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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/24014-8.txt b/24014-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e411e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24014-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7609 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Blue Creek Cañon, by Anna Chapin Ray + +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: In Blue Creek Cañon + +Author: Anna Chapin Ray + +Release Date: December 24, 2007 [EBook #24014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + + + + + + IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON + + BY ANNA CHAPIN RAY + + AUTHOR OF "HALF A DOZEN BOYS," "HALF A DOZEN GIRLS," ETC. + + + + + NEW YORK: 46 EAST 14TH STREET + THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + BOSTON: 100 PURCHASE STREET + + COPYRIGHT, 1892, + BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + + _Printed and Electrotyped by_ + ALFRED MUDGE & SON, BOSTON. + + + + +[Illustration: "A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on +skates."] + + + + + If you've wronged him, speak him fair. + Say you're sorry and make it square; + If he's wronged you, wink so tight + None of you see what's plain in sight. + + When the world goes hard and wrong, + Lend a hand to help him along; + When his stockings have holes to darn, + Don't you grudge him your ball of yarn. + + * * * * * + + Stick to each other through thick and thin; + All the closer as age leaks in; + Squalls will blow, and clouds will frown, + But stay by your ship till you all go down! + +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. A COUNCIL ON SKATES + + II. TO WELCOME THE COMING GUEST + + III. THE EVERETT HOUSEHOLD + + IV. ON THE CROSS-HEAD + + V. THE MEETING IN THE WATERS + + VI. MARJORIE'S PARTY + + VII. JANEY'S PROPHECY + + VIII. IN THE DARK + + IX. CAMPING ON THE BEAVERHEAD + + X. UP THE GULCH + + XI. "SWEET CHARITY'S SAKE" + + XII. HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER + + XIII. AT THE NINE-HUNDRED LEVEL + + XIV. THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD STORY + + XV. MR. ATHERDEN + + XVI. THE COMPLETED STORY + + XVII. THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNEXPECTED + + XVIII. UNDER ORDERS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on skates." + +"He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam." + +"His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he held his cane, +which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud." + + + + +IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A COUNCIL ON SKATES. + + +A strong southeast wind was blowing up the cañon and driving before it +the dense yellow smoke which rolled up from the great red chimneys of +the smelter. To the east and west of the town, the mountains rose +abruptly, their steep sides bare or covered with patches of yellow pine. +At the north, the cañon closed in to form a narrow gorge between the +mountains; but towards the south it opened out into a broad valley, +through which the swiftly rushing creek twisted and turned along its +willow-bordered bed. A half mile below the town the creek suddenly +broadened into a little lake that was now frozen over, forming a sheet +of dazzling ice, upon which a quartette of boys and girls were darting +about on skates. + +"Ugh!" gasped one of the boys, as a sudden gust of wind, coming straight +from the east, brought the stifling cloud in their direction; "I'm glad +I'm not up in town this afternoon. It's getting ready for a storm, I +think, from the way the smoke comes down; and they must be catching it +all, up there." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed the girl with whom he was skating; "if it storms +'twill be sure to be more snow, and spoil the ice. It's too bad, for we +get so little skating out here, and it's almost time to go home now. +Just see how low the sun is getting!" + +"Never mind, Marjorie," said the boy, as he paused to breathe on his +cold fingers; then held out his hand to her once more. "We'll have one +more go across the pond, anyway, for there's no knowing when we'll have +another chance. You take Allie, Ned, and we'll race you, two and two, +over to that largest stump. Come on, and get into line. One! two! +_three!_" + +Away they flew, the bright blades of their skates flashing in the long +slanting rays of the late afternoon sun, and their eyes and cheeks +glowing with the cold air and rapid exercise. Marjorie and her attendant +knight were the first to reach the goal, and turned, panting, to face +the others as they came up to them. + +"That was just fine!" exclaimed Allie's companion, as he dropped her +hand and spun around in a narrow circle which sent the chips of ice +flying from under his heel. "Don't let's go home just yet, 't won't be +dark for an hour anyway, and we can go up in fifteen minutes. I'll race +you over to the other side and back again, Howard, while the girls are +getting their breath." + +"You don't mind being left, Allie?" And the taller boy glanced at the +girls. + +"All right, just for once," said Allie; "then we really ought to go up, +Howard; mamma wants us to be home in good season to-night, for dinner is +going to be early, so papa can get the train down." + +"Is your father going away again?" asked Marjorie, as the girls skated +idly to and fro, waiting for the boys to join them. "I thought he came +in from camp only this morning." + +"So he did," answered her friend, burying her small nose in her muff for +a moment, as she faced the cutting wind. "He's only going down to +Pocatello to-night, and out on the main line a little ways, to meet +Charlie MacGregor, our cousin that's coming." + +"Yes," nodded Marjorie, in acquiescence; "I remember now; I'd forgotten +he was coming so soon. What fun you'll have with him, Allie! I wish I +had a brother, or cousin, or something." + +"Perhaps I shall wish I didn't have both," said Allie, laughing. "I +don't know how he and Howard will get on. I think Howard doesn't want +him much; but I'd just as soon he'd be here." + +"What's he like?" queried Marjorie curiously. + +"I haven't much idea; I've never seen him," said Allie. "Papa saw him +when he was east last summer, and we have a picture of him taken ever so +long ago." + +"Who's that--Charlie MacGregor?" asked Howard, skating up to them at +that moment. "He's not much to look at, Marjorie, if his picture's any +good. He has a pug nose and wears giglamps, and I've a suspicion that +he's a fearful dude. He'll be a tenderfoot, of course, but he'll get +over that; but if he's a dude, we boys will make it lively for him." + +"Howard, you sha'n't!" remonstrated his sister, loyally coming to the +defence of their unknown cousin. "It must be horrid for him to lose all +his friends and have to be sent out here to relations he doesn't know +nor care anything about, just like a barrel of flour." Allie's metaphors +were becoming mixed; but she never heeded that, as she went on proudly: +"And besides, we're MacGregors as much as he is, and mamma says that no +MacGregor was ever rude to a cousin, or to anybody in trouble." + +"Good for you, Allie!" shouted the younger boy, as he stopped in the +middle of a figure eight to applaud her words. "You're in the right of +it; but you needn't think you'll ever keep Howard in order. How old is +this lad, anyhow?" + +"Half way between Howard and me," replied Allie, as they started to +skate slowly up the creek towards home, and Howard and Marjorie dropped +a little in the rear. "He was thirteen last summer, and papa says he's a +real, true musician. He'll bring his own piano with him; but I don't +know where he'll find room to put it, for our house is full as can be, +now. Then he sings, too,--at least, he used to,--in a boy choir. Haven't +you seen his picture, Ned? It's homely, but it looks as if he might not +be so bad." + +"Where's he coming from?" asked Ned. + +"New York. He's lived there always; but, you know, his father died two +years ago, and his mother last month. He hasn't any relations but just +us, so he is to live here for a while. You and Howard will stand by +him, won't you, Ned?" she added persuasively, laying her mittened hand +on his. "I'm afraid the other boys will run on him and make fun of him. +Don't tell Howard I said so, but I don't expect to like him much myself, +only I'm sort of sorry for him; and then he's our cousin, so I suppose +we must make sure he has a good time." + +"I won't be hard on him, Allie," her companion answered her, laughing a +little at the unwonted seriousness of her tone; "as long as he doesn't +put on airs and talk big about New York and 'the way _we_ do East,' and +all that poppycock, I'll stand by him. But if he's coming out here to +show us how to do it, the sooner it's taken out of him the better." + +"Wait till the train comes in, day after to-morrow morning, Ned," said +Howard, as, with a few quick strokes, he and Marjorie overtook them once +more. "We'll take a look at him and see what he's like, before we make +too many promises. Now, then, ma'am," he added, as he and Marjorie +paused at a great stone on the bank of the creek; "if you'll be good +enough to sit down, I'll have your skates off instanter." + +Marjorie laughed, as she dropped down on the stone and put one little +foot on Howard's knee, while Ned performed a similar service for Allie. + +"I'm crazy to see your cousin, Allie," she said. "I know he's going to +be great fun, only I'm afraid he'll think we are hopeless tomboys. +Probably he's been used to girls that sit in the parlor and sew +embroidery, instead of skating and riding bronchos bareback, and playing +hare and hounds with the boys." + +"Don't care if he has!" And Allie made a little grimace of defiance as +she scrambled to her feet. "I'm not going to give up all my good times +and take to fancy work, when it's as much as I can do to sew on my own +buttons. He can stay in the house, and sing songs and sew patchwork all +day long, if he wants to, but I'm not going to give up all my frolics; +need I, boys?" she concluded, in a mutinous outburst, quite at variance +with her recent plea for their expected guest. + +Howard laughed teasingly. + +"Catch Allie turning the fine young lady! If you shut her up in a +parlor, she'd jump over the chairs and play tag with herself around the +table; and Marjorie is about as bad." + +"Perhaps I am," she assented placidly; "but you boys could never get +along without us. I've heard you say, over and over again, that we can +catch a ball as well as half the boys in town, and I can outrun you any +day. Want to try?" + +"Not much," returned Howard, laughing, though there rankled in his mind +the memory of recent races in which he had not been the winner. "You +only beat me because you've been used to this air longer than I have. +Besides, it would hurry us home too much, and I've an idea that this may +be the last time that we four chums will be off together, for one while. +I shall have to trot round with that fellow, for the next week, and show +him the ways of the country, so he won't make too great a jay of +himself. But, I say, if it doesn't storm to-morrow, we'll come down here +again in the afternoon, and have an hour or two on the ice before it's +spoiled." + +With their skates strapped together and slung over their shoulders, +their collars turned up around their ears, and their hands plunged deep +into pockets and muffs, they turned northward along the bank of the +creek for a short distance, and then struck off across the level, open +ground till they came into one of the streets of the little town, which +they followed until they reached the main business street. There they +parted, Ned and Marjorie turning to the west, while Howard and Allie +kept straight on towards the north, and finally stopped at a small brick +house, a low, one-story affair, yet much more elaborate than the average +dwelling of the town, where the architecture was largely of the +log-house species, though often covered with a layer of boards to +disguise the primitive nature of the materials. + +The front door opened directly into the little parlor, and into this +cosy room Howard and Allie plunged, laughing and breathless after their +quick walk in the cold. A bright-faced little woman sat sewing by the +front window, holding up her work to catch the last fading light, and a +rosy boy, two years old, was tumbling about on the carpet, rolling over +and over the great dog, who was dozing as peacefully as if such +demonstrations were quite to his liking. + +"Hullo, mammy! Hullo, Vic! Dinner ready?" exclaimed Howard, casting his +skates into the nearest chair, and moving up to the stove to warm his +chilled fingers. + +"How was the skating?" asked his mother, looking up from her work to +smile at Allie, as she pulled off her coat and hat, and then caught up +the child from the floor. + +"Fine; but we're 'most starved--at least, I am," returned Howard, as he +wriggled himself out of his coat and handed it to Allie, who received it +quite as a matter of course, and went away to hang it in its usual +place. + +"Well, dinner is all ready, and papa will be here in a minute; so you +can go and tell Janey to take it up. Do you know," she added, with a +laugh which took all the sting from the reproof; "I think it is time my +boy learned to take his sister's coat for her, instead of expecting her +to wait on him." + +"All right," answered Howard, by no means abashed by the rebuke. "Here, +sis, if you'll just bring back your coat and put it on again, I'll see +what can be done about it." And he bent over to stroke his mother's hair +with a boyish affection which filled her heart with gratitude for having +such a son, even while it sent her off to her toilet table to repair the +damages which his fingers had wrought. Then he marched out to the +kitchen to tease Janey, until she threatened to pour the soup over his +favorite pudding, unless he left her to take up the dinner in peace. + +Mr. Burnam, Howard's father, was a successful civil engineer, who, in +the line of his professional life, had been ordered up and down the +West according to the demands of the great railroad corporation by whom +he was employed. The life of a locating engineer is much like that of +the soldier, in its need for strict obedience to orders, and for +eighteen years Mr. Burnam had been stationed, now here, now there,--on +the rolling prairies of Iowa, in the Dakota bad lands, in the alkali +deserts of Wyoming, and among the cañons and passes of the Colorado +Rockies. Six months before this time he had been ordered to western +Montana, to lay out a possible railway across the mountains, which +should give the Pacific-coast cities a more direct connection with their +eastern neighbors. The survey for this line would occupy him for a year +or more, and in order to have his family near him during this time, he +had made his headquarters in the little mining camp, which the first +prospectors along the cañon, some four years before, had christened +"Blue Creek," from the clear, bright waters of the mountain stream. Here +he established his family in the most comfortable house that the town +afforded, and here he had his office, which served as headquarters for +his corps of men, whenever they came in town for a few days. By virtue +of his position as chief of the party, Mr. Burnam often spent weeks at +a time at home, working up his estimates and maps, and only driving out +to camp now and then, for a day or two, to see that all was well in his +absence. Then, just as his family were settling down to the full +enjoyment of his society, he would be sent for, to oversee some +difficult bit of work, and Mrs. Burnam and Allie would be left to the +protection of Howard, and of Ben, the great Siberian bloodhound, who was +as gentle as a kitten until molested, when all his old savage instincts +sprang into life. + +One of the early graduates from Cornell, Mr. Burnam had gone West when a +mere boy, fresh from college; and now, at forty, he had made himself a +brilliant reputation in his profession. The chief, as they called him, +was adored by all his men, who knew, from long experience, that however +great the danger and hardship might be, he was always ready to share it +with them, and that he made it a part of his creed never to ask a +subordinate to take a risk which he himself would shun. Quick-tempered +and outspoken in the presence of any suspicion of shirking or deceit, he +was yet a just, honorable man in dealing with his "boys," who loved and +respected him accordingly. At home, he was a different man; for he +threw aside his professional dignity, to tease his wife, or romp with +his children, lavishing upon them all the love of which his great, +generous nature was capable. + +For the sake of her husband, Mrs. Burnam had willingly cut herself +adrift from her family and friends in New York, and for sixteen years +she had patiently followed him here and there through the West; now +living in camp for a summer, now boarding at tiny country hotels, in +order to be within driving distance of his party; now left for months at +a time in the busy solitude of a great city hotel, while Mr. Burnam was +far away in unexplored forests, and often, as now, settled near him for +a few months of housekeeping which should give her children at least a +slight knowledge of home life and its charms. + +Two years after her marriage, a little son had come to her, and, soon +after that, a daughter had helped to fill out the family circle. It +seemed to Mrs. Burnam but a few months since then; but Howard was +fourteen now, and Allie twelve, while, two years before this time, a +third child had come to brighten the home with his baby prattle and +pranks. For weeks, his name had been a subject of almost constant +discussion, until, one day, Howard had solved the problem in a most +unexpected fashion. + +"I'll tell you what," he said suddenly; "name him Victor, for my new +bicycle." And the name was decided upon accordingly. + +Howard, himself, was a worthy son of the handsome, brown-bearded man +whom he called papa. Tall, slender, and yellow haired, he was as bonnie +a laddie as ever filled a mother's heart with pride; a healthy, happy +boy, affectionate and generous, and full of a rollicking fun which made +him at once the delight and terror of his sister, who never knew in what +direction his next outbreak would come. In spite of his merciless +teasing, the brother and sister were close friends and constantly +together. Girls were scarce in the town, and Allie and her one friend, +Marjorie Fisher, would have been largely left to their own devices, had +it not been for Howard and Ned Everett, through whose influence they +were received on equal terms among the boys, and had a share in most of +their good times. It was no uncommon thing to hear them speak of "Allie +and Marjorie and the other boys," and neither Mrs. Burnam nor Mrs. +Fisher felt any desire to have it otherwise. They were too sensible +mothers to force their little daughters towards womanhood, and much +preferred the tone of free-and-easy companionship to the childish +flirtations so commonly indulged in. They could trust to their influence +over their children to keep them gentle and womanly, and the boys were +all gentlemen, largely sons of Eastern men whom business had brought to +the town. So the girls walked and rode, skated and romped with the lads, +unconsciously teaching them many a pretty lesson in chivalry, while in +return the boys gave them a training which made them enduring and +courageous, and hardy as a pair of little Indians. For six months, this +had been their life, and by this time there had formed one +well-recognized set whose members were constantly together, and, though +they mingled more or less with the other young people, yet kept +themselves distinct from their companions. Four of this number were the +little group of skaters, the fifth was Ned's younger brother, Grant, who +was usually the central figure in their frolics. + +The one other member of the Burnam household, who is as yet in the +background, deserves at least a passing remark. This was Janey, the +young negro maid who ruled their kitchen. What had ever brought her +from the warm South into the midst of Rocky Mountain snows, it would be +hard to tell; but, two months before, she had answered to Mrs. Burnam's +advertisement for a servant, and was promptly installed in her kitchen, +where she convulsed the family with her pranks, and averted many a +well-merited lecture by some sudden, artless remark, which sent Mrs. +Burnam hurrying out of the room, in search of a corner where she could +laugh unseen. Surely, since the days of Topsy, the immortal, there was +never such an imp as Janey. Mrs. Burnam declared that she was as good as +a tonic, and Mr. Burnam made no secret of his enjoyment of her antics, +which were always as original as they were unexpected. + +"My name's Edmonia Jackson," she had said, in answer to Mrs. Burnam's +question; "but dey mos'ly calls me Janey. But laws, Mis', ef you 'll +on'y let me stay yere, you all can call me what you want. Names is +nothin', but I don' want to work in one o' them log-cabins; they 's too +much like what our po' w'ites lives in. Give me brick or nothin'!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TO WELCOME THE COMING GUEST. + + +"Only ten minutes more!" said Allie, excitedly prancing up and down the +platform. "I do so hope the train won't be late." + +"Allie's getting in a hurry to see the cousin," remarked Grant Everett +teasingly. "You and Howard'll have to step out of the way when he comes, +Ned. You needn't think you're going to stand any chance against this new +attraction." + +"Maybe so," said Howard scornfully, while he flattened his nose against +the ticket-office window, in a vain endeavor to see the clock. "Girls +always like a new face, and Allie's just like all the rest of them." + +"No," said Allie judicially, as she pulled the collar of her fur jacket +more closely about her ears. "Of course I like you boys best, but I'm +sort of curious about Charlie, as long as he's going to live with us for +a year or so. If he's nice, it will be like having another brother; but +if he's horrid, it will spoil all our good times. It's a very +dependable circumstance, as Janey says, that's all." + +It was the second morning after their skating party, and Howard, Allie, +and the two Everett boys were pacing up and down the platform, while +they waited for the coming of the train which should bring them their +new companion. They formed an attractive little group as they moved to +and fro, talking and laughing, or pausing now and again to turn and gaze +down the track, which stretched far away before them in two shining rows +of steel. With the instinct of the true hostess, Allie had arrayed +herself in her state and festival suit, and sallied forth to meet her +father and cousin, and extend to their guest a prompt welcome to his new +home. Half-way to the station she was surprised at being overtaken by +the three boys, who came rushing after her, shouting her name as they +ran. + +"'Where are you going, my pretty maid?'" panted Ned, dropping into step +at one side, while Howard took the other, and Grant capered along the +sidewalk in front of them, now backwards, now sideways, and now +forwards, as the conversation demanded his entire attention, or became +uninteresting once more. + +"'I'm going to meet Cousin Charlie, she said,'" answered Allie, +laughing. + +"So that's the why of all these fine feathers," commented Ned; while +Howard added,-- + +"All right; we'll go with you." + +"But I thought you just told mamma that you wouldn't go, anyway," +responded Allie, astonished at this sudden change of plan. + +"Well, I'm here," answered Howard calmly. "I'm not going to welcome him +with open arms, though; and you needn't think I am. We fellows are just +going to take a look at him on the sly, and then we can tell better how +to treat him." + +"But, Howard, you mustn't; he'll see you," remonstrated Allie, +scandalized at the suggestion. "If papa knows it he won't like it a +bit." + +"Oh, that's all right, Allie," said Ned reassuringly. "All we 're going +to do is to hide behind that pile of freight boxes over there, and get a +good look at him without his knowing it. Then we'll light out for home, +and Howard will be there ahead of you, see if he isn't; so, if you don't +give it away, there'll be no harm done." + +"Unless you tell of it yourselves," said Allie doubtfully. "I don't half +like it; and if Howard won't help meet him, he ought to keep clear out +of the way. But there's one thing about it, boys, you must, you really +must, stop talking so much slang. It's bad enough with us girls, and I'm +getting to use it as much as you do; but you'll scare Charlie to pieces +if you talk so much of it." + +"Does our right worshipful brother maintain himself in his usual health +and spirits?--is that the style, Allie?" asked Howard, as he took off +his cap with a flourish, and bowed low before some imaginary personage. + +"I caught Allie studying the dictionary, yesterday morning," said Grant, +turning to face them once more. "She had a piece of paper in her lap, +with concatenation and peripatetic and nostalgia written on it, and I +supposed she was studying her spelling lesson, but now I see,--she was +just making up a sentence to say to him. Speak up loud, Allie, so we can +hear." + +"You'd better stay here and listen," said Allie. "But there's the train, +see, just coming round the curve down the cañon. Off with you, if you +really are going to be so silly!" + +The boys whirled around hastily, to assure themselves that it was no +false alarm; then they left her to wait alone, while they settled +themselves behind a pile of great wooden boxes which half filled the +upper end of the platform. Allie watched them arrange themselves at +their ease; then, when they were quite hidden from view, she turned back +to look at the train as it rushed up the valley towards her, sending +along the rails before it a fierce throbbing which kept time to her own +leaping pulse. + +In spite of her light talk and laughter, Allie was conscious of a keen +sense of excitement, as she stood waiting to receive her cousin. He was +the only child of Mrs. Burnam's only brother; and now, at thirteen, he +was left alone in the world, doubly orphaned, and with no near relatives +save this one aunt, to whose care his dying mother had intrusted her +boy. All that Allie knew had only served to interest her in the young +stranger; his love for music and his unusual talent for it, his former +life spent in a luxurious city home, even his present loneliness had +touched her girlish heart with pity, and made her resolve to render his +new life pleasant to him, in spite of the possible teasing he might have +to undergo from the boys. And then, while she was determined to become +his champion at any cost, there was always the delightful possibility +that he might be a pleasant addition to their little circle, and +contribute his share to the frolics which were continually taking place +at either the Burnams' or the Everetts'. Far into the hours of the +previous night she had lain awake, picturing her cousin as he would +probably appear to them, and going over and over in her own mind the +details of their first meeting. She was sorry that he had lost his +mother; but she found herself fervently hoping that he would not be so +very dismal, and even that he might laugh a little occasionally, when +anything particularly amusing should occur. + +"Well, daught, how goes it?" And Allie found herself in her father's +arms, and then released, as Mr. Burnam added, "Here, Charlie, this is +your Cousin Alice." + +With a sudden shyness, Allie put her hand into the one before her, as +she glanced up at the boyish face which was looking down into her own. +Something she read there, in the half-anxious expression of the brown +eyes, made her forget her more formal salutation, and say cordially,-- + +"Are you the new brother that's come to live at our house? It's going to +be splendid to have you there." And with a little confiding, sisterly +gesture, she pulled his hand through her arm, in an unspoken welcome +which was inexpressibly grateful to the lad, tired with his three +thousand miles of lonely journeying, and dreading to meet these strange +cousins into whose home life he had been so abruptly forced. Now, as he +looked at Allie's slight, girlish figure, and at her bright, happy face +which not even her irregular features could render plain, he felt a +sudden sense of relief, and secretly wished that all the family might be +as attractive as his genial uncle and the pleasant cousin who had given +him so sisterly a greeting. + +"Come," she added, as her father beckoned to them; "we'll go over and +get into that carriage, while papa hunts up your trunks." And she led +the way across the platform with an apparent unconsciousness of the +three heads which precipitately bobbed down out of sight at their +approach, while the owners of the heads coiled themselves up in the +narrowest of corners, with much scraping of shoes on the boards, in the +process. + +"This old station is just full of rats," she continued, in a tone of +careless explanation, as they passed the hiding-place of her brother and +his friends. "I heard the ticket-man say, just before your train came +in, that he was coming out with his gun to shoot some of them, as soon +as the engine had backed down out of the way." + +A long-drawn squeak, as of an animal in pain, answered to her words, +and they went on, while Allie threw one triumphant glance over her +shoulder at the three heads which had promptly reappeared as soon as her +back was turned. + +Once seated opposite her cousin in the carriage, while they waited for +Mr. Burnam to join them, Allie could study his face at her ease, as she +chattered away to him, in the hope of making him feel at home. He had +attracted her at the first glance; and the more she looked at him the +stronger became her impression that here was a cousin worth having. He +was large of his age, finely formed, and taller than Howard, and had a +frank, boyish face, which just now looked a little tired after his long +journey, and a little troubled and nervous at coming among new friends. +For the rest, he had a mass of soft, reddish-brown hair, a freckled +face, firm red lips which parted, now and then, to show two rows of +small, even teeth, and two deep dimples that came and went in his +cheeks, and a pair of near-sighted brown eyes that looked very steadily +into Allie's, as if trying to read his new kinswoman, and find out from +her into what hands he was likely to fall. + +And, indeed, he would have looked far that day without finding a more +attractive cousin, for Allie, in her desire to play the hostess well, +had dropped her usual rollicking manner, and assumed a sweet, childish +dignity which became her as well as her more wonted gayety. Charlie's +face cleared a little, as he looked into her great blue eyes and watched +the changing expressions of her fresh young face, so pretty and bright +in its soft, warm setting of fur. + +"Why didn't Howard come down with you, daught?" asked Mr. Burnam, as he +took his place beside them, and the carriage, turning from the station, +drove away up the street towards the house. + +For an instant, Allie's gaze was fixed on a distant opening between the +buildings, where three boyish figures were scurrying along as fast as +their feet could carry them. Then she roused herself, and turned to the +lad before her, as if she had not heard her father's question. + +"Didn't you have a good time on the way out here, Cousin Charlie?" she +inquired hastily. "Howard and I have been envying you your journey." + +"Can't say I enjoyed it," Charlie answered. "I'd never even travelled +all night before, and it was no end lonesome, riding along, day in and +day out, without a soul to speak to. An old friend of mother's met me in +Chicago, and put me on the train for Council Bluffs, and 'twas easy +enough changing there, so I didn't have any trouble; but you'd better +believe I was glad to see Uncle Ralph when he walked into the sleeper +yesterday afternoon." + +"I believe I'd be willing to go round the world alone, if I could only +go," said Allie. "I'm a real railroad man's daughter, and like to +travel; don't I, poppy?" And she nestled closer to her father's side, +while with amused eyes she watched their guest's expression change, +first to astonishment, then to disgust, as he looked at the main street, +with its low buildings, some few of brick, little one-story structures, +whose fronts were run up in a thin, flat wall, with sham window blinds +at a second-story level, to present the appearance of more pretentious +buildings. + +Fresh as he was from the closely-packed streets of the great city, with +their unbroken rows of towering business blocks and apartment houses, +Charlie was conscious of vague wonder at the rough little mining camp +before him. Then he turned and looked up at the mountain, and, boy that +he was, he forgot all else, all the crudeness of the buildings and all +the roughness of the surroundings, as he saw the full grandeur of the +snow-clad Rockies shining and glistening in the morning sunshine, which +lay caressingly over their giants slopes. He bent forward to look at +them once more, while his face grew very thoughtful and intent; then he +dropped back into his old corner, saying, in an awed, hushed tone, as if +to himself,-- + +"Jove! It's worth it all, to have a chance to look at those." + +"I'm glad you like them," said Allie heartily, though she smiled at his +"Jove," when she recalled her recent charge to Howard to avoid all +slang. "The town must seem queer to you; but the mountains make up for +it. Now lean 'way forward, and look out this side. That little brick +house is ours; and there's mamma in the door, and Howard just back of +her, waiting to give you greeting." + +"Now, honestly, Allie, how did you like him?" Howard asked, as soon as +his mother had taken Charlie to his room and the door closed behind +them. + +"I think I do like him," said Allie slowly. "He didn't talk much coming +up; but I don't know as I wonder, when we're all strangers to him. He +has sort of a good face; of course he isn't handsome, like Ned and +Grant, but he looks as if he'd have some fun in him." + +"I shouldn't think he did look like Ned," returned Howard disdainfully; +"you don't often see anybody that does. This fellow has red hair, too, +and I don't like that kind. He's dressed himself up regardless, in his +derby hat and long-tailed ulster. Does he wear knickerbockers, Allie, or +does he think he's too old for them?" + +"How should I know?" answered Allie. "He's pretty long, and I began at +the top, so I didn't get down so far; but when we are used to his +freckles and his glasses, I don't think he'll seem so bad to us." + +"You almost gave us away, with your rat speech," said Howard, laughing +at the recollection. "Grant giggled till I was afraid Charlie'd hear +him, so I squeaked to cover up the noise. You had us cornered there; and +I didn't want to get caught, for I knew mammy wouldn't like it. She's +been so anxious to have Charlie get here and have a good time with us, +that I didn't want to spoil it all." + +"How long have you been home?" asked his sister, as she turned away to +go to her room and take off her jacket and hat. + +"I had just time to drop off my coat, as I came in through the kitchen, +and get to the front door, when you turned the corner. I believe mammy +has spent the last hour between the door and window. I wonder what +they're doing in there; I wish they'd hurry up, for I want some lunch. +Charlie ought to be hungry, too, for he had breakfast at Argenta. +Remember those elk steaks we had there last fall, sis?" + +Allie made a wry face at the memory. + +"Poor Charlie! He will think he's come into the wilderness. You should +have seen his face, Howard, when we were driving up Main Street. It was +too funny; he looked as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He +stood it very well till he came to the office; then that green sham +front was too much for him, and he fairly groaned." + +"I'll tell you what," Howard counselled her; "can't you get hold of him, +and tell him about some of the ways we have out here, and get him used +to it, so he won't show just what he thinks of us? Girls can do that +sort of thing better than boys, and he'll need some coaching, of course. +Just pussy-cat him a little; and then he looks as if he'd take any +amount of advice. I don't care, for you and me; but the Everetts won't +stand anything of that kind. They've been here ever since the town +started, and they think it's the only place in the world." + +"'Tis one of the best," said Allie decisively. "Of course, 'tisn't +pretty, nor very fine; but I've had the best times since I came here I +ever had, and I'm not going to have anybody run it down when I'm round. +I'll give him a talking-to this very night. Now, let's just come out and +take one race to the corner and back; I've been proper as long as I can, +and I must do something to let off steam. He's all out of the way and +won't see me. Come on!" And away they went, racing down the street in +the warm noon sun. + +After his quiet talk with his aunt, who had gone with him to lead the +way to his room, Charlie no longer felt any doubt of his welcome. Mrs. +Burnam was so like his father in her manner, so bright and brisk, yet so +gentle, that her nephew felt at ease with her at once. There had been +something indescribably motherly in her face, as she sat down on the +edge of the bed, and, taking his hand, drew him down at her side, while +she questioned him about his journey, and the friends he had left behind +him. Then she spoke of his mother so tenderly that the boy's lips +quivered, and two great tears rolled down his cheeks. That was more +than Mrs. Burnam's warm heart could bear. For a moment she let his fresh +sorrow have its way; then she bent forward and put her arm around him, +just as she might have done with Howard. + +"I know, Charlie," she said gently, "nobody else can take her place; +but, while you are with us, remember that you are our own boy, and are +as much at home with us as Howard himself. And now come, if you're +ready, and get acquainted with your cousins, while I see about the +lunch." + +As Charlie went back to the parlor once more, he was surprised to find +the room deserted and the front door slightly open. With a little shiver +of cold and loneliness, he stepped across the room to close the door, +and stood still, to gaze in astonishment at the sight before him. Up the +middle of the road came two figures, evidently engaged in some mad race. +The boy he recognized at once as being his Cousin Howard; but who was +the small Amazon who rushed along at his side, bareheaded and with her +short, thick hair flying in the wind, as she easily kept pace with the +longer strides of her brother? Surely, this could not be Allie, the +demure little maid who had met him with such easy, quiet grace! Charlie +knew little of girls and their ways; but he had always looked upon them +with a certain distrust, as being all-absorbed in their fine clothes and +their prim deportment. The few he had known in New York had done nothing +to alter his opinion, and it had never before occurred to him as a +possibility that a young girl could romp and run, and enjoy the free, +out-of-door life which is the rightful privilege of every healthy child. +This new revelation was quite to his liking, and his astonishment gave +place to interest and then to delight, as Allie gradually outstripped +her brother, and came flying up the steps far in advance of him, with a +triumphant shout of laughter, just as her cousin appeared in the open +doorway, loudly applauding her victory. + +Early that evening Allie and her cousin were alone in the parlor, for +Mrs. Burnam was putting Victor to bed, Mr. Burnam had gone down to his +office for an hour, and Howard had gone out on an errand with the +Everett boys. The afternoon had been devoted to helping Charlie to +unpack and settle himself in his new quarters; and over this informal +occupation their acquaintance had made rapid strides, so it was with a +sense of duty well-performed that Allie curled herself up in the great +easy-chair before the pine knots blazing on the andirons, and turned to +look at the boy, pacing up and down the room. Divested of his long +ulster, which had called forth Howard's criticism, her cousin stood +before her, dressed, like many another boy, in the light brown suit of +the period, but with a grace of position and pride of carriage which had +made him a noticeable lad, even in the great city school, where he had +only been one of scores of well-dressed, well-trained boys. Allie +studied him for a moment in silence; then she gave a little contented +nod to herself, as she said interrogatively,-- + +"Well, Charlie?" + +"Well?" he responded, as he came to a halt at her chair, and, folding +his arms on the back, stood looking down at her while she raised her +face to his. + +"What were you thinking about?" she demanded. "Were you homesick or +tired, that made you look so sober?" + +"I was thinking about New York," he answered candidly; "wondering about +some of the fellows in our school. They were a jolly set, and I'd like +to see them; but I'm not homesick a bit. I think I'm going to like it +here, when I get used to it." + +"I suppose it does seem very strange to you," mused Allie, as if to +herself, while she watched the face above her, looking so thoughtful in +the flickering light. Then she added abruptly, "Come round where I can +talk to you, Charlie; I've something very important to say to you." + +"Yes, ma'am," he answered, but without stirring from his place. + +"Come," she insisted, patting the broad arm of her chair with an +inviting gesture. "I want to give you your first lesson in Western life; +and I can't talk to you half so well, when you're just back of me. If I +can't watch you, I sha'n't know when you're getting vexed and wishing +I'd stop." + +"All right; fire ahead." And Charlie moved around to her side, where he +clasped his hands and brought his spectacles to bear upon her with an +owlish solemnity. + +"That's a very good boy," said his cousin approvingly. Then she +continued, in a tone of elderly counsel, "Now, my dear child, I am about +to say a few words to you which shall be for your own good." + +"Oh, I say," remonstrated Charlie, his dignity breaking down all at +once; "how old are you, Allie,--sixty, or seventy-five?" + +"You shouldn't laugh," returned Allie, shaking her head at him +reproachfully. "That's just the way Mrs. Pennypoker talks to Ned and +Grant; I've heard her, lots of times. But now, truly, I wish you'd be +good and listen to me, for I do want to tell you something that will be +a help to you. The people out here are different from those you've seen, +and the ways aren't like those farther east. I don't know why 'tis, but +they hate to be reminded of it, and, when we came here, papa told us +never to say anything bad about the town, as if we didn't like it, for +we'd get everybody down on us. We did like it, though, so we didn't have +to fib. But now you're here you'd better just keep still about anything +that strikes you funny, when you're off with the boys. Then you can come +back and talk it over with me, when they aren't round, if you want to; I +don't mind; only don't let Howard hear you, for he'd tell the Everetts. +See? That's all; but I thought I'd warn you." + +"You're a trump, Allie; and I'll try not to disgrace you," said Charlie +gratefully. "Of course, it seems awfully queer to me; but I won't give +it away, if I can help it. What's the matter now?" he demanded, as Allie +leaned back in her chair and burst into a peal of laughter. + +"I was just thinking how funny 'twas," she answered; "only this morning +I was telling the boys that their slang would shock you, and they must +drop it; but here you are, every bit as bad as they. I don't believe +there's so much difference between Montana and New York, after all." + +"'Tisn't the place, it's boys," responded Charlie sagely. "They're +pretty much the same, wherever you take them. I think the difference is +in the girls, and, if you please, I believe I prefer the Western ones." + +Allie flushed rosy red at the unexpected compliment, but before she had +time to enjoy it, or to reply, there came a sudden knock at the +dining-room door, and Janey's black face peered in at the crack. + +"Miss Allie, honey," she said in a wheedling tone, as she rolled up her +great eyes at her little mistress, "cyarn you get time to write a letter +for me, bymeby?" + +"I'll come out as soon as Mr. Howard gets home, Janey," she answered; +then, as the head vanished and the door closed, she added to her cousin, +"Janey can't read nor write, so I have to do all her letters for her. +She's engaged to marry a man in Washington, and she says he's 'in de +guv'ment.' His name is Hamilton Lincoln Cornwallis; but he lives at +number seven and a half Goat Alley, so I don't believe he's President +yet. You've no idea how funny his letters are. Maybe she'll get you to +read one, some day." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE EVERETT HOUSEHOLD. + + +Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker belonged to that unpleasant type of individuals +whose members, for lack of specific excellence, are commonly spoken of +by their friends as "thoroughly estimable women." She possessed all the +virtues, but none of the graces which make virtue attractive to the +youthful mind; and she regulated her daily life by a cast-iron code that +was as unvarying and heartless as the smile which sixty years of habit +had stamped upon her thin, bloodless lips. Mrs. Pennypoker was said to +have been handsome in her day, handsome with an austere, cold beauty; +but her day was long past, and the only remaining trace of her good +looks lay in her piercing gray eyes, and her long, straight Greek nose. +The eyes were undimmed by time; but the crow's-feet had gathered thick +about them, and the Greek nose was surmounted by a pair of large, round +eye-glasses, which only served to intensify the sternness of the eyes +behind them. To the children around her, there was something +awe-inspiring in those eye-glasses, and in the broad black ribbon which +held them suspended about her neck. In times of peace, they had the +appearance of being on the watch for some hidden sin; but when occasion +for punishment arose, there was something positively terrifying in their +glare, and the culprit longed for his last hour to come, that he might +escape from their power. + +Dame Nature had been in a generous mood when she had endowed Mrs. +Pennypoker, for she had given her a massive frame and constitution of +bronze, which made her thoroughly intolerant of those unfortunates who +were not similarly blessed. But, impressive as Mrs. Pennypoker was in +most respects, there was yet one undignified peculiarity which marred +the otherwise perfect majesty of her appearance. Like Samson, her +vulnerable point lay in her hair; or, more properly speaking, in her +lack of it. The ravages of time had removed a part of her dark brown +locks, and left an oval bald spot, closely resembling the tonsure of a +Romish priest. This defect was usually covered with an elaborate pile of +braids and puffs; but occasionally the slippery surface of her bald +crown and the power of gravitation proved too much for her hair-pins, +and the whole structure slipped backward, to reveal a shining expanse of +milk-white skin, gleaming forth from the dark tresses surrounding it. +Moreover, rumor had been known to whisper that there was something +peculiar about the rich brown hue of Mrs. Pennypoker's hair; that it was +remarkable for a person of her age to be so free from the silver threads +common among far younger women; and that, strangest of all, she was +subject to periodical variations of color, her hair turning gray at the +ends and then resuming its original tint, while, incredible as it might +seem, the change always appeared at the ends nearest her scalp, though +the tips of her hairs retained all their wonted lustre. + +Coming from far-away New England, Mrs. Pennypoker was true to the blood +of her Puritan ancestry. She had in her composition much of the stuff of +which martyrs are made. She could have gone to the stake for her +opinions; but she could just as cheerfully have turned the tables, and +piled the fagots high about the misguided heretics who ventured to +disagree with her own peculiar doctrines. Ever on the alert to find out +the path of duty and to walk in it, she had promptly accepted the +proposition of her distant cousin, Mr. Everett, to become his +housekeeper, after the death of his wife; and, forsaking all her old +associations, she had girded herself and her trunks, and, with her +parrot as her sole companion, she had retired to the wilderness to +subdue the dragons of anarchy and chaos which had probably entered into +the Everett household. + +Her first dragon proved to be a very long-tailed one; and though he was +promptly met, he was by no means so promptly subdued. An hour after her +arrival, she had penetrated to the kitchen, where she was suddenly +confronted by Wang Kum, the shoe-button-eyed Chinaman who had been in +the service of Mrs. Everett for months before her death. In their first +interview, Mrs. Pennypoker was ignominiously routed and driven from the +field, for Wang Kum ignored her stony gaze, and cheerfully and volubly +chattered to her in a torrent of Pidgin-English which left her no +opportunity for reply; so she withdrew, resolving that her first reform +should be the removal of Wang from office. However, on this question Mr. +Everett was determined; Wang Kum had been their faithful servant, and +knew the ways of their household; moreover, he had been devoted to Mrs. +Everett during her last illness, and in that kitchen Wang Kum should +stay. Defeated in this main object, Mrs. Pennypoker next devoted herself +to the task of civilization, and waged daily warfare with the Chinaman, +in her endeavors to convert him to American ways and dress, and +Calvinistic theology. + +"Old lady heap talkee; Wang Kum no care," he used to confide to Louise +Everett, after an unusually long and tedious fray. "Wang min' Miss Lou; +old lady too flesh." + +Four years before this time, when the Blue Creek copper mine was opened +and the building of the great smelter had brought to the creek the first +settlers of the mining camp, Mr. Everett had been made superintendent of +the mine, and had brought his family out to be with him. Of his three +children, Louise was now in the first flush of young womanhood, a +pretty, graceful blonde of twenty, who had been educated in an Eastern +school until the sudden death of her mother had called her home to take +charge of the housekeeping, before Mrs. Pennypoker appeared upon the +scene, to relieve her of the care, and act as matron to watch over her +young cousin with an eagle eye. For the past few years, Louise had been +away from home so much of the time that the loss of her mother fell +less heavily upon her than on her young brothers, who had been the +constant companions of the bright, pretty little woman who had devoted +her life to theirs. + +Mrs. Pennypoker was scarcely the person to make good their loss; and Ned +and Grant would have had a lonely life, had it not been for motherly +Mrs. Burnam, whose heart was large enough to take in all the children +with whom she came in contact. The Everetts were likable boys, too, just +the companions she would have chosen for Howard and Allie: gay and +mischievous, as every healthy boy should be, but with the high sense of +honor and firm principle which can only come from a good mother and +careful home training. Ned, the older one, at thirteen was the image of +his father, with a rich, dark beauty which made him a striking contrast +to Grant's light yellow hair and pink and white cheeks. Grant was his +mother's own boy, in all but his eyes, which were like his father's, +large and brown; and he had received his mother's maiden name, just as +he had received the features and complexion of her family. + +Of all the members of the Everett household, Grant was the only one who +felt no fear of Mrs. Pennypoker. Even his father was far more in +subjection to her rule than was his little son. Grant had been the first +to discover her bald spot--which he promptly christened her storm +centre--and to call Ned's attention to it; and therein lay much of his +power over her. Now, whenever Mrs. Euphemia threatened to get the better +of him, he had only to fix his eyes steadily on the top of her head, or +abstractedly rub his hand over his own yellow pate, to cause her to +abandon her lecture and escape to her mirror, in order to assure herself +that all was as it should be. + +The Everetts lived a little to the west of the Burnam's, in what was +usually spoken of as "one of the old houses," to distinguish it from the +more modern structures of brick and boards. This particular old house +was, in fact, the oldest one in the camp, for it had been built by the +superintendent for his family, when the other inhabitants of the place +were still living in tents pitched along the edge of the creek. Like +most of the other houses of the town, it was a one-story building, low +and rambling, with odd wings and projections, which had been added to +the original square structure as the needs of the family demanded. It +was built of rough-hewn logs, but the front was coated with clapboards, +in deference to the prevailing style of architecture, which literally +put its best foot forward. + +Within, the walls were guiltless of lath or plaster, but were covered +with strips of cotton cloth, to which the wall-paper was pasted. At +certain seasons, this imparted a peculiar effect to the rooms, for, in +the fierce winter gales, occasional breezes would work their way through +the crannies of the wall and cause the paper and its cloth background to +sway backwards and forwards, to the horror of the stranger unused to +such modes of finish, since the sight of the walls swaying and wriggling +before his eyes could only be satisfactorily explained as the result of +intoxication, or of temporary insanity. The same stranger would have +stopped short in surprise, on entering the Everetts' clumsy log-house. +In spite of its unattractive exterior, it was a cosy, luxurious +dwelling, with furniture, draperies and pictures which would do credit +to any Eastern city house; for Mrs. Everett had loved pretty things, and +had gathered them about her in the hope of making home the spot most +enjoyable for her children. + +The Everetts were gathered around the table for their late dinner, one +night in February, soon after Charlie's arrival in Blue Creek. At the +head of the table sat Mrs. Pennypoker, who never appeared so majestic +as when she was presiding over the bountifully spread board, for Mrs. +Pennypoker was what is known as a liberal provider, and had a lingering +fondness, herself, for the good things of this earth. To-night, she was +unusually benign, for Wang Kum had outdone himself, and the soup was the +perfection of flavoring, the roast done to a turn; so she could relax +her anxious scrutiny of the appointments of the table, and lend an ear +to what Mr. Everett was saying to his daughter. + +"Yes, Mr. Nelson came down to the office to see me to-day. It seems he's +been talking up the matter of a boy choir, and he wants Ned and Grant, +here, to sing in it. He's going to have Howard, and he's heard that +Charlie sings; then there are about a dozen little German fellows, and +some men. I told him I'd no objection, and I'd ask the boys what they +thought." + +"He said something about it to me, after service last night," answered +Louise, who acted as organist at the little Episcopal chapel. "He said +he wanted to get his plans all made as soon as he could, so we could go +to work on the vestments and begin training, to have the choir ready to +sing at Easter. I told him that both the boys sang, but I didn't know +what you'd say to it." + +"I'm willing," Mr. Everett was beginning, when Mrs. Pennypoker +interrupted him. + +"Do you mean," she asked with icy distinctness, as she leaned forward +over the table to add emphasis to her words, "that you are going to let +your sons sing in one of those choirs that march into church with their +night-gowns on, and singsong the answers to what the priest says?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Everett, smiling at his cousin, in the hope of +calming her disgust. "Yes; that is, if that's what you call it. The boys +both have good voices, and it certainly won't hurt them any, for Mr. +Nelson knows how to train them well." + +"Humph!" returned Mrs. Pennypoker uncompromisingly. "It's my belief that +they'd much better go to hear good old Dr. Hornblower, and let this +flummery alone. Your Nelson man is no better than a papist, with his +colored windows and his chants and all; and, now he's succeeded in +getting his new chapel, there'll be no stopping him." + +"Just watch the storm centre," whispered Grant to his brother, as Mrs. +Pennypoker ended her remark with an expressive, but ill-advised shake +of her head. "It's coming into action fast." + +"I am glad you feel satisfied with the doctor," answered Mr. Everett, +looking squarely into the face of his irate relative. "He is doubtless a +good man; but my wife was a member of Mr. Nelson's church, and her +children have always been accustomed to going there, so I think they +would better continue. Another thing I started to tell you, Lou," he +went on, as he turned to his daughter again, "I hear that, at last, Blue +Creek is to have a new doctor. There's a young fellow from one of the +Eastern colleges on his way out here to settle. The Fullertons know him, +and say he's a brilliant man. It's about time we had somebody, for since +old Dr. Meacham died, nobody's dared be ill, for fear they'd die before +a doctor could get over from Butte." + +"And when this one comes, we're all going to celebrate by being ill; is +that what you mean, papa?" Louise asked playfully, as she shook her head +at Grant, who was stretching up, to peer curiously at the top of Mrs. +Pennypoker's head, where a pale crescent was gradually appearing and +waxing wider. "When's he coming?" + +"Not for five or six weeks," her father answered; "so you'll have to +keep well for a while longer. He's on his way; but he's going to visit +some friends in Omaha and Denver, before he gets here." + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Ned suddenly. + +"What's struck you?" asked Grant. + +"Nothing; only I was wondering if this could be the same man Charlie Mac +was telling about. He met a young man on the train, papa, who came from +Chicago to the Bluffs with him. He had next section, so they talked +some, and he told Charlie he was from way back East, and was coming to +Blue Creek, too. He said he'd never been here, and asked Charlie all +manner of questions about the place and all." + +"I don't believe he found out much," said Grant with a giggle. "Charlie +hadn't any more idea than a dead man what 'twas going to be like out +here." + +"No; but he's done pretty well since he came, though," said Ned +admiringly. "He's acted as if 'twere just what he'd always been used to. +It's my belief that Allie's been coaching him; he'd never get on so well +by himself, I know." + +"He came pretty near finishing himself, the second day he was here, all +the same," added Grant. "Did you hear about it, papa? Nobody'd told him +to look out a little, till he was used to this air. He started out to +run, and it used him up in no time, so he turned blue-white, and nearly +dropped. He's taking it slowly, now; and is getting into it by little +and little." + +"By the way," asked Louise suddenly; "what has become of Marjorie? I +haven't seen her for a week." + +"She's under punishment," replied Ned lugubriously; "and we haven't any +of us seen her since the afternoon we were out skating, just before +Charlie came. I don't know exactly what 'tis; but it must be something +pretty bad, for her mother to keep her away so long." + +"Marjorie is always getting herself into trouble, it seems to me," said +Mr. Everett, laughing indulgently as he spoke, for he had a genuine +liking for this active, flyaway young girl, whose heart was as true and +kind as her impulses were hasty and rash. + +"So she is," returned Ned defensively; "but she flies into everything +head first, and without thinking much about it; and then she goes into +the depths of gunny-sacks and cinders afterwards, when it's too late to +do any good." + +"That isn't a very helpful kind of penitence," remarked Mrs. +Pennypoker, looking up from her plate. + +"It's a very natural one, I am afraid," said Mr. Everett charitably. +"Then Marjorie hasn't seen this new friend of yours?" + +"No, not yet," Grant answered. "It's a shame, too, for she was in a +hurry to get a look at him. He is a first-rate fellow, really, papa; and +doesn't seem a bad tenderfoot, even to old-timers like Ned and me. What +do you want, Wang?" he added, as Wang Kum's head appeared at the door. + +"Mas' How'd, he here," announced Wang briefly. "He no come in; wan' +you." And he vanished, followed by the boys, who hurried out in search +of their friend. + +In the mean time, at the Burnam's a short conversation was taking place, +which would have enlightened the boys on the subject of Charlie's easy +adaptability to his new surroundings. It was his habit to practise for +an hour after dinner each night, and Allie was usually beside him. She +loved music as well as did her cousin, and was content to settle herself +on a wide sofa drawn up beside the piano, sometimes with a book, but +more often idly leaning back against the cushions, with her eyes fixed +on her cousin's face, as he gradually lost all consciousness of her +presence in his enjoyment of the music. Young boy as he was, and a +normal, healthy boy, too, Charlie had undoubted genius in this one +direction, and added to a rare talent for music the skill gained by five +years of study under the best master that the city could afford, until, +both in subject and method, his playing was far beyond what one would +naturally expect in a lad of his years. It had been a great delight to +him to find that Allie cared for his music, and could understand the +varying moods which he tried to express in his hours of practice. The +two cousins really had their best times in these nightly visits, for +when his regular time of practice was over, Charlie would still linger +at the piano, playing in a soft, fitful undertone, while they discussed +the events of the day, or planned for the morrow's program. The week +they had been together had quickly ripened their first liking for each +other into a close friendship; and after a day of out-of-door frolics +with the other boys, Charlie had learned to look forward to the time of +talking it over with Allie, and listening to her merry, whimsical +comments on what they had done and seen. But, on this particular night, +Charlie was bound on gaining information. + +"If you please, ma'am," he began, as he let his hands fall from the +keys, and turned to face his cousin. + +"Oh--yes--what?" responded Allie, gradually rousing herself from her +story. + +"If you please, I'd like to ask a question," he said meekly. "I'm in +want of a few pointers." + +"Well?" and Allie was all attention, as she smiled up at her cousin's +perplexed face. + +"In the first place, how much is a bit?" demanded Charlie. + +"Twelve and a half cents," she answered promptly. "Why?" + +"I don't know as I dare tell," Charlie replied, with a shamefaced laugh. + +"Go on," urged Allie curiously. "I'm sure it's something funny, and you +know I never tell tales." + +"Well, if you'll promise, true blue. You see, I wanted some new rubbers, +for mine were all full of holes, and I was tired of going round with wet +feet; so I went down town this morning and tried to buy some. The clerk +said they were six bits, but I didn't know how much that was, and didn't +want to say so, so I told him that I didn't quite like the kind, and +went off." + +"You've a great mind, Charlie," said Allie approvingly. "Everybody here +counts by bits; two make a quarter; and then, you know, we don't have +any pennies here, nothing smaller than a five-cent piece. Remember that, +and don't offer anybody a penny, even if it's a beggar. Go on; what +next?" + +"That's about all, for this time," he answered. "Oh, no; there's one +thing more. What's that queer place down south of here, all fenced in, +and with little bits of log cabins scattered around as if they'd just +been dropped out of a pepper-box?" + +"That's Chinatown," said Allie, laughing at the accuracy of the +description. "We must get papa to take us there, some day. But now I +want to tell you something. You know Marjorie Fisher?" + +"Can't say I do," returned Charlie flippantly. + +"Yes, I know what you mean," interrupted Allie; "but you know who she +is, and you want to know her, herself, for she's great fun. She's +been--busy, this last week; but I had a note from her to-night, and she +wants us all to come down there to-morrow afternoon for a candy-pull. I +told her we'd go, so she's going to stop here after school and wait for +you and Howard, and we'll all go on together. The Everetts will be +there, too, and we shall be sure to have a good time; we always do at +Marjorie's." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ON THE CROSS-HEAD. + + + "The bees and the wasps were there. + The old queen bee, with fiendish glee, + Was pulling a hornet's hair. + The monkey thought 'twas rough; + He took a pinch of snuff, + And then the bees began to sneeze, + And left,"-- + +sang a clear, boyish voice outside, and the next moment steps were heard +on the piazza. + +"Who's that?" asked Marjorie, glancing up from the skating cap, which, +with infinite pains, she was crocheting, in thoughtful anticipation of +Howard's birthday, the following summer. + +"Charlie; don't you know his voice?" responded Allie, who was sitting +with one foot tucked under her, while she sewed the buttons on her shoe. + +"How should I? I've never heard him sing," answered Marjorie. + +"You will soon, for he and Ned are to lead the new choir at Easter. +Charlie seems to be feeling unusually comf'y to-day," said his cousin, +as the boy came in at the side door opening into the dining-room, and +walked over to the corner where they were sitting, curled up by the +stove. "Where'd you get that pretty song?" she added. + +"Made it up, of course; didn't you know I was a poet?" inquired Charlie +blandly, while he nodded to Marjorie, and then pulled off his glasses to +wipe away the steam condensed on them by the sudden change from the cold +outer air to the heat within the house. + +"I never should have supposed so," Marjorie answered, laughing. "You +look altogether too plump and well-fed." + +"Can't help it; you can't tell by looking at a toad how far he'll hop. I +wrote it 'all my lone,' as Vic says," responded Charlie. "I'm very proud +of it, too." + +"Sit down and amuse us," said Allie, hospitably drawing a chair nearer +the fire. + +"No, thank you; I'm engaged, and must be going," returned Charlie, with +a lofty air of importance which was not without its effect upon his +cousin. + +"What's going on?" she asked curiously. "I told Marjorie that you acted +unusually set up over something." + +"I met Mr. Everett just now, and he told me that, if I'd get over to the +smelter at three, he'd let me go down the mine this afternoon." + +"O Charlie, take us with you," begged his cousin, starting up, forgetful +of the fact that she was still without one shoe. "I've never been, and I +do want to go, so much." + +"Can't; girls aren't invited," said Charlie heartlessly. "He did say +that he'll take us all at once, though, as soon as they put the cage in, +next month; but he doesn't like to take but one at a time, on this thing +they're running now. I wish you could go, for 'twould be lots more fun." + +"'Tisn't much to go down," said Marjorie, with an air of superior +wisdom. "It's dark and slippery, and not any too clean; and you have to +get out of the way of something or other, most every minute." + +"Yes, I know," said Allie; "it's all very well to say that, when you've +been; but I never had a chance to go. I was ill the time Howard went; +and now I shall be the only one left that hasn't been down. I hope +you'll have an awfully good time, though, Charlie, and not get lost, or +smashed, or anything else that's bad, while you're underground. Isn't it +growing colder?" she added, as Charlie turned up the collar of his +ulster and scientifically pinched the edges of his ears, preparatory to +starting out once more. + +"'T isn't exactly balmy," he answered. "Want anything, before I go?" And +a moment later the door closed behind him. + +"You're a lucky girl, Allie," said Marjorie, while she watched the +figure striding along down the road. "Even Ned says he's the jolliest +fellow in town, all but Howard." + +"Yes, 't is good to have him here," said Allie contentedly, as she +slipped on her shoe and stooped to button it up. "He's just as +good-natured and nice as he can be; and I think I like him better than +any boy I ever saw, except Howard, even if he hasn't been here quite a +month." + +"Not better than Ned?" Marjorie exclaimed incredulously. + +"Well--no--I don't know," said Allie, wavering a little. "Ned's just +about as near right as he can be; but I believe, after all, I'd rather +live in the house with Charlie. Ned might be a little too peppery for a +steady diet." + +"I never thought you'd turn a cold shoulder to Ned," said Marjorie, +shaking her head over Allie's defection. "Charlie's very nice and +gentlemanly, and all that, but I don't believe he has half Ned's pluck. +Do you remember the time he sprained his wrist falling off his pony, way +up the gulch, and wouldn't tell of it till we were home again? I don't +think Charlie Mac would stand that kind of thing long. There's no +special reason he shouldn't be agreeable; we've all of us tried our best +to make him have a good time." + +"Charlie isn't a baby, though," returned Allie, valiantly rising to the +defence of her cousin. "You think, just because he knows more about +music than 'most anybody else in the camp, and looks and acts as if he +came from a city, that he's more than half girl. But I'll tell you he +isn't, Marjorie, and if anything came to try him, you'd find he'd come +up to the mark every bit as well as Ned. I don't know as I care to have +anything happen, though, just for the sake of proving it." + +In the mean time, the subject of the conversation was walking rapidly in +the direction of the smelter, whose pile of huge red buildings lay a +little to the southeast of the town, across the creek and close to the +foot of the mountain which towered above it sheer and straight. A few +hundred feet down the cañon below it, and a little farther back from the +creek, was the shaft leading down into the mine, and beside it the +engine house with the machinery needful for raising the ore, and for +carrying the miners to and from the cross-cuts, hundreds of feet below. + +Though he had often been to the smelter with Ned and Grant, it was the +first time that Charlie had visited the place alone. He felt very small +and insignificant, as he stepped inside the enclosure, with its array of +great buildings, mammoth chimneys whence rose the smoke from countless +and undying fires, and its throng of busy workers. Then he entered the +little building which served as superintendent's office, and in a moment +the whir and clang of the outer life was left behind him, and he found +himself in a quiet, pleasant room, with only a collection of maps and +photographs and specimens of ores, to tell of the vast business +centering there. As the boy shyly came in at the door, Mr. Everett rose +to receive him. + +"O Charlie, you're just on the minute, and I'm all ready for you," he +said, glancing up at the clock. + +"Somers, I'm going down the shaft with this young man; if anybody wants +me, tell him I'll be here at five." And, putting on his overcoat, he +went away, followed by Charlie, who was filled with an eager enthusiasm +at the idea of going so far towards the center of the earth. + +"I'm sorry," Mr. Everett said, as they followed a path winding in and +out among the buildings, and then came out on the main road leading to +the shaft; "I'm sorry that we haven't time to take in the smelter, too, +to-day; but you can go there almost any time. Any of the men in the +office can take you through it, as well as I can; but I don't let +strangers go into the mine unless I'm with them. We're going to put in a +new cage, next month," he added casually, as they drew near the shaft. + +"What's that for?" asked Charlie, to whom cages and their construction +were a mystery. + +"Safer, and can carry more," answered his host concisely. "These +cross-heads and buckets are slow work. A two-deck cage will do the same +amount in much less time, and there's no fear of their catching, as +these do sometimes." + +As he spoke, they paused to look at the gearing of windlass and cable at +the mouth of the shaft; then Charlie cautiously approached the opening. +After all he had heard of mines and shafts, it was rather disappointing +to him to see only a great, square hole leading down into the depths of +the earth. What he had expected, it would be hard to say; but it is +certain that his disappointment deepened when, after three strokes from +the engineer's bell, the hoisting engine suddenly started into life, +and, out from the darkness of the shaft, there slowly emerged into view +an ungainly contrivance of four great timbers, arranged in a hollow +square and hung on a cable, which passed freely through openings in the +upper and lower timbers, to carry a huge bucket fastened to its end, +while a black-faced miner stood in the bucket, much in the attitude of a +jack-in-the-box after the spring is loosed. + +"That's what we call the cross-head, above," explained Mr. Everett. "It +slides free on the rope, and rests on the fastening of the bucket. Now +you see how we bring up the ore." + +"But do we have to go down in that thing?" inquired Charlie, drawing +back in disgust, as he surveyed the grimy, dusty bucket before him. + +"Not unless you prefer it," Mr. Everett answered, laughing. "It's +against rules to ride in it; and anyway I usually go on the cross-head, +myself, for the bucket reminds me too much of Simple Simon. Step on +here," he added, as the crude elevator sank down until the upper beam +was on a level with the surface of the ground. "Now, if you just hold +on to the rope, you're all right. Let us go slowly, Joe," he went on, to +the waiting engineer; "I want to take a look at the shaft, as we go +down. We'll try the seven-hundred level to-day." + +A moment later, they began to sink away from the light above them, while +the opening at the mouth of the shaft grew smaller and smaller to their +eyes, and their lamps only cast a sickly, uncertain light on the walls +beside them. They went down slowly, so slowly, that, as soon as he had +had time to accustom himself to the new sensation, Charlie had plenty of +opportunity to examine the walls. For the most part, they were roughly +cased with boards and surrounded at intervals by the massive +collar-timbers, projecting ten or twelve inches inside the boards. At +each side of the shaft were the heavy upright guides, running from top +to bottom and serving to keep in place the cross-head, which was fitted +to move easily between them. Down, down they went, for what seemed to +the boy a limitless distance. They had passed a great square chamber, +opening into along, lighted corridor which Mr. Everett had told him were +the station and cross-cut at the four-hundred level, and still they were +sinking. All at once they came to a sudden stop, and the next instant +Charlie felt the rope he was holding slowly drawing down through his +hands. Mr. Everett gave a quick exclamation. + +"Let go the rope!" he commanded abruptly. + +"I'm perfectly willing," answered Charlie, laughing, as he rubbed his +tingling palms. "What's up, anyway? We don't seem to be anywhere in +particular." + +"We're caught a little," replied Mr. Everett quietly. "You needn't be +frightened, for it's happened before. All is, the cross-head has caught, +and the bucket is going down without us, and taking the rope with it. +Have you a steady head?" + +"I s'pose so," said Charlie lightly, for, in his ignorance of mines, he +had no idea of the possible danger of his position. + +"Very well; can you turn around and step down on the beam that's just +below us?" returned Mr. Everett, still speaking in the same calm voice, +though with the brevity of a captain giving his orders on a field of +battle. "If you can, do it, and then put your arm around the back of the +guide there. So; that's all right." + +In another moment, he had followed Charlie, and taken his place beside +him on the other side of the guide, where he showed the boy how to grasp +the timber in such a way that the cross-head, coming up, should not +touch his arm. That done, he breathed a sigh of relief. + +"There!" he said; "now we're safe for the time being. The next question +is: how are we going to get out of this trap?" + +"Why couldn't we stay on the cross-head?" asked Charlie, as it began to +move slowly away from the spot where it had lodged. + +"Just that reason," returned Mr. Everett, with a motion of his head +towards the clumsy frame which, once loosed, went sliding away down the +rope after the bucket. "Though you may not have known it, young man, you +were never in a much more dangerous place than you were five minutes +ago; for, as soon as it could get free, the cross-head was going to +crash down on top of the bucket, with force enough to kill anybody that +happened to be on it. I knew 'twould go, sooner or later; but I didn't +feel so sure that we could get off in time." + +"Then it's done it before?" asked Charlie, in no wise moved by the +knowledge of his past danger, but, boy-like, rather enjoying the novelty +of his position, halfway down the shaft of the mine, and lodged like a +fly on the wall, with only a narrow beam between himself and a fall of +four or five hundred feet. + +"Once," answered Mr. Everett, amused, in spite of his anxiety, by the +boy's coolness. "It killed four men on the cross-head, and the one in +the bucket; but they have such accidents in the other mines often +enough, so we know about what the chances are. That's one reason we're +going to put in a cage. Now," he went on, resuming his tone of +authority, "don't you try to move, and, above all, don't look down. I'm +going to get round to the other side, where I can reach the bell-rope, +and signal the engineer to bring up the cross-head again." + +"Not walk around on this beam!" exclaimed Charlie, as his interest +changed to genuine alarm, for he realized that such an attempt was a +very different matter from standing quiet and holding on by the upright +timber between them. + +"There's no other way," Mr. Everett answered, as he started on his +perilous journey. "I can't reach to signal, from this side, and they +never would find us without. We can't very well stay here, so that seems +to be the only thing I can do. You needn't be alarmed, my boy," he added +kindly, as he saw that the lad was now thoroughly frightened for his +safety. "I am used to all these ins and outs, and know about what I can +do, even if I never happened to get caught just here before. We miners +get to be half monkeys, and can hang on where most men would fall." + +He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam; then he turned +back to add one parting caution. + +[Illustration: "He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam."] + +"Remember," he said, "and don't try to look down, even if you think you +hear the cross-head coming up again. If you do, you are likely to get +dizzy and fall." + +How long it took for Mr. Everett to creep around the shaft, neither he +nor Charlie ever knew. To them both, the moments seemed long, but to Mr. +Everett, in particular, they were like hours, for he realized so keenly +all the danger of their position, and felt the added responsibility for +the young boy in his care. Inch by inch, step by step, he worked his way +forward, until at length he reached the opposite guide, and felt the +signal cord between his fingers. Then he knew that all trouble was +ended. + +One, two, three! rang out the engineer's bell. + +The engineer was perplexed. He had been lowering the bucket more and +more slowly, and still there had reached him no summons to stop, +although his dial told him that the cross-head must be far below the +seven-hundred level. And now came the summons to raise slowly, when he +was sure that it was near the level of no station. What was the matter? +It was evident that there was some trouble. + +Slowly the engine drew up the bucket. It had passed the six-hundred +level, then the five, and was now half way to the four-hundred, when the +bell rang again, a single stroke this time, the order to stop. The +engine was left motionless for some moments, while the engineer, with an +anxious face, stood awaiting a fresh signal. He knew that something was +wrong, and that it must concern the superintendent, since he had been +the last man to go down. He spoke a few quick words to his assistant, +and in a moment more a little crowd had gathered at the mouth of the +shaft, just as the bell sounded again, three strokes. + +Standing once more on the cross-head, Mr. Everett and Charlie could feel +the man's excitement in the very motion of their tiny platform, as, +obedient to the engine, it rose a little, then stopped, then rose again, +as if feeling its way over an uncertain course. So they went on till the +four-hundred level was below them; then the engine quickened its action. +Little by little the tiny dot above them broadened, and turned to a wide +disk of blue sky; and their lamps dwindled to a pale yellow before the +clear light of day, as the cross-head, with its living freight, slowly +came up into the bright air, amid the shouts of the men who stood +waiting to receive it. + +"Father said Joe was badly rattled," Ned told Charlie, that night, on +their way to a choir rehearsal. "He was sure 'twas all up with you, and +came near losing his head, so he couldn't run the engine, or answer a +signal." + +"I didn't suppose 'twas as bad as that," returned Charlie. "I didn't +much like your father's having to walk round on that beam, or whatever +you call it, but I thought the rest was good fun." + +"I told father that I didn't believe you knew enough to be scared," said +Ned, with masculine frankness. "He was talking, all dinner-time, about +the way you kept cool and didn't make a fuss. Father was frightened, +himself; he's never been in such a fix before, with all he's had to do +with mines, and he says he's going to hurry now, to get that cage put in +before they get into any more scrapes. But I just wish I'd been down +there with you," he added enviously. "It's ever so much more fun than +'tis to go straight down, without any hitches." + +"I'll wait till I've tried both, before I make up my mind," responded +Charlie, as they reached the door of the chapel, and turned to wait for +Howard and Grant to overtake them. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MEETING IN THE WATERS. + + +Three weeks had passed since Charlie's unsuccessful attempt to explore +the inside of a mine, and now the last of March had come. Already the +boy had begun to feel as much at home with his cousins and in the mining +camp, as if he had always lived in Blue Creek. Had the change from his +old surroundings been less abrupt and marked, he might have had +occasional twinges of homesickness; but everything about him was so new +and strange, and so full of interest, that it left him no opportunity to +mourn for his former life, save when the memory of his mother and of his +loss of her came fresh upon him, to bring him an hour of keen sorrow. +And now, as the weeks went on, although he never forgot her, still he +learned to turn to his aunt for a sympathy and guidance which in a +measure replaced the love that his mother had lavished upon him; while, +on her side, Mrs. Burnam soon came to look on him quite as her own boy, +and daily rejoiced in the close intimacy which had sprung up between +Charlie and his cousins. + +The time had been as busy as it was happy. In the absence of any good +schools in the camp, Howard and the Everett boys studied under the +supervision of Mr. Nelson, who gave up his mornings to them; and Charlie +had joined them the week after he reached Blue Creek. Marjorie and +Allie, too, went every morning to have a few simple lessons from the +widow of one of Mr. Everett's former clerks,--a gentle, low-voiced +Southern woman who, left alone to make her own way in this new country, +was glad to help support herself by taking occasional private pupils. +Accordingly, at a little before nine o'clock every morning, the +procession of six formed in front of the Everetts and marched down the +street for half a mile, where they separated, to go to their different +tutors for three or four hours of work. + +The unvarying program of the morning was followed by a hasty lunch; and, +after that, there were few afternoons when the children did not meet. +There were rare hours on the ice, when the skating was good; there was +coasting such as Charlie had never dreamed of before, for in a country +where all the land stood up on edge, as Grant expressed it, and where +fences were unknown, it was easy to find the long, smooth slopes which +are the delight of every owner of a good sled. Best of all, to Charlie's +mind, were the long afternoons of running on snow-shoes, when they +explored the cañon far to the north and south, or penetrated the deep, +narrow gulch at the west of the camp. This last sport was especially +delightful to the boy, for it gave him a wild sense of exhilaration to +go sliding and scuffling along over three or four feet of snow, or coast +lazily down the tiny hillocks in his path; and, under the instructions +of his cousins, he quickly became skilled in the use of his runners, +until he could easily hold his place at the head of the party, or turn a +sharp corner without treading on his own or his neighbor's heels. + +All this was excellent fun while it lasted, but far too soon came the +time of melting snows, when skates and sleds and snow-shoes all had to +be laid aside to wait for another winter. It had been a season of +exceptionally deep snow, and the firm, hard crust lasted far past its +usual time for thawing. Then came the chinook, the warm south wind, +which eats away the accumulated snow of months in as many days; and the +great white banks first grew porous, and then slowly sank away, while +the water ran in streams along the streets, or lingered in still pools +far under the unbroken crust, waiting to drench the unwary passerby who +should venture to set foot upon their treacherous covering. + +It was the afternoon before Easter, and Louise Everett was just +preparing to start for the chapel, to help try the vestments on the boys +of the new choir. She had lingered in the doorway for a moment to watch +her brothers, who had gone on before her, laughing and shouting as they +floundered along, now walking a few steps on top of the snow, now +suddenly sinking down, up to the waist, as they chanced to find a spot +where the chinook had done more rapid work. As she looked after them, +she saw, crossing the road, one of the stray cows that wandered about +the town. The ungainly animal came slowly along, turning this way and +that, in search of a firmer footing, until all at once her hind legs +plunged down into a hole, and the poor creature was left sitting bolt +upright and staring stupidly about her, as if in astonishment at her +unwonted position. Louise laughed at the absurd picture, but her heart +failed her a little when she thought of the long walk in store for her. + +"I've a great mind not to go," she said to herself; "the walking is so +bad, and they don't really need me. I wish I'd sent the bundle down by +the boys." + +But she turned away and went to her room to put on her hat and jacket, +for it was never her habit to fail to keep an engagement, and she had +promised to be at the chapel that afternoon. + +Perhaps it was the special providence supposed to watch over those who +are doing their duty, perhaps it was because her light, quick steps made +little impression on the snow; but more than two thirds of her walk was +over, and the crust had not once given way beneath her. She was within +sight of the chapel, now, but before she reached it, she must cross the +small, open square, where the two main streets of the town came +together. It was only fifteen or twenty yards, at most, but it lay lower +than the ground about it, and the snow showed dark patches, here and +there, as if the water had gathered below, and was trying to force its +way to the surface. Louise glanced doubtfully at the square; but there +was no other way she could take, and there were fresh footprints leading +across it, showing that some one had been just before her. Moreover, she +was late, and there was no time to be lost. With her skirts gathered +closely about her, and the great bundle grasped in her other hand, she +cautiously started forward, testing the ground at every step, before +trusting her weight upon it. Slowly and carefully she went on, and was +just congratulating herself upon her success, when--fwsch! There was a +sound of crunching and gurgling, and her left foot plunged down through +the snow, into six inches of water beneath, with a shock that threw the +bundle from her hand, and jolted her hat over her eyes. With a smothered +groan of mortification, she scrambled up to a solid footing once more, +while she thrust back her hat, and gave a hasty glance over her +shoulder, to assure herself that no one was in sight. + +Not a human being was visible, except one man who was turning a distant +corner. For so much, at least, she could be thankful. But it was plain +that a further advance in that direction was impossible, and that she +must beat a retreat. Accordingly, she picked up her bundle and turned to +retrace her steps, moving with even greater caution than before, and +stepping only in her previous tracks. However, the strain of one +crossing was all that the weakened crust could bear, and the third step +let her down again, far into the cold snow-water below, while her hat +took a fresh lurch, this time to one side, and two or three hair-pins +flew from her glossy yellow braids. Her situation was fast becoming +tragic; but Louise gathered herself up anew and turned to the right, +only to plunge in deeper than before; to the left, to meet with the same +fate. Desperately she tried one spot after another. Now painfully +scrambling to an insecure footing on top of the crust, now violently +descending into the depths again, until the snow about her was marked +thick with deep, round holes, and her feet were drenched and well-nigh +frozen with the icy water which trickled up and down inside her shoes, +as she lifted now her toes and now her heels from the horizontal. + +"Pardon me, madam, but you seem to be in trouble. Can I assist you?" +inquired a courteous voice behind her. + +Slowly and painfully Louise turned around in her miniature well. Then +she blushed to the roots of her hair. Ten feet away from her, on the +outer edge of the square, stood a stranger, who was watching her with +an air of respectful sympathy, which was entirely out of harmony with +the amused twinkle of his gray eyes. One quick glance told the girl that +the stranger was young and undeniably good-looking; then her eyes +dropped to the bundle in her hand, as she answered,-- + +"Thank you, but I'm caught here, and can't seem to find a spot that will +bear me. Don't trouble yourself; I shall get out in a moment. Oh, don't +try to come here!" she added hastily, as he made a motion as if to go +nearer her. "If you do, you will never get out." + +The stranger paused doubtfully and looked at her again. There was a tone +of good-breeding in her voice, and, as he came nearer, he saw that she +was pretty, with a delicate, refined beauty which was not in keeping +with her great bundle, her bedraggled appearance, and the hat cocked +rakishly over one ear, above the drooping braids of yellow hair. At +first sight, he had taken her for a pretty servant, out in search of a +new place; but now he realized his mistake, and offered her a mental +apology for his error. + +"Perhaps I can tear a board or two off from that fence over there," he +suggested, after a fresh survey of the field. "If you can stay there +for a few minutes, I'll be back with some of them, and make a bridge." + +In spite of herself, Louise laughed at the absurdity of her plight. + +"Stay here!" she echoed; "I wish I could do anything else. But," she +demurred, "I am afraid you will get into trouble, too." + +But the stranger had already gone. A moment or two later, he was back +again, with two long boards under his arm, as he picked his way along +towards the young woman to whose rescue he had so valiantly devoted +himself. Once back at his old station, he dropped one of the boards on +the snow, pushed it towards her, tested its strength, and then walked +the length of it, in order to place the other board in position. This +second bridge brought him to her side. + +"Now," he said gravely, as he bent forward and held out his hand, "let +me take the bundle first." + +Obeying him as implicitly as a child might have done, Louise handed him +the great bundle the ragged corners of which bore unmistakable signs of +her recent adventure, and he carefully conveyed it to a place of safety. +Then he returned to the spot where she was standing in a sort of open +pool, which was growing wider and deeper with her every motion. + +"Please take hold of my hand," he said, with the same quiet courtesy +which he might have shown in asking her for a waltz, though he pressed +his lips firmly together, to keep back the smile which was trembling +there. "Now, can you step up on the end of this board?" + +For a moment Louise hesitated. The step was a long one, and, in her +soaked condition, she had lost all her wonted elasticity of motion. +However, something in the stranger's face made her feel that it was best +for her to obey, with as few words as possible; so she mustered all her +strength, made a violent effort, and scrambled up to the end of the +board, striking it with a force which sent it swinging far to the left. +For one instant she balanced herself upon her slippery foothold; then +she fell backward with a suddenness that carried her rescuer with her, +and they both plunged head foremost down into the gray pool below, just +as Grant and Ned came out at the chapel door, to look for their missing +sister. + +As a general rule, there was but little observance of Sunday in Blue +Creek. To the Eastern mind, it seemed strange to pass along the busy +streets and see the carpenters hard at work upon a new house, or to +listen to the clicking of the billiard balls in the wide-open rooms. In +such a community, church-going was not a popular way of spending the +time; but, on the next day, the little chapel was filled to overflowing +with the throng that had gathered to hear the new choir. It was Easter +evening, and the bright lights shone down on the masses of flowers on +the altar and the white robes of the boys in the chancel, and on the +closely-packed congregation below. Pipe organs and boy choirs were rare +in the region, and the people of Blue Creek looked upon these as the +means of furnishing an entertainment both novel and inexpensive; so it +was to a large and varied audience that Mr. Nelson had the pleasure of +preaching his Easter sermon. Aside from the regular attendants of the +chapel, there were groups of rough miners alone and with their families, +who were rarely to be found in any church; while, in the foremost rank, +sat Wang Kum and a dozen intimate friends, their very pigtails waggling +with suppressed excitement and admiration, as they looked about the +pretty chancel and listened to the voices of the boys. Mr. Nelson's +glance rested upon them for a moment, then passed on down the middle +aisle, to one of the rear pews, where a stranger was standing, listening +to the anthem with evident enjoyment. + +He was a tall, well-built man of thirty, with bright brown hair and +mustache, and his eyes showed large and gray when he raised them, now +and then, as Charlie MacGregor's voice rang out above the rest of the +choir. He appeared to be acquainted with no one there, for he had come +in alone, and without making a sign of recognition to any one as he was +ushered to his seat. Only twice had he seemed to be roused from his +quiet repose of manner. When the first notes of the organ met his ear, +he had glanced in that direction; and any one watching him closely might +have seen him give a sudden start of surprise, while the color rose to +his cheeks, as his eyes rested upon the organist. Once again, in the +processional, he had started up with a quick smile of recognition, when +he looked back at the advancing line of boys, and saw Charlie leading +them; and he had bent towards the aisle to watch the lad, as he passed +on, unconscious of the faces around him, in his happiness at once more +being in his old place, at the head of a choir. + +But the service was over, and the choir were coming towards him again, +their voices ringing clear and high in the refrain of Le Jeune's +_Jerusalem, the Golden_. Just as the leaders reached the stranger, there +came a pause between the verses, and Charlie raised his eyes to meet the +gray ones which were watching him so intently. Then his whole face +brightened, and he smiled and nodded in glad recognition, as they went +on down the aisle and out into the tiny choir-room. + +The young man moved aside to let the other occupants of the pew pass out +into the aisle; then he stepped back and waited, watching, meanwhile, +the faces of the congregation, as they flocked past him. The group of +Chinamen were lingering in front of the chancel, peering about at the +lectern and font, and gazing up at the flower-laden altar. + +"Heap nice; all samee Joss house," he heard one of them saying, with +manifest approval. + +Up in her corner beside the chancel, the organist was still playing her +postlude; then she closed the organ, and rose to come down the steps, +drawing on her gloves as she came. Before she had time to raise her eyes +towards the congregation, the stranger was joined by Charlie MacGregor, +who had hurried to the place where he was still pausing irresolutely, +with his eyes fixed on Louise. + +"Dr. Brownlee, when did you come?" the boy exclaimed, in enthusiastic +welcome. "I didn't know you were here yet." + +"I only came yesterday morning," the doctor answered, with a cordial +smile which not only included Charlie, but extended to Howard and Ned +who were lingering at a little distance, and casting curious glances at +Charlie's unknown friend. "I was just in time to hear your new choir, +but I never dreamed of finding you in it." + +"Yes, I'm in it," returned Charlie, laughing. "I'm all at home here, +now. I like it, too; ever so much-better than I thought I was going to. +These are my cousin and his chums," he added, as they moved slowly down +the aisle to where Grant had joined his brother and Howard. "And this," +he went on, turning around abruptly, and speaking with the grace of +manner so natural to him, "this is our organist, Miss Everett. Miss Lou, +may I introduce Dr. Winthrop Brownlee, the friend I told you about +meeting on the way out here?" + +For a moment the doctor and Louise stared at each other, too much +embarrassed to speak, while the color rushed to their faces. Then the +doctor came to his senses, saying slowly,-- + +"I think I have met Miss Everett before." + +And, to the utter mystification of the boys, they burst out laughing, +and laughed as if they would never stop. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MARJORIE'S PARTY. + + +"O Allie," said Marjorie suddenly; "did you know that next Thursday is +going to be mamma's birthday?" + +"No, is it?" asked Allie, as she stooped to pick up the long, lean gray +cat that was wandering aimlessly around them, and rubbing her hollow +sides against their ankles. "I thought you gave Waif away, Marjorie." + +"We did," responded Marjorie, laughing. "She was a stray cat that came +to us, you know, and she was so homely that mamma didn't want her in the +house, so we gave her to Dr. Hornblower, a month ago." + +"Where'd she come from, then?" queried Allie, while she stroked the cat +as she stood pawing and purring in her lap. "Wouldn't she stay with +him?" + +"Didn't I tell you? How queer, for we we've been laughing about it ever +since! You see," Marjorie continued, "the doctor was lonesome, and +wanted a cat for company, and we didn't want Waif, so we gave her to +him. He was perfectly delighted with her, and carried her off home in a +paper sack, with her head poking out through a hole in one side, and her +tail sticking out the other. Two days later he stopped papa in the +post-office and told him, 'Your kitty's caught a mouse.' The next week +he met mamma and told her 'Kitty's caught three mice.' Then we didn't +see anything more of him for ever so long, and we supposed that was the +last of it; but, day before yesterday morning, he came to the door and +handed a bundle to mamma, and said he didn't like the kitty as well as +he thought he was going to, after all, so he'd brought her back. So here +she is. Don't you want her?" + +"I wouldn't take such a looking cat as a gift," returned Allie +disdainfully. "But wasn't that just like Dr. Hornblower? He's very good; +but he's as stupid as he can be, and I don't s'pose it ever occurred to +him that he could pass the cat along to somebody else. Did you ever +notice the way Mrs. Pennypoker always calls him 'good old Dr. +Hornblower,' when she's ten years older than he is? I wonder how he'd +like it, if he could hear her." + +"I don't believe he'd mind, for he likes her so well; at least, he's +there ever so much," said Marjorie innocently. + +"H'm! you needn't think he goes to see Mrs. Pennypoker," said Allie +scornfully. "It's Miss Lou that he likes." + +"Not that old man!" And Marjorie stared at her friend in amazement. + +"He isn't so very old; and I don't know as I wonder if he does," replied +Allie, with an air of great enjoyment in her small gossip. "I should +think anybody might like Miss Lou, she's so pretty; and I just believe +Mrs. Pennypoker is helping him on. You wait and see." + +The two girls were sitting alone in the open front door of the Fishers' +house, enjoying the late afternoon sun of a warm spring day. They had +been off for a long ride with the boys, as was their frequent custom. +The children all had their saddle ponies, and it was their delight to +canter off, soon after lunch, for an hour or two among the pleasant +mountain roads surrounding the town. On their return, they had stopped +for a moment at Marjorie's door, to find that Mrs. Fisher had gone out +to make some calls; and Marjorie had begged Allie to stay and keep her +company until Allie had at length yielded and allowed the boys to go on +without her. + +There was a pause after Allie's last words; then Marjorie returned to +her original charge. + +"Yes," she resumed; "Thursday is going to be her birthday, and I want to +celebrate. What can I do?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Allie vaguely. "What do you want to +do?" + +"That's the worst of it," responded Marjorie thoughtfully. "I want it to +be something that she'd like, and I don't know just what. I might--Let +me see. I'll tell you," she added, with sudden inspiration, "I'll give +her a surprise party." + +"What?" And Allie looked at her friend, in astonishment at so daring a +proposal. + +"Yes, I'll give her a party," repeated Marjorie, nodding her head with +decision. + +"But do you suppose she'd like it?" inquired Allie dubiously. + +"Of course she will. She 'most always has one for me on my birthday, you +know," returned Marjorie; "and she wouldn't do that, if she didn't like +them. She never had one herself; but that's only because she didn't have +anybody to give her one." + +Such logic was not to be resisted; and Allie felt her misgivings swept +away while she listened. + +"Besides," Marjorie went on enthusiastically; "I heard her say to papa, +last night, that they'd take that very day to go over to Butte, and buy +the new parlor carpet. They'll go in the morning early, and not come +back till five, so that will just give us time, while they're out of the +way. You'll help me get ready for it, won't you, Allie?" + +"If mamma will let me," Allie was beginning, when Marjorie +interrupted,-- + +"Your mother mustn't know anything about it; but we won't go to Mrs. +Hammond that morning, we'll come here instead." + +"I'm afraid we oughtn't to do that," remonstrated Allie feebly, although +she was secretly longing to enter into the proposition. + +"Why not?" demanded Marjorie. "Mamma gave up going to missionary +meeting, last year, to get ready for my birthday party, and this is just +the same thing. Don't be silly, Allie, but help me plan. I know mamma +would say 'twas right," she added with an air of self-sacrificing +virtue; "to give up our own improvement for the sake of making her +happy." + +"We might ask mamma," suggested Allie hopefully. + +"Oh, no; she'd be sure to tell my mother, and that would spoil all the +surprise," interposed Marjorie hastily. "It will be all right, I know. +Would you have them come to supper, or just in the evening?" + +"It's less work to have them come in the evening, isn't it?" asked +Allie, losing her last doubts in the excitement of making plans for so +momentous an occasion. + +"Well, no," said Marjorie reflectively. "You have to feed them both +times; and, in the evening, we'd have to have more salads and fancy +things. We won't need so much, just for tea." + +"What would you have?" inquired Allie, moving down to the lower step +where her friend was sitting. + +"Oh, just cake and preserves, and some kind of cold meat," returned +Marjorie. "They'll be so busy talking they won't much mind what they get +to eat, as long as there's plenty of it. We'll have it early, too, so +they won't get so hungry. I can make splendid gingerbread, and the rest +we can get down at the bakery; I haven't touched my this month's money +yet. We'll work hard all the morning, and get the tables set and +everything ready before mamma comes home, so they can be on hand to +surprise her, when she comes in at the door." + +"Yes," continued Allie, growing enthusiastic in her turn; "and then she +won't need to have any care or worry about it; all she'll have to do +will be just to sit in the parlor and make sure that they have a good +time. At the table, she'll have to pour the tea; but we can pass things. +Who're you going to invite?" + +"Let's see," said Marjorie, pondering over the matter. "There's your +father and mother, and Mr. Everett and Miss Lou and Mrs. Pennypoker; +that's five." + +"And Ned and Grant?" suggested Allie. + +"Oh, no," answered Marjorie; "they'd only be in the way, and, besides, +they're too young. This isn't a party for me, you know, and we can't +have the boys." + +"Not even Howard?" begged Allie. "He could help us cut meat, and wash +dishes afterwards. He can do that as well as a girl." + +"The boys can all come and wash dishes, after it's over, if they want +to," returned Marjorie firmly; "but we can't have them at supper-time. +I wouldn't mind Howard; but there's Charlie and the Everetts that would +have to come, if he did, so we might as well stop before we begin. Where +was I? Two Burnams and three Everetts and two Fishers, to start with: +seven." + +"And the Nelsons?" asked Allie. + +"Yes, nine; and Dr. Hornblower is ten,--I suppose we ought to ask +him,--and Mrs. Hammond is eleven, 'cause she might be cross next day, if +we didn't invite her. And then that new doctor that Charlie knows--what +is his name?" + +"Dr. Brownlee?" inquired Allie. "But does your mother know him?" + +"I don't think so," said Marjorie; "but he's real pleasant looking, and +I've heard her say, ever so many times, that it's polite to welcome +strangers when they first come to a place, so I know she'd want us to +ask him. And then Miss Lou knows him a little bit, for I saw him take +off his hat to her the other day; and she can introduce him. He makes +twelve. I don't believe we'd better have any more. I'd like to ask Mr. +Saunders, that keeps the fruit store down on the corner; but they say +thirteen is unlucky, so perhaps twelve will do." + +"All right," agreed Allie. "How are you going to ask them?" + +"I shall just say, 'Mamma wishes you'd come to supper at half past +five.' I won't ask them till the night before for fear somebody'd tell +her; but if she goes on the early train, it will be safe enough." + +"Then aren't you going to say it's a surprise party?" asked Allie, +rising to go home, as she saw Mrs. Fisher coming up the street. + +"No; for I'm afraid they mightn't come," said Marjorie, in a low voice. +"Now, Allie, don't you dare to breathe a word of this to anybody, not +even to Howard, for I want it to be a perfect surprise. And you know +you've promised to help me out in the morning." + +Five days later, two flushed and grimy, but triumphant young hostesses +stood gazing at the tables before them. Marjorie's plan had been carried +into effect; and her guests, one and all, had gratefully accepted Mrs. +Fisher's invitation to tea, for they knew of old that her little parties +were the most enjoyable ones in the camp. Even Dr. Brownlee had sent a +cordial message of acceptance, for though he was surprised at the +invitation, coming as it did from a stranger whom he did not even know +by sight, he attributed it to the proverbial Western hospitality, and +was glad of anything which could bring him into connection with the +people among whom he was to live. Early that morning Mr. and Mrs. Fisher +had gone away for a long, tedious day of shopping, and an hour later +Allie and Marjorie had invaded the kitchen for four hours of hard work. +By noon all was in readiness, and they could pause to contemplate the +result of their labors. + +The table was stretched to its utmost length, and bright with snowy +linen and glass and silver, while around it were gathered twelve chairs, +taken from the different rooms, in order to accommodate the unusual +number of guests. Here a dining-room chair stood beside one borrowed +from Mrs. Fisher's bedroom; there kitchen wood and parlor upholstery +were placed side by side, in striking contrast. The table itself was +groaning beneath the weight of the feast, for Marjorie had been liberal +in her selection from her mother's preserves; while a whole boiled ham, +fresh from the bakehouse, stood before Mr. Fisher's place, and at the +other end of the table his wife's chair was decked with ribbons, and +confronted with a great loaf of cake, whose uneven icing bore, in red +sugar, the letters "M.C.F.," traced by an inexperienced hand. This was +Allie's contribution to the banquet, and Marjorie had thoughtfully +surrounded it with a circle of thirty-nine tiny candles, which stood +ready for the lighting. Plates of assorted cookies were scattered about +the board; here lay a low dish of olives, whose dusky green contrasted +well with the ruddy globe of an Edam cheese, placed beside them, and +there rose a towering pyramid of golden oranges flanked on either side +by a tempting pile of purple and white grapes. + +"It does look pretty, doesn't it, Allie?" asked Marjorie for the fifth +time. + +"Yes," said Allie, as she bent forward to break a corner off from one of +the cookies and tuck it into her mouth. "Yes, it is lovely. I do hope +your mother will like it. But now I must hurry, or mamma will know +something is going to happen." + +"Go on, then; only be sure you're back here by five," Marjorie warned +her. "And don't let the boys come here this afternoon, for I'm too tired +to even look at them." + +At half past five, the guests had assembled and were sitting in the +parlor, looking a little annoyed and uncomfortable as the moments passed +by and their hostess did not appear. + +"Come right in," Marjorie had said to them, one after another; "Mamma +will be so glad to see you; she'll be here in a minute." + +Last of all came Dr. Brownlee. He had been delayed until the last +possible moment, and now, just as Mr. and Mrs. Fisher turned the corner +far down the street, he rang at the door, to be admitted by Marjorie. +Once inside the parlor, he stopped and looked around the room in search +of his hostess, in order to offer her a prompt apology for his seeming +rudeness in being so late. To his surprise, there was no one present at +all answering to the description of Mrs. Fisher which he had received +from his landlady. + +"Hamlet, without the ghost!" he thought to himself, as he paused +irresolutely, just across the threshold, and glanced about in vain for a +familiar face. + +For a moment there was an awkward hush. Most of the guests knew the +doctor by sight, but in the explicable absence of their hostess, no one +was sufficiently at ease to rise and bid the stranger welcome to another +person's house. They tried to go on with their conversation, in apparent +unconsciousness of the young man who stood in the doorway, reddening +under their sidelong glances; but their attempt was not crowned with +success, and there came one of those seemingly interminable pauses +which sometimes fall upon a room. Then, all at once, Louise Everett rose +from her chair in the bay-window, where she had been hidden behind the +ample shoulder of Mrs. Pennypoker, and, crossing the room, she greeted +the doctor as an old acquaintance. A few words passed between them; then +she introduced him to the other guests, before leading the way back to +her own cosy corner, where Mrs. Burnam sat waiting to welcome him, as +the friend of her young nephew. + +"Who's that going in at our house?" Mr. Fisher had asked, peering over +the top of the pile of bundles in his arms. "It looks like Dr. Brownlee; +but why should he be going there?" + +"Oh, dear; I hope it isn't anybody coming to call," sighed his wife, +with the inhospitality born of a long day of tedious, unsatisfactory +shopping. But she quickened her pace, in order to discover who was the +guest awaiting them. + +At the door she was met by Marjorie, dressed in her best gown, and +looking strangely excited. + +"Let me take your things, mamma," she said in a low tone. "There's +somebody to see you in the parlor." + +Forcing a smile to her tired face, Mrs. Fisher advanced to the door to +greet her caller. On the threshold she paused aghast, for, to her +startled eyes, the room appeared to be thronged with people, who rose +and stepped forward to meet her, while Marjorie stood at her side, +gleefully clapping her hands and exclaiming,-- + +"It's a surprise party, mamma! It's a surprise party!" + +For one instant, Mrs. Fisher faltered. She had come home in a state of +utter exhaustion, and she longed to run away from the parlor and hide. +But the next minute her courage came back to her, in the face of her +roomful of guests, and she gave them as hearty a welcome as if the party +had been one of her own making. Up and down the room she went, speaking +a word here, shaking a hand there, all with the tact for which her +hospitality was noted. She had sent one appealing glance towards Louise, +and the girl, taking in the situation in a moment, had come to her aid, +with Dr. Brownlee at her side. In a short time the room was buzzing with +voices, as the guests entered into the full tide of conversation. + +Suddenly the dining-room door swung open, and Allie appeared on the +threshold. + +"Please come out to supper, now," she said shyly, as she met her +mother's surprised glance. + +There was another pause of uncertainty; then Mr. Everett offered his arm +to Mrs. Fisher, and led the way to the table, where the guests seated +themselves as they wished, gazing, meanwhile, with amused eyes at the +feast before them. A short silence followed, and then the conversation +started up once more, as Mr. Fisher, with one despairing glance at his +wife, attacked the vast ham before him, and Mrs. Fisher began to pour +out the pale, watery effusion which filled the teapot. Allie and +Marjorie were already bestirring themselves to pass the plates and cups +about the table; but all at once Marjorie paused abruptly, with her arm +outstretched, as she gazed blankly this way and that. Then her face grew +red and the sudden tears rushed to her eyes, as she hurried out of the +room, with a gesture to Allie to follow her. + +"What is it, Marjorie?" Allie exclaimed in alarm, as the young hostess +sank down into the wood box and buried her face in her hands. + +An inarticulate moan was her only answer. + +"Marjorie! Marjorie!" she urged again. "Tell me what's the matter. Are +you ill?" + +Then Marjorie raised her head for a moment. + +"I'm all right," she said, with a great sob of shame; "but what shall we +do, Allie? We ate up all the bread for breakfast, and I forgot to order +any more." + +It was late that evening when the guests took their leave; and, as they +went away down the street together, they said, over and over again, that +Mrs. Fisher had never before been half so bright and witty in her talk, +so quick to plan new modes of entertainment. Their hostess watched them +out of sight; then, after an expressive look at her husband, she turned +away from the door, and crossed the hall to Marjorie's room. All was +dark within, as she opened the door and entered; but, as soon as her +eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, she went up to the bed, and laid +her hand on a small, dark body, curled up on the white spread. + +"Marjorie, dear," she said gently. + +The childish figure was quivering with suppressed sobs; but there was no +other answer. + +"Marjorie," she said again; "don't feel so badly about it, my child." + +The tone of motherly sympathy was too much for Marjorie's self-control, +and the tears began to come, thick and fast. + +"O mamma," she cried; "truly we didn't mean to. I'm so sorry." + +Mrs. Fisher sat down on the side of the bed, and drew her daughter +towards her. + +"Don't cry so, Marjorie," she repeated. "I know you didn't mean to do +anything out of the way. Tell me how you came to ask all these people +here." + +Between her sobs, Marjorie told her mother the whole story; and Mrs. +Fisher rejoiced that the kindly darkness hid her smile, as she listened +to her little daughter's incoherent explanation of the party and its +cause. + +"And I meant it should all be so nice," Marjorie ended, with a fresh +burst of tears; "and it was just dreadful. I forgot the bread, and the +candles wouldn't burn, and nobody knew Dr. Brownlee, and everything was +horrid. Scold me, if you want to; but I truly meant to give you a good +time, only it all went wrong." + +"Marjorie, dear," her mother said, when she could steady her voice +enough to speak; "I know you meant to make me have a happy birthday, and +I am grateful to my little girl for taking so much pains for me. Another +time we will talk it over together, and plan the best thing to do, +instead of your trying to surprise me. And now forget all about the +worry of it, and only remember that you've done what you could to make +the day pleasant for me." And she bent over for a goodnight kiss, before +she returned to the kitchen for a long hour of dish-washing and putting +the room to rights. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JANEY'S PROPHECY. + + +"Git up in de mawnin' singin', an' de cat cotch you befo' night," Janey +had said oracularly, when Allie ran out into the kitchen, that morning +before breakfast, with the refrain of one of Charlie's songs upon her +lips. + +"What nonsense, Janey!" said Allie, laughing at the strange, old-time +saying. "I don't believe the cat'll 'cotch' me any more for singing, and +it's ever so much more fun than 'tis to cry." + +In fact, there was no particular reason that Allie should not sing, for +life looked very attractive to her that morning. The bright June +sunshine was lying warm over the town, and giving back a dazzling lustre +from the snow-capped mountains which rose up from the midst of the +summer landscape; lessons were over for the present, and, best of all, +Mr. and Mrs. Burnam were to go out to camp that day, to make final +arrangements for the long-talked-of week, when the Everetts, Burnams, +and Fishers were to pitch their tents beside the engineering camp, in +the Bitter Root Mountains, and enjoy a week of roughing it in the +wilderness. Soon after breakfast they drove away from the door, with +Victor snugly tucked in between them, while Allie, with the boys and +Ben, stood on the piazza, to wave them a good-by. The children lingered +there until the wagon was out of sight; then they turned back into the +house, feeling very important over the prospect of two days of +housekeeping on their own account. + +But, after all their anticipations, the morning did not prove to be +quite as enjoyable as they had hoped it would be. Marjorie had been +invited to spend the day with them; but, unfortunately, Marjorie was in +one of her perverse fits, and so successfully devoted herself to the +task of being disagreeable that Allie was at her wits' end how to manage +her; Howard openly quarrelled with her, and even Charlie, the courteous, +marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him, while he sang, +with tantalizing distinctness,-- + + "'Oh, jimineddy! And oh, goody gracious! + How I did love her! But she was contumacious.'" + +This last insult was too much for Marjorie to bear, for, in her secret +heart, she greatly admired Charlie, and longed to have him for her ally +and champion, instead of being forced to watch his unswerving devotion +to his cousin. As the door closed behind him, she flew after him, to +deliver herself of one parting shot,-- + +"Charlie MacGregor, I de-test you! You're no gentleman, even if you do +think you are; and I only hope you'll get what you deserve for being so +rude to me, when I'm company." + +Then the door banged again with even greater violence than before, and +Marjorie burst out crying, as she put on her hat and departed, without a +word to Allie. + +Her irate guest once gone, Allie moved up and down the rooms, putting +them in order with much the same dazed feeling as that which comes in +the sudden hush that sometimes follows a violent thunder-shower. The +more she pondered on the events of the morning, she could not see that +either she herself or the two boys were in any way to blame for +Marjorie's explosion, and as she forlornly sat down to the lunch table, +she felt as if she were in part realizing the truth of Janey's +prediction. However, she was too much accustomed to Marjorie's sudden +fits of temper, and too well acquainted with her really kind heart, to +dwell long upon the matter; so before the meal was ended she was gayly +laughing with the boys, and planning for the next day's frolic. + +"Come out and have a ride, Allie," urged Charlie, as they left the +table. "I have a kind of a sort of a feeling that I'm in disgrace, and I +want some fun to console me." + +Allie laughed. + +"How silly you are to mind what Marjorie says!" she answered. "She'll be +all over it by to-morrow, and like you better than ever; I know just how +angelic she always is, after one of these times. But if you want a ride, +I'll be ready in an hour. I've promised to write a letter for Janey, +first." + +"To his Goatship?" inquired Howard disrespectfully. "All right; we'll go +out and play ball till time to get the ponies." And they went away, +while Allie stood in the door, saucily calling after them to be good +boys and not get into mischief. + +"Now, Janey," she said, as she went out into the kitchen; "I'll write +that letter for you before you wash the dishes or anything; because Mr. +Charlie wants me to go to ride with him, as soon as I can." And she +seated herself at the table, while Janey went after her writing +materials. + +"How you done like my paper, Miss Allie?" the girl asked proudly, as she +laid upon the table a sheet of vivid, rose-colored paper, and its +accompanying envelope, which brought with them an aggressive fragrance +of musk. Then she dropped down on the floor behind her young mistress, +coiling herself up in the corner, with her back against the wall, that +she might dictate at her ease. + +"My dear frien'," she began slowly, and with the air of searching her +mind for properly sonorous phrases; "I have done receive your letter, +an' I take my pen in han' to now reply. I was very glad to know dat you +is well, an' I am sorry to say I am not; I think I have de +consumption"-- + +"Why, Janey," interposed Allie; "what do you mean? Aren't you well?" + +"Yes, I's well enough," answered Janey, as she shot a sudden mischievous +glance from the corners of her downcast eyes; "but I reckon he'll think +more of me, ef he thinks I's goin' to die. I am not very happy," she +resumed, in the same stilted tone as before; "an' las' night you came to +me in a dream, an' tol' me you was dead. I done specks he'll cry like +everything, when he reads dat," she interpolated, with a nod of triumph. +"Sometimes I reckon we sha'n' never see each other no mo'; but you mus' +never forget your Janey. Um-mm," she went on, in an inarticulate mumble. + +"What?" inquired Allie, pausing, with her pen in mid air, as she turned +around to see Janey with her cap off, a row of hair-pins between her +lips, and a pair of gleaming scissors raised to one of her woolly tails. + +There was a sudden sound of snipping steel, and then Janey continued,-- + +"I sen' you a plat of my hair, an' I wants you to sen' me one of yours; +an'--an--'" Janey hesitated, while she put on her cap once more. + +"Well, what next?" asked Allie, secretly wondering, as she glanced at +the sable tress before her, why each could not retain his own hair, +since the two locks would probably be so much alike that only the keen +eye of an expert or a lover could distinguish between them. + +"So no mo' now," dictated Janey. "Give my love to Emma Digson, an' Joe +Harrison, an' my mother, an' tell little Bill he mus' be a good boy, an' +tell Sarah Johnson"--Here followed a list of greetings and messages, as +long as those at the end of the Pauline epistles. + +Allie was still toiling her way through them, making conscientious +attempts to discover the proper spelling of names, when she heard the +front door open and shut. A moment later, Howard appeared in the +kitchen, very pale and with trembling lips. + +"Come here a minute, Allie," he said, in a tone of command so unlike his +usual manner that his sister started up at the first word. + +"What is it?" she demanded hastily. "What do you want of me?" + +But Howard had already hurried back to the parlor. She followed him, +with a dull, cold feeling about her heart, as she became more and more +convinced that there was some trouble. As she reached the parlor door, +she drew back, for a moment, in alarm. On the sofa lay Charlie, with his +handkerchief tied over the upper part of his face, and his cheeks and +lips as white as Howard's had been. The next instant she sprang forward +to his side, crying,-- + +"O Charlie, what has happened? Are you hurt? What is it?" + +With a strong effort, the boy steadied his voice enough to say quietly, +as he stretched out his hand towards the spot where he had heard her +drop down on her knees beside the sofa,-- + +"'Tisn't much, Allie; so don't get rattled. Howard'll tell you about +it." And he paused abruptly, biting his lip to keep from crying out with +pain. + +"We were playing ball, and Charlie went to catch. He muffed, somehow, +and the ball hit him in the eye; it smashed his glasses, and they've cut +his eyes some," explained Howard, in a hurried, breathless tone, while +he tramped nervously up and down the room. + +"What can we do? If mamma were only here, Howard! Is it very bad, +Charlie?" And for a moment Allie's head dropped beside her cousin's, +while she shook with sobs of mingled pity and fear. Then she started up +again, to force back her tears as she said, with all the pride and +energy of the MacGregors in her firm, clear voice,-- + +"Howard, don't rush round so; you'll only make Charlie worse. It may not +be so bad; but you go, quick as you can, for Dr. Brownlee. Run every +single step of the way, and don't you come back without him." + +For an instant, Howard stared admiringly at the determined little figure +before him; then he rushed away, glad to get out of sight, where he +could rub the tears off from his cheeks, and feeling an immediate relief +in the need for prompt action. Twenty minutes later he came back, +accompanied by the doctor, whom he had met on the street, not far from +his office. + +As Allie rose from her place beside the sofa, she was filled with a +momentary dislike of this handsome, well-dressed young man, with the red +carnation in his button-hole, who came into the room with a sort of +quiet briskness, and addressed a half-laughing remark of greeting to +Charlie. But as she watched him, she soon realized that there was +nothing unsympathetic in his cheerfulness; and she felt a quick trust in +him, when she looked up into his kind gray eyes, while he bent over +Charlie and took the handkerchief from his face. An older person would +have read much from the sudden frown which passed across his forehead; +but Allie failed to catch it, and was cheered by his next words,---- + +"Only a scratch or two, and a little cut. We'll patch you up soon, my +boy, so you needn't worry. There's a little glass left here, though, +that we want to get out of the way, first of all. You say your parents +are away?" he asked, turning to Allie. "Do you suppose you can help me a +little; or are you afraid?" + +Allie's cheeks grew white at the thought; and the doctor, as he watched +her, added kindly,-- + +"Or perhaps your brother"-- + +But Howard had fled, to shut himself up in his mother's room. Allie +could hear him moving restlessly about, behind the closed door. + +"I'll help if I can," she said bravely, though her rigid lips would +scarcely form the words; and she dropped her hand on Charlie's cold +fingers, to feel them close around it, with a grateful pressure, as the +doctor said approvingly,-- + +"That's a brave girl! Now, has your mother anything that I could use for +bandages?" + +Allie hurried away in search of the great "emergency basket," which her +mother always kept well stocked with rolls of old cotton and linen and +flannel. The doctor gave a quick nod of pleasure, as he saw the orderly +store. + +"Good!" he said, as if to himself; "that tells the story. I wish more +women would look out for such things. Now," he went on, while he drew a +chair to the window, and laid a little case of shining, ugly-looking +instruments on a table beside it; "we must get rid of that glass as soon +as we can; and I want you, little woman, to hold this boy's head tight, +very tight, so he can't move, no matter how much I do hurt him. Any +slip now would be very serious." + +There followed a short interval of silence, when Charlie ground his +teeth hard together, to keep back any sound, and Allie sturdily held her +place at the back of his chair, though she felt faint and sick at the +sight before her, as those horrible little steel points moved up and +down across her cousin's eye. Then the doctor spoke again, in his +cheery, pleasant way, while he adjusted the necessary bandages; but to +Allie his voice sounded a long way off, and she dropped to the floor in +a forlorn little heap, as soon as she received the doctor's nod to +assure her that her work was ended. + +"You're a plucky pair," said Dr. Brownlee then, as he led the boy back +to the sofa, and arranged a pillow under his head. "I don't know which +has been braver, but I'm proud of you both. The worst is over now; but +we want to get this boy into bed, where he can keep quiet for a day or +two. I wish we could send word to your mother; but I suppose that is out +of the question, so we shall have to get along without her. Still, +you've a good nurse here, Charlie," he added, with an admiring glance at +Allie, who had roused herself once more and was standing by the sofa, +with one slender hand resting on her cousin's forehead. + +"Shall I get his room ready?" she asked, as her blue eyes filled with +tears again; for the doctor's kind words were too much for her shaken +nerves to bear. + +"Yes, he'll be better there," the doctor answered, as he followed her +into the room which the two boys usually occupied. "A southwest corner +room," he said, glancing around it. "That's too strong a light; isn't +there somewhere else?" + +"Mine is on the other side," she suggested. + +"That's better; but what will you do, my young nurse?" he asked with the +gentle courtesy which was habitual with him. + +"I'll take the sofa, or anywhere," she said, as she led the way into her +own dainty little room. "He can have this to himself, too; and Howard is +in the other. I truly don't mind a bit being turned out." She paused and +glanced over her shoulder to make sure that the door was shut. "Is it +very bad, Dr. Brownlee?" she asked, in a frightened whisper. + +"I can't tell yet; but I hope not," the doctor said reassuringly. "Now, +little woman, listen to me. Your cousin will have to be shut up here in +the dark for a good many days, and your mother will be away till +to-morrow night. I might send for somebody to come and stay with you; +but it would only frighten Charlie, so I am going to leave him in your +care, instead. You've just been doing splendidly with him; and he's used +to you, and likes to have you round him. Now, do you suppose you can see +to him till bedtime, and through the day to-morrow? A great deal, much +more than you know, depends on his being kept quiet and content, without +any worry. I will come back this evening, and sleep on the sofa here, +where I can look out for him through the night. Do you think you can do +it?" + +"I will," answered Allie, as solemnly as if she had been taking her +marriage vows. + +The doctor studied her face intently. Such a little thing, a happy, +rollicking child! But, in the past hour, she had shown herself a woman, +in the courage and tenderness which her love for her cousin had given +her. He felt that he could trust her, even in such a critical case as +this. But, as he looked down at the wistful, white face, and the drawn +lips which yet made no complaint of weakness or of fear, some sudden +impulse made him stoop and lift her hand to his lips. + +"I am glad to bend the knee before so brave and true a lady," he said, +with assumed lightness to mask his real feeling. "I hope the time may +come when I shall be able to prove how gladly I would serve her." + +"Cure Charlie's eye, then," she answered, with quaint, serious +directness. + +"My dear little girl, I will if I can," he replied gravely. + +Then he turned away, to close the blinds, draw down the shades, and pull +together the heavy curtains, until the room lay in deep shadow. At sight +of these ominous preparations, Allie's fear came back to her. + +"Oh, must he stay like this, all in the dark?" she cried, in a sudden +terror of she knew not what. + +"For a little while," answered the doctor, his voice sounding brisk and +cheery again, through the thick darkness. "We'll try not to have it last +any longer than we can help. Now," he went on kindly, "if you'll go out +in the sunshine and take a little run, while you get quieted down, I'll +help Charlie into bed. Then I shall leave him in your hands." + +But Allie was in no mood for sunshine. She paused for one moment beside +her cousin, without daring to trust her voice to speak; then she fled +to the kitchen, and cast herself into Janey's arms, to cry as if her +young heart were breaking. + +"Miss Allie, honey," Janey begged her; "what is it? Tell Janey what's de +matter. Don' cry so, Miss Allie, don't." + +Allie was past heeding her words. It had taken all her courage and +self-control to go through the last hour, and, now that she could have a +moment to herself, she could only cling to Janey and sob with a +bitterness which brought the sympathetic tears into the dark eyes above +her. + +"What is it, honey?" asked Janey again, as the child grew more quiet. + +"Oh, Janey, it's Mr. Charlie!" And Allie's head went over against the +girl's shoulder once more. + +Janey looked pityingly down into the swollen, flushed face before her. +Then she seated herself in a chair, and gathering up the child in her +strong, young arms, she rocked gently to and fro without speaking, while +Allie sobbed out the story of the accident. When she paused, the girl's +brown cheek lay, for a moment, against the soft, thick hair, in an +unspoken caress; then she said cheerfully,-- + +"Now, Miss Allie, dear, it's too bad, and Janey's sorry for you all. But +jus' you dry up your eyes, an' don' cry no mo'. Mars' Charlie's too good +a boy for de Lord to give him very bad time, an' 'twon't be long befo' +he's all right again. Janey's awful sorry for you; but you jus' try to +keep jolly, for his 'count, an' your ma will be home to-morrow. It'll +all come out for de bes'," she added, with the simple faith of her +people, which somehow comforted Allie, and gave her new strength to go +on. + +A few minutes later, the doctor sent Howard in search of his sister, and +Allie was able to go quietly back into her room. It looked strangely +unfamiliar to her; but as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, +she gradually made out the figure of her cousin, who was lying in her +dainty bed, with broad white bandages covering his eyes. + +"Is that you, Allie?" he asked eagerly, as the door opened. "The doctor +says you're to look out for me to-day, and I'm no end glad of it." + +"Yes," said the doctor, from his corner where Allie had not yet seen +him; "you couldn't have a better nurse. Now," he added, after giving her +a few simple directions, "I shall be back early this evening, and, till +then, you're in charge. All you have to do," he went on, as Allie +followed him to the door, "is to wait on him, and see that the light +doesn't get to him. You can talk to him, just as you always do, only be +a little quiet. Above all, don't let him get to thinking about his eye, +for he mustn't worry. Good-by." + +He left her to go back into her cousin's room, while he went down the +street, saying to himself,-- + +"I wish I could often get as plucky a patient and nurse. But I'd give a +good deal if I had a first-class oculist in town to-night; I don't like +the looks, up there." