and +explain how they all happen to be there. Perhaps you may have to +drag your readers twenty-five years into the regions of the past, and +show them the first tooth of your oldest character; but that doesn't +matter a bit,--the further the better. Then, when everybody has +forgotten what came to pass in the first chapter, you are ready to +take it up again, as if there had never been any parenthesis. +However, I shall not introduce you to the cradles, cribs, or trundle- +beds of my merry young campers, but merely ask you to retrace your +steps one week, and look upon them in their homes. + +On one of the pleasantest streets of a certain little California town +stood, and still stands for aught I know, a pretty brown cottage, +with its verandahs covered with passion-vine and a brilliant rose- +garden in front. It is picturesque enough to attract the attention +of any passer-by, and if you had chosen to peep through the crevices +in the thick vines and look in at the open window, you might have +thought it lovelier within than without. + +It was a bright day, and the gracious June sunshine flooded the room +with yellow light. Three young girls, perhaps fourteen or fifteen +years old, were seated in different parts of the large room, plying +industrious crochet needles and tatting shuttles. Three pairs of +bright eyes were dancing with fun and gladness; and another pair, the +softest and clearest of all, looked out from a broad white bed in the +corner,--tired eyes, and oh, so patient, for the health-giving +breezes wafted in from the blue ocean and carried over mountain tops +and vine-covered slopes had so far failed to bring back Elsie +Howard's strength and vigour. + +The graceful, brown-haired girl with the bright, laughter-loving +face, was Bell Winship. She of the dancing blue eyes, pink cheeks, +and reckless little sun-bonnet was Pauline, otherwise Polly Oliver. +Did you ever know a Polly without some one of these things? Well, my +Polly had them all, and, besides, a saucy freckled nose, a crown of +fluffy, reddish-yellow hair, and a shower of coaxing little pitfalls +called dimples round her pretty mouth. She made you think of a +sunbeam, a morning songbird, a dancing butterfly, or an impetuous +little crocus just out after the first spring shower. Dislike her? +You couldn't. Approve of her? You wouldn't always. Love her? Of +course; you couldn't help yourself,--I defy you. + +To be sure, if you prefer a quiet life, and do not want to be led +into exploits of all kinds, invariably beginning with risk, attended +with danger, and culminating in despair, you had better not engage in +an intimate friendship with Miss Pauline Oliver, but fix your +affections on the quiet, thoughtful, but not less lovable girl who +sits by the bedside stroking Elsie Howard's thin white hand. +Nevertheless, I am obliged to state that Margery Noble herself, +earnest, demure, and given to reflection, was Polly's willing slave +and victim. However, I've forgotten to tell you that Polly was as +open and frank as the daylight, at once torrid and constant in her +affections, brave, self-forgetting as well as self-willed; and that +though she did have a tongue just the least bit saucy, she used it +valiantly in the defence of others. 'She'll come out all right,' +said a dear old-fashioned grandfather of hers whom she had left way +back in a Vermont farmhouse. 'She's got to be purged o' considerable +dross, but she'll come out pure gold, I tell you.' + +Pretty, wise, tender Margery Noble, with her sleek brown braids, her +innocent, questioning eyes, her soft voice, willing hands, and shy, +quiet manners! 'She will either end as the matron of an orphan +asylum or as head-nurse in a hospital.' So Bell Winship often used +to say; but then she was chiefly celebrated for talking nonsense, and +nobody ever paid much attention to her. But if you should crave a +breath of fresh air, or want to believe that the spring has come, +just call Bell Winship in, as she walks with her breezy step down the +street. Her very hair seems instinct with life, with its flying +tendrils of bronze brightness and the riotous little curls on her +brow and temples. Then, too, she has a particularly jaunty way of +putting on her jacket, or wearing a flower or a ribbon; and as for +her ringing peal of laughter, it is like a chime of silver bells. + +Elsie Howard, the invalid friend of the girls, was as dear to them as +they were to each other. She kept the secrets of the 'firm'; mourned +over their griefs and smiled over their joys; was proud of their +talents and tenderly blind to their faults. The little wicker +rocking-chair by the bedside was often made a sort of confessional, +at which she presided, the tenderest and most sympathetic little +priestess in the universe; and every afternoon the piazza, with its +lattice of green vines, served as a mimic throne-room, where she was +wont to hold high court, surrounded by her devoted subjects. Here +Geoffrey Strong used often to read to the assembled company David +Copperfield, Alice in Wonderland, or snatches from the magazines, +while Jack Howard lazily stretched himself under the orange-trees and +braided lariats, a favourite occupation with California boys. About +four o'clock Philip Noble would ride up from his father's fruit +ranch, some three miles out on the San Marcos road, and, hitching his +little sorrel mare Chispa at the gate, stay an hour before going to +the post-office. + +This particular afternoon, however, was not one of Elsie's bright +ones, and there was no sign of court or invalid queen on the piazza. +The voices of the girls floated out from Elsie's bedroom, while the +boys, too, seemed to be somewhere in the vicinity, for there was a +constant stirring about as of lively preparation, together with noise +of hammering and sawing. + +'If you were only going, Elsie, our cup of happiness would be full,' +sighed Bell. + +'Not only would it be full, Bell, but it would be running over, and +we should positively stand in the slop,' said Polly. 'No, you +needn't frown at me, miss; that expression is borrowed from no less a +person than Sydney Smith.' + +'Don't think any more about me,' smiled Elsie. 'Perhaps I can come +down in the course of the summer. I know it will be the happiest +time in the world, but I don't envy you a bit; in fact, I'm very glad +you're going, because you'll have such a lovely budget of adventures +to tell me when you come back.' + +'When we come back, indeed!' exclaimed Bell. 'Why, we shall write +long round-robin letters every few days, and send them by the team. +Papa says Pancho will have to go over to the stage station at least +once a week for letters and any provisions we may need.' + +'Oh, won't that be delightful,--almost as good as being there myself! +And, Margery dear, you must make them tell me every least little +thing that happens. You know they are such fly-aways that they'll +only write me when they learn to swim, or shoot a wildcat, or get +lost in the woods. I want to know all the stupid bits: what you +have for dinner, how and where you sleep, how your camp looks, what +you do from morning till night, and how Dicky behaves.' + +'I can tell you that beforehand,' said Bell, dolefully. 'Jack will +shoot him by mistake on Thursday; he will be kicked by the horses +Friday, and bitten by tarantulas and rattlesnakes Saturday; he will +eat poison oak on Sunday, get lost in the canyon Monday, be eaten by +a bear Tuesday, and drowned in the pool Wednesday. These incidents +will complete his first week; and if they produce no effect on his +naturally strong constitution, he will treat us to another week, +containing just as many mishaps, but no duplicates.' + +By the time this dismal prophecy was ended the other girls were in a +breathless fit of laughter, though all acknowledged it was likely to +be fulfilled. + +'I went over the camping-ground last summer,' said Margery. 'You +know it is quite near papa's sheep ranch, and it is certainly the +most beautiful place in California. The tents will be pitched at the +mouth of the canyon, where there is a view of the ocean, and just at +the back will be a lovely grove of wild oaks and sycamore-trees.' + +'Oh, won't it be delicious!' sighed Elsie. 'I feel as if I could +sniff the air this minute. But there! I won't pretend that I'm +dying for fresh air, with the breath of the sea coming in at my south +window, and a whiff of jasmine and honeysuckle from the piazza. That +would be nonsense. Are your trunks packed?' + +'Trunks!' exclaimed Polly. 'Would you believe it, our clothes are +packed in gunny-sacks! We start in our camping-dresses, with ulsters +for the steamer and dusters for the long drive. Then we each have-- +let me see what we have: a short, tough riding-skirt with a jersey, +a bathing-dress, and some gingham morning-gowns to wear about the +camp at breakfast-time.' + +'And flannel gowns for the night, and two pairs of boots, and a +riding-cap and one hat apiece,' added Margery. + +'But oh, Elsie, my dear, you should see Dicky in his camping-suits,' +laughed Bell. 'They are a triumph of invention on mamma's part. +Just imagine! one is of some enamelled cloth that was left over from +the new carriage cushions; it is very shiny and elegant; and the +other, truly, is of soft tanned leather, and just as pretty as it can +be. Then he has hob-nailed, copper-toed boots, and a hat that ties +under his chin. Poor little man, he has lost his curls, too, and +looks rather like a convict.' + +Mrs. Howard came in the door while Bell was speaking, and laughed +heartily at the description of Dicky's curious outfit. 'What time do +you start?' she asked, as she laid a bunch of mignonette on Elsie's +table. + +'At eleven to-morrow morning,' Bell answered. 'Everything is packed. +We are to start in the steamer, and when we come to our old landing, +about forty miles down the coast, we are to get off and take a three- +seated thorough-brace wagon, and drive over to Las Flores Canyon. +Pancho has hired a funny little pack mule; he says we shall need one +in going up the mountain, and that the boys can take him when they go +out shooting,--to carry the deer home, you know.' + +'If I can bring Elsie down, as I hope, we must come by land,' said +Mrs. Howard. 'I thought we could take two days for the journey, +sleeping at the Burtons' ranch on the way. The doctor says that if +she can get strength enough to bear the ride, the open-air life will +do her good, even if she does nothing but lie in the hammock.' + +'And be waited upon by six willing slaves,' added Polly. + +'And be fed on canned corned beef and tomato stew,' laughed Bell. + +'Not a bit of it,' said Margery. 'Hop Yet is a splendid cook, if he +has anything to cook, and we'll feed her on broiled titbits of baby +venison, goat's milk, wild bees' honey, and cunning little mourning +doves, roasted on a spit.' + +'Good gracious,' cried Bell, 'what angels' food! only I would as soon +devour a pet canary as a mourning dove. But to think that I've been +trying to diet for a week in order to get intimate with suffering and +privation! Polly came to stay with me one night, and we slept on the +floor, with only a blanket under us, and no pillow; it was perfectly +horrid. Polly dreamed that her grandfather ate up her grandmother, +and I that Dicky stabbed the Jersey calf with a pickle-fork.' + +'Horrors!' ejaculated Margery; 'that's a pleasant prospect for your +future bedfellows. I hope the gophers won't make you nervous, +gnawing and scratching in the straw; I got used to them last summer. +But we really must go, darling,' and she stooped to kiss Elsie good- +bye. + +'Well, I suppose you ought,' she answered. 'But remember you are to +start from this gate; Aunt Truth has promised me the fun of seeing +you out of sight.' + +The girls went out at a side door, and joined the boys, who were +busily at work cleaning their guns on the broad western porch. + +'How are you coming on?' questioned Polly. + +'Oh, finely,' answered Jack, who always constituted himself chief +spokesman, unless driven from the rostrum by some one possessed of a +nimbler tongue. 'I only hope your feminine togs are in half as good +order.' + +'We take no baggage to speak of,' said Bell, loftily. 'Papa has cut +us down to the very last notch, and says the law allows very few +pounds on this trip.' + +'The less the better,' quoth Geoff, cheerily; 'then you'll have to +polish up your mental jewels.' + +'Which you consider imitation, I suppose,' sniffed Polly. + +'Perish the thought!' cried Jack. 'But, speaking of mental jewels, +you should see the arrangements Geoff has made for polishing his. He +has actually stuck in six large volumes, any one of which would be a +remedy for sleeplessness. What are you going to study, Miss Pol-y- +on-o-mous Oliver?' + +'Now, Jack, let us decide at once whether you intend to be respectful +or not. I don't propose to expose myself to your nonsense for two +months unless you make me good promises.' + +'Why, that wasn't disrespectful. It is my newest word, and it simply +means having many titles. I'm sure you have more than most people.' + +'Very well, then! I'll overlook the irreverence this time, and +announce that I shall not take anything whatever to read, but simply +reflect upon what I know already.' + +'That may last for the first week,' said Bell, slyly, 'but what will +you do afterward?' + +'I'll reflect upon what you don't know,' retorted Polly. 'That will +easily occupy me two months.' + +Fortunately, at the very moment this stinging remark was made, Phil +Noble dashed up to the front gate, flung his bridle over the +hitching-post, and lifted his hat from a very warm brow. + +'Hail, chief of the commissary department!' cried Geoffrey, with mock +salute. 'Have you despatched the team?' + +'Yes; everything is all right,' said Phil, breathlessly, delivering +himself of his information in spasmodic bursts of words. 'Such a lot +of work it was! here's the list. Pancho will dump them on the ground +and let us settle them when we get there. Such a load! You should +have seen it! Hardly room for him to sit up in front with the +Chinaman. Just hear this,' and he drew a large document from what +Polly called 'a back-stairs pocket.' + +'Forty cans corned beef, four guns, three Dutch cheeses, pickles, +fishing-tackle, flour, bacon, three bushels onions, crate of dishes, +Jack's banjo, potatoes, Short History of the English People, cooking +utensils, three hair pillows, box of ginger-snaps, four hammocks, +coffee, cartridges, sugar, Macaulay's Essays, Pond's extract, sixteen +hams, Bell's guitar, pop-corn, molasses, salt, St. Jacob's Oil, +Conquest of Mexico, sack of almonds, flea-powder, and smoked herring. +Whew! I packed them all myself.' + +'In precisely that order?' questioned Polly. + +'In precisely that order, Miss Oliver,' returned Phil, urbanely. +'Any one who feels that said packing might be improved upon has only +to mount the fleet Arabian yonder' (the animal alluded to seized this +moment to stand on three legs, hang his head, and look dejected), +'and, giving him the rein, speed o'er the trackless plain which leads +to San Miguel, o'ertake the team, and re-pack the contents according +to her own satisfaction.' + +'No butter, nor eggs, nor fresh vegetables?' asked Margery. 'We +shall starve!' + +'Not at all,' quoth Jack. 'Polly will gracefully dispose a horse- +blanket about her shoulders, to shield her from the chill dews of the +early morn, mount the pack mule exactly at cock-crow everyday, and +ride to a neighbouring ranch where there are tons of the aforesaid +articles awaiting our consumption.' + +'Can you see me doing it, girls? Does it seem entirely natural?' +asked Polly, with great gravity. + +'Now hear my report as chairman of the committee of arrangements,' +said Geoffrey Strong, seating himself with dignity on a barrel of +nails. 'The tents, ropes, tool-boxes, bed-sacks, blankets, +furniture, etc., all went down on Monday's steamer, and I have a +telegram from Larry's Landing saying that they arrived in good order, +and that a Mexican gentleman who owns a mammoth wood-cart will take +them up to-morrow when we go ourselves. The procession will move at +one P.M., wind and weather permitting, in the following order:- + +'1. Chief Noble on his gallant broncho. + +'2. Commander Strong on his ditto, ditto. + +'3. Main conveyance or triumphal chariot, driven by Aide-de-Camp +John Howard, and carrying Dr. and Mrs. Winship, our most worshipful +and benignant host and hostess; Master Dick Winship, the heir- +apparent; three other young persons not worth mentioning; and four +cans of best leaf lard, which I omitted to put with the other +provisions. + +'4. Wood-cart containing baggage, driven by Senor Don Manuel Felipe +Hilario Noriega from Dead Wood Gulch. + +'5. One small tan terrier.' + +'Oh, Geoff, Geoff, pray do stop! it's too much!' cried the girls in a +fit of laughter. + +'Hurrah!' shouted Jack, tossing his hat into a tall eucalyptus-tree +in his excitement, 'Tent life for ever!' + +'Good-bye, ye pomps and vanities!' chanted Bell, kissing her hand in +imaginary farewell. 'Verily the noisy city shall know us no more, +for we depart for the green forests.' + +'And the city will not be as noisy WHEN you depart,' murmured Jack, +with an impudence that luckily passed unnoticed. + +'If Elsie could only come too!' sighed Polly. + + +Wednesday morning dawned as bright and beautiful as all mornings are +wont to dawn in Southern California. A light mist hung over the old +adobe mission church, through which, with its snow-white towers and +cold, clear-cut lines, it rose like a frozen fairy castle. Bell +opened her sleepy eyes with the very earliest birds, and running to +the little oval window, framed with white-rose vines, looked out at +the new day just creeping up into the world. + +'Oh dear and beautiful home of mine, how charming, how charming you +are! I wonder if you are not really Paradise!' she said, dreamily; +and the marvel is that the rising sun did not stop a moment in sheer +surprise at the sight of this radiant morning vision; for the oval +window opening to the east was a pretty frame, with its outline +marked by the dewy rose-vine covered with hundreds of pure, half- +opened buds and swaying tendrils, and she stood there in it, a fair +image of the morning in her innocent white gown. Her luminous eyes +still mirrored the shadowy visions of dreamland, mingled with dancing +lights of hope and joyful anticipation; while on her fresh cheeks, +which had not yet lost the roundness of childhood, there glowed, as +in the eastern skies, the faint pink blush of the morning. + +The town is yet asleep, and in truth it is never apt to be fairly +wide awake. The air is soft and balmy; the lovely Pacific, a +quivering, sparkling sheet of blue and grey and green flecked with +white foam, stretches far out until it is lost in the rosy sky; and +the mountains, all purple and pink and faint crimson and grey, stand +like sentinels along the shore. The scent of the roses, violets, and +mignonette mingled with the cloying fragrance of the datura is heavy +in the still air. The bending, willowy pepper-trees show myriad +bunches of yellow blossoms, crimson seed-berries, and fresh green +leaves, whose surface, not rain-washed for months, is as full of +colour as ever. The palm-trees rise without a branch, tall, slender, +and graceful, from the warmly generous earth, and spread at last, as +if tired of their straightness, into beautiful crowns of fans, which +sway toward each other with every breath of air. Innumerable +butterflies and humming-birds, in the hot, dazzling sunshine of +noonday, will be hovering over the beds of sweet purple heliotrope +and finding their way into the hearts of the passion-flowers, but as +yet not the faintest whirr of wings can be heard. Looking eastward +or westward, you see either brown foot-hills, or, a little later on, +emerald slopes whose vines hang heavy with the half-ripened grapes. + +And hark! A silvery note strikes on the dewy stillness. It is the +mission bell ringing for morning mass; and if you look yonder you may +see the Franciscan friars going to prayers, with their loose grey +gowns, their girdle of rope, their sandaled feet, and their jingling +rosaries; and perhaps a Spanish senorita, with her trailing dress, +and black shawl loosely thrown over her head, from out the folds of +which her two dark eyes burn like gleaming fires. A solitary Mexican +gallops by, with gayly decorated saddle and heavily laden saddle-bags +hanging from it; perhaps he is taking home provisions to his wife and +dark-eyed babies who live up in a little dimple of the mountain side, +almost hidden from sight by the olive-trees. And then a patient, +hardy little mustang lopes along the street, bearing on his back +three laughing boys, one behind the other, on a morning ride into +town from the mesa. + +The mist had floated away from the old mission now, the sun has +climbed a little higher, and Bell has come away from the window in a +gentle mood. + +'Oh, Polly, I don't see how anybody can be wicked in such a +beautiful, beautiful world.' + +'Humph!' said Polly, dipping her curly head deep into the water-bowl, +and coming up looking like a little drowned kitten. 'When you want +to be hateful, you don't stop to think whether you're looking at a +cactus or a rosebush, do you?' + +'Very true,' sighed Bell, quite silenced by this practical +illustration. 'Now I'll try the effect of the landscape on my temper +by dressing Dicky, while he dances about the room and plays with his +tan terrier.' + +But it happened that Dicky was on his very best behaviour, and stood +as still as a signpost while being dressed. It is true he ate a +couple of matches and tumbled down-stairs twice before breakfast, so +that after that hurried meal Bell tied him to one of the verandah +posts, that he might not commit any act vicious enough to keep them +at home. As he had a huge pocket full of apricots he was in perfect +good-humour, not taking his confinement at all to heart, inasmuch as +it commanded a full view of the scene of action. His amiability was +further increased, moreover, by the possession of a bright new +policeman's whistle, which was carefully tied to his button-hole by a +neat little silk cord, and which his fond parents intended that he +should blow if he chanced to fall into danger during his rambles +about the camp. We might as well state here, however, that this +precaution proved fruitless, for he blew it at all times and seasons; +and everybody became so hardened to its melodious shriek that they +paid no attention to it whatever,--history, or fable, thus again +repeating itself. + +Mr. and Mrs. Noble had driven Margery and Phil into town from the +fruit ranch, and were waiting to see the party off. + +Mrs. Oliver was to live in the Winship house during the absence of +the family, and was aiding them to do those numberless little things +that are always found undone at the last moment. She had given her +impetuous daughter a dozen fond embraces, smothering in each a gentle +warning, and stood now with Mrs. Winship at the gate, watching the +three girls, who had gone on to bid Elsie good-bye. + +'I hope Pauline won't give you any trouble,' she said. 'She is so +apt to be too impulsive and thoughtless.' + +'I shall enjoy her,' said sweet Aunt Truth, with that bright, cordial +smile of hers that was like a blessing. 'She has a very loving +heart, and is easily led. How pretty the girls look, and how +different they are! Polly is like a thistledown or a firefly, +Margery like one of our home Mayflowers, and I can't help thinking my +Bell like a sunbeam.' + +The girls did look very pretty; for their mothers had fashioned their +camping-dresses with much care and taste, taking great pains to make +them picturesque and appropriate to their summer life 'under the +greenwood tree.' + +Over a plain full skirt of heavy crimson serge Bell wore a hunting +jacket and drapery of dark leaf-green, like a bit of forest against a +sunset. Her hair, which fell in a waving mass of burnished +brightness to her waist, was caught by a silver arrow, and crowned by +a wide soft hat of crimson felt encircled with a bird's breast. + +Margery wore a soft grey flannel, the colour of a dove's throat, +adorned with rows upon rows of silver braid and sparkling silver +buttons; while her big grey hat had nothing but a silver cord and +tassel tied round it in Spanish fashion. + +Polly was all in sailor blue, with a distractingly natty little +double-breasted coat and great white rolling collar. Her hat swung +in her hand, as usual, showing her boyish head of sunny auburn curls, +and she carried on a neat chatelaine a silver cup and little clasp- +knife, as was the custom in the party. + +'It's very difficult,' Polly often exclaimed, 'to get a dress that +will tone down your hair and a hat that will tone up your nose, when +the first is red and the last a snub! My nose is the root of all +evil; it makes people think I'm saucy before I say a word; and as for +my hair, they think I must be peppery, no matter if I were really as +meek as Moses. Now there's Margery, the dear, darling mouse! People +look at her two sleek braids, every hair doing just what it ought to +do and lying straight and smooth, and ask, "Who is that sweet girl?" +There's something wrong somewhere. I ought not to suffer because of +one small, simple, turned-up nose and a head of hair which reveals +the glowing tints of autumn, as Jack gracefully says.' + +'Here they come!' shouted Jack from the group on the Howards' piazza. +'Christopher Columbus, what gorgeousness! The Flamingo, the Dove, +and the Blue-jay! Good-morning, young ladies; may we be allowed to +travel in the same steamer with your highnesses?' + +'You needn't be troubled,' laughed Bell. 'We shall not disclose +these glories until we reach the camp. But you are dressed as usual. +What's the matter?' + +'Why, the fact is,' answered Geoffrey, 'our courage failed us at the +last moment. We donned our uniforms, and looked like brigands, +highway robbers, cowboys, firemen,--anything but modest young men; +and as it was too warm for ulsters, we took refuge in civilised +raiment for to-day. When we arrive, you shall behold our dashing +sombreros fixed up with peacock feathers, and our refulgent shirts, +which are of the most original style and decoration.' + +'Aboriginal, in fact,' said Jack. 'We have broad belts of alligator +skin, pouches, pistols, bowie-knives, and tan-coloured shoes; but we +dislike to flaunt them before the eyes of a city public.' + +'Here they are!' cried Geoffrey, from the gate. 'Uncle, and aunt, +and Dicky, and--good gracious! Is he really going to take that +wretched tan terrier?' + +'Won't go without him,' said Bell, briefly. 'There are cases where +it is better to submit than to fight.' + +So the last good-byes were said, and Elsie bore up bravely; better, +indeed, than the others, who shed many a furtive tear at leaving her. +'Make haste and get well, darling,' whispered the girls, lovingly. + +'Pray, pray, dear Mrs. Howard, bring her down to us as soon as +possible. We'll take such good care of her,' teased Bell, with one +last squeeze, and strong signs of a shower in both eyes. + +'Come, girls and boys,' said kind Dr. Paul, 'the steamer has blown +her first whistle, and we must be off.' + +Oh, how clear and beautiful a day it was, and how charmingly gracious +Dame Ocean looked in her white caps and blue ruffles! Even the +combination steamboat smell of dinner, oil, and close air was +obliterated by the keen sea-breeze. + +The good ship Orizaba ploughed her way through the sparkling, sun-lit +waves, traversing quickly the distance which lay between the young +people and their destination. They watched the long white furrow +that stretched in her wake, the cloud of black smoke which floated +like a dark shadow above the laughing crests of the waves, and the +flocks of sea-gulls sailing overhead, with wild shrill screams ever +and anon swooping down for some bit of food flung from the ship, and +then floating for miles on the waves. + +How they sung 'Life on the Ocean Wave,' 'Bounding Billow,' and +'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep!' How Jack chanted, - + + + 'I wish I were a fish, + With a great long tail; + A tiny little tittlebat, + A wiggle or a whale, +In the middle of the great blue sea. Oh, my!' + + +'Oh, how I long to be there!' exclaimed Philip, 'to throw aside all +the formal customs of a wicked world I abhor, and live a free life +under the blue sky!' + +'Why, Philip Noble! I never saw you inside of a house in my life,' +cried Polly. + +'Oh, yes; you're mistaken. I've been obliged to eat most of my meals +in the house, and sleep there; but I don't approve of it, and it's a +trial to be borne with meekness only when there's no remedy for it.' + +'Besides,' said Jack, 'even when we are out-of-doors we are shelling +the reluctant almond, poisoning the voracious gopher, pruning grape- +vines, and "sich." Now I am only going to shoot to eat, and eat to +shoot!' + +'Hope you've improved since last year, or you'll have a low diet,' +murmured Phil, in an undertone. + +'The man of genius must expect to be the butt of ridicule,' sighed +Jack, meekly. + +'But you'll not repine, although your heartstrings break, will you?' +said Polly, sympathisingly; 'especially in the presence of several +witnesses who have seen you handle a gun.' + +'How glad I am that I'm too near-sighted to shoot,' said Geoffrey, +taking off the eye-glasses that made him look so wise and dignified. +'I shall lounge under the trees, read Macaulay, and order the meals.' + +'I shall need an assistant about the camp,' said Aunt Truth, +smilingly; 'but I hardly think he'll have much time to lounge; when +everything else fails, there's always Dicky, you know.' + +Geoffrey looked discouraged. + +'And, furthermore, I declare by the nose of the great Tam o' Shanter +that I will cut down every tree in the vicinity ere you shall lounge +under it,' said Jack. + +'Softly, my boy. Hill's blue-gum forest is not so very far away. +You'll have your hands full,' laughed Dr. Paul. + +Here Margery and Bell joined the group after a quick walk up and down +the deck. + +'Papa,' said Bell, excitedly, 'we certainly are nearing the place. +Do you see that bend in the shore, and don't you remember that the +landing isn't far below?' + +'Bell's bump of locality is immense. There are nineteen bends in the +shore exactly like that one before we reach the landing. How many +knots an hour do you suppose this ship travels, my fair cousin?' +asked Geoffrey. + +'I could tell better,' replied Bell calmly, 'if I could ever remember +how many knots made a mile, or how many miles made a knot; but I +always forget.' + +'Oh, see! There's a porpoise!' cried Jack. 'Polly, why is a +porpoise like a water-lily?' + +But before he could say 'Guess,' Phil, Geoff, and the girls had drawn +themselves into a line, and, with a whispered 'One, two, three,' to +secure a good start, replied in concert, 'We-give-it-up!' + +'What a deafening shout!' cried Aunt Truth, coming out of the cabin. +'What's the matter, pray?' + +'Nothing, aunty,' laughed Polly. 'But we have formed a society for +suppressing Jack's conundrums, and this is our first public meeting. +How do you like the watchword?' + +Aunt Truth smiled. 'It was very audible,' she said. 'Yours is +evidently not a secret society.' + +'I wish I could find out who originated this plan,' quoth Jack, +murderously. 'But I suppose it's one of you girls, and I can't +revenge myself. Oh, when will this barrier between the sexes be +removed!' + +'I trust not in your lifetime,' shuddered Polly, 'or we might as well +begin to "stand round our dying beds" at once.' + + + +CHAPTER II: THE JOURNEY + + + +'Away, away, from men and towns, +To the wild wood and the downs, +To the silent wilderness.' + + +Whatever the distance was in reality, the steamer had consumed more +time than usual, and it was quite two o'clock, instead of half-past +twelve, as they had expected, before they were landed on the old and +almost forgotten pier, and saw the smoke of the Orizaba as she +steamed away. + +After counting over their bags and packages to see if anything had +been forgotten, they looked about them. + +There was a dirty little settlement, a mile or two to the south, +consisting of a collection of tumble-down adobe houses which looked +like a blotch on the brown hillside; a few cattle were browsing near +by, and the locality seemed to be well supplied with lizards, which +darted over the dusty ground in all directions. But the startling +point of the landscape was that it showed no sign of human life, and +Pancho's orders had been to have Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario +Noriega and his wood-cart on hand promptly at half-past twelve. + +'Can Pancho have forgotten?' + +'Can he have lost his way and never arrived here at all?' + +'Can Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario Noriega have grown tired of +waiting and gone off?' + +'Has Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario Noriega been drinking too much +aguardiente and so forgotten to come?' + +'Has Pancho been murdered by highway robbers, and served up into stew +for their evening meal?' + +'With Hop Yet for dessert! Oh, horrible!' These were some of the +questions and exclamations that greeted the ears of the lizards, and +caused them to fly over the ground in a more excited fashion than +ever. + +'One thing is certain. If Pancho has been stupid enough to lose his +way coming fifty miles down the coast, I'll discharge him,' said Dr. +Winship, with decision. + +'When you find him,' added Aunt Truth, prudently. + +'Of course. But really, mamma, this looks discouraging; I am afraid +we can't get into camp this evening. Shall we go up to the nearest +ranch house for the night, and see what can be done to-morrow?' + +'Never!' exclaimed the young people, with one deafening shout. + +'Never,' echoed Philip separately. 'I have vowed that a bed shall +not know me for three months, and I'll keep my vow.' + +'What do you say to this, Uncle Doc?' said Geoffrey. 'Suppose you go +up to the storehouse and office,--it's about a mile,--and see if the +goods are there all right, and whether the men saw Pancho on his way +up to the canyon. Meanwhile, Phil and I will ride over here +somewhere to get a team, or look up Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario +Noriega. Jack can stay with Aunt Truth and the girls, to watch +developments.' + +'But, papa, can't we pitch the camp to-night, somehow?' asked Bell, +piteously. + +'I don't see how. We are behindhand already; and if we get started +within an hour we can't reach the ground I selected before dark and +we can't choose any nearer one, because if Pancho is anywhere in +creation he is on the identical spot I sent him to.' + +'But, Dr. Paul, I'll tell you what we could do,' suggested Jack. 'If +we get any kind of a start, we can't fail to reach camp by seven or +eight o'clock at latest. Now it's bright moonlight, and if we find +Pancho, he'll have the baggage unloaded, and Hop Yet will have a fire +lighted. What's to prevent our swinging the hammocks for the ladies? +And we'll just roll up in our blankets by the fire, for to-night. +Then we'll get to housekeeping in the morning.' + +This plan received a most enthusiastic reception. + +'Very well,' replied the Doctor. 'If you are all agreed, I suppose +we may as well begin roughing it now as at any time.' + +You may have noticed sometimes, after having fortified yourself +against a terrible misfortune which seemed in store for you, that it +didn't come, after all. Well, it was so in this case; for just as +Dr. Winship and the boys started out over the hillside at a brisk +pace, an immense cloud of dust, some distance up the road, attracted +their attention, and they came to a sudden standstill. + +The girls held their breath in anxious expectation, and at length +gave an irrepressible shout of joy and relief when there issued from +the dense grey cloud the familiar four-horse team, with Daisy, Tule +Molly, Villikins, and Dinah, looking as fresh as if they had not been +driven a mile, tough little mustangs that they were. + +A long conversation in Spanish ensued, which, being translated by Dr. +Winship, furnished all necessary information concerning the delay. + +S. D. M. F. H. N. stated that Pancho was neither faithless nor +stupid, but was waiting for them on the camping-ground, and that as +the goods were already packed in his wood-cart he would follow them +immediately. So the whole party started without more delay; Dr. and +Mrs. Winship, Master Paul, Jack Howard, and the three girls riding in +the wagon, while Geoffrey and Philip galloped ahead on horseback. + +It was a long, dusty, tiresome ride; and Dicky, who had been as good +all day as any saint ever carved in marble and set in a niche, grew +rather warm, cross, and hungry, although he had been consuming +ginger-snaps and apricots since early morning. After asking +plaintively for the fiftieth time how long it would be before dinner, +he finally succumbed to his weariness, and dropping his yellow head, +that was like a cowslip ball, in his mother's lap, he fell asleep. + +But the young people, whose eyes were not blinded by hunger and +sleep, found more than enough to interest them on this dusty +California road, winding as it did through grand old growths of +trees, acres and acres of waving grain, and endless stretches of +gorgeous yellow mustard, the stalks of which were five or six feet +high, almost hiding from view the boys who dashed into the golden +forest from time to time. + +At the foot of the hill they passed an old adobe hut, with a crowd of +pretty, swarthy, frowzy Mexican children playing in the sunshine, +while their mother, black-haired and ample of figure, occupied +herself in hanging great quantities of jerked beef on a sort of +clothes-line running between the eucalyptus-trees. + +The father, a wild-looking individual in a red shirt and enormous +hat, came from behind the hut, unhitched the stout little broncho +tied to the fence, gave the poor animal a desperately tight 'cinch,' +threw himself into the saddle without touching his foot to the +lumbering wooden stirrups, and, digging his spurs well into the +horse's sides, was out of sight in an instant, leaving only a huge +cloud of dust to cover his disappearance. + +'How those fellows do ride!' exclaimed Dr. Winship, savagely. 