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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:36 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:39:36 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12317-0.txt b/12317-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ec4412 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3423 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12317 *** + +TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF +KENTUCKY + + + + +TO +MARGARET AND ALBION, +MARY, HELEN, LURA AND ROSE, +WILLIAM AND GEORGE + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR. + II. GINGER AND THE BOYS. + III. THE VALENTINE PARTY. + IV. A FIRE AND A PLAN. + V. JONESY'S BENEFIT. + VI. THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES. + VII. A GAME OF INDIAN. +VIII. "FAIRCHANCE". + +[Illustration: PLANS.] + +TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF +KENTUCKY. + + + * * * * * +CHAPTER I. + +TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR. + +It was the coldest Saint Valentine's eve that Kentucky had known in +twenty years. In Lloydsborough Valley a thin sprinkling of snow whitened +the meadows, enough to show the footprints of every hungry rabbit that +loped across them; but there were not many such tracks. It was so cold +that the rabbits, for all their thick fur, were glad to run home and +hide. Nobody cared to be out long in such weather, and except now and +then, when an ice-cutter's wagon creaked up from some pond to the +frozen pike, the wintry stillness was unbroken. + +On the north side of the little country depot a long row of icicles hung +from the eaves. Even the wind seemed to catch its breath there, and +hurry on with a shiver that reached to the telegraph wires overhead. It +shivered down the long stovepipe, too, inside the waiting-room. The +stove had been kept red-hot all that dull gray afternoon, but the +window-panes were still white with heavy frost-work. + +Half an hour before the five o'clock train was due from the city, two +boys came running up the railroad track with their skates in their +hands. They were handsome, sturdy little fellows, so well buttoned up in +their leather leggins and warm reefer overcoats that they scarcely felt +the cold. Their cheeks were red as winter apples, from skating against +the wind, and they were almost breathless after their long run up-hill +to the depot. Racing across the platform, they bumped against the door +at the same instant, burst it noisily open, and slammed it behind them +with a bang that shook the entire building. + +"What kind of a cyclone has struck us now?" growled the ticket agent, +who was in the next room. Then he frowned, as the first noise was +followed by the rasping sound of a bench being dragged out of a corner, +to a place nearer the stove. It scraped the bare floor every inch of the +way, with a jarring motion that made the windows rattle. + +Stretching himself half-way out of his chair, the ticket agent pushed up +the wooden slide of the little window far enough for him to peep into +the waiting-room. Then he hastily shoved it down again. + +"It's the two little chaps who came out from the city last week," he +said to the station-master. "The Maclntyre boys. You'd think they own +the earth from the way they dash in and take possession of things." + +The station-master liked boys. He stroked his gray beard and chuckled. +"Well, Meyers," he said, slowly, "when you come to think of it, their +family always has owned a pretty fair slice of the earth and its good +things, and those same little lads have travelled nearly all over it, +although the oldest can't be more than ten. It would be a wonder if they +didn't have that lordly way of making themselves at home wherever +they go." + +"Will they be out here all winter?" asked Meyers, who was a newcomer in +Lloydsborough. + +"Yes, their father and mother have gone to Florida, and left them here +with their grandmother Maclntyre." + +"I imagine the old lady has her hands full," said Meyers, as a sound of +scuffling in the next room reached him. + +"Oh, I don't know about that, now," said the station-master. "They're +noisy children, to be sure, and just boiling over with mischief, but if +you can find any better-mannered little gentlemen anywhere in the State +when there's ladies around, I'd like you to trot 'em out. They came down +to the train with their aunt this morning, Miss Allison Maclntyre, and +their politeness to her was something pretty to see, I can tell +you, sir." + +There was a moment's pause, in which the boys could be heard laughing in +the next room. + +"No," said the station-master again, "I'm thinking it's not the boys who +will be keeping Mrs. Maclntyre's hands full this winter, so much as +that little granddaughter of hers that came here last fall,--little +Virginia Dudley. You can guess what's she like from her nickname. They +call her Ginger. She had always lived at some army post out West, until +her father, Captain Dudley, was ordered to Cuba. He was wounded down +there, and has never been entirely well since. When he found they were +going to keep him there all winter, he sent for his wife last September, +and there was nothing to do with Virginia but to bring her back to +Kentucky to her grandmother." + +"Oh, she's the little girl who went in on the train this morning with +Miss Allison," said the ticket agent. "I suppose the boys have come down +to meet them. They'll have a long time to wait." + +While this conversation was going on behind the ticket window, the two +boys stretched themselves out on a long bench beside the stove. The warm +room made them feel drowsy after their violent out-door exercise. Keith, +the younger one, yawned several times, and finally lay down on the bench +with his cap for a pillow. He was eight years old, but curled up in that +fashion, with his long eyelashes resting on his red cheeks, and one +plump little hand tucked under his chin, he looked much younger. + +"Wake me up, Malcolm, when it's time for Aunt Allison's train," he said +to his brother. "Ginger would never stop teasing me if she should find +me asleep." + +Malcolm unbuttoned his reefer, and, after much tugging, pulled out a +handsome little gold watch. "Oh, there's a long time to wait!" he +exclaimed. "We need not have left the pond so early, for the train will +not be here for twenty-five minutes. I believe I'll curl up here myself, +till then. I hope they won't forget the valentines we sent for." + +The room was very still for a few minutes. There was no sound at all +except the crackling of the fire and the shivering of the wind in the +long stovepipe. Then some one turned the door-knob so cautiously and +slowly that it unlatched without a sound. + +It was the cold air rushing into the room as the door was pushed ajar +that aroused the boys. After one surprised glance they sat up, for the +man, who was slipping into the room as stealthily as a burglar, was the +worst-looking tramp they had ever seen. There was a long, ugly red scar +across his face, running from his cheek to the middle of his forehead, +and partly closing one eye. Perhaps it was the scar that gave him such a +queer, evil sort of an expression; even without it he would have been a +repulsive sight. His clothes were dirty and ragged, and his breath had +frozen in icicles on his stubby red beard. + +Behind him came a boy no larger than Keith, but with a hard, shrewd look +in his hungry little face that made one feel he had lived a long time +and learned more than was good for him to know. It was plain to be seen +that he was nearly starved, and suffering from the intense cold. His +bare toes peeped through their ragged shoes, and he had no coat. A thin +cotton shirt and a piece of an old gray horse-blanket was all that +protected his shoulders from the icy wind of that February afternoon. +He, too, crept in noiselessly, as if expecting to be ordered out at the +first sound, and then turned to coax in some animal that was tied to one +end of the rope which he held. + +Malcolm and Keith looked on with interest, and sprang up excitedly as +the animal finally shuffled in far enough for the boy to close the door +behind it. It was a great, shaggy bear, taller than the man when it sat +up on its haunches beside him. + +The tramp looked uneasily around the room for an instant, but seeing no +one save the two children, ventured nearer the stove. The boy followed +him, and the bear shuffled along behind them both, limping painfully. +Not a word was said for a moment. The boys were casting curious glances +at the three tramps who had come in as noiselessly as if they had snowed +down, and the man was watching the boys with shrewd eyes. He did not +seem to be looking at them, but at the end of his survey he could have +described them accurately. He had noticed every detail of their +clothing, from their expensive leather leggins to their fur-lined +gloves. He glanced at Malcolm's watch-chain and the fine skates which +Keith swung back and forth by a strap, and made up his mind, correctly, +too, that the pockets of these boys rarely lacked the jingle of money +which they could spend as they pleased. + +When he turned away to hold his hands out toward the stove, he rubbed +them together with satisfaction, for he had discovered more than that. +He knew from their faces that they were trusting little souls, who would +believe any story he might tell them, if he appealed to their sympathies +in the right way. He was considering how to begin, when Malcolm broke +the silence. + +"Is that a trained bear?" + +The man nodded. + +"What can it do?" was the next question. + +"Oh, lots of things," answered the man, in a low, whining voice. "Drill +like a soldier, and dance, and ride a stick." He kept his shifty eyes +turning constantly toward the door, as if afraid some one might +overhear him. + +"I'd put him through his paces for you young gen'lemen," he said, "but +he got his foot hurt for one thing, and another is, if we went to +showing off, we might be ordered to move on. This is the first time +we've smelled a fire in twenty-four hours, and we ain't in no hurry to +leave it, I can tell you." + +"Will he bite?" asked Keith, going up to the huge bear, which had +stretched itself out comfortably on the floor. + +"Not generally. He's a good-tempered brute, most times like a lamb. But +he ain't had nothing to eat all day, so it wouldn't be surprising if he +was a bit snappish." + +"Nothing to eat!" echoed Keith. "You poor old thing!" Going a step +closer, he put out his hand and stroked the bear, as if it had been a +great dog. + +"Oh, Malcolm, just feel how soft his fur is, like mamma's beaver jacket. +And he has the kindest old face. Poor old fellow, is you hungry? Never +mind, Keith'll get you something to eat pretty soon." + +Putting his short, plump arms around the animal's neck, he hugged it +lovingly up to him. A cunning gleam came into the man's eyes. He saw +that he had gained the younger boy's sympathy, and he wanted +Malcolm's also. + +"Is your home near here, my little gen'leman?" he asked, in a friendly +tone. + +"No, we live in the city," answered Malcolm, "but my grandmother's +place, where we are staying, is not far from here." He was stroking the +bear with one hand as he spoke, and hunting in his pocket with the +other, hoping to find some stray peanuts to give it. + +"Then maybe you know of some place where we could stay to-night. Even a +shed to crawl into would keep us from freezing. It's an awful cold night +not to have a roof over your head, or a crust to gnaw on, or a spark of +fire to keep life in your body." + +"Maybe they'd let you stay in the waiting-room," suggested Malcolm. "It +is always good and warm in here. I'll ask the station-master. He's a +friend of mine." + +"Oh, no! No, don't!" exclaimed the tramp, hastily, pulling his old hat +farther over his forehead, as if to hide the scar, and looking uneasily +around. "I wouldn't have you do that for anything. I've had dealings +with such folks before, and I know how they'd treat _me_. I thought +maybe there was a barn or a hay-shed or something on your grandmother's +place, where we could lay up for repairs a couple of days. The beast +needs a rest. Its foot's sore; and Jonesy there is pretty near to lung +fever, judging from the way he coughs." He nodded toward the boy, who +had placed his chair as close to the stove as possible. The child's face +was drawn into a pucker by the tingling pains in his half-frozen feet, +and his efforts to keep from coughing. + +Malcolm looked at him steadily. He had read about boys who were homeless +and hungry and cold, but he had never really understood how much it +meant to be all that. This was the first time in his ten short years +that he had ever come close to real poverty. He had seen the swarms of +beggars that infest such cities as Naples and Rome, and had tossed them +coppers because that seemed a part of the programme in travelling. He +had not really felt sorry for them, for they did not seem to mind it. +They sat on the steps in the warm Italian sunshine, and waited for +tourists to throw them money, as comfortably as toads sit blinking at +flies. But this was different. A wave of pity swept through Malcolm's +generous little heart as he looked at Jonesy, and the man watching him +shrewdly saw it. + +"Of course," he whined, "a little gen'leman like you don't know what it +is to go from town to town and have every door shut in your face. You +don't think that this is a hard-hearted, stingy old world, because it +has given you the cream of everything. But if you'd never had anything +all your life but other people's scraps and leavings, and you hadn't any +home or friends or money, and was sick besides, you'd think things +wasn't very evenly divided. Wouldn't you now? You'd think it wasn't +right that some should have all that heart can wish, and others not +enough to keep soul and body together. If you'd a-happened to be Jonesy, +and Jonesy had a-happened to 'a' been you, I reckon you'd feel it was +pretty tough to see such a big difference between you. It doesn't seem +fair now, does it?" + +"No," admitted Malcolm, faintly. He had taken a dislike to the man. He +could not have told why, but his child instinct armed him with a sudden +distrust. Still, he felt the force of the whining appeal, and the burden +of an obligation to help them seemed laid upon his shoulders. + +"Grandmother is afraid for anybody to sleep in the barn, on account of +fire," he said, after a moment's thought, "and I'm sure she wouldn't let +you come into the house without you'd had a bath and some clean clothes. +Grandmother is dreadfully particular," he added, hastily, not wanting to +be impolite even to a tramp. "Seems to me Keith and I have to spend half +our time washing our hands and putting on clean collars." + +"Oh, I know a place," cried Keith. "There's that empty cabin down by the +spring-house. Nobody has lived in it since the new servants' cottage was +built. There isn't any furniture in it, but there's a fireplace in one +room, and it would be warmer than the barn." + +"That's just the trick!" exclaimed Malcolm. "We can carry a pile of hay +over from the barn for you to sleep on. Aunt Allison will be out on this +next train and I'll ask her. I am sure she will let you, because last +night, when it was so cold, she said she felt sorry for anything that +had to be out in it, even the poor old cedar trees, with the sleet on +their branches. She said that it was King Lear's own weather, and she +could understand how Cordelia felt when she said, _'Mine enemy's dog, +though he had bit me, should have stood that night against my fire!'_ It +is just like auntie to feel that way about it, only she's so good to +everybody she couldn't have any enemies." + +Something like a smile moved the tramp's stubby beard. "So she's that +kind, is she? Well, if she could have a soft spot for a dog that had bit +her, and an enemy's dog at that, it stands to reason that she wouldn't +object to some harmless travellers a-sleeping in an empty cabin a couple +of nights. S'pose'n you show us the place, sonny, and we'll be +moving on." + +"Oh, it wouldn't be right not to ask her first," exclaimed Malcolm. +"She'll be here in such a little while." + +The man looked uneasy. Presently he walked over to the window and +scraped a peep-hole on the frosted pane with his dirty thumbnail. "Sun's +down," he said. "I'd like to get that bear's foot fixed comfortable +before it grows any darker. I'd like to mighty well. It'll take some +time to heat water to dress it. Is that cabin far from here?" + +"Not if we go in at the back of the place," said Malcolm. "It's just +across the meadow, and over a little hill. If we went around by the big +front gate it would be a good deal longer." + +The man shifted uneasily from one foot to another, and complained of +being hungry. He was growing desperate. For more reasons than one he did +not want to be at the station when the train came in. That long red scar +across his face had been described a number of times in the newspapers, +and he did not care to be recognised just then. + +The boys could not have told how it came about, but in a few minutes +they were leading the way toward the cabin. The man had persuaded them +that it was not at all necessary to wait for their Aunt Allison's +permission, and that it was needless to trouble their grandmother. Why +should the ladies be bothered about a matter that the boys were old +enough to decide? So well had he argued, and so tactfully had he +flattered them, that when they took their way across the field, it was +with the feeling that they were doing their highest duty in getting +these homeless wayfarers to the cabin as quickly as possible, on +their own responsibility. + +[Illustration: "ACROSS THE SNOWY FIELDS."] + +"We can get back in time to meet the train, if we hurry," said Malcolm, +looking at his watch again. "There's still fifteen minutes." + +No one saw the little procession file out of the waiting-room and across +the snowy field, for it was growing dark, and the lamps were lighted and +the curtains drawn in the few houses they passed. Malcolm went first, +proudly leading the friendly old bear. Jonesy came next beside Keith, +and the man shuffled along in the rear, looking around with suspicious +glances whenever a twig snapped, or a distant dog barked. + +As the wind struck against Jonesy's body, he drew the bit of blanket +more closely around him, and coughed hoarsely. His teeth were chattering +and his lips blue. "You look nearly frozen," said Keith, who, well-clad +and well-fed, scarcely felt the cold. "Here! put this on, or you'll be +sick," Unbuttoning his thick little reefer, he pulled it off and tied +its sleeves around Jonesy's neck. + +A strange look passed over the face of the man behind them. "Blessed if +the little kid didn't take it off his own back," he muttered. "If any +man had ever done that for me--just once--well, maybe, I wouldn't ha' +been what I am now!" + +For a moment, as they reached the top of the hill, bear, boys, and man +were outlined blackly against the sky like strange silhouettes. Then +they passed over and disappeared in the thick clump of pine-trees, which +hid the little cabin from the eyes of the surrounding world. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GINGER AND THE BOYS. + +In less time than one would think possible, a big fire was roaring in +the cabin fireplace, water was steaming in the rusty kettle on the +crane, and a pile of hay and old carpet lay in one corner, ready to be +made into a bed. Keith had made several trips to the kitchen, and came +back each time with his hands full. + +Old Daphne, the cook, never could find it in her heart to refuse "Marse +Sydney's" boys anything. They were too much like what their father had +been at their age to resist their playful coaxing. She had nursed him +when he was a baby, and had been his loyal champion all through his +boyhood. Now her black face wrinkled into smiles whenever she heard his +name spoken. In her eyes, nobody was quite so near perfection as he, +except, perhaps, the fair woman whom he had married. + +"Kain't nobody in ten States hole a can'le to my Marse Sidney an' his +Miss Elise," old Daphne used to say, proudly. "They sut'n'ly is the +handsomest couple evah jined togethah, an' the free-handedest. In all +they travels by sea or by land they nevah fo'gits ole Daphne. I've got +things from every country undah the shinin' sun what they done +brung me." + +Now, all the services she had once been proud to render them were +willingly given to their little sons. When Keith came in with a pitiful +tale of a tramp who was starving at their very gates, she gave him even +more than he asked for, and almost more than he could carry. + +The bear and its masters were so hungry, and their two little hosts so +interested in watching them eat, that they forgot all about going back +to meet the train. They did not even hear it whistle when it came +puffing into the Valley. + +As Miss Allison stepped from the car to the station platform, she looked +around in vain for the boys who had promised to meet her. Her arms were +so full of bundles, as suburban passengers' usually are, that she could +not hold up her long broadcloth skirt, or even turn her handsome fur +collar higher over her ears. With a shade of annoyance on her pretty +face, she swept across the platform and into the waiting-room, out +of the cold. + +Behind her came a little girl about ten years old, as unlike her as +possible, although it was Virginia Dudley's ambition to be exactly like +her Aunt Allison. She wanted to be tall, and slender, and grown up; Miss +Allison was that, and yet she had kept all her lively girlish ways, and +a love of fun that made her charming to everybody, young and old. +Virginia longed for wavy brown hair and white hands, and especially for +a graceful, easy manner. Her hair was short and black, and her +complexion like a gypsy's. She had hard, brown little fists, sharp gray +eyes that seemed to see everything at once, and a tongue that was always +getting her into trouble. As for the ease of manner, that might come in +time, but her stately old grandmother often sighed in secret over +Virginia's awkwardness. + +She stumbled now as she followed the young lady into the waiting-room. +Her big, plume-covered hat tipped over one ear, but she, too, had so +many bundles, that she could not spare a hand to straighten it. + +"Well, Virginia, what do you suppose has become of the boys?" asked her +aunt. "They promised to meet us and carry our packages." + +"I heard them in here about half an hour ago, Miss Allison," said the +station-master, who had come in with a lantern. "I s'pose they got tired +of waiting. Better leave your things here, hadn't you? I'll watch them. +It is mighty slippery walking this evening." + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Mason," she answered, beginning to pile boxes and +packages upon a bench, I'll send Pete down for them immediately. Now, +Virginia, turn up your coat collar and hold your muff over your nose, or +Jack Frost will make an icicle out of you before you are half-way home. + +They had been in the house some time before the boys remembered their +promise to meet them at the station. When they saw how late it was, they +started home on the run. + +"I am fairly aching to tell Ginger about that bear," panted Keith, as +they reached the side door. "I am so sorry that we promised the man not +to say anything about them being on the place, before he sees us again +to-morrow. I wonder why he asked us that." + +"I don't know," answered Malcolm. "He seemed to have some very good +reason, and he talked about it so that it didn't seem right not to +promise a little thing like that." + +"I wish we hadn't, though," said Keith, again. + +"But it's done now," persisted Malcolm. "We're bound not to tell, and +you can't get out of it, for he made us give him our word 'on the +honour of a gentleman;' and that settles it, you know." + +They were two very dirty boys who clattered up the back stairs, and +raced to their room to dress for dinner. Their clothes were covered with +hayseed and straw, and their hands and faces were black with soot from +the old cabin chimney. They had both helped to build the fire. + +The lamps had just been lighted in the upper hall, and Virginia came +running out from her room when she heard the boys' voices. + +"Why didn't you meet us at the train?" she began, but stopped as she saw +their dirty faces. "Where on earth have you chimney-sweeps been?" +she cried. + +"Oh, about and about," answered Malcolm, teasingly. "Don't you wish you +knew?" + +Virginia shrugged her shoulders, as if she had not the slightest +interest in the matter, and held out two packages. + +"Here are the valentines you sent for. You just ought to see the pile +that Aunt Allison bought. We've the best secret about to-morrow that +ever was." + +"So have we," began Keith, but Malcolm clapped a sooty hand over his +mouth and pulled him toward the door of their room. "Come on," he said. +"We've barely time to dress for dinner. Don't you know enough to keep +still, you little magpie?" he exclaimed, as the door banged behind them. +"The only way to keep a secret is not to act like you have one!" + +Virginia walked slowly back to her room and paused in the doorway, +wondering what she could do to amuse herself until dinner-time. It was a +queer room for a girl, decorated with flags and Indian trophies and +everything that could remind her of the military life she loved, at the +far-away army post. There were photographs framed in brass buttons on +her dressing-table, and pictures of uniformed officers all over the +walls. A canteen and an army cap with a bullet-hole through the crown, +hung over her desk, and a battered bugle, that had sounded many a +triumphant charge, swung from the corner of her mirror. + +Each souvenir had a history, and had been given her at parting by some +special friend. Every one at the fort had made a pet of Captain Dudley's +daughter,--the harum-scarum little Ginger,--who would rather dash across +the prairies on her pony, like a wild Comanche Indian, than play with +the finest doll ever imported from Paris. + +There was a suit in her wardrobe, short skirt, jacket, leggins, and +moccasins, all made and beaded by the squaws. It was the gift of the +colonel's wife. Mrs. Dudley had hesitated some time before putting it in +one of the trunks that was to go back to Kentucky. + +"You look so much like an Indian now," she said to Virginia. "Your face +is so sunburned that I am afraid your grandmother will be scandalised. I +don't know what she would say if she knew that I ever allowed you to run +so wild. If I had known that you were going back to civilisation I +certainly should not have kept your hair cut short, and you should have +worn sunbonnets all summer." + +To Mrs. Dudley's great surprise, her little daughter threw herself into +her arms, sobbing, "Oh, mamma! I don't want to go back to Kentucky! Take +me to Cuba with you! Please do, or else let me stay here at the post. +Everybody will take care of me here! I'll just _die_ if you leave me in +Kentucky!" + +"Why, darling," she said, soothingly, as she wiped her tears away and +rocked her back and forth in her arms, "I thought you have always +wanted to see mamma's old home, and the places you have heard so much +about. There are all the old toys in the nursery that we had when we +were children, and the grape-vine swing in the orchard, and the +mill-stream where we fished, and the beech-woods where we had such +delightful picnics. I thought it would be so nice for you to do all the +same things that made me so happy when I was a child, and go to school +in the same old Girls' College and know all the dear old neighbours that +I knew. Wouldn't my little girl like that?" + +"Oh, yes, some, I s'pose," sobbed Virginia, "but I didn't know I'd have +to be so--so--everlastingly--civilised!" she wailed. "I don't want to +always have to dress just so, and have to walk in a path and be called +Virginia all the time. That sounds so stiff and proper. I'd rather stay +where people don't mind if I am sunburned and tanned, and won't be +scandalised at everything I do. It's so much nicer to be just +plain Ginger!" + +It had been five months, now, since Virginia left Fort Dennis. At first +she had locked hen self in her room nearly every day, and, with her +face buried in her Indian suit, cried to go back. She missed the gay +military life of the army post, as a sailor would miss the sea, or an +Alpine shepherd the free air of his snow-capped mountain heights. + +It was not that she did not enjoy being at her grandmother's. She liked +the great gray house whose square corner tower and over-hanging vines +made it look like an old castle. She liked the comfort and elegance of +the big, stately rooms, and she had her grandmother's own pride in the +old family portraits and the beautiful carved furniture. The negro +servants seemed so queer and funny to her that she found them a great +source of amusement, and her Aunt Allison planned so many pleasant +occupations outside of school-hours that she scarcely had time to get +lonesome. But she had a shut-in feeling, like a wild bird in a cage, and +sometimes the longing for liberty which her mother had allowed her made +her fret against the thousand little proprieties she had to observe. +Sometimes when she went tipping over the polished floors of the long +drawing room, and caught sight of herself in one of the big mirrors, she +felt that she was not herself at all, but somebody in a story. The +Virginia in the looking-glass seemed so very, very civilised. More than +once, after one of these meetings with herself in the mirror, she dashed +up-stairs, locked her door, and dressed herself in her Indian suit. Then +in her noiseless moccasins she danced the wildest of war-dances, +whispering shrilly between her teeth, "Now I'm Ginger! Now I'm Ginger! +And I _won't_ be dressed up, and I _won't_ learn my lessons, and I +_won't_ be a little lady, and I'll run away and go back to Fort Dennis +the very first chance I get!" + +Usually she was ashamed of these outbursts afterwards, for it always +happened that after each one she found her Aunt Allison had planned +something especially pleasant for her entertainment. Miss Allison felt +sorry for the lonely child, who had never been separated from her father +and mother before, so she devoted her time to her as much as possible, +telling her stories and entering into her plays and pleasures as if they +had both been the same age. + +Since the boys had come, Virginia had not had a single homesick moment. +While she was at school in the primary department of the Girls' +College, Malcolm and Keith were reciting their lessons to the old +minister who lived across the road from Mrs. MacIntyre's. They were all +free about the same hour, and even on the coldest days played +out-of-doors from lunch-time until dark. + +To-night Virginia had so many experiences to tell them of her day in +town that the boys seemed unusually long in dressing. She was so +impatient for them to hear her news that she could not settle down to +anything, but walked restlessly around the room, wishing they +would hurry. + +"Oh, I haven't sorted my valentines!" she exclaimed, presently, picking +up a fancy box which she had tossed on the bed when she first came in. +"I'll take them down to the library." + +There was no one in the room when she peeped in. It looked so bright and +cosy with the great wood fire blazing on the hearth and the +rose-coloured light falling from its softly shaded lamps, that she +forgot the coldness of the night outside. Sitting down on a pile of +cushions at one end of the hearth-rug, she began sorting her purchases, +trying to decide to whom each one should be sent. + +"The prettiest valentine of all must go to poor papa," she said to +herself, "'cause he's been so sick away down there in Cuba; and this one +that's got the little girl on it in a blue dress shall be for my dear, +sweet mamma, 'cause it will make her think of me." + +For a moment, a mist seemed to blur the gay blue dress of the little +valentine girl as Virginia looked at her, thinking of her far-away +mother. She drew her hand hastily across her eyes and went on: + +"This one is for Sergeant Jackson out at Fort Dennis, and the biggest +one, with the doves, for Colonel Philips and his wife. Dear me! I wish I +could send one to every officer and soldier out there. They were all +_so_ good to me!" + +The pile of lace-paper cupids and hearts and arrows and roses slipped +from her lap, down to the rug, as she clasped her hands around her knees +and looked into the fire. She wished that she could be back again at the +fort, long enough to live one of those beautiful old days from reveille +to taps. How she loved the bugle-calls and the wild thrill the band gave +her, when it struck up a burst of martial music, and the troops went +dashing by! How she missed the drills and the dress parades; her rides +across the open prairie on her pony, beside her father; how she missed +the games she used to play with the other children at the fort on the +long summer evenings! + +Something more than a mist was gathering in her eyes now. Two big tears +were almost ready to fall when the door opened and Mrs. MacIntyre came +in. In Virginia's eyes she was the most beautiful grandmother any one +ever had. She was not so tall as her daughter Allison, and in that +respect fell short of the little girl's ideal, but her hair, white as +snow, curled around her face in the same soft, pretty fashion, and by +every refined feature she showed her kinship to the aristocratic old +faces which looked down from the family portraits in the hall. + +"I couldn't be as stately and dignified as she is if I practised a +thousand years," thought Virginia, scrambling up from the pile of +cushions to roll a chair nearer the fire. As she did so, her heel caught +in the rug, and she fell back in an awkward little heap. + +"The more haste, the less grace, my dear," said her grandmother, kindly, +thanking her for the proffered chair. Virginia blushed, wondering why +she always appeared so awkward in her grandmother's presence. She envied +the boys because they never seemed embarrassed or ill at ease +before her. + +While she was picking up her valentines the boys came in. If two of the +cavalier ancestors had stepped down from their portrait frames just +then, they could not have come into the room in a more charming manner +than Malcolm and Keith. Their faces were shining, their linen spotless, +and they came up to kiss their grandmother's cheek with an old-time +courtliness that delighted her. + +"I am sure that there are no more perfect gentlemen in all Kentucky than +my two little lads," she said, fondly, with an approving pat of Keith's +hand as she held him a moment. + +Virginia, who had seen them half an hour before, tousled and dirty, and +had been arrayed against them in more than one hot quarrel where they +had been anything but chivalrous, let slip a faintly whistled +"_cuckoo!_" + +The boys darted a quick glance in her direction, but she was bending +over the valentines with a very serious face, which never changed its +expression till her Aunt Allison came in and the boys began their +apologies for not meeting her at the train. Their only excuse was that +they had forgotten all about it. + +Virginia spelled on her fingers: "I dare you to tell what made your +faces so black!" Keith's only answer was to thrust his tongue out at her +behind his grandmother's back. Then he ran to hold the door open for the +ladies to pass out to dinner, with all the grace of a young +Chesterfield. + +When dinner was over and they were back in the library, Miss Allison +opened a box of tiny heart-shaped envelopes, and began addressing them. +As she took up her pen she said, merrily: "_Now_ you may tell our +secret, Virginia." + +"I was going to make you guess for about an hour," said Virginia, "but +it is so nice I can't wait that long to tell you. We are going to have a +valentine party to-morrow night. Aunt Allison planned it all a week ago, +and bought the things for it while we were in town to-day. Everything on +the table is to be cut in heart shape,--the bread and butter and +sandwiches and cheese; and the ice-cream will be moulded in hearts, and +the two big frosted cakes are hearts, one pink and one white, with candy +arrows sticking in them. Then there will be peppermint candy hearts with +mottoes printed on them, and lace-paper napkins with verses on them, so +that the table itself will look like a lovely big valentine. The games +are lovely, too. One is parlour archery, with a red heart in the middle +of the target, and two prizes, one for the boys and one for the girls." + +"Who are invited?" asked Malcolm, as Virginia stopped for breath. + +"Oh, the Carrington boys, and the Edmunds, and Sally Fairfax, and Julia +Ferris,--I can't remember them all. There will be twenty-four, counting +us. There is the list on the table." + +Keith reached for it, and began slowly spelling out the names. "Who is +this?" he asked, reading the name that headed the list. "'The Little +Colonel!' I never heard of him," + +"Oh, he's a girl!" laughed Virginia. Little Lloyd Sherman,--don't you +know? She lives up at 'The Locusts,' that lovely place with the long +avenue of trees leading up to the house. You've surely seen her with her +grandfather, old Colonel Lloyd, riding by on the horse that he calls +Maggie Boy." + +"Has he only one arm?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes, the other was shot off in the war years ago. Well, when Lloyd was +younger, she had a temper so much like his, and wore such a dear little +Napoleon hat, that everybody took to calling her the Little Colonel." + +"How old is she now?" asked Malcolm. + +"About Keith's age, isn't she, Aunt Allison?" asked Virginia. + +"Yes," was the answer. "She is nearly eight, I believe. She has +outgrown most of her naughtiness now." + +"I love to hear her talk," said Virginia. "She leaves out all of her r's +in such a soft, sweet way." + +"All Southerners do that," said Malcolm, pompously, "and I think it +sounds lots better than the way Yankees talk." + +"You boys don't talk like the Little Colonel," retorted Virginia, who +had often been teased by them for not being a Southerner. "You're all +mixed up every which way. Some things you say like darkeys, and some +things like English people, and it doesn't sound a bit like the +Little Colonel." + +"Oh, well, that's because we've travelled abroad so much, don't you +know," drawled Malcolm, "and we've been in so many different countries, +and had an English tutor, and all that sort of a thing. We couldn't help +picking up a bit of an accent, don't you know." His superior tone made +Virginia long to slap him. + +"Yes, I know, Mr. Brag," she said, in such a low voice that her +grandmother could not hear. "I know perfectly well. If I didn't it +wouldn't be because you haven't told me every chance you got. Who did +you say is your tailor in London, and how many times was it the Queen +invited you out to Windsor? I think it's a ninety-nine dollar cravat you +always buy, isn't it? And you wouldn't be so common as to wear a pair of +gloves that hadn't been made to order specially for you. Yes, I've heard +all about it!" + +Miss Allison heard, but said nothing. She knew the boys were a little +inclined to boast, and she thought Virginia's sharp tongue might have a +good effect. But the retort had grown somewhat sharper than was +pleasant, and, fearing a quarrel might follow if she did not interrupt +the whispers beside her, she said: + +"Boys, did you ever hear about the time that the Little Colonel threw +mud on her grandfather's coat? There's no end to her pranks. Get +grandmother to tell you." + +"Oh, yes, please, grandmother," begged Keith, with an arm around her +neck. "Tell about Fritz and the parrot, too," said Virginia. "Here, +Malcolm, there's room on this side for you." + +Aunt Allison smiled. The storm had blown over, and they were all friends +again. + +[Illustration: "'DAPHNE, WHAT'S DEM CHILLUN ALLUZ RACIN' DOWN TO DE +SPRING-HOUSE FO'?'"] + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE VALENTINE PARTY. + +"Now we can tell Ginger about the bear," was Keith's first remark, when +he awoke early next morning. + +"But not until after we have seen the man again," answered Malcolm. "You +know we promised him that." + +"Then let's go down before breakfast," exclaimed Keith, springing out of +bed and beginning to dress himself. A little while later, the old +coloured coachman saw them run past the window, where he was warming +himself by the kitchen stove. + +"Daphne," he called out to the cook, who was beating biscuit in the +adjoining pantry, "Daphne, what's dem chillun alluz racin' down to de +spring-house fo' in de snow? Peah's lak dee has a heap o' business +down yandah." + +Daphne, who had just been coaxed into filling a basket with a generous +supply of cold victuals, pretended not to hear until he repeated his +question. Then she stopped pounding long enough to say, sharply, +"Whuffo' you alluz 'spicion dem boys so evahlastin'ly, Unc' Henry? Lak +enough dee's settin' a rabbit trap. Boys has done such things befo'. +You's done it yo'se'f, hasn't you?" + +Daphne had seen them setting rabbit traps there, but she knew well +enough that was not what they had gone for now, and that the food they +carried was not for the game of Robinson Crusoe, which they had played +in the deserted cabin the summer before. Still, she did not care to take +Unc' Henry into her confidence. + +The food, the warmth, and the night's rest had so restored the bear that +it was able to go through all its performances for the boys' +entertainment, although it limped badly. + +"Isn't he a dandy?" cried Keith; "I wish we had one. It's nicer than any +pets we ever had, except the ponies. Something always happened to the +dogs, and the monkey was such a nuisance, and the white rabbits were +stolen, and the guinea pigs died." + +"Haven't we had a lot of things, when you come to think of it?" +exclaimed Malcolm. "Squirrels, and white mice, and the coon that Uncle +Harry brought us, and the parrot from Mexico." + +"Yes, and the gold-fish, and the little baby alligator that froze to +death in its tank," added Keith. "But a bear like this would be nicer +than any of them. As soon as papa comes home I am going to ask him to +buy us one." + +"Jonesy's nearly done for," said the tramp, pointing to the boy who lay +curled up in the hay, coughing at nearly every breath. "We ought to stay +here another day, if you young gen'lemen don't object." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Keith. "Then we can bring Ginger down to see the bear +perform." + +"Yes," answered the man, "we'll give a free show to all your friends, if +you will only kindly wait till to-morrow. Give us one more day to rest +up and get in a little better trim. The poor beast's foot is still too +lame for him to do his best, and you're too kind-hearted, I am sure, to +want anything to suffer in order to give you pleasure." + +"Of course," answered both the boys, agreeing so quickly to all the +man's smooth speeches that, before they left the cabin, they had +renewed their promise to keep silent one more day. The man was a shrewd +one, and knew well how to make these unsuspecting little souls serve his +purpose, like puppets tied to a string. + +Miss Allison was so busy with preparations for the party that she had no +time all that day to notice what the boys were doing. When they came +back from reciting their lessons to the minister, she sent them on +several errands, but the rest of the time they divided between the cabin +and the post-office. + +Every mail brought a few valentines to each of them, but it was not +until the five o'clock train came that they found the long-looked-for +letters from their father and mother. + +"I knew they'd each send us a valentine," cried Keith, tearing both of +his open. "I'll bet that papa's is a comic one. Yes, here it is. Papa is +such a tease. Isn't it a stunner? a base-ball player. And, whoopee! +Here's a dollar bill in each of 'em." + +"So there is in mine," said Malcolm. "Mamma says we are to buy anything +we want, and call it a valentine. They couldn't find anything down on +the coast that they thought we would like." + +"I don't know what to get with mine," said Keith, folding his two bills +together. "Seems to me I have everything I want except a camera, and I +couldn't buy the kind I want for two dollars." + +They were half-way home when a happy thought came to Malcolm. "Keith," +he cried, excitedly, "if you would put your money with mine, that would +make four dollars, and maybe it would be enough to buy that bear!" + +"Let's do it!" exclaimed Keith, turning a handspring in the snow to show +his delight. "Come on, we'll ask the man now." + +But the man shook his head, when they dashed into the cabin and told +their errand. "No, sonny, that ain't a tenth of what it's worth to me," +he said. "I've raised that bear from the time it was a teeny cub. I've +taught it, and fed it, and looked to it for company when I hadn't nobody +in the world to care for me. Couldn't sell that bear for no such sum as +that. Couldn't you raise any more money than that?" + +It was Malcolm's turn to shake his head. He turned away, too +disappointed to trust himself to answer any other way. The tears sprang +to Keith's eyes. He had set his heart on having that bear. + +"Never mind, brother," said Malcolm, moving toward the door. "Papa will +get us one when he comes home and finds how much we want one." + +"Oh, don't be in such a hurry, young gen'lemen," whined the man, when he +saw that they were really going. "I didn't say that I wouldn't sell it +to you for that much. You've been so kind to me that I ought to be +willing to make any sacrifice for you. I happen to need four dollars +very particular just now, and I've a mind to sell him to you on your own +terms." He paused a moment, looking thoughtfully at a crack in the +floor, as he stood by the fire with his hands in his pockets. "Yes," he +said, at last, "you can have him for four dollars, if you'll keep mum +about us being here for one more day. You can leave the bear here +till we go." + +"No! No!" cried Keith, throwing his arms around the animal's neck. "He +is ours now, and we must take him with us. We can hide him away in the +barn. It is so dark out-doors now that nobody will see us. It wouldn't +seem like he is really ours if we couldn't take him with us." + +After some grumbling the man consented, and pocketed the four dollars, +first asking very particularly the exact spot in the barn where they +expected to hide their huge pet. + +Unc' Henry, coming up from the carriage-house through the twilight, +thought he saw some one stealing along by the clump of cedars by the +spring-house. "Who's prowlin' roun' dis yere premises?" he called. There +was no answer, and, after peering intently through the dusk for a +moment, the old darkey concluded that he must have been mistaken, and +passed on. As soon as he was gone, the boys came out from behind the +cedars, and crept up the snowy hillside. They were leading the bear +between them. + +"We'll put him away back in the hay-mow where he'll be warm and +comfortable to-night," whispered Malcolm. "Then in the morning we can +tell everybody." + +While they were busily scooping out a big hollow in the hay, they were +startled by a rustling behind them. They looked into each other's +frightened faces, and then glanced around the dark barn in alarm. An old +cap pushed up through the hay. Then a weak little cough betrayed Jonesy. +He had followed them. + +"Sh!" he said, in a warning whisper. "I'm afraid the boss will find out +that I'm here. He started to the store for some tobacco as soon as you +left. He's been wild fer some, but didn't have no money. _Don't you +leave that bear out here to-night, if you ever expect to see it again!_ +That wasn't true what he told you. He never saw the bear till two months +ago, and he sold it to you cheap because he's a-goin' to steal it back +again to-night, and make off up the road with it. He went off a-grinnin' +over the slick way he'd fooled you, and I jes' had to come and tell, +'cause you've been so good to me. I'll never forget the little kid's +givin' me the coat off his own back, if I live to be a hundred. Now +don't blab on me, or the boss would nearly kill me." + +"Is that man your father?" began Keith, but Jonesy, alarmed by some +sudden noise, sprang to the door, and disappeared in the twilight. + +The boys looked at each other a moment, with surprise and indignation +in their faces. There was a hurried consultation in the hay-mow. A few +moments later the boys were smuggling their new pet into the house, and +up the back stairs. They scarcely dared breathe until it was safe in +their own room. + +All the time that they were dressing for the party, they were trying to +decide where to put it for the night, so that neither the tramp nor the +family could discover it. What Jonesy had told them about the man's +dishonest intention did not relieve them from their promise. They were +amazed that any one could be so mean, and longed to tell their Aunt +Allison all about it; still, one of the conditions on which they had +bought the bear was that they were to "keep mum," and they stuck +strictly to that promise. + +By the time they were dressed, they had decided to put it in the blue +room, a guest-chamber in the north wing, seldom used in winter, because +it was so hard to heat. "Nobody will ever think of coming in here," said +Malcolm, "and it will be plenty warm for a bear if we turn on the +furnace a little." As he spoke, he was tying the bear's rope around a +leg of the big, high-posted bed. + +"Won't Ginger be surprised?" answered Keith. "We'll tell her that we +have a valentine six feet long, and keep her guessing." + +There was no time for teasing, however, as the first guest arrived while +they were still in the blue room. + +"I hate to go off and leave him in the dark," said Keith, with a final +loving pat. "I guess he'll not mind, though. Maybe he'll think he is in +the woods if I put this good-smelling pine pillow on the rug +beside him." + +"Oh, boys," called Virginia from the hall down-stairs. "See what an +enormous valentine pie Aunt Allison has made!" + +Looking over the banisters, the boys saw that a table had been drawn +into the middle of the wide reception-hall, and on it sat the largest +pie that they had ever seen. It was in a bright new tin pan, and its +daintily browned crust would have made them hungry even if their +appetites had not been sharpened by the cold and exercise of the +afternoon. + +"What a queer place to serve pie," said Malcolm, in a disapproving +undertone to his brother. "Why don't they have it in the dining-room? It +looks mighty good, but somehow it doesn't seem proper to have it stuck +out here in the hall. Mamma would never do such a thing." + +"Aw, it's made of paper! She fooled us, sure, Malcolm," called back +Keith, who had run on ahead to look. "It is only painted to look like a +pie. But isn't it a splendid imitation?" + +Virginia, pleased to have caught them so cleverly, showed them the ends +of twenty-four pieces of narrow ribbon, peeping from under the +delicately brown top crust. "The white ones are for the girls, and the +red ones for the boys," she explained. "There is a valentine on the end +of each one, and those on the red ribbons match the ones on the white. +We'll all pull at once, and the ones who have valentines alike will go +out to dinner together." + +The guests came promptly. They had been invited for half-past six, and +dinner was to be served soon after that time. The last to arrive was the +Little Colonel. She came in charge of an old coloured woman, Mom Beck, +who had been her mother's nurse as well as her own. The child was so +hidden in her wraps when Mom Beck led her up-stairs, that no one could +tell how she looked. The boys had been curious to see her, ever since +they had heard so many tales of her mischievous pranks. A few minutes +later, when she appeared in the parlours, there was a buzz of +admiration. Maybe it was not so much for the soft light hair, the +star-like beauty of her big dark eyes, or the delicate colour in her +cheeks that made them as pink as a wild rose, as it was for the +valentine costume she wore. It was of dainty white tulle, sprinkled with +hundreds of tiny red velvet hearts, and there was a coronet of +glittering rhinestones on her long fair hair. + +"The Queen of Hearts," announced Aunt Allison, leading her forward. "You +know 'she made some tarts, upon a summer day,' and now she shall open +the valentine pie and see if it is as good as her Majesty's." + +The big music-box in the hall began playing one of its liveliest +waltzes, the children gathered around the great pie, and twenty-four +little hands reached out to grasp the floating ends of ribbon. + +"Pull!" cried the little Queen of Hearts. The paper crust flew off, and +twenty-four yards of ribbon, each with a valentine attached, fluttered +brightly through the air for an instant. + +"Now match your verses," cried her Majesty again, opening her own to +read what was in it. There was much laughing and peeping over shoulders, +and tangling of white and scarlet ribbons, while the gay music-box +played on. + +In the midst of it Virginia beckoned to the Little Colonel. "Come +up-stairs with me for a minute, Lloyd," she whispered, "and help me +look for something. Aunt Allison has forgotten where she put the box of +arrows that we are to use in the archery contest after dinner. There is +the prettiest prize for the one who hits the red heart in the centre of +the target." + +"Oh, do you suppose you can hit it?" asked Lloyd, as she and Virginia +slipped their arms around each other, and went skipping up the stairs. + +"Yes, indeed!" answered Virginia. "I used to practise so much with my +Indian bow and arrow out at the fort, that I could hit centre nearly +every time. I am not going to shoot to-night. Aunt Allison thinks it +wouldn't be fair." + +When they reached the top of the stairs, Virginia went into her room to +light a wax taper in one of the tall silver candlesticks on her +dressing-table. "I think that Aunt Allison must have left those arrows +in the blue room," she said, leading the way down the cross hall which +went to the north wing. "She made the pie in there this morning, and all +the other things were there. Nobody comes over in this part of the +house much in winter, unless there happens to be a great deal +of company." + +The taper that Virginia carried was the only light in that part of the +house. When she reached the door of the blue room she turned to Lloyd. +"Hold the candle for me, please," she said, "while I look in +the closet." + +It was a pretty picture that the little "Queen of Hearts" made, as she +stood in the doorway, with the tall silver candlestick held high in both +hands. Her hair shone like gold in the candlelight, and her glittering +crown flashed as if a circle of fairy fireflies had been caught in its +soft meshes. Her dark eyes peered anxiously around the big shadowy room, +lighted only by her flickering taper. + +Down-stairs, Malcolm and Keith were almost quarrelling about her. It +began by Malcolm taking his brother aside and offering to trade +valentines with him. + +"Why?" asked Keith, suspiciously. + +"'Cause yours matches the Little Colonel's, and I want to take her out +to dinner," admitted Malcolm. "She is the prettiest girl here." + +"But I don't want to trade," answered Keith. "I want to take her +myself." + +"I'll give you the pick of any six stamps in my album if you will." + +"Don't want your old stamps," declared Keith, stoutly. "I'd rather have +the Little Colonel for my partner." + +"I think you might trade," coaxed Malcolm. "It's mean not to when I'm +the oldest. I'll give you that Chinese puzzle you've been wanting so +long if you will." Keith shook his head. + +Just then a terrific scream sounded in the upper hall, followed by +another that made every one down-stairs turn pale with fright. Two +voices were uttering piercing shrieks, one after another, so loud and +frantic that even the servants in the back part of the house came +running. Miss Allison, thinking of the candle she had told Virginia to +light, and remembering the thin, white dress the child wore, instantly +thought she must have set herself afire. She ran into the hall, so +frightened that she was trembling from head to foot. Before she could +reach the staircase, Virginia came flying down the steps, white as a +little ghost, and her eyes wide with terror. Throwing herself into her +aunt's outstretched arms, she began to sob out her story between great, +trembling gasps. + +"Oh, there's an awful, awful wild beast in the blue room, nearly as tall +as the ceiling! It rose up and came after us out of the corner, and if I +hadn't slammed the door just in time, it would have eaten us up. I'm +sure it would! Oo-oo-oo! It was so awful!" she wailed. + +"Why, Virginia," exclaimed her aunt, distressed to see her so terrified, +"it must have been only a big shadow you saw. It isn't possible for a +wild beast to be in the blue room you know. Where is Lloyd?" + +"She's up heah, Miss Allison," called Mom Beck's voice. "She's so +skeered, I'se pow'ful 'fraid she gwine to faint. They sut'nly is +something in that room, honey, deed they is. I kin heah it movin' around +now, switchin' he's tail an' growlin'!" + +Malcolm and Keith, with guilty faces, went dashing up the stairs, and +the whole party followed them at a respectful distance. When they opened +the door the room looked very big and shadowy, and the bear, roused from +its nap, was standing on its hind legs beside the high-posted bed. The +huge figure was certainly enough to frighten any one coming upon it +unexpectedly in the dark, and when Miss Allison saw it she drew +Virginia's trembling hand into hers with a sympathetic clasp. Before she +could ask any questions, the boys began an excited explanation. It was +some time before they could make their story understood. + +Their grandmother was horrified, and insisted on sending the animal away +at once. "The idea of bringing such a dangerous creature into any one's +house," she exclaimed, "and, above all, of shutting him up in a bedroom! +We might have all been bitten, or hugged to death!" + +"But, grandmother," begged Malcolm, "he isn't dangerous. Let me bring +him into the light, and show you what a kind old pet he is." + +There was a scattering to the other end of the hall as Malcolm came out, +leading the bear, but the children gradually drew nearer as the great +animal began its performances. Keith whistled and kept time with his +feet in a funny little shuffling jig he had learned from Jonesy, and the +bear obligingly went through all his tricks. He was used to being pulled +out to perform whenever a crowd could be collected. + +Virginia forgot her fear of him when he stood up and presented arms like +a real soldier, and even went up and patted him when the show was over, +joining with the boys in begging that he might be allowed to stay in the +house until morning. Mrs. Maclntyre was determined to send a man down to +the cabin at once to investigate. She had a horror of tramps. But the +boys begged her to wait until daylight for Jonesy's sake. + +"The man will beat him if he finds out that Jonesy warned us," pleaded +Keith. He was so earnest that the tears stood in his big, trustful eyes. + +"This is spoiling the party, mother," whispered Miss Allison, "and +dinner is waiting. I'll be responsible for any harm that may be done if +you will let the boys have their way this once." + +There seemed no other way to settle it just then, so Bruin was allowed +to go back to his rug in the blue room, and the door was +securely locked. + +Keith took Lloyd down to dinner, and his grandmother heard him +apologising all the way down for having frightened her. The little Queen +of Hearts listened smilingly, but her colour did not come back all +evening, until after the archery contest. It was when Malcolm came up +with the prize he had won, a tiny silver arrow, and pinned it in the +knot of red ribbon on her shoulder. + +"Will you keep it to remember me by?" he asked, bashfully. + +"Of co'se!" she answered, with a smile that showed all her roguish +dimples. "I'll keep it fo'evah and evah to remembah how neah I came to +bein' eaten up by yo' bea'h." + +[Illustration: "'WILL YOU KEEP IT TO REMEMBER ME BY?'"] + +"It seems too bad for such a beautiful party to come to an end," Sally +Fairfax said when the last merry game was played, the last story +told, and it was time to go home. "But there's one comfort," she added, +gathering all her gay valentines together, "there needn't be any end to +the remembering of it. I've had _such_ a good time, Mrs. MacIntyre." + +It was so late when the last carriage rolled down the avenue, bearing +away the last smiling little guest, that the children were almost too +sleepy to undress. It was not long until the last light was put out in +every room, and a deep stillness settled over the entire house. One by +one the lights went out in every home in the valley, and only the stars +were left shining, in the cold wintry sky. No, there was one lamp that +still burned. It was in the little cottage where old Professor Heinrich +sat bowed over his books. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A FIRE AND A PLAN. + +Some people said that old Johann Heinrich never slept, for no matter +what hour of the night one passed his lonely little house, a lamp was +always burning. He was a queer old German naturalist, living by himself +in a cottage adjoining the MacIntyre place. He had been a professor in a +large university until he grew too old to keep his position. Why he +should have chosen Lloydsborough Valley as the place to settle for the +remainder of his life, no one could tell. + +He kept kimself away from his neighbours, and spent so much time roaming +around the woods by himself that people called him queer. They did not +know that he had written two big books about the birds and insects he +loved so well, or that he could tell them facts more wonderful than +fairy tales about these little wild creatures of the woodland. + +To-night he had read later than usual, and his fire was nearly out. He +was too poor to keep a servant, so when he found that the coal-hod was +empty he had to go out to the kitchen to fill it himself. That is why he +saw something that happened soon after midnight, while everybody else in +the valley was sound asleep. + +Over in the cabin by the spring-house where the boys had left the tramp +and Jonesy, a puff of smoke went curling around the roof. Then a tongue +of flame shot up through the cedars, and another and another until the +sky was red with an angry glare. It lighted up the eastern window-panes +of the servants' cottage, but the inmates, tired from the unusual +serving of the evening before, slept on. It shone full across the window +of Virginia's room, but she was dreaming of being chased by bears, and +only turned uneasily in her sleep. + +The old professor, on his way to the kitchen, noticed that it seemed +strangely light outside. He shuffled to the door and looked out. + +"Ach Himmel!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "Somebody vill shust in his bed +be burnt, if old Johann does not haste make!" + +Not waiting to close the door behind him, or even to catch up something +to protect his old bald head from the intense cold of the winter night, +he ran out across the garden. His shuffling feet, in their flapping old +carpet slippers, forgot their rheumatism, and his shoulders dropped the +weight of their seventy years. He ran like a boy across the meadow, +through the gap in the fence, and down the hill to the cabin by +the spring. + +All one side of it was in flames. The fire was curling around the front +door and bursting through the windows with fierce cracklings. Dashing +frantically around to the back door, he threw himself against it, +shouting to know if any one was within. A blinding rush of smoke was his +only answer as he backed away from the overpowering heat, but something +fell across the door-sill in a limp little heap. It was Jonesy. + +Dragging the child to a safe distance from the burning building, he ran +back, fearing that some one else might be in danger, but this time the +flames met him at the door, and it was impossible to go in. His hoarse +shouting roused the servants, but by the time they reached the cabin the +roof had fallen in, and all danger of the fire spreading to other +buildings was over. + +While the professor was bending over Jonesy, trying to bring him back to +consciousness, Miss Allison came running down the path. She had an +eiderdown quilt wrapped around her over her dressing-gown. The shouts +had awakened her, also, and she had slipped out as quietly as possible, +not wishing to alarm her mother. + +"How did it happen?" she demanded, breathlessly. "Is the child badly +burned? Is any one else hurt? Is the tramp in the cabin?" + +No one gave any answer to her rapid questions. The old professor shook +his head, but did not look up. He was bending over Jonesy, trying to +restore him to consciousness. He seemed to know the right things to do +for him, and in a little while the child opened his eyes and looked +around wonderingly. In a few minutes he was able to tell what he knew +about the fire. + +It was not much, only a horrible recollection of being awakened by a +feeling that he was choking in the thick smoke that filled the room; of +hearing the boss swear at him to be quick and follow him or he would be +burned to death. Then there had been an awful moment of groping through +the blinding, choking smoke, trying to find a way out. The man sprang to +a window and made his escape, but as the outside air rushed in through +the opening he left, it seemed to fan the smoke instantly into flame. + +Jonesy had struck out at the wall of fire with his helpless little +hands, and then, half-crazed by the scorching pain, dropped to the floor +and crawled in the opposite direction, just as the professor burst +open the door. + +The sight of the poor little blistered face brought the tears to Miss +Allison's eyes, and she called two of the coloured men, directing them +to carry Jonesy to the house, and then go at once for a doctor. But the +professor interfered, insisting that Jonesy should be taken to his +house. He said that he knew how to prepare the cooling bandages that +were needed, and that he would sit up all night to apply them. He could +not sleep anyhow, he said, after such great excitement. + +"But I feel responsible for him," urged Miss Allison. "Since it happened +on our place, and my little nephews brought him here, it seems to me +that we ought to have the care of him." + +The professor waved her aside, lifting Jonesy's head as tenderly as a +nurse could have done, and motioned the coloured men to lift him up. + +"No, no, fraulein," he said. "I have had eggsperience. It is besser the +poor leedle knabe go mit me!" + +There was no opposing the old man's masterful way. Miss Allison stepped +aside for them to pass, calling after him her willingness to do the +nursing he had taken upon himself, and insisting that she would come +early in the morning to help. + +Unc' Henry was left to guard the ruins, lest some stray spark should be +blown toward the other buildings. "Dis yere ole niggah wa'n't mistaken +aftah all," he muttered. "Dee was somebody prowlin' 'roun' de premises +yistiddy evenin'." Then he searched the ground, all around the cabin, +for footprints in the snow. He found some tracks presently, and followed +them over the meadow in the starlight, across the road, and down the +railroad track several rods. There they suddenly disappeared. The tramp +had evidently walked on the rail some distance. If Unc' Henry had gone +quarter of a mile farther up the track, he would have found those same +sliding imprints on every other crosstie, as if the man had taken long +running leaps in his haste to get away. + +Jonesy stoutly denied that the man had set fire to the cabin. "We nearly +froze to death that night," he said, when questioned about it afterward, +"and the boss piled on an awful big lot of wood just before he went +to bed." + +"Then what made him take to his heels so fast if he didn't?" some one +asked. + +"I don't know," answered Jonesy. "He said that luck was always against +him, and maybe he thought nobody would believe him if he did say that he +didn't do it." + +Several days after that Malcolm found the tramp's picture in the +_Courier-Journal_. He was a noted criminal who had escaped from a +Northern penitentiary some two months before, and had been arrested by +the Louisville police. There was no mistaking him. That big, ugly scar +branded him on cheek and forehead like another Cain. + +"And to think that that terrible man was harboured on my place!" +exclaimed Mrs. MacIntyre when she heard of it. "And you boys were down +there in the cabin with him for hours! Sat beside him and talked with +him! What will your mother say? I feel as if you had been exposed to the +smallpox, and I cannot be too thankful now that the boy who was with him +was not brought here. He isn't a fit companion for you. Not that the +poor little unfortunate is to blame. He cannot help being a child of the +slums, and he must be put in an orphan asylum or a reform school at +once. It is probably the only thing that can save him from growing up to +be a criminal like the man who brought him here. I shall see what can be +done about it, as soon as possible." + +"A child of the slums!" Malcolm and Keith repeated the expression +afterward, with only a vague idea of its meaning. It seemed to set poor +Jonesy apart from themselves as something unclean,--something that their +happy, well-filled lives must not be allowed to touch. + +Maybe if Jonesy had been an attractive child, with a sensitive mouth, +and big, appealing eyes, he might have found his way more easily into +people's hearts. But he was a lean, snub-nosed little fellow, with a +freckled face and neglected hair. No one would ever find his cheek a +tempting one to kiss, and no one would be moved, by any feeling save +pity, to stoop and put affectionate arms around Jonesy. He was only a +common little street gamin, as unlovely as he was unloved. + +"What a blessing that there are such places as orphan asylums for +children of that class," said Mrs. Maclntyre, after one of her visits to +him. "I must make arrangements for him to be put into one as soon as he +is able to be moved." + +"I think he will be very loath to leave the old professor," answered +Miss Allison. "He has been so good to the child, amusing him by the hour +with his microscopes and collections of insects, telling him those +delightful old German folk-lore tales, and putting him to sleep every +night to the music of his violin. What a child-lover he is, and what a +delightful old man in every way! I am glad we have discovered him." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Maclntyre; "and when this little tramp is sent away, I +want the children to go there often. I asked him if he could not teach +them this spring, at least make a beginning with them in natural +history, and he appeared much pleased. He is as poor as a church mouse, +and would be very glad of the money." + +"That reminds me," said Miss Allison, "he asked me if the boys could +not come down to see Jonesy this afternoon, and bring the bear. He +thought it would give the little fellow so much pleasure, and might help +him to forget his suffering." + +Mrs. MacIntyre hesitated. "I do not believe their mother would like it," +she answered. "Sydney is careful enough about their associates, but +Elise is doubly particular. You can imagine how much badness this child +must know when you remember how he has been reared. He told me that his +name is Jones Carter, and that he cannot remember ever having a father +or a mother. I questioned him very closely this morning. He comes from +the worst of the Chicago slums. He slept in the cellar of one of its +poorest tenement houses, and lived in the gutters. He has a brother only +a little older, who is a bootblack. On days when shines were plentiful +they had something to eat, otherwise they starved or begged." + +"Poor little lamb," murmured Miss Allison. + +"It was by the brother's advice he came away with that tramp," continued +Mrs. MacIntyre. "He had gotten possession of that trained bear in some +way, and probably took a fancy to Jones because he could whistle and +dance all sorts of jigs. He probably thought it would be a good thing to +have a child with him to work on peoples' sympathies. They walked all +the way from Chicago to Lloydsborough, Jones told me, excepting three +days' journey they made in a wagon. They have been two months on the +road, and showed the bear in the country places they passed through. +They avoided the large towns." + +"Think what a Christmas he must have had!" exclaimed Miss Allison. + +"Christmas! I doubt if he ever heard the word. His speech is something +shocking; nothing but the slang of the streets, and so ungrammatical +that I could scarcely understand him at times. No, I am very sure that +neither Sydney nor Elise would want the boys to be with him." + +"But he is so little, mother, and so sick and pitiful looking," pleaded +Miss Allison. "Surely he cannot know so very much badness or hurt the +boys if they go down to cheer him up for a little while." + +Notwithstanding Mrs. Maclntyre's fears, she consented to the boys +visiting Jonesy that afternoon. She could not resist the professor's +second appeal or the boys' own urging. + +They took the bear with them, which Jonesy welcomed like a lost friend. +They spent an interesting hour among the professor's collections, +listening to his explanations in his funny broken English. Then they +explored his cottage, much amused by his queer housekeeping, cracked +nuts on the hearth, and roasted apples on a string in front of the fire. + +Jonesy did not seem to be cheered up by the visit as much as the +professor had expected. Presently the old man left the room and Keith +sat down on the side of the bed. + +"What makes you so still, Jonesy?" he asked. "You haven't said a word +for the last half hour." + +"I was thinking about Barney," he answered, keeping his face turned +away. "Barney is my brother, you know." + +"Yes, so grandmother said," answered Keith. "How big is he?" + +"'Bout as big as yourn." There was a choke in Jonesy's voice now. +"Seein' yourn put his arm across your shoulder and pullin' your head +back by one ear and pinchin' you sort in fun like, made me think the way +Barney uster do to me." + +Keith did not know what to say, so there was a long, awkward pause. + +"I'd never a-left him," said Jonesy, "but the boss said it 'ud only be a +little while and we'd make so much money showin' the bear that I'd have +a whole pile to take home. I could ride back on the cars and take a +whole trunk full of nice things to Barney,--clothes, and candy, and a +swell watch and chain, and a bustin' beauty of a bike. Now the bear's +sold and the boss has run away, and I don't know how I can get back to +Barney. Him an me's all each other's got, and I want to see him +_so_ bad." + +The little fellow's lip quivered, and he put up one bandaged hand to +wipe away the hot tears that would keep coming, in spite of his efforts +not to make a baby of himself. There was something so pitiful in the +gesture that Keith looked across at Malcolm and then patted the +bedclothes with an affectionate little hand. + +"Never mind, Jonesy," he said, "papa will be home in the spring and +he'll send you back to Barney." But Jonesy never having known anything +of fathers whose chief pleasure is in spending money to make little +sons happy, was not comforted by that promise as much as Keith thought +he ought to be. + +"But I won't be here then," he sobbed. "They're goin' to put me in a +'sylum, and I can't get out for so long that maybe Barney will be dead +before we ever find each other again." + +He was crying violently now. + +"Who is going to put you in an asylum?" asked Malcolm, lifting an end of +the pillow under which Jonesy's head had burrowed, to hide the grief +that his eight-year-old manhood made him too proud to show. + +"An old lady with white hair what comes here every day. The professor +said he would keep me if he wasn't so old and hard up, and she said as +how a 'sylum was the proper place for a child of the slums, and he said +yes if they wasn't nobody to care for 'em. But I've got somebody!" he +cried. "I've got Barney! Oh, _don't_ let them shut me up somewhere so I +can't never get back to Barney!" + +"They don't shut you up when they send you to an asylum," said Malcolm. +"The one near here is a lovely big house, with acres of green grass +around it, and orchards and vine-yards, and they are ever so good to the +children, and give them plenty to eat and wear, and send them +to school." + +"Barney wouldn't be there," sobbed Jonesy, diving under the pillow +again. "I don't want nothing but him." + +"Well, we'll see what we can do," said Malcolm, as he heard the +professor coming back. "If we could only keep you here until spring, I +am sure that papa would send you back all right. He's always helping +people that get into trouble." + +Jonesy took his little snub nose out of the pillow as the professor came +in, and looked around defiantly as if ready to fight the first one who +dared to hint that he had been crying. The boys took their leave soon +after, leading the bear back to his new quarters in the carriage house, +where they had made him a comfortable den. Then they walked slowly up to +the house, their arms thrown across each other's shoulders. + +"S'pose it was us," said Keith, after walking on a little way in +silence. "S'pose that you and I were left of all the family, and didn't +have any friends in the world, and I was to get separated from you and +couldn't get back?" + +"That would be tough luck, for sure," answered Malcolm. + +"Don't you s'pose Jonesy feels as badly about it as we would?" asked +Keith. + +"Shouldn't be surprised," said Malcolm, beginning to whistle. Keith +joined in, and keeping step to the tune, like two soldiers, they marched +on into the house. + +Virginia found them in the library, a little while later, sitting on the +hearth-rug, tailor-fashion. They were still talking about Jonesy. They +could think of nothing else but the loneliness of the little waif, and +his pitiful appeal: "Oh, don't let them shut me up where I can't never +get back to Barney." + +"Why don't you write to your father?" asked Virginia, when they had told +her the story of their visit. + +"Oh, it is so hard to explain things in a letter," answered Malcolm, +"and being off there, he'd say that grandmother and all the grown people +certainly know best. But if he could see Jonesy,--how pitiful looking he +is, and hear him crying to go back to his brother, I know he'd feel the +way we do about it." + +"I called the professor out in the hall, and told him so," said Keith, +"and asked him if he couldn't adopt Jonesy, or something, until papa +comes home. But he said that he is too poor. He has only a few dollars a +month to live on. I didn't mind asking him. He smiled in that big, kind +way he always does. He said Jonesy was lots of company, and he would +like to keep him this summer, if he could afford it, and let him get +well and strong out here in the country." + +"Then he would keep him till Uncle Sydney comes, if somebody would pay +his board?" asked Virginia. + +"Yes," said Malcolm, "but that doesn't help matters much, for we +children are the only ones who want him to stay, and our monthly +allowances, all put together, wouldn't be enough." + +"We might earn the money ourselves," suggested Virginia, after awhile, +breaking a long silence. + +"How?" demanded Malcolm. "Now, Ginger, you know, as well as I do, there +is no way for us to earn anything this time of year. You can't pick +fruit in the dead of winter, can you? or pull weeds, or rake leaves? +What other way is there?" + +"We might go to every house in the valley, and exhibit the bear," said +Keith, "taking up a collection each time." + +"Now you've made me think of it," cried Virginia, excitedly. "I've +thought of a good way. We'll give Jonesy a benefit, like great singers +have. The bear will be the star performer, and we'll all act, too, and +sell the tickets, and have tableaux. I love to arrange tableaux. We were +always having them out at the fort." + +"I bid to show off the bear," cried Malcolm, entering into Virginia's +plan at once. "May be I'll learn something to recite, too." + +"I'll help print the tickets," said Keith, "and go around selling them, +and be in anything you want me to be. How many tableaux are you going to +have, Ginger?" + +"I can't tell yet," she answered, but a moment after she cried out, her +eyes shining with pleasure, "Oh, I've thought of a lovely one. We can +have the Little Colonel and the bear for 'Beauty and the Beast.'" + +Malcolm promptly turned a somersault on the rug, to express his +approval, but came up with a grave face, saying, "I'll bet that +grandmother will say we can't have it." + +"Let's get Aunt Allison on our side," suggested Virginia. "She's up in +her room now, painting a picture." + +A little sigh of disappointment escaped Miss Allison's lips, as she +heard the rush of feet on the stairs. This was the first time that she +had touched her brushes since the children's coming, and she had hoped +that this one afternoon would be free from interruption, when she heard +them planning their afternoon's occupations at the lunch-table. They had +come back before the little water-colour sketch she was making was +quite finished. + +There was no disappointment, however, in the bright face she turned +toward them, and Virginia lost no time in beginning her story. She had +been elected to tell it, but before it was done all three had had a part +in the telling, and all three were waiting with wistful eyes for +her answer. + +"Well, what is it you want me to do?" she asked, finally. + +"Oh, just be on our side!" they exclaimed, "and get grandmother to say +yes. You see she doesn't feel about Jonesy the way we do. She is willing +to pay a great deal of money to have him taken off and cared for, but +she says she doesn't see how grandchildren of hers can be so interested +in a little tramp that comes from nobody knows where, and who will +probably end his days in a penitentiary." + +Aunt Allison answered Malcolm's last remark a little sternly. "You must +understand that it is only for your own good that she is opposed to +Jonesy's staying," she said. "There is nobody in the valley so generous +and kind to the poor as your grandmother." "Yes'm," said Virginia, +meekly, "but you'll ask her, won't you please, auntie?" + +Miss Allison smiled at her persistence. "Wait until I finish this," she +said. "Then I'll go down-stairs and put the matter before her, and +report to you at dinner-time. Now are you satisfied?" + +"Yes," they cried in chorus, "you're on our side. It's all right now!" +With a series of hearty hugs that left her almost breathless, they +hurried away. + +When Miss Allison kept her promise she did not go to her mother with the +children's story of Jonesy, to move her to pity. She told her simply +what they wanted, and then said, "Mother, you know I have begun to teach +the children the 'Vision of Sir Launfal.' Virginia has learned every +word of it, and the boys will soon know all but the preludes. There will +never be a better chance than this for them to learn the lesson: + + "'Not what we give, but what we share, + For the gift without the giver is bare.' + +"This would be a real sharing of themselves, all their time and best +energies, for they will have to work hard to get up such an +entertainment as this. It isn't for Jonesy's sake I ask it, but for the +children's own good." + +The old lady looked thoughtfully into the fire a moment, and then said, +"Maybe you are right, Allison. I do want to keep them unspotted from a +knowledge of the world's evils, but I do not want to make them selfish. +If this little beggar at the gate can teach them where to find the Holy +Grail, through unselfish service to him, I do not want to stand in the +way. Bless their little hearts, they may play Sir Launfal if they want +to, and may they have as beautiful a vision as his!" + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JONESY'S BENEFIT. + +The Jonesy Benefit grew like Jack's bean-stalk after Miss Allison took +charge of it. There was less than a week in which to get ready, as the +boys insisted on having it on the twenty-second of February, in honour +of Washington's birthday; but in that short time the childish show which +Ginger had proposed grew into an entertainment so beautiful and +elaborate that the neighbourhood talked of it for weeks after. + +Miss Allison spent one sleepless night, planning her campaign like a +general, and next morning had an army of helpers at work. Before the day +was over she sent a letter to an old school friend of hers in the city, +Miss Eleanor Bond, who had been her most intimate companion all through +her school-days, and who still spent a part of every summer with her. + +"Dearest Nell," the letter said, "come out to-morrow on the first +afternoon train, if you love me. The children are getting up an +entertainment for charity, which shall be duly explained on your +arrival. No time now. I am superintending a force of carpenters in the +college hall, where the entertainment is to take place, have two +seamstresses in the house hurrying up costumes, and am helping mother +scour the country for pretty children to put in the tableaux. + +"The house is like an ant-hill in commotion, there is so much scurrying +around; but I know that is what you thoroughly enjoy. You shall have a +finger in every pie if you will come out and help me to make this a +never-to-be-forgotten occasion. + +"I want to make the old days of chivalry live again for Virginia and +Malcolm and Keith. I am going back to King Arthur's Court for the flower +of knighthood at his round table. Come and read for us between tableaux +as only you can do. Be the interpreter of 'Sir Launfal's Vision' and the +'Idylls of the King,' Give us the benefit of your talent for sweet +charity's sake, if not for the sake of 'auld lang syne' and your +devoted ALLISON." + +"She'll be here," said Miss Allison, as she sealed the letter, +nodding confidently to Mrs. Sherman, who had come over to help with +Lloyd's costume. "You remember Nell Bond, do you not? She took the +prize every year in elocution, and was always in demand at every +entertainment. She is the most charming reader I ever heard, and as for +story-telling--well, she's better than the 'Arabian Nights.' You must +let the Little Colonel come over every evening while she is here." + +Miss Bond arrived the next day, and her visit was a time of continual +delight to the children. They followed her wherever she went, until Mrs. +Maclntyre laughingly called her the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin,' and asked +what she had done to bewitch them. + +The first night they gathered around the library-table, all as busy as +bees. Keith and the Little Colonel were cutting tinsel into various +lengths for Virginia to tie into fringe for a gay banner. Malcolm was +gilding some old spurs, Mrs. Maclntyre sat stringing yards of wax beads, +that gleamed softly in the lamplight like great rope of pearls, and Mrs. +Sherman was painting the posters, which were to be put up in the +post-office and depot as advertisements of the Jonesy Benefit. + +Miss Allison, who had been busy for hours with pasteboard and glue, +tin-foil and scissors, held up the suit of mail which she had +just finished. + +"Isn't that fine!" cried Malcolm. "It looks exactly like some of the +armour we saw in the Tower of London, doesn't it, Keith?" + +"I've thought of a riddle!" exclaimed Virginia. "Why is Aunt Allison's +head like Aladdin's lamp?" + +"'Cause it's so bright?" ventured Malcolm. + +"No; because she has only to rub it, and everything she thinks of +appears. I don't see how it is possible to make so many beautiful things +out of almost nothing." + +Virginia looked admiringly around at all the pretty articles scattered +over the room. A helmet with nodding white plumes lay on the piano. A +queen's robe trailed its royal ermine beside it. A sword with a jewelled +hilt shone on the mantel, and a dozen dazzling shields were ranged in +various places on the low bookshelves. + +It was easy, in the midst of such surroundings, for the children to +imagine themselves back in the days of King Arthur and his court, while +Miss Bond sat there telling them such beautiful tales of its fair ladies +and noble knights. Indeed, before the day of the entertainment came +around they even found themselves talking to each other in the quaint +speech of that olden time. + +When Malcolm accidentally ran against his grandmother in the hall, +instead of his usual, "Oh, excuse me, grandmother," it was "Prithee +grant me gracious pardon, fair dame. Not for a king's ransom would I +have thus jostled thee in such unseemly haste!" And Ginger, instead of +giving Keith a slap when he teasingly penned her up in a corner, to make +her divide some nuts with him, said, in a most tragic way, "Unhand me, +villain, or by my troth thou'lt rue this ruffian conduct sore!" + +The library-table was strewn with books of old court life, and pictures +of kings and queens whose costumes were to be copied in the tableaux. +There was one book which Keith carried around with him until he had +spelled out the whole beautiful tale. It was called "In Kings' Houses," +and was the story of the little Duke of Gloster who was made a knight +in his boyhood. And when Keith had read it himself, he took it down to +the professor's, and read it all over again to Jonesy. + +[Illustration: "THERE WAS ONE BOOK WHICH KEITH CARRIED AROUND WITH +HIM."] + +"Think how grand he must have looked, Jonesy," cried Keith, "and I am to +be dressed exactly like him when I am knighted in the tableau." Then he +read the description