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN THE DARK. + + +Often and often, during the next few weeks, Allie recalled the +conversation which had taken place between herself and Marjorie, months +before; for Charlie's time had come to prove his ability to bear trouble +and suffering as bravely as a boy could do. Early on the afternoon +following the accident, Dr. Brownlee had saddled his horse and ridden +away to meet Mrs. Burnam, and prepare her for the new care awaiting her; +but it was not until the next day that he told her of his real fear, the +danger that the injured eye might become so seriously inflamed that its +sight would be destroyed. How Howard and Allie found it out, it would be +impossible to say; but, before the day was over, they knew the secret, +and hovered about their cousin with an anxious care, the real cause of +which he understood as little as he did that of the doctor's extreme +gentleness of voice and touch, when he came, morning and night, to +examine the wound and renew the bandages. + +It was a hard experience for the boy, for there were long days of +sickening, throbbing pain, that darted up and down about his eye, and +painted strange, lurid pictures against the darkness of his closed lids. +Then came the time when he was allowed to sit up once more, and to +wander clumsily about his narrow quarters, bruising himself by frequent +collisions with the unseen furniture, until Allie's heart ached for him, +and she longed to tear away the bandages, and let him have one short +hour of daylight again. His piano was his main solace in these days, for +Mrs. Burnam had had it moved into his room, and he amused himself with +it for long hours at a time, when his cousins were busy, or away from +home. Of course he grumbled a little at times, as any healthy boy would +do; of course he had hours of being undeniably cross; but, for the most +part, he showed a quiet endurance which won the admiration of all his +friends. + +But, little by little, as the danger passed, his privileges increased, +and he was free to make daily excursions out into the parlor, which was +darkened for his use, and to receive short calls from the Everetts and +Marjorie. Allie had been his constant companion in these weeks, +entertaining him, leading him about the room, and even feeding him the +meals which Mrs. Burnam and Janey prepared so daintily. Then, at length, +came the great day when the bandage was taken off, to be replaced by a +shade, and only resumed for the hour when Allie was to be allowed to +lead him up and down the sunny piazza, and out along the street for +daily-increasing distances. For Charlie, all this was like coming back +into life once more. In spite of the darkness of his room, he could yet +see the dim outlines of objects in his narrow line of vision, and grope +his way about without being dependent upon his cousins for his every +need; and after a month of perfect helplessness, even this was a relief, +and he accepted it gratefully. + +And, after all, dark as the days were, they yet had their bright spots. +In his constant visits, the doctor had quite won Charlie's heart with +his lively talk and fun, until the boy found himself eagerly looking +forward to the next call, and wondering what fresh interest his new +friend had in store for him. For the doctor, true to the instincts of +his profession, knew so well how to cover his real anxiety under his +gay, light manner, that his young patient had no idea of the possible +danger of his case, and only regarded it as a tedious, painful wound +which would soon heal. + +"I am getting most awfully sick of this, though," he said one day, after +the doctor had gone. "It's a shame to be losing all this jolly weather, +and I've forgotten how everything looks. Dr. Brownlee is a first-rate +man; but he needn't make such a fuss over a scratch. I say, Allie, let's +run away and go for a ride up the gulch." + +"Oh, wouldn't I like to!" responded Allie, with a fervor which led +Charlie to say gratefully,-- + +"I'll tell you what, Allie; it's a shame for you to stay tucked up with +me in this hole. You've stuck by me like a Trojan; but I'm well enough +off alone. Go out and have a lark; I would if I could." + +"Sha'n't!" returned Allie composedly. "Besides, there isn't anybody to +lark with." + +"Where are Marjorie and the boys?" demanded Charlie, casting himself +down in the easy-chair, and turning to face Allie, as she stood leaning +against the window curtain. + +"They went fishing with Mr. Everett, up the cañon." + +"Bother!" exclaimed Charlie impatiently. "Here I am losing all the fun; +and you're so silly, you won't go without me, when you could, as well as +not. That's just like a girl." + +"Now, Charlie, you just keep your temper," said Allie laughingly, while +she covered his mouth with her hand. "If you say anything more that's +saucy, I'll go off and never come back. I didn't want to go to-day; it's +too warm. Besides, we'll make up for all this when we go into camp." + +"Are we really going? I thought 'twas given up." And Charlie started up +with quick enthusiasm. + +"Yes, the plans are all made, and we're only waiting for you to be able +to go. We're going to be gone two weeks, and"--Allie paused, before +imparting her final bit of good news--"papa has asked Dr. Brownlee to go +too." + +"How jolly!" Charlie exclaimed rapturously. + +"Isn't it? The doctor didn't want you to get where he couldn't see to +you; and we all like him so much that papa said this was the best thing +to do, so we're going to start the very first day you are able." + +"When does he say 'twill be?" asked the boy eagerly. + +Allie hesitated. This part of her news was not so pleasant, for since +the first danger was over and Charlie was allowed to be up and about the +room, she knew that he was restless, and longing to be out with the +boys, enjoying his old free life once more. + +"Well," he urged again, "when can we go?" + +"Not for three or four weeks," she said gently, as her hand fell down +from his face, and rested on his shoulder with a little caressing +gesture. + +The boy needed all her sympathy, for his disappointment was keen. The +prospect of a month more of an existence like that of the past three +weeks was too much for his courage; and, shaking off her hand, he rose +and tramped up and down the room, frowning and moody. + +"I won't stand it!" he exclaimed suddenly, as he paused. "There's no +need of it, Allie, and I'm just not going to stand another month of it. +I'll risk my eyes, or let them slide; but I must get out of this stuffy +old room inside of a week, or I'll know the reason why." + +But his temper was always short-lived, and he was soon his old bright +self again. That night he was cheered by hearing the doctor say that he +might go out into the parlor to see Ned and Grant for an hour in the +morning. + +From that time on, his days began to pass more quickly. With Ned and +Marjorie at their head, the young people showed unlimited patience and +ingenuity in planning new amusements for their friend; and not a day +passed that they did not descend upon him in a body, laden with +offerings of fruit and flowers, trophies of their fishing expeditions, +and bits of gay gossip from mine and smelter, choir and Chinatown. + +Marjorie, in particular, was his devoted slave. For the past few weeks, +she had been carrying, deep down in her heart, a little sore spot, left +there by the stinging memory of her hasty words an hour before the +accident; and, now that she could see her friend once more, she did her +best to make amends for her past sins. But though her endless fun and +rollicking kindness gave Charlie many a pleasant hour, it was to Allie +that he turned in any emergency, for her long days of devotion to him +had proved her a staunch, true friend. + +"Allie is a pretty good sort of girl," he confided to Ned one day. +"She's just the kind to have round when you aren't well, for she's +jolly, and takes first-rate care of you, without being soft." + +One afternoon, about three or four weeks after the accident, Marjorie +and the three boys were sitting on the little front porch at the +Everetts', reposing after a long ride. It was a cool, cloudy day; the +mist lay low over the mountain sides, and closed in between the walls +of the cañon, and the wind blew up fresh and sharp. Allie had watched +the little group of riders as they cantered past the house and, turning +the corner, stopped at the Everetts'. Then she was seized with a sudden +inspiration. + +"Get up, lazy boy," she commanded, going into her room where Charlie lay +on the sofa, stretched out at his ease, with his arms folded under his +head. "Mamma's coming in here, in a minute, to put on your blinders, and +then let's go down to the Everetts' for an hour. They're all down there, +and we'll take them by surprise." + +Charlie started up eagerly enough. It was the longest walk that he had +taken, and he was glad to get out of his dull routine; so, ten minutes +later, he was on his way, with his hat pulled down over his face to +cover the ignominious bandage, and Allie's hand on his arm. + +Grant was the first to see him coming. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "There's Charlie Mac!" + +"Where?" exclaimed Ned, turning around with a suddenness which made him +lose his balance, as he sat on the rail, and sent him rolling over +backwards to the ground. He was on his feet again in a twinkling, and +tore away up the street to meet his guest, and, usurping Allie's place +as escort, bring him back to the steps in triumph. "Sit down here, old +fellow," he said, as he deposited him in a chair, and seated himself +protectingly on the arm. "How jolly to have you round again!" + +"Glad you think so," responded Charlie; "I was feeling fine to-day, and +Allie thought 't would be a good scheme to come down here. You can just +believe I was ready for a change of base." + +The first chatter of eager greeting was not yet ended, when Louise +Everett appeared in the doorway behind them. + +"I must just come out to speak to Charlie," she said, as she stepped +forward to his chair. "It's so long since I've seen you. No, don't get +up," she added hastily; "you look too comfortable to let me disturb you, +so I'll just sit down on the step beside Howard, if there's room." + +"Always room for you, Miss Lou," returned Howard gallantly, as he curled +up his feet so that his dusty shoes should not soil her fresh, pink +gown. "We've set Charlie up in the middle, like a Chinese idol, and are +adoring him." + +"You'd better get Wang Kum out here to help," suggested the idol +complacently. "I'm afraid I'm not much to look at, Miss Lou; but +fortunately I don't have to see myself these days. I leave it to Allie, +to tell me if my hair's smooth." + +Louise laughed, as she rested one hand affectionately on the girl's +shoulder. + +"The doctor says she has been a most devoted Allie; and we all think +that we haven't seen much more of her than of you, this last month." + +"I know that, Howard and I aren't any account, any longer," said +Marjorie, in an injured tone, from her seat on the rail. "Howard, which +of us shall get broken to pieces, so the other can 'tend to it?" + +"What's the use?" returned Howard languidly. "Our noses are out of joint +now, and it doesn't seem to do us any good." + +"Oh, by thunder!" exclaimed Grant, suddenly. + +"Grant, dear, what words!" said his sister reprovingly. + +"Can't help it, Lou; look there! Dr. Hornblower is coming down the road, +and I can see, by the northeast corner of his weather eye, that he's +going to stop and make us a visit." + +"Dr. Hornblower? Do put me out of sight somewhere," begged Charlie. + +"What for? You've never seen him, and he's lots of fun," said Howard, +without the faintest appearance of respect for the clerical brother. + +"I know, but I'd rather meet him some time when I don't feel so much +like a mummy in a museum," urged Charlie again. "Can't you get me out of +this, Ned?" + +"There isn't time, honestly. He's right here, or I would," answered Ned +in a low voice, as he drew his friend's soft hat forward and turned down +the brim. "You're all right; and, besides, he's such an old duffer that +he won't notice anything. He won't stay here, any way; he comes to see +cousin Euphemia, and help her out when she gets in a tight place with +Wang Kum. Wang's been cutting church lately, and most likely the +doctor's come to see about it." + +The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower belonged to the fast vanishing school of +mossbacks, or "old-timers," as they more elegantly termed themselves, +the early settlers who had watched the State grow from its first +squatter population to its present comparative civilization. A mere boy +in the stormy days of Sixty-three, he had joined one of the many trains +of ox-teams which started across the country, on their slow, toilsome +march to the far West; and, for the next few years, his life had been +one of continual excitement and hardship. His father and grandfather +before him had been ministers; so it was small wonder that Gabriel, upon +arriving at man's estate, should feel that both his family tradition and +his name had called him to the life of a wandering preacher among the +mining camps and scattered ranches of the region, until he had finally +settled down to take charge of the little church in Blue Creek. He was +neither a great man, nor an educated one. On the contrary, he was +ignorant of any life outside of his own narrow sphere, and intolerant of +all spirit of advance or change, singularly devoid of tact, but literal, +honest, and well-meaning. Moreover, he was absolutely self-satisfied, +but utterly lacking in the sense of fun which makes conceited people so +much less disagreeable, since it gives them a glimmering appreciation of +their own absurdity. + +As far as his outward man was concerned, the Reverend Gabriel Hornblower +was not fair to look upon. Although Mrs. Pennypoker never failed to +speak of him as "old Dr. Hornblower," in reality he was not far from +forty-five; but he looked a score of years older, for his constant +exposure to the fierce mountain gales and the burning suns of summer had +tanned and dried him until his complexion closely resembled a withered +seckel pear, and his body was as thin and wiry as that of a September +locust in a season of famine. But, in spite of his dull, yellow-brown +skin, his deep-set blue eyes retained all their old life and sparkle, +while his thick auburn hair was cut close at the back and sides of his +head, and allowed to grow long above his forehead, where it was combed +up to form a single curl, which ran straight across the top of his head, +from brow to crown. The peculiar nature of this curl had beguiled the +time of dreary sermons for many a youthful sinner; for, like +Melchisedek, it appeared to have its beginning and ending in nothing, +and there was a certain fascination in tracing its placid course above +the august forehead. + +Approaching nearer to Dr. Hornblower, it was easy to see that he was a +close student, either of books or of human nature. His habit of profound +thought had developed an anxious frown, which had traced three deep +wrinkles between his eyebrows; while, upon the rare occasions when his +massive brain was at rest, and his brow was smoothed, two narrow lines +of white, untanned skin came to the surface, and gave his face a little +the appearance of a fantastic mask. + +As he drew near the little group on the steps, Louise courteously rose +to greet him. + +"Come in, Dr. Hornblower," she said hospitably. "Walk into the parlor, +and I'll call Mrs. Pennypoker." + +The doctor paused irresolutely, while he looked up into her fair young +face. + +"Um--thank you," he said awkwardly. "I will--at least I didn't exactly +come to see Mrs. Pennypoker, this afternoon. I"-- + +"Shall I call Wang Kum?" suggested Grant, with an air of ready interest, +as he rose and moved a step towards the door. + +"Not just now," said the Reverend Gabriel stiffly. "Miss Everett, may I +not have the--the pleasure of sitting at your feet?" And he fixed his +eyes on the patent-leather tips of her shoes. + +"Of course we should be very glad to have you with us, Dr. Hornblower," +returned Louise, while the pink color in her cheeks grew a shade deeper, +as she heard an irrepressible giggle from Marjorie. "Ned, will you +please bring out another chair? This is Charlie MacGregor, Dr. +Hornblower," she added, as she saw the doctor's eyes turn inquiringly in +his direction. + +"In--deed; the young boy who was injured while at play? How do you do, +Charles?" asked the Reverend Gabriel, after pausing to contemplate the +lad, who had risen to his feet. + +"Very much better, thank you," replied Charlie, while Howard gave him a +stealthy poke with his foot. + +"Ah? I am glad to hear it, for I have been much interested in your case. +I hope you are properly thankful that there is now some slight +possibility that your sight may be restored to you." + +"Take this chair, Dr. Hornblower," interposed Louise hastily, while +Charlie turned an appealing face towards his cousins. "It is a long time +since you have been here; Mrs. Pennypoker was speaking of it only +yesterday." + +"Yes, I have been much occupied with the duties of my calling," returned +the Reverend Gabriel, as he seated himself in the low chair, which +brought his bony knees almost on a level with his chin. "My time has +been engaged in visiting the erring members of my flock; and now, +to-day, I find that I have an hour in which to call on you." + +"I hope you don't look upon me as an erring member," Louise said, +laughing lightly. + +"Pardon me, my dear young friend, no; you are misapprehending me," +answered the doctor, with a stiff-necked bow which sent Grant and +Marjorie into the house to laugh unseen. "I only wished to state that"-- + +"Cousin Euphemia will be here in a minute, Lou," interrupted Ned, +reappearing in the doorway. "She saw the doctor coming, and she sent me +out to say she'd be right here; she wants to talk up something about +Wang. Come on, Charlie, I want to show you something in the house." + +"Really," exclaimed the discomfited doctor, as he looked beseechingly at +Louise; "I had no wish to disturb your cousin, Miss Everett. I trust +that she did not feel that she ought to see me, if it is inconvenient." + +"Not at all; she'll be delighted to see you," answered his young +hostess, with a grateful glance at her brother as he disappeared through +the open door. + +"There!" said Ned triumphantly, as the children settled themselves +inside the parlor. "We'll stay câched in here, out of the way; and maybe +there'll be some fun before long, if Cousin Euphemia and the doctor get +after Wang. He's been to our church all the time lately, ever since our +choir started up; and Cousin Euphemia doesn't like it. I just heard her +telling Wang to go out to them as soon as he could get ready." + +Ned's suspicions were well founded. A few moments later Wang Kum came +shuffling around the corner of the house, with his hat cocked defiantly +on the back of his head, and his hands buried in the pockets of his +loose blue toga. + +"How do you do, Wang Kum?" asked the doctor, benevolently eyeing the +stray lamb before him. + +"Heap well," returned Wang Kum calmly, as he kept his eyes fixed on the +ground, to avoid Mrs. Pennypoker's warning glance. + +"I was afraid you were ill," observed the doctor, with an approving +smile for his own crafty manner of approaching the subject. + +"Uh?" inquired Wang Kum. + +"I thought perhaps you might be sick," repeated the doctor. "I hadn't +seen you at church lately." + +Wang shook his head contemptuously. + +"Wang no get sick," he remarked. + +"Then why haven't you been to church?" asked the doctor. + +But Wang Kum only replied with a scarcely perceptible shrug. + +"Wang, didn't you hear Dr. Hornblower speak to you?" asked Mrs. +Pennypoker sharply. + +Wang still stood gazing on the ground and nodding his head in a slow, +thoughtful way which communicated a rhythmic undulation to his pigtail. +At Mrs. Pennypoker's question, he glanced up. + +"Wang no likee your church," he answered coolly. "Pisplykal church heap +lot better; smell good, sound good." He paused, then added, with a +cunning twinkle in his little dark eyes, "Make heap washee for +washee-shop." And, turning on his heel, he marched off towards the +kitchen, with the air of a man who had solved vast economic problems. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAMPING ON THE BEAVERHEAD. + + +The August sun was shining down from a cloudless sky. He had risen +betimes that morning; but he was not the first one up in Blue Creek, for +the dim light of the dawn had found Ned and Grant Everett dressed and +flying about the house, while, farther up the street, Marjorie was +peering out through the window blinds, to assure herself that it was to +be a pleasant day. By seven o'clock the Burnams, too, were stirring; and +soon afterwards Allie and the boys appeared in the dining-room at the +Everetts', to exchange noisy congratulations over the fine weather. + +The day had at length come when they were to start upon their +long-delayed camping trip. For the past week, the young people had been +in a state of ferment, while their elders were in much the same +condition, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, whose excitement was largely mixed +with dread at the thought of the Bohemian life before her. The +engineering camp, which they were to join, was now pitched beside the +Beaverhead River; and Mr. Burnam, who had been out with his party much +of the time since Charlie's accident, had come back to Blue Creek two +days before, announcing that all was in readiness for their reception; +so the hour for their departure was fixed upon. The distance to the camp +was so great that they were to be two days upon their journey, spending +the night at a ranch on their way, and reaching camp late on the +following afternoon. + +By nine o'clock, the party had assembled at the Burnams', ready for the +start. They made an imposing cavalcade as they moved away down the +street, for all but the older women were mounted on horseback. At the +head of the procession rode Mr. Everett, Mr. Burnam, and Mr. Fisher, +followed closely by the four boys, Allie and Marjorie, while Louise +Everett, in her close-fitting dark green habit, cantered along in the +rear, with Dr. Brownlee by her side. Then came the three wagons, the +first driven by Wang Kum, with Janey perched up on the high seat beside +him, eyeing her companion askance; while Mrs. Pennypoker, directly +behind them, watched them both with an unswerving vigilance, ready to +check any sign of levity on the part of man or maid. Mrs. Pennypoker +was attired with all her wonted nicety, and her prim black straw bonnet +and decorous gloves formed a striking contrast to the plain +rough-and-ready gowns and broad hats of the other matrons, who were more +accustomed to the needs of the life before them. Last of all came the +two baggage wagons, one carrying the tents and stove, the other laden +with the generous stock of provisions which Mr. Burnam had laid in for +his guests; while in and out among them all raced Ben in a series of +mad, elephantine gambols, expressive of his joy at being started for the +field again. + +Through the town they proceeded quietly enough; then, when they came out +into the open ground of the lower cañon, the boys uttered a wild whoop, +and dug their heels into the flanks of their ponies, as they went +scurrying away, far in advance of the rest of the party. + +"Just look at Charlie!" said Marjorie, as the boys turned to ride +leisurely back to their companions once more. "He acts as if he didn't +know what to do next." + +"He's just about wild to be out again," returned Allie, gathering up her +reins preparatory to joining the lads at the head of the procession. +"You see, he was shut up 'most eight weeks, so I don't wonder he wants +to make up for it. I expect he'll break his neck, though; for he's so +near-sighted that he can't see without his glasses, and of course he +can't wear them with that patch over his eye." + +"How long is he going to wear it?" asked Marjorie soberly. + +"I don't know; a good while, the doctor says, but I don't think Charlie +minds much, after the other." + +"I suppose he came awfully near"--Marjorie paused, with a little shiver. + +Allie nodded understandingly. + +"Yes; he didn't have any idea of it, though, till that day he met Dr. +Hornblower at the Everetts'. After that he was dreadfully blue; you know +he wouldn't stir out anywhere, for ever so long." + +"Say, Allie," began Marjorie abruptly; "do you remember that day before +he was hurt?" + +"When you were so cross?" inquired Allie mercilessly. + +"Yes. Did Charlie ever say anything about it?" + +"Why, no," answered Allie after a little reflection. "I don't believe he +ever thought of it again." + +"I am glad of it," responded Marjorie; but still she did not look +altogether pleased. She would have preferred that her words should +carry a little more weight. Then she went on with her confession, "Well, +I kept thinking about it, till I began to feel as if I'd done it all. +You know I said I hoped something would happen. I wanted to come +straight down here, that very night, but mamma wouldn't let me, not even +long enough to just say I was sorry; and then the doctor wouldn't let +any of us see him for ever so long, so I never said anything about it. +Would you now, or would you let it go?" + +"I don't know," said Allie thoughtfully. "Charlie'd never lay up +anything of that kind; but I always just like to say I'm sorry, when +I've been hateful to him or Howard. It kind of smoothes things out; but +you can do as you like." + +"Hi, you girls!" exclaimed Grant, dashing past them at this moment, +after capering about the wagons in a manner calculated to bring down +Mrs. Pennypoker's denunciations upon his yellow head. "What makes you so +puppywented slow? Come on!" + +"All right!" And Allie scampered off at his heels, sitting very straight +and trim in her pretty new saddle. + +Howard and Ned went after them, and Charlie was just ready to follow +when he heard some one coming up behind him on his blindfold side. + +"Wait just one minute, Charlie," said Marjorie's voice in his ear. "I +want to say something to you--just to say"--She paused, and swallowed +hard for a minute; then she went on steadily, "how sorry I've been that +I was so mean to you that day your eye was hurt. I wanted to tell you so +right off then, but I couldn't. But I kept thinking about it, all the +time you were ill, and 'twas most as bad as if I'd thrown the ball." +Marjorie stopped; the very earnestness of her apology made it hard to +utter. + +Charlie turned his head to look at her. He was surprised to see her face +so pale and her lips trembling. + +"That's all right enough, Marjorie," he said heartily. "I knew you +didn't mean it, and I didn't think any more about it. Give us your fist, +and then we'll go after the others." + +Sunset, the next night, found the party comfortably established in their +new quarters, on the very bank of the willow-bordered creek that plunged +into the river, forty feet away. Across the creek and six hundred feet +down the valley, dingy and brown with much service stood the tents of +the engineering corps; but the officers' tent was deserted, for its +occupants had come over to pay their respects at Camp Burnam, as the +children had christened it. The site for the camp had been fixed upon, +two days beforehand, and it was but the work of an hour to unpack the +wagons and pitch the four tents which made up the outfit. At the south +were the sleeping-tents, with Mrs. Burnam presiding over one, and Mr. +Everett over the other, while at the east, close to the creek, were +those given up to dining and cooking, where Janey and Wang Kum held sway +by day, with many a wrangle over the possession of the little +camp-stove, and many a heated discussion as to the relative merits of +Asiatic and African cookery. + +The stove had been the first thing to be unpacked, and by the time the +last guy-rope was made fast, the last roll of bedding opened and +arranged in its place, the welcome call to supper was sounded, and they +gathered about the long table, spread in the open air, in the golden +sunset light. Then the elders settled themselves for the evening, glad +to rest after their long ride, while the children raced up and down the +camp, exploring all the nooks and corners of their little domain, before +throwing themselves down on a pile of blankets to watch the full moon +as it rose from a bank of cloud just above the low hills to the +eastward, and threw its white light over their gay group. Fifteen feet +away from them Mrs. Burnam sat in the doorway of her tent, with Louise +at her feet. The girl's golden hair was glistening in the moonlight, as +she raised her head to speak to the topographer of the party, a +sandy-haired, jovial young fellow, so lately come from "Sheff" that he +retained all the slang and easy assurance of the genuine college boy. +Ten months of camp life had made him hail with delight the prospect of +paying court to a pretty girl; and he had attached himself to her side +to the utter exclusion of Dr. Brownlee and the grave, taciturn leveller, +who had retired from the contest and was devoting himself to Mrs. +Burnam, whom he had known for years. For a few moments, the doctor stood +looking on; then he turned away and joined the group of children, who +received him enthusiastically. + +"I'll tell you what, this is fine!" said Charlie contentedly, while the +doctor seated himself by his side, and the boy stretched himself out at +full length, with his head on his friend's knee, and lay staring up at +the moon. "This is something I've never tried before, and always wanted +to." + +"Which?" inquired Allie, as she bent over to tickle his nose with a long +straw stolen from the bedding; "taking up twice as much room as belongs +to you, or looking at the moon?" + +"Camping out, of course," answered her cousin, curling up his feet, in +deference to her words. "Looking at the moon, too, for that matter; for +I didn't see much of the last one." + +"Speaking of moons," interposed Grant, from the corner where he and +Marjorie and Howard had been chattering and giggling together; "the last +two days have been no end hard on the storm center, and I think we shall +catch a blizzard soon, by the looks. Just see her now!" + +Grant's comment was in part justified, for the past two days had been +undeniably hard upon Mrs. Pennypoker's appearance. The sun is no +respecter of persons, and he had beaten down upon her majestic Greek +nose with precisely the same fervent caresses which he had lavished upon +Marjorie's freckled pug. Unfortunately, Mrs. Pennypoker's neat little +straw bonnet was by no means so good a protection as Marjorie's soft +scarlet felt hat, with its broad, flapping brim, and, even in the cold +light of the moon, Mrs. Pennypoker's countenance gleamed with the luster +of polished mahogany, which was enhanced by the great white kerchief +that she had tied over her head, to keep out the evening air. No urging +could induce her to sit on a blanket on the ground; so, in the absence +of upholstered chairs, Mr. Everett had arranged a wooden pail against a +tall box, cushioned them both with straw and blankets, and mounted his +cousin upon this rustic throne, where she sat with her skirts carefully +tucked up about her and her nose in the air, looking as much out of +place as a Dresden china dinner service would have done on the rough +board table. + +Howard laughed, as he looked at her. + +"I should think Wang would like her, to put her in his Joss house," he +said disrespectfully. "What'll she ever do, before two weeks are up? +She'll be a case for the doctor, sure enough." + +"We ought to have brought Dr. Hornblower along, to amuse her," suggested +Grant. "Come, I'm tired of this; let's have a game of 'I spy.' This +moonlight would be fine for it. Come on, Ned!" + +"Where?" inquired Ned lazily, for he was thoroughly absorbed in the +story that Dr. Brownlee was telling. + +"'I spy'; anything to get waked up." + +"Sha'n't. I'm too comfortable to move." + +"Allie?" + +"Don't want to," replied Allie, without stirring from her place beside +Ned. + +"Charlie--anybody?" demanded Grant. + +"What's the use? I can't see enough without my gigs." + +"Lazy things! Don't disturb them, Grant," said Marjorie scornfully. "If +this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home. Grant, +we'll hide, and let Howard find us. Come ahead!" And they vanished into +the shadow beside the cooking tent. + +Three minutes later there was a vigorous splash, followed by a shriek +from Marjorie, which brought the whole party flying to the spot. Down in +the shallow creek sat Grant, blinking up at them in bewilderment, as he +wiped the water from his eyes. + +"What's the matter?" asked Howard, as Mr. Burnam helped the boy to +scramble to his feet, and up the steep bank of the stream. + +"Wish you'd whitewash those guy-ropes!" responded Grant petulantly. "I +tripped over 'em, and they landed me in that squdgy old creek. Marj +needn't have squealed like a cat, though, and given it all away." + +"'If this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home,'" +quoted Allie majestically, as she surveyed the dripping boy before her. +"I think Charlie has his spectacles in his pocket, Grant, if you'd like +to borrow them." + +However, this ended the frolic of the evening, for Mrs. Pennypoker +summarily seized upon the young explorer and ordered him to bed, while +Wang Kum spread his clothes to dry before the fire. The other boys soon +followed Grant's example, and the older people with them; so, after much +wriggling and nestling about in the blankets, they at last dropped to +sleep, and silence descended upon Camp Burnam. + +Camp life began in earnest the next day, and for the next two weeks the +party enjoyed one perpetual picnic. The children were up and out by +daybreak, ready for the long days of fun, and by seven o'clock the +breakfast call had sounded to gather them around the long table. It was +good to see Wang Kum, tin horn in hand, emerge from his improvised +kitchen, and blow the deep blast which should summon his flock to the +meal; it was good to see Janey follow in his wake, armed with the great +coffee-pot and a pile of light hoe-cakes, and then rush up and down +behind the chairs, trying to serve them all at once, while she +struggled in vain to repress an inclination to prance, and never failed +to give a vigorous tweak to Wang Kum's pigtail, as she passed him. The +relation between the two servants was unique, and, at times, somewhat +strained. Although Wang Kum, left to himself, would have been the most +peaceable of mortals, Janey persisted in treating him as an embodied +joke, and lost no opportunity to tease and torment him, until he came to +regard her with a strange mingling of hatred and fear. + +"Wang tell Mis' Pen'plok'," he would mutter, with a threatening glance +from his beady eyes. + +"Ol' mis' won' believe you," Janey would make answer. "She knows dat +you's a heathen, an' won' go to church. Cut off your great long plat, ef +you don' wan' me to pull it no mo'. I cyarn' help it, ef it gits in my +way, all de time." And then she would slyly lift the tip of the +offending member and lay it across the table, before setting her heavy +iron dish pan upon it. "Don' you year ol' mis' calling you?" she would +ask then. "Take care! Don' upset all my dish tub!" And the war would +begin again. + +The weather left nothing to be desired, and, the party usually +scattered soon after breakfast. The older men went on long hunting +expeditions, in pursuit of the game which generally proved to be just +over the divide; or explored the creek in search of trout,--great, +rich-flavored fellows, which put to shame the tiny products of our +Eastern streams. The boys, in the mean time, made friends with the +engineers, and spent whole days in the field. Howard and Ned attached +themselves to the transitman, and took turns as head and rear chain, +while Grant superintended the levelling, and Charlie trudged along in +the rear with the young topographer, who had taken a sudden fancy to the +boy, and gave him frequent lectures on the theory and practice of +surveying, until his pupil longed for the time when he too could wear on +his watch-chain the tiny blue shield, with its golden date and initials. + +Then there were long rides up and down the valley, and merry evenings in +camp, when they told over the adventures of the day, played games, or +sang college songs to the tinkling notes of the mandolin which Louise +had brought with her. There was an elaborate afternoon tea, when Mrs. +Burnam and Louise devoted their entire supply of tin plates and cups to +the entertainment of the whole corps of engineers, down to the very +axmen, and feasted them upon the miscellaneous delicacies concocted by +Janey and Wang. Three days later, this hospitality was returned by a +grand dinner-party at the lower camp, when venison and trout were the +main dishes of the meal, and the table was set and served with a +masculine disregard for appearances. + +But the last night of their holiday had to come. Evening found them all +gathered at Camp Burnam, watching the darkness settle around their +pleasant forest home. Both camps were to be struck on the following day, +for the engineering party was to move down the river at the same time +that the others started for home. + +"I have only two things to mourn about," said Charlie meditatively. "I +haven't shot a single bear, and I haven't even seen the tail of a +cayote." + +"Wish you had; 't would have been such fun to see you turn and run," +responded Ned, as he indolently settled himself with his head on Ben's +side. + +"Poor old Ben! Does he use you for a pillow?" asked Marjorie, stooping +to stroke the great creature's head. + +"I say, Marjorie, stop that," remonstrated Howard suddenly. "When you +pet that end of him, this end wags, and his tail whacks awfully. Do let +him go to sleep, or else warn me, so I can get out of the way." + +"You'd better try this, you fellows," advised Ned. "It's fine; the best +bed I've had since I left home." + +"What's going on here?" asked Dr. Brownlee, moving up to the group, in +company with Louise and her faithful attendant, the topographer, just as +Howard and Charlie stretched themselves out beside Ned. + +"Nothing, only they're getting ready for a nap," said Allie. "Don't you +wish we didn't have to go home to-morrow?" + +"I do," groaned Charlie. "I never had so much fun before, and I don't +want to go back to town again. I believe I'll run off and set up in life +as a brave. Will you come, too, Allie?". + +"Not if I have to live in a wick-i-up three feet square, and wear your +cast-off blankets," she answered, with some spirit. "I'm just about the +right color for a squaw, though; that is, if I look as badly as the rest +of you do." + +"Thank you, dear," returned Howard laughing. "You're at least ten shades +blacker than anybody else; and Charlie is so dark that his patch hasn't +showed any for five days." + +"How about the freckles?" inquired Charlie composedly. "I don't care; +I've had a good time, and maybe 'twon't be fast color." + +"It won't hurt you, Charlie," remarked the doctor. "You started off +looking rather too white, after living in the dark for a month. This +camping trip has been the best thing you could have had." + +The two weeks had certainly done the boy good, and, removed from any +temptation to use his eyes, he had given them the utter rest which they +demanded, until they had nearly regained their former strength. Dr. +Brownlee watched him approvingly for a moment. Notwithstanding the dark +sunburn on his cheeks and the shade over his right eye, it was an +attractive face, in spite of its lack of real beauty, such as had fallen +to the share of Ned and Grant. + +"It has been immense," said the boy regretfully. "But maybe we can come +out again, next summer." + +"Don't flatter yourself with any such notion," said Howard. "If you'd +been with papa as long as I have, you'd know that there isn't much +chance of our being here, by another summer. He may be ordered to +Alaska or Arizona, by that time; and we'll have to 'hoppee 'long, too.'" + +"Just this way," interposed Grant, starting up abruptly with an inviting +chirrup to Ben, who scrambled to his feet with a suddenness which sent +the three boys rolling into an indiscriminate pile among the blankets, +as their pillow went rushing away across the camp, in pursuit of some +imaginary intruder. + +It was late that night when the party finally broke up and went to their +tents; it was later still before the usual gentle snores arose from Mrs. +Pennypoker's corner. Soon afterwards, the silence of the night was +broken by the sound of stealthy footsteps, coming up the river bank from +the engineers' tents. A moment later, the music from a full orchestra of +combs roused the sleepers from their dreams. + +"Farewell, farewell, my own true love!" they wailed, in a gusty and +oft-repeated chorus, until even Ben's feelings overpowered him, and, +running to the door of the tent, he raised his nose towards the waning +moon, and howled till his voice was husky. Then the swaying curtain at +the doorway of the tent dropped once more, and all was still. The play +was over, and the orchestra had ceased. Camp Burnam's story was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +UP THE GULCH. + + +"I do believe every-day things are pleasantest, after all," said Allie +contentedly. + +It was a month after their camping party, and she and her mother were +comfortably settled in the parlor, with the mending basket between them. +The windows and doors were thrown wide open, and the room was flooded +with the yellow sunlight that lay across the floor, while the warm +September wind softly fluttered the light draperies. Outside the door, +on the piazza, Ben lay snoozing in the sun, sleepily wagging his tail in +some happy dream of full-flavored bones or trespassing cats; and beyond +him Victor was trudging up and down the path in front of the house, +laden with a tiny scarlet pail filled with sand. Allie glanced +thoughtfully about the pretty room, and out at her baby brother; then +she turned back to her mother again, as Mrs. Burnam asked,-- + +"How do you mean, Allie?" + +"Why, after all our camping and fun, it seems good to sit down and +visit a little, mammy. Don't you see, we haven't had a chance for ever +so long, not since Charlie was hurt; and I enjoy it, once in a while. +The other is fun; but I like to stop and talk it over sometimes." And +Allie paused meditatively, with one of Howard's long stockings drawn +over her hand. + +"Yes, I know," her mother answered, while she trimmed a patch to fit the +hole which it was intended to fill; "we haven't had a quiet afternoon +for a long time, hardly since Charlie came out here, last spring. You've +been so busy with the boys that I didn't know whether you'd ever enjoy +sitting down with me any more." + +"Yes, this is nicest," said Allie. "The boys aren't you, any more than +Charlie is Howard. I like them both; but I need you to straighten out +things sometimes." + +"What is it now?" asked her mother quietly, for she saw from Allie's +face that something was troubling her, and, mother-like, she wished to +help her little daughter. + +"Why, it isn't so much; only something that Grant was telling, something +Mrs. Pennypoker said," answered Allie, while she threaded her needle and +stuck it in beside the hole. Then she asked abruptly, "Mamma, is it +true that Charlie has ever so much money?" + +"Yes; that is, he will have, when he grows up," replied Mrs. Burnam, a +little surprised at the question, for she had tried to train her +children to feel that wealth was by no means the main end in life. + +"How much?" persisted Allie. + +"A great deal, for Uncle Charlie was a rich man, and our Charlie is his +only child." + +"Oh!" And Allie lapsed into silence again. + +"What made you ask, Allie?" her mother inquired, after a pause. + +"Nothing; only Mrs. Pennypoker said somebody told her he was very rich, +and that was the reason you'd let him come here, so maybe we could get +some of it; and she asked Mrs. Pennypoker if she hadn't seen the way I +hadn't had so much to do with Ned and Marjorie since he'd been here, and +all. Wasn't it horrid, mamma?" + +Mrs. Burnam frowned. She was sorry to have such ideas put into the head +of her young daughter; and, during the past five months, she had grown +to feel that Charlie was almost one of her own children; so the +worldly-wise tone of these comments grated upon her ears. + +"Grant had no right to tell you this," she said thoughtfully. + +"I don't care if he did," Allie interrupted. "I knew 't wasn't true, and +I told him that I didn't think Charlie had any money, and we didn't want +any of it, if he had; we'd plenty of our own. But I wish people wouldn't +talk such things. I like Ned and Marjorie just as well as I used to; but +when Charlie's here in the house, and just as splendid as he can be, I +don't see why I shouldn't like him better. Nobody minded when I was with +Howard 'most all the time, and Charlie's just like another brother." And +she nodded conclusively as she resumed her work. + +Mrs. Burnam watched her steadily for a moment, trying to read whether +there was any unspoken thought in her daughter's mind; but Allie looked +up, and her blue eyes met her mother's so squarely that Mrs. Burnam was +satisfied. + +"Charlie does seem just like one of us," she assented heartily; "and I +know we've all enjoyed his being out here; but it isn't because he's +rich that we've liked him, it's because he's just what he is, a bright, +manly boy, without any airs or nonsense. Aunt Helen asked to have him +come to us, because he hadn't any other cousins; and it would have been +a pleasant six months for all of us, if it hadn't been for his terrible +illness." Mrs. Burnam paused; she could never speak of his accident +without a shudder. + +"I'm glad it happened," returned Allie proudly. "If it hadn't, we +shouldn't ever have known how brave he was. And, besides, if it hadn't +been for that, we never should have known Dr. Brownlee half so well, and +he wouldn't have gone into camp with us; so you see there was some good +came out of it. But didn't we have a fine time in camp, mammy?" + +"Yes, I think our camping trip was a success, in more ways than one," +said Mrs. Burnam, smiling quietly to herself, as she recalled certain +scenes in which Louise and the doctor had played a part. There was no +doubt in her mind about the enjoyment of two of their number, however +the others might have looked upon it. + +"But, after all," resumed Allie, going back to her original statement; +"I do like getting settled down again; and this vacation has been so +stirred up that I believe I shall be glad to have some lessons once +more." + +"Here comes Ned," said her mother, glancing up from her work as the boy +turned the corner and came up the street towards the house. "He's +probably after you and the boys for some frolic or other." + +"All right; I've just finished my last stocking. Did you ever see +anybody make such holes as Howard does?" And she rolled the stockings +into a ball and tossed them into the basket, as Ned came up the steps. + +"Hullo!" he remarked, dropping into the chair from which Allie had just +risen, and helping himself to her orderly work-basket. "Where are the +other fellows?" + +"They've gone up the creek fishing," answered Allie, watching, with an +anxious face, while Ned investigated her papers of needles, and then +turned his attention to her button bag. + +"They must want something to do," returned Ned scornfully. "I should +think you about lived on fish, up here." + +"They don't often catch anything," said Mrs. Burnam, laughing; "not even +colds. Howard fell into the creek, day before yesterday, and then sat +around in his wet clothes all the afternoon; but it didn't seem to hurt +him any." + +"I tried that once," said Ned, as he stealthily put the basket on the +floor, just behind Allie, where she could not fail to step in it and +overturn it; "but I had the worst of it, for Cousin Euphemia saw me when +I came home. She put me to bed, right in the middle of the day, and made +me take some hot ginger-tea. Ugh, what a mess 't was! I'd rather have +had a dozen colds than be choked to death, and left to stew in a flannel +blanket. But what I came to say, Allie--Oh, isn't that too bad! You've +upset your basket." + +"What a wretch you are, Ned!" And Allie slyly dropped a large, flat +button down inside his collar, as she stooped to pick up her scattered +treasures. "You've done this before, and I know just how sorry you are." + +"I didn't do a single thing," returned Ned innocently. "How'd I know you +were going to put your foot in it that way? But I stopped to see if some +of you didn't want to go up the gulch this afternoon. It's not so very +warm, and Lou and Grant are going, so I said I'd hurry on ahead and get +you to come too. Here they are, now." + +"I'll go; wait till I get my hat." And Allie vanished. + +"Come along too, Mrs. Burnam," said Ned persuasively. + +"I wish I could, Ned; but I must stay with Vic, for Janey has gone out +this afternoon. You'd better stop in here, all of you, when you come +back, though. The boys will be home by that time, and I want to see +Louise, too," she added, as Ned and Allie went down the steps. + +At the west side of the town, the mountains rose up, sheer and straight, +their slopes ending abruptly at the outer streets, which were carefully +laid out and numbered, although no houses had yet been built there. +However, the low, even ground was elaborately divided into blocks, and +the blocks, in their turn, into building lots, to be in readiness for +the possible purchaser, who might appear at any moment. On the boundary +line between the town and this suburban region was the little brick +school-house; and beyond it lay the open ground which now, in the +absence of any inhabitants, was still used as a wood yard for the +distant smelter, whose constant fires easily devoured the vast piles of +wood daily unloaded by the trains which ran down the spur of track +leading to the yard. Beyond this again were the mountains, which rose to +their highest point just to the west of the town, where the tips of the +tallest peaks were always blanketed with the soft, white piles of snow. +At only one spot their unbroken front was interrupted, where a deep, +narrow ravine led far up among the mountains, forming a delightful walk +in a warm summer day. After the burning glare on the dry, sandy soil of +the town, which, in its barren lack of grass and trees, stared back at +the sun like a lidless, lashless eye, the cool shadows of the pines in +the gulch were a refreshing change. The little gulch had its variety of +names: Bear Gulch, it was called, Lover's Gulch, and even Cemetery +Gulch, from the lonely burial ground perched on the top of the rugged +bluff at its entrance. + +Ned and Allie had taken the lead, with Louise and Grant following close +behind them, as they picked their way among the countless tin cans +scattered over the fields, or paused to look and laugh while the boys +clambered to the top of the long wood-piles, and ran slow, unsteady +races over their uneven surfaces. Then they came out to the track, and +followed along its course, where Ned and Allie joined hands and walked +the rails, and Grant trudged along behind them, stepping with an +elaborate care upon each one of the ties, or leaping over occasional +cattle-guards, as they crossed his path. + +They were far past the western houses of the town, and rapidly +approaching the foot of the mountain, when Ned gave Allie's hand a +violent twitch. + +"Look back!" he exclaimed in an undertone. + +With a little cry of alarm, Allie sprang from the track; then, as she +glanced back over her shoulder, she burst out laughing. + +"How you scared me, Ned!" she said, as she stopped abruptly. "I thought +'twas a train, but it's only Dr. Hornblower." + +True enough; up the track behind them came the excellent doctor, waving +his cane in amicable salutation, as he strode along at a pace which +might have put to shame the wearer of the famous seven-league boots. His +leathery skin was dark and shining from the violence of his exercise, as +he came sweeping on towards them, till he paused by the side of Louise, +who watched him with some anxiety while he stood wheezing and panting +before her. + +"My dear Miss Everett," he said, when he could regain his breath enough +to speak once more; "are you not afraid to walk so rapidly at this +altitude? I fear you may over-exert yourself some day." He paused for a +moment, puffing like the engine of an overloaded freight train; then he +resumed, "I called at your residence, and was so regretful at not +finding you at home that your cousin, Mrs. Pennypoker, told me that you +were bound for the gulch, and assured me that there was--um--some +prospect of my overtaking, not to say catching up with you." + +"Are you out on the round-up again to-day, Dr. Hornblower?" asked Ned +soberly. + +The Reverend Gabriel looked at him with a perplexed countenance. + +"I am afraid that I do not perfectly apprehend your meaning," he said. + +"Why, you said, last time you called on Lou, that you were hunting up +stray sheep, and I didn't know but you were out after some more to-day," +Ned explained, with a naughty satisfaction in his sister's struggles to +repress her smiles. + +But Dr. Hornblower was quite unmoved. His professional dignity rose to +the surface, and his voice took on its Sunday twang as he replied +pompously,-- + +"No, Edward; the sheep are all in the fold. To-day I am only in search +of congenial society." And he bowed gravely to Louise. + +"Come on, now," whispered Grant, as he joined Allie and Ned in advance, +and left Louise to follow them with her elderly admirer; "the doctor's +lost his wind already, and can't keep up; but, if he wants a walk, +we'll give him one." + +His companions entered into the spirit of his proposition, and they +quickened their pace, after casting one backward glance towards Louise, +as she lingered along, with a sort of repressed impatience of step and +manner, while she listened to the Reverend Gabriel's elaborate +explanations of his reasons for following her. Then such a race as they +led him! Quitting the track, they turned aside into the open ground, +covered with uneven tufts of coarse bunch grass and thickets of sage +brush, now racing down a little hillock, now jumping over a tiny stream +and forcing their way through the clumps of willows on the bank, but +always choosing the roughest, hardest path, and always going at the top +of their speed, while Louise and the doctor panted and floundered along +too far in the rear to be heard in their calls for mercy. Even Allie was +beginning to be exhausted when, a few hundred feet above the mouth of +the gulch, Grant turned abruptly to the right and scrambled up the steep +hillside leading to the cemetery. + +"There!" he chuckled, while Ned and Allie, breathless with laughing and +with their rapid climb, dropped down on the ground beside him; "we'll +give him a rest when he gets up here. If he's going to come along and +spoil all our fun, he must pay for it; but he'll be tired by this time." + +"I wonder if he'll ever get up here alive," said Allie, as she reached +out to the nearest bush, to pick a bit of fur from the twig which had +caught it from some passing cottontail. "You almost used me up, and I +don't believe Miss Lou could have gone on much farther, so I shouldn't +wonder if he was pretty nearly dead." + +"Well, 'twould be a nice, convenient place for the funeral; only I +shouldn't be surprised if he stuck, half way up here," suggested Ned, +comfortably lying on his back, and fanning himself with the hat which +Allie had tossed aside. "No; here he comes," he added, as the Reverend +Gabriel's wide-brimmed straw hat and flushed face appeared over the brow +of the hill, followed by Louise, looking rosy and mischievous, but as +fresh as she had done at the start. + +"Come over to this tree, doctor, and sit down here in the shade while +you rest," she said kindly, as she led the way to the spot where the +boys were stretched out on the grass. + +There was an unwonted gentleness in her voice, for she had been quick +to discover the impish intention of her brothers, and was anxious to +atone for their lack of courtesy towards an acquaintance whom she had +always regarded as an old man, on the down-hill side of life. In spite +of herself she had been amused at the doctor's frantic efforts to keep +up with her own firm, quick pace, and at his urgent entreaties that she +should tell him if he walked too fast for her. Nevertheless, as she +seated herself beside her young brothers, she was resolving to give them +a lecture upon the sins of the afternoon, so soon as she could get them +in a place of safety. + +In the mean time, the doctor appeared to be strangely annoyed over +something, although she was unable to discover the cause of his trouble. +In obedience to her inviting gesture, he had spread out his large blue +silk handkerchief on the ground by her side, and seated himself upon it. +Then he started to remove his hat; but he had no sooner raised it a +little from his head than he hastily clapped it on again, with a little +exclamation of surprise and displeasure. + +"I do hope that these bad boys haven't given you too hard a climb, +doctor," Louise was saying politely, while she turned to frown down any +fresh demonstrations on the part of Grant, who was evidently plotting +some new mischief. + +"Um--m--ah--no--at least, I beg your pardon, but what was it you said?" +inquired the doctor, so abstractedly that Louise looked at him in +astonishment. + +The Reverend Gabriel sat with his face slightly turned away from her. He +was tilting his hat so that, on the farther side, it was raised an inch +or two from his head, while, with his disengaged hand, he was feeling +carefully about underneath it, as if in search of some missing object. +His face, meanwhile, was rapidly assuming every appearance of trouble +and distress, which became more and more acute with every fresh motion +of his hand. Louise watched him compassionately, sure that something was +amiss, but not daring to offer to come to his assistance; then, thinking +to spare him any added mortification, she looked away towards the +valley. + +A lovely picture lay at her feet, for the cañon opened out before her +eyes in all the grandeur of its mountainous surroundings, while the +little town in its bosom was softened and beautified by the kindly +autumnal haze, which took away the crude shabbiness of its detail and +brought it into harmony with the rugged landscape about it. Beyond the +town lay the creek, and over it all floated the heavy pall of thick +white smoke, which seemed to be supported on the tall red chimneys of +the smelter buildings. The sun was dropping behind the mountains, and +already the town lay in shadow, while the last beams lingered upon the +cloud of smoke which flushed to a pale pink, then deepened to a rosy +glow. The girl's eyes rested on the scene below her; then, surprised at +the continued silence of her escort, she glanced at him once more. He +was still groping about underneath his hat, with the same strained, +upward roll to his eyes; but, as she looked at him, a new light burst in +upon Louise's mind, for two long locks of tawny hair had straggled down +over his right ear, and lay in a feeble ringlet against the top of his +tall collar. The Reverend Gabriel's wrist brushed against them; he felt +of them inquiringly; then he deliberately took off his hat to show the +top of his head shorn of the glory of his curl, and the long ends of +hair hanging in elf-locks about his face. + +"Miss--um--Miss Everett," he began hesitatingly, while a dark flush rose +on his weather-beaten cheeks; "Miss Everett, I am exceedingly sorry to +trouble you, but"--he paused; then went on desperately; "in fact, could +you be good enough to lend me a hairpin? The exertion of my climb has +removed mine from its accustomed place, and I fear that my hair may be +slightly disarranged." + +The silence that followed was unbroken while Louise felt about among her +braids and drew out a long, slender pin; but when the doctor put his hat +down on the ground by his side, carefully rolled up his hair over his +two forefingers, spread it into the usual long curl, and fastened it +into its place, Allie and Ned fell into an uncontrollable fit of +giggling. But, for the once, Grant's attention was distracted, for he +was gazing steadily towards the engine house at the mouth of the mine. + +"Say, Lou," he exclaimed; "what's going on down there? Everybody's +rushing over to the mine; something must be wrong." + +Louise's eyes followed the direction of his hand. + +"There 's some trouble, down there," she said, rising abruptly. "Will +you excuse us, Dr. Hornblower, if we go down without waiting to get +rested? I am always a little anxious about my father." And she hurried +away down the hill, leaving the Reverend Gabriel to adjust his hairpin +at his ease, while he reflected upon the unsatisfactory nature of his +walk. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"SWEET CHARITY'S SAKE." + + +"You see," Howard was explaining to Ned, that evening, "he'd put in his +charge for the blast, and was tamping it down all right; but he kicked +over his drill, and the end fell on an extra package of giant powder." + +"I know that," interrupted Ned. "Papa said he was outrageously careless, +to have any of the stuff lying around loose; and 'twas a wonder that +there weren't any more men near enough to be killed. Poor old Mike! He's +worked in the mine ever since 'twas first opened, and he was one of +their best men." + +"I don't see how he came to be so careless, then," said Marjorie, wisely +shaking her head over the matter. "I should suppose he'd have known +better by this time." + +"They do know better," said Ned thoughtfully; "only they get hardened to +the risk and don't think much about it, or else say their luck will hold +out. But Mike has the worst of it. Do you know, this is the first +accident in the Blue Creek I ever remember, and I used to see Mike 'most +every day, so I can't get to believe it a bit. It seems as if it +couldn't be true." + +"Papa was all broken up to-night," added Grant. "He knows all the old +foremen, and Mike was the best one of them all." + +"I believe I'd rather die 'most any way than be blown up," said Allie, +with a shudder. "It must be so hard for his family. But didn't you say +somebody else was hurt, Howard?" + +"Just one boy," answered Howard, rising and walking nervously about the +room, as the scene came freshly to his mind. "I don't know who he was, +for nobody seemed to be sure of his name. He had dark hair, and was +about Charlie Mac's size, I should think. They brought him up in the +cage just as Charlie and I stopped at the shaft, and the first thing we +knew, we were right beside him." + +"What's it going to do to him?" asked Marjorie, as her bright face grew +very serious at the picture that Howard had brought before her. + +"No one knew, for the doctor wasn't there, of course, and they took him +right off home. Papa said he was an English boy that lived over the +creek," said Grant, stretching himself out on the sofa, with his heels +on the cushion. + +Marjorie sprang up and shook herself, with a little shiver. + +"Don't let's talk about it any more," she exclaimed. "It just makes me +sick to think of it." + +"But it's there, all the same, whether we talk about it or not; and if +you'd seen it, as we did, you couldn't forget it, even if you did keep +still," said Howard soberly; and Allie added,-- + +"Besides, maybe if we talk about it we can find out there's something to +do, to help out." + +For an hour, the five young people, gathered in the Everetts' parlor, +had been telling over the details of the accident. As Ned had said, it +had been a long time since the Blue Creek had been visited by an +accident like those which so frequently occurred in the neighboring +mines, and this, killing, as it did, one of the oldest and best-known of +the miners, had created an intense excitement in the little town. +Immediately following the explosion, there had been put in circulation a +report of the accident so exaggerated that it had brought to the spot +the wives of half the miners in the camp, each one of whom was confident +that her husband was among the twenty or more men said to have been +killed. It had been this hasty gathering which had caught Grant's eye; +and the Everetts and Allie had hurried down into the town just in time +to learn the truth that but one man was killed, and to watch the excited +groups as they slowly dispersed, so noisy in their joy that their own +friends had escaped, that they forgot to give more than a passing +thought to poor, careless Mike, whose working days were ended. But that +came later; and among all his mourners there were none more sincere than +the little group at the Everetts', who knew and appreciated the real +worth of the jovial, brawny Irishman, whose pleasant word and helping +hand were extended to all with whom he ever came in contact. They were +still talking of him when the bell rang; and, a moment later, Wang Kum +ushered Dr. Brownlee into the parlor. At sight of him, Marjorie sprang +up impulsively. + +"Oh, doctor, tell us about the poor boy! How is he?" she asked abruptly, +without waiting for any formal greeting. + +"If you mean the one who was hurt at the mine this afternoon," the +doctor was beginning, when Ned hastily interposed,-- + +"Hold on a minute, Dr. Brownlee; but don't sit down in that chair. +There's something wrong about the stuff it's covered with; 'tisn't real +leather, and it melts and gets sticky in summer, or when there's a hot +fire. You'd better steer clear of it. We mean to keep it out of the +way." + +"You might use it for a trap," suggested the doctor laughingly, as he +pushed aside the great easy-chair, and settled himself in a willow +rocker. Then his face grew grave again, as he turned back to Marjorie. +"He's as badly hurt as he can be," he went on. "He'll get over it, but +he'll never be able to do anything more. He hasn't come to his senses +yet, and I wish he needn't, for the present, for he has a hard time +before him," he added, as he rose to meet Louise, who came into the room +just then. + +"I'm a little upset to-night," he said apologetically, in answer to her +exclamation about the coldness of his hand. "To be perfectly honest, +this is my first accident case; and it's a very different thing from +seeing people quietly ill in bed, even if you know they can't get well. +I was at the house when they brought him in, and I hope I sha'n't often +have to go through such a scene again." + +"Tell me about it," said Louise, with a gentle sympathy which lent a new +grace to her beauty. "I'm not afraid to hear, and perhaps I can do +something for them by and by." + +And the doctor told, forgetting himself, and even the charming young +woman before him, as he went on with the story of the mother's frantic +sorrow over her only son, of the boy's half-conscious suffering, and of +the long, helpless life before him. The girl's eyes filled with tears as +she listened, though her pity for the lad was mingled with a new +admiration for the speaker. The tale did not lie entirely in the mere +words describing the accident; but, under all that, it told of the +generous, kindly sympathy of the true doctor, who shrinks from the sight +of pain, even while he gives his life to watching and helping it. + +Two weeks later Marjorie was spending a stormy afternoon at the +Burnams', when Ned appeared on the piazza. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed, as he furled his dripping umbrella, and shook +himself out of his rubber coat. "You'd better believe I'm wet. Lou went +off before it rained, and I had to pack her rubbers and umbrella over to +her. It's no joke to walk a mile in such a pour." + +"Where is she?" asked Allie, while she hospitably drew up a chair for +her guest. + +"Over the creek with that boy of hers. She puts in ever so much time +there, since he's better. She says he's crazy to read and be read to, so +she goes over 'most every day," responded Ned, as he wriggled away from +the too exuberant caresses of Ben. + +"How is he getting on?" inquired Marjorie. + +"All right, as much as he can. Lou says he's bright and knows a good +deal." + +"How kind she's been to him!" said Allie thoughtfully. "And Charlie, +too. He buys lots of things for him, and sends them over by Dr. +Brownlee." + +"Good for Charlie Mac! That's just like him," said Ned enthusiastically. +"Where is he, anyhow?" + +"We supposed he was over at your house with Grant," answered Howard from +the corner where he sat, industriously whittling at a set of small +wooden pegs. + +"It must be nice to have money, and do all sorts of things like that," +sighed Marjorie. "I can't afford to buy books and fruit, for I'm always +short on my allowance; and mamma won't let me give up my lessons, even +for one day, so I can't do what Miss Lou does." + +"Poor Marj! It's a hard case; for time's money, and you haven't any of +either," remarked Howard. + +"Wait a minute!" she answered, starting from her chair, and pacing up +and down the room, as was her habit when much absorbed. "I'm getting +hold of an idea." + +"Hold on, then, and don't let it go," advised Ned, dodging the sofa +pillow that Marjorie hurled at him. + +"Listen!" she commanded imperatively. "It's really and truly a good +plan. You know we haven't any too much money, for we all of us spend our +allowances faster than we get them; but let's begin to save, and put it +all together, till by and by we can send him something." + +"Good, Marjorie! What a splendid idea!" exclaimed Allie, fired with zeal +at the thought. + +"But, I say," remonstrated Howard; "how long are you going to keep up +the scheme? I can save like a house afire, for a little while; but +Christmas is coming, and I've promised to give Allie a rubber doll, and +charity begins at home, you know. I'm willing to help on your lad for a +month or so; but let's put a limit to it." + +"I didn't think you'd be so stingy, Howard," said Marjorie, turning on +him a gaze of virtuous sorrow. + +"'T isn't stingy," retorted Howard; "it's common sense. I 'm as sorry +for him as you are; but I think we'd better go easy on it a little, and +see how we come out." + +"Let's try it for a month," interposed Allie hastily, for she saw that +Marjorie was growing indignant. "If we save all we can, we shall have a +good deal by that time. What shall we get him?" + +"A whole set of Henty's books," suggested Ned promptly. + +"No; I think he'd like a tool-chest better," said Howard, eyeing with +disfavor the shabby knife in his hand. + +"What an idea, Howard! He couldn't use a tool-chest, even if he had +one," said Allie, laughing disrespectfully at her brother's suggestion. +"We want to get him something he could have the good of all the time. +What do you say, Marjorie?" + +"Miss Lou said he used to sing a good deal," observed Marjorie, her +virtue coming to the surface once more. "Why wouldn't it be nice to get +him one of the new hymnals; a great big one, with all the tunes in it? I +think he'd find it very comforting." + +A pause followed her words; then the boys burst into a shout of +laughter. Marjorie looked a little aggrieved. + +"I don't see what you're laughing at," she said, with a suspicion of a +pout. "Hymns are a great deal better for such people than your crazy old +books and tool-chests." + +"Don't be a jay, Marjorie," said Ned bluntly. "He isn't any more _such +people_ than we are; and because a fellow is down on his luck he doesn't +want everybody shying coffins at him. But here comes Grant; let's see +what he says. Then we can save up for a month, and see how much we get; +after that, we can tell better what to do with it." + +For the next four weeks a spirit of miserliness seemed to have broken +out among the young people, who scrimped and saved and denied themselves +for days, only to succumb to the temptations of "just one little bit of +a treat," which swept away most of their savings again, and left them no +better off than before. The day after they had taken their great +resolution, they went down town in a body, and invested most of the +funds at the disposal of the syndicate in an elaborate toy bank, in the +form of a dog who stolidly swallowed their stray bits of silver and +nickel into an iron strong-box below, which nothing but a powerful +hammer could ever succeed in opening. As soon as this purchase was made, +and a nest-egg solemnly deposited in its miniature vault, their zeal +cooled, and the dog was left in Allie's keeping for a week of slow +starvation. It is true that Charlie often begged to be allowed to +contribute from his own more abundant resources; but it had been agreed +that he could only add one fifth to the combined offerings of the +others; so, though the end of the month was fast approaching, the bank +was still nearly as light as when it came from the store, and only +responded with a faint rattle to Allie's frequent shakings. + +Matters were in this condition, one day, when Grant dropped in for one +of his frequent short calls on Marjorie. + +"Mustn't stay," he answered briefly; "I'm on my way down to get my hair +cut. I'm going to try Charlie Mac's barber; he gets a better shape on +your hair, somehow." + +"Extravagant boy!" said Marjorie reproachfully. "You'll have to pay him +ever so much. How much does he charge, anyway?" + +"Six bits," answered Grant, as he picked up his hat, and took hold of +the door knob. + +"That's perfectly shameful," said Marjorie. "It's ever so much more than +you generally pay. I'll tell you what: I'll do it for you for ten cents, +and you can have all the rest to put in our bank. You haven't begun to +give your share." + +"I can't help it; a fellow can't live on nothing," said Grant +defensively. "I've only had two sodas and a new bat this week. Besides, +I want my hair cut like Charlie's." + +"I should think you would be ashamed to spend so much on just your +looks, when you think of that poor, exploded boy," said Marjorie in a +sanctimonious tone. "And then," she added persuasively, "if you let me +cut it for ten cents, you can spend some for a treat and put the rest in +the bank." + +Grant wavered. The prospect of having an unexpected treat, and at the +same time of putting a little money into their hoard was an attractive +one; but, after all, his boyish soul was filled with a vain desire to +see how his yellow hair would look, after being cut by Charlie's man. +Moreover, Charlie's barber was an expensive luxury, and Grant had +experienced some difficulty in coaxing the necessary funds out of Mrs. +Pennypoker, so he had a little natural misgiving as to her opinion of +his putting the money to other uses. + +"You could get a soda, and ever so many pine nuts," went on the tempter, +touching her victim's weakest spot. + +Grant yielded a little. + +"Have you ever cut anybody's hair?" he demanded. + +"No; but I can, well enough. It's just as easy." And Marjorie gave her +hand an impressive sweep through the air. "I know just exactly how," she +added. + +"You're sure you can make it look all right?" asked Grant again, while +there floated through his mind a blissful vision of himself, tranquilly +eating pine nuts, and of the others, standing grouped about him, +praising his generosity. + +"Course I can; why not?" said Marjorie scornfully. "Don't you s'pose I +know how a boy's hair ought to look?" + +"And you'll do it for ten cents?" + +"Yes." + +"All right; sail in!" And Grant dropped into a chair and closed his +eyes, as if he were about to be decapitated. + +"You needn't think I'm going to do it here in the parlor," said +Marjorie. "It's going to make an awful muss; you must come out of +doors." + +"You needn't think I'm going to freeze," retorted the victim, opening +his eyes to glare at her belligerently. "If I give you the job, and pay +you all that for it, I'm going to have something to say about the way +it's done. You can spread down a paper, if you're afraid." + +"Well," said Marjorie reluctantly; "I don't know but 'twould be cold on +the piazza. Wait a minute, and I'll be ready." + +Her preparations were quickly made. A layer of newspapers was spread +over the carpet, and a chair set out in the middle of the room. Then she +tied a blue checked apron around Grant's neck, and announced herself as +in readiness. + +"Sit down there," she commanded, as she dived into a box of scrap-book +materials for a pair of paste-stained scissors; "and don't you dare to +wiggle, for I shall cut you if you do." And she gave the scissors an +expressive clash above his head. + +"All right," said Grant again, as he once more closed his eyes and +assumed a look of abject misery. + +Then silence fell upon the room, and for a long half hour the stillness +was only broken by the clatter of the loose-jointed scissors, and an +occasional moan from Grant, when the blunt points collided with his skin +with more than ordinary vigor. With one hand clutching the boy's yellow +head for support, Marjorie stood over him, clipping and trimming, then +stopping to contemplate the result of her labors, before attacking a new +spot. She had started out upon her undertaking valiantly enough; but a +dozen reckless slashes had begun to awaken some slight misgivings in her +mind, and she proceeded more slowly and with frequent pauses, while an +anxious pucker about her brows showed that she was not entirely +satisfied with her work. Worst of all, Grant was beginning to grow +restive. + +"'Most through?" he had inquired some time before. + +But Marjorie had consoled him with assurances of his speedy release; and +he had resigned himself to the inevitable and sat quiet for ten minutes +longer. Then he burst out again. + +"Say, Marjorie," he protested; "you scratch like fun; and you've been +long enough about it to cut a dozen hairs. Hurry up, there!" + +"I'm almost through," she answered hastily. "Your hair's so tough it +takes me longer than I thought 'twould." + +"How's it going to look?" + +"Lovely!" responded Marjorie, with a fervor which she was far from +feeling, while she made a few hurried clips at a long lock which, in +some way, had escaped her vigilance. "There!" she added. "That's all. +You can get up." + +Grant rose and shook himself; then, with the apron still hanging about +his neck, he marched to the nearest mirror and gazed at the reflection +of his shorn head. It was a strange picture that met his eyes. His head +was encircled with narrow furrows, where the scissors had done their +work so well that not a spear of hair rose above the bare skin. These +ridges were intermingled with patches of stubble of varying length; +while, here and there, a long lock had escaped entirely, and, in the +lack of its former support, now stood out from his scalp at an +aggressive angle, like the fur on the back of an angry cat. The whole +effect resembled nothing so much as a piece of half-cleared woodland, +where the workman's axe had here levelled everything to the ground, here +left a clump or two of bushes, and here spared an occasional giant tree +which towered far above its fallen comrades, in the conscious pride of +its unimpaired strength. + +The result was novel; but Grant appeared to fail to appreciate it, for +when he turned back to face Marjorie again his brown eyes were blazing, +and he was well-nigh speechless with indignation. + +"You beastly fraud!" he shouted, while he rubbed his hand over his +denuded pate, with a tenderly caressing motion, as if to console it for +its appearance. + +"What's the matter?" asked Marjorie faintly. + +"Matter!" stormed Grant. "Look at my head and see for yourself. You said +you could cut my hair all right, and you've just spoiled it all. I won't +pay you one cent. It'll take weeks and weeks for it to get back again." + +"It looks all right," said Marjorie stubbornly; "and you've got to pay +me. You said you would, and you never lie. The time I spent on it is +worth more than ten cents, anyway." + +"I sha'n't pay you," retorted Grant doggedly. + +"You shall!" + +"I won't!" + +"Then I'll tell Allie and Charlie, and all the rest, that you're stingy +and a great big cheat." + +"Tell away if you're mean enough." + +"And I'll tell Mrs. Pennypoker; and she'll send you to bed without your +supper, for stealing her money." + +"Didn't steal it!" + +"Yes, you did, too! She gave it to you for something, and you were going +to spend part of it for soda; that's stealing." + +"'T isn't, either!" + +"'T is, too, and you know it! And if you aren't ashamed of it why don't +you want me to tell her?" + +Grant saw that his enemy had outflanked him, and that his only possible +course was to make the best terms he could. + +"Now, see here," he said more quietly, as he pointed to his head again; +"this isn't worth anything; but you've cornered me, so I can't get out. +But, if I pay you, you must give me back a nickel, to pay for the hole +you snicked out of my ear." + +Marjorie's face fell. She had been hoping that he would not notice the +little red spot on the tip of his left ear. + +"And then," continued Grant remorselessly; "you can just put on your +hat, and come along with me to Allie's. We'll each put a nickel in the +bank, and then we'll be square. But you'd better believe I'll tell the +boys who did this, so they won't get taken in as I did." + +A week later, Charlie and Allie opened the bank and counted the funds. +Only sixty-five cents had accumulated there; Allie's face fell as she +surveyed the meagre hoard. + +"Hush up!" commanded Charlie, as he dropped something yellow and shining +into her lap. "I was in a bad fix last summer, and I know how 'tis, so I +ought to help on more than the rest of you. You just keep still and +don't say anything to the others." + +And no one else ever knew the full history of the magazine that put in +its appearance at the beginning of the following month, with a greeting +to the stranger boy from his friends across the creek. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER. + + +There was mutiny in the Burnam household. It had broken out the night +before, when Vic was saying his prayers in the presence of Mrs. +Pennypoker, who was supposed to be temporarily filling his mother's +place. At the petition for daily bread, Vic had stopped short. + +"Go on," said Mrs. Pennypoker, in slow, measured tones. + +Victor opened his eyes and glared at her with undevout opposition. + +"Don't want bread," he said firmly. "Vic likes biskies." + +"It means the same thing, Victor," answered Mrs. Pennypoker, in her hard +voice. "Now be a good little boy and finish your prayer, or God won't +listen to you, another time, when you are asking him for something." + +It was then that Vic had delivered himself of his first baby heresy, +which had been slowly working in his brain while Mrs. Pennypoker had +been urging him through his devotions, in a manner so unlike the tender +gentleness of his pretty mamma. + +"I don't like your God," he said deliberately, as he gazed up into the +cold, dark eyes above him; "I don't like your God a bit; I'm tired of +him. I want my mamma's." And, rising from his knees, he dived into bed, +where he burst out sobbing for mamma; nor would he be quieted until Mrs. +Pennypoker had left the room, and sent Allie up to comfort her baby +brother with repeated assurances that mamma would come by and by. + +Two days before this, Mrs. Burnam had received a note from her husband, +saying that a fall from his horse had bruised and strained him a little, +and that it seemed best for him to stay a few days at a small country +hotel, not far from his camp. In reality, it was only a slight affair; +but Mrs. Burnam had felt so uneasy that she had resolved to go to him, +to be at hand in case he might need any of the little attentions which +it would be hard for him to get, in the small town where he was left. +Since Victor would be only an additional care, she had decided not to +take him with her; but, remembering the emergency which had arisen +during her last absence, she had begged Mrs. Pennypoker to take charge +of the household for the time that she was away from home. + +This arrangement had not met with the entire approval of the young +people, it must be confessed; for Howard and Allie had hoped to be +allowed to pose as heads of the house, while Victor had lifted up his +voice in vigorous protest against the intruder. However, until Victor's +rebellion, the second night, there had been no open outbreak, although +there was an undercurrent of antagonism between Mrs. Pennypoker and the +children, which threatened an explosion at any moment. It was a new +experience for Howard and Allie to have their fun and laughter +repressed, and they were far from being ready to submit to it with a +good grace; while Janey had promptly ranged herself upon their side, and +manifested a monkey-like ingenuity in planning the pranks which were +making Mrs. Pennypoker's frown grow deeper at every moment. + +"Just look at Janey!" Howard had whispered to his sister, as the maid +came in at dinner-time, with the strings of her dainty white cap tied +under her chin, and the point standing up from her forehead like an old +woman's poke bonnet. + +Mrs. Pennypoker caught the whisper. Putting on her glasses, she turned +to glare at Janey, who received her stare with an unmoved countenance. + +"Jane," she said, with crushing dignity; "go back to the kitchen, and +arrange your cap properly." + +And Janey went, but it was not until she had given the two boys a look +which upset their gravity and forced them to retire behind their +napkins. She was gone for some moments, and when she reappeared her cap +was drawn far down over her face, and she came tiptoeing in with short, +mincing steps, to go through her serving with an exaggerated elegance, +bowing and smirking and flourishing her tray, with all the airs and +graces at her command. However, there was nothing to be done about it, +and Mrs. Pennypoker was forced to be content with ignoring her for the +present, while she frowned down any demonstrations of amusement on the +part of the children. The rest of the meal was hurried through in +silence, and as soon as it was over the young people shut themselves up +in Allie's room, to vent their indignation by talking over the events of +the past two days. + +"You don't catch anybody getting in ahead of Janey, though," said +Howard with a chuckle. "She's a match for even Mrs. Pennypoker." + +"I'm 'most afraid she'll get mad and go off," said Allie anxiously. +"Mrs. Pennypoker has just been nagging at her all day long, and Janey +won't put up with it. She isn't used to it, as Wang Kum is." + +"Even Wang Kum kicked, the other day," said Charlie, sitting down on the +footboard of the bed, and swinging his heels while he talked. "Grant +told me about it. Wang made a mistake and threw away all her soup she'd +made, just before dinner; and when she scolded him for it, he said he +'t'ought 'twas dish-water.' She gave him fits, scolded like everything, +till all at once he drew himself up and said: 'Old lady scold heap much; +Wang no be bossed by hens.' And he turned and walked off, and left her +standing there, with her mouth wide open." + +"Good enough for her!" applauded Howard. "I only hope Janey'll serve her +the same way." + +"I don't believe I do," said Allie thoughtfully. "She's here, and we'll +have to make the best of her. But don't you pity Ned and Grant, to have +to stand her all the time?" + +The predicted explosion was not slow in coming. Charlie had come in +after his lessons, the next morning, clasping a huge watermelon in his +arms, and, without a word to Mrs. Pennypoker, he had carried it through +to the kitchen. + +"Here, Janey," he called; "I'm awfully hungry, and if you'll cut this up +for us to eat now, before lunch, I'll give you a quarter of it. You'd +better do it, for it's the last one you'll get this year." + +With the zeal of her melon-loving race, Janey's eyes glistened, as she +received the treasure. + +"Dat's a gay one, Mars' Charlie!" she exclaimed, as she snapped her +fingers against its green rind, and listened delightedly to the clear, +crisp sound. "Janey'll cut it right up for you, befo' she sets de table +or anything. You all likes melons so well, you ought to see 'em we has +down Souf. Reckon you'd jus' about bu'st you'selves, eatin' 'em." + +She gave the melon one more ecstatic embrace, and dandled it fondly in +her arms for a moment; then she laid it carefully down on the table, +while she went for a knife. + + "'Wa-a-atermelon! + Green rind, red meat; + All juicy, so sweet. + Dem dat has money mus' come up an' buy; + And dem dat hasn't mus' stan' back an' cry + Wa-a-a-atermelon!'" + +She crooned to herself, as she returned with the knife in her hand, and +stuck it in, clear to the heart of the fruit before her. + +"What's that, Janey?" asked Allie, who had followed Charlie out into the +kitchen. + +"Dat? Dat's a song I done heard an ol' man singin', one day. He had some +melons to sell, out on de corner by my mudder's house, an' he kep' a +singin' it ober an' ober. Ah, dat's a fine one!" she added contentedly, +as the rich red heart of the melon appeared. She paused for a moment, +then she cocked her head on one side, as she gazed rapturously at the +great piece which Charlie offered her. "You all know how me an' my +brudder use' to eat our melons, when mammy wan' roun' to smack us?" she +inquired suddenly. + +"How'd you do it?" asked Charlie, laughing. + +"Dis way. See?" And clutching the piece in both hands, she buried her +face in it, and began to devour it, much as a squirrel gnaws the meat +out of a walnut. + +So absorbed was she in her enjoyment of her feast, that she did not hear +the door open and Mrs. Pennypoker come into the kitchen. + +"Jane!" said the strong voice. + +Janey started at the sound, and choked on a seed. + +"Yes, mis'," she responded as soon as she could speak, while she raised +her head from the rind. + +"What are you doing?" demanded Mrs. Pennypoker sternly. + +Her manner was not encouraging. There was a defiant flash in Janey's +eyes, as she said sullenly,-- + +"Ol' mis' done got eyes. What she s'pose I's doin'?" + +"But I told you to get the lunch." + +"I was goin' to, in a minute; but Mars' Charlie done wanted me to cut +his melon, an' I thought 'twouldn't make no difference." + +"You are not here to think; you are here to do the work," said Mrs. +Pennypoker magisterially. "If I tell you to do something, you must do +it." + +At the last words, Janey drew herself up to her full height and glared +at Mrs. Pennypoker. Something in the unconscious dignity of her figure, +as she stood there, seemed to dwarf her temporary mistress into +insignificance. + +"You cyarn' say mus' to me," she said in a slow, repressed tone. "Dese +ain' no slave days, an ol' mis' cyarn' make 'em so. I ain' no heathen +an' I ain' no slave. My mammy bought herself an' her husban', an' we's +all freeborn." + +She had moved forward a step or two, and thrown out her hand, while her +eyes gleamed with an angry luster. Suddenly she controlled herself. + +"I sha'n' say no mo'," she went on slowly; "'cause I might forget myself +an' be sassy, an' I don' wan' to do dat. But ol' mis' better not +interfere with me, an' say mus', or I'll pack my trunk an' not come back +till Mrs. Burnam comes home. She buys my time, an' while I'm yere I +belongs to her; but she don' bully me. _She's_ a lady like what we use' +ter have down Souf, befo' de war; not like you Yankees." + +Into her final sentence Janey had compressed all the scorn of which she +was capable. For a moment longer, she stood facing Mrs. Pennypoker; +then, turning on her heel, she left the room. + +Mrs. Pennypoker was the first one of the group to come to her senses. + +"That girl shall leave the house to-night," she exclaimed angrily. "I +won't have her here an hour longer." + +"You aren't going to send Janey off!" demanded Allie indignantly. + +"I certainly shall not keep her after what has occurred," returned Mrs. +Pennypoker coldly. + +"But you can't; she isn't yours. She's mamma's," remonstrated Allie. + +"I am taking your mother's place for the present, and I shall not retain +a servant who is so disrespectful," answered Mrs. Pennypoker again. "I +am surprised at you, Alice, for interfering in a matter which does not +belong to you." + +"It does belong to me, too," returned Allie mutinously. "Janey's a +splendid girl, and mamma just thinks everything of her. She'll never +forgive you, if you send her off; and what's more, I hope she won't; so +there, now!" + +"Alice!" And there was no mistaking the meaning of Mrs. Pennypoker's +tone. + +"I don't care if 'tis!" exclaimed Allie, with illogical recklessness. +"You're just too mean, and I don't blame Janey one bit." + +"Alice!" repeated Mrs. Pennypoker. "You may go to your room, and not +leave it again to-day. I shall tell your mother exactly what has +occurred." + +"Tell away!" returned Allie. "I just hope you will. I'm not afraid of +mamma; she's not so cross as some people." And forcing back the angry +tears, she walked away in the direction of her room, leaving the +half-frightened boys to look alter her in silent sympathy. + +Once in the safe retreat of her own room, Allie's courage broke down, +and, throwing herself on her bed, she began to cry convulsively, as she +realized all the injustice of her punishment, all the petty tyranny she +had borne for the past three days. For a few moments the sobs came +faster and faster. Then, when her first excitement was over, she began +to think. Mrs. Pennypoker ought to be ashamed of herself for abusing +them so; and how angry her mother would be when she knew it! Perhaps the +long day of loneliness and fasting would make her ill; then Mrs. +Pennypoker would be sorry. It might be that she would never get over it, +but would go into a decline. How they would all mourn for her! She went +on to plan the minutest details of her funeral with all the gloomy +cheerfulness of an undertaker; but, when she came to fancy the +loneliness of Howard and Charlie, the distressing picture overcame her, +and she began to sob once more. However, the tears would not flow quite +so readily this time; and, under all her pity for herself, she began to +wonder uneasily if, perhaps, she had not been a little hasty and rude to +Mrs. Pennypoker. It might be that her mother would not altogether +sympathize with her, after all. This was not an agreeable thought, and, +to silence it, she sprang up and crossed the room to put some cold +water on her flushed and swollen face. As she did so, she saw a slip of +paper tucked under the door, and she seized it eagerly, for it was +addressed to her, and in Charlie's writing. + +"Good for you, Allie!" it said. "Keep up your pluck till afternoon, and +we'll have some fun then." + +There was something encouraging in the boyish sympathy; and, as Allie +stood caressingly rubbing the note against her cheek, she found herself +wondering what he could mean by his reference to possible fun in the +afternoon. The outlook for the rest of the day did not seem to promise +much in the way of enjoyment; but Allie knew her cousin's ingenuity well +enough to rely upon his word, so she could resign herself to wait. + +The next hour was a long one to the young prisoner, who wandered +restlessly about the room, or tried to amuse herself with a book, +although all the time she was inwardly dwelling upon the ignominy of her +punishment, and dreading lest it should reach the ears of Marjorie and +the Everetts, or, worst of all, of Dr. Brownlee, whose good opinion she +especially desired to retain. At the end of the hour, Mrs. Pennypoker +herself appeared on the threshold, with a plate of crackers in one hand +and a glass of water in the other. Without a word to the captive, she +set the meagre lunch upon the table, and withdrew, locking the door +behind her. At this last insult, Allie's temper flashed up again. It was +enough to punish her so severely; but it was not necessary to distrust +her honor, and lock her up like a criminal. At least, she would not +touch the rations her jailer had left. Deliberately she picked them up, +and, going to the window, she threw out the water with a splash, and +tossed the crackers after it. She hesitated for a moment, and then +hurled the plate and glass after them, with an angry determination which +sent them crashing far across the uneven ground beneath her window. That +done, she sat down to read with a quieted conscience. + +Through the closed door she could hear Mrs. Pennypoker moving to and fro +about the house, and now and again Vic's baby voice fell upon her ears; +but, for the most part, the house was very still. At length she heard +some one calling her name in a low voice. Throwing aside her book, she +went to the door and listened intently, till she heard the call +repeated. This time it was evident that the sound came from outside the +window. She hurried across the room and threw it wide open. In a moment +more Charlie had scrambled into the room. + +"Hullo!" he remarked, as he tossed his cap into a chair. "You're awfully +warm in here, so let's leave the window open. We're safe enough, for +Mrs. Pennypoker can't hear us. Besides, Dr. Hornblower is in the parlor +talking to her, and she won't know anything more to-day." + +"But what are you going to do?" asked Allie, watching him in amazement, +as he seated himself at his ease and unbuttoned his light gray coat, to +expose to view a great round parcel concealed inside it. + +"I'm going to spend the afternoon with you, of course," returned Charlie +composedly. "You didn't s'pose I was going back on you after the way you +stuck to me last June? Well, not much! We could climb out of the window +and go off, but she'd be sure to find it out, and that would only make +it worse, so we'll stay here and have a lark." + +"You're a dear old boy, Charlie!" And Allie embraced him tempestuously. +"But how did you ever stand it to be shut in here so long, last summer? +This last hour has 'most killed me." + +"I wasn't all alone, you know, much of the time. But, I say, come off!" +he remonstrated, as Allie renewed her demonstrations of affection. "You +needn't stand my hair on end just because I've come. Here's a pie I +sniped off the pantry shelf, for I thought most likely you'd be hungry." + +"I'm nearly starved," answered Allie gratefully. "Mrs. Pennypoker did +bring me some crackers this noon, though." + +"Crackers aren't much good, and those are all gone by this time, aren't +they?" inquired Charlie scornfully. + +"Yes, every one; gone out of the window," returned her cousin +disdainfully. "Charlie MacGregor, I'd have starved to death before I +touched one of her old crackers!" + +"That's the way to talk," said Charlie approvingly. "She's a Tartar and +a Turk, Allie, and I'd like to tell her what I think of her--if I only +dared. But, if I did, she'd just lock us up in different rooms; and it's +more fun to be together." + +"I did tell her--Oh, dear, I wish mamma would come back," sighed Allie. +"How shall we ever stand it three more days, Charlie?" + +"Grin and bear it, mostly," returned Charlie, philosophically. "Janey's +packed up her clothes and gone off, and she says she won't step into +this house again till auntie gets back. I don't blame her; but Mrs. +Pennypoker'll have to turn cook, or else send over for Wang. But go on +and eat your pie, Allie, and you'll feel better. She's a Turk, I tell +you; but I'll see that auntie knows all about it, and I know she won't +think you're a bit to blame." + +"But, Charlie, you aren't going to stay here all this everlasting +afternoon," remonstrated Allie, as her woe yielded to the combined +influences of her cousin's consolation and his pie. "It isn't fair at +all, when you might be off with the boys having a good time." + +"Well, it strikes me this ought to be my innings," answered Charlie +quietly, while he settled his glasses on his nose and then took up the +book which his cousin had just tossed aside. "How many days and weeks, +I'd like to know, did you stay in here with me, when 't was hot and dark +and stuffy here! It's only fair that you should let me take my turn now. +You needn't talk to me, if you don't want to; but I shall stay here as +long as I choose, and you can't put me out, so you may as well make up +your mind to it." + +Two hours later, as Mrs. Pennypoker's step was heard in the hall +outside, Charlie quietly let himself drop from the window-sill. Then he +turned back to whisper,-- + +"Just don't you say anything about it, Allie; we aren't even now, and we +sha'n't be, very soon. Besides, it's worth all the rest to have the fun +of getting the inside track of her. Good-by till breakfast-time!" And he +vanished around the corner of the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +AT THE NINE-HUNDRED LEVEL. + + +Late October had come, and already the snow-line was creeping down the +mountain sides towards the little town in the cañon. Occasional flurries +of snow filled the air, too, and the nights were sharp and frosty; but +in the middle of the day it was still warm and bright, with a clearer, +more bracing air than the summer had given, an air which tempted the +young people out for long walks and rides up and down the valley. Louise +often joined them in these expeditions, and it was no uncommon thing for +them to be overtaken by Dr. Brownlee, who generally begged permission to +spend a leisure hour with their party. This addition to their number was +always hailed with delight by the children; for while the doctor usually +took his place by the side of Louise, he was never too much absorbed in +his companion to join the boys in their fun, or to treat Allie and +Marjorie with the gentle chivalry which made them feel so grown up and +elegant, a chivalry that is so rarely shown to children, yet never +fails to afford them a delight even more keen than it gives to their +older sisters. + +Allie and the boys were coming up through the town, one Saturday +morning, after a brisk walk in the clear, crisp air. They had passed +"tin-can-dom," as Howard called the open field just below the town, +which was thickly strewn with these indigestible relics of past feasts, +and were just outside the fence separating Chinatown from its American +surroundings, when Allie stopped abruptly. + +"Look there!" she exclaimed, pointing over the low wall into the +enclosure, where the tiny log cabins were scattered irregularly about +the ground, and where long-tailed, moon-faced Chinamen were scuffling +aimlessly about. "Isn't that Vic?" + +"Where?" asked Howard, while Charlie added,-- + +"What an idea, Allie! Of course he wouldn't be in there." + +"Yes; but 'tis Vic. I know that long red coat of his," responded Allie +hastily. "Right in there, between those two log houses--see?" + +True enough, there in the forbidden ground of Chinatown stood Vic, his +red coat and fez making him a striking little figure against the dull +background of a rough log house, as he gazed intently up into the +yellow face of an elderly Chinaman, who was carrying two buckets of +water hanging from a yoke across his shoulders. + +"'Tis, after all; but what can he be doing there?" said Charlie, staring +in astonishment at the scene before him. + +"Never mind what he's doing," said Allie. "He ran away, I suppose; but +we must get him home. I'll wait here, while you go and bring him out. +Mamma'd be dreadfully frightened if she knew where he was. Now hurry!" + +The boys dashed away, and soon came back to her side, with the small +wanderer between them. Vic was in a state of open rebellion over this +abrupt ending to his explorations, and lifted up his voice in +lamentation, as Allie firmly turned his steps towards home. + +"Everybody went off," he explained in an aggrieved tone. "You went, and +Ben went, and papa went, and ven I went, too. And I will go back to see +the Moolly-cow-man." + +But his sister refused to be persuaded, and Vic's voice died away to a +whisper, as he continued to babble to himself of the wonders he had seen +in his walk. + +"There's one thing, Allie, that I don't get used to, in this country," +remarked Charlie, as they were crossing the main street; "and that's the +signs. See there!" And he pointed to a long, white building, one door of +which was surmounted with the sign, in great gilt letters: _Embalming +Emporium_; while a board, swinging out from its next-door neighbor, bore +the legend, _Shoos 1/2 Soled Here_. "But, I say," he added, as they came +in sight of the house; "what do you suppose Ned and Grant want? They've +camped out on our piazza, as if they meant to stay there. Hi--i!" he +shouted, waving his cap above his head. + +"Hurry u--up!" responded Ned, returning the salute with interest. + +"Thought you'd never come," added Grant, as they drew nearer. + +"What do you want?" asked Howard. + +But before Ned had time to reply, Allie interposed,-- + +"Just wait one minute, do, till I take Vic into the house to mamma. Is +she very much worried about him?" + +"Don't believe she is," answered Ned. "She didn't say anything about it. +Probably she hasn't missed him at all. Now," he resumed, as Allie came +back to the piazza; "I've been waiting here for thirty-nine ages and a +quarter; and I was just ready to give up and go home again. Papa sent me +up to tell you that he's going to take a crowd down the Blue Creek, this +afternoon, and to ask you if you don't want to come along with us." + +"I shouldn't think he'd dare take Charlie again, for fear he'd hoodoo it +all," said Grant disrespectfully. + +"Who's going?" asked Howard. + +"All of us; Cousin Euphemia and all; and Dr. Brownlee and Marjorie and +you. We're going to have an early dinner, and start at one, so we can go +through the smelter, after we come up. Cousin Euphemia is making her +will now, most likely; she didn't want to go, but papa talked her into +it. You'll be on hand; won't you?" + +"We'll be thar," responded Howard, with a twang that might have done +credit to Janey. + +"Isn't it fun to go!" said Allie delightedly. "I've always wanted to go +down, and never could. You and I will be the green ones, Charlie; all +the rest have been before." + +"The doctor and Cousin Euphemia haven't," said Ned. "But I'll take care +of you, Allie, and show you all there is to be seen. Come along, Grant; +we must be going." And the brothers departed in haste. + +Punctually at one o'clock, Charlie and his cousins were at the +Everetts', where they found that their party had received one unexpected +addition. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower had dropped in to dinner, and +common courtesy had made it necessary for Mr. Everett to invite him to +join the expedition. As they left the house, Louise, with her father and +Dr. Brownlee, took the lead, while close in the rear walked Dr. +Hornblower, edging forward as far as possible, in order to join in their +conversation, with an utter disregard of Mrs. Pennypoker, who had +attached herself to his side, and manifested every intention of +maintaining her position. The short walk through the town was quickly +taken; and it was still early in the afternoon when they stood beside +the shaft. Mr. Somers, Mr. Everett's assistant, was waiting for them +there; and, a few moments later, the new cage had come up the shaft, and +halted to receive them. + +"But what makes them call it a cage?" demanded Allie, eyeing with +disfavor the pair of heavy platforms before her "I thought 'twould have +openwork brass sides, like the elevators in Denver." + +"And hot and cold water, and gas, and all the other modern +improvements?" inquired Ned, as he helped himself to a pair of candles +in their iron sockets, and passed one of them on to Allie. "Don't be a +snob, Allie; you won't find much furniture down below." + +"You take Mrs. Pennypoker and my daughter, with the gentlemen, on the +upper deck, Somers," Mr. Everett was saying; "and I'll take these +children in the lower, and look out for them there." + +According to the usual method, the upper platform was brought to the +level of the ground, to receive its freight, before the cage was raised +the necessary seven feet, to allow Mr. Everett and the young people to +step on the lower floor. Then they slowly sank away from the light, +down, down, while Allie clutched Ned's protecting hand, and tried in +vain to enjoy her novel ride. At length they came to a halt at a broad, +square station, and the two decks of the cage were quickly unloaded. + +"This is the nine-hundred level," Mr. Everett told them, as they stood +grouped about him. "We have three more below,--they're one hundred feet +apart, you know,--and we're still sinking the shaft. The cage in that +next compartment is given up to the men who are doing the sinking." + +"It's a rich vein, then, I take it," said Dr. Brownlee. + +"A fine one, better than we supposed when we bought it. It dips down +sharply to the east, and we cross it at the five-hundred, so we don't +have to work so far in any one direction to strike it. You see, we run a +cross-cut straight out from the shaft, till we hit the vein; then we +turn both ways and run along through it; so, at every level, our +workings are like a great T, with the stem growing larger with every +hundred feet we go down." + +"And this is how deep?" asked Louise. + +"Nine hundred," repeated her father, while he hastily snatched Marjorie +out of the path of an ore car, which came thundering down the cross-cut +and turned abruptly into the station. + +"It's a solemn thing to feel that you are nine hundred feet from the +light," observed Mrs. Pennypoker, as she gathered her skirts more +closely about her. + +"Yes," responded the Reverend Gabriel, waving his right hand, lamp and +all; "it reminds one of the mighty power of the earthquake, when it +stoops to trample on a worm." + +Then they were silent, as they followed Mr. Everett through the long +gallery, pausing now and then near one of the electric lights that +dotted the corridor, to listen to his off-hand explanations of the work +below ground. Dr. Brownlee appeared to be especially interested in the +subject. + +"How do you get the ore on the cage?" he asked. "Do you run it on, car +and all, or do you unload it?" + +"How little these Eastern folks do know!" remarked the Reverend Gabriel, +in an audible aside to Louise. + +"Perhaps we should all be better off, if we knew more about it," she +replied, with a touch of coldness in her tone, as she turned her back +upon the Reverend Gabriel, and took her place at her father's side, +where she met the amused glance of Dr. Brownlee, who had overhead both +remarks. + +"They signal the cage, and run the car on it," answered Mr. Everett. "We +don't let but one man ring for the engineer. He has to stay near one of +the stations, where he can hear; and when the miners want him, they go +to the station and pound their signal on one of the water-pipes, for him +to repeat. We had a green hand, though, that tried to improve on our +plan, a few years ago. He attempted to catch the cage on the fly, as it +went up past him; and he actually aimed the car at it, and ran it down." + +"Did he hit it?" asked Charlie. + +"Hardly," returned Mr. Everett, laughing. "The cage was too quick for +him, and went on up; and both the car and the man fell clear to the +bottom of the shaft." + +"Oh-h!" And Marjorie's eyes grew round with horror. "I should think +'twould have hurt him awfully." + +"Well, yes, Marjorie; I should have thought it would," said Howard, +mimicking her tone, while the others joined in the laugh at her expense. + +Then they went on to the end of the cross-cut, and, turning at a sharp +angle, they came into the drift, the long gallery running through the +vein. For some distance, the drift, like the cross-cut, was lined with +timbers, then the lining ceased, as they neared the end of the drift, +where the miners were hard at work, drilling for fresh blasts, or +tearing out the ore loosened by the last explosion, and loading it into +the little car which stood ready to be run down the track to the +station. Seven feet above, so that the roof of the lower level formed +the flooring of the next, was another short gallery, where the men were +busy stoping, digging out the ore from the upper tier. Dingy and grimy +as they were, it was fascinating to watch them, burrowing, like so many +moles, in the depths of the earth. The visitors lingered to look at them +until they were frightened away by the preparations for a blast; then +they slowly made their way back to the station, pausing a moment to +watch a loaded car, as it rolled from the rails to the polished steel +flooring, and swung around the corner into position, to wait for the +cage. Mr. Everett looked at his watch. + +"I'm sorry to hurry you," he said; "but I think we ought to be going; +don't you, Somers? It's change day; and at three the cages will be +full." + +"Change day!" remarked Charlie to his cousin, in an undertone; "what's +that?" + +"Hush!" she whispered. "Don't show Dr. Hornblower how little you know. +Remember that you're from the East, too." + +But Dr. Brownlee was animated by no such motives of prudence, and +quietly asked for an explanation of the term. + +"We have two sets of men," Mr. Everett answered. "The day shift goes on +at seven, and works till half past five; and the night one comes on at +seven in the evening, and stays till half past five in the morning. Of +course that's harder on one set of men than the other, so, once in two +weeks, we have what we call change day. The day shift goes on at seven, +and works till three; then the night fellows come right on and stay till +eleven; and the old day shift comes back at eleven. By the next morning, +you see, their places are just changed, and the night men are working in +the daytime. Now," he added, as he stepped to the shaft, to ring his own +private signal; "we'll go up and take a look through the smelter +before--Why, where are Mrs. Pennypoker and Dr. Hornblower?" + +There was a startled pause. No one had seen the missing members of the +party since they had left the head of the drift, although they had +supposed them to be following close behind their companions. Turning, +they looked back up the cross-cut, but there was no Mrs. Pennypoker in +sight. It seemed impossible that they could have lost their way, in a +long, straight corridor, less than ten feet wide; some accident must +have befallen them. Worst of all, there was no time for delay; the cage +had just come for them, and in the distance could be heard the steps of +the approaching miners, as they came in for the change of shift. + +"We mustn't keep the cage waiting for us, now," said Mr. Everett +hastily. "You go up with the others, Somers, and I'll go back and look +them up. They can't be far off." + +Turning, he walked rapidly back up the cross-cut, expecting at every +moment to meet the truants, so sure was he that they had only loitered +along behind the others, absorbed in discussing the spiritual welfare of +Wang Kum and his Mongolian brethren. It was not until he had turned into +the drift, and paused to question a group of miners whom he met there, +that he began to be seriously alarmed. The men had not seen Mrs. +Pennypoker and her escort since they had all been together at the head +of the drift. Mr. Everett felt no hesitation in accepting their +statement, for, in their ignorance of the relationship between the +superintendent and his cousin, the miners spoke of Mrs. Pennypoker's +appearance in such unguarded terms as left him no room to doubt their +knowledge of the person for whom he was seeking. However, he still kept +on to the head of the drift, thinking it possible that they might be in +some dark corner, though he could think of no reason which should tempt +them to conceal themselves in any such fashion. But his quest was +unavailing, and, facing about, he returned to the head of the cross-cut +where he paused, uncertain what course to pursue. Then he opened his +mouth and shouted their names, with the full power of his strong bass +voice. The sound echoed up and down through the galleries and then died +away, to be followed by a high-pitched feminine shriek. + +The cry came from the opposite end of the drift from the one which they +had been exploring, and Mr. Everett turned his steps in that direction. +This end had been abandoned, some days before, in consequence of a +serious leak in the pipes connecting with the pump; and it was now only +lighted for a short distance beyond the mouth of the cross-cut. Now that +the pump had ceased, the water had settled over the floor, to form a +deep, thick clay which rendered progress slow and difficult. He had just +passed the last electric light and was proceeding even more cautiously +than before, when he came to an abrupt halt. The feeble glimmer of his +miner's lamp had fallen upon a strange picture, and one whose meaning he +was not slow to grasp. + +At one side of the drift and leaning against the wall, stood Mrs. +Pennypoker, with one foot drawn up under her, much in the attitude of a +meditative hen. A few feet away from her, the doctor was bending +forward, with his lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud. + +[Illustration: "His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud."] + +"Well," said Mr. Everett at length, after he had watched them in +silence, during some moments; "what are you doing here?" + +The Reverend Gabriel and Mrs. Pennypoker both started guiltily. So +interested had they been in their search, that they had been unconscious +of Mr. Everett's approach until he stood before them. In her surprise, +Mrs. Pennypoker came near losing her balance, and, to support herself, +she put down her other foot. It was a shapely foot, and was covered with +an immaculate white stocking, for Mrs. Pennypoker still adhered to some +of the fashions of her far-off youth. Then the Reverend Gabriel +answered. + +"We inadvertently strayed from our way and came into this place, without +realizing whither our steps were leading us," he said, while he +continued to prod the mud before him; "and at length we fell, as you +might observe, into the miry clay. I had just suggested the expediency +of our return, when Mrs. Pennypoker--um--in short, met with an accident +which unduly detained us and--ah, I have it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, +as he carefully worked his stick put through the earth, and extended it +in mid-air, with a shapeless, dripping mass hanging on its tip. + +No further explanation was needed. Mrs. Pennypoker, as has been said, +still clung to some of the fashions of bygone days; and, among other +similar foibles, she cherished a fondness for congress gaiters, and +invariably wore those feeble apologies for shoes whose limp cloth uppers +are held in place by means of elastic wedges at the sides. In arraying +herself for her visit to the mine, with characteristic New England +thrift, she had put on an ancient pair of these gaiters, whose elastic +sides had long since lost all their spring, and lay in ample folds about +her ankles. + +As Mr. Everett had surmised, his cousin, feeling no deep interest in the +mine, had fallen into a theological discussion with her pastor. This had +so engrossed them both that they had lost their way, and had only come +to their senses when they found themselves in the dark, muddy passage of +the deserted drift. They had hastily turned to retrace their steps, +when Mrs. Pennypoker's foot slipped and plunged deep down into the clay; +and, on her withdrawing it, she was horrified to feel that her foot was +slowly but surely pulling out of her gaiter, instead of pulling her +gaiter out with it. In vain she had attempted to work her foot down into +her shoe once more; in vain she had endeavored to hook her bent toes +into it, with a hold sufficient to draw it out. The mischief was done, +and she could only lift up her foot, while the soft mud quickly settled +in above the gaiter, and left no trace of the spot where it lay +embedded. + +It was evidently impossible for her to wade back to the cross-cut +without it, and her size, age and dignity all combined to make it +equally impossible for her to hop on one foot as far as the cross-cut; +so she had been forced to come to a halt, while her companion prospected +about in the earth, to find the vein in which his treasure was buried. +At last it was found; but not even Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker could +present a dignified appearance as she received her muddy shoe from the +end of the Reverend Gabriel's cane, drew it on to her foot, and walked +away towards the station, with mingled clay and water oozing out from +her gaiter, at her every step. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD STORY. + + +Once more winter had come, and the snow lay deep and white over the +little camp. The pines on the mountain sides looked a hazy blue against +the glistening slopes, and the bald white summits of the mountains +themselves stood out in bold relief against the clear blue heavens. Even +the night sky was changed at that altitude, for the stars glittered down +through the cold, still air, with an intensity which made them look like +gleaming bits of metal scattered over the dense, dark-blue clouds; while +often and often the north was lighted with the glare of the pale aurora +which streamed far across the sky, in long, waving banners of rose color +or light green. + +"But I like the way you people out here make fun of New England +weather," remonstrated Charlie one day, as he stood in the front window, +watching a sudden flurry of snow sweep down through the cañon. "When I +went down town to get the mail, this morning, it was raining so hard +that I wore my mackintosh; but, by the time I was at the post-office, +the sun was shining. I walked straight back home again, and it was +hailing when I came up the steps. What sort of a climate do you call it, +anyway?" + +"A perfect one," returned Allie loyally. + +"Not much! Montana buys up the job lots of weather left over from the +other States, and cuts them up small before she serves them out again, +just as they happen to come. Montana weather and Montana slang are the +two richest crops in the State." + +The past two months had been unbroken by any event of marked importance. +Between their lessons and their frolics, the time of the young people +had been well filled, and the days had hurried by, without any one's +stopping to ask where they had gone. At the Burnams', life was going on +smoothly and pleasantly, although Mr. Burnam was now busy in the field, +hurrying to accomplish all that he could, before the storms of February +should drive his party out of the mountains, until the spring thaws made +field work possible once more. + +By way of helping to pass the long winter evenings, Charlie had tried to +bribe Allie to become his pupil and, after his hour of practice was +ended, he usually took her in hand for a time, in a vain endeavor to +teach her to play. But, in spite of her desire to please her cousin, +Allie had neither the patience nor steadiness needful to keep her at the +piano; and she much preferred to settle herself comfortably in front of +the fire, and listen to her cousin's performances, rather than go +through the drudgery of scales and exercises, upon which Charlie +insisted, as the orthodox preparation for later work. Accordingly, +Allie's music usually ended in a playful skirmish which sent Charlie +back to the piano, to beguile her into good temper again, by means of +some favorite melody. On rare occasions, when she was uncommonly meek, +or when all other employment failed, she would be coaxed into running up +and down over a few scales; but, in the end, her fingers invariably +became snarled up with her thumbs; and, after one or two discordant +crashes on the keys, she gave it up and threatened to buy a hand-organ +for her contribution to the family music. + +Her singing appeared to succeed no better. While she had a sweet, +flexible voice, and went about the house singing softly to herself, as +soon as she approached the piano a spirit of perversity seemed to enter +into her, and she wandered along at her own sweet will, perfectly +regardless of the time and key of the accompaniment with which Charlie +was struggling to follow her. At length her cousin was forced to abandon +his efforts and allow her to drop back into her old place as listener, a +part which she always played with perfect success and contentment, while +he turned his attention to the others. Grant was taking banjo lessons +now, and Ned occasionally strummed a little on the venerable guitar +which Louise had thrown aside in favor of her mandolin; so their little +orchestra was frequently in demand to fill in gaps in an evening's +entertainment. Howard and Marjorie, too, were ready to add their share +of music, for they had toiled away in secret till they had mastered one +or two simple duets, which they invariably sang whenever an opportunity +offered. + +In the mean time, a warm friendship had developed between Mr. Everett +and Dr. Brownlee. The young doctor was now a frequent guest at the +superintendent's house, where he had quickly become popular with them +all, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, who never failed to array herself in her +best gown and unbend her majesty whenever he was expected to appear. The +acquaintance started during their camping expedition had rapidly +ripened into a mutual liking, and it was surprising to see how often the +younger man found time to drop in at Mr. Everett's office, late in the +afternoon, for a few minutes' conversation. Once there, it was only +natural that he should walk home with his friend, and, after a little +polite hesitation, accept his invitation to come in for a call. Little +by little the calls grew in length until, from accepting occasional +invitations to dine, the doctor came to stay, quite as a matter of +course, although he still made a feeble pretence of rising to go away, +before yielding to their suggestion of dinner and a game of whist later +on in the evening. At length, even this form was abandoned, and it grew +to be an established fact that, whenever the doctor dropped in for an +afternoon call, an extra plate and chair should be included in the +dinner preparations, and that the card table should be brought out as +soon as the meal was over. It also soon came to be a matter of course +that Louise and the doctor should always play together, while Mr. +Everett and Mrs. Pennypoker ranged themselves against them, and devoted +their attention to the game with unswerving vigilance. Not even Mrs. +Pennypoker had been able to withstand the doctor's genial, hearty +manner; and, in his presence, she laid aside her eye-glasses and her +dignity, and laughed at all his jokes in an appreciative fashion, which +Ned and Grant were quite at a loss to understand, since she never paid +the slightest heed to their attempts at facetiousness. + +In spite of the strict etiquette of the game which demands such perfect +silence and watchfulness, it is strange how rapidly a newly-formed +acquaintance can grow into strong friendship around a whist table. +Everything conspires to help it on: the absorption of the opponents in +their own hands; the chivalrous offer, on one side, to do all the +dealing, and the grateful accepting of the courtesy on the other; and, +most of all, the moment of hesitation over a doubtful play, followed by +the silent meeting of the eyes, as the trick falls to one or the other. +And yet, neither Louise nor Dr. Brownlee realized in the least whither +they were so rapidly drifting. The doctor still regarded Mr. Everett as +his chief friend in the family, and thankfully accepted his hospitality, +which broke in so pleasantly upon his solitary life at the +boarding-house, where the long table was presided over by his landlady, +with her cap awry and her sleeves rolled to her elbows, while she +gossiped volubly with her boarders, in the intervals of her skirmishes +with the frowsy waiting maid. And Louise? She only knew that she enjoyed +the society of the young doctor, just as her father and Mrs. Pennypoker +appeared to enjoy it; but, all unconsciously to herself, her young life +was rounding out with a new, sweet meaning; and the womanhood opening +before her was daily gaining fresh inspiration and purpose, from the +influence of the true, earnest manhood of their frequent guest. + +But the time had slipped away and Christmas was at hand. The week before +the festival found the young people much absorbed in a little +entertainment, to be given for the benefit of some local charity, in +which they were all to take a part. Mr. Nelson had started the project, +and had called upon Dr. Brownlee and Louise to help him form and carry +out his plans. After much discussion, it had been arranged to have an +hour of music and readings, followed by a play in which the doctor and +Louise, Charlie, Marjorie, and Allie should be the actors. The play was +quickly chosen, a little French one which Louise had translated, and +adapted to their meagre resources of costume and scenery; and the +rehearsals had been going on for some weeks, until the success of the +enterprise was sufficiently assured to allow them to announce their +plans and decide upon the date. The dress rehearsal had been held before +a select audience of fathers and mothers, who were hearty in their +praises of the saucy maid and the irrepressible young brother, while +they thoroughly enjoyed the spirited acting of Louise, who, in the +person of the widowed mother, did all that lay in her power to thwart +the flirtations between the doctor and Allie, until her efforts were set +at naught by the disloyalty of her maid and the traditions of amateur +acting, which demand a happy ending to every love affair. + +The little hall was well filled, the next evening. Audiences in Blue +Creek were often rather mixed; and, on this particular occasion, rich +and poor, young and old, had gathered, to show their interest in a +worthy cause, and their liking for the young actors, whose unvarying +kindness and courtesy had made them favorites throughout the town. Even +Janey's black face looked on from the background, while far at one side +sat Wang Kum with two of his friends, whom he had persuaded to buy +tickets, as a proof of their loyalty to Louise. + +Behind the scenes there reigned the usual confusion, preparatory to the +rising of the curtain. Moreover, in some quarters, there existed grave +doubts of the curtain's being prevailed upon to rise at all, since, the +night before, it had persistently stuck fast, at two feet from the +floor. At length all was in readiness for the first part of the program, +and Charlie had just stepped forward to make his bow, before seating +himself at the piano, when the doctor hurriedly approached Louise. + +"Can you spare me, for three quarters of an hour?" he asked. "I've just +heard, by the merest chance, that the evening train is off the track, +down in the cut below the station. The engine jumped the track, and +pulled the baggage car after it; they both rolled over, and they say one +man is hurt. Nobody has sent for me; but I'd like to just run down, and +see if I can be of any use." + +For a moment, Louise looked aghast at the idea of losing her chief actor +and assistant. Then she said cordially,-- + +"Go, of course. We'll arrange to do without you, in some way." + +The doctor's eyes thanked her; but he wasted no time in mere words, as +he went on hastily,-- + +"I wouldn't say anything to the audience, for 'twould just break up the +whole affair. If you'll put off my reading till just before your last +duet with Charlie, I'll be here, unless there's serious trouble. If +there is any reason that I can't come, I'll send word at once." And he +was gone. + +The program of the first part of the evening was drawing smoothly to its +close. Charlie had delighted his audience with his playing, both alone +and with the Everett boys; Howard and Marjorie had sung a new duet, +which they had learned, in honor of the occasion; and Allie had +convulsed her more critical hearers with a recitation, which she had +rendered with an originality of tone and gesture that would have struck +terror to the followers of Delsarte, even though it had won her the +first encore of the evening. Then, after a moment's enjoyment of the +continued applause which had followed her disappearance from the stage, +she came back once more, and gave them "Aunt Tabitha." She threw herself +into it with an abandonment of fun which, in itself, would have been +enough to show her sympathy with the trend of the poem, while she could +not forbear glaring defiantly down upon Mrs. Pennypoker's uplifted +countenance, as she delivered herself of the closing lines, with a +fervor that astonished her audience,-- + + "'But when to the altar a victim I go, + Aunt Tabitha'll tell me _she_ never did so.'" + +And she swept off from the little stage, in a parting storm of cheers. + +In the mean time, Louise had heard nothing from Dr. Brownlee; and she +was beginning to grow uneasy, for the time for his reading was at hand, +and the play was to follow it almost immediately. She was just resolving +to give up all hope, and bring the entertainment to a hasty close, when +she saw the doctor come hurrying in at the side door. She turned to +Charlie MacGregor, who chanced to be standing near her. + +"Will you help me out, Charlie?" she asked. "Go on again, and +play--anything, I don't care what, just to give Dr. Brownlee time to get +his breath." + +"But strikes me they've had about all of me they can stand," demurred +Charlie. + +"Never mind if they have," said Louise. "There isn't anybody else that +can appear, at a minute's warning. Go, please." + +The next moment the doctor was by her side. + +"Miss Everett, have you any powder?" he asked, laughing a little, as he +pointed to a great purplish bruise on the side of his forehead. + +"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed in alarm. "What is it? Are you hurt?" + +"Hush!" he said, in a low voice, though he was conscious of a quick +sense of pleasure at the anxiety of her tone. "It's only a bump; but it +doesn't look well, and I don't want it to show. Can't you cover it up +somehow, before I go on?" + +"Come this way," she said hastily. "I'm not much used to powder, but +I'll see what I can do. Tell me," she begged, as the doctor dropped into +a chair; "what has happened? It's a bad bruise, and your cheek is cut; +what was it?" + +"I was helping them get the man out of the car, and one of the beams +fell against me; that's all. I found the new doctor, Dr. Hofer, in +charge; so I just helped him lift the man out, and then came back here," +he answered as lightly as he could, and without adding a word about the +moments that he himself had lain there stunned from the force of the +blow on his head. + +Louise looked down at him anxiously. His face was white, and his hands +were a little unsteady. + +"Please don't try to read, Dr. Brownlee," she urged. "I'm sure you don't +feel able." + +"I'm all right," he said, rousing himself with a forced laugh; "if you +can cover up the spot so it won't show. I don't want them to think I've +been fighting." + +He resigned himself into her hands, while she hunted among the +properties for the powder-puff and the comb, and then did her best to +conceal the great bruise on his temple, which had quickly swollen and +turned dark. But, even as she did so, she felt a sudden impulse to drop +the puff and run away, rather than meet the earnest gaze of the gray +eyes looking so steadily up into her own, and listen to the quiet "Thank +you," which greeted the end of the toilet, as the doctor rose and +stepped forward to take his place on the stage. + +At the suggestion of Mr. Nelson, he had decided to read "Elizabeth"; and +Louise, as she stood at the side of the stage, listening to the quaint +old tale of the Quaker wooing, found herself forgetting all her +surroundings in the interest of the familiar story. Dr. Brownlee had +turned a little to one side, in order to conceal his discolored temple +from the audience, and this brought him into a position directly facing +the young woman who, quite unconsciously, made a charming picture in +the gown she had donned for the play. Just in the act of turning a leaf +of the book in his hand, the doctor raised his eyes, and they rested +upon her fair young face. As he did so, there rushed into his mind the +memory of her womanly pity and gentleness in caring for his bruise, and +he seemed to feel again the touch of her light hands upon his hair. He +paused; then, with his gaze still fixed upon her, he went on in his +quiet voice, low, but so distinct that not a syllable was lost on its +hearers,-- + + "'I have something to tell thee, + Not to be spoken lightly, nor in the presence of others. + Them it concerneth not, only thee and me it concerneth.'" + +Just then Louise raised her eyes to his; but, as she met the intentness +of his look, her own eyes drooped, while the color rushed to her cheeks +and then fled again. For a moment more the doctor's eyes rested upon +her, then he went on with his reading; but his voice was unsteady and +his heart was throbbing with the sudden new hope that had come to him. + +The reading was ended, and the curtain fell amid the enthusiastic +applause of the audience, who devoted the intermission to discussing +the performers, with a perfect unconsciousness of the fact that two of +them had entered upon a new life during the past hour. Though their +secret was as yet unspoken, that one look had taught both Louise and Dr. +Brownlee that the stories of their future lives were written in the same +volume. Already they had glanced at the preface, and soon the first +chapter would lie open in their hands. + +But now there was no time for any such thoughts, for chaos once more +reigned behind the scenes, as the actors hastily dressed for the play; +and, within a few moments, the curtain rose again upon the transformed +scene. Howard and the Everett boys, who had finished their share in the +program, had come out into the audience in order to get a better view of +the stage. After a little hesitation, they had discovered some vacant +seats behind Wang Kum and his friends, who were sitting spellbound in +their admiration of the scenes before them. For a time the boys listened +attentively; but a constant attendance at the rehearsals had made the +play an old story to them, and their interest began to flag. Grant was +lazily leaning back in his seat, with one hand outstretched, +abstractedly swinging Wang Kum's pigtail to and fro, when Ned suddenly +started up, with a naughty sparkle in his dark eyes. + +"Say, Howard, haven't you a piece of string in some of your pockets?" he +whispered. + +"I d'know," answered Howard, in the same stealthy tone. "What you want?" + +Ned bent over to speak a few low words in his ear, and both the boys +began to giggle. + +"What's the joke?" inquired Grant curiously; while Howard dived into one +pocket after another. + +Ned cautiously imparted the secret to his brother, who received it with +manifest delight; then he took possession of the dozen or more scraps of +twine that Howard had produced, and tied them together to form one long +string. This done, he appeared to lose all consciousness of the people +around him, in the interest of the play, for he bent forward with his +hands on his knees and stared fixedly at the stage. A moment later he +drew a long breath and leaned back in his chair. Then it became apparent +that his hands had not been idle, for one end of the string was securely +tied about the tip of Wang Kum's queue, and woven in and out through the +openwork back of his chair, while the rest of the string was in Howard's +hands, to be passed on in turn to Grant. Five minutes afterwards the +three unconscious Chinamen were firmly lashed to their seats and the +boys had once more disappeared behind the scenes. + +The play was at last ended, and the actors were called before the +curtain for one final round of applause, in which the Chinamen joined +with unflagging zeal. Then the audience rose to leave the hall, and the +miners respectfully stood aside to let their superintendent and his +party take the lead. Wang and his brethren still sat quiet, watching the +people flock past them, with an evident determination to stay until the +very end; but at length they too grasped their hats and started to rise. +The next instant there was a clattering of chairs, followed by three +startled howls, which broke upon the air and turned every face in the +same direction. There in a row stood the three Chinamen, ruefully +rubbing the backs of their heads, while their little almond eyes seemed +to be popping out from their sockets, with surprise and with the +unwonted strain upon their scalps. From the end of every pigtail dangled +one of the light folding chairs which filled the room. Howard's strings +were as strong as Ned's knots were firm. The Chinamen had not risen from +their seats; their seats had risen with the Chinamen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MR. ATHERDEN. + + +"Really and truly, Charlie, I never should have known you; you look so +perfectly elegant." + +"Thank you, ma'am!" And Charlie bowed low before his cousin, who joined +him in the laugh at the unexpected form that her intended compliment had +taken. + +"You know what I mean," she said saucily. "Of course, you're always a +dear old boy, even if you aren't a beauty. But now there's a sort of +young man look to you, that makes me half afraid of you." + +"Perhaps, if you stayed so, you'd treat me a little better," suggested +Charlie teasingly. "I feel most uncommon queer, though. Do you honestly +like the looks, Allie?" + +Allie dropped into an easy-chair, and surveyed him from head to foot. + +"Now turn around very slowly," she commanded; "and then walk off a few +steps, so. Yes," she added, after an admiring pause; "you really do +look very well, considering who you are; only I never, never should know +you. It just changes you all over, and makes you seem four or five years +older." + +"Wish I were!" remarked Charlie meditatively. "Only I should be ready +for college then, and have to go back East and leave you. What a jolly +year this has been!" + +"Yes, it has," assented Allie absently. She was still looking up at her +cousin, with a feeling of sisterly pride in the tall, straight figure +before her. + +Montana had evidently agreed with the boy, for, during the year he had +spent there, he had grown so rapidly as to leave Howard far below him. +Contrary to the custom of most boys, he bore his added inches with +perfect ease, and had entirely escaped the stage of awkward +consciousness, which falls to the lot of nearly all growing lads. Even +now, young as he was, there was a quiet dignity in his manner which, +combined with his manly figure, made it seem high time that he should +take the first marked step towards man's estate, and leave off +knickerbockers. The new suit, ordered from New York, had come that day; +and Charlie had dressed himself up in it, and appeared before Allie, to +demand her respectful attention. + +Had Charlie attired himself in a checked apron and sunbonnet, it would +have seemed a thoroughly admirable costume to his cousin's eyes; but, on +this particular evening, Allie's praise was well-merited, for the new +suit was unmistakably a success. Charlie was one of those few, but +fortunate boys who can wear even shabby clothes with an air that gives +them a certain elegance; and he had grace enough to enable him to escape +the usual awkwardness, which comes to the young girl in managing her +first train, to the boy in appearing in his first long suit. As Allie +had said it made him look much older and more dignified, until she +almost felt that she had lost her jovial playfellow, and stood in the +presence of a fine young man. Still, she liked the change, as long as it +really was the same old Charlie; and she continued to watch him, while a +little contented smile gathered about the corners of her mouth. + +"Yes," she repeated; "I should hardly have known you. Come here a +minute, and I can change you so you wouldn't recognize yourself a bit." + +Charlie laughed at the seriousness of her tone, as he seated himself on +the arm of her chair, while she patted and poked at his hair, until she +had parted it in the middle and brushed it away from his forehead, where +it usually lay in a close, short fringe. She studied the effect for a +moment; then she gently pulled off his glasses. + +"Poor old boy!" she said caressingly, as she drew her finger down along +the narrow white scar that crossed his upper lid. "You still carry your +beauty-spot; don't you? I wish 'twould go away." + +"What for? Does it show so very much?" asked Charlie. + +"No, not a bit, with your glasses on; but I never like to think back to +that horrid day," she replied, with a frown. "I was sure you were going +to die, or something." + +"Well, I didn't. You see, I'm tough," returned Charlie placidly. +"Besides, we had some good fun together, after the first week or two. +But how do you like the looks?" + +"Your own great-grandmother wouldn't have any idea who you were," said +Allie decidedly. + +"Most likely not," observed Charlie. + +"But just you go and look in the glass, and see for yourself!" And Allie +sprang up, and dragged her cousin to the nearest mirror. All at once +she began to caper madly about the room. + +"What's struck you, Allie?" inquired Charlie, pausing in his +contemplation of himself to stare at his excited cousin. + +"I've just had the most lovely idea," said Allie incoherently. "It's too +much fun for anything, and we must do it." + +"Do what?" + +"Well, now you see here," she was beginning, with sudden solemnity, when +her cousin interrupted her,-- + +"Give me my glasses, then." + +"Yes, I know that; but listen! Don't you wear your suit again this week, +nor tell anybody you have it, and don't let Howard tell, either. Next +Tuesday is Mrs. Fisher's 'At Home,' you know; and we'll dress you up, +and you can go over there, and everybody will take you for a strange +young man. Won't it be fun?" + +"Fine!" responded Charlie, as he led the way back to the parlor, and +took his favorite position, leaning against the mantel. "Only I'm afraid +everybody'd know me." + +"Truly they wouldn't," answered Allie. "Can't you buy a mustache down at +Bright's? That would finish it all up, and nobody would ever have any +idea who you are. You're as tall as papa is, now." + +"Well, I'll think about it," said Charlie. "I'm a little bit afraid to +try, only it would be such immense fun. You keep mum about it, though, +and maybe we can put it through." + +Allie carried her point; and, directly after dinner, the next Tuesday +evening, Howard was solemnly warned not to go near his room. A little +later Allie knocked at the door and was admitted. Just across the +threshold, she stopped in surprise and delight, as she caught sight of +the elegant young man who rose to meet her. + +"How perfectly splendid!" she exclaimed. "Where did you ever get such a +mustache? It just matches your hair, and looks as if it must grow on." + +"Hope I don't lose it off!" returned Charlie fervently, as he rendered +himself temporarily cross-eyed, in his efforts to catch a glimpse of the +silky thatch on his upper lip. "But I wish you'd take my hair in hand, +Allie; it's so used to a bang, that it just won't stay parted." + +"Let me try." And Allie took the comb, and devoted herself to coaxing +her cousin's refractory locks to lie in the desired position. "It wants +to be just in the middle, for you're going to be the dearest little +dudelet you ever saw. Now take off your glasses." + +"Oh, I must have those," remonstrated Charlie. "I'm blind as a bat +without them, and I shall be sure to run into something, and tip it +over." + +"No, you won't," said Allie composedly. "If you wear them, people will +be sure to know you." + +"But, if I take them off, my scar will show," argued Charlie; "and that +will give it all away. But, I say, I have some eye-glasses somewhere, +that the oculist gave me, to start with. I don't ever wear them, 'cause +they wouldn't stick to my nose. I lost them off into the soup, the first +night at dinner, and I bought my spectacles early the next morning; but +perhaps I can keep them on now." + +"I should think you ought to; your nose is large enough," remarked +Allie, with calm disrespect. "But get them; I can tell better when I see +them." + +There was an interval of silence, while Charlie rummaged in his bureau +drawers. At length he unearthed the little case from a box containing an +odd assortment of light hardware, broken knives, stray nails, an awl or +two, and a collection of trout reels and flies. + +"Here 'tis," he said. "I remember now; I used it to wind my best line +on. How will they go?" And he turned to face his cousin, with a +conscious laugh which promptly dislodged the glasses from his nose. + +"That's better," said Allie approvingly; "they don't look a bit the +same. I don't like them as well as I do the spectacles, for all the +time; but they change you more. Now remember to be very easy and +elegant, and don't act shy. Behave as if you thought you were very good +to speak to them, and they'll like you all the better. And be sure you +don't go too early." + +"But what are you going to do now?" demanded Charlie, as she turned to +the door. "You aren't going to be mean enough to leave me here all +alone, till it's time to go?" + +"I'm going to dress me," returned Allie. "I begged an invitation from +Marjorie, and I'm going over there with mamma. You don't suppose that +I'm going to lose all the fun, do you?" And she departed. + +Society in Blue Creek was by no means as simple as a stranger might have +been led to expect. During the winter months, there were few evenings +that were not given up to some entertainment; and the little set to +which the Burnams and Fishers and Everetts belonged were the gayest of +the gay, with dinner parties and impromptu dances following one another +in rapid succession. The enjoyment of these festivities was in no wise +marred by the fact that one always met exactly the same people. Though +the resources of the camp were not great, yet this set of friends was a +thoroughly congenial one, consisting, as it did, of a dozen or more +young married couples, together with several stray bachelors and a very +few older people. Young women were deplorably scarce in Blue Creek, and, +for a year, Louise had been the acknowledged belle among them, as she +would have been, however, in the face of many rivals. Strangers, who +were attracted to her side by her beauty, remained there, charmed by her +easy manners and her ready wit; so, wherever she went she was sure to be +the central figure of a little group of admirers, of whom Dr. Brownlee +was usually the one nearest her side. + +According to one of the pleasant customs of the little town, Mrs. Fisher +had her weekly reception day. On Tuesday evenings, her house was always +filled with the friends whom, with rare tact, she left to entertain +themselves, while she moved up and down her charming rooms, with a word +to one and a smile for another, now breaking in upon a flirtation which +threatened to last too long, now bringing stray wallflowers into the +middle of some hospitable group, and never for an instant forgetting to +keep a watchful eye over any stranger who might chance to be among her +guests. There was an attractive informality about these evenings, when +one was at liberty to appear in a street gown, or an evening costume, +and where the little supper was so simple as merely to be a pleasant +break in the midst of the dancing, but not to suggest the idea of an +overburdened hostess, struggling to feed a ravenous multitude. No one +else in the town had quite the same gift for entertaining as Mrs. +Fisher; no one else could carry out an "At Home" with quite such +delightful simplicity. She gave them the use of her house, together with +a cordial, unaffected welcome, and she left the rest to take care of +itself. With this happy talent for receiving her friends, it was not +strange that the tall, blonde woman was one of the most popular matrons +in the camp. + +This Tuesday evening was bidding fair to be as pleasant as its +predecessors had been. The rooms were filled, and the air was echoing +with the soft buzz of voices. A little pause in the dancing had +scattered the young people, who were wandering about, some in the back +parlor, watching the older guests grouped about the whist tables, some +in the "den," across the hall, where the only light came from the great +blazing fire which flickered over the pictures on the walls, and over +the easy-chairs scattered about the cosy room. At the very back of the +broad hall sat Louise and Dr. Brownlee, resting after their waltz, while +they talked of one thing and another, the every-day interests which they +shared in common. All at once Mrs. Fisher stood before them, with a +young man at her side. + +"I have been looking for you, Louise," she said. "Here is some one that +I want to introduce to you: Mr. Atherden, Miss Everett. Mr. Atherden is +a stranger, Miss Everett," she added; "and I leave it to you to make him +feel at home. Dr. Brownlee, I wish you'd come and play the agreeable to +Mrs. Nelson; she is looking dreadfully bored." And she led him away +towards the parlor. + +As Louise glanced up, at the introduction, she had been attracted by the +young stranger before her. He was a man of about her own age, +apparently, not very tall, but with a proud, erect carriage and a simple +dignity which gave him the look of being a much larger man. His face, in +spite of his eye-glasses and his silky, brown mustache, was almost +boyish in its outlines; and he was faultlessly dressed, from his white +tie and the white carnation in his button-hole, down to the toes of his +shining shoes. His whole appearance was so likable that Louise welcomed +him cordially, in spite of her regret at losing the doctor's society, +and at once set about making him feel at home. + +"How long have you been in Blue Creek, Mr. Atherden?" she asked +politely. "I don't remember meeting you before." + +"I only came a week ago," replied Mr. Atherden, as he took possession of +the chair which Dr. Brownlee had so lately quitted. "I've been in San +Francisco, the last two or three years; but I came up here to see +about"--He hesitated for an instant; then he went on, with a little +laugh. "Well, the fact is, I came up here to open an office. I'm a +doctor, you know, and I heard that you hadn't a very good one here, and +that there was a possible opening for another man." + +"Indeed?" Louise's tone was icy in its politeness. + +"Yes," resumed the young man, eyeing her closely; "so I thought I'd run +up here and see for myself; but I found a first-rate man was in ahead of +me, so I must depart in search of a fresh field." + +"Then you are not to stay long?" said Louise, as she smiled on him with +all her former kindness. "Blue Creek is really a pleasant place when you +are used to it. You are unfortunate in seeing it at this season." + +Her companion made some light answer, and they went on chatting like a +pair of old friends. Louise was soon delighted to find that the stranger +cared for music as much as she did, and was familiar with the best works +of the masters, while he showed a thorough acquaintance with New York +and its surroundings which was remarkable in a man who professed to have +spent his life in California. There was something indescribably charming +in his quiet ease of manner and in his boyish fun; and Louise found +herself thoroughly enjoying their pleasant, off-hand conversation, +though all the time she was conscious of a hazy resemblance to some one +whom she had met before. Moved by this uncertain idea, she studied him +closely, while in her own mind she went over and over her list of +acquaintances, trying to find the person of whom she was thinking. Nor +could she tell wherein the resemblance lay, whether in the voice, the +manner, or in some feature; and yet it was there all the time, a +fleeting, haunting likeness to some former friend. Then she thought she +had a clue, for, in answer to a sudden jest on her part, the stranger +laughed until his glasses fell off and dropped to the floor, and as he +stooped to pick them up, she caught sight of a tiny scar on his right +eyelid. Surely she had seen that scar before, or, at least, one much +like it; and once more she went through her friends, trying to place the +mark, but with no better success than before. + +For a long half hour they sat there, while Mr. Atherden entertained her +so well that she was quite unconscious of Dr. Brownlee, who came to the +parlor door more than once to cast a longing glance in her direction. +But her back was turned towards him, and she was too much interested in +their talk to heed the proudly defiant glance with which Mr. Atherden +met the gaze of his rival. The doctor was not so slow to interpret his +meaning, and he gave his mustache a vicious jerk, as he walked away to +pay his homage at some other shrine. Mr. Atherden watched him with an +amused smile; then he turned to Allie who stood before him with a plate +of sandwiches in her hand. + +"Ah, thank you, my little maid," he said with infinite condescension, +while he helped Louise and then himself. "Mrs. Fisher is to be +congratulated upon having such charming assistants." And he looked +straight up into the eyes of Allie, who flushed a rosy red as she +hurriedly turned away. + +But supper was over, and the tempting notes of a waltz rang out from the +piano in the parlor. Mr. Atherden rose to his feet. + +"It is a long time since I have danced, Miss Everett; may I not have the +pleasure now?" And settling his glasses firmly on his nose, he smiled +invitingly down at her, as he stood waiting to lead her to the parlor. + +Louise hesitated for a moment. The doctor had asked her for this very +waltz; but already the room was full of moving couples, and she could +see him dancing with the pretty young teacher, lately come from the +East. With a little feeling of pique she turned to her escort, and was +soon gliding about the room with an apparent delight in her partner, +who was dancing quite as well as he had talked. The waltz ended, she +turned away, without a glance at the neglectful doctor, and followed her +new acquaintance to their former seats in the hall. + +"How well you waltz!" she said frankly, as she fanned herself. "It's +such a rare thing to meet a really good dancer out here." + +"Such a partner would inspire anyone," returned her companion gallantly, +while he twirled his mustache with a complacent delight in it which +convinced Louise that it was of recent growth. + +Then he entered into a spirited account of his journey and his +adventures in coming into the strange place, while Louise sat leaning +back in her chair, watching him, haunted by that vague resemblance. Dr. +Brownlee was standing just inside the parlor door with his eyes fixed +upon them longingly, although he was apparently engrossed by the +sprightly conversation of his former partner. But Mr. Atherden made no +motion as if to leave his place; he merely glared defiantly at the +doctor, while he twisted his mustache and chatted on, and the doctor was +forced to go away again. + +Notwithstanding her apparent unconsciousness of his presence, Louise +had looked after him with a little wistful expression in her blue eyes. +At that moment, she heard a sudden exclamation, and she turned back to +face her companion once more, just in time to see the silky brown +mustache yield to too violent a jerk and fall into his lap, while the +young man, in no wise embarrassed by the accident, leaned back in his +chair and burst into a shout of laughter. One glance at him had told her +the secret of the puzzling resemblance; and she echoed his laugh with a +thorough enjoyment of the boyish caper. + +"Charlie MacGregor, you incorrigible imp!" she exclaimed, when she could +get her breath. "How did you ever dare to come here in this fashion?" + +"Why not?" inquired Charlie. "You'd never have known me now, if this +miserable mustache had only stuck where it belonged. But, honestly, Miss +Lou, don't I make a fair actor?" + +"Too good, Charlie," she answered, with a fresh laugh over the +unexpected ending to her flirtation. "Why haven't you ever told us you +could waltz so well, though?" + +"I didn't suppose I could; it's so long since I've tried it. Besides, +none of the other fellows do, and I was afraid they'd think 'twas silly +for a boy," answered Charlie. "Allie started this scheme, and put on the +finishing touches. But didn't you really know me, Miss Lou?" + +"Not a bit. Nobody would ever have suspected, if you hadn't been quite +so proud of your mustache, Mr. Atherden. By the way, where did you get +the name?" + +"It's my middle one; didn't you know that?" + +"No; but," she added hastily, "here comes somebody. Really, Charlie, you +don't want to spoil the joke by getting caught; you'd better go, now." +And she pushed him towards the door. + +Five minutes later, she was offering to Mrs. Fisher the apologies of her +stranger guest, for the sudden business which had called him away so +abruptly. Then, after an inviting glance which promptly brought the +doctor to her side, she led the way to the "den," where she pledged him +to secrecy, and then told him the story of her recent companion. + +"But there's one sure thing," Charlie said, with impenitent glee, as he +was bidding Allie goodnight; "for once in my life, I cut Dr. Brownlee +out with Miss Lou, and that's something to be proud of." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE COMPLETED STORY. + + +"They say there's a case of scarlet fever over the other side of the +creek," remarked Mr. Everett at dinner, one night about a month after +Charlie's unexpected appearance in society. + +"Scarlet fever! Oh, dear, where?" asked Louise anxiously. + +"You needn't be scared, Lou; people don't catch it at your age," +responded Grant, with brotherly impertinence. + +"I'm not afraid for myself," she answered seriously. "Where is it, papa? +I don't want the boys to get into it." + +"It's way up beyond the smelter," replied Mr. Everett lightly. "You +don't need to worry, Lou, for it is so far away, and only a light case. +The boys would better not go over that way, and then they'll be safe +enough. Dr. Hofer has it in charge, so it will probably be all right." + +"I suppose so; but I'm always afraid of it," said Louise uneasily. "I +hope they'll quarantine them, or something." + +"Of course they will," said her father. "No doctor that's half a doctor +would let such a matter go unguarded. The board of health wouldn't allow +it, either," he added, in a tone of such decision that Louise accepted +his belief as final, and thought no more about the matter. + +Ten days later she stood before her mirror, dressing for a _Mardi gras_ +party at the Fishers'. For the past three weeks, this coming social +event had been the chief theme of conversation in Blue Creek; for, +taking place, as it did, at the very close of the season, it was +intended to be a fitting climax to all the gayety which had gone before. +Louise had entered into the spirit of the occasion as heartily as a +young and pretty girl could do, and had spent long hours in planning the +new gown which her father had insisted she must have. + +"Something simple and pretty, Lou; but good of its kind," had been his +only instruction. "Don't spoil it, for the sake of a few dollars; just +get something that can stand on its own merits, and not have to be +patched out with laces and ribbons and all sorts of other gimcrackery. +You know what I mean; but I want my daughter to look her best." + +Nevertheless, after all her anticipations, Louise was looking a little +troubled and anxious, as she stood there, arraying herself in the pale +blue crape gown which fell about her in soft, clinging folds, unbroken +by any ornament except the crescent of pearls that fastened the high, +close ruff at her neck. For some reason, Ned had been feeling ill that +day. He had complained of being cold, in the morning; and, instead of +going to Mr. Nelson's as usual, he had lain on the sofa all day long, +too miserable even to go with Grant to the Burnams', where the boys had +been asked to spend the afternoon and dine. For the past day or two, Mr. +Everett had been away from home on business, and would only return just +in time to take his daughter to the Fishers'; and Mrs. Pennypoker had +made light of the boy's trouble, pronouncing it merely a slight fit of +indigestion which would be gone by the next morning. Still, Louise had +been alarmed, unnecessarily so, Mrs. Pennypoker had told her. But the +boy seemed thoroughly ill and feverish, and she had persuaded him to go +to bed early, promising to hurry her dressing, and go in to sit with him +until the carriage came for her. + +Now, as she arranged her great bunch of white roses, and tied them with +a long blue ribbon, before laying them ready beside her fan and gloves, +she was half resolving to give up the party and stay quietly at home +with Ned. Of the two boys, he was decidedly her favorite; and she +disliked the idea of leaving him to the mercies of Mrs. Pennypoker, +whose tenderness was a little too brazen in its nature to be acceptable +to an affectionate, impressionable lad like Ned. However, she knew that +her father was hurrying his return on purpose to act as her escort, so +she was unwilling to disappoint him at the last moment. She was still +hesitating what course to pursue, as she gathered up her train and +started for her brother's room, with the largest of the roses in her +hand, to leave with him when she went away. But, as soon as she came in +sight of Ned's face, she felt no further doubt. Unaccustomed to illness +as she was, she saw at a glance that the boy was worse, although he +opened his eyes and smiled at her approvingly as she paused beside him. + +"You look just gay," he said hoarsely. + +"Gayer than you feel?" Louise asked playfully, while she bent over him +and laid her cool hand against his flushed cheek. + +"I'm all right; only I'm so warm, and my throat's a good deal sore," Ned +answered; then he settled back under the blankets, and closed his eyes +again. + +Louise watched him closely for a moment. In spite of Mrs. Pennypoker's +assurances, this was not like any form of indigestion she had ever seen, +and she determined to send Wang Kum for Dr. Brownlee. From past +experience, she knew that Mrs. Pennypoker would object to such a course, +for she had unlimited faith in her stock of home medicines, and regarded +the professional services of a doctor as invariably leading to the +gloomy ministrations of the undertaker. Mrs. Pennypoker had never quite +forgiven Mrs. Burnam for disregarding the poultice she had prescribed +for Charlie's eye; and now, all day long, she had been persecuting Ned +with alternate doses of ginger tea and "boneset bitters," which were her +staple remedies for almost every ill to which flesh was heir. Louise had +submitted, much against her better judgment; but now she felt that the +time had come for decided action, so she stealthily made her way to the +kitchen in search of Wang Kum. + +"I wish you'd go over and ask Dr. Brownlee to come in here for a few +minutes, as soon as he can, Wang," she said, in a low voice. + +Wang Kum nodded wisely. + +"All light; Wang sabe. You no wan' Mis' Pen'plok know." And he departed +on his errand. + +Quarter of an hour later the doctor came. Wang had interrupted him in +the midst of dressing for the party, and he had hastily finished his +toilet and hurried over to the Everetts, rather at a loss to account for +the summons. Louise met him at the door. + +"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed, with an accent of relief; "it seemed as +if you'd never come." + +The doctor looked at her in surprise. From Wang's unconcerned manner, he +had supposed that his message was in some way connected with the coming +party; but the girl's pale, anxious face showed that there was some more +serious cause for her sending to him. And yet he was only a human man; +and, in spite of his quick sympathy for her unknown trouble, he paused +for a moment to gaze at her admiringly, as she stood there with her +long, light gown sweeping about her feet, and one hand stretched out to +welcome him, while in the other she still held the great white rose that +she had taken from the bunch he had sent her. Then the instinct of the +doctor came uppermost once more. + +"Is some one ill?" he asked briefly. + +"Yes; it's Ned," answered Louise hurriedly. "He hasn't been well all +day, and he's worse to-night, so I wanted you to see him. Cousin +Euphemia says it's nothing but--Come, you can see for yourself." + +In a moment more they were leaning over Ned, their evening costumes +contrasting strangely with the flushed face of the restless little +patient. With his usual bright, off-hand manner, the doctor greeted Ned, +as if his coming had been simply a matter of chance. But he took careful +note of his pulse and temperature, and asked a short, direct question or +two; then, after a few words more, he left the room, beckoning to Louise +to follow him. + +"I'm glad you sent to me without waiting any longer, Miss Everett," he +told her, as soon as they were in the parlor once more "We're going to +have a case of scarlet fever in there, and it's high time some one was +looking out for it." + +"Scarlet fever--Ned have scarlet fever!" repeated his sister slowly, as +she dropped into a chair. "Do you really mean it, Dr. Brownlee? Is he +very ill?" + +"Not yet," returned the doctor. "But, first of all, where is Grant? We +must keep him out of the way." + +"He's at the Burnams'," answered Louise, rising and walking nervously +about the room. + +"Well, send Wang over, and have Grant stay there. Mrs. Burnam will be +willing to look out for him, I know; and he isn't likely to give them +any exposure,--the mischief would be done by this time, anyway. And then +you ought to go to--" + +"I shall not go anywhere," she answered decidedly. + +"But, Miss Everett, think of the danger of your taking the fever. I +shall have to quarantine the house, too; and Mrs. Pennypoker will be +here to take care of Ned." + +Louise stopped in her restless walk, and turned to face the doctor, with +her head raised proudly and a scornful curve to her lips. + +"Dr. Brownlee, do you think that I am a coward?" she asked with cutting +emphasis. "Ned may be very ill, and I could never leave him with Cousin +Euphemia." + +"But the danger," he urged again feebly, although he felt that her +decision was the right one, and he admired her for it, even while he +shrank from the thought of her possible peril. + +Louise looked steadily into his eyes. + +"Ned is my brother," she said firmly, though her lips were quivering; +"and it is my right to stay. Besides, if anything should happen"--She +paused abruptly, while the tears rushed to her eyes. + +"Just as you think best," said the doctor gently. "You are needlessly +alarmed to-night, Miss Everett. I will tell you the exact truth: Ned is +a very sick boy, but there is no present danger for him. I needn't say +that I shall do all I can to make it easier for you, but"--he hesitated; +then added, with one of his cheery laughs, "The fact is, I'm most +awfully glad that you insist on staying. Mrs. Pennypoker is a good +woman; but she's no nurse, and Ned needs somebody that's a little less +like a steam saw-mill, if he is going to be ill for a week or so. Now, +I'll go down and get a prescription or two put up, and stop to see Mrs. +Burnam about Grant's staying there, and then I'll be back again." + +"But is it necessary?" remonstrated Louise, although she felt the +support of his presence, and was grateful for it. "Papa will be here +soon, or Wang can go; and you were going to the Fishers." + +"The Fishers can get along without either of us to-night," he said +laughingly. "We'll have our party here; we seem to be all ready for it." +And he smiled meaningly at her dainty gown. + +The door closed behind him, and Louise went quietly to her room, to take +off her gown and put on a soft white wrapper, before going back to her +brother. From the first, she had been sure, from the doctor's manner, +that he had felt alarmed about Ned; but, in her present mood, she was +grateful to him for his assumed carelessness, and she appreciated the +kindness with which he was giving up the evening to her needs. Some +sudden girlish regret made her snatch up the roses and bury her face in +them, as two great tears rolled down her cheeks; then she quickly untied +the flowers and put them back into the bowl, all but one, which she +fastened in her gown, to be her companion and comfort in her long, +anxious evening. + +Early the next morning Dr. Brownlee was there again; and for the next +week he was constant in his attendance, for the boy was very, very ill. +Day after day the fever had increased, until it seemed as if the young, +strong life must yield to its power. Now he lay in a heavy stupor, now +he muttered and laughed to himself in wild delirium; but each night +found him a little weaker than he had been the night before, and each +morning brought from the doctor's lips the same sad verdict, "No +better." During all these long days, Louise had scarcely left the room, +but watched over him, night and day, with a fierceness of devotion which +resented any interference. + +"He's mine, I tell you," she said, turning on the doctor, who was trying +to coax her from the room. "He's my brother and my favorite--oh, why +can't you understand? He keeps calling me, when he doesn't know anybody +else; and what if he should come to himself and want me, and I shouldn't +be there? Let me stay with him while I can, for it may not be so very +long--Oh, my Ned!" And brushing away the hot tears, she turned and went +back to her old place. + +Two days later the doctor slowly went up the steps to the door. His +heart was heavy with dread, for he knew that the crisis was at hand, and +he felt that the issue was more than doubtful. Without ringing the bell +for Wang Kum to admit him, he entered the house, and went directly to +Ned's room. He was in there for a long time; then he left Mr. Everett +and Mrs. Pennypoker with the boy, and came out into the hall again. As +he passed the parlor door, he paused for a moment; then he pushed it +open, and went into the room. Beside the table sat Louise, with her head +resting upon her folded arms, so still that he thought she must have +fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. But, as she heard his step she +raised her head to speak to him, and he was shocked to see the hard, +drawn lines on her pale face, and the dull, cold light in her eyes. + +"They say it can't last much longer," she said wearily, and without +asking him for his opinion. + +"No," he assented gently, as he sat down by her side. "It can't be like +this long; the change will come in a few hours, and then I hope our Ned +will be better." + +But Louise shook her head. + +"What's the use of saying that, Dr. Brownlee?" she said, in a low, +strained voice. "You don't mean it, I know; and I'm not a baby, to be +comforted with just words. Oh, doctor, if I could only cry! I've tried +to, and I can't,--can't do anything but think, and wonder what I shall +do without Ned." + +She was silent for a moment; then she went on excitedly, "Dr. Brownlee, +if Ned doesn't get well, I shall always believe that Dr. Hofer killed +him. There was a case of fever across the creek, and he let the children +from that very house go all over town. One of them was in the choir, a +week before Ned was taken ill. It was wicked, wicked! I can't have Ned's +life thrown away, just for that. It mustn't be so; I can't bear it!" And +her head dropped again, as she wailed, "Oh, doctor, can't you save him?" + +The sight of her bitter sorrow was more than the doctor could bear, and +his own voice was unsteady, as he answered sadly,-- + +"I will do what I can; but we can only wait and hope." He paused; then +he laid one of his firm hands on hers, and said in a low voice, "Louise, +I can't help you; but won't you give me the right to comfort you, to"-- + +But Louise interrupted him. + +"Wait," she begged. "I can't think of it now--of anything but Ned. I +must go back to him." And she left him alone. + +Late that evening, the doctor and Mrs. Pennypoker sat by the bed, almost +breathlessly watching the boy, who lay in a sort of stupor. Dr. Brownlee +had come in early, and announced his intention of spending the night in +the house, to watch over his patient. He had sent away Louise and her +father to take a little rest, promising to call them, in case of any +change. For more than two hours he had been sitting there, expecting the +end to come at almost any moment; but still the boy's lethargy was +unbroken. + +Then, all at once, the doctor leaned forward and gazed closely at the +face before him. The change had come, and Ned lay breathing quietly, in +the longed-for, life-giving sleep. For a few moments more Dr. Brownlee +sat there, scarcely daring to move; then, with a happy nod to Mrs. +Pennypoker, he left her to wipe her eyes unseen, and stole away to tell +the glad news to Louise. + +He found her in the parlor, in her old position by the table, too much +absorbed with her dread and sorrow to hear his step, until he was close +at her side. She started up, with the question on her lips; but before +she could speak the words, a glance at his face had told her all. With +one little glad outcry, she seized his outstretched hand; then she +dropped down on the sofa, to hide her face in the pillows and sob like a +little child, in all the fervor of her joy and thankfulness. + +The doctor stood waiting by her side, until her first outburst was over; +then, when she had grown more quiet, he bent down beside her, to say +gently,-- + +"And now, Louise"-- + +There was no need for many words. For an instant, Louise looked up into +the expectant face above her; then she put her hand in his. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNEXPECTED. + + +"Did you get any letters this morning, Wang?" inquired Mrs. Pennypoker, +as the Chinaman came in to remove the dishes from the breakfast table. + +"No," replied Wang Kum briefly. + +"Not any at all? How very strange!" And Mrs. Pennypoker looked +questioningly at Wang Kum, who returned her gaze with impenetrable +composure. "I thought I should surely hear from brother Nathaniel +to-day. What can have become of the letter!" + +"Wang no sabe," answered the Chinaman with an almost imperceptible +shrug. + +He turned away to go to the kitchen; but, just as he passed the window +where Louise stood looking out, he contrived to let a fork slip from the +plate in his hand. Louise started at the clatter, and glanced over her +shoulder, to be met by a wink and smirk of infinite cunning, before the +man stooped to pick up the fork, and finally vanished into the outer +room. A moment later she followed him. + +"Did you want to speak to me, Wang?" she asked, trying in vain to appear +unusually dignified, as she faced the man who stood chuckling before +her. + +But Wang, by no means abashed by her manner, bestowed upon her a second +wink of exceeding craftiness, while he slowly drew a note out from the +loose sleeve of his shapeless blue coat. + +"Wang mus' a forgot him; you no tell," he said softly, with a stealthy +glance at the dining-room door behind him, as if expecting to see Mrs. +Pennypoker appear on the threshold and swoop down upon him at any +moment. + +Louise glanced at the letter in her hand. She was annoyed to feel her +color come, as she saw that it was addressed to her in Dr. Brownlee's +well-known writing. + +"Where did you get this, Wang?" she asked. + +"Doc' Blownlee." And Wang Kum smiled knowingly. + +"But he didn't tell you to give it to me this way, did he?" she asked +again. + +"He no tell; Wang sabe, all samee. Wang no fool." And Wang marched back +to the dining-room, leaving Louise to read her note unobserved. + +As she had supposed, it was merely a message to appoint the hour for a +ride they had agreed upon for that afternoon. There was not the +slightest reason that she should not have received and read it under the +eye of Mrs. Pennypoker; but long experience had taught her that the ways +of Wang Kum were past finding out, so she only tucked the note into her +belt and went on her way, resolving, however, to warn the doctor to +select another Cupid, in the future, to be the bearer of his messages. + +Some weeks had slipped away since Ned's illness, and spring had once +more come to Blue Creek. The crisis of the fever once passed, the boy +had quickly rallied, and, thanks to the devoted care of Louise and the +doctor, his recovery had been sure and steady, until at length he was +pronounced nearly well enough to resume his former place among his +friends. Then came the time of thoroughly disinfecting and airing the +house, for Dr. Brownlee was not the man to leave any uncertainty as to +results. His quarantine had been as strict as his later measures were +energetic, and he had refused to rest until he was assured that no +danger could come from his patient. Owing to the negligence of Dr. +Hofer, the disease had been spreading across the creek, until the board +of health had interfered, and summarily taken the cases from his care to +give them into the hand of Dr. Brownlee, whose vigorous treatment had +checked the trouble, even though it had incurred the hostility of the +parents of the fever-stricken children. + +But at last the doctor had said that all danger at the Everetts' was +over, and Grant had been allowed to come home once more. In spite of the +good times he had been having with Howard and Charlie, in spite of the +motherly welcome of Mrs. Burnam, the boy had been thoroughly homesick +during the period of his banishment from home. It was the first time +that he and his brother had ever been separated, and Ned was his hero +and idol, as well as his constant companion. During the long days of +waiting, when the fever was at its height, Grant had wandered +disconsolately about the house, refusing to be comforted, and looking so +pale and miserable as to be a mere shadow of his usual bright self, and +to cause Mrs. Burnam many an hour of anxiety lest he, too, were about to +be ill. Then came the sudden change for the better, and, for a day or +two, Grant was like a wild creature in the exuberance of his joy; but he +was restless and anxious to be at home with his brother again, sure that +no one else could take as good care of him as he. He had even waylaid +the doctor on the street one morning, and tried to bribe him to allow a +return home; but Dr. Brownlee was firm, and Grant had been forced to +bide his time. + +The whole Everett household had been radiant with its new happiness, +during these last few weeks. It would have been enough for them all to +have Ned brought back to life, after their terrible hours of suspense; +and for days they hovered about the boy, almost unable to believe that +their bright, affectionate, impish Ned was to remain with them, after +all. Even Mrs. Pennypoker had cast aside her strict principles of +discipline, and coddled him and fussed over him to her heart's content, +while Wang openly prided himself on being the means of his recovery. + +"Wang went 'way off out doors," he had confided to Louise; "all lonee; +hollered heap loud to Up-in-Sky. Up-in-Sky no say anything; he sabe, all +samee; came down heap quick to help Mas' Ned." + +In the midst of this rejoicing there had come a cause for even increased +happiness. On the morning after Ned had turned the dangerous corner, and +started on his slow journey back into life once more, Dr. Brownlee had +gone into the parlor where Mr. Everett sat writing letters, and had +closed the door behind him. His stay was only a short one; then Mr. +Everett came out, and went in search of Louise. + +"Come, my girl," he said gently; "Winthrop is waiting for you. Your +mother would have been very happy to-day, as happy as I am." And he led +her to the parlor door; then he went away, and left them alone together. + +To Louise, it had seemed as if the world had suddenly been created anew +that spring. The days flew by like one long, happy dream, while she +spent hour after hour amusing her brother during his tedious +convalescence, or left him to Mrs. Pennypoker's care when she escaped to +the parlor, to enjoy the doctor's short, but frequent calls. Ned had +been as rapturous as his sister when the good news was told to him; and +he had saluted the doctor as Brother Brownlee upon the occasion of his +next visit. + +"It's just too jolly," he had said, with the first return of his old, +irrepressible manner. "I'd rather have you take Lou than anybody else I +know; and I'm no end glad I helped it on. You know you'd never have come +to the point, if I hadn't scared you both out of your senses; but"--he +paused, and then asked wickedly, "but I say, Lou, what do you suppose +the Reverend Gabriel will have to say about it?" + +The Reverend Gabriel, in the mean time, had kept himself informed on the +subject of Ned's illness, and although he had held himself at a prudent +distance from all danger of infection, he had not neglected the young +invalid. As soon as it was definitely known that the boy was on the way +to recovery, Dr. Hornblower had sent him, through the safe medium of the +post-office, a little book of "Sick-room Meditations," whose black cover +bore the cheering design of a tomb under a pair of weeping willows. +Though the gift was doubtless intended in all kindness, it was received +with more amusement than gratitude, and Ned kept it under his pillow to +read aloud choice bits from it, whenever Louise and Dr. Brownlee were +together in his room. + +But, during the weeks that the Reverend Gabriel had been unable to call +at the Everetts'; he had been slowly making up his mind upon a matter +of weighty importance; and now at length the time had come for him to +carry out his intentions. + +The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower, it should be stated, was a romantic +soul; and, in his tanned, weather-beaten old body, there throbbed a +heart as ardent as ever beat in the breast of a boy of eighteen. Its +manifestations, however, were often a little eccentric, for its owner +was as ignorant and unworldly as a child. For years he had fed his +elderly imagination upon the most impassioned love scenes to be found in +the pages of novel or biography. Unfortunately for him, there was +nothing in the least modern about his literary taste; but he had +confined his reading to the histories of the Evelinas and Cherubinas of +yore, until his idea of the tender passion was as old-fashioned and +stilted as the books from which it had been derived. Nevertheless, the +Reverend Gabriel was becoming weary of boarding-house existence, and +beginning to long for the comforts of home and the charms of conjugal +society. + +It would be hard to say whether the sight of Louise Everett's blonde +beauty, or the contemplation of his own frayed cuffs and ragged +buttonholes had been the moving cause; but the result was the same. +Upon this particular afternoon, he had spent an hour in reading over one +of his old favorites; then, seizing his hat and cane, with an air of +desperate resolution, he had hurried out of the house, and up the street +towards the Everetts'. + +He was ushered into the parlor by Wang Kum, who assured him that Louise +would soon be at home, and rolled out the great leather-covered chair +from its accustomed corner, in order that the Reverend Gabriel might be +as comfortable as possible, while he awaited her coming. Then he +withdrew, leaving the guest to his meditations. + +They were not altogether enjoyable ones, however. Wang Kum had told him +that Louise was riding with Dr. Brownlee, and the Reverend Gabriel, with +the jealous eye of a lover, was not slow to discern a possible rival in +the handsome young man, who had been a constant attendant at the house, +during the past few weeks. Moreover, the room was very warm, and the +Reverend Gabriel was beginning to grow a little uncomfortable, for Wang +Kum, with the keen malice of his race, had carefully arranged the chair +directly opposite the register, which brought the heat from the stove in +the next room. Dr. Hornblower had been feeling rather nervous, all that +day; now he feared that he was becoming feverish. He drew his hand +across his moist brow, and sighed anxiously. Could it be that he was +going to be ill? + +At length Louise came in. She looked so bright and pretty in her dark +habit, and with her golden hair loosened by the wind and curling about +her face, that the Reverend Gabriel felt his admiration momentarily +increasing, while he gazed at her. And yet, something in her fresh, +girlish beauty made him long to draw back from his coming interview, as +he rose to greet her, and caught sight of his own dull, brown face in +the mirror above her head. + +"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long," Louise said courteously, +while she unbuttoned her gloves and slowly drew them off. "It is such a +glorious day that we stayed out a little longer than we meant to." + +"It is a fine day, a very fine one," returned the Reverend Gabriel, +eagerly catching at the safe topic of the weather. + +"Yes, and we were shut in so long that I enjoy being out, more than +ever," said Louise, while she speculated vainly as to the doctor's +motive for this call. + +"You have had a painful experience," he answered gloomily; "a trying and +painful experience; but I trust that you are benefited by it. My +thoughts were continually with you during the--um--the ordeal." + +"Thank you, Dr. Hornblower," Louise returned gratefully. "Our friends +were all very kind." + +"Doubtless they were," responded Dr. Hornblower, as he sympathetically +wiped his eyes. "We were all grieving over the prospective demise of a +young brother. And yet some consolation would have reached you, Miss +Everett; love is the only pocket-handkerchief to wipe the mourner's +eyes." + +Louise blushed hotly at the reference. Although she had made no secret +of the matter of her engagement, still she was a little surprised to +have the Reverend Gabriel allude to it in such an unexpected fashion. +But she was determined to carry off her embarrassment as easily as +possible, so she smiled brightly, as she said,-- + +"Then you have come to congratulate me; thank"-- + +"Pardon me!" interrupted Dr. Hornblower, as stiffly as if his rheumatism +had suddenly penetrated from his joints to his manners. "It is not yet +the time for congratulation; and, when the hour comes, it is I who will +receive them." + +"You?" And Louise stared at the Reverend Gabriel in unfeigned +astonishment. + +"At least, so it is to be hoped," returned the doctor gravely. + +For a moment, there was an awkward pause, while Louise wondered whether +the worthy minister had suddenly taken leave of his senses, and the +doctor writhed uneasily in his chair, as he realized that his hour had +come. The hush was beginning to be painful, and Louise was just opening +her lips to speak, to say something, no matter what, when she was +suddenly struck speechless by seeing the Reverend Gabriel lay his hat +and cane on the floor beside his chair, then clumsily kneel down before +her and clasp his hands. For one brief instant, she supposed that he was +about to give her the benefit of his professional services, and she +composed her face to listen with befitting gravity; but his first words +dispelled the illusion. + +"Louisa," he began, in a tone so devoid of expression as to suggest the +possibility of his having written out the words and committed them to +memory; "Louisa, behold me a suppliant before you, begging, +imploring"-- + +But Louise had started from her chair, and stood facing him, her cheeks +white with mortification for herself and pity for him. + +"Dr. Hornblower," she begged hastily; "get up, please! You mustn't say +any more." + +"But you do not catch my full meaning," he went on. "I ask you"-- + +"Get up at once," she repeated. "You mustn't say it; it's impossible! +Suppose some one should come in. Oh, do get up!" + +Yielding to her evident alarm, he awkwardly scrambled to his feet, and +threw himself down in in his chair once more, with a force that pushed +it back against the opposite wall. + +"Truly, I never thought of such a thing," Louise said penitently. "I +always supposed that you came to see Cousin Euphemia, not me; or I might +have prevented this." + +"Why should you, Louisa?" returned the Reverend Gabriel, with a cheerful +assurance that grated upon her ears. "I am willing to wait and hope; my +heart is eternally yours." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she answered quickly. "Really, Dr. Hornblower, it +never can be, never could have been; I never even thought of such an +idea. You have always been very kind to me, I know," she went on +hesitatingly, trying to soften her words a little; "but I thought it was +only because you felt a fatherly interest in me." + +"I'm not so old as you seem to think," began Dr. Hornblower testily; +then, bethinking himself that this was not according to his models, he +made a dramatic pause, before he asked his final question, "Is there, +then, Another?" + +Louise hung her head and blushed. + +"I'm afraid there is," she faltered. + +"And his name?" + +The girl looked at him haughtily; then her face softened, as she thought +of the mortification that she was inflicting upon the old man before +her, and she answered gently,-- + +"It is Dr. Brownlee." + +Once more the Reverend Gabriel hesitated. He had carefully rehearsed his +part, until he was thoroughly familiar with it; but his imaginary +interviews had taken only the one form, and he had never counted upon +such an ending as this. However, he was resolved to carry it through to +the close; and, after a hasty review of the ways of rejected lovers, he +recalled the case of the luckless Alphonso Ludovico, and felt himself +prepared to meet the new emergency. + +"It is the end," he said slowly. "Pardon my intrusion, Miss Everett; I +will no longer impose upon your kindness. I go forth upon my lonely +way." + +He started to rise from his chair, but came to a sudden pause, while a +sound of rending and cracking broke the silence that had followed his +tragic words. All unconsciously, Wang Kum had given him the sticky +chair; and the heat of the room and the doctor's feverish agitation, had +combined to produce the catastrophe. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower was +trapped as effectually as a fly in a pool of molasses, and could only +struggle helplessly in his efforts to free himself. + +Louise came to his relief, and together they succeeded in separating his +coat from the chair-back, and he took his ignominious departure. The +young girl stood looking after him, until he disappeared around the +corner, then she fled to her own room, and into the very depths of her +closet, to smother the sound of her hysterical laughter. But when at +last she grew quiet, her face became very gentle once more, as she said +to herself, in a tone of womanly pity,-- + +"Poor old man! But at least, I can keep his secret; not even Winthrop +shall ever know." + +In the mean time, the Reverend Gabriel had slowly betaken himself to his +lonely room, where he laid aside his hat, and approached the mirror. + +"No," he said to himself, as he stood gazing at the reflected face +before him; "it wouldn't do; it wouldn't do. She's too beautiful; and +I'm--too old." And he seated himself in his worn old easy-chair, and +took up the book he had laid aside an hour before. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +UNDER ORDERS. + + +It was less than two weeks after the Reverend Gabriel's call upon +Louise, that Mr. Burnam came up from his office, one noon, with a letter +in his hand. + +"Well, daught," he called, as Allie ran out to meet him; "where's mamma? +I have some news for her." + +"News! What is it? Nothing very bad, I hope," she answered, as she +seized his hand in both of hers, and hurried him towards the house. + +"That depends," he said laughing. "Wait till we get into the house, and +then I'll tell you." + +"I don't believe it's much of anything," she declared scornfully. "If +'twas, you never could wait to tell us." + +"We'll see about it," responded her father, as he entered the house. + +But it was not until they were all seated about the lunch table that he +would tell them his news. From the central office of the railway by +which he had been employed for the past five years, a letter had come +to him, that very morning, offering him the position of consulting +engineer for the company, an advance which would bring him much honor +and more salary. For a few moments there was a babel of congratulation +and rejoicing; then Mrs. Burnam put an end to it all by asking +quietly,-- + +"And when shall we have to leave here?" + +"Leave?" And Allie turned to stare at her mother in consternation. + +"Yes; of course we shall have to go away from Blue Creek very soon," +answered her mother cheerfully; for, though at heart she was as sorry as +Allie to leave her pleasant friends in the little camp, she was +unwilling to let her one regret throw a shadow over her husband's +happiness in his promotion. + +"Leave Blue Creek, and the Everetts, and Marjorie, and all? Let's not +go," urged Howard. "The old road isn't worth it, papa." + +Mr. Burnam laughed. + +"I'm sorry you don't think so, Howard," he answered; "but I'm afraid we +must go. St. Paul isn't a bad place to live in; and we should have had +to leave here this spring, anyway, for my present survey won't take me +much longer. I'm to report for duty in two months," he added, turning +to his wife once more. "Will that give you time to get ready?" + +"Two weeks would do," she said promptly; "I haven't been your wife all +these years for nothing. I'm sorry to go away from here, of course, for +we've made pleasant friends; but I sha'n't be sorry to have a settled +home. Besides, it's time the children were in some good school, if +they're ever going to college." + +"What do you think about it all, Charlie?" asked his uncle. "You haven't +told us, yet." + +"I'm about as much mixed up as Auntie is," he replied slowly, while he +gave Allie's hand a consoling pinch, as it lay on the table, toying with +her fork. "I don't want to leave the doctor, and the boys, and all, and +this place has been immense fun; but, as long as I can be with you +people, I don't mind much else, and, if we go to St. Paul, I can stay +with you till I'm ready for college,--that is, if you'll keep me." + +"We won't send you off just yet," returned his uncle. "Howard and Allie +would have something to say about that, I fancy. Let me see; this is +May, and I have to be ready by the first of July. We shall have to leave +here the last week in June, so you must make the most of your time till +then." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Allie, as she and the boys were starting for the +Everetts', that afternoon, to tell the great news. "We never stayed so +long in one place before, and I began to hope we'd live here always. +We've had such good times, too, 'specially since Charlie came; and I +don't want to leave all these people." + +"'T isn't all of them, though," responded Howard. "There aren't so many +I care about, if we could take the Everetts and Fishers and Dr. Brownlee +along with us." + +"And the mountains, and Wang Kum, and our ponies," added Allie. "Janey +says she'll go too. But it's no use to try to count up what we're +leaving, or I shall just sit down and begin to cry." + +"Better not," advised Howard practically; "it's no end dusty, and we +can't spend time to brush you off. Besides, St. Paul is right on the way +to everywhere, and we shall see people when they go East. Don't you go +to being in the dumps, sis; 't won't mend matters to grumble, and we've +moved before without its killing us." + +But in spite of his advice to his sister, Howard was the most +disconsolate member of the party, as they sat on the Everetts' front +steps, talking of the separation in store for them. + +"It's a perfect shame," lamented Marjorie, who had joined them there. +"You belong to us, and oughtn't to go away. I had it all planned out, +too. We were all going to grow up here together, and have ever so much +fun. Allie and I would keep old maid's hall, and have you four boys +board with us. Howard would be a civil engineer, and Charlie a doctor, +and Grant have a store, and Ned be a minister; and we'd just have an +elegant time." + +"'Specially me!" remarked Ned, in a tone of supreme disgust. "I've no +desire to step into Dr. Hornblower's shoes, when the old man finally +gives up and goes over the range. Preaching isn't in my line; I'll help +Charlie keep his apothecary shop, and sell patent medicines. But, +honestly, with half of us gone, the rest will be dismally lonesome. We +shall need Allie to keep us straight, and Howard to keep us stirred up." + +"And Charlie for general all-overishness," added Marjorie. "Say, Howard, +do you remember the day we put Vic into the empty barrel, and turned a +bushel basket over him, 'cause he would follow us, every step we took?" + +Howard chuckled at the recollection. + +"Yes. How he did yell! But do you remember the time we shut Marjorie up +in the office closet, Ned, and then went off and forgot her?" + +"That must have been before I came," said Charlie. "How did she get +out?" + +"What a question! didn't you ever hear Marjorie squeal?" asked Grant +scornfully. "But, I say, you lads, do you remember that day that Charlie +Mac came, and we"--Grant paused abruptly. + +"We what?" demanded Charlie. + +"Oh, nothing." And Grant retired behind Marjorie, to blush unseen. + +"What was it?" urged Charlie again. "Go on and tell, Grant." + +"You hush up!" And Ned gave his brother a threatening glance. + +"I'm going to tell, then, if you won't," said Allie laughing. "If we +don't, Charlie will think it's something ever so much worse that 't is. +All was, the boys didn't mean to like you anyway, and didn't want you to +come. The day you came, they went down to the station, and hid around, +waiting to get a look at you, to see what you were like. And the worst +of it all was"--Allie paused mischievously, and then went on; "they +found you weren't half so bad as they supposed you were going to be." + +"If we could only go back again, and start there all over fresh!" sighed +Marjorie. + +"We couldn't have a bit better time than we have had," returned Charlie. +"We've made the most of our chance, and we may as well be thankful for +it. Oh, but didn't I feel shaky, that first morning, when the train +stopped, and I had to get out! Allie looked about ten feet high and +thirty years old, when I saw her standing on the platform; and I was +sure I was going to be afraid of her. Wasn't, though," he concluded, +giving her hair a friendly tweak. + +"Besides, 't isn't quite so bad as if we had to go right away," added +Allie hopefully, as they rose to go home. "We have two months more; and +there's time for ever so much to happen, between now and then." + +But the two months hurried past them, and, before any one realized it, +the Burnams were on the eve of their departure. As Marjorie had said +when the subject was first mentioned, it was harder to stay than to go, +for those left behind had to keep on in the same old routine, where they +so keenly felt the loss of their friends who, on their side, were full +of anticipations for the new places they would see, the new +acquaintances they would make, while the bustle and excitement of +packing kept them too busy to realize all that they were leaving behind +them. + +It had been decided that the Burnams were to go away from Blue Creek the +last week in June, and, soon after this plan was arranged, Louise and +Dr. Brownlee had announced their intention of being married on the +twenty-fourth, in order that their friends might be present at the +wedding, so the last few weeks had found the Everett household in as +great excitement as were the Burnams. It was to be only a quiet church +wedding, followed by a small reception. Louise had reduced Allie and +Marjorie to a state of speechless delight, by asking them to be her +bridesmaids; while the doctor had laughingly protested that Charlie and +Ned should act as ushers, since they had been instrumental in bringing +himself and Louise together. After a little discussion, this plan had +been adopted, and the four young people were much impressed with their +consequence, in taking part, for the first time, in so important a +ceremony. + +On the evening before the wedding, they all walked up together from +their rehearsal in the chapel, and stopped for a little while on the +Everetts' front steps, where they were joined by Howard and Grant. + +"To-morrow, and the next day, and the next, and then it will all be +over," said Marjorie pensively. + +"I honestly haven't had time to think about it, this last week," said +Allie. "We've been so topsyturvy and busy that I haven't thought of +anything but packing and the wedding." + +"No; we'll be the ones to do the thinking," said Ned, as he stretched +himself out at his ease, on the railing to the little porch. "With Lou +married, and you three going, there's nothing else left for us to do. +I'm going to turn hermit, and move up the gulch." + +"I wouldn't, before fall, if I were in your place," returned Howard, in +a tone too low to catch the ears of the others. + +"What's next fall?" asked Ned listlessly. + +"Don't you give it away that I told you," said Howard, while he joined +his friend on the rail; "but I happened to hear your father talking to +my father, to-day; and it's all settled that you and Grant are coming to +St. Paul, next winter, to board with us, and go to school. Hush up!" he +added, as Ned gave a little exclamation of delight. "Don't tell the +others, for I oughtn't to have said anything about it; but I couldn't +hold in any longer." + +For an hour more, they sat there; then Grant's voice broke the hush, as +he put his head in at the open window of the parlor, where his sister +and Dr. Brownlee were sitting in the moonlight. + +"That's the seventh time you've said good night, Lou," he remarked, in a +hollow tone; "and I should think the eighth 'most ought to do the +business, unless you want to be dead sleepy, to-morrow night, while +you're in the middle of being tied up." + +The next evening found the chapel crowded. Every seat was occupied, and +the side aisles were filled with the miners and their wives, who stood +waiting to look on at the marriage of "our Miss Lou," for she was a +favorite with them all. At length the murmur of voices died away, as Mr. +Nelson took his place in the chancel, while the little organ pealed out +the opening strains of the wedding march. A moment later, the doors +swung open and the bridal party entered, Charlie and Ned leading the +way, with Allie and Marjorie following them, while Mr. Everett and his +daughter came after them. Louise was beautiful, in her simple white silk +gown, although she looked a little pale and nervous, as she saw so many +eyes turned upon her. Then she forgot it all, all the crowd and the +excitement, and even the friends gathered about her, and her face grew +radiant with her love, for Dr. Brownlee had met her at the head of the +aisle, to lead her forward to the altar; and above the low notes of the +organ, she heard the quiet, earnest voice, as it followed Mr. Nelson's +through the familiar words,-- + +"I, Winthrop, take thee, Louise, to my wedded wife." + +Their troths were plighted, the ring was slipped into place, and the +blessing was pronounced. Then, as Winthrop Brownlee and his bride turned +to face the congregation once more, the organ rang out in a triumphal +march, and the bell in the little tower overhead burst into a merry +peal. The sound rolled far up and down the valley, and the mountains +echoed back the happy tidings; then the evening quiet once more +descended upon Blue Creek Cañon. + + + + +L'ENVOI. + + + The last leaf ended, ere you lay + My book aside, and turn to rest, + Read here, old friends, between the lines, + My loving memories of your West. + + The distance shortens to my eyes; + To-morrow's sun will sink to rest + Behind your hills. One day is all + That separates us, East and West. + + Then hasten forth, my little book, + Speed on your way, nor pause to rest; + But, turning towards the setting sun, + My greetings bear from East to West. + +"TREMONT," Twenty-seventh May, 1892. + + + + +Other Books Published by T. Y. CROWELL & CO. + + + + +ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S BOOKS. + +"A quiet sly humor, a faculty of investing every-day events with a +dramatic interest, a photographic touch which places her characters +before the reader, and a high moral tone are to be remarked in Miss +Ray."--_Detroit Tribune._ + + HALF A DOZEN BOYS. + + HALF A DOZEN GIRLS. + + IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON. + + CADETS OF FLEMMING HALL. + + + + +MRS. SARAH K. BOLTON'S FAMOUS BOOKS. + + + "_The most interesting books to me are the histories of individuals + and individual minds, all autobiographies, and the like. This is my + favorite reading._"--H. W. Longfellow. + + "_Mrs. Bolton never fails to interest and instruct her + readers._"--Chicago Inter-Ocean. + + "_Always written in a bright and fresh style._"--Boston Home + Journal. + + "_Readable without inaccuracy._"--Boston Post. + + +POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +Short biographical sketches of George Peabody, Michael Faraday, Samuel +Johnson, Admiral Farragut, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, +Garibaldi, President Lincoln, and other noted persons who, from humble +circumstances, have risen to fame and distinction, and left behind an +imperishable record. + + +GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +A companion book to "Poor Boys Who Became Famous." Biographical sketches +of Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot, Helen Hunt Jackson, Harriet +Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Florence Nightingale, Maria Mitchell, and other +eminent women. + + +FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE. + +Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, +Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. + + +FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN. + +A companion book to "Famous American Authors." Biographical sketches of +Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, Sumner, Garfield, +and others. Illustrated with portraits. + + +FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN. + +With portraits of Gladstone, John Bright, Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, +Lord Shaftesbury, William Edward Forster, Lord Beaconsfield. + + +FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS. + +With portraits of Raphael, Titian, Landseer, Reynolds, Rubens, Turner, +and others. + + +FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +Short biographical sketches of Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, +Aldrich, Mark Twain, and other noted writers. + + +FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE 19th CENTURY. + +With portraits of Scott, Burns, Carlyle, Dickens, Tennyson, Robert +Browning, etc. + + +STORIES FROM LIFE. + +A book of short stories, charming and helpful. + + + + +COUNT TOLSTOÏ'S WORKS. + + +ANNA KARÉNINA. + +"Will take rank among the great works of fiction of the age."--_Portland +Transcript._ + + +IVÁN ILYITCH, AND OTHER STORIES. + +"No living author surpasses him, and only one or two approach him, in +the power of picturing not merely places but persons, with minute and +fairly startling fidelity."--_Congregationalist._ + + +CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH. With Portrait of the Author. + +A series of reminiscences and traditions of the author's early life. + + +MY CONFESSION AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST'S TEACHING. + +A companion book to "My Religion." + + +MY RELIGION. A sequel to "My Confession." + +"Should go to every household where the New Testament is read."--_New +York Sun._ + + +WHAT TO DO. Thoughts evoked by the Census of Moscow. Containing passages +excluded by the Press Censor of Russia. A sequel to "My Confession" and +"My Religion." + + +THE INVADERS, AND OTHER STORIES. Tales of the Caucasus. + +"Marked by the wonderful dramatic power which has made his name so +popular with an immense circle of readers in this country and in +Europe."--_Portland Press._ + + +A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR, AND OTHER STORIES. + +"These stories are wholly in Tolstoï's peculiar manner, and illustrate +once more his wonderful simplicity and realism in the domain of +fiction."--_Sun_, New York. + + +NAPOLEON AND THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. With Portrait of the Author. + + +THE LONG EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES FOR CHILDREN. + +A notable addition to juvenile literature. + + +LIFE. + +A vigorous and lofty argument in favor of the eternal verities of life. + + +POWER AND LIBERTY. + +A sequel to "Napoleon and the Russian Campaign." An ingenious +reconciliation of the theories of fate and free will. + + +THE COSSACKS. + +"The most perfect work of Russian fiction," said Turgénief. + + +SEVASTOPOL. + +The most relentless pictures of the realities of war. + + +_TOLSTOÏ BOOKLETS_: + + WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO. + THE TWO PILGRIMS. + WHAT MEN LIVE BY. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. + + +JED. A Boy's Adventures in the Army of '61-'65. + +A story of battle and prison, of peril and escape. By WARREN LEE GOSS, +author of "The Soldier's Story of his Captivity at Andersonville and +other Prisons," "The Recollections of a Private" (in the Century War +Series). + +In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes in +the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The +incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's +personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during +that war. The descriptions of the prison are especially truthful, for in +them the author briefly tells what he himself saw. One of the best war +stories ever written. Boys will read it with avidity. + + +THE WALKS ABROAD OF TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. + +From the French of Charles Beaugrand. By DAVID SHARP, M.B., F.L.S., +F.Z.S., President of the Entomological Society of London. + +A fascinating narrative of travel and adventure, in which is introduced +much valuable information on natural history subjects, and a reading of +the book will tend to foster an interest in zoölogy. + + +FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE. + +By SARAH K. BOLTON, author of "Poor Boys who became Famous," etc, Short +biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, Humboldt, +Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. + + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Pictures of the Reign of Terror. + +By LYDIA HOYT FARMER, author of "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," etc. + +To those who have not the leisure to make an exhaustive study of this +remarkable epoch in the world's history, this volume offers a rapid and +clear _résumé_ of its most important events and thrilling scenes. + + +ROLF AND HIS FRIENDS. + +By J A K, author of "Birchwood," "Fitch Club," etc. + +A healthful, stimulating story, showing the advantage that every boy +must necessarily gain from association with intelligent, progressive +young people, no matter what their color or condition in life may be. +The incidents are fresh and natural, the conversations bright and +piquant, and the interest well sustained, while incidentally there is a +valuable leaven of information. + + +CECIL'S KNIGHT. + +By E. B. HOLLIS, author of "Cecil's Cousins," etc. A story of no +impossible knight, but of a very real, natural, and manly boy, who, +through perseverance, good sense, and genuine courage, fought his way +from poverty to success. + +"We recommend 'Cecil's Knight' as an excellent book to put into a boy's +hand.--" _Beacon._ + + +RED CARL. + +By J. J. MESSMER. A story dealing with the labor question, socialism, +and temperance, and one of the best, all points considered, that treats +of these subjects popularly. + +"It would be difficult to find a healthier, more stimulating, and more +suggestive story to put into the hands of the young." + + + + +T. Y. CROWELL & CO.'S NEW BOOKS. + + +CHARLES DICKENS'S COMPLETE WORKS. + +A new illustrated edition, in 15 and 30 volumes. This edition will meet +the (hitherto unfilled) wants of those desiring the works of Dickens in +good clear type, well printed on fine paper, handsomely illustrated, +tastefully bound, and suitable for library use, at a moderate price. + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE. + +A Story of the Army of the Potomac. By WARREN LEE GOSS, author of "Jed." +With over 80 illustrations by Chapin and Shelton. + +Among the many books about the civil war there is none which more +clearly describes what took place among the rank and file of the Union +Army, while on the march or on the battle-field, than the story given by +Mr. Goss in this volume. + +"It is one of the handsomest, as well as one of the most valuable works +in American war literature."--_Boston Globe._ + + +MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE. + +By Rev. J. R. MILLER, D.D., author of "Silent Times." + +The following is an extract from Dr. Miller's preface: "These chapters +are written with the purpose and hope of stimulating those who may read +them to _earnest and worthy living_.... If this book shall teach any how +to make the most of the life God has entrusted to them, that will be +reward enough for the work of its preparation." + + +DOCTOR LAMAR. + +A powerful work of fiction by a new author. + +There can be no doubt that "Doctor Lamar" is a remarkable novel. It has +originality in subject and treatment. The hero is drawn with a master +hand. The picture of the heroine is a revelation of innocence and beauty +of the most exquisite English type. The love story which runs through +the book, like a golden thread, is an idyl. Few novels are so well +calculated to appeal to a large class of readers, comprising, as it +does, food both for thought and recreation. + + +A WEB OF GOLD. + +By KATHARINE PEARSON WOODS, author of "Metzerott, Shoemaker." + +"One of the strongest books of the year."--_Buffalo Express._ + + +JULIUS WOLFF'S NOVELS. + +Delightful stories of old-time life in Germany. + + The Saltmaster of Lüneburg. + The Robber Count. + Fifty Years, Three Months, Two Days. + + +TENNYSON'S GREATER POEMS. + +Volumes are sold separately or in sets, and comprise the following: +"Idylls of the King," "In Memoriam," "The Princess." + + +THE ALHAMBRA SERIES OF NOTABLE BOOKS. + + The Alhambra, by Irving + Romola, by Eliot + Lorna Doone, by Blackmore + Scottish Chiefs, by Porter + Notre-Dame, by Hugo + Sketch Book, by Irving + + + + +THE LOTUS SERIES OF POETS. + + Robert Browning's Poems + Lalla Rookh, by Moore + Mrs. Browning's Poems + Lucile, by Meredith + Lady of the Lake, by Scott + Tennyson's Poems + + + + +THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE + +BY WILLIAM I. + +Based chiefly upon Prussian State Documents. + + Translated from the German of HEINRICH VON SYBEL by Professor + MARSHALL LIVINGSTON PERRIN, of the Boston University + +The welding together into a mighty united nation of the petty dukedoms +and principalities which fifty years ago made up the heterogeniety of +Germany was the greatest political feat of this century. Dr. Von Sybel, +pre-eminently fitted by nature and training to be the historian of this +tremendous creation, had the additional advantage of access to original +sources of information in the archives of Prussia, Hanover, Hesse +Cassel, and Nassau, and the State papers and diplomatic correspondence +preserved in the foreign office at Berlin. His history, therefore, may +be accepted as _absolutely authentic_, and that it has been so accepted +is shown by the universal chorus of praise from German critics which +greeted its first appearance, and by the fact that within two months of +publication fifty thousand copies were sold. Sybel's style is remarkably +smooth and attractive, full of vigor, life, and movement, and it has +been admirably rendered into idiomatic English by Professor Perrin, +whose long residence in Germany made the language like his mother tongue +to him. Finely engraved portraits of the Emperors William I., Frederick, +and William II., and of Bismarck and Moltke, give additional value to +the volumes. + + "Since the death of Ranke, Von Sybel has occupied unquestionably + the first rank among German historians."--_American Hebrew._ + + "The translation of this admirable history is very well done + indeed. It reflects few of the German involutions, and reads + smoothly and flowingly. Of the history itself, it must be said that + nothing comparable to it in fulness, clearness, trustworthiness, + and vigor, has been written concerning the great events of which it + treats."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + "No reason to believe that it will be superseded during the present + generation."--_N. Y. Sun._ + + "_No more important historical work has appeared in the last + decade._"--Nation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Blue Creek Cañon, by Anna Chapin Ray + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON *** + +***** This file should be named 24014-8.txt or 24014-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/0/1/24014/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + +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: In Blue Creek Cañon + +Author: Anna Chapin Ray + +Release Date: December 24, 2007 [EBook #24014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON</h1> + +<h2>BY ANNA CHAPIN RAY</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "HALF A DOZEN BOYS," "HALF A DOZEN GIRLS," ETC.</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK: <span class="smcap">46 East 14th Street</span><br /> +THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.<br /> +BOSTON: <span class="smcap">100 Purchase Street</span></h4> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1892,<br /> +<span class="smcap">By Thomas Y. Crowell & Co</span>.</h4> + + + +<h4><i>Printed and Electrotyped by</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Alfred Mudge & Son, Boston</span>.</h4> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> +<h3>"A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on skates."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">If you've wronged him, speak him fair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Say you're sorry and make it square;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">If he's wronged you, wink so tight<br /></span> +<span class="i0">None of you see what's plain in sight.<br /></span> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When the world goes hard and wrong,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lend a hand to help him along;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When his stockings have holes to darn,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Don't you grudge him your ball of yarn.<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Stick to each other through thick and thin;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All the closer as age leaks in;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Squalls will blow, and clouds will frown,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But stay by your ship till you all go down!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Oliver Wendell Holmes.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">A Council on Skates</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">To Welcome the Coming Guest</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Everett Household</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">On the Cross-head</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Meeting in the Waters</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Marjorie's Party</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Janey's Prophecy</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">In the Dark</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Camping on the Beaverhead</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Up the Gulch</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. "<span class="smcap">Sweet Charity's Sake</span>"</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Home without a Mother</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">At the Nine-hundred Level</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">The Beginning of the Old Story</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Mr. Atherden</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">The Completed Story</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">The Tragedy of the Unexpected</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Under Orders</span></a><br /> +<a href="#LENVOI">L'ENVOI.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Other_Books_Published_by_T_Y_CROWELL_CO">Other Books Published by T. Y. CROWELL & CO.</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#frontis">"A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on skates."</a></p> + +<p><a href="#ill1">"He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam."</a></p> + +<p><a href="#ill2">"His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he held his cane, +which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud."</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>A COUNCIL ON SKATES.</h3> + + +<p>A strong southeast wind was blowing up the cañon and driving before it +the dense yellow smoke which rolled up from the great red chimneys of +the smelter. To the east and west of the town, the mountains rose +abruptly, their steep sides bare or covered with patches of yellow pine. +At the north, the cañon closed in to form a narrow gorge between the +mountains; but towards the south it opened out into a broad valley, +through which the swiftly rushing creek twisted and turned along its +willow-bordered bed. A half mile below the town the creek suddenly +broadened into a little lake that was now frozen over, forming a sheet +of dazzling ice, upon which a quartette of boys and girls were darting +about on skates.</p> + +<p>"Ugh!" gasped one of the boys, as a sudden gust of wind, coming straight +from the east, brought the stifling cloud in their direction; "I'm glad +I'm not up in town this afternoon. It's getting ready for a storm, I +think, from the way the smoke comes down; and they must be catching it +all, up there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed the girl with whom he was skating; "if it storms +'twill be sure to be more snow, and spoil the ice. It's too bad, for we +get so little skating out here, and it's almost time to go home now. +Just see how low the sun is getting!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Marjorie," said the boy, as he paused to breathe on his +cold fingers; then held out his hand to her once more. "We'll have one +more go across the pond, anyway, for there's no knowing when we'll have +another chance. You take Allie, Ned, and we'll race you, two and two, +over to that largest stump. Come on, and get into line. One! two! +<i>three!</i>"</p> + +<p>Away they flew, the bright blades of their skates flashing in the long +slanting rays of the late afternoon sun, and their eyes and cheeks +glowing with the cold air and rapid exercise. Marjorie and her attendant +knight were the first to reach the goal, and turned, panting, to face +the others as they came up to them.</p> + +<p>"That was just fine!" exclaimed Allie's companion, as he dropped her +hand and spun around in a narrow circle which sent the chips of ice +flying from under his heel. "Don't let's go home just yet, 't won't be +dark for an hour anyway, and we can go up in fifteen minutes. I'll race +you over to the other side and back again, Howard, while the girls are +getting their breath."</p> + +<p>"You don't mind being left, Allie?" And the taller boy glanced at the +girls.</p> + +<p>"All right, just for once," said Allie; "then we really ought to go up, +Howard; mamma wants us to be home in good season to-night, for dinner is +going to be early, so papa can get the train down."</p> + +<p>"Is your father going away again?" asked Marjorie, as the girls skated +idly to and fro, waiting for the boys to join them. "I thought he came +in from camp only this morning."</p> + +<p>"So he did," answered her friend, burying her small nose in her muff for +a moment, as she faced the cutting wind. "He's only going down to +Pocatello to-night, and out on the main line a little ways, to meet +Charlie MacGregor, our cousin that's coming."</p> + +<p>"Yes," nodded Marjorie, in acquiescence; "I remember now; I'd forgotten +he was coming so soon. What fun you'll have with him, Allie! I wish I +had a brother, or cousin, or something."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I shall wish I didn't have both," said Allie, laughing. "I +don't know how he and Howard will get on. I think Howard doesn't want +him much; but I'd just as soon he'd be here."</p> + +<p>"What's he like?" queried Marjorie curiously.</p> + +<p>"I haven't much idea; I've never seen him," said Allie. "Papa saw him +when he was east last summer, and we have a picture of him taken ever so +long ago."</p> + +<p>"Who's that—Charlie MacGregor?" asked Howard, skating up to them at +that moment. "He's not much to look at, Marjorie, if his picture's any +good. He has a pug nose and wears giglamps, and I've a suspicion that +he's a fearful dude. He'll be a tenderfoot, of course, but he'll get +over that; but if he's a dude, we boys will make it lively for him."</p> + +<p>"Howard, you sha'n't!" remonstrated his sister, loyally coming to the +defence of their unknown cousin. "It must be horrid for him to lose all +his friends and have to be sent out here to relations he doesn't know +nor care anything about, just like a barrel of flour." Allie's metaphors +were becoming mixed; but she never heeded that, as she went on proudly: +"And besides, we're MacGregors as much as he is, and mamma says that no +MacGregor was ever rude to a cousin, or to anybody in trouble."</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Allie!" shouted the younger boy, as he stopped in the +middle of a figure eight to applaud her words. "You're in the right of +it; but you needn't think you'll ever keep Howard in order. How old is +this lad, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"Half way between Howard and me," replied Allie, as they started to +skate slowly up the creek towards home, and Howard and Marjorie dropped +a little in the rear. "He was thirteen last summer, and papa says he's a +real, true musician. He'll bring his own piano with him; but I don't +know where he'll find room to put it, for our house is full as can be, +now. Then he sings, too,—at least, he used to,—in a boy choir. Haven't +you seen his picture, Ned? It's homely, but it looks as if he might not +be so bad."</p> + +<p>"Where's he coming from?" asked Ned.</p> + +<p>"New York. He's lived there always; but, you know, his father died two +years ago, and his mother last month. He hasn't any relations but just +us, so he is to live here for a while. You and Howard will stand by +him, won't you, Ned?" she added persuasively, laying her mittened hand +on his. "I'm afraid the other boys will run on him and make fun of him. +Don't tell Howard I said so, but I don't expect to like him much myself, +only I'm sort of sorry for him; and then he's our cousin, so I suppose +we must make sure he has a good time."</p> + +<p>"I won't be hard on him, Allie," her companion answered her, laughing a +little at the unwonted seriousness of her tone; "as long as he doesn't +put on airs and talk big about New York and 'the way <i>we</i> do East,' and +all that poppycock, I'll stand by him. But if he's coming out here to +show us how to do it, the sooner it's taken out of him the better."</p> + +<p>"Wait till the train comes in, day after to-morrow morning, Ned," said +Howard, as, with a few quick strokes, he and Marjorie overtook them once +more. "We'll take a look at him and see what he's like, before we make +too many promises. Now, then, ma'am," he added, as he and Marjorie +paused at a great stone on the bank of the creek; "if you'll be good +enough to sit down, I'll have your skates off instanter."</p> + +<p>Marjorie laughed, as she dropped down on the stone and put one little +foot on Howard's knee, while Ned performed a similar service for Allie.</p> + +<p>"I'm crazy to see your cousin, Allie," she said. "I know he's going to +be great fun, only I'm afraid he'll think we are hopeless tomboys. +Probably he's been used to girls that sit in the parlor and sew +embroidery, instead of skating and riding bronchos bareback, and playing +hare and hounds with the boys."</p> + +<p>"Don't care if he has!" And Allie made a little grimace of defiance as +she scrambled to her feet. "I'm not going to give up all my good times +and take to fancy work, when it's as much as I can do to sew on my own +buttons. He can stay in the house, and sing songs and sew patchwork all +day long, if he wants to, but I'm not going to give up all my frolics; +need I, boys?" she concluded, in a mutinous outburst, quite at variance +with her recent plea for their expected guest.</p> + +<p>Howard laughed teasingly.</p> + +<p>"Catch Allie turning the fine young lady! If you shut her up in a +parlor, she'd jump over the chairs and play tag with herself around the +table; and Marjorie is about as bad."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I am," she assented placidly; "but you boys could never get +along without us. I've heard you say, over and over again, that we can +catch a ball as well as half the boys in town, and I can outrun you any +day. Want to try?"</p> + +<p>"Not much," returned Howard, laughing, though there rankled in his mind +the memory of recent races in which he had not been the winner. "You +only beat me because you've been used to this air longer than I have. +Besides, it would hurry us home too much, and I've an idea that this may +be the last time that we four chums will be off together, for one while. +I shall have to trot round with that fellow, for the next week, and show +him the ways of the country, so he won't make too great a jay of +himself. But, I say, if it doesn't storm to-morrow, we'll come down here +again in the afternoon, and have an hour or two on the ice before it's +spoiled."</p> + +<p>With their skates strapped together and slung over their shoulders, +their collars turned up around their ears, and their hands plunged deep +into pockets and muffs, they turned northward along the bank of the +creek for a short distance, and then struck off across the level, open +ground till they came into one of the streets of the little town, which +they followed until they reached the main business street. There they +parted, Ned and Marjorie turning to the west, while Howard and Allie +kept straight on towards the north, and finally stopped at a small brick +house, a low, one-story affair, yet much more elaborate than the average +dwelling of the town, where the architecture was largely of the +log-house species, though often covered with a layer of boards to +disguise the primitive nature of the materials.</p> + +<p>The front door opened directly into the little parlor, and into this +cosy room Howard and Allie plunged, laughing and breathless after their +quick walk in the cold. A bright-faced little woman sat sewing by the +front window, holding up her work to catch the last fading light, and a +rosy boy, two years old, was tumbling about on the carpet, rolling over +and over the great dog, who was dozing as peacefully as if such +demonstrations were quite to his liking.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, mammy! Hullo, Vic! Dinner ready?" exclaimed Howard, casting his +skates into the nearest chair, and moving up to the stove to warm his +chilled fingers.</p> + +<p>"How was the skating?" asked his mother, looking up from her work to +smile at Allie, as she pulled off her coat and hat, and then caught up +the child from the floor.</p> + +<p>"Fine; but we're 'most starved—at least, I am," returned Howard, as he +wriggled himself out of his coat and handed it to Allie, who received it +quite as a matter of course, and went away to hang it in its usual +place.</p> + +<p>"Well, dinner is all ready, and papa will be here in a minute; so you +can go and tell Janey to take it up. Do you know," she added, with a +laugh which took all the sting from the reproof; "I think it is time my +boy learned to take his sister's coat for her, instead of expecting her +to wait on him."</p> + +<p>"All right," answered Howard, by no means abashed by the rebuke. "Here, +sis, if you'll just bring back your coat and put it on again, I'll see +what can be done about it." And he bent over to stroke his mother's hair +with a boyish affection which filled her heart with gratitude for having +such a son, even while it sent her off to her toilet table to repair the +damages which his fingers had wrought. Then he marched out to the +kitchen to tease Janey, until she threatened to pour the soup over his +favorite pudding, unless he left her to take up the dinner in peace.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnam, Howard's father, was a successful civil engineer, who, in +the line of his professional life, had been ordered up and down the +West according to the demands of the great railroad corporation by whom +he was employed. The life of a locating engineer is much like that of +the soldier, in its need for strict obedience to orders, and for +eighteen years Mr. Burnam had been stationed, now here, now there,—on +the rolling prairies of Iowa, in the Dakota bad lands, in the alkali +deserts of Wyoming, and among the cañons and passes of the Colorado +Rockies. Six months before this time he had been ordered to western +Montana, to lay out a possible railway across the mountains, which +should give the Pacific-coast cities a more direct connection with their +eastern neighbors. The survey for this line would occupy him for a year +or more, and in order to have his family near him during this time, he +had made his headquarters in the little mining camp, which the first +prospectors along the cañon, some four years before, had christened +"Blue Creek," from the clear, bright waters of the mountain stream. Here +he established his family in the most comfortable house that the town +afforded, and here he had his office, which served as headquarters for +his corps of men, whenever they came in town for a few days. By virtue +of his position as chief of the party, Mr. Burnam often spent weeks at +a time at home, working up his estimates and maps, and only driving out +to camp now and then, for a day or two, to see that all was well in his +absence. Then, just as his family were settling down to the full +enjoyment of his society, he would be sent for, to oversee some +difficult bit of work, and Mrs. Burnam and Allie would be left to the +protection of Howard, and of Ben, the great Siberian bloodhound, who was +as gentle as a kitten until molested, when all his old savage instincts +sprang into life.</p> + +<p>One of the early graduates from Cornell, Mr. Burnam had gone West when a +mere boy, fresh from college; and now, at forty, he had made himself a +brilliant reputation in his profession. The chief, as they called him, +was adored by all his men, who knew, from long experience, that however +great the danger and hardship might be, he was always ready to share it +with them, and that he made it a part of his creed never to ask a +subordinate to take a risk which he himself would shun. Quick-tempered +and outspoken in the presence of any suspicion of shirking or deceit, he +was yet a just, honorable man in dealing with his "boys," who loved and +respected him accordingly. At home, he was a different man; for he +threw aside his professional dignity, to tease his wife, or romp with +his children, lavishing upon them all the love of which his great, +generous nature was capable.</p> + +<p>For the sake of her husband, Mrs. Burnam had willingly cut herself +adrift from her family and friends in New York, and for sixteen years +she had patiently followed him here and there through the West; now +living in camp for a summer, now boarding at tiny country hotels, in +order to be within driving distance of his party; now left for months at +a time in the busy solitude of a great city hotel, while Mr. Burnam was +far away in unexplored forests, and often, as now, settled near him for +a few months of housekeeping which should give her children at least a +slight knowledge of home life and its charms.</p> + +<p>Two years after her marriage, a little son had come to her, and, soon +after that, a daughter had helped to fill out the family circle. It +seemed to Mrs. Burnam but a few months since then; but Howard was +fourteen now, and Allie twelve, while, two years before this time, a +third child had come to brighten the home with his baby prattle and +pranks. For weeks, his name had been a subject of almost constant +discussion, until, one day, Howard had solved the problem in a most +unexpected fashion.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what," he said suddenly; "name him Victor, for my new +bicycle." And the name was decided upon accordingly.</p> + +<p>Howard, himself, was a worthy son of the handsome, brown-bearded man +whom he called papa. Tall, slender, and yellow haired, he was as bonnie +a laddie as ever filled a mother's heart with pride; a healthy, happy +boy, affectionate and generous, and full of a rollicking fun which made +him at once the delight and terror of his sister, who never knew in what +direction his next outbreak would come. In spite of his merciless +teasing, the brother and sister were close friends and constantly +together. Girls were scarce in the town, and Allie and her one friend, +Marjorie Fisher, would have been largely left to their own devices, had +it not been for Howard and Ned Everett, through whose influence they +were received on equal terms among the boys, and had a share in most of +their good times. It was no uncommon thing to hear them speak of "Allie +and Marjorie and the other boys," and neither Mrs. Burnam nor Mrs. +Fisher felt any desire to have it otherwise. They were too sensible +mothers to force their little daughters towards womanhood, and much +preferred the tone of free-and-easy companionship to the childish +flirtations so commonly indulged in. They could trust to their influence +over their children to keep them gentle and womanly, and the boys were +all gentlemen, largely sons of Eastern men whom business had brought to +the town. So the girls walked and rode, skated and romped with the lads, +unconsciously teaching them many a pretty lesson in chivalry, while in +return the boys gave them a training which made them enduring and +courageous, and hardy as a pair of little Indians. For six months, this +had been their life, and by this time there had formed one +well-recognized set whose members were constantly together, and, though +they mingled more or less with the other young people, yet kept +themselves distinct from their companions. Four of this number were the +little group of skaters, the fifth was Ned's younger brother, Grant, who +was usually the central figure in their frolics.</p> + +<p>The one other member of the Burnam household, who is as yet in the +background, deserves at least a passing remark. This was Janey, the +young negro maid who ruled their kitchen. What had ever brought her +from the warm South into the midst of Rocky Mountain snows, it would be +hard to tell; but, two months before, she had answered to Mrs. Burnam's +advertisement for a servant, and was promptly installed in her kitchen, +where she convulsed the family with her pranks, and averted many a +well-merited lecture by some sudden, artless remark, which sent Mrs. +Burnam hurrying out of the room, in search of a corner where she could +laugh unseen. Surely, since the days of Topsy, the immortal, there was +never such an imp as Janey. Mrs. Burnam declared that she was as good as +a tonic, and Mr. Burnam made no secret of his enjoyment of her antics, +which were always as original as they were unexpected.</p> + +<p>"My name's Edmonia Jackson," she had said, in answer to Mrs. Burnam's +question; "but dey mos'ly calls me Janey. But laws, Mis', ef you 'll +on'y let me stay yere, you all can call me what you want. Names is +nothin', but I don' want to work in one o' them log-cabins; they 's too +much like what our po' w'ites lives in. Give me brick or nothin'!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>TO WELCOME THE COMING GUEST.</h3> + + +<p>"Only ten minutes more!" said Allie, excitedly prancing up and down the +platform. "I do so hope the train won't be late."</p> + +<p>"Allie's getting in a hurry to see the cousin," remarked Grant Everett +teasingly. "You and Howard'll have to step out of the way when he comes, +Ned. You needn't think you're going to stand any chance against this new +attraction."</p> + +<p>"Maybe so," said Howard scornfully, while he flattened his nose against +the ticket-office window, in a vain endeavor to see the clock. "Girls +always like a new face, and Allie's just like all the rest of them."</p> + +<p>"No," said Allie judicially, as she pulled the collar of her fur jacket +more closely about her ears. "Of course I like you boys best, but I'm +sort of curious about Charlie, as long as he's going to live with us for +a year or so. If he's nice, it will be like having another brother; but +if he's horrid, it will spoil all our good times. It's a very +dependable circumstance, as Janey says, that's all."</p> + +<p>It was the second morning after their skating party, and Howard, Allie, +and the two Everett boys were pacing up and down the platform, while +they waited for the coming of the train which should bring them their +new companion. They formed an attractive little group as they moved to +and fro, talking and laughing, or pausing now and again to turn and gaze +down the track, which stretched far away before them in two shining rows +of steel. With the instinct of the true hostess, Allie had arrayed +herself in her state and festival suit, and sallied forth to meet her +father and cousin, and extend to their guest a prompt welcome to his new +home. Half-way to the station she was surprised at being overtaken by +the three boys, who came rushing after her, shouting her name as they +ran.</p> + +<p>"'Where are you going, my pretty maid?'" panted Ned, dropping into step +at one side, while Howard took the other, and Grant capered along the +sidewalk in front of them, now backwards, now sideways, and now +forwards, as the conversation demanded his entire attention, or became +uninteresting once more.</p> + +<p>"'I'm going to meet Cousin Charlie, she said,'" answered Allie, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"So that's the why of all these fine feathers," commented Ned; while +Howard added,—</p> + +<p>"All right; we'll go with you."</p> + +<p>"But I thought you just told mamma that you wouldn't go, anyway," +responded Allie, astonished at this sudden change of plan.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm here," answered Howard calmly. "I'm not going to welcome him +with open arms, though; and you needn't think I am. We fellows are just +going to take a look at him on the sly, and then we can tell better how +to treat him."</p> + +<p>"But, Howard, you mustn't; he'll see you," remonstrated Allie, +scandalized at the suggestion. "If papa knows it he won't like it a +bit."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right, Allie," said Ned reassuringly. "All we 're going +to do is to hide behind that pile of freight boxes over there, and get a +good look at him without his knowing it. Then we'll light out for home, +and Howard will be there ahead of you, see if he isn't; so, if you don't +give it away, there'll be no harm done."</p> + +<p>"Unless you tell of it yourselves," said Allie doubtfully. "I don't half +like it; and if Howard won't help meet him, he ought to keep clear out +of the way. But there's one thing about it, boys, you must, you really +must, stop talking so much slang. It's bad enough with us girls, and I'm +getting to use it as much as you do; but you'll scare Charlie to pieces +if you talk so much of it."</p> + +<p>"Does our right worshipful brother maintain himself in his usual health +and spirits?—is that the style, Allie?" asked Howard, as he took off +his cap with a flourish, and bowed low before some imaginary personage.</p> + +<p>"I caught Allie studying the dictionary, yesterday morning," said Grant, +turning to face them once more. "She had a piece of paper in her lap, +with concatenation and peripatetic and nostalgia written on it, and I +supposed she was studying her spelling lesson, but now I see,—she was +just making up a sentence to say to him. Speak up loud, Allie, so we can +hear."</p> + +<p>"You'd better stay here and listen," said Allie. "But there's the train, +see, just coming round the curve down the cañon. Off with you, if you +really are going to be so silly!"</p> + +<p>The boys whirled around hastily, to assure themselves that it was no +false alarm; then they left her to wait alone, while they settled +themselves behind a pile of great wooden boxes which half filled the +upper end of the platform. Allie watched them arrange themselves at +their ease; then, when they were quite hidden from view, she turned back +to look at the train as it rushed up the valley towards her, sending +along the rails before it a fierce throbbing which kept time to her own +leaping pulse.</p> + +<p>In spite of her light talk and laughter, Allie was conscious of a keen +sense of excitement, as she stood waiting to receive her cousin. He was +the only child of Mrs. Burnam's only brother; and now, at thirteen, he +was left alone in the world, doubly orphaned, and with no near relatives +save this one aunt, to whose care his dying mother had intrusted her +boy. All that Allie knew had only served to interest her in the young +stranger; his love for music and his unusual talent for it, his former +life spent in a luxurious city home, even his present loneliness had +touched her girlish heart with pity, and made her resolve to render his +new life pleasant to him, in spite of the possible teasing he might have +to undergo from the boys. And then, while she was determined to become +his champion at any cost, there was always the delightful possibility +that he might be a pleasant addition to their little circle, and +contribute his share to the frolics which were continually taking place +at either the Burnams' or the Everetts'. Far into the hours of the +previous night she had lain awake, picturing her cousin as he would +probably appear to them, and going over and over in her own mind the +details of their first meeting. She was sorry that he had lost his +mother; but she found herself fervently hoping that he would not be so +very dismal, and even that he might laugh a little occasionally, when +anything particularly amusing should occur.</p> + +<p>"Well, daught, how goes it?" And Allie found herself in her father's +arms, and then released, as Mr. Burnam added, "Here, Charlie, this is +your Cousin Alice."</p> + +<p>With a sudden shyness, Allie put her hand into the one before her, as +she glanced up at the boyish face which was looking down into her own. +Something she read there, in the half-anxious expression of the brown +eyes, made her forget her more formal salutation, and say cordially,—</p> + +<p>"Are you the new brother that's come to live at our house? It's going to +be splendid to have you there." And with a little confiding, sisterly +gesture, she pulled his hand through her arm, in an unspoken welcome +which was inexpressibly grateful to the lad, tired with his three +thousand miles of lonely journeying, and dreading to meet these strange +cousins into whose home life he had been so abruptly forced. Now, as he +looked at Allie's slight, girlish figure, and at her bright, happy face +which not even her irregular features could render plain, he felt a +sudden sense of relief, and secretly wished that all the family might be +as attractive as his genial uncle and the pleasant cousin who had given +him so sisterly a greeting.</p> + +<p>"Come," she added, as her father beckoned to them; "we'll go over and +get into that carriage, while papa hunts up your trunks." And she led +the way across the platform with an apparent unconsciousness of the +three heads which precipitately bobbed down out of sight at their +approach, while the owners of the heads coiled themselves up in the +narrowest of corners, with much scraping of shoes on the boards, in the +process.</p> + +<p>"This old station is just full of rats," she continued, in a tone of +careless explanation, as they passed the hiding-place of her brother and +his friends. "I heard the ticket-man say, just before your train came +in, that he was coming out with his gun to shoot some of them, as soon +as the engine had backed down out of the way."</p> + +<p>A long-drawn squeak, as of an animal in pain, answered to her words, +and they went on, while Allie threw one triumphant glance over her +shoulder at the three heads which had promptly reappeared as soon as her +back was turned.</p> + +<p>Once seated opposite her cousin in the carriage, while they waited for +Mr. Burnam to join them, Allie could study his face at her ease, as she +chattered away to him, in the hope of making him feel at home. He had +attracted her at the first glance; and the more she looked at him the +stronger became her impression that here was a cousin worth having. He +was large of his age, finely formed, and taller than Howard, and had a +frank, boyish face, which just now looked a little tired after his long +journey, and a little troubled and nervous at coming among new friends. +For the rest, he had a mass of soft, reddish-brown hair, a freckled +face, firm red lips which parted, now and then, to show two rows of +small, even teeth, and two deep dimples that came and went in his +cheeks, and a pair of near-sighted brown eyes that looked very steadily +into Allie's, as if trying to read his new kinswoman, and find out from +her into what hands he was likely to fall.</p> + +<p>And, indeed, he would have looked far that day without finding a more +attractive cousin, for Allie, in her desire to play the hostess well, +had dropped her usual rollicking manner, and assumed a sweet, childish +dignity which became her as well as her more wonted gayety. Charlie's +face cleared a little, as he looked into her great blue eyes and watched +the changing expressions of her fresh young face, so pretty and bright +in its soft, warm setting of fur.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't Howard come down with you, daught?" asked Mr. Burnam, as he +took his place beside them, and the carriage, turning from the station, +drove away up the street towards the house.</p> + +<p>For an instant, Allie's gaze was fixed on a distant opening between the +buildings, where three boyish figures were scurrying along as fast as +their feet could carry them. Then she roused herself, and turned to the +lad before her, as if she had not heard her father's question.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you have a good time on the way out here, Cousin Charlie?" she +inquired hastily. "Howard and I have been envying you your journey."</p> + +<p>"Can't say I enjoyed it," Charlie answered. "I'd never even travelled +all night before, and it was no end lonesome, riding along, day in and +day out, without a soul to speak to. An old friend of mother's met me in +Chicago, and put me on the train for Council Bluffs, and 'twas easy +enough changing there, so I didn't have any trouble; but you'd better +believe I was glad to see Uncle Ralph when he walked into the sleeper +yesterday afternoon."</p> + +<p>"I believe I'd be willing to go round the world alone, if I could only +go," said Allie. "I'm a real railroad man's daughter, and like to +travel; don't I, poppy?" And she nestled closer to her father's side, +while with amused eyes she watched their guest's expression change, +first to astonishment, then to disgust, as he looked at the main street, +with its low buildings, some few of brick, little one-story structures, +whose fronts were run up in a thin, flat wall, with sham window blinds +at a second-story level, to present the appearance of more pretentious +buildings.</p> + +<p>Fresh as he was from the closely-packed streets of the great city, with +their unbroken rows of towering business blocks and apartment houses, +Charlie was conscious of vague wonder at the rough little mining camp +before him. Then he turned and looked up at the mountain, and, boy that +he was, he forgot all else, all the crudeness of the buildings and all +the roughness of the surroundings, as he saw the full grandeur of the +snow-clad Rockies shining and glistening in the morning sunshine, which +lay caressingly over their giants slopes. He bent forward to look at +them once more, while his face grew very thoughtful and intent; then he +dropped back into his old corner, saying, in an awed, hushed tone, as if +to himself,—</p> + +<p>"Jove! It's worth it all, to have a chance to look at those."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you like them," said Allie heartily, though she smiled at his +"Jove," when she recalled her recent charge to Howard to avoid all +slang. "The town must seem queer to you; but the mountains make up for +it. Now lean 'way forward, and look out this side. That little brick +house is ours; and there's mamma in the door, and Howard just back of +her, waiting to give you greeting."</p> + +<p>"Now, honestly, Allie, how did you like him?" Howard asked, as soon as +his mother had taken Charlie to his room and the door closed behind +them.</p> + +<p>"I think I do like him," said Allie slowly. "He didn't talk much coming +up; but I don't know as I wonder, when we're all strangers to him. He +has sort of a good face; of course he isn't handsome, like Ned and +Grant, but he looks as if he'd have some fun in him."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think he did look like Ned," returned Howard disdainfully; +"you don't often see anybody that does. This fellow has red hair, too, +and I don't like that kind. He's dressed himself up regardless, in his +derby hat and long-tailed ulster. Does he wear knickerbockers, Allie, or +does he think he's too old for them?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know?" answered Allie. "He's pretty long, and I began at +the top, so I didn't get down so far; but when we are used to his +freckles and his glasses, I don't think he'll seem so bad to us."</p> + +<p>"You almost gave us away, with your rat speech," said Howard, laughing +at the recollection. "Grant giggled till I was afraid Charlie'd hear +him, so I squeaked to cover up the noise. You had us cornered there; and +I didn't want to get caught, for I knew mammy wouldn't like it. She's +been so anxious to have Charlie get here and have a good time with us, +that I didn't want to spoil it all."</p> + +<p>"How long have you been home?" asked his sister, as she turned away to +go to her room and take off her jacket and hat.</p> + +<p>"I had just time to drop off my coat, as I came in through the kitchen, +and get to the front door, when you turned the corner. I believe mammy +has spent the last hour between the door and window. I wonder what +they're doing in there; I wish they'd hurry up, for I want some lunch. +Charlie ought to be hungry, too, for he had breakfast at Argenta. +Remember those elk steaks we had there last fall, sis?"</p> + +<p>Allie made a wry face at the memory.</p> + +<p>"Poor Charlie! He will think he's come into the wilderness. You should +have seen his face, Howard, when we were driving up Main Street. It was +too funny; he looked as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He +stood it very well till he came to the office; then that green sham +front was too much for him, and he fairly groaned."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what," Howard counselled her; "can't you get hold of him, +and tell him about some of the ways we have out here, and get him used +to it, so he won't show just what he thinks of us? Girls can do that +sort of thing better than boys, and he'll need some coaching, of course. +Just pussy-cat him a little; and then he looks as if he'd take any +amount of advice. I don't care, for you and me; but the Everetts won't +stand anything of that kind. They've been here ever since the town +started, and they think it's the only place in the world."</p> + +<p>"'Tis one of the best," said Allie decisively. "Of course, 'tisn't +pretty, nor very fine; but I've had the best times since I came here I +ever had, and I'm not going to have anybody run it down when I'm round. +I'll give him a talking-to this very night. Now, let's just come out and +take one race to the corner and back; I've been proper as long as I can, +and I must do something to let off steam. He's all out of the way and +won't see me. Come on!" And away they went, racing down the street in +the warm noon sun.</p> + +<p>After his quiet talk with his aunt, who had gone with him to lead the +way to his room, Charlie no longer felt any doubt of his welcome. Mrs. +Burnam was so like his father in her manner, so bright and brisk, yet so +gentle, that her nephew felt at ease with her at once. There had been +something indescribably motherly in her face, as she sat down on the +edge of the bed, and, taking his hand, drew him down at her side, while +she questioned him about his journey, and the friends he had left behind +him. Then she spoke of his mother so tenderly that the boy's lips +quivered, and two great tears rolled down his cheeks. That was more +than Mrs. Burnam's warm heart could bear. For a moment she let his fresh +sorrow have its way; then she bent forward and put her arm around him, +just as she might have done with Howard.</p> + +<p>"I know, Charlie," she said gently, "nobody else can take her place; +but, while you are with us, remember that you are our own boy, and are +as much at home with us as Howard himself. And now come, if you're +ready, and get acquainted with your cousins, while I see about the +lunch."</p> + +<p>As Charlie went back to the parlor once more, he was surprised to find +the room deserted and the front door slightly open. With a little shiver +of cold and loneliness, he stepped across the room to close the door, +and stood still, to gaze in astonishment at the sight before him. Up the +middle of the road came two figures, evidently engaged in some mad race. +The boy he recognized at once as being his Cousin Howard; but who was +the small Amazon who rushed along at his side, bareheaded and with her +short, thick hair flying in the wind, as she easily kept pace with the +longer strides of her brother? Surely, this could not be Allie, the +demure little maid who had met him with such easy, quiet grace! Charlie +knew little of girls and their ways; but he had always looked upon them +with a certain distrust, as being all-absorbed in their fine clothes and +their prim deportment. The few he had known in New York had done nothing +to alter his opinion, and it had never before occurred to him as a +possibility that a young girl could romp and run, and enjoy the free, +out-of-door life which is the rightful privilege of every healthy child. +This new revelation was quite to his liking, and his astonishment gave +place to interest and then to delight, as Allie gradually outstripped +her brother, and came flying up the steps far in advance of him, with a +triumphant shout of laughter, just as her cousin appeared in the open +doorway, loudly applauding her victory.</p> + +<p>Early that evening Allie and her cousin were alone in the parlor, for +Mrs. Burnam was putting Victor to bed, Mr. Burnam had gone down to his +office for an hour, and Howard had gone out on an errand with the +Everett boys. The afternoon had been devoted to helping Charlie to +unpack and settle himself in his new quarters; and over this informal +occupation their acquaintance had made rapid strides, so it was with a +sense of duty well-performed that Allie curled herself up in the great +easy-chair before the pine knots blazing on the andirons, and turned to +look at the boy, pacing up and down the room. Divested of his long +ulster, which had called forth Howard's criticism, her cousin stood +before her, dressed, like many another boy, in the light brown suit of +the period, but with a grace of position and pride of carriage which had +made him a noticeable lad, even in the great city school, where he had +only been one of scores of well-dressed, well-trained boys. Allie +studied him for a moment in silence; then she gave a little contented +nod to herself, as she said interrogatively,—</p> + +<p>"Well, Charlie?"</p> + +<p>"Well?" he responded, as he came to a halt at her chair, and, folding +his arms on the back, stood looking down at her while she raised her +face to his.</p> + +<p>"What were you thinking about?" she demanded. "Were you homesick or +tired, that made you look so sober?"</p> + +<p>"I was thinking about New York," he answered candidly; "wondering about +some of the fellows in our school. They were a jolly set, and I'd like +to see them; but I'm not homesick a bit. I think I'm going to like it +here, when I get used to it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it does seem very strange to you," mused Allie, as if to +herself, while she watched the face above her, looking so thoughtful in +the flickering light. Then she added abruptly, "Come round where I can +talk to you, Charlie; I've something very important to say to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am," he answered, but without stirring from his place.</p> + +<p>"Come," she insisted, patting the broad arm of her chair with an +inviting gesture. "I want to give you your first lesson in Western life; +and I can't talk to you half so well, when you're just back of me. If I +can't watch you, I sha'n't know when you're getting vexed and wishing +I'd stop."</p> + +<p>"All right; fire ahead." And Charlie moved around to her side, where he +clasped his hands and brought his spectacles to bear upon her with an +owlish solemnity.</p> + +<p>"That's a very good boy," said his cousin approvingly. Then she +continued, in a tone of elderly counsel, "Now, my dear child, I am about +to say a few words to you which shall be for your own good."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say," remonstrated Charlie, his dignity breaking down all at +once; "how old are you, Allie,—sixty, or seventy-five?"</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't laugh," returned Allie, shaking her head at him +reproachfully. "That's just the way Mrs. Pennypoker talks to Ned and +Grant; I've heard her, lots of times. But now, truly, I wish you'd be +good and listen to me, for I do want to tell you something that will be +a help to you. The people out here are different from those you've seen, +and the ways aren't like those farther east. I don't know why 'tis, but +they hate to be reminded of it, and, when we came here, papa told us +never to say anything bad about the town, as if we didn't like it, for +we'd get everybody down on us. We did like it, though, so we didn't have +to fib. But now you're here you'd better just keep still about anything +that strikes you funny, when you're off with the boys. Then you can come +back and talk it over with me, when they aren't round, if you want to; I +don't mind; only don't let Howard hear you, for he'd tell the Everetts. +See? That's all; but I thought I'd warn you."</p> + +<p>"You're a trump, Allie; and I'll try not to disgrace you," said Charlie +gratefully. "Of course, it seems awfully queer to me; but I won't give +it away, if I can help it. What's the matter now?" he demanded, as Allie +leaned back in her chair and burst into a peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I was just thinking how funny 'twas," she answered; "only this morning +I was telling the boys that their slang would shock you, and they must +drop it; but here you are, every bit as bad as they. I don't believe +there's so much difference between Montana and New York, after all."</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't the place, it's boys," responded Charlie sagely. "They're +pretty much the same, wherever you take them. I think the difference is +in the girls, and, if you please, I believe I prefer the Western ones."</p> + +<p>Allie flushed rosy red at the unexpected compliment, but before she had +time to enjoy it, or to reply, there came a sudden knock at the +dining-room door, and Janey's black face peered in at the crack.</p> + +<p>"Miss Allie, honey," she said in a wheedling tone, as she rolled up her +great eyes at her little mistress, "cyarn you get time to write a letter +for me, bymeby?"</p> + +<p>"I'll come out as soon as Mr. Howard gets home, Janey," she answered; +then, as the head vanished and the door closed, she added to her cousin, +"Janey can't read nor write, so I have to do all her letters for her. +She's engaged to marry a man in Washington, and she says he's 'in de +guv'ment.' His name is Hamilton Lincoln Cornwallis; but he lives at +number seven and a half Goat Alley, so I don't believe he's President +yet. You've no idea how funny his letters are. Maybe she'll get you to +read one, some day."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE EVERETT HOUSEHOLD.</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker belonged to that unpleasant type of individuals +whose members, for lack of specific excellence, are commonly spoken of +by their friends as "thoroughly estimable women." She possessed all the +virtues, but none of the graces which make virtue attractive to the +youthful mind; and she regulated her daily life by a cast-iron code that +was as unvarying and heartless as the smile which sixty years of habit +had stamped upon her thin, bloodless lips. Mrs. Pennypoker was said to +have been handsome in her day, handsome with an austere, cold beauty; +but her day was long past, and the only remaining trace of her good +looks lay in her piercing gray eyes, and her long, straight Greek nose. +The eyes were undimmed by time; but the crow's-feet had gathered thick +about them, and the Greek nose was surmounted by a pair of large, round +eye-glasses, which only served to intensify the sternness of the eyes +behind them. To the children around her, there was something +awe-inspiring in those eye-glasses, and in the broad black ribbon which +held them suspended about her neck. In times of peace, they had the +appearance of being on the watch for some hidden sin; but when occasion +for punishment arose, there was something positively terrifying in their +glare, and the culprit longed for his last hour to come, that he might +escape from their power.</p> + +<p>Dame Nature had been in a generous mood when she had endowed Mrs. +Pennypoker, for she had given her a massive frame and constitution of +bronze, which made her thoroughly intolerant of those unfortunates who +were not similarly blessed. But, impressive as Mrs. Pennypoker was in +most respects, there was yet one undignified peculiarity which marred +the otherwise perfect majesty of her appearance. Like Samson, her +vulnerable point lay in her hair; or, more properly speaking, in her +lack of it. The ravages of time had removed a part of her dark brown +locks, and left an oval bald spot, closely resembling the tonsure of a +Romish priest. This defect was usually covered with an elaborate pile of +braids and puffs; but occasionally the slippery surface of her bald +crown and the power of gravitation proved too much for her hair-pins, +and the whole structure slipped backward, to reveal a shining expanse of +milk-white skin, gleaming forth from the dark tresses surrounding it. +Moreover, rumor had been known to whisper that there was something +peculiar about the rich brown hue of Mrs. Pennypoker's hair; that it was +remarkable for a person of her age to be so free from the silver threads +common among far younger women; and that, strangest of all, she was +subject to periodical variations of color, her hair turning gray at the +ends and then resuming its original tint, while, incredible as it might +seem, the change always appeared at the ends nearest her scalp, though +the tips of her hairs retained all their wonted lustre.</p> + +<p>Coming from far-away New England, Mrs. Pennypoker was true to the blood +of her Puritan ancestry. She had in her composition much of the stuff of +which martyrs are made. She could have gone to the stake for her +opinions; but she could just as cheerfully have turned the tables, and +piled the fagots high about the misguided heretics who ventured to +disagree with her own peculiar doctrines. Ever on the alert to find out +the path of duty and to walk in it, she had promptly accepted the +proposition of her distant cousin, Mr. Everett, to become his +housekeeper, after the death of his wife; and, forsaking all her old +associations, she had girded herself and her trunks, and, with her +parrot as her sole companion, she had retired to the wilderness to +subdue the dragons of anarchy and chaos which had probably entered into +the Everett household.</p> + +<p>Her first dragon proved to be a very long-tailed one; and though he was +promptly met, he was by no means so promptly subdued. An hour after her +arrival, she had penetrated to the kitchen, where she was suddenly +confronted by Wang Kum, the shoe-button-eyed Chinaman who had been in +the service of Mrs. Everett for months before her death. In their first +interview, Mrs. Pennypoker was ignominiously routed and driven from the +field, for Wang Kum ignored her stony gaze, and cheerfully and volubly +chattered to her in a torrent of Pidgin-English which left her no +opportunity for reply; so she withdrew, resolving that her first reform +should be the removal of Wang from office. However, on this question Mr. +Everett was determined; Wang Kum had been their faithful servant, and +knew the ways of their household; moreover, he had been devoted to Mrs. +Everett during her last illness, and in that kitchen Wang Kum should +stay. Defeated in this main object, Mrs. Pennypoker next devoted herself +to the task of civilization, and waged daily warfare with the Chinaman, +in her endeavors to convert him to American ways and dress, and +Calvinistic theology.