'I +wish they were all obliged to walk until they knew how to treat a +horse.' + +'Then they'd walk straight into the millennium,' said Jack, sagely, +'for their cruelty seems to be an instinct.' + +'But how beautifully they ride, too!' said Polly. 'Mamma and I were +sitting on the hotel piazza the other day, watching two young +Spaniards who were performing feats of horsemanship. They dropped +four-bit pieces on the dusty road, and riding up to them at full +speed clutched them from the ground in some mysterious way that was +perfectly wonderful. Then Nick Gutierrez mounted a bucking horse, +and actually rolled and lighted a cigarette while the animal bucked +with all his might.' + +'See that cunning, cunning muchachita, mamma!' cried Bell; for, as +they stopped at the top of the hill to let the horses breathe, one of +the little Mexican children ran after them, holding out a handful of +glowing yellow poppies. + +She was distractingly pretty, with a beauty that is short-lived with +the people of her race. The afternoon sun shone down fiercely on her +waving coal-black locks, and brought a rich colour to her nut-brown +cheek; she had one little flimsy, ragged garment, neither long, +broad, nor thick, which hung about her picturesquely; and, with her +soft, dark, sleepy eyes, the rows of little white teeth behind her +laughing red mouth, and the vivid yellow blossoms in her tiny +outstretched hand, she was a very charming vision. + +'Como te llamas, muchachita?' (What is your name, little one?) asked +Bell, airing her Spanish, which was rather good. + +'Teresita,' she answered, with a pretty accent, as she scratched a +set of five grimy little toes to and fro in the dusty ground. + +'Throw her a bit, papa,' whispered Bell; and, as he did so, Teresita +caught the piece of silver very deftly, and ran excitedly back to the +centre of the chattering group in front of the house. + +'How intense everything is in California! Do you know what I mean, +mamma?' said Bell. 'The fruit is so immense, the canyons so deep, +the trees so big, the hills so high, the rain so wet, and the drought +so dry.' + +'The fleas so many, the fleas so spry,' chanted Jack, who had +perceived that Bell was talking in rhyme without knowing it. +'California is just the place for you, Bell; it gives you a chance +for innumerable adjectives heaped one on the other.' + +'I don't always heap up adjectives,' replied Bell, with dignity. +'When I wish to describe you, for instance, I simply say "that +hateful boy," and let it go at that.' + +Jack retired to private life for a season. + +'I'd like to paint a picture of Teresita,' said Margery, who had a +pretty talent for sketching, 'and call it The Summer Child, or some +such thing. I should think the famous old colour artists might have +loved to paint this gorgeous flame-tinted poppy.' + +'Not poppy,--eschscholtzia,' corrected Jack, coming rapidly to the +surface again, after Bell's rebuke, and delivering himself of the +tongue-confusing word with a terrible grimace. + +'I'm not writing a botany,' retorted Margery; 'and I can never +remember that word, much less spell it. I don't see how it grows +under such an abominable Russian name. It's worse than +ichthyosaurus. Do you remember that funny nonsense verse? - + + +"I is for ichthyosaurus, +Who lived when the world was all porous; + But he fainted with shame + When he first heard his name, +And departed a long while before us."' + + +'The Spaniards are more poetic,' said Aunt Truth, 'for they call it +la copa de oro, the golden cup. Oh, see them yonder! It is like the +Field of the Cloth of Gold.' + +The sight would have driven a royal florist mad with joy: a hillside +that was a swaying mass of radiant bloom, a joyous carnival of vivid +colour, in which the thousand golden goblets, turned upward to the +sun, were dancing, and glowing, and shaming out of countenance the +purple and blue and pink masses which surrounded them on every side. + +'You know Professor Pinnie told us that every well-informed young +girl should know at least the flora of her own State,' said Jack, +after the excitement had subsided. + +'Well, one thing is certain: Professor Pinnie never knew the STATE +of his own flora, or at least he kept his wife sorting and arranging +his specimens all the time; and I think he's a regular old frump,' +said Polly, irreverently, but meeting Aunt Truth's reproving glance, +which brought a blush and a whispered 'Excuse me,' she went on, +'Well, what I mean is, he doesn't know any more than other people, +after all; for he cares for nothing but bushes and herbs and seeds +and shrubs and roots and stamens and pistils; and he can't tell +whether a flower is lovely or not, he is so crazy to find out where +it belongs and tie a tag round it.' + +'I must agree with Polly,' laughed Jack. 'Why, I went to ride with +him one day in the Cathedral Oaks, and he made me get off my horse +every five minutes to dig up roots and tie them to the pommel of his +old saddle, so that we came into town looking like moving herbariums. +The stable-man lifted him on to his horse when he started, I suppose, +and he would have been there yet if he hadn't been helped off. Bah!' +For Jack had a supreme contempt for any man who was less than a +centaur. + +By this time they had turned off the main thoroughfare, and were +travelling over a bit of old stage road which was anything but easy +riding. There they met some men who were driving an enormous band of +sheep to a distant ranch for pasture, which gave saucy Polly the +chance to ask Dr. Winship, innocently, why white sheep ate so much +more than black ones. + +He fell into the trap at once, and answered unsuspectingly, in a +surprised tone, 'Why, do they?' giving her the longed-for opportunity +to respond, 'Yes, of course, because there are so many more of 'em; +don't you see?' + +'You are behind the times, Dr. Paul,' said Jack. 'That's an ancient +joke. Just look at those sheep, sir. How many are there? Eight +hundred, say?' + +'Even more, I should think,--a thousand, certainly; and rather thin +they look, too.' + +'I should imagine they might,' said Bell, sympathetically. 'When I +first came to California I never could see how the poor creatures +found anything to eat on these bare, brown hillsides, until the +farmers showed me the prickly little burr clover balls that cover the +ground. But see, mamma! there are some tiny lambs, poor, tired, +weak-legged little things; I wonder if they will live through the +journey.' + +'Which reminds me,' said Jack, giving Villikins a touch of the whip, +'that nothing is so calculated to disturb your faith in and love for +lambs as life on a sheep ranch. Innocent! Good gracious! I never +saw such--such--' + +'Gasping, staggering, stuttering, stammering tom-fools,' interposed +Bell. 'That's what Carlyle called ONE Lamb,--dear Mr. "Roast Pig" +Charles; and a mean old thing he was, too, for doing it.' + +'Well, it is just strong enough to apply to the actual lamb; not the +lamb of romance, but the lamb of reality. You can't get him +anywhere; he doesn't know enough. He won't drive, he can't follow; +he's too stupid. Why, I went out for a couple of 'em once, that were +lost in the canyon. I found them,--that was comparatively easy; but +when I tried to get them home, I couldn't. At last, after infinite +trouble, I managed to drive them up on to the trail, which was so +narrow there was but one thing for a rational creature to do, and +that was to go ahead. Then, if you'll believe me, those idiots kept +bleating and getting under the horse's fore-feet; finally, one of +them, the champion simpleton, tumbled over into the canyon, and I +tied the legs of the other one together, and carried him home on the +front of my saddle.' + +'They are innocent, any way,' insisted Margery. 'I won't believe +they're not. I can't bear these people who interfere with all your +cherished ideas, and say that Columbus didn't discover America, and +Shakespeare wasn't Shakespeare, and William Tell didn't shoot the +apple.' + +'Nevertheless, I claim that the lamb is not half so much an emblem of +innocence as he is of utter and profound stupidity. There is that +charming old lyric about Mary's little lamb; I can explain that. +After he came to school (which was an error of judgment at the very +beginning), he made the rumpus, you know - + + +"And then the teacher turned him out, + But still he lingered nee-ar, +And waited patiently about + Till Mary did appee-ar." + + +Of course he did. He didn't know enough to go home alone. + + +"And then he ran to her and laid + His head upon her arr-um, +As if to say, 'I'm not afraid; + You'll keep me from all harr-um.'" + + +As if a lamb could be capable of that amount of reasoning! And then + + +"'What makes the lamb love Mary so? + The eager children cry; +'Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,' + The teacher did reply." + + +And might have added that as Mary fed the lamb three times a day and +twice on Sundays, he probably not only knew on which side his daily +bread was buttered, but also who buttered it.' + +'Dreadful boy!' laughed Bell. 'Polly, pray lower the umbrella; we +are going to meet some respectable people, and we actually are too +dirty to be seen. I have really been eating dust.' + +'They must be equally dusty,' said Polly, sagely. 'Why, it is the +Burtons, from Tacitas ranch!' + +The Burton ranch wagon was drawn up, as its driver recognised Dr. +Winship, and he proceeded to cheer the spirits of the party by +telling them that he had passed Pancho two hours before, and that he +was busily clearing rubbish from the camping-ground. This was six +o'clock, and by a little after eight the weary, happy party were +seated on saddle-blankets and carriage-cushions round a cheery camp- +fire, eating a frugal meal, which tasted sweeter than nectar and +ambrosia to their keen appetites. + +The boys expressed their intention of spending the night in unpacking +their baggage and getting to rights generally, but Dr. Winship placed +a prompt and decisive veto on this proposition, and they submitted +cheerfully to his better judgment. + +Getting to bed was an exciting occupation for everybody. Dicky was +first tucked up in a warm nest of rugs and blankets, under a tree, +and sank into a profound slumber at once, with the happy +unconsciousness of childhood. His father completed the preparations +for his comfort by opening a huge umbrella and arranging it firmly +over his head, so that no falling leaf might frighten him and no +sudden gust of air blow upon his face. + +Bell stood before her hammock, and meditated. 'Well,' she said, +'going to bed is a simple matter after all, when you have shorn it of +all useless formalities. Let me see: I generally walk to and fro in +the room, eating a bunch of grapes or an orange, look out of the +window five or ten minutes, brush my hair, read my chapter in the +Bible, take my book and study Spanish five minutes, on the principle +of that abnormal woman who learned ninety-six languages while she was +waiting for the kettle to boil in the morning--' + +'Must have been a slow boiler,' interrupted Polly, wickedly. 'Seems +to me it would have been economy to sell it and buy a new one.' + +'Oh, Polly! you are so wilfully stupid! The kettle isn't the point-- +but the languages. Besides, she didn't learn all the ninety-six +while the kettle was boiling once, you know. + +'Oh, didn't she? That alters the case. Thank you,' said Polly, +sarcastically. + +'Now observe me,' said Bell. 'I have made the getting into a hammock +a study. I first open it very wide at the top with both hands; then, +holding it in that position, I gracefully revolve my body from left +to right as upon an imaginary swivel; meantime I raise my right foot +considerably from mother earth, with a view to passing it over the +hammock's edge. Every move is calculated, you perceive, and produces +its own share of the perfect result; the method is the same that +Rachel used in rehearsing her wonderful tragic poses. I am now +seated in the hammock, you observe, with both hands extending the net +from side to side and the right foot well in position; I now raise +the left foot with a swift but admirably steady movement, and I am-- +Help! Help!! Murder!!!' + +'In short, you are not in, but out,' cried Polly, in a burst of +laughter; for Bell had leaned too far to the right, and on bringing +the other foot in, with its 'swift but admirably steady' motion, she +gave a sudden lurch, pulled the hammock entirely over herself and +fell out head first on the other side, leaving her feet tangled in +its meshes. 'Shall we help her out, Meg? She doesn't deserve it, +after that pompous oration and attempt to show off her superior +abilities. Nevertheless, she always accepts mercy more gracefully +than justice. Heave ahoy, my hearties!' + +Bell was extricated, and looked sufficiently ashamed. + +'We are much obliged for the lesson,' said Margery, 'but the method +is open to criticism; so I think we'll manage in our ordinary savage +way. We may not be graceful or scientific, but we get in, which is +the main point.' + +The hammocks did not prove the easiest of nests, as the girls had +imagined. In fact, to be perfectly candid about the matter, the +wicked flea of California, which man pursueth but seldom catcheth, is +apt, on many a summer night, to interfere shamelessly with slumber. +On this particular night he was fairly rampant, perhaps because sweet +humanity on which to feed was very scarce in that canyon. + +'Good-night, girls!' called Jack, when matters seemed to be finally +settled for sleep. 'Bell, you must keep one eye open, for the +coyotes will be stealing down the mountain in a jiffy, and yours is +the first hammock in the path.' + +'Of course,' moaned Bell,--'that's why the girls gave me this one; +they knew very well that one victim always slakes the animals' thirst +for blood. Well, let them come on. I shiver with terror, but my +only hope is that I may be eaten in my sleep, if at all.' + + +'There was a young party named Bell, +Who slept out of doors for a spell; + When asked how she fared, + She said she was scared, +But otherwise doing quite well. + + +'How's that?' asked Jack. 'I shall be able to drive Bell off her own +field, with a little practice.' + +'Go to sleep!' roared Dr. Paul. 'In your present condition of mind +and body you are not fit for poetry!' + +'That's just the point, sir,' retorted Jack, slyly, 'for, you +remember, poets are not FIT, but nascitur,--don't you know?' and he +retired under his blanket for protection. + +But quiet seemed to be impossible: there were all sorts of strange +sounds; and the moon, too, was so splendid that they almost felt as +if they were lying beneath the radiance of a calcium light; while in +the dark places, midst the branches of thick foliage, the owls hooted +gloomily. If you had happened to be an owl in that vicinity, you +might have heard not only the feverish tossing to and fro of the +girls in the hammocks, but many dismal sighs and groans from Dr. +Winship and the boys; for the bare ground is, after all, more +rheumatic than romantic, and they too tumbled from side to side, +seeking comfort. + +But at midnight quiet slumber had descended upon them, and they +presented a funny spectacle enough to one open-eyed watcher. A long +slender sycamore log was extended before the fire, and constituted +their pillow; on this their heads reposed, each decorated with a +tightly fitting silk handkerchief; then came a compact, papoose-like +roll of grey blanket, terminated by a pair of erect feet, whose +generous proportions soared to different heights. There was a little +snoring, too; perhaps the log was hollow. + +At midnight you might have seen a quaintly despondent little figure, +whose curly head issued from a hooded cloak, staggering hopelessly +from a hammock, and seating herself on a mossy stump. From the +limpness of her attitude and the pathetic expression of her eyes, I +fear Polly was reviewing former happy nights spent on spring-beds; +and at this particular moment the realities of camping-out hardly +equalled her anticipations. Whatever may have been her feelings, +however, they were promptly stifled when a certain insolent head +reared itself from its blanket-roll, and a hoarse voice cackled, +'Pretty Polly! Polly want a canyon?' At this insult Miss Oliver +wrapped her drapery about her and strode to her hammock with the air +of a tragedy queen. + + + +CHAPTER III: LIFE IN THE CANYON--THE HEIR APPARENT LOSES HIMSELF + + + +'Know'st thou the land where the lemon-trees bloom, +Where the gold orange glows in the green thicket's gloom; +Where the wind, ever soft, from the blue heaven blows, +And groves are of myrtle, and olive, and rose?' + + +On the next morning, as we have seen, they named their summer home +Camp Chaparral, and for a week or more they were the very busiest +colony of people under the sun; for it takes a deal of hard work and +ingenuity to make a comfortable and beautiful dwelling-place in the +forest. + +The best way of showing you how they accomplished this is to describe +the camp after it was nearly finished. + +The two largest bedroom tents were made of bright awning cloth, one +of red and white, the other of blue and white, both gaily decorated +with braid. They were pitched under the same giant oak, and yet were +nearly forty feet apart; that of the girls having a canvas floor. +They were not quite willing to sleep on the ground, so they had +brought empty bed-sacks with them, and Pancho's first duty after his +arrival had been to drive to a neighbouring ranch for a great load of +straw. + +In a glorious tree near by was a 'sky parlour,' arranged by a few +boards nailed high up in the leafy branches, and reached from below +by a primitive ladder. This was the favourite sitting-room of the +girls by day, and served for Pancho's bedroom at night. It was +beautiful enough to be fit shelter for all the woodland nymphs, with +its festoons of mistletoe and wild grape-vines; but Pancho was rather +an unappreciative tenant, even going so far as to snore in the sacred +place! + +Just beyond was a card-room,--imagine it--in which a square board, +nailed on a low stump, served for a table, where Dr. Paul and the +boys played many a game of crib, backgammon, and checkers. Here, +too, all Elsie's letters were written and Bell's nonsense verses, and +here was the identical spot where Jack Howard, that mischievous +knight of the brush, perpetrated those modern travesties on the +'William Henry pictures,' for Elsie's delectation. + +The dressing-room was reached by a path cut through bushes to a +charming little pool. Here were unmistakable evidences of feminine +art: looking-glasses hanging to trees, snowy wash-cloths, each +bearing its owner's initials, adorning the shrubs, while numerous +towels waved in the breeze. Between two trees a thin board was +nailed, which appeared to be used, as nearly as the woodpeckers could +make out, as a toothbrush rack. In this, Philip, the skilful +carpenter, had bored the necessary number of holes, and each one +contained a toothbrush tied with a gorgeous ribbon. + +In this secluded spot Bell was wont to marshal every morning the +entire force of 'the toothbrush brigade'; and, conducting the drill +with much ingenuity, she would take her victims through a long series +of military manoeuvres arranged for the toothbrush. Oh, the +gaspings, the chokings and stranglings, which occurred when she +mounted a rock by the edge of the pool, and after calling in tones of +thunder, + + +'Brush, brothers, brush with care! +Brush in the presence of the commandaire!' + + +ordered her unwilling privates to polish their innocent molars to the +tune of 'Hail, Columbia,' or 'Auld Lang Syne'! And if they became +mutinous, it was Geoffrey who reduced them to submission, and ordered +them to brush for three mornings to the tune of 'Bluebells of +Scotland' as a sign of loyalty to their commander. + +As for the furnishing of the camp, there were impromptu stools and +tables made of packing-boxes and trunks, all covered with bright +Turkey-red cotton; there were no less than three rustic lounges and +two arm-chairs made from manzanita branches, and a Queen Anne +bedstead was being slowly constructed, day by day, by the ambitious +boys for their beloved Elsie. + +One corner of each tent was curtained off for a bath-room, another +for a clothes-press, and there were a dozen devices for comfort, as +Dr. Winship was opposed to any more inconvenience than was strictly +necessary. Dr. and Mrs. Winship and little Dicky occupied one tent, +the boys another, and the girls a third. + +When Bell, Polly, and Margery emerged from their tent on the second +morning, they were disagreeably surprised to see a large placard over +the front entrance, bearing the insolent inscription, 'Tent Chatter.' +They said nothing; but on the night after, a committee of two stole +out and glued a companion placard, 'Tent Clatter,' over the door of +their masculine neighbours. And to tell the truth, one was as well +deserved as the other; for if there was generally a subdued hum of +conversation in the one, there never failed to be a perfect din and +uproar in the other. + +Under a great sycamore-tree stood the dining-table, which consisted +of two long, wide boards placed together upon a couple of barrels; +and not far away was the brush kitchen, which should have been a work +of art, for it represented the combined genius of American, Mexican, +and Chinese carpenters, Dr. Winship, Pancho, and Hop Yet having +laboured in its erection. It really answered the purpose admirably, +and looked quite like a conventional California kitchen; that is, it +was ten feet square, and contained a table, a stove, and a Chinaman. + +The young people, by the way, had fought bitterly against the stove, +protesting with all their might against taking it. Polly and Jack +declared that they would starve sooner than eat anything that hadn't +been cooked over a camp-fire. Bell and Philip said that they should +stand in front of it all the time, for fear somebody would ride +through the canyon and catch them camping out with a stove. Imagine +such a situation; it made them blush. Margery said she wished people +weren't quite so practical, and wouldn't ruin nature by introducing +such ugly and unnecessary things. She intended to point the moral by +drawing a picture of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden,--Eve bending +over a cook-stove and Adam peeling apples with a machine. Geoffrey +scoffed at Margery's sentimentalism, put on his most trying air, and +declared that if he had his pork and onions served up 'hot and +reg'lar,' he didn't care how she had her victuals cooked. + +They were all somewhat appeased, however, when they found that Dr. +Winship was as anxious as they for an evening camp-fire, and merely +insisted upon the stove because it simplified the cookery. +Furthermore, being an eminently just man, he yielded so far as to +give them permission to prepare their own meals on a private camp- +fire whenever they desired; and this effectually stopped the +argument, for no one was willing to pay so heavy a price for effect. + +The hammocks, made of gaily-coloured cords, were slung in various +directions a short distance from the square tent, which, being the +family sitting-room, was the centre of attraction. It was arranged +with a gay canopy, twenty feet square. Three sides were made by +hanging full curtains of awning cloth from redwood rods by means of +huge brass rings. These curtains were looped back during the day and +dropped after dark, making a cosy and warm interior from which to +watch the camp-fire on cool evenings. + +As for the Canyon de Las Flores itself, this little valley of the +flowers, it was beautiful enough in every part to inspire an artist's +pencil or a poet's pen; so quiet and romantic it was, too, it might +almost have been under a spell,--the home of some sleepy, enchanted +princess waiting the magic kiss of a princely lover. It reached from +the ocean to the mountains, and held a thousand different pictures on +which to feast the eye; for Dame Nature deals out beauty with a +lavish hand in this land of perpetual summer, song, and sunshine. +There were many noble oak-trees, some hung profusely with mistletoe, +and others with the long, Spanish greybeard moss, that droops from +the branches in silvery lines, like water spray. Sometimes, in the +moonlight, it winds about the oak like a shroud, and then again like +a filmy bridal veil, or drippings of mist from a frozen tree. + +Here and there were open tracts of ground between the clumps of +trees, like that in which the tents were pitched,--sunny places, +where the earth was warm and dry, and the lizards blinked sleepily +under the stones. + +Farther up the canyon were superb bay-trees, with their glossy leaves +and aromatic odour, and the madrono, which, with its blood-red skin, +is one of the most beautiful of California trees, having an open +growth, like a maple, bright green lustrous leaves, and a brilliant +red bark, which peels off at regular seasons, giving place to a new +one of delicate pea-green. + +There were no birches with pure white skin, or graceful elms, or +fluffy pussy willows, but so many beautiful foreign things that it +would seem ungrateful to mourn those left behind in the dear New +England woods; and as for flowers, there are no yellow and purple +violets, fragile anemones, or blushing Mayflowers, but in March the +hillsides are covered with red, in April flushed with pink and blue, +in May brilliant with yellow blossoms; and in the canyons, where the +earth is moist, there are flowers all the year. + +And then the girls would never forgive me if I should forget the +superb yucca, or Spanish bayonet, which is as beautiful as a tropical +queen. Its tall, slender stalk has no twigs or branches, but its +leaves hang down from the top like bayonet-blades; and oh, there +rises from the centre of them such a stately princess of a flower, +like a tree in itself, laden with cream-white, velvety, fragrant +blossoms. + +The boys often climbed the hillsides and brought home these splendid +treasures, which were placed in pails of water at the tent doors, to +shed their luxuriant beauty and sweetness in the air for days +together. They brought home quantities of Spanish moss, and wild +clematis, and manzanita berries too, with which to decorate the +beloved camp; and even Dicky trotted back with his arms full of +gorgeous blossoms and grasses, which he arranged with great taste and +skill in mugs, bottles, and cans on the dining-table. + +Can't you see what a charming place it was? And I have not begun to +tell you the half yet; for there was always a soft wind stirring the +leaves in dreamy music, and above and through this whispered sound +you heard the brook splashing over its pebbly bed,--splashing and +splashing and laughing all it possibly could, knowing it would +speedily be dried up by the thirsty August sun. Every few yards part +of the stream settled down contentedly into a placid little pool, +while the most inquisitive and restless little drops flowed noisily +down to see what was going on below. The banks were fringed with +graceful alders and poison-oak bushes, vivid in crimson and yellow +leaves, while delicate maiden-hair ferns grew in miniature forests +between the crevices of the rocks; yet, with the practicality of +Chinese human nature, Hop Yet used all this beauty for a dish-pan and +refrigerator! + +Now, confess that, after having seen exactly how it looks, you would +like to rub a magic lamp, like Aladdin, and wish yourself there with +our merry young sextette. For California is a lovely land and a +strange one, even at this late day, when her character has been +nearly ruined by dreadful stories, or made ridiculous by foolish +ones. + +When you were all babies in long clothes, some people used to believe +that there were nuggets of gold to be picked up in the streets, and +that in the flowery valleys, flowing with milk and honey, there grew +groves of beet-trees, and forests of cabbages, and shady bowers of +squash-vines; and they thought that through these fertile valleys +strode men of curious mien, wild bandits and highway robbers, with +red flannel shirts and many pockets filled with playing-cards and +revolvers and bowie-knives; and that when you met these frightful +persons and courteously asked the time of day, they were apt to turn +and stab you to the heart by way of response. + +Now, some of these things were true, and some were not, and some will +never happen again; for the towns and cities no longer conduct +themselves like headstrong young tomboys out on a lark, but have +grown into ancient and decorous settlements some twenty-five or +thirty years old. + +Perhaps California isn't really so interesting since she began to +learn manners; but she is a land of wonders still, with her sublime +mountains and valleys; her precious metals; her vineyards and +orchards of lemons and oranges, figs, limes, and nuts; her mammoth +vegetables, each big enough for a newspaper story; her celebrated +trees, on the stumps of which dancing-parties are given; her +vultures; her grizzly bears; and her people, drawn from every nook +and corner of the map--pink, yellow, blue, red, and green countries. +And though the story of California is not written, in all its +romantic details, in the school-books of to-day, it is a part of the +poetry of our late American history, full of strange and thrilling +scenes, glowing with interest and dramatic fire. + +I know a little girl who crossed the plains in that great ungeneraled +army of fifteen or twenty thousand people that made the long and +weary journey to the land of gold in 1849. She tells her children +now of the strange, long days and months in the ox-team, passing +through the heat and dust of alkali deserts, fording rivers, and +toiling over steep mountains. She tells them how at night she often +used to lie awake, curled up in her grey blanket, and hear the men +talking together of the gold treasures they were to dig from the +ground--treasures, it seemed to her childish mind, more precious than +those of which she read in The Arabian Nights. And from a little +hole in the canvas cover of the old emigrant wagon she used to see +the tired fathers and brothers, worn and footsore from their hard +day's tramp, some sleeping restlessly, and others guarding the cattle +or watching for Indians, who were always expected, and often came; +and the last thing at night, when her eyes were heavy with sleep, she +peered dreamily out into the darkness to see the hundreds of gleaming +camp-fires, which dotted the plain as far as the eye could reach. + + +You will have noticed that this first week of camp-life was a quiet +one, spent mostly by the young people in getting their open-air home +comfortably arranged, making conveniences of all kinds, becoming +acquainted with the canyon so far as they could, and riding once or +twice to neighbouring ranches for hay or provisions. + +Dr. Winship believed in a good beginning; and, as this was not a +week's holiday, but a summer campaign, he wanted his young people to +get fully used to the situation before undertaking any of the +exciting excursions in prospect. So, before the week was over, they +began to enjoy sound, dreamless sleep on their hard straw beds, to +eat the plain fare with decided relish, to grow a little hardy and +brown, and quite strong and tough enough for a long tramp or +horseback ride. + +After a religious devotion to cold cream for a few nights, Polly had +signified her terrible intention of 'letting her nose go.' 'I disown +it!' she cried, peeping in her tiny mirror, and lighting up her too +rosy tints with a tallow candle. 'Hideous objick, I defy thee! Spot +and speckle, yea, burn to a crisp, and shed thy skin afterwards! I +care not. Indeed, I shall be well rid of thee, thou--h'm--thou-- +well, leopard, for instance.' + +One beautiful day followed another, each the exact counterpart of the +one that had preceded it; for California boys and girls never have to +say 'wind and weather permitting' from March or April until November. +They always know what the weather is going to do; and whether this is +an advantage or not is a difficult matter to settle conclusively. + +New England boys affirm that they wouldn't live in a country where it +couldn't rain any day it felt like it, and California lads retort +that they are glad their dispositions are not ruined by the freaks of +New England weather. At all events, it is a paradise for would-be +campers, and any one who should assert the contrary would meet with +energetic opposition from the loyal dwellers in Camp Chaparral. + +Bell returned one day from a walk which she had taken by herself, +while the other girls were off on some errand with the Doctor. After +luncheon she drew them mysteriously into the square tent, and lowered +the curtains. + +'What is it?' Polly whispered, with an anxious expression of +countenance. 'Have you lost your gold thimble again, or your temper, +or have you discovered a silver mine?' + +'I have found,' she answered mysteriously, 'the most beautifully +secret place you ever beheld. It will be just the spot for us to +write and study in when we want to be alone; or it will even do for a +theatre; and it is scarcely more than half a mile up the canyon.' + +'How did you find it?' asked Margery. + +'As I was walking along by the brookside, I saw a snake making its +way through the bushes, and--' + +'Goodness!' shrieked Polly, 'I shall not write there, thank you.' + +'Goose! Just wait a minute. I looked at it, and followed at a +distance; it was a harmless little thing; and I thought, for the fun +of it, I would just push blindly on and see what I should find, +because we are for ever walking in the beaten path, and I long for +something new.' + +'A bad instinct,' remarked Madge, 'and one which will get you into +trouble, so you should crush it in its infancy.' + +'Well, I took up my dress and ploughed through the chaparral, until I +came, in about three minutes of scratching and fighting, to an open +circular place about as large as this tent. It was exactly round, +which is the curious part of it; and in the centre was one stump, +covered with moss and surrounded by great white toadstools. How any +one happened to go in there and cut down a single tree I can't +understand, nor yet how they managed to bring out the tree through +the tangled brush. It is so strange that it seems as if there must +be a mystery about it.' + +'Certainly,' said Margery promptly. 'A tragedy of the darkest kind! +Some cruel wretch has cut down, in the pride and pomp of it beauty, +one sycamore-tree; its innocent life-blood has stained the ground, +and given birth to the white toadstools which mark the spot and +testify to the purity of the victim.' + +'Well,' continued Bell, impressively, 'I knew I could never find it +again; and I wanted so much you should see it that I took the ball of +twine we always carry, unrolled it, and dropped the thread all the +way along to the brookside, like Phrygia, or Melpomene, or Anemone, +or whatever her name was.' + +'Or Artesia, or Polynesia, or Euthanasia,' interrupted Polly. 'I +think the lady you mean is Ariadne.' + +'Exactly. Now we'll take papa to see it, and then we'll fit it up as +a retreat. Won't it be charming? We'll call it the Lone Stump.' + +'Oh, I like that; it makes me shiver!' cried Polly. 'I'm going to +write an ode to it at once. Ahem! It shall begin--let me see - + + +'O lonely tree, +What cruel "he" +Did lay thee low? +Tell us the facts; +Did cruel axe +Abuse thee so?' + + +'Sublime! Second verse,' said Bell slowly, with pauses between the +lines:- + + +'Or did a gopher, +The wicked loafer, +Gnaw at thy base, +And, doing so, +Contrive to go, +And leave no trace?' + + +'Oh dear!' sighed Margery; 'if you will do it, wait a minute. + + +'O toadstools white, +Pray give us light +Upon the question. +Did gopher gnaw, +And live in awe +Of indigestion?' + + +'Good!' continued Bell:- + + +'Or did a man +Malicious plan +The good tree's ruin, +And leave it so +Convenient low, +A seat for Bruin? + + +For travelling grizzlies, you know. We may go there and see a hungry +creature making a stump-speech, while an admiring audience of +grasshoppers and tarantulas seat themselves in a circle on the +toadstools.' + +'Charming prospect!' said Madge. 'I don't think I care to visit the +Lone Stump or pass my mornings there.' + +'Nonsense, dear child; it is just like every other part of the +canyon, only a little more lonely. It is not half a mile from camp, +and hardly a dozen steps from the place where the boys go so often to +shoot quail.' + +'Very well,' said the girls. 'We must go there to-morrow morning; +and perhaps we'd better not tell the boys,--they are so peculiar. +Jack will certainly interfere with us in some way, if he hears about +it.' + +'Now let us take our books and run down by the pool for an hour or +two,' said Bell. 