again: + +"'A suit of white velvet embroidered with seed pearls, and literally +blazing with jewels,--even the buttons being great brilliants. From his +shoulder hung a cloak of azure blue velvet, the colour of the order, +richly wrought with gold; and around his neck he wore the magnificent +collar and jewel of St. George and the Dragon, that was the personal +gift of his Majesty, the king.' + +"Think how splendid it must have been, Jonesy, when the procession came +in to the music of trumpets and bugles and silver flutes and hautboys! +Wouldn't you like to have seen the heralds marching by, two by two, in +cloth of gold, with an escort of the queen's guard following? All of +England's best and bravest were there, and they sat in the carven stalls +in St. George's Chapel, with their gorgeous banners drooping over them. +I saw that chapel, Jonesy, when we were in England, and I saw where the +knights kept the 'vigil of arms' in the holy places, the night before +they took their vows." He picked up the book and read again: "'Fasting +and praying and lonely watching by night in the great abbey where there +are so many dead folk.' + +"Oh, don't you wish you could have lived in those days, Jonesy, and have +been a knight?" + +It was all Greek to Jonesy. The terms puzzled him, but he enjoyed +Keith's description of the tournaments. + +Several evenings after that, Keith went down to the cottage dressed in +the beautiful velvet costume of white and blue, ablaze with rhinestones +and glittering jewels. He had been wrapped in his Aunt Allison's golf +cape, and, as he threw it off, Jonesy's eyes opened wider and wider +with wonder. + +"Hi! You look like a whole jeweller's window!" he cried, dazzled by the +gorgeous sight. The professor lighted another lamp, and Keith turned +slowly around, to be admired on every side like a pleased peacock. + +"Of course it's all only imitation," he explained, "but it will look +just as good as the real thing behind the footlights. But you ought to +see the stage when it's fixed up to look like the Hall of the Shields, +if you want to see glitter. It's be-_yu_-tiful! Like the one at Camelot, +you know." + +But Jonesy did not know, and Keith had to tell about that old castle at +Camelot, as Miss Bond had told him. How that down the side of the long +hall ran a treble range of shields,-- + + "And under every shield a knight was named, + For such was Arthur's custom in his hall. + When some good knight had done one noble deed + His arms were carven only, but if twain + His arms were blazoned also, but if none + The shield was blank and bare, without a sign, + Saving the name beneath." + +Keith had been greatly interested in watching the carpenters fix the +stage so that it could be made to look like the Hall of the Shields in a +very few moments, when the time for that tableau should come. He knew +where every glittering shield was to hang, and every banner and +battle-axe. + +"How do you suppose those knights felt," he said to Jonesy, "who saw +their shields hanging there year after year, blank and bare, because +they had never done even one noble deed? They must have been dreadfully +ashamed when the king walked by and read their names underneath, and +then looked up at the shields and saw nothing emblazoned on them or even +carved. Seems to me that I would have done something to have made me +worthy of that honour if I had _died_ for it!" + +Something,--it may have been the soft, rich colour of the +jewel-broidered velvet the boy wore, or maybe the flush that rose to his +cheeks at the thrill of such noble thoughts,--something had brought an +unusual beauty into his face. As he stood there, with head held high, +his dark eyes flashing, his face glowing, and in that princely dress of +a bygone day, he looked every inch a nobleman. There was something so +pure and sweet, too, in the expression of his upturned face that the +light upon it seemed to touch it into an almost unearthly fairness. + +The professor, who had been watching him with a tender smile on his +rugged old face, drew the child toward him, and brushed the hair back +on his forehead. + +"Ach, liebchen," he said, in his queer broken speech, "thy shield will +never be blank and bare. Already thou hast blazoned it with the beauty +of a noble purpose, and like Galahad, thou too shalt find the Grail." + +It was Keith's turn to be puzzled, but he did not like to ask for an +explanation; there was something so solemn in the way the old man put +his hand on his head as he spoke, almost as if he were bestowing a +blessing. Besides, it was time to go to the rehearsal at the college. +One of the servants had come to stay with Jonesy while the professor +went over to practise on his violin. He was to play behind the scenes, a +soft, low accompaniment to Miss Bond's reading. + +By eight o'clock, the night of the Benefit, every seat in the house was +full. "That's jolly for Jonesy," exclaimed Malcolm, peeping out from +behind the curtain. "We counted up that ten cents a ticket would make +enough, if they were all sold, to pay his board till papa comes home, +and buy him all the new clothes he needs, too. Now every ticket +is sold." + +"Hurry up, Malcolm," called Keith. "We are first on the programme, and +it is time to begin." + +There was a great bustle behind the scenes for a few minutes, and then +"Beauty and the Beast" was announced. When the Little Colonel came on +the stage leading the great bear, such a cheering and clapping began +that they both looked around, half frightened; but the boys followed +immediately and the Little Colonel, dressed as a flower girl, danced out +to meet Keith, who came in clicking his castanets in time to Malcolm's +whistling. The bear was made to go through all his tricks and his +soldier drill. + +The children in the audience stood on tiptoe in their eagerness to see +the great animal perform, and were so wild in their applause that the +boys begged to be allowed to take it in front of the curtain every time +during the evening when there was a long pause while some tableau was +being prepared. + +Over the rustle of fluttering programmes and the hum of conversation +that followed the first number, there fell presently the soft, sweet +notes of the professor's violin, and Miss Bond's musical voice began the +story of the Vision of Sir Launfal. + + "My golden spurs now bring to me, + And bring to me my richest mail, + For to-morrow I go over land and sea + In search of the Holy Grail." + +Here the curtains were drawn apart to show Malcolm seated on his pony as +Sir Launfal, "in his gilded mail that flamed so bright." It was really +a beautiful picture he made, and his grandmother, leaning forward, her +face beaming with pride at the boy's noble bearing, compared him with +Arthur himself, "with lance in rest, from spur to plume a star of +tournament," + +The next tableau showed him spurning the leper at his gate, and turning +away in disgust from the beggar who "seemed the one blot on the summer +morn." How Miss Bond's voice rang out when "the leper raised not the +gold from the dust." + + "Better to me the poor man's crust. + That is no true alms which the hand can hold. + He gives nothing but worthless gold + Who gives from a sense of duty." + +In the next tableau it was "as an old bent man, worn-out and frail," +that Sir Launfal came back from his weary pilgrimage. He had not found +the Holy Grail, but through his own sufferings he had learned pity for +all pain and poverty. Once more he stood beside the leper at his castle +gate, but this time he stooped to share with him his crust and wooden +bowl of water. + +Then it happened on the stage just as was told in the poem. + +A light shone round about the place, and the crouching leper stood up. +The old ragged mantle dropped off, and there in a long garment almost +dazzling in its whiteness, stood a figure-- + + "Shining and tall, and fair, and straight + As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful gate." + +They could not see the face, it was turned aside; but the golden hair +was like a glory, and the uplifted arms held something high in air that +gleamed like a burnished star, as all the lights in the room were turned +full upon it, for a little space. It was a golden cup. Then the +voice again: + + "In many climes without avail + Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail. + Behold it is here--this cup, which thou + Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now. + The holy supper is kept indeed + In whatso we share with another's need." + +It was an old story to most of the audience, worn threadbare by many +readings, but with these living illustrations, and Miss Bond's +wonderful way of telling it, a new meaning crept into the well-known +lines, that thrilled every listener. + +"Could you understand that, Teddy?" asked old Judge Fairfax, patting his +little grandson on the head. + +"Course!" exclaimed seven-year-old Ted, who had followed his sister +Sally to every rehearsal. + +"When you give money to people just to get rid of 'em, and because you +feel you'd ought to, it doesn't count for anything. But if you divide +something you've got, and would like to keep it all yourself, because +you love to, and are sorry for 'em, then it counts a pile. Sir Launfal +would have popped Jonesy into a 'sylum when he first started out to find +that gold cup, but when he came back he'd 'a' worked like a horse +getting up a benefit for him, and would have divided his own home with +him, if he hadn't been living at his grandmother's, and couldn't." + +An amused smile went around that part of the audience which overheard +Ted's shrilly given explanation. + +Pictures from the "Idylls of the King" followed in rapid succession, +and then came the prettiest of all, being the one in which Keith was +made a knight. Virginia as queen, her short black hair covered by a +powdered wig, and a long court-train sweeping behind her, stood touching +his shoulder with the jewel-hilted sword, as he knelt at her feet. Lloyd +and Sally Fairfax, Julia Ferris, and a dozen other pretty girls of the +neighbourhood, helped to fill out the gay court scene, while all the +boys that could be persuaded to take part were dressed up for heralds, +guardsmen, pages, and knights. That tableau had to be shown four times, +and then the audience kept on applauding as if they never intended +to stop. + +The last one in this series of tableaux was the Hall of the Shields, as +Keith had described it to Jonesy. A whole row of dazzling shields hung +across the back of the stage, emblazoned with the arms of all the old +knights whose names have come down to us in song or story. Then for the +first time that evening Miss Bond came out on the stage where she could +be seen, and told the story of the death of King Arthur, and the passing +away of the order of the Round Table. She told it so well that little +Ted Fairfax listened with his mouth open, seeming to see the great arm +that rose out of the water to take back the king's sword into the sea, +from which it had been given him. An arm like a giant's, "clothed in +white samite, mystic, wonderful, that caught the sword by the hilt, +flourished it three times, and drew it under the mere." + +"True, 'the old order changeth,'" said Miss Bond, "but knighthood has +_not_ passed away. The flower of chivalry has blossomed anew in this new +world, and America, too, has her Hall of the Shields." + +Just a moment the curtains were drawn together, and then were widely +parted again, as a chorus of voices rang out with the words: + + "Hail, Columbia, happy land; + Hail, ye heroes, heaven-born band!" + +In that moment, on every shield had been hung the pictured face of some +well-known man who had helped to make his country a power among the +nations; presidents, patriots, philanthropists, statesmen, inventors, +and poets,--there they were, from army and navy, city and farm, college +halls and humble cabins,--a long, long line, and the first was +Washington, and the last was the "Hero of Manila." + +Cheer after cheer went up, and it might have been well to have ended the +programme there, but to satisfy the military-loving little Ginger, one +more was added. + +"There ought to be a Goddess of Liberty in it," she insisted, "because +it is Washington's birthday; and if we had been doing it by ourselves we +were going to have something in it about Cuba, on papa's account." + +So when the curtain rose the last time, it was on Sally Fairfax as a +gorgeous Goddess of Liberty, conferring knighthood on two boys who stood +for the Army and Navy, while a little dark-eyed girl knelt at their feet +as Cuba, the distressed maiden whom their chivalry had rescued. + +It was late when the performance closed; later still when the children +reached home that night, for Mrs. MacIntyre had determined to have a +flash-light picture taken of them, and they had to wait until the +photographer could send home for his camera. + +After they reached the house they could hardly be persuaded to undress. +Virginia trailed up and down the halls in her royal robes, Malcolm +clanked around in his suit of mail and plumed helmet, and Keith stood +before a mirror, admiring the handsome little figure it showed him. + +"I hate to take it off," he said, fingering the dazzling collar, ablaze +with jewels. "I'd like to be a knight always, and wear a sword and spurs +every day." + +"So would I," said Malcolm, beginning to yawn sleepily. "I wish that +Jonesy had been well enough to go to-night. Isn't it splendid that the +Benefit turned out so well? Aunt Allison says there is plenty of money +now to get Jonesy's clothes and pay his board till papa comes, and send +him back to Barney, too, if papa thinks best and hasn't any +better plan." + +"I wish there'd been enough money to buy a nice little home out here in +the country for him and Barney. Wouldn't it have been lovely if there +had a-been?" cried Keith. + +"Well, I should say!" answered Malcolm. "Maybe we can have another +benefit some day and make enough for that." + +With this pleasant prospect before them, they laid aside their knightly +garments, hoping to put them on again soon in Jonesy's behalf, and +talked about the home that might be his some day, until they +fell asleep. + + * * * * * + +The flash-light pictures of the three children were all that the fondest +grandmother could wish. As soon as they came, Keith carried his away to +his room to admire in private. "It is so pretty that it doesn't seem it +can be me," he said, propping it up on the desk before him. "I wish that +I could look that way always." + +The next time that Miss Allison went into the room she found that Keith +had written under it in his round, boyish hand, a quotation that had +taken his fancy the first time he heard it. It was in one of Miss Bond's +stories, and he repeated it until he learned it: "_Live pure,_ _speak +truth, right the wrong, follow the king; else wherefore born?_" + +She asked him about it at bedtime. "Why, that's our motto," he +explained. "Malcolm has it written under his, too. We've made up our +minds to be a sort of knight, just as near the real thing as we can, you +know, and that is what knights have to do: live pure, and speak truth, +and right the wrong. We've always tried to do the first two, so that +won't be so hard. It's righting the wrong that will be the tough job, +but we have done it a little teenty, weenty bit for Jonesy, don't you +think, auntie? It was all wrong that he should have such a hard time and +be sent to an asylum away from Barney, when we have you all and +everything nice. Malcolm and I have been talking it over. If we could do +something to keep him from growing up into a tramp like that awful man +that brought him here, wouldn't that be as good a deed as some that the +real knights did? Wouldn't that be serving our country, too, Aunt +Allison, just a little speck?" He asked the question anxiously. Malcolm +said nothing, but also waited with a wistful look for her answer. + +"My dear little Sir Galahads," she said, bending over to give each of +the boys a good-night kiss, "you will be 'really truly' knights if you +can live up to the motto you have chosen. Heaven help you to be always +as worthy of that title as you are to-night!" + +Keith held her a moment, with both arms around her neck. "What does that +mean, auntie?" he asked. "That is what the professor said, +too,--Galahad." + +"It is too late to explain to you to-night," she said, "but I will tell +you sometime soon, dear." + +It was several days before she reminded them of that promise. Then she +called them into her room and told them the story of Sir Galahad, the +maiden knight, whose "strength was as the strength of ten because his +heart was pure." Then from a little morocco case, lined with purple +velvet, she took two pins that she had bought in the city that morning. +Each was a little white enamel flower with a tiny diamond in the centre, +like a drop of dew. + +"You can't wear armour in these days," she said, as she fastened one on +the lapel of each boy's coat, "but this shall be the badge of your +knighthood,--'wearing the white flower of a blameless life.' The little +pins will help you to remember, maybe, and will remind you that you are +pledged to right the wrong wherever you find it, in little things as +well as great." + +It was a very earnest talk that followed. The boys came out from her +room afterward, wearing the tiny white pins, and with a sweet +seriousness in their faces. A noble purpose had been born in their +hearts; but alas for chivalry! the first thing they did was to taunt +Virginia with the fact that she could never be a knight because she was +only a girl. + +"I don't care," retorted Ginger, quickly. "I can be a--a--_patriot_, +anyhow, and that's lots better." + +The boys laughed, and she flushed angrily. + +"They ought to mean the same thing exactly in this day of the world," +said Miss Allison, coming up in time to hear the dispute that followed. +"Virginia, you shall have a badge, too. Run into my room and bring me +that little jewelled flag on my cushion." + +"I think that this is the very prettiest piece of jewelry you have," +exclaimed Virginia, coming back with the pin. It was a little flag +whose red, white, and blue was made of tiny settings of garnets, +sapphires, and diamonds. + +"You think that, because it is in the shape of a flag," said Miss +Allison, with an amused smile. "Well, it shall be yours. See how well it +can remind you of the boys' knightly motto. There is the white for the +first part, the 'live pure,' and the 'true blue' for the 'speak truth,' +and then the red,--surely no soldier's little daughter needs to be told +what that stands for, when her own brave father has spilled part of his +good red life-blood to 'right the wrong' on the field of battle." + +"Oh, Aunt Allison!" was all that Virginia could gasp in her delight as +she clasped the precious pin tightly in her hand. "Is it mine? For my +very own?" + +"For your very own, dear," was the answer. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Virginia, thanking her with a kiss. "I'd a +thousand times rather have it than one like the boys'. It means so +much more!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES. + +Early in March, when the crocuses were beginning to bud under the +dining-room windows, there came one of those rare spring days that seem +to carry the warmth of summer in its sunshine. + +"Exactly the kind of a day for a picnic," Virginia had said that +morning, and when her grandmother objected, saying that the ground was +still too damp, she suggested having it in the hay-barn. The boys piled +the hay that was left from the winter's supply up on one side of the +great airy room, set wide the big double doors, and swept it clean. + +"It is clean enough now for even grandmother to eat in," said Virginia, +as she spread a cloth on the table Unc' Henry had carried out for them. +"It's good enough for a queen. Oh, I'll tell you what let's do. Let's +play that Malcolm and I are a wicked king and queen and Lloyd is a +'fair ladye' that we have shut up in a dungeon. This will be a banquet, +and while we are eating Keith can be the knight who comes to her rescue +and carries her off on his pony." + +"That's all right," consented Keith, "except the eating part. How can we +get our share of the picnic?" + +"We'll save it for you," answered Virginia, "and you can eat it +afterward." + +"Save enough for Jonesy, too," said Keith. "He shall be my page and help +me rescue her. I'll go and ask him now." + +The month had made a great change in Jonesy. With plenty to eat, his +thin little snub-nosed face grew plump and bright. There was a +good-humoured twinkle in his sharp eyes, and being quick as a monkey at +imitating the movements of those around him, Mrs. MacIntyre found +nothing to criticise in his manners when Malcolm and Keith brought him +into the house. Their pride in him was something amusing, and seeing +that, after all, he was an inoffensive little fellow, she made no more +objections to their playing with him. + +By the time Keith was back again with Jonesy, the other guests had +arrived, and the Little Colonel had been lowered into a deep feed-bin, +in lieu of a dungeon. The banquet began in great state, but in a few +moments was interrupted by a fearful shrieking from the depths of the +bin. The fair ladye protested that she would not stay in her dungeon. + +"There's nasty big spidahs down heah!" she called. "Ow! One is crawlin' +on my neck now, and my face is all tangled up in cobwebs! Get me out! +Get me out! Quick, Gingah!" + +The king sprang up to go to her rescue, but was promptly motioned to his +seat again by a warning shake of the other crowned head. + +"Why, of course! There's always spiders in dungeons," called the wicked +queen, coolly helping herself to another piece of chicken. "Besides, you +should say 'your Majesty' when you are talking to me." + +"But there's a mouse in heah, too," she called back, in distress. "Oo! +Oo! It ran ovah my feet. If you don't make them take me out of heah, +Gingah Dudley, I'll do something _awful_ to you! Murdah! Murdah!" she +yelled, pounding on the sides of the bin with both her fists, and +stamping her little foot in a furious rage. + +[Illustration: "THE LITTLE COLONEL HAD BEEN LOWERED INTO A DEEP +FEED-BIN."] + +Seeing that Lloyd was really terrified, and fearing that her screams +would bring some one from the house, the royal couple and their guests +sprang to the rescue, nearly upsetting the banquet as they did so. The +game would have been broken up then, when she was lifted out from the +feed-bin, red and angry, if it had not been for the king's great tact. +He brushed the cobwebs from her face and hair, and even got down on his +royal knees to ask her pardon. + +His polite coaxing finally had its effect on the little lady, and he +persuaded her to climb a ladder into a loft just above them. Here on a +pile of clean hay, beside an open window that looked across a peaceful +meadow, her anger cooled. Towers were far more comfortable than +dungeons, in her opinion, and when Malcolm came up the ladder with a +plateful of the choicest morsels of the feast, she began to enjoy her +part of the play. Jonesy was sent to inform his knight of the change +from dungeon to tower, and the banquet went merrily on. + +He found Keith waiting below the barn, with his pony tied to a fence. On +the other side of the fence lay the railroad track, which skirted the +back of Mrs. MacIntyre's place for over half a mile. + +"Do you see that hand-car?" asked Keith, pointing with his riding-whip +to one on the track. "The section boss let Malcolm and me ride up and +down on it all afternoon one day this winter. Some workman left it on +the switch while ago, and while you were up at the barn I got two +darkeys to move it for me. They didn't want to at first, but I knew that +there'd be no train along for an hour, and told 'em so, and they finally +did it for a dime apiece. As soon as I rescue Lloyd I'll dash down here +on my pony with her behind me. Then we'll slip through the fence and get +on the hand-car, and be out of sight around the curve before the rest +get here. They won't know where on earth we've gone, and it will be the +best joke on them. It's down grade all the way to the section-house, so +I can push it easily enough by myself, but I'll need your help coming +back, maybe. S'pose you cut across lots to the section-house as soon as +I start to the barn, and meet me there. It isn't half as far that way, +so you'll get there as soon as we do." + +"All right," said Jonesy. "I'm your kid." + +"You should say, ''Tis well, Sir Knight, I fly to do thy bidding,'" +prompted Keith. + +Jonesy grinned. He could not enter into the spirit of the play as the +others did. "Aw, I'll be on time," he said; then, as Keith untied his +pony, started on a run across the fields. + +The Lady Lloyd had not finished her repast when her rescuer appeared, +but she put the plate down on the hay to await her return, and +obediently climbed down the ladder he placed for her. They reached the +fence before the banqueters knew that she had escaped. Flinging the +pony's bridle over a fence-post, when they reached the edge of the +field, the brave knight crawled through the fence and pulled Lloyd after +him, tearing her dress, much to that dainty little lady's +extreme disgust. + +By the time the king and his guard were mounted in pursuit, on the other +pony which stood in waiting, the runaways were in the hand-car. It moved +slowly at first, although Keith was strong for his age, and his hardy +little muscles were untiring. + +"Isn't it lovely?" cried Lloyd, as they moved faster and faster and +swept around the curve. "I wish we could go all the way to Louisville on +this." The warm March wind fanned her pink cheeks, and blew her soft +light hair into her eyes. + +Jonesy was waiting at the section-house, and waved his cap as they +passed. "We're going on, around the next bend," shouted Keith, as they +passed him. "Whoop-la! this is fine, and not a bit hard to work!" + +"What will the wicked queen think when she can't find us?" asked Lloyd, +laughing happily, as they sped on down the track. + +"She'll think that I am a magician and have spirited you away," said +Keith. + +"Then if you are a magician you ought to change her into a nasty black +spidah, to pay her back fo' shuttin' me up with them!" Lloyd was +delighted with this new play. For the time it seemed as if she really +were escaping from a castle prison. Faster and faster they went. Jonesy, +who had followed them to the second curve, stood watching them with +wistful eyes, wishing he could be with them. They passed the depot, and +then the hand-car seemed to grow smaller and smaller as it rolled away, +until it was only a moving speck in the distance. Then he turned and +walked back to the section-house. + +"I s'pect we've gone about far enough," said Keith, after awhile. "We'd +better turn around now and go back, or the picnic will all be over +before we get our share. Let's wait here a minute till I rest my arms, +and then we'll start." + +The place where they had stopped was the loneliest part of the track +that could be found in miles, on either side. It was in the midst of a +thick beech woods, and the twitter of a bird, now and then, was the only +sound in all the deep stillness. + +"What lovely green moss on that bank!" cried the Little Colonel. +"Wouldn't it make a beautiful carpet for our playhouse down by the +old mill?" + +"I'll get you some," said Keith, gallantly springing from the car and +clambering up the bank. Taking out his knife, he began to cut great +squares of the velvety green moss, and pile it up to carry back to +the hand-car. + +Meanwhile Jonesy waited at the section-house, digging his heels into the +cinders that lined the track, and looking impatiently down the road. +Presently the section boss came limping along painfully, and sat down on +the bank in the warm spring sunshine. He had dropped a piece of heavy +machinery on his foot, the week before, and was only able to hobble +short distances. + +Everybody in the Valley was interested in Jonesy since the fire and the +Benefit had made him so well known, and the man was glad of this +opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the boy. Jonesy, with all the +fearlessness of a little street gamin brought up in a big city, answered +him fearlessly, even saucily at times, much to the man's amusement. + +"So you want to get a job around here, do you?" said the man, presently, +with a grin. "Maybe I can give you one. Know anything about +railroadin'?" + +"Heaps," answered Jonesy. "Well, I'd ought to, seem' as I've lived next +door to the engine yards all my life, and spent my time dodgin' the cop +on watch there, when I was tryin' to steal rides on freight-cars +and such." + +"Is that what you're hangin' around here now for?" asked the man, with a +good-natured twinkle in his eyes. + +"Nope! I'm waiting for that MacIntyre kid to come back this way. He went +down the track a bit ago on a hand-car, playing rescue a princess with +one of the girls at the picnic," + +The section boss sprang up with an exclamation of alarm. "How far's he +gone?" he asked. "There's a special due to pass here in a few minutes." + +Even while he spoke there sounded far away in the distance, so far that +it was like only a faint echo, the whistle of an approaching locomotive. +The man hobbled down the track a yard or so and stopped. "What do you +suppose they'll do?" he asked. "There are so many bends in this road, +the train may come right on to 'em before the engineer sees 'em. S'pose +they'll jump off, or turn and try to come back?" + +Jonesy glanced around wildly a second, and then sprang forward toward +the man. + +"Give me the switch-key!" he cried, in a high voice, shrill with +excitement. "You can't run, but I can. Give me the switch-key!" +Perplexed by the sudden turn of affairs and the little fellow's +commanding tone, the man took the key from his pocket. He realised his +own helplessness to do anything, and there was something in Jonesy's +manner that inspired confidence. He felt that the child's quick wit had +grasped the situation and formed some sensible plan of action. + +Again the whistle sounded in the distance, and, snatching the key, +Jonesy was off down the track like an arrow. The section boss, leaning +heavily on his cane, limped after him as fast as he could. + +Keith and the Little Colonel, having gathered the moss and started back +home, were rolling leisurely along, still talking of magicians and +their ilk. + +"What if we should meet a dragon?" cried the Little Colonel. "A dragon +with a scaly green tail, and red eyes and a fiery tongue. What would +you do then?" + +"I'd say, 'What! Ho! Thou monster!' and cleave him in twain with my good +broadsword, and when he saw its shining blade smite through the air he'd +just curl up and die." + +Keith looked back to smile at the bright laughing face beside him. Then +he caught sight of something over his shoulder that made him pause. "Oh, +look!" he cried, pointing over the tree-tops behind them. A little puff +of smoke, rising up in the distance, trailed along the sky like a long +banner. At the same instant, out of the smoke, sounded the whistle of an +approaching engine. The track behind them had so many turns, he could +not judge of their distance from it, and for an instant he stopped +working the handle bar up and down, too thoroughly frightened to know +what to do. An older child might have acted differently; might have +jumped from the hand-car and left it to be run into by the approaching +train, or have hurried back around the bend to flag the engine. But +Keith had only one idea left: that was to keep ahead of the train as +long as possible. It seemed so far away he thought they could surely +reach the depot before it caught up with them, and his sturdy little +arms bent to the task. + +For a moment there was a real pleasure in the exertion. He felt with an +excited thrill that he was really running away with the Little Colonel, +and rescuing her from a pursuing danger. Suddenly the whistle sounded +again, and this time it seemed so close behind them that the Little +Colonel gave a terrified glance over her shoulder and then screamed at +the sight of the great snorting monster, breathing out fire and smoke, +worse than any scaly-tailed dragon that she had ever imagined. It was +far down the track but they could hear its terrible rumble as it rushed +over a trestle, and the singing of the wires overhead. + +Keith was straining every muscle now, but it was like running in a +nightmare. His arms moved up and down at a furious speed, but it seemed +to him that the hand-car was glued to one spot. It seemed, too, that it +had been hours since they first discovered that the engine was after +them, and he felt that he would soon be too exhausted to move another +stroke. Would the depot never never come in sight? + +Just then they shot around the curve and caught sight of Jonesy at the +depot switch, wildly beckoning with his cap and shouting for them to +come on. At that sight, with one supreme effort Keith put his +fast-failing strength to the test, and sent the hand-car rolling forward +faster than ever. It shot past the switch that Jonesy had unlocked and +off to the side-track, just as the train bore down upon them around the +last bend. + +There was barely time for Jonesy to set the switch again before it +thundered on along the main track past the little depot. Being a +special, it did not stop. As it went shrieking by, the engineer cast a +curious glance at a hand-car on the side-track. A little girl sat on it, +a pretty golden-haired child with dark eyes big with fright, and her +face as white as her dress. He wondered what was the matter. + +For a moment after the shrieking train whizzed by everything seemed +deathly still. Keith sat leaning against the embankment, white and limp +from exhaustion and the excitement of his close escape. Jonesy was +panting and wiping the perspiration from his red face, for he had run +like a deer to reach the switch in time. + +"I couldn't have held out a minute longer," said Keith, presently. "My +arms felt like they had gone to sleep, and I was just ready to give up +when I caught sight of you. That seemed to give me strength to go on, +when I saw what you were at and that it would only be a little farther +to go before we would be safe. Plow did you happen to be at the switch, +and know how to set it?" + +"Hain't lived all my life around engine yards fer nothin'," answered +Jonesy. "Why didn't you jump off and flag the train?" + +"I was so taken by surprise I didn't think of that," answered Keith. +"The only thing I knew was that we had to keep ahead of it as long as +possible. You've saved my life, Jones Carter, and I'll never forget it, +no matter what comes," + +"I've been rescued twice to-day," said the Little Colonel, taking a deep +breath as she began to recover from her fright. "Jonesy ought to be a +knight, too." + +"That's so!" exclaimed Keith, springing to his feet. "Come on and let's +go back to the barn. We'll tell our adventures, and then we'll go +through the ceremony of making Jonesy a Sir Something or other. He's +certainly won his spurs." + +"Goin' back on the hand-car?" asked Jonesy. + +"Not much," answered Keith, with a sickly sort of smile. "Somehow such +fast travelling doesn't seem to agree with a fellow. Walking is good +enough for me." + +"Me too!" cried the Little Colonel, tying on her white sunbonnet. "But +the first part of it was lovely,--just like flyin'." + +Jonesy ran back to give the man his key, and was kept answering +questions so long that he did not catch up with the other children until +they were in sight of the barn. + +"After all," said Keith, as the three trudged along together, "maybe +we'd better not tell how near we came to being run over. Grandmother +and Aunt Allison would be dreadfully worried if they should hear of it. +They are always worrying for fear something will happen to us." + +"Mothah would be _wild_" exclaimed the Little Colonel, "if she knew I +had been in any dangah. Maybe she wouldn't let me out of her sight again +to play all summah." + +"Then let's don't tell for a long, long time," proposed Keith. "It'll be +our secret, just for us three." + +"All right," the others agreed. They dropped the subject then, for the +barn was just ahead of them, and the gay picnickers came running out, +demanding to know where they had been so long. + +The Little Colonel often spoke of her experience afterward to the two +boys, however, and in Keith's day-dreams a home for Jonesy began to +crowd out all other hopes and plans. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A GAME OF INDIAN. + +Keith was stiff for a week after his race on the hand-car, but did his +groaning in private. He knew what a commotion would be raised if the +matter came to his grandmother's ears. She had lived all winter in +constant dread of accidents. Malcolm had been carried home twice in an +unconscious state, once from having been thrown from his bicycle, and +once from falling through a trap-door in the barn. Keith had broken +through the ice on the pond, sprained his wrist while coasting, and +walked in half a dozen times with the blood streaming from some wound on +his head or face. + +Virginia had never been hurt, but her hair-breadth escapes would have +filled a volume. An amusing one was the time she lassoed a young calf, +Indian fashion, to show the boys how it should be done. Its angry +mother was in the next lot, but Virginia felt perfectly safe as she +swung her lariat and dragged the bleating calf around the barn-yard. She +did not stop to consider that if a cow with lofty ambitions had once +jumped over the moon, one which saw its calf in danger might easily leap +a low hedge. Malcolm's warning shout came just in time to save her from +being gored by the angry animal, who charged at her with lowered horns. +She sprang up the ladder leading to the corn-crib window, where she was +safe, but she had to hang there until Unc' Henry could be called to +the rescue. + +It was with many misgivings that Mrs. MacIntyre and Miss Allison started +to the city one morning in April. It was the first time since the +children's coming that they had both gone away at once, and nothing but +urgent business would have made them consent to go. + +The children promised at least a dozen things. They would keep away from +the barn, the live stock, the railroad, the ponds, and the cisterns. +They would not ride their wheels, climb trees, nor go off the Maclntyre +premises, and they would keep a sharp lookout for snakes and poison +ivy, in case they went into the woods for wild flowers. + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA AND THE CALF.] + +"Seems to me there's mighty little left that a fellow can do," said +Keith, when the long list was completed. + +"Oh, the time will soon pass," said his grandmother, who was preparing +to take the eleven o'clock train. "It will soon be lunch-time. Then this +is the day for you each to write your weekly letters to your mother, and +it is so pretty in the woods now that I am sure you will enjoy looking +for violets." + +Time did pass quickly, as their grandmother had said it would, until the +middle of the afternoon. Then Virginia began to wish for something more +amusing than the quiet guessing games they had been playing in the +library. The boys each picked up a book, and she strolled off up-stairs, +in search of a livelier occupation. + +In a few minutes she came down, looking like a second Pocahontas in her +Indian suit, with her bow and arrows slung over her shoulder. + +"I am going down to the woods to practise shooting," she announced, as +she stopped to look in at the door. + +"Oh, wait just a minute!" begged Malcolm, throwing down his book. +"Let's all play Indian this afternoon. We'll rig up, too, and build a +wigwam down by the spring rock, and make a fire,--grandmother didn't say +we couldn't make a fire; that's about the only thing she forgot to tell +us not to do." + +"You can come on when you get ready," answered Virginia. "I'm going now, +because it is getting late, but you'll find me near the spring when you +come. Just yell." + +The boys could not hope to rival Virginia's Indian costume, but no +wilder-looking little savages ever uttered a war-whoop than the two +which presently dashed into the still April woods. + +Malcolm had ripped some variegated fringe from a table-cover to pin down +the sides of his leather leggins. He had borrowed a Roman blanket from +Aunt Allison's couch to pin around his shoulders, and emptied several +tubes of her most expensive paints to streak his face with hideous +stripes and daubs. A row of feathers from the dust-brush was fastened +around his forehead by a broad band, and a hatchet from the woodshed +provided him with a tomahawk. + +Keith had no time to arrange feathers. He had taken off his flannels in +order to put on an old striped bathing-suit, which he had found in the +attic and stored away, intending to use it for swimming in the pond when +the weather should grow warm enough. It had no sleeves, and the short +trousers had shrunk until they did not half-way reach his knees. Its red +and white stripes had faded and the colour run until the whole was a +dingy "crushed strawberry" shade. As Malcolm had emptied all the tubes +of red paint in his Aunt Allison's box, Keith had to content himself +with some other colour. He chose the different shades of green, +squeezing the paint out on his plump little legs and arms, and rubbing +it around with his fore finger until he was encircled with as many +stripes as a zebra. Although the day was warm for the early part of +April, the sudden change from his customary clothes and spring flannels +to nothing but the airy bathing suit and war-paint made him a trifle +chilly; so he completed his costume by putting on a pair of scarlet +bedroom slippers, edged with dark fur. + +With the dropping of their civilised clothing, the boys seemed to have +dropped all recollections of their professed knighthood, and acted like +the little savages they looked. + +"We're going to shoot with your things awhile, Ginger," shouted Keith, +coming suddenly upon her with a whoop, and snatching her bow out of her +hands. "You are the squaw, so you have to do all the work. Get down +there now behind that rock and make a fire, while we go out and kill a +deer. You must build a wigwam, too, by the time we get back. Hear me? +I'm a big chief! 'I am Famine--Buckadawin!' and I'll make a living +skeleton of you if you don't hustle." + +Virginia was furious. "I'll not be a squaw!" she cried. "And I'll not +build a fire or do anything else if you talk so rudely. If you don't +give me back my bow and let me be a chief, too, I'll--I'll get even with +you, sir, in a way you won't like. I have short hair, and my clothes are +more Indian than yours, and I can shoot better than either of you, +anyhow! So there! Give me my bow." + +"What will you do if I won't?" said Keith, teasingly, holding it behind +him. + +"I'll go up to the barn and get a rope, and lasso you like I did that +calf, and drag you all over the place!" cried Virginia, her eyes +shining with fierce determination. + +"She means it, Keith," said Malcolm. "She'll do it sure, if you don't +stop teasing. Oh, give it to her and come along, or it will be dark +before we begin to play." + +Matters went on more smoothly after Malcolm's efforts at peacemaking, +and when it was decided that Ginger could be a brave, too, instead of a +squaw, they were soon playing together as pleasantly as if they had +found the happy hunting grounds. The short afternoon waned fast, and the +shadows were growing deep when they reached the last part of the game. +Ginger had been taken prisoner, and they were tying her to a tree, with +her hands bound securely behind her back. She rather enjoyed this part +of it, for she intended to show them how brave she could be. + +"Now we'll sit around the council fire and decide how to torture her," +said Malcolm, when the captive was securely tied. But the fire was out +and they had no matches. The lot fell on Malcolm to run up to the house +and get some. + +"A fire would feel good," said Keith, looking around with a shiver as he +seated himself on a log near Ginger. The sun was low in the west, and +very little of its light and warmth found its way into the woods where +the children were playing. + +"It makes me think of Hiawatha," said Ginger, looking down at several +long streaks of golden light which lay across the ground at her feet. +"Don't you remember how it goes? 'And the long and level sunbeams shot +their spears into the forest, breaking through its shield of shadow,' +Isn't that pretty? I love Hiawatha. I am going to learn pages and pages +of it some day. I know all that part about Minnehaha now," + +"Say it while we are waiting," said Keith, pulling his short trousers +down as far as possible, and wishing that he had sleeves, or else that +the paint were thicker on his chilly arms. + +"All right," began Virginia. + + "'Oh the long and dreary winter! + Oh the cold and cruel winter! + Ever thicker, thicker, thicker + Froze the ice on lake and river.'" + +"Ugh! Don't!" interrupted Keith, with a shiver. "It makes my teeth +chatter, talking about such cold things!" + +Just then a shout came ringing down the hill, "Oh, Keith! Come here a +minute! Quick!" + +"What do you wa-ant?" yelled Keith, in return. + +"Come up here! Quick! Hurry up!" + +"What do you s'pose can be the matter?" exclaimed Keith, scrambling to +his feet. "Maybe the bear has got loose and run away." + +"Come and untie me first," said Virginia, "and I'll go, too." Keith +gave several quick tugs at the many knotted string which bound her, but +could not loosen it. Again the call came, impatient and sharp, "Keith! +_Oh_, Keith!" + +"Oh, I can't loosen it a bit," said Keith. "You'll have to wait till +Malcolm comes with his knife. We'll be back in just a minute. I'll go +and see what's the matter." + +"Be sure that you don't stay!" screamed Ginger, as the scarlet bedroom +slippers and green striped legs flashed out of sight through the bushes. + +"Back--in--a--minute!" sounded shrilly through the woods. + +Keith found Malcolm on the back porch, pounding excitedly on a box which +the express-man had left there a few minutes before. + +"It's the camera we have been looking for all week," he cried. "Come on +and have a look at it." + +"Ginger said to hurry back," said Keith. + +"Pshaw! It won't take but a minute. I'll pry the box open in a jiffy." + +It was harder work than the boys had supposed, to take the tightly +nailed lid from its place, and they were so intent on their work they +did not realise how quickly the minutes were passing. + +"Isn't it a beauty?" exclaimed Malcolm, when it was at last unpacked. +"It's lots bigger and finer than the one papa promised. But that's the +way he always does. Oh, isn't it a peach!" + +"I'll tell you what," said Keith, dancing up and down in his excitement, +until he looked like a ridiculous little clown in the faded pink +bathing-suit and his stripes of green paint, "let's take each other's +pictures while we are dressed this way. We may never look so funny +again, and we can go down and take Ginger, too, while she is tied to +the tree." + +"Can't now," said Malcolm, "it's too dark down there in the woods by +this time. See! there is nothing left now of the sun but those red +clouds above the place where it went down. I'm afraid it is too dark +even for us up here on the hill; but we can try. You do look funny, just +like a jumping-jack or a monkey on a stick." + +"Surely Ginger won't mind waiting long enough for us to do it," said +Keith. "Anyhow we can never dress up this way again, and grandmother +will be coming home very soon, so you take mine quick, and I will +take yours." + +The boys had had some practice before with a cheap little camera, but +this required some studying of the printed directions before they could +use it. The first time they tried it the plates were put in wrong, and +the second time they forgot to remove the cap. There were other things +in the box besides the camera: some beautiful pink curlew's wings, a +handsomely marked snake skin, and some rare shells that had been picked +up on the Gulf coast. Of course the boys had to examine each new +treasure as it was discovered. One thing after another delayed them +until it was dusk even on the porch where they stood, and in the woods +below a deep twilight had fallen. + +Every minute that had sped by so rapidly for the boys, seemed an age to +the captive Virginia. Her arms ached from the strain of their unusual +position. Swarms of gnats flew about, stinging her face, and mosquitoes +buzzed teasingly around her ears. She was unable to move a finger to +drive them away. + +When the boys had been gone fifteen minutes she thought they must have +been away hours. At the end of half an hour she was wild with impatience +to get loose, but, thinking they might return any minute, she made no +sign of her discomfort. She would be as heroic as the bravest brave ever +tortured by cruel savages. As long as it was light she kept up her +courage, but presently it began to grow dark under the great +beech-trees. A frog down by the spring set up a dismal croaking. What if +they should not come back, and her grandmother and Aunt Allison should +miss the train, and have to stay in the city all night! Then nobody +would come to set her free, and she would have to stay in the lonely +woods all by herself, tied to a tree, with her hands behind her back. + +At that thought she began calling, "Keith! Keith! Malcolm! Oh, Malcolm!" +but only an echo came back to her, as it had to the dying Minnehaha,--a +far-away echo that mocked her with its teasing cry of "Mal-colm!" Call +after call went ringing through the woods, but nobody answered. +Nobody came. + +There was a rustling through the leaves behind her, as of a snake +gliding around the tree. She was not afraid of snakes in the daytime, +and when she was unbound, but she shrieked and turned cold at the +thought of one wriggling across her feet while she was powerless to get +away. Every time a twig snapped, or there was a fluttering in the +bushes, she strained her eyes to see what horrible thing might be +creeping up toward her. She had no thought that live Indians might be +lurking about, but all the terrible stories she had ever heard, of the +days of Daniel Boone and the early settlers, came back to haunt the +woods with a nameless dread. + +She felt that she was standing on the real Kentucky that the Indians +meant, when they gave the State its name. "_Dark and bloody ground! Dark +and bloody ground_!" something seemed to say just behind her. Then the +trees took it up, and all the leaves whispered, "_Sh--sh, sh! Dark and +bloody ground! Sh--sh_!" + +At that she was so frightened that she began calling again, but the +sound of her own voice startled her. "Oh, they are not coming," she +thought, with a miserable ache in her throat, that seemed swelling +bigger and bigger. "I'll have to stay here in the woods all night. Oh, +mamma! mamma!" she moaned, "I am so scared! If you could only come back +and get your poor little girl!" + +Up to this time she had bravely fought back the tears, but just then a +screech-owl flapped down from a branch above her with such a dismal +hooting that she gave a nervous start and a cry of terror. "Oh, that +frightened me so!" she sobbed. "I don't believe I can stand it to be out +here all night alone with so many horrible creepy things everywhere. And +nobody cares! Nobody but papa and mamma, and they are away, way off in +Cuba. Maybe I'll never see them any more," At that the tears rolled down +her face, and she could not move a hand to wipe them away. To be so +little and miserable and forsaken, so worn out with waiting and so +helpless among all these unknown horrors that the dark woods might hold, +was worse torture to the imaginative child than any bodily pain could +have been. + +It was just as her last bit of courage oozed away, and she began to cry, +that the boys suddenly realised how long they had left her. + +"It must be as dark as a pocket in the woods by this time," exclaimed +Malcolm. "What do you suppose Ginger will say to us for leaving her +so long?" + +"You will have to take a knife to cut her loose," said Keith. "I tried +to untie the knots before I came away, but I couldn't move them." + +"My pocket-knife is up-stairs," answered Malcolm. "I'll get something in +the dining-room that will do." + +He was rushing out again with a carving-knife in his hand, when he came +face to face with his grandmother and Aunt Allison. The boys had been so +interested in their camera that they had not heard the train whistle, or +the sound of footsteps coming up on the front veranda. Pete was lighting +the hall lamps as the ladies came in, and he turned his back to hide the +broad grin on his face, as he thought of the sight which would soon +greet them. Mrs. Maclntyre gave a gasp of astonishment and sank down in +the nearest chair as Malcolm came dashing into the bright lamplight. + +His turkey feathers were all awry, standing out in a dozen different +directions from his head, his blanket trailed behind him, and the fringe +was hanging in festoons from his leggins, where it had come unpinned. +The red paint on his face made him look as if he had been in a fight +with the carving-knife he carried, and had had the skin peeled off his +face in patches. + +Wild as he looked, his appearance was tame beside that of the +impish-looking little savage who skipped in after him, in the scarlet +bedroom slippers, pink striped bathing-suit and green striped skin. + +"Keith Maclntyre, what have you been doing to yourself?" gasped his +grandmother. Both boys began an excited exclamation, but were stopped by +Miss Allison's question, "Where is Virginia? Have you two little savages +scalped her?" + +"She's tied to a tree down by the spring," answered Malcolm. "We are +just starting down there now to cut her loose. You see we were playing +Indian, and she was tied up to be tortured, and we forgot all about her +being there--" + +But Miss Allison waited to hear no more. "The poor little thing!" she +exclaimed. "Tied out there alone in the dark woods! How could you be so +cruel? It is enough to frighten her into spasms." + +"I'm awfully sorry, Aunt Allison!" began Malcolm, but his aunt was +already out of hearing. Out of the door she ran, through the dewy grass +and the stubble of the field beyond, regardless of her dainty spring +gown, or her new patent leather shoes. Malcolm and Keith dashed out +after her, ran on ahead and were at the spring before she had climbed +the fence into the woodland. + +Virginia was not crying when the boys reached her. She remembered that +she had once called Malcolm "Rain-in-the-face" because she caught him +crying over something that seemed to her a very little reason, and she +did not intend to give him a chance to taunt her in the same way. She +was glad that it was too dark for him to notice her tear-swollen eyes. + +"Whew! It's dark down here!" said Keith. "Were you frightened, Ginger?" +he asked, as he helped Malcolm unfasten the cords that bound her. But +Ginger made no reply to either questions or apologies. She walked on in +dignified silence, too deeply hurt by their neglect, too full of a sense +of the wrong they had done her, to trust herself to speak without +crying, and she intended to be game to the last. But when she came upon +Miss Allison, and suddenly found herself folded safe in her arms, with +pitying kisses and comforting caresses, she clung to her, sobbing as if +her heart would break. + +"Oh, auntie! It was so awful!" was all she could say, but she repeated +it again and again, until Miss Allison, who had never seen her so +excited before, was alarmed. The boys, who had run on ahead to the house +again, before she gave way to her feelings, were inclined to look upon +it all as a good joke, for they had no idea how much she had suffered, +and did not like it because she would not speak to them. They changed +their minds when Miss Allison came out of Virginia's room a little +later, and told them that the fright had given the child a nervous +chill, and that she had cried herself to sleep. + +"We didn't mean to do it," said Keith, penitently. "We just forgot, and +I'm mighty sorry, truly I am, auntie!" + +"I am not scolding you," said Miss Allison, "but if I were either of you +boys, I wouldn't wear my little white flower when I dressed for dinner +to-night. Instead of being the protector of a distressed maiden, as the +old knights would have said, you have done her a wrong,--a serious one I +am afraid,--and that wrong ought to be made right as far as possible +before you are worthy to wear the badge of knighthood again." + +"We'll go and beg her pardon right now," said Malcolm. + +"No, she is asleep now, and I do not want her to be disturbed. Besides, +a mere apology is not enough. You must make some kind of atonement. The +first thing for you to do, however, is to get some turpentine and remove +that paint. Where did you get it, boys?" + +"Out of your paint-box, Aunt Allison," said Malcolm. "We didn't think +you would care. I was only going to take a little, but it soaked in so +fast that I had to use two tubes of it." + +"I used more than that," confessed Keith, looking at her with his big +honest eyes; "but I got so interested pretending that I was turning into +a real Indian, that I never thought about its being anybody else's +paint, Aunt Allison, truly I didn't!" + +She turned away to hide a smile. The earnest little face above the +striped body was so very comical. Picking up several of the empty tubes +that had been squeezed quite flat, she read the labels. "Rose madder and +carmine," she said, solemnly, "two of my very most expensive paints." + +"Dear me!" sighed Malcolm, "then there's another wrong that's got to be +righted. I guess Keith and I weren't cut out for knights. I'm beginning +to think that it's a mighty tough business anyhow." + +That night, when the boys came down to dinner, no little white flower +with its diamond dewdrop centre shone on the lapel of either coat. It +had been a work of time to scrub off the paint, and then it took almost +as long to get rid of the turpentine, so that dinner was ready long +before Keith was finally clad in his flannels. "My throat is sore," he +complained to Malcolm at bedtime, but did not mention it to any one else +that night. He sat on the side of his bed a moment before undressing, +with one foot across his knee, staring thoughtfully at the lamp. +Presently, with one shoe in his hand and the other half unlaced, he +hopped over to the dressing-table and stood before it, looking at first +one picture and then another. + +Eight different photographs of his mother were ranged along the table +below the wide mirror, some taken in evening dress, some in simple +street costume, and each one so beautiful that it would have been hard +to decide which one had the greatest charm. + +"I wish mamma was here to-night," said Keith, softly, with a little +quiver of his lip. "Seems like she's been gone almost always." + +He picked up a large Roman locket of beaten silver that lay open on the +table. It held two exquisitely painted miniatures on ivory. One was the +same sweet face that looked out at him from each of the photographs, the +other was his father's. It showed a handsome young fellow with strong, +clean-shaven face, with eyes like Keith's, and the same lordly poise of +the fine head that Malcolm had. + +"Good night, papa, good night, mamma!" whispered Keith, touching his +lips hastily to each picture while Malcolm's back was turned. There were +tears in his eyes. Somehow he was so miserably homesick. + +Next morning, although Keith's throat was not so sore, he was burning +with fever by the time his lessons were over. Before his grandmother saw +him he was off on his wheel for a long ride, and then, because he was so +hot when he came back, he slipped away to the pond with the pink +bathing-suit under his coat, and took the swim that he had been looking +forward to so long. Nobody knew where he was, and he stayed in the water +until his lips and finger-nails were blue. The morning after that he was +too ill to get up, and Mrs. Maclntyre sent for a doctor. + +"He has always been so perfectly well, and seemed to have such a strong +constitution, that I cannot allow myself to believe this will be +anything serious," said Mrs. Maclntyre, but at the end of the third day +he was so much worse that she sent to the city for a trained nurse, and +telegraphed for his father and mother. + +They had already left Florida, and were yachting up the Atlantic coast +on their way home when the message reached them. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"FAIRCHANCE." + +Malcolm did his best to atone to Virginia for what she had suffered from +the forgetfulness of the two little Indians, but poor Keith was too ill +to remember anything about it. He did not know his father and mother +when they came, and tossed restlessly about, talking wildly of things +they could not understand. It was the first time he had ever been so +ill, and as they watched him lying there day after day, burning with +fever, and growing white and thin, a great fear came upon them that he +would never be any better. + +No one put that fear into words, but little by little it crept from +heart to heart like a wintry fog, until the whole house felt its chill. +The sweet spring sounds and odours came rushing in at every window from +the sunny world outside, but it might as well have been mid-winter. No +one paid any heed while that little life hung in the balance. The +servants went through the house on tiptoe. Malcolm and Virginia haunted +the halls to discover from the grave faces of the older people what they +were afraid to ask, and Mrs. Maclntyre was kept busy answering the +inquiries of the neighbours. Scarcely an hour passed that some one did +not come to ask about Keith, to leave flowers, or to proffer kindly +services. Everybody who knew the little fellow loved him. His bright +smile and winning manner had made him a host of friends. + +There was no lack of attention. His father and mother, Miss Allison, and +the nurse watched every breath, every pulse-beat; and a dozen times in +the night his grandmother stole to the door to look anxiously at the wan +little face on the pillow. + +"It is so strange," said his mother to the nurse one day. "He keeps +talking about a white flower. He says that he can't right the wrong +unless he wears it, and that Jonesy will have to be shut up and never +find his brother again. What do you suppose he means?" + +The nurse shook her head. She did not know. Just then Mrs. Maclntyre +heard her name called softly, "Elise," and her husband beckoned her to +come out into the hall. "I want to show you something in Allison's +room," he said, leading her down the hall to his sister's apartment. On +each side of the low writing-desk stood a large photograph, one of +Malcolm in his suit of mail, the other of Keith in the costume of +jewel-embroidered velvet, like the little Duke of Gloster's. + +"Oh, Sydney! How beautiful!" she exclaimed, as she swept across the room +and knelt down before the desk for a better view. Leaning her arms on +the desk, she looked into Keith's pictured face with hungry eyes. "Isn't +he lovely?" she repeated. "Oh, he'll never look like that again! I know +it! I know it!" she sobbed, remembering how white was the little face on +the pillow that she had just left. + +Mr. Maclntyre bent over her, his own handsome face white and haggard. He +looked ill himself, from the constant watching and anxiety. "I'd give +anything in the world that I own! Everything!" he groaned. "I'd do +anything, sacrifice anything, to see him as well and sturdy as he +looks there!" + +Then he caught up the picture. "What's this written underneath?" he +asked, "It is in Keith's own handwriting: '_Live pure speak truth, right +the wrong, follow the king. Else wherefore born_?' + +"What does it mean, Allison?" he asked, turning to his sister, who was +resting on a couch by the window. "It is written under Malcolm's +picture, too." + +"The dear little Sir Galahads," she said, "I sent for you to tell you +about them. The boys intended the pictures as a surprise for you and +Elise, so we never sent them. They wanted to tell you themselves about +the Benefit and the little waif they gave it for." + +She took a little pin from a jewel-case under the sofa pillows, and +reaching over, dropped it in her brother's hand. It was a tiny flower of +white enamel, with a diamond dewdrop in the centre. + +"You may have noticed Malcolm wearing one like it," she said, and then +she told them the story of Jonesy and the bear and all that their coming +had led to: the Benefit, the new order of knighthood, and the awakening +of the boys to a noble purpose. + +"The boys fully expect you to stand by them in all this, Sydney," she +said, in conclusion, "and play fairy godfather for Jonesy henceforth and +for ever. One night, when Keith came up to confess some mischief he had +been into during the day, he said: + +"'Aunt Allison, this wearing the white flower of a blameless life isn't +as easy as it is cracked up to be; but having this little pin helps a +lot. I just put my hand on that like the real knights used to do on +their sword-hilts, and repeat my motto. It will be easier when papa +comes home. Since I've known Jonesy, and heard him tell about the hard +times some people have that he knows, it seems to me there's an awful +lot of wrong in the world for somebody to set right. Some nights I can +hardly go to sleep for thinking about it, and wishing that I were grown +up so that I could begin to do my part. I wish papa could be here now. +He'd make a splendid knight; he is so big and good and handsome. I don't +s'pose King Arthur himself was any better or braver than my father is.'" + +A tear splashed down from the mother's eyes as she listened, and, +falling on the tiny white flower as it lay in her husband's hand, +glistened beside the dewdrop centre like another diamond. + +"Oh, Sydney!" she exclaimed, in a heart-broken way. Something very like +a sob shook the man's broad shoulders, and, turning abruptly, he strode +out of the room. + +Down in the dim, green library, where the blinds had been drawn to keep +it cool, he threw himself into a chair beside the table. Propping +Keith's picture up in front of him against a pile of books, he leaned +forward, gazing at it earnestly. He had never realised before how much +he loved the little son, who hour by hour seemed slowly slipping farther +away from him. The pictured face looked full into his as if it would +speak. It wore the same sweet, trustful expression that had shone there +the night he talked to Jonesy of the Hall of the Shields; the same +childish purity that had moved the old professor to lay his hands upon +his head and call him Galahad. + +All that gentle birth, college breeding, wealth, and travel could give a +man, were Sydney Maclntyre's, and yet, measuring himself by Keith's +standard of knighthood, he felt himself sadly lacking. He had given +liberally to charities hundreds of dollars, because it was often easier +for him to write out a check than to listen to somebody's tale of +suffering. But aside from that he had left the old world to wag on as +best it could, with its grievous load of wrong and sorrow. + +A man is not apt to trouble himself as to how it wags for those outside +his circle of friends, when the generations before him have spent their +time laying up a fortune for him to enjoy. But this man was beginning to +trouble himself about it now, as he paced restlessly up and down the +room. He was not thinking now about the things that usually occupied +him, his social duties, his home or club, or yacht or horses or kennels. +He was not planning some new pleasure for his friends or family, he was +wondering what he could do to be worthy of the exalted regard in which +he was held by his little sons. What wrong could he set right, to prove +himself really as noble as they thought him? He was their ideal of all +that was generous and manly, and yet-- + +"What have I ever done," he asked himself, "to make them think so? If I +were to be taken out of the world to-morrow, I would be leaving it +exactly as I found it. Who could point to my coffin and say, 'Laws are +better, politics are purer, or times are not so hard for the masses now, +because this one man willed to lift up his fellows as far as the might +of one strong life can reach?' But they will say that of Malcolm, and +Keith, if he lives--ah, if he lives!" + +An hour later the door opened, and Malcolm came in, softly. "Keith is +asking for you, papa," he said, with a timid glance into his father's +haggard face. Then he came nearer, and slipped his hand into the man's +strong fingers, and together they went up the stairs to answer +the summons. + +"Did you want me, Keith?" + +The head did not turn on the pillow. The languid eyes opened only +half-way, but there was recognition in them now, and one little hand was +raised to lay itself lovingly against his father's cheek. + +"What is it, son?" + +The weak little voice tried to answer, but the words came only in gasps. +"Brother knows--about Jonesy--keep him from being a tramp! Please let +me, papa--do that much good--in my life 'else wherefore--born?'" + +"What is it, Keith?" asked his father, bending over him. "Papa doesn't +exactly understand. But you can have anything you want, my boy. +Anything! I'll do whatever you ask." + +"Malcolm knows," was the answer. Then the voice seemed somewhat +stronger for an instant, and a faint smile touched Keith's lips. "Give +my half of the bear to Ginger. Now--may I have--my--white--flower?" + +Throwing back his coat, his father unpinned the little badge from his +vest, where he had fastened it for safe-keeping a short time before in +the library. A pleased expression flitted over the child's face, as he +saw where it had been resting, and when it was fastened in the front of +his little embroidered nightshirt, his hand closed over the pin as if it +were something very precious, and he were afraid of losing it again. + +"Wearing the white flower," they heard him whisper, and then the little +knight slept. + + * * * * * + +It was hours afterward when he roused again,--hours when the faintest +noise had not been allowed in the house; when the servants had been sent +to the cottage, and Unc' Henry stationed at the front gate; that no one +might drive up the avenue. + +Virginia, in a hammock on the veranda, scarcely dared draw a deep breath +till she heard the doctor coming down the stairs, just before dark. +Then she knew by his face that prayers and skill and tender nursing had +not been in vain, and that Keith would live. + + * * * * * + +So much can happen in a week. In the seven days that followed Keith +gradually grew strong enough to be propped up in bed a little while at a +time; Captain Dudley and his wife came home from Cuba, and Mr. Maclntyre +began to carry out the promise he had made to Keith that day when they +feared most he could not live. + +The whole Valley rejoiced in the first and second happenings, and were +too much occupied in them to notice the third. Carriages rolled in and +out of the great entrance gate all day long, for Mrs. Dudley had always +been a favourite with the old neighbours, and they gave a warm welcome +to her and her gallant husband. Virginia followed her father and mother +about like a loving shadow, and Keith was so interested in the wonderful +stories they told of their Cuban experiences that he never noticed how +much his father and Malcolm were away from home. Sometimes they would +be gone all day together, consulting with the old professor, overseeing +carpenters, or making hasty trips to the city. Jonesy's home, that had +been so long only a beautiful air-castle, was rapidly taking shape in +wood and stone, and the painters would soon be at work on it. + +Mr. Maclntyre had never been more surprised than he was when Malcolm +unfolded their plan to him. It did not seem possible that two children +could have thought of it all, and arranged every detail without the help +of some older head. + +"It just grew," said Malcolm, in explanation. "First Keith said how +lovely it would have been if we had made enough money at the Benefit to +have bought a home for Jonesy in the country, where he could have a fair +chance to grow up a good man. Just a comfortable little cottage with a +garden, where he could be out-of-doors all the time, instead of in the +dirty city streets; then nobody could call him a 'child of the slums' +any more. Then we said it would be better if there were some fields back +of the garden, so that he could learn to be a farmer when he was older, +and have some way to make a living. We talked about it every night when +we went to bed, and kept putting a little more and a little more to it, +until it was as real to us as if we had truly seen such a place. There +were vines on the porches, and a big Newfoundland dog on the front +steps, and a cow and calf in the pasture, and a gentle old horse that +could plough and that Jonesy could ride to water. + +"We told Ginger, and she thought of a lot more things; some little +speckled pigs in a pen and kittens in the hay-mow, and ducks on the +pond, and an orchard, and roses in the yard. She said we ought to call +the place 'Fairchance,' because that's what it would mean for Jonesy and +Barney (you know we would send for Barney first thing we did, of +course), and it was Ginger who first thought of getting some nice man +and his wife to take care of the boys. She said there are plenty of +people who would be glad to do it, just for the sake of having such a +good home. Ginger said if we could do all that, and keep Jonesy and his +brother from growing up to be tramps like the man we bought the bear +from, it would be serving our country just as much as if we went to war +and fought for it. Ginger is a crank about being a patriot. You ought +to hear her talk about it. And Aunt Allison said that 'an ounce of +prevention is worth a pound of cure,' and that to build such a place as +our 'Fairchance' would be a deed worthy of any true knight." + +"How are you expecting to bring this wonderful thing to pass?" asked his +father, as Malcolm stopped to take breath. "Do you expect to wave a wand +and see it spring up out of the earth?" + +"Of course not, papa!" said Malcolm, a little provoked by his father's +teasing smile. "We were going to ask you to let us take the money that +grandfather left us in his will. We won't need it when we are grown, for +we can earn plenty ourselves then, and it seems too bad to have it laid +away doing nobody any good, when we need it so much now to right this +wrong of Jonesy's." + +"But it is not laid away," answered Mr. MacIntyre. "It is invested in +such a way that it is earning you more money every year; and more than +that, it was left in trust for you, so that it cannot be touched until +you are twenty-one." + +"Oh, papa!" cried Malcolm, bitterly disappointed. He had hard work to +keep back the tears for a moment; then a happy thought made his face +brighten. "You could lend us the money, and we would pay you back when +we are of age. You know you promised Keith you would do anything he +wanted, and that is what he was trying to ask for?" + +Mr. Maclntyre put his arm around the earnest little fellow, and drew him +to his knee, smiling down into the upturned face that waited eagerly for +his answer. + +"I only asked that to hear what you would say, my son," was the answer. +"You need have no worry about the money. I'll keep my promise to Keith, +and Jonesy shall have his home. I'm not a knight, but I'm proud to be +the father of two such valiant champions. Please God, you'll not be +alone in your battles after this, to right the world's wrongs. I'll be +your faithful squire, or, as we'd say in these days, a sort of silent +partner in the enterprise." + +Several days after this a deed was recorded in the county court-house, +conveying a large piece of property from old Colonel Lloyd to Malcolm +and Keith Maclntyre. It was the place adjoining "The Locusts," on which +stood a fine old homestead that had been vacant for several years. The +day after its purchase a force of carpenters and painters were set to +work, and two coloured men began clearing out the tangle of bushes in +the long-neglected garden. + +Jonesy know nothing of what was going on, and wondered at the long +conversations which took place between the old professor and Mr. +Maclntyre, always in German. It was the professor who found some one to +take care of the home, as Virginia had suggested. He recommended a +countryman of his, Carl Sudsberger, who had long been a teacher like +himself. He was a gentle old soul who loved children and understood +them, and a more motherly creature than his wife could not well be +imagined. Everything throve under her thrifty management, and she had no +patience with laziness or waste. Any boy in whose bringing up she had a +hand would be able to make his way in the world when the time came +for it. + +Mrs. Dudley and Miss Allison helped choose the furnishings, but Virginia +felt that the pleasure of it was all hers, for she was taken to the city +every time they went, and allowed a voice in everything. Several trips +were necessary before the house was complete, but by the last week in +May it was ready from attic to cellar. + +It was the "Fairchance" that the boys had planned so long, with its +rose-bordered paths, the orchard and garden and outlying fields. Nothing +had been forgotten, from the big Newfoundland dog on the doorstep, to +the ducks on the pond, and the little speckled pigs in the pen. The day +that Keith was able to walk down-stairs for the first time, Mr. +Maclntyre went to Chicago, taking Jonesy with him, to find Barney and +bring him back. He was gone several days, and when he returned there +were three boys with him instead of two: Jonesy, Barney, and a little +fellow about five years old, still in dresses. + +Malcolm met them at the train, and eyed the small newcomer with +curiosity. "It is a little chap that Barney had taken under his wing," +explained Mr. Maclntyre. "Its mother was dead, and I found it was +entirely dependent on Barney for support. They slept together in the +same cellar, and shared whatever he happened to earn, just as Jonesy +did. I hadn't the heart to leave him behind, although I didn't relish +the idea of travelling with such a kindergarten. Would you believe it, +Dodds (that's the little fellow's name) _never saw a tree in his life_ +until yesterday? He had never been out of the slums where he was born, +not even to the avenues of the city where he could have seen them. It +was too far for him to walk alone, and street-cars were out of the +question for him,--as much out of reach of his empty pockets as +the moon." + +"Never saw a tree!" echoed Malcolm, with a thrill of horror in his voice +that a life could be so bare in its knowledge of beauty. "Oh, papa, how +much 'Fairchance' will mean to him, then! Oh, I'm so glad, and +Keith--why, Keith will want to stand on his head!" + +They drove directly to the new place. It was late in the afternoon, and +the sunshine threw long, waving shadows across the yard. Mrs. Sudsberger +sat on the front porch knitting. A warm breeze blowing in from the +garden stirred the white window curtains behind her with soft +flutterings. The coloured woman in the kitchen was singing as she moved +around preparing supper, and her voice floated cheerily around the +corner of the house: + + "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' fer to carry me home, + Swing low, sweet char-i-_ot_, comin' fer to carry me home!" + +A Jersey cow lowed at the pasture bars, and from away over in the +woodland came the cooing of a dove. Three little waifs had found +a home. + +Mr. Maclntyre looked from the commonplace countenances of the boys +climbing out of the carriage to Malcolm's noble face. "It is a doubtful +experiment," he said to himself. "They may never amount to anything, but +at least they shall have a chance to see what clean, honest, country +living can do for them." And then there swept across his heart, with a +warm, generous rush, the impulse to do as much for every other +unfortunate child he could reach, whose only heritage is the poverty and +crime of city slums. He had seen so much in that one short visit. The +misery of it haunted him, and it was with a happiness as boyish and keen +as Malcolm's that he led these children he had rescued into the home +that was to be theirs henceforth. + +Keith did not see "Fairchance" until Memorial Day. Then they took him +over in the carriage in the afternoon, and showed him every nook and +corner of the place. There were six boys there now, for room had been +made for two little fellows from Louisville, whom Mr. Maclntyre had +found at the Newsboys' Home. "I've no doubt but that there'll always be +more coming," he said to Mr. Sudsberger, with a smile, as he led them +in. "When you once let a little water trickle through the dyke, the +whole sea is apt to come pouring in." + +"Happy the heart that is swept with such high tides," answered the old +German. "It is left the richer by such floods." + +Several families in the Valley were invited to come late in the +afternoon to a flag-raising. The great silk flag was Virginia's gift, +and Captain Dudley made the presentation speech. He wore his uniform in +honour of the occasion. This was a part of what he said: + +"This Memorial Day, throughout this wide-spread land of ours, over every +mound that marks a soldier's dust, some hand is stretched to drop a +flower in tender tribute. Over her heroic dead a grateful country +wreathes the red of her roses, the white of her lilies, and the blue of +her forget-me-nots, repeating even in the sweet syllables of the flowers +the symbol of her patriotism,--the red, white, and blue of her +war-stained banner. + +"My friends, I have followed the old flag into more than one battle. I +have seen men charge after it through blinding smoke and hail of +bullets, and I have seen them die for it. No one feels more deeply than +I what a glorious thing it is to die for one's country, but I want to +say to these little lads looking up at this great flag fluttering over +us, that it is not half so noble, half so brave, as to live for it, to +give yourselves in untiring, every-day living to your country's good. To +'let _all_ the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, thy God's, and +truth's.' I would rather have that said of me, that I did that, than to +be the greatest general of my day. I would rather be the founder of +homes like this one than to manoeuvre successfully the greatest battles. + +"May the 'Two Little Knights of Kentucky' go on, out through the land, +carrying their motto with them, until the last wrong is righted, and +wherever the old flag floats a 'fair chance' may be found for every one +that lives beneath it. And may these Stars and Stripes, as they rise and +fall on the winds of this peaceful valley, whisper continuously that +same motto, until its lessons of truth and purity and unselfish service +have been blazoned on the hearts of every boy who calls this home. May +it help to make him a true knight in his country's cause." + +There was music after that, and then old Colonel Lloyd made a speech, +and Virginia and the Little Colonel gathered roses out of the old +garden, so that every one could wear a bunch. A little later they had +supper on the lawn, picnic fashion, and then drove home in the cool of +the evening, when all the meadows were full of soft flashings from the +fairy torches of a million fireflies. + +With Keith safely covered up in a hammock, they lingered on the porch +long after the stars came out, and the dew lay heavy on the roses. They +were building other air-castles now, to be rebuilt some day, as Jonesy's +home had been; only these were still larger and better. The older people +were planning, too, and all the good that grew out of that quiet evening +talk can never be known until that day comes when the King shall read +all the names in his Hall of the Shields. + +"It has been such a beautiful day," said Virginia, leaning her head +happily against her mother's shoulder. Then she started up, suddenly +remembering something. "Oh, papa!" she cried, "let's end it as they do +at the fort, with the bugle-call. I'll run and get my old bugle, and you +play 'taps.'" + +A few minutes later the silvery notes went floating out on the warm +night air, through all the peaceful valley; over the mounds in the +little churchyard, wreathed now with their fresh memorial roses; past +"The Locusts" where the Little Colonel lay a-dreaming. Over the woods +and fields they floated, until they reached the flag that kept its +fluttering vigil over "Fairchance." + +Jonesy sat up in bed to listen. Many a reveille would sound before his +full awakening to all that the two little knights had made possible for +him, but the sweet, dim dream of the future that stole into his grateful +little heart was an earnest of what was in store for him. Then the +bugle-call, falling through the starlight like a benediction, closed the +happy day with its peaceful "Good night." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Little Knights of Kentucky +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12317 *** diff --git a/12317-h/12317-h.htm b/12317-h/12317-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30ac71c --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/12317-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3175 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content= +"HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st February 2004), see www.w3.org"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Two Little Knights of +Kentucky, by Annie Fellows Johnston.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + IMG { + BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; + BORDER-TOP: 0px; + BORDER-LEFT: 0px; + BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px } + .ctr { TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .rgt { float: right; + font-size: 10pt; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: -5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .lft { float: left; + font-size: 10pt; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + .par { float: left; + font-size: 10pt; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 0%; + TEXT-ALIGN: center } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12317 ***</div> + +<h1>TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS<br> +OF KENTUCKY</h1> +<h4>by</h4> +<h2>ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</h2> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<h4>TO</h4> +<h3>MARGARET AND ALBION,<br> +MARY, HELEN, LURA AND ROSE,<br> +WILLIAM AND GEORGE</h3> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0003-1.jpg" width="30%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<center> +<h2>CHAPTER</h2> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I.">I. TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.">II. GINGER AND THE BOYS.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.">III. THE VALENTINE PARTY.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">IV. A FIRE AND A PLAN.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.">V. JONESY'S BENEFIT.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">VI. THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO +RESCUES.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">VII. A GAME OF INDIAN.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">VIII. "FAIRCHANCE".</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0004-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""><br> +<b>PLANS.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<h1>TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS<br> +OF KENTUCKY.</h1> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR.</h3> +<br> +<p>It was the coldest Saint Valentine's eve that Kentucky had known +in twenty years. In Lloydsborough Valley a thin sprinkling of snow +whitened the meadows, enough to show the footprints of every hungry +rabbit that loped across them; but there were not many such tracks. +It was so cold that the rabbits, for all their thick fur, were glad +to run home and hide. Nobody cared to be out long in such weather, +and except now and then, when an ice-cutter's wagon creaked up from +some pond to the frozen pike, the wintry stillness was +unbroken.</p> +<p>On the north side of the little country depot a long row of +icicles hung from the eaves. Even the wind seemed to catch its +breath there, and hurry on with a shiver that reached to the +telegraph wires overhead. It shivered down the long stovepipe, too, +inside the waiting-room. The stove had been kept red-hot all that +dull gray afternoon, but the window-panes were still white with +heavy frost-work.</p> +<p>Half an hour before the five o'clock train was due from the +city, two boys came running up the railroad track with their skates +in their hands. They were handsome, sturdy little fellows, so well +buttoned up in their leather leggins and warm reefer overcoats that +they scarcely felt the cold. Their cheeks were red as winter +apples, from skating against the wind, and they were almost +breathless after their long run up-hill to the depot. Racing across +the platform, they bumped against the door at the same instant, +burst it noisily open, and slammed it behind them with a bang that +shook the entire building.</p> +<p>"What kind of a cyclone has struck us now?" growled the ticket +agent, who was in the next room. Then he frowned, as the first +noise was followed by the rasping sound of a bench being dragged +out of a corner, to a place nearer the stove. It scraped the bare +floor every inch of the way, with a jarring motion that made the +windows rattle.</p> +<p>Stretching himself half-way out of his chair, the ticket agent +pushed up the wooden slide of the little window far enough for him +to peep into the waiting-room. Then he hastily shoved it down +again.