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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.08.01*END** +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +Produced for Project Gutenberg by Lynn Hill +hill_lynn@hotmail.com + + + + + +TISH +The Chronicle of Her Escapades and Excursions + +By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART + + + + +CONTENTS + +MIND OVER MOTOR + +LIKE A WOLF ON THE FOLD + +THE SIMPLE LIFERS + +TISH'S SPY + +MY COUNTRY TISH OF THEE + + + +TISH + +Mind Over Motor + +How Tish Broke The Law And Some Records + +I + +So many unkind things have been said of the affair at Morris +Valley that I think it best to publish a straightforward account +of everything. The ill nature of the cartoon, for instance, +which showed Tish in a pair of khaki trousers on her back under +a racing-car was quite uncalled for. Tish did not wear the khaki +trousers; she merely took them along in case of emergency. Nor +was it true that Tish took Aggie along as a mechanician and +brutally pushed her off the car because she was not pumping +enough oil. The fact was that Aggie sneezed on a curve and fell +out of the car, and would no doubt have been killed had she not +been thrown into a pile of sand. + +It was in early September that Eliza Bailey, my cousin, decided +to go to London, ostensibly for a rest, but really to get some +cretonne at Liberty's. Eliza wrote me at Lake Penzance asking me +to go to Morris Valley and look after Bettina. + +I must confess that I was eager to do it. We three were very +comfortable at Mat Cottage, "Mat" being the name Charlie Sands, +Tish's nephew, had given it, being the initials of "Middle-Aged +Trio." Not that I regard the late forties as middle-aged. But +Tish, of course, is fifty. Charlie Sands, who is on a newspaper, +calls us either the "M.A.T." or the "B.A.'s," for "Beloved +Aunts," although Aggie and I are not related to him. + +Bettina's mother's note:-- + + Not that she will allow you to do it, or because she + isn't entirely able to take care of herself; but because + the people here are a talky lot. Bettina will probably + look after you. She has come from college with a feeling + that I am old and decrepit and must be cared for. She + maddens me with pillows and cups of tea and woolen + shawls. She thinks Morris Valley selfish and idle, and + is disappointed in the church, preferring her + Presbyterianism pure. She is desirous now of learning + how to cook. If you decide to come I'll be grateful if + you can keep her out of the kitchen. + + Devotedly, ELIZA. + + P.S. If you can keep Bettina from getting married while + I'm away I'll be very glad. She believes a woman should + marry and rear a large family! E. + +We were sitting on the porch of the cottage at Lake Penzance +when I received the letter, and I read it aloud. "Humph!" said +Tish, putting down the stocking she was knitting and looking +over her spectacles at me--"Likes her Presbyterianism pure and +believes in a large family! How old is she? Forty?" + +"Eighteen or twenty," I replied, looking at the letter. "I'm not +anxious to go. She'll probably find me frivolous." + +Tish put on her spectacles and took the letter. "I think it's +your duty, Lizzie," she said when she'd read it through. "But +that young woman needs handling. We'd better all go. We can +motor over in half a day." + +That was how it happened that Bettina Bailey, sitting on Eliza +Bailey's front piazza, decked out in chintz cushions,--the +piazza, of course,--saw a dusty machine come up the drive and +stop with a flourish at the steps. And from it alight, not one +chaperon, but three. + +After her first gasp Bettina was game. She was a pretty girl in +a white dress and bore no traces in her face of any stern +religious proclivities. + +"I didn't know--" she said, staring from one to the other of +us. "Mother said--that is--won't you go right upstairs and have +some tea and lie down?" She had hardly taken her eyes from Tish, +who had lifted the engine hood and was poking at the carbureter +with a hairpin. + +"No, thanks," said Tish briskly. "I'll just go around to the +garage and oil up while I'm dirty. I've got a short circuit +somewhere. Aggie, you and Lizzie get the trunk off." + +Bettina stood by while we unbuckled and lifted down our +traveling trunk. She did not speak a word, beyond asking if we +wouldn't wait until the gardener came. On Tish's saying she had +no time to wait, because she wanted to put kerosene in the +cylinders before the engine cooled, Bettina lapsed into silence +and stood by watching us. + +Bettina took us upstairs. She had put Drummond's "Natural Law in +the Spiritual World" on my table and a couch was ready with +pillows and a knitted slumber robe. Very gently she helped us +out of our veils and dusters and closed the windows for fear of +drafts. + +"Dear mother is so reckless of drafts," she remarked. "Are you +sure you won't have tea?" + +"We had some blackberry cordial with us," Aggie said, "and we +all had a little on the way. We had to change a tire and it made +us thirsty." + +"Change a tire!" + +Aggie had taken off her bonnet and was pinning on the small lace +cap she wears, away from home, to hide where her hair is growing +thin. In her cap Aggie is a sweet-faced woman of almost fifty, +rather ethereal. She pinned on her cap and pulled her crimps +down over her forehead. + +"Yes," she observed. "A bridge went down with us and one of the +nails spoiled a new tire. I told Miss Carberry the bridge was +unsafe, but she thought, by taking it very fast--" + +Bettina went over to Aggie and clutched her arm. "Do you mean to +say," she quavered, "that you three women went through a +bridge--" + +"It was a small bridge," I put in, to relieve her mind; "and +only a foot or two of water below. If only the man had not been +so disagreeable--" + +"Oh," she said, relieved, "you had a man with you!" + +"We never take a man with us," Aggie said with dignity. "This +one was fishing under the bridge and he was most ungentlemanly. +Quite refused to help, and tried to get the license number so he +could sue us." + +"Sue you!" + +"He claimed his arm was broken, but I distinctly saw him move +it." Aggie, having adjusted her cap, was looking at it in the +mirror. "But dear Tish thinks of everything. She had taken off +the license plates." + +Bettina had gone really pale. She seemed at a loss, and +impatient at herself for being so. "You--you won't have tea?" +she asked. + +"No, thank you." + +"Would you--perhaps you would prefer whiskey and soda." + +Aggie turned on her a reproachful eye. "My dear girl," she said, +"with the exception of a little home-made wine used medicinally +we drink nothing. I am the secretary of the Woman's Prohibition +Party." + +Bettina left us shortly after that to arrange for putting up +Letitia and Aggie. She gave them her mother's room, and whatever +impulse she may have had to put the Presbyterian Psalter by the +bed, she restrained it. By midnight Drummond's "Natural Law" had +disappeared from my table and a novel had taken its place. But +Bettina had not lost her air of bewilderment. + +That first evening was very quiet. A young man in white flannels +called, and he and Letitia spent a delightful evening on the +porch talking spark-plugs and carbureters. Bettina sat in a +corner and looked at the moon. Spoken to, she replied in +monosyllables in a carefully sweet tone. The young man's name +was Jasper McCutcheon. + +It developed that Jasper owned an old racing-car which he kept +in the Bailey garage, and he and Tish went out to look it over. +They very politely asked us all to go along, but Bettina +refusing, Aggie and I sat with her and looked at the moon. + +Aggie in her capacity as chaperon, or as one of an association +of chaperons, used the opportunity to examine Bettina on the +subject of Jasper. + +"He seems a nice boy," she remarked. Aggie's idea of a nice boy +is one who in summer wears fresh flannels outside, in winter +less conspicuously. "Does he live near?" + +"Next door," sweetly but coolly. + +"He is very good-looking." + +"Ears spoil him--too large." + +"Does he come around--er--often?" + +"Only two or three times a day. On Sunday, of course, we see +more of him." + +Aggie looked at me in the moonlight. Clearly the young man from +the next door needed watching. It was well we had come. + +"I suppose you like the same things?" she suggested. "Similar +tastes and--er--all that?" + +Bettina stretched her arms over her head and yawned. + +"Not so you could notice it," she said coolly. "I can't thick of +anything we agree on. He is an Episcopalian; I'm a Presbyterian. +He approves of suffrage for women; I do not. He is a Republican; +I'm a Progressive. He disapproves of large families; I approve +of them, if people can afford them." + +Aggie sat straight up. "I hope you don't discuss that!" she +exclaimed. + +Bettina smiled. "How nice to find that you are really just nice +elderly ladies after all!" she said. "Of course we discuss it. +Is it anything to be ashamed of?" + +"When I was a girl," I said tartly, "we married first and +discussed those things afterward." + +"Of course you did, Aunt Lizzie," she said, smiling alluringly. +She was the prettiest girl I think I have ever seen, and that +night she was beautiful. "And you raised enormous families who +religiously walked to church in their bare feet to save their +shoes!" + +"I did nothing of the sort," I snapped. + +"It seems to me," Aggie put in gently, "that you make very +little of love." Aggie was once engaged to be married to a young +man named Wiggins, a roofer by trade, who was killed in the act +of inspecting a tin gutter, on a rainy day. He slipped and fell +over, breaking his neck as a result. + +Bettina smiled at Aggie. "Not at all," she said. "The day of +blind love is gone, that's all--gone like the day of the +chaperon." + +Neither of us cared to pursue this, and Tish at that moment +appearing with Jasper, Aggie and I made a move toward bed. But +Jasper not going, and none of us caring to leave him alone with +Bettina, we sat down again. + +We sat until one o'clock. + +At the end of that time Jasper rose, and saying something about +its being almost bedtime strolled off next door. Aggie was sound +asleep in her chair and Tish was dozing. As for Bettina, she had +said hardly a word after eleven o'clock. + +Aggie and Tish, as I have said, were occupying the same room. I +went to sleep the moment I got into bed, and must have slept +three or four hours when I was awakened by a shot. A moment +later a dozen or more shots were fired in rapid succession and I +sat bolt upright in bed. Across the street some one was raising +a window, and a man called "What's the matter?" twice. + +There was no response and no further sound. Shaking in every +limb, I found the light switch and looked at the time. It was +four o'clock in the morning and quite dark. + +Some one was moving in the hall outside and whimpering. I opened +the door hurriedly and Aggie half fell into the room. + +"Tish is murdered, Lizzie!" she said, and collapsed on the floor +in a heap. + +"Nonsense!" + +"She's not in her room or in the house, and I heard shots!" + +Well, Aggie was right. Tish was not in her room. There was a +sort of horrible stillness everywhere as we stood there +clutching at each other and listening. + +"She's heard burglars downstairs and has gone down after them, +and this is what has happened! Oh, Tish! brave Tish!" Aggie +cried hysterically. + +And at that Bettina came in with her hair over her shoulders and +asked us if we had heard anything. When we told her about Tish, +she insisted on going downstairs, and with Aggie carrying her +first-aid box and I carrying the blackberry cordial, we went +down. + +The lower floor was quiet and empty. The man across the street +had put down his window and gone back to bed, and everything was +still. Bettina in her dressing-gown went out on the porch and +turned on the light. Tish was not there, nor was there a body +lying on the lawn. + +"It was back of the house by the garage," Bettina said. "If only +Jasper--" + +And at that moment Jasper came into the circle of light. He had +a Norfolk coat on over his pajamas and a pair of slippers, and +he was running, calling over his shoulder to some one behind as +he ran. + +"Watch the drive!" he yelled. "I saw him duck round the corner." + +We could hear other footsteps now and somebody panting near us. +Aggie was sitting huddled in a porch chair, crying, and Bettina, +in the hall, was trying to get down from the wall a Moorish +knife that Eliza Bailey had picked up somewhere. + +"John!" we heard Jasper calling. "John! Quick! I've got him!" + +He was just at the corner of the porch. My heart stopped and +then rushed on a thousand a minute. Then:-- + +"Take your hands off me!" said Tish's voice. + +The next moment Tish came majestically into the circle of light +and mounted the steps. Jasper, with his mouth open, stood below +looking up, and a hired man in what looked like a bed quilt was +behind in the shadow. + +Tish was completely dressed in her motoring clothes, even to her +goggles. She looked neither to the right nor left, but stalked +across the porch into the house and up the stairway. None of us +moved until we heard the door of her room slam above. + +"Poor old dear!" said Bettina. "She's been walking in her +sleep!" + +"But the shots!" gasped Aggie. "Some one was shooting at her!" + +Conscious now of his costume, Jasper had edged close to the +veranda and stood in its shadow. + +"Walking in her sleep, of course!" he said heartily. "The trip +today was too much for her. But think of her getting into that +burglar-proof garage with her eyes shut--or do sleep-walkers +have their eyes shut?--and actually cranking up my racer!" + +Aggie looked at me and I looked at Aggie. + +"Of course," Jasper went on, "there being no muffler on it, the +racket wakened her as well as the neighborhood. And then the way +we chased her!" + +"Poor old dear!" said Bettina again. "I'm going in to make her +some tea." + +"I think," said Jasper, "that I need a bit of tea too. If you +will put out the porch lights I'll come up and have some." + +But Aggie and I said nothing. We knew Tish never walked in her +sleep. She had meant to try out Jasper's racing-car at dawn, +forgetting that racers have no mufflers, and she had been, as +one may say, hoist with her own petard--although I do not know +what a petard is and have never been able to find out. + +We drank our tea, but Tish refused to have any or to reply to +our knocks, preserving a sulky silence. Also she had locked +Aggie out and I was compelled to let her sleep in my room. + +I was almost asleep when Aggie spoke:-- + +"Did you think there was anything queer about the way that +Jasper boy said good-night to Bettina?" she asked drowsily. + +"I didn't hear him say good-night." + +"That was it. He didn't. I think"--she yawned--"I think he +kissed her." + +II + +Tish was down early to breakfast that morning and her manner +forbade any mention of the night before. Aggie, however, noticed +that she ate her cereal with her left hand and used her right +arm only when absolutely necessary. Once before Tish had almost +broken an arm cranking a car and had been driven to arnica +compresses for a week; but this time we dared not suggest +anything. + +Shortly after breakfast she came down to the porch where Aggie +and I were knitting. + +"I've hurt my arm, Lizzie," she said. "I wish you'd come out and +crank the car." + +"You'd better stay at home with an arm like that," I replied +stiffly. + +"Very well, I'll crank it myself." + +"Where are you going?" + +"To the drug store for arnica." + +Bettina was not there, so I turned on Tish sharply. "I'll go, of +course," I said; "but I'll not go without speaking my mind, +Letitia Carberry. By and large, I've stood by you for twenty- +five years, and now in the weakness of your age I'm not going to +leave you. But I warn you, Tish, if you touch that racing-car +again, I'll send for Charlie Sands." + +"I haven't any intention of touching it again," said Tish, +meekly enough. "But I wish I could buy a second-hand racer +cheap." + +"What for?" Aggie demanded. + +Tish looked at her with scorn. "To hold flowers on the dining- +table," she snapped. + +It being necessary, of course, to leave a chaperon with Bettina, +because of the Jasper person's habit of coming over at any hour +of the day, we left Aggie with instructions to watch them both. + +Tish and I drove to the drug store together, and from there to a +garage for gasoline. I have never learned to say "gas" for +gasoline. It seems to me as absurd as if I were to say "but" for +butter. Considering that Aggie was quite sulky at being left, it +is absurd for her to assume an air of virtue over what followed +that day. Aggie was only like a lot of people--good because she +was not tempted; for it was at the garage that we met Mr. Ellis. + +We had stopped the engine and Tish was quarreling with the man +about the price of gasoline when I saw him--a nice-looking young +man in a black-and- white checked suit and a Panama hat. He came +over and stood looking at Tish's machine. + +"Nice lines to that car," he said. "Built for speed, isn't she? +What do you get out of her?" + +Tish heard him and turned. "Get out of her?" she said. "Bills +mostly." + +"Well, that's the way with most of them," he remarked, looking +steadily at Tish. "A machine's a rich man's toy. The only way to +own one is to have it endowed like a university. But I meant +speed. What can you make?" + +"Never had a chance to find out," Tish said grimly. "Between +nervous women in the machine and constables outside I have the +twelve-miles-an-hour habit. I'm going to exchange the +speedometer for a vacuum bottle." + +He smiled. "I don't think you're fair to yourself. Mostly--if +you'll forgive me--I can tell a woman's driving as far off as I +can see the machine; but you are a very fine driver. The way you +brought that car in here impressed me considerably." + +"She need not pretend she crawls along the road," I said with +some sarcasm. "The bills she complains of are mostly fines for +speeding." + +"No!" said the young man, delighted. "Good! I'm glad to hear it. +So are mine!" + +After that we got along famously. He had his car there--a low +gray thing that looked like an armored cruiser. + +"I'd like you ladies to try her," he said. "She can move, but +she is as gentle as a lamb. A lady friend of mine once threaded +a needle as an experiment while going sixty-five miles an hour." + +"In this car?" + +"In this car." + +Looking back, I do not recall just how the thing started. I +believe Tish expressed a desire to see the car go, and Mr. Ellis +said he couldn't let her out on the roads, but that the race- +track at the fair-ground was open and if we cared to drive down +there in Tish's car he would show us her paces, as he called it. + +>From that to going to the race-track, and from that to Tish's +getting in beside him on the mechanician's seat and going round +once or twice, was natural. I refused; I didn't like the look of +the thing. + +Tish came back with a cinder in her eye and full of enthusiasm. +"It was magnificent, Lizzie," she said. "The only word for it is +sublime. You see nothing. There is just the rush of the wind and +the roar of the engine and a wonderful feeling of flying. Here! +See if you can find this cinder." + +"Won't you try it, Miss--er--Lizzie?" + +"No, thanks," I replied. "I can get all the roar and rush of +wind I want in front of an electric fan, and no danger." + +He stood by, looking out over the oval track while I took three +cinders from Tish's eye. + +"Great track!" he said. "It's a horse-track, of course, but it's +in bully shape--the county fair is held there and these fellows +make a big feature of their horse-races. I came up here to +persuade them to hold an automobile meet, but they've got cold +feet an the proposition." + +"What was the proposition?" asked Tish. + +"Well," he said, "it was something like this. I've been turning +the trick all over the country and it works like a charm. The +town's ahead in money and business, for an automobile race +always brings a big crowd; the track owners make the gate money +and the racing-cars get the prizes. Everybody's ahead. It's a +clean sport too." + +"I don't approve of racing for money," Tish said decidedly. + +But Mr. Ellis shrugged his shoulders. "It's really hardly racing +for money," he explained. "The prizes cover the expenses of the +racing-cars, which are heavy naturally. The cars alone cost a +young fortune." + +"I see," said Tish. "I hadn't thought of it in that light. Well, +why didn't Morris Valley jump at the chance?" + +He hesitated a moment before he answered. "It was my fault +really," he said. "They were willing enough to have the races, +but it was a matter of money. I made them a proposition to +duplicate whatever prize money they offered, and in return I was +to have half the gate receipts and the betting privileges." + +Tish quite stiffened. "Clean sport!" she said sarcastically. +"With betting privileges!" + +"You don't quite understand, dear lady," he explained. "Even in +the cleanest sport we cannot prevent, a man's having an opinion +and backing it with his own money. What I intended to do was to +regulate it. Regulate it." + +Tish was quite mollified. "Well, of course," she said, "I +suppose since it must be, it is better--er,--regulated. But why +haven't you succeeded?" + +"An unfortunate thing happened just as I had the deal about to +close," he replied, and drew a long breath. "The town had raised +twenty-five hundred. I was to duplicate the amount. But just at +that time a--a young brother of mine in the West got into +difficulties, and I--but why go into family matters? It would +have been easy enough for me to pay my part of the purse out of +my share of the gate money; but the committee demands cash on +the table. I haven't got it." + +Tish stood up in her car and looked out over the track. + +"Twenty-five hundred dollars is a lot of money, young man." + +"Not so much when you realize that the gate money will probably +amount to twelve thousand." + +Tish turned and surveyed the grandstand. + +"That thing doesn't seat twelve hundred." + +"Two thousand people in the grandstand--that's four thousand +dollars. Four thousand standing inside the ropes at a dollar +each, four thousand more. And say eight hundred machines parked +in the oval there at five dollars a car, four thousand more. +That's twelve thousand for the gate money alone. Then there are +the concessions to sell peanuts, toy balloons, lemonade and palm- +leaf fans, the lunch-stands, merry-go-round and moving-picture +permits. It's a bonanza! Fourteen thousand anyhow." + +"Half of fourteen thousand is seven," said Tish dreamily. "Seven +thousand less twenty-five hundred is thirty-five hundred dollars +profit." + +"Forty-five hundred, dear lady," corrected Mr. Ellis, watching +her. "Forty-five hundred dollars profit to be made in two weeks, +and nothing to do to get it but sit still and watch it coming!" + +I can read Tish like a book and I saw what was in her mind. +"Letitia Carberry!" I said sternly. "You take my warning and +keep clear of this foolishness. If money comes as easy as that +it ain't honest." + +"Why not?" demanded Mr. Ellis. "We give them their money's +worth, don't we? They'd pay two dollars for a theater seat +without half the thrills--no chances of seeing a car turn turtle +or break its steering-knuckle and dash into the side-lines. Two +dollars' worth? It's twenty!" + +But Tish had had a moment to consider, and the turning-turtle +business settled it. She shook her head. "I'm not interested, +Mr. Ellis," she said coldly. "I couldn't sleep at night if I +thought I'd been the cause of anything turning turtle or dashing +into the side-lines." + +"Dear lady!" he said, shocked; "I had no idea of asking you to +help me out of my difficulties. Anyhow, while matters are at a +standstill probably some shrewd money-maker here will come +forward before long and make a nice profit on a small +investment." + +As we drove away from the fair grounds Tish was very silent; but +just as we reached the Bailey place, with Bettina and young +Jasper McCutcheon batting a ball about on the tennis court, Tish +turned to me. + +"You needn't look like that, Lizzie," she said. "I'm not even +thinking of backing an automobile race--although I don't see why +I shouldn't, so far as that goes. But it's curious, isn't it, +that I've got twenty-five hundred dollars from Cousin Angeline's +estate not even earning four per cent?" + +I got out grimly and jerked at my bonnet-strings. + +"You put it in a mortgage, Tish," I advised her with severity in +every tone. "It may not be so fast as an automobile race or so +likely to turn turtle or break its steering-knuckle, but it's +safe." + +"Huh!" said Tish, reaching for the gear lever. "And about as +exciting as a cold pork chop." + +"And furthermore," I interjected, "if you go into this thing now +that your eyes are open, I'll send for Charlie Sands!" + +"You and Charlie Sands," said Tish viciously, jamming at her +gears, "ought to go and live in an old ladies' home away from +this cruel world." + +Aggie was sitting under a sunshade in the broiling sun at the +tennis court. She said she had not left Bettina and Jasper for a +moment, and that they had evidently quarreled, although she did +not know when, having listened to every word they said. For the +last half-hour, she said, they had not spoken at all. + +"Young people in love are very foolish," she said, rising +stiffly. "They should be happy in the present. Who knows what +the future may hold?" + +I knew she was thinking of Mr. Wiggins and the icy roof, so I +patted her shoulder and sent her up to put cold cloths on her +head for fear of sunstroke. Then I sat down in the broiling sun +and chaperoned Bettina until luncheon. + +III + +Jasper took dinner with us that night. He came across the lawn, +freshly shaved and in clean white flannels, just as dinner was +announced, and said he had seen a chocolate cake cooling on the +kitchen porch and that it was a sort of unwritten social law +that when the Baileys happened to have a chocolate cake at +dinner they had him also. + +There seemed to be nothing to object to in this. Evidently he +was right, for we found his place laid at the table. The meal +was quite cheerful, although Jasper ate the way some people play +the piano, by touch, with his eyes on Bettina. And he gave no +evidence at dessert of a fondness for chocolate cake sufficient +to justify a standing invitation. + +After dinner we went out on the veranda, and under cover of +showing me a sunset Jasper took me round the corner of the +house. Once there, he entirely forgot the sunset. + +"Miss Lizzie," he began at once, "what have I done to you to +have you treat me like this?" + +"I?" I asked, amazed. + +"All three of you. Did--did Bettina's mother warn you against +me?" + +"The girl has to be chaperoned." + +"But not jailed, Miss Lizzie, not jailed! Do you know that I +haven't had a word with Bettina alone since you came?" + +"Why should you want to say anything we cannot hear?" + +"Miss Lizzie," he said desperately, "do you want to hear me +propose to her? For I've reached the point where if I don't +propose to Bettina soon, I'll--I'll propose to somebody. You'd +better be warned in time. It might be you or Miss Aggie." + +I weakened at that. The Lord never saw fit to send me a man I +could care enough about to marry, or one who cared enough about +me, but I couldn't look at the boy's face and not be sorry for +him. + +"What do you want me to do?" I asked. + +"Come for a walk with us," he begged. "Then sprain your ankle or +get tired, I don't care which. Tell us to go on and come back +for you later. Do you see? You can sit down by the road +somewhere." + +"I won't lie," I said firmly. "If I really get tired I'll say +so. If I don't--" + +"You will." He was gleeful. "We'll walk until you do! You see +it's like this, Miss Lizzie. Bettina was all for me, in spite of +our differing on religion and politics and--" + +"I know all about your differences," I put in hastily. + +"Until a new chap came to town--a fellow named Ellis. Runs a +sporty car and has every girl in the town lashed to the mast. +He's a novelty and I'm not. So far I have kept him away from +Bettina, but at any time they may meet, and it will be +one-two-three with me." + +I am not defending my conduct; I am only explaining. Eliza +Bailey herself would have done what I did under the +circumstances. I went for a walk with Bettina and Jasper shortly +after my talk with Jasper, leaving Tish with the evening paper +and Aggie inhaling a cubeb cigarette, her hay fever having +threatened a return. And what is more, I tired within three +blocks of the house, where I saw a grassy bank beside the road. + +Bettina wished to stay with me, but I said, in obedience to +Jasper's eyes, that I liked to sit alone and listen to the +crickets, and for them to go on. The last I saw of them Jasper +had drawn Bettina's arm through his and was walking beside her +with his head bent, talking. I sat for perhaps fifteen minutes +and was growing uneasy about dew and my rheumatism when I heard +footsteps and, looking up, I saw Aggie coming toward me. She was +not surprised to see me and addressed me coldly. + +"I thought as much!" she said. "I expected better of you, +Lizzie. That boy asked me and I refused. I dare say he asked +Tish also. For you, who pride yourself on your strength of mind-- + " + +"I was tired," I said. "I was to sprain my ankle," she observed +sarcastically. "I just thought as I was sitting there alone--" + +"Where's Tish?" + +"A young man named Ellis came and took her out for a ride," said +Aggie. "He couldn't take us both, as the car holds only two." + +I got up and stared at Aggie in the twilight. "You come straight +home with me, Aggie Pilkington," I said sternly. + +"But what about Bettina and Jasper?" + +"Let 'em alone," I said; "they're safe enough. What we need to +keep an eye on is Letitia Carberry and her Cousin Angeline's +legacy." + +But I was too late. Tish and Mr. Ellis whirled up to the door at +half-past eight and Tish did not even notice that Bettina was +absent. She took off her veil and said something about Mr. +Ellis's having heard a grinding in the differential of her car +that afternoon and that he suspected a chip of steel in the +gears. They went out together to the garage, leaving Aggie and +me staring at each other. Mr. Ellis was carrying a box of tools. + +Jasper and Bettina returned shortly after, and even in the dusk +I knew things had gone badly for him. He sat on the steps, +looking out across the dark lawn, and spoke in monosyllables. +Bettina, however, was very gay. + +It was evident that Bettina had decided not to take her +Presbyterianism into the Episcopal fold. And although I am a +Presbyterian myself I felt sorry. + +Tish and Mr. Ellis came round to the porch about ten o'clock and +he was presented to Bettina. From that moment there was no +question in my mind as to how affairs were going, or in Jasper's +either. He refused to move and sat doggedly on the steps, but he +took little part in the conversation. + +Mr. Ellis was a good talker, especially about himself. + +"You'll be glad to know," he said to me, "that I've got this +race matter fixed up finally. In two weeks from now we'll have a +little excitement here." + +I looked toward Tish, but she said nothing. + +"Excitement is where I live," said Mr. Ellis. "If I don't find +any waiting I make it." + +"If you are looking for excitement, we'll have to find you +some," Jasper said pointedly. + +Mr. Ellis only laughed. "Don't put yourself out, dear boy," he +said. "I have enough for present necessities. If you think an +automobile race is an easy thing to manage, try it. Every man +who drives a racing-car has a coloratura soprano beaten to death +for temperament. Then every racing-car has quirky spells; +there's the local committee to propitiate; the track to look +after; and if that isn't enough, there's the promotion itself, +the advertising. That's my stunt--the advertising." + +"It's a wonderful business, isn't it?" asked Bettina. "To take a +mile or so of dirt track and turn it into a sort of stage, with +drama every minute and sometimes tragedy!" + +"Wait a moment," said Mr. Ellis; "I want to put that down. I'll +use it somewhere in the advertising." He wrote by the light of a +match, while we all sat rather stunned by both his personality +and his alertness. "Everything's grist that comes to my mill. I +suppose you all remember when I completed the speedway at +Indianapolis and had the Governor of Indiana lay a gold brick at +the entrance? Great stunt that! But the best part of that story +never reached the public." + +Bettina was leaning forward, all ears and thrills. "What was +that?" she asked. + +"I had the gold brick stolen that night--did it myself and +carried the brick away in my pocket--only gold-plated, you know. +Cost eight or nine dollars, all told, and brought a million +dollars in advertising. But the papers were sore about some +passes and wouldn't use the story. Too bad we can't use the +brick here. Still have it kicking about somewhere." + +It was then, I think, that Jasper yawned loudly, apologized, +said good-night and lounged away across the lawn. Bettina hardly +knew he was going. She was bending forward, her chin in her +palms, listening to Mr. Ellis tell about a driver in a motor +race breaking his wrist cranking a car, and how he--Ellis--had +jumped into the car and driven it to victory. Even Aggie was +enthralled. It seemed as if, in the last hour, the great world +of stress and keen wits and endeavor and mad speed had sat down +on our door-step. + +As Tish said when we were going up to bed, why shouldn't Mr. +Ellis brag? He had something to brag about. + +IV + +Although I felt quite sure that Tish had put up the prize money +for Mr. Ellis, I could not be certain. And Tish's attitude at +that time did not invite inquiry. She took long rides daily with +the Ellis man in his gray car, and I have reason to believe that +their objective point was always the same--the race-track. + +Mr. Ellis was the busiest man in Morris Valley. In the daytime +he was superintending putting the track in condition, writing +what he called "promotion stuff," securing entries and forming +the center of excited groups at the drug store and one or other +of the two public garages. In the evenings he was generally to +be found at Bettina's feet. + +Jasper did not come over any more. He sauntered past, evening +after evening, very much white-flanneled and carrying a tennis +racket. And once or twice he took out his old racing-car, and +later shot by the house with a flutter of veils and a motor coat +beside him. + +Aggie was exceedingly sorry for him, and even went the length of +having the cook bake a chocolate cake and put it on the window +sill to cool. It had, however, no perceptible effect, except to +draw from Mr. Ellis, who had been round at the garage looking at +Jasper's old racer, a remark that he was exceedingly fond of +cake, and if he were urged-- + +That was, I believe, a week before the race. The big city papers +had taken it up, according to Mr. Ellis, and entries were +pouring in. + +"That's the trouble on a small track," he said--"we can't crowd +'em. A dozen cars will be about the limit. Even with using the +cattle pens for repair pits we can't look after more than a +dozen. Did I tell you Heckert had entered his Bonor?" + +"No!" we exclaimed. As far as Aggie and I were concerned, the +Bonor might have been a new sort of dog. + +"Yes, and Johnson his Sampler. It's going to be some race--eh, +what!" + +Jasper sauntered over that evening, possibly a late result of +the cake, after all. He greeted us affably, as if his defection +of the past week had been merely incidental, and sat down on the +steps. + +"I've been thinking, Ellis," he said, "that I'd like to enter my +car." + +"What!" said Ellis. "Not that--" + +"My racer. I'm not much for speed, but there's a sort of feeling +in the town that the locality ought to be represented. As I'm +the only owner of a speed car--" + +"Speed car!" said Ellis, and chuckled. "My dear boy, we've got +Heckert with his ninety-horse-power Bonor!" + +"Never heard of him." Jasper lighted a cigarette. "Anyhow, +what's that to me? I don't like to race. I've got less speed +mania than any owner of a race car you ever met. But the honor +of the town seems to demand a sacrifice, and I'm it." + +"You can try out for it anyhow," said Ellis. "I don't think +you'll make it; but, if you qualify, all right. But don't let +any other town people, from a sense of mistaken local pride, +enter a street roller or a traction engine." + +Jasper colored, but kept his temper. + +Aggie, however, spoke up indignantly. "Mr. McCutcheon's car was +a very fine racer when it was built." + +"De mortuis nil nisi bonum," remarked Mr. Ellis, and getting up +said good-night. + +Jasper sat on the steps and watched him disappear. Then he +turned to Tish. + +"Miss Letitia," he said, "do you think you are wise to drive +that racer of his the way you have been doing?" + +Aggie gave a little gasp and promptly sneezed, as she does when +she is excited. + +"I?" said Tish. + +"You!" he smiled. "Not that I don't admire your courage. I do. +But the other day, now, when you lost a tire and went into the +ditch--" + +"Tish!" from Aggie. + +"--you were fortunate. But when a racer turns over the results +are not pleasant." + +"As a matter of fact," said Tish coldly, "it was a wheat-field, +not a ditch." + +Jasper got up and threw away his cigarette. "Well, our departing +friend is not the only one who can quote Latin," he said. +"Verbum sap., Miss Tish. Good-night, everybody. Good-night, +Bettina." + +Bettina's good-night was very cool. As I went up to bed that +night, I thought Jasper's chances poor indeed. As for Tish, I +endeavored to speak a few word of remonstrance to her, but she +opened her Bible and began to read the lesson for the day and I +was obliged to beat a retreat. + + +It was that night that Aggie and I, having decided the situation +was beyond us, wrote a letter to Charlie Sands asking him to +come up. Just as I was sealing it Bettina knocked and came in. +She closed the door behind her and stood looking at us both. + +"Where is Miss Tish?" she asked. + +"Reading her Bible," I said tartly. "When Tish is up to some +mischief, she generally reads an extra chapter or two as +atonement." + +"Is she--is she always like this?" + +"The trouble is," explained Aggie gently, "Miss Letitia is an +enthusiast. Whatever she does, she does with all her heart." + +"I feel so responsible," said Bettina. "I try to look after her, +but what can I do?" + +"There is only one thing to do," I assured her--"let her alone. +If she wants to fly, let her fly; if she wants to race, let her +race--and trust in Providence." + +"I'm afraid Providence has its hands full!" said Bettina, and +went to bed. + +For the remainder of that week nothing was talked of in Morris +Valley but the approaching race. Some of Eliza Bailey's friends +gave fancy-work parties for us, which Aggie and I attended. Tish +refused, being now openly at the race-track most of the day. +Morris Valley was much excited. Should it wear motor clothes, or +should it follow the example of the English Derby and the French +races and wear its afternoon reception dress with white kid +gloves? Or--it being warm--wouldn't lingerie clothes and +sunshades be most suitable? + +Some of the gossip I retailed to Jasper, oil-streaked and +greasy, in the Baileys' garage where he was working over his +car. + +"Tell 'em to wear mourning," he said pessimistically. "There's +always a fatality or two. If there wasn't a fair chance of it +nothing would make 'em sit for hours watching dusty streaks +going by." + +The face was scheduled for Wednesday. On Sunday night the cars +began to come in. On Monday Tish took us all, including Bettina, +to the track. There were half a dozen tents in the oval, one of +them marked with a huge red cross. + +"Hospital tent," said Tish calmly. We even, on permission from +Mr. Ellis, went round the track. At one spot Tish stopped the +car and got out. + +"Nail," she said briefly. "It's been a horse-racing track for +years, and we've gathered a bushel of horse-shoe nails." + +Aggie and I said nothing, but we looked at each other. Tish had +said "we." Evidently Cousin Angeline's legacy was not going into +a mortgage. + +The fair-grounds were almost ready. Peanut and lunch stands had +sprung up everywhere. The oval, save by the tents and the repair +pits, was marked off into parking-spaces numbered on tall +banners. Groups of dirty men in overalls, carrying machine +wrenches, small boys with buckets of water, onlookers round the +tents and track-rollers made the place look busy and +interesting. Some of the excitement, I confess, got into my +blood. Tish, on the contrary, was calm and businesslike. We were +sorry we had sent for Charlie Sands. She no longer went out in +Mr. Ellis's car, and that evening she went back to the kitchen +and made a boiled salad dressing. + +We were all deceived. + +Charlie Sands came the next morning. He was on the veranda +reading a paper when we got down to breakfast. Tish's face was a +study. + +"Who sent for you?" she demanded. + +"Sent for me! Why, who would send for me? I'm here to write up +the race. I thought, if you haven't been out to the track, we'd +go out this morning." + +"We've been out," said Tish shortly, and we went in to +breakfast. Once or twice during the meal I caught her eye on me +and on Aggie and she was short with us both. While she was +upstairs I had a word with Charlie Sands. + +"Well," he said, "what is it this time? Is she racing?" + +"Worse than that," I replied. "I think she's backing the thing!" + +"No!" + +"With her cousin Angeline's legacy." With that I told him about +our meeting Mr. Ellis and the whole story. He listened without a +word. + +"So that's the situation," I finished. "He has her hypnotized, +Charlie. What's more, I shouldn't be surprised to see her enter +the race under an assumed name." + +Charlie Sands looked at the racing list in the Morris Valley +Sun. + +"Good cars all of them," he said. "She's not here among the +drivers, unless she's--Who are these drivers anyhow? I never +heard of any of them." + +"It's a small race," I suggested. "I dare say the big men--" + +"Perhaps." He put away his paper and got up. "I'll just wander +round the town for an hour or two, Aunt Lizzie," he said. "I +believe there's a nigger in this woodpile and I'm a right nifty +little nigger-chaser." + +When he came back about noon, however, he looked puzzled. I drew +him aside. + +"It seems on the level," he said. "It's so darned open it makes +me suspicious. But she's back of it all right. I got her bank on +the long-distance 'phone." + +We spent that afternoon at the track, with the different cars +doing what I think they called "trying out heats." It appeared +that a car, to qualify, must do a certain distance in a certain +time. It grew monotonous after a while. All but one entry +qualified and Jasper just made it. The best showing was made by +the Bonor car, according to Charlie Sands. + +Jasper came to our machine when it was over, smiling without any +particular good cheer. + +"I've made it and that's all," he said. "I've got about as much +chance as a watermelon at a colored picnic. I'm being +slaughtered to make a Roman holiday." + +"If you feel that way why do you do it?" demanded Bettina +coldly. "If you go in expecting to slaughtered--" + +He was leaning on the side of the car and looked up at her with +eyes that made my heart ache, they were so wretched. + +"What does it matter?" he said. "I'll probably trail in at the +last, sound in wind and limb. If I don't, what does it matter?" + +He turned and left us at that, and I looked at Bettina. She had +her lips shut tight and was blinking hard. I wished that Jasper +had looked back. + +V + +Charlie Sands announced at dinner that he intended to spend the +night at the track. + +Tish put down her fork and looked at him. "Why?" she demanded. + +"I'm going to help the boy next door watch his car," he said +calmly. "Nothing against your friend Mr. Ellis, Aunt Tish, but +some enemy of true sport might take a notion in the night to +slip a dope pill into the mouth of friend Jasper's car and have +her go to sleep on the track to-morrow." + +We spent a quiet evening. Mr. Ellis was busy, of course, and so +was Jasper. The boy came to the house to get Charlie Sands and, +I suppose, for a word with Bettina, for when he saw us all on +the porch he looked, as you may say, thwarted. + +When Charlie Sands had gone up for his pajamas and dressing- +gown, Jasper stood looking up at us. + +"Oh, Association of Chaperons!" he said, "is it permitted that +my lady walk to the gate with me--alone?" + +"I am not your lady," flashed Bettina. + +"You've nothing to say about that," he said recklessly. "I've +selected you; you can't help it. I haven't claimed that you have +selected me." + +"Anyhow, I don't wish to go to the gate," said Bettina. + +He went rather white at that, and Charlie Sands coming down at +that moment with a pair of red-and-white pajamas under his arm +and a toothbrush sticking out of his breast pocket, romance, as +Jasper said later in referring to it, "was buried in Sands." + +Jasper went up to Bettina and held out his hand. "You'll wish me +luck, won't you?" + +"Of course." She took his hand. "But I think you're a bit of a +coward, Jasper!" + +He eyed her. "Coward!" he said. "I'm the bravest man you know. +I'm doing a thing I'm scared to death to do!" + +The race was to begin at two o'clock in the afternoon. There +were small races to be run first, but the real event was due at +three. + +>From early in the morning a procession of cars from out of town +poured in past Eliza Bailey's front porch, and by noon her +cretonne cushions were thick with dust. And not only automobiles +came, but hay-wagons, side-bar buggies, delivery carts--anything +and everything that could transport the crowd. + +At noon Mr. Ellis telephoned Tish that the grand-stand was sold +out and that almost all the parking-places that had been +reserved were taken. Charlie Sands came home to luncheon with a +curious smile on his face. + +"How are you betting, Aunt Tish?" he asked. + +"Betting!" + +"Yes. Has Ellis let you in on the betting?" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," Tish said sourly. +"Mr. Ellis controls the betting so that it may be done in an +orderly manner. I am sure I have nothing to do with it." + +"I'd like to bet a little, Charlie," Aggie put in with an eye on +Tish. "I'd put all I win on the collection plate on Sunday." + +"Very well." Charlie Sands took out his notebook. "On what car +and how much?" + +"Ten dollars on the Fein. It made the best time at the trial +heats." + +"I wouldn't if I were you," said Charlie Sands. "Suppose we put +it on our young friend next door." + +Bettina rather sniffed. "On Jasper!" she exclaimed. + +"On Jasper," said Charlie Sands gravely. + +Tish, who had hardly heard us, looked up from her plate. + +"Bettina is betting," she snapped. "Putting it on the collection +plate doesn't help any." But with that she caught Charlie Sands' +eye and he winked at her. Tish colored. "Gambling is one thing, +clean sport is another," she said hotly. + +I believe, however, that whatever Charlie Sands may have +suspected, he really knew nothing until the race had started. By +that time it was too late to prevent it, and the only way he +could think of to avoid getting Tish involved in a scandal was +to let it go on. + +We went to the track in Tish's car and parked in the oval. Not +near the grandstand, however. Tish had picked out for herself a +curve at one end of the track which Mr. Ellis had said was the +worst bit on the course. "He says," said Tish, as we put the top +down and got out the vacuum bottle--oh, yes, Mr. Ellis had sent +Tish one as a present--"that if there are any smashups they'll +occur here." + +Aggie is not a bloodthirsty woman ordinarily, but her face quite +lit up. + +"Not really!" she said. + +"They'll probably turn turtle," said Tish. "There is never a +race without a fatality or two. No racer can get any life +insurance. Mr. Ellis says four men were killed at the last race +he promoted." + +"Then I think Mr. Ellis is a murderer," Bettina cried. We all +looked at her. She was limp and white and was leaning back among +the cushions with her eyes shut. "Why didn't you tell Jasper +about this curve?" she demanded of Tish. + +But at that moment a pistol shot rang out and the races were on. + +The Fein won two of the three small races. Jasper was entered +only for the big race. In the interval before the race was on, +Jasper went round the track slowly, looking for Bettina. When he +saw us he waved, but did not stop. He was number thirteen. + +I shall not describe the race. After the first round or two, +what with dust in my eyes and my neck aching from turning my +head so rapidly, I just sat back and let them spin in front of +me. + +It was after a dozen laps or so, with number thirteen doing as +well as any of them, that Tish was arrested. + +Charlie Sands came up beside the car with a gentleman named +Atkins, who turned out to be a county detective. Charlie Sands +was looking stern and severe, but the detective was rather +apologetic. + +"This is Miss Carberry," said Charlie Sands. "Aunt Tish, this +gentleman wishes to speak to you." + +"Come around after the race," Tish observed calmly. + +"Miss Carberry," said the detective gently, "I believe you are +back of this race, aren't you?" + +"What if I am?" demanded Tish. + +Charlie Sands put a hand on the detective's arm. "It's like +this, Aunt Tish," he said; "you are accused of practicing a +short- change game, that's all. This race is sewed up. You +employ those racing-cars with drivers at an average of fifty +dollars a week. They are hardly worth it, Aunt Tish. I could +have got you a better string for twenty-five." + +Tish opened her mouth and shut it again without speaking. + +"You also control the betting privileges. As you own all the +racers you have probably known for a couple of weeks who will +win the race. Having made the Fein favorite, you can bet on a +Brand or a Bonor, or whatever one you chance to like, and win +out. Only I take it rather hard of you, Aunt Tish, not to have +let the family in. I'm hard up as the dickens." + +"Charlie Sands!" said Tish impressively. "If you are joking--" + +"Joking! Did you ever know a county detective to arrest a +prominent woman at a race-track as a little jest between +friends? There's no joke, Aunt Tish. You've financed a phony +race. The permit is taken in your name--L. L. Carberry. Whatever +car wins, you and Ellis take the prize money, half the gate +receipts, and what you have made out of the betting--" + +Tish rose in the machine and held out both her hands to Mr. +Atkins. + +"Officer, perform your duty," she said solemnly. "Ignorance is +no defense and I know it. Where are the handcuffs?" + +"We'll not bother about them, Miss Carberry", he said. "If you +like I'll get into the car and you can tell me all about it +while we watch the race. Which car is to win?" + +"I may have been a fool, Mr. County Detective," she said coldly; +"but I'm not a knave. I have not bet a dollar on the race." + +We were very silent for a time. The detective seemed to enjoy +the race very much and ate peanuts out of his pocket. He even +bought a red-and-black pennant, with "Morris Valley Races" on +it, and fastened it to the car. Charlie Sands, however, sat with +his arms folded, stiff and severe. + +Once Tish bent forward and touched his arm. + +"You--you don't think it will get in the papers, do you?" she +quavered. + +Charlie Sands looked at her with gloom. "I shall have to send it +myself, Aunt Tish," he said; "it is my duty to my paper. Even my +family pride, hurt to the quick and quivering as it is, must not +interfere with my duty." + +It was Bettina who suggested a way out--Bettina, who had sat +back as pale as Tish and heard that her Mr. Ellis was, as +Charlie Sands said later, as crooked as a pretzel. + +"But Jasper was not--not subsidized," she said. "if he wins, +it's all right, isn't it?" + +The county detective turned to her. + +"Jasper?" he said. + +"A young man who lives here." Bettina colored. + +"He is--not to be suspected?" + +"Certainly not," said Bettina haughtily; "he is above suspicion. +Besides, he--he and Mr. Ellis are not friends." + +Well, the county detective was no fool. He saw the situation +that minute, and smiled when he offered Bettina a peanut. "Of +course," he said cheerfully, "if the race is won by a Morris +Valley man, and not by one of the Ellis cars, I don't suppose +the district attorney would care to do anything about it. In +fact," he said, smiling at Bettina, "I don't know that I'd put +it up to the district attorney at all. A warning to Ellis would +get him out of the State." + +It was just at that moment that car number thirteen, coming +round the curve, skidded into the field, threw out both Jasper +McCutcheon and his mechanician, and after standing on two wheels +for an appreciable moment of time, righted herself, panting, +with her nose against a post. + +Jasper sat up almost immediately and caught at his shoulder. The +mechanician was stunned. He got up, took a step or two and fell +down, weak with fright. + +I do not recall very distinctly what happened next. We got out +of the machine, I remember, and Bettina was cutting off Jasper's +sweater with Charlie Sands' penknife, and crying as she did it. +And Charlie Sands was trying to prevent Jasper from getting back +into his car, while Jasper was protesting that he could win in +two or more laps and that he could drive with one hand--he'd +only broken his arm. + +The crowd had gathered round us, thick. Suddenly they drew back, +and in a sort of haze I saw Tish in Jasper's car, with Aggie, as +white as death, holding to Tish's sleeve and begging her not to +get in. The next moment Tish let in the clutch of the racer and +Aggie took a sort of flying leap and landed beside her in the +mechanician's seat. + +Charlie Sands saw it when I did, but we were both too late. Tish +was crossing the ditch into the track again, and the moment she +struck level ground she put up the gasoline. + +It was just then that Aggie fell out, landing, as I have said +before, in a pile of sand. Tish said afterward that she never +missed her. She had just discovered that this was not Jasper's +old car, which she knew something about, but a new racer with +the old hood and seat put on in order to fool Mr. Ellis. She +didn't know a thing about it. + +Well, you know the rest--how Tish, trying to find how the gears +worked, side-swiped the Bonor car and threw it off the field and +out of the race; how, with the grandstand going crazy, she +skidded off the track into the field, turned completely round +twice, and found herself on the track again facing the way she +wanted to go; how, at the last lap, she threw a tire and, +without cutting down her speed, bumped home the winner, with the +end of her tongue nearly bitten off and her spine fairly driven +up into her skull. + +All this is well known now, as is also the fact that Mr. Ellis +disappeared from the judges' stand after a word or two with Mr. +Atkins, and was never seen at Morris Valley again. + +Tish came out of the race ahead by half the gate money--six +thousand dollars--by a thousand dollars from concessions, and a +lame back that she kept all winter. Even deducting the twenty- +five hundred she had put up, she was forty-five hundred dollars +ahead, not counting the prize money. Charlie Sand brought the +money from the track that night, after having paid off Mr. +Ellis's racing- string and given Mr. Atkins a small present. He +took over the prize money to Jasper and came back with it, +Jasper maintaining that it belonged to Tish, and that he had +only raced for the honor of Morris Valley. For some tine the +money went begging, but it settled itself naturally enough, Tish +giving it to Jasper in the event of--but that came later. + +On the following evening--Bettina, in the pursuit of learning to +cook, having baked a chocolate cake--we saw Jasper, with his arm +in a sling, crossing the side lawn. + +Jasper stopped at the foot of the steps. "I see a chocolate cake +cooling on the kitchen porch," he said. "Did you order it, Miss +Lizzie?" + +I shook my head. + +"Miss Tish? Miss Aggie?" + +"I ordered it," said Bettina defiantly--"or rather I baked it." + +"And you did that, knowing what it entailed? He was coming up +the steps slowly and with care. + +"What does it entail?" demanded Bettina. + +"Me." + +"Oh, that!" said Bettina. "I knew that." + +Jasper threw his head back and laughed. Then:-- + +"Will the Associated Chaperons," he said, "turn their backs?" + +"Not at all," I began stiffly. "If I--" + +"She baked it herself!" said Jasper exultantly. "One--two. When +I say three I shall kiss Bettina." + +And I have every reason to believe he carried out his threat. + + +Eliza Bailey forwarded me this letter from London where Bettina +had sent it to her:-- + + Dearest Mother: I hope you are coming home soon. I + really think you should. Aunt Lizzie is here and she + brought two friends, and, mother, I feel so responsible + for them! Aunt Lizzie is sane enough, if somewhat + cranky; but Miss Tish is almost more than I can manage-- + I never know what she is going to do next--and I am worn + out with chaperoning her. And Miss Aggie, although she + is very sweet, is always smoking cubeb cigarettes for + hay fever, and it looks terrible! The neighbors do not + know they are cubeb, and, anyhow, that's a habit, + mother. And yesterday Miss Tish was arrested, and ran a + motor race and won it, and to-day she is knitting a + stocking and reciting the Twenty-third Psalm. Please, + mother, I think you should come home. + + Lovingly, BETTINA. + + P.S. I think I shall marry Jasper after all. He says he + likes the Presbyterian service. + +I looked up from reading Eliza's letter. Tish was knitting +quietly and planning to give the money back to the town in the +shape of a library, and Aggie was holding a cubeb cigarette to +her nose. Down on the tennis court Jasper and Bettina were idly +batting a ball round. + +"I'm glad the Ellis man did not get her," said Aggie. And then, +after a sneeze, "How Jasper reminds me of Mr. Wiggins." + +The library did not get the money after all. Tish sent it, as a +wedding present, to Bettina. + + + + +Like A Wolf On The Fold + +I + +Aggie has always been in the habit of observing the anniversary +of Mr. Wiggins's death. Aggie has the anniversary habit, anyhow, +and her life is a succession: of small feast-days, on which she +wears mental crape or wedding garments--depending on the +occasion. Tish and I always remember these occasions +appropriately, sending flowers on the anniversaries of the +passing away of Aggie's parents; grandparents; a niece who died +in birth; her cousin, Sarah Webb, who married a missionary and +was swallowed whole by a large snake,--except her shoes, which +the reptile refused and of which Aggie possesses the right, +given her by the stricken husband; and, of course, Mr. Wiggins. + +For Mr. Wiggins Tish and I generally send the same things each +year--Tish a wreath of autumn foliage and I a sheaf of wheat +tied with a lavender ribbon. The program seldom varies. We drive +to the cemetery in the afternoon and Aggie places the sheaf and +the wreath on Mr. Wiggins's last resting-place, after first +removing the lavender ribbon, of which she makes cap bows +through the year and an occasional pin-cushion or fancy-work +bag; then home to chicken and waffles, which had been Mr. +Wiggins's favorite meal. In the evening Charlie Sands generally +comes in and we play a rubber or two of bridge. + +On the thirtieth anniversary of Mr. Wiggins's falling off a roof +and breaking his neck, Tish was late in arriving, and I found +Aggie sitting alone, dressed in black, with a tissue-paper +bundle in her lap. I put my sheaf on the table and untied my +bonnet-strings. + +"Where's Tish?" I asked. + +"Not here yet." + +Something in Aggie's tone made me look at her. She was eyeing +the bundle in her lap. + +"I got a paler shade of ribbon this time," I said, seeing she +made no comment on the sheaf. "It's a better color for me if +you're going to make my Christmas present out of it this year +again. Where's Tish's wreath?" + +"Here." Aggie pointed dispiritedly to the bundle in her lap and +went on rocking. + +"That! That's no wreath." + +In reply Aggie lifted the tissue paper and shook out, with hands +that trembled with indignation, a lace-and-linen centerpiece. +She held it up before me and we eyed each other over it. Both of +us understood. + +"Tish is changed, Lizzie," Aggie said hollowly. "Ask her for +bread these days and she gives you a Cluny-lace fandangle. On +mother's anniversary she sent me a set of doilies; and when +Charlie Sands was in the hospital with appendicitis she took him +a pair of pillow shams. It's that Syrian!" + +Both of us knew. We had seen Tish's apartment change from a +sedate and spinsterly retreat to a riot of lace covers on the +mantel, on the backs of chairs, on the stands, on the pillows-- +everywhere. We had watched her Marseilles bedspreads give way to +hem-stitched covers, with bolsters to match. We had seen Tish go +through a cold winter clad in a succession of sleazy silk +kimonos instead of her flannel dressing-gown; terrible kimonos-- +green and yellow and red and pink, that looked like fruit salads +and were just as heating. + +"It's that dratted Syrian!" cried Aggie--and at that Tish came +in. She stood inside the door and eyed us. + +"What about him?" she demanded. "If I choose to take a poor +starving Christian youth and assist him by buying from him what +I need--what I need!--that's my affair, isn't it? Tufik was +starving and I took him in." + +"He took you in, all right!" Aggie sniffed. "A great, mustached, +dirty, palavering foreigner, who's probably got a harem at home +and no respect for women!" + +Tish glanced at my sheaf and at the centerpiece. She was dressed +as she always dressed on Mr. Wiggins's day--in black; but she +had a new lace collar with a jabot, and we knew where she had +got it. She saw our eyes on it and she had the grace to flush. + +"Once for all," she snapped, "I intend to look after this +unfortunate Syrian! If my friends object, I shall be deeply +sorry; but, so far as I care, they may object until they are +purple in the face and their tongues hang out. I've been sending +my money to foreign missions long enough; I'm doing my +missionary work at home now." + +"He'll marry you!" This from Aggie. + +Tish ignored her. "His father is an honored citizen of Beirut, +of the nobility. The family is impoverished, being Christian, +and grossly imposed on by the Turks. Tufik speaks French and +English as well as Mohammedan. They offered him a high +government position if he would desert the Christian faith; but +he refused firmly. He came to this country for religious +freedom; at any moment they may come after him and take him +back." + +A glint of hope came to me. I made a mental note to write to the +mayor, or whatever they call him over there, and tell him where +he could locate his wandering boy. + +"He loves the God of America," said Tish. + +"Money!" Aggie jeered. + +"And he is so pathetic, so grateful! I told Hannah at noon +today--that's what delayed me--to give him his lunch. He was +starving; I thought we'd never fill him. And when it was over, +he stooped in the sweetest way, while she was gathering up the +empty dishes, and kissed her hand. It was touching!" + +"Very!" I said dryly. "What did Hannah do?" + +"She's a fool! She broke a cup on his head." + +Mr. Wiggins's anniversary was not a success. Part of this was +due to Tish, who talked of Tufik steadily--of his youth; of the +wonderful bargains she secured from him; of his belief that this +was the land of opportunity--Aggie sniffed; of his familiarity +with the Bible and Biblical places; of the search the Turks +were making for him. The atmosphere was not cleared by Aggie's +taking the Cluny-lace centerpiece to the cemetery and placing +it, with my sheaf, on Mr. Wiggins's grave. + +As we got into Tish's machine to go back, Aggie was undeniably +peevish. She caught cold, too, and was sneezing--as she always +does when she is irritated or excited. + +"Where to?" asked Tish from the driving-seat, looking straight +ahead and pulling on her gloves. From where we sat we could +still see the dot of white on the grass that was the +centerpiece. + +"Back to the house," Aggie snapped, "to have some chicken and +waffles and Tufik for dinner!" + +Tish drove home in cold silence. As well as we could tell from +her back, she was not so much indignant as she was determined. +Thus we do not believe that she willfully drove over every rut +and thank-you-ma'am on the road, scattering us generously over +the tonneau, and finally, when Aggie, who was the lighter, was +tossed against the top and sprained her neck, eliciting a +protest from us. She replied in an abstracted tone, which showed +where her mind was. + +"It would be rougher on a camel," she said absently. "Tufik was +telling me the other day--" + +Aggie had got her head straight by that time and was holding it +with both hands to avoid jarring. She looked goaded and +desperate; and, as she said afterward, the thing slipped out +before she knew she was more than thinking it. + +"Oh, damn Tufik!" she said. + +Fortunately at that moment we blew out a tire and apparently +Tish did not hear her. While I was jacking up the car and Tish +was getting the key of the toolbox out of her stocking, Aggie +sat sullenly in her place and watched us. + +"I suppose," she gibed, "a camel never blows out a tire!" + +"It might," Tish said grimly, "if it heard an oath from the lips +of a middle-aged Sunday-school teacher!" + +We ate Mr. Wiggins's anniversary dinner without any great +hilarity. Aggie's neck was very stiff and she had turned in the +collar of her dress and wrapped flannels wrung out of lamp oil +round it. When she wished to address either Tish or myself she +held her head rigid and turned her whole body in her chair; and +when she felt a sneeze coming on she clutched wildly at her head +with both hands as if she expected it to fly off. + +Tufik was not mentioned, though twice Tish got as far as Tu- and +then thought better of it; but her mind was on him and we knew +it. She worked the conversation round to Bible history and +triumphantly demanded whether we knew that Sodom and Gomorrah +are towns today, and that a street-car line is contemplated to +them from some place or other--it developed later that she meant +Tyre and Sidon. Once she suggested that Aggie's sideboard needed +new linens, but after a look at Aggie's rigid head she let it go +at that. + +No one was sorry when, with dinner almost over, and Aggie +lifting her ice-cream spoon straight up in front of her and +opening her mouth with a sort of lockjaw movement, the bell +rang. We thought it was Charlie Sands. It was not. Aggie faced +the doorway and I saw her eyes widen. Tish and I turned. + +A boy stood in the doorway--a shrinking, timid, brown-eyed young +Oriental, very dark of skin, very white of teeth, very black of +hair--a slim youth of eighteen, possibly twenty, in a shabby +blue suit, broken shoes, and a celluloid collar. Twisting +between nervous brown fingers, not as clean as they might have +been, was a tissue-paper package. + +"My friends!" he said, and smiled. + +Tish is an extraordinary woman. She did not say a word. She sat +still and let the smile get in its work. Its first effect was on +Aggie's neck, which she forgot. Tufik's timid eyes rested for a +moment on Tish and brightened. Then like a benediction they +turned to mine, and came to a stop on Aggie. He took a step +farther into the room. + +"My friend's friend are my friend," he said. "America is my +friend--this so great God's country!" + +Aggie put down her ice-cream spoon and closed her mouth, which +had been open. + +"Come in, Tufik," said Tish; "and I am sure Miss Pilkington +would like you to sit down." + +Tufik still stood with his eyes fixed on Aggie, twisting his +package. + +"My friend has said," he observed--he was quite calm and +divinely trustful--"My friend has said that this is for Miss +Pilk a sad day. My friend is my mother; I have but her and God. +Unless--but perhaps I have two new friend also--no?" + +"Of course we are your friends," said Aggie, feeling for the +table-bell with her foot. "We are--aren't we, Lizzie?" + +Tufik turned and looked at me wistfully. It came over me then +what an awful thing it must be to be so far from home and +knowing nobody, and having to wear trousers and celluloid +collars instead of robes and turbans, and eat potatoes and fried +things instead of olives and figs and dates, and to be in danger +of being taken back and made into a Mohammedan and having to +keep a harem. + +"Certainly," I assented. "If you are good we will be your +friends." + +He flashed a boyish smile at me. + +"I am good," he said calmly--"as the angels I am good. I have +here a letter from a priest. I give it to you. Read!" + +He got a very dirty envelope from his pocket and brought it +round the table to me. "See!" he said. "The priest says: 'Of all +my children Tufik lies next my heart.'" + +He held the letter out to me; but it looked as if it had been +copied from an Egyptian monument and was about as legible as an +outbreak of measles. + +"This," he said gently, pointing, "is the priest's blessing. I +carry it ever. It brings me friends." He put the paper away and +drew a long breath; then surveyed us all with shining eyes. "It +has brought me you." + +We were rather overwhelmed. Aggie's maid having responded to the +bell, Aggie ordered ice cream for Tufik and a chair drawn to the +table; but the char Tufik refused with a little, smiling bow. + +"It is not right that I sit," he said. "I stand in the presence +of my three mothers. But first--I forget--my gift! For the +sadness, Miss Pilk!" + +He held out the tissue- paper package and Aggie opened it. +Tufik's gift proved to be a small linen doily, with a Cluny-lace +border! + +We were gone from that moment--I know it now, looking back. +Gone! We were lost the moment Tufik stood in the doorway, +smiling and bowing. Tish saw us going; and with the calmness of +the lost sat there nibbling cake and watching us through her +spectacles--and raised not a hand. + +Aggie looked at the doily and Tufik looked at her. + +"That's--that's really very nice of you," said Aggie. "I thank +you." + +Tufik came over and stood beside her. + +"I give with my heart," he said shyly. "I have had nobody--in +all so large this country--nobody! And now--I have you!" Aggie +saw-- but too late. He bent over and touched his lips to her +hands. "The Bible says: 'To him that overcometh I will give the +morning star!' I have overcometh--ah, so much!--the sea; the +cold, wet England; the Ellis Island; the hunger; the aching of +one who has no love, no money! And now--I have the morning +star!" + +He looked at us all three at once--Charlie Sands said this was +impossible, until he met Tufik. Aggie was fairly palpitant and +Tish was smug, positively smug. As for me, I roused with a start +to find myself sugaring my ice cream. + +Charlie Sands was delayed that night. He came in about nine +o'clock and found Tufik telling us about his home and his people +and the shepherds on the hills about Damascus and the olive +trees in sunlight. We half-expected Tufik to adopt Charlie Sands +as a father; but he contented himself with a low Oriental +salute, and shortly after he bowed himself away. + +Charlie Sands stood looking after him and smiling to himself. +"Pretty smooth boy, that!" he said. + +"Smooth nothing!" Tish snapped, getting the bridge score. "He's +a sad-hearted and lonely boy; and we are going to do the kindest +thing--we are going to help him to help himself." + +"Oh, he'll help himself all right!" observed Charlie Sands. +"But, since his people are Christians, I wish you'd tell me how +he knows so much about the inside of a harem!" + +Seeing that comment annoyed us, he ceased, and we fell to our +bridge game; but more than once his eye fell on Aggie's doily, +and he muttered something about the Assyrian coming down like a +wolf on the fold. + +II + +The problem of Tufik's future was a pressing one. Tish called a +meeting of the three of us next morning, and we met at her +house. We found her reading about Syria in the encyclopedia, +while spread round her on chairs and tables were numbers of silk +kimonos, rolls of crocheted lace, shirt-waist patterns, and +embroidered linens. + +Hannah let us in. She looked surly and had a bandage round her +head, a sure sign of trouble--Hannah always referring a pain in +her temper to her ear or her head or her teeth. She clutched my +arm in the hall and held me back. + +"I'm going to poison him!" she said. "Miss Lizzie, that little +snake goes or I go!" + +"I'm ashamed of you, Hannah!" I replied sternly. "If out of the +breadth of her charity Miss Tish wishes to assist a fellow man--" + +Hannah reeled back and freed my arm. + +"My God!" she whispered. "You too!" + +I am very fond of Hannah, who has lived with Tish for many +years; but I had small patience with her that morning. + +"I cannot see how it concerns you, anyhow, Hannah," I observed +severely. + +Hannah put her apron to her eyes and sniffled into it. + +"Oh, you can't, can't you!" she wailed. "Don't I give him half +his meals, with him soft-soapin' Miss Tish till she can't see +for suds? Ain't I fallin' over him mornin', noon, and night, and +the postman telling all over the block he's my steady company-- +that snip that's not eighteen yet? And don't I do the washin'? +And will you look round the place and count the things I've got +to do up every week? And don't he talk to me in that lingo of +his, so I don't know whether he's askin' for a cup of coffee or +insultin' me?" + +I patted Hannah on the arm. After all, none of the exaltation of +a good deed upheld Hannah as it sustained us. + +"We are going to help him help himself, Hannah," I said kindly. +"He hasn't found himself. Be gentle with him. Remember he comes +from the land of the Bible." + +"Humph!" said Hannah, who reads the newspapers. "So does the +plague!" + +The problem we had set ourselves we worked out that morning. As +Tish said, the boy ought to have light work, for the Syrians are +not a laboring people. + +"Their occupation is--er--mainly pastoral," she said, with the +authority of the encyclopedia. "Grazing their herds and +gathering figs and olives. If we knew some one who needed a +shepherd--" + +Aggie opposed the shepherd idea, however. As she said, and with +reason, the climate is too rigorous. "It's all well enough in +Syria," she said, "where they have no cold weather; but he'd +take his death of pneumonia here." + +We put the shepherd idea reluctantly aside. My own notion of +finding a camel for him to look after was negatived by Tish at +once, and properly enough I realized. + +"The only camels are in circuses," she said, "and our duty to +the boy is moral as well as physical. Circuses are dens of +immorality. Of course the Syrians are merchants, and we might +get him work in a store. But then again--what chance has he of +rising? Once a clerk, always a clerk." She looked round at the +chairs and tables, littered with the contents of Tufik's +pasteboard suitcase, which lay empty at her feet. "And there is +nothing to canvassing from door to door. Look at these exquisite +things!--and he cannot sell them. Nobody buys. He says he never +gets inside a house door. If you had seen his face when I bought +a kimono from him!" + +At eleven o'clock, having found nothing in the "Help Wanted" +column to fit Tufik's case, Tish called up Charlie Sands and +offered Tufik as a reporter, pro- vided he was given no +nightwork. But Charlie Sands said it was impossible--that the +editors and owners of the paper were always putting on their +sons and relatives, and that when there was a vacancy the big +advertisers got it. Tish insisted--she suggested that Tufik +could run an Arabian column, like the German one, and bring in a +lot of new subscribers. But Charlie Sands stood firm. + +At noon Tufik came. We heard a skirmish at the door and Hannah +talking between her teeth. + +"She's out," she said. + +"Well, I think she is not out," in Tufik's soft tones. + +"You'll not get in." + +"Ah, but my toes are in. See, my foot wishes to enter!" Then +something soft, coaxing, infinitely wistful, in Arabian followed +by a slap. The next moment Hannah, in tears, rushed back to the +kitchen. There was no sound from the hallway. No smiling Tufik +presented himself in the doorway. + +Tish rose in the majesty of wrath. "I could strangle that +woman!" she said, and we followed her into the hall. + +Tufik was standing inside the door with his arms folded, staring +ahead. He took no notice of us. + +"Tufik!" Aggie cried, running to him. "Did she-- did she dare-- +Tish, look at his cheek!" + +"She is a bad woman!" Tufik said somberly. "I make my little +prayer to see Miss Tish, my mother, and she--I kill her!" + +We had a hard time apologizing to him for Hanna. Tish got a +basin of cold water so he might bathe his face; and Aggie +brought a tablespoonful of blackberry cordial, which is +soothing. When the poor boy was calmer we met in Tish's bedroom +and Tish was quite firm on one point--Hannah must leave! + +Now, this I must say in my own defense--I was sorry for Tufik; +and it is quite true I bought him a suit and winter flannels and +a pair of yellow shoes--he asked for yellow. He said he was +homesick for a bit of sunshine, and our so somber garb made him +heart-sad. But I would never have dismissed a cook like Hannah +for him. + +"I shall have to let her go," Tish said. "He is Oriental and +passionate. He has said he will kill her--and he'll do it. They +hold life very lightly." + +"Humph!" I said. "Very well, Tish, that holding life lightly +isn't a Christian trait. It's Mohammedan--every Mohammedan wants +to die and go to his heaven, which is a sort of sublimated +harem. The boy's probably a Christian by training, but he's a +Mohammedan by blood." + +Aggie thought my remark immoral and said so. And just then +Hannah solved her own problem by stalking into the room with her +things on and a suitcase in her hand. + +"I'm leaving, Miss Tish!" she said with her eye-rims red. "God +knows I never expected to be put out of this place by a dirty +dago! You'll find your woolen stockings on the stretchers, and +you've got an appointment with the dentist tomorrow morning at +ten. And when that little blackguard has sucked you dry, and you +want him killed to get rid of him, you'll find me at my +sister's." + +She picked up her suitcase and Tish flung open the door. "You're +a hard-hearted woman, Hannah Mackintyre!" Tish snapped. "Your +sister can't keep you. You'll have to work." + +Hannah turned in the doorway and sneered at the three of us. + +"Oh, no!" she said. "I'm going to hunt up three soft-headed old +maids and learn to kiss their hands and tell 'em I have nobody +but them and God!" + +She slammed out at that, leaving us in a state of natural +irritation. But our rage soon faded. Tufik was not in the +parlor; and Tish, tiptoeing back, reported that he was in the +kitchen and was mixing up something in a bowl. + +"He's a dear boy!" she said. "He feels responsible for Hannah's +leaving and he's getting luncheon! Hannah is a wicked and +uncharitable woman!" + +"Man's inhumanity to man, Makes countless thousands mourn!" +quoted Aggie softly. From the kitchen came the rhythmic beating +of a wooden spoon against the side of a bowl; a melancholy +chant--quite archaic, as Tish said--kept time with the spoon, and +later a smell of baking flour and the clatter of dishes told us +that our meal was progressing. + +"'The Syrians,'" read Tish out of her book, "'are a peaceful and +pastoral people. They have not changed materially in nineteen +centuries, and the traveler in their country finds still the +life of Biblical times.' Something's burning!" + +Shortly after, Tufik, beaming with happiness and Hannah clearly +forgotten, summoned us to the dining-room. Tufik was not a cook. +We realized that at once. He had made coffee in the Oriental +way--strong enough to float an egg, very sweet and full of +grounds; and after a bite of the cakes he had made, Tish +remembered the dentist the next day and refused solid food on +account of a bad tooth. The cakes were made of lard and flour, +without any baking-powder or flavoring, and the tops were +sprinkled thick with granulated sugar. Little circles of grease +melted out of them on to the plate, and Tufik, wide-eyed with +triumph, sweetly wistful over Tish's tooth, humble and joyous in +one minute, stood by the cake plate and fed them to us! + +I caught Aggie's agonized eye, but there was nothing else to do. +Were we not his friends? And had he not made this delicacy for +us? On her third cake, however, Aggie luckily turned blue round +the mouth and had to go and lie down. This broke up the meal and +probably saved my life, though my stomach has never been the +same since. Tish says the cakes are probably all right in the +Orient, where it is hot and the grease does not get a chance to +solidify. She thinks that Tufik is probably a good cook in his +own country. But Aggie says that a good many things in the Bible +that she never understood are made plain to her if that is what +they ate in Biblical times--some of the things they saw in +visions, and all that. She dropped asleep on Tish's lounge and +distinctly saw Tufik murdering Hannah by forcing one of his +cakes down her throat. + +The next month was one of real effort. We had planned to go to +Panama, and had our passage engaged; but when we broke the news +to Tufik he turned quite pale. + +"You go--away?" he said wistfully. + +"Only for a month," Tish hastened to apologize. "You see, we--we +are all very tired, and the Panama Canal--" + +"Canal? I know not a canal." + +"It is for ships--" + +"You go there in a ship?" + +"Yes. A canal is a--" + +"You go far--in a ship--and I--I stay here?" + +"Only for a month," Aggie broke in. "We will leave you enough +money to live on; and perhaps when we come back you will have +found something to do--" + +"For a month," he said brokenly. "I have no friends, no Miss +Tish, no Miss Liz, no Miss Pilk. I die!" + +He got up and walked to the window. It was Aggie who realized +the awful truth. The poor lonely boy was weeping--and Charlie +Sands may say what he likes! He was really crying--when he +turned, there were large tears on his cheeks. What made it worse +was that he was trying to smile. + +"I wish you much happiness on the canal," he said. "I am wicked; +but my sad heart--it ache that my friends leave me. I am sad! If +only my seester--" + +That was the first we had known of Tufik's sister, back in +Beirut, wearing a veil over her face and making lace for the +bazaars. We were to know move. + +Well, between getting ready to go to Panama and trying to find +something Tufik could do, we were very busy for the next month. +Tufik grew reconciled to our going, but he was never cheerful +about it; and finding that it pained him we never spoke about it +in his presence. + +He was with us a great deal. In the morning he would go to Tish, +who would give him a list of her friends to see. Then Tish would +telephone and make appointments for him, and he would start off +hopefully, with his pasteboard suitcase. But he never sold +anything--except a shirt-waist pattern to Mrs. Ostermaier, the +minister's wife. We took day about giving him his carfare, but +this was pauperizing and we knew it. Besides, he was very +sensitive and insisted on putting down everything we gave him in +a book, to be repaid later when he had made a success. + +The allowance idea was mine and it worked well. We figured that, +allowing for his washing,--which was not much, as he seemed to +prefer the celluloid collar,--he could live in a sort of way on +nine dollars a week. We subscribed equally to this; and to save +his pride we mailed it to him weekly by check. + +His failure to sell his things hurt him to the soul. More than +once we caught tears in his eyes. And he was not well--he could +not walk any distance at all and he coughed. At last Tish got +Charlie Sands to take him to a lung specialist, a stupid person, +who said it was a cigarette cough. This was absurd, as Tufik did +not smoke. + +At last the time came for the Panama trip. Tish called me up the +day she packed and asked me to come over. + +"I can't. I'm busy, Tish," I said. + +She was quite disagreeable. "This is your burden as well as +mine," she snapped. "Come over and talk to that wretched boy +while I pack my trunk. He stands and watches everything I put in, +and I haven't been able to pack a lot of things I need." + +I went over that afternoon and found Tufik huddled on the top +step of the stairs outside Tish's apartment, with his head in his +hands. + +"She has put me out!" he said, looking up at me with tragic eyes. +"My mother has put me out! She does not love Tufik! No one loves +Tufik! I am no good. I am a dirty dago!" + +I was really shocked. I rang the bell and Tish let me in. She had +had no maid since Hannah's departure and was taking her meals +out. She saw Tufik and stiffened. + +"I thought I sent you away!" she said, glaring at him. + +He looked at her pitifully. + +"Where must I--go?" he asked, and coughed. + +Tish sighed and flung the door wide open. "Bring him in," she +said with resignation, "but for Heaven's sake lock him in a +closet until I get my underwear packed. And if he weeps--slap +him." + +The poor boy was very repentant, and seeing that his cough +worried us he fought it back bravely. I mixed the white of an +egg with lemon juice and sugar, and gave it to him. He was +pathetically grateful and kissed my hand. At five o'clock we +sent him away firmly, having given him thirty-six dollars. He +presented each of us with a roll of crocheted lace to take with +us and turned in the doorway to wave a wistful final good-bye. + +We met at Tish's that night so that we might all go together to +the train. Charlie Sands had agreed to see us off and to keep an +eye on Tufik during our absence. Aggie was in a palpitating +travel ecstasy, clutching a patent seasick remedy and a map of +the Canal Zone; Tish was seeing that the janitor shut off the +gas and water in the apartment; and Charlie Sands was jumping on +top of a steamer trunk to close it. The taxicab was at the door +and we had just time to make the night train. The steamer sailed +early the next morning. + +"All ready!" cried Charlie Sands, getting the lid down finally. +"All off for the Big Ditch!" + +We all heard a noise in the hall--a sort of scuffling, with an +occasional groan. Tish rushed over and threw open the door. On +the top step, huddled and shivering, with streams of water +running off his hair down over his celluloid collar, pouring out +of his sleeves and cascading down the stairs from his trousers +legs, was Tufik. The policeman on the beat was prodding at him +with his foot, trying to make him get up. When he saw us the +officer touched his hat. + +"Evening, Miss Tish," he said, grinning. "This here boy of yours +has been committing suicide. Just fished him out of the lake in +the park!" + +"Get up!" snapped Charlie Sands. "You infernal young idiot! Get +up and stop sniveling!" + +He stooped and took the poor boy by the collar. His brutality +roused us all out of our stupor. Tish and I rushed forward and +commanded him to stand back; and Aggie, with more presence of +mind than we had given her credit for, brought a glass +containing a tablespoonful of blackberry cordial into which she +had pored ten drops of seasickness remedy. Tufik was white and +groaning, but he revived enough to sit up and stare at us with +his sad brown eyes. + +"I wish to die!" he said brokenly. "Why you do not let me die? +My friends go on the canal! I am alone! My heart is empty!" + +Tish wished to roll him on a barrel, but we had no barrel; so, +with Charlie Sands standing by with his watch in his hand, +refusing to assist and making unkind remarks, we got him to +Tish's room and laid out on her mackintosh on the bed. He did +not want to live. We could hardly force him to drink the hot +coffee Tish made for him. He kept muttering things about his +loneliness and being only a dirty dago; and then he turned +bitter and said hard things about this great America, where he +could find no work and must be a burden on his three mothers, +and could not bring his dear sister to be company for him. Aggie +quite broke down and had to lie down on the sofa in the parlor +and have a cracker and a cup of tea. + +When Tish and I had succeeded in making Tufik promise to live, +and had given him one of his own silk kimonos to put on until +his clothing could be dried--Charlie Sands having disagreeably +refused to lend his overcoat--and when we had given the officer +five dollars not to arrest the boy for attempting suicide, we +met in the parlor to talk things over. + +Charlie Sands was sitting by the lamp in his overcoat. He had +put our railway and steamer tickets on the table, and was +holding his cigarette so that Aggie could inhale the fumes, she +having hay fever and her cubebs being on their way to Panama. + +"I suppose you know," he said nastily, "that your train has gone +and that you cannot get the boat tomorrow?" + +Tish was in an exalted mood--and she took off her things and +flung them on a chair. + +"What is Panama," she demanded, "to saving a life? Charlie, we +must plan something for this boy. If you will take off your +overcoat--" + +"And see you put it on that little parasite? Not if I melt! Do +you know how deep the lake is? Three feet!" + +"One can drown in three feet of water," said Aggie sadly, "if +one is very tired of life. People drown themselves in bathtubs." + +Tish's furious retort to this was lost, Tufik choosing that +moment to appear in the doorway. He wore a purple-and-gold +kimono that had given Tish bronchitis early in the winter, and +he had twisted a bath towel round the waist. He looked very +young, very sad, very Oriental. He ignored Charlie Sands, but +made at once for Tish and dropped on one knee beside her. + +"Miss Tish!" he begged. "Forgive, Miss Tish! Tufik is wicked. He +has the bad heart. He has spoil the going on the canal. No?" + +"Get up!" said Tish. "Don't be a silly child. Go and take your +shoes out of the oven. We are not going to Panama. When you are +better, I am going to give you a good scolding." + +Charlie Sands put the cigarette on a book under Aggie's nose and +stood up. + +"I guess I'll go," he said. "My nerves are not what they used to +be and my disposition feels the change." + +Tufik had risen and the two looked at each other. I could not +quite make out Tufik's expression; had I not known his +gentleness I would have thought his expression a mixture of +triumph and disdain. + +"'The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, and his +cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold!'" said Charlie Sands, +and went out, slamming the door. + + +III + +The next day was rainy and cold. Aggie sneezed all day and Tish +had neuralgia. Being unable to go out for anything to eat and +the exaltation of the night before having passed, she was in a +bad humor. When I got there she was sitting in her room holding +a hot-water bottle to her face, and staring bitterly at the +plate containing a piece of burned toast and Tufik's specialty-- +a Syrian cake crusted with sugar. + +"I wish he had drowned!" she said. "My stomach's gone, Lizzie! I +ate one of those cakes for breakfast. You've got to eat this +one." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort! This is your doing, Tish Carberry. +If it hadn't been for you and your habit of picking up stray +cats and dogs and Orientals and imposing them on your friends +we'd be on the ocean today, on our way to a decent climate. The +next time your duty to your brother man overwhelms you, you'd +better lock yourself in your room and throw the key out the +window." + +Tish was not listening, however. Her eye and her mind both were +on the cake. + +"If you would eat it and then take some essence of pepsin--" she +hazarded. But I looked her full it the eye and she had the grace +to color. "He loves to make them," she said--"he positively +beamed when he brought it. He has another kind he is making +now--of pounded beans, or something like that. Listen!" I +listened. + +>From back in the kitchen came a sound of hammering and Tufik's +voice lifted in a low, plaintive chant. "He says that song is +about the valleys of Lebanon," said Tish miserably. "Lizzie, if +you'll eat half of it, I'll eat the rest." + +My answer was to pick up the plate and carry it into the +bathroom. Heroic measures were necessary: Tish was not her +resolute self; and, indeed, through all the episode of Tufik, +and the shocking denouement that followed, Tish was a spineless +individual who swayed to and fro with every breeze. + +She divined my purpose and followed me to the bathroom door. + +"Leave some crumbs on the plate!" she whispered. "It will look +more natural. Get rid of the toast too." + +I turned and faced her, the empty plate in my hands. + +"Tish," I said sternly, "this is hypocrisy, which is just next +door to lying. It's the first step downward. I have a feeling +that this boy is demoralizing us! We shall have to get rid of +him." + +"As for instance?" she sarcastically asked. + +"Send him back home," I said with firmness. "He doesn't belong +here; he isn't accustomed to anything faster than a camel. He +doesn't know how to work--none of them do. He comes from a +country where they can eat food like this because digestion is +one of their occupations." + +I was right and Tish knew it. Even Tufik was satisfied when we +put it up to him. He spread his hands in his Oriental way and +shrugged his shoulders. + +"If my mothers think best," he said softly. "In my own land +Tufik is known--I sell in the bazaar the so fine lace my sister +make. I drink wine, not water. My stomach--I cannot eat in this +America. But--I have no money." + +"We will furnish the money," Tish said gently. "But you must +promise one thing, Tufik. You must not become a Mohammedan." + +"Before that I die!" he said proudly. + +"And--there is something else, Tufik,--something rather +personal. But I want you to promise. You are only a boy; but +when you are a man--" Tish stopped and looked to me for help. + +"Miss Tish means this," I put in, "you are to have only one +wife, Tufik. We are not sending you back to start a harem. We-- +we disapprove strongly of--er--anything like that." + +"Tufik takes but one wife," he said. "Our people--we have but +one wife. My first child--it is called Tish; my next, Lizzie; +and my next, Aggie Pilk. All for my so kind friends. And one I +call Charlie Sands; and one shall be Hannah. So that Tufik never +forget America." + +Aggie was rather put out when we told her what we had done; but +after eating one of the cakes made of pounded beans and sugar, +under Tufik's triumphant eyes, she admitted that it was probably +for the best. That evening, while Tufik took his shrunken and +wrinkled clothing to be pressed by a little tailor in the +neighborhood who did Tish's repairing, the three of us went back +to the kitchen and tried to put it in order. It was frightful-- +flour and burned grease over everything, every pan dirty, dishes +all over the place and a half-burned cigarette in the sugar bin. +But--it touched us all deeply--he had found an old photograph of +the three of us and had made a sort of shrine of the +clock-shelf--the picture in front of the clock and in front of +the picture a bunch of red geraniums. + +While we were looking at the picture and Aggie was at the sink +putting water in the glass that held the geraniums, Tufik having +forgotten to do so, Tish's neighbor from the apartment below, an +elderly bachelor, came up the service staircase and knocked at +the door. Tish opened it. + +"Humph!" said the gentleman from below. "Gone is he?" + +"Is who gone?" + +"Your thieving Syrian, madam!" + +Tish stiffened. + +"Perhaps," she said, "if you will explain--" + +"Perhaps," snarled the visitor, "you will explain what you have +done with my geraniums! Why don't you raise your own flowers?" + +Tish was quite stunned and so was I. After all, it was Aggie who +came to the rescue. She slammed the lid on to the teakettle and +set it on the stove with a bang. + +"If you mean," she said indignantly, "that you think we have any +geraniums of yours--" + +"Think! Didn't my cook see your thieving servant steal 'em off +the box on the fire-escape?" + +"Then, perhaps," Aggie suggested, "you will look through the +apartment and see if they are here. You will please look +everywhere!" + +Tish and I gasped. It was not until the visitor had made the +rounds of the apartment, and had taken an apologetic departure, +that Tish and I understood. The teakettle was boiling and from +its spout coming a spicy and familiar odor. Aggie took it off +the stove and removed the lid. The geraniums, boiled to a pulp, +were inside. + +"Back to Syria that boy goes!" said Tish, viewing the floral +remains. "He did it out of love and we must not chide him. But +we have our own immortal souls to think of." + +The next morning two things happened. We gave Tufik one hundred +and twenty dollars to buy a ticket back to Syria and to keep him +in funds on the way. and Tish got a note from Hannah:-- + + Dear Miss Tish: I here you still have the dago--or, as + my sister's husband says, he still has you. I am redy to + live up to my bargen if you are. HANNAH. + + P.S. I have lerned a new salud--very rich, but + delissious. H. + +In spite of herself, Tish looked haunted. It was the salad, no +doubt. She said nothing, but she looked round the untidy rooms, +where everything that would hold it had a linen cover with a +Cluny-lace edge--all of them soiled and wrinkled. She watched +Tufik, chanting about the plains of Lebanon and shoving the +carpet-sweeper with a bang against her best furniture; and, with +Hannah's salad in mind, she sniffed a warning odor from the +kitchen that told of more Syrian experiments with her digestion. +Tish surrendered: that morning she wrote to Hannah that Tufik +was going back to Syria, and to come and brink the salad recipe +with her. + +That was, I think, on a Monday. Tufik's steamer sailed on +Thursday. On Tuesday Aggie and I went shopping; and in a spirit +of repentance--for we felt we were not solving Tufik's question +but getting rid of him--we bought him a complete new outfit. He +almost disgraced us by kissing our hands in the store, and while +we were buying him some ties he disappeared--to come back later +with the rims of his eyes red from weeping. His gentle soul was +touched with gratitude. Aggie had to tell him firmly that if he +kissed any more hands he would get his ears boxed. + +The clerks in the store were all interested, and two or three +cash- boys followed us round and stood, open-mouthed, staring at +us. Neither Aggie nor I knew anything about masculine attire, +and Tufik's idea was a suit, with nothing underneath, a shirt- +front and collar of celluloid, and a green necktie already tied +and hooking on to his collar-button. He was dazed when we bought +him a steamer trunk and a rug, and disappeared again, returning +in a few moments with a small paper bag full of gumdrops. We +were quite touched. + +That, as I say, was on Tuesday. Tufik had been sleeping in +Tish's guest-room since his desperate attempt at suicide, and we +sent his things to Tish's apartment. That evening Tufik asked +permission to spend the night with a friend in the restaurant +business--a Damascan. Tish let him go against my advice. + +"He'll eat a lot of that Syrian food," I objected, "and get sick +and miss his boat, and we'll have the whole thing over again!" + +But Tish was adamant. "It's his last night," she said, "and he +has promised not to smoke any cigarettes and I've given him two +pepsin tablets. This is the land of the free, Lizzie." + +We were to meet Tufik at the station next morning and we +arranged a lunch for him to eat on the train, Aggie bringing +fried chicken and I sandwiches and cake. Tish's domestic +arrangements being upset, she supplied fruit, figs and dates +mostly, to make him think of home. + +The train left early, and none of us felt very cheerful at +having to be about. Aggie sat in the station and sneezed; Tish +had a pain above her eye and sat by a heater. We had the +luncheon in a large shoebox, wrapped in oiled paper to keep it +moist. + +He never appeared! The train was called, filled up, and left. +People took to staring at us as we sat there. Aggie sneezed and +Tish held her eye. And no Tufik! In a sort of helpless, +breakfastless rage we called a taxicab and went to Tish's. No +one said much. We were all thinking. + +We were hungry; so we spread out the shoebox lunch on one of the +Cluny-lace covers and ate it, mostly in silence. The steamer +trunk and the rug had gone. We let them go. They might go to +Jerusalem, as far as we were concerned! After we had eaten,-- +about eleven o'clock, I think,--Tish got up and surveyed the +apartment. Then, with a savage gleam in her eye, she whisked off +all the fancy linens, the Cluny laces, the hemstitched +bedspreads, and piled them in a heap on the floor. Aggie and I +watched her in silence. She said nothing, but kicked the whole +lot into the bottom of a cupboard. When she had slammed the +door, she turned and faced us grimly. + +"That roll of fiddle-de-dees has cost me about five hundred +dollars," she said. "It's been worth it if it teaches me that +I'm an old fool and that you are two others! If that boy shows +his face here again, I'll hand him over to the police." + +However, as it happened, she did nothing of the sort. At four +o'clock that afternoon there was a timid ring at the doorbell +and I answered it. Outside was Tufik, forlorn and drooping, and +held up by main force by a tall, dark-skinned man with a heavy +mustache. + +"I bring your boy!" said the mustached person, smiling. "He has +great trouble--sorrow; he faint with grief." + +I took a good look at Tufik then. He was pale and shaky, and his +new suit looked as if he had slept in it. His collar was bent +and wilted, and the green necktie had been taken off and +exchanged for a ragged black one. + +"Miss Liz!" he said huskily. "I die; the heart is gone! My +parent--" + +He broke down again; and leaning against the door jamb he buried +his face in a handkerchief that I could not believe was one of +the lot we had bought only yesterday. I hardly knew what to do. +Tish had said she was through with the boy. I decided to close +them out in the hallway until we had held a council; but Tufik's +foot was on the sill, and the more I asked him to move it, the +harder he wept. + +The mustached person said it was quite true. Tufik's father had +died of the plague; the letter had come early that morning. +Beirut was full of the plague. He waved the letter at me; but I +ordered him to burn it immediately--on account of germs. I +brought him a shovel to burn it on; and when that was over Tufik +had worked out his own salvation. He was at the door of Tish's +room, pouring out to Aggie and Tish his grief, and offering the +black necktie as proof. + +We were just where we had started, but minus one hundred and +twenty dollars; for, the black-mustached gentleman having gone +after trying to sell Tish another silk kimono, I demanded +Tufik's ticket--to be redeemed--and was met with two empty +hands, outstretched. + +"Oh, my friends,--my Miss Tish, my Miss Liz, my Miss Ag,--what +must I say? I have not the ticket! I have been wikkid--but for +my sister--only for my sister! She must not die--she so young, +so little girl!" + +"Tufik," said Tish sternly, "I want you to tell us everything +this minute, and get it over." + +"She ees so little!" he said wistfully. "And the body of my +parent--could I let it lie and rot in the so hot sun? Ah, no; +Miss Tish, Miss Liz, Miss Ag,-- not so. To-day I take back my +ticket, get the money, and send it to my sister. She will bury +my parent, and then--she comes to this so great America, the +land of my good friends!" + +There was a moment's silence. Then Aggie sneezed! + + +IV + +I shall pass over the next month, with its unpleasantnesses; +over Charlie Sands's coming one evening with a black tie and, on +the strength of having killed a dog with his machine, asking for +money to bury it, and bring another one from Syria! I shall not +more than mention Hannah, who kept Tish physically comfortable +and well fed and mentally wretched, having a teakettle of +boiling water always ready if Tufik came to the apartment; I +shall say nothing of our success in getting him employment in +the foreign department of a bank, and his ending up by washing +its windows; or of the position Tish got him as elevator boy in +her hospital, where he jammed the car in some way and held up +four surgeons and three nurses and a patient on his way to the +operating-room--until the patient changed his mind and refused +to be operated on. + +Aggie had a brilliant idea about the census-- that he could make +the census reports in the Syrian district. To this end she +worked for some time, coaching Tufik for the examination, only +to have him fail--fail absolutely and without hope. He was +staying in the Syrian quarter at that time, on account of +Hannah; and he brought us various tempting offers now and then-- +a fruit stand that could be bought for a hundred dollars; a +restaurant for fifty; a tailor's shop for twenty-five. But, as +he knew nothing of fruits or restaurants or tailoring, we +refused to invest. Tish said that we had been a good while +getting to it, but that we were being businesslike at last. We +gave the boy nine dollars a week and not a penny more; and we +refused to buy any more of his silly linens and crocheted laces. +We were quite firm with him. + +And now I come to the arriving of Tufik's little sister--not +that she was really little. But that comes later. + +Tufik had decided at last on what he would be in our so great +America. Once or twice, when he was tired or discouraged, Tish +had taken him out in her machine, and he had been thrilled-- +really thrilled. He did not seem able to learn how to crank it-- +Tish's car is hard to crank--but he learned how to light the +lamps and to spot a policeman two blocks away. Several times, +when we were going into the country, Tish took him because it +gave her a sense of security to have a man along. + +Having come from a country where the general travel is by camel, +however, he had not the first idea of machinery. He thought Tish +made the engine go by pressing on the clutch with her foot, like +a sewing machine, and he regarded her strength with awe. And +once, when we were filling a tire from an air bottle and the +tube burst and struck him, he declared there was a demon in the +air bottle and said a prayer in the middle of the road. About +that time Tish learned of a school for chauffeurs, and the three +of us decided to divide the expense and send him. + +"In three months," Tish explained, "we can get him a state +license and he can drive a taxicab. It will suit him, because he +can sit to do it." + +So Tufik went to an automobile school and stood by while some +one drew pictures of parts of the engine on a blackboard, and +took home lists of words that he translated into Arabic at the +library, and learned everything but why and how the engine of an +automobile goes. He still thought--at the end of two months-- +that the driver did it with his foot! But we were ignorant of +all that. He would drop round in the evenings, when Hannah was +out or in bed, and tell us what "magneto" was in Arabic, and how +he would soon be able to care for Tish's car and would not take +a cent for it, doing it at night when the taxi-cab was resting. + +At the end of six weeks we bought him a chauffeur's outfit. The +next day the sister arrived and Tufik brought her to Aggie's, +where we were waiting. We had not told Hannah about the sister; +she would not have understood. + +Charlie Sands telephoned while we were waiting and asked if he +might come over and help receive the girl. We were to greet her +and welcome her to America; then she was to go to the home of +the Syrian with the large mustache. Charlie Sands came in and +shook hands all round, surveying each of us carefully. + +"Strange!" he muttered. "Curious is no name for it! What do we +know of the vagaries of the human mind? Three minds and one +obsession!" he said with the utmost gentleness. "Three maiden +ladies who have lived impeccable lives for far be it from me to +say how many years; and now--this! Oh, Aunt Tish! Dear Aunt +Tish!" + +He got out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. Tish was +speechless with rage, but I rose to our defense. + +"We don't want to do it and you know it!" I said tartly. "But +when the Lord sends want and suffering to one's very door--" + +"Want, with large brown eyes and a gentle voice!" he retorted. +"My dear ladies, it's your money; and I dare say it costs you +less than bridge at five cents a point, or the Gay White Way. +But, for Heaven's sake, my respected but foolish virgins, why +not an American that wants a real job? Why let a sticky Oriental +pull your legs--" + +"Charlie Sands!" cried Tish, rising in her wrath. "I will not +endure such vulgarity. And when Tufik takes you out in a +taxicab--" + +"God forbid!" said Charlie Sands, and sat down to wait for +Tufik's sister. + +She did not look like Tufik and she was tired and dirty from the +journey; but she had big brown eyes and masses of dark hair and +she spoke not a single word of English. Tufik's joy was +boundless; his soft eyes were snapping with excitement; and +Aggie, who is sentimental, was obliged to go out and swallow +half a glass of water without breathing to keep from crying. +Charlie Sands said nothing, but sat back in a corner and watched +us all; and once he took out his notebook and made a memorandum +of something. He showed it to us later. + +Tufik's sister was the calmest of us all, I believe. She sat on +a stiff chair near the door and turned her brown eyes from one +to the other. Tish said that proper clothing would make her +beautiful; and Aggie, disappearing for a few minutes, came back +with her last summer's foulard and a jet bonnet. When the poor +thing understood they were for her, she looked almost +frightened, the thing being unexpected; and Tufik, in a paroxysm +of delight, kissed all our hands and the girl on each cheek. + +Tish says our vulgar lip-osculation is unknown in the Orient and +that they rub noses by way of greeting. I think, however, that +she is mistaken in this and that the Australians are the nose- +rubbers. I recall a returned missionary's telling this, but I +cannot remember just where he had been stationed. + +Things were very quiet for a couple of weeks. Tufik came round +only once--to tell us that, having to pay car fare to get to the +automobile school, his nine dollars were not enough. We added a +dollar a week under protest; and Tish suggested with some +asperity that as he was only busy four hours a day he might find +some light employment for the balance of the day. He spread out +his hands and drew up his shoulders. + +"My friends are angry," he said sadly. "It is not enough that I +study? I must also work? Ver' well, I labor. I sell the +newspaper. But, to buy newspapers, one must have money--a +dollar; two dollars. Ver' leetle; only--I have it not." + +We gave him another dollar and he went out smiling and hopeful. +It seemed that at last we had solved his problem. Tish recalled +one of her Sunday-school scholars who sold papers and saved +enough to buy a second-hand automobile and rear a family. But +our and hopes were dashed to the ground when, the next morning, +Hannah, opening the door at Tish's to bring in the milk bottles, +found a huge stack of the night-before's newspapers and a note +on top addressed to Tish, which said:- + + Deer Mother Tish : You see now that I am no good. I wish + to die! I hav one papier sold, and newsboys kell me on + sight. I hav but you and God--and God has forget! + + TUFIK. + +We were discouraged and so, clearly, was Tufik. For ten days we +did not hear from him, except that a flirty little Syrian boy +called for the ten dollars on Saturday and brought a pair of +Tufik's shoes for us to have resoled. But one day Tish +telephoned in some excitement and said that Tufik was there and +wanted us to go to a wedding. + +"His little sister's wedding!" she explained. "The dear child is +all excited. He says it has been going on for two days and this +is the day of the ceremony." + +Aggie was spending the afternoon with me, and spoke up hastily. + +"Ask her if I have time to go home and put on my broadcloth," +she said. "I'm not fixed for a wedding." + +Tish said there was no time. She would come round with the +machine and we were to be ready in fifteen minutes. Aggie +hesitated on account of intending to wash her hair that night +and so not having put up her crimps; but she finally agreed to +go and Tish came for us. Tufik was in the machine. He looked +very tidy and wore the shoes we had had repaired, a pink +carnation in his buttonhole, and an air of suppressed +excitement. + +"At last," he said joyously while Tish cranked the car--"at last +my friends see my three mothers! They think Tufik only talks-- +now they see! And the priest will bless my mothers on this so +happy day." + +Tish having crawled panting from her exertion into the driver's +seat and taken the wheel, in sheer excess of boyish excitement +he leaned over and kissed the hand nearest him. + +The janitor's small boy was on the curb watching, and at that he +set up a yell of joy. We left him calling awful things after us +and Tish's face was a study; but soon the care of the machine +made her forget everything else. + +The Syrian quarter was not impressive. It was on a hillside +above the Russian Jewish colony, and consisted of a network of +cobble-paved alleys, indescribably dirty and incredibly steep. +In one or two of these alleys Tish was obliged to turn the car +and go up backward, her machine climbing much better on tire +reverse gear. Crowds of children followed us; dogs got under the +wheels and apparently died, judging by the yelps--only to follow +us with undiminished energy after they had picked themselves up. +We fought and won a battle with a barrel of ashes and came out +victorious but dusty; and at last, as Tufik made a lordly +gesture, we stopped at an angle of forty-five degrees and Tufik +bowed us out of the car. He stood by visibly glowing with +happiness, while Tish got a cobblestone and placed it under a +wheel, and Aggie and I took in our surroundings. + +We were in an alley ten feet wide and paved indiscriminately +with stones and tin cans, babies and broken bottles. Before us +was a two-story brick house with broken windows and a high, +railed wooden stoop, minus two steps. Under the stoop was a door +leading into a cellar, and from this cellar was coming a curious +stamping noise and a sound as of an animal in its death throes. + +Aggie caught my arm. "What's that?" she quavered. + +I had no time to reply. Tufik had thrown open the door and stood +aside to let us pass. + +"They dance," he said gravely. "There is always much dancing +before a wedding. The music one hears is of Damascus and he who +dances now is a sheik among his people." + +Reassured as to the sounds, we stepped down into the basement. +That was at four o'clock in the afternoon. + +I have never been fairly clear as to what followed and Aggie's +memory is a complete blank. I remember a long, boarded-in and +floored cellar, smelling very damp and lighted by flaring gas +jets. The center was empty save for a swarthy gentleman in a fez +and his shirt-sleeves, wearing a pair of green suspenders and +dancing alone--a curious stamping dance that kept time to a +drum. I remember the musicians too--three of them in a corner: +one playing on a sort of pipes-of-Pan affair of reeds, one on a +long- necked instrument that looked like a guitar with zither +ambitions, and a drummer who chanted with his eyes shut and kept +time to his chants by beating on a sheepskin tied over the mouth +of a brass bowl. Round three sides of the room were long, oil +cloth-covered tables; and in preparation for the ceremony a +little Syrian girl was sweeping up peanut shells, ashes, and +beer bottles, with absolute disregard of the guests. + +All round the wall, behind rows of beer bottles, dishes of +bananas, and plates of raw liver, were men,--soft-eyed Syrians +with white teeth gleaming and black hair plastered close and +celluloid collars,--gentle-voiced, urbane-mannered Orientals, +who came up gravely one by one and shook hands with us; who +pressed on us beer and peanuts and raw liver. + +Aggie, speaking between sneezes and over the chanting and the +drum, bent toward me. "It's a breath of the Orient!" she said +ecstatically. "Oh, Lizzie, do you think I could buy that drum +for my tabouret?" + +"Orient!" observed Tish, coughing. "I'm going out and take the +switch-key out of that car. And I wish I'd brought Charlie +Sands!" + +It was in vain we reminded her that the Syrians are a pastoral +people and that they come from the land of the Bible. She looked +round her grimly. + +"They look like a lot of bandits to me," she sniffed. "And +there's always a murder at a wedding of this sort. There isn't a +woman here but ourselves!" + +She was exceedingly disagreeable and Aggie and I began to get +uncomfortable. But when Tufik brought us little thimble-sized +glasses filled with a milky stuff and assured us that the women +had only gone to prepare the bride, we felt reassured. He said +that etiquette demanded that we drink the milky white stuff. + +Tish was inclined to demur. "Has it any alcohol in it?" she +demanded. Tufik did not understand, but he said it was harmless +and given to all the Syrian babies; and while we were still +undecided Aggie sniffed it. + +"It smells like paregoric, Tish," she said. "I'm sure it's +harmless." + +We took it then. It tasted sweet and rather spicy, and Aggie +said it stopped her sneezing at once. It was very mild and +pleasant, and rather medicinal in its flavor. We each had two +little glasses--and Tish said she would not bother about the +switch-key. The car was insured against theft. + +A little later Aggie said she used to do a little jig step when +she was a girl, and if they would play slower she would like to +see if she had forgotten it. Tish did not hear this--she was +talking to Tufik, and a moment later she got up and went out. + +Aggie had decided to ask the musicians to play a little slower +and I had my hands full with her; so it was with horror that, +shortly after, I heard the whirring of the engine and through +the cellar window caught a glimpse of Tish's machine starting +off up the hill. I rose excitedly, but Tufik was before me, +smiling and bowing. + +"Miss Tish has gone for the bride," he said softly. "The taxicab +hav' not come. Soon the priest arrive, and so great shame--the +bride is not here! Miss Tish is my mother, my heart's delight!" + +When Aggie realized that Tish had gone, she was rather upset-- +she depends a great deal on Tish--and she took another of the +little glasses of milky stuff to revive her. + +I was a little bit nervous with Tish gone and the sun setting +and another tub of beer bottles brought in--though the people +were orderly enough and Tufik stood and near. But Aggie began to +feel very strange, and declared that the man with the sheepskin +drum was winking at her and that her head was twitching round on +her shoulders. And when a dozen or so young Syrians formed a +circle, their hands on each other's shoulders, and sang a +melancholy chant, stamping to beat time, she wept with sheer +sentiment. + +"Ha! Hoo! Ta, Ta, Ta!" they chanted in unison; and Tufik bent +over us, his soft eyes beaming. + +"They are shepherds and the sons of shepherds from Palestine," +he whispered. "That is the shepherd's call to his sheep. In my +country many are shepherds. Perhaps some day you go with me back +to my country, and we hear the shepherd call his sheep--'Ha! +Hoo! Ta, Ta, Ta!'--and we hear the sleepy sheep reply: 'Maaaa!'" + +"It is too beautiful!" murmured Aggie. "It is the Holy Land all +over again! And we should never have known this but for you, +Tufik!" + +Just then some one near the door clapped his hands and all the +noise ceased. Those who were standing sat down. The little girl +with the broom swept the accumulations of the room under a chair +and put the broom in a corner. The music became loud and +stirring. + +Aggie swayed toward me. "I'm sick, Lizzie!" she gasped. "That +paregoric stuff has poisoned me. Air!" + +I took one arm and Tufik the other, and we got her out and +seated on one of the wooden steps. She was a blue-green color +and the whites of her eyes were yellow. But I had little time +for Aggie. Tufik caught my hand and pointed. + +Tish's machine was coming down the alley. Beside her sat Tufik's +sister, sobbing at the top of her voice and wearing Aggie's +foulard, a pair of cotton gloves, and a lace curtain over her +head. Behind in the tonneau were her maid of honor, a young +Syrian woman with a baby in her arms and four other black-eyed +children about her. But that was not all. In front of the +machine, marching slowly and with dignity, were three bearded +gentlemen, two in coats and one in a striped vest, blowing on +curious double flutes and making a shrill wailing noise. And all +round were crowds of women and children, carrying tin pans and +paper bags full of parched peas, which they were flinging with +all their might. + +I caught Tish's eye as the procession stopped, and she looked +subdued--almost stunned. The pipers still piped. But the bride +refused to move. Instead, her wails rose higher; and Aggie, who +had paid no attention so far, but was sitting back with her eyes +shut, looked up. + +"Lizzhie," she said thickly, "Tish looks about the way I feel." +And with that she fell to laughing awful laughter that mingled +with the bride's cries and the wail of the pipes. + +The bride, after a struggle, was taken by force from the machine +and placed on a chair against the wall. Her veil was torn and +her wreath crooked, and she observed a sulky silence. To our +amazement, Tufik was still smiling, urbane and cheerful. + +"It is the custom of my country, my mothers," he said. "The +bride leave with tears the home of her good parents or of her +friends; and she speak no word--only weep--until she is +marriaged. Ah--the priest!" + +The rest of the story is short and somewhat blurred. Tish +having broken her glasses, Aggie being, as one may say, hors de +combat, and I having developed a frightful headache in the dust +and bad air, the real meaning of what was occurring did not +penetrate to any of us. The priest officiated from a table in +the center of the room, on which he placed two candles, an +Arabic Bible, and a sacred picture, all of which he took out of +a brown valise. He himself wore a long black robe and a beard, +and looked, as Tish observed, for all the world as if he had +stepped from an Egyptian painting. Before him stood Tufik's +sister, the maid of honor with her baby, the black-mustached +friend who had brought Tufik to us after his tragic attempt at +suicide, and Tufik himself. + +Everybody held lighted candles, and the heat was frightful. The +music ceased, there was much exhorting in Arabic, much reading +from the book, many soft replies indiscriminately from the four +principals--and then suddenly Tish turned and gripped my arm. + +"Lizzie," she said hoarsely, "that little thief and liar has +done us again! That isn't his sister at all. He's marrying her-- +for us to keep!" + +Luckily Aggie grew faint again at that moment, and we led her +out into the open air. Behind us the ceremony seemed to be over; +the drum was beating, the pipes screaming, the lute thrumming. + +Tish let in the clutch with a vicious jerk, and the whir of the +engine drowned out the beating of the drum and the clapping of +the hands. Twilight hid the tin cans and ash-barrels, and the +dogs slept on the cool pavements. In the doorways soft-eyed +Syrian women rocked their babies to drowsy chants. The air +revived Aggie. She leaned forward and touched Tish on the +shoulder. + +"After all," she said softly, "if he loves her very much, and +there was no other way--Do you remember that night she arrived-- +how he looked at her?" + +"Yes," Tish snapped. "And I remember the way he looked at us +every time he wanted money. We've been a lot of sheep and we've +been sheared good and proper! But we needn't bleat with joy +about it!" + +As we drew up at my door, Tish pulled out her watch. + +"It's seven o'clock," she said brusquely. "I am going to New +York on the nine-forty train and I shall take the first steamer +outward bound--I need a rest! I'll go anywhere but to the Holy +Land!" + +We went to Panama. + + +Two months afterward, in the dusk of a late spring evening, +Charlie Sands met us at the station and took us to Tish's in a +taxicab. We were homesick, tired, and dirty; and Aggie, who had +been frightfully seasick, was clamoring for tea. + +As the taxicab drew up at the curb, Tish clutched my arm and +Aggie uttered a muffled cry and promptly sneezed. Seated on the +doorstep, celluloid collar shining, the brown pasteboard +suitcase at his feet, was Tufik. He sat calmly smoking a +cigarette, his eyes upturned in placid and Oriental +contemplation of the heavens. + +"Drive on!" said Tish desperately. "If he sees us we are lost!" + +"Drive where?" demanded Charlie. + +Tufik's gaze had dropped gradually--another moment and his brown +eyes would rest on us. But just then a diversion occurred. A +window overhead opened with a slam and a stream of hot water +descended. It had been carefully aimed--as if with long +practice. Tufik was apparently not surprised. He side-stepped it +with a boredom as of many repetitions, and, picking up his +suitcase, stood at a safe distance looking up. First, in his +gentle voice he addressed the window in Arabic; then from a +safer distance in English. + +"You ugly old she-wolf!" he said softly. "When my three old +women come back I eat you, skin and bones,--and they shall say +nothing! They love me--Tufik! I am their child. Aye! And my +child--which comes--will be their grandchild!" + +He kissed his fingers to the upper window which closed with a +slam. Tufik stooped, picked up his suitcase, and saw the taxi +for the first time. Even in the twilight we saw his face change, +his brown eyes brighten, his teeth show in his boyish smile. The +taxicab driver had stalled his engine and was cranking it. + +"Sh!" I said desperately, and we all cowered back into the +shadows. + +Tufik approached, uncertainty changing to certainty. The engine +was started now. Oh, for a second of time! He was at the window +now, peering into the darkness. + +"Miss Tish!" he said breathlessly. No one answered. We hardly +breathed. And then suddenly Aggie sneezed! "Miss Pilk!" he +shouted in delight. "My mothers! My so dear friends--" + +The machine jerked, started, moved slowly off. He ran beside it, +a hand on the door. Tish bent forward to speak, but Charlie +Sands put his hand over her mouth. + +And so we left him, standing in the street undecided, staring +after us wistfully, uncertainly--the suitcase, full of Cluny- +lace centerpieces, crocheted lace, silk kimonos, and embroidered +bedspreads, in his hand. + +That night we hid in a hotel and the next day we started for +Europe. We heard nothing from Tufik; but on the anniversary of +Mr. Wiggins's death, while we were in Berlin, Aggie received a +small package forwarded from home. It was a small lace doily, +and pinned to it was a card. It read:-- + + For the sadness, Miss Pilk! TUFIK. + +Aggie cried over it. + + + + +The Simple Lifers + +I + + +I suppose there is something in all of us that harks back to the +soil. When you come to think of it, what are picnics but +outcroppings of instinct? No one really enjoys them or expects +to enjoy them, but with the first warm days some prehistoric +instinct takes us out into the woods, to fry potatoes over a +strangling wood fire and spend the next week getting grass +stains out of our clothes. It must be instinct; every atom of +intelligence warns us to stay at home near the refrigerator. + +Tish is really a child of instinct. She is intelligent enough, +but in a contest between instinct and brains, she always follows +her instinct. Aggie under the same circumstances follows her +heart. As for me, I generally follow Tish and Aggie, and they've +led me into some curious places. + +This is really a sort of apology, because, whereas usually Tish +leads off and we follow her, in the adventure of the Simple Life +we were all equally guilty. Tish made the suggestion, but we +needed no urging. As you know, this summer two years ago was a +fairly good one, as summers go,--plenty of fair weather, only +two or three really hot spells, and not a great deal of rain. +Charlie Sands, Tish's nephew, went over to England in June to +report the visit of the French President to London for his +newspaper, and Tish's automobile had been sent to the factory to +be gone over. She had been teaching Aggie to drive it, and owing +to Aggie's thinking she had her foot on the brake when it was +really on the gas, they had leaped a four-foot ditch and gone +down into a deep ravine, from which both Tish and Aggie had had +to be pulled up with ropes. + +Well, with no machine and Charlie Sands away, we hardly knew how +to plan the summer. Tish thought at first she would stay at home +and learn to ride. She thought her liver needed stirring up. She +used to ride, she said, and it was like sitting in a rocking- +chair, only perhaps more so. Aggie and I went out to her first +lesson; but when I found she had bought a divided skirt and was +going to try a man's saddle, I could not restrain my indignation. + +"I'm going, Tish," I said firmly, when she had come out of the +dressing-room and I realized the situation. "I shan't attempt to +restrain you, but I shall not remain to witness your shame." + +Tish eyed me coldly. "When you wish to lecture me," she snapped, +"about revealing to the public that I have two legs, if I do +wear a skirt, don't stand in a sunny doorway in that linen dress +of yours. I am going to ride; every woman should ride. It's good +for the liver." + +I think she rather wavered when they brought the horse, which +looked larger than usual and had a Roman nose. The instructor +handed Tish four lines and she grabbed them nervously in a +bunch. + +"Just a moment!" said the instructor, and slipped a line between +each two of her fingers. + +Tish looked rather startled. "When I used to ride--" she began +with dignity. + +But the instructor only smiled. "These two are for the curb," he +said--"if he bolts or anything like that, you know. Whoa, Viper! +Still, old man!" + +"Viper!" Tish repeated, clutching at the lines. "Is--is he--er-- +nasty?" + +"Not a bit of it," said the instructor, while he prepared to +hoist her up. "He's as gentle as a woman to the people he likes. +His only fault is that he's apt to take a little nip out of the +stablemen now and then. He's very fond of ladies." + +"Humph!" said Tish. "He's looking at me rather strangely, don't +you think? Has he been fed lately?" + +"Perhaps he sees that divided skirt," I suggested. + +Tish gave me one look and got on the horse. They walked round +the ring at first and Tish seemed to like it. Then a stableman +put a nickel into a player-piano and that seemed to be a signal +for the thing to trot. Tish said afterward that she never hit +the horse's back twice in the same place. Once, she says, she +came down on his neck, and several times she was back somewhere +about his tail. Every time she landed, wherever it might be, he +gave a heave and sent her up again. She tried to say "Whoa," but +it came out in pieces, so to speak, and the creature seemed to +be encouraged by it and took to going faster. By that time, she +said, she wasn't coming down at all, but was in the air all the +time, with the horse coming up at the rate of fifty revolutions +a second. She had presence of mind enough to keep her mouth shut +so she wouldn't bite her tongue off. + +After four times round the music stopped and the horse did also. +They were just in front of us, and Tish looked rather dazed. + +"You did splendidly!" said Aggie. "Honestly, Tish, I was +frightened at first, but you and that dear horse seemed one +piece. Didn't they, Lizzie?" + +Tish straightened out the fingers of her left hand with her +right and extricated the lines. Then she turned her head slowly +from right to left to see if she could. + +"Help me down, somebody," she said in a thin voice, "and call an +osteopath. There is something wrong with my spine!" + +She was in bed three days, having massage and a vibrator and +being rubbed with chloroform liniment. At the end of that time +she offered me her divided skirt, but I refused. + +"Riding would be good for your liver, Lizzie," she said, sitting +up in bed with pillows all about her. + +"I don't intend to detach it to do it good," I retorted. "What +your liver and mine and most of the other livers need these days +isn't to be sent out in a divided skirt and beaten to a jelly: +they need rest--less food and simpler food. If instead of taking +your liver on a horse you'd put it in a tent and feed it nuts +and berries, you wouldn't be the color you are to-day, Tish +Carberry." + +That really started the whole thing, although at the time Tish +said nothing. She has a way of getting an idea and letting it +simmer on the back of her brain, as you may say, when nobody +knows it's been cooking at all, and then suddenly bringing it +out cooked and seasoned and ready to serve. + +On the day Tish sat up for the first time, Aggie and I went over +to see her. Hannah, the maid, had got her out of bed to a +window, and Tish was sitting there with books all about her. It +is in times of enforced physical idleness that most of Tish's +ideas come to her, and Aggie had reminded me of that fact on the +way over. + +"You remember, Lizzie," she said, "how last winter when she was +getting over the grippe she took up that correspondence-school +course in swimming. She's reading, watch her books. It'll +probably be suffrage or airships." + +Tish always believes anything she reads. She had been quite sure +she could swim after six correspondence lessons. She had all the +movements exactly, and had worried her trained nurse almost into +hysteria for a week by turning on her face in bed every now and +then and trying the overhand stroke. She got very expert, and +had decided she'd swim regularly, and even had Charlie Sands +show her the Australian crawl business so she could go over some +time and swim the Channel. It was a matter of breathing and of +changing positions, she said, and was up to intelligence rather +than muscle. + +Then when she was quite strong, she had gone to the natatorium. +Aggie and I went along, not that we were any good in emergency, +but because Tish had convinced us there would be no emergency. +And Tish went in at the deep end of the pool, head first, +according to diagram, and did not come up. + +Well, there seemed to be nothing threatening in what Tish was +reading this time. She had ordered some books for Maria Lee's +children and was looking them over before she sent them. The +"Young Woods-man" was one and "Camper Craft" was another. How I +shudder when I recall those names! + +Aggie had baked an angel cake and I had brought over a jar of +cookies. But Tish only thanked us and asked Hannah to take them +out. Even then we were not suspicious. Tish sat back among her +pillows and said very little. The conversation was something +like this:-- + + Aggie: Well, you're up again: I hope to goodness it will + be a lesson to you. If you don't mind, I'd like Hannah + to cut that cake. It fell in the middle. + + Tish: Do you know that the Indians never sweetened their + food and that they developed absolutely perfect teeth? + + Aggie: Well, they never had any automobiles either, but + they didn't develop wings. + + Lizzie: Don't you want that window closed? I'm in a + draft. + + Tish: Air in motion never gave any one a cold. We do not + catch cold; we catch heat. It's ridiculous the way we + shut ourselves up in houses and expect to remain well. + + Aggie: Well, I'b catchig sobethig. + + Lizzie (changing the subject): Would you like me to help + you dress? It might rest your back to have your corset + on. + + Tish (firmly): I shall never wear a corset again. + + Aggie (sneezing): Why? Didn't the Iddiads wear theb? + +Tish is very sensitive to lack of sympathy and she shut up like +a clam. She was coldly polite to us for the remainder of our +visit, but she did not again refer to the Indians, which in +itself was suspicious. + +Fortunately for us, or unfortunately, Tish's new scheme was one +she could not very well carry out alone. I believe she tried to +induce Hannah to go with her, and only when Hannah failed her +did she turn to us. Hannah was frightened and came to warn us. + +I remember the occasion very well. It was Mr. Wiggins's birthday +anniversary, and we usually dine at Aggie's and have a cake with +thirty candles on it. Tish was not yet able to be about, so +Aggie and I ate together. She always likes to sit until the last +candle is burned out, which is rather dispiriting and always +leaves me low in my mind. + +Just as it flickered and went out, Hannah came in. + +"Miss Tish sent over Mr. Charlie's letter from London," said +Hannah, and put it in front of Aggie. Then she sat down on a +chair and commenced to cry. + +"Why, Hannah!" said Aggie. "What in the world has happened?" + +She's off again!" sniveled Hannah; "and she's worse this time +than she's ever been. No sugar, no tea, only nuts and fruit, and +her windows open all night, with the curtains getting black. I +wisht I had Mr. Charlie by the neck." + +I suppose it came over both of us at the same time- the "Young +Woodsman," and the "Camper Craft," and no stays, and all that. I +reached for Charlie Sands's letter, which was always sent to +Tish and meant for all of us. He wrote:-- + + Dear Three of a Kind: Well, the French President has + came and went, and London has taken down all the + brilliant flags which greeted him, such tactful bits as + bore Cressy and Agincourt, and the pretty little + smallpox and "plague here" banners, and has gone back to + such innocent diversions as baiting cabinet ministers, + blowing up public buildings, or going out into the woods + seeking the Simple Life. + + The Simple Lifers travel in bands--and little else. They + go barefooted, barearmed, bareheaded and barenecked. + They wear one garment, I believe, let their hair hang + and their beards grow, eat only what Nature provides, + such as nuts and fruits, sleep under the stars, and + drink from Nature's pools. Rather bully, isn't it? + They're a handsome lot generally, brown as nuts. And I + saw a girl yesterday--well, if you do not hear from me + for a time it will be because I have discarded the + pockets in which I carry my fountain pen and my stamps + and am wandering bare- foot through the Elysian fields. + + Yours for the Simple Life, + + CHARLIE SANDS. + +As I finished reading the letter aloud, I looked at Aggie in +dismay. "That settles it," I said hopelessly. "She had some such +idea before, and now this young idiot--" I stopped and stared +across the table at Aggie. She was sitting rapt, her eyes fixed +on the smouldering wicks of Mr. Wiggins's candles. + +"Barefoot through the Elysian fields!" she said. + + +II + +I am not trying to defend myself. I never had the enthusiasm of +the other two, but I rather liked the idea. And I did restrain +them. It was my suggestion, for instance, that we wear sandals +without stockings, instead of going in our bare feet, which was +a good thing, for the first day out Aggie stepped into a +hornet's nest. And I made out the lists. + +The idea, of course, is not how much one can carry, but how +little. The "Young Woodsman" told exactly how to manage in the +woods if one were lost there and had nothing in the world but a +bootlace and a wire hairpin. + +With the hairpin one could easily make a fair fish-hook--and +with a bootlace or a good hemp cord one could make a rabbit +snare. + +"So you see," Tish explained, "there's fish and meat with no +trouble at all. And there will be berries and nuts. That's a +diet for a king." + +I was making a list of the necessaries at the time and under +bootlaces and hairpins I put down "spade." + +"What in Heaven's name is the spade for?" Tish demanded. + +"You've got to dig bait, haven't you?" + +Tish eyed me with disgust. + +"Grasshoppers!" she said tersely. + +There was really nothing Tish was not prepared for. I should +never have thought of grasshoppers. + +"The idea is simply this," observed Tish: "We have surrounded +ourselves with a thousand and one things we do not need and +would be better without--houses, foolish clothing, electric +light, idiotic servants--Hannah, get away from that door!