</p> + +<p>"Old lady heap talkee; Wang Kum no care," he used to confide to Louise +Everett, after an unusually long and tedious fray. "Wang min' Miss Lou; +old lady too flesh."</p> + +<p>Four years before this time, when the Blue Creek copper mine was opened +and the building of the great smelter had brought to the creek the first +settlers of the mining camp, Mr. Everett had been made superintendent of +the mine, and had brought his family out to be with him. Of his three +children, Louise was now in the first flush of young womanhood, a +pretty, graceful blonde of twenty, who had been educated in an Eastern +school until the sudden death of her mother had called her home to take +charge of the housekeeping, before Mrs. Pennypoker appeared upon the +scene, to relieve her of the care, and act as matron to watch over her +young cousin with an eagle eye. For the past few years, Louise had been +away from home so much of the time that the loss of her mother fell +less heavily upon her than on her young brothers, who had been the +constant companions of the bright, pretty little woman who had devoted +her life to theirs.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pennypoker was scarcely the person to make good their loss; and Ned +and Grant would have had a lonely life, had it not been for motherly +Mrs. Burnam, whose heart was large enough to take in all the children +with whom she came in contact. The Everetts were likable boys, too, just +the companions she would have chosen for Howard and Allie: gay and +mischievous, as every healthy boy should be, but with the high sense of +honor and firm principle which can only come from a good mother and +careful home training. Ned, the older one, at thirteen was the image of +his father, with a rich, dark beauty which made him a striking contrast +to Grant's light yellow hair and pink and white cheeks. Grant was his +mother's own boy, in all but his eyes, which were like his father's, +large and brown; and he had received his mother's maiden name, just as +he had received the features and complexion of her family.</p> + +<p>Of all the members of the Everett household, Grant was the only one who +felt no fear of Mrs. Pennypoker. Even his father was far more in +subjection to her rule than was his little son. Grant had been the first +to discover her bald spot—which he promptly christened her storm +centre—and to call Ned's attention to it; and therein lay much of his +power over her. Now, whenever Mrs. Euphemia threatened to get the better +of him, he had only to fix his eyes steadily on the top of her head, or +abstractedly rub his hand over his own yellow pate, to cause her to +abandon her lecture and escape to her mirror, in order to assure herself +that all was as it should be.</p> + +<p>The Everetts lived a little to the west of the Burnam's, in what was +usually spoken of as "one of the old houses," to distinguish it from the +more modern structures of brick and boards. This particular old house +was, in fact, the oldest one in the camp, for it had been built by the +superintendent for his family, when the other inhabitants of the place +were still living in tents pitched along the edge of the creek. Like +most of the other houses of the town, it was a one-story building, low +and rambling, with odd wings and projections, which had been added to +the original square structure as the needs of the family demanded. It +was built of rough-hewn logs, but the front was coated with clapboards, +in deference to the prevailing style of architecture, which literally +put its best foot forward.</p> + +<p>Within, the walls were guiltless of lath or plaster, but were covered +with strips of cotton cloth, to which the wall-paper was pasted. At +certain seasons, this imparted a peculiar effect to the rooms, for, in +the fierce winter gales, occasional breezes would work their way through +the crannies of the wall and cause the paper and its cloth background to +sway backwards and forwards, to the horror of the stranger unused to +such modes of finish, since the sight of the walls swaying and wriggling +before his eyes could only be satisfactorily explained as the result of +intoxication, or of temporary insanity. The same stranger would have +stopped short in surprise, on entering the Everetts' clumsy log-house. +In spite of its unattractive exterior, it was a cosy, luxurious +dwelling, with furniture, draperies and pictures which would do credit +to any Eastern city house; for Mrs. Everett had loved pretty things, and +had gathered them about her in the hope of making home the spot most +enjoyable for her children.</p> + +<p>The Everetts were gathered around the table for their late dinner, one +night in February, soon after Charlie's arrival in Blue Creek. At the +head of the table sat Mrs. Pennypoker, who never appeared so majestic +as when she was presiding over the bountifully spread board, for Mrs. +Pennypoker was what is known as a liberal provider, and had a lingering +fondness, herself, for the good things of this earth. To-night, she was +unusually benign, for Wang Kum had outdone himself, and the soup was the +perfection of flavoring, the roast done to a turn; so she could relax +her anxious scrutiny of the appointments of the table, and lend an ear +to what Mr. Everett was saying to his daughter.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Nelson came down to the office to see me to-day. It seems he's +been talking up the matter of a boy choir, and he wants Ned and Grant, +here, to sing in it. He's going to have Howard, and he's heard that +Charlie sings; then there are about a dozen little German fellows, and +some men. I told him I'd no objection, and I'd ask the boys what they +thought."</p> + +<p>"He said something about it to me, after service last night," answered +Louise, who acted as organist at the little Episcopal chapel. "He said +he wanted to get his plans all made as soon as he could, so we could go +to work on the vestments and begin training, to have the choir ready to +sing at Easter. I told him that both the boys sang, but I didn't know +what you'd say to it."</p> + +<p>"I'm willing," Mr. Everett was beginning, when Mrs. Pennypoker +interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," she asked with icy distinctness, as she leaned forward +over the table to add emphasis to her words, "that you are going to let +your sons sing in one of those choirs that march into church with their +night-gowns on, and singsong the answers to what the priest says?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes," said Mr. Everett, smiling at his cousin, in the hope of +calming her disgust. "Yes; that is, if that's what you call it. The boys +both have good voices, and it certainly won't hurt them any, for Mr. +Nelson knows how to train them well."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" returned Mrs. Pennypoker uncompromisingly. "It's my belief that +they'd much better go to hear good old Dr. Hornblower, and let this +flummery alone. Your Nelson man is no better than a papist, with his +colored windows and his chants and all; and, now he's succeeded in +getting his new chapel, there'll be no stopping him."</p> + +<p>"Just watch the storm centre," whispered Grant to his brother, as Mrs. +Pennypoker ended her remark with an expressive, but ill-advised shake +of her head. "It's coming into action fast."</p> + +<p>"I am glad you feel satisfied with the doctor," answered Mr. Everett, +looking squarely into the face of his irate relative. "He is doubtless a +good man; but my wife was a member of Mr. Nelson's church, and her +children have always been accustomed to going there, so I think they +would better continue. Another thing I started to tell you, Lou," he +went on, as he turned to his daughter again, "I hear that, at last, Blue +Creek is to have a new doctor. There's a young fellow from one of the +Eastern colleges on his way out here to settle. The Fullertons know him, +and say he's a brilliant man. It's about time we had somebody, for since +old Dr. Meacham died, nobody's dared be ill, for fear they'd die before +a doctor could get over from Butte."</p> + +<p>"And when this one comes, we're all going to celebrate by being ill; is +that what you mean, papa?" Louise asked playfully, as she shook her head +at Grant, who was stretching up, to peer curiously at the top of Mrs. +Pennypoker's head, where a pale crescent was gradually appearing and +waxing wider. "When's he coming?"</p> + +<p>"Not for five or six weeks," her father answered; "so you'll have to +keep well for a while longer. He's on his way; but he's going to visit +some friends in Omaha and Denver, before he gets here."</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" exclaimed Ned suddenly.</p> + +<p>"What's struck you?" asked Grant.</p> + +<p>"Nothing; only I was wondering if this could be the same man Charlie Mac +was telling about. He met a young man on the train, papa, who came from +Chicago to the Bluffs with him. He had next section, so they talked +some, and he told Charlie he was from way back East, and was coming to +Blue Creek, too. He said he'd never been here, and asked Charlie all +manner of questions about the place and all."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he found out much," said Grant with a giggle. "Charlie +hadn't any more idea than a dead man what 'twas going to be like out +here."</p> + +<p>"No; but he's done pretty well since he came, though," said Ned +admiringly. "He's acted as if 'twere just what he'd always been used to. +It's my belief that Allie's been coaching him; he'd never get on so well +by himself, I know."</p> + +<p>"He came pretty near finishing himself, the second day he was here, all +the same," added Grant. "Did you hear about it, papa? Nobody'd told him +to look out a little, till he was used to this air. He started out to +run, and it used him up in no time, so he turned blue-white, and nearly +dropped. He's taking it slowly, now; and is getting into it by little +and little."</p> + +<p>"By the way," asked Louise suddenly; "what has become of Marjorie? I +haven't seen her for a week."</p> + +<p>"She's under punishment," replied Ned lugubriously; "and we haven't any +of us seen her since the afternoon we were out skating, just before +Charlie came. I don't know exactly what 'tis; but it must be something +pretty bad, for her mother to keep her away so long."</p> + +<p>"Marjorie is always getting herself into trouble, it seems to me," said +Mr. Everett, laughing indulgently as he spoke, for he had a genuine +liking for this active, flyaway young girl, whose heart was as true and +kind as her impulses were hasty and rash.</p> + +<p>"So she is," returned Ned defensively; "but she flies into everything +head first, and without thinking much about it; and then she goes into +the depths of gunny-sacks and cinders afterwards, when it's too late to +do any good."</p> + +<p>"That isn't a very helpful kind of penitence," remarked Mrs. +Pennypoker, looking up from her plate.</p> + +<p>"It's a very natural one, I am afraid," said Mr. Everett charitably. +"Then Marjorie hasn't seen this new friend of yours?"</p> + +<p>"No, not yet," Grant answered. "It's a shame, too, for she was in a +hurry to get a look at him. He is a first-rate fellow, really, papa; and +doesn't seem a bad tenderfoot, even to old-timers like Ned and me. What +do you want, Wang?" he added, as Wang Kum's head appeared at the door.</p> + +<p>"Mas' How'd, he here," announced Wang briefly. "He no come in; wan' +you." And he vanished, followed by the boys, who hurried out in search +of their friend.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, at the Burnam's a short conversation was taking place, +which would have enlightened the boys on the subject of Charlie's easy +adaptability to his new surroundings. It was his habit to practise for +an hour after dinner each night, and Allie was usually beside him. She +loved music as well as did her cousin, and was content to settle herself +on a wide sofa drawn up beside the piano, sometimes with a book, but +more often idly leaning back against the cushions, with her eyes fixed +on her cousin's face, as he gradually lost all consciousness of her +presence in his enjoyment of the music. Young boy as he was, and a +normal, healthy boy, too, Charlie had undoubted genius in this one +direction, and added to a rare talent for music the skill gained by five +years of study under the best master that the city could afford, until, +both in subject and method, his playing was far beyond what one would +naturally expect in a lad of his years. It had been a great delight to +him to find that Allie cared for his music, and could understand the +varying moods which he tried to express in his hours of practice. The +two cousins really had their best times in these nightly visits, for +when his regular time of practice was over, Charlie would still linger +at the piano, playing in a soft, fitful undertone, while they discussed +the events of the day, or planned for the morrow's program. The week +they had been together had quickly ripened their first liking for each +other into a close friendship; and after a day of out-of-door frolics +with the other boys, Charlie had learned to look forward to the time of +talking it over with Allie, and listening to her merry, whimsical +comments on what they had done and seen. But, on this particular night, +Charlie was bound on gaining information.</p> + +<p>"If you please, ma'am," he began, as he let his hands fall from the +keys, and turned to face his cousin.</p> + +<p>"Oh—yes—what?" responded Allie, gradually rousing herself from her +story.</p> + +<p>"If you please, I'd like to ask a question," he said meekly. "I'm in +want of a few pointers."</p> + +<p>"Well?" and Allie was all attention, as she smiled up at her cousin's +perplexed face.</p> + +<p>"In the first place, how much is a bit?" demanded Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Twelve and a half cents," she answered promptly. "Why?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know as I dare tell," Charlie replied, with a shamefaced laugh.</p> + +<p>"Go on," urged Allie curiously. "I'm sure it's something funny, and you +know I never tell tales."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you'll promise, true blue. You see, I wanted some new rubbers, +for mine were all full of holes, and I was tired of going round with wet +feet; so I went down town this morning and tried to buy some. The clerk +said they were six bits, but I didn't know how much that was, and didn't +want to say so, so I told him that I didn't quite like the kind, and +went off."</p> + +<p>"You've a great mind, Charlie," said Allie approvingly. "Everybody here +counts by bits; two make a quarter; and then, you know, we don't have +any pennies here, nothing smaller than a five-cent piece. Remember that, +and don't offer anybody a penny, even if it's a beggar. Go on; what +next?"</p> + +<p>"That's about all, for this time," he answered. "Oh, no; there's one +thing more. What's that queer place down south of here, all fenced in, +and with little bits of log cabins scattered around as if they'd just +been dropped out of a pepper-box?"</p> + +<p>"That's Chinatown," said Allie, laughing at the accuracy of the +description. "We must get papa to take us there, some day. But now I +want to tell you something. You know Marjorie Fisher?"</p> + +<p>"Can't say I do," returned Charlie flippantly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know what you mean," interrupted Allie; "but you know who she +is, and you want to know her, herself, for she's great fun. She's +been—busy, this last week; but I had a note from her to-night, and she +wants us all to come down there to-morrow afternoon for a candy-pull. I +told her we'd go, so she's going to stop here after school and wait for +you and Howard, and we'll all go on together. The Everetts will be +there, too, and we shall be sure to have a good time; we always do at +Marjorie's."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE CROSS-HEAD.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The bees and the wasps were there.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The old queen bee, with fiendish glee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Was pulling a hornet's hair.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The monkey thought 'twas rough;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He took a pinch of snuff,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And then the bees began to sneeze,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And left,"—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>sang a clear, boyish voice outside, and the next moment steps were heard +on the piazza.</p> + +<p>"Who's that?" asked Marjorie, glancing up from the skating cap, which, +with infinite pains, she was crocheting, in thoughtful anticipation of +Howard's birthday, the following summer.</p> + +<p>"Charlie; don't you know his voice?" responded Allie, who was sitting +with one foot tucked under her, while she sewed the buttons on her shoe.</p> + +<p>"How should I? I've never heard him sing," answered Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"You will soon, for he and Ned are to lead the new choir at Easter. +Charlie seems to be feeling unusually comf'y to-day," said his cousin, +as the boy came in at the side door opening into the dining-room, and +walked over to the corner where they were sitting, curled up by the +stove. "Where'd you get that pretty song?" she added.</p> + +<p>"Made it up, of course; didn't you know I was a poet?" inquired Charlie +blandly, while he nodded to Marjorie, and then pulled off his glasses to +wipe away the steam condensed on them by the sudden change from the cold +outer air to the heat within the house.</p> + +<p>"I never should have supposed so," Marjorie answered, laughing. "You +look altogether too plump and well-fed."</p> + +<p>"Can't help it; you can't tell by looking at a toad how far he'll hop. I +wrote it 'all my lone,' as Vic says," responded Charlie. "I'm very proud +of it, too."</p> + +<p>"Sit down and amuse us," said Allie, hospitably drawing a chair nearer +the fire.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I'm engaged, and must be going," returned Charlie, with +a lofty air of importance which was not without its effect upon his +cousin.</p> + +<p>"What's going on?" she asked curiously. "I told Marjorie that you acted +unusually set up over something."</p> + +<p>"I met Mr. Everett just now, and he told me that, if I'd get over to the +smelter at three, he'd let me go down the mine this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"O Charlie, take us with you," begged his cousin, starting up, forgetful +of the fact that she was still without one shoe. "I've never been, and I +do want to go, so much."</p> + +<p>"Can't; girls aren't invited," said Charlie heartlessly. "He did say +that he'll take us all at once, though, as soon as they put the cage in, +next month; but he doesn't like to take but one at a time, on this thing +they're running now. I wish you could go, for 'twould be lots more fun."</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't much to go down," said Marjorie, with an air of superior +wisdom. "It's dark and slippery, and not any too clean; and you have to +get out of the way of something or other, most every minute."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said Allie; "it's all very well to say that, when you've +been; but I never had a chance to go. I was ill the time Howard went; +and now I shall be the only one left that hasn't been down. I hope +you'll have an awfully good time, though, Charlie, and not get lost, or +smashed, or anything else that's bad, while you're underground. Isn't it +growing colder?" she added, as Charlie turned up the collar of his +ulster and scientifically pinched the edges of his ears, preparatory to +starting out once more.</p> + +<p>"'T isn't exactly balmy," he answered. "Want anything, before I go?" And +a moment later the door closed behind him.</p> + +<p>"You're a lucky girl, Allie," said Marjorie, while she watched the +figure striding along down the road. "Even Ned says he's the jolliest +fellow in town, all but Howard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, 't is good to have him here," said Allie contentedly, as she +slipped on her shoe and stooped to button it up. "He's just as +good-natured and nice as he can be; and I think I like him better than +any boy I ever saw, except Howard, even if he hasn't been here quite a +month."</p> + +<p>"Not better than Ned?" Marjorie exclaimed incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Well—no—I don't know," said Allie, wavering a little. "Ned's just +about as near right as he can be; but I believe, after all, I'd rather +live in the house with Charlie. Ned might be a little too peppery for a +steady diet."</p> + +<p>"I never thought you'd turn a cold shoulder to Ned," said Marjorie, +shaking her head over Allie's defection. "Charlie's very nice and +gentlemanly, and all that, but I don't believe he has half Ned's pluck. +Do you remember the time he sprained his wrist falling off his pony, way +up the gulch, and wouldn't tell of it till we were home again? I don't +think Charlie Mac would stand that kind of thing long. There's no +special reason he shouldn't be agreeable; we've all of us tried our best +to make him have a good time."</p> + +<p>"Charlie isn't a baby, though," returned Allie, valiantly rising to the +defence of her cousin. "You think, just because he knows more about +music than 'most anybody else in the camp, and looks and acts as if he +came from a city, that he's more than half girl. But I'll tell you he +isn't, Marjorie, and if anything came to try him, you'd find he'd come +up to the mark every bit as well as Ned. I don't know as I care to have +anything happen, though, just for the sake of proving it."</p> + +<p>In the mean time, the subject of the conversation was walking rapidly in +the direction of the smelter, whose pile of huge red buildings lay a +little to the southeast of the town, across the creek and close to the +foot of the mountain which towered above it sheer and straight. A few +hundred feet down the cañon below it, and a little farther back from the +creek, was the shaft leading down into the mine, and beside it the +engine house with the machinery needful for raising the ore, and for +carrying the miners to and from the cross-cuts, hundreds of feet below.</p> + +<p>Though he had often been to the smelter with Ned and Grant, it was the +first time that Charlie had visited the place alone. He felt very small +and insignificant, as he stepped inside the enclosure, with its array of +great buildings, mammoth chimneys whence rose the smoke from countless +and undying fires, and its throng of busy workers. Then he entered the +little building which served as superintendent's office, and in a moment +the whir and clang of the outer life was left behind him, and he found +himself in a quiet, pleasant room, with only a collection of maps and +photographs and specimens of ores, to tell of the vast business +centering there. As the boy shyly came in at the door, Mr. Everett rose +to receive him.</p> + +<p>"O Charlie, you're just on the minute, and I'm all ready for you," he +said, glancing up at the clock.</p> + +<p>"Somers, I'm going down the shaft with this young man; if anybody wants +me, tell him I'll be here at five." And, putting on his overcoat, he +went away, followed by Charlie, who was filled with an eager enthusiasm +at the idea of going so far towards the center of the earth.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," Mr. Everett said, as they followed a path winding in and +out among the buildings, and then came out on the main road leading to +the shaft; "I'm sorry that we haven't time to take in the smelter, too, +to-day; but you can go there almost any time. Any of the men in the +office can take you through it, as well as I can; but I don't let +strangers go into the mine unless I'm with them. We're going to put in a +new cage, next month," he added casually, as they drew near the shaft.</p> + +<p>"What's that for?" asked Charlie, to whom cages and their construction +were a mystery.</p> + +<p>"Safer, and can carry more," answered his host concisely. "These +cross-heads and buckets are slow work. A two-deck cage will do the same +amount in much less time, and there's no fear of their catching, as +these do sometimes."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, they paused to look at the gearing of windlass and cable at +the mouth of the shaft; then Charlie cautiously approached the opening. +After all he had heard of mines and shafts, it was rather disappointing +to him to see only a great, square hole leading down into the depths of +the earth. What he had expected, it would be hard to say; but it is +certain that his disappointment deepened when, after three strokes from +the engineer's bell, the hoisting engine suddenly started into life, +and, out from the darkness of the shaft, there slowly emerged into view +an ungainly contrivance of four great timbers, arranged in a hollow +square and hung on a cable, which passed freely through openings in the +upper and lower timbers, to carry a huge bucket fastened to its end, +while a black-faced miner stood in the bucket, much in the attitude of a +jack-in-the-box after the spring is loosed.</p> + +<p>"That's what we call the cross-head, above," explained Mr. Everett. "It +slides free on the rope, and rests on the fastening of the bucket. Now +you see how we bring up the ore."</p> + +<p>"But do we have to go down in that thing?" inquired Charlie, drawing +back in disgust, as he surveyed the grimy, dusty bucket before him.</p> + +<p>"Not unless you prefer it," Mr. Everett answered, laughing. "It's +against rules to ride in it; and anyway I usually go on the cross-head, +myself, for the bucket reminds me too much of Simple Simon. Step on +here," he added, as the crude elevator sank down until the upper beam +was on a level with the surface of the ground. "Now, if you just hold +on to the rope, you're all right. Let us go slowly, Joe," he went on, to +the waiting engineer; "I want to take a look at the shaft, as we go +down. We'll try the seven-hundred level to-day."</p> + +<p>A moment later, they began to sink away from the light above them, while +the opening at the mouth of the shaft grew smaller and smaller to their +eyes, and their lamps only cast a sickly, uncertain light on the walls +beside them. They went down slowly, so slowly, that, as soon as he had +had time to accustom himself to the new sensation, Charlie had plenty of +opportunity to examine the walls. For the most part, they were roughly +cased with boards and surrounded at intervals by the massive +collar-timbers, projecting ten or twelve inches inside the boards. At +each side of the shaft were the heavy upright guides, running from top +to bottom and serving to keep in place the cross-head, which was fitted +to move easily between them. Down, down they went, for what seemed to +the boy a limitless distance. They had passed a great square chamber, +opening into along, lighted corridor which Mr. Everett had told him were +the station and cross-cut at the four-hundred level, and still they were +sinking. All at once they came to a sudden stop, and the next instant +Charlie felt the rope he was holding slowly drawing down through his +hands. Mr. Everett gave a quick exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Let go the rope!" he commanded abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I'm perfectly willing," answered Charlie, laughing, as he rubbed his +tingling palms. "What's up, anyway? We don't seem to be anywhere in +particular."</p> + +<p>"We're caught a little," replied Mr. Everett quietly. "You needn't be +frightened, for it's happened before. All is, the cross-head has caught, +and the bucket is going down without us, and taking the rope with it. +Have you a steady head?"</p> + +<p>"I s'pose so," said Charlie lightly, for, in his ignorance of mines, he +had no idea of the possible danger of his position.</p> + +<p>"Very well; can you turn around and step down on the beam that's just +below us?" returned Mr. Everett, still speaking in the same calm voice, +though with the brevity of a captain giving his orders on a field of +battle. "If you can, do it, and then put your arm around the back of the +guide there. So; that's all right."</p> + +<p>In another moment, he had followed Charlie, and taken his place beside +him on the other side of the guide, where he showed the boy how to grasp +the timber in such a way that the cross-head, coming up, should not +touch his arm. That done, he breathed a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"There!" he said; "now we're safe for the time being. The next question +is: how are we going to get out of this trap?"</p> + +<p>"Why couldn't we stay on the cross-head?" asked Charlie, as it began to +move slowly away from the spot where it had lodged.</p> + +<p>"Just that reason," returned Mr. Everett, with a motion of his head +towards the clumsy frame which, once loosed, went sliding away down the +rope after the bucket. "Though you may not have known it, young man, you +were never in a much more dangerous place than you were five minutes +ago; for, as soon as it could get free, the cross-head was going to +crash down on top of the bucket, with force enough to kill anybody that +happened to be on it. I knew 'twould go, sooner or later; but I didn't +feel so sure that we could get off in time."</p> + +<p>"Then it's done it before?" asked Charlie, in no wise moved by the +knowledge of his past danger, but, boy-like, rather enjoying the novelty +of his position, halfway down the shaft of the mine, and lodged like a +fly on the wall, with only a narrow beam between himself and a fall of +four or five hundred feet.</p> + +<p>"Once," answered Mr. Everett, amused, in spite of his anxiety, by the +boy's coolness. "It killed four men on the cross-head, and the one in +the bucket; but they have such accidents in the other mines often +enough, so we know about what the chances are. That's one reason we're +going to put in a cage. Now," he went on, resuming his tone of +authority, "don't you try to move, and, above all, don't look down. I'm +going to get round to the other side, where I can reach the bell-rope, +and signal the engineer to bring up the cross-head again."</p> + +<p>"Not walk around on this beam!" exclaimed Charlie, as his interest +changed to genuine alarm, for he realized that such an attempt was a +very different matter from standing quiet and holding on by the upright +timber between them.</p> + +<p>"There's no other way," Mr. Everett answered, as he started on his +perilous journey. "I can't reach to signal, from this side, and they +never would find us without. We can't very well stay here, so that seems +to be the only thing I can do. You needn't be alarmed, my boy," he added +kindly, as he saw that the lad was now thoroughly frightened for his +safety. "I am used to all these ins and outs, and know about what I can +do, even if I never happened to get caught just here before. We miners +get to be half monkeys, and can hang on where most men would fall."</p> + +<p>He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam; then he turned +back to add one parting caution.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="ill1" id="ill1"></a> +<img src="images/ill1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Remember," he said, "and don't try to look down, even if you think you +hear the cross-head coming up again. If you do, you are likely to get +dizzy and fall."</p> + +<p>How long it took for Mr. Everett to creep around the shaft, neither he +nor Charlie ever knew. To them both, the moments seemed long, but to Mr. +Everett, in particular, they were like hours, for he realized so keenly +all the danger of their position, and felt the added responsibility for +the young boy in his care. Inch by inch, step by step, he worked his way +forward, until at length he reached the opposite guide, and felt the +signal cord between his fingers. Then he knew that all trouble was +ended.</p> + +<p>One, two, three! rang out the engineer's bell.</p> + +<p>The engineer was perplexed. He had been lowering the bucket more and +more slowly, and still there had reached him no summons to stop, +although his dial told him that the cross-head must be far below the +seven-hundred level. And now came the summons to raise slowly, when he +was sure that it was near the level of no station. What was the matter? +It was evident that there was some trouble.</p> + +<p>Slowly the engine drew up the bucket. It had passed the six-hundred +level, then the five, and was now half way to the four-hundred, when the +bell rang again, a single stroke this time, the order to stop. The +engine was left motionless for some moments, while the engineer, with an +anxious face, stood awaiting a fresh signal. He knew that something was +wrong, and that it must concern the superintendent, since he had been +the last man to go down. He spoke a few quick words to his assistant, +and in a moment more a little crowd had gathered at the mouth of the +shaft, just as the bell sounded again, three strokes.</p> + +<p>Standing once more on the cross-head, Mr. Everett and Charlie could feel +the man's excitement in the very motion of their tiny platform, as, +obedient to the engine, it rose a little, then stopped, then rose again, +as if feeling its way over an uncertain course. So they went on till the +four-hundred level was below them; then the engine quickened its action. +Little by little the tiny dot above them broadened, and turned to a wide +disk of blue sky; and their lamps dwindled to a pale yellow before the +clear light of day, as the cross-head, with its living freight, slowly +came up into the bright air, amid the shouts of the men who stood +waiting to receive it.</p> + +<p>"Father said Joe was badly rattled," Ned told Charlie, that night, on +their way to a choir rehearsal. "He was sure 'twas all up with you, and +came near losing his head, so he couldn't run the engine, or answer a +signal."</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose 'twas as bad as that," returned Charlie. "I didn't +much like your father's having to walk round on that beam, or whatever +you call it, but I thought the rest was good fun."</p> + +<p>"I told father that I didn't believe you knew enough to be scared," said +Ned, with masculine frankness. "He was talking, all dinner-time, about +the way you kept cool and didn't make a fuss. Father was frightened, +himself; he's never been in such a fix before, with all he's had to do +with mines, and he says he's going to hurry now, to get that cage put in +before they get into any more scrapes. But I just wish I'd been down +there with you," he added enviously. "It's ever so much more fun than +'tis to go straight down, without any hitches."</p> + +<p>"I'll wait till I've tried both, before I make up my mind," responded +Charlie, as they reached the door of the chapel, and turned to wait for +Howard and Grant to overtake them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE MEETING IN THE WATERS.</h3> + + +<p>Three weeks had passed since Charlie's unsuccessful attempt to explore +the inside of a mine, and now the last of March had come. Already the +boy had begun to feel as much at home with his cousins and in the mining +camp, as if he had always lived in Blue Creek. Had the change from his +old surroundings been less abrupt and marked, he might have had +occasional twinges of homesickness; but everything about him was so new +and strange, and so full of interest, that it left him no opportunity to +mourn for his former life, save when the memory of his mother and of his +loss of her came fresh upon him, to bring him an hour of keen sorrow. +And now, as the weeks went on, although he never forgot her, still he +learned to turn to his aunt for a sympathy and guidance which in a +measure replaced the love that his mother had lavished upon him; while, +on her side, Mrs. Burnam soon came to look on him quite as her own boy, +and daily rejoiced in the close intimacy which had sprung up between +Charlie and his cousins.</p> + +<p>The time had been as busy as it was happy. In the absence of any good +schools in the camp, Howard and the Everett boys studied under the +supervision of Mr. Nelson, who gave up his mornings to them; and Charlie +had joined them the week after he reached Blue Creek. Marjorie and +Allie, too, went every morning to have a few simple lessons from the +widow of one of Mr. Everett's former clerks,—a gentle, low-voiced +Southern woman who, left alone to make her own way in this new country, +was glad to help support herself by taking occasional private pupils. +Accordingly, at a little before nine o'clock every morning, the +procession of six formed in front of the Everetts and marched down the +street for half a mile, where they separated, to go to their different +tutors for three or four hours of work.</p> + +<p>The unvarying program of the morning was followed by a hasty lunch; and, +after that, there were few afternoons when the children did not meet. +There were rare hours on the ice, when the skating was good; there was +coasting such as Charlie had never dreamed of before, for in a country +where all the land stood up on edge, as Grant expressed it, and where +fences were unknown, it was easy to find the long, smooth slopes which +are the delight of every owner of a good sled. Best of all, to Charlie's +mind, were the long afternoons of running on snow-shoes, when they +explored the cañon far to the north and south, or penetrated the deep, +narrow gulch at the west of the camp. This last sport was especially +delightful to the boy, for it gave him a wild sense of exhilaration to +go sliding and scuffling along over three or four feet of snow, or coast +lazily down the tiny hillocks in his path; and, under the instructions +of his cousins, he quickly became skilled in the use of his runners, +until he could easily hold his place at the head of the party, or turn a +sharp corner without treading on his own or his neighbor's heels.</p> + +<p>All this was excellent fun while it lasted, but far too soon came the +time of melting snows, when skates and sleds and snow-shoes all had to +be laid aside to wait for another winter. It had been a season of +exceptionally deep snow, and the firm, hard crust lasted far past its +usual time for thawing. Then came the chinook, the warm south wind, +which eats away the accumulated snow of months in as many days; and the +great white banks first grew porous, and then slowly sank away, while +the water ran in streams along the streets, or lingered in still pools +far under the unbroken crust, waiting to drench the unwary passerby who +should venture to set foot upon their treacherous covering.</p> + +<p>It was the afternoon before Easter, and Louise Everett was just +preparing to start for the chapel, to help try the vestments on the boys +of the new choir. She had lingered in the doorway for a moment to watch +her brothers, who had gone on before her, laughing and shouting as they +floundered along, now walking a few steps on top of the snow, now +suddenly sinking down, up to the waist, as they chanced to find a spot +where the chinook had done more rapid work. As she looked after them, +she saw, crossing the road, one of the stray cows that wandered about +the town. The ungainly animal came slowly along, turning this way and +that, in search of a firmer footing, until all at once her hind legs +plunged down into a hole, and the poor creature was left sitting bolt +upright and staring stupidly about her, as if in astonishment at her +unwonted position. Louise laughed at the absurd picture, but her heart +failed her a little when she thought of the long walk in store for her.</p> + +<p>"I've a great mind not to go," she said to herself; "the walking is so +bad, and they don't really need me. I wish I'd sent the bundle down by +the boys."</p> + +<p>But she turned away and went to her room to put on her hat and jacket, +for it was never her habit to fail to keep an engagement, and she had +promised to be at the chapel that afternoon.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was the special providence supposed to watch over those who +are doing their duty, perhaps it was because her light, quick steps made +little impression on the snow; but more than two thirds of her walk was +over, and the crust had not once given way beneath her. She was within +sight of the chapel, now, but before she reached it, she must cross the +small, open square, where the two main streets of the town came +together. It was only fifteen or twenty yards, at most, but it lay lower +than the ground about it, and the snow showed dark patches, here and +there, as if the water had gathered below, and was trying to force its +way to the surface. Louise glanced doubtfully at the square; but there +was no other way she could take, and there were fresh footprints leading +across it, showing that some one had been just before her. Moreover, she +was late, and there was no time to be lost. With her skirts gathered +closely about her, and the great bundle grasped in her other hand, she +cautiously started forward, testing the ground at every step, before +trusting her weight upon it. Slowly and carefully she went on, and was +just congratulating herself upon her success, when—fwsch! There was a +sound of crunching and gurgling, and her left foot plunged down through +the snow, into six inches of water beneath, with a shock that threw the +bundle from her hand, and jolted her hat over her eyes. With a smothered +groan of mortification, she scrambled up to a solid footing once more, +while she thrust back her hat, and gave a hasty glance over her +shoulder, to assure herself that no one was in sight.</p> + +<p>Not a human being was visible, except one man who was turning a distant +corner. For so much, at least, she could be thankful. But it was plain +that a further advance in that direction was impossible, and that she +must beat a retreat. Accordingly, she picked up her bundle and turned to +retrace her steps, moving with even greater caution than before, and +stepping only in her previous tracks. However, the strain of one +crossing was all that the weakened crust could bear, and the third step +let her down again, far into the cold snow-water below, while her hat +took a fresh lurch, this time to one side, and two or three hair-pins +flew from her glossy yellow braids. Her situation was fast becoming +tragic; but Louise gathered herself up anew and turned to the right, +only to plunge in deeper than before; to the left, to meet with the same +fate. Desperately she tried one spot after another. Now painfully +scrambling to an insecure footing on top of the crust, now violently +descending into the depths again, until the snow about her was marked +thick with deep, round holes, and her feet were drenched and well-nigh +frozen with the icy water which trickled up and down inside her shoes, +as she lifted now her toes and now her heels from the horizontal.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, madam, but you seem to be in trouble. Can I assist you?" +inquired a courteous voice behind her.</p> + +<p>Slowly and painfully Louise turned around in her miniature well. Then +she blushed to the roots of her hair. Ten feet away from her, on the +outer edge of the square, stood a stranger, who was watching her with +an air of respectful sympathy, which was entirely out of harmony with +the amused twinkle of his gray eyes. One quick glance told the girl that +the stranger was young and undeniably good-looking; then her eyes +dropped to the bundle in her hand, as she answered,—</p> + +<p>"Thank you, but I'm caught here, and can't seem to find a spot that will +bear me. Don't trouble yourself; I shall get out in a moment. Oh, don't +try to come here!" she added hastily, as he made a motion as if to go +nearer her. "If you do, you will never get out."</p> + +<p>The stranger paused doubtfully and looked at her again. There was a tone +of good-breeding in her voice, and, as he came nearer, he saw that she +was pretty, with a delicate, refined beauty which was not in keeping +with her great bundle, her bedraggled appearance, and the hat cocked +rakishly over one ear, above the drooping braids of yellow hair. At +first sight, he had taken her for a pretty servant, out in search of a +new place; but now he realized his mistake, and offered her a mental +apology for his error.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I can tear a board or two off from that fence over there," he +suggested, after a fresh survey of the field. "If you can stay there +for a few minutes, I'll be back with some of them, and make a bridge."</p> + +<p>In spite of herself, Louise laughed at the absurdity of her plight.</p> + +<p>"Stay here!" she echoed; "I wish I could do anything else. But," she +demurred, "I am afraid you will get into trouble, too."</p> + +<p>But the stranger had already gone. A moment or two later, he was back +again, with two long boards under his arm, as he picked his way along +towards the young woman to whose rescue he had so valiantly devoted +himself. Once back at his old station, he dropped one of the boards on +the snow, pushed it towards her, tested its strength, and then walked +the length of it, in order to place the other board in position. This +second bridge brought him to her side.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said gravely, as he bent forward and held out his hand, "let +me take the bundle first."</p> + +<p>Obeying him as implicitly as a child might have done, Louise handed him +the great bundle the ragged corners of which bore unmistakable signs of +her recent adventure, and he carefully conveyed it to a place of safety. +Then he returned to the spot where she was standing in a sort of open +pool, which was growing wider and deeper with her every motion.</p> + +<p>"Please take hold of my hand," he said, with the same quiet courtesy +which he might have shown in asking her for a waltz, though he pressed +his lips firmly together, to keep back the smile which was trembling +there. "Now, can you step up on the end of this board?"</p> + +<p>For a moment Louise hesitated. The step was a long one, and, in her +soaked condition, she had lost all her wonted elasticity of motion. +However, something in the stranger's face made her feel that it was best +for her to obey, with as few words as possible; so she mustered all her +strength, made a violent effort, and scrambled up to the end of the +board, striking it with a force which sent it swinging far to the left. +For one instant she balanced herself upon her slippery foothold; then +she fell backward with a suddenness that carried her rescuer with her, +and they both plunged head foremost down into the gray pool below, just +as Grant and Ned came out at the chapel door, to look for their missing +sister.</p> + +<p>As a general rule, there was but little observance of Sunday in Blue +Creek. To the Eastern mind, it seemed strange to pass along the busy +streets and see the carpenters hard at work upon a new house, or to +listen to the clicking of the billiard balls in the wide-open rooms. In +such a community, church-going was not a popular way of spending the +time; but, on the next day, the little chapel was filled to overflowing +with the throng that had gathered to hear the new choir. It was Easter +evening, and the bright lights shone down on the masses of flowers on +the altar and the white robes of the boys in the chancel, and on the +closely-packed congregation below. Pipe organs and boy choirs were rare +in the region, and the people of Blue Creek looked upon these as the +means of furnishing an entertainment both novel and inexpensive; so it +was to a large and varied audience that Mr. Nelson had the pleasure of +preaching his Easter sermon. Aside from the regular attendants of the +chapel, there were groups of rough miners alone and with their families, +who were rarely to be found in any church; while, in the foremost rank, +sat Wang Kum and a dozen intimate friends, their very pigtails waggling +with suppressed excitement and admiration, as they looked about the +pretty chancel and listened to the voices of the boys. Mr. Nelson's +glance rested upon them for a moment, then passed on down the middle +aisle, to one of the rear pews, where a stranger was standing, listening +to the anthem with evident enjoyment.</p> + +<p>He was a tall, well-built man of thirty, with bright brown hair and +mustache, and his eyes showed large and gray when he raised them, now +and then, as Charlie MacGregor's voice rang out above the rest of the +choir. He appeared to be acquainted with no one there, for he had come +in alone, and without making a sign of recognition to any one as he was +ushered to his seat. Only twice had he seemed to be roused from his +quiet repose of manner. When the first notes of the organ met his ear, +he had glanced in that direction; and any one watching him closely might +have seen him give a sudden start of surprise, while the color rose to +his cheeks, as his eyes rested upon the organist. Once again, in the +processional, he had started up with a quick smile of recognition, when +he looked back at the advancing line of boys, and saw Charlie leading +them; and he had bent towards the aisle to watch the lad, as he passed +on, unconscious of the faces around him, in his happiness at once more +being in his old place, at the head of a choir.</p> + +<p>But the service was over, and the choir were coming towards him again, +their voices ringing clear and high in the refrain of Le Jeune's +<i>Jerusalem, the Golden</i>. Just as the leaders reached the stranger, there +came a pause between the verses, and Charlie raised his eyes to meet the +gray ones which were watching him so intently. Then his whole face +brightened, and he smiled and nodded in glad recognition, as they went +on down the aisle and out into the tiny choir-room.</p> + +<p>The young man moved aside to let the other occupants of the pew pass out +into the aisle; then he stepped back and waited, watching, meanwhile, +the faces of the congregation, as they flocked past him. The group of +Chinamen were lingering in front of the chancel, peering about at the +lectern and font, and gazing up at the flower-laden altar.</p> + +<p>"Heap nice; all samee Joss house," he heard one of them saying, with +manifest approval.</p> + +<p>Up in her corner beside the chancel, the organist was still playing her +postlude; then she closed the organ, and rose to come down the steps, +drawing on her gloves as she came. Before she had time to raise her eyes +towards the congregation, the stranger was joined by Charlie MacGregor, +who had hurried to the place where he was still pausing irresolutely, +with his eyes fixed on Louise.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Brownlee, when did you come?" the boy exclaimed, in enthusiastic +welcome. "I didn't know you were here yet."</p> + +<p>"I only came yesterday morning," the doctor answered, with a cordial +smile which not only included Charlie, but extended to Howard and Ned +who were lingering at a little distance, and casting curious glances at +Charlie's unknown friend. "I was just in time to hear your new choir, +but I never dreamed of finding you in it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm in it," returned Charlie, laughing. "I'm all at home here, +now. I like it, too; ever so much-better than I thought I was going to. +These are my cousin and his chums," he added, as they moved slowly down +the aisle to where Grant had joined his brother and Howard. "And this," +he went on, turning around abruptly, and speaking with the grace of +manner so natural to him, "this is our organist, Miss Everett. Miss Lou, +may I introduce Dr. Winthrop Brownlee, the friend I told you about +meeting on the way out here?"</p> + +<p>For a moment the doctor and Louise stared at each other, too much +embarrassed to speak, while the color rushed to their faces. Then the +doctor came to his senses, saying slowly,—</p> + +<p>"I think I have met Miss Everett before."</p> + +<p>And, to the utter mystification of the boys, they burst out laughing, +and laughed as if they would never stop.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>MARJORIE'S PARTY.</h3> + + +<p>"O Allie," said Marjorie suddenly; "did you know that next Thursday is +going to be mamma's birthday?"</p> + +<p>"No, is it?" asked Allie, as she stooped to pick up the long, lean gray +cat that was wandering aimlessly around them, and rubbing her hollow +sides against their ankles. "I thought you gave Waif away, Marjorie."</p> + +<p>"We did," responded Marjorie, laughing. "She was a stray cat that came +to us, you know, and she was so homely that mamma didn't want her in the +house, so we gave her to Dr. Hornblower, a month ago."</p> + +<p>"Where'd she come from, then?" queried Allie, while she stroked the cat +as she stood pawing and purring in her lap. "Wouldn't she stay with +him?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you? How queer, for we we've been laughing about it ever +since! You see," Marjorie continued, "the doctor was lonesome, and +wanted a cat for company, and we didn't want Waif, so we gave her to +him. He was perfectly delighted with her, and carried her off home in a +paper sack, with her head poking out through a hole in one side, and her +tail sticking out the other. Two days later he stopped papa in the +post-office and told him, 'Your kitty's caught a mouse.' The next week +he met mamma and told her 'Kitty's caught three mice.' Then we didn't +see anything more of him for ever so long, and we supposed that was the +last of it; but, day before yesterday morning, he came to the door and +handed a bundle to mamma, and said he didn't like the kitty as well as +he thought he was going to, after all, so he'd brought her back. So here +she is. Don't you want her?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't take such a looking cat as a gift," returned Allie +disdainfully. "But wasn't that just like Dr. Hornblower? He's very good; +but he's as stupid as he can be, and I don't s'pose it ever occurred to +him that he could pass the cat along to somebody else. Did you ever +notice the way Mrs. Pennypoker always calls him 'good old Dr. +Hornblower,' when she's ten years older than he is? I wonder how he'd +like it, if he could hear her."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he'd mind, for he likes her so well; at least, he's +there ever so much," said Marjorie innocently.</p> + +<p>"H'm! you needn't think he goes to see Mrs. Pennypoker," said Allie +scornfully. "It's Miss Lou that he likes."</p> + +<p>"Not that old man!" And Marjorie stared at her friend in amazement.</p> + +<p>"He isn't so very old; and I don't know as I wonder if he does," replied +Allie, with an air of great enjoyment in her small gossip. "I should +think anybody might like Miss Lou, she's so pretty; and I just believe +Mrs. Pennypoker is helping him on. You wait and see."</p> + +<p>The two girls were sitting alone in the open front door of the Fishers' +house, enjoying the late afternoon sun of a warm spring day. They had +been off for a long ride with the boys, as was their frequent custom. +The children all had their saddle ponies, and it was their delight to +canter off, soon after lunch, for an hour or two among the pleasant +mountain roads surrounding the town. On their return, they had stopped +for a moment at Marjorie's door, to find that Mrs. Fisher had gone out +to make some calls; and Marjorie had begged Allie to stay and keep her +company until Allie had at length yielded and allowed the boys to go on +without her.</p> + +<p>There was a pause after Allie's last words; then Marjorie returned to +her original charge.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she resumed; "Thursday is going to be her birthday, and I want to +celebrate. What can I do?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Allie vaguely. "What do you want to +do?"</p> + +<p>"That's the worst of it," responded Marjorie thoughtfully. "I want it to +be something that she'd like, and I don't know just what. I might—Let +me see. I'll tell you," she added, with sudden inspiration, "I'll give +her a surprise party."</p> + +<p>"What?" And Allie looked at her friend, in astonishment at so daring a +proposal.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll give her a party," repeated Marjorie, nodding her head with +decision.</p> + +<p>"But do you suppose she'd like it?" inquired Allie dubiously.</p> + +<p>"Of course she will. She 'most always has one for me on my birthday, you +know," returned Marjorie; "and she wouldn't do that, if she didn't like +them. She never had one herself; but that's only because she didn't have +anybody to give her one."</p> + +<p>Such logic was not to be resisted; and Allie felt her misgivings swept +away while she listened.</p> + +<p>"Besides," Marjorie went on enthusiastically; "I heard her say to papa, +last night, that they'd take that very day to go over to Butte, and buy +the new parlor carpet. They'll go in the morning early, and not come +back till five, so that will just give us time, while they're out of the +way. You'll help me get ready for it, won't you, Allie?"</p> + +<p>"If mamma will let me," Allie was beginning, when Marjorie +interrupted,—</p> + +<p>"Your mother mustn't know anything about it; but we won't go to Mrs. +Hammond that morning, we'll come here instead."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we oughtn't to do that," remonstrated Allie feebly, although +she was secretly longing to enter into the proposition.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" demanded Marjorie. "Mamma gave up going to missionary +meeting, last year, to get ready for my birthday party, and this is just +the same thing. Don't be silly, Allie, but help me plan. I know mamma +would say 'twas right," she added with an air of self-sacrificing +virtue; "to give up our own improvement for the sake of making her +happy."</p> + +<p>"We might ask mamma," suggested Allie hopefully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; she'd be sure to tell my mother, and that would spoil all the +surprise," interposed Marjorie hastily. "It will be all right, I know. +Would you have them come to supper, or just in the evening?"</p> + +<p>"It's less work to have them come in the evening, isn't it?" asked +Allie, losing her last doubts in the excitement of making plans for so +momentous an occasion.</p> + +<p>"Well, no," said Marjorie reflectively. "You have to feed them both +times; and, in the evening, we'd have to have more salads and fancy +things. We won't need so much, just for tea."</p> + +<p>"What would you have?" inquired Allie, moving down to the lower step +where her friend was sitting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, just cake and preserves, and some kind of cold meat," returned +Marjorie. "They'll be so busy talking they won't much mind what they get +to eat, as long as there's plenty of it. We'll have it early, too, so +they won't get so hungry. I can make splendid gingerbread, and the rest +we can get down at the bakery; I haven't touched my this month's money +yet. We'll work hard all the morning, and get the tables set and +everything ready before mamma comes home, so they can be on hand to +surprise her, when she comes in at the door."</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued Allie, growing enthusiastic in her turn; "and then she +won't need to have any care or worry about it; all she'll have to do +will be just to sit in the parlor and make sure that they have a good +time. At the table, she'll have to pour the tea; but we can pass things. +Who're you going to invite?"</p> + +<p>"Let's see," said Marjorie, pondering over the matter. "There's your +father and mother, and Mr. Everett and Miss Lou and Mrs. Pennypoker; +that's five."</p> + +<p>"And Ned and Grant?" suggested Allie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," answered Marjorie; "they'd only be in the way, and, besides, +they're too young. This isn't a party for me, you know, and we can't +have the boys."</p> + +<p>"Not even Howard?" begged Allie. "He could help us cut meat, and wash +dishes afterwards. He can do that as well as a girl."</p> + +<p>"The boys can all come and wash dishes, after it's over, if they want +to," returned Marjorie firmly; "but we can't have them at supper-time. +I wouldn't mind Howard; but there's Charlie and the Everetts that would +have to come, if he did, so we might as well stop before we begin. Where +was I? Two Burnams and three Everetts and two Fishers, to start with: +seven."</p> + +<p>"And the Nelsons?" asked Allie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, nine; and Dr. Hornblower is ten,—I suppose we ought to ask +him,—and Mrs. Hammond is eleven, 'cause she might be cross next day, if +we didn't invite her. And then that new doctor that Charlie knows—what +is his name?"</p> + +<p>"Dr. Brownlee?" inquired Allie. "But does your mother know him?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so," said Marjorie; "but he's real pleasant looking, and +I've heard her say, ever so many times, that it's polite to welcome +strangers when they first come to a place, so I know she'd want us to +ask him. And then Miss Lou knows him a little bit, for I saw him take +off his hat to her the other day; and she can introduce him. He makes +twelve. I don't believe we'd better have any more. I'd like to ask Mr. +Saunders, that keeps the fruit store down on the corner; but they say +thirteen is unlucky, so perhaps twelve will do."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed Allie. "How are you going to ask them?"</p> + +<p>"I shall just say, 'Mamma wishes you'd come to supper at half past +five.' I won't ask them till the night before for fear somebody'd tell +her; but if she goes on the early train, it will be safe enough."</p> + +<p>"Then aren't you going to say it's a surprise party?" asked Allie, +rising to go home, as she saw Mrs. Fisher coming up the street.</p> + +<p>"No; for I'm afraid they mightn't come," said Marjorie, in a low voice. +"Now, Allie, don't you dare to breathe a word of this to anybody, not +even to Howard, for I want it to be a perfect surprise. And you know +you've promised to help me out in the morning."</p> + +<p>Five days later, two flushed and grimy, but triumphant young hostesses +stood gazing at the tables before them. Marjorie's plan had been carried +into effect; and her guests, one and all, had gratefully accepted Mrs. +Fisher's invitation to tea, for they knew of old that her little parties +were the most enjoyable ones in the camp. Even Dr. Brownlee had sent a +cordial message of acceptance, for though he was surprised at the +invitation, coming as it did from a stranger whom he did not even know +by sight, he attributed it to the proverbial Western hospitality, and +was glad of anything which could bring him into connection with the +people among whom he was to live. Early that morning Mr. and Mrs. Fisher +had gone away for a long, tedious day of shopping, and an hour later +Allie and Marjorie had invaded the kitchen for four hours of hard work. +By noon all was in readiness, and they could pause to contemplate the +result of their labors.</p> + +<p>The table was stretched to its utmost length, and bright with snowy +linen and glass and silver, while around it were gathered twelve chairs, +taken from the different rooms, in order to accommodate the unusual +number of guests. Here a dining-room chair stood beside one borrowed +from Mrs. Fisher's bedroom; there kitchen wood and parlor upholstery +were placed side by side, in striking contrast. The table itself was +groaning beneath the weight of the feast, for Marjorie had been liberal +in her selection from her mother's preserves; while a whole boiled ham, +fresh from the bakehouse, stood before Mr. Fisher's place, and at the +other end of the table his wife's chair was decked with ribbons, and +confronted with a great loaf of cake, whose uneven icing bore, in red +sugar, the letters "M.C.F.," traced by an inexperienced hand. This was +Allie's contribution to the banquet, and Marjorie had thoughtfully +surrounded it with a circle of thirty-nine tiny candles, which stood +ready for the lighting. Plates of assorted cookies were scattered about +the board; here lay a low dish of olives, whose dusky green contrasted +well with the ruddy globe of an Edam cheese, placed beside them, and +there rose a towering pyramid of golden oranges flanked on either side +by a tempting pile of purple and white grapes.</p> + +<p>"It does look pretty, doesn't it, Allie?" asked Marjorie for the fifth +time.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Allie, as she bent forward to break a corner off from one of +the cookies and tuck it into her mouth. "Yes, it is lovely. I do hope +your mother will like it. But now I must hurry, or mamma will know +something is going to happen."</p> + +<p>"Go on, then; only be sure you're back here by five," Marjorie warned +her. "And don't let the boys come here this afternoon, for I'm too tired +to even look at them."</p> + +<p>At half past five, the guests had assembled and were sitting in the +parlor, looking a little annoyed and uncomfortable as the moments passed +by and their hostess did not appear.</p> + +<p>"Come right in," Marjorie had said to them, one after another; "Mamma +will be so glad to see you; she'll be here in a minute."</p> + +<p>Last of all came Dr. Brownlee. He had been delayed until the last +possible moment, and now, just as Mr. and Mrs. Fisher turned the corner +far down the street, he rang at the door, to be admitted by Marjorie. +Once inside the parlor, he stopped and looked around the room in search +of his hostess, in order to offer her a prompt apology for his seeming +rudeness in being so late. To his surprise, there was no one present at +all answering to the description of Mrs. Fisher which he had received +from his landlady.</p> + +<p>"Hamlet, without the ghost!" he thought to himself, as he paused +irresolutely, just across the threshold, and glanced about in vain for a +familiar face.</p> + +<p>For a moment there was an awkward hush. Most of the guests knew the +doctor by sight, but in the explicable absence of their hostess, no one +was sufficiently at ease to rise and bid the stranger welcome to another +person's house. They tried to go on with their conversation, in apparent +unconsciousness of the young man who stood in the doorway, reddening +under their sidelong glances; but their attempt was not crowned with +success, and there came one of those seemingly interminable pauses +which sometimes fall upon a room. Then, all at once, Louise Everett rose +from her chair in the bay-window, where she had been hidden behind the +ample shoulder of Mrs. Pennypoker, and, crossing the room, she greeted +the doctor as an old acquaintance. A few words passed between them; then +she introduced him to the other guests, before leading the way back to +her own cosy corner, where Mrs. Burnam sat waiting to welcome him, as +the friend of her young nephew.</p> + +<p>"Who's that going in at our house?" Mr. Fisher had asked, peering over +the top of the pile of bundles in his arms. "It looks like Dr. Brownlee; +but why should he be going there?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear; I hope it isn't anybody coming to call," sighed his wife, +with the inhospitality born of a long day of tedious, unsatisfactory +shopping. But she quickened her pace, in order to discover who was the +guest awaiting them.</p> + +<p>At the door she was met by Marjorie, dressed in her best gown, and +looking strangely excited.</p> + +<p>"Let me take your things, mamma," she said in a low tone. "There's +somebody to see you in the parlor."</p> + +<p>Forcing a smile to her tired face, Mrs. Fisher advanced to the door to +greet her caller. On the threshold she paused aghast, for, to her +startled eyes, the room appeared to be thronged with people, who rose +and stepped forward to meet her, while Marjorie stood at her side, +gleefully clapping her hands and exclaiming,—</p> + +<p>"It's a surprise party, mamma! It's a surprise party!"</p> + +<p>For one instant, Mrs. Fisher faltered. She had come home in a state of +utter exhaustion, and she longed to run away from the parlor and hide. +But the next minute her courage came back to her, in the face of her +roomful of guests, and she gave them as hearty a welcome as if the party +had been one of her own making. Up and down the room she went, speaking +a word here, shaking a hand there, all with the tact for which her +hospitality was noted. She had sent one appealing glance towards Louise, +and the girl, taking in the situation in a moment, had come to her aid, +with Dr. Brownlee at her side. In a short time the room was buzzing with +voices, as the guests entered into the full tide of conversation.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the dining-room door swung open, and Allie appeared on the +threshold.</p> + +<p>"Please come out to supper, now," she said shyly, as she met her +mother's surprised glance.</p> + +<p>There was another pause of uncertainty; then Mr. Everett offered his arm +to Mrs. Fisher, and led the way to the table, where the guests seated +themselves as they wished, gazing, meanwhile, with amused eyes at the +feast before them. A short silence followed, and then the conversation +started up once more, as Mr. Fisher, with one despairing glance at his +wife, attacked the vast ham before him, and Mrs. Fisher began to pour +out the pale, watery effusion which filled the teapot. Allie and +Marjorie were already bestirring themselves to pass the plates and cups +about the table; but all at once Marjorie paused abruptly, with her arm +outstretched, as she gazed blankly this way and that. Then her face grew +red and the sudden tears rushed to her eyes, as she hurried out of the +room, with a gesture to Allie to follow her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Marjorie?" Allie exclaimed in alarm, as the young hostess +sank down into the wood box and buried her face in her hands.</p> + +<p>An inarticulate moan was her only answer.</p> + +<p>"Marjorie! Marjorie!" she urged again. "Tell me what's the matter. Are +you ill?"</p> + +<p>Then Marjorie raised her head for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," she said, with a great sob of shame; "but what shall we +do, Allie? We ate up all the bread for breakfast, and I forgot to order +any more."</p> + +<p>It was late that evening when the guests took their leave; and, as they +went away down the street together, they said, over and over again, that +Mrs. Fisher had never before been half so bright and witty in her talk, +so quick to plan new modes of entertainment. Their hostess watched them +out of sight; then, after an expressive look at her husband, she turned +away from the door, and crossed the hall to Marjorie's room. All was +dark within, as she opened the door and entered; but, as soon as her +eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, she went up to the bed, and laid +her hand on a small, dark body, curled up on the white spread.</p> + +<p>"Marjorie, dear," she said gently.</p> + +<p>The childish figure was quivering with suppressed sobs; but there was no +other answer.</p> + +<p>"Marjorie," she said again; "don't feel so badly about it, my child."</p> + +<p>The tone of motherly sympathy was too much for Marjorie's self-control, +and the tears began to come, thick and fast.</p> + +<p>"O mamma," she cried; "truly we didn't mean to. I'm so sorry."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fisher sat down on the side of the bed, and drew her daughter +towards her.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry so, Marjorie," she repeated. "I know you didn't mean to do +anything out of the way. Tell me how you came to ask all these people +here."</p> + +<p>Between her sobs, Marjorie told her mother the whole story; and Mrs. +Fisher rejoiced that the kindly darkness hid her smile, as she listened +to her little daughter's incoherent explanation of the party and its +cause.</p> + +<p>"And I meant it should all be so nice," Marjorie ended, with a fresh +burst of tears; "and it was just dreadful. I forgot the bread, and the +candles wouldn't burn, and nobody knew Dr. Brownlee, and everything was +horrid. Scold me, if you want to; but I truly meant to give you a good +time, only it all went wrong."</p> + +<p>"Marjorie, dear," her mother said, when she could steady her voice +enough to speak; "I know you meant to make me have a happy birthday, and +I am grateful to my little girl for taking so much pains for me. Another +time we will talk it over together, and plan the best thing to do, +instead of your trying to surprise me. And now forget all about the +worry of it, and only remember that you've done what you could to make +the day pleasant for me." And she bent over for a goodnight kiss, before +she returned to the kitchen for a long hour of dish-washing and putting +the room to rights.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>JANEY'S PROPHECY.</h3> + + +<p>"Git up in de mawnin' singin', an' de cat cotch you befo' night," Janey +had said oracularly, when Allie ran out into the kitchen, that morning +before breakfast, with the refrain of one of Charlie's songs upon her +lips.</p> + +<p>"What nonsense, Janey!" said Allie, laughing at the strange, old-time +saying. "I don't believe the cat'll 'cotch' me any more for singing, and +it's ever so much more fun than 'tis to cry."</p> + +<p>In fact, there was no particular reason that Allie should not sing, for +life looked very attractive to her that morning. The bright June +sunshine was lying warm over the town, and giving back a dazzling lustre +from the snow-capped mountains which rose up from the midst of the +summer landscape; lessons were over for the present, and, best of all, +Mr. and Mrs. Burnam were to go out to camp that day, to make final +arrangements for the long-talked-of week, when the Everetts, Burnams, +and Fishers were to pitch their tents beside the engineering camp, in +the Bitter Root Mountains, and enjoy a week of roughing it in the +wilderness. Soon after breakfast they drove away from the door, with +Victor snugly tucked in between them, while Allie, with the boys and +Ben, stood on the piazza, to wave them a good-by. The children lingered +there until the wagon was out of sight; then they turned back into the +house, feeling very important over the prospect of two days of +housekeeping on their own account.</p> + +<p>But, after all their anticipations, the morning did not prove to be +quite as enjoyable as they had hoped it would be. Marjorie had been +invited to spend the day with them; but, unfortunately, Marjorie was in +one of her perverse fits, and so successfully devoted herself to the +task of being disagreeable that Allie was at her wits' end how to manage +her; Howard openly quarrelled with her, and even Charlie, the courteous, +marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him, while he sang, +with tantalizing distinctness,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Oh, jimineddy! And oh, goody gracious!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How I did love her! But she was contumacious.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This last insult was too much for Marjorie to bear, for, in her secret +heart, she greatly admired Charlie, and longed to have him for her ally +and champion, instead of being forced to watch his unswerving devotion +to his cousin. As the door closed behind him, she flew after him, to +deliver herself of one parting shot,—</p> + +<p>"Charlie MacGregor, I de-test you! You're no gentleman, even if you do +think you are; and I only hope you'll get what you deserve for being so +rude to me, when I'm company."</p> + +<p>Then the door banged again with even greater violence than before, and +Marjorie burst out crying, as she put on her hat and departed, without a +word to Allie.</p> + +<p>Her irate guest once gone, Allie moved up and down the rooms, putting +them in order with much the same dazed feeling as that which comes in +the sudden hush that sometimes follows a violent thunder-shower. The +more she pondered on the events of the morning, she could not see that +either she herself or the two boys were in any way to blame for +Marjorie's explosion, and as she forlornly sat down to the lunch table, +she felt as if she were in part realizing the truth of Janey's +prediction. However, she was too much accustomed to Marjorie's sudden +fits of temper, and too well acquainted with her really kind heart, to +dwell long upon the matter; so before the meal was ended she was gayly +laughing with the boys, and planning for the next day's frolic.</p> + +<p>"Come out and have a ride, Allie," urged Charlie, as they left the +table. "I have a kind of a sort of a feeling that I'm in disgrace, and I +want some fun to console me."</p> + +<p>Allie laughed.</p> + +<p>"How silly you are to mind what Marjorie says!" she answered. "She'll be +all over it by to-morrow, and like you better than ever; I know just how +angelic she always is, after one of these times. But if you want a ride, +I'll be ready in an hour. I've promised to write a letter for Janey, +first."</p> + +<p>"To his Goatship?" inquired Howard disrespectfully. "All right; we'll go +out and play ball till time to get the ponies." And they went away, +while Allie stood in the door, saucily calling after them to be good +boys and not get into mischief.</p> + +<p>"Now, Janey," she said, as she went out into the kitchen; "I'll write +that letter for you before you wash the dishes or anything; because Mr. +Charlie wants me to go to ride with him, as soon as I can." And she +seated herself at the table, while Janey went after her writing +materials.</p> + +<p>"How you done like my paper, Miss Allie?" the girl asked proudly, as she +laid upon the table a sheet of vivid, rose-colored paper, and its +accompanying envelope, which brought with them an aggressive fragrance +of musk. Then she dropped down on the floor behind her young mistress, +coiling herself up in the corner, with her back against the wall, that +she might dictate at her ease.</p> + +<p>"My dear frien'," she began slowly, and with the air of searching her +mind for properly sonorous phrases; "I have done receive your letter, +an' I take my pen in han' to now reply. I was very glad to know dat you +is well, an' I am sorry to say I am not; I think I have de +consumption"—</p> + +<p>"Why, Janey," interposed Allie; "what do you mean? Aren't you well?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I's well enough," answered Janey, as she shot a sudden mischievous +glance from the corners of her downcast eyes; "but I reckon he'll think +more of me, ef he thinks I's goin' to die. I am not very happy," she +resumed, in the same stilted tone as before; "an' las' night you came to +me in a dream, an' tol' me you was dead. I done specks he'll cry like +everything, when he reads dat," she interpolated, with a nod of triumph. +"Sometimes I reckon we sha'n' never see each other no mo'; but you mus' +never forget your Janey. Um-mm," she went on, in an inarticulate mumble.</p> + +<p>"What?" inquired Allie, pausing, with her pen in mid air, as she turned +around to see Janey with her cap off, a row of hair-pins between her +lips, and a pair of gleaming scissors raised to one of her woolly tails.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden sound of snipping steel, and then Janey continued,—</p> + +<p>"I sen' you a plat of my hair, an' I wants you to sen' me one of yours; +an'—an—'" Janey hesitated, while she put on her cap once more.</p> + +<p>"Well, what next?" asked Allie, secretly wondering, as she glanced at +the sable tress before her, why each could not retain his own hair, +since the two locks would probably be so much alike that only the keen +eye of an expert or a lover could distinguish between them.</p> + +<p>"So no mo' now," dictated Janey. "Give my love to Emma Digson, an' Joe +Harrison, an' my mother, an' tell little Bill he mus' be a good boy, an' +tell Sarah Johnson"—Here followed a list of greetings and messages, as +long as those at the end of the Pauline epistles.</p> + +<p>Allie was still toiling her way through them, making conscientious +attempts to discover the proper spelling of names, when she heard the +front door open and shut. A moment later, Howard appeared in the +kitchen, very pale and with trembling lips.</p> + +<p>"Come here a minute, Allie," he said, in a tone of command so unlike his +usual manner that his sister started up at the first word.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she demanded hastily. "What do you want of me?"</p> + +<p>But Howard had already hurried back to the parlor. She followed him, +with a dull, cold feeling about her heart, as she became more and more +convinced that there was some trouble. As she reached the parlor door, +she drew back, for a moment, in alarm. On the sofa lay Charlie, with his +handkerchief tied over the upper part of his face, and his cheeks and +lips as white as Howard's had been. The next instant she sprang forward +to his side, crying,—</p> + +<p>"O Charlie, what has happened? Are you hurt? What is it?"</p> + +<p>With a strong effort, the boy steadied his voice enough to say quietly, +as he stretched out his hand towards the spot where he had heard her +drop down on her knees beside the sofa,—</p> + +<p>"'Tisn't much, Allie; so don't get rattled. Howard'll tell you about +it." And he paused abruptly, biting his lip to keep from crying out with +pain.</p> + +<p>"We were playing ball, and Charlie went to catch. He muffed, somehow, +and the ball hit him in the eye; it smashed his glasses, and they've cut +his eyes some," explained Howard, in a hurried, breathless tone, while +he tramped nervously up and down the room.</p> + +<p>"What can we do? If mamma were only here, Howard! Is it very bad, +Charlie?" And for a moment Allie's head dropped beside her cousin's, +while she shook with sobs of mingled pity and fear. Then she started up +again, to force back her tears as she said, with all the pride and +energy of the MacGregors in her firm, clear voice,—</p> + +<p>"Howard, don't rush round so; you'll only make Charlie worse. It may not +be so bad; but you go, quick as you can, for Dr. Brownlee. Run every +single step of the way, and don't you come back without him."</p> + +<p>For an instant, Howard stared admiringly at the determined little figure +before him; then he rushed away, glad to get out of sight, where he +could rub the tears off from his cheeks, and feeling an immediate relief +in the need for prompt action. Twenty minutes later he came back, +accompanied by the doctor, whom he had met on the street, not far from +his office.</p> + +<p>As Allie rose from her place beside the sofa, she was filled with a +momentary dislike of this handsome, well-dressed young man, with the red +carnation in his button-hole, who came into the room with a sort of +quiet briskness, and addressed a half-laughing remark of greeting to +Charlie. But as she watched him, she soon realized that there was +nothing unsympathetic in his cheerfulness; and she felt a quick trust in +him, when she looked up into his kind gray eyes, while he bent over +Charlie and took the handkerchief from his face. An older person would +have read much from the sudden frown which passed across his forehead; +but Allie failed to catch it, and was cheered by his next words,——</p> + +<p>"Only a scratch or two, and a little cut. We'll patch you up soon, my +boy, so you needn't worry. There's a little glass left here, though, +that we want to get out of the way, first of all. You say your parents +are away?" he asked, turning to Allie. "Do you suppose you can help me a +little; or are you afraid?"</p> + +<p>Allie's cheeks grew white at the thought; and the doctor, as he watched +her, added kindly,—</p> + +<p>"Or perhaps your brother"—</p> + +<p>But Howard had fled, to shut himself up in his mother's room. Allie +could hear him moving restlessly about, behind the closed door.</p> + +<p>"I'll help if I can," she said bravely, though her rigid lips would +scarcely form the words; and she dropped her hand on Charlie's cold +fingers, to feel them close around it, with a grateful pressure, as the +doctor said approvingly,—</p> + +<p>"That's a brave girl! Now, has your mother anything that I could use for +bandages?"</p> + +<p>Allie hurried away in search of the great "emergency basket," which her +mother always kept well stocked with rolls of old cotton and linen and +flannel. The doctor gave a quick nod of pleasure, as he saw the orderly +store.</p> + +<p>"Good!" he said, as if to himself; "that tells the story. I wish more +women would look out for such things. Now," he went on, while he drew a +chair to the window, and laid a little case of shining, ugly-looking +instruments on a table beside it; "we must get rid of that glass as soon +as we can; and I want you, little woman, to hold this boy's head tight, +very tight, so he can't move, no matter how much I do hurt him. Any +slip now would be very serious."</p> + +<p>There followed a short interval of silence, when Charlie ground his +teeth hard together, to keep back any sound, and Allie sturdily held her +place at the back of his chair, though she felt faint and sick at the +sight before her, as those horrible little steel points moved up and +down across her cousin's eye. Then the doctor spoke again, in his +cheery, pleasant way, while he adjusted the necessary bandages; but to +Allie his voice sounded a long way off, and she dropped to the floor in +a forlorn little heap, as soon as she received the doctor's nod to +assure her that her work was ended.</p> + +<p>"You're a plucky pair," said Dr. Brownlee then, as he led the boy back +to the sofa, and arranged a pillow under his head. "I don't know which +has been braver, but I'm proud of you both. The worst is over now; but +we want to get this boy into bed, where he can keep quiet for a day or +two. I wish we could send word to your mother; but I suppose that is out +of the question, so we shall have to get along without her. Still, +you've a good nurse here, Charlie," he added, with an admiring glance at +Allie, who had roused herself once more and was standing by the sofa, +with one slender hand resting on her cousin's forehead.</p> + +<p>"Shall I get his room ready?" she asked, as her blue eyes filled with +tears again; for the doctor's kind words were too much for her shaken +nerves to bear.</p> + +<p>"Yes, he'll be better there," the doctor answered, as he followed her +into the room which the two boys usually occupied. "A southwest corner +room," he said, glancing around it. "That's too strong a light; isn't +there somewhere else?"</p> + +<p>"Mine is on the other side," she suggested.</p> + +<p>"That's better; but what will you do, my young nurse?" he asked with the +gentle courtesy which was habitual with him.</p> + +<p>"I'll take the sofa, or anywhere," she said, as she led the way into her +own dainty little room. "He can have this to himself, too; and Howard is +in the other. I truly don't mind a bit being turned out." She paused and +glanced over her shoulder to make sure that the door was shut. "Is it +very bad, Dr. Brownlee?" she asked, in a frightened whisper.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell yet; but I hope not," the doctor said reassuringly. "Now, +little woman, listen to me. Your cousin will have to be shut up here in +the dark for a good many days, and your mother will be away till +to-morrow night. I might send for somebody to come and stay with you; +but it would only frighten Charlie, so I am going to leave him in your +care, instead. You've just been doing splendidly with him; and he's used +to you, and likes to have you round him. Now, do you suppose you can see +to him till bedtime, and through the day to-morrow? A great deal, much +more than you know, depends on his being kept quiet and content, without +any worry. I will come back this evening, and sleep on the sofa here, +where I can look out for him through the night. Do you think you can do +it?"</p> + +<p>"I will," answered Allie, as solemnly as if she had been taking her +marriage vows.</p> + +<p>The doctor studied her face intently. Such a little thing, a happy, +rollicking child! But, in the past hour, she had shown herself a woman, +in the courage and tenderness which her love for her cousin had given +her. He felt that he could trust her, even in such a critical case as +this. But, as he looked down at the wistful, white face, and the drawn +lips which yet made no complaint of weakness or of fear, some sudden +impulse made him stoop and lift her hand to his lips.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to bend the knee before so brave and true a lady," he said, +with assumed lightness to mask his real feeling. "I hope the time may +come when I shall be able to prove how gladly I would serve her."</p> + +<p>"Cure Charlie's eye, then," she answered, with quaint, serious +directness.</p> + +<p>"My dear little girl, I will if I can," he replied gravely.</p> + +<p>Then he turned away, to close the blinds, draw down the shades, and pull +together the heavy curtains, until the room lay in deep shadow. At sight +of these ominous preparations, Allie's fear came back to her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, must he stay like this, all in the dark?" she cried, in a sudden +terror of she knew not what.</p> + +<p>"For a little while," answered the doctor, his voice sounding brisk and +cheery again, through the thick darkness. "We'll try not to have it last +any longer than we can help. Now," he went on kindly, "if you'll go out +in the sunshine and take a little run, while you get quieted down, I'll +help Charlie into bed. Then I shall leave him in your hands."</p> + +<p>But Allie was in no mood for sunshine. She paused for one moment beside +her cousin, without daring to trust her voice to speak; then she fled +to the kitchen, and cast herself into Janey's arms, to cry as if her +young heart were breaking.</p> + +<p>"Miss Allie, honey," Janey begged her; "what is it? Tell Janey what's de +matter. Don' cry so, Miss Allie, don't."</p> + +<p>Allie was past heeding her words. It had taken all her courage and +self-control to go through the last hour, and, now that she could have a +moment to herself, she could only cling to Janey and sob with a +bitterness which brought the sympathetic tears into the dark eyes above +her.</p> + +<p>"What is it, honey?" asked Janey again, as the child grew more quiet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Janey, it's Mr. Charlie!" And Allie's head went over against the +girl's shoulder once more.</p> + +<p>Janey looked pityingly down into the swollen, flushed face before her. +Then she seated herself in a chair, and gathering up the child in her +strong, young arms, she rocked gently to and fro without speaking, while +Allie sobbed out the story of the accident. When she paused, the girl's +brown cheek lay, for a moment, against the soft, thick hair, in an +unspoken caress; then she said cheerfully,—</p> + +<p>"Now, Miss Allie, dear, it's too bad, and Janey's sorry for you all. But +jus' you dry up your eyes, an' don' cry no mo'. Mars' Charlie's too good +a boy for de Lord to give him very bad time, an' 'twon't be long befo' +he's all right again. Janey's awful sorry for you; but you jus' try to +keep jolly, for his 'count, an' your ma will be home to-morrow. It'll +all come out for de bes'," she added, with the simple faith of her +people, which somehow comforted Allie, and gave her new strength to go +on.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later, the doctor sent Howard in search of his sister, and +Allie was able to go quietly back into her room. It looked strangely +unfamiliar to her; but as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, +she gradually made out the figure of her cousin, who was lying in her +dainty bed, with broad white bandages covering his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Allie?" he asked eagerly, as the door opened. "The doctor +says you're to look out for me to-day, and I'm no end glad of it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the doctor, from his corner where Allie had not yet seen +him; "you couldn't have a better nurse. Now," he added, after giving her +a few simple directions, "I shall be back early this evening, and, till +then, you're in charge. All you have to do," he went on, as Allie +followed him to the door, "is to wait on him, and see that the light +doesn't get to him. You can talk to him, just as you always do, only be +a little quiet. Above all, don't let him get to thinking about his eye, +for he mustn't worry. Good-by."</p> + +<p>He left her to go back into her cousin's room, while he went down the +street, saying to himself,—</p> + +<p>"I wish I could often get as plucky a patient and nurse. But I'd give a +good deal if I had a first-class oculist in town to-night; I don't like +the looks, up there."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE DARK.</h3> + + +<p>Often and often, during the next few weeks, Allie recalled the +conversation which had taken place between herself and Marjorie, months +before; for Charlie's time had come to prove his ability to bear trouble +and suffering as bravely as a boy could do. Early on the afternoon +following the accident, Dr. Brownlee had saddled his horse and ridden +away to meet Mrs. Burnam, and prepare her for the new care awaiting her; +but it was not until the next day that he told her of his real fear, the +danger that the injured eye might become so seriously inflamed that its +sight would be destroyed. How Howard and Allie found it out, it would be +impossible to say; but, before the day was over, they knew the secret, +and hovered about their cousin with an anxious care, the real cause of +which he understood as little as he did that of the doctor's extreme +gentleness of voice and touch, when he came, morning and night, to +examine the wound and renew the bandages.</p> + +<p>It was a hard experience for the boy, for there were long days of +sickening, throbbing pain, that darted up and down about his eye, and +painted strange, lurid pictures against the darkness of his closed lids. +Then came the time when he was allowed to sit up once more, and to +wander clumsily about his narrow quarters, bruising himself by frequent +collisions with the unseen furniture, until Allie's heart ached for him, +and she longed to tear away the bandages, and let him have one short +hour of daylight again. His piano was his main solace in these days, for +Mrs. Burnam had had it moved into his room, and he amused himself with +it for long hours at a time, when his cousins were busy, or away from +home. Of course he grumbled a little at times, as any healthy boy would +do; of course he had hours of being undeniably cross; but, for the most +part, he showed a quiet endurance which won the admiration of all his +friends.</p> + +<p>But, little by little, as the danger passed, his privileges increased, +and he was free to make daily excursions out into the parlor, which was +darkened for his use, and to receive short calls from the Everetts and +Marjorie. Allie had been his constant companion in these weeks, +entertaining him, leading him about the room, and even feeding him the +meals which Mrs. Burnam and Janey prepared so daintily. Then, at length, +came the great day when the bandage was taken off, to be replaced by a +shade, and only resumed for the hour when Allie was to be allowed to +lead him up and down the sunny piazza, and out along the street for +daily-increasing distances. For Charlie, all this was like coming back +into life once more. In spite of the darkness of his room, he could yet +see the dim outlines of objects in his narrow line of vision, and grope +his way about without being dependent upon his cousins for his every +need; and after a month of perfect helplessness, even this was a relief, +and he accepted it gratefully.</p> + +<p>And, after all, dark as the days were, they yet had their bright spots. +In his constant visits, the doctor had quite won Charlie's heart with +his lively talk and fun, until the boy found himself eagerly looking +forward to the next call, and wondering what fresh interest his new +friend had in store for him. For the doctor, true to the instincts of +his profession, knew so well how to cover his real anxiety under his +gay, light manner, that his young patient had no idea of the possible +danger of his case, and only regarded it as a tedious, painful wound +which would soon heal.</p> + +<p>"I am getting most awfully sick of this, though," he said one day, after +the doctor had gone. "It's a shame to be losing all this jolly weather, +and I've forgotten how everything looks. Dr. Brownlee is a first-rate +man; but he needn't make such a fuss over a scratch. I say, Allie, let's +run away and go for a ride up the gulch."</p> + +<p>"Oh, wouldn't I like to!" responded Allie, with a fervor which led +Charlie to say gratefully,—</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, Allie; it's a shame for you to stay tucked up with +me in this hole. You've stuck by me like a Trojan; but I'm well enough +off alone. Go out and have a lark; I would if I could."</p> + +<p>"Sha'n't!" returned Allie composedly. "Besides, there isn't anybody to +lark with."</p> + +<p>"Where are Marjorie and the boys?" demanded Charlie, casting himself +down in the easy-chair, and turning to face Allie, as she stood leaning +against the window curtain.</p> + +<p>"They went fishing with Mr. Everett, up the cañon."</p> + +<p>"Bother!" exclaimed Charlie impatiently. "Here I am losing all the fun; +and you're so silly, you won't go without me, when you could, as well as +not. That's just like a girl."</p> + +<p>"Now, Charlie, you just keep your temper," said Allie laughingly, while +she covered his mouth with her hand. "If you say anything more that's +saucy, I'll go off and never come back. I didn't want to go to-day; it's +too warm. Besides, we'll make up for all this when we go into camp."</p> + +<p>"Are we really going? I thought 'twas given up." And Charlie started up +with quick enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the plans are all made, and we're only waiting for you to be able +to go. We're going to be gone two weeks, and"—Allie paused, before +imparting her final bit of good news—"papa has asked Dr. Brownlee to go +too."</p> + +<p>"How jolly!" Charlie exclaimed rapturously.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it? The doctor didn't want you to get where he couldn't see to +you; and we all like him so much that papa said this was the best thing +to do, so we're going to start the very first day you are able."</p> + +<p>"When does he say 'twill be?" asked the boy eagerly.</p> + +<p>Allie hesitated. This part of her news was not so pleasant, for since +the first danger was over and Charlie was allowed to be up and about the +room, she knew that he was restless, and longing to be out with the +boys, enjoying his old free life once more.</p> + +<p>"Well," he urged again, "when can we go?"</p> + +<p>"Not for three or four weeks," she said gently, as her hand fell down +from his face, and rested on his shoulder with a little caressing +gesture.</p> + +<p>The boy needed all her sympathy, for his disappointment was keen. The +prospect of a month more of an existence like that of the past three +weeks was too much for his courage; and, shaking off her hand, he rose +and tramped up and down the room, frowning and moody.</p> + +<p>"I won't stand it!" he exclaimed suddenly, as he paused. "There's no +need of it, Allie, and I'm just not going to stand another month of it. +I'll risk my eyes, or let them slide; but I must get out of this stuffy +old room inside of a week, or I'll know the reason why."</p> + +<p>But his temper was always short-lived, and he was soon his old bright +self again. That night he was cheered by hearing the doctor say that he +might go out into the parlor to see Ned and Grant for an hour in the +morning.</p> + +<p>From that time on, his days began to pass more quickly. With Ned and +Marjorie at their head, the young people showed unlimited patience and +ingenuity in planning new amusements for their friend; and not a day +passed that they did not descend upon him in a body, laden with +offerings of fruit and flowers, trophies of their fishing expeditions, +and bits of gay gossip from mine and smelter, choir and Chinatown.</p> + +<p>Marjorie, in particular, was his devoted slave. For the past few weeks, +she had been carrying, deep down in her heart, a little sore spot, left +there by the stinging memory of her hasty words an hour before the +accident; and, now that she could see her friend once more, she did her +best to make amends for her past sins. But though her endless fun and +rollicking kindness gave Charlie many a pleasant hour, it was to Allie +that he turned in any emergency, for her long days of devotion to him +had proved her a staunch, true friend.</p> + +<p>"Allie is a pretty good sort of girl," he confided to Ned one day. +"She's just the kind to have round when you aren't well, for she's +jolly, and takes first-rate care of you, without being soft."</p> + +<p>One afternoon, about three or four weeks after the accident, Marjorie +and the three boys were sitting on the little front porch at the +Everetts', reposing after a long ride. It was a cool, cloudy day; the +mist lay low over the mountain sides, and closed in between the walls +of the cañon, and the wind blew up fresh and sharp. Allie had watched +the little group of riders as they cantered past the house and, turning +the corner, stopped at the Everetts'. Then she was seized with a sudden +inspiration.</p> + +<p>"Get up, lazy boy," she commanded, going into her room where Charlie lay +on the sofa, stretched out at his ease, with his arms folded under his +head. "Mamma's coming in here, in a minute, to put on your blinders, and +then let's go down to the Everetts' for an hour. They're all down there, +and we'll take them by surprise."</p> + +<p>Charlie started up eagerly enough. It was the longest walk that he had +taken, and he was glad to get out of his dull routine; so, ten minutes +later, he was on his way, with his hat pulled down over his face to +cover the ignominious bandage, and Allie's hand on his arm.</p> + +<p>Grant was the first to see him coming.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" he shouted. "There's Charlie Mac!"</p> + +<p>"Where?" exclaimed Ned, turning around with a suddenness which made him +lose his balance, as he sat on the rail, and sent him rolling over +backwards to the ground. He was on his feet again in a twinkling, and +tore away up the street to meet his guest, and, usurping Allie's place +as escort, bring him back to the steps in triumph. "Sit down here, old +fellow," he said, as he deposited him in a chair, and seated himself +protectingly on the arm. "How jolly to have you round again!"</p> + +<p>"Glad you think so," responded Charlie; "I was feeling fine to-day, and +Allie thought 't would be a good scheme to come down here. You can just +believe I was ready for a change of base."</p> + +<p>The first chatter of eager greeting was not yet ended, when Louise +Everett appeared in the doorway behind them.</p> + +<p>"I must just come out to speak to Charlie," she said, as she stepped +forward to his chair. "It's so long since I've seen you. No, don't get +up," she added hastily; "you look too comfortable to let me disturb you, +so I'll just sit down on the step beside Howard, if there's room."</p> + +<p>"Always room for you, Miss Lou," returned Howard gallantly, as he curled +up his feet so that his dusty shoes should not soil her fresh, pink +gown. "We've set Charlie up in the middle, like a Chinese idol, and are +adoring him."</p> + +<p>"You'd better get Wang Kum out here to help," suggested the idol +complacently. "I'm afraid I'm not much to look at, Miss Lou; but +fortunately I don't have to see myself these days. I leave it to Allie, +to tell me if my hair's smooth."</p> + +<p>Louise laughed, as she rested one hand affectionately on the girl's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"The doctor says she has been a most devoted Allie; and we all think +that we haven't seen much more of her than of you, this last month."</p> + +<p>"I know that, Howard and I aren't any account, any longer," said +Marjorie, in an injured tone, from her seat on the rail. "Howard, which +of us shall get broken to pieces, so the other can 'tend to it?"</p> + +<p>"What's the use?" returned Howard languidly. "Our noses are out of joint +now, and it doesn't seem to do us any good."</p> + +<p>"Oh, by thunder!" exclaimed Grant, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Grant, dear, what words!" said his sister reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Can't help it, Lou; look there! Dr. Hornblower is coming down the road, +and I can see, by the northeast corner of his weather eye, that he's +going to stop and make us a visit."</p> + +<p>"Dr. Hornblower? Do put me out of sight somewhere," begged Charlie.</p> + +<p>"What for? You've never seen him, and he's lots of fun," said Howard, +without the faintest appearance of respect for the clerical brother.</p> + +<p>"I know, but I'd rather meet him some time when I don't feel so much +like a mummy in a museum," urged Charlie again. "Can't you get me out of +this, Ned?"</p> + +<p>"There isn't time, honestly. He's right here, or I would," answered Ned +in a low voice, as he drew his friend's soft hat forward and turned down +the brim. "You're all right; and, besides, he's such an old duffer that +he won't notice anything. He won't stay here, any way; he comes to see +cousin Euphemia, and help her out when she gets in a tight place with +Wang Kum. Wang's been cutting church lately, and most likely the +doctor's come to see about it."</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower belonged to the fast vanishing school of +mossbacks, or "old-timers," as they more elegantly termed themselves, +the early settlers who had watched the State grow from its first +squatter population to its present comparative civilization. A mere boy +in the stormy days of Sixty-three, he had joined one of the many trains +of ox-teams which started across the country, on their slow, toilsome +march to the far West; and, for the next few years, his life had been +one of continual excitement and hardship. His father and grandfather +before him had been ministers; so it was small wonder that Gabriel, upon +arriving at man's estate, should feel that both his family tradition and +his name had called him to the life of a wandering preacher among the +mining camps and scattered ranches of the region, until he had finally +settled down to take charge of the little church in Blue Creek. He was +neither a great man, nor an educated one. On the contrary, he was +ignorant of any life outside of his own narrow sphere, and intolerant of +all spirit of advance or change, singularly devoid of tact, but literal, +honest, and well-meaning. Moreover, he was absolutely self-satisfied, +but utterly lacking in the sense of fun which makes conceited people so +much less disagreeable, since it gives them a glimmering appreciation of +their own absurdity.</p> + +<p>As far as his outward man was concerned, the Reverend Gabriel Hornblower +was not fair to look upon. Although Mrs. Pennypoker never failed to +speak of him as "old Dr. Hornblower," in reality he was not far from +forty-five; but he looked a score of years older, for his constant +exposure to the fierce mountain gales and the burning suns of summer had +tanned and dried him until his complexion closely resembled a withered +seckel pear, and his body was as thin and wiry as that of a September +locust in a season of famine. But, in spite of his dull, yellow-brown +skin, his deep-set blue eyes retained all their old life and sparkle, +while his thick auburn hair was cut close at the back and sides of his +head, and allowed to grow long above his forehead, where it was combed +up to form a single curl, which ran straight across the top of his head, +from brow to crown. The peculiar nature of this curl had beguiled the +time of dreary sermons for many a youthful sinner; for, like +Melchisedek, it appeared to have its beginning and ending in nothing, +and there was a certain fascination in tracing its placid course above +the august forehead.</p> + +<p>Approaching nearer to Dr. Hornblower, it was easy to see that he was a +close student, either of books or of human nature. His habit of profound +thought had developed an anxious frown, which had traced three deep +wrinkles between his eyebrows; while, upon the rare occasions when his +massive brain was at rest, and his brow was smoothed, two narrow lines +of white, untanned skin came to the surface, and gave his face a little +the appearance of a fantastic mask.</p> + +<p>As he drew near the little group on the steps, Louise courteously rose +to greet him.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Dr. Hornblower," she said hospitably. "Walk into the parlor, +and I'll call Mrs. Pennypoker."</p> + +<p>The doctor paused irresolutely, while he looked up into her fair young +face.</p> + +<p>"Um—thank you," he said awkwardly. "I will—at least I didn't exactly +come to see Mrs. Pennypoker, this afternoon. I"—</p> + +<p>"Shall I call Wang Kum?" suggested Grant, with an air of ready interest, +as he rose and moved a step towards the door.</p> + +<p>"Not just now," said the Reverend Gabriel stiffly. "Miss Everett, may I +not have the—the pleasure of sitting at your feet?" And he fixed his +eyes on the patent-leather tips of her shoes.</p> + +<p>"Of course we should be very glad to have you with us, Dr. Hornblower," +returned Louise, while the pink color in her cheeks grew a shade deeper, +as she heard an irrepressible giggle from Marjorie. "Ned, will you +please bring out another chair? This is Charlie MacGregor, Dr. +Hornblower," she added, as she saw the doctor's eyes turn inquiringly in +his direction.</p> + +<p>"In—deed; the young boy who was injured while at play? How do you do, +Charles?" asked the Reverend Gabriel, after pausing to contemplate the +lad, who had risen to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Very much better, thank you," replied Charlie, while Howard gave him a +stealthy poke with his foot.</p> + +<p>"Ah? I am glad to hear it, for I have been much interested in your case. +I hope you are properly thankful that there is now some slight +possibility that your sight may be restored to you."</p> + +<p>"Take this chair, Dr. Hornblower," interposed Louise hastily, while +Charlie turned an appealing face towards his cousins. "It is a long time +since you have been here; Mrs. Pennypoker was speaking of it only +yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have been much occupied with the duties of my calling," returned +the Reverend Gabriel, as he seated himself in the low chair, which +brought his bony knees almost on a level with his chin. "My time has +been engaged in visiting the erring members of my flock; and now, +to-day, I find that I have an hour in which to call on you."</p> + +<p>"I hope you don't look upon me as an erring member," Louise said, +laughing lightly.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, my dear young friend, no; you are misapprehending me," +answered the doctor, with a stiff-necked bow which sent Grant and +Marjorie into the house to laugh unseen. "I only wished to state that"—</p> + +<p>"Cousin Euphemia will be here in a minute, Lou," interrupted Ned, +reappearing in the doorway. "She saw the doctor coming, and she sent me +out to say she'd be right here; she wants to talk up something about +Wang. Come on, Charlie, I want to show you something in the house."</p> + +<p>"Really," exclaimed the discomfited doctor, as he looked beseechingly at +Louise; "I had no wish to disturb your cousin, Miss Everett. I trust +that she did not feel that she ought to see me, if it is inconvenient."</p> + +<p>"Not at all; she'll be delighted to see you," answered his young +hostess, with a grateful glance at her brother as he disappeared through +the open door.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Ned triumphantly, as the children settled themselves +inside the parlor. "We'll stay câched in here, out of the way; and maybe +there'll be some fun before long, if Cousin Euphemia and the doctor get +after Wang. He's been to our church all the time lately, ever since our +choir started up; and Cousin Euphemia doesn't like it. I just heard her +telling Wang to go out to them as soon as he could get ready."</p> + +<p>Ned's suspicions were well founded. A few moments later Wang Kum came +shuffling around the corner of the house, with his hat cocked defiantly +on the back of his head, and his hands buried in the pockets of his +loose blue toga.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Wang Kum?" asked the doctor, benevolently eyeing the +stray lamb before him.</p> + +<p>"Heap well," returned Wang Kum calmly, as he kept his eyes fixed on the +ground, to avoid Mrs. Pennypoker's warning glance.</p> + +<p>"I was afraid you were ill," observed the doctor, with an approving +smile for his own crafty manner of approaching the subject.</p> + +<p>"Uh?" inquired Wang Kum.</p> + +<p>"I thought perhaps you might be sick," repeated the doctor. "I hadn't +seen you at church lately."</p> + +<p>Wang shook his head contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Wang no get sick," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"Then why haven't you been to church?" asked the doctor.</p> + +<p>But Wang Kum only replied with a scarcely perceptible shrug.</p> + +<p>"Wang, didn't you hear Dr. Hornblower speak to you?" asked Mrs. +Pennypoker sharply.</p> + +<p>Wang still stood gazing on the ground and nodding his head in a slow, +thoughtful way which communicated a rhythmic undulation to his pigtail. +At Mrs. Pennypoker's question, he glanced up.</p> + +<p>"Wang no likee your church," he answered coolly. "Pisplykal church heap +lot better; smell good, sound good." He paused, then added, with a +cunning twinkle in his little dark eyes, "Make heap washee for +washee-shop." And, turning on his heel, he marched off towards the +kitchen, with the air of a man who had solved vast economic problems.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>CAMPING ON THE BEAVERHEAD.</h3> + + +<p>The August sun was shining down from a cloudless sky. He had risen +betimes that morning; but he was not the first one up in Blue Creek, for +the dim light of the dawn had found Ned and Grant Everett dressed and +flying about the house, while, farther up the street, Marjorie was +peering out through the window blinds, to assure herself that it was to +be a pleasant day. By seven o'clock the Burnams, too, were stirring; and +soon afterwards Allie and the boys appeared in the dining-room at the +Everetts', to exchange noisy congratulations over the fine weather.</p> + +<p>The day had at length come when they were to start upon their +long-delayed camping trip. For the past week, the young people had been +in a state of ferment, while their elders were in much the same +condition, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, whose excitement was largely mixed +with dread at the thought of the Bohemian life before her. The +engineering camp, which they were to join, was now pitched beside the +Beaverhead River; and Mr. Burnam, who had been out with his party much +of the time since Charlie's accident, had come back to Blue Creek two +days before, announcing that all was in readiness for their reception; +so the hour for their departure was fixed upon. The distance to the camp +was so great that they were to be two days upon their journey, spending +the night at a ranch on their way, and reaching camp late on the +following afternoon.</p> + +<p>By nine o'clock, the party had assembled at the Burnams', ready for the +start. They made an imposing cavalcade as they moved away down the +street, for all but the older women were mounted on horseback. At the +head of the procession rode Mr. Everett, Mr. Burnam, and Mr. Fisher, +followed closely by the four boys, Allie and Marjorie, while Louise +Everett, in her close-fitting dark green habit, cantered along in the +rear, with Dr. Brownlee by her side. Then came the three wagons, the +first driven by Wang Kum, with Janey perched up on the high seat beside +him, eyeing her companion askance; while Mrs. Pennypoker, directly +behind them, watched them both with an unswerving vigilance, ready to +check any sign of levity on the part of man or maid. Mrs. Pennypoker +was attired with all her wonted nicety, and her prim black straw bonnet +and decorous gloves formed a striking contrast to the plain +rough-and-ready gowns and broad hats of the other matrons, who were more +accustomed to the needs of the life before them. Last of all came the +two baggage wagons, one carrying the tents and stove, the other laden +with the generous stock of provisions which Mr. Burnam had laid in for +his guests; while in and out among them all raced Ben in a series of +mad, elephantine gambols, expressive of his joy at being started for the +field again.</p> + +<p>Through the town they proceeded quietly enough; then, when they came out +into the open ground of the lower cañon, the boys uttered a wild whoop, +and dug their heels into the flanks of their ponies, as they went +scurrying away, far in advance of the rest of the party.</p> + +<p>"Just look at Charlie!" said Marjorie, as the boys turned to ride +leisurely back to their companions once more. "He acts as if he didn't +know what to do next."</p> + +<p>"He's just about wild to be out again," returned Allie, gathering up her +reins preparatory to joining the lads at the head of the procession. +"You see, he was shut up 'most eight weeks, so I don't wonder he wants +to make up for it. I expect he'll break his neck, though; for he's so +near-sighted that he can't see without his glasses, and of course he +can't wear them with that patch over his eye."</p> + +<p>"How long is he going to wear it?" asked Marjorie soberly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know; a good while, the doctor says, but I don't think Charlie +minds much, after the other."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he came awfully near"—Marjorie paused, with a little shiver.</p> + +<p>Allie nodded understandingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he didn't have any idea of it, though, till that day he met Dr. +Hornblower at the Everetts'. After that he was dreadfully blue; you know +he wouldn't stir out anywhere, for ever so long."</p> + +<p>"Say, Allie," began Marjorie abruptly; "do you remember that day before +he was hurt?"</p> + +<p>"When you were so cross?" inquired Allie mercilessly.</p> + +<p>"Yes. Did Charlie ever say anything about it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no," answered Allie after a little reflection. "I don't believe he +ever thought of it again."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of it," responded Marjorie; but still she did not look +altogether pleased. She would have preferred that her words should +carry a little more weight. Then she went on with her confession, "Well, +I kept thinking about it, till I began to feel as if I'd done it all. +You know I said I hoped something would happen. I wanted to come +straight down here, that very night, but mamma wouldn't let me, not even +long enough to just say I was sorry; and then the doctor wouldn't let +any of us see him for ever so long, so I never said anything about it. +Would you now, or would you let it go?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Allie thoughtfully. "Charlie'd never lay up +anything of that kind; but I always just like to say I'm sorry, when +I've been hateful to him or Howard. It kind of smoothes things out; but +you can do as you like."</p> + +<p>"Hi, you girls!" exclaimed Grant, dashing past them at this moment, +after capering about the wagons in a manner calculated to bring down +Mrs. Pennypoker's denunciations upon his yellow head. "What makes you so +puppywented slow? Come on!"</p> + +<p>"All right!" And Allie scampered off at his heels, sitting very straight +and trim in her pretty new saddle.</p> + +<p>Howard and Ned went after them, and Charlie was just ready to follow +when he heard some one coming up behind him on his blindfold side.</p> + +<p>"Wait just one minute, Charlie," said Marjorie's voice in his ear. "I +want to say something to you—just to say"—She paused, and swallowed +hard for a minute; then she went on steadily, "how sorry I've been that +I was so mean to you that day your eye was hurt. I wanted to tell you so +right off then, but I couldn't. But I kept thinking about it, all the +time you were ill, and 'twas most as bad as if I'd thrown the ball." +Marjorie stopped; the very earnestness of her apology made it hard to +utter.</p> + +<p>Charlie turned his head to look at her. He was surprised to see her face +so pale and her lips trembling.</p> + +<p>"That's all right enough, Marjorie," he said heartily. "I knew you +didn't mean it, and I didn't think any more about it. Give us your fist, +and then we'll go after the others."</p> + +<p>Sunset, the next night, found the party comfortably established in their +new quarters, on the very bank of the willow-bordered creek that plunged +into the river, forty feet away. Across the creek and six hundred feet +down the valley, dingy and brown with much service stood the tents of +the engineering corps; but the officers' tent was deserted, for its +occupants had come over to pay their respects at Camp Burnam, as the +children had christened it. The site for the camp had been fixed upon, +two days beforehand, and it was but the work of an hour to unpack the +wagons and pitch the four tents which made up the outfit. At the south +were the sleeping-tents, with Mrs. Burnam presiding over one, and Mr. +Everett over the other, while at the east, close to the creek, were +those given up to dining and cooking, where Janey and Wang Kum held sway +by day, with many a wrangle over the possession of the little +camp-stove, and many a heated discussion as to the relative merits of +Asiatic and African cookery.</p> + +<p>The stove had been the first thing to be unpacked, and by the time the +last guy-rope was made fast, the last roll of bedding opened and +arranged in its place, the welcome call to supper was sounded, and they +gathered about the long table, spread in the open air, in the golden +sunset light. Then the elders settled themselves for the evening, glad +to rest after their long ride, while the children raced up and down the +camp, exploring all the nooks and corners of their little domain, before +throwing themselves down on a pile of blankets to watch the full moon +as it rose from a bank of cloud just above the low hills to the +eastward, and threw its white light over their gay group. Fifteen feet +away from them Mrs. Burnam sat in the doorway of her tent, with Louise +at her feet. The girl's golden hair was glistening in the moonlight, as +she raised her head to speak to the topographer of the party, a +sandy-haired, jovial young fellow, so lately come from "Sheff" that he +retained all the slang and easy assurance of the genuine college boy. +Ten months of camp life had made him hail with delight the prospect of +paying court to a pretty girl; and he had attached himself to her side +to the utter exclusion of Dr. Brownlee and the grave, taciturn leveller, +who had retired from the contest and was devoting himself to Mrs. +Burnam, whom he had known for years. For a few moments, the doctor stood +looking on; then he turned away and joined the group of children, who +received him enthusiastically.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, this is fine!" said Charlie contentedly, while the +doctor seated himself by his side, and the boy stretched himself out at +full length, with his head on his friend's knee, and lay staring up at +the moon. "This is something I've never tried before, and always wanted +to."</p> + +<p>"Which?" inquired Allie, as she bent over to tickle his nose with a long +straw stolen from the bedding; "taking up twice as much room as belongs +to you, or looking at the moon?"</p> + +<p>"Camping out, of course," answered her cousin, curling up his feet, in +deference to her words. "Looking at the moon, too, for that matter; for +I didn't see much of the last one."</p> + +<p>"Speaking of moons," interposed Grant, from the corner where he and +Marjorie and Howard had been chattering and giggling together; "the last +two days have been no end hard on the storm center, and I think we shall +catch a blizzard soon, by the looks. Just see her now!"</p> + +<p>Grant's comment was in part justified, for the past two days had been +undeniably hard upon Mrs. Pennypoker's appearance. The sun is no +respecter of persons, and he had beaten down upon her majestic Greek +nose with precisely the same fervent caresses which he had lavished upon +Marjorie's freckled pug. Unfortunately, Mrs. Pennypoker's neat little +straw bonnet was by no means so good a protection as Marjorie's soft +scarlet felt hat, with its broad, flapping brim, and, even in the cold +light of the moon, Mrs. Pennypoker's countenance gleamed with the luster +of polished mahogany, which was enhanced by the great white kerchief +that she had tied over her head, to keep out the evening air. No urging +could induce her to sit on a blanket on the ground; so, in the absence +of upholstered chairs, Mr. Everett had arranged a wooden pail against a +tall box, cushioned them both with straw and blankets, and mounted his +cousin upon this rustic throne, where she sat with her skirts carefully +tucked up about her and her nose in the air, looking as much out of +place as a Dresden china dinner service would have done on the rough +board table.</p> + +<p>Howard laughed, as he looked at her.</p> + +<p>"I should think Wang would like her, to put her in his Joss house," he +said disrespectfully. "What'll she ever do, before two weeks are up? +She'll be a case for the doctor, sure enough."</p> + +<p>"We ought to have brought Dr. Hornblower along, to amuse her," suggested +Grant. "Come, I'm tired of this; let's have a game of 'I spy.' This +moonlight would be fine for it. Come on, Ned!"</p> + +<p>"Where?" inquired Ned lazily, for he was thoroughly absorbed in the +story that Dr. Brownlee was telling.</p> + +<p>"'I spy'; anything to get waked up."</p> + +<p>"Sha'n't. I'm too comfortable to move."</p> + +<p>"Allie?"</p> + +<p>"Don't want to," replied Allie, without stirring from her place beside +Ned.</p> + +<p>"Charlie—anybody?" demanded Grant.</p> + +<p>"What's the use? I can't see enough without my gigs."</p> + +<p>"Lazy things! Don't disturb them, Grant," said Marjorie scornfully. "If +this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home. Grant, +we'll hide, and let Howard find us. Come ahead!" And they vanished into +the shadow beside the cooking tent.</p> + +<p>Three minutes later there was a vigorous splash, followed by a shriek +from Marjorie, which brought the whole party flying to the spot. Down in +the shallow creek sat Grant, blinking up at them in bewilderment, as he +wiped the water from his eyes.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Howard, as Mr. Burnam helped the boy to +scramble to his feet, and up the steep bank of the stream.</p> + +<p>"Wish you'd whitewash those guy-ropes!" responded Grant petulantly. "I +tripped over 'em, and they landed me in that squdgy old creek. Marj +needn't have squealed like a cat, though, and given it all away."</p> + +<p>"'If this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home,'" +quoted Allie majestically, as she surveyed the dripping boy before her. +"I think Charlie has his spectacles in his pocket, Grant, if you'd like +to borrow them."</p> + +<p>However, this ended the frolic of the evening, for Mrs. Pennypoker +summarily seized upon the young explorer and ordered him to bed, while +Wang Kum spread his clothes to dry before the fire. The other boys soon +followed Grant's example, and the older people with them; so, after much +wriggling and nestling about in the blankets, they at last dropped to +sleep, and silence descended upon Camp Burnam.</p> + +<p>Camp life began in earnest the next day, and for the next two weeks the +party enjoyed one perpetual picnic. The children were up and out by +daybreak, ready for the long days of fun, and by seven o'clock the +breakfast call had sounded to gather them around the long table. It was +good to see Wang Kum, tin horn in hand, emerge from his improvised +kitchen, and blow the deep blast which should summon his flock to the +meal; it was good to see Janey follow in his wake, armed with the great +coffee-pot and a pile of light hoe-cakes, and then rush up and down +behind the chairs, trying to serve them all at once, while she +struggled in vain to repress an inclination to prance, and never failed +to give a vigorous tweak to Wang Kum's pigtail, as she passed him. The +relation between the two servants was unique, and, at times, somewhat +strained. Although Wang Kum, left to himself, would have been the most +peaceable of mortals, Janey persisted in treating him as an embodied +joke, and lost no opportunity to tease and torment him, until he came to +regard her with a strange mingling of hatred and fear.</p> + +<p>"Wang tell Mis' Pen'plok'," he would mutter, with a threatening glance +from his beady eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ol' mis' won' believe you," Janey would make answer. "She knows dat +you's a heathen, an' won' go to church. Cut off your great long plat, ef +you don' wan' me to pull it no mo'. I cyarn' help it, ef it gits in my +way, all de time." And then she would slyly lift the tip of the +offending member and lay it across the table, before setting her heavy +iron dish pan upon it. "Don' you year ol' mis' calling you?" she would +ask then. "Take care! Don' upset all my dish tub!" And the war would +begin again.</p> + +<p>The weather left nothing to be desired, and, the party usually +scattered soon after breakfast. The older men went on long hunting +expeditions, in pursuit of the game which generally proved to be just +over the divide; or explored the creek in search of trout,—great, +rich-flavored fellows, which put to shame the tiny products of our +Eastern streams. The boys, in the mean time, made friends with the +engineers, and spent whole days in the field. Howard and Ned attached +themselves to the transitman, and took turns as head and rear chain, +while Grant superintended the levelling, and Charlie trudged along in +the rear with the young topographer, who had taken a sudden fancy to the +boy, and gave him frequent lectures on the theory and practice of +surveying, until his pupil longed for the time when he too could wear on +his watch-chain the tiny blue shield, with its golden date and initials.</p> + +<p>Then there were long rides up and down the valley, and merry evenings in +camp, when they told over the adventures of the day, played games, or +sang college songs to the tinkling notes of the mandolin which Louise +had brought with her. There was an elaborate afternoon tea, when Mrs. +Burnam and Louise devoted their entire supply of tin plates and cups to +the entertainment of the whole corps of engineers, down to the very +axmen, and feasted them upon the miscellaneous delicacies concocted by +Janey and Wang. Three days later, this hospitality was returned by a +grand dinner-party at the lower camp, when venison and trout were the +main dishes of the meal, and the table was set and served with a +masculine disregard for appearances.</p> + +<p>But the last night of their holiday had to come. Evening found them all +gathered at Camp Burnam, watching the darkness settle around their +pleasant forest home. Both camps were to be struck on the following day, +for the engineering party was to move down the river at the same time +that the others started for home.</p> + +<p>"I have only two things to mourn about," said Charlie meditatively. "I +haven't shot a single bear, and I haven't even seen the tail of a +cayote."</p> + +<p>"Wish you had; 't would have been such fun to see you turn and run," +responded Ned, as he indolently settled himself with his head on Ben's +side.</p> + +<p>"Poor old Ben! Does he use you for a pillow?" asked Marjorie, stooping +to stroke the great creature's head.</p> + +<p>"I say, Marjorie, stop that," remonstrated Howard suddenly. "When you +pet that end of him, this end wags, and his tail whacks awfully. Do let +him go to sleep, or else warn me, so I can get out of the way."</p> + +<p>"You'd better try this, you fellows," advised Ned. "It's fine; the best +bed I've had since I left home."</p> + +<p>"What's going on here?" asked Dr. Brownlee, moving up to the group, in +company with Louise and her faithful attendant, the topographer, just as +Howard and Charlie stretched themselves out beside Ned.</p> + +<p>"Nothing, only they're getting ready for a nap," said Allie. "Don't you +wish we didn't have to go home to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>"I do," groaned Charlie. "I never had so much fun before, and I don't +want to go back to town again. I believe I'll run off and set up in life +as a brave. Will you come, too, Allie?".</p> + +<p>"Not if I have to live in a wick-i-up three feet square, and wear your +cast-off blankets," she answered, with some spirit. "I'm just about the +right color for a squaw, though; that is, if I look as badly as the rest +of you do."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, dear," returned Howard laughing. "You're at least ten shades +blacker than anybody else; and Charlie is so dark that his patch hasn't +showed any for five days."</p> + +<p>"How about the freckles?" inquired Charlie composedly. "I don't care; +I've had a good time, and maybe 'twon't be fast color."</p> + +<p>"It won't hurt you, Charlie," remarked the doctor. "You started off +looking rather too white, after living in the dark for a month. This +camping trip has been the best thing you could have had."</p> + +<p>The two weeks had certainly done the boy good, and, removed from any +temptation to use his eyes, he had given them the utter rest which they +demanded, until they had nearly regained their former strength. Dr. +Brownlee watched him approvingly for a moment. Notwithstanding the dark +sunburn on his cheeks and the shade over his right eye, it was an +attractive face, in spite of its lack of real beauty, such as had fallen +to the share of Ned and Grant.</p> + +<p>"It has been immense," said the boy regretfully. "But maybe we can come +out again, next summer."</p> + +<p>"Don't flatter yourself with any such notion," said Howard. "If you'd +been with papa as long as I have, you'd know that there isn't much +chance of our being here, by another summer. He may be ordered to +Alaska or Arizona, by that time; and we'll have to 'hoppee 'long, too.'"</p> + +<p>"Just this way," interposed Grant, starting up abruptly with an inviting +chirrup to Ben, who scrambled to his feet with a suddenness which sent +the three boys rolling into an indiscriminate pile among the blankets, +as their pillow went rushing away across the camp, in pursuit of some +imaginary intruder.</p> + +<p>It was late that night when the party finally broke up and went to their +tents; it was later still before the usual gentle snores arose from Mrs. +Pennypoker's corner. Soon afterwards, the silence of the night was +broken by the sound of stealthy footsteps, coming up the river bank from +the engineers' tents. A moment later, the music from a full orchestra of +combs roused the sleepers from their dreams.</p> + +<p>"Farewell, farewell, my own true love!" they wailed, in a gusty and +oft-repeated chorus, until even Ben's feelings overpowered him, and, +running to the door of the tent, he raised his nose towards the waning +moon, and howled till his voice was husky. Then the swaying curtain at +the doorway of the tent dropped once more, and all was still. The play +was over, and the orchestra had ceased. Camp Burnam's story was ended.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>UP THE GULCH.</h3> + + +<p>"I do believe every-day things are pleasantest, after all," said Allie +contentedly.</p> + +<p>It was a month after their camping party, and she and her mother were +comfortably settled in the parlor, with the mending basket between them. +The windows and doors were thrown wide open, and the room was flooded +with the yellow sunlight that lay across the floor, while the warm +September wind softly fluttered the light draperies. Outside the door, +on the piazza, Ben lay snoozing in the sun, sleepily wagging his tail in +some happy dream of full-flavored bones or trespassing cats; and beyond +him Victor was trudging up and down the path in front of the house, +laden with a tiny scarlet pail filled with sand. Allie glanced +thoughtfully about the pretty room, and out at her baby brother; then +she turned back to her mother again, as Mrs. Burnam asked,—</p> + +<p>"How do you mean, Allie?"