'Papa and the boys are all off shooting, and mamma +is lying down. We can have a cool, quiet time; the sunshine is so +hot here by the tents.' + +Accordingly, they departed, as they often did, for one of the +prolonged chats in which school-girls are wont to indulge, and which +so often, too, are but idle, senseless chatter. + +These young people, however, had been fortunate in having the wisest +and most loving guardianship, so that all their happy young lives had +been spent to good purpose. They had not shirked study, and so their +minds were stocked with useful information; they had read carefully +and digested thoroughly whatever they had read, so that they +possessed a good deal of general knowledge. The girls were bright, +sensible, industrious little women, who tried to be good, too, in the +old-fashioned sense of the word; and full of fun, nonsense, and +chatter as they were among themselves, they never forgot to be modest +and unassuming. + +The boys were pretty well in earnest about life, too, with good +ambitions and generous aspirations. They had all been studying with +Dr. Winship for nearly two years; and that means a great deal, for he +was a real teacher, entering into the lives of his pupils, +sympathising with them in every way, and leading them, through the +study of nature, of human beings, and of God, to see the beauty and +meaning of life. + +Geoffrey Strong, of course, was older than the rest, having completed +his junior year at college; but Dr. Winship, who was his guardian, +thought it wiser for him to rest a year and come to him in +California, as his ambition and energy had already led him into +greater exertions than his age or strength warranted. He was now +studying medicine with the good Doctor, but would go back to the +'land of perpetual pie' in the fall and complete his college course. + +A splendid fellow he was,--so earnest, thoughtful, and wise; so +gravely tender in all his ways to Aunt Truth, who was the only mother +he had ever known; so devoted to Dr. Winship, who loved him as his +own elder son. + +What will Geoffrey Strong be as a man? The twig is bent, and it is +safe to predict how the tree will incline. His word will be as good +as his bond; he will be a good physician, for his eye is quick to see +suffering, and his hand ready to relieve it; little children with +feverish cheeks and tired eyes will love to clasp his cool, strong +sand; he will be gentle as a woman, yet thoroughly manly, as he is +now, for he has made the most of his golden youth, and every lad who +does that will have a golden manhood and a glorious old age. + +As for Philip Noble, he was a dear, good, trustworthy lad too; +kindly, generous, practical, and industrious; a trifle slow and +reserved, perhaps, but full of common sense,--the kind of sense +which, after all, is most uncommon. + +Bell once said: 'This is the difference between Philip and +Geoffrey,--one does, and the other is. Geoff is the real Simon-pure +ideal which we praise Philip for trying to be,'--a very good +description for a little maiden whose bright eyes had only looked +into life for sixteen summers. + +And now we come to Jack Howard, who never kept still long enough for +any one to write a description of him. To explain how he differed +from Philip or Geoffrey would be like bringing the Equator and the +Tropic of Cancer together for purposes of comparison. + +If there were a horseback ride, Jack rode the wildest colt, was +oftenest thrown and least often hurt; if a fishing-party, Jack it was +who caught all the fish, though he made more noise than any one else, +and followed no rules laid down in The Complete Angler. + +He was very often in trouble; but his misdemeanours were those of +pure mischief, and were generally atoned for when it was possible. +He excelled in all out-of-door sports. And indeed, if his prudence +had at all kept pace with his ability, he might have done remarkable +things in almost any direction; but he constantly overshot the mark, +and people looked to him for the dazzling brilliancy and uncertainty +of a meteor, but never for the steady glow of a fixed star. + +Just now, Jack was a good deal sobered, and appeared at his very +best. The teaching of Dr. Paul and the companionship of Geoffrey had +done much for him, while the illness of his sister Elsie, who was the +darling of his heart, acted constantly as a sort of curb upon him; +for he loved her with all the ardour and passion which he gave to +everything else. You might be fearful of Jack's high spirits and +riotous mirth, of his reckless actions and heedless jokes, but you +could scarcely keep from admiring the boy; for he was brave and +handsome and winsome enough to charm the very birds off the bush, as +Aunt Truth acknowledged, after giving him a lecture for some +misdemeanour. + +The three girls made their way a short distance up the canyon to a +place which they called Prospect Pool, because it was so entirely +shut in from observation. + +'Dear old Geoff!' said Bell, throwing her shawl over a rock and +opening her volume of Carlyle. 'He has gone all through this for me, +and written nice little remarks on the margin,--explanations and +things, and interrogations where he thinks I won't know what is meant +and had better find out,--bless his heart! What have you brought, +Margery? By the way, you must move your seat away from that clump of +poison-oak bushes; we can't afford to have any accidents which will +interfere with our fun. We have all sorts of new remedies, but I +prefer that the boys should experiment with them.' + +'It's the softest seat here, too,' grumbled Margery. 'We must get +the boys to cut these bushes down. Why, you haven't any book, you +lazy Polly. Are you going to sleep, or shall you chatter and prevent +our reading?' + +'Neither,' she answered. 'Here is a doughnut which I propose to send +down the red pathway of fate; and here a pencil and paper with which +I am going to begin our round-robin letter to Elsie.' + +'That's good! She has only had notes from Jack and one letter from +us, which, if I remember right, had nothing in it.' + +'Thanks! I wrote it,' sniffed Bell. + +'Well, I meant it had no news--no account of things, you know.' + +'No, I wouldn't descend to writing news, and I leave accounts to the +butcher.' + +'Stop quarrelling, girls! This is my plan: I will begin in my usual +rockety style, sometimes maliciously called the Pollyoliver method; +Margery will take up the thread sedately; Bell will plunge in with a +burst of enthusiasm and seventeen adjectives, followed by a verse of +poor poetry; Geoff will do the sportive or instructive, just as he +happens to feel; and Phil will wind up the letter by some practical +details which will serve as a key to all the rest. Won't it be a box +of literary bonbons for her to read in bed, poor darling! Let me +see! I represent the cayenne lozenges, sharp but impressive; Margery +will do for jujube paste, which I adore,--mild, pleasant, yielding, +delicious.' + +'Sticky and insipid!' murmured Madge, plaintively. + +'Not at all, my dear. Bell stands for the peppermints; Jack for +chocolates, "the ladies' delight"; Geoffrey for a wine-drop, +altogether good, but sweetest in its heart; Phil--let me see! Phil +is like--what is he like?' + +'No more like candy than a cold boiled potato,' said his sister. + +'He is candid,' suggested Bell. 'Let us call him rock-candy, pure, +healthful, and far from soft.' + +'Or marshmallow,' said Margery, 'good, but tough.' + +'Or caramel,' laughed Polly; 'it always sticks to a point.' + +'Thanks, gentle creatures,' said a voice from the bushes on the other +side of the pool, and Phil stalked out from his covert, like a +wounded deer. + +'How long have you been in there, villain?' cried Bell. + +'Ever since lunch; but I only waked from a sound sleep some twenty +minutes ago. I've heard a most instructive conversation--never been +more amused in my life; don't know whether I prefer being a cold +boiled potato or a ladies'-delight!' + +'You haven't any choice,' snapped Polly, a trifle embarrassed at +having been overheard. + +'I'm glad it was my own sister who called me a c. b. p. (the most +loathsome thing in existence, by the way), because sisters never +appreciate their brothers.' + +'I didn't call you a c. b. p.,' remonstrated Margery. 'I said you +were no more like candy than a c. b. p. There is a difference.' + +'Is there? My poor brain fails to grasp it. But never mind; I'll +forgive you.' + +'Listeners never hear good of themselves,' sighed Polly. + +'Are you writing a copy-book, Miss Oliver? I didn't want to listen; +it was very painful to my feelings, but I was too sleepy to move.' + +'And now our afternoon is gone, and we have not read a word,' sighed +little Margery. 'I never met two such chatterboxes as you and +Polly.' + +'And to hear us talk is a liberal education,' retorted Polly. + +'Exactly,' said Philip, dryly, 'Come, I'll take the books and shawls. +It's nearly five o'clock, and we shall hear Hop Yet blowing his lusty +dinner-horn presently.' + +'Why didn't you go off shooting with the others?' asked Margery. + +'Stayed at home so they'd get a chance to shoot.' + +'Why, do you mean you always scare the game away?' inquired Polly, +artlessly. + +'No; I mean that I always do all the shooting, and the others get +discouraged.' + +'Clasp hands over the bloody chasm,' said Bell, 'and let us smoke the +pipe of peace at dinner.' + +Philip and Bell came through the trees, and, as they neared the camp, +saw Aunt Truth sitting at the door of Tent Chatter, looking the very +picture of comfort, as she drew her darning-needle in and out of an +unseemly rent in one of Dicky's stockings. Margery and Polly came up +just behind, and dropped into her lap some beautiful branches of wild +azalea. + +'Did you have a pleasant walk, dears?' she asked. + +'Yes, indeed, dear auntie. Now, just hold your head perfectly still, +while we decorate you for dinner. We will make Uncle Doc's eyes +fairly pop with admiration. Have you been lonely without us?' + +'Oh, not a bit. You see there has been a good deal of noise about +here, and I felt as if I were not alone. Hop Yet has been pounding +soap-root in the kitchen, and I hear the sound of Pancho's axe in the +distance,--the Doctor asked him to chop wood for the camp-fire. Was +Dicky any trouble? Where is he?' + +'Why, darling mother, are you crazy?' asked Bell. 'If you think a +moment, he was in the hammock and you were lying down in the tent +when we started.' + +'Why, I certainly thought I heard him ask to go with you,' said Mrs. +Winship, in rather an alarmed tone. + +'So he did; but I told him it was too far.' + +'I didn't hear that; in fact, I was half asleep; I was not feeling +well. Ask Hop Yet; he has been in the kitchen all the afternoon.' + +Hop Yet replied, with discouraging tranquillity, 'Oh, I no know. I +no sabe Dicky; he allee time lun loun camp; I no look; too muchee +work. I chop hash--Dicky come in kitch'--make heap work--no good. I +tell him go long--he go; bime-by you catchum; you see.' Whereupon he +gracefully skinned an onion, and burst into a Chinese song, with +complete indifference as to whether Dicky lived or died. + +'Perhaps he is with Pancho; I'll run and see!' cried Polly, dashing +swiftly in the direction of the sky-parlour. But after a few minutes +she ran back, with a serious face. 'He's not there; Pancho has not +seen him since lunch.' + +'Well, I've just happened to think,' said pale Aunt Truth, 'that papa +came into the tent for some cartridges, after you left, and of course +he took Dick with him. I don't suppose it is any use to worry. He +always does come out right; and I have told him so many times never +on any account to go away from the camp alone that he surely would +not do it. Papa and the boys will be home soon, now. It is nearly +six o'clock, and I told them that I would blow the horn at six, as +usual. If they are too far away to hear it, they will know the time +by the sun.' + +'Well,' said Bell, anxiously, 'I hope it is all right. Papa is so +strict that he won't be late himself. Did all the boys go with him, +mamma?' + +'Yes, all but Philip.' + +'Oh, then Dicky must be with them,' said Margery, consolingly. +'Geoffrey always takes him wherever he can.' + +So the girls went into the tent to begin their dinner toilet, which +consisted in carefully brushing burrs and dust from their pretty +dresses, and donning fresh collars and stockings, with low ties of +russet leather, which Polly declared belonged only to the stage +conception of a camping costume; then, with smoothly brushed hair and +bright flower-knots at collar and belt, they looked charming enough +to grace any drawing-room in the land. + +The horn was blown again at six o'clock, Aunt Truth standing at the +entrance of the path which led up the canyon, shading her anxious +eyes from the light of the setting sun. - + +'Here they come!' she cried, joyously, as the welcome party appeared +in sight, guns over shoulder, full game-bags, and Jack and Geoff with +a few rabbits and quail hanging over their arms. + +The girls rushed out of the tent. Bell took in the whole group with +one swift glance, and then turned to her mother, who, like most +mothers, believed the worst at once, and grew paler as she asked: + +'Papa, where is little Dick?' + +'Dick! Why, my dear, he has not been out with us. What do you +mean?' + +'Are you sure you didn't take him?' faltered Aunt Truth. + +'Of course I am. Good heavens! Doesn't any one know where the child +is?' looking at the frightened group. + +'You know, uncle,' said Geoffrey, 'we started out at three o'clock. +I noticed Dicky playing with his blocks in our tent, and said good- +bye to him. Did you see him when you came back for the cartridges?' + +'Certainly I did; he called me to look at his dog making believe go +to sleep in the hammock.' + +'We girls went down to the pool soon after that,' said Bell, +tearfully. 'He asked to go with us, and I told him it was too far, +and that he'd better stay with mamma, who would be all alone. He +said "Yes" so sweetly I couldn't mistrust him. Oh, was it my fault, +papa? Please don't say it was!' and she burst into a passion of +sobs. + +'No, no, my child, of course it was not. Don't cry; we shall find +him. Go and look about the camp, Geoff, while we consider for a +minute what to do?' + +'If there is any fault, it is mine, for going to sleep,' said poor +Aunt Truth; 'but I never dreamed he would dare to wander off alone, +my poor little disobedient darling! What shall we do?' + +'Have you spoken to Pancho and Hop Yet?' asked Phil. + +'Yes; they have seen nothing.' + +Hop Yet just at this moment issued from his kitchen with an immense +platter of mutton-stew and dumplings, which he deposited on the +table. On being questioned again, he answered as before, with the +greatest serenity, intimating that Dicky would come home 'heap bime- +by' when he got 'plenty hungly.' He seemed to think a lost boy or +two in a family rather a trifle than otherwise, and wound up his +unfeeling remarks with the practical one, 'Dinner all leady; you no +eat mutton, he get cold! Misser Wins', I no find pickle; you +catchum!' + +'I don't believe he would care if we all died right before his eyes,' +muttered Polly, angrily. 'I should just like to see a Chinaman's +heart once, and find out whether it was made of resin, or cuttle- +fish, or what.' + +'Well,' said Phil, as Dr. Winship came through the trees from the +card-room, 'we must start out this instant, and of course we can find +him somehow, somewhere; he hasn't been gone over two hours, and he +couldn't walk far, that's certain. Now, Uncle Doc, shall we all go +different ways, and leave the girls here to see if he doesn't turn +up?' + +'Oh, papa,' cried Bell, do not leave us at home! We can hunt as well +as any one; we know every foot of the canyon. Let me go with Geoff, +and we'll follow the brook trail.' + +'Very well. Now, mamma, Pancho and I will go down to the main road, +and you wait patiently here. Make all the noise you can, children; +and the one who finds him must come back to the camp and blow the +horn. Hop Yet, we go now; if Dicky comes back, you blow the horn +yourself, will you?' + +'All light, boss. You eat um dinner now; then go bime-by; mutton +heap cold; you--' + +'Dinner!' shouted Jack. 'Confound your impudence! If you say dinner +again, I'll cut the queue off your stupid head.' + +'Good!' murmured Polly, giving a savage punch to her blue Tam o' +Shanter cap. + +'Jack, Jack!' remonstrated Aunt Truth. + +'I know, dear auntie; but the callous old heathen makes me so mad I +can't contain myself. Come, Margery, let's be off. Get your shawl; +and hurrah for the one who comes back to blow the horn first! I'll +wager you ten to one I'll have Dick in auntie's lap inside the +hour!'--at which Aunt Truth's eyes brightened, and she began to take +heart again. But as he tore past the brush kitchen and out into the +woods, dragging Madge after him at a breathless pace, he shut his +lips together rather grimly, saying, 'I'd give five hundred dollars +(s'posin' I had a cent) to see that youngster safe again.' + +'Tell me one thing, Jack,' said Margery, her teeth chattering with +nervousness; 'are there any animals in this canyon that would attack +him?' + +'Oh, of course it is possible that a California lion or a wild-cat +might come down to the brook to drink--they have been killed +hereabouts--but I hardly believe it is likely; and neither do I +believe they would be apt to hurt him, any way, for he would never +attack them, you know. What I am afraid of is that he has tumbled +over the rocks somewhere in climbing, or tangled himself up in the +chaparral. He couldn't have made off with a pistol, could he? He is +up to all such tricks.' + +Presently the canyon began to echo with strange sounds, which I have +no doubt sent the owls, birds, and rabbits into fits of terror; for +the boys had whistles and pistols, while Polly had taken a tin pan +and a hammer. She had gone with Phil out behind the thicket of +manzanita bushes, and they both stood motionless, undecided where to +go. + +'Oh, Phil, I can't help it; I must cry, I am so frightened. Let me +sit down a second. Yes, I know it's an ant-hill, and I shouldn't +care if it were a hornets' nest--I deserve to be stung. What do you +think I said to Margery this morning? That Dicky was a perfect +little marplot, and spoiled all our fun, and I wished he were in the +bottom of the Red Sea; and then I called him a k-k-k-ill-joy!' and +Polly buried her head in her blue Tam, and cried a good, honest, old- +fashioned cry. + +'There, chirk up, poor little soul, and don't you fret over a +careless speech, that meant nothing at all. I've wished him in the +Red Sea more than once, but I'm blessed if I ever do it again. Come, +let's go over yonder, where we caught the young owl; Dicky may have +wanted to try that little game again.' + +So they went on, calling, listening, then struggling on again, more +anxious every moment, but not so thoroughly dazed as Bell, who had +rocked her baby-brother in his cradle, and to whom he was the +embodiment of every earthly grace, if not of every heavenly virtue. + +'I might have known this would happen,' she said, miserably. 'He is +so careless that, if we ever find him again, we must keep him tied to +something.' + +'Take care of your steps, dear,' said Geoff, 'and munch this cracker, +or you won't have strength enough to go on with me. I wish it were +not getting so dark; the moment the sun gets behind these mountain- +tops the light seems to vanish in an instant.--Dick-y!' + +'Think of the poor darling out in this darkness--hungry, frightened, +and alone,' sighed Bell. 'It's past his bed-time now. Oh, why did +we ever come to stay in this horrible place!' + +'You must not blame the place, dear; we thought it the happiest in +the world this morning. Here we are by the upper pool, and the path +stops. Which way had we better go?' + +'I've been here before to-day,' said Bell; 'we might follow the trail +I made. But where is my string? Light a match, Geoff, please.' + +'What string? What do you mean?' + +'Why, I found a beautiful spot this morning, and, fearing I shouldn't +remember the way again, I took out my ball of twine and dropped a +white line all the way back, like Ariadne; but I don't see it. Where +can it have disappeared--unless Jack or Phil took it to tease me?' + +'Oh no; I've been with them all day. Perhaps a snake has swallowed +it. Come.' + +But a bright idea had popped into Bell's head. 'I want to go that +way, Geoff, dear; it's as good as any other, and there are flowers +just the other side, in an open, sunny place; perhaps he found them.' + +'All right; let's go ahead.' + +'The trouble is, I don't know which way to go. Here is the rock; I +remember it was a spotted one, with tall ferns growing beside it. +Now I went--let me see--this way,' and they both plunged into the +thick brush. + +'Bell, Bell, this is utter nonsense!' cried Geoff. 'No child could +crawl through this tangle.' + +'Dicky could crawl through anything in this universe, if it was the +wrong thing; he isn't afraid of beast, bird, or fish, and he +positively enjoys getting scratched,' said Bell. + +Meanwhile, what had become of this small hero, and what was he doing? +He was last seen in the hammock, playing with the long-suffering +terrier, Lubin, who was making believe go to sleep. It proved to be +entirely a make-believe; for, at the first loosening of Dicky's +strangling hold upon his throat, he tumbled out of the hammock and +darted into the woods. Dicky followed, but Lubin was fleet of foot, +and it was a desperate and exciting race for full ten minutes. + +At length, as Lubin heard his little master's gleeful laugh, he +realised that his anger was a thing of the past; consequently, he +wheeled about and ran into Dicky's outstretched arms, licking his +face and hands exuberantly in the joy of complete forgiveness. + +By this time the voice of conscience in Dicky's soul--and it was a +very, very still, small one on all occasions--was entirely silenced. +He strayed into a sunny spot, and picked flowers enough to trim his +little sailor hat, probably divining that this was what lost children +in Sunday-school books always did, and it would be dishonourable not +to keep up the superstition. Then he built a fine, strong dam of +stones across the brook, wading to and fro without the bother of +taking off his shoes and stockings, and filled his hat with rocks and +sunk it to the bottom for a wharf, keeping his hat-band to tie an +unhappy frog to a bit of bark, and setting him afloat as the captain +of a slave-ship. When, at length, the struggling creature freed +himself from his bonds and leaped into the pool, Dicky played that he +was a drowning child, and threw Lubin into the water to rescue him. + +In these merry antics the hours flew by unnoticed; he had never been +happier in his life, and it flashed through his mind that if he were +left entirely to himself he should always be good. + +'Here I've been a whole day offul good by my lone self; haven't said +one notty word or did one notty fing, nor gotted scolded a singul +wunst, did I, Lubin? I guess we better live here; bettent we, Lubin? +And ven we wunt git stuck inter bed fur wettin' our feets little +teenty mites of wet ev'ry singul night all the livelong days, will +we, Lubin?' + +But this was a long period of reflection for Master Dicky, and he +capered on, farther and farther, the water sozzling frightfully in +his little copper-toed boots. At length he sat down on a stone to +rest himself, and, glancing aimlessly about, his eyes fell on a white +string, which he grasped with alacrity, pulling its end from beneath +the stone on which he sat. + +'Luby Winship, the anjulls gaved me this string fur ter make an offul +splendid tight harness for you, little Luby; and you can drag big +heavy stones. Won't that be nice?' + +Lubin looked doubtful, and wagged his tail dissentingly, as much as +to say that his ideas of angel ministrations were a trifle different. + +But there was no end to the string! How very, very curious! Dicky +wound and wound and crept and crept along, until he was thoroughly +tired but thoroughly determined to see it through; and Lubin, +meanwhile, had seized the first convenient moment, after the mention +of the harness, to retire to the camp. + +At length, oh joy! the tired and torn little man, following carefully +the leading-string, issued from the scratching bushes into a clean, +beautiful, round place, with a great restful-looking stump in the +centre, and round its base a small forest of snowy toadstools. What +could be a lovelier surprise! Dicky clapped his hands in glee as he +looked at them, and thought of a little verse of poetry which Bell +had taught him: + + +'Some fairy umbrellas came up to-day +Under the elm-tree, just over the way, +And as we have had a shower of rain, +The reason they came is made very plain: +To-night is the woodland fairies' ball, +And drops from the elm-tree might on them fall, +So little umbrellas wait for them here, +And under their shelter they'll dance without fear. +Take care where you step, nor crush them, I pray, +For fear you will frighten the fairies away.' + + +'Oh!' thought Dicky, in a trance of delight, 'now I shall go to the +fairies' ball, and see 'em dance under the cunning little teenty +umberells; and wunt they be mad at home when nobuddy can't see 'em +but just only me! And then if that potry is a big whopper, like that +there uvver one--'laddin-lamp story of Bell's--I'll just pick evry +white toadstool for my papa's Sunday dinner, and she sha'n't never +see a singul fairy dance.' + +But he waited very patiently for a long, long time that seemed like +years, for Lubin had disappeared; and all at once it grew so dark in +this thickly-wooded place that Dicky's courage oozed out in a single +moment, without any previous warnings as to its intention. The +toadstools looked like the ghosts of little past-and-gone fairy +umbrellas in the darkness, and not a single fairy couple came to +waltz under their snowy canopies, or exchange a furtive kiss beneath +their friendly shadows. + +Dicky thought the situation exceedingly gloomy, and, without knowing +it, followed the example of many older people, who, on being deserted +by man, experienced their first desire to find favour with God. He +was not in the least degree a saintly child, but he felt +instinctively that this was the proper time for prayer; and not +knowing anything appropriate to the occasion, he repeated over and +over again the time-worn plaint of childhood:- + + +'Now I lay me down to sleep, +I pray the Lord my soul to keep; +If I should die before I wake, +I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.' + + +Like older mortals of feeble faith, he looked for an immediate and +practical answer, in the shape, perhaps, of his mother, with his +little night-gown and bowl of bread and milk. + +'My sakes alive!' he grumbled between his sobs, 'they're the meanest +fings I ever saw. How long do they s'pose I'm goin' to wait for 'em +in this dark? When the bears have et me up in teenty snips, then +they'll be saterfied, I guess, and wisht they'd tookened gooder care +of me--a little speck of a boy, lefted out in this dark, bear-y +place, all by his lone self. O--oo--oo--oh!' and he wound up with a +murderous yell, which had never failed before to bring the whole +family to his side. + +His former prayer seeming to be in vain, he found a soft place, +brushed it as clean as possible, and with difficulty bending his +little stiff, scratched body into a kneeling position, he prayed his +nightly postscript to 'Now I lay me': 'God bless papa, 'n' mamma, +'n' Bell, 'n' Jack, 'n' Madge, 'n' Polly, 'n' Phil, 'n' Geoff, 'n' +Elsie.' Then, realizing that he was in a perilous position, and it +behoved him to be as pious as possible, he added: 'And please bless +Pancho, 'n' Hop Yet, 'n' Lubin, 'n' the goat--not the wild goat up on +the hill, but my goat, what got sick to his stummick when I painted +him with black letters.' + +What a dreadful calamity, to be sure, if the wrong goat had been +blessed by mistake! His whole duty performed, he picked the +toadstools for his papa's Sunday dinner, and, leaning his head +against the lone stump, cried himself to sleep. + +But relief was near, though he little suspected it as he lay in the +sound, dreamless sleep which comes only to the truly good. There was +a crashing sound in the still darkness, and Bell plunged through the +thick underbrush with a cry of delight. + +'He is here! Dear, dear Geoff, he is all here! I knew it, I knew +it! Hurrah!--no, I mean--thank God!' she said softly as she stooped +down to kiss her mischievous little brother. + +'But what a looking creature!' exclaimed Geoff, as he stooped over +the recovered treasure. 'See, Bell, his curls are glistening with +pitch, his dress is torn into ribbons, and his hands--ugh, how +dirty!' + +'Poor little darling, he is thoroughly used up,' whispered Bell, +wiping tears of joy from her brown eyes. 'Now, I'll run home like +lightning to blow the horn; and you carry Dicky, for he is too sleepy +and stiff to walk; and, Geoff'--(here she laid an embarrassed hand on +his shoulder)--'I'm afraid he'll be awfully cross, but you'll not +mind it, will you? He's so worn-out.' + +'Not I,' laughed Geoff, as he dropped a brotherly kiss on Bell's pale +cheek. 'But I've no idea of letting you go alone; you're tired to +death, and you'll miss the path. I wish I could carry you both.' + +'Tired--afraid!' cried Bell, with a ringing laugh, while Dicky woke +with a stare, and nestled on Geoffrey's shoulder as if nothing had +happened. 'Why, now that this weight is lifted off my heart, I could +see a path in an untravelled forest! Good-bye, you dear, darling, +cruel boy! I must run, for every moment is precious to mamma.' And +with one strangling hug, which made Dicky's ribs crack, she dashed +off. + +Oh how joyously, how sweetly and tunefully, the furious blast of the +old cracked dinner-horn fell on the anxious ears in that canyon. It +seemed clearer and more musical than a chime of silver bells. + +In a trice the wandering couples had gathered jubilantly round the +camp-fire, all embracing Bell, who was the heroine of the hour-- +entirely by chance, and not though superior vision or courage, as she +confessed. + +It was hardly fifteen minutes when Geoff strode into the ring with +his sorry-looking burden, which he laid immediately in Aunt Truth's +lap. + +'Oh my darling!' she cried, embracing him fondly. 'To think you are +really not dead, after all!' + +'No, he is about as alive as any chap I ever saw.' And while the +happy parents caressed their restored darling, Geoff gathered the +girls and boys around the dinner-table, and repeated some of Dicky's +remarks on the homeward trip. + +It seems that he considered himself the injured party, and with great +ingenuity laid all the blame of the mishap on his elders. + +'Nobuddy takes care of me, anyhow,' he grumbled. 'If my papa wasn't +a mean fing I'd orter to have a black nurse with a white cap and +apurn, like Billy Thomas, 'n' then I couldn't git losted so offul +easy. An' you all never cared a cent about it either, or you'd a +founded me quicker 'n this--'n' I've been hungry fur nineteen hours, +'n' I guess I've been gone till December, by the feelin', but you was +too lazy to found me 'f I freezed to def--'n' there ain't but one +singul boy of me round the whole camp, 'n' 't would serveded you +right if I had got losted for ever; then I bet you wouldn't had much +fun Fourth of July 'thout my two bits 'n' my fire-crackers!' + +It was an hour or two before peace and quiet were restored to the +camp. The long-delayed dinner had to be eaten; and to Hop Yet's calm +delight, it was a very bad one. Dicky's small wounds were dressed +with sweet oil, and after being fed and bathed he was tucked lovingly +into bed, with a hundred kisses or more from the whole party. + +A little rest and attention had entirely restored his good-humour; +and when Dr. Paul went into the tent to see that all was safe for the +night, he found him sitting up in bed with a gleeful countenance, +prattling like a little angel. + +'We had an offul funny time 'bout my gittin' losted, didn't we, +mamma?' chuckled he, with his gurgling little laugh. 'Next time I'm +goin' to get losted in annover bran'-new place where no-bud-dy can +find me! I fink it was the nicest time 'cept Fourth of July, don't +you, mamma?' And he patted his mother's cheek and imprinted an oily +kiss thereon. + +'Truth,' said the Doctor, with mild severity, 'I know you don't +believe in applying the slipper, but I do think we should arrange +some plan for giving that child an idea of the solemnity of life. So +far as I can judge, he looks at it as one prolonged picnic.' + +'My sentiments exactly!' cried Bell, energetically. 'I can't stand +many more of these trying scenes; I am worn to a "shadder."' + +Dicky tucked his head under his mother's arm, with a sigh of relief +that there was one person, at least, whose sentiments were always +favourable and always to be relied upon. + +'I love you the best of anybuddy, mamma,' whispered he, and fell +asleep. + + + +CHAPTER IV: RHYME AND REASON + + + +A BUDGET OF LETTERS FROM THE CAMP MAIL-BAG + +'The letter of a friend is a likeness passing true.' + + +Our friend Polly was seated in a secluded spot whence all but her had +fled; her grave demeanour, her discarded sun-bonnet, her corrugated +brow, all bespoke more than common fixedness of purpose, the cause of +which will be discovered in what follows. + +I. FROM THE COUNTESS PAULINA OLIVERA TO HER FRIEND AND CONFIDANTE, +THE LADY ELSIE HOWARD. {1} + +Scene: A sequestered nook in the Valley of the Flowers. + +CAMP CHAPARRAL, July 6, 188-. + +The countess is discovered at her ommerlu {1a} writing-table. A +light zephyr {1b} plays with her golden locks {1c} and caresses her +Grecian {1d} nose--a nose that carries on its surface a few trifling +freckles, which serve but to call attention to its exquisite purity +of outline and the height of its ambition. Her eyes reflect the +changing shadows of moonlight, and her mouth is one fit for sweet +sounds; {1e} yet this only gives you a faint idea of the beauteous +creature whose fortunes we shall follow in our next number. {1f} + +I have given that style a fair trial, my dear darling, but I cannot +stand it another minute, not being familiar with the language of what +our cook used to call the 'fuddal aristocracy' (feudal, you know). + +I, your faithful Polly, am seated in the card-room, writing with a +dreadful pen which Phil gave me yesterday. Its internal organs are +filled with ink, which it disgorges when PRESSED to do so, but just +now it is 'too full for utterance,' as you will see by the blots. + +We have decided not to make this a real round-robin letter, like the +last, because we want to write what we like, and not have it read by +the person who comes next. + +I have been badgered to death over my part of the communication sent +to you last week, for the young persons connected with this camp have +a faculty of making mountains out of mole-hills, as you know, and I +have to suffer for every careless little speech. However, as we +didn't wish to bore you with six duplicate letters, we invented a +plan for keeping off each other's ground, and appointed Geoff a +committee of one to settle our line of march. It is to be a +collective letter, made up of individual notes; and these are Geoff's +sealed orders, which must be obeyed, on pain of dismissal from the +camp: + +No. 1 (Polly) is to amuse! +No. 2 (Phil) ... inform! +No. 3 (Geoff) ... edify!! +No. 4 (Madge) ... gossip. +No. 5 (Bell) ... versify. +No. 6 (Jack) ... illustrate + +So, my dear, if you get any 'information' or happen to be 'edified' +by what I write, don't mention it for worlds! (I just screamed my +fears about this matter to Jack, and he says 'I needn't fret.' I +shall certainly slap that boy before the summer is over.) + +I could just tell you a lovely story about Dicky's getting lost in +the woods the day before yesterday, and our terrible fright about +him, and how we all joined in the boy-hunt, until Geoff and Bell +found him at the Lone Stump; but I suppose the chronicle belongs to +Phil's province, so I desist. But what can I say? Suppose I tell +you that Uncle Doc and the boys have been shooting innocent, TAME +sheep, skinning and cutting them up on the way home, and making us +believe for two days that we were eating venison; and we never should +have discovered the imposition had not Dicky dragged home four sheep- +skins from the upper pool, and told us that he saw the boys 'PEELING +THEM OFF A VENISON.' Perhaps Phil may call this information, and +Margery will vow that it is gossip and belongs to her; any way, they +consider it a splendid joke, and chuckle themselves to sleep over it +every night; but I think the whole affair is perfectly maddening, and +it makes me boil with rage to be taken in so easily. Such a to-do as +they make over the matter you never saw; you would think it was the +first successful joke since the Deluge. (That wasn't a DRY joke, was +it? Ha, ha!) + +This is the way they twang on their harp of a thousand strings. At +breakfast, this morning, when Jack passed me the corn-bread, I said +innocently, 'Why, what have we here?' 'It is manna that fell in the +night,' answered Jack, with an exasperating snicker. 'You didn't +know mutton, but I thought, being a Sunday-school teacher, you would +know something about manna.' (N.B.--He alludes to that time I took +the infant class for Miss Jones, and they all ran out to see a +military funeral procession.) 