--rich +foods, furniture and crowds of people. We've developed and cared +for our bodies instead of our souls. What we want is to get out +into the woods and think; to forget those pampered bodies of +ours and to let our souls grow and assert themselves." + +We decided finally to take a blanket apiece, rolled on our +shoulders, and Tish and I each took a strong knife. Aggie, +instead of the knife, took a pair of scissors. We took a small +bottle of blackberry cordial for emergencies, a cake of soap, a +salt-cellar for seasoning the fish and rabbits, two towels, a +package of court-plaster, Aggie's hay-fever remedy, a bottle of +oil of pennyroyal to use against mosquitoes, and a large piece +of canvas, light but strong, cut like the diagram. + +Tish said it was the regulation Indian tepee, and that a squaw +could set one up in an hour and have dinner cooked inside it in +thirty minutes after. She said she guessed we could do it if an +Indian squaw could, and that after we'd cut the poles once, we +could carry them with us if we wished to move. She said the tent +ought to be ornamented, but she had had no time, and we could +paint designs on it with colored clay in the woods when we had +nothing more important to do! + +It made a largish bundle, but we did not intend to travel much. +We thought we could find a good place by a lake somewhere and +put up the tent, and set a few snares, and locate the nearest +berry-bushes and mushroom-patches, and then, while the rabbits +were catching themselves, we should have time to get acquainted +with our souls again. + +Tish put it in her terse manner most intelligently. "We intend +to prove," she stated to Mrs. Ostermaier, the minister's wife, +who came to call and found us all sitting on the floor trying to +get used to it, for of course there would be no chairs, "we +shall prove that the trappings of civilization are a delusion +and a snare. We shall bring back 'Mens sana in corpore sano'." + +The minister's wife thought this was a disease, for she said, "I +hope not, I'm sure," very hastily. + +"We shall make our own fire and our own shelter," said Tish from +the floor. "We shall wear one garment, loose enough to allow +entire freedom of movement. We shall bathe in Nature's pools and +come out cleansed. On the Sabbath we shall attend divine service +under the Gothic arches of the trees, read sermons in stones, +and instead of that whining tenor in the choir we shall listen +to the birds singing praise, overhead." + +Mrs. Ostermaier looked rather bewildered. "I'm sure I hope so," +she said vaguely. "I don't like camping myself. There are so +many bugs." + +As Tish said, some ideas are so large that the average person +cannot see them at all. + +We had fixed on Maine. It seemed to combine all the necessary +qualities: woods and lakes, rabbits, game and fish, and-- +solitude. Besides, Aggie's hay fever is better the farther north +she gets. On the day we were leaving, Mr. Ostermaier came to see +us. + +"I--I really must protest, ladies," he said. "That sort of thing +may be all right for savages, but--" + +"Are we not as intelligent as savages?" Tish demanded. + +"Primitive people are inured to hardships, and besides, they +have methods of their own. They can make fire--" "So can I," +retorted Tish. "Any fool can make a fire with a rubbing-stick. +It's been done in thirty-one seconds." + +"If you would only take some matches," he wailed, "and a good +revolver, Miss Letitia. And--you must pardon this, but I have +your well--being at heart--if I could persuade you to take along +some--er--flannels and warm clothing!" + +"Clothing," said Tish loftily, "is a matter of habit, Mr. +Ostermaier." + +I think he got the idea from this that we intended to discard +clothing altogether, for he went away almost immediately, +looking rather upset, and he preached on the following Sunday +from "Consider the lilies of the field . . . . Even Solomon in +all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." + +We left on Monday evening, and by Tuesday at noon we were at our +destination, as far as the railroad was concerned. Tish had a +map with the lake we'd picked out, and we had figured that we'd +drive out to within ten miles or so of it and then send the +driver back. The lake was in an uninhabited neighborhood, with +the nearest town twenty-five miles away. We had one suitcase +containing our blankets, sandals, short dresses, soap, hairpins, +salt-box, knives, scissors, and a compass, and the leather +thongs for rabbit snares that we had had cut at a harness shop. +In the other suitcase was the tepee. + +We ate a substantial breakfast at Tish's suggestion, because we +expected to be fairly busy the first day, and there would be no +time for hunting. We had to walk ten miles, set up the tent, +make a fire and gather nuts and berries. It was about that time, +I think, that I happened to recall that it was early for nuts. +Still there would be berries, and Tish had added mushrooms to +our menu. + +We found a man with a spring wagon to drive us out and Tish +showed him the map. + +"I guess I can get you out that way," he said, "but I ain't +heard of no camp up that direction." + +"Who said anything about a camp?" snapped Tish. "How much to +drive us fifteen miles in that direction?" + +"Fifteen miles! Well, about five dollars, but I think--" + +"How much to drive us fifteen miles without thinking?" + +"Ten dollars," said the man; and as he had the only wagon in the +town we had to pay it. + +It was a lovely day, although very warm. The morning sun turned +the woods to fairylike glades. Tish sat on the front seat, erect +and staring ahead. + +Aggie bent over and touched my arm lightly. "Isn't she +wonderful!" she whispered; "like some adventurer of old--Balboa +discovering the Pacific Ocean, or Joan of Arc leading the what- +you-call-'ems." + +But somehow my enthusiasm was dying. The sun was hot and there +were no berry-bushes to be seen. Aggie's fairy glades in the +woods were filled, not with dancing sprites, but with gnats. I +wanted a glass of iced tea, and some chicken salad, and talcum +powder down my neck. The road was bad, and the driver seemed to +have a joke to himself, for every now and then he chuckled, and +kept his eyes on the woods on each side, as if he expected to +see something. His manner puzzled us all. + +"You can trust me not to say anything, ladies," he said at last, +"but don't you think you're playing it a bit low down? This +ain't quite up to contract, is it?" + +"You've been drinking!" said Tish shortly. + +After that he let her alone, but soon after he turned round to +me and made another venture. + +"In case you need grub, lady," he said,"--and them two suitcases +don't hold a lot,--I'll bring out anything you say: eggs and +butter and garden truck at market prices. I'm no +phylanthropist," he said, glaring at Tish, "but I'd be glad to +help the girl, and that's the truth. I been married to this here +wife o' mine quite a spell, and to my first one for twenty +years, and I'm a believer in married life." + +"What girl?" I asked. + +He turned right round in the seat and winked at me. + +"All right," he said. "I'll not butt in unless you need me. But +I'd like to know one thing: He hasn't got a mother, he says, so +I take it you're his aunts. Am I on, ladies?" + +We didn't know what he was talking about, and we said so. But he +only smiled. A mile or so from our destination the horse scared +up a rabbit, and Tish could hardly be restrained from running +after it with a leather thong. Aggie, however, turned a little +pale. + +"I'll never be able to eat one, never!" she confided to me. "Did +you see its eyes? Lizzie, do you remember Mr. Wiggins's eyes? +and the way he used to move his nose, just like that?" + +At the end of fifteen miles the driver drew up his horses and +took a fresh chew of tobacco. + +"I guess this is about right," he said. "That trail there'll +take you to the lake. How long do you reckon it'll be before +you'll need some fresh eggs?" + +"We are quite able to look after ourselves," said Tish with +hauteur, and got out of the wagon. She paid him off at once and +sat down on her suitcase until he had driven out of sight. He +drove slowly, looking back every now and then, and his last view +of us must have been impressive--three middle-aged and +determined women ready to conquer the wilderness, as Tish put +it, and two suitcases. + +It was as solitary a place as we could have wished. We had not +seen a house in ten miles, and when the last creak of the wagon +had died away there was a silence that made our city-broke ears +fairly ache. Tish waited until the wagon was out of sight; then +she stood up and threw out her arms. + +"At last!" she said. "Free to have a lodge in some vast +wilderness--to think, to breathe, to expand! Lizzie, do you +suppose if we go back we can get that rabbit?" + +I looked at my watch. It was one o'clock and there was not a +berry-bush in sight. The drive had made me hungry, and I'd have +eaten a rabbit that looked like Mr. Wiggins and called me by +name if I'd had it. But there was absolutely no use going back +for the one we'd seen on our drive. + +Aggie was opening her suitcase and getting out her costume, +which was a blue calico with short sleeves and a shoe-top skirt. + +"Where'll I put it on?" she asked, looking about her. + +"Right here!" Tish replied. "For goodness sake, Aggie, try to +discard false modesty and false shame. We're here to get close +to the great beating heart of Nature. Take off your switch +before you do another thing." + +None of us looked particularly well, I admit; but it was +wonderful how much more comfortable we were. Aggie, who is very +thin, discarded a part of her figure, and each of us parted with +some pet hypocrisy. But I don't know that I have ever felt +better. Only, of course we were hungry. + +We packed our things in the suitcases and hid them in a hollow +tree, and Tish suggested looking for a spring. She said water +was always the first requisite and fire the second. + +"Fire!" said Aggie. "What for? We've nothing to cook." + +Well, that was true enough, so we sent Aggie to look for water +and Tish and I made a rabbit snare. We made a good many snares +and got to be rather quick at it. They were all made like this +illustration. + +First Tish, with her book open in front of her, made a running +noose out of one of the buckskin thongs. Next we bent down a +sapling and tied the noose to it, and last of all we bound the +free part of the thong round a snag and thus held the sapling +down. The idea is that a rabbit, bounding along, presumably with +his eyes shut, will stick his head through the noose, kick the +line clear of the snag and be drawn violently into the air. Tish +figured that by putting tip half a dozen snares we'd have three +or four rabbits at least each day. + +It was about three when we finished, and we drew off to a safe +distance to watch the rabbit bound to his doom. But no rabbits +came along. + +I was very empty and rather faint, but Tish said she had never +been able to think so clearly, and that we were all overfed and +stodgy and would be better for fasting. + +Aggie came in at three-thirty with a hornet sting and no water. +She said there were no springs, but that she had found a place +where a spring had existed before the dry spell, and there was a +naked footprint in the mud, quite fresh! We all went to look at +it, and Tish was quite positive it was not a man's footprint at +all, but only a bear's. + +"A bear!" said Aggie. + +"What of it?" Tish demanded. "The 'Young Woodsman' says that no +bear attacks a human unless he is hungry, and at this time of +the year with the woods full of food--" + +"Humph!"--I could not restrain myself--"I wish you would show me +a little of it. If no rabbit with acute melancholia comes along +to commit suicide by hanging on that gallows of yours, I think +we'll starve to death." + +"There will be a rabbit," Tish said tersely; and we started back +to the snare. + +I was never so astonished in my life. There was a rabbit! It +seems we had struck a runway without knowing it, although Tish +said afterward that she had recognized it at once from the +rabbit tracks. Anyhow, whether it died of design or curiosity, +our supper was kicking at the top of the sapling, and Tish +pretended to be calm and to have known all along that we'd get +one. But it was not dead. + +We got it down somehow or other and I held it by the ears while +it kicked and scratched. I was hungry enough to have eaten it +alive, but Aggie began to cry. + +"You'll be murderers, nothing else," she wailed. "Look at his +little white tail and pitiful baby eyes!" + +"Good gracious, Aggie," Tish snapped, "get a knife and cut its +throat while I make a fire. If it's any help to you, we're not +going to eat either its little white tail or its pitiful baby +eyes." + +As a matter of fact Aggie wouldn't touch the rabbit and I did +not care much about it myself. I do not like to kill things. My +Aunt Sarah Mackintosh once killed a white hen that lived twenty +minutes without its head; two weeks later she dreamed that that +same hen, without a head, was sitting on the footboard of the +bed, and the next day she got word that her cousin's husband in +Sacramento had died of the hiccoughs. + +It ended with Tish giving me the fire-making materials and +stalking off into the woods with the rabbit in one hand and the +knife in the other. + +Tish is nothing if not thorough, but she seemed to me +inconsistent. She brought blankets and a canvas tepee and +sandals and an aluminum kettle, but she disdained matches. I +rubbed with that silly drill and a sort of bow arrangement until +my wrists ached, hut I did not get even a spark of fire. When +Tish came back with the rabbit there was no fire, and Aggie had +taken out her watch crystal and was holding it in the sun over a +pile of leaves. + +Tish got out the "Young Woodsman" from the suitcase. It seems I +had followed cuts I and II, but had neglected cut III, which is: +Hold the left wrist against the left shin, and the left foot on +the fireblock. I had got my feet mixed and was trying to hold my +left wrist against my right shin, which is exceedingly difficult. +Tish got a fire in fourteen minutes and thirty-one seconds by +Aggie's watch, and had to wear a bandage on her hand for a week. + +But we had a fire. We cooked the rabbit, which proved to be much +older than Aggie had thought, and ate what we could. Personally +I am not fond of rabbit, and our enjoyment was rather chastened +by the fear that some mushrooms Tish had collected and added to +the stew were toadstools incognito. To make things worse, Aggie +saw some goldenrod nearby and began to sneeze. + +It was after five o'clock, but it seemed wisest to move on toward +the lake. + +"Even if we don't make it," said Tish, "we'll be on our way, and +while that bear is likely harmless we needn't thrust temptation +in his way." + +We carried the fire with us in the kettle and we took turns with +the tepee, which was heavy. Our suitcases with our city clothes +in them we hid in a hollow tree, and one after the other, with +Aggie last, we started on. + +The trail, which was a sort of wide wagon road at first, became +a footpath; as we went on even that disappeared at times under +fallen leaves. Once we lost it entirely, and Aggie, falling over +a hidden root, stilled the fire. She became exceedingly +disagreeable at about that time, said she was sure Tish's +mushrooms were toadstools because she felt very queer, and +suddenly gave a yell and said she had seen something moving in +the bushes. + +We all looked, and the bushes were moving. + + +III + +It was dusk by that time and the path was only a thread between +masses of undergrowth. Tish said if it was the bear he would be +afraid of the fire, so we put dry leaves in the kettle and made +quite a blaze. By its light Tish read that bears in the summer +are full fed and really frolicsome and that they are awful +cowards. We felt quite cheered and brave, and Tish said if he +came near to throw the fire kettle at him and he'd probably die +of fright. + +It was too late to put up the tepee, so we found a clearing near +the path and decided to spend the night there. Aggie still +watched the bushes and wanted to spend the night in a tree; but +Tish's calmness was a reproach to us both, and after we had +emptied the kettle and made quite a fire to keep off animals, we +unrolled our blankets and prepared for sleep. I could have slept +anywhere, although I was still rather hungry. My last view was +of Tish in the firelight grimly bending down a sapling and +fastening a rabbit snare to it. + +During the night I was wakened by somebody clutching my arm. It +was Aggie who lay next to me. When I raised my head she pointed +off into the woods to our left. At a height of perhaps four feet +from the ground a ghastly red glow was moving rapidly away from +us. It was not a torch; it was more a radiance, and it moved not +evenly, but jerkily. I could feel the very hair rising on my +head and it was all I could do to call Tish. When we had roused +her, however, the glow had faded entirely and she said we had +had a nightmare. + +The snare the next morning contained a skunk, and we moved on as +quickly as possible, without attempting to secure the thong, of +which we had several. We gathered some puffballs to soak for +breakfast and in a clearing I found some blackberry bushes. We +were very cheerful that morning, for if we could capture rabbits +and skunks, we were sure of other things, also, and soon we +would be able to add fish to our menu. True, we had not had much +time to commune with our souls, and Aggie's arms were so +sunburned that she could not bend them at the elbows. But, as +Tish said, we had already proved our contention that we could +get along without men or houses or things. Things, she said, +were the curse of modern life; we filled our lives with things +instead of thoughts. + +It was when we were ready to cook the puffballs that we missed +the kettle! Tish was very angry; she said it was evident that +the bear was mischievous and that all bears were thieves. (See +the "Young Woodsman.") But I recalled the glow of the night +before, and more than once I caught Aggie's eyes on me, filled +with consternation. For we had seen that kettle leaving the camp +with some of our fire in it, and bears are afraid of fire! + +We reached the lake at noon and it seemed as if we might soon +have time to sit down and rest. But there was a great deal to +do. Aggie was of no assistance on account of her arms, so Tish +and I put up the tent. The "Young Woodsman" said it was easy. +First you tied three long poles together near the top and stood +them up so they made a sort of triangle. Then you cut about a +dozen and filled in between the three. That looked easy, but it +took an afternoon, and our first three looked like this first +cut. + +AS THE FIRST THREE LOOKED + +AS THEY SHOULD HAVE LOOKED + +We had caught a rabbit by noon, and Aggie being unfit for other +work, and the kettle being gone, Tish set her to roasting it. It +was not very good, but we ate some, being ravenous. The method +was simplicity itself--two forked sticks in the ground, one +across to hang the rabbit to and a fire beneath. It tasted rather +smoky. + +In the afternoon we finished putting up the tepee, and Tish made +a fishhook out of a hairpin and tied it to a strong creeper I +had found. But we caught no fish. We had more rabbit for supper, +with some puffballs smoked and a few huckleberries. But by that +time the very sight of a rabbit sickened me, and Aggie began to +talk about broiled beefsteak and fried spring chicken. + +We had seen no sign of the bear, or whatever it was, all day, and +it seemed likely we were not to be again disturbed. But a most +mysterious thing occurred that very night. + +As I have said, we had caught no fish. The lake was full of them. +We sat on a bank that evening and watched them playing leapfrog, +and talked about frying them on red-hot stones, but nothing came +near the hairpin. At last Tish made a suggestion. + +"We need worms," she said. "A grasshopper loses all his spirit +after he's been immersed for an hour, but a worm will keep on +wriggling and attracting attention for half a day." + +"I wanted to bring a spade," said I. + +But Tish had read of a scheme for getting worms that she said the +game warden of some place or other had guaranteed officially. + +"You stick a piece of wood about two feet into the ground in a +likely spot," she said, "and rub a rough piece of bark or plank +across the top. This man claims, and it sounds reasonable, that +the worms think it is raining and come up for water. All you have +to do is to gather them up." + +Tish found a pole for the purpose on the beach and set to work, +while Aggie and I prepared several hooks and lines. The fish +were jumping busily, and it seemed likely we should have more +than we could do to haul them in. + +The experiment, however, failed entirely, for not a single worm +appeared. Tish laid it to the fact that it was very late and +that the worms were probably settled down for the night. It may +have been that, or it may have been the wrong kind of wood. + +The mysterious happening was this: We rose quite early because +the tepee did not seem to be well anchored and fell down on us at +daybreak. Tish went down to the beach to examine the lines that +had been out all night, and found nothing. She was returning +rather dispirited to tell us that it would be rabbit again for +breakfast, when she saw lying on a flat stone half a dozen +beautiful fish, one or two still gasping, in our lost kettle! + +Tish said she stood there, opening and shutting her mouth like +the fish. Then she gave a whoop and we came running. At first we +thought they might have been jumping and leaped out on to the +beach by accident, but, as Tish said, they would hardly have +landed all together and into a kettle that had been lost for two +nights and a day. The queer thing was that they had not been +caught with a hook at all. They hadn't a mark on them. + +We were so hungry that we ate every one of then for breakfast. +It was only when we had eaten, and were sitting gorged and not +caring whether the tent was set up again or not, that we fell to +wondering about the fish. Tish fancied it might have been the +driver of the spring wagon, but decided he'd have sold us the +fish at thirty cents a pound live weight. + +All day long we watched for a sign of our benefactor, but we saw +nothing. Tish set up more rabbit snares; not that she wanted +rabbits, but it had become a mania with her, and there were so +many of them that as they grew accustomed to us they sat round +our camp in a ring and criticized our housekeeping. She thought +if she got a good many skins she could have a fur robe made for +her automobile. As a matter of fact she found another use for +them. + +It was that night, then, that we were sitting round the camp- +fire on stones that we had brought up from the beach. We had +seen nothing more of the bear, and if we had been asked we +should have said that the nearest human being was twenty-five +miles away. + +Suddenly a voice came out of the woods just behind us, a man's +voice. + +"Please don't be alarmed," said the voice. "But may I have a +little of your fire? Mine has gone out again." + +"G-g-g-good gracious!" said Aggie. "T-Tish, get your revolver!" + +This was for effect. Tish had no revolver. + +All of us had turned and were staring into the woods behind, but +we could see no one. After Aggie's speech about the revolver it +was some time before the voice spoke again. + +"Never mind, Aggie," Tish observed, very loud. "The revolver is +here and loaded--as nice a little thirty-six as any one needs +here in the woods." + +She said afterward that she knew all the time there was no +thirty- +six caliber revolver, but in the excitement she got it mixed with +her bust measure. Having replied to Aggie, Tish then turned in +the direction of the voice. + +"Don't skulk back there," she called. "Come out, where we can see +you. If you look reliable, we'll give you some fire, of course." + +There was another pause, as if the stranger were hesitating. +Then:-- + +"I think I'd better not," he said with reluctance in his voice. +"Can't you toss a brand this way?" + +By that time we had grown accustomed to the darkness, and I +thought I could see in the shadow of a tree a lightish figure. +Aggie saw it at the same instant and clutched my arm. + +"Lizzie!" she gasped. + +It was at that moment that Tish tossed the brand. It fell far +short, but her movement caught the stranger unawares. He ducked +behind the tree, but the flare of light had caught him. With the +exception of what looked like a pair of bathing-trunks he was as +bare as my hand! + +There was a sort of astonished silence. Then the voice called +out:--"Why in the world didn't you warn me?" it said, aggrieved. +"I didn't know you were going to throw the blamed thing." + +We had all turned our backs at once and Tish's face was awful. + +"Take it and go," she said, without turning. "Take it and go." + +>From the crackling of leaves and twigs we judged that he had +come out and got the brand, and when he spoke again it was from +farther back in the woods. + +"You know," he said, "I don't like this any more than you do. +I've got forty-two mosquito bites on my left arm." + +He waited, as if for a reply; but getting none he evidently +retreated. The sound of rustling leaves and crackling twigs grew +fainter, fainter still, died away altogether. We turned then +with one accord and gazed through the dark arches of the forest. +A glowing star was retreating there--a smouldering fire, that +seemed to move slowly and with an appearance of dejection. + +It was the second time Aggie and I had seen fire thus carried +through the wood; but whereas about the kettle there had been a +glow and radiance that was almost triumphant, the brand we now +watched seemed smouldering, dejected, ashamed. Even Tish felt +it. + +"The wretch!" she exclaimed. "Daring to come here like that! No +wonder he's ashamed." + +But Aggie, who is very romantic, sat staring after the distant +torch. + +"Mr. Wiggins suffered so from mosquitoes," she said softly. + + +IV + +The next morning we found more fish awaiting us, and on the +smooth sand of the beach was a message written with a stick:-- + + If you will leave a wire hairpin or two on this stone I + can get bigger fish. What do you mean to do with all + those rabbit skins? (Signed) P. + +Tish was touched by the fish, I think. She smoothed off the sand +carefully and wrote a reply:-- + + Here are the hairpins. Thank you. Do you want the rabbit + skins? L. C. + +All day we were in a state of expectancy. The mosquitoes were +very bad, and had it not been for the excitement of the P-- +person I should have given up and gone home. I wanted mashed +potatoes and lima beans with butter dressing, and a cup of hot +tea, and muffins, and ice--in fact, I cannot think of anything I +did not want, except rabbits and fish and puffballs and such +blackberries as the birds did not fancy. Although we were well +enough--almost too well--the better I felt the hungrier I got. + +Tish thought the time had now come to rest and invite our souls. +She set the example that day by going out on a flat rock in the +lake and preparing to think all the things she'd been waiting +most of her life to consider. + +"I am ready to form my own opinions about some things," she said. +"I realize now that all my life the newspapers and stupid people +and books have formed my opinions. Now I'm going to think along +my own lines. Is there another life after this? Do I really +desire the suffrage? Why am I a Baptist?" + +Aggie said she would like to invite her soul that day also, not +to form any opinions,--Tish always does that for her,--but she +had to get some clothes in September and she might as well think +them out. + +So it happened that I was alone when I met the P-- person's +young woman. + +I had intended to wander only a short way along the trail, but +after I had gone a mile or two it occurred to me as likely that +the spring-wagon driver would come back that way before long out +of curiosity, and I thought I might leave a message for him to +bring out some fresh eggs and leave them there. I could tell +Tish I had found a nest, or perhaps, since that would be lying, +I could put them in a nest and let her find them. I'd have +ordered tea, too, if I could have thought of any way to account +for it. + +"I'm going to do some meditating myself to-day," I remarked, +"but I think better when I'm moving. If I don't come back in an +hour or so don't imagine I've been kidnaped." + +Tish turned on her stone and looked at me. + +"You will not be kidnaped," she said shortly. "I cannot imagine +any one safer than you are in that costume." + +Well, I made my way along the trail as rapidly as I could. It +was twenty miles there and back and I've seen the day when two +city blocks would send me home to soak my feet in hot water. But +the sandals were easy to walk in and my calico skirt was short +and light. + +I had no paper to write my message on, of course, but on the way +I gathered a large white fungus and I scraped a note on it with +a pin. With the fungus under mp arm I walked briskly along, +planning an omelet with the eggs, if we got any, and gathering +mushrooms here and there. It was the mushrooms that led me to +the discovery of a camping-place that was prehistoric in its +primitiveness--a clearing, surrounded by low bushes, and in the +center a fireplace of stones with a fire smouldering. At one +side a heap of leaves and small twigs for a bed, a stump for a +seat, and lying on top of it a sort of stone axe, made by +inserting a sharp stone into the cleft of a sapling and tying it +into place with a wild-grape tendril. Pegged out on the ground +to cure was a rabbit skin, indifferently scraped. It made our +aluminum kettle and canvas tepee look like a marble-vestibuled +apartment on Riverside Drive. + +The whole thing looked pitiful, hungry. I thought of Tish sitting +on a stone inviting her soul, while rabbits came from miles round +to stick their heads through our nooses and hang themselves for +our dinner; and it seemed to me that we should share our plenty. +I thought it probable that the gentleman of the woods lived here, +and from the appearance of the place he carried all his +possessions with him when he wore his bathing-trunks. If I had +been in any doubt, the sight of Aggie's wire hairpin, sharpened +and bent into a serviceable fishhook, decided me. I scratched a +message for him on another fungus and left it:-- + + If you need anything come to the Indian tepee at the + lake. We have no clothing to spare, but are always glad + to help in time of trouble. + + (Signed) ONE OF THE SIMPLE LIFERS. + +I went on after that and about noon reached our point of exodus +from the wagon. I was tired and hot and I kept thinking of my +little dining-room at home, with the electric fan going, and +iced cantaloupe, and nobody worrying about her soul or thinking +her own thoughts, and no rabbits. + +Our suitcases were safe enough in the hollow tree, and I thought +the spring wagon had been back already, for there were fresh +tracks. This discouraged me and I sat down on a log to rest. It +was then that I heard the girl crying. + +She was crying softly, but in the woods sounds travel. I found +her on her face on the pine needles about twenty yards away, +wailing her heart out into a pink automobile veil, and she was +so absorbed in her misery that I had to stoop and touch her +before she looked up. + +"Don't cry," I said. "If you are lost, I can direct you to a +settlement." + +She looked up at me, and from being very red and suffused she +went quite pale. It seems that with my bare legs and sandals and +my hair down, which was Tish's idea for making it come in thick +and not gray, and what with my being sunburned and stained with +berries, she thought I was a wild woman. I realized what was +wrong. + +"Don't be alarmed," I said somewhat grimly. "I'm rational +enough; if I hop about instead of walking, it's because I'm the +tomb of more rabbits than I care to remember, but aside from +that I'm all right. Are you lost?" + +She sat up, still staring, and wiped her eyes. + +"No. I have a machine over there among the trees. Are there--are +there plenty of rabbits in the woods? " + +"Thousands." She was a pretty little thing, very young, and +dressed in a white motor coat with white shoes and hat. + +"And--and berries?" + +"There aren't many berries," I admitted. "The birds eat 'em. We +get the ones they don't fancy." + +Now I didn't think for a moment that she was worried about my +diet, but she was worried about the food supply in the woods, +that was sure. So I sat down on a stump and told her about +puffballs, and what Tish had read about ants being edible but +acid, and that wood mice, roasted and not cooked too dry, were +good food, but that Aggie had made us liberate the only ones we +had caught, because a man she was once engaged to used to carry +a pet mouse in his pocket. + +Nothing had really appealed to her until I mentioned Mr. +Wiggins. Then unexpectedly she began to cry again. And after +that I got the whole story. + +It seems she was in love with a young man who was everything a +young man ought to be and had money as well. But the money was +the barrier really, for the girl's father wouldn't believe that +a youth who played polo, and did not have to work for a living, +and led cotillons, and paid calls in the afternoon could have +really good red blood in him. He had a man in view for her, she +said, one who had made his money himself, and had to have his +valet lay out his clothes for fear he'd make a mistake. Once the +valet had to go to have a tooth pulled and the man had to +decline a dinner. + +"Father said," finished the little girl tearfully, "that if +Percy--that's his name, and it counted against him too--that if +Percy was a real man he'd do something. And then he hap-happened +on a book of my small brother's, telling how people used to live +in the woods, and kill their own food and make their own fire--" + +"The 'Young Woodsman,' of course," I put in. + +"And how the strong survived, but the weak succumbed, and he +said if Percy was a man, and not a t-tailor's dummy, he'd go out +in the woods, j-just primitive man, without anything but a pair +of bathing trunks, and keep himself alive for a month. If he s- +stood the test father was willing to forget the 'Percy.' He said +that he knew Mr. Willoughby could do it--that's the other man-- +and that he'd come in at the end of the time with a deed for the +forest and mortgages on all the surrounding camps." + +"And Percy agreed?" + +"He didn't want to. He said it took mentality and physical +endurance as well as some courage to play polo. Father said it +did--on the part of the pony. Then s-some of the men heard of +it, and there were bets on it--ten to one he wouldn't do it and +twenty to one he couldn't do it. So Percy decided to try. Father +was so afraid that some of the campers and guides would help him +that he had notices sent out at Mr. Willoughby's suggestion +offering a reward if Percy could be shown to have asked any +assistance. Oh, I know he's sick in there somewhere, or starving +or--dead!" + +I had had a great light break over me, and now I stooped and +patted the girl on the shoulder. + +"Dead! Certainly not," I said. "I saw him last night." + +"Saw him!" + +"Well, not exactly saw him--there wasn't much light. But he's +alive and well, and--do you really want him to win?" + +"Do I?" She sat up with shining eyes. "I don't care whether he +owns anything in the world but the trunks. If I didn't think I'd +add to his troubles I'd go into the woods this minute and find +him and suffer with him." + +"You'd have to be married to him first," I objected, rather +startled. + +But she looked at me with her cheeks as red strawberries. "Why?" +she demanded. "Father's crazy about primitive man--did primitive +man take his woman to church to be married, with eight brides +maids and a reception after the ceremony? Of course not. He +grabbed her and carried her off." + +"Good Heavens! You're not in earnest?" "I think I am," she said +slowly. "I'd rather live in the woods with Percy and no ceremony +than live without him anywhere in the world. And I'll bet +primitive man would have been wiped off the earth if he hadn't +had primitive woman to add her wits to his strength. If Percy +only had a woman to help him!" + +"My dear," I said solemnly, "he has! He has, not one, but +three!" + +It took me some time to explain that Percy was not supporting a +harem in the Maine woods; but when at last she got my idea and +that the other two classed with me in beauty and attractiveness, +she was overjoyed. + +"But Percy promised not to ask for help," she said suddenly. + +"He needn't. My dear, go away and stop worrying about Percy-- +he's all right. When is the time up?" + +"In three weeks." + +"I suppose father and the Willoughby person will come to meet +him?" + +"Yes, and all the fellows from the club who have put money up on +him. We're going to motor over and father's bringing the +physical director of the athletic club. He's not only got to +survive, but he's got to be in good condition." + +"He'll be in good condition," I said grimly. "Does he drink and +smoke?" + +"A little, not too much. Oh, yes, I had forgotten!" She opened +up a little gold cigarette case, which she took from her pocket, +and extracted a handful of cigarettes. + +"If you are going to see him," she said, "you might put them +where he'll find them?" + +"Certainly not." + +"But that's not giving them to him." + +"My dear child," I said sternly, "Percy is going to come out of +these woods so well and strong that he may not have to work, but +he'll want to. And he'll not smoke anything stronger than corn- +silk, if we're to take charge of this thing." + +She understood quickly enough and I must say she was grateful. +She was almost radiant with joy when I told her how capable Tish +was, and that she was sure to be interested, and about Aggie's +hay fever and Mr. Wiggins and the rabbit snares. She leaned over +and kissed me impulsively. + +"You dear old thing!" she cried. "I know you'll look after him +and make him comfortable and--how old is Miss Letitia?" + +"Something over fifty and Aggie Pilkington's about the same, +although she won't admit it." + +She kissed me again at that, and after looking at her wrist +watch she jumped to her feet. + +"Heavens!" she said. "It's four o'clock and my engine has been +running all this time!" + +She got a smart little car from somewhere up the road, and the +last I saw of her she was smiling back over her shoulder and the +car running on the edge of a ditch. + +"You are three darlings!" she called back. "And tell Percy I +love him--love him--love him!" + +I thought I'd never get back to the lake. I was tired to begin +with, and after I'd gone about four miles and was limping with a +splinter in my heel and no needle to get it out with, I found I +still had the fungus message to the spring-wagon person under my +arm. + +It was dark when I got back and my nerves were rather unstrung, +what with wandering from the path here and there, with nothing +to eat since morning, and running into a tree and taking the +skin off my nose. When I limped into camp at last, I didn't care +whether Percy lived or died, and the thought, of rabbit stew +made my mouth water. + +It was not rabbit, however. Aggie was sitting alone by the fire, +waving a brand round her head to keep off mosquitoes, and in +front of her, dangling from the spit, were a dozen pairs of +frogs' legs in a row. + +I ate six pairs without a question and then I asked for Tish. + +"Catching frogs," said Aggie laconically, and flourished the +brand. + +"Where?" + +"Pulling them off the trees. Where do you think she gets them?" +she demanded. + +A large mosquito broke through her guard at that moment and she +flung the torch angrily at the fire. + +"I'm eaten alive!" she snapped. "I wish to Heaven I had smallpox +or something they could all take and go away and die." + +The frogs' legs were heavenly, although in a restaurant I loathe +the things. I left Aggie wondering if her hay fever wasn't +contagious through the blood and hoping the mosquitoes would get +it and sneeze themselves to death, and went to find Tish. + +She was standing in the margin of the lake up to her knees in +water, with a blazing torch in one hand and one of our tent +poles in the other. Tied to the end the pole was a grapevine +line, and a fishing-hook made of a hairpin was attached to it. + +Her method, which it seems she'd heard from Charlie Sands and +which was not in the "Young Woodsman," was simple and effectual. + +"Don't move," she said tensely when she heard me on the bank. +"There's one here as big as a chicken!" + +She struck the flare forward, and I could see the frog looking +at it and not blinking. He sat in a sort of heavenly ecstasy, +like a dog about to bay at the moon, while the hook dangled just +at his throat. + +"I'm half-ashamed to do it, Lizzie, it's so easy," she said +calmly, still tickling the thing's throat with the hook. "Grab +him as I throw him at you. They slip off sometimes." + +The next instant she jerked the hook up and caught the creature +by the lower jaw. It was the neatest thing I have ever seen. +Tish came wading over to where I stood and examined the frog. + +"If we only had some Tartare sauce!" she said regretfully. "I +wish you'd look at my ankle, Lizzie. There's something stuck to +it." + +The something was a leech. It refused to come off, and so she +carried both frog and leech back to the camp. Aggie said on no +account to pull a leech off, it left its teeth in and the teeth +went on burrowing, or laid eggs or something. One must leave it +on until it was full and round and couldn't hold any more, and +then it dropped off. + +So all night Tish kept getting up and going to the fire to see +if it was swelling. But toward morning she fell asleep and it +dropped off, and we had a terrible feeling that it was somewhere +in our blankets. + +But the leech caused less excitement that evening than my story +of Percy and the little girl in the white coat. Aggie was +entranced, and Tish had made Percy a suit of rabbit skin with a +cap to match and outlined a set of exercises to increase his +chest measure before I was half through with my story. + +But Percy did not appear, although we had an idea teat he was +not far off in the woods. We could hear a crackling in the +undergrowth, but when we called mere was no reply. Tish was +eating a frog's leg when the idea came to her. + +"He'll never come out under ordinary circumstances in that--er-- +costume," she said. "Suppose we call for help. He'll probably +come bounding. Help!" she yelled, between bites, as one may say. + +"Help! Fire! Police!" + +"Help!" cried Aggie. "Percy, help!" It sounded like "Mercy, +help!" + +It worked like a charm. The faint cracking became louder, +nearer, turned from a suspicion to a certainty and from a +certainty to a fact. The bushes parted and Percy stood before +us. All he saw was three elderly women eating frogs' legs round +a fire under a cloud of mosquitoes. He stopped, dum-founded, and +in that instant we saw that he didn't need the physical +exercises, but that, of course, he did need the rabbit-skin +suit. + +"Great Scott!" he panted. "I thought I heard you calling for +help." + +"So we did," said Tish, "but we didn't need it. Won't you sit +down?" + +He looked dazed and backed toward the bushes. + +"I--I think," he said, "if there's nothing wrong I'd better not-- + " + +"Fiddlesticks!" Tish snapped. "Are you ashamed of the body the +Lord gave you? Don't you suppose we've all got skins? And didn't +I thrash my nephew, Charlie Sands, when he was almost as big as +you and had less on, for bathing in the river? Sit down, man, +and don't be a fool." + +He edged toward the fire, looking rather silly, and Aggie passed +him a frog's leg on a piece of bark. + +"Try this, Percy," she said, smiling. + +At the name he looked ready to run. "I guess you've seen the +notices," he said, "so you'll understand I cannot accept any +food or assistance. I'm very grateful to you, anyhow." + +"You may take what food you find, surely," said Aggie. "If you +find a roasted frog's leg on the ground--so--there's nothing to +prevent you eating it, is there?" + +"Nothing at all," said Percy, and picked it up. "Unless, of +course--" + +"It's not a trap, young man," said Tish. "Eat it and enjoy it. +There are lots more where it carne from." + +He relaxed at that, and on Tish's bringing out a blanket from +the tent to throw over his shoulders he became almost easy. He +was much surprised to learn that we knew his story, and when I +repeated the "love him" message, he seemed to grow a foot taller +and his eyes glowed. + +"I'm holding out all right," he said. "I'm fit physically. But +the thing that gets my goat is that I'm to come out clothed. +Dorothea's father says that primitive man, with nothing but his +hands and perhaps a stone club, fed himself, made himself a +shelter, and clothed himself in skins. Skins! I'm so big that +two or three bears would hardly be enough. I did find a hole +that I thought a bear or two might fall into, and got almost +stung to death robbing a bee tree to bait the thing with honey. +But there aren't any bears, and if there were how'd I kill 'em? +Wait until they starve to death?" + +"Rabbits!" said Tish. + +He looked down at himself and he seemed very large in the +firelight. "Dear lady," he said, "there aren't enough rabbits in +the county to cover me, and how'd I put 'em together? I was a +fool to undertake the thing, that's all." + +"But aren't you in love with her?" asked Aggie. + +"Well, I guess I am. It isn't that, you know. I'm a good bit +worse than crazy about her. A man might be crazy about a mint +julep or a power boat, but--he'd hardly go into the woods in his +skin and live on fish until he's scaly for either of them. If I +don't get her, I don't want to live. That's all." + +He looked so gloomy and savage that we saw he meant it, and +Aggie was perceptibly thrilled. Trish, however, was thinking +hard, her eyes on the leech. "Was there anything in the +agreement to prevent your accepting any suggestions?" + +He pondered. "No, I was to be given no food, drink, shelter, or +any weapon. The old man forgot fire--that's how I came to beg +some." + +"Fire and brains," reflected Tish. "We've given you the first +and we've plenty of the second to offer. Now, young man, this is +my plan. We'll give you nothing but suggestions. If now and then +you find a cooked meal under that tree, that's accident, not +design, and you'd better eat it. Can you sew?" + +"I'm like the Irishman and the fiddle--I never tried, but I +guess I can." He was much more cheerful. + +"Do you have to be alone?" + +"I believe he took that for granted, in this costume." + +"Will it take you long to move over here?" + +"I think I can move without a van," he said, grinning. "My sole +worldly possessions are a stone hatchet and a hairpin fishhook." + +"Get them and come over," commanded Tish. "When you leave this +forest at the end of the time you are going to be fed and +clothed and carry a tent; you will have with you smoked meat and +fish; you will carry under your arm an Indian clock or sundial; +you will have a lamp--if we can find a clamshell or a broken +bottle-- and you will have a fire-making outfit with your +monogram on it." + +"But, my dear friend," he said, "I am not supposed to have any +assistance and--" + +"Assistance!" Tish snapped. "Who said assistance? I'm providing +the brains, but you'll do it all yourself." + +He moved over an hour or so later and Tish and I went into the +tent to bed. Somewhat later, when she limped to the fire to see +how the leech was filling up, he and Aggie were sitting together +talking, he of Dorothea and Aggie of Mr. Wiggins. Tish said they +were both talking at the same time, neither one listening to the +other, and that it sounded like this:--"She's so sweet and +trusting and honest--well, I'd believe what she said if she--" + +"--fell off a roof on a rainy day and was picked up by a man +with a horse and buggy quite unconscious." + +V + +The next three weeks were busy times for Percy. He wore Tish's +blanket for two days, and then, finding it in the way, he +discarded it altogether. Seen in daylight it was easy to +understand why little Dorothea was in love with him. He was a +handsome young giant, although much bitten by mosquitoes and +scratched with briers. + +The arrangement was a good one all round. He knew of things in +the wood we'd never heard of--wild onions and artichokes, and he +had found a clump of wild cherry trees. He made snares of the +fibers of tree bark, and he brought in turtles and made plates +out of the shells. And all the time he was working on his +outfit, curing rabbit skins and sewing them together with fibers +under my direction. + +When he'd made one sleeve of his coat we had a sort of +celebration. He'd found an empty bottle somewhere in the woods, +and he had made a wild-cherry decoction that he declared was +cherry brandy, keeping it in the sun to ferment. Well, he +insisted on opening the brandy that day and passing it round. We +had cups made of leaves and we drank to his sleeve, although the +stuff was villainous. He had put the sleeve on, and it looked +rather inadequate. "Here's fun," he said joyously. "If my +English tailor could see this sleeve he'd die of envy. A +sleeve's not all of a coat, but what's a coat without a sleeve? +Look at it-- grace, ease of line, and beauty of material." + +Aggie lifted her leaf. + +"To Dorothea!" she said. "And may the sleeve soon be about her." + +Tish thought this toast was not delicate, but Percy was +enchanted with it. + +It was on the evening of the fourth day of Percy's joining our +camp that the Willoughby person appeared. It happened at a most +inauspicious tune. We had eaten supper and were gathered round +the camp-fire and Tish had put wet leaves on the blaze to make a +smudge that would drive the mosquitoes away. We were sitting +there, Tish and I coughing and Aggie sneezing in the smoke, when +Percy came running through the woods and stopped at the foot of +a tree near by. + +"Bring a club, somebody," he yelled. "I've treed the back of my +coat." + +Tish ran with one of the tent poles. A tepee is inconvenient for +that reason. Every time any one wants a fishing-pole or a +weapon, the tent loses part of its bony structure and sags like +the face of a stout woman who has reduced. And it turned out +that Percy had treed a coon. He climbed up after it, taking +Tish's pole with him to dislodge it, and it was at that moment +that a man rode into the clearing and practically fell off his +horse. He was dirty and scratched with brambles, and his once +immaculate riding- clothes were torn. He was about to take off +his hat when he got a good look at us and changed his mind. + +"Have you got anything to eat?" he asked. "I've been lost since +noon yesterday and I'm about all in." + +The leaves caught fire suddenly and sent a glow into Percy's +tree. I shall never forget Aggie's agonized look or the way Tish +flung on more wet leaves in a hurry. + +"I'm sorry," she said, "but supper's over." + +"But surely a starving man--" + +"You won't starve inside of a week," Tish snapped. "You've got +enough flesh on you for a month." + +He stared at her incredulously. + +"But, my good woman," he said, "I can pay for my food. Even you +itinerant