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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:46:04 -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/15122-8.txt b/15122-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffe2679 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7296 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Little Colonel's Hero, by Annie Fellows Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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: The Little Colonel's Hero + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15122] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + +By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON + +AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE COLONEL," "TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY," "BIG +BROTHER," "ASA HOLMES," "THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY," "THE LITTLE +COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS," ETC. + + +FRONTISPIECE BY ETHELDRED B. BARRY + +L.C. PAGE & COMPANY BOSTON PUBLISHERS + +_Copyright, 1902_ + +BY THE PAGE COMPANY + + +_All rights reserved_ + + +Made in U.S.A. + + + Twenty-seventh Impression, June, 1925 + Twenty-eighth Impression, February, 1926 + Twenty-ninth Impression, January, 1928 + Thirtieth Impression, June, 1929 + Thirty-first Impression, October, 1930 + Thirty-second Impression, March, 1932 + Thirty-third Impression, February, 1934 + Thirty-fourth Impression, August, 1935 + Thirty-fifth Impression, July, 1937 + + +PRINTED BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC., + +CLINTON, MASS., U.S.A. + +TO + +ALL THE FRIENDS OF THE "LITTLE COLONEL" + + +TO WHOSE LETTERS + +THE AUTHOR COULD NOT REPLY, + +THIS BOOK IS OFFERED IN ANSWER TO + +THEIR MANY QUESTIONS + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S + +(Trade Mark) + +HERO + +THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS + +=by + +Annie Fellows Johnston= + +Limited popular editions, each, cloth 12 mo. Illustrated + +=Three Titles--= + + + The Little Colonel's House Party $1.00 + The Little Colonel's Holidays $1.00 + The Little Colonel's Hero $1.00 + + * * * * * + +Regular Trade Edition + +=The Little Colonel Series= + +(Trade Mark, Reg. U.S. Pat. Of.) + +Each one vol., large 12 mo, bound in rose silk cloth; illust. + + + The Little Colonel Stories $2.00 + + (Containing the three stories, "The Little Colonel," + "The Giant Scissors," and "Two Little + Knights of Kentucky.") + + The Little Colonel Stories--Second Series $2.00 + + (Containing the three stories, "The Three Tremonts," + "The Little Colonel in Switzerland," + and "Ole Mammy's Torment.") + + The Little Colonel's House Party $2.00 + The Little Colonel's Holidays 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Hero 2.00 + The Little Colonel at Boarding-School 2.00 + The Little Colonel in Arizona 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation 2.00 + The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware 2.00 + Mary Ware in Texas 2.00 + Mary Ware's Promised Land 2.00 + The above 13 vols., boxed, as a set 26.00 + +[Illustration: "'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"] + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY 11 + + II. THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND 25 + + III. LLOYD MEETS HERO 41 + + IV. HERO'S STORY 55 + + V. THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA 67 + + VI. THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT 79 + + VII. IN TOURS 102 + +VIII. WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA 121 + + IX. AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS 136 + + X. ON THE WING 147 + + XI. HOMEWARD BOUND 161 + + XII. HOME AGAIN 179 + +XIII. "THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME" 197 + + XIV. IN CAMP 234 + + XV. THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE 249 + + XVI. "TAPS" 262 + + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + +(Trade Mark) + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY + + +"Oh, Tarbaby! _Everybody_ has forgotten that it is my birthday! Even Papa +Jack has gone off to town without saying a word about it, and he nevah did +such a thing befo' in all his life!" + +As she spoke, the Little Colonel put her arm around her pony's neck, and +for a moment her fair little head was pressed disconsolately against its +velvety black mane. + +"It isn't the presents I care about," she whispered, choking back a +heart-broken sob; "but oh, Tarbaby, it's the bein' forgotten! Of co'se +mothah couldn't be expected to remembah, she's been so ill. But I think +grandfathah might, or Mom Beck, or _somebody_. If there'd only been one +single person when I came down-stairs this mawnin' to say 'I wish you +many happy returns, Lloyd, deah,' I wouldn't feel so bad. But there +wasn't, and I nevah felt so misah'ble and lonesome and left out since I +was bawn." + +Tarbaby had no words with which to comfort his little mistress, but he +seemed to understand that she was in trouble, and rubbed his nose lovingly +against her shoulder. The mute caress comforted her as much as words could +have done, and presently she climbed into the saddle and started slowly +down the avenue to the gate. + +It was a warm May morning, sweet with the fragrance of the locusts, for +the great trees arching above her were all abloom, and the ground beneath +was snowy with the wind-blown petals. Under the long white arch she rode, +with the fallen blossoms white at her feet. The pewees called from the +cedars and the fat red-breasted robins ran across the lawn just as they +had done the spring before, when it was her eleventh birthday, and she had +ridden along that same way singing, the happiest hearted child in the +Valley. But she was not singing to-day. Another sob came up in her throat +as she thought of the difference. + +"Now I'm a whole yeah oldah," she sighed. "Oh, deah! I don't want to grow +up, one bit, and I'll be suah 'nuff old on my next birthday, for I'll be +in my teens then. I wondah how that will feel. This last yeah was such a +lovely one, for it brought the house pahty and so many holidays. But this +yeah has begun all wrong. I can't help feelin' that it's goin' to bring me +lots of trouble." + +Half-way down the avenue she thought she heard some one calling her, and +stopped to look back. But no one was in sight. The shutters were closed in +her mother's room. + +"Last yeah she stood at the window and waved to me when I rode away," +sighed the child, her eyes filling with tears again. "Now she's so white +and ill it makes me cry to look at her. Maybe that is the trouble this +yeah is goin' to bring me. Betty's mothah died, and Eugenia's, and +maybe"--but the thought was too dreadful to put into words, and she +stopped abruptly. + +"Mom Beck was right," she whispered with a nod of her head. "She said that +sad thoughts are like crows. They come in flocks. I wish I could stop +thinkin' about such mou'nful things." + +A train passed as she cantered through the gate and started down the road +beside the railroad track. She drew rein to watch it thunder by. Some +child at the window pointed a finger at her, and then two smiling little +faces were pressed against the pane for an eager glimpse. It was the +prettiest wayside picture the passengers had seen in all that morning's +travel--the Little Colonel on her pony, with the spray of locust bloom in +the cockade of the Napoleon cap she wore, and a plume of the same graceful +blossoms nodding jauntily over each of Tarbaby's black ears. + +As the admiring faces whirled past her, Lloyd drew a long breath of +relief. "I'm glad that I don't have to do my riding in a smoky old car +this May mawnin'," she thought. "It is wicked for me to be so unhappy when +I have Tarbaby and all the othah things that mothah and Papa Jack have +given me. I know perfectly well that they love me just the same even if +they have forgotten my birthday, and I won't let such old black crow +thoughts flock down on me. I'll ride fast and get away from them." + +That was harder to do than she had imagined, for as she passed Judge +Moore's place the deserted house added to her feeling of loneliness. Andy, +the old gardener, was cutting the grass on the front lawn. She called to +him. + +"When is the family coming out from town, Andy?" + +"Not this summer, Miss Lloyd," he answered. "It'll be the first summer in +twenty years that the Judge has missed. He has taken a cottage at the +seaside, and they're all going there. The house will stay closed, just as +you see it now, I reckon, for another year." + +"At the seashore!" she echoed. "Not coming out!" She almost gasped, the +news was so unexpected. Here was another disappointment, and a very sore +one. Every summer, as far back as she could remember, Rob Moore had been +her favourite playfellow. Now there would be no more mad Tam O'Shanter +races, with Rob clattering along beside her on his big iron-gray horse. No +more good times with the best and jolliest of little neighbours. A summer +without Rob's cheery whistle and good-natured laugh would seem as empty +and queer as the woods without the bird voices, or the meadows without the +whirr of humming things. She rode slowly on. + +There was no letter for her when she stopped at the post-office to inquire +for the mail. The girls on whom she called afterward were not at home, so +she rode aimlessly around the Valley until nearly lunch-time, wishing for +once that it were a school-day. It was the longest Saturday morning she +had ever known. She could not practise her music lesson for fear of making +her mother's headache worse. She could not go near the kitchen, where she +might have found entertainment, for Aunt Cindy was in one of her black +tempers, and scolded shrilly as she moved around among her shining tins. + +There was no one to show her how to begin her new piece of embroidery; +Papa Jack had forgotten to bring out the magazines she wanted to see; +Walker had failed to roll the tennis-court and put up the net, so she +could not even practise serving the balls by herself. + +When lunch-time came, it was so lonely eating by herself in the big +dining-room, that she hurried through the meal as quickly as possible, and +tiptoed up the stairs to the door of her mother's room. Mom Beck raised +her finger with a warning "Sh!" and seeing that her mother was still +asleep, Lloyd stole away to her own room, her own pretty pink and white +nest, and curled herself up among the cushions in a big easy chair by the +window. + +It was the first time in her memory that her mother had been ill. For more +than a week she had not been able to leave her room, and the lonely child, +accustomed to being with her constantly, crept around the house like a +little stray kitten. The place scarcely seemed like home, and the days +were endless. Some unusual feeling of sensitiveness had kept her from +reminding the family of her birthday. Other years she had openly counted +the days, for weeks beforehand, and announced the gifts that she would be +most pleased to receive. + +Here by the window the dismal crow thoughts began flocking down to her +again, and to drive them away she picked up a book from the table and +began to read. It was a green and gold volume of short stories, one that +she had read many times before, but she never grew tired of them. + +The one she liked best was "Marguerite's Wonder-ball," and she turned to +that first, because it was the story of a happy birthday. Marguerite was a +little German girl, learning to knit, and to help her in her task her +family wound for her a mammoth ball of yarn, as full of surprise packages +as a plum cake is of plums. Day by day, as her patient knitting unwound the +yarn, some gift dropped out into her lap. They were simple things, nearly +all of them. A knife, a ribbon, a thimble, a pencil, and here and there +a bonbon, but they were magnified by the charm of the surprise, and they +turned the tedious task into a pleasant pastime. Not until her birthday +was the knitting finished, and as she took the last stitches a little +velvet-covered jewel-box fell out. In the jewel-box was a string of pearls +that had belonged to Marguerite's great-great-grandmother. It was a precious +family heirloom, and although Marguerite could not wear the necklace until +she was old enough to go to her first great court ball, it made her very +proud and happy to think that, of all the grandchildren in the family, +she had been chosen as the one to wear her great-great-grandmother's +name that means pearl, and had inherited on that account the beautiful +Von Behren necklace. + +When the knitting was done there was a charming birthday feast in her +honour. They crowned her with flowers, and every one, even the dignified +old grandfather, did her bidding until nightfall, because it was _her_ +day, and she was its queen. + +Closing the book Lloyd lay back among the cushions, smiling for the +twentieth time over Marguerite's happiness, and planning the beautiful +wonder-ball she herself would like to have, if wonder-balls were to be had +for the wishing. It should be as big as a cart-wheel, and the first gift +to be unwound should be a tiny ring set with an emerald, because that is +the lucky stone for people born in May. She already owned so many books, +and trinkets, that she hardly knew what else to wish for unless it might +be a coral fan chain and a mother-of-pearl manicure set. But deep down in +the heart of the ball she would like to find a wishing-nut, that would +grant her wishes like an Aladdin's lamp whenever it was rubbed. + +She must have fallen asleep in the midst of her day-dreaming, for it +seemed to her that it was only a minute after she closed her book, that +she heard the half-past five o'clock train whistling at the station, and +while she was still rubbing her eyes she saw her father coming up the +avenue. + +All day she had had a lingering hope that he might bring her something +when he came out from the city. "If it's nothing but a bag of peanuts," +she thought, "it will be better than having a birthday go by without +anything, 'specially when all the othahs have been neahly as nice as +Christmas." + +She peeped out between the curtains, scanning him eagerly as he came +toward the house, but there was no package in either hand, and no +suggestive parcel bulged from any of his pockets. + +"I'll not be a baby," Lloyd whispered to herself, winking her eyelids +rapidly to clear away a sort of mist that seemed to blur the landscape. +"I'm too old to care so much." + +Still, it was such a disappointment, added to all the others that the day +had brought, that she buried her face in the cushions and cried softly. +She could hear her father's voice in the next room, presently. It seemed +quite loud and cheerful; more cheerful than it had sounded since her +mother's dreadful neuralgic headaches had begun. A few minutes later she +heard her mother laugh. It was such a welcome sound, that she hastily +dried her eyes and started to run in to see what had caused it, but she +paused as she passed the mirror. Her eyes were so red that she knew she +would be questioned, and she concluded it would be better to wait until +she was dressed for dinner. + +So she sat looking out of the window till the big hall clock struck six, +and then hastily bathing her eyes, she slipped into a fresh white dress, +and looking carefully at herself in the mirror, concluded that she had +waited long enough. To her surprise, she found her mother sitting up in a +big Morris chair by the window. Maybe it was the pink silk kimono she wore +that brought a faint tinge of colour to her cheeks, but whatever it was, +she looked well and natural again, and for the first time in six long days +the neuralgic headache was all gone, and the lines of suffering were +smoothed out of her face. + +The wide glass doors opening on to the balcony were standing open, and +through the vines stole the golden sunset light, the chirping of robins, +the smell of new-mown grass, and the heavy sweetness of the locust +blooms. Lloyd rubbed her eyes, thinking she surely must be dreaming. There +on the vine-covered balcony stood a table all set as if for a "pink +party." There were flowers and bonbons in the silver dishes, and in the +centre Mom Beck was proudly placing a mammoth birthday cake, wreathed in +pink icing roses, and crowned with twelve pink candles ready for the +lighting. + +"Oh, mothah!" she cried. "I--I thought--" + +She did not finish the sentence, but something in her surprised tone, the +sudden flushing of her face, and the traces of tears still in her eyes, +told what she meant. + +"You thought mother had forgotten," whispered Mrs. Sherman, tenderly, as +Lloyd hid her face on her shoulder. + +"No, not for one minute, dear. But the pain was so bad this morning, when +you came to my room, that I couldn't talk. Then you were out riding so +long this morning, and when I wakened after lunch and sent Mom Beck to +find you, she said you were asleep in your room. Papa Jack and I have been +planning a great surprise for you, and he did not want to mention it until +all the arrangements were completed. That is why there was no birthday +surprise for you at breakfast. But you'll soon be a very happy little +girl, for this surprise is something you have been wanting for more than a +year." + +How suddenly the whole world had changed for the Little Colonel! The +sunshine had never seemed so golden, the locust blooms so deliciously +sweet. Her birthday had not been forgotten, after all. Mrs. Sherman's +chair was wheeled to the table on the balcony, and Lloyd took her seat +with sparkling eyes. She wondered what the surprise could be, and felt +sure that Papa Jack would not tell her until the cake was cut, and the +last birthday wish made with the blowing of the birthday candles. + +He had intended to save his news to serve with the dessert, but when he +questioned Lloyd as to how she had spent the day, and laughed at her for +reading the old tale of Marguerite's wonder-ball so many times, his secret +escaped him before he knew it. Turning to Mrs. Sherman he said, "By the +way, Elizabeth, our birthday gift for Lloyd might be called a sort of +wonder-ball." Then he looked at his little daughter with a teasing smile, +as he continued, "I wonder if you can guess my riddle. At first your +wonder-ball will unroll a day and night on the cars, then a drive through +a park where you rode in a baby-carriage once upon a time, but through +which you shall go in an automobile this time, if you wish. There'll be +some shopping, maybe, and after that flags flying, and bands playing, and +crowds of people waving good-bye." + +He had intended to stop there, but the wondering expression on her face +carried him on further. "I can't undertake to say how much your +wonder-ball can hold, but somewhere near the centre of it will be a +meeting with Betty and Eugenia, and perhaps a glimpse of the Gate of the +Giant Scissors that you are always talking about." + +As Lloyd listened a look of utter astonishment crept over her face. Then +she suddenly sprang from her chair, and running to her father put a hand +on each shoulder. "Papa Jack," she cried, breathlessly, "look me straight +in the eyes! Are you in earnest? You don't mean that we are going abroad, +do you? It _couldn't_ be anything so lovely as that, could it?" + +For answer he drew an envelope from his pocket and shook it before her +eyes. "Look for yourself," he said. "This is to show that we are listed +for passage on a steamer going to Antwerp the first of June. You may begin +to pack your trunk next week, if you wish." + +It was impossible for Lloyd to eat any more after that. She was too +excited and happy, and there were countless questions she wanted to ask. +"It's bettah than a hundred house pahties," she exclaimed, as she blew out +the last birthday candle. "It's the loveliest wondah-ball that evah was, +and I'm suah that nobody in all Kentucky is as happy as I am now." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND + + +Lloyd's wonder-ball began to unroll the morning that her father took her +to town to choose her own steamer trunk, and some of the things that were +to go in it. She packed and unpacked it many times in the two weeks that +followed, although she knew that Mom Beck would do the final packing, and +probably take out half the things which she insisted upon crowding into +it. + +Every morning it was a fresh delight to waken and find it standing by her +dressing-table, reminding her of the journey they would soon begin +together, and, when the journey was actually begun, she settled back in +her seat with a happy sigh. + +"Now, I'll commence to count my packages as they fall out," she said. "I +think I ought to count what I see from the car windows as one, for I enjoy +looking out at the different places we pass moah than I evah enjoyed my +biggest pictuah books." + +"Then count this number two," said her father, putting a flat, square +parcel in her lap. Lloyd looked puzzled as she opened it. There was only a +blank book inside, bound in Russia leather, with the word "Record" stamped +on it in gilt. + +"I thought it would be a good idea to keep a partnership diary," he said. +"We can take turns in writing in it, and some day, when you are grown, and +your mother and I are old and gray, it will help us to remember much of +the journey that otherwise might pass out of our memories. So many things +happen when one is travelling, that they are apt to crowd each other out +of mind unless a record is kept of them." + +"We'll begin as soon as we get on the ship," said Lloyd. "Mothah shall +write first, then you, and then I. And let's put photographs in it, too, +as Mrs. Walton did in hers. It will be like writing a real book. Package +numbah two is lovely, Papa Jack." + +It happened that Mr. Sherman was the only one who made an entry in the +record for more than a week. Mrs. Sherman felt the motion of the vessel +too much to be able to do more than lie out on deck in her steamer-chair. +The Little Colonel, while she was not at all seasick, was afraid to +attempt writing until she reached land. + +"The table jiggles so!" she complained, when she sat down at a desk in the +ship's library. "I'm afraid that I'll spoil the page. You write it, Papa +Jack." She put back the pen, and stood at his elbow while he wrote. + +"Put down about all the steamah lettahs that we got," she suggested, "and +the little Japanese stove Allison Walton sent me for my muff, and the +books Rob sent. Oh, yes! And the captain's name and how long the ship is, +and how many tons of things to eat they have on board. Mom Beck won't +believe me when I tell her, unless I can show it to her in black and +white." + +After they had explored the vessel together, her father was ready to +settle down in his deck-chair in a sheltered corner, and read aloud or +sleep. But the Little Colonel grew tired of being wrapped like a mummy in +her steamer rug. She did not care to read long at a time, and she grew +tired of looking at nothing but water. Soon she began walking up and down +the deck, looking for something to entertain her. In one place some little +girls were busy with scissors and paint-boxes, making paper dolls. Farther +along two boys were playing checkers, and, under the stairs, a group of +children, gathered around their governess, were listening to a fairy tale. +Lloyd longed to join them, for she fairly ached for some amusement. She +paused an instant, with her hand on the rail, as she heard one sentence: +"And the white prince, clasping the crystal ball, waved his plumed cap to +the gnome, and vanished." + +Wondering what the story was about, Lloyd walked around to the other side +of the deck, only to find another long uninteresting row of sleepy figures +stretched out in steamer-chairs, and half hidden in rugs and cloaks. She +turned to go back, but paused as she caught sight of a girl, about her own +age, standing against the deck railing, looking over into the sea. She was +not a pretty girl. Her face was too dark and thin, according to Lloyd's +standard of beauty, and her mouth looked as if it were used to saying +disagreeable things. + +But Lloyd thought her interesting, and admired the scarlet jacket she +wore, with its gilt braid and buttons, and the scarlet cap that made her +long plaits of hair look black as a crow's wing by contrast. Her hair was +pretty, and hung far below her waist, tied at the end with two bows of +scarlet ribbon. + +The girl glanced up as Lloyd passed, and although there was a cool stare +in her queer black eyes, Lloyd found herself greatly interested. She +wanted to make the stranger's acquaintance, and passed back and forth +several times, to steal another side glance at her. As she turned for the +third time to retrace her steps, she was nearly knocked off her feet by +two noisy boys, who bumped against her. They were playing horse, to the +annoyance of all the passengers on deck, stepping on people's toes, +knocking over chairs, and stumbling against the stewards who were hurrying +along with their heavy trays of beef tea and lemonade. + +Lloyd had seen the boys several times before. They were little fellows of +six and nine, with unusually thin legs and shrill voices, and were always +eating. + +Every time a deck steward passed, they grabbed a share of whatever he +carried. They seemed to have discovered some secret passage to the ship's +supplies. Their blouses were pouched out all around with the store of +gingersnaps, nuts, and apples which they had managed to stow away as a +reserve fund. Lloyd had seen the larger boy draw out six bananas, one +after another, from his blouse, and then squirm and wriggle and almost +stand on his head to reach the seventh, which had slipped around to his +back while he was eating the others. They were munching raisins now, as +they ran. + +After their collision with Lloyd they stopped running, and suddenly began +calling, "Here, Fido! Here, Fido!" Lloyd looked around eagerly, expecting +to see some pet dog, and wishing that she had one of the many pet animals +left behind at Locust, to amuse her now. But no dog was in sight. The girl +in the scarlet jacket turned around with an angry scowl. + +"Stop calling me that, Howl Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, crossly. "I'll +tell mamma. You know what she said she'd do to you if you called me +anything but Fidelia." + +"And you know what she said she'd do to you if you kept calling me Howl," +shouted the larger of the boys, making a saucy face and darting forward to +give one of her long plaits of hair a sudden pull. + +Quick as a flash, Fidelia turned, and catching him by the wrists, twisted +them till he began to whimper with pain, and tried to set his teeth in her +hand. + +"You _dare_ bite me, you little beast!" she cried. "You just dare, and +I'll tell mamma how you spit at the waiter the morning we left the hotel." + +Lloyd was scandalised. They were quarrelling like two little dogs, +seemingly unconscious of the fact that a hundred people were within +hearing. As Fidelia seemed to be getting the upper hand, the little +brother joined in, calling in a high piping voice, "And if you squeal on +Howell, Fidelia Sattawhite, I'll tell mamma how you went out walking by +yourself in New York when she told you not to, and took her new purse and +lost it! So there, Miss Smarty!" + +"Oh, those dreadful American children!" said an English woman near Lloyd. +"They're all alike. At least the ones who travel. I have never seen any +yet that had any manners. They are all pert and spoiled. Fancy an English +child, now, making such a scene in public!" + +The Little Colonel could feel her face growing painfully red. She was +indignant at being classed with such rude children, and walked quickly +away. At the cabin door she met a maid, who, coming out on deck with +something wrapped carefully in an embroidered shawl, sat down on one of +the empty benches. + +Scarcely was she seated when the two boys pounced down upon her and began +pulling at the blanket. "Oh, let me see Beauty, Fanchette," begged Howell. +"Make him sit up and do some tricks." + +The maid pushed them away with a strong hand, and then carefully drew +aside a corner of the covering. Lloyd gave an exclamation of pleasure, for +the head that popped out was that of a bright little French poodle. She +had thought many times that morning of the two Bobs, and good old Fritz, +dead and gone, of Boots, the hunting-dog, and the goat and the gobbler +and the parrot,--all the animals she had loved and played with at Locust, +wishing she had them with her. Now as she saw the bright eyes of the +poodle peeping over the blanket, she forgot that she was a stranger, and +running across the deck, she stooped down beside it. + +"Oh, the darling little dog!" she exclaimed, touching the silky hair +softly. "May I hold him for a minute?" + +The maid smiled, but shook her head. "Ah, that the madame will not allow," +she said. + +"It cost a thousand dollars," explained Howell, eagerly, "and mamma thinks +more of it than she does of us. Doesn't she, Henny?" + +The small boy nodded with a finger in his mouth. + +"Show her Beauty's bracelet, Fanchette," said Howell. Turning back another +fold of the blanket, the maid lifted a little white paw, on which sparkled +a tiny diamond bracelet. Lloyd drew a long breath of astonishment. "Some +of its teeth are filled with gold," continued Howell. "We had to stay a +whole week in New York while Beauty was in the dog hospital, having them +filled. They could only do a little at a time. One of his tricks is to +laugh so that he shows all his fillings. Laugh, Beauty!" he commanded. +"Laugh, old fellow, and show your gold teeth!" + +He shook a dirty finger in the poodle's face, and it obediently stretched +its mouth, to show all its little gold-filled teeth. + +"See!" exclaimed Howell, much pleased. "Do it again!" + +But the maid interfered. "Your mother told you not to touch Beauty again. +You'd have the poor little thing's mouth stretched till it had the +face-ache, if you weren't watched all the time. Go away! You are a naughty +boy!" + +Howell's lips shot out in a sullen pout, and the maid, not knowing what he +might do next, rose with the poodle in her arms and walked to the other +side of the vessel. + +"Wish't the little beast was dead!" he muttered. "I get scolded and +punished for nothing at all whenever it is around. It and Fidelia! I +haven't any use for girls and puppy-dogs!" + +After this uncivil remark he waited for the angry retort which he thought +would naturally follow, but to his surprise Lloyd only laughed +good-naturedly. She found him amusing, even if he was rude and cross, and +she could not wonder that he had such an opinion of girls, after +witnessing his quarrel with Fidelia. The boys had begun it, but she was +older and could have turned it aside had she wished. And she thought it +perfectly natural that he should dislike the dog if he thought his mother +preferred its comfort to his. + +"You'd like dogs if you could have one like my old Fritz," began Lloyd, +glad of some one to talk to. Sitting down on the bench that the maid had +left, she began talking of him and the pony and the other pets at Locust, +At first the boys listened carelessly. Howell cracked his whip, and +Henderson slapped his feet with the ends of the reins he wore. They were +not used to having stories told them, except when they were being scolded, +and their mother or the maid told them tales of what happens to bad little +boys when they will not obey. Although Lloyd's wild ride in a hand-car +with one of the two little knights began thrillingly, they listened with +one foot out, ready to run at first word of the moral lecture which they +thought would surely come at the end. + +The poodle had a maid to make it happy and comfortable, every moment of +its pampered little life. The boys had some one to see that they were +properly clothed and fed, and their nursery at home looked as if a toy +store had been emptied into it. But no one took any interest in their +amusement. When they asked questions the answer always was, "Oh, run along +and don't bother me now." There were no quiet bedtime talks for them to +smooth the snarls out of the day. Their mother was always dining out or +receiving company at that time, and their nurse hurried them to sleep with +threats of the bugaboos under the bed that would catch them if they were +not still. They suspected that the Little Colonel's stories would soon +lead to a lecture on quarrelling. + +Presently they forgot their fears in the interest of the tale. The +youngest boy sidled a little nearer and climbed up on the end of the bench +beside her. Then Howell, dragging his whip behind him, came a step closer, +then another, till he too was on the bench beside her. + +She had never had such a flattering audience. They never took their eyes +from her face, and listened with such breathless attention that she talked +on and on, wondering how long she could hold their interest. + +"They listen to me just as people do to Betty," she thought, proudly. An +hour went by, and half of another, and the bugle blew the first +dinner-call. + +"Go on," demanded Howell, edging closer. "We ain't hungry. Are we, +Henny?" + +"But I must go and get ready for dinner," said Lloyd, rising. + +"Will you tell us some more to-morrow?" begged Howell, holding her skirts +with his dirty little hand. + +"Yes, yes," promised Lloyd, laughing and breaking loose from his hold. +"I'll tell you as many stories as you want." + +It was a rash promise, for next day, no sooner had she finished breakfast +and started to take her morning walk around the deck with her father, than +the boys were at her heels. They were eating bananas as they staggered +along, and as fast as one disappeared another was dragged out of their +blouses, which seemed pouched out all around their waists with an +inexhaustible supply. Up and down they followed her, until Papa Jack began +to laugh, and ask what she had done to tame the little savages. + +As soon as she stopped at her chair they dropped down on the floor, +tailor-fashion, waiting for her to begin. Their devotion amused her at +first, and gratified her later, when the English woman who had complained +of their manners stopped to speak to her. + +"You are a real little 'good Samaritan,'" she said, "to keep those two +nuisances quiet. The passengers owe you a vote of thanks. It is very sweet +of you, my dear, to sacrifice yourself for others in that way." + +Lloyd grew very red. She had not looked upon it as a sacrifice. She had +been amusing herself. But after awhile story-telling did become very +tiresome as a steady occupation. She groaned whenever she saw the boys +coming toward her. + +Fidelia joined them on several occasions, but her appearance was always +the signal for a quarrel to begin. Not until one morning when the boys +were locked in their stateroom for punishment, did she have a chance to +speak to Lloyd by herself. + +"The boys opened a port-hole this morning," explained Fidelia. "They had +been forbidden to touch it. Poor Beauty was asleep on the couch just under +it, and a big wave sloshed over him and nearly drowned him. He was soaked +through. It gave him a chill, and mamma is in a terrible way about him. +Howl and Henny told Fanchette they wanted him to drown. That's why they +did it. They will be locked up all morning. I should think that you'd be +glad. I don't see how you stand them tagging after you all the time. They +are the meanest boys I ever knew." + +"They are not mean to me," said Lloyd. "I can't help feelin' sorry for +them." Then she stopped abruptly, with a blush, feeling that was not a +polite thing to say to the boys' sister. + +"I'm sure I don't see why you should feel sorry for them," said Fidelia, +angrily. At which the Little Colonel was more embarrassed than ever. She +could not tell Fidelia that it was because a little poodle received the +fondling and attention that belonged to them, and that it was Fidelia's +continual faultfinding and nagging that made the boys tease her. So after +a pause she changed the subject by asking her what she wanted most to see +in Europe. + +"Nothing!" answered Fidelia. "I wouldn't give a penny to see all the old +ruins and cathedrals and picture galleries in the world. The only reason +that I care to go abroad is to be able to say I have been to those places +when the other girls brag about what they've seen. What do you want to +see?" + +"Oh, thousands of things!" exclaimed Lloyd. "There are the châteaux where +kings and queens have lived, and the places that are in the old songs, +like Bonnie Doon, and London Bridge, and Twickenham Ferry. I want to see +Denmark, because Hans Christian Andersen lived there, and wrote his fairy +tales, and London, because Dickens and Little Nell lived there. But I +think I shall enjoy Switzerland most. We expect to stay there a long time. +It is such a brave little country. Papa has told me a great deal about +its heroes. He is going to take me to see the Lion of Lucerne, and to +Altdorf, under the lime-tree, where William Tell shot the apple. I love +that story." + +"Well, aren't you _queer!_" exclaimed Fidelia, opening her eyes wide and +looking at Lloyd as if she were some sort of a freak. It was her tone and +look that were offensive, more than her words. Lloyd was furious. + +"No, I am _not_ queah, Miss Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, moving away much +ruffled. As she flounced toward the cabin, her eyes very bright and her +cheeks very red, she looked back with an indignant glance. "I wish now +that I'd told her why I'm sorry for Howl and Henny. I'd be sorry for +anybody that had such a rude sistah!" + +But there were other children on the vessel whose acquaintance Lloyd made +before the week was over. She played checkers and quoits with the boys, +and paper dolls with the girls, and one sunny morning she was invited to +join the group under the stairs, where she heard the story of the white +prince from beginning to end, and found out why he vanished. + +Those were happy days on the big steamer, despite the fact that Howl and +Henny haunted her like two hungry little shadows. Sometimes the captain +himself came down and walked with her. The Shermans sat at his table, and +he had grown quite fond of the little Kentucky girl with her soft Southern +accent. As they paced the deck hand in hand, he told her marvellous tales +of the sea, till she grew to love the ship and the heaving water world +around them, and wished that they might sail on and on, and never come to +land until the end of the summer. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LLOYD MEETS HERO + + +It was July when they reached Switzerland. After three weeks of constant +travel, it seemed good to leave boats and railroads for awhile, and stop +to rest in the clean old town of Geneva. The windows of the big hotel +dining-room looked out on the lake, and the Little Colonel, sitting at +breakfast the morning after their arrival, could scarcely eat for watching +the scene outside. + +Gay little pleasure boats flashed back and forth on the sparkling water. +The quay and bridge were thronged with people. From open windows down the +street came the tinkle of pianos, and out on the pier, where a party of +tourists were crowding on to one of the excursion steamers, a band was +playing its merriest holiday music. + +Far away in the distance she could see the shining snow crown of Mont +Blanc, and it gave her an odd feeling, as if she were living in a +geography lesson, to know that she was bounded on one side by the famous +Alpine mountain, and on the other by the River Rhône, whose source she had +often traced on the map. The sunshine, the music, and the gay crowds made +it seem to Lloyd as if the whole world were out for a holiday, and she ate +her melon and listened to the plans for the day with the sensation that +something very delightful was about to happen. + +"We'll go shopping this morning," said Mrs. Sherman. "I want Lloyd to see +some of those wonderful music boxes they make here; the dancing bears, and +the musical hand-mirrors; the chairs that play when you sit down in them, +and the beer-mugs that begin a tune when you lift them up." + +Lloyd's face dimpled with pleasure, and she began to ask eager questions. +"Couldn't we take one to Mom Beck, mothah? A lookin'-glass that would play +'Kingdom Comin', when she picked it up? It would surprise her so she would +think it was bewitched, and she'd shriek the way she does when a +cattapillah gets on her." + +Lloyd laughed so heartily at the recollection, that an old gentleman +sitting at an opposite table smiled in sympathy. He had been watching the +child ever since she came into the dining-room, interested in every look +and gesture. He was a dignified old French soldier, tall and +broad-shouldered, with gray hair and a fierce-looking gray moustache +drooping heavily over his mouth. But the eyes under his shaggy brows were +so kind and gentle that the shyest child or the sorriest waif of a stray +dog would claim him for a friend at first glance. + +The Little Colonel was so busy watching the scene from the window that she +did not see him until he had finished his breakfast and rose from the +table. As he came toward them on his way to the door, she whispered, +"Look, mothah! He has only one arm, like grandfathah. I wondah if he was a +soldiah, too. Why is he bowing to Papa Jack?" + +"I met him last night in the office," explained her father, when the old +gentleman had passed out of hearing. "We got into conversation over the +dog he had with him--a magnificent St. Bernard, that had been trained as a +war dog, to go out with the ambulances to hunt for dead and wounded +soldiers. Major Pierre de Vaux is the old man's name. He served many years +in the French army, but was retired after the siege of Strasburg. The +clerk told me that it was there that the Major lost his arm, and received +his country's medal for some act of bravery. He is well known here in +Geneva, where he comes every summer for a few weeks." + +"Oh, I hope I'll see the war dog!" cried the Little Colonel. "What do you +suppose his name is?" + +The waiter, who was changing their plates, could not resist this +temptation to show off the little English he knew. "Hes name is _Hero_, +mademoiselle," he answered. "He vair smart dog. He know _evair_ sing +somebody say to him, same as a person." + +"You'll probably see him as we go out to the carriage," said Mr. Sherman. +"He follows the Major constantly." + +As soon as breakfast was over, Mrs. Sherman went up to her room for her +hat. Lloyd, who had worn hers down to breakfast, wandered out into the +hall to wait for her. There was a tall, carved chair standing near the +elevator, and Lloyd climbed into it. To her great confusion, something +inside of it gave a loud click as she seated herself, and began to play. +It played so loudly that Lloyd was both startled and embarrassed. It +seemed to her that every one in the hotel must hear the noise, and know +that she had started it. + +"Silly old thing!" she muttered, as with a very red face she slipped down +and walked hurriedly away. She intended to go into the reading-room, but +in her confusion turned to the left instead of the right, and ran against +some one coming out of the hotel office. It was the Major. + +"Oh, I beg your pahdon!" she cried, blushing still more. From the twinkle +in his eye she was sure that he had witnessed her mortifying encounter +with the musical chair. But his first words made her forget her +embarrassment. He spoke in the best of English, but with a slight accent +that Lloyd thought very odd and charming. + +"Ah, it is Mr. Sherman's little daughter. He told me last night that you +had come to Switzerland because it was a land of heroes, and he was sure +that you would be especially interested in mine. So come, Hero, my brave +fellow, and be presented to the little American lady. Give her your paw, +sir!" + +He stepped aside to let the great creature past him, and Lloyd uttered an +exclamation of delight, he was so unusually large and beautiful. His curly +coat of tawny yellow was as soft as silk, and a great ruff of white +circled his neck like a collar. His breast was white, too, and his paws, +and his eyes had a wistful, human look that went straight to Lloyd's +heart. She shook the offered paw, and then impulsively threw her arms +around his neck, exclaiming, "Oh, you deah old fellow! I can't help +lovin' you. You're the beautifulest dog I evah saw!" + +He understood the caress, if not the words, for he reached up to touch her +cheek with his tongue, and wagged his tail as if he were welcoming a +long-lost friend. Just then Mrs. Sherman stepped out of the elevator. +"Good-bye, Hero," said the Little Colonel. "I must go now, but I hope I'll +see you when I come back." Nodding good-bye to the Major, she followed her +mother out to the street, where her father stood waiting beside an open +carriage. + +Lloyd enjoyed the drive that morning as they spun along beside the river, +up and down the strange streets with the queer foreign signs over the shop +doors. Once, as they drove along the quay, they met the Major and the dog, +and in response to a courtly bow, the Little Colonel waved her hand and +smiled. The empty sleeve recalled her grandfather, and gave her a friendly +feeling for the old soldier. She looked back at Hero as long as she could +see a glimpse of his white and yellow curls. + +It was nearly noon when they stopped at a place where Mrs. Sherman wanted +to leave an enamelled belt-buckle to be repaired. Lloyd was not interested +in the show-cases, and could not understand the conversation her father +and mother were having with the shopkeeper about enamelling. So, saying +that she would go out and sit in the carriage until they were ready to +come, she slipped away. + +She liked to watch the stir of the streets. It was interesting to guess +what the foreign signs meant, and to listen to the strange speech around +her. Besides, there was a band playing somewhere down the street, and +children were tugging at their nurses' hands to hurry them along. Some +carried dolls dressed in the quaint costumes of Swiss peasants, and some +had balloons. A man with a bunch of them like a cluster of great red +bubbles, had just sold out on the corner. + +So she sat in the sunshine, looking around her with eager, interested +eyes. The coachman, high up on his box, seemed as interested as herself; +at least, he sat up very straight and stiff. But it was only his back that +Lloyd saw. He had been at a fête the night before. There seems to be +always a holiday in Geneva. He had stayed long at the merrymaking and had +taken many mugs of beer. They made him drowsy and stupid. The American +gentleman and his wife stayed long in the enameller's shop. He could +scarcely keep his eyes open. Presently, although he never moved a muscle +of his back and sat up stiff and straight as a poker, he was sound +asleep, and the reins in his grasp slipped lower and lower and lower. + +The horse was an old one, stiffened and jaded by much hard travel, but it +had been a mettlesome one in its younger days, with the recollection of +many exciting adventures. Now, although it seemed half asleep, dreaming, +maybe, of the many jaunts it had taken with other American tourists, or +wondering if it were not time for it to have its noonday nose-bag, it was +really keeping one eye open, nervously watching some painters on the +sidewalk. They were putting up a scaffold against a building, in order +that they might paint the cornice. + +Presently the very thing happened that the old horse had been expecting. A +heavy board fell from the scaffold with a crash, knocking over a ladder, +which fell into the street in front of the frightened animal. Now the old +horse had been in several runaways. Once it had been hurt by a falling +ladder, and it had never recovered from its fear of one. As this one fell +just under it's nose, all the old fright and pain that caused its first +runaway seemed to come back to its memory. In a frenzy of terror it +reared, plunged forward, then suddenly turned and dashed down the street. + +The plunge and sudden turn threw the sleeping coachman from the box to +the street. With the lines dragging at its heels, the frightened horse +sped on. The Little Colonel, clutching frantically at the seat in front of +her, screamed at the horse to stop. She had been used to driving ever +since she was big enough to grasp the reins, and she felt that if she +could only reach the dragging lines, she could control the horse. But that +was impossible. All she could do was to cling to the seat as the carriage +whirled dizzily around corners, and wonder how many more frightful turns +it would make before she should be thrown out. + +The white houses on either side seemed racing past them. Nurses ran, +screaming, to the pavements, dragging the baby-carriages out of the way. +Dogs barked and teams were jerked hastily aside. Some one dashed out of a +shop and threw his arms up in front of the horse to stop it, but, veering +to one side, it only plunged on the faster. + +Lloyd's hat blew off. Her face turned white with a sickening dread, and +her breath began to come in frightened sobs. On and on they went, and, as +the scenes of a lifetime will be crowded into a moment in the memory of a +drowning man, so a thousand things came flashing into Lloyd's mind. She +saw the locust avenue all white and sweet in blossom time, and thought, +with a strange thrill of self-pity, that she would never ride under its +white arch again. Then she saw Betty's face on the pillow, as she had lain +with bandaged eyes, telling in her tremulous little voice the story of the +Road of the Loving Heart. Queerly enough, with that came the thought of +Howl and Henny, and she had time to be glad that she had amused them on +the voyage, and made them happy. Then came her mother's face, and Papa +Jack's. In a few moments, she told herself, they would be picking up her +poor, broken, lifeless little body from the street. How horribly they +would feel. And then--she screamed and shut her eyes. The carriage had +dashed into something that tore off a wheel. There was a crash--a sound as +of splintering wood. But it did not stop their mad flight. With a horrible +bumping motion that nearly threw her from the carriage at every jolt, they +still kept on. + +They were on the quay now. The noon sun on the water flashed into her eyes +like the blinding light thrown back from a looking-glass. Then something +white and yellow darted from the crowd on the pavement, and catching the +horse by the bit, swung on heavily. The horse dragged along for a few +paces, and came to a halt, trembling like a leaf. + +A wild hurrah went up from both sides of the street, and the Little +Colonel, as she was lifted out white and trembling, saw that it was a huge +St. Bernard that the crowd was cheering. + +"Oh, it's H-Hero!" she cried, with chattering teeth. "How did he get +here?" But no one understood her question. The faces she looked into, +while beaming with friendly interest, were all foreign. The eager +exclamations on all sides were uttered in a foreign tongue. There was no +one to take her home, and in her fright she could not remember the name of +their hotel. But in the midst of her confusion a hearty sentence in +English sounded in her ear, and a strong arm caught her up in a fatherly +embrace. It was the Major who came pushing through the crowd to reach her. +Her grandfather himself could not have been more welcome just at that +time, and her tears came fast when she found herself in his friendly +shelter. The shock had been a terrible one. + +"Come, dear child!" he exclaimed, gently, patting her shoulder. "Courage! +We are almost at the hotel. See, it is on the corner, there. The father +and mother will soon be here." + +Wiping her eyes, he led her across the street, explaining as he went how +it happened that he and the dog were on the street when she passed. They +had been in the gardens all morning and were going home to lunch, when +they heard the clatter of the runaway far down the street. The Major could +not see who was in the carriage, only that it appeared to be a child. He +was too old a man, and with his one arm too helpless to attempt to stop +it, but he remembered that Hero had once shared the training of some +collies for police service, before it had been decided to use him as an +ambulance dog. They were taught to spring at the bridles of escaping +horses. + +"I was doubtful if Hero remembered those early lessons," said the Major, +"but I called out to him sharply, for the love of heaven to stop it if he +could, and that instant he was at the horse's head, hanging on with all +his might. Bravo, old fellow!" he continued, turning to the dog as he +spoke. "We are proud of you this day!" + +They were in the corridor of the hotel now, and the Little Colonel, +kneeling beside Hero and putting her arms around his neck, finished her +sobbing with her fair little face laid fondly against his silky coat. + +"Oh, you deah, deah old Hero," she said. "You saved me, and I'll love you +fo' evah and evah!" + +The crowd was still in front of the hotel, and the corridor full of +excited servants and guests, when Mr. and Mrs. Sherman hurried in. They +had taken the first carriage they could hail and driven as fast as +possible in the wake of the runaway. Mrs. Sherman was trembling so +violently that she could scarcely stand, when they reached the hotel. The +clerk who ran out to assure them of the Little Colonel's safety was loud +in his praises of the faithful St. Bernard. + +Hero had known many masters. Any one in the uniform of the army had once +had authority over him. He had been taught to obey many voices. Many hands +had fed and fondled him, but no hand had ever lain quite so tenderly on +his head, as the Little Colonel's. No one had ever looked into his eyes so +gratefully as she, and no voice had ever thrilled him with as loving tones +as hers, as she knelt there beside him, calling him all the fond endearing +names she knew. He understood far better than if he had been human, that +she loved him. Eagerly licking her hands and wagging his tail, he told her +as plainly as a dog can talk that henceforth he would be one of her best +and most faithful of friends. + +If petting and praise and devoted attention could spoil a dog, Hero's head +would certainly have been turned that day, for friends and strangers alike +made much of him. A photographer came to take his picture for the leading +daily paper. Before nightfall his story was repeated in every home in +Geneva. No servant in the hotel but took a personal pride in him or +watched his chance to give him a sly sweetmeat or a caress. But being a +dog instead of a human, the attention only made him the more lovable, for +it made him feel that it was a kind world he lived in and everybody was +his friend. + +It was after lunch that the Little Colonel came up-stairs carrying the +diary, now half-filled with the record of their journeying. + +"Put it all down in the book, Papa Jack," she demanded. "I'll nevah forget +to my dyin' day, but I want it written down heah in black and white that +Hero saved me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HERO'S STORY + + +Late that afternoon the Major sat out in the shady courtyard of the hotel, +where vines, potted plants, and a fountain made a cool green garden spot. +He was thinking of his little daughter, who had been dead many long years. +The American child, whom his dog had rescued from the runaway in the +morning, was wonderfully like her. She had the same fair hair, he thought, +that had been his little Christine's great beauty; the same delicate, +wild-rose pink in her cheeks, the same mischievous smile dimpling her +laughing face. But Christine's eyes had not been a starry hazel like the +Little Colonel's. They were blue as the flax-flowers she used to +gather--thirty, was it? No, forty years ago. + +As he counted the years, the thought came to him like a pain that he was +an old, old man now, all alone in the world, save for a dog, and a niece +whom he scarcely knew and seldom saw. + +As he sat there with his head bowed down, dreaming over his past, the +Little Colonel came out into the courtyard. She had dressed early and gone +down to the reading-room to wait until her mother was ready for dinner, +but catching sight of the Major through the long glass doors, she laid +down her book. The lonely expression of his furrowed face, the bowed head, +and the empty sleeve appealed to her strongly. + +"I believe I'll go out and talk to him," she thought. "If grandfathah were +away off in a strange land by himself like that, I'd want somebody to +cheer him up." + +It is always good to feel that one is welcome, and Lloyd was glad that she +had ventured into the courtyard, when she saw the smile that lighted the +Major's face at sight of her, and when the dog, rising at her approach, +came forward joyfully wagging his tail. + +The conversation was easy to begin, with Hero for a subject. There were +many things she wanted to know about him: how he happened to belong to the +Major; what country he came from; why he was called a St. Bernard, and if +the Major had ever owned any other dogs. + +After a few questions it all came about as she had hoped it would. The old +man settled himself back in his chair, thought a moment, and then began at +the first of his acquaintance with St. Bernard dogs, as if he were +reading a story from a book. + +"Away up in the Alpine Mountains, too high for trees to grow, where there +is only bare rock and snow and cutting winds, climbs the road that is +known as the Great St. Bernard Pass. It is an old, old road. The Celts +crossed it when they invaded Italy. The Roman legions crossed it when they +marched out to subdue Gaul and Germany. Ten hundred years ago the Saracen +robbers hid among its rocks to waylay unfortunate travellers. You will +read about all that in your history sometime, and about the famous march +Napoleon made across it on his way to Marengo. But the most interesting +fact about the road to me, is that for over seven hundred years there has +been a monastery high up on the bleak mountain-top, called the monastery +of St. Bernard. + +"Once, when I was travelling through the Alps, I stopped there one cold +night, almost frozen. The good monks welcomed me to their hospice, as they +do all strangers who stop for food and shelter, and treated me as kindly +as if I had been a brother. In the morning one of them took me out to the +kennels, and showed me the dogs that are trained to look for travellers in +the snow. You may imagine with what pleasure I followed him, and listened +to the tales he told me. + +"He said there is not as much work for the dogs now as there used to be +years ago. Since the hospice has been connected with the valley towns by +telephone, travellers can inquire about the state of the weather and the +paths, before venturing up the dangerous mountain passes. Still, the +storms begin with little warning sometimes, and wayfarers are overtaken by +them and lost in the blinding snowfall. The paths fill suddenly, and but +for the dogs many would perish." + +"Oh, I know," interrupted Lloyd, eagerly. "There is a story about them in +my old third readah, and a pictuah of a big St. Bernard dog with a flask +tied around his neck, and a child on his back." + +"Yes," answered the Major, "it is quite probable that that was a picture +of the dog they called Barry. He was with the good monks for twelve years, +and in that time saved the lives of forty travellers. There is a monument +erected to him in Paris in the cemetery for dogs. The sculptor carved that +picture into the stone, the noble animal with a child on his back, as if +he were in the act of carrying it to the hospice. Twelve years is a long +time for a dog to suffer such hardship and exposure. Night after night he +plunged out alone into the deep snow and the darkness, barking at the top +of his voice to attract the attention of lost travellers. Many a time he +dropped into the drifts exhausted, with scarcely enough strength left to +drag himself back to the hospice. + +"Forty lives saved is a good record. You may be sure that in his old age +Barry was tenderly cared for. The monks gave him a pension and sent him to +Berne, where the climate is much warmer. When he died, a taxidermist +preserved his skin, and he was placed in the museum at Berne, where he +stands to this day, I am told, with the little flask around his neck. I +saw him there one time, and although Barry was only a dog, and I an +officer in my country's service, I stood with uncovered head before him. +For he was as truly a hero and served human kind as nobly as if he had +fallen on the field of battle. + +"He had been trained like a soldier to his duty, and no matter how the +storms raged on the mountains, how dark the night, or how dangerous the +paths that led along the slippery precipices, at the word of command he +sprang to obey. Only a dumb beast, some people would call him, guided only +by brute instinct, but in his shaggy old body beat a loving heart, loyal +to his master's command, and faithful to his duty. + +"As I stood there gazing into the kind old face, I thought of the time +when I lay wounded on the field of Strasburg. How glad I would have been +to have seen some dog like Barry come bounding to my aid! I had fallen in +a thicket, where the ambulance corps did not discover me until next day. I +lay there all that black night, wild with pain, groaning for water. I +could see the lanterns of the ambulances as they moved about searching for +the wounded among the many dead, but was too faint from loss of blood to +raise my head and shout for help. They told me afterward that, if my wound +could have received immediate attention, perhaps my arm might have been +saved. + +"But only a keen sense of smell could have traced me in the dense thicket +where I lay. No one had thought of training dogs for ambulance service +then. The men did their best, but they were only men, and I was overlooked +until it was too late to save my arm. + +"Well, as I said, I stood and looked at Barry, wondering if it were not +possible to train dogs for rescue work on battle-fields as well as in +mountain passes. The more I thought of it, the more my longing grew to +make such an attempt. I read everything I could find about trained dogs, +visited kennels where collies and other intelligent sheepdogs were kept, +and corresponded with many people about it. Finally I found a man who was +as much interested in the subject as I. Herr Bungartz is his name. To him +chiefly belongs the credit for the development of the use of ambulance +dogs, to aid the wounded on the field of battle. He is now at the head of +a society to which I belong. It has over a thousand members, including +many princes and generals. + +"We furnish the money that supports the kennels, and the dogs are bred and +trained free for the army. Now for the last eight years it has been my +greatest pleasure to visit the kennels, where as many as fifty dogs are +kept constantly in training. It was on my last visit that I got Hero. His +leg had been hurt in some accident on the training field. It was thought +that he was too much disabled to ever do good service again, so they +allowed me to take him. Two old cripples, I suppose they thought we were, +comrades in misfortune. + +"That was nearly a year ago. I took him to an eminent surgeon, told him +his history, and interested him in his case. He treated him so +successfully, that now, as you see, the leg is entirely well. Sometimes I +feel that it is my duty to give him back to the service, although I paid +for the rearing of a fine Scotch collie in his stead. He is so unusually +intelligent and well trained. But it would be hard to part with such a +good friend. Although I have had him less than a year, he seems very much +attached to me, and I have grown more fond of him than I would have +believed possible. I am an old man now, and I think he understands that he +is all I have. Good Hero! He knows he is a comfort to his old master!" + +At the sound of his name, uttered in a sad voice, the great dog got up and +laid his head on the Major's knee, looking wistfully into his face. + +"Of co'se you oughtn't to give him back!" cried the Little Colonel. "If he +were mine, I wouldn't give him up for the president, or the emperor, or +the czar, or _anybody!_" + +"But for the soldiers, the poor wounded soldiers!" suggested the Major. + +Lloyd hesitated, looking from the dog to the empty sleeve above it. +"Well," she declared, at last, "I wouldn't give him up while the country +is at peace. I'd wait till the last minute, until there was goin' to be an +awful battle, and then I'd make them promise to let me have him again when +the wah was ovah. Just the minute it was ovah. It would be like givin' +away part of your family to give away Hero." + +Suddenly the Major spoke to the dog in French, a quick, sharp sentence +that Lloyd could not understand. But Hero, without an instant's +hesitation, bounded from the courtyard, where they sat, into the hall of +the hotel. Through the glass doors she could see him leaping up the +stairs, and, almost before the Major could explain that he had sent him +for the shoulder-bags he wore in service, the dog was back with them +grasped firmly in his mouth. + +"Now the flask," said the Major. While the dog obeyed the second order, he +opened the bags for Lloyd to examine them. They were marked with a red +cross in a square of white, and contained rolls of bandages, from which +any man, able to use his arms, could help himself until his rescuer +brought further aid. + +The flask which Hero brought was marked in the same way, and the Major +buckled it to his collar, saying, as he fastened first that and then the +shoulder-bags in place, "When a dog is in training, soldiers, pretending +to be dead or wounded, are hidden in the woods or ravines and he is taught +to find a fallen body, and to bark loudly. If the soldier is in some place +too remote for his voice to bring aid the dog seizes a cap, a +handkerchief, or a belt,--any article of the man's clothing which he can +pick up,--and dashes back to the nearest ambulance." + +"What a lovely game that would make!" exclaimed Lloyd. "Do you suppose +that I could train the two Bobs to do that? We often play soldiah at +Locust. Now, what is it you say to Hero when you want him to hunt the men? +Let me see if he'll mind me." + +The Major repeated the command. + +"But I can't speak French," she said in dismay. "What is it in English?" + +"Hero can't understand anything in English," said the Major, laughing at +the perplexed expression that crept into the Little Colonel's face. + +"How funny!" she exclaimed. "I nevah thought of that befo'. I supposed of +co'se that all animals were English. Anyway, Hero comes when I call him, +and wags his tail when I speak, just as if he undahstands every word." + +"It is the kindness in your voice he understands, and the smile in your +eyes, the affection in your caress. That language is the same the world +over, to men and animals alike. But he never would start out to hunt the +wounded soldiers unless you gave this command. Let me hear if you can say +it after me." + +Lloyd tripped over some of the rough sounds as she repeated the sentence, +but tried it again and again until the Major cried "Bravo! You shall have +more lessons in French, dear child, until you can give the command so well +that Hero shall obey you as he does me." + +Then he began talking of Christine, her fair hair, her blue eyes, her +playful ways; and Lloyd, listening, drew him on with many questions, till +the little French maiden seemed to stand pictured before her, her hands +filled with the lovely spring flowers of the motherland. + +Suddenly the Major arose, bowing courteously, for Mrs. Sherman, seeing +them from the doorway, had smiled and started toward them. Springing up, +Lloyd ran to meet her. + +"Mothah," she whispered, "please ask the Majah to sit at ou' table +to-night at dinnah. He's such a deah old man, and tells such interestin' +things, and he's lonesome. The tears came into his eyes when he talked +about his little daughtah. She was just my age when she died, mothah, and +he thinks she looked like me." + +The Major's courtly manner and kind face had already aroused Mrs. +Sherman's interest. His empty sleeve reminded her of her father. His +loneliness appealed to her sympathy, and his kindness to her little +daughter had won her deepest appreciation. She turned with a cordial smile +to repeat Lloyd's invitation, which was gladly accepted. + +That was the beginning of a warm friendship. From that time he was +included in their plans. Now, in nearly all their excursions and drives, +there were four in the party instead of three, and five, very often. +Whenever it was possible, Hero was with them. He and the Little Colonel +often went out together alone. It grew to be a familiar sight in the town, +the graceful fair-haired child and the big tawny St. Bernard, walking side +by side along the quay. She was not afraid to venture anywhere with such a +guard. As for Hero, he followed her as gladly as he did his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA + + +A week after the runaway the handsomest collar that could be bought in +town was fastened around Hero's neck. It had taken a long time to get it, +for Mr. Sherman went to many shops before he found material that he +considered good enough for the rescuer of his little daughter. Then the +jeweller had to keep it several days while he engraved an inscription on +the gold name-plate--an inscription that all who read might know what +happened on a certain July day in the old Swiss town of Geneva. On the +under side of the collar was a stout link like the one on his old one, to +which the flask could be fastened when he was harnessed for service, and +on the upper side, finely wrought in enamel, was a red cross on a white +square. + +"Papa Jack!" exclaimed Lloyd, examining it with interest, "that is the +same design that is on his blanket and shouldah-bags. Why, it's just like +the Swiss flag!" she cried, looking out at the banner floating from the +pier. "Only the colours are turned around. The flag has a white cross on a +red ground, and this is a red cross on a white ground. Why did you have it +put on the collah, Papa Jack?" + +"Because he is a Red Cross dog," answered her father. + +"No, Papa Jack. Excuse me for contradictin', but the Majah said he was a +St. Bernard dog." + +Mr. Sherman laughed, but before he could explain he was called to the +office to answer a telegram. When he returned Lloyd had disappeared to +find the Major, and ask about the symbol on the collar. She found him in +his favourite seat near the fountain, in the shady courtyard. Perching on +a bench near by with Hero for a foot-stool, she asked, "Majah, is Hero a +St. Bernard or a Red Cross dog?" + +"He is both," answered the Major, smiling at her puzzled expression. "He +is the first because he belongs to that family of dogs, and he is the +second because he was adopted by the Red Cross Association, and trained +for its service. You know what that is, of course." + +Still Lloyd looked puzzled. She shook her head. "No, I nevah heard of it. +Is it something Swiss or French?" + +"Never heard of it!" repeated the Major. He spoke in such a surprised +tone that his voice sounded gruff and loud, and Lloyd almost jumped. The +harshness was so unexpected. + +"Think again, child," he said, sternly. "Surely you have been told, at +least, of your brave countrywoman who is at the head of the organisation +in America, who nursed not only the wounded of your own land, but followed +the Red Cross of mercy on many foreign battle-fields!" + +"Oh, a hospital nurse!" said Lloyd, wrinkling her forehead and trying to +think. "Miss Alcott was one. Everybody knows about her, and her 'Hospital +Sketches' are lovely." + +"No! no!" exclaimed the Major, impatiently. Lloyd, feeling from his tone +that ignorance on this subject was something he could not excuse, tried +again. + +"I've heard of Florence Nightingale. In one of my books at home, a +_Chatterbox_, I think, there is a picture of her going through a hospital +ward. Mothah told me how good she was to the soldiahs, and how they loved +her. They even kissed her shadow on the wall as she passed. They were so +grateful." + +"Ah, yes," murmured the old man. "Florence Nightingale will live long in +song and story. An angel of mercy she was, through all the horrors of the +Crimean War; but she was an English woman, my dear. The one I mean is an +American, and her name ought to go down in history with the bravest of its +patriots and the most honoured of its benefactors. I learned to know her +first in that long siege at Strasburg. She nursed me there, and I have +followed her career with grateful interest ever since, noting with +admiration all that she has done for her country and humanity the world +over. + +"If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, dear child +(I say it with uncovered head), that one should be the name of _Clara +Barton_." + +The old soldier lifted his hat as he spoke, and replaced it so solemnly +that Lloyd felt very uncomfortable, as if she were in some way to blame +for not knowing and admiring this Red Cross nurse of whom she had never +heard. Her face flushed, and much embarrassed, she drew the toe of her +slipper along Hero's back, answering, in an abused tone: + +"But, Majah, how could I be expected to know anything about her? There is +nothing in ou' school-books, and nobody told me, and Papa Jack won't let +me read the newspapahs, they're so full of horrible murdahs and things. So +how could I evah find out? I couldn't learn _everything_ in twelve yeahs, +and that's all the longah I've lived." + +The Major laughed. "Forgive me, little one!" he cried, seeing the distress +and embarrassment in her face. "A thousand pardons! The fault is not +yours, but your country's, that it has not taught its children to honour +its benefactor as she deserves. I am glad that it has been given to me to +tell you the story of one of the most beautiful things that ever happened +in Switzerland--the founding of the Red Cross. You will remember it with +greater interest, I am sure, because, while I talk, the cross of the Swiss +flag floats over us, and it was here in this old town of Geneva the +merciful work had its beginning." + +Lloyd settled herself to listen, still stroking Hero's back with her +slipper toe. + +"He was my friend, Henri Durant, and in the old days of chivalry they +would have made him knight for the noble thought that sprang to flower in +his heart and to fruitage in so worthy a deed. He was travelling in Italy +years ago, and happening to be near the place where the battle of +Solferino was fought, he was so touched by the sufferings of the wounded +that he stopped to help care for them in the hospitals. The sights he saw +there were horrible. The wounded men could not be cared for properly. +They died by the hundreds, because there were not enough nurses and +surgeons and food. + +"It moved him to write a book which was translated into several languages. +People of many countries became interested and were aroused to a desire to +do something to relieve the deadly consequences of war. Then he called a +meeting of all the nations of Europe. That was over thirty years ago. +Sixteen of the great powers sent men to represent them. They met here in +Geneva and signed a treaty. One by one other countries followed their +example, until now forty governments are pledged to keep the promises of +the Red Cross. + +"They chose that as their flag in compliment to Switzerland, where the +movement was started. You see they are the same except that the colours +are reversed. + +"Now, according to that treaty, wherever the Red Cross goes, on sea or on +land, it means peace and safety for the wounded soldiers. In the midst of +the bloodiest battle, no matter who is hurt, Turk or Russian, Japanese or +Spaniard, Armenian or Arab, he is bound to be protected and cared for. No +nurse, surgeon, or ambulance bearing that Red Cross can be fired upon. +They are allowed to pass wherever they are needed. + +"Before the nations joined in that treaty, the worst horror of war was the +fate of a wounded soldier, falling into the hands of the enemy. Better a +thousand times to be killed in battle, than to be taken prisoner. Think of +being left, bleeding and faint, on an enemy's field till your clothes +_froze to the ground_, and no one merciful enough to give you a crust of +bread or a drop of water. Think of the dying piled with the dead and left +to the pitiless rays of a scorching, tropic sun. That can never happen +again, thank Heaven! + +"In time of peace, money and supplies are gathered and stored by each +country, ready for use at the first signal of war. To show her approval, +the empress became the head of the branch in Germany. Soon after the +Franco-Prussian war began, and then her only daughter, the Grand Duchess +Louise of Baden, turned all her beautiful castles into military hospitals, +and went herself to superintend the work of relief. + +"Your country did not join with us at first. You were having a terrible +war at home; the one in which your grandfather fought. All this time Clara +Barton was with the soldiers on their bloodiest battle-fields. When you +go home, ask your grandfather about the battles of Bull Run and Antietam, +Fredericksburg and the Wilderness. She was there. She stood the strain of +nursing in sixteen such awful places, going from cot to cot among the +thousands of wounded, comforting the dying, and dragging many a man back +from the very grave by her untiring, unselfish devotion. + +"When the war was over, she spent four years searching for the soldiers +reported missing. Hundreds and hundreds of pitiful letters came to her, +giving name, regiment, and company of some son or husband or brother, who +had marched away to the wars and never returned. These names could not be +found among the lists of the killed. They were simply reported as +'missing'; whether dead or a deserter, no one could tell. She had spent +weeks at Andersonville the summer after the war, identifying and marking +the graves there. She marked over twelve thousand. So when these letters +came imploring her aid, she began the search, visiting the old prisons, +and trenches and hospitals, until she removed from twenty thousand names +the possible suspicion that the men who bore them had been deserters. + +"No wonder that she came to Europe completely broken down in health, so +exhausted by her long, severe labours that her physicians told her she +must rest several years. But hardly was she settled here in Switzerland +when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and the Red Cross sought her aid, +knowing how valuable her long experience in nursing would be to them. She +could not refuse their appeals, and once more started in the wake of +powder smoke, and cannon's roar. + +"But I'll not start on that chapter of her life, for, if I did, I would +not know where to stop. It was there I met her, there she nursed me back +to life; then I learned to appreciate her devotion to the cause of +humankind. This second long siege against suffering made her an invalid +for many years. + +"The other nations wondered why America refused to join them in their +humane work. All other civilised countries were willing to lend a hand. +But Clara Barton knew that it was because the people were ignorant of its +real purpose that they did not join the alliance, and she promised that +she would devote the remainder of her life, if need be, to showing America +that as long as she refused to sign that treaty, she was standing on a +level with barbarous and heathen countries. + +"For years she was too ill to push the work she had set for herself. When +her strength at last returned, she had to learn to walk. At last, however, +she succeeded. America signed the treaty. Then, through her efforts, the +American National Red Cross was organised. She was made president of it. +While no war, until lately, has called for its services, the Red Cross has +found plenty to do in times of great national calamities. You have had +terrible fires and floods, cyclones, and scourges of yellow fever. Then +too, it has taken relief to Turkey and lately has found work in Cuba. + +"I know that you would like to look into Miss Barton's jewel-box. Old +Emperor William himself gave her the Iron Cross of Prussia. The Grand Duke +and Duchess of Baden sent her the Gold Cross of Remembrance. Medals and +decorations from many sovereigns are there--the Queen of Servia, the +Sultan of Turkey, the Prince of Armenia. Never has any American woman been +so loved and honoured abroad, and never has an American woman been more +worthy of respect at home. It must be a great joy to her now, as she sits +in the evening of life, to count her jewels of remembrance, and feel that +she has done so much to win the gratitude of her fellow creatures. + +"You came to visit Switzerland because it is the home of many heroes; but +let me tell you, my child, this little republic has more to show the world +than its William Tell chapels and its Lion of Lucerne. As long as the old +town of Geneva stands, the world will not forget that here was given a +universal banner of peace, and here was signed its greatest treaty--the +treaty of the Red Cross." + +As the Major stopped, the Little Colonel looked up at the white cross +floating above the pier, and then down at the red one on Hero's collar, +and drew a long breath. + +"I wish I could do something like that!" she exclaimed, earnestly. "I used +to wish that I could go out like Joan of Arc to do some great thing that +would make people write books about me, and carve me on statues, and paint +pictures and sing songs in my honah, but I believe that now I'd rathah do +something bettah than ride off to battle on a prancin' white chargah. +Thank you, Majah, for tellin' me the story. I'm goin' for a walk now. May +I take Hero?" + +A few minutes later the two were wandering along beside the water +together, the Little Colonel dreaming day-dreams of valiant deeds that she +might do some day, so that kings would send _her_ a Gold Cross of +Remembrance, and men would say with uncovered heads, as the old Major had +done, "If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, that +one should be the name of Lloyd Sherman--_The Little Colonel_!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT + + +As the time drew near for them to move northward, Lloyd began counting the +hours still left to her to spend with her new-found friends. + +"Only two moah days, mothah," she sighed "Only two moah times to go +walking with Hero. It seems to me that I _can't_ say good-bye and go away, +and nevah see him again as long as I live!" + +"He is going with us part of the way," answered Mrs. Sherman. "The Major +told us last night that he had decided to visit his niece who lives at +Zürich. We will stop first for a few days at a little town called Zug, +beside a lake of the same name. There is a William Tell chapel near there +that the Major wants to show us, and he will go up the Rigi with us. I +think he dreads parting with you fully as much as you do from Hero. His +eyes follow every movement you make. So many times in speaking of you he +has called you Christine." + +"I know," answered Lloyd, thoughtfully. "He seems to mix me up with her +in his thoughts, all the time. He is so old I suppose he is absent-minded. +When I'm as old as he is, I won't want to travel around as he does. I'll +want to settle down in some comfortable place and stay there." + +"From what he said last night, I judge that this is the last time he +expects to visit that part of Switzerland. When he was a little boy he +used to visit his grandmother, who lived near Zug. The chalet where she +lived is still standing, and he wants to see it once more, he said, before +he dies." + +"He must know lots of stories about the place," said Lloyd. + +"He does. He has tramped all over the mountain back of the town after wild +strawberries, followed the peasants to the mowing, and gone to many a fête +in the village. We are fortunate to have such an interesting guide." + +"I wish that Betty could be with us to hear all the stories he tells us," +said Lloyd, beginning to look forward to the journey with more pleasure, +now that she knew there was a prospect of being entertained by the Major. +Usually she grew tired of the confinement in the little railway carriages +where there were no aisles to walk up and down in, and fidgeted and yawned +and asked the time of day at every station. + +During the first part of the journey toward Zug, the Major had little to +say. He leaned wearily back in his seat with his eyes closed much of the +time. But as they began passing places that were connected with +interesting scenes of his childhood, he roused himself, and pointed them +out with as much enjoyment as if he were a schoolboy, coming home on his +first vacation. + +"See those queer little towers still left standing on the remnants of the +old town wall," he said as they approached Zug. "The lake front rests on a +soft, shifting substratum of sand, and there is danger, when the water is +unusually low, that it may not be able to support the weight of the houses +built upon it. One day, over four hundred years ago, part of the wall and +some of the towers sank down into the lake with twenty-six houses. + +"I have heard my grandmother tell of it, many a time, as she heard the +tale from her grandmother. Many lives were lost that day, and there was a +great panic. Later in the day, some one saw a cradle floating out in the +lake, and when it was drawn in, there lay a baby, cooing and kicking up +his heels as happily as if cradle-rides on the water were common +occurrences. He was the little son of the town clerk, and grew up to be +one of my ancestors. Grandmother was very fond of telling that tale, how +the baby smiled on his rescuers, and what a fine, pleasant man he grew up +to be, beloved by the whole village. + +"It has not been much over a dozen years since another piece of the town +sank down into the water. A long stretch of lake front with houses and +gardens and barns was sucked under." + +"How dreadful!" exclaimed Lloyd, with a shiver. "Let us go somewhere else, +Papa Jack," she begged. "I don't want to sleep in a place where the bottom +may drop out any minute." + +Her father laughed at her fears, and the Major assured her that they would +not take her to a hotel near the water's edge. + +"We are going to the other side of the town, to an inn that stands close +against the mountainside. The inn-keeper is an old friend of mine, who has +lived here all his life." + +In spite of all they said to quiet her fears, the Little Colonel was far +from feeling comfortable, and took small pleasure at first in going to see +the sights of the quaint little town. She was glad when they pushed away +from the pier next morning, in the steamboat that was to take them across +the lake to the William Tell chapel. She dreaded to return, but a handful +of letters from Lloydsboro Valley, and one apiece from Betty and Eugenia +that she found awaiting her at the inn, made her forget the shifting sands +below her. She read and re-read some of them, answered several, and then +began to look for the Major and Hero. They were nowhere to be found. + +They went away directly after lunch, her father told her, to the chalet on +the mountain back of the town. "You will have to be content with my humble +society," he added. "You can't expect to be always escorted by titled +soldiers and heroes." + +"Now you're teasin'," said Lloyd, with a playful pout. "But I do wish that +the Majah had left Hero. There are so few times left for us to go walkin' +togethah." + +"I'm afraid that you look oftener at that dog than you do at the scenery +and the foreign sights that you came over here to see," said her father, +with a smile. "You can see dogs in Lloydsboro Valley any day." + +"But none like Hero," cried the Little Colonel, loyally. "And I _am_ +noticin' the sights, Papa Jack. I think there was nevah anything moah +beautiful than these mountains, and I just love it heah when it is so +sunny and still. Listen to the goat-bells tinklin' away up yondah where +that haymakah is climbing with a pack of hay tied on his shouldahs! And +how deep and sweet the church-bell sounds down heah in the valley as it +tolls across the watah! The lake looks as blue as the sapphires in +mothah's necklace. The pictuah it makes for me is one of the loveliest +things that my wondah-ball has unrolled. Nobody could have a bettah +birthday present than this trip has been. The only thing about it that has +made me unhappy for a minute is that I must leave Hero and nevah see him +again. He follows me just as well now as he does his mastah." + +The Major came back from his long climb up the mountain, very tired. "It +is more than I should have undertaken the first day," he said, "but back +here in the scenes of my boyhood I find it hard to realise that I am an +old, old man. I'll be rested in the morning, however, ready for whatever +comes." + +But in the morning he was still much exhausted, and came down-stairs +leaning heavily on his cane. He asked to be excused from going up on the +Rigi with them. He said that he would stay at home and sit in the sun and +rest. They offered to postpone the trip, but he insisted on their going +without him. They must be moving on to Zürich, soon, he reminded them, and +they might not have another day of such perfect weather, for the +excursion. + +Hero stood looking from the Major in his chair, to the Little Colonel, +standing with her hat and jacket on, ready to start. He could not +understand why he and his master should be left behind, and walked from +one to the other, wagging his tail and looking up questioningly into their +faces. + +"Go, if you wish," said the Major, kindly patting his head. "Go and take +good care of thy little Christine. Let no harm befall her this day!" The +dog bounded away as if glad of the permission, but at the door turned +back, and seeing that the Major was not following, picked up his hat in +his mouth. Then, carrying it back to the Major, stood looking up into his +master's face, wagging his tail. + +The Major took the hat and laid it on the table beside him. "No, not +to-day, good friend," he said, smiling at the dog's evident wish to have +him go also. "You may go without me, this time. Call him, Christine, if +you wish his company." + +"Come Hero, come on," called Lloyd. "It's all right." + +The Major waved his hand toward her, saying, "Go, Hero. Guard her well and +bring her back safely. The dear little Christine!" The name was uttered +almost in a whisper. + +With a quick, short bark, Hero started after the Little Colonel, staying +so closely by her side that they entered the train together before the +guard could protest. If he could have resisted the appealing look in the +Little Colonel's eyes as she threw an arm protectingly around Hero's neck, +he could not find it in his heart to refuse the silver that Papa Jack +slipped into his hand; so for once the two comrades travelled side by +side. Hero sat next the window, and looked out anxiously, as the little +mountain engine toiled up the steep ascent, nearer and nearer to the top. + +It was noon when they reached the hotel on the summit where they stopped +for lunch. + +"How solemn it makes you feel to be up so high above all the world!" said +Lloyd, in an awed tone, as they walked around that afternoon, and took +turns looking through the great telescope, at the valley spread out like a +map below them. + +"How tiny the lake looks, and the town is like a toy village! I thought +that the top of a mountain went up to a fine point like a church steeple, +and that there wouldn't be a place to stand on when you got there. Seems +that way when you look up at it from the valley. It doesn't seem possible +that it is big enough to have hotels built on it and lots and lots of room +left ovah. When the Majah said to Hero, in such a solemn way, 'Take good +care of thy little Christine, let no harm befall her this day,' I thought +maybe he wanted Hero to hold my dress in his teeth, so that I couldn't +fall off." + +Mrs. Sherman laughed and Mr. Sherman said, "Do you know that you are +actually up above the clouds? What seems to be mist, rolling over the +valley down there like a dense fog, is really cloud. In a short time we +shall not be able to see through it." + +"Oh, oh!" cried the Little Colonel, in astonishment. "Really, Papa Jack? I +always thought that if I could get up into the clouds I could reach out +and touch the moon and the stars. Of co'se I know bettah now, but I should +think I'd be neah enough to see them." + +"No," answered her father, "that is one of the sad facts of life. No +matter how loudly we may cry for the moon, it is hung too high for us to +reach, and the 'forget-me-nots of the angels,' as Longfellow calls the +stars, are not for hands like ours to pick. But in a very little while I +think that we shall see the lightning below us. Those clouds down there +are full of rain. They may rise high enough to give us a wetting, so it +would be wise for us to hurry back to the hotel." + +"It is the strangest thing that evah happened to me in all my life!" said +Lloyd a few minutes later, as they sat on the hotel piazza, watching the +storm below them. Overhead the summer sun was shining brightly, but just +below the heavy storm clouds rolled, veiling all the valley from sight. +They could see the forked tongues of lightning darting back and forth far +below them, and hear the heavy rumble of thunder. + +"It seems so wondahful to think that we are safe up above the storm. Look! +There is a rainbow! And there is anothah and anothah! Oh, it is so +beautiful, I'm glad it rained!" + +The storm, that had lasted for nearly an hour, gradually cleared away till +the valley lay spread out before them once more, in the sunshine, green +and dripping from the summer shower. + +"Well," said the Little Colonel, as they started homeward, "aftah this +I'll remembah that no mattah how hard it rains the sun is always shining +somewhere. It nevah hides itself from us. It is the valley that gets +behind the clouds, just as if it was puttin' a handkerchief ovah its face +when it wanted to cry. It's a comfort to know that the sun keeps shining, +on right on, unchanged." + +It was nearly dark when they reached the little inn again in Zug. The +narrow streets were wet, and the eaves of the houses still dripping. The +landlord came out to meet them with an anxious face. "Your friend, the old +Major," he said, in his broken English, "he have not yet return. I fear +the storm for him was bad." + +"Where did he go?" inquired Mr. Sherman. "I did not know that he intended +leaving the hotel at all to-day. He did not seem well." + +"Early after lunch," was the answer. "He say he will up the mountain go, +behind the town. He say that now he vair old man, maybe not again will he +come this way, and one more time already before he die, he long to gather +for himself the Alpine rosen." + +"Have you had a hard storm here?" asked Mrs. Sherman. + +The landlord shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands. + +"The vair worst, madame. Many trees blow down. The lightning he strike a +house next to the church of St. Oswald, and a goatherd coming down just +now from the mountain say that the paths are heaped with fallen limbs, and +slippery with mud. That is why for I fear the Major have one accident +met." + +"Maybe he has stopped at some peasant's hut for shelter," suggested Mr. +Sherman, seeing the distress in Lloyd's face. "He knows the region around +here thoroughly. However, if he is not here by the time we are through +dinner, we'll organise a searching party." + +"Hero knows that something is wrong," said the Little Colonel, as they +went into the dining-room a few minutes later. "See how uneasy he seems, +walking from room to room. He is trying to find his mastah." + +The longer they discussed the Major's absence the more alarmed they +became, as the time passed and he did not return. + +"You know," suggested Lloyd, "that with just one arm he couldn't help +himself much if he should fall. Maybe he has slipped down some of those +muddy ravines that the goatherd told about. Besides, he was so weak and +tiahed this mawnin.'" + +Presently her face brightened with a sudden thought. + +"Oh, Papa Jack! Let's send Hero. I know where the Majah keeps his things, +the flask and the bags, and the dog will know, as soon as they are +fastened on him, that he must start on a hunt. And I believe I can say the +words in French so that he'll undahstand. Only yestahday the Majah had me +repeating them." + +"That's a bright idea," answered her father, who was really more anxious +than he allowed any one to see. "At least it can do no harm to try." + +"I don't want any dessert. Mayn't I go now?" Lloyd asked. As she hurried +up the stairs, her heart beating with excitement, she whispered to +herself, "Oh, if he _should_ happen to be lost or hurt, and Hero should +find him, it would be the loveliest thing that evah happened." + +Hero seemed to know, from the moment he saw the little flask marked with +the well-known Red Cross, what was expected of him. All the guests in the +inn gathered around the door to see him start on his uncertain quest. He +sniffed excitedly at his master's slipper, which Lloyd held out to him. +Then, as she motioned toward the mountain, and gave the command in French +that the Major had taught her, he bounded out into the gloaming, with +several quick short barks, and darted up the narrow street that led to the +mountain road. + +Maybe if he had not been with his master that way, the day before, he +might not have known what path to take. The heavy rain had washed away all +trails, so he could not trace him by the sense of smell; but remembering +the path which they had travelled together the previous day, he +instinctively started up that. + +The group in the doorway of the inn watched him as long as they could see +the white line of his silvery ruff gleam through the dusk, and then, going +back to the parlour, sat down to wait for his return. To most of them it +was a matter of only passing interest. They were curious to know how much +the dog's training would benefit his master, under the circumstances, if +he should be lost. But to the Little Colonel it seemed a matter of life +and death. She walked nervously up and down the hall with her hands behind +her, watching the clock and running to the door to peer out in the +darkness, every time she heard a sound. + +Some one played a noisy two-step on the loose-jointed old piano. A young +man sang a serenade in Italian, and two girls, after much coaxing, +consented to join in a high, shrill duet. + +Light-hearted laughter and a babel of conversation floated from the +parlour to the hall, where Lloyd watched and waited. Her father waited +with her, but he had a newspaper. Lloyd wondered how he could read while +such an important search was going on. She did not know that he had little +faith in the dog's ability to find his master. She, however, had not a +single doubt of it. + +The time seemed endless. Again and again the little cuckoo in the hall +clock came out to call the hour, the quarters and halves. At last there +was a patter of big soft paws on the porch, and Lloyd springing to the +door, met Hero on the threshold. Something large and gray was in his +mouth. + +"Oh, Papa Jack!" she cried. "He's found him! Hero's found him! This is the +Majah's Alpine hat. The flask is gone from his collah, so the Majah must +have needed help. And see how wild Hero is to start back. Oh, Papa Jack! +Hurry, please!" + +Her call brought every one from the parlour to see the dog, who was +springing back and forth with eager barks that asked, as plainly as words, +for some one to follow him. + +"Oh, let me go with you! _Please_, Papa Jack," begged Lloyd. + +He shook his head decidedly. "No, it is too late and dark, and no telling +how far we shall have to climb. You have already done your part, my dear, +in sending the dog. If the Major is really in need of help, he will have +you to thank for his rescue." + +The landlord called for lanterns. Several of the guests seized their hats +and alpenstocks, and in a few minutes the little relief party was hurrying +along the street after their trusty guide, with Mr. Sherman in the lead. +He had caught up a hammock as he started. "We may need some kind of a +stretcher," he said, slinging it over his shoulder. + +They trudged on in silence, wondering what they would find at the end of +their journey. The mountain path was strewn with limbs broken off by the +storm. Although the moon came up presently and added its faint light to +the yellow rays of the lanterns, they had to pick their steps slowly, +often stumbling. + +Hero, bounding on ahead, paused to look back now and then, with impatient +barks. They had climbed more than an hour, when he suddenly shot ahead +into the darkest part of the woods and gave voice so loudly that they knew +that they had reached the end of their search, and pushed forward +anxiously. + +The moonlight could not reach this spot among the trees, so densely +shaded, but the lanterns showed them the old man a short distance from the +path. He was pinned to the wet earth by a limb that had fallen partly +across him. Fortunately, the storm had been unable to twist it entirely +from the tree. Only the outer end of the limb had struck him, but the +tangle of leafy boughs above him was too thick to creep through. His +clothes were drenched, and on the ground beside him, beaten flat by the +storm, lay the bunch of Alpine roses he had climbed so far to find. + +He was conscious when the men reached him. The brandy in the flask had +revived him and as they drew him out from under the branches and stretched +the hammock over some poles for a litter, he told them what had happened. +He had been some distance farther up the mountain, and had stopped at a +peasant's hut for some goat's milk. He rested there a long time, never +noticing in the dense shade of the woods that a storm was gathering. + +It came upon him suddenly. His head was hurt, and his back. He could not +tell how badly. He had lain so long on the wet ground that he was numb +with cold, but thought he would be better when he was once more resting +warm and dry at the inn. + +He stretched out his hand to Hero and feebly patted him, a faint smile +crossing his face. "Thou best of friends," he whispered. "Thou--" Then he +stopped, closing his eyes with a groan. They were lifting him on the +stretcher, and the pain caused by the movement made him faint. + +It was a slow journey down the slippery mountain path. The men who carried +him had to pick their steps carefully. At the inn the little cuckoo came +out of the clock in the hall and called eleven, half past, and midnight, +before the even tramp, tramp of approaching feet made the Little Colonel +run to the door for the last time. + +"They're comin', mothah," she whispered, with a frightened face, and then +ran back to hide her eyes while the men passed up the steps with their +unconscious burden. She thought the Major was dead, he lay so white and +still. But he had only fainted again on the way, and soon revived enough +to answer the doctor's questions, and send word to the Little Colonel that +she and Hero had saved his life. "Do you heah that?" she asked of Hero, +when they told her what he had said. "The doctah said that if the Majah +had lain out on that cold, wet ground till mawnin', without any attention, +it surely would have killed him. I'm proud of you, Hero. I'm goin' to get +Papa Jack to write a piece about you and send it to the _Courier-Journal_. +How would you like to have yo' name come out in a big American newspapah?" + +Several lonely days followed for the Little Colonel. Either her father or +mother was constantly with the Major, and sometimes both. They were +waiting for his niece to come from Zürich and take him back with her to a +hospital where he could have better care than in the little inn in Zug. + +It greatly worried the old man that he should be the cause of disarranging +their plans and delaying their journey. He urged them to go on and leave +him, but they would not consent. Sometimes the Little Colonel slipped into +the room with a bunch of Alpine roses or a cluster of edelweiss that she +had bought from some peasant. Sometimes she sat beside him for a few +minutes, but most of her time was spent with Hero, wandering up and down +beside the lake, feeding the swans or watching the little steamboats come +and go. She had forgotten her fear of the bottom dropping out of the town. + +One evening, just at sunset, the Major sent for her. "I go to Zürich in +the morning," he said, holding out his hand as she came into the room. "I +wanted to say good-bye while I have the time and strength. We expect to +leave very early to-morrow, probably before you are awake." + +His couch was drawn up by the window, through which the shimmering lake +shone in the sunset like rosy mother-of-pearl. Far up the mountain sounded +the faint tinkling of goat-bells, and the clear, sweet yodelling of a +peasant, on his homeward way. At intervals, the deep tolling of the bell +of St. Oswald floated out across the water. + +"When the snow falls," he said, after a long pause, "I shall be far away +from here. They tell me that at the hospital where I am going, I shall +find a cure. But I know." He pointed to an hour-glass on the table beside +him. "See! the sand has nearly run its course. The hour will soon be done. +It is so with me. I have felt it for a long time." + +Lloyd looked up, startled. He went on slowly. + +"I cannot take Hero with me to the hospital, so I shall leave him behind +with some one who will care for him and love him, perhaps even better than +I have done." He held out his hand to the dog. + +"Come, Hero, my dear old comrade, come bid thy master farewell." Fumbling +under his pillow as he spoke, he took out a small leather case, and, +opening it, held up a medal. It was the medal that had been given him for +bravery on the field of battle. + +"It is my one treasure!" murmured the old soldier, turning it fondly, as +it lay in his palm. "I have no family to whom I can leave it as an +heirloom, but thou hast twice earned the right to wear it. I have no fear +but that thou wilt always be true to the Red Cross and thy name of Hero, +so thou shalt wear thy country's medal to thy grave." + +He fastened the medal to Hero's collar, then, with the dog's great head +pressed fondly against him, he began talking to him softly and gently in +French. Lloyd could not understand, but the sight of the gray-haired old +soldier taking his last leave of his faithful friend brought the tears to +her eyes. + +She tried to describe the scene to her mother, afterward. + +"Oh, it was so pitiful!" she exclaimed. "It neahly broke my heart. Then he +called me to him and said that because I was like his little Christine, he +knew that I would be good to Hero, and he asked me to take him back to +America with me. I promised that I would. Then he put Hero's paw in my +hand, and said, 'Hero, I give thee to thy little mistress. Protect and +guard her always, as she will love and care for thee.' It was awfully +solemn, almost like some kind of blessing. + +"Then he lay back on the pillows as if he was too tiahed to say anothah +word. I tried to thank him, but I was so surprised and glad that Hero was +mine, and yet so sorry to say good-bye to the Majah, that the right words +wouldn't come. I just began to cry again. But I am suah the Majah +undahstood. He patted my hand and smoothed my hair and said things in +French that sounded as if he was tryin' to comfort me. Aftah awhile I +remembahed that we had been there a long time, and ought to go, so I +kissed him good-bye, and Hero and I went out, leavin' the doah open as he +told us. He watched us all the way down the hall. When I turned at the +stairway to look back, he was still watchin'. He smiled and waved his +hand, but the way he smiled made me feel worse than evah, it was so sad." + +Mr. Sherman went with the Major next morning, when he was taken to Zürich. +Lloyd was asleep when they left the inn, so the last remembrance she had +of the Major was the way he looked as he lay on his couch in the sunset, +smiling, and waving his hand to her. When Christmastide came, it was as he +said. He was with his little Christine. + +"I can hardly keep from crying whenever I think of him," Lloyd wrote to +Betty. "It was so pitiful, his giving up everything in the world that he +cared for, and going off to the hospital to wait there alone for his +hour-glass to run out. Hero seems to miss him, but I think he understands +that he belongs to me now. I can scarcely believe that he is really mine, +and that I may take him back to America with me. He is the best thing that +the wonder-ball has given me, or ever can give me. + +"To-morrow we start to Lucerne to see the Lion in the rocks, and from +there we go to Paris. Only a little while now, and we shall all be +together. I can hardly wait for you to see my lovely St. Bernard with his +Red Cross of Geneva, and the medal that he has earned the right to wear." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN TOURS + + +A dozen times between Paris and Tours the Little Colonel turned from the +car window to smile at her mother, and say with a wriggle of impatience, +"Oh, I can't _wait_ to get there! Won't Betty and Eugenia be surprised to +see us two whole days earlier than they expected!" + +"But you mustn't count too much on seeing them at the hotel the minute we +arrive," her mother cautioned her. "You know Cousin Carl wrote that they +were making excursions every day to the old châteaux near there, and I +think it quite probable they will be away. So don't set your heart on +seeing them before to-morrow night. Some of those trips take two days." + +Lloyd turned to the window again and tried to busy herself with the scenes +flying past: the peasant women with handkerchiefs over their heads, and +the men in blue cotton blouses and wooden shoes at work in the fields; the +lime-trees and the vineyards, the milk-carts that dogs helped to draw. It +was all as Joyce had described it to her, and she pinched herself to make +sure that she was awake, and actually in France, speeding along toward the +Gate of the Giant Scissors, and all the delightful foreign experience that +Joyce had talked about. She had dreamed many day-dreams about this +journey, but the thought that was giving her most pleasure now was not +that these dreams were at last coming true, but that in a very short time +she would be face to face with Betty and Eugenia. + +It was noon when they reached Tours, and went rattling up to the Hotel +Bordeaux in the big omnibus. At first Lloyd was disposed to find fault +with the quaint, old-fashioned hotel which Cousin Carl had chosen as their +meeting-place. It had no conveniences like the modern ones to which she +had been accustomed. There was not even an elevator in it. She looked in +dismay at the steep, spiral stairway, winding around and around in the end +of the hall, like the steps in the tower of a lighthouse. On a side table +in the hall, several long rows of candles, with snuffers, suggested the +kind of light they would have in their bedrooms. + +But everything was spotlessly clean, and the landlady and her daughter +came out to meet them with an air of giving them a welcome home, which +extended even to the dog. After their hospitable reception of Hero, Lloyd +had no more fault to find. She knew that at no modern hotel would he have +been treated so considerately and given the liberty of the house. Since he +was not banished to the courtyard or turned over to a porter's care, she +was willing to climb a dozen spiral stairways, or grope her way through +the semi-darkness of a candle-lighted bedroom every night while they were +in France, for the sake of having Hero free to come and go as he pleased. + +"Come on!" she cried, gaily, to her mother, as a porter with a trunk on +his shoulder led the way up the spiral stairs. "It makes me think of the +old song you used to sing me about the spidah and the fly, 'The way into +my pahlah is up a winding stair.' Nobody but a circus acrobat could run up +the whole flight without getting dizzy. It's a good thing we are only +goin' to the next floah." + +She ran around several circles of steps, and then paused to look back at +her mother, who was waiting for Mr. Sherman's helping arm. "The elephant +now goes round and round when the band begins to play," quoted Lloyd, +looking down on them, her face dimpling with laughter. + +"Look out!" piped a shrill voice far above her. "I'm coming!" Lloyd gave a +hasty glance upward to the top floor, and drew back against the wall. For +down the banister, with the speed of a runaway engine, came sliding a +small bare-legged boy. Around and around the dizzy spiral he went, hugging +the railing closely, and bringing up with a tremendous bump against the +newel post at the bottom. + +"Hullo!" he said, coolly, looking up at the Little Colonel. + +"It's _Henny!_" she exclaimed, in amazement. "Henderson Sattawhite! Of all +people! How did you get heah?" + +But the boy had no time to waste in talking. He stuck his thumb in his +mouth, looked at her an instant, and then, climbing down from the +banister, started to the top of the stairs as fast as his short legs could +carry him, for another downward spin. + +Lloyd waited for her mother to come up to the step on which she stood, and +then said, with a look of concern, "Do you suppose they are all heah, +'Fido' an' all of them? And that Howl will follow me around as he did on +shipboard, beggin' for stories? It will spoil all my fun with the girls if +he does." + +"'Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you,'" said her father, +playfully pinching her cheek. "You'll find it easier to escape persecution +on land than on shipboard. Henny didn't seem at all anxious to renew his +acquaintance with you. He evidently finds sliding down bannisters more to +his taste. Maybe Howell has found something equally interesting." + +"I certainly hope so," said Lloyd, running on to their rooms at the end of +the hall. The casement window in her room looked out over a broad +bouleyard, down the middle of which went a double row of trees, shading a +strip of grass, where benches were set at intervals. + +Lloyd leaned out to look and listen. A company of soldiers was marching up +the street in the gay red and blue of their French uniforms, to the music +of a band. A group of girls from a convent school passed by. Then some +nuns. She stood there a long time, finding the panorama that passed her +window so interesting that she forgot how time was passing, until her +mother called to her that they were going down to lunch. + +"I like it heah, evah so much," she announced, as she followed her father +and mother into the dining-room. "Did you ask in the office, Papa Jack, +when the girls would be back?" + +"Yes, they have gone to Amboise. They will be home before dark. I am +sorry you missed taking that trip with them, Lloyd. It is one of the most +interesting châteaux around here in my opinion. Mary, Queen of Scots, went +there a bride. There she was forced to watch the Hugenots being thrown +over into the river. Leonardo da Vinci is buried there, and Charles VIII. +was killed there by bumping his head against a low doorway." + +"Oh, deah!" sighed the Little Colonel, "my head is all in a tangle. +There's so many spots to remembah. Every time you turn around you bump +into something you ought to remembah because some great man was bawn +there, or died there, or did something wondahful there. It would be lots +easiah for travellers in Europe if there wasn't so many monuments to smaht +people. Who must I remembah in Tours?" + +"Balzac," said her father, laughing. "The great French novelist. But that +will not be hard. There is a statue of him on one of the principal +streets, and after you have passed him every day for a week, you will +think of him as an old acquaintance. Then this is the scene of one of +Scott's novels--'Quentin Durward.' And the good St. Martin lived here. +There is a church to his memory. He is the patron saint of the place. At +the châteaux you will get into a tangle of history, for their chief +interest is their associations with the old court life." + +"Where is Hero?" asked Mrs. Sherman, suddenly changing the conversation. + +"He's in the pahlah, stretched out on a rug," answered Lloyd. "It's cool +and quiet in there with the blinds down. The landlady's daughtah said no +one went in there often, in the middle of the day, so nobody would disturb +him, and he'd not disturb anybody. He's all tiahed out, comin' so far on +the cars. May I go walkin' with him aftah awhile, mothah?" + +Mrs. Sherman looked at her husband, questioningly. "Oh, it's perfectly +safe," he answered. "She could go alone here as well as in Lloydsboro +Valley, and with Hero she could have nothing to fear." + +"I want you to rest awhile first," said Mrs. Sherman. "At four o'clock you +may go." + +Leaving Hero comfortably stretched out asleep in the parlour, Lloyd went +back to her room. She lay down for a few minutes across the bed and closed +her eyes. But she could not sleep with so many interesting sights in the +street below. Presently she tiptoed to the window, and sat looking out +until she heard her mother moving around in the next room. She knew then +that she had had her nap and was unpacking the trunks. + +"Mothah," called Lloyd, "I want to put on my prettiest white embroidered +dress and my rosebud sash, because I'll meet Cousin Carl and the girls +to-night." + +"That is just what I have unpacked for you," said her mother. "Come in and +I'll help you dress." + +Half an hour later it was a very fresh and dainty picture that smiled back +at Lloyd from the mirror of her dressing-table. She shook out her crisp +white skirts, gave the rosebud sash an admiring pat, and turned her head +for another view of the big leghorn hat with its stylish rosettes of white +chiffon. Then she started down the hall toward the spiral stairway. It was +a narrow hall with several cross passages, and at one of them she paused, +wondering if it did not lead to Eugenia's and Betty's rooms. + +To her speechless surprise, a door popped open and a cupful of water was +dashed full in her face. Spluttering and angry, she drew back in time to +avoid another cupful, which came flying through the transom above the same +door. Retreating still farther down the passage, and wiping her face as +she went, she kept her gaze on the door, walking backward in order to do +so. + +Another cupful came splashing out into the hall through the transom. A +boy, tiptoeing up to the door, dodged back so quickly that not a drop +touched him; then with a long squirt gun that he carried, he knelt before +the keyhole and sent a stream of water squirting through it. It was +Howell. + +There was a scream from the bedroom, Fidelia's voice. "Stop that, you +hateful boy! I'll tell mamma! You've nearly put my eye out." + +A muffled giggle and a scamper of feet down the hall was the only answer. +Fidelia threw open the door and looked out, a water pitcher in her hand. +She stopped in amazement at sight of the Little Colonel, who was waiting +for a chance to dodge down the hall past the dangerous door, into the main +passage. + +"For mercy sakes!" exclaimed Fidelia. "When did _you_ come?" + +"In time fo' yoah watah fight," answered the indignant Little Colonel, +shaking out her wet handkerchief. She was thoroughly provoked, for the +front of her fresh white dress was drenched, and the dainty rosebud sash +streaked with water. + +Fidelia laughed. "You don't mean to say that you caught the ducking I +meant for Howl!" she exclaimed. "Well, if that isn't a joke! It's the +funniest thing I ever heard of!" Putting the pitcher on the floor and +clasping her hands to her sides, she laughed until she had to lean against +the wall. + +"It's moah bad mannahs than a joke!" retorted Lloyd, angered more by the +laugh than she had been by the wetting. "A girl as old as you oughtn't to +go travellin' till you know how to behave yo'self in a hotel. I don't +wondah that wherevah you go people say, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!'" + +"It isn't so! They don't say it!" snapped Fidelia. "I've got just as good +manners as you have, anyhow, and I'll throw this whole pitcher of water on +you if you say another word." She caught it up threateningly. + +"You just _dare!_" cried the Little Colonel, her eyes flashing and her +cheeks flushing. Not for years had she been so angry. She wanted to scream +and pull Fidelia's hair with savage fingers. She wanted to bump her head +against the wall, again and again. But with an effort so great that it +made her tremble, she controlled herself, and stood looking steadily at +Fidelia without a word. + +"I mustn't speak," she kept saying desperately to herself. "I mustn't +speak, or my tempah will get away with me. I might claw her eyes out. I +wish I could! Oh, I _wish_ I could!" Her teeth were set tightly together, +and her hands were clenched. + +Fidelia met her angry gaze unflinchingly for an instant, and then, with a +contemptuous "pooh!" raised the pitcher and gave it a lurch forward. It +was so heavy that it turned in her hands, and instead of drenching Lloyd, +its contents deluged Fanchette, who suddenly came out of the door beside +Lloyd, with the thousand dollar poodle in her arms. + +Poor Beauty gave an injured yelp, and Fidelia drew back and slammed the +door, locking it hastily. She knew that the maid would hurry to her +mistress while he was still shivering, and that there would be an +uncomfortable account to settle by and by. + +Howell, who had crept up to watch the fuss, doubled himself with laughter. +It amused him even more than it had Fidelia that he had escaped the water, +and Lloyd had caught it in his stead. Lloyd swept past him without a word, +and ran to her mother's room so angry that she could not keep the tears +back while telling her grievance. + +"_See_ what that horrid Sattawhite girl has done!" she cried, holding out +her limp wet skirts, and streaked sash, with an expression of disgust. I +just _despise_ her!" + +"It was an accident, was it not?" asked Mrs. Sherman. + +"Oh, she didn't know she was throwing the watah on me, when she pitched it +out, but she was glad that it happened to hit me. She didn't even say +'excuse me,' let alone say that she was sorry. And she laughed and held on +to her sides, and laughed again, and said, 'oh, what a joke,' and that it +was the funniest thing that she evah saw. I think her mothah ought to know +what bad mannahs she's got. Somebody ought to tell her. I told Fidelia +what I thought of her, and I'll nevah speak to her again! So there!" + +Mrs. Sherman listened sympathetically to her tale of woe, but as she +unbuttoned the wet dress, and Lloyd still stormed on, she sighed as if to +herself, "Poor Fidelia!" + +"Why, mothah," said Lloyd, in an aggrieved tone, "I didn't s'pose that +you'd take her part against me." + +"Stop and think a minute, little daughter," said Mrs. Sherman, opening her +trunk to take out another white dress. Lloyd was working herself up into a +white heat. "Put yourself in Fidelia's place, and think how she has always +been left to the care of servants, or of a governess who neglected her. +Think how much help you have had in trying to control your temper, and how +little you have had to provoke it. Suppose you had Howell and Henderson +always tagging after you to tease and annoy you, and that I had always +been too busy with my own affairs to take any interest in you, except to +punish you when I was exasperated by the tales that you told of each +other. Wouldn't that have made a difference in your manners?" + +"Y-yes," acknowledged Lloyd, slowly. Then, after a moment's silence, she +broke out again. "I might have forgiven her if only she hadn't laughed at +me. Whenevah I think of that I want to shake her. If I live to be a +hundred yeahs old, I can nevah think of Fidelia Sattawhite, without +remembahin' the mean little way she laughed!" + +"What kind of a memory are you leaving behind you?" suggested Mrs. +Sherman, touching the little ring on Lloyd's finger that had been her +talisman since the house party. "Will it be a Road of the Loving Heart?" + +Lloyd hesitated. "No," she acknowledged, frankly. "Of co'se when I stop to +think, I do want to leave that kind of a memory for everybody. I'd hate to +think that when I died, there'd be even one person who had cause to say +ugly things about me, even Fidelia. But just now, mothah, honestly when I +remembah how she _laughed_, I feel that I must be as mean to her as she is +to me. I can't help it." + +Mrs. Sherman made no answer, but turned to her own dressing, and presently +Lloyd kissed her, and went slowly down-stairs to find Hero. He was no +longer dreaming in peace. Two restless boys cooped up in the narrow limits +of the hotel, and burning with a desire to be amused, had discovered him +through the crack of the door, and immediately pounced upon him. + +"Aw, ain't he nice!" exclaimed Henny, stroking the shaggy back with a +dirty little hand. Howl felt in his blouse, hoping to find some crumb left +of the stock of provisions stored away at lunch-time. + +"Feel there, Henny," he commanded, backing up to his little brother, and +humping his shoulders. "Ain't that a cooky slipped around to the back of +my blouse? Put your hand up and feel." + +Henny obligingly explored the back of his brother's blouse, and fished out +the last cooky, which they fed to Hero. + +"Wisht we had some more," said Howell, as the cake disappeared. "Henny, +you go up and see if you can't hook some of Beauty's biscuit." + +"Naw! I don't want to. I want to play with the dog," answered Henny, "He's +big enough to ride on. Stand up, old fellow, and let me get on your back." + +"I'll tell you a scheme," cried Howl; "you run up-stairs and get one of +mamma's shawl-straps, and we'll fix a harness for him, and make him ride +us around the room." + +"All right," agreed Henny, trotting out into the hall. At the door he met +Lloyd. When she went into the room she found Howell lying on the floor, +burrowing his head into the dog's side for a pillow. Hero did not like it, +and, shaking himself free, walked across the room and lay down in another +place. + +Howl promptly followed, and pillowed his head on him again. Hero looked +around with an appealing expression in his big, patient eyes, once more +got up, crossed the room, and lay down in a corner. Howell followed him +like a teasing mosquito. + +"Don't bothah him, Howl," said Lloyd. "Don't you see that he doesn't like +it?" + +"But he makes such a nice, soft pillow," said the boy, once more burrowing +his hard little head into Hero's ribs. + +"He might snap at you if you tease him too much. I nevah saw him do it to +any one, but nobody has evah teased him since he belonged to me." + +"Is he your dog?" asked Howl, in surprise. + +"Yes," answered Lloyd, proudly. "He saved my life one time, and his +mastah's anothah. And that medal on his collah was one that was given by +France to his mastah fo' bravery, and the Majah gave it to him because he +said that Hero had twice earned the right to wear it." + +"Tell about it," demanded Howl, scenting a story. "How did he--" His +question was stopped in the middle by Hero, who, determined to be no +longer used as a pillow, stood up and gave himself a mighty shake. Walking +over to the sofa piled with cushions, he took one in his mouth, and +carrying it back to Howl dropped it at his feet as if to say, "There! Use +that! I am no sofa pillow." That done he stretched himself out again in +the farthest corner of the room, and laid his head on his paws with a sigh +of relief. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried the Little Colonel. "Did you evah see anything so sma'ht +as that in all yo' life? It's the brightest thing I evah saw a dog do. He +thought it all out, just like a person. I wish Papa Jack could have seen +him do it. I'm goin' to treat you to something nice fo' that, Hero. Wait +till I run back up-stairs and get my purse." + +Anxious to make him do something else interesting, Howl still followed the +dog. He tickled his paws, turned his ears back and blew in them and +blindfolded him with a dirty handkerchief. + +Lloyd was gone longer than she intended, for she could not find her purse +for several minutes, and she stopped to tell her mother of Hero's +performance with the sofa pillow. When she went into the parlour again, +both boys were kneeling beside the dog. Their backs were toward the door, +Henderson had brought the shawl-strap, and they were using it for the +further discomfort of the patient old St. Bernard. + +"Here, Henny, you sit on his head," commanded Howl, "and I'll buckle his +hind feet to his fore feet, so that when he tries to walk he'll wabble +around and tip over. Won't that be funny?" + +"Stop!" demanded Lloyd. "Don't you do that, Howl Sattawhite! I've told you +enough times to stop teasing my dog." + +Howl only giggled in reply and drew the buckle tighter. There was a quick +yelp of pain, and Hero, trying to pull away found himself fast by the +foot. + +Before Howl could rise from his knees, the Little Colonel had darted +across the room, and seizing him by the shoulders, shook him till his +teeth chattered. + +"There!" she said, giving him a final shake as she pushed him away. "Don't +you evah lay a fingah on that dog again, as long as you live. If you do +you'll be sorry. I'll do something _awful_ to you!" + +For the second time that afternoon her face was white with anger. Her eyes +flashed so threateningly that Howl backed up against the wall, thoroughly +frightened. Releasing Hero from the strap, she led him out of the room, +and, with her hand laid protectingly on his collar, marched him out into +the street. + +"Those tawmentin' Sattawhites!" she grumbled, under her breath. "I wish +they were all shut up in jail, every one of them!" + +But her anger died out as she walked on in the bright sunshine, watching +the strange scenes around her with eager eyes. More than one head turned +admiringly, as the daintily dressed little girl and the great St. Bernard +passed slowly down the broad boulevard. It seemed as if all the nurses and +babies in Touraine were out for an airing on the grass where the benches +stood, between the long double rows of trees. + +Once Lloyd stopped to peep through a doorway set in a high stone wall. +Within the enclosure a group of girls, in the dark uniforms of a charity +school, walked sedately around, arm in arm, under the watchful eyes of the +attendant nuns. Then some soldiers passed on foot, and a little while +after, some more dashed by on horseback, and she remembered that Tours was +the headquarters of the Ninth Army corps, and that she might expect to +meet them often. + +Not till the tolling of the great cathedral bell reminded her that it was +time to go back to the hotel, did she think again of Howl and Kenny and +Fidelia. By that time her walk had put her into such a pleasant frame of +mind, that she could think of them without annoyance. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA + + +When the Little Colonel reached the hotel, the omnibus was leaving the +door to go to the railroad station, a few blocks away. Thinking that Betty +and Eugenia might be on the coming train, she went into the parlour to +wait for the return of the omnibus. She had bought a box of chocolate +creams at the cake shop on the corner to divide with Hero. + +Fidelia had wandered down to the parlour in her absence, and now seated at +the old piano was banging on its yellow keys with all her might. She +played unusually well for a girl of her age, but Lloyd had a feeling that +a public parlour was not a place to show off one's accomplishments, and +her nose went up a trifle scornfully as she entered. + +Then she caught sight of herself in the mirror over the mantel, and her +expression changed instantly. + +"For mercy sakes!" she said to herself. "I look like one of the proud and +haughty sistahs in 'Cindahella,' as if I thought the earth wasn't good +enough for me to step on. It certainly isn't becoming, and it would make +me furious if anybody looked at me in such a cool, scornful way. I know +that I feel that way inside whenevah I talk to Fidelia. I wondah if she +sees it in my face, and that's what makes her cross and scratchy, like a +cat that has had its fur rubbed the wrong way. Just for fun I believe I'll +pretend to myself for ten minutes that I love her deahly, and I'll smile +when I talk to her, just as if she were Betty, and nevah pay any attention +to her mean speeches. I'll give her this one chance. Then if she keeps on +bein' hateful, I'll nevah have anything moah to do with her again." + +So while Fidelia played on toward the end of the waltz, purposely +regardless of Lloyd's presence, Lloyd, sitting behind her, looked into the +mirror, and practised making pleasant faces for Fidelia's benefit. + +The music came to a close with a loud double bang that made Lloyd start up +from her chair with a guilty flush, fearing that she had been caught at +her peculiar occupation. Before Fidelia could say anything, Lloyd walked +over to her with the friendliest of her practised smiles, and held out the +box of chocolate creams. + +"Take some," she said. "They are the best I've had since I left Kentucky." + +"Thanks," said Fidelia, stiffly, screwing around on the piano-stool, and +helping herself to just one. But feeling the warmth of Lloyd's cordial +tone, urging her to take more, she thawed into smiling friendliness, and +took several. "They are delicious!" she exclaimed. "You got them at the +cake shop on the corner, didn't you? There are two awfully nice American +girls stopping at this hotel who took me in there one day for some. +They've been in Kentucky, too. The one named Elizabeth lives there." + +"Why, it must be Betty and Eugenia!" cried Lloyd. "The very girls we came +here to meet. Do _you_ know them?" + +"Not very well. We've only been here a few days. But I dearly love the one +you call Betty. She came into my room one night when I had the tooth-ache, +and brought a spice poultice and a hot-water bag. Mamma was at a concert, +and Fanchette was cross, and I was so miserable and lonesome I wanted to +die. But Elizabeth knew exactly what to do to stop the pain, and then she +stayed and talked to me for a long time. She told me about a house party +she went to last year, where the girls all caught the measles at a gypsy +camp, and she nearly went blind on account of it." + +"That was _my_ house pahty," exclaimed the Little Colonel, "and my mothah +is Betty's godmothah, and Betty is goin' to live at my house all next +wintah, and go to school with me." + +Fidelia swung farther around on the piano-stool, and faced Lloyd in +surprise. "And are _you_ the Little Colonel!" she cried. "From what +Elizabeth said, I thought she was pretty near an angel!" Fidelia's tone +implied more plainly than her words that she wondered how Betty could +think so. + +A cutting reply was on the tip of Lloyd's tongue, but the sight of her +face in the mirror checked it. She only said, pleasantly, "Betty is +certainly the loveliest girl in the world, and--" + +"There she is now!" interrupted Fidelia, nodding toward the door as voices +sounded in the hall and footsteps came out from the office. + +"Oh, they'll be so surprised!" said Lloyd, looking back with a radiant +face as she ran toward the door. "We came two whole days earlier than they +expected!" + +Fidelia heard the joyful greeting, the chorus of surprised exclamations as +Lloyd flew first at Betty, then at Eugenia, with a hug and a kiss, then +turned to greet her Cousin Carl. + +"Betty will never look at me again," Fidelia thought, with a throb of +jealousy, turning away from the sight of their happy meeting, and +beginning to strike soft aimless chords on the piano. "I wish I were one +of them," she whispered, with the tears springing to her eyes. "I hate to +be always on the edge of things, and never in them. We never stay in a +place long enough at a time to make any real friends or have any good +times." + +Chattering and laughing, and asking eager questions, the girls hurried up +the stairs to Mrs. Sherman's room. Almost a year had gone by since Eugenia +and Lloyd had parted on the lantern decked lawn at Locust, the last night +of the house party. The year had made little difference in Lloyd, but +Eugenia had grown so tall that the change was startling. + +"Really, you are taller than I," exclaimed Mrs. Sherman, in the midst of +an affectionate greeting, as she held her off for a better view. + +"And doesn't she look stylish and young ladyfied, with her skirts down to +her ankles," added Lloyd. "You'd nevah think that she was only fifteen, +would you?" + +"I had to have them made long," explained Eugenia, much flattered by +Lloyd's speech. It was her greatest wish to appear "grown up." "Papa says +that I am probably as tall now as I shall ever be, and really I'd look +ridiculous with my dresses any shorter." + +Mrs. Sherman noticed presently, with a smile, that Eugenia seemed to have +gained dignity with her added height. There was something amusingly +patronising in her manner toward the younger girls. She answered Lloyd +several times with an "Oh, no, child" that was almost grandmotherly in its +tone. + +"But here is somebody who has come back just as sweet and childlike as +ever," thought Mrs. Sherman, twisting one of Betty's brown curls around +her finger. Then she said aloud. "Was the trip as delightful as you +dreamed it would be, my little Tusitala?" + +"Oh, _yes_, godmother," sighed Betty, blissfully. "It was a thousand times +better! And the best of it is my eyes are as well as ever. I needn't be +afraid, now, of that 'long night' that haunted me like a bad dream." + +All during dinner Fidelia kept looking across at the merry party sitting +at the next table, and wished she could be with them. She could not help +hearing all they said, for they were only a few feet away, and there was +no one talking at the table where she sat. The boys were in the children's +dining-room with Fanchette, and her mother was spending the evening with +some friends at the new hotel across the way. + +"I'm going to make believe that I'm one of them," the lonely child said to +herself, smiling as she caught a friendly nod from Betty. So she listened +eagerly to Mr. Forbes's account of their visit to Venice, and to the +volcano of Vesuvius, and laughed with the others over the amusing +experiences Betty and Eugenia had in Norway with a chambermaid who could +not understand them, and in Holland with an old Dutch market-woman, the +day they became separated from Mr. Forbes, and were lost for several +hours. + +Fidelia's salad almost choked her, there was such an ache in her throat +when she heard them planning an excursion for the next day. She had no one +to make plans with, and when she was taken sightseeing it was by a French +teacher, more intent on improving her pupil's accent than in giving her a +happy time. + +As they were finishing their dessert, Mr. Sherman suddenly remembered that +he had a letter in his pocket for Lloyd, which he had forgotten to give +her. + +"It is from Joyce," she said, looking at the post-mark. "Oh, if she were +only heah, what a lovely time we could have! It would be like havin' +anothah house pahty. May I read it now at the table, mothah? It is to all +of us." + +Fidelia almost held her breath. She was so afraid that Mrs. Sherman would +suggest waiting until they went to the parlour. There she could no longer +be one of them, no matter how hard she might pretend. She wanted the +interesting play to go on as long as possible. She did not know that she +ought not to listen. There were many things she had never been taught. +Lloyd began to read aloud. + + "DEAR GIRLS:--You will be in Tours by the time this letter + reaches you, and I am simply wild to be there with you. Oh, if I + could be there only one day to take you to all the old places! + Do please go to the home of the 'Little Sisters of the Poor,' + and ask for Sister Denisa. Give her my love, and tell her that I + often think of her. And do go to that funny pie shop on the Rue + Nationale, where everybody is allowed to walk around and help + themselves and keep their own count. And eat one of those tiny + delicious tarts for me. They're the best in the world. + + "I can't think of anything else to-day, but that walk which you + will be taking soon without me. I can shut my eyes and see every + inch of the way, as it used to look when we went home just after + sunset. There is the river Loire all rosy red in the after-glow, + and the bridge with the soldiers marching across it; and on the + other side of the river is the little old village of St. + Symphorian with its narrow, crooked streets. How I love every + old cobblestone! You will see the fat old women rattling home in + their market carts, and hear the clang and click of wooden shoes + down the streets. Then there'll be the high gate of customs in + the old stone wall that fences in the village, and the country + road beyond. You'll climb the hill with the new moon coming up + behind the tall Lombardy poplars, and go on between the fields, + turning brown in the twilight, till the Gate of the Giant + Scissors looms up beside the road like a picture out of some + fairy tale. A little farther on you'll come to Madame's dear old + villa with the high wall around it, and the laurel hedges and + lime-trees inside. + + "I wonder which of you will have my room with the blue parrots + on the wall-paper. Oh, I'm _homesick_ to go back. Yet, isn't it + strange, when I was there I used to long so for America, that + many a time I climbed up in the pear-tree at the end of the + garden for a good cry. Don't forget to swing up into that + pear-tree. There's a fine view from the top. + + "When you see Jules, ask him to show you the goats that chewed + up the cushions of the pony cart, the day we had our + Thanksgiving barbecue in the garden. I fairly ache to be with + you. Please write me a good long letter and tell me what you are + doing; and whenever you hear the nightingales in Madame's + garden, and the cathedral bells tolling out across the Loire, + think of your loving JOYCE." + +"Let's do those things to-morrow," exclaimed Lloyd, as she folded the +letter and slipped it back into its envelope. "I don't want to waste time +on any old châteaux with the Gate of the Giant Scissors just across the +river, that we haven't seen yet." + +"I have heard about that gate ever since we left America," said Mr. +Forbes, laughingly. "Nobody has taken the trouble to inform me why it is +so important, or why it was selected for a meeting-place. Somebody owes me +an explanation." + +"It's only an old gate with a mammoth pair of scissors swung on a +medallion above it," said Mr. Sherman. "They were put there by a +half-crazy old man who built the place, by the name of _Ciseaux_. Joyce +Ware spent a winter in sight of it, and she came back with some wonderful +tale about the scissors being the property of a prince who went around +doing all sorts of impossible things with them. I believe the girls have +actually come to think that the scissors are enchanted." + +"Oh, Papa Jack, stop teasin'!" said the Little Colonel. "You know we +don't!" + +"If it is really settled that we are to go there to-morrow, I want to hear +the story," said Cousin Carl. "I make a practice of reading the history of +a place before I visit it, so I'll have to know the story of the gate in +order to take a proper interest in it." + +"Come into the parlour," said Mrs. Sherman rising. "Betty will tell us." + +As she turned, she saw Fidelia looking after the girls with wistful eyes, +and she read the longing and loneliness in her face. + +"Wouldn't you like to come too, and hear the fairy tale with us?" she +asked, kindly holding out her hand. + +A look of happy surprise came over Fidelia's face, and before she could +stammer out her acceptance of the unlooked-for invitation, Mrs. Sherman +drew her toward her and led her into the little circle in one corner of +the parlour. + +"Now, we are ready, Tusitala," said Mrs. Sherman, settling herself on the +sofa, with Fidelia beside her. Shaking back her brown curls, Betty began +the fairy tale that Joyce's Cousin Kate had told one bleak November day, +to make the homesick child forget that she was "a stranger in a strange +land." + +"Once upon a time, in a far island of the sea, there lived a king with +seven sons." + +Word for word as she had heard it, Betty told the adventures of the +princes ("the three that were dark and the three that were fair"), and +then of the middle son, Prince Ethelried, to whom the old king gave no +portion of his kingdom. With no sword, nothing but the scissors of the +Court Tailor, he had been sent out into the world to make his fortune. +Even Cousin Carl listened with close attention to the prince's adventures +with the Ogre, in which he was victorious, because the grateful fairy whom +he had rescued laid on the scissors a magic spell. + +"Here," she said, giving them into his hands again, "because thou wast +persevering and fearless in setting me free, these shall win for thee thy +heart's desire. But remember that thou canst not keep them sharp and +shining unless they are used at least once each day in some unselfish +service." After that he had only to utter his request in rhyme, and +immediately they would shoot out to an enormous size that could cut down +forests for him, bridge chasms, and reap whole wheat fields at a single +stroke. + +Many a peasant he befriended, shepherds and high-born dames, lords and +lowly beggars; and at the last, when he stood up before the Ogre to fight +for the beautiful princess kept captive in the tower, it was their voices, +shouting out their tale of gratitude to him for all these unselfish +services, that made the scissors grow long enough and strong enough to cut +the ugly old Ogre's head off. + +"So he married the princess," concluded Betty at last, "and came into the +kingdom that was his heart's desire. There was feasting and merrymaking +for seventy days and seventy nights, and they all lived happily ever +after. On each gable of the house he fastened a pair of shining scissors +to remind himself that only through unselfish service to others comes the +happiness that is highest and best. Over the great entrance gate he hung +the ones that served him so valiantly, saying, 'Only those who belong to +the kingdom of loving hearts can ever enter here'; and to this day they +guard the portal of Ethelried, and only those who belong to the kingdom of +loving hearts may enter the Gate of the Giant Scissors." + +"Go on," said Mr. Forbes, as Betty stopped. "What happened next? I want to +hear some more." + +"So did Joyce," said Betty. "She used to climb up in the pear-tree and +watch the gate, wishing she knew what lay behind it, and one day she found +out. A poor little boy lived there with only the care-taker and another +servant. The care-taker beat him and half starved him. His uncle didn't +know how he was treated, for he was away in Algiers. Joyce found this +little Jules out in the fields one day, tending the goats, and they got to +be great friends She told him this story, and they played that he was the +prince and she was the Giant Scissors who was to rescue him from the +clutches of the Ogre. She made up a rhyme for him to say. He had only to +whisper: + + "'Giant Scissors, fearless friend, + Hasten, pray, thy aid to lend,' + +and she would fly to help him. She really did, too, for she played ghost +one night to frighten the old care-taker, and she told Jules's uncle, when +he came back, how cruelly the poor little thing had been treated. + +"Then the little prince really did come into his kingdom, for all sorts of +lovely things happened after that. The gate had been closed for years on +account of a terrible quarrel in the Ciseaux family, but at last something +Joyce did helped to make it up. The gate swung open, and the old +white-haired brother and sister went back to the home of their childhood +together, and it was Christmas Day in the morning. They had been kept from +going through the gate all those years, because the Giant Scissors +wouldn't let them pass. Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving +hearts can enter in." + +"Some day you must put that all in a book, Betty," said Cousin Carl, when +she had finished. "When we go to see the gate, I'll take my camera, and +we'll get a picture of it. Now I feel that I can properly appreciate it, +having heard its wonderful history." + +There was a teasing light in his eyes that made Lloyd say, "Now you're +laughin' at us, Cousin Carl, but it doesn't make any difference. I'd +rathah see that gate than any old château in France." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS + + +Each of the girls answered Joyce's letter, but the Little Colonel's was +the first to find its way to the little brown house in Plainsville, +Kansas. + +"Dear Joyce," she wrote. "We were all dreadfully disappointed yesterday +morning when mother and Papa Jack came back from Madame's villa, and told +us that she could not let us stay there. She has some English people in +the house, and could not give us rooms even for one night. She said that +we must be disappointed also about seeing Jules, for his Uncle Martin has +taken him to Paris to stay a month. I could have cried, I was so sorry. + +"Ever since we left home I have been planning what we should do when we +reached the Gate of the Giant Scissors. I wanted to do all the things that +you did, as far as possible. I was going to have a barbecue for Jules, +down in the garden by the pagoda, and to have some kind of a midsummer +fête for the peasant children who came to your Christmas tree. + +"Madame was sorry, too, that she couldn't take us, when she found that we +were your friends, and she asked mother to bring us all out the next day +and have tea in the pagoda. As soon as mother and Papa Jack came back, +they took us to see Sister Denisa at the home of the Little Sisters of the +Poor. I wish you could have seen her face shine when we told her that we +were friends of yours. She said lovely things about you, and the tears +came into her eyes when she told us how much she missed your visits, after +you went back to America. + +"Next day we went to Madame's, and she took us over to the Ciseaux place +to see Jules's great-aunt Désirée. She is a beautiful old lady. She talked +about you as if you were an angel, or a saint with a halo around your +head. She feels that if it hadn't been for you that she might still be +only 'Number Thirty-nine' among all those paupers, instead of being the +mistress of her brother's comfortable home. + +"After we left there, we passed the place where Madame's washerwoman +lives. A little girl peeped out at us through the hedge. Madame told her +to show the American ladies the doll that she had in her arms. She held it +out, and then snatched it back as if she were jealous of our even looking +at it. Madame told us that it was the one you gave her at the Noel fête. +It is the only doll the child ever had, and she has carried it ever since, +even taking it to bed with her. She has named it for you. + +"Madame said in her funny broken English, 'Ah, it is a beautiful thing to +leave such memories behind one as Mademoiselle Joyce has left.' I would +have told her about the Road of the Loving Heart, but it is so hard for +her to understand anything I say. I think you began yours over here in +France, long before Betty told us of the one in Samoa, or Eugenia gave us +the rings to help us remember. + +"We took Fidelia Sattawhite with us. She is the girl I wrote to you about +who was so rude to me, and who quarrelled so much with her brothers on +shipboard. I thought it would spoil everything to have her along, but +mother insisted on my inviting her. She feels sorry for her. Fidelia acted +very well until we went over to the Ciseaux place. But when we got to the +gate she stood and looked up at the scissors over it, and refused to go +in. Madame and mother both coaxed and coaxed her, but she was too queer +for anything. She wouldn't move a step. She just stood there in the road, +saying, 'No'm, I won't go in. I don't want to. I'll stay out here and wait +for you. No'm, nothing anybody can say can make me go in.' + +"Down she sat on the grass as flat as Humpty Dumpty when he had his great +fall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't have made +her get up till she was ready. We couldn't understand why she should act +so. She told Betty that night that she was afraid to go through the gate. +She remembered that in the story where the old king and the brothers of +Ethelried came riding up to the portal 'the scissors leaped from their +place and snapped so angrily in their faces that they turned and fled. +Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving hearts could enter in.' She +told Betty that she knew she didn't belong to that kingdom, for nobody +loved her, and often she didn't love anybody for days. She was afraid to +go through the gate for fear the scissors would leap down at her, and she +would be so ashamed to be driven back before us all. So she thought she +would pretend that she didn't want to go in. She had believed every word +of that fairy tale. + +"We had a beautiful time in the garden. We went down all the winding paths +between the high laurel hedges where you used to walk, and almost got +lost, they had so many unexpected twists and turns. The old statues of +Adam and Eve, grinning at each other across the fountain, are so funny. We +saw the salad beds with the great glass bells over them, and we climbed +into the pear-tree and sat looking over the wall, wondering how you could +have been homesick in such an interesting place. + +"Berthé served tea in the pagoda, and because we asked about Gabriel's +music, Madame smiled and sent Berthé away with a message. Pretty soon we +heard his old accordeon playing away, out of sight in the coach-house, and +then we knew what kind of music you had at the Noel fête. Sort of wheezy, +wasn't it? Still it sounded sweet, too, at that distance. + +"We took Hero with us, and he was really the guest of honour at the party. +When Madame saw the Red Cross on his collar and heard his history, she +couldn't do enough for him. She fed him cakes until I thought he surely +would be ill. It was a Red Cross nurse who wrote to Madame about her +husband. He was wounded in the Franco-Prussian war, too, just as was the +Major. Madame went on to get him and bring him home, and she says she +never can forget the kindness that was shown to her by every one whom she +met when she crossed the lines under the protection of the Red Cross. + +"She had met Clara Barton, too, and while we were talking about the good +she has done, Madame said, 'The Duchess of Baden may have sent her the +Gold Cross of Remembrance, but the grateful hearts of many a French wife +and mother will for ever hold the rosary of her beautiful deeds!' Wasn't +that a lovely thing to have said about one? + +"We start to London Thursday, and I'll write again from there. With much +love from us all, Lloyd." + +The long letter which Lloyd folded and addressed after a careful +re-reading, had not been all written in one day. She had begun it while +waiting for the others to finish dressing one morning, had added a few +pages that afternoon, and finished it the next evening at bedtime. + +"Heah is my lettah to Joyce, mothah," she said, as she kissed her good +night. "Won't you look ovah it, please, and see if all the words are +spelled right? I want to send it in the mawnin." + +Mrs. Sherman laid the letter aside to attend to later, and forgot it until +long after Lloyd was asleep, and Mr. Sherman had come up-stairs. Then, +seeing it on the table, she glanced rapidly over the neatly written pages. + +"I want you to look at this, Jack," she said, presently, handing him the +letter. "It is one of the results of the house party for which I am most +thankful. You remember what a task it always was for Lloyd to write a +letter. She groaned for days whenever she received one, because it had to +be answered. But when Joyce went away she said, 'Now, Lloyd, I know I +shall be homesick for Locust, and I want to hear every single thing that +happens. Don't you dare send me a stingy two-page letter, half of it +apologising for not writing sooner, and half of it promising to do better +next time. + +"'Just prop my picture up in front of you and look me in the eyes and +begin to talk. Tell me all the little things that most people leave out; +what he said and she said on the way to the picnic, and how Betty looked +in her daffodil dress, with the sun shining on her brown curls. Write as +if you were making pictures for me, so that when I read I can see +everything you are doing.' + +"It was excellent advice, and as Joyce's letters were written in that way, +Lloyd had a good model to copy. Joyce, being an artist, naturally makes +pictures even of her letters. When Betty went away and began sending home +such well-written accounts of her journey, I found that Lloyd's style +improved constantly. She wrote a dear little letter to the Major, last +week, telling all about Hero. I was surprised to see how prettily she +expressed her appreciation of his gift." + +Mr. Sherman took the letter and began to read. In two places he corrected +a misspelled word, and here and there supplied missing commas and +quotation marks. There was a gratified smile on his face when he finished. +"That is certainly a lengthy letter for a twelve-year-old girl to write," +he said, in a pleased tone, "and cannot fail to be interesting to Joyce. +The letters she wrote me from the Cuckoo's Nest were stiff, short scrawls +compared to this. I must tell my Little Colonel how proud I am of her +improvement." + +His words of praise were not spoken, however. He expressed his +appreciation, later, by leaving on her table a box of foreign +correspondence paper. It was of the best quality he could find in Tours, +and to Lloyd's delight the monogram engraved on it was even prettier than +Eugenia's. + +"Why did Papa Jack write this on the first sheet in the box, mothah?" she +asked, coming to her with a sentence written in her father's big, +businesslike hand: '_There is no surer way to build a Road of the Loving +Heart in the memory of absent friends, than to bridge the space between +with the cheer and sympathy and good-will of friendly letters._' + +"Why did Papa Jack write that?" she repeated. + +"Because he saw your last letter to Joyce, and was so pleased with the +improvement you have made," answered Mrs. Sherman. "He has given you a +good text for your writing-desk." + +"I'll paste it in the top," said Lloyd. "Then I can't lose it." "'There is +no surer way,'" she repeated to herself as she carried the box back to her +room, "'to bridge the space between ... with the cheer and sympathy and +good-will.'" + +There flashed across her mind the thought of some one who needed cheer and +sympathy far more than Joyce did, and who would welcome a friendly letter +from her with its foreign stamp, as eagerly as if it were some real +treasure. Jessie Nolan was the girl she thought of, an invalid with a +crippled spine, to whom the dull days in her wheeled chair by the window +seemed endless, and who had so little to brighten her monotonous life. + +"I'll write her a note this minute," thought Lloyd, with a warm glow in +her heart. "I'll describe some of the sights we have seen, and send her +that fo' leafed clovah that I found at the château yestahday, undah a +window of the great hall where Anne of Brittany was married ovah fo' +hundred yeahs ago. I don't suppose Jessie gets a lettah once a yeah." + +When that note was written, Lloyd thought of Mom Beck and the pride that +would shine in the face of her old black nurse if she should receive a +letter from Europe, and how proudly it would be carried around and +displayed to all the coloured people in the Valley. So with the kindly +impulse of her father's text still upon her, she dashed off a note to her, +telling her of some of her visits to the palaces of bygone kings and +queens. + +Eugenia came in as she finished, but before she closed her desk she jotted +two names on a slip of paper. Mrs. Waters's was one. She was a little old +Englishwoman, who did fine laundry work in the Valley, and who was always +talking about the 'awthorne' edges in her old English home. + +"I'll write to her from London," Lloyd thought. "If we should get a sight +of any of the royal family, how tickled she would be to hear it." + +The other name was Janet McDonald. She was a sad, sweet-faced young +teacher whom Miss Allison always called her "Scotch lassie Jane." "I don't +suppose she'd care to get a letter from a little girl like me," thought +Lloyd, "but I know she'd love to have a piece of heather from the hills +near her home. I'll send her a piece when we get up in Scotland." + +The letter that Eugenia sent to Joyce was only a short outline of her +plans. She knew that the other girls had sent long accounts of their trip +through Touraine, so hers was much shorter than usual. + + "Papa has decided to send me to a school just outside of Paris + this year," she wrote, "instead of the one in New York, so it + will be a long time before I see my native land again. He will + have to be over here several months, and can spend Christmas and + Easter with me, so I can see him fully as often as I used to at + home. + + "It is a very select school. Madame recommends it highly, and I + am simply delighted. A New York girl whom I know very well is to + be there too, and we are looking forward to all sorts of larks. + Thursday we are to start to London for a short tour of England + and Scotland. Then the others are going home and papa and I + shall go by Chester for my maid. Poor old Eliot has had a + glorious vacation at home, she writes. She is to stay at the + school with me. We shall be so busy until I get settled that I + shall not have time to write soon; but no matter how far my + letters may be apart, I am always your devoted EUGENIA." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ON THE WING + + +"Who is going away?" asked Lloyd, one afternoon, of the girls who were +sitting in her room, manicuring their nails. "There goes a pile of trunks +out to the baggage wagon." + +As she spoke, a carriage drove up to the door of the hotel, and Fanchette +went out with the poodle in her arms. + +"The Sattawhites," answered Eugenia. "There's Howl and Henny climbing into +the carriage, and, oh, look, girls! There comes Mrs. Sattawhite herself. I +haven't had many glimpses of her. Isn't she gorgeous! You know they had to +leave," she continued, turning to the girls. "I forgot to tell you what +happened early this morning while you were down-town. + +"I was up in my room writing to Joyce, when I heard a rumble and a running +down in the back hall. Somebody called 'Fire! Fire!' Then somebody else +took it up, and the old gentleman at the end of the hall, who never +appears in public until noon, came bursting out of his room in his bath +robe, his shoes in one hand and his false teeth in the other. It was the +funniest sight! There was wild excitement for a few minutes. One woman +began throwing things out of the window, and another stood and shrieked +and wrung her hands. + +"The waiter with the long black side-whiskers tore up-stairs and grabbed +his arms full of those bottles in the racks--you know--those +fire-extinguishing bottles that have some kind of chemical stuff in them. +There was a strong smell of smoke and a little puff of it curling up from +under the stairs. He threw all those bottles down into the lower hall. You +can imagine the smash there was when they struck the stone floor. + +"Papa rushed down to investigate, at the first alarm. He found that it was +only Howl and Henny playing hook-and-ladder with a little red wagon. They +had taken an old flannel blouse of Kenny's and set fire to it. Howl +explained that they did it because woollen rags make such a nice thick +smoke, and last a long time, and when they yelled fire they were not to +blame, he said, if other people didn't know that they were 'jes' +a-playin', and went and yelled in earnest.' + +"Papa took their part, and said that two boys with as much energy as they +have must find an outlet somewhere, and that it was no wonder that they +were restless, cooped up in a hotel day after day, with no amusement but +their prim walks with the maid and the poodle. But the old gentleman who +had been so frightened that he ran out in public without his teeth, and +the woman who had thrown her toilet bottles out of the window and broken +them, were furious. They complained to the landlord, and said that it was +not the first offence. The boys were always annoying them. + +"So the landlord had to go to Mrs. Sattawhite. She found out what the old +gentleman said, that a mother who had to go travelling around all over +Europe, giving her time and attention to society and a miserable poodle, +had better put her children in an orphan asylum before she started. She +was so indignant that I could hear her talking away down in the office. +She said that she would leave the instant that Fanchette could get the +trunks packed. So there they go." + +Mrs. Sattawhite had sailed back to the office during the telling of +Eugenia's story, so their departure was delayed a moment. When she came +out again, Fidelia followed her sulkily. Just as they drove off, she +looked up at the open window, and saw the girls, who were waving good-bye. +Then a smile flickered across her sorry little face, for, moved by some +sudden impulse, the Little Colonel leaned out and threw her a kiss. + +"I suppose I'll nevah see her again," she said, thoughtfully, as the +carriage rolled around a corner, out of sight. "I wish now that I had been +niceah to her. We may both change evah so much by the time we are grown, +yet if I live to be a hundred I'll always think of her as the girl who was +so quarrelsome that the English lady groaned, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!' And I suppose she'll remembah me for the high and mighty way I +tried to snub her whenevah I had a chance." + +As she spoke there was a knock at the door, and a maid brought in a +package for Lloyd. "Oh, look, girls!" she exclaimed, holding up a tiny +pair of silver embroidery scissors, Fidelia's parting gift They were +evidently something that had been given her, for the little silver sheath +into which they were thrust was beautifully engraved in old English +letters with the name "_Fidelia_." Around them was wrapped a strip of +rumpled paper on which was scrawled: "For you to remember me by. That day +you took me to the Gate of the Giant Scissors was the best time I ever +had." + +"Poor little thing!" exclaimed Betty. "To think that she was afraid to go +in, for fear that she didn't belong to the kingdom, and that the scissors +might leap down and drive her back." + +"Oh, if I had only known!" sighed Lloyd, remorsefully. "I feel too mean +for anything! If I'd only believed that it was because she hadn't been +brought up to know any bettah that she acted so horrid, and that all the +time she really wanted to be liked! Mothah told me I ought to put myself +in her place, and make allowances for her, but I didn't want to even try, +and I nevah was nice to her but once--that time I gave her the candy. Then +I was only pretendin' I cared for her, just for fun. I didn't want her to +go with us to the Scissahs gate that day. Mothah made me invite her. I +fussed about it. I'm goin' to write to her the minute I finish polishin' +my nails, and tell her how sorry I am that I didn't leave a kindah memory +behind me." + +They rubbed away in silence for a few minutes, then Lloyd spoke again. "I +suahly have enough things now to remind me about the memory roads I am +tryin' to leave behind me for everybody. Every time I look at this little +ring it says 'A Road of the Loving Heart.' And the scissahs will recall +the fairy tale. It was only unselfish service that kept them bright and +shining, and only those who belonged to the kingdom of loving hearts could +go in at the gate. Then there's the Red Cross of Geneva on Hero's +collah--there couldn't be a moah beautiful memory than the one left by all +who have wo'n that Red Cross." + +"Yes," said Betty, holding up a hand to inspect the pink finger nails now +polished to her satisfaction. "And there is the white flower that the two +little Knights of Kentucky wear. Keith said that his badge meant the same +thing to him that my ring does to me. Their motto is 'Right the wrong.' +That's what the Giant Scissors always did, and that's what Robert Louis +Stevenson tried to do for the Samoan chiefs. That is why they loved him +and built the road." + +"Funny, how they all sing the same song," said Eugenia. "It's just the +same, only they sing it in different keys." + +After Betty and Eugenia had gone to their rooms, Lloyd sat a long time +toying with the silver scissors, before writing her note of +acknowledgment. The sheath was of hammered silver, and around the name was +a beautifully wrought design of tiny clustered grapes. + +"It is one of the prettiest things that my wondah-ball has unrolled," she +said to herself, "and it has certainly taught me a lesson. Poah little +Fidelia! If I'd only known that she cared, there were lots of times that +she could have gone with us, and it would have made her so happy. If I had +only put myself in her place when mothah told me! But I was so cross and +hateful I enjoyed bein' selfish. Now all the bein' sorry in the world +won't change things!" + +It would be too much like a guide-book if this story were to give a record +of the next two weeks. Betty's good-times book was filled, down to the +last line on the last page, and the partnership diary had to have several +extra leaves pasted inside the cover. From morning until night there was a +constant round of sightseeing. The shops and streets of London first, the +Abbey and the Tower, a hundred places that they had read about and longed +to see, and after they had seen, longed to come back to for another visit. + +"We can only take a bird's-eye view now and hurry on, but we must +certainly come back some other summer," said Mr. Sherman, when Lloyd +wanted to linger in the Tower of London among the armour and weapons that +had been worn by the old knights, centuries ago. He repeated it when Betty +looked back longingly at the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, where +the great organ was echoing down the solemn aisles, and again when Eugenia +begged for another coach ride out to Hampton Court. + + "'Gay go up and gay go down + To ring the bells of London town," + +sang the Little Colonel. "I am having such a good time that I'd like to +stay on right heah all the rest of the summah." + +But she thought that about nearly every other place they visited, Windsor, +and Warwick Castle, and Shakespeare's birthplace,--the quaint little +village on the Avon; Ambleside, where they took the coach for long rides +among the lakes made famous by the poets who lived among them and made +them immortal with their songs. + +From these English lakes to Scottish moors, from the land of hawthorne to +the land of heather, from low green meadows where the larks sang, to the +highlands where plaided shepherds watched their flocks, they went with +enthusiasm that never waned. They found the "banks and braes o' Bonnie +Doon," and wandered along the banks of more than one little river that +they had loved for years in song and story. + +"Haven't we learned a lot!" exclaimed Eugenia, as they journeyed back by +rail to Liverpool, where the Shermans and Betty were to take the steamer. +"I'm sure that I've learned ten times as much as I would in school, this +last year." + +"And had such a lovely time in the bargain," added Lloyd. "It's goin' to +make a difference in the way I study this wintah, and in what I read. If +we evah come ovah heah again, I intend to know something about English +history. Then the places we visit will be so much moah interestin'. I'll +not spend so much time on fairy tales and magazine stories. I'm goin' to +make my reading count for something aftah this. It was dreadfully +mawtifyin' to find out that I was so ignorant, and how much there is in +the world to know, that I had nevah even heard of." + +That afternoon, in the big Liverpool hotel, the trunks were packed for the +last time. + +"Seems something like the night befo' Christmas," said the Little Colonel, +as she counted the packages piled on the floor beside her trunk. They were +the presents that she had chosen for the friends at home. + +"Nineteen, twenty," she went on counting, "and that music box for Mom Beck +makes twenty-one, and the souvenir spoons for the Walton girls make +twenty-five. Oh, I didn't show you these," she said. + +"This is Allison's," she explained, opening a little box. "See the caldron +and the bells on the handle? I got this in Denmark. That's from Andersen's +tale of the swineherd's magic kettle, you know. Kitty's is from Tam +O'Shanter's town. That's why there is a witch and a broomstick engraved on +it. This spoon for Elise came from Berne. I think that's a darling little +bear's head on the handle. What did you get, Betty?" she continued, +turning to her suddenly. "You haven't shown me a single thing." + +Betty laid down the spoons she was admiring. "You'll not think they are +worth carrying home," she said, slowly. "I couldn't buy handsome presents +like yours, you know, so I just picked up little things here and there, +that wouldn't be worth anything at all if they hadn't come from famous +places." + +"Show them to me, anyhow," persisted Lloyd. + +Betty untied a small box. "It's only a handful of lava," she explained, +"that I picked up on Vesuvius. But Davy will like it because he thinks a +volcano is such a wonderful thing. Here are some pebbles the boys will be +interested in, because I found them on the field of Waterloo. They are +making collections of such things, and Waterloo is a long way from the +Cuckoo's Nest. They haven't any foreign things at all. + +"I wanted to take something nice to Miss Allison, but I couldn't afford to +buy anything fine enough. So I just pressed these buttercups that grew by +the gate of Anne Hathaway's cottage. See how sunshiny and satiny they are? +Cousin Carl gave me a photograph of the cottage, and I fastened the +buttercups here on the side. I couldn't offer such a little gift to some +people, but Miss Allison is the kind that appreciates the thought that +prompts a gift more than the thing itself." + +There were a few more photographs, a handkerchief for Mom Beck, and a +string of cheap Venetian beads for May Lily. The most expensive article in +the collection was a little mosaic pin for her Cousin Hetty. "I got that +in Venice," said Betty. "Cousin Hetty hasn't a single piece of jewelry to +her name, and she never gets any presents but plain, useful things, so I +am sure she will be pleased." + +Lloyd turned away, thinking of the great contrast between her gifts and +Betty's, and wishing that she had not made such a display of hers. + +"If I were in Betty's place," she said to herself, "I'd be so jealous of +me that I could hardly stand it. She's just a little orphan alone in the +world, and I have mothah and Papa Jack and Hero and Tarbaby for my very +own." + +But the Little Colonel need not have wasted any sympathy on Betty. While +one stowed away her expensive presents in her trunk, the other wrapped up +her little souvenirs, humming softly to herself. It would have been hard +to find anywhere in the queen's dominion, a happier child than Betty, as +she sat beside her trunk, thinking of the beautiful journey with Cousin +Carl, just ending, and the life awaiting her at Locust with her godmother +and the Little Colonel. There was only one cloud on her horizon, and that +was the parting with Eugenia and her father. + +That last evening they spent together in the private parlour adjoining +Mrs. Sherman's room. Early after dinner Lloyd and her father went down to +pay a visit to Hero, and see that he was properly cared for. He had had a +hard time since reaching England, for the laws regarding the quarantining +of dogs are strict, and it had taken many shillings on Mr. Sherman's part +and some tears on the Little Colonel's to procure him the privileges he +had. + +"The whole party will be glad when he is safely landed in Kentucky, I am +sure," said Mrs. Sherman, as the door closed after them. "I'd never +consent to take another dog on such a journey, after all the trouble and +expense this one has been. Lloyd is so devoted to him that she is +heartbroken if he has to be tied up or made uncomfortable in any way. +She'll probably come up-stairs in tears to-night because he wants to +follow her, and must be kept a prisoner." + +While they waited for her return, Mrs. Sherman drew Eugenia into her room +for a last confidential talk, and Betty, nestling beside Cousin Carl on +the sofa, tried to thank him for all his fatherly kindness to her on their +long pilgrimage together. But he would not let her put her gratitude in +words. His answer was the same that it had been that last night of the +house party, when, looking down the locust avenue gleaming with its myriad +of lights, like some road to the City of the Shining Ones, she had cried +out: "Oh, _why_ is everybody so good to me?" + +The others came in presently, and the evening seemed to be on wings, it +flew so swiftly, as they planned for another summer to be spent at Locust, +when Eugenia should come home from her year in the Paris school. And +never, it seemed, were good nights followed so quickly by good mornings, +or good mornings by good-byes. + +Almost before they realised that the parting time had actually come, the +Little Colonel and Betty were leaning over the railing of the great +steamer, waving their handkerchiefs to Eugenia and her father on the +dock. Smaller and smaller grew the familiar outlines, wider and wider the +distance between the ship and the shore, until at last even Eugenia's red +jacket faded into a mere speck, and it was no longer of any use to wave +good-bye. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HOMEWARD BOUND + + +On that long, homeward journey it was well for Hero that he wore the Red +Cross on his collar. The little symbol was the open sesame to many a +privilege that ordinary dogs are not allowed on shipboard. Instead of +being confined to the hold, he was given the liberty of the ship, and when +his story was known he received as much flattering attention as if he had +been some titled nobleman. + +The captain shook the big white paw, gravely put into his hand at the +Little Colonel's bidding, and then stooped to stroke the dog's head. As he +looked into the wistful, intelligent eyes his own grew tender. + +"I have a son in the service," he said, "sent back from South Africa, +covered with scars. I know what that Red Cross meant to him for a good +many long weeks. Go where you like, old fellow! The ship is yours, so long +as you make no trouble." + +"Oh, thank you!" cried the Little Colonel, looking up at the big British +captain with a beaming face. "I'd rathah be tied up myself than to have +Hero kept down there in the hold. I'm suah he'll not bothah anybody." + +Nor did he. No one from stoker to deck steward could make the slightest +complaint against him, so dignified and well behaved was he. Lloyd was +proud of him and his devotion. Wherever she went he followed her, lying at +her feet when she sat in her steamer-chair, walking close beside her when +she and Betty promenaded the deck. + +Everybody stopped to speak to him, and to question Lloyd and Betty about +him, so that it was not many days before the little girls and the great +St. Bernard had made friends of all the passengers who were able to be on +deck. + +The hours are long at sea, and people gladly welcome anything that +provides entertainment, so Lloyd and Betty were often called aside as they +walked, and invited to join some group, and tell to a knot of interested +listeners all they knew of Hero and the Major, and the training of the +French ambulance dogs. + +In return Lloyd's stories nearly always called forth some anecdote from +her listeners about the Red Cross work in America, and to her great +surprise she found five persons among them who had met Clara Barton in +some great national calamity of fire, flood, or pestilence. + +One was a portly man with a gruff voice, who had passed through the +experiences of the forest fires that swept through Michigan, over twenty +years ago. As he told his story, he made the scenes so real that the +children forgot where they were. They could almost smell the thick, +stifling smoke of the burning forest, hear the terrible crackling of the +flames, feel the scorching heat in their faces, and see the frightened +cattle driven into the lakes and streams by the pursuing fire. + +They listened with startled eyes as he described the wall of flame, +hemming in the peaceful home where his little son played around the +door-step. They held their breath while he told of their mad flight from +it, when, lashing his horses into a gallop, he looked back to see it +licking up everything in the world he held dear except the frightened +little family huddled at his feet. He had worked hard to build the +cottage. It was furnished with family heirlooms brought West with them +from the old homestead in Vermont. It was hard to see those great red +tongues devouring it in a mouthful. + +In the morning, although they had reached a place of safety, they were out +in a charred, blackened wilderness, without a roof to shelter them, a +chair to sit on, or a crust to eat. "The hardest thing to bear," he said, +"was to hear my little three-year-old Bertie begging for his breakfast, +and to know that there was nothing within miles of us to satisfy his +hunger, and that the next day it would be the same, and the next, and the +next. + +"We were powerless to help ourselves. But while we sat there in utter +despair, a neighbour rode by and hailed us. He told us that Red Cross +committees had started out from Milwaukee and Chicago at first tidings of +the fire, with car-loads of supplies, and that if we could go to the place +where they were distributing we could get whatever we needed. + +"I wish you could have seen what they were handing out when we got there: +tools and lumber to put up cabins, food and beds and clothes and coal-oil. +They'd thought of everything and provided everything, and they went about +the distributing in a systematic, businesslike way that somehow put heart +and cheer into us all. + +"They didn't make us feel as if they were handing out alms to paupers, but +as if they were helping some of their own family on to their feet again, +and putting them in shape to help themselves. Even my little Bertie felt +it. Young as he was, he never forgot that awful night when we fled from +the fire, nor the hungry day that followed, nor the fact that the arm that +carried him food, when he got it at last, wore a brassard marked like +that." He touched the Red Cross on Hero's collar. + +"And when the chance came to show the same brotherly spirit to some one +else in trouble and pass the help along, he was as ready as the rest of us +to do his share. + +"Three years afterward I read in the papers of the floods that had swept +through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and of the thousands that were +homeless. Bertie,--he was six then,--he listened to the account of the +children walking the streets, crying because they hadn't a roof over them +or anything to eat. He didn't say a word, but he climbed up to the mantel +and took down his little red savings-bank. + +"We were pretty near on our feet again by that time, although we were +still living in a cabin. The crops had been good, and we had been able to +save a little. He poured out all the pennies and nickels in his +bank,--ninety-three cents they came to,--and then he got his only store +toy, a box of tin soldiers that had been sent to him Christmas, and put +that on the table beside the money. We didn't appear to notice what he was +doing. Presently he brought the mittens his grandmother up in Vermont had +knit for him. Then he waited a bit, and seemed to be weighing something in +his mind. By and by he slipped away to the chest where his Sunday clothes +were kept and took them out, new suit, shoes, cap and all, and laid them +on the table with the money and the tin soldiers. + +"'There, daddy,' he said, 'tell the Red Cross people to send them to some +little boy like me, that's been washed out of his home and hasn't anything +of toys left, or his clothes.' + +"I tell you it made a lump come up in my throat to see that the little +fellow had taken his very best to pay his debt of gratitude. Nothing was +too great for him to sacrifice. Even his tin soldiers went when he +remembered what the Red Cross had done for him." + +"My experience with the Red Cross was in the Mississippi floods of '82," +said a gentleman who had joined the party. "One winter day we were +attracted by screams out in the river, and found that they came from some +people who were floating down on a house that had been washed away. There +they were, that freezing weather, out in the middle of the river, their +clothes frozen on them, ill from fright and exposure. I went out in one of +the boats that was sent to their rescue, and helped bring them to shore. +I was so impressed by the tales of suffering they told that I went up the +river to investigate. + +"At every town, and nearly every steamboat landing, I found men from the +relief committees already at work, distributing supplies. They didn't stop +when they had provided food and clothing. They furnished seed by the +car-load to the farmers, just as in the Galveston disaster, a few years +ago, they furnished thousands of strawberry plants to the people who were +wholly dependent on their crops for their next year's food." + +"Where did they get all those stores?" asked Lloyd. "And the seeds and the +strawberry plants?" + +"Most of it was donated," answered the gentleman. "Many contributions come +pouring in after such a disaster, just as little Bertie's did. But the +society is busy all the time, collecting and storing away the things that +may be needed at a moment's notice. People would contribute, of course, +even if there were no society to take charge of their donations, but +without its wise hands to distribute, much would be lost. + +"A number of years ago a physician in Bedford, Indiana, gave a tract of +land to the American National Red Cross; more than a square mile, I +believe, a beautiful farm with buildings and fruit-trees, a place where +material can be accumulated and stored. By the terms of the treaty of +Geneva, forty nations are pledged to hold it sacred for ever against all +invading armies, to the use of the Red Cross. It is the only spot on earth +pledged to perpetual peace." + +It was from a sad-faced lady in black, who had had two sons drowned in the +Johnstown flood, that Lloyd and Betty heard the description of Clara +Barton's five months' labour there. A doctor's wife who had been in the +Mt. Vernon cyclone, and a newspaper man who had visited the South Carolina +islands after the tidal wave, and Charleston after the earthquake, piled +up their accounts of those scenes of suffering, some of them even greater +than the horrors of war, so that Lloyd could not sleep that night, for +thinking of them. + +"Betty," she whispered, across the stateroom, turning over in her berth. +"Betty, are you awake?" + +"Yes. Do you want anything?" + +"I can't sleep. That's all. Every time I shut my eyes I see all those +awful things they told about: cities in ruins, and dead people lying +around in piles, and the yellow fevah camps, and floods and fiah. It is a +dreadful world, Betty. No one knows what awful thing is goin' to happen +next." + +"Don't think about the dreadful part," urged Betty. "Think of the funny +things Mrs. Brown told, of the time the levee broke at Shawneetown. The +table all set for supper, and the water pouring in until the table floated +up to the ceiling, and went bobbing around like a fish." + +"That doesn't help any," said Lloyd, after a moment. "I see the watah +crawlin' highah and highah up the walls, above the piano and pictuahs, +till I feel as if it is crawlin' aftah me, and will be all ovah the bed in +a minute. Did you evah think how solemn it is, Betty Lewis, to be away out +in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but a few planks between us and +drownin'? Seems to me the ship pitches around moah than usual, to-night, +and the engine makes a mighty strange, creakin' noise." + +"Do you remember the night I put you to sleep at the Cuckoo's Nest?" asked +Betty. "The night after you fell down the barn stairs, playing +barley-bright? Shut your eyes and let me try it again." + +It was no nursery legend or border ballad that Betty crooned this time, +but some peaceful lines of the old Quaker poet, and the quiet comfort of +them stole into Lloyd's throbbing brain and soothed her excited fancy. +Long after Betty was asleep she went on repeating to herself the last +lines: + + "I know not where His islands lift + Their fronded palms in air, + I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care." + +She did dream of fires and floods that night, but the horror of the scenes +was less, because a baby voice called cheerfully through them, "Here, +daddy, give these to the poor little boys that are cold and homesick?" and +a great St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on his back, ran around distributing +mittens and tin soldiers. + +"Now that we are half-way across the ocean," said Mrs. Sherman, next +morning, "I may give you Allison Walton's letter. She enclosed it in one +her mother wrote, and asked me not to give it to you until we were in +mid-ocean. I suppose her experience in coming over from Manila taught her +that letters are more appreciated then than at the beginning of the +voyage." + +The Little Colonel unfolded it, exclaiming in surprise, "It is dated '_The +Beeches_.' I thought that they were in Lloydsboro Valley all summah, in +the cottage next to the churchyard. That one you used to like," she added, +turning to Betty. "The one with the high green roof and deah little +diamond-shaped window-panes." + +"So they are in the Valley," answered her mother. "But their new house is +finished now, and they have moved into that. As they have left all the +beautiful beech grove standing around it, they have decided to call the +place The Beeches, as ours is called Locust, on account of the trees in +front of it." + +Beckoning to Betty to come and listen, Lloyd sat down to read the letter, +and Mrs. Sherman turned to an acquaintance next her. "It is General +Walton's family of whom we were speaking," she explained. "Since his death +in Manila they have been living in Louisville, until recently. We are so +delighted to think that they have now come to the Valley to live. It was +Mrs. Walton's home in her girlhood, and her mother's place, Edgewood, is +just across the avenue from The Beeches. Lloyd and the little girls are +the best of friends, and we are all interested in Ranald, the only son. He +was the youngest captain in the army, you know. He received his +appointment and was under fire before he was twelve years old." + +"Oh, mothah," spoke up Lloyd, so eagerly that she did not notice that she +had interrupted the conversation. "Listen to this, please. You know I +wrote to Allison about Hero, and this lettah is neahly all about him. She +said her fathah knew Clara Barton, and that in Cuba and Manila the games +and books that the Red Cross sent to the hospitals were appreciated by the +soldiahs almost as much as the delicacies. And she says her mothah thinks +it would be fine for us all to start a fund for the Red Cross. They wanted +to get up a play because they're always havin' tableaux and such things. + +"They've been readin' 'Little Women' again, and Jo's Christmas play made +them want to do something like that. They can have all the shields and +knights' costumes that the MacIntyre boys had when they gave Jonesy's +benefit. They were going to have an entahtainment last week, but couldn't +agree. Allison wanted to play 'Cinda'ella,' because there are such pretty +costumes in that, but Kitty wanted to make up one all about witches and +spooks and robbah-dens, and call it 'The One-Eyed Ghost of Cocklin Tower.' + +"She wanted to be the ghost. They've decided to wait till we get home +befo' they do anything." + +"There's your opportunity, Betty," said Mrs. Sherman, turning to her +goddaughter with a smile. "Why can't you distinguish yourself by writing a +play that will make us all proud of you, and at the same time swell the +funds of the Red Cross?" + +"Oh, do you really think I could, godmother? Are you in earnest?" cried +Betty, her face shining with pleasure. + +"Entirely so," answered Mrs. Sherman, running her hand caressingly over +Betty's brown hair. "This little curly head is full of all sorts of tales +of goblins and ogres and witches and fairy folk. String them together, +dear, in some sort of shape, and I'll help with the costumes." + +The suggestion was made playfully, but Betty looked dreamily out to sea, +her face radiant. The longing to do something to please her godmother and +make her proud of her was the first impulse that thrilled her, but as she +began to search her brain for a plot, the joy of the work itself made her +forget everything else, even the passing of time. She was amazed when +Lloyd called to her that they were going down to lunch. She had sat the +entire morning wrapped in her steamer-rug, looking out across the water +with far-seeing eyes. As the blue waves rose and fell, her thoughts had +risen and swayed to their rhythmic motion, and begun to shape themselves +into rhyme. Line after line was taking form, and she wished impatiently +that Lloyd had not called her. How could one be hungry when some inward +power, past understanding, was making music in one's soul? + +She followed Lloyd down to the table like one in a trance, but the spell +was broken for awhile by Lloyd's persistent chatter. + +"You know there's all sort of things you could have," she suggested, "if +you wanted to use them in the piece. Tarbaby and the Filipino pony, and we +could even borrow the beah from Fairchance if you wanted anything like +Beauty and the Beast. We had that once though, at Jonesy's benefit, so +maybe you wouldn't want to use it again." + +"There's to be a knight in it," answered Betty, "and he'll be mounted in +one scene. So we may need one of the ponies." Then she turned to her +godmother. "Do you suppose there is a spinning-wheel anywhere in the +neighbourhood that we could borrow?" + +"Yes, I have one of my great-grandmother's stored away in the trunk-room. +You may have that." + +The Little Colonel shrugged her shoulders impatiently. "Oh, I can't wait +to know what you're goin' to do with a spinnin'-wheel in the play. Tell me +now, Betty." + +But the little playwright only shook her head "I'm not sure myself yet. +But I keep thinking of the humming of the wheel, and a sort of +spinning-song keeps running through my head. I thought, too, it would +help to make a pretty scene." + +"You're goin' to put Hero in it, aren't you?" was the Little Colonel's +question. + +"Oh, Lloyd! I can't," cried Betty, in dismay. "A dog couldn't have a part +with princes and witches and fairies." + +"I don't see why not," persisted Lloyd. "I sha'n't take half the interest +if he isn't in it. I think you might put him in, Betty," she urged. "I'd +do as much for you, if it was something you had set your heart on. +_Please_, Betty!" she begged. + +"But he won't fit anywhere!" said Betty, in a distressed tone. "I'd put +him in, gladly, if he'd only go, but, don't you see, Lloyd, he isn't +appropriate. It would spoil the whole thing to drag him in." + +"I don't see why," said Lloyd, a trifle sharply. "Isn't it going to be a +Red Cross entahtainment, and isn't Hero a Red Cross dog? I think it's +_very_ appropriate for him to have a part, even one of the principal +ones." + +"I can't think of a single thing for him to do--" began Betty. + +"You can if you try hard enough," insisted Lloyd. + +Betty sighed hopelessly, and turned to her lunch in silence. She wanted to +please the Little Colonel, but it seemed impossible to her to give Hero a +part without spoiling the entertainment. + +"Maybe some of the books in the ship's library might help you," said Mr. +Sherman, who had been an amused listener. "I'll look over some of them for +you." + +Later in the day he came up to Betty where she stood leaning against the +deck railing. He laid a book upon it, open at a picture of seven white +swans, "Do you remember this?" he asked. "The seven brothers who were +changed to swans, and the good sister who wove a coat for each one out of +flax she spun from the churchyard nettles? The magic coats gave them back +their human forms. Maybe you can use the same idea, and have your prince +changed into a dog for awhile." + +"Oh, thank you!" she cried. "I'd forgotten that story. I am sure it will +help." + +He walked away, leaving her poring over the picture, but presently, as he +paced the deck, he felt her light touch on his arm, and turned to see her +glowing little face looking up into his. + +"I've got it!" she cried. "The picture made me think of the very thing. I +had been fumbling with a tangled skein, trying to find a place to begin +unwinding. Now you have given me the starting thread, and it all begins to +smooth out beautifully. I'm going for pencil and paper now, to write it +all down before I forget." + +That pencil and note-book were her constant companions the rest of the +voyage. Sometimes Lloyd, coming upon her suddenly, would hear her +whispering a list of rhymes such as more, core, pour, store, shore, +before, or creature, teacher, feature, at which they would both laugh and +Betty exclaim, hopelessly, "I can't find a word to fit that place." At +other times Lloyd passed her in respectful silence, for she knew by the +rapt look on Betty's face that the mysterious business of verse-making was +proceeding satisfactorily, and she dared not interrupt. + +The day they sighted land, Lloyd exclaimed: "Oh, I can hardly wait to get +home! I've had a perfectly lovely summah, and I've enjoyed every mile of +the journey, but the closah I get to Locust the moah it seems to me that +the very nicest thing my wondah-ball can unroll (except givin' me Hero, of +co'se) is the goin' back home." + +"Your wonder-ball," repeated Betty, who knew the birthday story. "That +gives me an idea. The princess shall have a wonder-ball in the play." + +Lloyd laughed. "I believe that's all you think about nowadays, Betty. Put +up yoah scribblin' for awhile and come and watch them swing the trunks up +out of the hold. We're almost home, Betty Lewis, almost home!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOME AGAIN + + +Meanwhile in Lloydsboro Valley the summer had slipped slowly by. Locust +seemed strangely quiet with the great front gates locked, and never any +sound of wheels or voices coming down the avenue. Judge Moore's place was +closed also, and Tanglewood, just across the way, had been opened only a +few weeks in the spring. So birds and squirrels held undisputed possession +of that part of the Valley, and the grass grew long and the vines climbed +high, and often the soft whisper of the leaves was the only sound to be +heard. + +But in the shady beech grove, next the churchyard, and across the avenue +from Mrs. MacIntyre's, the noise of hammer and saw and trowel had gone on +unceasingly, until at last the new home was ready for its occupants. The +family did not have far to move to "The Beeches"; only over the stile from +the quaint green-roofed cottage next door, where they had spent the +summer. + +Allison, Kitty, and Elise climbed back and forth over the stile, their +arms full of their particular treasures, which they could not trust to the +moving-vans. All the week that Betty and Lloyd were tossing out on the +ocean, they were flitting about the new house, growing accustomed to its +unfamiliar corners. By the time the _Majestic_ steamed into the New York +harbour, they were as much at home in their new surroundings as if they +had always lived there. The tent was pitched on the lawn, the large family +of dolls was brought out under the trees, and the games, good times, and +camp-fire cooking went on as if they had never been interrupted for an +instant by the topsy-turvy work of moving. + +"Whose day is it for the pony-cart?" asked Mrs. Walton, coming out on the +steps one morning. + +"It was mine," answered Kitty, speaking up from the hammock, where she +swung, half in, half out, watching a colony of ants crawling along the +ground underneath. "But I traded my turn to Elise, for her biggest paper +boy doll." + +"And I traded my turn to Allison, if she would let me use all the purple +and yellow paint I want in her paint-box, while I am making my Princess +Pansy's ball dress," said Elise. + +Mrs. Walton smiled at the transfer of rights. The little girls had an +arrangement by which they took turns in using the cart certain days in the +week, when Ranald did not want to ride his Filipino pony. + +"Whoever has it to-day may do an errand for me," Mrs. Walton said, adding, +as she turned toward the house, "Do you know that Lloyd and Betty are +coming on the three o'clock train this afternoon?" + +"Then I don't want the pony-cart," exclaimed Allison, quickly. "I'm going +down to the depot to meet them." + +The depot was in sight of The Beeches, not more than three minutes' walk +distant. + +"Can't go back on your trade!" sang out Elise. "Can't go back on your +trade!" + +"Oh, you take it, Elise," coaxed Allison. "It's my regular turn to-morrow. +I'll make some fudge in the morning, if you will." + +Elise considered a moment. "Well," she said, finally, "I'll let you off +from your trade if Kitty will let me off from mine." + +"No, _sir!_" answered Kitty. "A trade's a trade. I want that paper boy +doll." + +"But it's your regular turn," coaxed Elise, "and I'd much rather go down +to the depot to meet the girls than go riding." + +"So would I," said Kitty, spurring the procession of ants to faster speed +with her slipper toe. Then she sat up and considered the matter a moment. + +"Oh, well," she said, presently, "I don't care, after all. If it will +oblige you any I'll let you off, and take the pony myself." + +"Oh, thank you, sister," cried Elise. + +"They'll only be at the depot a few minutes," continued the wily Kitty. +"So I'll drive down to meet them in style in the cart, and then I'll go up +to Locust with them, beside the carriage, and hear all about the trip +first of anybody." + +"I wish I'd thought of that," said Elise, a shade of disappointment in her +big dark eyes. + +"I'll tell you," proposed Allison, enthusiastically, "We'll _all_ go down +in the pony-cart to meet them together. That would be the nicest way to +do." + +"Oh!" was Kitty's cool reply, "I had thought of going by for Katy or +Corinne." Then, seeing the disappointment in the faces opposite, she +added, "But maybe I might change my mind. Have you got anything to trade +for a chance to go?" + +This transfer of possessions which they carried on was like a continuous +game, of which they never tired, because of its endless variety. It was a +source of great amusement to the older members of the family. + +"It is a mystery to me," said Miss Allison, "how they manage to keep track +of their property, and remember who is the owner. I have known a doll or a +dish to change hands half a dozen times in the course of a forenoon." + +Elise promptly offered the paper boy doll again, which was promptly +accepted. Allison had nothing to offer which Kitty considered equivalent +to a seat in the cart, but by a roundabout transfer the trade was finally +made. Allison gave Elise the amount of purple and yellow paint she needed +for the Princess Pansy's ball gown, in return for which Elise gave her a +piece of spangled gauze which Kitty had long had an eye upon. Allison in +turn handed the gauze to Kitty for her right to a seat in the pony-cart, +and the affair was thus happily settled to the satisfaction of all +parties. + +"It _isn't_ that we are selfish with each other," Allison had retorted, +indignantly, one day when Corinne remarked that she didn't see how sisters +who loved each other could be so particular about everything. "It's only +with our toys and the cart that we do that way. It's a kind of game that +we've played always, and _we_ think it's lots of fun." + +So it happened that that afternoon, when the train stopped at Lloydsboro +Valley, the first thing the Little Colonel saw was the pony-cart drawn +close to the platform. Then three little girls in white dresses and fresh +ribbons, smiling broadly under their big flower-wreathed hats, sprang out +to give them a warm welcome home, with enthusiastic hugs and kisses. + +Hero's turn came next. Released from his long, tiresome confinement in the +baggage-car, he came bounding into their midst, almost upsetting the +Little Colonel in his joy at having his freedom again. He put out his +great paw to each of the little girls in turn as Lloyd bade him shake +hands with his new neighbours, but he growled suspiciously when Walker +came up and laid black fingers upon him. He had never seen a coloured man +before. + +It was Betty's first meeting with the Walton girls. She had looked forward +to it eagerly, first because they were the daughters of a man whom her +little hero-loving heart honoured as one of the greatest generals of the +army, who had given his life to his country, and died bravely in its +service, and secondly because Lloyd's letters the winter before had been +full of their sayings and doings. Mrs. Sherman, too, had told her many +things of their life in Manila, and she felt that children who had such +unusual experiences could not fail to be interesting. There was a third +reason, however, that she scanned each face so closely. She had given them +parts in the new play, and she was wondering how well they would fit those +parts. + +They in turn cast many inquiring glances at Betty, for they had heard all +about this little song-bird that had been taken away from the Cuckoo's +Nest. They had read her poem on "Night," which was published in a real +paper, and they could not help looking upon her with a deep feeling of +respect, tinged a little with awe, that a twelve-year-old girl could write +verses good enough to be published. They had heard Keith's enthusiastic +praises of her. + +"Betty's a brick!" he had said, telling of several incidents of the house +party, especially the picnic at the old mill, when she had gone so far to +keep her "sacred promise." "She's the very nicest girl I know," he had +added, emphatically, and that was high praise, coming from the particular +Keith, who judged all girls by the standard of his mother. + +As soon as the trunks were attended to, Mr. Sherman led the way to the +carriage, waiting on the other side of the platform. Hero was given a +place beside Walker, and although he sprang up obediently when he was +bidden, he eyed his companion suspiciously all the way. The pony-cart +trundled along beside the carriage, the girls calling back and forth to +each other, above the rattle of the wheels. + +"Oh, isn't Hero the loveliest dog that ever was! But you ought to see our +puppy--the cutest thing--nothing but a bunch of soft, woozy curls." ... +"We're in the new house now, you must come over to-morrow." ... "Mother is +going to take us all camping soon. You are invited, too." This from the +pony-cart in high-pitched voices in different keys. + +"Oh, I've had a perfectly lovely time, and I've brought you all something +in my trunk. And say, girls, Betty is writing a play for the Red Cross +entertainment. There's a witch in it, Kitty, and lots of pretty costumes, +Allison. And, oh, deah, I'm so glad to get home I don't know what to do +first!" This from the carriage. + +The great entrance gates were unlocked now, the lawn smoothly cut, the +green lace-work of vines trimly trained around the high white pillars of +the porches. The pony-cart turned back at the gate, and the carriage drove +slowly up the avenue alone. The mellow sunlight of the warm September +afternoon filtered down like gold, through the trees arching overhead. + +"'Oh, the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home,'" sang Lloyd, softly, +leaning out of the carriage to wave her hand to Mom Beck, who, in whitest +of aprons and gayest of head bandanas, stood smiling and curtseying on the +steps. The good old black face beamed with happiness as she cried, "Heah +comes my baby, an' li'l' Miss Betty, too, bless her soul an' body!" + +Around the house came May Lily and a tribe of little pickaninnies, who +fell back at sight of Hero leaping out of the carriage. He was the largest +dog they had ever seen. Lloyd called them all around her and made them +each shake hands with the astonished St. Bernard, who did not seem to +relish this part of his introduction to Kentucky. + +"He'll soon get used to you," said the Little Colonel. "May Lily, you run +tell Aunt Cindy to give you a cooky or a piece of chicken for him to eat. +Henry Clay, you bring a pan of watah. If you all fly around and wait on +him right good, he'll like you lots bettah." + +Leaving Lloyd to offer Hero the hospitality of Locust in the midst of her +little black admirers, Betty slowly followed her godmother up the wide +stairs. + +"You're to have the same white and gold room again, dear," said Mrs. +Sherman, peeping in as she passed the door. "I see that it is all in +readiness. So walk in and take possession." + +Betty was glad that she was alone, those first few minutes, the joy of the +home-coming was so keen. Going in, she shut the door and gave a swift +glance all around, from the dark polished floor, with its white angora +rugs, to the filmy white curtains at the open casement windows. Everything +was just as she had seen it last,--the dear little white dressing-table, +with its crystal candlesticks, that always made her think of twisted +icicles; the little heart-shaped pincushion and all the dainty toilet +articles of ivory and gold; the pictures on the wall; the freshly gathered +plumes of goldenrod in the crystal bowl on the mantel. She stood a moment, +looking out of the open window, and thinking of the year that had gone by +since she last stood in that room. Many a long and perilous mile she had +travelled, but here she was back in safety, and instead of bandaged eyes +and the horror of blindness hovering over her, she was able to look out on +the beautiful world with strong, far-seeing sight. + +The drudgery of the Cuckoo's Nest was far behind her now, and the bare +little room under the eaves. Henceforth this was to be her home. She +remembered the day in the church when her godmother's invitation to the +house party reached her, and just as she had knelt then in front of the +narrow, bench-like altar, she knelt now, beside the little white bed. +Now, as then, the late afternoon sun streamed across her brown curls and +shining face, and "_Thank you, dear God_," came in the same grateful +whisper from the depths of the same glad little heart. + +"Betty! Betty!" called Lloyd, under her window. "Come and take a run over +the place. I want to show Hero his new home." + +Tired of sitting still so long on the cars, Betty was glad to join in the +race over the smooth lawn and green meadows. Out in the pasture, Tarbaby +waited by the bars. The grapevine swing in the mulberry-tree, every nook +and corner where the guests of the house party had romped and played the +summer before, seemed to hold a special greeting for them, and every foot +of ground in old Locust seemed dearer for their long absence. + +The next morning, when Tarbaby was led around for Lloyd to take her usual +ride, both girls gave a cry of delight, for another pony followed close at +his heels. It was the one that had been kept for Betty's use during the +house party. + +"It is Lad!" called the Little Colonel, excitedly. "Oh, Papa Jack! Is he +goin' to stay heah all the time?" + +"Yes, he belongs here now," answered Mr. Sherman. "I want both my little +girls to be well mounted, and to ride every day." + +He motioned to a card hanging from Lad's bridle, and, leaning over, Lloyd +read aloud, "For Betty from Papa Jack." + +Betty could hardly realise her good fortune. + +"Is he really mine?" she insisted, "the same as Tarbaby is Lloyd's?" + +"Really yours, and just the same," answered Mr. Sherman, holding out his +hand to help her mount. + +She tried to thank him, tried to tell him how happy the gift had made her, +but words could not measure either her gratitude or her pleasure. He read +them both, however, in her happy face. As he swung her into the saddle, +she leaned forward, saying, "I want to whisper something in your ear, Mr. +Sherman." As he bent his head she whispered, "Thank you for writing Papa +Jack on the card. That made me happier than anything else." + +"That is what I want you to call me always now, my little daughter," he +answered, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Locust is your home now, and +you belong to all of us. Your godmother, the Little Colonel, and I each +claim a share." + +"What makes you so quiet?" asked Lloyd, as they rode on down the avenue. + +"I was thinking of the way Joyce's fairy tale ended," said Betty. "'So the +prince came into his kingdom, the kingdom of loving hearts and gentle +hands.' Only this time it's the princess who's come into her kingdom." + +"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd, with a puzzled look. + +"Oh, it's only some of my foolishness," said Betty, looking back over her +shoulder with a laugh. "I'm just so glad that I'm alive, and so glad that +I am me, and so happy because everybody is so heavenly kind to me, that I +wouldn't change places with the proudest princess that ever sat on a +throne." + +"Then come on, and let's race to the post-office," cried Lloyd, dashing +off, with Hero bounding along beside her. + +From the post-office they rode to The Beeches, where Allison was cooking +something over the camp-fire, beside the tent on the lawn. + +It proved to be candy, and she waved a sticky spoon in welcome. Mrs. +Walton was in a hammock, near by, her mending basket beside her, and Kitty +and Elise on the grass at her feet, watching the molasses bubble up in the +kettle. Betty felt a little shy at first, for this was her first meeting +with the General's wife, and she wished that the girls would not insist on +having an immediate outline of the play. It had seemed very fine indeed to +her when she read it aloud to herself, or repeated it to Lloyd. It had not +seemed a very childish thing to her even when she read it to her +godmother. But she shrank from Mrs. Walton's criticism. It was with many +blushes that she began. Afterward she wondered why she should have been +timid about it. Mrs. Walton applauded it so heartily, and entered into +plans for making the entertainment a success as enthusiastically as any of +the girls. + +"I bid to be witch!" cried Kitty, when Betty had finished. + +"I'd like to be the queen, if you don't care," said Allison, "for I am the +largest, and I'd rather act with Rob than the other boys. But it doesn't +make any difference. I'll be anything you want me to." + +"That's the way Betty planned it," said Lloyd. "I'm to be the captive +princess, and Keith will be my brother whom the witch changes into a dog. +That's Hero, of co'se. Malcolm will be the knight who rescues me. Rob +Moore will be king, and Elise the queen of the fairies, and Ranald the +ogah." + +"Ranald said last night that he wouldn't be in the play if he had to learn +a lot of foolishness to speak, or if he couldn't be disguised so that +nobody would know him," said Kitty. "He'll help any other way, fixing the +stage and the red lights and all that, but the Captain has a dread of +making himself appear ridiculous. Now _I_ don't. I'd rather have the funny +parts than the high and mighty ones." + +"He might be Frog-eye-Fearsome," suggested Betty. "Then he wouldn't have +anything to do but drag the prince and princess across the stage to the +ogre's tower, and the costume could be so hideous that no one could tell +whether a human or a hobgoblin was inside of it." + +"Who'll buy all the balloons for the fairies, and make our spangled +wings?" asked Elise. "Oh, I know," she cried, instantly answering her own +question. "I'll tell Aunt Elise all about it, and I know that she'll +help." + +"How will you go all the way to the seashore to tell her?" asked Kitty. + +"She isn't at the seashore," answered Elise, with an air of triumph. "She +came back from Narragansett Pier last night. Didn't she, mamma? And she +and Malcolm and Keith are coming out to grandmother's this afternoon as +straight as the train can carry them, you might know. They always do, +first thing. Don't they, mamma?" + +Mrs. Walton nodded yes, then said: "Suppose you bring the play down this +afternoon, Betty. Ask your mother to come too, Lloyd, and we'll read it +out under the trees. Now are all the characters decided upon?" + +"All but the ogre," said Betty. + +"Joe Clark is the very one for that," exclaimed Lloyd. "He is head and +shouldahs tallah than all the othah boys, although he is only fifteen, and +his voice is so deep and gruff it sounds as if it came out of the cellah. +We can stop and ask him if he'll take the part." + +"Invite him to come down to the reading of the play, too," said Mrs. +Walton. "I'll look for you all promptly at four." + +Betty almost lost her courage that afternoon when she saw the large group +waiting for her under the beech-trees on Mrs. Walton's lawn. Mrs. +MacIntyre was there, fresh and dainty as Betty always remembered her, with +the sunshine flickering softly through the leaves on her beautiful white +hair. Miss Allison, who, in the children's opinion, knew everything, sat +beside her, and worst of all, the younger Mrs. MacIntyre was there; +Malcolm's and Keith's mother, whom Betty had never seen before, but of +whom she had heard glowing descriptions from her admiring sons. + +Lloyd pointed her out to Betty as they drove in at the gate. "See, there +she is, in that lovely pink organdy. Wouldn't you love to look like her? I +would. She's like a queen." + +Betty sank back, faint with embarrassment. "Oh, godmother!" she whispered. +"I know I can't read it before all those people. It will choke me. There's +at least a dozen, and some of them are strangers." + +Mrs. Sherman smiled, encouragingly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, +dear. Your play is beautiful, in my opinion, and every one there will +agree with me when they've all heard it. Go on and do your best and make +us all proud of you." + +There was no time to hesitate. Keith was already swinging on the carriage +steps to welcome them, and Malcolm and Ranald were bringing out more +chairs to make places for them with the group under the beeches. Nobody +mentioned the play for some time. The older people were busy questioning +Mrs. Sherman about her summer abroad, and Malcolm and Keith had much to +tell the others of their vacation at the seashore; of polo and parties and +ping-pong, and several pranks that sent the children into shrieks of +laughter. + +In the midst of the hum of conversation Betty's heart almost stood still. +Mrs. Walton was calling the company to order. Coming forward, she led +Betty to a chair in the centre of the circle, and asked her to begin. It +was with hands that trembled visibly that Betty opened her note-book and +began to read "The Rescue of the Princess Winsome." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME" + + + AN ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE BENEFIT + OF THE RED CROSS + + + CHARACTERS + + King Rob Moore. + Queen Allison Walton. + Prince Hero Keith MacIntyre. + PRINCESS WINSOME Lloyd Sherman. + Knight Malcolm MacIntyre. + Ogre Joe Clark. + Witch Kitty Walton. + Godmother Elizabeth Lloyd Lewis. + Frog-eye Fearsome Ranald Walton. + Titania Elise Walton. + Bewitched Prince HERO, THE RED CROSS DOG. + + Chorus of Fairies. + {Morning-glory. + {Pansy. + Flower Messengers {Rose. + {Forget-me-not. + {Poppy. + {Daisy. + +ACT I. + +SCENE I. In the Witch's Orchard. Frog-eye Fearsome drags the captive +Prince and Princess to the Ogre's tower. At Ogre's command Witch brews +spell to change Prince Hero into a dog. + +SCENE II. In front of Witch's Orchard. King and Queen bewail their loss. +The Godmother of Princess promises aid. The Knight starts in quest of the +South Wind's silver flute with which to summon the Fairies to his help. + + +ACT II. + +SCENE I. In the Tower Room. Princess Winsome and Hero. Godmother brings +spinning-wheel on which Princess is to spin Love's golden thread that +shall rescue her brother. Dove comes with letter from Knight. Flower +messengers in turn report his progress. Counting the Daisy's petals the +Princess learns that her true Knight has found the flute. + + +ACT III. + +SCENE I. In Witch's Orchard. Knight returns from quest. Blows the flute +and summons Titania and her train. They bind the Ogre and Witch in the +golden thread the Princess spun. Knight demands the spell that binds the +Prince and plucks the seven golden plums from the silver apple-tree. +Prince becomes a prince again, and King gives the Knight the hand of the +Princess and half of his Kingdom. Chorus of Fairies. + +ACT I. + +SCENE I. _Witch bends over fire in middle of orchard, brewing a charm in +her caldron. Ogre stalks in, grinning frightfully, swinging his bludgeon +in triumph._ + + _Ogre._ Ha, old witch, it is done at last! +I have broken the King's stronghold! +I have stolen away his children twain +From the clutch of their guardsmen bold. +I have dragged them here to my castle tower. +Prince Hero is strong and fair. +But he and his sister shall rue my power, +When once up yon winding stair. + + _Witch._ Now why didst thou plot such a wicked thing? +The children no harm have done. + + _Ogre._ But I have a grudge 'gainst their father, the King, +A grudge that is old as the sun. +And hark ye, old hag, I must have thy aid +Before the new moon be risen. +Now brew me a charm in thy caldron black, +That shall keep them fast in their prison! + + _Witch._ I'll brew thee no charm, thou Ogre dread! +Knowest thou not full well +The Princess thou hast stolen away +Is guarded by Fairy spell? +Her godmother over her cradle bent +"O Princess Winsome," she said, +"I give thee this gift: thou shalt deftly spin, +As thou wishest, Love's golden thread." +So I dare not brew thee a spell 'gainst her +My caldron would grow acold +And never again would bubble up, +If touched by her thread of gold. + + _Ogre._ Then give me a charm to bind the prince. +Thou canst do that much at least. +I'll give thee more gold than hands can hold, +If thou'lt change him into some beast. + + _Witch._ I have need of gold--so on the fire +I'll pile my fagots higher and higher, +And in the bubbling water stir +This hank of hair, this patch of fur, +This feather and this flapping fin, +This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin! + Bubble and boil + And snake skin coil, + This charm shall all plans + But the Ogre's foil. + + [_As Witch stirs and sings, the Ogre, stalking to the side, calls._ + + _Ogre._ Ho, Frog-eye Fearsome, let the sport begin! +Hence to the tower! Drag the captives in! + + [_Frog-eye Fearsome drags Prince Hero and Princess Winsome + across the stage, and into the door leading up the tower + stair. They are bound by ropes. Prince tries to reach his + sword. Princess shrieks._ + + _Princess._ Oh, save us, good, wise witch, +In pity, save us, pray. +The King, our royal father, +Thy goodness will repay. [_Pulls back, wringing hand._ +Oh, I cannot, _cannot_ mount the tower! +Oh, save us from the bloody Ogre's power! + + [_They are dragged into the tower, door bangs and Ogre locks it with + key a yard long. Goes back to Witch, who hands him vial + filled from caldron with black mixture._ + + _Witch._ Pour drop by drop upon Prince Hero's tongue. +First he will bark. His hands and feet +Will turn to paws, and he will seem a dog. +Seven drops will make the change complete. +The poison has no antidote save one, +And he a prince again can never be, +Unless seven silver plums he eats, +Plucked from my golden apple-tree. + + _Ogre._ Revenge is sweet, +And soon 'twill be complete! +Then to my den I'll haste for gold to delve. +I'll bring it at the black, bleak hour of twelve! + +_Witch._ And I upon my broomstick now must fly +To woodland tryst. Come, Hornèd Owl +And Venomed Toad! Now play the spy! +Let no one through my orchard prowl. + + [_Exit Witch and Ogre to dirge music._ + + +SCENE II. _Enter King and Queen weeping. They pace up +and down, wringing hands, and showing great signs of +grief. Godmother enters from opposite side. King speaks._ + + _King._ Good dame, Godmother of our daughter dear, +Perhaps thou'st heard our tale of woe. +Our children twain are stolen away +By Ogre Grim, mine ancient foe. + +All up and down the land we've sought +For help to break into his tower. +And now, our searching all for nought, +We've come to beg the Witch's power. + + [_Godmother springs forward, finger to lip, and anxiously waves + them away from orchard._ + + _Godmother._ Nay! Nay! Your Majesty, go not +Within that orchard, now I pray! +The Witch and Ogre are in league. +They've wrought you fearful harm this day. +She brewed a draught to change the prince +Into a dog! Oh, woe is me! +I passed the tower and heard him bark: +Alack! That I must tell it thee! + + [_Queen shrieks and falls back in the King's arms, then recovering + falls to wailing._ + + _Queen._ My noble son a _dog?_ A _beast?_ +It cannot, must not, _shall_ not be! +I'll brave the Ogre in his den, +And plead upon my bended knee! + + _Godmother._ Thou couldst not touch his heart of stone. +He'd keep _thee_ captive in his lair. +The Princess Winsome can alone +Remove the cause of thy despair. +And I unto the tower will climb, +And ere is gone the sunset's red, +Shall bid her spin a counter charm-- +A skein of Love's own Golden Thread. +Take heart, O mother Queen! Be brave! +Take heart, O gracious King, I pray! +Well can she spin Love's Golden Thread, +And Love can _always_ find a way! [_Exit Godmother._ + + _Queen._ She's gone, good dame. But what if she +Has made mistake, and thread of gold +Is not enough to draw our son +From out the Ogre's cruel hold? +Canst think of nought, your Majesty? +Of nothing else? Must we stand here +And powerless lift no hand to speed +The rescue of our children dear? + + [_King clasps hand to his head in thought, then starts forward._ + + _King._ I have it now! This hour I'll send +Swift heralds through my wide domains, +To say the knight who rescues them +Shall wed the Princess for his pains. + + _Queen._ Quick! Let us fly! I hear the sound of feet, +As if some horseman were approaching nigher. +'Twould not be seemly should he meet +Our royal selves so near the Witch's fire. + + [_They start to run, but are met by Knight on horseback in centre of + stage. He dismounts and drops to one knee._ + + _King._ 'Tis Feal the Faithful! Rise, Sir Knight, +And tell us what thou doest here! + + _Knight._ O Sire, I know your children's plight +I go to ease your royal fear. + + _Queen._ Now if thou bringst them back to us, +A thousand blessings on thy head. + + _King._ Ay, half my kingdom shall be thine. +The Princess Winsome thou shalt wed. + + _Queen._ But tell us, how dost thou think to cope +With the Ogre so dread and grim? +What is the charm that bids thee hope +Thou canst rout and vanquish him? + + _Knight._ My faithful heart is my only charm, +But my good broadsword is keen, +And love for the princess nerves my arm +With the strength of ten, I ween. +Come weal, come woe, no knight can fail +Who goes at Love's behest. +Long ere one moon shall wax and wane, +I shall be back from my quest. +I have only to find the South Wind's flute. +In the Land of Summer it lies. +It can awaken the echoes mute, +With answering replies. +And it can summon the fairy folk +Who never have said me nay. +They'll come to my aid at the flute's clear call. +Love _always_ can find a way. + + _King._ Go, Feal the Faithful. It is well! +Successful mayst thou be, +And all the way that thou dost ride, +Our blessings follow thee. [_Curtain._ + + +ACT II. + +SCENE. _Room in Ogre's tower. Princess Winsome kneeling +with arm around Dog's neck._ + + _Princess._ _Art_ thou my brother? Can it be +That thou hast taken such shape? +Oh turn those sad eyes not on me! +There _must_ be some escape. +And yet our parents think us dead. +No doubt they weep this very hour, +For no one ever has escaped, +Ere this, the Ogre's power. + +Oh cruel fate! We can but die! +Each moment seems a week. +_Is_ there no hope? Oh, Hero dear, +If thou couldst only speak! +But no! Within this tower room +We're captive, and despair +Must settle on us. 'Tis the doom +Of all dragged up yon winding stair. + + [_Drops her head and weeps. Enter Godmother, who waves wand + and throwing back curtain, displays a spinning-wheel._ + + _Godmother._ Rise, Princess Winsome, +Dry your weeping eyes. +The way of escape +Within your own hand lies. + +Waste no time in sorrow, +Spin and sing instead. +Spin for thy brother's sake, +A skein of golden thread. + +Question not the future, +Mourn not the past, +But keep thy wheel a-turning, +Spinning well and fast. + +All the world helps gladly +Those who help themselves, +And the thread thou spinnest, +Shall be woven by elves. + +All good things shall speed thee! +Thy knight, the Faithful Feal, +Is to thy rescue riding. +Up! To thy spinning-wheel! [_Disappears behind curtain._ + + _Princess._ All good things shall speed me? +Sir Knight, the Faithful Feal, +Is to my rescue riding? [_In joyful surprise._ +Turn, turn, my spinning-wheel! +(_She sings._) + + +[Spinning Wheel Song. + +My godmother bids me spin, that my heart may not be sad. +Spin and sing for my brother's sake, and the spinning makes me glad. +Spin, sing with humming whir, the wheel goes round and round. +For my brother's sake, the charm I'll break, Prince Hero shall be found. +Spin, sing, the golden thread, +Gleams in the sun's bright ray, +The humming wheel my grief can heal, +For love will find a way.] + + [_Pauses with uplifted hand._ + +What's that at my casement tapping? +Some messenger, maybe. +Pause, good wheel, in thy turning, +While I look out and see. + + [_Opens casement and leans out, as if welcoming a carrier dove, + which may be concealed in basket outside window._ + +Little white dove, from my faithful knight, +Dost thou bring a message to me? +Little white dove with the white, white breast, +What may that message be? + + [_Finds note, tied to wing._ + +Here is his letter. Ah, well-a-day! +I'll open it now, and read. +Little carrier dove, with fluttering heart, +I'm a happy maiden, indeed. +(_She reads._) "O Princess fair, in the Ogre's tower, +In the far-off Summer-land +I seek the South Wind's silver flute, +To summon a fairy band. +Now send me a token by the dove +That thou hast read my note. +Send me the little heart of gold +From the chain about thy throat. +And I shall bind it upon my shield, +My talisman there to stay. +And then all foes to me must yield, +For Love will find the way. + +Here is set the hand and seal +Of thy own true knight, the faithful--Feal." + + [_Princess takes locket from throat and winds chain around dove's + neck._ + +_Princess sings._ + +[The Dove Song. + +Now, flutter and fly, flutter and fly, +Bear him my heart of gold, +Bid him be brave little carrier dove! +Bid him be brave and bold! +Tell him that I at my spinning wheel, +Will sing while it turns and hums, +And think all day of his love so leal, +Until with the flute he comes. +Now fly, flutter and fly, +Now flutter and fly, away, away.] + + [_Sets dove at liberty. Turning to wheel again, repeats song._ + + _Princess repeats._ My Godmother bids me spin, +That my heart may not be sad; +Spin and sing for my brother's sake, +And the spinning makes me glad. + +Sing! Spin! With hum and whir +The wheel goes round and round. +For my brother's sake the charm I'll break! +Prince Hero shall be found. + +Spin! Sing! The golden thread +Gleams in the sunlight's ray! +The humming wheel my grief can heal, +For Love will find a way. + + [_First messenger appears at window, dressed as a Morning-glory._ + + _Morning-glory._ Fair Princess, +This morning, when the early dawn +Was flushing all the sky, +Beside the trellis where I bloomed, +A knight rode slowly by. + +He stopped and plucked me from my stem, +And said, "Sweet Morning-glory, +Be thou my messenger to-day, +And carry back my story. + +"Go bid the Princess in the tower +Forget all thought of sorrow. +Her true knight will return to her +With joy, on some glad morrow." [_Disappears._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin! spin! The golden thread +Holds no thought of sorrow. +My true knight he shall come to me +With joy on some glad morrow. + + [_Second flower messenger, dressed at Pansy, appears at window._ + + _Pansy._ Gracious Princess, +I come from Feal the Faithful. +He plucked me from my bower, +And said, speed to the Princess +And say, "Like this sweet flower +The thoughts within my bosom +Bloom ever, love, of thee. +Oh, read the pansy's message, +And give a thought to me." [_Pansy disappears._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread! +And turn, O humming wheel. +This pansy is his thought of me, +My true knight, brave and leal. + + [_Third flower messenger, a pink Rose._ + + _Rose._ Thy true knight battled for thee to-day, +On a fierce and bloody field, +But he won at last in the hot affray, +By the heart of gold on his shield. + +He saw me blushing beside a wall, +My petals pink in the sun +With pleasure, because such a valiant knight +The hard-fought battle had won. + +And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek, +And once in my heart of gold, +And bade me hasten to thee and speak. +Pray take the message I hold. + + [_Princess goes to the window, takes a pink rose from the +messenger. As she walks back, kisses it and fastens it on her +dress. Then turns to wheel again._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread, +And turn, O happy wheel. +The pink rose brought in its heart of gold, +A kiss, his love to seal. + + + [_Fourth messenger, a Forget-me-not._ + + _Forget-me-not._ Fair Princess, +Down by the brook, when the sun was low, +A brave knight paused to slake +His thirst in the water's silver flow, +As he journeyed far for thy sake, +He saw me bending above the stream, +And he said, "Oh, happy spot! +Ye show me the Princess Winsome's eyes +In each blue forget-me-not." +He bade me bring you my name to hide +In your heart of hearts for ever, +And say as long as its blooms are blue, +No power true hearts can sever. + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread. +O wheel; my happy lot +It is to hide within my heart +That name, forget-me-not. + + [_Fifth messenger, a Poppy._ + + _Poppy._ Dear Princess Winsome, +Within the shade of a forest glade +He laid him down to sleep, +And I, the Poppy, kept faithful guard +That it might be sweet and deep. +But oft in his dreams he stirred and spoke, +And thy name was on his tongue, +And I learned his secret ere he woke, +When the fair new day was young. +And this is what he, whispering, said, +As he journeyed on in his way: +"Bear her my dreams in your chalice red, +For I dream of her night and day." + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread. +He dreams of me night and day! +The poppy's chalice is sweet and red. +Oh, Love will find a way! + + [_Sixth messenger, a Daisy._ + + _Daisy._ O Princess fair, +Far on the edge of the Summer-land +I stood with my face to the sun, +And the brave knight counted with strong hand +My petals, one by one. + +And he said, "O Daisy, white and gold, +The princess must count them too. +By thy petals shall she be told +If my long, far quest is through. + +"Whether or not her knight has found +The South Wind's flute that he sought." +So over the hills from the Summer-land, +Your true knight's token I've brought. + + [_Gives Princess a large artificial daisy. She counts petals, slowly + dropping them one by one._ + + _Princess._ Far on the edge of the Summer-land, +O Daisy, white and gold, +My true love held you in his hand. +What was the word he told? +He's found it. Found it not. +Found it. Found it not. + +That magic flute of the South Wind, sweet, +Will he blow it, over the lea? +Will the fairy folk its call repeat, +And hasten to rescue me? + +He's found it, found it not. +Found it, found it not. +Found it, found it not. +He's _found_ it! [_Turning to the dog._ + +Come, Hero! Hear me, brother mine; +Thy gladness must indeed be mute, +But oh, the joy! We're saved! We're saved! +My knight has found the silver flute! + +(_Sings._) + +["Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread." + + +Spin, wheel, reel out thy golden thread, +My happy heart sings glad and gay, +Hero shall 'scape the Ogre dread, +And I my own true love shall wed. +For love has found a way, +For love has found a way.] + + [_Curtain._ + + +ACT III. + +SCENE. _In front of Witch's Orchard. Knight comes riding by, +blows flute softly under the tower window. Princess +leans out and waves her hand. Knight dismounts, and +little page takes horse, leading it off stage._ + + _Knight._ Lean out of thy window, O Princess fair, +Rescuers now are at hand. +Thou shalt be led down the winding stair +By the Queen of the Fairy band. + +Listen, as low on the South Wind's flute +I call the elves to our tryst +Down rainbow bubbles they softly float, +Light-winged as stars in a mist. + + [_He blows on flute, and from every direction the Fairies come + floating in, their gauzy wings spangled, and each one carrying + a toy balloon, attached to a string. They trip back and + forth, their balloons bobbing up and down like rainbow bubbles, + singing._ + + +[Fairy Chorus. + +We come, we come at thy call, +On rainbow bubbles we float. +We fairies, one and all, +Have answered the wind flute's note. + +The south wind's silver flute, +From the far-off summer land, +It bade us hasten here, +To lend a helping hand. +It bade us hasten, hasten here, +To lend a helping hand. + +2. To the aid of the gallant knight, +To the help of the princess fair, +To the rescue of the prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. +To the rescue of the prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. + +3. And now, at thy behest, +We pause in our bright array, +To end thy weary quest, +For love has found a way. To end thy weary, +weary quest, For love has found a way.] + + [_Titania coming forward, waves Her star-tipped wand, + and looks up toward Princess at the window._ + + _Titania._ Princess Winsome, +When thy good Godmother +Bade thee spin Love's thread, +It was with this promise, +These the words she said: + +All the world helps gladly +Those who help themselves. +The thread thou spinnest bravely, +Shall be woven by elves. +And now, O Princess Winsome, +How much hast thou spun, +As thy wheel, a-whirling, +Turned from sun to sun? + + _Princess._ This, O Queen Titania. [_Holding up mammoth ball._ +To the humming wheel's refrain, +I sang, and spun the measure +Of one great golden skein. + +And winding, winding, winding, +At last I wound it all, +Until the thread all golden +Made a mammoth wonder-ball. + + _Titania._ Here below thy casement +Thy true knight waiting stands. +Drop the ball thou holdest +Into his faithful hands. + + [_Princess drops the ball, Knight catches it, and as Titania waves + her wand, he starts along the line of Fairies. They each take + hold as the Witch and Ogre come darting in, she brandishing + her broomstick, he his bludgeon. They come through + gate of the Orchard in the background. As the ball unwinds, + the Fairies march around them, tangling them in the yards + and yards of narrow yellow ribbon, singing as they go. + +Fairy Chorus._ We come, we come at thy call, +On rainbow bubbles we float. +We fairies, one and all, +Have answered the Wind-flute's note. +To the aid of the gallant Knight, +To the help of the Princess fair, +To the rescue of the Prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. +We come, we come at thy call, +The Witch and Ogre to quell, +And now they both must bow +To the might of the fairies' spell. +Love's Golden Thread can bind +The strongest Ogre's arm, +And the spell of the blackest Witch +Must yield to its mighty charm. + + [_Ogre and Witch stand bound and helpless, tangled in golden cord. + They glower around with frightful grimaces. King and + Queen enter unnoticed from side. Knight draws his sword, + and brandishing it before Ogre, cries out fiercely._ + + _Knight._ The key! The key that opens yonder tower! +Now give it me, or by my troth +Your head shall from your shoulders fly! +To stab you through I'm nothing loath! + + [_Ogre gives Knight the key. He rushes to the door, unlocks it, + and Princess and dog burst out. Queen rushes forward and + embraces her, then the King, and Knight kneels and kisses + her hand. Princess turns to Titania._ + + _Princess._ Oh, happy day that sets me free +From yon dread Ogre's prison! +Oh, happy world, since 'tis for me +Such rescuers have 'risen. +But see, your Majesty! the plight +Of Hero--he the Prince, my brother! +Wilt thou _his_ wrong not set aright? +Another favour grant! One other! + + [_Titania waves wand toward Knight who springs at Witch with + drawn sword._ + + _Knight._ The spell! The spell that breaks the power +That holds Prince Hero in its thrall! +Now give it me, or in this hour +Thy head shall from its shoulders fall! + + _Witch._ Pluck with your thumbs +Seven silver plums [_Speaking in high, cracked voice._ +From my golden apple-tree! +These the dog must eat. +The change will be complete, +And a prince once more the dog will be! + + + [_Princess darts back into Orchard, followed by dog, who crouches + behind hedge, and is seen no more. She picks plums, and, + stooping, gives them to him, under cover of the hedge. The + real Prince Hero leaps up from the place where he has been + lying, waiting, and hand in hand they run back to the centre + of the stage, where the Prince receives the embraces of King + and Queen. Prince then turns to Knight._ + + _Prince Hero._ Hail, Feal the Faithful! +My gratitude I cannot tell, +That thou at last hath freed me +From the Witch's fearful spell. +But wheresoe'er thou goest, +Thou faithful knight and true, +The favours of my kingdom +Shall all be showered on you. [_Turns to Titania._ +Hail, starry-winged Titania! +And ye fairies, rainbow-hued! +I have not words sufficient +To tell my gratitude, +But if the loyal service +Of a mortal ye should need, +Prince Hero lives to serve you, +No matter what the deed! + + [_Characters now group themselves in tableau. Queen and Prince + on one side, Godmother and Titania on the other. King in + centre, with Princess on one hand, Knight on other. He + places her hand in the Knight's, who kneels to receive it. Ogre + and Witch, still making horrible faces, are slightly in background, + bound. Fairies form an outer semicircle._ + +_King._ And now, brave Knight, requited stand! +Here is the Princess Winsome's hand. +To-morrow thou shalt wedded be, +And half my kingdom is for thee! + + _Fairy Chorus._ Love's golden cord has bound +The strongest Ogre's arm, +And the spell of the blackest Witch +Has yielded to its charm. +The Princess Winsome plights +Her troth to the Knight to-day, +So fairies, one and all, +We need no longer stay. + +The golden thread is spun, +The Knight has won his bride, +And now our task is done, +We may no longer bide. +On rainbow bubbles bright, +We fairies float away. +_The wrong is now set right +And Love has found the way!_ + + [_Curtain._ + +As Betty finished reading, there was a babel of voices and a clapping of +hands that made her face grow redder and redder. They were all trying to +congratulate her at once, and she was so confused that she wished she +could run away and hide. But the applause was very sweet to shy little +Betty. She felt that she had done her best, and that not only her +godmother was proud of her, but Keith, and Keith's beautiful mother, who +bent from her queenly height to kiss Betty's flushed cheek, and whisper a +word of praise that made her glow for weeks afterward, whenever she +thought of it. + + "'And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek, + And once in my heart of gold,'" + +hummed Keith. "Say, Betty, that's mighty pretty. How did you ever think of +it?" + +Before she could answer, one of the maids came out with a tray of sherbet +and cake, and the boys sprang up to help serve the girls. + +"I know some of my part already," said Kitty, stirring her sherbet +suggestively, and repeating in a sepulchral tone: + + "'I'll stir + This hank of hair, this patch of fur, + This feather and this flapping fin, + This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin.'" + +"Oh, Kitty, for mercy's sake _hush!