'I wish you knew something about +manners,' snapped I; and then Aunt Truth had to warn us both, as +usual. Oh dear! it's a weary world. I'd just like to get Jack at a +disadvantage once! + +[Next paragraph crossed out] +We climbed Pico Negro yesterday. Bell, Geoff, Phil, and I had quite +an experience in losing the trail. I will tell you about it. Just +as - + +(Goodness me! what have I written? Oh, Elsie, pray excuse those +HORIZONTAL EVIDENCES of my forgetfulness and disobedience. I have +bumped my head against the table three times, as penance, and will +now try to turn my thoughts into right channels. This letter is a +black-and-white evidence that _I_ have not a frivolous order of mind, +and have always been misunderstood from my birth up to this date.) + +We have had beautiful weather since--but no, of course Phil will tell +you about the weather, for that is scarcely an amusing topic. I do +want to be as prudent as possible, for Uncle Doc is going to read all +the letters (not, of course, aloud) and see whether we have fulfilled +our specific obligations. + +(I just asked Bell whether 'specific' had a 'c' or an's in the +middle, and she answered '"c," of course,' with such an air, you +should have heard her! I had to remind her of the time she spelled +'Tophet' with an 'f' in the middle; then she subsided.) + +(I just read this last paragraph to Madge, to see if she called it +gossip, as I was going to take it out if it belonged to her topic, +but she said No, she didn't call it gossip at all--that she should +call it slander!) + +You don't know how we all long to see you, dear darling that you are. +We live in the hope of having you with us very soon, and meanwhile +the beautiful bedstead is almost finished, and a perfect success. (I +wish to withdraw the last three quarters of that sentence, for +obvious reasons!!) + +Dear, dear! Geoffrey calls 'Time up,' and I've scarcely said +anything I should. Never, never again will I submit to this method +of correspondence; it is absolutely petrifying to one's genius. When +I am once forced to walk in a path, nothing but the whole out-of- +doors will satisfy me. + +I'm very much afraid I haven't amused you, dear, - + + +But when I lie in the green kirkyard, +With the mould upon my breast, +Say not that 'She did well or ill,' +Only, 'She did her best.' + + +Now, do you think that will interfere with Bell, when it's only a +quotation? Any way, it's so appropriate that Uncle Doc will never +have the heart to strike it out. The trouble is that Geoff thinks +all the poetry in the universe is locked up in Bell's head, and if +she once allows it to escape, Felicia Hemans and the rest will be too +discouraged ever to try again! (I can't remember whether F. H. is +alive or not, and am afraid to ask, but you will know that I don't +mean to be disrespectful.) + +Laura, Anne, and Scott Burton were here for the play, and Laura is +coming down again to spend the week. I can't abide her, and there +will probably be trouble in the camp. + +The flame of my genius blazes high just now, but Geoff has spoken, +and it must be snuffed. So good-bye! + +Sizz-z-z!! and I'm OUT! + +POLLIOLIVER. + + +II. FROM PHILIP TO ELSIE. + + +CAMP CHAPARRAL, July 8, 188-. + +My dear Elsie,--I believe I am to inform you concerning the daily +doings of our party, not on any account, however, permitting myself +to degenerate into 'gossip' or 'frivolous amusement.' + +They evidently consider me a quiet, stupid fellow, who will fulfil +such a task with no special feeling of repression, and I dare say +they are quite right. + +They call me the 'solid man' of the camp, which may not be very high +praise, to be sure, as Geoffrey carries his head in the clouds, and +Jack is--well, Jack is Jack! So, as the light of a tallow dip is +valuable in the absence of sun and moon, I am raised to a fictitious +reputation. + +We fellows have had very little play so far, for the furnishing of +the camp has proved an immense undertaking, although we have plenty +of the right sort of wood and excellent tools. + +We think the work will pay, however, as Dr. Paul has about decided to +stay until October, or until the first rain. He writes two or three +hours a day, and thinks that he gets on with his book better here +than at home. As for the rest of us, when we get fairly to rights we +shall have regular study hours and lose no time in preparing for the +examinations. + +I suppose you know that you have a full bedroom set in process of +construction. I say 'suppose you know,' because it is a profound +secret, and the girls could never have kept it to themselves as long +as this. + +The lounging-chair is my allotted portion, and although it is a +complicated bit of work, I accepted it gladly, feeling sure that you +would use it oftener than any of the other pieces of furniture. I +shall make it so deliciously easy that you will make me 'Knight of +the Chair,' and perhaps permit me to play a sort of devoted John +Brown to your Victoria. You will need one dull and prosy squire to +arrange your pillows, so that you can laugh at Jack's jokes without +weariness, and doze quietly while Geoff and Uncle Doc are talking +medicine. + +Of course the most exciting event of the week was the mysterious +disappearance and subsequent restoration of the Heir-Apparent; but I +feel sure somebody else will describe the event, because it is +uppermost in all our minds. + +Bell, for instance, would dress it up in fine style. She is no +historian, but in poetry and fiction none of us can touch her; +though, by the way, Polly's abilities in that direction are a good +deal underrated. It's as good as a play to get her after Jack when +he is in one of his teasing moods. They are like flint and steel, +and if Aunt Truth didn't separate them the sparks would fly. With a +girl like Polly, you have either to lie awake nights, thinking how +you'll get the better of her, or else put on a demeanour of +gentleness and patience, which serves as a sort of lightning-rod +round which the fire of her fun will play all day and never strike. +Polly is a good deal of a girl. She seems at first to have a pretty +sharp tongue, but I tell you she has a heart in which there is +swimming-room for everybody. This may not be 'information' to you, +whom we look upon as our clairvoyant, but it would be news to most +people. + +Uncle Doc, Bell, Geoff, Polly, Meg, and I started for the top of Pico +Negro the other morning. Bell rode Villikins, and Polly took a mule, +because she thought the animal would be especially sure-footed. He +was; in fact, he was so sure-footed that he didn't care to move at +all, and we had to take turns in beating him up to the top. We boys +walked for exercise, which we got to our hearts' content. + +It is only five or six miles from the old Mountain Mill (a picture of +which Jack will send you), and the ascent is pretty stiff climbing, +though nothing terrific. We lost the trail once, and floundered +about in the chaparral for half an hour, till Bell began to make a +poem on the occasion, when we became desperate, and dashed through a +thicket of brush, tearing ourselves to bits, but stumbling on the +trail at last. The view from the top is simply superb. The valleys +below are all yellow with grain-fields and green with vineyards, with +here and there the roofs of a straggling little settlement. The +depression in the side of the mountain (you will observe it in the +picture) Polly says has evidently been 'bitten out' by a prehistoric +animal, and it turns out to be the loveliest little canyon +imaginable. + +We have had one novel experience--that of seeing a tarantula fight; +and not between two, but five, tarantulas. We were about twenty +miles from camp, loping along a stretch of hot, dusty road. Jack got +off to cinch his saddle, and so we all stopped a moment to let our +horses breathe. As I was looking about, at nothing in particular, I +noticed a black ball in the deep dust at the side of the road. It +suddenly rolled over on itself and I called to the boys to watch the +fun. We got off, hitched our horses, and approached cautiously, for +I had seen a battle of the same kind before. There they were--five +huge, hairy, dirty, black creatures, as large as the palm of Dicky's +hand, all locked in deadly combat. They writhed and struggled and +embraced, their long, curling legs fastening on each other with a +sound that was actually like the cracking of bones. It takes a +little courage to stand and watch such a proceeding, for you feel as +if the hideous fellows might turn and jump for you; but they were +doubtless absorbed in their own battle, and we wanted to see the +affair to the end, so we took the risk, if there was any. At last +they showed signs of weariness, but we prodded them up with our +riding-whips, preferring that they should kill each other, rather +than do the thing ourselves. Finally, four of them lay in the dust, +doubled up and harmless, slain, I suppose, by their own poison. One, +the conquering hero, remained, and we dexterously scooped him into a +tomato-can that Jack had tied to his saddle for a drinking-cup, +covered him up with a handkerchief, and drew lots as to who should +carry him home to Dr. Paul. + +Knowing that the little beasts were gregarious, we hunted about for a +nest, which we might send to you after ousting its disagreeable +occupant. After much searching, we found a group of them--quite a +tarantula village, in fact. Their wonderful little houses are closed +on the outside by a circular, many-webbed mesh, two or three inches +across, and this web betrays the spider's den to the person who knows +the tricks of the trade. Directly underneath it you come upon the +tiny circular trap-door, which you will notice in the nest we send +with these letters. You will see how wonderfully it is made, with +its silken weaving inside, and its bits of bark and leaves outside; +and I know you will admire the hinge, which the tarantula must have +invented, and which is as pretty a bit of workmanship as the most +accomplished mechanic could turn out. We tore away the web and the +door from one of the nests, and then poured water down the hole. The +spider was at home, came out as fact as his clumsy legs would carry +him, and clutched the end of the stick Jack held out to him. Then we +tumbled him into the tomato-can just as he appeared to be making for +us. The two didn't agree at all. One of them despatched the other +on the way home--the same hero who had killed the other four; but, on +hearing his bloody record, Aunt Truth refused to have him about the +camp; so we gave him an alcohol bath, and you shall see his lordship +when you come. As Dr. Paul says, they have been known to clear +fourteen feet at a jump, perhaps you will feel happier to know that +he is in alcohol, though their bite is not necessarily fatal if it is +rightly cared for. + +The girls have been patronising the landscape by naming every peak, +valley, grove, and stream in the vicinity; and as there is nobody to +object, the names may hold. + +We carry about with us a collection of strong, flat stakes, which +have various names painted on them in neat black letters. Jack likes +that kind of work, and spends most of his time at it; for now that +Dr. Paul has bought a hundred acres up here, we are all greatly +interested in its improvement. + +Geoff has named the mountain Pico Negro, as I told you, and the +little canyon on its side is called the Giant's Yawn. Then we have - + +Mirror Pool, +The Lone Stump, +Field of the Cloth-of-Gold, +Cosy Nook, +The Imp's Wash-Bowl, +Dunce-Cap Hill, +The Saint's Rest, and +Il Penseroso Fall (in honour of Dicky, who was nearly drowned there). + +If anybody fails to call these localities by their proper names he +has to pay a fine of five cents, which goes towards beautifying the +place. Dr. Paul has had to pay two fines for Bell, three for Aunt +Truth, and seven for Dicky; so he considers it an ill-judged +arrangement. + +Our encampment is supposed to be in the Forest of Arden, and Jack has +begun nailing verses of poetry on the trees, like a second Orlando, +save that they are not love-poems at all, but appropriate quotations +from Wordsworth or Bryant. And this brings me to our thrilling +rendition of the play 'As You Like It,' last evening; but it is +deserving of more than the passing notice which I can give it here. + +One thing, however, I must tell you, as the girls will not write it +of themselves--that, although Bell carried off first honours and +fairly captivated the actors as well as the audience, all three of +them looked bewitching and acted with the greatest spirit, much +better than we fellows did. + +Of course we didn't give the entire play, and we had to 'double up' +on some of the characters in the most ridiculous fashion; but the +Burtons helped out wonderfully, Scott playing Oliver, and Laura doing +Audrey. They were so delighted with the camp that Aunt Truth has +invited them to come again on Saturday and stay a week. + +At the risk of being called conceited I will also state that we boys +consider that the stage management was a triumph of inventive art; we +worked like beavers for two days, and the results were marvellous, +'if I do say so as shouldn't.' + +Just consider we were 'six miles from a lemon,' as Sydney Smith would +say, and yet we transformed all out of doors, first into an elegant +interior, and then into a conventional stage forest. + +A great deal of work is available for other performances, and so we +do not regret it a bit; we propose doing 'As You Like It' again when +you are down here, and meanwhile we give diversified entertainments +which Jack calls variety shows, but which in reality are very chaste +and elegant occasions. + +The other night we had a minstrel show, wearing masks of black +cambric, with red mouths painted on them; you should have seen us, +all in a dusky semicircle, seated on boards supported by nail-kegs: +it was a scene better imagined than described. This is certainly the +ideal way to live in summer-time, and we should be perfectly happy +and content if you could only shake off your troublesome cough and +come to share our pleasure. We feel incomplete without you; and no +matter how large our party may grow as the summer progresses, there +will always be a vacant niche that none can fill save the dear little +Saint who is always enshrined therein by all her loyal worshippers, +and by none more reverently than her friend, + +PHILIP S. NOBLE. + + +III. THE KNIGHT OF THE SPECTACLES TAKES THE QUILL. + + +This paper is writ unto her most Royal Highness, our beloved Gold +Elsie, Queen of our thoughts and Empress of all hearts. + +You must know, most noble Lady, that one who is your next of kin and +high in the royal favour has laid upon us a most difficult and +embarrassing task. + +In our capacity as Director of the Court Games, we humbly suggested +the subjects for the weekly bulletin which your Highness commanded to +be written; but, alas, with indifferent success; for the Courtiers +growled and the Ladies-in-waiting howled at the topics given them for +consideration. + +On soliciting our own subjects from the Privy Councillor and Knight +of the Brush, Lord John Howard, he revengefully ordered me to 'edify' +your Majesty with wise utterances; as if such poor, rude words as +mine could please the ear that should only listen to the singing of +birds, the babbling of brooks, or the silvery tongue of genius! + +When may your devoted subjects hope to see their gracious Sovereign +again in their midst? + +The court is fast drifting into dangerous informalities of conduct. +The Princess Bell-Pepper partakes of the odoriferous onion at each +noon-day meal, so that a royal salute would be impossible; the hands +of the Countess Paulina look as if you might have chosen one of your +attendants from 'Afric's sunny fountains, or India's coral strand'; +and as for the Court Chaplain, Rev. Jack-in-the-Pulpit, he has +woefully forsaken the manners of the 'cloth,' and insists upon +retaining his ancient title of Knight of the Brush; the Duchess of +Sweet Marjoram alone continues circumspect in walk and mien, for +blood will tell, and she is more Noble than the others. + +In our capacity of Court Physician we have thrice relieved your +youthful page, Sir Dicky Winship, of indigestion, caused by too +generous indulgence in the flowing bowl--of milk and cherries; we +have also prescribed for his grace the Duke of Noble, whose ducal ear +was poisoned by the insidious oak leaf. + +Your private box awaits you in the Princess' Theatre, and your +Majesty's special interpreters of the drama will celebrate your +arrival as gorgeously as it deserves. + +The health of our dearly beloved Sovereign engages the constant +thought of all her loyal and adoring subjects; they hope ere long to +cull a wreath of laurel with their own hands and place it on a brow +which needs naught but its golden crown of hair to affirm its queenly +dignity. And as for crown jewels, has not our Empress of Hearts a +full store?--two dazzling sapphires, her eyes; a string of pearls, +her teeth; her lips two rubies; and when she opens them, diamonds of +wisdom issue therefrom! + +Come! and let the sight of thy royal charms gladden the eyes of thy +waiting people! Issued under the hand of + +SIR GEOFFREY STRONG, Bart., +Court Physician and Knight of the Spectacles. + + +IV. MARGERY'S CONTRIBUTION. + + +COSY NOOK, July 11, 188- . + +My own dear Elsie,--Your weekly chronicle is almost ready for +Monday's stage, and I am allowed to come in at the close with as many +pages of 'gossip' as I choose; which means that I may run on to my +heart's content and tell you all the little things that happen in the +chinks between the great ones, for Uncle Doc has refused to read this +part of the letter. + +First for some commissions: Aunt Truth asks if your mother will +kindly select goods and engage Mrs. Perkins to make us each a couple +of Scotch gingham dresses. She has our measures, and we wish them +simple, full-skirted gowns, like the last; everybody thinks them so +pretty and becoming. Bell's two must be buff and pink, Polly's grey +and green, and mine blue and brown. We find that we haven't clothes +enough for a three months' stay; and the out-of-door life is so hard +upon our 'forest suits' that we have asked Mrs. Perkins to send us +new ones as soon as possible. + +We have had a very busy and exciting week since Polly began this +letter, for there have been various interruptions and an unusual +number of visitors. + +First, there was our mountain climb to the top of Pico Negro; Phil +says he has written you about that, but I hardly believe he mentioned +that he and the other boys worried us sadly by hanging on to the +tails of our horses as they climbed up the steepest places. To be +sure they were so awfully tired that I couldn't help pitying them; +but Uncle Doc had tried to persuade them not to walk, so that it was +their own fault after all. You cannot imagine what a dreadful +feeling it gives one to be climbing a slippery, rocky path, and know +that a great heavy boy is pulling your horse backwards by the tail. +Polly insisted that she heard her mule's tail break loose from its +moorings, and on measuring it when she got back to camp she found it +three inches longer than usual. + +The mule acted like original sin all day, and Polly was so completely +worn-out that she went to bed at five o'clock; Jack was a good deal +the worse for wear too, so that they got on beautifully all day. It +is queer that they irritate each other so, for I am sure that there +is no lack of real friendship between them; but Jack is a confirmed +tease, and he seems to keep all his mischief bottled up for especial +use with Polly. I have tried to keep him out of trouble, as you +asked me; and although it gives me plenty to do, I am succeeding +tolerably well, except in his dealings with Polly. I lecture him +continually, but 'every time he opens his mouth he puts his foot in +it.' + +Polly was under a cloud the first of the week. Villikins was sick, +and Dr. Winship sent her to Aunt Truth for a bottle of sweet oil. +Aunt Truth was not in sight, so Polly went to the box of stores and +emptied a whole quart bottle of salad oil into a pail, and Villikins +had to take it, WHEEL OR WHOA (Jack's joke!). Auntie went to make +the salad dressing at dinner-time, and discovered her loss and +Polly's mistake. It was the last bottle; and as we can't get any +more for a week, the situation was serious, and she was very much +tried. Poor Polly had a good cry over her carelessness, and came to +the dinner-table in a very sensitive frame of mind. Then what should +Jack do but tell Dicky to take Villikins a head of lettuce for his +supper, and ask Polly why she didn't change his name from Villikins +to Salad-in! Polly burst into tears, and left the table, while Dr. +Paul gave Jack a scolding, which I really think he deserved, though +it was a good joke. The next morning, the young gentleman put on a +pair of old white cotton gloves and his best hat, gathered her a +bouquet of wild flowers, and made her a handsome apology before the +whole party; so she forgave him, and they are friends--until the next +quarrel. + +On the night before the play, Laura and Scott Burton arrived on +horseback, and the next morning the rest of the family appeared on +the scene. We had sent over to see if Laura would play Audrey on so +short notice, and bring over some odds and ends for costumes. We +actually had an audience of sixteen persons, and we had no idea of +playing before anybody but Aunt Truth and Dicky. + +There were three of the Burtons, Pancho, Hop Yet, the people from the +dairy farm, and a university professor from Berkeley, with eight +students. They were on a walking tour, and were just camping for the +night when Scott and Jack met them, and invited them over to the +performance. Geoffrey and Phil were acquainted with three of them, +and Uncle Paul knew the professor. + +Laura, Anne, and Scott went home the next morning, but came back in +two days for their week's visit. The boys like Scott very much; he +falls right into the camp ways, and doesn't disturb the even current +of our life; and Anne, who is a sweet little girl of twelve, has +quite taken Dicky under her wing, much to our relief. + +With Laura's advent, however, a change came over the spirit of our +dreams, and, to tell the truth, we are not over and above pleased +with it. By the way, she spent last summer at the hotel, and you +must have seen her, did you not? Anyway, Mrs. Burton and Aunt Truth +were old school friends, and Bell has known Laura for two years, but +they will never follow in their mothers' footsteps. Laura is so +different from her mother that I should never think they were +relations; and she has managed to change all our arrangements in some +mysterious way which we can't understand. I get on very well with +her; she positively showers favours upon me, and I more than half +suspect it is because she thinks I don't amount to much. As for the +others, she rubs Polly the wrong way, and I believe she is a little +bit jealous of Bell. + +You see, she is several months older than the rest of us, and has +spent two winters in San Francisco, where she went out a great deal +to parties and theatres, so that her ideas are entirely different +from ours. + +She wants every single bit of attention--one boy to help her over the +brooks, one to cut walking-sticks for her, another to peel her +oranges, and another to read Spanish with her, and so on. Now, you +know very well that she will never get all this so long as Bell +Winship is in camp, for the boys think that Bell drags up the sun +when she's ready for him in the morning, and pushes him down at night +when she happens to feel sleepy. + +We, who have known Bell always, cannot realise that any one can help +loving her, but there is something in Laura which makes it impossible +for her to see the right side of people. She told me this morning +that she thought Bell had grown so vain and airy and self-conscious +that it was painful to see her. I could not help being hurt; for you +know what Bell is--brimful of nonsense and sparkle and bright +speeches, but just as open as the day and as warm as the sunshine. +If she could have been spoiled, we should have turned her head long +ago; but she hasn't a bit of silly vanity, and I never met any one +before who didn't see the pretty charm of her brightness and +goodness--did you? + +And yet, somehow, Laura sticks needles into her every time she +speaks. She feels them, too, but it only makes her quiet, for she is +too proud and sensitive to resent it. I can see that she is +different in her ways, as if she felt she was being criticised. +Polly is quite the reverse. If anybody hurts her feelings she makes +creation scream, and I admire her courage. + +Aunt Truth doesn't know anything about all this, for Laura is a +different girl when she is with her or Dr. Paul; not that she is +deceitful, but that she is honestly anxious for their good opinion. +You remember Aunt Truth's hobby that we should never defend ourselves +by attacking any one else, and none of us would ever complain, if we +were hung, drawn, and quartered. + +Laura was miffed at having to play Audrey, but we didn't know that +she could come until the last moment, and we were going to leave that +part out. + +'I don't believe you appreciate my generosity in taking this +thankless part,' she said to Bell, when we were rehearsing. 'Nobody +would ever catch you playing second fiddle, my dear. All leading +parts reserved for Miss Winship, by order of the authors, I suppose.' + +'Indeed, Laura,' Bell said, 'if we had known you were coming we would +have offered you the best part, but I only took Rosalind because I +knew the lines, and the girls insisted.' + +'You've trained the girls well--hasn't she, Geoffrey?' asked Laura, +with a queer kind of laugh. + +But I will leave the unpleasant subject. I should not have spoken of +it at all except that she has made me so uncomfortable to-day that it +is fresh in my mind. Bell and Polly and I have talked the matter all +over, and are going to try and make her like us, whether she wants to +or not. We have agreed to be just as polite and generous as we +possibly can, and see if she won't 'come round,' for she is perfectly +delighted with the camp, and wants to stay a month. + +Polly says she is going to sing 'Home Sweet Home' to her every night, +and drop double doses of the homoeopathic cure for home-sickness into +her tea, with a view of creating the disease. + +Good-bye, and a hundred kisses from your loving + +MARGERY DAW. + + +V. THE CAMP POETESS ADDS HER STORE OF MENTAL RICHES TO THE GENERAL +FUND. + + +My darling,--I have a thousand things to tell you, but I cannot +possibly say them in rhyme, merely because the committee insists upon +it. I send you herewith all the poetry which has been written in +camp since last Monday, and it has been a very prosy week. + +I have given them to papa, and he says that the best of my own, which +are all bad enough, is the following hammock-song. + +I thought it out while I was swinging Margery, and here it is! - + + +To--fro, +Dreamily, slow, +Under the trees; +Swing--swing, +Drowsily sing +The birds and the bees; +Sleep--rest, +Slumber is best, +Wakefulness sad; +Rest--sleep, +Forget how to weep, +Dream and be glad! + + +Papa says it is all nonsense to say that slumber is best and +wakefulness sad; and that it is possible to tell the truth in poetry. +Perhaps it is, but why don't they do it oftener, then? And how was +he to know that Polly and Jack had just gone through a terrible +battle of words in which I was peacemaker, and that Dicky had been as +naughty as--Nero--all day? These two circumstances made me look at +the world through blue glasses, and that is always the time one longs +to write poetry. + +I send you also Geoff's verses, written to mamma, and slipped into +the box when we were playing Machine Poetry:- + + +I know a woman fair and calm, + Whose shining tender eyes +Make, when I meet their earnest gaze, + Sweet thoughts within me rise. + +And if all silver were her hair, + Or faded were her face, +She would not look to me less fair, + Nor lack a single grace. + +And if I were a little child, + With childhood's timid trust, +I think my heart would fly to her, + And love--because it must! + +And if I were an earnest man, + With empty heart and life, +I think--(but I might change my mind) - + She'd be my chosen wife! + + +Isn't that pretty? Oh, Elsie! I hope I shall grow old as +beautifully as mamma does, so that people can write poetry to me if +they feel like it! Here is Jack's, for Polly's birthday; he says he +got the idea from a real poem which is just as silly as his:- + + +A pollywog from a wayside brook + Is a goodly gift for thee; +But a milk-white steed, or a venison sheep, + Will do very well for me. + +For you a quivering asphodel + (Two ducks and a good fat hen), +For me a withering hollyhock + (For seven and three are ten!). + +Rose-red locks and a pug for thee + (The falling dew is chill), +A dove, a rope, and a rose for me + (Oh, passionate, pale-blue pill!). + +For you a greenery, yallery gown + (Hath one tomb room for four?), +Dig me a narrow gravelet here + (Oh, red is the stain of gore!!). + + +I told Jack I thought it extremely unhitched, but he says that's the +chief beauty of the imitation. + +I give you also some verses intended for Polly's birthday, which we +shall celebrate, when the day arrives, by a grand dinner. + +You remember how we tease her about her love for tea, which she +cannot conceal, but which she is ashamed of all the same. + +Well! I have printed the poem on a card, and on the other side +Margery has drawn the picture of a cross old maid, surrounded by +seven cats, all frying to get a drink out of her tea-cup. Then Geoff +is going to get a live cat from the milk ranch near here, and box it +up for me to give to her when she receives her presents at the +dinner-table. Won't it be fun? + + +OWED TO POLLY +BECAUSE OF HER BIRTHDAY. + + +She camps among the untrodden ways + Forninst the 'Mountain Mill'; +A maid whom there are few to praise + And few to wish her ill. + +She lives unknown, and few could know + What Pauline is to me; +As dear a joy as are to her + Her frequent cups of tea. + +A birthday this dear creature had, + Full many a year ago; +She says she is but just fifteen, + Of course she ought to know. + +But still this gift I bring to her, + Appropriate to her age, +Regardless of her stifled scorn, + Or well conceal-ed rage! + +She smiles upon these tender lines, + As you all plainly see, +But when she meets me all alone, + How different it will be! + + +Now comes Geoff's, to be given with a pretty little inkstand:- + + +There was a young maiden whose thought +Was so airy it couldn't be caught; + So what do you think? + We gave her some ink, +And captured her light-winged thought. + + +Here is Jack's last on Polly:- + + +There's a pert little poppet called Polly, +Who frequently falls into folly! + She's a terrible tongue + For a 'creetur' so young, +But if she were dumb she'd be jolly! + + +I helped Polly with a reply, and we delivered it five minutes later:- + + +I'd rather be deaf, Master Jack, +For if only one sense I must lack, + To be rid of your voice + I should always rejoice, +Nor mourn if it never came back! + + +And now good-night and good-bye until I am allowed to write you my +own particular kind of letter. + +The girls and boys are singing round the camp-fire, and I must go out +and join them in one song before we go to bed. + +Yours with love, now and always, +BELL. + +P. S--Our 'Happy Hexagon' has become a sort of 'Obstreperous +Octagon.' Laura and Scott Burton are staying with us. Scott is a +good deal of a bookworm, and uses very long words; his favourite name +for me at present is Calliope; I thought it was a sort of steam- +whistle, but Margery thinks it was some one who was connected with +poetry. We don't dare ask the boys; will you find out? + + +VI. + +CAMP CHAPARRAL, July 13, 188-. +STUDIO RAPHAEL. + +Dear Little Sis,--The enclosed sketches speak for themselves, or at +least I hope they do. Keep them in your private portfolio, and when +I am famous you can produce them to show the public at what an early +age my genius began to sprout. + +At first I thought I'd make them real 'William Henry' pictures, but +concluded to give you a variety. + +Can't stop to write another line; and if you missed your regular +letter this week you must not growl, for the sketches took an awful +lot of time, and I'm just rushed to death here anyway. + +Love to mother and father. +Your loving brother. JACK + +P.S.--Polly says you need not expect to recognise that deer by his +portrait, should you ever meet him, as no one could expect to get a +STRIKING likeness at a distance of a half-mile. But, honestly, we +have been closer than that to several deer. + + + +CHAPTER V: THE FOREST OF ARDEN--GOOD NEWS + + + +'From the East to western Ind, +No jewel is like Rosalind; +Her worth, being mounted on the wind, +Through all the world bears Rosalind; +All the pictures, fairest lined, +Are but black to Rosalind; +Let no face be kept in mind, +But the fair of Rosalind.' + + +The grand performance of 'As You Like It' must have a more extended +notice than it has yet received, inasmuch as its double was never +seen on any stage. + +The reason of this somewhat ambitious selection lay in the fact that +our young people had studied it in Dr. Winship's Shakespeare class +the preceding winter, but they were actually dumb with astonishment +when Bell proposed it for the opening performance in the new theatre. + +'I tell you,' she argued, 'there are not many pieces which would be +effective when played out of doors by dim candle-light, but this will +be just as romantic and lovely as can be. You see it can be played +just "as you like it."' + +Philip and Aunt Truth wanted a matinee performance, but the girls +resisted this plan very strongly, feeling that the garish light of +day would be bad for the makeshift costumes, and would be likely to +rob them of what little courage they possessed. + +'We give the decoration of the theatre entirely into your hands, +boys,' Polly had said on the day before the performance. 'You have +some of the hardest work done already, and can just devote yourselves +to the ornamental part; but don't expect any more ideas from us, for +you will certainly be disappointed.' + +'I should think not, indeed!' cried Bell, energetically. 'Here we +have the wall decorations for the first scene, and all the costumes +besides; and the trouble is, that three or four of them will have to +be made to-morrow, after Laura comes with the trappings of war. I +hope she will get here for dinner to-night; then we can decide on our +finery, and have a rough rehearsal.' + +'Well, girls!' shouted Jack, from the theatre, 'come and have one +consultation, and then we'll let you off. Phil wants to change the +location altogether.' + +'Oh, nonsense!' cried Madge, as the three girls ran towards the scene +of action. 'It's the only suitable place within a mile of the camp.' + +'I think it will be simply perfect, when you have done a little more +cutting,' said Bell. 'Just see our advantages: First, we have that +rising knoll opposite the stage, which is exactly the thing for +audience seats; then we have a semicircular background of trees and a +flat place for the stage, which is perfectly invaluable; last of all, +just gaze upon that madrono-tree in the centre, and the oak on the +left; why, they are worth a thousand dollars for scenery.' + +'Especially in the first scene--ducal interior, or whatever it is,' +said Phil, disconsolately. + +'Jingo! that is a little embarrassing,' groaned Jack. + +'Not at all,' said Polly, briskly. 'There is plenty of room to set +the interior in front of those trees. It can be all fixed +beforehand, and just whisked away for good at the end of the first +act.' + +'That's true,' said Geoff, thoughtfully. 'But we can't have any +Adam's cottage. We talked it over last night, and decided it +"couldn't be did."' + +'Did you indeed!' exclaimed Bell, sarcastically. 'Then allow me to +remark that you three boys represent a very obtuse triangle.' + +'Thanks, most acid Rosalind!' murmured Geoff, meekly. 'Could you +deign, as spokesman of the very acute triangle, to suggest +something?' + +'Certainly. There is the rear of the brush kitchen in plain sight, +to convey the idea of a rustic hut. To be sure, it's a good distance +to the left, but let the audience screw round in their seats when +they hear the voices, and Adam, Oliver, and Orlando can walk out +carelessly, and go through their scene right there.' + +'Admirable!' quoth Geoff. 'We bow to your superior judgment.' + +'What an inspiration that was to bring those Chinese lanterns for the +Fourth of July; they have just saved us from utter ruin,' said +Margery, who was quietly making leaf-trimming. + +'Yes, the effect is going to be perfectly gorgeous!' exclaimed Polly, +clasping her hands in anticipation. 'How many have we? Ten? Oh, +that's splendid; and how many candles?' + +'As many as we care to use,' Phil answered, from the top of the +ladder where he was at work. 'And look at my arrangement for holding +them to these trees. Aren't they immense?' + +'By the way,' said Bell, 'don't forget the mossy banks under those +trees, for stage seats; and make me some kind of a thing on the left +side, to swoon on when I sniff Orlando's gory handkerchief.' + +'A couple of rocks,' suggested Jack. + +'Not exactly,' replied the critical Rosalind, with great dignity. 