folk need money now and then, don't you? Come, now, +cook me a fish; I'll pay for it. My name is Willoughby--J. K. +Willoughby. Perhaps you've heard of me." + +Tish cast a swift glance into the tree. It was in shadow again +and she drew a long breath. She said afterward that the whole +plan came to her in the instant of that breath. + +"We can give you something," she said indifferently. "We have a +stewed rabbit, if you care for it." + +There was a wild scramble in the tree at that moment, and we +thought all was over. We learned later that Percy had made a +move to climb higher, out of the firelight, and the coon bad +been so startled that he almost fell out. But instead of looking +up to investigate, the stranger backed toward the fire. + +"Only a wildcat," said Tish. "They'll not come near the fire." + +"Near!" exclaimed Mr. Willoughby. "If they came any nearer, +they'd have to get into it!" + +"I think," said Tish, "that if you are afraid or them--although +you are safe enough if you don't get under the trees; they jump +down, you know--that you would better stay by the fire to-night. +In the morning we'll start you toward a road." + +All night with Percy in the tree! I gave her a savage glance, +but she ignored me. + +The Willoughby looked up nervously, and of course there were +trees all about. + +"I guess I'll stay," he agreed. "What about that rabbit?" + +I did not know Tish's plan at that time, and while Aggie was +feeding the Willoughby person and he was grumbling over his +food, I took Tish aside. + +"Are you crazy?" I demanded. "Just through your idiocy Percy +will have to stay in that tree all night--and he'll go to sleep, +likely, and fall out." + +Tish eyed me coldly. + +"You are a good soul, Lizzie," she observed, "but don't overwork +your mind. Go back and do something easy--let the Willoughby +cross your palm with silver, and tell his fortune. If he asks +any questions I'm queen of the gypsies, and give him to +understand that we're in temporary hiding from the law. The +worse he thinks of us the better. Remember, we haven't seen +Percy." + +"I'm not going to lie," I said sternly. + +"Pooh!" Tish sneered. "That wretch came into the woods to gloat +over his rival's misery. The truth's too good for him." + +I did my best, and I still have the silver dollar he gave me. I +told him I saw a small girl, who loved him but didn't realize it +yet, and there was another man. + +"Good gracious," I said, "there must be something wrong with +your palm. I see the other man, but he seems to be in trouble. +His clothing has been stolen, for he has none, and he is hungry, +very hungry." + +"Ha!" said Mr. Willoughby, looking startled. "You old gypsies +beat the devil! Hungry, eh? Is that all?" + +The light flared up again and I could see clearly the pale spot +in the tree, which was Percy. But Mr. Willoughby's eyes were on +his palm. + +"He has about decided to give up something--I cannot see just +what," I said loudly. "He seems to be in the air, in a tree, +perhaps. If he wishes to be safe he should go higher." + +Percy took the hint and moved up, and I said that was all there +was in the palm. Soon after that Mr. Willoughby stretched out on +the ground by the fire, and before long he was asleep. + +During the night I heard Tish moving stealthily about in the +tepee and she stepped on my ankle as she went out. I fell asleep +again as soon as it stopped aching. Just at dawn Tish came back +and touched me on the shoulder. + +"Where's the blackberry cordial?" she whispered I sat up +instantly. + +"Has Percy fallen out of the tree?" + +"No. Don't ask any questions, Lizzie. I want it for myself. That +dratted horse fell on me." + +She refused to say any more and lay down groaning. But I was too +worried to sleep again. In the morning Percy was gone from the +tree. Mr. Willoughby had more rabbit and prepared to leave the +forest. He offered Tish a dollar for the two meals and a bed, +and Tish, who was moving about stiffly, said that she and her +people took no money for their Hospitality. Telling fortunes was +one thing, bread and salt was another. She looked quite haughty, +and the Willoughby person apologized and went into the woods to +get his horse. + +The horse was gone! + +It was rather disagreeable for a time. He plainly thought we'd +taken it, although Tish showed him that the end of the strap had +been chewed partly through and then jerked free. + +"If the creature smelled a wildcat," she said, "nothing would +hold it. None of my people ever bring a horse into this part of +the country." + +"Humph!" said Mr. Willoughby. "Well, I'll bet they take a few +out!" + +He departed on foot shortly after, very disgusted and +suspicious. We showed him the trail, and the last we saw of him +he was striding along, looking up now and then for wildcats. + +When he was well on his way, Percy emerged from the bushes. I +had thought that he had helped Tish to take the Willoughby +horse, but it seems he had not, and he was much amazed when Tish +came through the wood leading the creature by the broken strap. + +"I'll turn it loose," she said to Percy, "and you can capture +it. It will make a good effect for you to emerge from the forest +on horseback, and anyhow, what with the rabbit skin, the tent, +and the sundial and the other things, you have a lot to carry. +You can say you found it straying in the woods and captured it." + +Percy looked at her with admiration not unmixed with reverence. +"Miss Letitia," he said solemnly, "if it were not for Dorothea, +I should ask you to marry me. I'd like to have you in my +family." + + +I am very nearly to the end of my narrative. + +Toward the last Percy was obliged to work far into the night, +for of course we could not assist him. He made a full suit of +rabbit skins sewed with fibers, and a cap and shoes of coonskin +to match. The shoes were cut from a bedroom-slipper pattern that +Tish traced in the sand on the beach, and the cap had an eagle +feather in it. He made a birch-bark knapsack to hold the fish he +smoked and a bow and arrow that looked well but would not shoot. +When he had the outfit completed, he put it on, with the stone +hatchet stuck into a grapevine belt and the bow and arrow over +his shoulder, and he looked superb. + +"The question is," he reflected, trying to view himself in the +edge of the lake: "Will Dorothea like it? She's very keen about +clothes. And gee, how she hates a beard!" + +"You could shave as the Indians do," Tish said. + +"How?" + +"With a clamshell." + +He looked dubious, but Tish assured him it was feasible. So he +hunted a clamshell, a double one, Tish requested, and brought it +into camp. + +"I'd better do it for you," said Tish. "It's likely to be slow, +but it is sure." + +He was eyeing the clamshell and looking more and snore uneasy. + +"You're not going to scrape it off?" he asked anxiously. "You +know, pumice would be better for that, but somehow I don't like +the idea." + +"Nothing of the sort," said Tish. "The double clamshell merely +forms a pair of Indian nippers. I'm going to pull it out." + +But he made quite a fuss about it, and said he didn't care +whether the Indians did it or not, he wouldn't. I think he saw +how disappointed Tish was and was afraid she would attempt it +while he slept, for he threw the Indian nippers into the lake +and then went over and kissed her hand. + +"Dear Miss Tish," he said; "no one realizes more than I your +inherent nobility of soul and steadfastness of purpose. I admire +them both. But if you attempt the Indian nipper business, or to +singe me like a chicken while I sleep, I shall be--forgive me, +but I know my impulsiveness of disposition--I shall be really +vexed with you." + +Toward the last we all became uneasy for fear hard work was +telling on him physically. He used to sit cross- legged on the +ground, sewing for dear life and singing Hood's "Song of the +Shirt" in a doleful tenor. + +"You know," he said, "I've thought once or twice I'd like to do +something--have a business like other fellows. But somehow +dressmaking never occurred to me. Don't you think the expression +of this right pant is good? And shall I make this gore bias or +on the selvage?" + +He wanted to slash one trouser leg. + +"Why not?" he demanded when Tish frowned him down. "It's awfully +fetching, and beauty half-revealed, you know. Do you suppose my +breastbone will ever straighten out again? It's concave from +stooping." + +It was after this that Tish made him exercise morning and +evening and then take a swim in the lake. By the time he was to +start back, he was in wonderful condition, and even the horse +looked saucy and shiny, owing to our rubbing him down each day +with dried grasses. + +The actual leave-taking was rather sad. We'd grown to think a +lot of the boy and I believe he liked us. He kissed each one of +us twice, once for himself and once for Dorothea, and flushed a +little over doing it, and Aggie's eyes were full of tears. + +He rode away down the trail like a mixture of Robinson Crusoe +and Indian brave, his rubbing-fire stick, his sundial with +burned figures, and his bow and arrow jingling, his eagle +feather blowing back in the wind, and his moccasined feet thrust +into Mr. Willoughby's stirrups, and left us desolate. Tish +watched him out of sight with set lips and Aggie was whimpering +on a bank. + +"Tish," she said brokenly, "does he recall anything to you?" + +"Only my age," said Tish rather wearily, "and that I'm an +elderly spinster teaching children to defy their parents and +committing larceny to help them." + +"To me," said Aggie softly, "he is young love going out to seek +his mate. Oh, Tish, do you remember how Mr. Wiggins used to ride +by taking his work horses to be shod!" + + +We went home the following day, which was the time the spring- +wagon man was to meet us. We started very early and were +properly clothed and hatted when we saw him down the road. + +The spring- wagon person came on without hurry and surveyed us +as he came. + +"Well, ladies," he said, stopping before us, "I see you pulled +it off all right." + +"We've had a very nice time, thank you," said Tish, drawing on +her gloves. "It's been rather lonely, of course." + +The spring-wagon person did not speak again until he had reached +the open road. Then he turned round. + +"The horse business was pretty good," he said. "You ought to hev +seen them folks when he rode out of the wood. Flabbergasted +ain't the word. The was ding-busted." + +Tish whispered to us to show moderate interest and to say as +little as possible, except to protest our ignorance. And we got +the story at last like this:-- + +It seems the newspapers had been full of the attempt Percy was +to make, and so on the day before quite a crowd had gathered to +see him come out of the wood. + +"Ten of these here automobiles," said the spring-wagon person, +"and a hay-wagon full of newspaper fellows from the city with +cameras, and about half the village back home walked out or druv +and brought their lunches--sort of a picnic. I kep' my eye on +the girl and on a Mr. Willoughby. + +"The story is that Willoughby who was the father's choice-- +Willoughby was pale and twitching and kep' moving about all the +time. But the girl, she just kep' her eyes on the trail and +waited. Noon was the time set, or as near it as possible. + +"The father talked to the newspaper men mostly. 'I don't think +he'll do it, boys!' he said. 'He's as soft as milk and he's +surprised me by sticking it out as long as he has. But mark my +words, boys,' he said, 'he's been living on berries and things +he could pick up off the ground, and if his physical condition's +bad he loses all bets!" + +"It seems that, just as he said it, somebody pulled out a watch +and announced "noon." And on the instant Percy was seen riding +down the trail and whistling. At first they did not know it was +he, as they lead expected him to arrive on foot, staggering with +fatigue probably. He rode out into the sunlight, still +whistling, and threw an unconcerned glance over the crowd. + +He looked at the trees, and located north by the moss on the +trunks, the S.-W. P. said, and unslinging his Indian clock he +held it in front of him, pointing north and south. It showed +exactly noon. It was then, and not until then, that Percy +addressed the astonished crowd. + +"Twelve o'clock, gentlemen," he said. "My watch is quite +accurate." + +Nobody said anything, being, as the S.-W. P. remarked, struck +dumb. But a moment afterward the hay-wagon started a cheer and +the machines took it up. Even the father "let loose," as we +learned, and the little girl sat back in her motor car and +smiled through her tears. + +But Willoughby was furious. It seems he had recognized the +horse. "That's my horse," he snarled. "You stole it from me." + +"As a matter of fact," Percy retorted, "I found the beast +wandering loose among the trees and I'm perfectly willing to +return him to you. I brought him out for a purpose." + +"To make a Garrison finish!" + +"Not entirely. To prove that you violated the contract by going +into the forest to see if you could find me and gloat over my +misery. Instead you found--By the way, Willoughby, did you see +any wild-cats?" + +"Those three hags are in this!" said Willoughby furiously. "Are +you willing to swear you made that silly outfit?" + +"I am, but not to you." + +"And at that minute, if you'll believe me," said the S.-W. P., +"the girl got out of her machine and walked right up to the +Percy fellow. I was standing right by and I heard what she said. +It was, curious, seeing he'd had no help and had gone in naked, +as you may say, and came out clothed head to foot, with a horse +and weapons and a watch, and able to make fire in thirty-one +seconds, and a tent made of about a thousand rabbit skins." + +Tish eyed him coldly. + +"What did she say?" she demanded severely. "She said: 'Those +three dear old things!'" replied the S.-W. P. "And she said: 'I +hope you kissed them for me.'" + +"He did indeed," said Aggie dreamily, and only roused when Tish +nudged her in a rage. + + +Charlie Sands came to have tea with us yesterday at Tish's. He +is just back from England and full of the subject. + +"But after all," he said, "the Simple Lifers take the palm. +Think of it, my three revered and dearly beloved spinster +friends; think of the peace, the holy calm of it! Now, if you +three would only drink less tea and once in a while would get +back to Nature a bit, it would be good for you. You're all too +civilized." + +"Probably," said Tish, pulling down her sleeves to hide her +sunburned hands. "But do you think people have so much time in +the--er--woods?" + +"Time!" he repeated. "Why, what is there to do?" + +Just then the doorbell rang and a huge box was carried in. Tish +had a warning and did not wish to open it, but Charlie Sands +insisted and cut the string. Inside were three sets of sable +furs, handsomer than any in the church, Tish says, and I know +I've never seen any like them. + +Tish and I hid the cards, but Aggie dropped her, and Charlie +Sands pounced on it. + +"'The sleeve is now about Dorothea,'" he read aloud, and then, +turning, eyed us all sternly. + +"Now, then," said Charlie Sands, "out with it! What have you +been up to this time?" + +Tish returned his gaze calmly. "We have been in the Maine woods +in the holy calm," she said. "As for those furs, I suppose a +body may buy a set of furs if she likes." This, of course, was +not a lie. "As for that card, it's a mistake." Which it was +indeed. + +"But--Dorothea!" persisted Charlie Sands. + +"Never in my life knew anybody named Dorothea. Did you, Aggie?" + +"Never," said Aggie firmly. + +Charlie Sands apologized and looked thoughtful. On Tish's +remaining rather injured, he asked us all out to dinner that +night, and almost the first thing he ordered was frogs' legs. +Aggie got rather white about the lips. + +"I--I think I'll not take any," she said feebly. "I--I keep +thinking of Tish tickling their throats with the hairpin, and +how Percy--" + +We glared at her, but it was too late. Charlie Sands drew up his +chair and rested his elbows on the table. + +"So there was a Percy as well as a Dorothea!" he said +cheerfully. "I might have known it. Now we'll have the story!" + + + +TISH'S SPY + +The Adventure of the Red-Headed Detective, the Lady Chauffeur, +and the Man Who Could Not Tell the Truth + +I + +It is easy enough, of course, to look back on our Canadian +experience and see where we went wrong. What I particularly +resent is the attitude of Charlie Sands. + +I am writing this for his benefit. It seems to me that a clean +statement of the case is due to Tish, and, in less degree, to +Aggie and myself. + +It goes back long before the mysterious cipher. Even the +incident of our abducting the girl in the pink tam-o'-shanter +was, after all, the inevitable result of the series of +occurrences that preceded it. + +It is my intention to give this series of occurrences in their +proper order and without bias. Herbert Spencer says that every +act of one's life is the unavoidable result of every act that +has preceded it. + +Naturally, therefore, I begin with the engagement by Tish of a +girl as chauffeur; but even before that there were contributing +causes. There was the faulty rearing of the McDonald youth, for +instance, and Tish's aesthetic dancing. And afterward there was +Aggie's hay fever, which made her sneeze and let go of a rope at +a critical moment. Indeed, Aggie's hay fever may be said to be +one of the fundamental causes, being the reason we went to +Canada. + +It was like this: Along in June of the year before last, Aggie +suddenly announced that she was going to spend the summer in +Canada. + +"It's the best thing in the world for hay fever," she said, +avoiding Tish's eye. "Mrs. Ostermaier says she never sneezed +once last year. The Northern Lights fill the air with ozone, or +something like that." + +"Fill the air with ozone!" Tish scoffed. "Fill Mrs. Ostermaier's +skull with ozone, instead of brains, more likely!" + +Tish is a good woman--a sweet woman, indeed; but she has a vein +of gentle irony, which she inherited from her maternal +grandfather, who was on the Supreme Bench of his country. +However, that spring she was inclined to be irritable. She could +not drive her car, and that was where the trouble really +started. + +Tish had taken up aesthetic dancing in Mareb, wearing no stays +and a middy blouse and short skirt; and during a fairy dance, +where she was to twirl on her right toes, keeping the three +other limbs horizontal, she twisted her right lower limb +severely. Though not incapacitated, she could not use it +properly; and, failing one day to put on the brake quickly, she +drove into an open-front butter-and-egg shop. + +[This was the time one of the newspapers headed the article: +"Even the Eggs Scrambled."] + +When Tish decided to have a chauffeur for a time she advertised. +There were plenty of replies, but all of the applicants smoked +cigarettes--a habit Tish very properly deplores. The idea of +securing a young woman was, I must confess, mine. + +"Plenty of young women drive cars," I said, "and drive well. +And, at least, they don't light a cigarette every time one stops +to let a train go by." + +"Huh!" Tish commented. "And have a raft of men about all the +time!" + +Nevertheless, she acted on the suggestion, advertising for a +young woman who could drive a car and had no followers. Hutchins +answered. + +She was very pretty and not over twenty; but, asked about men, +her face underwent a change, almost a hardening. "You'll not be +bothered with men," she said briefly. "I detest them!" + +And this seemed to be the truth. Charlie Sands, for instance, +for whose benefit this is being written, absolutely failed to +make any impression on her. She met his overtures with cold +disdain. She was also adamant to the men at the garage, +succeeding in having the gasoline filtered through a chamois +skim to take out the water, where Tish had for years begged for +the same thing without success. + +Though a dashing driver, Hutchins was careful. She sat on the +small of her back and hurled us past the traffic policemen with +a smile. + +[Her name was really Hutchinson; but it took so long to say it +at the rate she ran the car that Tish changed it to Hutchins.] + +Really the whole experiment seemed to be an undoubted success, +when Aggie got the notion of Canada into her head. Now, as it +happened, owing to Tish's disapproval, Aggie gave up the Canada +idea in favor of Nantucket, some time in June; but she had not +reckoned with Tish's subconscious self. Tish was interested that +spring in the subconscious self. + +You may remember that, only a year or so before, it had been the +fourth dimension. + +[She became convinced that if one were sufficiently earnest one +could go through closed doors and see into solids. In the former +ambition she was unsuccessful, obtaining only bruises and +disappointment; but she did develop the latter to a certain +extent, for she met the laundress going out one day and, without +a conscious effort, she knew that she had the best table napkins +pinned to her petticoat. She accused the woman sternly--and she +had six!] + +"Nantucket!" said Tish. "Why Nantucket?" + +"I have a niece there, and you said you hated Canada." + +"On the contrary," Tish replied, with her eyes partly shut, "I +find that my subconscious self has adopted and been working on +the Canadian suggestion. What a wonderful thing is this buried +and greater ego! Worms, rifles, fishing-rods, 'The Complete +Angler,' mosquito netting, canned goods, and sleeping-bags, all +in my mind and in orderly array!" + +"Worms!" I said, with, I confess, a touch of scorn in my voice. +"If you will tell me, Tish Carberry--" + +"Life preservers," chanted Tish's subconscious self, "rubber +blankets, small tent, folding camp-beds, a camp-stove, a meat- +saw, a wood-saw, and some beads and gewgaws for placating the +Indians." Then she opened her eyes and took up her knitting. +"There are no worms in Canada, Lizzie, just as there are no +snakes in Ireland. They were all destroyed during the glacial +period." + +"There are plenty of worms in the United States," I said with +spirit. "I dare say they could crawl over the border--unless, of +course, they object to being British subjects." + +She ignored me, however, and, getting up, went to one of her +bureau drawers. We saw then that her subconscious self had +written down lists of various things for the Canadian excursion. +There was one headed Foodstuffs. Others were: Necessary +Clothing: Camp Outfit; Fishing-Tackle; Weapons of Defense: and +Diversions. Under this last heading it had placed binoculars, +yarn and needles, life preservers, a prayer-book, and a cribbage- + board. + +"Boats," she said, "we can secure from the Indians, who make +them, I believe, of hollow logs. And I shall rent a motor boat. +Hutchins says she can manage one. When she's not doing that she +can wash dishes." + +[We had been rather chary of motor boats, you may remember, +since the time on Lake Penzance, when something jammed on our +engine, and we had gone madly round the lake a number of times, +with people on various docks trying to lasso us with ropes.] + +Considering that it was she who had started the whole thing, and +got Tish's subconscious mind to working, Aggie was rather +pettish. + +"Huh!" she said. "I can't swim, and you know it, Tish. Those +canoe things turn over if you so much as sneeze in them." + +"You'll not sneeze," said Tish. "The Northern Lights fill the +air with ozone." + +Aggie looked at me helplessly; but I could do nothing. Only the +year before, Tish, as you may recall, had taken us out into the +Maine woods without any outfit at all, and we had lived on +snared rabbits, and things that no Christian woman ought to put +into her stomach. This time we were at least to go provisioned +and equipped. + +"Where are we going?" Aggie asked. + +"Far from a white man," said Tish. "Away from milk wagons and +children on velocipedes and the grocer calling up every morning +for an order. We'll go to the Far North, Aggie, where the red +man still treads his native forests; we'll make our camp by some +lake, where the deer come at early morning to drink and fish +leap to see the sunset." + +Well, it sounded rather refreshing, though I confess that, until +Tish mentioned it, I had always thought that fish leaped in the +evening to catch mosquitoes. + +We sent for Hutchins at once. She was always respectful, but +never subservient. She stood in the doorway while Tish +explained. + +"How far north?" she said crisply. Tish told her. "We'll have no +cut-and-dried destination," she said. "There's a little steamer +goes up the river I have in mind. We'll get off when we see a +likely place." + +"Are you going for trout or bass?" + +Tish was rather uncertain, but she said bass on a chance, and +Hutchins nodded her approval. + +"If it's bass, I'll go," she said. "I'm not fond of trout- +fishing." + +"We shall have a motor boat. Of course I shall not take the +car." + +Hutchins agreed indifferently. "Don't you worry about the motor +boat," she said. "Sometimes they go, and sometimes they don't. +And I'll help round the camp; but I'll not wash dishes." + +"Why not?" Tish demanded. + +"The reason doesn't really matter, does it? What really concerns +you is the fact." + +Tish stared at her; but instead of quailing before Tish's +majestic eye she laughed a little. + +"I've camped before," she said. "I'm very useful about a camp. I +like to cook; but I won't wash dishes. I'd like, if you don't +mind, to see the grocery order before it goes." + +Well, Aggie likes to wash dishes if there is plenty of hot +water; and Hannah, Tish's maid, refusing to go with us on +account of Indians, it seemed wisest to accept Hutchins's +services. + +Hannah's defection was most unexpected. As soon as we reached +our decision, Tish ordered beads for the Indians; and in the +evenings we strung necklaces, and so on, while one of us read +aloud from the works of Cooper. On the second evening thus +occupied, Hannah, who is allowed to come into Tish's sitting- +room in the evening and knit, suddenly burst into tears and +refused to go. + +"My scalp's as good to me as it is to anybody, Miss Tish," she +said hysterically; and nothing would move her. + +She said she would run no risk of being cooked over her own camp- + fire; and from that time on she would gaze at Tish for long +periods mournfully, as though she wanted to remember how she +looked when she was gone forever. + +Except for Hannah, everything moved smoothly. Tish told Charlie +Sands about the plan, and he was quite enthusiastic. + +"Great scheme!" he said. "Eat a broiled black bass for me. And +take the advice of one who knows: don't skimp on your fishing- +tackle. Get the best. Go light on the canned goods, if +necessary; but get the best reels and lines on the market. +Nothing in life hurts so much," he said impressively, "as to get +a three-pound bass to the top of the water and have your line +break. I've had a big fellow get away like that and chase me a +mile with its thumb on its nose." This last, of course, was +purely figurative. + +He went away whistling. I wish he had been less optimistic. When +we came back and told him the whole story, and he sat with his +mouth open and his hair, as he said, crackling at the roots, I +reminded him with some bitterness that he had encouraged us. His +only retort was to say that the excursion itself had been +harmless enough; but that if three elderly ladies, church +members in good standing, chose to become freebooters and +pirates the moment they got away from a corner policeman, they +need not blame him. + +The last thing he said that day in June was about fishing-worms. + +"Take 'em with you," he said. "They charge a cent apiece for +them up there, assorted colors, and there's something stolid and +British about a Canadian worm. The fish aren't crazy about 'em. +On the other hand, our worms here are--er--vivacious, animated. +I've seen a really brisk and on-to-its-job United States worm +reach out and clutch a bass by the gills." + +I believe it was the next day that Tish went to the library and +read about worms. Aggie and I had spent the day buying tackle, +according to Charlie Sands's advice. We got some very good rods +with nickel-plated reels for two dollars and a quarter, a dozen +assorted hooks for each person, and a dozen sinkers. The man +wanted to sell us what he called a "landing net," but I took a +good look at it and pinched Aggie. + +"I can make one out of a barrel hoop and mosquito netting," I +whispered; so we did not buy it. + +Perhaps he thought we were novices, for he insisted on showing +us all sorts of absurd things--trolling- hooks, he called them; +gaff hooks for landing big fish and a spoon that was certainly +no spoon and did not fool us for a minute, being only a few +hooks and a red feather. He asked a dollar and a quarter for it! + +[I made one that night at home, using a bit of red feather from +a duster. It cost me just three cents. Of that, as of Hutchins, +more later.] + +Aggie, whose idea of Canada had been the Hotel Frontenac, had +grown rather depressed as our preparations proceeded. She +insisted that night on recalling the fact that Mr. Wiggins had +been almost drowned in Canada. + +"He went with the Roof and Gutter Club, Lizzie," she said, "and +he was a beautiful swimmer; but the water comes from the North +Pole, freezing cold, and the first thing he knew--" + +The telephone bell rang just then. It was Tish. + +"I've just come from the library, Lizzie," she said. "We'd +better raise the worms. We've got a month to do it in. Hutchins +and I will be round with the car at eight o'clock to-night. +Night is the time to get them." + +She refused to go into details, but asked us to have an electric +flash or two ready and a couple of wooden pails. Also she said +to wear mackintoshes and rubbers. Just before she rang off, she +asked me to see that there was a package of oatmeal on hand, but +did not explain. When I told Aggie she eyed me miserably. + +"I wish she'd be either more explicit or less," she said. "We'll +be arrested again. I know it!" + +[Now and then Tish's enthusiasms have brought us into collision +with the law--not that Tish has not every respect for law and +order, but that she is apt to be hasty and at times almost +unconventional.] + +"You remember," said Aggie, "that time she tried to shoot the +sheriff, thinking he was a train robber? She started just like +this--reading up about walking-tours, and all that. I--I'm +nervous, Lizzie." + +I was staying with Aggie for a few days while my apartment was +being papered. To soothe Aggie's nerves I read aloud from +Gibbon's "Rome" until dinner-time, and she grew gradually +calmer. + +"After all, Lizzie," she said, "she can't get us into mischief +with two wooden pails and a package of oatmeal." + +Tish and Hutchins came promptly at eight and we got into the +car. Tish wore the intent and dreamy look that always preceded +her enterprises. There was a tin sprinkling-can, quite new, in +the tonneau, and we placed our wooden pails beside it and the +oatmeal in it. I confess I was curious, but to my inquiries Tish +made only one reply:-- + +"Worms!" + +Now I do not like worms. I do not like to touch them. I do not +even like to look at them. As the machine went along I began to +have a creepy loathing of them. Aggie must have been feeling the +same way, for when my hand touched hers she squealed. + +Over her shoulder Tish told her plan. She said it was easy to +get fishing-worms at night and that Hutchins knew of a place a +few miles out of town where the family was away and where there +would be plenty. + +"We'll put them in boxes of earth," she said, "and feed them +coffee or tea grounds one day and oatmeal water the next. They +propagate rapidly. We'll have a million to take with us. If we +only have a hundred thousand at a cent apiece, that's a clear +saving of a thousand dollars." + +"We could sell some," I suggested sarcastically; for Tish's +enthusiasms have a way of going wrong. + +But she took me seriously. "If there are any fishing clubs +about," she said, "I dare say they'll buy them; and we can turn +the money over to Mr. Ostermaier for the new organ." + +Tish had bought the organ and had an evening concert with it +before we turned off the main road into a private drive. + +"This is the place," Hutchins said laconically. + +Tish got out and took a survey. There was shrubbery all round +and a very large house, quite dark, in the foreground. + +"Drive onto the lawn, Hutchins," she said. "When the worms come +up, the lamps will dazzle them and they'll be easy to capture." + +We bumped over a gutter and came to a stop in the middle of the +lawn. + +"It would be better if it was raining," Tish said. "You know, +yourself, Lizzie, how they come up during a gentle rain. Give me +the sprinkling-can." + +I do not wish to lay undue blame on Hutchins, who was young; but +it was she who suggested that there would probably be a garden +hose somewhere and that it would save time. I know she went with +Tish round the corner of the house, and that they returned in +ten minutes or so, dragging a hose. + +"I broke a tool-house window," Tish observed, "but I left fifty +cents on the sill to replace it. It's attached at the other end. +Run back, Hutchins, and turn on the water; but not too much. We +needn't drown the little creatures." + +Well, I have never seen anything work better. Aggie, who had +refused to put a foot out of the car, stood up in it and held +the hose. As fast as she wet a bit of lawn, we followed with the +pails. I spread my mackintosh out and knelt on it. + +The thing took skill. The worms had a way of snapping back into +their holes like lightning. + +Tish got about three to my one, and talked about packing them in +moss and ice, and feeding them every other day. Hutchins, +however, stood on the lawn, with her hands in her pockets, and +watched the house. + +Suddenly, without warning, Aggie turned the hose directly on my +left ear and held it there. + +"There's somebody coming!" she cried. "Merciful Heavens, what'll +I do with the hose?" + +"You can turn it away from me!" I snapped. + +So she did, and at that instant a young man emerged from the +shrubbery. + +He did not speak at once. Probably he could not. I happened to +look at Hutchins, and, for all her usual savoir-faire, as +Charlie Sands called it, she was clearly uncomfortable. + +Tish, engaged in a struggle at that moment and sitting back like +a robin, did not see him at once. + +"Well!" said the young man; and again: "Well, upon my word!" + +He seemed out of breath with surprise; and he took off his hat +and mopped his head with a handkerchief. And, of course, as +though things were not already bad enough, Aggie sneezed at that +instant, as she always does when she is excited; and for just a +second the hose was on him. + +It was unexpected and he almost staggered. He looked at all of +us, including Hutchins, and ran his handkerchief round inside +his collar. Then he found his voice. + +"Really," he said, "this is awfully good of you. We do need rain- + - don't we?" + +Tish was on her feet by that time, but she could not think of +anything to say. + +"I'm sorry if I startled you," said the young man. "I--I'm a bit +startled myself." + +"There is nothing to make a fuss about!" said Hutchins crisply. +"We are getting worms to go fishing." + +"I see," said the young man. "Quite natural, I'm sure. And where +are you going fishing?" + +Hutchins surprised us all by rudely turning her back on him. +Considering we were on his property and had turned his own hose +on him, a little tact would have been better. + +Tish had found her voice by that time. "We broke a window in the +tool- house," she said; "but I put fifty cents on the sill." + +"Thank you," said the young man. + +Hutchins wheeled at that and stared at him in the most +disagreeable fashion; but he ignored her. + +"We are trespassing," said Tish; "but I hope you understand. We +thought the family was away." + +"I just happened to be passing through," he explained. "I'm +awfully attached to the place--for various reasons. Whenever I'm +in town I spend my evenings wandering through the shrubbery and +remembering--er--happier days." + +"I think the lamps are going out," said Hutchins sharply. "If +we're to get back to town--" + +"Ah!" he broke in. "So you have come out from the city?" + +"Surely," said Hutchins to Tish, "it is unnecessary to give this +gentleman any information about ourselves! We have done no +damage- -" + +"Except the window," he said. + +"We've paid for that," she said in a nasty tone; and to Tish: +"How do we know this place is his? He's probably some newspaper +man, and if you tell him who you are this whole thing will be in +the morning paper, like the eggs." + +"I give you my word of honor," he said, "that I am nothing of +the sort; in fact, if you will give me a little time I'd--I'd +like to tell all about myself. I've got a lot to say that's +highly interesting, if you'll only listen." + +Hutchins, however, only gave him a cold glance of suspicion and +put the pails in the car. Then she got in and sat down. + +"I take it," he said to her, "that you decline either to give or +to receive any information." + +"Absolutely!" + +He sighed then, Aggie declares. + +"Of course," he said, "though I haven't really the slightest +curiosity, I could easily find out, you know. Your license +plates- -" + +"Are under the cushion I'm sitting on," said Hutchins, and +started the engine. + +"Really, Hutchins," said Tish, "I don't see any reason for being +so suspicious. I have always believed in human nature and seldom +have I been disappointed. The young man has done nothing to +justify rudeness. And since we are trespassing on his place--" + +"Huh!" was all Hutchins said. + +The young man sauntered over to the car, with his hands thrust +into this coat pockets. He was nice-looking, especially then, +when he was smiling. + +"Hutchins!" he said. "Well, that's a clue anyhow. It--it's an +uncommon name. You didn't happen to notice a large 'No- +Trespassing!' sign by the gate, did you?" + +Hutchins only looked ahead and ignored him. As Tish said +afterward, we had a good many worms, anyhow; and, as the young +man and Hutchins had clearly taken an awful dislike to each +other at first sight, the best way to avoid trouble was to go +home. So she got into the car. The young man helped her and took +off his hat. + +"Come out any time you like," he said affably. "I'm not here at +all in the daytime, and the grounds are really rather nice. Come +out and get some roses. We've some pretty good ones--English +importations. If you care to bring some children from the +tenements out for a picnic, please feel free to do it. We're not +selfish." + +Hutchins rudely started the car before he had finished; but he +ignored her and waved a cordial farewell to the rest of us. + +"Bring as many as you like," he called. "Sunday is a good day. +Ask Miss--Miss Hutchins to come out and bring some friends +along." + +We drove back at the most furious rate. Tish was at last +compelled to remonstrate with Hutchins. + +"Not only are we going too fast," she said, "but you were really +rude to that nice young man." + +"I wish I had turned the hose on him and drowned him!" said +Hutchins between her teeth. + + +II + +Hutchins brought a newspaper to Tish the next morning at +breakfast, and Tish afterwards said her expression was +positively malevolent in such a young and pretty woman. + +The newspaper said that an attempt had beer made to rob the +Newcomb place the night before, but that the thieves had +apparently secured nothing but a package of oatmeal and a tin +sprinkling-can, which they had abandoned on the lawn. Some +color, however, was lent to the fear that they had secured an +amount of money, from the fact that a silver half-dollar had +been found on the window sill of a tool-house. The Newcomb +family was at its summer home on the Maine coast. + +"You see," Hutchins said to Tish, "that man didn't belong there +at all. He was just impertinent and--laughing in his sleeve." + +Tish was really awfully put out, having planned to take the +Sunday school there for a picnic. She was much pleased, however, +at Hutchins's astuteness. + +"I shall take her along to Canada," she said to me. "The girl +has instinct, which is better than reason. Her subconsciousness +is unusually active." + +Looking back, as I must, and knowing now all that was in her +small head while she whistled about the car, or all that was +behind her smile, one wonders if women really should have the +vote. So many of them are creatures of sex and guile. A word +from her would have cleared up so much, and she never spoke it! + +Well, we spent most of July in getting ready to go. Charlie +Sands said the mosquitoes and black flies would be gone by +August, and we were in no hurry. + +We bought a good tent, with a diagram of how to put it up, some +folding camp-beds, and a stove. The day we bought the tent we +had rather a shock, for as we left the shop the suburban youth +passed us. We ignored him completely, but he lifted his hat. +Hutchins, who was waiting in Tish's car, saw him, too, and went +quite white with fury. + +Shortly after that, Hannah came in one night and said that a man +was watching Tish's windows. We thought it was imagination, and +Tish gave her a dose of sulphur and molasses--her liver being +sluggish. + +"Probably an Indian, I dare say," was Tish's caustic comment. + +In view of later developments, however, it is a pity we did not +investigate Hannah's story; for Aggie, going home from Tish's +late one night in Tish's car, had a similar experience, +declaring that a small machine had followed them, driven by a +heavy-set man with a mustache. She said, too, that Hutchins, +swerving sharply, had struck the smaller machine a glancing blow +and almost upset it. + +It was about the middle of July, I believe, that Tish received +the following letter:-- + + Madam: Learning that you have decided to take a fishing- + trip in Canada, I venture to offer my services as guide, + philosopher, and friend. I know Canada thoroughly; can + locate bass, as nearly as it lies in a mortal so to do; + can manage a motor launch; am thoroughly at home in a + canoe; can shoot, swim, and cook--the last indifferently + well; know the Indian mind and my own--and will carry + water and chop wood. + + I do not drink, and such smoking as I do will, if I am + engaged, be done in the solitude of the woods. + + I am young and of a cheerful disposition. My object is + not money, but only expenses paid and a chance to forget + a recent and still poignant grief. I hope you will see + the necessity for such an addition to your party, and + allow me to subscribe myself, madam, + + Your most obedient servant, + + J. UPDIKE. + +Tish was much impressed; but Hutchins, in whose judgment she +began to have the greatest confidence, opposed the idea. + +"I wouldn't think of it," she said briefly. + +"Why? It's a frank, straightforward letter." + +"He likes himself too much. And you should always be suspicious +of anything that's offered too cheap." + +So the Updike application was refused. I have often wondered +since what would have been the result had we accepted it! + +The worms were doing well, though Tish found that Hannah +neglected them, and was compelled to feed them herself. On the +day before we started, we packed them carefully in ice and moss, +and fed them. That was the day the European war was declared. + +"Canada is at war," Tish telephoned. "The papers say the whole +country is full of spies, blowing up bridges and railroads." + +"We can still go to the seashore," I said. "The bead things will +do for the missionary box to Africa." + +"Seashore nothing!" Tish retorted. "We're going, of course,-- +just as we planned. We'll keep our eyes open; that's all. I'm +not for one side or the other, but a spy's a spy." + +Later that evening she called again to say there were rumors +that the Canadian forests were bristling with German wireless +outfits. + +"I've a notion to write J. Updike, Lizzie, and find out whether +he knows anything about wireless telegraphy," she said, "only +there's so little time. Perhaps I can find a book that gives the +code." + +[This is only pertinent as showing Tish's state of mind. As a +matter of fact, she did not write to Updike at all.] + +Well, we started at last, and I must say they let us over the +border with a glance; but they asked us whether we had any +firearms. Tish's trunk contained a shotgun and a revolver; but +she had packed over the top her most intimate personal +belongings, and they were not disturbed. + +"Have you any weapons?" asked the inspector. + +"Do we look like persons carrying weapons?" Tish demanded +haughtily. And of course we did not. Still, there was an untruth +of the spirit and none of us felt any too comfortable. Indeed, +what followed may have been a punishment on us for deceit and +conspiracy. + +Aggie had taken her cat along--because it was so fond of fish, +she said. And, between Tish buying ice for the worms and Aggie +getting milk for the cat, the journey was not monotonous; but on +returning from one of her excursions to the baggage-car, Tish +put a heavy hand on my shoulder. + +"That boy's on the train, Lizzie!" she said. "He had the +impudence to ask me whether I still drive with the license +plates under a cushion. English roses--importations!" said Tish, +and sniffed. "You don't suppose he went into that tent shop and +asked about us?" + +"He might," I retorted; "but, on the other hand, there's no +reason why our going to Canada should keep the rest of the +United States at home!" + +However, the thing did seem queer, somehow. Why had he told us +things that were not so? Why had he been so anxious to know who +we were? Why, had he asked us to take the Sunday-school picnic +to a place that did not belong to him? + +"He may be going away to forget some trouble. You remember what +he said about happier days," said Tish. + +"That was Updike's reason too," I relied. "Poignant grief!" + +For just a moment our eyes met. The same suspicion had occurred +to us both. Well, we agreed to say nothing to Aggie or Hutchins, +for fear of upsetting them, and the next hour or so was +peaceful. + +Hutchins read and Aggie slept. Tish and I strung beads for the +Indians, and watched the door into the next car. And, sure +enough, about the middle of the afternoon he appeared and stared +in at us. He watched us for quite a time, smoking a cigarette as +he did so. Then he came in and bent down over Tish. + +"You didn't take the children out for the picnic, did you?" he +said. + +"I did not!" Tish snapped. + +"I'm sorry. Never saw the place look so well!" + +"Look here," Tish said, putting down her beads; "what were you +doing there that night anyhow? You don't belong to the family." + +He looked surprised and then grieved. + +"You've discovered that, have you?" he said. "I did, you know-- +word of honor! They've turned me off; but I love the old place +still, and on summer nights I wander about it, recalling happier +days." + +Hutchins closed her book with a snap, and he sighed. + +"I perceive that we are overheard," he said. "Some time I hope +to tell you the whole story. It's extremely sad. I'll not spoil +the beginning of your holiday with it." + +All the time he had been talking he held a piece of paper in his +hand. When he left us Tish went back thoughtfully to her beads. + +"It just shows, Lizzie," she said, "how wrong we are to trust to +appearances. That poor boy--" + +I had stooped into the aisle and was picking up the piece of +paper which he had accidentally dropped as he passed Hutchins. I +opened it and read aloud to Tish and Aggie, who had wakened:-- + +"'Afraid you'll not get away with it! The red-haired man in the +car behind is a plain-clothes man.'" + +Tish has a large fund of general knowledge, gained through +Charlie Sands; so what Aggie and I failed to understand she +interpreted at once. + +"A plain-clothes man," she explained, "is a detective dressed as +a gentleman. It's as plain as pikestaff! The boy's received this +warning and dropped it. He has done something he shouldn't and +is escaping to Canada!" + +I do not believe, however, that we should have thought of his +being a political