</p> +<p>"It's the two little chaps who came out from the city last +week," he said to the station-master. "The Maclntyre boys. You'd +think they own the earth from the way they dash in and take +possession of things."</p> +<p>The station-master liked boys. He stroked his gray beard and +chuckled. "Well, Meyers," he said, slowly, "when you come to think +of it, their family always has owned a pretty fair slice of the +earth and its good things, and those same little lads have +travelled nearly all over it, although the oldest can't be more +than ten. It would be a wonder if they didn't have that lordly way +of making themselves at home wherever they go."</p> +<p>"Will they be out here all winter?" asked Meyers, who was a +newcomer in Lloydsborough.</p> +<p>"Yes, their father and mother have gone to Florida, and left +them here with their grandmother Maclntyre."</p> +<p>"I imagine the old lady has her hands full," said Meyers, as a +sound of scuffling in the next room reached him.</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know about that, now," said the station-master. +"They're noisy children, to be sure, and just boiling over with +mischief, but if you can find any better-mannered little gentlemen +anywhere in the State when there's ladies around, I'd like you to +trot 'em out. They came down to the train with their aunt this +morning, Miss Allison Maclntyre, and their politeness to her was +something pretty to see, I can tell you, sir."</p> +<p>There was a moment's pause, in which the boys could be heard +laughing in the next room.</p> +<p>"No," said the station-master again, "I'm thinking it's not the +boys who will be keeping Mrs. Maclntyre's hands full this winter, +so much as that little granddaughter of hers that came here last +fall,--little Virginia Dudley. You can guess what's she like from +her nickname. They call her Ginger. She had always lived at some +army post out West, until her father, Captain Dudley, was ordered +to Cuba. He was wounded down there, and has never been entirely +well since. When he found they were going to keep him there all +winter, he sent for his wife last September, and there was nothing +to do with Virginia but to bring her back to Kentucky to her +grandmother."</p> +<p>"Oh, she's the little girl who went in on the train this morning +with Miss Allison," said the ticket agent. "I suppose the boys have +come down to meet them. They'll have a long time to wait."</p> +<p>While this conversation was going on behind the ticket window, +the two boys stretched themselves out on a long bench beside the +stove. The warm room made them feel drowsy after their violent +out-door exercise. Keith, the younger one, yawned several times, +and finally lay down on the bench with his cap for a pillow. He was +eight years old, but curled up in that fashion, with his long +eyelashes resting on his red cheeks, and one plump little hand +tucked under his chin, he looked much younger.</p> +<p>"Wake me up, Malcolm, when it's time for Aunt Allison's train," +he said to his brother. "Ginger would never stop teasing me if she +should find me asleep."</p> +<p>Malcolm unbuttoned his reefer, and, after much tugging, pulled +out a handsome little gold watch. "Oh, there's a long time to +wait!" he exclaimed. "We need not have left the pond so early, for +the train will not be here for twenty-five minutes. I believe I'll +curl up here myself, till then. I hope they won't forget the +valentines we sent for."</p> +<p>The room was very still for a few minutes. There was no sound at +all except the crackling of the fire and the shivering of the wind +in the long stovepipe. Then some one turned the door-knob so +cautiously and slowly that it unlatched without a sound.</p> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0011-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>It was the cold air rushing into the room as the door was pushed +ajar that aroused the boys. After one surprised glance they sat up, +for the man, who was slipping into the room as stealthily as a +burglar, was the worst-looking tramp they had ever seen. There was +a long, ugly red scar across his face, running from his cheek to +the middle of his forehead, and partly closing one eye. Perhaps it +was the scar that gave him such a queer, evil sort of an +expression; even without it he would have been a repulsive sight. +His clothes were dirty and ragged, and his breath had frozen in +icicles on his stubby red beard.</p> +<p>Behind him came a boy no larger than Keith, but with a hard, +shrewd look in his hungry little face that made one feel he had +lived a long time and learned more than was good for him to know. +It was plain to be seen that he was nearly starved, and suffering +from the intense cold. His bare toes peeped through their ragged +shoes, and he had no coat. A thin cotton shirt and a piece of an +old gray horse-blanket was all that protected his shoulders from +the icy wind of that February afternoon. He, too, crept in +noiselessly, as if expecting to be ordered out at the first sound, +and then turned to coax in some animal that was tied to one end of +the rope which he held.</p> +<p>Malcolm and Keith looked on with interest, and sprang up +excitedly as the animal finally shuffled in far enough for the boy +to close the door behind it. It was a great, shaggy bear, taller +than the man when it sat up on its haunches beside him.</p> +<p>The tramp looked uneasily around the room for an instant, but +seeing no one save the two children, ventured nearer the stove. The +boy followed him, and the bear shuffled along behind them both, +limping painfully. Not a word was said for a moment. The boys were +casting curious glances at the three tramps who had come in as +noiselessly as if they had snowed down, and the man was watching +the boys with shrewd eyes. He did not seem to be looking at them, +but at the end of his survey he could have described them +accurately. He had noticed every detail of their clothing, from +their expensive leather leggins to their fur-lined gloves. He +glanced at Malcolm's watch-chain and the fine skates which Keith +swung back and forth by a strap, and made up his mind, correctly, +too, that the pockets of these boys rarely lacked the jingle of +money which they could spend as they pleased.</p> +<p>When he turned away to hold his hands out toward the stove, he +rubbed them together with satisfaction, for he had discovered more +than that. He knew from their faces that they were trusting little +souls, who would believe any story he might tell them, if he +appealed to their sympathies in the right way. He was considering +how to begin, when Malcolm broke the silence.</p> +<p>"Is that a trained bear?"</p> +<p>The man nodded.</p> +<p>"What can it do?" was the next question.</p> +<p>"Oh, lots of things," answered the man, in a low, whining voice. +"Drill like a soldier, and dance, and ride a stick." He kept his +shifty eyes turning constantly toward the door, as if afraid some +one might overhear him.</p> +<p>"I'd put him through his paces for you young gen'lemen," he +said, "but he got his foot hurt for one thing, and another is, if +we went to showing off, we might be ordered to move on. This is the +first time we've smelled a fire in twenty-four hours, and we ain't +in no hurry to leave it, I can tell you."</p> +<p>"Will he bite?" asked Keith, going up to the huge bear, which +had stretched itself out comfortably on the floor.</p> +<p>"Not generally. He's a good-tempered brute, most times like a +lamb. But he ain't had nothing to eat all day, so it wouldn't be +surprising if he was a bit snappish."</p> +<p>"Nothing to eat!" echoed Keith. "You poor old thing!" Going a +step closer, he put out his hand and stroked the bear, as if it had +been a great dog.</p> +<p>"Oh, Malcolm, just feel how soft his fur is, like mamma's beaver +jacket. And he has the kindest old face. Poor old fellow, is you +hungry? Never mind, Keith'll get you something to eat pretty +soon."</p> +<p>Putting his short, plump arms around the animal's neck, he +hugged it lovingly up to him. A cunning gleam came into the man's +eyes. He saw that he had gained the younger boy's sympathy, and he +wanted Malcolm's also.</p> +<p>"Is your home near here, my little gen'leman?" he asked, in a +friendly tone.</p> +<p>"No, we live in the city," answered Malcolm, "but my +grandmother's place, where we are staying, is not far from here." +He was stroking the bear with one hand as he spoke, and hunting in +his pocket with the other, hoping to find some stray peanuts to +give it.</p> +<p>"Then maybe you know of some place where we could stay to-night. +Even a shed to crawl into would keep us from freezing. It's an +awful cold night not to have a roof over your head, or a crust to +gnaw on, or a spark of fire to keep life in your body."</p> +<p>"Maybe they'd let you stay in the waiting-room," suggested +Malcolm. "It is always good and warm in here. I'll ask the +station-master. He's a friend of mine."</p> +<p>"Oh, no! No, don't!" exclaimed the tramp, hastily, pulling his +old hat farther over his forehead, as if to hide the scar, and +looking uneasily around. "I wouldn't have you do that for anything. +I've had dealings with such folks before, and I know how they'd +treat <i>me</i>. I thought maybe there was a barn or a hay-shed or +something on your grandmother's place, where we could lay up for +repairs a couple of days. The beast needs a rest. Its foot's sore; +and Jonesy there is pretty near to lung fever, judging from the way +he coughs." He nodded toward the boy, who had placed his chair as +close to the stove as possible. The child's face was drawn into a +pucker by the tingling pains in his half-frozen feet, and his +efforts to keep from coughing.</p> +<p>Malcolm looked at him steadily. He had read about boys who were +homeless and hungry and cold, but he had never really understood +how much it meant to be all that. This was the first time in his +ten short years that he had ever come close to real poverty. He had +seen the swarms of beggars that infest such cities as Naples and +Rome, and had tossed them coppers because that seemed a part of the +programme in travelling. He had not really felt sorry for them, for +they did not seem to mind it. They sat on the steps in the warm +Italian sunshine, and waited for tourists to throw them money, as +comfortably as toads sit blinking at flies. But this was different. +A wave of pity swept through Malcolm's generous little heart as he +looked at Jonesy, and the man watching him shrewdly saw it.</p> +<p>"Of course," he whined, "a little gen'leman like you don't know +what it is to go from town to town and have every door shut in your +face. You don't think that this is a hard-hearted, stingy old +world, because it has given you the cream of everything. But if +you'd never had anything all your life but other people's scraps +and leavings, and you hadn't any home or friends or money, and was +sick besides, you'd think things wasn't very evenly divided. +Wouldn't you now? You'd think it wasn't right that some should have +all that heart can wish, and others not enough to keep soul and +body together. If you'd a-happened to be Jonesy, and Jonesy had +a-happened to 'a' been you, I reckon you'd feel it was pretty tough +to see such a big difference between you. It doesn't seem fair now, +does it?"</p> +<p>"No," admitted Malcolm, faintly. He had taken a dislike to the +man. He could not have told why, but his child instinct armed him +with a sudden distrust. Still, he felt the force of the whining +appeal, and the burden of an obligation to help them seemed laid +upon his shoulders.</p> +<p>"Grandmother is afraid for anybody to sleep in the barn, on +account of fire," he said, after a moment's thought, "and I'm sure +she wouldn't let you come into the house without you'd had a bath +and some clean clothes. Grandmother is dreadfully particular," he +added, hastily, not wanting to be impolite even to a tramp. "Seems +to me Keith and I have to spend half our time washing our hands and +putting on clean collars."</p> +<p>"Oh, I know a place," cried Keith. "There's that empty cabin +down by the spring-house. Nobody has lived in it since the new +servants' cottage was built. There isn't any furniture in it, but +there's a fireplace in one room, and it would be warmer than the +barn."</p> +<p>"That's just the trick!" exclaimed Malcolm. "We can carry a pile +of hay over from the barn for you to sleep on. Aunt Allison will be +out on this next train and I'll ask her. I am sure she will let +you, because last night, when it was so cold, she said she felt +sorry for anything that had to be out in it, even the poor old +cedar trees, with the sleet on their branches. She said that it was +King Lear's own weather, and she could understand how Cordelia felt +when she said, <i>'Mine enemy's dog, though he had bit me, should +have stood that night against my fire!'</i> It is just like auntie +to feel that way about it, only she's so good to everybody she +couldn't have any enemies."</p> +<p>Something like a smile moved the tramp's stubby beard. "So she's +that kind, is she? Well, if she could have a soft spot for a dog +that had bit her, and an enemy's dog at that, it stands to reason +that she wouldn't object to some harmless travellers a-sleeping in +an empty cabin a couple of nights. S'pose'n you show us the place, +sonny, and we'll be moving on."</p> +<p>"Oh, it wouldn't be right not to ask her first," exclaimed +Malcolm. "She'll be here in such a little while."</p> +<p>The man looked uneasy. Presently he walked over to the window +and scraped a peep-hole on the frosted pane with his dirty +thumbnail. "Sun's down," he said. "I'd like to get that bear's foot +fixed comfortable before it grows any darker. I'd like to mighty +well. It'll take some time to heat water to dress it. Is that cabin +far from here?"</p> +<p>"Not if we go in at the back of the place," said Malcolm. "It's +just across the meadow, and over a little hill. If we went around +by the big front gate it would be a good deal longer."</p> +<p>The man shifted uneasily from one foot to another, and +complained of being hungry. He was growing desperate. For more +reasons than one he did not want to be at the station when the +train came in. That long red scar across his face had been +described a number of times in the newspapers, and he did not care +to be recognised just then.</p> +<p>The boys could not have told how it came about, but in a few +minutes they were leading the way toward the cabin. The man had +persuaded them that it was not at all necessary to wait for their +Aunt Allison's permission, and that it was needless to trouble +their grandmother. Why should the ladies be bothered about a matter +that the boys were old enough to decide? So well had he argued, and +so tactfully had he flattered them, that when they took their way +across the field, it was with the feeling that they were doing +their highest duty in getting these homeless wayfarers to the cabin +as quickly as possible, on their own responsibility.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0021-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>"ACROSS THE SNOWY FIELDS."</b></p> +<br> +<p>"We can get back in time to meet the train, if we hurry," said +Malcolm, looking at his watch again. "There's still fifteen +minutes."</p> +<p>No one saw the little procession file out of the waiting-room +and across the snowy field, for it was growing dark, and the lamps +were lighted and the curtains drawn in the few houses they passed. +Malcolm went first, proudly leading the friendly old bear. Jonesy +came next beside Keith, and the man shuffled along in the rear, +looking around with suspicious glances whenever a twig snapped, or +a distant dog barked.</p> +<p>As the wind struck against Jonesy's body, he drew the bit of +blanket more closely around him, and coughed hoarsely. His teeth +were chattering and his lips blue. "You look nearly frozen," said +Keith, who, well-clad and well-fed, scarcely felt the cold. "Here! +put this on, or you'll be sick," Unbuttoning his thick little +reefer, he pulled it off and tied its sleeves around Jonesy's +neck.</p> +<p>A strange look passed over the face of the man behind them. +"Blessed if the little kid didn't take it off his own back," he +muttered. "If any man had ever done that for me--just once--well, +maybe, I wouldn't ha' been what I am now!"</p> +<p>For a moment, as they reached the top of the hill, bear, boys, +and man were outlined blackly against the sky like strange +silhouettes. Then they passed over and disappeared in the thick +clump of pine-trees, which hid the little cabin from the eyes of +the surrounding world.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>GINGER AND THE BOYS.</h3> +<br> +<p>In less time than one would think possible, a big fire was +roaring in the cabin fireplace, water was steaming in the rusty +kettle on the crane, and a pile of hay and old carpet lay in one +corner, ready to be made into a bed. Keith had made several trips +to the kitchen, and came back each time with his hands full.</p> +<p>Old Daphne, the cook, never could find it in her heart to refuse +"Marse Sydney's" boys anything. They were too much like what their +father had been at their age to resist their playful coaxing. She +had nursed him when he was a baby, and had been his loyal champion +all through his boyhood. Now her black face wrinkled into smiles +whenever she heard his name spoken. In her eyes, nobody was quite +so near perfection as he, except, perhaps, the fair woman whom he +had married.</p> +<p>"Kain't nobody in ten States hole a can'le to my Marse Sidney +an' his Miss Elise," old Daphne used to say, proudly. "They +sut'n'ly is the handsomest couple evah jined togethah, an' the +free-handedest. In all they travels by sea or by land they nevah +fo'gits ole Daphne. I've got things from every country undah the +shinin' sun what they done brung me."</p> +<p>Now, all the services she had once been proud to render them +were willingly given to their little sons. When Keith came in with +a pitiful tale of a tramp who was starving at their very gates, she +gave him even more than he asked for, and almost more than he could +carry.</p> +<p>The bear and its masters were so hungry, and their two little +hosts so interested in watching them eat, that they forgot all +about going back to meet the train. They did not even hear it +whistle when it came puffing into the Valley.</p> +<p>As Miss Allison stepped from the car to the station platform, +she looked around in vain for the boys who had promised to meet +her. Her arms were so full of bundles, as suburban passengers' +usually are, that she could not hold up her long broadcloth skirt, +or even turn her handsome fur collar higher over her ears. With a +shade of annoyance on her pretty face, she swept across the +platform and into the waiting-room, out of the cold.</p> +<p>Behind her came a little girl about ten years old, as unlike her +as possible, although it was Virginia Dudley's ambition to be +exactly like her Aunt Allison. She wanted to be tall, and slender, +and grown up; Miss Allison was that, and yet she had kept all her +lively girlish ways, and a love of fun that made her charming to +everybody, young and old. Virginia longed for wavy brown hair and +white hands, and especially for a graceful, easy manner. Her hair +was short and black, and her complexion like a gypsy's. She had +hard, brown little fists, sharp gray eyes that seemed to see +everything at once, and a tongue that was always getting her into +trouble. As for the ease of manner, that might come in time, but +her stately old grandmother often sighed in secret over Virginia's +awkwardness.</p> +<p>She stumbled now as she followed the young lady into the +waiting-room. Her big, plume-covered hat tipped over one ear, but +she, too, had so many bundles, that she could not spare a hand to +straighten it.</p> +<br> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0028-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"Well, Virginia, what do you suppose has become of the boys?" +asked her aunt. "They promised to meet us and carry our +packages."</p> +<p>"I heard them in here about half an hour ago, Miss Allison," +said the station-master, who had come in with a lantern. "I s'pose +they got tired of waiting. Better leave your things here, hadn't +you? I'll watch them. It is mighty slippery walking this +evening."</p> +<p>"Oh, thank you, Mr. Mason," she answered, beginning to pile +boxes and packages upon a bench, I'll send Pete down for them +immediately. Now, Virginia, turn up your coat collar and hold your +muff over your nose, or Jack Frost will make an icicle out of you +before you are half-way home.</p> +<p>They had been in the house some time before the boys remembered +their promise to meet them at the station. When they saw how late +it was, they started home on the run.</p> +<p>"I am fairly aching to tell Ginger about that bear," panted +Keith, as they reached the side door. "I am so sorry that we +promised the man not to say anything about them being on the place, +before he sees us again to-morrow. I wonder why he asked us +that."</p> +<p>"I don't know," answered Malcolm. "He seemed to have some very +good reason, and he talked about it so that it didn't seem right +not to promise a little thing like that."</p> +<p>"I wish we hadn't, though," said Keith, again.</p> +<p>"But it's done now," persisted Malcolm. "We're bound not to +tell, and you can't get out of it, for he made us give him our word +'on the honour of a gentleman;' and that settles it, you know."</p> +<p>They were two very dirty boys who clattered up the back stairs, +and raced to their room to dress for dinner. Their clothes were +covered with hayseed and straw, and their hands and faces were +black with soot from the old cabin chimney. They had both helped to +build the fire.</p> +<p>The lamps had just been lighted in the upper hall, and Virginia +came running out from her room when she heard the boys' voices.</p> +<p>"Why didn't you meet us at the train?" she began, but stopped as +she saw their dirty faces. "Where on earth have you chimney-sweeps +been?" she cried.</p> +<p>"Oh, about and about," answered Malcolm, teasingly. "Don't you +wish you knew?"</p> +<p>Virginia shrugged her shoulders, as if she had not the slightest +interest in the matter, and held out two packages.</p> +<p>"Here are the valentines you sent for. You just ought to see the +pile that Aunt Allison bought. We've the best secret about +to-morrow that ever was."</p> +<p>"So have we," began Keith, but Malcolm clapped a sooty hand over +his mouth and pulled him toward the door of their room. "Come on," +he said. "We've barely time to dress for dinner. Don't you know +enough to keep still, you little magpie?" he exclaimed, as the door +banged behind them. "The only way to keep a secret is not to act +like you have one!"</p> +<p>Virginia walked slowly back to her room and paused in the +doorway, wondering what she could do to amuse herself until +dinner-time. It was a queer room for a girl, decorated with flags +and Indian trophies and everything that could remind her of the +military life she loved, at the far-away army post. There were +photographs framed in brass buttons on her dressing-table, and +pictures of uniformed officers all over the walls. A canteen and an +army cap with a bullet-hole through the crown, hung over her desk, +and a battered bugle, that had sounded many a triumphant charge, +swung from the corner of her mirror.</p> +<p>Each souvenir had a history, and had been given her at parting +by some special friend. Every one at the fort had made a pet of +Captain Dudley's daughter,--the harum-scarum little Ginger,--who +would rather dash across the prairies on her pony, like a wild +Comanche Indian, than play with the finest doll ever imported from +Paris.</p> +<p>There was a suit in her wardrobe, short skirt, jacket, leggins, +and moccasins, all made and beaded by the squaws. It was the gift +of the colonel's wife. Mrs. Dudley had hesitated some time before +putting it in one of the trunks that was to go back to +Kentucky.</p> +<p>"You look so much like an Indian now," she said to Virginia. +"Your face is so sunburned that I am afraid your grandmother will +be scandalised. I don't know what she would say if she knew that I +ever allowed you to run so wild. If I had known that you were going +back to civilisation I certainly should not have kept your hair cut +short, and you should have worn sunbonnets all summer."</p> +<p>To Mrs. Dudley's great surprise, her little daughter threw +herself into her arms, sobbing, "Oh, mamma! I don't want to go back +to Kentucky! Take me to Cuba with you! Please do, or else let me +stay here at the post. Everybody will take care of me here! I'll +just <i>die</i> if you leave me in Kentucky!"</p> +<p>"Why, darling," she said, soothingly, as she wiped her tears +away and rocked her back and forth in her arms, "I thought you have +always wanted to see mamma's old home, and the places you have +heard so much about. There are all the old toys in the nursery that +we had when we were children, and the grape-vine swing in the +orchard, and the mill-stream where we fished, and the beech-woods +where we had such delightful picnics. I thought it would be so nice +for you to do all the same things that made me so happy when I was +a child, and go to school in the same old Girls' College and know +all the dear old neighbours that I knew. Wouldn't my little girl +like that?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, some, I s'pose," sobbed Virginia, "but I didn't know +I'd have to be so--so--everlastingly--civilised!" she wailed. "I +don't want to always have to dress just so, and have to walk in a +path and be called Virginia all the time. That sounds so stiff and +proper. I'd rather stay where people don't mind if I am sunburned +and tanned, and won't be scandalised at everything I do. It's so +much nicer to be just plain Ginger!"</p> +<p>It had been five months, now, since Virginia left Fort Dennis. +At first she had locked hen self in her room nearly every day, and, +with her face buried in her Indian suit, cried to go back. She +missed the gay military life of the army post, as a sailor would +miss the sea, or an Alpine shepherd the free air of his snow-capped +mountain heights.</p> +<p>It was not that she did not enjoy being at her grandmother's. +She liked the great gray house whose square corner tower and +over-hanging vines made it look like an old castle. She liked the +comfort and elegance of the big, stately rooms, and she had her +grandmother's own pride in the old family portraits and the +beautiful carved furniture. The negro servants seemed so queer and +funny to her that she found them a great source of amusement, and +her Aunt Allison planned so many pleasant occupations outside of +school-hours that she scarcely had time to get lonesome. But she +had a shut-in feeling, like a wild bird in a cage, and sometimes +the longing for liberty which her mother had allowed her made her +fret against the thousand little proprieties she had to observe. +Sometimes when she went tipping over the polished floors of the +long drawing room, and caught sight of herself in one of the big +mirrors, she felt that she was not herself at all, but somebody in +a story. The Virginia in the looking-glass seemed so very, very +civilised. More than once, after one of these meetings with herself +in the mirror, she dashed up-stairs, locked her door, and dressed +herself in her Indian suit. Then in her noiseless moccasins she +danced the wildest of war-dances, whispering shrilly between her +teeth, "Now I'm Ginger! Now I'm Ginger! And I <i>won't</i> be +dressed up, and I <i>won't</i> learn my lessons, and I <i>won't</i> +be a little lady, and I'll run away and go back to Fort Dennis the +very first chance I get!"</p> +<p>Usually she was ashamed of these outbursts afterwards, for it +always happened that after each one she found her Aunt Allison had +planned something especially pleasant for her entertainment. Miss +Allison felt sorry for the lonely child, who had never been +separated from her father and mother before, so she devoted her +time to her as much as possible, telling her stories and entering +into her plays and pleasures as if they had both been the same +age.</p> +<p>Since the boys had come, Virginia had not had a single homesick +moment. While she was at school in the primary department of the +Girls' College, Malcolm and Keith were reciting their lessons to +the old minister who lived across the road from Mrs. MacIntyre's. +They were all free about the same hour, and even on the coldest +days played out-of-doors from lunch-time until dark.</p> +<p>To-night Virginia had so many experiences to tell them of her +day in town that the boys seemed unusually long in dressing. She +was so impatient for them to hear her news that she could not +settle down to anything, but walked restlessly around the room, +wishing they would hurry.</p> +<p>"Oh, I haven't sorted my valentines!" she exclaimed, presently, +picking up a fancy box which she had tossed on the bed when she +first came in. "I'll take them down to the library."</p> +<p>There was no one in the room when she peeped in. It looked so +bright and cosy with the great wood fire blazing on the hearth and +the rose-coloured light falling from its softly shaded lamps, that +she forgot the coldness of the night outside. Sitting down on a +pile of cushions at one end of the hearth-rug, she began sorting +her purchases, trying to decide to whom each one should be +sent.</p> +<p>"The prettiest valentine of all must go to poor papa," she said +to herself, "'cause he's been so sick away down there in Cuba; and +this one that's got the little girl on it in a blue dress shall be +for my dear, sweet mamma, 'cause it will make her think of me."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0037-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>For a moment, a mist seemed to blur the gay blue dress of the +little valentine girl as Virginia looked at her, thinking of her +far-away mother. She drew her hand hastily across her eyes and went +on:</p> +<p>"This one is for Sergeant Jackson out at Fort Dennis, and the +biggest one, with the doves, for Colonel Philips and his wife. Dear +me! I wish I could send one to every officer and soldier out there. +They were all <i>so</i> good to me!"</p> +<p>The pile of lace-paper cupids and hearts and arrows and roses +slipped from her lap, down to the rug, as she clasped her hands +around her knees and looked into the fire. She wished that she +could be back again at the fort, long enough to live one of those +beautiful old days from reveille to taps. How she loved the +bugle-calls and the wild thrill the band gave her, when it struck +up a burst of martial music, and the troops went dashing by! How +she missed the drills and the dress parades; her rides across the +open prairie on her pony, beside her father; how she missed the +games she used to play with the other children at the fort on the +long summer evenings!</p> +<p>Something more than a mist was gathering in her eyes now. Two +big tears were almost ready to fall when the door opened and Mrs. +MacIntyre came in. In Virginia's eyes she was the most beautiful +grandmother any one ever had. She was not so tall as her daughter +Allison, and in that respect fell short of the little girl's ideal, +but her hair, white as snow, curled around her face in the same +soft, pretty fashion, and by every refined feature she showed her +kinship to the aristocratic old faces which looked down from the +family portraits in the hall.</p> +<p>"I couldn't be as stately and dignified as she is if I practised +a thousand years," thought Virginia, scrambling up from the pile of +cushions to roll a chair nearer the fire. As she did so, her heel +caught in the rug, and she fell back in an awkward little heap.</p> +<p>"The more haste, the less grace, my dear," said her grandmother, +kindly, thanking her for the proffered chair. Virginia blushed, +wondering why she always appeared so awkward in her grandmother's +presence. She envied the boys because they never seemed embarrassed +or ill at ease before her.</p> +<p>While she was picking up her valentines the boys came in. If two +of the cavalier ancestors had stepped down from their portrait +frames just then, they could not have come into the room in a more +charming manner than Malcolm and Keith. Their faces were shining, +their linen spotless, and they came up to kiss their grandmother's +cheek with an old-time courtliness that delighted her.</p> +<p>"I am sure that there are no more perfect gentlemen in all +Kentucky than my two little lads," she said, fondly, with an +approving pat of Keith's hand as she held him a moment.</p> +<p>Virginia, who had seen them half an hour before, tousled and +dirty, and had been arrayed against them in more than one hot +quarrel where they had been anything but chivalrous, let slip a +faintly whistled "<i>cuckoo!</i>"</p> +<p>The boys darted a quick glance in her direction, but she was +bending over the valentines with a very serious face, which never +changed its expression till her Aunt Allison came in and the boys +began their apologies for not meeting her at the train. Their only +excuse was that they had forgotten all about it.</p> +<p>Virginia spelled on her fingers: "I dare you to tell what made +your faces so black!" Keith's only answer was to thrust his tongue +out at her behind his grandmother's back. Then he ran to hold the +door open for the ladies to pass out to dinner, with all the grace +of a young Chesterfield.</p> +<p>When dinner was over and they were back in the library, Miss +Allison opened a box of tiny heart-shaped envelopes, and began +addressing them. As she took up her pen she said, merrily: +"<i>Now</i> you may tell our secret, Virginia."</p> +<p>"I was going to make you guess for about an hour," said +Virginia, "but it is so nice I can't wait that long to tell you. We +are going to have a valentine party to-morrow night. Aunt Allison +planned it all a week ago, and bought the things for it while we +were in town to-day. Everything on the table is to be cut in heart +shape,--the bread and butter and sandwiches and cheese; and the +ice-cream will be moulded in hearts, and the two big frosted cakes +are hearts, one pink and one white, with candy arrows sticking in +them. Then there will be peppermint candy hearts with mottoes +printed on them, and lace-paper napkins with verses on them, so +that the table itself will look like a lovely big valentine. The +games are lovely, too. One is parlour archery, with a red heart in +the middle of the target, and two prizes, one for the boys and one +for the girls."</p> +<p>"Who are invited?" asked Malcolm, as Virginia stopped for +breath.</p> +<p>"Oh, the Carrington boys, and the Edmunds, and Sally Fairfax, +and Julia Ferris,--I can't remember them all. There will be +twenty-four, counting us. There is the list on the table."</p> +<p>Keith reached for it, and began slowly spelling out the names. +"Who is this?" he asked, reading the name that headed the list. +"'The Little Colonel!' I never heard of him,"</p> +<p>"Oh, he's a girl!" laughed Virginia. Little Lloyd +Sherman,--don't you know? She lives up at 'The Locusts,' that +lovely place with the long avenue of trees leading up to the house. +You've surely seen her with her grandfather, old Colonel Lloyd, +riding by on the horse that he calls Maggie Boy."</p> +<p>"Has he only one arm?" asked Malcolm.</p> +<p>"Yes, the other was shot off in the war years ago. Well, when +Lloyd was younger, she had a temper so much like his, and wore such +a dear little Napoleon hat, that everybody took to calling her the +Little Colonel."</p> +<p>"How old is she now?" asked Malcolm.</p> +<p>"About Keith's age, isn't she, Aunt Allison?" asked +Virginia.</p> +<p>"Yes," was the answer. "She is nearly eight, I believe. She has +outgrown most of her naughtiness now."</p> +<p>"I love to hear her talk," said Virginia. "She leaves out all of +her r's in such a soft, sweet way."</p> +<p>"All Southerners do that," said Malcolm, pompously, "and I think +it sounds lots better than the way Yankees talk."</p> +<p>"You boys don't talk like the Little Colonel," retorted +Virginia, who had often been teased by them for not being a +Southerner. "You're all mixed up every which way. Some things you +say like darkeys, and some things like English people, and it +doesn't sound a bit like the Little Colonel."</p> +<p>"Oh, well, that's because we've travelled abroad so much, don't +you know," drawled Malcolm, "and we've been in so many different +countries, and had an English tutor, and all that sort of a thing. +We couldn't help picking up a bit of an accent, don't you know." +His superior tone made Virginia long to slap him.</p> +<p>"Yes, I know, Mr. Brag," she said, in such a low voice that her +grandmother could not hear. "I know perfectly well. If I didn't it +wouldn't be because you haven't told me every chance you got. Who +did you say is your tailor in London, and how many times was it the +Queen invited you out to Windsor? I think it's a ninety-nine dollar +cravat you always buy, isn't it? And you wouldn't be so common as +to wear a pair of gloves that hadn't been made to order specially +for you. Yes, I've heard all about it!"</p> +<p>Miss Allison heard, but said nothing. She knew the boys were a +little inclined to boast, and she thought Virginia's sharp tongue +might have a good effect. But the retort had grown somewhat sharper +than was pleasant, and, fearing a quarrel might follow if she did +not interrupt the whispers beside her, she said:</p> +<p>"Boys, did you ever hear about the time that the Little Colonel +threw mud on her grandfather's coat? There's no end to her pranks. +Get grandmother to tell you."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, please, grandmother," begged Keith, with an arm around +her neck. "Tell about Fritz and the parrot, too," said Virginia. +"Here, Malcolm, there's room on this side for you."</p> +<p>Aunt Allison smiled. The storm had blown over, and they were all +friends again.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0045-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>"'DAPHNE, WHAT'S DEM CHILLUN ALLUZ RACIN' DOWN TO DE +SPRING-HOUSE FO'?'"</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>THE VALENTINE PARTY.</h3> +<br> +<p>"Now we can tell Ginger about the bear," was Keith's first +remark, when he awoke early next morning.</p> +<p>"But not until after we have seen the man again," answered +Malcolm. "You know we promised him that."</p> +<p>"Then let's go down before breakfast," exclaimed Keith, +springing out of bed and beginning to dress himself. A little while +later, the old coloured coachman saw them run past the window, +where he was warming himself by the kitchen stove.</p> +<p>"Daphne," he called out to the cook, who was beating biscuit in +the adjoining pantry, "Daphne, what's dem chillun alluz racin' down +to de spring-house fo' in de snow? Peah's lak dee has a heap o' +business down yandah."</p> +<p>Daphne, who had just been coaxed into filling a basket with a +generous supply of cold victuals, pretended not to hear until he +repeated his question. Then she stopped pounding long enough to +say, sharply, "Whuffo' you alluz 'spicion dem boys so +evahlastin'ly, Unc' Henry? Lak enough dee's settin' a rabbit trap. +Boys has done such things befo'. You's done it yo'se'f, hasn't +you?"</p> +<p>Daphne had seen them setting rabbit traps there, but she knew +well enough that was not what they had gone for now, and that the +food they carried was not for the game of Robinson Crusoe, which +they had played in the deserted cabin the summer before. Still, she +did not care to take Unc' Henry into her confidence.</p> +<p>The food, the warmth, and the night's rest had so restored the +bear that it was able to go through all its performances for the +boys' entertainment, although it limped badly.</p> +<p>"Isn't he a dandy?" cried Keith; "I wish we had one. It's nicer +than any pets we ever had, except the ponies. Something always +happened to the dogs, and the monkey was such a nuisance, and the +white rabbits were stolen, and the guinea pigs died."</p> +<p>"Haven't we had a lot of things, when you come to think of it?" +exclaimed Malcolm. "Squirrels, and white mice, and the coon that +Uncle Harry brought us, and the parrot from Mexico."</p> +<p>"Yes, and the gold-fish, and the little baby alligator that +froze to death in its tank," added Keith. "But a bear like this +would be nicer than any of them. As soon as papa comes home I am +going to ask him to buy us one."</p> +<p>"Jonesy's nearly done for," said the tramp, pointing to the boy +who lay curled up in the hay, coughing at nearly every breath. "We +ought to stay here another day, if you young gen'lemen don't +object."</p> +<p>"Oh, goody!" cried Keith. "Then we can bring Ginger down to see +the bear perform."</p> +<p>"Yes," answered the man, "we'll give a free show to all your +friends, if you will only kindly wait till to-morrow. Give us one +more day to rest up and get in a little better trim. The poor +beast's foot is still too lame for him to do his best, and you're +too kind-hearted, I am sure, to want anything to suffer in order to +give you pleasure."</p> +<p>"Of course," answered both the boys, agreeing so quickly to all +the man's smooth speeches that, before they left the cabin, they +had renewed their promise to keep silent one more day. The man was +a shrewd one, and knew well how to make these unsuspecting little +souls serve his purpose, like puppets tied to a string.</p> +<p>Miss Allison was so busy with preparations for the party that +she had no time all that day to notice what the boys were doing. +When they came back from reciting their lessons to the minister, +she sent them on several errands, but the rest of the time they +divided between the cabin and the post-office.</p> +<p>Every mail brought a few valentines to each of them, but it was +not until the five o'clock train came that they found the +long-looked-for letters from their father and mother.</p> +<p>"I knew they'd each send us a valentine," cried Keith, tearing +both of his open. "I'll bet that papa's is a comic one. Yes, here +it is. Papa is such a tease. Isn't it a stunner? a base-ball +player. And, whoopee! Here's a dollar bill in each of 'em."</p> +<p>"So there is in mine," said Malcolm. "Mamma says we are to buy +anything we want, and call it a valentine. They couldn't find +anything down on the coast that they thought we would like."</p> +<p>"I don't know what to get with mine," said Keith, folding his +two bills together. "Seems to me I have everything I want except a +camera, and I couldn't buy the kind I want for two dollars."</p> +<p>They were half-way home when a happy thought came to Malcolm. +"Keith," he cried, excitedly, "if you would put your money with +mine, that would make four dollars, and maybe it would be enough to +buy that bear!"</p> +<p>"Let's do it!" exclaimed Keith, turning a handspring in the snow +to show his delight. "Come on, we'll ask the man now."</p> +<p>But the man shook his head, when they dashed into the cabin and +told their errand. "No, sonny, that ain't a tenth of what it's +worth to me," he said. "I've raised that bear from the time it was +a teeny cub. I've taught it, and fed it, and looked to it for +company when I hadn't nobody in the world to care for me. Couldn't +sell that bear for no such sum as that. Couldn't you raise any more +money than that?"</p> +<p>It was Malcolm's turn to shake his head. He turned away, too +disappointed to trust himself to answer any other way. The tears +sprang to Keith's eyes. He had set his heart on having that +bear.</p> +<p>"Never mind, brother," said Malcolm, moving toward the door. +"Papa will get us one when he comes home and finds how much we want +one."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't be in such a hurry, young gen'lemen," whined the man, +when he saw that they were really going. "I didn't say that I +wouldn't sell it to you for that much. You've been so kind to me +that I ought to be willing to make any sacrifice for you. I happen +to need four dollars very particular just now, and I've a mind to +sell him to you on your own terms." He paused a moment, looking +thoughtfully at a crack in the floor, as he stood by the fire with +his hands in his pockets. "Yes," he said, at last, "you can have +him for four dollars, if you'll keep mum about us being here for +one more day. You can leave the bear here till we go."</p> +<p>"No! No!" cried Keith, throwing his arms around the animal's +neck. "He is ours now, and we must take him with us. We can hide +him away in the barn. It is so dark out-doors now that nobody will +see us. It wouldn't seem like he is really ours if we couldn't take +him with us."</p> +<p>After some grumbling the man consented, and pocketed the four +dollars, first asking very particularly the exact spot in the barn +where they expected to hide their huge pet.</p> +<p>Unc' Henry, coming up from the carriage-house through the +twilight, thought he saw some one stealing along by the clump of +cedars by the spring-house. "Who's prowlin' roun' dis yere +premises?" he called. There was no answer, and, after peering +intently through the dusk for a moment, the old darkey concluded +that he must have been mistaken, and passed on. As soon as he was +gone, the boys came out from behind the cedars, and crept up the +snowy hillside. They were leading the bear between them.</p> +<p>"We'll put him away back in the hay-mow where he'll be warm and +comfortable to-night," whispered Malcolm. "Then in the morning we +can tell everybody."</p> +<p>While they were busily scooping out a big hollow in the hay, +they were startled by a rustling behind them. They looked into each +other's frightened faces, and then glanced around the dark barn in +alarm. An old cap pushed up through the hay. Then a weak little +cough betrayed Jonesy. He had followed them.</p> +<p>"Sh!" he said, in a warning whisper. "I'm afraid the boss will +find out that I'm here. He started to the store for some tobacco as +soon as you left. He's been wild fer some, but didn't have no +money. <i>Don't you leave that bear out here to-night, if you ever +expect to see it again!</i> That wasn't true what he told you. He +never saw the bear till two months ago, and he sold it to you cheap +because he's a-goin' to steal it back again to-night, and make off +up the road with it. He went off a-grinnin' over the slick way he'd +fooled you, and I jes' had to come and tell, 'cause you've been so +good to me. I'll never forget the little kid's givin' me the coat +off his own back, if I live to be a hundred. Now don't blab on me, +or the boss would nearly kill me."</p> +<p>"Is that man your father?" began Keith, but Jonesy, alarmed by +some sudden noise, sprang to the door, and disappeared in the +twilight.</p> +<p>The boys looked at each other a moment, with surprise and +indignation in their faces. There was a hurried consultation in the +hay-mow. A few moments later the boys were smuggling their new pet +into the house, and up the back stairs. They scarcely dared breathe +until it was safe in their own room.</p> +<p>All the time that they were dressing for the party, they were +trying to decide where to put it for the night, so that neither the +tramp nor the family could discover it. What Jonesy had told them +about the man's dishonest intention did not relieve them from their +promise. They were amazed that any one could be so mean, and longed +to tell their Aunt Allison all about it; still, one of the +conditions on which they had bought the bear was that they were to +"keep mum," and they stuck strictly to that promise.</p> +<p>By the time they were dressed, they had decided to put it in the +blue room, a guest-chamber in the north wing, seldom used in +winter, because it was so hard to heat. "Nobody will ever think of +coming in here," said Malcolm, "and it will be plenty warm for a +bear if we turn on the furnace a little." As he spoke, he was tying +the bear's rope around a leg of the big, high-posted bed.</p> +<p>"Won't Ginger be surprised?" answered Keith. "We'll tell her +that we have a valentine six feet long, and keep her guessing."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0056-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was no time for teasing, however, as the first guest +arrived while they were still in the blue room.</p> +<p>"I hate to go off and leave him in the dark," said Keith, with a +final loving pat. "I guess he'll not mind, though. Maybe he'll +think he is in the woods if I put this good-smelling pine pillow on +the rug beside him."</p> +<p>"Oh, boys," called Virginia from the hall down-stairs. "See what +an enormous valentine pie Aunt Allison has made!"</p> +<p>Looking over the banisters, the boys saw that a table had been +drawn into the middle of the wide reception-hall, and on it sat the +largest pie that they had ever seen. It was in a bright new tin +pan, and its daintily browned crust would have made them hungry +even if their appetites had not been sharpened by the cold and +exercise of the afternoon.</p> +<p>"What a queer place to serve pie," said Malcolm, in a +disapproving undertone to his brother. "Why don't they have it in +the dining-room? It looks mighty good, but somehow it doesn't seem +proper to have it stuck out here in the hall. Mamma would never do +such a thing."</p> +<p>"Aw, it's made of paper! She fooled us, sure, Malcolm," called +back Keith, who had run on ahead to look. "It is only painted to +look like a pie. But isn't it a splendid imitation?"</p> +<p>Virginia, pleased to have caught them so cleverly, showed them +the ends of twenty-four pieces of narrow ribbon, peeping from under +the delicately brown top crust. "The white ones are for the girls, +and the red ones for the boys," she explained. "There is a +valentine on the end of each one, and those on the red ribbons +match the ones on the white. We'll all pull at once, and the ones +who have valentines alike will go out to dinner together."</p> +<p>The guests came promptly. They had been invited for half-past +six, and dinner was to be served soon after that time. The last to +arrive was the Little Colonel. She came in charge of an old +coloured woman, Mom Beck, who had been her mother's nurse as well +as her own. The child was so hidden in her wraps when Mom Beck led +her up-stairs, that no one could tell how she looked. The boys had +been curious to see her, ever since they had heard so many tales of +her mischievous pranks. A few minutes later, when she appeared in +the parlours, there was a buzz of admiration. Maybe it was not so +much for the soft light hair, the star-like beauty of her big dark +eyes, or the delicate colour in her cheeks that made them as pink +as a wild rose, as it was for the valentine costume she wore. It +was of dainty white tulle, sprinkled with hundreds of tiny red +velvet hearts, and there was a coronet of glittering rhinestones on +her long fair hair.</p> +<p>"The Queen of Hearts," announced Aunt Allison, leading her +forward. "You know 'she made some tarts, upon a summer day,' and +now she shall open the valentine pie and see if it is as good as +her Majesty's."</p> +<p>The big music-box in the hall began playing one of its liveliest +waltzes, the children gathered around the great pie, and +twenty-four little hands reached out to grasp the floating ends of +ribbon.</p> +<p>"Pull!" cried the little Queen of Hearts. The paper crust flew +off, and twenty-four yards of ribbon, each with a valentine +attached, fluttered brightly through the air for an instant.</p> +<p>"Now match your verses," cried her Majesty again, opening her +own to read what was in it. There was much laughing and peeping +over shoulders, and tangling of white and scarlet ribbons, while +the gay music-box played on.</p> +<p>In the midst of it Virginia beckoned to the Little Colonel. +"Come up-stairs with me for a minute, Lloyd," she whispered, "and +help me look for something. Aunt Allison has forgotten where she +put the box of arrows that we are to use in the archery contest +after dinner. There is the prettiest prize for the one who hits the +red heart in the centre of the target."</p> +<p>"Oh, do you suppose you can hit it?" asked Lloyd, as she and +Virginia slipped their arms around each other, and went skipping up +the stairs.</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed!" answered Virginia. "I used to practise so much +with my Indian bow and arrow out at the fort, that I could hit +centre nearly every time. I am not going to shoot to-night. Aunt +Allison thinks it wouldn't be fair."</p> +<p>When they reached the top of the stairs, Virginia went into her +room to light a wax taper in one of the tall silver candlesticks on +her dressing-table. "I think that Aunt Allison must have left those +arrows in the blue room," she said, leading the way down the cross +hall which went to the north wing. "She made the pie in there this +morning, and all the other things were there. Nobody comes over in +this part of the house much in winter, unless there happens to be a +great deal of company."</p> +<br> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0061-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>The taper that Virginia carried was the only light in that part +of the house. When she reached the door of the blue room she turned +to Lloyd. "Hold the candle for me, please," she said, "while I look +in the closet."</p> +<p>It was a pretty picture that the little "Queen of Hearts" made, +as she stood in the doorway, with the tall silver candlestick held +high in both hands. Her hair shone like gold in the candlelight, +and her glittering crown flashed as if a circle of fairy fireflies +had been caught in its soft meshes. Her dark eyes peered anxiously +around the big shadowy room, lighted only by her flickering +taper.</p> +<p>Down-stairs, Malcolm and Keith were almost quarrelling about +her. It began by Malcolm taking his brother aside and offering to +trade valentines with him.</p> +<p>"Why?" asked Keith, suspiciously.</p> +<p>"'Cause yours matches the Little Colonel's, and I want to take +her out to dinner," admitted Malcolm. "She is the prettiest girl +here."</p> +<p>"But I don't want to trade," answered Keith. "I want to take her +myself."</p> +<p>"I'll give you the pick of any six stamps in my album if you +will."</p> +<p>"Don't want your old stamps," declared Keith, stoutly. "I'd +rather have the Little Colonel for my partner."</p> +<p>"I think you might trade," coaxed Malcolm. "It's mean not to +when I'm the oldest. I'll give you that Chinese puzzle you've been +wanting so long if you will." Keith shook his head.</p> +<p>Just then a terrific scream sounded in the upper hall, followed +by another that made every one down-stairs turn pale with fright. +Two voices were uttering piercing shrieks, one after another, so +loud and frantic that even the servants in the back part of the +house came running. Miss Allison, thinking of the candle she had +told Virginia to light, and remembering the thin, white dress the +child wore, instantly thought she must have set herself afire. She +ran into the hall, so frightened that she was trembling from head +to foot. Before she could reach the staircase, Virginia came flying +down the steps, white as a little ghost, and her eyes wide with +terror. Throwing herself into her aunt's outstretched arms, she +began to sob out her story between great, trembling gasps.</p> +<p>"Oh, there's an awful, awful wild beast in the blue room, nearly +as tall as the ceiling! It rose up and came after us out of the +corner, and if I hadn't slammed the door just in time, it would +have eaten us up. I'm sure it would! Oo-oo-oo! It was so awful!" +she wailed.</p> +<p>"Why, Virginia," exclaimed her aunt, distressed to see her so +terrified, "it must have been only a big shadow you saw. It isn't +possible for a wild beast to be in the blue room you know. Where is +Lloyd?"</p> +<p>"She's up heah, Miss Allison," called Mom Beck's voice. "She's +so skeered, I'se pow'ful 'fraid she gwine to faint. They sut'nly is +something in that room, honey, deed they is. I kin heah it movin' +around now, switchin' he's tail an' growlin'!"</p> +<p>Malcolm and Keith, with guilty faces, went dashing up the +stairs, and the whole party followed them at a respectful distance. +When they opened the door the room looked very big and shadowy, and +the bear, roused from its nap, was standing on its hind legs beside +the high-posted bed. The huge figure was certainly enough to +frighten any one coming upon it unexpectedly in the dark, and when +Miss Allison saw it she drew Virginia's trembling hand into hers +with a sympathetic clasp. Before she could ask any questions, the +boys began an excited explanation. It was some time before they +could make their story understood.</p> +<p>Their grandmother was horrified, and insisted on sending the +animal away at once. "The idea of bringing such a dangerous +creature into any one's house," she exclaimed, "and, above all, of +shutting him up in a bedroom! We might have all been bitten, or +hugged to death!"</p> +<p>"But, grandmother," begged Malcolm, "he isn't dangerous. Let me +bring him into the light, and show you what a kind old pet he +is."</p> +<p>There was a scattering to the other end of the hall as Malcolm +came out, leading the bear, but the children gradually drew nearer +as the great animal began its performances. Keith whistled and kept +time with his feet in a funny little shuffling jig he had learned +from Jonesy, and the bear obligingly went through all his tricks. +He was used to being pulled out to perform whenever a crowd could +be collected.</p> +<p>Virginia forgot her fear of him when he stood up and presented +arms like a real soldier, and even went up and patted him when the +show was over, joining with the boys in begging that he might be +allowed to stay in the house until morning. Mrs. Maclntyre was +determined to send a man down to the cabin at once to investigate. +She had a horror of tramps. But the boys begged her to wait until +daylight for Jonesy's sake.</p> +<p>"The man will beat him if he finds out that Jonesy warned us," +pleaded Keith. He was so earnest that the tears stood in his big, +trustful eyes.</p> +<p>"This is spoiling the party, mother," whispered Miss Allison, +"and dinner is waiting. I'll be responsible for any harm that may +be done if you will let the boys have their way this once."</p> +<p>There seemed no other way to settle it just then, so Bruin was +allowed to go back to his rug in the blue room, and the door was +securely locked.</p> +<p>Keith took Lloyd down to dinner, and his grandmother heard him +apologising all the way down for having frightened her. The little +Queen of Hearts listened smilingly, but her colour did not come +back all evening, until after the archery contest. It was when +Malcolm came up with the prize he had won, a tiny silver arrow, and +pinned it in the knot of red ribbon on her shoulder.</p> +<p>"Will you keep it to remember me by?" he asked, bashfully.</p> +<p>"Of co'se!" she answered, with a smile that showed all her +roguish dimples. "I'll keep it fo'evah and evah to remembah how +neah I came to bein' eaten up by yo' bea'h."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0067-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""><br> +<b>"'WILL YOU KEEP IT TO REMEMBER ME BY?'"</b></p> +<br> +<p>"It seems too bad for such a beautiful party to come to an end," +Sally Fairfax said when the last merry game was played, the last +story told, and it was time to go home. "But there's one comfort," +she added, gathering all her gay valentines together, "there +needn't be any end to the remembering of it. I've had <i>such</i> a +good time, Mrs. MacIntyre."</p> +<p>It was so late when the last carriage rolled down the avenue, +bearing away the last smiling little guest, that the children were +almost too sleepy to undress. It was not long until the last light +was put out in every room, and a deep stillness settled over the +entire house. One by one the lights went out in every home in the +valley, and only the stars were left shining, in the cold wintry +sky. No, there was one lamp that still burned. It was in the little +cottage where old Professor Heinrich sat bowed over his books.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>A FIRE AND A PLAN.</h3> +<br> +<p>Some people said that old Johann Heinrich never slept, for no +matter what hour of the night one passed his lonely little house, a +lamp was always burning. He was a queer old German naturalist, +living by himself in a cottage adjoining the MacIntyre place. He +had been a professor in a large university until he grew too old to +keep his position. Why he should have chosen Lloydsborough Valley +as the place to settle for the remainder of his life, no one could +tell.</p> +<p>He kept kimself away from his neighbours, and spent so much time +roaming around the woods by himself that people called him queer. +They did not know that he had written two big books about the birds +and insects he loved so well, or that he could tell them facts more +wonderful than fairy tales about these little wild creatures of the +woodland.</p> +<p>To-night he had read later than usual, and his fire was nearly +out. He was too poor to keep a servant, so when he found that the +coal-hod was empty he had to go out to the kitchen to fill it +himself. That is why he saw something that happened soon after +midnight, while everybody else in the valley was sound asleep.</p> +<p>Over in the cabin by the spring-house where the boys had left +the tramp and Jonesy, a puff of smoke went curling around the roof. +Then a tongue of flame shot up through the cedars, and another and +another until the sky was red with an angry glare. It lighted up +the eastern window-panes of the servants' cottage, but the inmates, +tired from the unusual serving of the evening before, slept on. It +shone full across the window of Virginia's room, but she was +dreaming of being chased by bears, and only turned uneasily in her +sleep.</p> +<p>The old professor, on his way to the kitchen, noticed that it +seemed strangely light outside. He shuffled to the door and looked +out.</p> +<p>"Ach Himmel!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "Somebody vill shust in +his bed be burnt, if old Johann does not haste make!"</p> +<p>Not waiting to close the door behind him, or even to catch up +something to protect his old bald head from the intense cold of the +winter night, he ran out across the garden. His shuffling feet, in +their flapping old carpet slippers, forgot their rheumatism, and +his shoulders dropped the weight of their seventy years. He ran +like a boy across the meadow, through the gap in the fence, and +down the hill to the cabin by the spring.</p> +<p>All one side of it was in flames. The fire was curling around +the front door and bursting through the windows with fierce +cracklings. Dashing frantically around to the back door, he threw +himself against it, shouting to know if any one was within. A +blinding rush of smoke was his only answer as he backed away from +the overpowering heat, but something fell across the door-sill in a +limp little heap. It was Jonesy.</p> +<p>Dragging the child to a safe distance from the burning building, +he ran back, fearing that some one else might be in danger, but +this time the flames met him at the door, and it was impossible to +go in. His hoarse shouting roused the servants, but by the time +they reached the cabin the roof had fallen in, and all danger of +the fire spreading to other buildings was over.</p> +<p>While the professor was bending over Jonesy, trying to bring him +back to consciousness, Miss Allison came running down the path. She +had an eiderdown quilt wrapped around her over her dressing-gown. +The shouts had awakened her, also, and she had slipped out as +quietly as possible, not wishing to alarm her mother.</p> +<p>"How did it happen?" she demanded, breathlessly. "Is the child +badly burned? Is any one else hurt? Is the tramp in the cabin?"</p> +<p>No one gave any answer to her rapid questions. The old professor +shook his head, but did not look up. He was bending over Jonesy, +trying to restore him to consciousness. He seemed to know the right +things to do for him, and in a little while the child opened his +eyes and looked around wonderingly. In a few minutes he was able to +tell what he knew about the fire.</p> +<p>It was not much, only a horrible recollection of being awakened +by a feeling that he was choking in the thick smoke that filled the +room; of hearing the boss swear at him to be quick and follow him +or he would be burned to death. Then there had been an awful moment +of groping through the blinding, choking smoke, trying to find a +way out. The man sprang to a window and made his escape, but as the +outside air rushed in through the opening he left, it seemed to fan +the smoke instantly into flame.</p> +<p>Jonesy had struck out at the wall of fire with his helpless +little hands, and then, half-crazed by the scorching pain, dropped +to the floor and crawled in the opposite direction, just as the +professor burst open the door.</p> +<p>The sight of the poor little blistered face brought the tears to +Miss Allison's eyes, and she called two of the coloured men, +directing them to carry Jonesy to the house, and then go at once +for a doctor. But the professor interfered, insisting that Jonesy +should be taken to his house. He said that he knew how to prepare +the cooling bandages that were needed, and that he would sit up all +night to apply them. He could not sleep anyhow, he said, after such +great excitement.</p> +<p>"But I feel responsible for him," urged Miss Allison. "Since it +happened on our place, and my little nephews brought him here, it +seems to me that we ought to have the care of him."</p> +<p>The professor waved her aside, lifting Jonesy's head as tenderly +as a nurse could have done, and motioned the coloured men to lift +him up.</p> +<p>"No, no, fraulein," he said. "I have had eggsperience. It is +besser the poor leedle knabe go mit me!"</p> +<p>There was no opposing the old man's masterful way. Miss Allison +stepped aside for them to pass, calling after him her willingness +to do the nursing he had taken upon himself, and insisting that she +would come early in the morning to help.</p> +<p>Unc' Henry was left to guard the ruins, lest some stray spark +should be blown toward the other buildings. "Dis yere ole niggah +wa'n't mistaken aftah all," he muttered. "Dee was somebody prowlin' +'roun' de premises yistiddy evenin'." Then he searched the ground, +all around the cabin, for footprints in the snow. He found some +tracks presently, and followed them over the meadow in the +starlight, across the road, and down the railroad track several +rods. There they suddenly disappeared. The tramp had evidently +walked on the rail some distance. If Unc' Henry had gone quarter of +a mile farther up the track, he would have found those same sliding +imprints on every other crosstie, as if the man had taken long +running leaps in his haste to get away.</p> +<p>Jonesy stoutly denied that the man had set fire to the cabin. +"We nearly froze to death that night," he said, when questioned +about it afterward, "and the boss piled on an awful big lot of wood +just before he went to bed."</p> +<p>"Then what made him take to his heels so fast if he didn't?" +some one asked.</p> +<p>"I don't know," answered Jonesy. "He said that luck was always +against him, and maybe he thought nobody would believe him if he +did say that he didn't do it."</p> +<p>Several days after that Malcolm found the tramp's picture in the +<i>Courier-Journal</i>. He was a noted criminal who had escaped +from a Northern penitentiary some two months before, and had been +arrested by the Louisville police. There was no mistaking him. That +big, ugly scar branded him on cheek and forehead like another +Cain.</p> +<p>"And to think that that terrible man was harboured on my place!" +exclaimed Mrs. MacIntyre when she heard of it. "And you boys were +down there in the cabin with him for hours! Sat beside him and +talked with him! What will your mother say? I feel as if you had +been exposed to the smallpox, and I cannot be too thankful now that +the boy who was with him was not brought here. He isn't a fit +companion for you. Not that the poor little unfortunate is to +blame. He cannot help being a child of the slums, and he must be +put in an orphan asylum or a reform school at once. It is probably +the only thing that can save him from growing up to be a criminal +like the man who brought him here. I shall see what can be done +about it, as soon as possible."</p> +<p>"A child of the slums!" Malcolm and Keith repeated the +expression afterward, with only a vague idea of its meaning. It +seemed to set poor Jonesy apart from themselves as something +unclean,--something that their happy, well-filled lives must not be +allowed to touch.</p> +<p>Maybe if Jonesy had been an attractive child, with a sensitive +mouth, and big, appealing eyes, he might have found his way more +easily into people's hearts. But he was a lean, snub-nosed little +fellow, with a freckled face and neglected hair. No one would ever +find his cheek a tempting one to kiss, and no one would be moved, +by any feeling save pity, to stoop and put affectionate arms around +Jonesy. He was only a common little street gamin, as unlovely as he +was unloved.</p> +<p>"What a blessing that there are such places as orphan asylums +for children of that class," said Mrs. Maclntyre, after one of her +visits to him. "I must make arrangements for him to be put into one +as soon as he is able to be moved."</p> +<p>"I think he will be very loath to leave the old professor," +answered Miss Allison. "He has been so good to the child, amusing +him by the hour with his microscopes and collections of insects, +telling him those delightful old German folk-lore tales, and +putting him to sleep every night to the music of his violin. What a +child-lover he is, and what a delightful old man in every way! I am +glad we have discovered him."</p> +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Maclntyre; "and when this little tramp is sent +away, I want the children to go there often. I asked him if he +could not teach them this spring, at least make a beginning with +them in natural history, and he appeared much pleased. He is as +poor as a church mouse, and would be very glad of the money."</p> +<p>"That reminds me," said Miss Allison, "he asked me if the boys +could not come down to see Jonesy this afternoon, and bring the +bear. He thought it would give the little fellow so much pleasure, +and might help him to forget his suffering."</p> +<p>Mrs. MacIntyre hesitated. "I do not believe their mother would +like it," she answered. "Sydney is careful enough about their +associates, but Elise is doubly particular. You can imagine how +much badness this child must know when you remember how he has been +reared. He told me that his name is Jones Carter, and that he +cannot remember ever having a father or a mother. I questioned him +very closely this morning. He comes from the worst of the Chicago +slums. He slept in the cellar of one of its poorest tenement +houses, and lived in the gutters. He has a brother only a little +older, who is a bootblack. On days when shines were plentiful they +had something to eat, otherwise they starved or begged."</p> +<p>"Poor little lamb," murmured Miss Allison.</p> +<p>"It was by the brother's advice he came away with that tramp," +continued Mrs. MacIntyre. "He had gotten possession of that trained +bear in some way, and probably took a fancy to Jones because he +could whistle and dance all sorts of jigs. He probably thought it +would be a good thing to have a child with him to work on peoples' +sympathies. They walked all the way from Chicago to Lloydsborough, +Jones told me, excepting three days' journey they made in a wagon. +They have been two months on the road, and showed the bear in the +country places they passed through. They avoided the large +towns."</p> +<p>"Think what a Christmas he must have had!" exclaimed Miss +Allison.</p> +<p>"Christmas! I doubt if he ever heard the word. His speech is +something shocking; nothing but the slang of the streets, and so +ungrammatical that I could scarcely understand him at times. No, I +am very sure that neither Sydney nor Elise would want the boys to +be with him."</p> +<p>"But he is so little, mother, and so sick and pitiful looking," +pleaded Miss Allison. "Surely he cannot know so very much badness +or hurt the boys if they go down to cheer him up for a little +while."</p> +<p>Notwithstanding Mrs. Maclntyre's fears, she consented to the +boys visiting Jonesy that afternoon. She could not resist the +professor's second appeal or the boys' own urging.</p> +<p>They took the bear with them, which Jonesy welcomed like a lost +friend. They spent an interesting hour among the professor's +collections, listening to his explanations in his funny broken +English. Then they explored his cottage, much amused by his queer +housekeeping, cracked nuts on the hearth, and roasted apples on a +string in front of the fire.</p> +<p>Jonesy did not seem to be cheered up by the visit as much as the +professor had expected. Presently the old man left the room and +Keith sat down on the side of the bed.</p> +<p>"What makes you so still, Jonesy?" he asked. "You haven't said a +word for the last half hour."</p> +<p>"I was thinking about Barney," he answered, keeping his face +turned away. "Barney is my brother, you know."</p> +<p>"Yes, so grandmother said," answered Keith. "How big is he?"</p> +<p>"'Bout as big as yourn." There was a choke in Jonesy's voice +now. "Seein' yourn put his arm across your shoulder and pullin' +your head back by one ear and pinchin' you sort in fun like, made +me think the way Barney uster do to me."</p> +<p>Keith did not know what to say, so there was a long, awkward +pause.</p> +<p>"I'd never a-left him," said Jonesy, "but the boss said it 'ud +only be a little while and we'd make so much money showin' the bear +that I'd have a whole pile to take home. I could ride back on the +cars and take a whole trunk full of nice things to +Barney,--clothes, and candy, and a swell watch and chain, and a +bustin' beauty of a bike. Now the bear's sold and the boss has run +away, and I don't know how I can get back to Barney. Him an me's +all each other's got, and I want to see him <i>so</i> bad."</p> +<p>The little fellow's lip quivered, and he put up one bandaged +hand to wipe away the hot tears that would keep coming, in spite of +his efforts not to make a baby of himself. There was something so +pitiful in the gesture that Keith looked across at Malcolm and then +patted the bedclothes with an affectionate little hand.</p> +<p>"Never mind, Jonesy," he said, "papa will be home in the spring +and he'll send you back to Barney." But Jonesy never having known +anything of fathers whose chief pleasure is in spending money to +make little sons happy, was not comforted by that promise as much +as Keith thought he ought to be.</p> +<p>"But I won't be here then," he sobbed. "They're goin' to put me +in a 'sylum, and I can't get out for so long that maybe Barney will +be dead before we ever find each other again."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0083-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>He was crying violently now.</p> +<p>"Who is going to put you in an asylum?" asked Malcolm, lifting +an end of the pillow under which Jonesy's head had burrowed, to +hide the grief that his eight-year-old manhood made him too proud +to show.</p> +<p>"An old lady with white hair what comes here every day. The +professor said he would keep me if he wasn't so old and hard up, +and she said as how a 'sylum was the proper place for a child of +the slums, and he said yes if they wasn't nobody to care for 'em. +But I've got somebody!" he cried. "I've got Barney! Oh, +<i>don't</i> let them shut me up somewhere so I can't never get +back to Barney!"</p> +<p>"They don't shut you up when they send you to an asylum," said +Malcolm. "The one near here is a lovely big house, with acres of +green grass around it, and orchards and vine-yards, and they are +ever so good to the children, and give them plenty to eat and wear, +and send them to school."</p> +<p>"Barney wouldn't be there," sobbed Jonesy, diving under the +pillow again. "I don't want nothing but him."</p> +<p>"Well, we'll see what we can do," said Malcolm, as he heard the +professor coming back. "If we could only keep you here until +spring, I am sure that papa would send you back all right. He's +always helping people that get into trouble."</p> +<p>Jonesy took his little snub nose out of the pillow as the +professor came in, and looked around defiantly as if ready to fight +the first one who dared to hint that he had been crying. The boys +took their leave soon after, leading the bear back to his new +quarters in the carriage house, where they had made him a +comfortable den. Then they walked slowly up to the house, their +arms thrown across each other's shoulders.</p> +<p>"S'pose it was us," said Keith, after walking on a little way in +silence. "S'pose that you and I were left of all the family, and +didn't have any friends in the world, and I was to get separated +from you and couldn't get back?"</p> +<p>"That would be tough luck, for sure," answered Malcolm.</p> +<p>"Don't you s'pose Jonesy feels as badly about it as we would?" +asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Shouldn't be surprised," said Malcolm, beginning to whistle. +Keith joined in, and keeping step to the tune, like two soldiers, +they marched on into the house.</p> +<p>Virginia found them in the library, a little while later, +sitting on the hearth-rug, tailor-fashion. They were still talking +about Jonesy. They could think of nothing else but the loneliness +of the little waif, and his pitiful appeal: "Oh, don't let them +shut me up where I can't never get back to Barney."</p> +<p>"Why don't you write to your father?" asked Virginia, when they +had told her the story of their visit.</p> +<p>"Oh, it is so hard to explain things in a letter," answered +Malcolm, "and being off there, he'd say that grandmother and all +the grown people certainly know best. But if he could see +Jonesy,--how pitiful looking he is, and hear him crying to go back +to his brother, I know he'd feel the way we do about it."</p> +<p>"I called the professor out in the hall, and told him so," said +Keith, "and asked him if he couldn't adopt Jonesy, or something, +until papa comes home. But he said that he is too poor. He has only +a few dollars a month to live on. I didn't mind asking him. He +smiled in that big, kind way he always does. He said Jonesy was +lots of company, and he would like to keep him this summer, if he +could afford it, and let him get well and strong out here in the +country."</p> +<p>"Then he would keep him till Uncle Sydney comes, if somebody +would pay his board?" asked Virginia.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Malcolm, "but that doesn't help matters much, for we +children are the only ones who want him to stay, and our monthly +allowances, all put together, wouldn't be enough."</p> +<p>"We might earn the money ourselves," suggested Virginia, after +awhile, breaking a long silence.</p> +<p>"How?" demanded Malcolm. "Now, Ginger, you know, as well as I +do, there is no way for us to earn anything this time of year. You +can't pick fruit in the dead of winter, can you? or pull weeds, or +rake leaves? What other way is there?"</p> +<p>"We might go to every house in the valley, and exhibit the +bear," said Keith, "taking up a collection each time."</p> +<p>"Now you've made me think of it," cried Virginia, excitedly. +"I've thought of a good way. We'll give Jonesy a benefit, like +great singers have. The bear will be the star performer, and we'll +all act, too, and sell the tickets, and have tableaux. I love to +arrange tableaux. We were always having them out at the fort."</p> +<p>"I bid to show off the bear," cried Malcolm, entering into +Virginia's plan at once. "May be I'll learn something to recite, +too."</p> +<p>"I'll help print the tickets," said Keith, "and go around +selling them, and be in anything you want me to be. How many +tableaux are you going to have, Ginger?"</p> +<p>"I can't tell yet," she answered, but a moment after she cried +out, her eyes shining with pleasure, "Oh, I've thought of a lovely +one. We can have the Little Colonel and the bear for 'Beauty and +the Beast.'"</p> +<p>Malcolm promptly turned a somersault on the rug, to express his +approval, but came up with a grave face, saying, "I'll bet that +grandmother will say we can't have it."</p> +<p>"Let's get Aunt Allison on our side," suggested Virginia. "She's +up in her room now, painting a picture."</p> +<p>A little sigh of disappointment escaped Miss Allison's lips, as +she heard the rush of feet on the stairs. This was the first time +that she had touched her brushes since the children's coming, and +she had hoped that this one afternoon would be free from +interruption, when she heard them planning their afternoon's +occupations at the lunch-table. They had come back before the +little water-colour sketch she was making was quite finished.</p> +<p>There was no disappointment, however, in the bright face she +turned toward them, and Virginia lost no time in beginning her +story. She had been elected to tell it, but before it was done all +three had had a part in the telling, and all three were waiting +with wistful eyes for her answer.</p> +<p>"Well, what is it you want me to do?" she asked, finally.</p> +<p>"Oh, just be on our side!" they exclaimed, "and get grandmother +to say yes. You see she doesn't feel about Jonesy the way we do. +She is willing to pay a great deal of money to have him taken off +and cared for, but she says she doesn't see how grandchildren of +hers can be so interested in a little tramp that comes from nobody +knows where, and who will probably end his days in a +penitentiary."</p> +<p>Aunt Allison answered Malcolm's last remark a little sternly. +"You must understand that it is only for your own good that she is +opposed to Jonesy's staying," she said. "There is nobody in the +valley so generous and kind to the poor as your grandmother." +"Yes'm," said Virginia, meekly, "but you'll ask her, won't you +please, auntie?"</p> +<p>Miss Allison smiled at her persistence. "Wait until I finish +this," she said. "Then I'll go down-stairs and put the matter +before her, and report to you at dinner-time. Now are you +satisfied?"</p> +<p>"Yes," they cried in chorus, "you're on our side. It's all right +now!" With a series of hearty hugs that left her almost breathless, +they hurried away.</p> +<p>When Miss Allison kept her promise she did not go to her mother +with the children's story of Jonesy, to move her to pity. She told +her simply what they wanted, and then said, "Mother, you know I +have begun to teach the children the 'Vision of Sir Launfal.' +Virginia has learned every word of it, and the boys will soon know +all but the preludes. There will never be a better chance than this +for them to learn the lesson:</p> +<blockquote>"'Not what we give, but what we share,<br> +For the gift without the giver is bare.'</blockquote> +<p>"This would be a real sharing of themselves, all their time and +best energies, for they will have to work hard to get up such an +entertainment as this. It isn't for Jonesy's sake I ask it, but for +the children's own good."</p> +<p>The old lady looked thoughtfully into the fire a moment, and +then said, "Maybe you are right, Allison. I do want to keep them +unspotted from a knowledge of the world's evils, but I do not want +to make them selfish. If this little beggar at the gate can teach +them where to find the Holy Grail, through unselfish service to +him, I do not want to stand in the way. Bless their little hearts, +they may play Sir Launfal if they want to, and may they have as +beautiful a vision as his!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>JONESY'S BENEFIT.</h3> +<br> +<p>The Jonesy Benefit grew like Jack's bean-stalk after Miss +Allison took charge of it. There was less than a week in which to +get ready, as the boys insisted on having it on the twenty-second +of February, in honour of Washington's birthday; but in that short +time the childish show which Ginger had proposed grew into an +entertainment so beautiful and elaborate that the neighbourhood +talked of it for weeks after.</p> +<p>Miss Allison spent one sleepless night, planning her campaign +like a general, and next morning had an army of helpers at work. +Before the day was over she sent a letter to an old school friend +of hers in the city, Miss Eleanor Bond, who had been her most +intimate companion all through her school-days, and who still spent +a part of every summer with her.</p> +<p>"Dearest Nell," the letter said, "come out to-morrow on the +first afternoon train, if you love me. The children are getting up +an entertainment for charity, which shall be duly explained on your +arrival. No time now. I am superintending a force of carpenters in +the college hall, where the entertainment is to take place, have +two seamstresses in the house hurrying up costumes, and am helping +mother scour the country for pretty children to put in the +tableaux.</p> +<p>"The house is like an ant-hill in commotion, there is so much +scurrying around; but I know that is what you thoroughly enjoy. You +shall have a finger in every pie if you will come out and help me +to make this a never-to-be-forgotten occasion.</p> +<p>"I want to make the old days of chivalry live again for Virginia +and Malcolm and Keith. I am going back to King Arthur's Court for +the flower of knighthood at his round table. Come and read for us +between tableaux as only you can do. Be the interpreter of 'Sir +Launfal's Vision' and the 'Idylls of the King,' Give us the benefit +of your talent for sweet charity's sake, if not for the sake of +'auld lang syne' and your devoted ALLISON."</p> +<p>"She'll be here," said Miss Allison, as she sealed the letter, +nodding confidently to Mrs. Sherman, who had come over to help with +Lloyd's costume. "You remember Nell Bond, do you not? She took the +prize every year in elocution, and was always in demand at every +entertainment. She is the most charming reader I ever heard, and as +for story-telling--well, she's better than the 'Arabian Nights.' +You must let the Little Colonel come over every evening while she +is here."</p> +<p>Miss Bond arrived the next day, and her visit was a time of +continual delight to the children. They followed her wherever she +went, until Mrs. Maclntyre laughingly called her the 'Pied Piper of +Hamelin,' and asked what she had done to bewitch them.</p> +<p>The first night they gathered around the library-table, all as +busy as bees. Keith and the Little Colonel were cutting tinsel into +various lengths for Virginia to tie into fringe for a gay banner. +Malcolm was gilding some old spurs, Mrs. Maclntyre sat stringing +yards of wax beads, that gleamed softly in the lamplight like great +rope of pearls, and Mrs. Sherman was painting the posters, which +were to be put up in the post-office and depot as advertisements of +the Jonesy Benefit.</p> +<p>Miss Allison, who had been busy for hours with pasteboard and +glue, tin-foil and scissors, held up the suit of mail which she had +just finished.</p> +<p>"Isn't that fine!" cried Malcolm. "It looks exactly like some of +the armour we saw in the Tower of London, doesn't it, Keith?"</p> +<p>"I've thought of a riddle!" exclaimed Virginia. "Why is Aunt +Allison's head like Aladdin's lamp?"</p> +<p>"'Cause it's so bright?" ventured Malcolm.</p> +<p>"No; because she has only to rub it, and everything she thinks +of appears. I don't see how it is possible to make so many +beautiful things out of almost nothing."</p> +<p>Virginia looked admiringly around at all the pretty articles +scattered over the room. A helmet with nodding white plumes lay on +the piano. A queen's robe trailed its royal ermine beside it. A +sword with a jewelled hilt shone on the mantel, and a dozen +dazzling shields were ranged in various places on the low +bookshelves.</p> +<p>It was easy, in the midst of such surroundings, for the children +to imagine themselves back in the days of King Arthur and his +court, while Miss Bond sat there telling them such beautiful tales +of its fair ladies and noble knights. Indeed, before the day of the +entertainment came around they even found themselves talking to +each other in the quaint speech of that olden time.</p> +<p>When Malcolm accidentally ran against his grandmother in the +hall, instead of his usual, "Oh, excuse me, grandmother," it was +"Prithee grant me gracious pardon, fair dame. Not for a king's +ransom would I have thus jostled thee in such unseemly haste!" And +Ginger, instead of giving Keith a slap when he teasingly penned her +up in a corner, to make her divide some nuts with him, said, in a +most tragic way, "Unhand me, villain, or by my troth thou'lt rue +this ruffian conduct sore!"</p> +<p>The library-table was strewn with books of old court life, and +pictures of kings and queens whose costumes were to be copied in +the tableaux. There was one book which Keith carried around with +him until he had spelled out the whole beautiful tale. It was +called "In Kings' Houses," and was the story of the little Duke of +Gloster who was made a knight in his boyhood. And when Keith had +read it himself, he took it down to the professor's, and read it +all over again to Jonesy.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0097-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""><br> +<b>"THERE WAS ONE BOOK WHICH KEITH CARRIED AROUND WITH +HIM."</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Think how grand he must have looked, Jonesy," cried Keith, "and +I am to be dressed exactly like him when I am knighted in the +tableau." Then he read the description again:</p> +<p>"'A suit of white velvet embroidered with seed pearls, and +literally blazing with jewels,--even the buttons being great +brilliants. From his shoulder hung a cloak of azure blue velvet, +the colour of the order, richly wrought with gold; and around his +neck he wore the magnificent collar and jewel of St. George and the +Dragon, that was the personal gift of his Majesty, the king.'