'I +am black and blue already from practising my faint, and I expect to +shriek with pain when I fall to-morrow night.' + +'St. Jacob's Oil relieves stiffened joints, smooths the wrinkles from +the brow of care, soothes lacerated feelings, and 'ushes the 'owl of +hinfancy,' remarked Geoffrey serenely, as he prepared to build the +required mossy banks. + +'My dear cousin (there are times when I am glad it is only second +cousin), have you a secret contract to advertise a vulgar patent +medicine? or why this eloquence?' laughed Bell. + +'And, Jack,' suggested Polly, 'you don't seem to be doing anything; +fix a stump for me to sit on while Orlando and Rosalind are making +love.' + +'All right, countess. I'd like to see you stumped once in my life. +Shall we have the canvases brought for stage carpets?' + +'We say no,' cried Rosalind, firmly. 'We shall be a thousand times +more awkward stumbling over stiff billows of carpet. Let's sweep the +ground as clean and smooth as possible, and let it go for all the +scenes.' + +'Yes, we shall then be well GROUNDED in our parts,' remarked Phil, +hiding his head behind a bunch of candles. + +'Take care, young man,' laughed Polly, 'or you may be "run to earth" +instead.' + +'Or be requested by the audience to get up and dust,' cried the +irrepressible Jack, whose wit was very apt to be of a slangy +character. 'Now let us settle the interior, or I shall go mad.' + +'Bell and I have it all settled,' said Geoffrey, promptly. 'The +background is to be made of three sheets hung over a line, and the +two sides will be formed of canvas carpets; the walls will have +Japanese fans, parasols, and--' + +'Jupiter!' exclaimed Jack, who, as knight of the brush, felt +compelled to be artistic. 'Imagine a ducal palace, in the year so +many hundred and something, decorated with Japanese bric-a-brac! I +blush for you.' + +'Now, Jack, we might as well drop the whole play as begin to think of +the 'nakkeronisms,' or whatever the word is. I have got to wear an +old white wrapper to the wrestling-match, but I don't complain,' said +Polly. + +Just here Bell ran back from the kitchen, exclaiming: + +'I have secured Pancho for Charles the Wrestler. Oh, he was +fearfully obstinate! but when I told him he would only be on the +stage two minutes, and would not have to speak a word, but just let +Geoff throw him, he consented. Isn't that good? Did you decide +about the decorations?' + +'It will have to be just as we suggested,' answered Margery. 'Fans, +parasols, flowers, and leaves, with the madrono-wood furniture +scattered about, sheep-skins, etc.' + +'A few venison rugs, I presume you mean,' said Geoffrey, slyly. +'Say, Polly, omit the cold cream for once, will you? You don't want +to outshine everybody.' + +'Thank you,' she replied. 'I will endeavour to take care of my own +complexion, if you will allow me. As for yours, you look more like +Othello than Orlando.' + +'Come, come, girls,' said industrious Margery, 'let us go to the tent +and sew. It is nothing but nonsense here, and we are not +accomplishing anything.' + +So they wisely left the boys to themselves for the entire day, and +transformed their tent into a mammoth dressmaking establishment, with +clever Aunt Truth as chief designer. + + +The intervening hours had slipped quickly away, and now the fatal +moment had arrived, and everything was ready for the play. + +The would-be actresses were a trifle excited when the Professor and +his eight students were brought up and introduced by Jack and Scott +Burton; and, as if that were not enough, who should drive up at the +last moment but the family from the neighbouring milk ranch, and beg +to be allowed the pleasure of witnessing the performance. Mr. +Sandford was the gentleman who had sold Dr. Winship his land, and so +they were cordially invited to remain. + +All the cushions and shawls belonging to the camp were arranged +carefully on the knoll, for audience seats; it was a brilliant +moonlight night, and the stage assumed a very festive appearance with +its four pounds of candles and twelve Chinese lanterns. + +Meanwhile the actors were dressing in their respective tents. Bell's +first dress was a long pink muslin wrapper of Mrs. Burton's, which +had been belted in and artistically pasted over with bouquets from +the cretonne trunk covers, in imitation of flowered satin; under this +she wore a short blue lawn skirt of her own, catching up the pink +muslin on the left side with a bouquet of wild roses, and producing +what she called a 'positively Neilson effect.' + +Her bright hair was tossed up into a fluffy knot on the top of her +head; and with a flat coronet of wild roses and another great bunch +at her belt, one might have gone far and not have found a prettier +Rosalind. + +'I declare, you are just too lovely--isn't she, Laura?' asked +Margery. + +'Yes, she looks quite well,' answered Laura, abstractedly, being much +occupied in making herself absurdly beautiful as Audrey. 'Of course +the dress fits horridly, but perhaps it won't show in the dim light.' + +'Oh, is it very bad?' sighed Bell, plaintively; 'I can't see it in +this glass. Well, the next one fits better, and I have to wear that +the longest. Shall I do your hair, Laura?' + +'No--thanks; Margery has such a capital knack at hair-dressing, and +she doesn't come on yet.' + +During this conversation Polly was struggling with Aunt Truth's +trained white wrapper. It was rather difficult to make it look like +a court dress; but she looked as fresh and radiant as a rose in it, +for the candle-light obliterated every freckle, and one could see +nothing but a pair of dancing eyes, the pinkest of cheeks, and a head +running over with curls of ruddy gold. + +'Now, Bell, criticise me!' she cried, taking a position in the middle +of the tent, and turning round like a wax figure. 'I have torn out +my hair by the roots to give it a "done up" look, and have I +succeeded? and shall I wear any flowers with this lace surplice? and +what on earth shall I do with my hands? they're so black they will +cast a gloom over the stage. Perhaps I can wrap my handkerchief +carelessly round one, and I'll keep the other round your waist, +considerable, tucked under your Watteau pleat. Will I do?' + +'Do? I should think so!' and Bell eyed her with manifest approval. +'Your hair is very nice, and your neck looks lovely with that lace +handkerchief. As for flowers, why don't you wear a great mass of +yellow and white daisies? You'll be as gorgeous as--' + +'As a sunset by Turner,' said Laura, with a glance at Polly's auburn +locks. 'Seems to me this is a mutual admiration society, isn't it?' +and she sank languidly into a chair to have her hair dressed. + +'Yes, it is,' cried Polly, boldly; 'and it's going to "continner." +Meg, you're a darling in that blue print and pretty hat. I'll fill +my fern-basket with flowers, and you can take it, as to have +something in your hand to play with. You look nicer than any Phoebe +I ever saw, that's a fact. And now, hurrah! we're all ready, and +there's the boys' bell, so let us assemble out in the kitchen. Oh +dear! I believe I'm frightened, in spite of every promise to the +contrary.' + +When the young people saw each other for the first time in their +stage costumes there was a good deal of merriment and some honest +admiration. Geoff looked very odd without his eyeglasses and with +the yellow wig that was the one property belonging to this star +dramatic organisation. + +The girls had not succeeded in producing a great effect with the +masculine costumes, because of insufficient material. But the boys +had determined not to wear their ordinary clothes, no matter what +happened; so Jack had donned one of Hop Yet's blue blouses for his +Sylvius dress, and had ready a plaid shawl to throw gracefully over +one shoulder whenever he changed to the Banished Duke. + +His Sylvius attire was open to criticism, but no one could fail to +admire his appearance as the Duke, on account of a magnificent ducal +head-gear, from which soared a bunch of tall peacock feathers. + +'Oh, Jack, what a head-dress for a Duke!' laughed Margery; 'no wonder +they banished you. Did you offend the court hatter?' + +Phil said that at all events nobody could mistake him for anything +but a fool, in his 'Touchstone' costume, and so he was jest-er going +to be contented. + +Scott Burton was arranging Pancho's toilette for the wrestling-match, +and meanwhile trying to raise his drooping spirits; and Rosalind was +vainly endeavouring to make Adam's beard of grey moss stay on. + +While these antics were going on behind the scenes, the audience was +seated on the knoll, making merry over the written programmes, which +had been a surprise of Geoff's, and read as follows:- + + +THE PRINCESS' THEATRE. +July 10th, 188-. + +APPEARANCE THE GREATEST DRAMATIC COMPANY ON EARTH (FACT). +THE COOLEST THEATRE IN THE WORLD. + +A Royal Galaxy and Boyaxy of Artists in the play of +AS YOU LIKE IT, +By William Shakespeare, or Lord Bacon. + +CAST. + +'Alas! unmindful of their doom, the little victims play; +No sense have they of ills to come, or cares beyond to-day.' + +ROSALIND The Lady Bell-Pepper. + (Her greatest creation.) +CELIA The Countess Paulina. +PHOEBE The Duchess of Sweet Marjoram. +AUDREY A talented Incognita of the Court. +ORLANDO Hennery Irving Salvini Strong. + (Late from the Blank Theatre, Oil City.) +ADAM Dr. Paul Winship. + (By kind permission of his manager, + Mrs. T. W.) +BANISHED DUKE } +SYLVIUS } Lord John Howard } Lightning +TOUCHSTONE } } Change Artists. +JACQUE } Duke of Noble } + (N.B.--The Duke of Noble has played + the 'fool' five million times.) +OLIVER Mr. Scott Burton. + (Specially engaged.) +CHARLES THE WRESTLER Pancho Muldoon Sullivan. + (His first appearance.) + +The Comb Orchestra will play the Music of the Future. + +The Usher will pass pop-corn between the Acts. Beds may be ordered +at 10.30. + + +The scene between Adam and Orlando went off with good effect; and +when Celia and Rosalind came through the trees in an affectionate +attitude, and Celia's blithe voice broke the stillness with, 'I pray +thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry,' there was a hearty burst of +applause which almost frightened them into silence. + +At the end of the first act everybody was delighted; the stage- +manager, carpenter, scene-shifter, costumier, and all the stars were +called successively before the curtain. + +Hop Yet declared it was 'all the same good as China theatre'; and +every one agreed to that criticism without a dissenting voice. + +To be sure, there was an utter absence of stage-management, and all +the 'traditions' were remarkable for their absence; but I fancy that +the spirits of Siddons and Kemble, Macready and Garrick, looked down +with kind approval upon these earnest young actors as they recited +the matchless old words, moving to and fro in the quaint setting of +trees and moonlight, with an orchestra of cooing doves and murmuring +zephyrs. + +The forest scenes were intended to be the features of the evening, +and in these the young people fairly surpassed themselves. Any one +who had seen Neilson in her doublet and hose of silver-grey, Modjeska +in her shades of blue, and Ada Cavendish in her lovely suit of green, +might have thought Bell's patched-up dress a sorry mixture; yet these +three brilliant stars in the theatrical firmament might have envied +this little Rosalind the dewy youth and freshness that so triumphed +over all deficiencies of costume. + +Margery's camping-dress of grey, shortened to the knee, served for +its basis. Round the skirt and belt and sleeves were broad bands of +laurel-leaf trimming. She wore a pair of Margery's long grey +stockings and Laura's dainty bronze Newport ties. A soft grey chudda +shawl of Aunt Truth's was folded into a mantle to swing from the +shoulder, its fringes being caught up out of sight, and a laurel-leaf +trimming added. On her bright wavy hair was perched a cunning flat +cap of leaves, and, as she entered with Polly, leaning on her +manzanita staff, and sighing, 'Oh Jupiter, how weary are my spirits!' +one could not wish a lovelier stage picture. + +And so the play went on, with varying fortunes. Margery was +frightened to death, and persisted in taking Touchstone's speeches +right out of his mouth, much to his discomfiture. Adam's beard +refused to stay on; so did the moustache of the Banished Duke, and +the clothes of Sylvius. But nothing could damp the dramatic fire of +the players, nor destroy the enthusiasm of the sympathetic audience. + +Dicky sat in the dress-circle, wrapped in blankets, and laughed +himself nearly into convulsions over Touchstone's jokes, and the +stage business of the Banished Duke; for it is unnecessary to state +that Jack was not strictly Shakespearean in his treatment of the +part. + +As for Polly, she enjoyed being Celia with all her might, and +declared her intention of going immediately on the 'regular' stage; +but Jack somewhat destroyed her hopes by affirming that her nose and +hair wouldn't be just the thing on the metropolitan boards, although +they might pass muster in a backwoods theatre. + + +'Hello! What's this?' exclaimed Philip, one morning. 'A visitor? +Yes--no! Why, it's Senor Don Manuel Felipe Hilario Noriega coming up +the canyon! He's got a loaded team, too! I wonder if Uncle Doc is +expecting anything.' + +The swarthy gentleman with the long name emerged from one cloud of +dust and disappeared in another, until he neared the gate where +Philip and Polly were standing. + +Philip opened the gate, and received a bow of thanks which would have +made Manuel's reputation at a Spanish court. + +'Going up to camp?' + +'Si, senor.' + +'Those things for us?' + +'Si, senor.' + +'What are they?' + +'Si, senor.' + +'Exactly! Well, are there any letters?' + +'Si, senor.' Whereupon he drew one from his gorgeously-decorated +leather belt. + +Philip reached for it, and Polly leaned over his shoulder, devoured +with curiosity. + +'It's for Aunt Truth,' she said; 'and--yes, I am sure it is Mrs. +Howard's writing; and if it is--' + +Hereupon, as Manuel spoke no English, and neither Philip nor Polly +could make inquiries in Spanish, Polly darted to the cart in her +usual meteoric style, put one foot on the hub of a wheel and climbed +to the top like a squirrel, snatched off a corner of the canvas +cover, and cried triumphantly, 'I knew it! Elsie is coming! Here's +a tent, and some mattresses and pillows. Hurry! Help me down, +quick! Oh, slow-coach! Keep out of the way and I'll jump! Give me +the letter. I can run faster than you can.' And before the vestige +of an idea had penetrated Philip's head, nothing could be seen of +Polly but a pair of twinkling heels and the gleam of a curly head +that caught every ray of the sun and turned it into ruddier gold. + +It was a dusty, rocky path, and up-hill at that; but Polly, who was +nothing if not ardent, never slackened her pace, but dashed along +until she came in sight of the camp, where she expended her last +breath in one shrill shriek for Aunt Truth. + +It was responded to promptly. Indeed, it was the sort of shriek that +always commands instantaneous attention; and Aunt Truth came out of +her tent prepared to receive tragic news. Bell followed; and the +entire family would have done the same had they been in camp. + +Polly thrust the letter into Mrs. Winship's hand, and sank down +exhausted, exclaiming, breathlessly, 'There's a mattress--and a tent- +-coming up the canyon. It's Elsie's, I know. Philip is down at the +gate--with the cart--but I came ahead. Phew! but it's warm!' + +'What!' cried Bell, joyfully. 'Elsie at the gate! It can't be +true!' And she darted like an arrow through the trees. + +'Come back! come back!' screamed Polly. + +'Elsie is not at the gate. Don S. D. M. F. H. N. is there with a +team loaded down with things. Isn't it from Mrs. Howard, Aunt +Truth?' + +'Yes, it is. Written this morning from Tacitas Rancho. Why, how is +this? Let me see!' + + +TACITAS RANCHO, Monday morning. + +Dear Truth,--You will be surprised to receive a letter from me, +written from Tacitas. But here we are, Elsie and I; and, what is +better, we are on our way to you. + +('I knew it!' exclaimed the girls.) + +Elsie has been growing steadily better for three weeks. The fever +seems to have disappeared entirely, and the troublesome cough is so +much lessened that she sleeps all night without waking. The doctor +says that the camp-life will be the very best thing for her now, and +will probably complete her recovery. + +('Oh, joy, joy!' cried the girls.) + +I need not say how gladly we followed this special prescription of +our kind doctor's, nor add that we started at once. + +('Oh, Aunt Truth, there is nobody within a mile of the camp; can't I, +PLEASE can't I turn one little hand-spring, just one little lady-like +one?' pleaded Polly, dancing on one foot and chewing her sun-bonnet +string. + +'No, dear, you can't! Keep quiet and let me read.') + +Elsie would not let me tell you our plans any sooner, lest the old +story of a sudden ill turn would keep us at home; and I think very +likely that she longed to give the dear boys and girls a surprise. + +We arrived at the Burtons' yesterday. Elsie bore the journey +exceedingly well, but I would not take any risks, and so we shall not +drive over until day after to-morrow morning. + +('You needn't have hurried quite so fast, Polly dear.') + +I venture to send the tent and its belongings ahead to-day, so that +Jack may get everything to rights before we arrive. + +The mattress is just the size the girls ordered; and of course I've +told Elsie nothing about the proposed furnishing of her tent. + +I am bringing my little China boy with me, for I happen to think +that, with the Burtons, we shall be fourteen at table. Gin is not +quite a success as a cook, but he can at least wash dishes, wait at +table, and help Hop Yet in various ways; while I shall be only too +glad to share all your housekeeping cares, if you have not escaped +them even in the wilderness. + +I shall be so glad to see you again; and oh, Truth, I am so happy, so +happy, that, please God, I can keep my child after all! The weary +burden of dread is lifted off my heart, and I feel young again. Just +think of it! My Elsie will be well and strong once more! It seems +too good to be true. + +Always your attached friend, +JANET HOWARD. + + +Mrs. Winship's voice quivered as she read the last few words, and +Polly and Bell threw themselves into each other's arms and cried for +sheer gladness. + +'Come, come, dears! I suppose you will make grand preparations, and +there is no time to lose. One of you must find somebody to help +Philip unload the team. Papa and the boys have gone fishing, and +Laura and Margery went with them, I think.' And Mrs. Winship bustled +about, literally on hospitable thoughts in-tent. + +Polly tied on her sun-bonnet with determination, turned up her +sleeves as if washing were the thing to be done, and placed her arms +akimbo. + +'First and foremost,' said she, her eyes sparkling with excitement, +'first and foremost, I am going to blow the horn.' + +'Certainly not,' said Aunt Truth. 'Are you crazy, Polly? It is +scarcely ten o'clock, and everybody would think it was dinnertime, +and come home at once.' + +'No, they'd think something had happened to Dicky,' said Bell, 'and +that would bring them in still sooner.' + +'Of course! I forgot. But can't I blow it earlier than usual? +Can't I blow it at half-past eleven instead of twelve? We can't do a +thing without the boys, and they may not come home until midnight +unless we do something desperate. Oh, delight! There's Don S. D. M. +F. H. N., and Phil has found Pancho to help unload.' + +'Isn't it lucky that we decided on the place for Elsie's tent, and +saved it in case she should ever come?' said Bell. 'Now Philip and +Pancho can set it up whenever they choose. And isn't it fortunate +that we three stayed at home to-day, and refused to fish? now we can +plan everything, and then all work together when they come back.' + +Meanwhile Polly was tugging at an immense bundle, literally tooth and +nail, as she alternated trembling clutches of the fingers with +frantic bites at the offending knot. + +Like many of her performances, the physical strength expended was out +of all proportion to the result produced, and one stroke of Philip's +knife accomplished more than all her ill-directed effort. At length +the bundle of awning cloth stood revealed. 'Oh, isn't it beautiful?' +she cried, 'it will be the very prettiest tent in camp; can't I blow +the horn?' + +'Look, mamma,' exclaimed Bell, 'it is green and grey, in those pretty +broken stripes, and the edge is cut in lovely scollops and bound with +green braid. Won't it look pretty among the trees?' + +Aunt Truth came out to join the admiring group. + +'O-o-o-h!' screamed Polly. 'There comes a piece of the floor. +They've sent it all made, in three pieces. What fun! We'll have it +all up and ready to sleep in before we blow the horn!' + +'And here's a roll of straw matting,' said Phil, depositing a huge +bundle on the ground near the girls. 'I'll cut the rope to save your +teeth!' + +'Green and white plaid!' exclaimed Bell. 'Well! Mrs. Howard did +have her wits about her!' + +'Oh, do let me blow the horn!' teased the irrepressible Polly. + +'Here are a looking-glass and a towel-rack and a Shaker rocking- +chair,' called Philip; 'guess they're going to stay the rest of the +summer.' + +'Yes, of course they wouldn't want a looking-glass if they were only +going to stay a month or two,' laughed Bell. + +'Dear Aunt Truth, if you won't let me turn a single decorous little +hand-spring, or blow the horn, or do anything nice, will you let us +use all that new white mosquito-netting? Bell says that it has been +in the storehouse for two years, and it would be just the thing for +decorating Elsie's tent.' + +'Why, of course you may have it, Polly, and anything else that you +can find. There! I hear Dicky's voice in the distance; perhaps the +girls are coming.' + +Bell and Polly darted through the swarm of tents, and looked up the +narrow path that led to the brook. + +Sure enough, Margery and Laura were strolling towards home with +little Anne and Dick dangling behind, after the manner of children. +Margery carried a small string of trout, and Dick the inevitable tin +pail in which he always kept an unfortunate frog or two. The girls +had discovered that he was in the habit of crowding the cover tightly +over the pail and keeping his victims shut up for twenty-four hours, +after which, he said, they were nice and tame--so very tame, as it +transpired, that they generally gave up the ghost in a few hours +after their release. Margery had with difficulty persuaded him of +his cruelty, and the cover had been pierced with a certain number of +air-holes. + +'Guess the loveliest thing that could possibly happen!' called Bell +at the top of her voice. + +'Elsie has come,' answered Margery in a second, nobody knew why; 'let +me hug her this minute!' + +'With those fish?' laughed Polly. 'No! you'll have to wait until day +after to-morrow, and then your guess will be right. Isn't it almost +too good to be true?' + +'And she is almost well,' added Bell, joyfully, slipping her arm +through Margery's and squeezing it in sheer delight. 'Mrs. Howard +says she is really and truly better. Oh, if Elsie Howard in bed is +the loveliest, dearest thing in the world, what will it be like to +have her out of it and with us in all our good times!' + +'Has she always been ill since you knew her?' asked Laura. + +'Yes; a terrible cold left her with weakness of the lungs, and the +doctors feared consumption, but thought that she might possibly +outgrow it entirely if she lived in a milder climate; so Mrs. Howard +left home and everybody she cared for, and brought Elsie to Santa +Barbara. Papa has taken an interest in her from the first, and as +far as we girls are concerned, it was love at first sight. You never +knew anybody like Elsie!' + +'Is she pretty?' + +'Pretty!' cried Polly, 'she is like an angel in a picture-book!' + +'Interesting?' + +'Interesting!' said Bell, in a tone that showed the word to be too +feeble for the subject; 'Elsie is more interesting than all the other +girls in the other world put together!' + +'Popular?' + +'Popular!' exclaimed Margery, taking her turn in the oral +examination, 'I don't know whether anybody can be popular who is +always in bed; but if it's popular to be adored by every man, woman, +child, and animal that comes anywhere near her, why then Elsie is +popular.' + +'And is she a favourite with boys as well as girls?' + +'Favourite!' said Bell. 'Why, they think that she is simply perfect! +Of course she has scarcely been able to sit up a week at a time for a +year, and naturally she has not seen many people; but, if you want a +boy's opinion, just ask Philip or Geoffrey. I assure you, Laura, +after you have known Elsie a while, and have seen the impression she +makes upon everybody, you will want to go to bed and see if you can +do likewise.' + +'It isn't just the going to bed,' remarked Margery, sagely. + +'And it isn't the prettiness either,' added Polly; 'though if you saw +Elsie asleep, a flower in one hand, the other under her cheek, her +hair straying over the pillow (O for hair that would stray +anywhere!), you would expect every moment to see a halo above her +head.' + +'I don't believe it is because she is good that everybody admires her +so,' said Laura, 'I don't think goodness in itself is always so very +interesting; if Elsie had freckles and a snub nose'--('Don't mind +me!' murmured Polly)--'you would find that people would say less +about her wonderful character.' + +'There are things that puzzle me,' said Polly, thoughtfully. 'It +seems to me that if I could contrive to be ever so good, nobody ever +would look for a halo round my head. Now, is it my turned-up nose +and red hair that make me what I am, or did what I am make my nose +and hair what they are--which?' + +'We'll have to ask Aunt Truth,' said Margery; 'that is too difficult +a thing for us to answer.' + +'Wasn't it nice I catched that big bull-frog, Margie?' cried Dick, +his eyes shining with anticipation. 'Now I'll have as many as seven +or 'leven frogs and lots of horned toads when Elsie comes, and she +can help me play with 'em.' + +When the girls reached the tents again, the last article had been +taken from the team and Manuel had driven away. The sound of Phil's +hammer could be heard from the carpenter-shop, and Pancho was already +laying the tent floor in a small, open, sunny place, where the low +boughs of a single sycamore hung so as to protect one of its corners, +leaving the rest to the full warmth of the sunshine that was to make +Elsie entirely well again. + +'I am tired to death,' sighed Laura, throwing herself down in a +bamboo lounging-chair. 'Such a tramp as we had! and after all, the +boys insisted on going where Dr. Winship wouldn't allow us to follow, +so that we had to stay behind and fish with the children; I wish I +had stayed at home and read The Colonel's Daughter.' + +'Oh, Laura!' remonstrated Margery, 'think of that lovely pool with +the forests of maiden-hair growing all about it!' + +'And poison-oak,' grumbled Laura. 'I know I walked into some of it +and shall look like a perfect fright for a week. I shall never make +a country girl--it's no use for me to try.' + +'It's no use for you to try walking four miles in high-heeled shoes, +my dear,' said Polly, bluntly. + +'They are not high,' retorted Laura, 'and if they are, I don't care +to look like a--a--cow-boy, even in the backwoods.' + +'I'm an awful example,' sighed Polly, seating herself on a stump in +front of the tent, and elevating a very dusty little common-sense +boot. 'Sir Walter Raleigh would never have allowed me to walk on his +velvet cloak with that boot, would he, girls? Oh, wasn't that +romantic, though? and don't I wish that I had been Queen Elizabeth!' + +'You've got the HAIR,' said Laura. + +'Thank you! I had forgotten Elizabeth's hair was red; so it was. +This is my court train,' snatching a tablecloth that bung on a hush +near by, and pinning it to her waist in the twinkling of an eye,-- +'this my farthingale,' dangling her sun-bonnet from her belt,--'this +my sceptre,' seizing a Japanese umbrella,--'this my crown,' inverting +a bright tin plate upon her curly head. 'She is just alighting from +her chariot, THUS; the courtiers turn pale, THUS; (why don't you do +it?) what shall be done? The Royal Feet must not be wet. "Go round +the puddle? Prit, me Lud, 'Od's body! Forsooth! Certainly not! +Remove the puddle!" she says haughtily to her subjects. They are +just about to do so, when out from behind a neighbouring chaparral +bush stalks a beautiful young prince with coal-black hair and rose- +red cheeks. He wears a rich velvet cloak, glittering with +embroidery. He sees not her crown, her hair outshines it; he sees +not her sceptre, her tiny hand conceals it; he sees naught save the +loathly mud. He strips off his cloak and floats it on the puddle. +With a haughty but gracious bend of her head the Queen accepts the +courtesy; crosses the puddle, THUS, waves her sceptre, THUS, and +saying, "You shall hear from me by return mail, me Lud," she vanishes +within the castle. The next morning she makes Sir Walter British +Minister to Florida. He departs at once with a cargo of tobacco, +which he exchanges for sweet potatoes, and everybody is happy ever +after.' + +The girls were convulsed with mirth at this historical romance, and, +as Mrs. Winship wiped the tears of merriment from her eyes, Polly +seized the golden opportunity and dropped on her knees beside her. + +'Please, Aunt Truth, we can't get the white mosquito-netting because +Dr. Winship has the key of the storehouse in his pocket, and so--may- +-I--blow the horn?' + +Mrs. Winship gave her consent in despair, and Polly went to the oak- +tree where the horn hung and blew all the strength of her lungs into +blast after blast for five minutes. + +'That's all I needed,' she said, on returning; 'that was an escape- +valve, and I shall be lady-like and well-behaved the rest of the +day.' + + + +CHAPTER VI: QUEEN ELSIE VISITS THE COURT + + + +'An hour and friend with friend will meet, +Lip cling to lip and hand clasp hand.' + + +'Now, Laura,' asked Bell, when quiet was restored, 'advise us about +Elsie's tent. We want it to be perfectly lovely; and you have such +good taste!' + +'Let me think,' said Laura. 'Oh, if she were only a brunette instead +of a blonde, we could festoon the tent with that yellow tarlatan I +brought for the play!' + +'What difference does it make whether she is dark or light?' asked +Bell, obtusely. + +'Why, a room ought to be as becoming as a dress--so Mrs. Pinkerton +says. You know I saw a great deal of her at the hotel; and oh, +girls! her bedroom was the most exquisite thing you ever saw! She +had a French toilet-table, covered with pale blue silk and white +marquise lace,--perfectly lovely,--with yards and yards of robin's- +egg blue watered ribbon in bows; and on it she kept all her toilet +articles, everything in hammered silver from Tiffany's with monograms +on the back,--three or four sizes of brushes, and combs, and mirrors, +and a full manicure set. It used to take her two hours to dress; but +it was worth it. Oh, such gorgeous tea-gowns as she had! One of old +rose and lettuce was a perfect dream! She always had her breakfast +in bed, you know. I think it's delightful to have your breakfast +before you get up, and dress as slowly as you like. I wish mamma +would let me do it.' + +'What does she do after she gets dressed in her rows of old lettuce-- +I mean her old rows of lettuce?' asked Polly. + +'Do? Why really, Polly, you are too stupid! What do you suppose she +did? What everybody else does, of course.' + +'Oh!' said Polly, apologetically. + +'How old is Mrs. Pinkerton?' asked Margery. + +'Between nineteen and twenty. There is not three years' difference +in our ages, though she has been married nearly two years. It seems +so funny.' + +'Only nineteen!' cried Bell. 'Why, I always thought that she was old +as the hills--twenty-five or thirty at the very least. She always +seemed tired of things.' + +'Well,' said Laura, in a whisper intended to be too low to reach Mrs. +Winship's tent, 'I don't know whether I ought to repeat what was told +me in confidence, but the fact is--well--she doesn't like Mr. +Pinkerton very well!' + +The other girls, who had not enjoyed the advantages of city life and +travel, looked as dazed as any scandalmonger could have desired. + +'Don't like him!' gasped Polly, nearly falling off the stump. 'Why, +she's married to him!' + +'Where on earth were you brought up?' snapped Laura. 'What +difference does that make? She can't help it if she doesn't happen +to like her husband, can she? You can't make yourself like anybody, +can you?' + +'Well, did she ever like him?' asked Margery; 'for she's only been +married a year or two, and it seems to me it might have lasted that +long if there was anything to begin on.' + +'But,' whispered Laura, mysteriously, 'you see Mr. Pinkerton was very +rich and the Dentons very poor. Mr. Denton had just died, leaving +them nothing at all to live on, and poor Jessie would have had to +teach school, or some dreadful thing like that. The thought of it +almost killed her, she is so sensitive and so refined. She never +told me so in so many words, but I am sure she married Mr. Pinkerton +to save her mother from poverty; and I pity her from the bottom of my +heart.' + +'I suppose it was noble,' said Bell, in a puzzled tone, 'if she +couldn't think of any other way, but--' + +'Well, did she try very hard to think of other ways?' asked Polly. +'She never looked especially noble to me. I thought she seemed like +a die-away, frizzlygig kind of a girl.' + +'I wish, Miss Oliver, that you would be kind enough to remember that +Mrs. Pinkerton is one of my most intimate friends,' said Laura, +sharply. 'And I do wish, also, that you wouldn't talk loud enough to +be heard all through the canyon.' + +The colour came into Polly's cheeks, but before she could answer, +Mrs. Winship walked in, stocking-basket in hand, and seated herself +in the little wicker rocking-chair. Polly's clarion tones had given +her a clue to the subject, and she thought the discussion needed +guidance. + +'You were talking about Mrs. Pinkerton, girls,' she said, serenely. +'You say you are fond of her, Laura, dear, and it seems very +ungracious for me to criticise your friend; that is a thing which +most of us fail to bear patiently. But I cannot let you hold her up +as an ideal to be worshipped, or ask the girls to admire as a piece +of self-denial what I fear was nothing but indolence and self- +gratification. You are too young to talk of these things very much; +but you are not too young to make up your mind that when you agree to +live all your life long with a person, you must have some other +feeling than a determination not to teach school. Jessie Denton's +mother, my dear Laura, would never have asked the sacrifice of her +daughter's whole life; and Jessie herself would never have made it +had she been less vain, proud, and luxurious in her tastes, and a +little braver, more self-forgetting and industrious. These are hard +words, dear, and I am sorry to use them. She has gained the riches +she wanted,--the carriages and servants, and tea-gowns, and hammered +silver from Tiffany's, but she looks tired and disappointed, as Bell +says; and I've no doubt she is, poor girl.' + +'I don't think you do her justice, Mrs. Winship; I don't, indeed,' +said Laura. + +'If you are really attached to her, Laura, don't make the mistake of +admiring her faults of character, but try to find her better +qualities, and help her to develop them. It is a fatal thing when +girls of your age set up these false standards, and order their lives +by them. There are worse things than school-teaching, yes, or even +floor-scrubbing or window-washing. Lovely tea-gowns and silver- +backed brushes are all very pretty and nice to have, if they are not +gained at the sacrifice of something better. I should have said to +my daughter, had I been Mrs. Denton, "We will work for each other, my +darling, and try to do whatever God gives us to do; but, no matter +how hard life is, your heart is the most precious thing in the world, +and you must never sell that, if we part with everything else." Oh, +my girls, my girls, if I could only make you believe that "poor and +content is rich, and rich enough." I cannot bear to think of your +growing year by year into the conviction that these pretty glittering +things of wealth are the true gold of life which everybody seeks. +Forgive me, Laura, if I have hurt your feelings.' + +'I know you would never hurt anybody's feelings, if you could help +it, Mrs. Winship,' Laura answered, with a hint of coldness in her +voice, 'though I can't help thinking that you are a little hard on +poor Jessie; but, even then, one can surely like a person without +wishing to do the very same things she does.' + +'Yes, that is true,' said Mrs. Winship, gravely. 'But one cannot +constantly justify a wrong action in another without having one's own +standard unconsciously lowered. What we continually excuse in other +people we should be inclined by and by to excuse in ourselves. Let +us choose our friends as wisely as possible, and love them dearly, +helping them to grow worthier of our love at the same time we are +trying to grow worthier of theirs; because "we live by admiration, +hope, and love," you know, but not by admiring and loving the wrong +things. + +'But there is the horn, and I hear the boys. Let us come to +luncheon, and tell our good news of Elsie.' + + +[Music follows] +With incredible energy. +The horn! The horn! The lus-ty, lus-ty horn! 