_" said Allison; "you make my blood run +cold." + +"But I must, if we've only a week to get ready in. I expect to say it day +and night. It's better to do that than to take more than a week, and give +up the camping party, isn't it?" + +"It's going to be a howling success," prophesied Malcolm. "When mamma and +auntie and Aunt Mary go into a scheme the way they are doing now, costumes +and drills, and all sorts of impossible things don't count at all. We'll +be ready in plenty of time." + +"Especially," said the Little Colonel, with dignity, "when mothah and Papa +Jack are goin' to do so much. My pa'ht is longah than anybody's." + +Next morning at the depot, the post-office, and the blacksmith shop a sign +was displayed which everybody stopped to read. Similar announcements +nailed on various trees throughout the Valley caused many an old farmer to +pull up his team and adjust his spectacles for a closer view of this novel +poster. + +They were all Miss Allison's work. Each one bore at the top a crayon +sketch of a huge St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on its collar and +shoulder-bags. Underneath was a notice to the effect that an entertainment +would be given the following Friday night in the college hall, a short +concert, followed by a play called "The Princess Winsome's Rescue," in +which _Hero_, the Red Cross dog recently brought from Switzerland, would +take a prominent part. The proceeds were to be given to the cause of the +Red Cross. + +That announcement alone would have drawn a large crowd, but added to that +was the fact that twenty families in the Valley had each contributed a +child to the fairy chorus or the group of flower messengers, and were thus +personally interested in the success of the entertainment. + +There was scarcely standing-room when the doors were opened Friday +evening. Papa Jack felt well repaid for his part in the hurried +preparations when, after the musical part of the programme, he heard the +buzz of admiration that went around the room, as the curtain rose on the +first scene of the play. It was the dimly lighted witch's orchard. + +Across the stage, five feet back from the footlights, ran a snaky-looking +fence with high-spiked posts. It had taken him all morning to build it, +even with Alec's and Walker's help. Above this peered a thicket of small +trees and underbrush bearing a marvellous crop of gold and silver apples +and plums. Real gold and silver fruit it looked to be in the dim light, +and not the discarded ornaments of a score of old Christmas-trees. A +stuffed owl kept guard on one high gate-post, and a huge black velvet cat +on the other. + +In the centre of the stage, showing plainly through the open double gates, +the witch's caldron hung on a tripod, over a fire of fagots. Here Kitty, +dressed like an old hag, leaned on her blackened broomstick, stirring the +brew, and muttering to herself. + +At one side of the stage could be seen the door leading into the ogre's +tower, and above it a tiny casement window. + +Mrs. Walton gave a nod of satisfaction over her work, when the ogre came +roaring in. His costume was of her making, even to the bludgeon which he +carried. "Nobody could guess that it was only an old Indian club painted +red to hide the lumps of sealing-wax I had to stick on to make the +regulation knots," she whispered to Keith's father, who sat next her. "And +no one would ever dream that the ogre is Joe Clark. I had hard work to +persuade him to take the part, but an invitation to my camping party next +week proved to be effective bait. And such a time as I had to get Ranald's +costume! I was about to ask Betty to change his name, when Elise found +that Mardi Gras frog at some costumer's. Those webbed feet and hideous +eyes are enough to strike terror to any one's soul." + +It was a play in which every one was pleased with the part given him. +Allison and Rob swept up and down in their gilt crowns and ermine-trimmed +robes of royal purple, feeling that as king and queen they had the most +important parts of all. Keith looked every inch the charming Prince Hero +he personated, and Malcolm made such a dashing knight that there was a +burst of applause every time he appeared. + +Betty made a dear old godmother, and Elise, with crown and star-tipped +wand, filmy spangled wings, and big red bubble of a balloon, was supremely +happy as Queen of the Fairies. But it was the Little Colonel who won the +greatest laurels, in the tower room, making the prettiest picture of all +as she bent over the great St. Bernard, bewailing their fate. + +The scenery had been changed with little delay between acts. Three tall +screens, hastily unfolded just in front of the spiked fence, hid the +orchard from view, and a fourth screen served the double purpose of +forming the side wall of the room, and hiding the ogre's tower. The narrow +space between the screens and the footlights was ample for the scene that +took place there, and the arrangement saved much trouble. For in the last +act, the screens had only to be carried away, to leave the stage with its +original setting. + +"Lloyd never looked so pretty before, in her life," said Mr. Sherman to +his wife, as they watched the Princess Winsome tread back and forth beside +the spinning-wheel, the golden cord held lightly in her white fingers. But +she was even prettier in the next scene, when with the dove in her hands +she stood at the window, twining the slender gold chain about its neck and +singing in a high, sweet voice, clear as a crystal bell: + + "Flutter and fly, flutter and fly, + Bear him my heart of gold. + Bid him be brave, little carrier dove, + Bid him be brave and bold." + +Twice many hands called her back, and many eyes looked admiringly as she +sang the song again, holding the dove to her breast and smoothing its +white feathers as she repeated the words: + + "Tell him that I at my spinning-wheel + Will sing while it turns and hums, + And think all day of his love so leal + Until with the flute he comes." + +"Jack," said some one in a low tone to Mr. Sherman, as the applause died +away for the third time, "Jack, when the Princess Winsome is a little +older, you'd be wise to call in the ogre's help. You'll have more than one +Kentucky Knight trying to carry her away if you don't." + +Mr. Sherman made some laughing reply, but turned away so absorbed by a +thought that his friend's words had suggested that he lost all of the +flower messengers' speeches. That some knight might want to carry off his +little Princess Winsome was a thought that had never occurred to him +except as some remote possibility far in the future. But looking at her as +she stood in her long court train, he realised that in a few more months +she would be in her teens, and then--time goes so fast! He sighed, +thinking with a heavy sinking of the heart that it might be only a few +years until she would be counting the daisy petals in earnest. + +The curtain hitched just at the last, so that it would not go down, so +with their rainbow bubbles bright the fairies ran off the stage toward +various points in the audience, for the coveted admiration and praise +which they knew was their due. + +"Wasn't Hero fine? Didn't he do his part beautifully?" cried Lloyd, as her +father, with one long step, raised himself up to a place beside her on the +stage, where the children were holding an informal reception. + +"Show him the money-box," cried Keith, pressing down through the crowds +from the outer door whither he had gone after the entrance receipts. + +"Just look, old fellow. There's dollars and dollars in there. See what +you've done for the Red Cross. If it hadn't been for you, Betty never +would have written the play." + +"And if it hadn't been for Betty's writing the play you never would have +sent me this heart of gold," said Malcolm in an aside to Lloyd, as he +unfastened her locket and chain from his shield. "Am I to keep it always, +fair princess?" + +"No, indeed!" she answered, laughingly, holding out her hand to take it. +"Papa Jack gave me that, and I wouldn't give it up to any knight undah the +sun." + +"That's right, little daughter," whispered her father, "I am not in such a +hurry to give up my Princess Winsome as the old king was. Come, dear, help +me find Betty. I want to tell her what a grand success it was." + +Lloyd slipped a hand in her father's and led him toward a wing whither the +shy little godmother had fled, without a glance in Malcolm's direction. +But afterward, when she came out of the dressing-room, wrapped in her long +party-cloak, she saw him standing by the door. "Good night!" he said, +waving his plumed helmet. Then, with a mischievous smile, he sang in an +undertone: + + "Go bid the princess in the tower + Forget all thought of sorrow. + Her true knight will return to her + With joy, on some glad morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +IN CAMP + + +Several miles from Lloydsboro Valley, where a rapid brook runs by the +ruins of an old paper-mill, a roaring waterfall foams and splashes. Even +in the long droughts of midsummer it is green and cool there, for the +spray, breaking on the slippery stones, freshens the ferns on the bank, +and turns its moss to the vivid hue of an emerald. Near by, in an open +pasture, sloping down from a circle of wooded hills, lies an ideal spot +for a small camp. + +It was here that Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison came one warm afternoon, the +Monday following the entertainment, with a wagonette full of children. +Ranald, Malcolm, Keith, and Rob Moore had ridden over earlier in the day +to superintend the coloured men who dug the trenches and pitched the +tents. By the time the wagonette arrived, fuel enough to last a week was +piled near the stones where the camp-fire was laid, and everything was in +readiness for the gay party. Flags floated from the tent poles, and +Dinah, the young coloured woman who was to be the cook, came up from the +spring, balancing a pail of water on her head, smiling broadly. + +As the boys and girls swarmed out and scurried away in every direction +like a horde of busy ants, Mrs. Walton turned to her sister with a laugh. +"Did we lose any of them on the way, Allison? We'd better count noses." + +"No, we are all here: eight girls, four boys, the four already on the +field, Dinah and her baby, and ourselves, twenty in all." + +"Twenty-one, counting Hero," corrected Mrs. Walton, as the great St. +Bernard went leaping after Lloyd, sniffing at the tents, and barking +occasionally to express his interest in the frolic. "He seems to be +enjoying it as much as any of us." + +"I wish that they were all as able to take care of themselves as he is. It +would save us a world of anxiety. Do you begin to realise, Mary, what a +load of responsibility we have taken on our shoulders? Sixteen boys and +girls to keep out of harm's way for a week in the woods is no easy +matter." + +"We'll keep them so busy that they'll have no time for mischief. The +wagonette isn't unloaded yet. Wait till you see the games I've brought, +and the fishing-tackle. There's an old curtain that can be hung between +those two trees any time we want to play charades." + +"Swing that hammock over there, Ranald," she called, nodding to a clump of +trees near the spring. "Then some of you boys can carry this chest back to +Dinah." She pointed to the old army mess-chest, that always accompanied +them on their picnics and outings. + +"The Ogre can do that," said the Little Captain, nodding toward Joe Clark, +who stood leaning lazily against a tree. + +"Do it yourself, Frog-Eye Fearsome," retorted Joe, at the same time coming +forward to help carry the chest to the place assigned it. + +"They'll never be able to get away from those names," said Miss Allison. +"Well, what is it, my Princess Winsome?" she asked, as Lloyd came running +up to her. + +"Please take care of these for me, Miss Allison," answered Lloyd, holding +out Hero's shoulder-bags, which she had just taken from him. "I put on his +things when we started, for mothah says nobody evah knows what's goin' to +happen in camp, and we might need those bandages." Tumbling them into Miss +Allison's lap, she was off again in breathless haste, to follow the other +girls, who were exploring the tents, and exclaiming over all the queer +make-shifts of camp life. Then they raced down to the waterfall, and, +taking off shoes and stockings, waded up and down in the brook. These +early fall days were as warm as August, so wading was not yet one of the +forbidden pastimes. They splashed up and down until the Little Captain's +bugle sent a ringing call for their return to camp. Katie was one of the +last to leave the water. Lloyd waited for her while she hurriedly laced +her shoes, and as they followed the others she said, in a confidential +tone, "Do you think you are goin' to like to stay out heah till next +Sata'day?" + +"Like it!" echoed Katie, "I could stay here a year!" + +"But at night, I mean. Sleepin' in those narrow little cots, with nothin' +ovah ou' heads but the tents, and no floah. Ugh! What if a snake or a +liz'ad should wiggle in, and you'd heah it rustlin' around in the grass +undah you! There's suah to be bugs and ants and cattahpillahs. I like camp +in the daylight, but it would be moah comfortable to have a house to sleep +in at night. I wish I could wish myself back home till mawnin'." + +"I don't mind the bugs and spiders," said Katie, recklessly, "and you'd +better not let the boys find out that you do, or they'll never stop +teasing you." + +A bountifully spread supper-table met their sight as they reached the +camp. It had been made by laying long boards across two poles, which were +supported by forked stakes driven into the ground. The eight girls made a +rush for the camp-stools on one side of the table, and the eight boys +grabbed those on the other side. + +"Don't have to have no manners in the woods," remarked little Freddy +Nicholls, straddling his stool, and beginning his supper, regardless of +the knife and fork beside his plate. "That's what I like about camping +out. You don't have to wait to have things handed to you, but can dip in +and get what you want like an Injun." + +Lloyd looked at him scornfully as she daintily unfolded her paper napkin. +She nodded a decided yes when Katie whispered, "Aren't boys horrid and +greedy!" Then she corrected herself hastily. She had seen Malcolm wait to +pass a dish of fried chicken to his Aunt Allison before helping himself, +and heard Ranald apologise to his next neighbour for accidentally jogging +his elbow. "Not all of them," she replied. + +It added much to Betty's interest in the meal to know that the cup from +which she drank, and the fork with which she ate, had been used by real +soldiers, and carried from one army post to another many times in the +travel-worn old mess chest. + +Little Elise was the only one who did not give due attention to her +supper. She sat with a cooky in her hand, looking off at the hills with +dreamy eyes, until her mother spoke to her. + +"I am trying to make some poetry like Betty did," she answered. Ever since +the play her thoughts seemed trying to twist themselves into rhymes, and +she was constantly coming up to her mother with a new verse she had just +made. + +"Well, what is it, Titania?" asked Mrs. Walton, seeing from the gleam of +satisfaction in the black eyes that the verse was ready. + +"It's all of our names," she said, shyly, waving her hand toward the girls +on her side of the table. + + "Betty, Corinne, and Lloyd, Margery, Kitty, and Kate, + Allison and Elise all together make eight." + +"Oh, that's easy," said Rob. "You just strung a lot of names together. +Anybody can do that." + +"You do it, then," proposed Kitty. "Make a verse with the boys' names in +it." + +"Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Jamie, Freddy, Keith," he began, boldly, then +hesitated. "There isn't any rhyme for Keith." + +"Change them around," suggested Malcolm. The girls would not help, and the +whole row of boys floundered among the names for a while, unwilling to be +beaten by the youngest member of the party, and a girl, at that. Finally, +by their united efforts and a hint from Miss Allison, they succeeded. + + "Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Keith and Freddy, and James, + Joe the Ogre, and George. Those are the boys' eight names." + +"Let's make a law," suggested Kitty, "that nobody at the table can say +anything from now on till we are through supper, unless they speak in +rhymes." + +They all agreed, but for a few minutes no one ventured a remark. Only +giggles broke the silence, until Allison asked Freddy Nicholls to pass the +pickles. Recorded here in a book, it may seem a very silly game, but to +the jolly camping party, ready to laugh at even the sheerest nonsense, it +proved to be the source of much fun. Even Freddy, to his own great +delight, surprised himself and the company by asking Elise to take some +cheese. Joe was thrown into confusion by Kitty's asking him if flesh, +fowl, or fish, was his favourite dish. As he could only nod his head, he +had to pay a forfeit, and Keith answered for him by saying, "That's not a +fair question to Joe. An ogre eats all things, you know." So it went on +until Mrs. Walton said: + + "Now all who are able, may rise from the table. + The camp-fire's burning bright. + Spread rugs on the ground, and gather around, + And we'll all tell tales in its light." + +"This is the jolliest part of it all!" exclaimed Keith, a little later, +as, stretched out on a thick Indian blanket, he looked around on the +circle of faces, glowing in the light of the leaping fagot-fire. Twilight +had settled on the camp. The tumbling of the waterfall over the rocks made +a subdued roar in the background. An owl called somewhere from the depths +of the woods. As the dismal "Tu-whit, tu who-oo" sounded through the +gloaming, Lloyd glanced over her shoulder with a shudder. + +"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "It looks as if the witch's orchard might be there +behind us, with all sorts of snaky, crawlin' things in it. Come heah, +Hero. Let me put my back against you. It makes me feel shivery to even +think of such a thing!" + +The dog edged nearer at her call, and she snuggled up against his tawny +curls with a feeling of warmth and protection. + +"Wish I had a dog like that," said Jamie, fondly stroking the silky ear +that was nearest him. "I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for him if I +had." + +"Money couldn't buy Hero!" exclaimed Lloyd. + +"Now what would you do," said Kitty, who was always supposing impossible +things, "if some old witch would come to you and say, 'You may have your +choice? a palace full of gold and silver and precious stones and give up +Hero, or keep him and be a beggar in rags?" + +"I'd be a beggah, of co'se!" cried Lloyd, warmly, throwing her arm around +the dog's neck. "Think I'd go back on anybody that had saved my life? But +I wouldn't stay a beggah," she continued. "I'd put on the Red Cross too, +and we'd go away where there was war, Hero and I, and we'd spend ou' lives +takin' care of the soldiahs. I wouldn't have to dress in rags, for I'd +weah the nurse's costume, and I'd do so much good that some day, may be, +somebody would send me the Gold Cross of Remembrance, as they did Clara +Barton, and I'm suah that I'd rathah have that, with all it means, than +all the precious stones and things that the witch could give me." + +"When did Hero save your life?" asked Joe, who had not heard the story of +the runaway in Geneva. + +"Tell us all about it, Lloyd," asked Mrs. Walton. So Lloyd began, and the +group around the fire listened with breathless attention. And that was +followed by the Major's story, and all he had told her of St. Bernard +dogs, and of the Red Cross service. Then the finding of the Major by his +faithful dog on the dark mountain after the storm. Betty's turn came next. +She repeated some of the stories they had heard on shipboard. Mrs. Walton +added her part afterward, telling her personal experience with the Red +Cross work in Cuba and the Philippines. + +"That is one reason I took such a deep interest in your little +entertainment," she said, "and was so pleased when it brought so much +money. I know that every penny under the wise direction of the Red Cross +will help to make some poor soldier more comfortable; or if some sudden +calamity should come in this country, before it was sent away, your little +fund might help to save dozens of lives." + +The fire had burned low while they talked, and Elise was yawning sleepily. +Miss Allison looked at her watch. "How the time has flown!" she exclaimed +in surprise. "Where is the bugler of this camp? It is high time for him to +play taps." + +Ranald ran for his bugle, and the clear call that he had learned to play +when he was "The Little Captain," in far-away Luzon, rang out into the +dark woods. It was answered by the same silvery notes. Mrs. Walton and +Miss Allison looked at each other in surprise, for the reply was no echo, +but the call of a real bugle, somewhere not far away. + +"Oh, we forgot to tell you, Aunt Mary," said Malcolm, noting the surprised +glance, "It's a regiment of the State Guard, in camp over by Calkin's +Cliff. We boys were over there this morning. They made a big fuss over us +when they found that Ranald was General Walton's son and we were his +nephews. They wanted us to stay to dinner, and when they found out that +you were coming to camp here, the Colonel said be wanted to come over here +and call. He used to know you out West." + +"Colonel Wayne," repeated Mrs. Walton, when Malcolm finally remembered the +name. "We knew him when he was only a young cadet at West Point. The +General was very fond of him, and I shall be glad to see him again." + +"They'll be interested in Hero," said Ranald. "Maybe they'll want to train +some war dogs for our army if they set him at work. Do you suppose he has +forgotten his training, Lloyd? Let's try him in the morning." + +"You can make a great game of it," suggested Mrs. Walton. "Rig up one of +the tents for a hospital. Some of the boys can be wounded soldiers and +some of the girls nurses." + +"All but me," said Lloyd. "I'll have to be an officer to give the ordahs. +He only knows the French words for that, and the Majah taught them to me." + +"What can we use for the brassards and costumes?" said Kitty. + +"Elise has an old red apron in the clothes-hamper that we can cut up for +crosses," said Mrs. Walton, always ready for emergencies. "But now to your +tents, every man of you, or you'll never be ready to get up in the +morning." + +It was hard to go to sleep in the midst of such strange surroundings, and +more than once Lloyd started up, aroused by the hoot of an owl, or the +thud of a bat against the side of the tent. Not until she reached out and +laid her hand on the great St. Bernard stretched out beside her cot, did +she settle herself comfortably to sleep. With the touch of his soft curls +against her fingers, she was no longer afraid. + +When the officers came into the camp next day, they found the children in +the midst of their new game. It was some time before their attention was +attracted to it, for the Colonel was one of the men who had followed +General Walton on his long, hard Indian campaign, and there were many +questions to be asked and answered, about mutual friends in the army. + +Hero was not making a serious business of the game, but was entering into +it as if it were a big frolic. He could not make believe as the boys +could, who played at soldiering. But the old words of command, uttered, in +the Little Colonel's high, excited voice, sent him bounding in the +direction she pointed, and the prostrate forms he found scattered about +the sham battle field, seemed to quicken his memory. Mrs. Walton presently +called the officer's attention to the efforts Hero was making to recall +his old lessons, and briefly outlined his history. + +"I believe he would remember perfectly," said the Colonel, watching him +with deep interest, "if we were to take him over to our camp, and try him +among the regular uniformed soldiers. Of course our accoutrements are not +the kind he has been accustomed to, but I think they would suggest them. +At least the smell of powder would be familiar, and the guns and canteens +and knapsacks might awaken something in his memory that would revive his +entire training. I should like very much to make the experiment." + +After some further conversation, Lloyd was called up to meet the +officers, and it was agreed that Hero should be taken over to the camp for +a trial on the day the sham battle was to take place. + +"The day has not yet been definitely determined," said the Colonel, "but +I'll send you word as soon as it is. By the way, my orderly was once a +young French officer, and often talks of the French army. He'll welcome +Hero like a long-lost brother, for he has a soft spot in his heart for +anything connected with his motherland. Ill send him over either this +evening or to-morrow." + +That evening the orderly rode over to bring word that the sham battle +would take place the following Thursday, and they were all invited to +witness it. Hero's trial would take place immediately after the battle. +While he stood talking to Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison, Lloyd and Kitty +came running down the hill with Hero close behind them. + +The orderly turned with an exclamation of admiration as the dog came +toward him, and held out his hand with a friendly snap of the fingers. +"Ah, old comrade," he called out in French, in a deep, hearty voice. +"Come, give me a greeting! I, too, am from the motherland." + +At sound of the familiar speech, the dog went forward, wagging his tail +violently, as if he recognised an old acquaintance. Then he stopped and +snuffed his boots in a puzzled manner, and looked up wistfully into the +orderly's face. It was a stranger he gazed at, yet voice, speech, and +appearance were like the man's who had trained him from a puppy, and he +gave a wriggle of pleasure when the big hand came down on his head, and +the deep voice spoke caressingly to him. + +When the orderly mounted his horse. Hero would have followed had not the +Little Colonel called him sharply, grieved and jealous that he should show +such marked interest in a stranger. He turned back at her call, but stood +in the road, looking after his new-found friend, till horse and rider +disappeared down the bridle-path that led through the deep woods to the +other camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE + + +Promptly on Thursday, at the time appointed, the orderly rode over to Camp +Walton to escort the party back to the camp at Calkin's Cliff. The four +boys led the way on their ponies; the rest piled into a great farm wagon +filled with straw, that had been procured from one of the neighbouring +farms for the occasion. + +Hero followed obediently, when the Little Colonel ordered him to jump up +beside her, but he turned longing eyes on the orderly, whom he had +welcomed with strong marks of pleasure. It was only their second meeting, +but Hero seemed to regard him as an old friend. He leaped up to lick his +face, and bounded around him with quick, short barks of pleasure that, for +the moment, gave Lloyd a jealous pang. She was hurt that Hero should show +such an evident desire to follow him in preference to her. + +"I don't see what makes Hero act so," she said to Mrs. Walton. + +"The orderly certainly must bear a strong resemblance to some one whom +Hero knew and loved in France," she replied. "You have owned him less than +two months, and he has been away from France only a year, you must +remember. Everything must seem strange to him here. He was not brought up +to play with children, as many St. Bernards are. + +"The other night, at the entertainment, I wondered many times what Hero +must think of his strange surroundings. His life here is different in +every way from all that he has been used to. A dog trained from puppyhood +to the experiences of soldier life would naturally miss the excitement of +camp as much as a soldier suddenly retired to the life of a private +citizen." + +"Oh, deah!" sighed Lloyd, "I wish he could talk. I'd ask him if he is +unhappy. _Are_ you homesick, old fellow?" + +She took his great head between her little hands and looked earnestly into +his eyes as she asked the question. + +"_Do_ you wish you were back in the French army, following the ambulances +and hunting the wounded soldiahs? Seems to me you ought to like it so much +bettah heah in Kentucky, with, nothing to do but play and eat and sleep, +and be loved by everybody." + +"But an army dog can't get away from his training any easier than a man," +laughed the orderly, as he rode on beside the wagon. "It is a part of him. +Hero is a good soldier, and no doubt feels a greater joy in obeying what +he considers a call to duty, than in riding in the wagon at his ease, with +the ladies." + +"You know a great deal, perhaps, of this society for the training of +ambulance dogs," said Mrs. Walton. + +"Yes," he replied. "I am deeply interested in it. My brother at home keeps +me informed of its movements, and has written me much of Herr Bungartz's +methods. I think I shall have no difficulty in putting the dog through his +manoeuvres, especially as he seems to recognise me and in some way connect +me with his past life." + +Fife and drum welcomed the party as they drove into camp, and the party +were at once escorted to seats where they could watch the drill and the +sham battle. It was a familiar scene to the General's little family, and +to Miss Allison, who had visited more than one army post. But some of the +girls put their fingers in their ears when the noise of the rapid firing +began. Hero was greatly excited. + +Soon after the noise of the sham battle ceased, the field was prepared for +the dog's trial. Men were hidden behind logs, stretched out in ditches, +and left lying as if dead, in the dense thicket that skirted one side of +the field, for wounded animals, either men or beasts, instinctively crawl +away to die under cover. + +With hands almost trembling in their eagerness, Lloyd fastened the flask +and shoulder-bags on the dog. He seemed to know that something unusual was +expected of him, and wagged his tail so violently that he nearly upset the +Little Colonel. He watched every movement of the orderly, who, with a Red +Cross brassard on his arm, was acting as chief of the improvised ambulance +corps. + +"Will you give him the order, Miss Lloyd?" he asked, turning politely to +the little girl. Lloyd had pictured this moment several times on the way +over, thinking how proud she would be to stand up like a real Little +Colonel and send her orders ringing over the field before the whole +admiring regiment. But now that the moment had actually come, she blushed +and shrank back, timidly. She was not sure that she could say the strange +French words just as the Major had taught them to her, when such a crowd +of soldiers were standing by to hear. + +"Oh, _you_ do it, please," she asked. + +"If you will tell me the exact words he has been accustomed to hearing," +answered the orderly. + +Lloyd stammered them out, greatly embarrassed, feeling that her +pronunciation must have grown quite faulty from lack of practice under the +Major's careful training. The orderly repeated them in an undertone, then, +turning to Hero, gave the order in a clear, deep voice, that seemed to +thrill the dog with its familiar ring. Instantly at the sound he started +out across the field. Not a thing that had been taught him in his long, +careful training was forgotten. + +The first man he found was lying in a ditch, apparently desperately +wounded. Hero allowed him to help himself from his flask, and drag a +bandage from the bags on his back. Then, standing with his hind feet in +the ditch and his fore feet resting on the bank above him, he gave voice +until the men by the ambulance heard him, and came toward him carrying a +stretcher. + +"Look at him!" exclaimed Mrs. Walton, who with the party and several of +the officers had walked down to the hospital tent. "He knows he has done +his duty well. Did you ever see a dog manifest such delight! He fairly +wriggles with joy!" + +The praise of the men bearing the stretcher, and especially of the +orderly, seemed to send the dog into a transport of happiness. The second +man lay far on the outskirts of the field, hidden by a thicket of hazel +bushes. This time Hero's frantic barking brought no reply. The men acted +as if deaf to his appeals of help, so in a few minutes, evidently thinking +they were beyond the range of his voice, he picked up the man's cap in his +mouth, and ran back at the top of his speed. + +"Good dog!" said the orderly, taking the cap he dropped at his feet. "Go +back now and lead the way." + +"If that man had really been wounded, and had crawled under that thicket," +said Colonel Wayne, "we never could have found him alone. Only the sense +of smell could lead to such a hiding-place. The ambulance might have +passed there a hundred times and never seen a trace of him." + +The hunt went on for some time; before it closed, every man personating a +killed or wounded soldier was located and carried to the hospital tent. +When the tired dog was finally allowed to rest, he dropped down at the +orderly's feet, panting. + +"That, was certainly fine work," said the Colonel, stooping to pat Hero's +sides. "I suppose nothing could induce you to give him up to the army?" +he asked, turning to Lloyd. + +"Oh, no, no, no!" cried Lloyd, as if alarmed at the suggestion, and +pressing Hero's head protectingly against her shoulder. If she had been +proud of him before, she was doubly proud of him now. He had won the +admiration of the entire regiment. Never had he been so praised and +petted. When Mrs. Walton called her party together for their homeward +drive, it was plain to be seen that Hero was loath to leave the camp. A +word from the orderly would have kept him, despite Lloyd's commands to +jump up into the wagon. + +As the boys rode on ahead again, Keith said, "It does seem too bad to +force that dog into being a private citizen when he is a born soldier." + +"Did you hear what Colonel Wayne told mamma as we left?" asked Ranald. "He +told her that it was reported that some of the animals had escaped from +the circus that was in Louisville yesterday, and that a panther and some +other kind of a beast had been seen in these woods. He laughed and asked +her if she didn't want him to send a guard over to our camp. Of course he +was only joking, but when she saw that I had heard what he said, she told +me not to tell the girls; not to even mention such a thing, or they'd be +so frightened they'd want to break camp and go straight home." + +"It would be fun to scare them," said Rob, "but you'd better believe I'll +not say anything if there's any danger of having to go home sooner on +account of it." + +"We've got to go day after to-morrow anyhow," said Keith, gloomily. "I +wish I could miss another week of school, but I know papa wouldn't let me, +even if the camp didn't break up." + +"Come on!" called Ranald, who had pushed on ahead. "Let's hurry back and +have a good swim before supper." + +Not satisfied with the excitement of the day, the girls were no sooner out +of the wagon than some one started a wild game of prisoners' base. Then +they played hide-and-seek among the rocks and trees around the waterfall, +and while they were wiping their flushed faces, panting after the long +run, Kitty proposed that they should have a candy pulling. + +Dinah made the candy, but the girls pulled it, running a race to see whose +would be the whitest in a given time. Their arms ached long before they +were done. By the time the boys came stumbling up the hill from their long +swim in the creek, it would be hard to say which group was most tired. + +"I'm sure we'll all want to turn in early to-night," said Mrs. Walton at +supper. Freddy was yawning widely, and Elise was almost asleep over her +plate. "You are all tired." + +"All but Hero," said Miss Allison, offering him a chicken bone. "He rested +while the others played. You'd like to go through your game every day. +Wouldn't you, old boy?" + +There was no story-telling around the camp-fire that night. They gathered +around it, even before the light died out in the sky. Ranald had his +guitar and Allison her mandolin, and they thrummed accompaniments awhile +for the others to sing. But a mighty yawn catching Margery in the middle +of a verse, and Mrs. Walton discovering both Jamie and Freddy sound asleep +on the rug beside her, she proposed that they all go to bed an hour +earlier than usual. + +The Little Captain vowed he was too sleepy to blow a single toot on his +bugle, so they went to their tents without the usual sounding of taps. It +was not long before every child was asleep, worn out by the day's hard +play. Mrs. Walton lay awake sometime listening to the sounds outside the +tent. The crackling of underbrush and rustle of dry leaves was familiar +enough in the daytime, but they seemed strangely ominous now that the +lights were out. She could not help thinking of what the Colonel had told +her of the escaped panther. She imagined the panic it would make if it +should suddenly appear in their midst. Then she thought of Hero's +protecting presence, and, raising herself on her elbow, she looked across +the tent to where she knew he lay asleep. At first she could not see even +the ruff of white that made the collar around his tawny throat, for the +moon had slipped behind a cloud, but as she raised herself on her elbow, +and peered intently through the darkness, the faint misty light shone out +again, and she saw Hero plainly, the Little Colonel's outstretched hand +resting on his broad back. Then she lay down again, this time to sleep, +and soon all the little camp was wrapped in the peace and rest of perfect +silence. + +Half an hour later Hero lifted his head from between his paws and +listened. Something seemed calling him. He did not know what. Being only a +dog, he could not analyse the thoughts passing through his brain. A +restlessness seized him. He longed to be back among the familiar sights +and sounds of soldier life. This little play camp, where children tried to +make him romp continually, was not home. Locust was not home. This strange +new country full of unfamiliar faces and foreign voices was not home. But +the orderly's voice reminded him of it. Over there were bearded men and +deep voices, and strong hands, guns, and the smell of powder; fife and +drum, and canteens and knapsacks; things that he had seen daily in his +soldier life. + +Was it some call to duty that thrilled him, or only a homesick longing? As +he listened with head up, there came ringing, clear and silvery through +the night, the bugle notes from the other camp. At the first sound Hero +was on his feet. He moved noiselessly toward the tent flap, only partially +fastened, and flattening himself against the ground wriggled out. + +And if he gave no thought to the little mistress, dreaming inside the +tent, if he left without regret the life of ease and loving care to which +she had brought him, it was not because he was ungrateful, but because he +did not understand. To him his old life woke and called him in the bugle's +blowing. To him duty did not mean soft cushions, and idle days, and the +following of a happy-hearted child at play. It meant long marches and the +guarding of ambulances and the rescue of the dead and dying. A true +soldier's heart beat in the dog's shaggy body, and, obedient to his +instinct and training, he answered the summons when it sounded. With long, +swinging steps he set out in the direction of the bugle-call, taking the +road through the woods that the wagon had travelled that day, and down +which he had watched the orderly disappear. No, not deserting his duty, +but, as he understood it, hurrying back, with faithful heart to the cause +that had always claimed him. + +Now and then the moon, coming out fitfully from, behind the clouds, shone +on his great tawny body, touching the white curls of his ruff with a line +of silver. Then he would be lost in darkness again. But he swung on +unerringly, until he was almost in sight of the camp. A little farther on +a sentry paced up and down the picket-line that ran along the edge of the +woods. Hero travelled on toward him, the dry dead leaves rustling under +his paws, and now and then a twig crackling with his weight. + +The sentry paused and, listened, wondering what kind of an animal was +coming toward him in the darkness. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" he called, sharply. The moon, peeping out at that +instant, seemed to magnify the size of the great creature in his path. He +thought of the panther and the other wild beast, whatever it was, +supposed to be roaming about in the woods. Then the moon disappeared as +suddenly as it had lighted up the scene, and the big paws still pattered +on toward him in the darkness, regardless of his repeated challenge. + +As the underbrush crackled again with the weight of the great body now +almost upon him, the sentry raised his rifle. A shot rang out, arousing +the camp not yet fully settled to sleep. The echo bounded back from the +startled hills, and rolled away over the peaceful farms and orchards, +growing fainter and fainter, until only a whisper of it reached the white +tent where the Little Colonel lay dreaming. Then the moon shone out again, +and the sentry, going a few paces forward, looked down in horror at the +silent form stretched out at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"TAPS" + + +The corporal of the guard went running in the direction of the shot, and +here and there an inquiring head, was thrust out of a tent. + +"Only a dog shot, sir," he was heard to call out in answer to some +officer's question, as he passed back down the line. "Sentry took him for +a wild beast escaped from the show." + +Somebody laughed in reply, and the men who had been aroused by the noise +turned over and went to sleep. They did not know that the corporal hurried +on down to the guard-house, and that as a result of his report there was a +hasty summons for the surgeon. They did not know that it was Hero whom the +sentry bent over, gulping down a feeling in his throat that nearly choked +him, as he saw the blood welling out of the dog's shaggy white breast, and +slowly stiffening the silky hair of his beautiful yellow coat. + +The surgeon knelt down beside the dog, and as the clouds hid the moon +again, he turned the light of his lantern on the wound for a careful +examination. + +"That was a cracking good shot, Bently," he said. "He never knew what +stopped him." + +The sentry turned his head away. "I wouldn't have been the one to take +that dog's life for anything in the world!" he exclaimed. "I'd pretty near +as soon have killed a man. It never entered my head that any tame animal +would come leaping out of the woods that way at this time of night. He +loomed up nearly as big as a lion when the moon shone out on him. The next +minute it was all dark again, and I heard his big soft feet come pattering +through the leaves, straight on toward me. It flashed over me that it must +be one of those escaped circus animals, so I just let loose and blazed +away at him." + +The surgeon stood up and looked down at the still form at his feet. "It's +too bad," he said. "He was a grand old dog, the finest St. Bernard I ever +saw. How that little girl loved him! It will just about break her heart +when she finds out what's happened to him." + +"Don't!" begged the sentry, huskily. "Don't say anything like that. I feel +bad enough about it now, goodness knows, without your harrowing up my +feelings, talking of the way _she's_ going to feel." + +As the surgeon started on, the sentry stopped him. "For heaven's sake, +Mac, don't leave him lying there on the picket-line where I've got to see +him every time I pass. Send somebody to take him away. I'm all unnerved. I +feel as if I'd shot one of my own comrades." + +The surgeon looked at him curiously and walked on. Nobody was sent to take +the dog away, but a little while later the sentry was relieved from duty, +and another soldier kept guard over the silent camp, pacing back and forth +past the Red Cross Hero, sleeping his last sleep under the light of the +sentinel stars. + +Somebody draped a flag across him before the camp was astir next morning. +"Well, why not?" the man asked when he was joked about paying so much +attention to a dead dog. "Why not? He was a war dog, wasn't he? It's no +more than his due. I was the man he found in the ditch yesterday. As far +as his intention and good will went, he did as much to save me as if I had +been really lying there a wounded soldier. When he came leaping down there +into the ditch after me, licking my face in such a friendly fashion and +holding still so that I could help myself to the flask and bandages, I +thought how grateful a fellow would feel to him if he were really rescued +by him that way. It was all make-believe to me, but it was dead earnest to +the dog, and he did his part as faithfully as any soldier who ever wore a +uniform." + +"You're right," said a young lieutenant, sitting near. "If for no other +reason than that he was in the service of the Red Cross, he has a right to +the respect of every man that calls himself a soldier, no matter what flag +he follows." + +Later in the morning, when the orderly rode into the little picnic camp, +the girls were away. They were down by the waterfall digging ferns and +mosses to take home. "We are thinking of breaking up camp this afternoon," +Mrs. Walton told him. "The weather looks so threatening that I have sent +for the wagonette to come for us, and I was about to send over to your +camp to see if Hero had wandered back there. He has not been seen since +last night. He was lying by Lloyd's cot just before I went to sleep, but +this morning he is nowhere to be found. Lloyd is distressed. I told her +that probably the drill yesterday awakened all his love for the old life, +and that he might have been drawn back to it. Was I right? Have you seen +him?" + +"Yes," said the orderly, hesitating. "I saw him, but I find it hard to +tell you how and where, Mrs. Walton." He paused again, and then hurried +on with the explanation, as if anxious to have it over as soon as +possible. + +"He was shot last night by mistake on the picket-line. The sentry is all +broken up over it, poor fellow, and the whole camp regrets it more than I +can tell. You see, after yesterday's performance we almost claimed the dog +as one of us. Colonel Wayne has made me the bearer of his deepest regrets. +He especially deplores the occurrence on account of the dog's little +mistress, knowing what a great grief it will be to her. He wishes, if you +think it will be any consolation to her, to give Hero a military funeral, +and bury him with the honours due a brave soldier." + +"I am sure that Lloyd will want that," said Mrs, Walton. "She will +appreciate it deeply, when she understands what a mark of respect to Hero +such an attention would be. Tell Colonel Wayne, please, that I gladly +accept the offer in her behalf, and will send Ranald over later, to +arrange for it." + +The orderly rode away, and Mrs. Walton turned to her sister, exclaiming, +"Poor little Lloyd! I confess I am not brave enough to face her grief when +she first hears the news. You will have to tell her, Allison. You know her +so much better than I. We might as well hurry the preparations for +leaving. No one will care to stay a moment longer, now this has happened. +It will cast a gloom over the entire party." + +"Maybe it would be better not to tell her until after she gets home," +suggested Miss Allison. She had soothed the childish griefs of nearly +every child in the Valley, at some time or another, but she felt that this +was the most serious one that had fallen to her lot to comfort. + +"I'm sure it would be impossible to get Lloyd away from here without Hero, +unless she knew," was the answer. "I heard her tell Kitty this morning +that nobody could make her go without him. She said if he wasn't back by +the time we were ready to start, we could go on without her, and she would +hunt for him if it took all fall." + +While they were still discussing it the boys came running back to camp +much excited. They had met the orderly. + +"Oh, the poor dog!" mourned Keith. "What a shame for the poor old fellow +to be shot down that way. It seems almost as bad as if it had been one of +us boys that was killed." + +Ranald and Rob joined in with praise of his many lovable traits, talking +of his death as if it were a lifelong friend they had lost; but Malcolm +turned away with an anxious glance to the woods, where he could hear the +laughing voices of the girls. + +"Poor little Princess Winsome," he thought. "It will nearly break her +heart," and he wished with all the earnestness of the real Sir Feal, that +by some knightly service, no matter how hard, he could save his little +friend from this sorrow. + +The girls came strolling up, presently, so occupied with their spoils that +no one noticed the boy's serious faces but Lloyd. The moment she caught +Malcolm's sympathetic glance she was sure something had happened to Hero. + +"Oh, what is it?" she began, the tears gathering in her eyes as she felt +the unspoken, sympathy of the little group. Leaving Mrs. Walton to tell +the other girls, Miss Allison drew Lloyd aside, saying as she led her down +toward the spring, an arm around her waist, "I have a message for you, +Lloyd, from Colonel Wayne. Let's go down to the rocks by ourselves." + +A sympathetic silence fell on the little circle left behind as they heard +Lloyd cry out, "Shot my dog? Shot _Hero?_ Oh, he ought to be killed! How +could he do such a cruel thing!" + +"But he feels dreadfully about it," said Miss Allison. "The orderly said +that, big, strong man though he was, the tears stood in his eyes when he +saw what he had done, and he kept saying, 'I wouldn't have done it for the +world.'" + +Nearly all the girls were crying by this time, and Malcolm turned his head +so that he could not see the fair little head pressed against Miss +Allison's shoulder, as she clung to her sobbing. + +"Think how it must have hurt poah Hero's feelin's," Lloyd was saying, "to +go back to their camp so trustin' and happy, thinkin' the men would be so +glad to see him, and that he was doin' his duty, and then to have one of +them stand up and send a bullet through his deah, lovin' old heart. Oh, I +can't _beah_ it," she screamed. "Oh, I can't! I can't! It seems as if it +would kill me to think of him lyin' ovah there all cold and stiff, with +the blood on his lovely white and yellow curls, and know that he'll nevah, +nevah again jump up to lick my hands, and put his paws on my shouldahs. +He'll nevah come to meet me any moah, waggin' his tail and lookin' up into +my face with his deah lovin' eyes. Oh, Miss Allison! I can't stand it! +It's just breakin' my heart!" Burying her face in Miss Allison's lap, she +sobbed and cried until her tears were all spent. + +It was a subdued little party that rode back to the Valley, a few hours +later. Not only sympathy for Lloyd kept them quiet, but each one mourned +the loss of the gentle, lovable playfellow who had come to such an +untimely end after this week of happy camp life with them. + + * * * * * + +Under the locusts that evening, just as the sun was going down, came the +tread of many marching feet. It was the tramp, tramp of the soldiers who +were bringing home the Little Colonel's Hero, All the men who had been +most interested in his performances the day before, had volunteered to +follow Colonel Wayne, and the long line made an imposing showing, as it +stretched up the avenue after him. + +Lloyd watched the approach from her seat on the porch beside her father. +All the camping party were waiting with her, except the four boys who rode +at the head of the procession, Ranald and Malcolm first, then Rob and +Keith. Lloyd hid her eyes as Lad and Tarbaby came into view behind them. + +"Look," said her father gently, pointing to the flag-draped burden they +drew. "How much better it was for Hero to have been shot by a soldier and +brought home with military honours, than to have met the fate of an +ordinary dog--been poisoned, or mangled, by a train, as might have +happened, or even died of a painful, feeble old age. The Major would have +chosen this? so would Hero, if he could have understood." + +There was more comfort in that thought than in anything that had been said +to her before, and Lloyd wiped her eyes, and sat up to watch the ceremony +that followed, with a feeling of pride that made her almost cheerful. + +On they came to the beat of the muffled drum, halting under a great +locust-tree that stood by itself on the lawn, in sight of the library +windows, like a giant sentinel. There the boys dismounted to lower Hero +into the grave that Walker and Alec had just finished digging. Then the +coloured men, spreading the sod quickly back in place, stepped aside from +the low mound they had made, and Lloyd saw that it was smooth and green. +She started violently when the soldiers, drawn up in line, fired a parting +volley over it, but sat quietly back again when the Little Captain stepped +forward and raised his bugle. The sun was sinking low behind the locusts, +and in the golden glow filling the western sky, he softly sounded taps. +"Lights out" now for the faithful old Hero! The last bugle-call that +sounded for him was in a foreign land, but it was not as a stranger and an +alien they left him. + +The flag he followed floats farther than the Stars and Stripes, waves +wider than the banner of the Kaiser. It is a world-wide flag, that flag of +perpetual peace which bears the Red Cross of Geneva. In its shadow, +whether on land or sea, all patriot hearts are at home, and under that +flag they left him. + + * * * * * + +A square white stone stands now under the locust where the Little Captain +sounded taps at the close of that September day. On it gleams the Red +Cross, in whose service all of Hero's lessons had been learned. But the +daily sight of it from her bedroom window no longer brings pain to the +Little Colonel. Hero is only a tender memory now, and she counts the Red +Cross above him as another talisman, like the little ring and the silver +scissors, to remind her that only through unselfish service to others can +one reach the happiness that is highest and best. + +Time flies fast under the locusts. Sometimes to Papa Jack it seems only +yesterday that she clattered up and down the wide halls with her +grandfather's spurs buckled to her tiny feet. But if he misses the charm +of the baby voice that called to him then, or the childish mischievousness +of his Little Colonel, he finds a greater one in the flower-like beauty of +the tall, slender girl who stands beside the gilded harp, and sings to +him softly in the candle-light. And it is Betty's song of service that is +oftenest on her lips: + + "My godmother bids me spin, + That my heart may not be sad; + Sing and spin for my brother's sake, + And the spinning makes me glad." + +She knows that she can never be a Joan of Arc or a Clara Barton, and her +name will never be written in America's hall of fame, but with the sweet +ambition in her heart to make life a little lovelier for every one she +touches, she is growing up into a veritable Princess Winsome. + +Often as she sings, Betty closes her book to listen, thrilled with the old +feeling that always comes with the music of the harp. It is as if she were +"away off from everything, and high up where it is wide and open, and +where the stars are." The strange, beautiful thoughts she can find no +words for still dance on ahead, like shining will-'o-the-wisps, but she +knows that she shall surely find words for them some day, and that many +besides the Little Colonel will sing her verses and find comfort in her +songs. + +To both Betty and Lloyd the land of Someday and the happy land of Now lie +very close together in their day-dreams, as side by side they go to +school these bright October mornings, or stroll slowly homeward in the +golden afternoons, under the shade of the friendly old locusts. + + + + +THE END. + +Selections from L.C. Page & Company's Books for Girls + + * * * * * + +=THE BLUE BONNET SERIES= + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $ 2.00 The +seven volumes, boxed as a set 14.00_ + +A TEXAS BLUE BONNET + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS. + +BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ. + +BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET--DÉBUTANTE + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET'S FAMILY + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + + +"Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively +girlishness and cannot but make friends with every one who meets her +through these books about her."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + +"Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the kind that one would +like to have in one's home."--_New York Sun._ + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS + +(Trade Mark) + +BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $2.00_ + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES + +(Trade Mark) + +Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The +Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant +Scissors," in a single volume. + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES: + +Second Series (Trade Mark) + +Tales about characters that appear in the Little Colonel Series. "Ole +Mammy's Torment," "The Three Tremonts," and "The Little Colonel in +Switzerland." + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING SCHOOL + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA + (Trade Mark) + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION + (Trade Mark) + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES RIDING + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM, MARY WARE + (Trade Mark) + +MARY WARE IN TEXAS + +MARY WARE'S PROMISED LAND + +_These thirteen volumes, boxed as A SET, $26.00_ + + +FOR PIERRE'S SAKE AND OTHER STORIES + +_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Billie Chapman $1.75_ + +"'For Pierre's Sake,' who works so hard to scrape together the pennies +necessary for a wreath for his brother's grave, 'The Rain Maker,' who +tries to bring rain to the drought stricken fields--these and many others +will take their places in The Children's Hall of Fame, which exists in the +heart of childhood."--_Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald_. + + +THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART + +_Cloth decorated, with special designs and illustrations_ $1.25 + +This story of a little princess and her faithful pet bear, who finally +_do_ discover "The Road of the Loving Heart," is a masterpiece of sympathy +and understanding and beautiful thought. + + +=THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES= + +_Each small 16mo, decorative boards, per volume $0.75_ + +IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: + +THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN. + + +THE THREE WEAVERS: + +A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS. + + +KEEPING TRYST: + +A TALE OF KING ARTHUR'S TIME. + + +THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART + + +THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: + +A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG. + + +THE JESTER'S SWORD + + * * * * * + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S GOOD TIMES BOOK + +_Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series $2.50_ + +_Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold 6.00_ + +Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg. + +"A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may record the good times +she has on decorated pages, and under the directions as it were of Annie +Fellows Johnston."--_Buffalo Express_. + + * * * * * + +=HILDEGARDE-MARGARET SERIES= + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +Eleven Volumes + +The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with "Queen Hildegarde" and +ending with "The Merryweathers," make one of the best and most popular +series of books for girls ever written. + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated per volume $1.75_ + +_The eleven volumes boxed as a set $19.25_ + + +LIST OF TITLES + +QUEEN HILDEGARDE +HILDEGARDE'S HOLIDAY +HILDEGARDE'S HOME +HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS +HILDEGARDE'S HARVEST +THREE MARGARETS +MARGARET MONTFORT +PEGGY +RITA +FERNLEY HOUSE +THE MERRYWEATHERS + + * * * * * + +=HONOR BRIGHT SERIES= + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.75_ + + +HONOR BRIGHT + +"This is a story that rings as true and honest as the name of the young +heroine--Honor--and not only the young girls, but the old ones will find +much to admire and to commend in the beautiful character of +Honor."--_Constitution, Atlanta, Ga._ + + +HONOR BRIGHT'S NEW ADVENTURE + +"Girls will love the story and it has plot enough to interest the older +reader as well."--_St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat._ + + * * * * * + +SIX GIRLS + +(60th thousand) BY FANNY BELLE IRVING. + +_Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by A.G. Learned $1.65_ + +No book has enjoyed a steadier and longer popularity than "Six Girls," +written by a niece of Washington Irving. It has won its way by the best +kind of advertising--personal recommendations among readers. + + +THREE HUNDRED THINGS A BRIGHT GIRL CAN DO + +BY LILA ELIZABETH KELLEY. + +_Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by the author $2.50_ + +A complete treasury of suggestions on games, indoor and outdoor sports, +handiwork, embroidery, sewing and cooking, scientific experiments, +puzzles, candy-making, home decoration, physical culture, etc. + + +THE SECRET VALLEY + +BY MRS. HOBART-HAMPDEN. + +_Cloth 12mo, illustrated, with color jacket $1.75_ + +In addition to an excellent action story, young readers will find in this +book descriptions of India, land of mystery, which are accurate and +interesting. + + +SECRETS INSIDE + +BY M.M. DANCY MCCLENDON. + +_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman $1.75_ + +"This is a story about girls for girls. The author has made a worthwhile +contribution to juvenile literature."--_Rochester Sunday American._ + + + * * * * * + +THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES + +600,000 volumes of the "Captain January" Series have already been sold. + +"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary +world, from her delicate treatment of New England village life."--_Boston +Post._ + + +CAPTAIN JANUARY. _Star Bright Edition._ + +_Profusely illustrated by Frank T. Merrill $1.75_ + + +STAR BRIGHT. A sequel to "Captain January." + +_Mrs. Richards' latest book uniform with above. $1.75_ + +Wherein the Captain's little girl reaches the romantic period of her +career, and faces the world. + +_The two volumes attractively boxed as a set. $3.50_ + + * * * * * + +The following titles are illustrated by Frank T. Merrill + +CAPTAIN JANUARY. _School Edition_ + +(285th thousand) _Net $1.00_ + + +MELODY. $1.00 + +The Story of a Child. + +_Cloth decorative, illustrated by Frank T. Merrill, each $.90_ + + +MARIE. + +A companion to "Melody." + + +ROSIN THE BEAU. + +A sequel to "Marie." + + +SNOW WHITE; + +Or, The House in the Wood. + + +JIM OF HELLAS; + +Or, in Durance Vile, and a companion story, "Bethesda Pool." + + +"SOME SAY." + +And a companion story, "Neighbors in Cyrus." + + +NAUTILUS. + +"'Nautilus' Is by far the best product of the author's powers."--_Boston +Globe._ + + +ISLA HERON. + +This interesting story is written in the author's usual charming manner. + + + * * * * * + + +BARBARA WINTHROP SERIES + +BY HELEN KATHERINE BROUGHALL + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $2.00_ + +BARBARA WINTHROP AT BOARDING SCHOOL + +BARBARA WINTHROP AT CAMP + +BARBARA WINTHROP: GRADUATE + +BARBARA WINTHROP ABROAD + +"Full of adventure--initiations, joys, picnics, parties, tragedies, +vacation and all. Just what girls like, books in which 'dreams come true,' +entertaining 'gossipy' books overflowing with conversation."--_Salt Lake +City Deseret News._ + +High ideals and a real spirit of fun underlie the stories. They will be a +decided addition to the bookshelves of the young girl for whom a holiday +gift is contemplated. + + * * * * * + +=DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES= + +BY MARION AMES TAGGART + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL + +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid."--_The Churchman._ + + +SWEET NANCY: + +THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL. + +"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."--_New York Sun._ + + +NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER + +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."--_Springfield Union._ + + +NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY + +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."--_Boston Globe._ + + +NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS + +"The story is refreshing."--_-New York Sun._ + + * * * * * + +=THE MARJORY-JOE SERIES= + +BY ALICE E. ALLEN + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.50_ + +JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY AND ROSEMARY + +These are two of Miss Allen's earliest and most successful stories, +combined in a single volume to meet the insistent demands from young +people for these two particular tales. + + +THE MARTIE TWINS: Continuing the Adventures of Joe, the Circus Boy + +"The chief charm of the story is that it contains so much of human nature. +It is so real that it touches the heart strings."--_-New York Standard._ + + +MARJORY, THE CIRCUS GIRL + +A sequel to "Joe, the Circus Boy," and "The Martie Twins." + + +MARJORY AT THE WILLOWS + +Continuing the story of Marjory, the Circus Girl. + +"Miss Allen does not write impossible stories, but delightfully pins her +little folk right down to this life of ours, in which she ranges +vigorously and delightfully."--_Boston Ideas._ + + +MARJORY'S HOUSE PARTY: Or, What Happened at Clover Patch + +"Miss Allen certainly knows how to please the children and tells them +stories that never fail to charm."_--Madison Courier._ + + +MARJORY'S DISCOVERY + +This new addition to the popular MARJORY-JOE SERIES is as lovable and +original as any of the other creations of this writer of charming stories. +We get little peeps at the precious twins, at the healthy minded Joe and +sweet Marjory. There is a bungalow party, which lasts the entire summer, +in which all of the characters of the previous MARJORY-JOE stories +participate, and their happy times are delightfully depicted. + + * * * * * + +THE PEGGY RAYMOND SERIES + +BY HARRIET LUMMIS SMITH + +_Each one volume, cloth, decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S SUCCESS: OR, THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE. + +"It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher thinking; it knits +hearts; it unfolds neighborhood plans in a way that makes one tingle to +try carrying them out, and most of all it proves that hi daily life, +threads of wonderful issues are being woven in with what appears the most +ordinary of material, but which in the end brings results stranger than +the most thrilling fiction."--_Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young People's +Weekly, Chicago._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S VACATION + +"It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told and full of incident. +It carries one through experiences that hearten and brighten the +day."--_Utica, N.Y., Observer._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S SCHOOL DAYS + +"It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls, good times, natural +development, and a gentle earnestness of general tone."--_The Christian +Register, Boston._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE + +"The story is told in easy and entertaining style and is a most delightful +narrative, especially for young people. It will also make the older +readers feel younger, for while reading it they will surely live again in +the days of their youth."--_Troy Budget._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S WAY + +"The author has again produced a story that is replete with wholesome +incidents and makes Peggy more lovable than ever as a companion and +leader."--_World of Books._ + + * * * * * + +THE HADLEY HALL SERIES + +BY LOUISE M. BREITENBACH + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65_ + +ALMA AT HADLEY HALL + +"The author is to be congratulated on having written such an appealing +book for girls."--_Detroit Free Press._ + + +ALMA'S SOPHOMORE YEAR + +"It cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things in girls' +books."--_Boston Herald._ + +ALMA'S JUNIOR YEAR. + +"The diverse characters in the boarding-school are strongly drawn, the +Incidents are well developed and the action is never dull."--_The Boston +Herald._ + + +ALMA'S SENIOR YEAR + +"A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--_Boston +Transcript._ + + * * * * * + +DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES + +BY MARION AMES TAGGART + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL + +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid"--_The Churchman._ + + +SWEET NANCY: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL. + +"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."--_New York Sun._ + + +NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER + +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."--_Springfield Union._ + + +NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY + +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."--_Boston Globe._ + +NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS + +"The story is refreshing."--_New York Sun._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY EVALEEN STEIN + +_Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated $1.65_ + +GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK +A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE +THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER +THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY +PEPIN: A Tale of Twelfth Night +CHILDREN'S STORIES +THE CIRCUS DWARF STORIES +WHEN FAIRIES WERE FRIENDLY +TROUBADOUR TALES + +"No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the elements that stir +the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as do the stories so +admirably told by this author."--_Louisville Daily Courier_. + +"Evaleen Stein's stories are music in prose--they are like pearls on a +chain of gold--each word seems exactly the right word in the right place; +the stories sing themselves out, they are so beautifully expressed."--_The +Lafayette Leader_. + + * * * * * + +Selections from L.C. Page & Company's Books for Boys + + * * * * * + +FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by photographs, per +volume_ ... _$2.00_ + +BY CHARLES H.L. JOHNSTON + +("Uncle Chas.") + +_"If you see that it's by 'Uncle Chas,' you know that it's historically +correct"--Review._ + +FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS +FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS +FAMOUS SCOUTS +FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA +FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF THE BORDER +FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA +FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR + Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glorious Victory. + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +First Series. + +_Cloth 12mo, illustrated from specially autographed photographs $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Second Series. + +_A companion volume to the above $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Third Series. + +_By Trentwell M. White $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Fourth Series. + +_By Charles H.L. Johnston $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Fifth Series. + +_By Leroy Atkinson $2.50_ + +_The following except as otherwise noted $2.00_ + + +BY EDWIN WILDMAN + +THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Revolution to +the Monroe Doctrine) + +THE BUILDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Monroe Doctrine +to the Civil War) + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER (Lives of Great Americans from the Civil War +to Today) + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--First Series + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Second Series + + +BY TRENTWELL M. WHITE + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Third Series $2.50 + + +BY HARRY IRVING SHUMWAY + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Fourth Series $2.50 + +'These biographies drive home the truth that just as every soldier of +Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every American +youngster carries potential success under his hat.' + + +BY CHARLES LEE LEWIS + +_Professor, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS + +With a complete index. + +"In connection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, and +other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the period in which +the officer distinguished himself, and combines the whole into a colorful +and stirring narrative."--_Boston Herald._ + + * * * * * + +THE BOYS STORY OF THE RAILROAD SERIES + +BY BURTON E. STEVENSON + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.75_ + + +THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND; + +OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ALLAN WEST + +"The whole range of section railroading is covered in the +story."--_Chicago Post._ + + +THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER + +"A vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of railroad +life."--_Congregationalist._ + + +THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER + +"It is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a +good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."--_Passaic News._ + + +THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; + +OR, ALLAN WEST'S CHUM. + +"The story is intensely interesting."--_Baltimore Sun._ + + * * * * * + +THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY SERIES + +Of Worth While Classics for Boys and Girls + +_Revised and Edited for the Modern Reader_ + +_Each large 12mo, illustrated and with a poster jacket in full color +$2.00_ + + +THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY + +BY W.H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. + + +THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS + +BY C.M. YONGE. + + +ERLING THE BOLD + +BY R.M. BALLYNTYNE. + + +WINNING HIS KNIGHTHOOD; + +OR, THE ADVENTURES OF RAOULF DE GYSSAGE. + +BY H. TURING BRUCE. + +"Tales which ring to the clanking of armour, tales of marches and +counter-marches, tales of wars, but tales which bring peace; a peace and +contentment in the knowledge that right, even in the darkest times, has +survived and conquered."--_Portland Evening Express._ + + * * * * * + +THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES + +BY HARRISON ADAMS + +_Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65_ + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO; + OR, CLEARING THE WILDERNESS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES; + OR, ON THE TRAIL OF THE IROQUOIS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI; + OR, THE HOMESTEAD IN THE WILDERNESS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI; + OR, IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOWSTONE; + OR, LOST IN THE LAND OF WONDERS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA; + OR, IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLORADO; + OR, BRAVING THE PERILS OF THE GRAND CANYON COUNTRY. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF KANSAS; + OR, PRAIRIE HOME IN BUFFALO LAND. + +"Such books as these are an admirable means of stimulating among the young +Americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer ancestors and +the early days of the Republic."--_Boston Globe._ + +"Not only interesting, but instructive as well and shows the sterling type +of character which these days of self-reliance and trial +produced."--_American Tourist, Chicago._ + +"The stories are full of spirited action and contain much valuable +historical information. Just the sort of reading a boy will enjoy +immensely."--_Boston Herald._ + + * * * * * + +MINUTE BOY SERIES + +By James Otis and Edward Stratemeyer + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, fully illustrated, per volume_ +_$1.50_ + +This series of books for boys needs no recommendation. We venture to say +that there are few boys of any age in this broad land who do not know and +love both these authors and their stirring tales. + +These books, as shown by their titles, deal with periods in the history of +the development of our great country which are of exceeding interest to +every patriotic American boy--and girl. Places and personages of +historical interest are here presented to the young reader in story form, +and a great deal of real, information is unconsciously gathered. + +THE MINUTE BOYS OF PHILADELPHIA +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BOSTON +THE MINUTE BOYS OF NEW YORK CITY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LONG ISLAND +THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BUNKER HILL +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LEXINGTON +THE MINUTE BOYS OF YORKTOWN + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Colonel's Hero +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + +***** This file should be named 15122-8.txt or 15122-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/2/15122/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + +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: The Little Colonel's Hero + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15122] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>THE LITTLE COLONEL'S</h1> +<h1>HERO</h1> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> +<h2>By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</h2> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE COLONEL," "TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY," "BIG +BROTHER," "ASA HOLMES," "THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY," "THE LITTLE +COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS," ETC.</p> +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/emblem1.jpg" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /></p> + +<p class="center">FRONTISPIECE BY ETHELDRED B. BARRY</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><img src="./images/emblem2.jpg" alt="Emblem" title="Emblem" /></p> + +<p class="center">L.C. PAGE & COMPANY<br /> +BOSTON PUBLISHERS</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><i>Copyright, 1902</i></p> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<p class="center">BY THE PAGE COMPANY</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + + +<p class="center">Made in U.S.A. +</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Impression List"> +<tr><td align='left'>Twenty-seventh Impression, June, 1925</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Twenty-eighth Impression, February, 1926</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Twenty-ninth Impression, January, 1928</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirtieth Impression, June, 1929</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirty-first Impression, October, 1930</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirty-second Impression, March, 1932</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirty-third Impression, February, 1934</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirty-fourth Impression, August, 1935</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thirty-fifth Impression, July, 1937</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<p class="center">PRINTED BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC.,</p> + +<p class="center">CLINTON, MASS., U.S.A.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center">TO</p> + +<p class="center">ALL THE FRIENDS OF THE "LITTLE COLONEL"</p> + + +<p class="center">TO WHOSE LETTERS</p> + +<p class="center">THE AUTHOR COULD NOT REPLY,</p> + +<p class="center">THIS BOOK IS OFFERED IN ANSWER TO</p> + +<p class="center">THEIR MANY QUESTIONS</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h3>THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS</h3> + +<p class="center"><b>by</b></p> + +<h4>Annie Fellows Johnston</h4> + +<p class="center">Limited popular editions, each, cloth 12 mo. Illustrated</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Three Titles—</b> +</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Little Colonel Books"> +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's House Party</td><td align='left'>$1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Holidays</td><td align='left'>$1.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Hero</td><td align='left'>$1.00</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p class="center">Regular Trade Edition</p> + +<p class="center"><b>The Little Colonel Series</b></p> + +<p class="center">(Trade Mark, Reg. U.S. Pat. Of.)</p> + +<p class="center">Each one vol., large 12 mo, bound in rose silk cloth; illust. +</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Trade List"> +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel Stories<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Containing the three stories, "The Little Colonel,"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The Giant Scissors," and "Two Little Knights</span> <br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">of Kentucky.")</span></td><td align="right"> $2.00</td></tr> + + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel Stories—Second Series<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Containing the three stories, "The Three Tremonts,"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"The Little Colonel in Switzerland,"and "Ole Mammy's </span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Torment.")</span></td><td align='right'> $2.00</td></tr> + + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's House Party</td> +<td align='right'> $2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Holidays</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Hero</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel at Boarding-School</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel in Arizona</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Mary Ware in Texas</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Mary Ware's Promised Land</td> +<td align='right'> 2.00</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The above 13 vols., boxed, as a set</td> +<td align='right'>26.00</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/1.jpg"><img src="./images/1-tb.jpg" alt=""'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"" title=""'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"" /></a></p> +<p class="figcenter">"'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'>CHAPTER</td> +<td align='left'></td> +<td align='left'>PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>I.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY</td> +<td align='right'>11</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>II.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND</td> +<td align='right'>25</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>III.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>LLOYD MEETS HERO</td> +<td align='right'>41</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>IV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>HERO'S STORY</td> +<td align='right'>55</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>V.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA</td> +<td align='right'>67</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>VI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT</td> +<td align='right'>79</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>VII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>IN TOURS</td> +<td align='right'>102</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>VIII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA</td> +<td align='right'>121</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>IX.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS</td> +<td align='right'>136</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>X.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>ON THE WING</td> +<td align='right'>147</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>XI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>HOMEWARD BOUND</td> +<td align='right'>161</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>XII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>HOME AGAIN</td> +<td align='right'>179</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>XIII.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>"THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME"</td> +<td align='right'>197</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>XIV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>IN CAMP</td> +<td align='right'>234</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>XV.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE</td> +<td align='right'>249</td></tr> + +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>XVI.</b></a></td> +<td align='left'>"TAPS"</td> +<td align='right'>262</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO</h2> + +<p class="center">(Trade Mark)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, Tarbaby! <i>Everybody</i> has forgotten that it is my birthday! Even Papa +Jack has gone off to town without saying a word about it, and he nevah did +such a thing befo' in all his life!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke, the Little Colonel put her arm around her pony's neck, and +for a moment her fair little head was pressed disconsolately against its +velvety black mane.</p> + +<p>"It isn't the presents I care about," she whispered, choking back a +heart-broken sob; "but oh, Tarbaby, it's the bein' forgotten! Of co'se +mothah couldn't be expected to remembah, she's been so ill. But I think +grandfathah might, or Mom Beck, or <i>somebody</i>. If there'd only been one +single person when I came down-stairs this mawnin' to say 'I wish you +many happy returns, Lloyd, deah,' I wouldn't feel so bad. But there +wasn't, and I nevah felt so misah'ble and lonesome and left out since I +was bawn."</p> + +<p>Tarbaby had no words with which to comfort his little mistress, but he +seemed to understand that she was in trouble, and rubbed his nose lovingly +against her shoulder. The mute caress comforted her as much as words could +have done, and presently she climbed into the saddle and started slowly +down the avenue to the gate.</p> + +<p>It was a warm May morning, sweet with the fragrance of the locusts, for +the great trees arching above her were all abloom, and the ground beneath +was snowy with the wind-blown petals. Under the long white arch she rode, +with the fallen blossoms white at her feet. The pewees called from the +cedars and the fat red-breasted robins ran across the lawn just as they +had done the spring before, when it was her eleventh birthday, and she had +ridden along that same way singing, the happiest hearted child in the +Valley. But she was not singing to-day. Another sob came up in her throat +as she thought of the difference.</p> + +<p>"Now I'm a whole yeah oldah," she sighed. "Oh, deah! I don't want to grow +up, one bit, and I'll be suah 'nuff old on my next birthday, for I'll be +in my teens then. I wondah how that will feel. This last yeah was such a +lovely one, for it brought the house pahty and so many holidays. But this +yeah has begun all wrong. I can't help feelin' that it's goin' to bring me +lots of trouble."</p> + +<p>Half-way down the avenue she thought she heard some one calling her, and +stopped to look back. But no one was in sight. The shutters were closed in +her mother's room.</p> + +<p>"Last yeah she stood at the window and waved to me when I rode away," +sighed the child, her eyes filling with tears again. "Now she's so white +and ill it makes me cry to look at her. Maybe that is the trouble this +yeah is goin' to bring me. Betty's mothah died, and Eugenia's, and +maybe"—but the thought was too dreadful to put into words, and she +stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Mom Beck was right," she whispered with a nod of her head. "She said that +sad thoughts are like crows. They come in flocks. I wish I could stop +thinkin' about such mou'nful things."</p> + +<p>A train passed as she cantered through the gate and started down the road +beside the railroad track. She drew rein to watch it thunder by. Some +child at the window pointed a finger at her, and then two smiling little +faces were pressed against the pane for an eager glimpse. It was the +prettiest wayside picture the passengers had seen in all that morning's +travel—the Little Colonel on her pony, with the spray of locust bloom in +the cockade of the Napoleon cap she wore, and a plume of the same graceful +blossoms nodding jauntily over each of Tarbaby's black ears.</p> + +<p>As the admiring faces whirled past her, Lloyd drew a long breath of +relief. "I'm glad that I don't have to do my riding in a smoky old car +this May mawnin'," she thought. "It is wicked for me to be so unhappy when +I have Tarbaby and all the othah things that mothah and Papa Jack have +given me. I know perfectly well that they love me just the same even if +they have forgotten my birthday, and I won't let such old black crow +thoughts flock down on me. I'll ride fast and get away from them."</p> + +<p>That was harder to do than she had imagined, for as she passed Judge +Moore's place the deserted house added to her feeling of loneliness. Andy, +the old gardener, was cutting the grass on the front lawn. She called to +him.</p> + +<p>"When is the family coming out from town, Andy?"</p> + +<p>"Not this summer, Miss Lloyd," he answered. "It'll be the first summer in +twenty years that the Judge has missed. He has taken a cottage at the +seaside, and they're all going there. The house will stay closed, just as +you see it now, I reckon, for another year."</p> + +<p>"At the seashore!" she echoed. "Not coming out!" She almost gasped, the +news was so unexpected. Here was another disappointment, and a very sore +one. Every summer, as far back as she could remember, Rob Moore had been +her favourite playfellow. Now there would be no more mad Tam O'Shanter +races, with Rob clattering along beside her on his big iron-gray horse. No +more good times with the best and jolliest of little neighbours. A summer +without Rob's cheery whistle and good-natured laugh would seem as empty +and queer as the woods without the bird voices, or the meadows without the +whirr of humming things. She rode slowly on.</p> + +<p>There was no letter for her when she stopped at the post-office to inquire +for the mail. The girls on whom she called afterward were not at home, so +she rode aimlessly around the Valley until nearly lunch-time, wishing for +once that it were a school-day. It was the longest Saturday morning she +had ever known. She could not practise her music lesson for fear of making +her mother's headache worse. She could not go near the kitchen, where she +might have found entertainment, for Aunt Cindy was in one of her black +tempers, and scolded shrilly as she moved around among her shining tins.</p> + +<p>There was no one to show her how to begin her new piece of embroidery; +Papa Jack had forgotten to bring out the magazines she wanted to see; +Walker had failed to roll the tennis-court and put up the net, so she +could not even practise serving the balls by herself.</p> + +<p>When lunch-time came, it was so lonely eating by herself in the big +dining-room, that she hurried through the meal as quickly as possible, and +tiptoed up the stairs to the door of her mother's room. Mom Beck raised +her finger with a warning "Sh!" and seeing that her mother was still +asleep, Lloyd stole away to her own room, her own pretty pink and white +nest, and curled herself up among the cushions in a big easy chair by the +window.</p> + +<p>It was the first time in her memory that her mother had been ill. For more +than a week she had not been able to leave her room, and the lonely child, +accustomed to being with her constantly, crept around the house like a +little stray kitten. The place scarcely seemed like home, and the days +were endless. Some unusual feeling of sensitiveness had kept her from +reminding the family of her birthday. Other years she had openly counted +the days, for weeks beforehand, and announced the gifts that she would be +most pleased to receive.</p> + +<p>Here by the window the dismal crow thoughts began flocking down to her +again, and to drive them away she picked up a book from the table and +began to read. It was a green and gold volume of short stories, one that +she had read many times before, but she never grew tired of them.</p> + +<p>The one she liked best was "Marguerite's Wonder-ball," and she turned to +that first, because it was the story of a happy birthday. Marguerite was a +little German girl, learning to knit, and to help her in her task her +family wound for her a mammoth ball of yarn, as full of surprise packages +as a plum cake is of plums. Day by day, as her patient knitting unwound +the yarn, some gift dropped out into her lap. They were simple things, +nearly all of them. A knife, a ribbon, a thimble, a pencil, and here and +there a bonbon, but they were magnified by the charm of the surprise, and +they turned the tedious task into a pleasant pastime. Not until her +birthday was the knitting finished, and as she took the last stitches a +little velvet-covered jewel-box fell out. In the jewel-box was a string of +pearls that had belonged to Marguerite's great-great-grandmother. It was +a precious family heirloom, and although Marguerite could not wear the +necklace until she was old enough to go to her first great court ball, it +made her very proud and happy to think that, of all the grandchildren in +the family, she had been chosen as the one to wear her +great-great-grandmother's name that means pearl, and had inherited on that +account the beautiful Von Behren necklace.</p> + +<p>When the knitting was done there was a charming birthday feast in her +honour. They crowned her with flowers, and every one, even the dignified +old grandfather, did her bidding until nightfall, because it was <i>her</i> +day, and she was its queen.</p> + +<p>Closing the book Lloyd lay back among the cushions, smiling for the +twentieth time over Marguerite's happiness, and planning the beautiful +wonder-ball she herself would like to have, if wonder-balls were to be had +for the wishing. It should be as big as a cart-wheel, and the first gift +to be unwound should be a tiny ring set with an emerald, because that is +the lucky stone for people born in May. She already owned so many books, +and trinkets, that she hardly knew what else to wish for unless it might +be a coral fan chain and a mother-of-pearl manicure set. But deep down in +the heart of the ball she would like to find a wishing-nut, that would +grant her wishes like an Aladdin's lamp whenever it was rubbed.</p> + +<p>She must have fallen asleep in the midst of her day-dreaming, for it +seemed to her that it was only a minute after she closed her book, that +she heard the half-past five o'clock train whistling at the station, and +while she was still rubbing her eyes she saw her father coming up the +avenue.</p> + +<p>All day she had had a lingering hope that he might bring her something +when he came out from the city. "If it's nothing but a bag of peanuts," +she thought, "it will be better than having a birthday go by without +anything, 'specially when all the othahs have been neahly as nice as +Christmas."</p> + +<p>She peeped out between the curtains, scanning him eagerly as he came +toward the house, but there was no package in either hand, and no +suggestive parcel bulged from any of his pockets.</p> + +<p>"I'll not be a baby," Lloyd whispered to herself, winking her eyelids +rapidly to clear away a sort of mist that seemed to blur the landscape. +"I'm too old to care so much."</p> + +<p>Still, it was such a disappointment, added to all the others that the day +had brought, that she buried her face in the cushions and cried softly. +She could hear her father's voice in the next room, presently. It seemed +quite loud and cheerful; more cheerful than it had sounded since her +mother's dreadful neuralgic headaches had begun. A few minutes later she +heard her mother laugh. It was such a welcome sound, that she hastily +dried her eyes and started to run in to see what had caused it, but she +paused as she passed the mirror. Her eyes were so red that she knew she +would be questioned, and she concluded it would be better to wait until +she was dressed for dinner.</p> + +<p>So she sat looking out of the window till the big hall clock struck six, +and then hastily bathing her eyes, she slipped into a fresh white dress, +and looking carefully at herself in the mirror, concluded that she had +waited long enough. To her surprise, she found her mother sitting up in a +big Morris chair by the window. Maybe it was the pink silk kimono she wore +that brought a faint tinge of colour to her cheeks, but whatever it was, +she looked well and natural again, and for the first time in six long days +the neuralgic headache was all gone, and the lines of suffering were +smoothed out of her face.</p> + +<p>The wide glass doors opening on to the balcony were standing open, and +through the vines stole the golden sunset light, the chirping of robins, +the smell of new-mown grass, and the heavy sweetness of the locust +blooms. Lloyd rubbed her eyes, thinking she surely must be dreaming. There +on the vine-covered balcony stood a table all set as if for a "pink +party." There were flowers and bonbons in the silver dishes, and in the +centre Mom Beck was proudly placing a mammoth birthday cake, wreathed in +pink icing roses, and crowned with twelve pink candles ready for the +lighting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mothah!" she cried. "I—I thought—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish the sentence, but something in her surprised tone, the +sudden flushing of her face, and the traces of tears still in her eyes, +told what she meant.</p> + +<p>"You thought mother had forgotten," whispered Mrs. Sherman, tenderly, as +Lloyd hid her face on her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"No, not for one minute, dear. But the pain was so bad this morning, when +you came to my room, that I couldn't talk. Then you were out riding so +long this morning, and when I wakened after lunch and sent Mom Beck to +find you, she said you were asleep in your room. Papa Jack and I have been +planning a great surprise for you, and he did not want to mention it until +all the arrangements were completed. That is why there was no birthday +surprise for you at breakfast. But you'll soon be a very happy little +girl, for this surprise is something you have been wanting for more than a +year."</p> + +<p>How suddenly the whole world had changed for the Little Colonel! The +sunshine had never seemed so golden, the locust blooms so deliciously +sweet. Her birthday had not been forgotten, after all. Mrs. Sherman's +chair was wheeled to the table on the balcony, and Lloyd took her seat +with sparkling eyes. She wondered what the surprise could be, and felt +sure that Papa Jack would not tell her until the cake was cut, and the +last birthday wish made with the blowing of the birthday candles.</p> + +<p>He had intended to save his news to serve with the dessert, but when he +questioned Lloyd as to how she had spent the day, and laughed at her for +reading the old tale of Marguerite's wonder-ball so many times, his secret +escaped him before he knew it. Turning to Mrs. Sherman he said, "By the +way, Elizabeth, our birthday gift for Lloyd might be called a sort of +wonder-ball." Then he looked at his little daughter with a teasing smile, +as he continued, "I wonder if you can guess my riddle. At first your +wonder-ball will unroll a day and night on the cars, then a drive through +a park where you rode in a baby-carriage once upon a time, but through +which you shall go in an automobile this time, if you wish. There'll be +some shopping, maybe, and after that flags flying, and bands playing, and +crowds of people waving good-bye."</p> + +<p>He had intended to stop there, but the wondering expression on her face +carried him on further. "I can't undertake to say how much your +wonder-ball can hold, but somewhere near the centre of it will be a +meeting with Betty and Eugenia, and perhaps a glimpse of the Gate of the +Giant Scissors that you are always talking about."</p> + +<p>As Lloyd listened a look of utter astonishment crept over her face. Then +she suddenly sprang from her chair, and running to her father put a hand +on each shoulder. "Papa Jack," she cried, breathlessly, "look me straight +in the eyes! Are you in earnest? You don't mean that we are going abroad, +do you? It <i>couldn't</i> be anything so lovely as that, could it?"</p> + +<p>For answer he drew an envelope from his pocket and shook it before her +eyes. "Look for yourself," he said. "This is to show that we are listed +for passage on a steamer going to Antwerp the first of June. You may begin +to pack your trunk next week, if you wish."</p> + +<p>It was impossible for Lloyd to eat any more after that. She was too +excited and happy, and there were countless questions she wanted to ask. +"It's bettah than a hundred house pahties," she exclaimed, as she blew out +the last birthday candle. "It's the loveliest wondah-ball that evah was, +and I'm suah that nobody in all Kentucky is as happy as I am now."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND</h3> + + +<p>Lloyd's wonder-ball began to unroll the morning that her father took her +to town to choose her own steamer trunk, and some of the things that were +to go in it. She packed and unpacked it many times in the two weeks that +followed, although she knew that Mom Beck would do the final packing, and +probably take out half the things which she insisted upon crowding into +it.</p> + +<p>Every morning it was a fresh delight to waken and find it standing by her +dressing-table, reminding her of the journey they would soon begin +together, and, when the journey was actually begun, she settled back in +her seat with a happy sigh.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'll commence to count my packages as they fall out," she said. "I +think I ought to count what I see from the car windows as one, for I enjoy +looking out at the different places we pass moah than I evah enjoyed my +biggest pictuah books."</p> + +<p>"Then count this number two," said her father, putting a flat, square +parcel in her lap. Lloyd looked puzzled as she opened it. There was only a +blank book inside, bound in Russia leather, with the word "Record" stamped +on it in gilt.</p> + +<p>"I thought it would be a good idea to keep a partnership diary," he said. +"We can take turns in writing in it, and some day, when you are grown, and +your mother and I are old and gray, it will help us to remember much of +the journey that otherwise might pass out of our memories. So many things +happen when one is travelling, that they are apt to crowd each other out +of mind unless a record is kept of them."</p> + +<p>"We'll begin as soon as we get on the ship," said Lloyd. "Mothah shall +write first, then you, and then I. And let's put photographs in it, too, +as Mrs. Walton did in hers. It will be like writing a real book. Package +numbah two is lovely, Papa Jack."</p> + +<p>It happened that Mr. Sherman was the only one who made an entry in the +record for more than a week. Mrs. Sherman felt the motion of the vessel +too much to be able to do more than lie out on deck in her steamer-chair. +The Little Colonel, while she was not at all seasick, was afraid to +attempt writing until she reached land.</p> + +<p>"The table jiggles so!" she complained, when she sat down at a desk in the +ship's library. "I'm afraid that I'll spoil the page. You write it, Papa +Jack." She put back the pen, and stood at his elbow while he wrote.</p> + +<p>"Put down about all the steamah lettahs that we got," she suggested, "and +the little Japanese stove Allison Walton sent me for my muff, and the +books Rob sent. Oh, yes! And the captain's name and how long the ship is, +and how many tons of things to eat they have on board. Mom Beck won't +believe me when I tell her, unless I can show it to her in black and +white."</p> + +<p>After they had explored the vessel together, her father was ready to +settle down in his deck-chair in a sheltered corner, and read aloud or +sleep. But the Little Colonel grew tired of being wrapped like a mummy in +her steamer rug. She did not care to read long at a time, and she grew +tired of looking at nothing but water. Soon she began walking up and down +the deck, looking for something to entertain her. In one place some little +girls were busy with scissors and paint-boxes, making paper dolls. Farther +along two boys were playing checkers, and, under the stairs, a group of +children, gathered around their governess, were listening to a fairy tale. +Lloyd longed to join them, for she fairly ached for some amusement. She +paused an instant, with her hand on the rail, as she heard one sentence: +"And the white prince, clasping the crystal ball, waved his plumed cap to +the gnome, and vanished."</p> + +<p>Wondering what the story was about, Lloyd walked around to the other side +of the deck, only to find another long uninteresting row of sleepy figures +stretched out in steamer-chairs, and half hidden in rugs and cloaks. She +turned to go back, but paused as she caught sight of a girl, about her own +age, standing against the deck railing, looking over into the sea. She was +not a pretty girl. Her face was too dark and thin, according to Lloyd's +standard of beauty, and her mouth looked as if it were used to saying +disagreeable things.</p> + +<p>But Lloyd thought her interesting, and admired the scarlet jacket she +wore, with its gilt braid and buttons, and the scarlet cap that made her +long plaits of hair look black as a crow's wing by contrast. Her hair was +pretty, and hung far below her waist, tied at the end with two bows of +scarlet ribbon.</p> + +<p>The girl glanced up as Lloyd passed, and although there was a cool stare +in her queer black eyes, Lloyd found herself greatly interested. She +wanted to make the stranger's acquaintance, and passed back and forth +several times, to steal another side glance at her. As she turned for the +third time to retrace her steps, she was nearly knocked off her feet by +two noisy boys, who bumped against her. They were playing horse, to the +annoyance of all the passengers on deck, stepping on people's toes, +knocking over chairs, and stumbling against the stewards who were hurrying +along with their heavy trays of beef tea and lemonade.</p> + +<p>Lloyd had seen the boys several times before. They were little fellows of +six and nine, with unusually thin legs and shrill voices, and were always +eating.</p> + +<p>Every time a deck steward passed, they grabbed a share of whatever he +carried. They seemed to have discovered some secret passage to the ship's +supplies. Their blouses were pouched out all around with the store of +gingersnaps, nuts, and apples which they had managed to stow away as a +reserve fund. Lloyd had seen the larger boy draw out six bananas, one +after another, from his blouse, and then squirm and wriggle and almost +stand on his head to reach the seventh, which had slipped around to his +back while he was eating the others. They were munching raisins now, as +they ran.</p> + +<p>After their collision with Lloyd they stopped running, and suddenly began +calling, "Here, Fido! Here, Fido!" Lloyd looked around eagerly, expecting +to see some pet dog, and wishing that she had one of the many pet animals +left behind at Locust, to amuse her now. But no dog was in sight. The girl +in the scarlet jacket turned around with an angry scowl.</p> + +<p>"Stop calling me that, Howl Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, crossly. "I'll +tell mamma. You know what she said she'd do to you if you called me +anything but Fidelia."</p> + +<p>"And you know what she said she'd do to you if you kept calling me Howl," +shouted the larger of the boys, making a saucy face and darting forward to +give one of her long plaits of hair a sudden pull.</p> + +<p>Quick as a flash, Fidelia turned, and catching him by the wrists, twisted +them till he began to whimper with pain, and tried to set his teeth in her +hand.</p> + +<p>"You <i>dare</i> bite me, you little beast!" she cried. "You just dare, and +I'll tell mamma how you spit at the waiter the morning we left the hotel."</p> + +<p>Lloyd was scandalised. They were quarrelling like two little dogs, +seemingly unconscious of the fact that a hundred people were within +hearing. As Fidelia seemed to be getting the upper hand, the little +brother joined in, calling in a high piping voice, "And if you squeal on +Howell, Fidelia Sattawhite, I'll tell mamma how you went out walking by +yourself in New York when she told you not to, and took her new purse and +lost it! So there, Miss Smarty!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, those dreadful American children!" said an English woman near Lloyd. +"They're all alike. At least the ones who travel. I have never seen any +yet that had any manners. They are all pert and spoiled. Fancy an English +child, now, making such a scene in public!"</p> + +<p>The Little Colonel could feel her face growing painfully red. She was +indignant at being classed with such rude children, and walked quickly +away. At the cabin door she met a maid, who, coming out on deck with +something wrapped carefully in an embroidered shawl, sat down on one of +the empty benches.</p> + +<p>Scarcely was she seated when the two boys pounced down upon her and began +pulling at the blanket. "Oh, let me see Beauty, Fanchette," begged Howell. +"Make him sit up and do some tricks."</p> + +<p>The maid pushed them away with a strong hand, and then carefully drew +aside a corner of the covering. Lloyd gave an exclamation of pleasure, for +the head that popped out was that of a bright little French poodle. She +had thought many times that morning of the two Bobs, and good old Fritz, +dead and gone, of Boots, the hunting-dog, and the goat and the gobbler +and the parrot,—all the animals she had loved and played with at Locust, +wishing she had them with her. Now as she saw the bright eyes of the +poodle peeping over the blanket, she forgot that she was a stranger, and +running across the deck, she stooped down beside it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the darling little dog!" she exclaimed, touching the silky hair +softly. "May I hold him for a minute?"</p> + +<p>The maid smiled, but shook her head. "Ah, that the madame will not allow," +she said.</p> + +<p>"It cost a thousand dollars," explained Howell, eagerly, "and mamma thinks +more of it than she does of us. Doesn't she, Henny?"</p> + +<p>The small boy nodded with a finger in his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Show her Beauty's bracelet, Fanchette," said Howell. Turning back another +fold of the blanket, the maid lifted a little white paw, on which sparkled +a tiny diamond bracelet. Lloyd drew a long breath of astonishment. "Some +of its teeth are filled with gold," continued Howell. "We had to stay a +whole week in New York while Beauty was in the dog hospital, having them +filled. They could only do a little at a time. One of his tricks is to +laugh so that he shows all his fillings. Laugh, Beauty!" he commanded. +"Laugh, old fellow, and show your gold teeth!"</p> + +<p>He shook a dirty finger in the poodle's face, and it obediently stretched +its mouth, to show all its little gold-filled teeth.</p> + +<p>"See!" exclaimed Howell, much pleased. "Do it again!"</p> + +<p>But the maid interfered. "Your mother told you not to touch Beauty again. +You'd have the poor little thing's mouth stretched till it had the +face-ache, if you weren't watched all the time. Go away! You are a naughty +boy!"</p> + +<p>Howell's lips shot out in a sullen pout, and the maid, not knowing what he +might do next, rose with the poodle in her arms and walked to the other +side of the vessel.</p> + +<p>"Wish't the little beast was dead!" he muttered. "I get scolded and +punished for nothing at all whenever it is around. It and Fidelia! I +haven't any use for girls and puppy-dogs!"</p> + +<p>After this uncivil remark he waited for the angry retort which he thought +would naturally follow, but to his surprise Lloyd only laughed +good-naturedly. She found him amusing, even if he was rude and cross, and +she could not wonder that he had such an opinion of girls, after +witnessing his quarrel with Fidelia. The boys had begun it, but she was +older and could have turned it aside had she wished. And she thought it +perfectly natural that he should dislike the dog if he thought his mother +preferred its comfort to his.</p> + +<p>"You'd like dogs if you could have one like my old Fritz," began Lloyd, +glad of some one to talk to. Sitting down on the bench that the maid had +left, she began talking of him and the pony and the other pets at Locust, +At first the boys listened carelessly. Howell cracked his whip, and +Henderson slapped his feet with the ends of the reins he wore. They were +not used to having stories told them, except when they were being scolded, +and their mother or the maid told them tales of what happens to bad little +boys when they will not obey. Although Lloyd's wild ride in a hand-car +with one of the two little knights began thrillingly, they listened with +one foot out, ready to run at first word of the moral lecture which they +thought would surely come at the end.</p> + +<p>The poodle had a maid to make it happy and comfortable, every moment of +its pampered little life. The boys had some one to see that they were +properly clothed and fed, and their nursery at home looked as if a toy +store had been emptied into it. But no one took any interest in their +amusement. When they asked questions the answer always was, "Oh, run along +and don't bother me now." There were no quiet bedtime talks for them to +smooth the snarls out of the day. Their mother was always dining out or +receiving company at that time, and their nurse hurried them to sleep with +threats of the bugaboos under the bed that would catch them if they were +not still. They suspected that the Little Colonel's stories would soon +lead to a lecture on quarrelling.</p> + +<p>Presently they forgot their fears in the interest of the tale. The +youngest boy sidled a little nearer and climbed up on the end of the bench +beside her. Then Howell, dragging his whip behind him, came a step closer, +then another, till he too was on the bench beside her.</p> + +<p>She had never had such a flattering audience. They never took their eyes +from her face, and listened with such breathless attention that she talked +on and on, wondering how long she could hold their interest.</p> + +<p>"They listen to me just as people do to Betty," she thought, proudly. An +hour went by, and half of another, and the bugle blew the first +dinner-call.</p> + +<p>"Go on," demanded Howell, edging closer. "We ain't hungry. Are we, +Henny?"</p> + +<p>"But I must go and get ready for dinner," said Lloyd, rising.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell us some more to-morrow?" begged Howell, holding her skirts +with his dirty little hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," promised Lloyd, laughing and breaking loose from his hold. +"I'll tell you as many stories as you want."</p> + +<p>It was a rash promise, for next day, no sooner had she finished breakfast +and started to take her morning walk around the deck with her father, than +the boys were at her heels. They were eating bananas as they staggered +along, and as fast as one disappeared another was dragged out of their +blouses, which seemed pouched out all around their waists with an +inexhaustible supply. Up and down they followed her, until Papa Jack began +to laugh, and ask what she had done to tame the little savages.</p> + +<p>As soon as she stopped at her chair they dropped down on the floor, +tailor-fashion, waiting for her to begin. Their devotion amused her at +first, and gratified her later, when the English woman who had complained +of their manners stopped to speak to her.</p> + +<p>"You are a real little 'good Samaritan,'" she said, "to keep those two +nuisances quiet. The passengers owe you a vote of thanks. It is very sweet +of you, my dear, to sacrifice yourself for others in that way."</p> + +<p>Lloyd grew very red. She had not looked upon it as a sacrifice. She had +been amusing herself. But after awhile story-telling did become very +tiresome as a steady occupation. She groaned whenever she saw the boys +coming toward her.</p> + +<p>Fidelia joined them on several occasions, but her appearance was always +the signal for a quarrel to begin. Not until one morning when the boys +were locked in their stateroom for punishment, did she have a chance to +speak to Lloyd by herself.</p> + +<p>"The boys opened a port-hole this morning," explained Fidelia. "They had +been forbidden to touch it. Poor Beauty was asleep on the couch just under +it, and a big wave sloshed over him and nearly drowned him. He was soaked +through. It gave him a chill, and mamma is in a terrible way about him. +Howl and Henny told Fanchette they wanted him to drown. That's why they +did it. They will be locked up all morning. I should think that you'd be +glad. I don't see how you stand them tagging after you all the time. They +are the meanest boys I ever knew."</p> + +<p>"They are not mean to me," said Lloyd. "I can't help feelin' sorry for +them." Then she stopped abruptly, with a blush, feeling that was not a +polite thing to say to the boys' sister.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I don't see why you should feel sorry for them," said Fidelia, +angrily. At which the Little Colonel was more embarrassed than ever. She +could not tell Fidelia that it was because a little poodle received the +fondling and attention that belonged to them, and that it was Fidelia's +continual faultfinding and nagging that made the boys tease her. So after +a pause she changed the subject by asking her what she wanted most to see +in Europe.</p> + +<p>"Nothing!" answered Fidelia. "I wouldn't give a penny to see all the old +ruins and cathedrals and picture galleries in the world. The only reason +that I care to go abroad is to be able to say I have been to those places +when the other girls brag about what they've seen. What do you want to +see?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, thousands of things!" exclaimed Lloyd. "There are the châteaux where +kings and queens have lived, and the places that are in the old songs, +like Bonnie Doon, and London Bridge, and Twickenham Ferry. I want to see +Denmark, because Hans Christian Andersen lived there, and wrote his fairy +tales, and London, because Dickens and Little Nell lived there. But I +think I shall enjoy Switzerland most. We expect to stay there a long time. +It is such a brave little country. Papa has told me a great deal about +its heroes. He is going to take me to see the Lion of Lucerne, and to +Altdorf, under the lime-tree, where William Tell shot the apple. I love +that story."</p> + +<p>"Well, aren't you <i>queer!</i>" exclaimed Fidelia, opening her eyes wide and +looking at Lloyd as if she were some sort of a freak. It was her tone and +look that were offensive, more than her words. Lloyd was furious.</p> + +<p>"No, I am <i>not</i> queah, Miss Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, moving away much +ruffled. As she flounced toward the cabin, her eyes very bright and her +cheeks very red, she looked back with an indignant glance. "I wish now +that I'd told her why I'm sorry for Howl and Henny. I'd be sorry for +anybody that had such a rude sistah!"</p> + +<p>But there were other children on the vessel whose acquaintance Lloyd made +before the week was over. She played checkers and quoits with the boys, +and paper dolls with the girls, and one sunny morning she was invited to +join the group under the stairs, where she heard the story of the white +prince from beginning to end, and found out why he vanished.</p> + +<p>Those were happy days on the big steamer, despite the fact that Howl and +Henny haunted her like two hungry little shadows. Sometimes the captain +himself came down and walked with her. The Shermans sat at his table, and +he had grown quite fond of the little Kentucky girl with her soft Southern +accent. As they paced the deck hand in hand, he told her marvellous tales +of the sea, till she grew to love the ship and the heaving water world +around them, and wished that they might sail on and on, and never come to +land until the end of the summer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>LLOYD MEETS HERO</h3> + + +<p>It was July when they reached Switzerland. After three weeks of constant +travel, it seemed good to leave boats and railroads for awhile, and stop +to rest in the clean old town of Geneva. The windows of the big hotel +dining-room looked out on the lake, and the Little Colonel, sitting at +breakfast the morning after their arrival, could scarcely eat for watching +the scene outside.</p> + +<p>Gay little pleasure boats flashed back and forth on the sparkling water. +The quay and bridge were thronged with people. From open windows down the +street came the tinkle of pianos, and out on the pier, where a party of +tourists were crowding on to one of the excursion steamers, a band was +playing its merriest holiday music.</p> + +<p>Far away in the distance she could see the shining snow crown of Mont +Blanc, and it gave her an odd feeling, as if she were living in a +geography lesson, to know that she was bounded on one side by the famous +Alpine mountain, and on the other by the River Rhône, whose source she had +often traced on the map. The sunshine, the music, and the gay crowds made +it seem to Lloyd as if the whole world were out for a holiday, and she ate +her melon and listened to the plans for the day with the sensation that +something very delightful was about to happen.</p> + +<p>"We'll go shopping this morning," said Mrs. Sherman. "I want Lloyd to see +some of those wonderful music boxes they make here; the dancing bears, and +the musical hand-mirrors; the chairs that play when you sit down in them, +and the beer-mugs that begin a tune when you lift them up."</p> + +<p>Lloyd's face dimpled with pleasure, and she began to ask eager questions. +"Couldn't we take one to Mom Beck, mothah? A lookin'-glass that would play +'Kingdom Comin', when she picked it up? It would surprise her so she would +think it was bewitched, and she'd shriek the way she does when a +cattapillah gets on her."</p> + +<p>Lloyd laughed so heartily at the recollection, that an old gentleman +sitting at an opposite table smiled in sympathy. He had been watching the +child ever since she came into the dining-room, interested in every look +and gesture. He was a dignified old French soldier, tall and +broad-shouldered, with gray hair and a fierce-looking gray moustache +drooping heavily over his mouth. But the eyes under his shaggy brows were +so kind and gentle that the shyest child or the sorriest waif of a stray +dog would claim him for a friend at first glance.</p> + +<p>The Little Colonel was so busy watching the scene from the window that she +did not see him until he had finished his breakfast and rose from the +table. As he came toward them on his way to the door, she whispered, +"Look, mothah! He has only one arm, like grandfathah. I wondah if he was a +soldiah, too. Why is he bowing to Papa Jack?"</p> + +<p>"I met him last night in the office," explained her father, when the old +gentleman had passed out of hearing. "We got into conversation over the +dog he had with him—a magnificent St. Bernard, that had been trained as a +war dog, to go out with the ambulances to hunt for dead and wounded +soldiers. Major Pierre de Vaux is the old man's name. He served many years +in the French army, but was retired after the siege of Strasburg. The +clerk told me that it was there that the Major lost his arm, and received +his country's medal for some act of bravery. He is well known here in +Geneva, where he comes every summer for a few weeks."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope I'll see the war dog!" cried the Little Colonel. "What do you +suppose his name is?"</p> + +<p>The waiter, who was changing their plates, could not resist this +temptation to show off the little English he knew. "Hes name is <i>Hero</i>, +mademoiselle," he answered. "He vair smart dog. He know <i>evair</i> sing +somebody say to him, same as a person."</p> + +<p>"You'll probably see him as we go out to the carriage," said Mr. Sherman. +"He follows the Major constantly."</p> + +<p>As soon as breakfast was over, Mrs. Sherman went up to her room for her +hat. Lloyd, who had worn hers down to breakfast, wandered out into the +hall to wait for her. There was a tall, carved chair standing near the +elevator, and Lloyd climbed into it. To her great confusion, something +inside of it gave a loud click as she seated herself, and began to play. +It played so loudly that Lloyd was both startled and embarrassed. It +seemed to her that every one in the hotel must hear the noise, and know +that she had started it.</p> + +<p>"Silly old thing!" she muttered, as with a very red face she slipped down +and walked hurriedly away. She intended to go into the reading-room, but +in her confusion turned to the left instead of the right, and ran against +some one coming out of the hotel office. It was the Major.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg your pahdon!" she cried, blushing still more. From the twinkle +in his eye she was sure that he had witnessed her mortifying encounter +with the musical chair. But his first words made her forget her +embarrassment. He spoke in the best of English, but with a slight accent +that Lloyd thought very odd and charming.</p> + +<p>"Ah, it is Mr. Sherman's little daughter. He told me last night that you +had come to Switzerland because it was a land of heroes, and he was sure +that you would be especially interested in mine. So come, Hero, my brave +fellow, and be presented to the little American lady. Give her your paw, +sir!"</p> + +<p>He stepped aside to let the great creature past him, and Lloyd uttered an +exclamation of delight, he was so unusually large and beautiful. His curly +coat of tawny yellow was as soft as silk, and a great ruff of white +circled his neck like a collar. His breast was white, too, and his paws, +and his eyes had a wistful, human look that went straight to Lloyd's +heart. She shook the offered paw, and then impulsively threw her arms +around his neck, exclaiming, "Oh, you deah old fellow! I can't help +lovin' you. You're the beautifulest dog I evah saw!"</p> + +<p>He understood the caress, if not the words, for he reached up to touch her +cheek with his tongue, and wagged his tail as if he were welcoming a +long-lost friend. Just then Mrs. Sherman stepped out of the elevator. +"Good-bye, Hero," said the Little Colonel. "I must go now, but I hope I'll +see you when I come back." Nodding good-bye to the Major, she followed her +mother out to the street, where her father stood waiting beside an open +carriage.</p> + +<p>Lloyd enjoyed the drive that morning as they spun along beside the river, +up and down the strange streets with the queer foreign signs over the shop +doors. Once, as they drove along the quay, they met the Major and the dog, +and in response to a courtly bow, the Little Colonel waved her hand and +smiled. The empty sleeve recalled her grandfather, and gave her a friendly +feeling for the old soldier. She looked back at Hero as long as she could +see a glimpse of his white and yellow curls.</p> + +<p>It was nearly noon when they stopped at a place where Mrs. Sherman wanted +to leave an enamelled belt-buckle to be repaired. Lloyd was not interested +in the show-cases, and could not understand the conversation her father +and mother were having with the shopkeeper about enamelling. So, saying +that she would go out and sit in the carriage until they were ready to +come, she slipped away.</p> + +<p>She liked to watch the stir of the streets. It was interesting to guess +what the foreign signs meant, and to listen to the strange speech around +her. Besides, there was a band playing somewhere down the street, and +children were tugging at their nurses' hands to hurry them along. Some +carried dolls dressed in the quaint costumes of Swiss peasants, and some +had balloons. A man with a bunch of them like a cluster of great red +bubbles, had just sold out on the corner.</p> + +<p>So she sat in the sunshine, looking around her with eager, interested +eyes. The coachman, high up on his box, seemed as interested as herself; +at least, he sat up very straight and stiff. But it was only his back that +Lloyd saw. He had been at a fête the night before. There seems to be +always a holiday in Geneva. He had stayed long at the merrymaking and had +taken many mugs of beer. They made him drowsy and stupid. The American +gentleman and his wife stayed long in the enameller's shop. He could +scarcely keep his eyes open. Presently, although he never moved a muscle +of his back and sat up stiff and straight as a poker, he was sound +asleep, and the reins in his grasp slipped lower and lower and lower.</p> + +<p>The horse was an old one, stiffened and jaded by much hard travel, but it +had been a mettlesome one in its younger days, with the recollection of +many exciting adventures. Now, although it seemed half asleep, dreaming, +maybe, of the many jaunts it had taken with other American tourists, or +wondering if it were not time for it to have its noonday nose-bag, it was +really keeping one eye open, nervously watching some painters on the +sidewalk. They were putting up a scaffold against a building, in order +that they might paint the cornice.</p> + +<p>Presently the very thing happened that the old horse had been expecting. A +heavy board fell from the scaffold with a crash, knocking over a ladder, +which fell into the street in front of the frightened animal. Now the old +horse had been in several runaways. Once it had been hurt by a falling +ladder, and it had never recovered from its fear of one. As this one fell +just under it's nose, all the old fright and pain that caused its first +runaway seemed to come back to its memory. In a frenzy of terror it +reared, plunged forward, then suddenly turned and dashed down the street.</p> + +<p>The plunge and sudden turn threw the sleeping coachman from the box to +the street. With the lines dragging at its heels, the frightened horse +sped on. The Little Colonel, clutching frantically at the seat in front of +her, screamed at the horse to stop. She had been used to driving ever +since she was big enough to grasp the reins, and she felt that if she +could only reach the dragging lines, she could control the horse. But that +was impossible. All she could do was to cling to the seat as the carriage +whirled dizzily around corners, and wonder how many more frightful turns +it would make before she should be thrown out.</p> + +<p>The white houses on either side seemed racing past them. Nurses ran, +screaming, to the pavements, dragging the baby-carriages out of the way. +Dogs barked and teams were jerked hastily aside. Some one dashed out of a +shop and threw his arms up in front of the horse to stop it, but, veering +to one side, it only plunged on the faster.</p> + +<p>Lloyd's hat blew off. Her face turned white with a sickening dread, and +her breath began to come in frightened sobs. On and on they went, and, as +the scenes of a lifetime will be crowded into a moment in the memory of a +drowning man, so a thousand things came flashing into Lloyd's mind. She +saw the locust avenue all white and sweet in blossom time, and thought, +with a strange thrill of self-pity, that she would never ride under its +white arch again. Then she saw Betty's face on the pillow, as she had lain +with bandaged eyes, telling in her tremulous little voice the story of the +Road of the Loving Heart. Queerly enough, with that came the thought of +Howl and Henny, and she had time to be glad that she had amused them on +the voyage, and made them happy. Then came her mother's face, and Papa +Jack's. In a few moments, she told herself, they would be picking up her +poor, broken, lifeless little body from the street. How horribly they +would feel. And then—she screamed and shut her eyes. The carriage had +dashed into something that tore off a wheel. There was a crash—a sound as +of splintering wood. But it did not stop their mad flight. With a horrible +bumping motion that nearly threw her from the carriage at every jolt, they +still kept on.</p> + +<p>They were on the quay now. The noon sun on the water flashed into her eyes +like the blinding light thrown back from a looking-glass. Then something +white and yellow darted from the crowd on the pavement, and catching the +horse by the bit, swung on heavily. The horse dragged along for a few +paces, and came to a halt, trembling like a leaf.</p> + +<p>A wild hurrah went up from both sides of the street, and the Little +Colonel, as she was lifted out white and trembling, saw that it was a huge +St. Bernard that the crowd was cheering.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's H-Hero!" she cried, with chattering teeth. "How did he get +here?" But no one understood her question. The faces she looked into, +while beaming with friendly interest, were all foreign. The eager +exclamations on all sides were uttered in a foreign tongue. There was no +one to take her home, and in her fright she could not remember the name of +their hotel. But in the midst of her confusion a hearty sentence in +English sounded in her ear, and a strong arm caught her up in a fatherly +embrace. It was the Major who came pushing through the crowd to reach her. +Her grandfather himself could not have been more welcome just at that +time, and her tears came fast when she found herself in his friendly +shelter. The shock had been a terrible one.</p> + +<p>"Come, dear child!" he exclaimed, gently, patting her shoulder. "Courage! +We are almost at the hotel. See, it is on the corner, there. The father +and mother will soon be here."</p> + +<p>Wiping her eyes, he led her across the street, explaining as he went how +it happened that he and the dog were on the street when she passed. They +had been in the gardens all morning and were going home to lunch, when +they heard the clatter of the runaway far down the street. The Major could +not see who was in the carriage, only that it appeared to be a child. He +was too old a man, and with his one arm too helpless to attempt to stop +it, but he remembered that Hero had once shared the training of some +collies for police service, before it had been decided to use him as an +ambulance dog. They were taught to spring at the bridles of escaping +horses.</p> + +<p>"I was doubtful if Hero remembered those early lessons," said the Major, +"but I called out to him sharply, for the love of heaven to stop it if he +could, and that instant he was at the horse's head, hanging on with all +his might. Bravo, old fellow!" he continued, turning to the dog as he +spoke. "We are proud of you this day!"</p> + +<p>They were in the corridor of the hotel now, and the Little Colonel, +kneeling beside Hero and putting her arms around his neck, finished her +sobbing with her fair little face laid fondly against his silky coat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you deah, deah old Hero," she said. "You saved me, and I'll love you +fo' evah and evah!"</p> + +<p>The crowd was still in front of the hotel, and the corridor full of +excited servants and guests, when Mr. and Mrs. Sherman hurried in. They +had taken the first carriage they could hail and driven as fast as +possible in the wake of the runaway. Mrs. Sherman was trembling so +violently that she could scarcely stand, when they reached the hotel. The +clerk who ran out to assure them of the Little Colonel's safety was loud +in his praises of the faithful St. Bernard.</p> + +<p>Hero had known many masters. Any one in the uniform of the army had once +had authority over him. He had been taught to obey many voices. Many hands +had fed and fondled him, but no hand had ever lain quite so tenderly on +his head, as the Little Colonel's. No one had ever looked into his eyes so +gratefully as she, and no voice had ever thrilled him with as loving tones +as hers, as she knelt there beside him, calling him all the fond endearing +names she knew. He understood far better than if he had been human, that +she loved him. Eagerly licking her hands and wagging his tail, he told her +as plainly as a dog can talk that henceforth he would be one of her best +and most faithful of friends.</p> + +<p>If petting and praise and devoted attention could spoil a dog, Hero's head +would certainly have been turned that day, for friends and strangers alike +made much of him. A photographer came to take his picture for the leading +daily paper. Before nightfall his story was repeated in every home in +Geneva. No servant in the hotel but took a personal pride in him or +watched his chance to give him a sly sweetmeat or a caress. But being a +dog instead of a human, the attention only made him the more lovable, for +it made him feel that it was a kind world he lived in and everybody was +his friend.</p> + +<p>It was after lunch that the Little Colonel came up-stairs carrying the +diary, now half-filled with the record of their journeying.</p> + +<p>"Put it all down in the book, Papa Jack," she demanded. "I'll nevah forget +to my dyin' day, but I want it written down heah in black and white that +Hero saved me!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>HERO'S STORY</h3> + + +<p>Late that afternoon the Major sat out in the shady courtyard of the hotel, +where vines, potted plants, and a fountain made a cool green garden spot. +He was thinking of his little daughter, who had been dead many long years. +The American child, whom his dog had rescued from the runaway in the +morning, was wonderfully like her. She had the same fair hair, he thought, +that had been his little Christine's great beauty; the same delicate, +wild-rose pink in her cheeks, the same mischievous smile dimpling her +laughing face. But Christine's eyes had not been a starry hazel like the +Little Colonel's. They were blue as the flax-flowers she used to +gather—thirty, was it? No, forty years ago.</p> + +<p>As he counted the years, the thought came to him like a pain that he was +an old, old man now, all alone in the world, save for a dog, and a niece +whom he scarcely knew and seldom saw.