</p> +<p>"Think how splendid it must have been, Jonesy, when the +procession came in to the music of trumpets and bugles and silver +flutes and hautboys! Wouldn't you like to have seen the heralds +marching by, two by two, in cloth of gold, with an escort of the +queen's guard following? All of England's best and bravest were +there, and they sat in the carven stalls in St. George's Chapel, +with their gorgeous banners drooping over them. I saw that chapel, +Jonesy, when we were in England, and I saw where the knights kept +the 'vigil of arms' in the holy places, the night before they took +their vows." He picked up the book and read again: "'Fasting and +praying and lonely watching by night in the great abbey where there +are so many dead folk.'</p> +<p>"Oh, don't you wish you could have lived in those days, Jonesy, +and have been a knight?"</p> +<p>It was all Greek to Jonesy. The terms puzzled him, but he +enjoyed Keith's description of the tournaments.</p> +<p>Several evenings after that, Keith went down to the cottage +dressed in the beautiful velvet costume of white and blue, ablaze +with rhinestones and glittering jewels. He had been wrapped in his +Aunt Allison's golf cape, and, as he threw it off, Jonesy's eyes +opened wider and wider with wonder.</p> +<p>"Hi! You look like a whole jeweller's window!" he cried, dazzled +by the gorgeous sight. The professor lighted another lamp, and +Keith turned slowly around, to be admired on every side like a +pleased peacock.</p> +<p>"Of course it's all only imitation," he explained, "but it will +look just as good as the real thing behind the footlights. But you +ought to see the stage when it's fixed up to look like the Hall of +the Shields, if you want to see glitter. It's be-<i>yu</i>-tiful! +Like the one at Camelot, you know."</p> +<p>But Jonesy did not know, and Keith had to tell about that old +castle at Camelot, as Miss Bond had told him. How that down the +side of the long hall ran a treble range of shields,--</p> +<blockquote>"And under every shield a knight was named,<br> +For such was Arthur's custom in his hall.<br> +When some good knight had done one noble deed<br> +His arms were carven only, but if twain<br> +His arms were blazoned also, but if none<br> +The shield was blank and bare, without a sign,<br> +Saving the name beneath."</blockquote> +<p>Keith had been greatly interested in watching the carpenters fix +the stage so that it could be made to look like the Hall of the +Shields in a very few moments, when the time for that tableau +should come. He knew where every glittering shield was to hang, and +every banner and battle-axe.</p> +<p>"How do you suppose those knights felt," he said to Jonesy, "who +saw their shields hanging there year after year, blank and bare, +because they had never done even one noble deed? They must have +been dreadfully ashamed when the king walked by and read their +names underneath, and then looked up at the shields and saw nothing +emblazoned on them or even carved. Seems to me that I would have +done something to have made me worthy of that honour if I had +<i>died</i> for it!"</p> +<p>Something,--it may have been the soft, rich colour of the +jewel-broidered velvet the boy wore, or maybe the flush that rose +to his cheeks at the thrill of such noble thoughts,--something had +brought an unusual beauty into his face. As he stood there, with +head held high, his dark eyes flashing, his face glowing, and in +that princely dress of a bygone day, he looked every inch a +nobleman. There was something so pure and sweet, too, in the +expression of his upturned face that the light upon it seemed to +touch it into an almost unearthly fairness.</p> +<p>The professor, who had been watching him with a tender smile on +his rugged old face, drew the child toward him, and brushed the +hair back on his forehead.</p> +<p>"Ach, liebchen," he said, in his queer broken speech, "thy +shield will never be blank and bare. Already thou hast blazoned it +with the beauty of a noble purpose, and like Galahad, thou too +shalt find the Grail."</p> +<p>It was Keith's turn to be puzzled, but he did not like to ask +for an explanation; there was something so solemn in the way the +old man put his hand on his head as he spoke, almost as if he were +bestowing a blessing. Besides, it was time to go to the rehearsal +at the college. One of the servants had come to stay with Jonesy +while the professor went over to practise on his violin. He was to +play behind the scenes, a soft, low accompaniment to Miss Bond's +reading.</p> +<p>By eight o'clock, the night of the Benefit, every seat in the +house was full. "That's jolly for Jonesy," exclaimed Malcolm, +peeping out from behind the curtain. "We counted up that ten cents +a ticket would make enough, if they were all sold, to pay his board +till papa comes home, and buy him all the new clothes he needs, +too. Now every ticket is sold."</p> +<p>"Hurry up, Malcolm," called Keith. "We are first on the +programme, and it is time to begin."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0104-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was a great bustle behind the scenes for a few minutes, +and then "Beauty and the Beast" was announced. When the Little +Colonel came on the stage leading the great bear, such a cheering +and clapping began that they both looked around, half frightened; +but the boys followed immediately and the Little Colonel, dressed +as a flower girl, danced out to meet Keith, who came in clicking +his castanets in time to Malcolm's whistling. The bear was made to +go through all his tricks and his soldier drill.</p> +<p>The children in the audience stood on tiptoe in their eagerness +to see the great animal perform, and were so wild in their applause +that the boys begged to be allowed to take it in front of the +curtain every time during the evening when there was a long pause +while some tableau was being prepared.</p> +<p>Over the rustle of fluttering programmes and the hum of +conversation that followed the first number, there fell presently +the soft, sweet notes of the professor's violin, and Miss Bond's +musical voice began the story of the Vision of Sir Launfal.</p> +<blockquote>"My golden spurs now bring to me,<br> +And bring to me my richest mail,<br> +For to-morrow I go over land and sea<br> +In search of the Holy Grail."</blockquote> +<p>Here the curtains were drawn apart to show Malcolm seated on his +pony as Sir Launfal, "in his gilded mail that flamed so bright." It +was really a beautiful picture he made, and his grandmother, +leaning forward, her face beaming with pride at the boy's noble +bearing, compared him with Arthur himself, "with lance in rest, +from spur to plume a star of tournament,"</p> +<p>The next tableau showed him spurning the leper at his gate, and +turning away in disgust from the beggar who "seemed the one blot on +the summer morn." How Miss Bond's voice rang out when "the leper +raised not the gold from the dust."</p> +<blockquote>"Better to me the poor man's crust.<br> +That is no true alms which the hand can hold.<br> +He gives nothing but worthless gold<br> +Who gives from a sense of duty."</blockquote> +<p>In the next tableau it was "as an old bent man, worn-out and +frail," that Sir Launfal came back from his weary pilgrimage. He +had not found the Holy Grail, but through his own sufferings he had +learned pity for all pain and poverty. Once more he stood beside +the leper at his castle gate, but this time he stooped to share +with him his crust and wooden bowl of water.</p> +<p>Then it happened on the stage just as was told in the poem.</p> +<p>A light shone round about the place, and the crouching leper +stood up. The old ragged mantle dropped off, and there in a long +garment almost dazzling in its whiteness, stood a figure--</p> +<blockquote>"Shining and tall, and fair, and straight<br> +As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful gate."</blockquote> +<p>They could not see the face, it was turned aside; but the golden +hair was like a glory, and the uplifted arms held something high in +air that gleamed like a burnished star, as all the lights in the +room were turned full upon it, for a little space. It was a golden +cup. Then the voice again:</p> +<blockquote>"In many climes without avail<br> +Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail.<br> +Behold it is here--this cup, which thou<br> +Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now.<br> +The holy supper is kept indeed<br> +In whatso we share with another's need."</blockquote> +<p>It was an old story to most of the audience, worn threadbare by +many readings, but with these living illustrations, and Miss Bond's +wonderful way of telling it, a new meaning crept into the +well-known lines, that thrilled every listener.</p> +<p>"Could you understand that, Teddy?" asked old Judge Fairfax, +patting his little grandson on the head.</p> +<p>"Course!" exclaimed seven-year-old Ted, who had followed his +sister Sally to every rehearsal.</p> +<p>"When you give money to people just to get rid of 'em, and +because you feel you'd ought to, it doesn't count for anything. But +if you divide something you've got, and would like to keep it all +yourself, because you love to, and are sorry for 'em, then it +counts a pile. Sir Launfal would have popped Jonesy into a 'sylum +when he first started out to find that gold cup, but when he came +back he'd 'a' worked like a horse getting up a benefit for him, and +would have divided his own home with him, if he hadn't been living +at his grandmother's, and couldn't."</p> +<p>An amused smile went around that part of the audience which +overheard Ted's shrilly given explanation.</p> +<p>Pictures from the "Idylls of the King" followed in rapid +succession, and then came the prettiest of all, being the one in +which Keith was made a knight. Virginia as queen, her short black +hair covered by a powdered wig, and a long court-train sweeping +behind her, stood touching his shoulder with the jewel-hilted +sword, as he knelt at her feet. Lloyd and Sally Fairfax, Julia +Ferris, and a dozen other pretty girls of the neighbourhood, helped +to fill out the gay court scene, while all the boys that could be +persuaded to take part were dressed up for heralds, guardsmen, +pages, and knights. That tableau had to be shown four times, and +then the audience kept on applauding as if they never intended to +stop.</p> +<p>The last one in this series of tableaux was the Hall of the +Shields, as Keith had described it to Jonesy. A whole row of +dazzling shields hung across the back of the stage, emblazoned with +the arms of all the old knights whose names have come down to us in +song or story. Then for the first time that evening Miss Bond came +out on the stage where she could be seen, and told the story of the +death of King Arthur, and the passing away of the order of the +Round Table. She told it so well that little Ted Fairfax listened +with his mouth open, seeming to see the great arm that rose out of +the water to take back the king's sword into the sea, from which it +had been given him. An arm like a giant's, "clothed in white +samite, mystic, wonderful, that caught the sword by the hilt, +flourished it three times, and drew it under the mere."</p> +<p>"True, 'the old order changeth,'" said Miss Bond, "but +knighthood has <i>not</i> passed away. The flower of chivalry has +blossomed anew in this new world, and America, too, has her Hall of +the Shields."</p> +<p>Just a moment the curtains were drawn together, and then were +widely parted again, as a chorus of voices rang out with the +words:</p> +<blockquote>"Hail, Columbia, happy land;<br> +Hail, ye heroes, heaven-born band!"</blockquote> +<p>In that moment, on every shield had been hung the pictured face +of some well-known man who had helped to make his country a power +among the nations; presidents, patriots, philanthropists, +statesmen, inventors, and poets,--there they were, from army and +navy, city and farm, college halls and humble cabins,--a long, long +line, and the first was Washington, and the last was the "Hero of +Manila."</p> +<p>Cheer after cheer went up, and it might have been well to have +ended the programme there, but to satisfy the military-loving +little Ginger, one more was added.</p> +<p>"There ought to be a Goddess of Liberty in it," she insisted, +"because it is Washington's birthday; and if we had been doing it +by ourselves we were going to have something in it about Cuba, on +papa's account."</p> +<p>So when the curtain rose the last time, it was on Sally Fairfax +as a gorgeous Goddess of Liberty, conferring knighthood on two boys +who stood for the Army and Navy, while a little dark-eyed girl +knelt at their feet as Cuba, the distressed maiden whom their +chivalry had rescued.</p> +<p>It was late when the performance closed; later still when the +children reached home that night, for Mrs. MacIntyre had determined +to have a flash-light picture taken of them, and they had to wait +until the photographer could send home for his camera.</p> +<p>After they reached the house they could hardly be persuaded to +undress. Virginia trailed up and down the halls in her royal robes, +Malcolm clanked around in his suit of mail and plumed helmet, and +Keith stood before a mirror, admiring the handsome little figure it +showed him.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/0112-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"I hate to take it off," he said, fingering the dazzling collar, +ablaze with jewels. "I'd like to be a knight always, and wear a +sword and spurs every day."</p> +<p>"So would I," said Malcolm, beginning to yawn sleepily. "I wish +that Jonesy had been well enough to go to-night. Isn't it splendid +that the Benefit turned out so well? Aunt Allison says there is +plenty of money now to get Jonesy's clothes and pay his board till +papa comes, and send him back to Barney, too, if papa thinks best +and hasn't any better plan."</p> +<p>"I wish there'd been enough money to buy a nice little home out +here in the country for him and Barney. Wouldn't it have been +lovely if there had a-been?" cried Keith.</p> +<p>"Well, I should say!" answered Malcolm. "Maybe we can have +another benefit some day and make enough for that."</p> +<p>With this pleasant prospect before them, they laid aside their +knightly garments, hoping to put them on again soon in Jonesy's +behalf, and talked about the home that might be his some day, until +they fell asleep.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The flash-light pictures of the three children were all that the +fondest grandmother could wish. As soon as they came, Keith carried +his away to his room to admire in private. "It is so pretty that it +doesn't seem it can be me," he said, propping it up on the desk +before him. "I wish that I could look that way always."</p> +<p>The next time that Miss Allison went into the room she found +that Keith had written under it in his round, boyish hand, a +quotation that had taken his fancy the first time he heard it. It +was in one of Miss Bond's stories, and he repeated it until he +learned it: "<i>Live pure,</i> <i>speak truth, right the wrong, +follow the king; else wherefore born?</i>"</p> +<p>She asked him about it at bedtime. "Why, that's our motto," he +explained. "Malcolm has it written under his, too. We've made up +our minds to be a sort of knight, just as near the real thing as we +can, you know, and that is what knights have to do: live pure, and +speak truth, and right the wrong. We've always tried to do the +first two, so that won't be so hard. It's righting the wrong that +will be the tough job, but we have done it a little teenty, weenty +bit for Jonesy, don't you think, auntie? It was all wrong that he +should have such a hard time and be sent to an asylum away from +Barney, when we have you all and everything nice. Malcolm and I +have been talking it over. If we could do something to keep him +from growing up into a tramp like that awful man that brought him +here, wouldn't that be as good a deed as some that the real knights +did? Wouldn't that be serving our country, too, Aunt Allison, just +a little speck?" He asked the question anxiously. Malcolm said +nothing, but also waited with a wistful look for her answer.</p> +<p>"My dear little Sir Galahads," she said, bending over to give +each of the boys a good-night kiss, "you will be 'really truly' +knights if you can live up to the motto you have chosen. Heaven +help you to be always as worthy of that title as you are +to-night!"</p> +<p>Keith held her a moment, with both arms around her neck. "What +does that mean, auntie?" he asked. "That is what the professor +said, too,--Galahad."</p> +<p>"It is too late to explain to you to-night," she said, "but I +will tell you sometime soon, dear."</p> +<p>It was several days before she reminded them of that promise. +Then she called them into her room and told them the story of Sir +Galahad, the maiden knight, whose "strength was as the strength of +ten because his heart was pure." Then from a little morocco case, +lined with purple velvet, she took two pins that she had bought in +the city that morning. Each was a little white enamel flower with a +tiny diamond in the centre, like a drop of dew.</p> +<p>"You can't wear armour in these days," she said, as she fastened +one on the lapel of each boy's coat, "but this shall be the badge +of your knighthood,--'wearing the white flower of a blameless +life.' The little pins will help you to remember, maybe, and will +remind you that you are pledged to right the wrong wherever you +find it, in little things as well as great."</p> +<p>It was a very earnest talk that followed. The boys came out from +her room afterward, wearing the tiny white pins, and with a sweet +seriousness in their faces. A noble purpose had been born in their +hearts; but alas for chivalry! the first thing they did was to +taunt Virginia with the fact that she could never be a knight +because she was only a girl.</p> +<p>"I don't care," retorted Ginger, quickly. "I can be +a--a--<i>patriot</i>, anyhow, and that's lots better."</p> +<p>The boys laughed, and she flushed angrily.</p> +<p>"They ought to mean the same thing exactly in this day of the +world," said Miss Allison, coming up in time to hear the dispute +that followed. "Virginia, you shall have a badge, too. Run into my +room and bring me that little jewelled flag on my cushion."</p> +<p>"I think that this is the very prettiest piece of jewelry you +have," exclaimed Virginia, coming back with the pin. It was a +little flag whose red, white, and blue was made of tiny settings of +garnets, sapphires, and diamonds.</p> +<p>"You think that, because it is in the shape of a flag," said +Miss Allison, with an amused smile. "Well, it shall be yours. See +how well it can remind you of the boys' knightly motto. There is +the white for the first part, the 'live pure,' and the 'true blue' +for the 'speak truth,' and then the red,--surely no soldier's +little daughter needs to be told what that stands for, when her own +brave father has spilled part of his good red life-blood to 'right +the wrong' on the field of battle."</p> +<p>"Oh, Aunt Allison!" was all that Virginia could gasp in her +delight as she clasped the precious pin tightly in her hand. "Is it +mine? For my very own?"</p> +<p>"For your very own, dear," was the answer.</p> +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Virginia, thanking her with a kiss. +"I'd a thousand times rather have it than one like the boys'. It +means so much more!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES.</h3> +<br> +<p>Early in March, when the crocuses were beginning to bud under +the dining-room windows, there came one of those rare spring days +that seem to carry the warmth of summer in its sunshine.</p> +<p>"Exactly the kind of a day for a picnic," Virginia had said that +morning, and when her grandmother objected, saying that the ground +was still too damp, she suggested having it in the hay-barn. The +boys piled the hay that was left from the winter's supply up on one +side of the great airy room, set wide the big double doors, and +swept it clean.</p> +<p>"It is clean enough now for even grandmother to eat in," said +Virginia, as she spread a cloth on the table Unc' Henry had carried +out for them. "It's good enough for a queen. Oh, I'll tell you what +let's do. Let's play that Malcolm and I are a wicked king and queen +and Lloyd is a 'fair ladye' that we have shut up in a dungeon. This +will be a banquet, and while we are eating Keith can be the knight +who comes to her rescue and carries her off on his pony."</p> +<p>"That's all right," consented Keith, "except the eating part. +How can we get our share of the picnic?"</p> +<p>"We'll save it for you," answered Virginia, "and you can eat it +afterward."</p> +<p>"Save enough for Jonesy, too," said Keith. "He shall be my page +and help me rescue her. I'll go and ask him now."</p> +<p>The month had made a great change in Jonesy. With plenty to eat, +his thin little snub-nosed face grew plump and bright. There was a +good-humoured twinkle in his sharp eyes, and being quick as a +monkey at imitating the movements of those around him, Mrs. +MacIntyre found nothing to criticise in his manners when Malcolm +and Keith brought him into the house. Their pride in him was +something amusing, and seeing that, after all, he was an +inoffensive little fellow, she made no more objections to their +playing with him.</p> +<p>By the time Keith was back again with Jonesy, the other guests +had arrived, and the Little Colonel had been lowered into a deep +feed-bin, in lieu of a dungeon. The banquet began in great state, +but in a few moments was interrupted by a fearful shrieking from +the depths of the bin. The fair ladye protested that she would not +stay in her dungeon.</p> +<p>"There's nasty big spidahs down heah!" she called. "Ow! One is +crawlin' on my neck now, and my face is all tangled up in cobwebs! +Get me out! Get me out! Quick, Gingah!"</p> +<p>The king sprang up to go to her rescue, but was promptly +motioned to his seat again by a warning shake of the other crowned +head.</p> +<p>"Why, of course! There's always spiders in dungeons," called the +wicked queen, coolly helping herself to another piece of chicken. +"Besides, you should say 'your Majesty' when you are talking to +me."</p> +<p>"But there's a mouse in heah, too," she called back, in +distress. "Oo! Oo! It ran ovah my feet. If you don't make them take +me out of heah, Gingah Dudley, I'll do something <i>awful</i> to +you! Murdah! Murdah!" she yelled, pounding on the sides of the bin +with both her fists, and stamping her little foot in a furious +rage.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0121-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""><br> +<b>"THE LITTLE COLONEL HAD BEEN LOWERED INTO A DEEP +FEED-BIN."</b></p> +<br> +<p>Seeing that Lloyd was really terrified, and fearing that her +screams would bring some one from the house, the royal couple and +their guests sprang to the rescue, nearly upsetting the banquet as +they did so. The game would have been broken up then, when she was +lifted out from the feed-bin, red and angry, if it had not been for +the king's great tact. He brushed the cobwebs from her face and +hair, and even got down on his royal knees to ask her pardon.</p> +<p>His polite coaxing finally had its effect on the little lady, +and he persuaded her to climb a ladder into a loft just above them. +Here on a pile of clean hay, beside an open window that looked +across a peaceful meadow, her anger cooled. Towers were far more +comfortable than dungeons, in her opinion, and when Malcolm came up +the ladder with a plateful of the choicest morsels of the feast, +she began to enjoy her part of the play. Jonesy was sent to inform +his knight of the change from dungeon to tower, and the banquet +went merrily on.</p> +<p>He found Keith waiting below the barn, with his pony tied to a +fence. On the other side of the fence lay the railroad track, which +skirted the back of Mrs. MacIntyre's place for over half a +mile.</p> +<p>"Do you see that hand-car?" asked Keith, pointing with his +riding-whip to one on the track. "The section boss let Malcolm and +me ride up and down on it all afternoon one day this winter. Some +workman left it on the switch while ago, and while you were up at +the barn I got two darkeys to move it for me. They didn't want to +at first, but I knew that there'd be no train along for an hour, +and told 'em so, and they finally did it for a dime apiece. As soon +as I rescue Lloyd I'll dash down here on my pony with her behind +me. Then we'll slip through the fence and get on the hand-car, and +be out of sight around the curve before the rest get here. They +won't know where on earth we've gone, and it will be the best joke +on them. It's down grade all the way to the section-house, so I can +push it easily enough by myself, but I'll need your help coming +back, maybe. S'pose you cut across lots to the section-house as +soon as I start to the barn, and meet me there. It isn't half as +far that way, so you'll get there as soon as we do."</p> +<p>"All right," said Jonesy. "I'm your kid."</p> +<p>"You should say, ''Tis well, Sir Knight, I fly to do thy +bidding,'" prompted Keith.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0125-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>Jonesy grinned. He could not enter into the spirit of the play +as the others did. "Aw, I'll be on time," he said; then, as Keith +untied his pony, started on a run across the fields.</p> +<p>The Lady Lloyd had not finished her repast when her rescuer +appeared, but she put the plate down on the hay to await her +return, and obediently climbed down the ladder he placed for her. +They reached the fence before the banqueters knew that she had +escaped. Flinging the pony's bridle over a fence-post, when they +reached the edge of the field, the brave knight crawled through the +fence and pulled Lloyd after him, tearing her dress, much to that +dainty little lady's extreme disgust.</p> +<p>By the time the king and his guard were mounted in pursuit, on +the other pony which stood in waiting, the runaways were in the +hand-car. It moved slowly at first, although Keith was strong for +his age, and his hardy little muscles were untiring.</p> +<p>"Isn't it lovely?" cried Lloyd, as they moved faster and faster +and swept around the curve. "I wish we could go all the way to +Louisville on this." The warm March wind fanned her pink cheeks, +and blew her soft light hair into her eyes.</p> +<p>Jonesy was waiting at the section-house, and waved his cap as +they passed. "We're going on, around the next bend," shouted Keith, +as they passed him. "Whoop-la! this is fine, and not a bit hard to +work!"</p> +<p>"What will the wicked queen think when she can't find us?" asked +Lloyd, laughing happily, as they sped on down the track.</p> +<p>"She'll think that I am a magician and have spirited you away," +said Keith.</p> +<p>"Then if you are a magician you ought to change her into a nasty +black spidah, to pay her back fo' shuttin' me up with them!" Lloyd +was delighted with this new play. For the time it seemed as if she +really were escaping from a castle prison. Faster and faster they +went. Jonesy, who had followed them to the second curve, stood +watching them with wistful eyes, wishing he could be with them. +They passed the depot, and then the hand-car seemed to grow smaller +and smaller as it rolled away, until it was only a moving speck in +the distance. Then he turned and walked back to the +section-house.</p> +<p>"I s'pect we've gone about far enough," said Keith, after +awhile. "We'd better turn around now and go back, or the picnic +will all be over before we get our share. Let's wait here a minute +till I rest my arms, and then we'll start."</p> +<p>The place where they had stopped was the loneliest part of the +track that could be found in miles, on either side. It was in the +midst of a thick beech woods, and the twitter of a bird, now and +then, was the only sound in all the deep stillness.</p> +<p>"What lovely green moss on that bank!" cried the Little Colonel. +"Wouldn't it make a beautiful carpet for our playhouse down by the +old mill?"</p> +<p>"I'll get you some," said Keith, gallantly springing from the +car and clambering up the bank. Taking out his knife, he began to +cut great squares of the velvety green moss, and pile it up to +carry back to the hand-car.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Jonesy waited at the section-house, digging his heels +into the cinders that lined the track, and looking impatiently down +the road. Presently the section boss came limping along painfully, +and sat down on the bank in the warm spring sunshine. He had +dropped a piece of heavy machinery on his foot, the week before, +and was only able to hobble short distances.</p> +<p>Everybody in the Valley was interested in Jonesy since the fire +and the Benefit had made him so well known, and the man was glad of +this opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the boy. Jonesy, +with all the fearlessness of a little street gamin brought up in a +big city, answered him fearlessly, even saucily at times, much to +the man's amusement.</p> +<p>"So you want to get a job around here, do you?" said the man, +presently, with a grin. "Maybe I can give you one. Know anything +about railroadin'?"</p> +<p>"Heaps," answered Jonesy. "Well, I'd ought to, seem' as I've +lived next door to the engine yards all my life, and spent my time +dodgin' the cop on watch there, when I was tryin' to steal rides on +freight-cars and such."</p> +<p>"Is that what you're hangin' around here now for?" asked the +man, with a good-natured twinkle in his eyes.</p> +<p>"Nope! I'm waiting for that MacIntyre kid to come back this way. +He went down the track a bit ago on a hand-car, playing rescue a +princess with one of the girls at the picnic,"</p> +<p>The section boss sprang up with an exclamation of alarm. "How +far's he gone?" he asked. "There's a special due to pass here in a +few minutes."</p> +<p>Even while he spoke there sounded far away in the distance, so +far that it was like only a faint echo, the whistle of an +approaching locomotive. The man hobbled down the track a yard or so +and stopped. "What do you suppose they'll do?" he asked. "There are +so many bends in this road, the train may come right on to 'em +before the engineer sees 'em. S'pose they'll jump off, or turn and +try to come back?"</p> +<p>Jonesy glanced around wildly a second, and then sprang forward +toward the man.</p> +<p>"Give me the switch-key!" he cried, in a high voice, shrill with +excitement. "You can't run, but I can. Give me the switch-key!" +Perplexed by the sudden turn of affairs and the little fellow's +commanding tone, the man took the key from his pocket. He realised +his own helplessness to do anything, and there was something in +Jonesy's manner that inspired confidence. He felt that the child's +quick wit had grasped the situation and formed some sensible plan +of action.</p> +<p>Again the whistle sounded in the distance, and, snatching the +key, Jonesy was off down the track like an arrow. The section boss, +leaning heavily on his cane, limped after him as fast as he +could.</p> +<p>Keith and the Little Colonel, having gathered the moss and +started back home, were rolling leisurely along, still talking of +magicians and their ilk.</p> +<p>"What if we should meet a dragon?" cried the Little Colonel. "A +dragon with a scaly green tail, and red eyes and a fiery tongue. +What would you do then?"</p> +<p>"I'd say, 'What! Ho! Thou monster!' and cleave him in twain with +my good broadsword, and when he saw its shining blade smite through +the air he'd just curl up and die."</p> +<p>Keith looked back to smile at the bright laughing face beside +him. Then he caught sight of something over his shoulder that made +him pause. "Oh, look!" he cried, pointing over the tree-tops behind +them. A little puff of smoke, rising up in the distance, trailed +along the sky like a long banner. At the same instant, out of the +smoke, sounded the whistle of an approaching engine. The track +behind them had so many turns, he could not judge of their distance +from it, and for an instant he stopped working the handle bar up +and down, too thoroughly frightened to know what to do. An older +child might have acted differently; might have jumped from the +hand-car and left it to be run into by the approaching train, or +have hurried back around the bend to flag the engine. But Keith had +only one idea left: that was to keep ahead of the train as long as +possible. It seemed so far away he thought they could surely reach +the depot before it caught up with them, and his sturdy little arms +bent to the task.</p> +<p>For a moment there was a real pleasure in the exertion. He felt +with an excited thrill that he was really running away with the +Little Colonel, and rescuing her from a pursuing danger. Suddenly +the whistle sounded again, and this time it seemed so close behind +them that the Little Colonel gave a terrified glance over her +shoulder and then screamed at the sight of the great snorting +monster, breathing out fire and smoke, worse than any scaly-tailed +dragon that she had ever imagined. It was far down the track but +they could hear its terrible rumble as it rushed over a trestle, +and the singing of the wires overhead.</p> +<p>Keith was straining every muscle now, but it was like running in +a nightmare. His arms moved up and down at a furious speed, but it +seemed to him that the hand-car was glued to one spot. It seemed, +too, that it had been hours since they first discovered that the +engine was after them, and he felt that he would soon be too +exhausted to move another stroke. Would the depot never never come +in sight?</p> +<p>Just then they shot around the curve and caught sight of Jonesy +at the depot switch, wildly beckoning with his cap and shouting for +them to come on. At that sight, with one supreme effort Keith put +his fast-failing strength to the test, and sent the hand-car +rolling forward faster than ever. It shot past the switch that +Jonesy had unlocked and off to the side-track, just as the train +bore down upon them around the last bend.</p> +<p>There was barely time for Jonesy to set the switch again before +it thundered on along the main track past the little depot. Being a +special, it did not stop. As it went shrieking by, the engineer +cast a curious glance at a hand-car on the side-track. A little +girl sat on it, a pretty golden-haired child with dark eyes big +with fright, and her face as white as her dress. He wondered what +was the matter.</p> +<p>For a moment after the shrieking train whizzed by everything +seemed deathly still. Keith sat leaning against the embankment, +white and limp from exhaustion and the excitement of his close +escape. Jonesy was panting and wiping the perspiration from his red +face, for he had run like a deer to reach the switch in time.</p> +<p>"I couldn't have held out a minute longer," said Keith, +presently. "My arms felt like they had gone to sleep, and I was +just ready to give up when I caught sight of you. That seemed to +give me strength to go on, when I saw what you were at and that it +would only be a little farther to go before we would be safe. Plow +did you happen to be at the switch, and know how to set it?"</p> +<p>"Hain't lived all my life around engine yards fer nothin'," +answered Jonesy. "Why didn't you jump off and flag the train?"</p> +<p>"I was so taken by surprise I didn't think of that," answered +Keith. "The only thing I knew was that we had to keep ahead of it +as long as possible. You've saved my life, Jones Carter, and I'll +never forget it, no matter what comes,"</p> +<p>"I've been rescued twice to-day," said the Little Colonel, +taking a deep breath as she began to recover from her fright. +"Jonesy ought to be a knight, too."</p> +<p>"That's so!" exclaimed Keith, springing to his feet. "Come on +and let's go back to the barn. We'll tell our adventures, and then +we'll go through the ceremony of making Jonesy a Sir Something or +other. He's certainly won his spurs."</p> +<p>"Goin' back on the hand-car?" asked Jonesy.</p> +<p>"Not much," answered Keith, with a sickly sort of smile. +"Somehow such fast travelling doesn't seem to agree with a fellow. +Walking is good enough for me."</p> +<p>"Me too!" cried the Little Colonel, tying on her white +sunbonnet. "But the first part of it was lovely,--just like +flyin'."</p> +<p>Jonesy ran back to give the man his key, and was kept answering +questions so long that he did not catch up with the other children +until they were in sight of the barn.</p> +<p>"After all," said Keith, as the three trudged along together, +"maybe we'd better not tell how near we came to being run over. +Grandmother and Aunt Allison would be dreadfully worried if they +should hear of it. They are always worrying for fear something will +happen to us."</p> +<p>"Mothah would be <i>wild</i>" exclaimed the Little Colonel, "if +she knew I had been in any dangah. Maybe she wouldn't let me out of +her sight again to play all summah."</p> +<p>"Then let's don't tell for a long, long time," proposed Keith. +"It'll be our secret, just for us three."</p> +<p>"All right," the others agreed. They dropped the subject then, +for the barn was just ahead of them, and the gay picnickers came +running out, demanding to know where they had been so long.</p> +<p>The Little Colonel often spoke of her experience afterward to +the two boys, however, and in Keith's day-dreams a home for Jonesy +began to crowd out all other hopes and plans.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>A GAME OF INDIAN.</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith was stiff for a week after his race on the hand-car, but +did his groaning in private. He knew what a commotion would be +raised if the matter came to his grandmother's ears. She had lived +all winter in constant dread of accidents. Malcolm had been carried +home twice in an unconscious state, once from having been thrown +from his bicycle, and once from falling through a trap-door in the +barn. Keith had broken through the ice on the pond, sprained his +wrist while coasting, and walked in half a dozen times with the +blood streaming from some wound on his head or face.</p> +<p>Virginia had never been hurt, but her hair-breadth escapes would +have filled a volume. An amusing one was the time she lassoed a +young calf, Indian fashion, to show the boys how it should be done. +Its angry mother was in the next lot, but Virginia felt perfectly +safe as she swung her lariat and dragged the bleating calf around +the barn-yard. She did not stop to consider that if a cow with +lofty ambitions had once jumped over the moon, one which saw its +calf in danger might easily leap a low hedge. Malcolm's warning +shout came just in time to save her from being gored by the angry +animal, who charged at her with lowered horns. She sprang up the +ladder leading to the corn-crib window, where she was safe, but she +had to hang there until Unc' Henry could be called to the +rescue.</p> +<p>It was with many misgivings that Mrs. MacIntyre and Miss Allison +started to the city one morning in April. It was the first time +since the children's coming that they had both gone away at once, +and nothing but urgent business would have made them consent to +go.</p> +<p>The children promised at least a dozen things. They would keep +away from the barn, the live stock, the railroad, the ponds, and +the cisterns. They would not ride their wheels, climb trees, nor go +off the Maclntyre premises, and they would keep a sharp lookout for +snakes and poison ivy, in case they went into the woods for wild +flowers.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0139-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>VIRGINIA AND THE CALF.</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Seems to me there's mighty little left that a fellow can do," +said Keith, when the long list was completed.</p> +<p>"Oh, the time will soon pass," said his grandmother, who was +preparing to take the eleven o'clock train. "It will soon be +lunch-time. Then this is the day for you each to write your weekly +letters to your mother, and it is so pretty in the woods now that I +am sure you will enjoy looking for violets."</p> +<p>Time did pass quickly, as their grandmother had said it would, +until the middle of the afternoon. Then Virginia began to wish for +something more amusing than the quiet guessing games they had been +playing in the library. The boys each picked up a book, and she +strolled off up-stairs, in search of a livelier occupation.</p> +<p>In a few minutes she came down, looking like a second Pocahontas +in her Indian suit, with her bow and arrows slung over her +shoulder.</p> +<p>"I am going down to the woods to practise shooting," she +announced, as she stopped to look in at the door.</p> +<p>"Oh, wait just a minute!" begged Malcolm, throwing down his +book. "Let's all play Indian this afternoon. We'll rig up, too, and +build a wigwam down by the spring rock, and make a +fire,--grandmother didn't say we couldn't make a fire; that's about +the only thing she forgot to tell us not to do."</p> +<p>"You can come on when you get ready," answered Virginia. "I'm +going now, because it is getting late, but you'll find me near the +spring when you come. Just yell."</p> +<p>The boys could not hope to rival Virginia's Indian costume, but +no wilder-looking little savages ever uttered a war-whoop than the +two which presently dashed into the still April woods.</p> +<p>Malcolm had ripped some variegated fringe from a table-cover to +pin down the sides of his leather leggins. He had borrowed a Roman +blanket from Aunt Allison's couch to pin around his shoulders, and +emptied several tubes of her most expensive paints to streak his +face with hideous stripes and daubs. A row of feathers from the +dust-brush was fastened around his forehead by a broad band, and a +hatchet from the woodshed provided him with a tomahawk.</p> +<p>Keith had no time to arrange feathers. He had taken off his +flannels in order to put on an old striped bathing-suit, which he +had found in the attic and stored away, intending to use it for +swimming in the pond when the weather should grow warm enough. It +had no sleeves, and the short trousers had shrunk until they did +not half-way reach his knees. Its red and white stripes had faded +and the colour run until the whole was a dingy "crushed strawberry" +shade. As Malcolm had emptied all the tubes of red paint in his +Aunt Allison's box, Keith had to content himself with some other +colour. He chose the different shades of green, squeezing the paint +out on his plump little legs and arms, and rubbing it around with +his fore finger until he was encircled with as many stripes as a +zebra. Although the day was warm for the early part of April, the +sudden change from his customary clothes and spring flannels to +nothing but the airy bathing suit and war-paint made him a trifle +chilly; so he completed his costume by putting on a pair of scarlet +bedroom slippers, edged with dark fur.</p> +<p>With the dropping of their civilised clothing, the boys seemed +to have dropped all recollections of their professed knighthood, +and acted like the little savages they looked.</p> +<p>"We're going to shoot with your things awhile, Ginger," shouted +Keith, coming suddenly upon her with a whoop, and snatching her bow +out of her hands. "You are the squaw, so you have to do all the +work. Get down there now behind that rock and make a fire, while we +go out and kill a deer. You must build a wigwam, too, by the time +we get back. Hear me? I'm a big chief! 'I am Famine--Buckadawin!' +and I'll make a living skeleton of you if you don't hustle."</p> +<p>Virginia was furious. "I'll not be a squaw!" she cried. "And +I'll not build a fire or do anything else if you talk so rudely. If +you don't give me back my bow and let me be a chief, too, +I'll--I'll get even with you, sir, in a way you won't like. I have +short hair, and my clothes are more Indian than yours, and I can +shoot better than either of you, anyhow! So there! Give me my +bow."</p> +<p>"What will you do if I won't?" said Keith, teasingly, holding it +behind him.</p> +<p>"I'll go up to the barn and get a rope, and lasso you like I did +that calf, and drag you all over the place!" cried Virginia, her +eyes shining with fierce determination.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0145-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"She means it, Keith," said Malcolm. "She'll do it sure, if you +don't stop teasing. Oh, give it to her and come along, or it will +be dark before we begin to play."</p> +<p>Matters went on more smoothly after Malcolm's efforts at +peacemaking, and when it was decided that Ginger could be a brave, +too, instead of a squaw, they were soon playing together as +pleasantly as if they had found the happy hunting grounds. The +short afternoon waned fast, and the shadows were growing deep when +they reached the last part of the game. Ginger had been taken +prisoner, and they were tying her to a tree, with her hands bound +securely behind her back. She rather enjoyed this part of it, for +she intended to show them how brave she could be.</p> +<p>"Now we'll sit around the council fire and decide how to torture +her," said Malcolm, when the captive was securely tied. But the +fire was out and they had no matches. The lot fell on Malcolm to +run up to the house and get some.</p> +<p>"A fire would feel good," said Keith, looking around with a +shiver as he seated himself on a log near Ginger. The sun was low +in the west, and very little of its light and warmth found its way +into the woods where the children were playing.</p> +<p>"It makes me think of Hiawatha," said Ginger, looking down at +several long streaks of golden light which lay across the ground at +her feet. "Don't you remember how it goes? 'And the long and level +sunbeams shot their spears into the forest, breaking through its +shield of shadow,' Isn't that pretty? I love Hiawatha. I am going +to learn pages and pages of it some day. I know all that part about +Minnehaha now,"</p> +<p>"Say it while we are waiting," said Keith, pulling his short +trousers down as far as possible, and wishing that he had sleeves, +or else that the paint were thicker on his chilly arms.</p> +<p>"All right," began Virginia.</p> +<blockquote>"'Oh the long and dreary winter!<br> +Oh the cold and cruel winter!<br> +Ever thicker, thicker, thicker<br> +Froze the ice on lake and river.'"</blockquote> +<p>"Ugh! Don't!" interrupted Keith, with a shiver. "It makes my +teeth chatter, talking about such cold things!"</p> +<p>Just then a shout came ringing down the hill, "Oh, Keith! Come +here a minute! Quick!"</p> +<p>"What do you wa-ant?" yelled Keith, in return.</p> +<p>"Come up here! Quick! Hurry up!"</p> +<p>"What do you s'pose can be the matter?" exclaimed Keith, +scrambling to his feet. "Maybe the bear has got loose and run +away."</p> +<p>"Come and untie me first," said Virginia, "and I'll go, too." +Keith gave several quick tugs at the many knotted string which +bound her, but could not loosen it. Again the call came, impatient +and sharp, "Keith! <i>Oh</i>, Keith!"</p> +<p>"Oh, I can't loosen it a bit," said Keith. "You'll have to wait +till Malcolm comes with his knife. We'll be back in just a minute. +I'll go and see what's the matter."</p> +<p>"Be sure that you don't stay!" screamed Ginger, as the scarlet +bedroom slippers and green striped legs flashed out of sight +through the bushes.</p> +<p>"Back--in--a--minute!" sounded shrilly through the woods.</p> +<p>Keith found Malcolm on the back porch, pounding excitedly on a +box which the express-man had left there a few minutes before.</p> +<p>"It's the camera we have been looking for all week," he cried. +"Come on and have a look at it."</p> +<p>"Ginger said to hurry back," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Pshaw! It won't take but a minute. I'll pry the box open in a +jiffy."</p> +<p>It was harder work than the boys had supposed, to take the +tightly nailed lid from its place, and they were so intent on their +work they did not realise how quickly the minutes were passing.</p> +<p>"Isn't it a beauty?" exclaimed Malcolm, when it was at last +unpacked. "It's lots bigger and finer than the one papa promised. +But that's the way he always does. Oh, isn't it a peach!"</p> +<p>"I'll tell you what," said Keith, dancing up and down in his +excitement, until he looked like a ridiculous little clown in the +faded pink bathing-suit and his stripes of green paint, "let's take +each other's pictures while we are dressed this way. We may never +look so funny again, and we can go down and take Ginger, too, while +she is tied to the tree."</p> +<p>"Can't now," said Malcolm, "it's too dark down there in the +woods by this time. See! there is nothing left now of the sun but +those red clouds above the place where it went down. I'm afraid it +is too dark even for us up here on the hill; but we can try. You do +look funny, just like a jumping-jack or a monkey on a stick."</p> +<p>"Surely Ginger won't mind waiting long enough for us to do it," +said Keith. "Anyhow we can never dress up this way again, and +grandmother will be coming home very soon, so you take mine quick, +and I will take yours."</p> +<p>The boys had had some practice before with a cheap little +camera, but this required some studying of the printed directions +before they could use it. The first time they tried it the plates +were put in wrong, and the second time they forgot to remove the +cap. There were other things in the box besides the camera: some +beautiful pink curlew's wings, a handsomely marked snake skin, and +some rare shells that had been picked up on the Gulf coast. Of +course the boys had to examine each new treasure as it was +discovered. One thing after another delayed them until it was dusk +even on the porch where they stood, and in the woods below a deep +twilight had fallen.</p> +<p>Every minute that had sped by so rapidly for the boys, seemed an +age to the captive Virginia. Her arms ached from the strain of +their unusual position. Swarms of gnats flew about, stinging her +face, and mosquitoes buzzed teasingly around her ears. She was +unable to move a finger to drive them away.</p> +<p>When the boys had been gone fifteen minutes she thought they +must have been away hours. At the end of half an hour she was wild +with impatience to get loose, but, thinking they might return any +minute, she made no sign of her discomfort. She would be as heroic +as the bravest brave ever tortured by cruel savages. As long as it +was light she kept up her courage, but presently it began to grow +dark under the great beech-trees. A frog down by the spring set up +a dismal croaking. What if they should not come back, and her +grandmother and Aunt Allison should miss the train, and have to +stay in the city all night! Then nobody would come to set her free, +and she would have to stay in the lonely woods all by herself, tied +to a tree, with her hands behind her back.</p> +<p>At that thought she began calling, "Keith! Keith! Malcolm! Oh, +Malcolm!" but only an echo came back to her, as it had to the dying +Minnehaha,--a far-away echo that mocked her with its teasing cry of +"Mal-colm!" Call after call went ringing through the woods, but +nobody answered. Nobody came.</p> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/0152-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was a rustling through the leaves behind her, as of a +snake gliding around the tree. She was not afraid of snakes in the +daytime, and when she was unbound, but she shrieked and turned cold +at the thought of one wriggling across her feet while she was +powerless to get away. Every time a twig snapped, or there was a +fluttering in the bushes, she strained her eyes to see what +horrible thing might be creeping up toward her. She had no thought +that live Indians might be lurking about, but all the terrible +stories she had ever heard, of the days of Daniel Boone and the +early settlers, came back to haunt the woods with a nameless +dread.</p> +<p>She felt that she was standing on the real Kentucky that the +Indians meant, when they gave the State its name. "<i>Dark and +bloody ground! Dark and bloody ground</i>!" something seemed to say +just behind her. Then the trees took it up, and all the leaves +whispered, "<i>Sh--sh, sh! Dark and bloody ground! Sh--sh</i>!"</p> +<p>At that she was so frightened that she began calling again, but +the sound of her own voice startled her. "Oh, they are not coming," +she thought, with a miserable ache in her throat, that seemed +swelling bigger and bigger. "I'll have to stay here in the woods +all night. Oh, mamma! mamma!" she moaned, "I am so scared! If you +could only come back and get your poor little girl!"</p> +<p>Up to this time she had bravely fought back the tears, but just +then a screech-owl flapped down from a branch above her with such a +dismal hooting that she gave a nervous start and a cry of terror. +"Oh, that frightened me so!" she sobbed. "I don't believe I can +stand it to be out here all night alone with so many horrible +creepy things everywhere. And nobody cares! Nobody but papa and +mamma, and they are away, way off in Cuba. Maybe I'll never see +them any more," At that the tears rolled down her face, and she +could not move a hand to wipe them away. To be so little and +miserable and forsaken, so worn out with waiting and so helpless +among all these unknown horrors that the dark woods might hold, was +worse torture to the imaginative child than any bodily pain could +have been.</p> +<p>It was just as her last bit of courage oozed away, and she began +to cry, that the boys suddenly realised how long they had left +her.</p> +<p>"It must be as dark as a pocket in the woods by this time," +exclaimed Malcolm. "What do you suppose Ginger will say to us for +leaving her so long?"</p> +<p>"You will have to take a knife to cut her loose," said Keith. "I +tried to untie the knots before I came away, but I couldn't move +them."</p> +<p>"My pocket-knife is up-stairs," answered Malcolm. "I'll get +something in the dining-room that will do."</p> +<p>He was rushing out again with a carving-knife in his hand, when +he came face to face with his grandmother and Aunt Allison. The +boys had been so interested in their camera that they had not heard +the train whistle, or the sound of footsteps coming up on the front +veranda. Pete was lighting the hall lamps as the ladies came in, +and he turned his back to hide the broad grin on his face, as he +thought of the sight which would soon greet them. Mrs. Maclntyre +gave a gasp of astonishment and sank down in the nearest chair as +Malcolm came dashing into the bright lamplight.</p> +<p>His turkey feathers were all awry, standing out in a dozen +different directions from his head, his blanket trailed behind him, +and the fringe was hanging in festoons from his leggins, where it +had come unpinned. The red paint on his face made him look as if he +had been in a fight with the carving-knife he carried, and had had +the skin peeled off his face in patches.</p> +<p>Wild as he looked, his appearance was tame beside that of the +impish-looking little savage who skipped in after him, in the +scarlet bedroom slippers, pink striped bathing-suit and green +striped skin.</p> +<p>"Keith Maclntyre, what have you been doing to yourself?" gasped +his grandmother. Both boys began an excited exclamation, but were +stopped by Miss Allison's question, "Where is Virginia? Have you +two little savages scalped her?"</p> +<p>"She's tied to a tree down by the spring," answered Malcolm. "We +are just starting down there now to cut her loose. You see we were +playing Indian, and she was tied up to be tortured, and we forgot +all about her being there--"</p> +<p>But Miss Allison waited to hear no more. "The poor little +thing!" she exclaimed. "Tied out there alone in the dark woods! How +could you be so cruel? It is enough to frighten her into +spasms."</p> +<p>"I'm awfully sorry, Aunt Allison!" began Malcolm, but his aunt +was already out of hearing. Out of the door she ran, through the +dewy grass and the stubble of the field beyond, regardless of her +dainty spring gown, or her new patent leather shoes. Malcolm and +Keith dashed out after her, ran on ahead and were at the spring +before she had climbed the fence into the woodland.</p> +<p>Virginia was not crying when the boys reached her. She +remembered that she had once called Malcolm "Rain-in-the-face" +because she caught him crying over something that seemed to her a +very little reason, and she did not intend to give him a chance to +taunt her in the same way. She was glad that it was too dark for +him to notice her tear-swollen eyes.</p> +<p>"Whew! It's dark down here!" said Keith. "Were you frightened, +Ginger?" he asked, as he helped Malcolm unfasten the cords that +bound her. But Ginger made no reply to either questions or +apologies. She walked on in dignified silence, too deeply hurt by +their neglect, too full of a sense of the wrong they had done her, +to trust herself to speak without crying, and she intended to be +game to the last. But when she came upon Miss Allison, and suddenly +found herself folded safe in her arms, with pitying kisses and +comforting caresses, she clung to her, sobbing as if her heart +would break.</p> +<p>"Oh, auntie! It was so awful!" was all she could say, but she +repeated it again and again, until Miss Allison, who had never seen +her so excited before, was alarmed. The boys, who had run on ahead +to the house again, before she gave way to her feelings, were +inclined to look upon it all as a good joke, for they had no idea +how much she had suffered, and did not like it because she would +not speak to them. They changed their minds when Miss Allison came +out of Virginia's room a little later, and told them that the +fright had given the child a nervous chill, and that she had cried +herself to sleep.</p> +<p>"We didn't mean to do it," said Keith, penitently. "We just +forgot, and I'm mighty sorry, truly I am, auntie!"</p> +<p>"I am not scolding you," said Miss Allison, "but if I were +either of you boys, I wouldn't wear my little white flower when I +dressed for dinner to-night. Instead of being the protector of a +distressed maiden, as the old knights would have said, you have +done her a wrong,--a serious one I am afraid,--and that wrong ought +to be made right as far as possible before you are worthy to wear +the badge of knighthood again."</p> +<p>"We'll go and beg her pardon right now," said Malcolm.</p> +<p>"No, she is asleep now, and I do not want her to be disturbed. +Besides, a mere apology is not enough. You must make some kind of +atonement. The first thing for you to do, however, is to get some +turpentine and remove that paint. Where did you get it, boys?"</p> +<p>"Out of your paint-box, Aunt Allison," said Malcolm. "We didn't +think you would care. I was only going to take a little, but it +soaked in so fast that I had to use two tubes of it."</p> +<p>"I used more than that," confessed Keith, looking at her with +his big honest eyes; "but I got so interested pretending that I was +turning into a real Indian, that I never thought about its being +anybody else's paint, Aunt Allison, truly I didn't!"</p> +<p>She turned away to hide a smile. The earnest little face above +the striped body was so very comical. Picking up several of the +empty tubes that had been squeezed quite flat, she read the labels. +"Rose madder and carmine," she said, solemnly, "two of my very most +expensive paints."</p> +<p>"Dear me!" sighed Malcolm, "then there's another wrong that's +got to be righted. I guess Keith and I weren't cut out for knights. +I'm beginning to think that it's a mighty tough business +anyhow."</p> +<p>That night, when the boys came down to dinner, no little white +flower with its diamond dewdrop centre shone on the lapel of either +coat. It had been a work of time to scrub off the paint, and then +it took almost as long to get rid of the turpentine, so that dinner +was ready long before Keith was finally clad in his flannels. "My +throat is sore," he complained to Malcolm at bedtime, but did not +mention it to any one else that night. He sat on the side of his +bed a moment before undressing, with one foot across his knee, +staring thoughtfully at the lamp. Presently, with one shoe in his +hand and the other half unlaced, he hopped over to the +dressing-table and stood before it, looking at first one picture +and then another.</p> +<p>Eight different photographs of his mother were ranged along the +table below the wide mirror, some taken in evening dress, some in +simple street costume, and each one so beautiful that it would have +been hard to decide which one had the greatest charm.</p> +<p>"I wish mamma was here to-night," said Keith, softly, with a +little quiver of his lip. "Seems like she's been gone almost +always."</p> +<p>He picked up a large Roman locket of beaten silver that lay open +on the table. It held two exquisitely painted miniatures on ivory. +One was the same sweet face that looked out at him from each of the +photographs, the other was his father's. It showed a handsome young +fellow with strong, clean-shaven face, with eyes like Keith's, and +the same lordly poise of the fine head that Malcolm had.</p> +<p>"Good night, papa, good night, mamma!" whispered Keith, touching +his lips hastily to each picture while Malcolm's back was turned. +There were tears in his eyes. Somehow he was so miserably +homesick.</p> +<p>Next morning, although Keith's throat was not so sore, he was +burning with fever by the time his lessons were over. Before his +grandmother saw him he was off on his wheel for a long ride, and +then, because he was so hot when he came back, he slipped away to +the pond with the pink bathing-suit under his coat, and took the +swim that he had been looking forward to so long. Nobody knew where +he was, and he stayed in the water until his lips and finger-nails +were blue. The morning after that he was too ill to get up, and +Mrs. Maclntyre sent for a doctor.</p> +<p>"He has always been so perfectly well, and seemed to have such a +strong constitution, that I cannot allow myself to believe this +will be anything serious," said Mrs. Maclntyre, but at the end of +the third day he was so much worse that she sent to the city for a +trained nurse, and telegraphed for his father and mother.</p> +<p>They had already left Florida, and were yachting up the Atlantic +coast on their way home when the message reached them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>"FAIRCHANCE."</h3> +<br> +<p>Malcolm did his best to atone to Virginia for what she had +suffered from the forgetfulness of the two little Indians, but poor +Keith was too ill to remember anything about it. He did not know +his father and mother when they came, and tossed restlessly about, +talking wildly of things they could not understand. It was the +first time he had ever been so ill, and as they watched him lying +there day after day, burning with fever, and growing white and +thin, a great fear came upon them that he would never be any +better.</p> +<p>No one put that fear into words, but little by little it crept +from heart to heart like a wintry fog, until the whole house felt +its chill. The sweet spring sounds and odours came rushing in at +every window from the sunny world outside, but it might as well +have been mid-winter. No one paid any heed while that little life +hung in the balance. The servants went through the house on tiptoe. +Malcolm and Virginia haunted the halls to discover from the grave +faces of the older people what they were afraid to ask, and Mrs. +Maclntyre was kept busy answering the inquiries of the neighbours. +Scarcely an hour passed that some one did not come to ask about +Keith, to leave flowers, or to proffer kindly services. Everybody +who knew the little fellow loved him. His bright smile and winning +manner had made him a host of friends.</p> +<p>There was no lack of attention. His father and mother, Miss +Allison, and the nurse watched every breath, every pulse-beat; and +a dozen times in the night his grandmother stole to the door to +look anxiously at the wan little face on the pillow.</p> +<p>"It is so strange," said his mother to the nurse one day. "He +keeps talking about a white flower. He says that he can't right the +wrong unless he wears it, and that Jonesy will have to be shut up +and never find his brother again. What do you suppose he +means?"</p> +<p>The nurse shook her head. She did not know. Just then Mrs. +Maclntyre heard her name called softly, "Elise," and her husband +beckoned her to come out into the hall. "I want to show you +something in Allison's room," he said, leading her down the hall to +his sister's apartment. On each side of the low writing-desk stood +a large photograph, one of Malcolm in his suit of mail, the other +of Keith in the costume of jewel-embroidered velvet, like the +little Duke of Gloster's.</p> +<p>"Oh, Sydney! How beautiful!" she exclaimed, as she swept across +the room and knelt down before the desk for a better view. Leaning +her arms on the desk, she looked into Keith's pictured face with +hungry eyes. "Isn't he lovely?" she repeated. "Oh, he'll never look +like that again! I know it! I know it!" she sobbed, remembering how +white was the little face on the pillow that she had just left.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre bent over her, his own handsome face white and +haggard. He looked ill himself, from the constant watching and +anxiety. "I'd give anything in the world that I own! Everything!" +he groaned. "I'd do anything, sacrifice anything, to see him as +well and sturdy as he looks there!"</p> +<p>Then he caught up the picture. "What's this written underneath?" +he asked, "It is in Keith's own handwriting: '<i>Live pure speak +truth, right the wrong, follow the king. Else wherefore +born</i>?'</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0166-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"What does it mean, Allison?" he asked, turning to his sister, +who was resting on a couch by the window. "It is written under +Malcolm's picture, too."</p> +<p>"The dear little Sir Galahads," she said, "I sent for you to +tell you about them. The boys intended the pictures as a surprise +for you and Elise, so we never sent them. They wanted to tell you +themselves about the Benefit and the little waif they gave it +for."</p> +<p>She took a little pin from a jewel-case under the sofa pillows, +and reaching over, dropped it in her brother's hand. It was a tiny +flower of white enamel, with a diamond dewdrop in the centre.</p> +<p>"You may have noticed Malcolm wearing one like it," she said, +and then she told them the story of Jonesy and the bear and all +that their coming had led to: the Benefit, the new order of +knighthood, and the awakening of the boys to a noble purpose.</p> +<p>"The boys fully expect you to stand by them in all this, +Sydney," she said, in conclusion, "and play fairy godfather for +Jonesy henceforth and for ever. One night, when Keith came up to +confess some mischief he had been into during the day, he said:</p> +<p>"'Aunt Allison, this wearing the white flower of a blameless +life isn't as easy as it is cracked up to be; but having this +little pin helps a lot. I just put my hand on that like the real +knights used to do on their sword-hilts, and repeat my motto. It +will be easier when papa comes home. Since I've known Jonesy, and +heard him tell about the hard times some people have that he knows, +it seems to me there's an awful lot of wrong in the world for +somebody to set right. Some nights I can hardly go to sleep for +thinking about it, and wishing that I were grown up so that I could +begin to do my part. I wish papa could be here now. He'd make a +splendid knight; he is so big and good and handsome. I don't s'pose +King Arthur himself was any better or braver than my father +is.'"</p> +<p>A tear splashed down from the mother's eyes as she listened, +and, falling on the tiny white flower as it lay in her husband's +hand, glistened beside the dewdrop centre like another diamond.</p> +<p>"Oh, Sydney!" she exclaimed, in a heart-broken way. Something +very like a sob shook the man's broad shoulders, and, turning +abruptly, he strode out of the room.</p> +<p>Down in the dim, green library, where the blinds had been drawn +to keep it cool, he threw himself into a chair beside the table. +Propping Keith's picture up in front of him against a pile of +books, he leaned forward, gazing at it earnestly. He had never +realised before how much he loved the little son, who hour by hour +seemed slowly slipping farther away from him. The pictured face +looked full into his as if it would speak. It wore the same sweet, +trustful expression that had shone there the night he talked to +Jonesy of the Hall of the Shields; the same childish purity that +had moved the old professor to lay his hands upon his head and call +him Galahad.</p> +<p>All that gentle birth, college breeding, wealth, and travel +could give a man, were Sydney Maclntyre's, and yet, measuring +himself by Keith's standard of knighthood, he felt himself sadly +lacking. He had given liberally to charities hundreds of dollars, +because it was often easier for him to write out a check than to +listen to somebody's tale of suffering. But aside from that he had +left the old world to wag on as best it could, with its grievous +load of wrong and sorrow.</p> +<p>A man is not apt to trouble himself as to how it wags for those +outside his circle of friends, when the generations before him have +spent their time laying up a fortune for him to enjoy. But this man +was beginning to trouble himself about it now, as he paced +restlessly up and down the room. He was not thinking now about the +things that usually occupied him, his social duties, his home or +club, or yacht or horses or kennels. He was not planning some new +pleasure for his friends or family, he was wondering what he could +do to be worthy of the exalted regard in which he was held by his +little sons. What wrong could he set right, to prove himself really +as noble as they thought him? He was their ideal of all that was +generous and manly, and yet--</p> +<p>"What have I ever done," he asked himself, "to make them think +so? If I were to be taken out of the world to-morrow, I would be +leaving it exactly as I found it. Who could point to my coffin and +say, 'Laws are better, politics are purer, or times are not so hard +for the masses now, because this one man willed to lift up his +fellows as far as the might of one strong life can reach?' But they +will say that of Malcolm, and Keith, if he lives--ah, if he +lives!"</p> +<p>An hour later the door opened, and Malcolm came in, softly. +"Keith is asking for you, papa," he said, with a timid glance into +his father's haggard face. Then he came nearer, and slipped his +hand into the man's strong fingers, and together they went up the +stairs to answer the summons.</p> +<p>"Did you want me, Keith?"</p> +<p>The head did not turn on the pillow. The languid eyes opened +only half-way, but there was recognition in them now, and one +little hand was raised to lay itself lovingly against his father's +cheek.</p> +<p>"What is it, son?"</p> +<p>The weak little voice tried to answer, but the words came only +in gasps. "Brother knows--about Jonesy--keep him from being a +tramp! Please let me, papa--do that much good--in my life 'else +wherefore--born?'"</p> +<p>"What is it, Keith?" asked his father, bending over him. "Papa +doesn't exactly understand. But you can have anything you want, my +boy. Anything! I'll do whatever you ask."</p> +<p>"Malcolm knows," was the answer. Then the voice seemed somewhat +stronger for an instant, and a faint smile touched Keith's lips. +"Give my half of the bear to Ginger. Now--may I +have--my--white--flower?"</p> +<p>Throwing back his coat, his father unpinned the little badge +from his vest, where he had fastened it for safe-keeping a short +time before in the library. A pleased expression flitted over the +child's face, as he saw where it had been resting, and when it was +fastened in the front of his little embroidered nightshirt, his +hand closed over the pin as if it were something very precious, and +he were afraid of losing it again.</p> +<p>"Wearing the white flower," they heard him whisper, and then the +little knight slept.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It was hours afterward when he roused again,--hours when the +faintest noise had not been allowed in the house; when the servants +had been sent to the cottage, and Unc' Henry stationed at the front +gate; that no one might drive up the avenue.</p> +<p>Virginia, in a hammock on the veranda, scarcely dared draw a +deep breath till she heard the doctor coming down the stairs, just +before dark. Then she knew by his face that prayers and skill and +tender nursing had not been in vain, and that Keith would live.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>So much can happen in a week. In the seven days that followed +Keith gradually grew strong enough to be propped up in bed a little +while at a time; Captain Dudley and his wife came home from Cuba, +and Mr. Maclntyre began to carry out the promise he had made to +Keith that day when they feared most he could not live.</p> +<p>The whole Valley rejoiced in the first and second happenings, +and were too much occupied in them to notice the third. Carriages +rolled in and out of the great entrance gate all day long, for Mrs. +Dudley had always been a favourite with the old neighbours, and +they gave a warm welcome to her and her gallant husband. Virginia +followed her father and mother about like a loving shadow, and +Keith was so interested in the wonderful stories they told of their +Cuban experiences that he never noticed how much his father and +Malcolm were away from home. Sometimes they would be gone all day +together, consulting with the old professor, overseeing carpenters, +or making hasty trips to the city. Jonesy's home, that had been so +long only a beautiful air-castle, was rapidly taking shape in wood +and stone, and the painters would soon be at work on it.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre had never been more surprised than he was when +Malcolm unfolded their plan to him. It did not seem possible that +two children could have thought of it all, and arranged every +detail without the help of some older head.</p> +<p>"It just grew," said Malcolm, in explanation. "First Keith said +how lovely it would have been if we had made enough money at the +Benefit to have bought a home for Jonesy in the country, where he +could have a fair chance to grow up a good man. Just a comfortable +little cottage with a garden, where he could be out-of-doors all +the time, instead of in the dirty city streets; then nobody could +call him a 'child of the slums' any more. Then we said it would be +better if there were some fields back of the garden, so that he +could learn to be a farmer when he was older, and have some way to +make a living. We talked about it every night when we went to bed, +and kept putting a little more and a little more to it, until it +was as real to us as if we had truly seen such a place. There were +vines on the porches, and a big Newfoundland dog on the front +steps, and a cow and calf in the pasture, and a gentle old horse +that could plough and that Jonesy could ride to water.</p> +<p>"We told Ginger, and she thought of a lot more things; some +little speckled pigs in a pen and kittens in the hay-mow, and ducks +on the pond, and an orchard, and roses in the yard. She said we +ought to call the place 'Fairchance,' because that's what it would +mean for Jonesy and Barney (you know we would send for Barney first +thing we did, of course), and it was Ginger who first thought of +getting some nice man and his wife to take care of the boys. She +said there are plenty of people who would be glad to do it, just +for the sake of having such a good home. Ginger said if we could do +all that, and keep Jonesy and his brother from growing up to be +tramps like the man we bought the bear from, it would be serving +our country just as much as if we went to war and fought for it. +Ginger is a crank about being a patriot. You ought to hear her talk +about it. And Aunt Allison said that 'an ounce of prevention is +worth a pound of cure,' and that to build such a place as our +'Fairchance' would be a deed worthy of any true knight."</p> +<p>"How are you expecting to bring this wonderful thing to pass?" +asked his father, as Malcolm stopped to take breath. "Do you expect +to wave a wand and see it spring up out of the earth?"</p> +<p>"Of course not, papa!" said Malcolm, a little provoked by his +father's teasing smile. "We were going to ask you to let us take +the money that grandfather left us in his will. We won't need it +when we are grown, for we can earn plenty ourselves then, and it +seems too bad to have it laid away doing nobody any good, when we +need it so much now to right this wrong of Jonesy's."</p> +<p>"But it is not laid away," answered Mr. MacIntyre. "It is +invested in such a way that it is earning you more money every +year; and more than that, it was left in trust for you, so that it +cannot be touched until you are twenty-one."</p> +<p>"Oh, papa!" cried Malcolm, bitterly disappointed. He had hard +work to keep back the tears for a moment; then a happy thought made +his face brighten. "You could lend us the money, and we would pay +you back when we are of age. You know you promised Keith you would +do anything he wanted, and that is what he was trying to ask +for?"</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre put his arm around the earnest little fellow, and +drew him to his knee, smiling down into the upturned face that +waited eagerly for his answer.</p> +<p>"I only asked that to hear what you would say, my son," was the +answer. "You need have no worry about the money. I'll keep my +promise to Keith, and Jonesy shall have his home. I'm not a knight, +but I'm proud to be the father of two such valiant champions. +Please God, you'll not be alone in your battles after this, to +right the world's wrongs. I'll be your faithful squire, or, as we'd +say in these days, a sort of silent partner in the enterprise."</p> +<p>Several days after this a deed was recorded in the county +court-house, conveying a large piece of property from old Colonel +Lloyd to Malcolm and Keith Maclntyre. It was the place adjoining +"The Locusts," on which stood a fine old homestead that had been +vacant for several years. The day after its purchase a force of +carpenters and painters were set to work, and two coloured men +began clearing out the tangle of bushes in the long-neglected +garden.</p> +<p>Jonesy know nothing of what was going on, and wondered at the +long conversations which took place between the old professor and +Mr. Maclntyre, always in German. It was the professor who found +some one to take care of the home, as Virginia had suggested. He +recommended a countryman of his, Carl Sudsberger, who had long been +a teacher like himself. He was a gentle old soul who loved children +and understood them, and a more motherly creature than his wife +could not well be imagined. Everything throve under her thrifty +management, and she had no patience with laziness or waste. Any boy +in whose bringing up she had a hand would be able to make his way +in the world when the time came for it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Dudley and Miss Allison helped choose the furnishings, but +Virginia felt that the pleasure of it was all hers, for she was +taken to the city every time they went, and allowed a voice in +everything. Several trips were necessary before the house was +complete, but by the last week in May it was ready from attic to +cellar.</p> +<p>It was the "Fairchance" that the boys had planned so long, with +its rose-bordered paths, the orchard and garden and outlying +fields. Nothing had been forgotten, from the big Newfoundland dog +on the doorstep, to the ducks on the pond, and the little speckled +pigs in the pen. The day that Keith was able to walk down-stairs +for the first time, Mr. Maclntyre went to Chicago, taking Jonesy +with him, to find Barney and bring him back. He was gone several +days, and when he returned there were three boys with him instead +of two: Jonesy, Barney, and a little fellow about five years old, +still in dresses.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0180-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>Malcolm met them at the train, and eyed the small newcomer with +curiosity. "It is a little chap that Barney had taken under his +wing," explained Mr. Maclntyre. "Its mother was dead, and I found +it was entirely dependent on Barney for support. They slept +together in the same cellar, and shared whatever he happened to +earn, just as Jonesy did. I hadn't the heart to leave him behind, +although I didn't relish the idea of travelling with such a +kindergarten. Would you believe it, Dodds (that's the little +fellow's name) <i>never saw a tree in his life</i> until yesterday? +He had never been out of the slums where he was born, not even to +the avenues of the city where he could have seen them. It was too +far for him to walk alone, and street-cars were out of the question +for him,--as much out of reach of his empty pockets as the +moon."</p> +<p>"Never saw a tree!" echoed Malcolm, with a thrill of horror in +his voice that a life could be so bare in its knowledge of beauty. +"Oh, papa, how much 'Fairchance' will mean to him, then! Oh, I'm so +glad, and Keith--why, Keith will want to stand on his head!"</p> +<p>They drove directly to the new place. It was late in the +afternoon, and the sunshine threw long, waving shadows across the +yard. Mrs. Sudsberger sat on the front porch knitting. A warm +breeze blowing in from the garden stirred the white window curtains +behind her with soft flutterings. The coloured woman in the kitchen +was singing as she moved around preparing supper, and her voice +floated cheerily around the corner of the house:</p> +<blockquote>"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' fer to carry me +home,<br> +Swing low, sweet char-i-<i>ot</i>, comin' fer to carry me +home!"</blockquote> +<p>A Jersey cow lowed at the pasture bars, and from away over in +the woodland came the cooing of a dove. Three little waifs had +found a home.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre looked from the commonplace countenances of the +boys climbing out of the carriage to Malcolm's noble face. "It is a +doubtful experiment," he said to himself. "They may never amount to +anything, but at least they shall have a chance to see what clean, +honest, country living can do for them." And then there swept +across his heart, with a warm, generous rush, the impulse to do as +much for every other unfortunate child he could reach, whose only +heritage is the poverty and crime of city slums. He had seen so +much in that one short visit. The misery of it haunted him, and it +was with a happiness as boyish and keen as Malcolm's that he led +these children he had rescued into the home that was to be theirs +henceforth.</p> +<p>Keith did not see "Fairchance" until Memorial Day. Then they +took him over in the carriage in the afternoon, and showed him +every nook and corner of the place. There were six boys there now, +for room had been made for two little fellows from Louisville, whom +Mr. Maclntyre had found at the Newsboys' Home. "I've no doubt but +that there'll always be more coming," he said to Mr. Sudsberger, +with a smile, as he led them in. "When you once let a little water +trickle through the dyke, the whole sea is apt to come pouring +in."</p> +<p>"Happy the heart that is swept with such high tides," answered +the old German. "It is left the richer by such floods."</p> +<p>Several families in the Valley were invited to come late in the +afternoon to a flag-raising. The great silk flag was Virginia's +gift, and Captain Dudley made the presentation speech. He wore his +uniform in honour of the occasion. This was a part of what he +said:</p> +<p>"This Memorial Day, throughout this wide-spread land of ours, +over every mound that marks a soldier's dust, some hand is +stretched to drop a flower in tender tribute. Over her heroic dead +a grateful country wreathes the red of her roses, the white of her +lilies, and the blue of her forget-me-nots, repeating even in the +sweet syllables of the flowers the symbol of her patriotism,--the +red, white, and blue of her war-stained banner.</p> +<p>"My friends, I have followed the old flag into more than one +battle. I have seen men charge after it through blinding smoke and +hail of bullets, and I have seen them die for it. No one feels more +deeply than I what a glorious thing it is to die for one's country, +but I want to say to these little lads looking up at this great +flag fluttering over us, that it is not half so noble, half so +brave, as to live for it, to give yourselves in untiring, every-day +living to your country's good. To 'let <i>all</i> the ends thou +aim'st at be thy country's, thy God's, and truth's.' I would rather +have that said of me, that I did that, than to be the greatest +general of my day. I would rather be the founder of homes like this +one than to manoeuvre successfully the greatest battles.</p> +<p>"May the 'Two Little Knights of Kentucky' go on, out through the +land, carrying their motto with them, until the last wrong is +righted, and wherever the old flag floats a 'fair chance' may be +found for every one that lives beneath it. And may these Stars and +Stripes, as they rise and fall on the winds of this peaceful +valley, whisper continuously that same motto, until its lessons of +truth and purity and unselfish service have been blazoned on the +hearts of every boy who calls this home. May it help to make him a +true knight in his country's cause."</p> +<p>There was music after that, and then old Colonel Lloyd made a +speech, and Virginia and the Little Colonel gathered roses out of +the old garden, so that every one could wear a bunch. A little +later they had supper on the lawn, picnic fashion, and then drove +home in the cool of the evening, when all the meadows were full of +soft flashings from the fairy torches of a million fireflies.</p> +<p>With Keith safely covered up in a hammock, they lingered on the +porch long after the stars came out, and the dew lay heavy on the +roses. They were building other air-castles now, to be rebuilt some +day, as Jonesy's home had been; only these were still larger and +better. The older people were planning, too, and all the good that +grew out of that quiet evening talk can never be known until that +day comes when the King shall read all the names in his Hall of the +Shields.</p> +<p>"It has been such a beautiful day," said Virginia, leaning her +head happily against her mother's shoulder. Then she started up, +suddenly remembering something. "Oh, papa!" she cried, "let's end +it as they do at the fort, with the bugle-call. I'll run and get my +old bugle, and you play 'taps.'"</p> +<p>A few minutes later the silvery notes went floating out on the +warm night air, through all the peaceful valley; over the mounds in +the little churchyard, wreathed now with their fresh memorial +roses; past "The Locusts" where the Little Colonel lay a-dreaming. +Over the woods and fields they floated, until they reached the flag +that kept its fluttering vigil over "Fairchance."</p> +<p>Jonesy sat up in bed to listen. Many a reveille would sound +before his full awakening to all that the two little knights had +made possible for him, but the sweet, dim dream of the future that +stole into his grateful little heart was an earnest of what was in +store for him. Then the bugle-call, falling through the starlight +like a benediction, closed the happy day with its peaceful "Good +night."