'Tis +not a thing to laugh to scorn, A thing to laugh to scorn! + + +Long before the boys appeared in sight, their voices rang through the +canyon in a chorus that woke the echoes, and presently they came into +view, bearing two quarters and a saddle of freshly killed mutton, +hanging from a leafy branch swung between Jack's sturdy shoulder and +Geoff's. + +'A splendid "still hunt" this morning, Aunt Truth!' exclaimed Jack. +'Game plenty and not too shy, dogs in prime condition, hunters ditto. +Behold the result!' + +The girls could scarcely tell whether or no Laura was offended at +Aunt Truth's unexpected little lecture. She did not appear quite as +unrestrained as usual, but as everybody was engaged in the +preparations for Elsie's welcome there was a general atmosphere of +hilarity and confusion, so that no awkwardness was possible. + +The tool-shop resounded with blows of hammer and steel. Dicky was +under everybody's feet, and his 'seven or ten frogs,' together with +his unrivalled collection of horned toads, were continually escaping +from their tin pails and boxes in the various tents, and everybody +was obliged to join in the search to recover and re-incarcerate them, +in order to keep the peace. + +Hop Yet was making a gold and silver cake, with 'Elsie' in pink +letters on chocolate frosting. Philip had pitched the new tent so +that in one corner there was a slender manzanita-tree which had been +cropped for some purpose or other. He had nailed a cross-piece on +this, so that it resembled the letter T, and was now laboriously +boring holes and fitting in pegs, that Elsie might have a sort of +closet behind her bed. + +As for the rustic furniture, the girls and boys declared it to be too +beautiful for words. They stood in circles about it and admired it +without reserve, each claiming that his own special piece of work was +the gem of the collection. The sunlight shining through the grey and +green tints of the tent was voted perfection, Philip's closet a +miracle of ingenuity, the green and white straw matting an +inspiration. + +The looking-glass had been mounted on a packing-box, and converted by +Laura into a dressing-table that rivalled Mrs. Pinkerton's; for green +tarlatan and white mosquito-netting had been so skilfully combined +that the traditional mermaid might have been glad to make her toilet +there 'with a comb and a glass in her hand.' The rest of the green +and white gauzy stuff had been looped from the corners of the tent to +the centre of the roof-piece, and delicate tendrils of wild clematis +climbed here and there as if it were growing, its roots plunged in +cunningly hidden bottles of water. Bell had gone about with pieces +of awning cloth and green braid, and stitched an elaborate system of +pockets on the inside of the tent wherever they would not be too +prominent. There were tiny pockets for needle-work, thimbles, and +scissors, medium-sized pockets for soap and combs and brushes, bigger +pockets for shoes and slippers and stockings, and mammoth pockets for +anything else that Elsie might ordain to put in a pocket. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon Margery had used her clever fingers +to such purpose that a white silesia flag, worked with the camp name, +floated from the tip top of the front entrance to the tent. The +ceremony of raising the flag was attended with much enthusiasm, and +its accomplishment greeted by a deafening cheer from the entire +party. + +'Unless one wants Paradise,' sighed Margery, 'who wouldn't be +contented with dear Camp Chaparral?' + +'Who would live in a house, any way?' exclaimed Philip. 'Sniff this +air, and look up at that sky!' + +'And this is what they call "roughing it," in Santa Barbara,' quoth +Dr. Winship. 'Why, you youngsters have made that tent fit for the +occupancy of a society belle.' + +'Now, let's organise for reception!' cried Geoffrey. 'Assemble, good +people! Come over here, Aunt Truth! I will take the chair myself, +since I don't happen to see anybody who would fill it with more +dignity.' + +'I am going to mount my broncho and go out on the road to meet my +beloved family,' said Jack, sauntering up to the impromptu council- +chamber. + +'How can you tell when they will arrive?' asked Mrs. Winship. + +'I can make a pretty good guess. They'll probably start from Tacitas +as early as eight or nine o'clock, if Elsie is well. Let's see: +it's about twenty-five miles, isn't it, Uncle Doc? Say twenty-three +to the place where they turn off the main road. Well, I'll take a +bit of lunch, ride out ten or twelve miles, hitch my horse in the +shade, and wait.' + +'Very well,' said Geoffrey. 'It is not usual for committees to +appoint themselves, but as you are a near relative of our +distinguished guests we will grant you special consideration and +order you to the front. Ladies and gentlemen, passing over the +slight informality of the nomination, all in favour of appointing Mr. +John Howard Envoy Extraordinary please manifest it by the usual +sign.' + +Six persons yelled 'Ay,' four raised the right hand, and one stood +up. + +'There seems to be a slight difference of opinion as to the usual +sign. All right.--Contrary minded!' + +'No!' shouted Polly, at the top of her lungs. + +'It is a unanimous vote,' said Geoffrey, crushingly, bringing down +his fist as an imaginary gavel with incredible force and dignity. +'Dr. and Mrs. Winship, will you oblige the Chair by acting as a +special Reception Committee?' + +'Certainly,' responded the doctor, smilingly. 'Will the Chair kindly +outline the general policy of the committee?' + +'Hm-m-m! Yes, certainly--of course. The Chair suggests that the +Reception Committee--well, that they stay at home and--receive the +guests,--yes, that will do very nicely. All-in-favour-and-so-forth- +it-is-a-vote-and-so-ordered. Secretary will please spread a copy on +the minutes.' Gavel. + +'I rise to a point of order,' said Jack, sagely. 'There is no +secretary and there are no minutes.' + +'Mere form,' said the Chair; 'sit down; there will be minutes in a +minute,--got to do some more things first; that will do, SIT DOWN. +Will the Misses Burton and Messrs. Burton and Noble kindly act as +Committee on Decoration?' + +'Where's the Committee on Music, and Refreshments, and Olympian +Games, and all that sort of thing?' interrupted Polly, who had not +the slightest conception of parliamentary etiquette; 'and why don't +you hurry up and put me on something?' + +'If Miss Oliver refuses to bridle her tongue, and persists in +interrupting the business of the meeting, the Chair will be obliged +to remove her,' said Geoffrey, with chilling emphasis. + +Polly rose again, undaunted. 'I would respectfully ask the Chair, +who put him in the chair, any way?' + +'Question!' roared Philip. + +'Second the motion!' shrieked Bell, that being the only parliamentary +expression she knew. + +'Order!' cried Geoffrey in stentorian accents. 'I will adjourn the +meeting and clear the court-room unless there is order.' + +'Do!' remarked Polly, encouragingly. 'I will rise again, like +Phoebus, from my ashes, to say that--' + +Here Jack sprang to his feet. 'I would suggest to the Chair that the +last speaker amend her motion by substituting the word "Phoenix" for +"Phoebus."' + +'Accept the amendment,' said Polly, serenely, amidst the general +hilarity. + +'Question!' called Bell, with another mighty projection of memory +into a missionary meeting that she had once attended. + +'I am not aware that there is any motion before the house,' said +Geoffrey, cuttingly. + +'Second the motion!' + +'Second the amendment!' shouted the girls. + +'Ladies, there IS no motion. Will you oblige the Chair by remaining +quiet until speech is requested?' + +'Move that the meeting be adjourned and another one called, with a +new Chair!' remarked Margery, who felt that the honour of her sex was +at stake. + +'Move that this motion be so ordered and spread upon the minutes, and +a copy of it be presented to the Chairman,' suggested Philip. + +'Move that the copy be appropriately bound in CALF,' said Jack, +dodging an imaginary blow. + +'Move that the other committees be elected by ballot,' concluded +Scott Burton. + +'This is simply disgraceful!' exclaimed the Chair. 'Order! order! I +appoint Miss Oliver Committee on Entertainment, with a view of +keeping her still.' + +This was received with particular as well as general satisfaction. + +'Miss Winship, we appoint you Committee on Music.' + +'All right. Do you wish it to be original?' + +'Certainly not; we wish it to be good.' + +'But we only know one chorus, and that's "My Witching Dinah Snow."' + +'Never mind; either write new words to that tune or sing tra-la-la to +it. Mr. Richard Winship, the Chair appoints you Committee on +Menagerie, and suggests that as we have proclaimed a legal holiday, +you give your animals the freedom of the city.' + +'Don't know what freedom of er city means,' said Dicky, who feared +that he was being made the butt of ridicule. + +'Why, we want you to allow the captives to parade in the evening, +with torch-lights and mottoes.' + +'All right!' cried Dicky, kindling in an instant; ''n' Luby, 'n' the +doat, 'n' my horn' toads, all e'cept the one that just gotted away in +Laura's bed; but may be she'll find him to-night, so they'll be all +there.' + +This was too much for the various committees, and Laura's wild shriek +was the signal for a hasty adjournment. A common danger restored +peace to the assembly, and they sought the runaway in perfect +harmony. + +'Well,' said Jack, when quiet was restored, 'I am going a little +distance up the Pico Negro trail; there are some magnificent Spanish +bayonets growing there, and if you'll let me have Pancho, Uncle Doc, +we can bring down four of them and lash them to each of the corners +of Elsie's tent,--they'll keep fresh several days in water, you +know.' + +'Take him, certainly,' said Dr. Winship. + +'Do let me go with you!' pleaded Laura, with enthusiasm. 'I should +like the walk so much.' + +'It's pretty rough, Laura,' objected Margery. 'If you couldn't +endure our walk this morning, you would never get home alive from +Pico Negro.' + +'Oh, that was in the heat of the day,' she answered. 'I feel equal +to any amount of walking now, if Jack doesn't mind taking me.' + +'Delighted, of course, Miss Laura. You'll be willing to carry home +one of the trees, I suppose, in return for the pleasure of my +society?' + +'Snub him severely, Laura,' cried Bell; 'we never allow him to say +such things unreproved.' + +'I think he is snubbed too much already,' replied Laura, with a +charming smile, 'and I shall see how a course of encouragement will +affect his behaviour.' + + +'That will be what I long have sought, +And mourned because I found it not,' + + +sang Jack, nonchalantly. + +'Oh, Laura,' remonstrated Bell, 'think twice before you encourage him +in his dreadful ways. We have studied him very carefully, and we +know that the only way to live with him is to keep him in a sort of +"pint pot" where we can hold the lid open just a little, and clap it +down suddenly whenever he tries to spring out.' + +'Do not mind that young person, Miss Laura, but form your own +impressions of my charming character. Excuse me, please, while I put +on a celluloid collar, and make some few changes in my toilet +necessary to a proper appearance in your distinguished company.' + +'I prefer you as you are,' answered Laura, laughingly. 'Let us start +at once.' + +'Do you hear that, young person? She prefers me as I are! Now see +what magic power her generosity has upon me!' And he darted into the +tent, from which he issued in a moment with his Derby hat, a +manzanita cane, a pocket-handkerchief tied about his throat, and a +flower pinned on his flannel camping-shirt--a most ridiculous figure, +since nothing seems so out of place in the woods as any suggestion of +city costumes or customs. Laura was in high good-humour, and looked +exceedingly brilliant and pretty, as she always did when she was the +central figure of any group or the bright particular star of any +occasion. + +'Be home before dark,' said Dr. Winship. 'Pancho, keep a look-out +for the pack-mule. Truth, one of the pack-mules has disappeared.' + +'So? Dumpling or Ditto?' + +'Ditto, curiously enough. His name should have led him not to set an +example, but to follow one.' + + +Elsie came. + +Perhaps you thought that this was going to be an exciting story, and +that something would happen to keep her at the Tacitas ranch; but +nothing did. Everything came to pass exactly as it was arranged, and +Jack met his mother and sister at twelve o'clock some four miles from +the camp, and escorted them to the gates. + +'Welcome' had been painted on twenty different boards or bits of +white cloth and paper, and nailed here and there on the trees that +lined the rough wood-road; the strains of an orchestra, formed of a +guitar, banjo, castanets, Chinese fiddle, and tin cans, greeted them +from a distance, but were properly allowed to die away in silence +when the guest neared the tents. Everything wore a new and smiling +face, and Elsie never came more dangerously near being squeezed to +death. + +Elsie, in the prettiest of gingham dresses, and her cloud of golden +hair braided in two funny little pugs to keep it out of the dust; +Elsie, with a wide hat that shaded her face, already a little tanned +and burned, no longer colourless; Elsie, with no lines of pain in her +pretty forehead, and the hollow ring gone from her voice; Elsie, who +jumped over the wheel of the wagon, and hugged her huggers with the +strength of a young bear! It was too good to believe, and nobody did +quite believe it for days. + +At three o'clock the happiest party in the world assembled at the +rough dining-table under the sycamore-trees. + +Elsie beamed upon the feast from the high-backed manzanita chair, a +faint colour in her cheeks, and starry prisms of light in a pair of +eyes that had not sparkled for many a weary month. Hop Yet smiled a +trifle himself, wore his cap with a red button on the top to wait +upon the table, and ministered to the hungry people with more +interest and alacrity than he had shown since he had been dragged +from Santa Barbara, his Joss, and his nightly game of fantan. And +such a dinner as he had prepared in honour of the occasion!--longer +by four courses than usual, and each person was allowed two plates in +the course of the meal. + + +BILL OF FARE FOR HER MAJESTY'S DINNER + +Quail Soup. Crackers. + Chili Colorado. +(Mutton stew, in Spanish style, + with Chili peppers, tomatoes, + and onions.) +Cold Boiled Ham. Fried Potatoes. + Apples and Onions stewed together. +Ginger-snaps. Pickles. + Peaches, Apricots, and Nectarines. +California Nuts and Raisins. + Coffee. + + +And last of all, a surprise of Bell's, flapjacks, long teased for by +the boys, and prepared and fried by her own hands while the merry +party waited at table, to get them smoking hot. + +She came in flushed with heat and pride, the prettiest cook anybody +ever saw, with her hair bobbed up out of the way and doing its best +to escape, a high-necked white apron, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, +and an insinuating spot of batter in the dimple of her left cheek. + +'There!' she cried, joyfully, as she deposited a heaping plate in +front of her mother, and set the tin can of maple syrup by its side. +'Begin on those, and I'll fry like lightning on two griddles to keep +up with you,' and she rushed to the brush kitchen to turn her next +instalments that had been left to brown. Hop Yet had retired to a +distant spot by the brook, and was washing dish-towels. All Chinese +cooks are alike in their horror of a woman in the kitchen; but some +of them will unbend so far as to allow her to amuse herself so long +as they are not required to witness the disagreeable spectacle. + +Bell delicately inserted the cake-turner under the curled edges of +the flapjacks and turned them over deftly, using a little too much +force, perhaps, in the downward stroke when she flung them back on +the griddle. + +'Seems to me they come down with considerable of a thud,' she said, +reflectively. 'I hope they're not tough, for I should never hear the +last of it. Guess I'll punch one with the handle of this tin shovel, +and see how it acts. Goodness! it's sort of--elastic. That's funny. +Well, perhaps it's the way they ought to look.' Here she transferred +the smoking mysteries to her plate, passed a bit of pork over the +griddles, and, after ladling out eight more, flew off to the group at +the table. + +'Are they good?' she was beginning to ask, when the words were frozen +on her lips by the sight of a significant tableau. + +The four boys were standing on the bench that served instead of +dining-chairs, each with a plate and a pancake on the table in front +of them. Jack held a hammer and spike, Scott Burton a hatchet, +Geoffrey a saw, and Philip a rifle. Bell was nothing if not +intuitive. No elaborate explanations ever were needed to show her a +fact. Without a word she flung the plate of flapjacks she held as +far into a thicket as she had force to fling it, and then dropped on +her knees. + + +"'Shoot, if you must, this old grey head, +But spare my flapjacks, sirs," she said! + + +'What's the matter with them? Tough? I refuse to believe it. Your +tools are too dull,--that's all. Use more energy! Nothing in this +world can be accomplished without effort.' + +'They're a lovely brown,' began Mrs. Winship, sympathetically. + +'And they have a very good flavour,' added Elsie. + +'Don't touch them, dearest!' cried Bell, snatching the plate from +under Elsie's very nose. 'I won't have you made ill by my failures. +But as for the boys, I don't care a fig for them. Let them make +flapjacks more to their taste, the odious things! Polly Oliver, did +you put in that baking powder, as I told you, while I went for the +pork?' + +Polly blanched. 'Baking powder?' she faltered. + +'Yes, baking powder! B-A-K-I-N-G P-O-W-D-E-R! Do I make myself +plain?' + +'Oh, baking powder, to be sure. Well, now that you mention the +matter, I do remember that Dicky called me away just as I was getting +it; and now that I think of it, Elsie came just afterwards, and--and- +-' + +'And that's the whole of my story, O,' sang Jack. 'I recommend the +criminal to the mercy of the court.' + +'A case of too many cooks,' laughed Dr. Winship. 'Cheer up, girls; +better fortune next time.' + +'There are eight more of them burning on the griddles this moment, +Polly,' said Bell, scathingly; 'and as they are yours, not mine, I +advise you to throw them in the brook, with the rest of the batter, +so that Hop Yet won't know that there has been a failure.' + +'Some people blight everything they touch,' sighed Polly, gloomily, +as she departed for the kitchen. + + +'But when I lie in the green kirkyard - + + +'Oh, Polly, dear,' interrupted Margery, 'that apology will not serve +any longer; you've used it too often.' + +'This is going to be entirely different,' continued Polly, +tragically. + + +'But when I lie in the green kirkyard, + With the mould upon my breasts +Say not that she made flapjacks well, + Only, she did her best.' + + +'We promise!' cried Bell. + + + +CHAPTER VII: POLLY'S BIRTHDAY: FIRST HALF +IN WHICH SHE REJOICES AT THE MERE FACT OF HER EXISTENCE. + + + +'"O frabjous day! Calooh! Callay!" +He chortled in his joy.' + + +Polly's birthday dawned auspiciously. At six o'clock she was kissed +out of a sound sleep by Bell and Margery, and the three girls slipped +on their wrappers, and prepared to run through the trees for a +morning plunge in Mirror Pool. Although it was August there was +still water enough in Minnehaha Brook to give one a refreshing dip. +Mirror Pool was a quarter of a mile distant and well guarded with +rocks and deep hidden in trees; but a little pathway had been made to +the water's edge, and thus the girls had easy access to what they +called The Mermaid's Bath. A bay-tree was adorned with a little +redwood sign, which bore a picture of a mermaid, drawn by Margery, +and below the name these lines in rustic letters:- + + + 'A hidden brook, +That to the sleeping woods all night +Singeth a quiet tune.' + + +Laura had not lived long enough in the woods to enjoy these cold +plunges; and, as her ideal was a marble tub, with scented water, and +a French maid to apply the same with a velvet sponge, it is not much +wonder. She insisted that, though it was doubtless a very romantic +proceeding, the bottom and sides of the natural tub were quite too +rocky and rough for her taste, and that she should be in constant +terror of snakes curling round her toes. + +'I've a great mind to wake Laura, just for once,' said Bell, opening +the tent door. 'There never was such a morning! (I believe I've +said that regularly every day; but I simply never can get used to +it.) There must have been a wonderful sunrise, dears, for the glow +hasn't faded yet. Not a bit of morning fog--that's good for Elsie. +And what a lovely day for a birthday! Did they use to give you +anything like this in Vermont, Polly?' + +'Hardly,' said Polly, peering over Bell's shoulder. 'Let's see. +What did they give us in Vermont this month? Why, I can't think of +anything but dog-days, hot nights, and hay fever; but that sounds +ungrateful. Why, Geoff's up already! There's Elsie's bunch of +vines, and twigs, and pretty things hanging on her tent-door. He's +been off on horseback. Just my luck to have him get up first. Jack +always does, you know; and last night I sewed up the tent-opening +with carpet-thread, good and tight, overhand--stitches I wouldn't be +ashamed of at a sewing-school.' + +'Oh you naughty girl!' laughed Bell. 'The boys could rip it open +with a knife in half the time it took you to sew it.' + +'Certainly. I didn't mean to keep them sewed up all day; but I +thought I'd like Jack to remember me the first thing this morning.' + +'Girls,' whispered Margery, excitedly, 'don't stand there mooning--or +sunning--for ever! I thought there was a gopher in this tent last +night. I heard something scratching, and I thought it was the dog +outside; but just look at these two holes almost under Laura's +pillow!' + +'Let's fill them up, cover them over--anything!' gasped Bell. 'Laura +will never sleep here another night if she sees them.' + +'Nobody insured Laura against gophers,' said Polly. 'She must take +the fortunes of war.' + +'I wouldn't wake her,' said Margery. 'She didn't sleep well, and her +face is flushed. Come, or we shall be late for breakfast.' + +When they returned, fresh and rosy, from their bath, there was a stir +of life in all the tents. Pancho had come from the stage-station +with mail; an odour of breakfast issued from the kitchen, where Hop +Yet was humming a fragment of Chinese song, that ran something like +this,--not loud, but unearthly enough, as Bell used to say, to spoil +almost any cooking:- + +[Music follows] +Fong fong mongmong tiu he sun yi-u +sow chong how ki-u me yun tan-tar che ku choi song! + + +Dicky was abroad, radiant in a new suit of clothes, and Elsie pushed +her golden head out between the curtains, and proclaimed herself +strong enough for a wrestling-match with any boy or man about the +camp. + +But they found Laura sitting on the edge of her straw bed, directly +over the concealed gopher-holes, a mirror in her hand and an +expression of abject misery on her countenance. + +'What's the matter?' cried the girls in one breath. But they needed +no answer, as she turned her face towards the light, for it was +plainly a case of poison-oak--one eye almost closed, and the cheek +scarlet and swollen. + +'Where do you suppose you got it?' asked Bell. + +'Oh, I don't know. It's everywhere; so I don't see how I ever hoped +to escape it. Yet I've worn gloves every minute. I think I must +have touched it when I went up the mountain trail with Jack. I'm a +perfect fright already, and I suppose it has only begun.' + +'Is it very painful?' asked Polly, sympathetically. 'Oh, you do look +so funny, I can hardly help laughing, but I'm as sorry as I can be.' + +'I should expect you to laugh--you generally do,' retorted Laura. +'No, it's not painful yet; but I don't care about that--it's looking +so ridiculous. I wonder if Dr. Winship could send me home. I wish +now that I had gone with Scott, for I can't be penned up in this tent +a week.' + +'Oh, it won't hurt you to go out,' said Bell, 'and you can lie in the +sitting-room. Just wait, and let mamma try and cure you. She's a +famous doctor.' And Bell finished dressing hurriedly, and went to +her mother's tent, while Polly and Margery smoothed the bed with a +furtive kick of straw over the offending gopher-holes, and hung a +dark shawl so as to shield Laura's eyes. + +Aunt Truth entered speedily, with a family medical guide under one +arm, and a box of remedies under the other. + +'The doctor has told me just what to do, and he will see you after +breakfast himself. It doesn't look so very bad a case, dear; don't +run about in the sun for a day or two, and we'll bring you out all +right. The doctor has had us all under treatment at some time or +other, because of that troublesome little plant.' + +'I don't want to get up to breakfast,' moaned Laura. + +'Just as you like. But it is Polly's birthday, you know (many happy +returns, my sweet Pollykins), and there are great preparations going +on.' + +'I can't help it, Mrs. Winship. The boys would make fun of my looks; +and I shouldn't blame them.' + +'Appear as the Veiled Lady,' suggested Margery, as Mrs. Winship went +out. + +'I won't come, and that's the end of it,' said Laura. 'Perhaps if I +bathe my face all the morning I can come to dinner.' + +After breakfast was cleared away, Hop Yet and Mrs. Howard's little +China boy Gin were given a half-holiday, and allowed to go to a-- +neighbouring ranch to see a 'flend' of Hop Yet's; for it was a part +of the birthday scheme that Bell and Geoffrey should cook the +festival dinner. + +Jack was so delighted at the failure of Polly's scheme to sew him in +his tent, that he simply radiated amiability, and spent the whole +morning helping Elsie and Margery with a set of elaborate dinner- +cards, executed on half-sheets of note-paper. + +The dinner itself was a grand success. Half of the cards bore a +caricature of Polly in the shape of a parrot, with the inscription +'Polly want a cracker?' The rest were adorned with pretty sketches +of her in her camping-dress, a kettle in one hand, and underneath, + + +'Polly, put the kettle on, +We'll all have tea.' + + +This was the bill of fare arranged by Bell and Geoffrey, and written +on the reverse side of the dinner-cards + + +DINNER A LA MOTHER GOOSE. +CAMP CHAPARRAL. +August 15, 18-. + +'Come with a whoop, come with a call; +Come with a good will, or not at all.' + +'VICTUALS AND DRINK.' + +BEAN SOUP. +'She gave them some broth, she gave them some bread.' +SALT CODFISH. +'You shall have a fishy +In a little dishy.' +ROAST MUTTON A LA VENISON. +'Dear sensibility, O la! +I heard a little lamb cry ba-a!' +POTATOES IN JACKETS. +'The butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker, +All jumped out of a roasted potato.' +STEWED BEANS. +'You, nor I, nor nobody knows, +Where oats, peas, beans, and barley grows.' +CHICKEN AND BEEF SANDWICHES. +'Hickety, pickety, my pretty hen +Laid good eggs for gentlemen.' +Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, +Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef.' +LEMON PIE. +'A pie sat on a pear-tree.' +PLUM TARTS. +'The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, +All on a summer's day.' +FRUIT, NUTS, AND RAISINS. +'You shall have an apple, +You shall have a plum.' +'I had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear +But a silver nutmeg and a golden pear.' +BREAD AND CHEESE. +'When I was a bachelor I lived by myself, +And all the bread and cheese I got I put upon the shelf.' +COFFEE AND LEMONADE. +'One, two, three, how good you be! +I love coffee and Billy loves tea.' +'Oranges and lemons, +Says the bell of St. Clemen's.' + +'What they ate I can't tell, +But 'tis known very well +That none of the party grew fat.' + + +Bell and Geoff took turns at 'dishing up' in the kitchen, and sat +down at the table between whiles; and they barely escaped being +mobbed when they omitted one or two dishes on the programme, and +confessed that they had been put on principally for the 'style' of +the thing,--a very poor excuse to a company of people who have made +up their mouths for all the delicacies of the season. + +Jack was head waiter, and having donned a clean white blouse of Hop +Yet's and his best cap with the red button, from which dangled a +hastily improvised queue of black worsted, he proceeded to convulse +everybody with his Mongolian antics. These consisted of most +informal remarks in clever pigeon English, and snatches of Chinese +melody, rendered from time to time as he carried dishes into the +kitchen. Elsie laughed until she cried, and Laura sat in the +shadiest corner, her head artistically swathed in white tarlatan. + +Polly occupied the seat of honour at the end of the table opposite +Dr. Winship, and was happier than a queen. She wore her new green +cambric, with a bunch of leaves at her belt. She was sun-burned, but +the freckles seemed to have disappeared mysteriously from her nose, +and almost any one would have admired the rosy skin, the dancing +eyes, and the graceful little auburn head, 'sunning over with curls.' + +When the last bit of dessert had been disposed of, and Dicky had gone +to sleep in his mother's lap, like an infant boa-constrictor after a +hearty meal, the presentation of gifts and reading of poems took +place; and Polly had to be on the alert to answer all the nonsensical +jokes that were aimed at her. + +Finally, Bell crowned the occasion by producing a song of Miss +Mulock's, which had come in the morning mail from some girl friend of +Polly's in the East, who had discovered that Polly's name had +appeared in poetry and song without her knowledge, and who thought +she might be interested to hear the composition. With the aid of +Bell's guitar and Jack's banjo the girls and boys soon caught the +pretty air, and sung it in chorus. + +1. Pretty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, will you be my own? +Pret-ty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, as cold as a +stone; But my love has grown warm-er as +cold-er you've grown, O Pret-ty Pol-ly +Ol-i-ver, will you be my own? + +2. Pret-ty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, I love you so dear! +Pret-ty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, my hope and my +fear; I've wait-ed for you, sweet-heart, this +many a long year; For Pret-ty Pol-ly +Ol-i-ver, I've loved you so dear! + +3. Pret-ty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, I'll bid you good bye: +Pret-ty Pol-ly Ol-i-ver, for you I'll not +die; You'll nev-er get a tru-er true +lov-er than I, So Pret-ty Pol-ly +Ol-i-ver, good-bye, love, good-bye! + + +At the end, Dr. Winship raised his glass of lemonade, and proposed to +drink Miss Oliver's health. This was done with enthusiasm, and +Geoffrey immediately cried, 'Speech, speech!' + +'I can't,' said Polly, blushing furiously. + +'Speech!' sung Jack and Philip vociferously, pounding on the table +with knife-handles to increase the furore. + +'Speech!' demanded the genial doctor, going over to the majority, and +smiling encouragingly at Polly, who was pushed to her feet before she +knew very well what she was doing. 'Oh, if Laura were not looking at +me,' she thought, 'I'd just like to speak right out, and tell them a +little bit of what is in my heart. I don't care--I will!' + +'I know you are all in fun,' she said, looking bravely into the good +doctor's eyes, 'and of course no one could make a proper speech with +Jack grinning like a Cheshire cat, but I can't help telling you that +this is the happiest summer and the happiest birthday of my whole +life, and that I scarcely remember nowadays that I have no father and +no brothers and sisters, for I have never been alone or unhappy since +you took me in among you and Bell chose me for her friend; and I +think that if you knew how grateful I am for my beautiful summer, +dear Dr. Paul and Aunt Truth, you would be glad that you gave it to +me, and I love you all, dearly, dearly, dearly!' Whereupon the +impulsive little creature finished her maiden speech by dashing round +the table and giving Mrs. Winship one of her 'bear hugs,' at which +everybody laughed and rose from the table. + +Laura Burton, who was thoroughly out of conceit with the world, and +who was never quite happy when other people seemed for the moment to +be preferred to herself, thought this burst of affection decidedly +theatrical, but she did not know of any one to whom she could confine +her opinions just then; indeed, she felt too depressed and out of +sorts to join in the general hilarity. + +Dinner being over, Dr. Paul and the boys took the children and +sauntered up the canyon for a lazy afternoon with their books. Elsie +went to sleep in the new hammock that the doctor had hung in the +sycamores back of the girls' sleeping-tent, and Mrs. Winship lay down +for her afternoon nap. Pancho saddled the horses for Bell and +Margery, who went for a gallop. Polly climbed into the sky-parlour +to write a long letter to her mother, and Laura was left to solitude +in the sleeping-tent. Now everybody knows that a tent at midday is +not a particularly pleasant spot, and after many a groan at the glare +of the sun, which could not be tempered by any system of shawls, and +moans at the gopher-holes which she discovered while searching for +her ear-ring, and repeated consultations with the hand-glass at brief +intervals, during which she convinced herself that she looked worse +every minute,--she finally discovered a series of alarming new spots +on her neck and chin. She felt then that camping out was a complete +failure, and that she would be taken home forthwith if it could be +managed, since she saw nothing before her but day after day of close +confinement and unattractive personal appearance. 'It's just my +luck!' she grumbled, as she twisted up her hair and made herself as +presentable as possible under the trying circumstances. 'I don't +think I ever had a becoming or an interesting illness. The chicken- +pox, mumps, and sties on my eyes--that's the sort of thing I have!' + +'I feel much worse, Mrs. Winship,' she said, going into the sitting- +room tent and waking Aunt Truth from a peaceful snooze. 'If you can +spare Pancho over night, I really think I must trouble you to send +Anne and me home at once. I feel as if I wanted to go to bed in a +dark room, and I shall only be a bother if I stay.' + +'Why, my child, I'm sorry to have you go off with your visit +unfinished. You know we don't mind any amount of trouble, if we can +make you comfortable.' + +'You are very kind, but indeed I'd rather go.' + +'I hardly dare let you start in the hot sun--without consulting the +doctor, and everybody is away except Polly; they will feel badly not +to say good-bye.' + +'It is nearly three o'clock now, so the worst of the sun is over, and +we shall be at the ranch by eight this evening. I feel too ill to +say good-bye, any way, and we shall meet Bell and Margery somewhere +on the road, for they were going to the milk ranch.' + +'Very well, my dear, if you've made up your mind I must yield,' +replied Mrs. Winship, getting up and smoothing her hair. 'I don't +dare wake Elsie, she has had such an exciting day; but I'll call +Polly to help you pack, and then tell Pancho to find Anne and harness +the team. While he is doing that, I'll get you a little lunch to +take with you and write a note to your mother. Perhaps you can come +again before we break camp, but I'm sorry to send you home in such a +sad plight.' + + + +CHAPTER VIII: POLLY'S BIRTHDAY: SECOND HALF +IN WHICH SHE WISHES SEE HAD NEVER BEEN BORN. + + + +'From Hebrew wit the maxim sprung, +Though feet should slip, ne'er let the tongue. + + +Polly came at once to the tent, where she found Laura getting her +belongings together. + +'Why, Laura, it seems too bad you should go off so suddenly. What +can I do to help you?' + +The very spirit of evil entered Laura's heart as she looked at Polly, +so fresh and pretty and radiant, with her dimples dancing in and out, +her hair ruffled with the effort of literary composition, and the +glow of the day's happiness still shining in her eyes. She felt as +if Polly was 'glad inside' that she was poisoned; she felt sure she +was internally jumping for joy at her departure; and, above all, she +felt that Polly was entirely too conceited over the attention she had +received that day, and needed to be 'taken down a peg or two.' + +'Red-haired, stuck-up, saucy thing,' she thought, 'how I should like +to give her a piece of my mind before I leave this place, if I only +dared!' + +'I don't need any help, thank you,' she said aloud, in her iciest +manner. + +'But it will only make your head ache to bend over and tug away at +that valise, and I'll be only too glad to do it.' + +'I've no doubt of that,' responded Laura, meaningly. 'It is useless +for you to make any show of regret over my going, for I know +perfectly well that you are glad to get me out of the way.' + +'Why, Laura, what do you mean?' exclaimed Polly, completely dazed at +this bombshell of candour. + +'I mean what I say; and I should have said it before if I could ever +have found a chance. Because I didn't mention it at the time, you +needn't suppose I've forgotten your getting me into trouble with Mrs. +Winship, the day before the Howards came.' + +'That was not my fault,' said Polly, hotly. 