</p> + +<p>"Why, after all our camping and fun, it seems good to sit down and +visit a little, mammy. Don't you see, we haven't had a chance for ever +so long, not since Charlie was hurt; and I enjoy it, once in a while. +The other is fun; but I like to stop and talk it over sometimes." And +Allie paused meditatively, with one of Howard's long stockings drawn +over her hand.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," her mother answered, while she trimmed a patch to fit the +hole which it was intended to fill; "we haven't had a quiet afternoon +for a long time, hardly since Charlie came out here, last spring. You've +been so busy with the boys that I didn't know whether you'd ever enjoy +sitting down with me any more."</p> + +<p>"Yes, this is nicest," said Allie. "The boys aren't you, any more than +Charlie is Howard. I like them both; but I need you to straighten out +things sometimes."</p> + +<p>"What is it now?" asked her mother quietly, for she saw from Allie's +face that something was troubling her, and, mother-like, she wished to +help her little daughter.</p> + +<p>"Why, it isn't so much; only something that Grant was telling, something +Mrs. Pennypoker said," answered Allie, while she threaded her needle and +stuck it in beside the hole. Then she asked abruptly, "Mamma, is it +true that Charlie has ever so much money?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; that is, he will have, when he grows up," replied Mrs. Burnam, a +little surprised at the question, for she had tried to train her +children to feel that wealth was by no means the main end in life.</p> + +<p>"How much?" persisted Allie.</p> + +<p>"A great deal, for Uncle Charlie was a rich man, and our Charlie is his +only child."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" And Allie lapsed into silence again.</p> + +<p>"What made you ask, Allie?" her mother inquired, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Nothing; only Mrs. Pennypoker said somebody told her he was very rich, +and that was the reason you'd let him come here, so maybe we could get +some of it; and she asked Mrs. Pennypoker if she hadn't seen the way I +hadn't had so much to do with Ned and Marjorie since he'd been here, and +all. Wasn't it horrid, mamma?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burnam frowned. She was sorry to have such ideas put into the head +of her young daughter; and, during the past five months, she had grown +to feel that Charlie was almost one of her own children; so the +worldly-wise tone of these comments grated upon her ears.</p> + +<p>"Grant had no right to tell you this," she said thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't care if he did," Allie interrupted. "I knew 't wasn't true, and +I told him that I didn't think Charlie had any money, and we didn't want +any of it, if he had; we'd plenty of our own. But I wish people wouldn't +talk such things. I like Ned and Marjorie just as well as I used to; but +when Charlie's here in the house, and just as splendid as he can be, I +don't see why I shouldn't like him better. Nobody minded when I was with +Howard 'most all the time, and Charlie's just like another brother." And +she nodded conclusively as she resumed her work.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Burnam watched her steadily for a moment, trying to read whether +there was any unspoken thought in her daughter's mind; but Allie looked +up, and her blue eyes met her mother's so squarely that Mrs. Burnam was +satisfied.</p> + +<p>"Charlie does seem just like one of us," she assented heartily; "and I +know we've all enjoyed his being out here; but it isn't because he's +rich that we've liked him, it's because he's just what he is, a bright, +manly boy, without any airs or nonsense. Aunt Helen asked to have him +come to us, because he hadn't any other cousins; and it would have been +a pleasant six months for all of us, if it hadn't been for his terrible +illness." Mrs. Burnam paused; she could never speak of his accident +without a shudder.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad it happened," returned Allie proudly. "If it hadn't, we +shouldn't ever have known how brave he was. And, besides, if it hadn't +been for that, we never should have known Dr. Brownlee half so well, and +he wouldn't have gone into camp with us; so you see there was some good +came out of it. But didn't we have a fine time in camp, mammy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think our camping trip was a success, in more ways than one," +said Mrs. Burnam, smiling quietly to herself, as she recalled certain +scenes in which Louise and the doctor had played a part. There was no +doubt in her mind about the enjoyment of two of their number, however +the others might have looked upon it.</p> + +<p>"But, after all," resumed Allie, going back to her original statement; +"I do like getting settled down again; and this vacation has been so +stirred up that I believe I shall be glad to have some lessons once +more."</p> + +<p>"Here comes Ned," said her mother, glancing up from her work as the boy +turned the corner and came up the street towards the house. "He's +probably after you and the boys for some frolic or other."</p> + +<p>"All right; I've just finished my last stocking. Did you ever see +anybody make such holes as Howard does?" And she rolled the stockings +into a ball and tossed them into the basket, as Ned came up the steps.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" he remarked, dropping into the chair from which Allie had just +risen, and helping himself to her orderly work-basket. "Where are the +other fellows?"</p> + +<p>"They've gone up the creek fishing," answered Allie, watching, with an +anxious face, while Ned investigated her papers of needles, and then +turned his attention to her button bag.</p> + +<p>"They must want something to do," returned Ned scornfully. "I should +think you about lived on fish, up here."</p> + +<p>"They don't often catch anything," said Mrs. Burnam, laughing; "not even +colds. Howard fell into the creek, day before yesterday, and then sat +around in his wet clothes all the afternoon; but it didn't seem to hurt +him any."</p> + +<p>"I tried that once," said Ned, as he stealthily put the basket on the +floor, just behind Allie, where she could not fail to step in it and +overturn it; "but I had the worst of it, for Cousin Euphemia saw me when +I came home. She put me to bed, right in the middle of the day, and made +me take some hot ginger-tea. Ugh, what a mess 't was! I'd rather have +had a dozen colds than be choked to death, and left to stew in a flannel +blanket. But what I came to say, Allie—Oh, isn't that too bad! You've +upset your basket."</p> + +<p>"What a wretch you are, Ned!" And Allie slyly dropped a large, flat +button down inside his collar, as she stooped to pick up her scattered +treasures. "You've done this before, and I know just how sorry you are."</p> + +<p>"I didn't do a single thing," returned Ned innocently. "How'd I know you +were going to put your foot in it that way? But I stopped to see if some +of you didn't want to go up the gulch this afternoon. It's not so very +warm, and Lou and Grant are going, so I said I'd hurry on ahead and get +you to come too. Here they are, now."</p> + +<p>"I'll go; wait till I get my hat." And Allie vanished.</p> + +<p>"Come along too, Mrs. Burnam," said Ned persuasively.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could, Ned; but I must stay with Vic, for Janey has gone out +this afternoon. You'd better stop in here, all of you, when you come +back, though. The boys will be home by that time, and I want to see +Louise, too," she added, as Ned and Allie went down the steps.</p> + +<p>At the west side of the town, the mountains rose up, sheer and straight, +their slopes ending abruptly at the outer streets, which were carefully +laid out and numbered, although no houses had yet been built there. +However, the low, even ground was elaborately divided into blocks, and +the blocks, in their turn, into building lots, to be in readiness for +the possible purchaser, who might appear at any moment. On the boundary +line between the town and this suburban region was the little brick +school-house; and beyond it lay the open ground which now, in the +absence of any inhabitants, was still used as a wood yard for the +distant smelter, whose constant fires easily devoured the vast piles of +wood daily unloaded by the trains which ran down the spur of track +leading to the yard. Beyond this again were the mountains, which rose to +their highest point just to the west of the town, where the tips of the +tallest peaks were always blanketed with the soft, white piles of snow. +At only one spot their unbroken front was interrupted, where a deep, +narrow ravine led far up among the mountains, forming a delightful walk +in a warm summer day. After the burning glare on the dry, sandy soil of +the town, which, in its barren lack of grass and trees, stared back at +the sun like a lidless, lashless eye, the cool shadows of the pines in +the gulch were a refreshing change. The little gulch had its variety of +names: Bear Gulch, it was called, Lover's Gulch, and even Cemetery +Gulch, from the lonely burial ground perched on the top of the rugged +bluff at its entrance.</p> + +<p>Ned and Allie had taken the lead, with Louise and Grant following close +behind them, as they picked their way among the countless tin cans +scattered over the fields, or paused to look and laugh while the boys +clambered to the top of the long wood-piles, and ran slow, unsteady +races over their uneven surfaces. Then they came out to the track, and +followed along its course, where Ned and Allie joined hands and walked +the rails, and Grant trudged along behind them, stepping with an +elaborate care upon each one of the ties, or leaping over occasional +cattle-guards, as they crossed his path.</p> + +<p>They were far past the western houses of the town, and rapidly +approaching the foot of the mountain, when Ned gave Allie's hand a +violent twitch.</p> + +<p>"Look back!" he exclaimed in an undertone.</p> + +<p>With a little cry of alarm, Allie sprang from the track; then, as she +glanced back over her shoulder, she burst out laughing.</p> + +<p>"How you scared me, Ned!" she said, as she stopped abruptly. "I thought +'twas a train, but it's only Dr. Hornblower."</p> + +<p>True enough; up the track behind them came the excellent doctor, waving +his cane in amicable salutation, as he strode along at a pace which +might have put to shame the wearer of the famous seven-league boots. His +leathery skin was dark and shining from the violence of his exercise, as +he came sweeping on towards them, till he paused by the side of Louise, +who watched him with some anxiety while he stood wheezing and panting +before her.</p> + +<p>"My dear Miss Everett," he said, when he could regain his breath enough +to speak once more; "are you not afraid to walk so rapidly at this +altitude? I fear you may over-exert yourself some day." He paused for a +moment, puffing like the engine of an overloaded freight train; then he +resumed, "I called at your residence, and was so regretful at not +finding you at home that your cousin, Mrs. Pennypoker, told me that you +were bound for the gulch, and assured me that there was—um—some +prospect of my overtaking, not to say catching up with you."</p> + +<p>"Are you out on the round-up again to-day, Dr. Hornblower?" asked Ned +soberly.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel looked at him with a perplexed countenance.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that I do not perfectly apprehend your meaning," he said.</p> + +<p>"Why, you said, last time you called on Lou, that you were hunting up +stray sheep, and I didn't know but you were out after some more to-day," +Ned explained, with a naughty satisfaction in his sister's struggles to +repress her smiles.</p> + +<p>But Dr. Hornblower was quite unmoved. His professional dignity rose to +the surface, and his voice took on its Sunday twang as he replied +pompously,—</p> + +<p>"No, Edward; the sheep are all in the fold. To-day I am only in search +of congenial society." And he bowed gravely to Louise.</p> + +<p>"Come on, now," whispered Grant, as he joined Allie and Ned in advance, +and left Louise to follow them with her elderly admirer; "the doctor's +lost his wind already, and can't keep up; but, if he wants a walk, +we'll give him one."</p> + +<p>His companions entered into the spirit of his proposition, and they +quickened their pace, after casting one backward glance towards Louise, +as she lingered along, with a sort of repressed impatience of step and +manner, while she listened to the Reverend Gabriel's elaborate +explanations of his reasons for following her. Then such a race as they +led him! Quitting the track, they turned aside into the open ground, +covered with uneven tufts of coarse bunch grass and thickets of sage +brush, now racing down a little hillock, now jumping over a tiny stream +and forcing their way through the clumps of willows on the bank, but +always choosing the roughest, hardest path, and always going at the top +of their speed, while Louise and the doctor panted and floundered along +too far in the rear to be heard in their calls for mercy. Even Allie was +beginning to be exhausted when, a few hundred feet above the mouth of +the gulch, Grant turned abruptly to the right and scrambled up the steep +hillside leading to the cemetery.</p> + +<p>"There!" he chuckled, while Ned and Allie, breathless with laughing and +with their rapid climb, dropped down on the ground beside him; "we'll +give him a rest when he gets up here. If he's going to come along and +spoil all our fun, he must pay for it; but he'll be tired by this time."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if he'll ever get up here alive," said Allie, as she reached +out to the nearest bush, to pick a bit of fur from the twig which had +caught it from some passing cottontail. "You almost used me up, and I +don't believe Miss Lou could have gone on much farther, so I shouldn't +wonder if he was pretty nearly dead."</p> + +<p>"Well, 'twould be a nice, convenient place for the funeral; only I +shouldn't be surprised if he stuck, half way up here," suggested Ned, +comfortably lying on his back, and fanning himself with the hat which +Allie had tossed aside. "No; here he comes," he added, as the Reverend +Gabriel's wide-brimmed straw hat and flushed face appeared over the brow +of the hill, followed by Louise, looking rosy and mischievous, but as +fresh as she had done at the start.</p> + +<p>"Come over to this tree, doctor, and sit down here in the shade while +you rest," she said kindly, as she led the way to the spot where the +boys were stretched out on the grass.</p> + +<p>There was an unwonted gentleness in her voice, for she had been quick +to discover the impish intention of her brothers, and was anxious to +atone for their lack of courtesy towards an acquaintance whom she had +always regarded as an old man, on the down-hill side of life. In spite +of herself she had been amused at the doctor's frantic efforts to keep +up with her own firm, quick pace, and at his urgent entreaties that she +should tell him if he walked too fast for her. Nevertheless, as she +seated herself beside her young brothers, she was resolving to give them +a lecture upon the sins of the afternoon, so soon as she could get them +in a place of safety.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, the doctor appeared to be strangely annoyed over +something, although she was unable to discover the cause of his trouble. +In obedience to her inviting gesture, he had spread out his large blue +silk handkerchief on the ground by her side, and seated himself upon it. +Then he started to remove his hat; but he had no sooner raised it a +little from his head than he hastily clapped it on again, with a little +exclamation of surprise and displeasure.</p> + +<p>"I do hope that these bad boys haven't given you too hard a climb, +doctor," Louise was saying politely, while she turned to frown down any +fresh demonstrations on the part of Grant, who was evidently plotting +some new mischief.</p> + +<p>"Um—m—ah—no—at least, I beg your pardon, but what was it you said?" +inquired the doctor, so abstractedly that Louise looked at him in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel sat with his face slightly turned away from her. He +was tilting his hat so that, on the farther side, it was raised an inch +or two from his head, while, with his disengaged hand, he was feeling +carefully about underneath it, as if in search of some missing object. +His face, meanwhile, was rapidly assuming every appearance of trouble +and distress, which became more and more acute with every fresh motion +of his hand. Louise watched him compassionately, sure that something was +amiss, but not daring to offer to come to his assistance; then, thinking +to spare him any added mortification, she looked away towards the +valley.</p> + +<p>A lovely picture lay at her feet, for the cañon opened out before her +eyes in all the grandeur of its mountainous surroundings, while the +little town in its bosom was softened and beautified by the kindly +autumnal haze, which took away the crude shabbiness of its detail and +brought it into harmony with the rugged landscape about it. Beyond the +town lay the creek, and over it all floated the heavy pall of thick +white smoke, which seemed to be supported on the tall red chimneys of +the smelter buildings. The sun was dropping behind the mountains, and +already the town lay in shadow, while the last beams lingered upon the +cloud of smoke which flushed to a pale pink, then deepened to a rosy +glow. The girl's eyes rested on the scene below her; then, surprised at +the continued silence of her escort, she glanced at him once more. He +was still groping about underneath his hat, with the same strained, +upward roll to his eyes; but, as she looked at him, a new light burst in +upon Louise's mind, for two long locks of tawny hair had straggled down +over his right ear, and lay in a feeble ringlet against the top of his +tall collar. The Reverend Gabriel's wrist brushed against them; he felt +of them inquiringly; then he deliberately took off his hat to show the +top of his head shorn of the glory of his curl, and the long ends of +hair hanging in elf-locks about his face.</p> + +<p>"Miss—um—Miss Everett," he began hesitatingly, while a dark flush rose +on his weather-beaten cheeks; "Miss Everett, I am exceedingly sorry to +trouble you, but"—he paused; then went on desperately; "in fact, could +you be good enough to lend me a hairpin? The exertion of my climb has +removed mine from its accustomed place, and I fear that my hair may be +slightly disarranged."</p> + +<p>The silence that followed was unbroken while Louise felt about among her +braids and drew out a long, slender pin; but when the doctor put his hat +down on the ground by his side, carefully rolled up his hair over his +two forefingers, spread it into the usual long curl, and fastened it +into its place, Allie and Ned fell into an uncontrollable fit of +giggling. But, for the once, Grant's attention was distracted, for he +was gazing steadily towards the engine house at the mouth of the mine.</p> + +<p>"Say, Lou," he exclaimed; "what's going on down there? Everybody's +rushing over to the mine; something must be wrong."</p> + +<p>Louise's eyes followed the direction of his hand.</p> + +<p>"There 's some trouble, down there," she said, rising abruptly. "Will +you excuse us, Dr. Hornblower, if we go down without waiting to get +rested? I am always a little anxious about my father." And she hurried +away down the hill, leaving the Reverend Gabriel to adjust his hairpin +at his ease, while he reflected upon the unsatisfactory nature of his +walk.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>"SWEET CHARITY'S SAKE."</h3> + + +<p>"You see," Howard was explaining to Ned, that evening, "he'd put in his +charge for the blast, and was tamping it down all right; but he kicked +over his drill, and the end fell on an extra package of giant powder."</p> + +<p>"I know that," interrupted Ned. "Papa said he was outrageously careless, +to have any of the stuff lying around loose; and 'twas a wonder that +there weren't any more men near enough to be killed. Poor old Mike! He's +worked in the mine ever since 'twas first opened, and he was one of +their best men."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how he came to be so careless, then," said Marjorie, wisely +shaking her head over the matter. "I should suppose he'd have known +better by this time."</p> + +<p>"They do know better," said Ned thoughtfully; "only they get hardened to +the risk and don't think much about it, or else say their luck will hold +out. But Mike has the worst of it. Do you know, this is the first +accident in the Blue Creek I ever remember, and I used to see Mike 'most +every day, so I can't get to believe it a bit. It seems as if it +couldn't be true."</p> + +<p>"Papa was all broken up to-night," added Grant. "He knows all the old +foremen, and Mike was the best one of them all."</p> + +<p>"I believe I'd rather die 'most any way than be blown up," said Allie, +with a shudder. "It must be so hard for his family. But didn't you say +somebody else was hurt, Howard?"</p> + +<p>"Just one boy," answered Howard, rising and walking nervously about the +room, as the scene came freshly to his mind. "I don't know who he was, +for nobody seemed to be sure of his name. He had dark hair, and was +about Charlie Mac's size, I should think. They brought him up in the +cage just as Charlie and I stopped at the shaft, and the first thing we +knew, we were right beside him."</p> + +<p>"What's it going to do to him?" asked Marjorie, as her bright face grew +very serious at the picture that Howard had brought before her.</p> + +<p>"No one knew, for the doctor wasn't there, of course, and they took him +right off home. Papa said he was an English boy that lived over the +creek," said Grant, stretching himself out on the sofa, with his heels +on the cushion.</p> + +<p>Marjorie sprang up and shook herself, with a little shiver.</p> + +<p>"Don't let's talk about it any more," she exclaimed. "It just makes me +sick to think of it."</p> + +<p>"But it's there, all the same, whether we talk about it or not; and if +you'd seen it, as we did, you couldn't forget it, even if you did keep +still," said Howard soberly; and Allie added,—</p> + +<p>"Besides, maybe if we talk about it we can find out there's something to +do, to help out."</p> + +<p>For an hour, the five young people, gathered in the Everetts' parlor, +had been telling over the details of the accident. As Ned had said, it +had been a long time since the Blue Creek had been visited by an +accident like those which so frequently occurred in the neighboring +mines, and this, killing, as it did, one of the oldest and best-known of +the miners, had created an intense excitement in the little town. +Immediately following the explosion, there had been put in circulation a +report of the accident so exaggerated that it had brought to the spot +the wives of half the miners in the camp, each one of whom was confident +that her husband was among the twenty or more men said to have been +killed. It had been this hasty gathering which had caught Grant's eye; +and the Everetts and Allie had hurried down into the town just in time +to learn the truth that but one man was killed, and to watch the excited +groups as they slowly dispersed, so noisy in their joy that their own +friends had escaped, that they forgot to give more than a passing +thought to poor, careless Mike, whose working days were ended. But that +came later; and among all his mourners there were none more sincere than +the little group at the Everetts', who knew and appreciated the real +worth of the jovial, brawny Irishman, whose pleasant word and helping +hand were extended to all with whom he ever came in contact. They were +still talking of him when the bell rang; and, a moment later, Wang Kum +ushered Dr. Brownlee into the parlor. At sight of him, Marjorie sprang +up impulsively.</p> + +<p>"Oh, doctor, tell us about the poor boy! How is he?" she asked abruptly, +without waiting for any formal greeting.</p> + +<p>"If you mean the one who was hurt at the mine this afternoon," the +doctor was beginning, when Ned hastily interposed,—</p> + +<p>"Hold on a minute, Dr. Brownlee; but don't sit down in that chair. +There's something wrong about the stuff it's covered with; 'tisn't real +leather, and it melts and gets sticky in summer, or when there's a hot +fire. You'd better steer clear of it. We mean to keep it out of the +way."</p> + +<p>"You might use it for a trap," suggested the doctor laughingly, as he +pushed aside the great easy-chair, and settled himself in a willow +rocker. Then his face grew grave again, as he turned back to Marjorie. +"He's as badly hurt as he can be," he went on. "He'll get over it, but +he'll never be able to do anything more. He hasn't come to his senses +yet, and I wish he needn't, for the present, for he has a hard time +before him," he added, as he rose to meet Louise, who came into the room +just then.</p> + +<p>"I'm a little upset to-night," he said apologetically, in answer to her +exclamation about the coldness of his hand. "To be perfectly honest, +this is my first accident case; and it's a very different thing from +seeing people quietly ill in bed, even if you know they can't get well. +I was at the house when they brought him in, and I hope I sha'n't often +have to go through such a scene again."</p> + +<p>"Tell me about it," said Louise, with a gentle sympathy which lent a new +grace to her beauty. "I'm not afraid to hear, and perhaps I can do +something for them by and by."</p> + +<p>And the doctor told, forgetting himself, and even the charming young +woman before him, as he went on with the story of the mother's frantic +sorrow over her only son, of the boy's half-conscious suffering, and of +the long, helpless life before him. The girl's eyes filled with tears as +she listened, though her pity for the lad was mingled with a new +admiration for the speaker. The tale did not lie entirely in the mere +words describing the accident; but, under all that, it told of the +generous, kindly sympathy of the true doctor, who shrinks from the sight +of pain, even while he gives his life to watching and helping it.</p> + +<p>Two weeks later Marjorie was spending a stormy afternoon at the +Burnams', when Ned appeared on the piazza.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" he exclaimed, as he furled his dripping umbrella, and shook +himself out of his rubber coat. "You'd better believe I'm wet. Lou went +off before it rained, and I had to pack her rubbers and umbrella over to +her. It's no joke to walk a mile in such a pour."</p> + +<p>"Where is she?" asked Allie, while she hospitably drew up a chair for +her guest.</p> + +<p>"Over the creek with that boy of hers. She puts in ever so much time +there, since he's better. She says he's crazy to read and be read to, so +she goes over 'most every day," responded Ned, as he wriggled away from +the too exuberant caresses of Ben.</p> + +<p>"How is he getting on?" inquired Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"All right, as much as he can. Lou says he's bright and knows a good +deal."</p> + +<p>"How kind she's been to him!" said Allie thoughtfully. "And Charlie, +too. He buys lots of things for him, and sends them over by Dr. +Brownlee."</p> + +<p>"Good for Charlie Mac! That's just like him," said Ned enthusiastically. +"Where is he, anyhow?"</p> + +<p>"We supposed he was over at your house with Grant," answered Howard from +the corner where he sat, industriously whittling at a set of small +wooden pegs.</p> + +<p>"It must be nice to have money, and do all sorts of things like that," +sighed Marjorie. "I can't afford to buy books and fruit, for I'm always +short on my allowance; and mamma won't let me give up my lessons, even +for one day, so I can't do what Miss Lou does."</p> + +<p>"Poor Marj! It's a hard case; for time's money, and you haven't any of +either," remarked Howard.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" she answered, starting from her chair, and pacing up +and down the room, as was her habit when much absorbed. "I'm getting +hold of an idea."</p> + +<p>"Hold on, then, and don't let it go," advised Ned, dodging the sofa +pillow that Marjorie hurled at him.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" she commanded imperatively. "It's really and truly a good +plan. You know we haven't any too much money, for we all of us spend our +allowances faster than we get them; but let's begin to save, and put it +all together, till by and by we can send him something."</p> + +<p>"Good, Marjorie! What a splendid idea!" exclaimed Allie, fired with zeal +at the thought.</p> + +<p>"But, I say," remonstrated Howard; "how long are you going to keep up +the scheme? I can save like a house afire, for a little while; but +Christmas is coming, and I've promised to give Allie a rubber doll, and +charity begins at home, you know. I'm willing to help on your lad for a +month or so; but let's put a limit to it."</p> + +<p>"I didn't think you'd be so stingy, Howard," said Marjorie, turning on +him a gaze of virtuous sorrow.</p> + +<p>"'T isn't stingy," retorted Howard; "it's common sense. I 'm as sorry +for him as you are; but I think we'd better go easy on it a little, and +see how we come out."</p> + +<p>"Let's try it for a month," interposed Allie hastily, for she saw that +Marjorie was growing indignant. "If we save all we can, we shall have a +good deal by that time. What shall we get him?"</p> + +<p>"A whole set of Henty's books," suggested Ned promptly.</p> + +<p>"No; I think he'd like a tool-chest better," said Howard, eyeing with +disfavor the shabby knife in his hand.</p> + +<p>"What an idea, Howard! He couldn't use a tool-chest, even if he had +one," said Allie, laughing disrespectfully at her brother's suggestion. +"We want to get him something he could have the good of all the time. +What do you say, Marjorie?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Lou said he used to sing a good deal," observed Marjorie, her +virtue coming to the surface once more. "Why wouldn't it be nice to get +him one of the new hymnals; a great big one, with all the tunes in it? I +think he'd find it very comforting."</p> + +<p>A pause followed her words; then the boys burst into a shout of +laughter. Marjorie looked a little aggrieved.</p> + +<p>"I don't see what you're laughing at," she said, with a suspicion of a +pout. "Hymns are a great deal better for such people than your crazy old +books and tool-chests."</p> + +<p>"Don't be a jay, Marjorie," said Ned bluntly. "He isn't any more <i>such +people</i> than we are; and because a fellow is down on his luck he doesn't +want everybody shying coffins at him. But here comes Grant; let's see +what he says. Then we can save up for a month, and see how much we get; +after that, we can tell better what to do with it."</p> + +<p>For the next four weeks a spirit of miserliness seemed to have broken +out among the young people, who scrimped and saved and denied themselves +for days, only to succumb to the temptations of "just one little bit of +a treat," which swept away most of their savings again, and left them no +better off than before. The day after they had taken their great +resolution, they went down town in a body, and invested most of the +funds at the disposal of the syndicate in an elaborate toy bank, in the +form of a dog who stolidly swallowed their stray bits of silver and +nickel into an iron strong-box below, which nothing but a powerful +hammer could ever succeed in opening. As soon as this purchase was made, +and a nest-egg solemnly deposited in its miniature vault, their zeal +cooled, and the dog was left in Allie's keeping for a week of slow +starvation. It is true that Charlie often begged to be allowed to +contribute from his own more abundant resources; but it had been agreed +that he could only add one fifth to the combined offerings of the +others; so, though the end of the month was fast approaching, the bank +was still nearly as light as when it came from the store, and only +responded with a faint rattle to Allie's frequent shakings.</p> + +<p>Matters were in this condition, one day, when Grant dropped in for one +of his frequent short calls on Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"Mustn't stay," he answered briefly; "I'm on my way down to get my hair +cut. I'm going to try Charlie Mac's barber; he gets a better shape on +your hair, somehow."</p> + +<p>"Extravagant boy!" said Marjorie reproachfully. "You'll have to pay him +ever so much. How much does he charge, anyway?"</p> + +<p>"Six bits," answered Grant, as he picked up his hat, and took hold of +the door knob.</p> + +<p>"That's perfectly shameful," said Marjorie. "It's ever so much more than +you generally pay. I'll tell you what: I'll do it for you for ten cents, +and you can have all the rest to put in our bank. You haven't begun to +give your share."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it; a fellow can't live on nothing," said Grant +defensively. "I've only had two sodas and a new bat this week. Besides, +I want my hair cut like Charlie's."</p> + +<p>"I should think you would be ashamed to spend so much on just your +looks, when you think of that poor, exploded boy," said Marjorie in a +sanctimonious tone. "And then," she added persuasively, "if you let me +cut it for ten cents, you can spend some for a treat and put the rest in +the bank."</p> + +<p>Grant wavered. The prospect of having an unexpected treat, and at the +same time of putting a little money into their hoard was an attractive +one; but, after all, his boyish soul was filled with a vain desire to +see how his yellow hair would look, after being cut by Charlie's man. +Moreover, Charlie's barber was an expensive luxury, and Grant had +experienced some difficulty in coaxing the necessary funds out of Mrs. +Pennypoker, so he had a little natural misgiving as to her opinion of +his putting the money to other uses.</p> + +<p>"You could get a soda, and ever so many pine nuts," went on the tempter, +touching her victim's weakest spot.</p> + +<p>Grant yielded a little.</p> + +<p>"Have you ever cut anybody's hair?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"No; but I can, well enough. It's just as easy." And Marjorie gave her +hand an impressive sweep through the air. "I know just exactly how," she +added.</p> + +<p>"You're sure you can make it look all right?" asked Grant again, while +there floated through his mind a blissful vision of himself, tranquilly +eating pine nuts, and of the others, standing grouped about him, +praising his generosity.</p> + +<p>"Course I can; why not?" said Marjorie scornfully. "Don't you s'pose I +know how a boy's hair ought to look?"</p> + +<p>"And you'll do it for ten cents?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"All right; sail in!" And Grant dropped into a chair and closed his +eyes, as if he were about to be decapitated.</p> + +<p>"You needn't think I'm going to do it here in the parlor," said +Marjorie. "It's going to make an awful muss; you must come out of +doors."</p> + +<p>"You needn't think I'm going to freeze," retorted the victim, opening +his eyes to glare at her belligerently. "If I give you the job, and pay +you all that for it, I'm going to have something to say about the way +it's done. You can spread down a paper, if you're afraid."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Marjorie reluctantly; "I don't know but 'twould be cold on +the piazza. Wait a minute, and I'll be ready."</p> + +<p>Her preparations were quickly made. A layer of newspapers was spread +over the carpet, and a chair set out in the middle of the room. Then she +tied a blue checked apron around Grant's neck, and announced herself as +in readiness.</p> + +<p>"Sit down there," she commanded, as she dived into a box of scrap-book +materials for a pair of paste-stained scissors; "and don't you dare to +wiggle, for I shall cut you if you do." And she gave the scissors an +expressive clash above his head.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Grant again, as he once more closed his eyes and +assumed a look of abject misery.</p> + +<p>Then silence fell upon the room, and for a long half hour the stillness +was only broken by the clatter of the loose-jointed scissors, and an +occasional moan from Grant, when the blunt points collided with his skin +with more than ordinary vigor. With one hand clutching the boy's yellow +head for support, Marjorie stood over him, clipping and trimming, then +stopping to contemplate the result of her labors, before attacking a new +spot. She had started out upon her undertaking valiantly enough; but a +dozen reckless slashes had begun to awaken some slight misgivings in her +mind, and she proceeded more slowly and with frequent pauses, while an +anxious pucker about her brows showed that she was not entirely +satisfied with her work. Worst of all, Grant was beginning to grow +restive.</p> + +<p>"'Most through?" he had inquired some time before.</p> + +<p>But Marjorie had consoled him with assurances of his speedy release; and +he had resigned himself to the inevitable and sat quiet for ten minutes +longer. Then he burst out again.</p> + +<p>"Say, Marjorie," he protested; "you scratch like fun; and you've been +long enough about it to cut a dozen hairs. Hurry up, there!"</p> + +<p>"I'm almost through," she answered hastily. "Your hair's so tough it +takes me longer than I thought 'twould."</p> + +<p>"How's it going to look?"</p> + +<p>"Lovely!" responded Marjorie, with a fervor which she was far from +feeling, while she made a few hurried clips at a long lock which, in +some way, had escaped her vigilance. "There!" she added. "That's all. +You can get up."</p> + +<p>Grant rose and shook himself; then, with the apron still hanging about +his neck, he marched to the nearest mirror and gazed at the reflection +of his shorn head. It was a strange picture that met his eyes. His head +was encircled with narrow furrows, where the scissors had done their +work so well that not a spear of hair rose above the bare skin. These +ridges were intermingled with patches of stubble of varying length; +while, here and there, a long lock had escaped entirely, and, in the +lack of its former support, now stood out from his scalp at an +aggressive angle, like the fur on the back of an angry cat. The whole +effect resembled nothing so much as a piece of half-cleared woodland, +where the workman's axe had here levelled everything to the ground, here +left a clump or two of bushes, and here spared an occasional giant tree +which towered far above its fallen comrades, in the conscious pride of +its unimpaired strength.</p> + +<p>The result was novel; but Grant appeared to fail to appreciate it, for +when he turned back to face Marjorie again his brown eyes were blazing, +and he was well-nigh speechless with indignation.</p> + +<p>"You beastly fraud!" he shouted, while he rubbed his hand over his +denuded pate, with a tenderly caressing motion, as if to console it for +its appearance.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Marjorie faintly.</p> + +<p>"Matter!" stormed Grant. "Look at my head and see for yourself. You said +you could cut my hair all right, and you've just spoiled it all. I won't +pay you one cent. It'll take weeks and weeks for it to get back again."</p> + +<p>"It looks all right," said Marjorie stubbornly; "and you've got to pay +me. You said you would, and you never lie. The time I spent on it is +worth more than ten cents, anyway."</p> + +<p>"I sha'n't pay you," retorted Grant doggedly.</p> + +<p>"You shall!"</p> + +<p>"I won't!"</p> + +<p>"Then I'll tell Allie and Charlie, and all the rest, that you're stingy +and a great big cheat."</p> + +<p>"Tell away if you're mean enough."</p> + +<p>"And I'll tell Mrs. Pennypoker; and she'll send you to bed without your +supper, for stealing her money."</p> + +<p>"Didn't steal it!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you did, too! She gave it to you for something, and you were going +to spend part of it for soda; that's stealing."</p> + +<p>"'T isn't, either!"</p> + +<p>"'T is, too, and you know it! And if you aren't ashamed of it why don't +you want me to tell her?"</p> + +<p>Grant saw that his enemy had outflanked him, and that his only possible +course was to make the best terms he could.</p> + +<p>"Now, see here," he said more quietly, as he pointed to his head again; +"this isn't worth anything; but you've cornered me, so I can't get out. +But, if I pay you, you must give me back a nickel, to pay for the hole +you snicked out of my ear."</p> + +<p>Marjorie's face fell. She had been hoping that he would not notice the +little red spot on the tip of his left ear.</p> + +<p>"And then," continued Grant remorselessly; "you can just put on your +hat, and come along with me to Allie's. We'll each put a nickel in the +bank, and then we'll be square. But you'd better believe I'll tell the +boys who did this, so they won't get taken in as I did."</p> + +<p>A week later, Charlie and Allie opened the bank and counted the funds. +Only sixty-five cents had accumulated there; Allie's face fell as she +surveyed the meagre hoard.</p> + +<p>"Hush up!" commanded Charlie, as he dropped something yellow and shining +into her lap. "I was in a bad fix last summer, and I know how 'tis, so I +ought to help on more than the rest of you. You just keep still and +don't say anything to the others."</p> + +<p>And no one else ever knew the full history of the magazine that put in +its appearance at the beginning of the following month, with a greeting +to the stranger boy from his friends across the creek.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER.</h3> + + +<p>There was mutiny in the Burnam household. It had broken out the night +before, when Vic was saying his prayers in the presence of Mrs. +Pennypoker, who was supposed to be temporarily filling his mother's +place. At the petition for daily bread, Vic had stopped short.</p> + +<p>"Go on," said Mrs. Pennypoker, in slow, measured tones.</p> + +<p>Victor opened his eyes and glared at her with undevout opposition.</p> + +<p>"Don't want bread," he said firmly. "Vic likes biskies."</p> + +<p>"It means the same thing, Victor," answered Mrs. Pennypoker, in her hard +voice. "Now be a good little boy and finish your prayer, or God won't +listen to you, another time, when you are asking him for something."</p> + +<p>It was then that Vic had delivered himself of his first baby heresy, +which had been slowly working in his brain while Mrs. Pennypoker had +been urging him through his devotions, in a manner so unlike the tender +gentleness of his pretty mamma.</p> + +<p>"I don't like your God," he said deliberately, as he gazed up into the +cold, dark eyes above him; "I don't like your God a bit; I'm tired of +him. I want my mamma's." And, rising from his knees, he dived into bed, +where he burst out sobbing for mamma; nor would he be quieted until Mrs. +Pennypoker had left the room, and sent Allie up to comfort her baby +brother with repeated assurances that mamma would come by and by.</p> + +<p>Two days before this, Mrs. Burnam had received a note from her husband, +saying that a fall from his horse had bruised and strained him a little, +and that it seemed best for him to stay a few days at a small country +hotel, not far from his camp. In reality, it was only a slight affair; +but Mrs. Burnam had felt so uneasy that she had resolved to go to him, +to be at hand in case he might need any of the little attentions which +it would be hard for him to get, in the small town where he was left. +Since Victor would be only an additional care, she had decided not to +take him with her; but, remembering the emergency which had arisen +during her last absence, she had begged Mrs. Pennypoker to take charge +of the household for the time that she was away from home.</p> + +<p>This arrangement had not met with the entire approval of the young +people, it must be confessed; for Howard and Allie had hoped to be +allowed to pose as heads of the house, while Victor had lifted up his +voice in vigorous protest against the intruder. However, until Victor's +rebellion, the second night, there had been no open outbreak, although +there was an undercurrent of antagonism between Mrs. Pennypoker and the +children, which threatened an explosion at any moment. It was a new +experience for Howard and Allie to have their fun and laughter +repressed, and they were far from being ready to submit to it with a +good grace; while Janey had promptly ranged herself upon their side, and +manifested a monkey-like ingenuity in planning the pranks which were +making Mrs. Pennypoker's frown grow deeper at every moment.</p> + +<p>"Just look at Janey!" Howard had whispered to his sister, as the maid +came in at dinner-time, with the strings of her dainty white cap tied +under her chin, and the point standing up from her forehead like an old +woman's poke bonnet.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pennypoker caught the whisper. Putting on her glasses, she turned +to glare at Janey, who received her stare with an unmoved countenance.</p> + +<p>"Jane," she said, with crushing dignity; "go back to the kitchen, and +arrange your cap properly."</p> + +<p>And Janey went, but it was not until she had given the two boys a look +which upset their gravity and forced them to retire behind their +napkins. She was gone for some moments, and when she reappeared her cap +was drawn far down over her face, and she came tiptoeing in with short, +mincing steps, to go through her serving with an exaggerated elegance, +bowing and smirking and flourishing her tray, with all the airs and +graces at her command. However, there was nothing to be done about it, +and Mrs. Pennypoker was forced to be content with ignoring her for the +present, while she frowned down any demonstrations of amusement on the +part of the children. The rest of the meal was hurried through in +silence, and as soon as it was over the young people shut themselves up +in Allie's room, to vent their indignation by talking over the events of +the past two days.</p> + +<p>"You don't catch anybody getting in ahead of Janey, though," said +Howard with a chuckle. "She's a match for even Mrs. Pennypoker."</p> + +<p>"I'm 'most afraid she'll get mad and go off," said Allie anxiously. +"Mrs. Pennypoker has just been nagging at her all day long, and Janey +won't put up with it. She isn't used to it, as Wang Kum is."</p> + +<p>"Even Wang Kum kicked, the other day," said Charlie, sitting down on the +footboard of the bed, and swinging his heels while he talked. "Grant +told me about it. Wang made a mistake and threw away all her soup she'd +made, just before dinner; and when she scolded him for it, he said he +'t'ought 'twas dish-water.' She gave him fits, scolded like everything, +till all at once he drew himself up and said: 'Old lady scold heap much; +Wang no be bossed by hens.' And he turned and walked off, and left her +standing there, with her mouth wide open."</p> + +<p>"Good enough for her!" applauded Howard. "I only hope Janey'll serve her +the same way."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I do," said Allie thoughtfully. "She's here, and we'll +have to make the best of her. But don't you pity Ned and Grant, to have +to stand her all the time?"</p> + +<p>The predicted explosion was not slow in coming. Charlie had come in +after his lessons, the next morning, clasping a huge watermelon in his +arms, and, without a word to Mrs. Pennypoker, he had carried it through +to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Here, Janey," he called; "I'm awfully hungry, and if you'll cut this up +for us to eat now, before lunch, I'll give you a quarter of it. You'd +better do it, for it's the last one you'll get this year."</p> + +<p>With the zeal of her melon-loving race, Janey's eyes glistened, as she +received the treasure.</p> + +<p>"Dat's a gay one, Mars' Charlie!" she exclaimed, as she snapped her +fingers against its green rind, and listened delightedly to the clear, +crisp sound. "Janey'll cut it right up for you, befo' she sets de table +or anything. You all likes melons so well, you ought to see 'em we has +down Souf. Reckon you'd jus' about bu'st you'selves, eatin' 'em."</p> + +<p>She gave the melon one more ecstatic embrace, and dandled it fondly in +her arms for a moment; then she laid it carefully down on the table, +while she went for a knife.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"'Wa-a-atermelon!<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Green rind, red meat;<br /></span> +<span class="i4">All juicy, so sweet.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dem dat has money mus' come up an' buy;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And dem dat hasn't mus' stan' back an' cry<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Wa-a-a-atermelon!'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>She crooned to herself, as she returned with the knife in her hand, and +stuck it in, clear to the heart of the fruit before her.</p> + +<p>"What's that, Janey?" asked Allie, who had followed Charlie out into the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Dat? Dat's a song I done heard an ol' man singin', one day. He had some +melons to sell, out on de corner by my mudder's house, an' he kep' a +singin' it ober an' ober. Ah, dat's a fine one!" she added contentedly, +as the rich red heart of the melon appeared. She paused for a moment, +then she cocked her head on one side, as she gazed rapturously at the +great piece which Charlie offered her. "You all know how me an' my +brudder use' to eat our melons, when mammy wan' roun' to smack us?" she +inquired suddenly.</p> + +<p>"How'd you do it?" asked Charlie, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Dis way. See?" And clutching the piece in both hands, she buried her +face in it, and began to devour it, much as a squirrel gnaws the meat +out of a walnut.</p> + +<p>So absorbed was she in her enjoyment of her feast, that she did not hear +the door open and Mrs. Pennypoker come into the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Jane!" said the strong voice.</p> + +<p>Janey started at the sound, and choked on a seed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mis'," she responded as soon as she could speak, while she raised +her head from the rind.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" demanded Mrs. Pennypoker sternly.</p> + +<p>Her manner was not encouraging. There was a defiant flash in Janey's +eyes, as she said sullenly,—</p> + +<p>"Ol' mis' done got eyes. What she s'pose I's doin'?"</p> + +<p>"But I told you to get the lunch."</p> + +<p>"I was goin' to, in a minute; but Mars' Charlie done wanted me to cut +his melon, an' I thought 'twouldn't make no difference."</p> + +<p>"You are not here to think; you are here to do the work," said Mrs. +Pennypoker magisterially. "If I tell you to do something, you must do +it."</p> + +<p>At the last words, Janey drew herself up to her full height and glared +at Mrs. Pennypoker. Something in the unconscious dignity of her figure, +as she stood there, seemed to dwarf her temporary mistress into +insignificance.</p> + +<p>"You cyarn' say mus' to me," she said in a slow, repressed tone. "Dese +ain' no slave days, an ol' mis' cyarn' make 'em so. I ain' no heathen +an' I ain' no slave. My mammy bought herself an' her husban', an' we's +all freeborn."</p> + +<p>She had moved forward a step or two, and thrown out her hand, while her +eyes gleamed with an angry luster. Suddenly she controlled herself.</p> + +<p>"I sha'n' say no mo'," she went on slowly; "'cause I might forget myself +an' be sassy, an' I don' wan' to do dat. But ol' mis' better not +interfere with me, an' say mus', or I'll pack my trunk an' not come back +till Mrs. Burnam comes home. She buys my time, an' while I'm yere I +belongs to her; but she don' bully me. <i>She's</i> a lady like what we use' +ter have down Souf, befo' de war; not like you Yankees."</p> + +<p>Into her final sentence Janey had compressed all the scorn of which she +was capable. For a moment longer, she stood facing Mrs. Pennypoker; +then, turning on her heel, she left the room.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Pennypoker was the first one of the group to come to her senses.</p> + +<p>"That girl shall leave the house to-night," she exclaimed angrily. "I +won't have her here an hour longer."</p> + +<p>"You aren't going to send Janey off!" demanded Allie indignantly.</p> + +<p>"I certainly shall not keep her after what has occurred," returned Mrs. +Pennypoker coldly.</p> + +<p>"But you can't; she isn't yours. She's mamma's," remonstrated Allie.</p> + +<p>"I am taking your mother's place for the present, and I shall not retain +a servant who is so disrespectful," answered Mrs. Pennypoker again. "I +am surprised at you, Alice, for interfering in a matter which does not +belong to you."</p> + +<p>"It does belong to me, too," returned Allie mutinously. "Janey's a +splendid girl, and mamma just thinks everything of her. She'll never +forgive you, if you send her off; and what's more, I hope she won't; so +there, now!"</p> + +<p>"Alice!" And there was no mistaking the meaning of Mrs. Pennypoker's +tone.</p> + +<p>"I don't care if 'tis!" exclaimed Allie, with illogical recklessness. +"You're just too mean, and I don't blame Janey one bit."</p> + +<p>"Alice!" repeated Mrs. Pennypoker. "You may go to your room, and not +leave it again to-day. I shall tell your mother exactly what has +occurred."</p> + +<p>"Tell away!" returned Allie. "I just hope you will. I'm not afraid of +mamma; she's not so cross as some people." And forcing back the angry +tears, she walked away in the direction of her room, leaving the +half-frightened boys to look alter her in silent sympathy.</p> + +<p>Once in the safe retreat of her own room, Allie's courage broke down, +and, throwing herself on her bed, she began to cry convulsively, as she +realized all the injustice of her punishment, all the petty tyranny she +had borne for the past three days. For a few moments the sobs came +faster and faster. Then, when her first excitement was over, she began +to think. Mrs. Pennypoker ought to be ashamed of herself for abusing +them so; and how angry her mother would be when she knew it! Perhaps the +long day of loneliness and fasting would make her ill; then Mrs. +Pennypoker would be sorry. It might be that she would never get over it, +but would go into a decline. How they would all mourn for her! She went +on to plan the minutest details of her funeral with all the gloomy +cheerfulness of an undertaker; but, when she came to fancy the +loneliness of Howard and Charlie, the distressing picture overcame her, +and she began to sob once more. However, the tears would not flow quite +so readily this time; and, under all her pity for herself, she began to +wonder uneasily if, perhaps, she had not been a little hasty and rude to +Mrs. Pennypoker. It might be that her mother would not altogether +sympathize with her, after all. This was not an agreeable thought, and, +to silence it, she sprang up and crossed the room to put some cold +water on her flushed and swollen face. As she did so, she saw a slip of +paper tucked under the door, and she seized it eagerly, for it was +addressed to her, and in Charlie's writing.</p> + +<p>"Good for you, Allie!" it said. "Keep up your pluck till afternoon, and +we'll have some fun then."</p> + +<p>There was something encouraging in the boyish sympathy; and, as Allie +stood caressingly rubbing the note against her cheek, she found herself +wondering what he could mean by his reference to possible fun in the +afternoon. The outlook for the rest of the day did not seem to promise +much in the way of enjoyment; but Allie knew her cousin's ingenuity well +enough to rely upon his word, so she could resign herself to wait.</p> + +<p>The next hour was a long one to the young prisoner, who wandered +restlessly about the room, or tried to amuse herself with a book, +although all the time she was inwardly dwelling upon the ignominy of her +punishment, and dreading lest it should reach the ears of Marjorie and +the Everetts, or, worst of all, of Dr. Brownlee, whose good opinion she +especially desired to retain. At the end of the hour, Mrs. Pennypoker +herself appeared on the threshold, with a plate of crackers in one hand +and a glass of water in the other. Without a word to the captive, she +set the meagre lunch upon the table, and withdrew, locking the door +behind her. At this last insult, Allie's temper flashed up again. It was +enough to punish her so severely; but it was not necessary to distrust +her honor, and lock her up like a criminal. At least, she would not +touch the rations her jailer had left. Deliberately she picked them up, +and, going to the window, she threw out the water with a splash, and +tossed the crackers after it. She hesitated for a moment, and then +hurled the plate and glass after them, with an angry determination which +sent them crashing far across the uneven ground beneath her window. That +done, she sat down to read with a quieted conscience.</p> + +<p>Through the closed door she could hear Mrs. Pennypoker moving to and fro +about the house, and now and again Vic's baby voice fell upon her ears; +but, for the most part, the house was very still. At length she heard +some one calling her name in a low voice. Throwing aside her book, she +went to the door and listened intently, till she heard the call +repeated. This time it was evident that the sound came from outside the +window. She hurried across the room and threw it wide open. In a moment +more Charlie had scrambled into the room.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" he remarked, as he tossed his cap into a chair. "You're awfully +warm in here, so let's leave the window open. We're safe enough, for +Mrs. Pennypoker can't hear us. Besides, Dr. Hornblower is in the parlor +talking to her, and she won't know anything more to-day."</p> + +<p>"But what are you going to do?" asked Allie, watching him in amazement, +as he seated himself at his ease and unbuttoned his light gray coat, to +expose to view a great round parcel concealed inside it.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to spend the afternoon with you, of course," returned Charlie +composedly. "You didn't s'pose I was going back on you after the way you +stuck to me last June? Well, not much! We could climb out of the window +and go off, but she'd be sure to find it out, and that would only make +it worse, so we'll stay here and have a lark."</p> + +<p>"You're a dear old boy, Charlie!" And Allie embraced him tempestuously. +"But how did you ever stand it to be shut in here so long, last summer? +This last hour has 'most killed me."</p> + +<p>"I wasn't all alone, you know, much of the time. But, I say, come off!" +he remonstrated, as Allie renewed her demonstrations of affection. "You +needn't stand my hair on end just because I've come. Here's a pie I +sniped off the pantry shelf, for I thought most likely you'd be hungry."</p> + +<p>"I'm nearly starved," answered Allie gratefully. "Mrs. Pennypoker did +bring me some crackers this noon, though."</p> + +<p>"Crackers aren't much good, and those are all gone by this time, aren't +they?" inquired Charlie scornfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes, every one; gone out of the window," returned her cousin +disdainfully. "Charlie MacGregor, I'd have starved to death before I +touched one of her old crackers!"</p> + +<p>"That's the way to talk," said Charlie approvingly. "She's a Tartar and +a Turk, Allie, and I'd like to tell her what I think of her—if I only +dared. But, if I did, she'd just lock us up in different rooms; and it's +more fun to be together."</p> + +<p>"I did tell her—Oh, dear, I wish mamma would come back," sighed Allie. +"How shall we ever stand it three more days, Charlie?"</p> + +<p>"Grin and bear it, mostly," returned Charlie, philosophically. "Janey's +packed up her clothes and gone off, and she says she won't step into +this house again till auntie gets back. I don't blame her; but Mrs. +Pennypoker'll have to turn cook, or else send over for Wang. But go on +and eat your pie, Allie, and you'll feel better. She's a Turk, I tell +you; but I'll see that auntie knows all about it, and I know she won't +think you're a bit to blame."</p> + +<p>"But, Charlie, you aren't going to stay here all this everlasting +afternoon," remonstrated Allie, as her woe yielded to the combined +influences of her cousin's consolation and his pie. "It isn't fair at +all, when you might be off with the boys having a good time."</p> + +<p>"Well, it strikes me this ought to be my innings," answered Charlie +quietly, while he settled his glasses on his nose and then took up the +book which his cousin had just tossed aside. "How many days and weeks, +I'd like to know, did you stay in here with me, when 't was hot and dark +and stuffy here! It's only fair that you should let me take my turn now. +You needn't talk to me, if you don't want to; but I shall stay here as +long as I choose, and you can't put me out, so you may as well make up +your mind to it."</p> + +<p>Two hours later, as Mrs. Pennypoker's step was heard in the hall +outside, Charlie quietly let himself drop from the window-sill. Then he +turned back to whisper,—</p> + +<p>"Just don't you say anything about it, Allie; we aren't even now, and we +sha'n't be, very soon. Besides, it's worth all the rest to have the fun +of getting the inside track of her. Good-by till breakfast-time!" And he +vanished around the corner of the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>AT THE NINE-HUNDRED LEVEL.</h3> + + +<p>Late October had come, and already the snow-line was creeping down the +mountain sides towards the little town in the cañon. Occasional flurries +of snow filled the air, too, and the nights were sharp and frosty; but +in the middle of the day it was still warm and bright, with a clearer, +more bracing air than the summer had given, an air which tempted the +young people out for long walks and rides up and down the valley. Louise +often joined them in these expeditions, and it was no uncommon thing for +them to be overtaken by Dr. Brownlee, who generally begged permission to +spend a leisure hour with their party. This addition to their number was +always hailed with delight by the children; for while the doctor usually +took his place by the side of Louise, he was never too much absorbed in +his companion to join the boys in their fun, or to treat Allie and +Marjorie with the gentle chivalry which made them feel so grown up and +elegant, a chivalry that is so rarely shown to children, yet never +fails to afford them a delight even more keen than it gives to their +older sisters.</p> + +<p>Allie and the boys were coming up through the town, one Saturday +morning, after a brisk walk in the clear, crisp air. They had passed +"tin-can-dom," as Howard called the open field just below the town, +which was thickly strewn with these indigestible relics of past feasts, +and were just outside the fence separating Chinatown from its American +surroundings, when Allie stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Look there!" she exclaimed, pointing over the low wall into the +enclosure, where the tiny log cabins were scattered irregularly about +the ground, and where long-tailed, moon-faced Chinamen were scuffling +aimlessly about. "Isn't that Vic?"</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Howard, while Charlie added,—</p> + +<p>"What an idea, Allie! Of course he wouldn't be in there."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but 'tis Vic. I know that long red coat of his," responded Allie +hastily. "Right in there, between those two log houses—see?"</p> + +<p>True enough, there in the forbidden ground of Chinatown stood Vic, his +red coat and fez making him a striking little figure against the dull +background of a rough log house, as he gazed intently up into the +yellow face of an elderly Chinaman, who was carrying two buckets of +water hanging from a yoke across his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"'Tis, after all; but what can he be doing there?" said Charlie, staring +in astonishment at the scene before him.</p> + +<p>"Never mind what he's doing," said Allie. "He ran away, I suppose; but +we must get him home. I'll wait here, while you go and bring him out. +Mamma'd be dreadfully frightened if she knew where he was. Now hurry!"</p> + +<p>The boys dashed away, and soon came back to her side, with the small +wanderer between them. Vic was in a state of open rebellion over this +abrupt ending to his explorations, and lifted up his voice in +lamentation, as Allie firmly turned his steps towards home.</p> + +<p>"Everybody went off," he explained in an aggrieved tone. "You went, and +Ben went, and papa went, and ven I went, too. And I will go back to see +the Moolly-cow-man."</p> + +<p>But his sister refused to be persuaded, and Vic's voice died away to a +whisper, as he continued to babble to himself of the wonders he had seen +in his walk.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing, Allie, that I don't get used to, in this country," +remarked Charlie, as they were crossing the main street; "and that's the +signs. See there!" And he pointed to a long, white building, one door of +which was surmounted with the sign, in great gilt letters: <i>Embalming +Emporium</i>; while a board, swinging out from its next-door neighbor, bore +the legend, <i>Shoos 1/2 Soled Here</i>. "But, I say," he added, as they came +in sight of the house; "what do you suppose Ned and Grant want? They've +camped out on our piazza, as if they meant to stay there. Hi—i!" he +shouted, waving his cap above his head.</p> + +<p>"Hurry u—up!" responded Ned, returning the salute with interest.</p> + +<p>"Thought you'd never come," added Grant, as they drew nearer.</p> + +<p>"What do you want?" asked Howard.</p> + +<p>But before Ned had time to reply, Allie interposed,—</p> + +<p>"Just wait one minute, do, till I take Vic into the house to mamma. Is +she very much worried about him?"</p> + +<p>"Don't believe she is," answered Ned. "She didn't say anything about it. +Probably she hasn't missed him at all. Now," he resumed, as Allie came +back to the piazza; "I've been waiting here for thirty-nine ages and a +quarter; and I was just ready to give up and go home again. Papa sent me +up to tell you that he's going to take a crowd down the Blue Creek, this +afternoon, and to ask you if you don't want to come along with us."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think he'd dare take Charlie again, for fear he'd hoodoo it +all," said Grant disrespectfully.</p> + +<p>"Who's going?" asked Howard.</p> + +<p>"All of us; Cousin Euphemia and all; and Dr. Brownlee and Marjorie and +you. We're going to have an early dinner, and start at one, so we can go +through the smelter, after we come up. Cousin Euphemia is making her +will now, most likely; she didn't want to go, but papa talked her into +it. You'll be on hand; won't you?"</p> + +<p>"We'll be thar," responded Howard, with a twang that might have done +credit to Janey.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it fun to go!" said Allie delightedly. "I've always wanted to go +down, and never could. You and I will be the green ones, Charlie; all +the rest have been before."</p> + +<p>"The doctor and Cousin Euphemia haven't," said Ned. "But I'll take care +of you, Allie, and show you all there is to be seen. Come along, Grant; +we must be going." And the brothers departed in haste.</p> + +<p>Punctually at one o'clock, Charlie and his cousins were at the +Everetts', where they found that their party had received one unexpected +addition. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower had dropped in to dinner, and +common courtesy had made it necessary for Mr. Everett to invite him to +join the expedition. As they left the house, Louise, with her father and +Dr. Brownlee, took the lead, while close in the rear walked Dr. +Hornblower, edging forward as far as possible, in order to join in their +conversation, with an utter disregard of Mrs. Pennypoker, who had +attached herself to his side, and manifested every intention of +maintaining her position. The short walk through the town was quickly +taken; and it was still early in the afternoon when they stood beside +the shaft. Mr. Somers, Mr. Everett's assistant, was waiting for them +there; and, a few moments later, the new cage had come up the shaft, and +halted to receive them.</p> + +<p>"But what makes them call it a cage?" demanded Allie, eyeing with +disfavor the pair of heavy platforms before her "I thought 'twould have +openwork brass sides, like the elevators in Denver."</p> + +<p>"And hot and cold water, and gas, and all the other modern +improvements?" inquired Ned, as he helped himself to a pair of candles +in their iron sockets, and passed one of them on to Allie. "Don't be a +snob, Allie; you won't find much furniture down below."</p> + +<p>"You take Mrs. Pennypoker and my daughter, with the gentlemen, on the +upper deck, Somers," Mr. Everett was saying; "and I'll take these +children in the lower, and look out for them there."</p> + +<p>According to the usual method, the upper platform was brought to the +level of the ground, to receive its freight, before the cage was raised +the necessary seven feet, to allow Mr. Everett and the young people to +step on the lower floor. Then they slowly sank away from the light, +down, down, while Allie clutched Ned's protecting hand, and tried in +vain to enjoy her novel ride. At length they came to a halt at a broad, +square station, and the two decks of the cage were quickly unloaded.</p> + +<p>"This is the nine-hundred level," Mr. Everett told them, as they stood +grouped about him. "We have three more below,—they're one hundred feet +apart, you know,—and we're still sinking the shaft. The cage in that +next compartment is given up to the men who are doing the sinking."</p> + +<p>"It's a rich vein, then, I take it," said Dr. Brownlee.</p> + +<p>"A fine one, better than we supposed when we bought it. It dips down +sharply to the east, and we cross it at the five-hundred, so we don't +have to work so far in any one direction to strike it. You see, we run a +cross-cut straight out from the shaft, till we hit the vein; then we +turn both ways and run along through it; so, at every level, our +workings are like a great T, with the stem growing larger with every +hundred feet we go down."</p> + +<p>"And this is how deep?" asked Louise.</p> + +<p>"Nine hundred," repeated her father, while he hastily snatched Marjorie +out of the path of an ore car, which came thundering down the cross-cut +and turned abruptly into the station.</p> + +<p>"It's a solemn thing to feel that you are nine hundred feet from the +light," observed Mrs. Pennypoker, as she gathered her skirts more +closely about her.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded the Reverend Gabriel, waving his right hand, lamp and +all; "it reminds one of the mighty power of the earthquake, when it +stoops to trample on a worm."</p> + +<p>Then they were silent, as they followed Mr. Everett through the long +gallery, pausing now and then near one of the electric lights that +dotted the corridor, to listen to his off-hand explanations of the work +below ground. Dr. Brownlee appeared to be especially interested in the +subject.</p> + +<p>"How do you get the ore on the cage?" he asked. "Do you run it on, car +and all, or do you unload it?"</p> + +<p>"How little these Eastern folks do know!" remarked the Reverend Gabriel, +in an audible aside to Louise.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we should all be better off, if we knew more about it," she +replied, with a touch of coldness in her tone, as she turned her back +upon the Reverend Gabriel, and took her place at her father's side, +where she met the amused glance of Dr. Brownlee, who had overhead both +remarks.</p> + +<p>"They signal the cage, and run the car on it," answered Mr. Everett. "We +don't let but one man ring for the engineer. He has to stay near one of +the stations, where he can hear; and when the miners want him, they go +to the station and pound their signal on one of the water-pipes, for him +to repeat. We had a green hand, though, that tried to improve on our +plan, a few years ago. He attempted to catch the cage on the fly, as it +went up past him; and he actually aimed the car at it, and ran it down."</p> + +<p>"Did he hit it?" asked Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Hardly," returned Mr. Everett, laughing. "The cage was too quick for +him, and went on up; and both the car and the man fell clear to the +bottom of the shaft."</p> + +<p>"Oh-h!" And Marjorie's eyes grew round with horror. "I should think +'twould have hurt him awfully."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, Marjorie; I should have thought it would," said Howard, +mimicking her tone, while the others joined in the laugh at her expense.</p> + +<p>Then they went on to the end of the cross-cut, and, turning at a sharp +angle, they came into the drift, the long gallery running through the +vein. For some distance, the drift, like the cross-cut, was lined with +timbers, then the lining ceased, as they neared the end of the drift, +where the miners were hard at work, drilling for fresh blasts, or +tearing out the ore loosened by the last explosion, and loading it into +the little car which stood ready to be run down the track to the +station. Seven feet above, so that the roof of the lower level formed +the flooring of the next, was another short gallery, where the men were +busy stoping, digging out the ore from the upper tier. Dingy and grimy +as they were, it was fascinating to watch them, burrowing, like so many +moles, in the depths of the earth. The visitors lingered to look at them +until they were frightened away by the preparations for a blast; then +they slowly made their way back to the station, pausing a moment to +watch a loaded car, as it rolled from the rails to the polished steel +flooring, and swung around the corner into position, to wait for the +cage. Mr. Everett looked at his watch.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry to hurry you," he said; "but I think we ought to be going; +don't you, Somers? It's change day; and at three the cages will be +full."</p> + +<p>"Change day!" remarked Charlie to his cousin, in an undertone; "what's +that?"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" she whispered. "Don't show Dr. Hornblower how little you know. +Remember that you're from the East, too."</p> + +<p>But Dr. Brownlee was animated by no such motives of prudence, and +quietly asked for an explanation of the term.</p> + +<p>"We have two sets of men," Mr. Everett answered. "The day shift goes on +at seven, and works till half past five; and the night one comes on at +seven in the evening, and stays till half past five in the morning. Of +course that's harder on one set of men than the other, so, once in two +weeks, we have what we call change day. The day shift goes on at seven, +and works till three; then the night fellows come right on and stay till +eleven; and the old day shift comes back at eleven. By the next morning, +you see, their places are just changed, and the night men are working in +the daytime. Now," he added, as he stepped to the shaft, to ring his own +private signal; "we'll go up and take a look through the smelter +before—Why, where are Mrs. Pennypoker and Dr. Hornblower?"</p> + +<p>There was a startled pause. No one had seen the missing members of the +party since they had left the head of the drift, although they had +supposed them to be following close behind their companions. Turning, +they looked back up the cross-cut, but there was no Mrs. Pennypoker in +sight. It seemed impossible that they could have lost their way, in a +long, straight corridor, less than ten feet wide; some accident must +have befallen them. Worst of all, there was no time for delay; the cage +had just come for them, and in the distance could be heard the steps of +the approaching miners, as they came in for the change of shift.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't keep the cage waiting for us, now," said Mr. Everett +hastily. "You go up with the others, Somers, and I'll go back and look +them up. They can't be far off."</p> + +<p>Turning, he walked rapidly back up the cross-cut, expecting at every +moment to meet the truants, so sure was he that they had only loitered +along behind the others, absorbed in discussing the spiritual welfare of +Wang Kum and his Mongolian brethren. It was not until he had turned into +the drift, and paused to question a group of miners whom he met there, +that he began to be seriously alarmed. The men had not seen Mrs. +Pennypoker and her escort since they had all been together at the head +of the drift. Mr. Everett felt no hesitation in accepting their +statement, for, in their ignorance of the relationship between the +superintendent and his cousin, the miners spoke of Mrs. Pennypoker's +appearance in such unguarded terms as left him no room to doubt their +knowledge of the person for whom he was seeking. However, he still kept +on to the head of the drift, thinking it possible that they might be in +some dark corner, though he could think of no reason which should tempt +them to conceal themselves in any such fashion. But his quest was +unavailing, and, facing about, he returned to the head of the cross-cut +where he paused, uncertain what course to pursue. Then he opened his +mouth and shouted their names, with the full power of his strong bass +voice. The sound echoed up and down through the galleries and then died +away, to be followed by a high-pitched feminine shriek.</p> + +<p>The cry came from the opposite end of the drift from the one which they +had been exploring, and Mr. Everett turned his steps in that direction. +This end had been abandoned, some days before, in consequence of a +serious leak in the pipes connecting with the pump; and it was now only +lighted for a short distance beyond the mouth of the cross-cut. Now that +the pump had ceased, the water had settled over the floor, to form a +deep, thick clay which rendered progress slow and difficult. He had just +passed the last electric light and was proceeding even more cautiously +than before, when he came to an abrupt halt. The feeble glimmer of his +miner's lamp had fallen upon a strange picture, and one whose meaning he +was not slow to grasp.</p> + +<p>At one side of the drift and leaning against the wall, stood Mrs. +Pennypoker, with one foot drawn up under her, much in the attitude of a +meditative hen. A few feet away from her, the doctor was bending +forward, with his lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="ill2" id="ill2"></a> +<img src="images/ill2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud." +</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p>"Well," said Mr. Everett at length, after he had watched them in +silence, during some moments; "what are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel and Mrs. Pennypoker both started guiltily. So +interested had they been in their search, that they had been unconscious +of Mr. Everett's approach until he stood before them. In her surprise, +Mrs. Pennypoker came near losing her balance, and, to support herself, +she put down her other foot. It was a shapely foot, and was covered with +an immaculate white stocking, for Mrs. Pennypoker still adhered to some +of the fashions of her far-off youth. Then the Reverend Gabriel +answered.</p> + +<p>"We inadvertently strayed from our way and came into this place, without +realizing whither our steps were leading us," he said, while he +continued to prod the mud before him; "and at length we fell, as you +might observe, into the miry clay. I had just suggested the expediency +of our return, when Mrs. Pennypoker—um—in short, met with an accident +which unduly detained us and—ah, I have it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, +as he carefully worked his stick put through the earth, and extended it +in mid-air, with a shapeless, dripping mass hanging on its tip.</p> + +<p>No further explanation was needed. Mrs. Pennypoker, as has been said, +still clung to some of the fashions of bygone days; and, among other +similar foibles, she cherished a fondness for congress gaiters, and +invariably wore those feeble apologies for shoes whose limp cloth uppers +are held in place by means of elastic wedges at the sides. In arraying +herself for her visit to the mine, with characteristic New England +thrift, she had put on an ancient pair of these gaiters, whose elastic +sides had long since lost all their spring, and lay in ample folds about +her ankles.</p> + +<p>As Mr. Everett had surmised, his cousin, feeling no deep interest in the +mine, had fallen into a theological discussion with her pastor. This had +so engrossed them both that they had lost their way, and had only come +to their senses when they found themselves in the dark, muddy passage of +the deserted drift. They had hastily turned to retrace their steps, +when Mrs. Pennypoker's foot slipped and plunged deep down into the clay; +and, on her withdrawing it, she was horrified to feel that her foot was +slowly but surely pulling out of her gaiter, instead of pulling her +gaiter out with it. In vain she had attempted to work her foot down into +her shoe once more; in vain she had endeavored to hook her bent toes +into it, with a hold sufficient to draw it out. The mischief was done, +and she could only lift up her foot, while the soft mud quickly settled +in above the gaiter, and left no trace of the spot where it lay +embedded.</p> + +<p>It was evidently impossible for her to wade back to the cross-cut +without it, and her size, age and dignity all combined to make it +equally impossible for her to hop on one foot as far as the cross-cut; +so she had been forced to come to a halt, while her companion prospected +about in the earth, to find the vein in which his treasure was buried. +At last it was found; but not even Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker could +present a dignified appearance as she received her muddy shoe from the +end of the Reverend Gabriel's cane, drew it on to her foot, and walked +away towards the station, with mingled clay and water oozing out from +her gaiter, at her every step.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD STORY.</h3> + + +<p>Once more winter had come, and the snow lay deep and white over the +little camp. The pines on the mountain sides looked a hazy blue against +the glistening slopes, and the bald white summits of the mountains +themselves stood out in bold relief against the clear blue heavens. Even +the night sky was changed at that altitude, for the stars glittered down +through the cold, still air, with an intensity which made them look like +gleaming bits of metal scattered over the dense, dark-blue clouds; while +often and often the north was lighted with the glare of the pale aurora +which streamed far across the sky, in long, waving banners of rose color +or light green.</p> + +<p>"But I like the way you people out here make fun of New England +weather," remonstrated Charlie one day, as he stood in the front window, +watching a sudden flurry of snow sweep down through the cañon. "When I +went down town to get the mail, this morning, it was raining so hard +that I wore my mackintosh; but, by the time I was at the post-office, +the sun was shining. I walked straight back home again, and it was +hailing when I came up the steps. What sort of a climate do you call it, +anyway?"</p> + +<p>"A perfect one," returned Allie loyally.</p> + +<p>"Not much! Montana buys up the job lots of weather left over from the +other States, and cuts them up small before she serves them out again, +just as they happen to come. Montana weather and Montana slang are the +two richest crops in the State."</p> + +<p>The past two months had been unbroken by any event of marked importance. +Between their lessons and their frolics, the time of the young people +had been well filled, and the days had hurried by, without any one's +stopping to ask where they had gone. At the Burnams', life was going on +smoothly and pleasantly, although Mr. Burnam was now busy in the field, +hurrying to accomplish all that he could, before the storms of February +should drive his party out of the mountains, until the spring thaws made +field work possible once more.</p> + +<p>By way of helping to pass the long winter evenings, Charlie had tried to +bribe Allie to become his pupil and, after his hour of practice was +ended, he usually took her in hand for a time, in a vain endeavor to +teach her to play. But, in spite of her desire to please her cousin, +Allie had neither the patience nor steadiness needful to keep her at the +piano; and she much preferred to settle herself comfortably in front of +the fire, and listen to her cousin's performances, rather than go +through the drudgery of scales and exercises, upon which Charlie +insisted, as the orthodox preparation for later work. Accordingly, +Allie's music usually ended in a playful skirmish which sent Charlie +back to the piano, to beguile her into good temper again, by means of +some favorite melody. On rare occasions, when she was uncommonly meek, +or when all other employment failed, she would be coaxed into running up +and down over a few scales; but, in the end, her fingers invariably +became snarled up with her thumbs; and, after one or two discordant +crashes on the keys, she gave it up and threatened to buy a hand-organ +for her contribution to the family music.</p> + +<p>Her singing appeared to succeed no better. While she had a sweet, +flexible voice, and went about the house singing softly to herself, as +soon as she approached the piano a spirit of perversity seemed to enter +into her, and she wandered along at her own sweet will, perfectly +regardless of the time and key of the accompaniment with which Charlie +was struggling to follow her. At length her cousin was forced to abandon +his efforts and allow her to drop back into her old place as listener, a +part which she always played with perfect success and contentment, while +he turned his attention to the others. Grant was taking banjo lessons +now, and Ned occasionally strummed a little on the venerable guitar +which Louise had thrown aside in favor of her mandolin; so their little +orchestra was frequently in demand to fill in gaps in an evening's +entertainment. Howard and Marjorie, too, were ready to add their share +of music, for they had toiled away in secret till they had mastered one +or two simple duets, which they invariably sang whenever an opportunity +offered.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, a warm friendship had developed between Mr. Everett +and Dr. Brownlee. The young doctor was now a frequent guest at the +superintendent's house, where he had quickly become popular with them +all, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, who never failed to array herself in her +best gown and unbend her majesty whenever he was expected to appear. The +acquaintance started during their camping expedition had rapidly +ripened into a mutual liking, and it was surprising to see how often the +younger man found time to drop in at Mr. Everett's office, late in the +afternoon, for a few minutes' conversation. Once there, it was only +natural that he should walk home with his friend, and, after a little +polite hesitation, accept his invitation to come in for a call. Little +by little the calls grew in length until, from accepting occasional +invitations to dine, the doctor came to stay, quite as a matter of +course, although he still made a feeble pretence of rising to go away, +before yielding to their suggestion of dinner and a game of whist later +on in the evening. At length, even this form was abandoned, and it grew +to be an established fact that, whenever the doctor dropped in for an +afternoon call, an extra plate and chair should be included in the +dinner preparations, and that the card table should be brought out as +soon as the meal was over. It also soon came to be a matter of course +that Louise and the doctor should always play together, while Mr. +Everett and Mrs. Pennypoker ranged themselves against them, and devoted +their attention to the game with unswerving vigilance. Not even Mrs. +Pennypoker had been able to withstand the doctor's genial, hearty +manner; and, in his presence, she laid aside her eye-glasses and her +dignity, and laughed at all his jokes in an appreciative fashion, which +Ned and Grant were quite at a loss to understand, since she never paid +the slightest heed to their attempts at facetiousness.</p> + +<p>In spite of the strict etiquette of the game which demands such perfect +silence and watchfulness, it is strange how rapidly a newly-formed +acquaintance can grow into strong friendship around a whist table. +Everything conspires to help it on: the absorption of the opponents in +their own hands; the chivalrous offer, on one side, to do all the +dealing, and the grateful accepting of the courtesy on the other; and, +most of all, the moment of hesitation over a doubtful play, followed by +the silent meeting of the eyes, as the trick falls to one or the other. +And yet, neither Louise nor Dr. Brownlee realized in the least whither +they were so rapidly drifting. The doctor still regarded Mr. Everett as +his chief friend in the family, and thankfully accepted his hospitality, +which broke in so pleasantly upon his solitary life at the +boarding-house, where the long table was presided over by his landlady, +with her cap awry and her sleeves rolled to her elbows, while she +gossiped volubly with her boarders, in the intervals of her skirmishes +with the frowsy waiting maid. And Louise? She only knew that she enjoyed +the society of the young doctor, just as her father and Mrs. Pennypoker +appeared to enjoy it; but, all unconsciously to herself, her young life +was rounding out with a new, sweet meaning; and the womanhood opening +before her was daily gaining fresh inspiration and purpose, from the +influence of the true, earnest manhood of their frequent guest.</p> + +<p>But the time had slipped away and Christmas was at hand. The week before +the festival found the young people much absorbed in a little +entertainment, to be given for the benefit of some local charity, in +which they were all to take a part. Mr. Nelson had started the project, +and had called upon Dr. Brownlee and Louise to help him form and carry +out his plans. After much discussion, it had been arranged to have an +hour of music and readings, followed by a play in which the doctor and +Louise, Charlie, Marjorie, and Allie should be the actors. The play was +quickly chosen, a little French one which Louise had translated, and +adapted to their meagre resources of costume and scenery; and the +rehearsals had been going on for some weeks, until the success of the +enterprise was sufficiently assured to allow them to announce their +plans and decide upon the date. The dress rehearsal had been held before +a select audience of fathers and mothers, who were hearty in their +praises of the saucy maid and the irrepressible young brother, while +they thoroughly enjoyed the spirited acting of Louise, who, in the +person of the widowed mother, did all that lay in her power to thwart +the flirtations between the doctor and Allie, until her efforts were set +at naught by the disloyalty of her maid and the traditions of amateur +acting, which demand a happy ending to every love affair.</p> + +<p>The little hall was well filled, the next evening. Audiences in Blue +Creek were often rather mixed; and, on this particular occasion, rich +and poor, young and old, had gathered, to show their interest in a +worthy cause, and their liking for the young actors, whose unvarying +kindness and courtesy had made them favorites throughout the town. Even +Janey's black face looked on from the background, while far at one side +sat Wang Kum with two of his friends, whom he had persuaded to buy +tickets, as a proof of their loyalty to Louise.</p> + +<p>Behind the scenes there reigned the usual confusion, preparatory to the +rising of the curtain. Moreover, in some quarters, there existed grave +doubts of the curtain's being prevailed upon to rise at all, since, the +night before, it had persistently stuck fast, at two feet from the +floor. At length all was in readiness for the first part of the program, +and Charlie had just stepped forward to make his bow, before seating +himself at the piano, when the doctor hurriedly approached Louise.</p> + +<p>"Can you spare me, for three quarters of an hour?" he asked. "I've just +heard, by the merest chance, that the evening train is off the track, +down in the cut below the station. The engine jumped the track, and +pulled the baggage car after it; they both rolled over, and they say one +man is hurt. Nobody has sent for me; but I'd like to just run down, and +see if I can be of any use."</p> + +<p>For a moment, Louise looked aghast at the idea of losing her chief actor +and assistant. Then she said cordially,—</p> + +<p>"Go, of course. We'll arrange to do without you, in some way."</p> + +<p>The doctor's eyes thanked her; but he wasted no time in mere words, as +he went on hastily,—</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't say anything to the audience, for 'twould just break up the +whole affair. If you'll put off my reading till just before your last +duet with Charlie, I'll be here, unless there's serious trouble. If +there is any reason that I can't come, I'll send word at once." And he +was gone.</p> + +<p>The program of the first part of the evening was drawing smoothly to its +close. Charlie had delighted his audience with his playing, both alone +and with the Everett boys; Howard and Marjorie had sung a new duet, +which they had learned, in honor of the occasion; and Allie had +convulsed her more critical hearers with a recitation, which she had +rendered with an originality of tone and gesture that would have struck +terror to the followers of Delsarte, even though it had won her the +first encore of the evening. Then, after a moment's enjoyment of the +continued applause which had followed her disappearance from the stage, +she came back once more, and gave them "Aunt Tabitha." She threw herself +into it with an abandonment of fun which, in itself, would have been +enough to show her sympathy with the trend of the poem, while she could +not forbear glaring defiantly down upon Mrs. Pennypoker's uplifted +countenance, as she delivered herself of the closing lines, with a +fervor that astonished her audience,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'But when to the altar a victim I go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aunt Tabitha'll tell me <i>she</i> never did so.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And she swept off from the little stage, in a parting storm of cheers.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, Louise had heard nothing from Dr. Brownlee; and she +was beginning to grow uneasy, for the time for his reading was at hand, +and the play was to follow it almost immediately. She was just resolving +to give up all hope, and bring the entertainment to a hasty close, when +she saw the doctor come hurrying in at the side door. She turned to +Charlie MacGregor, who chanced to be standing near her.</p> + +<p>"Will you help me out, Charlie?" she asked. "Go on again, and +play—anything, I don't care what, just to give Dr. Brownlee time to get +his breath."</p> + +<p>"But strikes me they've had about all of me they can stand," demurred +Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Never mind if they have," said Louise. "There isn't anybody else that +can appear, at a minute's warning. Go, please."</p> + +<p>The next moment the doctor was by her side.</p> + +<p>"Miss Everett, have you any powder?" he asked, laughing a little, as he +pointed to a great purplish bruise on the side of his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed in alarm. "What is it? Are you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" he said, in a low voice, though he was conscious of a quick +sense of pleasure at the anxiety of her tone. "It's only a bump; but it +doesn't look well, and I don't want it to show. Can't you cover it up +somehow, before I go on?"</p> + +<p>"Come this way," she said hastily. "I'm not much used to powder, but +I'll see what I can do. Tell me," she begged, as the doctor dropped into +a chair; "what has happened? It's a bad bruise, and your cheek is cut; +what was it?"</p> + +<p>"I was helping them get the man out of the car, and one of the beams +fell against me; that's all. I found the new doctor, Dr. Hofer, in +charge; so I just helped him lift the man out, and then came back here," +he answered as lightly as he could, and without adding a word about the +moments that he himself had lain there stunned from the force of the +blow on his head.</p> + +<p>Louise looked down at him anxiously. His face was white, and his hands +were a little unsteady.</p> + +<p>"Please don't try to read, Dr. Brownlee," she urged. "I'm sure you don't +feel able."</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," he said, rousing himself with a forced laugh; "if you +can cover up the spot so it won't show. I don't want them to think I've +been fighting."</p> + +<p>He resigned himself into her hands, while she hunted among the +properties for the powder-puff and the comb, and then did her best to +conceal the great bruise on his temple, which had quickly swollen and +turned dark. But, even as she did so, she felt a sudden impulse to drop +the puff and run away, rather than meet the earnest gaze of the gray +eyes looking so steadily up into her own, and listen to the quiet "Thank +you," which greeted the end of the toilet, as the doctor rose and +stepped forward to take his place on the stage.</p> + +<p>At the suggestion of Mr. Nelson, he had decided to read "Elizabeth"; and +Louise, as she stood at the side of the stage, listening to the quaint +old tale of the Quaker wooing, found herself forgetting all her +surroundings in the interest of the familiar story. Dr. Brownlee had +turned a little to one side, in order to conceal his discolored temple +from the audience, and this brought him into a position directly facing +the young woman who, quite unconsciously, made a charming picture in +the gown she had donned for the play. Just in the act of turning a leaf +of the book in his hand, the doctor raised his eyes, and they rested +upon her fair young face. As he did so, there rushed into his mind the +memory of her womanly pity and gentleness in caring for his bruise, and +he seemed to feel again the touch of her light hands upon his hair. He +paused; then, with his gaze still fixed upon her, he went on in his +quiet voice, low, but so distinct that not a syllable was lost on its +hearers,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"'I have something to tell thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Not to be spoken lightly, nor in the presence of others.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Them it concerneth not, only thee and me it concerneth.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Just then Louise raised her eyes to his; but, as she met the intentness +of his look, her own eyes drooped, while the color rushed to her cheeks +and then fled again. For a moment more the doctor's eyes rested upon +her, then he went on with his reading; but his voice was unsteady and +his heart was throbbing with the sudden new hope that had come to him.</p> + +<p>The reading was ended, and the curtain fell amid the enthusiastic +applause of the audience, who devoted the intermission to discussing +the performers, with a perfect unconsciousness of the fact that two of +them had entered upon a new life during the past hour. Though their +secret was as yet unspoken, that one look had taught both Louise and Dr. +Brownlee that the stories of their future lives were written in the same +volume. Already they had glanced at the preface, and soon the first +chapter would lie open in their hands.</p> + +<p>But now there was no time for any such thoughts, for chaos once more +reigned behind the scenes, as the actors hastily dressed for the play; +and, within a few moments, the curtain rose again upon the transformed +scene. Howard and the Everett boys, who had finished their share in the +program, had come out into the audience in order to get a better view of +the stage. After a little hesitation, they had discovered some vacant +seats behind Wang Kum and his friends, who were sitting spellbound in +their admiration of the scenes before them. For a time the boys listened +attentively; but a constant attendance at the rehearsals had made the +play an old story to them, and their interest began to flag. Grant was +lazily leaning back in his seat, with one hand outstretched, +abstractedly swinging Wang Kum's pigtail to and fro, when Ned suddenly +started up, with a naughty sparkle in his dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"Say, Howard, haven't you a piece of string in some of your pockets?" he +whispered.</p> + +<p>"I d'know," answered Howard, in the same stealthy tone. "What you want?"</p> + +<p>Ned bent over to speak a few low words in his ear, and both the boys +began to giggle.</p> + +<p>"What's the joke?" inquired Grant curiously; while Howard dived into one +pocket after another.</p> + +<p>Ned cautiously imparted the secret to his brother, who received it with +manifest delight; then he took possession of the dozen or more scraps of +twine that Howard had produced, and tied them together to form one long +string. This done, he appeared to lose all consciousness of the people +around him, in the interest of the play, for he bent forward with his +hands on his knees and stared fixedly at the stage. A moment later he +drew a long breath and leaned back in his chair. Then it became apparent +that his hands had not been idle, for one end of the string was securely +tied about the tip of Wang Kum's queue, and woven in and out through the +openwork back of his chair, while the rest of the string was in Howard's +hands, to be passed on in turn to Grant. Five minutes afterwards the +three unconscious Chinamen were firmly lashed to their seats and the +boys had once more disappeared behind the scenes.</p> + +<p>The play was at last ended, and the actors were called before the +curtain for one final round of applause, in which the Chinamen joined +with unflagging zeal. Then the audience rose to leave the hall, and the +miners respectfully stood aside to let their superintendent and his +party take the lead. Wang and his brethren still sat quiet, watching the +people flock past them, with an evident determination to stay until the +very end; but at length they too grasped their hats and started to rise. +The next instant there was a clattering of chairs, followed by three +startled howls, which broke upon the air and turned every face in the +same direction. There in a row stood the three Chinamen, ruefully +rubbing the backs of their heads, while their little almond eyes seemed +to be popping out from their sockets, with surprise and with the +unwonted strain upon their scalps. From the end of every pigtail dangled +one of the light folding chairs which filled the room. Howard's strings +were as strong as Ned's knots were firm. The Chinamen had not risen from +their seats; their seats had risen with the Chinamen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>MR. ATHERDEN.</h3> + + +<p>"Really and truly, Charlie, I never should have known you; you look so +perfectly elegant."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, ma'am!" And Charlie bowed low before his cousin, who joined +him in the laugh at the unexpected form that her intended compliment had +taken.</p> + +<p>"You know what I mean," she said saucily. "Of course, you're always a +dear old boy, even if you aren't a beauty. But now there's a sort of +young man look to you, that makes me half afraid of you."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, if you stayed so, you'd treat me a little better," suggested +Charlie teasingly. "I feel most uncommon queer, though. Do you honestly +like the looks, Allie?"</p> + +<p>Allie dropped into an easy-chair, and surveyed him from head to foot.</p> + +<p>"Now turn around very slowly," she commanded; "and then walk off a few +steps, so. Yes," she added, after an admiring pause; "you really do +look very well, considering who you are; only I never, never should know +you. It just changes you all over, and makes you seem four or five years +older."</p> + +<p>"Wish I were!" remarked Charlie meditatively. "Only I should be ready +for college then, and have to go back East and leave you. What a jolly +year this has been!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it has," assented Allie absently. She was still looking up at her +cousin, with a feeling of sisterly pride in the tall, straight figure +before her.</p> + +<p>Montana had evidently agreed with the boy, for, during the year he had +spent there, he had grown so rapidly as to leave Howard far below him. +Contrary to the custom of most boys, he bore his added inches with +perfect ease, and had entirely escaped the stage of awkward +consciousness, which falls to the lot of nearly all growing lads. Even +now, young as he was, there was a quiet dignity in his manner which, +combined with his manly figure, made it seem high time that he should +take the first marked step towards man's estate, and leave off +knickerbockers. The new suit, ordered from New York, had come that day; +and Charlie had dressed himself up in it, and appeared before Allie, to +demand her respectful attention.</p> + +<p>Had Charlie attired himself in a checked apron and sunbonnet, it would +have seemed a thoroughly admirable costume to his cousin's eyes; but, on +this particular evening, Allie's praise was well-merited, for the new +suit was unmistakably a success. Charlie was one of those few, but +fortunate boys who can wear even shabby clothes with an air that gives +them a certain elegance; and he had grace enough to enable him to escape +the usual awkwardness, which comes to the young girl in managing her +first train, to the boy in appearing in his first long suit. As Allie +had said it made him look much older and more dignified, until she +almost felt that she had lost her jovial playfellow, and stood in the +presence of a fine young man. Still, she liked the change, as long as it +really was the same old Charlie; and she continued to watch him, while a +little contented smile gathered about the corners of her mouth.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she repeated; "I should hardly have known you. Come here a +minute, and I can change you so you wouldn't recognize yourself a bit."</p> + +<p>Charlie laughed at the seriousness of her tone, as he seated himself on +the arm of her chair, while she patted and poked at his hair, until she +had parted it in the middle and brushed it away from his forehead, where +it usually lay in a close, short fringe. She studied the effect for a +moment; then she gently pulled off his glasses.</p> + +<p>"Poor old boy!" she said caressingly, as she drew her finger down along +the narrow white scar that crossed his upper lid. "You still carry your +beauty-spot; don't you? I wish 'twould go away."</p> + +<p>"What for? Does it show so very much?" asked Charlie.</p> + +<p>"No, not a bit, with your glasses on; but I never like to think back to +that horrid day," she replied, with a frown. "I was sure you were going +to die, or something."</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't. You see, I'm tough," returned Charlie placidly. +"Besides, we had some good fun together, after the first week or two. +But how do you like the looks?"</p> + +<p>"Your own great-grandmother wouldn't have any idea who you were," said +Allie decidedly.</p> + +<p>"Most likely not," observed Charlie.</p> + +<p>"But just you go and look in the glass, and see for yourself!" And Allie +sprang up, and dragged her cousin to the nearest mirror. All at once +she began to caper madly about the room.</p> + +<p>"What's struck you, Allie?" inquired Charlie, pausing in his +contemplation of himself to stare at his excited cousin.</p> + +<p>"I've just had the most lovely idea," said Allie incoherently. "It's too +much fun for anything, and we must do it."</p> + +<p>"Do what?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now you see here," she was beginning, with sudden solemnity, when +her cousin interrupted her,—</p> + +<p>"Give me my glasses, then."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know that; but listen! Don't you wear your suit again this week, +nor tell anybody you have it, and don't let Howard tell, either. Next +Tuesday is Mrs. Fisher's 'At Home,' you know; and we'll dress you up, +and you can go over there, and everybody will take you for a strange +young man. Won't it be fun?"</p> + +<p>"Fine!" responded Charlie, as he led the way back to the parlor, and +took his favorite position, leaning against the mantel. "Only I'm afraid +everybody'd know me."</p> + +<p>"Truly they wouldn't," answered Allie. "Can't you buy a mustache down at +Bright's? That would finish it all up, and nobody would ever have any +idea who you are. You're as tall as papa is, now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll think about it," said Charlie. "I'm a little bit afraid to +try, only it would be such immense fun. You keep mum about it, though, +and maybe we can put it through."</p> + +<p>Allie carried her point; and, directly after dinner, the next Tuesday +evening, Howard was solemnly warned not to go near his room. A little +later Allie knocked at the door and was admitted. Just across the +threshold, she stopped in surprise and delight, as she caught sight of +the elegant young man who rose to meet her.</p> + +<p>"How perfectly splendid!" she exclaimed. "Where did you ever get such a +mustache? It just matches your hair, and looks as if it must grow on."</p> + +<p>"Hope I don't lose it off!" returned Charlie fervently, as he rendered +himself temporarily cross-eyed, in his efforts to catch a glimpse of the +silky thatch on his upper lip. "But I wish you'd take my hair in hand, +Allie; it's so used to a bang, that it just won't stay parted."</p> + +<p>"Let me try." And Allie took the comb, and devoted herself to coaxing +her cousin's refractory locks to lie in the desired position. "It wants +to be just in the middle, for you're going to be the dearest little +dudelet you ever saw. Now take off your glasses."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I must have those," remonstrated Charlie. "I'm blind as a bat +without them, and I shall be sure to run into something, and tip it +over."</p> + +<p>"No, you won't," said Allie composedly. "If you wear them, people will +be sure to know you."</p> + +<p>"But, if I take them off, my scar will show," argued Charlie; "and that +will give it all away. But, I say, I have some eye-glasses somewhere, +that the oculist gave me, to start with. I don't ever wear them, 'cause +they wouldn't stick to my nose. I lost them off into the soup, the first +night at dinner, and I bought my spectacles early the next morning; but +perhaps I can keep them on now."</p> + +<p>"I should think you ought to; your nose is large enough," remarked +Allie, with calm disrespect. "But get them; I can tell better when I see +them."</p> + +<p>There was an interval of silence, while Charlie rummaged in his bureau +drawers. At length he unearthed the little case from a box containing an +odd assortment of light hardware, broken knives, stray nails, an awl or +two, and a collection of trout reels and flies.</p> + +<p>"Here 'tis," he said. "I remember now; I used it to wind my best line +on. How will they go?" And he turned to face his cousin, with a +conscious laugh which promptly dislodged the glasses from his nose.</p> + +<p>"That's better," said Allie approvingly; "they don't look a bit the +same. I don't like them as well as I do the spectacles, for all the +time; but they change you more. Now remember to be very easy and +elegant, and don't act shy. Behave as if you thought you were very good +to speak to them, and they'll like you all the better. And be sure you +don't go too early."</p> + +<p>"But what are you going to do now?" demanded Charlie, as she turned to +the door. "You aren't going to be mean enough to leave me here all +alone, till it's time to go?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to dress me," returned Allie. "I begged an invitation from +Marjorie, and I'm going over there with mamma. You don't suppose that +I'm going to lose all the fun, do you?" And she departed.</p> + +<p>Society in Blue Creek was by no means as simple as a stranger might have +been led to expect. During the winter months, there were few evenings +that were not given up to some entertainment; and the little set to +which the Burnams and Fishers and Everetts belonged were the gayest of +the gay, with dinner parties and impromptu dances following one another +in rapid succession. The enjoyment of these festivities was in no wise +marred by the fact that one always met exactly the same people. Though +the resources of the camp were not great, yet this set of friends was a +thoroughly congenial one, consisting, as it did, of a dozen or more +young married couples, together with several stray bachelors and a very +few older people. Young women were deplorably scarce in Blue Creek, and, +for a year, Louise had been the acknowledged belle among them, as she +would have been, however, in the face of many rivals. Strangers, who +were attracted to her side by her beauty, remained there, charmed by her +easy manners and her ready wit; so, wherever she went she was sure to be +the central figure of a little group of admirers, of whom Dr. Brownlee +was usually the one nearest her side.</p> + +<p>According to one of the pleasant customs of the little town, Mrs. Fisher +had her weekly reception day. On Tuesday evenings, her house was always +filled with the friends whom, with rare tact, she left to entertain +themselves, while she moved up and down her charming rooms, with a word +to one and a smile for another, now breaking in upon a flirtation which +threatened to last too long, now bringing stray wallflowers into the +middle of some hospitable group, and never for an instant forgetting to +keep a watchful eye over any stranger who might chance to be among her +guests. There was an attractive informality about these evenings, when +one was at liberty to appear in a street gown, or an evening costume, +and where the little supper was so simple as merely to be a pleasant +break in the midst of the dancing, but not to suggest the idea of an +overburdened hostess, struggling to feed a ravenous multitude. No one +else in the town had quite the same gift for entertaining as Mrs. +Fisher; no one else could carry out an "At Home" with quite such +delightful simplicity. She gave them the use of her house, together with +a cordial, unaffected welcome, and she left the rest to take care of +itself. With this happy talent for receiving her friends, it was not +strange that the tall, blonde woman was one of the most popular matrons +in the camp.</p> + +<p>This Tuesday evening was bidding fair to be as pleasant as its +predecessors had been. The rooms were filled, and the air was echoing +with the soft buzz of voices. A little pause in the dancing had +scattered the young people, who were wandering about, some in the back +parlor, watching the older guests grouped about the whist tables, some +in the "den," across the hall, where the only light came from the great +blazing fire which flickered over the pictures on the walls, and over +the easy-chairs scattered about the cosy room. At the very back of the +broad hall sat Louise and Dr. Brownlee, resting after their waltz, while +they talked of one thing and another, the every-day interests which they +shared in common. All at once Mrs. Fisher stood before them, with a +young man at her side.</p> + +<p>"I have been looking for you, Louise," she said. "Here is some one that +I want to introduce to you: Mr. Atherden, Miss Everett. Mr. Atherden is +a stranger, Miss Everett," she added; "and I leave it to you to make him +feel at home. Dr. Brownlee, I wish you'd come and play the agreeable to +Mrs. Nelson; she is looking dreadfully bored." And she led him away +towards the parlor.</p> + +<p>As Louise glanced up, at the introduction, she had been attracted by the +young stranger before her. He was a man of about her own age, +apparently, not very tall, but with a proud, erect carriage and a simple +dignity which gave him the look of being a much larger man. His face, in +spite of his eye-glasses and his silky, brown mustache, was almost +boyish in its outlines; and he was faultlessly dressed, from his white +tie and the white carnation in his button-hole, down to the toes of his +shining shoes. His whole appearance was so likable that Louise welcomed +him cordially, in spite of her regret at losing the doctor's society, +and at once set about making him feel at home.</p> + +<p>"How long have you been in Blue Creek, Mr. Atherden?" she asked +politely. "I don't remember meeting you before."</p> + +<p>"I only came a week ago," replied Mr. Atherden, as he took possession of +the chair which Dr. Brownlee had so lately quitted. "I've been in San +Francisco, the last two or three years; but I came up here to see +about"—He hesitated for an instant; then he went on, with a little +laugh. "Well, the fact is, I came up here to open an office. I'm a +doctor, you know, and I heard that you hadn't a very good one here, and +that there was a possible opening for another man."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" Louise's tone was icy in its politeness.</p> + +<p>"Yes," resumed the young man, eyeing her closely; "so I thought I'd run +up here and see for myself; but I found a first-rate man was in ahead of +me, so I must depart in search of a fresh field."</p> + +<p>"Then you are not to stay long?" said Louise, as she smiled on him with +all her former kindness. "Blue Creek is really a pleasant place when you +are used to it. You are unfortunate in seeing it at this season."</p> + +<p>Her companion made some light answer, and they went on chatting like a +pair of old friends. Louise was soon delighted to find that the stranger +cared for music as much as she did, and was familiar with the best works +of the masters, while he showed a thorough acquaintance with New York +and its surroundings which was remarkable in a man who professed to have +spent his life in California. There was something indescribably charming +in his quiet ease of manner and in his boyish fun; and Louise found +herself thoroughly enjoying their pleasant, off-hand conversation, +though all the time she was conscious of a hazy resemblance to some one +whom she had met before. Moved by this uncertain idea, she studied him +closely, while in her own mind she went over and over her list of +acquaintances, trying to find the person of whom she was thinking. Nor +could she tell wherein the resemblance lay, whether in the voice, the +manner, or in some feature; and yet it was there all the time, a +fleeting, haunting likeness to some former friend. Then she thought she +had a clue, for, in answer to a sudden jest on her part, the stranger +laughed until his glasses fell off and dropped to the floor, and as he +stooped to pick them up, she caught sight of a tiny scar on his right +eyelid. Surely she had seen that scar before, or, at least, one much +like it; and once more she went through her friends, trying to place the +mark, but with no better success than before.</p> + +<p>For a long half hour they sat there, while Mr. Atherden entertained her +so well that she was quite unconscious of Dr. Brownlee, who came to the +parlor door more than once to cast a longing glance in her direction. +But her back was turned towards him, and she was too much interested in +their talk to heed the proudly defiant glance with which Mr. Atherden +met the gaze of his rival. The doctor was not so slow to interpret his +meaning, and he gave his mustache a vicious jerk, as he walked away to +pay his homage at some other shrine. Mr. Atherden watched him with an +amused smile; then he turned to Allie who stood before him with a plate +of sandwiches in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, thank you, my little maid," he said with infinite condescension, +while he helped Louise and then himself. "Mrs. Fisher is to be +congratulated upon having such charming assistants." And he looked +straight up into the eyes of Allie, who flushed a rosy red as she +hurriedly turned away.</p> + +<p>But supper was over, and the tempting notes of a waltz rang out from the +piano in the parlor. Mr. Atherden rose to his feet.</p> + +<p>"It is a long time since I have danced, Miss Everett; may I not have the +pleasure now?" And settling his glasses firmly on his nose, he smiled +invitingly down at her, as he stood waiting to lead her to the parlor.</p> + +<p>Louise hesitated for a moment. The doctor had asked her for this very +waltz; but already the room was full of moving couples, and she could +see him dancing with the pretty young teacher, lately come from the +East. With a little feeling of pique she turned to her escort, and was +soon gliding about the room with an apparent delight in her partner, +who was dancing quite as well as he had talked. The waltz ended, she +turned away, without a glance at the neglectful doctor, and followed her +new acquaintance to their former seats in the hall.</p> + +<p>"How well you waltz!" she said frankly, as she fanned herself. "It's +such a rare thing to meet a really good dancer out here."</p> + +<p>"Such a partner would inspire anyone," returned her companion gallantly, +while he twirled his mustache with a complacent delight in it which +convinced Louise that it was of recent growth.</p> + +<p>Then he entered into a spirited account of his journey and his +adventures in coming into the strange place, while Louise sat leaning +back in her chair, watching him, haunted by that vague resemblance. Dr. +Brownlee was standing just inside the parlor door with his eyes fixed +upon them longingly, although he was apparently engrossed by the +sprightly conversation of his former partner. But Mr. Atherden made no +motion as if to leave his place; he merely glared defiantly at the +doctor, while he twisted his mustache and chatted on, and the doctor was +forced to go away again.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding her apparent unconsciousness of his presence, Louise +had looked after him with a little wistful expression in her blue eyes. +At that moment, she heard a sudden exclamation, and she turned back to +face her companion once more, just in time to see the silky brown +mustache yield to too violent a jerk and fall into his lap, while the +young man, in no wise embarrassed by the accident, leaned back in his +chair and burst into a shout of laughter. One glance at him had told her +the secret of the puzzling resemblance; and she echoed his laugh with a +thorough enjoyment of the boyish caper.</p> + +<p>"Charlie MacGregor, you incorrigible imp!" she exclaimed, when she could +get her breath. "How did you ever dare to come here in this fashion?"</p> + +<p>"Why not?" inquired Charlie. "You'd never have known me now, if this +miserable mustache had only stuck where it belonged. But, honestly, Miss +Lou, don't I make a fair actor?"</p> + +<p>"Too good, Charlie," she answered, with a fresh laugh over the +unexpected ending to her flirtation. "Why haven't you ever told us you +could waltz so well, though?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose I could; it's so long since I've tried it. Besides, +none of the other fellows do, and I was afraid they'd think 'twas silly +for a boy," answered Charlie. "Allie started this scheme, and put on the +finishing touches. But didn't you really know me, Miss Lou?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit. Nobody would ever have suspected, if you hadn't been quite +so proud of your mustache, Mr. Atherden. By the way, where did you get +the name?"</p> + +<p>"It's my middle one; didn't you know that?"</p> + +<p>"No; but," she added hastily, "here comes somebody. Really, Charlie, you +don't want to spoil the joke by getting caught; you'd better go, now." +And she pushed him towards the door.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, she was offering to Mrs. Fisher the apologies of her +stranger guest, for the sudden business which had called him away so +abruptly. Then, after an inviting glance which promptly brought the +doctor to her side, she led the way to the "den," where she pledged him +to secrecy, and then told him the story of her recent companion.</p> + +<p>"But there's one sure thing," Charlie said, with impenitent glee, as he +was bidding Allie goodnight; "for once in my life, I cut Dr. Brownlee +out with Miss Lou, and that's something to be proud of."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE COMPLETED STORY.</h3> + + +<p>"They say there's a case of scarlet fever over the other side of the +creek," remarked Mr. Everett at dinner, one night about a month after +Charlie's unexpected appearance in society.</p> + +<p>"Scarlet fever! Oh, dear, where?" asked Louise anxiously.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be scared, Lou; people don't catch it at your age," +responded Grant, with brotherly impertinence.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid for myself," she answered seriously. "Where is it, papa? +I don't want the boys to get into it."</p> + +<p>"It's way up beyond the smelter," replied Mr. Everett lightly. "You +don't need to worry, Lou, for it is so far away, and only a light case. +The boys would better not go over that way, and then they'll be safe +enough. Dr. Hofer has it in charge, so it will probably be all right."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so; but I'm always afraid of it," said Louise uneasily. "I +hope they'll quarantine them, or something."</p> + +<p>"Of course they will," said her father. "No doctor that's half a doctor +would let such a matter go unguarded. The board of health wouldn't allow +it, either," he added, in a tone of such decision that Louise accepted +his belief as final, and thought no more about the matter.</p> + +<p>Ten days later she stood before her mirror, dressing for a <i>Mardi gras</i> +party at the Fishers'. For the past three weeks, this coming social +event had been the chief theme of conversation in Blue Creek; for, +taking place, as it did, at the very close of the season, it was +intended to be a fitting climax to all the gayety which had gone before. +Louise had entered into the spirit of the occasion as heartily as a +young and pretty girl could do, and had spent long hours in planning the +new gown which her father had insisted she must have.</p> + +<p>"Something simple and pretty, Lou; but good of its kind," had been his +only instruction. "Don't spoil it, for the sake of a few dollars; just +get something that can stand on its own merits, and not have to be +patched out with laces and ribbons and all sorts of other gimcrackery. +You know what I mean; but I want my daughter to look her best."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, after all her anticipations, Louise was looking a little +troubled and anxious, as she stood there, arraying herself in the pale +blue crape gown which fell about her in soft, clinging folds, unbroken +by any ornament except the crescent of pearls that fastened the high, +close ruff at her neck. For some reason, Ned had been feeling ill that +day. He had complained of being cold, in the morning; and, instead of +going to Mr. Nelson's as usual, he had lain on the sofa all day long, +too miserable even to go with Grant to the Burnams', where the boys had +been asked to spend the afternoon and dine. For the past day or two, Mr. +Everett had been away from home on business, and would only return just +in time to take his daughter to the Fishers'; and Mrs. Pennypoker had +made light of the boy's trouble, pronouncing it merely a slight fit of +indigestion which would be gone by the next morning. Still, Louise had +been alarmed, unnecessarily so, Mrs. Pennypoker had told her. But the +boy seemed thoroughly ill and feverish, and she had persuaded him to go +to bed early, promising to hurry her dressing, and go in to sit with him +until the carriage came for her.</p> + +<p>Now, as she arranged her great bunch of white roses, and tied them with +a long blue ribbon, before laying them ready beside her fan and gloves, +she was half resolving to give up the party and stay quietly at home +with Ned. Of the two boys, he was decidedly her favorite; and she +disliked the idea of leaving him to the mercies of Mrs. Pennypoker, +whose tenderness was a little too brazen in its nature to be acceptable +to an affectionate, impressionable lad like Ned. However, she knew that +her father was hurrying his return on purpose to act as her escort, so +she was unwilling to disappoint him at the last moment. She was still +hesitating what course to pursue, as she gathered up her train and +started for her brother's room, with the largest of the roses in her +hand, to leave with him when she went away. But, as soon as she came in +sight of Ned's face, she felt no further doubt. Unaccustomed to illness +as she was, she saw at a glance that the boy was worse, although he +opened his eyes and smiled at her approvingly as she paused beside him.</p> + +<p>"You look just gay," he said hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"Gayer than you feel?" Louise asked playfully, while she bent over him +and laid her cool hand against his flushed cheek.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right; only I'm so warm, and my throat's a good deal sore," Ned +answered; then he settled back under the blankets, and closed his eyes +again.</p> + +<p>Louise watched him closely for a moment. In spite of Mrs. Pennypoker's +assurances, this was not like any form of indigestion she had ever seen, +and she determined to send Wang Kum for Dr. Brownlee. From past +experience, she knew that Mrs. Pennypoker would object to such a course, +for she had unlimited faith in her stock of home medicines, and regarded +the professional services of a doctor as invariably leading to the +gloomy ministrations of the undertaker. Mrs. Pennypoker had never quite +forgiven Mrs. Burnam for disregarding the poultice she had prescribed +for Charlie's eye; and now, all day long, she had been persecuting Ned +with alternate doses of ginger tea and "boneset bitters," which were her +staple remedies for almost every ill to which flesh was heir. Louise had +submitted, much against her better judgment; but now she felt that the +time had come for decided action, so she stealthily made her way to the +kitchen in search of Wang Kum.</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd go over and ask Dr. Brownlee to come in here for a few +minutes, as soon as he can, Wang," she said, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>Wang Kum nodded wisely.</p> + +<p>"All light; Wang sabe. You no wan' Mis' Pen'plok know." And he departed +on his errand.</p> + +<p>Quarter of an hour later the doctor came. Wang had interrupted him in +the midst of dressing for the party, and he had hastily finished his +toilet and hurried over to the Everetts, rather at a loss to account for +the summons. Louise met him at the door.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed, with an accent of relief; "it seemed as +if you'd never come."</p> + +<p>The doctor looked at her in surprise. From Wang's unconcerned manner, he +had supposed that his message was in some way connected with the coming +party; but the girl's pale, anxious face showed that there was some more +serious cause for her sending to him. And yet he was only a human man; +and, in spite of his quick sympathy for her unknown trouble, he paused +for a moment to gaze at her admiringly, as she stood there with her +long, light gown sweeping about her feet, and one hand stretched out to +welcome him, while in the other she still held the great white rose that +she had taken from the bunch he had sent her. Then the instinct of the +doctor came uppermost once more.</p> + +<p>"Is some one ill?" he asked briefly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; it's Ned," answered Louise hurriedly. "He hasn't been well all +day, and he's worse to-night, so I wanted you to see him. Cousin +Euphemia says it's nothing but—Come, you can see for yourself."</p> + +<p>In a moment more they were leaning over Ned, their evening costumes +contrasting strangely with the flushed face of the restless little +patient. With his usual bright, off-hand manner, the doctor greeted Ned, +as if his coming had been simply a matter of chance. But he took careful +note of his pulse and temperature, and asked a short, direct question or +two; then, after a few words more, he left the room, beckoning to Louise +to follow him.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you sent to me without waiting any longer, Miss Everett," he +told her, as soon as they were in the parlor once more "We're going to +have a case of scarlet fever in there, and it's high time some one was +looking out for it."</p> + +<p>"Scarlet fever—Ned have scarlet fever!" repeated his sister slowly, as +she dropped into a chair. "Do you really mean it, Dr. Brownlee? Is he +very ill?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet," returned the doctor. "But, first of all, where is Grant? We +must keep him out of the way."</p> + +<p>"He's at the Burnams'," answered Louise, rising and walking nervously +about the room.</p> + +<p>"Well, send Wang over, and have Grant stay there. Mrs. Burnam will be +willing to look out for him, I know; and he isn't likely to give them +any exposure,—the mischief would be done by this time, anyway. And then +you ought to go to—"</p> + +<p>"I shall not go anywhere," she answered decidedly.</p> + +<p>"But, Miss Everett, think of the danger of your taking the fever. I +shall have to quarantine the house, too; and Mrs. Pennypoker will be +here to take care of Ned."</p> + +<p>Louise stopped in her restless walk, and turned to face the doctor, with +her head raised proudly and a scornful curve to her lips.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Brownlee, do you think that I am a coward?" she asked with cutting +emphasis. "Ned may be very ill, and I could never leave him with Cousin +Euphemia."</p> + +<p>"But the danger," he urged again feebly, although he felt that her +decision was the right one, and he admired her for it, even while he +shrank from the thought of her possible peril.</p> + +<p>Louise looked steadily into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Ned is my brother," she said firmly, though her lips were quivering; +"and it is my right to stay. Besides, if anything should happen"—She +paused abruptly, while the tears rushed to her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Just as you think best," said the doctor gently. "You are needlessly +alarmed to-night, Miss Everett. I will tell you the exact truth: Ned is +a very sick boy, but there is no present danger for him. I needn't say +that I shall do all I can to make it easier for you, but"—he hesitated; +then added, with one of his cheery laughs, "The fact is, I'm most +awfully glad that you insist on staying. Mrs. Pennypoker is a good +woman; but she's no nurse, and Ned needs somebody that's a little less +like a steam saw-mill, if he is going to be ill for a week or so. Now, +I'll go down and get a prescription or two put up, and stop to see Mrs. +Burnam about Grant's staying there, and then I'll be back again."</p> + +<p>"But is it necessary?" remonstrated Louise, although she felt the +support of his presence, and was grateful for it. "Papa will be here +soon, or Wang can go; and you were going to the Fishers."</p> + +<p>"The Fishers can get along without either of us to-night," he said +laughingly. "We'll have our party here; we seem to be all ready for it." +And he smiled meaningly at her dainty gown.</p> + +<p>The door closed behind him, and Louise went quietly to her room, to take +off her gown and put on a soft white wrapper, before going back to her +brother. From the first, she had been sure, from the doctor's manner, +that he had felt alarmed about Ned; but, in her present mood, she was +grateful to him for his assumed carelessness, and she appreciated the +kindness with which he was giving up the evening to her needs. Some +sudden girlish regret made her snatch up the roses and bury her face in +them, as two great tears rolled down her cheeks; then she quickly untied +the flowers and put them back into the bowl, all but one, which she +fastened in her gown, to be her companion and comfort in her long, +anxious evening.</p> + +<p>Early the next morning Dr. Brownlee was there again; and for the next +week he was constant in his attendance, for the boy was very, very ill. +Day after day the fever had increased, until it seemed as if the young, +strong life must yield to its power. Now he lay in a heavy stupor, now +he muttered and laughed to himself in wild delirium; but each night +found him a little weaker than he had been the night before, and each +morning brought from the doctor's lips the same sad verdict, "No +better." During all these long days, Louise had scarcely left the room, +but watched over him, night and day, with a fierceness of devotion which +resented any interference.