</p> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12317 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/12317-h/images/0003-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0003-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..36b4a39 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0003-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0004-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0004-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2441d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0004-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0011-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0011-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d8f35c --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0011-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0021-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0021-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9c7351 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0021-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0028-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0028-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a214375 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0028-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0037-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0037-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d2319f --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0037-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0045-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0045-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..590f8b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0045-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0056-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0056-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c33cd7c --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0056-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0061-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0061-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3e5d86 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0061-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0067-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0067-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1cc0c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0067-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0083-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0083-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a97b28 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0083-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0097-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0097-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1cc0c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0097-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0104-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0104-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c95e65 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0104-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0112-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0112-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f83887 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0112-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0121-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0121-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c27e3d --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0121-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0125-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0125-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c2ff2f --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0125-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0139-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0139-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f0aa95 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0139-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0145-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0145-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24ba147 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0145-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0152-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0152-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba01cb3 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0152-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0166-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0166-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc50c09 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0166-1.jpg diff --git a/12317-h/images/0180-1.jpg b/12317-h/images/0180-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9953599 --- /dev/null +++ b/12317-h/images/0180-1.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Two Little Knights of Kentucky + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Release Date: May 10, 2004 [EBook #12317] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS<br> +OF KENTUCKY</h1> +<h4>by</h4> +<h2>ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</h2> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<h4>TO</h4> +<h3>MARGARET AND ALBION,<br> +MARY, HELEN, LURA AND ROSE,<br> +WILLIAM AND GEORGE</h3> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0003-1.jpg" width="30%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<center> +<h2>CHAPTER</h2> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I.">I. TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II.">II. GINGER AND THE BOYS.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III.">III. THE VALENTINE PARTY.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV.">IV. A FIRE AND A PLAN.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V.">V. JONESY'S BENEFIT.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI.">VI. THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO +RESCUES.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII.">VII. A GAME OF INDIAN.</a><br> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII.">VIII. "FAIRCHANCE".</a></center> +<br> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0004-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""><br> +<b>PLANS.</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<h1>TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS<br> +OF KENTUCKY.</h1> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I."></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h3>TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR.</h3> +<br> +<p>It was the coldest Saint Valentine's eve that Kentucky had known +in twenty years. In Lloydsborough Valley a thin sprinkling of snow +whitened the meadows, enough to show the footprints of every hungry +rabbit that loped across them; but there were not many such tracks. +It was so cold that the rabbits, for all their thick fur, were glad +to run home and hide. Nobody cared to be out long in such weather, +and except now and then, when an ice-cutter's wagon creaked up from +some pond to the frozen pike, the wintry stillness was +unbroken.</p> +<p>On the north side of the little country depot a long row of +icicles hung from the eaves. Even the wind seemed to catch its +breath there, and hurry on with a shiver that reached to the +telegraph wires overhead. It shivered down the long stovepipe, too, +inside the waiting-room. The stove had been kept red-hot all that +dull gray afternoon, but the window-panes were still white with +heavy frost-work.</p> +<p>Half an hour before the five o'clock train was due from the +city, two boys came running up the railroad track with their skates +in their hands. They were handsome, sturdy little fellows, so well +buttoned up in their leather leggins and warm reefer overcoats that +they scarcely felt the cold. Their cheeks were red as winter +apples, from skating against the wind, and they were almost +breathless after their long run up-hill to the depot. Racing across +the platform, they bumped against the door at the same instant, +burst it noisily open, and slammed it behind them with a bang that +shook the entire building.</p> +<p>"What kind of a cyclone has struck us now?" growled the ticket +agent, who was in the next room. Then he frowned, as the first +noise was followed by the rasping sound of a bench being dragged +out of a corner, to a place nearer the stove. It scraped the bare +floor every inch of the way, with a jarring motion that made the +windows rattle.</p> +<p>Stretching himself half-way out of his chair, the ticket agent +pushed up the wooden slide of the little window far enough for him +to peep into the waiting-room. Then he hastily shoved it down +again.</p> +<p>"It's the two little chaps who came out from the city last +week," he said to the station-master. "The Maclntyre boys. You'd +think they own the earth from the way they dash in and take +possession of things."</p> +<p>The station-master liked boys. He stroked his gray beard and +chuckled. "Well, Meyers," he said, slowly, "when you come to think +of it, their family always has owned a pretty fair slice of the +earth and its good things, and those same little lads have +travelled nearly all over it, although the oldest can't be more +than ten. It would be a wonder if they didn't have that lordly way +of making themselves at home wherever they go."</p> +<p>"Will they be out here all winter?" asked Meyers, who was a +newcomer in Lloydsborough.</p> +<p>"Yes, their father and mother have gone to Florida, and left +them here with their grandmother Maclntyre."</p> +<p>"I imagine the old lady has her hands full," said Meyers, as a +sound of scuffling in the next room reached him.</p> +<p>"Oh, I don't know about that, now," said the station-master. +"They're noisy children, to be sure, and just boiling over with +mischief, but if you can find any better-mannered little gentlemen +anywhere in the State when there's ladies around, I'd like you to +trot 'em out. They came down to the train with their aunt this +morning, Miss Allison Maclntyre, and their politeness to her was +something pretty to see, I can tell you, sir."</p> +<p>There was a moment's pause, in which the boys could be heard +laughing in the next room.</p> +<p>"No," said the station-master again, "I'm thinking it's not the +boys who will be keeping Mrs. Maclntyre's hands full this winter, +so much as that little granddaughter of hers that came here last +fall,--little Virginia Dudley. You can guess what's she like from +her nickname. They call her Ginger. She had always lived at some +army post out West, until her father, Captain Dudley, was ordered +to Cuba. He was wounded down there, and has never been entirely +well since. When he found they were going to keep him there all +winter, he sent for his wife last September, and there was nothing +to do with Virginia but to bring her back to Kentucky to her +grandmother."</p> +<p>"Oh, she's the little girl who went in on the train this morning +with Miss Allison," said the ticket agent. "I suppose the boys have +come down to meet them. They'll have a long time to wait."</p> +<p>While this conversation was going on behind the ticket window, +the two boys stretched themselves out on a long bench beside the +stove. The warm room made them feel drowsy after their violent +out-door exercise. Keith, the younger one, yawned several times, +and finally lay down on the bench with his cap for a pillow. He was +eight years old, but curled up in that fashion, with his long +eyelashes resting on his red cheeks, and one plump little hand +tucked under his chin, he looked much younger.</p> +<p>"Wake me up, Malcolm, when it's time for Aunt Allison's train," +he said to his brother. "Ginger would never stop teasing me if she +should find me asleep."</p> +<p>Malcolm unbuttoned his reefer, and, after much tugging, pulled +out a handsome little gold watch. "Oh, there's a long time to +wait!" he exclaimed. "We need not have left the pond so early, for +the train will not be here for twenty-five minutes. I believe I'll +curl up here myself, till then. I hope they won't forget the +valentines we sent for."</p> +<p>The room was very still for a few minutes. There was no sound at +all except the crackling of the fire and the shivering of the wind +in the long stovepipe. Then some one turned the door-knob so +cautiously and slowly that it unlatched without a sound.</p> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0011-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>It was the cold air rushing into the room as the door was pushed +ajar that aroused the boys. After one surprised glance they sat up, +for the man, who was slipping into the room as stealthily as a +burglar, was the worst-looking tramp they had ever seen. There was +a long, ugly red scar across his face, running from his cheek to +the middle of his forehead, and partly closing one eye. Perhaps it +was the scar that gave him such a queer, evil sort of an +expression; even without it he would have been a repulsive sight. +His clothes were dirty and ragged, and his breath had frozen in +icicles on his stubby red beard.</p> +<p>Behind him came a boy no larger than Keith, but with a hard, +shrewd look in his hungry little face that made one feel he had +lived a long time and learned more than was good for him to know. +It was plain to be seen that he was nearly starved, and suffering +from the intense cold. His bare toes peeped through their ragged +shoes, and he had no coat. A thin cotton shirt and a piece of an +old gray horse-blanket was all that protected his shoulders from +the icy wind of that February afternoon. He, too, crept in +noiselessly, as if expecting to be ordered out at the first sound, +and then turned to coax in some animal that was tied to one end of +the rope which he held.</p> +<p>Malcolm and Keith looked on with interest, and sprang up +excitedly as the animal finally shuffled in far enough for the boy +to close the door behind it. It was a great, shaggy bear, taller +than the man when it sat up on its haunches beside him.</p> +<p>The tramp looked uneasily around the room for an instant, but +seeing no one save the two children, ventured nearer the stove. The +boy followed him, and the bear shuffled along behind them both, +limping painfully. Not a word was said for a moment. The boys were +casting curious glances at the three tramps who had come in as +noiselessly as if they had snowed down, and the man was watching +the boys with shrewd eyes. He did not seem to be looking at them, +but at the end of his survey he could have described them +accurately. He had noticed every detail of their clothing, from +their expensive leather leggins to their fur-lined gloves. He +glanced at Malcolm's watch-chain and the fine skates which Keith +swung back and forth by a strap, and made up his mind, correctly, +too, that the pockets of these boys rarely lacked the jingle of +money which they could spend as they pleased.</p> +<p>When he turned away to hold his hands out toward the stove, he +rubbed them together with satisfaction, for he had discovered more +than that. He knew from their faces that they were trusting little +souls, who would believe any story he might tell them, if he +appealed to their sympathies in the right way. He was considering +how to begin, when Malcolm broke the silence.</p> +<p>"Is that a trained bear?"</p> +<p>The man nodded.</p> +<p>"What can it do?" was the next question.</p> +<p>"Oh, lots of things," answered the man, in a low, whining voice. +"Drill like a soldier, and dance, and ride a stick." He kept his +shifty eyes turning constantly toward the door, as if afraid some +one might overhear him.</p> +<p>"I'd put him through his paces for you young gen'lemen," he +said, "but he got his foot hurt for one thing, and another is, if +we went to showing off, we might be ordered to move on. This is the +first time we've smelled a fire in twenty-four hours, and we ain't +in no hurry to leave it, I can tell you."</p> +<p>"Will he bite?" asked Keith, going up to the huge bear, which +had stretched itself out comfortably on the floor.</p> +<p>"Not generally. He's a good-tempered brute, most times like a +lamb. But he ain't had nothing to eat all day, so it wouldn't be +surprising if he was a bit snappish."</p> +<p>"Nothing to eat!" echoed Keith. "You poor old thing!" Going a +step closer, he put out his hand and stroked the bear, as if it had +been a great dog.</p> +<p>"Oh, Malcolm, just feel how soft his fur is, like mamma's beaver +jacket. And he has the kindest old face. Poor old fellow, is you +hungry? Never mind, Keith'll get you something to eat pretty +soon."</p> +<p>Putting his short, plump arms around the animal's neck, he +hugged it lovingly up to him. A cunning gleam came into the man's +eyes. He saw that he had gained the younger boy's sympathy, and he +wanted Malcolm's also.</p> +<p>"Is your home near here, my little gen'leman?" he asked, in a +friendly tone.</p> +<p>"No, we live in the city," answered Malcolm, "but my +grandmother's place, where we are staying, is not far from here." +He was stroking the bear with one hand as he spoke, and hunting in +his pocket with the other, hoping to find some stray peanuts to +give it.</p> +<p>"Then maybe you know of some place where we could stay to-night. +Even a shed to crawl into would keep us from freezing. It's an +awful cold night not to have a roof over your head, or a crust to +gnaw on, or a spark of fire to keep life in your body."</p> +<p>"Maybe they'd let you stay in the waiting-room," suggested +Malcolm. "It is always good and warm in here. I'll ask the +station-master. He's a friend of mine."</p> +<p>"Oh, no! No, don't!" exclaimed the tramp, hastily, pulling his +old hat farther over his forehead, as if to hide the scar, and +looking uneasily around. "I wouldn't have you do that for anything. +I've had dealings with such folks before, and I know how they'd +treat <i>me</i>. I thought maybe there was a barn or a hay-shed or +something on your grandmother's place, where we could lay up for +repairs a couple of days. The beast needs a rest. Its foot's sore; +and Jonesy there is pretty near to lung fever, judging from the way +he coughs." He nodded toward the boy, who had placed his chair as +close to the stove as possible. The child's face was drawn into a +pucker by the tingling pains in his half-frozen feet, and his +efforts to keep from coughing.</p> +<p>Malcolm looked at him steadily. He had read about boys who were +homeless and hungry and cold, but he had never really understood +how much it meant to be all that. This was the first time in his +ten short years that he had ever come close to real poverty. He had +seen the swarms of beggars that infest such cities as Naples and +Rome, and had tossed them coppers because that seemed a part of the +programme in travelling. He had not really felt sorry for them, for +they did not seem to mind it. They sat on the steps in the warm +Italian sunshine, and waited for tourists to throw them money, as +comfortably as toads sit blinking at flies. But this was different. +A wave of pity swept through Malcolm's generous little heart as he +looked at Jonesy, and the man watching him shrewdly saw it.</p> +<p>"Of course," he whined, "a little gen'leman like you don't know +what it is to go from town to town and have every door shut in your +face. You don't think that this is a hard-hearted, stingy old +world, because it has given you the cream of everything. But if +you'd never had anything all your life but other people's scraps +and leavings, and you hadn't any home or friends or money, and was +sick besides, you'd think things wasn't very evenly divided. +Wouldn't you now? You'd think it wasn't right that some should have +all that heart can wish, and others not enough to keep soul and +body together. If you'd a-happened to be Jonesy, and Jonesy had +a-happened to 'a' been you, I reckon you'd feel it was pretty tough +to see such a big difference between you. It doesn't seem fair now, +does it?"</p> +<p>"No," admitted Malcolm, faintly. He had taken a dislike to the +man. He could not have told why, but his child instinct armed him +with a sudden distrust. Still, he felt the force of the whining +appeal, and the burden of an obligation to help them seemed laid +upon his shoulders.</p> +<p>"Grandmother is afraid for anybody to sleep in the barn, on +account of fire," he said, after a moment's thought, "and I'm sure +she wouldn't let you come into the house without you'd had a bath +and some clean clothes. Grandmother is dreadfully particular," he +added, hastily, not wanting to be impolite even to a tramp. "Seems +to me Keith and I have to spend half our time washing our hands and +putting on clean collars."</p> +<p>"Oh, I know a place," cried Keith. "There's that empty cabin +down by the spring-house. Nobody has lived in it since the new +servants' cottage was built. There isn't any furniture in it, but +there's a fireplace in one room, and it would be warmer than the +barn."</p> +<p>"That's just the trick!" exclaimed Malcolm. "We can carry a pile +of hay over from the barn for you to sleep on. Aunt Allison will be +out on this next train and I'll ask her. I am sure she will let +you, because last night, when it was so cold, she said she felt +sorry for anything that had to be out in it, even the poor old +cedar trees, with the sleet on their branches. She said that it was +King Lear's own weather, and she could understand how Cordelia felt +when she said, <i>'Mine enemy's dog, though he had bit me, should +have stood that night against my fire!'</i> It is just like auntie +to feel that way about it, only she's so good to everybody she +couldn't have any enemies."</p> +<p>Something like a smile moved the tramp's stubby beard. "So she's +that kind, is she? Well, if she could have a soft spot for a dog +that had bit her, and an enemy's dog at that, it stands to reason +that she wouldn't object to some harmless travellers a-sleeping in +an empty cabin a couple of nights. S'pose'n you show us the place, +sonny, and we'll be moving on."</p> +<p>"Oh, it wouldn't be right not to ask her first," exclaimed +Malcolm. "She'll be here in such a little while."</p> +<p>The man looked uneasy. Presently he walked over to the window +and scraped a peep-hole on the frosted pane with his dirty +thumbnail. "Sun's down," he said. "I'd like to get that bear's foot +fixed comfortable before it grows any darker. I'd like to mighty +well. It'll take some time to heat water to dress it. Is that cabin +far from here?"</p> +<p>"Not if we go in at the back of the place," said Malcolm. "It's +just across the meadow, and over a little hill. If we went around +by the big front gate it would be a good deal longer."</p> +<p>The man shifted uneasily from one foot to another, and +complained of being hungry. He was growing desperate. For more +reasons than one he did not want to be at the station when the +train came in. That long red scar across his face had been +described a number of times in the newspapers, and he did not care +to be recognised just then.</p> +<p>The boys could not have told how it came about, but in a few +minutes they were leading the way toward the cabin. The man had +persuaded them that it was not at all necessary to wait for their +Aunt Allison's permission, and that it was needless to trouble +their grandmother. Why should the ladies be bothered about a matter +that the boys were old enough to decide? So well had he argued, and +so tactfully had he flattered them, that when they took their way +across the field, it was with the feeling that they were doing +their highest duty in getting these homeless wayfarers to the cabin +as quickly as possible, on their own responsibility.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0021-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>"ACROSS THE SNOWY FIELDS."</b></p> +<br> +<p>"We can get back in time to meet the train, if we hurry," said +Malcolm, looking at his watch again. "There's still fifteen +minutes."</p> +<p>No one saw the little procession file out of the waiting-room +and across the snowy field, for it was growing dark, and the lamps +were lighted and the curtains drawn in the few houses they passed. +Malcolm went first, proudly leading the friendly old bear. Jonesy +came next beside Keith, and the man shuffled along in the rear, +looking around with suspicious glances whenever a twig snapped, or +a distant dog barked.</p> +<p>As the wind struck against Jonesy's body, he drew the bit of +blanket more closely around him, and coughed hoarsely. His teeth +were chattering and his lips blue. "You look nearly frozen," said +Keith, who, well-clad and well-fed, scarcely felt the cold. "Here! +put this on, or you'll be sick," Unbuttoning his thick little +reefer, he pulled it off and tied its sleeves around Jonesy's +neck.</p> +<p>A strange look passed over the face of the man behind them. +"Blessed if the little kid didn't take it off his own back," he +muttered. "If any man had ever done that for me--just once--well, +maybe, I wouldn't ha' been what I am now!"</p> +<p>For a moment, as they reached the top of the hill, bear, boys, +and man were outlined blackly against the sky like strange +silhouettes. Then they passed over and disappeared in the thick +clump of pine-trees, which hid the little cabin from the eyes of +the surrounding world.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II."></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h3>GINGER AND THE BOYS.</h3> +<br> +<p>In less time than one would think possible, a big fire was +roaring in the cabin fireplace, water was steaming in the rusty +kettle on the crane, and a pile of hay and old carpet lay in one +corner, ready to be made into a bed. Keith had made several trips +to the kitchen, and came back each time with his hands full.</p> +<p>Old Daphne, the cook, never could find it in her heart to refuse +"Marse Sydney's" boys anything. They were too much like what their +father had been at their age to resist their playful coaxing. She +had nursed him when he was a baby, and had been his loyal champion +all through his boyhood. Now her black face wrinkled into smiles +whenever she heard his name spoken. In her eyes, nobody was quite +so near perfection as he, except, perhaps, the fair woman whom he +had married.</p> +<p>"Kain't nobody in ten States hole a can'le to my Marse Sidney +an' his Miss Elise," old Daphne used to say, proudly. "They +sut'n'ly is the handsomest couple evah jined togethah, an' the +free-handedest. In all they travels by sea or by land they nevah +fo'gits ole Daphne. I've got things from every country undah the +shinin' sun what they done brung me."</p> +<p>Now, all the services she had once been proud to render them +were willingly given to their little sons. When Keith came in with +a pitiful tale of a tramp who was starving at their very gates, she +gave him even more than he asked for, and almost more than he could +carry.</p> +<p>The bear and its masters were so hungry, and their two little +hosts so interested in watching them eat, that they forgot all +about going back to meet the train. They did not even hear it +whistle when it came puffing into the Valley.</p> +<p>As Miss Allison stepped from the car to the station platform, +she looked around in vain for the boys who had promised to meet +her. Her arms were so full of bundles, as suburban passengers' +usually are, that she could not hold up her long broadcloth skirt, +or even turn her handsome fur collar higher over her ears. With a +shade of annoyance on her pretty face, she swept across the +platform and into the waiting-room, out of the cold.</p> +<p>Behind her came a little girl about ten years old, as unlike her +as possible, although it was Virginia Dudley's ambition to be +exactly like her Aunt Allison. She wanted to be tall, and slender, +and grown up; Miss Allison was that, and yet she had kept all her +lively girlish ways, and a love of fun that made her charming to +everybody, young and old. Virginia longed for wavy brown hair and +white hands, and especially for a graceful, easy manner. Her hair +was short and black, and her complexion like a gypsy's. She had +hard, brown little fists, sharp gray eyes that seemed to see +everything at once, and a tongue that was always getting her into +trouble. As for the ease of manner, that might come in time, but +her stately old grandmother often sighed in secret over Virginia's +awkwardness.</p> +<p>She stumbled now as she followed the young lady into the +waiting-room. Her big, plume-covered hat tipped over one ear, but +she, too, had so many bundles, that she could not spare a hand to +straighten it.</p> +<br> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0028-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"Well, Virginia, what do you suppose has become of the boys?" +asked her aunt. "They promised to meet us and carry our +packages."</p> +<p>"I heard them in here about half an hour ago, Miss Allison," +said the station-master, who had come in with a lantern. "I s'pose +they got tired of waiting. Better leave your things here, hadn't +you? I'll watch them. It is mighty slippery walking this +evening."</p> +<p>"Oh, thank you, Mr. Mason," she answered, beginning to pile +boxes and packages upon a bench, I'll send Pete down for them +immediately. Now, Virginia, turn up your coat collar and hold your +muff over your nose, or Jack Frost will make an icicle out of you +before you are half-way home.</p> +<p>They had been in the house some time before the boys remembered +their promise to meet them at the station. When they saw how late +it was, they started home on the run.</p> +<p>"I am fairly aching to tell Ginger about that bear," panted +Keith, as they reached the side door. "I am so sorry that we +promised the man not to say anything about them being on the place, +before he sees us again to-morrow. I wonder why he asked us +that."</p> +<p>"I don't know," answered Malcolm. "He seemed to have some very +good reason, and he talked about it so that it didn't seem right +not to promise a little thing like that."</p> +<p>"I wish we hadn't, though," said Keith, again.</p> +<p>"But it's done now," persisted Malcolm. "We're bound not to +tell, and you can't get out of it, for he made us give him our word +'on the honour of a gentleman;' and that settles it, you know."</p> +<p>They were two very dirty boys who clattered up the back stairs, +and raced to their room to dress for dinner. Their clothes were +covered with hayseed and straw, and their hands and faces were +black with soot from the old cabin chimney. They had both helped to +build the fire.</p> +<p>The lamps had just been lighted in the upper hall, and Virginia +came running out from her room when she heard the boys' voices.</p> +<p>"Why didn't you meet us at the train?" she began, but stopped as +she saw their dirty faces. "Where on earth have you chimney-sweeps +been?" she cried.</p> +<p>"Oh, about and about," answered Malcolm, teasingly. "Don't you +wish you knew?"</p> +<p>Virginia shrugged her shoulders, as if she had not the slightest +interest in the matter, and held out two packages.</p> +<p>"Here are the valentines you sent for. You just ought to see the +pile that Aunt Allison bought. We've the best secret about +to-morrow that ever was."</p> +<p>"So have we," began Keith, but Malcolm clapped a sooty hand over +his mouth and pulled him toward the door of their room. "Come on," +he said. "We've barely time to dress for dinner. Don't you know +enough to keep still, you little magpie?" he exclaimed, as the door +banged behind them. "The only way to keep a secret is not to act +like you have one!"</p> +<p>Virginia walked slowly back to her room and paused in the +doorway, wondering what she could do to amuse herself until +dinner-time. It was a queer room for a girl, decorated with flags +and Indian trophies and everything that could remind her of the +military life she loved, at the far-away army post. There were +photographs framed in brass buttons on her dressing-table, and +pictures of uniformed officers all over the walls. A canteen and an +army cap with a bullet-hole through the crown, hung over her desk, +and a battered bugle, that had sounded many a triumphant charge, +swung from the corner of her mirror.</p> +<p>Each souvenir had a history, and had been given her at parting +by some special friend. Every one at the fort had made a pet of +Captain Dudley's daughter,--the harum-scarum little Ginger,--who +would rather dash across the prairies on her pony, like a wild +Comanche Indian, than play with the finest doll ever imported from +Paris.</p> +<p>There was a suit in her wardrobe, short skirt, jacket, leggins, +and moccasins, all made and beaded by the squaws. It was the gift +of the colonel's wife. Mrs. Dudley had hesitated some time before +putting it in one of the trunks that was to go back to +Kentucky.</p> +<p>"You look so much like an Indian now," she said to Virginia. +"Your face is so sunburned that I am afraid your grandmother will +be scandalised. I don't know what she would say if she knew that I +ever allowed you to run so wild. If I had known that you were going +back to civilisation I certainly should not have kept your hair cut +short, and you should have worn sunbonnets all summer."</p> +<p>To Mrs. Dudley's great surprise, her little daughter threw +herself into her arms, sobbing, "Oh, mamma! I don't want to go back +to Kentucky! Take me to Cuba with you! Please do, or else let me +stay here at the post. Everybody will take care of me here! I'll +just <i>die</i> if you leave me in Kentucky!"</p> +<p>"Why, darling," she said, soothingly, as she wiped her tears +away and rocked her back and forth in her arms, "I thought you have +always wanted to see mamma's old home, and the places you have +heard so much about. There are all the old toys in the nursery that +we had when we were children, and the grape-vine swing in the +orchard, and the mill-stream where we fished, and the beech-woods +where we had such delightful picnics. I thought it would be so nice +for you to do all the same things that made me so happy when I was +a child, and go to school in the same old Girls' College and know +all the dear old neighbours that I knew. Wouldn't my little girl +like that?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, some, I s'pose," sobbed Virginia, "but I didn't know +I'd have to be so--so--everlastingly--civilised!" she wailed. "I +don't want to always have to dress just so, and have to walk in a +path and be called Virginia all the time. That sounds so stiff and +proper. I'd rather stay where people don't mind if I am sunburned +and tanned, and won't be scandalised at everything I do. It's so +much nicer to be just plain Ginger!"</p> +<p>It had been five months, now, since Virginia left Fort Dennis. +At first she had locked hen self in her room nearly every day, and, +with her face buried in her Indian suit, cried to go back. She +missed the gay military life of the army post, as a sailor would +miss the sea, or an Alpine shepherd the free air of his snow-capped +mountain heights.</p> +<p>It was not that she did not enjoy being at her grandmother's. +She liked the great gray house whose square corner tower and +over-hanging vines made it look like an old castle. She liked the +comfort and elegance of the big, stately rooms, and she had her +grandmother's own pride in the old family portraits and the +beautiful carved furniture. The negro servants seemed so queer and +funny to her that she found them a great source of amusement, and +her Aunt Allison planned so many pleasant occupations outside of +school-hours that she scarcely had time to get lonesome. But she +had a shut-in feeling, like a wild bird in a cage, and sometimes +the longing for liberty which her mother had allowed her made her +fret against the thousand little proprieties she had to observe. +Sometimes when she went tipping over the polished floors of the +long drawing room, and caught sight of herself in one of the big +mirrors, she felt that she was not herself at all, but somebody in +a story. The Virginia in the looking-glass seemed so very, very +civilised. More than once, after one of these meetings with herself +in the mirror, she dashed up-stairs, locked her door, and dressed +herself in her Indian suit. Then in her noiseless moccasins she +danced the wildest of war-dances, whispering shrilly between her +teeth, "Now I'm Ginger! Now I'm Ginger! And I <i>won't</i> be +dressed up, and I <i>won't</i> learn my lessons, and I <i>won't</i> +be a little lady, and I'll run away and go back to Fort Dennis the +very first chance I get!"</p> +<p>Usually she was ashamed of these outbursts afterwards, for it +always happened that after each one she found her Aunt Allison had +planned something especially pleasant for her entertainment. Miss +Allison felt sorry for the lonely child, who had never been +separated from her father and mother before, so she devoted her +time to her as much as possible, telling her stories and entering +into her plays and pleasures as if they had both been the same +age.</p> +<p>Since the boys had come, Virginia had not had a single homesick +moment. While she was at school in the primary department of the +Girls' College, Malcolm and Keith were reciting their lessons to +the old minister who lived across the road from Mrs. MacIntyre's. +They were all free about the same hour, and even on the coldest +days played out-of-doors from lunch-time until dark.</p> +<p>To-night Virginia had so many experiences to tell them of her +day in town that the boys seemed unusually long in dressing. She +was so impatient for them to hear her news that she could not +settle down to anything, but walked restlessly around the room, +wishing they would hurry.</p> +<p>"Oh, I haven't sorted my valentines!" she exclaimed, presently, +picking up a fancy box which she had tossed on the bed when she +first came in. "I'll take them down to the library."</p> +<p>There was no one in the room when she peeped in. It looked so +bright and cosy with the great wood fire blazing on the hearth and +the rose-coloured light falling from its softly shaded lamps, that +she forgot the coldness of the night outside. Sitting down on a +pile of cushions at one end of the hearth-rug, she began sorting +her purchases, trying to decide to whom each one should be +sent.</p> +<p>"The prettiest valentine of all must go to poor papa," she said +to herself, "'cause he's been so sick away down there in Cuba; and +this one that's got the little girl on it in a blue dress shall be +for my dear, sweet mamma, 'cause it will make her think of me."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0037-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>For a moment, a mist seemed to blur the gay blue dress of the +little valentine girl as Virginia looked at her, thinking of her +far-away mother. She drew her hand hastily across her eyes and went +on:</p> +<p>"This one is for Sergeant Jackson out at Fort Dennis, and the +biggest one, with the doves, for Colonel Philips and his wife. Dear +me! I wish I could send one to every officer and soldier out there. +They were all <i>so</i> good to me!"</p> +<p>The pile of lace-paper cupids and hearts and arrows and roses +slipped from her lap, down to the rug, as she clasped her hands +around her knees and looked into the fire. She wished that she +could be back again at the fort, long enough to live one of those +beautiful old days from reveille to taps. How she loved the +bugle-calls and the wild thrill the band gave her, when it struck +up a burst of martial music, and the troops went dashing by! How +she missed the drills and the dress parades; her rides across the +open prairie on her pony, beside her father; how she missed the +games she used to play with the other children at the fort on the +long summer evenings!</p> +<p>Something more than a mist was gathering in her eyes now. Two +big tears were almost ready to fall when the door opened and Mrs. +MacIntyre came in. In Virginia's eyes she was the most beautiful +grandmother any one ever had. She was not so tall as her daughter +Allison, and in that respect fell short of the little girl's ideal, +but her hair, white as snow, curled around her face in the same +soft, pretty fashion, and by every refined feature she showed her +kinship to the aristocratic old faces which looked down from the +family portraits in the hall.</p> +<p>"I couldn't be as stately and dignified as she is if I practised +a thousand years," thought Virginia, scrambling up from the pile of +cushions to roll a chair nearer the fire. As she did so, her heel +caught in the rug, and she fell back in an awkward little heap.</p> +<p>"The more haste, the less grace, my dear," said her grandmother, +kindly, thanking her for the proffered chair. Virginia blushed, +wondering why she always appeared so awkward in her grandmother's +presence. She envied the boys because they never seemed embarrassed +or ill at ease before her.</p> +<p>While she was picking up her valentines the boys came in. If two +of the cavalier ancestors had stepped down from their portrait +frames just then, they could not have come into the room in a more +charming manner than Malcolm and Keith. Their faces were shining, +their linen spotless, and they came up to kiss their grandmother's +cheek with an old-time courtliness that delighted her.</p> +<p>"I am sure that there are no more perfect gentlemen in all +Kentucky than my two little lads," she said, fondly, with an +approving pat of Keith's hand as she held him a moment.</p> +<p>Virginia, who had seen them half an hour before, tousled and +dirty, and had been arrayed against them in more than one hot +quarrel where they had been anything but chivalrous, let slip a +faintly whistled "<i>cuckoo!</i>"</p> +<p>The boys darted a quick glance in her direction, but she was +bending over the valentines with a very serious face, which never +changed its expression till her Aunt Allison came in and the boys +began their apologies for not meeting her at the train. Their only +excuse was that they had forgotten all about it.</p> +<p>Virginia spelled on her fingers: "I dare you to tell what made +your faces so black!" Keith's only answer was to thrust his tongue +out at her behind his grandmother's back. Then he ran to hold the +door open for the ladies to pass out to dinner, with all the grace +of a young Chesterfield.</p> +<p>When dinner was over and they were back in the library, Miss +Allison opened a box of tiny heart-shaped envelopes, and began +addressing them. As she took up her pen she said, merrily: +"<i>Now</i> you may tell our secret, Virginia."</p> +<p>"I was going to make you guess for about an hour," said +Virginia, "but it is so nice I can't wait that long to tell you. We +are going to have a valentine party to-morrow night. Aunt Allison +planned it all a week ago, and bought the things for it while we +were in town to-day. Everything on the table is to be cut in heart +shape,--the bread and butter and sandwiches and cheese; and the +ice-cream will be moulded in hearts, and the two big frosted cakes +are hearts, one pink and one white, with candy arrows sticking in +them. Then there will be peppermint candy hearts with mottoes +printed on them, and lace-paper napkins with verses on them, so +that the table itself will look like a lovely big valentine. The +games are lovely, too. One is parlour archery, with a red heart in +the middle of the target, and two prizes, one for the boys and one +for the girls."</p> +<p>"Who are invited?" asked Malcolm, as Virginia stopped for +breath.</p> +<p>"Oh, the Carrington boys, and the Edmunds, and Sally Fairfax, +and Julia Ferris,--I can't remember them all. There will be +twenty-four, counting us. There is the list on the table."</p> +<p>Keith reached for it, and began slowly spelling out the names. +"Who is this?" he asked, reading the name that headed the list. +"'The Little Colonel!' I never heard of him,"</p> +<p>"Oh, he's a girl!" laughed Virginia. Little Lloyd +Sherman,--don't you know? She lives up at 'The Locusts,' that +lovely place with the long avenue of trees leading up to the house. +You've surely seen her with her grandfather, old Colonel Lloyd, +riding by on the horse that he calls Maggie Boy."</p> +<p>"Has he only one arm?" asked Malcolm.</p> +<p>"Yes, the other was shot off in the war years ago. Well, when +Lloyd was younger, she had a temper so much like his, and wore such +a dear little Napoleon hat, that everybody took to calling her the +Little Colonel."</p> +<p>"How old is she now?" asked Malcolm.</p> +<p>"About Keith's age, isn't she, Aunt Allison?" asked +Virginia.</p> +<p>"Yes," was the answer. "She is nearly eight, I believe. She has +outgrown most of her naughtiness now."</p> +<p>"I love to hear her talk," said Virginia. "She leaves out all of +her r's in such a soft, sweet way."</p> +<p>"All Southerners do that," said Malcolm, pompously, "and I think +it sounds lots better than the way Yankees talk."</p> +<p>"You boys don't talk like the Little Colonel," retorted +Virginia, who had often been teased by them for not being a +Southerner. "You're all mixed up every which way. Some things you +say like darkeys, and some things like English people, and it +doesn't sound a bit like the Little Colonel."</p> +<p>"Oh, well, that's because we've travelled abroad so much, don't +you know," drawled Malcolm, "and we've been in so many different +countries, and had an English tutor, and all that sort of a thing. +We couldn't help picking up a bit of an accent, don't you know." +His superior tone made Virginia long to slap him.</p> +<p>"Yes, I know, Mr. Brag," she said, in such a low voice that her +grandmother could not hear. "I know perfectly well. If I didn't it +wouldn't be because you haven't told me every chance you got. Who +did you say is your tailor in London, and how many times was it the +Queen invited you out to Windsor? I think it's a ninety-nine dollar +cravat you always buy, isn't it? And you wouldn't be so common as +to wear a pair of gloves that hadn't been made to order specially +for you. Yes, I've heard all about it!"</p> +<p>Miss Allison heard, but said nothing. She knew the boys were a +little inclined to boast, and she thought Virginia's sharp tongue +might have a good effect. But the retort had grown somewhat sharper +than was pleasant, and, fearing a quarrel might follow if she did +not interrupt the whispers beside her, she said:</p> +<p>"Boys, did you ever hear about the time that the Little Colonel +threw mud on her grandfather's coat? There's no end to her pranks. +Get grandmother to tell you."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, please, grandmother," begged Keith, with an arm around +her neck. "Tell about Fritz and the parrot, too," said Virginia. +"Here, Malcolm, there's room on this side for you."</p> +<p>Aunt Allison smiled. The storm had blown over, and they were all +friends again.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0045-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>"'DAPHNE, WHAT'S DEM CHILLUN ALLUZ RACIN' DOWN TO DE +SPRING-HOUSE FO'?'"</b></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III."></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h3>THE VALENTINE PARTY.</h3> +<br> +<p>"Now we can tell Ginger about the bear," was Keith's first +remark, when he awoke early next morning.</p> +<p>"But not until after we have seen the man again," answered +Malcolm. "You know we promised him that."</p> +<p>"Then let's go down before breakfast," exclaimed Keith, +springing out of bed and beginning to dress himself. A little while +later, the old coloured coachman saw them run past the window, +where he was warming himself by the kitchen stove.</p> +<p>"Daphne," he called out to the cook, who was beating biscuit in +the adjoining pantry, "Daphne, what's dem chillun alluz racin' down +to de spring-house fo' in de snow? Peah's lak dee has a heap o' +business down yandah."</p> +<p>Daphne, who had just been coaxed into filling a basket with a +generous supply of cold victuals, pretended not to hear until he +repeated his question. Then she stopped pounding long enough to +say, sharply, "Whuffo' you alluz 'spicion dem boys so +evahlastin'ly, Unc' Henry? Lak enough dee's settin' a rabbit trap. +Boys has done such things befo'. You's done it yo'se'f, hasn't +you?"</p> +<p>Daphne had seen them setting rabbit traps there, but she knew +well enough that was not what they had gone for now, and that the +food they carried was not for the game of Robinson Crusoe, which +they had played in the deserted cabin the summer before. Still, she +did not care to take Unc' Henry into her confidence.</p> +<p>The food, the warmth, and the night's rest had so restored the +bear that it was able to go through all its performances for the +boys' entertainment, although it limped badly.</p> +<p>"Isn't he a dandy?" cried Keith; "I wish we had one. It's nicer +than any pets we ever had, except the ponies. Something always +happened to the dogs, and the monkey was such a nuisance, and the +white rabbits were stolen, and the guinea pigs died."</p> +<p>"Haven't we had a lot of things, when you come to think of it?" +exclaimed Malcolm. "Squirrels, and white mice, and the coon that +Uncle Harry brought us, and the parrot from Mexico."</p> +<p>"Yes, and the gold-fish, and the little baby alligator that +froze to death in its tank," added Keith. "But a bear like this +would be nicer than any of them. As soon as papa comes home I am +going to ask him to buy us one."</p> +<p>"Jonesy's nearly done for," said the tramp, pointing to the boy +who lay curled up in the hay, coughing at nearly every breath. "We +ought to stay here another day, if you young gen'lemen don't +object."</p> +<p>"Oh, goody!" cried Keith. "Then we can bring Ginger down to see +the bear perform."</p> +<p>"Yes," answered the man, "we'll give a free show to all your +friends, if you will only kindly wait till to-morrow. Give us one +more day to rest up and get in a little better trim. The poor +beast's foot is still too lame for him to do his best, and you're +too kind-hearted, I am sure, to want anything to suffer in order to +give you pleasure."</p> +<p>"Of course," answered both the boys, agreeing so quickly to all +the man's smooth speeches that, before they left the cabin, they +had renewed their promise to keep silent one more day. The man was +a shrewd one, and knew well how to make these unsuspecting little +souls serve his purpose, like puppets tied to a string.</p> +<p>Miss Allison was so busy with preparations for the party that +she had no time all that day to notice what the boys were doing. +When they came back from reciting their lessons to the minister, +she sent them on several errands, but the rest of the time they +divided between the cabin and the post-office.</p> +<p>Every mail brought a few valentines to each of them, but it was +not until the five o'clock train came that they found the +long-looked-for letters from their father and mother.</p> +<p>"I knew they'd each send us a valentine," cried Keith, tearing +both of his open. "I'll bet that papa's is a comic one. Yes, here +it is. Papa is such a tease. Isn't it a stunner? a base-ball +player. And, whoopee! Here's a dollar bill in each of 'em."</p> +<p>"So there is in mine," said Malcolm. "Mamma says we are to buy +anything we want, and call it a valentine. They couldn't find +anything down on the coast that they thought we would like."</p> +<p>"I don't know what to get with mine," said Keith, folding his +two bills together. "Seems to me I have everything I want except a +camera, and I couldn't buy the kind I want for two dollars."</p> +<p>They were half-way home when a happy thought came to Malcolm. +"Keith," he cried, excitedly, "if you would put your money with +mine, that would make four dollars, and maybe it would be enough to +buy that bear!"</p> +<p>"Let's do it!" exclaimed Keith, turning a handspring in the snow +to show his delight. "Come on, we'll ask the man now."</p> +<p>But the man shook his head, when they dashed into the cabin and +told their errand. "No, sonny, that ain't a tenth of what it's +worth to me," he said. "I've raised that bear from the time it was +a teeny cub. I've taught it, and fed it, and looked to it for +company when I hadn't nobody in the world to care for me. Couldn't +sell that bear for no such sum as that. Couldn't you raise any more +money than that?"</p> +<p>It was Malcolm's turn to shake his head. He turned away, too +disappointed to trust himself to answer any other way. The tears +sprang to Keith's eyes. He had set his heart on having that +bear.</p> +<p>"Never mind, brother," said Malcolm, moving toward the door. +"Papa will get us one when he comes home and finds how much we want +one."</p> +<p>"Oh, don't be in such a hurry, young gen'lemen," whined the man, +when he saw that they were really going. "I didn't say that I +wouldn't sell it to you for that much. You've been so kind to me +that I ought to be willing to make any sacrifice for you. I happen +to need four dollars very particular just now, and I've a mind to +sell him to you on your own terms." He paused a moment, looking +thoughtfully at a crack in the floor, as he stood by the fire with +his hands in his pockets. "Yes," he said, at last, "you can have +him for four dollars, if you'll keep mum about us being here for +one more day. You can leave the bear here till we go."</p> +<p>"No! No!" cried Keith, throwing his arms around the animal's +neck. "He is ours now, and we must take him with us. We can hide +him away in the barn. It is so dark out-doors now that nobody will +see us. It wouldn't seem like he is really ours if we couldn't take +him with us."</p> +<p>After some grumbling the man consented, and pocketed the four +dollars, first asking very particularly the exact spot in the barn +where they expected to hide their huge pet.</p> +<p>Unc' Henry, coming up from the carriage-house through the +twilight, thought he saw some one stealing along by the clump of +cedars by the spring-house. "Who's prowlin' roun' dis yere +premises?" he called. There was no answer, and, after peering +intently through the dusk for a moment, the old darkey concluded +that he must have been mistaken, and passed on. As soon as he was +gone, the boys came out from behind the cedars, and crept up the +snowy hillside. They were leading the bear between them.</p> +<p>"We'll put him away back in the hay-mow where he'll be warm and +comfortable to-night," whispered Malcolm. "Then in the morning we +can tell everybody."</p> +<p>While they were busily scooping out a big hollow in the hay, +they were startled by a rustling behind them. They looked into each +other's frightened faces, and then glanced around the dark barn in +alarm. An old cap pushed up through the hay. Then a weak little +cough betrayed Jonesy. He had followed them.</p> +<p>"Sh!" he said, in a warning whisper. "I'm afraid the boss will +find out that I'm here. He started to the store for some tobacco as +soon as you left. He's been wild fer some, but didn't have no +money. <i>Don't you leave that bear out here to-night, if you ever +expect to see it again!</i> That wasn't true what he told you. He +never saw the bear till two months ago, and he sold it to you cheap +because he's a-goin' to steal it back again to-night, and make off +up the road with it. He went off a-grinnin' over the slick way he'd +fooled you, and I jes' had to come and tell, 'cause you've been so +good to me. I'll never forget the little kid's givin' me the coat +off his own back, if I live to be a hundred. Now don't blab on me, +or the boss would nearly kill me."</p> +<p>"Is that man your father?" began Keith, but Jonesy, alarmed by +some sudden noise, sprang to the door, and disappeared in the +twilight.</p> +<p>The boys looked at each other a moment, with surprise and +indignation in their faces. There was a hurried consultation in the +hay-mow. A few moments later the boys were smuggling their new pet +into the house, and up the back stairs. They scarcely dared breathe +until it was safe in their own room.</p> +<p>All the time that they were dressing for the party, they were +trying to decide where to put it for the night, so that neither the +tramp nor the family could discover it. What Jonesy had told them +about the man's dishonest intention did not relieve them from their +promise. They were amazed that any one could be so mean, and longed +to tell their Aunt Allison all about it; still, one of the +conditions on which they had bought the bear was that they were to +"keep mum," and they stuck strictly to that promise.</p> +<p>By the time they were dressed, they had decided to put it in the +blue room, a guest-chamber in the north wing, seldom used in +winter, because it was so hard to heat. "Nobody will ever think of +coming in here," said Malcolm, "and it will be plenty warm for a +bear if we turn on the furnace a little." As he spoke, he was tying +the bear's rope around a leg of the big, high-posted bed.</p> +<p>"Won't Ginger be surprised?" answered Keith. "We'll tell her +that we have a valentine six feet long, and keep her guessing."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0056-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was no time for teasing, however, as the first guest +arrived while they were still in the blue room.</p> +<p>"I hate to go off and leave him in the dark," said Keith, with a +final loving pat. "I guess he'll not mind, though. Maybe he'll +think he is in the woods if I put this good-smelling pine pillow on +the rug beside him."</p> +<p>"Oh, boys," called Virginia from the hall down-stairs. "See what +an enormous valentine pie Aunt Allison has made!"</p> +<p>Looking over the banisters, the boys saw that a table had been +drawn into the middle of the wide reception-hall, and on it sat the +largest pie that they had ever seen. It was in a bright new tin +pan, and its daintily browned crust would have made them hungry +even if their appetites had not been sharpened by the cold and +exercise of the afternoon.</p> +<p>"What a queer place to serve pie," said Malcolm, in a +disapproving undertone to his brother. "Why don't they have it in +the dining-room? It looks mighty good, but somehow it doesn't seem +proper to have it stuck out here in the hall. Mamma would never do +such a thing."</p> +<p>"Aw, it's made of paper! She fooled us, sure, Malcolm," called +back Keith, who had run on ahead to look. "It is only painted to +look like a pie. But isn't it a splendid imitation?"</p> +<p>Virginia, pleased to have caught them so cleverly, showed them +the ends of twenty-four pieces of narrow ribbon, peeping from under +the delicately brown top crust. "The white ones are for the girls, +and the red ones for the boys," she explained. "There is a +valentine on the end of each one, and those on the red ribbons +match the ones on the white. We'll all pull at once, and the ones +who have valentines alike will go out to dinner together."</p> +<p>The guests came promptly. They had been invited for half-past +six, and dinner was to be served soon after that time. The last to +arrive was the Little Colonel. She came in charge of an old +coloured woman, Mom Beck, who had been her mother's nurse as well +as her own. The child was so hidden in her wraps when Mom Beck led +her up-stairs, that no one could tell how she looked. The boys had +been curious to see her, ever since they had heard so many tales of +her mischievous pranks. A few minutes later, when she appeared in +the parlours, there was a buzz of admiration. Maybe it was not so +much for the soft light hair, the star-like beauty of her big dark +eyes, or the delicate colour in her cheeks that made them as pink +as a wild rose, as it was for the valentine costume she wore. It +was of dainty white tulle, sprinkled with hundreds of tiny red +velvet hearts, and there was a coronet of glittering rhinestones on +her long fair hair.</p> +<p>"The Queen of Hearts," announced Aunt Allison, leading her +forward. "You know 'she made some tarts, upon a summer day,' and +now she shall open the valentine pie and see if it is as good as +her Majesty's."</p> +<p>The big music-box in the hall began playing one of its liveliest +waltzes, the children gathered around the great pie, and +twenty-four little hands reached out to grasp the floating ends of +ribbon.</p> +<p>"Pull!" cried the little Queen of Hearts. The paper crust flew +off, and twenty-four yards of ribbon, each with a valentine +attached, fluttered brightly through the air for an instant.</p> +<p>"Now match your verses," cried her Majesty again, opening her +own to read what was in it. There was much laughing and peeping +over shoulders, and tangling of white and scarlet ribbons, while +the gay music-box played on.</p> +<p>In the midst of it Virginia beckoned to the Little Colonel. +"Come up-stairs with me for a minute, Lloyd," she whispered, "and +help me look for something. Aunt Allison has forgotten where she +put the box of arrows that we are to use in the archery contest +after dinner. There is the prettiest prize for the one who hits the +red heart in the centre of the target."</p> +<p>"Oh, do you suppose you can hit it?" asked Lloyd, as she and +Virginia slipped their arms around each other, and went skipping up +the stairs.</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed!" answered Virginia. "I used to practise so much +with my Indian bow and arrow out at the fort, that I could hit +centre nearly every time. I am not going to shoot to-night. Aunt +Allison thinks it wouldn't be fair."</p> +<p>When they reached the top of the stairs, Virginia went into her +room to light a wax taper in one of the tall silver candlesticks on +her dressing-table. "I think that Aunt Allison must have left those +arrows in the blue room," she said, leading the way down the cross +hall which went to the north wing. "She made the pie in there this +morning, and all the other things were there. Nobody comes over in +this part of the house much in winter, unless there happens to be a +great deal of company."</p> +<br> +<p class="rgt"><img src="images/0061-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>The taper that Virginia carried was the only light in that part +of the house. When she reached the door of the blue room she turned +to Lloyd. "Hold the candle for me, please," she said, "while I look +in the closet."</p> +<p>It was a pretty picture that the little "Queen of Hearts" made, +as she stood in the doorway, with the tall silver candlestick held +high in both hands. Her hair shone like gold in the candlelight, +and her glittering crown flashed as if a circle of fairy fireflies +had been caught in its soft meshes. Her dark eyes peered anxiously +around the big shadowy room, lighted only by her flickering +taper.</p> +<p>Down-stairs, Malcolm and Keith were almost quarrelling about +her. It began by Malcolm taking his brother aside and offering to +trade valentines with him.</p> +<p>"Why?" asked Keith, suspiciously.</p> +<p>"'Cause yours matches the Little Colonel's, and I want to take +her out to dinner," admitted Malcolm. "She is the prettiest girl +here."</p> +<p>"But I don't want to trade," answered Keith. "I want to take her +myself."</p> +<p>"I'll give you the pick of any six stamps in my album if you +will."</p> +<p>"Don't want your old stamps," declared Keith, stoutly. "I'd +rather have the Little Colonel for my partner."</p> +<p>"I think you might trade," coaxed Malcolm. "It's mean not to +when I'm the oldest. I'll give you that Chinese puzzle you've been +wanting so long if you will." Keith shook his head.</p> +<p>Just then a terrific scream sounded in the upper hall, followed +by another that made every one down-stairs turn pale with fright. +Two voices were uttering piercing shrieks, one after another, so +loud and frantic that even the servants in the back part of the +house came running. Miss Allison, thinking of the candle she had +told Virginia to light, and remembering the thin, white dress the +child wore, instantly thought she must have set herself afire. She +ran into the hall, so frightened that she was trembling from head +to foot. Before she could reach the staircase, Virginia came flying +down the steps, white as a little ghost, and her eyes wide with +terror. Throwing herself into her aunt's outstretched arms, she +began to sob out her story between great, trembling gasps.</p> +<p>"Oh, there's an awful, awful wild beast in the blue room, nearly +as tall as the ceiling! It rose up and came after us out of the +corner, and if I hadn't slammed the door just in time, it would +have eaten us up. I'm sure it would! Oo-oo-oo! It was so awful!" +she wailed.</p> +<p>"Why, Virginia," exclaimed her aunt, distressed to see her so +terrified, "it must have been only a big shadow you saw. It isn't +possible for a wild beast to be in the blue room you know. Where is +Lloyd?"</p> +<p>"She's up heah, Miss Allison," called Mom Beck's voice. "She's +so skeered, I'se pow'ful 'fraid she gwine to faint. They sut'nly is +something in that room, honey, deed they is. I kin heah it movin' +around now, switchin' he's tail an' growlin'!"</p> +<p>Malcolm and Keith, with guilty faces, went dashing up the +stairs, and the whole party followed them at a respectful distance. +When they opened the door the room looked very big and shadowy, and +the bear, roused from its nap, was standing on its hind legs beside +the high-posted bed. The huge figure was certainly enough to +frighten any one coming upon it unexpectedly in the dark, and when +Miss Allison saw it she drew Virginia's trembling hand into hers +with a sympathetic clasp. Before she could ask any questions, the +boys began an excited explanation. It was some time before they +could make their story understood.</p> +<p>Their grandmother was horrified, and insisted on sending the +animal away at once. "The idea of bringing such a dangerous +creature into any one's house," she exclaimed, "and, above all, of +shutting him up in a bedroom! We might have all been bitten, or +hugged to death!"</p> +<p>"But, grandmother," begged Malcolm, "he isn't dangerous. Let me +bring him into the light, and show you what a kind old pet he +is."</p> +<p>There was a scattering to the other end of the hall as Malcolm +came out, leading the bear, but the children gradually drew nearer +as the great animal began its performances. Keith whistled and kept +time with his feet in a funny little shuffling jig he had learned +from Jonesy, and the bear obligingly went through all his tricks. +He was used to being pulled out to perform whenever a crowd could +be collected.</p> +<p>Virginia forgot her fear of him when he stood up and presented +arms like a real soldier, and even went up and patted him when the +show was over, joining with the boys in begging that he might be +allowed to stay in the house until morning. Mrs. Maclntyre was +determined to send a man down to the cabin at once to investigate. +She had a horror of tramps. But the boys begged her to wait until +daylight for Jonesy's sake.</p> +<p>"The man will beat him if he finds out that Jonesy warned us," +pleaded Keith. He was so earnest that the tears stood in his big, +trustful eyes.</p> +<p>"This is spoiling the party, mother," whispered Miss Allison, +"and dinner is waiting. I'll be responsible for any harm that may +be done if you will let the boys have their way this once."</p> +<p>There seemed no other way to settle it just then, so Bruin was +allowed to go back to his rug in the blue room, and the door was +securely locked.</p> +<p>Keith took Lloyd down to dinner, and his grandmother heard him +apologising all the way down for having frightened her. The little +Queen of Hearts listened smilingly, but her colour did not come +back all evening, until after the archery contest. It was when +Malcolm came up with the prize he had won, a tiny silver arrow, and +pinned it in the knot of red ribbon on her shoulder.</p> +<p>"Will you keep it to remember me by?" he asked, bashfully.</p> +<p>"Of co'se!" she answered, with a smile that showed all her +roguish dimples. "I'll keep it fo'evah and evah to remembah how +neah I came to bein' eaten up by yo' bea'h."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0067-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""><br> +<b>"'WILL YOU KEEP IT TO REMEMBER ME BY?'"</b></p> +<br> +<p>"It seems too bad for such a beautiful party to come to an end," +Sally Fairfax said when the last merry game was played, the last +story told, and it was time to go home. "But there's one comfort," +she added, gathering all her gay valentines together, "there +needn't be any end to the remembering of it. I've had <i>such</i> a +good time, Mrs. MacIntyre."</p> +<p>It was so late when the last carriage rolled down the avenue, +bearing away the last smiling little guest, that the children were +almost too sleepy to undress. It was not long until the last light +was put out in every room, and a deep stillness settled over the +entire house. One by one the lights went out in every home in the +valley, and only the stars were left shining, in the cold wintry +sky. No, there was one lamp that still burned. It was in the little +cottage where old Professor Heinrich sat bowed over his books.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV."></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h3>A FIRE AND A PLAN.</h3> +<br> +<p>Some people said that old Johann Heinrich never slept, for no +matter what hour of the night one passed his lonely little house, a +lamp was always burning. He was a queer old German naturalist, +living by himself in a cottage adjoining the MacIntyre place. He +had been a professor in a large university until he grew too old to +keep his position. Why he should have chosen Lloydsborough Valley +as the place to settle for the remainder of his life, no one could +tell.</p> +<p>He kept kimself away from his neighbours, and spent so much time +roaming around the woods by himself that people called him queer. +They did not know that he had written two big books about the birds +and insects he loved so well, or that he could tell them facts more +wonderful than fairy tales about these little wild creatures of the +woodland.</p> +<p>To-night he had read later than usual, and his fire was nearly +out. He was too poor to keep a servant, so when he found that the +coal-hod was empty he had to go out to the kitchen to fill it +himself. That is why he saw something that happened soon after +midnight, while everybody else in the valley was sound asleep.</p> +<p>Over in the cabin by the spring-house where the boys had left +the tramp and Jonesy, a puff of smoke went curling around the roof. +Then a tongue of flame shot up through the cedars, and another and +another until the sky was red with an angry glare. It lighted up +the eastern window-panes of the servants' cottage, but the inmates, +tired from the unusual serving of the evening before, slept on. It +shone full across the window of Virginia's room, but she was +dreaming of being chased by bears, and only turned uneasily in her +sleep.</p> +<p>The old professor, on his way to the kitchen, noticed that it +seemed strangely light outside. He shuffled to the door and looked +out.</p> +<p>"Ach Himmel!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "Somebody vill shust in +his bed be burnt, if old Johann does not haste make!"</p> +<p>Not waiting to close the door behind him, or even to catch up +something to protect his old bald head from the intense cold of the +winter night, he ran out across the garden. His shuffling feet, in +their flapping old carpet slippers, forgot their rheumatism, and +his shoulders dropped the weight of their seventy years. He ran +like a boy across the meadow, through the gap in the fence, and +down the hill to the cabin by the spring.</p> +<p>All one side of it was in flames. The fire was curling around +the front door and bursting through the windows with fierce +cracklings. Dashing frantically around to the back door, he threw +himself against it, shouting to know if any one was within. A +blinding rush of smoke was his only answer as he backed away from +the overpowering heat, but something fell across the door-sill in a +limp little heap. It was Jonesy.</p> +<p>Dragging the child to a safe distance from the burning building, +he ran back, fearing that some one else might be in danger, but +this time the flames met him at the door, and it was impossible to +go in. His hoarse shouting roused the servants, but by the time +they reached the cabin the roof had fallen in, and all danger of +the fire spreading to other buildings was over.</p> +<p>While the professor was bending over Jonesy, trying to bring him +back to consciousness, Miss Allison came running down the path. She +had an eiderdown quilt wrapped around her over her dressing-gown. +The shouts had awakened her, also, and she had slipped out as +quietly as possible, not wishing to alarm her mother.</p> +<p>"How did it happen?" she demanded, breathlessly. "Is the child +badly burned? Is any one else hurt? Is the tramp in the cabin?"</p> +<p>No one gave any answer to her rapid questions. The old professor +shook his head, but did not look up. He was bending over Jonesy, +trying to restore him to consciousness. He seemed to know the right +things to do for him, and in a little while the child opened his +eyes and looked around wonderingly. In a few minutes he was able to +tell what he knew about the fire.</p> +<p>It was not much, only a horrible recollection of being awakened +by a feeling that he was choking in the thick smoke that filled the +room; of hearing the boss swear at him to be quick and follow him +or he would be burned to death. Then there had been an awful moment +of groping through the blinding, choking smoke, trying to find a +way out. The man sprang to a window and made his escape, but as the +outside air rushed in through the opening he left, it seemed to fan +the smoke instantly into flame.</p> +<p>Jonesy had struck out at the wall of fire with his helpless +little hands, and then, half-crazed by the scorching pain, dropped +to the floor and crawled in the opposite direction, just as the +professor burst open the door.</p> +<p>The sight of the poor little blistered face brought the tears to +Miss Allison's eyes, and she called two of the coloured men, +directing them to carry Jonesy to the house, and then go at once +for a doctor. But the professor interfered, insisting that Jonesy +should be taken to his house. He said that he knew how to prepare +the cooling bandages that were needed, and that he would sit up all +night to apply them. He could not sleep anyhow, he said, after such +great excitement.</p> +<p>"But I feel responsible for him," urged Miss Allison. "Since it +happened on our place, and my little nephews brought him here, it +seems to me that we ought to have the care of him."</p> +<p>The professor waved her aside, lifting Jonesy's head as tenderly +as a nurse could have done, and motioned the coloured men to lift +him up.</p> +<p>"No, no, fraulein," he said. "I have had eggsperience. It is +besser the poor leedle knabe go mit me!"</p> +<p>There was no opposing the old man's masterful way. Miss Allison +stepped aside for them to pass, calling after him her willingness +to do the nursing he had taken upon himself, and insisting that she +would come early in the morning to help.</p> +<p>Unc' Henry was left to guard the ruins, lest some stray spark +should be blown toward the other buildings. "Dis yere ole niggah +wa'n't mistaken aftah all," he muttered. "Dee was somebody prowlin' +'roun' de premises yistiddy evenin'." Then he searched the ground, +all around the cabin, for footprints in the snow. He found some +tracks presently, and followed them over the meadow in the +starlight, across the road, and down the railroad track several +rods. There they suddenly disappeared. The tramp had evidently +walked on the rail some distance. If Unc' Henry had gone quarter of +a mile farther up the track, he would have found those same sliding +imprints on every other crosstie, as if the man had taken long +running leaps in his haste to get away.</p> +<p>Jonesy stoutly denied that the man had set fire to the cabin. +"We nearly froze to death that night," he said, when questioned +about it afterward, "and the boss piled on an awful big lot of wood +just before he went to bed."</p> +<p>"Then what made him take to his heels so fast if he didn't?" +some one asked.</p> +<p>"I don't know," answered Jonesy. "He said that luck was always +against him, and maybe he thought nobody would believe him if he +did say that he didn't do it."</p> +<p>Several days after that Malcolm found the tramp's picture in the +<i>Courier-Journal</i>. He was a noted criminal who had escaped +from a Northern penitentiary some two months before, and had been +arrested by the Louisville police. There was no mistaking him. That +big, ugly scar branded him on cheek and forehead like another +Cain.</p> +<p>"And to think that that terrible man was harboured on my place!" +exclaimed Mrs. MacIntyre when she heard of it. "And you boys were +down there in the cabin with him for hours! Sat beside him and +talked with him! What will your mother say? I feel as if you had +been exposed to the smallpox, and I cannot be too thankful now that +the boy who was with him was not brought here. He isn't a fit +companion for you. Not that the poor little unfortunate is to +blame. He cannot help being a child of the slums, and he must be +put in an orphan asylum or a reform school at once. It is probably +the only thing that can save him from growing up to be a criminal +like the man who brought him here. I shall see what can be done +about it, as soon as possible."</p> +<p>"A child of the slums!" Malcolm and Keith repeated the +expression afterward, with only a vague idea of its meaning. It +seemed to set poor Jonesy apart from themselves as something +unclean,--something that their happy, well-filled lives must not be +allowed to touch.</p> +<p>Maybe if Jonesy had been an attractive child, with a sensitive +mouth, and big, appealing eyes, he might have found his way more +easily into people's hearts. But he was a lean, snub-nosed little +fellow, with a freckled face and neglected hair. No one would ever +find his cheek a tempting one to kiss, and no one would be moved, +by any feeling save pity, to stoop and put affectionate arms around +Jonesy. He was only a common little street gamin, as unlovely as he +was unloved.</p> +<p>"What a blessing that there are such places as orphan asylums +for children of that class," said Mrs. Maclntyre, after one of her +visits to him. "I must make arrangements for him to be put into one +as soon as he is able to be moved."</p> +<p>"I think he will be very loath to leave the old professor," +answered Miss Allison. "He has been so good to the child, amusing +him by the hour with his microscopes and collections of insects, +telling him those delightful old German folk-lore tales, and +putting him to sleep every night to the music of his violin. What a +child-lover he is, and what a delightful old man in every way! I am +glad we have discovered him."</p> +<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Maclntyre; "and when this little tramp is sent +away, I want the children to go there often. I asked him if he +could not teach them this spring, at least make a beginning with +them in natural history, and he appeared much pleased. He is as +poor as a church mouse, and would be very glad of the money."</p> +<p>"That reminds me," said Miss Allison, "he asked me if the boys +could not come down to see Jonesy this afternoon, and bring the +bear. He thought it would give the little fellow so much pleasure, +and might help him to forget his suffering."</p> +<p>Mrs. MacIntyre hesitated. "I do not believe their mother would +like it," she answered. "Sydney is careful enough about their +associates, but Elise is doubly particular. You can imagine how +much badness this child must know when you remember how he has been +reared. He told me that his name is Jones Carter, and that he +cannot remember ever having a father or a mother. I questioned him +very closely this morning. He comes from the worst of the Chicago +slums. He slept in the cellar of one of its poorest tenement +houses, and lived in the gutters. He has a brother only a little +older, who is a bootblack. On days when shines were plentiful they +had something to eat, otherwise they starved or begged."</p> +<p>"Poor little lamb," murmured Miss Allison.</p> +<p>"It was by the brother's advice he came away with that tramp," +continued Mrs. MacIntyre. "He had gotten possession of that trained +bear in some way, and probably took a fancy to Jones because he +could whistle and dance all sorts of jigs. He probably thought it +would be a good thing to have a child with him to work on peoples' +sympathies. They walked all the way from Chicago to Lloydsborough, +Jones told me, excepting three days' journey they made in a wagon. +They have been two months on the road, and showed the bear in the +country places they passed through. They avoided the large +towns."</p> +<p>"Think what a Christmas he must have had!" exclaimed Miss +Allison.</p> +<p>"Christmas! I doubt if he ever heard the word. His speech is +something shocking; nothing but the slang of the streets, and so +ungrammatical that I could scarcely understand him at times. No, I +am very sure that neither Sydney nor Elise would want the boys to +be with him."</p> +<p>"But he is so little, mother, and so sick and pitiful looking," +pleaded Miss Allison. "Surely he cannot know so very much badness +or hurt the boys if they go down to cheer him up for a little +while."</p> +<p>Notwithstanding Mrs. Maclntyre's fears, she consented to the +boys visiting Jonesy that afternoon. She could not resist the +professor's second appeal or the boys' own urging.</p> +<p>They took the bear with them, which Jonesy welcomed like a lost +friend. They spent an interesting hour among the professor's +collections, listening to his explanations in his funny broken +English. Then they explored his cottage, much amused by his queer +housekeeping, cracked nuts on the hearth, and roasted apples on a +string in front of the fire.</p> +<p>Jonesy did not seem to be cheered up by the visit as much as the +professor had expected. Presently the old man left the room and +Keith sat down on the side of the bed.</p> +<p>"What makes you so still, Jonesy?" he asked. "You haven't said a +word for the last half hour."</p> +<p>"I was thinking about Barney," he answered, keeping his face +turned away. "Barney is my brother, you know."</p> +<p>"Yes, so grandmother said," answered Keith. "How big is he?"</p> +<p>"'Bout as big as yourn." There was a choke in Jonesy's voice +now. "Seein' yourn put his arm across your shoulder and pullin' +your head back by one ear and pinchin' you sort in fun like, made +me think the way Barney uster do to me."</p> +<p>Keith did not know what to say, so there was a long, awkward +pause.</p> +<p>"I'd never a-left him," said Jonesy, "but the boss said it 'ud +only be a little while and we'd make so much money showin' the bear +that I'd have a whole pile to take home. I could ride back on the +cars and take a whole trunk full of nice things to +Barney,--clothes, and candy, and a swell watch and chain, and a +bustin' beauty of a bike. Now the bear's sold and the boss has run +away, and I don't know how I can get back to Barney. Him an me's +all each other's got, and I want to see him <i>so</i> bad."</p> +<p>The little fellow's lip quivered, and he put up one bandaged +hand to wipe away the hot tears that would keep coming, in spite of +his efforts not to make a baby of himself. There was something so +pitiful in the gesture that Keith looked across at Malcolm and then +patted the bedclothes with an affectionate little hand.</p> +<p>"Never mind, Jonesy," he said, "papa will be home in the spring +and he'll send you back to Barney." But Jonesy never having known +anything of fathers whose chief pleasure is in spending money to +make little sons happy, was not comforted by that promise as much +as Keith thought he ought to be.</p> +<p>"But I won't be here then," he sobbed. "They're goin' to put me +in a 'sylum, and I can't get out for so long that maybe Barney will +be dead before we ever find each other again."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0083-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>He was crying violently now.</p> +<p>"Who is going to put you in an asylum?" asked Malcolm, lifting +an end of the pillow under which Jonesy's head had burrowed, to +hide the grief that his eight-year-old manhood made him too proud +to show.</p> +<p>"An old lady with white hair what comes here every day. The +professor said he would keep me if he wasn't so old and hard up, +and she said as how a 'sylum was the proper place for a child of +the slums, and he said yes if they wasn't nobody to care for 'em. +But I've got somebody!" he cried. "I've got Barney! Oh, +<i>don't</i> let them shut me up somewhere so I can't never get +back to Barney!"</p> +<p>"They don't shut you up when they send you to an asylum," said +Malcolm. "The one near here is a lovely big house, with acres of +green grass around it, and orchards and vine-yards, and they are +ever so good to the children, and give them plenty to eat and wear, +and send them to school."</p> +<p>"Barney wouldn't be there," sobbed Jonesy, diving under the +pillow again. "I don't want nothing but him."</p> +<p>"Well, we'll see what we can do," said Malcolm, as he heard the +professor coming back. "If we could only keep you here until +spring, I am sure that papa would send you back all right. He's +always helping people that get into trouble."</p> +<p>Jonesy took his little snub nose out of the pillow as the +professor came in, and looked around defiantly as if ready to fight +the first one who dared to hint that he had been crying. The boys +took their leave soon after, leading the bear back to his new +quarters in the carriage house, where they had made him a +comfortable den. Then they walked slowly up to the house, their +arms thrown across each other's shoulders.</p> +<p>"S'pose it was us," said Keith, after walking on a little way in +silence. "S'pose that you and I were left of all the family, and +didn't have any friends in the world, and I was to get separated +from you and couldn't get back?"</p> +<p>"That would be tough luck, for sure," answered Malcolm.</p> +<p>"Don't you s'pose Jonesy feels as badly about it as we would?" +asked Keith.</p> +<p>"Shouldn't be surprised," said Malcolm, beginning to whistle. +Keith joined in, and keeping step to the tune, like two soldiers, +they marched on into the house.</p> +<p>Virginia found them in the library, a little while later, +sitting on the hearth-rug, tailor-fashion. They were still talking +about Jonesy. They could think of nothing else but the loneliness +of the little waif, and his pitiful appeal: "Oh, don't let them +shut me up where I can't never get back to Barney."</p> +<p>"Why don't you write to your father?" asked Virginia, when they +had told her the story of their visit.</p> +<p>"Oh, it is so hard to explain things in a letter," answered +Malcolm, "and being off there, he'd say that grandmother and all +the grown people certainly know best. But if he could see +Jonesy,--how pitiful looking he is, and hear him crying to go back +to his brother, I know he'd feel the way we do about it."</p> +<p>"I called the professor out in the hall, and told him so," said +Keith, "and asked him if he couldn't adopt Jonesy, or something, +until papa comes home. But he said that he is too poor. He has only +a few dollars a month to live on. I didn't mind asking him. He +smiled in that big, kind way he always does. He said Jonesy was +lots of company, and he would like to keep him this summer, if he +could afford it, and let him get well and strong out here in the +country."</p> +<p>"Then he would keep him till Uncle Sydney comes, if somebody +would pay his board?" asked Virginia.</p> +<p>"Yes," said Malcolm, "but that doesn't help matters much, for we +children are the only ones who want him to stay, and our monthly +allowances, all put together, wouldn't be enough."</p> +<p>"We might earn the money ourselves," suggested Virginia, after +awhile, breaking a long silence.</p> +<p>"How?" demanded Malcolm. "Now, Ginger, you know, as well as I +do, there is no way for us to earn anything this time of year. You +can't pick fruit in the dead of winter, can you? or pull weeds, or +rake leaves? What other way is there?"</p> +<p>"We might go to every house in the valley, and exhibit the +bear," said Keith, "taking up a collection each time."</p> +<p>"Now you've made me think of it," cried Virginia, excitedly. +"I've thought of a good way. We'll give Jonesy a benefit, like +great singers have. The bear will be the star performer, and we'll +all act, too, and sell the tickets, and have tableaux. I love to +arrange tableaux. We were always having them out at the fort."</p> +<p>"I bid to show off the bear," cried Malcolm, entering into +Virginia's plan at once. "May be I'll learn something to recite, +too."</p> +<p>"I'll help print the tickets," said Keith, "and go around +selling them, and be in anything you want me to be. How many +tableaux are you going to have, Ginger?"</p> +<p>"I can't tell yet," she answered, but a moment after she cried +out, her eyes shining with pleasure, "Oh, I've thought of a lovely +one. We can have the Little Colonel and the bear for 'Beauty and +the Beast.'"</p> +<p>Malcolm promptly turned a somersault on the rug, to express his +approval, but came up with a grave face, saying, "I'll bet that +grandmother will say we can't have it."</p> +<p>"Let's get Aunt Allison on our side," suggested Virginia. "She's +up in her room now, painting a picture."</p> +<p>A little sigh of disappointment escaped Miss Allison's lips, as +she heard the rush of feet on the stairs. This was the first time +that she had touched her brushes since the children's coming, and +she had hoped that this one afternoon would be free from +interruption, when she heard them planning their afternoon's +occupations at the lunch-table. They had come back before the +little water-colour sketch she was making was quite finished.</p> +<p>There was no disappointment, however, in the bright face she +turned toward them, and Virginia lost no time in beginning her +story. She had been elected to tell it, but before it was done all +three had had a part in the telling, and all three were waiting +with wistful eyes for her answer.</p> +<p>"Well, what is it you want me to do?" she asked, finally.</p> +<p>"Oh, just be on our side!" they exclaimed, "and get grandmother +to say yes. You see she doesn't feel about Jonesy the way we do. +She is willing to pay a great deal of money to have him taken off +and cared for, but she says she doesn't see how grandchildren of +hers can be so interested in a little tramp that comes from nobody +knows where, and who will probably end his days in a +penitentiary."</p> +<p>Aunt Allison answered Malcolm's last remark a little sternly. +"You must understand that it is only for your own good that she is +opposed to Jonesy's staying," she said. "There is nobody in the +valley so generous and kind to the poor as your grandmother." +"Yes'm," said Virginia, meekly, "but you'll ask her, won't you +please, auntie?"</p> +<p>Miss Allison smiled at her persistence. "Wait until I finish +this," she said. "Then I'll go down-stairs and put the matter +before her, and report to you at dinner-time. Now are you +satisfied?"</p> +<p>"Yes," they cried in chorus, "you're on our side. It's all right +now!" With a series of hearty hugs that left her almost breathless, +they hurried away.</p> +<p>When Miss Allison kept her promise she did not go to her mother +with the children's story of Jonesy, to move her to pity. She told +her simply what they wanted, and then said, "Mother, you know I +have begun to teach the children the 'Vision of Sir Launfal.' +Virginia has learned every word of it, and the boys will soon know +all but the preludes. There will never be a better chance than this +for them to learn the lesson:</p> +<blockquote>"'Not what we give, but what we share,<br> +For the gift without the giver is bare.'</blockquote> +<p>"This would be a real sharing of themselves, all their time and +best energies, for they will have to work hard to get up such an +entertainment as this. It isn't for Jonesy's sake I ask it, but for +the children's own good."