spy but for the conductor of the train. He +proved to be a very nice person, with eight children and a +toupee; and he said that Canada was honeycombed with spies in +the pay of the German Government. + +"They're sending wireless messages all the time, probably from +remote places," he said. "And, of course, their play now is to +blow up the transcontinental railroads. Of course the railroads +have an army of detectives on the watch." + +"Good Heavens!" Aggie said, and turned pale. + +Well, our pleasure in the journey was ruined. Every time the +whistle blew on the engine we quailed, and Tish wrote her will +then and there on the back of an envelope. It was while she was +writing that the truth came to her. + +"That boy!" she said. "Don't you see it all? That note was a +warning to him. He's a spy and the red-haired man is after him." + +None of us slept that night though Tish did a very courageous +thing about eleven o'clock, when she was ready for bed. I went +with her. We had put our dressing-gowns over our nightrobes, and +we went back to the car containing the spy. + +He had not retired, but was sitting alone, staring ahead +moodily. The red-haired man was getting ready for bed, just +opposite. Tish spoke loudly, so the detective should hear. + +"I have come back," Tish said, "to say that we know everything. +A word to the wise, Mister Happier Days! Don't try any of your +tricks!" + +He sat, with his mouth quite open, and stared at us: but the red- + haired man pretended to hear nothing and took off his other +shoe. + +None of us slept at all except Hutchins. Though we had told her +nothing, she seemed inherently to distrust the spy. When, on +arriving at the town where we were to take the boat, he offered +to help her off with Aggie's cat basket, which she was carrying, +she snubbed him. + +"I can do it myself," she said coldly; "and if you know when +you're well off you'll go back to where you came from. Something +might happen to you here in the wilderness." + +"I wish it would," he replied in quite a tragic manner. + +[As Tish said then, a man is probably often forced by +circumstances into hateful situations. No spy can really want to +be a spy with every brick wall suggesting, as it must, a firing- +squad.] + +Well, to make a long story short, we took the little steamer +that goes up the river three times a week to take groceries and +mail to the logging-camps, and the spy and the red-haired +detective went along. The spy seemed to have quite a lot of +luggage, but the detective had only a suitcase. + +Tish, watching the detective, said his expression grew more and +more anxious as we proceeded up the river. Cottages gave place +to logging-camps and these to rocky islands, with no sign of +life; still, the spy stayed on the steamer, and so, of course, +did the detective. + +Tish went down and examined the luggage. She reported that the +spy was traveling under the name of McDonald and that the +detective's suitcase was unmarked. Mr. McDonald had some boxes +and a green canoe. The detective had nothing at all. There were +no other passengers. + +We let Aggie's cat out on the boat and he caught a mouse almost +immediately, and laid it in the most touching manner at the +detective's feet; but he was in a very bad humor and flung it +over the rail. Shortly after that he asked Tish whether she +intended to go to the Arctic Circle. + +"I don't know that that's any concern of yours," Tish said. +"You're not after me, you know." + +He looked startled and muttered something into his mustache. + +"It's perfectly clear what's wrong with him," Tish said. "He's +got to stick to Mr. McDonald, and he hasn't got a tent in that +suitcase, or even a blanket. I don't suppose he knows where his +next meal's coming from." + +She was probably right, for I saw the crew of the boat packing a +box or two of crackers and an old comfort into a box; and Aggie +overheard the detective say to the captain that if he would sell +him some fishhooks he would not starve anyhow. + +Tish found an island that suited her about three o'clock that +afternoon, and we disembarked. Mr. McDonald insisted on helping +the crew with our stuff, which they piled on a large flat rock; +but the detective stood on the upper deck and scowled down at +us. Tish suggested that he was a woman-hater. + +"They know so many lawbreaking women," she said, "it's quite +natural." + +Having landed us, the boat went across to another island and +deposited Mr. McDonald and the green canoe. Tish, who had talked +about a lodge in some vast wilderness, complained at that; but +when the detective got off on a little tongue of the mainland, +in sight of both islands, she said the place was getting crowded +and she had a notion to go farther. + +The first thing she did was to sit on a box and open a map. The +Canadian Pacific was only a few miles away through the woods! + +Hutchins proved herself a treasure. She could work all round the +three of us; she opened boxes and a can of beans for supper with +the same hatchet, and had tea made and the beans heated while +Tish was selecting a site for the tent. + +But--and I remembered this later--she watched the river at +intervals, with her cheeks like roses from the exertion. She was +really a pretty girl--only, when no one was looking, her mouth +that day had a way of setting itself firmly, and she frowned at +the water. + +We, Hutchins and I, set up the stove against a large rock, and +when the teakettle started to boil it gave the river front a +homy look. Sitting on my folding-chair beside the stove, with a +cup of tea in my hand and a plate of beans on a doily on a +packing-box beside me, I was entirely comfortable. Through the +glasses I could see the red- haired man on the other shore +sitting on a rock, with his head in his hands; but Mr. McDonald +had clearly located on the other side of his island and was not +in sight. + +Aggie and Tish were putting up the tent, and Hutchins was +feeding the tea grounds to the worms, which had traveled +comfortably, when I saw a canoe coming up the river. I called to +Tish about it. + +"An Indian!" she said calmly. "Get the beads, Aggie; and put my +shotgun on that rock, where he can see it." She stood and +watched him. "Primitive man, every inch of him!" she went on. +"Notice his uncovered head. Notice the freedom, almost the +savagery, of the way he uses that paddle. I wish he would sing. +You remember, in Hiawatha, how they sing as they paddle along?" + +She got the beads and went to the water's edge; but the Indian +stooped just then and, picking up a Panama hat, put it on his +head. + +"I have called," he said, "to see whether I can interest you in +a set of books I am selling. I shall detain you only a moment. +Sixty-three steel engravings by well-known artists; best hand- +made paper; and the work itself is of high educational value." + +Tish suddenly put the beads behind her back and said we did not +expect to have any time to read. We had come into the wilderness +to rest our minds. + +"You are wrong, I fear," said the Indian. "Personally I find +that I can read better in the wilds than anywhere else. Great +thoughts in great surroundings! I take Nietzsche with me when I +go fishing." + +Tish had the wretched beads behind her all the time; and, to +make conversation, more than anything else, she asked about +venison. He shrugged his shoulders. J. Fenimore Cooper had not +prepared us for an Indian who shrugged his shoulders. + +"We Indians are allowed to kill deer," he said; "but I fear you +are prohibited. I am not even permitted to sell it." + +"I should think," said Tish sharply, "that, since we are miles +from a game warden, you could safely sell us a steak or two." + +He gazed at her disapprovingly. "I should not care to break the +law, madam," he said. + +Then he picked up his paddle and took himself and his scruples +and his hand-made paper and his sixty-three steel engravings +down the river. + +"Primitive man!" I said to Tish, from my chair. "Notice the +freedom, almost the savagery, with which he swings that paddle." + +We had brought a volume of Cooper along, not so much to read as +to remind us how to address the Indians. Tish said nothing, but +she got the book and flung it far out into the river. + +There were a number of small annoyances the first day or two. +Hutchins was having trouble with the motor launch, which the +steamer had towed up the day we came, and which she called the +"Mebbe." And another civilized Indian, with a gold watch and a +cigarette case, had rented us a leaky canoe for a dollar a day. + +[We patched the leak with chewing gum, which Aggie always +carried for indigestion; and it did fairly well, so long as the +gum lasted.] + +Then, on the second night, there was a little wind, and the tent +collapsed on us, the ridgepole taking Aggie across the chest. It +was that same night, I think, when Aggie's cat found a porcupine +in the woods, and came in looking like a pincushion. + +What with chopping firewood for the stove, and carrying water, +and baling out the canoe, and with the motor boat giving one +gasp and then dying for every hundred times somebody turned over +the engine, we had no time to fish for two days. + +The police agent fished all day from a rock, for, of course, he +had no boat; but he seemed to catch nothing. At times we saw him +digging frantically, as though for worms. What he dug with I do +not know; but, of course, he got no worms. Tish said if he had +been more civil she would have taken something to him and a can +of worms; but he had been rude, especially to Aggie's cat, and +probably the boat would bring him things. + +What with getting settled and everything, we had not much time +to think about the spy. It was on the third day, I believe, that +he brought his green canoe to the open water in front of us and +anchored there, just beyond earshot. + +He put out a line and opened a book; and from that time on he +was a part of the landscape every day from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. At +noon he would eat some sort of a lunch, reading as he ate. + +He apparently never looked toward us, but he was always there. +It was the most extraordinary thing. At first we thought he had +found a remarkable fishing-place; but he seemed to catch very +few fish. It was Tish, I think, who found the best explanation. + +"He's providing himself with an alibi," she stated. "How can he +be a spy when we see him all day long? Don't you see how clever +it is?" + +It was the more annoying because we had arranged a small core +for soap-and-water bathing, hanging up a rod for bath-towels and +suspending a soap-dish and a sponge-holder from an overhanging +branch. The cove was well shielded by brush and rocks from the +island, but naturally was open to the river. + +It was directly opposite this cove that Mr. McDonald took up his +position. + +This compelled us to bathe in the early morning, while the water +was still cold, and resulted in causing Aggie a most +uncomfortable half-hour on the fourth morning of our stay. + +She was the last one in the pool, and Tish absent-mindedly took +her bathrobe and slippers back to the camp when she went. Tish +went out in the canoe shortly after. She was learning to use +one, with a life preserver on--Tish, of course, not the canoe. +And Mr. McDonald arriving soon after, Aggie was compelled to sit +in the water for two hours and twenty minutes. When Hutchins +found her she was quite blue. + +This was the only disagreement we had all summer: Aggie's +refusing to speak to Tish that entire day. She said Mr. McDonald +had seen her head and thought it was some sort of swimming +animal, and had shot at her. + +Mr. McDonald said afterward he knew her all the time, and was +uncertain whether she was taking a cure for something or was +trying to commit suicide. He said he spent a wretched morning. +At five o'clock that evening we began to hear a curious tapping +noise from the spy's island. It would last for a time, stop, and +go on. + +Hutchins said it was woodpeckers; but Tish looked at me +significantly. + +"Wireless!" she said. "What did I tell you?" + +That decided her next move, for that evening she put some tea +and canned corn and a rubber blanket into the canoe; and in fear +and trembling I went with her. + +"It's going to rain, Lizzie," she said, "and after all, that +detective may be surly; but he's doing his duty by his country. +It's just as heroic to follow a spy up here, and starve to death +watching him, as it is to storm a trench--and less showy. And +I've something to tell him." + +The canoe tilted just then, and only by heroic effort, were we +able to calm it. + +"Then why not go comfortably in the motor boat?" + +Tish stopped, her paddle in the air. "Because I can't make that +dratted engine go," she said, "and because I believe Hutchins +would drown us all before she'd take any help to him. It's my +belief that she's known him somewhere. I've seen her sit on a +rock and look across at him with murder in her eyes." + +A little wind had come up, and the wretched canoe was leaking, +the chewing gum having come out. Tish was paddling; so I was +compelled to sit over the aperture, thus preventing water from +coming in. Despite my best efforts, however, about three inches +seeped in and washed about me. It was quite uncomfortable. + +The red-haired man was asleep when we landed. He had hung the +comfort over a branch, like a tent, and built a fire at the end +of it. He had his overcoat on, buttoned to the chin, and his +head was on his suit-case. He sat up and looked at us, blinking. + +"We've brought you some tea and some canned corn," Tish said; +"and a rubber blanket. It's going to rain." + +He slid out of the tent, feet first, and got up; but when he +tried to speak he sneezed. He had a terrible cold. + +"I might as well say at once," Tish went on, "that we know why +you are here--" + +"The deuce you do!" he said hoarsely. + +"We do not particularly care about you, especially since the way +you acted to a friendly and innocent cat--one can always judge a +man by the way he treats dumb animals; but we sympathize with +your errand. We'll even help if we can." + +"Then the--the person in question has confided in you?" + +"Not at all," said Tish loftily. "I hope we can put two and two +together. Have you got a revolver?" + +He looked startled at that. "I have one," he said; "but I guess +I'll not need it. The first night or two a skunk hung round; +two, in fact--mother and child--but I think they're gone." + +"Would you like some fish?" + +"My God, no!" + +This is a truthful narrative. That is exactly what he said. + +"I'll tell you what I do need, ladies," he went on: ""If you've +got a spare suit of underwear over there, I could use it. It'd +stretch, probably. And I'd like a pen and some ink. I must have +lost my fountain pen out of my pocket stooping over the bank to +wash my face." + +"Do you know the wireless code?" Tish asked suddenly. + +"Wireless?" + +"I have every reason to believe," she said impressively, "that +one of the great trees on that island conceals a wireless +outfit." + +"I see!" He edged back a little from us both. + +"I should think," Tish said, eyeing him, "that a knowledge of +the wireless code would be essential to you in your occupation." + +"We--we get a smattering of all sorts of things," he said; but +he was uneasy--you could see that with half an eye. + +He accompanied us down to the canoe; but once, when Tish turned +suddenly, he ducked back as though he had been struck and +changed color. He thanked us for the tea and corn, and said he +wished we had a spare razor--but, of course, he supposed not. +Then:-- + +"I suppose the--the person in question will stay as long as you +do?" he asked, rather nervously. + +"It looks like it," said Tish grimly. "I've no intention of +being driven away, if that's what you mean. We'll stay as long +as the fishing's good." + +He groaned under his breath. "The whole d--d river is full of +fish," he said. "They crawled up the bank last night and ate all +the crackers I'd saved for to-day. Oh, I'll pay somebody out for +this, all right! Good gracious, ladies, your boat's full of +water!" + +"It has a hole in it," Tish replied and upturned it to empty it. + +When he saw the hole his eyes stuck out. "You can't go out in +that leaky canoe! It's suicidal!" + +"Not at all," Tish assured him. "My friend here will sit on the +leak. Get in quick, Lizzie. It's filling." + +The last we saw of the detective that night he was standing on +the bank, staring after us. Afterward, when a good many things +were cleared up, he said he decided that he'd been asleep and +dreamed the whole thing--the wireless, and my sitting on the +hole in the canoe, and the wind tossing it about, and everything- + - only, of course, there was the tea and the canned corn! + +We did our first fishing the next day. Hutchins had got the +motor boat going, and I put over the spoon I had made from the +feather duster. After going a mile or so slowly I felt a tug, +and on drawing my line in I found I had captured a large fish. I +wrapped the line about a part of the engine and Tish put the +barrel hoop with the netting underneath it. The fish was really +quite large-- about four feet, I think--and it broke through the +netting. I wished to hit it with the oar, but Hutchins said that +might break the fin and free it. Unluckily we had not brought +Tish's gun, or we might have shot it. + +At last we turned the boat round and went home, the fish +swimming alongside, with its mouth open. And there Aggie, who is +occasionally almost inspired, landed the fish by the simple +expedient of getting out of the boat, taking the line up a bank +and wrapping it round a tree. By all pulling together we landed +the fish successfully. It was forty-nine inches by Tish's tape +measure. + +Tish did not sleep well that night. She dreamed that the fish +had a red mustache and was a spy in disguise. When she woke she +declared there was somebody prowling round the tent. + +She got her shotgun and we all sat up in bed for an hour or so. + +Nothing happened, however, except that Aggie cried out that +there was a small animal just inside the door of the tent. We +could see it, too, though faintly. Tish turned the shotgun on it +and it disappeared; but the next morning she found she had shot +one of her shoes to pieces. + +III + +It was the day Tish began her diary that we discovered the red- +haired man's signal. Tish was compelled to remain at home most +of the day, breaking in another pair of shoes, and she amused +herself by watching the river and writing down interesting +things. She had read somewhere of the value of such records of +impressions:-- + + 10 A.M. Gull on rock. Very pretty. Frightened away by + the McDonald person, who has just taken up his customary + position. Is he reading or watching this camp? + + 10.22. Detective is breakfasting--through glasses, he + is eating canned corn. Aggie--pickerel, from bank. + + 10.40. Aggie's cat, beside her, has caught a small + fish. Aggie declares that the cat stole one of her worms + and held it in the water. I think she is mistaken. + + 11. Most extraordinary thing--Hutchins has asked + permission to take pen and ink across to the detective! + Have consented. + + 11.20. Hutchins is still across the river. If I did not + know differently I should say she and the detective are + quarreling. He is whittling something. Through glasses, + she appears to stamp her foot. + + 11.30. Aggie has captured a small sunfish. Hutchins is + still across the river. He seems to be appealing to her + for something--possibly the underwear. We have none to + spare. + + 11.40. Hutchins is an extraordinary girl. She hates men, + evidently. She has had some sort of quarrel with the + detective and has returned flushed with battle. Mr. + McDonald called to her as she passed, but she ignored + him. + + 12, noon. Really, there is something mysterious about + all this. The detective was evidently whittling a + flagpole. He has erected it now, with a red silk + handkerchief at end. It hangs out over the water. Aggie- + -bass, but under legal size. + + 1.15 P.M. The flag puzzles Hutchins. She is covertly + watching it. It is evidently a signal-- but to whom? Are + the secret-service men closing in on McDonald? + + 1. Aggie--pike! + + 2. On consulting map find unnamed lake only a few miles + away. Shall investigate to-morrow. + + 3. Steamer has just gone. Detective now has canoe, blue + in color. Also food. He sent off his letter. + + 4. Fed worms. Lizzie thinks they know me. How kindness + is its own reward! Mr. McDonald is drawing in his + anchor, which is a large stone fastened to a rope. Shall + take bath. + +Tish's notes ended here. She did not take the bath after all, +for Mr. McDonald made us a call that afternoon. + +He beached the green canoe and came up the rocks calmly and +smilingly. Hutchins gave him a cold glance and went on with what +she was doing, which was chopping a plank to cook the fish on. +He bowed cheerfully to all of us and laid a string of fish on a +rock. + +"I brought a little offering," he said, looking at Hutchins's +back. "The fishing isn't what I expected but if the young lady +with the hatchet will desist, so I can make myself heard, I've +found a place where there are fish! This biggest fellow is three +and a quarter pounds." + +Hutchins chopped harder than ever, and the plank flew up, +striking her in the chest; but she refused all assistance, +especially from Mr. McDonald, who was really concerned. He +hurried to her and took the hatchet out of her hand, but in his +excitement he was almost uncivil. + +"You obstinate little idiot!" he said. "You'll kill yourself +yet." + +To my surprise, Hutchins, who had been entirely unemotional +right along, suddenly burst into tears and went into the tent. +Mr. McDonald took a hasty step or two after her, realizing, no +doubt, that he had said more than he should to a complete +stranger; but she closed the fly of the tent quite viciously and +left him standing, with his arms folded, staring at it. + +It was at that moment he saw the large fish, hanging from a +tree. He stood for a moment staring at it and we could see that +he was quite surprised. + +"It is a fish, isn't it?" he said after a moment. "I-I thought +for a moment it was painted on something." + +He sat down suddenly on one of our folding-chairs and looked at +the fish, and then at each of us in turn. + +"You know," he said, "I didn't think there were such fish! I-- +you mustn't mind my surprise." He wiped his forehead with his +handkerchief. "Just kick those things I brought into the river, +will you? I apologize for them." + +"Forty-nine inches," Tish said. "We expect to do better when we +really get started. This evening we shall go after its mate, +which is probably hanging round." + +"Its mate?" he said, rather dazed. "Oh, I see. Of course!" + +He still seemed to doubt his senses, for he went over and +touched it with his finger. "Ladies," he said, "I'm not going +after the- the mate. I couldn't land it if I did get it. I am +going to retire from the game--except for food; but I wish, for +the sake of my reason, you'd tell me what you caught it with." + +Well, you may heartily distrust a person; but that is no reason +why you should not answer a simple question. So I showed him the +thing I had made--and he did not believe me! + +"You're perfectly right," he said. "Every game has its secrets. +I had no business to ask. But you haven't caught me with that +feather-duster thing any more than you caught that fish with it. +I don't mind your not telling me. That's your privilege. But +isn't it rather rubbing it in to make fun of me?" + +"Nothing of the sort!" Aggie said angrily. "If you had caught it- + -" + +"My dear lady," he said, "I couldn't have caught it. The mere +shock of getting such a bite would have sent me out of my boat +in a swoon." He turned to Tish. "I have only one +disappointment," he said, "that it wasn't one of _our_ worms +that did the work." + +Tish said afterward she was positively sorry for him, he looked +so crestfallen. So, when he started for his canoe she followed +him. + +"Look here," she said; "you're young, and I don't want to see +you get into trouble. Go home, young man! There are plenty of +others to take your place." + +He looked rather startled. "That's it exactly," he said, after a +moment. "As well as I can make out there are about a hundred. If +you think," he said fiercely, raising his voice, "that I'm going +to back out and let somebody else in, I'm not. And that's flat." + +"It's a life-and-death matter," said Tish. + +"You bet it's a life-and-death matter." + +"And--what about the--the red-headed man over there?" + +His reply amazed us all. "He's harmless," he said. "I don't like +him, naturally; but I admire the way he holds on. He's making +the best of a bad business." + +"Do you know why he's here?" + +He looked uneasy for once. + +"Well, I've got a theory," he replied; but, though his voice was +calm, he changed color. + +"Then perhaps you'll tell me what that signal means?" + +Tish gave him the glasses and he saw the red flag. I have never +seen a man look so unhappy. + +"Holy cats!" he said, and almost dropped the glasses. " Why, he-- + he must be expecting somebody!" + +"So I should imagine," Tish commented dryly. "He sent a letter +by the boat to-day." + +"The h--l he did!" And then: "That's ridiculous! You're +mistaken. As a--as a matter of fact, I went over there the other +night and commandeered his fountain pen." + +So it had not fallen out of his pocket! + +"I'll be frank, ladies," he said. "It's my object just now to +keep that chap from writing letters. It doesn't matter why, but +it's vital." + +He was horribly cast down when we told him about Hutchins and +the pen and ink. + +"So that's it!" he said gloomily. "And the flag's a signal, of +course. Ladies, you have done it out of the kindness of your +hearts, I know; but I think you have wrecked my life." + +He took a gloomy departure and left us all rather wrought up. +Who were we, as Tish said, to imperil a fellow man? And another +thing- -if there was a reward on him, why should we give it to a +red- haired detective, who was rude to harmless animals and ate +canned corn for breakfast? + +With her customary acumen Tish solved the difficulty that very +evening. + +"The simplest thing," she said, "of course, would be to go over +during the night and take the flag away; but he may have more +red handkerchiefs. Then, too, he seems to be a light sleeper, +and it would be awkward to have him shoot at us." + +She sat in thought for quite a while. Hutchins was watching the +sunset, and seemed depressed and silent. Tish lowered her voice. + +"There's no reason why we shouldn't have a red flag, too," she +said. "It gives us an even chance to get in on whatever is about +to happen. We can warn Mr. McDonald, for one thing, if any one +comes here. Personally I think he is unjustly suspected." + +[But Tish was to change her mind very soon.] + +We made the flag that night, by lantern light, out of Tish's red +silk petticoat. Hutchins was curious, I am sure; but we +explained nothing. And we fastened it obliquely over the river, +like the one on the other side. + +Tish's change of heart, which occurred the newt morning, was due +to a most unfortunate accident that happened to her at nine +o'clock. Hutchins, who could swim like a duck, was teaching Tish +to swim, and she was learning nicely. Tish had put a life- +preserver on, with a clothes-line fastened to it, and Aggie was +sitting on the bank holding the rope while she went through the +various gestures. + +Having completed the lesson Hutchins went into the woods for red +raspberries, leaving Tish still practicing in the water with +Aggie holding the rope. Happening to sneeze, the line slipped +out of her hand, and she had the agonizing experience of seeing +Tish carried away by the current. + +I was washing some clothing in the river a few yards down the +stream when Tish came floating past. I shall never forget her +expression or my own sense of absolute helplessness. + +"Get the canoe," said Tish, "and follow. I'm heading for Island +Eleven." + +She was quite calm, though pale; but, in her anxiety to keep +well above the water, she did what was almost a fatal thing--she +pushed the life-preserver lower down round her body. And having +shifted the floating center, so to speak, without warning her +head disappeared and her feet rose in the air. + +For a time it looked as though she would drown in that position; +but Tish rarely loses her presence of mind. She said she knew at +once what was wrong. So, though somewhat handicapped by the +position, she replaced the cork belt under her arms and emerged +at last. + +Aggie had started back into the woods for Hutchins; but, with +one thing and another, it was almost ten before they returned +together. Tish by that time was only a dot on the horizon +through the binocular, having missed Island Eleven, as she +explained later, by the rope being caught on a submerged log, +which deflected her course. + +We got into the motor boat and followed her, and, except for a +most unjust sense of irritation that I had not drowned myself by +following her in the canoe, she was unharmed. We got her into +the motor boat and into a blanket, and Aggie gave her some +blackberry cordial at once. It was some time before her teeth +ceased chattering so she could speak. When she did it was to +announce that she had made a discovery. + +"He's a spy, all right!" she said. "And that Indian is another. +Neither of them saw me as I floated past. They were on Island +Eleven. Mr. McDonald wrote something and gave it to the Indian. +It wasn't a letter or he'd have sent it by the boat. He didn't +even put it in an envelope, so far as I could see. It's probably +in cipher." + +Well, we took her home, and she had a boiled egg at dinner. + +The rest of us had fish. It is one of Tish's theories that fish +should only be captured for food, and that all fish caught must +be eaten. I do not know when I have seen fish come as easy. +Perhaps it was the worms, which had grown both long and fat, so +that one was too much for a hook; and we cut them with scissors, +like tape or ribbon. Aggie and I finally got so sick of fish +that while Tish's head was turned we dropped in our lines +without bait. But, even at that, Aggie, reeling in her line to +go home, caught a three- pound bass through the gills and could +not shake it off. + +We tried to persuade Tish to lie down that afternoon, but she +refused. + +"I'm not sick," she said, "even if you two idiots did try to +drown me. And I'm on the track of something. If that was a +letter, why didn't he send it by the boat?" + +Just then her eye fell on the flagpole, and we followed her +horrified gaze. The flag had been neatly cut away! + +Tish's eyes narrowed. She looked positively dangerous; and +within five minutes she had cut another flag out of the back +breadth of the petticoat and flung it defiantly in the air. Who +had cut away the signal--McDonald or the detective? We had +planned to investigate the nameless lake that afternoon, Tish +being like Colonel Roosevelt in her thirst for information, as +well as in the grim pugnacity that is her dominant +characteristic; but at the last minute she decided not to go. + +"You and Aggie go, Lizzie," she said. "I've got something on +hand." + +"Tish!" Aggie wailed. "You'll drown yourself or something." + +"Don't be a fool!" Tish snapped. "There's a portage, but you and +Lizzie can carry the canoe across on your heads. I've seen +pictures of it. It's easy. And keep your eyes open for a +wireless outfit. There's one about, that's sure!" + +"Lots of good it will do to keep our eyes open," I said with +some bitterness, "with our heads inside the canoe!" + +We finally started and Hutchins went with us. It was Hutchins, +too, who voiced the way we all felt when we had crossed the +river and were preparing for what she called the portage. + +"She wants to get us out of the way, Miss Lizzie," she said. +"Can you imagine what mischief she's up to?" + +"That is not a polite way to speak of Miss Tish, Hutchins," I +said coldly. Nevertheless, my heart sank. + +Hutchins and I carried the canoe. It was a hot day and there was +no path. Aggie, who likes a cup of hot tea at five o'clock, had +brought along a bottle filled with tea, and a small basket +containing sugar and cups. + +Personally I never had less curiosity about a lake. As a matter +of fact I wished there was no lake. Twice--being obliged, as it +were, to walk blindly and the canoe being excessively heavy--I, +who led the way, ran the front end of the thing against the +trunk of a tree, and both Hutchins and I sat down violently, +under the canoe as a result of the impact. + +To add to the discomfort of the situation Aggie declared that we +were being followed by a bear, and at the same instant stepped +into a swamp up to her knees. She became calm at once, with the +calmness of despair. + +"Go and leave me, Lizzie!" she said. "He is just behind those +bushes. I may sink before he gets me--that's one comfort." + +Hutchins found a log and, standing on it, tried to pull her up; +but she seemed firmly fastened. Aggie went quite white; and, +almost beside myself, I poured her a cup of hot tea, which she +drank. I remember she murmured Mr. Wiggins's name, and +immediately after she yelled that the bear was coming. + +It was, however, the detective who emerged from the bushes. He +got Aggie out with one good heave, leaving both her shoes gone +forever; and while she collapsed, whimpering, he folded his arms +and stared at all of us angrily. + +"What sort of damnable idiocy is this?" he demanded in a most +unpleasant tone. + +Aggie revived and sat upright. + +"That's our affair, isn't it?" said Hutchins curtly. + +"Not by a blamed sight!" was his astonishing reply. + +"The next time I am sinking in a morass, let me sink," Aggie +said, with simple dignity. + +He did not speak another word, but gave each of us a glance of +the most deadly contempt, and finished up with Hutchins. + +"What I don't understand," he said furiously, "is why you have +to lend yourself to this senile idiocy. Because some old women +choose to sink themselves in a swamp is no reason why you should +commit suicide!" + +Aggie said afterward only the recollection that he had saved her +life prevented her emptying the tea on him. I should hardly have +known Hutchins. + +"Naturally," she said in a voice thick with fury, "you are in a +position to insult these ladies, and you do. But I warn you, if +you intend to keep on, this swamp is nothing. We like it here. +We may stay for months. I hope you have your life insured." + +Perhaps we should have understood it all then. Of course Charlie +Sands, for whom I am writing this, will by this time, with his +keen mind, comprehend it all; but I assure you we suspected +nothing. + +How simple, when you line it up: The country house and the +garden hose; the detective, with no camp equipment; Mr. McDonald +and the green canoe; the letter on the train; the red flag; the +girl in the pink tam-o'-shanter--who has not yet appeared, but +will shortly; Mr. McDonald's incriminating list--also not yet, +but soon. + +How inevitably they led to what Charlie Sands has called our +crime! + +The detective, who was evidently very strong, only glared at +her. Then he swung the canoe up on his head and, turning about, +started back the way we had come. Though Hutchins and Aggie were +raging, I was resigned. My neck was stiff and my shoulders +ached. We finished our tea in silence and then made our way back +to the river. + +I have now reached Tish's adventure. It is not my intention in +this record to defend Tish. She thought her conclusions were +correct. Charlie Sands says she is like Shaw--she has got a +crooked point of view, but she believes she is seeing straight. +And, after a while, if you look her way long enough you get a +sort of mental astigmatism. + +So I shall confess at once that, at the time, I saw nothing +immoral in what she did that afternoon while we were having our +adventure in the swamp. + +I was putting cloths wrung out of arnica and hot water on my +neck when she came home, and Hutchins was baking biscuit--she +was a marvelous cook, though Aggie, who washed the dishes, +objected to the number of pans she used. + +Tish ignored both my neck and the biscuits, and, marching up the +bank, got her shotgun from the tent and loaded it. + +"We may be attacked at any time," she said briefly; and, getting +the binocular, she searched the river with a splendid sweeping +glance. "At any time. Hutchins, take these glasses, please, and +watch that we are not disturbed." + +"I'm baking biscuit, Miss Letitia." + +"Biscuit!" said Tish scornfully. "Biscuit in times like these?" + +She walked up to the camp stove and threw the oven door open; +but, though I believe she had meant to fling them into the +river, she changed her mind when she saw them. + +"Open a jar of honey, Hutchins," she said, and closed the oven; +but her voice was abstracted. "You can watch the river from the +stove, Hutchins," she went on. "Miss Aggie and Miss Lizzie and I +must confer together." + +So we went into the tent, and Tish closed and fastened it. + +"Now," she said, "I've got the papers." + +"Papers?" + +"The ones Mr. McDonald gave that Indian this morning. I had an +idea he'd still have them. You can't hurry an Indian. I waited +in the bushes until he went in swimming. Then I went through his +pockets." + +"Tish Carberry!" cried Aggie. + +"These are not times to be squeamish," Tish said loftily. "I'm +neutral; of course; but Great Britain has had this war forced on +her and I'm going to see that she has a fair show. I've ordered +all my stockings from the same shop in London, for twenty years, +and squarer people never lived. Look at these--how innocent they +look, until one knows!" + +She produced two papers from inside her waist. I must confess +that, at first glance, I saw nothing remarkable. + +"The first one looks," said Tish, "like a grocery order. It's +meant to look like that. It's relieved my mind of one thing-- +McDonald's got no wireless or he wouldn't be sending cipher +messages by an Indian." + +It was written on a page torn out of a pocket notebook and the +page was ruled with an inch margin at the left. This was the +document: - + + 1 Dozen eggs. + + 20 Yards fishing-line. + + 1 pkg. Needles--anything to sew a button on. + + 1 doz. A B C bass hooks. + + 3 lbs. Meat--anything so it isn't fish. + + 1 bot. Ink for fountain pen. + + 3 Tins sardines. + + 1 Extractor. + +Well, I could not make anything of it; but, of course, I have +not Tish's mind. Aggie was almost as bad. + +"What's an extractor?" she asked. + +"Exactly!" said Tish. "What is an extractor? Is the fellow going +to pull teeth? No! He needed an _e_; so he made up a word." + +She ran her finger down the first letters of the second column. +"D-y-n-a-m-i-t-e!" she said triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you?" + +IV + +Well, there it was--staring at us. I felt positively chilled. He +looked so young and agreeable, and, as Aggie said, he had such +nice teeth. And to know him for what he was--it was tragic! But +that was not all. + +"Add the numbers!" said Tish. "Thirty-one tons, perhaps, of +dynamite! And that's only part," said Tish. "Here's the most +damning thing of all--a note to his accomplice!" + +"Damning" is here used in the sense of condemnatory. We are none +of us addicted to profanity. + +We read the other paper, which had been in a sealed envelope, +but without superscription. It is before me as I write, and I am +copying it exactly:-- + + I shall have to see you. I'm going crazy! Don't you + realize that this is a matter of life and death to me? + Come to Island Eleven to-night, won't you? And give me a + chance to talk, anyhow. Something has got to be done and + done soon. I'm desperate! + +Aggie sneezed three times in sheer excitement; for anyone can +see how absolutely incriminating the letter was. It was not +signed, but it was in the same writing as the list. + +Tish, who knows something about everything, said the writing +denoted an unscrupulous and violent nature. + +"The _y_ is especially vicious," she said. "I wouldn't trust a +man who made a _y_ like that to carry a sick child to the +doctor!" + +The thing, of course, was to decide at once what measures to +take. The boat would not come again for two days, and to send a +letter by it to the town marshal or sheriff, or whatever the +official is in Canada who takes charge of spies, would be +another loss of time. + +"Just one thing," said Tish. "I'll plan this out and find some +way to deal with the wretch; but I wouldn't say anything to +Hutchins. She's a nice little thing, though she is a fool about +a motor boat. There's no case in scaring her." + +For some reason or other, however, Hutchins was out of spirits +that night. + +"I hope you're not sick, Hutchins?" said Tish. + +"No, indeed, Miss Tish." + +"You're not eating your fish." + +"I'm sick of fish," she said calmly. "I've eaten so much fish +that when I see a hook I have a mad desire to go and hang myself +on it." + +"Fish," said Tish grimly, "is good for the brain. I do not care +to boast, but never has my mind been so clear as it is to- +night." + +Now certainly, though Tish's tone was severe, there was nothing +in it to hurt the girl; but she got up from the cracker box on +which she was sitting, with her eyes filled with tears. + +"Don't mind me. I'm a silly fool," she said; and went down to +the river and stood looking out over it. + +It quite spoiled our evening. Aggie made her a hot lemonade and, +I believe, talked to her about Mr. Wiggins, and how, when he was +living, she had had fits of weeping without apparent cause. But +if the girl was in love, as we surmised, she said nothing about +it. She insisted that it was too much fish and nervous strain +about the Mebbe. + +"I never know," she said, "when we start out whether we're going +to get back or be marooned and starve to death on some island." + +Tish said afterward that her subconscious self must have taken +the word "marooned" and played with it; for in ten minutes or so +her plan popped into her head. + +"'Full-panoplied from the head of Jove,' Lizzie," she said. +"Really, it is not necessary to think if one only has faith. The +supermind does it all without effort. I do not dislike the young +man; but I must do my duty." + +Tish's plan was simplicity itself. We were to steal his canoe. + +"Then we'll have him," she finished. "The current's too strong +there for him to swim to the mainland." + +"He might try it and drown," Aggie objected. "Spy or no spy, +he's somebody's son." + +"War is no time to be chicken-hearted," Tish replied. + +I confess I ate little all that day. At noon Mr. McDonald came +and borrowed two eggs from us. + +"I've sent over to a store across country, by my Indian guide, +philosopher, and friend," he said, "for some things I needed; +but I dare say he's reading Byron somewhere and has forgotten +it." + +"Guide, philosopher, and friend!" I caught Tish's eye. McDonald +had written the Updike letter! McDonald had meant to use our +respectability to take him across the border! + +We gave him the eggs, but Tish said afterward she was not +deceived for a moment. + +"The Indian has told him," she said, "and he's allaying our +suspicions. Oh, he's clever enough! "Know the Indian mind and my +own!'" she quoted from the Updike letter. "'I know Canada +thoroughly.' 