</p> + +<p>"He's mine, I tell you," she said, turning on the doctor, who was trying +to coax her from the room. "He's my brother and my favorite—oh, why +can't you understand? He keeps calling me, when he doesn't know anybody +else; and what if he should come to himself and want me, and I shouldn't +be there? Let me stay with him while I can, for it may not be so very +long—Oh, my Ned!" And brushing away the hot tears, she turned and went +back to her old place.</p> + +<p>Two days later the doctor slowly went up the steps to the door. His +heart was heavy with dread, for he knew that the crisis was at hand, and +he felt that the issue was more than doubtful. Without ringing the bell +for Wang Kum to admit him, he entered the house, and went directly to +Ned's room. He was in there for a long time; then he left Mr. Everett +and Mrs. Pennypoker with the boy, and came out into the hall again. As +he passed the parlor door, he paused for a moment; then he pushed it +open, and went into the room. Beside the table sat Louise, with her head +resting upon her folded arms, so still that he thought she must have +fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. But, as she heard his step she +raised her head to speak to him, and he was shocked to see the hard, +drawn lines on her pale face, and the dull, cold light in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"They say it can't last much longer," she said wearily, and without +asking him for his opinion.</p> + +<p>"No," he assented gently, as he sat down by her side. "It can't be like +this long; the change will come in a few hours, and then I hope our Ned +will be better."</p> + +<p>But Louise shook her head.</p> + +<p>"What's the use of saying that, Dr. Brownlee?" she said, in a low, +strained voice. "You don't mean it, I know; and I'm not a baby, to be +comforted with just words. Oh, doctor, if I could only cry! I've tried +to, and I can't,—can't do anything but think, and wonder what I shall +do without Ned."</p> + +<p>She was silent for a moment; then she went on excitedly, "Dr. Brownlee, +if Ned doesn't get well, I shall always believe that Dr. Hofer killed +him. There was a case of fever across the creek, and he let the children +from that very house go all over town. One of them was in the choir, a +week before Ned was taken ill. It was wicked, wicked! I can't have Ned's +life thrown away, just for that. It mustn't be so; I can't bear it!" And +her head dropped again, as she wailed, "Oh, doctor, can't you save him?"</p> + +<p>The sight of her bitter sorrow was more than the doctor could bear, and +his own voice was unsteady, as he answered sadly,—</p> + +<p>"I will do what I can; but we can only wait and hope." He paused; then +he laid one of his firm hands on hers, and said in a low voice, "Louise, +I can't help you; but won't you give me the right to comfort you, to"—</p> + +<p>But Louise interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"Wait," she begged. "I can't think of it now—of anything but Ned. I +must go back to him." And she left him alone.</p> + +<p>Late that evening, the doctor and Mrs. Pennypoker sat by the bed, almost +breathlessly watching the boy, who lay in a sort of stupor. Dr. Brownlee +had come in early, and announced his intention of spending the night in +the house, to watch over his patient. He had sent away Louise and her +father to take a little rest, promising to call them, in case of any +change. For more than two hours he had been sitting there, expecting the +end to come at almost any moment; but still the boy's lethargy was +unbroken.</p> + +<p>Then, all at once, the doctor leaned forward and gazed closely at the +face before him. The change had come, and Ned lay breathing quietly, in +the longed-for, life-giving sleep. For a few moments more Dr. Brownlee +sat there, scarcely daring to move; then, with a happy nod to Mrs. +Pennypoker, he left her to wipe her eyes unseen, and stole away to tell +the glad news to Louise.</p> + +<p>He found her in the parlor, in her old position by the table, too much +absorbed with her dread and sorrow to hear his step, until he was close +at her side. She started up, with the question on her lips; but before +she could speak the words, a glance at his face had told her all. With +one little glad outcry, she seized his outstretched hand; then she +dropped down on the sofa, to hide her face in the pillows and sob like a +little child, in all the fervor of her joy and thankfulness.</p> + +<p>The doctor stood waiting by her side, until her first outburst was over; +then, when she had grown more quiet, he bent down beside her, to say +gently,—</p> + +<p>"And now, Louise"—</p> + +<p>There was no need for many words. For an instant, Louise looked up into +the expectant face above her; then she put her hand in his.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNEXPECTED.</h3> + + +<p>"Did you get any letters this morning, Wang?" inquired Mrs. Pennypoker, +as the Chinaman came in to remove the dishes from the breakfast table.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Wang Kum briefly.</p> + +<p>"Not any at all? How very strange!" And Mrs. Pennypoker looked +questioningly at Wang Kum, who returned her gaze with impenetrable +composure. "I thought I should surely hear from brother Nathaniel +to-day. What can have become of the letter!"</p> + +<p>"Wang no sabe," answered the Chinaman with an almost imperceptible +shrug.</p> + +<p>He turned away to go to the kitchen; but, just as he passed the window +where Louise stood looking out, he contrived to let a fork slip from the +plate in his hand. Louise started at the clatter, and glanced over her +shoulder, to be met by a wink and smirk of infinite cunning, before the +man stooped to pick up the fork, and finally vanished into the outer +room. A moment later she followed him.</p> + +<p>"Did you want to speak to me, Wang?" she asked, trying in vain to appear +unusually dignified, as she faced the man who stood chuckling before +her.</p> + +<p>But Wang, by no means abashed by her manner, bestowed upon her a second +wink of exceeding craftiness, while he slowly drew a note out from the +loose sleeve of his shapeless blue coat.</p> + +<p>"Wang mus' a forgot him; you no tell," he said softly, with a stealthy +glance at the dining-room door behind him, as if expecting to see Mrs. +Pennypoker appear on the threshold and swoop down upon him at any +moment.</p> + +<p>Louise glanced at the letter in her hand. She was annoyed to feel her +color come, as she saw that it was addressed to her in Dr. Brownlee's +well-known writing.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get this, Wang?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Doc' Blownlee." And Wang Kum smiled knowingly.</p> + +<p>"But he didn't tell you to give it to me this way, did he?" she asked +again.</p> + +<p>"He no tell; Wang sabe, all samee. Wang no fool." And Wang marched back +to the dining-room, leaving Louise to read her note unobserved.</p> + +<p>As she had supposed, it was merely a message to appoint the hour for a +ride they had agreed upon for that afternoon. There was not the +slightest reason that she should not have received and read it under the +eye of Mrs. Pennypoker; but long experience had taught her that the ways +of Wang Kum were past finding out, so she only tucked the note into her +belt and went on her way, resolving, however, to warn the doctor to +select another Cupid, in the future, to be the bearer of his messages.</p> + +<p>Some weeks had slipped away since Ned's illness, and spring had once +more come to Blue Creek. The crisis of the fever once passed, the boy +had quickly rallied, and, thanks to the devoted care of Louise and the +doctor, his recovery had been sure and steady, until at length he was +pronounced nearly well enough to resume his former place among his +friends. Then came the time of thoroughly disinfecting and airing the +house, for Dr. Brownlee was not the man to leave any uncertainty as to +results. His quarantine had been as strict as his later measures were +energetic, and he had refused to rest until he was assured that no +danger could come from his patient. Owing to the negligence of Dr. +Hofer, the disease had been spreading across the creek, until the board +of health had interfered, and summarily taken the cases from his care to +give them into the hand of Dr. Brownlee, whose vigorous treatment had +checked the trouble, even though it had incurred the hostility of the +parents of the fever-stricken children.</p> + +<p>But at last the doctor had said that all danger at the Everetts' was +over, and Grant had been allowed to come home once more. In spite of the +good times he had been having with Howard and Charlie, in spite of the +motherly welcome of Mrs. Burnam, the boy had been thoroughly homesick +during the period of his banishment from home. It was the first time +that he and his brother had ever been separated, and Ned was his hero +and idol, as well as his constant companion. During the long days of +waiting, when the fever was at its height, Grant had wandered +disconsolately about the house, refusing to be comforted, and looking so +pale and miserable as to be a mere shadow of his usual bright self, and +to cause Mrs. Burnam many an hour of anxiety lest he, too, were about to +be ill. Then came the sudden change for the better, and, for a day or +two, Grant was like a wild creature in the exuberance of his joy; but he +was restless and anxious to be at home with his brother again, sure that +no one else could take as good care of him as he. He had even waylaid +the doctor on the street one morning, and tried to bribe him to allow a +return home; but Dr. Brownlee was firm, and Grant had been forced to +bide his time.</p> + +<p>The whole Everett household had been radiant with its new happiness, +during these last few weeks. It would have been enough for them all to +have Ned brought back to life, after their terrible hours of suspense; +and for days they hovered about the boy, almost unable to believe that +their bright, affectionate, impish Ned was to remain with them, after +all. Even Mrs. Pennypoker had cast aside her strict principles of +discipline, and coddled him and fussed over him to her heart's content, +while Wang openly prided himself on being the means of his recovery.</p> + +<p>"Wang went 'way off out doors," he had confided to Louise; "all lonee; +hollered heap loud to Up-in-Sky. Up-in-Sky no say anything; he sabe, all +samee; came down heap quick to help Mas' Ned."</p> + +<p>In the midst of this rejoicing there had come a cause for even increased +happiness. On the morning after Ned had turned the dangerous corner, and +started on his slow journey back into life once more, Dr. Brownlee had +gone into the parlor where Mr. Everett sat writing letters, and had +closed the door behind him. His stay was only a short one; then Mr. +Everett came out, and went in search of Louise.</p> + +<p>"Come, my girl," he said gently; "Winthrop is waiting for you. Your +mother would have been very happy to-day, as happy as I am." And he led +her to the parlor door; then he went away, and left them alone together.</p> + +<p>To Louise, it had seemed as if the world had suddenly been created anew +that spring. The days flew by like one long, happy dream, while she +spent hour after hour amusing her brother during his tedious +convalescence, or left him to Mrs. Pennypoker's care when she escaped to +the parlor, to enjoy the doctor's short, but frequent calls. Ned had +been as rapturous as his sister when the good news was told to him; and +he had saluted the doctor as Brother Brownlee upon the occasion of his +next visit.</p> + +<p>"It's just too jolly," he had said, with the first return of his old, +irrepressible manner. "I'd rather have you take Lou than anybody else I +know; and I'm no end glad I helped it on. You know you'd never have come +to the point, if I hadn't scared you both out of your senses; but"—he +paused, and then asked wickedly, "but I say, Lou, what do you suppose +the Reverend Gabriel will have to say about it?"</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel, in the mean time, had kept himself informed on the +subject of Ned's illness, and although he had held himself at a prudent +distance from all danger of infection, he had not neglected the young +invalid. As soon as it was definitely known that the boy was on the way +to recovery, Dr. Hornblower had sent him, through the safe medium of the +post-office, a little book of "Sick-room Meditations," whose black cover +bore the cheering design of a tomb under a pair of weeping willows. +Though the gift was doubtless intended in all kindness, it was received +with more amusement than gratitude, and Ned kept it under his pillow to +read aloud choice bits from it, whenever Louise and Dr. Brownlee were +together in his room.</p> + +<p>But, during the weeks that the Reverend Gabriel had been unable to call +at the Everetts'; he had been slowly making up his mind upon a matter +of weighty importance; and now at length the time had come for him to +carry out his intentions.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower, it should be stated, was a romantic +soul; and, in his tanned, weather-beaten old body, there throbbed a +heart as ardent as ever beat in the breast of a boy of eighteen. Its +manifestations, however, were often a little eccentric, for its owner +was as ignorant and unworldly as a child. For years he had fed his +elderly imagination upon the most impassioned love scenes to be found in +the pages of novel or biography. Unfortunately for him, there was +nothing in the least modern about his literary taste; but he had +confined his reading to the histories of the Evelinas and Cherubinas of +yore, until his idea of the tender passion was as old-fashioned and +stilted as the books from which it had been derived. Nevertheless, the +Reverend Gabriel was becoming weary of boarding-house existence, and +beginning to long for the comforts of home and the charms of conjugal +society.</p> + +<p>It would be hard to say whether the sight of Louise Everett's blonde +beauty, or the contemplation of his own frayed cuffs and ragged +buttonholes had been the moving cause; but the result was the same. +Upon this particular afternoon, he had spent an hour in reading over one +of his old favorites; then, seizing his hat and cane, with an air of +desperate resolution, he had hurried out of the house, and up the street +towards the Everetts'.</p> + +<p>He was ushered into the parlor by Wang Kum, who assured him that Louise +would soon be at home, and rolled out the great leather-covered chair +from its accustomed corner, in order that the Reverend Gabriel might be +as comfortable as possible, while he awaited her coming. Then he +withdrew, leaving the guest to his meditations.</p> + +<p>They were not altogether enjoyable ones, however. Wang Kum had told him +that Louise was riding with Dr. Brownlee, and the Reverend Gabriel, with +the jealous eye of a lover, was not slow to discern a possible rival in +the handsome young man, who had been a constant attendant at the house, +during the past few weeks. Moreover, the room was very warm, and the +Reverend Gabriel was beginning to grow a little uncomfortable, for Wang +Kum, with the keen malice of his race, had carefully arranged the chair +directly opposite the register, which brought the heat from the stove in +the next room. Dr. Hornblower had been feeling rather nervous, all that +day; now he feared that he was becoming feverish. He drew his hand +across his moist brow, and sighed anxiously. Could it be that he was +going to be ill?</p> + +<p>At length Louise came in. She looked so bright and pretty in her dark +habit, and with her golden hair loosened by the wind and curling about +her face, that the Reverend Gabriel felt his admiration momentarily +increasing, while he gazed at her. And yet, something in her fresh, +girlish beauty made him long to draw back from his coming interview, as +he rose to greet her, and caught sight of his own dull, brown face in +the mirror above her head.</p> + +<p>"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long," Louise said courteously, +while she unbuttoned her gloves and slowly drew them off. "It is such a +glorious day that we stayed out a little longer than we meant to."</p> + +<p>"It is a fine day, a very fine one," returned the Reverend Gabriel, +eagerly catching at the safe topic of the weather.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and we were shut in so long that I enjoy being out, more than +ever," said Louise, while she speculated vainly as to the doctor's +motive for this call.</p> + +<p>"You have had a painful experience," he answered gloomily; "a trying and +painful experience; but I trust that you are benefited by it. My +thoughts were continually with you during the—um—the ordeal."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Dr. Hornblower," Louise returned gratefully. "Our friends +were all very kind."</p> + +<p>"Doubtless they were," responded Dr. Hornblower, as he sympathetically +wiped his eyes. "We were all grieving over the prospective demise of a +young brother. And yet some consolation would have reached you, Miss +Everett; love is the only pocket-handkerchief to wipe the mourner's +eyes."</p> + +<p>Louise blushed hotly at the reference. Although she had made no secret +of the matter of her engagement, still she was a little surprised to +have the Reverend Gabriel allude to it in such an unexpected fashion. +But she was determined to carry off her embarrassment as easily as +possible, so she smiled brightly, as she said,—</p> + +<p>"Then you have come to congratulate me; thank"—</p> + +<p>"Pardon me!" interrupted Dr. Hornblower, as stiffly as if his rheumatism +had suddenly penetrated from his joints to his manners. "It is not yet +the time for congratulation; and, when the hour comes, it is I who will +receive them."</p> + +<p>"You?" And Louise stared at the Reverend Gabriel in unfeigned +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"At least, so it is to be hoped," returned the doctor gravely.</p> + +<p>For a moment, there was an awkward pause, while Louise wondered whether +the worthy minister had suddenly taken leave of his senses, and the +doctor writhed uneasily in his chair, as he realized that his hour had +come. The hush was beginning to be painful, and Louise was just opening +her lips to speak, to say something, no matter what, when she was +suddenly struck speechless by seeing the Reverend Gabriel lay his hat +and cane on the floor beside his chair, then clumsily kneel down before +her and clasp his hands. For one brief instant, she supposed that he was +about to give her the benefit of his professional services, and she +composed her face to listen with befitting gravity; but his first words +dispelled the illusion.</p> + +<p>"Louisa," he began, in a tone so devoid of expression as to suggest the +possibility of his having written out the words and committed them to +memory; "Louisa, behold me a suppliant before you, begging, +imploring"—</p> + +<p>But Louise had started from her chair, and stood facing him, her cheeks +white with mortification for herself and pity for him.</p> + +<p>"Dr. Hornblower," she begged hastily; "get up, please! You mustn't say +any more."</p> + +<p>"But you do not catch my full meaning," he went on. "I ask you"—</p> + +<p>"Get up at once," she repeated. "You mustn't say it; it's impossible! +Suppose some one should come in. Oh, do get up!"</p> + +<p>Yielding to her evident alarm, he awkwardly scrambled to his feet, and +threw himself down in in his chair once more, with a force that pushed +it back against the opposite wall.</p> + +<p>"Truly, I never thought of such a thing," Louise said penitently. "I +always supposed that you came to see Cousin Euphemia, not me; or I might +have prevented this."</p> + +<p>"Why should you, Louisa?" returned the Reverend Gabriel, with a cheerful +assurance that grated upon her ears. "I am willing to wait and hope; my +heart is eternally yours."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope not!" she answered quickly. "Really, Dr. Hornblower, it +never can be, never could have been; I never even thought of such an +idea. You have always been very kind to me, I know," she went on +hesitatingly, trying to soften her words a little; "but I thought it was +only because you felt a fatherly interest in me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so old as you seem to think," began Dr. Hornblower testily; +then, bethinking himself that this was not according to his models, he +made a dramatic pause, before he asked his final question, "Is there, +then, Another?"</p> + +<p>Louise hung her head and blushed.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid there is," she faltered.</p> + +<p>"And his name?"</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him haughtily; then her face softened, as she thought +of the mortification that she was inflicting upon the old man before +her, and she answered gently,—</p> + +<p>"It is Dr. Brownlee."</p> + +<p>Once more the Reverend Gabriel hesitated. He had carefully rehearsed his +part, until he was thoroughly familiar with it; but his imaginary +interviews had taken only the one form, and he had never counted upon +such an ending as this. However, he was resolved to carry it through to +the close; and, after a hasty review of the ways of rejected lovers, he +recalled the case of the luckless Alphonso Ludovico, and felt himself +prepared to meet the new emergency.</p> + +<p>"It is the end," he said slowly. "Pardon my intrusion, Miss Everett; I +will no longer impose upon your kindness. I go forth upon my lonely +way."</p> + +<p>He started to rise from his chair, but came to a sudden pause, while a +sound of rending and cracking broke the silence that had followed his +tragic words. All unconsciously, Wang Kum had given him the sticky +chair; and the heat of the room and the doctor's feverish agitation, had +combined to produce the catastrophe. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower was +trapped as effectually as a fly in a pool of molasses, and could only +struggle helplessly in his efforts to free himself.</p> + +<p>Louise came to his relief, and together they succeeded in separating his +coat from the chair-back, and he took his ignominious departure. The +young girl stood looking after him, until he disappeared around the +corner, then she fled to her own room, and into the very depths of her +closet, to smother the sound of her hysterical laughter. But when at +last she grew quiet, her face became very gentle once more, as she said +to herself, in a tone of womanly pity,—</p> + +<p>"Poor old man! But at least, I can keep his secret; not even Winthrop +shall ever know."</p> + +<p>In the mean time, the Reverend Gabriel had slowly betaken himself to his +lonely room, where he laid aside his hat, and approached the mirror.</p> + +<p>"No," he said to himself, as he stood gazing at the reflected face +before him; "it wouldn't do; it wouldn't do. She's too beautiful; and +I'm—too old." And he seated himself in his worn old easy-chair, and +took up the book he had laid aside an hour before.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>UNDER ORDERS.</h3> + + +<p>It was less than two weeks after the Reverend Gabriel's call upon +Louise, that Mr. Burnam came up from his office, one noon, with a letter +in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Well, daught," he called, as Allie ran out to meet him; "where's mamma? +I have some news for her."</p> + +<p>"News! What is it? Nothing very bad, I hope," she answered, as she +seized his hand in both of hers, and hurried him towards the house.</p> + +<p>"That depends," he said laughing. "Wait till we get into the house, and +then I'll tell you."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it's much of anything," she declared scornfully. "If +'twas, you never could wait to tell us."</p> + +<p>"We'll see about it," responded her father, as he entered the house.</p> + +<p>But it was not until they were all seated about the lunch table that he +would tell them his news. From the central office of the railway by +which he had been employed for the past five years, a letter had come +to him, that very morning, offering him the position of consulting +engineer for the company, an advance which would bring him much honor +and more salary. For a few moments there was a babel of congratulation +and rejoicing; then Mrs. Burnam put an end to it all by asking +quietly,—</p> + +<p>"And when shall we have to leave here?"</p> + +<p>"Leave?" And Allie turned to stare at her mother in consternation.</p> + +<p>"Yes; of course we shall have to go away from Blue Creek very soon," +answered her mother cheerfully; for, though at heart she was as sorry as +Allie to leave her pleasant friends in the little camp, she was +unwilling to let her one regret throw a shadow over her husband's +happiness in his promotion.</p> + +<p>"Leave Blue Creek, and the Everetts, and Marjorie, and all? Let's not +go," urged Howard. "The old road isn't worth it, papa."</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnam laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you don't think so, Howard," he answered; "but I'm afraid we +must go. St. Paul isn't a bad place to live in; and we should have had +to leave here this spring, anyway, for my present survey won't take me +much longer. I'm to report for duty in two months," he added, turning +to his wife once more. "Will that give you time to get ready?"</p> + +<p>"Two weeks would do," she said promptly; "I haven't been your wife all +these years for nothing. I'm sorry to go away from here, of course, for +we've made pleasant friends; but I sha'n't be sorry to have a settled +home. Besides, it's time the children were in some good school, if +they're ever going to college."</p> + +<p>"What do you think about it all, Charlie?" asked his uncle. "You haven't +told us, yet."</p> + +<p>"I'm about as much mixed up as Auntie is," he replied slowly, while he +gave Allie's hand a consoling pinch, as it lay on the table, toying with +her fork. "I don't want to leave the doctor, and the boys, and all, and +this place has been immense fun; but, as long as I can be with you +people, I don't mind much else, and, if we go to St. Paul, I can stay +with you till I'm ready for college,—that is, if you'll keep me."</p> + +<p>"We won't send you off just yet," returned his uncle. "Howard and Allie +would have something to say about that, I fancy. Let me see; this is +May, and I have to be ready by the first of July. We shall have to leave +here the last week in June, so you must make the most of your time till +then."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear!" sighed Allie, as she and the boys were starting for the +Everetts', that afternoon, to tell the great news. "We never stayed so +long in one place before, and I began to hope we'd live here always. +We've had such good times, too, 'specially since Charlie came; and I +don't want to leave all these people."</p> + +<p>"'T isn't all of them, though," responded Howard. "There aren't so many +I care about, if we could take the Everetts and Fishers and Dr. Brownlee +along with us."</p> + +<p>"And the mountains, and Wang Kum, and our ponies," added Allie. "Janey +says she'll go too. But it's no use to try to count up what we're +leaving, or I shall just sit down and begin to cry."</p> + +<p>"Better not," advised Howard practically; "it's no end dusty, and we +can't spend time to brush you off. Besides, St. Paul is right on the way +to everywhere, and we shall see people when they go East. Don't you go +to being in the dumps, sis; 't won't mend matters to grumble, and we've +moved before without its killing us."</p> + +<p>But in spite of his advice to his sister, Howard was the most +disconsolate member of the party, as they sat on the Everetts' front +steps, talking of the separation in store for them.</p> + +<p>"It's a perfect shame," lamented Marjorie, who had joined them there. +"You belong to us, and oughtn't to go away. I had it all planned out, +too. We were all going to grow up here together, and have ever so much +fun. Allie and I would keep old maid's hall, and have you four boys +board with us. Howard would be a civil engineer, and Charlie a doctor, +and Grant have a store, and Ned be a minister; and we'd just have an +elegant time."</p> + +<p>"'Specially me!" remarked Ned, in a tone of supreme disgust. "I've no +desire to step into Dr. Hornblower's shoes, when the old man finally +gives up and goes over the range. Preaching isn't in my line; I'll help +Charlie keep his apothecary shop, and sell patent medicines. But, +honestly, with half of us gone, the rest will be dismally lonesome. We +shall need Allie to keep us straight, and Howard to keep us stirred up."</p> + +<p>"And Charlie for general all-overishness," added Marjorie. "Say, Howard, +do you remember the day we put Vic into the empty barrel, and turned a +bushel basket over him, 'cause he would follow us, every step we took?"</p> + +<p>Howard chuckled at the recollection.</p> + +<p>"Yes. How he did yell! But do you remember the time we shut Marjorie up +in the office closet, Ned, and then went off and forgot her?"</p> + +<p>"That must have been before I came," said Charlie. "How did she get +out?"</p> + +<p>"What a question! didn't you ever hear Marjorie squeal?" asked Grant +scornfully. "But, I say, you lads, do you remember that day that Charlie +Mac came, and we"—Grant paused abruptly.</p> + +<p>"We what?" demanded Charlie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing." And Grant retired behind Marjorie, to blush unseen.</p> + +<p>"What was it?" urged Charlie again. "Go on and tell, Grant."</p> + +<p>"You hush up!" And Ned gave his brother a threatening glance.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to tell, then, if you won't," said Allie laughing. "If we +don't, Charlie will think it's something ever so much worse that 't is. +All was, the boys didn't mean to like you anyway, and didn't want you to +come. The day you came, they went down to the station, and hid around, +waiting to get a look at you, to see what you were like. And the worst +of it all was"—Allie paused mischievously, and then went on; "they +found you weren't half so bad as they supposed you were going to be."</p> + +<p>"If we could only go back again, and start there all over fresh!" sighed +Marjorie.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't have a bit better time than we have had," returned Charlie. +"We've made the most of our chance, and we may as well be thankful for +it. Oh, but didn't I feel shaky, that first morning, when the train +stopped, and I had to get out! Allie looked about ten feet high and +thirty years old, when I saw her standing on the platform; and I was +sure I was going to be afraid of her. Wasn't, though," he concluded, +giving her hair a friendly tweak.</p> + +<p>"Besides, 't isn't quite so bad as if we had to go right away," added +Allie hopefully, as they rose to go home. "We have two months more; and +there's time for ever so much to happen, between now and then."</p> + +<p>But the two months hurried past them, and, before any one realized it, +the Burnams were on the eve of their departure. As Marjorie had said +when the subject was first mentioned, it was harder to stay than to go, +for those left behind had to keep on in the same old routine, where they +so keenly felt the loss of their friends who, on their side, were full +of anticipations for the new places they would see, the new +acquaintances they would make, while the bustle and excitement of +packing kept them too busy to realize all that they were leaving behind +them.</p> + +<p>It had been decided that the Burnams were to go away from Blue Creek the +last week in June, and, soon after this plan was arranged, Louise and +Dr. Brownlee had announced their intention of being married on the +twenty-fourth, in order that their friends might be present at the +wedding, so the last few weeks had found the Everett household in as +great excitement as were the Burnams. It was to be only a quiet church +wedding, followed by a small reception. Louise had reduced Allie and +Marjorie to a state of speechless delight, by asking them to be her +bridesmaids; while the doctor had laughingly protested that Charlie and +Ned should act as ushers, since they had been instrumental in bringing +himself and Louise together. After a little discussion, this plan had +been adopted, and the four young people were much impressed with their +consequence, in taking part, for the first time, in so important a +ceremony.</p> + +<p>On the evening before the wedding, they all walked up together from +their rehearsal in the chapel, and stopped for a little while on the +Everetts' front steps, where they were joined by Howard and Grant.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow, and the next day, and the next, and then it will all be +over," said Marjorie pensively.</p> + +<p>"I honestly haven't had time to think about it, this last week," said +Allie. "We've been so topsyturvy and busy that I haven't thought of +anything but packing and the wedding."</p> + +<p>"No; we'll be the ones to do the thinking," said Ned, as he stretched +himself out at his ease, on the railing to the little porch. "With Lou +married, and you three going, there's nothing else left for us to do. +I'm going to turn hermit, and move up the gulch."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't, before fall, if I were in your place," returned Howard, in +a tone too low to catch the ears of the others.</p> + +<p>"What's next fall?" asked Ned listlessly.</p> + +<p>"Don't you give it away that I told you," said Howard, while he joined +his friend on the rail; "but I happened to hear your father talking to +my father, to-day; and it's all settled that you and Grant are coming to +St. Paul, next winter, to board with us, and go to school. Hush up!" he +added, as Ned gave a little exclamation of delight. "Don't tell the +others, for I oughtn't to have said anything about it; but I couldn't +hold in any longer."</p> + +<p>For an hour more, they sat there; then Grant's voice broke the hush, as +he put his head in at the open window of the parlor, where his sister +and Dr. Brownlee were sitting in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"That's the seventh time you've said good night, Lou," he remarked, in a +hollow tone; "and I should think the eighth 'most ought to do the +business, unless you want to be dead sleepy, to-morrow night, while +you're in the middle of being tied up."</p> + +<p>The next evening found the chapel crowded. Every seat was occupied, and +the side aisles were filled with the miners and their wives, who stood +waiting to look on at the marriage of "our Miss Lou," for she was a +favorite with them all. At length the murmur of voices died away, as Mr. +Nelson took his place in the chancel, while the little organ pealed out +the opening strains of the wedding march. A moment later, the doors +swung open and the bridal party entered, Charlie and Ned leading the +way, with Allie and Marjorie following them, while Mr. Everett and his +daughter came after them. Louise was beautiful, in her simple white silk +gown, although she looked a little pale and nervous, as she saw so many +eyes turned upon her. Then she forgot it all, all the crowd and the +excitement, and even the friends gathered about her, and her face grew +radiant with her love, for Dr. Brownlee had met her at the head of the +aisle, to lead her forward to the altar; and above the low notes of the +organ, she heard the quiet, earnest voice, as it followed Mr. Nelson's +through the familiar words,—</p> + +<p>"I, Winthrop, take thee, Louise, to my wedded wife."</p> + +<p>Their troths were plighted, the ring was slipped into place, and the +blessing was pronounced. Then, as Winthrop Brownlee and his bride turned +to face the congregation once more, the organ rang out in a triumphal +march, and the bell in the little tower overhead burst into a merry +peal. The sound rolled far up and down the valley, and the mountains +echoed back the happy tidings; then the evening quiet once more +descended upon Blue Creek Cañon.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LENVOI" id="LENVOI"></a>L'ENVOI.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The last leaf ended, ere you lay<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My book aside, and turn to rest,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Read here, old friends, between the lines,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My loving memories of your West.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The distance shortens to my eyes;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To-morrow's sun will sink to rest<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Behind your hills. One day is all<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That separates us, East and West.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then hasten forth, my little book,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Speed on your way, nor pause to rest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But, turning towards the setting sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My greetings bear from East to West.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Tremont</span>," Twenty-seventh May, 1892.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Other_Books_Published_by_T_Y_CROWELL_CO" id="Other_Books_Published_by_T_Y_CROWELL_CO"></a>Other Books Published by T. Y. CROWELL & CO.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S BOOKS.</h2> + +<p>"A quiet sly humor, a faculty of investing every-day events with a +dramatic interest, a photographic touch which places her characters +before the reader, and a high moral tone are to be remarked in Miss +Ray."—<i>Detroit Tribune.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">HALF A DOZEN BOYS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">HALF A DOZEN GIRLS.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">CADETS OF FLEMMING HALL.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>MRS. SARAH K. BOLTON'S FAMOUS BOOKS.</h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>The most interesting books to me are the histories of individuals +and individual minds, all autobiographies, and the like. This is my +favorite reading.</i>"—H. W. Longfellow.</p> + +<p>"<i>Mrs. Bolton never fails to interest and instruct her +readers.</i>"—Chicago Inter-Ocean.</p> + +<p>"<i>Always written in a bright and fresh style.</i>"—Boston Home +Journal.</p> + +<p>"<i>Readable without inaccuracy.</i>"—Boston Post.</p></div> + + +<h3>POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS.</h3> + +<p>Short biographical sketches of George Peabody, Michael Faraday, Samuel +Johnson, Admiral Farragut, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, +Garibaldi, President Lincoln, and other noted persons who, from humble +circumstances, have risen to fame and distinction, and left behind an +imperishable record.</p> + + +<h3>GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS.</h3> + +<p>A companion book to "Poor Boys Who Became Famous." Biographical sketches +of Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot, Helen Hunt Jackson, Harriet +Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Florence Nightingale, Maria Mitchell, and other +eminent women.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE.</h3> + +<p>Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, +Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN.</h3> + +<p>A companion book to "Famous American Authors." Biographical sketches of +Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, Sumner, Garfield, +and others. Illustrated with portraits.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN.</h3> + +<p>With portraits of Gladstone, John Bright, Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, +Lord Shaftesbury, William Edward Forster, Lord Beaconsfield.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS.</h3> + +<p>With portraits of Raphael, Titian, Landseer, Reynolds, Rubens, Turner, +and others.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS.</h3> + +<p>Short biographical sketches of Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, +Aldrich, Mark Twain, and other noted writers.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE 19th CENTURY.</h3> + +<p>With portraits of Scott, Burns, Carlyle, Dickens, Tennyson, Robert +Browning, etc.</p> + + +<h3>STORIES FROM LIFE.</h3> + +<p>A book of short stories, charming and helpful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COUNT TOLSTOÏ'S WORKS.</h2> + + +<h3>ANNA KARÉNINA.</h3> + +<p>"Will take rank among the great works of fiction of the age."—<i>Portland +Transcript.</i></p> + + +<h3>IVÁN ILYITCH, AND OTHER STORIES.</h3> + +<p>"No living author surpasses him, and only one or two approach him, in +the power of picturing not merely places but persons, with minute and +fairly startling fidelity."—<i>Congregationalist.</i></p> + + +<h3>CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH.<br /> With Portrait of the Author.</h3> + +<p>A series of reminiscences and traditions of the author's early life.</p> + + +<h3>MY CONFESSION AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST'S TEACHING.</h3> + +<p>A companion book to "My Religion."</p> + + +<h3>MY RELIGION.<br /> A sequel to "My Confession."</h3> + +<p>"Should go to every household where the New Testament is read."—<i>New +York Sun.</i></p> + + +<h3>WHAT TO DO. </h3> + +<p>Thoughts evoked by the Census of Moscow. Containing passages +excluded by the Press Censor of Russia. A sequel to "My Confession" and +"My Religion."</p> + + +<h3>THE INVADERS, AND OTHER STORIES.<br /> Tales of the Caucasus.</h3> + +<p>"Marked by the wonderful dramatic power which has made his name so +popular with an immense circle of readers in this country and in +Europe."—<i>Portland Press.</i></p> + + +<h3>A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR, AND OTHER STORIES.</h3> + +<p>"These stories are wholly in Tolstoï's peculiar manner, and illustrate +once more his wonderful simplicity and realism in the domain of +fiction."—<i>Sun</i>, New York.</p> + + +<h3>NAPOLEON AND THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.<br /> With Portrait of the Author.</h3> + + +<h3>THE LONG EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES FOR CHILDREN.</h3> + +<p>A notable addition to juvenile literature.</p> + + +<h3>LIFE.</h3> + +<p>A vigorous and lofty argument in favor of the eternal verities of life.</p> + + +<h3>POWER AND LIBERTY.</h3> + +<p>A sequel to "Napoleon and the Russian Campaign." An ingenious +reconciliation of the theories of fate and free will.</p> + + +<h3>THE COSSACKS.</h3> + +<p>"The most perfect work of Russian fiction," said Turgénief.</p> + + +<h3>SEVASTOPOL.</h3> + +<p>The most relentless pictures of the realities of war.</p> + + +<h3><i>TOLSTOÏ BOOKLETS</i>:</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE TWO PILGRIMS.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">WHAT MEN LIVE BY.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PUBLICATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.</h2> + + +<h3>JED. <br />A Boy's Adventures in the Army of '61-'65.</h3> + +<p>A story of battle and prison, of peril and escape. By <span class="smcap">Warren Lee Goss</span>, +author of "The Soldier's Story of his Captivity at Andersonville and +other Prisons," "The Recollections of a Private" (in the Century War +Series).</p> + +<p>In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes in +the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The +incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's +personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during +that war. The descriptions of the prison are especially truthful, for in +them the author briefly tells what he himself saw. One of the best war +stories ever written. Boys will read it with avidity.</p> + + +<h3>THE WALKS ABROAD OF TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS.</h3> + +<p>From the French of Charles Beaugrand. By <span class="smcap">David Sharp</span>, M.B., F.L.S., +F.Z.S., President of the Entomological Society of London.</p> + +<p>A fascinating narrative of travel and adventure, in which is introduced +much valuable information on natural history subjects, and a reading of +the book will tend to foster an interest in zoölogy.</p> + + +<h3>FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Sarah K. Bolton</span>, author of "Poor Boys who became Famous," etc, Short +biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnæus, Cuvier, Humboldt, +Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others.</p> + + +<h3>THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. <br />Pictures of the Reign of Terror.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Lydia Hoyt Farmer</span>, author of "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," etc.</p> + +<p>To those who have not the leisure to make an exhaustive study of this +remarkable epoch in the world's history, this volume offers a rapid and +clear <i>résumé</i> of its most important events and thrilling scenes.</p> + + +<h3>ROLF AND HIS FRIENDS.</h3> + +<p>By J A K, author of "Birchwood," "Fitch Club," etc.</p> + +<p>A healthful, stimulating story, showing the advantage that every boy +must necessarily gain from association with intelligent, progressive +young people, no matter what their color or condition in life may be. +The incidents are fresh and natural, the conversations bright and +piquant, and the interest well sustained, while incidentally there is a +valuable leaven of information.</p> + + +<h3>CECIL'S KNIGHT.</h3> + +<p>By E. B. <span class="smcap">Hollis</span>, author of "Cecil's Cousins," etc. A story of no +impossible knight, but of a very real, natural, and manly boy, who, +through perseverance, good sense, and genuine courage, fought his way +from poverty to success.</p> + +<p>"We recommend 'Cecil's Knight' as an excellent book to put into a boy's +hand.—" <i>Beacon.</i></p> + + +<h3>RED CARL.</h3> + +<p>By J. J. <span class="smcap">Messmer</span>. A story dealing with the labor question, socialism, +and temperance, and one of the best, all points considered, that treats +of these subjects popularly.</p> + +<p>"It would be difficult to find a healthier, more stimulating, and more +suggestive story to put into the hands of the young."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>T. Y. CROWELL & CO.'S NEW BOOKS.</h2> + + +<h3>CHARLES DICKENS'S COMPLETE WORKS.</h3> + +<p>A new illustrated edition, in 15 and 30 volumes. This edition will meet +the (hitherto unfilled) wants of those desiring the works of Dickens in +good clear type, well printed on fine paper, handsomely illustrated, +tastefully bound, and suitable for library use, at a moderate price.</p> + +<h3>RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE.</h3> + +<p>A Story of the Army of the Potomac. By <span class="smcap">Warren Lee Goss</span>, author of "Jed." +With over 80 illustrations by Chapin and Shelton.</p> + +<p>Among the many books about the civil war there is none which more +clearly describes what took place among the rank and file of the Union +Army, while on the march or on the battle-field, than the story given by +Mr. Goss in this volume.</p> + +<p>"It is one of the handsomest, as well as one of the most valuable works +in American war literature."—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> + + +<h3>MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE.</h3> + +<p>By Rev. <span class="smcap">J. R. Miller</span>, D.D., author of "Silent Times."</p> + +<p>The following is an extract from Dr. Miller's preface: "These chapters +are written with the purpose and hope of stimulating those who may read +them to <i>earnest and worthy living</i>.... If this book shall teach any how +to make the most of the life God has entrusted to them, that will be +reward enough for the work of its preparation."</p> + + +<h3>DOCTOR LAMAR.</h3> + +<p>A powerful work of fiction by a new author.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that "Doctor Lamar" is a remarkable novel. It has +originality in subject and treatment. The hero is drawn with a master +hand. The picture of the heroine is a revelation of innocence and beauty +of the most exquisite English type. The love story which runs through +the book, like a golden thread, is an idyl. Few novels are so well +calculated to appeal to a large class of readers, comprising, as it +does, food both for thought and recreation.</p> + + +<h3>A WEB OF GOLD.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Katharine Pearson Woods</span>, author of "Metzerott, Shoemaker."</p> + +<p>"One of the strongest books of the year."—<i>Buffalo Express.</i></p> + + +<h3>JULIUS WOLFF'S NOVELS.</h3> + +<p>Delightful stories of old-time life in Germany.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Saltmaster of Lüneburg.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Robber Count.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Fifty Years, Three Months, Two Days.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<h3>TENNYSON'S GREATER POEMS.</h3> + +<p>Volumes are sold separately or in sets, and comprise the following: +"Idylls of the King," "In Memoriam," "The Princess."</p> + + +<h3>THE ALHAMBRA SERIES OF NOTABLE BOOKS.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The Alhambra, by Irving<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Romola, by Eliot<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lorna Doone, by Blackmore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Scottish Chiefs, by Porter<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Notre-Dame, by Hugo<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sketch Book, by Irving<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LOTUS SERIES OF POETS.</h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Robert Browning's Poems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lalla Rookh, by Moore<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mrs. Browning's Poems<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lucile, by Meredith<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lady of the Lake, by Scott<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tennyson's Poems<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE</h2> + +<h3>BY WILLIAM I.</h3> + +<p>Based chiefly upon Prussian State Documents.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Translated from the German of <span class="smcap">Heinrich Von Sybel</span> by Professor +<span class="smcap">Marshall Livingston Perrin</span>, of the Boston University</p></div> + + +<p>The welding together into a mighty united nation of the petty dukedoms +and principalities which fifty years ago made up the heterogeniety of +Germany was the greatest political feat of this century. Dr. Von Sybel, +pre-eminently fitted by nature and training to be the historian of this +tremendous creation, had the additional advantage of access to original +sources of information in the archives of Prussia, Hanover, Hesse +Cassel, and Nassau, and the State papers and diplomatic correspondence +preserved in the foreign office at Berlin. His history, therefore, may +be accepted as <i>absolutely authentic</i>, and that it has been so accepted +is shown by the universal chorus of praise from German critics which +greeted its first appearance, and by the fact that within two months of +publication fifty thousand copies were sold. Sybel's style is remarkably +smooth and attractive, full of vigor, life, and movement, and it has +been admirably rendered into idiomatic English by Professor Perrin, +whose long residence in Germany made the language like his mother tongue +to him. Finely engraved portraits of the Emperors William I., Frederick, +and William II., and of Bismarck and Moltke, give additional value to +the volumes.</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Since the death of Ranke, Von Sybel has occupied unquestionably +the first rank among German historians."—<i>American Hebrew.</i></p> + +<p>"The translation of this admirable history is very well done +indeed. It reflects few of the German involutions, and reads +smoothly and flowingly. Of the history itself, it must be said that +nothing comparable to it in fulness, clearness, trustworthiness, +and vigor, has been written concerning the great events of which it +treats."—<i>N. Y. Tribune.</i></p> + +<p>"No reason to believe that it will be superseded during the present +generation."—<i>N. Y. Sun.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>No more important historical work has appeared in the last +decade.</i>"—Nation.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Blue Creek Cañon, by Anna Chapin Ray + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CAÑON *** + +***** This file should be named 24014-h.htm or 24014-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/0/1/24014/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + +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: In Blue Creek Canon + +Author: Anna Chapin Ray + +Release Date: December 24, 2007 [EBook #24014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CANON *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + + + + + + + + + IN BLUE CREEK CANON + + BY ANNA CHAPIN RAY + + AUTHOR OF "HALF A DOZEN BOYS," "HALF A DOZEN GIRLS," ETC. + + + + + NEW YORK: 46 EAST 14TH STREET + THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + BOSTON: 100 PURCHASE STREET + + COPYRIGHT, 1892, + BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. + + _Printed and Electrotyped by_ + ALFRED MUDGE & SON, BOSTON. + + + + +[Illustration: "A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on +skates."] + + + + + If you've wronged him, speak him fair. + Say you're sorry and make it square; + If he's wronged you, wink so tight + None of you see what's plain in sight. + + When the world goes hard and wrong, + Lend a hand to help him along; + When his stockings have holes to darn, + Don't you grudge him your ball of yarn. + + * * * * * + + Stick to each other through thick and thin; + All the closer as age leaks in; + Squalls will blow, and clouds will frown, + But stay by your ship till you all go down! + +OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. A COUNCIL ON SKATES + + II. TO WELCOME THE COMING GUEST + + III. THE EVERETT HOUSEHOLD + + IV. ON THE CROSS-HEAD + + V. THE MEETING IN THE WATERS + + VI. MARJORIE'S PARTY + + VII. JANEY'S PROPHECY + + VIII. IN THE DARK + + IX. CAMPING ON THE BEAVERHEAD + + X. UP THE GULCH + + XI. "SWEET CHARITY'S SAKE" + + XII. HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER + + XIII. AT THE NINE-HUNDRED LEVEL + + XIV. THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD STORY + + XV. MR. ATHERDEN + + XVI. THE COMPLETED STORY + + XVII. THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNEXPECTED + + XVIII. UNDER ORDERS + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"A quartette of boys and girls were darting about on skates." + +"He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam." + +"His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he held his cane, +which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud." + + + + +IN BLUE CREEK CANON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A COUNCIL ON SKATES. + + +A strong southeast wind was blowing up the canon and driving before it +the dense yellow smoke which rolled up from the great red chimneys of +the smelter. To the east and west of the town, the mountains rose +abruptly, their steep sides bare or covered with patches of yellow pine. +At the north, the canon closed in to form a narrow gorge between the +mountains; but towards the south it opened out into a broad valley, +through which the swiftly rushing creek twisted and turned along its +willow-bordered bed. A half mile below the town the creek suddenly +broadened into a little lake that was now frozen over, forming a sheet +of dazzling ice, upon which a quartette of boys and girls were darting +about on skates. + +"Ugh!" gasped one of the boys, as a sudden gust of wind, coming straight +from the east, brought the stifling cloud in their direction; "I'm glad +I'm not up in town this afternoon. It's getting ready for a storm, I +think, from the way the smoke comes down; and they must be catching it +all, up there." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed the girl with whom he was skating; "if it storms +'twill be sure to be more snow, and spoil the ice. It's too bad, for we +get so little skating out here, and it's almost time to go home now. +Just see how low the sun is getting!" + +"Never mind, Marjorie," said the boy, as he paused to breathe on his +cold fingers; then held out his hand to her once more. "We'll have one +more go across the pond, anyway, for there's no knowing when we'll have +another chance. You take Allie, Ned, and we'll race you, two and two, +over to that largest stump. Come on, and get into line. One! two! +_three!_" + +Away they flew, the bright blades of their skates flashing in the long +slanting rays of the late afternoon sun, and their eyes and cheeks +glowing with the cold air and rapid exercise. Marjorie and her attendant +knight were the first to reach the goal, and turned, panting, to face +the others as they came up to them. + +"That was just fine!" exclaimed Allie's companion, as he dropped her +hand and spun around in a narrow circle which sent the chips of ice +flying from under his heel. "Don't let's go home just yet, 't won't be +dark for an hour anyway, and we can go up in fifteen minutes. I'll race +you over to the other side and back again, Howard, while the girls are +getting their breath." + +"You don't mind being left, Allie?" And the taller boy glanced at the +girls. + +"All right, just for once," said Allie; "then we really ought to go up, +Howard; mamma wants us to be home in good season to-night, for dinner is +going to be early, so papa can get the train down." + +"Is your father going away again?" asked Marjorie, as the girls skated +idly to and fro, waiting for the boys to join them. "I thought he came +in from camp only this morning." + +"So he did," answered her friend, burying her small nose in her muff for +a moment, as she faced the cutting wind. "He's only going down to +Pocatello to-night, and out on the main line a little ways, to meet +Charlie MacGregor, our cousin that's coming." + +"Yes," nodded Marjorie, in acquiescence; "I remember now; I'd forgotten +he was coming so soon. What fun you'll have with him, Allie! I wish I +had a brother, or cousin, or something." + +"Perhaps I shall wish I didn't have both," said Allie, laughing. "I +don't know how he and Howard will get on. I think Howard doesn't want +him much; but I'd just as soon he'd be here." + +"What's he like?" queried Marjorie curiously. + +"I haven't much idea; I've never seen him," said Allie. "Papa saw him +when he was east last summer, and we have a picture of him taken ever so +long ago." + +"Who's that--Charlie MacGregor?" asked Howard, skating up to them at +that moment. "He's not much to look at, Marjorie, if his picture's any +good. He has a pug nose and wears giglamps, and I've a suspicion that +he's a fearful dude. He'll be a tenderfoot, of course, but he'll get +over that; but if he's a dude, we boys will make it lively for him." + +"Howard, you sha'n't!" remonstrated his sister, loyally coming to the +defence of their unknown cousin. "It must be horrid for him to lose all +his friends and have to be sent out here to relations he doesn't know +nor care anything about, just like a barrel of flour." Allie's metaphors +were becoming mixed; but she never heeded that, as she went on proudly: +"And besides, we're MacGregors as much as he is, and mamma says that no +MacGregor was ever rude to a cousin, or to anybody in trouble." + +"Good for you, Allie!" shouted the younger boy, as he stopped in the +middle of a figure eight to applaud her words. "You're in the right of +it; but you needn't think you'll ever keep Howard in order. How old is +this lad, anyhow?" + +"Half way between Howard and me," replied Allie, as they started to +skate slowly up the creek towards home, and Howard and Marjorie dropped +a little in the rear. "He was thirteen last summer, and papa says he's a +real, true musician. He'll bring his own piano with him; but I don't +know where he'll find room to put it, for our house is full as can be, +now. Then he sings, too,--at least, he used to,--in a boy choir. Haven't +you seen his picture, Ned? It's homely, but it looks as if he might not +be so bad." + +"Where's he coming from?" asked Ned. + +"New York. He's lived there always; but, you know, his father died two +years ago, and his mother last month. He hasn't any relations but just +us, so he is to live here for a while. You and Howard will stand by +him, won't you, Ned?" she added persuasively, laying her mittened hand +on his. "I'm afraid the other boys will run on him and make fun of him. +Don't tell Howard I said so, but I don't expect to like him much myself, +only I'm sort of sorry for him; and then he's our cousin, so I suppose +we must make sure he has a good time." + +"I won't be hard on him, Allie," her companion answered her, laughing a +little at the unwonted seriousness of her tone; "as long as he doesn't +put on airs and talk big about New York and 'the way _we_ do East,' and +all that poppycock, I'll stand by him. But if he's coming out here to +show us how to do it, the sooner it's taken out of him the better." + +"Wait till the train comes in, day after to-morrow morning, Ned," said +Howard, as, with a few quick strokes, he and Marjorie overtook them once +more. "We'll take a look at him and see what he's like, before we make +too many promises. Now, then, ma'am," he added, as he and Marjorie +paused at a great stone on the bank of the creek; "if you'll be good +enough to sit down, I'll have your skates off instanter." + +Marjorie laughed, as she dropped down on the stone and put one little +foot on Howard's knee, while Ned performed a similar service for Allie. + +"I'm crazy to see your cousin, Allie," she said. "I know he's going to +be great fun, only I'm afraid he'll think we are hopeless tomboys. +Probably he's been used to girls that sit in the parlor and sew +embroidery, instead of skating and riding bronchos bareback, and playing +hare and hounds with the boys." + +"Don't care if he has!" And Allie made a little grimace of defiance as +she scrambled to her feet. "I'm not going to give up all my good times +and take to fancy work, when it's as much as I can do to sew on my own +buttons. He can stay in the house, and sing songs and sew patchwork all +day long, if he wants to, but I'm not going to give up all my frolics; +need I, boys?" she concluded, in a mutinous outburst, quite at variance +with her recent plea for their expected guest. + +Howard laughed teasingly. + +"Catch Allie turning the fine young lady! If you shut her up in a +parlor, she'd jump over the chairs and play tag with herself around the +table; and Marjorie is about as bad." + +"Perhaps I am," she assented placidly; "but you boys could never get +along without us. I've heard you say, over and over again, that we can +catch a ball as well as half the boys in town, and I can outrun you any +day. Want to try?" + +"Not much," returned Howard, laughing, though there rankled in his mind +the memory of recent races in which he had not been the winner. "You +only beat me because you've been used to this air longer than I have. +Besides, it would hurry us home too much, and I've an idea that this may +be the last time that we four chums will be off together, for one while. +I shall have to trot round with that fellow, for the next week, and show +him the ways of the country, so he won't make too great a jay of +himself. But, I say, if it doesn't storm to-morrow, we'll come down here +again in the afternoon, and have an hour or two on the ice before it's +spoiled." + +With their skates strapped together and slung over their shoulders, +their collars turned up around their ears, and their hands plunged deep +into pockets and muffs, they turned northward along the bank of the +creek for a short distance, and then struck off across the level, open +ground till they came into one of the streets of the little town, which +they followed until they reached the main business street. There they +parted, Ned and Marjorie turning to the west, while Howard and Allie +kept straight on towards the north, and finally stopped at a small brick +house, a low, one-story affair, yet much more elaborate than the average +dwelling of the town, where the architecture was largely of the +log-house species, though often covered with a layer of boards to +disguise the primitive nature of the materials. + +The front door opened directly into the little parlor, and into this +cosy room Howard and Allie plunged, laughing and breathless after their +quick walk in the cold. A bright-faced little woman sat sewing by the +front window, holding up her work to catch the last fading light, and a +rosy boy, two years old, was tumbling about on the carpet, rolling over +and over the great dog, who was dozing as peacefully as if such +demonstrations were quite to his liking. + +"Hullo, mammy! Hullo, Vic! Dinner ready?" exclaimed Howard, casting his +skates into the nearest chair, and moving up to the stove to warm his +chilled fingers. + +"How was the skating?" asked his mother, looking up from her work to +smile at Allie, as she pulled off her coat and hat, and then caught up +the child from the floor. + +"Fine; but we're 'most starved--at least, I am," returned Howard, as he +wriggled himself out of his coat and handed it to Allie, who received it +quite as a matter of course, and went away to hang it in its usual +place. + +"Well, dinner is all ready, and papa will be here in a minute; so you +can go and tell Janey to take it up. Do you know," she added, with a +laugh which took all the sting from the reproof; "I think it is time my +boy learned to take his sister's coat for her, instead of expecting her +to wait on him." + +"All right," answered Howard, by no means abashed by the rebuke. "Here, +sis, if you'll just bring back your coat and put it on again, I'll see +what can be done about it." And he bent over to stroke his mother's hair +with a boyish affection which filled her heart with gratitude for having +such a son, even while it sent her off to her toilet table to repair the +damages which his fingers had wrought. Then he marched out to the +kitchen to tease Janey, until she threatened to pour the soup over his +favorite pudding, unless he left her to take up the dinner in peace. + +Mr. Burnam, Howard's father, was a successful civil engineer, who, in +the line of his professional life, had been ordered up and down the +West according to the demands of the great railroad corporation by whom +he was employed. The life of a locating engineer is much like that of +the soldier, in its need for strict obedience to orders, and for +eighteen years Mr. Burnam had been stationed, now here, now there,--on +the rolling prairies of Iowa, in the Dakota bad lands, in the alkali +deserts of Wyoming, and among the canons and passes of the Colorado +Rockies. Six months before this time he had been ordered to western +Montana, to lay out a possible railway across the mountains, which +should give the Pacific-coast cities a more direct connection with their +eastern neighbors. The survey for this line would occupy him for a year +or more, and in order to have his family near him during this time, he +had made his headquarters in the little mining camp, which the first +prospectors along the canon, some four years before, had christened +"Blue Creek," from the clear, bright waters of the mountain stream. Here +he established his family in the most comfortable house that the town +afforded, and here he had his office, which served as headquarters for +his corps of men, whenever they came in town for a few days. By virtue +of his position as chief of the party, Mr. Burnam often spent weeks at +a time at home, working up his estimates and maps, and only driving out +to camp now and then, for a day or two, to see that all was well in his +absence. Then, just as his family were settling down to the full +enjoyment of his society, he would be sent for, to oversee some +difficult bit of work, and Mrs. Burnam and Allie would be left to the +protection of Howard, and of Ben, the great Siberian bloodhound, who was +as gentle as a kitten until molested, when all his old savage instincts +sprang into life. + +One of the early graduates from Cornell, Mr. Burnam had gone West when a +mere boy, fresh from college; and now, at forty, he had made himself a +brilliant reputation in his profession. The chief, as they called him, +was adored by all his men, who knew, from long experience, that however +great the danger and hardship might be, he was always ready to share it +with them, and that he made it a part of his creed never to ask a +subordinate to take a risk which he himself would shun. Quick-tempered +and outspoken in the presence of any suspicion of shirking or deceit, he +was yet a just, honorable man in dealing with his "boys," who loved and +respected him accordingly. At home, he was a different man; for he +threw aside his professional dignity, to tease his wife, or romp with +his children, lavishing upon them all the love of which his great, +generous nature was capable. + +For the sake of her husband, Mrs. Burnam had willingly cut herself +adrift from her family and friends in New York, and for sixteen years +she had patiently followed him here and there through the West; now +living in camp for a summer, now boarding at tiny country hotels, in +order to be within driving distance of his party; now left for months at +a time in the busy solitude of a great city hotel, while Mr. Burnam was +far away in unexplored forests, and often, as now, settled near him for +a few months of housekeeping which should give her children at least a +slight knowledge of home life and its charms. + +Two years after her marriage, a little son had come to her, and, soon +after that, a daughter had helped to fill out the family circle. It +seemed to Mrs. Burnam but a few months since then; but Howard was +fourteen now, and Allie twelve, while, two years before this time, a +third child had come to brighten the home with his baby prattle and +pranks. For weeks, his name had been a subject of almost constant +discussion, until, one day, Howard had solved the problem in a most +unexpected fashion. + +"I'll tell you what," he said suddenly; "name him Victor, for my new +bicycle." And the name was decided upon accordingly. + +Howard, himself, was a worthy son of the handsome, brown-bearded man +whom he called papa. Tall, slender, and yellow haired, he was as bonnie +a laddie as ever filled a mother's heart with pride; a healthy, happy +boy, affectionate and generous, and full of a rollicking fun which made +him at once the delight and terror of his sister, who never knew in what +direction his next outbreak would come. In spite of his merciless +teasing, the brother and sister were close friends and constantly +together. Girls were scarce in the town, and Allie and her one friend, +Marjorie Fisher, would have been largely left to their own devices, had +it not been for Howard and Ned Everett, through whose influence they +were received on equal terms among the boys, and had a share in most of +their good times. It was no uncommon thing to hear them speak of "Allie +and Marjorie and the other boys," and neither Mrs. Burnam nor Mrs. +Fisher felt any desire to have it otherwise. They were too sensible +mothers to force their little daughters towards womanhood, and much +preferred the tone of free-and-easy companionship to the childish +flirtations so commonly indulged in. They could trust to their influence +over their children to keep them gentle and womanly, and the boys were +all gentlemen, largely sons of Eastern men whom business had brought to +the town. So the girls walked and rode, skated and romped with the lads, +unconsciously teaching them many a pretty lesson in chivalry, while in +return the boys gave them a training which made them enduring and +courageous, and hardy as a pair of little Indians. For six months, this +had been their life, and by this time there had formed one +well-recognized set whose members were constantly together, and, though +they mingled more or less with the other young people, yet kept +themselves distinct from their companions. Four of this number were the +little group of skaters, the fifth was Ned's younger brother, Grant, who +was usually the central figure in their frolics. + +The one other member of the Burnam household, who is as yet in the +background, deserves at least a passing remark. This was Janey, the +young negro maid who ruled their kitchen. What had ever brought her +from the warm South into the midst of Rocky Mountain snows, it would be +hard to tell; but, two months before, she had answered to Mrs. Burnam's +advertisement for a servant, and was promptly installed in her kitchen, +where she convulsed the family with her pranks, and averted many a +well-merited lecture by some sudden, artless remark, which sent Mrs. +Burnam hurrying out of the room, in search of a corner where she could +laugh unseen. Surely, since the days of Topsy, the immortal, there was +never such an imp as Janey. Mrs. Burnam declared that she was as good as +a tonic, and Mr. Burnam made no secret of his enjoyment of her antics, +which were always as original as they were unexpected. + +"My name's Edmonia Jackson," she had said, in answer to Mrs. Burnam's +question; "but dey mos'ly calls me Janey. But laws, Mis', ef you 'll +on'y let me stay yere, you all can call me what you want. Names is +nothin', but I don' want to work in one o' them log-cabins; they 's too +much like what our po' w'ites lives in. Give me brick or nothin'!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TO WELCOME THE COMING GUEST. + + +"Only ten minutes more!" said Allie, excitedly prancing up and down the +platform. "I do so hope the train won't be late." + +"Allie's getting in a hurry to see the cousin," remarked Grant Everett +teasingly. "You and Howard'll have to step out of the way when he comes, +Ned. You needn't think you're going to stand any chance against this new +attraction." + +"Maybe so," said Howard scornfully, while he flattened his nose against +the ticket-office window, in a vain endeavor to see the clock. "Girls +always like a new face, and Allie's just like all the rest of them." + +"No," said Allie judicially, as she pulled the collar of her fur jacket +more closely about her ears. "Of course I like you boys best, but I'm +sort of curious about Charlie, as long as he's going to live with us for +a year or so. If he's nice, it will be like having another brother; but +if he's horrid, it will spoil all our good times. It's a very +dependable circumstance, as Janey says, that's all." + +It was the second morning after their skating party, and Howard, Allie, +and the two Everett boys were pacing up and down the platform, while +they waited for the coming of the train which should bring them their +new companion. They formed an attractive little group as they moved to +and fro, talking and laughing, or pausing now and again to turn and gaze +down the track, which stretched far away before them in two shining rows +of steel. With the instinct of the true hostess, Allie had arrayed +herself in her state and festival suit, and sallied forth to meet her +father and cousin, and extend to their guest a prompt welcome to his new +home. Half-way to the station she was surprised at being overtaken by +the three boys, who came rushing after her, shouting her name as they +ran. + +"'Where are you going, my pretty maid?'" panted Ned, dropping into step +at one side, while Howard took the other, and Grant capered along the +sidewalk in front of them, now backwards, now sideways, and now +forwards, as the conversation demanded his entire attention, or became +uninteresting once more. + +"'I'm going to meet Cousin Charlie, she said,'" answered Allie, +laughing. + +"So that's the why of all these fine feathers," commented Ned; while +Howard added,-- + +"All right; we'll go with you." + +"But I thought you just told mamma that you wouldn't go, anyway," +responded Allie, astonished at this sudden change of plan. + +"Well, I'm here," answered Howard calmly. "I'm not going to welcome him +with open arms, though; and you needn't think I am. We fellows are just +going to take a look at him on the sly, and then we can tell better how +to treat him." + +"But, Howard, you mustn't; he'll see you," remonstrated Allie, +scandalized at the suggestion. "If papa knows it he won't like it a +bit." + +"Oh, that's all right, Allie," said Ned reassuringly. "All we 're going +to do is to hide behind that pile of freight boxes over there, and get a +good look at him without his knowing it. Then we'll light out for home, +and Howard will be there ahead of you, see if he isn't; so, if you don't +give it away, there'll be no harm done." + +"Unless you tell of it yourselves," said Allie doubtfully. "I don't half +like it; and if Howard won't help meet him, he ought to keep clear out +of the way. But there's one thing about it, boys, you must, you really +must, stop talking so much slang. It's bad enough with us girls, and I'm +getting to use it as much as you do; but you'll scare Charlie to pieces +if you talk so much of it." + +"Does our right worshipful brother maintain himself in his usual health +and spirits?--is that the style, Allie?" asked Howard, as he took off +his cap with a flourish, and bowed low before some imaginary personage. + +"I caught Allie studying the dictionary, yesterday morning," said Grant, +turning to face them once more. "She had a piece of paper in her lap, +with concatenation and peripatetic and nostalgia written on it, and I +supposed she was studying her spelling lesson, but now I see,--she was +just making up a sentence to say to him. Speak up loud, Allie, so we can +hear." + +"You'd better stay here and listen," said Allie. "But there's the train, +see, just coming round the curve down the canon. Off with you, if you +really are going to be so silly!" + +The boys whirled around hastily, to assure themselves that it was no +false alarm; then they left her to wait alone, while they settled +themselves behind a pile of great wooden boxes which half filled the +upper end of the platform. Allie watched them arrange themselves at +their ease; then, when they were quite hidden from view, she turned back +to look at the train as it rushed up the valley towards her, sending +along the rails before it a fierce throbbing which kept time to her own +leaping pulse. + +In spite of her light talk and laughter, Allie was conscious of a keen +sense of excitement, as she stood waiting to receive her cousin. He was +the only child of Mrs. Burnam's only brother; and now, at thirteen, he +was left alone in the world, doubly orphaned, and with no near relatives +save this one aunt, to whose care his dying mother had intrusted her +boy. All that Allie knew had only served to interest her in the young +stranger; his love for music and his unusual talent for it, his former +life spent in a luxurious city home, even his present loneliness had +touched her girlish heart with pity, and made her resolve to render his +new life pleasant to him, in spite of the possible teasing he might have +to undergo from the boys. And then, while she was determined to become +his champion at any cost, there was always the delightful possibility +that he might be a pleasant addition to their little circle, and +contribute his share to the frolics which were continually taking place +at either the Burnams' or the Everetts'. Far into the hours of the +previous night she had lain awake, picturing her cousin as he would +probably appear to them, and going over and over in her own mind the +details of their first meeting. She was sorry that he had lost his +mother; but she found herself fervently hoping that he would not be so +very dismal, and even that he might laugh a little occasionally, when +anything particularly amusing should occur. + +"Well, daught, how goes it?" And Allie found herself in her father's +arms, and then released, as Mr. Burnam added, "Here, Charlie, this is +your Cousin Alice." + +With a sudden shyness, Allie put her hand into the one before her, as +she glanced up at the boyish face which was looking down into her own. +Something she read there, in the half-anxious expression of the brown +eyes, made her forget her more formal salutation, and say cordially,-- + +"Are you the new brother that's come to live at our house? It's going to +be splendid to have you there." And with a little confiding, sisterly +gesture, she pulled his hand through her arm, in an unspoken welcome +which was inexpressibly grateful to the lad, tired with his three +thousand miles of lonely journeying, and dreading to meet these strange +cousins into whose home life he had been so abruptly forced. Now, as he +looked at Allie's slight, girlish figure, and at her bright, happy face +which not even her irregular features could render plain, he felt a +sudden sense of relief, and secretly wished that all the family might be +as attractive as his genial uncle and the pleasant cousin who had given +him so sisterly a greeting. + +"Come," she added, as her father beckoned to them; "we'll go over and +get into that carriage, while papa hunts up your trunks." And she led +the way across the platform with an apparent unconsciousness of the +three heads which precipitately bobbed down out of sight at their +approach, while the owners of the heads coiled themselves up in the +narrowest of corners, with much scraping of shoes on the boards, in the +process. + +"This old station is just full of rats," she continued, in a tone of +careless explanation, as they passed the hiding-place of her brother and +his friends. "I heard the ticket-man say, just before your train came +in, that he was coming out with his gun to shoot some of them, as soon +as the engine had backed down out of the way." + +A long-drawn squeak, as of an animal in pain, answered to her words, +and they went on, while Allie threw one triumphant glance over her +shoulder at the three heads which had promptly reappeared as soon as her +back was turned. + +Once seated opposite her cousin in the carriage, while they waited for +Mr. Burnam to join them, Allie could study his face at her ease, as she +chattered away to him, in the hope of making him feel at home. He had +attracted her at the first glance; and the more she looked at him the +stronger became her impression that here was a cousin worth having. He +was large of his age, finely formed, and taller than Howard, and had a +frank, boyish face, which just now looked a little tired after his long +journey, and a little troubled and nervous at coming among new friends. +For the rest, he had a mass of soft, reddish-brown hair, a freckled +face, firm red lips which parted, now and then, to show two rows of +small, even teeth, and two deep dimples that came and went in his +cheeks, and a pair of near-sighted brown eyes that looked very steadily +into Allie's, as if trying to read his new kinswoman, and find out from +her into what hands he was likely to fall. + +And, indeed, he would have looked far that day without finding a more +attractive cousin, for Allie, in her desire to play the hostess well, +had dropped her usual rollicking manner, and assumed a sweet, childish +dignity which became her as well as her more wonted gayety. Charlie's +face cleared a little, as he looked into her great blue eyes and watched +the changing expressions of her fresh young face, so pretty and bright +in its soft, warm setting of fur. + +"Why didn't Howard come down with you, daught?" asked Mr. Burnam, as he +took his place beside them, and the carriage, turning from the station, +drove away up the street towards the house. + +For an instant, Allie's gaze was fixed on a distant opening between the +buildings, where three boyish figures were scurrying along as fast as +their feet could carry them. Then she roused herself, and turned to the +lad before her, as if she had not heard her father's question. + +"Didn't you have a good time on the way out here, Cousin Charlie?" she +inquired hastily. "Howard and I have been envying you your journey." + +"Can't say I enjoyed it," Charlie answered. "I'd never even travelled +all night before, and it was no end lonesome, riding along, day in and +day out, without a soul to speak to. An old friend of mother's met me in +Chicago, and put me on the train for Council Bluffs, and 'twas easy +enough changing there, so I didn't have any trouble; but you'd better +believe I was glad to see Uncle Ralph when he walked into the sleeper +yesterday afternoon." + +"I believe I'd be willing to go round the world alone, if I could only +go," said Allie. "I'm a real railroad man's daughter, and like to +travel; don't I, poppy?" And she nestled closer to her father's side, +while with amused eyes she watched their guest's expression change, +first to astonishment, then to disgust, as he looked at the main street, +with its low buildings, some few of brick, little one-story structures, +whose fronts were run up in a thin, flat wall, with sham window blinds +at a second-story level, to present the appearance of more pretentious +buildings. + +Fresh as he was from the closely-packed streets of the great city, with +their unbroken rows of towering business blocks and apartment houses, +Charlie was conscious of vague wonder at the rough little mining camp +before him. Then he turned and looked up at the mountain, and, boy that +he was, he forgot all else, all the crudeness of the buildings and all +the roughness of the surroundings, as he saw the full grandeur of the +snow-clad Rockies shining and glistening in the morning sunshine, which +lay caressingly over their giants slopes. He bent forward to look at +them once more, while his face grew very thoughtful and intent; then he +dropped back into his old corner, saying, in an awed, hushed tone, as if +to himself,-- + +"Jove! It's worth it all, to have a chance to look at those." + +"I'm glad you like them," said Allie heartily, though she smiled at his +"Jove," when she recalled her recent charge to Howard to avoid all +slang. "The town must seem queer to you; but the mountains make up for +it. Now lean 'way forward, and look out this side. That little brick +house is ours; and there's mamma in the door, and Howard just back of +her, waiting to give you greeting." + +"Now, honestly, Allie, how did you like him?" Howard asked, as soon as +his mother had taken Charlie to his room and the door closed behind +them. + +"I think I do like him," said Allie slowly. "He didn't talk much coming +up; but I don't know as I wonder, when we're all strangers to him. He +has sort of a good face; of course he isn't handsome, like Ned and +Grant, but he looks as if he'd have some fun in him." + +"I shouldn't think he did look like Ned," returned Howard disdainfully; +"you don't often see anybody that does. This fellow has red hair, too, +and I don't like that kind. He's dressed himself up regardless, in his +derby hat and long-tailed ulster. Does he wear knickerbockers, Allie, or +does he think he's too old for them?" + +"How should I know?" answered Allie. "He's pretty long, and I began at +the top, so I didn't get down so far; but when we are used to his +freckles and his glasses, I don't think he'll seem so bad to us." + +"You almost gave us away, with your rat speech," said Howard, laughing +at the recollection. "Grant giggled till I was afraid Charlie'd hear +him, so I squeaked to cover up the noise. You had us cornered there; and +I didn't want to get caught, for I knew mammy wouldn't like it. She's +been so anxious to have Charlie get here and have a good time with us, +that I didn't want to spoil it all." + +"How long have you been home?" asked his sister, as she turned away to +go to her room and take off her jacket and hat. + +"I had just time to drop off my coat, as I came in through the kitchen, +and get to the front door, when you turned the corner. I believe mammy +has spent the last hour between the door and window. I wonder what +they're doing in there; I wish they'd hurry up, for I want some lunch. +Charlie ought to be hungry, too, for he had breakfast at Argenta. +Remember those elk steaks we had there last fall, sis?" + +Allie made a wry face at the memory. + +"Poor Charlie! He will think he's come into the wilderness. You should +have seen his face, Howard, when we were driving up Main Street. It was +too funny; he looked as if he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He +stood it very well till he came to the office; then that green sham +front was too much for him, and he fairly groaned." + +"I'll tell you what," Howard counselled her; "can't you get hold of him, +and tell him about some of the ways we have out here, and get him used +to it, so he won't show just what he thinks of us? Girls can do that +sort of thing better than boys, and he'll need some coaching, of course. +Just pussy-cat him a little; and then he looks as if he'd take any +amount of advice. I don't care, for you and me; but the Everetts won't +stand anything of that kind. They've been here ever since the town +started, and they think it's the only place in the world." + +"'Tis one of the best," said Allie decisively. "Of course, 'tisn't +pretty, nor very fine; but I've had the best times since I came here I +ever had, and I'm not going to have anybody run it down when I'm round. +I'll give him a talking-to this very night. Now, let's just come out and +take one race to the corner and back; I've been proper as long as I can, +and I must do something to let off steam. He's all out of the way and +won't see me. Come on!" And away they went, racing down the street in +the warm noon sun. + +After his quiet talk with his aunt, who had gone with him to lead the +way to his room, Charlie no longer felt any doubt of his welcome. Mrs. +Burnam was so like his father in her manner, so bright and brisk, yet so +gentle, that her nephew felt at ease with her at once. There had been +something indescribably motherly in her face, as she sat down on the +edge of the bed, and, taking his hand, drew him down at her side, while +she questioned him about his journey, and the friends he had left behind +him. Then she spoke of his mother so tenderly that the boy's lips +quivered, and two great tears rolled down his cheeks. That was more +than Mrs. Burnam's warm heart could bear. For a moment she let his fresh +sorrow have its way; then she bent forward and put her arm around him, +just as she might have done with Howard. + +"I know, Charlie," she said gently, "nobody else can take her place; +but, while you are with us, remember that you are our own boy, and are +as much at home with us as Howard himself. And now come, if you're +ready, and get acquainted with your cousins, while I see about the +lunch." + +As Charlie went back to the parlor once more, he was surprised to find +the room deserted and the front door slightly open. With a little shiver +of cold and loneliness, he stepped across the room to close the door, +and stood still, to gaze in astonishment at the sight before him. Up the +middle of the road came two figures, evidently engaged in some mad race. +The boy he recognized at once as being his Cousin Howard; but who was +the small Amazon who rushed along at his side, bareheaded and with her +short, thick hair flying in the wind, as she easily kept pace with the +longer strides of her brother? Surely, this could not be Allie, the +demure little maid who had met him with such easy, quiet grace! Charlie +knew little of girls and their ways; but he had always looked upon them +with a certain distrust, as being all-absorbed in their fine clothes and +their prim deportment. The few he had known in New York had done nothing +to alter his opinion, and it had never before occurred to him as a +possibility that a young girl could romp and run, and enjoy the free, +out-of-door life which is the rightful privilege of every healthy child. +This new revelation was quite to his liking, and his astonishment gave +place to interest and then to delight, as Allie gradually outstripped +her brother, and came flying up the steps far in advance of him, with a +triumphant shout of laughter, just as her cousin appeared in the open +doorway, loudly applauding her victory. + +Early that evening Allie and her cousin were alone in the parlor, for +Mrs. Burnam was putting Victor to bed, Mr. Burnam had gone down to his +office for an hour, and Howard had gone out on an errand with the +Everett boys. The afternoon had been devoted to helping Charlie to +unpack and settle himself in his new quarters; and over this informal +occupation their acquaintance had made rapid strides, so it was with a +sense of duty well-performed that Allie curled herself up in the great +easy-chair before the pine knots blazing on the andirons, and turned to +look at the boy, pacing up and down the room. Divested of his long +ulster, which had called forth Howard's criticism, her cousin stood +before her, dressed, like many another boy, in the light brown suit of +the period, but with a grace of position and pride of carriage which had +made him a noticeable lad, even in the great city school, where he had +only been one of scores of well-dressed, well-trained boys. Allie +studied him for a moment in silence; then she gave a little contented +nod to herself, as she said interrogatively,-- + +"Well, Charlie?" + +"Well?" he responded, as he came to a halt at her chair, and, folding +his arms on the back, stood looking down at her while she raised her +face to his. + +"What were you thinking about?" she demanded. "Were you homesick or +tired, that made you look so sober?" + +"I was thinking about New York," he answered candidly; "wondering about +some of the fellows in our school. They were a jolly set, and I'd like +to see them; but I'm not homesick a bit. I think I'm going to like it +here, when I get used to it." + +"I suppose it does seem very strange to you," mused Allie, as if to +herself, while she watched the face above her, looking so thoughtful in +the flickering light. Then she added abruptly, "Come round where I can +talk to you, Charlie; I've something very important to say to you." + +"Yes, ma'am," he answered, but without stirring from his place. + +"Come," she insisted, patting the broad arm of her chair with an +inviting gesture. "I want to give you your first lesson in Western life; +and I can't talk to you half so well, when you're just back of me. If I +can't watch you, I sha'n't know when you're getting vexed and wishing +I'd stop." + +"All right; fire ahead." And Charlie moved around to her side, where he +clasped his hands and brought his spectacles to bear upon her with an +owlish solemnity. + +"That's a very good boy," said his cousin approvingly. Then she +continued, in a tone of elderly counsel, "Now, my dear child, I am about +to say a few words to you which shall be for your own good." + +"Oh, I say," remonstrated Charlie, his dignity breaking down all at +once; "how old are you, Allie,--sixty, or seventy-five?" + +"You shouldn't laugh," returned Allie, shaking her head at him +reproachfully. "That's just the way Mrs. Pennypoker talks to Ned and +Grant; I've heard her, lots of times. But now, truly, I wish you'd be +good and listen to me, for I do want to tell you something that will be +a help to you. The people out here are different from those you've seen, +and the ways aren't like those farther east. I don't know why 'tis, but +they hate to be reminded of it, and, when we came here, papa told us +never to say anything bad about the town, as if we didn't like it, for +we'd get everybody down on us. We did like it, though, so we didn't have +to fib. But now you're here you'd better just keep still about anything +that strikes you funny, when you're off with the boys. Then you can come +back and talk it over with me, when they aren't round, if you want to; I +don't mind; only don't let Howard hear you, for he'd tell the Everetts. +See? That's all; but I thought I'd warn you." + +"You're a trump, Allie; and I'll try not to disgrace you," said Charlie +gratefully. "Of course, it seems awfully queer to me; but I won't give +it away, if I can help it. What's the matter now?" he demanded, as Allie +leaned back in her chair and burst into a peal of laughter. + +"I was just thinking how funny 'twas," she answered; "only this morning +I was telling the boys that their slang would shock you, and they must +drop it; but here you are, every bit as bad as they. I don't believe +there's so much difference between Montana and New York, after all." + +"'Tisn't the place, it's boys," responded Charlie sagely. "They're +pretty much the same, wherever you take them. I think the difference is +in the girls, and, if you please, I believe I prefer the Western ones." + +Allie flushed rosy red at the unexpected compliment, but before she had +time to enjoy it, or to reply, there came a sudden knock at the +dining-room door, and Janey's black face peered in at the crack. + +"Miss Allie, honey," she said in a wheedling tone, as she rolled up her +great eyes at her little mistress, "cyarn you get time to write a letter +for me, bymeby?" + +"I'll come out as soon as Mr. Howard gets home, Janey," she answered; +then, as the head vanished and the door closed, she added to her cousin, +"Janey can't read nor write, so I have to do all her letters for her. +She's engaged to marry a man in Washington, and she says he's 'in de +guv'ment.' His name is Hamilton Lincoln Cornwallis; but he lives at +number seven and a half Goat Alley, so I don't believe he's President +yet. You've no idea how funny his letters are. Maybe she'll get you to +read one, some day." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE EVERETT HOUSEHOLD. + + +Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker belonged to that unpleasant type of individuals +whose members, for lack of specific excellence, are commonly spoken of +by their friends as "thoroughly estimable women." She possessed all the +virtues, but none of the graces which make virtue attractive to the +youthful mind; and she regulated her daily life by a cast-iron code that +was as unvarying and heartless as the smile which sixty years of habit +had stamped upon her thin, bloodless lips. Mrs. Pennypoker was said to +have been handsome in her day, handsome with an austere, cold beauty; +but her day was long past, and the only remaining trace of her good +looks lay in her piercing gray eyes, and her long, straight Greek nose. +The eyes were undimmed by time; but the crow's-feet had gathered thick +about them, and the Greek nose was surmounted by a pair of large, round +eye-glasses, which only served to intensify the sternness of the eyes +behind them. To the children around her, there was something +awe-inspiring in those eye-glasses, and in the broad black ribbon which +held them suspended about her neck. In times of peace, they had the +appearance of being on the watch for some hidden sin; but when occasion +for punishment arose, there was something positively terrifying in their +glare, and the culprit longed for his last hour to come, that he might +escape from their power. + +Dame Nature had been in a generous mood when she had endowed Mrs. +Pennypoker, for she had given her a massive frame and constitution of +bronze, which made her thoroughly intolerant of those unfortunates who +were not similarly blessed. But, impressive as Mrs. Pennypoker was in +most respects, there was yet one undignified peculiarity which marred +the otherwise perfect majesty of her appearance. Like Samson, her +vulnerable point lay in her hair; or, more properly speaking, in her +lack of it. The ravages of time had removed a part of her dark brown +locks, and left an oval bald spot, closely resembling the tonsure of a +Romish priest. This defect was usually covered with an elaborate pile of +braids and puffs; but occasionally the slippery surface of her bald +crown and the power of gravitation proved too much for her hair-pins, +and the whole structure slipped backward, to reveal a shining expanse of +milk-white skin, gleaming forth from the dark tresses surrounding it. +Moreover, rumor had been known to whisper that there was something +peculiar about the rich brown hue of Mrs. Pennypoker's hair; that it was +remarkable for a person of her age to be so free from the silver threads +common among far younger women; and that, strangest of all, she was +subject to periodical variations of color, her hair turning gray at the +ends and then resuming its original tint, while, incredible as it might +seem, the change always appeared at the ends nearest her scalp, though +the tips of her hairs retained all their wonted lustre. + +Coming from far-away New England, Mrs. Pennypoker was true to the blood +of her Puritan ancestry. She had in her composition much of the stuff of +which martyrs are made. She could have gone to the stake for her +opinions; but she could just as cheerfully have turned the tables, and +piled the fagots high about the misguided heretics who ventured to +disagree with her own peculiar doctrines. Ever on the alert to find out +the path of duty and to walk in it, she had promptly accepted the +proposition of her distant cousin, Mr. Everett, to become his +housekeeper, after the death of his wife; and, forsaking all her old +associations, she had girded herself and her trunks, and, with her +parrot as her sole companion, she had retired to the wilderness to +subdue the dragons of anarchy and chaos which had probably entered into +the Everett household. + +Her first dragon proved to be a very long-tailed one; and though he was +promptly met, he was by no means so promptly subdued. An hour after her +arrival, she had penetrated to the kitchen, where she was suddenly +confronted by Wang Kum, the shoe-button-eyed Chinaman who had been in +the service of Mrs. Everett for months before her death. In their first +interview, Mrs. Pennypoker was ignominiously routed and driven from the +field, for Wang Kum ignored her stony gaze, and cheerfully and volubly +chattered to her in a torrent of Pidgin-English which left her no +opportunity for reply; so she withdrew, resolving that her first reform +should be the removal of Wang from office. However, on this question Mr. +Everett was determined; Wang Kum had been their faithful servant, and +knew the ways of their household; moreover, he had been devoted to Mrs. +Everett during her last illness, and in that kitchen Wang Kum should +stay. Defeated in this main object, Mrs. Pennypoker next devoted herself +to the task of civilization, and waged daily warfare with the Chinaman, +in her endeavors to convert him to American ways and dress, and +Calvinistic theology. + +"Old lady heap talkee; Wang Kum no care," he used to confide to Louise +Everett, after an unusually long and tedious fray. "Wang min' Miss Lou; +old lady too flesh." + +Four years before this time, when the Blue Creek copper mine was opened +and the building of the great smelter had brought to the creek the first +settlers of the mining camp, Mr. Everett had been made superintendent of +the mine, and had brought his family out to be with him. Of his three +children, Louise was now in the first flush of young womanhood, a +pretty, graceful blonde of twenty, who had been educated in an Eastern +school until the sudden death of her mother had called her home to take +charge of the housekeeping, before Mrs. Pennypoker appeared upon the +scene, to relieve her of the care, and act as matron to watch over her +young cousin with an eagle eye. For the past few years, Louise had been +away from home so much of the time that the loss of her mother fell +less heavily upon her than on her young brothers, who had been the +constant companions of the bright, pretty little woman who had devoted +her life to theirs. + +Mrs. Pennypoker was scarcely the person to make good their loss; and Ned +and Grant would have had a lonely life, had it not been for motherly +Mrs. Burnam, whose heart was large enough to take in all the children +with whom she came in contact. The Everetts were likable boys, too, just +the companions she would have chosen for Howard and Allie: gay and +mischievous, as every healthy boy should be, but with the high sense of +honor and firm principle which can only come from a good mother and +careful home training. Ned, the older one, at thirteen was the image of +his father, with a rich, dark beauty which made him a striking contrast +to Grant's light yellow hair and pink and white cheeks. Grant was his +mother's own boy, in all but his eyes, which were like his father's, +large and brown; and he had received his mother's maiden name, just as +he had received the features and complexion of her family. + +Of all the members of the Everett household, Grant was the only one who +felt no fear of Mrs. Pennypoker. Even his father was far more in +subjection to her rule than was his little son. Grant had been the first +to discover her bald spot--which he promptly christened her storm +centre--and to call Ned's attention to it; and therein lay much of his +power over her. Now, whenever Mrs. Euphemia threatened to get the better +of him, he had only to fix his eyes steadily on the top of her head, or +abstractedly rub his hand over his own yellow pate, to cause her to +abandon her lecture and escape to her mirror, in order to assure herself +that all was as it should be. + +The Everetts lived a little to the west of the Burnam's, in what was +usually spoken of as "one of the old houses," to distinguish it from the +more modern structures of brick and boards. This particular old house +was, in fact, the oldest one in the camp, for it had been built by the +superintendent for his family, when the other inhabitants of the place +were still living in tents pitched along the edge of the creek. Like +most of the other houses of the town, it was a one-story building, low +and rambling, with odd wings and projections, which had been added to +the original square structure as the needs of the family demanded. It +was built of rough-hewn logs, but the front was coated with clapboards, +in deference to the prevailing style of architecture, which literally +put its best foot forward. + +Within, the walls were guiltless of lath or plaster, but were covered +with strips of cotton cloth, to which the wall-paper was pasted. At +certain seasons, this imparted a peculiar effect to the rooms, for, in +the fierce winter gales, occasional breezes would work their way through +the crannies of the wall and cause the paper and its cloth background to +sway backwards and forwards, to the horror of the stranger unused to +such modes of finish, since the sight of the walls swaying and wriggling +before his eyes could only be satisfactorily explained as the result of +intoxication, or of temporary insanity. The same stranger would have +stopped short in surprise, on entering the Everetts' clumsy log-house. +In spite of its unattractive exterior, it was a cosy, luxurious +dwelling, with furniture, draperies and pictures which would do credit +to any Eastern city house; for Mrs. Everett had loved pretty things, and +had gathered them about her in the hope of making home the spot most +enjoyable for her children. + +The Everetts were gathered around the table for their late dinner, one +night in February, soon after Charlie's arrival in Blue Creek. At the +head of the table sat Mrs. Pennypoker, who never appeared so majestic +as when she was presiding over the bountifully spread board, for Mrs. +Pennypoker was what is known as a liberal provider, and had a lingering +fondness, herself, for the good things of this earth. To-night, she was +unusually benign, for Wang Kum had outdone himself, and the soup was the +perfection of flavoring, the roast done to a turn; so she could relax +her anxious scrutiny of the appointments of the table, and lend an ear +to what Mr. Everett was saying to his daughter. + +"Yes, Mr. Nelson came down to the office to see me to-day. It seems he's +been talking up the matter of a boy choir, and he wants Ned and Grant, +here, to sing in it. He's going to have Howard, and he's heard that +Charlie sings; then there are about a dozen little German fellows, and +some men. I told him I'd no objection, and I'd ask the boys what they +thought." + +"He said something about it to me, after service last night," answered +Louise, who acted as organist at the little Episcopal chapel. "He said +he wanted to get his plans all made as soon as he could, so we could go +to work on the vestments and begin training, to have the choir ready to +sing at Easter. I told him that both the boys sang, but I didn't know +what you'd say to it." + +"I'm willing," Mr. Everett was beginning, when Mrs. Pennypoker +interrupted him. + +"Do you mean," she asked with icy distinctness, as she leaned forward +over the table to add emphasis to her words, "that you are going to let +your sons sing in one of those choirs that march into church with their +night-gowns on, and singsong the answers to what the priest says?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Everett, smiling at his cousin, in the hope of +calming her disgust. "Yes; that is, if that's what you call it. The boys +both have good voices, and it certainly won't hurt them any, for Mr. +Nelson knows how to train them well." + +"Humph!" returned Mrs. Pennypoker uncompromisingly. "It's my belief that +they'd much better go to hear good old Dr. Hornblower, and let this +flummery alone. Your Nelson man is no better than a papist, with his +colored windows and his chants and all; and, now he's succeeded in +getting his new chapel, there'll be no stopping him." + +"Just watch the storm centre," whispered Grant to his brother, as Mrs. +Pennypoker ended her remark with an expressive, but ill-advised shake +of her head. "It's coming into action fast." + +"I am glad you feel satisfied with the doctor," answered Mr. Everett, +looking squarely into the face of his irate relative. "He is doubtless a +good man; but my wife was a member of Mr. Nelson's church, and her +children have always been accustomed to going there, so I think they +would better continue. Another thing I started to tell you, Lou," he +went on, as he turned to his daughter again, "I hear that, at last, Blue +Creek is to have a new doctor. There's a young fellow from one of the +Eastern colleges on his way out here to settle. The Fullertons know him, +and say he's a brilliant man. It's about time we had somebody, for since +old Dr. Meacham died, nobody's dared be ill, for fear they'd die before +a doctor could get over from Butte." + +"And when this one comes, we're all going to celebrate by being ill; is +that what you mean, papa?" Louise asked playfully, as she shook her head +at Grant, who was stretching up, to peer curiously at the top of Mrs. +Pennypoker's head, where a pale crescent was gradually appearing and +waxing wider. "When's he coming?" + +"Not for five or six weeks," her father answered; "so you'll have to +keep well for a while longer. He's on his way; but he's going to visit +some friends in Omaha and Denver, before he gets here." + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Ned suddenly. + +"What's struck you?" asked Grant. + +"Nothing; only I was wondering if this could be the same man Charlie Mac +was telling about. He met a young man on the train, papa, who came from +Chicago to the Bluffs with him. He had next section, so they talked +some, and he told Charlie he was from way back East, and was coming to +Blue Creek, too. He said he'd never been here, and asked Charlie all +manner of questions about the place and all." + +"I don't believe he found out much," said Grant with a giggle. "Charlie +hadn't any more idea than a dead man what 'twas going to be like out +here." + +"No; but he's done pretty well since he came, though," said Ned +admiringly. "He's acted as if 'twere just what he'd always been used to. +It's my belief that Allie's been coaching him; he'd never get on so well +by himself, I know." + +"He came pretty near finishing himself, the second day he was here, all +the same," added Grant. "Did you hear about it, papa? Nobody'd told him +to look out a little, till he was used to this air. He started out to +run, and it used him up in no time, so he turned blue-white, and nearly +dropped. He's taking it slowly, now; and is getting into it by little +and little." + +"By the way," asked Louise suddenly; "what has become of Marjorie? I +haven't seen her for a week." + +"She's under punishment," replied Ned lugubriously; "and we haven't any +of us seen her since the afternoon we were out skating, just before +Charlie came. I don't know exactly what 'tis; but it must be something +pretty bad, for her mother to keep her away so long." + +"Marjorie is always getting herself into trouble, it seems to me," said +Mr. Everett, laughing indulgently as he spoke, for he had a genuine +liking for this active, flyaway young girl, whose heart was as true and +kind as her impulses were hasty and rash. + +"So she is," returned Ned defensively; "but she flies into everything +head first, and without thinking much about it; and then she goes into +the depths of gunny-sacks and cinders afterwards, when it's too late to +do any good." + +"That isn't a very helpful kind of penitence," remarked Mrs. +Pennypoker, looking up from her plate. + +"It's a very natural one, I am afraid," said Mr. Everett charitably. +"Then Marjorie hasn't seen this new friend of yours?" + +"No, not yet," Grant answered. "It's a shame, too, for she was in a +hurry to get a look at him. He is a first-rate fellow, really, papa; and +doesn't seem a bad tenderfoot, even to old-timers like Ned and me. What +do you want, Wang?" he added, as Wang Kum's head appeared at the door. + +"Mas' How'd, he here," announced Wang briefly. "He no come in; wan' +you." And he vanished, followed by the boys, who hurried out in search +of their friend. + +In the mean time, at the Burnam's a short conversation was taking place, +which would have enlightened the boys on the subject of Charlie's easy +adaptability to his new surroundings. It was his habit to practise for +an hour after dinner each night, and Allie was usually beside him. She +loved music as well as did her cousin, and was content to settle herself +on a wide sofa drawn up beside the piano, sometimes with a book, but +more often idly leaning back against the cushions, with her eyes fixed +on her cousin's face, as he gradually lost all consciousness of her +presence in his enjoyment of the music. Young boy as he was, and a +normal, healthy boy, too, Charlie had undoubted genius in this one +direction, and added to a rare talent for music the skill gained by five +years of study under the best master that the city could afford, until, +both in subject and method, his playing was far beyond what one would +naturally expect in a lad of his years. It had been a great delight to +him to find that Allie cared for his music, and could understand the +varying moods which he tried to express in his hours of practice. The +two cousins really had their best times in these nightly visits, for +when his regular time of practice was over, Charlie would still linger +at the piano, playing in a soft, fitful undertone, while they discussed +the events of the day, or planned for the morrow's program. The week +they had been together had quickly ripened their first liking for each +other into a close friendship; and after a day of out-of-door frolics +with the other boys, Charlie had learned to look forward to the time of +talking it over with Allie, and listening to her merry, whimsical +comments on what they had done and seen. But, on this particular night, +Charlie was bound on gaining information. + +"If you please, ma'am," he began, as he let his hands fall from the +keys, and turned to face his cousin. + +"Oh--yes--what?" responded Allie, gradually rousing herself from her +story. + +"If you please, I'd like to ask a question," he said meekly. "I'm in +want of a few pointers." + +"Well?" and Allie was all attention, as she smiled up at her cousin's +perplexed face. + +"In the first place, how much is a bit?" demanded Charlie. + +"Twelve and a half cents," she answered promptly. "Why?" + +"I don't know as I dare tell," Charlie replied, with a shamefaced laugh. + +"Go on," urged Allie curiously. "I'm sure it's something funny, and you +know I never tell tales." + +"Well, if you'll promise, true blue. You see, I wanted some new rubbers, +for mine were all full of holes, and I was tired of going round with wet +feet; so I went down town this morning and tried to buy some. The clerk +said they were six bits, but I didn't know how much that was, and didn't +want to say so, so I told him that I didn't quite like the kind, and +went off." + +"You've a great mind, Charlie," said Allie approvingly. "Everybody here +counts by bits; two make a quarter; and then, you know, we don't have +any pennies here, nothing smaller than a five-cent piece. Remember that, +and don't offer anybody a penny, even if it's a beggar. Go on; what +next?" + +"That's about all, for this time," he answered. "Oh, no; there's one +thing more. What's that queer place down south of here, all fenced in, +and with little bits of log cabins scattered around as if they'd just +been dropped out of a pepper-box?" + +"That's Chinatown," said Allie, laughing at the accuracy of the +description. "We must get papa to take us there, some day. But now I +want to tell you something. You know Marjorie Fisher?" + +"Can't say I do," returned Charlie flippantly. + +"Yes, I know what you mean," interrupted Allie; "but you know who she +is, and you want to know her, herself, for she's great fun. She's +been--busy, this last week; but I had a note from her to-night, and she +wants us all to come down there to-morrow afternoon for a candy-pull. I +told her we'd go, so she's going to stop here after school and wait for +you and Howard, and we'll all go on together. The Everetts will be +there, too, and we shall be sure to have a good time; we always do at +Marjorie's." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ON THE CROSS-HEAD. + + + "The bees and the wasps were there. + The old queen bee, with fiendish glee, + Was pulling a hornet's hair. + The monkey thought 'twas rough; + He took a pinch of snuff, + And then the bees began to sneeze, + And left,"-- + +sang a clear, boyish voice outside, and the next moment steps were heard +on the piazza. + +"Who's that?" asked Marjorie, glancing up from the skating cap, which, +with infinite pains, she was crocheting, in thoughtful anticipation of +Howard's birthday, the following summer. + +"Charlie; don't you know his voice?" responded Allie, who was sitting +with one foot tucked under her, while she sewed the buttons on her shoe. + +"How should I? I've never heard him sing," answered Marjorie. + +"You will soon, for he and Ned are to lead the new choir at Easter. +Charlie seems to be feeling unusually comf'y to-day," said his cousin, +as the boy came in at the side door opening into the dining-room, and +walked over to the corner where they were sitting, curled up by the +stove. "Where'd you get that pretty song?" she added. + +"Made it up, of course; didn't you know I was a poet?" inquired Charlie +blandly, while he nodded to Marjorie, and then pulled off his glasses to +wipe away the steam condensed on them by the sudden change from the cold +outer air to the heat within the house. + +"I never should have supposed so," Marjorie answered, laughing. "You +look altogether too plump and well-fed." + +"Can't help it; you can't tell by looking at a toad how far he'll hop. I +wrote it 'all my lone,' as Vic says," responded Charlie. "I'm very proud +of it, too." + +"Sit down and amuse us," said Allie, hospitably drawing a chair nearer +the fire. + +"No, thank you; I'm engaged, and must be going," returned Charlie, with +a lofty air of importance which was not without its effect upon his +cousin. + +"What's going on?" she asked curiously. "I told Marjorie that you acted +unusually set up over something." + +"I met Mr. Everett just now, and he told me that, if I'd get over to the +smelter at three, he'd let me go down the mine this afternoon." + +"O Charlie, take us with you," begged his cousin, starting up, forgetful +of the fact that she was still without one shoe. "I've never been, and I +do want to go, so much." + +"Can't; girls aren't invited," said Charlie heartlessly. "He did say +that he'll take us all at once, though, as soon as they put the cage in, +next month; but he doesn't like to take but one at a time, on this thing +they're running now. I wish you could go, for 'twould be lots more fun." + +"'Tisn't much to go down," said Marjorie, with an air of superior +wisdom. "It's dark and slippery, and not any too clean; and you have to +get out of the way of something or other, most every minute." + +"Yes, I know," said Allie; "it's all very well to say that, when you've +been; but I never had a chance to go. I was ill the time Howard went; +and now I shall be the only one left that hasn't been down. I hope +you'll have an awfully good time, though, Charlie, and not get lost, or +smashed, or anything else that's bad, while you're underground. Isn't it +growing colder?" she added, as Charlie turned up the collar of his +ulster and scientifically pinched the edges of his ears, preparatory to +starting out once more. + +"'T isn't exactly balmy," he answered. "Want anything, before I go?" And +a moment later the door closed behind him. + +"You're a lucky girl, Allie," said Marjorie, while she watched the +figure striding along down the road. "Even Ned says he's the jolliest +fellow in town, all but Howard." + +"Yes, 't is good to have him here," said Allie contentedly, as she +slipped on her shoe and stooped to button it up. "He's just as +good-natured and nice as he can be; and I think I like him better than +any boy I ever saw, except Howard, even if he hasn't been here quite a +month." + +"Not better than Ned?" Marjorie exclaimed incredulously. + +"Well--no--I don't know," said Allie, wavering a little. "Ned's just +about as near right as he can be; but I believe, after all, I'd rather +live in the house with Charlie. Ned might be a little too peppery for a +steady diet." + +"I never thought you'd turn a cold shoulder to Ned," said Marjorie, +shaking her head over Allie's defection. "Charlie's very nice and +gentlemanly, and all that, but I don't believe he has half Ned's pluck. +Do you remember the time he sprained his wrist falling off his pony, way +up the gulch, and wouldn't tell of it till we were home again? I don't +think Charlie Mac would stand that kind of thing long. There's no +special reason he shouldn't be agreeable; we've all of us tried our best +to make him have a good time." + +"Charlie isn't a baby, though," returned Allie, valiantly rising to the +defence of her cousin. "You think, just because he knows more about +music than 'most anybody else in the camp, and looks and acts as if he +came from a city, that he's more than half girl. But I'll tell you he +isn't, Marjorie, and if anything came to try him, you'd find he'd come +up to the mark every bit as well as Ned. I don't know as I care to have +anything happen, though, just for the sake of proving it." + +In the mean time, the subject of the conversation was walking rapidly in +the direction of the smelter, whose pile of huge red buildings lay a +little to the southeast of the town, across the creek and close to the +foot of the mountain which towered above it sheer and straight. A few +hundred feet down the canon below it, and a little farther back from the +creek, was the shaft leading down into the mine, and beside it the +engine house with the machinery needful for raising the ore, and for +carrying the miners to and from the cross-cuts, hundreds of feet below. + +Though he had often been to the smelter with Ned and Grant, it was the +first time that Charlie had visited the place alone. He felt very small +and insignificant, as he stepped inside the enclosure, with its array of +great buildings, mammoth chimneys whence rose the smoke from countless +and undying fires, and its throng of busy workers. Then he entered the +little building which served as superintendent's office, and in a moment +the whir and clang of the outer life was left behind him, and he found +himself in a quiet, pleasant room, with only a collection of maps and +photographs and specimens of ores, to tell of the vast business +centering there. As the boy shyly came in at the door, Mr. Everett rose +to receive him. + +"O Charlie, you're just on the minute, and I'm all ready for you," he +said, glancing up at the clock. + +"Somers, I'm going down the shaft with this young man; if anybody wants +me, tell him I'll be here at five." And, putting on his overcoat, he +went away, followed by Charlie, who was filled with an eager enthusiasm +at the idea of going so far towards the center of the earth. + +"I'm sorry," Mr. Everett said, as they followed a path winding in and +out among the buildings, and then came out on the main road leading to +the shaft; "I'm sorry that we haven't time to take in the smelter, too, +to-day; but you can go there almost any time. Any of the men in the +office can take you through it, as well as I can; but I don't let +strangers go into the mine unless I'm with them. We're going to put in a +new cage, next month," he added casually, as they drew near the shaft. + +"What's that for?" asked Charlie, to whom cages and their construction +were a mystery. + +"Safer, and can carry more," answered his host concisely. "These +cross-heads and buckets are slow work. A two-deck cage will do the same +amount in much less time, and there's no fear of their catching, as +these do sometimes." + +As he spoke, they paused to look at the gearing of windlass and cable at +the mouth of the shaft; then Charlie cautiously approached the opening. +After all he had heard of mines and shafts, it was rather disappointing +to him to see only a great, square hole leading down into the depths of +the earth. What he had expected, it would be hard to say; but it is +certain that his disappointment deepened when, after three strokes from +the engineer's bell, the hoisting engine suddenly started into life, +and, out from the darkness of the shaft, there slowly emerged into view +an ungainly contrivance of four great timbers, arranged in a hollow +square and hung on a cable, which passed freely through openings in the +upper and lower timbers, to carry a huge bucket fastened to its end, +while a black-faced miner stood in the bucket, much in the attitude of a +jack-in-the-box after the spring is loosed. + +"That's what we call the cross-head, above," explained Mr. Everett. "It +slides free on the rope, and rests on the fastening of the bucket. Now +you see how we bring up the ore." + +"But do we have to go down in that thing?" inquired Charlie, drawing +back in disgust, as he surveyed the grimy, dusty bucket before him. + +"Not unless you prefer it," Mr. Everett answered, laughing. "It's +against rules to ride in it; and anyway I usually go on the cross-head, +myself, for the bucket reminds me too much of Simple Simon. Step on +here," he added, as the crude elevator sank down until the upper beam +was on a level with the surface of the ground. "Now, if you just hold +on to the rope, you're all right. Let us go slowly, Joe," he went on, to +the waiting engineer; "I want to take a look at the shaft, as we go +down. We'll try the seven-hundred level to-day." + +A moment later, they began to sink away from the light above them, while +the opening at the mouth of the shaft grew smaller and smaller to their +eyes, and their lamps only cast a sickly, uncertain light on the walls +beside them. They went down slowly, so slowly, that, as soon as he had +had time to accustom himself to the new sensation, Charlie had plenty of +opportunity to examine the walls. For the most part, they were roughly +cased with boards and surrounded at intervals by the massive +collar-timbers, projecting ten or twelve inches inside the boards. At +each side of the shaft were the heavy upright guides, running from top +to bottom and serving to keep in place the cross-head, which was fitted +to move easily between them. Down, down they went, for what seemed to +the boy a limitless distance. They had passed a great square chamber, +opening into along, lighted corridor which Mr. Everett had told him were +the station and cross-cut at the four-hundred level, and still they were +sinking. All at once they came to a sudden stop, and the next instant +Charlie felt the rope he was holding slowly drawing down through his +hands. Mr. Everett gave a quick exclamation. + +"Let go the rope!" he commanded abruptly. + +"I'm perfectly willing," answered Charlie, laughing, as he rubbed his +tingling palms. "What's up, anyway? We don't seem to be anywhere in +particular." + +"We're caught a little," replied Mr. Everett quietly. "You needn't be +frightened, for it's happened before. All is, the cross-head has caught, +and the bucket is going down without us, and taking the rope with it. +Have you a steady head?" + +"I s'pose so," said Charlie lightly, for, in his ignorance of mines, he +had no idea of the possible danger of his position. + +"Very well; can you turn around and step down on the beam that's just +below us?" returned Mr. Everett, still speaking in the same calm voice, +though with the brevity of a captain giving his orders on a field of +battle. "If you can, do it, and then put your arm around the back of the +guide there. So; that's all right." + +In another moment, he had followed Charlie, and taken his place beside +him on the other side of the guide, where he showed the boy how to grasp +the timber in such a way that the cross-head, coming up, should not +touch his arm. That done, he breathed a sigh of relief. + +"There!" he said; "now we're safe for the time being. The next question +is: how are we going to get out of this trap?" + +"Why couldn't we stay on the cross-head?" asked Charlie, as it began to +move slowly away from the spot where it had lodged. + +"Just that reason," returned Mr. Everett, with a motion of his head +towards the clumsy frame which, once loosed, went sliding away down the +rope after the bucket. "Though you may not have known it, young man, you +were never in a much more dangerous place than you were five minutes +ago; for, as soon as it could get free, the cross-head was going to +crash down on top of the bucket, with force enough to kill anybody that +happened to be on it. I knew 'twould go, sooner or later; but I didn't +feel so sure that we could get off in time." + +"Then it's done it before?" asked Charlie, in no wise moved by the +knowledge of his past danger, but, boy-like, rather enjoying the novelty +of his position, halfway down the shaft of the mine, and lodged like a +fly on the wall, with only a narrow beam between himself and a fall of +four or five hundred feet. + +"Once," answered Mr. Everett, amused, in spite of his anxiety, by the +boy's coolness. "It killed four men on the cross-head, and the one in +the bucket; but they have such accidents in the other mines often +enough, so we know about what the chances are. That's one reason we're +going to put in a cage. Now," he went on, resuming his tone of +authority, "don't you try to move, and, above all, don't look down. I'm +going to get round to the other side, where I can reach the bell-rope, +and signal the engineer to bring up the cross-head again." + +"Not walk around on this beam!" exclaimed Charlie, as his interest +changed to genuine alarm, for he realized that such an attempt was a +very different matter from standing quiet and holding on by the upright +timber between them. + +"There's no other way," Mr. Everett answered, as he started on his +perilous journey. "I can't reach to signal, from this side, and they +never would find us without. We can't very well stay here, so that seems +to be the only thing I can do. You needn't be alarmed, my boy," he added +kindly, as he saw that the lad was now thoroughly frightened for his +safety. "I am used to all these ins and outs, and know about what I can +do, even if I never happened to get caught just here before. We miners +get to be half monkeys, and can hang on where most men would fall." + +He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam; then he turned +back to add one parting caution. + +[Illustration: "He cautiously moved away a few inches along the beam."] + +"Remember," he said, "and don't try to look down, even if you think you +hear the cross-head coming up again. If you do, you are likely to get +dizzy and fall." + +How long it took for Mr. Everett to creep around the shaft, neither he +nor Charlie ever knew. To them both, the moments seemed long, but to Mr. +Everett, in particular, they were like hours, for he realized so keenly +all the danger of their position, and felt the added responsibility for +the young boy in his care. Inch by inch, step by step, he worked his way +forward, until at length he reached the opposite guide, and felt the +signal cord between his fingers. Then he knew that all trouble was +ended. + +One, two, three! rang out the engineer's bell. + +The engineer was perplexed. He had been lowering the bucket more and +more slowly, and still there had reached him no summons to stop, +although his dial told him that the cross-head must be far below the +seven-hundred level. And now came the summons to raise slowly, when he +was sure that it was near the level of no station. What was the matter? +It was evident that there was some trouble. + +Slowly the engine drew up the bucket. It had passed the six-hundred +level, then the five, and was now half way to the four-hundred, when the +bell rang again, a single stroke this time, the order to stop. The +engine was left motionless for some moments, while the engineer, with an +anxious face, stood awaiting a fresh signal. He knew that something was +wrong, and that it must concern the superintendent, since he had been +the last man to go down. He spoke a few quick words to his assistant, +and in a moment more a little crowd had gathered at the mouth of the +shaft, just as the bell sounded again, three strokes. + +Standing once more on the cross-head, Mr. Everett and Charlie could feel +the man's excitement in the very motion of their tiny platform, as, +obedient to the engine, it rose a little, then stopped, then rose again, +as if feeling its way over an uncertain course. So they went on till the +four-hundred level was below them; then the engine quickened its action. +Little by little the tiny dot above them broadened, and turned to a wide +disk of blue sky; and their lamps dwindled to a pale yellow before the +clear light of day, as the cross-head, with its living freight, slowly +came up into the bright air, amid the shouts of the men who stood +waiting to receive it. + +"Father said Joe was badly rattled," Ned told Charlie, that night, on +their way to a choir rehearsal. "He was sure 'twas all up with you, and +came near losing his head, so he couldn't run the engine, or answer a +signal." + +"I didn't suppose 'twas as bad as that," returned Charlie. "I didn't +much like your father's having to walk round on that beam, or whatever +you call it, but I thought the rest was good fun." + +"I told father that I didn't believe you knew enough to be scared," said +Ned, with masculine frankness. "He was talking, all dinner-time, about +the way you kept cool and didn't make a fuss. Father was frightened, +himself; he's never been in such a fix before, with all he's had to do +with mines, and he says he's going to hurry now, to get that cage put in +before they get into any more scrapes. But I just wish I'd been down +there with you," he added enviously. "It's ever so much more fun than +'tis to go straight down, without any hitches." + +"I'll wait till I've tried both, before I make up my mind," responded +Charlie, as they reached the door of the chapel, and turned to wait for +Howard and Grant to overtake them. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MEETING IN THE WATERS. + + +Three weeks had passed since Charlie's unsuccessful attempt to explore +the inside of a mine, and now the last of March had come. Already the +boy had begun to feel as much at home with his cousins and in the mining +camp, as if he had always lived in Blue Creek. Had the change from his +old surroundings been less abrupt and marked, he might have had +occasional twinges of homesickness; but everything about him was so new +and strange, and so full of interest, that it left him no opportunity to +mourn for his former life, save when the memory of his mother and of his +loss of her came fresh upon him, to bring him an hour of keen sorrow. +And now, as the weeks went on, although he never forgot her, still he +learned to turn to his aunt for a sympathy and guidance which in a +measure replaced the love that his mother had lavished upon him; while, +on her side, Mrs. Burnam soon came to look on him quite as her own boy, +and daily rejoiced in the close intimacy which had sprung up between +Charlie and his cousins. + +The time had been as busy as it was happy. In the absence of any good +schools in the camp, Howard and the Everett boys studied under the +supervision of Mr. Nelson, who gave up his mornings to them; and Charlie +had joined them the week after he reached Blue Creek. Marjorie and +Allie, too, went every morning to have a few simple lessons from the +widow of one of Mr. Everett's former clerks,--a gentle, low-voiced +Southern woman who, left alone to make her own way in this new country, +was glad to help support herself by taking occasional private pupils. +Accordingly, at a little before nine o'clock every morning, the +procession of six formed in front of the Everetts and marched down the +street for half a mile, where they separated, to go to their different +tutors for three or four hours of work. + +The unvarying program of the morning was followed by a hasty lunch; and, +after that, there were few afternoons when the children did not meet. +There were rare hours on the ice, when the skating was good; there was +coasting such as Charlie had never dreamed of before, for in a country +where all the land stood up on edge, as Grant expressed it, and where +fences were unknown, it was easy to find the long, smooth slopes which +are the delight of every owner of a good sled. Best of all, to Charlie's +mind, were the long afternoons of running on snow-shoes, when they +explored the canon far to the north and south, or penetrated the deep, +narrow gulch at the west of the camp. This last sport was especially +delightful to the boy, for it gave him a wild sense of exhilaration to +go sliding and scuffling along over three or four feet of snow, or coast +lazily down the tiny hillocks in his path; and, under the instructions +of his cousins, he quickly became skilled in the use of his runners, +until he could easily hold his place at the head of the party, or turn a +sharp corner without treading on his own or his neighbor's heels. + +All this was excellent fun while it lasted, but far too soon came the +time of melting snows, when skates and sleds and snow-shoes all had to +be laid aside to wait for another winter. It had been a season of +exceptionally deep snow, and the firm, hard crust lasted far past its +usual time for thawing. Then came the chinook, the warm south wind, +which eats away the accumulated snow of months in as many days; and the +great white banks first grew porous, and then slowly sank away, while +the water ran in streams along the streets, or lingered in still pools +far under the unbroken crust, waiting to drench the unwary passerby who +should venture to set foot upon their treacherous covering. + +It was the afternoon before Easter, and Louise Everett was just +preparing to start for the chapel, to help try the vestments on the boys +of the new choir. She had lingered in the doorway for a moment to watch +her brothers, who had gone on before her, laughing and shouting as they +floundered along, now walking a few steps on top of the snow, now +suddenly sinking down, up to the waist, as they chanced to find a spot +where the chinook had done more rapid work. As she looked after them, +she saw, crossing the road, one of the stray cows that wandered about +the town. The ungainly animal came slowly along, turning this way and +that, in search of a firmer footing, until all at once her hind legs +plunged down into a hole, and the poor creature was left sitting bolt +upright and staring stupidly about her, as if in astonishment at her +unwonted position. Louise laughed at the absurd picture, but her heart +failed her a little when she thought of the long walk in store for her. + +"I've a great mind not to go," she said to herself; "the walking is so +bad, and they don't really need me. I wish I'd sent the bundle down by +the boys." + +But she turned away and went to her room to put on her hat and jacket, +for it was never her habit to fail to keep an engagement, and she had +promised to be at the chapel that afternoon. + +Perhaps it was the special providence supposed to watch over those who +are doing their duty, perhaps it was because her light, quick steps made +little impression on the snow; but more than two thirds of her walk was +over, and the crust had not once given way beneath her. She was within +sight of the chapel, now, but before she reached it, she must cross the +small, open square, where the two main streets of the town came +together. It was only fifteen or twenty yards, at most, but it lay lower +than the ground about it, and the snow showed dark patches, here and +there, as if the water had gathered below, and was trying to force its +way to the surface. Louise glanced doubtfully at the square; but there +was no other way she could take, and there were fresh footprints leading +across it, showing that some one had been just before her. Moreover, she +was late, and there was no time to be lost. With her skirts gathered +closely about her, and the great bundle grasped in her other hand, she +cautiously started forward, testing the ground at every step, before +trusting her weight upon it. Slowly and carefully she went on, and was +just congratulating herself upon her success, when--fwsch! There was a +sound of crunching and gurgling, and her left foot plunged down through +the snow, into six inches of water beneath, with a shock that threw the +bundle from her hand, and jolted her hat over her eyes. With a smothered +groan of mortification, she scrambled up to a solid footing once more, +while she thrust back her hat, and gave a hasty glance over her +shoulder, to assure herself that no one was in sight. + +Not a human being was visible, except one man who was turning a distant +corner. For so much, at least, she could be thankful. But it was plain +that a further advance in that direction was impossible, and that she +must beat a retreat. Accordingly, she picked up her bundle and turned to +retrace her steps, moving with even greater caution than before, and +stepping only in her previous tracks. However, the strain of one +crossing was all that the weakened crust could bear, and the third step +let her down again, far into the cold snow-water below, while her hat +took a fresh lurch, this time to one side, and two or three hair-pins +flew from her glossy yellow braids. Her situation was fast becoming +tragic; but Louise gathered herself up anew and turned to the right, +only to plunge in deeper than before; to the left, to meet with the same +fate. Desperately she tried one spot after another. Now painfully +scrambling to an insecure footing on top of the crust, now violently +descending into the depths again, until the snow about her was marked +thick with deep, round holes, and her feet were drenched and well-nigh +frozen with the icy water which trickled up and down inside her shoes, +as she lifted now her toes and now her heels from the horizontal. + +"Pardon me, madam, but you seem to be in trouble. Can I assist you?" +inquired a courteous voice behind her. + +Slowly and painfully Louise turned around in her miniature well. Then +she blushed to the roots of her hair. Ten feet away from her, on the +outer edge of the square, stood a stranger, who was watching her with +an air of respectful sympathy, which was entirely out of harmony with +the amused twinkle of his gray eyes. One quick glance told the girl that +the stranger was young and undeniably good-looking; then her eyes +dropped to the bundle in her hand, as she answered,-- + +"Thank you, but I'm caught here, and can't seem to find a spot that will +bear me. Don't trouble yourself; I shall get out in a moment. Oh, don't +try to come here!" she added hastily, as he made a motion as if to go +nearer her. "If you do, you will never get out." + +The stranger paused doubtfully and looked at her again. There was a tone +of good-breeding in her voice, and, as he came nearer, he saw that she +was pretty, with a delicate, refined beauty which was not in keeping +with her great bundle, her bedraggled appearance, and the hat cocked +rakishly over one ear, above the drooping braids of yellow hair. At +first sight, he had taken her for a pretty servant, out in search of a +new place; but now he realized his mistake, and offered her a mental +apology for his error. + +"Perhaps I can tear a board or two off from that fence over there," he +suggested, after a fresh survey of the field. "If you can stay there +for a few minutes, I'll be back with some of them, and make a bridge." + +In spite of herself, Louise laughed at the absurdity of her plight. + +"Stay here!" she echoed; "I wish I could do anything else. But," she +demurred, "I am afraid you will get into trouble, too." + +But the stranger had already gone. A moment or two later, he was back +again, with two long boards under his arm, as he picked his way along +towards the young woman to whose rescue he had so valiantly devoted +himself. Once back at his old station, he dropped one of the boards on +the snow, pushed it towards her, tested its strength, and then walked +the length of it, in order to place the other board in position. This +second bridge brought him to her side. + +"Now," he said gravely, as he bent forward and held out his hand, "let +me take the bundle first." + +Obeying him as implicitly as a child might have done, Louise handed him +the great bundle the ragged corners of which bore unmistakable signs of +her recent adventure, and he carefully conveyed it to a place of safety. +Then he returned to the spot where she was standing in a sort of open +pool, which was growing wider and deeper with her every motion. + +"Please take hold of my hand," he said, with the same quiet courtesy +which he might have shown in asking her for a waltz, though he pressed +his lips firmly together, to keep back the smile which was trembling +there. "Now, can you step up on the end of this board?" + +For a moment Louise hesitated. The step was a long one, and, in her +soaked condition, she had lost all her wonted elasticity of motion. +However, something in the stranger's face made her feel that it was best +for her to obey, with as few words as possible; so she mustered all her +strength, made a violent effort, and scrambled up to the end of the +board, striking it with a force which sent it swinging far to the left. +For one instant she balanced herself upon her slippery foothold; then +she fell backward with a suddenness that carried her rescuer with her, +and they both plunged head foremost down into the gray pool below, just +as Grant and Ned came out at the chapel door, to look for their missing +sister. + +As a general rule, there was but little observance of Sunday in Blue +Creek. To the Eastern mind, it seemed strange to pass along the busy +streets and see the carpenters hard at work upon a new house, or to +listen to the clicking of the billiard balls in the wide-open rooms. In +such a community, church-going was not a popular way of spending the +time; but, on the next day, the little chapel was filled to overflowing +with the throng that had gathered to hear the new choir. It was Easter +evening, and the bright lights shone down on the masses of flowers on +the altar and the white robes of the boys in the chancel, and on the +closely-packed congregation below. Pipe organs and boy choirs were rare +in the region, and the people of Blue Creek looked upon these as the +means of furnishing an entertainment both novel and inexpensive; so it +was to a large and varied audience that Mr. Nelson had the pleasure of +preaching his Easter sermon. Aside from the regular attendants of the +chapel, there were groups of rough miners alone and with their families, +who were rarely to be found in any church; while, in the foremost rank, +sat Wang Kum and a dozen intimate friends, their very pigtails waggling +with suppressed excitement and admiration, as they looked about the +pretty chancel and listened to the voices of the boys. Mr. Nelson's +glance rested upon them for a moment, then passed on down the middle +aisle, to one of the rear pews, where a stranger was standing, listening +to the anthem with evident enjoyment. + +He was a tall, well-built man of thirty, with bright brown hair and +mustache, and his eyes showed large and gray when he raised them, now +and then, as Charlie MacGregor's voice rang out above the rest of the +choir. He appeared to be acquainted with no one there, for he had come +in alone, and without making a sign of recognition to any one as he was +ushered to his seat. Only twice had he seemed to be roused from his +quiet repose of manner. When the first notes of the organ met his ear, +he had glanced in that direction; and any one watching him closely might +have seen him give a sudden start of surprise, while the color rose to +his cheeks, as his eyes rested upon the organist. Once again, in the +processional, he had started up with a quick smile of recognition, when +he looked back at the advancing line of boys, and saw Charlie leading +them; and he had bent towards the aisle to watch the lad, as he passed +on, unconscious of the faces around him, in his happiness at once more +being in his old place, at the head of a choir. + +But the service was over, and the choir were coming towards him again, +their voices ringing clear and high in the refrain of Le Jeune's +_Jerusalem, the Golden_. Just as the leaders reached the stranger, there +came a pause between the verses, and Charlie raised his eyes to meet the +gray ones which were watching him so intently. Then his whole face +brightened, and he smiled and nodded in glad recognition, as they went +on down the aisle and out into the tiny choir-room. + +The young man moved aside to let the other occupants of the pew pass out +into the aisle; then he stepped back and waited, watching, meanwhile, +the faces of the congregation, as they flocked past him. The group of +Chinamen were lingering in front of the chancel, peering about at the +lectern and font, and gazing up at the flower-laden altar. + +"Heap nice; all samee Joss house," he heard one of them saying, with +manifest approval. + +Up in her corner beside the chancel, the organist was still playing her +postlude; then she closed the organ, and rose to come down the steps, +drawing on her gloves as she came. Before she had time to raise her eyes +towards the congregation, the stranger was joined by Charlie MacGregor, +who had hurried to the place where he was still pausing irresolutely, +with his eyes fixed on Louise. + +"Dr. Brownlee, when did you come?" the boy exclaimed, in enthusiastic +welcome. "I didn't know you were here yet." + +"I only came yesterday morning," the doctor answered, with a cordial +smile which not only included Charlie, but extended to Howard and Ned +who were lingering at a little distance, and casting curious glances at +Charlie's unknown friend. "I was just in time to hear your new choir, +but I never dreamed of finding you in it." + +"Yes, I'm in it," returned Charlie, laughing. "I'm all at home here, +now. I like it, too; ever so much-better than I thought I was going to. +These are my cousin and his chums," he added, as they moved slowly down +the aisle to where Grant had joined his brother and Howard. "And this," +he went on, turning around abruptly, and speaking with the grace of +manner so natural to him, "this is our organist, Miss Everett. Miss Lou, +may I introduce Dr. Winthrop Brownlee, the friend I told you about +meeting on the way out here?" + +For a moment the doctor and Louise stared at each other, too much +embarrassed to speak, while the color rushed to their faces. Then the +doctor came to his senses, saying slowly,-- + +"I think I have met Miss Everett before." + +And, to the utter mystification of the boys, they burst out laughing, +and laughed as if they would never stop. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MARJORIE'S PARTY. + + +"O Allie," said Marjorie suddenly; "did you know that next Thursday is +going to be mamma's birthday?" + +"No, is it?" asked Allie, as she stooped to pick up the long, lean gray +cat that was wandering aimlessly around them, and rubbing her hollow +sides against their ankles. "I thought you gave Waif away, Marjorie." + +"We did," responded Marjorie, laughing. "She was a stray cat that came +to us, you know, and she was so homely that mamma didn't want her in the +house, so we gave her to Dr. Hornblower, a month ago." + +"Where'd she come from, then?" queried Allie, while she stroked the cat +as she stood pawing and purring in her lap. "Wouldn't she stay with +him?" + +"Didn't I tell you? How queer, for we we've been laughing about it ever +since! You see," Marjorie continued, "the doctor was lonesome, and +wanted a cat for company, and we didn't want Waif, so we gave her to +him. He was perfectly delighted with her, and carried her off home in a +paper sack, with her head poking out through a hole in one side, and her +tail sticking out the other. Two days later he stopped papa in the +post-office and told him, 'Your kitty's caught a mouse.' The next week +he met mamma and told her 'Kitty's caught three mice.' Then we didn't +see anything more of him for ever so long, and we supposed that was the +last of it; but, day before yesterday morning, he came to the door and +handed a bundle to mamma, and said he didn't like the kitty as well as +he thought he was going to, after all, so he'd brought her back. So here +she is. Don't you want her?" + +"I wouldn't take such a looking cat as a gift," returned Allie +disdainfully. "But wasn't that just like Dr. Hornblower? He's very good; +but he's as stupid as he can be, and I don't s'pose it ever occurred to +him that he could pass the cat along to somebody else. Did you ever +notice the way Mrs. Pennypoker always calls him 'good old Dr. +Hornblower,' when she's ten years older than he is? I wonder how he'd +like it, if he could hear her." + +"I don't believe he'd mind, for he likes her so well; at least, he's +there ever so much," said Marjorie innocently. + +"H'm! you needn't think he goes to see Mrs. Pennypoker," said Allie +scornfully. "It's Miss Lou that he likes." + +"Not that old man!" And Marjorie stared at her friend in amazement. + +"He isn't so very old; and I don't know as I wonder if he does," replied +Allie, with an air of great enjoyment in her small gossip. "I should +think anybody might like Miss Lou, she's so pretty; and I just believe +Mrs. Pennypoker is helping him on. You wait and see." + +The two girls were sitting alone in the open front door of the Fishers' +house, enjoying the late afternoon sun of a warm spring day. They had +been off for a long ride with the boys, as was their frequent custom. +The children all had their saddle ponies, and it was their delight to +canter off, soon after lunch, for an hour or two among the pleasant +mountain roads surrounding the town. On their return, they had stopped +for a moment at Marjorie's door, to find that Mrs. Fisher had gone out +to make some calls; and Marjorie had begged Allie to stay and keep her +company until Allie had at length yielded and allowed the boys to go on +without her. + +There was a pause after Allie's last words; then Marjorie returned to +her original charge. + +"Yes," she resumed; "Thursday is going to be her birthday, and I want to +celebrate. What can I do?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," answered Allie vaguely. "What do you want to +do?" + +"That's the worst of it," responded Marjorie thoughtfully. "I want it to +be something that she'd like, and I don't know just what. I might--Let +me see. I'll tell you," she added, with sudden inspiration, "I'll give +her a surprise party." + +"What?" And Allie looked at her friend, in astonishment at so daring a +proposal. + +"Yes, I'll give her a party," repeated Marjorie, nodding her head with +decision. + +"But do you suppose she'd like it?" inquired Allie dubiously. + +"Of course she will. She 'most always has one for me on my birthday, you +know," returned Marjorie; "and she wouldn't do that, if she didn't like +them. She never had one herself; but that's only because she didn't have +anybody to give her one." + +Such logic was not to be resisted; and Allie felt her misgivings swept +away while she listened. + +"Besides," Marjorie went on enthusiastically; "I heard her say to papa, +last night, that they'd take that very day to go over to Butte, and buy +the new parlor carpet. They'll go in the morning early, and not come +back till five, so that will just give us time, while they're out of the +way. You'll help me get ready for it, won't you, Allie?" + +"If mamma will let me," Allie was beginning, when Marjorie +interrupted,-- + +"Your mother mustn't know anything about it; but we won't go to Mrs. +Hammond that morning, we'll come here instead." + +"I'm afraid we oughtn't to do that," remonstrated Allie feebly, although +she was secretly longing to enter into the proposition. + +"Why not?" demanded Marjorie. "Mamma gave up going to missionary +meeting, last year, to get ready for my birthday party, and this is just +the same thing. Don't be silly, Allie, but help me plan. I know mamma +would say 'twas right," she added with an air of self-sacrificing +virtue; "to give up our own improvement for the sake of making her +happy." + +"We might ask mamma," suggested Allie hopefully. + +"Oh, no; she'd be sure to tell my mother, and that would spoil all the +surprise," interposed Marjorie hastily. "It will be all right, I know. +Would you have them come to supper, or just in the evening?" + +"It's less work to have them come in the evening, isn't it?" asked +Allie, losing her last doubts in the excitement of making plans for so +momentous an occasion. + +"Well, no," said Marjorie reflectively. "You have to feed them both +times; and, in the evening, we'd have to have more salads and fancy +things. We won't need so much, just for tea." + +"What would you have?" inquired Allie, moving down to the lower step +where her friend was sitting. + +"Oh, just cake and preserves, and some kind of cold meat," returned +Marjorie. "They'll be so busy talking they won't much mind what they get +to eat, as long as there's plenty of it. We'll have it early, too, so +they won't get so hungry. I can make splendid gingerbread, and the rest +we can get down at the bakery; I haven't touched my this month's money +yet. We'll work hard all the morning, and get the tables set and +everything ready before mamma comes home, so they can be on hand to +surprise her, when she comes in at the door." + +"Yes," continued Allie, growing enthusiastic in her turn; "and then she +won't need to have any care or worry about it; all she'll have to do +will be just to sit in the parlor and make sure that they have a good +time. At the table, she'll have to pour the tea; but we can pass things. +Who're you going to invite?" + +"Let's see," said Marjorie, pondering over the matter. "There's your +father and mother, and Mr. Everett and Miss Lou and Mrs. Pennypoker; +that's five." + +"And Ned and Grant?" suggested Allie. + +"Oh, no," answered Marjorie; "they'd only be in the way, and, besides, +they're too young. This isn't a party for me, you know, and we can't +have the boys." + +"Not even Howard?" begged Allie. "He could help us cut meat, and wash +dishes afterwards. He can do that as well as a girl." + +"The boys can all come and wash dishes, after it's over, if they want +to," returned Marjorie firmly; "but we can't have them at supper-time. +I wouldn't mind Howard; but there's Charlie and the Everetts that would +have to come, if he did, so we might as well stop before we begin. Where +was I? Two Burnams and three Everetts and two Fishers, to start with: +seven." + +"And the Nelsons?" asked Allie. + +"Yes, nine; and Dr. Hornblower is ten,--I suppose we ought to ask +him,--and Mrs. Hammond is eleven, 'cause she might be cross next day, if +we didn't invite her. And then that new doctor that Charlie knows--what +is his name?" + +"Dr. Brownlee?" inquired Allie. "But does your mother know him?" + +"I don't think so," said Marjorie; "but he's real pleasant looking, and +I've heard her say, ever so many times, that it's polite to welcome +strangers when they first come to a place, so I know she'd want us to +ask him. And then Miss Lou knows him a little bit, for I saw him take +off his hat to her the other day; and she can introduce him. He makes +twelve. I don't believe we'd better have any more. I'd like to ask Mr. +Saunders, that keeps the fruit store down on the corner; but they say +thirteen is unlucky, so perhaps twelve will do." + +"All right," agreed Allie. "How are you going to ask them?" + +"I shall just say, 'Mamma wishes you'd come to supper at half past +five.' I won't ask them till the night before for fear somebody'd tell +her; but if she goes on the early train, it will be safe enough." + +"Then aren't you going to say it's a surprise party?" asked Allie, +rising to go home, as she saw Mrs. Fisher coming up the street. + +"No; for I'm afraid they mightn't come," said Marjorie, in a low voice. +"Now, Allie, don't you dare to breathe a word of this to anybody, not +even to Howard, for I want it to be a perfect surprise. And you know +you've promised to help me out in the morning." + +Five days later, two flushed and grimy, but triumphant young hostesses +stood gazing at the tables before them. Marjorie's plan had been carried +into effect; and her guests, one and all, had gratefully accepted Mrs. +Fisher's invitation to tea, for they knew of old that her little parties +were the most enjoyable ones in the camp. Even Dr. Brownlee had sent a +cordial message of acceptance, for though he was surprised at the +invitation, coming as it did from a stranger whom he did not even know +by sight, he attributed it to the proverbial Western hospitality, and +was glad of anything which could bring him into connection with the +people among whom he was to live. Early that morning Mr. and Mrs. Fisher +had gone away for a long, tedious day of shopping, and an hour later +Allie and Marjorie had invaded the kitchen for four hours of hard work. +By noon all was in readiness, and they could pause to contemplate the +result of their labors. + +The table was stretched to its utmost length, and bright with snowy +linen and glass and silver, while around it were gathered twelve chairs, +taken from the different rooms, in order to accommodate the unusual +number of guests. Here a dining-room chair stood beside one borrowed +from Mrs. Fisher's bedroom; there kitchen wood and parlor upholstery +were placed side by side, in striking contrast. The table itself was +groaning beneath the weight of the feast, for Marjorie had been liberal +in her selection from her mother's preserves; while a whole boiled ham, +fresh from the bakehouse, stood before Mr. Fisher's place, and at the +other end of the table his wife's chair was decked with ribbons, and +confronted with a great loaf of cake, whose uneven icing bore, in red +sugar, the letters "M.C.F.," traced by an inexperienced hand. This was +Allie's contribution to the banquet, and Marjorie had thoughtfully +surrounded it with a circle of thirty-nine tiny candles, which stood +ready for the lighting. Plates of assorted cookies were scattered about +the board; here lay a low dish of olives, whose dusky green contrasted +well with the ruddy globe of an Edam cheese, placed beside them, and +there rose a towering pyramid of golden oranges flanked on either side +by a tempting pile of purple and white grapes. + +"It does look pretty, doesn't it, Allie?" asked Marjorie for the fifth +time. + +"Yes," said Allie, as she bent forward to break a corner off from one of +the cookies and tuck it into her mouth. "Yes, it is lovely. I do hope +your mother will like it. But now I must hurry, or mamma will know +something is going to happen." + +"Go on, then; only be sure you're back here by five," Marjorie warned +her. "And don't let the boys come here this afternoon, for I'm too tired +to even look at them." + +At half past five, the guests had assembled and were sitting in the +parlor, looking a little annoyed and uncomfortable as the moments passed +by and their hostess did not appear. + +"Come right in," Marjorie had said to them, one after another; "Mamma +will be so glad to see you; she'll be here in a minute." + +Last of all came Dr. Brownlee. He had been delayed until the last +possible moment, and now, just as Mr. and Mrs. Fisher turned the corner +far down the street, he rang at the door, to be admitted by Marjorie. +Once inside the parlor, he stopped and looked around the room in search +of his hostess, in order to offer her a prompt apology for his seeming +rudeness in being so late. To his surprise, there was no one present at +all answering to the description of Mrs. Fisher which he had received +from his landlady. + +"Hamlet, without the ghost!" he thought to himself, as he paused +irresolutely, just across the threshold, and glanced about in vain for a +familiar face. + +For a moment there was an awkward hush. Most of the guests knew the +doctor by sight, but in the explicable absence of their hostess, no one +was sufficiently at ease to rise and bid the stranger welcome to another +person's house. They tried to go on with their conversation, in apparent +unconsciousness of the young man who stood in the doorway, reddening +under their sidelong glances; but their attempt was not crowned with +success, and there came one of those seemingly interminable pauses +which sometimes fall upon a room. Then, all at once, Louise Everett rose +from her chair in the bay-window, where she had been hidden behind the +ample shoulder of Mrs. Pennypoker, and, crossing the room, she greeted +the doctor as an old acquaintance. A few words passed between them; then +she introduced him to the other guests, before leading the way back to +her own cosy corner, where Mrs. Burnam sat waiting to welcome him, as +the friend of her young nephew. + +"Who's that going in at our house?" Mr. Fisher had asked, peering over +the top of the pile of bundles in his arms. "It looks like Dr. Brownlee; +but why should he be going there?" + +"Oh, dear; I hope it isn't anybody coming to call," sighed his wife, +with the inhospitality born of a long day of tedious, unsatisfactory +shopping. But she quickened her pace, in order to discover who was the +guest awaiting them. + +At the door she was met by Marjorie, dressed in her best gown, and +looking strangely excited. + +"Let me take your things, mamma," she said in a low tone. "There's +somebody to see you in the parlor." + +Forcing a smile to her tired face, Mrs. Fisher advanced to the door to +greet her caller. On the threshold she paused aghast, for, to her +startled eyes, the room appeared to be thronged with people, who rose +and stepped forward to meet her, while Marjorie stood at her side, +gleefully clapping her hands and exclaiming,-- + +"It's a surprise party, mamma! It's a surprise party!" + +For one instant, Mrs. Fisher faltered. She had come home in a state of +utter exhaustion, and she longed to run away from the parlor and hide. +But the next minute her courage came back to her, in the face of her +roomful of guests, and she gave them as hearty a welcome as if the party +had been one of her own making. Up and down the room she went, speaking +a word here, shaking a hand there, all with the tact for which her +hospitality was noted. She had sent one appealing glance towards Louise, +and the girl, taking in the situation in a moment, had come to her aid, +with Dr. Brownlee at her side. In a short time the room was buzzing with +voices, as the guests entered into the full tide of conversation. + +Suddenly the dining-room door swung open, and Allie appeared on the +threshold. + +"Please come out to supper, now," she said shyly, as she met her +mother's surprised glance. + +There was another pause of uncertainty; then Mr. Everett offered his arm +to Mrs. Fisher, and led the way to the table, where the guests seated +themselves as they wished, gazing, meanwhile, with amused eyes at the +feast before them. A short silence followed, and then the conversation +started up once more, as Mr. Fisher, with one despairing glance at his +wife, attacked the vast ham before him, and Mrs. Fisher began to pour +out the pale, watery effusion which filled the teapot. Allie and +Marjorie were already bestirring themselves to pass the plates and cups +about the table; but all at once Marjorie paused abruptly, with her arm +outstretched, as she gazed blankly this way and that. Then her face grew +red and the sudden tears rushed to her eyes, as she hurried out of the +room, with a gesture to Allie to follow her. + +"What is it, Marjorie?" Allie exclaimed in alarm, as the young hostess +sank down into the wood box and buried her face in her hands. + +An inarticulate moan was her only answer. + +"Marjorie! Marjorie!" she urged again. "Tell me what's the matter. Are +you ill?" + +Then Marjorie raised her head for a moment. + +"I'm all right," she said, with a great sob of shame; "but what shall we +do, Allie? We ate up all the bread for breakfast, and I forgot to order +any more." + +It was late that evening when the guests took their leave; and, as they +went away down the street together, they said, over and over again, that +Mrs. Fisher had never before been half so bright and witty in her talk, +so quick to plan new modes of entertainment. Their hostess watched them +out of sight; then, after an expressive look at her husband, she turned +away from the door, and crossed the hall to Marjorie's room. All was +dark within, as she opened the door and entered; but, as soon as her +eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, she went up to the bed, and laid +her hand on a small, dark body, curled up on the white spread. + +"Marjorie, dear," she said gently. + +The childish figure was quivering with suppressed sobs; but there was no +other answer. + +"Marjorie," she said again; "don't feel so badly about it, my child." + +The tone of motherly sympathy was too much for Marjorie's self-control, +and the tears began to come, thick and fast. + +"O mamma," she cried; "truly we didn't mean to. I'm so sorry." + +Mrs. Fisher sat down on the side of the bed, and drew her daughter +towards her. + +"Don't cry so, Marjorie," she repeated. "I know you didn't mean to do +anything out of the way. Tell me how you came to ask all these people +here." + +Between her sobs, Marjorie told her mother the whole story; and Mrs. +Fisher rejoiced that the kindly darkness hid her smile, as she listened +to her little daughter's incoherent explanation of the party and its +cause. + +"And I meant it should all be so nice," Marjorie ended, with a fresh +burst of tears; "and it was just dreadful. I forgot the bread, and the +candles wouldn't burn, and nobody knew Dr. Brownlee, and everything was +horrid. Scold me, if you want to; but I truly meant to give you a good +time, only it all went wrong." + +"Marjorie, dear," her mother said, when she could steady her voice +enough to speak; "I know you meant to make me have a happy birthday, and +I am grateful to my little girl for taking so much pains for me. Another +time we will talk it over together, and plan the best thing to do, +instead of your trying to surprise me. And now forget all about the +worry of it, and only remember that you've done what you could to make +the day pleasant for me." And she bent over for a goodnight kiss, before +she returned to the kitchen for a long hour of dish-washing and putting +the room to rights. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JANEY'S PROPHECY. + + +"Git up in de mawnin' singin', an' de cat cotch you befo' night," Janey +had said oracularly, when Allie ran out into the kitchen, that morning +before breakfast, with the refrain of one of Charlie's songs upon her +lips. + +"What nonsense, Janey!" said Allie, laughing at the strange, old-time +saying. "I don't believe the cat'll 'cotch' me any more for singing, and +it's ever so much more fun than 'tis to cry." + +In fact, there was no particular reason that Allie should not sing, for +life looked very attractive to her that morning. The bright June +sunshine was lying warm over the town, and giving back a dazzling lustre +from the snow-capped mountains which rose up from the midst of the +summer landscape; lessons were over for the present, and, best of all, +Mr. and Mrs. Burnam were to go out to camp that day, to make final +arrangements for the long-talked-of week, when the Everetts, Burnams, +and Fishers were to pitch their tents beside the engineering camp, in +the Bitter Root Mountains, and enjoy a week of roughing it in the +wilderness. Soon after breakfast they drove away from the door, with +Victor snugly tucked in between them, while Allie, with the boys and +Ben, stood on the piazza, to wave them a good-by. The children lingered +there until the wagon was out of sight; then they turned back into the +house, feeling very important over the prospect of two days of +housekeeping on their own account. + +But, after all their anticipations, the morning did not prove to be +quite as enjoyable as they had hoped it would be. Marjorie had been +invited to spend the day with them; but, unfortunately, Marjorie was in +one of her perverse fits, and so successfully devoted herself to the +task of being disagreeable that Allie was at her wits' end how to manage +her; Howard openly quarrelled with her, and even Charlie, the courteous, +marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him, while he sang, +with tantalizing distinctness,-- + + "'Oh, jimineddy! And oh, goody gracious! + How I did love her! But she was contumacious.'" + +This last insult was too much for Marjorie to bear, for, in her secret +heart, she greatly admired Charlie, and longed to have him for her ally +and champion, instead of being forced to watch his unswerving devotion +to his cousin. As the door closed behind him, she flew after him, to +deliver herself of one parting shot,-- + +"Charlie MacGregor, I de-test you! You're no gentleman, even if you do +think you are; and I only hope you'll get what you deserve for being so +rude to me, when I'm company." + +Then the door banged again with even greater violence than before, and +Marjorie burst out crying, as she put on her hat and departed, without a +word to Allie. + +Her irate guest once gone, Allie moved up and down the rooms, putting +them in order with much the same dazed feeling as that which comes in +the sudden hush that sometimes follows a violent thunder-shower. The +more she pondered on the events of the morning, she could not see that +either she herself or the two boys were in any way to blame for +Marjorie's explosion, and as she forlornly sat down to the lunch table, +she felt as if she were in part realizing the truth of Janey's +prediction. However, she was too much accustomed to Marjorie's sudden +fits of temper, and too well acquainted with her really kind heart, to +dwell long upon the matter; so before the meal was ended she was gayly +laughing with the boys, and planning for the next day's frolic. + +"Come out and have a ride, Allie," urged Charlie, as they left the +table. "I have a kind of a sort of a feeling that I'm in disgrace, and I +want some fun to console me." + +Allie laughed. + +"How silly you are to mind what Marjorie says!" she answered. "She'll be +all over it by to-morrow, and like you better than ever; I know just how +angelic she always is, after one of these times. But if you want a ride, +I'll be ready in an hour. I've promised to write a letter for Janey, +first." + +"To his Goatship?" inquired Howard disrespectfully. "All right; we'll go +out and play ball till time to get the ponies." And they went away, +while Allie stood in the door, saucily calling after them to be good +boys and not get into mischief. + +"Now, Janey," she said, as she went out into the kitchen; "I'll write +that letter for you before you wash the dishes or anything; because Mr. +Charlie wants me to go to ride with him, as soon as I can." And she +seated herself at the table, while Janey went after her writing +materials. + +"How you done like my paper, Miss Allie?" the girl asked proudly, as she +laid upon the table a sheet of vivid, rose-colored paper, and its +accompanying envelope, which brought with them an aggressive fragrance +of musk. Then she dropped down on the floor behind her young mistress, +coiling herself up in the corner, with her back against the wall, that +she might dictate at her ease. + +"My dear frien'," she began slowly, and with the air of searching her +mind for properly sonorous phrases; "I have done receive your letter, +an' I take my pen in han' to now reply. I was very glad to know dat you +is well, an' I am sorry to say I am not; I think I have de +consumption"-- + +"Why, Janey," interposed Allie; "what do you mean? Aren't you well?" + +"Yes, I's well enough," answered Janey, as she shot a sudden mischievous +glance from the corners of her downcast eyes; "but I reckon he'll think +more of me, ef he thinks I's goin' to die. I am not very happy," she +resumed, in the same stilted tone as before; "an' las' night you came to +me in a dream, an' tol' me you was dead. I done specks he'll cry like +everything, when he reads dat," she interpolated, with a nod of triumph. +"Sometimes I reckon we sha'n' never see each other no mo'; but you mus' +never forget your Janey. Um-mm," she went on, in an inarticulate mumble. + +"What?" inquired Allie, pausing, with her pen in mid air, as she turned +around to see Janey with her cap off, a row of hair-pins between her +lips, and a pair of gleaming scissors raised to one of her woolly tails. + +There was a sudden sound of snipping steel, and then Janey continued,-- + +"I sen' you a plat of my hair, an' I wants you to sen' me one of yours; +an'--an--'" Janey hesitated, while she put on her cap once more. + +"Well, what next?" asked Allie, secretly wondering, as she glanced at +the sable tress before her, why each could not retain his own hair, +since the two locks would probably be so much alike that only the keen +eye of an expert or a lover could distinguish between them. + +"So no mo' now," dictated Janey. "Give my love to Emma Digson, an' Joe +Harrison, an' my mother, an' tell little Bill he mus' be a good boy, an' +tell Sarah Johnson"--Here followed a list of greetings and messages, as +long as those at the end of the Pauline epistles. + +Allie was still toiling her way through them, making conscientious +attempts to discover the proper spelling of names, when she heard the +front door open and shut. A moment later, Howard appeared in the +kitchen, very pale and with trembling lips. + +"Come here a minute, Allie," he said, in a tone of command so unlike his +usual manner that his sister started up at the first word. + +"What is it?" she demanded hastily. "What do you want of me?" + +But Howard had already hurried back to the parlor. She followed him, +with a dull, cold feeling about her heart, as she became more and more +convinced that there was some trouble. As she reached the parlor door, +she drew back, for a moment, in alarm. On the sofa lay Charlie, with his +handkerchief tied over the upper part of his face, and his cheeks and +lips as white as Howard's had been. The next instant she sprang forward +to his side, crying,-- + +"O Charlie, what has happened? Are you hurt? What is it?" + +With a strong effort, the boy steadied his voice enough to say quietly, +as he stretched out his hand towards the spot where he had heard her +drop down on her knees beside the sofa,-- + +"'Tisn't much, Allie; so don't get rattled. Howard'll tell you about +it." And he paused abruptly, biting his lip to keep from crying out with +pain. + +"We were playing ball, and Charlie went to catch. He muffed, somehow, +and the ball hit him in the eye; it smashed his glasses, and they've cut +his eyes some," explained Howard, in a hurried, breathless tone, while +he tramped nervously up and down the room. + +"What can we do? If mamma were only here, Howard! Is it very bad, +Charlie?" And for a moment Allie's head dropped beside her cousin's, +while she shook with sobs of mingled pity and fear. Then she started up +again, to force back her tears as she said, with all the pride and +energy of the MacGregors in her firm, clear voice,-- + +"Howard, don't rush round so; you'll only make Charlie worse. It may not +be so bad; but you go, quick as you can, for Dr. Brownlee. Run every +single step of the way, and don't you come back without him." + +For an instant, Howard stared admiringly at the determined little figure +before him; then he rushed away, glad to get out of sight, where he +could rub the tears off from his cheeks, and feeling an immediate relief +in the need for prompt action. Twenty minutes later he came back, +accompanied by the doctor, whom he had met on the street, not far from +his office. + +As Allie rose from her place beside the sofa, she was filled with a +momentary dislike of this handsome, well-dressed young man, with the red +carnation in his button-hole, who came into the room with a sort of +quiet briskness, and addressed a half-laughing remark of greeting to +Charlie. But as she watched him, she soon realized that there was +nothing unsympathetic in his cheerfulness; and she felt a quick trust in +him, when she looked up into his kind gray eyes, while he bent over +Charlie and took the handkerchief from his face. An older person would +have read much from the sudden frown which passed across his forehead; +but Allie failed to catch it, and was cheered by his next words,---- + +"Only a scratch or two, and a little cut. We'll patch you up soon, my +boy, so you needn't worry. There's a little glass left here, though, +that we want to get out of the way, first of all. You say your parents +are away?" he asked, turning to Allie. "Do you suppose you can help me a +little; or are you afraid?" + +Allie's cheeks grew white at the thought; and the doctor, as he watched +her, added kindly,-- + +"Or perhaps your brother"-- + +But Howard had fled, to shut himself up in his mother's room. Allie +could hear him moving restlessly about, behind the closed door. + +"I'll help if I can," she said bravely, though her rigid lips would +scarcely form the words; and she dropped her hand on Charlie's cold +fingers, to feel them close around it, with a grateful pressure, as the +doctor said approvingly,-- + +"That's a brave girl! Now, has your mother anything that I could use for +bandages?" + +Allie hurried away in search of the great "emergency basket," which her +mother always kept well stocked with rolls of old cotton and linen and +flannel. The doctor gave a quick nod of pleasure, as he saw the orderly +store. + +"Good!" he said, as if to himself; "that tells the story. I wish more +women would look out for such things. Now," he went on, while he drew a +chair to the window, and laid a little case of shining, ugly-looking +instruments on a table beside it; "we must get rid of that glass as soon +as we can; and I want you, little woman, to hold this boy's head tight, +very tight, so he can't move, no matter how much I do hurt him. Any +slip now would be very serious." + +There followed a short interval of silence, when Charlie ground his +teeth hard together, to keep back any sound, and Allie sturdily held her +place at the back of his chair, though she felt faint and sick at the +sight before her, as those horrible little steel points moved up and +down across her cousin's eye. Then the doctor spoke again, in his +cheery, pleasant way, while he adjusted the necessary bandages; but to +Allie his voice sounded a long way off, and she dropped to the floor in +a forlorn little heap, as soon as she received the doctor's nod to +assure her that her work was ended. + +"You're a plucky pair," said Dr. Brownlee then, as he led the boy back +to the sofa, and arranged a pillow under his head. "I don't know which +has been braver, but I'm proud of you both. The worst is over now; but +we want to get this boy into bed, where he can keep quiet for a day or +two. I wish we could send word to your mother; but I suppose that is out +of the question, so we shall have to get along without her. Still, +you've a good nurse here, Charlie," he added, with an admiring glance at +Allie, who had roused herself once more and was standing by the sofa, +with one slender hand resting on her cousin's forehead. + +"Shall I get his room ready?" she asked, as her blue eyes filled with +tears again; for the doctor's kind words were too much for her shaken +nerves to bear. + +"Yes, he'll be better there," the doctor answered, as he followed her +into the room which the two boys usually occupied. "A southwest corner +room," he said, glancing around it. "That's too strong a light; isn't +there somewhere else?" + +"Mine is on the other side," she suggested. + +"That's better; but what will you do, my young nurse?" he asked with the +gentle courtesy which was habitual with him. + +"I'll take the sofa, or anywhere," she said, as she led the way into her +own dainty little room. "He can have this to himself, too; and Howard is +in the other. I truly don't mind a bit being turned out." She paused and +glanced over her shoulder to make sure that the door was shut. "Is it +very bad, Dr. Brownlee?" she asked, in a frightened whisper. + +"I can't tell yet; but I hope not," the doctor said reassuringly. "Now, +little woman, listen to me. Your cousin will have to be shut up here in +the dark for a good many days, and your mother will be away till +to-morrow night. I might send for somebody to come and stay with you; +but it would only frighten Charlie, so I am going to leave him in your +care, instead. You've just been doing splendidly with him; and he's used +to you, and likes to have you round him. Now, do you suppose you can see +to him till bedtime, and through the day to-morrow? A great deal, much +more than you know, depends on his being kept quiet and content, without +any worry. I will come back this evening, and sleep on the sofa here, +where I can look out for him through the night. Do you think you can do +it?" + +"I will," answered Allie, as solemnly as if she had been taking her +marriage vows. + +The doctor studied her face intently. Such a little thing, a happy, +rollicking child! But, in the past hour, she had shown herself a woman, +in the courage and tenderness which her love for her cousin had given +her. He felt that he could trust her, even in such a critical case as +this. But, as he looked down at the wistful, white face, and the drawn +lips which yet made no complaint of weakness or of fear, some sudden +impulse made him stoop and lift her hand to his lips. + +"I am glad to bend the knee before so brave and true a lady," he said, +with assumed lightness to mask his real feeling. "I hope the time may +come when I shall be able to prove how gladly I would serve her." + +"Cure Charlie's eye, then," she answered, with quaint, serious +directness. + +"My dear little girl, I will if I can," he replied gravely. + +Then he turned away, to close the blinds, draw down the shades, and pull +together the heavy curtains, until the room lay in deep shadow. At sight +of these ominous preparations, Allie's fear came back to her. + +"Oh, must he stay like this, all in the dark?" she cried, in a sudden +terror of she knew not what. + +"For a little while," answered the doctor, his voice sounding brisk and +cheery again, through the thick darkness. "We'll try not to have it last +any longer than we can help. Now," he went on kindly, "if you'll go out +in the sunshine and take a little run, while you get quieted down, I'll +help Charlie into bed. Then I shall leave him in your hands." + +But Allie was in no mood for sunshine. She paused for one moment beside +her cousin, without daring to trust her voice to speak; then she fled +to the kitchen, and cast herself into Janey's arms, to cry as if her +young heart were breaking. + +"Miss Allie, honey," Janey begged her; "what is it? Tell Janey what's de +matter. Don' cry so, Miss Allie, don't." + +Allie was past heeding her words. It had taken all her courage and +self-control to go through the last hour, and, now that she could have a +moment to herself, she could only cling to Janey and sob with a +bitterness which brought the sympathetic tears into the dark eyes above +her. + +"What is it, honey?" asked Janey again, as the child grew more quiet. + +"Oh, Janey, it's Mr. Charlie!" And Allie's head went over against the +girl's shoulder once more. + +Janey looked pityingly down into the swollen, flushed face before her. +Then she seated herself in a chair, and gathering up the child in her +strong, young arms, she rocked gently to and fro without speaking, while +Allie sobbed out the story of the accident. When she paused, the girl's +brown cheek lay, for a moment, against the soft, thick hair, in an +unspoken caress; then she said cheerfully,-- + +"Now, Miss Allie, dear, it's too bad, and Janey's sorry for you all. But +jus' you dry up your eyes, an' don' cry no mo'. Mars' Charlie's too good +a boy for de Lord to give him very bad time, an' 'twon't be long befo' +he's all right again. Janey's awful sorry for you; but you jus' try to +keep jolly, for his 'count, an' your ma will be home to-morrow. It'll +all come out for de bes'," she added, with the simple faith of her +people, which somehow comforted Allie, and gave her new strength to go +on. + +A few minutes later, the doctor sent Howard in search of his sister, and +Allie was able to go quietly back into her room. It looked strangely +unfamiliar to her; but as her eyes became accustomed to the darkness, +she gradually made out the figure of her cousin, who was lying in her +dainty bed, with broad white bandages covering his eyes. + +"Is that you, Allie?" he asked eagerly, as the door opened. "The doctor +says you're to look out for me to-day, and I'm no end glad of it." + +"Yes," said the doctor, from his corner where Allie had not yet seen +him; "you couldn't have a better nurse. Now," he added, after giving her +a few simple directions, "I shall be back early this evening, and, till +then, you're in charge. All you have to do," he went on, as Allie +followed him to the door, "is to wait on him, and see that the light +doesn't get to him. You can talk to him, just as you always do, only be +a little quiet. Above all, don't let him get to thinking about his eye, +for he mustn't worry. Good-by." + +He left her to go back into her cousin's room, while he went down the +street, saying to himself,-- + +"I wish I could often get as plucky a patient and nurse. But I'd give a +good deal if I had a first-class oculist in town to-night; I don't like +the looks, up there." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN THE DARK. + + +Often and often, during the next few weeks, Allie recalled the +conversation which had taken place between herself and Marjorie, months +before; for Charlie's time had come to prove his ability to bear trouble +and suffering as bravely as a boy could do. Early on the afternoon +following the accident, Dr. Brownlee had saddled his horse and ridden +away to meet Mrs. Burnam, and prepare her for the new care awaiting her; +but it was not until the next day that he told her of his real fear, the +danger that the injured eye might become so seriously inflamed that its +sight would be destroyed. How Howard and Allie found it out, it would be +impossible to say; but, before the day was over, they knew the secret, +and hovered about their cousin with an anxious care, the real cause of +which he understood as little as he did that of the doctor's extreme +gentleness of voice and touch, when he came, morning and night, to +examine the wound and renew the bandages. + +It was a hard experience for the boy, for there were long days of +sickening, throbbing pain, that darted up and down about his eye, and +painted strange, lurid pictures against the darkness of his closed lids. +Then came the time when he was allowed to sit up once more, and to +wander clumsily about his narrow quarters, bruising himself by frequent +collisions with the unseen furniture, until Allie's heart ached for him, +and she longed to tear away the bandages, and let him have one short +hour of daylight again. His piano was his main solace in these days, for +Mrs. Burnam had had it moved into his room, and he amused himself with +it for long hours at a time, when his cousins were busy, or away from +home. Of course he grumbled a little at times, as any healthy boy would +do; of course he had hours of being undeniably cross; but, for the most +part, he showed a quiet endurance which won the admiration of all his +friends. + +But, little by little, as the danger passed, his privileges increased, +and he was free to make daily excursions out into the parlor, which was +darkened for his use, and to receive short calls from the Everetts and +Marjorie. Allie had been his constant companion in these weeks, +entertaining him, leading him about the room, and even feeding him the +meals which Mrs. Burnam and Janey prepared so daintily. Then, at length, +came the great day when the bandage was taken off, to be replaced by a +shade, and only resumed for the hour when Allie was to be allowed to +lead him up and down the sunny piazza, and out along the street for +daily-increasing distances. For Charlie, all this was like coming back +into life once more. In spite of the darkness of his room, he could yet +see the dim outlines of objects in his narrow line of vision, and grope +his way about without being dependent upon his cousins for his every +need; and after a month of perfect helplessness, even this was a relief, +and he accepted it gratefully. + +And, after all, dark as the days were, they yet had their bright spots. +In his constant visits, the doctor had quite won Charlie's heart with +his lively talk and fun, until the boy found himself eagerly looking +forward to the next call, and wondering what fresh interest his new +friend had in store for him. For the doctor, true to the instincts of +his profession, knew so well how to cover his real anxiety under his +gay, light manner, that his young patient had no idea of the possible +danger of his case, and only regarded it as a tedious, painful wound +which would soon heal. + +"I am getting most awfully sick of this, though," he said one day, after +the doctor had gone. "It's a shame to be losing all this jolly weather, +and I've forgotten how everything looks. Dr. Brownlee is a first-rate +man; but he needn't make such a fuss over a scratch. I say, Allie, let's +run away and go for a ride up the gulch." + +"Oh, wouldn't I like to!" responded Allie, with a fervor which led +Charlie to say gratefully,-- + +"I'll tell you what, Allie; it's a shame for you to stay tucked up with +me in this hole. You've stuck by me like a Trojan; but I'm well enough +off alone. Go out and have a lark; I would if I could." + +"Sha'n't!" returned Allie composedly. "Besides, there isn't anybody to +lark with." + +"Where are Marjorie and the boys?" demanded Charlie, casting himself +down in the easy-chair, and turning to face Allie, as she stood leaning +against the window curtain. + +"They went fishing with Mr. Everett, up the canon." + +"Bother!" exclaimed Charlie impatiently. "Here I am losing all the fun; +and you're so silly, you won't go without me, when you could, as well as +not. That's just like a girl." + +"Now, Charlie, you just keep your temper," said Allie laughingly, while +she covered his mouth with her hand. "If you say anything more that's +saucy, I'll go off and never come back. I didn't want to go to-day; it's +too warm. Besides, we'll make up for all this when we go into camp." + +"Are we really going? I thought 'twas given up." And Charlie started up +with quick enthusiasm. + +"Yes, the plans are all made, and we're only waiting for you to be able +to go. We're going to be gone two weeks, and"--Allie paused, before +imparting her final bit of good news--"papa has asked Dr. Brownlee to go +too." + +"How jolly!" Charlie exclaimed rapturously. + +"Isn't it? The doctor didn't want you to get where he couldn't see to +you; and we all like him so much that papa said this was the best thing +to do, so we're going to start the very first day you are able." + +"When does he say 'twill be?" asked the boy eagerly. + +Allie hesitated. This part of her news was not so pleasant, for since +the first danger was over and Charlie was allowed to be up and about the +room, she knew that he was restless, and longing to be out with the +boys, enjoying his old free life once more. + +"Well," he urged again, "when can we go?" + +"Not for three or four weeks," she said gently, as her hand fell down +from his face, and rested on his shoulder with a little caressing +gesture. + +The boy needed all her sympathy, for his disappointment was keen. The +prospect of a month more of an existence like that of the past three +weeks was too much for his courage; and, shaking off her hand, he rose +and tramped up and down the room, frowning and moody. + +"I won't stand it!" he exclaimed suddenly, as he paused. "There's no +need of it, Allie, and I'm just not going to stand another month of it. +I'll risk my eyes, or let them slide; but I must get out of this stuffy +old room inside of a week, or I'll know the reason why." + +But his temper was always short-lived, and he was soon his old bright +self again. That night he was cheered by hearing the doctor say that he +might go out into the parlor to see Ned and Grant for an hour in the +morning. + +From that time on, his days began to pass more quickly. With Ned and +Marjorie at their head, the young people showed unlimited patience and +ingenuity in planning new amusements for their friend; and not a day +passed that they did not descend upon him in a body, laden with +offerings of fruit and flowers, trophies of their fishing expeditions, +and bits of gay gossip from mine and smelter, choir and Chinatown. + +Marjorie, in particular, was his devoted slave. For the past few weeks, +she had been carrying, deep down in her heart, a little sore spot, left +there by the stinging memory of her hasty words an hour before the +accident; and, now that she could see her friend once more, she did her +best to make amends for her past sins. But though her endless fun and +rollicking kindness gave Charlie many a pleasant hour, it was to Allie +that he turned in any emergency, for her long days of devotion to him +had proved her a staunch, true friend. + +"Allie is a pretty good sort of girl," he confided to Ned one day. +"She's just the kind to have round when you aren't well, for she's +jolly, and takes first-rate care of you, without being soft." + +One afternoon, about three or four weeks after the accident, Marjorie +and the three boys were sitting on the little front porch at the +Everetts', reposing after a long ride. It was a cool, cloudy day; the +mist lay low over the mountain sides, and closed in between the walls +of the canon, and the wind blew up fresh and sharp. Allie had watched +the little group of riders as they cantered past the house and, turning +the corner, stopped at the Everetts'. Then she was seized with a sudden +inspiration. + +"Get up, lazy boy," she commanded, going into her room where Charlie lay +on the sofa, stretched out at his ease, with his arms folded under his +head. "Mamma's coming in here, in a minute, to put on your blinders, and +then let's go down to the Everetts' for an hour. They're all down there, +and we'll take them by surprise." + +Charlie started up eagerly enough. It was the longest walk that he had +taken, and he was glad to get out of his dull routine; so, ten minutes +later, he was on his way, with his hat pulled down over his face to +cover the ignominious bandage, and Allie's hand on his arm. + +Grant was the first to see him coming. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "There's Charlie Mac!" + +"Where?" exclaimed Ned, turning around with a suddenness which made him +lose his balance, as he sat on the rail, and sent him rolling over +backwards to the ground. He was on his feet again in a twinkling, and +tore away up the street to meet his guest, and, usurping Allie's place +as escort, bring him back to the steps in triumph. "Sit down here, old +fellow," he said, as he deposited him in a chair, and seated himself +protectingly on the arm. "How jolly to have you round again!" + +"Glad you think so," responded Charlie; "I was feeling fine to-day, and +Allie thought 't would be a good scheme to come down here. You can just +believe I was ready for a change of base." + +The first chatter of eager greeting was not yet ended, when Louise +Everett appeared in the doorway behind them. + +"I must just come out to speak to Charlie," she said, as she stepped +forward to his chair. "It's so long since I've seen you. No, don't get +up," she added hastily; "you look too comfortable to let me disturb you, +so I'll just sit down on the step beside Howard, if there's room." + +"Always room for you, Miss Lou," returned Howard gallantly, as he curled +up his feet so that his dusty shoes should not soil her fresh, pink +gown. "We've set Charlie up in the middle, like a Chinese idol, and are +adoring him." + +"You'd better get Wang Kum out here to help," suggested the idol +complacently. "I'm afraid I'm not much to look at, Miss Lou; but +fortunately I don't have to see myself these days. I leave it to Allie, +to tell me if my hair's smooth." + +Louise laughed, as she rested one hand affectionately on the girl's +shoulder. + +"The doctor says she has been a most devoted Allie; and we all think +that we haven't seen much more of her than of you, this last month." + +"I know that, Howard and I aren't any account, any longer," said +Marjorie, in an injured tone, from her seat on the rail. "Howard, which +of us shall get broken to pieces, so the other can 'tend to it?" + +"What's the use?" returned Howard languidly. "Our noses are out of joint +now, and it doesn't seem to do us any good." + +"Oh, by thunder!" exclaimed Grant, suddenly. + +"Grant, dear, what words!" said his sister reprovingly. + +"Can't help it, Lou; look there! Dr. Hornblower is coming down the road, +and I can see, by the northeast corner of his weather eye, that he's +going to stop and make us a visit." + +"Dr. Hornblower? Do put me out of sight somewhere," begged Charlie. + +"What for? You've never seen him, and he's lots of fun," said Howard, +without the faintest appearance of respect for the clerical brother. + +"I know, but I'd rather meet him some time when I don't feel so much +like a mummy in a museum," urged Charlie again. "Can't you get me out of +this, Ned?" + +"There isn't time, honestly. He's right here, or I would," answered Ned +in a low voice, as he drew his friend's soft hat forward and turned down +the brim. "You're all right; and, besides, he's such an old duffer that +he won't notice anything. He won't stay here, any way; he comes to see +cousin Euphemia, and help her out when she gets in a tight place with +Wang Kum. Wang's been cutting church lately, and most likely the +doctor's come to see about it." + +The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower belonged to the fast vanishing school of +mossbacks, or "old-timers," as they more elegantly termed themselves, +the early settlers who had watched the State grow from its first +squatter population to its present comparative civilization. A mere boy +in the stormy days of Sixty-three, he had joined one of the many trains +of ox-teams which started across the country, on their slow, toilsome +march to the far West; and, for the next few years, his life had been +one of continual excitement and hardship. His father and grandfather +before him had been ministers; so it was small wonder that Gabriel, upon +arriving at man's estate, should feel that both his family tradition and +his name had called him to the life of a wandering preacher among the +mining camps and scattered ranches of the region, until he had finally +settled down to take charge of the little church in Blue Creek. He was +neither a great man, nor an educated one. On the contrary, he was +ignorant of any life outside of his own narrow sphere, and intolerant of +all spirit of advance or change, singularly devoid of tact, but literal, +honest, and well-meaning. Moreover, he was absolutely self-satisfied, +but utterly lacking in the sense of fun which makes conceited people so +much less disagreeable, since it gives them a glimmering appreciation of +their own absurdity. + +As far as his outward man was concerned, the Reverend Gabriel Hornblower +was not fair to look upon. Although Mrs. Pennypoker never failed to +speak of him as "old Dr. Hornblower," in reality he was not far from +forty-five; but he looked a score of years older, for his constant +exposure to the fierce mountain gales and the burning suns of summer had +tanned and dried him until his complexion closely resembled a withered +seckel pear, and his body was as thin and wiry as that of a September +locust in a season of famine. But, in spite of his dull, yellow-brown +skin, his deep-set blue eyes retained all their old life and sparkle, +while his thick auburn hair was cut close at the back and sides of his +head, and allowed to grow long above his forehead, where it was combed +up to form a single curl, which ran straight across the top of his head, +from brow to crown. The peculiar nature of this curl had beguiled the +time of dreary sermons for many a youthful sinner; for, like +Melchisedek, it appeared to have its beginning and ending in nothing, +and there was a certain fascination in tracing its placid course above +the august forehead. + +Approaching nearer to Dr. Hornblower, it was easy to see that he was a +close student, either of books or of human nature. His habit of profound +thought had developed an anxious frown, which had traced three deep +wrinkles between his eyebrows; while, upon the rare occasions when his +massive brain was at rest, and his brow was smoothed, two narrow lines +of white, untanned skin came to the surface, and gave his face a little +the appearance of a fantastic mask. + +As he drew near the little group on the steps, Louise courteously rose +to greet him. + +"Come in, Dr. Hornblower," she said hospitably. "Walk into the parlor, +and I'll call Mrs. Pennypoker." + +The doctor paused irresolutely, while he looked up into her fair young +face. + +"Um--thank you," he said awkwardly. "I will--at least I didn't exactly +come to see Mrs. Pennypoker, this afternoon. I"-- + +"Shall I call Wang Kum?" suggested Grant, with an air of ready interest, +as he rose and moved a step towards the door. + +"Not just now," said the Reverend Gabriel stiffly. "Miss Everett, may I +not have the--the pleasure of sitting at your feet?" And he fixed his +eyes on the patent-leather tips of her shoes. + +"Of course we should be very glad to have you with us, Dr. Hornblower," +returned Louise, while the pink color in her cheeks grew a shade deeper, +as she heard an irrepressible giggle from Marjorie. "Ned, will you +please bring out another chair? This is Charlie MacGregor, Dr. +Hornblower," she added, as she saw the doctor's eyes turn inquiringly in +his direction. + +"In--deed; the young boy who was injured while at play? How do you do, +Charles?" asked the Reverend Gabriel, after pausing to contemplate the +lad, who had risen to his feet. + +"Very much better, thank you," replied Charlie, while Howard gave him a +stealthy poke with his foot. + +"Ah? I am glad to hear it, for I have been much interested in your case. +I hope you are properly thankful that there is now some slight +possibility that your sight may be restored to you." + +"Take this chair, Dr. Hornblower," interposed Louise hastily, while +Charlie turned an appealing face towards his cousins. "It is a long time +since you have been here; Mrs. Pennypoker was speaking of it only +yesterday." + +"Yes, I have been much occupied with the duties of my calling," returned +the Reverend Gabriel, as he seated himself in the low chair, which +brought his bony knees almost on a level with his chin. "My time has +been engaged in visiting the erring members of my flock; and now, +to-day, I find that I have an hour in which to call on you." + +"I hope you don't look upon me as an erring member," Louise said, +laughing lightly. + +"Pardon me, my dear young friend, no; you are misapprehending me," +answered the doctor, with a stiff-necked bow which sent Grant and +Marjorie into the house to laugh unseen. "I only wished to state that"-- + +"Cousin Euphemia will be here in a minute, Lou," interrupted Ned, +reappearing in the doorway. "She saw the doctor coming, and she sent me +out to say she'd be right here; she wants to talk up something about +Wang. Come on, Charlie, I want to show you something in the house." + +"Really," exclaimed the discomfited doctor, as he looked beseechingly at +Louise; "I had no wish to disturb your cousin, Miss Everett. I trust +that she did not feel that she ought to see me, if it is inconvenient." + +"Not at all; she'll be delighted to see you," answered his young +hostess, with a grateful glance at her brother as he disappeared through +the open door. + +"There!" said Ned triumphantly, as the children settled themselves +inside the parlor. "We'll stay cached in here, out of the way; and maybe +there'll be some fun before long, if Cousin Euphemia and the doctor get +after Wang. He's been to our church all the time lately, ever since our +choir started up; and Cousin Euphemia doesn't like it. I just heard her +telling Wang to go out to them as soon as he could get ready." + +Ned's suspicions were well founded. A few moments later Wang Kum came +shuffling around the corner of the house, with his hat cocked defiantly +on the back of his head, and his hands buried in the pockets of his +loose blue toga. + +"How do you do, Wang Kum?" asked the doctor, benevolently eyeing the +stray lamb before him. + +"Heap well," returned Wang Kum calmly, as he kept his eyes fixed on the +ground, to avoid Mrs. Pennypoker's warning glance. + +"I was afraid you were ill," observed the doctor, with an approving +smile for his own crafty manner of approaching the subject. + +"Uh?" inquired Wang Kum. + +"I thought perhaps you might be sick," repeated the doctor. "I hadn't +seen you at church lately." + +Wang shook his head contemptuously. + +"Wang no get sick," he remarked. + +"Then why haven't you been to church?" asked the doctor. + +But Wang Kum only replied with a scarcely perceptible shrug. + +"Wang, didn't you hear Dr. Hornblower speak to you?" asked Mrs. +Pennypoker sharply. + +Wang still stood gazing on the ground and nodding his head in a slow, +thoughtful way which communicated a rhythmic undulation to his pigtail. +At Mrs. Pennypoker's question, he glanced up. + +"Wang no likee your church," he answered coolly. "Pisplykal church heap +lot better; smell good, sound good." He paused, then added, with a +cunning twinkle in his little dark eyes, "Make heap washee for +washee-shop." And, turning on his heel, he marched off towards the +kitchen, with the air of a man who had solved vast economic problems. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CAMPING ON THE BEAVERHEAD. + + +The August sun was shining down from a cloudless sky. He had risen +betimes that morning; but he was not the first one up in Blue Creek, for +the dim light of the dawn had found Ned and Grant Everett dressed and +flying about the house, while, farther up the street, Marjorie was +peering out through the window blinds, to assure herself that it was to +be a pleasant day. By seven o'clock the Burnams, too, were stirring; and +soon afterwards Allie and the boys appeared in the dining-room at the +Everetts', to exchange noisy congratulations over the fine weather. + +The day had at length come when they were to start upon their +long-delayed camping trip. For the past week, the young people had been +in a state of ferment, while their elders were in much the same +condition, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, whose excitement was largely mixed +with dread at the thought of the Bohemian life before her. The +engineering camp, which they were to join, was now pitched beside the +Beaverhead River; and Mr. Burnam, who had been out with his party much +of the time since Charlie's accident, had come back to Blue Creek two +days before, announcing that all was in readiness for their reception; +so the hour for their departure was fixed upon. The distance to the camp +was so great that they were to be two days upon their journey, spending +the night at a ranch on their way, and reaching camp late on the +following afternoon. + +By nine o'clock, the party had assembled at the Burnams', ready for the +start. They made an imposing cavalcade as they moved away down the +street, for all but the older women were mounted on horseback. At the +head of the procession rode Mr. Everett, Mr. Burnam, and Mr. Fisher, +followed closely by the four boys, Allie and Marjorie, while Louise +Everett, in her close-fitting dark green habit, cantered along in the +rear, with Dr. Brownlee by her side. Then came the three wagons, the +first driven by Wang Kum, with Janey perched up on the high seat beside +him, eyeing her companion askance; while Mrs. Pennypoker, directly +behind them, watched them both with an unswerving vigilance, ready to +check any sign of levity on the part of man or maid. Mrs. Pennypoker +was attired with all her wonted nicety, and her prim black straw bonnet +and decorous gloves formed a striking contrast to the plain +rough-and-ready gowns and broad hats of the other matrons, who were more +accustomed to the needs of the life before them. Last of all came the +two baggage wagons, one carrying the tents and stove, the other laden +with the generous stock of provisions which Mr. Burnam had laid in for +his guests; while in and out among them all raced Ben in a series of +mad, elephantine gambols, expressive of his joy at being started for the +field again. + +Through the town they proceeded quietly enough; then, when they came out +into the open ground of the lower canon, the boys uttered a wild whoop, +and dug their heels into the flanks of their ponies, as they went +scurrying away, far in advance of the rest of the party. + +"Just look at Charlie!" said Marjorie, as the boys turned to ride +leisurely back to their companions once more. "He acts as if he didn't +know what to do next." + +"He's just about wild to be out again," returned Allie, gathering up her +reins preparatory to joining the lads at the head of the procession. +"You see, he was shut up 'most eight weeks, so I don't wonder he wants +to make up for it. I expect he'll break his neck, though; for he's so +near-sighted that he can't see without his glasses, and of course he +can't wear them with that patch over his eye." + +"How long is he going to wear it?" asked Marjorie soberly. + +"I don't know; a good while, the doctor says, but I don't think Charlie +minds much, after the other." + +"I suppose he came awfully near"--Marjorie paused, with a little shiver. + +Allie nodded understandingly. + +"Yes; he didn't have any idea of it, though, till that day he met Dr. +Hornblower at the Everetts'. After that he was dreadfully blue; you know +he wouldn't stir out anywhere, for ever so long." + +"Say, Allie," began Marjorie abruptly; "do you remember that day before +he was hurt?" + +"When you were so cross?" inquired Allie mercilessly. + +"Yes. Did Charlie ever say anything about it?" + +"Why, no," answered Allie after a little reflection. "I don't believe he +ever thought of it again." + +"I am glad of it," responded Marjorie; but still she did not look +altogether pleased. She would have preferred that her words should +carry a little more weight. Then she went on with her confession, "Well, +I kept thinking about it, till I began to feel as if I'd done it all. +You know I said I hoped something would happen. I wanted to come +straight down here, that very night, but mamma wouldn't let me, not even +long enough to just say I was sorry; and then the doctor wouldn't let +any of us see him for ever so long, so I never said anything about it. +Would you now, or would you let it go?" + +"I don't know," said Allie thoughtfully. "Charlie'd never lay up +anything of that kind; but I always just like to say I'm sorry, when +I've been hateful to him or Howard. It kind of smoothes things out; but +you can do as you like." + +"Hi, you girls!" exclaimed Grant, dashing past them at this moment, +after capering about the wagons in a manner calculated to bring down +Mrs. Pennypoker's denunciations upon his yellow head. "What makes you so +puppywented slow? Come on!" + +"All right!" And Allie scampered off at his heels, sitting very straight +and trim in her pretty new saddle. + +Howard and Ned went after them, and Charlie was just ready to follow +when he heard some one coming up behind him on his blindfold side. + +"Wait just one minute, Charlie," said Marjorie's voice in his ear. "I +want to say something to you--just to say"--She paused, and swallowed +hard for a minute; then she went on steadily, "how sorry I've been that +I was so mean to you that day your eye was hurt. I wanted to tell you so +right off then, but I couldn't. But I kept thinking about it, all the +time you were ill, and 'twas most as bad as if I'd thrown the ball." +Marjorie stopped; the very earnestness of her apology made it hard to +utter. + +Charlie turned his head to look at her. He was surprised to see her face +so pale and her lips trembling. + +"That's all right enough, Marjorie," he said heartily. "I knew you +didn't mean it, and I didn't think any more about it. Give us your fist, +and then we'll go after the others." + +Sunset, the next night, found the party comfortably established in their +new quarters, on the very bank of the willow-bordered creek that plunged +into the river, forty feet away. Across the creek and six hundred feet +down the valley, dingy and brown with much service stood the tents of +the engineering corps; but the officers' tent was deserted, for its +occupants had come over to pay their respects at Camp Burnam, as the +children had christened it. The site for the camp had been fixed upon, +two days beforehand, and it was but the work of an hour to unpack the +wagons and pitch the four tents which made up the outfit. At the south +were the sleeping-tents, with Mrs. Burnam presiding over one, and Mr. +Everett over the other, while at the east, close to the creek, were +those given up to dining and cooking, where Janey and Wang Kum held sway +by day, with many a wrangle over the possession of the little +camp-stove, and many a heated discussion as to the relative merits of +Asiatic and African cookery. + +The stove had been the first thing to be unpacked, and by the time the +last guy-rope was made fast, the last roll of bedding opened and +arranged in its place, the welcome call to supper was sounded, and they +gathered about the long table, spread in the open air, in the golden +sunset light. Then the elders settled themselves for the evening, glad +to rest after their long ride, while the children raced up and down the +camp, exploring all the nooks and corners of their little domain, before +throwing themselves down on a pile of blankets to watch the full moon +as it rose from a bank of cloud just above the low hills to the +eastward, and threw its white light over their gay group. Fifteen feet +away from them Mrs. Burnam sat in the doorway of her tent, with Louise +at her feet. The girl's golden hair was glistening in the moonlight, as +she raised her head to speak to the topographer of the party, a +sandy-haired, jovial young fellow, so lately come from "Sheff" that he +retained all the slang and easy assurance of the genuine college boy. +Ten months of camp life had made him hail with delight the prospect of +paying court to a pretty girl; and he had attached himself to her side +to the utter exclusion of Dr. Brownlee and the grave, taciturn leveller, +who had retired from the contest and was devoting himself to Mrs. +Burnam, whom he had known for years. For a few moments, the doctor stood +looking on; then he turned away and joined the group of children, who +received him enthusiastically. + +"I'll tell you what, this is fine!" said Charlie contentedly, while the +doctor seated himself by his side, and the boy stretched himself out at +full length, with his head on his friend's knee, and lay staring up at +the moon. "This is something I've never tried before, and always wanted +to." + +"Which?" inquired Allie, as she bent over to tickle his nose with a long +straw stolen from the bedding; "taking up twice as much room as belongs +to you, or looking at the moon?" + +"Camping out, of course," answered her cousin, curling up his feet, in +deference to her words. "Looking at the moon, too, for that matter; for +I didn't see much of the last one." + +"Speaking of moons," interposed Grant, from the corner where he and +Marjorie and Howard had been chattering and giggling together; "the last +two days have been no end hard on the storm center, and I think we shall +catch a blizzard soon, by the looks. Just see her now!" + +Grant's comment was in part justified, for the past two days had been +undeniably hard upon Mrs. Pennypoker's appearance. The sun is no +respecter of persons, and he had beaten down upon her majestic Greek +nose with precisely the same fervent caresses which he had lavished upon +Marjorie's freckled pug. Unfortunately, Mrs. Pennypoker's neat little +straw bonnet was by no means so good a protection as Marjorie's soft +scarlet felt hat, with its broad, flapping brim, and, even in the cold +light of the moon, Mrs. Pennypoker's countenance gleamed with the luster +of polished mahogany, which was enhanced by the great white kerchief +that she had tied over her head, to keep out the evening air. No urging +could induce her to sit on a blanket on the ground; so, in the absence +of upholstered chairs, Mr. Everett had arranged a wooden pail against a +tall box, cushioned them both with straw and blankets, and mounted his +cousin upon this rustic throne, where she sat with her skirts carefully +tucked up about her and her nose in the air, looking as much out of +place as a Dresden china dinner service would have done on the rough +board table. + +Howard laughed, as he looked at her. + +"I should think Wang would like her, to put her in his Joss house," he +said disrespectfully. "What'll she ever do, before two weeks are up? +She'll be a case for the doctor, sure enough." + +"We ought to have brought Dr. Hornblower along, to amuse her," suggested +Grant. "Come, I'm tired of this; let's have a game of 'I spy.' This +moonlight would be fine for it. Come on, Ned!" + +"Where?" inquired Ned lazily, for he was thoroughly absorbed in the +story that Dr. Brownlee was telling. + +"'I spy'; anything to get waked up." + +"Sha'n't. I'm too comfortable to move." + +"Allie?" + +"Don't want to," replied Allie, without stirring from her place beside +Ned. + +"Charlie--anybody?" demanded Grant. + +"What's the use? I can't see enough without my gigs." + +"Lazy things! Don't disturb them, Grant," said Marjorie scornfully. "If +this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home. Grant, +we'll hide, and let Howard find us. Come ahead!" And they vanished into +the shadow beside the cooking tent. + +Three minutes later there was a vigorous splash, followed by a shriek +from Marjorie, which brought the whole party flying to the spot. Down in +the shallow creek sat Grant, blinking up at them in bewilderment, as he +wiped the water from his eyes. + +"What's the matter?" asked Howard, as Mr. Burnam helped the boy to +scramble to his feet, and up the steep bank of the stream. + +"Wish you'd whitewash those guy-ropes!" responded Grant petulantly. "I +tripped over 'em, and they landed me in that squdgy old creek. Marj +needn't have squealed like a cat, though, and given it all away." + +"'If this is the way you're going to do, I wish we'd left you at home,'" +quoted Allie majestically, as she surveyed the dripping boy before her. +"I think Charlie has his spectacles in his pocket, Grant, if you'd like +to borrow them." + +However, this ended the frolic of the evening, for Mrs. Pennypoker +summarily seized upon the young explorer and ordered him to bed, while +Wang Kum spread his clothes to dry before the fire. The other boys soon +followed Grant's example, and the older people with them; so, after much +wriggling and nestling about in the blankets, they at last dropped to +sleep, and silence descended upon Camp Burnam. + +Camp life began in earnest the next day, and for the next two weeks the +party enjoyed one perpetual picnic. The children were up and out by +daybreak, ready for the long days of fun, and by seven o'clock the +breakfast call had sounded to gather them around the long table. It was +good to see Wang Kum, tin horn in hand, emerge from his improvised +kitchen, and blow the deep blast which should summon his flock to the +meal; it was good to see Janey follow in his wake, armed with the great +coffee-pot and a pile of light hoe-cakes, and then rush up and down +behind the chairs, trying to serve them all at once, while she +struggled in vain to repress an inclination to prance, and never failed +to give a vigorous tweak to Wang Kum's pigtail, as she passed him. The +relation between the two servants was unique, and, at times, somewhat +strained. Although Wang Kum, left to himself, would have been the most +peaceable of mortals, Janey persisted in treating him as an embodied +joke, and lost no opportunity to tease and torment him, until he came to +regard her with a strange mingling of hatred and fear. + +"Wang tell Mis' Pen'plok'," he would mutter, with a threatening glance +from his beady eyes. + +"Ol' mis' won' believe you," Janey would make answer. "She knows dat +you's a heathen, an' won' go to church. Cut off your great long plat, ef +you don' wan' me to pull it no mo'. I cyarn' help it, ef it gits in my +way, all de time." And then she would slyly lift the tip of the +offending member and lay it across the table, before setting her heavy +iron dish pan upon it. "Don' you year ol' mis' calling you?" she would +ask then. "Take care! Don' upset all my dish tub!" And the war would +begin again. + +The weather left nothing to be desired, and, the party usually +scattered soon after breakfast. The older men went on long hunting +expeditions, in pursuit of the game which generally proved to be just +over the divide; or explored the creek in search of trout,--great, +rich-flavored fellows, which put to shame the tiny products of our +Eastern streams. The boys, in the mean time, made friends with the +engineers, and spent whole days in the field. Howard and Ned attached +themselves to the transitman, and took turns as head and rear chain, +while Grant superintended the levelling, and Charlie trudged along in +the rear with the young topographer, who had taken a sudden fancy to the +boy, and gave him frequent lectures on the theory and practice of +surveying, until his pupil longed for the time when he too could wear on +his watch-chain the tiny blue shield, with its golden date and initials. + +Then there were long rides up and down the valley, and merry evenings in +camp, when they told over the adventures of the day, played games, or +sang college songs to the tinkling notes of the mandolin which Louise +had brought with her. There was an elaborate afternoon tea, when Mrs. +Burnam and Louise devoted their entire supply of tin plates and cups to +the entertainment of the whole corps of engineers, down to the very +axmen, and feasted them upon the miscellaneous delicacies concocted by +Janey and Wang. Three days later, this hospitality was returned by a +grand dinner-party at the lower camp, when venison and trout were the +main dishes of the meal, and the table was set and served with a +masculine disregard for appearances. + +But the last night of their holiday had to come. Evening found them all +gathered at Camp Burnam, watching the darkness settle around their +pleasant forest home. Both camps were to be struck on the following day, +for the engineering party was to move down the river at the same time +that the others started for home. + +"I have only two things to mourn about," said Charlie meditatively. "I +haven't shot a single bear, and I haven't even seen the tail of a +cayote." + +"Wish you had; 't would have been such fun to see you turn and run," +responded Ned, as he indolently settled himself with his head on Ben's +side. + +"Poor old Ben! Does he use you for a pillow?" asked Marjorie, stooping +to stroke the great creature's head. + +"I say, Marjorie, stop that," remonstrated Howard suddenly. "When you +pet that end of him, this end wags, and his tail whacks awfully. Do let +him go to sleep, or else warn me, so I can get out of the way." + +"You'd better try this, you fellows," advised Ned. "It's fine; the best +bed I've had since I left home." + +"What's going on here?" asked Dr. Brownlee, moving up to the group, in +company with Louise and her faithful attendant, the topographer, just as +Howard and Charlie stretched themselves out beside Ned. + +"Nothing, only they're getting ready for a nap," said Allie. "Don't you +wish we didn't have to go home to-morrow?" + +"I do," groaned Charlie. "I never had so much fun before, and I don't +want to go back to town again. I believe I'll run off and set up in life +as a brave. Will you come, too, Allie?". + +"Not if I have to live in a wick-i-up three feet square, and wear your +cast-off blankets," she answered, with some spirit. "I'm just about the +right color for a squaw, though; that is, if I look as badly as the rest +of you do." + +"Thank you, dear," returned Howard laughing. "You're at least ten shades +blacker than anybody else; and Charlie is so dark that his patch hasn't +showed any for five days." + +"How about the freckles?" inquired Charlie composedly. "I don't care; +I've had a good time, and maybe 'twon't be fast color." + +"It won't hurt you, Charlie," remarked the doctor. "You started off +looking rather too white, after living in the dark for a month. This +camping trip has been the best thing you could have had." + +The two weeks had certainly done the boy good, and, removed from any +temptation to use his eyes, he had given them the utter rest which they +demanded, until they had nearly regained their former strength. Dr. +Brownlee watched him approvingly for a moment. Notwithstanding the dark +sunburn on his cheeks and the shade over his right eye, it was an +attractive face, in spite of its lack of real beauty, such as had fallen +to the share of Ned and Grant. + +"It has been immense," said the boy regretfully. "But maybe we can come +out again, next summer." + +"Don't flatter yourself with any such notion," said Howard. "If you'd +been with papa as long as I have, you'd know that there isn't much +chance of our being here, by another summer. He may be ordered to +Alaska or Arizona, by that time; and we'll have to 'hoppee 'long, too.'" + +"Just this way," interposed Grant, starting up abruptly with an inviting +chirrup to Ben, who scrambled to his feet with a suddenness which sent +the three boys rolling into an indiscriminate pile among the blankets, +as their pillow went rushing away across the camp, in pursuit of some +imaginary intruder. + +It was late that night when the party finally broke up and went to their +tents; it was later still before the usual gentle snores arose from Mrs. +Pennypoker's corner. Soon afterwards, the silence of the night was +broken by the sound of stealthy footsteps, coming up the river bank from +the engineers' tents. A moment later, the music from a full orchestra of +combs roused the sleepers from their dreams. + +"Farewell, farewell, my own true love!" they wailed, in a gusty and +oft-repeated chorus, until even Ben's feelings overpowered him, and, +running to the door of the tent, he raised his nose towards the waning +moon, and howled till his voice was husky. Then the swaying curtain at +the doorway of the tent dropped once more, and all was still. The play +was over, and the orchestra had ceased. Camp Burnam's story was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +UP THE GULCH. + + +"I do believe every-day things are pleasantest, after all," said Allie +contentedly. + +It was a month after their camping party, and she and her mother were +comfortably settled in the parlor, with the mending basket between them. +The windows and doors were thrown wide open, and the room was flooded +with the yellow sunlight that lay across the floor, while the warm +September wind softly fluttered the light draperies. Outside the door, +on the piazza, Ben lay snoozing in the sun, sleepily wagging his tail in +some happy dream of full-flavored bones or trespassing cats; and beyond +him Victor was trudging up and down the path in front of the house, +laden with a tiny scarlet pail filled with sand. Allie glanced +thoughtfully about the pretty room, and out at her baby brother; then +she turned back to her mother again, as Mrs. Burnam asked,-- + +"How do you mean, Allie?" + +"Why, after all our camping and fun, it seems good to sit down and +visit a little, mammy. Don't you see, we haven't had a chance for ever +so long, not since Charlie was hurt; and I enjoy it, once in a while. +The other is fun; but I like to stop and talk it over sometimes." And +Allie paused meditatively, with one of Howard's long stockings drawn +over her hand. + +"Yes, I know," her mother answered, while she trimmed a patch to fit the +hole which it was intended to fill; "we haven't had a quiet afternoon +for a long time, hardly since Charlie came out here, last spring. You've +been so busy with the boys that I didn't know whether you'd ever enjoy +sitting down with me any more." + +"Yes, this is nicest," said Allie. "The boys aren't you, any more than +Charlie is Howard. I like them both; but I need you to straighten out +things sometimes." + +"What is it now?" asked her mother quietly, for she saw from Allie's +face that something was troubling her, and, mother-like, she wished to +help her little daughter. + +"Why, it isn't so much; only something that Grant was telling, something +Mrs. Pennypoker said," answered Allie, while she threaded her needle and +stuck it in beside the hole. Then she asked abruptly, "Mamma, is it +true that Charlie has ever so much money?" + +"Yes; that is, he will have, when he grows up," replied Mrs. Burnam, a +little surprised at the question, for she had tried to train her +children to feel that wealth was by no means the main end in life. + +"How much?" persisted Allie. + +"A great deal, for Uncle Charlie was a rich man, and our Charlie is his +only child." + +"Oh!" And Allie lapsed into silence again. + +"What made you ask, Allie?" her mother inquired, after a pause. + +"Nothing; only Mrs. Pennypoker said somebody told her he was very rich, +and that was the reason you'd let him come here, so maybe we could get +some of it; and she asked Mrs. Pennypoker if she hadn't seen the way I +hadn't had so much to do with Ned and Marjorie since he'd been here, and +all. Wasn't it horrid, mamma?" + +Mrs. Burnam frowned. She was sorry to have such ideas put into the head +of her young daughter; and, during the past five months, she had grown +to feel that Charlie was almost one of her own children; so the +worldly-wise tone of these comments grated upon her ears. + +"Grant had no right to tell you this," she said thoughtfully. + +"I don't care if he did," Allie interrupted. "I knew 't wasn't true, and +I told him that I didn't think Charlie had any money, and we didn't want +any of it, if he had; we'd plenty of our own. But I wish people wouldn't +talk such things. I like Ned and Marjorie just as well as I used to; but +when Charlie's here in the house, and just as splendid as he can be, I +don't see why I shouldn't like him better. Nobody minded when I was with +Howard 'most all the time, and Charlie's just like another brother." And +she nodded conclusively as she resumed her work. + +Mrs. Burnam watched her steadily for a moment, trying to read whether +there was any unspoken thought in her daughter's mind; but Allie looked +up, and her blue eyes met her mother's so squarely that Mrs. Burnam was +satisfied. + +"Charlie does seem just like one of us," she assented heartily; "and I +know we've all enjoyed his being out here; but it isn't because he's +rich that we've liked him, it's because he's just what he is, a bright, +manly boy, without any airs or nonsense. Aunt Helen asked to have him +come to us, because he hadn't any other cousins; and it would have been +a pleasant six months for all of us, if it hadn't been for his terrible +illness." Mrs. Burnam paused; she could never speak of his accident +without a shudder. + +"I'm glad it happened," returned Allie proudly. "If it hadn't, we +shouldn't ever have known how brave he was. And, besides, if it hadn't +been for that, we never should have known Dr. Brownlee half so well, and +he wouldn't have gone into camp with us; so you see there was some good +came out of it. But didn't we have a fine time in camp, mammy?" + +"Yes, I think our camping trip was a success, in more ways than one," +said Mrs. Burnam, smiling quietly to herself, as she recalled certain +scenes in which Louise and the doctor had played a part. There was no +doubt in her mind about the enjoyment of two of their number, however +the others might have looked upon it. + +"But, after all," resumed Allie, going back to her original statement; +"I do like getting settled down again; and this vacation has been so +stirred up that I believe I shall be glad to have some lessons once +more." + +"Here comes Ned," said her mother, glancing up from her work as the boy +turned the corner and came up the street towards the house. "He's +probably after you and the boys for some frolic or other." + +"All right; I've just finished my last stocking. Did you ever see +anybody make such holes as Howard does?" And she rolled the stockings +into a ball and tossed them into the basket, as Ned came up the steps. + +"Hullo!" he remarked, dropping into the chair from which Allie had just +risen, and helping himself to her orderly work-basket. "Where are the +other fellows?" + +"They've gone up the creek fishing," answered Allie, watching, with an +anxious face, while Ned investigated her papers of needles, and then +turned his attention to her button bag. + +"They must want something to do," returned Ned scornfully. "I should +think you about lived on fish, up here." + +"They don't often catch anything," said Mrs. Burnam, laughing; "not even +colds. Howard fell into the creek, day before yesterday, and then sat +around in his wet clothes all the afternoon; but it didn't seem to hurt +him any." + +"I tried that once," said Ned, as he stealthily put the basket on the +floor, just behind Allie, where she could not fail to step in it and +overturn it; "but I had the worst of it, for Cousin Euphemia saw me when +I came home. She put me to bed, right in the middle of the day, and made +me take some hot ginger-tea. Ugh, what a mess 't was! I'd rather have +had a dozen colds than be choked to death, and left to stew in a flannel +blanket. But what I came to say, Allie--Oh, isn't that too bad! You've +upset your basket." + +"What a wretch you are, Ned!" And Allie slyly dropped a large, flat +button down inside his collar, as she stooped to pick up her scattered +treasures. "You've done this before, and I know just how sorry you are." + +"I didn't do a single thing," returned Ned innocently. "How'd I know you +were going to put your foot in it that way? But I stopped to see if some +of you didn't want to go up the gulch this afternoon. It's not so very +warm, and Lou and Grant are going, so I said I'd hurry on ahead and get +you to come too. Here they are, now." + +"I'll go; wait till I get my hat." And Allie vanished. + +"Come along too, Mrs. Burnam," said Ned persuasively. + +"I wish I could, Ned; but I must stay with Vic, for Janey has gone out +this afternoon. You'd better stop in here, all of you, when you come +back, though. The boys will be home by that time, and I want to see +Louise, too," she added, as Ned and Allie went down the steps. + +At the west side of the town, the mountains rose up, sheer and straight, +their slopes ending abruptly at the outer streets, which were carefully +laid out and numbered, although no houses had yet been built there. +However, the low, even ground was elaborately divided into blocks, and +the blocks, in their turn, into building lots, to be in readiness for +the possible purchaser, who might appear at any moment. On the boundary +line between the town and this suburban region was the little brick +school-house; and beyond it lay the open ground which now, in the +absence of any inhabitants, was still used as a wood yard for the +distant smelter, whose constant fires easily devoured the vast piles of +wood daily unloaded by the trains which ran down the spur of track +leading to the yard. Beyond this again were the mountains, which rose to +their highest point just to the west of the town, where the tips of the +tallest peaks were always blanketed with the soft, white piles of snow. +At only one spot their unbroken front was interrupted, where a deep, +narrow ravine led far up among the mountains, forming a delightful walk +in a warm summer day. After the burning glare on the dry, sandy soil of +the town, which, in its barren lack of grass and trees, stared back at +the sun like a lidless, lashless eye, the cool shadows of the pines in +the gulch were a refreshing change. The little gulch had its variety of +names: Bear Gulch, it was called, Lover's Gulch, and even Cemetery +Gulch, from the lonely burial ground perched on the top of the rugged +bluff at its entrance. + +Ned and Allie had taken the lead, with Louise and Grant following close +behind them, as they picked their way among the countless tin cans +scattered over the fields, or paused to look and laugh while the boys +clambered to the top of the long wood-piles, and ran slow, unsteady +races over their uneven surfaces. Then they came out to the track, and +followed along its course, where Ned and Allie joined hands and walked +the rails, and Grant trudged along behind them, stepping with an +elaborate care upon each one of the ties, or leaping over occasional +cattle-guards, as they crossed his path. + +They were far past the western houses of the town, and rapidly +approaching the foot of the mountain, when Ned gave Allie's hand a +violent twitch. + +"Look back!" he exclaimed in an undertone. + +With a little cry of alarm, Allie sprang from the track; then, as she +glanced back over her shoulder, she burst out laughing. + +"How you scared me, Ned!" she said, as she stopped abruptly. "I thought +'twas a train, but it's only Dr. Hornblower." + +True enough; up the track behind them came the excellent doctor, waving +his cane in amicable salutation, as he strode along at a pace which +might have put to shame the wearer of the famous seven-league boots. His +leathery skin was dark and shining from the violence of his exercise, as +he came sweeping on towards them, till he paused by the side of Louise, +who watched him with some anxiety while he stood wheezing and panting +before her. + +"My dear Miss Everett," he said, when he could regain his breath enough +to speak once more; "are you not afraid to walk so rapidly at this +altitude? I fear you may over-exert yourself some day." He paused for a +moment, puffing like the engine of an overloaded freight train; then he +resumed, "I called at your residence, and was so regretful at not +finding you at home that your cousin, Mrs. Pennypoker, told me that you +were bound for the gulch, and assured me that there was--um--some +prospect of my overtaking, not to say catching up with you." + +"Are you out on the round-up again to-day, Dr. Hornblower?" asked Ned +soberly. + +The Reverend Gabriel looked at him with a perplexed countenance. + +"I am afraid that I do not perfectly apprehend your meaning," he said. + +"Why, you said, last time you called on Lou, that you were hunting up +stray sheep, and I didn't know but you were out after some more to-day," +Ned explained, with a naughty satisfaction in his sister's struggles to +repress her smiles. + +But Dr. Hornblower was quite unmoved. His professional dignity rose to +the surface, and his voice took on its Sunday twang as he replied +pompously,-- + +"No, Edward; the sheep are all in the fold. To-day I am only in search +of congenial society." And he bowed gravely to Louise. + +"Come on, now," whispered Grant, as he joined Allie and Ned in advance, +and left Louise to follow them with her elderly admirer; "the doctor's +lost his wind already, and can't keep up; but, if he wants a walk, +we'll give him one." + +His companions entered into the spirit of his proposition, and they +quickened their pace, after casting one backward glance towards Louise, +as she lingered along, with a sort of repressed impatience of step and +manner, while she listened to the Reverend Gabriel's elaborate +explanations of his reasons for following her. Then such a race as they +led him! Quitting the track, they turned aside into the open ground, +covered with uneven tufts of coarse bunch grass and thickets of sage +brush, now racing down a little hillock, now jumping over a tiny stream +and forcing their way through the clumps of willows on the bank, but +always choosing the roughest, hardest path, and always going at the top +of their speed, while Louise and the doctor panted and floundered along +too far in the rear to be heard in their calls for mercy. Even Allie was +beginning to be exhausted when, a few hundred feet above the mouth of +the gulch, Grant turned abruptly to the right and scrambled up the steep +hillside leading to the cemetery. + +"There!" he chuckled, while Ned and Allie, breathless with laughing and +with their rapid climb, dropped down on the ground beside him; "we'll +give him a rest when he gets up here. If he's going to come along and +spoil all our fun, he must pay for it; but he'll be tired by this time." + +"I wonder if he'll ever get up here alive," said Allie, as she reached +out to the nearest bush, to pick a bit of fur from the twig which had +caught it from some passing cottontail. "You almost used me up, and I +don't believe Miss Lou could have gone on much farther, so I shouldn't +wonder if he was pretty nearly dead." + +"Well, 'twould be a nice, convenient place for the funeral; only I +shouldn't be surprised if he stuck, half way up here," suggested Ned, +comfortably lying on his back, and fanning himself with the hat which +Allie had tossed aside. "No; here he comes," he added, as the Reverend +Gabriel's wide-brimmed straw hat and flushed face appeared over the brow +of the hill, followed by Louise, looking rosy and mischievous, but as +fresh as she had done at the start. + +"Come over to this tree, doctor, and sit down here in the shade while +you rest," she said kindly, as she led the way to the spot where the +boys were stretched out on the grass. + +There was an unwonted gentleness in her voice, for she had been quick +to discover the impish intention of her brothers, and was anxious to +atone for their lack of courtesy towards an acquaintance whom she had +always regarded as an old man, on the down-hill side of life. In spite +of herself she had been amused at the doctor's frantic efforts to keep +up with her own firm, quick pace, and at his urgent entreaties that she +should tell him if he walked too fast for her. Nevertheless, as she +seated herself beside her young brothers, she was resolving to give them +a lecture upon the sins of the afternoon, so soon as she could get them +in a place of safety. + +In the mean time, the doctor appeared to be strangely annoyed over +something, although she was unable to discover the cause of his trouble. +In obedience to her inviting gesture, he had spread out his large blue +silk handkerchief on the ground by her side, and seated himself upon it. +Then he started to remove his hat; but he had no sooner raised it a +little from his head than he hastily clapped it on again, with a little +exclamation of surprise and displeasure. + +"I do hope that these bad boys haven't given you too hard a climb, +doctor," Louise was saying politely, while she turned to frown down any +fresh demonstrations on the part of Grant, who was evidently plotting +some new mischief. + +"Um--m--ah--no--at least, I beg your pardon, but what was it you said?" +inquired the doctor, so abstractedly that Louise looked at him in +astonishment. + +The Reverend Gabriel sat with his face slightly turned away from her. He +was tilting his hat so that, on the farther side, it was raised an inch +or two from his head, while, with his disengaged hand, he was feeling +carefully about underneath it, as if in search of some missing object. +His face, meanwhile, was rapidly assuming every appearance of trouble +and distress, which became more and more acute with every fresh motion +of his hand. Louise watched him compassionately, sure that something was +amiss, but not daring to offer to come to his assistance; then, thinking +to spare him any added mortification, she looked away towards the +valley. + +A lovely picture lay at her feet, for the canon opened out before her +eyes in all the grandeur of its mountainous surroundings, while the +little town in its bosom was softened and beautified by the kindly +autumnal haze, which took away the crude shabbiness of its detail and +brought it into harmony with the rugged landscape about it. Beyond the +town lay the creek, and over it all floated the heavy pall of thick +white smoke, which seemed to be supported on the tall red chimneys of +the smelter buildings. The sun was dropping behind the mountains, and +already the town lay in shadow, while the last beams lingered upon the +cloud of smoke which flushed to a pale pink, then deepened to a rosy +glow. The girl's eyes rested on the scene below her; then, surprised at +the continued silence of her escort, she glanced at him once more. He +was still groping about underneath his hat, with the same strained, +upward roll to his eyes; but, as she looked at him, a new light burst in +upon Louise's mind, for two long locks of tawny hair had straggled down +over his right ear, and lay in a feeble ringlet against the top of his +tall collar. The Reverend Gabriel's wrist brushed against them; he felt +of them inquiringly; then he deliberately took off his hat to show the +top of his head shorn of the glory of his curl, and the long ends of +hair hanging in elf-locks about his face. + +"Miss--um--Miss Everett," he began hesitatingly, while a dark flush rose +on his weather-beaten cheeks; "Miss Everett, I am exceedingly sorry to +trouble you, but"--he paused; then went on desperately; "in fact, could +you be good enough to lend me a hairpin? The exertion of my climb has +removed mine from its accustomed place, and I fear that my hair may be +slightly disarranged." + +The silence that followed was unbroken while Louise felt about among her +braids and drew out a long, slender pin; but when the doctor put his hat +down on the ground by his side, carefully rolled up his hair over his +two forefingers, spread it into the usual long curl, and fastened it +into its place, Allie and Ned fell into an uncontrollable fit of +giggling. But, for the once, Grant's attention was distracted, for he +was gazing steadily towards the engine house at the mouth of the mine. + +"Say, Lou," he exclaimed; "what's going on down there? Everybody's +rushing over to the mine; something must be wrong." + +Louise's eyes followed the direction of his hand. + +"There 's some trouble, down there," she said, rising abruptly. "Will +you excuse us, Dr. Hornblower, if we go down without waiting to get +rested? I am always a little anxious about my father." And she hurried +away down the hill, leaving the Reverend Gabriel to adjust his hairpin +at his ease, while he reflected upon the unsatisfactory nature of his +walk. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"SWEET CHARITY'S SAKE." + + +"You see," Howard was explaining to Ned, that evening, "he'd put in his +charge for the blast, and was tamping it down all right; but he kicked +over his drill, and the end fell on an extra package of giant powder." + +"I know that," interrupted Ned. "Papa said he was outrageously careless, +to have any of the stuff lying around loose; and 'twas a wonder that +there weren't any more men near enough to be killed. Poor old Mike! He's +worked in the mine ever since 'twas first opened, and he was one of +their best men." + +"I don't see how he came to be so careless, then," said Marjorie, wisely +shaking her head over the matter. "I should suppose he'd have known +better by this time." + +"They do know better," said Ned thoughtfully; "only they get hardened to +the risk and don't think much about it, or else say their luck will hold +out. But Mike has the worst of it. Do you know, this is the first +accident in the Blue Creek I ever remember, and I used to see Mike 'most +every day, so I can't get to believe it a bit. It seems as if it +couldn't be true." + +"Papa was all broken up to-night," added Grant. "He knows all the old +foremen, and Mike was the best one of them all." + +"I believe I'd rather die 'most any way than be blown up," said Allie, +with a shudder. "It must be so hard for his family. But didn't you say +somebody else was hurt, Howard?" + +"Just one boy," answered Howard, rising and walking nervously about the +room, as the scene came freshly to his mind. "I don't know who he was, +for nobody seemed to be sure of his name. He had dark hair, and was +about Charlie Mac's size, I should think. They brought him up in the +cage just as Charlie and I stopped at the shaft, and the first thing we +knew, we were right beside him." + +"What's it going to do to him?" asked Marjorie, as her bright face grew +very serious at the picture that Howard had brought before her. + +"No one knew, for the doctor wasn't there, of course, and they took him +right off home. Papa said he was an English boy that lived over the +creek," said Grant, stretching himself out on the sofa, with his heels +on the cushion. + +Marjorie sprang up and shook herself, with a little shiver. + +"Don't let's talk about it any more," she exclaimed. "It just makes me +sick to think of it." + +"But it's there, all the same, whether we talk about it or not; and if +you'd seen it, as we did, you couldn't forget it, even if you did keep +still," said Howard soberly; and Allie added,-- + +"Besides, maybe if we talk about it we can find out there's something to +do, to help out." + +For an hour, the five young people, gathered in the Everetts' parlor, +had been telling over the details of the accident. As Ned had said, it +had been a long time since the Blue Creek had been visited by an +accident like those which so frequently occurred in the neighboring +mines, and this, killing, as it did, one of the oldest and best-known of +the miners, had created an intense excitement in the little town. +Immediately following the explosion, there had been put in circulation a +report of the accident so exaggerated that it had brought to the spot +the wives of half the miners in the camp, each one of whom was confident +that her husband was among the twenty or more men said to have been +killed. It had been this hasty gathering which had caught Grant's eye; +and the Everetts and Allie had hurried down into the town just in time +to learn the truth that but one man was killed, and to watch the excited +groups as they slowly dispersed, so noisy in their joy that their own +friends had escaped, that they forgot to give more than a passing +thought to poor, careless Mike, whose working days were ended. But that +came later; and among all his mourners there were none more sincere than +the little group at the Everetts', who knew and appreciated the real +worth of the jovial, brawny Irishman, whose pleasant word and helping +hand were extended to all with whom he ever came in contact. They were +still talking of him when the bell rang; and, a moment later, Wang Kum +ushered Dr. Brownlee into the parlor. At sight of him, Marjorie sprang +up impulsively. + +"Oh, doctor, tell us about the poor boy! How is he?" she asked abruptly, +without waiting for any formal greeting. + +"If you mean the one who was hurt at the mine this afternoon," the +doctor was beginning, when Ned hastily interposed,-- + +"Hold on a minute, Dr. Brownlee; but don't sit down in that chair. +There's something wrong about the stuff it's covered with; 'tisn't real +leather, and it melts and gets sticky in summer, or when there's a hot +fire. You'd better steer clear of it. We mean to keep it out of the +way." + +"You might use it for a trap," suggested the doctor laughingly, as he +pushed aside the great easy-chair, and settled himself in a willow +rocker. Then his face grew grave again, as he turned back to Marjorie. +"He's as badly hurt as he can be," he went on. "He'll get over it, but +he'll never be able to do anything more. He hasn't come to his senses +yet, and I wish he needn't, for the present, for he has a hard time +before him," he added, as he rose to meet Louise, who came into the room +just then. + +"I'm a little upset to-night," he said apologetically, in answer to her +exclamation about the coldness of his hand. "To be perfectly honest, +this is my first accident case; and it's a very different thing from +seeing people quietly ill in bed, even if you know they can't get well. +I was at the house when they brought him in, and I hope I sha'n't often +have to go through such a scene again." + +"Tell me about it," said Louise, with a gentle sympathy which lent a new +grace to her beauty. "I'm not afraid to hear, and perhaps I can do +something for them by and by." + +And the doctor told, forgetting himself, and even the charming young +woman before him, as he went on with the story of the mother's frantic +sorrow over her only son, of the boy's half-conscious suffering, and of +the long, helpless life before him. The girl's eyes filled with tears as +she listened, though her pity for the lad was mingled with a new +admiration for the speaker. The tale did not lie entirely in the mere +words describing the accident; but, under all that, it told of the +generous, kindly sympathy of the true doctor, who shrinks from the sight +of pain, even while he gives his life to watching and helping it. + +Two weeks later Marjorie was spending a stormy afternoon at the +Burnams', when Ned appeared on the piazza. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed, as he furled his dripping umbrella, and shook +himself out of his rubber coat. "You'd better believe I'm wet. Lou went +off before it rained, and I had to pack her rubbers and umbrella over to +her. It's no joke to walk a mile in such a pour." + +"Where is she?" asked Allie, while she hospitably drew up a chair for +her guest. + +"Over the creek with that boy of hers. She puts in ever so much time +there, since he's better. She says he's crazy to read and be read to, so +she goes over 'most every day," responded Ned, as he wriggled away from +the too exuberant caresses of Ben. + +"How is he getting on?" inquired Marjorie. + +"All right, as much as he can. Lou says he's bright and knows a good +deal." + +"How kind she's been to him!" said Allie thoughtfully. "And Charlie, +too. He buys lots of things for him, and sends them over by Dr. +Brownlee." + +"Good for Charlie Mac! That's just like him," said Ned enthusiastically. +"Where is he, anyhow?" + +"We supposed he was over at your house with Grant," answered Howard from +the corner where he sat, industriously whittling at a set of small +wooden pegs. + +"It must be nice to have money, and do all sorts of things like that," +sighed Marjorie. "I can't afford to buy books and fruit, for I'm always +short on my allowance; and mamma won't let me give up my lessons, even +for one day, so I can't do what Miss Lou does." + +"Poor Marj! It's a hard case; for time's money, and you haven't any of +either," remarked Howard. + +"Wait a minute!" she answered, starting from her chair, and pacing up +and down the room, as was her habit when much absorbed. "I'm getting +hold of an idea." + +"Hold on, then, and don't let it go," advised Ned, dodging the sofa +pillow that Marjorie hurled at him. + +"Listen!" she commanded imperatively. "It's really and truly a good +plan. You know we haven't any too much money, for we all of us spend our +allowances faster than we get them; but let's begin to save, and put it +all together, till by and by we can send him something." + +"Good, Marjorie! What a splendid idea!" exclaimed Allie, fired with zeal +at the thought. + +"But, I say," remonstrated Howard; "how long are you going to keep up +the scheme? I can save like a house afire, for a little while; but +Christmas is coming, and I've promised to give Allie a rubber doll, and +charity begins at home, you know. I'm willing to help on your lad for a +month or so; but let's put a limit to it." + +"I didn't think you'd be so stingy, Howard," said Marjorie, turning on +him a gaze of virtuous sorrow. + +"'T isn't stingy," retorted Howard; "it's common sense. I 'm as sorry +for him as you are; but I think we'd better go easy on it a little, and +see how we come out." + +"Let's try it for a month," interposed Allie hastily, for she saw that +Marjorie was growing indignant. "If we save all we can, we shall have a +good deal by that time. What shall we get him?" + +"A whole set of Henty's books," suggested Ned promptly. + +"No; I think he'd like a tool-chest better," said Howard, eyeing with +disfavor the shabby knife in his hand. + +"What an idea, Howard! He couldn't use a tool-chest, even if he had +one," said Allie, laughing disrespectfully at her brother's suggestion. +"We want to get him something he could have the good of all the time. +What do you say, Marjorie?" + +"Miss Lou said he used to sing a good deal," observed Marjorie, her +virtue coming to the surface once more. "Why wouldn't it be nice to get +him one of the new hymnals; a great big one, with all the tunes in it? I +think he'd find it very comforting." + +A pause followed her words; then the boys burst into a shout of +laughter. Marjorie looked a little aggrieved. + +"I don't see what you're laughing at," she said, with a suspicion of a +pout. "Hymns are a great deal better for such people than your crazy old +books and tool-chests." + +"Don't be a jay, Marjorie," said Ned bluntly. "He isn't any more _such +people_ than we are; and because a fellow is down on his luck he doesn't +want everybody shying coffins at him. But here comes Grant; let's see +what he says. Then we can save up for a month, and see how much we get; +after that, we can tell better what to do with it." + +For the next four weeks a spirit of miserliness seemed to have broken +out among the young people, who scrimped and saved and denied themselves +for days, only to succumb to the temptations of "just one little bit of +a treat," which swept away most of their savings again, and left them no +better off than before. The day after they had taken their great +resolution, they went down town in a body, and invested most of the +funds at the disposal of the syndicate in an elaborate toy bank, in the +form of a dog who stolidly swallowed their stray bits of silver and +nickel into an iron strong-box below, which nothing but a powerful +hammer could ever succeed in opening. As soon as this purchase was made, +and a nest-egg solemnly deposited in its miniature vault, their zeal +cooled, and the dog was left in Allie's keeping for a week of slow +starvation. It is true that Charlie often begged to be allowed to +contribute from his own more abundant resources; but it had been agreed +that he could only add one fifth to the combined offerings of the +others; so, though the end of the month was fast approaching, the bank +was still nearly as light as when it came from the store, and only +responded with a faint rattle to Allie's frequent shakings. + +Matters were in this condition, one day, when Grant dropped in for one +of his frequent short calls on Marjorie. + +"Mustn't stay," he answered briefly; "I'm on my way down to get my hair +cut. I'm going to try Charlie Mac's barber; he gets a better shape on +your hair, somehow." + +"Extravagant boy!" said Marjorie reproachfully. "You'll have to pay him +ever so much. How much does he charge, anyway?" + +"Six bits," answered Grant, as he picked up his hat, and took hold of +the door knob. + +"That's perfectly shameful," said Marjorie. "It's ever so much more than +you generally pay. I'll tell you what: I'll do it for you for ten cents, +and you can have all the rest to put in our bank. You haven't begun to +give your share." + +"I can't help it; a fellow can't live on nothing," said Grant +defensively. "I've only had two sodas and a new bat this week. Besides, +I want my hair cut like Charlie's." + +"I should think you would be ashamed to spend so much on just your +looks, when you think of that poor, exploded boy," said Marjorie in a +sanctimonious tone. "And then," she added persuasively, "if you let me +cut it for ten cents, you can spend some for a treat and put the rest in +the bank." + +Grant wavered. The prospect of having an unexpected treat, and at the +same time of putting a little money into their hoard was an attractive +one; but, after all, his boyish soul was filled with a vain desire to +see how his yellow hair would look, after being cut by Charlie's man. +Moreover, Charlie's barber was an expensive luxury, and Grant had +experienced some difficulty in coaxing the necessary funds out of Mrs. +Pennypoker, so he had a little natural misgiving as to her opinion of +his putting the money to other uses. + +"You could get a soda, and ever so many pine nuts," went on the tempter, +touching her victim's weakest spot. + +Grant yielded a little. + +"Have you ever cut anybody's hair?" he demanded. + +"No; but I can, well enough. It's just as easy." And Marjorie gave her +hand an impressive sweep through the air. "I know just exactly how," she +added. + +"You're sure you can make it look all right?" asked Grant again, while +there floated through his mind a blissful vision of himself, tranquilly +eating pine nuts, and of the others, standing grouped about him, +praising his generosity. + +"Course I can; why not?" said Marjorie scornfully. "Don't you s'pose I +know how a boy's hair ought to look?" + +"And you'll do it for ten cents?" + +"Yes." + +"All right; sail in!" And Grant dropped into a chair and closed his +eyes, as if he were about to be decapitated. + +"You needn't think I'm going to do it here in the parlor," said +Marjorie. "It's going to make an awful muss; you must come out of +doors." + +"You needn't think I'm going to freeze," retorted the victim, opening +his eyes to glare at her belligerently. "If I give you the job, and pay +you all that for it, I'm going to have something to say about the way +it's done. You can spread down a paper, if you're afraid." + +"Well," said Marjorie reluctantly; "I don't know but 'twould be cold on +the piazza. Wait a minute, and I'll be ready." + +Her preparations were quickly made. A layer of newspapers was spread +over the carpet, and a chair set out in the middle of the room. Then she +tied a blue checked apron around Grant's neck, and announced herself as +in readiness. + +"Sit down there," she commanded, as she dived into a box of scrap-book +materials for a pair of paste-stained scissors; "and don't you dare to +wiggle, for I shall cut you if you do." And she gave the scissors an +expressive clash above his head. + +"All right," said Grant again, as he once more closed his eyes and +assumed a look of abject misery. + +Then silence fell upon the room, and for a long half hour the stillness +was only broken by the clatter of the loose-jointed scissors, and an +occasional moan from Grant, when the blunt points collided with his skin +with more than ordinary vigor. With one hand clutching the boy's yellow +head for support, Marjorie stood over him, clipping and trimming, then +stopping to contemplate the result of her labors, before attacking a new +spot. She had started out upon her undertaking valiantly enough; but a +dozen reckless slashes had begun to awaken some slight misgivings in her +mind, and she proceeded more slowly and with frequent pauses, while an +anxious pucker about her brows showed that she was not entirely +satisfied with her work. Worst of all, Grant was beginning to grow +restive. + +"'Most through?" he had inquired some time before. + +But Marjorie had consoled him with assurances of his speedy release; and +he had resigned himself to the inevitable and sat quiet for ten minutes +longer. Then he burst out again. + +"Say, Marjorie," he protested; "you scratch like fun; and you've been +long enough about it to cut a dozen hairs. Hurry up, there!" + +"I'm almost through," she answered hastily. "Your hair's so tough it +takes me longer than I thought 'twould." + +"How's it going to look?" + +"Lovely!" responded Marjorie, with a fervor which she was far from +feeling, while she made a few hurried clips at a long lock which, in +some way, had escaped her vigilance. "There!" she added. "That's all. +You can get up." + +Grant rose and shook himself; then, with the apron still hanging about +his neck, he marched to the nearest mirror and gazed at the reflection +of his shorn head. It was a strange picture that met his eyes. His head +was encircled with narrow furrows, where the scissors had done their +work so well that not a spear of hair rose above the bare skin. These +ridges were intermingled with patches of stubble of varying length; +while, here and there, a long lock had escaped entirely, and, in the +lack of its former support, now stood out from his scalp at an +aggressive angle, like the fur on the back of an angry cat. The whole +effect resembled nothing so much as a piece of half-cleared woodland, +where the workman's axe had here levelled everything to the ground, here +left a clump or two of bushes, and here spared an occasional giant tree +which towered far above its fallen comrades, in the conscious pride of +its unimpaired strength. + +The result was novel; but Grant appeared to fail to appreciate it, for +when he turned back to face Marjorie again his brown eyes were blazing, +and he was well-nigh speechless with indignation. + +"You beastly fraud!" he shouted, while he rubbed his hand over his +denuded pate, with a tenderly caressing motion, as if to console it for +its appearance. + +"What's the matter?" asked Marjorie faintly. + +"Matter!" stormed Grant. "Look at my head and see for yourself. You said +you could cut my hair all right, and you've just spoiled it all. I won't +pay you one cent. It'll take weeks and weeks for it to get back again." + +"It looks all right," said Marjorie stubbornly; "and you've got to pay +me. You said you would, and you never lie. The time I spent on it is +worth more than ten cents, anyway." + +"I sha'n't pay you," retorted Grant doggedly. + +"You shall!" + +"I won't!" + +"Then I'll tell Allie and Charlie, and all the rest, that you're stingy +and a great big cheat." + +"Tell away if you're mean enough." + +"And I'll tell Mrs. Pennypoker; and she'll send you to bed without your +supper, for stealing her money." + +"Didn't steal it!" + +"Yes, you did, too! She gave it to you for something, and you were going +to spend part of it for soda; that's stealing." + +"'T isn't, either!" + +"'T is, too, and you know it! And if you aren't ashamed of it why don't +you want me to tell her?" + +Grant saw that his enemy had outflanked him, and that his only possible +course was to make the best terms he could. + +"Now, see here," he said more quietly, as he pointed to his head again; +"this isn't worth anything; but you've cornered me, so I can't get out. +But, if I pay you, you must give me back a nickel, to pay for the hole +you snicked out of my ear." + +Marjorie's face fell. She had been hoping that he would not notice the +little red spot on the tip of his left ear. + +"And then," continued Grant remorselessly; "you can just put on your +hat, and come along with me to Allie's. We'll each put a nickel in the +bank, and then we'll be square. But you'd better believe I'll tell the +boys who did this, so they won't get taken in as I did." + +A week later, Charlie and Allie opened the bank and counted the funds. +Only sixty-five cents had accumulated there; Allie's face fell as she +surveyed the meagre hoard. + +"Hush up!" commanded Charlie, as he dropped something yellow and shining +into her lap. "I was in a bad fix last summer, and I know how 'tis, so I +ought to help on more than the rest of you. You just keep still and +don't say anything to the others." + +And no one else ever knew the full history of the magazine that put in +its appearance at the beginning of the following month, with a greeting +to the stranger boy from his friends across the creek. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOME WITHOUT A MOTHER. + + +There was mutiny in the Burnam household. It had broken out the night +before, when Vic was saying his prayers in the presence of Mrs. +Pennypoker, who was supposed to be temporarily filling his mother's +place. At the petition for daily bread, Vic had stopped short. + +"Go on," said Mrs. Pennypoker, in slow, measured tones. + +Victor opened his eyes and glared at her with undevout opposition. + +"Don't want bread," he said firmly. "Vic likes biskies." + +"It means the same thing, Victor," answered Mrs. Pennypoker, in her hard +voice. "Now be a good little boy and finish your prayer, or God won't +listen to you, another time, when you are asking him for something." + +It was then that Vic had delivered himself of his first baby heresy, +which had been slowly working in his brain while Mrs. Pennypoker had +been urging him through his devotions, in a manner so unlike the tender +gentleness of his pretty mamma. + +"I don't like your God," he said deliberately, as he gazed up into the +cold, dark eyes above him; "I don't like your God a bit; I'm tired of +him. I want my mamma's." And, rising from his knees, he dived into bed, +where he burst out sobbing for mamma; nor would he be quieted until Mrs. +Pennypoker had left the room, and sent Allie up to comfort her baby +brother with repeated assurances that mamma would come by and by. + +Two days before this, Mrs. Burnam had received a note from her husband, +saying that a fall from his horse had bruised and strained him a little, +and that it seemed best for him to stay a few days at a small country +hotel, not far from his camp. In reality, it was only a slight affair; +but Mrs. Burnam had felt so uneasy that she had resolved to go to him, +to be at hand in case he might need any of the little attentions which +it would be hard for him to get, in the small town where he was left. +Since Victor would be only an additional care, she had decided not to +take him with her; but, remembering the emergency which had arisen +during her last absence, she had begged Mrs. Pennypoker to take charge +of the household for the time that she was away from home. + +This arrangement had not met with the entire approval of the young +people, it must be confessed; for Howard and Allie had hoped to be +allowed to pose as heads of the house, while Victor had lifted up his +voice in vigorous protest against the intruder. However, until Victor's +rebellion, the second night, there had been no open outbreak, although +there was an undercurrent of antagonism between Mrs. Pennypoker and the +children, which threatened an explosion at any moment. It was a new +experience for Howard and Allie to have their fun and laughter +repressed, and they were far from being ready to submit to it with a +good grace; while Janey had promptly ranged herself upon their side, and +manifested a monkey-like ingenuity in planning the pranks which were +making Mrs. Pennypoker's frown grow deeper at every moment. + +"Just look at Janey!" Howard had whispered to his sister, as the maid +came in at dinner-time, with the strings of her dainty white cap tied +under her chin, and the point standing up from her forehead like an old +woman's poke bonnet. + +Mrs. Pennypoker caught the whisper. Putting on her glasses, she turned +to glare at Janey, who received her stare with an unmoved countenance. + +"Jane," she said, with crushing dignity; "go back to the kitchen, and +arrange your cap properly." + +And Janey went, but it was not until she had given the two boys a look +which upset their gravity and forced them to retire behind their +napkins. She was gone for some moments, and when she reappeared her cap +was drawn far down over her face, and she came tiptoeing in with short, +mincing steps, to go through her serving with an exaggerated elegance, +bowing and smirking and flourishing her tray, with all the airs and +graces at her command. However, there was nothing to be done about it, +and Mrs. Pennypoker was forced to be content with ignoring her for the +present, while she frowned down any demonstrations of amusement on the +part of the children. The rest of the meal was hurried through in +silence, and as soon as it was over the young people shut themselves up +in Allie's room, to vent their indignation by talking over the events of +the past two days. + +"You don't catch anybody getting in ahead of Janey, though," said +Howard with a chuckle. "She's a match for even Mrs. Pennypoker." + +"I'm 'most afraid she'll get mad and go off," said Allie anxiously. +"Mrs. Pennypoker has just been nagging at her all day long, and Janey +won't put up with it. She isn't used to it, as Wang Kum is." + +"Even Wang Kum kicked, the other day," said Charlie, sitting down on the +footboard of the bed, and swinging his heels while he talked. "Grant +told me about it. Wang made a mistake and threw away all her soup she'd +made, just before dinner; and when she scolded him for it, he said he +'t'ought 'twas dish-water.' She gave him fits, scolded like everything, +till all at once he drew himself up and said: 'Old lady scold heap much; +Wang no be bossed by hens.' And he turned and walked off, and left her +standing there, with her mouth wide open." + +"Good enough for her!" applauded Howard. "I only hope Janey'll serve her +the same way." + +"I don't believe I do," said Allie thoughtfully. "She's here, and we'll +have to make the best of her. But don't you pity Ned and Grant, to have +to stand her all the time?" + +The predicted explosion was not slow in coming. Charlie had come in +after his lessons, the next morning, clasping a huge watermelon in his +arms, and, without a word to Mrs. Pennypoker, he had carried it through +to the kitchen. + +"Here, Janey," he called; "I'm awfully hungry, and if you'll cut this up +for us to eat now, before lunch, I'll give you a quarter of it. You'd +better do it, for it's the last one you'll get this year." + +With the zeal of her melon-loving race, Janey's eyes glistened, as she +received the treasure. + +"Dat's a gay one, Mars' Charlie!" she exclaimed, as she snapped her +fingers against its green rind, and listened delightedly to the clear, +crisp sound. "Janey'll cut it right up for you, befo' she sets de table +or anything. You all likes melons so well, you ought to see 'em we has +down Souf. Reckon you'd jus' about bu'st you'selves, eatin' 'em." + +She gave the melon one more ecstatic embrace, and dandled it fondly in +her arms for a moment; then she laid it carefully down on the table, +while she went for a knife. + + "'Wa-a-atermelon! + Green rind, red meat; + All juicy, so sweet. + Dem dat has money mus' come up an' buy; + And dem dat hasn't mus' stan' back an' cry + Wa-a-a-atermelon!'" + +She crooned to herself, as she returned with the knife in her hand, and +stuck it in, clear to the heart of the fruit before her. + +"What's that, Janey?" asked Allie, who had followed Charlie out into the +kitchen. + +"Dat? Dat's a song I done heard an ol' man singin', one day. He had some +melons to sell, out on de corner by my mudder's house, an' he kep' a +singin' it ober an' ober. Ah, dat's a fine one!" she added contentedly, +as the rich red heart of the melon appeared. She paused for a moment, +then she cocked her head on one side, as she gazed rapturously at the +great piece which Charlie offered her. "You all know how me an' my +brudder use' to eat our melons, when mammy wan' roun' to smack us?" she +inquired suddenly. + +"How'd you do it?" asked Charlie, laughing. + +"Dis way. See?" And clutching the piece in both hands, she buried her +face in it, and began to devour it, much as a squirrel gnaws the meat +out of a walnut. + +So absorbed was she in her enjoyment of her feast, that she did not hear +the door open and Mrs. Pennypoker come into the kitchen. + +"Jane!" said the strong voice. + +Janey started at the sound, and choked on a seed. + +"Yes, mis'," she responded as soon as she could speak, while she raised +her head from the rind. + +"What are you doing?" demanded Mrs. Pennypoker sternly. + +Her manner was not encouraging. There was a defiant flash in Janey's +eyes, as she said sullenly,-- + +"Ol' mis' done got eyes. What she s'pose I's doin'?" + +"But I told you to get the lunch." + +"I was goin' to, in a minute; but Mars' Charlie done wanted me to cut +his melon, an' I thought 'twouldn't make no difference." + +"You are not here to think; you are here to do the work," said Mrs. +Pennypoker magisterially. "If I tell you to do something, you must do +it." + +At the last words, Janey drew herself up to her full height and glared +at Mrs. Pennypoker. Something in the unconscious dignity of her figure, +as she stood there, seemed to dwarf her temporary mistress into +insignificance. + +"You cyarn' say mus' to me," she said in a slow, repressed tone. "Dese +ain' no slave days, an ol' mis' cyarn' make 'em so. I ain' no heathen +an' I ain' no slave. My mammy bought herself an' her husban', an' we's +all freeborn." + +She had moved forward a step or two, and thrown out her hand, while her +eyes gleamed with an angry luster. Suddenly she controlled herself. + +"I sha'n' say no mo'," she went on slowly; "'cause I might forget myself +an' be sassy, an' I don' wan' to do dat. But ol' mis' better not +interfere with me, an' say mus', or I'll pack my trunk an' not come back +till Mrs. Burnam comes home. She buys my time, an' while I'm yere I +belongs to her; but she don' bully me. _She's_ a lady like what we use' +ter have down Souf, befo' de war; not like you Yankees." + +Into her final sentence Janey had compressed all the scorn of which she +was capable. For a moment longer, she stood facing Mrs. Pennypoker; +then, turning on her heel, she left the room. + +Mrs. Pennypoker was the first one of the group to come to her senses. + +"That girl shall leave the house to-night," she exclaimed angrily. "I +won't have her here an hour longer." + +"You aren't going to send Janey off!" demanded Allie indignantly. + +"I certainly shall not keep her after what has occurred," returned Mrs. +Pennypoker coldly. + +"But you can't; she isn't yours. She's mamma's," remonstrated Allie. + +"I am taking your mother's place for the present, and I shall not retain +a servant who is so disrespectful," answered Mrs. Pennypoker again. "I +am surprised at you, Alice, for interfering in a matter which does not +belong to you." + +"It does belong to me, too," returned Allie mutinously. "Janey's a +splendid girl, and mamma just thinks everything of her. She'll never +forgive you, if you send her off; and what's more, I hope she won't; so +there, now!" + +"Alice!" And there was no mistaking the meaning of Mrs. Pennypoker's +tone. + +"I don't care if 'tis!" exclaimed Allie, with illogical recklessness. +"You're just too mean, and I don't blame Janey one bit." + +"Alice!" repeated Mrs. Pennypoker. "You may go to your room, and not +leave it again to-day. I shall tell your mother exactly what has +occurred." + +"Tell away!" returned Allie. "I just hope you will. I'm not afraid of +mamma; she's not so cross as some people." And forcing back the angry +tears, she walked away in the direction of her room, leaving the +half-frightened boys to look alter her in silent sympathy. + +Once in the safe retreat of her own room, Allie's courage broke down, +and, throwing herself on her bed, she began to cry convulsively, as she +realized all the injustice of her punishment, all the petty tyranny she +had borne for the past three days. For a few moments the sobs came +faster and faster. Then, when her first excitement was over, she began +to think. Mrs. Pennypoker ought to be ashamed of herself for abusing +them so; and how angry her mother would be when she knew it! Perhaps the +long day of loneliness and fasting would make her ill; then Mrs. +Pennypoker would be sorry. It might be that she would never get over it, +but would go into a decline. How they would all mourn for her! She went +on to plan the minutest details of her funeral with all the gloomy +cheerfulness of an undertaker; but, when she came to fancy the +loneliness of Howard and Charlie, the distressing picture overcame her, +and she began to sob once more. However, the tears would not flow quite +so readily this time; and, under all her pity for herself, she began to +wonder uneasily if, perhaps, she had not been a little hasty and rude to +Mrs. Pennypoker. It might be that her mother would not altogether +sympathize with her, after all. This was not an agreeable thought, and, +to silence it, she sprang up and crossed the room to put some cold +water on her flushed and swollen face. As she did so, she saw a slip of +paper tucked under the door, and she seized it eagerly, for it was +addressed to her, and in Charlie's writing. + +"Good for you, Allie!" it said. "Keep up your pluck till afternoon, and +we'll have some fun then." + +There was something encouraging in the boyish sympathy; and, as Allie +stood caressingly rubbing the note against her cheek, she found herself +wondering what he could mean by his reference to possible fun in the +afternoon. The outlook for the rest of the day did not seem to promise +much in the way of enjoyment; but Allie knew her cousin's ingenuity well +enough to rely upon his word, so she could resign herself to wait. + +The next hour was a long one to the young prisoner, who wandered +restlessly about the room, or tried to amuse herself with a book, +although all the time she was inwardly dwelling upon the ignominy of her +punishment, and dreading lest it should reach the ears of Marjorie and +the Everetts, or, worst of all, of Dr. Brownlee, whose good opinion she +especially desired to retain. At the end of the hour, Mrs. Pennypoker +herself appeared on the threshold, with a plate of crackers in one hand +and a glass of water in the other. Without a word to the captive, she +set the meagre lunch upon the table, and withdrew, locking the door +behind her. At this last insult, Allie's temper flashed up again. It was +enough to punish her so severely; but it was not necessary to distrust +her honor, and lock her up like a criminal. At least, she would not +touch the rations her jailer had left. Deliberately she picked them up, +and, going to the window, she threw out the water with a splash, and +tossed the crackers after it. She hesitated for a moment, and then +hurled the plate and glass after them, with an angry determination which +sent them crashing far across the uneven ground beneath her window. That +done, she sat down to read with a quieted conscience. + +Through the closed door she could hear Mrs. Pennypoker moving to and fro +about the house, and now and again Vic's baby voice fell upon her ears; +but, for the most part, the house was very still. At length she heard +some one calling her name in a low voice. Throwing aside her book, she +went to the door and listened intently, till she heard the call +repeated. This time it was evident that the sound came from outside the +window. She hurried across the room and threw it wide open. In a moment +more Charlie had scrambled into the room. + +"Hullo!" he remarked, as he tossed his cap into a chair. "You're awfully +warm in here, so let's leave the window open. We're safe enough, for +Mrs. Pennypoker can't hear us. Besides, Dr. Hornblower is in the parlor +talking to her, and she won't know anything more to-day." + +"But what are you going to do?" asked Allie, watching him in amazement, +as he seated himself at his ease and unbuttoned his light gray coat, to +expose to view a great round parcel concealed inside it. + +"I'm going to spend the afternoon with you, of course," returned Charlie +composedly. "You didn't s'pose I was going back on you after the way you +stuck to me last June? Well, not much! We could climb out of the window +and go off, but she'd be sure to find it out, and that would only make +it worse, so we'll stay here and have a lark." + +"You're a dear old boy, Charlie!" And Allie embraced him tempestuously. +"But how did you ever stand it to be shut in here so long, last summer? +This last hour has 'most killed me." + +"I wasn't all alone, you know, much of the time. But, I say, come off!" +he remonstrated, as Allie renewed her demonstrations of affection. "You +needn't stand my hair on end just because I've come. Here's a pie I +sniped off the pantry shelf, for I thought most likely you'd be hungry." + +"I'm nearly starved," answered Allie gratefully. "Mrs. Pennypoker did +bring me some crackers this noon, though." + +"Crackers aren't much good, and those are all gone by this time, aren't +they?" inquired Charlie scornfully. + +"Yes, every one; gone out of the window," returned her cousin +disdainfully. "Charlie MacGregor, I'd have starved to death before I +touched one of her old crackers!" + +"That's the way to talk," said Charlie approvingly. "She's a Tartar and +a Turk, Allie, and I'd like to tell her what I think of her--if I only +dared. But, if I did, she'd just lock us up in different rooms; and it's +more fun to be together." + +"I did tell her--Oh, dear, I wish mamma would come back," sighed Allie. +"How shall we ever stand it three more days, Charlie?" + +"Grin and bear it, mostly," returned Charlie, philosophically. "Janey's +packed up her clothes and gone off, and she says she won't step into +this house again till auntie gets back. I don't blame her; but Mrs. +Pennypoker'll have to turn cook, or else send over for Wang. But go on +and eat your pie, Allie, and you'll feel better. She's a Turk, I tell +you; but I'll see that auntie knows all about it, and I know she won't +think you're a bit to blame." + +"But, Charlie, you aren't going to stay here all this everlasting +afternoon," remonstrated Allie, as her woe yielded to the combined +influences of her cousin's consolation and his pie. "It isn't fair at +all, when you might be off with the boys having a good time." + +"Well, it strikes me this ought to be my innings," answered Charlie +quietly, while he settled his glasses on his nose and then took up the +book which his cousin had just tossed aside. "How many days and weeks, +I'd like to know, did you stay in here with me, when 't was hot and dark +and stuffy here! It's only fair that you should let me take my turn now. +You needn't talk to me, if you don't want to; but I shall stay here as +long as I choose, and you can't put me out, so you may as well make up +your mind to it." + +Two hours later, as Mrs. Pennypoker's step was heard in the hall +outside, Charlie quietly let himself drop from the window-sill. Then he +turned back to whisper,-- + +"Just don't you say anything about it, Allie; we aren't even now, and we +sha'n't be, very soon. Besides, it's worth all the rest to have the fun +of getting the inside track of her. Good-by till breakfast-time!" And he +vanished around the corner of the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +AT THE NINE-HUNDRED LEVEL. + + +Late October had come, and already the snow-line was creeping down the +mountain sides towards the little town in the canon. Occasional flurries +of snow filled the air, too, and the nights were sharp and frosty; but +in the middle of the day it was still warm and bright, with a clearer, +more bracing air than the summer had given, an air which tempted the +young people out for long walks and rides up and down the valley. Louise +often joined them in these expeditions, and it was no uncommon thing for +them to be overtaken by Dr. Brownlee, who generally begged permission to +spend a leisure hour with their party. This addition to their number was +always hailed with delight by the children; for while the doctor usually +took his place by the side of Louise, he was never too much absorbed in +his companion to join the boys in their fun, or to treat Allie and +Marjorie with the gentle chivalry which made them feel so grown up and +elegant, a chivalry that is so rarely shown to children, yet never +fails to afford them a delight even more keen than it gives to their +older sisters. + +Allie and the boys were coming up through the town, one Saturday +morning, after a brisk walk in the clear, crisp air. They had passed +"tin-can-dom," as Howard called the open field just below the town, +which was thickly strewn with these indigestible relics of past feasts, +and were just outside the fence separating Chinatown from its American +surroundings, when Allie stopped abruptly. + +"Look there!" she exclaimed, pointing over the low wall into the +enclosure, where the tiny log cabins were scattered irregularly about +the ground, and where long-tailed, moon-faced Chinamen were scuffling +aimlessly about. "Isn't that Vic?" + +"Where?" asked Howard, while Charlie added,-- + +"What an idea, Allie! Of course he wouldn't be in there." + +"Yes; but 'tis Vic. I know that long red coat of his," responded Allie +hastily. "Right in there, between those two log houses--see?" + +True enough, there in the forbidden ground of Chinatown stood Vic, his +red coat and fez making him a striking little figure against the dull +background of a rough log house, as he gazed intently up into the +yellow face of an elderly Chinaman, who was carrying two buckets of +water hanging from a yoke across his shoulders. + +"'Tis, after all; but what can he be doing there?" said Charlie, staring +in astonishment at the scene before him. + +"Never mind what he's doing," said Allie. "He ran away, I suppose; but +we must get him home. I'll wait here, while you go and bring him out. +Mamma'd be dreadfully frightened if she knew where he was. Now hurry!" + +The boys dashed away, and soon came back to her side, with the small +wanderer between them. Vic was in a state of open rebellion over this +abrupt ending to his explorations, and lifted up his voice in +lamentation, as Allie firmly turned his steps towards home. + +"Everybody went off," he explained in an aggrieved tone. "You went, and +Ben went, and papa went, and ven I went, too. And I will go back to see +the Moolly-cow-man." + +But his sister refused to be persuaded, and Vic's voice died away to a +whisper, as he continued to babble to himself of the wonders he had seen +in his walk. + +"There's one thing, Allie, that I don't get used to, in this country," +remarked Charlie, as they were crossing the main street; "and that's the +signs. See there!" And he pointed to a long, white building, one door of +which was surmounted with the sign, in great gilt letters: _Embalming +Emporium_; while a board, swinging out from its next-door neighbor, bore +the legend, _Shoos 1/2 Soled Here_. "But, I say," he added, as they came +in sight of the house; "what do you suppose Ned and Grant want? They've +camped out on our piazza, as if they meant to stay there. Hi--i!" he +shouted, waving his cap above his head. + +"Hurry u--up!" responded Ned, returning the salute with interest. + +"Thought you'd never come," added Grant, as they drew nearer. + +"What do you want?" asked Howard. + +But before Ned had time to reply, Allie interposed,-- + +"Just wait one minute, do, till I take Vic into the house to mamma. Is +she very much worried about him?" + +"Don't believe she is," answered Ned. "She didn't say anything about it. +Probably she hasn't missed him at all. Now," he resumed, as Allie came +back to the piazza; "I've been waiting here for thirty-nine ages and a +quarter; and I was just ready to give up and go home again. Papa sent me +up to tell you that he's going to take a crowd down the Blue Creek, this +afternoon, and to ask you if you don't want to come along with us." + +"I shouldn't think he'd dare take Charlie again, for fear he'd hoodoo it +all," said Grant disrespectfully. + +"Who's going?" asked Howard. + +"All of us; Cousin Euphemia and all; and Dr. Brownlee and Marjorie and +you. We're going to have an early dinner, and start at one, so we can go +through the smelter, after we come up. Cousin Euphemia is making her +will now, most likely; she didn't want to go, but papa talked her into +it. You'll be on hand; won't you?" + +"We'll be thar," responded Howard, with a twang that might have done +credit to Janey. + +"Isn't it fun to go!" said Allie delightedly. "I've always wanted to go +down, and never could. You and I will be the green ones, Charlie; all +the rest have been before." + +"The doctor and Cousin Euphemia haven't," said Ned. "But I'll take care +of you, Allie, and show you all there is to be seen. Come along, Grant; +we must be going." And the brothers departed in haste. + +Punctually at one o'clock, Charlie and his cousins were at the +Everetts', where they found that their party had received one unexpected +addition. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower had dropped in to dinner, and +common courtesy had made it necessary for Mr. Everett to invite him to +join the expedition. As they left the house, Louise, with her father and +Dr. Brownlee, took the lead, while close in the rear walked Dr. +Hornblower, edging forward as far as possible, in order to join in their +conversation, with an utter disregard of Mrs. Pennypoker, who had +attached herself to his side, and manifested every intention of +maintaining her position. The short walk through the town was quickly +taken; and it was still early in the afternoon when they stood beside +the shaft. Mr. Somers, Mr. Everett's assistant, was waiting for them +there; and, a few moments later, the new cage had come up the shaft, and +halted to receive them. + +"But what makes them call it a cage?" demanded Allie, eyeing with +disfavor the pair of heavy platforms before her "I thought 'twould have +openwork brass sides, like the elevators in Denver." + +"And hot and cold water, and gas, and all the other modern +improvements?" inquired Ned, as he helped himself to a pair of candles +in their iron sockets, and passed one of them on to Allie. "Don't be a +snob, Allie; you won't find much furniture down below." + +"You take Mrs. Pennypoker and my daughter, with the gentlemen, on the +upper deck, Somers," Mr. Everett was saying; "and I'll take these +children in the lower, and look out for them there." + +According to the usual method, the upper platform was brought to the +level of the ground, to receive its freight, before the cage was raised +the necessary seven feet, to allow Mr. Everett and the young people to +step on the lower floor. Then they slowly sank away from the light, +down, down, while Allie clutched Ned's protecting hand, and tried in +vain to enjoy her novel ride. At length they came to a halt at a broad, +square station, and the two decks of the cage were quickly unloaded. + +"This is the nine-hundred level," Mr. Everett told them, as they stood +grouped about him. "We have three more below,--they're one hundred feet +apart, you know,--and we're still sinking the shaft. The cage in that +next compartment is given up to the men who are doing the sinking." + +"It's a rich vein, then, I take it," said Dr. Brownlee. + +"A fine one, better than we supposed when we bought it. It dips down +sharply to the east, and we cross it at the five-hundred, so we don't +have to work so far in any one direction to strike it. You see, we run a +cross-cut straight out from the shaft, till we hit the vein; then we +turn both ways and run along through it; so, at every level, our +workings are like a great T, with the stem growing larger with every +hundred feet we go down." + +"And this is how deep?" asked Louise. + +"Nine hundred," repeated her father, while he hastily snatched Marjorie +out of the path of an ore car, which came thundering down the cross-cut +and turned abruptly into the station. + +"It's a solemn thing to feel that you are nine hundred feet from the +light," observed Mrs. Pennypoker, as she gathered her skirts more +closely about her. + +"Yes," responded the Reverend Gabriel, waving his right hand, lamp and +all; "it reminds one of the mighty power of the earthquake, when it +stoops to trample on a worm." + +Then they were silent, as they followed Mr. Everett through the long +gallery, pausing now and then near one of the electric lights that +dotted the corridor, to listen to his off-hand explanations of the work +below ground. Dr. Brownlee appeared to be especially interested in the +subject. + +"How do you get the ore on the cage?" he asked. "Do you run it on, car +and all, or do you unload it?" + +"How little these Eastern folks do know!" remarked the Reverend Gabriel, +in an audible aside to Louise. + +"Perhaps we should all be better off, if we knew more about it," she +replied, with a touch of coldness in her tone, as she turned her back +upon the Reverend Gabriel, and took her place at her father's side, +where she met the amused glance of Dr. Brownlee, who had overhead both +remarks. + +"They signal the cage, and run the car on it," answered Mr. Everett. "We +don't let but one man ring for the engineer. He has to stay near one of +the stations, where he can hear; and when the miners want him, they go +to the station and pound their signal on one of the water-pipes, for him +to repeat. We had a green hand, though, that tried to improve on our +plan, a few years ago. He attempted to catch the cage on the fly, as it +went up past him; and he actually aimed the car at it, and ran it down." + +"Did he hit it?" asked Charlie. + +"Hardly," returned Mr. Everett, laughing. "The cage was too quick for +him, and went on up; and both the car and the man fell clear to the +bottom of the shaft." + +"Oh-h!" And Marjorie's eyes grew round with horror. "I should think +'twould have hurt him awfully." + +"Well, yes, Marjorie; I should have thought it would," said Howard, +mimicking her tone, while the others joined in the laugh at her expense. + +Then they went on to the end of the cross-cut, and, turning at a sharp +angle, they came into the drift, the long gallery running through the +vein. For some distance, the drift, like the cross-cut, was lined with +timbers, then the lining ceased, as they neared the end of the drift, +where the miners were hard at work, drilling for fresh blasts, or +tearing out the ore loosened by the last explosion, and loading it into +the little car which stood ready to be run down the track to the +station. Seven feet above, so that the roof of the lower level formed +the flooring of the next, was another short gallery, where the men were +busy stoping, digging out the ore from the upper tier. Dingy and grimy +as they were, it was fascinating to watch them, burrowing, like so many +moles, in the depths of the earth. The visitors lingered to look at them +until they were frightened away by the preparations for a blast; then +they slowly made their way back to the station, pausing a moment to +watch a loaded car, as it rolled from the rails to the polished steel +flooring, and swung around the corner into position, to wait for the +cage. Mr. Everett looked at his watch. + +"I'm sorry to hurry you," he said; "but I think we ought to be going; +don't you, Somers? It's change day; and at three the cages will be +full." + +"Change day!" remarked Charlie to his cousin, in an undertone; "what's +that?" + +"Hush!" she whispered. "Don't show Dr. Hornblower how little you know. +Remember that you're from the East, too." + +But Dr. Brownlee was animated by no such motives of prudence, and +quietly asked for an explanation of the term. + +"We have two sets of men," Mr. Everett answered. "The day shift goes on +at seven, and works till half past five; and the night one comes on at +seven in the evening, and stays till half past five in the morning. Of +course that's harder on one set of men than the other, so, once in two +weeks, we have what we call change day. The day shift goes on at seven, +and works till three; then the night fellows come right on and stay till +eleven; and the old day shift comes back at eleven. By the next morning, +you see, their places are just changed, and the night men are working in +the daytime. Now," he added, as he stepped to the shaft, to ring his own +private signal; "we'll go up and take a look through the smelter +before--Why, where are Mrs. Pennypoker and Dr. Hornblower?" + +There was a startled pause. No one had seen the missing members of the +party since they had left the head of the drift, although they had +supposed them to be following close behind their companions. Turning, +they looked back up the cross-cut, but there was no Mrs. Pennypoker in +sight. It seemed impossible that they could have lost their way, in a +long, straight corridor, less than ten feet wide; some accident must +have befallen them. Worst of all, there was no time for delay; the cage +had just come for them, and in the distance could be heard the steps of +the approaching miners, as they came in for the change of shift. + +"We mustn't keep the cage waiting for us, now," said Mr. Everett +hastily. "You go up with the others, Somers, and I'll go back and look +them up. They can't be far off." + +Turning, he walked rapidly back up the cross-cut, expecting at every +moment to meet the truants, so sure was he that they had only loitered +along behind the others, absorbed in discussing the spiritual welfare of +Wang Kum and his Mongolian brethren. It was not until he had turned into +the drift, and paused to question a group of miners whom he met there, +that he began to be seriously alarmed. The men had not seen Mrs. +Pennypoker and her escort since they had all been together at the head +of the drift. Mr. Everett felt no hesitation in accepting their +statement, for, in their ignorance of the relationship between the +superintendent and his cousin, the miners spoke of Mrs. Pennypoker's +appearance in such unguarded terms as left him no room to doubt their +knowledge of the person for whom he was seeking. However, he still kept +on to the head of the drift, thinking it possible that they might be in +some dark corner, though he could think of no reason which should tempt +them to conceal themselves in any such fashion. But his quest was +unavailing, and, facing about, he returned to the head of the cross-cut +where he paused, uncertain what course to pursue. Then he opened his +mouth and shouted their names, with the full power of his strong bass +voice. The sound echoed up and down through the galleries and then died +away, to be followed by a high-pitched feminine shriek. + +The cry came from the opposite end of the drift from the one which they +had been exploring, and Mr. Everett turned his steps in that direction. +This end had been abandoned, some days before, in consequence of a +serious leak in the pipes connecting with the pump; and it was now only +lighted for a short distance beyond the mouth of the cross-cut. Now that +the pump had ceased, the water had settled over the floor, to form a +deep, thick clay which rendered progress slow and difficult. He had just +passed the last electric light and was proceeding even more cautiously +than before, when he came to an abrupt halt. The feeble glimmer of his +miner's lamp had fallen upon a strange picture, and one whose meaning he +was not slow to grasp. + +At one side of the drift and leaning against the wall, stood Mrs. +Pennypoker, with one foot drawn up under her, much in the attitude of a +meditative hen. A few feet away from her, the doctor was bending +forward, with his lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud. + +[Illustration: "His lamp extended in one hand, while with his other he +held his cane, which he was poking about in the soft, sticky mud."] + +"Well," said Mr. Everett at length, after he had watched them in +silence, during some moments; "what are you doing here?" + +The Reverend Gabriel and Mrs. Pennypoker both started guiltily. So +interested had they been in their search, that they had been unconscious +of Mr. Everett's approach until he stood before them. In her surprise, +Mrs. Pennypoker came near losing her balance, and, to support herself, +she put down her other foot. It was a shapely foot, and was covered with +an immaculate white stocking, for Mrs. Pennypoker still adhered to some +of the fashions of her far-off youth. Then the Reverend Gabriel +answered. + +"We inadvertently strayed from our way and came into this place, without +realizing whither our steps were leading us," he said, while he +continued to prod the mud before him; "and at length we fell, as you +might observe, into the miry clay. I had just suggested the expediency +of our return, when Mrs. Pennypoker--um--in short, met with an accident +which unduly detained us and--ah, I have it!" he exclaimed triumphantly, +as he carefully worked his stick put through the earth, and extended it +in mid-air, with a shapeless, dripping mass hanging on its tip. + +No further explanation was needed. Mrs. Pennypoker, as has been said, +still clung to some of the fashions of bygone days; and, among other +similar foibles, she cherished a fondness for congress gaiters, and +invariably wore those feeble apologies for shoes whose limp cloth uppers +are held in place by means of elastic wedges at the sides. In arraying +herself for her visit to the mine, with characteristic New England +thrift, she had put on an ancient pair of these gaiters, whose elastic +sides had long since lost all their spring, and lay in ample folds about +her ankles. + +As Mr. Everett had surmised, his cousin, feeling no deep interest in the +mine, had fallen into a theological discussion with her pastor. This had +so engrossed them both that they had lost their way, and had only come +to their senses when they found themselves in the dark, muddy passage of +the deserted drift. They had hastily turned to retrace their steps, +when Mrs. Pennypoker's foot slipped and plunged deep down into the clay; +and, on her withdrawing it, she was horrified to feel that her foot was +slowly but surely pulling out of her gaiter, instead of pulling her +gaiter out with it. In vain she had attempted to work her foot down into +her shoe once more; in vain she had endeavored to hook her bent toes +into it, with a hold sufficient to draw it out. The mischief was done, +and she could only lift up her foot, while the soft mud quickly settled +in above the gaiter, and left no trace of the spot where it lay +embedded. + +It was evidently impossible for her to wade back to the cross-cut +without it, and her size, age and dignity all combined to make it +equally impossible for her to hop on one foot as far as the cross-cut; +so she had been forced to come to a halt, while her companion prospected +about in the earth, to find the vein in which his treasure was buried. +At last it was found; but not even Mrs. Euphemia Pennypoker could +present a dignified appearance as she received her muddy shoe from the +end of the Reverend Gabriel's cane, drew it on to her foot, and walked +away towards the station, with mingled clay and water oozing out from +her gaiter, at her every step. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE OLD STORY. + + +Once more winter had come, and the snow lay deep and white over the +little camp. The pines on the mountain sides looked a hazy blue against +the glistening slopes, and the bald white summits of the mountains +themselves stood out in bold relief against the clear blue heavens. Even +the night sky was changed at that altitude, for the stars glittered down +through the cold, still air, with an intensity which made them look like +gleaming bits of metal scattered over the dense, dark-blue clouds; while +often and often the north was lighted with the glare of the pale aurora +which streamed far across the sky, in long, waving banners of rose color +or light green. + +"But I like the way you people out here make fun of New England +weather," remonstrated Charlie one day, as he stood in the front window, +watching a sudden flurry of snow sweep down through the canon. "When I +went down town to get the mail, this morning, it was raining so hard +that I wore my mackintosh; but, by the time I was at the post-office, +the sun was shining. I walked straight back home again, and it was +hailing when I came up the steps. What sort of a climate do you call it, +anyway?" + +"A perfect one," returned Allie loyally. + +"Not much! Montana buys up the job lots of weather left over from the +other States, and cuts them up small before she serves them out again, +just as they happen to come. Montana weather and Montana slang are the +two richest crops in the State." + +The past two months had been unbroken by any event of marked importance. +Between their lessons and their frolics, the time of the young people +had been well filled, and the days had hurried by, without any one's +stopping to ask where they had gone. At the Burnams', life was going on +smoothly and pleasantly, although Mr. Burnam was now busy in the field, +hurrying to accomplish all that he could, before the storms of February +should drive his party out of the mountains, until the spring thaws made +field work possible once more. + +By way of helping to pass the long winter evenings, Charlie had tried to +bribe Allie to become his pupil and, after his hour of practice was +ended, he usually took her in hand for a time, in a vain endeavor to +teach her to play. But, in spite of her desire to please her cousin, +Allie had neither the patience nor steadiness needful to keep her at the +piano; and she much preferred to settle herself comfortably in front of +the fire, and listen to her cousin's performances, rather than go +through the drudgery of scales and exercises, upon which Charlie +insisted, as the orthodox preparation for later work. Accordingly, +Allie's music usually ended in a playful skirmish which sent Charlie +back to the piano, to beguile her into good temper again, by means of +some favorite melody. On rare occasions, when she was uncommonly meek, +or when all other employment failed, she would be coaxed into running up +and down over a few scales; but, in the end, her fingers invariably +became snarled up with her thumbs; and, after one or two discordant +crashes on the keys, she gave it up and threatened to buy a hand-organ +for her contribution to the family music. + +Her singing appeared to succeed no better. While she had a sweet, +flexible voice, and went about the house singing softly to herself, as +soon as she approached the piano a spirit of perversity seemed to enter +into her, and she wandered along at her own sweet will, perfectly +regardless of the time and key of the accompaniment with which Charlie +was struggling to follow her. At length her cousin was forced to abandon +his efforts and allow her to drop back into her old place as listener, a +part which she always played with perfect success and contentment, while +he turned his attention to the others. Grant was taking banjo lessons +now, and Ned occasionally strummed a little on the venerable guitar +which Louise had thrown aside in favor of her mandolin; so their little +orchestra was frequently in demand to fill in gaps in an evening's +entertainment. Howard and Marjorie, too, were ready to add their share +of music, for they had toiled away in secret till they had mastered one +or two simple duets, which they invariably sang whenever an opportunity +offered. + +In the mean time, a warm friendship had developed between Mr. Everett +and Dr. Brownlee. The young doctor was now a frequent guest at the +superintendent's house, where he had quickly become popular with them +all, even to Mrs. Pennypoker, who never failed to array herself in her +best gown and unbend her majesty whenever he was expected to appear. The +acquaintance started during their camping expedition had rapidly +ripened into a mutual liking, and it was surprising to see how often the +younger man found time to drop in at Mr. Everett's office, late in the +afternoon, for a few minutes' conversation. Once there, it was only +natural that he should walk home with his friend, and, after a little +polite hesitation, accept his invitation to come in for a call. Little +by little the calls grew in length until, from accepting occasional +invitations to dine, the doctor came to stay, quite as a matter of +course, although he still made a feeble pretence of rising to go away, +before yielding to their suggestion of dinner and a game of whist later +on in the evening. At length, even this form was abandoned, and it grew +to be an established fact that, whenever the doctor dropped in for an +afternoon call, an extra plate and chair should be included in the +dinner preparations, and that the card table should be brought out as +soon as the meal was over. It also soon came to be a matter of course +that Louise and the doctor should always play together, while Mr. +Everett and Mrs. Pennypoker ranged themselves against them, and devoted +their attention to the game with unswerving vigilance. Not even Mrs. +Pennypoker had been able to withstand the doctor's genial, hearty +manner; and, in his presence, she laid aside her eye-glasses and her +dignity, and laughed at all his jokes in an appreciative fashion, which +Ned and Grant were quite at a loss to understand, since she never paid +the slightest heed to their attempts at facetiousness. + +In spite of the strict etiquette of the game which demands such perfect +silence and watchfulness, it is strange how rapidly a newly-formed +acquaintance can grow into strong friendship around a whist table. +Everything conspires to help it on: the absorption of the opponents in +their own hands; the chivalrous offer, on one side, to do all the +dealing, and the grateful accepting of the courtesy on the other; and, +most of all, the moment of hesitation over a doubtful play, followed by +the silent meeting of the eyes, as the trick falls to one or the other. +And yet, neither Louise nor Dr. Brownlee realized in the least whither +they were so rapidly drifting. The doctor still regarded Mr. Everett as +his chief friend in the family, and thankfully accepted his hospitality, +which broke in so pleasantly upon his solitary life at the +boarding-house, where the long table was presided over by his landlady, +with her cap awry and her sleeves rolled to her elbows, while she +gossiped volubly with her boarders, in the intervals of her skirmishes +with the frowsy waiting maid. And Louise? She only knew that she enjoyed +the society of the young doctor, just as her father and Mrs. Pennypoker +appeared to enjoy it; but, all unconsciously to herself, her young life +was rounding out with a new, sweet meaning; and the womanhood opening +before her was daily gaining fresh inspiration and purpose, from the +influence of the true, earnest manhood of their frequent guest. + +But the time had slipped away and Christmas was at hand. The week before +the festival found the young people much absorbed in a little +entertainment, to be given for the benefit of some local charity, in +which they were all to take a part. Mr. Nelson had started the project, +and had called upon Dr. Brownlee and Louise to help him form and carry +out his plans. After much discussion, it had been arranged to have an +hour of music and readings, followed by a play in which the doctor and +Louise, Charlie, Marjorie, and Allie should be the actors. The play was +quickly chosen, a little French one which Louise had translated, and +adapted to their meagre resources of costume and scenery; and the +rehearsals had been going on for some weeks, until the success of the +enterprise was sufficiently assured to allow them to announce their +plans and decide upon the date. The dress rehearsal had been held before +a select audience of fathers and mothers, who were hearty in their +praises of the saucy maid and the irrepressible young brother, while +they thoroughly enjoyed the spirited acting of Louise, who, in the +person of the widowed mother, did all that lay in her power to thwart +the flirtations between the doctor and Allie, until her efforts were set +at naught by the disloyalty of her maid and the traditions of amateur +acting, which demand a happy ending to every love affair. + +The little hall was well filled, the next evening. Audiences in Blue +Creek were often rather mixed; and, on this particular occasion, rich +and poor, young and old, had gathered, to show their interest in a +worthy cause, and their liking for the young actors, whose unvarying +kindness and courtesy had made them favorites throughout the town. Even +Janey's black face looked on from the background, while far at one side +sat Wang Kum with two of his friends, whom he had persuaded to buy +tickets, as a proof of their loyalty to Louise. + +Behind the scenes there reigned the usual confusion, preparatory to the +rising of the curtain. Moreover, in some quarters, there existed grave +doubts of the curtain's being prevailed upon to rise at all, since, the +night before, it had persistently stuck fast, at two feet from the +floor. At length all was in readiness for the first part of the program, +and Charlie had just stepped forward to make his bow, before seating +himself at the piano, when the doctor hurriedly approached Louise. + +"Can you spare me, for three quarters of an hour?" he asked. "I've just +heard, by the merest chance, that the evening train is off the track, +down in the cut below the station. The engine jumped the track, and +pulled the baggage car after it; they both rolled over, and they say one +man is hurt. Nobody has sent for me; but I'd like to just run down, and +see if I can be of any use." + +For a moment, Louise looked aghast at the idea of losing her chief actor +and assistant. Then she said cordially,-- + +"Go, of course. We'll arrange to do without you, in some way." + +The doctor's eyes thanked her; but he wasted no time in mere words, as +he went on hastily,-- + +"I wouldn't say anything to the audience, for 'twould just break up the +whole affair. If you'll put off my reading till just before your last +duet with Charlie, I'll be here, unless there's serious trouble. If +there is any reason that I can't come, I'll send word at once." And he +was gone. + +The program of the first part of the evening was drawing smoothly to its +close. Charlie had delighted his audience with his playing, both alone +and with the Everett boys; Howard and Marjorie had sung a new duet, +which they had learned, in honor of the occasion; and Allie had +convulsed her more critical hearers with a recitation, which she had +rendered with an originality of tone and gesture that would have struck +terror to the followers of Delsarte, even though it had won her the +first encore of the evening. Then, after a moment's enjoyment of the +continued applause which had followed her disappearance from the stage, +she came back once more, and gave them "Aunt Tabitha." She threw herself +into it with an abandonment of fun which, in itself, would have been +enough to show her sympathy with the trend of the poem, while she could +not forbear glaring defiantly down upon Mrs. Pennypoker's uplifted +countenance, as she delivered herself of the closing lines, with a +fervor that astonished her audience,-- + + "'But when to the altar a victim I go, + Aunt Tabitha'll tell me _she_ never did so.'" + +And she swept off from the little stage, in a parting storm of cheers. + +In the mean time, Louise had heard nothing from Dr. Brownlee; and she +was beginning to grow uneasy, for the time for his reading was at hand, +and the play was to follow it almost immediately. She was just resolving +to give up all hope, and bring the entertainment to a hasty close, when +she saw the doctor come hurrying in at the side door. She turned to +Charlie MacGregor, who chanced to be standing near her. + +"Will you help me out, Charlie?" she asked. "Go on again, and +play--anything, I don't care what, just to give Dr. Brownlee time to get +his breath." + +"But strikes me they've had about all of me they can stand," demurred +Charlie. + +"Never mind if they have," said Louise. "There isn't anybody else that +can appear, at a minute's warning. Go, please." + +The next moment the doctor was by her side. + +"Miss Everett, have you any powder?" he asked, laughing a little, as he +pointed to a great purplish bruise on the side of his forehead. + +"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed in alarm. "What is it? Are you hurt?" + +"Hush!" he said, in a low voice, though he was conscious of a quick +sense of pleasure at the anxiety of her tone. "It's only a bump; but it +doesn't look well, and I don't want it to show. Can't you cover it up +somehow, before I go on?" + +"Come this way," she said hastily. "I'm not much used to powder, but +I'll see what I can do. Tell me," she begged, as the doctor dropped into +a chair; "what has happened? It's a bad bruise, and your cheek is cut; +what was it?" + +"I was helping them get the man out of the car, and one of the beams +fell against me; that's all. I found the new doctor, Dr. Hofer, in +charge; so I just helped him lift the man out, and then came back here," +he answered as lightly as he could, and without adding a word about the +moments that he himself had lain there stunned from the force of the +blow on his head. + +Louise looked down at him anxiously. His face was white, and his hands +were a little unsteady. + +"Please don't try to read, Dr. Brownlee," she urged. "I'm sure you don't +feel able." + +"I'm all right," he said, rousing himself with a forced laugh; "if you +can cover up the spot so it won't show. I don't want them to think I've +been fighting." + +He resigned himself into her hands, while she hunted among the +properties for the powder-puff and the comb, and then did her best to +conceal the great bruise on his temple, which had quickly swollen and +turned dark. But, even as she did so, she felt a sudden impulse to drop +the puff and run away, rather than meet the earnest gaze of the gray +eyes looking so steadily up into her own, and listen to the quiet "Thank +you," which greeted the end of the toilet, as the doctor rose and +stepped forward to take his place on the stage. + +At the suggestion of Mr. Nelson, he had decided to read "Elizabeth"; and +Louise, as she stood at the side of the stage, listening to the quaint +old tale of the Quaker wooing, found herself forgetting all her +surroundings in the interest of the familiar story. Dr. Brownlee had +turned a little to one side, in order to conceal his discolored temple +from the audience, and this brought him into a position directly facing +the young woman who, quite unconsciously, made a charming picture in +the gown she had donned for the play. Just in the act of turning a leaf +of the book in his hand, the doctor raised his eyes, and they rested +upon her fair young face. As he did so, there rushed into his mind the +memory of her womanly pity and gentleness in caring for his bruise, and +he seemed to feel again the touch of her light hands upon his hair. He +paused; then, with his gaze still fixed upon her, he went on in his +quiet voice, low, but so distinct that not a syllable was lost on its +hearers,-- + + "'I have something to tell thee, + Not to be spoken lightly, nor in the presence of others. + Them it concerneth not, only thee and me it concerneth.'" + +Just then Louise raised her eyes to his; but, as she met the intentness +of his look, her own eyes drooped, while the color rushed to her cheeks +and then fled again. For a moment more the doctor's eyes rested upon +her, then he went on with his reading; but his voice was unsteady and +his heart was throbbing with the sudden new hope that had come to him. + +The reading was ended, and the curtain fell amid the enthusiastic +applause of the audience, who devoted the intermission to discussing +the performers, with a perfect unconsciousness of the fact that two of +them had entered upon a new life during the past hour. Though their +secret was as yet unspoken, that one look had taught both Louise and Dr. +Brownlee that the stories of their future lives were written in the same +volume. Already they had glanced at the preface, and soon the first +chapter would lie open in their hands. + +But now there was no time for any such thoughts, for chaos once more +reigned behind the scenes, as the actors hastily dressed for the play; +and, within a few moments, the curtain rose again upon the transformed +scene. Howard and the Everett boys, who had finished their share in the +program, had come out into the audience in order to get a better view of +the stage. After a little hesitation, they had discovered some vacant +seats behind Wang Kum and his friends, who were sitting spellbound in +their admiration of the scenes before them. For a time the boys listened +attentively; but a constant attendance at the rehearsals had made the +play an old story to them, and their interest began to flag. Grant was +lazily leaning back in his seat, with one hand outstretched, +abstractedly swinging Wang Kum's pigtail to and fro, when Ned suddenly +started up, with a naughty sparkle in his dark eyes. + +"Say, Howard, haven't you a piece of string in some of your pockets?" he +whispered. + +"I d'know," answered Howard, in the same stealthy tone. "What you want?" + +Ned bent over to speak a few low words in his ear, and both the boys +began to giggle. + +"What's the joke?" inquired Grant curiously; while Howard dived into one +pocket after another. + +Ned cautiously imparted the secret to his brother, who received it with +manifest delight; then he took possession of the dozen or more scraps of +twine that Howard had produced, and tied them together to form one long +string. This done, he appeared to lose all consciousness of the people +around him, in the interest of the play, for he bent forward with his +hands on his knees and stared fixedly at the stage. A moment later he +drew a long breath and leaned back in his chair. Then it became apparent +that his hands had not been idle, for one end of the string was securely +tied about the tip of Wang Kum's queue, and woven in and out through the +openwork back of his chair, while the rest of the string was in Howard's +hands, to be passed on in turn to Grant. Five minutes afterwards the +three unconscious Chinamen were firmly lashed to their seats and the +boys had once more disappeared behind the scenes. + +The play was at last ended, and the actors were called before the +curtain for one final round of applause, in which the Chinamen joined +with unflagging zeal. Then the audience rose to leave the hall, and the +miners respectfully stood aside to let their superintendent and his +party take the lead. Wang and his brethren still sat quiet, watching the +people flock past them, with an evident determination to stay until the +very end; but at length they too grasped their hats and started to rise. +The next instant there was a clattering of chairs, followed by three +startled howls, which broke upon the air and turned every face in the +same direction. There in a row stood the three Chinamen, ruefully +rubbing the backs of their heads, while their little almond eyes seemed +to be popping out from their sockets, with surprise and with the +unwonted strain upon their scalps. From the end of every pigtail dangled +one of the light folding chairs which filled the room. Howard's strings +were as strong as Ned's knots were firm. The Chinamen had not risen from +their seats; their seats had risen with the Chinamen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MR. ATHERDEN. + + +"Really and truly, Charlie, I never should have known you; you look so +perfectly elegant." + +"Thank you, ma'am!" And Charlie bowed low before his cousin, who joined +him in the laugh at the unexpected form that her intended compliment had +taken. + +"You know what I mean," she said saucily. "Of course, you're always a +dear old boy, even if you aren't a beauty. But now there's a sort of +young man look to you, that makes me half afraid of you." + +"Perhaps, if you stayed so, you'd treat me a little better," suggested +Charlie teasingly. "I feel most uncommon queer, though. Do you honestly +like the looks, Allie?" + +Allie dropped into an easy-chair, and surveyed him from head to foot. + +"Now turn around very slowly," she commanded; "and then walk off a few +steps, so. Yes," she added, after an admiring pause; "you really do +look very well, considering who you are; only I never, never should know +you. It just changes you all over, and makes you seem four or five years +older." + +"Wish I were!" remarked Charlie meditatively. "Only I should be ready +for college then, and have to go back East and leave you. What a jolly +year this has been!" + +"Yes, it has," assented Allie absently. She was still looking up at her +cousin, with a feeling of sisterly pride in the tall, straight figure +before her. + +Montana had evidently agreed with the boy, for, during the year he had +spent there, he had grown so rapidly as to leave Howard far below him. +Contrary to the custom of most boys, he bore his added inches with +perfect ease, and had entirely escaped the stage of awkward +consciousness, which falls to the lot of nearly all growing lads. Even +now, young as he was, there was a quiet dignity in his manner which, +combined with his manly figure, made it seem high time that he should +take the first marked step towards man's estate, and leave off +knickerbockers. The new suit, ordered from New York, had come that day; +and Charlie had dressed himself up in it, and appeared before Allie, to +demand her respectful attention. + +Had Charlie attired himself in a checked apron and sunbonnet, it would +have seemed a thoroughly admirable costume to his cousin's eyes; but, on +this particular evening, Allie's praise was well-merited, for the new +suit was unmistakably a success. Charlie was one of those few, but +fortunate boys who can wear even shabby clothes with an air that gives +them a certain elegance; and he had grace enough to enable him to escape +the usual awkwardness, which comes to the young girl in managing her +first train, to the boy in appearing in his first long suit. As Allie +had said it made him look much older and more dignified, until she +almost felt that she had lost her jovial playfellow, and stood in the +presence of a fine young man. Still, she liked the change, as long as it +really was the same old Charlie; and she continued to watch him, while a +little contented smile gathered about the corners of her mouth. + +"Yes," she repeated; "I should hardly have known you. Come here a +minute, and I can change you so you wouldn't recognize yourself a bit." + +Charlie laughed at the seriousness of her tone, as he seated himself on +the arm of her chair, while she patted and poked at his hair, until she +had parted it in the middle and brushed it away from his forehead, where +it usually lay in a close, short fringe. She studied the effect for a +moment; then she gently pulled off his glasses. + +"Poor old boy!" she said caressingly, as she drew her finger down along +the narrow white scar that crossed his upper lid. "You still carry your +beauty-spot; don't you? I wish 'twould go away." + +"What for? Does it show so very much?" asked Charlie. + +"No, not a bit, with your glasses on; but I never like to think back to +that horrid day," she replied, with a frown. "I was sure you were going +to die, or something." + +"Well, I didn't. You see, I'm tough," returned Charlie placidly. +"Besides, we had some good fun together, after the first week or two. +But how do you like the looks?" + +"Your own great-grandmother wouldn't have any idea who you were," said +Allie decidedly. + +"Most likely not," observed Charlie. + +"But just you go and look in the glass, and see for yourself!" And Allie +sprang up, and dragged her cousin to the nearest mirror. All at once +she began to caper madly about the room. + +"What's struck you, Allie?" inquired Charlie, pausing in his +contemplation of himself to stare at his excited cousin. + +"I've just had the most lovely idea," said Allie incoherently. "It's too +much fun for anything, and we must do it." + +"Do what?" + +"Well, now you see here," she was beginning, with sudden solemnity, when +her cousin interrupted her,-- + +"Give me my glasses, then." + +"Yes, I know that; but listen! Don't you wear your suit again this week, +nor tell anybody you have it, and don't let Howard tell, either. Next +Tuesday is Mrs. Fisher's 'At Home,' you know; and we'll dress you up, +and you can go over there, and everybody will take you for a strange +young man. Won't it be fun?" + +"Fine!" responded Charlie, as he led the way back to the parlor, and +took his favorite position, leaning against the mantel. "Only I'm afraid +everybody'd know me." + +"Truly they wouldn't," answered Allie. "Can't you buy a mustache down at +Bright's? That would finish it all up, and nobody would ever have any +idea who you are. You're as tall as papa is, now." + +"Well, I'll think about it," said Charlie. "I'm a little bit afraid to +try, only it would be such immense fun. You keep mum about it, though, +and maybe we can put it through." + +Allie carried her point; and, directly after dinner, the next Tuesday +evening, Howard was solemnly warned not to go near his room. A little +later Allie knocked at the door and was admitted. Just across the +threshold, she stopped in surprise and delight, as she caught sight of +the elegant young man who rose to meet her. + +"How perfectly splendid!" she exclaimed. "Where did you ever get such a +mustache? It just matches your hair, and looks as if it must grow on." + +"Hope I don't lose it off!" returned Charlie fervently, as he rendered +himself temporarily cross-eyed, in his efforts to catch a glimpse of the +silky thatch on his upper lip. "But I wish you'd take my hair in hand, +Allie; it's so used to a bang, that it just won't stay parted." + +"Let me try." And Allie took the comb, and devoted herself to coaxing +her cousin's refractory locks to lie in the desired position. "It wants +to be just in the middle, for you're going to be the dearest little +dudelet you ever saw. Now take off your glasses." + +"Oh, I must have those," remonstrated Charlie. "I'm blind as a bat +without them, and I shall be sure to run into something, and tip it +over." + +"No, you won't," said Allie composedly. "If you wear them, people will +be sure to know you." + +"But, if I take them off, my scar will show," argued Charlie; "and that +will give it all away. But, I say, I have some eye-glasses somewhere, +that the oculist gave me, to start with. I don't ever wear them, 'cause +they wouldn't stick to my nose. I lost them off into the soup, the first +night at dinner, and I bought my spectacles early the next morning; but +perhaps I can keep them on now." + +"I should think you ought to; your nose is large enough," remarked +Allie, with calm disrespect. "But get them; I can tell better when I see +them." + +There was an interval of silence, while Charlie rummaged in his bureau +drawers. At length he unearthed the little case from a box containing an +odd assortment of light hardware, broken knives, stray nails, an awl or +two, and a collection of trout reels and flies. + +"Here 'tis," he said. "I remember now; I used it to wind my best line +on. How will they go?" And he turned to face his cousin, with a +conscious laugh which promptly dislodged the glasses from his nose. + +"That's better," said Allie approvingly; "they don't look a bit the +same. I don't like them as well as I do the spectacles, for all the +time; but they change you more. Now remember to be very easy and +elegant, and don't act shy. Behave as if you thought you were very good +to speak to them, and they'll like you all the better. And be sure you +don't go too early." + +"But what are you going to do now?" demanded Charlie, as she turned to +the door. "You aren't going to be mean enough to leave me here all +alone, till it's time to go?" + +"I'm going to dress me," returned Allie. "I begged an invitation from +Marjorie, and I'm going over there with mamma. You don't suppose that +I'm going to lose all the fun, do you?" And she departed. + +Society in Blue Creek was by no means as simple as a stranger might have +been led to expect. During the winter months, there were few evenings +that were not given up to some entertainment; and the little set to +which the Burnams and Fishers and Everetts belonged were the gayest of +the gay, with dinner parties and impromptu dances following one another +in rapid succession. The enjoyment of these festivities was in no wise +marred by the fact that one always met exactly the same people. Though +the resources of the camp were not great, yet this set of friends was a +thoroughly congenial one, consisting, as it did, of a dozen or more +young married couples, together with several stray bachelors and a very +few older people. Young women were deplorably scarce in Blue Creek, and, +for a year, Louise had been the acknowledged belle among them, as she +would have been, however, in the face of many rivals. Strangers, who +were attracted to her side by her beauty, remained there, charmed by her +easy manners and her ready wit; so, wherever she went she was sure to be +the central figure of a little group of admirers, of whom Dr. Brownlee +was usually the one nearest her side. + +According to one of the pleasant customs of the little town, Mrs. Fisher +had her weekly reception day. On Tuesday evenings, her house was always +filled with the friends whom, with rare tact, she left to entertain +themselves, while she moved up and down her charming rooms, with a word +to one and a smile for another, now breaking in upon a flirtation which +threatened to last too long, now bringing stray wallflowers into the +middle of some hospitable group, and never for an instant forgetting to +keep a watchful eye over any stranger who might chance to be among her +guests. There was an attractive informality about these evenings, when +one was at liberty to appear in a street gown, or an evening costume, +and where the little supper was so simple as merely to be a pleasant +break in the midst of the dancing, but not to suggest the idea of an +overburdened hostess, struggling to feed a ravenous multitude. No one +else in the town had quite the same gift for entertaining as Mrs. +Fisher; no one else could carry out an "At Home" with quite such +delightful simplicity. She gave them the use of her house, together with +a cordial, unaffected welcome, and she left the rest to take care of +itself. With this happy talent for receiving her friends, it was not +strange that the tall, blonde woman was one of the most popular matrons +in the camp. + +This Tuesday evening was bidding fair to be as pleasant as its +predecessors had been. The rooms were filled, and the air was echoing +with the soft buzz of voices. A little pause in the dancing had +scattered the young people, who were wandering about, some in the back +parlor, watching the older guests grouped about the whist tables, some +in the "den," across the hall, where the only light came from the great +blazing fire which flickered over the pictures on the walls, and over +the easy-chairs scattered about the cosy room. At the very back of the +broad hall sat Louise and Dr. Brownlee, resting after their waltz, while +they talked of one thing and another, the every-day interests which they +shared in common. All at once Mrs. Fisher stood before them, with a +young man at her side. + +"I have been looking for you, Louise," she said. "Here is some one that +I want to introduce to you: Mr. Atherden, Miss Everett. Mr. Atherden is +a stranger, Miss Everett," she added; "and I leave it to you to make him +feel at home. Dr. Brownlee, I wish you'd come and play the agreeable to +Mrs. Nelson; she is looking dreadfully bored." And she led him away +towards the parlor. + +As Louise glanced up, at the introduction, she had been attracted by the +young stranger before her. He was a man of about her own age, +apparently, not very tall, but with a proud, erect carriage and a simple +dignity which gave him the look of being a much larger man. His face, in +spite of his eye-glasses and his silky, brown mustache, was almost +boyish in its outlines; and he was faultlessly dressed, from his white +tie and the white carnation in his button-hole, down to the toes of his +shining shoes. His whole appearance was so likable that Louise welcomed +him cordially, in spite of her regret at losing the doctor's society, +and at once set about making him feel at home. + +"How long have you been in Blue Creek, Mr. Atherden?" she asked +politely. "I don't remember meeting you before." + +"I only came a week ago," replied Mr. Atherden, as he took possession of +the chair which Dr. Brownlee had so lately quitted. "I've been in San +Francisco, the last two or three years; but I came up here to see +about"--He hesitated for an instant; then he went on, with a little +laugh. "Well, the fact is, I came up here to open an office. I'm a +doctor, you know, and I heard that you hadn't a very good one here, and +that there was a possible opening for another man." + +"Indeed?" Louise's tone was icy in its politeness. + +"Yes," resumed the young man, eyeing her closely; "so I thought I'd run +up here and see for myself; but I found a first-rate man was in ahead of +me, so I must depart in search of a fresh field." + +"Then you are not to stay long?" said Louise, as she smiled on him with +all her former kindness. "Blue Creek is really a pleasant place when you +are used to it. You are unfortunate in seeing it at this season." + +Her companion made some light answer, and they went on chatting like a +pair of old friends. Louise was soon delighted to find that the stranger +cared for music as much as she did, and was familiar with the best works +of the masters, while he showed a thorough acquaintance with New York +and its surroundings which was remarkable in a man who professed to have +spent his life in California. There was something indescribably charming +in his quiet ease of manner and in his boyish fun; and Louise found +herself thoroughly enjoying their pleasant, off-hand conversation, +though all the time she was conscious of a hazy resemblance to some one +whom she had met before. Moved by this uncertain idea, she studied him +closely, while in her own mind she went over and over her list of +acquaintances, trying to find the person of whom she was thinking. Nor +could she tell wherein the resemblance lay, whether in the voice, the +manner, or in some feature; and yet it was there all the time, a +fleeting, haunting likeness to some former friend. Then she thought she +had a clue, for, in answer to a sudden jest on her part, the stranger +laughed until his glasses fell off and dropped to the floor, and as he +stooped to pick them up, she caught sight of a tiny scar on his right +eyelid. Surely she had seen that scar before, or, at least, one much +like it; and once more she went through her friends, trying to place the +mark, but with no better success than before. + +For a long half hour they sat there, while Mr. Atherden entertained her +so well that she was quite unconscious of Dr. Brownlee, who came to the +parlor door more than once to cast a longing glance in her direction. +But her back was turned towards him, and she was too much interested in +their talk to heed the proudly defiant glance with which Mr. Atherden +met the gaze of his rival. The doctor was not so slow to interpret his +meaning, and he gave his mustache a vicious jerk, as he walked away to +pay his homage at some other shrine. Mr. Atherden watched him with an +amused smile; then he turned to Allie who stood before him with a plate +of sandwiches in her hand. + +"Ah, thank you, my little maid," he said with infinite condescension, +while he helped Louise and then himself. "Mrs. Fisher is to be +congratulated upon having such charming assistants." And he looked +straight up into the eyes of Allie, who flushed a rosy red as she +hurriedly turned away. + +But supper was over, and the tempting notes of a waltz rang out from the +piano in the parlor. Mr. Atherden rose to his feet. + +"It is a long time since I have danced, Miss Everett; may I not have the +pleasure now?" And settling his glasses firmly on his nose, he smiled +invitingly down at her, as he stood waiting to lead her to the parlor. + +Louise hesitated for a moment. The doctor had asked her for this very +waltz; but already the room was full of moving couples, and she could +see him dancing with the pretty young teacher, lately come from the +East. With a little feeling of pique she turned to her escort, and was +soon gliding about the room with an apparent delight in her partner, +who was dancing quite as well as he had talked. The waltz ended, she +turned away, without a glance at the neglectful doctor, and followed her +new acquaintance to their former seats in the hall. + +"How well you waltz!" she said frankly, as she fanned herself. "It's +such a rare thing to meet a really good dancer out here." + +"Such a partner would inspire anyone," returned her companion gallantly, +while he twirled his mustache with a complacent delight in it which +convinced Louise that it was of recent growth. + +Then he entered into a spirited account of his journey and his +adventures in coming into the strange place, while Louise sat leaning +back in her chair, watching him, haunted by that vague resemblance. Dr. +Brownlee was standing just inside the parlor door with his eyes fixed +upon them longingly, although he was apparently engrossed by the +sprightly conversation of his former partner. But Mr. Atherden made no +motion as if to leave his place; he merely glared defiantly at the +doctor, while he twisted his mustache and chatted on, and the doctor was +forced to go away again. + +Notwithstanding her apparent unconsciousness of his presence, Louise +had looked after him with a little wistful expression in her blue eyes. +At that moment, she heard a sudden exclamation, and she turned back to +face her companion once more, just in time to see the silky brown +mustache yield to too violent a jerk and fall into his lap, while the +young man, in no wise embarrassed by the accident, leaned back in his +chair and burst into a shout of laughter. One glance at him had told her +the secret of the puzzling resemblance; and she echoed his laugh with a +thorough enjoyment of the boyish caper. + +"Charlie MacGregor, you incorrigible imp!" she exclaimed, when she could +get her breath. "How did you ever dare to come here in this fashion?" + +"Why not?" inquired Charlie. "You'd never have known me now, if this +miserable mustache had only stuck where it belonged. But, honestly, Miss +Lou, don't I make a fair actor?" + +"Too good, Charlie," she answered, with a fresh laugh over the +unexpected ending to her flirtation. "Why haven't you ever told us you +could waltz so well, though?" + +"I didn't suppose I could; it's so long since I've tried it. Besides, +none of the other fellows do, and I was afraid they'd think 'twas silly +for a boy," answered Charlie. "Allie started this scheme, and put on the +finishing touches. But didn't you really know me, Miss Lou?" + +"Not a bit. Nobody would ever have suspected, if you hadn't been quite +so proud of your mustache, Mr. Atherden. By the way, where did you get +the name?" + +"It's my middle one; didn't you know that?" + +"No; but," she added hastily, "here comes somebody. Really, Charlie, you +don't want to spoil the joke by getting caught; you'd better go, now." +And she pushed him towards the door. + +Five minutes later, she was offering to Mrs. Fisher the apologies of her +stranger guest, for the sudden business which had called him away so +abruptly. Then, after an inviting glance which promptly brought the +doctor to her side, she led the way to the "den," where she pledged him +to secrecy, and then told him the story of her recent companion. + +"But there's one sure thing," Charlie said, with impenitent glee, as he +was bidding Allie goodnight; "for once in my life, I cut Dr. Brownlee +out with Miss Lou, and that's something to be proud of." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE COMPLETED STORY. + + +"They say there's a case of scarlet fever over the other side of the +creek," remarked Mr. Everett at dinner, one night about a month after +Charlie's unexpected appearance in society. + +"Scarlet fever! Oh, dear, where?" asked Louise anxiously. + +"You needn't be scared, Lou; people don't catch it at your age," +responded Grant, with brotherly impertinence. + +"I'm not afraid for myself," she answered seriously. "Where is it, papa? +I don't want the boys to get into it." + +"It's way up beyond the smelter," replied Mr. Everett lightly. "You +don't need to worry, Lou, for it is so far away, and only a light case. +The boys would better not go over that way, and then they'll be safe +enough. Dr. Hofer has it in charge, so it will probably be all right." + +"I suppose so; but I'm always afraid of it," said Louise uneasily. "I +hope they'll quarantine them, or something." + +"Of course they will," said her father. "No doctor that's half a doctor +would let such a matter go unguarded. The board of health wouldn't allow +it, either," he added, in a tone of such decision that Louise accepted +his belief as final, and thought no more about the matter. + +Ten days later she stood before her mirror, dressing for a _Mardi gras_ +party at the Fishers'. For the past three weeks, this coming social +event had been the chief theme of conversation in Blue Creek; for, +taking place, as it did, at the very close of the season, it was +intended to be a fitting climax to all the gayety which had gone before. +Louise had entered into the spirit of the occasion as heartily as a +young and pretty girl could do, and had spent long hours in planning the +new gown which her father had insisted she must have. + +"Something simple and pretty, Lou; but good of its kind," had been his +only instruction. "Don't spoil it, for the sake of a few dollars; just +get something that can stand on its own merits, and not have to be +patched out with laces and ribbons and all sorts of other gimcrackery. +You know what I mean; but I want my daughter to look her best." + +Nevertheless, after all her anticipations, Louise was looking a little +troubled and anxious, as she stood there, arraying herself in the pale +blue crape gown which fell about her in soft, clinging folds, unbroken +by any ornament except the crescent of pearls that fastened the high, +close ruff at her neck. For some reason, Ned had been feeling ill that +day. He had complained of being cold, in the morning; and, instead of +going to Mr. Nelson's as usual, he had lain on the sofa all day long, +too miserable even to go with Grant to the Burnams', where the boys had +been asked to spend the afternoon and dine. For the past day or two, Mr. +Everett had been away from home on business, and would only return just +in time to take his daughter to the Fishers'; and Mrs. Pennypoker had +made light of the boy's trouble, pronouncing it merely a slight fit of +indigestion which would be gone by the next morning. Still, Louise had +been alarmed, unnecessarily so, Mrs. Pennypoker had told her. But the +boy seemed thoroughly ill and feverish, and she had persuaded him to go +to bed early, promising to hurry her dressing, and go in to sit with him +until the carriage came for her. + +Now, as she arranged her great bunch of white roses, and tied them with +a long blue ribbon, before laying them ready beside her fan and gloves, +she was half resolving to give up the party and stay quietly at home +with Ned. Of the two boys, he was decidedly her favorite; and she +disliked the idea of leaving him to the mercies of Mrs. Pennypoker, +whose tenderness was a little too brazen in its nature to be acceptable +to an affectionate, impressionable lad like Ned. However, she knew that +her father was hurrying his return on purpose to act as her escort, so +she was unwilling to disappoint him at the last moment. She was still +hesitating what course to pursue, as she gathered up her train and +started for her brother's room, with the largest of the roses in her +hand, to leave with him when she went away. But, as soon as she came in +sight of Ned's face, she felt no further doubt. Unaccustomed to illness +as she was, she saw at a glance that the boy was worse, although he +opened his eyes and smiled at her approvingly as she paused beside him. + +"You look just gay," he said hoarsely. + +"Gayer than you feel?" Louise asked playfully, while she bent over him +and laid her cool hand against his flushed cheek. + +"I'm all right; only I'm so warm, and my throat's a good deal sore," Ned +answered; then he settled back under the blankets, and closed his eyes +again. + +Louise watched him closely for a moment. In spite of Mrs. Pennypoker's +assurances, this was not like any form of indigestion she had ever seen, +and she determined to send Wang Kum for Dr. Brownlee. From past +experience, she knew that Mrs. Pennypoker would object to such a course, +for she had unlimited faith in her stock of home medicines, and regarded +the professional services of a doctor as invariably leading to the +gloomy ministrations of the undertaker. Mrs. Pennypoker had never quite +forgiven Mrs. Burnam for disregarding the poultice she had prescribed +for Charlie's eye; and now, all day long, she had been persecuting Ned +with alternate doses of ginger tea and "boneset bitters," which were her +staple remedies for almost every ill to which flesh was heir. Louise had +submitted, much against her better judgment; but now she felt that the +time had come for decided action, so she stealthily made her way to the +kitchen in search of Wang Kum. + +"I wish you'd go over and ask Dr. Brownlee to come in here for a few +minutes, as soon as he can, Wang," she said, in a low voice. + +Wang Kum nodded wisely. + +"All light; Wang sabe. You no wan' Mis' Pen'plok know." And he departed +on his errand. + +Quarter of an hour later the doctor came. Wang had interrupted him in +the midst of dressing for the party, and he had hastily finished his +toilet and hurried over to the Everetts, rather at a loss to account for +the summons. Louise met him at the door. + +"Dr. Brownlee!" she exclaimed, with an accent of relief; "it seemed as +if you'd never come." + +The doctor looked at her in surprise. From Wang's unconcerned manner, he +had supposed that his message was in some way connected with the coming +party; but the girl's pale, anxious face showed that there was some more +serious cause for her sending to him. And yet he was only a human man; +and, in spite of his quick sympathy for her unknown trouble, he paused +for a moment to gaze at her admiringly, as she stood there with her +long, light gown sweeping about her feet, and one hand stretched out to +welcome him, while in the other she still held the great white rose that +she had taken from the bunch he had sent her. Then the instinct of the +doctor came uppermost once more. + +"Is some one ill?" he asked briefly. + +"Yes; it's Ned," answered Louise hurriedly. "He hasn't been well all +day, and he's worse to-night, so I wanted you to see him. Cousin +Euphemia says it's nothing but--Come, you can see for yourself." + +In a moment more they were leaning over Ned, their evening costumes +contrasting strangely with the flushed face of the restless little +patient. With his usual bright, off-hand manner, the doctor greeted Ned, +as if his coming had been simply a matter of chance. But he took careful +note of his pulse and temperature, and asked a short, direct question or +two; then, after a few words more, he left the room, beckoning to Louise +to follow him. + +"I'm glad you sent to me without waiting any longer, Miss Everett," he +told her, as soon as they were in the parlor once more "We're going to +have a case of scarlet fever in there, and it's high time some one was +looking out for it." + +"Scarlet fever--Ned have scarlet fever!" repeated his sister slowly, as +she dropped into a chair. "Do you really mean it, Dr. Brownlee? Is he +very ill?" + +"Not yet," returned the doctor. "But, first of all, where is Grant? We +must keep him out of the way." + +"He's at the Burnams'," answered Louise, rising and walking nervously +about the room. + +"Well, send Wang over, and have Grant stay there. Mrs. Burnam will be +willing to look out for him, I know; and he isn't likely to give them +any exposure,--the mischief would be done by this time, anyway. And then +you ought to go to--" + +"I shall not go anywhere," she answered decidedly. + +"But, Miss Everett, think of the danger of your taking the fever. I +shall have to quarantine the house, too; and Mrs. Pennypoker will be +here to take care of Ned." + +Louise stopped in her restless walk, and turned to face the doctor, with +her head raised proudly and a scornful curve to her lips. + +"Dr. Brownlee, do you think that I am a coward?" she asked with cutting +emphasis. "Ned may be very ill, and I could never leave him with Cousin +Euphemia." + +"But the danger," he urged again feebly, although he felt that her +decision was the right one, and he admired her for it, even while he +shrank from the thought of her possible peril. + +Louise looked steadily into his eyes. + +"Ned is my brother," she said firmly, though her lips were quivering; +"and it is my right to stay. Besides, if anything should happen"--She +paused abruptly, while the tears rushed to her eyes. + +"Just as you think best," said the doctor gently. "You are needlessly +alarmed to-night, Miss Everett. I will tell you the exact truth: Ned is +a very sick boy, but there is no present danger for him. I needn't say +that I shall do all I can to make it easier for you, but"--he hesitated; +then added, with one of his cheery laughs, "The fact is, I'm most +awfully glad that you insist on staying. Mrs. Pennypoker is a good +woman; but she's no nurse, and Ned needs somebody that's a little less +like a steam saw-mill, if he is going to be ill for a week or so. Now, +I'll go down and get a prescription or two put up, and stop to see Mrs. +Burnam about Grant's staying there, and then I'll be back again." + +"But is it necessary?" remonstrated Louise, although she felt the +support of his presence, and was grateful for it. "Papa will be here +soon, or Wang can go; and you were going to the Fishers." + +"The Fishers can get along without either of us to-night," he said +laughingly. "We'll have our party here; we seem to be all ready for it." +And he smiled meaningly at her dainty gown. + +The door closed behind him, and Louise went quietly to her room, to take +off her gown and put on a soft white wrapper, before going back to her +brother. From the first, she had been sure, from the doctor's manner, +that he had felt alarmed about Ned; but, in her present mood, she was +grateful to him for his assumed carelessness, and she appreciated the +kindness with which he was giving up the evening to her needs. Some +sudden girlish regret made her snatch up the roses and bury her face in +them, as two great tears rolled down her cheeks; then she quickly untied +the flowers and put them back into the bowl, all but one, which she +fastened in her gown, to be her companion and comfort in her long, +anxious evening. + +Early the next morning Dr. Brownlee was there again; and for the next +week he was constant in his attendance, for the boy was very, very ill. +Day after day the fever had increased, until it seemed as if the young, +strong life must yield to its power. Now he lay in a heavy stupor, now +he muttered and laughed to himself in wild delirium; but each night +found him a little weaker than he had been the night before, and each +morning brought from the doctor's lips the same sad verdict, "No +better." During all these long days, Louise had scarcely left the room, +but watched over him, night and day, with a fierceness of devotion which +resented any interference. + +"He's mine, I tell you," she said, turning on the doctor, who was trying +to coax her from the room. "He's my brother and my favorite--oh, why +can't you understand? He keeps calling me, when he doesn't know anybody +else; and what if he should come to himself and want me, and I shouldn't +be there? Let me stay with him while I can, for it may not be so very +long--Oh, my Ned!" And brushing away the hot tears, she turned and went +back to her old place. + +Two days later the doctor slowly went up the steps to the door. His +heart was heavy with dread, for he knew that the crisis was at hand, and +he felt that the issue was more than doubtful. Without ringing the bell +for Wang Kum to admit him, he entered the house, and went directly to +Ned's room. He was in there for a long time; then he left Mr. Everett +and Mrs. Pennypoker with the boy, and came out into the hall again. As +he passed the parlor door, he paused for a moment; then he pushed it +open, and went into the room. Beside the table sat Louise, with her head +resting upon her folded arms, so still that he thought she must have +fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion. But, as she heard his step she +raised her head to speak to him, and he was shocked to see the hard, +drawn lines on her pale face, and the dull, cold light in her eyes. + +"They say it can't last much longer," she said wearily, and without +asking him for his opinion. + +"No," he assented gently, as he sat down by her side. "It can't be like +this long; the change will come in a few hours, and then I hope our Ned +will be better." + +But Louise shook her head. + +"What's the use of saying that, Dr. Brownlee?" she said, in a low, +strained voice. "You don't mean it, I know; and I'm not a baby, to be +comforted with just words. Oh, doctor, if I could only cry! I've tried +to, and I can't,--can't do anything but think, and wonder what I shall +do without Ned." + +She was silent for a moment; then she went on excitedly, "Dr. Brownlee, +if Ned doesn't get well, I shall always believe that Dr. Hofer killed +him. There was a case of fever across the creek, and he let the children +from that very house go all over town. One of them was in the choir, a +week before Ned was taken ill. It was wicked, wicked! I can't have Ned's +life thrown away, just for that. It mustn't be so; I can't bear it!" And +her head dropped again, as she wailed, "Oh, doctor, can't you save him?" + +The sight of her bitter sorrow was more than the doctor could bear, and +his own voice was unsteady, as he answered sadly,-- + +"I will do what I can; but we can only wait and hope." He paused; then +he laid one of his firm hands on hers, and said in a low voice, "Louise, +I can't help you; but won't you give me the right to comfort you, to"-- + +But Louise interrupted him. + +"Wait," she begged. "I can't think of it now--of anything but Ned. I +must go back to him." And she left him alone. + +Late that evening, the doctor and Mrs. Pennypoker sat by the bed, almost +breathlessly watching the boy, who lay in a sort of stupor. Dr. Brownlee +had come in early, and announced his intention of spending the night in +the house, to watch over his patient. He had sent away Louise and her +father to take a little rest, promising to call them, in case of any +change. For more than two hours he had been sitting there, expecting the +end to come at almost any moment; but still the boy's lethargy was +unbroken. + +Then, all at once, the doctor leaned forward and gazed closely at the +face before him. The change had come, and Ned lay breathing quietly, in +the longed-for, life-giving sleep. For a few moments more Dr. Brownlee +sat there, scarcely daring to move; then, with a happy nod to Mrs. +Pennypoker, he left her to wipe her eyes unseen, and stole away to tell +the glad news to Louise. + +He found her in the parlor, in her old position by the table, too much +absorbed with her dread and sorrow to hear his step, until he was close +at her side. She started up, with the question on her lips; but before +she could speak the words, a glance at his face had told her all. With +one little glad outcry, she seized his outstretched hand; then she +dropped down on the sofa, to hide her face in the pillows and sob like a +little child, in all the fervor of her joy and thankfulness. + +The doctor stood waiting by her side, until her first outburst was over; +then, when she had grown more quiet, he bent down beside her, to say +gently,-- + +"And now, Louise"-- + +There was no need for many words. For an instant, Louise looked up into +the expectant face above her; then she put her hand in his. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE UNEXPECTED. + + +"Did you get any letters this morning, Wang?" inquired Mrs. Pennypoker, +as the Chinaman came in to remove the dishes from the breakfast table. + +"No," replied Wang Kum briefly. + +"Not any at all? How very strange!" And Mrs. Pennypoker looked +questioningly at Wang Kum, who returned her gaze with impenetrable +composure. "I thought I should surely hear from brother Nathaniel +to-day. What can have become of the letter!" + +"Wang no sabe," answered the Chinaman with an almost imperceptible +shrug. + +He turned away to go to the kitchen; but, just as he passed the window +where Louise stood looking out, he contrived to let a fork slip from the +plate in his hand. Louise started at the clatter, and glanced over her +shoulder, to be met by a wink and smirk of infinite cunning, before the +man stooped to pick up the fork, and finally vanished into the outer +room. A moment later she followed him. + +"Did you want to speak to me, Wang?" she asked, trying in vain to appear +unusually dignified, as she faced the man who stood chuckling before +her. + +But Wang, by no means abashed by her manner, bestowed upon her a second +wink of exceeding craftiness, while he slowly drew a note out from the +loose sleeve of his shapeless blue coat. + +"Wang mus' a forgot him; you no tell," he said softly, with a stealthy +glance at the dining-room door behind him, as if expecting to see Mrs. +Pennypoker appear on the threshold and swoop down upon him at any +moment. + +Louise glanced at the letter in her hand. She was annoyed to feel her +color come, as she saw that it was addressed to her in Dr. Brownlee's +well-known writing. + +"Where did you get this, Wang?" she asked. + +"Doc' Blownlee." And Wang Kum smiled knowingly. + +"But he didn't tell you to give it to me this way, did he?" she asked +again. + +"He no tell; Wang sabe, all samee. Wang no fool." And Wang marched back +to the dining-room, leaving Louise to read her note unobserved. + +As she had supposed, it was merely a message to appoint the hour for a +ride they had agreed upon for that afternoon. There was not the +slightest reason that she should not have received and read it under the +eye of Mrs. Pennypoker; but long experience had taught her that the ways +of Wang Kum were past finding out, so she only tucked the note into her +belt and went on her way, resolving, however, to warn the doctor to +select another Cupid, in the future, to be the bearer of his messages. + +Some weeks had slipped away since Ned's illness, and spring had once +more come to Blue Creek. The crisis of the fever once passed, the boy +had quickly rallied, and, thanks to the devoted care of Louise and the +doctor, his recovery had been sure and steady, until at length he was +pronounced nearly well enough to resume his former place among his +friends. Then came the time of thoroughly disinfecting and airing the +house, for Dr. Brownlee was not the man to leave any uncertainty as to +results. His quarantine had been as strict as his later measures were +energetic, and he had refused to rest until he was assured that no +danger could come from his patient. Owing to the negligence of Dr. +Hofer, the disease had been spreading across the creek, until the board +of health had interfered, and summarily taken the cases from his care to +give them into the hand of Dr. Brownlee, whose vigorous treatment had +checked the trouble, even though it had incurred the hostility of the +parents of the fever-stricken children. + +But at last the doctor had said that all danger at the Everetts' was +over, and Grant had been allowed to come home once more. In spite of the +good times he had been having with Howard and Charlie, in spite of the +motherly welcome of Mrs. Burnam, the boy had been thoroughly homesick +during the period of his banishment from home. It was the first time +that he and his brother had ever been separated, and Ned was his hero +and idol, as well as his constant companion. During the long days of +waiting, when the fever was at its height, Grant had wandered +disconsolately about the house, refusing to be comforted, and looking so +pale and miserable as to be a mere shadow of his usual bright self, and +to cause Mrs. Burnam many an hour of anxiety lest he, too, were about to +be ill. Then came the sudden change for the better, and, for a day or +two, Grant was like a wild creature in the exuberance of his joy; but he +was restless and anxious to be at home with his brother again, sure that +no one else could take as good care of him as he. He had even waylaid +the doctor on the street one morning, and tried to bribe him to allow a +return home; but Dr. Brownlee was firm, and Grant had been forced to +bide his time. + +The whole Everett household had been radiant with its new happiness, +during these last few weeks. It would have been enough for them all to +have Ned brought back to life, after their terrible hours of suspense; +and for days they hovered about the boy, almost unable to believe that +their bright, affectionate, impish Ned was to remain with them, after +all. Even Mrs. Pennypoker had cast aside her strict principles of +discipline, and coddled him and fussed over him to her heart's content, +while Wang openly prided himself on being the means of his recovery. + +"Wang went 'way off out doors," he had confided to Louise; "all lonee; +hollered heap loud to Up-in-Sky. Up-in-Sky no say anything; he sabe, all +samee; came down heap quick to help Mas' Ned." + +In the midst of this rejoicing there had come a cause for even increased +happiness. On the morning after Ned had turned the dangerous corner, and +started on his slow journey back into life once more, Dr. Brownlee had +gone into the parlor where Mr. Everett sat writing letters, and had +closed the door behind him. His stay was only a short one; then Mr. +Everett came out, and went in search of Louise. + +"Come, my girl," he said gently; "Winthrop is waiting for you. Your +mother would have been very happy to-day, as happy as I am." And he led +her to the parlor door; then he went away, and left them alone together. + +To Louise, it had seemed as if the world had suddenly been created anew +that spring. The days flew by like one long, happy dream, while she +spent hour after hour amusing her brother during his tedious +convalescence, or left him to Mrs. Pennypoker's care when she escaped to +the parlor, to enjoy the doctor's short, but frequent calls. Ned had +been as rapturous as his sister when the good news was told to him; and +he had saluted the doctor as Brother Brownlee upon the occasion of his +next visit. + +"It's just too jolly," he had said, with the first return of his old, +irrepressible manner. "I'd rather have you take Lou than anybody else I +know; and I'm no end glad I helped it on. You know you'd never have come +to the point, if I hadn't scared you both out of your senses; but"--he +paused, and then asked wickedly, "but I say, Lou, what do you suppose +the Reverend Gabriel will have to say about it?" + +The Reverend Gabriel, in the mean time, had kept himself informed on the +subject of Ned's illness, and although he had held himself at a prudent +distance from all danger of infection, he had not neglected the young +invalid. As soon as it was definitely known that the boy was on the way +to recovery, Dr. Hornblower had sent him, through the safe medium of the +post-office, a little book of "Sick-room Meditations," whose black cover +bore the cheering design of a tomb under a pair of weeping willows. +Though the gift was doubtless intended in all kindness, it was received +with more amusement than gratitude, and Ned kept it under his pillow to +read aloud choice bits from it, whenever Louise and Dr. Brownlee were +together in his room. + +But, during the weeks that the Reverend Gabriel had been unable to call +at the Everetts'; he had been slowly making up his mind upon a matter +of weighty importance; and now at length the time had come for him to +carry out his intentions. + +The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower, it should be stated, was a romantic +soul; and, in his tanned, weather-beaten old body, there throbbed a +heart as ardent as ever beat in the breast of a boy of eighteen. Its +manifestations, however, were often a little eccentric, for its owner +was as ignorant and unworldly as a child. For years he had fed his +elderly imagination upon the most impassioned love scenes to be found in +the pages of novel or biography. Unfortunately for him, there was +nothing in the least modern about his literary taste; but he had +confined his reading to the histories of the Evelinas and Cherubinas of +yore, until his idea of the tender passion was as old-fashioned and +stilted as the books from which it had been derived. Nevertheless, the +Reverend Gabriel was becoming weary of boarding-house existence, and +beginning to long for the comforts of home and the charms of conjugal +society. + +It would be hard to say whether the sight of Louise Everett's blonde +beauty, or the contemplation of his own frayed cuffs and ragged +buttonholes had been the moving cause; but the result was the same. +Upon this particular afternoon, he had spent an hour in reading over one +of his old favorites; then, seizing his hat and cane, with an air of +desperate resolution, he had hurried out of the house, and up the street +towards the Everetts'. + +He was ushered into the parlor by Wang Kum, who assured him that Louise +would soon be at home, and rolled out the great leather-covered chair +from its accustomed corner, in order that the Reverend Gabriel might be +as comfortable as possible, while he awaited her coming. Then he +withdrew, leaving the guest to his meditations. + +They were not altogether enjoyable ones, however. Wang Kum had told him +that Louise was riding with Dr. Brownlee, and the Reverend Gabriel, with +the jealous eye of a lover, was not slow to discern a possible rival in +the handsome young man, who had been a constant attendant at the house, +during the past few weeks. Moreover, the room was very warm, and the +Reverend Gabriel was beginning to grow a little uncomfortable, for Wang +Kum, with the keen malice of his race, had carefully arranged the chair +directly opposite the register, which brought the heat from the stove in +the next room. Dr. Hornblower had been feeling rather nervous, all that +day; now he feared that he was becoming feverish. He drew his hand +across his moist brow, and sighed anxiously. Could it be that he was +going to be ill? + +At length Louise came in. She looked so bright and pretty in her dark +habit, and with her golden hair loosened by the wind and curling about +her face, that the Reverend Gabriel felt his admiration momentarily +increasing, while he gazed at her. And yet, something in her fresh, +girlish beauty made him long to draw back from his coming interview, as +he rose to greet her, and caught sight of his own dull, brown face in +the mirror above her head. + +"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long," Louise said courteously, +while she unbuttoned her gloves and slowly drew them off. "It is such a +glorious day that we stayed out a little longer than we meant to." + +"It is a fine day, a very fine one," returned the Reverend Gabriel, +eagerly catching at the safe topic of the weather. + +"Yes, and we were shut in so long that I enjoy being out, more than +ever," said Louise, while she speculated vainly as to the doctor's +motive for this call. + +"You have had a painful experience," he answered gloomily; "a trying and +painful experience; but I trust that you are benefited by it. My +thoughts were continually with you during the--um--the ordeal." + +"Thank you, Dr. Hornblower," Louise returned gratefully. "Our friends +were all very kind." + +"Doubtless they were," responded Dr. Hornblower, as he sympathetically +wiped his eyes. "We were all grieving over the prospective demise of a +young brother. And yet some consolation would have reached you, Miss +Everett; love is the only pocket-handkerchief to wipe the mourner's +eyes." + +Louise blushed hotly at the reference. Although she had made no secret +of the matter of her engagement, still she was a little surprised to +have the Reverend Gabriel allude to it in such an unexpected fashion. +But she was determined to carry off her embarrassment as easily as +possible, so she smiled brightly, as she said,-- + +"Then you have come to congratulate me; thank"-- + +"Pardon me!" interrupted Dr. Hornblower, as stiffly as if his rheumatism +had suddenly penetrated from his joints to his manners. "It is not yet +the time for congratulation; and, when the hour comes, it is I who will +receive them." + +"You?" And Louise stared at the Reverend Gabriel in unfeigned +astonishment. + +"At least, so it is to be hoped," returned the doctor gravely. + +For a moment, there was an awkward pause, while Louise wondered whether +the worthy minister had suddenly taken leave of his senses, and the +doctor writhed uneasily in his chair, as he realized that his hour had +come. The hush was beginning to be painful, and Louise was just opening +her lips to speak, to say something, no matter what, when she was +suddenly struck speechless by seeing the Reverend Gabriel lay his hat +and cane on the floor beside his chair, then clumsily kneel down before +her and clasp his hands. For one brief instant, she supposed that he was +about to give her the benefit of his professional services, and she +composed her face to listen with befitting gravity; but his first words +dispelled the illusion. + +"Louisa," he began, in a tone so devoid of expression as to suggest the +possibility of his having written out the words and committed them to +memory; "Louisa, behold me a suppliant before you, begging, +imploring"-- + +But Louise had started from her chair, and stood facing him, her cheeks +white with mortification for herself and pity for him. + +"Dr. Hornblower," she begged hastily; "get up, please! You mustn't say +any more." + +"But you do not catch my full meaning," he went on. "I ask you"-- + +"Get up at once," she repeated. "You mustn't say it; it's impossible! +Suppose some one should come in. Oh, do get up!" + +Yielding to her evident alarm, he awkwardly scrambled to his feet, and +threw himself down in in his chair once more, with a force that pushed +it back against the opposite wall. + +"Truly, I never thought of such a thing," Louise said penitently. "I +always supposed that you came to see Cousin Euphemia, not me; or I might +have prevented this." + +"Why should you, Louisa?" returned the Reverend Gabriel, with a cheerful +assurance that grated upon her ears. "I am willing to wait and hope; my +heart is eternally yours." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she answered quickly. "Really, Dr. Hornblower, it +never can be, never could have been; I never even thought of such an +idea. You have always been very kind to me, I know," she went on +hesitatingly, trying to soften her words a little; "but I thought it was +only because you felt a fatherly interest in me." + +"I'm not so old as you seem to think," began Dr. Hornblower testily; +then, bethinking himself that this was not according to his models, he +made a dramatic pause, before he asked his final question, "Is there, +then, Another?" + +Louise hung her head and blushed. + +"I'm afraid there is," she faltered. + +"And his name?" + +The girl looked at him haughtily; then her face softened, as she thought +of the mortification that she was inflicting upon the old man before +her, and she answered gently,-- + +"It is Dr. Brownlee." + +Once more the Reverend Gabriel hesitated. He had carefully rehearsed his +part, until he was thoroughly familiar with it; but his imaginary +interviews had taken only the one form, and he had never counted upon +such an ending as this. However, he was resolved to carry it through to +the close; and, after a hasty review of the ways of rejected lovers, he +recalled the case of the luckless Alphonso Ludovico, and felt himself +prepared to meet the new emergency. + +"It is the end," he said slowly. "Pardon my intrusion, Miss Everett; I +will no longer impose upon your kindness. I go forth upon my lonely +way." + +He started to rise from his chair, but came to a sudden pause, while a +sound of rending and cracking broke the silence that had followed his +tragic words. All unconsciously, Wang Kum had given him the sticky +chair; and the heat of the room and the doctor's feverish agitation, had +combined to produce the catastrophe. The Reverend Gabriel Hornblower was +trapped as effectually as a fly in a pool of molasses, and could only +struggle helplessly in his efforts to free himself. + +Louise came to his relief, and together they succeeded in separating his +coat from the chair-back, and he took his ignominious departure. The +young girl stood looking after him, until he disappeared around the +corner, then she fled to her own room, and into the very depths of her +closet, to smother the sound of her hysterical laughter. But when at +last she grew quiet, her face became very gentle once more, as she said +to herself, in a tone of womanly pity,-- + +"Poor old man! But at least, I can keep his secret; not even Winthrop +shall ever know." + +In the mean time, the Reverend Gabriel had slowly betaken himself to his +lonely room, where he laid aside his hat, and approached the mirror. + +"No," he said to himself, as he stood gazing at the reflected face +before him; "it wouldn't do; it wouldn't do. She's too beautiful; and +I'm--too old." And he seated himself in his worn old easy-chair, and +took up the book he had laid aside an hour before. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +UNDER ORDERS. + + +It was less than two weeks after the Reverend Gabriel's call upon +Louise, that Mr. Burnam came up from his office, one noon, with a letter +in his hand. + +"Well, daught," he called, as Allie ran out to meet him; "where's mamma? +I have some news for her." + +"News! What is it? Nothing very bad, I hope," she answered, as she +seized his hand in both of hers, and hurried him towards the house. + +"That depends," he said laughing. "Wait till we get into the house, and +then I'll tell you." + +"I don't believe it's much of anything," she declared scornfully. "If +'twas, you never could wait to tell us." + +"We'll see about it," responded her father, as he entered the house. + +But it was not until they were all seated about the lunch table that he +would tell them his news. From the central office of the railway by +which he had been employed for the past five years, a letter had come +to him, that very morning, offering him the position of consulting +engineer for the company, an advance which would bring him much honor +and more salary. For a few moments there was a babel of congratulation +and rejoicing; then Mrs. Burnam put an end to it all by asking +quietly,-- + +"And when shall we have to leave here?" + +"Leave?" And Allie turned to stare at her mother in consternation. + +"Yes; of course we shall have to go away from Blue Creek very soon," +answered her mother cheerfully; for, though at heart she was as sorry as +Allie to leave her pleasant friends in the little camp, she was +unwilling to let her one regret throw a shadow over her husband's +happiness in his promotion. + +"Leave Blue Creek, and the Everetts, and Marjorie, and all? Let's not +go," urged Howard. "The old road isn't worth it, papa." + +Mr. Burnam laughed. + +"I'm sorry you don't think so, Howard," he answered; "but I'm afraid we +must go. St. Paul isn't a bad place to live in; and we should have had +to leave here this spring, anyway, for my present survey won't take me +much longer. I'm to report for duty in two months," he added, turning +to his wife once more. "Will that give you time to get ready?" + +"Two weeks would do," she said promptly; "I haven't been your wife all +these years for nothing. I'm sorry to go away from here, of course, for +we've made pleasant friends; but I sha'n't be sorry to have a settled +home. Besides, it's time the children were in some good school, if +they're ever going to college." + +"What do you think about it all, Charlie?" asked his uncle. "You haven't +told us, yet." + +"I'm about as much mixed up as Auntie is," he replied slowly, while he +gave Allie's hand a consoling pinch, as it lay on the table, toying with +her fork. "I don't want to leave the doctor, and the boys, and all, and +this place has been immense fun; but, as long as I can be with you +people, I don't mind much else, and, if we go to St. Paul, I can stay +with you till I'm ready for college,--that is, if you'll keep me." + +"We won't send you off just yet," returned his uncle. "Howard and Allie +would have something to say about that, I fancy. Let me see; this is +May, and I have to be ready by the first of July. We shall have to leave +here the last week in June, so you must make the most of your time till +then." + +"Oh, dear!" sighed Allie, as she and the boys were starting for the +Everetts', that afternoon, to tell the great news. "We never stayed so +long in one place before, and I began to hope we'd live here always. +We've had such good times, too, 'specially since Charlie came; and I +don't want to leave all these people." + +"'T isn't all of them, though," responded Howard. "There aren't so many +I care about, if we could take the Everetts and Fishers and Dr. Brownlee +along with us." + +"And the mountains, and Wang Kum, and our ponies," added Allie. "Janey +says she'll go too. But it's no use to try to count up what we're +leaving, or I shall just sit down and begin to cry." + +"Better not," advised Howard practically; "it's no end dusty, and we +can't spend time to brush you off. Besides, St. Paul is right on the way +to everywhere, and we shall see people when they go East. Don't you go +to being in the dumps, sis; 't won't mend matters to grumble, and we've +moved before without its killing us." + +But in spite of his advice to his sister, Howard was the most +disconsolate member of the party, as they sat on the Everetts' front +steps, talking of the separation in store for them. + +"It's a perfect shame," lamented Marjorie, who had joined them there. +"You belong to us, and oughtn't to go away. I had it all planned out, +too. We were all going to grow up here together, and have ever so much +fun. Allie and I would keep old maid's hall, and have you four boys +board with us. Howard would be a civil engineer, and Charlie a doctor, +and Grant have a store, and Ned be a minister; and we'd just have an +elegant time." + +"'Specially me!" remarked Ned, in a tone of supreme disgust. "I've no +desire to step into Dr. Hornblower's shoes, when the old man finally +gives up and goes over the range. Preaching isn't in my line; I'll help +Charlie keep his apothecary shop, and sell patent medicines. But, +honestly, with half of us gone, the rest will be dismally lonesome. We +shall need Allie to keep us straight, and Howard to keep us stirred up." + +"And Charlie for general all-overishness," added Marjorie. "Say, Howard, +do you remember the day we put Vic into the empty barrel, and turned a +bushel basket over him, 'cause he would follow us, every step we took?" + +Howard chuckled at the recollection. + +"Yes. How he did yell! But do you remember the time we shut Marjorie up +in the office closet, Ned, and then went off and forgot her?" + +"That must have been before I came," said Charlie. "How did she get +out?" + +"What a question! didn't you ever hear Marjorie squeal?" asked Grant +scornfully. "But, I say, you lads, do you remember that day that Charlie +Mac came, and we"--Grant paused abruptly. + +"We what?" demanded Charlie. + +"Oh, nothing." And Grant retired behind Marjorie, to blush unseen. + +"What was it?" urged Charlie again. "Go on and tell, Grant." + +"You hush up!" And Ned gave his brother a threatening glance. + +"I'm going to tell, then, if you won't," said Allie laughing. "If we +don't, Charlie will think it's something ever so much worse that 't is. +All was, the boys didn't mean to like you anyway, and didn't want you to +come. The day you came, they went down to the station, and hid around, +waiting to get a look at you, to see what you were like. And the worst +of it all was"--Allie paused mischievously, and then went on; "they +found you weren't half so bad as they supposed you were going to be." + +"If we could only go back again, and start there all over fresh!" sighed +Marjorie. + +"We couldn't have a bit better time than we have had," returned Charlie. +"We've made the most of our chance, and we may as well be thankful for +it. Oh, but didn't I feel shaky, that first morning, when the train +stopped, and I had to get out! Allie looked about ten feet high and +thirty years old, when I saw her standing on the platform; and I was +sure I was going to be afraid of her. Wasn't, though," he concluded, +giving her hair a friendly tweak. + +"Besides, 't isn't quite so bad as if we had to go right away," added +Allie hopefully, as they rose to go home. "We have two months more; and +there's time for ever so much to happen, between now and then." + +But the two months hurried past them, and, before any one realized it, +the Burnams were on the eve of their departure. As Marjorie had said +when the subject was first mentioned, it was harder to stay than to go, +for those left behind had to keep on in the same old routine, where they +so keenly felt the loss of their friends who, on their side, were full +of anticipations for the new places they would see, the new +acquaintances they would make, while the bustle and excitement of +packing kept them too busy to realize all that they were leaving behind +them. + +It had been decided that the Burnams were to go away from Blue Creek the +last week in June, and, soon after this plan was arranged, Louise and +Dr. Brownlee had announced their intention of being married on the +twenty-fourth, in order that their friends might be present at the +wedding, so the last few weeks had found the Everett household in as +great excitement as were the Burnams. It was to be only a quiet church +wedding, followed by a small reception. Louise had reduced Allie and +Marjorie to a state of speechless delight, by asking them to be her +bridesmaids; while the doctor had laughingly protested that Charlie and +Ned should act as ushers, since they had been instrumental in bringing +himself and Louise together. After a little discussion, this plan had +been adopted, and the four young people were much impressed with their +consequence, in taking part, for the first time, in so important a +ceremony. + +On the evening before the wedding, they all walked up together from +their rehearsal in the chapel, and stopped for a little while on the +Everetts' front steps, where they were joined by Howard and Grant. + +"To-morrow, and the next day, and the next, and then it will all be +over," said Marjorie pensively. + +"I honestly haven't had time to think about it, this last week," said +Allie. "We've been so topsyturvy and busy that I haven't thought of +anything but packing and the wedding." + +"No; we'll be the ones to do the thinking," said Ned, as he stretched +himself out at his ease, on the railing to the little porch. "With Lou +married, and you three going, there's nothing else left for us to do. +I'm going to turn hermit, and move up the gulch." + +"I wouldn't, before fall, if I were in your place," returned Howard, in +a tone too low to catch the ears of the others. + +"What's next fall?" asked Ned listlessly. + +"Don't you give it away that I told you," said Howard, while he joined +his friend on the rail; "but I happened to hear your father talking to +my father, to-day; and it's all settled that you and Grant are coming to +St. Paul, next winter, to board with us, and go to school. Hush up!" he +added, as Ned gave a little exclamation of delight. "Don't tell the +others, for I oughtn't to have said anything about it; but I couldn't +hold in any longer." + +For an hour more, they sat there; then Grant's voice broke the hush, as +he put his head in at the open window of the parlor, where his sister +and Dr. Brownlee were sitting in the moonlight. + +"That's the seventh time you've said good night, Lou," he remarked, in a +hollow tone; "and I should think the eighth 'most ought to do the +business, unless you want to be dead sleepy, to-morrow night, while +you're in the middle of being tied up." + +The next evening found the chapel crowded. Every seat was occupied, and +the side aisles were filled with the miners and their wives, who stood +waiting to look on at the marriage of "our Miss Lou," for she was a +favorite with them all. At length the murmur of voices died away, as Mr. +Nelson took his place in the chancel, while the little organ pealed out +the opening strains of the wedding march. A moment later, the doors +swung open and the bridal party entered, Charlie and Ned leading the +way, with Allie and Marjorie following them, while Mr. Everett and his +daughter came after them. Louise was beautiful, in her simple white silk +gown, although she looked a little pale and nervous, as she saw so many +eyes turned upon her. Then she forgot it all, all the crowd and the +excitement, and even the friends gathered about her, and her face grew +radiant with her love, for Dr. Brownlee had met her at the head of the +aisle, to lead her forward to the altar; and above the low notes of the +organ, she heard the quiet, earnest voice, as it followed Mr. Nelson's +through the familiar words,-- + +"I, Winthrop, take thee, Louise, to my wedded wife." + +Their troths were plighted, the ring was slipped into place, and the +blessing was pronounced. Then, as Winthrop Brownlee and his bride turned +to face the congregation once more, the organ rang out in a triumphal +march, and the bell in the little tower overhead burst into a merry +peal. The sound rolled far up and down the valley, and the mountains +echoed back the happy tidings; then the evening quiet once more +descended upon Blue Creek Canon. + + + + +L'ENVOI. + + + The last leaf ended, ere you lay + My book aside, and turn to rest, + Read here, old friends, between the lines, + My loving memories of your West. + + The distance shortens to my eyes; + To-morrow's sun will sink to rest + Behind your hills. One day is all + That separates us, East and West. + + Then hasten forth, my little book, + Speed on your way, nor pause to rest; + But, turning towards the setting sun, + My greetings bear from East to West. + +"TREMONT," Twenty-seventh May, 1892. + + + + +Other Books Published by T. Y. CROWELL & CO. + + + + +ANNA CHAPIN RAY'S BOOKS. + +"A quiet sly humor, a faculty of investing every-day events with a +dramatic interest, a photographic touch which places her characters +before the reader, and a high moral tone are to be remarked in Miss +Ray."--_Detroit Tribune._ + + HALF A DOZEN BOYS. + + HALF A DOZEN GIRLS. + + IN BLUE CREEK CANON. + + CADETS OF FLEMMING HALL. + + + + +MRS. SARAH K. BOLTON'S FAMOUS BOOKS. + + + "_The most interesting books to me are the histories of individuals + and individual minds, all autobiographies, and the like. This is my + favorite reading._"--H. W. Longfellow. + + "_Mrs. Bolton never fails to interest and instruct her + readers._"--Chicago Inter-Ocean. + + "_Always written in a bright and fresh style._"--Boston Home + Journal. + + "_Readable without inaccuracy._"--Boston Post. + + +POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +Short biographical sketches of George Peabody, Michael Faraday, Samuel +Johnson, Admiral Farragut, Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, +Garibaldi, President Lincoln, and other noted persons who, from humble +circumstances, have risen to fame and distinction, and left behind an +imperishable record. + + +GIRLS WHO BECAME FAMOUS. + +A companion book to "Poor Boys Who Became Famous." Biographical sketches +of Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Eliot, Helen Hunt Jackson, Harriet +Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Florence Nightingale, Maria Mitchell, and other +eminent women. + + +FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE. + +Short biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus, Cuvier, +Humboldt, Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. + + +FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN. + +A companion book to "Famous American Authors." Biographical sketches of +Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster, Sumner, Garfield, +and others. Illustrated with portraits. + + +FAMOUS ENGLISH STATESMEN. + +With portraits of Gladstone, John Bright, Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, +Lord Shaftesbury, William Edward Forster, Lord Beaconsfield. + + +FAMOUS EUROPEAN ARTISTS. + +With portraits of Raphael, Titian, Landseer, Reynolds, Rubens, Turner, +and others. + + +FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS. + +Short biographical sketches of Holmes, Longfellow, Emerson, Lowell, +Aldrich, Mark Twain, and other noted writers. + + +FAMOUS ENGLISH AUTHORS OF THE 19th CENTURY. + +With portraits of Scott, Burns, Carlyle, Dickens, Tennyson, Robert +Browning, etc. + + +STORIES FROM LIFE. + +A book of short stories, charming and helpful. + + + + +COUNT TOLSTOI'S WORKS. + + +ANNA KARENINA. + +"Will take rank among the great works of fiction of the age."--_Portland +Transcript._ + + +IVAN ILYITCH, AND OTHER STORIES. + +"No living author surpasses him, and only one or two approach him, in +the power of picturing not merely places but persons, with minute and +fairly startling fidelity."--_Congregationalist._ + + +CHILDHOOD, BOYHOOD, YOUTH. With Portrait of the Author. + +A series of reminiscences and traditions of the author's early life. + + +MY CONFESSION AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST'S TEACHING. + +A companion book to "My Religion." + + +MY RELIGION. A sequel to "My Confession." + +"Should go to every household where the New Testament is read."--_New +York Sun._ + + +WHAT TO DO. Thoughts evoked by the Census of Moscow. Containing passages +excluded by the Press Censor of Russia. A sequel to "My Confession" and +"My Religion." + + +THE INVADERS, AND OTHER STORIES. Tales of the Caucasus. + +"Marked by the wonderful dramatic power which has made his name so +popular with an immense circle of readers in this country and in +Europe."--_Portland Press._ + + +A RUSSIAN PROPRIETOR, AND OTHER STORIES. + +"These stories are wholly in Tolstoi's peculiar manner, and illustrate +once more his wonderful simplicity and realism in the domain of +fiction."--_Sun_, New York. + + +NAPOLEON AND THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. With Portrait of the Author. + + +THE LONG EXILE, AND OTHER STORIES FOR CHILDREN. + +A notable addition to juvenile literature. + + +LIFE. + +A vigorous and lofty argument in favor of the eternal verities of life. + + +POWER AND LIBERTY. + +A sequel to "Napoleon and the Russian Campaign." An ingenious +reconciliation of the theories of fate and free will. + + +THE COSSACKS. + +"The most perfect work of Russian fiction," said Turgenief. + + +SEVASTOPOL. + +The most relentless pictures of the realities of war. + + +_TOLSTOI BOOKLETS_: + + WHERE LOVE IS, THERE GOD IS ALSO. + THE TWO PILGRIMS. + WHAT MEN LIVE BY. + + + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. + + +JED. A Boy's Adventures in the Army of '61-'65. + +A story of battle and prison, of peril and escape. By WARREN LEE GOSS, +author of "The Soldier's Story of his Captivity at Andersonville and +other Prisons," "The Recollections of a Private" (in the Century War +Series). + +In this story the author has aimed to furnish true pictures of scenes in +the great Civil War, and not to produce sensational effects. The +incidents of the book are real ones, drawn in part from the writer's +personal experiences and observations as a soldier of the Union, during +that war. The descriptions of the prison are especially truthful, for in +them the author briefly tells what he himself saw. One of the best war +stories ever written. Boys will read it with avidity. + + +THE WALKS ABROAD OF TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. + +From the French of Charles Beaugrand. By DAVID SHARP, M.B., F.L.S., +F.Z.S., President of the Entomological Society of London. + +A fascinating narrative of travel and adventure, in which is introduced +much valuable information on natural history subjects, and a reading of +the book will tend to foster an interest in zooelogy. + + +FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE. + +By SARAH K. BOLTON, author of "Poor Boys who became Famous," etc, Short +biographical sketches of Galileo, Newton, Linnaeus, Cuvier, Humboldt, +Audubon, Agassiz, Darwin, Buckland, and others. + + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Pictures of the Reign of Terror. + +By LYDIA HOYT FARMER, author of "Boys' Book of Famous Rulers," etc. + +To those who have not the leisure to make an exhaustive study of this +remarkable epoch in the world's history, this volume offers a rapid and +clear _resume_ of its most important events and thrilling scenes. + + +ROLF AND HIS FRIENDS. + +By J A K, author of "Birchwood," "Fitch Club," etc. + +A healthful, stimulating story, showing the advantage that every boy +must necessarily gain from association with intelligent, progressive +young people, no matter what their color or condition in life may be. +The incidents are fresh and natural, the conversations bright and +piquant, and the interest well sustained, while incidentally there is a +valuable leaven of information. + + +CECIL'S KNIGHT. + +By E. B. HOLLIS, author of "Cecil's Cousins," etc. A story of no +impossible knight, but of a very real, natural, and manly boy, who, +through perseverance, good sense, and genuine courage, fought his way +from poverty to success. + +"We recommend 'Cecil's Knight' as an excellent book to put into a boy's +hand.--" _Beacon._ + + +RED CARL. + +By J. J. MESSMER. A story dealing with the labor question, socialism, +and temperance, and one of the best, all points considered, that treats +of these subjects popularly. + +"It would be difficult to find a healthier, more stimulating, and more +suggestive story to put into the hands of the young." + + + + +T. Y. CROWELL & CO.'S NEW BOOKS. + + +CHARLES DICKENS'S COMPLETE WORKS. + +A new illustrated edition, in 15 and 30 volumes. This edition will meet +the (hitherto unfilled) wants of those desiring the works of Dickens in +good clear type, well printed on fine paper, handsomely illustrated, +tastefully bound, and suitable for library use, at a moderate price. + +RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE. + +A Story of the Army of the Potomac. By WARREN LEE GOSS, author of "Jed." +With over 80 illustrations by Chapin and Shelton. + +Among the many books about the civil war there is none which more +clearly describes what took place among the rank and file of the Union +Army, while on the march or on the battle-field, than the story given by +Mr. Goss in this volume. + +"It is one of the handsomest, as well as one of the most valuable works +in American war literature."--_Boston Globe._ + + +MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE. + +By Rev. J. R. MILLER, D.D., author of "Silent Times." + +The following is an extract from Dr. Miller's preface: "These chapters +are written with the purpose and hope of stimulating those who may read +them to _earnest and worthy living_.... If this book shall teach any how +to make the most of the life God has entrusted to them, that will be +reward enough for the work of its preparation." + + +DOCTOR LAMAR. + +A powerful work of fiction by a new author. + +There can be no doubt that "Doctor Lamar" is a remarkable novel. It has +originality in subject and treatment. The hero is drawn with a master +hand. The picture of the heroine is a revelation of innocence and beauty +of the most exquisite English type. The love story which runs through +the book, like a golden thread, is an idyl. Few novels are so well +calculated to appeal to a large class of readers, comprising, as it +does, food both for thought and recreation. + + +A WEB OF GOLD. + +By KATHARINE PEARSON WOODS, author of "Metzerott, Shoemaker." + +"One of the strongest books of the year."--_Buffalo Express._ + + +JULIUS WOLFF'S NOVELS. + +Delightful stories of old-time life in Germany. + + The Saltmaster of Lueneburg. + The Robber Count. + Fifty Years, Three Months, Two Days. + + +TENNYSON'S GREATER POEMS. + +Volumes are sold separately or in sets, and comprise the following: +"Idylls of the King," "In Memoriam," "The Princess." + + +THE ALHAMBRA SERIES OF NOTABLE BOOKS. + + The Alhambra, by Irving + Romola, by Eliot + Lorna Doone, by Blackmore + Scottish Chiefs, by Porter + Notre-Dame, by Hugo + Sketch Book, by Irving + + + + +THE LOTUS SERIES OF POETS. + + Robert Browning's Poems + Lalla Rookh, by Moore + Mrs. Browning's Poems + Lucile, by Meredith + Lady of the Lake, by Scott + Tennyson's Poems + + + + +THE FOUNDING OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE + +BY WILLIAM I. + +Based chiefly upon Prussian State Documents. + + Translated from the German of HEINRICH VON SYBEL by Professor + MARSHALL LIVINGSTON PERRIN, of the Boston University + +The welding together into a mighty united nation of the petty dukedoms +and principalities which fifty years ago made up the heterogeniety of +Germany was the greatest political feat of this century. Dr. Von Sybel, +pre-eminently fitted by nature and training to be the historian of this +tremendous creation, had the additional advantage of access to original +sources of information in the archives of Prussia, Hanover, Hesse +Cassel, and Nassau, and the State papers and diplomatic correspondence +preserved in the foreign office at Berlin. His history, therefore, may +be accepted as _absolutely authentic_, and that it has been so accepted +is shown by the universal chorus of praise from German critics which +greeted its first appearance, and by the fact that within two months of +publication fifty thousand copies were sold. Sybel's style is remarkably +smooth and attractive, full of vigor, life, and movement, and it has +been admirably rendered into idiomatic English by Professor Perrin, +whose long residence in Germany made the language like his mother tongue +to him. Finely engraved portraits of the Emperors William I., Frederick, +and William II., and of Bismarck and Moltke, give additional value to +the volumes. + + "Since the death of Ranke, Von Sybel has occupied unquestionably + the first rank among German historians."--_American Hebrew._ + + "The translation of this admirable history is very well done + indeed. It reflects few of the German involutions, and reads + smoothly and flowingly. Of the history itself, it must be said that + nothing comparable to it in fulness, clearness, trustworthiness, + and vigor, has been written concerning the great events of which it + treats."--_N. Y. Tribune._ + + "No reason to believe that it will be superseded during the present + generation."--_N. Y. Sun._ + + "_No more important historical work has appeared in the last + decade._"--Nation. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Blue Creek Canon, by Anna Chapin Ray + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN BLUE CREEK CANON *** + +***** This file should be named 24014.txt or 24014.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/0/1/24014/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from scans of public domain material +produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) + + +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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