</p> +<p>The old lady looked thoughtfully into the fire a moment, and +then said, "Maybe you are right, Allison. I do want to keep them +unspotted from a knowledge of the world's evils, but I do not want +to make them selfish. If this little beggar at the gate can teach +them where to find the Holy Grail, through unselfish service to +him, I do not want to stand in the way. Bless their little hearts, +they may play Sir Launfal if they want to, and may they have as +beautiful a vision as his!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V."></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<h3>JONESY'S BENEFIT.</h3> +<br> +<p>The Jonesy Benefit grew like Jack's bean-stalk after Miss +Allison took charge of it. There was less than a week in which to +get ready, as the boys insisted on having it on the twenty-second +of February, in honour of Washington's birthday; but in that short +time the childish show which Ginger had proposed grew into an +entertainment so beautiful and elaborate that the neighbourhood +talked of it for weeks after.</p> +<p>Miss Allison spent one sleepless night, planning her campaign +like a general, and next morning had an army of helpers at work. +Before the day was over she sent a letter to an old school friend +of hers in the city, Miss Eleanor Bond, who had been her most +intimate companion all through her school-days, and who still spent +a part of every summer with her.</p> +<p>"Dearest Nell," the letter said, "come out to-morrow on the +first afternoon train, if you love me. The children are getting up +an entertainment for charity, which shall be duly explained on your +arrival. No time now. I am superintending a force of carpenters in +the college hall, where the entertainment is to take place, have +two seamstresses in the house hurrying up costumes, and am helping +mother scour the country for pretty children to put in the +tableaux.</p> +<p>"The house is like an ant-hill in commotion, there is so much +scurrying around; but I know that is what you thoroughly enjoy. You +shall have a finger in every pie if you will come out and help me +to make this a never-to-be-forgotten occasion.</p> +<p>"I want to make the old days of chivalry live again for Virginia +and Malcolm and Keith. I am going back to King Arthur's Court for +the flower of knighthood at his round table. Come and read for us +between tableaux as only you can do. Be the interpreter of 'Sir +Launfal's Vision' and the 'Idylls of the King,' Give us the benefit +of your talent for sweet charity's sake, if not for the sake of +'auld lang syne' and your devoted ALLISON."</p> +<p>"She'll be here," said Miss Allison, as she sealed the letter, +nodding confidently to Mrs. Sherman, who had come over to help with +Lloyd's costume. "You remember Nell Bond, do you not? She took the +prize every year in elocution, and was always in demand at every +entertainment. She is the most charming reader I ever heard, and as +for story-telling--well, she's better than the 'Arabian Nights.' +You must let the Little Colonel come over every evening while she +is here."</p> +<p>Miss Bond arrived the next day, and her visit was a time of +continual delight to the children. They followed her wherever she +went, until Mrs. Maclntyre laughingly called her the 'Pied Piper of +Hamelin,' and asked what she had done to bewitch them.</p> +<p>The first night they gathered around the library-table, all as +busy as bees. Keith and the Little Colonel were cutting tinsel into +various lengths for Virginia to tie into fringe for a gay banner. +Malcolm was gilding some old spurs, Mrs. Maclntyre sat stringing +yards of wax beads, that gleamed softly in the lamplight like great +rope of pearls, and Mrs. Sherman was painting the posters, which +were to be put up in the post-office and depot as advertisements of +the Jonesy Benefit.</p> +<p>Miss Allison, who had been busy for hours with pasteboard and +glue, tin-foil and scissors, held up the suit of mail which she had +just finished.</p> +<p>"Isn't that fine!" cried Malcolm. "It looks exactly like some of +the armour we saw in the Tower of London, doesn't it, Keith?"</p> +<p>"I've thought of a riddle!" exclaimed Virginia. "Why is Aunt +Allison's head like Aladdin's lamp?"</p> +<p>"'Cause it's so bright?" ventured Malcolm.</p> +<p>"No; because she has only to rub it, and everything she thinks +of appears. I don't see how it is possible to make so many +beautiful things out of almost nothing."</p> +<p>Virginia looked admiringly around at all the pretty articles +scattered over the room. A helmet with nodding white plumes lay on +the piano. A queen's robe trailed its royal ermine beside it. A +sword with a jewelled hilt shone on the mantel, and a dozen +dazzling shields were ranged in various places on the low +bookshelves.</p> +<p>It was easy, in the midst of such surroundings, for the children +to imagine themselves back in the days of King Arthur and his +court, while Miss Bond sat there telling them such beautiful tales +of its fair ladies and noble knights. Indeed, before the day of the +entertainment came around they even found themselves talking to +each other in the quaint speech of that olden time.</p> +<p>When Malcolm accidentally ran against his grandmother in the +hall, instead of his usual, "Oh, excuse me, grandmother," it was +"Prithee grant me gracious pardon, fair dame. Not for a king's +ransom would I have thus jostled thee in such unseemly haste!" And +Ginger, instead of giving Keith a slap when he teasingly penned her +up in a corner, to make her divide some nuts with him, said, in a +most tragic way, "Unhand me, villain, or by my troth thou'lt rue +this ruffian conduct sore!"</p> +<p>The library-table was strewn with books of old court life, and +pictures of kings and queens whose costumes were to be copied in +the tableaux. There was one book which Keith carried around with +him until he had spelled out the whole beautiful tale. It was +called "In Kings' Houses," and was the story of the little Duke of +Gloster who was made a knight in his boyhood. And when Keith had +read it himself, he took it down to the professor's, and read it +all over again to Jonesy.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0097-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""><br> +<b>"THERE WAS ONE BOOK WHICH KEITH CARRIED AROUND WITH +HIM."</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Think how grand he must have looked, Jonesy," cried Keith, "and +I am to be dressed exactly like him when I am knighted in the +tableau." Then he read the description again:</p> +<p>"'A suit of white velvet embroidered with seed pearls, and +literally blazing with jewels,--even the buttons being great +brilliants. From his shoulder hung a cloak of azure blue velvet, +the colour of the order, richly wrought with gold; and around his +neck he wore the magnificent collar and jewel of St. George and the +Dragon, that was the personal gift of his Majesty, the king.'</p> +<p>"Think how splendid it must have been, Jonesy, when the +procession came in to the music of trumpets and bugles and silver +flutes and hautboys! Wouldn't you like to have seen the heralds +marching by, two by two, in cloth of gold, with an escort of the +queen's guard following? All of England's best and bravest were +there, and they sat in the carven stalls in St. George's Chapel, +with their gorgeous banners drooping over them. I saw that chapel, +Jonesy, when we were in England, and I saw where the knights kept +the 'vigil of arms' in the holy places, the night before they took +their vows." He picked up the book and read again: "'Fasting and +praying and lonely watching by night in the great abbey where there +are so many dead folk.'</p> +<p>"Oh, don't you wish you could have lived in those days, Jonesy, +and have been a knight?"</p> +<p>It was all Greek to Jonesy. The terms puzzled him, but he +enjoyed Keith's description of the tournaments.</p> +<p>Several evenings after that, Keith went down to the cottage +dressed in the beautiful velvet costume of white and blue, ablaze +with rhinestones and glittering jewels. He had been wrapped in his +Aunt Allison's golf cape, and, as he threw it off, Jonesy's eyes +opened wider and wider with wonder.</p> +<p>"Hi! You look like a whole jeweller's window!" he cried, dazzled +by the gorgeous sight. The professor lighted another lamp, and +Keith turned slowly around, to be admired on every side like a +pleased peacock.</p> +<p>"Of course it's all only imitation," he explained, "but it will +look just as good as the real thing behind the footlights. But you +ought to see the stage when it's fixed up to look like the Hall of +the Shields, if you want to see glitter. It's be-<i>yu</i>-tiful! +Like the one at Camelot, you know."</p> +<p>But Jonesy did not know, and Keith had to tell about that old +castle at Camelot, as Miss Bond had told him. How that down the +side of the long hall ran a treble range of shields,--</p> +<blockquote>"And under every shield a knight was named,<br> +For such was Arthur's custom in his hall.<br> +When some good knight had done one noble deed<br> +His arms were carven only, but if twain<br> +His arms were blazoned also, but if none<br> +The shield was blank and bare, without a sign,<br> +Saving the name beneath."</blockquote> +<p>Keith had been greatly interested in watching the carpenters fix +the stage so that it could be made to look like the Hall of the +Shields in a very few moments, when the time for that tableau +should come. He knew where every glittering shield was to hang, and +every banner and battle-axe.</p> +<p>"How do you suppose those knights felt," he said to Jonesy, "who +saw their shields hanging there year after year, blank and bare, +because they had never done even one noble deed? They must have +been dreadfully ashamed when the king walked by and read their +names underneath, and then looked up at the shields and saw nothing +emblazoned on them or even carved. Seems to me that I would have +done something to have made me worthy of that honour if I had +<i>died</i> for it!"</p> +<p>Something,--it may have been the soft, rich colour of the +jewel-broidered velvet the boy wore, or maybe the flush that rose +to his cheeks at the thrill of such noble thoughts,--something had +brought an unusual beauty into his face. As he stood there, with +head held high, his dark eyes flashing, his face glowing, and in +that princely dress of a bygone day, he looked every inch a +nobleman. There was something so pure and sweet, too, in the +expression of his upturned face that the light upon it seemed to +touch it into an almost unearthly fairness.</p> +<p>The professor, who had been watching him with a tender smile on +his rugged old face, drew the child toward him, and brushed the +hair back on his forehead.</p> +<p>"Ach, liebchen," he said, in his queer broken speech, "thy +shield will never be blank and bare. Already thou hast blazoned it +with the beauty of a noble purpose, and like Galahad, thou too +shalt find the Grail."</p> +<p>It was Keith's turn to be puzzled, but he did not like to ask +for an explanation; there was something so solemn in the way the +old man put his hand on his head as he spoke, almost as if he were +bestowing a blessing. Besides, it was time to go to the rehearsal +at the college. One of the servants had come to stay with Jonesy +while the professor went over to practise on his violin. He was to +play behind the scenes, a soft, low accompaniment to Miss Bond's +reading.</p> +<p>By eight o'clock, the night of the Benefit, every seat in the +house was full. "That's jolly for Jonesy," exclaimed Malcolm, +peeping out from behind the curtain. "We counted up that ten cents +a ticket would make enough, if they were all sold, to pay his board +till papa comes home, and buy him all the new clothes he needs, +too. Now every ticket is sold."</p> +<p>"Hurry up, Malcolm," called Keith. "We are first on the +programme, and it is time to begin."</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0104-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was a great bustle behind the scenes for a few minutes, +and then "Beauty and the Beast" was announced. When the Little +Colonel came on the stage leading the great bear, such a cheering +and clapping began that they both looked around, half frightened; +but the boys followed immediately and the Little Colonel, dressed +as a flower girl, danced out to meet Keith, who came in clicking +his castanets in time to Malcolm's whistling. The bear was made to +go through all his tricks and his soldier drill.</p> +<p>The children in the audience stood on tiptoe in their eagerness +to see the great animal perform, and were so wild in their applause +that the boys begged to be allowed to take it in front of the +curtain every time during the evening when there was a long pause +while some tableau was being prepared.</p> +<p>Over the rustle of fluttering programmes and the hum of +conversation that followed the first number, there fell presently +the soft, sweet notes of the professor's violin, and Miss Bond's +musical voice began the story of the Vision of Sir Launfal.</p> +<blockquote>"My golden spurs now bring to me,<br> +And bring to me my richest mail,<br> +For to-morrow I go over land and sea<br> +In search of the Holy Grail."</blockquote> +<p>Here the curtains were drawn apart to show Malcolm seated on his +pony as Sir Launfal, "in his gilded mail that flamed so bright." It +was really a beautiful picture he made, and his grandmother, +leaning forward, her face beaming with pride at the boy's noble +bearing, compared him with Arthur himself, "with lance in rest, +from spur to plume a star of tournament,"</p> +<p>The next tableau showed him spurning the leper at his gate, and +turning away in disgust from the beggar who "seemed the one blot on +the summer morn." How Miss Bond's voice rang out when "the leper +raised not the gold from the dust."</p> +<blockquote>"Better to me the poor man's crust.<br> +That is no true alms which the hand can hold.<br> +He gives nothing but worthless gold<br> +Who gives from a sense of duty."</blockquote> +<p>In the next tableau it was "as an old bent man, worn-out and +frail," that Sir Launfal came back from his weary pilgrimage. He +had not found the Holy Grail, but through his own sufferings he had +learned pity for all pain and poverty. Once more he stood beside +the leper at his castle gate, but this time he stooped to share +with him his crust and wooden bowl of water.</p> +<p>Then it happened on the stage just as was told in the poem.</p> +<p>A light shone round about the place, and the crouching leper +stood up. The old ragged mantle dropped off, and there in a long +garment almost dazzling in its whiteness, stood a figure--</p> +<blockquote>"Shining and tall, and fair, and straight<br> +As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful gate."</blockquote> +<p>They could not see the face, it was turned aside; but the golden +hair was like a glory, and the uplifted arms held something high in +air that gleamed like a burnished star, as all the lights in the +room were turned full upon it, for a little space. It was a golden +cup. Then the voice again:</p> +<blockquote>"In many climes without avail<br> +Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail.<br> +Behold it is here--this cup, which thou<br> +Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now.<br> +The holy supper is kept indeed<br> +In whatso we share with another's need."</blockquote> +<p>It was an old story to most of the audience, worn threadbare by +many readings, but with these living illustrations, and Miss Bond's +wonderful way of telling it, a new meaning crept into the +well-known lines, that thrilled every listener.</p> +<p>"Could you understand that, Teddy?" asked old Judge Fairfax, +patting his little grandson on the head.</p> +<p>"Course!" exclaimed seven-year-old Ted, who had followed his +sister Sally to every rehearsal.</p> +<p>"When you give money to people just to get rid of 'em, and +because you feel you'd ought to, it doesn't count for anything. But +if you divide something you've got, and would like to keep it all +yourself, because you love to, and are sorry for 'em, then it +counts a pile. Sir Launfal would have popped Jonesy into a 'sylum +when he first started out to find that gold cup, but when he came +back he'd 'a' worked like a horse getting up a benefit for him, and +would have divided his own home with him, if he hadn't been living +at his grandmother's, and couldn't."</p> +<p>An amused smile went around that part of the audience which +overheard Ted's shrilly given explanation.</p> +<p>Pictures from the "Idylls of the King" followed in rapid +succession, and then came the prettiest of all, being the one in +which Keith was made a knight. Virginia as queen, her short black +hair covered by a powdered wig, and a long court-train sweeping +behind her, stood touching his shoulder with the jewel-hilted +sword, as he knelt at her feet. Lloyd and Sally Fairfax, Julia +Ferris, and a dozen other pretty girls of the neighbourhood, helped +to fill out the gay court scene, while all the boys that could be +persuaded to take part were dressed up for heralds, guardsmen, +pages, and knights. That tableau had to be shown four times, and +then the audience kept on applauding as if they never intended to +stop.</p> +<p>The last one in this series of tableaux was the Hall of the +Shields, as Keith had described it to Jonesy. A whole row of +dazzling shields hung across the back of the stage, emblazoned with +the arms of all the old knights whose names have come down to us in +song or story. Then for the first time that evening Miss Bond came +out on the stage where she could be seen, and told the story of the +death of King Arthur, and the passing away of the order of the +Round Table. She told it so well that little Ted Fairfax listened +with his mouth open, seeming to see the great arm that rose out of +the water to take back the king's sword into the sea, from which it +had been given him. An arm like a giant's, "clothed in white +samite, mystic, wonderful, that caught the sword by the hilt, +flourished it three times, and drew it under the mere."</p> +<p>"True, 'the old order changeth,'" said Miss Bond, "but +knighthood has <i>not</i> passed away. The flower of chivalry has +blossomed anew in this new world, and America, too, has her Hall of +the Shields."</p> +<p>Just a moment the curtains were drawn together, and then were +widely parted again, as a chorus of voices rang out with the +words:</p> +<blockquote>"Hail, Columbia, happy land;<br> +Hail, ye heroes, heaven-born band!"</blockquote> +<p>In that moment, on every shield had been hung the pictured face +of some well-known man who had helped to make his country a power +among the nations; presidents, patriots, philanthropists, +statesmen, inventors, and poets,--there they were, from army and +navy, city and farm, college halls and humble cabins,--a long, long +line, and the first was Washington, and the last was the "Hero of +Manila."</p> +<p>Cheer after cheer went up, and it might have been well to have +ended the programme there, but to satisfy the military-loving +little Ginger, one more was added.</p> +<p>"There ought to be a Goddess of Liberty in it," she insisted, +"because it is Washington's birthday; and if we had been doing it +by ourselves we were going to have something in it about Cuba, on +papa's account."</p> +<p>So when the curtain rose the last time, it was on Sally Fairfax +as a gorgeous Goddess of Liberty, conferring knighthood on two boys +who stood for the Army and Navy, while a little dark-eyed girl +knelt at their feet as Cuba, the distressed maiden whom their +chivalry had rescued.</p> +<p>It was late when the performance closed; later still when the +children reached home that night, for Mrs. MacIntyre had determined +to have a flash-light picture taken of them, and they had to wait +until the photographer could send home for his camera.</p> +<p>After they reached the house they could hardly be persuaded to +undress. Virginia trailed up and down the halls in her royal robes, +Malcolm clanked around in his suit of mail and plumed helmet, and +Keith stood before a mirror, admiring the handsome little figure it +showed him.</p> +<br> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/0112-1.jpg" width="50%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"I hate to take it off," he said, fingering the dazzling collar, +ablaze with jewels. "I'd like to be a knight always, and wear a +sword and spurs every day."</p> +<p>"So would I," said Malcolm, beginning to yawn sleepily. "I wish +that Jonesy had been well enough to go to-night. Isn't it splendid +that the Benefit turned out so well? Aunt Allison says there is +plenty of money now to get Jonesy's clothes and pay his board till +papa comes, and send him back to Barney, too, if papa thinks best +and hasn't any better plan."</p> +<p>"I wish there'd been enough money to buy a nice little home out +here in the country for him and Barney. Wouldn't it have been +lovely if there had a-been?" cried Keith.</p> +<p>"Well, I should say!" answered Malcolm. "Maybe we can have +another benefit some day and make enough for that."</p> +<p>With this pleasant prospect before them, they laid aside their +knightly garments, hoping to put them on again soon in Jonesy's +behalf, and talked about the home that might be his some day, until +they fell asleep.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>The flash-light pictures of the three children were all that the +fondest grandmother could wish. As soon as they came, Keith carried +his away to his room to admire in private. "It is so pretty that it +doesn't seem it can be me," he said, propping it up on the desk +before him. "I wish that I could look that way always."</p> +<p>The next time that Miss Allison went into the room she found +that Keith had written under it in his round, boyish hand, a +quotation that had taken his fancy the first time he heard it. It +was in one of Miss Bond's stories, and he repeated it until he +learned it: "<i>Live pure,</i> <i>speak truth, right the wrong, +follow the king; else wherefore born?</i>"</p> +<p>She asked him about it at bedtime. "Why, that's our motto," he +explained. "Malcolm has it written under his, too. We've made up +our minds to be a sort of knight, just as near the real thing as we +can, you know, and that is what knights have to do: live pure, and +speak truth, and right the wrong. We've always tried to do the +first two, so that won't be so hard. It's righting the wrong that +will be the tough job, but we have done it a little teenty, weenty +bit for Jonesy, don't you think, auntie? It was all wrong that he +should have such a hard time and be sent to an asylum away from +Barney, when we have you all and everything nice. Malcolm and I +have been talking it over. If we could do something to keep him +from growing up into a tramp like that awful man that brought him +here, wouldn't that be as good a deed as some that the real knights +did? Wouldn't that be serving our country, too, Aunt Allison, just +a little speck?" He asked the question anxiously. Malcolm said +nothing, but also waited with a wistful look for her answer.</p> +<p>"My dear little Sir Galahads," she said, bending over to give +each of the boys a good-night kiss, "you will be 'really truly' +knights if you can live up to the motto you have chosen. Heaven +help you to be always as worthy of that title as you are +to-night!"</p> +<p>Keith held her a moment, with both arms around her neck. "What +does that mean, auntie?" he asked. "That is what the professor +said, too,--Galahad."</p> +<p>"It is too late to explain to you to-night," she said, "but I +will tell you sometime soon, dear."</p> +<p>It was several days before she reminded them of that promise. +Then she called them into her room and told them the story of Sir +Galahad, the maiden knight, whose "strength was as the strength of +ten because his heart was pure." Then from a little morocco case, +lined with purple velvet, she took two pins that she had bought in +the city that morning. Each was a little white enamel flower with a +tiny diamond in the centre, like a drop of dew.</p> +<p>"You can't wear armour in these days," she said, as she fastened +one on the lapel of each boy's coat, "but this shall be the badge +of your knighthood,--'wearing the white flower of a blameless +life.' The little pins will help you to remember, maybe, and will +remind you that you are pledged to right the wrong wherever you +find it, in little things as well as great."</p> +<p>It was a very earnest talk that followed. The boys came out from +her room afterward, wearing the tiny white pins, and with a sweet +seriousness in their faces. A noble purpose had been born in their +hearts; but alas for chivalry! the first thing they did was to +taunt Virginia with the fact that she could never be a knight +because she was only a girl.</p> +<p>"I don't care," retorted Ginger, quickly. "I can be +a--a--<i>patriot</i>, anyhow, and that's lots better."</p> +<p>The boys laughed, and she flushed angrily.</p> +<p>"They ought to mean the same thing exactly in this day of the +world," said Miss Allison, coming up in time to hear the dispute +that followed. "Virginia, you shall have a badge, too. Run into my +room and bring me that little jewelled flag on my cushion."</p> +<p>"I think that this is the very prettiest piece of jewelry you +have," exclaimed Virginia, coming back with the pin. It was a +little flag whose red, white, and blue was made of tiny settings of +garnets, sapphires, and diamonds.</p> +<p>"You think that, because it is in the shape of a flag," said +Miss Allison, with an amused smile. "Well, it shall be yours. See +how well it can remind you of the boys' knightly motto. There is +the white for the first part, the 'live pure,' and the 'true blue' +for the 'speak truth,' and then the red,--surely no soldier's +little daughter needs to be told what that stands for, when her own +brave father has spilled part of his good red life-blood to 'right +the wrong' on the field of battle."</p> +<p>"Oh, Aunt Allison!" was all that Virginia could gasp in her +delight as she clasped the precious pin tightly in her hand. "Is it +mine? For my very own?"</p> +<p>"For your very own, dear," was the answer.</p> +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Virginia, thanking her with a kiss. +"I'd a thousand times rather have it than one like the boys'. It +means so much more!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI."></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<h3>THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES.</h3> +<br> +<p>Early in March, when the crocuses were beginning to bud under +the dining-room windows, there came one of those rare spring days +that seem to carry the warmth of summer in its sunshine.</p> +<p>"Exactly the kind of a day for a picnic," Virginia had said that +morning, and when her grandmother objected, saying that the ground +was still too damp, she suggested having it in the hay-barn. The +boys piled the hay that was left from the winter's supply up on one +side of the great airy room, set wide the big double doors, and +swept it clean.</p> +<p>"It is clean enough now for even grandmother to eat in," said +Virginia, as she spread a cloth on the table Unc' Henry had carried +out for them. "It's good enough for a queen. Oh, I'll tell you what +let's do. Let's play that Malcolm and I are a wicked king and queen +and Lloyd is a 'fair ladye' that we have shut up in a dungeon. This +will be a banquet, and while we are eating Keith can be the knight +who comes to her rescue and carries her off on his pony."</p> +<p>"That's all right," consented Keith, "except the eating part. +How can we get our share of the picnic?"</p> +<p>"We'll save it for you," answered Virginia, "and you can eat it +afterward."</p> +<p>"Save enough for Jonesy, too," said Keith. "He shall be my page +and help me rescue her. I'll go and ask him now."</p> +<p>The month had made a great change in Jonesy. With plenty to eat, +his thin little snub-nosed face grew plump and bright. There was a +good-humoured twinkle in his sharp eyes, and being quick as a +monkey at imitating the movements of those around him, Mrs. +MacIntyre found nothing to criticise in his manners when Malcolm +and Keith brought him into the house. Their pride in him was +something amusing, and seeing that, after all, he was an +inoffensive little fellow, she made no more objections to their +playing with him.</p> +<p>By the time Keith was back again with Jonesy, the other guests +had arrived, and the Little Colonel had been lowered into a deep +feed-bin, in lieu of a dungeon. The banquet began in great state, +but in a few moments was interrupted by a fearful shrieking from +the depths of the bin. The fair ladye protested that she would not +stay in her dungeon.</p> +<p>"There's nasty big spidahs down heah!" she called. "Ow! One is +crawlin' on my neck now, and my face is all tangled up in cobwebs! +Get me out! Get me out! Quick, Gingah!"</p> +<p>The king sprang up to go to her rescue, but was promptly +motioned to his seat again by a warning shake of the other crowned +head.</p> +<p>"Why, of course! There's always spiders in dungeons," called the +wicked queen, coolly helping herself to another piece of chicken. +"Besides, you should say 'your Majesty' when you are talking to +me."</p> +<p>"But there's a mouse in heah, too," she called back, in +distress. "Oo! Oo! It ran ovah my feet. If you don't make them take +me out of heah, Gingah Dudley, I'll do something <i>awful</i> to +you! Murdah! Murdah!" she yelled, pounding on the sides of the bin +with both her fists, and stamping her little foot in a furious +rage.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0121-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""><br> +<b>"THE LITTLE COLONEL HAD BEEN LOWERED INTO A DEEP +FEED-BIN."</b></p> +<br> +<p>Seeing that Lloyd was really terrified, and fearing that her +screams would bring some one from the house, the royal couple and +their guests sprang to the rescue, nearly upsetting the banquet as +they did so. The game would have been broken up then, when she was +lifted out from the feed-bin, red and angry, if it had not been for +the king's great tact. He brushed the cobwebs from her face and +hair, and even got down on his royal knees to ask her pardon.</p> +<p>His polite coaxing finally had its effect on the little lady, +and he persuaded her to climb a ladder into a loft just above them. +Here on a pile of clean hay, beside an open window that looked +across a peaceful meadow, her anger cooled. Towers were far more +comfortable than dungeons, in her opinion, and when Malcolm came up +the ladder with a plateful of the choicest morsels of the feast, +she began to enjoy her part of the play. Jonesy was sent to inform +his knight of the change from dungeon to tower, and the banquet +went merrily on.</p> +<p>He found Keith waiting below the barn, with his pony tied to a +fence. On the other side of the fence lay the railroad track, which +skirted the back of Mrs. MacIntyre's place for over half a +mile.</p> +<p>"Do you see that hand-car?" asked Keith, pointing with his +riding-whip to one on the track. "The section boss let Malcolm and +me ride up and down on it all afternoon one day this winter. Some +workman left it on the switch while ago, and while you were up at +the barn I got two darkeys to move it for me. They didn't want to +at first, but I knew that there'd be no train along for an hour, +and told 'em so, and they finally did it for a dime apiece. As soon +as I rescue Lloyd I'll dash down here on my pony with her behind +me. Then we'll slip through the fence and get on the hand-car, and +be out of sight around the curve before the rest get here. They +won't know where on earth we've gone, and it will be the best joke +on them. It's down grade all the way to the section-house, so I can +push it easily enough by myself, but I'll need your help coming +back, maybe. S'pose you cut across lots to the section-house as +soon as I start to the barn, and meet me there. It isn't half as +far that way, so you'll get there as soon as we do."</p> +<p>"All right," said Jonesy. "I'm your kid."</p> +<p>"You should say, ''Tis well, Sir Knight, I fly to do thy +bidding,'" prompted Keith.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0125-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>Jonesy grinned. He could not enter into the spirit of the play +as the others did. "Aw, I'll be on time," he said; then, as Keith +untied his pony, started on a run across the fields.</p> +<p>The Lady Lloyd had not finished her repast when her rescuer +appeared, but she put the plate down on the hay to await her +return, and obediently climbed down the ladder he placed for her. +They reached the fence before the banqueters knew that she had +escaped. Flinging the pony's bridle over a fence-post, when they +reached the edge of the field, the brave knight crawled through the +fence and pulled Lloyd after him, tearing her dress, much to that +dainty little lady's extreme disgust.</p> +<p>By the time the king and his guard were mounted in pursuit, on +the other pony which stood in waiting, the runaways were in the +hand-car. It moved slowly at first, although Keith was strong for +his age, and his hardy little muscles were untiring.</p> +<p>"Isn't it lovely?" cried Lloyd, as they moved faster and faster +and swept around the curve. "I wish we could go all the way to +Louisville on this." The warm March wind fanned her pink cheeks, +and blew her soft light hair into her eyes.</p> +<p>Jonesy was waiting at the section-house, and waved his cap as +they passed. "We're going on, around the next bend," shouted Keith, +as they passed him. "Whoop-la! this is fine, and not a bit hard to +work!"</p> +<p>"What will the wicked queen think when she can't find us?" asked +Lloyd, laughing happily, as they sped on down the track.</p> +<p>"She'll think that I am a magician and have spirited you away," +said Keith.</p> +<p>"Then if you are a magician you ought to change her into a nasty +black spidah, to pay her back fo' shuttin' me up with them!" Lloyd +was delighted with this new play. For the time it seemed as if she +really were escaping from a castle prison. Faster and faster they +went. Jonesy, who had followed them to the second curve, stood +watching them with wistful eyes, wishing he could be with them. +They passed the depot, and then the hand-car seemed to grow smaller +and smaller as it rolled away, until it was only a moving speck in +the distance. Then he turned and walked back to the +section-house.</p> +<p>"I s'pect we've gone about far enough," said Keith, after +awhile. "We'd better turn around now and go back, or the picnic +will all be over before we get our share. Let's wait here a minute +till I rest my arms, and then we'll start."</p> +<p>The place where they had stopped was the loneliest part of the +track that could be found in miles, on either side. It was in the +midst of a thick beech woods, and the twitter of a bird, now and +then, was the only sound in all the deep stillness.</p> +<p>"What lovely green moss on that bank!" cried the Little Colonel. +"Wouldn't it make a beautiful carpet for our playhouse down by the +old mill?"</p> +<p>"I'll get you some," said Keith, gallantly springing from the +car and clambering up the bank. Taking out his knife, he began to +cut great squares of the velvety green moss, and pile it up to +carry back to the hand-car.</p> +<p>Meanwhile Jonesy waited at the section-house, digging his heels +into the cinders that lined the track, and looking impatiently down +the road. Presently the section boss came limping along painfully, +and sat down on the bank in the warm spring sunshine. He had +dropped a piece of heavy machinery on his foot, the week before, +and was only able to hobble short distances.</p> +<p>Everybody in the Valley was interested in Jonesy since the fire +and the Benefit had made him so well known, and the man was glad of +this opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the boy. Jonesy, +with all the fearlessness of a little street gamin brought up in a +big city, answered him fearlessly, even saucily at times, much to +the man's amusement.</p> +<p>"So you want to get a job around here, do you?" said the man, +presently, with a grin. "Maybe I can give you one. Know anything +about railroadin'?"</p> +<p>"Heaps," answered Jonesy. "Well, I'd ought to, seem' as I've +lived next door to the engine yards all my life, and spent my time +dodgin' the cop on watch there, when I was tryin' to steal rides on +freight-cars and such."</p> +<p>"Is that what you're hangin' around here now for?" asked the +man, with a good-natured twinkle in his eyes.</p> +<p>"Nope! I'm waiting for that MacIntyre kid to come back this way. +He went down the track a bit ago on a hand-car, playing rescue a +princess with one of the girls at the picnic,"</p> +<p>The section boss sprang up with an exclamation of alarm. "How +far's he gone?" he asked. "There's a special due to pass here in a +few minutes."</p> +<p>Even while he spoke there sounded far away in the distance, so +far that it was like only a faint echo, the whistle of an +approaching locomotive. The man hobbled down the track a yard or so +and stopped. "What do you suppose they'll do?" he asked. "There are +so many bends in this road, the train may come right on to 'em +before the engineer sees 'em. S'pose they'll jump off, or turn and +try to come back?"</p> +<p>Jonesy glanced around wildly a second, and then sprang forward +toward the man.</p> +<p>"Give me the switch-key!" he cried, in a high voice, shrill with +excitement. "You can't run, but I can. Give me the switch-key!" +Perplexed by the sudden turn of affairs and the little fellow's +commanding tone, the man took the key from his pocket. He realised +his own helplessness to do anything, and there was something in +Jonesy's manner that inspired confidence. He felt that the child's +quick wit had grasped the situation and formed some sensible plan +of action.</p> +<p>Again the whistle sounded in the distance, and, snatching the +key, Jonesy was off down the track like an arrow. The section boss, +leaning heavily on his cane, limped after him as fast as he +could.</p> +<p>Keith and the Little Colonel, having gathered the moss and +started back home, were rolling leisurely along, still talking of +magicians and their ilk.</p> +<p>"What if we should meet a dragon?" cried the Little Colonel. "A +dragon with a scaly green tail, and red eyes and a fiery tongue. +What would you do then?"</p> +<p>"I'd say, 'What! Ho! Thou monster!' and cleave him in twain with +my good broadsword, and when he saw its shining blade smite through +the air he'd just curl up and die."</p> +<p>Keith looked back to smile at the bright laughing face beside +him. Then he caught sight of something over his shoulder that made +him pause. "Oh, look!" he cried, pointing over the tree-tops behind +them. A little puff of smoke, rising up in the distance, trailed +along the sky like a long banner. At the same instant, out of the +smoke, sounded the whistle of an approaching engine. The track +behind them had so many turns, he could not judge of their distance +from it, and for an instant he stopped working the handle bar up +and down, too thoroughly frightened to know what to do. An older +child might have acted differently; might have jumped from the +hand-car and left it to be run into by the approaching train, or +have hurried back around the bend to flag the engine. But Keith had +only one idea left: that was to keep ahead of the train as long as +possible. It seemed so far away he thought they could surely reach +the depot before it caught up with them, and his sturdy little arms +bent to the task.</p> +<p>For a moment there was a real pleasure in the exertion. He felt +with an excited thrill that he was really running away with the +Little Colonel, and rescuing her from a pursuing danger. Suddenly +the whistle sounded again, and this time it seemed so close behind +them that the Little Colonel gave a terrified glance over her +shoulder and then screamed at the sight of the great snorting +monster, breathing out fire and smoke, worse than any scaly-tailed +dragon that she had ever imagined. It was far down the track but +they could hear its terrible rumble as it rushed over a trestle, +and the singing of the wires overhead.</p> +<p>Keith was straining every muscle now, but it was like running in +a nightmare. His arms moved up and down at a furious speed, but it +seemed to him that the hand-car was glued to one spot. It seemed, +too, that it had been hours since they first discovered that the +engine was after them, and he felt that he would soon be too +exhausted to move another stroke. Would the depot never never come +in sight?</p> +<p>Just then they shot around the curve and caught sight of Jonesy +at the depot switch, wildly beckoning with his cap and shouting for +them to come on. At that sight, with one supreme effort Keith put +his fast-failing strength to the test, and sent the hand-car +rolling forward faster than ever. It shot past the switch that +Jonesy had unlocked and off to the side-track, just as the train +bore down upon them around the last bend.</p> +<p>There was barely time for Jonesy to set the switch again before +it thundered on along the main track past the little depot. Being a +special, it did not stop. As it went shrieking by, the engineer +cast a curious glance at a hand-car on the side-track. A little +girl sat on it, a pretty golden-haired child with dark eyes big +with fright, and her face as white as her dress. He wondered what +was the matter.</p> +<p>For a moment after the shrieking train whizzed by everything +seemed deathly still. Keith sat leaning against the embankment, +white and limp from exhaustion and the excitement of his close +escape. Jonesy was panting and wiping the perspiration from his red +face, for he had run like a deer to reach the switch in time.</p> +<p>"I couldn't have held out a minute longer," said Keith, +presently. "My arms felt like they had gone to sleep, and I was +just ready to give up when I caught sight of you. That seemed to +give me strength to go on, when I saw what you were at and that it +would only be a little farther to go before we would be safe. Plow +did you happen to be at the switch, and know how to set it?"</p> +<p>"Hain't lived all my life around engine yards fer nothin'," +answered Jonesy. "Why didn't you jump off and flag the train?"</p> +<p>"I was so taken by surprise I didn't think of that," answered +Keith. "The only thing I knew was that we had to keep ahead of it +as long as possible. You've saved my life, Jones Carter, and I'll +never forget it, no matter what comes,"</p> +<p>"I've been rescued twice to-day," said the Little Colonel, +taking a deep breath as she began to recover from her fright. +"Jonesy ought to be a knight, too."</p> +<p>"That's so!" exclaimed Keith, springing to his feet. "Come on +and let's go back to the barn. We'll tell our adventures, and then +we'll go through the ceremony of making Jonesy a Sir Something or +other. He's certainly won his spurs."</p> +<p>"Goin' back on the hand-car?" asked Jonesy.</p> +<p>"Not much," answered Keith, with a sickly sort of smile. +"Somehow such fast travelling doesn't seem to agree with a fellow. +Walking is good enough for me."</p> +<p>"Me too!" cried the Little Colonel, tying on her white +sunbonnet. "But the first part of it was lovely,--just like +flyin'."</p> +<p>Jonesy ran back to give the man his key, and was kept answering +questions so long that he did not catch up with the other children +until they were in sight of the barn.</p> +<p>"After all," said Keith, as the three trudged along together, +"maybe we'd better not tell how near we came to being run over. +Grandmother and Aunt Allison would be dreadfully worried if they +should hear of it. They are always worrying for fear something will +happen to us."</p> +<p>"Mothah would be <i>wild</i>" exclaimed the Little Colonel, "if +she knew I had been in any dangah. Maybe she wouldn't let me out of +her sight again to play all summah."</p> +<p>"Then let's don't tell for a long, long time," proposed Keith. +"It'll be our secret, just for us three."</p> +<p>"All right," the others agreed. They dropped the subject then, +for the barn was just ahead of them, and the gay picnickers came +running out, demanding to know where they had been so long.</p> +<p>The Little Colonel often spoke of her experience afterward to +the two boys, however, and in Keith's day-dreams a home for Jonesy +began to crowd out all other hopes and plans.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII."></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<h3>A GAME OF INDIAN.</h3> +<br> +<p>Keith was stiff for a week after his race on the hand-car, but +did his groaning in private. He knew what a commotion would be +raised if the matter came to his grandmother's ears. She had lived +all winter in constant dread of accidents. Malcolm had been carried +home twice in an unconscious state, once from having been thrown +from his bicycle, and once from falling through a trap-door in the +barn. Keith had broken through the ice on the pond, sprained his +wrist while coasting, and walked in half a dozen times with the +blood streaming from some wound on his head or face.</p> +<p>Virginia had never been hurt, but her hair-breadth escapes would +have filled a volume. An amusing one was the time she lassoed a +young calf, Indian fashion, to show the boys how it should be done. +Its angry mother was in the next lot, but Virginia felt perfectly +safe as she swung her lariat and dragged the bleating calf around +the barn-yard. She did not stop to consider that if a cow with +lofty ambitions had once jumped over the moon, one which saw its +calf in danger might easily leap a low hedge. Malcolm's warning +shout came just in time to save her from being gored by the angry +animal, who charged at her with lowered horns. She sprang up the +ladder leading to the corn-crib window, where she was safe, but she +had to hang there until Unc' Henry could be called to the +rescue.</p> +<p>It was with many misgivings that Mrs. MacIntyre and Miss Allison +started to the city one morning in April. It was the first time +since the children's coming that they had both gone away at once, +and nothing but urgent business would have made them consent to +go.</p> +<p>The children promised at least a dozen things. They would keep +away from the barn, the live stock, the railroad, the ponds, and +the cisterns. They would not ride their wheels, climb trees, nor go +off the Maclntyre premises, and they would keep a sharp lookout for +snakes and poison ivy, in case they went into the woods for wild +flowers.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0139-1.jpg" width="60%" alt=""><br> +<b>VIRGINIA AND THE CALF.</b></p> +<br> +<p>"Seems to me there's mighty little left that a fellow can do," +said Keith, when the long list was completed.</p> +<p>"Oh, the time will soon pass," said his grandmother, who was +preparing to take the eleven o'clock train. "It will soon be +lunch-time. Then this is the day for you each to write your weekly +letters to your mother, and it is so pretty in the woods now that I +am sure you will enjoy looking for violets."</p> +<p>Time did pass quickly, as their grandmother had said it would, +until the middle of the afternoon. Then Virginia began to wish for +something more amusing than the quiet guessing games they had been +playing in the library. The boys each picked up a book, and she +strolled off up-stairs, in search of a livelier occupation.</p> +<p>In a few minutes she came down, looking like a second Pocahontas +in her Indian suit, with her bow and arrows slung over her +shoulder.</p> +<p>"I am going down to the woods to practise shooting," she +announced, as she stopped to look in at the door.</p> +<p>"Oh, wait just a minute!" begged Malcolm, throwing down his +book. "Let's all play Indian this afternoon. We'll rig up, too, and +build a wigwam down by the spring rock, and make a +fire,--grandmother didn't say we couldn't make a fire; that's about +the only thing she forgot to tell us not to do."</p> +<p>"You can come on when you get ready," answered Virginia. "I'm +going now, because it is getting late, but you'll find me near the +spring when you come. Just yell."</p> +<p>The boys could not hope to rival Virginia's Indian costume, but +no wilder-looking little savages ever uttered a war-whoop than the +two which presently dashed into the still April woods.</p> +<p>Malcolm had ripped some variegated fringe from a table-cover to +pin down the sides of his leather leggins. He had borrowed a Roman +blanket from Aunt Allison's couch to pin around his shoulders, and +emptied several tubes of her most expensive paints to streak his +face with hideous stripes and daubs. A row of feathers from the +dust-brush was fastened around his forehead by a broad band, and a +hatchet from the woodshed provided him with a tomahawk.</p> +<p>Keith had no time to arrange feathers. He had taken off his +flannels in order to put on an old striped bathing-suit, which he +had found in the attic and stored away, intending to use it for +swimming in the pond when the weather should grow warm enough. It +had no sleeves, and the short trousers had shrunk until they did +not half-way reach his knees. Its red and white stripes had faded +and the colour run until the whole was a dingy "crushed strawberry" +shade. As Malcolm had emptied all the tubes of red paint in his +Aunt Allison's box, Keith had to content himself with some other +colour. He chose the different shades of green, squeezing the paint +out on his plump little legs and arms, and rubbing it around with +his fore finger until he was encircled with as many stripes as a +zebra. Although the day was warm for the early part of April, the +sudden change from his customary clothes and spring flannels to +nothing but the airy bathing suit and war-paint made him a trifle +chilly; so he completed his costume by putting on a pair of scarlet +bedroom slippers, edged with dark fur.</p> +<p>With the dropping of their civilised clothing, the boys seemed +to have dropped all recollections of their professed knighthood, +and acted like the little savages they looked.</p> +<p>"We're going to shoot with your things awhile, Ginger," shouted +Keith, coming suddenly upon her with a whoop, and snatching her bow +out of her hands. "You are the squaw, so you have to do all the +work. Get down there now behind that rock and make a fire, while we +go out and kill a deer. You must build a wigwam, too, by the time +we get back. Hear me? I'm a big chief! 'I am Famine--Buckadawin!' +and I'll make a living skeleton of you if you don't hustle."</p> +<p>Virginia was furious. "I'll not be a squaw!" she cried. "And +I'll not build a fire or do anything else if you talk so rudely. If +you don't give me back my bow and let me be a chief, too, +I'll--I'll get even with you, sir, in a way you won't like. I have +short hair, and my clothes are more Indian than yours, and I can +shoot better than either of you, anyhow! So there! Give me my +bow."</p> +<p>"What will you do if I won't?" said Keith, teasingly, holding it +behind him.</p> +<p>"I'll go up to the barn and get a rope, and lasso you like I did +that calf, and drag you all over the place!" cried Virginia, her +eyes shining with fierce determination.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0145-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"She means it, Keith," said Malcolm. "She'll do it sure, if you +don't stop teasing. Oh, give it to her and come along, or it will +be dark before we begin to play."</p> +<p>Matters went on more smoothly after Malcolm's efforts at +peacemaking, and when it was decided that Ginger could be a brave, +too, instead of a squaw, they were soon playing together as +pleasantly as if they had found the happy hunting grounds. The +short afternoon waned fast, and the shadows were growing deep when +they reached the last part of the game. Ginger had been taken +prisoner, and they were tying her to a tree, with her hands bound +securely behind her back. She rather enjoyed this part of it, for +she intended to show them how brave she could be.</p> +<p>"Now we'll sit around the council fire and decide how to torture +her," said Malcolm, when the captive was securely tied. But the +fire was out and they had no matches. The lot fell on Malcolm to +run up to the house and get some.</p> +<p>"A fire would feel good," said Keith, looking around with a +shiver as he seated himself on a log near Ginger. The sun was low +in the west, and very little of its light and warmth found its way +into the woods where the children were playing.</p> +<p>"It makes me think of Hiawatha," said Ginger, looking down at +several long streaks of golden light which lay across the ground at +her feet. "Don't you remember how it goes? 'And the long and level +sunbeams shot their spears into the forest, breaking through its +shield of shadow,' Isn't that pretty? I love Hiawatha. I am going +to learn pages and pages of it some day. I know all that part about +Minnehaha now,"</p> +<p>"Say it while we are waiting," said Keith, pulling his short +trousers down as far as possible, and wishing that he had sleeves, +or else that the paint were thicker on his chilly arms.</p> +<p>"All right," began Virginia.</p> +<blockquote>"'Oh the long and dreary winter!<br> +Oh the cold and cruel winter!<br> +Ever thicker, thicker, thicker<br> +Froze the ice on lake and river.'"</blockquote> +<p>"Ugh! Don't!" interrupted Keith, with a shiver. "It makes my +teeth chatter, talking about such cold things!"</p> +<p>Just then a shout came ringing down the hill, "Oh, Keith! Come +here a minute! Quick!"</p> +<p>"What do you wa-ant?" yelled Keith, in return.</p> +<p>"Come up here! Quick! Hurry up!"</p> +<p>"What do you s'pose can be the matter?" exclaimed Keith, +scrambling to his feet. "Maybe the bear has got loose and run +away."</p> +<p>"Come and untie me first," said Virginia, "and I'll go, too." +Keith gave several quick tugs at the many knotted string which +bound her, but could not loosen it. Again the call came, impatient +and sharp, "Keith! <i>Oh</i>, Keith!"</p> +<p>"Oh, I can't loosen it a bit," said Keith. "You'll have to wait +till Malcolm comes with his knife. We'll be back in just a minute. +I'll go and see what's the matter."</p> +<p>"Be sure that you don't stay!" screamed Ginger, as the scarlet +bedroom slippers and green striped legs flashed out of sight +through the bushes.</p> +<p>"Back--in--a--minute!" sounded shrilly through the woods.</p> +<p>Keith found Malcolm on the back porch, pounding excitedly on a +box which the express-man had left there a few minutes before.</p> +<p>"It's the camera we have been looking for all week," he cried. +"Come on and have a look at it."</p> +<p>"Ginger said to hurry back," said Keith.</p> +<p>"Pshaw! It won't take but a minute. I'll pry the box open in a +jiffy."</p> +<p>It was harder work than the boys had supposed, to take the +tightly nailed lid from its place, and they were so intent on their +work they did not realise how quickly the minutes were passing.</p> +<p>"Isn't it a beauty?" exclaimed Malcolm, when it was at last +unpacked. "It's lots bigger and finer than the one papa promised. +But that's the way he always does. Oh, isn't it a peach!"</p> +<p>"I'll tell you what," said Keith, dancing up and down in his +excitement, until he looked like a ridiculous little clown in the +faded pink bathing-suit and his stripes of green paint, "let's take +each other's pictures while we are dressed this way. We may never +look so funny again, and we can go down and take Ginger, too, while +she is tied to the tree."</p> +<p>"Can't now," said Malcolm, "it's too dark down there in the +woods by this time. See! there is nothing left now of the sun but +those red clouds above the place where it went down. I'm afraid it +is too dark even for us up here on the hill; but we can try. You do +look funny, just like a jumping-jack or a monkey on a stick."</p> +<p>"Surely Ginger won't mind waiting long enough for us to do it," +said Keith. "Anyhow we can never dress up this way again, and +grandmother will be coming home very soon, so you take mine quick, +and I will take yours."</p> +<p>The boys had had some practice before with a cheap little +camera, but this required some studying of the printed directions +before they could use it. The first time they tried it the plates +were put in wrong, and the second time they forgot to remove the +cap. There were other things in the box besides the camera: some +beautiful pink curlew's wings, a handsomely marked snake skin, and +some rare shells that had been picked up on the Gulf coast. Of +course the boys had to examine each new treasure as it was +discovered. One thing after another delayed them until it was dusk +even on the porch where they stood, and in the woods below a deep +twilight had fallen.</p> +<p>Every minute that had sped by so rapidly for the boys, seemed an +age to the captive Virginia. Her arms ached from the strain of +their unusual position. Swarms of gnats flew about, stinging her +face, and mosquitoes buzzed teasingly around her ears. She was +unable to move a finger to drive them away.</p> +<p>When the boys had been gone fifteen minutes she thought they +must have been away hours. At the end of half an hour she was wild +with impatience to get loose, but, thinking they might return any +minute, she made no sign of her discomfort. She would be as heroic +as the bravest brave ever tortured by cruel savages. As long as it +was light she kept up her courage, but presently it began to grow +dark under the great beech-trees. A frog down by the spring set up +a dismal croaking. What if they should not come back, and her +grandmother and Aunt Allison should miss the train, and have to +stay in the city all night! Then nobody would come to set her free, +and she would have to stay in the lonely woods all by herself, tied +to a tree, with her hands behind her back.</p> +<p>At that thought she began calling, "Keith! Keith! Malcolm! Oh, +Malcolm!" but only an echo came back to her, as it had to the dying +Minnehaha,--a far-away echo that mocked her with its teasing cry of +"Mal-colm!" Call after call went ringing through the woods, but +nobody answered. Nobody came.</p> +<p class="lft"><img src="images/0152-1.jpg" width="45%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>There was a rustling through the leaves behind her, as of a +snake gliding around the tree. She was not afraid of snakes in the +daytime, and when she was unbound, but she shrieked and turned cold +at the thought of one wriggling across her feet while she was +powerless to get away. Every time a twig snapped, or there was a +fluttering in the bushes, she strained her eyes to see what +horrible thing might be creeping up toward her. She had no thought +that live Indians might be lurking about, but all the terrible +stories she had ever heard, of the days of Daniel Boone and the +early settlers, came back to haunt the woods with a nameless +dread.</p> +<p>She felt that she was standing on the real Kentucky that the +Indians meant, when they gave the State its name. "<i>Dark and +bloody ground! Dark and bloody ground</i>!" something seemed to say +just behind her. Then the trees took it up, and all the leaves +whispered, "<i>Sh--sh, sh! Dark and bloody ground! Sh--sh</i>!"</p> +<p>At that she was so frightened that she began calling again, but +the sound of her own voice startled her. "Oh, they are not coming," +she thought, with a miserable ache in her throat, that seemed +swelling bigger and bigger. "I'll have to stay here in the woods +all night. Oh, mamma! mamma!" she moaned, "I am so scared! If you +could only come back and get your poor little girl!"</p> +<p>Up to this time she had bravely fought back the tears, but just +then a screech-owl flapped down from a branch above her with such a +dismal hooting that she gave a nervous start and a cry of terror. +"Oh, that frightened me so!" she sobbed. "I don't believe I can +stand it to be out here all night alone with so many horrible +creepy things everywhere. And nobody cares! Nobody but papa and +mamma, and they are away, way off in Cuba. Maybe I'll never see +them any more," At that the tears rolled down her face, and she +could not move a hand to wipe them away. To be so little and +miserable and forsaken, so worn out with waiting and so helpless +among all these unknown horrors that the dark woods might hold, was +worse torture to the imaginative child than any bodily pain could +have been.</p> +<p>It was just as her last bit of courage oozed away, and she began +to cry, that the boys suddenly realised how long they had left +her.</p> +<p>"It must be as dark as a pocket in the woods by this time," +exclaimed Malcolm. "What do you suppose Ginger will say to us for +leaving her so long?"</p> +<p>"You will have to take a knife to cut her loose," said Keith. "I +tried to untie the knots before I came away, but I couldn't move +them."</p> +<p>"My pocket-knife is up-stairs," answered Malcolm. "I'll get +something in the dining-room that will do."</p> +<p>He was rushing out again with a carving-knife in his hand, when +he came face to face with his grandmother and Aunt Allison. The +boys had been so interested in their camera that they had not heard +the train whistle, or the sound of footsteps coming up on the front +veranda. Pete was lighting the hall lamps as the ladies came in, +and he turned his back to hide the broad grin on his face, as he +thought of the sight which would soon greet them. Mrs. Maclntyre +gave a gasp of astonishment and sank down in the nearest chair as +Malcolm came dashing into the bright lamplight.</p> +<p>His turkey feathers were all awry, standing out in a dozen +different directions from his head, his blanket trailed behind him, +and the fringe was hanging in festoons from his leggins, where it +had come unpinned. The red paint on his face made him look as if he +had been in a fight with the carving-knife he carried, and had had +the skin peeled off his face in patches.</p> +<p>Wild as he looked, his appearance was tame beside that of the +impish-looking little savage who skipped in after him, in the +scarlet bedroom slippers, pink striped bathing-suit and green +striped skin.</p> +<p>"Keith Maclntyre, what have you been doing to yourself?" gasped +his grandmother. Both boys began an excited exclamation, but were +stopped by Miss Allison's question, "Where is Virginia? Have you +two little savages scalped her?"</p> +<p>"She's tied to a tree down by the spring," answered Malcolm. "We +are just starting down there now to cut her loose. You see we were +playing Indian, and she was tied up to be tortured, and we forgot +all about her being there--"</p> +<p>But Miss Allison waited to hear no more. "The poor little +thing!" she exclaimed. "Tied out there alone in the dark woods! How +could you be so cruel? It is enough to frighten her into +spasms."</p> +<p>"I'm awfully sorry, Aunt Allison!" began Malcolm, but his aunt +was already out of hearing. Out of the door she ran, through the +dewy grass and the stubble of the field beyond, regardless of her +dainty spring gown, or her new patent leather shoes. Malcolm and +Keith dashed out after her, ran on ahead and were at the spring +before she had climbed the fence into the woodland.</p> +<p>Virginia was not crying when the boys reached her. She +remembered that she had once called Malcolm "Rain-in-the-face" +because she caught him crying over something that seemed to her a +very little reason, and she did not intend to give him a chance to +taunt her in the same way. She was glad that it was too dark for +him to notice her tear-swollen eyes.</p> +<p>"Whew! It's dark down here!" said Keith. "Were you frightened, +Ginger?" he asked, as he helped Malcolm unfasten the cords that +bound her. But Ginger made no reply to either questions or +apologies. She walked on in dignified silence, too deeply hurt by +their neglect, too full of a sense of the wrong they had done her, +to trust herself to speak without crying, and she intended to be +game to the last. But when she came upon Miss Allison, and suddenly +found herself folded safe in her arms, with pitying kisses and +comforting caresses, she clung to her, sobbing as if her heart +would break.</p> +<p>"Oh, auntie! It was so awful!" was all she could say, but she +repeated it again and again, until Miss Allison, who had never seen +her so excited before, was alarmed. The boys, who had run on ahead +to the house again, before she gave way to her feelings, were +inclined to look upon it all as a good joke, for they had no idea +how much she had suffered, and did not like it because she would +not speak to them. They changed their minds when Miss Allison came +out of Virginia's room a little later, and told them that the +fright had given the child a nervous chill, and that she had cried +herself to sleep.</p> +<p>"We didn't mean to do it," said Keith, penitently. "We just +forgot, and I'm mighty sorry, truly I am, auntie!"</p> +<p>"I am not scolding you," said Miss Allison, "but if I were +either of you boys, I wouldn't wear my little white flower when I +dressed for dinner to-night. Instead of being the protector of a +distressed maiden, as the old knights would have said, you have +done her a wrong,--a serious one I am afraid,--and that wrong ought +to be made right as far as possible before you are worthy to wear +the badge of knighthood again."</p> +<p>"We'll go and beg her pardon right now," said Malcolm.</p> +<p>"No, she is asleep now, and I do not want her to be disturbed. +Besides, a mere apology is not enough. You must make some kind of +atonement. The first thing for you to do, however, is to get some +turpentine and remove that paint. Where did you get it, boys?"</p> +<p>"Out of your paint-box, Aunt Allison," said Malcolm. "We didn't +think you would care. I was only going to take a little, but it +soaked in so fast that I had to use two tubes of it."</p> +<p>"I used more than that," confessed Keith, looking at her with +his big honest eyes; "but I got so interested pretending that I was +turning into a real Indian, that I never thought about its being +anybody else's paint, Aunt Allison, truly I didn't!"</p> +<p>She turned away to hide a smile. The earnest little face above +the striped body was so very comical. Picking up several of the +empty tubes that had been squeezed quite flat, she read the labels. +"Rose madder and carmine," she said, solemnly, "two of my very most +expensive paints."</p> +<p>"Dear me!" sighed Malcolm, "then there's another wrong that's +got to be righted. I guess Keith and I weren't cut out for knights. +I'm beginning to think that it's a mighty tough business +anyhow."</p> +<p>That night, when the boys came down to dinner, no little white +flower with its diamond dewdrop centre shone on the lapel of either +coat. It had been a work of time to scrub off the paint, and then +it took almost as long to get rid of the turpentine, so that dinner +was ready long before Keith was finally clad in his flannels. "My +throat is sore," he complained to Malcolm at bedtime, but did not +mention it to any one else that night. He sat on the side of his +bed a moment before undressing, with one foot across his knee, +staring thoughtfully at the lamp. Presently, with one shoe in his +hand and the other half unlaced, he hopped over to the +dressing-table and stood before it, looking at first one picture +and then another.</p> +<p>Eight different photographs of his mother were ranged along the +table below the wide mirror, some taken in evening dress, some in +simple street costume, and each one so beautiful that it would have +been hard to decide which one had the greatest charm.</p> +<p>"I wish mamma was here to-night," said Keith, softly, with a +little quiver of his lip. "Seems like she's been gone almost +always."</p> +<p>He picked up a large Roman locket of beaten silver that lay open +on the table. It held two exquisitely painted miniatures on ivory. +One was the same sweet face that looked out at him from each of the +photographs, the other was his father's. It showed a handsome young +fellow with strong, clean-shaven face, with eyes like Keith's, and +the same lordly poise of the fine head that Malcolm had.</p> +<p>"Good night, papa, good night, mamma!" whispered Keith, touching +his lips hastily to each picture while Malcolm's back was turned. +There were tears in his eyes. Somehow he was so miserably +homesick.</p> +<p>Next morning, although Keith's throat was not so sore, he was +burning with fever by the time his lessons were over. Before his +grandmother saw him he was off on his wheel for a long ride, and +then, because he was so hot when he came back, he slipped away to +the pond with the pink bathing-suit under his coat, and took the +swim that he had been looking forward to so long. Nobody knew where +he was, and he stayed in the water until his lips and finger-nails +were blue. The morning after that he was too ill to get up, and +Mrs. Maclntyre sent for a doctor.</p> +<p>"He has always been so perfectly well, and seemed to have such a +strong constitution, that I cannot allow myself to believe this +will be anything serious," said Mrs. Maclntyre, but at the end of +the third day he was so much worse that she sent to the city for a +trained nurse, and telegraphed for his father and mother.</p> +<p>They had already left Florida, and were yachting up the Atlantic +coast on their way home when the message reached them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr style="width: 35%;"> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII."></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<h3>"FAIRCHANCE."</h3> +<br> +<p>Malcolm did his best to atone to Virginia for what she had +suffered from the forgetfulness of the two little Indians, but poor +Keith was too ill to remember anything about it. He did not know +his father and mother when they came, and tossed restlessly about, +talking wildly of things they could not understand. It was the +first time he had ever been so ill, and as they watched him lying +there day after day, burning with fever, and growing white and +thin, a great fear came upon them that he would never be any +better.</p> +<p>No one put that fear into words, but little by little it crept +from heart to heart like a wintry fog, until the whole house felt +its chill. The sweet spring sounds and odours came rushing in at +every window from the sunny world outside, but it might as well +have been mid-winter. No one paid any heed while that little life +hung in the balance. The servants went through the house on tiptoe. +Malcolm and Virginia haunted the halls to discover from the grave +faces of the older people what they were afraid to ask, and Mrs. +Maclntyre was kept busy answering the inquiries of the neighbours. +Scarcely an hour passed that some one did not come to ask about +Keith, to leave flowers, or to proffer kindly services. Everybody +who knew the little fellow loved him. His bright smile and winning +manner had made him a host of friends.</p> +<p>There was no lack of attention. His father and mother, Miss +Allison, and the nurse watched every breath, every pulse-beat; and +a dozen times in the night his grandmother stole to the door to +look anxiously at the wan little face on the pillow.</p> +<p>"It is so strange," said his mother to the nurse one day. "He +keeps talking about a white flower. He says that he can't right the +wrong unless he wears it, and that Jonesy will have to be shut up +and never find his brother again. What do you suppose he +means?"</p> +<p>The nurse shook her head. She did not know. Just then Mrs. +Maclntyre heard her name called softly, "Elise," and her husband +beckoned her to come out into the hall. "I want to show you +something in Allison's room," he said, leading her down the hall to +his sister's apartment. On each side of the low writing-desk stood +a large photograph, one of Malcolm in his suit of mail, the other +of Keith in the costume of jewel-embroidered velvet, like the +little Duke of Gloster's.</p> +<p>"Oh, Sydney! How beautiful!" she exclaimed, as she swept across +the room and knelt down before the desk for a better view. Leaning +her arms on the desk, she looked into Keith's pictured face with +hungry eyes. "Isn't he lovely?" she repeated. "Oh, he'll never look +like that again! I know it! I know it!" she sobbed, remembering how +white was the little face on the pillow that she had just left.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre bent over her, his own handsome face white and +haggard. He looked ill himself, from the constant watching and +anxiety. "I'd give anything in the world that I own! Everything!" +he groaned. "I'd do anything, sacrifice anything, to see him as +well and sturdy as he looks there!"</p> +<p>Then he caught up the picture. "What's this written underneath?" +he asked, "It is in Keith's own handwriting: '<i>Live pure speak +truth, right the wrong, follow the king. Else wherefore +born</i>?'</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0166-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>"What does it mean, Allison?" he asked, turning to his sister, +who was resting on a couch by the window. "It is written under +Malcolm's picture, too."</p> +<p>"The dear little Sir Galahads," she said, "I sent for you to +tell you about them. The boys intended the pictures as a surprise +for you and Elise, so we never sent them. They wanted to tell you +themselves about the Benefit and the little waif they gave it +for."</p> +<p>She took a little pin from a jewel-case under the sofa pillows, +and reaching over, dropped it in her brother's hand. It was a tiny +flower of white enamel, with a diamond dewdrop in the centre.</p> +<p>"You may have noticed Malcolm wearing one like it," she said, +and then she told them the story of Jonesy and the bear and all +that their coming had led to: the Benefit, the new order of +knighthood, and the awakening of the boys to a noble purpose.</p> +<p>"The boys fully expect you to stand by them in all this, +Sydney," she said, in conclusion, "and play fairy godfather for +Jonesy henceforth and for ever. One night, when Keith came up to +confess some mischief he had been into during the day, he said:</p> +<p>"'Aunt Allison, this wearing the white flower of a blameless +life isn't as easy as it is cracked up to be; but having this +little pin helps a lot. I just put my hand on that like the real +knights used to do on their sword-hilts, and repeat my motto. It +will be easier when papa comes home. Since I've known Jonesy, and +heard him tell about the hard times some people have that he knows, +it seems to me there's an awful lot of wrong in the world for +somebody to set right. Some nights I can hardly go to sleep for +thinking about it, and wishing that I were grown up so that I could +begin to do my part. I wish papa could be here now. He'd make a +splendid knight; he is so big and good and handsome. I don't s'pose +King Arthur himself was any better or braver than my father +is.'"</p> +<p>A tear splashed down from the mother's eyes as she listened, +and, falling on the tiny white flower as it lay in her husband's +hand, glistened beside the dewdrop centre like another diamond.</p> +<p>"Oh, Sydney!" she exclaimed, in a heart-broken way. Something +very like a sob shook the man's broad shoulders, and, turning +abruptly, he strode out of the room.</p> +<p>Down in the dim, green library, where the blinds had been drawn +to keep it cool, he threw himself into a chair beside the table. +Propping Keith's picture up in front of him against a pile of +books, he leaned forward, gazing at it earnestly. He had never +realised before how much he loved the little son, who hour by hour +seemed slowly slipping farther away from him. The pictured face +looked full into his as if it would speak. It wore the same sweet, +trustful expression that had shone there the night he talked to +Jonesy of the Hall of the Shields; the same childish purity that +had moved the old professor to lay his hands upon his head and call +him Galahad.</p> +<p>All that gentle birth, college breeding, wealth, and travel +could give a man, were Sydney Maclntyre's, and yet, measuring +himself by Keith's standard of knighthood, he felt himself sadly +lacking. He had given liberally to charities hundreds of dollars, +because it was often easier for him to write out a check than to +listen to somebody's tale of suffering. But aside from that he had +left the old world to wag on as best it could, with its grievous +load of wrong and sorrow.</p> +<p>A man is not apt to trouble himself as to how it wags for those +outside his circle of friends, when the generations before him have +spent their time laying up a fortune for him to enjoy. But this man +was beginning to trouble himself about it now, as he paced +restlessly up and down the room. He was not thinking now about the +things that usually occupied him, his social duties, his home or +club, or yacht or horses or kennels. He was not planning some new +pleasure for his friends or family, he was wondering what he could +do to be worthy of the exalted regard in which he was held by his +little sons. What wrong could he set right, to prove himself really +as noble as they thought him? He was their ideal of all that was +generous and manly, and yet--</p> +<p>"What have I ever done," he asked himself, "to make them think +so? If I were to be taken out of the world to-morrow, I would be +leaving it exactly as I found it. Who could point to my coffin and +say, 'Laws are better, politics are purer, or times are not so hard +for the masses now, because this one man willed to lift up his +fellows as far as the might of one strong life can reach?' But they +will say that of Malcolm, and Keith, if he lives--ah, if he +lives!"</p> +<p>An hour later the door opened, and Malcolm came in, softly. +"Keith is asking for you, papa," he said, with a timid glance into +his father's haggard face. Then he came nearer, and slipped his +hand into the man's strong fingers, and together they went up the +stairs to answer the summons.</p> +<p>"Did you want me, Keith?"</p> +<p>The head did not turn on the pillow. The languid eyes opened +only half-way, but there was recognition in them now, and one +little hand was raised to lay itself lovingly against his father's +cheek.</p> +<p>"What is it, son?"</p> +<p>The weak little voice tried to answer, but the words came only +in gasps. "Brother knows--about Jonesy--keep him from being a +tramp! Please let me, papa--do that much good--in my life 'else +wherefore--born?'"</p> +<p>"What is it, Keith?" asked his father, bending over him. "Papa +doesn't exactly understand. But you can have anything you want, my +boy. Anything! I'll do whatever you ask."</p> +<p>"Malcolm knows," was the answer. Then the voice seemed somewhat +stronger for an instant, and a faint smile touched Keith's lips. +"Give my half of the bear to Ginger. Now--may I +have--my--white--flower?"</p> +<p>Throwing back his coat, his father unpinned the little badge +from his vest, where he had fastened it for safe-keeping a short +time before in the library. A pleased expression flitted over the +child's face, as he saw where it had been resting, and when it was +fastened in the front of his little embroidered nightshirt, his +hand closed over the pin as if it were something very precious, and +he were afraid of losing it again.</p> +<p>"Wearing the white flower," they heard him whisper, and then the +little knight slept.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>It was hours afterward when he roused again,--hours when the +faintest noise had not been allowed in the house; when the servants +had been sent to the cottage, and Unc' Henry stationed at the front +gate; that no one might drive up the avenue.</p> +<p>Virginia, in a hammock on the veranda, scarcely dared draw a +deep breath till she heard the doctor coming down the stairs, just +before dark. Then she knew by his face that prayers and skill and +tender nursing had not been in vain, and that Keith would live.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;"> +<p>So much can happen in a week. In the seven days that followed +Keith gradually grew strong enough to be propped up in bed a little +while at a time; Captain Dudley and his wife came home from Cuba, +and Mr. Maclntyre began to carry out the promise he had made to +Keith that day when they feared most he could not live.</p> +<p>The whole Valley rejoiced in the first and second happenings, +and were too much occupied in them to notice the third. Carriages +rolled in and out of the great entrance gate all day long, for Mrs. +Dudley had always been a favourite with the old neighbours, and +they gave a warm welcome to her and her gallant husband. Virginia +followed her father and mother about like a loving shadow, and +Keith was so interested in the wonderful stories they told of their +Cuban experiences that he never noticed how much his father and +Malcolm were away from home. Sometimes they would be gone all day +together, consulting with the old professor, overseeing carpenters, +or making hasty trips to the city. Jonesy's home, that had been so +long only a beautiful air-castle, was rapidly taking shape in wood +and stone, and the painters would soon be at work on it.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre had never been more surprised than he was when +Malcolm unfolded their plan to him. It did not seem possible that +two children could have thought of it all, and arranged every +detail without the help of some older head.</p> +<p>"It just grew," said Malcolm, in explanation. "First Keith said +how lovely it would have been if we had made enough money at the +Benefit to have bought a home for Jonesy in the country, where he +could have a fair chance to grow up a good man. Just a comfortable +little cottage with a garden, where he could be out-of-doors all +the time, instead of in the dirty city streets; then nobody could +call him a 'child of the slums' any more. Then we said it would be +better if there were some fields back of the garden, so that he +could learn to be a farmer when he was older, and have some way to +make a living. We talked about it every night when we went to bed, +and kept putting a little more and a little more to it, until it +was as real to us as if we had truly seen such a place. There were +vines on the porches, and a big Newfoundland dog on the front +steps, and a cow and calf in the pasture, and a gentle old horse +that could plough and that Jonesy could ride to water.</p> +<p>"We told Ginger, and she thought of a lot more things; some +little speckled pigs in a pen and kittens in the hay-mow, and ducks +on the pond, and an orchard, and roses in the yard. She said we +ought to call the place 'Fairchance,' because that's what it would +mean for Jonesy and Barney (you know we would send for Barney first +thing we did, of course), and it was Ginger who first thought of +getting some nice man and his wife to take care of the boys. She +said there are plenty of people who would be glad to do it, just +for the sake of having such a good home. Ginger said if we could do +all that, and keep Jonesy and his brother from growing up to be +tramps like the man we bought the bear from, it would be serving +our country just as much as if we went to war and fought for it. +Ginger is a crank about being a patriot. You ought to hear her talk +about it. And Aunt Allison said that 'an ounce of prevention is +worth a pound of cure,' and that to build such a place as our +'Fairchance' would be a deed worthy of any true knight."</p> +<p>"How are you expecting to bring this wonderful thing to pass?" +asked his father, as Malcolm stopped to take breath. "Do you expect +to wave a wand and see it spring up out of the earth?"</p> +<p>"Of course not, papa!" said Malcolm, a little provoked by his +father's teasing smile. "We were going to ask you to let us take +the money that grandfather left us in his will. We won't need it +when we are grown, for we can earn plenty ourselves then, and it +seems too bad to have it laid away doing nobody any good, when we +need it so much now to right this wrong of Jonesy's."</p> +<p>"But it is not laid away," answered Mr. MacIntyre. "It is +invested in such a way that it is earning you more money every +year; and more than that, it was left in trust for you, so that it +cannot be touched until you are twenty-one."</p> +<p>"Oh, papa!" cried Malcolm, bitterly disappointed. He had hard +work to keep back the tears for a moment; then a happy thought made +his face brighten. "You could lend us the money, and we would pay +you back when we are of age. You know you promised Keith you would +do anything he wanted, and that is what he was trying to ask +for?"</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre put his arm around the earnest little fellow, and +drew him to his knee, smiling down into the upturned face that +waited eagerly for his answer.</p> +<p>"I only asked that to hear what you would say, my son," was the +answer. "You need have no worry about the money. I'll keep my +promise to Keith, and Jonesy shall have his home. I'm not a knight, +but I'm proud to be the father of two such valiant champions. +Please God, you'll not be alone in your battles after this, to +right the world's wrongs. I'll be your faithful squire, or, as we'd +say in these days, a sort of silent partner in the enterprise."</p> +<p>Several days after this a deed was recorded in the county +court-house, conveying a large piece of property from old Colonel +Lloyd to Malcolm and Keith Maclntyre. It was the place adjoining +"The Locusts," on which stood a fine old homestead that had been +vacant for several years. The day after its purchase a force of +carpenters and painters were set to work, and two coloured men +began clearing out the tangle of bushes in the long-neglected +garden.</p> +<p>Jonesy know nothing of what was going on, and wondered at the +long conversations which took place between the old professor and +Mr. Maclntyre, always in German. It was the professor who found +some one to take care of the home, as Virginia had suggested. He +recommended a countryman of his, Carl Sudsberger, who had long been +a teacher like himself. He was a gentle old soul who loved children +and understood them, and a more motherly creature than his wife +could not well be imagined. Everything throve under her thrifty +management, and she had no patience with laziness or waste. Any boy +in whose bringing up she had a hand would be able to make his way +in the world when the time came for it.</p> +<p>Mrs. Dudley and Miss Allison helped choose the furnishings, but +Virginia felt that the pleasure of it was all hers, for she was +taken to the city every time they went, and allowed a voice in +everything. Several trips were necessary before the house was +complete, but by the last week in May it was ready from attic to +cellar.</p> +<p>It was the "Fairchance" that the boys had planned so long, with +its rose-bordered paths, the orchard and garden and outlying +fields. Nothing had been forgotten, from the big Newfoundland dog +on the doorstep, to the ducks on the pond, and the little speckled +pigs in the pen. The day that Keith was able to walk down-stairs +for the first time, Mr. Maclntyre went to Chicago, taking Jonesy +with him, to find Barney and bring him back. He was gone several +days, and when he returned there were three boys with him instead +of two: Jonesy, Barney, and a little fellow about five years old, +still in dresses.</p> +<br> +<p class="ctr"><img src="images/0180-1.jpg" width="40%" alt=""></p> +<br> +<p>Malcolm met them at the train, and eyed the small newcomer with +curiosity. "It is a little chap that Barney had taken under his +wing," explained Mr. Maclntyre. "Its mother was dead, and I found +it was entirely dependent on Barney for support. They slept +together in the same cellar, and shared whatever he happened to +earn, just as Jonesy did. I hadn't the heart to leave him behind, +although I didn't relish the idea of travelling with such a +kindergarten. Would you believe it, Dodds (that's the little +fellow's name) <i>never saw a tree in his life</i> until yesterday? +He had never been out of the slums where he was born, not even to +the avenues of the city where he could have seen them. It was too +far for him to walk alone, and street-cars were out of the question +for him,--as much out of reach of his empty pockets as the +moon."</p> +<p>"Never saw a tree!" echoed Malcolm, with a thrill of horror in +his voice that a life could be so bare in its knowledge of beauty. +"Oh, papa, how much 'Fairchance' will mean to him, then! Oh, I'm so +glad, and Keith--why, Keith will want to stand on his head!"</p> +<p>They drove directly to the new place. It was late in the +afternoon, and the sunshine threw long, waving shadows across the +yard. Mrs. Sudsberger sat on the front porch knitting. A warm +breeze blowing in from the garden stirred the white window curtains +behind her with soft flutterings. The coloured woman in the kitchen +was singing as she moved around preparing supper, and her voice +floated cheerily around the corner of the house:</p> +<blockquote>"Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' fer to carry me +home,<br> +Swing low, sweet char-i-<i>ot</i>, comin' fer to carry me +home!"</blockquote> +<p>A Jersey cow lowed at the pasture bars, and from away over in +the woodland came the cooing of a dove. Three little waifs had +found a home.</p> +<p>Mr. Maclntyre looked from the commonplace countenances of the +boys climbing out of the carriage to Malcolm's noble face. "It is a +doubtful experiment," he said to himself. "They may never amount to +anything, but at least they shall have a chance to see what clean, +honest, country living can do for them." And then there swept +across his heart, with a warm, generous rush, the impulse to do as +much for every other unfortunate child he could reach, whose only +heritage is the poverty and crime of city slums. He had seen so +much in that one short visit. The misery of it haunted him, and it +was with a happiness as boyish and keen as Malcolm's that he led +these children he had rescued into the home that was to be theirs +henceforth.