'My object is not money.' I should think not!" + +Tish stole the green canoe that night. She put on the life +preserver and we tied the end of the rope that Aggie had let +slip to the canoe. The life- preserver made it difficult to +paddle, Tish said, but she felt more secure. If she struck a +rock and upset, at least she would not drown; and we could start +after her at dawn with the Mebbe. + +"I'll be somewhere down the river," she said, "and safe enough, +most likely, unless there are falls." + +Hutchins watched in a puzzled way, for Tish did not leave until +dusk. + +"You'd better let me follow you with the launch, Miss Tish," she +said. "Just remember that if the canoe sinks you're tied to it." + +"I'm on serious business to-night, Hutchins," Tish said +ominously. "You are young, and I refuse to trouble your young +mind; but your ears are sharp. If you hear any shooting, get the +boat and follow me." + +The mention of shooting made me very nervous. We watched Tish as +long as we could see her; then we returned to the tent, and +Aggie and I crocheted by the hanging lantern. Two hours went by. +At eleven o'clock Tish had not returned and Hutchins was in the +motor boat, getting it ready to start. + +"I like courage, Miss Lizzie," she said to me; "but this thing +of elderly women, with some sort of bug, starting out at night +in canoes is too strong for me. Either she's going to stay in at +night or I'm going home." + +"Elderly nothing!" I said, with some spirit. "She is in the +prime of life. Please remember, Hutchins, that you are speaking +of your employer. Miss Tish has no bug, as you call it." + +"Oh, she's rational enough," Hutchins retorted: "but she is a +woman of one idea and that sort of person is dangerous." + +I was breathless at her audacity. + +"Come now, Miss Lizzie," she said, "how can I help when I don't +know what is being done? I've done my best up here to keep you +comfortable and restrain Miss Tish's recklessness; but I ought +to know something." + +She was right; and, Tish or no Tish, then and there I told her. +She was more than astonished. She sat in the motor boat, with a +lantern at her feet, and listened. + +"I see," she said slowly. "So the--so Mr. McDonald is a spy and +has sent for dynamite to destroy the railroad! And--and the red- +haired man is a detective! How do you know he is a detective?" + +I told her then about the note we had picked up from beside her +in the train, and because she was so much interested she really +seemed quite thrilled. I brought the cipher grocery list and the +other note down to her. + +"It's quite convincing, isn't it?" she said. "And--and exciting! +I don't know when I've been so excited." + +She really was. Her cheeks were flushed. She looked exceedingly +pretty. + +"The thing to do," she said, "is to teach him a lesson. He's +young. He mayn't always have had to stoop to such--such +criminality. If we can scare him thoroughly, it might do him a +lot of good." + +I said I was afraid Tish took a more serious view of things and +would notify the authorities. And at that moment there came two +or three shots--then silence. + +I shall never forget the ride after Tish and how we felt when we +failed to find her; for there was no sign of her. The wind had +come up, and, what with seeing Tish tied to that wretched canoe +and sinking with it or shot through the head and lying dead in +the bottom of it, we were about crazy. As we passed Island +Eleven we could see the spy's camp-fire and his tent, but no +living person. + +At four in the morning we gave up and started back, heavy- +hearted. What, therefore, was our surprise to find Tish sitting +by the fire in her bathrobe, with a cup of tea in her lap and +her feet in a foot-tub of hot water! Considering all we had gone +through and that we had obeyed orders exactly, she was +distinctly unjust. Indeed, at first she quite refused to speak +to any of us. + +"I do think, Tish," Aggie said as she stood shivering by the +fire, "that you might at least explain where you have been. We +have been going up and down the river for hours, burying you +over and over." + +Tish took a sip of tea, but said nothing. + +"You said," I reminded her, "that if there was shooting, we were +to start after you at once. When we heard the shots, we went, of +course." + +Tish leaned over and, taking the teakettle from the fire, poured +more water into the foot-tub. Then at last she turned to speak. + +"Bring some absorbent cotton and some bandages, Hutchins," she +said. "I am bleeding from a hundred wounds. As for you"--she +turned fiercely on Aggie and me--"the least you could have done +was to be here when I returned, exhausted, injured, and weary; +but, of course, you were gallivanting round the lake in an +upholstered motor boat." + +Here she poured more water into the foot-tub and made it much +too hot. This thawed her rather, and she explained what was +wrong. She was bruised, scratched to the knees, and with a bump +the size of an egg on her forehead, where she had run into a +tree. + +The whole story was very exciting. It seems she got the green +canoe without any difficulty, the spy being sound asleep in his +tent; but about that time the wind came up and Tish said she +could not make an inch of progress toward our camp. + +The chewing gum with which we had repaired our canoe came out at +that time and the boat began to fill, Tish being unable to sit +over the leak and paddle at the same time. So, at last, she gave +up and made for the mainland. + +"The shooting," Tish said with difficulty, "was by men from the +Indian camp firing at me. I landed below the camp, and was +making my way as best I could through the woods when they heard +me moving. I believe they thought it was a bear." + +I think Tish was more afraid of the Indians, in spite of their +sixty-three steel engravings and the rest of it, than she +pretended, though she said she would have made herself known, +but at that moment she fell over a fallen tree and for fifteen +minutes was unable to speak a word. When at last she rose the +excitement was over and they had gone back to their camp. + +"Anyhow," she finished, "the green canoe is hidden a couple of +miles down the river, and I guess Mr. McDonald is safe for a +time. Lizzie, you can take a bath to-morrow safely." + +Tish sat up most of the rest of the night composing a letter to +the authorities of the town, telling them of Mr. McDonald and +enclosing careful copies of the incriminating documents she had +found. + +During the following morning the river was very quiet. Through +the binocular we were able to see Mr. McDonald standing on the +shore of his island and looking intently in our direction, but +naturally we paid no attention to him. + +The red-haired man went in swimming that day and necessitated +our retiring to the tent for an hour and a half; but at noon +Aggie's naturally soft heart began to assert itself. + +"Spy or no spy," she said to Tish, "we ought to feed him." + +"Huh!" was Tish's rejoinder. "There is no sense is wasting good +food on a man whose hours are numbered." + +We were surprised, however, to find that Hutchins, who had +detested Mr. McDonald, was rather on Aggie's side. + +"The fact that he has but a few more hours," she said to Tish, +"is an excellent reason for making those hours as little +wretched as possible." + +It was really due to Hutchins, therefore, that Mr. McDonald had +a luncheon. The problem of how to get it to him was a +troublesome one, but Tish solved it with her customary sagacity. + +"We can make a raft," she said, "a small one, large enough to +hold a tray. By stopping the launch some yards above the island +we can float his luncheon to him quite safely." + +That was the method we ultimately pursued and it worked most +satisfactorily. + +Hutchins baked hot biscuits; and, by putting a cover over the +pan, we were enabled to get them to him before they cooled. + +We prepared a really appetizing luncheon of hot biscuits, +broiled ham, marmalade, and tea, adding, at Aggie's +instructions, a jar of preserved peaches, which she herself had +put up. + +Tish made the raft while we prepared the food, and at exactly +half-past twelve o'clock we left the house. Mr. McDonald saw us +coming and was waiting smilingly at the upper end of the island. + +"Great Scott!" he said. "I thought you were never going to hear +me. Another hour and I'd have made a swim for it, though it's +suicidal with this current. I'll show you where you can come in +so you won't hit a rock." + +Hutchins had stopped the engine of the motor boat and we threw +out the anchor at a safe distance from the shore. + +"We are not going to land," said Tish, "and I think you know +perfectly well the reason why." + +"Oh, now," he protested; "surely you are going to land! I've had +an awfully uncomfortable accident--my canoe's gone." + +"We know that," Tish said calmly. "As a matter of fact, we took +it." + +Mr. McDonald sat down suddenly on a log at the water's edge and +looked at us. + +"Oh!" he said. + +"You may not believe it," Tish said, "but we know everything-- +your dastardly plot, who the red-haired man is, and all the +destruction and wretchedness you are about to cause." + +"Oh, I say!" he said feebly. "I wouldn't go as far as that. I'm-- + I'm not such a bad sort." + +"That depends on the point of view," said Tish grimly. + +Aggie touched her on the arm then and reminded her that the +biscuits were getting cold; but Tish had a final word with him. + +"Your correspondence has fallen into my hands, young man," she +said, "and will be turned over to the proper authorities." + +"It won't tell them anything they don't know," he said doggedly. +"Look here, ladies: I am not ashamed of this thing. I--I am +proud of it. I am perfectly willing to yell it out loud for +everybody to hear. As a matter of fact, I think I will." + +Mr. McDonald stood up suddenly and threw his head back; but here +Hutchins, who had been silent, spoke for the first time. + +"Don't be an idiot!" she said coldly. "We have something here +for you to eat if you behave yourself." + +He seemed to see her then for the first time, for he favored her +with a long stare. + +"Ah!" he said. "Then you are not entirely cold and heartless?" + +She made no reply to this, being busy in assisting Aggie to +lower the raft over the side of the boat. + +"Broiled ham, tea, hot biscuits, and marmalade," said Aggie +gently. "My poor fellow, we are doing what we consider our duty; +but we want you to know that it is hard for us--very hard." + +When he saw our plan, Mr. McDonald's face fell; but he stepped +out into the water up to his knees and caught the raft as it +floated down. + +Before he said "Thank you" he lifted the cover of the pan and +saw the hot biscuits underneath. + +"Really," he said, "it's very decent of you. I sent off a +grocery order yesterday, but nothing has come." + +Tish had got Hutchins to start the engine by that time and we +were moving away. He stood there, up to his knees in water, +holding the tray and looking after us. He was really a pathetic +figure, especially in view of the awful fate we felt was +overtaking him. + +He called something after us. On account of the noise of the +engine, we could not be certain, but we all heard it the same +way. + +"Send for the whole d--d outfit!" was the way it sounded to us. +"It won't make any difference to me." + +V + +The last thing I recall of Mr. McDonald that day is seeing him +standing there in the water, holding the tray, with the teapot +steaming under his nose, and gazing after us with an air of +bewilderment that did not deceive us at all. + +As I look back, there is only one thing we might have noticed at +the time. This was the fact that Hutchins, having started the +engine, was sitting beside it on the floor of the boat and +laughing in the cruelest possible manner. As I said to Aggie at +the time: "A spy is a spy and entitled to punishment if +discovered; but no young woman should laugh over so desperate a +situation." + +I come now to the denouement of this exciting period. It had +been Tish's theory that the red-haired man should not be taken +into our confidence. If there was a reward for the capture of +the spy, we ourselves intended to have it. + +The steamer was due the next day but one. Tish was in favor of +not waiting, but of at once going in the motor boat to the town, +some thirty miles away, and telling of our capture; but Hutchins +claimed there was not sufficient gasoline for such an excursion. +That afternoon we went in the motor launch to where Tish had +hidden the green canoe and, with a hatchet, rendered it useless. + +The workings of the subconscious mind are marvelous. In the +midst of chopping, Tish suddenly looked up. + +"Have you noticed," she said, "that the detective is always +watching our camp?" + +"That's all he has to do," Aggie suggested. + +"Stuff and nonsense! Didn't he follow you into the swamp? Does +Hutchins ever go out in the canoe that he doesn't go out also? +I'll tell you what has happened: She's young and pretty, and +he's fallen in love with her." + +I must say it sounded reasonable. He never bothered about the +motor boat, but the instant she took the canoe and started out +he was hovering somewhere near. + +"She's noticed it," Tish went on. "That's what she was +quarreling about with him yesterday." + +"How are we to know," said Aggie, who was gathering up the +scraps of the green canoe and building a fire under them--"how +are we to know they are not old friends, meeting thus in the +wilderness? Fate plays strange tricks, Tish. I lived in the same +street with Mr. Wiggins for years, and never knew him until one +day when my umbrella turned wrong side out in a gust of wind." + +"Fate fiddlesticks!" said Tish. "There's no such thing as fate +in affairs of this sort. It's all instinct--the instinct of the +race to continue itself." + +This Aggie regarded as indelicate and she was rather cool to +Tish the balance of the day. + +Our prisoner spent most of the day at the end of the island +toward us, sitting quietly, as we could sec through the glasses. +We watched carefully, fearing at any time to see the Indian +paddling toward him. + +[Tish was undecided what to do in such an emergency, except to +intercept him and explain, threatening him also with having +attempted to carry the incriminating papers. As it happened, +however, the entire camp had gone for a two-days' deer hunt, and +before they returned the whole thing had come to its surprising +end.] + +Late in the afternoon Tish put her theory of the red-haired man +to the test. + +"Hutchins," she said, "Miss Lizzie and I will cook the dinner if +you want to go in the canoe to Harvey's Bay for water-lilies." + +Hutchins at once said she did not care a rap for water-lilies; +but, seeing a determined glint in Tish's eye, she added that she +would go for frogs if Tish wanted her out of the way. + +"Don't talk like a child!" Tish retorted. "Who said I wanted you +out of the way?" + +It is absolutely true that the moment Hutchins put her foot into +the canoe the red-haired man put down his fishing-rod and rose. +And she had not taken three strokes with the paddle before he +was in the blue canoe. + +Hutchins saw him just then and scowled. The last we saw of her +she was moving rapidly up the river and the detective was +dropping slowly behind. They both disappeared finally into the +bay and Tish drew a long breath. + +"Typical!" she said curtly. "He's sent here to watch a dangerous +man and spends his time pursuing the young woman who hates the +sight of him. When women achieve the suffrage they will put none +but married men in positions of trust." + +Hutchins and the detective were still out of sight when supper- +time came. The spy's supper weighed on us, and at last Tish +attempted to start the motor launch. We had placed the supper +and the small raft aboard, and Aggie was leaning over the edge +untying the painter,--not a man, but a rope,--when unexpectedly +the engine started at the first revolution of the wheel. + +It darted out to the length of the rope, where it was checked +abruptly, the shock throwing Aggie entirely out and into the +stream. Tish caught the knife from the supper tray to cut us +loose, and while Tish cut I pulled Aggie in, wet as she was. The +boat was straining and panting, and, on being released, it +sprang forward like a dog unleashed. + +Aggie had swallowed a great deal of water and was most +disagreeable; but the Mebbe was going remarkably well, and there +seemed to be every prospect that we should get back to the camp +in good order. Alas, for human hopes! Mr. McDonald was not very +agreeable. + +"You know," he said as he waited for his supper to float within +reach, "you needn't be so blamed radical about everything you +do! If you object to my hanging round, why not just say so? If +I'm too obnoxious I'll clear out." + +"Obnoxious is hardly the word," said Tish. "How long am I to be +a prisoner?" + +"I shall send letters off by the first boat." + +He caught the raft just then and examined the supper with +interest. + +"Of course things might be worse," he said; "but it's dirty +treatment, anyhow. And it's darned humiliating. Somebody I know +is having a good time at my expense. It's heartless! That's what +it is--heartless!" + +Well, we left him, the engine starting nicely and Aggie being +wrapped in a tarpaulin; but about a hundred yards above the +island it began to slow down, and shortly afterward it stopped +altogether. As the current caught us, we luckily threw out the +anchor, for the engine refused to start again. It was then we +saw the other canoes. + +The girl in the pink tam-o'-shanter was in the first one. + +They glanced at us curiously as they passed, and the P.T.S.-- +that is the way we grew to speak of the pink tam-o'-shanter-- +raised one hand in the air, which is a form of canoe greeting, +probably less upsetting to the equilibrium than a vigorous +waving of the arm. + +It was just then, I believe, that they saw our camp and headed +for it. The rest of what happened is most amazing. They stopped +at our landing and unloaded their canoes. Though twilight was +falling, we could see them distinctly. And what we saw was that +they calmly calmly took possession of the camp. + +"Good gracious!" Tish cried. "The girls have gone into the tent! +And somebody's working at the stove. The impertinence!" + +Our situation was acutely painful. We could do nothing but +watch. We called, but our voices failed to reach them. And Aggie +took a chill, partly cold and partly fury. We sat there while +they ate the entire supper! + +They were having a very good time. Now and then somebody would +go into the tent and bring something out, and there would be +shrieks of laughter. + +[We learned afterward that part of the amusement was caused by +Aggie's false front, which one of the wretches put on as a +beard.] + +It was while thus distracted that Aggie suddenly screamed, and a +moment later Mr. McDonald climbed over the side and into the +boat, dripping. + +"Don't be alarmed!" he said. "I'll go back and be a prisoner +again just as soon as I've fired the engine. I couldn't bear to +think of the lady who fell in sitting here indefinitely and +taking cold." He was examining the engine while he spoke. "Have +visitors, I see," he observed, as calmly as though he were not +dripping all over the place. + +"Intruders, not visitors!" Tish said angrily. "I never saw them +before." + +"Rather pretty, the one with the pink cap. May I examine the +gasoline supply?" There was no gasoline. He shrugged his +shoulders. "I'm afraid no amount of mechanical genius I intended +to offer you will start her," he said; "but the young lady-- +Hutchins is her name, I believe?--will see you here and come +after you, of course." + +Well, there was no denying that, spy or no spy, his presence was +a comfort. He offered to swim back to the island and be a +prisoner again, but Tish said magnanimously that there was no +hurry. On Aggie's offering half of her tarpaulin against the +wind, which had risen, he accepted. + +"Your Miss Hutchins is reckless, isn't she?" he said when he was +comfortably settled. "She's a strong swimmer; but a canoe is +uncertain at the best." + +"She's in no danger," said Tish. "She has a devoted admirer +watching out for her." + +"The deuce she has!" His voice was quite interested. "Why, who +on earth--" + +"Your detective," said Aggie softly. "He's quite mad about her. +The way he follows her and the way he looks at her--it's +thrilling!" + +Mr. McDonald said nothing for quite a while. The canoe party had +evidently eaten everything they could find, and somebody had +brought out a banjo and was playing. + +Tish, unable to vent her anger, suddenly turned on Mr. McDonald. +"If you think," she said, "that the grocery list fooled us, it +didn't!" + +"Grocery list?" + +"That's what I said." + +"How did you get my grocery list?" + +So she told him, and how she had deciphered it, and how the word +"dynamite" had only confirmed her early suspicions. + +His only comment was to say, "Good Heavens!" in a smothered +voice. + +"It was the extractor that made me suspicious," she finished. +"What were you going to extract? Teeth?" + +"And so, when my Indian was swimming, you went through his +things! It's the most astounding thing I ever--My dear lady, an +extractor is used to get the hooks out of fish. It was no +cipher, I assure you. I needed an extractor and I ordered it. +The cipher you speak of is only a remarkable coincidence." + +"Huh!" said Tish. "And the paper you dropped in the train--was +that a coincidence?" + +"That's not my secret," he said, and turned sulky at once. + +"Don't tell me," Tish said triumphantly, "that any young man +comes here absolutely alone without a purpose!" + +"I had a purpose, all right; but it was not to blow up a +railroad train." + +Apparently he thought he had said too much, for he relapsed into +silence after that, with an occasional muttering. + +It was eight o'clock when Hutchins's canoe came into sight. She +was paddling easily, but the detective was far behind and moving +slowly. + +She saw the camp with its uninvited guests, and then she saw us. +The detective, however, showed no curiosity; and we could see +that he made for his landing and stumbled exhaustedly up the +bank. Hutchins drew up beside us. "He'll not try that again, I +think," she said in her crisp voice. "He's out of training. He +panted like a motor launch. Who are our visitors?" + +Here her eyes fell on Mr. McDonald and her face set in the dusk. + +"You'll have to go back and get some gasoline, Hutchins." + +"What made you start out without looking?" + +"And send the vandals away. If they wait until I arrive, I'll be +likely to do them some harm. I have never been so outraged." + +"Let me go for gasoline in the canoe," said Mr. McDonald. He +leaned over the thwart and addressed Hutchins. "You're worn +out," he said. "I promise to come back and be a perfectly well- +behaved prisoner again." + +"Thanks, no." + +"I'm wet. The exercise will warm me." + +"Is it possible," she said in a withering tone that was lost on +us at the time, "that you brought no dumb-bells with you?" + +If we had had any doubts they should have been settled then; but +we never suspected. It is incredible, looking back. + +The dusk was falling and I am not certain of what followed. It +was, however, something like this: Mr. McDonald muttered +something angrily and made a motion to get into the canoe. +Hutchins replied that she would not have help from him if she +died for it. The next thing we knew she was in the launch and +the canoe was floating off on the current. Aggie squealed; and +Mr. McDonald, instead of swimming after the thing, merely folded +his arms and looked at it. + +"You know," he said to Hutchins, "you have so unpleasant a +disposition that somebody we both know of is better off than he +thinks he is!" + +Tish's fury knew no bounds, for there we were marooned and two +of us wet to the skin. I must say for Hutchins, however, that +when she learned about Aggie she was bitterly repentant, and +insisted on putting her own sweater on her. But there we were +and there we should likely stay. + +It was quite dark by that time, and we sat in the launch, +rocking gently. The canoeing party had lighted a large fire on +the beach, using the driftwood we had so painfully accumulated. + +We sat in silence, except that Tish, who was watching our camp, +said once bitterly that she was glad there were three beds in +the tent. The girls of the canoeing party would be comfortable. + +After a time Tish turned on Mr. McDonald sharply. "Since you +claim to be no spy," she said, "perhaps you will tell us what +brings you alone to this place? Don't tell me it's fish--I've +seen you reading, with a line out. You're no fisherman." + +He hesitated. "No," he admitted. "I'll be frank, Miss Carberry. +I did not come to fish." + +"What brought you?" + +"Love," he said, in a low tone. "I don't expect you to believe +me, but it's the honest truth." + +"Love!" Tish scoffed. + +"Perhaps I'd better tell you the story," he said. "It's long and- + - and rather sad." + +"Love stories," Hutchins put in coldly, "are terribly stupid, +except to those concerned." + +"That," he retorted, "is because you have never been in love. +You are young and--you will pardon the liberty?--attractive; but +you are totally prosaic and unromantic." + +"Indeed!" she said, and relapsed into silence. + +"These other ladies," Mr. McDonald went on, "will understand the +strangeness of my situation when I explain that the--the young +lady I care for is very near; is, in fact, within sight." + +"Good gracious!" said Aggie. "Where?" + +"It is a long story, but it may help to while away the long +night hours; for I dare say we are here for the night. Did any +one happen to notice the young lady in the first canoe, in the +pink tam-o'-shanter?" + +We said we had--all except Hutchins, who, of coarse, had not +seen her. Mr. McDonald got a wet cigarette from his pocket and, +finding a box of matches on the seat, made an attempt to dry it +over the flames; so his story was told in the flickering light +of one match after another. + +VI + +"I am," Mr. McDonald said, as the cigarette steamed, "the son of +poor but honest parents. All my life I have been obliged to +labor. You may say that my English is surprisingly pure, under +such conditions. As a matter of fact, I educated myself at +night, using a lantern in the top of my father's stable." + +"I thought you said he was poor," Hutchins put in nastily. "How +did he have a stable?" + +"He kept a livery stable. Any points that are not clear I will +explain afterward. Once the thread of a narrative is broken, it +is difficult to resume, Miss Hutchins. Near us, in a large +house, lived the lady of my heart." + +"The pink tam-o'-shanter girl!" said Aggie. "I begin to +understand." + +"But," he added, "near us also lived a red-headed boy. She liked +him very much, and even in the long-ago days I was fiercely +jealous of him. It may surprise you to know that in those days I +longed--fairly longed--for red hair and a red mustache." + +"I hate to interrupt," said Hutchins; "but did he have a +mustache as a boy?" + +He ignored her. "We three grew up together. The girl is +beautiful- -you've probably noticed that--and amiable. The one +thing I admire in a young woman is amiability. It would not, for +instance, have occurred to her to isolate an entire party on the +bosom of a northern and treacherous river out of pure temper." + +"To think," said Aggie softly, "that she is just over there by +the camp-fire! Don't you suppose, if she loves you, she senses +your nearness?" + +"That's it exactly," he replied in a gloomy voice, "if she loves +me! But does she? In other words, has she come up the river to +meet me or to meet my rival? She knows we are here. Both of us +have written her. The presence of one or the other of us is the +real reason for this excursion of hers. But again the question +is- -which?" + +Here the match he was holding under the cigarette burned his +fingers and he flung it overboard with a violent gesture. + +"The detective, of coarse," said Tish. "I knew it from the +beginning of your story." + +"The detective," he assented. "You see his very profession +attracts. There's an element of romance in it. I myself have +kept on with my father and now run the--er--livery stable. My +business is a handicap from a romantic point of view. + +"I am aware," Mr. McDonald went on, "that it is not customary to +speak so frankly of affairs of this sort; but I have two +reasons. It hurts me to rest under unjust suspicion. I am no +spy, ladies. And the second reason is even stronger. Consider my +desperate position: In the morning my rival will see her; he +will paddle his canoe to the great rock below your camp and sing +his love song from the water. In the morning I shall sit here +helpless-- ill, possibly--and see all that I value in life slip +out of my grasp. And all through no fault of my own! Things are +so evenly balanced, so little will shift the weight of her +favor, that frankly the first one to reach her will get her." + +I confess I was thrilled. And even Tish was touched; but she +covered her emotion with hard common sense. + +"What's her name?" she demanded. + +"Considering my frankness I must withhold that. Why not simply +refer to her as the pink tam-o'-shanter--or, better still and +more briefly, the P.T.S.? That may stand for pink tam-o'- +shanter, or the Person That Smiles,--she smiles a great deal,-- +or--or almost anything." + +"It also stands," said Hutchins, with a sniff, "for Pretty Tall +Story." + +Tish considered her skepticism unworthy in one so young, and +told her so; on which she relapsed into a sulky silence. + +In view of what we knew, the bonfire at our camp and the small +figure across the river took on a new significance. + +As Aggie said, to think of the red-haired man sleeping calmly +while his lady love was so near and his rival, so to speak, +_hors de combat!_ Shortly after finishing his story, Mr. +McDonald went to the stern of the boat and lifted the anchor +rope. + +"It is possible," he said, "that the current will carry us to my +island with a little judicious management. Even though we miss +it, we'll hardly be worse off than we are." + +It was surprising we had not thought of it before, for the plan +succeeded admirably. By moving a few feet at a time and then +anchoring, we made slow but safe progress, and at last touched +shore. We got out, and Mr. McDonald built a large fire, near +which we put Aggie to steam. His supper, which he had not had +time to eat, he generously divided, and we heated the tea. +Hutchins, however, refused to eat. + +Warmth and food restored Tish's mind to its usual keenness. I +recall now the admiration in Mr. McDonald's eyes when she +suddenly put down the sandwich she was eating and exclaimed:-- + +"The flags, of course! He told her to watch for a red flag as +she came up the river; so when the party saw ours they landed. +Perhaps they still think it is his camp and that he is away +overnight." + +"That's it, exactly," he said. "Think of the poor wretch's +excitement when he saw your flag!" + +Still, on looking back, it seems curious that we overlooked the +way the red-headed man had followed Hutchins about. True, men +are polygamous animals, Tish says, and are quite capable of +following one woman about while they are sincerely in love with +somebody else. But, when you think of it, the detective had +apparently followed Hutchins from the start, and had gone into +the wilderness to be near her, with only a suitcase and a +mackintosh coat; which looked like a mad infatuation. + +[Tish says she thought of this at the time, and that; from what +she had seen of the P.T.S., Hutchins was much prettier. But she +says she decided that men often love one quality in one girl and +another in another; that he probably loved Hutchins's beauty and +the amiability of the P.T.S. Also, she says, she reflected that +the polygamy of the Far East is probably due to this tendency in +the male more than to a preponderance of women.] + +Tish called me aside while Mr. McDonald was gathering firewood. +"I'm a fool and a guilty woman, Lizzie," she said. "Because of +an unjust suspicion I have possibly wrecked this poor boy's +life." + +I tried to soothe her. "They might have been wretchedly unhappy +together, Tish," I said; "and, anyhow, I doubt whether he is +able to support a wife. There's nothing much in keeping a livery +stable nowadays." + +"There's only one thing that still puzzles me," Tish observed: +"granting that the grocery order was a grocery order, what about +the note?" + +We might have followed this line of thought, and saved what +occurred later, but that a new idea suddenly struck Tish. She is +curious in that way; her mind works very rapidly at times, and +because I cannot take her mental hurdles, so to speak, she is +often impatient. + +"Lizzie," she said suddenly, "did you notice that when the +anchor was lifted, we drifted directly to this island? Don't +stare at me like that. Use your wits." + +When I failed instantly to understand, however, she turned +abruptly and left me, disappearing in the shadows. + +For the next hour nothing happened. Tish was not in sight and +Aggie slept by the fire. Hutchins sat with her chin cupped in +her hands, and Mr. McDonald gathered driftwood. + +Hutchins only spoke once. "I'm awfully sorry about the canoe, +Miss Lizzie," she said; "it was silly and--and selfish. I don't +always act like a bad child. The truth is, I'm rather upset and +nervous. I hate to be thwarted--I'm sorry I can't explain any +further." + +I was magnanimous. "I'm sure, until to-night, you've been +perfectly satisfactory," I said; "but it seems extraordinary +that you should dislike men the way you do." + +She only eyed me searchingly. + +It is my evening custom to prepare for the night by taking my +switch off and combing and braiding my hair; so, as we seemed to +be settled for the night, I asked Mr. McDonald whether the camp +afforded an extra comb. He brought out a traveling-case at once +from the tent and opened it. + +"Here's a comb," he said. "I never use one. I'm sorry this is +all I can supply." + +My eyes were glued to the case. It was an English traveling- +case, with gold-mounted fittings. He saw me staring at it and +changed color. + +"Nice bag, isn't it?" he said. "It was a gift, of course. The-- +the livery stable doesn't run much to this sort of thing." + +But the fine edge of suspicion had crept into my mind again. + + +Tish did not return to the fire for some time. Before she came +back we were all thoroughly alarmed. The island was small, and a +short search convinced us that she was not on it! + +We wakened Aggie and told her, and the situation was very +painful. The launch was where we had left it. Mr. McDonald +looked more and more uneasy. + +"My sane mind tells me she's perfectly safe," he said. "I don't +know that I've ever met a person more able to take care of +herself; but it's darned odd--that's all I can say." + +Just as he spoke a volley of shots sounded from up the river +near our camp, two close together and then one; and somebody +screamed. + +It was very dark. We could see lanterns flashing at our camp and +somebody was yelling hoarsely. One lantern seemed to run up and +down the beach in mad excitement, and then, out of the far-off +din, Aggie, whose ears are sharp, suddenly heard the splash of a +canoe paddle. + +I shall tell Tish's story of what happened as she told it to +Charlie Sands two weeks or so later. + +"It is perfectly simple," she said, "and it's stupid to make +such a fuss over it. Don't talk to me about breaking the law! +The girl came; I didn't steal her." + +Charlie Sands, I remember, interrupted at that moment to remind +her that she had shot a hole in the detective's canoe; but this +only irritated her. + +"Certainly I did," she snapped; "but it's perfectly idiotic of +him to say that it took off the heel of his shoe. In that stony +country it's always easy to lose a heel." + +But to return to Tish's story:-- + +"It occurred to me," she said, "that, if the launch had drifted +to Mr. McDonald's island, the canoe might have done so too; so I +took a look round. I'd been pretty much worried about having +called the boy a spy when he wasn't, and it worried me to think +that he couldn't get away from the place. I never liked the red- +haired man. He was cruel to Aggie's cat--but we've told you +that. + +"I knew that in the morning the detective would see the P.T.S., +as we called her, and he could get over and propose before +breakfast. But when I found the canoe--yes, I found it-- I +didn't intend to do anything more than steal the detective's +boat." + +"Is that all?" said Charlie Sands sarcastically. "You disappoint +me, Aunt Letitia! With all the chances you had--to burn his +pitiful little tent, for instance, or steal his suitcase--" + +"But on my way," Tish went on with simple dignity, "it occurred +to me that I could move things a step farther by taking the girl +to Mr. McDonald and letting him have his chance right away. +Things went well from the start, for she was standing alone, +looking out over the river. It was dark, except for the +starlight, and I didn't know it was she. I beached the canoe and +she squealed a little when I spoke to her." + +"Just what," broke in Charlie Sands, "does one say under such +circumstances? Sometime I may wish to abduct a young woman and +it is well to be prepared." + +"I told her the young man she had expected was on Island Eleven +and had sent me to get her. She was awfully excited. She said +they'd seen his signal, but nothing of him. And when they'd +found a number of feminine things round they all felt a little-- +well, you can understand. She went back to get a coat, and while +she was gone I untied the canoes and pushed them out into the +river. I'm thorough, and I wasn't going to have a lot of people +interfering before we got things fixed." + +It was here, I think, that Charlie Sands gave a low moan and +collapsed on the sofa. "Certainly!" he said in a stifled voice. +"I believe in being thorough. And, of course, a few canoes more +or less do not matter." + +"Later," Tish said, "I knew I'd been thoughtless about the +canoes; but, of course, it was too late then." + +"And when was it that you assaulted the detective?" + +"He fired first," said Tish. "I never felt more peaceable in my +life. It's absurd for him to say that he was watching our camp, +as he had every night we'd been there. Who asked him to guard +us? And the idea of his saying he thought we were Indians +stealing things, and that he fired into the air! The bullets +sang past me. I had hardly time to get my revolver out of my +stocking." + +"And then?" asked Charlie Sands. + +"And then," said Tish, "we went calmly down the river to Island +Eleven. We went rapidly, for at first the detective did not know +I had shot a hole in his canoe, and he followed us. It stands to +reason that if I'd shot his heel off he'd have known there was a +hole in the boat. Luckily the girl was in the bottom of the +canoe when she fainted or we might have been upset." + +It was at this point, I believe, that Charlie Sands got his hat +and opened the door. + +"I find," he said, "that I cannot stand any more at present, +Aunt Tish. I shall return when I am stronger." + + +So I shall go back to my own narrative. Really my justification +is almost complete. Any one reading to this point will realize +the injustice of the things that have been said about us. + +We were despairing of Tish, as I have said, when we heard the +shots and then the approach of a canoe. Then Tish hailed us. + +"Quick, somebody!" she said. "I have a cramp in my right leg." + +[The canoeing position, kneeling as one must, had been always +very trying for her. She frequently developed cramps, which only +a hot footbath relieved.] + +Mr. McDonald waded out into the water. Our beach fire +illuminated the whole scene distinctly, and when he saw the +P.T.S. huddled in the canoe he stopped as though he had been +shot. + +"How interesting!" said Hutchins from the bank, in her cool +voice. + +I remember yet Tish, stamping round on her cramped limb and +smiling benevolently at all of us. The girl, however, looked +startled and unhappy, and a little dizzy. Hutchins helped her to +a fallen tree. + +"Where--where is he?" said the P.T.S. + +Tish stared at her. "Bless the girl!" she said. "Did you think I +meant the other one?" + +"I--What other one?" + +Tish put her hand on Mr. McDonald's arm. "My dear girl," she +said, "this young man adores you. He's all that a girl ought to +want in the man she loves. I have done him a grave injustice and +he has borne it nobly. Come now--let me put your hand in his and +say you will marry him." + +"Marry him!" said the P.T.S. "Why, I never saw him in my life +before!" + +We had been so occupied with this astounding scene that none of +us had noticed the arrival of the detective. He limped rapidly +up the bank--having lost his heel, as I have explained--and, +dripping with water, confronted us. When a red-haired person is +pale, he is very pale. And his teeth showed. + +He ignored all of us but the P.T.S., who turned and saw him, and +went straight into his arms in the most unmaidenly fashion. + +"By Heaven," he said, "I thought that elderly lunatic had taken +you off and killed you!" + +He kissed her quite frantically before all of us; and then, with +one arm round her, he confronted Tish. + +"I'm through!" he said. "I'm done! There isn't a salary in the +world that will make me stay within gunshot of you another day." +He eyed her fiercely. "You are a dangerous woman, madam," he +said. "I'm going to bring a charge against you for abduction and +assault with intent to kill. And if there's any proof needed +I'll show my canoe, full of water to the gunwale." + +Here he kissed the girl again. + +"You--you know her?" gasped Mr. McDonald, and dropped on a tree- +trunk, as though he were too weak to stand. + +"It looks like it, doesn't it?" + +Here I happened to glance at Hutchins, and she was convulsed +with mirth! Tish saw her, too, and glared at her; but she seemed +to get worse. Then, without the slightest warning, she walked +round the camp-fire and kissed Mr. McDonald solemnly on the top +of his head. + +"I give it up!" she said. "Somebody will have to marry you and +take care of you. I'd better be the person." + + +"But why was the detective watching Hutchins? " said Charlie +Sands. "Was it because he had heard of my Aunt Letitia's +reckless nature? I am still bewildered." + +"You remember the night we got the worms?" + +"I see. The detective was watching all of you because you stole +the worms." + +"Stole nothing!" Tish snapped. "That's the girl's house. She's +the Miss Newcomb you read about in the papers. Now do you +understand?" + +"Certainly I do. She was a fugitive from justice because the cat +found dynamite in the woods. Or--perhaps I'm a trifle confused, +but--Now I have it! She had stolen a gold-mounted traveling-bag +and given it to McDonald. Lucky chap! I was crazy about Hutchins +myself. You might tip her the word that I'm badly off for a +traveling-case myself. But what about the P.T.S.? How did she +happen on the scene?" + +"She was engaged to the detective, and she was camping down the +river. He had sent her word where he was. The red flag was to +help her find him." + +Tish knows Charlie Sands, so she let him talk. Then:-- + +"Mr. McDonald was too wealthy, Charlie," she said; "so when she +wanted him to work and be useful, and he refused, she ran off +and got a situation herself to teach him a lesson. She could +drive a car. But her people heard about it, and that wretched +detective was responsible for her safety. That's why he followed +her about." + +"I should like to follow her about myself," said Charlie Sands. +"Do you think she's unalterably decided to take McDonald, money +and all? He's still an idler. Lend me your car, Aunt Tish. +There's a theory there; and--who knows?" + +"He is going to work for six months before she marries him," +Tish said. "He seems to like to work, now he has started." + +She rang the bell and Hannah came to the door. + +"Hannah," said Tish calmly, "call up the garage and tell +McDonald to bring the car round. Mr. Sands is going out." + + + +MY COUNTRY TISH OF THEE-- + +We had meant to go to Europe this last summer, and Tish would +have gone anyhow, war or no war, if we had not switched her off +onto something else. "Submarines fiddlesticks!" she said. "Give +me a good life preserver, with a bottle of blackberry cordial +fastened to it, and the sea has no terrors for me." + +She said the proper way to do, in case the ship was torpedoed, +was to go up on an upper deck, and let the vessel sink under +one. + +"Then without haste," she explained, "as the water rises about +one, strike out calmly. The life-belt supports one, but swim +gently for the exercise. It will prevent chilling. With a +waterproof bag of crackers, and mild weather, one could go on +comfortably for a day or two." + +I still remember the despairing face Aggie turned to me. It was +December then, and very cold. + +However, she said nothing more until January. Early in that +month Charlie Sands came to Tish's to Sunday dinner, and we were +all there. The subject came up then. + +It was about the time Tish took up vegetarianism, I remember +that, because the only way she could induce Charlie Sands to +come to dinner was to promise to have two chops for him. +Personally I am not a vegetarian. I am not and never will be. I +took a firm stand except when at Tish's home. But Aggie followed +Tish's lead, of course, and I believe lived up to it as far as +possible, although it is quite true that, stopping in one day +unexpectedly to secure a new crochet pattern, I smelled broiling +steak. But Aggie explained that she merely intended to use the +juice from a small portion, having had one of her weak spells, +the balance to go to the janitor's dog. + +However, this is a digression. + +"Europe!" said Charlie Sands. "Forget it! What in the name of +the gastric juice is this I'm eating?" + +It was a mixture of bran, raisins, and chopped nuts, as I recall +it, moistened with water and pressed into a compact form. It was +Tish's own invention. She called it "Bran-Nut," and was talking +of making it in large quantities for sale. + +Charlie Sands gave it up with a feeble gesture. "I'm sorry, Aunt +Letitia," he said at last; "I'm a strong man ordinarily, but by +the time I've got it masticated I'm too weak to swallow it. If-- +if one could have a stream of water playing on it while working, +it would facilitate things." + +"The Ostermaiers," said Aggie, "are going West." + +"Good for the Ostermaiers," said Charlie Sands. "Great idea. See +America first. 