</p> + +<p>As he sat there with his head bowed down, dreaming over his past, the +Little Colonel came out into the courtyard. She had dressed early and gone +down to the reading-room to wait until her mother was ready for dinner, +but catching sight of the Major through the long glass doors, she laid +down her book. The lonely expression of his furrowed face, the bowed head, +and the empty sleeve appealed to her strongly.</p> + +<p>"I believe I'll go out and talk to him," she thought. "If grandfathah were +away off in a strange land by himself like that, I'd want somebody to +cheer him up."</p> + +<p>It is always good to feel that one is welcome, and Lloyd was glad that she +had ventured into the courtyard, when she saw the smile that lighted the +Major's face at sight of her, and when the dog, rising at her approach, +came forward joyfully wagging his tail.</p> + +<p>The conversation was easy to begin, with Hero for a subject. There were +many things she wanted to know about him: how he happened to belong to the +Major; what country he came from; why he was called a St. Bernard, and if +the Major had ever owned any other dogs.</p> + +<p>After a few questions it all came about as she had hoped it would. The old +man settled himself back in his chair, thought a moment, and then began at +the first of his acquaintance with St. Bernard dogs, as if he were +reading a story from a book.</p> + +<p>"Away up in the Alpine Mountains, too high for trees to grow, where there +is only bare rock and snow and cutting winds, climbs the road that is +known as the Great St. Bernard Pass. It is an old, old road. The Celts +crossed it when they invaded Italy. The Roman legions crossed it when they +marched out to subdue Gaul and Germany. Ten hundred years ago the Saracen +robbers hid among its rocks to waylay unfortunate travellers. You will +read about all that in your history sometime, and about the famous march +Napoleon made across it on his way to Marengo. But the most interesting +fact about the road to me, is that for over seven hundred years there has +been a monastery high up on the bleak mountain-top, called the monastery +of St. Bernard.</p> + +<p>"Once, when I was travelling through the Alps, I stopped there one cold +night, almost frozen. The good monks welcomed me to their hospice, as they +do all strangers who stop for food and shelter, and treated me as kindly +as if I had been a brother. In the morning one of them took me out to the +kennels, and showed me the dogs that are trained to look for travellers in +the snow. You may imagine with what pleasure I followed him, and listened +to the tales he told me.</p> + +<p>"He said there is not as much work for the dogs now as there used to be +years ago. Since the hospice has been connected with the valley towns by +telephone, travellers can inquire about the state of the weather and the +paths, before venturing up the dangerous mountain passes. Still, the +storms begin with little warning sometimes, and wayfarers are overtaken by +them and lost in the blinding snowfall. The paths fill suddenly, and but +for the dogs many would perish."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know," interrupted Lloyd, eagerly. "There is a story about them in +my old third readah, and a pictuah of a big St. Bernard dog with a flask +tied around his neck, and a child on his back."</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Major, "it is quite probable that that was a picture +of the dog they called Barry. He was with the good monks for twelve years, +and in that time saved the lives of forty travellers. There is a monument +erected to him in Paris in the cemetery for dogs. The sculptor carved that +picture into the stone, the noble animal with a child on his back, as if +he were in the act of carrying it to the hospice. Twelve years is a long +time for a dog to suffer such hardship and exposure. Night after night he +plunged out alone into the deep snow and the darkness, barking at the top +of his voice to attract the attention of lost travellers. Many a time he +dropped into the drifts exhausted, with scarcely enough strength left to +drag himself back to the hospice.</p> + +<p>"Forty lives saved is a good record. You may be sure that in his old age +Barry was tenderly cared for. The monks gave him a pension and sent him to +Berne, where the climate is much warmer. When he died, a taxidermist +preserved his skin, and he was placed in the museum at Berne, where he +stands to this day, I am told, with the little flask around his neck. I +saw him there one time, and although Barry was only a dog, and I an +officer in my country's service, I stood with uncovered head before him. +For he was as truly a hero and served human kind as nobly as if he had +fallen on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>"He had been trained like a soldier to his duty, and no matter how the +storms raged on the mountains, how dark the night, or how dangerous the +paths that led along the slippery precipices, at the word of command he +sprang to obey. Only a dumb beast, some people would call him, guided only +by brute instinct, but in his shaggy old body beat a loving heart, loyal +to his master's command, and faithful to his duty.</p> + +<p>"As I stood there gazing into the kind old face, I thought of the time +when I lay wounded on the field of Strasburg. How glad I would have been +to have seen some dog like Barry come bounding to my aid! I had fallen in +a thicket, where the ambulance corps did not discover me until next day. I +lay there all that black night, wild with pain, groaning for water. I +could see the lanterns of the ambulances as they moved about searching for +the wounded among the many dead, but was too faint from loss of blood to +raise my head and shout for help. They told me afterward that, if my wound +could have received immediate attention, perhaps my arm might have been +saved.</p> + +<p>"But only a keen sense of smell could have traced me in the dense thicket +where I lay. No one had thought of training dogs for ambulance service +then. The men did their best, but they were only men, and I was overlooked +until it was too late to save my arm.</p> + +<p>"Well, as I said, I stood and looked at Barry, wondering if it were not +possible to train dogs for rescue work on battle-fields as well as in +mountain passes. The more I thought of it, the more my longing grew to +make such an attempt. I read everything I could find about trained dogs, +visited kennels where collies and other intelligent sheepdogs were kept, +and corresponded with many people about it. Finally I found a man who was +as much interested in the subject as I. Herr Bungartz is his name. To him +chiefly belongs the credit for the development of the use of ambulance +dogs, to aid the wounded on the field of battle. He is now at the head of +a society to which I belong. It has over a thousand members, including +many princes and generals.</p> + +<p>"We furnish the money that supports the kennels, and the dogs are bred and +trained free for the army. Now for the last eight years it has been my +greatest pleasure to visit the kennels, where as many as fifty dogs are +kept constantly in training. It was on my last visit that I got Hero. His +leg had been hurt in some accident on the training field. It was thought +that he was too much disabled to ever do good service again, so they +allowed me to take him. Two old cripples, I suppose they thought we were, +comrades in misfortune.</p> + +<p>"That was nearly a year ago. I took him to an eminent surgeon, told him +his history, and interested him in his case. He treated him so +successfully, that now, as you see, the leg is entirely well. Sometimes I +feel that it is my duty to give him back to the service, although I paid +for the rearing of a fine Scotch collie in his stead. He is so unusually +intelligent and well trained. But it would be hard to part with such a +good friend. Although I have had him less than a year, he seems very much +attached to me, and I have grown more fond of him than I would have +believed possible. I am an old man now, and I think he understands that he +is all I have. Good Hero! He knows he is a comfort to his old master!"</p> + +<p>At the sound of his name, uttered in a sad voice, the great dog got up and +laid his head on the Major's knee, looking wistfully into his face.</p> + +<p>"Of co'se you oughtn't to give him back!" cried the Little Colonel. "If he +were mine, I wouldn't give him up for the president, or the emperor, or +the czar, or <i>anybody!</i>"</p> + +<p>"But for the soldiers, the poor wounded soldiers!" suggested the Major.</p> + +<p>Lloyd hesitated, looking from the dog to the empty sleeve above it. +"Well," she declared, at last, "I wouldn't give him up while the country +is at peace. I'd wait till the last minute, until there was goin' to be an +awful battle, and then I'd make them promise to let me have him again when +the wah was ovah. Just the minute it was ovah. It would be like givin' +away part of your family to give away Hero."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Major spoke to the dog in French, a quick, sharp sentence +that Lloyd could not understand. But Hero, without an instant's +hesitation, bounded from the courtyard, where they sat, into the hall of +the hotel. Through the glass doors she could see him leaping up the +stairs, and, almost before the Major could explain that he had sent him +for the shoulder-bags he wore in service, the dog was back with them +grasped firmly in his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Now the flask," said the Major. While the dog obeyed the second order, he +opened the bags for Lloyd to examine them. They were marked with a red +cross in a square of white, and contained rolls of bandages, from which +any man, able to use his arms, could help himself until his rescuer +brought further aid.</p> + +<p>The flask which Hero brought was marked in the same way, and the Major +buckled it to his collar, saying, as he fastened first that and then the +shoulder-bags in place, "When a dog is in training, soldiers, pretending +to be dead or wounded, are hidden in the woods or ravines and he is taught +to find a fallen body, and to bark loudly. If the soldier is in some place +too remote for his voice to bring aid the dog seizes a cap, a +handkerchief, or a belt,—any article of the man's clothing which he can +pick up,—and dashes back to the nearest ambulance."</p> + +<p>"What a lovely game that would make!" exclaimed Lloyd. "Do you suppose +that I could train the two Bobs to do that? We often play soldiah at +Locust. Now, what is it you say to Hero when you want him to hunt the men? +Let me see if he'll mind me."</p> + +<p>The Major repeated the command.</p> + +<p>"But I can't speak French," she said in dismay. "What is it in English?"</p> + +<p>"Hero can't understand anything in English," said the Major, laughing at +the perplexed expression that crept into the Little Colonel's face.</p> + +<p>"How funny!" she exclaimed. "I nevah thought of that befo'. I supposed of +co'se that all animals were English. Anyway, Hero comes when I call him, +and wags his tail when I speak, just as if he undahstands every word."</p> + +<p>"It is the kindness in your voice he understands, and the smile in your +eyes, the affection in your caress. That language is the same the world +over, to men and animals alike. But he never would start out to hunt the +wounded soldiers unless you gave this command. Let me hear if you can say +it after me."</p> + +<p>Lloyd tripped over some of the rough sounds as she repeated the sentence, +but tried it again and again until the Major cried "Bravo! You shall have +more lessons in French, dear child, until you can give the command so well +that Hero shall obey you as he does me."</p> + +<p>Then he began talking of Christine, her fair hair, her blue eyes, her +playful ways; and Lloyd, listening, drew him on with many questions, till +the little French maiden seemed to stand pictured before her, her hands +filled with the lovely spring flowers of the motherland.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Major arose, bowing courteously, for Mrs. Sherman, seeing +them from the doorway, had smiled and started toward them. Springing up, +Lloyd ran to meet her.</p> + +<p>"Mothah," she whispered, "please ask the Majah to sit at ou' table +to-night at dinnah. He's such a deah old man, and tells such interestin' +things, and he's lonesome. The tears came into his eyes when he talked +about his little daughtah. She was just my age when she died, mothah, and +he thinks she looked like me."</p> + +<p>The Major's courtly manner and kind face had already aroused Mrs. +Sherman's interest. His empty sleeve reminded her of her father. His +loneliness appealed to her sympathy, and his kindness to her little +daughter had won her deepest appreciation. She turned with a cordial smile +to repeat Lloyd's invitation, which was gladly accepted.</p> + +<p>That was the beginning of a warm friendship. From that time he was +included in their plans. Now, in nearly all their excursions and drives, +there were four in the party instead of three, and five, very often. +Whenever it was possible, Hero was with them. He and the Little Colonel +often went out together alone. It grew to be a familiar sight in the town, +the graceful fair-haired child and the big tawny St. Bernard, walking side +by side along the quay. She was not afraid to venture anywhere with such a +guard. As for Hero, he followed her as gladly as he did his master.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA</h3> + + +<p>A week after the runaway the handsomest collar that could be bought in +town was fastened around Hero's neck. It had taken a long time to get it, +for Mr. Sherman went to many shops before he found material that he +considered good enough for the rescuer of his little daughter. Then the +jeweller had to keep it several days while he engraved an inscription on +the gold name-plate—an inscription that all who read might know what +happened on a certain July day in the old Swiss town of Geneva. On the +under side of the collar was a stout link like the one on his old one, to +which the flask could be fastened when he was harnessed for service, and +on the upper side, finely wrought in enamel, was a red cross on a white +square.</p> + +<p>"Papa Jack!" exclaimed Lloyd, examining it with interest, "that is the +same design that is on his blanket and shouldah-bags. Why, it's just like +the Swiss flag!" she cried, looking out at the banner floating from the +pier. "Only the colours are turned around. The flag has a white cross on a +red ground, and this is a red cross on a white ground. Why did you have it +put on the collah, Papa Jack?"</p> + +<p>"Because he is a Red Cross dog," answered her father.</p> + +<p>"No, Papa Jack. Excuse me for contradictin', but the Majah said he was a +St. Bernard dog."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sherman laughed, but before he could explain he was called to the +office to answer a telegram. When he returned Lloyd had disappeared to +find the Major, and ask about the symbol on the collar. She found him in +his favourite seat near the fountain, in the shady courtyard. Perching on +a bench near by with Hero for a foot-stool, she asked, "Majah, is Hero a +St. Bernard or a Red Cross dog?"</p> + +<p>"He is both," answered the Major, smiling at her puzzled expression. "He +is the first because he belongs to that family of dogs, and he is the +second because he was adopted by the Red Cross Association, and trained +for its service. You know what that is, of course."</p> + +<p>Still Lloyd looked puzzled. She shook her head. "No, I nevah heard of it. +Is it something Swiss or French?"</p> + +<p>"Never heard of it!" repeated the Major. He spoke in such a surprised +tone that his voice sounded gruff and loud, and Lloyd almost jumped. The +harshness was so unexpected.</p> + +<p>"Think again, child," he said, sternly. "Surely you have been told, at +least, of your brave countrywoman who is at the head of the organisation +in America, who nursed not only the wounded of your own land, but followed +the Red Cross of mercy on many foreign battle-fields!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, a hospital nurse!" said Lloyd, wrinkling her forehead and trying to +think. "Miss Alcott was one. Everybody knows about her, and her 'Hospital +Sketches' are lovely."</p> + +<p>"No! no!" exclaimed the Major, impatiently. Lloyd, feeling from his tone +that ignorance on this subject was something he could not excuse, tried +again.</p> + +<p>"I've heard of Florence Nightingale. In one of my books at home, a +<i>Chatterbox</i>, I think, there is a picture of her going through a hospital +ward. Mothah told me how good she was to the soldiahs, and how they loved +her. They even kissed her shadow on the wall as she passed. They were so +grateful."</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," murmured the old man. "Florence Nightingale will live long in +song and story. An angel of mercy she was, through all the horrors of the +Crimean War; but she was an English woman, my dear. The one I mean is an +American, and her name ought to go down in history with the bravest of its +patriots and the most honoured of its benefactors. I learned to know her +first in that long siege at Strasburg. She nursed me there, and I have +followed her career with grateful interest ever since, noting with +admiration all that she has done for her country and humanity the world +over.</p> + +<p>"If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, dear child +(I say it with uncovered head), that one should be the name of <i>Clara +Barton</i>."</p> + +<p>The old soldier lifted his hat as he spoke, and replaced it so solemnly +that Lloyd felt very uncomfortable, as if she were in some way to blame +for not knowing and admiring this Red Cross nurse of whom she had never +heard. Her face flushed, and much embarrassed, she drew the toe of her +slipper along Hero's back, answering, in an abused tone:</p> + +<p>"But, Majah, how could I be expected to know anything about her? There is +nothing in ou' school-books, and nobody told me, and Papa Jack won't let +me read the newspapahs, they're so full of horrible murdahs and things. So +how could I evah find out? I couldn't learn <i>everything</i> in twelve yeahs, +and that's all the longah I've lived."</p> + +<p>The Major laughed. "Forgive me, little one!" he cried, seeing the distress +and embarrassment in her face. "A thousand pardons! The fault is not +yours, but your country's, that it has not taught its children to honour +its benefactor as she deserves. I am glad that it has been given to me to +tell you the story of one of the most beautiful things that ever happened +in Switzerland—the founding of the Red Cross. You will remember it with +greater interest, I am sure, because, while I talk, the cross of the Swiss +flag floats over us, and it was here in this old town of Geneva the +merciful work had its beginning."</p> + +<p>Lloyd settled herself to listen, still stroking Hero's back with her +slipper toe.</p> + +<p>"He was my friend, Henri Durant, and in the old days of chivalry they +would have made him knight for the noble thought that sprang to flower in +his heart and to fruitage in so worthy a deed. He was travelling in Italy +years ago, and happening to be near the place where the battle of +Solferino was fought, he was so touched by the sufferings of the wounded +that he stopped to help care for them in the hospitals. The sights he saw +there were horrible. The wounded men could not be cared for properly. +They died by the hundreds, because there were not enough nurses and +surgeons and food.</p> + +<p>"It moved him to write a book which was translated into several languages. +People of many countries became interested and were aroused to a desire to +do something to relieve the deadly consequences of war. Then he called a +meeting of all the nations of Europe. That was over thirty years ago. +Sixteen of the great powers sent men to represent them. They met here in +Geneva and signed a treaty. One by one other countries followed their +example, until now forty governments are pledged to keep the promises of +the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>"They chose that as their flag in compliment to Switzerland, where the +movement was started. You see they are the same except that the colours +are reversed.</p> + +<p>"Now, according to that treaty, wherever the Red Cross goes, on sea or on +land, it means peace and safety for the wounded soldiers. In the midst of +the bloodiest battle, no matter who is hurt, Turk or Russian, Japanese or +Spaniard, Armenian or Arab, he is bound to be protected and cared for. No +nurse, surgeon, or ambulance bearing that Red Cross can be fired upon. +They are allowed to pass wherever they are needed.</p> + +<p>"Before the nations joined in that treaty, the worst horror of war was the +fate of a wounded soldier, falling into the hands of the enemy. Better a +thousand times to be killed in battle, than to be taken prisoner. Think of +being left, bleeding and faint, on an enemy's field till your clothes +<i>froze to the ground</i>, and no one merciful enough to give you a crust of +bread or a drop of water. Think of the dying piled with the dead and left +to the pitiless rays of a scorching, tropic sun. That can never happen +again, thank Heaven!</p> + +<p>"In time of peace, money and supplies are gathered and stored by each +country, ready for use at the first signal of war. To show her approval, +the empress became the head of the branch in Germany. Soon after the +Franco-Prussian war began, and then her only daughter, the Grand Duchess +Louise of Baden, turned all her beautiful castles into military hospitals, +and went herself to superintend the work of relief.</p> + +<p>"Your country did not join with us at first. You were having a terrible +war at home; the one in which your grandfather fought. All this time Clara +Barton was with the soldiers on their bloodiest battle-fields. When you +go home, ask your grandfather about the battles of Bull Run and Antietam, +Fredericksburg and the Wilderness. She was there. She stood the strain of +nursing in sixteen such awful places, going from cot to cot among the +thousands of wounded, comforting the dying, and dragging many a man back +from the very grave by her untiring, unselfish devotion.</p> + +<p>"When the war was over, she spent four years searching for the soldiers +reported missing. Hundreds and hundreds of pitiful letters came to her, +giving name, regiment, and company of some son or husband or brother, who +had marched away to the wars and never returned. These names could not be +found among the lists of the killed. They were simply reported as +'missing'; whether dead or a deserter, no one could tell. She had spent +weeks at Andersonville the summer after the war, identifying and marking +the graves there. She marked over twelve thousand. So when these letters +came imploring her aid, she began the search, visiting the old prisons, +and trenches and hospitals, until she removed from twenty thousand names +the possible suspicion that the men who bore them had been deserters.</p> + +<p>"No wonder that she came to Europe completely broken down in health, so +exhausted by her long, severe labours that her physicians told her she +must rest several years. But hardly was she settled here in Switzerland +when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and the Red Cross sought her aid, +knowing how valuable her long experience in nursing would be to them. She +could not refuse their appeals, and once more started in the wake of +powder smoke, and cannon's roar.</p> + +<p>"But I'll not start on that chapter of her life, for, if I did, I would +not know where to stop. It was there I met her, there she nursed me back +to life; then I learned to appreciate her devotion to the cause of +humankind. This second long siege against suffering made her an invalid +for many years.</p> + +<p>"The other nations wondered why America refused to join them in their +humane work. All other civilised countries were willing to lend a hand. +But Clara Barton knew that it was because the people were ignorant of its +real purpose that they did not join the alliance, and she promised that +she would devote the remainder of her life, if need be, to showing America +that as long as she refused to sign that treaty, she was standing on a +level with barbarous and heathen countries.</p> + +<p>"For years she was too ill to push the work she had set for herself. When +her strength at last returned, she had to learn to walk. At last, however, +she succeeded. America signed the treaty. Then, through her efforts, the +American National Red Cross was organised. She was made president of it. +While no war, until lately, has called for its services, the Red Cross has +found plenty to do in times of great national calamities. You have had +terrible fires and floods, cyclones, and scourges of yellow fever. Then +too, it has taken relief to Turkey and lately has found work in Cuba.</p> + +<p>"I know that you would like to look into Miss Barton's jewel-box. Old +Emperor William himself gave her the Iron Cross of Prussia. The Grand Duke +and Duchess of Baden sent her the Gold Cross of Remembrance. Medals and +decorations from many sovereigns are there—the Queen of Servia, the +Sultan of Turkey, the Prince of Armenia. Never has any American woman been +so loved and honoured abroad, and never has an American woman been more +worthy of respect at home. It must be a great joy to her now, as she sits +in the evening of life, to count her jewels of remembrance, and feel that +she has done so much to win the gratitude of her fellow creatures.</p> + +<p>"You came to visit Switzerland because it is the home of many heroes; but +let me tell you, my child, this little republic has more to show the world +than its William Tell chapels and its Lion of Lucerne. As long as the old +town of Geneva stands, the world will not forget that here was given a +universal banner of peace, and here was signed its greatest treaty—the +treaty of the Red Cross."</p> + +<p>As the Major stopped, the Little Colonel looked up at the white cross +floating above the pier, and then down at the red one on Hero's collar, +and drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could do something like that!" she exclaimed, earnestly. "I used +to wish that I could go out like Joan of Arc to do some great thing that +would make people write books about me, and carve me on statues, and paint +pictures and sing songs in my honah, but I believe that now I'd rathah do +something bettah than ride off to battle on a prancin' white chargah. +Thank you, Majah, for tellin' me the story. I'm goin' for a walk now. May +I take Hero?"</p> + +<p>A few minutes later the two were wandering along beside the water +together, the Little Colonel dreaming day-dreams of valiant deeds that she +might do some day, so that kings would send <i>her</i> a Gold Cross of +Remembrance, and men would say with uncovered heads, as the old Major had +done, "If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, that +one should be the name of Lloyd Sherman—<i>The Little Colonel</i>!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT</h3> + + +<p>As the time drew near for them to move northward, Lloyd began counting the +hours still left to her to spend with her new-found friends.</p> + +<p>"Only two moah days, mothah," she sighed "Only two moah times to go +walking with Hero. It seems to me that I <i>can't</i> say good-bye and go away, +and nevah see him again as long as I live!"</p> + +<p>"He is going with us part of the way," answered Mrs. Sherman. "The Major +told us last night that he had decided to visit his niece who lives at +Zürich. We will stop first for a few days at a little town called Zug, +beside a lake of the same name. There is a William Tell chapel near there +that the Major wants to show us, and he will go up the Rigi with us. I +think he dreads parting with you fully as much as you do from Hero. His +eyes follow every movement you make. So many times in speaking of you he +has called you Christine."</p> + +<p>"I know," answered Lloyd, thoughtfully. "He seems to mix me up with her +in his thoughts, all the time. He is so old I suppose he is absent-minded. +When I'm as old as he is, I won't want to travel around as he does. I'll +want to settle down in some comfortable place and stay there."</p> + +<p>"From what he said last night, I judge that this is the last time he +expects to visit that part of Switzerland. When he was a little boy he +used to visit his grandmother, who lived near Zug. The chalet where she +lived is still standing, and he wants to see it once more, he said, before +he dies."</p> + +<p>"He must know lots of stories about the place," said Lloyd.</p> + +<p>"He does. He has tramped all over the mountain back of the town after wild +strawberries, followed the peasants to the mowing, and gone to many a fête +in the village. We are fortunate to have such an interesting guide."</p> + +<p>"I wish that Betty could be with us to hear all the stories he tells us," +said Lloyd, beginning to look forward to the journey with more pleasure, +now that she knew there was a prospect of being entertained by the Major. +Usually she grew tired of the confinement in the little railway carriages +where there were no aisles to walk up and down in, and fidgeted and yawned +and asked the time of day at every station.</p> + +<p>During the first part of the journey toward Zug, the Major had little to +say. He leaned wearily back in his seat with his eyes closed much of the +time. But as they began passing places that were connected with +interesting scenes of his childhood, he roused himself, and pointed them +out with as much enjoyment as if he were a schoolboy, coming home on his +first vacation.</p> + +<p>"See those queer little towers still left standing on the remnants of the +old town wall," he said as they approached Zug. "The lake front rests on a +soft, shifting substratum of sand, and there is danger, when the water is +unusually low, that it may not be able to support the weight of the houses +built upon it. One day, over four hundred years ago, part of the wall and +some of the towers sank down into the lake with twenty-six houses.</p> + +<p>"I have heard my grandmother tell of it, many a time, as she heard the +tale from her grandmother. Many lives were lost that day, and there was a +great panic. Later in the day, some one saw a cradle floating out in the +lake, and when it was drawn in, there lay a baby, cooing and kicking up +his heels as happily as if cradle-rides on the water were common +occurrences. He was the little son of the town clerk, and grew up to be +one of my ancestors. Grandmother was very fond of telling that tale, how +the baby smiled on his rescuers, and what a fine, pleasant man he grew up +to be, beloved by the whole village.</p> + +<p>"It has not been much over a dozen years since another piece of the town +sank down into the water. A long stretch of lake front with houses and +gardens and barns was sucked under."</p> + +<p>"How dreadful!" exclaimed Lloyd, with a shiver. "Let us go somewhere else, +Papa Jack," she begged. "I don't want to sleep in a place where the bottom +may drop out any minute."</p> + +<p>Her father laughed at her fears, and the Major assured her that they would +not take her to a hotel near the water's edge.</p> + +<p>"We are going to the other side of the town, to an inn that stands close +against the mountainside. The inn-keeper is an old friend of mine, who has +lived here all his life."</p> + +<p>In spite of all they said to quiet her fears, the Little Colonel was far +from feeling comfortable, and took small pleasure at first in going to see +the sights of the quaint little town. She was glad when they pushed away +from the pier next morning, in the steamboat that was to take them across +the lake to the William Tell chapel. She dreaded to return, but a handful +of letters from Lloydsboro Valley, and one apiece from Betty and Eugenia +that she found awaiting her at the inn, made her forget the shifting sands +below her. She read and re-read some of them, answered several, and then +began to look for the Major and Hero. They were nowhere to be found.</p> + +<p>They went away directly after lunch, her father told her, to the chalet on +the mountain back of the town. "You will have to be content with my humble +society," he added. "You can't expect to be always escorted by titled +soldiers and heroes."</p> + +<p>"Now you're teasin'," said Lloyd, with a playful pout. "But I do wish that +the Majah had left Hero. There are so few times left for us to go walkin' +togethah."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid that you look oftener at that dog than you do at the scenery +and the foreign sights that you came over here to see," said her father, +with a smile. "You can see dogs in Lloydsboro Valley any day."</p> + +<p>"But none like Hero," cried the Little Colonel, loyally. "And I <i>am</i> +noticin' the sights, Papa Jack. I think there was nevah anything moah +beautiful than these mountains, and I just love it heah when it is so +sunny and still. Listen to the goat-bells tinklin' away up yondah where +that haymakah is climbing with a pack of hay tied on his shouldahs! And +how deep and sweet the church-bell sounds down heah in the valley as it +tolls across the watah! The lake looks as blue as the sapphires in +mothah's necklace. The pictuah it makes for me is one of the loveliest +things that my wondah-ball has unrolled. Nobody could have a bettah +birthday present than this trip has been. The only thing about it that has +made me unhappy for a minute is that I must leave Hero and nevah see him +again. He follows me just as well now as he does his mastah."</p> + +<p>The Major came back from his long climb up the mountain, very tired. "It +is more than I should have undertaken the first day," he said, "but back +here in the scenes of my boyhood I find it hard to realise that I am an +old, old man. I'll be rested in the morning, however, ready for whatever +comes."</p> + +<p>But in the morning he was still much exhausted, and came down-stairs +leaning heavily on his cane. He asked to be excused from going up on the +Rigi with them. He said that he would stay at home and sit in the sun and +rest. They offered to postpone the trip, but he insisted on their going +without him. They must be moving on to Zürich, soon, he reminded them, and +they might not have another day of such perfect weather, for the +excursion.</p> + +<p>Hero stood looking from the Major in his chair, to the Little Colonel, +standing with her hat and jacket on, ready to start. He could not +understand why he and his master should be left behind, and walked from +one to the other, wagging his tail and looking up questioningly into their +faces.</p> + +<p>"Go, if you wish," said the Major, kindly patting his head. "Go and take +good care of thy little Christine. Let no harm befall her this day!" The +dog bounded away as if glad of the permission, but at the door turned +back, and seeing that the Major was not following, picked up his hat in +his mouth. Then, carrying it back to the Major, stood looking up into his +master's face, wagging his tail.</p> + +<p>The Major took the hat and laid it on the table beside him. "No, not +to-day, good friend," he said, smiling at the dog's evident wish to have +him go also. "You may go without me, this time. Call him, Christine, if +you wish his company."</p> + +<p>"Come Hero, come on," called Lloyd. "It's all right."</p> + +<p>The Major waved his hand toward her, saying, "Go, Hero. Guard her well and +bring her back safely. The dear little Christine!" The name was uttered +almost in a whisper.</p> + +<p>With a quick, short bark, Hero started after the Little Colonel, staying +so closely by her side that they entered the train together before the +guard could protest. If he could have resisted the appealing look in the +Little Colonel's eyes as she threw an arm protectingly around Hero's neck, +he could not find it in his heart to refuse the silver that Papa Jack +slipped into his hand; so for once the two comrades travelled side by +side. Hero sat next the window, and looked out anxiously, as the little +mountain engine toiled up the steep ascent, nearer and nearer to the top.</p> + +<p>It was noon when they reached the hotel on the summit where they stopped +for lunch.</p> + +<p>"How solemn it makes you feel to be up so high above all the world!" said +Lloyd, in an awed tone, as they walked around that afternoon, and took +turns looking through the great telescope, at the valley spread out like a +map below them.</p> + +<p>"How tiny the lake looks, and the town is like a toy village! I thought +that the top of a mountain went up to a fine point like a church steeple, +and that there wouldn't be a place to stand on when you got there. Seems +that way when you look up at it from the valley. It doesn't seem possible +that it is big enough to have hotels built on it and lots and lots of room +left ovah. When the Majah said to Hero, in such a solemn way, 'Take good +care of thy little Christine, let no harm befall her this day,' I thought +maybe he wanted Hero to hold my dress in his teeth, so that I couldn't +fall off."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman laughed and Mr. Sherman said, "Do you know that you are +actually up above the clouds? What seems to be mist, rolling over the +valley down there like a dense fog, is really cloud. In a short time we +shall not be able to see through it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" cried the Little Colonel, in astonishment. "Really, Papa Jack? I +always thought that if I could get up into the clouds I could reach out +and touch the moon and the stars. Of co'se I know bettah now, but I should +think I'd be neah enough to see them."</p> + +<p>"No," answered her father, "that is one of the sad facts of life. No +matter how loudly we may cry for the moon, it is hung too high for us to +reach, and the 'forget-me-nots of the angels,' as Longfellow calls the +stars, are not for hands like ours to pick. But in a very little while I +think that we shall see the lightning below us. Those clouds down there +are full of rain. They may rise high enough to give us a wetting, so it +would be wise for us to hurry back to the hotel."</p> + +<p>"It is the strangest thing that evah happened to me in all my life!" said +Lloyd a few minutes later, as they sat on the hotel piazza, watching the +storm below them. Overhead the summer sun was shining brightly, but just +below the heavy storm clouds rolled, veiling all the valley from sight. +They could see the forked tongues of lightning darting back and forth far +below them, and hear the heavy rumble of thunder.</p> + +<p>"It seems so wondahful to think that we are safe up above the storm. Look! +There is a rainbow! And there is anothah and anothah! Oh, it is so +beautiful, I'm glad it rained!"</p> + +<p>The storm, that had lasted for nearly an hour, gradually cleared away till +the valley lay spread out before them once more, in the sunshine, green +and dripping from the summer shower.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Little Colonel, as they started homeward, "aftah this +I'll remembah that no mattah how hard it rains the sun is always shining +somewhere. It nevah hides itself from us. It is the valley that gets +behind the clouds, just as if it was puttin' a handkerchief ovah its face +when it wanted to cry. It's a comfort to know that the sun keeps shining, +on right on, unchanged."</p> + +<p>It was nearly dark when they reached the little inn again in Zug. The +narrow streets were wet, and the eaves of the houses still dripping. The +landlord came out to meet them with an anxious face. "Your friend, the old +Major," he said, in his broken English, "he have not yet return. I fear +the storm for him was bad."</p> + +<p>"Where did he go?" inquired Mr. Sherman. "I did not know that he intended +leaving the hotel at all to-day. He did not seem well."</p> + +<p>"Early after lunch," was the answer. "He say he will up the mountain go, +behind the town. He say that now he vair old man, maybe not again will he +come this way, and one more time already before he die, he long to gather +for himself the Alpine rosen."</p> + +<p>"Have you had a hard storm here?" asked Mrs. Sherman.</p> + +<p>The landlord shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands.</p> + +<p>"The vair worst, madame. Many trees blow down. The lightning he strike a +house next to the church of St. Oswald, and a goatherd coming down just +now from the mountain say that the paths are heaped with fallen limbs, and +slippery with mud. That is why for I fear the Major have one accident +met."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he has stopped at some peasant's hut for shelter," suggested Mr. +Sherman, seeing the distress in Lloyd's face. "He knows the region around +here thoroughly. However, if he is not here by the time we are through +dinner, we'll organise a searching party."</p> + +<p>"Hero knows that something is wrong," said the Little Colonel, as they +went into the dining-room a few minutes later. "See how uneasy he seems, +walking from room to room. He is trying to find his mastah."</p> + +<p>The longer they discussed the Major's absence the more alarmed they +became, as the time passed and he did not return.</p> + +<p>"You know," suggested Lloyd, "that with just one arm he couldn't help +himself much if he should fall. Maybe he has slipped down some of those +muddy ravines that the goatherd told about. Besides, he was so weak and +tiahed this mawnin.'"</p> + +<p>Presently her face brightened with a sudden thought.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Papa Jack! Let's send Hero. I know where the Majah keeps his things, +the flask and the bags, and the dog will know, as soon as they are +fastened on him, that he must start on a hunt. And I believe I can say the +words in French so that he'll undahstand. Only yestahday the Majah had me +repeating them."</p> + +<p>"That's a bright idea," answered her father, who was really more anxious +than he allowed any one to see. "At least it can do no harm to try."</p> + +<p>"I don't want any dessert. Mayn't I go now?" Lloyd asked. As she hurried +up the stairs, her heart beating with excitement, she whispered to +herself, "Oh, if he <i>should</i> happen to be lost or hurt, and Hero should +find him, it would be the loveliest thing that evah happened."</p> + +<p>Hero seemed to know, from the moment he saw the little flask marked with +the well-known Red Cross, what was expected of him. All the guests in the +inn gathered around the door to see him start on his uncertain quest. He +sniffed excitedly at his master's slipper, which Lloyd held out to him. +Then, as she motioned toward the mountain, and gave the command in French +that the Major had taught her, he bounded out into the gloaming, with +several quick short barks, and darted up the narrow street that led to the +mountain road.</p> + +<p>Maybe if he had not been with his master that way, the day before, he +might not have known what path to take. The heavy rain had washed away all +trails, so he could not trace him by the sense of smell; but remembering +the path which they had travelled together the previous day, he +instinctively started up that.</p> + +<p>The group in the doorway of the inn watched him as long as they could see +the white line of his silvery ruff gleam through the dusk, and then, going +back to the parlour, sat down to wait for his return. To most of them it +was a matter of only passing interest. They were curious to know how much +the dog's training would benefit his master, under the circumstances, if +he should be lost. But to the Little Colonel it seemed a matter of life +and death. She walked nervously up and down the hall with her hands behind +her, watching the clock and running to the door to peer out in the +darkness, every time she heard a sound.</p> + +<p>Some one played a noisy two-step on the loose-jointed old piano. A young +man sang a serenade in Italian, and two girls, after much coaxing, +consented to join in a high, shrill duet.</p> + +<p>Light-hearted laughter and a babel of conversation floated from the +parlour to the hall, where Lloyd watched and waited. Her father waited +with her, but he had a newspaper. Lloyd wondered how he could read while +such an important search was going on. She did not know that he had little +faith in the dog's ability to find his master. She, however, had not a +single doubt of it.</p> + +<p>The time seemed endless. Again and again the little cuckoo in the hall +clock came out to call the hour, the quarters and halves. At last there +was a patter of big soft paws on the porch, and Lloyd springing to the +door, met Hero on the threshold. Something large and gray was in his +mouth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Papa Jack!" she cried. "He's found him! Hero's found him! This is the +Majah's Alpine hat. The flask is gone from his collah, so the Majah must +have needed help. And see how wild Hero is to start back. Oh, Papa Jack! +Hurry, please!"</p> + +<p>Her call brought every one from the parlour to see the dog, who was +springing back and forth with eager barks that asked, as plainly as words, +for some one to follow him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let me go with you! <i>Please</i>, Papa Jack," begged Lloyd.</p> + +<p>He shook his head decidedly. "No, it is too late and dark, and no telling +how far we shall have to climb. You have already done your part, my dear, +in sending the dog. If the Major is really in need of help, he will have +you to thank for his rescue."</p> + +<p>The landlord called for lanterns. Several of the guests seized their hats +and alpenstocks, and in a few minutes the little relief party was hurrying +along the street after their trusty guide, with Mr. Sherman in the lead. +He had caught up a hammock as he started. "We may need some kind of a +stretcher," he said, slinging it over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>They trudged on in silence, wondering what they would find at the end of +their journey. The mountain path was strewn with limbs broken off by the +storm. Although the moon came up presently and added its faint light to +the yellow rays of the lanterns, they had to pick their steps slowly, +often stumbling.</p> + +<p>Hero, bounding on ahead, paused to look back now and then, with impatient +barks. They had climbed more than an hour, when he suddenly shot ahead +into the darkest part of the woods and gave voice so loudly that they knew +that they had reached the end of their search, and pushed forward +anxiously.</p> + +<p>The moonlight could not reach this spot among the trees, so densely +shaded, but the lanterns showed them the old man a short distance from the +path. He was pinned to the wet earth by a limb that had fallen partly +across him. Fortunately, the storm had been unable to twist it entirely +from the tree. Only the outer end of the limb had struck him, but the +tangle of leafy boughs above him was too thick to creep through. His +clothes were drenched, and on the ground beside him, beaten flat by the +storm, lay the bunch of Alpine roses he had climbed so far to find.</p> + +<p>He was conscious when the men reached him. The brandy in the flask had +revived him and as they drew him out from under the branches and stretched +the hammock over some poles for a litter, he told them what had happened. +He had been some distance farther up the mountain, and had stopped at a +peasant's hut for some goat's milk. He rested there a long time, never +noticing in the dense shade of the woods that a storm was gathering.</p> + +<p>It came upon him suddenly. His head was hurt, and his back. He could not +tell how badly. He had lain so long on the wet ground that he was numb +with cold, but thought he would be better when he was once more resting +warm and dry at the inn.</p> + +<p>He stretched out his hand to Hero and feebly patted him, a faint smile +crossing his face. "Thou best of friends," he whispered. "Thou—" Then he +stopped, closing his eyes with a groan. They were lifting him on the +stretcher, and the pain caused by the movement made him faint.</p> + +<p>It was a slow journey down the slippery mountain path. The men who carried +him had to pick their steps carefully. At the inn the little cuckoo came +out of the clock in the hall and called eleven, half past, and midnight, +before the even tramp, tramp of approaching feet made the Little Colonel +run to the door for the last time.</p> + +<p>"They're comin', mothah," she whispered, with a frightened face, and then +ran back to hide her eyes while the men passed up the steps with their +unconscious burden. She thought the Major was dead, he lay so white and +still. But he had only fainted again on the way, and soon revived enough +to answer the doctor's questions, and send word to the Little Colonel that +she and Hero had saved his life. "Do you heah that?" she asked of Hero, +when they told her what he had said. "The doctah said that if the Majah +had lain out on that cold, wet ground till mawnin', without any attention, +it surely would have killed him. I'm proud of you, Hero. I'm goin' to get +Papa Jack to write a piece about you and send it to the <i>Courier-Journal</i>. +How would you like to have yo' name come out in a big American newspapah?"</p> + +<p>Several lonely days followed for the Little Colonel. Either her father or +mother was constantly with the Major, and sometimes both. They were +waiting for his niece to come from Zürich and take him back with her to a +hospital where he could have better care than in the little inn in Zug.</p> + +<p>It greatly worried the old man that he should be the cause of disarranging +their plans and delaying their journey. He urged them to go on and leave +him, but they would not consent. Sometimes the Little Colonel slipped into +the room with a bunch of Alpine roses or a cluster of edelweiss that she +had bought from some peasant. Sometimes she sat beside him for a few +minutes, but most of her time was spent with Hero, wandering up and down +beside the lake, feeding the swans or watching the little steamboats come +and go. She had forgotten her fear of the bottom dropping out of the town.</p> + +<p>One evening, just at sunset, the Major sent for her. "I go to Zürich in +the morning," he said, holding out his hand as she came into the room. "I +wanted to say good-bye while I have the time and strength. We expect to +leave very early to-morrow, probably before you are awake."</p> + +<p>His couch was drawn up by the window, through which the shimmering lake +shone in the sunset like rosy mother-of-pearl. Far up the mountain sounded +the faint tinkling of goat-bells, and the clear, sweet yodelling of a +peasant, on his homeward way. At intervals, the deep tolling of the bell +of St. Oswald floated out across the water.</p> + +<p>"When the snow falls," he said, after a long pause, "I shall be far away +from here. They tell me that at the hospital where I am going, I shall +find a cure. But I know." He pointed to an hour-glass on the table beside +him. "See! the sand has nearly run its course. The hour will soon be done. +It is so with me. I have felt it for a long time."</p> + +<p>Lloyd looked up, startled. He went on slowly.</p> + +<p>"I cannot take Hero with me to the hospital, so I shall leave him behind +with some one who will care for him and love him, perhaps even better than +I have done." He held out his hand to the dog.</p> + +<p>"Come, Hero, my dear old comrade, come bid thy master farewell." Fumbling +under his pillow as he spoke, he took out a small leather case, and, +opening it, held up a medal. It was the medal that had been given him for +bravery on the field of battle.</p> + +<p>"It is my one treasure!" murmured the old soldier, turning it fondly, as +it lay in his palm. "I have no family to whom I can leave it as an +heirloom, but thou hast twice earned the right to wear it. I have no fear +but that thou wilt always be true to the Red Cross and thy name of Hero, +so thou shalt wear thy country's medal to thy grave."</p> + +<p>He fastened the medal to Hero's collar, then, with the dog's great head +pressed fondly against him, he began talking to him softly and gently in +French. Lloyd could not understand, but the sight of the gray-haired old +soldier taking his last leave of his faithful friend brought the tears to +her eyes.</p> + +<p>She tried to describe the scene to her mother, afterward.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was so pitiful!" she exclaimed. "It neahly broke my heart. Then he +called me to him and said that because I was like his little Christine, he +knew that I would be good to Hero, and he asked me to take him back to +America with me. I promised that I would. Then he put Hero's paw in my +hand, and said, 'Hero, I give thee to thy little mistress. Protect and +guard her always, as she will love and care for thee.' It was awfully +solemn, almost like some kind of blessing.</p> + +<p>"Then he lay back on the pillows as if he was too tiahed to say anothah +word. I tried to thank him, but I was so surprised and glad that Hero was +mine, and yet so sorry to say good-bye to the Majah, that the right words +wouldn't come. I just began to cry again. But I am suah the Majah +undahstood. He patted my hand and smoothed my hair and said things in +French that sounded as if he was tryin' to comfort me. Aftah awhile I +remembahed that we had been there a long time, and ought to go, so I +kissed him good-bye, and Hero and I went out, leavin' the doah open as he +told us. He watched us all the way down the hall. When I turned at the +stairway to look back, he was still watchin'. He smiled and waved his +hand, but the way he smiled made me feel worse than evah, it was so sad."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sherman went with the Major next morning, when he was taken to Zürich. +Lloyd was asleep when they left the inn, so the last remembrance she had +of the Major was the way he looked as he lay on his couch in the sunset, +smiling, and waving his hand to her. When Christmastide came, it was as he +said. He was with his little Christine.</p> + +<p>"I can hardly keep from crying whenever I think of him," Lloyd wrote to +Betty. "It was so pitiful, his giving up everything in the world that he +cared for, and going off to the hospital to wait there alone for his +hour-glass to run out. Hero seems to miss him, but I think he understands +that he belongs to me now. I can scarcely believe that he is really mine, +and that I may take him back to America with me. He is the best thing that +the wonder-ball has given me, or ever can give me.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow we start to Lucerne to see the Lion in the rocks, and from +there we go to Paris. Only a little while now, and we shall all be +together. I can hardly wait for you to see my lovely St. Bernard with his +Red Cross of Geneva, and the medal that he has earned the right to wear."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>IN TOURS</h3> + + +<p>A dozen times between Paris and Tours the Little Colonel turned from the +car window to smile at her mother, and say with a wriggle of impatience, +"Oh, I can't <i>wait</i> to get there! Won't Betty and Eugenia be surprised to +see us two whole days earlier than they expected!"</p> + +<p>"But you mustn't count too much on seeing them at the hotel the minute we +arrive," her mother cautioned her. "You know Cousin Carl wrote that they +were making excursions every day to the old châteaux near there, and I +think it quite probable they will be away. So don't set your heart on +seeing them before to-morrow night. Some of those trips take two days."</p> + +<p>Lloyd turned to the window again and tried to busy herself with the scenes +flying past: the peasant women with handkerchiefs over their heads, and +the men in blue cotton blouses and wooden shoes at work in the fields; the +lime-trees and the vineyards, the milk-carts that dogs helped to draw. It +was all as Joyce had described it to her, and she pinched herself to make +sure that she was awake, and actually in France, speeding along toward the +Gate of the Giant Scissors, and all the delightful foreign experience that +Joyce had talked about. She had dreamed many day-dreams about this +journey, but the thought that was giving her most pleasure now was not +that these dreams were at last coming true, but that in a very short time +she would be face to face with Betty and Eugenia.</p> + +<p>It was noon when they reached Tours, and went rattling up to the Hotel +Bordeaux in the big omnibus. At first Lloyd was disposed to find fault +with the quaint, old-fashioned hotel which Cousin Carl had chosen as their +meeting-place. It had no conveniences like the modern ones to which she +had been accustomed. There was not even an elevator in it. She looked in +dismay at the steep, spiral stairway, winding around and around in the end +of the hall, like the steps in the tower of a lighthouse. On a side table +in the hall, several long rows of candles, with snuffers, suggested the +kind of light they would have in their bedrooms.</p> + +<p>But everything was spotlessly clean, and the landlady and her daughter +came out to meet them with an air of giving them a welcome home, which +extended even to the dog. After their hospitable reception of Hero, Lloyd +had no more fault to find. She knew that at no modern hotel would he have +been treated so considerately and given the liberty of the house. Since he +was not banished to the courtyard or turned over to a porter's care, she +was willing to climb a dozen spiral stairways, or grope her way through +the semi-darkness of a candle-lighted bedroom every night while they were +in France, for the sake of having Hero free to come and go as he pleased.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" she cried, gaily, to her mother, as a porter with a trunk on +his shoulder led the way up the spiral stairs. "It makes me think of the +old song you used to sing me about the spidah and the fly, 'The way into +my pahlah is up a winding stair.' Nobody but a circus acrobat could run up +the whole flight without getting dizzy. It's a good thing we are only +goin' to the next floah."</p> + +<p>She ran around several circles of steps, and then paused to look back at +her mother, who was waiting for Mr. Sherman's helping arm. "The elephant +now goes round and round when the band begins to play," quoted Lloyd, +looking down on them, her face dimpling with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" piped a shrill voice far above her. "I'm coming!" Lloyd gave a +hasty glance upward to the top floor, and drew back against the wall. For +down the banister, with the speed of a runaway engine, came sliding a +small bare-legged boy. Around and around the dizzy spiral he went, hugging +the railing closely, and bringing up with a tremendous bump against the +newel post at the bottom.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" he said, coolly, looking up at the Little Colonel.</p> + +<p>"It's <i>Henny!</i>" she exclaimed, in amazement. "Henderson Sattawhite! Of all +people! How did you get heah?"</p> + +<p>But the boy had no time to waste in talking. He stuck his thumb in his +mouth, looked at her an instant, and then, climbing down from the +banister, started to the top of the stairs as fast as his short legs could +carry him, for another downward spin.</p> + +<p>Lloyd waited for her mother to come up to the step on which she stood, and +then said, with a look of concern, "Do you suppose they are all heah, +'Fido' an' all of them? And that Howl will follow me around as he did on +shipboard, beggin' for stories? It will spoil all my fun with the girls if +he does."</p> + +<p>"'Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you,'" said her father, +playfully pinching her cheek. "You'll find it easier to escape persecution +on land than on shipboard. Henny didn't seem at all anxious to renew his +acquaintance with you. He evidently finds sliding down bannisters more to +his taste. Maybe Howell has found something equally interesting."</p> + +<p>"I certainly hope so," said Lloyd, running on to their rooms at the end of +the hall. The casement window in her room looked out over a broad +bouleyard, down the middle of which went a double row of trees, shading a +strip of grass, where benches were set at intervals.</p> + +<p>Lloyd leaned out to look and listen. A company of soldiers was marching up +the street in the gay red and blue of their French uniforms, to the music +of a band. A group of girls from a convent school passed by. Then some +nuns. She stood there a long time, finding the panorama that passed her +window so interesting that she forgot how time was passing, until her +mother called to her that they were going down to lunch.</p> + +<p>"I like it heah, evah so much," she announced, as she followed her father +and mother into the dining-room. "Did you ask in the office, Papa Jack, +when the girls would be back?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they have gone to Amboise. They will be home before dark. I am +sorry you missed taking that trip with them, Lloyd. It is one of the most +interesting châteaux around here in my opinion. Mary, Queen of Scots, went +there a bride. There she was forced to watch the Hugenots being thrown +over into the river. Leonardo da Vinci is buried there, and Charles VIII. +was killed there by bumping his head against a low doorway."</p> + +<p>"Oh, deah!" sighed the Little Colonel, "my head is all in a tangle. +There's so many spots to remembah. Every time you turn around you bump +into something you ought to remembah because some great man was bawn +there, or died there, or did something wondahful there. It would be lots +easiah for travellers in Europe if there wasn't so many monuments to smaht +people. Who must I remembah in Tours?"</p> + +<p>"Balzac," said her father, laughing. "The great French novelist. But that +will not be hard. There is a statue of him on one of the principal +streets, and after you have passed him every day for a week, you will +think of him as an old acquaintance. Then this is the scene of one of +Scott's novels—'Quentin Durward.' And the good St. Martin lived here. +There is a church to his memory. He is the patron saint of the place. At +the châteaux you will get into a tangle of history, for their chief +interest is their associations with the old court life."</p> + +<p>"Where is Hero?" asked Mrs. Sherman, suddenly changing the conversation.</p> + +<p>"He's in the pahlah, stretched out on a rug," answered Lloyd. "It's cool +and quiet in there with the blinds down. The landlady's daughtah said no +one went in there often, in the middle of the day, so nobody would disturb +him, and he'd not disturb anybody. He's all tiahed out, comin' so far on +the cars. May I go walkin' with him aftah awhile, mothah?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman looked at her husband, questioningly. "Oh, it's perfectly +safe," he answered. "She could go alone here as well as in Lloydsboro +Valley, and with Hero she could have nothing to fear."</p> + +<p>"I want you to rest awhile first," said Mrs. Sherman. "At four o'clock you +may go."</p> + +<p>Leaving Hero comfortably stretched out asleep in the parlour, Lloyd went +back to her room. She lay down for a few minutes across the bed and closed +her eyes. But she could not sleep with so many interesting sights in the +street below. Presently she tiptoed to the window, and sat looking out +until she heard her mother moving around in the next room. She knew then +that she had had her nap and was unpacking the trunks.</p> + +<p>"Mothah," called Lloyd, "I want to put on my prettiest white embroidered +dress and my rosebud sash, because I'll meet Cousin Carl and the girls +to-night."</p> + +<p>"That is just what I have unpacked for you," said her mother. "Come in and +I'll help you dress."</p> + +<p>Half an hour later it was a very fresh and dainty picture that smiled back +at Lloyd from the mirror of her dressing-table. She shook out her crisp +white skirts, gave the rosebud sash an admiring pat, and turned her head +for another view of the big leghorn hat with its stylish rosettes of white +chiffon. Then she started down the hall toward the spiral stairway. It was +a narrow hall with several cross passages, and at one of them she paused, +wondering if it did not lead to Eugenia's and Betty's rooms.</p> + +<p>To her speechless surprise, a door popped open and a cupful of water was +dashed full in her face. Spluttering and angry, she drew back in time to +avoid another cupful, which came flying through the transom above the same +door. Retreating still farther down the passage, and wiping her face as +she went, she kept her gaze on the door, walking backward in order to do +so.</p> + +<p>Another cupful came splashing out into the hall through the transom. A +boy, tiptoeing up to the door, dodged back so quickly that not a drop +touched him; then with a long squirt gun that he carried, he knelt before +the keyhole and sent a stream of water squirting through it. It was +Howell.</p> + +<p>There was a scream from the bedroom, Fidelia's voice. "Stop that, you +hateful boy! I'll tell mamma! You've nearly put my eye out."</p> + +<p>A muffled giggle and a scamper of feet down the hall was the only answer. +Fidelia threw open the door and looked out, a water pitcher in her hand. +She stopped in amazement at sight of the Little Colonel, who was waiting +for a chance to dodge down the hall past the dangerous door, into the main +passage.</p> + +<p>"For mercy sakes!" exclaimed Fidelia. "When did <i>you</i> come?"</p> + +<p>"In time fo' yoah watah fight," answered the indignant Little Colonel, +shaking out her wet handkerchief. She was thoroughly provoked, for the +front of her fresh white dress was drenched, and the dainty rosebud sash +streaked with water.</p> + +<p>Fidelia laughed. "You don't mean to say that you caught the ducking I +meant for Howl!" she exclaimed. "Well, if that isn't a joke! It's the +funniest thing I ever heard of!" Putting the pitcher on the floor and +clasping her hands to her sides, she laughed until she had to lean against +the wall.</p> + +<p>"It's moah bad mannahs than a joke!" retorted Lloyd, angered more by the +laugh than she had been by the wetting. "A girl as old as you oughtn't to +go travellin' till you know how to behave yo'self in a hotel. I don't +wondah that wherevah you go people say, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!'"</p> + +<p>"It isn't so! They don't say it!" snapped Fidelia. "I've got just as good +manners as you have, anyhow, and I'll throw this whole pitcher of water on +you if you say another word." She caught it up threateningly.</p> + +<p>"You just <i>dare!</i>" cried the Little Colonel, her eyes flashing and her +cheeks flushing. Not for years had she been so angry. She wanted to scream +and pull Fidelia's hair with savage fingers. She wanted to bump her head +against the wall, again and again. But with an effort so great that it +made her tremble, she controlled herself, and stood looking steadily at +Fidelia without a word.</p> + +<p>"I mustn't speak," she kept saying desperately to herself. "I mustn't +speak, or my tempah will get away with me. I might claw her eyes out. I +wish I could! Oh, I <i>wish</i> I could!" Her teeth were set tightly together, +and her hands were clenched.</p> + +<p>Fidelia met her angry gaze unflinchingly for an instant, and then, with a +contemptuous "pooh!" raised the pitcher and gave it a lurch forward. It +was so heavy that it turned in her hands, and instead of drenching Lloyd, +its contents deluged Fanchette, who suddenly came out of the door beside +Lloyd, with the thousand dollar poodle in her arms.</p> + +<p>Poor Beauty gave an injured yelp, and Fidelia drew back and slammed the +door, locking it hastily. She knew that the maid would hurry to her +mistress while he was still shivering, and that there would be an +uncomfortable account to settle by and by.</p> + +<p>Howell, who had crept up to watch the fuss, doubled himself with laughter. +It amused him even more than it had Fidelia that he had escaped the water, +and Lloyd had caught it in his stead. Lloyd swept past him without a word, +and ran to her mother's room so angry that she could not keep the tears +back while telling her grievance.</p> + +<p>"<i>See</i> what that horrid Sattawhite girl has done!" she cried, holding out +her limp wet skirts, and streaked sash, with an expression of disgust. I +just <i>despise</i> her!"</p> + +<p>"It was an accident, was it not?" asked Mrs. Sherman.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she didn't know she was throwing the watah on me, when she pitched it +out, but she was glad that it happened to hit me. She didn't even say +'excuse me,' let alone say that she was sorry. And she laughed and held on +to her sides, and laughed again, and said, 'oh, what a joke,' and that it +was the funniest thing that she evah saw. I think her mothah ought to know +what bad mannahs she's got. Somebody ought to tell her. I told Fidelia +what I thought of her, and I'll nevah speak to her again! So there!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman listened sympathetically to her tale of woe, but as she +unbuttoned the wet dress, and Lloyd still stormed on, she sighed as if to +herself, "Poor Fidelia!"</p> + +<p>"Why, mothah," said Lloyd, in an aggrieved tone, "I didn't s'pose that +you'd take her part against me."</p> + +<p>"Stop and think a minute, little daughter," said Mrs. Sherman, opening her +trunk to take out another white dress. Lloyd was working herself up into a +white heat. "Put yourself in Fidelia's place, and think how she has always +been left to the care of servants, or of a governess who neglected her. +Think how much help you have had in trying to control your temper, and how +little you have had to provoke it. Suppose you had Howell and Henderson +always tagging after you to tease and annoy you, and that I had always +been too busy with my own affairs to take any interest in you, except to +punish you when I was exasperated by the tales that you told of each +other. Wouldn't that have made a difference in your manners?"</p> + +<p>"Y-yes," acknowledged Lloyd, slowly. Then, after a moment's silence, she +broke out again. "I might have forgiven her if only she hadn't laughed at +me. Whenevah I think of that I want to shake her. If I live to be a +hundred yeahs old, I can nevah think of Fidelia Sattawhite, without +remembahin' the mean little way she laughed!"</p> + +<p>"What kind of a memory are you leaving behind you?" suggested Mrs. +Sherman, touching the little ring on Lloyd's finger that had been her +talisman since the house party. "Will it be a Road of the Loving Heart?"</p> + +<p>Lloyd hesitated. "No," she acknowledged, frankly. "Of co'se when I stop to +think, I do want to leave that kind of a memory for everybody. I'd hate to +think that when I died, there'd be even one person who had cause to say +ugly things about me, even Fidelia. But just now, mothah, honestly when I +remembah how she <i>laughed</i>, I feel that I must be as mean to her as she is +to me. I can't help it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman made no answer, but turned to her own dressing, and presently +Lloyd kissed her, and went slowly down-stairs to find Hero. He was no +longer dreaming in peace. Two restless boys cooped up in the narrow limits +of the hotel, and burning with a desire to be amused, had discovered him +through the crack of the door, and immediately pounced upon him.</p> + +<p>"Aw, ain't he nice!" exclaimed Henny, stroking the shaggy back with a +dirty little hand. Howl felt in his blouse, hoping to find some crumb left +of the stock of provisions stored away at lunch-time.</p> + +<p>"Feel there, Henny," he commanded, backing up to his little brother, and +humping his shoulders. "Ain't that a cooky slipped around to the back of +my blouse? Put your hand up and feel."</p> + +<p>Henny obligingly explored the back of his brother's blouse, and fished out +the last cooky, which they fed to Hero.</p> + +<p>"Wisht we had some more," said Howell, as the cake disappeared. "Henny, +you go up and see if you can't hook some of Beauty's biscuit."</p> + +<p>"Naw! I don't want to. I want to play with the dog," answered Henny, "He's +big enough to ride on. Stand up, old fellow, and let me get on your back."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you a scheme," cried Howl; "you run up-stairs and get one of +mamma's shawl-straps, and we'll fix a harness for him, and make him ride +us around the room."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed Henny, trotting out into the hall. At the door he met +Lloyd. When she went into the room she found Howell lying on the floor, +burrowing his head into the dog's side for a pillow. Hero did not like it, +and, shaking himself free, walked across the room and lay down in another +place.</p> + +<p>Howl promptly followed, and pillowed his head on him again. Hero looked +around with an appealing expression in his big, patient eyes, once more +got up, crossed the room, and lay down in a corner. Howell followed him +like a teasing mosquito.</p> + +<p>"Don't bothah him, Howl," said Lloyd. "Don't you see that he doesn't like +it?"</p> + +<p>"But he makes such a nice, soft pillow," said the boy, once more burrowing +his hard little head into Hero's ribs.</p> + +<p>"He might snap at you if you tease him too much. I nevah saw him do it to +any one, but nobody has evah teased him since he belonged to me."</p> + +<p>"Is he your dog?" asked Howl, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Lloyd, proudly. "He saved my life one time, and his +mastah's anothah. And that medal on his collah was one that was given by +France to his mastah fo' bravery, and the Majah gave it to him because he +said that Hero had twice earned the right to wear it."</p> + +<p>"Tell about it," demanded Howl, scenting a story. "How did he—" His +question was stopped in the middle by Hero, who, determined to be no +longer used as a pillow, stood up and gave himself a mighty shake. Walking +over to the sofa piled with cushions, he took one in his mouth, and +carrying it back to Howl dropped it at his feet as if to say, "There! Use +that! I am no sofa pillow." That done he stretched himself out again in +the farthest corner of the room, and laid his head on his paws with a sigh +of relief.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh!" cried the Little Colonel. "Did you evah see anything so sma'ht +as that in all yo' life? It's the brightest thing I evah saw a dog do. He +thought it all out, just like a person. I wish Papa Jack could have seen +him do it. I'm goin' to treat you to something nice fo' that, Hero. Wait +till I run back up-stairs and get my purse."</p> + +<p>Anxious to make him do something else interesting, Howl still followed the +dog. He tickled his paws, turned his ears back and blew in them and +blindfolded him with a dirty handkerchief.</p> + +<p>Lloyd was gone longer than she intended, for she could not find her purse +for several minutes, and she stopped to tell her mother of Hero's +performance with the sofa pillow. When she went into the parlour again, +both boys were kneeling beside the dog. Their backs were toward the door, +Henderson had brought the shawl-strap, and they were using it for the +further discomfort of the patient old St. Bernard.</p> + +<p>"Here, Henny, you sit on his head," commanded Howl, "and I'll buckle his +hind feet to his fore feet, so that when he tries to walk he'll wabble +around and tip over. Won't that be funny?"</p> + +<p>"Stop!" demanded Lloyd. "Don't you do that, Howl Sattawhite! I've told you +enough times to stop teasing my dog."</p> + +<p>Howl only giggled in reply and drew the buckle tighter. There was a quick +yelp of pain, and Hero, trying to pull away found himself fast by the +foot.</p> + +<p>Before Howl could rise from his knees, the Little Colonel had darted +across the room, and seizing him by the shoulders, shook him till his +teeth chattered.</p> + +<p>"There!" she said, giving him a final shake as she pushed him away. "Don't +you evah lay a fingah on that dog again, as long as you live. If you do +you'll be sorry. I'll do something <i>awful</i> to you!"</p> + +<p>For the second time that afternoon her face was white with anger. Her eyes +flashed so threateningly that Howl backed up against the wall, thoroughly +frightened. Releasing Hero from the strap, she led him out of the room, +and, with her hand laid protectingly on his collar, marched him out into +the street.</p> + +<p>"Those tawmentin' Sattawhites!" she grumbled, under her breath. "I wish +they were all shut up in jail, every one of them!"</p> + +<p>But her anger died out as she walked on in the bright sunshine, watching +the strange scenes around her with eager eyes. More than one head turned +admiringly, as the daintily dressed little girl and the great St. Bernard +passed slowly down the broad boulevard. It seemed as if all the nurses and +babies in Touraine were out for an airing on the grass where the benches +stood, between the long double rows of trees.</p> + +<p>Once Lloyd stopped to peep through a doorway set in a high stone wall. +Within the enclosure a group of girls, in the dark uniforms of a charity +school, walked sedately around, arm in arm, under the watchful eyes of the +attendant nuns. Then some soldiers passed on foot, and a little while +after, some more dashed by on horseback, and she remembered that Tours was +the headquarters of the Ninth Army corps, and that she might expect to +meet them often.</p> + +<p>Not till the tolling of the great cathedral bell reminded her that it was +time to go back to the hotel, did she think again of Howl and Kenny and +Fidelia. By that time her walk had put her into such a pleasant frame of +mind, that she could think of them without annoyance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA</h3> + + +<p>When the Little Colonel reached the hotel, the omnibus was leaving the +door to go to the railroad station, a few blocks away. Thinking that Betty +and Eugenia might be on the coming train, she went into the parlour to +wait for the return of the omnibus. She had bought a box of chocolate +creams at the cake shop on the corner to divide with Hero.</p> + +<p>Fidelia had wandered down to the parlour in her absence, and now seated at +the old piano was banging on its yellow keys with all her might. She +played unusually well for a girl of her age, but Lloyd had a feeling that +a public parlour was not a place to show off one's accomplishments, and +her nose went up a trifle scornfully as she entered.</p> + +<p>Then she caught sight of herself in the mirror over the mantel, and her +expression changed instantly.</p> + +<p>"For mercy sakes!" she said to herself. "I look like one of the proud and +haughty sistahs in 'Cindahella,' as if I thought the earth wasn't good +enough for me to step on. It certainly isn't becoming, and it would make +me furious if anybody looked at me in such a cool, scornful way. I know +that I feel that way inside whenevah I talk to Fidelia. I wondah if she +sees it in my face, and that's what makes her cross and scratchy, like a +cat that has had its fur rubbed the wrong way. Just for fun I believe I'll +pretend to myself for ten minutes that I love her deahly, and I'll smile +when I talk to her, just as if she were Betty, and nevah pay any attention +to her mean speeches. I'll give her this one chance. Then if she keeps on +bein' hateful, I'll nevah have anything moah to do with her again."</p> + +<p>So while Fidelia played on toward the end of the waltz, purposely +regardless of Lloyd's presence, Lloyd, sitting behind her, looked into the +mirror, and practised making pleasant faces for Fidelia's benefit.</p> + +<p>The music came to a close with a loud double bang that made Lloyd start up +from her chair with a guilty flush, fearing that she had been caught at +her peculiar occupation. Before Fidelia could say anything, Lloyd walked +over to her with the friendliest of her practised smiles, and held out the +box of chocolate creams.</p> + +<p>"Take some," she said. "They are the best I've had since I left Kentucky."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Fidelia, stiffly, screwing around on the piano-stool, and +helping herself to just one. But feeling the warmth of Lloyd's cordial +tone, urging her to take more, she thawed into smiling friendliness, and +took several. "They are delicious!" she exclaimed. "You got them at the +cake shop on the corner, didn't you? There are two awfully nice American +girls stopping at this hotel who took me in there one day for some. +They've been in Kentucky, too. The one named Elizabeth lives there."</p> + +<p>"Why, it must be Betty and Eugenia!" cried Lloyd. "The very girls we came +here to meet. Do <i>you</i> know them?"</p> + +<p>"Not very well. We've only been here a few days. But I dearly love the one +you call Betty. She came into my room one night when I had the tooth-ache, +and brought a spice poultice and a hot-water bag. Mamma was at a concert, +and Fanchette was cross, and I was so miserable and lonesome I wanted to +die. But Elizabeth knew exactly what to do to stop the pain, and then she +stayed and talked to me for a long time. She told me about a house party +she went to last year, where the girls all caught the measles at a gypsy +camp, and she nearly went blind on account of it."</p> + +<p>"That was <i>my</i> house pahty," exclaimed the Little Colonel, "and my mothah +is Betty's godmothah, and Betty is goin' to live at my house all next +wintah, and go to school with me."</p> + +<p>Fidelia swung farther around on the piano-stool, and faced Lloyd in +surprise. "And are <i>you</i> the Little Colonel!" she cried. "From what +Elizabeth said, I thought she was pretty near an angel!" Fidelia's tone +implied more plainly than her words that she wondered how Betty could +think so.</p> + +<p>A cutting reply was on the tip of Lloyd's tongue, but the sight of her +face in the mirror checked it. She only said, pleasantly, "Betty is +certainly the loveliest girl in the world, and—"</p> + +<p>"There she is now!" interrupted Fidelia, nodding toward the door as voices +sounded in the hall and footsteps came out from the office.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'll be so surprised!" said Lloyd, looking back with a radiant +face as she ran toward the door. "We came two whole days earlier than they +expected!"</p> + +<p>Fidelia heard the joyful greeting, the chorus of surprised exclamations as +Lloyd flew first at Betty, then at Eugenia, with a hug and a kiss, then +turned to greet her Cousin Carl.</p> + +<p>"Betty will never look at me again," Fidelia thought, with a throb of +jealousy, turning away from the sight of their happy meeting, and +beginning to strike soft aimless chords on the piano. "I wish I were one +of them," she whispered, with the tears springing to her eyes. "I hate to +be always on the edge of things, and never in them. We never stay in a +place long enough at a time to make any real friends or have any good +times."</p> + +<p>Chattering and laughing, and asking eager questions, the girls hurried up +the stairs to Mrs. Sherman's room. Almost a year had gone by since Eugenia +and Lloyd had parted on the lantern decked lawn at Locust, the last night +of the house party. The year had made little difference in Lloyd, but +Eugenia had grown so tall that the change was startling.</p> + +<p>"Really, you are taller than I," exclaimed Mrs. Sherman, in the midst of +an affectionate greeting, as she held her off for a better view.</p> + +<p>"And doesn't she look stylish and young ladyfied, with her skirts down to +her ankles," added Lloyd. "You'd nevah think that she was only fifteen, +would you?"</p> + +<p>"I had to have them made long," explained Eugenia, much flattered by +Lloyd's speech. It was her greatest wish to appear "grown up." "Papa says +that I am probably as tall now as I shall ever be, and really I'd look +ridiculous with my dresses any shorter."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman noticed presently, with a smile, that Eugenia seemed to have +gained dignity with her added height. There was something amusingly +patronising in her manner toward the younger girls. She answered Lloyd +several times with an "Oh, no, child" that was almost grandmotherly in its +tone.</p> + +<p>"But here is somebody who has come back just as sweet and childlike as +ever," thought Mrs. Sherman, twisting one of Betty's brown curls around +her finger. Then she said aloud. "Was the trip as delightful as you +dreamed it would be, my little Tusitala?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>yes</i>, godmother," sighed Betty, blissfully. "It was a thousand times +better! And the best of it is my eyes are as well as ever. I needn't be +afraid, now, of that 'long night' that haunted me like a bad dream."</p> + +<p>All during dinner Fidelia kept looking across at the merry party sitting +at the next table, and wished she could be with them. She could not help +hearing all they said, for they were only a few feet away, and there was +no one talking at the table where she sat. The boys were in the children's +dining-room with Fanchette, and her mother was spending the evening with +some friends at the new hotel across the way.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to make believe that I'm one of them," the lonely child said to +herself, smiling as she caught a friendly nod from Betty. So she listened +eagerly to Mr. Forbes's account of their visit to Venice, and to the +volcano of Vesuvius, and laughed with the others over the amusing +experiences Betty and Eugenia had in Norway with a chambermaid who could +not understand them, and in Holland with an old Dutch market-woman, the +day they became separated from Mr. Forbes, and were lost for several +hours.</p> + +<p>Fidelia's salad almost choked her, there was such an ache in her throat +when she heard them planning an excursion for the next day. She had no one +to make plans with, and when she was taken sightseeing it was by a French +teacher, more intent on improving her pupil's accent than in giving her a +happy time.</p> + +<p>As they were finishing their dessert, Mr. Sherman suddenly remembered that +he had a letter in his pocket for Lloyd, which he had forgotten to give +her.</p> + +<p>"It is from Joyce," she said, looking at the post-mark. "Oh, if she were +only heah, what a lovely time we could have! It would be like havin' +anothah house pahty. May I read it now at the table, mothah? It is to all +of us."</p> + +<p>Fidelia almost held her breath. She was so afraid that Mrs. Sherman would +suggest waiting until they went to the parlour. There she could no longer +be one of them, no matter how hard she might pretend. She wanted the +interesting play to go on as long as possible. She did not know that she +ought not to listen. There were many things she had never been taught. +Lloyd began to read aloud.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"DEAR GIRLS:—You will be in Tours by the time this letter + reaches you, and I am simply wild to be there with you. Oh, if I + could be there only one day to take you to all the old places! + Do please go to the home of the 'Little Sisters of the Poor,' + and ask for Sister Denisa. Give her my love, and tell her that I + often think of her. And do go to that funny pie shop on the Rue + Nationale, where everybody is allowed to walk around and help + themselves and keep their own count. And eat one of those tiny + delicious tarts for me. They're the best in the world.</p> + +<p> "I can't think of anything else to-day, but that walk which you + will be taking soon without me. I can shut my eyes and see every + inch of the way, as it used to look when we went home just after + sunset. There is the river Loire all rosy red in the after-glow, + and the bridge with the soldiers marching across it; and on the + other side of the river is the little old village of St. + Symphorian with its narrow, crooked streets. How I love every + old cobblestone! You will see the fat old women rattling home in + their market carts, and hear the clang and click of wooden shoes + down the streets. Then there'll be the high gate of customs in + the old stone wall that fences in the village, and the country + road beyond. You'll climb the hill with the new moon coming up + behind the tall Lombardy poplars, and go on between the fields, + turning brown in the twilight, till the Gate of the Giant + Scissors looms up beside the road like a picture out of some + fairy tale. A little farther on you'll come to Madame's dear old + villa with the high wall around it, and the laurel hedges and + lime-trees inside.</p> + +<p> "I wonder which of you will have my room with the blue parrots + on the wall-paper. Oh, I'm <i>homesick</i> to go back. Yet, isn't it + strange, when I was there I used to long so for America, that + many a time I climbed up in the pear-tree at the end of the + garden for a good cry. Don't forget to swing up into that + pear-tree. There's a fine view from the top.</p> + +<p> "When you see Jules, ask him to show you the goats that chewed + up the cushions of the pony cart, the day we had our + Thanksgiving barbecue in the garden. I fairly ache to be with + you. Please write me a good long letter and tell me what you are + doing; and whenever you hear the nightingales in Madame's + garden, and the cathedral bells tolling out across the Loire, + think of your loving JOYCE."</p></div> + +<p>"Let's do those things to-morrow," exclaimed Lloyd, as she folded the +letter and slipped it back into its envelope. "I don't want to waste time +on any old châteaux with the Gate of the Giant Scissors just across the +river, that we haven't seen yet."</p> + +<p>"I have heard about that gate ever since we left America," said Mr. +Forbes, laughingly. "Nobody has taken the trouble to inform me why it is +so important, or why it was selected for a meeting-place. Somebody owes me +an explanation."</p> + +<p>"It's only an old gate with a mammoth pair of scissors swung on a +medallion above it," said Mr. Sherman. "They were put there by a +half-crazy old man who built the place, by the name of <i>Ciseaux</i>. Joyce +Ware spent a winter in sight of it, and she came back with some wonderful +tale about the scissors being the property of a prince who went around +doing all sorts of impossible things with them. I believe the girls have +actually come to think that the scissors are enchanted."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Papa Jack, stop teasin'!" said the Little Colonel. "You know we +don't!"</p> + +<p>"If it is really settled that we are to go there to-morrow, I want to hear +the story," said Cousin Carl. "I make a practice of reading the history of +a place before I visit it, so I'll have to know the story of the gate in +order to take a proper interest in it."</p> + +<p>"Come into the parlour," said Mrs. Sherman rising. "Betty will tell us."</p> + +<p>As she turned, she saw Fidelia looking after the girls with wistful eyes, +and she read the longing and loneliness in her face.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you like to come too, and hear the fairy tale with us?" she +asked, kindly holding out her hand.</p> + +<p>A look of happy surprise came over Fidelia's face, and before she could +stammer out her acceptance of the unlooked-for invitation, Mrs. Sherman +drew her toward her and led her into the little circle in one corner of +the parlour.</p> + +<p>"Now, we are ready, Tusitala," said Mrs. Sherman, settling herself on the +sofa, with Fidelia beside her. Shaking back her brown curls, Betty began +the fairy tale that Joyce's Cousin Kate had told one bleak November day, +to make the homesick child forget that she was "a stranger in a strange +land."</p> + +<p>"Once upon a time, in a far island of the sea, there lived a king with +seven sons."</p> + +<p>Word for word as she had heard it, Betty told the adventures of the +princes ("the three that were dark and the three that were fair"), and +then of the middle son, Prince Ethelried, to whom the old king gave no +portion of his kingdom. With no sword, nothing but the scissors of the +Court Tailor, he had been sent out into the world to make his fortune. +Even Cousin Carl listened with close attention to the prince's adventures +with the Ogre, in which he was victorious, because the grateful fairy whom +he had rescued laid on the scissors a magic spell.</p> + +<p>"Here," she said, giving them into his hands again, "because thou wast +persevering and fearless in setting me free, these shall win for thee thy +heart's desire. But remember that thou canst not keep them sharp and +shining unless they are used at least once each day in some unselfish +service." After that he had only to utter his request in rhyme, and +immediately they would shoot out to an enormous size that could cut down +forests for him, bridge chasms, and reap whole wheat fields at a single +stroke.</p> + +<p>Many a peasant he befriended, shepherds and high-born dames, lords and +lowly beggars; and at the last, when he stood up before the Ogre to fight +for the beautiful princess kept captive in the tower, it was their voices, +shouting out their tale of gratitude to him for all these unselfish +services, that made the scissors grow long enough and strong enough to cut +the ugly old Ogre's head off.</p> + +<p>"So he married the princess," concluded Betty at last, "and came into the +kingdom that was his heart's desire. There was feasting and merrymaking +for seventy days and seventy nights, and they all lived happily ever +after. On each gable of the house he fastened a pair of shining scissors +to remind himself that only through unselfish service to others comes the +happiness that is highest and best. Over the great entrance gate he hung +the ones that served him so valiantly, saying, 'Only those who belong to +the kingdom of loving hearts can ever enter here'; and to this day they +guard the portal of Ethelried, and only those who belong to the kingdom of +loving hearts may enter the Gate of the Giant Scissors."</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Mr. Forbes, as Betty stopped. "What happened next? I want to +hear some more."</p> + +<p>"So did Joyce," said Betty. "She used to climb up in the pear-tree and +watch the gate, wishing she knew what lay behind it, and one day she found +out. A poor little boy lived there with only the care-taker and another +servant. The care-taker beat him and half starved him. His uncle didn't +know how he was treated, for he was away in Algiers. Joyce found this +little Jules out in the fields one day, tending the goats, and they got to +be great friends She told him this story, and they played that he was the +prince and she was the Giant Scissors who was to rescue him from the +clutches of the Ogre. She made up a rhyme for him to say. He had only to +whisper:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"'Giant Scissors, fearless friend,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hasten, pray, thy aid to lend,'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and she would fly to help him. She really did, too, for she played ghost +one night to frighten the old care-taker, and she told Jules's uncle, when +he came back, how cruelly the poor little thing had been treated.</p> + +<p>"Then the little prince really did come into his kingdom, for all sorts of +lovely things happened after that. The gate had been closed for years on +account of a terrible quarrel in the Ciseaux family, but at last something +Joyce did helped to make it up. The gate swung open, and the old +white-haired brother and sister went back to the home of their childhood +together, and it was Christmas Day in the morning. They had been kept from +going through the gate all those years, because the Giant Scissors +wouldn't let them pass. Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving +hearts can enter in."</p> + +<p>"Some day you must put that all in a book, Betty," said Cousin Carl, when +she had finished. "When we go to see the gate, I'll take my camera, and +we'll get a picture of it. Now I feel that I can properly appreciate it, +having heard its wonderful history."</p> + +<p>There was a teasing light in his eyes that made Lloyd say, "Now you're +laughin' at us, Cousin Carl, but it doesn't make any difference. I'd +rathah see that gate than any old château in France."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS</h3> + + +<p>Each of the girls answered Joyce's letter, but the Little Colonel's was +the first to find its way to the little brown house in Plainsville, +Kansas.</p> + +<p>"Dear Joyce," she wrote. "We were all dreadfully disappointed yesterday +morning when mother and Papa Jack came back from Madame's villa, and told +us that she could not let us stay there. She has some English people in +the house, and could not give us rooms even for one night. She said that +we must be disappointed also about seeing Jules, for his Uncle Martin has +taken him to Paris to stay a month. I could have cried, I was so sorry.</p> + +<p>"Ever since we left home I have been planning what we should do when we +reached the Gate of the Giant Scissors. I wanted to do all the things that +you did, as far as possible. I was going to have a barbecue for Jules, +down in the garden by the pagoda, and to have some kind of a midsummer +fête for the peasant children who came to your Christmas tree.</p> + +<p>"Madame was sorry, too, that she couldn't take us, when she found that we +were your friends, and she asked mother to bring us all out the next day +and have tea in the pagoda. As soon as mother and Papa Jack came back, +they took us to see Sister Denisa at the home of the Little Sisters of the +Poor. I wish you could have seen her face shine when we told her that we +were friends of yours. She said lovely things about you, and the tears +came into her eyes when she told us how much she missed your visits, after +you went back to America.</p> + +<p>"Next day we went to Madame's, and she took us over to the Ciseaux place +to see Jules's great-aunt Désirée. She is a beautiful old lady. She talked +about you as if you were an angel, or a saint with a halo around your +head. She feels that if it hadn't been for you that she might still be +only 'Number Thirty-nine' among all those paupers, instead of being the +mistress of her brother's comfortable home.</p> + +<p>"After we left there, we passed the place where Madame's washerwoman +lives. A little girl peeped out at us through the hedge. Madame told her +to show the American ladies the doll that she had in her arms. She held it +out, and then snatched it back as if she were jealous of our even looking +at it. Madame told us that it was the one you gave her at the Noel fête. +It is the only doll the child ever had, and she has carried it ever since, +even taking it to bed with her. She has named it for you.</p> + +<p>"Madame said in her funny broken English, 'Ah, it is a beautiful thing to +leave such memories behind one as Mademoiselle Joyce has left.' I would +have told her about the Road of the Loving Heart, but it is so hard for +her to understand anything I say. I think you began yours over here in +France, long before Betty told us of the one in Samoa, or Eugenia gave us +the rings to help us remember.</p> + +<p>"We took Fidelia Sattawhite with us. She is the girl I wrote to you about +who was so rude to me, and who quarrelled so much with her brothers on +shipboard. I thought it would spoil everything to have her along, but +mother insisted on my inviting her. She feels sorry for her. Fidelia acted +very well until we went over to the Ciseaux place. But when we got to the +gate she stood and looked up at the scissors over it, and refused to go +in. Madame and mother both coaxed and coaxed her, but she was too queer +for anything. She wouldn't move a step. She just stood there in the road, +saying, 'No'm, I won't go in. I don't want to. I'll stay out here and wait +for you. No'm, nothing anybody can say can make me go in.'</p> + +<p>"Down she sat on the grass as flat as Humpty Dumpty when he had his great +fall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't have made +her get up till she was ready. We couldn't understand why she should act +so. She told Betty that night that she was afraid to go through the gate. +She remembered that in the story where the old king and the brothers of +Ethelried came riding up to the portal 'the scissors leaped from their +place and snapped so angrily in their faces that they turned and fled. +Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving hearts could enter in.' She +told Betty that she knew she didn't belong to that kingdom, for nobody +loved her, and often she didn't love anybody for days. She was afraid to +go through the gate for fear the scissors would leap down at her, and she +would be so ashamed to be driven back before us all. So she thought she +would pretend that she didn't want to go in. She had believed every word +of that fairy tale.</p> + +<p>"We had a beautiful time in the garden. We went down all the winding paths +between the high laurel hedges where you used to walk, and almost got +lost, they had so many unexpected twists and turns. The old statues of +Adam and Eve, grinning at each other across the fountain, are so funny. We +saw the salad beds with the great glass bells over them, and we climbed +into the pear-tree and sat looking over the wall, wondering how you could +have been homesick in such an interesting place.</p> + +<p>"Berthé served tea in the pagoda, and because we asked about Gabriel's +music, Madame smiled and sent Berthé away with a message. Pretty soon we +heard his old accordeon playing away, out of sight in the coach-house, and +then we knew what kind of music you had at the Noel fête. Sort of wheezy, +wasn't it? Still it sounded sweet, too, at that distance.</p> + +<p>"We took Hero with us, and he was really the guest of honour at the party. +When Madame saw the Red Cross on his collar and heard his history, she +couldn't do enough for him. She fed him cakes until I thought he surely +would be ill. It was a Red Cross nurse who wrote to Madame about her +husband. He was wounded in the Franco-Prussian war, too, just as was the +Major. Madame went on to get him and bring him home, and she says she +never can forget the kindness that was shown to her by every one whom she +met when she crossed the lines under the protection of the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>"She had met Clara Barton, too, and while we were talking about the good +she has done, Madame said, 'The Duchess of Baden may have sent her the +Gold Cross of Remembrance, but the grateful hearts of many a French wife +and mother will for ever hold the rosary of her beautiful deeds!' Wasn't +that a lovely thing to have said about one?</p> + +<p>"We start to London Thursday, and I'll write again from there. With much +love from us all, Lloyd."</p> + +<p>The long letter which Lloyd folded and addressed after a careful +re-reading, had not been all written in one day. She had begun it while +waiting for the others to finish dressing one morning, had added a few +pages that afternoon, and finished it the next evening at bedtime.</p> + +<p>"Heah is my lettah to Joyce, mothah," she said, as she kissed her good +night. "Won't you look ovah it, please, and see if all the words are +spelled right? I want to send it in the mawnin."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman laid the letter aside to attend to later, and forgot it until +long after Lloyd was asleep, and Mr. Sherman had come up-stairs. Then, +seeing it on the table, she glanced rapidly over the neatly written pages.</p> + +<p>"I want you to look at this, Jack," she said, presently, handing him the +letter. "It is one of the results of the house party for which I am most +thankful. You remember what a task it always was for Lloyd to write a +letter. She groaned for days whenever she received one, because it had to +be answered. But when Joyce went away she said, 'Now, Lloyd, I know I +shall be homesick for Locust, and I want to hear every single thing that +happens. Don't you dare send me a stingy two-page letter, half of it +apologising for not writing sooner, and half of it promising to do better +next time.</p> + +<p>"'Just prop my picture up in front of you and look me in the eyes and +begin to talk. Tell me all the little things that most people leave out; +what he said and she said on the way to the picnic, and how Betty looked +in her daffodil dress, with the sun shining on her brown curls. Write as +if you were making pictures for me, so that when I read I can see +everything you are doing.'</p> + +<p>"It was excellent advice, and as Joyce's letters were written in that way, +Lloyd had a good model to copy. Joyce, being an artist, naturally makes +pictures even of her letters. When Betty went away and began sending home +such well-written accounts of her journey, I found that Lloyd's style +improved constantly. She wrote a dear little letter to the Major, last +week, telling all about Hero. I was surprised to see how prettily she +expressed her appreciation of his gift."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sherman took the letter and began to read. In two places he corrected +a misspelled word, and here and there supplied missing commas and +quotation marks. There was a gratified smile on his face when he finished. +"That is certainly a lengthy letter for a twelve-year-old girl to write," +he said, in a pleased tone, "and cannot fail to be interesting to Joyce. +The letters she wrote me from the Cuckoo's Nest were stiff, short scrawls +compared to this. I must tell my Little Colonel how proud I am of her +improvement."</p> + +<p>His words of praise were not spoken, however. He expressed his +appreciation, later, by leaving on her table a box of foreign +correspondence paper. It was of the best quality he could find in Tours, +and to Lloyd's delight the monogram engraved on it was even prettier than +Eugenia's.</p> + +<p>"Why did Papa Jack write this on the first sheet in the box, mothah?" she +asked, coming to her with a sentence written in her father's big, +businesslike hand: '<i>There is no surer way to build a Road of the Loving +Heart in the memory of absent friends, than to bridge the space between +with the cheer and sympathy and good-will of friendly letters.</i>'</p> + +<p>"Why did Papa Jack write that?" she repeated.</p> + +<p>"Because he saw your last letter to Joyce, and was so pleased with the +improvement you have made," answered Mrs. Sherman. "He has given you a +good text for your writing-desk."</p> + +<p>"I'll paste it in the top," said Lloyd. "Then I can't lose it." "'There is +no surer way,'" she repeated to herself as she carried the box back to her +room, "'to bridge the space between ... with the cheer and sympathy and +good-will.'"</p> + +<p>There flashed across her mind the thought of some one who needed cheer and +sympathy far more than Joyce did, and who would welcome a friendly letter +from her with its foreign stamp, as eagerly as if it were some real +treasure. Jessie Nolan was the girl she thought of, an invalid with a +crippled spine, to whom the dull days in her wheeled chair by the window +seemed endless, and who had so little to brighten her monotonous life.</p> + +<p>"I'll write her a note this minute," thought Lloyd, with a warm glow in +her heart. "I'll describe some of the sights we have seen, and send her +that fo' leafed clovah that I found at the château yestahday, undah a +window of the great hall where Anne of Brittany was married ovah fo' +hundred yeahs ago. I don't suppose Jessie gets a lettah once a yeah."</p> + +<p>When that note was written, Lloyd thought of Mom Beck and the pride that +would shine in the face of her old black nurse if she should receive a +letter from Europe, and how proudly it would be carried around and +displayed to all the coloured people in the Valley. So with the kindly +impulse of her father's text still upon her, she dashed off a note to her, +telling her of some of her visits to the palaces of bygone kings and +queens.</p> + +<p>Eugenia came in as she finished, but before she closed her desk she jotted +two names on a slip of paper. Mrs. Waters's was one. She was a little old +Englishwoman, who did fine laundry work in the Valley, and who was always +talking about the 'awthorne' edges in her old English home.</p> + +<p>"I'll write to her from London," Lloyd thought. "If we should get a sight +of any of the royal family, how tickled she would be to hear it."</p> + +<p>The other name was Janet McDonald. She was a sad, sweet-faced young +teacher whom Miss Allison always called her "Scotch lassie Jane." "I don't +suppose she'd care to get a letter from a little girl like me," thought +Lloyd, "but I know she'd love to have a piece of heather from the hills +near her home. I'll send her a piece when we get up in Scotland."</p> + +<p>The letter that Eugenia sent to Joyce was only a short outline of her +plans. She knew that the other girls had sent long accounts of their trip +through Touraine, so hers was much shorter than usual.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Papa has decided to send me to a school just outside of Paris + this year," she wrote, "instead of the one in New York, so it + will be a long time before I see my native land again. He will + have to be over here several months, and can spend Christmas and + Easter with me, so I can see him fully as often as I used to at + home.</p> + +<p> "It is a very select school. Madame recommends it highly, and I + am simply delighted. A New York girl whom I know very well is to + be there too, and we are looking forward to all sorts of larks. + Thursday we are to start to London for a short tour of England + and Scotland. Then the others are going home and papa and I + shall go by Chester for my maid. Poor old Eliot has had a + glorious vacation at home, she writes. She is to stay at the + school with me. We shall be so busy until I get settled that I + shall not have time to write soon; but no matter how far my + letters may be apart, I am always your devoted EUGENIA."</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE WING</h3> + + +<p>"Who is going away?" asked Lloyd, one afternoon, of the girls who were +sitting in her room, manicuring their nails. "There goes a pile of trunks +out to the baggage wagon."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, a carriage drove up to the door of the hotel, and Fanchette +went out with the poodle in her arms.</p> + +<p>"The Sattawhites," answered Eugenia. "There's Howl and Henny climbing into +the carriage, and, oh, look, girls! There comes Mrs. Sattawhite herself. I +haven't had many glimpses of her. Isn't she gorgeous! You know they had to +leave," she continued, turning to the girls. "I forgot to tell you what +happened early this morning while you were down-town.</p> + +<p>"I was up in my room writing to Joyce, when I heard a rumble and a running +down in the back hall. Somebody called 'Fire! Fire!' Then somebody else +took it up, and the old gentleman at the end of the hall, who never +appears in public until noon, came bursting out of his room in his bath +robe, his shoes in one hand and his false teeth in the other. It was the +funniest sight! There was wild excitement for a few minutes. One woman +began throwing things out of the window, and another stood and shrieked +and wrung her hands.</p> + +<p>"The waiter with the long black side-whiskers tore up-stairs and grabbed +his arms full of those bottles in the racks—you know—those +fire-extinguishing bottles that have some kind of chemical stuff in them. +There was a strong smell of smoke and a little puff of it curling up from +under the stairs. He threw all those bottles down into the lower hall. You +can imagine the smash there was when they struck the stone floor.</p> + +<p>"Papa rushed down to investigate, at the first alarm. He found that it was +only Howl and Henny playing hook-and-ladder with a little red wagon. They +had taken an old flannel blouse of Kenny's and set fire to it. Howl +explained that they did it because woollen rags make such a nice thick +smoke, and last a long time, and when they yelled fire they were not to +blame, he said, if other people didn't know that they were 'jes' +a-playin', and went and yelled in earnest.'</p> + +<p>"Papa took their part, and said that two boys with as much energy as they +have must find an outlet somewhere, and that it was no wonder that they +were restless, cooped up in a hotel day after day, with no amusement but +their prim walks with the maid and the poodle. But the old gentleman who +had been so frightened that he ran out in public without his teeth, and +the woman who had thrown her toilet bottles out of the window and broken +them, were furious. They complained to the landlord, and said that it was +not the first offence. The boys were always annoying them.</p> + +<p>"So the landlord had to go to Mrs. Sattawhite. She found out what the old +gentleman said, that a mother who had to go travelling around all over +Europe, giving her time and attention to society and a miserable poodle, +had better put her children in an orphan asylum before she started. She +was so indignant that I could hear her talking away down in the office. +She said that she would leave the instant that Fanchette could get the +trunks packed. So there they go."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sattawhite had sailed back to the office during the telling of +Eugenia's story, so their departure was delayed a moment. When she came +out again, Fidelia followed her sulkily. Just as they drove off, she +looked up at the open window, and saw the girls, who were waving good-bye. +Then a smile flickered across her sorry little face, for, moved by some +sudden impulse, the Little Colonel leaned out and threw her a kiss.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'll nevah see her again," she said, thoughtfully, as the +carriage rolled around a corner, out of sight. "I wish now that I had been +niceah to her. We may both change evah so much by the time we are grown, +yet if I live to be a hundred I'll always think of her as the girl who was +so quarrelsome that the English lady groaned, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!' And I suppose she'll remembah me for the high and mighty way I +tried to snub her whenevah I had a chance."</p> + +<p>As she spoke there was a knock at the door, and a maid brought in a +package for Lloyd. "Oh, look, girls!" she exclaimed, holding up a tiny +pair of silver embroidery scissors, Fidelia's parting gift They were +evidently something that had been given her, for the little silver sheath +into which they were thrust was beautifully engraved in old English +letters with the name "<i>Fidelia</i>." Around them was wrapped a strip of +rumpled paper on which was scrawled: "For you to remember me by. That day +you took me to the Gate of the Giant Scissors was the best time I ever +had."</p> + +<p>"Poor little thing!" exclaimed Betty. "To think that she was afraid to go +in, for fear that she didn't belong to the kingdom, and that the scissors +might leap down and drive her back."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I had only known!" sighed Lloyd, remorsefully. "I feel too mean +for anything! If I'd only believed that it was because she hadn't been +brought up to know any bettah that she acted so horrid, and that all the +time she really wanted to be liked! Mothah told me I ought to put myself +in her place, and make allowances for her, but I didn't want to even try, +and I nevah was nice to her but once—that time I gave her the candy. Then +I was only pretendin' I cared for her, just for fun. I didn't want her to +go with us to the Scissahs gate that day. Mothah made me invite her. I +fussed about it. I'm goin' to write to her the minute I finish polishin' +my nails, and tell her how sorry I am that I didn't leave a kindah memory +behind me."</p> + +<p>They rubbed away in silence for a few minutes, then Lloyd spoke again. "I +suahly have enough things now to remind me about the memory roads I am +tryin' to leave behind me for everybody. Every time I look at this little +ring it says 'A Road of the Loving Heart.' And the scissahs will recall +the fairy tale. It was only unselfish service that kept them bright and +shining, and only those who belonged to the kingdom of loving hearts could +go in at the gate. Then there's the Red Cross of Geneva on Hero's +collah—there couldn't be a moah beautiful memory than the one left by all +who have wo'n that Red Cross."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Betty, holding up a hand to inspect the pink finger nails now +polished to her satisfaction. "And there is the white flower that the two +little Knights of Kentucky wear. Keith said that his badge meant the same +thing to him that my ring does to me. Their motto is 'Right the wrong.' +That's what the Giant Scissors always did, and that's what Robert Louis +Stevenson tried to do for the Samoan chiefs. That is why they loved him +and built the road."</p> + +<p>"Funny, how they all sing the same song," said Eugenia. "It's just the +same, only they sing it in different keys."</p> + +<p>After Betty and Eugenia had gone to their rooms, Lloyd sat a long time +toying with the silver scissors, before writing her note of +acknowledgment. The sheath was of hammered silver, and around the name was +a beautifully wrought design of tiny clustered grapes.</p> + +<p>"It is one of the prettiest things that my wondah-ball has unrolled," she +said to herself, "and it has certainly taught me a lesson. Poah little +Fidelia! If I'd only known that she cared, there were lots of times that +she could have gone with us, and it would have made her so happy. If I had +only put myself in her place when mothah told me! But I was so cross and +hateful I enjoyed bein' selfish. Now all the bein' sorry in the world +won't change things!"</p> + +<p>It would be too much like a guide-book if this story were to give a record +of the next two weeks. Betty's good-times book was filled, down to the +last line on the last page, and the partnership diary had to have several +extra leaves pasted inside the cover. From morning until night there was a +constant round of sightseeing. The shops and streets of London first, the +Abbey and the Tower, a hundred places that they had read about and longed +to see, and after they had seen, longed to come back to for another visit.</p> + +<p>"We can only take a bird's-eye view now and hurry on, but we must +certainly come back some other summer," said Mr. Sherman, when Lloyd +wanted to linger in the Tower of London among the armour and weapons that +had been worn by the old knights, centuries ago. He repeated it when Betty +looked back longingly at the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, where +the great organ was echoing down the solemn aisles, and again when Eugenia +begged for another coach ride out to Hampton Court.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"'Gay go up and gay go down</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To ring the bells of London town,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>sang the Little Colonel. "I am having such a good time that I'd like to +stay on right heah all the rest of the summah."</p> + +<p>But she thought that about nearly every other place they visited, Windsor, +and Warwick Castle, and Shakespeare's birthplace,—the quaint little +village on the Avon; Ambleside, where they took the coach for long rides +among the lakes made famous by the poets who lived among them and made +them immortal with their songs.</p> + +<p>From these English lakes to Scottish moors, from the land of hawthorne to +the land of heather, from low green meadows where the larks sang, to the +highlands where plaided shepherds watched their flocks, they went with +enthusiasm that never waned. They found the "banks and braes o' Bonnie +Doon," and wandered along the banks of more than one little river that +they had loved for years in song and story.</p> + +<p>"Haven't we learned a lot!" exclaimed Eugenia, as they journeyed back by +rail to Liverpool, where the Shermans and Betty were to take the steamer. +"I'm sure that I've learned ten times as much as I would in school, this +last year."</p> + +<p>"And had such a lovely time in the bargain," added Lloyd. "It's goin' to +make a difference in the way I study this wintah, and in what I read. If +we evah come ovah heah again, I intend to know something about English +history. Then the places we visit will be so much moah interestin'. I'll +not spend so much time on fairy tales and magazine stories. I'm goin' to +make my reading count for something aftah this. It was dreadfully +mawtifyin' to find out that I was so ignorant, and how much there is in +the world to know, that I had nevah even heard of."</p> + +<p>That afternoon, in the big Liverpool hotel, the trunks were packed for the +last time.</p> + +<p>"Seems something like the night befo' Christmas," said the Little Colonel, +as she counted the packages piled on the floor beside her trunk. They were +the presents that she had chosen for the friends at home.</p> + +<p>"Nineteen, twenty," she went on counting, "and that music box for Mom Beck +makes twenty-one, and the souvenir spoons for the Walton girls make +twenty-five. Oh, I didn't show you these," she said.</p> + +<p>"This is Allison's," she explained, opening a little box. "See the caldron +and the bells on the handle? I got this in Denmark. That's from Andersen's +tale of the swineherd's magic kettle, you know. Kitty's is from Tam +O'Shanter's town. That's why there is a witch and a broomstick engraved on +it. This spoon for Elise came from Berne. I think that's a darling little +bear's head on the handle. What did you get, Betty?" she continued, +turning to her suddenly. "You haven't shown me a single thing."</p> + +<p>Betty laid down the spoons she was admiring. "You'll not think they are +worth carrying home," she said, slowly. "I couldn't buy handsome presents +like yours, you know, so I just picked up little things here and there, +that wouldn't be worth anything at all if they hadn't come from famous +places."</p> + +<p>"Show them to me, anyhow," persisted Lloyd.</p> + +<p>Betty untied a small box. "It's only a handful of lava," she explained, +"that I picked up on Vesuvius. But Davy will like it because he thinks a +volcano is such a wonderful thing. Here are some pebbles the boys will be +interested in, because I found them on the field of Waterloo. They are +making collections of such things, and Waterloo is a long way from the +Cuckoo's Nest. They haven't any foreign things at all.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to take something nice to Miss Allison, but I couldn't afford to +buy anything fine enough. So I just pressed these buttercups that grew by +the gate of Anne Hathaway's cottage. See how sunshiny and satiny they are? +Cousin Carl gave me a photograph of the cottage, and I fastened the +buttercups here on the side. I couldn't offer such a little gift to some +people, but Miss Allison is the kind that appreciates the thought that +prompts a gift more than the thing itself."</p> + +<p>There were a few more photographs, a handkerchief for Mom Beck, and a +string of cheap Venetian beads for May Lily. The most expensive article in +the collection was a little mosaic pin for her Cousin Hetty. "I got that +in Venice," said Betty. "Cousin Hetty hasn't a single piece of jewelry to +her name, and she never gets any presents but plain, useful things, so I +am sure she will be pleased."</p> + +<p>Lloyd turned away, thinking of the great contrast between her gifts and +Betty's, and wishing that she had not made such a display of hers.</p> + +<p>"If I were in Betty's place," she said to herself, "I'd be so jealous of +me that I could hardly stand it. She's just a little orphan alone in the +world, and I have mothah and Papa Jack and Hero and Tarbaby for my very +own."</p> + +<p>But the Little Colonel need not have wasted any sympathy on Betty. While +one stowed away her expensive presents in her trunk, the other wrapped up +her little souvenirs, humming softly to herself. It would have been hard +to find anywhere in the queen's dominion, a happier child than Betty, as +she sat beside her trunk, thinking of the beautiful journey with Cousin +Carl, just ending, and the life awaiting her at Locust with her godmother +and the Little Colonel. There was only one cloud on her horizon, and that +was the parting with Eugenia and her father.</p> + +<p>That last evening they spent together in the private parlour adjoining +Mrs. Sherman's room. Early after dinner Lloyd and her father went down to +pay a visit to Hero, and see that he was properly cared for. He had had a +hard time since reaching England, for the laws regarding the quarantining +of dogs are strict, and it had taken many shillings on Mr. Sherman's part +and some tears on the Little Colonel's to procure him the privileges he +had.</p> + +<p>"The whole party will be glad when he is safely landed in Kentucky, I am +sure," said Mrs. Sherman, as the door closed after them. "I'd never +consent to take another dog on such a journey, after all the trouble and +expense this one has been. Lloyd is so devoted to him that she is +heartbroken if he has to be tied up or made uncomfortable in any way. +She'll probably come up-stairs in tears to-night because he wants to +follow her, and must be kept a prisoner."</p> + +<p>While they waited for her return, Mrs. Sherman drew Eugenia into her room +for a last confidential talk, and Betty, nestling beside Cousin Carl on +the sofa, tried to thank him for all his fatherly kindness to her on their +long pilgrimage together. But he would not let her put her gratitude in +words. His answer was the same that it had been that last night of the +house party, when, looking down the locust avenue gleaming with its myriad +of lights, like some road to the City of the Shining Ones, she had cried +out: "Oh, <i>why</i> is everybody so good to me?"</p> + +<p>The others came in presently, and the evening seemed to be on wings, it +flew so swiftly, as they planned for another summer to be spent at Locust, +when Eugenia should come home from her year in the Paris school. And +never, it seemed, were good nights followed so quickly by good mornings, +or good mornings by good-byes.</p> + +<p>Almost before they realised that the parting time had actually come, the +Little Colonel and Betty were leaning over the railing of the great +steamer, waving their handkerchiefs to Eugenia and her father on the +dock. Smaller and smaller grew the familiar outlines, wider and wider the +distance between the ship and the shore, until at last even Eugenia's red +jacket faded into a mere speck, and it was no longer of any use to wave +good-bye.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>HOMEWARD BOUND</h3> + + +<p>On that long, homeward journey it was well for Hero that he wore the Red +Cross on his collar. The little symbol was the open sesame to many a +privilege that ordinary dogs are not allowed on shipboard. Instead of +being confined to the hold, he was given the liberty of the ship, and when +his story was known he received as much flattering attention as if he had +been some titled nobleman.</p> + +<p>The captain shook the big white paw, gravely put into his hand at the +Little Colonel's bidding, and then stooped to stroke the dog's head. As he +looked into the wistful, intelligent eyes his own grew tender.</p> + +<p>"I have a son in the service," he said, "sent back from South Africa, +covered with scars. I know what that Red Cross meant to him for a good +many long weeks. Go where you like, old fellow! The ship is yours, so long +as you make no trouble."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" cried the Little Colonel, looking up at the big British +captain with a beaming face. "I'd rathah be tied up myself than to have +Hero kept down there in the hold. I'm suah he'll not bothah anybody."</p> + +<p>Nor did he. No one from stoker to deck steward could make the slightest +complaint against him, so dignified and well behaved was he. Lloyd was +proud of him and his devotion. Wherever she went he followed her, lying at +her feet when she sat in her steamer-chair, walking close beside her when +she and Betty promenaded the deck.