</p> +<p>Keith did not see "Fairchance" until Memorial Day. Then they +took him over in the carriage in the afternoon, and showed him +every nook and corner of the place. There were six boys there now, +for room had been made for two little fellows from Louisville, whom +Mr. Maclntyre had found at the Newsboys' Home. "I've no doubt but +that there'll always be more coming," he said to Mr. Sudsberger, +with a smile, as he led them in. "When you once let a little water +trickle through the dyke, the whole sea is apt to come pouring +in."</p> +<p>"Happy the heart that is swept with such high tides," answered +the old German. "It is left the richer by such floods."</p> +<p>Several families in the Valley were invited to come late in the +afternoon to a flag-raising. The great silk flag was Virginia's +gift, and Captain Dudley made the presentation speech. He wore his +uniform in honour of the occasion. This was a part of what he +said:</p> +<p>"This Memorial Day, throughout this wide-spread land of ours, +over every mound that marks a soldier's dust, some hand is +stretched to drop a flower in tender tribute. Over her heroic dead +a grateful country wreathes the red of her roses, the white of her +lilies, and the blue of her forget-me-nots, repeating even in the +sweet syllables of the flowers the symbol of her patriotism,--the +red, white, and blue of her war-stained banner.</p> +<p>"My friends, I have followed the old flag into more than one +battle. I have seen men charge after it through blinding smoke and +hail of bullets, and I have seen them die for it. No one feels more +deeply than I what a glorious thing it is to die for one's country, +but I want to say to these little lads looking up at this great +flag fluttering over us, that it is not half so noble, half so +brave, as to live for it, to give yourselves in untiring, every-day +living to your country's good. To 'let <i>all</i> the ends thou +aim'st at be thy country's, thy God's, and truth's.' I would rather +have that said of me, that I did that, than to be the greatest +general of my day. I would rather be the founder of homes like this +one than to manoeuvre successfully the greatest battles.</p> +<p>"May the 'Two Little Knights of Kentucky' go on, out through the +land, carrying their motto with them, until the last wrong is +righted, and wherever the old flag floats a 'fair chance' may be +found for every one that lives beneath it. And may these Stars and +Stripes, as they rise and fall on the winds of this peaceful +valley, whisper continuously that same motto, until its lessons of +truth and purity and unselfish service have been blazoned on the +hearts of every boy who calls this home. May it help to make him a +true knight in his country's cause."</p> +<p>There was music after that, and then old Colonel Lloyd made a +speech, and Virginia and the Little Colonel gathered roses out of +the old garden, so that every one could wear a bunch. A little +later they had supper on the lawn, picnic fashion, and then drove +home in the cool of the evening, when all the meadows were full of +soft flashings from the fairy torches of a million fireflies.</p> +<p>With Keith safely covered up in a hammock, they lingered on the +porch long after the stars came out, and the dew lay heavy on the +roses. They were building other air-castles now, to be rebuilt some +day, as Jonesy's home had been; only these were still larger and +better. The older people were planning, too, and all the good that +grew out of that quiet evening talk can never be known until that +day comes when the King shall read all the names in his Hall of the +Shields.</p> +<p>"It has been such a beautiful day," said Virginia, leaning her +head happily against her mother's shoulder. Then she started up, +suddenly remembering something. "Oh, papa!" she cried, "let's end +it as they do at the fort, with the bugle-call. I'll run and get my +old bugle, and you play 'taps.'"</p> +<p>A few minutes later the silvery notes went floating out on the +warm night air, through all the peaceful valley; over the mounds in +the little churchyard, wreathed now with their fresh memorial +roses; past "The Locusts" where the Little Colonel lay a-dreaming. +Over the woods and fields they floated, until they reached the flag +that kept its fluttering vigil over "Fairchance."</p> +<p>Jonesy sat up in bed to listen. Many a reveille would sound +before his full awakening to all that the two little knights had +made possible for him, but the sweet, dim dream of the future that +stole into his grateful little heart was an earnest of what was in +store for him. Then the bugle-call, falling through the starlight +like a benediction, closed the happy day with its peaceful "Good +night."</p> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Little Knights of Kentucky +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY *** + +***** This file should be named 12317-h.htm or 12317-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/1/12317/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Two Little Knights of Kentucky + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Release Date: May 10, 2004 [EBook #12317] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF +KENTUCKY + + + + +TO +MARGARET AND ALBION, +MARY, HELEN, LURA AND ROSE, +WILLIAM AND GEORGE + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR. + II. GINGER AND THE BOYS. + III. THE VALENTINE PARTY. + IV. A FIRE AND A PLAN. + V. JONESY'S BENEFIT. + VI. THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES. + VII. A GAME OF INDIAN. +VIII. "FAIRCHANCE". + +[Illustration: PLANS.] + +TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF +KENTUCKY. + + + * * * * * +CHAPTER I. + +TWO TRAMPS AND A BEAR. + +It was the coldest Saint Valentine's eve that Kentucky had known in +twenty years. In Lloydsborough Valley a thin sprinkling of snow whitened +the meadows, enough to show the footprints of every hungry rabbit that +loped across them; but there were not many such tracks. It was so cold +that the rabbits, for all their thick fur, were glad to run home and +hide. Nobody cared to be out long in such weather, and except now and +then, when an ice-cutter's wagon creaked up from some pond to the +frozen pike, the wintry stillness was unbroken. + +On the north side of the little country depot a long row of icicles hung +from the eaves. Even the wind seemed to catch its breath there, and +hurry on with a shiver that reached to the telegraph wires overhead. It +shivered down the long stovepipe, too, inside the waiting-room. The +stove had been kept red-hot all that dull gray afternoon, but the +window-panes were still white with heavy frost-work. + +Half an hour before the five o'clock train was due from the city, two +boys came running up the railroad track with their skates in their +hands. They were handsome, sturdy little fellows, so well buttoned up in +their leather leggins and warm reefer overcoats that they scarcely felt +the cold. Their cheeks were red as winter apples, from skating against +the wind, and they were almost breathless after their long run up-hill +to the depot. Racing across the platform, they bumped against the door +at the same instant, burst it noisily open, and slammed it behind them +with a bang that shook the entire building. + +"What kind of a cyclone has struck us now?" growled the ticket agent, +who was in the next room. Then he frowned, as the first noise was +followed by the rasping sound of a bench being dragged out of a corner, +to a place nearer the stove. It scraped the bare floor every inch of the +way, with a jarring motion that made the windows rattle. + +Stretching himself half-way out of his chair, the ticket agent pushed up +the wooden slide of the little window far enough for him to peep into +the waiting-room. Then he hastily shoved it down again. + +"It's the two little chaps who came out from the city last week," he +said to the station-master. "The Maclntyre boys. You'd think they own +the earth from the way they dash in and take possession of things." + +The station-master liked boys. He stroked his gray beard and chuckled. +"Well, Meyers," he said, slowly, "when you come to think of it, their +family always has owned a pretty fair slice of the earth and its good +things, and those same little lads have travelled nearly all over it, +although the oldest can't be more than ten. It would be a wonder if they +didn't have that lordly way of making themselves at home wherever +they go." + +"Will they be out here all winter?" asked Meyers, who was a newcomer in +Lloydsborough. + +"Yes, their father and mother have gone to Florida, and left them here +with their grandmother Maclntyre." + +"I imagine the old lady has her hands full," said Meyers, as a sound of +scuffling in the next room reached him. + +"Oh, I don't know about that, now," said the station-master. "They're +noisy children, to be sure, and just boiling over with mischief, but if +you can find any better-mannered little gentlemen anywhere in the State +when there's ladies around, I'd like you to trot 'em out. They came down +to the train with their aunt this morning, Miss Allison Maclntyre, and +their politeness to her was something pretty to see, I can tell +you, sir." + +There was a moment's pause, in which the boys could be heard laughing in +the next room. + +"No," said the station-master again, "I'm thinking it's not the boys who +will be keeping Mrs. Maclntyre's hands full this winter, so much as +that little granddaughter of hers that came here last fall,--little +Virginia Dudley. You can guess what's she like from her nickname. They +call her Ginger. She had always lived at some army post out West, until +her father, Captain Dudley, was ordered to Cuba. He was wounded down +there, and has never been entirely well since. When he found they were +going to keep him there all winter, he sent for his wife last September, +and there was nothing to do with Virginia but to bring her back to +Kentucky to her grandmother." + +"Oh, she's the little girl who went in on the train this morning with +Miss Allison," said the ticket agent. "I suppose the boys have come down +to meet them. They'll have a long time to wait." + +While this conversation was going on behind the ticket window, the two +boys stretched themselves out on a long bench beside the stove. The warm +room made them feel drowsy after their violent out-door exercise. Keith, +the younger one, yawned several times, and finally lay down on the bench +with his cap for a pillow. He was eight years old, but curled up in that +fashion, with his long eyelashes resting on his red cheeks, and one +plump little hand tucked under his chin, he looked much younger. + +"Wake me up, Malcolm, when it's time for Aunt Allison's train," he said +to his brother. "Ginger would never stop teasing me if she should find +me asleep." + +Malcolm unbuttoned his reefer, and, after much tugging, pulled out a +handsome little gold watch. "Oh, there's a long time to wait!" he +exclaimed. "We need not have left the pond so early, for the train will +not be here for twenty-five minutes. I believe I'll curl up here myself, +till then. I hope they won't forget the valentines we sent for." + +The room was very still for a few minutes. There was no sound at all +except the crackling of the fire and the shivering of the wind in the +long stovepipe. Then some one turned the door-knob so cautiously and +slowly that it unlatched without a sound. + +It was the cold air rushing into the room as the door was pushed ajar +that aroused the boys. After one surprised glance they sat up, for the +man, who was slipping into the room as stealthily as a burglar, was the +worst-looking tramp they had ever seen. There was a long, ugly red scar +across his face, running from his cheek to the middle of his forehead, +and partly closing one eye. Perhaps it was the scar that gave him such a +queer, evil sort of an expression; even without it he would have been a +repulsive sight. His clothes were dirty and ragged, and his breath had +frozen in icicles on his stubby red beard. + +Behind him came a boy no larger than Keith, but with a hard, shrewd look +in his hungry little face that made one feel he had lived a long time +and learned more than was good for him to know. It was plain to be seen +that he was nearly starved, and suffering from the intense cold. His +bare toes peeped through their ragged shoes, and he had no coat. A thin +cotton shirt and a piece of an old gray horse-blanket was all that +protected his shoulders from the icy wind of that February afternoon. +He, too, crept in noiselessly, as if expecting to be ordered out at the +first sound, and then turned to coax in some animal that was tied to one +end of the rope which he held. + +Malcolm and Keith looked on with interest, and sprang up excitedly as +the animal finally shuffled in far enough for the boy to close the door +behind it. It was a great, shaggy bear, taller than the man when it sat +up on its haunches beside him. + +The tramp looked uneasily around the room for an instant, but seeing no +one save the two children, ventured nearer the stove. The boy followed +him, and the bear shuffled along behind them both, limping painfully. +Not a word was said for a moment. The boys were casting curious glances +at the three tramps who had come in as noiselessly as if they had snowed +down, and the man was watching the boys with shrewd eyes. He did not +seem to be looking at them, but at the end of his survey he could have +described them accurately. He had noticed every detail of their +clothing, from their expensive leather leggins to their fur-lined +gloves. He glanced at Malcolm's watch-chain and the fine skates which +Keith swung back and forth by a strap, and made up his mind, correctly, +too, that the pockets of these boys rarely lacked the jingle of money +which they could spend as they pleased. + +When he turned away to hold his hands out toward the stove, he rubbed +them together with satisfaction, for he had discovered more than that. +He knew from their faces that they were trusting little souls, who would +believe any story he might tell them, if he appealed to their sympathies +in the right way. He was considering how to begin, when Malcolm broke +the silence. + +"Is that a trained bear?" + +The man nodded. + +"What can it do?" was the next question. + +"Oh, lots of things," answered the man, in a low, whining voice. "Drill +like a soldier, and dance, and ride a stick." He kept his shifty eyes +turning constantly toward the door, as if afraid some one might +overhear him. + +"I'd put him through his paces for you young gen'lemen," he said, "but +he got his foot hurt for one thing, and another is, if we went to +showing off, we might be ordered to move on. This is the first time +we've smelled a fire in twenty-four hours, and we ain't in no hurry to +leave it, I can tell you." + +"Will he bite?" asked Keith, going up to the huge bear, which had +stretched itself out comfortably on the floor. + +"Not generally. He's a good-tempered brute, most times like a lamb. But +he ain't had nothing to eat all day, so it wouldn't be surprising if he +was a bit snappish." + +"Nothing to eat!" echoed Keith. "You poor old thing!" Going a step +closer, he put out his hand and stroked the bear, as if it had been a +great dog. + +"Oh, Malcolm, just feel how soft his fur is, like mamma's beaver jacket. +And he has the kindest old face. Poor old fellow, is you hungry? Never +mind, Keith'll get you something to eat pretty soon." + +Putting his short, plump arms around the animal's neck, he hugged it +lovingly up to him. A cunning gleam came into the man's eyes. He saw +that he had gained the younger boy's sympathy, and he wanted +Malcolm's also. + +"Is your home near here, my little gen'leman?" he asked, in a friendly +tone. + +"No, we live in the city," answered Malcolm, "but my grandmother's +place, where we are staying, is not far from here." He was stroking the +bear with one hand as he spoke, and hunting in his pocket with the +other, hoping to find some stray peanuts to give it. + +"Then maybe you know of some place where we could stay to-night. Even a +shed to crawl into would keep us from freezing. It's an awful cold night +not to have a roof over your head, or a crust to gnaw on, or a spark of +fire to keep life in your body." + +"Maybe they'd let you stay in the waiting-room," suggested Malcolm. "It +is always good and warm in here. I'll ask the station-master. He's a +friend of mine." + +"Oh, no! No, don't!" exclaimed the tramp, hastily, pulling his old hat +farther over his forehead, as if to hide the scar, and looking uneasily +around. "I wouldn't have you do that for anything. I've had dealings +with such folks before, and I know how they'd treat _me_. I thought +maybe there was a barn or a hay-shed or something on your grandmother's +place, where we could lay up for repairs a couple of days. The beast +needs a rest. Its foot's sore; and Jonesy there is pretty near to lung +fever, judging from the way he coughs." He nodded toward the boy, who +had placed his chair as close to the stove as possible. The child's face +was drawn into a pucker by the tingling pains in his half-frozen feet, +and his efforts to keep from coughing. + +Malcolm looked at him steadily. He had read about boys who were homeless +and hungry and cold, but he had never really understood how much it +meant to be all that. This was the first time in his ten short years +that he had ever come close to real poverty. He had seen the swarms of +beggars that infest such cities as Naples and Rome, and had tossed them +coppers because that seemed a part of the programme in travelling. He +had not really felt sorry for them, for they did not seem to mind it. +They sat on the steps in the warm Italian sunshine, and waited for +tourists to throw them money, as comfortably as toads sit blinking at +flies. But this was different. A wave of pity swept through Malcolm's +generous little heart as he looked at Jonesy, and the man watching him +shrewdly saw it. + +"Of course," he whined, "a little gen'leman like you don't know what it +is to go from town to town and have every door shut in your face. You +don't think that this is a hard-hearted, stingy old world, because it +has given you the cream of everything. But if you'd never had anything +all your life but other people's scraps and leavings, and you hadn't any +home or friends or money, and was sick besides, you'd think things +wasn't very evenly divided. Wouldn't you now? You'd think it wasn't +right that some should have all that heart can wish, and others not +enough to keep soul and body together. If you'd a-happened to be Jonesy, +and Jonesy had a-happened to 'a' been you, I reckon you'd feel it was +pretty tough to see such a big difference between you. It doesn't seem +fair now, does it?" + +"No," admitted Malcolm, faintly. He had taken a dislike to the man. He +could not have told why, but his child instinct armed him with a sudden +distrust. Still, he felt the force of the whining appeal, and the burden +of an obligation to help them seemed laid upon his shoulders. + +"Grandmother is afraid for anybody to sleep in the barn, on account of +fire," he said, after a moment's thought, "and I'm sure she wouldn't let +you come into the house without you'd had a bath and some clean clothes. +Grandmother is dreadfully particular," he added, hastily, not wanting to +be impolite even to a tramp. "Seems to me Keith and I have to spend half +our time washing our hands and putting on clean collars." + +"Oh, I know a place," cried Keith. "There's that empty cabin down by the +spring-house. Nobody has lived in it since the new servants' cottage was +built. There isn't any furniture in it, but there's a fireplace in one +room, and it would be warmer than the barn." + +"That's just the trick!" exclaimed Malcolm. "We can carry a pile of hay +over from the barn for you to sleep on. Aunt Allison will be out on this +next train and I'll ask her. I am sure she will let you, because last +night, when it was so cold, she said she felt sorry for anything that +had to be out in it, even the poor old cedar trees, with the sleet on +their branches. She said that it was King Lear's own weather, and she +could understand how Cordelia felt when she said, _'Mine enemy's dog, +though he had bit me, should have stood that night against my fire!'_ It +is just like auntie to feel that way about it, only she's so good to +everybody she couldn't have any enemies." + +Something like a smile moved the tramp's stubby beard. "So she's that +kind, is she? Well, if she could have a soft spot for a dog that had bit +her, and an enemy's dog at that, it stands to reason that she wouldn't +object to some harmless travellers a-sleeping in an empty cabin a couple +of nights. S'pose'n you show us the place, sonny, and we'll be +moving on." + +"Oh, it wouldn't be right not to ask her first," exclaimed Malcolm. +"She'll be here in such a little while." + +The man looked uneasy. Presently he walked over to the window and +scraped a peep-hole on the frosted pane with his dirty thumbnail. "Sun's +down," he said. "I'd like to get that bear's foot fixed comfortable +before it grows any darker. I'd like to mighty well. It'll take some +time to heat water to dress it. Is that cabin far from here?" + +"Not if we go in at the back of the place," said Malcolm. "It's just +across the meadow, and over a little hill. If we went around by the big +front gate it would be a good deal longer." + +The man shifted uneasily from one foot to another, and complained of +being hungry. He was growing desperate. For more reasons than one he did +not want to be at the station when the train came in. That long red scar +across his face had been described a number of times in the newspapers, +and he did not care to be recognised just then. + +The boys could not have told how it came about, but in a few minutes +they were leading the way toward the cabin. The man had persuaded them +that it was not at all necessary to wait for their Aunt Allison's +permission, and that it was needless to trouble their grandmother. Why +should the ladies be bothered about a matter that the boys were old +enough to decide? So well had he argued, and so tactfully had he +flattered them, that when they took their way across the field, it was +with the feeling that they were doing their highest duty in getting +these homeless wayfarers to the cabin as quickly as possible, on +their own responsibility. + +[Illustration: "ACROSS THE SNOWY FIELDS."] + +"We can get back in time to meet the train, if we hurry," said Malcolm, +looking at his watch again. "There's still fifteen minutes." + +No one saw the little procession file out of the waiting-room and across +the snowy field, for it was growing dark, and the lamps were lighted and +the curtains drawn in the few houses they passed. Malcolm went first, +proudly leading the friendly old bear. Jonesy came next beside Keith, +and the man shuffled along in the rear, looking around with suspicious +glances whenever a twig snapped, or a distant dog barked. + +As the wind struck against Jonesy's body, he drew the bit of blanket +more closely around him, and coughed hoarsely. His teeth were chattering +and his lips blue. "You look nearly frozen," said Keith, who, well-clad +and well-fed, scarcely felt the cold. "Here! put this on, or you'll be +sick," Unbuttoning his thick little reefer, he pulled it off and tied +its sleeves around Jonesy's neck. + +A strange look passed over the face of the man behind them. "Blessed if +the little kid didn't take it off his own back," he muttered. "If any +man had ever done that for me--just once--well, maybe, I wouldn't ha' +been what I am now!" + +For a moment, as they reached the top of the hill, bear, boys, and man +were outlined blackly against the sky like strange silhouettes. Then +they passed over and disappeared in the thick clump of pine-trees, which +hid the little cabin from the eyes of the surrounding world. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +GINGER AND THE BOYS. + +In less time than one would think possible, a big fire was roaring in +the cabin fireplace, water was steaming in the rusty kettle on the +crane, and a pile of hay and old carpet lay in one corner, ready to be +made into a bed. Keith had made several trips to the kitchen, and came +back each time with his hands full. + +Old Daphne, the cook, never could find it in her heart to refuse "Marse +Sydney's" boys anything. They were too much like what their father had +been at their age to resist their playful coaxing. She had nursed him +when he was a baby, and had been his loyal champion all through his +boyhood. Now her black face wrinkled into smiles whenever she heard his +name spoken. In her eyes, nobody was quite so near perfection as he, +except, perhaps, the fair woman whom he had married. + +"Kain't nobody in ten States hole a can'le to my Marse Sidney an' his +Miss Elise," old Daphne used to say, proudly. "They sut'n'ly is the +handsomest couple evah jined togethah, an' the free-handedest. In all +they travels by sea or by land they nevah fo'gits ole Daphne. I've got +things from every country undah the shinin' sun what they done +brung me." + +Now, all the services she had once been proud to render them were +willingly given to their little sons. When Keith came in with a pitiful +tale of a tramp who was starving at their very gates, she gave him even +more than he asked for, and almost more than he could carry. + +The bear and its masters were so hungry, and their two little hosts so +interested in watching them eat, that they forgot all about going back +to meet the train. They did not even hear it whistle when it came +puffing into the Valley. + +As Miss Allison stepped from the car to the station platform, she looked +around in vain for the boys who had promised to meet her. Her arms were +so full of bundles, as suburban passengers' usually are, that she could +not hold up her long broadcloth skirt, or even turn her handsome fur +collar higher over her ears. With a shade of annoyance on her pretty +face, she swept across the platform and into the waiting-room, out +of the cold. + +Behind her came a little girl about ten years old, as unlike her as +possible, although it was Virginia Dudley's ambition to be exactly like +her Aunt Allison. She wanted to be tall, and slender, and grown up; Miss +Allison was that, and yet she had kept all her lively girlish ways, and +a love of fun that made her charming to everybody, young and old. +Virginia longed for wavy brown hair and white hands, and especially for +a graceful, easy manner. Her hair was short and black, and her +complexion like a gypsy's. She had hard, brown little fists, sharp gray +eyes that seemed to see everything at once, and a tongue that was always +getting her into trouble. As for the ease of manner, that might come in +time, but her stately old grandmother often sighed in secret over +Virginia's awkwardness. + +She stumbled now as she followed the young lady into the waiting-room. +Her big, plume-covered hat tipped over one ear, but she, too, had so +many bundles, that she could not spare a hand to straighten it. + +"Well, Virginia, what do you suppose has become of the boys?" asked her +aunt. "They promised to meet us and carry our packages." + +"I heard them in here about half an hour ago, Miss Allison," said the +station-master, who had come in with a lantern. "I s'pose they got tired +of waiting. Better leave your things here, hadn't you? I'll watch them. +It is mighty slippery walking this evening." + +"Oh, thank you, Mr. Mason," she answered, beginning to pile boxes and +packages upon a bench, I'll send Pete down for them immediately. Now, +Virginia, turn up your coat collar and hold your muff over your nose, or +Jack Frost will make an icicle out of you before you are half-way home. + +They had been in the house some time before the boys remembered their +promise to meet them at the station. When they saw how late it was, they +started home on the run. + +"I am fairly aching to tell Ginger about that bear," panted Keith, as +they reached the side door. "I am so sorry that we promised the man not +to say anything about them being on the place, before he sees us again +to-morrow. I wonder why he asked us that." + +"I don't know," answered Malcolm. "He seemed to have some very good +reason, and he talked about it so that it didn't seem right not to +promise a little thing like that." + +"I wish we hadn't, though," said Keith, again. + +"But it's done now," persisted Malcolm. "We're bound not to tell, and +you can't get out of it, for he made us give him our word 'on the +honour of a gentleman;' and that settles it, you know." + +They were two very dirty boys who clattered up the back stairs, and +raced to their room to dress for dinner. Their clothes were covered with +hayseed and straw, and their hands and faces were black with soot from +the old cabin chimney. They had both helped to build the fire. + +The lamps had just been lighted in the upper hall, and Virginia came +running out from her room when she heard the boys' voices. + +"Why didn't you meet us at the train?" she began, but stopped as she saw +their dirty faces. "Where on earth have you chimney-sweeps been?" +she cried. + +"Oh, about and about," answered Malcolm, teasingly. "Don't you wish you +knew?" + +Virginia shrugged her shoulders, as if she had not the slightest +interest in the matter, and held out two packages. + +"Here are the valentines you sent for. You just ought to see the pile +that Aunt Allison bought. We've the best secret about to-morrow that +ever was." + +"So have we," began Keith, but Malcolm clapped a sooty hand over his +mouth and pulled him toward the door of their room. "Come on," he said. +"We've barely time to dress for dinner. Don't you know enough to keep +still, you little magpie?" he exclaimed, as the door banged behind them. +"The only way to keep a secret is not to act like you have one!" + +Virginia walked slowly back to her room and paused in the doorway, +wondering what she could do to amuse herself until dinner-time. It was a +queer room for a girl, decorated with flags and Indian trophies and +everything that could remind her of the military life she loved, at the +far-away army post. There were photographs framed in brass buttons on +her dressing-table, and pictures of uniformed officers all over the +walls. A canteen and an army cap with a bullet-hole through the crown, +hung over her desk, and a battered bugle, that had sounded many a +triumphant charge, swung from the corner of her mirror. + +Each souvenir had a history, and had been given her at parting by some +special friend. Every one at the fort had made a pet of Captain Dudley's +daughter,--the harum-scarum little Ginger,--who would rather dash across +the prairies on her pony, like a wild Comanche Indian, than play with +the finest doll ever imported from Paris. + +There was a suit in her wardrobe, short skirt, jacket, leggins, and +moccasins, all made and beaded by the squaws. It was the gift of the +colonel's wife. Mrs. Dudley had hesitated some time before putting it in +one of the trunks that was to go back to Kentucky. + +"You look so much like an Indian now," she said to Virginia. "Your face +is so sunburned that I am afraid your grandmother will be scandalised. I +don't know what she would say if she knew that I ever allowed you to run +so wild. If I had known that you were going back to civilisation I +certainly should not have kept your hair cut short, and you should have +worn sunbonnets all summer." + +To Mrs. Dudley's great surprise, her little daughter threw herself into +her arms, sobbing, "Oh, mamma! I don't want to go back to Kentucky! Take +me to Cuba with you! Please do, or else let me stay here at the post. +Everybody will take care of me here! I'll just _die_ if you leave me in +Kentucky!" + +"Why, darling," she said, soothingly, as she wiped her tears away and +rocked her back and forth in her arms, "I thought you have always +wanted to see mamma's old home, and the places you have heard so much +about. There are all the old toys in the nursery that we had when we +were children, and the grape-vine swing in the orchard, and the +mill-stream where we fished, and the beech-woods where we had such +delightful picnics. I thought it would be so nice for you to do all the +same things that made me so happy when I was a child, and go to school +in the same old Girls' College and know all the dear old neighbours that +I knew. Wouldn't my little girl like that?" + +"Oh, yes, some, I s'pose," sobbed Virginia, "but I didn't know I'd have +to be so--so--everlastingly--civilised!" she wailed. "I don't want to +always have to dress just so, and have to walk in a path and be called +Virginia all the time. That sounds so stiff and proper. I'd rather stay +where people don't mind if I am sunburned and tanned, and won't be +scandalised at everything I do. It's so much nicer to be just +plain Ginger!" + +It had been five months, now, since Virginia left Fort Dennis. At first +she had locked hen self in her room nearly every day, and, with her +face buried in her Indian suit, cried to go back. She missed the gay +military life of the army post, as a sailor would miss the sea, or an +Alpine shepherd the free air of his snow-capped mountain heights. + +It was not that she did not enjoy being at her grandmother's. She liked +the great gray house whose square corner tower and over-hanging vines +made it look like an old castle. She liked the comfort and elegance of +the big, stately rooms, and she had her grandmother's own pride in the +old family portraits and the beautiful carved furniture. The negro +servants seemed so queer and funny to her that she found them a great +source of amusement, and her Aunt Allison planned so many pleasant +occupations outside of school-hours that she scarcely had time to get +lonesome. But she had a shut-in feeling, like a wild bird in a cage, and +sometimes the longing for liberty which her mother had allowed her made +her fret against the thousand little proprieties she had to observe. +Sometimes when she went tipping over the polished floors of the long +drawing room, and caught sight of herself in one of the big mirrors, she +felt that she was not herself at all, but somebody in a story. The +Virginia in the looking-glass seemed so very, very civilised. More than +once, after one of these meetings with herself in the mirror, she dashed +up-stairs, locked her door, and dressed herself in her Indian suit. Then +in her noiseless moccasins she danced the wildest of war-dances, +whispering shrilly between her teeth, "Now I'm Ginger! Now I'm Ginger! +And I _won't_ be dressed up, and I _won't_ learn my lessons, and I +_won't_ be a little lady, and I'll run away and go back to Fort Dennis +the very first chance I get!" + +Usually she was ashamed of these outbursts afterwards, for it always +happened that after each one she found her Aunt Allison had planned +something especially pleasant for her entertainment. Miss Allison felt +sorry for the lonely child, who had never been separated from her father +and mother before, so she devoted her time to her as much as possible, +telling her stories and entering into her plays and pleasures as if they +had both been the same age. + +Since the boys had come, Virginia had not had a single homesick moment. +While she was at school in the primary department of the Girls' +College, Malcolm and Keith were reciting their lessons to the old +minister who lived across the road from Mrs. MacIntyre's. They were all +free about the same hour, and even on the coldest days played +out-of-doors from lunch-time until dark. + +To-night Virginia had so many experiences to tell them of her day in +town that the boys seemed unusually long in dressing. She was so +impatient for them to hear her news that she could not settle down to +anything, but walked restlessly around the room, wishing they +would hurry. + +"Oh, I haven't sorted my valentines!" she exclaimed, presently, picking +up a fancy box which she had tossed on the bed when she first came in. +"I'll take them down to the library." + +There was no one in the room when she peeped in. It looked so bright and +cosy with the great wood fire blazing on the hearth and the +rose-coloured light falling from its softly shaded lamps, that she +forgot the coldness of the night outside. Sitting down on a pile of +cushions at one end of the hearth-rug, she began sorting her purchases, +trying to decide to whom each one should be sent. + +"The prettiest valentine of all must go to poor papa," she said to +herself, "'cause he's been so sick away down there in Cuba; and this one +that's got the little girl on it in a blue dress shall be for my dear, +sweet mamma, 'cause it will make her think of me." + +For a moment, a mist seemed to blur the gay blue dress of the little +valentine girl as Virginia looked at her, thinking of her far-away +mother. She drew her hand hastily across her eyes and went on: + +"This one is for Sergeant Jackson out at Fort Dennis, and the biggest +one, with the doves, for Colonel Philips and his wife. Dear me! I wish I +could send one to every officer and soldier out there. They were all +_so_ good to me!" + +The pile of lace-paper cupids and hearts and arrows and roses slipped +from her lap, down to the rug, as she clasped her hands around her knees +and looked into the fire. She wished that she could be back again at the +fort, long enough to live one of those beautiful old days from reveille +to taps. How she loved the bugle-calls and the wild thrill the band gave +her, when it struck up a burst of martial music, and the troops went +dashing by! How she missed the drills and the dress parades; her rides +across the open prairie on her pony, beside her father; how she missed +the games she used to play with the other children at the fort on the +long summer evenings! + +Something more than a mist was gathering in her eyes now. Two big tears +were almost ready to fall when the door opened and Mrs. MacIntyre came +in. In Virginia's eyes she was the most beautiful grandmother any one +ever had. She was not so tall as her daughter Allison, and in that +respect fell short of the little girl's ideal, but her hair, white as +snow, curled around her face in the same soft, pretty fashion, and by +every refined feature she showed her kinship to the aristocratic old +faces which looked down from the family portraits in the hall. + +"I couldn't be as stately and dignified as she is if I practised a +thousand years," thought Virginia, scrambling up from the pile of +cushions to roll a chair nearer the fire. As she did so, her heel caught +in the rug, and she fell back in an awkward little heap. + +"The more haste, the less grace, my dear," said her grandmother, kindly, +thanking her for the proffered chair. Virginia blushed, wondering why +she always appeared so awkward in her grandmother's presence. She envied +the boys because they never seemed embarrassed or ill at ease +before her. + +While she was picking up her valentines the boys came in. If two of the +cavalier ancestors had stepped down from their portrait frames just +then, they could not have come into the room in a more charming manner +than Malcolm and Keith. Their faces were shining, their linen spotless, +and they came up to kiss their grandmother's cheek with an old-time +courtliness that delighted her. + +"I am sure that there are no more perfect gentlemen in all Kentucky than +my two little lads," she said, fondly, with an approving pat of Keith's +hand as she held him a moment. + +Virginia, who had seen them half an hour before, tousled and dirty, and +had been arrayed against them in more than one hot quarrel where they +had been anything but chivalrous, let slip a faintly whistled +"_cuckoo!_" + +The boys darted a quick glance in her direction, but she was bending +over the valentines with a very serious face, which never changed its +expression till her Aunt Allison came in and the boys began their +apologies for not meeting her at the train. Their only excuse was that +they had forgotten all about it. + +Virginia spelled on her fingers: "I dare you to tell what made your +faces so black!" Keith's only answer was to thrust his tongue out at her +behind his grandmother's back. Then he ran to hold the door open for the +ladies to pass out to dinner, with all the grace of a young +Chesterfield. + +When dinner was over and they were back in the library, Miss Allison +opened a box of tiny heart-shaped envelopes, and began addressing them. +As she took up her pen she said, merrily: "_Now_ you may tell our +secret, Virginia." + +"I was going to make you guess for about an hour," said Virginia, "but +it is so nice I can't wait that long to tell you. We are going to have a +valentine party to-morrow night. Aunt Allison planned it all a week ago, +and bought the things for it while we were in town to-day. Everything on +the table is to be cut in heart shape,--the bread and butter and +sandwiches and cheese; and the ice-cream will be moulded in hearts, and +the two big frosted cakes are hearts, one pink and one white, with candy +arrows sticking in them. Then there will be peppermint candy hearts with +mottoes printed on them, and lace-paper napkins with verses on them, so +that the table itself will look like a lovely big valentine. The games +are lovely, too. One is parlour archery, with a red heart in the middle +of the target, and two prizes, one for the boys and one for the girls." + +"Who are invited?" asked Malcolm, as Virginia stopped for breath. + +"Oh, the Carrington boys, and the Edmunds, and Sally Fairfax, and Julia +Ferris,--I can't remember them all. There will be twenty-four, counting +us. There is the list on the table." + +Keith reached for it, and began slowly spelling out the names. "Who is +this?" he asked, reading the name that headed the list. "'The Little +Colonel!' I never heard of him," + +"Oh, he's a girl!" laughed Virginia. Little Lloyd Sherman,--don't you +know? She lives up at 'The Locusts,' that lovely place with the long +avenue of trees leading up to the house. You've surely seen her with her +grandfather, old Colonel Lloyd, riding by on the horse that he calls +Maggie Boy." + +"Has he only one arm?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes, the other was shot off in the war years ago. Well, when Lloyd was +younger, she had a temper so much like his, and wore such a dear little +Napoleon hat, that everybody took to calling her the Little Colonel." + +"How old is she now?" asked Malcolm. + +"About Keith's age, isn't she, Aunt Allison?" asked Virginia. + +"Yes," was the answer. "She is nearly eight, I believe. She has +outgrown most of her naughtiness now." + +"I love to hear her talk," said Virginia. "She leaves out all of her r's +in such a soft, sweet way." + +"All Southerners do that," said Malcolm, pompously, "and I think it +sounds lots better than the way Yankees talk." + +"You boys don't talk like the Little Colonel," retorted Virginia, who +had often been teased by them for not being a Southerner. "You're all +mixed up every which way. Some things you say like darkeys, and some +things like English people, and it doesn't sound a bit like the +Little Colonel." + +"Oh, well, that's because we've travelled abroad so much, don't you +know," drawled Malcolm, "and we've been in so many different countries, +and had an English tutor, and all that sort of a thing. We couldn't help +picking up a bit of an accent, don't you know." His superior tone made +Virginia long to slap him. + +"Yes, I know, Mr. Brag," she said, in such a low voice that her +grandmother could not hear. "I know perfectly well. If I didn't it +wouldn't be because you haven't told me every chance you got. Who did +you say is your tailor in London, and how many times was it the Queen +invited you out to Windsor? I think it's a ninety-nine dollar cravat you +always buy, isn't it? And you wouldn't be so common as to wear a pair of +gloves that hadn't been made to order specially for you. Yes, I've heard +all about it!" + +Miss Allison heard, but said nothing. She knew the boys were a little +inclined to boast, and she thought Virginia's sharp tongue might have a +good effect. But the retort had grown somewhat sharper than was +pleasant, and, fearing a quarrel might follow if she did not interrupt +the whispers beside her, she said: + +"Boys, did you ever hear about the time that the Little Colonel threw +mud on her grandfather's coat? There's no end to her pranks. Get +grandmother to tell you." + +"Oh, yes, please, grandmother," begged Keith, with an arm around her +neck. "Tell about Fritz and the parrot, too," said Virginia. "Here, +Malcolm, there's room on this side for you." + +Aunt Allison smiled. The storm had blown over, and they were all friends +again. + +[Illustration: "'DAPHNE, WHAT'S DEM CHILLUN ALLUZ RACIN' DOWN TO DE +SPRING-HOUSE FO'?'"] + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE VALENTINE PARTY. + +"Now we can tell Ginger about the bear," was Keith's first remark, when +he awoke early next morning. + +"But not until after we have seen the man again," answered Malcolm. "You +know we promised him that." + +"Then let's go down before breakfast," exclaimed Keith, springing out of +bed and beginning to dress himself. A little while later, the old +coloured coachman saw them run past the window, where he was warming +himself by the kitchen stove. + +"Daphne," he called out to the cook, who was beating biscuit in the +adjoining pantry, "Daphne, what's dem chillun alluz racin' down to de +spring-house fo' in de snow? Peah's lak dee has a heap o' business +down yandah." + +Daphne, who had just been coaxed into filling a basket with a generous +supply of cold victuals, pretended not to hear until he repeated his +question. Then she stopped pounding long enough to say, sharply, +"Whuffo' you alluz 'spicion dem boys so evahlastin'ly, Unc' Henry? Lak +enough dee's settin' a rabbit trap. Boys has done such things befo'. +You's done it yo'se'f, hasn't you?" + +Daphne had seen them setting rabbit traps there, but she knew well +enough that was not what they had gone for now, and that the food they +carried was not for the game of Robinson Crusoe, which they had played +in the deserted cabin the summer before. Still, she did not care to take +Unc' Henry into her confidence. + +The food, the warmth, and the night's rest had so restored the bear that +it was able to go through all its performances for the boys' +entertainment, although it limped badly. + +"Isn't he a dandy?" cried Keith; "I wish we had one. It's nicer than any +pets we ever had, except the ponies. Something always happened to the +dogs, and the monkey was such a nuisance, and the white rabbits were +stolen, and the guinea pigs died." + +"Haven't we had a lot of things, when you come to think of it?" +exclaimed Malcolm. "Squirrels, and white mice, and the coon that Uncle +Harry brought us, and the parrot from Mexico." + +"Yes, and the gold-fish, and the little baby alligator that froze to +death in its tank," added Keith. "But a bear like this would be nicer +than any of them. As soon as papa comes home I am going to ask him to +buy us one." + +"Jonesy's nearly done for," said the tramp, pointing to the boy who lay +curled up in the hay, coughing at nearly every breath. "We ought to stay +here another day, if you young gen'lemen don't object." + +"Oh, goody!" cried Keith. "Then we can bring Ginger down to see the bear +perform." + +"Yes," answered the man, "we'll give a free show to all your friends, if +you will only kindly wait till to-morrow. Give us one more day to rest +up and get in a little better trim. The poor beast's foot is still too +lame for him to do his best, and you're too kind-hearted, I am sure, to +want anything to suffer in order to give you pleasure." + +"Of course," answered both the boys, agreeing so quickly to all the +man's smooth speeches that, before they left the cabin, they had +renewed their promise to keep silent one more day. The man was a shrewd +one, and knew well how to make these unsuspecting little souls serve his +purpose, like puppets tied to a string. + +Miss Allison was so busy with preparations for the party that she had no +time all that day to notice what the boys were doing. When they came +back from reciting their lessons to the minister, she sent them on +several errands, but the rest of the time they divided between the cabin +and the post-office. + +Every mail brought a few valentines to each of them, but it was not +until the five o'clock train came that they found the long-looked-for +letters from their father and mother. + +"I knew they'd each send us a valentine," cried Keith, tearing both of +his open. "I'll bet that papa's is a comic one. Yes, here it is. Papa is +such a tease. Isn't it a stunner? a base-ball player. And, whoopee! +Here's a dollar bill in each of 'em." + +"So there is in mine," said Malcolm. "Mamma says we are to buy anything +we want, and call it a valentine. They couldn't find anything down on +the coast that they thought we would like." + +"I don't know what to get with mine," said Keith, folding his two bills +together. "Seems to me I have everything I want except a camera, and I +couldn't buy the kind I want for two dollars." + +They were half-way home when a happy thought came to Malcolm. "Keith," +he cried, excitedly, "if you would put your money with mine, that would +make four dollars, and maybe it would be enough to buy that bear!" + +"Let's do it!" exclaimed Keith, turning a handspring in the snow to show +his delight. "Come on, we'll ask the man now." + +But the man shook his head, when they dashed into the cabin and told +their errand. "No, sonny, that ain't a tenth of what it's worth to me," +he said. "I've raised that bear from the time it was a teeny cub. I've +taught it, and fed it, and looked to it for company when I hadn't nobody +in the world to care for me. Couldn't sell that bear for no such sum as +that. Couldn't you raise any more money than that?" + +It was Malcolm's turn to shake his head. He turned away, too +disappointed to trust himself to answer any other way. The tears sprang +to Keith's eyes. He had set his heart on having that bear. + +"Never mind, brother," said Malcolm, moving toward the door. "Papa will +get us one when he comes home and finds how much we want one." + +"Oh, don't be in such a hurry, young gen'lemen," whined the man, when he +saw that they were really going. "I didn't say that I wouldn't sell it +to you for that much. You've been so kind to me that I ought to be +willing to make any sacrifice for you. I happen to need four dollars +very particular just now, and I've a mind to sell him to you on your own +terms." He paused a moment, looking thoughtfully at a crack in the +floor, as he stood by the fire with his hands in his pockets. "Yes," he +said, at last, "you can have him for four dollars, if you'll keep mum +about us being here for one more day. You can leave the bear here +till we go." + +"No! No!" cried Keith, throwing his arms around the animal's neck. "He +is ours now, and we must take him with us. We can hide him away in the +barn. It is so dark out-doors now that nobody will see us. It wouldn't +seem like he is really ours if we couldn't take him with us." + +After some grumbling the man consented, and pocketed the four dollars, +first asking very particularly the exact spot in the barn where they +expected to hide their huge pet. + +Unc' Henry, coming up from the carriage-house through the twilight, +thought he saw some one stealing along by the clump of cedars by the +spring-house. "Who's prowlin' roun' dis yere premises?" he called. There +was no answer, and, after peering intently through the dusk for a +moment, the old darkey concluded that he must have been mistaken, and +passed on. As soon as he was gone, the boys came out from behind the +cedars, and crept up the snowy hillside. They were leading the bear +between them. + +"We'll put him away back in the hay-mow where he'll be warm and +comfortable to-night," whispered Malcolm. "Then in the morning we can +tell everybody." + +While they were busily scooping out a big hollow in the hay, they were +startled by a rustling behind them. They looked into each other's +frightened faces, and then glanced around the dark barn in alarm. An old +cap pushed up through the hay. Then a weak little cough betrayed Jonesy. +He had followed them. + +"Sh!" he said, in a warning whisper. "I'm afraid the boss will find out +that I'm here. He started to the store for some tobacco as soon as you +left. He's been wild fer some, but didn't have no money. _Don't you +leave that bear out here to-night, if you ever expect to see it again!_ +That wasn't true what he told you. He never saw the bear till two months +ago, and he sold it to you cheap because he's a-goin' to steal it back +again to-night, and make off up the road with it. He went off a-grinnin' +over the slick way he'd fooled you, and I jes' had to come and tell, +'cause you've been so good to me. I'll never forget the little kid's +givin' me the coat off his own back, if I live to be a hundred. Now +don't blab on me, or the boss would nearly kill me." + +"Is that man your father?" began Keith, but Jonesy, alarmed by some +sudden noise, sprang to the door, and disappeared in the twilight. + +The boys looked at each other a moment, with surprise and indignation +in their faces. There was a hurried consultation in the hay-mow. A few +moments later the boys were smuggling their new pet into the house, and +up the back stairs. They scarcely dared breathe until it was safe in +their own room. + +All the time that they were dressing for the party, they were trying to +decide where to put it for the night, so that neither the tramp nor the +family could discover it. What Jonesy had told them about the man's +dishonest intention did not relieve them from their promise. They were +amazed that any one could be so mean, and longed to tell their Aunt +Allison all about it; still, one of the conditions on which they had +bought the bear was that they were to "keep mum," and they stuck +strictly to that promise. + +By the time they were dressed, they had decided to put it in the blue +room, a guest-chamber in the north wing, seldom used in winter, because +it was so hard to heat. "Nobody will ever think of coming in here," said +Malcolm, "and it will be plenty warm for a bear if we turn on the +furnace a little." As he spoke, he was tying the bear's rope around a +leg of the big, high-posted bed. + +"Won't Ginger be surprised?" answered Keith. "We'll tell her that we +have a valentine six feet long, and keep her guessing." + +There was no time for teasing, however, as the first guest arrived while +they were still in the blue room. + +"I hate to go off and leave him in the dark," said Keith, with a final +loving pat. "I guess he'll not mind, though. Maybe he'll think he is in +the woods if I put this good-smelling pine pillow on the rug +beside him." + +"Oh, boys," called Virginia from the hall down-stairs. "See what an +enormous valentine pie Aunt Allison has made!" + +Looking over the banisters, the boys saw that a table had been drawn +into the middle of the wide reception-hall, and on it sat the largest +pie that they had ever seen. It was in a bright new tin pan, and its +daintily browned crust would have made them hungry even if their +appetites had not been sharpened by the cold and exercise of the +afternoon. + +"What a queer place to serve pie," said Malcolm, in a disapproving +undertone to his brother. "Why don't they have it in the dining-room? It +looks mighty good, but somehow it doesn't seem proper to have it stuck +out here in the hall. Mamma would never do such a thing." + +"Aw, it's made of paper! She fooled us, sure, Malcolm," called back +Keith, who had run on ahead to look. "It is only painted to look like a +pie. But isn't it a splendid imitation?" + +Virginia, pleased to have caught them so cleverly, showed them the ends +of twenty-four pieces of narrow ribbon, peeping from under the +delicately brown top crust. "The white ones are for the girls, and the +red ones for the boys," she explained. "There is a valentine on the end +of each one, and those on the red ribbons match the ones on the white. +We'll all pull at once, and the ones who have valentines alike will go +out to dinner together." + +The guests came promptly. They had been invited for half-past six, and +dinner was to be served soon after that time. The last to arrive was the +Little Colonel. She came in charge of an old coloured woman, Mom Beck, +who had been her mother's nurse as well as her own. The child was so +hidden in her wraps when Mom Beck led her up-stairs, that no one could +tell how she looked. The boys had been curious to see her, ever since +they had heard so many tales of her mischievous pranks. A few minutes +later, when she appeared in the parlours, there was a buzz of +admiration. Maybe it was not so much for the soft light hair, the +star-like beauty of her big dark eyes, or the delicate colour in her +cheeks that made them as pink as a wild rose, as it was for the +valentine costume she wore. It was of dainty white tulle, sprinkled with +hundreds of tiny red velvet hearts, and there was a coronet of +glittering rhinestones on her long fair hair. + +"The Queen of Hearts," announced Aunt Allison, leading her forward. "You +know 'she made some tarts, upon a summer day,' and now she shall open +the valentine pie and see if it is as good as her Majesty's." + +The big music-box in the hall began playing one of its liveliest +waltzes, the children gathered around the great pie, and twenty-four +little hands reached out to grasp the floating ends of ribbon. + +"Pull!" cried the little Queen of Hearts. The paper crust flew off, and +twenty-four yards of ribbon, each with a valentine attached, fluttered +brightly through the air for an instant. + +"Now match your verses," cried her Majesty again, opening her own to +read what was in it. There was much laughing and peeping over shoulders, +and tangling of white and scarlet ribbons, while the gay music-box +played on. + +In the midst of it Virginia beckoned to the Little Colonel. "Come +up-stairs with me for a minute, Lloyd," she whispered, "and help me +look for something. Aunt Allison has forgotten where she put the box of +arrows that we are to use in the archery contest after dinner. There is +the prettiest prize for the one who hits the red heart in the centre of +the target." + +"Oh, do you suppose you can hit it?" asked Lloyd, as she and Virginia +slipped their arms around each other, and went skipping up the stairs. + +"Yes, indeed!" answered Virginia. "I used to practise so much with my +Indian bow and arrow out at the fort, that I could hit centre nearly +every time. I am not going to shoot to-night. Aunt Allison thinks it +wouldn't be fair." + +When they reached the top of the stairs, Virginia went into her room to +light a wax taper in one of the tall silver candlesticks on her +dressing-table. "I think that Aunt Allison must have left those arrows +in the blue room," she said, leading the way down the cross hall which +went to the north wing. "She made the pie in there this morning, and all +the other things were there. Nobody comes over in this part of the +house much in winter, unless there happens to be a great deal +of company." + +The taper that Virginia carried was the only light in that part of the +house. When she reached the door of the blue room she turned to Lloyd. +"Hold the candle for me, please," she said, "while I look in +the closet." + +It was a pretty picture that the little "Queen of Hearts" made, as she +stood in the doorway, with the tall silver candlestick held high in both +hands. Her hair shone like gold in the candlelight, and her glittering +crown flashed as if a circle of fairy fireflies had been caught in its +soft meshes. Her dark eyes peered anxiously around the big shadowy room, +lighted only by her flickering taper. + +Down-stairs, Malcolm and Keith were almost quarrelling about her. It +began by Malcolm taking his brother aside and offering to trade +valentines with him. + +"Why?" asked Keith, suspiciously. + +"'Cause yours matches the Little Colonel's, and I want to take her out +to dinner," admitted Malcolm. "She is the prettiest girl here." + +"But I don't want to trade," answered Keith. "I want to take her +myself." + +"I'll give you the pick of any six stamps in my album if you will." + +"Don't want your old stamps," declared Keith, stoutly. "I'd rather have +the Little Colonel for my partner." + +"I think you might trade," coaxed Malcolm. "It's mean not to when I'm +the oldest. I'll give you that Chinese puzzle you've been wanting so +long if you will." Keith shook his head. + +Just then a terrific scream sounded in the upper hall, followed by +another that made every one down-stairs turn pale with fright. Two +voices were uttering piercing shrieks, one after another, so loud and +frantic that even the servants in the back part of the house came +running. Miss Allison, thinking of the candle she had told Virginia to +light, and remembering the thin, white dress the child wore, instantly +thought she must have set herself afire. She ran into the hall, so +frightened that she was trembling from head to foot. Before she could +reach the staircase, Virginia came flying down the steps, white as a +little ghost, and her eyes wide with terror. Throwing herself into her +aunt's outstretched arms, she began to sob out her story between great, +trembling gasps. + +"Oh, there's an awful, awful wild beast in the blue room, nearly as tall +as the ceiling! It rose up and came after us out of the corner, and if I +hadn't slammed the door just in time, it would have eaten us up. I'm +sure it would! Oo-oo-oo! It was so awful!" she wailed. + +"Why, Virginia," exclaimed her aunt, distressed to see her so terrified, +"it must have been only a big shadow you saw. It isn't possible for a +wild beast to be in the blue room you know. Where is Lloyd?" + +"She's up heah, Miss Allison," called Mom Beck's voice. "She's so +skeered, I'se pow'ful 'fraid she gwine to faint. They sut'nly is +something in that room, honey, deed they is. I kin heah it movin' around +now, switchin' he's tail an' growlin'!" + +Malcolm and Keith, with guilty faces, went dashing up the stairs, and +the whole party followed them at a respectful distance. When they opened +the door the room looked very big and shadowy, and the bear, roused from +its nap, was standing on its hind legs beside the high-posted bed. The +huge figure was certainly enough to frighten any one coming upon it +unexpectedly in the dark, and when Miss Allison saw it she drew +Virginia's trembling hand into hers with a sympathetic clasp. Before she +could ask any questions, the boys began an excited explanation. It was +some time before they could make their story understood. + +Their grandmother was horrified, and insisted on sending the animal away +at once. "The idea of bringing such a dangerous creature into any one's +house," she exclaimed, "and, above all, of shutting him up in a bedroom! +We might have all been bitten, or hugged to death!" + +"But, grandmother," begged Malcolm, "he isn't dangerous. Let me bring +him into the light, and show you what a kind old pet he is." + +There was a scattering to the other end of the hall as Malcolm came out, +leading the bear, but the children gradually drew nearer as the great +animal began its performances. Keith whistled and kept time with his +feet in a funny little shuffling jig he had learned from Jonesy, and the +bear obligingly went through all his tricks. He was used to being pulled +out to perform whenever a crowd could be collected. + +Virginia forgot her fear of him when he stood up and presented arms like +a real soldier, and even went up and patted him when the show was over, +joining with the boys in begging that he might be allowed to stay in the +house until morning. Mrs. Maclntyre was determined to send a man down to +the cabin at once to investigate. She had a horror of tramps. But the +boys begged her to wait until daylight for Jonesy's sake. + +"The man will beat him if he finds out that Jonesy warned us," pleaded +Keith. He was so earnest that the tears stood in his big, trustful eyes. + +"This is spoiling the party, mother," whispered Miss Allison, "and +dinner is waiting. I'll be responsible for any harm that may be done if +you will let the boys have their way this once." + +There seemed no other way to settle it just then, so Bruin was allowed +to go back to his rug in the blue room, and the door was +securely locked. + +Keith took Lloyd down to dinner, and his grandmother heard him +apologising all the way down for having frightened her. The little Queen +of Hearts listened smilingly, but her colour did not come back all +evening, until after the archery contest. It was when Malcolm came up +with the prize he had won, a tiny silver arrow, and pinned it in the +knot of red ribbon on her shoulder. + +"Will you keep it to remember me by?" he asked, bashfully. + +"Of co'se!" she answered, with a smile that showed all her roguish +dimples. "I'll keep it fo'evah and evah to remembah how neah I came to +bein' eaten up by yo' bea'h." + +[Illustration: "'WILL YOU KEEP IT TO REMEMBER ME BY?'"] + +"It seems too bad for such a beautiful party to come to an end," Sally +Fairfax said when the last merry game was played, the last story +told, and it was time to go home. "But there's one comfort," she added, +gathering all her gay valentines together, "there needn't be any end to +the remembering of it. I've had _such_ a good time, Mrs. MacIntyre." + +It was so late when the last carriage rolled down the avenue, bearing +away the last smiling little guest, that the children were almost too +sleepy to undress. It was not long until the last light was put out in +every room, and a deep stillness settled over the entire house. One by +one the lights went out in every home in the valley, and only the stars +were left shining, in the cold wintry sky. No, there was one lamp that +still burned. It was in the little cottage where old Professor Heinrich +sat bowed over his books. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A FIRE AND A PLAN. + +Some people said that old Johann Heinrich never slept, for no matter +what hour of the night one passed his lonely little house, a lamp was +always burning. He was a queer old German naturalist, living by himself +in a cottage adjoining the MacIntyre place. He had been a professor in a +large university until he grew too old to keep his position. Why he +should have chosen Lloydsborough Valley as the place to settle for the +remainder of his life, no one could tell. + +He kept kimself away from his neighbours, and spent so much time roaming +around the woods by himself that people called him queer. They did not +know that he had written two big books about the birds and insects he +loved so well, or that he could tell them facts more wonderful than +fairy tales about these little wild creatures of the woodland. + +To-night he had read later than usual, and his fire was nearly out. He +was too poor to keep a servant, so when he found that the coal-hod was +empty he had to go out to the kitchen to fill it himself. That is why he +saw something that happened soon after midnight, while everybody else in +the valley was sound asleep. + +Over in the cabin by the spring-house where the boys had left the tramp +and Jonesy, a puff of smoke went curling around the roof. Then a tongue +of flame shot up through the cedars, and another and another until the +sky was red with an angry glare. It lighted up the eastern window-panes +of the servants' cottage, but the inmates, tired from the unusual +serving of the evening before, slept on. It shone full across the window +of Virginia's room, but she was dreaming of being chased by bears, and +only turned uneasily in her sleep. + +The old professor, on his way to the kitchen, noticed that it seemed +strangely light outside. He shuffled to the door and looked out. + +"Ach Himmel!" he exclaimed, excitedly. "Somebody vill shust in his bed +be burnt, if old Johann does not haste make!" + +Not waiting to close the door behind him, or even to catch up something +to protect his old bald head from the intense cold of the winter night, +he ran out across the garden. His shuffling feet, in their flapping old +carpet slippers, forgot their rheumatism, and his shoulders dropped the +weight of their seventy years. He ran like a boy across the meadow, +through the gap in the fence, and down the hill to the cabin by +the spring. + +All one side of it was in flames. The fire was curling around the front +door and bursting through the windows with fierce cracklings. Dashing +frantically around to the back door, he threw himself against it, +shouting to know if any one was within. A blinding rush of smoke was his +only answer as he backed away from the overpowering heat, but something +fell across the door-sill in a limp little heap. It was Jonesy. + +Dragging the child to a safe distance from the burning building, he ran +back, fearing that some one else might be in danger, but this time the +flames met him at the door, and it was impossible to go in. His hoarse +shouting roused the servants, but by the time they reached the cabin the +roof had fallen in, and all danger of the fire spreading to other +buildings was over. + +While the professor was bending over Jonesy, trying to bring him back to +consciousness, Miss Allison came running down the path. She had an +eiderdown quilt wrapped around her over her dressing-gown. The shouts +had awakened her, also, and she had slipped out as quietly as possible, +not wishing to alarm her mother. + +"How did it happen?" she demanded, breathlessly. "Is the child badly +burned? Is any one else hurt? Is the tramp in the cabin?" + +No one gave any answer to her rapid questions. The old professor shook +his head, but did not look up. He was bending over Jonesy, trying to +restore him to consciousness. He seemed to know the right things to do +for him, and in a little while the child opened his eyes and looked +around wonderingly. In a few minutes he was able to tell what he knew +about the fire. + +It was not much, only a horrible recollection of being awakened by a +feeling that he was choking in the thick smoke that filled the room; of +hearing the boss swear at him to be quick and follow him or he would be +burned to death. Then there had been an awful moment of groping through +the blinding, choking smoke, trying to find a way out. The man sprang to +a window and made his escape, but as the outside air rushed in through +the opening he left, it seemed to fan the smoke instantly into flame. + +Jonesy had struck out at the wall of fire with his helpless little +hands, and then, half-crazed by the scorching pain, dropped to the floor +and crawled in the opposite direction, just as the professor burst +open the door. + +The sight of the poor little blistered face brought the tears to Miss +Allison's eyes, and she called two of the coloured men, directing them +to carry Jonesy to the house, and then go at once for a doctor. But the +professor interfered, insisting that Jonesy should be taken to his +house. He said that he knew how to prepare the cooling bandages that +were needed, and that he would sit up all night to apply them. He could +not sleep anyhow, he said, after such great excitement. + +"But I feel responsible for him," urged Miss Allison. "Since it happened +on our place, and my little nephews brought him here, it seems to me +that we ought to have the care of him." + +The professor waved her aside, lifting Jonesy's head as tenderly as a +nurse could have done, and motioned the coloured men to lift him up. + +"No, no, fraulein," he said. "I have had eggsperience. It is besser the +poor leedle knabe go mit me!" + +There was no opposing the old man's masterful way. Miss Allison stepped +aside for them to pass, calling after him her willingness to do the +nursing he had taken upon himself, and insisting that she would come +early in the morning to help. + +Unc' Henry was left to guard the ruins, lest some stray spark should be +blown toward the other buildings. "Dis yere ole niggah wa'n't mistaken +aftah all," he muttered. "Dee was somebody prowlin' 'roun' de premises +yistiddy evenin'." Then he searched the ground, all around the cabin, +for footprints in the snow. He found some tracks presently, and followed +them over the meadow in the starlight, across the road, and down the +railroad track several rods. There they suddenly disappeared. The tramp +had evidently walked on the rail some distance. If Unc' Henry had gone +quarter of a mile farther up the track, he would have found those same +sliding imprints on every other crosstie, as if the man had taken long +running leaps in his haste to get away. + +Jonesy stoutly denied that the man had set fire to the cabin. "We nearly +froze to death that night," he said, when questioned about it afterward, +"and the boss piled on an awful big lot of wood just before he went +to bed." + +"Then what made him take to his heels so fast if he didn't?" some one +asked. + +"I don't know," answered Jonesy. "He said that luck was always against +him, and maybe he thought nobody would believe him if he did say that he +didn't do it." + +Several days after that Malcolm found the tramp's picture in the +_Courier-Journal_. He was a noted criminal who had escaped from a +Northern penitentiary some two months before, and had been arrested by +the Louisville police. There was no mistaking him. That big, ugly scar +branded him on cheek and forehead like another Cain. + +"And to think that that terrible man was harboured on my place!" +exclaimed Mrs. MacIntyre when she heard of it. "And you boys were down +there in the cabin with him for hours! Sat beside him and talked with +him! What will your mother say? I feel as if you had been exposed to the +smallpox, and I cannot be too thankful now that the boy who was with him +was not brought here. He isn't a fit companion for you. Not that the +poor little unfortunate is to blame. He cannot help being a child of the +slums, and he must be put in an orphan asylum or a reform school at +once. It is probably the only thing that can save him from growing up to +be a criminal like the man who brought him here. I shall see what can be +done about it, as soon as possible." + +"A child of the slums!" Malcolm and Keith repeated the expression +afterward, with only a vague idea of its meaning. It seemed to set poor +Jonesy apart from themselves as something unclean,--something that their +happy, well-filled lives must not be allowed to touch. + +Maybe if Jonesy had been an attractive child, with a sensitive mouth, +and big, appealing eyes, he might have found his way more easily into +people's hearts. But he was a lean, snub-nosed little fellow, with a +freckled face and neglected hair. No one would ever find his cheek a +tempting one to kiss, and no one would be moved, by any feeling save +pity, to stoop and put affectionate arms around Jonesy. He was only a +common little street gamin, as unlovely as he was unloved. + +"What a blessing that there are such places as orphan asylums for +children of that class," said Mrs. Maclntyre, after one of her visits to +him. "I must make arrangements for him to be put into one as soon as he +is able to be moved." + +"I think he will be very loath to leave the old professor," answered +Miss Allison. "He has been so good to the child, amusing him by the hour +with his microscopes and collections of insects, telling him those +delightful old German folk-lore tales, and putting him to sleep every +night to the music of his violin. What a child-lover he is, and what a +delightful old man in every way! I am glad we have discovered him." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Maclntyre; "and when this little tramp is sent away, I +want the children to go there often. I asked him if he could not teach +them this spring, at least make a beginning with them in natural +history, and he appeared much pleased. He is as poor as a church mouse, +and would be very glad of the money." + +"That reminds me," said Miss Allison, "he asked me if the boys could +not come down to see Jonesy this afternoon, and bring the bear. He +thought it would give the little fellow so much pleasure, and might help +him to forget his suffering." + +Mrs. MacIntyre hesitated. "I do not believe their mother would like it," +she answered. "Sydney is careful enough about their associates, but +Elise is doubly particular. You can imagine how much badness this child +must know when you remember how he has been reared. He told me that his +name is Jones Carter, and that he cannot remember ever having a father +or a mother. I questioned him very closely this morning. He comes from +the worst of the Chicago slums. He slept in the cellar of one of its +poorest tenement houses, and lived in the gutters. He has a brother only +a little older, who is a bootblack. On days when shines were plentiful +they had something to eat, otherwise they starved or begged." + +"Poor little lamb," murmured Miss Allison. + +"It was by the brother's advice he came away with that tramp," continued +Mrs. MacIntyre. "He had gotten possession of that trained bear in some +way, and probably took a fancy to Jones because he could whistle and +dance all sorts of jigs. He probably thought it would be a good thing to +have a child with him to work on peoples' sympathies. They walked all +the way from Chicago to Lloydsborough, Jones told me, excepting three +days' journey they made in a wagon. They have been two months on the +road, and showed the bear in the country places they passed through. +They avoided the large towns." + +"Think what a Christmas he must have had!" exclaimed Miss Allison. + +"Christmas! I doubt if he ever heard the word. His speech is something +shocking; nothing but the slang of the streets, and so ungrammatical +that I could scarcely understand him at times. No, I am very sure that +neither Sydney nor Elise would want the boys to be with him." + +"But he is so little, mother, and so sick and pitiful looking," pleaded +Miss Allison. "Surely he cannot know so very much badness or hurt the +boys if they go down to cheer him up for a little while." + +Notwithstanding Mrs. Maclntyre's fears, she consented to the boys +visiting Jonesy that afternoon. She could not resist the professor's +second appeal or the boys' own urging. + +They took the bear with them, which Jonesy welcomed like a lost friend. +They spent an interesting hour among the professor's collections, +listening to his explanations in his funny broken English. Then they +explored his cottage, much amused by his queer housekeeping, cracked +nuts on the hearth, and roasted apples on a string in front of the fire. + +Jonesy did not seem to be cheered up by the visit as much as the +professor had expected. Presently the old man left the room and Keith +sat down on the side of the bed. + +"What makes you so still, Jonesy?" he asked. "You haven't said a word +for the last half hour." + +"I was thinking about Barney," he answered, keeping his face turned +away. "Barney is my brother, you know." + +"Yes, so grandmother said," answered Keith. "How big is he?" + +"'Bout as big as yourn." There was a choke in Jonesy's voice now. +"Seein' yourn put his arm across your shoulder and pullin' your head +back by one ear and pinchin' you sort in fun like, made me think the way +Barney uster do to me." + +Keith did not know what to say, so there was a long, awkward pause. + +"I'd never a-left him," said Jonesy, "but the boss said it 'ud only be a +little while and we'd make so much money showin' the bear that I'd have +a whole pile to take home. I could ride back on the cars and take a +whole trunk full of nice things to Barney,--clothes, and candy, and a +swell watch and chain, and a bustin' beauty of a bike. Now the bear's +sold and the boss has run away, and I don't know how I can get back to +Barney. Him an me's all each other's got, and I want to see him +_so_ bad." + +The little fellow's lip quivered, and he put up one bandaged hand to +wipe away the hot tears that would keep coming, in spite of his efforts +not to make a baby of himself. There was something so pitiful in the +gesture that Keith looked across at Malcolm and then patted the +bedclothes with an affectionate little hand. + +"Never mind, Jonesy," he said, "papa will be home in the spring and +he'll send you back to Barney." But Jonesy never having known anything +of fathers whose chief pleasure is in spending money to make little +sons happy, was not comforted by that promise as much as Keith thought +he ought to be. + +"But I won't be here then," he sobbed. "They're goin' to put me in a +'sylum, and I can't get out for so long that maybe Barney will be dead +before we ever find each other again." + +He was crying violently now. + +"Who is going to put you in an asylum?" asked Malcolm, lifting an end of +the pillow under which Jonesy's head had burrowed, to hide the grief +that his eight-year-old manhood made him too proud to show. + +"An old lady with white hair what comes here every day. The professor +said he would keep me if he wasn't so old and hard up, and she said as +how a 'sylum was the proper place for a child of the slums, and he said +yes if they wasn't nobody to care for 'em. But I've got somebody!" he +cried. "I've got Barney! Oh, _don't_ let them shut me up somewhere so I +can't never get back to Barney!" + +"They don't shut you up when they send you to an asylum," said Malcolm. +"The one near here is a lovely big house, with acres of green grass +around it, and orchards and vine-yards, and they are ever so good to the +children, and give them plenty to eat and wear, and send them +to school." + +"Barney wouldn't be there," sobbed Jonesy, diving under the pillow +again. "I don't want nothing but him." + +"Well, we'll see what we can do," said Malcolm, as he heard the +professor coming back. "If we could only keep you here until spring, I +am sure that papa would send you back all right. He's always helping +people that get into trouble." + +Jonesy took his little snub nose out of the pillow as the professor came +in, and looked around defiantly as if ready to fight the first one who +dared to hint that he had been crying. The boys took their leave soon +after, leading the bear back to his new quarters in the carriage house, +where they had made him a comfortable den. Then they walked slowly up to +the house, their arms thrown across each other's shoulders. + +"S'pose it was us," said Keith, after walking on a little way in +silence. "S'pose that you and I were left of all the family, and didn't +have any friends in the world, and I was to get separated from you and +couldn't get back?" + +"That would be tough luck, for sure," answered Malcolm. + +"Don't you s'pose Jonesy feels as badly about it as we would?" asked +Keith. + +"Shouldn't be surprised," said Malcolm, beginning to whistle. Keith +joined in, and keeping step to the tune, like two soldiers, they marched +on into the house. + +Virginia found them in the library, a little while later, sitting on the +hearth-rug, tailor-fashion. They were still talking about Jonesy. They +could think of nothing else but the loneliness of the little waif, and +his pitiful appeal: "Oh, don't let them shut me up where I can't never +get back to Barney." + +"Why don't you write to your father?" asked Virginia, when they had told +her the story of their visit. + +"Oh, it is so hard to explain things in a letter," answered Malcolm, +"and being off there, he'd say that grandmother and all the grown people +certainly know best. But if he could see Jonesy,--how pitiful looking he +is, and hear him crying to go back to his brother, I know he'd feel the +way we do about it." + +"I called the professor out in the hall, and told him so," said Keith, +"and asked him if he couldn't adopt Jonesy, or something, until papa +comes home. But he said that he is too poor. He has only a few dollars a +month to live on. I didn't mind asking him. He smiled in that big, kind +way he always does. He said Jonesy was lots of company, and he would +like to keep him this summer, if he could afford it, and let him get +well and strong out here in the country." + +"Then he would keep him till Uncle Sydney comes, if somebody would pay +his board?" asked Virginia. + +"Yes," said Malcolm, "but that doesn't help matters much, for we +children are the only ones who want him to stay, and our monthly +allowances, all put together, wouldn't be enough." + +"We might earn the money ourselves," suggested Virginia, after awhile, +breaking a long silence. + +"How?" demanded Malcolm. "Now, Ginger, you know, as well as I do, there +is no way for us to earn anything this time of year. You can't pick +fruit in the dead of winter, can you? or pull weeds, or rake leaves? +What other way is there?" + +"We might go to every house in the valley, and exhibit the bear," said +Keith, "taking up a collection each time." + +"Now you've made me think of it," cried Virginia, excitedly. "I've +thought of a good way. We'll give Jonesy a benefit, like great singers +have. The bear will be the star performer, and we'll all act, too, and +sell the tickets, and have tableaux. I love to arrange tableaux. We were +always having them out at the fort." + +"I bid to show off the bear," cried Malcolm, entering into Virginia's +plan at once. "May be I'll learn something to recite, too." + +"I'll help print the tickets," said Keith, "and go around selling them, +and be in anything you want me to be. How many tableaux are you going to +have, Ginger?" + +"I can't tell yet," she answered, but a moment after she cried out, her +eyes shining with pleasure, "Oh, I've thought of a lovely one. We can +have the Little Colonel and the bear for 'Beauty and the Beast.'" + +Malcolm promptly turned a somersault on the rug, to express his +approval, but came up with a grave face, saying, "I'll bet that +grandmother will say we can't have it." + +"Let's get Aunt Allison on our side," suggested Virginia. "She's up in +her room now, painting a picture." + +A little sigh of disappointment escaped Miss Allison's lips, as she +heard the rush of feet on the stairs. This was the first time that she +had touched her brushes since the children's coming, and she had hoped +that this one afternoon would be free from interruption, when she heard +them planning their afternoon's occupations at the lunch-table. They had +come back before the little water-colour sketch she was making was +quite finished. + +There was no disappointment, however, in the bright face she turned +toward them, and Virginia lost no time in beginning her story. She had +been elected to tell it, but before it was done all three had had a part +in the telling, and all three were waiting with wistful eyes for +her answer. + +"Well, what is it you want me to do?" she asked, finally. + +"Oh, just be on our side!" they exclaimed, "and get grandmother to say +yes. You see she doesn't feel about Jonesy the way we do. She is willing +to pay a great deal of money to have him taken off and cared for, but +she says she doesn't see how grandchildren of hers can be so interested +in a little tramp that comes from nobody knows where, and who will +probably end his days in a penitentiary." + +Aunt Allison answered Malcolm's last remark a little sternly. "You must +understand that it is only for your own good that she is opposed to +Jonesy's staying," she said. "There is nobody in the valley so generous +and kind to the poor as your grandmother." "Yes'm," said Virginia, +meekly, "but you'll ask her, won't you please, auntie?" + +Miss Allison smiled at her persistence. "Wait until I finish this," she +said. "Then I'll go down-stairs and put the matter before her, and +report to you at dinner-time. Now are you satisfied?" + +"Yes," they cried in chorus, "you're on our side. It's all right now!" +With a series of hearty hugs that left her almost breathless, they +hurried away. + +When Miss Allison kept her promise she did not go to her mother with the +children's story of Jonesy, to move her to pity. She told her simply +what they wanted, and then said, "Mother, you know I have begun to teach +the children the 'Vision of Sir Launfal.' Virginia has learned every +word of it, and the boys will soon know all but the preludes. There will +never be a better chance than this for them to learn the lesson: + + "'Not what we give, but what we share, + For the gift without the giver is bare.' + +"This would be a real sharing of themselves, all their time and best +energies, for they will have to work hard to get up such an +entertainment as this. It isn't for Jonesy's sake I ask it, but for the +children's own good." + +The old lady looked thoughtfully into the fire a moment, and then said, +"Maybe you are right, Allison. I do want to keep them unspotted from a +knowledge of the world's evils, but I do not want to make them selfish. +If this little beggar at the gate can teach them where to find the Holy +Grail, through unselfish service to him, I do not want to stand in the +way. Bless their little hearts, they may play Sir Launfal if they want +to, and may they have as beautiful a vision as his!" + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JONESY'S BENEFIT. + +The Jonesy Benefit grew like Jack's bean-stalk after Miss Allison took +charge of it. There was less than a week in which to get ready, as the +boys insisted on having it on the twenty-second of February, in honour +of Washington's birthday; but in that short time the childish show which +Ginger had proposed grew into an entertainment so beautiful and +elaborate that the neighbourhood talked of it for weeks after. + +Miss Allison spent one sleepless night, planning her campaign like a +general, and next morning had an army of helpers at work. Before the day +was over she sent a letter to an old school friend of hers in the city, +Miss Eleanor Bond, who had been her most intimate companion all through +her school-days, and who still spent a part of every summer with her. + +"Dearest Nell," the letter said, "come out to-morrow on the first +afternoon train, if you love me. The children are getting up an +entertainment for charity, which shall be duly explained on your +arrival. No time now. I am superintending a force of carpenters in the +college hall, where the entertainment is