'I didn't speak any +louder than the other girls, and I didn't know Aunt Truth objected to +Mrs. Pinkerton, and I didn't know she was anywhere near.' + +'You roared like the bull of Bashan--that's what you did. Perhaps +you can't help your voice, but anybody in the canyon could have heard +you; and Mrs. Winship hasn't been the same to me since, and the boys +don't take the slightest notice of me lately.' + +'You are entirely mistaken, Laura. Dr. and Mrs. Winship are just as +lovely and cordial to you as they are to everybody else, and the boys +do not feel well enough acquainted with you to "frolic" with you as +they do with us.' + +'It isn't so, but you are not sensitive enough to see it; and I +should never have been poisoned if it hadn't been for you!' + +'Oh, go on, do!' said Polly, beginning to lose her self-control, +which was never very great. 'I didn't know I was a Lucrezia Borgia +in disguise. How did I poison you, pray?' + +'I didn't say you poisoned me; but you made me so uncomfortable that +day, bringing down Mrs. Winship's lecture on my head and getting my +best friend abused, that I was glad to get away from the camp, and +went out with Jack for that reason when I was too tired and warm; and +you are always trying to cut me out with Bell and the boys.' + +'That's a perfectly--jet black--fib!' cried Polly, who was now +thoroughly angry; 'and I don't think it is very polite of you to +attack the whole party, and say they haven't been nice to you, when +they've done everything in the world!' + +'It isn't your party any more than mine, is it? And if I don't know +how to be polite, I certainly shan't ask YOU for instruction; for I +must know as much about the manners of good society as you do, +inasmuch as I have certainly seen more of it!' + +Polly sank into a camp-chair, too stunned for a moment to reply, +while Laura, who had gone quite beyond the point where she knew or +cared what she said, went on with a rush of words: 'I mean to tell +you, now that I am started, that anybody who isn't blind can see why +you toady to the Winships, who have money and social position, and +why you are so anxious to keep everybody else from getting into their +good graces; but they are so partial to you that they have given you +an entirely false idea of yourself; and you might as well know that +unless you keep yourself a little more in the background, and grow a +little less bold and affected and independent, other people will not +be quite as ready as the Winships to make a pet of a girl whose +mother keeps a boarding-house.' + +Poor Laura! It was no sooner said than she regretted it--a little, +not much. But poor Polly! Where was her good angel then? Why could +she not have treated this thrust with the silence and contempt it +deserved? But how could Laura have detected and probed the most +sensitive spot in the girl's nature? She lost all command of +herself. Her rage absolutely frightened her, for it made her deaf +and blind to all considerations of propriety and self-respect, and +for a moment she was only conscious of the wild desire to strike-- +yes, even to kill--the person who had so insulted all that was +dearest to her. + +'Don't dare to say another word!' she panted, with such flaming +cheeks and such flashing eyes that Laura involuntarily retreated +towards the door, half afraid of the tempest her words had evoked. +'Don't dare to say another word, or I don't know what I may do! Yes, +I am glad you are going, and everybody will be glad, and the sooner +you go the better! You've made everybody miserable ever since you +came, with your jealousy and your gossip and your fine-lady airs; and +if Aunt Truth hadn't loved your mother, and if we were mean enough to +tell tales, we would have repeated some of your disagreeable speeches +long ago. How can you dare to say I love the Winships for anything +but themselves? And if you had ever seen my darling mother, you +never could have called her a boarding-house keeper, you cruel--' + +Oh, but the dashing torrent of angry words stopped at the mere +mention of her mother. The word recalled her to herself, but too +late. It woke in her memory the clasp of her mother's arms, the +sound of the sweet, tired voice: 'Only two of us against the big +world, Polly--you and I. Be brave, little daughter, brave and +patient.' Oh, how impatient and cowardly she had been! Would she +never learn to be good? The better impulses rushed back into her +heart, and crowded out the bad ones so quickly that in another moment +she would have flung herself at Laura's feet, and implored her +forgiveness merely to gain again her own self-respect and her +mother's approval; but there was no time for repentance (there isn't +sometimes), for the clatter of wheels announced Pancho's approach +with the team, and Mrs. Winship and Anne Burton came into view, +walking rapidly towards the tent. + +Laura was a good deal disconcerted at their ill-timed appearance, but +reflected rapidly that if Mrs. Winship had overheard anything, it was +probably Polly's last speech, in which case that young person would +seem to be more in fault than herself, so stepping out of the tent +she met Mrs. Winship and kissed her good-bye. + +Little Anne ran on and jumped into the wagon, with all a child's joy +at the prospect of going anywhere. Polly's back was turned, but she +could not disappear entirely within the tent without causing Mrs. +Winship surprise; and she went through a lifetime of misery and self- +reproach in that minute of shame and fear, when she dared neither to +advance nor retreat. + +'I don't quite like to let you go alone, Laura, without consulting +the doctor, and I can't find him,' said Mrs. Winship. 'Why, you are +nervous and trembling! Hadn't you better wait until to-morrow?' + +'No, thank you, Mrs. Winship. I am all ready now, and would prefer +to go. I think perhaps I have stayed quite long enough, as Polly has +just told me that everybody is glad to see the last of me, and that +I've made you all miserable since I came. + +This was the climax to Polly's misery; for she was already so +overcome by the thought of her rudeness that she was on the point of +begging Laura's pardon for that particular speech then and there, and +she had only to hear her exact words repeated to feel how they would +sound in Mrs. Winship's ears. + +Mrs. Winship was so entirely taken aback by Laura's remark, that she +could only ejaculate, 'Polly--said--that! What do you mean?' + +'Oh, I am quite ready to think she said more than she intended, but +those were her words.' + +'Polly!' + +Polly turned. Alas! it was plain enough that this was no false +accusation. Her downcast eyes, flushed, tear-stained cheeks, +quivering lips, and the silent shame of her whole figure, spoke too +clearly. + +'Can it be possible, Polly, that you spoke in such a way to a guest +who was about to leave my house?' + +'Yes.' + +The word was wrung from Polly's trembling lips. What could she say +but 'Yes,'--it was true,--and how could she repeat the taunts that +had provoked her to retort? They were not a sufficient excuse; and +for that matter, nothing could be a sufficient excuse for her +language. Now that she was confronted with her own fault, Laura's +seemed so small beside it that she would have been ashamed to offer +it as any justification. + +Mrs. Winship grew pale, and for a moment was quite at a loss as to +the treatment of such a situation. + +'Don't say any more about it, Mrs. Winship,' said Laura; 'we were +both angry, or we should never have forgotten ourselves, and I shall +think no more of it.' Laura spoke with such an air of modest virtue, +and seemed so ready to forgive and forget, that Polly in her silence +and confusion appeared worse than ever. + +'But I want you to remember that you are my guest, not Pauline's; +that I asked you to come and ask you to remain. I cannot allow you +to go simply because you do not chance to be a favourite with another +of my guests.' (Oh! the pang these words gave Polly's faulty, tender +little heart!) + +'I am only going because I feel so ill,--not a bit because of what +Polly said; I was in the wrong, too, perhaps, but I promise not to +let anybody nor anything make me quarrel when I visit you again. +Good-bye!' and Laura stepped into the wagon. + +'I trust you will not mention this to your mother, since I hope it is +the only unpleasant incident of your visit; and it is no fault of +mine that you go away with an unhappy impression of our hospitality.' +Here Mrs. Winship reached up and kissed little Anne, and as the +horses were restive, and no one seemed to have anything further to +say, Pancho drove off. + +'I don't care to talk with you any more at present, Polly,' said Mrs. +Winship. 'I am too hurt and too indignant to speak of your conduct +quietly. I know the struggles you have with your temper, and I am +quite willing to sympathise with you even when you do not come off +victorious; but this is something quite different. I can't conceive +how any amount of provocation or dislike could have led you into such +disloyalty to me'; and with this she walked away. + +Polly staggered into a little play-room tent of Dicky's, where she +knew that she could be alone, pinned the curtains together so that no +one could peep in, and threw herself down upon the long cushioned +seat where Dicky was wont to take his afternoon nap. There, in grief +and despair, she sobbed the afternoon through, dreading to be +disturbed and dreading to be questioned. + +'My beautiful birthday spoiled,' she moaned, 'and all my own fault! +I was so happy this morning, but now was ever anybody so miserable as +I? And even if I tell Aunt Truth what Laura said, she will think it +no excuse, and it isn't!' + +As it neared supper-time she made an opening in the back of the tent, +and after long watching caught sight of Gin on his way to the brook +for water, signalled him, and gave him this despairing little note +for Mrs. Winship:- + + +Dear Aunt Truth,--I don't ask you to forgive me--I don't deserve to +be forgiven--but I ask you to do me just one more of your dear little +kindnesses. Let me stay alone in Dicky's tent till morning, and +please don't let any one come near me. You can tell everybody the +whole story to-night, if you think best, though I should be glad if +only Dr. Paul and Bell need know; but I do not mind anything after +displeasing you--nothing can be so bad as that. Perhaps you think I +ought to come out and confess it to them myself, as a punishment; but +oh, Aunt Truth, I am punishing myself in here alone worse than any +one else can do it. I will go back to Santa Barbara any time that +you can send me to the stage station, and I will never ask you to +love me again until I have learned how to control my temper. Your +wretched, wretched + +POLLY. + +P.S.--I remember that it is my birthday, and all that you have done +for me, to-day and all the other days. It looks as if I were +ungrateful, but in spite of what I did I am not. The words just +blazed out, and I never knew that they were going to be said till I +heard them falling from my mouth. It seems to me that if I ever +atone for this I will have a slate and pencil hanging to my belt, and +only write what I have to say. POLLY. + + +The moisture came to Mrs. Winship's eyes as she read this tear- +stained little note. 'There's something here I don't quite +understand,' she thought; 'and yet Polly confessed that Laura told +the truth. Poor child!--but she has got to learn patience and self- +control through suffering. However, I'll keep the matter a secret +from everybody at present, and stand between her and my inquisitive +brood of youngsters,' and she slipped the note into her pocket. + +At six o'clock the members of the family came into camp from various +directions, and gathered about the supper-table. All were surprised +at Laura's sudden departure, but no one seemed especially grief- +stricken. Dicky announced confidentially to Philip that Laura was a +'norful 'fraid-cat of frogs,' and Jack ventured the opinion that Miss +Laura hadn't 'boy' enough in her for camp-life. + +'But where is Polly?' asked Bell, looking round the table, as she +pinned up her riding-skirt and sat down in her usual seat. + +'She has a bad headache, and is lying down,' said Mrs. Winship, +quietly; 'she'll be all right in the morning.' + +'Headache!' ejaculated four or five people at once, dropping their +napkins and looking at each other in dismay. + +'I'll go and rub her head with Cologne,' said Margery. + +'Let me go and sit with her,' said Elsie. + +'Have you been teasing her, Jack?' asked Mrs. Howard. + +'Too much birthday?' asked Dr. Paul. 'Tell her we can spare almost +anybody else better.' + +'Bless the child, she wants me if she is sick. Go on with your +suppers, I'll see to her,' and Bell rose from the table. + +'No, my dear, I want you all to leave her alone at present,' said +Mrs. Winship, decidedly. 'I've put her to bed in Dicky's play-tent, +and I want her to be quiet. Gin has taken her some supper, and she +needs rest.' + +Polly Oliver in need of rest! What an incomprehensible statement! +Nobody was satisfied, but there was nothing more to be said, though +Bell and Philip exchanged glances as much as to say, 'Something is +wrong.' + +Supper ended, and they gathered round the camp-fire, but nothing was +quite as usual. It was all very well to crack jokes, but where was a +certain merry laugh that was wont to ring out, at the smallest +provocation, in such an infectious way that everybody else followed +suit? And who was there, when Polly had the headache, to make a +saucy speech and look down into the fire innocently, while her +dimples did everything that was required in order to point the shaft? +And pray what was the use of singing when there was no alto to Bell's +treble, or of giving conundrums, since it was always Polly who +thought of nonsensical answers better than the real ones? And as for +Jack, why, it was folly to shoot arrows of wit into the air when +there was no target. He simply stretched himself out beside Elsie, +who was particularly quiet and snoozed peacefully, without taking any +part in the conversation, avowing his intention to 'turn in' early. +'Turn in' early, forsooth! What was the matter with the boy? + +'It's no use,' said Bell, plaintively; 'we can't be anything but +happy, now that we have Elsie here; but it needs only one small +headache to show that Polly fills a long-felt want in this camp. You +think of her as a modest spoke in the wheel till she disappears, and +then you find she was the hub.' + +'Yes,' said Margery, 'I think every one round this fire is simply +angelic, unless I except Jack; but the fact is that Polly is--well, +she is--Polly, and I dare any one to contradict me.' + +'The judgment of the court is confirmed,' said Philip. + + +'And the shark said, "If you +Don't believe it is true, +Just look at my wisdom tooth!"' + + +sang Geoffrey. + +'And if any one ever tells me again that she has red hair and hasn't +good features, I should just like to show them a picture of her as +she was to-day at the dinner-table!' exclaimed Bell. + +'As if anybody needed features with those dimples,' added Elsie, 'or +would mind red hair when it was such pretty hair!' + +'I think a report of this conversation would go far towards curing +Polly,' said Dr. Winship, with a smile. + +'And you say we can't go in there before we go to bed, mamacita?' +whispered Bell in her mother's ear, as the boys said good-night--and +went towards their tent. + +'My dear,' she answered decidedly, with a fond kiss for each of the +girls, 'Polly herself asked me to keep everybody away.' + +Polly herself wanted to be alone! Would wonders never cease? + +Meanwhile Dicky, who had disappeared for a moment, came back to the +fire, his bosom heaving with grief and rage. + +'I went to my play-tent,' he sobbed, 'and putted my hand underneath +the curtain and gave Polly a piece of my supper cake I saved for her- +-not the frosted part, but the burnt part I couldn't eat--and she +liked it and kissed my hand--and then I fought she was lonesome, and +would like to see my littlest frog, and I told her to put out her +hand again for a s'prise, and I squeezed him into it tight, so 't he +wouldn't jump--and she fought it was more cake, and when she found it +wasn't she frew my littlest frog clear away, and it got losted!' + +This brought a howl of mirth from everybody, and Dicky was +instructed, while being put to bed, not to squeeze little frogs into +people's hands in the dark, as it sometimes affected them +unpleasantly. + + +All this time Polly was lying in the tent, quite exhausted with +crying, and made more wretched by every sound of voices wafted +towards her. Presently Gin appeared with her night-wrapper and +various things for comfort sent her by the girls; and as she wearily +undressed herself and prepared for the night, she found three little +messages of comfort pinned on the neck and sleeves of her flannel +gown, written in such colossal letters that she could easily read +them by the moonlight. + +On the right sleeve:- + + +Cheer up! 'I will never desert Mr. Micawber!' BELL + + +On the left sleeve:- + + +Darling Polly,--Get well soon, or we shall all be sick in order to +stay with you. Lovingly, MEG. + +PS.--Jack said you were the LIFE OF THE CAMP! What do you think of +that?? M. + + +On the neck:- + + +Dearest,--You have always called me the Fairy Godmother, and +pretended I could see things that other people couldn't. + +The boys (great stupids!) think you have the headache. We girls can +all see that you are in trouble, but only the Fairy Godmother KNOWS +WHY; and though she can't make a beautiful gold coach out of this +pumpkin, because there's something wrong about the pumpkin, yet she +will do her best for Cinderella, and pull her out of the ashes +somehow. + +ELSIE. + + +Polly's tears fell fast on the dear little notes, which she kissed +again and again, and tucked under her pillow to bring her sleep. +'Elsie knows something,' she thought, 'but how? she knows that I'm in +trouble and that I've done wrong, or she wouldn't have said that +about not being able to turn a bad pumpkin into a beautiful gold +coach; but perhaps she can get Aunt Truth to forgive me and try me +again. Unless she can do it, it will never come to pass, for I +haven't the courage to ask her. I would rather run away early in the +morning and go home than have her look at me again as she did to-day. +Oh! what shall I do?' and Polly went down on her knees beside the +rough couch, and sobbed her heart out in a childish prayer for help +and comfort. It was just the prayer of a little child telling a +sorrowful story; because it is when we are alone and in trouble that +the unknown and mysterious God seems to us most like a Father, and we +throw ourselves into the arms of His love like helpless children, and +tell Him our secret thoughts and griefs. + +'Dear Father in heaven,' she sobbed, 'don't forgive me if I ought not +to be forgiven, but please make Aunt Truth feel how sorry I am, and +show me whether I ought to tell what made me so angry, though it's no +excuse. Bless and keep my darling patient little mother, and help me +to grow more like her, and braver and stronger too, so that I can +take care of her soon, and she needn't work hard any longer. Please +forgive me for hating some things in my life as much as I do, and I +will try and like them better; but I think--yes, I know--that I am +full of wicked pride; and oh, it seems as if I could never, never get +over wanting to live in a pretty house, and wear pretty dresses, and +have my mother live like Bell's and Margery's. And oh, if Thou canst +only forgive me for hating boarders so dreadfully, and being ashamed +of them every minute, I will try and like them better and tell +everybody that we take them--I will indeed; and if I can only once +make Aunt Truth love and trust me again, I will make the boarders' +beds and dust their rooms for ever without grumbling. Please, dear +Father in heaven, remember that I haven't any father to love me or to +teach me to be good; and though mamma does her best, please help her +to make something out of me if it can be done. Amen.' + +'Truth,' said Mrs. Howard, when all was quiet about the camp, 'Elsie +wants to see you a moment before she goes to sleep. Will you go to +her tent, while I play a game of cribbage with Dr. Paul?' + +Elsie looked like a blossom in all the beautiful greenness of her +tent, with her yellow head coming out from above the greens and +browns of the cretonne bed-cover for all the world like a daffodil +pushing its way up through the mould towards the spring sunshine. + +'Aunt Truth,' she said softly, as Mrs. Winship sat down beside her, +'you remember that Dr. Paul hung my hammock in a new place to-day, +just behind the girls' sleeping-tent. Now I know that Polly is in +trouble, and that you are displeased with her. What I want to ask, +if I may, is, how much you know; for I overheard a great deal myself- +-enough to feel that Polly deserves a hearing.' + +'I overheard nothing,' replied Mrs. Winship. 'All that I know Polly +herself confessed in Laura's presence. Polly told Laura, just as she +was going away, that everybody would be glad to see the last of her, +and that she had made everybody miserable from the beginning of her +visit. It was quite inexcusable, you know, dear, for one of my +guests to waylay another, just as she was leaving, and make such a +cruel speech. I would rather anything else had happened. I know how +impetuous Polly is, and I can forgive the child almost anything, her +heart is so full of love and generosity; but I cannot overlook such a +breach of propriety as that. Of course I have seen that Laura is not +a favourite with any of you. I confess she is not a very lovable +person, and I think she has led a very unwholesome life lately and is +sadly spoiled by it; still that is no excuse for Polly's conduct.' + +'No, of course it isn't,' sighed Elsie, with a little quiver of the +lip. 'I thought I could plead a better case for Polly, but I see +exactly how thoughtless and impolite she was; yet, if you knew +everything, auntie, dear, you would feel a little different. Do you +think it was nice of Laura to repeat what Polly said right before +her, and just as she was going away, when she knew it would make you +uncomfortable and that you were not to blame for it?' + +'No, hardly. It didn't show much tact; but girls of fifteen or +sixteen are not always remarkable for social tact. I excused her +partly because she was half-sick and nervous.' + +'Well,' Elsie went on, 'I didn't hear the whole quarrel, so that I do +not know how long it lasted nor who began it. I can't help thinking +it was Laura, though, for she's been trying her best to provoke Polly +for the last fortnight, and until to-day she has never really +succeeded. I was half asleep, and heard at first only the faint +murmur of voices, but when I was fully awake, Laura was telling Polly +that she doted on you simply because you had money and position, +while she had not; that you were all so partial to her that she had +lost sight of her own deficiencies. Then she called her bold and +affected, and I don't know what else, and finally wound up by saying +that nobody but the Winships would be likely to make a pet of the +daughter of a boarding-house keeper.' + +'Elsie!' ejaculated Mrs. Winship; 'this grows worse and worse! Is it +possible that Laura Burton could be guilty of such a thought?' + +'I can't be mistaken. I was too excited not to hear very clearly; +and the moment the words were spoken I knew my poor dear's fiery +temper would never endure that. And it didn't; it blazed out in a +second, but it didn't last long, for before I could get to the tent +she had stopped herself right in the middle of a sentence; and in +another minute I heard your voice, and crept back to the hammock, +thinking that everything would be settled by Laura's going away. I'd +no idea that she would pounce on Polly and get her in disgrace, the +very last thing, when she knew that she was responsible for the whole +matter. You see, auntie, that, impolite as Polly was, she only told +Laura that we girls were glad she was going. She didn't bring you +in, after all; and Laura knew perfectly well that she was a welcome +visitor, and we all treated her with the greatest politeness, though +it's no use to say we liked her much.' + +'I am very sorry for the whole affair,' sighed Mrs. Winship, 'there +is so much wrong on both sides. Laura's remark, it is true, would +have angered almost anybody who was not old and wise enough to see +that it deserved only contempt; but both the girls should have had +too much respect for themselves and for me to descend to such an +unladylike quarrel. However, I am only too glad to hear anything +which makes Polly's fault less, for I love her too dearly not to +suffer when I have to be severe with her.' + +'She wouldn't ask you to overlook her fault,' continued Elsie, with +tears in her eyes. 'I know just how wretched and penitent she must +be--Polly is always so fierce against her own faults--but what must +be making her suffer most is the thought that she has entirely lost +your confidence and good opinion. Oh, I can't help thinking that God +feels sorrier this very minute for Polly, who fights and fights +against her temper, like a dear sunbeam trying to shine again and +again when a cloud keeps covering it up, than He does for Laura, who +has everything made smooth for her, and who is unhappy when her +feathers are ruffled the least bit.' + +'You are right, dear, in so far that a fiery little soul like Polly's +can, if it finds the right channels, do God's work in the world +better than a character like Laura's, which is not courageous, nor +strong, nor sweet enough for great service, unless it grows into +better things through bitter or rich experiences. Now, good-night, +my blessed little peacemaker; sleep sweetly, for I am going into +Polly's tent to have a good talk with her.' + +As Mrs. Winship dropped the curtains of Elsie's tent behind her, and +made her way quietly through the trees, the tinkling sound of a banjo +fell upon the still night air; and presently, as she neared Polly's +retreat, this facetious serenade, sung by Jack's well-known voice, +was wafted to her ears: + + +'Prithee, Polly Oliver, why bide ye so still? +Pretty Polly Oliver, we fear you are ill. +I'm singing 'neath thy window, when night dews are chill, +For, pretty Polly Oliver, we hear you are ill.' + + +She was about to despatch Master Jack to his tent with a round +scolding, when the last words of the song were frozen on his lips by +the sound of a smothered sob, in place of the saucy retort he hoped +to provoke. The unexpected sob frightened him more than any fusilade +of hot words, and he stole away in the darkness more crestfallen than +he had been for many a year. + +Mrs. Winship, more troubled than ever, pulled apart the canvas +curtains, and stood in the opening, silently. The sight of the +forlorn little figure, huddled together on the straw bed, touched her +heart, and, when Polly started up with an eloquent cry and flew into +her extended arms, she granted willing forgiveness, and the history +of the afternoon was sobbed out upon her motherly shoulder. + +The next morning Mrs. Winship announced that Polly was better, sent +breakfast to her tent, and by skilful generalship drove everybody +away from the camp but Elsie, who brought Polly to the sitting-room, +made her comfortable on the lounge, and, administering much good +advice to Margery and Bell concerning topics to be avoided, admitted +them one by one into her presence, so that she gradually regained her +self-control. And at the dinner-table a very pale Polly was present +again, with such a white face and heavy eyes that no one could doubt +there had been a headache, while two people, at least, knew that +there had been a heartache as well. The next day's mail carried the +following letter to Laura Burton: + + +CAMP CHAPARRAL, August 16, 188-. + +My dear Laura,--As I told you when you were leaving, I cannot well +say how sorry I am that anything should have occurred to mar your +pleasant remembrance of your stay with us. That your dear mother's +daughter should have been treated with discourtesy while she was my +guest was very disagreeable to me; but I have learned that you were +yourself somewhat to blame in the affair, and therefore you should +have borne the harsh treatment you received with considerable +patience, and perhaps have kept it quite to yourself. ('That little +cat told her, after all,' said Laura, when she read this. 'I didn't +think she was that kind.') Polly would never have confessed the +cause of the quarrel, because she knew nothing could justify her +language; but Elsie was lying in the hammock behind the tent and +overheard the remark which so roused Polly's anger. You were not +aware, of course, how sore a spot you touched upon, or you could +never have spoken as you did, though I well know that you were both +too angry to reflect. Polly is a peculiarly proud and high-spirited +girl--proud, I confess, to a fault; but she comes, on her mother's +side, from a long line of people who have had much to be proud of in +the way of unblemished honesty, nobility, fine attainments, and +splendid achievements. Of her father's honourable services to his +country, and his sad and untimely death, you may have heard; but you +may not know that Mrs. Oliver's misfortunes have been very many and +very bitter, and that the only possibility of supporting and +educating Polly lies at present in her taking boarders, for her +health will not admit just now of her living anywhere save in +Southern California. I fail to see why this is not thoroughly +praiseworthy and respectable; but if you do not consider it quite an +elegant occupation, I can only say that Mrs. Oliver presides over the +table at which her 'boarders' sit with a high-bred dignity and grace +of manner that the highest lady in the land might imitate; and that, +when health and circumstances permit her to diminish the distance +between herself and the great world, she and her daughter Polly, by +reason of their birth and their culture, will find doors swinging +wide to admit them where you and I would find it difficult to enter. +Polly apologises sincerely for her rudeness, and will write you to +that effect, as of course she does not know of this letter. + +Sincerely your friend, + +TRUTH WINSHIP. + + + +CHAPTER IX: ROUND THE CAMP-FIRE + + + +'The time before the fire they sat, +And shortened the delay by pleasing chat.' + + +The August days had slipped away one after another, and September was +at hand. There was no perceptible change of weather to mark the +advent of the new month. The hills were a little browner, the dust a +little deeper, the fleas a little nimbler, and the water in the brook +a trifle lower, but otherwise Dame Nature did not concern herself +with the change of seasons, inasmuch as she had no old dresses to get +rid of, and no new ones to put on for a long time yet; indeed, she is +never very fashionable in this locality, and wears very much the same +garments throughout the year. + +Elsie seemed almost as strong as any of the other girls now, and +could enter with zest into all their amusements. The appetite of a +young bear, the sound, dreamless sleep of a baby, and the constant +breathing in of the pure, life-giving air had made her a new +creature. Mrs. Howard and Jack felt, day by day, that a burden of +dread was being lifted from their hearts; and Mrs. Howard especially +felt that she loved every rock and tree in the canyon. + +It was a charming morning, and Polly was seated at the dining-room +table, deep in the preparation of a lesson in reading and +pronunciation for Hop Yet. Her forehead was creased with many +wrinkles of thought, and she bit the end of her lead-pencil as if she +were engaged in solving some difficult problem; but, if that were so, +why did the dimples chase each other in and out of her cheeks in such +a suspicious fashion? She was a very gentle, a very sedate Polly, +these latter days, and not only astonished her friends, but surprised +herself, by her good behaviour, her elegant reserve of manner, her +patience with Jack, and her abject devotion to Dicky. + +'I'm afraid it won't last,' she sighed to herself occasionally. 'I'm +almost too good. That's always the way with me--I must either be so +bad that everybody is discouraged, or else so good that I frighten +them. Now I catch Bell and Elsie exchanging glances every day, as +much as to say, "Poor Polly, she will never hold out at this rate; do +you notice that nothing ruffles her--that she is simply angelic?" As +if I couldn't be angelic for a fortnight! Why I have often done it +for four weeks at a stretch!' + +Margery was in the habit of giving Hop Yet an English lesson every +other day, as he had been very loath to leave his evening school in +Santa Barbara and bury himself in a canyon, away from all educational +influences; but she had deserted her post for once and gone to ride +with Elsie, so that Polly had taken her place and was evolving an +exercise that Hop Yet would remember to the latest day of his life. +It looked simple enough:- + +1. The grass is dry. +2. The fruit is ripe. +3: The chaparral is green. +4. The new road is all right. +5. The bay-'rum' tree is fresh and pretty. + +But as no Chinaman can pronounce the letter 'r,' it was laboriously +rendered thus, when the unhappy time of the lesson came: + +1. The-glass-is-dly. +2. The-fluit-is-lipe. +3. The-chap-lal-is-gleen. +4. The-new-load-is-all-light-ee. +5. The bay-lum-tlee-is-flesh-and-plitty. + +Finally, when she attempted to introduce the sentence, 'Around the +rough and rugged rock the ragged rascal ran,' Hop Yet rose hurriedly, +remarking, 'All lightee; I go no more school jus' now. I lun get +lunchee.' + +Bell came running down the path just then, and linking her arm in +Polly's said, 'Papa has the nicest plan. You know the boys are so +disappointed that Colonel Jackson didn't ask them over to that rodeo +at his cattle ranch--though a summer rodeo is only to sort out fat +cattle to sell, and it is not very exciting; but papa promised to +tell them all about the old-fashioned kind some night, and he has +just remembered that to-morrow is Admission Day, September 9, so he +proposes a real celebration round the camp-fire to amuse Elsie. She +doesn't know anything about California even as it is now, and none of +us know what it was in the old days. Don't you think it will be +fun?' + +'Perfectly splendid!' + +'And papa wants us each to contribute something.' + +'A picnic!--but I don't know anything.' + +'That's just what I'm coming to. I have such a bright idea. He said +that we might look in any of his books, but Geoff and Jack are at +them already, and I'd like a surprise. Now Juan Capistrano, an old +vaquero of Colonel Jackson's, is over here. He is a wonderful rider; +papa says that he could ride on a comet, if he could get a chance to +mount. It was he who told the boys that the rodeo was over. Now I +propose that we go and interview Pancho and Juan, and get them to +tell us some old California stories. They are both as stupid as they +can be, but they must have had some adventures, I suppose, somewhere, +sometime. I'll translate and write the things down, for my part, and +you and Margery can tell them.' + +'Lovely! Oh, if we can only get an exciting grizzly story, so that + + +Every one's blood upon end it will stand, +And the hair run cold in their veins! + + +And was Dr. Paul out here when California was admitted into the +Union--1850, wasn't it?' + +'Of course; why, my child, he was one of the delegates called by +General Riley, the military governor, to meet in convention at +Monterey and make a State constitution. That was September, too--the +first day of September 1849. He went back to the East some time +afterwards, and stayed ten or fifteen years; but he was a real +pioneer and "forty-niner" all the same. + +The next night, September 9th, was so cool that the camp-fire was +more than ordinarily delightful; accordingly they piled on more wood +than usual, and prepared for a grand blaze. It was always built +directly in front of the sitting-room tent, so that Mrs. Howard and +Mrs. Winship could sit there if they liked; but the young people +preferred to lie lazily on their cushions and saddles under the oak- +tree, a little distance from the blaze. The clear, red firelight +danced and flickered, and the sparks rose into the sombre darkness +fantastically, while the ruddy glow made the great oak an enchanted +palace, into whose hollow dome they never tired of gazing. When the +light streamed highest, the bronze green of the foliage was turned +into crimson, and, as it died now and then, the stars winked brightly +through the thousand tiny windows formed by the interlacing branches. + +'Well,' said the doctor, bringing his Chinese lounging-chair into the +circle, and lighting his pipe so as to be thoroughly happy and +comfortable, 'will you banish distinctions of age and allow me to sit +among you this evening?' + +'Certainly,' Margery said; 'that's the very point of the celebration. +This is Admission Day, you know, and why shouldn't we admit you?' + +'True; and having put myself into a holiday humour by dining off +Pancho's dish of guisado (I suppose to-night of all nights we must +call beef and onion stew by its local name), I will proceed to +business, and we will talk about California. By the way, I shall +only conduct the exercises, for I feel rather embarrassed by the fact +that I've never killed, or been killed by, a bear, never been bitten +by a tarantula, poisoned by a rattlesnake, assaulted by a stage- +robber, nor anything of that sort. You have all read my story of +crossing the plains. I even did that in a comparatively easy and +unheroic fashion. I only wish, my dear girls and boys, that we had +with us some one of the brave and energetic men and women who made +that terrible journey at the risk of their lives. The history of the +California Crusaders, the thirty thousand or more emigrants who +crossed the plains in '48, more than equals the great military +expeditions of the Middle Ages, in magnitude, peril, and adventure. +Some went by way of Santa Fe and along the hills of the Gila; others, +starting from Red River, traversed the Great Stake Desert and went +from El Paso del Norte to Sonora; others went through Mexico, and, +after spending over a hundred days at sea, ran into San Diego and +gave up their vessels; others landed exhausted with their seven +months' passage round the Horn; and some reached the spot on foot +after walking the whole length of the California peninsula.' + +'What privations they must have suffered!' said Mrs. Howard. 