</p> + +<p>Everybody stopped to speak to him, and to question Lloyd and Betty about +him, so that it was not many days before the little girls and the great +St. Bernard had made friends of all the passengers who were able to be on +deck.</p> + +<p>The hours are long at sea, and people gladly welcome anything that +provides entertainment, so Lloyd and Betty were often called aside as they +walked, and invited to join some group, and tell to a knot of interested +listeners all they knew of Hero and the Major, and the training of the +French ambulance dogs.</p> + +<p>In return Lloyd's stories nearly always called forth some anecdote from +her listeners about the Red Cross work in America, and to her great +surprise she found five persons among them who had met Clara Barton in +some great national calamity of fire, flood, or pestilence.</p> + +<p>One was a portly man with a gruff voice, who had passed through the +experiences of the forest fires that swept through Michigan, over twenty +years ago. As he told his story, he made the scenes so real that the +children forgot where they were. They could almost smell the thick, +stifling smoke of the burning forest, hear the terrible crackling of the +flames, feel the scorching heat in their faces, and see the frightened +cattle driven into the lakes and streams by the pursuing fire.</p> + +<p>They listened with startled eyes as he described the wall of flame, +hemming in the peaceful home where his little son played around the +door-step. They held their breath while he told of their mad flight from +it, when, lashing his horses into a gallop, he looked back to see it +licking up everything in the world he held dear except the frightened +little family huddled at his feet. He had worked hard to build the +cottage. It was furnished with family heirlooms brought West with them +from the old homestead in Vermont. It was hard to see those great red +tongues devouring it in a mouthful.</p> + +<p>In the morning, although they had reached a place of safety, they were out +in a charred, blackened wilderness, without a roof to shelter them, a +chair to sit on, or a crust to eat. "The hardest thing to bear," he said, +"was to hear my little three-year-old Bertie begging for his breakfast, +and to know that there was nothing within miles of us to satisfy his +hunger, and that the next day it would be the same, and the next, and the +next.</p> + +<p>"We were powerless to help ourselves. But while we sat there in utter +despair, a neighbour rode by and hailed us. He told us that Red Cross +committees had started out from Milwaukee and Chicago at first tidings of +the fire, with car-loads of supplies, and that if we could go to the place +where they were distributing we could get whatever we needed.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could have seen what they were handing out when we got there: +tools and lumber to put up cabins, food and beds and clothes and coal-oil. +They'd thought of everything and provided everything, and they went about +the distributing in a systematic, businesslike way that somehow put heart +and cheer into us all.</p> + +<p>"They didn't make us feel as if they were handing out alms to paupers, but +as if they were helping some of their own family on to their feet again, +and putting them in shape to help themselves. Even my little Bertie felt +it. Young as he was, he never forgot that awful night when we fled from +the fire, nor the hungry day that followed, nor the fact that the arm that +carried him food, when he got it at last, wore a brassard marked like +that." He touched the Red Cross on Hero's collar.</p> + +<p>"And when the chance came to show the same brotherly spirit to some one +else in trouble and pass the help along, he was as ready as the rest of us +to do his share.</p> + +<p>"Three years afterward I read in the papers of the floods that had swept +through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and of the thousands that were +homeless. Bertie,—he was six then,—he listened to the account of the +children walking the streets, crying because they hadn't a roof over them +or anything to eat. He didn't say a word, but he climbed up to the mantel +and took down his little red savings-bank.</p> + +<p>"We were pretty near on our feet again by that time, although we were +still living in a cabin. The crops had been good, and we had been able to +save a little. He poured out all the pennies and nickels in his +bank,—ninety-three cents they came to,—and then he got his only store +toy, a box of tin soldiers that had been sent to him Christmas, and put +that on the table beside the money. We didn't appear to notice what he was +doing. Presently he brought the mittens his grandmother up in Vermont had +knit for him. Then he waited a bit, and seemed to be weighing something in +his mind. By and by he slipped away to the chest where his Sunday clothes +were kept and took them out, new suit, shoes, cap and all, and laid them +on the table with the money and the tin soldiers.</p> + +<p>"'There, daddy,' he said, 'tell the Red Cross people to send them to some +little boy like me, that's been washed out of his home and hasn't anything +of toys left, or his clothes.'</p> + +<p>"I tell you it made a lump come up in my throat to see that the little +fellow had taken his very best to pay his debt of gratitude. Nothing was +too great for him to sacrifice. Even his tin soldiers went when he +remembered what the Red Cross had done for him."</p> + +<p>"My experience with the Red Cross was in the Mississippi floods of '82," +said a gentleman who had joined the party. "One winter day we were +attracted by screams out in the river, and found that they came from some +people who were floating down on a house that had been washed away. There +they were, that freezing weather, out in the middle of the river, their +clothes frozen on them, ill from fright and exposure. I went out in one of +the boats that was sent to their rescue, and helped bring them to shore. +I was so impressed by the tales of suffering they told that I went up the +river to investigate.</p> + +<p>"At every town, and nearly every steamboat landing, I found men from the +relief committees already at work, distributing supplies. They didn't stop +when they had provided food and clothing. They furnished seed by the +car-load to the farmers, just as in the Galveston disaster, a few years +ago, they furnished thousands of strawberry plants to the people who were +wholly dependent on their crops for their next year's food."</p> + +<p>"Where did they get all those stores?" asked Lloyd. "And the seeds and the +strawberry plants?"</p> + +<p>"Most of it was donated," answered the gentleman. "Many contributions come +pouring in after such a disaster, just as little Bertie's did. But the +society is busy all the time, collecting and storing away the things that +may be needed at a moment's notice. People would contribute, of course, +even if there were no society to take charge of their donations, but +without its wise hands to distribute, much would be lost.</p> + +<p>"A number of years ago a physician in Bedford, Indiana, gave a tract of +land to the American National Red Cross; more than a square mile, I +believe, a beautiful farm with buildings and fruit-trees, a place where +material can be accumulated and stored. By the terms of the treaty of +Geneva, forty nations are pledged to hold it sacred for ever against all +invading armies, to the use of the Red Cross. It is the only spot on earth +pledged to perpetual peace."</p> + +<p>It was from a sad-faced lady in black, who had had two sons drowned in the +Johnstown flood, that Lloyd and Betty heard the description of Clara +Barton's five months' labour there. A doctor's wife who had been in the +Mt. Vernon cyclone, and a newspaper man who had visited the South Carolina +islands after the tidal wave, and Charleston after the earthquake, piled +up their accounts of those scenes of suffering, some of them even greater +than the horrors of war, so that Lloyd could not sleep that night, for +thinking of them.</p> + +<p>"Betty," she whispered, across the stateroom, turning over in her berth. +"Betty, are you awake?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Do you want anything?"</p> + +<p>"I can't sleep. That's all. Every time I shut my eyes I see all those +awful things they told about: cities in ruins, and dead people lying +around in piles, and the yellow fevah camps, and floods and fiah. It is a +dreadful world, Betty. No one knows what awful thing is goin' to happen +next."</p> + +<p>"Don't think about the dreadful part," urged Betty. "Think of the funny +things Mrs. Brown told, of the time the levee broke at Shawneetown. The +table all set for supper, and the water pouring in until the table floated +up to the ceiling, and went bobbing around like a fish."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't help any," said Lloyd, after a moment. "I see the watah +crawlin' highah and highah up the walls, above the piano and pictuahs, +till I feel as if it is crawlin' aftah me, and will be all ovah the bed in +a minute. Did you evah think how solemn it is, Betty Lewis, to be away out +in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but a few planks between us and +drownin'? Seems to me the ship pitches around moah than usual, to-night, +and the engine makes a mighty strange, creakin' noise."</p> + +<p>"Do you remember the night I put you to sleep at the Cuckoo's Nest?" asked +Betty. "The night after you fell down the barn stairs, playing +barley-bright? Shut your eyes and let me try it again."</p> + +<p>It was no nursery legend or border ballad that Betty crooned this time, +but some peaceful lines of the old Quaker poet, and the quiet comfort of +them stole into Lloyd's throbbing brain and soothed her excited fancy. +Long after Betty was asleep she went on repeating to herself the last +lines:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"I know not where His islands lift</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Their fronded palms in air,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">I only know I cannot drift</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Beyond His love and care."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>She did dream of fires and floods that night, but the horror of the scenes +was less, because a baby voice called cheerfully through them, "Here, +daddy, give these to the poor little boys that are cold and homesick?" and +a great St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on his back, ran around distributing +mittens and tin soldiers.</p> + +<p>"Now that we are half-way across the ocean," said Mrs. Sherman, next +morning, "I may give you Allison Walton's letter. She enclosed it in one +her mother wrote, and asked me not to give it to you until we were in +mid-ocean. I suppose her experience in coming over from Manila taught her +that letters are more appreciated then than at the beginning of the +voyage."</p> + +<p>The Little Colonel unfolded it, exclaiming in surprise, "It is dated '<i>The +Beeches</i>.' I thought that they were in Lloydsboro Valley all summah, in +the cottage next to the churchyard. That one you used to like," she added, +turning to Betty. "The one with the high green roof and deah little +diamond-shaped window-panes."</p> + +<p>"So they are in the Valley," answered her mother. "But their new house is +finished now, and they have moved into that. As they have left all the +beautiful beech grove standing around it, they have decided to call the +place The Beeches, as ours is called Locust, on account of the trees in +front of it."</p> + +<p>Beckoning to Betty to come and listen, Lloyd sat down to read the letter, +and Mrs. Sherman turned to an acquaintance next her. "It is General +Walton's family of whom we were speaking," she explained. "Since his death +in Manila they have been living in Louisville, until recently. We are so +delighted to think that they have now come to the Valley to live. It was +Mrs. Walton's home in her girlhood, and her mother's place, Edgewood, is +just across the avenue from The Beeches. Lloyd and the little girls are +the best of friends, and we are all interested in Ranald, the only son. He +was the youngest captain in the army, you know. He received his +appointment and was under fire before he was twelve years old."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mothah," spoke up Lloyd, so eagerly that she did not notice that she +had interrupted the conversation. "Listen to this, please. You know I +wrote to Allison about Hero, and this lettah is neahly all about him. She +said her fathah knew Clara Barton, and that in Cuba and Manila the games +and books that the Red Cross sent to the hospitals were appreciated by the +soldiahs almost as much as the delicacies. And she says her mothah thinks +it would be fine for us all to start a fund for the Red Cross. They wanted +to get up a play because they're always havin' tableaux and such things.</p> + +<p>"They've been readin' 'Little Women' again, and Jo's Christmas play made +them want to do something like that. They can have all the shields and +knights' costumes that the MacIntyre boys had when they gave Jonesy's +benefit. They were going to have an entahtainment last week, but couldn't +agree. Allison wanted to play 'Cinda'ella,' because there are such pretty +costumes in that, but Kitty wanted to make up one all about witches and +spooks and robbah-dens, and call it 'The One-Eyed Ghost of Cocklin Tower.'</p> + +<p>"She wanted to be the ghost. They've decided to wait till we get home +befo' they do anything."</p> + +<p>"There's your opportunity, Betty," said Mrs. Sherman, turning to her +goddaughter with a smile. "Why can't you distinguish yourself by writing a +play that will make us all proud of you, and at the same time swell the +funds of the Red Cross?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do you really think I could, godmother? Are you in earnest?" cried +Betty, her face shining with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Entirely so," answered Mrs. Sherman, running her hand caressingly over +Betty's brown hair. "This little curly head is full of all sorts of tales +of goblins and ogres and witches and fairy folk. String them together, +dear, in some sort of shape, and I'll help with the costumes."</p> + +<p>The suggestion was made playfully, but Betty looked dreamily out to sea, +her face radiant. The longing to do something to please her godmother and +make her proud of her was the first impulse that thrilled her, but as she +began to search her brain for a plot, the joy of the work itself made her +forget everything else, even the passing of time. She was amazed when +Lloyd called to her that they were going down to lunch. She had sat the +entire morning wrapped in her steamer-rug, looking out across the water +with far-seeing eyes. As the blue waves rose and fell, her thoughts had +risen and swayed to their rhythmic motion, and begun to shape themselves +into rhyme. Line after line was taking form, and she wished impatiently +that Lloyd had not called her. How could one be hungry when some inward +power, past understanding, was making music in one's soul?</p> + +<p>She followed Lloyd down to the table like one in a trance, but the spell +was broken for awhile by Lloyd's persistent chatter.</p> + +<p>"You know there's all sort of things you could have," she suggested, "if +you wanted to use them in the piece. Tarbaby and the Filipino pony, and we +could even borrow the beah from Fairchance if you wanted anything like +Beauty and the Beast. We had that once though, at Jonesy's benefit, so +maybe you wouldn't want to use it again."</p> + +<p>"There's to be a knight in it," answered Betty, "and he'll be mounted in +one scene. So we may need one of the ponies." Then she turned to her +godmother. "Do you suppose there is a spinning-wheel anywhere in the +neighbourhood that we could borrow?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have one of my great-grandmother's stored away in the trunk-room. +You may have that."</p> + +<p>The Little Colonel shrugged her shoulders impatiently. "Oh, I can't wait +to know what you're goin' to do with a spinnin'-wheel in the play. Tell me +now, Betty."</p> + +<p>But the little playwright only shook her head "I'm not sure myself yet. +But I keep thinking of the humming of the wheel, and a sort of +spinning-song keeps running through my head. I thought, too, it would +help to make a pretty scene."</p> + +<p>"You're goin' to put Hero in it, aren't you?" was the Little Colonel's +question.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lloyd! I can't," cried Betty, in dismay. "A dog couldn't have a part +with princes and witches and fairies."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why not," persisted Lloyd. "I sha'n't take half the interest +if he isn't in it. I think you might put him in, Betty," she urged. "I'd +do as much for you, if it was something you had set your heart on. +<i>Please</i>, Betty!" she begged.</p> + +<p>"But he won't fit anywhere!" said Betty, in a distressed tone. "I'd put +him in, gladly, if he'd only go, but, don't you see, Lloyd, he isn't +appropriate. It would spoil the whole thing to drag him in."</p> + +<p>"I don't see why," said Lloyd, a trifle sharply. "Isn't it going to be a +Red Cross entahtainment, and isn't Hero a Red Cross dog? I think it's +<i>very</i> appropriate for him to have a part, even one of the principal +ones."</p> + +<p>"I can't think of a single thing for him to do—" began Betty.</p> + +<p>"You can if you try hard enough," insisted Lloyd.</p> + +<p>Betty sighed hopelessly, and turned to her lunch in silence. She wanted to +please the Little Colonel, but it seemed impossible to her to give Hero a +part without spoiling the entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Maybe some of the books in the ship's library might help you," said Mr. +Sherman, who had been an amused listener. "I'll look over some of them for +you."</p> + +<p>Later in the day he came up to Betty where she stood leaning against the +deck railing. He laid a book upon it, open at a picture of seven white +swans, "Do you remember this?" he asked. "The seven brothers who were +changed to swans, and the good sister who wove a coat for each one out of +flax she spun from the churchyard nettles? The magic coats gave them back +their human forms. Maybe you can use the same idea, and have your prince +changed into a dog for awhile."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" she cried. "I'd forgotten that story. I am sure it will +help."</p> + +<p>He walked away, leaving her poring over the picture, but presently, as he +paced the deck, he felt her light touch on his arm, and turned to see her +glowing little face looking up into his.</p> + +<p>"I've got it!" she cried. "The picture made me think of the very thing. I +had been fumbling with a tangled skein, trying to find a place to begin +unwinding. Now you have given me the starting thread, and it all begins to +smooth out beautifully. I'm going for pencil and paper now, to write it +all down before I forget."</p> + +<p>That pencil and note-book were her constant companions the rest of the +voyage. Sometimes Lloyd, coming upon her suddenly, would hear her +whispering a list of rhymes such as more, core, pour, store, shore, +before, or creature, teacher, feature, at which they would both laugh and +Betty exclaim, hopelessly, "I can't find a word to fit that place." At +other times Lloyd passed her in respectful silence, for she knew by the +rapt look on Betty's face that the mysterious business of verse-making was +proceeding satisfactorily, and she dared not interrupt.</p> + +<p>The day they sighted land, Lloyd exclaimed: "Oh, I can hardly wait to get +home! I've had a perfectly lovely summah, and I've enjoyed every mile of +the journey, but the closah I get to Locust the moah it seems to me that +the very nicest thing my wondah-ball can unroll (except givin' me Hero, of +co'se) is the goin' back home."</p> + +<p>"Your wonder-ball," repeated Betty, who knew the birthday story. "That +gives me an idea. The princess shall have a wonder-ball in the play."</p> + +<p>Lloyd laughed. "I believe that's all you think about nowadays, Betty. Put +up yoah scribblin' for awhile and come and watch them swing the trunks up +out of the hold. We're almost home, Betty Lewis, almost home!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>HOME AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>Meanwhile in Lloydsboro Valley the summer had slipped slowly by. Locust +seemed strangely quiet with the great front gates locked, and never any +sound of wheels or voices coming down the avenue. Judge Moore's place was +closed also, and Tanglewood, just across the way, had been opened only a +few weeks in the spring. So birds and squirrels held undisputed possession +of that part of the Valley, and the grass grew long and the vines climbed +high, and often the soft whisper of the leaves was the only sound to be +heard.</p> + +<p>But in the shady beech grove, next the churchyard, and across the avenue +from Mrs. MacIntyre's, the noise of hammer and saw and trowel had gone on +unceasingly, until at last the new home was ready for its occupants. The +family did not have far to move to "The Beeches"; only over the stile from +the quaint green-roofed cottage next door, where they had spent the +summer.</p> + +<p>Allison, Kitty, and Elise climbed back and forth over the stile, their +arms full of their particular treasures, which they could not trust to the +moving-vans. All the week that Betty and Lloyd were tossing out on the +ocean, they were flitting about the new house, growing accustomed to its +unfamiliar corners. By the time the <i>Majestic</i> steamed into the New York +harbour, they were as much at home in their new surroundings as if they +had always lived there. The tent was pitched on the lawn, the large family +of dolls was brought out under the trees, and the games, good times, and +camp-fire cooking went on as if they had never been interrupted for an +instant by the topsy-turvy work of moving.</p> + +<p>"Whose day is it for the pony-cart?" asked Mrs. Walton, coming out on the +steps one morning.</p> + +<p>"It was mine," answered Kitty, speaking up from the hammock, where she +swung, half in, half out, watching a colony of ants crawling along the +ground underneath. "But I traded my turn to Elise, for her biggest paper +boy doll."</p> + +<p>"And I traded my turn to Allison, if she would let me use all the purple +and yellow paint I want in her paint-box, while I am making my Princess +Pansy's ball dress," said Elise.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Walton smiled at the transfer of rights. The little girls had an +arrangement by which they took turns in using the cart certain days in the +week, when Ranald did not want to ride his Filipino pony.</p> + +<p>"Whoever has it to-day may do an errand for me," Mrs. Walton said, adding, +as she turned toward the house, "Do you know that Lloyd and Betty are +coming on the three o'clock train this afternoon?"</p> + +<p>"Then I don't want the pony-cart," exclaimed Allison, quickly. "I'm going +down to the depot to meet them."</p> + +<p>The depot was in sight of The Beeches, not more than three minutes' walk +distant.</p> + +<p>"Can't go back on your trade!" sang out Elise. "Can't go back on your +trade!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you take it, Elise," coaxed Allison. "It's my regular turn to-morrow. +I'll make some fudge in the morning, if you will."</p> + +<p>Elise considered a moment. "Well," she said, finally, "I'll let you off +from your trade if Kitty will let me off from mine."</p> + +<p>"No, <i>sir!</i>" answered Kitty. "A trade's a trade. I want that paper boy +doll."</p> + +<p>"But it's your regular turn," coaxed Elise, "and I'd much rather go down +to the depot to meet the girls than go riding."</p> + +<p>"So would I," said Kitty, spurring the procession of ants to faster speed +with her slipper toe. Then she sat up and considered the matter a moment.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," she said, presently, "I don't care, after all. If it will +oblige you any I'll let you off, and take the pony myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, sister," cried Elise.</p> + +<p>"They'll only be at the depot a few minutes," continued the wily Kitty. +"So I'll drive down to meet them in style in the cart, and then I'll go up +to Locust with them, beside the carriage, and hear all about the trip +first of anybody."</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd thought of that," said Elise, a shade of disappointment in her +big dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you," proposed Allison, enthusiastically, "We'll <i>all</i> go down +in the pony-cart to meet them together. That would be the nicest way to +do."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" was Kitty's cool reply, "I had thought of going by for Katy or +Corinne." Then, seeing the disappointment in the faces opposite, she +added, "But maybe I might change my mind. Have you got anything to trade +for a chance to go?"</p> + +<p>This transfer of possessions which they carried on was like a continuous +game, of which they never tired, because of its endless variety. It was a +source of great amusement to the older members of the family.</p> + +<p>"It is a mystery to me," said Miss Allison, "how they manage to keep track +of their property, and remember who is the owner. I have known a doll or a +dish to change hands half a dozen times in the course of a forenoon."</p> + +<p>Elise promptly offered the paper boy doll again, which was promptly +accepted. Allison had nothing to offer which Kitty considered equivalent +to a seat in the cart, but by a roundabout transfer the trade was finally +made. Allison gave Elise the amount of purple and yellow paint she needed +for the Princess Pansy's ball gown, in return for which Elise gave her a +piece of spangled gauze which Kitty had long had an eye upon. Allison in +turn handed the gauze to Kitty for her right to a seat in the pony-cart, +and the affair was thus happily settled to the satisfaction of all +parties.</p> + +<p>"It <i>isn't</i> that we are selfish with each other," Allison had retorted, +indignantly, one day when Corinne remarked that she didn't see how sisters +who loved each other could be so particular about everything. "It's only +with our toys and the cart that we do that way. It's a kind of game that +we've played always, and <i>we</i> think it's lots of fun."</p> + +<p>So it happened that that afternoon, when the train stopped at Lloydsboro +Valley, the first thing the Little Colonel saw was the pony-cart drawn +close to the platform. Then three little girls in white dresses and fresh +ribbons, smiling broadly under their big flower-wreathed hats, sprang out +to give them a warm welcome home, with enthusiastic hugs and kisses.</p> + +<p>Hero's turn came next. Released from his long, tiresome confinement in the +baggage-car, he came bounding into their midst, almost upsetting the +Little Colonel in his joy at having his freedom again. He put out his +great paw to each of the little girls in turn as Lloyd bade him shake +hands with his new neighbours, but he growled suspiciously when Walker +came up and laid black fingers upon him. He had never seen a coloured man +before.</p> + +<p>It was Betty's first meeting with the Walton girls. She had looked forward +to it eagerly, first because they were the daughters of a man whom her +little hero-loving heart honoured as one of the greatest generals of the +army, who had given his life to his country, and died bravely in its +service, and secondly because Lloyd's letters the winter before had been +full of their sayings and doings. Mrs. Sherman, too, had told her many +things of their life in Manila, and she felt that children who had such +unusual experiences could not fail to be interesting. There was a third +reason, however, that she scanned each face so closely. She had given them +parts in the new play, and she was wondering how well they would fit those +parts.</p> + +<p>They in turn cast many inquiring glances at Betty, for they had heard all +about this little song-bird that had been taken away from the Cuckoo's +Nest. They had read her poem on "Night," which was published in a real +paper, and they could not help looking upon her with a deep feeling of +respect, tinged a little with awe, that a twelve-year-old girl could write +verses good enough to be published. They had heard Keith's enthusiastic +praises of her.</p> + +<p>"Betty's a brick!" he had said, telling of several incidents of the house +party, especially the picnic at the old mill, when she had gone so far to +keep her "sacred promise." "She's the very nicest girl I know," he had +added, emphatically, and that was high praise, coming from the particular +Keith, who judged all girls by the standard of his mother.</p> + +<p>As soon as the trunks were attended to, Mr. Sherman led the way to the +carriage, waiting on the other side of the platform. Hero was given a +place beside Walker, and although he sprang up obediently when he was +bidden, he eyed his companion suspiciously all the way. The pony-cart +trundled along beside the carriage, the girls calling back and forth to +each other, above the rattle of the wheels.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't Hero the loveliest dog that ever was! But you ought to see our +puppy—the cutest thing—nothing but a bunch of soft, woozy curls." ... +We're in the new house now, you must come over to-morrow." ... "Mother is +going to take us all camping soon. You are invited, too." This from the +pony-cart in high-pitched voices in different keys.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've had a perfectly lovely time, and I've brought you all something +in my trunk. And say, girls, Betty is writing a play for the Red Cross +entertainment. There's a witch in it, Kitty, and lots of pretty costumes, +Allison. And, oh, deah, I'm so glad to get home I don't know what to do +first!" This from the carriage.</p> + +<p>The great entrance gates were unlocked now, the lawn smoothly cut, the +green lace-work of vines trimly trained around the high white pillars of +the porches. The pony-cart turned back at the gate, and the carriage drove +slowly up the avenue alone. The mellow sunlight of the warm September +afternoon filtered down like gold, through the trees arching overhead.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home,'" sang Lloyd, softly, +leaning out of the carriage to wave her hand to Mom Beck, who, in whitest +of aprons and gayest of head bandanas, stood smiling and curtseying on the +steps. The good old black face beamed with happiness as she cried, "Heah +comes my baby, an' li'l' Miss Betty, too, bless her soul an' body!"</p> + +<p>Around the house came May Lily and a tribe of little pickaninnies, who +fell back at sight of Hero leaping out of the carriage. He was the largest +dog they had ever seen. Lloyd called them all around her and made them +each shake hands with the astonished St. Bernard, who did not seem to +relish this part of his introduction to Kentucky.</p> + +<p>"He'll soon get used to you," said the Little Colonel. "May Lily, you run +tell Aunt Cindy to give you a cooky or a piece of chicken for him to eat. +Henry Clay, you bring a pan of watah. If you all fly around and wait on +him right good, he'll like you lots bettah."</p> + +<p>Leaving Lloyd to offer Hero the hospitality of Locust in the midst of her +little black admirers, Betty slowly followed her godmother up the wide +stairs.</p> + +<p>"You're to have the same white and gold room again, dear," said Mrs. +Sherman, peeping in as she passed the door. "I see that it is all in +readiness. So walk in and take possession."</p> + +<p>Betty was glad that she was alone, those first few minutes, the joy of the +home-coming was so keen. Going in, she shut the door and gave a swift +glance all around, from the dark polished floor, with its white angora +rugs, to the filmy white curtains at the open casement windows. Everything +was just as she had seen it last,—the dear little white dressing-table, +with its crystal candlesticks, that always made her think of twisted +icicles; the little heart-shaped pincushion and all the dainty toilet +articles of ivory and gold; the pictures on the wall; the freshly gathered +plumes of goldenrod in the crystal bowl on the mantel. She stood a moment, +looking out of the open window, and thinking of the year that had gone by +since she last stood in that room. Many a long and perilous mile she had +travelled, but here she was back in safety, and instead of bandaged eyes +and the horror of blindness hovering over her, she was able to look out on +the beautiful world with strong, far-seeing sight.</p> + +<p>The drudgery of the Cuckoo's Nest was far behind her now, and the bare +little room under the eaves. Henceforth this was to be her home. She +remembered the day in the church when her godmother's invitation to the +house party reached her, and just as she had knelt then in front of the +narrow, bench-like altar, she knelt now, beside the little white bed. +Now, as then, the late afternoon sun streamed across her brown curls and +shining face, and "<i>Thank you, dear God</i>," came in the same grateful +whisper from the depths of the same glad little heart.</p> + +<p>"Betty! Betty!" called Lloyd, under her window. "Come and take a run over +the place. I want to show Hero his new home."</p> + +<p>Tired of sitting still so long on the cars, Betty was glad to join in the +race over the smooth lawn and green meadows. Out in the pasture, Tarbaby +waited by the bars. The grapevine swing in the mulberry-tree, every nook +and corner where the guests of the house party had romped and played the +summer before, seemed to hold a special greeting for them, and every foot +of ground in old Locust seemed dearer for their long absence.</p> + +<p>The next morning, when Tarbaby was led around for Lloyd to take her usual +ride, both girls gave a cry of delight, for another pony followed close at +his heels. It was the one that had been kept for Betty's use during the +house party.</p> + +<p>"It is Lad!" called the Little Colonel, excitedly. "Oh, Papa Jack! Is he +goin' to stay heah all the time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, he belongs here now," answered Mr. Sherman. "I want both my little +girls to be well mounted, and to ride every day."</p> + +<p>He motioned to a card hanging from Lad's bridle, and, leaning over, Lloyd +read aloud, "For Betty from Papa Jack."</p> + +<p>Betty could hardly realise her good fortune.</p> + +<p>"Is he really mine?" she insisted, "the same as Tarbaby is Lloyd's?"</p> + +<p>"Really yours, and just the same," answered Mr. Sherman, holding out his +hand to help her mount.</p> + +<p>She tried to thank him, tried to tell him how happy the gift had made her, +but words could not measure either her gratitude or her pleasure. He read +them both, however, in her happy face. As he swung her into the saddle, +she leaned forward, saying, "I want to whisper something in your ear, Mr. +Sherman." As he bent his head she whispered, "Thank you for writing Papa +Jack on the card. That made me happier than anything else."</p> + +<p>"That is what I want you to call me always now, my little daughter," he +answered, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Locust is your home now, and +you belong to all of us. Your godmother, the Little Colonel, and I each +claim a share."</p> + +<p>"What makes you so quiet?" asked Lloyd, as they rode on down the avenue.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking of the way Joyce's fairy tale ended," said Betty. "'So the +prince came into his kingdom, the kingdom of loving hearts and gentle +hands.' Only this time it's the princess who's come into her kingdom."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd, with a puzzled look.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's only some of my foolishness," said Betty, looking back over her +shoulder with a laugh. "I'm just so glad that I'm alive, and so glad that +I am me, and so happy because everybody is so heavenly kind to me, that I +wouldn't change places with the proudest princess that ever sat on a +throne."</p> + +<p>"Then come on, and let's race to the post-office," cried Lloyd, dashing +off, with Hero bounding along beside her.</p> + +<p>From the post-office they rode to The Beeches, where Allison was cooking +something over the camp-fire, beside the tent on the lawn.</p> + +<p>It proved to be candy, and she waved a sticky spoon in welcome. Mrs. +Walton was in a hammock, near by, her mending basket beside her, and Kitty +and Elise on the grass at her feet, watching the molasses bubble up in the +kettle. Betty felt a little shy at first, for this was her first meeting +with the General's wife, and she wished that the girls would not insist on +having an immediate outline of the play. It had seemed very fine indeed to +her when she read it aloud to herself, or repeated it to Lloyd. It had not +seemed a very childish thing to her even when she read it to her +godmother. But she shrank from Mrs. Walton's criticism. It was with many +blushes that she began. Afterward she wondered why she should have been +timid about it. Mrs. Walton applauded it so heartily, and entered into +plans for making the entertainment a success as enthusiastically as any of +the girls.</p> + +<p>"I bid to be witch!" cried Kitty, when Betty had finished.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to be the queen, if you don't care," said Allison, "for I am the +largest, and I'd rather act with Rob than the other boys. But it doesn't +make any difference. I'll be anything you want me to."</p> + +<p>"That's the way Betty planned it," said Lloyd. "I'm to be the captive +princess, and Keith will be my brother whom the witch changes into a dog. +That's Hero, of co'se. Malcolm will be the knight who rescues me. Rob +Moore will be king, and Elise the queen of the fairies, and Ranald the +ogah."</p> + +<p>"Ranald said last night that he wouldn't be in the play if he had to learn +a lot of foolishness to speak, or if he couldn't be disguised so that +nobody would know him," said Kitty. "He'll help any other way, fixing the +stage and the red lights and all that, but the Captain has a dread of +making himself appear ridiculous. Now <i>I</i> don't. I'd rather have the funny +parts than the high and mighty ones."</p> + +<p>"He might be Frog-eye-Fearsome," suggested Betty. "Then he wouldn't have +anything to do but drag the prince and princess across the stage to the +ogre's tower, and the costume could be so hideous that no one could tell +whether a human or a hobgoblin was inside of it."</p> + +<p>"Who'll buy all the balloons for the fairies, and make our spangled +wings?" asked Elise. "Oh, I know," she cried, instantly answering her own +question. "I'll tell Aunt Elise all about it, and I know that she'll +help."</p> + +<p>"How will you go all the way to the seashore to tell her?" asked Kitty.</p> + +<p>"She isn't at the seashore," answered Elise, with an air of triumph. "She +came back from Narragansett Pier last night. Didn't she, mamma? And she +and Malcolm and Keith are coming out to grandmother's this afternoon as +straight as the train can carry them, you might know. They always do, +first thing. Don't they, mamma?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Walton nodded yes, then said: "Suppose you bring the play down this +afternoon, Betty. Ask your mother to come too, Lloyd, and we'll read it +out under the trees. Now are all the characters decided upon?"</p> + +<p>"All but the ogre," said Betty.</p> + +<p>"Joe Clark is the very one for that," exclaimed Lloyd. "He is head and +shouldahs tallah than all the othah boys, although he is only fifteen, and +his voice is so deep and gruff it sounds as if it came out of the cellah. +We can stop and ask him if he'll take the part."</p> + +<p>"Invite him to come down to the reading of the play, too," said Mrs. +Walton. "I'll look for you all promptly at four."</p> + +<p>Betty almost lost her courage that afternoon when she saw the large group +waiting for her under the beech-trees on Mrs. Walton's lawn. Mrs. +MacIntyre was there, fresh and dainty as Betty always remembered her, with +the sunshine flickering softly through the leaves on her beautiful white +hair. Miss Allison, who, in the children's opinion, knew everything, sat +beside her, and worst of all, the younger Mrs. MacIntyre was there; +Malcolm's and Keith's mother, whom Betty had never seen before, but of +whom she had heard glowing descriptions from her admiring sons.</p> + +<p>Lloyd pointed her out to Betty as they drove in at the gate. "See, there +she is, in that lovely pink organdy. Wouldn't you love to look like her? I +would. She's like a queen."</p> + +<p>Betty sank back, faint with embarrassment. "Oh, godmother!" she whispered. +"I know I can't read it before all those people. It will choke me. There's +at least a dozen, and some of them are strangers."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Sherman smiled, encouragingly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, +dear. Your play is beautiful, in my opinion, and every one there will +agree with me when they've all heard it. Go on and do your best and make +us all proud of you."</p> + +<p>There was no time to hesitate. Keith was already swinging on the carriage +steps to welcome them, and Malcolm and Ranald were bringing out more +chairs to make places for them with the group under the beeches. Nobody +mentioned the play for some time. The older people were busy questioning +Mrs. Sherman about her summer abroad, and Malcolm and Keith had much to +tell the others of their vacation at the seashore; of polo and parties and +ping-pong, and several pranks that sent the children into shrieks of +laughter.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the hum of conversation Betty's heart almost stood still. +Mrs. Walton was calling the company to order. Coming forward, she led +Betty to a chair in the centre of the circle, and asked her to begin. It +was with hands that trembled visibly that Betty opened her note-book and +began to read "The Rescue of the Princess Winsome."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>"THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME"</h3> + + +<p class="center"> +AN ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE BENEFIT<br /> +OF THE RED CROSS<br /></p> + +<p class="center"> +CHARACTERS<br /> +<br /></p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Cast of play"> +<tr><td align='left'>King</td><td align='left'>Rob Moore.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Queen</td><td align='left'>Allison Walton.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Prince Hero</td><td align='left'>Keith MacIntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>PRINCESS WINSOME </td><td align='left'>Lloyd Sherman.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Knight</td><td align='left'>Malcolm MacIntyre.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ogre</td><td align='left'>Joe Clark.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Witch</td><td align='left'>Kitty Walton.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Godmother</td><td align='left'>Elizabeth Lloyd Lewis.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Frog-eye Fearsome</td><td align='left'>Ranald Walton.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Titania</td><td align='left'>Elise Walton.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bewitched Prince</td><td align='left'>HERO, THE RED CROSS DOG.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chorus of Fairies</td><td align='left'> </td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Flower Messengers"> + <tr> + <td align="right" valign="middle" style="white-space: nowrap"> + <br /> + Flower Messengers</td> + <td valign="middle" class="tdleft" style="white-space: nowrap; font-size: 82pt"> + {</td> + + <td valign="middle" class="tdleft"> + Morning-glory.<br /> + Pansy.<br /> + Rose.<br /> + Forget-me-not.<br /> + Poppy.<br /> + Daisy.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<h4>ACT I.</h4> + +<p>SCENE I. In the Witch's Orchard. Frog-eye Fearsome drags the captive +Prince and Princess to the Ogre's tower. At Ogre's command Witch brews +spell to change Prince Hero into a dog.</p> + +<p>SCENE II. In front of Witch's Orchard. King and Queen bewail their loss. +The Godmother of Princess promises aid. The Knight starts in quest of the +South Wind's silver flute with which to summon the Fairies to his help.</p> + + +<h4>ACT II.</h4> + +<p>SCENE I. In the Tower Room. Princess Winsome and Hero. Godmother brings +spinning-wheel on which Princess is to spin Love's golden thread that +shall rescue her brother. Dove comes with letter from Knight. Flower +messengers in turn report his progress. Counting the Daisy's petals the +Princess learns that her true Knight has found the flute.</p> + + +<h4>ACT III.</h4> + +<p>SCENE I. In Witch's Orchard. Knight returns from quest. Blows the flute +and summons Titania and her train. They bind the Ogre and Witch in the +golden thread the Princess spun. Knight demands the spell that binds the +Prince and plucks the seven golden plums from the silver apple-tree. +Prince becomes a prince again, and King gives the Knight the hand of the +Princess and half of his Kingdom. Chorus of Fairies.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h4>ACT I.</h4> + +<p class="center">SCENE I. <i>Witch bends over fire in middle of orchard, +brewing a charm in her caldron. Ogre stalks in, grinning frightfully, +swinging his bludgeon in triumph.</i></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ogre.</i> Ha, old witch, it is done at last!</span><br /> +I have broken the King's stronghold!<br /> +I have stolen away his children twain<br /> +From the clutch of their guardsmen bold.<br /> +I have dragged them here to my castle tower.<br /> +Prince Hero is strong and fair.<br /> +But he and his sister shall rue my power,<br /> +When once up yon winding stair.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Witch.</i> Now why didst thou plot such a wicked thing?</span><br /> +The children no harm have done.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ogre.</i> But I have a grudge 'gainst their father, the King,</span><br /> +A grudge that is old as the sun.<br /> +And hark ye, old hag, I must have thy aid<br /> +Before the new moon be risen.<br /> +Now brew me a charm in thy caldron black,<br /> +That shall keep them fast in their prison!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Witch.</i> I'll brew thee no charm, thou Ogre dread!</span><br /> +Knowest thou not full well<br /> +The Princess thou hast stolen away<br /> +Is guarded by Fairy spell?<br /> +Her godmother over her cradle bent<br /> +"O Princess Winsome," she said,<br /> +"I give thee this gift: thou shalt deftly spin,<br /> +As thou wishest, Love's golden thread."<br /> +So I dare not brew thee a spell 'gainst her<br /> +My caldron would grow acold<br /> +And never again would bubble up,<br /> +If touched by her thread of gold.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ogre.</i> Then give me a charm to bind the prince.</span><br /> +Thou canst do that much at least.<br /> +I'll give thee more gold than hands can hold,<br /> +If thou'lt change him into some beast.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Witch.</i> I have need of gold—so on the fire</span><br /> +I'll pile my fagots higher and higher,<br /> +And in the bubbling water stir<br /> +This hank of hair, this patch of fur,<br /> +This feather and this flapping fin,<br /> +This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bubble and boil</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And snake skin coil,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This charm shall all plans</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But the Ogre's foil.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>As Witch stirs and sings, the Ogre, stalking to the side, calls.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ogre.</i> Ho, Frog-eye Fearsome, let the sport begin!</span><br /> +Hence to the tower! Drag the captives in!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Frog-eye Fearsome drags Prince Hero and Princess Winsome</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>across the stage, and into the door leading up the tower</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>stair. They are bound by ropes. Prince tries to reach his</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>sword. Princess shrieks.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> Oh, save us, good, wise witch,</span><br /> +In pity, save us, pray.<br /> +The King, our royal father,<br /> +Thy goodness will repay. [<i>Pulls back, wringing hand.</i><br /> +Oh, I cannot, <i>cannot</i> mount the tower!<br /> +Oh, save us from the bloody Ogre's power!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>They are dragged into the tower, door bangs and Ogre locks it with</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>key a yard long. Goes back to Witch, who hands him vial</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>filled from caldron with black mixture.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Witch.</i> Pour drop by drop upon Prince Hero's tongue.</span><br /> +First he will bark. His hands and feet<br /> +Will turn to paws, and he will seem a dog.<br /> +Seven drops will make the change complete.<br /> +The poison has no antidote save one,<br /> +And he a prince again can never be,<br /> +Unless seven silver plums he eats,<br /> +Plucked from my golden apple-tree.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Ogre.</i> Revenge is sweet,</span><br /> +And soon 'twill be complete!<br /> +Then to my den I'll haste for gold to delve.<br /> +I'll bring it at the black, bleak hour of twelve!<br /> +<br /> +<i>Witch.</i> And I upon my broomstick now must fly<br /> +To woodland tryst. Come, Hornèd Owl<br /> +And Venomed Toad! Now play the spy!<br /> +Let no one through my orchard prowl.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Exit Witch and Ogre to dirge music.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /></p> + +<p class="center"> +SCENE II. <i>Enter King and Queen weeping. They pace up and down, wringing +hands, and showing great signs of grief. Godmother enters from opposite +side. King speaks.</i></p> + +<p> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> Good dame, Godmother of our daughter dear,</span><br /> +Perhaps thou'st heard our tale of woe.<br /> +Our children twain are stolen away<br /> +By Ogre Grim, mine ancient foe.<br /> +<br /> +All up and down the land we've sought<br /> +For help to break into his tower.<br /> +And now, our searching all for nought,<br /> +We've come to beg the Witch's power.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Godmother springs forward, finger to lip, and anxiously waves</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>them away from orchard.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Godmother.</i> Nay! Nay! Your Majesty, go not</span><br /> +Within that orchard, now I pray!<br /> +The Witch and Ogre are in league.<br /> +They've wrought you fearful harm this day.<br /> +She brewed a draught to change the prince<br /> +Into a dog! Oh, woe is me!<br /> +I passed the tower and heard him bark:<br /> +Alack! That I must tell it thee!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Queen shrieks and falls back in the King's arms, then recovering</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><i>falls to wailing.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Queen.</i> My noble son a <i>dog?</i> A <i>beast?</i></span><br /> +It cannot, must not, <i>shall</i> not be!<br /> +I'll brave the Ogre in his den,<br /> +And plead upon my bended knee!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Godmother.</i> Thou couldst not touch his heart of stone.</span><br /> +He'd keep <i>thee</i> captive in his lair.<br /> +The Princess Winsome can alone<br /> +Remove the cause of thy despair.<br /> +And I unto the tower will climb,<br /> +And ere is gone the sunset's red,<br /> +Shall bid her spin a counter charm—<br /> +A skein of Love's own Golden Thread.<br /> +Take heart, O mother Queen! Be brave!<br /> +Take heart, O gracious King, I pray!<br /> +Well can she spin Love's Golden Thread,<br /> +And Love can <i>always</i> find a way! [<i>Exit Godmother.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Queen.</i> She's gone, good dame. But what if she</span><br /> +Has made mistake, and thread of gold<br /> +Is not enough to draw our son<br /> +From out the Ogre's cruel hold?<br /> +Canst think of nought, your Majesty?<br /> +Of nothing else? Must we stand here<br /> +And powerless lift no hand to speed<br /> +The rescue of our children dear?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>King clasps hand to his head in thought, then starts forward.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> I have it now! This hour I'll send</span><br /> +Swift heralds through my wide domains,<br /> +To say the knight who rescues them<br /> +Shall wed the Princess for his pains.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Queen.</i> Quick! Let us fly! I hear the sound of feet,</span><br /> +As if some horseman were approaching nigher.<br /> +'Twould not be seemly should he meet<br /> +Our royal selves so near the Witch's fire.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>They start to run, but are met by Knight on horseback in centre of</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>stage. He dismounts and drops to one knee.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> 'Tis Feal the Faithful! Rise, Sir Knight,</span><br /> +And tell us what thou doest here!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Knight.</i> O Sire, I know your children's plight</span><br /> +I go to ease your royal fear.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Queen.</i> Now if thou bringst them back to us,</span><br /> +A thousand blessings on thy head.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> Ay, half my kingdom shall be thine.</span><br /> +The Princess Winsome thou shalt wed.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Queen.</i> But tell us, how dost thou think to cope</span><br /> +With the Ogre so dread and grim?<br /> +What is the charm that bids thee hope<br /> +Thou canst rout and vanquish him?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Knight.</i> My faithful heart is my only charm,</span><br /> +But my good broadsword is keen,<br /> +And love for the princess nerves my arm<br /> +With the strength of ten, I ween.<br /> +Come weal, come woe, no knight can fail<br /> +Who goes at Love's behest.<br /> +Long ere one moon shall wax and wane,<br /> +I shall be back from my quest.<br /> +I have only to find the South Wind's flute.<br /> +In the Land of Summer it lies.<br /> +It can awaken the echoes mute,<br /> +With answering replies.<br /> +And it can summon the fairy folk<br /> +Who never have said me nay.<br /> +They'll come to my aid at the flute's clear call.<br /> +Love <i>always</i> can find a way.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> Go, Feal the Faithful. It is well!</span><br /> +Successful mayst thou be,<br /> +And all the way that thou dost ride,<br /> +Our blessings follow thee. [<i>Curtain.</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h2>ACT II.</h2> + +<p class="center"><br /> +SCENE. <i>Room in Ogre's tower. Princess Winsome kneeling with arm +around Dog's neck.</i></p> + +<p><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> <i>Art</i> thou my brother? Can it be</span><br /> +That thou hast taken such shape?<br /> +Oh turn those sad eyes not on me!<br /> +There <i>must</i> be some escape.<br /> +And yet our parents think us dead.<br /> +No doubt they weep this very hour,<br /> +For no one ever has escaped,<br /> +Ere this, the Ogre's power.<br /> +<br /> +Oh cruel fate! We can but die!<br /> +Each moment seems a week.<br /> +<i>Is</i> there no hope? Oh, Hero dear,<br /> +If thou couldst only speak!<br /> +But no! Within this tower room<br /> +We're captive, and despair<br /> +Must settle on us. 'Tis the doom<br /> +Of all dragged up yon winding stair.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Drops her head and weeps. Enter Godmother, who waves wand</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and throwing back curtain, displays a spinning-wheel.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Godmother.</i> Rise, Princess Winsome,</span><br /> +Dry your weeping eyes.<br /> +The way of escape<br /> +Within your own hand lies.<br /> +<br /> +Waste no time in sorrow,<br /> +Spin and sing instead.<br /> +Spin for thy brother's sake,<br /> +A skein of golden thread.<br /> +<br /> +Question not the future,<br /> +Mourn not the past,<br /> +But keep thy wheel a-turning,<br /> +Spinning well and fast.<br /> +<br /> +All the world helps gladly<br /> +Those who help themselves,<br /> +And the thread thou spinnest,<br /> +Shall be woven by elves.<br /> +<br /> +All good things shall speed thee!<br /> +Thy knight, the Faithful Feal,<br /> +Is to thy rescue riding.<br /> +Up! To thy spinning-wheel! [<i>Disappears behind curtain.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> All good things shall speed me?</span><br /> +Sir Knight, the Faithful Feal,<br /> +Is to my rescue riding? [<i>In joyful surprise.</i><br /> +Turn, turn, my spinning-wheel!<br /> +(<i>She sings.</i>)</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Spinning Wheel Song"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="./images/s1a.jpg"><img src="./images/s1a-tb.jpg" alt="Spinning Wheel Song" title="Spinning Wheel Song" /></a> +</td> +<td align='left'><a href="./images/s1b.jpg"><img src="./images/s1b-tb.jpg" alt="Spinning Wheel Song" title="Spinning Wheel Song" /></a> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> +<div class="blockquot">[<i>You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinningwheel.midi">here</a>.<br /> + +<i>You can view the Lilypond data file for this music by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinningwheel.ly">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You may also view a pdf file of the music by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinningwheel.pdf">here</a>.]<br /><br /></div> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Spinning Wheel Lyrics"> +<tr><td align='center'><b>Spinning Wheel Song.</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>My godmother bids me spin, that my heart may not be sad.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spin and sing for my brother's sake, and the spinning makes me glad.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spin, sing with humming whir, the wheel goes round and round.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For my brother's sake, the charm I'll break, Prince Hero shall be found.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Spin, sing, the golden thread,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gleams in the sun's bright ray,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The humming wheel my grief can heal,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For love will find a way.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Pauses with uplifted hand.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +What's that at my casement tapping?<br /> +Some messenger, maybe.<br /> +Pause, good wheel, in thy turning,<br /> +While I look out and see.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Opens casement and leans out, as if welcoming a carrier dove,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>which may be concealed in basket outside window.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Little white dove, from my faithful knight,<br /> +Dost thou bring a message to me?<br /> +Little white dove with the white, white breast,<br /> +What may that message be?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Finds note, tied to wing.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +Here is his letter. Ah, well-a-day!<br /> +I'll open it now, and read.<br /> +Little carrier dove, with fluttering heart,<br /> +I'm a happy maiden, indeed.<br /> +(<i>She reads.</i>) "O Princess fair, in the Ogre's tower,<br /> +In the far-off Summer-land<br /> +I seek the South Wind's silver flute,<br /> +To summon a fairy band.<br /> +Now send me a token by the dove<br /> +That thou hast read my note.<br /> +Send me the little heart of gold<br /> +From the chain about thy throat.<br /> +And I shall bind it upon my shield,<br /> +My talisman there to stay.<br /> +And then all foes to me must yield,<br /> +For Love will find the way.<br /> +<br /> +Here is set the hand and seal<br /> +Of thy own true knight, the faithful—Feal."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Princess takes locket from throat and winds chain around dove's</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>neck.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Princess sings.</i><br /> +<br /></p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Dove Song"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="./images/s2a.jpg"><img src="./images/s2a-tb.jpg" alt="Spinning Wheel Song" title="Spinning Wheel Song" /></a> +</td> +<td align='left'><a href="./images/s2b.jpg"><img src="./images/s2b-tb.jpg" alt="Spinning Wheel Song" title="Spinning Wheel Song" /></a> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot">[<i>You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking</i> <a href="music/dovesong.midi">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You can view the Lilypond data file for this music by clicking</i> <a href="music/dovesong.ly">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You may also view a pdf file of the music by clicking</i> <a href="music/dovesong.pdf">here</a>.]<br /> <br /></div> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Dove Song Lyrics"> +<tr><td align='center'><b>The Dove Song.</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Now, flutter and fly, flutter and fly,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bear him my heart of gold,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bid him be brave little carrier dove!</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bid him be brave and bold!</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Tell him that I at my spinning wheel,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Will sing while it turns and hums,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>And think all day of his love so leal,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Until with the flute he comes.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Now fly, flutter and fly,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Now flutter and fly, away, away.]</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<p><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Sets dove at liberty. Turning to wheel again, repeats song.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess repeats.</i> My Godmother bids me spin,</span><br /> +That my heart may not be sad;<br /> +Spin and sing for my brother's sake,<br /> +And the spinning makes me glad.<br /> +<br /> +Sing! Spin! With hum and whir<br /> +The wheel goes round and round.<br /> +For my brother's sake the charm I'll break!<br /> +Prince Hero shall be found.<br /> +<br /> +Spin! Sing! The golden thread<br /> +Gleams in the sunlight's ray!<br /> +The humming wheel my grief can heal,<br /> +For Love will find a way.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>First messenger appears at window, dressed as a Morning-glory.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Morning-glory.</i> Fair Princess,</span><br /> +This morning, when the early dawn<br /> +Was flushing all the sky,<br /> +Beside the trellis where I bloomed,<br /> +A knight rode slowly by.<br /> +<br /> +He stopped and plucked me from my stem,<br /> +And said, "Sweet Morning-glory,<br /> +Be thou my messenger to-day,<br /> +And carry back my story.<br /> +<br /> +"Go bid the Princess in the tower<br /> +Forget all thought of sorrow.<br /> +Her true knight will return to her<br /> +With joy, on some glad morrow." [<i>Disappears.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess sings.</i> Spin! spin! The golden thread</span><br /> +Holds no thought of sorrow.<br /> +My true knight he shall come to me<br /> +With joy on some glad morrow.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Second flower messenger, dressed at Pansy, appears at window.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Pansy.</i> Gracious Princess,</span><br /> +I come from Feal the Faithful.<br /> +He plucked me from my bower,<br /> +And said, speed to the Princess<br /> +And say, "Like this sweet flower<br /> +The thoughts within my bosom<br /> +Bloom ever, love, of thee.<br /> +Oh, read the pansy's message,<br /> +And give a thought to me." [<i>Pansy disappears.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess sings.</i> Spin, spin, O golden thread!</span><br /> +And turn, O humming wheel.<br /> +This pansy is his thought of me,<br /> +My true knight, brave and leal.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Third flower messenger, a pink Rose.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Rose.</i> Thy true knight battled for thee to-day,</span><br /> +On a fierce and bloody field,<br /> +But he won at last in the hot affray,<br /> +By the heart of gold on his shield.<br /> +<br /> +He saw me blushing beside a wall,<br /> +My petals pink in the sun<br /> +With pleasure, because such a valiant knight<br /> +The hard-fought battle had won.<br /> +<br /> +And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek,<br /> +And once in my heart of gold,<br /> +And bade me hasten to thee and speak.<br /> +Pray take the message I hold.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Princess goes to the window, takes a pink rose from the</i></span><br /> +<i>messenger. As she walks back, kisses it and fastens it on her<br /> +dress. Then turns to wheel again.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess sings.</i> Spin, spin, O golden thread,</span><br /> +And turn, O happy wheel.<br /> +The pink rose brought in its heart of gold,<br /> +A kiss, his love to seal.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Fourth messenger, a Forget-me-not.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Forget-me-not.</i> Fair Princess,</span><br /> +Down by the brook, when the sun was low,<br /> +A brave knight paused to slake<br /> +His thirst in the water's silver flow,<br /> +As he journeyed far for thy sake,<br /> +He saw me bending above the stream,<br /> +And he said, "Oh, happy spot!<br /> +Ye show me the Princess Winsome's eyes<br /> +In each blue forget-me-not."<br /> +He bade me bring you my name to hide<br /> +In your heart of hearts for ever,<br /> +And say as long as its blooms are blue,<br /> +No power true hearts can sever.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess sings.</i> Spin, spin, O golden thread.</span><br /> +O wheel; my happy lot<br /> +It is to hide within my heart<br /> +That name, forget-me-not.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Fifth messenger, a Poppy.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Poppy.</i> Dear Princess Winsome,</span><br /> +Within the shade of a forest glade<br /> +He laid him down to sleep,<br /> +And I, the Poppy, kept faithful guard<br /> +That it might be sweet and deep.<br /> +But oft in his dreams he stirred and spoke,<br /> +And thy name was on his tongue,<br /> +And I learned his secret ere he woke,<br /> +When the fair new day was young.<br /> +And this is what he, whispering, said,<br /> +As he journeyed on in his way:<br /> +"Bear her my dreams in your chalice red,<br /> +For I dream of her night and day."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>Princess sings.</i> Spin, spin, O golden thread.</span><br /> +He dreams of me night and day!<br /> +The poppy's chalice is sweet and red.<br /> +Oh, Love will find a way!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Sixth messenger, a Daisy.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Daisy.</i> O Princess fair,</span><br /> +Far on the edge of the Summer-land<br /> +I stood with my face to the sun,<br /> +And the brave knight counted with strong hand<br /> +My petals, one by one.<br /> +<br /> +And he said, "O Daisy, white and gold,<br /> +The princess must count them too.<br /> +By thy petals shall she be told<br /> +If my long, far quest is through.<br /> +<br /> +"Whether or not her knight has found<br /> +The South Wind's flute that he sought."<br /> +So over the hills from the Summer-land,<br /> +Your true knight's token I've brought.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Gives Princess a large artificial daisy. She counts petals, slowly</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>dropping them one by one.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> Far on the edge of the Summer-land,</span><br /> +O Daisy, white and gold,<br /> +My true love held you in his hand.<br /> +What was the word he told?<br /> +He's found it. Found it not.<br /> +Found it. Found it not.<br /> +<br /> +That magic flute of the South Wind, sweet,<br /> +Will he blow it, over the lea?<br /> +Will the fairy folk its call repeat,<br /> +And hasten to rescue me?<br /> +<br /> +He's found it, found it not.<br /> +Found it, found it not.<br /> +Found it, found it not.<br /> +He's <i>found</i> it! [<i>Turning to the dog.</i><br /> +<br /> +Come, Hero! Hear me, brother mine;<br /> +Thy gladness must indeed be mute,<br /> +But oh, the joy! We're saved! We're saved!<br /> +My knight has found the silver flute!<br /> +<br /> +(<i>Sings.</i>)<br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread."> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="./images/s3.jpg"><img src="./images/s3-tb.jpg" alt=""Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread."" title=""Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread."" /></a> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot">[<i>You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinwheel.midi">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You can view the Lilypond data file for this music by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinwheel.ly">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You may also view a pdf file of the music by clicking</i> <a href="music/spinwheel.pdf">here</a>.]<br /> <br /></div> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread."> +<tr><td align='center'><b>"Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread."</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>Spin, wheel, reel out thy golden thread,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My happy heart sings glad and gay,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hero shall 'scape the Ogre dread,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>And I my own true love shall wed.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For love has found a way,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For love has found a way.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Curtain.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /></p> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h4>ACT III.</h4> + +<p class="center"><br /> +SCENE. <i>In front of Witch's Orchard. Knight comes riding by, blows +flute softly under the tower window. Princess leans out and waves +her hand. Knight dismounts, and little page takes horse, leading it +off stage.</i><br /></p> + +<p><br /> + +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Knight.</i>Listen, as low on the South Wind's flute</span><br /> +I call the elves to our tryst<br /> +Down rainbow bubbles they softly float,<br /> +Light-winged as stars in a mist.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">[<i>He blows on flute, and from every direction the Fairies come</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>floating in, their gauzy wings spangled, and each one carrying</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>a toy balloon, attached to a string. They trip back and</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>forth, their balloons bobbing up and down like rainbow bubbles, singing.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Fairy Chorus."> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="./images/s4.jpg"><img src="./images/s4-tb.jpg" alt="Fairy Chorus." title="Fairy Chorus." /></a> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot">[<i>You can play this music (MIDI file) by clicking</i> <a href="music/fairychorus.midi">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You can view the Lilypond data file for this music by clicking</i> <a href="music/fairychorus.ly">here</a>.<br /> +<i>You may also view a pdf file of the music by clicking</i> <a href="music/fairychorus.pdf">here</a>.]<br /> <br /></div> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Fairy Chorus."> +<tr><td align='center'><b>Fairy Chorus.</b></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>We come, we come at thy call,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>On rainbow bubbles we float.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We fairies, one and all,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Have answered the wind flute's note.<br /><br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>The south wind's silver flute,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>From the far-off summer land,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>It bade us hasten here,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To lend a helping hand.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>It bade us hasten, hasten here,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To lend a helping hand.<br /><br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>2. To the aid of the gallant knight,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To the help of the princess fair,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To the rescue of the prince,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We come to the Ogre's lair.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To the rescue of the prince,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We come to the Ogre's lair.<br /><br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>3. And now, at thy behest,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>We pause in our bright array,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>To end thy weary quest,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>For love has found a way. To end thy weary,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>weary quest, For love has found a way.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Titania coming forward, waves Her star-tipped wand,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and looks up toward Princess at the window.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Titania.</i> Princess Winsome,</span><br /> +When thy good Godmother<br /> +Bade thee spin Love's thread,<br /> +It was with this promise,<br /> +These the words she said:<br /> +<br /> +All the world helps gladly<br /> +Those who help themselves.<br /> +The thread thou spinnest bravely,<br /> +Shall be woven by elves.<br /> +And now, O Princess Winsome,<br /> +How much hast thou spun,<br /> +As thy wheel, a-whirling,<br /> +Turned from sun to sun?<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> This, O Queen Titania. [<i>Holding up mammoth ball.</i></span><br /> +To the humming wheel's refrain,<br /> +I sang, and spun the measure<br /> +Of one great golden skein.<br /> +<br /> +And winding, winding, winding,<br /> +At last I wound it all,<br /> +Until the thread all golden<br /> +Made a mammoth wonder-ball.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Titania.</i> Here below thy casement</span><br /> +Thy true knight waiting stands.<br /> +Drop the ball thou holdest<br /> +Into his faithful hands.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Princess drops the ball, Knight catches it, and as Titania waves</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>her wand, he starts along the line of Fairies. They each take</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>hold as the Witch and Ogre come darting in, she brandishing</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>her broomstick, he his bludgeon. They come through</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>gate of the Orchard in the background. As the ball unwinds,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>the Fairies march around them, tangling them in the yards</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and yards of narrow yellow ribbon, singing as they go.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fairy Chorus.</i> We come, we come at thy call,</span><br /> +On rainbow bubbles we float.<br /> +We fairies, one and all,<br /> +Have answered the Wind-flute's note.<br /> +To the aid of the gallant Knight,<br /> +To the help of the Princess fair,<br /> +To the rescue of the Prince,<br /> +We come to the Ogre's lair.<br /> +We come, we come at thy call,<br /> +The Witch and Ogre to quell,<br /> +And now they both must bow<br /> +To the might of the fairies' spell.<br /> +Love's Golden Thread can bind<br /> +The strongest Ogre's arm,<br /> +And the spell of the blackest Witch<br /> +Must yield to its mighty charm.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Ogre and Witch stand bound and helpless, tangled in golden cord.</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>They glower around with frightful grimaces. King and</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Queen enter unnoticed from side. Knight draws his sword,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and brandishing it before Ogre, cries out fiercely.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Knight.</i> The key! The key that opens yonder tower!</span><br /> +Now give it me, or by my troth<br /> +Your head shall from your shoulders fly!<br /> +To stab you through I'm nothing loath!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Ogre gives Knight the key. He rushes to the door, unlocks it,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and Princess and dog burst out. Queen rushes forward and</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>embraces her, then the King, and Knight kneels and kisses</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>her hand. Princess turns to Titania.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Princess.</i> Oh, happy day that sets me free</span><br /> +From yon dread Ogre's prison!<br /> +Oh, happy world, since 'tis for me<br /> +Such rescuers have 'risen.<br /> +But see, your Majesty! the plight<br /> +Of Hero—he the Prince, my brother!<br /> +Wilt thou <i>his</i> wrong not set aright?<br /> +Another favour grant! One other!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Titania waves wand toward Knight who springs at Witch with drawn sword.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Knight.</i> The spell! The spell that breaks the power</span><br /> +That holds Prince Hero in its thrall!<br /> +Now give it me, or in this hour<br /> +Thy head shall from its shoulders fall!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Witch.</i> Pluck with your thumbs</span><br /> +Seven silver plums [<i>Speaking in high, cracked voice.</i><br /> +From my golden apple-tree!<br /> +These the dog must eat.<br /> +The change will be complete,<br /> +And a prince once more the dog will be!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Princess darts back into Orchard, followed by dog, who crouches</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>behind hedge, and is seen no more. She picks plums, and,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>stooping, gives them to him, under cover of the hedge. The</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>real Prince Hero leaps up from the place where he has been</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>lying, waiting, and hand in hand they run back to the centre</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>of the stage, where the Prince receives the embraces of King</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and Queen. Prince then turns to Knight.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Prince Hero.</i> Hail, Feal the Faithful!</span><br /> +My gratitude I cannot tell,<br /> +That thou at last hath freed me<br /> +From the Witch's fearful spell.<br /> +But wheresoe'er thou goest,<br /> +Thou faithful knight and true,<br /> +The favours of my kingdom<br /> +Shall all be showered on you. [<i>Turns to Titania.</i><br /> +Hail, starry-winged Titania!<br /> +And ye fairies, rainbow-hued!<br /> +I have not words sufficient<br /> +To tell my gratitude,<br /> +But if the loyal service<br /> +Of a mortal ye should need,<br /> +Prince Hero lives to serve you,<br /> +No matter what the deed!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Characters now group themselves in tableau. Queen and Prince</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>on one side, Godmother and Titania on the other. King in</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>centre, with Princess on one hand, Knight on other. He</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>places her hand in the Knight's, who kneels to receive it. Ogre</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>and Witch, still making horrible faces, are slightly in background,</i></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>bound. Fairies form an outer semicircle.</i></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>King.</i> And now, brave Knight, requited stand!</span><br /> +Here is the Princess Winsome's hand.<br /> +To-morrow thou shalt wedded be,<br /> +And half my kingdom is for thee!<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Fairy Chorus.</i> Love's golden cord has bound</span><br /> +The strongest Ogre's arm,<br /> +And the spell of the blackest Witch<br /> +Has yielded to its charm.<br /> +The Princess Winsome plights<br /> +Her troth to the Knight to-day,<br /> +So fairies, one and all,<br /> +We need no longer stay.<br /> +<br /> +The golden thread is spun,<br /> +The Knight has won his bride,<br /> +And now our task is done,<br /> +We may no longer bide.<br /> +On rainbow bubbles bright,<br /> +We fairies float away.<br /> +<i>The wrong is now set right<br /> +And Love has found the way!</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">[<i>Curtain.</i></span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p>As Betty finished reading, there was a babel of voices and a clapping of +hands that made her face grow redder and redder. They were all trying to +congratulate her at once, and she was so confused that she wished she +could run away and hide. But the applause was very sweet to shy little +Betty. She felt that she had done her best, and that not only her +godmother was proud of her, but Keith, and Keith's beautiful mother, who +bent from her queenly height to kiss Betty's flushed cheek, and whisper a +word of praise that made her glow for weeks afterward, whenever she +thought of it.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"'And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And once in my heart of gold,'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>hummed Keith. "Say, Betty, that's mighty pretty. How did you ever think of +it?"</p> + +<p>Before she could answer, one of the maids came out with a tray of sherbet +and cake, and the boys sprang up to help serve the girls.</p> + +<p>"I know some of my part already," said Kitty, stirring her sherbet +suggestively, and repeating in a sepulchral tone:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"'I'll stir</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This hank of hair, this patch of fur,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This feather and this flapping fin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin.'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Oh, Kitty, for mercy's sake <i>hush!</i>" said Allison; "you make my blood run +cold."</p> + +<p>"But I must, if we've only a week to get ready in. I expect to say it day +and night. It's better to do that than to take more than a week, and give +up the camping party, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It's going to be a howling success," prophesied Malcolm. "When mamma and +auntie and Aunt Mary go into a scheme the way they are doing now, costumes +and drills, and all sorts of impossible things don't count at all. We'll +be ready in plenty of time."</p> + +<p>"Especially," said the Little Colonel, with dignity, "when mothah and Papa +Jack are goin' to do so much. My pa'ht is longah than anybody's."</p> + +<p>Next morning at the depot, the post-office, and the blacksmith shop a sign +was displayed which everybody stopped to read. Similar announcements +nailed on various trees throughout the Valley caused many an old farmer to +pull up his team and adjust his spectacles for a closer view of this novel +poster.</p> + +<p>They were all Miss Allison's work. Each one bore at the top a crayon +sketch of a huge St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on its collar and +shoulder-bags. Underneath was a notice to the effect that an entertainment +would be given the following Friday night in the college hall, a short +concert, followed by a play called "The Princess Winsome's Rescue," in +which <i>Hero</i>, the Red Cross dog recently brought from Switzerland, would +take a prominent part. The proceeds were to be given to the cause of the +Red Cross.</p> + +<p>That announcement alone would have drawn a large crowd, but added to that +was the fact that twenty families in the Valley had each contributed a +child to the fairy chorus or the group of flower messengers, and were thus +personally interested in the success of the entertainment.</p> + +<p>There was scarcely standing-room when the doors were opened Friday +evening. Papa Jack felt well repaid for his part in the hurried +preparations when, after the musical part of the programme, he heard the +buzz of admiration that went around the room, as the curtain rose on the +first scene of the play. It was the dimly lighted witch's orchard.</p> + +<p>Across the stage, five feet back from the footlights, ran a snaky-looking +fence with high-spiked posts. It had taken him all morning to build it, +even with Alec's and Walker's help. Above this peered a thicket of small +trees and underbrush bearing a marvellous crop of gold and silver apples +and plums. Real gold and silver fruit it looked to be in the dim light, +and not the discarded ornaments of a score of old Christmas-trees. A +stuffed owl kept guard on one high gate-post, and a huge black velvet cat +on the other.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the stage, showing plainly through the open double gates, +the witch's caldron hung on a tripod, over a fire of fagots. Here Kitty, +dressed like an old hag, leaned on her blackened broomstick, stirring the +brew, and muttering to herself.</p> + +<p>At one side of the stage could be seen the door leading into the ogre's +tower, and above it a tiny casement window.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Walton gave a nod of satisfaction over her work, when the ogre came +roaring in. His costume was of her making, even to the bludgeon which he +carried. "Nobody could guess that it was only an old Indian club painted +red to hide the lumps of sealing-wax I had to stick on to make the +regulation knots," she whispered to Keith's father, who sat next her. "And +no one would ever dream that the ogre is Joe Clark. I had hard work to +persuade him to take the part, but an invitation to my camping party next +week proved to be effective bait. And such a time as I had to get Ranald's +costume! I was about to ask Betty to change his name, when Elise found +that Mardi Gras frog at some costumer's. Those webbed feet and hideous +eyes are enough to strike terror to any one's soul."</p> + +<p>It was a play in which every one was pleased with the part given him. +Allison and Rob swept up and down in their gilt crowns and ermine-trimmed +robes of royal purple, feeling that as king and queen they had the most +important parts of all. Keith looked every inch the charming Prince Hero +he personated, and Malcolm made such a dashing knight that there was a +burst of applause every time he appeared.</p> + +<p>Betty made a dear old godmother, and Elise, with crown and star-tipped +wand, filmy spangled wings, and big red bubble of a balloon, was supremely +happy as Queen of the Fairies. But it was the Little Colonel who won the +greatest laurels, in the tower room, making the prettiest picture of all +as she bent over the great St. Bernard, bewailing their fate.</p> + +<p>The scenery had been changed with little delay between acts. Three tall +screens, hastily unfolded just in front of the spiked fence, hid the +orchard from view, and a fourth screen served the double purpose of +forming the side wall of the room, and hiding the ogre's tower. The narrow +space between the screens and the footlights was ample for the scene that +took place there, and the arrangement saved much trouble. For in the last +act, the screens had only to be carried away, to leave the stage with its +original setting.</p> + +<p>"Lloyd never looked so pretty before, in her life," said Mr. Sherman to +his wife, as they watched the Princess Winsome tread back and forth beside +the spinning-wheel, the golden cord held lightly in her white fingers. But +she was even prettier in the next scene, when with the dove in her hands +she stood at the window, twining the slender gold chain about its neck and +singing in a high, sweet voice, clear as a crystal bell:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Flutter"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Flutter and fly, flutter and fly,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Bear him my heart of gold.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Bid him be brave, little carrier dove,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Bid him be brave and bold."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Twice many hands called her back, and many eyes looked admiringly as she +sang the song again, holding the dove to her breast and smoothing its +white feathers as she repeated the words:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Tell him that"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Tell him that I at my spinning-wheel</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Will sing while it turns and hums,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">And think all day of his love so leal</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Until with the flute he comes."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Jack," said some one in a low tone to Mr. Sherman, as the applause died +away for the third time, "Jack, when the Princess Winsome is a little +older, you'd be wise to call in the ogre's help. You'll have more than one +Kentucky Knight trying to carry her away if you don't."</p> + +<p>Mr. Sherman made some laughing reply, but turned away so absorbed by a +thought that his friend's words had suggested that he lost all of the +flower messengers' speeches. That some knight might want to carry off his +little Princess Winsome was a thought that had never occurred to him +except as some remote possibility far in the future. But looking at her as +she stood in her long court train, he realised that in a few more months +she would be in her teens, and then—time goes so fast! He sighed, +thinking with a heavy sinking of the heart that it might be only a few +years until she would be counting the daisy petals in earnest.</p> + +<p>The curtain hitched just at the last, so that it would not go down, so +with their rainbow bubbles bright the fairies ran off the stage toward +various points in the audience, for the coveted admiration and praise +which they knew was their due.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't Hero fine? Didn't he do his part beautifully?" cried Lloyd, as her +father, with one long step, raised himself up to a place beside her on the +stage, where the children were holding an informal reception.</p> + +<p>"Show him the money-box," cried Keith, pressing down through the crowds +from the outer door whither he had gone after the entrance receipts.</p> + +<p>"Just look, old fellow. There's dollars and dollars in there. See what +you've done for the Red Cross. If it hadn't been for you, Betty never +would have written the play."</p> + +<p>"And if it hadn't been for Betty's writing the play you never would have +sent me this heart of gold," said Malcolm in an aside to Lloyd, as he +unfastened her locket and chain from his shield. "Am I to keep it always, +fair princess?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" she answered, laughingly, holding out her hand to take it. +"Papa Jack gave me that, and I wouldn't give it up to any knight undah the +sun."</p> + +<p>"That's right, little daughter," whispered her father, "I am not in such a +hurry to give up my Princess Winsome as the old king was. Come, dear, help +me find Betty. I want to tell her what a grand success it was."</p> + +<p>Lloyd slipped a hand in her father's and led him toward a wing whither the +shy little godmother had fled, without a glance in Malcolm's direction. +But afterward, when she came out of the dressing-room, wrapped in her long +party-cloak, she saw him standing by the door. "Good night!" he said, +waving his plumed helmet. Then, with a mischievous smile, he sang in an +undertone:</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Go bid the princess"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Go bid the princess in the tower</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Forget all thought of sorrow.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Her true knight will return to her</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">With joy, on some glad morrow."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>IN CAMP</h3> + + +<p>Several miles from Lloydsboro Valley, where a rapid brook runs by the +ruins of an old paper-mill, a roaring waterfall foams and splashes. Even +in the long droughts of midsummer it is green and cool there, for the +spray, breaking on the slippery stones, freshens the ferns on the bank, +and turns its moss to the vivid hue of an emerald. Near by, in an open +pasture, sloping down from a circle of wooded hills, lies an ideal spot +for a small camp.</p> + +<p>It was here that Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison came one warm afternoon, the +Monday following the entertainment, with a wagonette full of children. +Ranald, Malcolm, Keith, and Rob Moore had ridden over earlier in the day +to superintend the coloured men who dug the trenches and pitched the +tents. By the time the wagonette arrived, fuel enough to last a week was +piled near the stones where the camp-fire was laid, and everything was in +readiness for the gay party. Flags floated from the tent poles, and +Dinah, the young coloured woman who was to be the cook, came up from the +spring, balancing a pail of water on her head, smiling broadly.</p> + +<p>As the boys and girls swarmed out and scurried away in every direction +like a horde of busy ants, Mrs. Walton turned to her sister with a laugh. +"Did we lose any of them on the way, Allison? We'd better count noses."</p> + +<p>"No, we are all here: eight girls, four boys, the four already on the +field, Dinah and her baby, and ourselves, twenty in all."</p> + +<p>"Twenty-one, counting Hero," corrected Mrs. Walton, as the great St. +Bernard went leaping after Lloyd, sniffing at the tents, and barking +occasionally to express his interest in the frolic. "He seems to be +enjoying it as much as any of us."</p> + +<p>"I wish that they were all as able to take care of themselves as he is. It +would save us a world of anxiety. Do you begin to realise, Mary, what a +load of responsibility we have taken on our shoulders? Sixteen boys and +girls to keep out of harm's way for a week in the woods is no easy +matter."</p> + +<p>"We'll keep them so busy that they'll have no time for mischief. The +wagonette isn't unloaded yet. Wait till you see the games I've brought, +and the fishing-tackle. There's an old curtain that can be hung between +those two trees any time we want to play charades."</p> + +<p>"Swing that hammock over there, Ranald," she called, nodding to a clump of +trees near the spring. "Then some of you boys can carry this chest back to +Dinah." She pointed to the old army mess-chest, that always accompanied +them on their picnics and outings.</p> + +<p>"The Ogre can do that," said the Little Captain, nodding toward Joe Clark, +who stood leaning lazily against a tree.</p> + +<p>"Do it yourself, Frog-Eye Fearsome," retorted Joe, at the same time coming +forward to help carry the chest to the place assigned it.</p> + +<p>"They'll never be able to get away from those names," said Miss Allison. +"Well, what is it, my Princess Winsome?" she asked, as Lloyd came running +up to her.</p> + +<p>"Please take care of these for me, Miss Allison," answered Lloyd, holding +out Hero's shoulder-bags, which she had just taken from him. "I put on his +things when we started, for mothah says nobody evah knows what's goin' to +happen in camp, and we might need those bandages." Tumbling them into Miss +Allison's lap, she was off again in breathless haste, to follow the other +girls, who were exploring the tents, and exclaiming over all the queer +make-shifts of camp life. Then they raced down to the waterfall, and, +taking off shoes and stockings, waded up and down in the brook. These +early fall days were as warm as August, so wading was not yet one of the +forbidden pastimes. They splashed up and down until the Little Captain's +bugle sent a ringing call for their return to camp. Katie was one of the +last to leave the water. Lloyd waited for her while she hurriedly laced +her shoes, and as they followed the others she said, in a confidential +tone, "Do you think you are goin' to like to stay out heah till next +Sata'day?"</p> + +<p>"Like it!" echoed Katie, "I could stay here a year!"</p> + +<p>"But at night, I mean. Sleepin' in those narrow little cots, with nothin' +ovah ou' heads but the tents, and no floah. Ugh! What if a snake or a +liz'ad should wiggle in, and you'd heah it rustlin' around in the grass +undah you! There's suah to be bugs and ants and cattahpillahs. I like camp +in the daylight, but it would be moah comfortable to have a house to sleep +in at night. I wish I could wish myself back home till mawnin'."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind the bugs and spiders," said Katie, recklessly, "and you'd +better not let the boys find out that you do, or they'll never stop +teasing you."</p> + +<p>A bountifully spread supper-table met their sight as they reached the +camp. It had been made by laying long boards across two poles, which were +supported by forked stakes driven into the ground. The eight girls made a +rush for the camp-stools on one side of the table, and the eight boys +grabbed those on the other side.</p> + +<p>"Don't have to have no manners in the woods," remarked little Freddy +Nicholls, straddling his stool, and beginning his supper, regardless of +the knife and fork beside his plate. "That's what I like about camping +out. You don't have to wait to have things handed to you, but can dip in +and get what you want like an Injun."</p> + +<p>Lloyd looked at him scornfully as she daintily unfolded her paper napkin. +She nodded a decided yes when Katie whispered, "Aren't boys horrid and +greedy!" Then she corrected herself hastily. She had seen Malcolm wait to +pass a dish of fried chicken to his Aunt Allison before helping himself, +and heard Ranald apologise to his next neighbour for accidentally jogging +his elbow. "Not all of them," she replied.</p> + +<p>It added much to Betty's interest in the meal to know that the cup from +which she drank, and the fork with which she ate, had been used by real +soldiers, and carried from one army post to another many times in the +travel-worn old mess chest.</p> + +<p>Little Elise was the only one who did not give due attention to her +supper. She sat with a cooky in her hand, looking off at the hills with +dreamy eyes, until her mother spoke to her.</p> + +<p>"I am trying to make some poetry like Betty did," she answered. Ever since +the play her thoughts seemed trying to twist themselves into rhymes, and +she was constantly coming up to her mother with a new verse she had just +made.</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it, Titania?" asked Mrs. Walton, seeing from the gleam of +satisfaction in the black eyes that the verse was ready.</p> + +<p>"It's all of our names," she said, shyly, waving her hand toward the girls +on her side of the table.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Girls' Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Betty, Corinne, and Lloyd, Margery, Kitty, and Kate,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Allison and Elise all together make eight."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, that's easy," said Rob. "You just strung a lot of names together. +Anybody can do that."</p> + +<p>"You do it, then," proposed Kitty. "Make a verse with the boys' names in +it."</p> + +<p>"Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Jamie, Freddy, Keith," he began, boldly, then +hesitated. "There isn't any rhyme for Keith."</p> + +<p>"Change them around," suggested Malcolm. The girls would not help, and the +whole row of boys floundered among the names for a while, unwilling to be +beaten by the youngest member of the party, and a girl, at that. Finally, +by their united efforts and a hint from Miss Allison, they succeeded.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Boys' Names"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Keith and Freddy, and James,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Joe the Ogre, and George. Those are the boys' eight names."</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"Let's make a law," suggested Kitty, "that nobody at the table can say +anything from now on till we are through supper, unless they speak in +rhymes."</p> + +<p>They all agreed, but for a few minutes no one ventured a remark. Only +giggles broke the silence, until Allison asked Freddy Nicholls to pass the +pickles. Recorded here in a book, it may seem a very silly game, but to +the jolly camping party, ready to laugh at even the sheerest nonsense, it +proved to be the source of much fun. Even Freddy, to his own great +delight, surprised himself and the company by asking Elise to take some +cheese. Joe was thrown into confusion by Kitty's asking him if flesh, +fowl, or fish, was his favourite dish. As he could only nod his head, he +had to pay a forfeit, and Keith answered for him by saying, "That's not a +fair question to Joe. An ogre eats all things, you know." So it went on +until Mrs. Walton said:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Now all who are able"> +<tr><td align='left'>"Now all who are able, may rise from the table.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The camp-fire's burning bright.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Spread rugs on the ground, and gather around,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And we'll all tell tales in its light."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>"This is the jolliest part of it all!" exclaimed Keith, a little later, +as, stretched out on a thick Indian blanket, he looked around on the +circle of faces, glowing in the light of the leaping fagot-fire. Twilight +had settled on the camp. The tumbling of the waterfall over the rocks made +a subdued roar in the background. An owl called somewhere from the depths +of the woods. As the dismal "Tu-whit, tu who-oo" sounded through the +gloaming, Lloyd glanced over her shoulder with a shudder.</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "It looks as if the witch's orchard might be there +behind us, with all sorts of snaky, crawlin' things in it. Come heah, +Hero. Let me put my back against you. It makes me feel shivery to even +think of such a thing!"</p> + +<p>The dog edged nearer at her call, and she snuggled up against his tawny +curls with a feeling of warmth and protection.</p> + +<p>"Wish I had a dog like that," said Jamie, fondly stroking the silky ear +that was nearest him. "I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for him if I +had."</p> + +<p>"Money couldn't buy Hero!" exclaimed Lloyd.</p> + +<p>"Now what would you do," said Kitty, who was always supposing impossible +things, "if some old witch would come to you and say, 'You may have your +choice? a palace full of gold and silver and precious stones and give up +Hero, or keep him and be a beggar in rags?"</p> + +<p>"I'd be a beggah, of co'se!" cried Lloyd, warmly, throwing her arm around +the dog's neck. "Think I'd go back on anybody that had saved my life? But +I wouldn't stay a beggah," she continued. "I'd put on the Red Cross too, +and we'd go away where there was war, Hero and I, and we'd spend ou' lives +takin' care of the soldiahs. I wouldn't have to dress in rags, for I'd +weah the nurse's costume, and I'd do so much good that some day, may be, +somebody would send me the Gold Cross of Remembrance, as they did Clara +Barton, and I'm suah that I'd rathah have that, with all it means, than +all the precious stones and things that the witch could give me."</p> + +<p>"When did Hero save your life?" asked Joe, who had not heard the story of +the runaway in Geneva.</p> + +<p>"Tell us all about it, Lloyd," asked Mrs. Walton. So Lloyd began, and the +group around the fire listened with breathless attention. And that was +followed by the Major's story, and all he had told her of St. Bernard +dogs, and of the Red Cross service. Then the finding of the Major by his +faithful dog on the dark mountain after the storm. Betty's turn came next. +She repeated some of the stories they had heard on shipboard. Mrs. Walton +added her part afterward, telling her personal experience with the Red +Cross work in Cuba and the Philippines.</p> + +<p>"That is one reason I took such a deep interest in your little +entertainment," she said, "and was so pleased when it brought so much +money. I know that every penny under the wise direction of the Red Cross +will help to make some poor soldier more comfortable; or if some sudden +calamity should come in this country, before it was sent away, your little +fund might help to save dozens of lives."</p> + +<p>The fire had burned low while they talked, and Elise was yawning sleepily. +Miss Allison looked at her watch. "How the time has flown!" she exclaimed +in surprise. "Where is the bugler of this camp? It is high time for him to +play taps."</p> + +<p>Ranald ran for his bugle, and the clear call that he had learned to play +when he was "The Little Captain," in far-away Luzon, rang out into the +dark woods. It was answered by the same silvery notes. Mrs. Walton and +Miss Allison looked at each other in surprise, for the reply was no echo, +but the call of a real bugle, somewhere not far away.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we forgot to tell you, Aunt Mary," said Malcolm, noting the surprised +glance, "It's a regiment of the State Guard, in camp over by Calkin's +Cliff. We boys were over there this morning. They made a big fuss over us +when they found that Ranald was General Walton's son and we were his +nephews. They wanted us to stay to dinner, and when they found out that +you were coming to camp here, the Colonel said be wanted to come over here +and call. He used to know you out West."</p> + +<p>"Colonel Wayne," repeated Mrs. Walton, when Malcolm finally remembered the +name. "We knew him when he was only a young cadet at West Point. The +General was very fond of him, and I shall be glad to see him again."</p> + +<p>"They'll be interested in Hero," said Ranald. "Maybe they'll want to train +some war dogs for our army if they set him at work. Do you suppose he has +forgotten his training, Lloyd? Let's try him in the morning."</p> + +<p>"You can make a great game of it," suggested Mrs. Walton. "Rig up one of +the tents for a hospital. Some of the boys can be wounded soldiers and +some of the girls nurses."</p> + +<p>"All but me," said Lloyd. "I'll have to be an officer to give the ordahs. +He only knows the French words for that, and the Majah taught them to me."</p> + +<p>"What can we use for the brassards and costumes?" said Kitty.</p> + +<p>"Elise has an old red apron in the clothes-hamper that we can cut up for +crosses," said Mrs. Walton, always ready for emergencies. "But now to your +tents, every man of you, or you'll never be ready to get up in the +morning."</p> + +<p>It was hard to go to sleep in the midst of such strange surroundings, and +more than once Lloyd started up, aroused by the hoot of an owl, or the +thud of a bat against the side of the tent. Not until she reached out and +laid her hand on the great St. Bernard stretched out beside her cot, did +she settle herself comfortably to sleep. With the touch of his soft curls +against her fingers, she was no longer afraid.</p> + +<p>When the officers came into the camp next day, they found the children in +the midst of their new game. It was some time before their attention was +attracted to it, for the Colonel was one of the men who had followed +General Walton on his long, hard Indian campaign, and there were many +questions to be asked and answered, about mutual friends in the army.</p> + +<p>Hero was not making a serious business of the game, but was entering into +it as if it were a big frolic. He could not make believe as the boys +could, who played at soldiering. But the old words of command, uttered, in +the Little Colonel's high, excited voice, sent him bounding in the +direction she pointed, and the prostrate forms he found scattered about +the sham battle field, seemed to quicken his memory. Mrs. Walton presently +called the officer's attention to the efforts Hero was making to recall +his old lessons, and briefly outlined his history.</p> + +<p>"I believe he would remember perfectly," said the Colonel, watching him +with deep interest, "if we were to take him over to our camp, and try him +among the regular uniformed soldiers. Of course our accoutrements are not +the kind he has been accustomed to, but I think they would suggest them. +At least the smell of powder would be familiar, and the guns and canteens +and knapsacks might awaken something in his memory that would revive his +entire training. I should like very much to make the experiment."</p> + +<p>After some further conversation, Lloyd was called up to meet the +officers, and it was agreed that Hero should be taken over to the camp for +a trial on the day the sham battle was to take place.</p> + +<p>"The day has not yet been definitely determined," said the Colonel, "but +I'll send you word as soon as it is. By the way, my orderly was once a +young French officer, and often talks of the French army. He'll welcome +Hero like a long-lost brother, for he has a soft spot in his heart for +anything connected with his motherland. Ill send him over either this +evening or to-morrow."</p> + +<p>That evening the orderly rode over to bring word that the sham battle +would take place the following Thursday, and they were all invited to +witness it. Hero's trial would take place immediately after the battle. +While he stood talking to Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison, Lloyd and Kitty +came running down the hill with Hero close behind them.</p> + +<p>The orderly turned with an exclamation of admiration as the dog came +toward him, and held out his hand with a friendly snap of the fingers. +"Ah, old comrade," he called out in French, in a deep, hearty voice. +"Come, give me a greeting! I, too, am from the motherland."</p> + +<p>At sound of the familiar speech, the dog went forward, wagging his tail +violently, as if he recognised an old acquaintance. Then he stopped and +snuffed his boots in a puzzled manner, and looked up wistfully into the +orderly's face. It was a stranger he gazed at, yet voice, speech, and +appearance were like the man's who had trained him from a puppy, and he +gave a wriggle of pleasure when the big hand came down on his head, and +the deep voice spoke caressingly to him.</p> + +<p>When the orderly mounted his horse. Hero would have followed had not the +Little Colonel called him sharply, grieved and jealous that he should show +such marked interest in a stranger. He turned back at her call, but stood +in the road, looking after his new-found friend, till horse and rider +disappeared down the bridle-path that led through the deep woods to the +other camp.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE</h3> + + +<p>Promptly on Thursday, at the time appointed, the orderly rode over to Camp +Walton to escort the party back to the camp at Calkin's Cliff. The four +boys led the way on their ponies; the rest piled into a great farm wagon +filled with straw, that had been procured from one of the neighbouring +farms for the occasion.</p> + +<p>Hero followed obediently, when the Little Colonel ordered him to jump up +beside her, but he turned longing eyes on the orderly, whom he had +welcomed with strong marks of pleasure. It was only their second meeting, +but Hero seemed to regard him as an old friend. He leaped up to lick his +face, and bounded around him with quick, short barks of pleasure that, for +the moment, gave Lloyd a jealous pang. She was hurt that Hero should show +such an evident desire to follow him in preference to her.</p> + +<p>"I don't see what makes Hero act so," she said to Mrs. Walton.</p> + +<p>"The orderly certainly must bear a strong resemblance to some one whom +Hero knew and loved in France," she replied. "You have owned him less than +two months, and he has been away from France only a year, you must +remember. Everything must seem strange to him here. He was not brought up +to play with children, as many St. Bernards are.</p> + +<p>"The other night, at the entertainment, I wondered many times what Hero +must think of his strange surroundings. His life here is different in +every way from all that he has been used to. A dog trained from puppyhood +to the experiences of soldier life would naturally miss the excitement of +camp as much as a soldier suddenly retired to the life of a private +citizen."</p> + +<p>"Oh, deah!" sighed Lloyd, "I wish he could talk. I'd ask him if he is +unhappy. <i>Are</i> you homesick, old fellow?"</p> + +<p>She took his great head between her little hands and looked earnestly into +his eyes as she asked the question.</p> + +<p>"<i>Do</i> you wish you were back in the French army, following the ambulances +and hunting the wounded soldiahs? Seems to me you ought to like it so much +bettah heah in Kentucky, with, nothing to do but play and eat and sleep, +and be loved by everybody."</p> + +<p>"But an army dog can't get away from his training any easier than a man," +laughed the orderly, as he rode on beside the wagon. "It is a part of him. +Hero is a good soldier, and no doubt feels a greater joy in obeying what +he considers a call to duty, than in riding in the wagon at his ease, with +the ladies."</p> + +<p>"You know a great deal, perhaps, of this society for the training of +ambulance dogs," said Mrs. Walton.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied. "I am deeply interested in it. My brother at home keeps +me informed of its movements, and has written me much of Herr Bungartz's +methods. I think I shall have no difficulty in putting the dog through his +manoeuvres, especially as he seems to recognise me and in some way connect +me with his past life."</p> + +<p>Fife and drum welcomed the party as they drove into camp, and the party +were at once escorted to seats where they could watch the drill and the +sham battle. It was a familiar scene to the General's little family, and +to Miss Allison, who had visited more than one army post. But some of the +girls put their fingers in their ears when the noise of the rapid firing +began. Hero was greatly excited.</p> + +<p>Soon after the noise of the sham battle ceased, the field was prepared for +the dog's trial. Men were hidden behind logs, stretched out in ditches, +and left lying as if dead, in the dense thicket that skirted one side of +the field, for wounded animals, either men or beasts, instinctively crawl +away to die under cover.</p> + +<p>With hands almost trembling in their eagerness, Lloyd fastened the flask +and shoulder-bags on the dog. He seemed to know that something unusual was +expected of him, and wagged his tail so violently that he nearly upset the +Little Colonel. He watched every movement of the orderly, who, with a Red +Cross brassard on his arm, was acting as chief of the improvised ambulance +corps.</p> + +<p>"Will you give him the order, Miss Lloyd?" he asked, turning politely to +the little girl. Lloyd had pictured this moment several times on the way +over, thinking how proud she would be to stand up like a real Little +Colonel and send her orders ringing over the field before the whole +admiring regiment. But now that the moment had actually come, she blushed +and shrank back, timidly. She was not sure that she could say the strange +French words just as the Major had taught them to her, when such a crowd +of soldiers were standing by to hear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>you</i> do it, please," she asked.</p> + +<p>"If you will tell me the exact words he has been accustomed to hearing," +answered the orderly.</p> + +<p>Lloyd stammered them out, greatly embarrassed, feeling that her +pronunciation must have grown quite faulty from lack of practice under the +Major's careful training. The orderly repeated them in an undertone, then, +turning to Hero, gave the order in a clear, deep voice, that seemed to +thrill the dog with its familiar ring. Instantly at the sound he started +out across the field. Not a thing that had been taught him in his long, +careful training was forgotten.</p> + +<p>The first man he found was lying in a ditch, apparently desperately +wounded. Hero allowed him to help himself from his flask, and drag a +bandage from the bags on his back. Then, standing with his hind feet in +the ditch and his fore feet resting on the bank above him, he gave voice +until the men by the ambulance heard him, and came toward him carrying a +stretcher.</p> + +<p>"Look at him!" exclaimed Mrs. Walton, who with the party and several of +the officers had walked down to the hospital tent. "He knows he has done +his duty well. Did you ever see a dog manifest such delight! He fairly +wriggles with joy!"</p> + +<p>The praise of the men bearing the stretcher, and especially of the +orderly, seemed to send the dog into a transport of happiness. The second +man lay far on the outskirts of the field, hidden by a thicket of hazel +bushes. This time Hero's frantic barking brought no reply. The men acted +as if deaf to his appeals of help, so in a few minutes, evidently thinking +they were beyond the range of his voice, he picked up the man's cap in his +mouth, and ran back at the top of his speed.</p> + +<p>"Good dog!" said the orderly, taking the cap he dropped at his feet. "Go +back now and lead the way."</p> + +<p>"If that man had really been wounded, and had crawled under that thicket," +said Colonel Wayne, "we never could have found him alone. Only the sense +of smell could lead to such a hiding-place. The ambulance might have +passed there a hundred times and never seen a trace of him."</p> + +<p>The hunt went on for some time; before it closed, every man personating a +killed or wounded soldier was located and carried to the hospital tent. +When the tired dog was finally allowed to rest, he dropped down at the +orderly's feet, panting.</p> + +<p>"That, was certainly fine work," said the Colonel, stooping to pat Hero's +sides. "I suppose nothing could induce you to give him up to the army?" +he asked, turning to Lloyd.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, no!" cried Lloyd, as if alarmed at the suggestion, and +pressing Hero's head protectingly against her shoulder. If she had been +proud of him before, she was doubly proud of him now. He had won the +admiration of the entire regiment. Never had he been so praised and +petted. When Mrs. Walton called her party together for their homeward +drive, it was plain to be seen that Hero was loath to leave the camp. A +word from the orderly would have kept him, despite Lloyd's commands to +jump up into the wagon.</p> + +<p>As the boys rode on ahead again, Keith said, "It does seem too bad to +force that dog into being a private citizen when he is a born soldier."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear what Colonel Wayne told mamma as we left?" asked Ranald. "He +told her that it was reported that some of the animals had escaped from +the circus that was in Louisville yesterday, and that a panther and some +other kind of a beast had been seen in these woods. He laughed and asked +her if she didn't want him to send a guard over to our camp. Of course he +was only joking, but when she saw that I had heard what he said, she told +me not to tell the girls; not to even mention such a thing, or they'd be +so frightened they'd want to break camp and go straight home."</p> + +<p>"It would be fun to scare them," said Rob, "but you'd better believe I'll +not say anything if there's any danger of having to go home sooner on +account of it."</p> + +<p>"We've got to go day after to-morrow anyhow," said Keith, gloomily. "I +wish I could miss another week of school, but I know papa wouldn't let me, +even if the camp didn't break up."</p> + +<p>"Come on!" called Ranald, who had pushed on ahead. "Let's hurry back and +have a good swim before supper."</p> + +<p>Not satisfied with the excitement of the day, the girls were no sooner out +of the wagon than some one started a wild game of prisoners' base. Then +they played hide-and-seek among the rocks and trees around the waterfall, +and while they were wiping their flushed faces, panting after the long +run, Kitty proposed that they should have a candy pulling.</p> + +<p>Dinah made the candy, but the girls pulled it, running a race to see whose +would be the whitest in a given time. Their arms ached long before they +were done. By the time the boys came stumbling up the hill from their long +swim in the creek, it would be hard to say which group was most tired.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure we'll all want to turn in early to-night," said Mrs. Walton at +supper. Freddy was yawning widely, and Elise was almost asleep over her +plate. "You are all tired."</p> + +<p>"All but Hero," said Miss Allison, offering him a chicken bone. "He rested +while the others played. You'd like to go through your game every day. +Wouldn't you, old boy?"</p> + +<p>There was no story-telling around the camp-fire that night. They gathered +around it, even before the light died out in the sky. Ranald had his +guitar and Allison her mandolin, and they thrummed accompaniments awhile +for the others to sing. But a mighty yawn catching Margery in the middle +of a verse, and Mrs. Walton discovering both Jamie and Freddy sound asleep +on the rug beside her, she proposed that they all go to bed an hour +earlier than usual.</p> + +<p>The Little Captain vowed he was too sleepy to blow a single toot on his +bugle, so they went to their tents without the usual sounding of taps. It +was not long before every child was asleep, worn out by the day's hard +play. Mrs. Walton lay awake sometime listening to the sounds outside the +tent. The crackling of underbrush and rustle of dry leaves was familiar +enough in the daytime, but they seemed strangely ominous now that the +lights were out. She could not help thinking of what the Colonel had told +her of the escaped panther. She imagined the panic it would make if it +should suddenly appear in their midst. Then she thought of Hero's +protecting presence, and, raising herself on her elbow, she looked across +the tent to where she knew he lay asleep. At first she could not see even +the ruff of white that made the collar around his tawny throat, for the +moon had slipped behind a cloud, but as she raised herself on her elbow, +and peered intently through the darkness, the faint misty light shone out +again, and she saw Hero plainly, the Little Colonel's outstretched hand +resting on his broad back. Then she lay down again, this time to sleep, +and soon all the little camp was wrapped in the peace and rest of perfect +silence.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later Hero lifted his head from between his paws and +listened. Something seemed calling him. He did not know what. Being only a +dog, he could not analyse the thoughts passing through his brain. A +restlessness seized him. He longed to be back among the familiar sights +and sounds of soldier life. This little play camp, where children tried to +make him romp continually, was not home. Locust was not home. This strange +new country full of unfamiliar faces and foreign voices was not home. But +the orderly's voice reminded him of it. Over there were bearded men and +deep voices, and strong hands, guns, and the smell of powder; fife and +drum, and canteens and knapsacks; things that he had seen daily in his +soldier life.</p> + +<p>Was it some call to duty that thrilled him, or only a homesick longing? As +he listened with head up, there came ringing, clear and silvery through +the night, the bugle notes from the other camp. At the first sound Hero +was on his feet. He moved noiselessly toward the tent flap, only partially +fastened, and flattening himself against the ground wriggled out.</p> + +<p>And if he gave no thought to the little mistress, dreaming inside the +tent, if he left without regret the life of ease and loving care to which +she had brought him, it was not because he was ungrateful, but because he +did not understand. To him his old life woke and called him in the bugle's +blowing. To him duty did not mean soft cushions, and idle days, and the +following of a happy-hearted child at play. It meant long marches and the +guarding of ambulances and the rescue of the dead and dying. A true +soldier's heart beat in the dog's shaggy body, and, obedient to his +instinct and training, he answered the summons when it sounded. With long, +swinging steps he set out in the direction of the bugle-call, taking the +road through the woods that the wagon had travelled that day, and down +which he had watched the orderly disappear. No, not deserting his duty, +but, as he understood it, hurrying back, with faithful heart to the cause +that had always claimed him.</p> + +<p>Now and then the moon, coming out fitfully from, behind the clouds, shone +on his great tawny body, touching the white curls of his ruff with a line +of silver. Then he would be lost in darkness again. But he swung on +unerringly, until he was almost in sight of the camp. A little farther on +a sentry paced up and down the picket-line that ran along the edge of the +woods. Hero travelled on toward him, the dry dead leaves rustling under +his paws, and now and then a twig crackling with his weight.</p> + +<p>The sentry paused and, listened, wondering what kind of an animal was +coming toward him in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Halt! Who goes there?" he called, sharply. The moon, peeping out at that +instant, seemed to magnify the size of the great creature in his path. He +thought of the panther and the other wild beast, whatever it was, +supposed to be roaming about in the woods. Then the moon disappeared as +suddenly as it had lighted up the scene, and the big paws still pattered +on toward him in the darkness, regardless of his repeated challenge.