to take place, have two +seamstresses in the house hurrying up costumes, and am helping mother +scour the country for pretty children to put in the tableaux. + +"The house is like an ant-hill in commotion, there is so much scurrying +around; but I know that is what you thoroughly enjoy. You shall have a +finger in every pie if you will come out and help me to make this a +never-to-be-forgotten occasion. + +"I want to make the old days of chivalry live again for Virginia and +Malcolm and Keith. I am going back to King Arthur's Court for the flower +of knighthood at his round table. Come and read for us between tableaux +as only you can do. Be the interpreter of 'Sir Launfal's Vision' and the +'Idylls of the King,' Give us the benefit of your talent for sweet +charity's sake, if not for the sake of 'auld lang syne' and your +devoted ALLISON." + +"She'll be here," said Miss Allison, as she sealed the letter, +nodding confidently to Mrs. Sherman, who had come over to help with +Lloyd's costume. "You remember Nell Bond, do you not? She took the +prize every year in elocution, and was always in demand at every +entertainment. She is the most charming reader I ever heard, and as for +story-telling--well, she's better than the 'Arabian Nights.' You must +let the Little Colonel come over every evening while she is here." + +Miss Bond arrived the next day, and her visit was a time of continual +delight to the children. They followed her wherever she went, until Mrs. +Maclntyre laughingly called her the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin,' and asked +what she had done to bewitch them. + +The first night they gathered around the library-table, all as busy as +bees. Keith and the Little Colonel were cutting tinsel into various +lengths for Virginia to tie into fringe for a gay banner. Malcolm was +gilding some old spurs, Mrs. Maclntyre sat stringing yards of wax beads, +that gleamed softly in the lamplight like great rope of pearls, and Mrs. +Sherman was painting the posters, which were to be put up in the +post-office and depot as advertisements of the Jonesy Benefit. + +Miss Allison, who had been busy for hours with pasteboard and glue, +tin-foil and scissors, held up the suit of mail which she had +just finished. + +"Isn't that fine!" cried Malcolm. "It looks exactly like some of the +armour we saw in the Tower of London, doesn't it, Keith?" + +"I've thought of a riddle!" exclaimed Virginia. "Why is Aunt Allison's +head like Aladdin's lamp?" + +"'Cause it's so bright?" ventured Malcolm. + +"No; because she has only to rub it, and everything she thinks of +appears. I don't see how it is possible to make so many beautiful things +out of almost nothing." + +Virginia looked admiringly around at all the pretty articles scattered +over the room. A helmet with nodding white plumes lay on the piano. A +queen's robe trailed its royal ermine beside it. A sword with a jewelled +hilt shone on the mantel, and a dozen dazzling shields were ranged in +various places on the low bookshelves. + +It was easy, in the midst of such surroundings, for the children to +imagine themselves back in the days of King Arthur and his court, while +Miss Bond sat there telling them such beautiful tales of its fair ladies +and noble knights. Indeed, before the day of the entertainment came +around they even found themselves talking to each other in the quaint +speech of that olden time. + +When Malcolm accidentally ran against his grandmother in the hall, +instead of his usual, "Oh, excuse me, grandmother," it was "Prithee +grant me gracious pardon, fair dame. Not for a king's ransom would I +have thus jostled thee in such unseemly haste!" And Ginger, instead of +giving Keith a slap when he teasingly penned her up in a corner, to make +her divide some nuts with him, said, in a most tragic way, "Unhand me, +villain, or by my troth thou'lt rue this ruffian conduct sore!" + +The library-table was strewn with books of old court life, and pictures +of kings and queens whose costumes were to be copied in the tableaux. +There was one book which Keith carried around with him until he had +spelled out the whole beautiful tale. It was called "In Kings' Houses," +and was the story of the little Duke of Gloster who was made a knight +in his boyhood. And when Keith had read it himself, he took it down to +the professor's, and read it all over again to Jonesy. + +[Illustration: "THERE WAS ONE BOOK WHICH KEITH CARRIED AROUND WITH +HIM."] + +"Think how grand he must have looked, Jonesy," cried Keith, "and I am to +be dressed exactly like him when I am knighted in the tableau." Then he +read the description again: + +"'A suit of white velvet embroidered with seed pearls, and literally +blazing with jewels,--even the buttons being great brilliants. From his +shoulder hung a cloak of azure blue velvet, the colour of the order, +richly wrought with gold; and around his neck he wore the magnificent +collar and jewel of St. George and the Dragon, that was the personal +gift of his Majesty, the king.' + +"Think how splendid it must have been, Jonesy, when the procession came +in to the music of trumpets and bugles and silver flutes and hautboys! +Wouldn't you like to have seen the heralds marching by, two by two, in +cloth of gold, with an escort of the queen's guard following? All of +England's best and bravest were there, and they sat in the carven stalls +in St. George's Chapel, with their gorgeous banners drooping over them. +I saw that chapel, Jonesy, when we were in England, and I saw where the +knights kept the 'vigil of arms' in the holy places, the night before +they took their vows." He picked up the book and read again: "'Fasting +and praying and lonely watching by night in the great abbey where there +are so many dead folk.' + +"Oh, don't you wish you could have lived in those days, Jonesy, and have +been a knight?" + +It was all Greek to Jonesy. The terms puzzled him, but he enjoyed +Keith's description of the tournaments. + +Several evenings after that, Keith went down to the cottage dressed in +the beautiful velvet costume of white and blue, ablaze with rhinestones +and glittering jewels. He had been wrapped in his Aunt Allison's golf +cape, and, as he threw it off, Jonesy's eyes opened wider and wider +with wonder. + +"Hi! You look like a whole jeweller's window!" he cried, dazzled by the +gorgeous sight. The professor lighted another lamp, and Keith turned +slowly around, to be admired on every side like a pleased peacock. + +"Of course it's all only imitation," he explained, "but it will look +just as good as the real thing behind the footlights. But you ought to +see the stage when it's fixed up to look like the Hall of the Shields, +if you want to see glitter. It's be-_yu_-tiful! Like the one at Camelot, +you know." + +But Jonesy did not know, and Keith had to tell about that old castle at +Camelot, as Miss Bond had told him. How that down the side of the long +hall ran a treble range of shields,-- + + "And under every shield a knight was named, + For such was Arthur's custom in his hall. + When some good knight had done one noble deed + His arms were carven only, but if twain + His arms were blazoned also, but if none + The shield was blank and bare, without a sign, + Saving the name beneath." + +Keith had been greatly interested in watching the carpenters fix the +stage so that it could be made to look like the Hall of the Shields in a +very few moments, when the time for that tableau should come. He knew +where every glittering shield was to hang, and every banner and +battle-axe. + +"How do you suppose those knights felt," he said to Jonesy, "who saw +their shields hanging there year after year, blank and bare, because +they had never done even one noble deed? They must have been dreadfully +ashamed when the king walked by and read their names underneath, and +then looked up at the shields and saw nothing emblazoned on them or even +carved. Seems to me that I would have done something to have made me +worthy of that honour if I had _died_ for it!" + +Something,--it may have been the soft, rich colour of the +jewel-broidered velvet the boy wore, or maybe the flush that rose to his +cheeks at the thrill of such noble thoughts,--something had brought an +unusual beauty into his face. As he stood there, with head held high, +his dark eyes flashing, his face glowing, and in that princely dress of +a bygone day, he looked every inch a nobleman. There was something so +pure and sweet, too, in the expression of his upturned face that the +light upon it seemed to touch it into an almost unearthly fairness. + +The professor, who had been watching him with a tender smile on his +rugged old face, drew the child toward him, and brushed the hair back +on his forehead. + +"Ach, liebchen," he said, in his queer broken speech, "thy shield will +never be blank and bare. Already thou hast blazoned it with the beauty +of a noble purpose, and like Galahad, thou too shalt find the Grail." + +It was Keith's turn to be puzzled, but he did not like to ask for an +explanation; there was something so solemn in the way the old man put +his hand on his head as he spoke, almost as if he were bestowing a +blessing. Besides, it was time to go to the rehearsal at the college. +One of the servants had come to stay with Jonesy while the professor +went over to practise on his violin. He was to play behind the scenes, a +soft, low accompaniment to Miss Bond's reading. + +By eight o'clock, the night of the Benefit, every seat in the house was +full. "That's jolly for Jonesy," exclaimed Malcolm, peeping out from +behind the curtain. "We counted up that ten cents a ticket would make +enough, if they were all sold, to pay his board till papa comes home, +and buy him all the new clothes he needs, too. Now every ticket +is sold." + +"Hurry up, Malcolm," called Keith. "We are first on the programme, and +it is time to begin." + +There was a great bustle behind the scenes for a few minutes, and then +"Beauty and the Beast" was announced. When the Little Colonel came on +the stage leading the great bear, such a cheering and clapping began +that they both looked around, half frightened; but the boys followed +immediately and the Little Colonel, dressed as a flower girl, danced out +to meet Keith, who came in clicking his castanets in time to Malcolm's +whistling. The bear was made to go through all his tricks and his +soldier drill. + +The children in the audience stood on tiptoe in their eagerness to see +the great animal perform, and were so wild in their applause that the +boys begged to be allowed to take it in front of the curtain every time +during the evening when there was a long pause while some tableau was +being prepared. + +Over the rustle of fluttering programmes and the hum of conversation +that followed the first number, there fell presently the soft, sweet +notes of the professor's violin, and Miss Bond's musical voice began the +story of the Vision of Sir Launfal. + + "My golden spurs now bring to me, + And bring to me my richest mail, + For to-morrow I go over land and sea + In search of the Holy Grail." + +Here the curtains were drawn apart to show Malcolm seated on his pony as +Sir Launfal, "in his gilded mail that flamed so bright." It was really +a beautiful picture he made, and his grandmother, leaning forward, her +face beaming with pride at the boy's noble bearing, compared him with +Arthur himself, "with lance in rest, from spur to plume a star of +tournament," + +The next tableau showed him spurning the leper at his gate, and turning +away in disgust from the beggar who "seemed the one blot on the summer +morn." How Miss Bond's voice rang out when "the leper raised not the +gold from the dust." + + "Better to me the poor man's crust. + That is no true alms which the hand can hold. + He gives nothing but worthless gold + Who gives from a sense of duty." + +In the next tableau it was "as an old bent man, worn-out and frail," +that Sir Launfal came back from his weary pilgrimage. He had not found +the Holy Grail, but through his own sufferings he had learned pity for +all pain and poverty. Once more he stood beside the leper at his castle +gate, but this time he stooped to share with him his crust and wooden +bowl of water. + +Then it happened on the stage just as was told in the poem. + +A light shone round about the place, and the crouching leper stood up. +The old ragged mantle dropped off, and there in a long garment almost +dazzling in its whiteness, stood a figure-- + + "Shining and tall, and fair, and straight + As the pillar that stood by the Beautiful gate." + +They could not see the face, it was turned aside; but the golden hair +was like a glory, and the uplifted arms held something high in air that +gleamed like a burnished star, as all the lights in the room were turned +full upon it, for a little space. It was a golden cup. Then the +voice again: + + "In many climes without avail + Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail. + Behold it is here--this cup, which thou + Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now. + The holy supper is kept indeed + In whatso we share with another's need." + +It was an old story to most of the audience, worn threadbare by many +readings, but with these living illustrations, and Miss Bond's +wonderful way of telling it, a new meaning crept into the well-known +lines, that thrilled every listener. + +"Could you understand that, Teddy?" asked old Judge Fairfax, patting his +little grandson on the head. + +"Course!" exclaimed seven-year-old Ted, who had followed his sister +Sally to every rehearsal. + +"When you give money to people just to get rid of 'em, and because you +feel you'd ought to, it doesn't count for anything. But if you divide +something you've got, and would like to keep it all yourself, because +you love to, and are sorry for 'em, then it counts a pile. Sir Launfal +would have popped Jonesy into a 'sylum when he first started out to find +that gold cup, but when he came back he'd 'a' worked like a horse +getting up a benefit for him, and would have divided his own home with +him, if he hadn't been living at his grandmother's, and couldn't." + +An amused smile went around that part of the audience which overheard +Ted's shrilly given explanation. + +Pictures from the "Idylls of the King" followed in rapid succession, +and then came the prettiest of all, being the one in which Keith was +made a knight. Virginia as queen, her short black hair covered by a +powdered wig, and a long court-train sweeping behind her, stood touching +his shoulder with the jewel-hilted sword, as he knelt at her feet. Lloyd +and Sally Fairfax, Julia Ferris, and a dozen other pretty girls of the +neighbourhood, helped to fill out the gay court scene, while all the +boys that could be persuaded to take part were dressed up for heralds, +guardsmen, pages, and knights. That tableau had to be shown four times, +and then the audience kept on applauding as if they never intended +to stop. + +The last one in this series of tableaux was the Hall of the Shields, as +Keith had described it to Jonesy. A whole row of dazzling shields hung +across the back of the stage, emblazoned with the arms of all the old +knights whose names have come down to us in song or story. Then for the +first time that evening Miss Bond came out on the stage where she could +be seen, and told the story of the death of King Arthur, and the passing +away of the order of the Round Table. She told it so well that little +Ted Fairfax listened with his mouth open, seeming to see the great arm +that rose out of the water to take back the king's sword into the sea, +from which it had been given him. An arm like a giant's, "clothed in +white samite, mystic, wonderful, that caught the sword by the hilt, +flourished it three times, and drew it under the mere." + +"True, 'the old order changeth,'" said Miss Bond, "but knighthood has +_not_ passed away. The flower of chivalry has blossomed anew in this new +world, and America, too, has her Hall of the Shields." + +Just a moment the curtains were drawn together, and then were widely +parted again, as a chorus of voices rang out with the words: + + "Hail, Columbia, happy land; + Hail, ye heroes, heaven-born band!" + +In that moment, on every shield had been hung the pictured face of some +well-known man who had helped to make his country a power among the +nations; presidents, patriots, philanthropists, statesmen, inventors, +and poets,--there they were, from army and navy, city and farm, college +halls and humble cabins,--a long, long line, and the first was +Washington, and the last was the "Hero of Manila." + +Cheer after cheer went up, and it might have been well to have ended the +programme there, but to satisfy the military-loving little Ginger, one +more was added. + +"There ought to be a Goddess of Liberty in it," she insisted, "because +it is Washington's birthday; and if we had been doing it by ourselves we +were going to have something in it about Cuba, on papa's account." + +So when the curtain rose the last time, it was on Sally Fairfax as a +gorgeous Goddess of Liberty, conferring knighthood on two boys who stood +for the Army and Navy, while a little dark-eyed girl knelt at their feet +as Cuba, the distressed maiden whom their chivalry had rescued. + +It was late when the performance closed; later still when the children +reached home that night, for Mrs. MacIntyre had determined to have a +flash-light picture taken of them, and they had to wait until the +photographer could send home for his camera. + +After they reached the house they could hardly be persuaded to undress. +Virginia trailed up and down the halls in her royal robes, Malcolm +clanked around in his suit of mail and plumed helmet, and Keith stood +before a mirror, admiring the handsome little figure it showed him. + +"I hate to take it off," he said, fingering the dazzling collar, ablaze +with jewels. "I'd like to be a knight always, and wear a sword and spurs +every day." + +"So would I," said Malcolm, beginning to yawn sleepily. "I wish that +Jonesy had been well enough to go to-night. Isn't it splendid that the +Benefit turned out so well? Aunt Allison says there is plenty of money +now to get Jonesy's clothes and pay his board till papa comes, and send +him back to Barney, too, if papa thinks best and hasn't any +better plan." + +"I wish there'd been enough money to buy a nice little home out here in +the country for him and Barney. Wouldn't it have been lovely if there +had a-been?" cried Keith. + +"Well, I should say!" answered Malcolm. "Maybe we can have another +benefit some day and make enough for that." + +With this pleasant prospect before them, they laid aside their knightly +garments, hoping to put them on again soon in Jonesy's behalf, and +talked about the home that might be his some day, until they +fell asleep. + + * * * * * + +The flash-light pictures of the three children were all that the fondest +grandmother could wish. As soon as they came, Keith carried his away to +his room to admire in private. "It is so pretty that it doesn't seem it +can be me," he said, propping it up on the desk before him. "I wish that +I could look that way always." + +The next time that Miss Allison went into the room she found that Keith +had written under it in his round, boyish hand, a quotation that had +taken his fancy the first time he heard it. It was in one of Miss Bond's +stories, and he repeated it until he learned it: "_Live pure,_ _speak +truth, right the wrong, follow the king; else wherefore born?_" + +She asked him about it at bedtime. "Why, that's our motto," he +explained. "Malcolm has it written under his, too. We've made up our +minds to be a sort of knight, just as near the real thing as we can, you +know, and that is what knights have to do: live pure, and speak truth, +and right the wrong. We've always tried to do the first two, so that +won't be so hard. It's righting the wrong that will be the tough job, +but we have done it a little teenty, weenty bit for Jonesy, don't you +think, auntie? It was all wrong that he should have such a hard time and +be sent to an asylum away from Barney, when we have you all and +everything nice. Malcolm and I have been talking it over. If we could do +something to keep him from growing up into a tramp like that awful man +that brought him here, wouldn't that be as good a deed as some that the +real knights did? Wouldn't that be serving our country, too, Aunt +Allison, just a little speck?" He asked the question anxiously. Malcolm +said nothing, but also waited with a wistful look for her answer. + +"My dear little Sir Galahads," she said, bending over to give each of +the boys a good-night kiss, "you will be 'really truly' knights if you +can live up to the motto you have chosen. Heaven help you to be always +as worthy of that title as you are to-night!" + +Keith held her a moment, with both arms around her neck. "What does that +mean, auntie?" he asked. "That is what the professor said, +too,--Galahad." + +"It is too late to explain to you to-night," she said, "but I will tell +you sometime soon, dear." + +It was several days before she reminded them of that promise. Then she +called them into her room and told them the story of Sir Galahad, the +maiden knight, whose "strength was as the strength of ten because his +heart was pure." Then from a little morocco case, lined with purple +velvet, she took two pins that she had bought in the city that morning. +Each was a little white enamel flower with a tiny diamond in the centre, +like a drop of dew. + +"You can't wear armour in these days," she said, as she fastened one on +the lapel of each boy's coat, "but this shall be the badge of your +knighthood,--'wearing the white flower of a blameless life.' The little +pins will help you to remember, maybe, and will remind you that you are +pledged to right the wrong wherever you find it, in little things as +well as great." + +It was a very earnest talk that followed. The boys came out from her +room afterward, wearing the tiny white pins, and with a sweet +seriousness in their faces. A noble purpose had been born in their +hearts; but alas for chivalry! the first thing they did was to taunt +Virginia with the fact that she could never be a knight because she was +only a girl. + +"I don't care," retorted Ginger, quickly. "I can be a--a--_patriot_, +anyhow, and that's lots better." + +The boys laughed, and she flushed angrily. + +"They ought to mean the same thing exactly in this day of the world," +said Miss Allison, coming up in time to hear the dispute that followed. +"Virginia, you shall have a badge, too. Run into my room and bring me +that little jewelled flag on my cushion." + +"I think that this is the very prettiest piece of jewelry you have," +exclaimed Virginia, coming back with the pin. It was a little flag +whose red, white, and blue was made of tiny settings of garnets, +sapphires, and diamonds. + +"You think that, because it is in the shape of a flag," said Miss +Allison, with an amused smile. "Well, it shall be yours. See how well it +can remind you of the boys' knightly motto. There is the white for the +first part, the 'live pure,' and the 'true blue' for the 'speak truth,' +and then the red,--surely no soldier's little daughter needs to be told +what that stands for, when her own brave father has spilled part of his +good red life-blood to 'right the wrong' on the field of battle." + +"Oh, Aunt Allison!" was all that Virginia could gasp in her delight as +she clasped the precious pin tightly in her hand. "Is it mine? For my +very own?" + +"For your very own, dear," was the answer. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Virginia, thanking her with a kiss. "I'd a +thousand times rather have it than one like the boys'. It means so +much more!" + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S TWO RESCUES. + +Early in March, when the crocuses were beginning to bud under the +dining-room windows, there came one of those rare spring days that seem +to carry the warmth of summer in its sunshine. + +"Exactly the kind of a day for a picnic," Virginia had said that +morning, and when her grandmother objected, saying that the ground was +still too damp, she suggested having it in the hay-barn. The boys piled +the hay that was left from the winter's supply up on one side of the +great airy room, set wide the big double doors, and swept it clean. + +"It is clean enough now for even grandmother to eat in," said Virginia, +as she spread a cloth on the table Unc' Henry had carried out for them. +"It's good enough for a queen. Oh, I'll tell you what let's do. Let's +play that Malcolm and I are a wicked king and queen and Lloyd is a +'fair ladye' that we have shut up in a dungeon. This will be a banquet, +and while we are eating Keith can be the knight who comes to her rescue +and carries her off on his pony." + +"That's all right," consented Keith, "except the eating part. How can we +get our share of the picnic?" + +"We'll save it for you," answered Virginia, "and you can eat it +afterward." + +"Save enough for Jonesy, too," said Keith. "He shall be my page and help +me rescue her. I'll go and ask him now." + +The month had made a great change in Jonesy. With plenty to eat, his +thin little snub-nosed face grew plump and bright. There was a +good-humoured twinkle in his sharp eyes, and being quick as a monkey at +imitating the movements of those around him, Mrs. MacIntyre found +nothing to criticise in his manners when Malcolm and Keith brought him +into the house. Their pride in him was something amusing, and seeing +that, after all, he was an inoffensive little fellow, she made no more +objections to their playing with him. + +By the time Keith was back again with Jonesy, the other guests had +arrived, and the Little Colonel had been lowered into a deep feed-bin, +in lieu of a dungeon. The banquet began in great state, but in a few +moments was interrupted by a fearful shrieking from the depths of the +bin. The fair ladye protested that she would not stay in her dungeon. + +"There's nasty big spidahs down heah!" she called. "Ow! One is crawlin' +on my neck now, and my face is all tangled up in cobwebs! Get me out! +Get me out! Quick, Gingah!" + +The king sprang up to go to her rescue, but was promptly motioned to his +seat again by a warning shake of the other crowned head. + +"Why, of course! There's always spiders in dungeons," called the wicked +queen, coolly helping herself to another piece of chicken. "Besides, you +should say 'your Majesty' when you are talking to me." + +"But there's a mouse in heah, too," she called back, in distress. "Oo! +Oo! It ran ovah my feet. If you don't make them take me out of heah, +Gingah Dudley, I'll do something _awful_ to you! Murdah! Murdah!" she +yelled, pounding on the sides of the bin with both her fists, and +stamping her little foot in a furious rage. + +[Illustration: "THE LITTLE COLONEL HAD BEEN LOWERED INTO A DEEP +FEED-BIN."] + +Seeing that Lloyd was really terrified, and fearing that her screams +would bring some one from the house, the royal couple and their guests +sprang to the rescue, nearly upsetting the banquet as they did so. The +game would have been broken up then, when she was lifted out from the +feed-bin, red and angry, if it had not been for the king's great tact. +He brushed the cobwebs from her face and hair, and even got down on his +royal knees to ask her pardon. + +His polite coaxing finally had its effect on the little lady, and he +persuaded her to climb a ladder into a loft just above them. Here on a +pile of clean hay, beside an open window that looked across a peaceful +meadow, her anger cooled. Towers were far more comfortable than +dungeons, in her opinion, and when Malcolm came up the ladder with a +plateful of the choicest morsels of the feast, she began to enjoy her +part of the play. Jonesy was sent to inform his knight of the change +from dungeon to tower, and the banquet went merrily on. + +He found Keith waiting below the barn, with his pony tied to a fence. On +the other side of the fence lay the railroad track, which skirted the +back of Mrs. MacIntyre's place for over half a mile. + +"Do you see that hand-car?" asked Keith, pointing with his riding-whip +to one on the track. "The section boss let Malcolm and me ride up and +down on it all afternoon one day this winter. Some workman left it on +the switch while ago, and while you were up at the barn I got two +darkeys to move it for me. They didn't want to at first, but I knew that +there'd be no train along for an hour, and told 'em so, and they finally +did it for a dime apiece. As soon as I rescue Lloyd I'll dash down here +on my pony with her behind me. Then we'll slip through the fence and get +on the hand-car, and be out of sight around the curve before the rest +get here. They won't know where on earth we've gone, and it will be the +best joke on them. It's down grade all the way to the section-house, so +I can push it easily enough by myself, but I'll need your help coming +back, maybe. S'pose you cut across lots to the section-house as soon as +I start to the barn, and meet me there. It isn't half as far that way, +so you'll get there as soon as we do." + +"All right," said Jonesy. "I'm your kid." + +"You should say, ''Tis well, Sir Knight, I fly to do thy bidding,'" +prompted Keith. + +Jonesy grinned. He could not enter into the spirit of the play as the +others did. "Aw, I'll be on time," he said; then, as Keith untied his +pony, started on a run across the fields. + +The Lady Lloyd had not finished her repast when her rescuer appeared, +but she put the plate down on the hay to await her return, and +obediently climbed down the ladder he placed for her. They reached the +fence before the banqueters knew that she had escaped. Flinging the +pony's bridle over a fence-post, when they reached the edge of the +field, the brave knight crawled through the fence and pulled Lloyd after +him, tearing her dress, much to that dainty little lady's +extreme disgust. + +By the time the king and his guard were mounted in pursuit, on the other +pony which stood in waiting, the runaways were in the hand-car. It moved +slowly at first, although Keith was strong for his age, and his hardy +little muscles were untiring. + +"Isn't it lovely?" cried Lloyd, as they moved faster and faster and +swept around the curve. "I wish we could go all the way to Louisville on +this." The warm March wind fanned her pink cheeks, and blew her soft +light hair into her eyes. + +Jonesy was waiting at the section-house, and waved his cap as they +passed. "We're going on, around the next bend," shouted Keith, as they +passed him. "Whoop-la! this is fine, and not a bit hard to work!" + +"What will the wicked queen think when she can't find us?" asked Lloyd, +laughing happily, as they sped on down the track. + +"She'll think that I am a magician and have spirited you away," said +Keith. + +"Then if you are a magician you ought to change her into a nasty black +spidah, to pay her back fo' shuttin' me up with them!" Lloyd was +delighted with this new play. For the time it seemed as if she really +were escaping from a castle prison. Faster and faster they went. Jonesy, +who had followed them to the second curve, stood watching them with +wistful eyes, wishing he could be with them. They passed the depot, and +then the hand-car seemed to grow smaller and smaller as it rolled away, +until it was only a moving speck in the distance. Then he turned and +walked back to the section-house. + +"I s'pect we've gone about far enough," said Keith, after awhile. "We'd +better turn around now and go back, or the picnic will all be over +before we get our share. Let's wait here a minute till I rest my arms, +and then we'll start." + +The place where they had stopped was the loneliest part of the track +that could be found in miles, on either side. It was in the midst of a +thick beech woods, and the twitter of a bird, now and then, was the only +sound in all the deep stillness. + +"What lovely green moss on that bank!" cried the Little Colonel. +"Wouldn't it make a beautiful carpet for our playhouse down by the +old mill?" + +"I'll get you some," said Keith, gallantly springing from the car and +clambering up the bank. Taking out his knife, he began to cut great +squares of the velvety green moss, and pile it up to carry back to +the hand-car. + +Meanwhile Jonesy waited at the section-house, digging his heels into the +cinders that lined the track, and looking impatiently down the road. +Presently the section boss came limping along painfully, and sat down on +the bank in the warm spring sunshine. He had dropped a piece of heavy +machinery on his foot, the week before, and was only able to hobble +short distances. + +Everybody in the Valley was interested in Jonesy since the fire and the +Benefit had made him so well known, and the man was glad of this +opportunity to satisfy his curiosity about the boy. Jonesy, with all the +fearlessness of a little street gamin brought up in a big city, answered +him fearlessly, even saucily at times, much to the man's amusement. + +"So you want to get a job around here, do you?" said the man, presently, +with a grin. "Maybe I can give you one. Know anything about +railroadin'?" + +"Heaps," answered Jonesy. "Well, I'd ought to, seem' as I've lived next +door to the engine yards all my life, and spent my time dodgin' the cop +on watch there, when I was tryin' to steal rides on freight-cars +and such." + +"Is that what you're hangin' around here now for?" asked the man, with a +good-natured twinkle in his eyes. + +"Nope! I'm waiting for that MacIntyre kid to come back this way. He went +down the track a bit ago on a hand-car, playing rescue a princess with +one of the girls at the picnic," + +The section boss sprang up with an exclamation of alarm. "How far's he +gone?" he asked. "There's a special due to pass here in a few minutes." + +Even while he spoke there sounded far away in the distance, so far that +it was like only a faint echo, the whistle of an approaching locomotive. +The man hobbled down the track a yard or so and stopped. "What do you +suppose they'll do?" he asked. "There are so many bends in this road, +the train may come right on to 'em before the engineer sees 'em. S'pose +they'll jump off, or turn and try to come back?" + +Jonesy glanced around wildly a second, and then sprang forward toward +the man. + +"Give me the switch-key!" he cried, in a high voice, shrill with +excitement. "You can't run, but I can. Give me the switch-key!" +Perplexed by the sudden turn of affairs and the little fellow's +commanding tone, the man took the key from his pocket. He realised his +own helplessness to do anything, and there was something in Jonesy's +manner that inspired confidence. He felt that the child's quick wit had +grasped the situation and formed some sensible plan of action. + +Again the whistle sounded in the distance, and, snatching the key, +Jonesy was off down the track like an arrow. The section boss, leaning +heavily on his cane, limped after him as fast as he could. + +Keith and the Little Colonel, having gathered the moss and started back +home, were rolling leisurely along, still talking of magicians and +their ilk. + +"What if we should meet a dragon?" cried the Little Colonel. "A dragon +with a scaly green tail, and red eyes and a fiery tongue. What would +you do then?" + +"I'd say, 'What! Ho! Thou monster!' and cleave him in twain with my good +broadsword, and when he saw its shining blade smite through the air he'd +just curl up and die." + +Keith looked back to smile at the bright laughing face beside him. Then +he caught sight of something over his shoulder that made him pause. "Oh, +look!" he cried, pointing over the tree-tops behind them. A little puff +of smoke, rising up in the distance, trailed along the sky like a long +banner. At the same instant, out of the smoke, sounded the whistle of an +approaching engine. The track behind them had so many turns, he could +not judge of their distance from it, and for an instant he stopped +working the handle bar up and down, too thoroughly frightened to know +what to do. An older child might have acted differently; might have +jumped from the hand-car and left it to be run into by the approaching +train, or have hurried back around the bend to flag the engine. But +Keith had only one idea left: that was to keep ahead of the train as +long as possible. It seemed so far away he thought they could surely +reach the depot before it caught up with them, and his sturdy little +arms bent to the task. + +For a moment there was a real pleasure in the exertion. He felt with an +excited thrill that he was really running away with the Little Colonel, +and rescuing her from a pursuing danger. Suddenly the whistle sounded +again, and this time it seemed so close behind them that the Little +Colonel gave a terrified glance over her shoulder and then screamed at +the sight of the great snorting monster, breathing out fire and smoke, +worse than any scaly-tailed dragon that she had ever imagined. It was +far down the track but they could hear its terrible rumble as it rushed +over a trestle, and the singing of the wires overhead. + +Keith was straining every muscle now, but it was like running in a +nightmare. His arms moved up and down at a furious speed, but it seemed +to him that the hand-car was glued to one spot. It seemed, too, that it +had been hours since they first discovered that the engine was after +them, and he felt that he would soon be too exhausted to move another +stroke. Would the depot never never come in sight? + +Just then they shot around the curve and caught sight of Jonesy at the +depot switch, wildly beckoning with his cap and shouting for them to +come on. At that sight, with one supreme effort Keith put his +fast-failing strength to the test, and sent the hand-car rolling forward +faster than ever. It shot past the switch that Jonesy had unlocked and +off to the side-track, just as the train bore down upon them around the +last bend. + +There was barely time for Jonesy to set the switch again before it +thundered on along the main track past the little depot. Being a +special, it did not stop. As it went shrieking by, the engineer cast a +curious glance at a hand-car on the side-track. A little girl sat on it, +a pretty golden-haired child with dark eyes big with fright, and her +face as white as her dress. He wondered what was the matter. + +For a moment after the shrieking train whizzed by everything seemed +deathly still. Keith sat leaning against the embankment, white and limp +from exhaustion and the excitement of his close escape. Jonesy was +panting and wiping the perspiration from his red face, for he had run +like a deer to reach the switch in time. + +"I couldn't have held out a minute longer," said Keith, presently. "My +arms felt like they had gone to sleep, and I was just ready to give up +when I caught sight of you. That seemed to give me strength to go on, +when I saw what you were at and that it would only be a little farther +to go before we would be safe. Plow did you happen to be at the switch, +and know how to set it?" + +"Hain't lived all my life around engine yards fer nothin'," answered +Jonesy. "Why didn't you jump off and flag the train?" + +"I was so taken by surprise I didn't think of that," answered Keith. +"The only thing I knew was that we had to keep ahead of it as long as +possible. You've saved my life, Jones Carter, and I'll never forget it, +no matter what comes," + +"I've been rescued twice to-day," said the Little Colonel, taking a deep +breath as she began to recover from her fright. "Jonesy ought to be a +knight, too." + +"That's so!" exclaimed Keith, springing to his feet. "Come on and let's +go back to the barn. We'll tell our adventures, and then we'll go +through the ceremony of making Jonesy a Sir Something or other. He's +certainly won his spurs." + +"Goin' back on the hand-car?" asked Jonesy. + +"Not much," answered Keith, with a sickly sort of smile. "Somehow such +fast travelling doesn't seem to agree with a fellow. Walking is good +enough for me." + +"Me too!" cried the Little Colonel, tying on her white sunbonnet. "But +the first part of it was lovely,--just like flyin'." + +Jonesy ran back to give the man his key, and was kept answering +questions so long that he did not catch up with the other children until +they were in sight of the barn. + +"After all," said Keith, as the three trudged along together, "maybe +we'd better not tell how near we came to being run over. Grandmother +and Aunt Allison would be dreadfully worried if they should hear of it. +They are always worrying for fear something will happen to us." + +"Mothah would be _wild_" exclaimed the Little Colonel, "if she knew I +had been in any dangah. Maybe she wouldn't let me out of her sight again +to play all summah." + +"Then let's don't tell for a long, long time," proposed Keith. "It'll be +our secret, just for us three." + +"All right," the others agreed. They dropped the subject then, for the +barn was just ahead of them, and the gay picnickers came running out, +demanding to know where they had been so long. + +The Little Colonel often spoke of her experience afterward to the two +boys, however, and in Keith's day-dreams a home for Jonesy began to +crowd out all other hopes and plans. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A GAME OF INDIAN. + +Keith was stiff for a week after his race on the hand-car, but did his +groaning in private. He knew what a commotion would be raised if the +matter came to his grandmother's ears. She had lived all winter in +constant dread of accidents. Malcolm had been carried home twice in an +unconscious state, once from having been thrown from his bicycle, and +once from falling through a trap-door in the barn. Keith had broken +through the ice on the pond, sprained his wrist while coasting, and +walked in half a dozen times with the blood streaming from some wound on +his head or face. + +Virginia had never been hurt, but her hair-breadth escapes would have +filled a volume. An amusing one was the time she lassoed a young calf, +Indian fashion, to show the boys how it should be done. Its angry +mother was in the next lot, but Virginia felt perfectly safe as she +swung her lariat and dragged the bleating calf around the barn-yard. She +did not stop to consider that if a cow with lofty ambitions had once +jumped over the moon, one which saw its calf in danger might easily leap +a low hedge. Malcolm's warning shout came just in time to save her from +being gored by the angry animal, who charged at her with lowered horns. +She sprang up the ladder leading to the corn-crib window, where she was +safe, but she had to hang there until Unc' Henry could be called to +the rescue. + +It was with many misgivings that Mrs. MacIntyre and Miss Allison started +to the city one morning in April. It was the first time since the +children's coming that they had both gone away at once, and nothing but +urgent business would have made them consent to go. + +The children promised at least a dozen things. They would keep away from +the barn, the live stock, the railroad, the ponds, and the cisterns. +They would not ride their wheels, climb trees, nor go off the Maclntyre +premises, and they would keep a sharp lookout for snakes and poison +ivy, in case they went into the woods for wild flowers. + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA AND THE CALF.] + +"Seems to me there's mighty little left that a fellow can do," said +Keith, when the long list was completed. + +"Oh, the time will soon pass," said his grandmother, who was preparing +to take the eleven o'clock train. "It will soon be lunch-time. Then this +is the day for you each to write your weekly letters to your mother, and +it is so pretty in the woods now that I am sure you will enjoy looking +for violets." + +Time did pass quickly, as their grandmother had said it would, until the +middle of the afternoon. Then Virginia began to wish for something more +amusing than the quiet guessing games they had been playing in the +library. The boys each picked up a book, and she strolled off up-stairs, +in search of a livelier occupation. + +In a few minutes she came down, looking like a second Pocahontas in her +Indian suit, with her bow and arrows slung over her shoulder. + +"I am going down to the woods to practise shooting," she announced, as +she stopped to look in at the door. + +"Oh, wait just a minute!" begged Malcolm, throwing down his book. +"Let's all play Indian this afternoon. We'll rig up, too, and build a +wigwam down by the spring rock, and make a fire,--grandmother didn't say +we couldn't make a fire; that's about the only thing she forgot to tell +us not to do." + +"You can come on when you get ready," answered Virginia. "I'm going now, +because it is getting late, but you'll find me near the spring when you +come. Just yell." + +The boys could not hope to rival Virginia's Indian costume, but no +wilder-looking little savages ever uttered a war-whoop than the two +which presently dashed into the still April woods. + +Malcolm had ripped some variegated fringe from a table-cover to pin down +the sides of his leather leggins. He had borrowed a Roman blanket from +Aunt Allison's couch to pin around his shoulders, and emptied several +tubes of her most expensive paints to streak his face with hideous +stripes and daubs. A row of feathers from the dust-brush was fastened +around his forehead by a broad band, and a hatchet from the woodshed +provided him with a tomahawk. + +Keith had no time to arrange feathers. He had taken off his flannels in +order to put on an old striped bathing-suit, which he had found in the +attic and stored away, intending to use it for swimming in the pond when +the weather should grow warm enough. It had no sleeves, and the short +trousers had shrunk until they did not half-way reach his knees. Its red +and white stripes had faded and the colour run until the whole was a +dingy "crushed strawberry" shade. As Malcolm had emptied all the tubes +of red paint in his Aunt Allison's box, Keith had to content himself +with some other colour. He chose the different shades of green, +squeezing the paint out on his plump little legs and arms, and rubbing +it around with his fore finger until he was encircled with as many +stripes as a zebra. Although the day was warm for the early part of +April, the sudden change from his customary clothes and spring flannels +to nothing but the airy bathing suit and war-paint made him a trifle +chilly; so he completed his costume by putting on a pair of scarlet +bedroom slippers, edged with dark fur. + +With the dropping of their civilised clothing, the boys seemed to have +dropped all recollections of their professed knighthood, and acted like +the little savages they looked. + +"We're going to shoot with your things awhile, Ginger," shouted Keith, +coming suddenly upon her with a whoop, and snatching her bow out of her +hands. "You are the squaw, so you have to do all the work. Get down +there now behind that rock and make a fire, while we go out and kill a +deer. You must build a wigwam, too, by the time we get back. Hear me? +I'm a big chief! 'I am Famine--Buckadawin!' and I'll make a living +skeleton of you if you don't hustle." + +Virginia was furious. "I'll not be a squaw!" she cried. "And I'll not +build a fire or do anything else if you talk so rudely. If you don't +give me back my bow and let me be a chief, too, I'll--I'll get even with +you, sir, in a way you won't like. I have short hair, and my clothes are +more Indian than yours, and I can shoot better than either of you, +anyhow! So there! Give me my bow." + +"What will you do if I won't?" said Keith, teasingly, holding it behind +him. + +"I'll go up to the barn and get a rope, and lasso you like I did that +calf, and drag you all over the place!" cried Virginia, her eyes +shining with fierce determination. + +"She means it, Keith," said Malcolm. "She'll do it sure, if you don't +stop teasing. Oh, give it to her and come along, or it will be dark +before we begin to play." + +Matters went on more smoothly after Malcolm's efforts at peacemaking, +and when it was decided that Ginger could be a brave, too, instead of a +squaw, they were soon playing together as pleasantly as if they had +found the happy hunting grounds. The short afternoon waned fast, and the +shadows were growing deep when they reached the last part of the game. +Ginger had been taken prisoner, and they were tying her to a tree, with +her hands bound securely behind her back. She rather enjoyed this part +of it, for she intended to show them how brave she could be. + +"Now we'll sit around the council fire and decide how to torture her," +said Malcolm, when the captive was securely tied. But the fire was out +and they had no matches. The lot fell on Malcolm to run up to the house +and get some. + +"A fire would feel good," said Keith, looking around with a shiver as he +seated himself on a log near Ginger. The sun was low in the west, and +very little of its light and warmth found its way into the woods where +the children were playing. + +"It makes me think of Hiawatha," said Ginger, looking down at several +long streaks of golden light which lay across the ground at her feet. +"Don't you remember how it goes? 'And the long and level sunbeams shot +their spears into the forest, breaking through its shield of shadow,' +Isn't that pretty? I love Hiawatha. I am going to learn pages and pages +of it some day. I know all that part about Minnehaha now," + +"Say it while we are waiting," said Keith, pulling his short trousers +down as far as possible, and wishing that he had sleeves, or else that +the paint were thicker on his chilly arms. + +"All right," began Virginia. + + "'Oh the long and dreary winter! + Oh the cold and cruel winter! + Ever thicker, thicker, thicker + Froze the ice on lake and river.'" + +"Ugh! Don't!" interrupted Keith, with a shiver. "It makes my teeth +chatter, talking about such cold things!" + +Just then a shout came ringing down the hill, "Oh, Keith! Come here a +minute! Quick!" + +"What do you wa-ant?" yelled Keith, in return. + +"Come up here! Quick! Hurry up!" + +"What do you s'pose can be the matter?" exclaimed Keith, scrambling to +his feet. "Maybe the bear has got loose and run away." + +"Come and untie me first," said Virginia, "and I'll go, too." Keith +gave several quick tugs at the many knotted string which bound her, but +could not loosen it. Again the call came, impatient and sharp, "Keith! +_Oh_, Keith!" + +"Oh, I can't loosen it a bit," said Keith. "You'll have to wait till +Malcolm comes with his knife. We'll be back in just a minute. I'll go +and see what's the matter." + +"Be sure that you don't stay!" screamed Ginger, as the scarlet bedroom +slippers and green striped legs flashed out of sight through the bushes. + +"Back--in--a--minute!" sounded shrilly through the woods. + +Keith found Malcolm on the back porch, pounding excitedly on a box which +the express-man had left there a few minutes before. + +"It's the camera we have been looking for all week," he cried. "Come on +and have a look at it." + +"Ginger said to hurry back," said Keith. + +"Pshaw! It won't take but a minute. I'll pry the box open in a jiffy." + +It was harder work than the boys had supposed, to take the tightly +nailed lid from its place, and they were so intent on their work they +did not realise how quickly the minutes were passing. + +"Isn't it a beauty?" exclaimed Malcolm, when it was at last unpacked. +"It's lots bigger and finer than the one papa promised. But that's the +way he always does. Oh, isn't it a peach!" + +"I'll tell you what," said Keith, dancing up and down in his excitement, +until he looked like a ridiculous little clown in the faded pink +bathing-suit and his stripes of green paint, "let's take each other's +pictures while we are dressed this way. We may never look so funny +again, and we can go down and take Ginger, too, while she is tied to +the tree." + +"Can't now," said Malcolm, "it's too dark down there in the woods by +this time. See! there is nothing left now of the sun but those red +clouds above the place where it went down. I'm afraid it is too dark +even for us up here on the hill; but we can try. You do look funny, just +like a jumping-jack or a monkey on a stick." + +"Surely Ginger won't mind waiting long enough for us to do it," said +Keith. "Anyhow we can never dress up this way again, and grandmother +will be coming home very soon, so you take mine quick, and I will +take yours." + +The boys had had some practice before with a cheap little camera, but +this required some studying of the printed directions before they could +use it. The first time they tried it the plates were put in wrong, and +the second time they forgot to remove the cap. There were other things +in the box besides the camera: some beautiful pink curlew's wings, a +handsomely marked snake skin, and some rare shells that had been picked +up on the Gulf coast. Of course the boys had to examine each new +treasure as it was discovered. One thing after another delayed them +until it was dusk even on the porch where they stood, and in the woods +below a deep twilight had fallen. + +Every minute that had sped by so rapidly for the boys, seemed an age to +the captive Virginia. Her arms ached from the strain of their unusual +position. Swarms of gnats flew about, stinging her face, and mosquitoes +buzzed teasingly around her ears. She was unable to move a finger to +drive them away. + +When the boys had been gone fifteen minutes she thought they must have +been away hours. At the end of half an hour she was wild with impatience +to get loose, but, thinking they might return any minute, she made no +sign of her discomfort. She would be as heroic as the bravest brave ever +tortured by cruel savages. As long as it was light she kept up her +courage, but presently it began to grow dark under the great +beech-trees. A frog down by the spring set up a dismal croaking. What if +they should not come back, and her grandmother and Aunt Allison should +miss the train, and have to stay in the city all night! Then nobody +would come to set her free, and she would have to stay in the lonely +woods all by herself, tied to a tree, with her hands behind her back. + +At that thought she began calling, "Keith! Keith! Malcolm! Oh, Malcolm!" +but only an echo came back to her, as it had to the dying Minnehaha,--a +far-away echo that mocked her with its teasing cry of "Mal-colm!" Call +after call went ringing through the woods, but nobody answered. +Nobody came. + +There was a rustling through the leaves behind her, as of a snake +gliding around the tree. She was not afraid of snakes in the daytime, +and when she was unbound, but she shrieked and turned cold at the +thought of one wriggling across her feet while she was powerless to get +away. Every time a twig snapped, or there was a fluttering in the +bushes, she strained her eyes to see what horrible thing might be +creeping up toward her. She had no thought that live Indians might be +lurking about, but all the terrible stories she had ever heard, of the +days of Daniel Boone and the early settlers, came back to haunt the +woods with a nameless dread. + +She felt that she was standing on the real Kentucky that the Indians +meant, when they gave the State its name. "_Dark and bloody ground! Dark +and bloody ground_!" something seemed to say just behind her. Then the +trees took it up, and all the leaves whispered, "_Sh--sh, sh! Dark and +bloody ground! Sh--sh_!" + +At that she was so frightened that she began calling again, but the +sound of her own voice startled her. "Oh, they are not coming," she +thought, with a miserable ache in her throat, that seemed swelling +bigger and bigger. "I'll have to stay here in the woods all night. Oh, +mamma! mamma!" she moaned, "I am so scared! If you could only come back +and get your poor little girl!" + +Up to this time she had bravely fought back the tears, but just then a +screech-owl flapped down from a branch above her with such a dismal +hooting that she gave a nervous start and a cry of terror. "Oh, that +frightened me so!" she sobbed. "I don't believe I can stand it to be out +here all night alone with so many horrible creepy things everywhere. And +nobody cares! Nobody but papa and mamma, and they are away, way off in +Cuba. Maybe I'll never see them any more," At that the tears rolled down +her face, and she could not move a hand to wipe them away. To be so +little and miserable and forsaken, so worn out with waiting and so +helpless among all these unknown horrors that the dark woods might hold, +was worse torture to the imaginative child than any bodily pain could +have been. + +It was just as her last bit of courage oozed away, and she began to cry, +that the boys suddenly realised how long they had left her. + +"It must be as dark as a pocket in the woods by this time," exclaimed +Malcolm. "What do you suppose Ginger will say to us for leaving her +so long?" + +"You will have to take a knife to cut her loose," said Keith. "I tried +to untie the knots before I came away, but I couldn't move them." + +"My pocket-knife is up-stairs," answered Malcolm. "I'll get something in +the dining-room that will do." + +He was rushing out again with a carving-knife in his hand, when he came +face to face with his grandmother and Aunt Allison. The boys had been so +interested in their camera that they had not heard the train whistle, or +the sound of footsteps coming up on the front veranda. Pete was lighting +the hall lamps as the ladies came in, and he turned his back to hide the +broad grin on his face, as he thought of the sight which would soon +greet them. Mrs. Maclntyre gave a gasp of astonishment and sank down in +the nearest chair as Malcolm came dashing into the bright lamplight. + +His turkey feathers were all awry, standing out in a dozen different +directions from his head, his blanket trailed behind him, and the fringe +was hanging in festoons from his leggins, where it had come unpinned. +The red paint on his face made him look as if he had been in a fight +with the carving-knife he carried, and had had the skin peeled off his +face in patches. + +Wild as he looked, his appearance was tame beside that of the +impish-looking little savage who skipped in after him, in the scarlet +bedroom slippers, pink striped bathing-suit and green striped skin. + +"Keith Maclntyre, what have you been doing to yourself?" gasped his +grandmother. Both boys began an excited exclamation, but were stopped by +Miss Allison's question, "Where is Virginia? Have you two little savages +scalped her?" + +"She's tied to a tree down by the spring," answered Malcolm. "We are +just starting down there now to cut her loose. You see we were playing +Indian, and she was tied up to be tortured, and we forgot all about her +being there--" + +But Miss Allison waited to hear no more. "The poor little thing!" she +exclaimed. "Tied out there alone in the dark woods! How could you be so +cruel? It is enough to frighten her into spasms." + +"I'm awfully sorry, Aunt Allison!" began Malcolm, but his aunt was +already out of hearing. Out of the door she ran, through the dewy grass +and the stubble of the field beyond, regardless of her dainty spring +gown, or her new patent leather shoes. Malcolm and Keith dashed out +after her, ran on ahead and were at the spring before she had climbed +the fence into the woodland. + +Virginia was not crying when the boys reached her. She remembered that +she had once called Malcolm "Rain-in-the-face" because she caught him +crying over something that seemed to her a very little reason, and she +did not intend to give him a chance to taunt her in the same way. She +was glad that it was too dark for him to notice her tear-swollen eyes. + +"Whew! It's dark down here!" said Keith. "Were you frightened, Ginger?" +he asked, as he helped Malcolm unfasten the cords that bound her. But +Ginger made no reply to either questions or apologies. She walked on in +dignified silence, too deeply hurt by their neglect, too full of a sense +of the wrong they had done her, to trust herself to speak without +crying, and she intended to be game to the last. But when she came upon +Miss Allison, and suddenly found herself folded safe in her arms, with +pitying kisses and comforting caresses, she clung to her, sobbing as if +her heart would break. + +"Oh, auntie! It was so awful!" was all she could say, but she repeated +it again and again, until Miss Allison, who had never seen her so +excited before, was alarmed. The boys, who had run on ahead to the house +again, before she gave way to her feelings, were inclined to look upon +it all as a good joke, for they had no idea how much she had suffered, +and did not like it because she would not speak to them. They changed +their minds when Miss Allison came out of Virginia's room a little +later, and told them that the fright had given the child a nervous +chill, and that she had cried herself to sleep. + +"We didn't mean to do it," said Keith, penitently. "We just forgot, and +I'm mighty sorry, truly I am, auntie!" + +"I am not scolding you," said Miss Allison, "but if I were either of you +boys, I wouldn't wear my little white flower when I dressed for dinner +to-night. Instead of being the protector of a distressed maiden, as the +old knights would have said, you have done her a wrong,--a serious one I +am afraid,--and that wrong ought to be made right as far as possible +before you are worthy to wear the badge of knighthood again." + +"We'll go and beg her pardon right now," said Malcolm. + +"No, she is asleep now, and I do not want her to be disturbed. Besides, +a mere apology is not enough. You must make some kind of atonement. The +first thing for you to do, however, is to get some turpentine and remove +that paint. Where did you get it, boys?" + +"Out of your paint-box, Aunt Allison," said Malcolm. "We didn't think +you would care. I was only going to take a little, but it soaked in so +fast that I had to use two tubes of it." + +"I used more than that," confessed Keith, looking at her with his big +honest eyes; "but I got so interested pretending that I was turning into +a real Indian, that I never thought about its being anybody else's +paint, Aunt Allison, truly I didn't!" + +She turned away to hide a smile. The earnest little face above the +striped body was so very comical. Picking up several of the empty tubes +that had been squeezed quite flat, she read the labels. "Rose madder and +carmine," she said, solemnly, "two of my very most expensive paints." + +"Dear me!" sighed Malcolm, "then there's another wrong that's got to be +righted. I guess Keith and I weren't cut out for knights. I'm beginning +to think that it's a mighty tough business anyhow." + +That night, when the boys came down to dinner, no little white flower +with its diamond dewdrop centre shone on the lapel of either coat. It +had been a work of time to scrub off the paint, and then it took almost +as long to get rid of the turpentine, so that dinner was ready long +before Keith was finally clad in his flannels. "My throat is sore," he +complained to Malcolm at bedtime, but did not mention it to any one else +that night. He sat on the side of his bed a moment before undressing, +with one foot across his knee, staring thoughtfully at the lamp. +Presently, with one shoe in his hand and the other half unlaced, he +hopped over to the dressing-table and stood before it, looking at first +one picture and then another. + +Eight different photographs of his mother were ranged along the table +below the wide mirror, some taken in evening dress, some in simple +street costume, and each one so beautiful that it would have been hard +to decide which one had the greatest charm. + +"I wish mamma was here to-night," said Keith, softly, with a little +quiver of his lip. "Seems like she's been gone almost always." + +He picked up a large Roman locket of beaten silver that lay open on the +table. It held two exquisitely painted miniatures on ivory. One was the +same sweet face that looked out at him from each of the photographs, the +other was his father's. It showed a handsome young fellow with strong, +clean-shaven face, with eyes like Keith's, and the same lordly poise of +the fine head that Malcolm had. + +"Good night, papa, good night, mamma!" whispered Keith, touching his +lips hastily to each picture while Malcolm's back was turned. There were +tears in his eyes. Somehow he was so miserably homesick. + +Next morning, although Keith's throat was not so sore, he was burning +with fever by the time his lessons were over. Before his grandmother saw +him he was off on his wheel for a long ride, and then, because he was so +hot when he came back, he slipped away to the pond with the pink +bathing-suit under his coat, and took the swim that he had been looking +forward to so long. Nobody knew where he was, and he stayed in the water +until his lips and finger-nails were blue. The morning after that he was +too ill to get up, and Mrs. Maclntyre sent for a doctor. + +"He has always been so perfectly well, and seemed to have such a strong +constitution, that I cannot allow myself to believe this will be +anything serious," said Mrs. Maclntyre, but at the end of the third day +he was so much worse that she sent to the city for a trained nurse, and +telegraphed for his father and mother. + +They had already left Florida, and were yachting up the Atlantic coast +on their way home when the message reached them. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"FAIRCHANCE." + +Malcolm did his best to atone to Virginia for what she had suffered from +the forgetfulness of the two little Indians, but poor Keith was too ill +to remember anything about it. He did not know his father and mother +when they came, and tossed restlessly about, talking wildly of things +they could not understand. It was the first time he had ever been so +ill, and as they watched him lying there day after day, burning with +fever, and growing white and thin, a great fear came upon them that he +would never be any better. + +No one put that fear into words, but little by little it crept from +heart to heart like a wintry fog, until the whole house felt its chill. +The sweet spring sounds and odours came rushing in at every window from +the sunny world outside, but it might as well have been mid-winter. No +one paid any heed while that little life hung in the balance. The +servants went through the house on tiptoe. Malcolm and Virginia haunted +the halls to discover from the grave faces of the older people what they +were afraid to ask, and Mrs. Maclntyre was kept busy answering the +inquiries of the neighbours. Scarcely an hour passed that some one did +not come to ask about Keith, to leave flowers, or to proffer kindly +services. Everybody who knew the little fellow loved him. His bright +smile and winning manner had made him a host of friends. + +There was no lack of attention. His father and mother, Miss Allison, and +the nurse watched every breath, every pulse-beat; and a dozen times in +the night his grandmother stole to the door to look anxiously at the wan +little face on the pillow. + +"It is so strange," said his mother to the nurse one day. "He keeps +talking about a white flower. He says that he can't right the wrong +unless he wears it, and that Jonesy will have to be shut up and never +find his brother again. What do you suppose he means?" + +The nurse shook her head. She did not know. Just then Mrs. Maclntyre +heard her name called softly, "Elise," and her husband beckoned her to +come out into the hall. "I want to show you something in Allison's +room," he said, leading her down the hall to his sister's apartment. On +each side of the low writing-desk stood a large photograph, one of +Malcolm in his suit of mail, the other of Keith in the costume of +jewel-embroidered velvet, like the little Duke of Gloster's. + +"Oh, Sydney! How beautiful!" she exclaimed, as she swept across the room +and knelt down before the desk for a better view. Leaning her arms on +the desk, she looked into Keith's pictured face with hungry eyes. "Isn't +he lovely?" she repeated. "Oh, he'll never look like that again! I know +it! I know it!" she sobbed, remembering how white was the little face on +the pillow that she had just left. + +Mr. Maclntyre bent over her, his own handsome face white and haggard. He +looked ill himself, from the constant watching and anxiety. "I'd give +anything in the world that I own! Everything!" he groaned. "I'd do +anything, sacrifice anything, to see him as well and sturdy as he +looks there!" + +Then he caught up the picture. "What's this written underneath?" he +asked, "It is in Keith's own handwriting: '_Live pure speak truth, right +the wrong, follow the king. Else wherefore born_?' + +"What does it mean, Allison?" he asked, turning to his sister, who was +resting on a couch by the window. "It is written under Malcolm's +picture, too." + +"The dear little Sir Galahads," she said, "I sent for you to tell you +about them. The boys intended the pictures as a surprise for you and +Elise, so we never sent them. They wanted to tell you themselves about +the Benefit and the little waif they gave it for." + +She took a little pin from a jewel-case under the sofa pillows, and +reaching over, dropped it in her brother's hand. It was a tiny flower of +white enamel, with a diamond dewdrop in the centre. + +"You may have noticed Malcolm wearing one like it," she said, and then +she told them the story of Jonesy and the bear and all that their coming +had led to: the Benefit, the new order of knighthood, and the awakening +of the boys to a noble purpose. + +"The boys fully expect you to stand by them in all this, Sydney," she +said, in conclusion, "and play fairy godfather for Jonesy henceforth and +for ever. One night, when Keith came up to confess some mischief he had +been into during the day, he said: + +"'Aunt Allison, this wearing the white flower of a blameless life isn't +as easy as it is cracked up to be; but having this little pin helps a +lot. I just put my hand on that like the real knights used to do on +their sword-hilts, and repeat my motto. It will be easier when papa +comes home. Since I've known Jonesy, and heard him tell about the hard +times some people have that he knows, it seems to me there's an awful +lot of wrong in the world for somebody to set right. Some nights I can +hardly go to sleep for thinking about it, and wishing that I were grown +up so that I could begin to do my part. I wish papa could be here now. +He'd make a splendid knight; he is so big and good and handsome. I don't +s'pose King Arthur himself was any better or braver than my father is.'" + +A tear splashed down from the mother's eyes as she listened, and, +falling on the tiny white flower as it lay in her husband's hand, +glistened beside the dewdrop centre like another diamond. + +"Oh, Sydney!" she exclaimed, in a heart-broken way. Something very like +a sob shook the man's broad shoulders, and, turning abruptly, he strode +out of the room. + +Down in the dim, green library, where the blinds had been drawn to keep +it cool, he threw himself into a chair beside the table. Propping +Keith's picture up in front of him against a pile of books, he leaned +forward, gazing at it earnestly. He had never realised before how much +he loved the little son, who hour by hour seemed slowly slipping farther +away from him. The pictured face looked full into his as if it would +speak. It wore the same sweet, trustful expression that had shone there +the night he talked to Jonesy of the Hall of the Shields; the same +childish purity that had moved the old professor to lay his hands upon +his head and call him Galahad. + +All that gentle birth, college breeding, wealth, and travel could give a +man, were Sydney Maclntyre's, and yet, measuring himself by Keith's +standard of knighthood, he felt himself sadly lacking. He had given +liberally to charities hundreds of dollars, because it was often easier +for him to write out a check than to listen to somebody's tale of +suffering. But aside from that he had left the old world to wag on as +best it could, with its grievous load of wrong and sorrow. + +A man is not apt to trouble himself as to how it wags for those outside +his circle of friends, when the generations before him have spent their +time laying up a fortune for him to enjoy. But this man was beginning to +trouble himself about it now, as he paced restlessly up and down the +room. He was not thinking now about the things that usually occupied +him, his social duties, his home or club, or yacht or horses or kennels. +He was not planning some new pleasure for his friends or family, he was +wondering what he could do to be worthy of the exalted regard in which +he was held by his little sons. What wrong could he set right, to prove +himself really as noble as they thought him? He was their ideal of all +that was generous and manly, and yet-- + +"What have I ever done," he asked himself, "to make them think so? If I +were to be taken out of the world to-morrow, I would be leaving it +exactly as I found it. Who could point to my coffin and say, 'Laws are +better, politics are purer, or times are not so hard for the masses now, +because this one man willed to lift up his fellows as far as the might +of one strong life can reach?' But they will say that of Malcolm, and +Keith, if he lives--ah, if he lives!" + +An hour later the door opened, and Malcolm came in, softly. "Keith is +asking for you, papa," he said, with a timid glance into his father's +haggard face. Then he came nearer, and slipped his hand into the man's +strong fingers, and together they went up the stairs to answer +the summons. + +"Did you want me, Keith?" + +The head did not turn on the pillow. The languid eyes opened only +half-way, but there was recognition in them now, and one little hand was +raised to lay itself lovingly against his father's cheek. + +"What is it, son?" + +The weak little voice tried to answer, but the words came only in gasps. +"Brother knows--about Jonesy--keep him from being a tramp! Please let +me, papa--do that much good--in my life 'else wherefore--born?'" + +"What is it, Keith?" asked his father, bending over him. "Papa doesn't +exactly understand. But you can have anything you want, my boy. +Anything! I'll do whatever you ask." + +"Malcolm knows," was the answer. Then the voice seemed somewhat +stronger for an instant, and a faint smile touched Keith's lips. "Give +my half of the bear to Ginger. Now--may I have--my--white--flower?" + +Throwing back his coat, his father unpinned the little badge from his +vest, where he had fastened it for safe-keeping a short time before in +the library. A pleased expression flitted over the child's face, as he +saw where it had been resting, and when it was fastened in the front of +his little embroidered nightshirt, his hand closed over the pin as if it +were something very precious, and he were afraid of losing it again. + +"Wearing the white flower," they heard him whisper, and then the little +knight slept. + + * * * * * + +It was hours afterward when he roused again,--hours when the faintest +noise had not been allowed in the house; when the servants had been sent +to the cottage, and Unc' Henry stationed at the front gate; that no one +might drive up the avenue. + +Virginia, in a hammock on the veranda, scarcely dared draw a deep breath +till she heard the doctor coming down the stairs, just before dark. +Then she knew by his face that prayers and skill and tender nursing had +not been in vain, and that Keith would live. + + * * * * * + +So much can happen in a week. In the seven days that followed Keith +gradually grew strong enough to be propped up in bed a little while at a +time; Captain Dudley and his wife came home from Cuba, and Mr. Maclntyre +began to carry out the promise he had made to Keith that day when they +feared most he could not live. + +The whole Valley rejoiced in the first and second happenings, and were +too much occupied in them to notice the third. Carriages rolled in and +out of the great entrance gate all day long, for Mrs. Dudley had always +been a favourite with the old neighbours, and they gave a warm welcome +to her and her gallant husband. Virginia followed her father and mother +about like a loving shadow, and Keith was so interested in the wonderful +stories they told of their Cuban experiences that he never noticed how +much his father and Malcolm were away from home. Sometimes they would +be gone all day together, consulting with the old professor, overseeing +carpenters, or making hasty trips to the city. Jonesy's home, that had +been so long only a beautiful air-castle, was rapidly taking shape in +wood and stone, and the painters would soon be at work on it. + +Mr. Maclntyre had never been more surprised than he was when Malcolm +unfolded their plan to him. It did not seem possible that two children +could have thought of it all, and arranged every detail without the help +of some older head. + +"It just grew," said Malcolm, in explanation. "First Keith said how +lovely it would have been if we had made enough money at the Benefit to +have bought a home for Jonesy in the country, where he could have a fair +chance to grow up a good man. Just a comfortable little cottage with a +garden, where he could be out-of-doors all the time, instead of in the +dirty city streets; then nobody could call him a 'child of the slums' +any more. Then we said it would be better if there were some fields back +of the garden, so that he could learn to be a farmer when he was older, +and have some way to make a living. We talked about it every night when +we went to bed, and kept putting a little more and a little more to it, +until it was as real to us as if we had truly seen such a place. There +were vines on the porches, and a big Newfoundland dog on the front +steps, and a cow and calf in the pasture, and a gentle old horse that +could plough and that Jonesy could ride to water. + +"We told Ginger, and she thought of a lot more things; some little +speckled pigs in a pen and kittens in the hay-mow, and ducks on the +pond, and an orchard, and roses in the yard. She said we ought to call +the place 'Fairchance,' because that's what it would mean for Jonesy and +Barney (you know we would send for Barney first thing we did, of +course), and it was Ginger who first thought of getting some nice man +and his wife to take care of the boys. She said there are plenty of +people who would be glad to do it, just for the sake of having such a +good home. Ginger said if we could do all that, and keep Jonesy and his +brother from growing up to be tramps like the man we bought the bear +from, it would be serving our country just as much as if we went to war +and fought for it. Ginger is a crank about being a patriot. You ought +to hear her talk about it. And Aunt Allison said that 'an ounce of +prevention is worth a pound of cure,' and that to build such a place as +our 'Fairchance' would be a deed worthy of any true knight." + +"How are you expecting to bring this wonderful thing to pass?" asked his +father, as Malcolm stopped to take breath. "Do you expect to wave a wand +and see it spring up out of the earth?" + +"Of course not, papa!" said Malcolm, a little provoked by his father's +teasing smile. "We were going to ask you to let us take the money that +grandfather left us in his will. We won't need it when we are grown, for +we can earn plenty ourselves then, and it seems too bad to have it laid +away doing nobody any good, when we need it so much now to right this +wrong of Jonesy's." + +"But it is not laid away," answered Mr. MacIntyre. "It is invested in +such a way that it is earning you more money every year; and more than +that, it was left in trust for you, so that it cannot be touched until +you are twenty-one." + +"Oh, papa!" cried Malcolm, bitterly disappointed. He had hard work to +keep back the tears for a moment; then a happy thought made his face +brighten. "You could lend us the money, and we would pay you back when +we are of age. You know you promised Keith you would do anything he +wanted, and that is what he was trying to ask for?" + +Mr. Maclntyre put his arm around the earnest little fellow, and drew him +to his knee, smiling down into the upturned face that waited eagerly for +his answer. + +"I only asked that to hear what you would say, my son," was the answer. +"You need have no worry about the money. I'll keep my promise to Keith, +and Jonesy shall have his home. I'm not a knight, but I'm proud to be +the father of two such valiant champions. Please God, you'll not be +alone in your battles after this, to right the world's wrongs. I'll be +your faithful squire, or, as we'd say in these days, a sort of silent +partner in the enterprise." + +Several days after this a deed was recorded in the county court-house, +conveying a large piece of property from old Colonel Lloyd to Malcolm +and Keith Maclntyre. It was the place adjoining "The Locusts," on which +stood a fine old homestead that had been vacant for several years. The +day after its purchase a force of carpenters and painters were set to +work, and two coloured men began clearing out the tangle of bushes in +the long-neglected garden. + +Jonesy know nothing of what was going on, and wondered at the long +conversations which took place between the old professor and Mr. +Maclntyre, always in German. It was the professor who found some one to +take care of the home, as Virginia had suggested. He recommended a +countryman of his, Carl Sudsberger, who had long been a teacher like +himself. He was a gentle old soul who loved children and understood +them, and a more motherly creature than his wife could not well be +imagined. Everything throve under her thrifty management, and she had no +patience with laziness or waste. Any boy in whose bringing up she had a +hand would be able to make his way in the world when the time came +for it. + +Mrs. Dudley and Miss Allison helped choose the furnishings, but Virginia +felt that the pleasure of it was all hers, for she was taken to the city +every time they went, and allowed a voice in everything. Several trips +were necessary before the house was complete, but by the last week in +May it was ready from attic to cellar. + +It was the "Fairchance" that the boys had planned so long, with its +rose-bordered paths, the orchard and garden and outlying fields. Nothing +had been forgotten, from the big Newfoundland dog on the doorstep, to +the ducks on the pond, and the little speckled pigs in the pen. The day +that Keith was able to walk down-stairs for the first time, Mr. +Maclntyre went to Chicago, taking Jonesy with him, to find Barney and +bring him back. He was gone several days, and when he returned there +were three boys with him instead of two: Jonesy, Barney, and a little +fellow about five years old, still in dresses. + +Malcolm met them at the train, and eyed the small newcomer with +curiosity. "It is a little chap that Barney had taken under his wing," +explained Mr. Maclntyre. "Its mother was dead, and I found it was +entirely dependent on Barney for support. They slept together in the +same cellar, and shared whatever he happened to earn, just as Jonesy +did. I hadn't the heart to leave him behind, although I didn't relish +the idea of travelling with such a kindergarten. Would you believe it, +Dodds (that's the little fellow's name) _never saw a tree in his life_ +until yesterday? He had never been out of the slums where he was born, +not even to the avenues of the city where he could have seen them. It +was too far for him to walk alone, and street-cars were out of the +question for him,--as much out of reach of his empty pockets as +the moon." + +"Never saw a tree!" echoed Malcolm, with a thrill of horror in his voice +that a life could be so bare in its knowledge of beauty. "Oh, papa, how +much 'Fairchance' will mean to him, then! Oh, I'm so glad, and +Keith--why, Keith will want to stand on his head!" + +They drove directly to the new place. It was late in the afternoon, and +the sunshine threw long, waving shadows across the yard. Mrs. Sudsberger +sat on the front porch knitting. A warm breeze blowing in from the +garden stirred the white window curtains behind her with soft +flutterings. The coloured woman in the kitchen was singing as she moved +around preparing supper, and her voice floated cheerily around the +corner of the house: + + "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' fer to carry me home, + Swing low, sweet char-i-_ot_, comin' fer to carry me home!" + +A Jersey cow lowed at the pasture bars, and from away over in the +woodland came the cooing of a dove. Three little waifs had found +a home. + +Mr. Maclntyre looked from the commonplace countenances of the boys +climbing out of the carriage to Malcolm's noble face. "It is a doubtful +experiment," he said to himself. "They may never amount to anything, but +at least they shall have a chance to see what clean, honest, country +living can do for them." And then there swept across his heart, with a +warm, generous rush, the impulse to do as much for every other +unfortunate child he could reach, whose only heritage is the poverty and +crime of city slums. He had seen so much in that one short visit. The +misery of it haunted him, and it was with a happiness as boyish and keen +as Malcolm's that he led these children he had rescued into the home +that was to be theirs henceforth. + +Keith did not see "Fairchance" until Memorial Day. Then they took him +over in the carriage in the afternoon, and showed him every nook and +corner of the place. There were six boys there now, for room had been +made for two little fellows from Louisville, whom Mr. Maclntyre had +found at the Newsboys' Home. "I've no doubt but that there'll always be +more coming," he said to Mr. Sudsberger, with a smile, as he led them +in. "When you once let a little water trickle through the dyke, the +whole sea is apt to come pouring in." + +"Happy the heart that is swept with such high tides," answered the old +German. "It is left the richer by such floods." + +Several families in the Valley were invited to come late in the +afternoon to a flag-raising. The great silk flag was Virginia's gift, +and Captain Dudley made the presentation speech. He wore his uniform in +honour of the occasion. This was a part of what he said: + +"This Memorial Day, throughout this wide-spread land of ours, over every +mound that marks a soldier's dust, some hand is stretched to drop a +flower in tender tribute. Over her heroic dead a grateful country +wreathes the red of her roses, the white of her lilies, and the blue of +her forget-me-nots, repeating even in the sweet syllables of the flowers +the symbol of her patriotism,--the red, white, and blue of her +war-stained banner. + +"My friends, I have followed the old flag into more than one battle. I +have seen men charge after it through blinding smoke and hail of +bullets, and I have seen them die for it. No one feels more deeply than +I what a glorious thing it is to die for one's country, but I want to +say to these little lads looking up at this great flag fluttering over +us, that it is not half so noble, half so brave, as to live for it, to +give yourselves in untiring, every-day living to your country's good. To +'let _all_ the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, thy God's, and +truth's.' I would rather have that said of me, that I did that, than to +be the greatest general of my day. I would rather be the founder of +homes like this one than to manoeuvre successfully the greatest battles. + +"May the 'Two Little Knights of Kentucky' go on, out through the land, +carrying their motto with them, until the last wrong is righted, and +wherever the old flag floats a 'fair chance' may be found for every one +that lives beneath it. And may these Stars and Stripes, as they rise and +fall on the winds of this peaceful valley, whisper continuously that +same motto, until its lessons of truth and purity and unselfish service +have been blazoned on the hearts of every boy who calls this home. May +it help to make him a true knight in his country's cause." + +There was music after that, and then old Colonel Lloyd made a speech, +and Virginia and the Little Colonel gathered roses out of the old +garden, so that every one could wear a bunch. A little later they had +supper on the lawn, picnic fashion, and then drove home in the cool of +the evening, when all the meadows were full of soft flashings from the +fairy torches of a million fireflies. + +With Keith safely covered up in a hammock, they lingered on the porch +long after the stars came out, and the dew lay heavy on the roses. They +were building other air-castles now, to be rebuilt some day, as Jonesy's +home had been; only these were still larger and better. The older people +were planning, too, and all the good that grew out of that quiet evening +talk can never be known until that day comes when the King shall read +all the names in his Hall of the Shields. + +"It has been such a beautiful day," said Virginia, leaning her head +happily against her mother's shoulder. Then she started up, suddenly +remembering something. "Oh, papa!" she cried, "let's end it as they do +at the fort, with the bugle-call. I'll run and get my old bugle, and you +play 'taps.'" + +A few minutes later the silvery notes went floating out on the warm +night air, through all the peaceful valley; over the mounds in the +little churchyard, wreathed now with their fresh memorial roses; past +"The Locusts" where the Little Colonel lay a-dreaming. Over the woods +and fields they floated, until they reached the flag that kept its +fluttering vigil over "Fairchance." + +Jonesy sat up in bed to listen. Many a reveille would sound before his +full awakening to all that the two little knights had made possible for +him, but the sweet, dim dream of the future that stole into his grateful +little heart was an earnest of what was in store for him. Then the +bugle-call, falling through the starlight like a benediction, closed the +happy day with its peaceful "Good night." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Little Knights of Kentucky +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY *** + +***** This file should be named 12317.txt or 12317.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/3/1/12317/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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