'I +never quite realised it.' + +'Why, the amount of suffering that was endured in those mountain +passes and deserts can never be told in words. Those who went by the +Great Desert west of the Colorado found a stretch of burning salt +plains, of shifting hills of sand, with bones of animals and men +scattered along the trails; of terrible and ghastly odours rising in +the hot air from the bodies of hundreds of mules, and human creatures +too, that lay half-buried in the glaring white sand. A terrible +journey indeed; but if any State in the Union could be fair enough, +fertile enough, and rich enough to repay such a lavish expenditure of +energy and suffering, California certainly was and is the one. Now +who can tell us something of the name "California"? You, Geoffrey?' + +'Geoffrey has crammed!' exclaimed Bell, maliciously. 'I believe he's +been reading up all day and told papa what question to ask him!' + +'I'll pass it on to you if you like,' laughed Geoffrey. + +'No--you'd never get another that you could answer! Go on!' + +'In 1534, one Hernando de Grijalva was sent by Hernando Cortez to +discover something or other, and it was probably he who then saw the +peninsula of California; but a quarter of a century before this a +romance called Esplandian had appeared in Spain, narrating the +adventures of an Amazonian queen who brought allies from "the right +hand of the Indies" to assist the infidels in their attack upon +Constantinople--by the way I forgot to say that she was a pagan. +This queen of the Amazons was called Calafia, and her kingdom, rich +in gold and precious stones, was named California. The writer of the +romance derived this name, perhaps, from Calif, a successor of +Mohammed. He says: "Know that on the right hand of the Indies there +is an island named California, very close to the Terrestial Paradise, +and it was peopled by black women without any man among them, for +they lived in the fashion of the Amazonia. They were of strong and +hardy bodies, of ardent courage, and of great force. Their island +was the strongest in all the world, with its steep cliffs and rocky +shore. Their arms were all of gold, and so was the harness of the +wild beasts which they tamed and rode. For in the whole island there +was no metal but gold. They lived in caves wrought out of the rocks +with much labour, and they had many ships with which they sailed out +to other countries to obtain booty." Cortez and Grijalva believed +that they were near the coast of Asia, for they had no conception of +the size of the world nor of the vastness of the Pacific Ocean; and +as the newly-discovered land corresponded with the country described +in the romance, they named the peninsula California.' + +'My book,' said Philip, 'declared that the derivation of the name was +very uncertain, and that it was first bestowed on one of the coast +bays by Bernal Diaz.' + +'Now, Philip!' exclaimed Margery, 'do you suppose we are going to +believe that, after Geoff's lovely story?' + +'Certainly not; I only thought I'd permit you to hear both sides. I +knew of course that you would believe the prettier story of the two-- +girls always do!' + +'That isn't a "pretty story"--your remark, I mean, so we won't +believe it; will we, girls?' asked Bell. + +'Now, Polly, your eyes sparkle as if you couldn't wait another +minute; your turn next,' said Dr. Winship. + +'I am only afraid that I can't remember my contribution, which is +really Bell's and still more really Pancho's, for he told it to us, +and Bell translated it and made it into a story. We call it +"Valerio; or, The Mysterious Mountain Cave."' + +'Begins well!' exclaimed Jack. + +'Now, Jack, you must be nice. Remember this is Bell's story, and she +is letting me tell it so that I can bear my share in the +entertainment.' + +'Pancho believes every word of it,' added Bell, 'and says that his +father told it to him; but as I had to change it from bad Spanish +into good English, I don't know whether I've caught the idea +exactly.' + +'Oh, it will do quite nicely, I've no doubt,' said Jack, +encouragingly. 'We've often heard you do good English into bad +Spanish, and turn and turn about is only fair play. Don't mind me, +Polly; I will be gentle!' + +'Jack, if you don't behave yourself I'll send you to bed,' said +Elsie; and he ducked his head obediently into her lap, as Polly, with +her hands clasping her knees, and with the firelight dancing over her +bright face, leaned forward and told the Legend of + + +VALERIO; OR, THE MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAIN CAVE. + +'A long time ago, before the settlement of Santa Barbara by the +whites, the Mission padres had a great many Indians under their +control, who were known as peons, or serfs. They were given enough +to eat, were not molested by the outside Indians, and were entirely +peaceable. There were so few mountain passes by which to enter Santa +Barbara that they were easily held, and of course the padres were +anxious to keep their Indians from running away, lest they should +show the wilder tribes the way to get in and commit depredations. +These peaceable Indians paid tribute to intermediary tribes to hold +the passes and do their fighting. Those about the Mission gave corn +and cereals and hides and the products of the sea, and got in +exchange pinones (pine nuts). One of these Indians, named Valerio, +was a strong, brave, handsome youth, whose haughty spirit revolted at +his servitude, and, after seeking an opportunity for many weeks he +finally escaped to the Santa Ynez mountains, where he found a cave in +which he hid himself, drawing himself up by a rope and taking it in +after him. The Indians had unlimited belief in Valerio's mysterious +and wonderful powers. Pancho says that he could make himself +invisible at will, that locks and keys were powerless against him; +and that no one could hinder his taking money, horses, or food. All +sorts of things disappeared mysteriously by day and by night, and the +robberies were one and all laid to the door of Valerio. But after a +while Valerio grew lonely in his mountain retreat. He longed for +human companionship, and at length, becoming desperate, he descended +on the Mission settlement and kidnapped a young Indian boy named +Chito, took him to his cave, and admitted him into his wild and +lawless life. But Chito was not contented. He liked home and +comfortable slavery better than the new, strange life; so he seized +the first opportunity, and being a bright, daring little lad, and +fleet of foot, he escaped and made his way to the Mission. Arriving +there he told wonderful stories of Valerio and his life; how his +marvellous white mare seemed to fly, rather than gallop, and leaped +from rock to rock like a chamois; and how they lived upon wheat- +bread, cheeses, wine, and other delicacies instead of the coarse fare +of the Indians. He told them the location of the cave and described +the way thither; so the Alcalde (he was the mayor or judge, you know, +Elsie), got out the troops with their muskets, and the padres +gathered the Mission Indians with their bows and arrows, and they all +started in pursuit of the outlaw. Among the troops were two +hechiceros (wizards or medicine-men), whose bowed shoulders and +grizzled beards showed them to be men of many years and much wisdom. +When asked to give their advice, they declared that Valerio could not +be killed by any ordinary weapons, but that special means must be +used to be of any avail against his supernatural powers. +Accordingly, one of the hechiceros broke off the head of his arrow, +cast a charm over it, and predicted that this would deal the fatal +blow. The party started out with Chito as a guide, and, after many +miles of wearisome travel up rugged mountain sides and over steep and +almost impassable mountain trails, they paused at the base of a +cliff, and saw, far up the height, the mouth of Valerio's cave, and, +what was more, Valerio himself sitting in the doorway fast asleep. +Alas! he had been drinking too heavily of his stolen wine, or he +would never have so exposed himself to the enemy. They fired a +volley at him. One shot only took effect, and even this would not +have been possible save that the spell was not upon him because of +his sleep; but the one shot woke him and, half rising, he staggered +and fell from the mouth of the cave to a ledge of rocks beneath. He +sprang to his feet in a second and ran like a deer towards a tree +where his white mare was fastened. They fired another volley, but, +though the shots flew in every direction, Valerio passed on unharmed; +but just as he was disappearing from view the hechicero raised his +bow and the headless arrow whizzed through space and pierced him +through the heart. They clambered up the cliffs with shouts of +triumph and surrounded him on every side, but poor Valerio had +surrendered to a more powerful enemy than they! Wonderful to relate, +he still breathed, though the wound should have been instantly fatal. +They lifted him from the ground and tied him on his snow-white mare, +his long hair reaching almost to the ground, his handsome face as +pale as death, the blood trickling from his wound; but the mysterious +power that he possessed seemed to keep him alive in spite of his +suffering. Finally one of the hechiceros decided that the spell lay +in the buckskin cord that he wore about his throat--a rough sort of +necklace hung with bears' claws and snake rattles--and that he never +would die until the magic cord was cut. This, after some +consultation, was done. Valerio drew his last breath as it parted +asunder, and they bore his dead body home in triumph to the Mission. + +'But he is not forgotten. Stories are still told of his wonderful +deeds, and people still go in search of money that he is supposed to +have hidden in his cave. The Mexican women who tell suertes, or +fortunes, describe the location of the money; but, as soon as any one +reaches the cave, he is warned away by a little old man who stands in +the door and protects the buried treasure. An Indian lad, who was +riding over the hills one day with his horse and his dogs, dismounted +to search for his moccasin, when he suddenly noticed that the dogs +had chased something into a cave in the rocks. He followed, and, +peering into the darkness, saw two gleaming eyes. He thrust his +knife between them, but struck the air; and, though he had been +standing directly in front of the opening, so that nothing could have +passed him, yet he heard the clatter of hoofs and the tinkle of +spurs, and, turning, saw a mysterious horseman, whose pale face and +streaming hair melted into the mountain mist, as it floated down from +the purple Santa Ynez peaks into the lap of the vine-covered foot- +hills below.' + + + +CHAPTER X: MORE CAMP-FIRE STORIES + + + +'And still they watched the flickering of the blaze, +And talked together of the good old days.' + + +'Brava!' 'Bravissima!' 'Splendid, Polly!' exclaimed the boys. +'Bell, you're a great author!' + +'Couldn't have done better myself--give you my word!' cried Jack, +bowing profoundly to Bell and Polly in turn, and presenting them with +bouquets of faded leaves hastily gathered from the ground. + +'Polly covered herself with glory,' said the doctor; 'and I am very +proud of your part in it, too, my little daughter. I have some +knowledge of Pancho's capabilities as a narrator, and I think the +"Story of Valerio" owes a good deal to you. Now, who comes next? +Margery?' + +'No, please,' said Margery, 'for I have another story. Take one of +the boys, and let's have more facts.' + +'Yes, something historic and profound, out of the encyclopaedia, from +Jack,' said Polly, saucily. + +'Thanks, Miss Oliver. With you for an audience any man might be +inspired; but--' + +'But not a BOY?' + +'Mother, dear, remove that child from my sight, or I shall certainly +shake her! Phil, go on, just to keep Polly quiet.' + +'Very well. Being the oldest Californian present, I--' + +'What about Dr. Paul?' asked the irrepressible Polly. + +'He wasn't born here,' responded Philip, dryly, 'and I was.' + +'I think that's a quibble,' interrupted Bell. 'Papa was here twenty +years before you were.' + +'It's not my fault that he came first,' answered Philip. 'Margery +and I are not only the oldest Californians present, but the only +ones. Isn't that so, sir?' + +'Quite correct.' + +'Oh, if you mean that way, I suppose you are; but still papa helped +frame the Constitution, and was here on the first Admission Day, and +was one of the Vigilantes--and I think that makes him more of a real +Californian than you. You've just "grown up with the country."' + +'Bless my soul! What else could I do? I would have been glad to +frame the Constitution, admit the State, and serve on the Vigilance +Committee, if they had only waited for me; but they went straight +ahead with the business, and when I was born there was nothing to do +but stand round and criticise what they had done, or, as you express +it, "grow up with the country." Well, as I was saying when I was +interrupted--' + +'Beg pardon.' + +'Don't mention it. Uncle Doc has asked me to tell Mrs. Howard and +Elsie how they carried on the rodeos ten or fifteen years ago. Of +course I was only a little chap'--('VERY little,' murmured his +sister)--'but never too small to stick on a horse, and my father used +often to take me along. The rodeos nowadays are neither as great +occasions, nor as exciting ones, as they used to be; but this is the +way a rodeo is managed. When the spring rains are mostly over, and +the grass is fine,--say in April--the ranchero of a certain ranch +sends word to all his neighbours that he will hold a rodeo on a +certain day or days. Of course the cattle used to stray all over the +country, and get badly mixed, as there were no fences; so the rodeo +was held for the purpose of separating the cattle and branding the +calves that had never been marked. + +'The owners of the various ranches assemble the night before, +bringing their vaqueros with them. They start out very early in the +morning, having had a cup of coffee, and ride to the "rodeo-ground," +which is any flat, convenient place where canyons converge. Many of +the cattle on the hills round about know the place, having been there +before, and the vaqueros start after them and drive them to the +spot.' + +'How many vaqueros would there be?' asked Elsie. + +'Oh, nine or ten, perhaps; and often from one thousand to three +thousand cattle--it depends on the number of ranches and cattle +represented. Some of the vaqueros form a circle round the cattle +that they have driven to the rodeo-ground, and hold them there while +others go back to the ranch for breakfast and fresh horses.' + +'Fresh horses so soon?' said Mrs. Howard. 'I thought the mustangs +were tough, hardy little beasts, that would go all day without +dropping.' + +'Yes, so they are; but you always have to begin to "part out" the +cattle with the freshest and best-trained horses you have. The +owners and their best vaqueros now go into the immense band of +cattle, and try to get the cows and the unbranded calves separated +from the rest. You can imagine what skilful engineering this takes, +even though you never saw it. Two work together; they start a +certain cow and calf and work them through the band of cattle until +they near the outside, and then "rush" them to a place three or four +hundred yards beyond, where other vaqueros are stationed to receive +and hold them. Of course the cattle don't want to leave the band, +and of course they don't want to stay in the spot to which they are +driven.' + +'I don't blame them!' cried Bell impetuously. 'Probably the cows +remember the time when they were branded themselves, and they don't +want their dear little bossies put through the same operation.' + +'Very likely. Then more cows and calves are started in the same way; +the greatest difficulty being had with the first lot, for the cattle +always stay more contentedly together as the group grows larger. +Occasionally one "breaks" and runs off on the hills, and a vaquero +starts after him, throws the reata and lassos him, or "lass's" him, +as the California boys say.' + +'There must be frightful accidents,' said Mrs. Winship. + +'Yes; but not so many as you would suppose, for the horsemanship, in +its particular way, is something wonderful. When an ugly steer is +lassoed and he feels the reata or lariat round his neck, he sometimes +turns and "makes" for the horse, and unless the vaquero is +particularly skilful he will be gored and his horse too; but he gives +a dexterous turn to the lariat, the animal steps over it, gets +tangled and thrown. Frequently an animal breaks a horn or a leg. +Sometimes one fall is not enough; the steer jumps up and pursues the +horse. Then the vaquero keeps a little ahead of him and leads him +back to the rodeo-ground, where another vaquero lassos him by the +hind legs and throws him, while the reata is taken off his neck.' + +'There is another danger, too,' added Dr. Winship. 'The vaquero +winds the reata very tightly round the pommel of his saddle to hold +the steer, and he is likely to have his finger caught in the hair- +rope and cut off.' + +'Yes, I forgot that. Two or three of the famous old vaqueros about +Santa Barbara--Jose Maria, Jose Antonio, and old Clemente--have each +lost a finger. Well, the vaqueros at length form in a circle round +the band of selected cattle. The ranch owner who gives the rodeo +takes his own cattle that he has found--the ones bearing his brand, +you know--and drives them in with the ones to be branded, leaving in +the rodeo-ground the cattle bearing the brands of all the other +rancheros. There has been much drinking of aguardiente (brandy) and +everybody by this time is pretty reckless. Then they drive this +selected band to the home corral, the vaqueros yelling, the cattle +"calling," and the reatas whizzing and whistling through the air. If +any unfortunate tries to escape his fate he is pursued, "lass'd," and +brought back. By this time the cattle are pretty well heated and +angry, and when they get into the crowded corral they horn each other +and try to gore the horses. A fire is then built in one corner of +the corral and the branding-irons are heated.' + +'Oh! hold my hand, Polly, if the branding is going to begin, I hate +it so,' exclaimed Elsie. + +'I won't say much about it, but it's no worse than a thousand things +that people have to bear every year of their lives. Animals never +have to have teeth filled, for instance, nor limbs amputated--' + +'Oh, just think of a calf with a wooden leg, or a cow with false +teeth! Wouldn't it be funny?' laughed Bell. + +'They don't have a thousand ills that human flesh is heir to, so they +must be thankful they get off so easy. Well! the branding-irons are +heated, as I say--each cattle-owner having his special brand, which +is properly recorded, and which may be any device not previously +used. Two men now catch the calves; one lassoing them by the head, +the other by the legs. A third man takes the iron from the fire and +brands the chosen letter or hieroglyphic on the animal's hind +quarter.' + +'Sometimes on the fore quarter, don't they?' asked Bell. 'I've seen +brands there,--your horse has two, and our cow has one also.' + +'Yes, a brand on the fore quarter shows that the animal has been +sold, but it always has the original brand on the hind quarter. When +a sale is effected, the new brand is put anywhere in front of the +fifth rib, and this constitutes what they call a venta, or sale. If +you notice some of the little "plugs" ridden by Santa Barbara boys, +you'll see that they bear half a dozen brands. By the way, if the +rodeo has been a very large one, they are several days branding the +cattle, so they are turned out to pastorear a little while each day.' + +'The brand was absolute sign of ownership, you know, girls,' said Dr. +Winship; 'and though there was the greatest care exercised in +choosing and recording the brands, there was plenty of opportunity +for cheating. For instance, a man would often see unbranded cattle +when riding about, and there was nothing to prevent his dismounting, +building a fire, heating his iron, and putting his own brand on them. +Then, at the next rodeo, they were simply turned over to him, for, as +I say, the brand was absolute ownership.' + + +'Whene'er I take my rides abroad, + How many calves I see; +And, as I brand them properly, + They all belong to me,' + + +said Bell. + +'How I should like to see a rodeo!' sighed Elsie. 'I can't imagine +how the vaqueros can fling the reata while they are riding at full +speed.' + +'It isn't so very wonderful,' said Polly, nonchalantly 'the most +ordinary people can learn it; why! your brother Jack can lasso almost +as well as a Mexican.' + +'And I can "lass" any stationary object myself,' cried Bell; 'a +hitching-post, or even a door-knob; I can do it two or three times +out of ten.' + +'That shows immense skill,' answered Jack, 'but, as the thing you +want to "lass" never does stay still, and as it is absolutely +necessary to catch it more than three times out of ten, you probably +wouldn't make a name and fortune as a vaquero. Juan Capistrano, by +the way, used to be famous with the lariat. I had heard of his +adventure with a bull on the island of Santa Rosa, and I asked him +about it to-day; but he had so exhausted himself telling stories to +Bell that he had very few words for me. You see there was a bull, on +Santa Rosa island, so wild that they wanted to kill him; but nobody +could do it, though he was a terror to any one who ventured on the +island. They called him "Antiguelo," because of his long horns and +long tail. He was such a terrible fighter that all the vaqueros were +afraid to lass' him, for he always broke away with the lariat. You +see a horse throws a bull by skill and not by strength, of course. +You can choke almost any bull; but this one was too smart! he would +crouch on his haunches and pull back until the rope nearly choked him +and then suddenly "make" for the horse. Juan Capistrano had a +splendid horse--you see as much depends on the horse as the man in +such a case--and he came upon Antiguelo on the Cerro Negro and lass'd +him. Well, did he fight? I asked. "Si, Senor." Well, what +happened? "Yo lo mate" (I killed him), he said, with a shrug of his +shoulders, and that's all I could get out of Juan regarding his +adventure.' + +'But you haven't done your share, you lazy boy,' objected Bell. 'You +must tell us more.' + +'What do you want to hear? I am up on all the animal and vegetable +life of Southern California, full of interesting information +concerning its old customs, can give you Spanish names for all the +things that come up in ordinary conversation, and am the only man +present who can make a raw-hide reata,' said Jack, modestly. + +'Go on and tell us how, O great and wise reatero,' said Bell. + +'I'll tell you that myself,' said Elsie, 'for I've seen him do it +dozens of times, when he should have been studying his little +lessons. He takes a big piece of raw hide, cuts a circle right out +of the middle, and then cuts round and round this until he has one +long continuous string, half an inch wide. He then stretches it and +scrapes the hair off with a knife or a piece of glass, gets it into +four strands, and braids it "round."' + +'Perhaps you think braiding "round" is easy to do,' retorted Jack, in +an injured tone; 'but I know it took me six months to learn to do it +well.' + +'I fail to see,' said his mother, 'how a knowledge of "braiding +round" and lassoing of wild cattle is going to serve you in your +university life and future career.' + +'Oh yes, it will. I shall be the Buffalo Bill of Harvard, and I +shall give charming little entertainments in my rooms, or in some +little garden-plot suitable to the purpose.' + +'Shall you make a point of keeping up with your class?' asked Mrs. +Winship. + +'Oh yes, unless they go too fast. My sports won't take any more time +than rowing or baseball. They'll be a little more expensive, because +I'll have to keep some wild cattle constantly on hand, and perhaps a +vaquero or two; but a vaquero won't cost any more than a valet.' + +'I didn't intend furnishing you with a valet,' remarked his mother. + +'But I shall be self-supporting, mother dear. I shall give +exhibitions on the campus, and the gate-money will keep me in +luxury.' + +'This is all very interesting,' said Polly, cuttingly; 'but what has +it to do with California, I'd like to know?' + +'Poor dear! Your brain is so weak. Can't you see that when I am the +fashion in Cambridge, it will be noised about that I gained my +marvellous skill in California? This will increase emigration. I +don't pretend to say it will swell the population like the discovery +of gold in '48, but it will have a perceptible effect.' + +'You are more modest than a whole mossy bank of violets,' laughed Dr. +Paul. 'Now, Margery, will you give us your legend?' + +'Mine is the story of Juan de Dios (literally, Juan of God), and I'm +sorry to say that it has a horse in it, like Polly's; only hers was a +snow-white mare, and mine is a coal-black charger. But they wouldn't +tell us any romantic love-stories; they were all about horses.' + + +STORY OF JUAN DE DIOS. + +'In early days, when Americans were coming in to Santa Barbara, there +were many cattle-buyers among them; and there were large bands of +robbers all over the country who were ready to pounce on these +travellers on their way to the great cattle ranchos, kill them, and +steal their money and clothes, as well as their horses and trappings. +No one could understand how the robbers got such accurate information +of the movements of the travellers, unless they had a spy somewhere +near the Mission, where they often stopped for rest and refreshment. + +'Now, there was a certain young Indian vaquero in the employ of the +padres at La Mission de la Purisima. He was a wonderful horseman, +and greatly looked up to by his brother vaqueros, because he was so +strong, alert, and handsome, and because he was always dressed +elegantly in rich old Spanish embroideries and velvets, given to him, +he said, by men for whom he had done great services. + +'One day a certain traveller, a Spanish official of high degree, came +from Monterey to wed his sweetheart, the daughter of the richest +cattle-owner in all the country round. His spurs and bit and bridle +were of solid silver; his jaquima (halter) was made of a hair rope +whose strands had been dyed in brilliant colours; his tapaderos +(front of the stirrups), mochilas (large leather saddle flaps), and +sudaderos (thin bits of leather to protect the legs from sweat), were +all beautifully stamped in the fashion used by the Mexicans; his +saddle blankets and his housings were all superb, and he wore a broad +sombrero encircled with a silver snake and trimmed with silver lace. + +'The traveller stayed at La Purisima all night, and set out early in +the morning to ride the last forty miles that separated him from his +bride. But Juan and two other robbers were lying in wait for him +behind a great rock that stood at the entrance of a lonely canyon. +They appeared on horseback, one behind the unfortunate man and two in +front, so that he could escape neither way. They finally succeeded +in lassoing the horse and throwing him to the ground with his rider, +who defended himself bravely with his knife, but was finally killed +and robbed, Juan taking his clothes and trappings, and the other two +dividing the contents of his purse. They could not have buried their +victim as successfully as usual, or else they were surprised, and had +to escape, for the body was found; and Juan, whom the padres had +begun to view with suspicion, was nowhere to be found about the +Mission. Troops were sent out in pursuit of him, for this particular +traveller was a high official, and it was necessary that his death +should be avenged. They at last heard that Juan had been seen going +towards Santa Ynez Mission, and, pursuing him thither, they came upon +him as he was driving a band of horses into a corral, and just in the +act of catching his own horse, a noble and powerful animal, called +Azabache, because of his jet-black colour. The men surrounded the +corral, and ordered him to surrender. He begged them to wait until +he had saddled Azabache, and then they might shoot them both down +together. He asked permission to call three times (pegar tres +gritos), and after the third call they were to shoot. His last wish +was granted. He saddled and mounted his splendid horse, called once- +-twice--thrice,--but when the last shout faded in the air, and the +troops raised their muskets to fire, behold, there was no Juan de +Dios to be seen. They had been surrounding the corral so that no one +could have ridden out; they looked among the horses, but Asabache was +nowhere to be found. + +'Just then a joyous shout was heard, so ringing and triumphant that +every man turned in the direction from which it came. There, +galloping up the hillside, nearly half a mile distant, was Juan de +Dios, mounted on his coal-black Azabache! But it was no common +sunshine that deepened the gorgeous colours of his trappings and +danced upon his silver spurs till they glistened like two great +stars! It was a broad, glittering stream of light such as no mortal +had ever seen before and which almost blinded the eyes; and over this +radiant path of golden sunbeams galloped Juan de Dios, until he +disappeared over the crest of the mountain. Then the light faded; +the padres crossed themselves in silence and went home to their +Mission! and Juan de Dios never was heard of more.' + +Modest little Margery was hailed with such cheers that you could not +have seen her cheeks for the blushes; and, just as the party began to +think of forsaking the fascinating camp-fire for bed, Bell jumped up +impetuously and cried, 'Here, Philip, give me the castanets, please. +Polly and Jack, you play "Las Palomas" for me, and I'll sing and show +you the dance of that pretty Mexican girl whom I saw at the ball +given under the Big Grape Vine. Wait till I take off my hair ribbon. +Lend me your scarf, mamma. Now begin!' + + +LAS PALOMAS. {2} +(THE DOVES.) +Cua-tro pa-lo-mi-tas blan-cas que vie- +nen de por a--lla. U-nas a las o-tras +di-cen no hay a-mor como el de a-ca. + + +It is barely possible, but not likely, that anything prettier than +Bell's Mexican danza was to be seen under the light of the September +stars that night; although they were doubtless shining down upon a +thousand lovely things. With all the brightness of her loosened hair +rising and falling with the motion of her swaying figure--with her +twinkling feet, her crimson cheeks and parted lips, she looked the +very spirit of the dance, and her enraptured--audience only allowed +her to stop when she was absolutely breathless. + +'Oh what a beautiful evening!' exclaimed Elsie, when the celebration +was finally over. 'Was there ever such a dear, dear canyon with such +dear people in it! If it only wouldn't rain and we could live here +for ever!' + + +'Rain, rain, stay away! +Come again another day, +Little Elsie wants to play,' + + +recited Polly, and then everybody went to their straw beds. + + + +CHAPTER XI: BREAKING CAMP + + + +'The thirsty earth soaks up the rain, +And drinks and gapes for drink again; +The plants suck in the earth and are, +With constant drinking, fresh and fair.' + + +But it did rain; and it didn't wait until they were out of the canyon +either. It began long before the proper time, and it by no means +confined itself to a shower, but opened the winter season fully a +month before there was any need of it, and behaved altogether in a +most heartless and inconsiderate manner, like a very spoil-sport of a +rain. + +It began after dark, so as to be just as disagreeable as possible, +and under the too slight cover of their tents the campers could hear +the rush and the roar of it like the tramping of myriad feet on the +leaves. Pancho and the two Chinamen huddled under the broad +sycamores in their rubber blankets, and were dry and comfortable; but +all the waterproof tents leaked, save Elsie's. + +But when it was dawn, the Sun, having heard nothing apparently of any +projected change in the weather, rose at the usual time in the most +resplendent fashion--brighter, rosier, and more gloriously, if you +will believe me, than he had risen that whole long sunshiny summer! +And he really must have felt paid for getting up at such an unearthly +hour in the morning, when, after he had clambered over the grey +mountain peaks, he looked down upon Las Flores Canyon, bathed in the +light of his own golden beams. + +If he knew anything about Ancient History and Biblical Geography--and +if he didn't I don't know who should, inasmuch as he had been present +from the beginning of time--he must have thought it as fair as the +Garden of Eden; for Nature's face simply shone with cleanliness, like +that of a smiling child just fresh from its bath, and every leaf of +every tree glistened as he beamed upon it, and shook off its crystal +drops that he might turn them into diamonds. + +'It was only a shower,' said Dr. Winship, as he seated himself on a +damp board and partook of a moist breakfast, 'and with this sun the +tents will be dry before night; Elsie has caught no cold, the dust +will be laid, and we can stay another week with safety.' + +Everybody was hilarious over this decision save the men-of-all-work, +who longed unspeakably for a less poetic existence--Hop Yet +particularly, who thought camping out 'not muchee good.' + +Dicky was more pleased than anybody, perhaps, as every day in the +canyon was one day less in school; not that he had ever been to +school, but he knew in advance, instinctively, that it wouldn't suit +him. Accordingly, he sought the wettest possible places and played +all day with superhuman energy. He finally found Hop Yet's box of +blueing under a tree, in a very moist and attractive state of +fluidity, and just before dinner improved the last shining hour by +painting himself a brilliant hue and appearing at dinner in such a +fiendish guise that he frightened the family into fits. + +Now Dr. Winship was one of the most weather-wise men in California, +and his predictions were always quite safe and sensible; but somehow +or other it did rain again in two or three days, and it poured harder +than ever, too. To be sure, it cleared promptly, but the doctor was +afraid to trust so fickle a person as the Clerk of the Weather had +become, and marching orders were issued. + +The boys tramped over all their favourite bits of country, and the +girls visited all their best beloved haunts, every one of them dear +from a thousand charming associations. They looked for the last time +in Mirror Pool, and saw the reflection of their faces--rather grave +faces just then, over the leave-taking. + +The water-mirror might have been glad to keep the picture for ever on +its surface--Margery with her sleek braids and serene forehead; with +Polly, saucy nose and mischievous eyes, laughing at you like a merry +water-sprite; Bell, with her brilliant cheeks glowing like two roses +just fallen in the brook; and Gold Elsie, who, if you had put a frame +of green leaves about her delicate face and yellow locks, would have +looked up at you like a water-lily. + +They wafted a farewell to Pico Negro, and having got rid of the boys, +privately embraced a certain Whispering Tree under whose singing +branches they had been wont to lie and listen to all the murmuring +that went on in the forest. + +Then they clambered into the great thorough-brace wagon, where they +all sat in gloomy silence for ten minutes, while Dicky's tan terrier +was found for the fourth time that morning; and the long train, with +its baggage-carts, its saddle-horses and its dogged little pack- +mules, moved down the rocky steeps that led to civilisation. The +gate that shut them in from the county road and the outer world was +opened for the last time, and shut with a clang, and it was all over- +-their summer in a canyon! + + + +Footnotes: + + + +{1} Foot-notes by a rival of the Countess. + +{1a} Is that spelled right? +{1b} Fifty miles an hour, Jack says. +{1c} Poetic licence. +{1d} Gone back to cold cream. +{1e} And pie. +{1f} For sale at all bookstores, ten cents a copy. + +{2} 'Four little white doves began to coo, + To coo to their mates so fair; +And each to the other dove said, 'Your coo + With mine cannot compare!' + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Summer in a Canyon +by Kate Douglas Wiggin + |