</p> + +<p>As the underbrush crackled again with the weight of the great body now +almost upon him, the sentry raised his rifle. A shot rang out, arousing +the camp not yet fully settled to sleep. The echo bounded back from the +startled hills, and rolled away over the peaceful farms and orchards, +growing fainter and fainter, until only a whisper of it reached the white +tent where the Little Colonel lay dreaming. Then the moon shone out again, +and the sentry, going a few paces forward, looked down in horror at the +silent form stretched out at his feet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>"TAPS"</h3> + + +<p>The corporal of the guard went running in the direction of the shot, and +here and there an inquiring head, was thrust out of a tent.</p> + +<p>"Only a dog shot, sir," he was heard to call out in answer to some +officer's question, as he passed back down the line. "Sentry took him for +a wild beast escaped from the show."</p> + +<p>Somebody laughed in reply, and the men who had been aroused by the noise +turned over and went to sleep. They did not know that the corporal hurried +on down to the guard-house, and that as a result of his report there was a +hasty summons for the surgeon. They did not know that it was Hero whom the +sentry bent over, gulping down a feeling in his throat that nearly choked +him, as he saw the blood welling out of the dog's shaggy white breast, and +slowly stiffening the silky hair of his beautiful yellow coat.</p> + +<p>The surgeon knelt down beside the dog, and as the clouds hid the moon +again, he turned the light of his lantern on the wound for a careful +examination.</p> + +<p>"That was a cracking good shot, Bently," he said. "He never knew what +stopped him."</p> + +<p>The sentry turned his head away. "I wouldn't have been the one to take +that dog's life for anything in the world!" he exclaimed. "I'd pretty near +as soon have killed a man. It never entered my head that any tame animal +would come leaping out of the woods that way at this time of night. He +loomed up nearly as big as a lion when the moon shone out on him. The next +minute it was all dark again, and I heard his big soft feet come pattering +through the leaves, straight on toward me. It flashed over me that it must +be one of those escaped circus animals, so I just let loose and blazed +away at him."</p> + +<p>The surgeon stood up and looked down at the still form at his feet. "It's +too bad," he said. "He was a grand old dog, the finest St. Bernard I ever +saw. How that little girl loved him! It will just about break her heart +when she finds out what's happened to him."</p> + +<p>"Don't!" begged the sentry, huskily. "Don't say anything like that. I feel +bad enough about it now, goodness knows, without your harrowing up my +feelings, talking of the way <i>she's</i> going to feel."</p> + +<p>As the surgeon started on, the sentry stopped him. "For heaven's sake, +Mac, don't leave him lying there on the picket-line where I've got to see +him every time I pass. Send somebody to take him away. I'm all unnerved. I +feel as if I'd shot one of my own comrades."</p> + +<p>The surgeon looked at him curiously and walked on. Nobody was sent to take +the dog away, but a little while later the sentry was relieved from duty, +and another soldier kept guard over the silent camp, pacing back and forth +past the Red Cross Hero, sleeping his last sleep under the light of the +sentinel stars.</p> + +<p>Somebody draped a flag across him before the camp was astir next morning. +"Well, why not?" the man asked when he was joked about paying so much +attention to a dead dog. "Why not? He was a war dog, wasn't he? It's no +more than his due. I was the man he found in the ditch yesterday. As far +as his intention and good will went, he did as much to save me as if I had +been really lying there a wounded soldier. When he came leaping down there +into the ditch after me, licking my face in such a friendly fashion and +holding still so that I could help myself to the flask and bandages, I +thought how grateful a fellow would feel to him if he were really rescued +by him that way. It was all make-believe to me, but it was dead earnest to +the dog, and he did his part as faithfully as any soldier who ever wore a +uniform."</p> + +<p>"You're right," said a young lieutenant, sitting near. "If for no other +reason than that he was in the service of the Red Cross, he has a right to +the respect of every man that calls himself a soldier, no matter what flag +he follows."</p> + +<p>Later in the morning, when the orderly rode into the little picnic camp, +the girls were away. They were down by the waterfall digging ferns and +mosses to take home. "We are thinking of breaking up camp this afternoon," +Mrs. Walton told him. "The weather looks so threatening that I have sent +for the wagonette to come for us, and I was about to send over to your +camp to see if Hero had wandered back there. He has not been seen since +last night. He was lying by Lloyd's cot just before I went to sleep, but +this morning he is nowhere to be found. Lloyd is distressed. I told her +that probably the drill yesterday awakened all his love for the old life, +and that he might have been drawn back to it. Was I right? Have you seen +him?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the orderly, hesitating. "I saw him, but I find it hard to +tell you how and where, Mrs. Walton." He paused again, and then hurried +on with the explanation, as if anxious to have it over as soon as +possible.</p> + +<p>"He was shot last night by mistake on the picket-line. The sentry is all +broken up over it, poor fellow, and the whole camp regrets it more than I +can tell. You see, after yesterday's performance we almost claimed the dog +as one of us. Colonel Wayne has made me the bearer of his deepest regrets. +He especially deplores the occurrence on account of the dog's little +mistress, knowing what a great grief it will be to her. He wishes, if you +think it will be any consolation to her, to give Hero a military funeral, +and bury him with the honours due a brave soldier."</p> + +<p>"I am sure that Lloyd will want that," said Mrs, Walton. "She will +appreciate it deeply, when she understands what a mark of respect to Hero +such an attention would be. Tell Colonel Wayne, please, that I gladly +accept the offer in her behalf, and will send Ranald over later, to +arrange for it."</p> + +<p>The orderly rode away, and Mrs. Walton turned to her sister, exclaiming, +"Poor little Lloyd! I confess I am not brave enough to face her grief when +she first hears the news. You will have to tell her, Allison. You know her +so much better than I. We might as well hurry the preparations for +leaving. No one will care to stay a moment longer, now this has happened. +It will cast a gloom over the entire party."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it would be better not to tell her until after she gets home," +suggested Miss Allison. She had soothed the childish griefs of nearly +every child in the Valley, at some time or another, but she felt that this +was the most serious one that had fallen to her lot to comfort.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it would be impossible to get Lloyd away from here without Hero, +unless she knew," was the answer. "I heard her tell Kitty this morning +that nobody could make her go without him. She said if he wasn't back by +the time we were ready to start, we could go on without her, and she would +hunt for him if it took all fall."</p> + +<p>While they were still discussing it the boys came running back to camp +much excited. They had met the orderly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the poor dog!" mourned Keith. "What a shame for the poor old fellow +to be shot down that way. It seems almost as bad as if it had been one of +us boys that was killed."</p> + +<p>Ranald and Rob joined in with praise of his many lovable traits, talking +of his death as if it were a lifelong friend they had lost; but Malcolm +turned away with an anxious glance to the woods, where he could hear the +laughing voices of the girls.</p> + +<p>"Poor little Princess Winsome," he thought. "It will nearly break her +heart," and he wished with all the earnestness of the real Sir Feal, that +by some knightly service, no matter how hard, he could save his little +friend from this sorrow.</p> + +<p>The girls came strolling up, presently, so occupied with their spoils that +no one noticed the boy's serious faces but Lloyd. The moment she caught +Malcolm's sympathetic glance she was sure something had happened to Hero.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what is it?" she began, the tears gathering in her eyes as she felt +the unspoken, sympathy of the little group. Leaving Mrs. Walton to tell +the other girls, Miss Allison drew Lloyd aside, saying as she led her down +toward the spring, an arm around her waist, "I have a message for you, +Lloyd, from Colonel Wayne. Let's go down to the rocks by ourselves."</p> + +<p>A sympathetic silence fell on the little circle left behind as they heard +Lloyd cry out, "Shot my dog? Shot <i>Hero?</i> Oh, he ought to be killed! How +could he do such a cruel thing!"</p> + +<p>"But he feels dreadfully about it," said Miss Allison. "The orderly said +that, big, strong man though he was, the tears stood in his eyes when he +saw what he had done, and he kept saying, 'I wouldn't have done it for the +world.'"</p> + +<p>Nearly all the girls were crying by this time, and Malcolm turned his head +so that he could not see the fair little head pressed against Miss +Allison's shoulder, as she clung to her sobbing.</p> + +<p>"Think how it must have hurt poah Hero's feelin's," Lloyd was saying, "to +go back to their camp so trustin' and happy, thinkin' the men would be so +glad to see him, and that he was doin' his duty, and then to have one of +them stand up and send a bullet through his deah, lovin' old heart. Oh, I +can't <i>beah</i> it," she screamed. "Oh, I can't! I can't! It seems as if it +would kill me to think of him lyin' ovah there all cold and stiff, with +the blood on his lovely white and yellow curls, and know that he'll nevah, +nevah again jump up to lick my hands, and put his paws on my shouldahs. +He'll nevah come to meet me any moah, waggin' his tail and lookin' up into +my face with his deah lovin' eyes. Oh, Miss Allison! I can't stand it! +It's just breakin' my heart!" Burying her face in Miss Allison's lap, she +sobbed and cried until her tears were all spent.</p> + +<p>It was a subdued little party that rode back to the Valley, a few hours +later. Not only sympathy for Lloyd kept them quiet, but each one mourned +the loss of the gentle, lovable playfellow who had come to such an +untimely end after this week of happy camp life with them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Under the locusts that evening, just as the sun was going down, came the +tread of many marching feet. It was the tramp, tramp of the soldiers who +were bringing home the Little Colonel's Hero, All the men who had been +most interested in his performances the day before, had volunteered to +follow Colonel Wayne, and the long line made an imposing showing, as it +stretched up the avenue after him.</p> + +<p>Lloyd watched the approach from her seat on the porch beside her father. +All the camping party were waiting with her, except the four boys who rode +at the head of the procession, Ranald and Malcolm first, then Rob and +Keith. Lloyd hid her eyes as Lad and Tarbaby came into view behind them.</p> + +<p>"Look," said her father gently, pointing to the flag-draped burden they +drew. "How much better it was for Hero to have been shot by a soldier and +brought home with military honours, than to have met the fate of an +ordinary dog—been poisoned, or mangled, by a train, as might have +happened, or even died of a painful, feeble old age. The Major would have +chosen this? so would Hero, if he could have understood."</p> + +<p>There was more comfort in that thought than in anything that had been said +to her before, and Lloyd wiped her eyes, and sat up to watch the ceremony +that followed, with a feeling of pride that made her almost cheerful.</p> + +<p>On they came to the beat of the muffled drum, halting under a great +locust-tree that stood by itself on the lawn, in sight of the library +windows, like a giant sentinel. There the boys dismounted to lower Hero +into the grave that Walker and Alec had just finished digging. Then the +coloured men, spreading the sod quickly back in place, stepped aside from +the low mound they had made, and Lloyd saw that it was smooth and green. +She started violently when the soldiers, drawn up in line, fired a parting +volley over it, but sat quietly back again when the Little Captain stepped +forward and raised his bugle. The sun was sinking low behind the locusts, +and in the golden glow filling the western sky, he softly sounded taps. +"Lights out" now for the faithful old Hero! The last bugle-call that +sounded for him was in a foreign land, but it was not as a stranger and an +alien they left him.</p> + +<p>The flag he followed floats farther than the Stars and Stripes, waves +wider than the banner of the Kaiser. It is a world-wide flag, that flag of +perpetual peace which bears the Red Cross of Geneva. In its shadow, +whether on land or sea, all patriot hearts are at home, and under that +flag they left him.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>A square white stone stands now under the locust where the Little Captain +sounded taps at the close of that September day. On it gleams the Red +Cross, in whose service all of Hero's lessons had been learned. But the +daily sight of it from her bedroom window no longer brings pain to the +Little Colonel. Hero is only a tender memory now, and she counts the Red +Cross above him as another talisman, like the little ring and the silver +scissors, to remind her that only through unselfish service to others can +one reach the happiness that is highest and best.</p> + +<p>Time flies fast under the locusts. Sometimes to Papa Jack it seems only +yesterday that she clattered up and down the wide halls with her +grandfather's spurs buckled to her tiny feet. But if he misses the charm +of the baby voice that called to him then, or the childish mischievousness +of his Little Colonel, he finds a greater one in the flower-like beauty of +the tall, slender girl who stands beside the gilded harp, and sings to +him softly in the candle-light. And it is Betty's song of service that is +oftenest on her lips:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="My godmother bids me"> +<tr><td align='left'>"My godmother bids me spin,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">That my heart may not be sad;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: .5em;">Sing and spin for my brother's sake,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the spinning makes me glad."</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>She knows that she can never be a Joan of Arc or a Clara Barton, and her +name will never be written in America's hall of fame, but with the sweet +ambition in her heart to make life a little lovelier for every one she +touches, she is growing up into a veritable Princess Winsome.</p> + +<p>Often as she sings, Betty closes her book to listen, thrilled with the old +feeling that always comes with the music of the harp. It is as if she were +"away off from everything, and high up where it is wide and open, and +where the stars are." The strange, beautiful thoughts she can find no +words for still dance on ahead, like shining will-'o-the-wisps, but she +knows that she shall surely find words for them some day, and that many +besides the Little Colonel will sing her verses and find comfort in her +songs.</p> + +<p>To both Betty and Lloyd the land of Someday and the happy land of Now lie +very close together in their day-dreams, as side by side they go to +school these bright October mornings, or stroll slowly homeward in the +golden afternoons, under the shade of the friendly old locusts.</p> + + + + +<h2>THE END.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>Selections from</h2> +<h2>L.C. Page & Company's</h2> +<h2>Books for Girls</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2><b>THE BLUE BONNET SERIES</b></h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Blue Bonnet Prices"> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume</i></td><td align='right'> <i>$ 2.00</i> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>The seven volumes, boxed as a set</i></td><td align='right'> <i>14.00</i></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="BlueBonnet LIst"> +<tr><td align='left'>A TEXAS BLUE BONNET</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET—DÉBUTANTE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.</span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'>BLUE BONNET'S FAMILY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY LELA HORN RICHARDS.</span></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>"Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively +girlishness and cannot but make friends with every one who meets her +through these books about her."—<i>Chicago Inter-Ocean.</i></p> + +<p>"Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the kind that one would +like to have in one's home."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS</h2> + +<p class="center">(Trade Mark)</p> + +<h4>BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $2.00</i></p> + + +<p>THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">(Trade Mark)</span></p> + +<p>Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The +Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant +Scissors," in a single volume.</p> + + +<p>THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Second Series (Trade Mark)</span></p> + +<p>Tales about characters that appear in the Little Colonel Series. "Ole +Mammy's Torment," "The Three Tremonts," and "The Little Colonel in +Switzerland."</p> + +<p> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING SCHOOL<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES RIDING<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM, MARY WARE<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(Trade Mark)</span><br /> +<br /> +MARY WARE IN TEXAS<br /> +<br /> +MARY WARE'S PROMISED LAND<br /> +</p> + +<p><i>These thirteen volumes, boxed as a set, $26.00</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>FOR PIERRE'S SAKE AND OTHER STORIES</p> + +<p><i>Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Billie Chapman $1.75</i></p> + +<p>"'For Pierre's Sake,' who works so hard to scrape together the pennies +necessary for a wreath for his brother's grave, 'The Rain Maker,' who +tries to bring rain to the drought stricken fields—these and many others +will take their places in The Children's Hall of Fame, which exists in the +heart of childhood."—<i>Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald</i>.</p> + + +<p>THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART</p> + +<p><i>Cloth decorated, with special designs and illustrations</i> $1.25</p> + +<p>This story of a little princess and her faithful pet bear, who finally +<i>do</i> discover "The Road of the Loving Heart," is a masterpiece of sympathy +and understanding and beautiful thought.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES</h3> + +<p><i>Each small 16mo, decorative boards, per volume $0.75</i></p> + +<p>IN THE DESERT OF WAITING:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN.</span></p> + + +<p>THE THREE WEAVERS:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS.</span></p> + +<p>KEEPING TRYST:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A TALE OF KING ARTHUR'S TIME.</span></p> + +<p>THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART</p> + +<p>THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG.</span></p> + +<p>THE JESTER'S SWORD</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>THE LITTLE COLONEL'S GOOD TIMES BOOK</h3> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Little Colonel"> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series</i></td><td align='right'><i> $2.50</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold</i></td><td align='right'> <i>6.00</i></td></tr> +</table> +</div> +<p>Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg.</p> + +<p>"A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may record the good times +she has on decorated pages, and under the directions as it were of Annie +Fellows Johnston."—<i>Buffalo Express</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>HILDEGARDE-MARGARET SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY LAURA E. RICHARDS</h4> + +<p class="center">Eleven Volumes</p> + +<p>The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with "Queen Hildegarde" and +ending with "The Merryweathers," make one of the best and most popular +series of books for girls ever written.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Hildegarde-Margaret Books"> +<tr><td align='left'><i>Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated per volume</i></td><td align='right'> <i>$1.75</i></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><i>The eleven volumes boxed as a set</i></td><td align='right'> <i>$19.25</i></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>LIST OF TITLES</p> + +<p> +QUEEN HILDEGARDE<br /> +HILDEGARDE'S HOLIDAY<br /> +HILDEGARDE'S HOME<br /> +HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS<br /> +HILDEGARDE'S HARVEST<br /> +THREE MARGARETS<br /> +MARGARET MONTFORT<br /> +PEGGY<br /> +RITA<br /> +FERNLEY HOUSE<br /> +THE MERRYWEATHERS<br /> +</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>HONOR BRIGHT SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY LAURA E. RICHARDS</h4> + +<p><i>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.75</i></p> + + +<p>HONOR BRIGHT</p> + +<p>"This is a story that rings as true and honest as the name of the young +heroine—Honor—and not only the young girls, but the old ones will find +much to admire and to commend in the beautiful character of +Honor."—<i>Constitution, Atlanta, Ga.</i></p> + + +<p>HONOR BRIGHT'S NEW ADVENTURE</p> + +<p>"Girls will love the story and it has plot enough to interest the older +reader as well."—<i>St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>SIX GIRLS</h4> + +<p>(60th thousand) BY FANNY BELLE IRVING.</p> + +<p><i>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by A.G. Learned $1.65</i></p> + +<p>No book has enjoyed a steadier and longer popularity than "Six Girls," +written by a niece of Washington Irving. It has won its way by the best +kind of advertising—personal recommendations among readers.</p> + + +<h4>THREE HUNDRED THINGS A BRIGHT GIRL CAN DO</h4> + +<p>BY LILA ELIZABETH KELLEY.</p> + +<p><i>Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by the author $2.50</i></p> + +<p>A complete treasury of suggestions on games, indoor and outdoor sports, +handiwork, embroidery, sewing and cooking, scientific experiments, +puzzles, candy-making, home decoration, physical culture, etc.</p> + + +<h4>THE SECRET VALLEY</h4> + +<p>BY MRS. HOBART-HAMPDEN.</p> + +<p><i>Cloth 12mo, illustrated, with color jacket $1.75</i></p> + +<p>In addition to an excellent action story, young readers will find in this +book descriptions of India, land of mystery, which are accurate and +interesting.</p> + + +<h4>SECRETS INSIDE</h4> + +<p>BY M.M. DANCY MCCLENDON.</p> + +<p><i>Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman $1.75</i></p> + +<p>"This is a story about girls for girls. The author has made a worthwhile +contribution to juvenile literature."—<i>Rochester Sunday American.</i></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center">600,000 volumes of the "Captain January" Series have already been sold.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary +world, from her delicate treatment of New England village life."—<i>Boston +Post.</i></p> + + +<p>CAPTAIN JANUARY. <i>Star Bright Edition.</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Profusely illustrated by Frank T. Merrill $1.75</i></span></p> + + +<p>STAR BRIGHT. A sequel to "Captain January."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Mrs. Richards' latest book uniform with above. $1.75</i></span></p> + +<p>Wherein the Captain's little girl reaches the romantic period of her +career, and faces the world.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The two volumes attractively boxed as a set. $3.50</i></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p class="center">The following titles are illustrated by Frank T. Merrill</p> + +<p>CAPTAIN JANUARY. <i>School Edition</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(285th thousand) <i>Net $1.00</i></span></p> + + +<p>MELODY. $1.00<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Story of a Child.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Cloth decorative, illustrated by Frank T. Merrill, each $.90</i></span></p> + + +<p>MARIE.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A companion to "Melody."</span></p> + + +<p>ROSIN THE BEAU.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A sequel to "Marie."</span></p> + + +<p>SNOW WHITE;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or, The House in the Wood.<br /></span></p> + + +<p>JIM OF HELLAS;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or, in Durance Vile, and a companion story, "Bethesda Pool."</span></p> + + +<p>"SOME SAY."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And a companion story, "Neighbors in Cyrus."</span></p> + + +<p>NAUTILUS.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Nautilus' Is by far the best product of the author's powers."—<i>Boston +Globe.</i></span></p> + + +<p>ISLA HERON.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This interesting story is written in the author's usual charming manner.</span></p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>BARBARA WINTHROP SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY HELEN KATHERINE BROUGHALL</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $2.00</i></p> + +<p>BARBARA WINTHROP AT BOARDING SCHOOL</p> + +<p>BARBARA WINTHROP AT CAMP</p> + +<p>BARBARA WINTHROP: GRADUATE</p> + +<p>BARBARA WINTHROP ABROAD</p> + +<p>"Full of adventure—initiations, joys, picnics, parties, tragedies, +vacation and all. Just what girls like, books in which 'dreams come true,' +entertaining 'gossipy' books overflowing with conversation."—<i>Salt Lake +City Deseret News.</i></p> + +<p>High ideals and a real spirit of fun underlie the stories. They will be a +decided addition to the bookshelves of the young girl for whom a holiday +gift is contemplated.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY MARION AMES TAGGART</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75</i></p> + +<p>THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL<br /> +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid."—<i>The Churchman.</i></p> + + +<p>SWEET NANCY:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL.</span></p> + +<p>"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER<br /> +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."—<i>Springfield Union.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY<br /> +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS<br /> +"The story is refreshing."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE MARJORY-JOE SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY ALICE E. ALLEN</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.50</i></p> + +<p>JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY AND ROSEMARY<br /> +These are two of Miss Allen's earliest and most successful stories, +combined in a single volume to meet the insistent demands from young +people for these two particular tales.</p> + + +<p>THE MARTIE TWINS: Continuing the Adventures of Joe, the Circus Boy<br /> +"The chief charm of the story is that it contains so much of human nature. +It is so real that it touches the heart strings."—<i>-New York Standard.</i></p> + + +<p>MARJORY, THE CIRCUS GIRL<br /> +A sequel to "Joe, the Circus Boy," and "The Martie Twins."</p> + + +<p>MARJORY AT THE WILLOWS<br /> +Continuing the story of Marjory, the Circus Girl.</p> + +<p>"Miss Allen does not write impossible stories, but delightfully pins her +little folk right down to this life of ours, in which she ranges +vigorously and delightfully."—<i>Boston Ideas.</i></p> + + +<p>MARJORY'S HOUSE PARTY: Or, What Happened at Clover Patch<br /> +"Miss Allen certainly knows how to please the children and tells them +stories that never fail to charm."<i>—Madison Courier.</i></p> + + +<p>MARJORY'S DISCOVERY<br /> +This new addition to the popular MARJORY-JOE SERIES is as lovable and +original as any of the other creations of this writer of charming stories. +We get little peeps at the precious twins, at the healthy minded Joe and +sweet Marjory. There is a bungalow party, which lasts the entire summer, +in which all of the characters of the previous MARJORY-JOE stories +participate, and their happy times are delightfully depicted.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE PEGGY RAYMOND SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY HARRIET LUMMIS SMITH</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, cloth, decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.75</i></p> + +<p>PEGGY RAYMOND'S SUCCESS: OR, THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE.<br /> +"It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher thinking; it knits +hearts; it unfolds neighborhood plans in a way that makes one tingle to +try carrying them out, and most of all it proves that hi daily life, +threads of wonderful issues are being woven in with what appears the most +ordinary of material, but which in the end brings results stranger than +the most thrilling fiction."—<i>Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young People's +Weekly, Chicago.</i></p> + + +<p>PEGGY RAYMOND'S VACATION<br /> +"It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told and full of incident. +It carries one through experiences that hearten and brighten the +day."—<i>Utica, N.Y., Observer.</i></p> + + +<p>PEGGY RAYMOND'S SCHOOL DAYS<br /> +"It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls, good times, natural +development, and a gentle earnestness of general tone."—<i>The Christian +Register, Boston.</i></p> + + +<p>PEGGY RAYMOND'S FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE<br /> +"The story is told in easy and entertaining style and is a most delightful +narrative, especially for young people. It will also make the older +readers feel younger, for while reading it they will surely live again in +the days of their youth."—<i>Troy Budget.</i></p> + + +<p>PEGGY RAYMOND'S WAY<br /> +"The author has again produced a story that is replete with wholesome +incidents and makes Peggy more lovable than ever as a companion and +leader."—<i>World of Books.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE HADLEY HALL SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY LOUISE M. BREITENBACH</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65</i></p> + +<p>ALMA AT HADLEY HALL<br /> +"The author is to be congratulated on having written such an appealing +book for girls."—<i>Detroit Free Press.</i></p> + + +<p>ALMA'S SOPHOMORE YEAR<br /> +"It cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things in girls' +books."—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> + +<p>ALMA'S JUNIOR YEAR.<br /> +"The diverse characters in the boarding-school are strongly drawn, the +incidents are well developed and the action is never dull."—<i>The Boston +Herald.</i></p> + + +<p>ALMA'S SENIOR YEAR<br /> +"A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."—<i>Boston +Transcript.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY MARION AMES TAGGART</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75</i></p> + +<p>THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL<br /> +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid."—<i>The Churchman.</i></p> + + +<p>SWEET NANCY:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL.</span></p> + +<p>"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER<br /> +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."—<i>Springfield Union.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY<br /> +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> + + +<p>NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS<br /> +"The story is refreshing."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>STORIES BY EVALEEN STEIN</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated $1.65</i></p> + +<p> +GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK<br /> +A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE<br /> +THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER<br /> +THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY<br /> +PEPIN: A Tale of Twelfth Night<br /> +CHILDREN'S STORIES<br /> +THE CIRCUS DWARF STORIES<br /> +WHEN FAIRIES WERE FRIENDLY<br /> +TROUBADOUR TALES<br /> +</p> + +<p>"No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the elements that stir +the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as do the stories so +admirably told by this author."—<i>Louisville Daily Courier</i>.</p> + +<p>"Evaleen Stein's stories are music in prose—they are like pearls on a +chain of gold—each word seems exactly the right word in the right place; +the stories sing themselves out, they are so beautifully expressed."—<i>The +Lafayette Leader</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2>Selections from</h2> +<h2>L.C. Page & Company's</h2> +<h2>Books for Boys</h2> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<h3>FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by photographs, per +volume $2.00</i></p> + +<h4>BY CHARLES H.L. JOHNSTON</h4> + +<p class="center">("Uncle Chas.")</p> + +<p><i>"If you see that it's by 'Uncle Chas,' you know that it's historically +correct"—Review.</i></p> + +<p> +FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS<br /> +FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS<br /> +FAMOUS SCOUTS<br /> +FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA<br /> +FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF THE BORDER<br /> +FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA<br /> +FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glorious Victory.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">First Series.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Cloth 12mo, illustrated from specially autographed photographs $2.50</i></span></p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second Series.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>A companion volume to the above $2.50</i></span></p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Third Series.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>By Trentwell M. White $2.50</i></span></p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fourth Series.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>By Charles H.L. Johnston $2.50</i></span></p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fifth Series.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>By Leroy Atkinson $2.50</i></span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>The following except as otherwise noted $2.00</i></span></p> + + +<h4>BY EDWIN WILDMAN</h4> + +<p>THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Revolution to +the Monroe Doctrine)</p> + +<p>THE BUILDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Monroe Doctrine +to the Civil War)</p> + +<p>FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER (Lives of Great Americans from the Civil War +to Today)</p> + +<p>FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.—First Series</p> + +<p>FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.—Second Series</p> + + +<h4>BY TRENTWELL M. WHITE</h4> + +<p>FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.—Third Series $2.50</p> + + +<h4>BY HARRY IRVING SHUMWAY</h4> + +<p>FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.—Fourth Series $2.50<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'These biographies drive home the truth that just as every soldier of +Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every American +youngster carries potential success under his hat.'</span></p> + + +<h4>BY CHARLES LEE LEWIS</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Professor, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis</i></p> + +<p>FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a complete index.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"In connection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, and +other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the period in which +the officer distinguished himself, and combines the whole into a colorful +and stirring narrative."—<i>Boston Herald.</i></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE BOYS STORY OF THE</h3> +<h3>RAILROAD SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY BURTON E. STEVENSON</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.75</i></p> + + +<p>THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ALLAN WEST</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The whole range of section railroading is covered in the +story."—<i>Chicago Post.</i></span></p> + + +<p>THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"A vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of railroad +life."—<i>Congregationalist.</i></span></p> + +<p>THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"It is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a +good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."—<i>Passaic News.</i></span></p> + +<p>THE YOUNG APPRENTICE;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, ALLAN WEST'S CHUM.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The story is intensely interesting."—<i>Baltimore Sun.</i></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY SERIES</h3> + +<p class="center">Of Worth While Classics for Boys and Girls</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Revised and Edited for the Modern Reader</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Each large 12mo, illustrated and with a poster jacket in full color +$2.00</i></p> + + +<p>THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY W.H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.</span></p> + +<p>THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY C.M. YONGE.</span></p> + +<p>ERLING THE BOLD<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY R.M. BALLYNTYNE.</span></p> + +<p>WINNING HIS KNIGHTHOOD;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, THE ADVENTURES OF RAOULF DE GYSSAGE.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">BY H. TURING BRUCE.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Tales which ring to the clanking of armour, tales of marches and +counter-marches, tales of wars, but tales which bring peace; a peace and +contentment in the knowledge that right, even in the darkest times, has +survived and conquered."—<i>Portland Evening Express.</i></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES</h3> + +<h4>BY HARRISON ADAMS</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65</i></p> + +<p> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, CLEARING THE WILDERNESS.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, ON THE TRAIL OF THE IROQUOIS.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, THE HOMESTEAD IN THE WILDERNESS.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOWSTONE;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, LOST IN THE LAND OF WONDERS.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLORADO;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, BRAVING THE PERILS OF THE GRAND CANYON COUNTRY.</span><br /> +<br /> +THE PIONEER BOYS OF KANSAS;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">OR, PRAIRIE HOME IN BUFFALO LAND.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Such books as these are an admirable means of stimulating among the young +Americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer ancestors and +the early days of the Republic."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> + +<p>"Not only interesting, but instructive as well and shows the sterling type +of character which these days of self-reliance and trial +produced."—<i>American Tourist, Chicago.</i></p> + +<p>"The stories are full of spirited action and contain much valuable +historical information. Just the sort of reading a boy will enjoy +immensely."—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h3>MINUTE BOY SERIES</h3> + +<h4>By James Otis and Edward Stratemeyer</h4> + +<p class="center"><i>Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, fully illustrated, per volume $1.50</i></p> + +<p>This series of books for boys needs no recommendation. We venture to say +that there are few boys of any age in this broad land who do not know and +love both these authors and their stirring tales.</p> + +<p>These books, as shown by their titles, deal with periods in the history of +the development of our great country which are of exceeding interest to +every patriotic American boy—and girl. Places and personages of +historical interest are here presented to the young reader in story form, +and a great deal of real, information is unconsciously gathered.</p> + +<p> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF PHILADELPHIA<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BOSTON<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF NEW YORK CITY<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LONG ISLAND<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BUNKER HILL<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LEXINGTON<br /> +THE MINUTE BOYS OF YORKTOWN<br /> +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Colonel's Hero +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + +***** This file should be named 15122-h.htm or 15122-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/2/15122/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + +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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Will8 + sing4 while8. it16 turns4 and + hums,2 \skip 8*3 And8 + think4 all day of8 his + love4 so leal,4. Un8 -- + til4 with8. the16 flute4. he8 + comes.2. \skip 8 Now8 + fly,2. \times 2/3 { flutter4 and8 } + fly,2 \skip 4 Now4 + flutter and fly, a -- + way, a -- way.2 + } + + righthand = \relative c' { + \clef treble + #(override-auto-beam-setting '(end * * * *) 1 4 'Staff) + \override Stem #'neutral-direction = #1 + + \repeat unfold 2 { r4 <b d g> <c d fis>2 } + b'4 b8. b16 <b, dis b'>4 <b dis b'> + <g b e>2. r4 + <g b e> <a b fis> <b e g>2 + <c e a>2. r4 + <b e g>2-. <b dis fis a>-. + <e g b e>2.\fermata r4\fermata + b8 d b d b d b d + c e c e c e c e + c d c d c d c d + \repeat unfold 8 { b d } + c e c e c e c e + b d b d b d b d + b[ d b'] d,\noBeam <b g'>4\fermata r8 b'8 + d4 a\trill d r \override Stem #'neutral-direction = #-1 + b8( d4.) #(set-octavation 1) g4\trill g'8 r + <c, e> r <c d fis> r <b d g> r <c e a> r + <b d g>4 <c d fis a> <g' b d g>2 \bar ".|." + } + + lefthand = \relative c { + \clef bass + + r4 <g g'> d'2 + r4 d d2 + b'4 b8. b16 b,4 b + e2. r4 + e dis e2 + c2. r4 + b2 <b, b'> + <e, e'>2. r4 + <g' d'> <g d'> <g d'> <g d'> + <g e'> <g e'> <g e'> <g e'> + <d' a'> <d a'> <d a'> <d a'> + <g, d'> \repeat unfold 7 { <g d'> } + <g e'> <g e'> <g e'> <g e'> + <d' g> <d g> <d fis> <d fis> + <g, d'> <g d'> <g d'> r + d d' <fis c'> r + d, d' <g b> r + R1 + d'4 d, g,2 \bar ".|." + } + + dynamics = { + s1*5 + s1\< + s2\! s2 + s1\f + s1*12 + } + + tempomod = { + s1*2 + \tempo 4=80 s1*5 + \tempo 4=75 s2. \tempo 4=60 s4 + \tempo 4=90 s1*7 + s2 \tempo 4=60 s4 \tempo 4=45 s8 \tempo 4=90 s8 + s1*4 + } + + + \score { + << + \context Voice = mel { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \melody + } + \context Lyrics = mel \text + \context PianoStaff << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand << + \global + \lefthand + >> + >> + >> + \layout { + \context { + \type "Engraver_group_engraver" + \name Dynamics + \alias Voice % So that \cresc works, for example. + \consists "Output_property_engraver" + + minimumVerticalExtent = #'(-1 . 1) + + \consists "Script_engraver" + \consists "Dynamic_engraver" + \consists "Text_engraver" + + \override TextScript #'font-size = #2 + \override TextScript #'font-shape = #'italic + \override DynamicText #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + \override Hairpin #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + + \consists "Skip_event_swallow_translator" + + \consists "Axis_group_engraver" + } + \context { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + \override VerticalAlignment #'forced-distance = #7 + } + } + } + + \score { + << + << + \context Voice = mel { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \set Staff.midiInstrument = "synth voice" + \melody + } + >> + \context PianoStaff << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand << + {\global \lefthand } + \tempomod + >> + >> >> + \midi { \tempo 4=90 + \context { + \type "Performer_group_performer" + \name Dynamics + \consists "Span_dynamic_performer" + \consists "Dynamic_performer" + } + \context { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + } + \context { + \Voice + \remove "Dynamic_performer" + \remove "Span_dynamic_performer" + } + } + } diff --git a/15122-h/music/dovesong.midi b/15122-h/music/dovesong.midi Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f79f5ca --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/dovesong.midi diff --git a/15122-h/music/dovesong.pdf b/15122-h/music/dovesong.pdf Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ddef4c --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/dovesong.pdf diff --git a/15122-h/music/fairychorus.ly b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.ly new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7d198ea --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.ly @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ +\header + { + title = "Fairy Chorus." + } + +global = + { + \time 6/8 + \key c \major + } + +melody = \relative c'' + { + \dynamicUp \clef treble \autoBeamOff + + \partial 8*1 << g8^\markup { \override #'(font-shape . caps) Duett. } \\ g >> \stemNeutral + <c e>4 <g e'>8 <f d'> <f b> << g \\ f >> + <e c'>4. r4 <e g>8 + <e g>4 <e g>8 <d f>[ <e g>] <d f> + <c e>4.( <e g>8) r <g c> + <b d>4 <b d>8 << d4 \\ c >> <a d>8 + <b d>4.( <g b>4) <d b'>8 + <d b'> <d b'> <d b'> <f c'>4 <c a'>8 + <b g'>4 r8 << g'4 \\ g >> r8 + << g4 \\ f >> <e g>8 <d g>4 <c g'>8 + <b g'>4. r4 g'16( g) + << { g4 g8 aes4 f8 } \\ { g4 g8 aes4 f8 } >> + g4. s4 << g8 \\ g >> + << { e'8.( d16) } \\ c4 >> <g c>8 <g b>[ <a c>] <f a> + <e g>4.( <c e>4) <c e>8 + <e g>4 <e g>8 <d f>4 <e g>8 + <c e>4. r4 <c e>8 + <e a>4 <e a>8 <e b'>4 << e8 \\ e >> + <e c'>4 <e c'>8 <a d>4 <a d>8 + <g e'>4 <e c'>8 <e g>4 <f d'>8 + <e c'>2 r8 \bar ".|." + } + +specialchord = \relative c' + { + \partial 8*1 s8 + s2.*11 + s4. <b d f>4 s8 + } + +textone = \lyricmode + { + \set stanza = "1. " + \partial 8*1 We8 + come,4 we8 come at thy + call,4. \skip 4 On8 + rain4 -- bow8 bubbles4 we8 + float.2 __ \skip 8 We8 + fair4 -- ies,8 one4 and8 + all,2 __ \skip 8 Have8 + an -- swered the wind4 flute's8 + note.4 \skip 8 The4 \skip 8 + south4 wind's8 sil4 -- ver8 flute,4. \skip 4 From16 the + far4 -- off8 sum4 -- mer8 + land,4. \skip 4 It8 + bade4 us8 ha4 -- sten8 + here,2 __ \skip 8 To8 + lend4 a8 help4 -- ing8 + hand.4. \skip 4 It8 + bade4 us8 ha4 -- sten,8 + ha4 -- sten8 here,4 To8 + lend4 a8 help4 -- ing8 + hand.2 \skip8 + } + +texttwo = \lyricmode + { + \partial 8*1 \skip 8 + \skip 2.*7 + \skip 4. \set stanza = "2. " To8 the \skip 8 + aid4 of16 the gal4 -- lant8 + knight,4. \skip 4 To16 the + help4 of16 the princess4. + fair,4. \skip 4 To16 the + res4 -- cue8 of4 the8 + prince,2 __ \skip 8 We8 + come4 to16 the O4 -- gre's8 + lair.4. \skip 4. + To4 the8 res4 -- cue8 + of4 the8 prince,4 We8 + come4 to16 the O4 -- gre's8 + lair.2 \skip 8 + } + +textthree = \lyricmode + { + \partial 8*1 \skip 8 + \skip 2.*7 + \skip 4. \set stanza = "3. " And4 \skip 8 + now,4 at8 thy4 be8 -- + hest,4. \skip 4 We8 + pause4 in16 our bright4 ar8 -- + ray,4. \skip 4 To8 + end4 thy8 wea4 -- ry8 + quest,2 __ \skip 8 For8 + love4 has8 found4 a8 + way.4. \skip 4 To8 + end4 thy8 wea4 -- ry8 + wea4 -- ry8 quest,4 For8 + love4 has8 found4 a8 + way.2 \skip 8 + } + +lefthand = \relative c + { + \clef bass + + \partial 8*1 r8^\markup { \override #'(font-shape . caps) Piano. } + c4 <g' c>8 <g b>4 r8 + c,4 <g' c>8 <g c>4 r8 + g4 g8 g,4 g8 + c4 g'8 c4 r8 + <d g>4 <d g>8 <d fis>4 <d fis>8 + <d g>4 <d g>8 d4 r8 + d,,4 d'8 a'4 c8 + g,4 d'8 <g b>4 r8 + g4 g8 g4 g8 + g4 g,8 g4 g8 + g'4 g8 aes4 f8 + g4. g,4 r8 + <c, c'>4 <g'' c e>8 <a c>4 r8 + <c,, c'>4 e'8 g4 r8 + <g, g'>4 g'8 b4 g8 + c,4 g'8 c4 r8 + <a c>4 <a c>8 <gis d'>4 <gis d'>8 + <a c>4 <a c>8 <f f'>4 f8 + g4 <g, g'>8 g4 <g b>8 + <c, g' c>2 r8 \bar ".|." + } + +\score + { + << + \context Voice = mel + { + \autoBeamOff + \global + << \melody \specialchord>> + } + \context Lyrics = mel \textone + \context Lyrics = meltwo \texttwo + \context Lyrics = melthree \textthree + \context PianoStaff + << + \context Staff=lefthand + << \global \lefthand >> + >> + >> + + \layout + { + \context + { + \type "Engraver_group_engraver" + \name Dynamics + \alias Voice % So that \cresc works, for example. + \consists "Output_property_engraver" + + minimumVerticalExtent = #'(-1 . 1) + + \consists "Script_engraver" + \consists "Dynamic_engraver" + \consists "Text_engraver" + + \override TextScript #'font-size = #2 + \override TextScript #'font-shape = #'italic + \override DynamicText #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + \override Hairpin #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + + \consists "Skip_event_swallow_translator" + + \consists "Axis_group_engraver" + } + \context + { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + \override VerticalAlignment #'forced-distance = #7 + } + } + } + +\score + { + << + << + \context Voice = mel + { + \global + \set Staff.midiInstrument = "synth voice" + \melody + } + >> + \context PianoStaff + << + \context Staff=lefthand + << + { \global << \lefthand \specialchord >> } + >> + >> + >> + \midi + { + \tempo 8=175 + \context + { + \type "Performer_group_performer" + \name Dynamics + \consists "Span_dynamic_performer" + \consists "Dynamic_performer" + } + \context + { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + } + \context + { + \Voice + } + } + } diff --git a/15122-h/music/fairychorus.midi b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.midi Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..be1e3d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.midi diff --git a/15122-h/music/fairychorus.pdf b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.pdf Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b364df3 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/fairychorus.pdf diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.ly b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.ly new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b1f9ab --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.ly @@ -0,0 +1,251 @@ +\header { + title = "Spinning Wheel Song" + } + + global = { + \time 6/8 + \key g \major + } + + melody = \relative c'' { \override TextSpanner #'direction = #1 + \clef treble + R2.*4 + d4. \stemUp b8( a g) + a( b) a d,4 d16 d + b'4 b8 b4 g8 \stemNeutral + a2 r4 + c8[ d] c b c b + a[( g]) d g4 d16 e + \stemUp d8 b'4 a b8 + g2 r4 + b4. b4 b8 + a4( b8) a4 \stemNeutral c8 \stemUp + b4 b8 fis4 a8 + g4.( e4) e16^\markup { \italic Andante. } fis + g4 fis8 e4 b'8 \stemNeutral \dynamicUp c4\< a8\! + d4\fermata d,8 \override TextSpanner #'edge-text = #'("slower. " . "") + d\startTextSpan d4 b'4 a8 g2\stopTextSpan r4 + R2.*4 + d'4.^\markup { \italic dolce. } d4 b8 + \stemUp b4 a8 e4. \stemNeutral + fis8 g a fis( g) a + d,2 r8 d8 + b' b4 c b8 + \stemUp b4 \stemNeutral a8 e4 c'8 + \stemUp b4 d,8 a'4 b8 + g2. \bar ".|." + } + + text = \lyricmode { + \skip 2.*4 + \set stanza = "1. " + My4. god-8 mother4 + bids4 me8 spin,4 that16 my + heart4 may8 not4 be8 + sad.2 \skip 4 + Spin4 and8 sing for my + brother's4. sake,4 and16 the + spinning4. makes4 me8 + glad.2 \skip 4 \set stanza = "2. " + Spin,4. sing4 with8 + humming4. whir,4 the8 + wheel4 goes8 round4 and8 + round.2 \skip 8 For16 my + brother's4. sake,4 the8 + charm4 I'll8 break,4 Prince8 + Hero4. shall4 be8 + found.2 \skip 4 + \skip 2.*4 + Spin,4. sing,4 the8 + golden4. thread,4. + Gleams8 in the sun's4 bright8 + ray,2 \skip 8 The8 + humming4. wheel4 my8 + grief4 can8 heal,4 For8 + love4 will8 find4 a8 + way.2. + } + + righthand = \relative c''' { + \clef treble + + #(set-octavation 1) + <d d'>4. <d d'>4. + <d d'>4. <c d fis a>4. + #(set-octavation 0) + <b, g'>4 <b d>8 <fis d'>4 <c a'>8 + \autoBeamOff <b g'>( d) \stemUp b' \stemNeutral \autoBeamOn <b, d g>4. + b8 d g b, d g + c, d fis c d fis + b, d g b, d g + c, d fis d' c a + <d, fis>4 <d fis>8 <d g>4 <d g>8 + <d fis>4 <d fis>8 <d g b>4 r8 + \autoBeamOff <b d g>( d'-. g-.) <c,, d fis a>( d'-. d'-.) \autoBeamOn + <b,, d g>4 d'8-. <g b d g>4.\fermata + <b,, e g>4. <b e g>4. + <e a>4. <e a>4. + <b dis a'>4. <b dis a'>4. + <b e g>4. r4 r8 + <b e g>4 r8 r4 r8 + <c e a>4. <c d fis>4\fermata r8 + <g b d> <g b d> <g b d> <b d g> <d g b> <fis a c d> + <g b d g>2 r8 g16 g + <cis, ais'>8 g' g <cis, ais'>8 g' g + <g b g'>4. <d g b d>4 <d g>8 + <d g b>4. <c d fis a>4. + <b d g>4 <d b'>8 <b g'>4. + b8 d g b, d g + c, e a c, e a + c, d fis c d fis + b, d g b, d g + d g b \autoBeamOff e,( \stemUp c' \stemNeutral <d, b>) \autoBeamOn + c e a c, e a + <b, d g>4. <c d fis>4. <b d g>2. \bar ".|." + } + + lefthand = \relative c'' { + \clef bass + + #(set-octavation 1) + b8( a g b a g) + a( g fis c' fis, d) + #(set-octavation 0) + d( e d c a d,) + <g, d'>4. <g d' g>4. + <g d'>4 r8 <g d'>4 r8 + <d' fis>4 r8 <d a'>4 r8 + <g, d'>4 r8 <e e'>4 r8 + <e e'>4 r8 <d' fis>4. + c'4( d,8) b'4( d,8) + c'4( d,8) g4 r8 + <d g>4 r8 <d fis>4 r8 + <a g'>4 r8 g'4.\fermata + e8 fis g e fis g + a( b c) a b c + b, cis dis b cis dis( + e) fis g e4 r8 + e4 r8 r4 r8 + c4. d4 r8 + d d d d d, <d, d'>\noBeam + <a' a'>2 r4 + e''4. e + d8( e fis g a b) + d, e d( d,) e d + \autoBeamOff <g, g'> b' g \autoBeamOn <g, d' g>4. + <g d'> <g d'> + <g e'> <g e'> + <d' a'> <d a'> + <g, d'> <g d'> + <a g'> <g g'> + c a + d d, + <g g'>2. \bar ".|." + } + + dynamics = { + s4.\f\< s\! + s\> s\! + s2. s + \once \override DynamicText #'extra-offset = #'(2.0 . 0.0) + s\mp + \repeat unfold 19 s + s\p + \repeat unfold 7 s + } + + tempomod = { + \repeat unfold 11 s2. + s4. \tempo 8=90 s4. \tempo 8=120 + s2. s s + s4. s4 \tempo 8=100 s8 + s2. + s4. \tempo 8=60 s4 \tempo 8=90 s8 + s2. s2 s8 \tempo 8=120 s8 + \repeat unfold 12 s2. + } + + + \score { + << + \context Voice = mel { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \melody + } + \context Lyrics = mel \text + \context PianoStaff << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand << + \global + \lefthand + >> + >> + >> + \layout { + \context { + \type "Engraver_group_engraver" + \name Dynamics + \alias Voice % So that \cresc works, for example. + \consists "Output_property_engraver" + + minimumVerticalExtent = #'(-1 . 1) + + \consists "Script_engraver" + \consists "Dynamic_engraver" + \consists "Text_engraver" + + \override TextScript #'font-size = #2 + \override TextScript #'font-shape = #'italic + \override DynamicText #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + \override Hairpin #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + + \consists "Skip_event_swallow_translator" + + \consists "Axis_group_engraver" + } + \context { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + \override VerticalAlignment #'forced-distance = #7 + } + } + } + + \score { + << + << + \context Voice = mel { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \set Staff.midiInstrument = "synth voice" + \melody + } + >> + \context PianoStaff << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand << + {\global \lefthand } + \tempomod + >> + >> >> + \midi { \tempo 8=120 + \context { + \type "Performer_group_performer" + \name Dynamics + \consists "Span_dynamic_performer" + \consists "Dynamic_performer" + } + \context { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + } + \context { + \Voice + \remove "Dynamic_performer" + \remove "Span_dynamic_performer" + } + } + } diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.midi b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.midi Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4de34de --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.midi diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.pdf b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.pdf Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dfb5b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinningwheel.pdf diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinwheel.ly b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.ly new file mode 100644 index 0000000..769303e --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.ly @@ -0,0 +1,203 @@ +\header + { + title = "Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread." + meter = \markup { \italic { Vivace. } } + } + +global = + { + \time 4/4 + \key g \major + } + +melody = \relative c'' + { + \dynamicUp \clef treble \autoBeamOff + + \partial 8*1 d8 + d4. b8 a b g[ d] + e2 r4 e' + d4. fis16[ e] d8 c a e' + d2( b) + b4 b4. b8 b8. b16 + g4 a b4. b8 + d4. e8 d4. a8 + d4. <e g>8 d4. d8 + c4\< b b4. a8 + e'2 r4 d + cis-. d-. e4.-. d8-. + <g, g'>2.-.\! r4 \bar ".|." + } + +text = \lyricmode + { + \partial 8*1 Spin,8 + wheel,4. reel8 out thy golden4 + thread,2 \skip 4 My4 + hap4. -- py8 heart sings glad and + gay,1 + Hero2 \skip 8 shall8 scape8. the16 + O4 -- gre dread,4. And8 + I4. my8 own4. true8 + love4. shall8 wed.4. For8 + love4 has found4. a8 + way,2 \skip 4 For4 + love has found4. a8 + way.2. \skip 4 + } + +righthand = \relative c' + { + \clef treble + + \partial 8*1 b8 + d( e g b d e g b) + c,,( e a b c e a e') + d( c a fis c' a fis d) + b'( g d b g' d b g) + b b b b \repeat unfold 4 <fis a b dis> + <g b e> <e g b> <c e a>4 <b dis fis b>4. b'8 \autoBeamOff + << + { d4.( e8) d4.( a8) | d4.( g8) d4. d8 } \\ + { + r8 <fis, a c> <fis a c> r r <fis a c> <fis a c> r + \repeat unfold 2 { r <d g b> <d g b> r } + } + >> + \autoBeamOn <e g c>4 <d g b> <c e b'>4. a'8 + <e a c e>2 r4 <d g b d> + <c g' ais> <d g b> <e g c>4. <d fis c'>8 + <g b d g>2. r4 \bar ".|." + } + +lefthand = \relative c + { + \clef bass + + \partial 8*1 r8 + <g d' g>2 r + <g e'> r + <d' fis c'> <d fis c'>4 r + <g, d' g>2 <g d' g> + b'8 b b b <b, b'> <b b'> <b b'> <b b'> + \autoBeamOff b b c c b[ b b b] + \repeat unfold 2 { <d, d'> <d' fis c'> <d fis c'> r } + \repeat unfold 2 { g, <d' g b> <d g b> r } + d4 d c4. c8 + <a a'>2 r4 d + d d d4. d8 + <g, d' g>2. r4 \bar ".|." + } + +dynamics = + { + \partial 8*1 s8 + s1*4 + s2\f\< s4. s8\! + s1*7 + } + +tempomod = + { + + } + + +\score + { + << + \context Voice = mel + { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \melody + } + \context Lyrics = mel \text + \context PianoStaff + << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand + << \global \lefthand >> + >> + >> + + \layout + { + \context + { + \type "Engraver_group_engraver" + \name Dynamics + \alias Voice % So that \cresc works, for example. + \consists "Output_property_engraver" + + minimumVerticalExtent = #'(-1 . 1) + + \consists "Script_engraver" + \consists "Dynamic_engraver" + \consists "Text_engraver" + + \override TextScript #'font-size = #2 + \override TextScript #'font-shape = #'italic + \override DynamicText #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + \override Hairpin #'extra-offset = #'(0 . 2.5) + + \consists "Skip_event_swallow_translator" + + \consists "Axis_group_engraver" + } + \context + { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + \override VerticalAlignment #'forced-distance = #7 + } + } + } + +\score + { + << + << + \context Voice = mel + { + \autoBeamOff + \global + \set Staff.midiInstrument = "synth voice" + \melody + } + >> + \context PianoStaff + << + \context Staff=righthand \global \righthand + \context Dynamics=dynamics \dynamics + \context Staff=lefthand + << + { \global \lefthand } + \tempomod + >> + >> + >> + \midi + { + \tempo 4=97 + \context + { + \type "Performer_group_performer" + \name Dynamics + \consists "Span_dynamic_performer" + \consists "Dynamic_performer" + } + \context + { + \PianoStaff + \accepts Dynamics + } + \context + { + \Voice + \remove "Dynamic_performer" + \remove "Span_dynamic_performer" + } + } + } diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinwheel.midi b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.midi Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0cc362 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.midi diff --git a/15122-h/music/spinwheel.pdf b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.pdf Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a1c02e --- /dev/null +++ b/15122-h/music/spinwheel.pdf diff --git a/15122.txt b/15122.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b318a15 --- /dev/null +++ b/15122.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7296 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Little Colonel's Hero, by Annie Fellows Johnston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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: The Little Colonel's Hero + +Author: Annie Fellows Johnston + +Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15122] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + +By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON + +AUTHOR OF "THE LITTLE COLONEL," "TWO LITTLE KNIGHTS OF KENTUCKY," "BIG +BROTHER," "ASA HOLMES," "THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY," "THE LITTLE +COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS," ETC. + + +FRONTISPIECE BY ETHELDRED B. BARRY + +L.C. PAGE & COMPANY BOSTON PUBLISHERS + +_Copyright, 1902_ + +BY THE PAGE COMPANY + + +_All rights reserved_ + + +Made in U.S.A. + + + Twenty-seventh Impression, June, 1925 + Twenty-eighth Impression, February, 1926 + Twenty-ninth Impression, January, 1928 + Thirtieth Impression, June, 1929 + Thirty-first Impression, October, 1930 + Thirty-second Impression, March, 1932 + Thirty-third Impression, February, 1934 + Thirty-fourth Impression, August, 1935 + Thirty-fifth Impression, July, 1937 + + +PRINTED BY THE COLONIAL PRESS INC., + +CLINTON, MASS., U.S.A. + +TO + +ALL THE FRIENDS OF THE "LITTLE COLONEL" + + +TO WHOSE LETTERS + +THE AUTHOR COULD NOT REPLY, + +THIS BOOK IS OFFERED IN ANSWER TO + +THEIR MANY QUESTIONS + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S + +(Trade Mark) + +HERO + +THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS + +=by + +Annie Fellows Johnston= + +Limited popular editions, each, cloth 12 mo. Illustrated + +=Three Titles--= + + + The Little Colonel's House Party $1.00 + The Little Colonel's Holidays $1.00 + The Little Colonel's Hero $1.00 + + * * * * * + +Regular Trade Edition + +=The Little Colonel Series= + +(Trade Mark, Reg. U.S. Pat. Of.) + +Each one vol., large 12 mo, bound in rose silk cloth; illust. + + + The Little Colonel Stories $2.00 + + (Containing the three stories, "The Little Colonel," + "The Giant Scissors," and "Two Little + Knights of Kentucky.") + + The Little Colonel Stories--Second Series $2.00 + + (Containing the three stories, "The Three Tremonts," + "The Little Colonel in Switzerland," + and "Ole Mammy's Torment.") + + The Little Colonel's House Party $2.00 + The Little Colonel's Holidays 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Hero 2.00 + The Little Colonel at Boarding-School 2.00 + The Little Colonel in Arizona 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Christmas Vacation 2.00 + The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding 2.00 + The Little Colonel's Chum: Mary Ware 2.00 + Mary Ware in Texas 2.00 + Mary Ware's Promised Land 2.00 + The above 13 vols., boxed, as a set 26.00 + +[Illustration: "'SPIN, WHEEL, REEL OUT THY GOLDEN THREAD'"] + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY 11 + + II. THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND 25 + + III. LLOYD MEETS HERO 41 + + IV. HERO'S STORY 55 + + V. THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA 67 + + VI. THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT 79 + + VII. IN TOURS 102 + +VIII. WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA 121 + + IX. AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS 136 + + X. ON THE WING 147 + + XI. HOMEWARD BOUND 161 + + XII. HOME AGAIN 179 + +XIII. "THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME" 197 + + XIV. IN CAMP 234 + + XV. THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE 249 + + XVI. "TAPS" 262 + + + + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + +(Trade Mark) + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HER TWELFTH BIRTHDAY + + +"Oh, Tarbaby! _Everybody_ has forgotten that it is my birthday! Even Papa +Jack has gone off to town without saying a word about it, and he nevah did +such a thing befo' in all his life!" + +As she spoke, the Little Colonel put her arm around her pony's neck, and +for a moment her fair little head was pressed disconsolately against its +velvety black mane. + +"It isn't the presents I care about," she whispered, choking back a +heart-broken sob; "but oh, Tarbaby, it's the bein' forgotten! Of co'se +mothah couldn't be expected to remembah, she's been so ill. But I think +grandfathah might, or Mom Beck, or _somebody_. If there'd only been one +single person when I came down-stairs this mawnin' to say 'I wish you +many happy returns, Lloyd, deah,' I wouldn't feel so bad. But there +wasn't, and I nevah felt so misah'ble and lonesome and left out since I +was bawn." + +Tarbaby had no words with which to comfort his little mistress, but he +seemed to understand that she was in trouble, and rubbed his nose lovingly +against her shoulder. The mute caress comforted her as much as words could +have done, and presently she climbed into the saddle and started slowly +down the avenue to the gate. + +It was a warm May morning, sweet with the fragrance of the locusts, for +the great trees arching above her were all abloom, and the ground beneath +was snowy with the wind-blown petals. Under the long white arch she rode, +with the fallen blossoms white at her feet. The pewees called from the +cedars and the fat red-breasted robins ran across the lawn just as they +had done the spring before, when it was her eleventh birthday, and she had +ridden along that same way singing, the happiest hearted child in the +Valley. But she was not singing to-day. Another sob came up in her throat +as she thought of the difference. + +"Now I'm a whole yeah oldah," she sighed. "Oh, deah! I don't want to grow +up, one bit, and I'll be suah 'nuff old on my next birthday, for I'll be +in my teens then. I wondah how that will feel. This last yeah was such a +lovely one, for it brought the house pahty and so many holidays. But this +yeah has begun all wrong. I can't help feelin' that it's goin' to bring me +lots of trouble." + +Half-way down the avenue she thought she heard some one calling her, and +stopped to look back. But no one was in sight. The shutters were closed in +her mother's room. + +"Last yeah she stood at the window and waved to me when I rode away," +sighed the child, her eyes filling with tears again. "Now she's so white +and ill it makes me cry to look at her. Maybe that is the trouble this +yeah is goin' to bring me. Betty's mothah died, and Eugenia's, and +maybe"--but the thought was too dreadful to put into words, and she +stopped abruptly. + +"Mom Beck was right," she whispered with a nod of her head. "She said that +sad thoughts are like crows. They come in flocks. I wish I could stop +thinkin' about such mou'nful things." + +A train passed as she cantered through the gate and started down the road +beside the railroad track. She drew rein to watch it thunder by. Some +child at the window pointed a finger at her, and then two smiling little +faces were pressed against the pane for an eager glimpse. It was the +prettiest wayside picture the passengers had seen in all that morning's +travel--the Little Colonel on her pony, with the spray of locust bloom in +the cockade of the Napoleon cap she wore, and a plume of the same graceful +blossoms nodding jauntily over each of Tarbaby's black ears. + +As the admiring faces whirled past her, Lloyd drew a long breath of +relief. "I'm glad that I don't have to do my riding in a smoky old car +this May mawnin'," she thought. "It is wicked for me to be so unhappy when +I have Tarbaby and all the othah things that mothah and Papa Jack have +given me. I know perfectly well that they love me just the same even if +they have forgotten my birthday, and I won't let such old black crow +thoughts flock down on me. I'll ride fast and get away from them." + +That was harder to do than she had imagined, for as she passed Judge +Moore's place the deserted house added to her feeling of loneliness. Andy, +the old gardener, was cutting the grass on the front lawn. She called to +him. + +"When is the family coming out from town, Andy?" + +"Not this summer, Miss Lloyd," he answered. "It'll be the first summer in +twenty years that the Judge has missed. He has taken a cottage at the +seaside, and they're all going there. The house will stay closed, just as +you see it now, I reckon, for another year." + +"At the seashore!" she echoed. "Not coming out!" She almost gasped, the +news was so unexpected. Here was another disappointment, and a very sore +one. Every summer, as far back as she could remember, Rob Moore had been +her favourite playfellow. Now there would be no more mad Tam O'Shanter +races, with Rob clattering along beside her on his big iron-gray horse. No +more good times with the best and jolliest of little neighbours. A summer +without Rob's cheery whistle and good-natured laugh would seem as empty +and queer as the woods without the bird voices, or the meadows without the +whirr of humming things. She rode slowly on. + +There was no letter for her when she stopped at the post-office to inquire +for the mail. The girls on whom she called afterward were not at home, so +she rode aimlessly around the Valley until nearly lunch-time, wishing for +once that it were a school-day. It was the longest Saturday morning she +had ever known. She could not practise her music lesson for fear of making +her mother's headache worse. She could not go near the kitchen, where she +might have found entertainment, for Aunt Cindy was in one of her black +tempers, and scolded shrilly as she moved around among her shining tins. + +There was no one to show her how to begin her new piece of embroidery; +Papa Jack had forgotten to bring out the magazines she wanted to see; +Walker had failed to roll the tennis-court and put up the net, so she +could not even practise serving the balls by herself. + +When lunch-time came, it was so lonely eating by herself in the big +dining-room, that she hurried through the meal as quickly as possible, and +tiptoed up the stairs to the door of her mother's room. Mom Beck raised +her finger with a warning "Sh!" and seeing that her mother was still +asleep, Lloyd stole away to her own room, her own pretty pink and white +nest, and curled herself up among the cushions in a big easy chair by the +window. + +It was the first time in her memory that her mother had been ill. For more +than a week she had not been able to leave her room, and the lonely child, +accustomed to being with her constantly, crept around the house like a +little stray kitten. The place scarcely seemed like home, and the days +were endless. Some unusual feeling of sensitiveness had kept her from +reminding the family of her birthday. Other years she had openly counted +the days, for weeks beforehand, and announced the gifts that she would be +most pleased to receive. + +Here by the window the dismal crow thoughts began flocking down to her +again, and to drive them away she picked up a book from the table and +began to read. It was a green and gold volume of short stories, one that +she had read many times before, but she never grew tired of them. + +The one she liked best was "Marguerite's Wonder-ball," and she turned to +that first, because it was the story of a happy birthday. Marguerite was a +little German girl, learning to knit, and to help her in her task her +family wound for her a mammoth ball of yarn, as full of surprise packages +as a plum cake is of plums. Day by day, as her patient knitting unwound the +yarn, some gift dropped out into her lap. They were simple things, nearly +all of them. A knife, a ribbon, a thimble, a pencil, and here and there +a bonbon, but they were magnified by the charm of the surprise, and they +turned the tedious task into a pleasant pastime. Not until her birthday +was the knitting finished, and as she took the last stitches a little +velvet-covered jewel-box fell out. In the jewel-box was a string of pearls +that had belonged to Marguerite's great-great-grandmother. It was a precious +family heirloom, and although Marguerite could not wear the necklace until +she was old enough to go to her first great court ball, it made her very +proud and happy to think that, of all the grandchildren in the family, +she had been chosen as the one to wear her great-great-grandmother's +name that means pearl, and had inherited on that account the beautiful +Von Behren necklace. + +When the knitting was done there was a charming birthday feast in her +honour. They crowned her with flowers, and every one, even the dignified +old grandfather, did her bidding until nightfall, because it was _her_ +day, and she was its queen. + +Closing the book Lloyd lay back among the cushions, smiling for the +twentieth time over Marguerite's happiness, and planning the beautiful +wonder-ball she herself would like to have, if wonder-balls were to be had +for the wishing. It should be as big as a cart-wheel, and the first gift +to be unwound should be a tiny ring set with an emerald, because that is +the lucky stone for people born in May. She already owned so many books, +and trinkets, that she hardly knew what else to wish for unless it might +be a coral fan chain and a mother-of-pearl manicure set. But deep down in +the heart of the ball she would like to find a wishing-nut, that would +grant her wishes like an Aladdin's lamp whenever it was rubbed. + +She must have fallen asleep in the midst of her day-dreaming, for it +seemed to her that it was only a minute after she closed her book, that +she heard the half-past five o'clock train whistling at the station, and +while she was still rubbing her eyes she saw her father coming up the +avenue. + +All day she had had a lingering hope that he might bring her something +when he came out from the city. "If it's nothing but a bag of peanuts," +she thought, "it will be better than having a birthday go by without +anything, 'specially when all the othahs have been neahly as nice as +Christmas." + +She peeped out between the curtains, scanning him eagerly as he came +toward the house, but there was no package in either hand, and no +suggestive parcel bulged from any of his pockets. + +"I'll not be a baby," Lloyd whispered to herself, winking her eyelids +rapidly to clear away a sort of mist that seemed to blur the landscape. +"I'm too old to care so much." + +Still, it was such a disappointment, added to all the others that the day +had brought, that she buried her face in the cushions and cried softly. +She could hear her father's voice in the next room, presently. It seemed +quite loud and cheerful; more cheerful than it had sounded since her +mother's dreadful neuralgic headaches had begun. A few minutes later she +heard her mother laugh. It was such a welcome sound, that she hastily +dried her eyes and started to run in to see what had caused it, but she +paused as she passed the mirror. Her eyes were so red that she knew she +would be questioned, and she concluded it would be better to wait until +she was dressed for dinner. + +So she sat looking out of the window till the big hall clock struck six, +and then hastily bathing her eyes, she slipped into a fresh white dress, +and looking carefully at herself in the mirror, concluded that she had +waited long enough. To her surprise, she found her mother sitting up in a +big Morris chair by the window. Maybe it was the pink silk kimono she wore +that brought a faint tinge of colour to her cheeks, but whatever it was, +she looked well and natural again, and for the first time in six long days +the neuralgic headache was all gone, and the lines of suffering were +smoothed out of her face. + +The wide glass doors opening on to the balcony were standing open, and +through the vines stole the golden sunset light, the chirping of robins, +the smell of new-mown grass, and the heavy sweetness of the locust +blooms. Lloyd rubbed her eyes, thinking she surely must be dreaming. There +on the vine-covered balcony stood a table all set as if for a "pink +party." There were flowers and bonbons in the silver dishes, and in the +centre Mom Beck was proudly placing a mammoth birthday cake, wreathed in +pink icing roses, and crowned with twelve pink candles ready for the +lighting. + +"Oh, mothah!" she cried. "I--I thought--" + +She did not finish the sentence, but something in her surprised tone, the +sudden flushing of her face, and the traces of tears still in her eyes, +told what she meant. + +"You thought mother had forgotten," whispered Mrs. Sherman, tenderly, as +Lloyd hid her face on her shoulder. + +"No, not for one minute, dear. But the pain was so bad this morning, when +you came to my room, that I couldn't talk. Then you were out riding so +long this morning, and when I wakened after lunch and sent Mom Beck to +find you, she said you were asleep in your room. Papa Jack and I have been +planning a great surprise for you, and he did not want to mention it until +all the arrangements were completed. That is why there was no birthday +surprise for you at breakfast. But you'll soon be a very happy little +girl, for this surprise is something you have been wanting for more than a +year." + +How suddenly the whole world had changed for the Little Colonel! The +sunshine had never seemed so golden, the locust blooms so deliciously +sweet. Her birthday had not been forgotten, after all. Mrs. Sherman's +chair was wheeled to the table on the balcony, and Lloyd took her seat +with sparkling eyes. She wondered what the surprise could be, and felt +sure that Papa Jack would not tell her until the cake was cut, and the +last birthday wish made with the blowing of the birthday candles. + +He had intended to save his news to serve with the dessert, but when he +questioned Lloyd as to how she had spent the day, and laughed at her for +reading the old tale of Marguerite's wonder-ball so many times, his secret +escaped him before he knew it. Turning to Mrs. Sherman he said, "By the +way, Elizabeth, our birthday gift for Lloyd might be called a sort of +wonder-ball." Then he looked at his little daughter with a teasing smile, +as he continued, "I wonder if you can guess my riddle. At first your +wonder-ball will unroll a day and night on the cars, then a drive through +a park where you rode in a baby-carriage once upon a time, but through +which you shall go in an automobile this time, if you wish. There'll be +some shopping, maybe, and after that flags flying, and bands playing, and +crowds of people waving good-bye." + +He had intended to stop there, but the wondering expression on her face +carried him on further. "I can't undertake to say how much your +wonder-ball can hold, but somewhere near the centre of it will be a +meeting with Betty and Eugenia, and perhaps a glimpse of the Gate of the +Giant Scissors that you are always talking about." + +As Lloyd listened a look of utter astonishment crept over her face. Then +she suddenly sprang from her chair, and running to her father put a hand +on each shoulder. "Papa Jack," she cried, breathlessly, "look me straight +in the eyes! Are you in earnest? You don't mean that we are going abroad, +do you? It _couldn't_ be anything so lovely as that, could it?" + +For answer he drew an envelope from his pocket and shook it before her +eyes. "Look for yourself," he said. "This is to show that we are listed +for passage on a steamer going to Antwerp the first of June. You may begin +to pack your trunk next week, if you wish." + +It was impossible for Lloyd to eat any more after that. She was too +excited and happy, and there were countless questions she wanted to ask. +"It's bettah than a hundred house pahties," she exclaimed, as she blew out +the last birthday candle. "It's the loveliest wondah-ball that evah was, +and I'm suah that nobody in all Kentucky is as happy as I am now." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE WONDER-BALL BEGINS TO UNWIND + + +Lloyd's wonder-ball began to unroll the morning that her father took her +to town to choose her own steamer trunk, and some of the things that were +to go in it. She packed and unpacked it many times in the two weeks that +followed, although she knew that Mom Beck would do the final packing, and +probably take out half the things which she insisted upon crowding into +it. + +Every morning it was a fresh delight to waken and find it standing by her +dressing-table, reminding her of the journey they would soon begin +together, and, when the journey was actually begun, she settled back in +her seat with a happy sigh. + +"Now, I'll commence to count my packages as they fall out," she said. "I +think I ought to count what I see from the car windows as one, for I enjoy +looking out at the different places we pass moah than I evah enjoyed my +biggest pictuah books." + +"Then count this number two," said her father, putting a flat, square +parcel in her lap. Lloyd looked puzzled as she opened it. There was only a +blank book inside, bound in Russia leather, with the word "Record" stamped +on it in gilt. + +"I thought it would be a good idea to keep a partnership diary," he said. +"We can take turns in writing in it, and some day, when you are grown, and +your mother and I are old and gray, it will help us to remember much of +the journey that otherwise might pass out of our memories. So many things +happen when one is travelling, that they are apt to crowd each other out +of mind unless a record is kept of them." + +"We'll begin as soon as we get on the ship," said Lloyd. "Mothah shall +write first, then you, and then I. And let's put photographs in it, too, +as Mrs. Walton did in hers. It will be like writing a real book. Package +numbah two is lovely, Papa Jack." + +It happened that Mr. Sherman was the only one who made an entry in the +record for more than a week. Mrs. Sherman felt the motion of the vessel +too much to be able to do more than lie out on deck in her steamer-chair. +The Little Colonel, while she was not at all seasick, was afraid to +attempt writing until she reached land. + +"The table jiggles so!" she complained, when she sat down at a desk in the +ship's library. "I'm afraid that I'll spoil the page. You write it, Papa +Jack." She put back the pen, and stood at his elbow while he wrote. + +"Put down about all the steamah lettahs that we got," she suggested, "and +the little Japanese stove Allison Walton sent me for my muff, and the +books Rob sent. Oh, yes! And the captain's name and how long the ship is, +and how many tons of things to eat they have on board. Mom Beck won't +believe me when I tell her, unless I can show it to her in black and +white." + +After they had explored the vessel together, her father was ready to +settle down in his deck-chair in a sheltered corner, and read aloud or +sleep. But the Little Colonel grew tired of being wrapped like a mummy in +her steamer rug. She did not care to read long at a time, and she grew +tired of looking at nothing but water. Soon she began walking up and down +the deck, looking for something to entertain her. In one place some little +girls were busy with scissors and paint-boxes, making paper dolls. Farther +along two boys were playing checkers, and, under the stairs, a group of +children, gathered around their governess, were listening to a fairy tale. +Lloyd longed to join them, for she fairly ached for some amusement. She +paused an instant, with her hand on the rail, as she heard one sentence: +"And the white prince, clasping the crystal ball, waved his plumed cap to +the gnome, and vanished." + +Wondering what the story was about, Lloyd walked around to the other side +of the deck, only to find another long uninteresting row of sleepy figures +stretched out in steamer-chairs, and half hidden in rugs and cloaks. She +turned to go back, but paused as she caught sight of a girl, about her own +age, standing against the deck railing, looking over into the sea. She was +not a pretty girl. Her face was too dark and thin, according to Lloyd's +standard of beauty, and her mouth looked as if it were used to saying +disagreeable things. + +But Lloyd thought her interesting, and admired the scarlet jacket she +wore, with its gilt braid and buttons, and the scarlet cap that made her +long plaits of hair look black as a crow's wing by contrast. Her hair was +pretty, and hung far below her waist, tied at the end with two bows of +scarlet ribbon. + +The girl glanced up as Lloyd passed, and although there was a cool stare +in her queer black eyes, Lloyd found herself greatly interested. She +wanted to make the stranger's acquaintance, and passed back and forth +several times, to steal another side glance at her. As she turned for the +third time to retrace her steps, she was nearly knocked off her feet by +two noisy boys, who bumped against her. They were playing horse, to the +annoyance of all the passengers on deck, stepping on people's toes, +knocking over chairs, and stumbling against the stewards who were hurrying +along with their heavy trays of beef tea and lemonade. + +Lloyd had seen the boys several times before. They were little fellows of +six and nine, with unusually thin legs and shrill voices, and were always +eating. + +Every time a deck steward passed, they grabbed a share of whatever he +carried. They seemed to have discovered some secret passage to the ship's +supplies. Their blouses were pouched out all around with the store of +gingersnaps, nuts, and apples which they had managed to stow away as a +reserve fund. Lloyd had seen the larger boy draw out six bananas, one +after another, from his blouse, and then squirm and wriggle and almost +stand on his head to reach the seventh, which had slipped around to his +back while he was eating the others. They were munching raisins now, as +they ran. + +After their collision with Lloyd they stopped running, and suddenly began +calling, "Here, Fido! Here, Fido!" Lloyd looked around eagerly, expecting +to see some pet dog, and wishing that she had one of the many pet animals +left behind at Locust, to amuse her now. But no dog was in sight. The girl +in the scarlet jacket turned around with an angry scowl. + +"Stop calling me that, Howl Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, crossly. "I'll +tell mamma. You know what she said she'd do to you if you called me +anything but Fidelia." + +"And you know what she said she'd do to you if you kept calling me Howl," +shouted the larger of the boys, making a saucy face and darting forward to +give one of her long plaits of hair a sudden pull. + +Quick as a flash, Fidelia turned, and catching him by the wrists, twisted +them till he began to whimper with pain, and tried to set his teeth in her +hand. + +"You _dare_ bite me, you little beast!" she cried. "You just dare, and +I'll tell mamma how you spit at the waiter the morning we left the hotel." + +Lloyd was scandalised. They were quarrelling like two little dogs, +seemingly unconscious of the fact that a hundred people were within +hearing. As Fidelia seemed to be getting the upper hand, the little +brother joined in, calling in a high piping voice, "And if you squeal on +Howell, Fidelia Sattawhite, I'll tell mamma how you went out walking by +yourself in New York when she told you not to, and took her new purse and +lost it! So there, Miss Smarty!" + +"Oh, those dreadful American children!" said an English woman near Lloyd. +"They're all alike. At least the ones who travel. I have never seen any +yet that had any manners. They are all pert and spoiled. Fancy an English +child, now, making such a scene in public!" + +The Little Colonel could feel her face growing painfully red. She was +indignant at being classed with such rude children, and walked quickly +away. At the cabin door she met a maid, who, coming out on deck with +something wrapped carefully in an embroidered shawl, sat down on one of +the empty benches. + +Scarcely was she seated when the two boys pounced down upon her and began +pulling at the blanket. "Oh, let me see Beauty, Fanchette," begged Howell. +"Make him sit up and do some tricks." + +The maid pushed them away with a strong hand, and then carefully drew +aside a corner of the covering. Lloyd gave an exclamation of pleasure, for +the head that popped out was that of a bright little French poodle. She +had thought many times that morning of the two Bobs, and good old Fritz, +dead and gone, of Boots, the hunting-dog, and the goat and the gobbler +and the parrot,--all the animals she had loved and played with at Locust, +wishing she had them with her. Now as she saw the bright eyes of the +poodle peeping over the blanket, she forgot that she was a stranger, and +running across the deck, she stooped down beside it. + +"Oh, the darling little dog!" she exclaimed, touching the silky hair +softly. "May I hold him for a minute?" + +The maid smiled, but shook her head. "Ah, that the madame will not allow," +she said. + +"It cost a thousand dollars," explained Howell, eagerly, "and mamma thinks +more of it than she does of us. Doesn't she, Henny?" + +The small boy nodded with a finger in his mouth. + +"Show her Beauty's bracelet, Fanchette," said Howell. Turning back another +fold of the blanket, the maid lifted a little white paw, on which sparkled +a tiny diamond bracelet. Lloyd drew a long breath of astonishment. "Some +of its teeth are filled with gold," continued Howell. "We had to stay a +whole week in New York while Beauty was in the dog hospital, having them +filled. They could only do a little at a time. One of his tricks is to +laugh so that he shows all his fillings. Laugh, Beauty!" he commanded. +"Laugh, old fellow, and show your gold teeth!" + +He shook a dirty finger in the poodle's face, and it obediently stretched +its mouth, to show all its little gold-filled teeth. + +"See!" exclaimed Howell, much pleased. "Do it again!" + +But the maid interfered. "Your mother told you not to touch Beauty again. +You'd have the poor little thing's mouth stretched till it had the +face-ache, if you weren't watched all the time. Go away! You are a naughty +boy!" + +Howell's lips shot out in a sullen pout, and the maid, not knowing what he +might do next, rose with the poodle in her arms and walked to the other +side of the vessel. + +"Wish't the little beast was dead!" he muttered. "I get scolded and +punished for nothing at all whenever it is around. It and Fidelia! I +haven't any use for girls and puppy-dogs!" + +After this uncivil remark he waited for the angry retort which he thought +would naturally follow, but to his surprise Lloyd only laughed +good-naturedly. She found him amusing, even if he was rude and cross, and +she could not wonder that he had such an opinion of girls, after +witnessing his quarrel with Fidelia. The boys had begun it, but she was +older and could have turned it aside had she wished. And she thought it +perfectly natural that he should dislike the dog if he thought his mother +preferred its comfort to his. + +"You'd like dogs if you could have one like my old Fritz," began Lloyd, +glad of some one to talk to. Sitting down on the bench that the maid had +left, she began talking of him and the pony and the other pets at Locust, +At first the boys listened carelessly. Howell cracked his whip, and +Henderson slapped his feet with the ends of the reins he wore. They were +not used to having stories told them, except when they were being scolded, +and their mother or the maid told them tales of what happens to bad little +boys when they will not obey. Although Lloyd's wild ride in a hand-car +with one of the two little knights began thrillingly, they listened with +one foot out, ready to run at first word of the moral lecture which they +thought would surely come at the end. + +The poodle had a maid to make it happy and comfortable, every moment of +its pampered little life. The boys had some one to see that they were +properly clothed and fed, and their nursery at home looked as if a toy +store had been emptied into it. But no one took any interest in their +amusement. When they asked questions the answer always was, "Oh, run along +and don't bother me now." There were no quiet bedtime talks for them to +smooth the snarls out of the day. Their mother was always dining out or +receiving company at that time, and their nurse hurried them to sleep with +threats of the bugaboos under the bed that would catch them if they were +not still. They suspected that the Little Colonel's stories would soon +lead to a lecture on quarrelling. + +Presently they forgot their fears in the interest of the tale. The +youngest boy sidled a little nearer and climbed up on the end of the bench +beside her. Then Howell, dragging his whip behind him, came a step closer, +then another, till he too was on the bench beside her. + +She had never had such a flattering audience. They never took their eyes +from her face, and listened with such breathless attention that she talked +on and on, wondering how long she could hold their interest. + +"They listen to me just as people do to Betty," she thought, proudly. An +hour went by, and half of another, and the bugle blew the first +dinner-call. + +"Go on," demanded Howell, edging closer. "We ain't hungry. Are we, +Henny?" + +"But I must go and get ready for dinner," said Lloyd, rising. + +"Will you tell us some more to-morrow?" begged Howell, holding her skirts +with his dirty little hand. + +"Yes, yes," promised Lloyd, laughing and breaking loose from his hold. +"I'll tell you as many stories as you want." + +It was a rash promise, for next day, no sooner had she finished breakfast +and started to take her morning walk around the deck with her father, than +the boys were at her heels. They were eating bananas as they staggered +along, and as fast as one disappeared another was dragged out of their +blouses, which seemed pouched out all around their waists with an +inexhaustible supply. Up and down they followed her, until Papa Jack began +to laugh, and ask what she had done to tame the little savages. + +As soon as she stopped at her chair they dropped down on the floor, +tailor-fashion, waiting for her to begin. Their devotion amused her at +first, and gratified her later, when the English woman who had complained +of their manners stopped to speak to her. + +"You are a real little 'good Samaritan,'" she said, "to keep those two +nuisances quiet. The passengers owe you a vote of thanks. It is very sweet +of you, my dear, to sacrifice yourself for others in that way." + +Lloyd grew very red. She had not looked upon it as a sacrifice. She had +been amusing herself. But after awhile story-telling did become very +tiresome as a steady occupation. She groaned whenever she saw the boys +coming toward her. + +Fidelia joined them on several occasions, but her appearance was always +the signal for a quarrel to begin. Not until one morning when the boys +were locked in their stateroom for punishment, did she have a chance to +speak to Lloyd by herself. + +"The boys opened a port-hole this morning," explained Fidelia. "They had +been forbidden to touch it. Poor Beauty was asleep on the couch just under +it, and a big wave sloshed over him and nearly drowned him. He was soaked +through. It gave him a chill, and mamma is in a terrible way about him. +Howl and Henny told Fanchette they wanted him to drown. That's why they +did it. They will be locked up all morning. I should think that you'd be +glad. I don't see how you stand them tagging after you all the time. They +are the meanest boys I ever knew." + +"They are not mean to me," said Lloyd. "I can't help feelin' sorry for +them." Then she stopped abruptly, with a blush, feeling that was not a +polite thing to say to the boys' sister. + +"I'm sure I don't see why you should feel sorry for them," said Fidelia, +angrily. At which the Little Colonel was more embarrassed than ever. She +could not tell Fidelia that it was because a little poodle received the +fondling and attention that belonged to them, and that it was Fidelia's +continual faultfinding and nagging that made the boys tease her. So after +a pause she changed the subject by asking her what she wanted most to see +in Europe. + +"Nothing!" answered Fidelia. "I wouldn't give a penny to see all the old +ruins and cathedrals and picture galleries in the world. The only reason +that I care to go abroad is to be able to say I have been to those places +when the other girls brag about what they've seen. What do you want to +see?" + +"Oh, thousands of things!" exclaimed Lloyd. "There are the chateaux where +kings and queens have lived, and the places that are in the old songs, +like Bonnie Doon, and London Bridge, and Twickenham Ferry. I want to see +Denmark, because Hans Christian Andersen lived there, and wrote his fairy +tales, and London, because Dickens and Little Nell lived there. But I +think I shall enjoy Switzerland most. We expect to stay there a long time. +It is such a brave little country. Papa has told me a great deal about +its heroes. He is going to take me to see the Lion of Lucerne, and to +Altdorf, under the lime-tree, where William Tell shot the apple. I love +that story." + +"Well, aren't you _queer!_" exclaimed Fidelia, opening her eyes wide and +looking at Lloyd as if she were some sort of a freak. It was her tone and +look that were offensive, more than her words. Lloyd was furious. + +"No, I am _not_ queah, Miss Sattawhite!" she exclaimed, moving away much +ruffled. As she flounced toward the cabin, her eyes very bright and her +cheeks very red, she looked back with an indignant glance. "I wish now +that I'd told her why I'm sorry for Howl and Henny. I'd be sorry for +anybody that had such a rude sistah!" + +But there were other children on the vessel whose acquaintance Lloyd made +before the week was over. She played checkers and quoits with the boys, +and paper dolls with the girls, and one sunny morning she was invited to +join the group under the stairs, where she heard the story of the white +prince from beginning to end, and found out why he vanished. + +Those were happy days on the big steamer, despite the fact that Howl and +Henny haunted her like two hungry little shadows. Sometimes the captain +himself came down and walked with her. The Shermans sat at his table, and +he had grown quite fond of the little Kentucky girl with her soft Southern +accent. As they paced the deck hand in hand, he told her marvellous tales +of the sea, till she grew to love the ship and the heaving water world +around them, and wished that they might sail on and on, and never come to +land until the end of the summer. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LLOYD MEETS HERO + + +It was July when they reached Switzerland. After three weeks of constant +travel, it seemed good to leave boats and railroads for awhile, and stop +to rest in the clean old town of Geneva. The windows of the big hotel +dining-room looked out on the lake, and the Little Colonel, sitting at +breakfast the morning after their arrival, could scarcely eat for watching +the scene outside. + +Gay little pleasure boats flashed back and forth on the sparkling water. +The quay and bridge were thronged with people. From open windows down the +street came the tinkle of pianos, and out on the pier, where a party of +tourists were crowding on to one of the excursion steamers, a band was +playing its merriest holiday music. + +Far away in the distance she could see the shining snow crown of Mont +Blanc, and it gave her an odd feeling, as if she were living in a +geography lesson, to know that she was bounded on one side by the famous +Alpine mountain, and on the other by the River Rhone, whose source she had +often traced on the map. The sunshine, the music, and the gay crowds made +it seem to Lloyd as if the whole world were out for a holiday, and she ate +her melon and listened to the plans for the day with the sensation that +something very delightful was about to happen. + +"We'll go shopping this morning," said Mrs. Sherman. "I want Lloyd to see +some of those wonderful music boxes they make here; the dancing bears, and +the musical hand-mirrors; the chairs that play when you sit down in them, +and the beer-mugs that begin a tune when you lift them up." + +Lloyd's face dimpled with pleasure, and she began to ask eager questions. +"Couldn't we take one to Mom Beck, mothah? A lookin'-glass that would play +'Kingdom Comin', when she picked it up? It would surprise her so she would +think it was bewitched, and she'd shriek the way she does when a +cattapillah gets on her." + +Lloyd laughed so heartily at the recollection, that an old gentleman +sitting at an opposite table smiled in sympathy. He had been watching the +child ever since she came into the dining-room, interested in every look +and gesture. He was a dignified old French soldier, tall and +broad-shouldered, with gray hair and a fierce-looking gray moustache +drooping heavily over his mouth. But the eyes under his shaggy brows were +so kind and gentle that the shyest child or the sorriest waif of a stray +dog would claim him for a friend at first glance. + +The Little Colonel was so busy watching the scene from the window that she +did not see him until he had finished his breakfast and rose from the +table. As he came toward them on his way to the door, she whispered, +"Look, mothah! He has only one arm, like grandfathah. I wondah if he was a +soldiah, too. Why is he bowing to Papa Jack?" + +"I met him last night in the office," explained her father, when the old +gentleman had passed out of hearing. "We got into conversation over the +dog he had with him--a magnificent St. Bernard, that had been trained as a +war dog, to go out with the ambulances to hunt for dead and wounded +soldiers. Major Pierre de Vaux is the old man's name. He served many years +in the French army, but was retired after the siege of Strasburg. The +clerk told me that it was there that the Major lost his arm, and received +his country's medal for some act of bravery. He is well known here in +Geneva, where he comes every summer for a few weeks." + +"Oh, I hope I'll see the war dog!" cried the Little Colonel. "What do you +suppose his name is?" + +The waiter, who was changing their plates, could not resist this +temptation to show off the little English he knew. "Hes name is _Hero_, +mademoiselle," he answered. "He vair smart dog. He know _evair_ sing +somebody say to him, same as a person." + +"You'll probably see him as we go out to the carriage," said Mr. Sherman. +"He follows the Major constantly." + +As soon as breakfast was over, Mrs. Sherman went up to her room for her +hat. Lloyd, who had worn hers down to breakfast, wandered out into the +hall to wait for her. There was a tall, carved chair standing near the +elevator, and Lloyd climbed into it. To her great confusion, something +inside of it gave a loud click as she seated herself, and began to play. +It played so loudly that Lloyd was both startled and embarrassed. It +seemed to her that every one in the hotel must hear the noise, and know +that she had started it. + +"Silly old thing!" she muttered, as with a very red face she slipped down +and walked hurriedly away. She intended to go into the reading-room, but +in her confusion turned to the left instead of the right, and ran against +some one coming out of the hotel office. It was the Major. + +"Oh, I beg your pahdon!" she cried, blushing still more. From the twinkle +in his eye she was sure that he had witnessed her mortifying encounter +with the musical chair. But his first words made her forget her +embarrassment. He spoke in the best of English, but with a slight accent +that Lloyd thought very odd and charming. + +"Ah, it is Mr. Sherman's little daughter. He told me last night that you +had come to Switzerland because it was a land of heroes, and he was sure +that you would be especially interested in mine. So come, Hero, my brave +fellow, and be presented to the little American lady. Give her your paw, +sir!" + +He stepped aside to let the great creature past him, and Lloyd uttered an +exclamation of delight, he was so unusually large and beautiful. His curly +coat of tawny yellow was as soft as silk, and a great ruff of white +circled his neck like a collar. His breast was white, too, and his paws, +and his eyes had a wistful, human look that went straight to Lloyd's +heart. She shook the offered paw, and then impulsively threw her arms +around his neck, exclaiming, "Oh, you deah old fellow! I can't help +lovin' you. You're the beautifulest dog I evah saw!" + +He understood the caress, if not the words, for he reached up to touch her +cheek with his tongue, and wagged his tail as if he were welcoming a +long-lost friend. Just then Mrs. Sherman stepped out of the elevator. +"Good-bye, Hero," said the Little Colonel. "I must go now, but I hope I'll +see you when I come back." Nodding good-bye to the Major, she followed her +mother out to the street, where her father stood waiting beside an open +carriage. + +Lloyd enjoyed the drive that morning as they spun along beside the river, +up and down the strange streets with the queer foreign signs over the shop +doors. Once, as they drove along the quay, they met the Major and the dog, +and in response to a courtly bow, the Little Colonel waved her hand and +smiled. The empty sleeve recalled her grandfather, and gave her a friendly +feeling for the old soldier. She looked back at Hero as long as she could +see a glimpse of his white and yellow curls. + +It was nearly noon when they stopped at a place where Mrs. Sherman wanted +to leave an enamelled belt-buckle to be repaired. Lloyd was not interested +in the show-cases, and could not understand the conversation her father +and mother were having with the shopkeeper about enamelling. So, saying +that she would go out and sit in the carriage until they were ready to +come, she slipped away. + +She liked to watch the stir of the streets. It was interesting to guess +what the foreign signs meant, and to listen to the strange speech around +her. Besides, there was a band playing somewhere down the street, and +children were tugging at their nurses' hands to hurry them along. Some +carried dolls dressed in the quaint costumes of Swiss peasants, and some +had balloons. A man with a bunch of them like a cluster of great red +bubbles, had just sold out on the corner. + +So she sat in the sunshine, looking around her with eager, interested +eyes. The coachman, high up on his box, seemed as interested as herself; +at least, he sat up very straight and stiff. But it was only his back that +Lloyd saw. He had been at a fete the night before. There seems to be +always a holiday in Geneva. He had stayed long at the merrymaking and had +taken many mugs of beer. They made him drowsy and stupid. The American +gentleman and his wife stayed long in the enameller's shop. He could +scarcely keep his eyes open. Presently, although he never moved a muscle +of his back and sat up stiff and straight as a poker, he was sound +asleep, and the reins in his grasp slipped lower and lower and lower. + +The horse was an old one, stiffened and jaded by much hard travel, but it +had been a mettlesome one in its younger days, with the recollection of +many exciting adventures. Now, although it seemed half asleep, dreaming, +maybe, of the many jaunts it had taken with other American tourists, or +wondering if it were not time for it to have its noonday nose-bag, it was +really keeping one eye open, nervously watching some painters on the +sidewalk. They were putting up a scaffold against a building, in order +that they might paint the cornice. + +Presently the very thing happened that the old horse had been expecting. A +heavy board fell from the scaffold with a crash, knocking over a ladder, +which fell into the street in front of the frightened animal. Now the old +horse had been in several runaways. Once it had been hurt by a falling +ladder, and it had never recovered from its fear of one. As this one fell +just under it's nose, all the old fright and pain that caused its first +runaway seemed to come back to its memory. In a frenzy of terror it +reared, plunged forward, then suddenly turned and dashed down the street. + +The plunge and sudden turn threw the sleeping coachman from the box to +the street. With the lines dragging at its heels, the frightened horse +sped on. The Little Colonel, clutching frantically at the seat in front of +her, screamed at the horse to stop. She had been used to driving ever +since she was big enough to grasp the reins, and she felt that if she +could only reach the dragging lines, she could control the horse. But that +was impossible. All she could do was to cling to the seat as the carriage +whirled dizzily around corners, and wonder how many more frightful turns +it would make before she should be thrown out. + +The white houses on either side seemed racing past them. Nurses ran, +screaming, to the pavements, dragging the baby-carriages out of the way. +Dogs barked and teams were jerked hastily aside. Some one dashed out of a +shop and threw his arms up in front of the horse to stop it, but, veering +to one side, it only plunged on the faster. + +Lloyd's hat blew off. Her face turned white with a sickening dread, and +her breath began to come in frightened sobs. On and on they went, and, as +the scenes of a lifetime will be crowded into a moment in the memory of a +drowning man, so a thousand things came flashing into Lloyd's mind. She +saw the locust avenue all white and sweet in blossom time, and thought, +with a strange thrill of self-pity, that she would never ride under its +white arch again. Then she saw Betty's face on the pillow, as she had lain +with bandaged eyes, telling in her tremulous little voice the story of the +Road of the Loving Heart. Queerly enough, with that came the thought of +Howl and Henny, and she had time to be glad that she had amused them on +the voyage, and made them happy. Then came her mother's face, and Papa +Jack's. In a few moments, she told herself, they would be picking up her +poor, broken, lifeless little body from the street. How horribly they +would feel. And then--she screamed and shut her eyes. The carriage had +dashed into something that tore off a wheel. There was a crash--a sound as +of splintering wood. But it did not stop their mad flight. With a horrible +bumping motion that nearly threw her from the carriage at every jolt, they +still kept on. + +They were on the quay now. The noon sun on the water flashed into her eyes +like the blinding light thrown back from a looking-glass. Then something +white and yellow darted from the crowd on the pavement, and catching the +horse by the bit, swung on heavily. The horse dragged along for a few +paces, and came to a halt, trembling like a leaf. + +A wild hurrah went up from both sides of the street, and the Little +Colonel, as she was lifted out white and trembling, saw that it was a huge +St. Bernard that the crowd was cheering. + +"Oh, it's H-Hero!" she cried, with chattering teeth. "How did he get +here?" But no one understood her question. The faces she looked into, +while beaming with friendly interest, were all foreign. The eager +exclamations on all sides were uttered in a foreign tongue. There was no +one to take her home, and in her fright she could not remember the name of +their hotel. But in the midst of her confusion a hearty sentence in +English sounded in her ear, and a strong arm caught her up in a fatherly +embrace. It was the Major who came pushing through the crowd to reach her. +Her grandfather himself could not have been more welcome just at that +time, and her tears came fast when she found herself in his friendly +shelter. The shock had been a terrible one. + +"Come, dear child!" he exclaimed, gently, patting her shoulder. "Courage! +We are almost at the hotel. See, it is on the corner, there. The father +and mother will soon be here." + +Wiping her eyes, he led her across the street, explaining as he went how +it happened that he and the dog were on the street when she passed. They +had been in the gardens all morning and were going home to lunch, when +they heard the clatter of the runaway far down the street. The Major could +not see who was in the carriage, only that it appeared to be a child. He +was too old a man, and with his one arm too helpless to attempt to stop +it, but he remembered that Hero had once shared the training of some +collies for police service, before it had been decided to use him as an +ambulance dog. They were taught to spring at the bridles of escaping +horses. + +"I was doubtful if Hero remembered those early lessons," said the Major, +"but I called out to him sharply, for the love of heaven to stop it if he +could, and that instant he was at the horse's head, hanging on with all +his might. Bravo, old fellow!" he continued, turning to the dog as he +spoke. "We are proud of you this day!" + +They were in the corridor of the hotel now, and the Little Colonel, +kneeling beside Hero and putting her arms around his neck, finished her +sobbing with her fair little face laid fondly against his silky coat. + +"Oh, you deah, deah old Hero," she said. "You saved me, and I'll love you +fo' evah and evah!" + +The crowd was still in front of the hotel, and the corridor full of +excited servants and guests, when Mr. and Mrs. Sherman hurried in. They +had taken the first carriage they could hail and driven as fast as +possible in the wake of the runaway. Mrs. Sherman was trembling so +violently that she could scarcely stand, when they reached the hotel. The +clerk who ran out to assure them of the Little Colonel's safety was loud +in his praises of the faithful St. Bernard. + +Hero had known many masters. Any one in the uniform of the army had once +had authority over him. He had been taught to obey many voices. Many hands +had fed and fondled him, but no hand had ever lain quite so tenderly on +his head, as the Little Colonel's. No one had ever looked into his eyes so +gratefully as she, and no voice had ever thrilled him with as loving tones +as hers, as she knelt there beside him, calling him all the fond endearing +names she knew. He understood far better than if he had been human, that +she loved him. Eagerly licking her hands and wagging his tail, he told her +as plainly as a dog can talk that henceforth he would be one of her best +and most faithful of friends. + +If petting and praise and devoted attention could spoil a dog, Hero's head +would certainly have been turned that day, for friends and strangers alike +made much of him. A photographer came to take his picture for the leading +daily paper. Before nightfall his story was repeated in every home in +Geneva. No servant in the hotel but took a personal pride in him or +watched his chance to give him a sly sweetmeat or a caress. But being a +dog instead of a human, the attention only made him the more lovable, for +it made him feel that it was a kind world he lived in and everybody was +his friend. + +It was after lunch that the Little Colonel came up-stairs carrying the +diary, now half-filled with the record of their journeying. + +"Put it all down in the book, Papa Jack," she demanded. "I'll nevah forget +to my dyin' day, but I want it written down heah in black and white that +Hero saved me!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HERO'S STORY + + +Late that afternoon the Major sat out in the shady courtyard of the hotel, +where vines, potted plants, and a fountain made a cool green garden spot. +He was thinking of his little daughter, who had been dead many long years. +The American child, whom his dog had rescued from the runaway in the +morning, was wonderfully like her. She had the same fair hair, he thought, +that had been his little Christine's great beauty; the same delicate, +wild-rose pink in her cheeks, the same mischievous smile dimpling her +laughing face. But Christine's eyes had not been a starry hazel like the +Little Colonel's. They were blue as the flax-flowers she used to +gather--thirty, was it? No, forty years ago. + +As he counted the years, the thought came to him like a pain that he was +an old, old man now, all alone in the world, save for a dog, and a niece +whom he scarcely knew and seldom saw. + +As he sat there with his head bowed down, dreaming over his past, the +Little Colonel came out into the courtyard. She had dressed early and gone +down to the reading-room to wait until her mother was ready for dinner, +but catching sight of the Major through the long glass doors, she laid +down her book. The lonely expression of his furrowed face, the bowed head, +and the empty sleeve appealed to her strongly. + +"I believe I'll go out and talk to him," she thought. "If grandfathah were +away off in a strange land by himself like that, I'd want somebody to +cheer him up." + +It is always good to feel that one is welcome, and Lloyd was glad that she +had ventured into the courtyard, when she saw the smile that lighted the +Major's face at sight of her, and when the dog, rising at her approach, +came forward joyfully wagging his tail. + +The conversation was easy to begin, with Hero for a subject. There were +many things she wanted to know about him: how he happened to belong to the +Major; what country he came from; why he was called a St. Bernard, and if +the Major had ever owned any other dogs. + +After a few questions it all came about as she had hoped it would. The old +man settled himself back in his chair, thought a moment, and then began at +the first of his acquaintance with St. Bernard dogs, as if he were +reading a story from a book. + +"Away up in the Alpine Mountains, too high for trees to grow, where there +is only bare rock and snow and cutting winds, climbs the road that is +known as the Great St. Bernard Pass. It is an old, old road. The Celts +crossed it when they invaded Italy. The Roman legions crossed it when they +marched out to subdue Gaul and Germany. Ten hundred years ago the Saracen +robbers hid among its rocks to waylay unfortunate travellers. You will +read about all that in your history sometime, and about the famous march +Napoleon made across it on his way to Marengo. But the most interesting +fact about the road to me, is that for over seven hundred years there has +been a monastery high up on the bleak mountain-top, called the monastery +of St. Bernard. + +"Once, when I was travelling through the Alps, I stopped there one cold +night, almost frozen. The good monks welcomed me to their hospice, as they +do all strangers who stop for food and shelter, and treated me as kindly +as if I had been a brother. In the morning one of them took me out to the +kennels, and showed me the dogs that are trained to look for travellers in +the snow. You may imagine with what pleasure I followed him, and listened +to the tales he told me. + +"He said there is not as much work for the dogs now as there used to be +years ago. Since the hospice has been connected with the valley towns by +telephone, travellers can inquire about the state of the weather and the +paths, before venturing up the dangerous mountain passes. Still, the +storms begin with little warning sometimes, and wayfarers are overtaken by +them and lost in the blinding snowfall. The paths fill suddenly, and but +for the dogs many would perish." + +"Oh, I know," interrupted Lloyd, eagerly. "There is a story about them in +my old third readah, and a pictuah of a big St. Bernard dog with a flask +tied around his neck, and a child on his back." + +"Yes," answered the Major, "it is quite probable that that was a picture +of the dog they called Barry. He was with the good monks for twelve years, +and in that time saved the lives of forty travellers. There is a monument +erected to him in Paris in the cemetery for dogs. The sculptor carved that +picture into the stone, the noble animal with a child on his back, as if +he were in the act of carrying it to the hospice. Twelve years is a long +time for a dog to suffer such hardship and exposure. Night after night he +plunged out alone into the deep snow and the darkness, barking at the top +of his voice to attract the attention of lost travellers. Many a time he +dropped into the drifts exhausted, with scarcely enough strength left to +drag himself back to the hospice. + +"Forty lives saved is a good record. You may be sure that in his old age +Barry was tenderly cared for. The monks gave him a pension and sent him to +Berne, where the climate is much warmer. When he died, a taxidermist +preserved his skin, and he was placed in the museum at Berne, where he +stands to this day, I am told, with the little flask around his neck. I +saw him there one time, and although Barry was only a dog, and I an +officer in my country's service, I stood with uncovered head before him. +For he was as truly a hero and served human kind as nobly as if he had +fallen on the field of battle. + +"He had been trained like a soldier to his duty, and no matter how the +storms raged on the mountains, how dark the night, or how dangerous the +paths that led along the slippery precipices, at the word of command he +sprang to obey. Only a dumb beast, some people would call him, guided only +by brute instinct, but in his shaggy old body beat a loving heart, loyal +to his master's command, and faithful to his duty. + +"As I stood there gazing into the kind old face, I thought of the time +when I lay wounded on the field of Strasburg. How glad I would have been +to have seen some dog like Barry come bounding to my aid! I had fallen in +a thicket, where the ambulance corps did not discover me until next day. I +lay there all that black night, wild with pain, groaning for water. I +could see the lanterns of the ambulances as they moved about searching for +the wounded among the many dead, but was too faint from loss of blood to +raise my head and shout for help. They told me afterward that, if my wound +could have received immediate attention, perhaps my arm might have been +saved. + +"But only a keen sense of smell could have traced me in the dense thicket +where I lay. No one had thought of training dogs for ambulance service +then. The men did their best, but they were only men, and I was overlooked +until it was too late to save my arm. + +"Well, as I said, I stood and looked at Barry, wondering if it were not +possible to train dogs for rescue work on battle-fields as well as in +mountain passes. The more I thought of it, the more my longing grew to +make such an attempt. I read everything I could find about trained dogs, +visited kennels where collies and other intelligent sheepdogs were kept, +and corresponded with many people about it. Finally I found a man who was +as much interested in the subject as I. Herr Bungartz is his name. To him +chiefly belongs the credit for the development of the use of ambulance +dogs, to aid the wounded on the field of battle. He is now at the head of +a society to which I belong. It has over a thousand members, including +many princes and generals. + +"We furnish the money that supports the kennels, and the dogs are bred and +trained free for the army. Now for the last eight years it has been my +greatest pleasure to visit the kennels, where as many as fifty dogs are +kept constantly in training. It was on my last visit that I got Hero. His +leg had been hurt in some accident on the training field. It was thought +that he was too much disabled to ever do good service again, so they +allowed me to take him. Two old cripples, I suppose they thought we were, +comrades in misfortune. + +"That was nearly a year ago. I took him to an eminent surgeon, told him +his history, and interested him in his case. He treated him so +successfully, that now, as you see, the leg is entirely well. Sometimes I +feel that it is my duty to give him back to the service, although I paid +for the rearing of a fine Scotch collie in his stead. He is so unusually +intelligent and well trained. But it would be hard to part with such a +good friend. Although I have had him less than a year, he seems very much +attached to me, and I have grown more fond of him than I would have +believed possible. I am an old man now, and I think he understands that he +is all I have. Good Hero! He knows he is a comfort to his old master!" + +At the sound of his name, uttered in a sad voice, the great dog got up and +laid his head on the Major's knee, looking wistfully into his face. + +"Of co'se you oughtn't to give him back!" cried the Little Colonel. "If he +were mine, I wouldn't give him up for the president, or the emperor, or +the czar, or _anybody!_" + +"But for the soldiers, the poor wounded soldiers!" suggested the Major. + +Lloyd hesitated, looking from the dog to the empty sleeve above it. +"Well," she declared, at last, "I wouldn't give him up while the country +is at peace. I'd wait till the last minute, until there was goin' to be an +awful battle, and then I'd make them promise to let me have him again when +the wah was ovah. Just the minute it was ovah. It would be like givin' +away part of your family to give away Hero." + +Suddenly the Major spoke to the dog in French, a quick, sharp sentence +that Lloyd could not understand. But Hero, without an instant's +hesitation, bounded from the courtyard, where they sat, into the hall of +the hotel. Through the glass doors she could see him leaping up the +stairs, and, almost before the Major could explain that he had sent him +for the shoulder-bags he wore in service, the dog was back with them +grasped firmly in his mouth. + +"Now the flask," said the Major. While the dog obeyed the second order, he +opened the bags for Lloyd to examine them. They were marked with a red +cross in a square of white, and contained rolls of bandages, from which +any man, able to use his arms, could help himself until his rescuer +brought further aid. + +The flask which Hero brought was marked in the same way, and the Major +buckled it to his collar, saying, as he fastened first that and then the +shoulder-bags in place, "When a dog is in training, soldiers, pretending +to be dead or wounded, are hidden in the woods or ravines and he is taught +to find a fallen body, and to bark loudly. If the soldier is in some place +too remote for his voice to bring aid the dog seizes a cap, a +handkerchief, or a belt,--any article of the man's clothing which he can +pick up,--and dashes back to the nearest ambulance." + +"What a lovely game that would make!" exclaimed Lloyd. "Do you suppose +that I could train the two Bobs to do that? We often play soldiah at +Locust. Now, what is it you say to Hero when you want him to hunt the men? +Let me see if he'll mind me." + +The Major repeated the command. + +"But I can't speak French," she said in dismay. "What is it in English?" + +"Hero can't understand anything in English," said the Major, laughing at +the perplexed expression that crept into the Little Colonel's face. + +"How funny!" she exclaimed. "I nevah thought of that befo'. I supposed of +co'se that all animals were English. Anyway, Hero comes when I call him, +and wags his tail when I speak, just as if he undahstands every word." + +"It is the kindness in your voice he understands, and the smile in your +eyes, the affection in your caress. That language is the same the world +over, to men and animals alike. But he never would start out to hunt the +wounded soldiers unless you gave this command. Let me hear if you can say +it after me." + +Lloyd tripped over some of the rough sounds as she repeated the sentence, +but tried it again and again until the Major cried "Bravo! You shall have +more lessons in French, dear child, until you can give the command so well +that Hero shall obey you as he does me." + +Then he began talking of Christine, her fair hair, her blue eyes, her +playful ways; and Lloyd, listening, drew him on with many questions, till +the little French maiden seemed to stand pictured before her, her hands +filled with the lovely spring flowers of the motherland. + +Suddenly the Major arose, bowing courteously, for Mrs. Sherman, seeing +them from the doorway, had smiled and started toward them. Springing up, +Lloyd ran to meet her. + +"Mothah," she whispered, "please ask the Majah to sit at ou' table +to-night at dinnah. He's such a deah old man, and tells such interestin' +things, and he's lonesome. The tears came into his eyes when he talked +about his little daughtah. She was just my age when she died, mothah, and +he thinks she looked like me." + +The Major's courtly manner and kind face had already aroused Mrs. +Sherman's interest. His empty sleeve reminded her of her father. His +loneliness appealed to her sympathy, and his kindness to her little +daughter had won her deepest appreciation. She turned with a cordial smile +to repeat Lloyd's invitation, which was gladly accepted. + +That was the beginning of a warm friendship. From that time he was +included in their plans. Now, in nearly all their excursions and drives, +there were four in the party instead of three, and five, very often. +Whenever it was possible, Hero was with them. He and the Little Colonel +often went out together alone. It grew to be a familiar sight in the town, +the graceful fair-haired child and the big tawny St. Bernard, walking side +by side along the quay. She was not afraid to venture anywhere with such a +guard. As for Hero, he followed her as gladly as he did his master. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RED CROSS OF GENEVA + + +A week after the runaway the handsomest collar that could be bought in +town was fastened around Hero's neck. It had taken a long time to get it, +for Mr. Sherman went to many shops before he found material that he +considered good enough for the rescuer of his little daughter. Then the +jeweller had to keep it several days while he engraved an inscription on +the gold name-plate--an inscription that all who read might know what +happened on a certain July day in the old Swiss town of Geneva. On the +under side of the collar was a stout link like the one on his old one, to +which the flask could be fastened when he was harnessed for service, and +on the upper side, finely wrought in enamel, was a red cross on a white +square. + +"Papa Jack!" exclaimed Lloyd, examining it with interest, "that is the +same design that is on his blanket and shouldah-bags. Why, it's just like +the Swiss flag!" she cried, looking out at the banner floating from the +pier. "Only the colours are turned around. The flag has a white cross on a +red ground, and this is a red cross on a white ground. Why did you have it +put on the collah, Papa Jack?" + +"Because he is a Red Cross dog," answered her father. + +"No, Papa Jack. Excuse me for contradictin', but the Majah said he was a +St. Bernard dog." + +Mr. Sherman laughed, but before he could explain he was called to the +office to answer a telegram. When he returned Lloyd had disappeared to +find the Major, and ask about the symbol on the collar. She found him in +his favourite seat near the fountain, in the shady courtyard. Perching on +a bench near by with Hero for a foot-stool, she asked, "Majah, is Hero a +St. Bernard or a Red Cross dog?" + +"He is both," answered the Major, smiling at her puzzled expression. "He +is the first because he belongs to that family of dogs, and he is the +second because he was adopted by the Red Cross Association, and trained +for its service. You know what that is, of course." + +Still Lloyd looked puzzled. She shook her head. "No, I nevah heard of it. +Is it something Swiss or French?" + +"Never heard of it!" repeated the Major. He spoke in such a surprised +tone that his voice sounded gruff and loud, and Lloyd almost jumped. The +harshness was so unexpected. + +"Think again, child," he said, sternly. "Surely you have been told, at +least, of your brave countrywoman who is at the head of the organisation +in America, who nursed not only the wounded of your own land, but followed +the Red Cross of mercy on many foreign battle-fields!" + +"Oh, a hospital nurse!" said Lloyd, wrinkling her forehead and trying to +think. "Miss Alcott was one. Everybody knows about her, and her 'Hospital +Sketches' are lovely." + +"No! no!" exclaimed the Major, impatiently. Lloyd, feeling from his tone +that ignorance on this subject was something he could not excuse, tried +again. + +"I've heard of Florence Nightingale. In one of my books at home, a +_Chatterbox_, I think, there is a picture of her going through a hospital +ward. Mothah told me how good she was to the soldiahs, and how they loved +her. They even kissed her shadow on the wall as she passed. They were so +grateful." + +"Ah, yes," murmured the old man. "Florence Nightingale will live long in +song and story. An angel of mercy she was, through all the horrors of the +Crimean War; but she was an English woman, my dear. The one I mean is an +American, and her name ought to go down in history with the bravest of its +patriots and the most honoured of its benefactors. I learned to know her +first in that long siege at Strasburg. She nursed me there, and I have +followed her career with grateful interest ever since, noting with +admiration all that she has done for her country and humanity the world +over. + +"If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, dear child +(I say it with uncovered head), that one should be the name of _Clara +Barton_." + +The old soldier lifted his hat as he spoke, and replaced it so solemnly +that Lloyd felt very uncomfortable, as if she were in some way to blame +for not knowing and admiring this Red Cross nurse of whom she had never +heard. Her face flushed, and much embarrassed, she drew the toe of her +slipper along Hero's back, answering, in an abused tone: + +"But, Majah, how could I be expected to know anything about her? There is +nothing in ou' school-books, and nobody told me, and Papa Jack won't let +me read the newspapahs, they're so full of horrible murdahs and things. So +how could I evah find out? I couldn't learn _everything_ in twelve yeahs, +and that's all the longah I've lived." + +The Major laughed. "Forgive me, little one!" he cried, seeing the distress +and embarrassment in her face. "A thousand pardons! The fault is not +yours, but your country's, that it has not taught its children to honour +its benefactor as she deserves. I am glad that it has been given to me to +tell you the story of one of the most beautiful things that ever happened +in Switzerland--the founding of the Red Cross. You will remember it with +greater interest, I am sure, because, while I talk, the cross of the Swiss +flag floats over us, and it was here in this old town of Geneva the +merciful work had its beginning." + +Lloyd settled herself to listen, still stroking Hero's back with her +slipper toe. + +"He was my friend, Henri Durant, and in the old days of chivalry they +would have made him knight for the noble thought that sprang to flower in +his heart and to fruitage in so worthy a deed. He was travelling in Italy +years ago, and happening to be near the place where the battle of +Solferino was fought, he was so touched by the sufferings of the wounded +that he stopped to help care for them in the hospitals. The sights he saw +there were horrible. The wounded men could not be cared for properly. +They died by the hundreds, because there were not enough nurses and +surgeons and food. + +"It moved him to write a book which was translated into several languages. +People of many countries became interested and were aroused to a desire to +do something to relieve the deadly consequences of war. Then he called a +meeting of all the nations of Europe. That was over thirty years ago. +Sixteen of the great powers sent men to represent them. They met here in +Geneva and signed a treaty. One by one other countries followed their +example, until now forty governments are pledged to keep the promises of +the Red Cross. + +"They chose that as their flag in compliment to Switzerland, where the +movement was started. You see they are the same except that the colours +are reversed. + +"Now, according to that treaty, wherever the Red Cross goes, on sea or on +land, it means peace and safety for the wounded soldiers. In the midst of +the bloodiest battle, no matter who is hurt, Turk or Russian, Japanese or +Spaniard, Armenian or Arab, he is bound to be protected and cared for. No +nurse, surgeon, or ambulance bearing that Red Cross can be fired upon. +They are allowed to pass wherever they are needed. + +"Before the nations joined in that treaty, the worst horror of war was the +fate of a wounded soldier, falling into the hands of the enemy. Better a +thousand times to be killed in battle, than to be taken prisoner. Think of +being left, bleeding and faint, on an enemy's field till your clothes +_froze to the ground_, and no one merciful enough to give you a crust of +bread or a drop of water. Think of the dying piled with the dead and left +to the pitiless rays of a scorching, tropic sun. That can never happen +again, thank Heaven! + +"In time of peace, money and supplies are gathered and stored by each +country, ready for use at the first signal of war. To show her approval, +the empress became the head of the branch in Germany. Soon after the +Franco-Prussian war began, and then her only daughter, the Grand Duchess +Louise of Baden, turned all her beautiful castles into military hospitals, +and went herself to superintend the work of relief. + +"Your country did not join with us at first. You were having a terrible +war at home; the one in which your grandfather fought. All this time Clara +Barton was with the soldiers on their bloodiest battle-fields. When you +go home, ask your grandfather about the battles of Bull Run and Antietam, +Fredericksburg and the Wilderness. She was there. She stood the strain of +nursing in sixteen such awful places, going from cot to cot among the +thousands of wounded, comforting the dying, and dragging many a man back +from the very grave by her untiring, unselfish devotion. + +"When the war was over, she spent four years searching for the soldiers +reported missing. Hundreds and hundreds of pitiful letters came to her, +giving name, regiment, and company of some son or husband or brother, who +had marched away to the wars and never returned. These names could not be +found among the lists of the killed. They were simply reported as +'missing'; whether dead or a deserter, no one could tell. She had spent +weeks at Andersonville the summer after the war, identifying and marking +the graves there. She marked over twelve thousand. So when these letters +came imploring her aid, she began the search, visiting the old prisons, +and trenches and hospitals, until she removed from twenty thousand names +the possible suspicion that the men who bore them had been deserters. + +"No wonder that she came to Europe completely broken down in health, so +exhausted by her long, severe labours that her physicians told her she +must rest several years. But hardly was she settled here in Switzerland +when the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and the Red Cross sought her aid, +knowing how valuable her long experience in nursing would be to them. She +could not refuse their appeals, and once more started in the wake of +powder smoke, and cannon's roar. + +"But I'll not start on that chapter of her life, for, if I did, I would +not know where to stop. It was there I met her, there she nursed me back +to life; then I learned to appreciate her devotion to the cause of +humankind. This second long siege against suffering made her an invalid +for many years. + +"The other nations wondered why America refused to join them in their +humane work. All other civilised countries were willing to lend a hand. +But Clara Barton knew that it was because the people were ignorant of its +real purpose that they did not join the alliance, and she promised that +she would devote the remainder of her life, if need be, to showing America +that as long as she refused to sign that treaty, she was standing on a +level with barbarous and heathen countries. + +"For years she was too ill to push the work she had set for herself. When +her strength at last returned, she had to learn to walk. At last, however, +she succeeded. America signed the treaty. Then, through her efforts, the +American National Red Cross was organised. She was made president of it. +While no war, until lately, has called for its services, the Red Cross has +found plenty to do in times of great national calamities. You have had +terrible fires and floods, cyclones, and scourges of yellow fever. Then +too, it has taken relief to Turkey and lately has found work in Cuba. + +"I know that you would like to look into Miss Barton's jewel-box. Old +Emperor William himself gave her the Iron Cross of Prussia. The Grand Duke +and Duchess of Baden sent her the Gold Cross of Remembrance. Medals and +decorations from many sovereigns are there--the Queen of Servia, the +Sultan of Turkey, the Prince of Armenia. Never has any American woman been +so loved and honoured abroad, and never has an American woman been more +worthy of respect at home. It must be a great joy to her now, as she sits +in the evening of life, to count her jewels of remembrance, and feel that +she has done so much to win the gratitude of her fellow creatures. + +"You came to visit Switzerland because it is the home of many heroes; but +let me tell you, my child, this little republic has more to show the world +than its William Tell chapels and its Lion of Lucerne. As long as the old +town of Geneva stands, the world will not forget that here was given a +universal banner of peace, and here was signed its greatest treaty--the +treaty of the Red Cross." + +As the Major stopped, the Little Colonel looked up at the white cross +floating above the pier, and then down at the red one on Hero's collar, +and drew a long breath. + +"I wish I could do something like that!" she exclaimed, earnestly. "I used +to wish that I could go out like Joan of Arc to do some great thing that +would make people write books about me, and carve me on statues, and paint +pictures and sing songs in my honah, but I believe that now I'd rathah do +something bettah than ride off to battle on a prancin' white chargah. +Thank you, Majah, for tellin' me the story. I'm goin' for a walk now. May +I take Hero?" + +A few minutes later the two were wandering along beside the water +together, the Little Colonel dreaming day-dreams of valiant deeds that she +might do some day, so that kings would send _her_ a Gold Cross of +Remembrance, and men would say with uncovered heads, as the old Major had +done, "If America ever writes a woman's name in her temple of fame, that +one should be the name of Lloyd Sherman--_The Little Colonel_!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE WONDER-BALL'S BEST GIFT + + +As the time drew near for them to move northward, Lloyd began counting the +hours still left to her to spend with her new-found friends. + +"Only two moah days, mothah," she sighed "Only two moah times to go +walking with Hero. It seems to me that I _can't_ say good-bye and go away, +and nevah see him again as long as I live!" + +"He is going with us part of the way," answered Mrs. Sherman. "The Major +told us last night that he had decided to visit his niece who lives at +Zuerich. We will stop first for a few days at a little town called Zug, +beside a lake of the same name. There is a William Tell chapel near there +that the Major wants to show us, and he will go up the Rigi with us. I +think he dreads parting with you fully as much as you do from Hero. His +eyes follow every movement you make. So many times in speaking of you he +has called you Christine." + +"I know," answered Lloyd, thoughtfully. "He seems to mix me up with her +in his thoughts, all the time. He is so old I suppose he is absent-minded. +When I'm as old as he is, I won't want to travel around as he does. I'll +want to settle down in some comfortable place and stay there." + +"From what he said last night, I judge that this is the last time he +expects to visit that part of Switzerland. When he was a little boy he +used to visit his grandmother, who lived near Zug. The chalet where she +lived is still standing, and he wants to see it once more, he said, before +he dies." + +"He must know lots of stories about the place," said Lloyd. + +"He does. He has tramped all over the mountain back of the town after wild +strawberries, followed the peasants to the mowing, and gone to many a fete +in the village. We are fortunate to have such an interesting guide." + +"I wish that Betty could be with us to hear all the stories he tells us," +said Lloyd, beginning to look forward to the journey with more pleasure, +now that she knew there was a prospect of being entertained by the Major. +Usually she grew tired of the confinement in the little railway carriages +where there were no aisles to walk up and down in, and fidgeted and yawned +and asked the time of day at every station. + +During the first part of the journey toward Zug, the Major had little to +say. He leaned wearily back in his seat with his eyes closed much of the +time. But as they began passing places that were connected with +interesting scenes of his childhood, he roused himself, and pointed them +out with as much enjoyment as if he were a schoolboy, coming home on his +first vacation. + +"See those queer little towers still left standing on the remnants of the +old town wall," he said as they approached Zug. "The lake front rests on a +soft, shifting substratum of sand, and there is danger, when the water is +unusually low, that it may not be able to support the weight of the houses +built upon it. One day, over four hundred years ago, part of the wall and +some of the towers sank down into the lake with twenty-six houses. + +"I have heard my grandmother tell of it, many a time, as she heard the +tale from her grandmother. Many lives were lost that day, and there was a +great panic. Later in the day, some one saw a cradle floating out in the +lake, and when it was drawn in, there lay a baby, cooing and kicking up +his heels as happily as if cradle-rides on the water were common +occurrences. He was the little son of the town clerk, and grew up to be +one of my ancestors. Grandmother was very fond of telling that tale, how +the baby smiled on his rescuers, and what a fine, pleasant man he grew up +to be, beloved by the whole village. + +"It has not been much over a dozen years since another piece of the town +sank down into the water. A long stretch of lake front with houses and +gardens and barns was sucked under." + +"How dreadful!" exclaimed Lloyd, with a shiver. "Let us go somewhere else, +Papa Jack," she begged. "I don't want to sleep in a place where the bottom +may drop out any minute." + +Her father laughed at her fears, and the Major assured her that they would +not take her to a hotel near the water's edge. + +"We are going to the other side of the town, to an inn that stands close +against the mountainside. The inn-keeper is an old friend of mine, who has +lived here all his life." + +In spite of all they said to quiet her fears, the Little Colonel was far +from feeling comfortable, and took small pleasure at first in going to see +the sights of the quaint little town. She was glad when they pushed away +from the pier next morning, in the steamboat that was to take them across +the lake to the William Tell chapel. She dreaded to return, but a handful +of letters from Lloydsboro Valley, and one apiece from Betty and Eugenia +that she found awaiting her at the inn, made her forget the shifting sands +below her. She read and re-read some of them, answered several, and then +began to look for the Major and Hero. They were nowhere to be found. + +They went away directly after lunch, her father told her, to the chalet on +the mountain back of the town. "You will have to be content with my humble +society," he added. "You can't expect to be always escorted by titled +soldiers and heroes." + +"Now you're teasin'," said Lloyd, with a playful pout. "But I do wish that +the Majah had left Hero. There are so few times left for us to go walkin' +togethah." + +"I'm afraid that you look oftener at that dog than you do at the scenery +and the foreign sights that you came over here to see," said her father, +with a smile. "You can see dogs in Lloydsboro Valley any day." + +"But none like Hero," cried the Little Colonel, loyally. "And I _am_ +noticin' the sights, Papa Jack. I think there was nevah anything moah +beautiful than these mountains, and I just love it heah when it is so +sunny and still. Listen to the goat-bells tinklin' away up yondah where +that haymakah is climbing with a pack of hay tied on his shouldahs! And +how deep and sweet the church-bell sounds down heah in the valley as it +tolls across the watah! The lake looks as blue as the sapphires in +mothah's necklace. The pictuah it makes for me is one of the loveliest +things that my wondah-ball has unrolled. Nobody could have a bettah +birthday present than this trip has been. The only thing about it that has +made me unhappy for a minute is that I must leave Hero and nevah see him +again. He follows me just as well now as he does his mastah." + +The Major came back from his long climb up the mountain, very tired. "It +is more than I should have undertaken the first day," he said, "but back +here in the scenes of my boyhood I find it hard to realise that I am an +old, old man. I'll be rested in the morning, however, ready for whatever +comes." + +But in the morning he was still much exhausted, and came down-stairs +leaning heavily on his cane. He asked to be excused from going up on the +Rigi with them. He said that he would stay at home and sit in the sun and +rest. They offered to postpone the trip, but he insisted on their going +without him. They must be moving on to Zuerich, soon, he reminded them, and +they might not have another day of such perfect weather, for the +excursion. + +Hero stood looking from the Major in his chair, to the Little Colonel, +standing with her hat and jacket on, ready to start. He could not +understand why he and his master should be left behind, and walked from +one to the other, wagging his tail and looking up questioningly into their +faces. + +"Go, if you wish," said the Major, kindly patting his head. "Go and take +good care of thy little Christine. Let no harm befall her this day!" The +dog bounded away as if glad of the permission, but at the door turned +back, and seeing that the Major was not following, picked up his hat in +his mouth. Then, carrying it back to the Major, stood looking up into his +master's face, wagging his tail. + +The Major took the hat and laid it on the table beside him. "No, not +to-day, good friend," he said, smiling at the dog's evident wish to have +him go also. "You may go without me, this time. Call him, Christine, if +you wish his company." + +"Come Hero, come on," called Lloyd. "It's all right." + +The Major waved his hand toward her, saying, "Go, Hero. Guard her well and +bring her back safely. The dear little Christine!" The name was uttered +almost in a whisper. + +With a quick, short bark, Hero started after the Little Colonel, staying +so closely by her side that they entered the train together before the +guard could protest. If he could have resisted the appealing look in the +Little Colonel's eyes as she threw an arm protectingly around Hero's neck, +he could not find it in his heart to refuse the silver that Papa Jack +slipped into his hand; so for once the two comrades travelled side by +side. Hero sat next the window, and looked out anxiously, as the little +mountain engine toiled up the steep ascent, nearer and nearer to the top. + +It was noon when they reached the hotel on the summit where they stopped +for lunch. + +"How solemn it makes you feel to be up so high above all the world!" said +Lloyd, in an awed tone, as they walked around that afternoon, and took +turns looking through the great telescope, at the valley spread out like a +map below them. + +"How tiny the lake looks, and the town is like a toy village! I thought +that the top of a mountain went up to a fine point like a church steeple, +and that there wouldn't be a place to stand on when you got there. Seems +that way when you look up at it from the valley. It doesn't seem possible +that it is big enough to have hotels built on it and lots and lots of room +left ovah. When the Majah said to Hero, in such a solemn way, 'Take good +care of thy little Christine, let no harm befall her this day,' I thought +maybe he wanted Hero to hold my dress in his teeth, so that I couldn't +fall off." + +Mrs. Sherman laughed and Mr. Sherman said, "Do you know that you are +actually up above the clouds? What seems to be mist, rolling over the +valley down there like a dense fog, is really cloud. In a short time we +shall not be able to see through it." + +"Oh, oh!" cried the Little Colonel, in astonishment. "Really, Papa Jack? I +always thought that if I could get up into the clouds I could reach out +and touch the moon and the stars. Of co'se I know bettah now, but I should +think I'd be neah enough to see them." + +"No," answered her father, "that is one of the sad facts of life. No +matter how loudly we may cry for the moon, it is hung too high for us to +reach, and the 'forget-me-nots of the angels,' as Longfellow calls the +stars, are not for hands like ours to pick. But in a very little while I +think that we shall see the lightning below us. Those clouds down there +are full of rain. They may rise high enough to give us a wetting, so it +would be wise for us to hurry back to the hotel." + +"It is the strangest thing that evah happened to me in all my life!" said +Lloyd a few minutes later, as they sat on the hotel piazza, watching the +storm below them. Overhead the summer sun was shining brightly, but just +below the heavy storm clouds rolled, veiling all the valley from sight. +They could see the forked tongues of lightning darting back and forth far +below them, and hear the heavy rumble of thunder. + +"It seems so wondahful to think that we are safe up above the storm. Look! +There is a rainbow! And there is anothah and anothah! Oh, it is so +beautiful, I'm glad it rained!" + +The storm, that had lasted for nearly an hour, gradually cleared away till +the valley lay spread out before them once more, in the sunshine, green +and dripping from the summer shower. + +"Well," said the Little Colonel, as they started homeward, "aftah this +I'll remembah that no mattah how hard it rains the sun is always shining +somewhere. It nevah hides itself from us. It is the valley that gets +behind the clouds, just as if it was puttin' a handkerchief ovah its face +when it wanted to cry. It's a comfort to know that the sun keeps shining, +on right on, unchanged." + +It was nearly dark when they reached the little inn again in Zug. The +narrow streets were wet, and the eaves of the houses still dripping. The +landlord came out to meet them with an anxious face. "Your friend, the old +Major," he said, in his broken English, "he have not yet return. I fear +the storm for him was bad." + +"Where did he go?" inquired Mr. Sherman. "I did not know that he intended +leaving the hotel at all to-day. He did not seem well." + +"Early after lunch," was the answer. "He say he will up the mountain go, +behind the town. He say that now he vair old man, maybe not again will he +come this way, and one more time already before he die, he long to gather +for himself the Alpine rosen." + +"Have you had a hard storm here?" asked Mrs. Sherman. + +The landlord shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands. + +"The vair worst, madame. Many trees blow down. The lightning he strike a +house next to the church of St. Oswald, and a goatherd coming down just +now from the mountain say that the paths are heaped with fallen limbs, and +slippery with mud. That is why for I fear the Major have one accident +met." + +"Maybe he has stopped at some peasant's hut for shelter," suggested Mr. +Sherman, seeing the distress in Lloyd's face. "He knows the region around +here thoroughly. However, if he is not here by the time we are through +dinner, we'll organise a searching party." + +"Hero knows that something is wrong," said the Little Colonel, as they +went into the dining-room a few minutes later. "See how uneasy he seems, +walking from room to room. He is trying to find his mastah." + +The longer they discussed the Major's absence the more alarmed they +became, as the time passed and he did not return. + +"You know," suggested Lloyd, "that with just one arm he couldn't help +himself much if he should fall. Maybe he has slipped down some of those +muddy ravines that the goatherd told about. Besides, he was so weak and +tiahed this mawnin.'" + +Presently her face brightened with a sudden thought. + +"Oh, Papa Jack! Let's send Hero. I know where the Majah keeps his things, +the flask and the bags, and the dog will know, as soon as they are +fastened on him, that he must start on a hunt. And I believe I can say the +words in French so that he'll undahstand. Only yestahday the Majah had me +repeating them." + +"That's a bright idea," answered her father, who was really more anxious +than he allowed any one to see. "At least it can do no harm to try." + +"I don't want any dessert. Mayn't I go now?" Lloyd asked. As she hurried +up the stairs, her heart beating with excitement, she whispered to +herself, "Oh, if he _should_ happen to be lost or hurt, and Hero should +find him, it would be the loveliest thing that evah happened." + +Hero seemed to know, from the moment he saw the little flask marked with +the well-known Red Cross, what was expected of him. All the guests in the +inn gathered around the door to see him start on his uncertain quest. He +sniffed excitedly at his master's slipper, which Lloyd held out to him. +Then, as she motioned toward the mountain, and gave the command in French +that the Major had taught her, he bounded out into the gloaming, with +several quick short barks, and darted up the narrow street that led to the +mountain road. + +Maybe if he had not been with his master that way, the day before, he +might not have known what path to take. The heavy rain had washed away all +trails, so he could not trace him by the sense of smell; but remembering +the path which they had travelled together the previous day, he +instinctively started up that. + +The group in the doorway of the inn watched him as long as they could see +the white line of his silvery ruff gleam through the dusk, and then, going +back to the parlour, sat down to wait for his return. To most of them it +was a matter of only passing interest. They were curious to know how much +the dog's training would benefit his master, under the circumstances, if +he should be lost. But to the Little Colonel it seemed a matter of life +and death. She walked nervously up and down the hall with her hands behind +her, watching the clock and running to the door to peer out in the +darkness, every time she heard a sound. + +Some one played a noisy two-step on the loose-jointed old piano. A young +man sang a serenade in Italian, and two girls, after much coaxing, +consented to join in a high, shrill duet. + +Light-hearted laughter and a babel of conversation floated from the +parlour to the hall, where Lloyd watched and waited. Her father waited +with her, but he had a newspaper. Lloyd wondered how he could read while +such an important search was going on. She did not know that he had little +faith in the dog's ability to find his master. She, however, had not a +single doubt of it. + +The time seemed endless. Again and again the little cuckoo in the hall +clock came out to call the hour, the quarters and halves. At last there +was a patter of big soft paws on the porch, and Lloyd springing to the +door, met Hero on the threshold. Something large and gray was in his +mouth. + +"Oh, Papa Jack!" she cried. "He's found him! Hero's found him! This is the +Majah's Alpine hat. The flask is gone from his collah, so the Majah must +have needed help. And see how wild Hero is to start back. Oh, Papa Jack! +Hurry, please!" + +Her call brought every one from the parlour to see the dog, who was +springing back and forth with eager barks that asked, as plainly as words, +for some one to follow him. + +"Oh, let me go with you! _Please_, Papa Jack," begged Lloyd. + +He shook his head decidedly. "No, it is too late and dark, and no telling +how far we shall have to climb. You have already done your part, my dear, +in sending the dog. If the Major is really in need of help, he will have +you to thank for his rescue." + +The landlord called for lanterns. Several of the guests seized their hats +and alpenstocks, and in a few minutes the little relief party was hurrying +along the street after their trusty guide, with Mr. Sherman in the lead. +He had caught up a hammock as he started. "We may need some kind of a +stretcher," he said, slinging it over his shoulder. + +They trudged on in silence, wondering what they would find at the end of +their journey. The mountain path was strewn with limbs broken off by the +storm. Although the moon came up presently and added its faint light to +the yellow rays of the lanterns, they had to pick their steps slowly, +often stumbling. + +Hero, bounding on ahead, paused to look back now and then, with impatient +barks. They had climbed more than an hour, when he suddenly shot ahead +into the darkest part of the woods and gave voice so loudly that they knew +that they had reached the end of their search, and pushed forward +anxiously. + +The moonlight could not reach this spot among the trees, so densely +shaded, but the lanterns showed them the old man a short distance from the +path. He was pinned to the wet earth by a limb that had fallen partly +across him. Fortunately, the storm had been unable to twist it entirely +from the tree. Only the outer end of the limb had struck him, but the +tangle of leafy boughs above him was too thick to creep through. His +clothes were drenched, and on the ground beside him, beaten flat by the +storm, lay the bunch of Alpine roses he had climbed so far to find. + +He was conscious when the men reached him. The brandy in the flask had +revived him and as they drew him out from under the branches and stretched +the hammock over some poles for a litter, he told them what had happened. +He had been some distance farther up the mountain, and had stopped at a +peasant's hut for some goat's milk. He rested there a long time, never +noticing in the dense shade of the woods that a storm was gathering. + +It came upon him suddenly. His head was hurt, and his back. He could not +tell how badly. He had lain so long on the wet ground that he was numb +with cold, but thought he would be better when he was once more resting +warm and dry at the inn. + +He stretched out his hand to Hero and feebly patted him, a faint smile +crossing his face. "Thou best of friends," he whispered. "Thou--" Then he +stopped, closing his eyes with a groan. They were lifting him on the +stretcher, and the pain caused by the movement made him faint. + +It was a slow journey down the slippery mountain path. The men who carried +him had to pick their steps carefully. At the inn the little cuckoo came +out of the clock in the hall and called eleven, half past, and midnight, +before the even tramp, tramp of approaching feet made the Little Colonel +run to the door for the last time. + +"They're comin', mothah," she whispered, with a frightened face, and then +ran back to hide her eyes while the men passed up the steps with their +unconscious burden. She thought the Major was dead, he lay so white and +still. But he had only fainted again on the way, and soon revived enough +to answer the doctor's questions, and send word to the Little Colonel that +she and Hero had saved his life. "Do you heah that?" she asked of Hero, +when they told her what he had said. "The doctah said that if the Majah +had lain out on that cold, wet ground till mawnin', without any attention, +it surely would have killed him. I'm proud of you, Hero. I'm goin' to get +Papa Jack to write a piece about you and send it to the _Courier-Journal_. +How would you like to have yo' name come out in a big American newspapah?" + +Several lonely days followed for the Little Colonel. Either her father or +mother was constantly with the Major, and sometimes both. They were +waiting for his niece to come from Zuerich and take him back with her to a +hospital where he could have better care than in the little inn in Zug. + +It greatly worried the old man that he should be the cause of disarranging +their plans and delaying their journey. He urged them to go on and leave +him, but they would not consent. Sometimes the Little Colonel slipped into +the room with a bunch of Alpine roses or a cluster of edelweiss that she +had bought from some peasant. Sometimes she sat beside him for a few +minutes, but most of her time was spent with Hero, wandering up and down +beside the lake, feeding the swans or watching the little steamboats come +and go. She had forgotten her fear of the bottom dropping out of the town. + +One evening, just at sunset, the Major sent for her. "I go to Zuerich in +the morning," he said, holding out his hand as she came into the room. "I +wanted to say good-bye while I have the time and strength. We expect to +leave very early to-morrow, probably before you are awake." + +His couch was drawn up by the window, through which the shimmering lake +shone in the sunset like rosy mother-of-pearl. Far up the mountain sounded +the faint tinkling of goat-bells, and the clear, sweet yodelling of a +peasant, on his homeward way. At intervals, the deep tolling of the bell +of St. Oswald floated out across the water. + +"When the snow falls," he said, after a long pause, "I shall be far away +from here. They tell me that at the hospital where I am going, I shall +find a cure. But I know." He pointed to an hour-glass on the table beside +him. "See! the sand has nearly run its course. The hour will soon be done. +It is so with me. I have felt it for a long time." + +Lloyd looked up, startled. He went on slowly. + +"I cannot take Hero with me to the hospital, so I shall leave him behind +with some one who will care for him and love him, perhaps even better than +I have done." He held out his hand to the dog. + +"Come, Hero, my dear old comrade, come bid thy master farewell." Fumbling +under his pillow as he spoke, he took out a small leather case, and, +opening it, held up a medal. It was the medal that had been given him for +bravery on the field of battle. + +"It is my one treasure!" murmured the old soldier, turning it fondly, as +it lay in his palm. "I have no family to whom I can leave it as an +heirloom, but thou hast twice earned the right to wear it. I have no fear +but that thou wilt always be true to the Red Cross and thy name of Hero, +so thou shalt wear thy country's medal to thy grave." + +He fastened the medal to Hero's collar, then, with the dog's great head +pressed fondly against him, he began talking to him softly and gently in +French. Lloyd could not understand, but the sight of the gray-haired old +soldier taking his last leave of his faithful friend brought the tears to +her eyes. + +She tried to describe the scene to her mother, afterward. + +"Oh, it was so pitiful!" she exclaimed. "It neahly broke my heart. Then he +called me to him and said that because I was like his little Christine, he +knew that I would be good to Hero, and he asked me to take him back to +America with me. I promised that I would. Then he put Hero's paw in my +hand, and said, 'Hero, I give thee to thy little mistress. Protect and +guard her always, as she will love and care for thee.' It was awfully +solemn, almost like some kind of blessing. + +"Then he lay back on the pillows as if he was too tiahed to say anothah +word. I tried to thank him, but I was so surprised and glad that Hero was +mine, and yet so sorry to say good-bye to the Majah, that the right words +wouldn't come. I just began to cry again. But I am suah the Majah +undahstood. He patted my hand and smoothed my hair and said things in +French that sounded as if he was tryin' to comfort me. Aftah awhile I +remembahed that we had been there a long time, and ought to go, so I +kissed him good-bye, and Hero and I went out, leavin' the doah open as he +told us. He watched us all the way down the hall. When I turned at the +stairway to look back, he was still watchin'. He smiled and waved his +hand, but the way he smiled made me feel worse than evah, it was so sad." + +Mr. Sherman went with the Major next morning, when he was taken to Zuerich. +Lloyd was asleep when they left the inn, so the last remembrance she had +of the Major was the way he looked as he lay on his couch in the sunset, +smiling, and waving his hand to her. When Christmastide came, it was as he +said. He was with his little Christine. + +"I can hardly keep from crying whenever I think of him," Lloyd wrote to +Betty. "It was so pitiful, his giving up everything in the world that he +cared for, and going off to the hospital to wait there alone for his +hour-glass to run out. Hero seems to miss him, but I think he understands +that he belongs to me now. I can scarcely believe that he is really mine, +and that I may take him back to America with me. He is the best thing that +the wonder-ball has given me, or ever can give me. + +"To-morrow we start to Lucerne to see the Lion in the rocks, and from +there we go to Paris. Only a little while now, and we shall all be +together. I can hardly wait for you to see my lovely St. Bernard with his +Red Cross of Geneva, and the medal that he has earned the right to wear." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN TOURS + + +A dozen times between Paris and Tours the Little Colonel turned from the +car window to smile at her mother, and say with a wriggle of impatience, +"Oh, I can't _wait_ to get there! Won't Betty and Eugenia be surprised to +see us two whole days earlier than they expected!" + +"But you mustn't count too much on seeing them at the hotel the minute we +arrive," her mother cautioned her. "You know Cousin Carl wrote that they +were making excursions every day to the old chateaux near there, and I +think it quite probable they will be away. So don't set your heart on +seeing them before to-morrow night. Some of those trips take two days." + +Lloyd turned to the window again and tried to busy herself with the scenes +flying past: the peasant women with handkerchiefs over their heads, and +the men in blue cotton blouses and wooden shoes at work in the fields; the +lime-trees and the vineyards, the milk-carts that dogs helped to draw. It +was all as Joyce had described it to her, and she pinched herself to make +sure that she was awake, and actually in France, speeding along toward the +Gate of the Giant Scissors, and all the delightful foreign experience that +Joyce had talked about. She had dreamed many day-dreams about this +journey, but the thought that was giving her most pleasure now was not +that these dreams were at last coming true, but that in a very short time +she would be face to face with Betty and Eugenia. + +It was noon when they reached Tours, and went rattling up to the Hotel +Bordeaux in the big omnibus. At first Lloyd was disposed to find fault +with the quaint, old-fashioned hotel which Cousin Carl had chosen as their +meeting-place. It had no conveniences like the modern ones to which she +had been accustomed. There was not even an elevator in it. She looked in +dismay at the steep, spiral stairway, winding around and around in the end +of the hall, like the steps in the tower of a lighthouse. On a side table +in the hall, several long rows of candles, with snuffers, suggested the +kind of light they would have in their bedrooms. + +But everything was spotlessly clean, and the landlady and her daughter +came out to meet them with an air of giving them a welcome home, which +extended even to the dog. After their hospitable reception of Hero, Lloyd +had no more fault to find. She knew that at no modern hotel would he have +been treated so considerately and given the liberty of the house. Since he +was not banished to the courtyard or turned over to a porter's care, she +was willing to climb a dozen spiral stairways, or grope her way through +the semi-darkness of a candle-lighted bedroom every night while they were +in France, for the sake of having Hero free to come and go as he pleased. + +"Come on!" she cried, gaily, to her mother, as a porter with a trunk on +his shoulder led the way up the spiral stairs. "It makes me think of the +old song you used to sing me about the spidah and the fly, 'The way into +my pahlah is up a winding stair.' Nobody but a circus acrobat could run up +the whole flight without getting dizzy. It's a good thing we are only +goin' to the next floah." + +She ran around several circles of steps, and then paused to look back at +her mother, who was waiting for Mr. Sherman's helping arm. "The elephant +now goes round and round when the band begins to play," quoted Lloyd, +looking down on them, her face dimpling with laughter. + +"Look out!" piped a shrill voice far above her. "I'm coming!" Lloyd gave a +hasty glance upward to the top floor, and drew back against the wall. For +down the banister, with the speed of a runaway engine, came sliding a +small bare-legged boy. Around and around the dizzy spiral he went, hugging +the railing closely, and bringing up with a tremendous bump against the +newel post at the bottom. + +"Hullo!" he said, coolly, looking up at the Little Colonel. + +"It's _Henny!_" she exclaimed, in amazement. "Henderson Sattawhite! Of all +people! How did you get heah?" + +But the boy had no time to waste in talking. He stuck his thumb in his +mouth, looked at her an instant, and then, climbing down from the +banister, started to the top of the stairs as fast as his short legs could +carry him, for another downward spin. + +Lloyd waited for her mother to come up to the step on which she stood, and +then said, with a look of concern, "Do you suppose they are all heah, +'Fido' an' all of them? And that Howl will follow me around as he did on +shipboard, beggin' for stories? It will spoil all my fun with the girls if +he does." + +"'Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you,'" said her father, +playfully pinching her cheek. "You'll find it easier to escape persecution +on land than on shipboard. Henny didn't seem at all anxious to renew his +acquaintance with you. He evidently finds sliding down bannisters more to +his taste. Maybe Howell has found something equally interesting." + +"I certainly hope so," said Lloyd, running on to their rooms at the end of +the hall. The casement window in her room looked out over a broad +bouleyard, down the middle of which went a double row of trees, shading a +strip of grass, where benches were set at intervals. + +Lloyd leaned out to look and listen. A company of soldiers was marching up +the street in the gay red and blue of their French uniforms, to the music +of a band. A group of girls from a convent school passed by. Then some +nuns. She stood there a long time, finding the panorama that passed her +window so interesting that she forgot how time was passing, until her +mother called to her that they were going down to lunch. + +"I like it heah, evah so much," she announced, as she followed her father +and mother into the dining-room. "Did you ask in the office, Papa Jack, +when the girls would be back?" + +"Yes, they have gone to Amboise. They will be home before dark. I am +sorry you missed taking that trip with them, Lloyd. It is one of the most +interesting chateaux around here in my opinion. Mary, Queen of Scots, went +there a bride. There she was forced to watch the Hugenots being thrown +over into the river. Leonardo da Vinci is buried there, and Charles VIII. +was killed there by bumping his head against a low doorway." + +"Oh, deah!" sighed the Little Colonel, "my head is all in a tangle. +There's so many spots to remembah. Every time you turn around you bump +into something you ought to remembah because some great man was bawn +there, or died there, or did something wondahful there. It would be lots +easiah for travellers in Europe if there wasn't so many monuments to smaht +people. Who must I remembah in Tours?" + +"Balzac," said her father, laughing. "The great French novelist. But that +will not be hard. There is a statue of him on one of the principal +streets, and after you have passed him every day for a week, you will +think of him as an old acquaintance. Then this is the scene of one of +Scott's novels--'Quentin Durward.' And the good St. Martin lived here. +There is a church to his memory. He is the patron saint of the place. At +the chateaux you will get into a tangle of history, for their chief +interest is their associations with the old court life." + +"Where is Hero?" asked Mrs. Sherman, suddenly changing the conversation. + +"He's in the pahlah, stretched out on a rug," answered Lloyd. "It's cool +and quiet in there with the blinds down. The landlady's daughtah said no +one went in there often, in the middle of the day, so nobody would disturb +him, and he'd not disturb anybody. He's all tiahed out, comin' so far on +the cars. May I go walkin' with him aftah awhile, mothah?" + +Mrs. Sherman looked at her husband, questioningly. "Oh, it's perfectly +safe," he answered. "She could go alone here as well as in Lloydsboro +Valley, and with Hero she could have nothing to fear." + +"I want you to rest awhile first," said Mrs. Sherman. "At four o'clock you +may go." + +Leaving Hero comfortably stretched out asleep in the parlour, Lloyd went +back to her room. She lay down for a few minutes across the bed and closed +her eyes. But she could not sleep with so many interesting sights in the +street below. Presently she tiptoed to the window, and sat looking out +until she heard her mother moving around in the next room. She knew then +that she had had her nap and was unpacking the trunks. + +"Mothah," called Lloyd, "I want to put on my prettiest white embroidered +dress and my rosebud sash, because I'll meet Cousin Carl and the girls +to-night." + +"That is just what I have unpacked for you," said her mother. "Come in and +I'll help you dress." + +Half an hour later it was a very fresh and dainty picture that smiled back +at Lloyd from the mirror of her dressing-table. She shook out her crisp +white skirts, gave the rosebud sash an admiring pat, and turned her head +for another view of the big leghorn hat with its stylish rosettes of white +chiffon. Then she started down the hall toward the spiral stairway. It was +a narrow hall with several cross passages, and at one of them she paused, +wondering if it did not lead to Eugenia's and Betty's rooms. + +To her speechless surprise, a door popped open and a cupful of water was +dashed full in her face. Spluttering and angry, she drew back in time to +avoid another cupful, which came flying through the transom above the same +door. Retreating still farther down the passage, and wiping her face as +she went, she kept her gaze on the door, walking backward in order to do +so. + +Another cupful came splashing out into the hall through the transom. A +boy, tiptoeing up to the door, dodged back so quickly that not a drop +touched him; then with a long squirt gun that he carried, he knelt before +the keyhole and sent a stream of water squirting through it. It was +Howell. + +There was a scream from the bedroom, Fidelia's voice. "Stop that, you +hateful boy! I'll tell mamma! You've nearly put my eye out." + +A muffled giggle and a scamper of feet down the hall was the only answer. +Fidelia threw open the door and looked out, a water pitcher in her hand. +She stopped in amazement at sight of the Little Colonel, who was waiting +for a chance to dodge down the hall past the dangerous door, into the main +passage. + +"For mercy sakes!" exclaimed Fidelia. "When did _you_ come?" + +"In time fo' yoah watah fight," answered the indignant Little Colonel, +shaking out her wet handkerchief. She was thoroughly provoked, for the +front of her fresh white dress was drenched, and the dainty rosebud sash +streaked with water. + +Fidelia laughed. "You don't mean to say that you caught the ducking I +meant for Howl!" she exclaimed. "Well, if that isn't a joke! It's the +funniest thing I ever heard of!" Putting the pitcher on the floor and +clasping her hands to her sides, she laughed until she had to lean against +the wall. + +"It's moah bad mannahs than a joke!" retorted Lloyd, angered more by the +laugh than she had been by the wetting. "A girl as old as you oughtn't to +go travellin' till you know how to behave yo'self in a hotel. I don't +wondah that wherevah you go people say, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!'" + +"It isn't so! They don't say it!" snapped Fidelia. "I've got just as good +manners as you have, anyhow, and I'll throw this whole pitcher of water on +you if you say another word." She caught it up threateningly. + +"You just _dare!_" cried the Little Colonel, her eyes flashing and her +cheeks flushing. Not for years had she been so angry. She wanted to scream +and pull Fidelia's hair with savage fingers. She wanted to bump her head +against the wall, again and again. But with an effort so great that it +made her tremble, she controlled herself, and stood looking steadily at +Fidelia without a word. + +"I mustn't speak," she kept saying desperately to herself. "I mustn't +speak, or my tempah will get away with me. I might claw her eyes out. I +wish I could! Oh, I _wish_ I could!" Her teeth were set tightly together, +and her hands were clenched. + +Fidelia met her angry gaze unflinchingly for an instant, and then, with a +contemptuous "pooh!" raised the pitcher and gave it a lurch forward. It +was so heavy that it turned in her hands, and instead of drenching Lloyd, +its contents deluged Fanchette, who suddenly came out of the door beside +Lloyd, with the thousand dollar poodle in her arms. + +Poor Beauty gave an injured yelp, and Fidelia drew back and slammed the +door, locking it hastily. She knew that the maid would hurry to her +mistress while he was still shivering, and that there would be an +uncomfortable account to settle by and by. + +Howell, who had crept up to watch the fuss, doubled himself with laughter. +It amused him even more than it had Fidelia that he had escaped the water, +and Lloyd had caught it in his stead. Lloyd swept past him without a word, +and ran to her mother's room so angry that she could not keep the tears +back while telling her grievance. + +"_See_ what that horrid Sattawhite girl has done!" she cried, holding out +her limp wet skirts, and streaked sash, with an expression of disgust. I +just _despise_ her!" + +"It was an accident, was it not?" asked Mrs. Sherman. + +"Oh, she didn't know she was throwing the watah on me, when she pitched it +out, but she was glad that it happened to hit me. She didn't even say +'excuse me,' let alone say that she was sorry. And she laughed and held on +to her sides, and laughed again, and said, 'oh, what a joke,' and that it +was the funniest thing that she evah saw. I think her mothah ought to know +what bad mannahs she's got. Somebody ought to tell her. I told Fidelia +what I thought of her, and I'll nevah speak to her again! So there!" + +Mrs. Sherman listened sympathetically to her tale of woe, but as she +unbuttoned the wet dress, and Lloyd still stormed on, she sighed as if to +herself, "Poor Fidelia!" + +"Why, mothah," said Lloyd, in an aggrieved tone, "I didn't s'pose that +you'd take her part against me." + +"Stop and think a minute, little daughter," said Mrs. Sherman, opening her +trunk to take out another white dress. Lloyd was working herself up into a +white heat. "Put yourself in Fidelia's place, and think how she has always +been left to the care of servants, or of a governess who neglected her. +Think how much help you have had in trying to control your temper, and how +little you have had to provoke it. Suppose you had Howell and Henderson +always tagging after you to tease and annoy you, and that I had always +been too busy with my own affairs to take any interest in you, except to +punish you when I was exasperated by the tales that you told of each +other. Wouldn't that have made a difference in your manners?" + +"Y-yes," acknowledged Lloyd, slowly. Then, after a moment's silence, she +broke out again. "I might have forgiven her if only she hadn't laughed at +me. Whenevah I think of that I want to shake her. If I live to be a +hundred yeahs old, I can nevah think of Fidelia Sattawhite, without +remembahin' the mean little way she laughed!" + +"What kind of a memory are you leaving behind you?" suggested Mrs. +Sherman, touching the little ring on Lloyd's finger that had been her +talisman since the house party. "Will it be a Road of the Loving Heart?" + +Lloyd hesitated. "No," she acknowledged, frankly. "Of co'se when I stop to +think, I do want to leave that kind of a memory for everybody. I'd hate to +think that when I died, there'd be even one person who had cause to say +ugly things about me, even Fidelia. But just now, mothah, honestly when I +remembah how she _laughed_, I feel that I must be as mean to her as she is +to me. I can't help it." + +Mrs. Sherman made no answer, but turned to her own dressing, and presently +Lloyd kissed her, and went slowly down-stairs to find Hero. He was no +longer dreaming in peace. Two restless boys cooped up in the narrow limits +of the hotel, and burning with a desire to be amused, had discovered him +through the crack of the door, and immediately pounced upon him. + +"Aw, ain't he nice!" exclaimed Henny, stroking the shaggy back with a +dirty little hand. Howl felt in his blouse, hoping to find some crumb left +of the stock of provisions stored away at lunch-time. + +"Feel there, Henny," he commanded, backing up to his little brother, and +humping his shoulders. "Ain't that a cooky slipped around to the back of +my blouse? Put your hand up and feel." + +Henny obligingly explored the back of his brother's blouse, and fished out +the last cooky, which they fed to Hero. + +"Wisht we had some more," said Howell, as the cake disappeared. "Henny, +you go up and see if you can't hook some of Beauty's biscuit." + +"Naw! I don't want to. I want to play with the dog," answered Henny, "He's +big enough to ride on. Stand up, old fellow, and let me get on your back." + +"I'll tell you a scheme," cried Howl; "you run up-stairs and get one of +mamma's shawl-straps, and we'll fix a harness for him, and make him ride +us around the room." + +"All right," agreed Henny, trotting out into the hall. At the door he met +Lloyd. When she went into the room she found Howell lying on the floor, +burrowing his head into the dog's side for a pillow. Hero did not like it, +and, shaking himself free, walked across the room and lay down in another +place. + +Howl promptly followed, and pillowed his head on him again. Hero looked +around with an appealing expression in his big, patient eyes, once more +got up, crossed the room, and lay down in a corner. Howell followed him +like a teasing mosquito. + +"Don't bothah him, Howl," said Lloyd. "Don't you see that he doesn't like +it?" + +"But he makes such a nice, soft pillow," said the boy, once more burrowing +his hard little head into Hero's ribs. + +"He might snap at you if you tease him too much. I nevah saw him do it to +any one, but nobody has evah teased him since he belonged to me." + +"Is he your dog?" asked Howl, in surprise. + +"Yes," answered Lloyd, proudly. "He saved my life one time, and his +mastah's anothah. And that medal on his collah was one that was given by +France to his mastah fo' bravery, and the Majah gave it to him because he +said that Hero had twice earned the right to wear it." + +"Tell about it," demanded Howl, scenting a story. "How did he--" His +question was stopped in the middle by Hero, who, determined to be no +longer used as a pillow, stood up and gave himself a mighty shake. Walking +over to the sofa piled with cushions, he took one in his mouth, and +carrying it back to Howl dropped it at his feet as if to say, "There! Use +that! I am no sofa pillow." That done he stretched himself out again in +the farthest corner of the room, and laid his head on his paws with a sigh +of relief. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried the Little Colonel. "Did you evah see anything so sma'ht +as that in all yo' life? It's the brightest thing I evah saw a dog do. He +thought it all out, just like a person. I wish Papa Jack could have seen +him do it. I'm goin' to treat you to something nice fo' that, Hero. Wait +till I run back up-stairs and get my purse." + +Anxious to make him do something else interesting, Howl still followed the +dog. He tickled his paws, turned his ears back and blew in them and +blindfolded him with a dirty handkerchief. + +Lloyd was gone longer than she intended, for she could not find her purse +for several minutes, and she stopped to tell her mother of Hero's +performance with the sofa pillow. When she went into the parlour again, +both boys were kneeling beside the dog. Their backs were toward the door, +Henderson had brought the shawl-strap, and they were using it for the +further discomfort of the patient old St. Bernard. + +"Here, Henny, you sit on his head," commanded Howl, "and I'll buckle his +hind feet to his fore feet, so that when he tries to walk he'll wabble +around and tip over. Won't that be funny?" + +"Stop!" demanded Lloyd. "Don't you do that, Howl Sattawhite! I've told you +enough times to stop teasing my dog." + +Howl only giggled in reply and drew the buckle tighter. There was a quick +yelp of pain, and Hero, trying to pull away found himself fast by the +foot. + +Before Howl could rise from his knees, the Little Colonel had darted +across the room, and seizing him by the shoulders, shook him till his +teeth chattered. + +"There!" she said, giving him a final shake as she pushed him away. "Don't +you evah lay a fingah on that dog again, as long as you live. If you do +you'll be sorry. I'll do something _awful_ to you!" + +For the second time that afternoon her face was white with anger. Her eyes +flashed so threateningly that Howl backed up against the wall, thoroughly +frightened. Releasing Hero from the strap, she led him out of the room, +and, with her hand laid protectingly on his collar, marched him out into +the street. + +"Those tawmentin' Sattawhites!" she grumbled, under her breath. "I wish +they were all shut up in jail, every one of them!" + +But her anger died out as she walked on in the bright sunshine, watching +the strange scenes around her with eager eyes. More than one head turned +admiringly, as the daintily dressed little girl and the great St. Bernard +passed slowly down the broad boulevard. It seemed as if all the nurses and +babies in Touraine were out for an airing on the grass where the benches +stood, between the long double rows of trees. + +Once Lloyd stopped to peep through a doorway set in a high stone wall. +Within the enclosure a group of girls, in the dark uniforms of a charity +school, walked sedately around, arm in arm, under the watchful eyes of the +attendant nuns. Then some soldiers passed on foot, and a little while +after, some more dashed by on horseback, and she remembered that Tours was +the headquarters of the Ninth Army corps, and that she might expect to +meet them often. + +Not till the tolling of the great cathedral bell reminded her that it was +time to go back to the hotel, did she think again of Howl and Kenny and +Fidelia. By that time her walk had put her into such a pleasant frame of +mind, that she could think of them without annoyance. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WITH BETTY AND EUGENIA + + +When the Little Colonel reached the hotel, the omnibus was leaving the +door to go to the railroad station, a few blocks away. Thinking that Betty +and Eugenia might be on the coming train, she went into the parlour to +wait for the return of the omnibus. She had bought a box of chocolate +creams at the cake shop on the corner to divide with Hero. + +Fidelia had wandered down to the parlour in her absence, and now seated at +the old piano was banging on its yellow keys with all her might. She +played unusually well for a girl of her age, but Lloyd had a feeling that +a public parlour was not a place to show off one's accomplishments, and +her nose went up a trifle scornfully as she entered. + +Then she caught sight of herself in the mirror over the mantel, and her +expression changed instantly. + +"For mercy sakes!" she said to herself. "I look like one of the proud and +haughty sistahs in 'Cindahella,' as if I thought the earth wasn't good +enough for me to step on. It certainly isn't becoming, and it would make +me furious if anybody looked at me in such a cool, scornful way. I know +that I feel that way inside whenevah I talk to Fidelia. I wondah if she +sees it in my face, and that's what makes her cross and scratchy, like a +cat that has had its fur rubbed the wrong way. Just for fun I believe I'll +pretend to myself for ten minutes that I love her deahly, and I'll smile +when I talk to her, just as if she were Betty, and nevah pay any attention +to her mean speeches. I'll give her this one chance. Then if she keeps on +bein' hateful, I'll nevah have anything moah to do with her again." + +So while Fidelia played on toward the end of the waltz, purposely +regardless of Lloyd's presence, Lloyd, sitting behind her, looked into the +mirror, and practised making pleasant faces for Fidelia's benefit. + +The music came to a close with a loud double bang that made Lloyd start up +from her chair with a guilty flush, fearing that she had been caught at +her peculiar occupation. Before Fidelia could say anything, Lloyd walked +over to her with the friendliest of her practised smiles, and held out the +box of chocolate creams. + +"Take some," she said. "They are the best I've had since I left Kentucky." + +"Thanks," said Fidelia, stiffly, screwing around on the piano-stool, and +helping herself to just one. But feeling the warmth of Lloyd's cordial +tone, urging her to take more, she thawed into smiling friendliness, and +took several. "They are delicious!" she exclaimed. "You got them at the +cake shop on the corner, didn't you? There are two awfully nice American +girls stopping at this hotel who took me in there one day for some. +They've been in Kentucky, too. The one named Elizabeth lives there." + +"Why, it must be Betty and Eugenia!" cried Lloyd. "The very girls we came +here to meet. Do _you_ know them?" + +"Not very well. We've only been here a few days. But I dearly love the one +you call Betty. She came into my room one night when I had the tooth-ache, +and brought a spice poultice and a hot-water bag. Mamma was at a concert, +and Fanchette was cross, and I was so miserable and lonesome I wanted to +die. But Elizabeth knew exactly what to do to stop the pain, and then she +stayed and talked to me for a long time. She told me about a house party +she went to last year, where the girls all caught the measles at a gypsy +camp, and she nearly went blind on account of it." + +"That was _my_ house pahty," exclaimed the Little Colonel, "and my mothah +is Betty's godmothah, and Betty is goin' to live at my house all next +wintah, and go to school with me." + +Fidelia swung farther around on the piano-stool, and faced Lloyd in +surprise. "And are _you_ the Little Colonel!" she cried. "From what +Elizabeth said, I thought she was pretty near an angel!" Fidelia's tone +implied more plainly than her words that she wondered how Betty could +think so. + +A cutting reply was on the tip of Lloyd's tongue, but the sight of her +face in the mirror checked it. She only said, pleasantly, "Betty is +certainly the loveliest girl in the world, and--" + +"There she is now!" interrupted Fidelia, nodding toward the door as voices +sounded in the hall and footsteps came out from the office. + +"Oh, they'll be so surprised!" said Lloyd, looking back with a radiant +face as she ran toward the door. "We came two whole days earlier than they +expected!" + +Fidelia heard the joyful greeting, the chorus of surprised exclamations as +Lloyd flew first at Betty, then at Eugenia, with a hug and a kiss, then +turned to greet her Cousin Carl. + +"Betty will never look at me again," Fidelia thought, with a throb of +jealousy, turning away from the sight of their happy meeting, and +beginning to strike soft aimless chords on the piano. "I wish I were one +of them," she whispered, with the tears springing to her eyes. "I hate to +be always on the edge of things, and never in them. We never stay in a +place long enough at a time to make any real friends or have any good +times." + +Chattering and laughing, and asking eager questions, the girls hurried up +the stairs to Mrs. Sherman's room. Almost a year had gone by since Eugenia +and Lloyd had parted on the lantern decked lawn at Locust, the last night +of the house party. The year had made little difference in Lloyd, but +Eugenia had grown so tall that the change was startling. + +"Really, you are taller than I," exclaimed Mrs. Sherman, in the midst of +an affectionate greeting, as she held her off for a better view. + +"And doesn't she look stylish and young ladyfied, with her skirts down to +her ankles," added Lloyd. "You'd nevah think that she was only fifteen, +would you?" + +"I had to have them made long," explained Eugenia, much flattered by +Lloyd's speech. It was her greatest wish to appear "grown up." "Papa says +that I am probably as tall now as I shall ever be, and really I'd look +ridiculous with my dresses any shorter." + +Mrs. Sherman noticed presently, with a smile, that Eugenia seemed to have +gained dignity with her added height. There was something amusingly +patronising in her manner toward the younger girls. She answered Lloyd +several times with an "Oh, no, child" that was almost grandmotherly in its +tone. + +"But here is somebody who has come back just as sweet and childlike as +ever," thought Mrs. Sherman, twisting one of Betty's brown curls around +her finger. Then she said aloud. "Was the trip as delightful as you +dreamed it would be, my little Tusitala?" + +"Oh, _yes_, godmother," sighed Betty, blissfully. "It was a thousand times +better! And the best of it is my eyes are as well as ever. I needn't be +afraid, now, of that 'long night' that haunted me like a bad dream." + +All during dinner Fidelia kept looking across at the merry party sitting +at the next table, and wished she could be with them. She could not help +hearing all they said, for they were only a few feet away, and there was +no one talking at the table where she sat. The boys were in the children's +dining-room with Fanchette, and her mother was spending the evening with +some friends at the new hotel across the way. + +"I'm going to make believe that I'm one of them," the lonely child said to +herself, smiling as she caught a friendly nod from Betty. So she listened +eagerly to Mr. Forbes's account of their visit to Venice, and to the +volcano of Vesuvius, and laughed with the others over the amusing +experiences Betty and Eugenia had in Norway with a chambermaid who could +not understand them, and in Holland with an old Dutch market-woman, the +day they became separated from Mr. Forbes, and were lost for several +hours. + +Fidelia's salad almost choked her, there was such an ache in her throat +when she heard them planning an excursion for the next day. She had no one +to make plans with, and when she was taken sightseeing it was by a French +teacher, more intent on improving her pupil's accent than in giving her a +happy time. + +As they were finishing their dessert, Mr. Sherman suddenly remembered that +he had a letter in his pocket for Lloyd, which he had forgotten to give +her. + +"It is from Joyce," she said, looking at the post-mark. "Oh, if she were +only heah, what a lovely time we could have! It would be like havin' +anothah house pahty. May I read it now at the table, mothah? It is to all +of us." + +Fidelia almost held her breath. She was so afraid that Mrs. Sherman would +suggest waiting until they went to the parlour. There she could no longer +be one of them, no matter how hard she might pretend. She wanted the +interesting play to go on as long as possible. She did not know that she +ought not to listen. There were many things she had never been taught. +Lloyd began to read aloud. + + "DEAR GIRLS:--You will be in Tours by the time this letter + reaches you, and I am simply wild to be there with you. Oh, if I + could be there only one day to take you to all the old places! + Do please go to the home of the 'Little Sisters of the Poor,' + and ask for Sister Denisa. Give her my love, and tell her that I + often think of her. And do go to that funny pie shop on the Rue + Nationale, where everybody is allowed to walk around and help + themselves and keep their own count. And eat one of those tiny + delicious tarts for me. They're the best in the world. + + "I can't think of anything else to-day, but that walk which you + will be taking soon without me. I can shut my eyes and see every + inch of the way, as it used to look when we went home just after + sunset. There is the river Loire all rosy red in the after-glow, + and the bridge with the soldiers marching across it; and on the + other side of the river is the little old village of St. + Symphorian with its narrow, crooked streets. How I love every + old cobblestone! You will see the fat old women rattling home in + their market carts, and hear the clang and click of wooden shoes + down the streets. Then there'll be the high gate of customs in + the old stone wall that fences in the village, and the country + road beyond. You'll climb the hill with the new moon coming up + behind the tall Lombardy poplars, and go on between the fields, + turning brown in the twilight, till the Gate of the Giant + Scissors looms up beside the road like a picture out of some + fairy tale. A little farther on you'll come to Madame's dear old + villa with the high wall around it, and the laurel hedges and + lime-trees inside. + + "I wonder which of you will have my room with the blue parrots + on the wall-paper. Oh, I'm _homesick_ to go back. Yet, isn't it + strange, when I was there I used to long so for America, that + many a time I climbed up in the pear-tree at the end of the + garden for a good cry. Don't forget to swing up into that + pear-tree. There's a fine view from the top. + + "When you see Jules, ask him to show you the goats that chewed + up the cushions of the pony cart, the day we had our + Thanksgiving barbecue in the garden. I fairly ache to be with + you. Please write me a good long letter and tell me what you are + doing; and whenever you hear the nightingales in Madame's + garden, and the cathedral bells tolling out across the Loire, + think of your loving JOYCE." + +"Let's do those things to-morrow," exclaimed Lloyd, as she folded the +letter and slipped it back into its envelope. "I don't want to waste time +on any old chateaux with the Gate of the Giant Scissors just across the +river, that we haven't seen yet." + +"I have heard about that gate ever since we left America," said Mr. +Forbes, laughingly. "Nobody has taken the trouble to inform me why it is +so important, or why it was selected for a meeting-place. Somebody owes me +an explanation." + +"It's only an old gate with a mammoth pair of scissors swung on a +medallion above it," said Mr. Sherman. "They were put there by a +half-crazy old man who built the place, by the name of _Ciseaux_. Joyce +Ware spent a winter in sight of it, and she came back with some wonderful +tale about the scissors being the property of a prince who went around +doing all sorts of impossible things with them. I believe the girls have +actually come to think that the scissors are enchanted." + +"Oh, Papa Jack, stop teasin'!" said the Little Colonel. "You know we +don't!" + +"If it is really settled that we are to go there to-morrow, I want to hear +the story," said Cousin Carl. "I make a practice of reading the history of +a place before I visit it, so I'll have to know the story of the gate in +order to take a proper interest in it." + +"Come into the parlour," said Mrs. Sherman rising. "Betty will tell us." + +As she turned, she saw Fidelia looking after the girls with wistful eyes, +and she read the longing and loneliness in her face. + +"Wouldn't you like to come too, and hear the fairy tale with us?" she +asked, kindly holding out her hand. + +A look of happy surprise came over Fidelia's face, and before she could +stammer out her acceptance of the unlooked-for invitation, Mrs. Sherman +drew her toward her and led her into the little circle in one corner of +the parlour. + +"Now, we are ready, Tusitala," said Mrs. Sherman, settling herself on the +sofa, with Fidelia beside her. Shaking back her brown curls, Betty began +the fairy tale that Joyce's Cousin Kate had told one bleak November day, +to make the homesick child forget that she was "a stranger in a strange +land." + +"Once upon a time, in a far island of the sea, there lived a king with +seven sons." + +Word for word as she had heard it, Betty told the adventures of the +princes ("the three that were dark and the three that were fair"), and +then of the middle son, Prince Ethelried, to whom the old king gave no +portion of his kingdom. With no sword, nothing but the scissors of the +Court Tailor, he had been sent out into the world to make his fortune. +Even Cousin Carl listened with close attention to the prince's adventures +with the Ogre, in which he was victorious, because the grateful fairy whom +he had rescued laid on the scissors a magic spell. + +"Here," she said, giving them into his hands again, "because thou wast +persevering and fearless in setting me free, these shall win for thee thy +heart's desire. But remember that thou canst not keep them sharp and +shining unless they are used at least once each day in some unselfish +service." After that he had only to utter his request in rhyme, and +immediately they would shoot out to an enormous size that could cut down +forests for him, bridge chasms, and reap whole wheat fields at a single +stroke. + +Many a peasant he befriended, shepherds and high-born dames, lords and +lowly beggars; and at the last, when he stood up before the Ogre to fight +for the beautiful princess kept captive in the tower, it was their voices, +shouting out their tale of gratitude to him for all these unselfish +services, that made the scissors grow long enough and strong enough to cut +the ugly old Ogre's head off. + +"So he married the princess," concluded Betty at last, "and came into the +kingdom that was his heart's desire. There was feasting and merrymaking +for seventy days and seventy nights, and they all lived happily ever +after. On each gable of the house he fastened a pair of shining scissors +to remind himself that only through unselfish service to others comes the +happiness that is highest and best. Over the great entrance gate he hung +the ones that served him so valiantly, saying, 'Only those who belong to +the kingdom of loving hearts can ever enter here'; and to this day they +guard the portal of Ethelried, and only those who belong to the kingdom of +loving hearts may enter the Gate of the Giant Scissors." + +"Go on," said Mr. Forbes, as Betty stopped. "What happened next? I want to +hear some more." + +"So did Joyce," said Betty. "She used to climb up in the pear-tree and +watch the gate, wishing she knew what lay behind it, and one day she found +out. A poor little boy lived there with only the care-taker and another +servant. The care-taker beat him and half starved him. His uncle didn't +know how he was treated, for he was away in Algiers. Joyce found this +little Jules out in the fields one day, tending the goats, and they got to +be great friends She told him this story, and they played that he was the +prince and she was the Giant Scissors who was to rescue him from the +clutches of the Ogre. She made up a rhyme for him to say. He had only to +whisper: + + "'Giant Scissors, fearless friend, + Hasten, pray, thy aid to lend,' + +and she would fly to help him. She really did, too, for she played ghost +one night to frighten the old care-taker, and she told Jules's uncle, when +he came back, how cruelly the poor little thing had been treated. + +"Then the little prince really did come into his kingdom, for all sorts of +lovely things happened after that. The gate had been closed for years on +account of a terrible quarrel in the Ciseaux family, but at last something +Joyce did helped to make it up. The gate swung open, and the old +white-haired brother and sister went back to the home of their childhood +together, and it was Christmas Day in the morning. They had been kept from +going through the gate all those years, because the Giant Scissors +wouldn't let them pass. Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving +hearts can enter in." + +"Some day you must put that all in a book, Betty," said Cousin Carl, when +she had finished. "When we go to see the gate, I'll take my camera, and +we'll get a picture of it. Now I feel that I can properly appreciate it, +having heard its wonderful history." + +There was a teasing light in his eyes that made Lloyd say, "Now you're +laughin' at us, Cousin Carl, but it doesn't make any difference. I'd +rathah see that gate than any old chateau in France." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AT THE GATE OF THE GIANT SCISSORS + + +Each of the girls answered Joyce's letter, but the Little Colonel's was +the first to find its way to the little brown house in Plainsville, +Kansas. + +"Dear Joyce," she wrote. "We were all dreadfully disappointed yesterday +morning when mother and Papa Jack came back from Madame's villa, and told +us that she could not let us stay there. She has some English people in +the house, and could not give us rooms even for one night. She said that +we must be disappointed also about seeing Jules, for his Uncle Martin has +taken him to Paris to stay a month. I could have cried, I was so sorry. + +"Ever since we left home I have been planning what we should do when we +reached the Gate of the Giant Scissors. I wanted to do all the things that +you did, as far as possible. I was going to have a barbecue for Jules, +down in the garden by the pagoda, and to have some kind of a midsummer +fete for the peasant children who came to your Christmas tree. + +"Madame was sorry, too, that she couldn't take us, when she found that we +were your friends, and she asked mother to bring us all out the next day +and have tea in the pagoda. As soon as mother and Papa Jack came back, +they took us to see Sister Denisa at the home of the Little Sisters of the +Poor. I wish you could have seen her face shine when we told her that we +were friends of yours. She said lovely things about you, and the tears +came into her eyes when she told us how much she missed your visits, after +you went back to America. + +"Next day we went to Madame's, and she took us over to the Ciseaux place +to see Jules's great-aunt Desiree. She is a beautiful old lady. She talked +about you as if you were an angel, or a saint with a halo around your +head. She feels that if it hadn't been for you that she might still be +only 'Number Thirty-nine' among all those paupers, instead of being the +mistress of her brother's comfortable home. + +"After we left there, we passed the place where Madame's washerwoman +lives. A little girl peeped out at us through the hedge. Madame told her +to show the American ladies the doll that she had in her arms. She held it +out, and then snatched it back as if she were jealous of our even looking +at it. Madame told us that it was the one you gave her at the Noel fete. +It is the only doll the child ever had, and she has carried it ever since, +even taking it to bed with her. She has named it for you. + +"Madame said in her funny broken English, 'Ah, it is a beautiful thing to +leave such memories behind one as Mademoiselle Joyce has left.' I would +have told her about the Road of the Loving Heart, but it is so hard for +her to understand anything I say. I think you began yours over here in +France, long before Betty told us of the one in Samoa, or Eugenia gave us +the rings to help us remember. + +"We took Fidelia Sattawhite with us. She is the girl I wrote to you about +who was so rude to me, and who quarrelled so much with her brothers on +shipboard. I thought it would spoil everything to have her along, but +mother insisted on my inviting her. She feels sorry for her. Fidelia acted +very well until we went over to the Ciseaux place. But when we got to the +gate she stood and looked up at the scissors over it, and refused to go +in. Madame and mother both coaxed and coaxed her, but she was too queer +for anything. She wouldn't move a step. She just stood there in the road, +saying, 'No'm, I won't go in. I don't want to. I'll stay out here and wait +for you. No'm, nothing anybody can say can make me go in.' + +"Down she sat on the grass as flat as Humpty Dumpty when he had his great +fall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't have made +her get up till she was ready. We couldn't understand why she should act +so. She told Betty that night that she was afraid to go through the gate. +She remembered that in the story where the old king and the brothers of +Ethelried came riding up to the portal 'the scissors leaped from their +place and snapped so angrily in their faces that they turned and fled. +Only those who belong to the kingdom of loving hearts could enter in.' She +told Betty that she knew she didn't belong to that kingdom, for nobody +loved her, and often she didn't love anybody for days. She was afraid to +go through the gate for fear the scissors would leap down at her, and she +would be so ashamed to be driven back before us all. So she thought she +would pretend that she didn't want to go in. She had believed every word +of that fairy tale. + +"We had a beautiful time in the garden. We went down all the winding paths +between the high laurel hedges where you used to walk, and almost got +lost, they had so many unexpected twists and turns. The old statues of +Adam and Eve, grinning at each other across the fountain, are so funny. We +saw the salad beds with the great glass bells over them, and we climbed +into the pear-tree and sat looking over the wall, wondering how you could +have been homesick in such an interesting place. + +"Berthe served tea in the pagoda, and because we asked about Gabriel's +music, Madame smiled and sent Berthe away with a message. Pretty soon we +heard his old accordeon playing away, out of sight in the coach-house, and +then we knew what kind of music you had at the Noel fete. Sort of wheezy, +wasn't it? Still it sounded sweet, too, at that distance. + +"We took Hero with us, and he was really the guest of honour at the party. +When Madame saw the Red Cross on his collar and heard his history, she +couldn't do enough for him. She fed him cakes until I thought he surely +would be ill. It was a Red Cross nurse who wrote to Madame about her +husband. He was wounded in the Franco-Prussian war, too, just as was the +Major. Madame went on to get him and bring him home, and she says she +never can forget the kindness that was shown to her by every one whom she +met when she crossed the lines under the protection of the Red Cross. + +"She had met Clara Barton, too, and while we were talking about the good +she has done, Madame said, 'The Duchess of Baden may have sent her the +Gold Cross of Remembrance, but the grateful hearts of many a French wife +and mother will for ever hold the rosary of her beautiful deeds!' Wasn't +that a lovely thing to have said about one? + +"We start to London Thursday, and I'll write again from there. With much +love from us all, Lloyd." + +The long letter which Lloyd folded and addressed after a careful +re-reading, had not been all written in one day. She had begun it while +waiting for the others to finish dressing one morning, had added a few +pages that afternoon, and finished it the next evening at bedtime. + +"Heah is my lettah to Joyce, mothah," she said, as she kissed her good +night. "Won't you look ovah it, please, and see if all the words are +spelled right? I want to send it in the mawnin." + +Mrs. Sherman laid the letter aside to attend to later, and forgot it until +long after Lloyd was asleep, and Mr. Sherman had come up-stairs. Then, +seeing it on the table, she glanced rapidly over the neatly written pages. + +"I want you to look at this, Jack," she said, presently, handing him the +letter. "It is one of the results of the house party for which I am most +thankful. You remember what a task it always was for Lloyd to write a +letter. She groaned for days whenever she received one, because it had to +be answered. But when Joyce went away she said, 'Now, Lloyd, I know I +shall be homesick for Locust, and I want to hear every single thing that +happens. Don't you dare send me a stingy two-page letter, half of it +apologising for not writing sooner, and half of it promising to do better +next time. + +"'Just prop my picture up in front of you and look me in the eyes and +begin to talk. Tell me all the little things that most people leave out; +what he said and she said on the way to the picnic, and how Betty looked +in her daffodil dress, with the sun shining on her brown curls. Write as +if you were making pictures for me, so that when I read I can see +everything you are doing.' + +"It was excellent advice, and as Joyce's letters were written in that way, +Lloyd had a good model to copy. Joyce, being an artist, naturally makes +pictures even of her letters. When Betty went away and began sending home +such well-written accounts of her journey, I found that Lloyd's style +improved constantly. She wrote a dear little letter to the Major, last +week, telling all about Hero. I was surprised to see how prettily she +expressed her appreciation of his gift." + +Mr. Sherman took the letter and began to read. In two places he corrected +a misspelled word, and here and there supplied missing commas and +quotation marks. There was a gratified smile on his face when he finished. +"That is certainly a lengthy letter for a twelve-year-old girl to write," +he said, in a pleased tone, "and cannot fail to be interesting to Joyce. +The letters she wrote me from the Cuckoo's Nest were stiff, short scrawls +compared to this. I must tell my Little Colonel how proud I am of her +improvement." + +His words of praise were not spoken, however. He expressed his +appreciation, later, by leaving on her table a box of foreign +correspondence paper. It was of the best quality he could find in Tours, +and to Lloyd's delight the monogram engraved on it was even prettier than +Eugenia's. + +"Why did Papa Jack write this on the first sheet in the box, mothah?" she +asked, coming to her with a sentence written in her father's big, +businesslike hand: '_There is no surer way to build a Road of the Loving +Heart in the memory of absent friends, than to bridge the space between +with the cheer and sympathy and good-will of friendly letters._' + +"Why did Papa Jack write that?" she repeated. + +"Because he saw your last letter to Joyce, and was so pleased with the +improvement you have made," answered Mrs. Sherman. "He has given you a +good text for your writing-desk." + +"I'll paste it in the top," said Lloyd. "Then I can't lose it." "'There is +no surer way,'" she repeated to herself as she carried the box back to her +room, "'to bridge the space between ... with the cheer and sympathy and +good-will.'" + +There flashed across her mind the thought of some one who needed cheer and +sympathy far more than Joyce did, and who would welcome a friendly letter +from her with its foreign stamp, as eagerly as if it were some real +treasure. Jessie Nolan was the girl she thought of, an invalid with a +crippled spine, to whom the dull days in her wheeled chair by the window +seemed endless, and who had so little to brighten her monotonous life. + +"I'll write her a note this minute," thought Lloyd, with a warm glow in +her heart. "I'll describe some of the sights we have seen, and send her +that fo' leafed clovah that I found at the chateau yestahday, undah a +window of the great hall where Anne of Brittany was married ovah fo' +hundred yeahs ago. I don't suppose Jessie gets a lettah once a yeah." + +When that note was written, Lloyd thought of Mom Beck and the pride that +would shine in the face of her old black nurse if she should receive a +letter from Europe, and how proudly it would be carried around and +displayed to all the coloured people in the Valley. So with the kindly +impulse of her father's text still upon her, she dashed off a note to her, +telling her of some of her visits to the palaces of bygone kings and +queens. + +Eugenia came in as she finished, but before she closed her desk she jotted +two names on a slip of paper. Mrs. Waters's was one. She was a little old +Englishwoman, who did fine laundry work in the Valley, and who was always +talking about the 'awthorne' edges in her old English home. + +"I'll write to her from London," Lloyd thought. "If we should get a sight +of any of the royal family, how tickled she would be to hear it." + +The other name was Janet McDonald. She was a sad, sweet-faced young +teacher whom Miss Allison always called her "Scotch lassie Jane." "I don't +suppose she'd care to get a letter from a little girl like me," thought +Lloyd, "but I know she'd love to have a piece of heather from the hills +near her home. I'll send her a piece when we get up in Scotland." + +The letter that Eugenia sent to Joyce was only a short outline of her +plans. She knew that the other girls had sent long accounts of their trip +through Touraine, so hers was much shorter than usual. + + "Papa has decided to send me to a school just outside of Paris + this year," she wrote, "instead of the one in New York, so it + will be a long time before I see my native land again. He will + have to be over here several months, and can spend Christmas and + Easter with me, so I can see him fully as often as I used to at + home. + + "It is a very select school. Madame recommends it highly, and I + am simply delighted. A New York girl whom I know very well is to + be there too, and we are looking forward to all sorts of larks. + Thursday we are to start to London for a short tour of England + and Scotland. Then the others are going home and papa and I + shall go by Chester for my maid. Poor old Eliot has had a + glorious vacation at home, she writes. She is to stay at the + school with me. We shall be so busy until I get settled that I + shall not have time to write soon; but no matter how far my + letters may be apart, I am always your devoted EUGENIA." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ON THE WING + + +"Who is going away?" asked Lloyd, one afternoon, of the girls who were +sitting in her room, manicuring their nails. "There goes a pile of trunks +out to the baggage wagon." + +As she spoke, a carriage drove up to the door of the hotel, and Fanchette +went out with the poodle in her arms. + +"The Sattawhites," answered Eugenia. "There's Howl and Henny climbing into +the carriage, and, oh, look, girls! There comes Mrs. Sattawhite herself. I +haven't had many glimpses of her. Isn't she gorgeous! You know they had to +leave," she continued, turning to the girls. "I forgot to tell you what +happened early this morning while you were down-town. + +"I was up in my room writing to Joyce, when I heard a rumble and a running +down in the back hall. Somebody called 'Fire! Fire!' Then somebody else +took it up, and the old gentleman at the end of the hall, who never +appears in public until noon, came bursting out of his room in his bath +robe, his shoes in one hand and his false teeth in the other. It was the +funniest sight! There was wild excitement for a few minutes. One woman +began throwing things out of the window, and another stood and shrieked +and wrung her hands. + +"The waiter with the long black side-whiskers tore up-stairs and grabbed +his arms full of those bottles in the racks--you know--those +fire-extinguishing bottles that have some kind of chemical stuff in them. +There was a strong smell of smoke and a little puff of it curling up from +under the stairs. He threw all those bottles down into the lower hall. You +can imagine the smash there was when they struck the stone floor. + +"Papa rushed down to investigate, at the first alarm. He found that it was +only Howl and Henny playing hook-and-ladder with a little red wagon. They +had taken an old flannel blouse of Kenny's and set fire to it. Howl +explained that they did it because woollen rags make such a nice thick +smoke, and last a long time, and when they yelled fire they were not to +blame, he said, if other people didn't know that they were 'jes' +a-playin', and went and yelled in earnest.' + +"Papa took their part, and said that two boys with as much energy as they +have must find an outlet somewhere, and that it was no wonder that they +were restless, cooped up in a hotel day after day, with no amusement but +their prim walks with the maid and the poodle. But the old gentleman who +had been so frightened that he ran out in public without his teeth, and +the woman who had thrown her toilet bottles out of the window and broken +them, were furious. They complained to the landlord, and said that it was +not the first offence. The boys were always annoying them. + +"So the landlord had to go to Mrs. Sattawhite. She found out what the old +gentleman said, that a mother who had to go travelling around all over +Europe, giving her time and attention to society and a miserable poodle, +had better put her children in an orphan asylum before she started. She +was so indignant that I could hear her talking away down in the office. +She said that she would leave the instant that Fanchette could get the +trunks packed. So there they go." + +Mrs. Sattawhite had sailed back to the office during the telling of +Eugenia's story, so their departure was delayed a moment. When she came +out again, Fidelia followed her sulkily. Just as they drove off, she +looked up at the open window, and saw the girls, who were waving good-bye. +Then a smile flickered across her sorry little face, for, moved by some +sudden impulse, the Little Colonel leaned out and threw her a kiss. + +"I suppose I'll nevah see her again," she said, thoughtfully, as the +carriage rolled around a corner, out of sight. "I wish now that I had been +niceah to her. We may both change evah so much by the time we are grown, +yet if I live to be a hundred I'll always think of her as the girl who was +so quarrelsome that the English lady groaned, 'Oh, those dreadful American +children!' And I suppose she'll remembah me for the high and mighty way I +tried to snub her whenevah I had a chance." + +As she spoke there was a knock at the door, and a maid brought in a +package for Lloyd. "Oh, look, girls!" she exclaimed, holding up a tiny +pair of silver embroidery scissors, Fidelia's parting gift They were +evidently something that had been given her, for the little silver sheath +into which they were thrust was beautifully engraved in old English +letters with the name "_Fidelia_." Around them was wrapped a strip of +rumpled paper on which was scrawled: "For you to remember me by. That day +you took me to the Gate of the Giant Scissors was the best time I ever +had." + +"Poor little thing!" exclaimed Betty. "To think that she was afraid to go +in, for fear that she didn't belong to the kingdom, and that the scissors +might leap down and drive her back." + +"Oh, if I had only known!" sighed Lloyd, remorsefully. "I feel too mean +for anything! If I'd only believed that it was because she hadn't been +brought up to know any bettah that she acted so horrid, and that all the +time she really wanted to be liked! Mothah told me I ought to put myself +in her place, and make allowances for her, but I didn't want to even try, +and I nevah was nice to her but once--that time I gave her the candy. Then +I was only pretendin' I cared for her, just for fun. I didn't want her to +go with us to the Scissahs gate that day. Mothah made me invite her. I +fussed about it. I'm goin' to write to her the minute I finish polishin' +my nails, and tell her how sorry I am that I didn't leave a kindah memory +behind me." + +They rubbed away in silence for a few minutes, then Lloyd spoke again. "I +suahly have enough things now to remind me about the memory roads I am +tryin' to leave behind me for everybody. Every time I look at this little +ring it says 'A Road of the Loving Heart.' And the scissahs will recall +the fairy tale. It was only unselfish service that kept them bright and +shining, and only those who belonged to the kingdom of loving hearts could +go in at the gate. Then there's the Red Cross of Geneva on Hero's +collah--there couldn't be a moah beautiful memory than the one left by all +who have wo'n that Red Cross." + +"Yes," said Betty, holding up a hand to inspect the pink finger nails now +polished to her satisfaction. "And there is the white flower that the two +little Knights of Kentucky wear. Keith said that his badge meant the same +thing to him that my ring does to me. Their motto is 'Right the wrong.' +That's what the Giant Scissors always did, and that's what Robert Louis +Stevenson tried to do for the Samoan chiefs. That is why they loved him +and built the road." + +"Funny, how they all sing the same song," said Eugenia. "It's just the +same, only they sing it in different keys." + +After Betty and Eugenia had gone to their rooms, Lloyd sat a long time +toying with the silver scissors, before writing her note of +acknowledgment. The sheath was of hammered silver, and around the name was +a beautifully wrought design of tiny clustered grapes. + +"It is one of the prettiest things that my wondah-ball has unrolled," she +said to herself, "and it has certainly taught me a lesson. Poah little +Fidelia! If I'd only known that she cared, there were lots of times that +she could have gone with us, and it would have made her so happy. If I had +only put myself in her place when mothah told me! But I was so cross and +hateful I enjoyed bein' selfish. Now all the bein' sorry in the world +won't change things!" + +It would be too much like a guide-book if this story were to give a record +of the next two weeks. Betty's good-times book was filled, down to the +last line on the last page, and the partnership diary had to have several +extra leaves pasted inside the cover. From morning until night there was a +constant round of sightseeing. The shops and streets of London first, the +Abbey and the Tower, a hundred places that they had read about and longed +to see, and after they had seen, longed to come back to for another visit. + +"We can only take a bird's-eye view now and hurry on, but we must +certainly come back some other summer," said Mr. Sherman, when Lloyd +wanted to linger in the Tower of London among the armour and weapons that +had been worn by the old knights, centuries ago. He repeated it when Betty +looked back longingly at the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, where +the great organ was echoing down the solemn aisles, and again when Eugenia +begged for another coach ride out to Hampton Court. + + "'Gay go up and gay go down + To ring the bells of London town," + +sang the Little Colonel. "I am having such a good time that I'd like to +stay on right heah all the rest of the summah." + +But she thought that about nearly every other place they visited, Windsor, +and Warwick Castle, and Shakespeare's birthplace,--the quaint little +village on the Avon; Ambleside, where they took the coach for long rides +among the lakes made famous by the poets who lived among them and made +them immortal with their songs. + +From these English lakes to Scottish moors, from the land of hawthorne to +the land of heather, from low green meadows where the larks sang, to the +highlands where plaided shepherds watched their flocks, they went with +enthusiasm that never waned. They found the "banks and braes o' Bonnie +Doon," and wandered along the banks of more than one little river that +they had loved for years in song and story. + +"Haven't we learned a lot!" exclaimed Eugenia, as they journeyed back by +rail to Liverpool, where the Shermans and Betty were to take the steamer. +"I'm sure that I've learned ten times as much as I would in school, this +last year." + +"And had such a lovely time in the bargain," added Lloyd. "It's goin' to +make a difference in the way I study this wintah, and in what I read. If +we evah come ovah heah again, I intend to know something about English +history. Then the places we visit will be so much moah interestin'. I'll +not spend so much time on fairy tales and magazine stories. I'm goin' to +make my reading count for something aftah this. It was dreadfully +mawtifyin' to find out that I was so ignorant, and how much there is in +the world to know, that I had nevah even heard of." + +That afternoon, in the big Liverpool hotel, the trunks were packed for the +last time. + +"Seems something like the night befo' Christmas," said the Little Colonel, +as she counted the packages piled on the floor beside her trunk. They were +the presents that she had chosen for the friends at home. + +"Nineteen, twenty," she went on counting, "and that music box for Mom Beck +makes twenty-one, and the souvenir spoons for the Walton girls make +twenty-five. Oh, I didn't show you these," she said. + +"This is Allison's," she explained, opening a little box. "See the caldron +and the bells on the handle? I got this in Denmark. That's from Andersen's +tale of the swineherd's magic kettle, you know. Kitty's is from Tam +O'Shanter's town. That's why there is a witch and a broomstick engraved on +it. This spoon for Elise came from Berne. I think that's a darling little +bear's head on the handle. What did you get, Betty?" she continued, +turning to her suddenly. "You haven't shown me a single thing." + +Betty laid down the spoons she was admiring. "You'll not think they are +worth carrying home," she said, slowly. "I couldn't buy handsome presents +like yours, you know, so I just picked up little things here and there, +that wouldn't be worth anything at all if they hadn't come from famous +places." + +"Show them to me, anyhow," persisted Lloyd. + +Betty untied a small box. "It's only a handful of lava," she explained, +"that I picked up on Vesuvius. But Davy will like it because he thinks a +volcano is such a wonderful thing. Here are some pebbles the boys will be +interested in, because I found them on the field of Waterloo. They are +making collections of such things, and Waterloo is a long way from the +Cuckoo's Nest. They haven't any foreign things at all. + +"I wanted to take something nice to Miss Allison, but I couldn't afford to +buy anything fine enough. So I just pressed these buttercups that grew by +the gate of Anne Hathaway's cottage. See how sunshiny and satiny they are? +Cousin Carl gave me a photograph of the cottage, and I fastened the +buttercups here on the side. I couldn't offer such a little gift to some +people, but Miss Allison is the kind that appreciates the thought that +prompts a gift more than the thing itself." + +There were a few more photographs, a handkerchief for Mom Beck, and a +string of cheap Venetian beads for May Lily. The most expensive article in +the collection was a little mosaic pin for her Cousin Hetty. "I got that +in Venice," said Betty. "Cousin Hetty hasn't a single piece of jewelry to +her name, and she never gets any presents but plain, useful things, so I +am sure she will be pleased." + +Lloyd turned away, thinking of the great contrast between her gifts and +Betty's, and wishing that she had not made such a display of hers. + +"If I were in Betty's place," she said to herself, "I'd be so jealous of +me that I could hardly stand it. She's just a little orphan alone in the +world, and I have mothah and Papa Jack and Hero and Tarbaby for my very +own." + +But the Little Colonel need not have wasted any sympathy on Betty. While +one stowed away her expensive presents in her trunk, the other wrapped up +her little souvenirs, humming softly to herself. It would have been hard +to find anywhere in the queen's dominion, a happier child than Betty, as +she sat beside her trunk, thinking of the beautiful journey with Cousin +Carl, just ending, and the life awaiting her at Locust with her godmother +and the Little Colonel. There was only one cloud on her horizon, and that +was the parting with Eugenia and her father. + +That last evening they spent together in the private parlour adjoining +Mrs. Sherman's room. Early after dinner Lloyd and her father went down to +pay a visit to Hero, and see that he was properly cared for. He had had a +hard time since reaching England, for the laws regarding the quarantining +of dogs are strict, and it had taken many shillings on Mr. Sherman's part +and some tears on the Little Colonel's to procure him the privileges he +had. + +"The whole party will be glad when he is safely landed in Kentucky, I am +sure," said Mrs. Sherman, as the door closed after them. "I'd never +consent to take another dog on such a journey, after all the trouble and +expense this one has been. Lloyd is so devoted to him that she is +heartbroken if he has to be tied up or made uncomfortable in any way. +She'll probably come up-stairs in tears to-night because he wants to +follow her, and must be kept a prisoner." + +While they waited for her return, Mrs. Sherman drew Eugenia into her room +for a last confidential talk, and Betty, nestling beside Cousin Carl on +the sofa, tried to thank him for all his fatherly kindness to her on their +long pilgrimage together. But he would not let her put her gratitude in +words. His answer was the same that it had been that last night of the +house party, when, looking down the locust avenue gleaming with its myriad +of lights, like some road to the City of the Shining Ones, she had cried +out: "Oh, _why_ is everybody so good to me?" + +The others came in presently, and the evening seemed to be on wings, it +flew so swiftly, as they planned for another summer to be spent at Locust, +when Eugenia should come home from her year in the Paris school. And +never, it seemed, were good nights followed so quickly by good mornings, +or good mornings by good-byes. + +Almost before they realised that the parting time had actually come, the +Little Colonel and Betty were leaning over the railing of the great +steamer, waving their handkerchiefs to Eugenia and her father on the +dock. Smaller and smaller grew the familiar outlines, wider and wider the +distance between the ship and the shore, until at last even Eugenia's red +jacket faded into a mere speck, and it was no longer of any use to wave +good-bye. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HOMEWARD BOUND + + +On that long, homeward journey it was well for Hero that he wore the Red +Cross on his collar. The little symbol was the open sesame to many a +privilege that ordinary dogs are not allowed on shipboard. Instead of +being confined to the hold, he was given the liberty of the ship, and when +his story was known he received as much flattering attention as if he had +been some titled nobleman. + +The captain shook the big white paw, gravely put into his hand at the +Little Colonel's bidding, and then stooped to stroke the dog's head. As he +looked into the wistful, intelligent eyes his own grew tender. + +"I have a son in the service," he said, "sent back from South Africa, +covered with scars. I know what that Red Cross meant to him for a good +many long weeks. Go where you like, old fellow! The ship is yours, so long +as you make no trouble." + +"Oh, thank you!" cried the Little Colonel, looking up at the big British +captain with a beaming face. "I'd rathah be tied up myself than to have +Hero kept down there in the hold. I'm suah he'll not bothah anybody." + +Nor did he. No one from stoker to deck steward could make the slightest +complaint against him, so dignified and well behaved was he. Lloyd was +proud of him and his devotion. Wherever she went he followed her, lying at +her feet when she sat in her steamer-chair, walking close beside her when +she and Betty promenaded the deck. + +Everybody stopped to speak to him, and to question Lloyd and Betty about +him, so that it was not many days before the little girls and the great +St. Bernard had made friends of all the passengers who were able to be on +deck. + +The hours are long at sea, and people gladly welcome anything that +provides entertainment, so Lloyd and Betty were often called aside as they +walked, and invited to join some group, and tell to a knot of interested +listeners all they knew of Hero and the Major, and the training of the +French ambulance dogs. + +In return Lloyd's stories nearly always called forth some anecdote from +her listeners about the Red Cross work in America, and to her great +surprise she found five persons among them who had met Clara Barton in +some great national calamity of fire, flood, or pestilence. + +One was a portly man with a gruff voice, who had passed through the +experiences of the forest fires that swept through Michigan, over twenty +years ago. As he told his story, he made the scenes so real that the +children forgot where they were. They could almost smell the thick, +stifling smoke of the burning forest, hear the terrible crackling of the +flames, feel the scorching heat in their faces, and see the frightened +cattle driven into the lakes and streams by the pursuing fire. + +They listened with startled eyes as he described the wall of flame, +hemming in the peaceful home where his little son played around the +door-step. They held their breath while he told of their mad flight from +it, when, lashing his horses into a gallop, he looked back to see it +licking up everything in the world he held dear except the frightened +little family huddled at his feet. He had worked hard to build the +cottage. It was furnished with family heirlooms brought West with them +from the old homestead in Vermont. It was hard to see those great red +tongues devouring it in a mouthful. + +In the morning, although they had reached a place of safety, they were out +in a charred, blackened wilderness, without a roof to shelter them, a +chair to sit on, or a crust to eat. "The hardest thing to bear," he said, +"was to hear my little three-year-old Bertie begging for his breakfast, +and to know that there was nothing within miles of us to satisfy his +hunger, and that the next day it would be the same, and the next, and the +next. + +"We were powerless to help ourselves. But while we sat there in utter +despair, a neighbour rode by and hailed us. He told us that Red Cross +committees had started out from Milwaukee and Chicago at first tidings of +the fire, with car-loads of supplies, and that if we could go to the place +where they were distributing we could get whatever we needed. + +"I wish you could have seen what they were handing out when we got there: +tools and lumber to put up cabins, food and beds and clothes and coal-oil. +They'd thought of everything and provided everything, and they went about +the distributing in a systematic, businesslike way that somehow put heart +and cheer into us all. + +"They didn't make us feel as if they were handing out alms to paupers, but +as if they were helping some of their own family on to their feet again, +and putting them in shape to help themselves. Even my little Bertie felt +it. Young as he was, he never forgot that awful night when we fled from +the fire, nor the hungry day that followed, nor the fact that the arm that +carried him food, when he got it at last, wore a brassard marked like +that." He touched the Red Cross on Hero's collar. + +"And when the chance came to show the same brotherly spirit to some one +else in trouble and pass the help along, he was as ready as the rest of us +to do his share. + +"Three years afterward I read in the papers of the floods that had swept +through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and of the thousands that were +homeless. Bertie,--he was six then,--he listened to the account of the +children walking the streets, crying because they hadn't a roof over them +or anything to eat. He didn't say a word, but he climbed up to the mantel +and took down his little red savings-bank. + +"We were pretty near on our feet again by that time, although we were +still living in a cabin. The crops had been good, and we had been able to +save a little. He poured out all the pennies and nickels in his +bank,--ninety-three cents they came to,--and then he got his only store +toy, a box of tin soldiers that had been sent to him Christmas, and put +that on the table beside the money. We didn't appear to notice what he was +doing. Presently he brought the mittens his grandmother up in Vermont had +knit for him. Then he waited a bit, and seemed to be weighing something in +his mind. By and by he slipped away to the chest where his Sunday clothes +were kept and took them out, new suit, shoes, cap and all, and laid them +on the table with the money and the tin soldiers. + +"'There, daddy,' he said, 'tell the Red Cross people to send them to some +little boy like me, that's been washed out of his home and hasn't anything +of toys left, or his clothes.' + +"I tell you it made a lump come up in my throat to see that the little +fellow had taken his very best to pay his debt of gratitude. Nothing was +too great for him to sacrifice. Even his tin soldiers went when he +remembered what the Red Cross had done for him." + +"My experience with the Red Cross was in the Mississippi floods of '82," +said a gentleman who had joined the party. "One winter day we were +attracted by screams out in the river, and found that they came from some +people who were floating down on a house that had been washed away. There +they were, that freezing weather, out in the middle of the river, their +clothes frozen on them, ill from fright and exposure. I went out in one of +the boats that was sent to their rescue, and helped bring them to shore. +I was so impressed by the tales of suffering they told that I went up the +river to investigate. + +"At every town, and nearly every steamboat landing, I found men from the +relief committees already at work, distributing supplies. They didn't stop +when they had provided food and clothing. They furnished seed by the +car-load to the farmers, just as in the Galveston disaster, a few years +ago, they furnished thousands of strawberry plants to the people who were +wholly dependent on their crops for their next year's food." + +"Where did they get all those stores?" asked Lloyd. "And the seeds and the +strawberry plants?" + +"Most of it was donated," answered the gentleman. "Many contributions come +pouring in after such a disaster, just as little Bertie's did. But the +society is busy all the time, collecting and storing away the things that +may be needed at a moment's notice. People would contribute, of course, +even if there were no society to take charge of their donations, but +without its wise hands to distribute, much would be lost. + +"A number of years ago a physician in Bedford, Indiana, gave a tract of +land to the American National Red Cross; more than a square mile, I +believe, a beautiful farm with buildings and fruit-trees, a place where +material can be accumulated and stored. By the terms of the treaty of +Geneva, forty nations are pledged to hold it sacred for ever against all +invading armies, to the use of the Red Cross. It is the only spot on earth +pledged to perpetual peace." + +It was from a sad-faced lady in black, who had had two sons drowned in the +Johnstown flood, that Lloyd and Betty heard the description of Clara +Barton's five months' labour there. A doctor's wife who had been in the +Mt. Vernon cyclone, and a newspaper man who had visited the South Carolina +islands after the tidal wave, and Charleston after the earthquake, piled +up their accounts of those scenes of suffering, some of them even greater +than the horrors of war, so that Lloyd could not sleep that night, for +thinking of them. + +"Betty," she whispered, across the stateroom, turning over in her berth. +"Betty, are you awake?" + +"Yes. Do you want anything?" + +"I can't sleep. That's all. Every time I shut my eyes I see all those +awful things they told about: cities in ruins, and dead people lying +around in piles, and the yellow fevah camps, and floods and fiah. It is a +dreadful world, Betty. No one knows what awful thing is goin' to happen +next." + +"Don't think about the dreadful part," urged Betty. "Think of the funny +things Mrs. Brown told, of the time the levee broke at Shawneetown. The +table all set for supper, and the water pouring in until the table floated +up to the ceiling, and went bobbing around like a fish." + +"That doesn't help any," said Lloyd, after a moment. "I see the watah +crawlin' highah and highah up the walls, above the piano and pictuahs, +till I feel as if it is crawlin' aftah me, and will be all ovah the bed in +a minute. Did you evah think how solemn it is, Betty Lewis, to be away out +in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but a few planks between us and +drownin'? Seems to me the ship pitches around moah than usual, to-night, +and the engine makes a mighty strange, creakin' noise." + +"Do you remember the night I put you to sleep at the Cuckoo's Nest?" asked +Betty. "The night after you fell down the barn stairs, playing +barley-bright? Shut your eyes and let me try it again." + +It was no nursery legend or border ballad that Betty crooned this time, +but some peaceful lines of the old Quaker poet, and the quiet comfort of +them stole into Lloyd's throbbing brain and soothed her excited fancy. +Long after Betty was asleep she went on repeating to herself the last +lines: + + "I know not where His islands lift + Their fronded palms in air, + I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care." + +She did dream of fires and floods that night, but the horror of the scenes +was less, because a baby voice called cheerfully through them, "Here, +daddy, give these to the poor little boys that are cold and homesick?" and +a great St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on his back, ran around distributing +mittens and tin soldiers. + +"Now that we are half-way across the ocean," said Mrs. Sherman, next +morning, "I may give you Allison Walton's letter. She enclosed it in one +her mother wrote, and asked me not to give it to you until we were in +mid-ocean. I suppose her experience in coming over from Manila taught her +that letters are more appreciated then than at the beginning of the +voyage." + +The Little Colonel unfolded it, exclaiming in surprise, "It is dated '_The +Beeches_.' I thought that they were in Lloydsboro Valley all summah, in +the cottage next to the churchyard. That one you used to like," she added, +turning to Betty. "The one with the high green roof and deah little +diamond-shaped window-panes." + +"So they are in the Valley," answered her mother. "But their new house is +finished now, and they have moved into that. As they have left all the +beautiful beech grove standing around it, they have decided to call the +place The Beeches, as ours is called Locust, on account of the trees in +front of it." + +Beckoning to Betty to come and listen, Lloyd sat down to read the letter, +and Mrs. Sherman turned to an acquaintance next her. "It is General +Walton's family of whom we were speaking," she explained. "Since his death +in Manila they have been living in Louisville, until recently. We are so +delighted to think that they have now come to the Valley to live. It was +Mrs. Walton's home in her girlhood, and her mother's place, Edgewood, is +just across the avenue from The Beeches. Lloyd and the little girls are +the best of friends, and we are all interested in Ranald, the only son. He +was the youngest captain in the army, you know. He received his +appointment and was under fire before he was twelve years old." + +"Oh, mothah," spoke up Lloyd, so eagerly that she did not notice that she +had interrupted the conversation. "Listen to this, please. You know I +wrote to Allison about Hero, and this lettah is neahly all about him. She +said her fathah knew Clara Barton, and that in Cuba and Manila the games +and books that the Red Cross sent to the hospitals were appreciated by the +soldiahs almost as much as the delicacies. And she says her mothah thinks +it would be fine for us all to start a fund for the Red Cross. They wanted +to get up a play because they're always havin' tableaux and such things. + +"They've been readin' 'Little Women' again, and Jo's Christmas play made +them want to do something like that. They can have all the shields and +knights' costumes that the MacIntyre boys had when they gave Jonesy's +benefit. They were going to have an entahtainment last week, but couldn't +agree. Allison wanted to play 'Cinda'ella,' because there are such pretty +costumes in that, but Kitty wanted to make up one all about witches and +spooks and robbah-dens, and call it 'The One-Eyed Ghost of Cocklin Tower.' + +"She wanted to be the ghost. They've decided to wait till we get home +befo' they do anything." + +"There's your opportunity, Betty," said Mrs. Sherman, turning to her +goddaughter with a smile. "Why can't you distinguish yourself by writing a +play that will make us all proud of you, and at the same time swell the +funds of the Red Cross?" + +"Oh, do you really think I could, godmother? Are you in earnest?" cried +Betty, her face shining with pleasure. + +"Entirely so," answered Mrs. Sherman, running her hand caressingly over +Betty's brown hair. "This little curly head is full of all sorts of tales +of goblins and ogres and witches and fairy folk. String them together, +dear, in some sort of shape, and I'll help with the costumes." + +The suggestion was made playfully, but Betty looked dreamily out to sea, +her face radiant. The longing to do something to please her godmother and +make her proud of her was the first impulse that thrilled her, but as she +began to search her brain for a plot, the joy of the work itself made her +forget everything else, even the passing of time. She was amazed when +Lloyd called to her that they were going down to lunch. She had sat the +entire morning wrapped in her steamer-rug, looking out across the water +with far-seeing eyes. As the blue waves rose and fell, her thoughts had +risen and swayed to their rhythmic motion, and begun to shape themselves +into rhyme. Line after line was taking form, and she wished impatiently +that Lloyd had not called her. How could one be hungry when some inward +power, past understanding, was making music in one's soul? + +She followed Lloyd down to the table like one in a trance, but the spell +was broken for awhile by Lloyd's persistent chatter. + +"You know there's all sort of things you could have," she suggested, "if +you wanted to use them in the piece. Tarbaby and the Filipino pony, and we +could even borrow the beah from Fairchance if you wanted anything like +Beauty and the Beast. We had that once though, at Jonesy's benefit, so +maybe you wouldn't want to use it again." + +"There's to be a knight in it," answered Betty, "and he'll be mounted in +one scene. So we may need one of the ponies." Then she turned to her +godmother. "Do you suppose there is a spinning-wheel anywhere in the +neighbourhood that we could borrow?" + +"Yes, I have one of my great-grandmother's stored away in the trunk-room. +You may have that." + +The Little Colonel shrugged her shoulders impatiently. "Oh, I can't wait +to know what you're goin' to do with a spinnin'-wheel in the play. Tell me +now, Betty." + +But the little playwright only shook her head "I'm not sure myself yet. +But I keep thinking of the humming of the wheel, and a sort of +spinning-song keeps running through my head. I thought, too, it would +help to make a pretty scene." + +"You're goin' to put Hero in it, aren't you?" was the Little Colonel's +question. + +"Oh, Lloyd! I can't," cried Betty, in dismay. "A dog couldn't have a part +with princes and witches and fairies." + +"I don't see why not," persisted Lloyd. "I sha'n't take half the interest +if he isn't in it. I think you might put him in, Betty," she urged. "I'd +do as much for you, if it was something you had set your heart on. +_Please_, Betty!" she begged. + +"But he won't fit anywhere!" said Betty, in a distressed tone. "I'd put +him in, gladly, if he'd only go, but, don't you see, Lloyd, he isn't +appropriate. It would spoil the whole thing to drag him in." + +"I don't see why," said Lloyd, a trifle sharply. "Isn't it going to be a +Red Cross entahtainment, and isn't Hero a Red Cross dog? I think it's +_very_ appropriate for him to have a part, even one of the principal +ones." + +"I can't think of a single thing for him to do--" began Betty. + +"You can if you try hard enough," insisted Lloyd. + +Betty sighed hopelessly, and turned to her lunch in silence. She wanted to +please the Little Colonel, but it seemed impossible to her to give Hero a +part without spoiling the entertainment. + +"Maybe some of the books in the ship's library might help you," said Mr. +Sherman, who had been an amused listener. "I'll look over some of them for +you." + +Later in the day he came up to Betty where she stood leaning against the +deck railing. He laid a book upon it, open at a picture of seven white +swans, "Do you remember this?" he asked. "The seven brothers who were +changed to swans, and the good sister who wove a coat for each one out of +flax she spun from the churchyard nettles? The magic coats gave them back +their human forms. Maybe you can use the same idea, and have your prince +changed into a dog for awhile." + +"Oh, thank you!" she cried. "I'd forgotten that story. I am sure it will +help." + +He walked away, leaving her poring over the picture, but presently, as he +paced the deck, he felt her light touch on his arm, and turned to see her +glowing little face looking up into his. + +"I've got it!" she cried. "The picture made me think of the very thing. I +had been fumbling with a tangled skein, trying to find a place to begin +unwinding. Now you have given me the starting thread, and it all begins to +smooth out beautifully. I'm going for pencil and paper now, to write it +all down before I forget." + +That pencil and note-book were her constant companions the rest of the +voyage. Sometimes Lloyd, coming upon her suddenly, would hear her +whispering a list of rhymes such as more, core, pour, store, shore, +before, or creature, teacher, feature, at which they would both laugh and +Betty exclaim, hopelessly, "I can't find a word to fit that place." At +other times Lloyd passed her in respectful silence, for she knew by the +rapt look on Betty's face that the mysterious business of verse-making was +proceeding satisfactorily, and she dared not interrupt. + +The day they sighted land, Lloyd exclaimed: "Oh, I can hardly wait to get +home! I've had a perfectly lovely summah, and I've enjoyed every mile of +the journey, but the closah I get to Locust the moah it seems to me that +the very nicest thing my wondah-ball can unroll (except givin' me Hero, of +co'se) is the goin' back home." + +"Your wonder-ball," repeated Betty, who knew the birthday story. "That +gives me an idea. The princess shall have a wonder-ball in the play." + +Lloyd laughed. "I believe that's all you think about nowadays, Betty. Put +up yoah scribblin' for awhile and come and watch them swing the trunks up +out of the hold. We're almost home, Betty Lewis, almost home!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOME AGAIN + + +Meanwhile in Lloydsboro Valley the summer had slipped slowly by. Locust +seemed strangely quiet with the great front gates locked, and never any +sound of wheels or voices coming down the avenue. Judge Moore's place was +closed also, and Tanglewood, just across the way, had been opened only a +few weeks in the spring. So birds and squirrels held undisputed possession +of that part of the Valley, and the grass grew long and the vines climbed +high, and often the soft whisper of the leaves was the only sound to be +heard. + +But in the shady beech grove, next the churchyard, and across the avenue +from Mrs. MacIntyre's, the noise of hammer and saw and trowel had gone on +unceasingly, until at last the new home was ready for its occupants. The +family did not have far to move to "The Beeches"; only over the stile from +the quaint green-roofed cottage next door, where they had spent the +summer. + +Allison, Kitty, and Elise climbed back and forth over the stile, their +arms full of their particular treasures, which they could not trust to the +moving-vans. All the week that Betty and Lloyd were tossing out on the +ocean, they were flitting about the new house, growing accustomed to its +unfamiliar corners. By the time the _Majestic_ steamed into the New York +harbour, they were as much at home in their new surroundings as if they +had always lived there. The tent was pitched on the lawn, the large family +of dolls was brought out under the trees, and the games, good times, and +camp-fire cooking went on as if they had never been interrupted for an +instant by the topsy-turvy work of moving. + +"Whose day is it for the pony-cart?" asked Mrs. Walton, coming out on the +steps one morning. + +"It was mine," answered Kitty, speaking up from the hammock, where she +swung, half in, half out, watching a colony of ants crawling along the +ground underneath. "But I traded my turn to Elise, for her biggest paper +boy doll." + +"And I traded my turn to Allison, if she would let me use all the purple +and yellow paint I want in her paint-box, while I am making my Princess +Pansy's ball dress," said Elise. + +Mrs. Walton smiled at the transfer of rights. The little girls had an +arrangement by which they took turns in using the cart certain days in the +week, when Ranald did not want to ride his Filipino pony. + +"Whoever has it to-day may do an errand for me," Mrs. Walton said, adding, +as she turned toward the house, "Do you know that Lloyd and Betty are +coming on the three o'clock train this afternoon?" + +"Then I don't want the pony-cart," exclaimed Allison, quickly. "I'm going +down to the depot to meet them." + +The depot was in sight of The Beeches, not more than three minutes' walk +distant. + +"Can't go back on your trade!" sang out Elise. "Can't go back on your +trade!" + +"Oh, you take it, Elise," coaxed Allison. "It's my regular turn to-morrow. +I'll make some fudge in the morning, if you will." + +Elise considered a moment. "Well," she said, finally, "I'll let you off +from your trade if Kitty will let me off from mine." + +"No, _sir!_" answered Kitty. "A trade's a trade. I want that paper boy +doll." + +"But it's your regular turn," coaxed Elise, "and I'd much rather go down +to the depot to meet the girls than go riding." + +"So would I," said Kitty, spurring the procession of ants to faster speed +with her slipper toe. Then she sat up and considered the matter a moment. + +"Oh, well," she said, presently, "I don't care, after all. If it will +oblige you any I'll let you off, and take the pony myself." + +"Oh, thank you, sister," cried Elise. + +"They'll only be at the depot a few minutes," continued the wily Kitty. +"So I'll drive down to meet them in style in the cart, and then I'll go up +to Locust with them, beside the carriage, and hear all about the trip +first of anybody." + +"I wish I'd thought of that," said Elise, a shade of disappointment in her +big dark eyes. + +"I'll tell you," proposed Allison, enthusiastically, "We'll _all_ go down +in the pony-cart to meet them together. That would be the nicest way to +do." + +"Oh!" was Kitty's cool reply, "I had thought of going by for Katy or +Corinne." Then, seeing the disappointment in the faces opposite, she +added, "But maybe I might change my mind. Have you got anything to trade +for a chance to go?" + +This transfer of possessions which they carried on was like a continuous +game, of which they never tired, because of its endless variety. It was a +source of great amusement to the older members of the family. + +"It is a mystery to me," said Miss Allison, "how they manage to keep track +of their property, and remember who is the owner. I have known a doll or a +dish to change hands half a dozen times in the course of a forenoon." + +Elise promptly offered the paper boy doll again, which was promptly +accepted. Allison had nothing to offer which Kitty considered equivalent +to a seat in the cart, but by a roundabout transfer the trade was finally +made. Allison gave Elise the amount of purple and yellow paint she needed +for the Princess Pansy's ball gown, in return for which Elise gave her a +piece of spangled gauze which Kitty had long had an eye upon. Allison in +turn handed the gauze to Kitty for her right to a seat in the pony-cart, +and the affair was thus happily settled to the satisfaction of all +parties. + +"It _isn't_ that we are selfish with each other," Allison had retorted, +indignantly, one day when Corinne remarked that she didn't see how sisters +who loved each other could be so particular about everything. "It's only +with our toys and the cart that we do that way. It's a kind of game that +we've played always, and _we_ think it's lots of fun." + +So it happened that that afternoon, when the train stopped at Lloydsboro +Valley, the first thing the Little Colonel saw was the pony-cart drawn +close to the platform. Then three little girls in white dresses and fresh +ribbons, smiling broadly under their big flower-wreathed hats, sprang out +to give them a warm welcome home, with enthusiastic hugs and kisses. + +Hero's turn came next. Released from his long, tiresome confinement in the +baggage-car, he came bounding into their midst, almost upsetting the +Little Colonel in his joy at having his freedom again. He put out his +great paw to each of the little girls in turn as Lloyd bade him shake +hands with his new neighbours, but he growled suspiciously when Walker +came up and laid black fingers upon him. He had never seen a coloured man +before. + +It was Betty's first meeting with the Walton girls. She had looked forward +to it eagerly, first because they were the daughters of a man whom her +little hero-loving heart honoured as one of the greatest generals of the +army, who had given his life to his country, and died bravely in its +service, and secondly because Lloyd's letters the winter before had been +full of their sayings and doings. Mrs. Sherman, too, had told her many +things of their life in Manila, and she felt that children who had such +unusual experiences could not fail to be interesting. There was a third +reason, however, that she scanned each face so closely. She had given them +parts in the new play, and she was wondering how well they would fit those +parts. + +They in turn cast many inquiring glances at Betty, for they had heard all +about this little song-bird that had been taken away from the Cuckoo's +Nest. They had read her poem on "Night," which was published in a real +paper, and they could not help looking upon her with a deep feeling of +respect, tinged a little with awe, that a twelve-year-old girl could write +verses good enough to be published. They had heard Keith's enthusiastic +praises of her. + +"Betty's a brick!" he had said, telling of several incidents of the house +party, especially the picnic at the old mill, when she had gone so far to +keep her "sacred promise." "She's the very nicest girl I know," he had +added, emphatically, and that was high praise, coming from the particular +Keith, who judged all girls by the standard of his mother. + +As soon as the trunks were attended to, Mr. Sherman led the way to the +carriage, waiting on the other side of the platform. Hero was given a +place beside Walker, and although he sprang up obediently when he was +bidden, he eyed his companion suspiciously all the way. The pony-cart +trundled along beside the carriage, the girls calling back and forth to +each other, above the rattle of the wheels. + +"Oh, isn't Hero the loveliest dog that ever was! But you ought to see our +puppy--the cutest thing--nothing but a bunch of soft, woozy curls." ... +"We're in the new house now, you must come over to-morrow." ... "Mother is +going to take us all camping soon. You are invited, too." This from the +pony-cart in high-pitched voices in different keys. + +"Oh, I've had a perfectly lovely time, and I've brought you all something +in my trunk. And say, girls, Betty is writing a play for the Red Cross +entertainment. There's a witch in it, Kitty, and lots of pretty costumes, +Allison. And, oh, deah, I'm so glad to get home I don't know what to do +first!" This from the carriage. + +The great entrance gates were unlocked now, the lawn smoothly cut, the +green lace-work of vines trimly trained around the high white pillars of +the porches. The pony-cart turned back at the gate, and the carriage drove +slowly up the avenue alone. The mellow sunlight of the warm September +afternoon filtered down like gold, through the trees arching overhead. + +"'Oh, the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home,'" sang Lloyd, softly, +leaning out of the carriage to wave her hand to Mom Beck, who, in whitest +of aprons and gayest of head bandanas, stood smiling and curtseying on the +steps. The good old black face beamed with happiness as she cried, "Heah +comes my baby, an' li'l' Miss Betty, too, bless her soul an' body!" + +Around the house came May Lily and a tribe of little pickaninnies, who +fell back at sight of Hero leaping out of the carriage. He was the largest +dog they had ever seen. Lloyd called them all around her and made them +each shake hands with the astonished St. Bernard, who did not seem to +relish this part of his introduction to Kentucky. + +"He'll soon get used to you," said the Little Colonel. "May Lily, you run +tell Aunt Cindy to give you a cooky or a piece of chicken for him to eat. +Henry Clay, you bring a pan of watah. If you all fly around and wait on +him right good, he'll like you lots bettah." + +Leaving Lloyd to offer Hero the hospitality of Locust in the midst of her +little black admirers, Betty slowly followed her godmother up the wide +stairs. + +"You're to have the same white and gold room again, dear," said Mrs. +Sherman, peeping in as she passed the door. "I see that it is all in +readiness. So walk in and take possession." + +Betty was glad that she was alone, those first few minutes, the joy of the +home-coming was so keen. Going in, she shut the door and gave a swift +glance all around, from the dark polished floor, with its white angora +rugs, to the filmy white curtains at the open casement windows. Everything +was just as she had seen it last,--the dear little white dressing-table, +with its crystal candlesticks, that always made her think of twisted +icicles; the little heart-shaped pincushion and all the dainty toilet +articles of ivory and gold; the pictures on the wall; the freshly gathered +plumes of goldenrod in the crystal bowl on the mantel. She stood a moment, +looking out of the open window, and thinking of the year that had gone by +since she last stood in that room. Many a long and perilous mile she had +travelled, but here she was back in safety, and instead of bandaged eyes +and the horror of blindness hovering over her, she was able to look out on +the beautiful world with strong, far-seeing sight. + +The drudgery of the Cuckoo's Nest was far behind her now, and the bare +little room under the eaves. Henceforth this was to be her home. She +remembered the day in the church when her godmother's invitation to the +house party reached her, and just as she had knelt then in front of the +narrow, bench-like altar, she knelt now, beside the little white bed. +Now, as then, the late afternoon sun streamed across her brown curls and +shining face, and "_Thank you, dear God_," came in the same grateful +whisper from the depths of the same glad little heart. + +"Betty! Betty!" called Lloyd, under her window. "Come and take a run over +the place. I want to show Hero his new home." + +Tired of sitting still so long on the cars, Betty was glad to join in the +race over the smooth lawn and green meadows. Out in the pasture, Tarbaby +waited by the bars. The grapevine swing in the mulberry-tree, every nook +and corner where the guests of the house party had romped and played the +summer before, seemed to hold a special greeting for them, and every foot +of ground in old Locust seemed dearer for their long absence. + +The next morning, when Tarbaby was led around for Lloyd to take her usual +ride, both girls gave a cry of delight, for another pony followed close at +his heels. It was the one that had been kept for Betty's use during the +house party. + +"It is Lad!" called the Little Colonel, excitedly. "Oh, Papa Jack! Is he +goin' to stay heah all the time?" + +"Yes, he belongs here now," answered Mr. Sherman. "I want both my little +girls to be well mounted, and to ride every day." + +He motioned to a card hanging from Lad's bridle, and, leaning over, Lloyd +read aloud, "For Betty from Papa Jack." + +Betty could hardly realise her good fortune. + +"Is he really mine?" she insisted, "the same as Tarbaby is Lloyd's?" + +"Really yours, and just the same," answered Mr. Sherman, holding out his +hand to help her mount. + +She tried to thank him, tried to tell him how happy the gift had made her, +but words could not measure either her gratitude or her pleasure. He read +them both, however, in her happy face. As he swung her into the saddle, +she leaned forward, saying, "I want to whisper something in your ear, Mr. +Sherman." As he bent his head she whispered, "Thank you for writing Papa +Jack on the card. That made me happier than anything else." + +"That is what I want you to call me always now, my little daughter," he +answered, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Locust is your home now, and +you belong to all of us. Your godmother, the Little Colonel, and I each +claim a share." + +"What makes you so quiet?" asked Lloyd, as they rode on down the avenue. + +"I was thinking of the way Joyce's fairy tale ended," said Betty. "'So the +prince came into his kingdom, the kingdom of loving hearts and gentle +hands.' Only this time it's the princess who's come into her kingdom." + +"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd, with a puzzled look. + +"Oh, it's only some of my foolishness," said Betty, looking back over her +shoulder with a laugh. "I'm just so glad that I'm alive, and so glad that +I am me, and so happy because everybody is so heavenly kind to me, that I +wouldn't change places with the proudest princess that ever sat on a +throne." + +"Then come on, and let's race to the post-office," cried Lloyd, dashing +off, with Hero bounding along beside her. + +From the post-office they rode to The Beeches, where Allison was cooking +something over the camp-fire, beside the tent on the lawn. + +It proved to be candy, and she waved a sticky spoon in welcome. Mrs. +Walton was in a hammock, near by, her mending basket beside her, and Kitty +and Elise on the grass at her feet, watching the molasses bubble up in the +kettle. Betty felt a little shy at first, for this was her first meeting +with the General's wife, and she wished that the girls would not insist on +having an immediate outline of the play. It had seemed very fine indeed to +her when she read it aloud to herself, or repeated it to Lloyd. It had not +seemed a very childish thing to her even when she read it to her +godmother. But she shrank from Mrs. Walton's criticism. It was with many +blushes that she began. Afterward she wondered why she should have been +timid about it. Mrs. Walton applauded it so heartily, and entered into +plans for making the entertainment a success as enthusiastically as any of +the girls. + +"I bid to be witch!" cried Kitty, when Betty had finished. + +"I'd like to be the queen, if you don't care," said Allison, "for I am the +largest, and I'd rather act with Rob than the other boys. But it doesn't +make any difference. I'll be anything you want me to." + +"That's the way Betty planned it," said Lloyd. "I'm to be the captive +princess, and Keith will be my brother whom the witch changes into a dog. +That's Hero, of co'se. Malcolm will be the knight who rescues me. Rob +Moore will be king, and Elise the queen of the fairies, and Ranald the +ogah." + +"Ranald said last night that he wouldn't be in the play if he had to learn +a lot of foolishness to speak, or if he couldn't be disguised so that +nobody would know him," said Kitty. "He'll help any other way, fixing the +stage and the red lights and all that, but the Captain has a dread of +making himself appear ridiculous. Now _I_ don't. I'd rather have the funny +parts than the high and mighty ones." + +"He might be Frog-eye-Fearsome," suggested Betty. "Then he wouldn't have +anything to do but drag the prince and princess across the stage to the +ogre's tower, and the costume could be so hideous that no one could tell +whether a human or a hobgoblin was inside of it." + +"Who'll buy all the balloons for the fairies, and make our spangled +wings?" asked Elise. "Oh, I know," she cried, instantly answering her own +question. "I'll tell Aunt Elise all about it, and I know that she'll +help." + +"How will you go all the way to the seashore to tell her?" asked Kitty. + +"She isn't at the seashore," answered Elise, with an air of triumph. "She +came back from Narragansett Pier last night. Didn't she, mamma? And she +and Malcolm and Keith are coming out to grandmother's this afternoon as +straight as the train can carry them, you might know. They always do, +first thing. Don't they, mamma?" + +Mrs. Walton nodded yes, then said: "Suppose you bring the play down this +afternoon, Betty. Ask your mother to come too, Lloyd, and we'll read it +out under the trees. Now are all the characters decided upon?" + +"All but the ogre," said Betty. + +"Joe Clark is the very one for that," exclaimed Lloyd. "He is head and +shouldahs tallah than all the othah boys, although he is only fifteen, and +his voice is so deep and gruff it sounds as if it came out of the cellah. +We can stop and ask him if he'll take the part." + +"Invite him to come down to the reading of the play, too," said Mrs. +Walton. "I'll look for you all promptly at four." + +Betty almost lost her courage that afternoon when she saw the large group +waiting for her under the beech-trees on Mrs. Walton's lawn. Mrs. +MacIntyre was there, fresh and dainty as Betty always remembered her, with +the sunshine flickering softly through the leaves on her beautiful white +hair. Miss Allison, who, in the children's opinion, knew everything, sat +beside her, and worst of all, the younger Mrs. MacIntyre was there; +Malcolm's and Keith's mother, whom Betty had never seen before, but of +whom she had heard glowing descriptions from her admiring sons. + +Lloyd pointed her out to Betty as they drove in at the gate. "See, there +she is, in that lovely pink organdy. Wouldn't you love to look like her? I +would. She's like a queen." + +Betty sank back, faint with embarrassment. "Oh, godmother!" she whispered. +"I know I can't read it before all those people. It will choke me. There's +at least a dozen, and some of them are strangers." + +Mrs. Sherman smiled, encouragingly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, +dear. Your play is beautiful, in my opinion, and every one there will +agree with me when they've all heard it. Go on and do your best and make +us all proud of you." + +There was no time to hesitate. Keith was already swinging on the carriage +steps to welcome them, and Malcolm and Ranald were bringing out more +chairs to make places for them with the group under the beeches. Nobody +mentioned the play for some time. The older people were busy questioning +Mrs. Sherman about her summer abroad, and Malcolm and Keith had much to +tell the others of their vacation at the seashore; of polo and parties and +ping-pong, and several pranks that sent the children into shrieks of +laughter. + +In the midst of the hum of conversation Betty's heart almost stood still. +Mrs. Walton was calling the company to order. Coming forward, she led +Betty to a chair in the centre of the circle, and asked her to begin. It +was with hands that trembled visibly that Betty opened her note-book and +began to read "The Rescue of the Princess Winsome." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +"THE RESCUE OF THE PRINCESS WINSOME" + + + AN ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE BENEFIT + OF THE RED CROSS + + + CHARACTERS + + King Rob Moore. + Queen Allison Walton. + Prince Hero Keith MacIntyre. + PRINCESS WINSOME Lloyd Sherman. + Knight Malcolm MacIntyre. + Ogre Joe Clark. + Witch Kitty Walton. + Godmother Elizabeth Lloyd Lewis. + Frog-eye Fearsome Ranald Walton. + Titania Elise Walton. + Bewitched Prince HERO, THE RED CROSS DOG. + + Chorus of Fairies. + {Morning-glory. + {Pansy. + Flower Messengers {Rose. + {Forget-me-not. + {Poppy. + {Daisy. + +ACT I. + +SCENE I. In the Witch's Orchard. Frog-eye Fearsome drags the captive +Prince and Princess to the Ogre's tower. At Ogre's command Witch brews +spell to change Prince Hero into a dog. + +SCENE II. In front of Witch's Orchard. King and Queen bewail their loss. +The Godmother of Princess promises aid. The Knight starts in quest of the +South Wind's silver flute with which to summon the Fairies to his help. + + +ACT II. + +SCENE I. In the Tower Room. Princess Winsome and Hero. Godmother brings +spinning-wheel on which Princess is to spin Love's golden thread that +shall rescue her brother. Dove comes with letter from Knight. Flower +messengers in turn report his progress. Counting the Daisy's petals the +Princess learns that her true Knight has found the flute. + + +ACT III. + +SCENE I. In Witch's Orchard. Knight returns from quest. Blows the flute +and summons Titania and her train. They bind the Ogre and Witch in the +golden thread the Princess spun. Knight demands the spell that binds the +Prince and plucks the seven golden plums from the silver apple-tree. +Prince becomes a prince again, and King gives the Knight the hand of the +Princess and half of his Kingdom. Chorus of Fairies. + +ACT I. + +SCENE I. _Witch bends over fire in middle of orchard, brewing a charm in +her caldron. Ogre stalks in, grinning frightfully, swinging his bludgeon +in triumph._ + + _Ogre._ Ha, old witch, it is done at last! +I have broken the King's stronghold! +I have stolen away his children twain +From the clutch of their guardsmen bold. +I have dragged them here to my castle tower. +Prince Hero is strong and fair. +But he and his sister shall rue my power, +When once up yon winding stair. + + _Witch._ Now why didst thou plot such a wicked thing? +The children no harm have done. + + _Ogre._ But I have a grudge 'gainst their father, the King, +A grudge that is old as the sun. +And hark ye, old hag, I must have thy aid +Before the new moon be risen. +Now brew me a charm in thy caldron black, +That shall keep them fast in their prison! + + _Witch._ I'll brew thee no charm, thou Ogre dread! +Knowest thou not full well +The Princess thou hast stolen away +Is guarded by Fairy spell? +Her godmother over her cradle bent +"O Princess Winsome," she said, +"I give thee this gift: thou shalt deftly spin, +As thou wishest, Love's golden thread." +So I dare not brew thee a spell 'gainst her +My caldron would grow acold +And never again would bubble up, +If touched by her thread of gold. + + _Ogre._ Then give me a charm to bind the prince. +Thou canst do that much at least. +I'll give thee more gold than hands can hold, +If thou'lt change him into some beast. + + _Witch._ I have need of gold--so on the fire +I'll pile my fagots higher and higher, +And in the bubbling water stir +This hank of hair, this patch of fur, +This feather and this flapping fin, +This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin! + Bubble and boil + And snake skin coil, + This charm shall all plans + But the Ogre's foil. + + [_As Witch stirs and sings, the Ogre, stalking to the side, calls._ + + _Ogre._ Ho, Frog-eye Fearsome, let the sport begin! +Hence to the tower! Drag the captives in! + + [_Frog-eye Fearsome drags Prince Hero and Princess Winsome + across the stage, and into the door leading up the tower + stair. They are bound by ropes. Prince tries to reach his + sword. Princess shrieks._ + + _Princess._ Oh, save us, good, wise witch, +In pity, save us, pray. +The King, our royal father, +Thy goodness will repay. [_Pulls back, wringing hand._ +Oh, I cannot, _cannot_ mount the tower! +Oh, save us from the bloody Ogre's power! + + [_They are dragged into the tower, door bangs and Ogre locks it with + key a yard long. Goes back to Witch, who hands him vial + filled from caldron with black mixture._ + + _Witch._ Pour drop by drop upon Prince Hero's tongue. +First he will bark. His hands and feet +Will turn to paws, and he will seem a dog. +Seven drops will make the change complete. +The poison has no antidote save one, +And he a prince again can never be, +Unless seven silver plums he eats, +Plucked from my golden apple-tree. + + _Ogre._ Revenge is sweet, +And soon 'twill be complete! +Then to my den I'll haste for gold to delve. +I'll bring it at the black, bleak hour of twelve! + +_Witch._ And I upon my broomstick now must fly +To woodland tryst. Come, Horned Owl +And Venomed Toad! Now play the spy! +Let no one through my orchard prowl. + + [_Exit Witch and Ogre to dirge music._ + + +SCENE II. _Enter King and Queen weeping. They pace up +and down, wringing hands, and showing great signs of +grief. Godmother enters from opposite side. King speaks._ + + _King._ Good dame, Godmother of our daughter dear, +Perhaps thou'st heard our tale of woe. +Our children twain are stolen away +By Ogre Grim, mine ancient foe. + +All up and down the land we've sought +For help to break into his tower. +And now, our searching all for nought, +We've come to beg the Witch's power. + + [_Godmother springs forward, finger to lip, and anxiously waves + them away from orchard._ + + _Godmother._ Nay! Nay! Your Majesty, go not +Within that orchard, now I pray! +The Witch and Ogre are in league. +They've wrought you fearful harm this day. +She brewed a draught to change the prince +Into a dog! Oh, woe is me! +I passed the tower and heard him bark: +Alack! That I must tell it thee! + + [_Queen shrieks and falls back in the King's arms, then recovering + falls to wailing._ + + _Queen._ My noble son a _dog?_ A _beast?_ +It cannot, must not, _shall_ not be! +I'll brave the Ogre in his den, +And plead upon my bended knee! + + _Godmother._ Thou couldst not touch his heart of stone. +He'd keep _thee_ captive in his lair. +The Princess Winsome can alone +Remove the cause of thy despair. +And I unto the tower will climb, +And ere is gone the sunset's red, +Shall bid her spin a counter charm-- +A skein of Love's own Golden Thread. +Take heart, O mother Queen! Be brave! +Take heart, O gracious King, I pray! +Well can she spin Love's Golden Thread, +And Love can _always_ find a way! [_Exit Godmother._ + + _Queen._ She's gone, good dame. But what if she +Has made mistake, and thread of gold +Is not enough to draw our son +From out the Ogre's cruel hold? +Canst think of nought, your Majesty? +Of nothing else? Must we stand here +And powerless lift no hand to speed +The rescue of our children dear? + + [_King clasps hand to his head in thought, then starts forward._ + + _King._ I have it now! This hour I'll send +Swift heralds through my wide domains, +To say the knight who rescues them +Shall wed the Princess for his pains. + + _Queen._ Quick! Let us fly! I hear the sound of feet, +As if some horseman were approaching nigher. +'Twould not be seemly should he meet +Our royal selves so near the Witch's fire. + + [_They start to run, but are met by Knight on horseback in centre of + stage. He dismounts and drops to one knee._ + + _King._ 'Tis Feal the Faithful! Rise, Sir Knight, +And tell us what thou doest here! + + _Knight._ O Sire, I know your children's plight +I go to ease your royal fear. + + _Queen._ Now if thou bringst them back to us, +A thousand blessings on thy head. + + _King._ Ay, half my kingdom shall be thine. +The Princess Winsome thou shalt wed. + + _Queen._ But tell us, how dost thou think to cope +With the Ogre so dread and grim? +What is the charm that bids thee hope +Thou canst rout and vanquish him? + + _Knight._ My faithful heart is my only charm, +But my good broadsword is keen, +And love for the princess nerves my arm +With the strength of ten, I ween. +Come weal, come woe, no knight can fail +Who goes at Love's behest. +Long ere one moon shall wax and wane, +I shall be back from my quest. +I have only to find the South Wind's flute. +In the Land of Summer it lies. +It can awaken the echoes mute, +With answering replies. +And it can summon the fairy folk +Who never have said me nay. +They'll come to my aid at the flute's clear call. +Love _always_ can find a way. + + _King._ Go, Feal the Faithful. It is well! +Successful mayst thou be, +And all the way that thou dost ride, +Our blessings follow thee. [_Curtain._ + + +ACT II. + +SCENE. _Room in Ogre's tower. Princess Winsome kneeling +with arm around Dog's neck._ + + _Princess._ _Art_ thou my brother? Can it be +That thou hast taken such shape? +Oh turn those sad eyes not on me! +There _must_ be some escape. +And yet our parents think us dead. +No doubt they weep this very hour, +For no one ever has escaped, +Ere this, the Ogre's power. + +Oh cruel fate! We can but die! +Each moment seems a week. +_Is_ there no hope? Oh, Hero dear, +If thou couldst only speak! +But no! Within this tower room +We're captive, and despair +Must settle on us. 'Tis the doom +Of all dragged up yon winding stair. + + [_Drops her head and weeps. Enter Godmother, who waves wand + and throwing back curtain, displays a spinning-wheel._ + + _Godmother._ Rise, Princess Winsome, +Dry your weeping eyes. +The way of escape +Within your own hand lies. + +Waste no time in sorrow, +Spin and sing instead. +Spin for thy brother's sake, +A skein of golden thread. + +Question not the future, +Mourn not the past, +But keep thy wheel a-turning, +Spinning well and fast. + +All the world helps gladly +Those who help themselves, +And the thread thou spinnest, +Shall be woven by elves. + +All good things shall speed thee! +Thy knight, the Faithful Feal, +Is to thy rescue riding. +Up! To thy spinning-wheel! [_Disappears behind curtain._ + + _Princess._ All good things shall speed me? +Sir Knight, the Faithful Feal, +Is to my rescue riding? [_In joyful surprise._ +Turn, turn, my spinning-wheel! +(_She sings._) + + +[Spinning Wheel Song. + +My godmother bids me spin, that my heart may not be sad. +Spin and sing for my brother's sake, and the spinning makes me glad. +Spin, sing with humming whir, the wheel goes round and round. +For my brother's sake, the charm I'll break, Prince Hero shall be found. +Spin, sing, the golden thread, +Gleams in the sun's bright ray, +The humming wheel my grief can heal, +For love will find a way.] + + [_Pauses with uplifted hand._ + +What's that at my casement tapping? +Some messenger, maybe. +Pause, good wheel, in thy turning, +While I look out and see. + + [_Opens casement and leans out, as if welcoming a carrier dove, + which may be concealed in basket outside window._ + +Little white dove, from my faithful knight, +Dost thou bring a message to me? +Little white dove with the white, white breast, +What may that message be? + + [_Finds note, tied to wing._ + +Here is his letter. Ah, well-a-day! +I'll open it now, and read. +Little carrier dove, with fluttering heart, +I'm a happy maiden, indeed. +(_She reads._) "O Princess fair, in the Ogre's tower, +In the far-off Summer-land +I seek the South Wind's silver flute, +To summon a fairy band. +Now send me a token by the dove +That thou hast read my note. +Send me the little heart of gold +From the chain about thy throat. +And I shall bind it upon my shield, +My talisman there to stay. +And then all foes to me must yield, +For Love will find the way. + +Here is set the hand and seal +Of thy own true knight, the faithful--Feal." + + [_Princess takes locket from throat and winds chain around dove's + neck._ + +_Princess sings._ + +[The Dove Song. + +Now, flutter and fly, flutter and fly, +Bear him my heart of gold, +Bid him be brave little carrier dove! +Bid him be brave and bold! +Tell him that I at my spinning wheel, +Will sing while it turns and hums, +And think all day of his love so leal, +Until with the flute he comes. +Now fly, flutter and fly, +Now flutter and fly, away, away.] + + [_Sets dove at liberty. Turning to wheel again, repeats song._ + + _Princess repeats._ My Godmother bids me spin, +That my heart may not be sad; +Spin and sing for my brother's sake, +And the spinning makes me glad. + +Sing! Spin! With hum and whir +The wheel goes round and round. +For my brother's sake the charm I'll break! +Prince Hero shall be found. + +Spin! Sing! The golden thread +Gleams in the sunlight's ray! +The humming wheel my grief can heal, +For Love will find a way. + + [_First messenger appears at window, dressed as a Morning-glory._ + + _Morning-glory._ Fair Princess, +This morning, when the early dawn +Was flushing all the sky, +Beside the trellis where I bloomed, +A knight rode slowly by. + +He stopped and plucked me from my stem, +And said, "Sweet Morning-glory, +Be thou my messenger to-day, +And carry back my story. + +"Go bid the Princess in the tower +Forget all thought of sorrow. +Her true knight will return to her +With joy, on some glad morrow." [_Disappears._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin! spin! The golden thread +Holds no thought of sorrow. +My true knight he shall come to me +With joy on some glad morrow. + + [_Second flower messenger, dressed at Pansy, appears at window._ + + _Pansy._ Gracious Princess, +I come from Feal the Faithful. +He plucked me from my bower, +And said, speed to the Princess +And say, "Like this sweet flower +The thoughts within my bosom +Bloom ever, love, of thee. +Oh, read the pansy's message, +And give a thought to me." [_Pansy disappears._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread! +And turn, O humming wheel. +This pansy is his thought of me, +My true knight, brave and leal. + + [_Third flower messenger, a pink Rose._ + + _Rose._ Thy true knight battled for thee to-day, +On a fierce and bloody field, +But he won at last in the hot affray, +By the heart of gold on his shield. + +He saw me blushing beside a wall, +My petals pink in the sun +With pleasure, because such a valiant knight +The hard-fought battle had won. + +And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek, +And once in my heart of gold, +And bade me hasten to thee and speak. +Pray take the message I hold. + + [_Princess goes to the window, takes a pink rose from the +messenger. As she walks back, kisses it and fastens it on her +dress. Then turns to wheel again._ + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread, +And turn, O happy wheel. +The pink rose brought in its heart of gold, +A kiss, his love to seal. + + + [_Fourth messenger, a Forget-me-not._ + + _Forget-me-not._ Fair Princess, +Down by the brook, when the sun was low, +A brave knight paused to slake +His thirst in the water's silver flow, +As he journeyed far for thy sake, +He saw me bending above the stream, +And he said, "Oh, happy spot! +Ye show me the Princess Winsome's eyes +In each blue forget-me-not." +He bade me bring you my name to hide +In your heart of hearts for ever, +And say as long as its blooms are blue, +No power true hearts can sever. + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread. +O wheel; my happy lot +It is to hide within my heart +That name, forget-me-not. + + [_Fifth messenger, a Poppy._ + + _Poppy._ Dear Princess Winsome, +Within the shade of a forest glade +He laid him down to sleep, +And I, the Poppy, kept faithful guard +That it might be sweet and deep. +But oft in his dreams he stirred and spoke, +And thy name was on his tongue, +And I learned his secret ere he woke, +When the fair new day was young. +And this is what he, whispering, said, +As he journeyed on in his way: +"Bear her my dreams in your chalice red, +For I dream of her night and day." + + _Princess sings._ Spin, spin, O golden thread. +He dreams of me night and day! +The poppy's chalice is sweet and red. +Oh, Love will find a way! + + [_Sixth messenger, a Daisy._ + + _Daisy._ O Princess fair, +Far on the edge of the Summer-land +I stood with my face to the sun, +And the brave knight counted with strong hand +My petals, one by one. + +And he said, "O Daisy, white and gold, +The princess must count them too. +By thy petals shall she be told +If my long, far quest is through. + +"Whether or not her knight has found +The South Wind's flute that he sought." +So over the hills from the Summer-land, +Your true knight's token I've brought. + + [_Gives Princess a large artificial daisy. She counts petals, slowly + dropping them one by one._ + + _Princess._ Far on the edge of the Summer-land, +O Daisy, white and gold, +My true love held you in his hand. +What was the word he told? +He's found it. Found it not. +Found it. Found it not. + +That magic flute of the South Wind, sweet, +Will he blow it, over the lea? +Will the fairy folk its call repeat, +And hasten to rescue me? + +He's found it, found it not. +Found it, found it not. +Found it, found it not. +He's _found_ it! [_Turning to the dog._ + +Come, Hero! Hear me, brother mine; +Thy gladness must indeed be mute, +But oh, the joy! We're saved! We're saved! +My knight has found the silver flute! + +(_Sings._) + +["Spin, Wheel, Reel Out Thy Golden Thread." + + +Spin, wheel, reel out thy golden thread, +My happy heart sings glad and gay, +Hero shall 'scape the Ogre dread, +And I my own true love shall wed. +For love has found a way, +For love has found a way.] + + [_Curtain._ + + +ACT III. + +SCENE. _In front of Witch's Orchard. Knight comes riding by, +blows flute softly under the tower window. Princess +leans out and waves her hand. Knight dismounts, and +little page takes horse, leading it off stage._ + + _Knight._ Lean out of thy window, O Princess fair, +Rescuers now are at hand. +Thou shalt be led down the winding stair +By the Queen of the Fairy band. + +Listen, as low on the South Wind's flute +I call the elves to our tryst +Down rainbow bubbles they softly float, +Light-winged as stars in a mist. + + [_He blows on flute, and from every direction the Fairies come + floating in, their gauzy wings spangled, and each one carrying + a toy balloon, attached to a string. They trip back and + forth, their balloons bobbing up and down like rainbow bubbles, + singing._ + + +[Fairy Chorus. + +We come, we come at thy call, +On rainbow bubbles we float. +We fairies, one and all, +Have answered the wind flute's note. + +The south wind's silver flute, +From the far-off summer land, +It bade us hasten here, +To lend a helping hand. +It bade us hasten, hasten here, +To lend a helping hand. + +2. To the aid of the gallant knight, +To the help of the princess fair, +To the rescue of the prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. +To the rescue of the prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. + +3. And now, at thy behest, +We pause in our bright array, +To end thy weary quest, +For love has found a way. To end thy weary, +weary quest, For love has found a way.] + + [_Titania coming forward, waves Her star-tipped wand, + and looks up toward Princess at the window._ + + _Titania._ Princess Winsome, +When thy good Godmother +Bade thee spin Love's thread, +It was with this promise, +These the words she said: + +All the world helps gladly +Those who help themselves. +The thread thou spinnest bravely, +Shall be woven by elves. +And now, O Princess Winsome, +How much hast thou spun, +As thy wheel, a-whirling, +Turned from sun to sun? + + _Princess._ This, O Queen Titania. [_Holding up mammoth ball._ +To the humming wheel's refrain, +I sang, and spun the measure +Of one great golden skein. + +And winding, winding, winding, +At last I wound it all, +Until the thread all golden +Made a mammoth wonder-ball. + + _Titania._ Here below thy casement +Thy true knight waiting stands. +Drop the ball thou holdest +Into his faithful hands. + + [_Princess drops the ball, Knight catches it, and as Titania waves + her wand, he starts along the line of Fairies. They each take + hold as the Witch and Ogre come darting in, she brandishing + her broomstick, he his bludgeon. They come through + gate of the Orchard in the background. As the ball unwinds, + the Fairies march around them, tangling them in the yards + and yards of narrow yellow ribbon, singing as they go. + +Fairy Chorus._ We come, we come at thy call, +On rainbow bubbles we float. +We fairies, one and all, +Have answered the Wind-flute's note. +To the aid of the gallant Knight, +To the help of the Princess fair, +To the rescue of the Prince, +We come to the Ogre's lair. +We come, we come at thy call, +The Witch and Ogre to quell, +And now they both must bow +To the might of the fairies' spell. +Love's Golden Thread can bind +The strongest Ogre's arm, +And the spell of the blackest Witch +Must yield to its mighty charm. + + [_Ogre and Witch stand bound and helpless, tangled in golden cord. + They glower around with frightful grimaces. King and + Queen enter unnoticed from side. Knight draws his sword, + and brandishing it before Ogre, cries out fiercely._ + + _Knight._ The key! The key that opens yonder tower! +Now give it me, or by my troth +Your head shall from your shoulders fly! +To stab you through I'm nothing loath! + + [_Ogre gives Knight the key. He rushes to the door, unlocks it, + and Princess and dog burst out. Queen rushes forward and + embraces her, then the King, and Knight kneels and kisses + her hand. Princess turns to Titania._ + + _Princess._ Oh, happy day that sets me free +From yon dread Ogre's prison! +Oh, happy world, since 'tis for me +Such rescuers have 'risen. +But see, your Majesty! the plight +Of Hero--he the Prince, my brother! +Wilt thou _his_ wrong not set aright? +Another favour grant! One other! + + [_Titania waves wand toward Knight who springs at Witch with + drawn sword._ + + _Knight._ The spell! The spell that breaks the power +That holds Prince Hero in its thrall! +Now give it me, or in this hour +Thy head shall from its shoulders fall! + + _Witch._ Pluck with your thumbs +Seven silver plums [_Speaking in high, cracked voice._ +From my golden apple-tree! +These the dog must eat. +The change will be complete, +And a prince once more the dog will be! + + + [_Princess darts back into Orchard, followed by dog, who crouches + behind hedge, and is seen no more. She picks plums, and, + stooping, gives them to him, under cover of the hedge. The + real Prince Hero leaps up from the place where he has been + lying, waiting, and hand in hand they run back to the centre + of the stage, where the Prince receives the embraces of King + and Queen. Prince then turns to Knight._ + + _Prince Hero._ Hail, Feal the Faithful! +My gratitude I cannot tell, +That thou at last hath freed me +From the Witch's fearful spell. +But wheresoe'er thou goest, +Thou faithful knight and true, +The favours of my kingdom +Shall all be showered on you. [_Turns to Titania._ +Hail, starry-winged Titania! +And ye fairies, rainbow-hued! +I have not words sufficient +To tell my gratitude, +But if the loyal service +Of a mortal ye should need, +Prince Hero lives to serve you, +No matter what the deed! + + [_Characters now group themselves in tableau. Queen and Prince + on one side, Godmother and Titania on the other. King in + centre, with Princess on one hand, Knight on other. He + places her hand in the Knight's, who kneels to receive it. Ogre + and Witch, still making horrible faces, are slightly in background, + bound. Fairies form an outer semicircle._ + +_King._ And now, brave Knight, requited stand! +Here is the Princess Winsome's hand. +To-morrow thou shalt wedded be, +And half my kingdom is for thee! + + _Fairy Chorus._ Love's golden cord has bound +The strongest Ogre's arm, +And the spell of the blackest Witch +Has yielded to its charm. +The Princess Winsome plights +Her troth to the Knight to-day, +So fairies, one and all, +We need no longer stay. + +The golden thread is spun, +The Knight has won his bride, +And now our task is done, +We may no longer bide. +On rainbow bubbles bright, +We fairies float away. +_The wrong is now set right +And Love has found the way!_ + + [_Curtain._ + +As Betty finished reading, there was a babel of voices and a clapping of +hands that made her face grow redder and redder. They were all trying to +congratulate her at once, and she was so confused that she wished she +could run away and hide. But the applause was very sweet to shy little +Betty. She felt that she had done her best, and that not only her +godmother was proud of her, but Keith, and Keith's beautiful mother, who +bent from her queenly height to kiss Betty's flushed cheek, and whisper a +word of praise that made her glow for weeks afterward, whenever she +thought of it. + + "'And he kissed me once on my soft pink cheek, + And once in my heart of gold,'" + +hummed Keith. "Say, Betty, that's mighty pretty. How did you ever think of +it?" + +Before she could answer, one of the maids came out with a tray of sherbet +and cake, and the boys sprang up to help serve the girls. + +"I know some of my part already," said Kitty, stirring her sherbet +suggestively, and repeating in a sepulchral tone: + + "'I'll stir + This hank of hair, this patch of fur, + This feather and this flapping fin, + This claw, this bone, this dried snake skin.'" + +"Oh, Kitty, for mercy's sake _hush!_" said Allison; "you make my blood run +cold." + +"But I must, if we've only a week to get ready in. I expect to say it day +and night. It's better to do that than to take more than a week, and give +up the camping party, isn't it?" + +"It's going to be a howling success," prophesied Malcolm. "When mamma and +auntie and Aunt Mary go into a scheme the way they are doing now, costumes +and drills, and all sorts of impossible things don't count at all. We'll +be ready in plenty of time." + +"Especially," said the Little Colonel, with dignity, "when mothah and Papa +Jack are goin' to do so much. My pa'ht is longah than anybody's." + +Next morning at the depot, the post-office, and the blacksmith shop a sign +was displayed which everybody stopped to read. Similar announcements +nailed on various trees throughout the Valley caused many an old farmer to +pull up his team and adjust his spectacles for a closer view of this novel +poster. + +They were all Miss Allison's work. Each one bore at the top a crayon +sketch of a huge St. Bernard, with a Red Cross on its collar and +shoulder-bags. Underneath was a notice to the effect that an entertainment +would be given the following Friday night in the college hall, a short +concert, followed by a play called "The Princess Winsome's Rescue," in +which _Hero_, the Red Cross dog recently brought from Switzerland, would +take a prominent part. The proceeds were to be given to the cause of the +Red Cross. + +That announcement alone would have drawn a large crowd, but added to that +was the fact that twenty families in the Valley had each contributed a +child to the fairy chorus or the group of flower messengers, and were thus +personally interested in the success of the entertainment. + +There was scarcely standing-room when the doors were opened Friday +evening. Papa Jack felt well repaid for his part in the hurried +preparations when, after the musical part of the programme, he heard the +buzz of admiration that went around the room, as the curtain rose on the +first scene of the play. It was the dimly lighted witch's orchard. + +Across the stage, five feet back from the footlights, ran a snaky-looking +fence with high-spiked posts. It had taken him all morning to build it, +even with Alec's and Walker's help. Above this peered a thicket of small +trees and underbrush bearing a marvellous crop of gold and silver apples +and plums. Real gold and silver fruit it looked to be in the dim light, +and not the discarded ornaments of a score of old Christmas-trees. A +stuffed owl kept guard on one high gate-post, and a huge black velvet cat +on the other. + +In the centre of the stage, showing plainly through the open double gates, +the witch's caldron hung on a tripod, over a fire of fagots. Here Kitty, +dressed like an old hag, leaned on her blackened broomstick, stirring the +brew, and muttering to herself. + +At one side of the stage could be seen the door leading into the ogre's +tower, and above it a tiny casement window. + +Mrs. Walton gave a nod of satisfaction over her work, when the ogre came +roaring in. His costume was of her making, even to the bludgeon which he +carried. "Nobody could guess that it was only an old Indian club painted +red to hide the lumps of sealing-wax I had to stick on to make the +regulation knots," she whispered to Keith's father, who sat next her. "And +no one would ever dream that the ogre is Joe Clark. I had hard work to +persuade him to take the part, but an invitation to my camping party next +week proved to be effective bait. And such a time as I had to get Ranald's +costume! I was about to ask Betty to change his name, when Elise found +that Mardi Gras frog at some costumer's. Those webbed feet and hideous +eyes are enough to strike terror to any one's soul." + +It was a play in which every one was pleased with the part given him. +Allison and Rob swept up and down in their gilt crowns and ermine-trimmed +robes of royal purple, feeling that as king and queen they had the most +important parts of all. Keith looked every inch the charming Prince Hero +he personated, and Malcolm made such a dashing knight that there was a +burst of applause every time he appeared. + +Betty made a dear old godmother, and Elise, with crown and star-tipped +wand, filmy spangled wings, and big red bubble of a balloon, was supremely +happy as Queen of the Fairies. But it was the Little Colonel who won the +greatest laurels, in the tower room, making the prettiest picture of all +as she bent over the great St. Bernard, bewailing their fate. + +The scenery had been changed with little delay between acts. Three tall +screens, hastily unfolded just in front of the spiked fence, hid the +orchard from view, and a fourth screen served the double purpose of +forming the side wall of the room, and hiding the ogre's tower. The narrow +space between the screens and the footlights was ample for the scene that +took place there, and the arrangement saved much trouble. For in the last +act, the screens had only to be carried away, to leave the stage with its +original setting. + +"Lloyd never looked so pretty before, in her life," said Mr. Sherman to +his wife, as they watched the Princess Winsome tread back and forth beside +the spinning-wheel, the golden cord held lightly in her white fingers. But +she was even prettier in the next scene, when with the dove in her hands +she stood at the window, twining the slender gold chain about its neck and +singing in a high, sweet voice, clear as a crystal bell: + + "Flutter and fly, flutter and fly, + Bear him my heart of gold. + Bid him be brave, little carrier dove, + Bid him be brave and bold." + +Twice many hands called her back, and many eyes looked admiringly as she +sang the song again, holding the dove to her breast and smoothing its +white feathers as she repeated the words: + + "Tell him that I at my spinning-wheel + Will sing while it turns and hums, + And think all day of his love so leal + Until with the flute he comes." + +"Jack," said some one in a low tone to Mr. Sherman, as the applause died +away for the third time, "Jack, when the Princess Winsome is a little +older, you'd be wise to call in the ogre's help. You'll have more than one +Kentucky Knight trying to carry her away if you don't." + +Mr. Sherman made some laughing reply, but turned away so absorbed by a +thought that his friend's words had suggested that he lost all of the +flower messengers' speeches. That some knight might want to carry off his +little Princess Winsome was a thought that had never occurred to him +except as some remote possibility far in the future. But looking at her as +she stood in her long court train, he realised that in a few more months +she would be in her teens, and then--time goes so fast! He sighed, +thinking with a heavy sinking of the heart that it might be only a few +years until she would be counting the daisy petals in earnest. + +The curtain hitched just at the last, so that it would not go down, so +with their rainbow bubbles bright the fairies ran off the stage toward +various points in the audience, for the coveted admiration and praise +which they knew was their due. + +"Wasn't Hero fine? Didn't he do his part beautifully?" cried Lloyd, as her +father, with one long step, raised himself up to a place beside her on the +stage, where the children were holding an informal reception. + +"Show him the money-box," cried Keith, pressing down through the crowds +from the outer door whither he had gone after the entrance receipts. + +"Just look, old fellow. There's dollars and dollars in there. See what +you've done for the Red Cross. If it hadn't been for you, Betty never +would have written the play." + +"And if it hadn't been for Betty's writing the play you never would have +sent me this heart of gold," said Malcolm in an aside to Lloyd, as he +unfastened her locket and chain from his shield. "Am I to keep it always, +fair princess?" + +"No, indeed!" she answered, laughingly, holding out her hand to take it. +"Papa Jack gave me that, and I wouldn't give it up to any knight undah the +sun." + +"That's right, little daughter," whispered her father, "I am not in such a +hurry to give up my Princess Winsome as the old king was. Come, dear, help +me find Betty. I want to tell her what a grand success it was." + +Lloyd slipped a hand in her father's and led him toward a wing whither the +shy little godmother had fled, without a glance in Malcolm's direction. +But afterward, when she came out of the dressing-room, wrapped in her long +party-cloak, she saw him standing by the door. "Good night!" he said, +waving his plumed helmet. Then, with a mischievous smile, he sang in an +undertone: + + "Go bid the princess in the tower + Forget all thought of sorrow. + Her true knight will return to her + With joy, on some glad morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +IN CAMP + + +Several miles from Lloydsboro Valley, where a rapid brook runs by the +ruins of an old paper-mill, a roaring waterfall foams and splashes. Even +in the long droughts of midsummer it is green and cool there, for the +spray, breaking on the slippery stones, freshens the ferns on the bank, +and turns its moss to the vivid hue of an emerald. Near by, in an open +pasture, sloping down from a circle of wooded hills, lies an ideal spot +for a small camp. + +It was here that Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison came one warm afternoon, the +Monday following the entertainment, with a wagonette full of children. +Ranald, Malcolm, Keith, and Rob Moore had ridden over earlier in the day +to superintend the coloured men who dug the trenches and pitched the +tents. By the time the wagonette arrived, fuel enough to last a week was +piled near the stones where the camp-fire was laid, and everything was in +readiness for the gay party. Flags floated from the tent poles, and +Dinah, the young coloured woman who was to be the cook, came up from the +spring, balancing a pail of water on her head, smiling broadly. + +As the boys and girls swarmed out and scurried away in every direction +like a horde of busy ants, Mrs. Walton turned to her sister with a laugh. +"Did we lose any of them on the way, Allison? We'd better count noses." + +"No, we are all here: eight girls, four boys, the four already on the +field, Dinah and her baby, and ourselves, twenty in all." + +"Twenty-one, counting Hero," corrected Mrs. Walton, as the great St. +Bernard went leaping after Lloyd, sniffing at the tents, and barking +occasionally to express his interest in the frolic. "He seems to be +enjoying it as much as any of us." + +"I wish that they were all as able to take care of themselves as he is. It +would save us a world of anxiety. Do you begin to realise, Mary, what a +load of responsibility we have taken on our shoulders? Sixteen boys and +girls to keep out of harm's way for a week in the woods is no easy +matter." + +"We'll keep them so busy that they'll have no time for mischief. The +wagonette isn't unloaded yet. Wait till you see the games I've brought, +and the fishing-tackle. There's an old curtain that can be hung between +those two trees any time we want to play charades." + +"Swing that hammock over there, Ranald," she called, nodding to a clump of +trees near the spring. "Then some of you boys can carry this chest back to +Dinah." She pointed to the old army mess-chest, that always accompanied +them on their picnics and outings. + +"The Ogre can do that," said the Little Captain, nodding toward Joe Clark, +who stood leaning lazily against a tree. + +"Do it yourself, Frog-Eye Fearsome," retorted Joe, at the same time coming +forward to help carry the chest to the place assigned it. + +"They'll never be able to get away from those names," said Miss Allison. +"Well, what is it, my Princess Winsome?" she asked, as Lloyd came running +up to her. + +"Please take care of these for me, Miss Allison," answered Lloyd, holding +out Hero's shoulder-bags, which she had just taken from him. "I put on his +things when we started, for mothah says nobody evah knows what's goin' to +happen in camp, and we might need those bandages." Tumbling them into Miss +Allison's lap, she was off again in breathless haste, to follow the other +girls, who were exploring the tents, and exclaiming over all the queer +make-shifts of camp life. Then they raced down to the waterfall, and, +taking off shoes and stockings, waded up and down in the brook. These +early fall days were as warm as August, so wading was not yet one of the +forbidden pastimes. They splashed up and down until the Little Captain's +bugle sent a ringing call for their return to camp. Katie was one of the +last to leave the water. Lloyd waited for her while she hurriedly laced +her shoes, and as they followed the others she said, in a confidential +tone, "Do you think you are goin' to like to stay out heah till next +Sata'day?" + +"Like it!" echoed Katie, "I could stay here a year!" + +"But at night, I mean. Sleepin' in those narrow little cots, with nothin' +ovah ou' heads but the tents, and no floah. Ugh! What if a snake or a +liz'ad should wiggle in, and you'd heah it rustlin' around in the grass +undah you! There's suah to be bugs and ants and cattahpillahs. I like camp +in the daylight, but it would be moah comfortable to have a house to sleep +in at night. I wish I could wish myself back home till mawnin'." + +"I don't mind the bugs and spiders," said Katie, recklessly, "and you'd +better not let the boys find out that you do, or they'll never stop +teasing you." + +A bountifully spread supper-table met their sight as they reached the +camp. It had been made by laying long boards across two poles, which were +supported by forked stakes driven into the ground. The eight girls made a +rush for the camp-stools on one side of the table, and the eight boys +grabbed those on the other side. + +"Don't have to have no manners in the woods," remarked little Freddy +Nicholls, straddling his stool, and beginning his supper, regardless of +the knife and fork beside his plate. "That's what I like about camping +out. You don't have to wait to have things handed to you, but can dip in +and get what you want like an Injun." + +Lloyd looked at him scornfully as she daintily unfolded her paper napkin. +She nodded a decided yes when Katie whispered, "Aren't boys horrid and +greedy!" Then she corrected herself hastily. She had seen Malcolm wait to +pass a dish of fried chicken to his Aunt Allison before helping himself, +and heard Ranald apologise to his next neighbour for accidentally jogging +his elbow. "Not all of them," she replied. + +It added much to Betty's interest in the meal to know that the cup from +which she drank, and the fork with which she ate, had been used by real +soldiers, and carried from one army post to another many times in the +travel-worn old mess chest. + +Little Elise was the only one who did not give due attention to her +supper. She sat with a cooky in her hand, looking off at the hills with +dreamy eyes, until her mother spoke to her. + +"I am trying to make some poetry like Betty did," she answered. Ever since +the play her thoughts seemed trying to twist themselves into rhymes, and +she was constantly coming up to her mother with a new verse she had just +made. + +"Well, what is it, Titania?" asked Mrs. Walton, seeing from the gleam of +satisfaction in the black eyes that the verse was ready. + +"It's all of our names," she said, shyly, waving her hand toward the girls +on her side of the table. + + "Betty, Corinne, and Lloyd, Margery, Kitty, and Kate, + Allison and Elise all together make eight." + +"Oh, that's easy," said Rob. "You just strung a lot of names together. +Anybody can do that." + +"You do it, then," proposed Kitty. "Make a verse with the boys' names in +it." + +"Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Jamie, Freddy, Keith," he began, boldly, then +hesitated. "There isn't any rhyme for Keith." + +"Change them around," suggested Malcolm. The girls would not help, and the +whole row of boys floundered among the names for a while, unwilling to be +beaten by the youngest member of the party, and a girl, at that. Finally, +by their united efforts and a hint from Miss Allison, they succeeded. + + "Malcolm, Ranald, and Rob, Keith and Freddy, and James, + Joe the Ogre, and George. Those are the boys' eight names." + +"Let's make a law," suggested Kitty, "that nobody at the table can say +anything from now on till we are through supper, unless they speak in +rhymes." + +They all agreed, but for a few minutes no one ventured a remark. Only +giggles broke the silence, until Allison asked Freddy Nicholls to pass the +pickles. Recorded here in a book, it may seem a very silly game, but to +the jolly camping party, ready to laugh at even the sheerest nonsense, it +proved to be the source of much fun. Even Freddy, to his own great +delight, surprised himself and the company by asking Elise to take some +cheese. Joe was thrown into confusion by Kitty's asking him if flesh, +fowl, or fish, was his favourite dish. As he could only nod his head, he +had to pay a forfeit, and Keith answered for him by saying, "That's not a +fair question to Joe. An ogre eats all things, you know." So it went on +until Mrs. Walton said: + + "Now all who are able, may rise from the table. + The camp-fire's burning bright. + Spread rugs on the ground, and gather around, + And we'll all tell tales in its light." + +"This is the jolliest part of it all!" exclaimed Keith, a little later, +as, stretched out on a thick Indian blanket, he looked around on the +circle of faces, glowing in the light of the leaping fagot-fire. Twilight +had settled on the camp. The tumbling of the waterfall over the rocks made +a subdued roar in the background. An owl called somewhere from the depths +of the woods. As the dismal "Tu-whit, tu who-oo" sounded through the +gloaming, Lloyd glanced over her shoulder with a shudder. + +"Ugh!" she exclaimed. "It looks as if the witch's orchard might be there +behind us, with all sorts of snaky, crawlin' things in it. Come heah, +Hero. Let me put my back against you. It makes me feel shivery to even +think of such a thing!" + +The dog edged nearer at her call, and she snuggled up against his tawny +curls with a feeling of warmth and protection. + +"Wish I had a dog like that," said Jamie, fondly stroking the silky ear +that was nearest him. "I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for him if I +had." + +"Money couldn't buy Hero!" exclaimed Lloyd. + +"Now what would you do," said Kitty, who was always supposing impossible +things, "if some old witch would come to you and say, 'You may have your +choice? a palace full of gold and silver and precious stones and give up +Hero, or keep him and be a beggar in rags?" + +"I'd be a beggah, of co'se!" cried Lloyd, warmly, throwing her arm around +the dog's neck. "Think I'd go back on anybody that had saved my life? But +I wouldn't stay a beggah," she continued. "I'd put on the Red Cross too, +and we'd go away where there was war, Hero and I, and we'd spend ou' lives +takin' care of the soldiahs. I wouldn't have to dress in rags, for I'd +weah the nurse's costume, and I'd do so much good that some day, may be, +somebody would send me the Gold Cross of Remembrance, as they did Clara +Barton, and I'm suah that I'd rathah have that, with all it means, than +all the precious stones and things that the witch could give me." + +"When did Hero save your life?" asked Joe, who had not heard the story of +the runaway in Geneva. + +"Tell us all about it, Lloyd," asked Mrs. Walton. So Lloyd began, and the +group around the fire listened with breathless attention. And that was +followed by the Major's story, and all he had told her of St. Bernard +dogs, and of the Red Cross service. Then the finding of the Major by his +faithful dog on the dark mountain after the storm. Betty's turn came next. +She repeated some of the stories they had heard on shipboard. Mrs. Walton +added her part afterward, telling her personal experience with the Red +Cross work in Cuba and the Philippines. + +"That is one reason I took such a deep interest in your little +entertainment," she said, "and was so pleased when it brought so much +money. I know that every penny under the wise direction of the Red Cross +will help to make some poor soldier more comfortable; or if some sudden +calamity should come in this country, before it was sent away, your little +fund might help to save dozens of lives." + +The fire had burned low while they talked, and Elise was yawning sleepily. +Miss Allison looked at her watch. "How the time has flown!" she exclaimed +in surprise. "Where is the bugler of this camp? It is high time for him to +play taps." + +Ranald ran for his bugle, and the clear call that he had learned to play +when he was "The Little Captain," in far-away Luzon, rang out into the +dark woods. It was answered by the same silvery notes. Mrs. Walton and +Miss Allison looked at each other in surprise, for the reply was no echo, +but the call of a real bugle, somewhere not far away. + +"Oh, we forgot to tell you, Aunt Mary," said Malcolm, noting the surprised +glance, "It's a regiment of the State Guard, in camp over by Calkin's +Cliff. We boys were over there this morning. They made a big fuss over us +when they found that Ranald was General Walton's son and we were his +nephews. They wanted us to stay to dinner, and when they found out that +you were coming to camp here, the Colonel said be wanted to come over here +and call. He used to know you out West." + +"Colonel Wayne," repeated Mrs. Walton, when Malcolm finally remembered the +name. "We knew him when he was only a young cadet at West Point. The +General was very fond of him, and I shall be glad to see him again." + +"They'll be interested in Hero," said Ranald. "Maybe they'll want to train +some war dogs for our army if they set him at work. Do you suppose he has +forgotten his training, Lloyd? Let's try him in the morning." + +"You can make a great game of it," suggested Mrs. Walton. "Rig up one of +the tents for a hospital. Some of the boys can be wounded soldiers and +some of the girls nurses." + +"All but me," said Lloyd. "I'll have to be an officer to give the ordahs. +He only knows the French words for that, and the Majah taught them to me." + +"What can we use for the brassards and costumes?" said Kitty. + +"Elise has an old red apron in the clothes-hamper that we can cut up for +crosses," said Mrs. Walton, always ready for emergencies. "But now to your +tents, every man of you, or you'll never be ready to get up in the +morning." + +It was hard to go to sleep in the midst of such strange surroundings, and +more than once Lloyd started up, aroused by the hoot of an owl, or the +thud of a bat against the side of the tent. Not until she reached out and +laid her hand on the great St. Bernard stretched out beside her cot, did +she settle herself comfortably to sleep. With the touch of his soft curls +against her fingers, she was no longer afraid. + +When the officers came into the camp next day, they found the children in +the midst of their new game. It was some time before their attention was +attracted to it, for the Colonel was one of the men who had followed +General Walton on his long, hard Indian campaign, and there were many +questions to be asked and answered, about mutual friends in the army. + +Hero was not making a serious business of the game, but was entering into +it as if it were a big frolic. He could not make believe as the boys +could, who played at soldiering. But the old words of command, uttered, in +the Little Colonel's high, excited voice, sent him bounding in the +direction she pointed, and the prostrate forms he found scattered about +the sham battle field, seemed to quicken his memory. Mrs. Walton presently +called the officer's attention to the efforts Hero was making to recall +his old lessons, and briefly outlined his history. + +"I believe he would remember perfectly," said the Colonel, watching him +with deep interest, "if we were to take him over to our camp, and try him +among the regular uniformed soldiers. Of course our accoutrements are not +the kind he has been accustomed to, but I think they would suggest them. +At least the smell of powder would be familiar, and the guns and canteens +and knapsacks might awaken something in his memory that would revive his +entire training. I should like very much to make the experiment." + +After some further conversation, Lloyd was called up to meet the +officers, and it was agreed that Hero should be taken over to the camp for +a trial on the day the sham battle was to take place. + +"The day has not yet been definitely determined," said the Colonel, "but +I'll send you word as soon as it is. By the way, my orderly was once a +young French officer, and often talks of the French army. He'll welcome +Hero like a long-lost brother, for he has a soft spot in his heart for +anything connected with his motherland. Ill send him over either this +evening or to-morrow." + +That evening the orderly rode over to bring word that the sham battle +would take place the following Thursday, and they were all invited to +witness it. Hero's trial would take place immediately after the battle. +While he stood talking to Mrs. Walton and Miss Allison, Lloyd and Kitty +came running down the hill with Hero close behind them. + +The orderly turned with an exclamation of admiration as the dog came +toward him, and held out his hand with a friendly snap of the fingers. +"Ah, old comrade," he called out in French, in a deep, hearty voice. +"Come, give me a greeting! I, too, am from the motherland." + +At sound of the familiar speech, the dog went forward, wagging his tail +violently, as if he recognised an old acquaintance. Then he stopped and +snuffed his boots in a puzzled manner, and looked up wistfully into the +orderly's face. It was a stranger he gazed at, yet voice, speech, and +appearance were like the man's who had trained him from a puppy, and he +gave a wriggle of pleasure when the big hand came down on his head, and +the deep voice spoke caressingly to him. + +When the orderly mounted his horse. Hero would have followed had not the +Little Colonel called him sharply, grieved and jealous that he should show +such marked interest in a stranger. He turned back at her call, but stood +in the road, looking after his new-found friend, till horse and rider +disappeared down the bridle-path that led through the deep woods to the +other camp. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE SENTRY'S MISTAKE + + +Promptly on Thursday, at the time appointed, the orderly rode over to Camp +Walton to escort the party back to the camp at Calkin's Cliff. The four +boys led the way on their ponies; the rest piled into a great farm wagon +filled with straw, that had been procured from one of the neighbouring +farms for the occasion. + +Hero followed obediently, when the Little Colonel ordered him to jump up +beside her, but he turned longing eyes on the orderly, whom he had +welcomed with strong marks of pleasure. It was only their second meeting, +but Hero seemed to regard him as an old friend. He leaped up to lick his +face, and bounded around him with quick, short barks of pleasure that, for +the moment, gave Lloyd a jealous pang. She was hurt that Hero should show +such an evident desire to follow him in preference to her. + +"I don't see what makes Hero act so," she said to Mrs. Walton. + +"The orderly certainly must bear a strong resemblance to some one whom +Hero knew and loved in France," she replied. "You have owned him less than +two months, and he has been away from France only a year, you must +remember. Everything must seem strange to him here. He was not brought up +to play with children, as many St. Bernards are. + +"The other night, at the entertainment, I wondered many times what Hero +must think of his strange surroundings. His life here is different in +every way from all that he has been used to. A dog trained from puppyhood +to the experiences of soldier life would naturally miss the excitement of +camp as much as a soldier suddenly retired to the life of a private +citizen." + +"Oh, deah!" sighed Lloyd, "I wish he could talk. I'd ask him if he is +unhappy. _Are_ you homesick, old fellow?" + +She took his great head between her little hands and looked earnestly into +his eyes as she asked the question. + +"_Do_ you wish you were back in the French army, following the ambulances +and hunting the wounded soldiahs? Seems to me you ought to like it so much +bettah heah in Kentucky, with, nothing to do but play and eat and sleep, +and be loved by everybody." + +"But an army dog can't get away from his training any easier than a man," +laughed the orderly, as he rode on beside the wagon. "It is a part of him. +Hero is a good soldier, and no doubt feels a greater joy in obeying what +he considers a call to duty, than in riding in the wagon at his ease, with +the ladies." + +"You know a great deal, perhaps, of this society for the training of +ambulance dogs," said Mrs. Walton. + +"Yes," he replied. "I am deeply interested in it. My brother at home keeps +me informed of its movements, and has written me much of Herr Bungartz's +methods. I think I shall have no difficulty in putting the dog through his +manoeuvres, especially as he seems to recognise me and in some way connect +me with his past life." + +Fife and drum welcomed the party as they drove into camp, and the party +were at once escorted to seats where they could watch the drill and the +sham battle. It was a familiar scene to the General's little family, and +to Miss Allison, who had visited more than one army post. But some of the +girls put their fingers in their ears when the noise of the rapid firing +began. Hero was greatly excited. + +Soon after the noise of the sham battle ceased, the field was prepared for +the dog's trial. Men were hidden behind logs, stretched out in ditches, +and left lying as if dead, in the dense thicket that skirted one side of +the field, for wounded animals, either men or beasts, instinctively crawl +away to die under cover. + +With hands almost trembling in their eagerness, Lloyd fastened the flask +and shoulder-bags on the dog. He seemed to know that something unusual was +expected of him, and wagged his tail so violently that he nearly upset the +Little Colonel. He watched every movement of the orderly, who, with a Red +Cross brassard on his arm, was acting as chief of the improvised ambulance +corps. + +"Will you give him the order, Miss Lloyd?" he asked, turning politely to +the little girl. Lloyd had pictured this moment several times on the way +over, thinking how proud she would be to stand up like a real Little +Colonel and send her orders ringing over the field before the whole +admiring regiment. But now that the moment had actually come, she blushed +and shrank back, timidly. She was not sure that she could say the strange +French words just as the Major had taught them to her, when such a crowd +of soldiers were standing by to hear. + +"Oh, _you_ do it, please," she asked. + +"If you will tell me the exact words he has been accustomed to hearing," +answered the orderly. + +Lloyd stammered them out, greatly embarrassed, feeling that her +pronunciation must have grown quite faulty from lack of practice under the +Major's careful training. The orderly repeated them in an undertone, then, +turning to Hero, gave the order in a clear, deep voice, that seemed to +thrill the dog with its familiar ring. Instantly at the sound he started +out across the field. Not a thing that had been taught him in his long, +careful training was forgotten. + +The first man he found was lying in a ditch, apparently desperately +wounded. Hero allowed him to help himself from his flask, and drag a +bandage from the bags on his back. Then, standing with his hind feet in +the ditch and his fore feet resting on the bank above him, he gave voice +until the men by the ambulance heard him, and came toward him carrying a +stretcher. + +"Look at him!" exclaimed Mrs. Walton, who with the party and several of +the officers had walked down to the hospital tent. "He knows he has done +his duty well. Did you ever see a dog manifest such delight! He fairly +wriggles with joy!" + +The praise of the men bearing the stretcher, and especially of the +orderly, seemed to send the dog into a transport of happiness. The second +man lay far on the outskirts of the field, hidden by a thicket of hazel +bushes. This time Hero's frantic barking brought no reply. The men acted +as if deaf to his appeals of help, so in a few minutes, evidently thinking +they were beyond the range of his voice, he picked up the man's cap in his +mouth, and ran back at the top of his speed. + +"Good dog!" said the orderly, taking the cap he dropped at his feet. "Go +back now and lead the way." + +"If that man had really been wounded, and had crawled under that thicket," +said Colonel Wayne, "we never could have found him alone. Only the sense +of smell could lead to such a hiding-place. The ambulance might have +passed there a hundred times and never seen a trace of him." + +The hunt went on for some time; before it closed, every man personating a +killed or wounded soldier was located and carried to the hospital tent. +When the tired dog was finally allowed to rest, he dropped down at the +orderly's feet, panting. + +"That, was certainly fine work," said the Colonel, stooping to pat Hero's +sides. "I suppose nothing could induce you to give him up to the army?" +he asked, turning to Lloyd. + +"Oh, no, no, no!" cried Lloyd, as if alarmed at the suggestion, and +pressing Hero's head protectingly against her shoulder. If she had been +proud of him before, she was doubly proud of him now. He had won the +admiration of the entire regiment. Never had he been so praised and +petted. When Mrs. Walton called her party together for their homeward +drive, it was plain to be seen that Hero was loath to leave the camp. A +word from the orderly would have kept him, despite Lloyd's commands to +jump up into the wagon. + +As the boys rode on ahead again, Keith said, "It does seem too bad to +force that dog into being a private citizen when he is a born soldier." + +"Did you hear what Colonel Wayne told mamma as we left?" asked Ranald. "He +told her that it was reported that some of the animals had escaped from +the circus that was in Louisville yesterday, and that a panther and some +other kind of a beast had been seen in these woods. He laughed and asked +her if she didn't want him to send a guard over to our camp. Of course he +was only joking, but when she saw that I had heard what he said, she told +me not to tell the girls; not to even mention such a thing, or they'd be +so frightened they'd want to break camp and go straight home." + +"It would be fun to scare them," said Rob, "but you'd better believe I'll +not say anything if there's any danger of having to go home sooner on +account of it." + +"We've got to go day after to-morrow anyhow," said Keith, gloomily. "I +wish I could miss another week of school, but I know papa wouldn't let me, +even if the camp didn't break up." + +"Come on!" called Ranald, who had pushed on ahead. "Let's hurry back and +have a good swim before supper." + +Not satisfied with the excitement of the day, the girls were no sooner out +of the wagon than some one started a wild game of prisoners' base. Then +they played hide-and-seek among the rocks and trees around the waterfall, +and while they were wiping their flushed faces, panting after the long +run, Kitty proposed that they should have a candy pulling. + +Dinah made the candy, but the girls pulled it, running a race to see whose +would be the whitest in a given time. Their arms ached long before they +were done. By the time the boys came stumbling up the hill from their long +swim in the creek, it would be hard to say which group was most tired. + +"I'm sure we'll all want to turn in early to-night," said Mrs. Walton at +supper. Freddy was yawning widely, and Elise was almost asleep over her +plate. "You are all tired." + +"All but Hero," said Miss Allison, offering him a chicken bone. "He rested +while the others played. You'd like to go through your game every day. +Wouldn't you, old boy?" + +There was no story-telling around the camp-fire that night. They gathered +around it, even before the light died out in the sky. Ranald had his +guitar and Allison her mandolin, and they thrummed accompaniments awhile +for the others to sing. But a mighty yawn catching Margery in the middle +of a verse, and Mrs. Walton discovering both Jamie and Freddy sound asleep +on the rug beside her, she proposed that they all go to bed an hour +earlier than usual. + +The Little Captain vowed he was too sleepy to blow a single toot on his +bugle, so they went to their tents without the usual sounding of taps. It +was not long before every child was asleep, worn out by the day's hard +play. Mrs. Walton lay awake sometime listening to the sounds outside the +tent. The crackling of underbrush and rustle of dry leaves was familiar +enough in the daytime, but they seemed strangely ominous now that the +lights were out. She could not help thinking of what the Colonel had told +her of the escaped panther. She imagined the panic it would make if it +should suddenly appear in their midst. Then she thought of Hero's +protecting presence, and, raising herself on her elbow, she looked across +the tent to where she knew he lay asleep. At first she could not see even +the ruff of white that made the collar around his tawny throat, for the +moon had slipped behind a cloud, but as she raised herself on her elbow, +and peered intently through the darkness, the faint misty light shone out +again, and she saw Hero plainly, the Little Colonel's outstretched hand +resting on his broad back. Then she lay down again, this time to sleep, +and soon all the little camp was wrapped in the peace and rest of perfect +silence. + +Half an hour later Hero lifted his head from between his paws and +listened. Something seemed calling him. He did not know what. Being only a +dog, he could not analyse the thoughts passing through his brain. A +restlessness seized him. He longed to be back among the familiar sights +and sounds of soldier life. This little play camp, where children tried to +make him romp continually, was not home. Locust was not home. This strange +new country full of unfamiliar faces and foreign voices was not home. But +the orderly's voice reminded him of it. Over there were bearded men and +deep voices, and strong hands, guns, and the smell of powder; fife and +drum, and canteens and knapsacks; things that he had seen daily in his +soldier life. + +Was it some call to duty that thrilled him, or only a homesick longing? As +he listened with head up, there came ringing, clear and silvery through +the night, the bugle notes from the other camp. At the first sound Hero +was on his feet. He moved noiselessly toward the tent flap, only partially +fastened, and flattening himself against the ground wriggled out. + +And if he gave no thought to the little mistress, dreaming inside the +tent, if he left without regret the life of ease and loving care to which +she had brought him, it was not because he was ungrateful, but because he +did not understand. To him his old life woke and called him in the bugle's +blowing. To him duty did not mean soft cushions, and idle days, and the +following of a happy-hearted child at play. It meant long marches and the +guarding of ambulances and the rescue of the dead and dying. A true +soldier's heart beat in the dog's shaggy body, and, obedient to his +instinct and training, he answered the summons when it sounded. With long, +swinging steps he set out in the direction of the bugle-call, taking the +road through the woods that the wagon had travelled that day, and down +which he had watched the orderly disappear. No, not deserting his duty, +but, as he understood it, hurrying back, with faithful heart to the cause +that had always claimed him. + +Now and then the moon, coming out fitfully from, behind the clouds, shone +on his great tawny body, touching the white curls of his ruff with a line +of silver. Then he would be lost in darkness again. But he swung on +unerringly, until he was almost in sight of the camp. A little farther on +a sentry paced up and down the picket-line that ran along the edge of the +woods. Hero travelled on toward him, the dry dead leaves rustling under +his paws, and now and then a twig crackling with his weight. + +The sentry paused and, listened, wondering what kind of an animal was +coming toward him in the darkness. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" he called, sharply. The moon, peeping out at that +instant, seemed to magnify the size of the great creature in his path. He +thought of the panther and the other wild beast, whatever it was, +supposed to be roaming about in the woods. Then the moon disappeared as +suddenly as it had lighted up the scene, and the big paws still pattered +on toward him in the darkness, regardless of his repeated challenge. + +As the underbrush crackled again with the weight of the great body now +almost upon him, the sentry raised his rifle. A shot rang out, arousing +the camp not yet fully settled to sleep. The echo bounded back from the +startled hills, and rolled away over the peaceful farms and orchards, +growing fainter and fainter, until only a whisper of it reached the white +tent where the Little Colonel lay dreaming. Then the moon shone out again, +and the sentry, going a few paces forward, looked down in horror at the +silent form stretched out at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"TAPS" + + +The corporal of the guard went running in the direction of the shot, and +here and there an inquiring head, was thrust out of a tent. + +"Only a dog shot, sir," he was heard to call out in answer to some +officer's question, as he passed back down the line. "Sentry took him for +a wild beast escaped from the show." + +Somebody laughed in reply, and the men who had been aroused by the noise +turned over and went to sleep. They did not know that the corporal hurried +on down to the guard-house, and that as a result of his report there was a +hasty summons for the surgeon. They did not know that it was Hero whom the +sentry bent over, gulping down a feeling in his throat that nearly choked +him, as he saw the blood welling out of the dog's shaggy white breast, and +slowly stiffening the silky hair of his beautiful yellow coat. + +The surgeon knelt down beside the dog, and as the clouds hid the moon +again, he turned the light of his lantern on the wound for a careful +examination. + +"That was a cracking good shot, Bently," he said. "He never knew what +stopped him." + +The sentry turned his head away. "I wouldn't have been the one to take +that dog's life for anything in the world!" he exclaimed. "I'd pretty near +as soon have killed a man. It never entered my head that any tame animal +would come leaping out of the woods that way at this time of night. He +loomed up nearly as big as a lion when the moon shone out on him. The next +minute it was all dark again, and I heard his big soft feet come pattering +through the leaves, straight on toward me. It flashed over me that it must +be one of those escaped circus animals, so I just let loose and blazed +away at him." + +The surgeon stood up and looked down at the still form at his feet. "It's +too bad," he said. "He was a grand old dog, the finest St. Bernard I ever +saw. How that little girl loved him! It will just about break her heart +when she finds out what's happened to him." + +"Don't!" begged the sentry, huskily. "Don't say anything like that. I feel +bad enough about it now, goodness knows, without your harrowing up my +feelings, talking of the way _she's_ going to feel." + +As the surgeon started on, the sentry stopped him. "For heaven's sake, +Mac, don't leave him lying there on the picket-line where I've got to see +him every time I pass. Send somebody to take him away. I'm all unnerved. I +feel as if I'd shot one of my own comrades." + +The surgeon looked at him curiously and walked on. Nobody was sent to take +the dog away, but a little while later the sentry was relieved from duty, +and another soldier kept guard over the silent camp, pacing back and forth +past the Red Cross Hero, sleeping his last sleep under the light of the +sentinel stars. + +Somebody draped a flag across him before the camp was astir next morning. +"Well, why not?" the man asked when he was joked about paying so much +attention to a dead dog. "Why not? He was a war dog, wasn't he? It's no +more than his due. I was the man he found in the ditch yesterday. As far +as his intention and good will went, he did as much to save me as if I had +been really lying there a wounded soldier. When he came leaping down there +into the ditch after me, licking my face in such a friendly fashion and +holding still so that I could help myself to the flask and bandages, I +thought how grateful a fellow would feel to him if he were really rescued +by him that way. It was all make-believe to me, but it was dead earnest to +the dog, and he did his part as faithfully as any soldier who ever wore a +uniform." + +"You're right," said a young lieutenant, sitting near. "If for no other +reason than that he was in the service of the Red Cross, he has a right to +the respect of every man that calls himself a soldier, no matter what flag +he follows." + +Later in the morning, when the orderly rode into the little picnic camp, +the girls were away. They were down by the waterfall digging ferns and +mosses to take home. "We are thinking of breaking up camp this afternoon," +Mrs. Walton told him. "The weather looks so threatening that I have sent +for the wagonette to come for us, and I was about to send over to your +camp to see if Hero had wandered back there. He has not been seen since +last night. He was lying by Lloyd's cot just before I went to sleep, but +this morning he is nowhere to be found. Lloyd is distressed. I told her +that probably the drill yesterday awakened all his love for the old life, +and that he might have been drawn back to it. Was I right? Have you seen +him?" + +"Yes," said the orderly, hesitating. "I saw him, but I find it hard to +tell you how and where, Mrs. Walton." He paused again, and then hurried +on with the explanation, as if anxious to have it over as soon as +possible. + +"He was shot last night by mistake on the picket-line. The sentry is all +broken up over it, poor fellow, and the whole camp regrets it more than I +can tell. You see, after yesterday's performance we almost claimed the dog +as one of us. Colonel Wayne has made me the bearer of his deepest regrets. +He especially deplores the occurrence on account of the dog's little +mistress, knowing what a great grief it will be to her. He wishes, if you +think it will be any consolation to her, to give Hero a military funeral, +and bury him with the honours due a brave soldier." + +"I am sure that Lloyd will want that," said Mrs, Walton. "She will +appreciate it deeply, when she understands what a mark of respect to Hero +such an attention would be. Tell Colonel Wayne, please, that I gladly +accept the offer in her behalf, and will send Ranald over later, to +arrange for it." + +The orderly rode away, and Mrs. Walton turned to her sister, exclaiming, +"Poor little Lloyd! I confess I am not brave enough to face her grief when +she first hears the news. You will have to tell her, Allison. You know her +so much better than I. We might as well hurry the preparations for +leaving. No one will care to stay a moment longer, now this has happened. +It will cast a gloom over the entire party." + +"Maybe it would be better not to tell her until after she gets home," +suggested Miss Allison. She had soothed the childish griefs of nearly +every child in the Valley, at some time or another, but she felt that this +was the most serious one that had fallen to her lot to comfort. + +"I'm sure it would be impossible to get Lloyd away from here without Hero, +unless she knew," was the answer. "I heard her tell Kitty this morning +that nobody could make her go without him. She said if he wasn't back by +the time we were ready to start, we could go on without her, and she would +hunt for him if it took all fall." + +While they were still discussing it the boys came running back to camp +much excited. They had met the orderly. + +"Oh, the poor dog!" mourned Keith. "What a shame for the poor old fellow +to be shot down that way. It seems almost as bad as if it had been one of +us boys that was killed." + +Ranald and Rob joined in with praise of his many lovable traits, talking +of his death as if it were a lifelong friend they had lost; but Malcolm +turned away with an anxious glance to the woods, where he could hear the +laughing voices of the girls. + +"Poor little Princess Winsome," he thought. "It will nearly break her +heart," and he wished with all the earnestness of the real Sir Feal, that +by some knightly service, no matter how hard, he could save his little +friend from this sorrow. + +The girls came strolling up, presently, so occupied with their spoils that +no one noticed the boy's serious faces but Lloyd. The moment she caught +Malcolm's sympathetic glance she was sure something had happened to Hero. + +"Oh, what is it?" she began, the tears gathering in her eyes as she felt +the unspoken, sympathy of the little group. Leaving Mrs. Walton to tell +the other girls, Miss Allison drew Lloyd aside, saying as she led her down +toward the spring, an arm around her waist, "I have a message for you, +Lloyd, from Colonel Wayne. Let's go down to the rocks by ourselves." + +A sympathetic silence fell on the little circle left behind as they heard +Lloyd cry out, "Shot my dog? Shot _Hero?_ Oh, he ought to be killed! How +could he do such a cruel thing!" + +"But he feels dreadfully about it," said Miss Allison. "The orderly said +that, big, strong man though he was, the tears stood in his eyes when he +saw what he had done, and he kept saying, 'I wouldn't have done it for the +world.'" + +Nearly all the girls were crying by this time, and Malcolm turned his head +so that he could not see the fair little head pressed against Miss +Allison's shoulder, as she clung to her sobbing. + +"Think how it must have hurt poah Hero's feelin's," Lloyd was saying, "to +go back to their camp so trustin' and happy, thinkin' the men would be so +glad to see him, and that he was doin' his duty, and then to have one of +them stand up and send a bullet through his deah, lovin' old heart. Oh, I +can't _beah_ it," she screamed. "Oh, I can't! I can't! It seems as if it +would kill me to think of him lyin' ovah there all cold and stiff, with +the blood on his lovely white and yellow curls, and know that he'll nevah, +nevah again jump up to lick my hands, and put his paws on my shouldahs. +He'll nevah come to meet me any moah, waggin' his tail and lookin' up into +my face with his deah lovin' eyes. Oh, Miss Allison! I can't stand it! +It's just breakin' my heart!" Burying her face in Miss Allison's lap, she +sobbed and cried until her tears were all spent. + +It was a subdued little party that rode back to the Valley, a few hours +later. Not only sympathy for Lloyd kept them quiet, but each one mourned +the loss of the gentle, lovable playfellow who had come to such an +untimely end after this week of happy camp life with them. + + * * * * * + +Under the locusts that evening, just as the sun was going down, came the +tread of many marching feet. It was the tramp, tramp of the soldiers who +were bringing home the Little Colonel's Hero, All the men who had been +most interested in his performances the day before, had volunteered to +follow Colonel Wayne, and the long line made an imposing showing, as it +stretched up the avenue after him. + +Lloyd watched the approach from her seat on the porch beside her father. +All the camping party were waiting with her, except the four boys who rode +at the head of the procession, Ranald and Malcolm first, then Rob and +Keith. Lloyd hid her eyes as Lad and Tarbaby came into view behind them. + +"Look," said her father gently, pointing to the flag-draped burden they +drew. "How much better it was for Hero to have been shot by a soldier and +brought home with military honours, than to have met the fate of an +ordinary dog--been poisoned, or mangled, by a train, as might have +happened, or even died of a painful, feeble old age. The Major would have +chosen this? so would Hero, if he could have understood." + +There was more comfort in that thought than in anything that had been said +to her before, and Lloyd wiped her eyes, and sat up to watch the ceremony +that followed, with a feeling of pride that made her almost cheerful. + +On they came to the beat of the muffled drum, halting under a great +locust-tree that stood by itself on the lawn, in sight of the library +windows, like a giant sentinel. There the boys dismounted to lower Hero +into the grave that Walker and Alec had just finished digging. Then the +coloured men, spreading the sod quickly back in place, stepped aside from +the low mound they had made, and Lloyd saw that it was smooth and green. +She started violently when the soldiers, drawn up in line, fired a parting +volley over it, but sat quietly back again when the Little Captain stepped +forward and raised his bugle. The sun was sinking low behind the locusts, +and in the golden glow filling the western sky, he softly sounded taps. +"Lights out" now for the faithful old Hero! The last bugle-call that +sounded for him was in a foreign land, but it was not as a stranger and an +alien they left him. + +The flag he followed floats farther than the Stars and Stripes, waves +wider than the banner of the Kaiser. It is a world-wide flag, that flag of +perpetual peace which bears the Red Cross of Geneva. In its shadow, +whether on land or sea, all patriot hearts are at home, and under that +flag they left him. + + * * * * * + +A square white stone stands now under the locust where the Little Captain +sounded taps at the close of that September day. On it gleams the Red +Cross, in whose service all of Hero's lessons had been learned. But the +daily sight of it from her bedroom window no longer brings pain to the +Little Colonel. Hero is only a tender memory now, and she counts the Red +Cross above him as another talisman, like the little ring and the silver +scissors, to remind her that only through unselfish service to others can +one reach the happiness that is highest and best. + +Time flies fast under the locusts. Sometimes to Papa Jack it seems only +yesterday that she clattered up and down the wide halls with her +grandfather's spurs buckled to her tiny feet. But if he misses the charm +of the baby voice that called to him then, or the childish mischievousness +of his Little Colonel, he finds a greater one in the flower-like beauty of +the tall, slender girl who stands beside the gilded harp, and sings to +him softly in the candle-light. And it is Betty's song of service that is +oftenest on her lips: + + "My godmother bids me spin, + That my heart may not be sad; + Sing and spin for my brother's sake, + And the spinning makes me glad." + +She knows that she can never be a Joan of Arc or a Clara Barton, and her +name will never be written in America's hall of fame, but with the sweet +ambition in her heart to make life a little lovelier for every one she +touches, she is growing up into a veritable Princess Winsome. + +Often as she sings, Betty closes her book to listen, thrilled with the old +feeling that always comes with the music of the harp. It is as if she were +"away off from everything, and high up where it is wide and open, and +where the stars are." The strange, beautiful thoughts she can find no +words for still dance on ahead, like shining will-'o-the-wisps, but she +knows that she shall surely find words for them some day, and that many +besides the Little Colonel will sing her verses and find comfort in her +songs. + +To both Betty and Lloyd the land of Someday and the happy land of Now lie +very close together in their day-dreams, as side by side they go to +school these bright October mornings, or stroll slowly homeward in the +golden afternoons, under the shade of the friendly old locusts. + + + + +THE END. + +Selections from L.C. Page & Company's Books for Girls + + * * * * * + +=THE BLUE BONNET SERIES= + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $ 2.00 The +seven volumes, boxed as a set 14.00_ + +A TEXAS BLUE BONNET + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS. + +BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ. + +BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE + BY CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET--DEBUTANTE + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + +BLUE BONNET'S FAMILY + BY LELA HORN RICHARDS. + + +"Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome, honest, lively +girlishness and cannot but make friends with every one who meets her +through these books about her."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + +"Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the kind that one would +like to have in one's home."--_New York Sun._ + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL BOOKS + +(Trade Mark) + +BY ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $2.00_ + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES + +(Trade Mark) + +Being three "Little Colonel" stories in the Cosy Corner Series, "The +Little Colonel," "Two Little Knights of Kentucky," and "The Giant +Scissors," in a single volume. + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL STORIES: + +Second Series (Trade Mark) + +Tales about characters that appear in the Little Colonel Series. "Ole +Mammy's Torment," "The Three Tremonts," and "The Little Colonel in +Switzerland." + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOUSE PARTY + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HOLIDAYS + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL AT BOARDING SCHOOL + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL IN ARIZONA + (Trade Mark) + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHRISTMAS VACATION + (Trade Mark) + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL, MAID OF HONOR + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S KNIGHT COMES RIDING + (Trade Mark) + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S CHUM, MARY WARE + (Trade Mark) + +MARY WARE IN TEXAS + +MARY WARE'S PROMISED LAND + +_These thirteen volumes, boxed as A SET, $26.00_ + + +FOR PIERRE'S SAKE AND OTHER STORIES + +_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Billie Chapman $1.75_ + +"'For Pierre's Sake,' who works so hard to scrape together the pennies +necessary for a wreath for his brother's grave, 'The Rain Maker,' who +tries to bring rain to the drought stricken fields--these and many others +will take their places in The Children's Hall of Fame, which exists in the +heart of childhood."--_Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald_. + + +THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART + +_Cloth decorated, with special designs and illustrations_ $1.25 + +This story of a little princess and her faithful pet bear, who finally +_do_ discover "The Road of the Loving Heart," is a masterpiece of sympathy +and understanding and beautiful thought. + + +=THE JOHNSTON JEWEL SERIES= + +_Each small 16mo, decorative boards, per volume $0.75_ + +IN THE DESERT OF WAITING: + +THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN. + + +THE THREE WEAVERS: + +A FAIRY TALE FOR FATHERS AND MOTHERS AS WELL AS FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS. + + +KEEPING TRYST: + +A TALE OF KING ARTHUR'S TIME. + + +THE LEGEND OF THE BLEEDING HEART + + +THE RESCUE OF PRINCESS WINSOME: + +A FAIRY PLAY FOR OLD AND YOUNG. + + +THE JESTER'S SWORD + + * * * * * + + +THE LITTLE COLONEL'S GOOD TIMES BOOK + +_Uniform in size with the Little Colonel Series $2.50_ + +_Bound in white kid (morocco) and gold 6.00_ + +Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg. + +"A mighty attractive volume in which the owner may record the good times +she has on decorated pages, and under the directions as it were of Annie +Fellows Johnston."--_Buffalo Express_. + + * * * * * + +=HILDEGARDE-MARGARET SERIES= + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +Eleven Volumes + +The Hildegarde-Margaret Series, beginning with "Queen Hildegarde" and +ending with "The Merryweathers," make one of the best and most popular +series of books for girls ever written. + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated per volume $1.75_ + +_The eleven volumes boxed as a set $19.25_ + + +LIST OF TITLES + +QUEEN HILDEGARDE +HILDEGARDE'S HOLIDAY +HILDEGARDE'S HOME +HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS +HILDEGARDE'S HARVEST +THREE MARGARETS +MARGARET MONTFORT +PEGGY +RITA +FERNLEY HOUSE +THE MERRYWEATHERS + + * * * * * + +=HONOR BRIGHT SERIES= + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $1.75_ + + +HONOR BRIGHT + +"This is a story that rings as true and honest as the name of the young +heroine--Honor--and not only the young girls, but the old ones will find +much to admire and to commend in the beautiful character of +Honor."--_Constitution, Atlanta, Ga._ + + +HONOR BRIGHT'S NEW ADVENTURE + +"Girls will love the story and it has plot enough to interest the older +reader as well."--_St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat._ + + * * * * * + +SIX GIRLS + +(60th thousand) BY FANNY BELLE IRVING. + +_Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by A.G. Learned $1.65_ + +No book has enjoyed a steadier and longer popularity than "Six Girls," +written by a niece of Washington Irving. It has won its way by the best +kind of advertising--personal recommendations among readers. + + +THREE HUNDRED THINGS A BRIGHT GIRL CAN DO + +BY LILA ELIZABETH KELLEY. + +_Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by the author $2.50_ + +A complete treasury of suggestions on games, indoor and outdoor sports, +handiwork, embroidery, sewing and cooking, scientific experiments, +puzzles, candy-making, home decoration, physical culture, etc. + + +THE SECRET VALLEY + +BY MRS. HOBART-HAMPDEN. + +_Cloth 12mo, illustrated, with color jacket $1.75_ + +In addition to an excellent action story, young readers will find in this +book descriptions of India, land of mystery, which are accurate and +interesting. + + +SECRETS INSIDE + +BY M.M. DANCY MCCLENDON. + +_Cloth, 12mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman $1.75_ + +"This is a story about girls for girls. The author has made a worthwhile +contribution to juvenile literature."--_Rochester Sunday American._ + + + * * * * * + +THE CAPTAIN JANUARY SERIES + +600,000 volumes of the "Captain January" Series have already been sold. + +"Mrs. Richards has made for herself a little niche apart in the literary +world, from her delicate treatment of New England village life."--_Boston +Post._ + + +CAPTAIN JANUARY. _Star Bright Edition._ + +_Profusely illustrated by Frank T. Merrill $1.75_ + + +STAR BRIGHT. A sequel to "Captain January." + +_Mrs. Richards' latest book uniform with above. $1.75_ + +Wherein the Captain's little girl reaches the romantic period of her +career, and faces the world. + +_The two volumes attractively boxed as a set. $3.50_ + + * * * * * + +The following titles are illustrated by Frank T. Merrill + +CAPTAIN JANUARY. _School Edition_ + +(285th thousand) _Net $1.00_ + + +MELODY. $1.00 + +The Story of a Child. + +_Cloth decorative, illustrated by Frank T. Merrill, each $.90_ + + +MARIE. + +A companion to "Melody." + + +ROSIN THE BEAU. + +A sequel to "Marie." + + +SNOW WHITE; + +Or, The House in the Wood. + + +JIM OF HELLAS; + +Or, in Durance Vile, and a companion story, "Bethesda Pool." + + +"SOME SAY." + +And a companion story, "Neighbors in Cyrus." + + +NAUTILUS. + +"'Nautilus' Is by far the best product of the author's powers."--_Boston +Globe._ + + +ISLA HERON. + +This interesting story is written in the author's usual charming manner. + + + * * * * * + + +BARBARA WINTHROP SERIES + +BY HELEN KATHERINE BROUGHALL + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated $2.00_ + +BARBARA WINTHROP AT BOARDING SCHOOL + +BARBARA WINTHROP AT CAMP + +BARBARA WINTHROP: GRADUATE + +BARBARA WINTHROP ABROAD + +"Full of adventure--initiations, joys, picnics, parties, tragedies, +vacation and all. Just what girls like, books in which 'dreams come true,' +entertaining 'gossipy' books overflowing with conversation."--_Salt Lake +City Deseret News._ + +High ideals and a real spirit of fun underlie the stories. They will be a +decided addition to the bookshelves of the young girl for whom a holiday +gift is contemplated. + + * * * * * + +=DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES= + +BY MARION AMES TAGGART + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL + +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid."--_The Churchman._ + + +SWEET NANCY: + +THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL. + +"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."--_New York Sun._ + + +NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER + +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."--_Springfield Union._ + + +NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY + +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."--_Boston Globe._ + + +NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS + +"The story is refreshing."--_-New York Sun._ + + * * * * * + +=THE MARJORY-JOE SERIES= + +BY ALICE E. ALLEN + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.50_ + +JOE, THE CIRCUS BOY AND ROSEMARY + +These are two of Miss Allen's earliest and most successful stories, +combined in a single volume to meet the insistent demands from young +people for these two particular tales. + + +THE MARTIE TWINS: Continuing the Adventures of Joe, the Circus Boy + +"The chief charm of the story is that it contains so much of human nature. +It is so real that it touches the heart strings."--_-New York Standard._ + + +MARJORY, THE CIRCUS GIRL + +A sequel to "Joe, the Circus Boy," and "The Martie Twins." + + +MARJORY AT THE WILLOWS + +Continuing the story of Marjory, the Circus Girl. + +"Miss Allen does not write impossible stories, but delightfully pins her +little folk right down to this life of ours, in which she ranges +vigorously and delightfully."--_Boston Ideas._ + + +MARJORY'S HOUSE PARTY: Or, What Happened at Clover Patch + +"Miss Allen certainly knows how to please the children and tells them +stories that never fail to charm."_--Madison Courier._ + + +MARJORY'S DISCOVERY + +This new addition to the popular MARJORY-JOE SERIES is as lovable and +original as any of the other creations of this writer of charming stories. +We get little peeps at the precious twins, at the healthy minded Joe and +sweet Marjory. There is a bungalow party, which lasts the entire summer, +in which all of the characters of the previous MARJORY-JOE stories +participate, and their happy times are delightfully depicted. + + * * * * * + +THE PEGGY RAYMOND SERIES + +BY HARRIET LUMMIS SMITH + +_Each one volume, cloth, decorative, 12mo, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S SUCCESS: OR, THE GIRLS OF FRIENDLY TERRACE. + +"It is a book that cheers, that inspires to higher thinking; it knits +hearts; it unfolds neighborhood plans in a way that makes one tingle to +try carrying them out, and most of all it proves that hi daily life, +threads of wonderful issues are being woven in with what appears the most +ordinary of material, but which in the end brings results stranger than +the most thrilling fiction."--_Belle Kellogg Towne in The Young People's +Weekly, Chicago._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S VACATION + +"It is a clean, wholesome, hearty story, well told and full of incident. +It carries one through experiences that hearten and brighten the +day."--_Utica, N.Y., Observer._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S SCHOOL DAYS + +"It is a bright, entertaining story, with happy girls, good times, natural +development, and a gentle earnestness of general tone."--_The Christian +Register, Boston._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S FRIENDLY TERRACE QUARTETTE + +"The story is told in easy and entertaining style and is a most delightful +narrative, especially for young people. It will also make the older +readers feel younger, for while reading it they will surely live again in +the days of their youth."--_Troy Budget._ + + +PEGGY RAYMOND'S WAY + +"The author has again produced a story that is replete with wholesome +incidents and makes Peggy more lovable than ever as a companion and +leader."--_World of Books._ + + * * * * * + +THE HADLEY HALL SERIES + +BY LOUISE M. BREITENBACH + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65_ + +ALMA AT HADLEY HALL + +"The author is to be congratulated on having written such an appealing +book for girls."--_Detroit Free Press._ + + +ALMA'S SOPHOMORE YEAR + +"It cannot fail to appeal to the lovers of good things in girls' +books."--_Boston Herald._ + +ALMA'S JUNIOR YEAR. + +"The diverse characters in the boarding-school are strongly drawn, the +Incidents are well developed and the action is never dull."--_The Boston +Herald._ + + +ALMA'S SENIOR YEAR + +"A healthy, natural atmosphere breathes from every chapter."--_Boston +Transcript._ + + * * * * * + +DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL SERIES + +BY MARION AMES TAGGART + +_Each large 12mo, cloth, illustrated, per volume $1.75_ + +THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL + +"A charming story of the ups and downs of the life of a dear little +maid"--_The Churchman._ + + +SWEET NANCY: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE GIRL. + +"Just the sort of book to amuse, while its influence cannot but be +elevating."--_New York Sun._ + + +NANCY, THE DOCTOR'S LITTLE PARTNER + +"The story is sweet and fascinating, such as many girls of wholesome +tastes will enjoy."--_Springfield Union._ + + +NANCY PORTER'S OPPORTUNITY + +"Nancy shows throughout that she is a splendid young woman, with plenty of +pluck."--_Boston Globe._ + +NANCY AND THE COGGS TWINS + +"The story is refreshing."--_New York Sun._ + + * * * * * + +STORIES BY EVALEEN STEIN + +_Each one volume, 12mo, illustrated $1.65_ + +GABRIEL AND THE HOUR BOOK +A LITTLE SHEPHERD OF PROVENCE +THE CHRISTMAS PORRINGER +THE LITTLE COUNT OF NORMANDY +PEPIN: A Tale of Twelfth Night +CHILDREN'S STORIES +THE CIRCUS DWARF STORIES +WHEN FAIRIES WERE FRIENDLY +TROUBADOUR TALES + +"No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the elements that stir +the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as do the stories so +admirably told by this author."--_Louisville Daily Courier_. + +"Evaleen Stein's stories are music in prose--they are like pearls on a +chain of gold--each word seems exactly the right word in the right place; +the stories sing themselves out, they are so beautifully expressed."--_The +Lafayette Leader_. + + * * * * * + +Selections from L.C. Page & Company's Books for Boys + + * * * * * + +FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by photographs, per +volume_ ... _$2.00_ + +BY CHARLES H.L. JOHNSTON + +("Uncle Chas.") + +_"If you see that it's by 'Uncle Chas,' you know that it's historically +correct"--Review._ + +FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS +FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS +FAMOUS SCOUTS +FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA +FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN AND HEROES OF THE BORDER +FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA +FAMOUS GENERALS OF THE GREAT WAR + Who Led the United States and Her Allies to a Glorious Victory. + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +First Series. + +_Cloth 12mo, illustrated from specially autographed photographs $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Second Series. + +_A companion volume to the above $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Third Series. + +_By Trentwell M. White $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Fourth Series. + +_By Charles H.L. Johnston $2.50_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN ATHLETES OF TODAY, + +Fifth Series. + +_By Leroy Atkinson $2.50_ + +_The following except as otherwise noted $2.00_ + + +BY EDWIN WILDMAN + +THE FOUNDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Revolution to +the Monroe Doctrine) + +THE BUILDERS OF AMERICA (Lives of Great Americans from the Monroe Doctrine +to the Civil War) + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF CHARACTER (Lives of Great Americans from the Civil War +to Today) + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--First Series + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Second Series + + +BY TRENTWELL M. WHITE + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Third Series $2.50 + + +BY HARRY IRVING SHUMWAY + +FAMOUS LEADERS OF INDUSTRY.--Fourth Series $2.50 + +'These biographies drive home the truth that just as every soldier of +Napoleon carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack, so every American +youngster carries potential success under his hat.' + + +BY CHARLES LEE LEWIS + +_Professor, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis_ + +FAMOUS AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS + +With a complete index. + +"In connection with the life of John Paul Jones, Stephen Decatur, and +other famous naval officers, he groups the events of the period in which +the officer distinguished himself, and combines the whole into a colorful +and stirring narrative."--_Boston Herald._ + + * * * * * + +THE BOYS STORY OF THE RAILROAD SERIES + +BY BURTON E. STEVENSON + +_Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated $1.75_ + + +THE YOUNG SECTION-HAND; + +OR, THE ADVENTURES OF ALLAN WEST + +"The whole range of section railroading is covered in the +story."--_Chicago Post._ + + +THE YOUNG TRAIN DISPATCHER + +"A vivacious account of the varied and often hazardous nature of railroad +life."--_Congregationalist._ + + +THE YOUNG TRAIN MASTER + +"It is a book that can be unreservedly commended to anyone who loves a +good, wholesome, thrilling, informing yarn."--_Passaic News._ + + +THE YOUNG APPRENTICE; + +OR, ALLAN WEST'S CHUM. + +"The story is intensely interesting."--_Baltimore Sun._ + + * * * * * + +THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY SERIES + +Of Worth While Classics for Boys and Girls + +_Revised and Edited for the Modern Reader_ + +_Each large 12mo, illustrated and with a poster jacket in full color +$2.00_ + + +THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY + +BY W.H. DAVENPORT ADAMS. + + +THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS + +BY C.M. YONGE. + + +ERLING THE BOLD + +BY R.M. BALLYNTYNE. + + +WINNING HIS KNIGHTHOOD; + +OR, THE ADVENTURES OF RAOULF DE GYSSAGE. + +BY H. TURING BRUCE. + +"Tales which ring to the clanking of armour, tales of marches and +counter-marches, tales of wars, but tales which bring peace; a peace and +contentment in the knowledge that right, even in the darkest times, has +survived and conquered."--_Portland Evening Express._ + + * * * * * + +THE YOUNG PIONEER SERIES + +BY HARRISON ADAMS + +_Each 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated, per volume $1.65_ + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE OHIO; + OR, CLEARING THE WILDERNESS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES; + OR, ON THE TRAIL OF THE IROQUOIS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSISSIPPI; + OR, THE HOMESTEAD IN THE WILDERNESS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE MISSOURI; + OR, IN THE COUNTRY OF THE SIOUX. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE YELLOWSTONE; + OR, LOST IN THE LAND OF WONDERS. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLUMBIA; + OR, IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF THE COLORADO; + OR, BRAVING THE PERILS OF THE GRAND CANYON COUNTRY. + +THE PIONEER BOYS OF KANSAS; + OR, PRAIRIE HOME IN BUFFALO LAND. + +"Such books as these are an admirable means of stimulating among the young +Americans of to-day interest in the story of their pioneer ancestors and +the early days of the Republic."--_Boston Globe._ + +"Not only interesting, but instructive as well and shows the sterling type +of character which these days of self-reliance and trial +produced."--_American Tourist, Chicago._ + +"The stories are full of spirited action and contain much valuable +historical information. Just the sort of reading a boy will enjoy +immensely."--_Boston Herald._ + + * * * * * + +MINUTE BOY SERIES + +By James Otis and Edward Stratemeyer + +_Each one volume, cloth decorative, 12mo, fully illustrated, per volume_ +_$1.50_ + +This series of books for boys needs no recommendation. We venture to say +that there are few boys of any age in this broad land who do not know and +love both these authors and their stirring tales. + +These books, as shown by their titles, deal with periods in the history of +the development of our great country which are of exceeding interest to +every patriotic American boy--and girl. Places and personages of +historical interest are here presented to the young reader in story form, +and a great deal of real, information is unconsciously gathered. + +THE MINUTE BOYS OF PHILADELPHIA +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BOSTON +THE MINUTE BOYS OF NEW YORK CITY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LONG ISLAND +THE MINUTE BOYS OF SOUTH CAROLINA +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE WYOMING VALLEY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE MOHAWK VALLEY +THE MINUTE BOYS OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS +THE MINUTE BOYS OF BUNKER HILL +THE MINUTE BOYS OF LEXINGTON +THE MINUTE BOYS OF YORKTOWN + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Colonel's Hero +by Annie Fellows Johnston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE COLONEL'S HERO *** + +***** This file should be named 15122.txt or 15122.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/2/15122/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy, Ben Beasley and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team.(www.pgdp.net) + + +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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