'My Country Tish of Thee,' etc. Why don't you +three try it?" + +Tish relinquished Europe slowly. + +"One would think," Charlie Sands said, "that you were a German +being asked to give up Belgium." + +"What part of the West?" she demanded. "It's all civilized, +isn't it?" + +"The Rocky Mountains," said Charlie Sands, "will never be +civilized." + +Tish broke off a piece of Bran-Nut, and when she thought no one +was looking poured a little tea over it. There was a gleam in +her eye that Aggie and I have learned to know. + +"Mountains!" she said. "That ought to be good for Aggie's hay +fever." + +"I'd rather live with hay fever," Aggie put in sharply, "than +cure it by falling over a precipice." + +"You'll have to take a chance on that, of course," Charlie Sands +said. "I'm not sure it will be safe, but I am sure it will be +interesting." + +Oh, he knew Tish well enough. Tell her a thing was dangerous, +and no power could restrain her. + +I do not mind saying that I was not keen about the thing. I had +my fortune told years ago, and the palmist said that if a +certain line had had a bend in it I should have been hanged. But +since it did not, to be careful of high places. + +"It's a sporting chance," said Charlie Sands, although I was +prodding him under the table. "With some good horses and a bag +of this--er--concentrated food, you would have the time of your +young lives." + +This was figurative. We are all of us round fifty. + +"The--the Bran-Nut," he said, "would serve for both food and +ammunition. I can see you riding along, now and then dropping a +piece of it on the head of some unlucky mountain goat, and +watching it topple over into eternity. I can see--" + +"Riding!" said Aggie. "Then I'm not going. I leave never been on +a horse and I never intend to be." + +"Don't be a fool," Tish snapped. "If you've never been on a +horse, it's time and to spare you got on one." + +Hannah had been clearing the table with her lips shut tight. +Hannah is an old and privileged servant and has a most +unfortunate habit of speaking her mind. So now she stopped +beside Tish. + +"You take my advice and go, Miss Tish," she said. "If you ride a +horse round some and get an appetite, you'll go down on your +knees and apologize to your Maker for the stuff we've been +eating the last four weeks." She turned to Charlie Sands, and +positively her chin was quivering. "I'm a healthy woman," she +said, "and I work hard and need good nourishing food. When it's +come to a point where I eat the cat's meat and let it go +hungry," she said, "it's time either I lost my appetite or Miss +Tish went away." + +Well, Tish dismissed Hannah haughtily from the room, and the +conversation went on. None of us had been far West, although +Tish has a sister-in-law in, Toledo, Ohio. But owing to a +quarrel over a pair of andirons that had been in the family for +a time, she had never visited her. + +"You'll like it, all of you," Charlie Sands said as we waited +for the baked apples. "Once get started with a good horse +between your knees, and--" + +"I hope," Tish interrupted him, "that you do not think we are +going to ride astride!" + +"I'm darned sure of it." + +That was Charlie Sands's way of talking. He does not mean to be +rude, and he is really a young man of splendid character. But, +as Tish says, contact with the world, although it has not +spoiled him, has roughened his speech. + +"You see," he explained, "there are places our there where the +horses have to climb like goats. It's only fair to them to +distribute your weight equally. A side saddle is likely to turn +and drop you a mile or two down a crack." + +Aggie went rather white and sneezed violently. + +But Tish looked thoughtful. "It sounds reasonable," she said. +"I've felt for along time that I'd be glad to discard skirts. +Skirts," she said, "are badge of servitude, survivals of the +harem, reminders of a time when nothing was expected of women +but parasitic leisure." + +I tried to tell her that she was wrong about the skirts. Miss +MacGillicuddy, our missionary in India, had certainly said that +the women in harems wore bloomers. But Tish left the room +abruptly, returning shortly after with a volume of the +encyclopedia, and looked up the Rocky Mountains. + +I remember it said that the highest ranges were, as compared +with the size and shape of the earth, only as the corrugations +on the skin of an orange. Either the man who wrote that had +never seen an orange or he had never seen the Rocky Mountains. +Orange, indeed! If he had said the upper end of a pineapple it +would have been more like it. I wish the man who wrote it would +go to Glacier Park. I am not a vindictive woman, but I know one +or two places where I would like to place him and make him +swallow that orange. I'd like to see him on a horse, on the +brink of a canon a mile deep, and have his horse reach over the +edge for a stray plant or two, or standing in a cloud up to his +waist, so that, as Aggie so plaintively observed, "The lower +half of one is in a snowstorm while the upper part is getting +sunburned." + +For we went. Oh, yes, we went. It is not the encyclopaedia's +fault that we came back. But now that we are home, and nothing +wrong except a touch of lumbago that Tish got from sleeping on +the ground, and, of course, Aggie's unfortunate experience with +her teeth, I look back on our various adventures with pleasure. +I even contemplate a return next year, although Aggie says she +will die first. But even that is not to be taken as final. The +last time I went to see her, she had bought a revolver from the +janitor and was taking lessons in loading it. + +The Ostermaiers went also. Not with us, however. The +congregation made up a purse for the purpose, and Tish and Aggie +and I went further, and purchased a cigar-case for Mr. +Ostermaier and a quantity of cigars. Smoking is the good man's +only weakness. + +I must say, however, that it is absurd to hear Mrs. Ostermaier +boasting of the trip. To hear her talk, one would think they had +done the whole thing, instead of sitting in an automobile and +looking up at the mountains. I shall never forget the day they +were in a car passing along a road, and we crossed unexpectedly +ahead of them and went on straight up the side of a mountain. + +Tish had a sombrero on the side of her head, and was resting +herself in the saddle by having her right leg thrown negligently +over the horse's neck. With the left foot she was kicking our +pack-horse, a creature so scarred with brands that Tish had +named her Jane, after a cousin of hers who had had so many +operations that Tish says she is now entirely unfurnished. + +Mr. Ostermaier's face was terrible, and only two days ago Mrs. +Ostermaier came over to ask about putting an extra width in the +skirt to her last winter's suit. But it is my belief that she +came to save Tish's soul, and nothing else. + +"I'm so glad wide skirts have come in," she said. "They're so +modest, aren't they, Miss Tish?" + +"Not in a wind," Tish said, eying her coldly. + +"I do think, dear Miss Tish," she went on with her eyes down, +"that to--to go about in riding-breeches before a young man is-- +well, it is hardly discreet, is it?" + +I saw Tish glancing about the room. She was pretty angry, and I +knew perfectly well what she wanted. I put my knitting-bag over +Charlie Sands's tobacco-pouch. + +Tish had learned to roll cigarettes out in Glacier Park. Not +that she smoked them, of course, but she said she might as well +know how. There was no knowing when it would come in handy. And +when she wishes to calm herself she reaches instinctively for +what Bill used to call, strangely, "the makings." + +"If," she said, her eye still roving,--"if it was any treat to a +twenty-four-year-old cowpuncher to see three elderly women in +riding-breeches, Mrs. Ostermaier,--and it's kind of you to think +so,--why, I'm not selfish." + +Mrs. Ostermaier's face was terrible. She gathered up her skirt +and rose. "I shall not tell Mr. Ostermaier what you have just +said," she observed with her mouth set hard. "We owe you a great +deal, especially the return of my earrings. But I must request, +Miss Tish, that you do not voice such sentiments in the Sunday +school." + +Tish watched her out. Then she sat down and rolled eleven +cigarettes for Charlie Sands, one after the other. At last she +spoke. + +"I'm not sure," she said tartly, "that if I had it to do over +again I'd do it. That woman's not a Christian. I was thinking," +she went on, "of giving them a part of the reward to go to +Asbury Park with. But she'd have to wear blinders on the bathing- + beach, so I'll not do it." + +However, I am ahead of my recital. + +For a few days Tish said nothing more, but one Sunday morning, +walking home from church, she turned to me suddenly and said:-- + +"Lizzie, you're fat." + +"I'm as the Lord made me," I replied with some spirit. + +"Fiddlesticks!" said Tish. "You're as your own sloth and +overindulgence has made you. Don't blame the Good Man for it." + +Now, I am a peaceful woman, and Tish is as my own sister, and +indeed even more so. But I was roused to anger by her speech. + +"I've been fleshy all my life," I said. "I'm no lazier than +most, and I'm a dratted sight more agreeable than some I know, +on account of having the ends of my nerves padded." + +But she switched to another subject in her characteristic +manner. + +"Have you ever reflected, either of you," she observed, "that we +know nothing of this great land of ours? That we sing of loving +'thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills'--although the +word 'templed' savors of paganism and does not belong in a +national hymn? And that it is all balderdash?" + +Aggie took exception to this and said that she loved her native +land, and had been south to Pinehurst and west to see her niece +in Minneapolis, on account of the baby having been named for +her. + +But Tish merely listened with a grim smile. "Travel from a car +window," she observed, "is no better than travel in a +nickelodeon. I have done all of that I am going to. I intend to +become acquainted with my native land, closely acquainted. State +by State I shall wander over it, refreshing soul and body and +using muscles too long unused." + +"Tish!" Aggie quavered. "You are not going on another walking- +tour?" + +Only a year or two before Tish had read Stevenson's "Travels +with a Donkey," and had been possessed to follow his example. I +have elsewhere recorded the details of that terrible trip. Even +I turned pale, I fear, and cast a nervous eye toward the table +where Tish keeps her reading-matter. + +Tish is imaginative, and is always influenced by the latest book +she has read. For instance, a volume on "Nursing at the Front" +almost sent her across to France, although she cannot make a bed +and never could, and turns pale at the sight of blood; and +another time a book on flying machines sent her up into the air, +mentally if not literally. I shall never forgo the time she +secured some literature on the Mormon Church, and the difficulty +I had in smuggling it out under my coat. + +Tish did not refute the walking-tour at once, bud fell into a +deep reverie. + +It is not her custom to confide her plans to us until they are +fully shaped and too far on to be interfered with, which +accounts for our nervousness. + +On arriving at her apartment, however, we found a map laid out +on the table and the Rocky Mountains marked with pins. We +noticed that whenever she straightened from the table she +grunted. + +"What we want," Tish said, "is isolation. No people. No crowds. +No servants. If I don't get away from Hannah soon I'll murder +her." + +"It wouldn't hurt to see somebody now and then, Tish," Aggie +objected. + +"Nobody," Tish said firmly. "A good horse is companion enough." +She forgot herself and straightened completely, and she groaned. + +"We might meet some desirable people, Tish," I put in firmly. +"If we do, I don't intend to run like rabbit." + +"Desirable people!" Tish scoffed. "In the Rocky Mountains! My +dear Lizzie, every desperado in the country takes refuge in the +Rockies. Of course, if you want to take up with that class--" + +Aggie sneezed and looked wretched. As for me, I made up my mind +then and there that if Letitia Carberry was going to such a +neighborhood, she was not going alone. I am not much with a +revolver, but mighty handy with a pair of lungs. + +Well, Tish had it all worked out. "I've found the very place," +she said. "In the first place, it's Government property. When +our country puts aside a part of itself as a public domain we +should show our appreciation. In the second place, it's wild. +I'd as soon spend a vacation in Central Park near the Zoo as in +the Yellowstone. In the third place, with an Indian reservation +on one side and a national forest on the other, it's bound to be +lonely. Any tourist," she said scornfully, "can go to the +Yosemite and be photographed under a redwood tree." + +"Do the Indians stay on the reservation?" Aggie asked feebly. + +"Probably not," Tish observed coldly. "Once for all, Aggie--if +you are going to run like a scared deer every time you see an +Indian or a bear, I wish you would go to Asbury Park." + +She forgot herself then and sat down quickly, an action which +was followed by an agonized expression. + +"Tish," I said sharply, "you have been riding a horse! + +"Only in a cinder ring," she replied with unwonted docility. +"The teacher said I would be a trifle stiff." + +"How long did you ride?" + +"Not more than twenty minutes," she said. "The lesson was to be +an hour, but somebody put a nickel in a mechanical piano, and +the creature I was on started going sideways." + +Well, she had fallen off and had to be taken home in a taxicab. +When Aggie heard it she simply took the pins out of the map and +stuck them in Tish's cushion. Her mouth was set tight. + +"I didn't really fall," Tish said. "I sat down, and it was +cinders, and not hard. It has made my neck stiff, that's all." + +"That's enough," said Aggie. "If I've got to seek pleasure by +ramming my spinal column up into my skull and crowding my +brains, I'll stay at home." + +"You can't fall out of a Western saddle," Tish protested rather +bitterly. "And if I were you, Aggie, I wouldn't worry about +crowding my brains." + +However, she probably regretted this speech, for she added more +gently: "A high altitude will help your hay fever, Aggie." + +Aggie said with some bitterness that her hay fever did not need +to be helped. That, as far as she could see, it was strong and +flourishing. At that matters rested, except for a bit of +conversation just before we left. Aggie had put on her sweater +vest and her muffler and the jacket of her winter suit and was +getting into her fur coat, when Tish said: "Soft as mush, both +of you!" + +"If you think, Tish Carberry," I began, "that I--" + +"Apple dumplings!" said Tish. "Sofa pillows! Jellyfish! Not a +muscle to divide between you!" + +I drew on my woolen tights angrily. + +"Elevators!" Tish went on scornfully. "Street cars and taxicabs! +No wonder your bodies are mere masses of protoplasm, or +cellulose, or whatever it is." + +"Since when," said Aggie, "have you been walking to develop +yourself, Tish? I must say--" + +Here anger brought on one of her sneezing attacks, and she was +unable to finish. + +Tish stood before us oracularly. "After next September," she +said, "you will both scorn the sloth of civilization. You will +move about for the joy of moving about. You will have cast off +the shackles of the flesh and be born anew. That is, if a plan +of mine goes through. Lizzie, you will lose fifty pounds!" + +Well, I didn't want to lose fifty pounds. After our summer in +the Maine woods I had gone back to find that my new tailor-made +coat, which had fitted me exactly, and being stiffened with +haircloth kept its shape off and looked as if I myself were +hanging to the hook, had caved in on me in several places. Just +as I had gone to the expense of having it taken in I began to +put on flesh again, and had to have it let out. Besides, no +woman over forty should ever reduce, at least not violently. She +wrinkles. My face that summer had fallen into accordion plaits, +and I had the curious feeling of having enough skin for two. + +Aggie had suggested at that time that I have my cheeks filled +out with paraffin, which I believe cakes and gives the +appearance of youth. But Mrs. Ostermaier knew a woman who had +done so, and being hit on one side by a snowball, the padding +broke in half, one part moving up under her eye and the second +lodging at the angle of her jaw. She tried lying on a hot-water +bottle to melt the pieces and bring them together again, but +they did not remain fixed, having developed a wandering habit +and slipping unexpectedly now and then. Mrs. Ostermaier says it +is painful to watch her holding them in place when she yawns. + +Strangely enough, however, a few weeks later Tish's enthusiasm +for the West had apparently vanished. When several weeks went by +and the atlas had disappeared from her table, and she had given +up vegetarianism for Swedish movements, we felt that we were to +have a quiet summer after all, and Aggie wrote to a hotel in +Asbury Park about rooms for July and August. + +There was a real change in Tish. She stopped knitting abdominal +bands for the soldiers in Europe, for one thing, although she +had sent over almost a dozen very tasty ones. In the evenings, +when we dropped in to chat with her, she said very little and +invariably dozed in her chair. + +On one such occasion, Aggie having inadvertently stepped on the +rocker of her chair while endeavoring by laying a hand on Tish's +brow to discover if she was feverish, the chair tilted back and +Tish wakened with a jerk. + +She immediately fell to groaning and clasped her hands to the +small of her back, quite ignoring poor Aggie, whom the chair had +caught in the epigastric region, and who was compelled for some +time to struggle for breath. + +"Jumping Jehoshaphat!" said Tish in an angry tone. It is rare +for Tish to use the name of a Biblical character in this way, +but she was clearly suffering. "What in the world are you doing, +Aggie?" + +"T-t-trying to breathe," poor Aggie replied. + +"Then I wish," Tish said coldly, "that you would make the effort +some place else than on the rocker of my chair. You jarred me, +and I am in no state to be jarred." + +But she refused to explain further, beyond saying, in reply to a +question of mine, that she was not feverish and that she had not +been asleep, having merely closed her eyes to rest them. Also +she affirmed that she was not taking riding-lessons. We both +noticed however, that she did not leave her chair during the +time we were there, and that she was sitting on the sofa cushion +I had made her for the previous Christmas, and on which I had +embroidered the poet Moore's beautiful words: "Come, rest in +this bosom." + +As Aggie was still feeling faint, I advised her to take a +mouthful of blackberry cordial, which Tish keeps for emergencies +in her bathroom closet. Immediately following her departure the +calm of the evening was broken by a loud shriek. + +It appeared, on my rushing to the bathroom, while Tish sat +heartlessly still, that Aggie, not seeing a glass, had placed +the bottle to her lips and taken quite a large mouthful of +liniment, which in color resembled the cordial. I found her +sitting on the edge of the bathtub in a state of collapse. + +"I'm poisoned!" she groaned. "Oh, Lizzie, I am not fit to die!" + +I flew with the bottle to Tish, who was very calm and stealthily +rubbing one of her ankles. + +"Do her good," Tish said. "Take some of the stiffness out of her +liver, for one thing. But you might keep an eye on her. It's +full of alcohol." + +"What's the antidote?" I asked, hearing Aggie's low groans. + +"The gold cure is the only thing I can think of at the moment," +said Tish coldly, and started on the other ankle. + +I merely record this incident to show the change in Tish. Aggie +was not seriously upset, although dizzy for an hour or so and +very talkative, especially about Mr. Wiggins. + +Tish was changed. Her life, which mostly had been an open book +to us, became filled with mystery. There were whole days when +she was not to be located anywhere, and evenings, as I have +stated, when she dozed in her chair. + +As usual when we are worried about Tish, we consulted her +nephew, Charlie Sands. But like all members of the masculine sex +he refused to be worried. + +"She'll be all right," he observed. "She takes these spells. But +trust the old lady to come up smiling." + +"It's either Christian Science or osteopathy," Aggie said +dolefully. "She's not herself. The fruit cake she sent me the +other day tasted very queer, and Hannah thinks she put ointment +in instead of butter." + +"Ointments!" observed Charlie thoughtfully. "And salves! By +George, I wonder--I'll tell you," he said: "I'll keep an eye +open for a few days. The symptoms sound like--But never mind. +I'll let you know." + +We were compelled to be satisfied with this, but for several +days we lingered in anxiety. During that painful interval +nothing occurred to enlighten us, except one conversation with +Tish. + +We had taken dinner with her, and she seemed to be all right +again and more than usually active. She had given up the Bran- +Nut after breaking a tooth on it, and was eating rare beef, +which she had heard was digested in the spleen or some such +place, thus resting the stomach for a time. She left us, +however, immediately after the meal, and Hannah, her maid, +tiptoed into the room. + +"I'm that nervous I could scream," she said. "Do you know what +she's doing now? + +"No, Hannah," I said with bitter sarcasm. "Long ago I learned +never to surmise what Miss Tish is doing." + +"She's in the bathroom, standing on one foot and waving the +other in the air. She's been doing it," Hannah said, "for weeks. +First one foot, then the other. And that ain't all." + +"You've been spying on Miss Tish," Aggie said. "Shame on you, +Hannah!" + +"I have, Miss Aggie. Spy I have and spy I will, while there's +breath in my body. Twenty years have I--Do you know what she +does when she come home from these sneakin' trips of hers? She +sits in a hot bath until the wonder is that her blood ain't +turned to water. And after that she uses liniment. Her +underclothes is that stained up with it that I'm ashamed to hang +'em out." + +Here Tish returned and, after a suspicious glance at Hannah, sat +down. Aggie and I glanced at each other. She did not, as she had +for some time past, line the chair with pillows, and there was +an air about her almost of triumph. + +She did not, however, volunteer any explanation. Aggie and I +were driven to speculation, in which we indulged on our way +home, Aggie being my guest at the time, on account of her +janitor's children having measles, and Aggie never having had +them, although recalling a severe rash as a child, with other +measly symptoms. + +"She has something in mind for next summer," said Aggie +apprehensively, "and she is preparing her strength for it. Tish +is forehanded if nothing else." + +"Well," I remarked with some bitterness, "if we are going along +it might be well to prepare us too." + +"Something," Aggie continued, "that requires landing on one foot +with the other in the air." + +"Don't drivel," said I. "She's not likely going into the Russian +ballet. She's training her muscles, that's all." + +But the mystery was solved the following morning when Charlie +Sands called me up. + +"I've got it, beloved aunt," he said. + +"Got what?" said I. + + +"What the old lady is up to. She's a wonder, and no mistake. +Only I think it was stingy of her not to let you and Aunt Aggie +in." + +He asked me to get Aggie and meet him at the office as soon as +possible, but he refused to explain further. And he continued to +refuse until we had arrived at our destination, a large brick +building in the center of the city. + +"Now," he said, "take a long breath and go in. And mind--no +excitement." + +We went in. There was a band playing and people circling at a +mile a minute. In the center there was a cleared place, and Tish +was there on ice skates. An instructor had her by the arm, and +as we looked she waved him off, gave herself a shove forward +with one foot, and then, with her arms waving, she made a double +curve, first on one foot and then on the other. + +"The outside edge, by George!" said Charlie Sands. "The old +sport!" + +Unluckily at that moment Tish saw us, and sat down violently on +the ice. And a quite nice-looking young man fell over her and +lay stunned for several seconds. We rushed round the arena, +expecting to see them both carried out, but Tish was uninjured, +and came skating toward us with her hands in her pockets. It was +the young man who had to be assisted out. + +"Well," she said, fetching up against the railing with a bang, +"of course you had to come before I was ready for you! In a week +I'll really be skating." + +We said nothing, but looked at her, and I am afraid our glances +showed disapproval, for she straightened her hat with a jerk. + +"Well?" she said. "You're not tongue-tied all of a sudden, are +you? Can't a woman take a little exercise without her family and +friends coming snooping round and acting as if she'd broken the +Ten Commandments?" + +"Breaking the Ten Commandments!" I said witheringly. "Breaking a +leg more likely. If you could have seen yourself, Tish Carberry, +sprawled on the at your age, and both your arteries and your +bones brittle, as the specialist told you,--and I heard him +myself,--you'd take those things off your feet and go home and +hide your head." + +"I wish I had your breath, Lizzie," Tish said. "I'd be a +submarine diver." + +Saying which she skated off, and did not come near us again. A +young gentleman went up to her and asked her to skate, though I +doubt if she had ever seen him before. And as we left the +building in disapproval they were doing fancy turns in the +middle of the place, and a crowd was gathering round them. + +Owing to considerable feeling being roused by the foregoing +incident, we did not see much of Tish for a week. If a middle- +aged woman wants to make a spectacle of herself, both Aggie and +I felt that she needed to be taught a lesson. Besides, we knew +Tish. With her, to conquer a thing is to lose interest. + +On the anniversary of the day Aggie became engaged to Mr. +Wiggins, Tish asked us both to dinner, and we buried the +hatchet, or rather the skates. It was when dessert came that we +realized how everything that had occurred had been preparation +for the summer, and that we were not going to Asbury Park, after +all. + +"It's like this," said Tish. "Hannah, go out and close the door, +and don't stand listening. I have figured it all out," she said, +when Hannah had slammed out. "The muscles used in skating are +the ones used in mountain-climbing. Besides, there may be times +when a pair of skates would be handy going over the glaciers. +It's not called Glacier Park for nothing, I dare say. When we +went into the Maine woods we went unprepared. This time I intend +to be ready for any emergency." + +But we gave her little encouragement. We would go along, and +told her so. But further than that I refused to prepare. I would +not skate, and said so. + +"Very well, Lizzie," she said. "Don't blame me if you find +yourself unable to cope with mountain hardships. I merely felt +this way: if each of us could do one thing well it might be +helpful. There's always snow, and if Aggie would learn to use +snowshoes it might be valuable." + +"Where could I practice?" Aggie demanded. + +But Tish went on, ignoring Aggie's sarcastic tone. "And if you, +Lizzie, would learn to throw a lasso, or lariat,--I believe both +terms are correct,--it would be a great advantage, especially in +case of meeting ferocious animals. The park laws will not allow +us to kill them, and it would be mighty convenient, Lizzie. Not +to mention that it would be an accomplishment few women +possess." + +I refused to make the attempt, although Tish sent for the +clothesline, and with the aid of the encyclopoedia made a loop +in the end of it. Finally she became interested herself, and +when we left rather downhearted at ten o'clock she had caught +the rocking- chair three times and broken the clock. + +Aggie and I prepared with little enthusiasm, I must confess. We +had as much love for the rocks and rills of our great country as +Tish, but, as Aggie ob- served, there were rocks and rocks, and +one could love them without climbing up them or falling off +them. + +The only comfort we had was that Charlie Sands said that we +should ride ponies, and not horses. My niece's children have a +pony which is very gentle and not much larger than a dog, which +comes up on the porch for lumps of sugar. We were lured to a +false sense of security, I must say. + +As far as we could see, Tish was making few preparations for the +trip. She said we could get everything we needed at the park +entrance, and that the riding was merely sitting in a saddle and +letting the pony do the rest. But on the 2lst of June, the +anniversary of the day Aggie was to have been married, we went +out to decorate Mr. Wiggins's last resting-place, and coming out +of the cemetery we met Tish. + +She was on a horse, astride! + +She was not alone. A gentleman was riding beside her, and he had +her horse by a long leather strap. + +She pretended not to see us, and Aggie unfortunately waved her +red parasol at her. The result was most amazing. The beast she +was on jerked itself free in an instant, and with the same +movement, apparently, leaped the hedge beside the road. One +moment there was Tish, in a derby hat and breeches, and the next +moment there was only the gentleman, with his mouth open. + +Aggie collapsed, moaning, in the road, and beyond the hedge we +could hear the horse leaping tombstones in the cemetery. + +"Oh, Tish!" Aggie wailed. + +I broke my way through the hedge to find what was left of her, +while the riding-master bolted for the gate. But to my intense +surprise Tish was not on the ground. Then I saw her. She was +still on the creature, and she was coming back along the road, +with her riding-hat on the back of her head and a gleam in her +eye that I knew well enough was a gleam of triumph. + +She halted the thing beside me and looked down with a +patronizing air. + +"He's a trifle nervous this morning," she said calmly. "Hasn't +been worked enough. Good horse, though,--very neat jump." + +Then she rode on and out through the gates, ignoring Aggie's +pitiful wail and scorning the leading-string the instructor +offered. + +We reached Glacier Park without difficulty, although Tish +insisted on talking to the most ordinary people on the train, +and once, losing her, we found her in the drawing-room learning +to play bridge, although not a card-player, except for casino. +Though nothing has ever been said, I believe she learned when +too late that they were playing for money, as she borrowed ten +dollars from me late in the afternoon and was looking rather +pale. + +"What do you think?" she said, while I was getting the money +from the safety pocket under my skirt. "The young man who +knocked me down on the ice that day is on the train. I've just +exchanged a few words with him. He was not much hurt, although +unconscious for a short time. His name is Bell--James C. Bell." + +Soon after that Tish brought him to us, and we had a nice talk. +He said he had not been badly hurt on the ice, although he got a +cut on the forehead from Tish's skate, requiring two stitches. + +After a time he and Aggie went out on the platform, only +returning when Aggie got a cinder in her eye. + +"Just think," she said as he went for water to use in my eye- +cup, "he is going to meet the girl he is in love with out at the +park. She has been there for four weeks. They are engaged. He is +very much in love. He didn't talk of anything else." + +She told him she had confided his tender secret to us, and +instead of looking conscious he seemed glad to have three people +instead of one to talk to about her. + +"You see, it's like this," he said: "She is very good looking, +and in her town a moving-picture company has its studio. That +part's all right. I suppose we have to have movies. But the fool +of a director met her at a party, and said she would photograph +well and ought to be with them. He offered her a salary, and it +went to her head. She's young," he added, "and he said she could +be as great a hit as Mary Pickford." + +"How sad!" said Aggie. "But of course she refused?" + +"Well, no, she liked the idea. It got me worried. Worried her +people too. Her father's able to give her a good home, and I'm +expecting to take that job off his hands in about a year. But +girls are queer. She wanted to try it awfully." + +It developed that he had gone to her folks about it, and they'd +offered her a vacation with some of her school friends in +Glacier Park. + +"It's pretty wild out there," he went on, "and we felt that the +air, and horseback riding and everything, would make her forget +the movies. I hope so. She's there now. But she's had the bug +pretty hard. Got so she was always posing, without knowing it." + +But he was hopeful that she would be cured, and said she was to +meet him at the station. + +"She's an awfully nice girl, you understand," he finished. "It's +only that this thing got hold of her and needed driving out." + +Well, we were watching when the train drew in at Glacier Park +Station, and she was there. She was a very pretty girl, and it +was quite touching to see him look at her. But Aggie observed +something and remarked on it. + +"She's not as glad to see him as he is to see her," she said. +"He was going to kiss her, and she moved back." + +In the crowd we lost sight of them, but that evening, sitting in +the lobby of the hotel, we saw Mr. Bell wandering round alone. +He looked depressed, and Aggie beckoned to him. + +"How is everything?" she asked. "Is the cure working?" + +He dropped into a chair and looked straight ahead. + +"Not so you could notice it!" he said bitterly. "Would you +believe that there's a moving-picture outfit here, taking scenes +in the park" + +"No!" + +"There is. They've taken two thousand feet of her already, +dressed like an Indian," he said in a tone of suppressed fury. +"It makes me sick. I dare say if we tied her in a well some fool +would lower a camera on a rope." + +Just at that moment she sauntered past us with a reddish-haired +young man. Mr. Bell ignored her, although I saw her try to catch +his eye. + +"That's the moving-picture man with her," he said in a low, +violent tone when they had passed. "Name's Oliver." He groaned. +"He's told her she ought to go in for the business. She'd be a +second Mary Pickford! I'd like to kill him!" He rose savagely +and left us. + +We spent the night in the hotel at the park entrance, and I +could not get to sleep. Tish was busy engaging a guide and going +over our supplies, and at eleven o'clock Aggie came into my room +and sat down on the bed. + +"I can't sleep, Lizzie," she said. "That poor Mr. Bell is on my +mind. Besides, did you see those ferocious Indians hanging +round?" + +Well, I had seen them, but said nothing. + +"They would scalp one as quick as not," Aggie went on. "And +who's to know but that our guide will be in league with them? +I've lost my teeth," she said with a flash of spirit, "but so +far I've kept my hair, and mean to if possible. That old Indian +has a scalp tied to the end of a stick. Lizzie, I'm nervous." + +"If it is only hair they want, I don't mind their taking my +switch," I observed, trying to be facetious, although uneasy. As +to the switch, it no longer matched my hair, and I would have +parted from it without a pang. + +"And another thing," said Aggie: "Tish can talk about ponies +until she is black in the face. The creatures are horses. I've +seen them." + +Well, I knew that, too, by that time. As we walked to the hotel +from the train I had seen one of than carrying on. It was +arching its back like a cat that's just seen a strange dog, and +with every arch it swelled its stomach. At the third heave it +split the strap that held the saddle on, and then it kicked up +in the rear and sent saddle and rider over its head. So far as I +had seen, no casualty had resulted, but it had set me thinking. +Given a beast with an India-rubber spine and no sense of honor, +I felt I would be helpless. + +Tish came in just then and we confronted her. + +"Ponies!" I said bitterly. "They are horses, if I know a horse. +And, moreover, it's well enough for you, Tish Carberry, to talk +about gripping a horse with your knees. I'm not built that way, +and you know it. Besides, no knee grip will answer when a +creature begins to act like a cat in a fit." + +Aggie here had a bright idea. She said that she had seen +pictures of pneumatic jackets to keep people from drowning, and +that Mr. McKee, a buyer at one of the stores at home, had taken +one, fully inflated, when he crossed to Paris for autumn suits. + +"I would like to have one, Tish," she finished. "It would break +the force of a fall anyhow, even if it did puncture." + +Tish, who was still dressed, went out to the curio shop in the +lobby, and returned with the sad news that there was nothing of +the sort on sale. + +We were late in getting started the next morning owing partly to +Aggie's having put her riding-breeches on wrong, and being +unable to sit down when once in the saddle. But the main reason +was the guide we had engaged. Tish heard him using profane +language to one of the horses and dismissed him on the spot. + +The man who was providing our horses and outfit, however, +understood, and in a short time returned with another man. + +"I've got a good one for you now, Miss Carberry," he said. "Safe +and perfectly gentle, and as mild as milk. Only has one fault, +and maybe you won't mind that. He smokes considerably." + +"I don't object, as long as it's in the open air," Tish said. + +So that was arranged. But I must say that the new man did not +look mild. He had red hair, although a nice smile with a gold +tooth, and his trousers were of white fur, which looked hot for +summer. + +"You are sure that you don't use strong language?" Tish asked. + +"No, ma'am," he said. "I was raised strict, and very particular +as to swearing. Dear, dear now, would you look at that cinch! +Blow up their little tummies, they do, when they're cinched, and +when they breathe it out, the saddle's as loose as the tongues +of some of these here tourists." + +Tish swung herself up without any trouble, but owing to a large +canvas bag on the back of my saddle I was unable to get my leg +across, and was compelled to have it worked over, a little at a +time. At last, however, we were ready. A white pack-horse, +carrying our tents and cooking-utensils, was led by Bill, which +proved to be the name of our cowboy guide. + +Mr. Bell came to say good-bye and to wish us luck. But he looked +unhappy, and there was no sign whatever of the young lady, whose +name we had learned was Helen. + +"I may see you on the trail," he said sadly. "I'm about sick of +this place, and I'm thinking of clearing out." + +Aggie reminded him that faint heart never won fair lady, but he +only shook his head. + +"I'm not so sure that I want to win," he said. "Marriage is a +serious business, and I don't know that I'd care to have a wife +that followed a camera like a street kid follows a brass band. +It wouldn't make for a quiet home." + +We left him staring wistfully into the distance. + +Tish sat in her saddle and surveyed the mountain peaks that rose +behind the hotel. + +"Twenty centuries are looking down upon us!" she said. "The +crest of our native land lies before us. We will conquer those +beetling crags, or die trying. All right, Bill. Forward!" + +Bill led off, followed by the pack-horse, then Tish, Aggie and +myself. We kept on in this order for some time, which gave me a +chance to observe Aggie carefully. I am not much of a horsewoman +myself, having never been on a horse before. But my father was +fond of riding, and I soon adapted myself to the horse's gait, +especially when walking. On level stretches, however, where Bill +spurred his horse to a trot, I was not so comfortable, and Aggie +appeared to strike the saddle in a different spot every time she +descended. + +Once, on her turning her profile to me in a glance of despair, I +was struck by the strange and collapsed appearance of her face. +This was explained, however, when my horse caught up to hers on +a wider stretch of road, and I saw that she had taken out her +teeth and was holding them in her hand. + +"Al-almost swallowed them," she gasped. "Oh, Lizzie, to think of +a summer of this!" + +At last we left the road and turned onto a footpath, which +instantly commenced to rise. Tish called back something about +the beauties of nature and riding over a carpet of flowers, but +my horse was fording a small stream at the time and I was too +occupied to reply. The path--or trail, which is what Bill called +it--grew more steep, and I let go of the lines and held to the +horn of my saddle. The horses were climbing like goats. + +"Tish," Aggie called desperately, "I can't stand this. I'm going +back! I'm--Lordamighty!" + +Fortunately Tish did not hear this. We had suddenly emerged on +the brink of a precipice. A two-foot path clung to the cliff, +and along the very edge of this the horses walked, looking down +in an interested manner now and then. My blood turned to water +and I closed my eyes. + +"Tish!" Aggie shrieked. + +But the only effect of this was to start her horse into a trot. +I had closed my eyes, but I opened them in time to see Aggie +give a wild clutch and a low moan. + +In a few moments the trail left the edge, and Aggie turned in +her saddle and looked back at me. + +"I lost my lower set back there," she said. "They went over the +edge. I suppose they're falling yet." + +"It's a good thing it wasn't the upper set," I said, to comfort +her. "As far as appearance goes--" + +"Appearance!" she said bitterly. "Do you suppose we'll meet +anybody but desperadoes and Indians in a place like this? And +not an egg with us, of course." + +The eggs referred to her diet, as at different times, when +having her teeth repaired, she can eat little else. + +"Ham," she called back in a surly tone, "and hard tack, I +suppose! I'll starve, Lizzie, that's all. If only we had brought +some junket tablets!" + +With the exception of this incident the morning was quiet. Tish +and Bill talked prohibition, which he believed in, and the tin +pans on the pack-horse clattered, and we got higher all the +time, and rode through waterfalls and along the edge of death. +By noon I did not much care if the horses fell over or not. The +skin was off me in a number of places, and my horse did not like +me, and showed it by nipping back at my leg here and there. + +At eleven o'clock, riding through a valley on a trail six inches +wide, Bill's horse stepped on a hornets' nest. The insects were +probably dazed at first, but by the time Tish's horse arrived +they were prepared, and the next thing we knew Tish's horse was +flying up the mountain-side as if it had gone crazy, and Bill +was shouting to us to stop. + +The last we saw of Tish for some time was her horse leaping a +mountain stream, and jumping like a kangaroo, and Bill was +following. + +"She'll be killed!" Aggie cried. "Oh, Tish, Tish!" + +"Don't yell," I said. "You'll start the horses. And for Heaven's +sake, Aggie," I added grimly, "remember that this is a pleasure +trip." + +It was a half-hour before Tish and Bill returned. Tish was a +chastened woman. She said little or nothing, but borrowed some +ointment from me for her face, where the branches of trees had +scraped it, while Bill led the horses round the fatal spot. I +recall, however, that she said she wished now that we had +brought the other guide. + +"Because I feel," she observed, "that a little strong language +would be a relief." + +We had luncheon at noon in a sylvan glade, and Aggie was +pathetic. She dipped a cracker in a cup of tea, and sat off by +herself under a tree. Tish, however, had recovered her spirits. + +"Throw out your chests, and breathe deep of this pure air +unsullied by civilization," she cried. "Aggie, fill yourself +with ozone." + +"Humph!" said Aggie. "It's about all I will fill myself with." + +"Think," Tish observed, "of the fools and dolts who are living +under roofs, struggling, contending. plotting, while all Nature +awaits them." + +"With stings," Aggie said nastily, "and teeth, and horns, and +claws, and every old thing! Tish, I want to go back. I'm not +happy, and I don't enjoy scenery when I'm not happy. Besides, I +can't eat the landscape." + +As I look back, I believe it would have been better if we had +returned. I think of that day, some time later, when we made the +long descent from the Piegan Pass under such extraordinary +circumstances, and I realize that, although worse for our +bodies, which had grown strong and agile, so that I have, later +on, seen Aggie mount her horse on a run, it would have been +better for our nerves had we returned. + +We were all perfectly stiff after luncheon, and Aggie was +sulking also. Bill was compelled to lift us into our saddles, +and again we started up and up. The trail was now what he called +a "switchback." Halfway up Aggie refused to go farther, but on +looking back decided not to return either. + +"I shall not go another step," she called. "Here I am, and here +I stay till I die." + +"Very well," Tish said from overhead. "I suppose you don't +expect us all to stay and die with you. I'll tell your niece +when I see her." + +Aggie thought better of it, however, and followed on, with her +eyes closed and her lips moving in prayer. She happened to open +them at a bad place, although safe enough, according to Bill, +and nothing to what we were coming to a few days later. Opening +them as she did on a ledge of rock which sloped steeply for what +appeared to be several miles down on each side, she uttered a +piercing shriek, followed by a sneeze. As before, her horse +started to run, and Aggie is, I believe Bill said, the only +person in the world who ever took that place at a canter. + +We were to take things easy the first day, Bill advised. "Till +you get your muscles sort of eased up, ladies," he said. "If you +haven't been riding astride, a horse's back seems as wide as the +roof of a church. But we'll get a rest now. The rest of the way +is walking." + +"I can't walk," Aggie said. "I can't get my knees together." + +"Sorry, ma'am," said Bill. "We're going down now, and the +animals has to be led. That's one of the diversions of a trip +like this. First you ride and than you walk. And then you ride +again. This here's one of the show places, although easy of +access from the entrance. Be a good place for a holdup, I've +always said." + +"A holdup?" Tish asked. Her enthusiasm seemed to have flagged +somewhat, but at this she brightened up. + +"Yes'm. You see, we're near the Canadian border, and it would be +easy for a gang to slip over and back again. Don't know why +we've never had one. Yellowstone can boast of a number." + +I observed tartly that I considered it nothing to boast of, but +Bill did not agree with me. + +"It doesn't hurt a neighborhood none," he observed. "Adds +romance, as you might say." + +He went on and, happening to slide on a piece of shale at that +moment, I sat down unexpectedly and the horse put its foot on +me. + +I felt embittered and helpless, but the others kept on. + +"Very well," I said, "go on. Don't mind me. If this creature +wants to sit in my lap, well and good. I expect it's tired." + +But as they went on callously, I was obliged to shove the +creature off and to hobble on. Bill was still babbling about +holdups, and Aggie was saying that he was sunstruck, but of +course it did not matter. + +We made very slow progress, owing to taking frequent rests, and +late in the afternoon we were overtaken by Mr. Bell, on foot and +carrying a pack. He would have passed on without stopping, but +Aggie hailed him. + +"Not going to hike, are you?" she said pleasantly. Aggie is fond +of picking up the vernacular of a region. + +"No," he said in a surly tone quite unlike his former urbane +manner, "I'm merely taking this pack out for a walk." + +But he stopped and mopped his face. + +"To tell you the truth, ladies," he said, "I'm working off a +little steam, that's all. I was afraid, if I stayed round the +hotel, I'd do something I'd be sorry for. There are times when I +am not a fit companion for any one, and this is one of them." + +We invited him to join us, but he refused. + +"No, I'm better alone," he said. "When things get too strong for +me on the trail I can sling things about. I've been throwing +boulders down the mountain every now and then. I'd just as soon +they hit somebody as not. Also," he added, "I'm safer away from +any red-headed men." + +We saw him glance at Bill, and understood. Mr. Oliver was red- +headed. + +"Love's an awful thing," said Bill as the young man went on, +kicking stones out of his way. "I'm glad I ain't got it." + +Tish turned and eyed him. "True love is a very beautiful thing," +she rebuked him. "Although a single woman myself, I believe in +it. 'Come live with me and be my love,'" she quoted, sitting +down to shake a stone out of her riding-boot. + +Bill looked startled. "I might say," he said hastily. that I may +have misled you, ladies. I'm married." + +"You said you had never been in love," Tish said sharply. + +"Well, not to say real love," he replied. "She was the cook of +an outfit I was with and it just came about natural. She was +going to leave, which meant that I'd have to do the cooking, +which I ain't much at, especially pastry. So I married her." + +Tish gave him a scornful glance but said nothing and we went on. + +We camped late that afternoon beside Two Medicine Lake, and +while Bill put up the tents the three of us sat on a log and +soaked our aching feet in the water which was melted glacier, +and naturally cold. + +What was our surprise, on turning somewhat, to see the angry +lover fishing on a point near by. While we stared he pulled out +a large trout, and stalked away without a glance in our +direction. As Tish, with her usual forethought, had brought a +trout rod, she hastily procured it, but without result. + +"Of course," Aggie said, "no fish! I could eat a piece of +broiled fish. I dare say I shall be skin and bone at the end of +this trip- -and not much skin." + +Bill had set up the sleeping-tent and built a fire, and it +looked cozy and comfortable. But Tish had the young man on her +mind, and after supper she put on a skirt which she had brought +along and went to see him. + +"I'd take him some supper, Bill," she said, "but you are +correct: you are no cook." + +She disappeared among the bushes, only to return in a short +time, jerking off her skirt as she came. + +"He says all he wants is to be let alone," she said briefly. "I +must say I'm disappointed in him. He was very agreeable before." + +I pass without comment over the night. Bill had put up the tent +over the root of a large tree, and we disposed ourselves about +it as well as we could. In the course of the night one of the +horses broke loose and put its head inside the tent. Owing to +Aggie's thinking it was a bear, Tish shot at it, fortunately +missing it. + +But the frightened animal ran away, and Bill was until noon the +next day finding it. We cooked our own breakfast, and Tish made +some gems, having brought the pan along. But the morning +dragged, although the scenery was lovely. + +At twelve Bill brought the horse back and came over to us. + +"If you don't mind my saying it, Miss Carberry," he observed, +"you're a bit too ready with that gun. First thing you know +you'll put a hole through me, and then where will you be?" + +"I've got along without men most of my life," Tish said sharply. +"I reckon we'd manage." + +"Well," he said, "there's another angle to it. Where would I +be?" + +"That's between you and your Creator," Tish retorted. + +We went on again that afternoon, and climbed another precipice. +We saw no human being except a mountain goat, although Bill +claimed to have seen a bear. Tish was quite calm at all times, +and had got so that she could look down into eternity without a +shudder. But Aggie and I were still nervous, and at the steepest +places we got off and walked. + +The unfortunate part was that the exercise and the mountain air +made Aggie hungry, and there was little that she could eat. + +"If any one had told me a month ago," she said, mopping her +forehead, "that I would be scaling the peaks of my country on +crackers and tea, I wouldn't have believed it. I'm done out, +Lizzie. I can't climb another inch." + +Bill was ahead with the pack horse, and Tish, overhearing her, +called back some advice. + +"Take your horse's tail and let him pull you up, Aggie," she +said. "I've read it somewhere." + +Aggie, although frequently complaining, always does as Tish +suggests. So she took the horse's tail. when a totally +unexpected thing happened. Docile as the creature generally was, +it objected at once, and kicked out with both rear feet. In a +moment, it seemed to me, Aggie was gone, and her horse was +moving on alone. + +"Aggie!" I called in a panic. + +Tish stopped, and we both looked about. Then we saw her, lying +on a ledge about ten feet below the trail. She was flat on her +back, and her riding-hat was gone. But she was uninjured, +although shaken, for as we looked she sat up, and an agonized +expression came over her face. + +"Aggie!" I cried. "Is anything broken?" + +"Damnation!" said Aggie in an awful voice. "The upper set is +gone!" + +I have set down exactly what Aggie said. I admit that the +provocation was great. But Tish was not one to make allowances, +and she turned and went on, leaving us alone. She is not without +feeling, however, for from the top of the pass she sent Bill +down with a rope, and we dragged poor Aggie to the trail again. +Her nerves were shaken and she was repentant also, for when she +found that her hat was gone she said nothing, although her eyes +took on a hunted look. + +At the top of the pass Tish was sitting on a stone. She had +taken her mending-box from the saddle, where she always kept it +handy, and was drawing up a hole in her stocking. I observed to +her pleasantly that it was a sign of scandal to mend clothing +while still on, but she ignored me, although, as I reflected +bitterly, I had not been kicked over the cliff. + +It was a subdued and speechless Aggie who followed us that +afternoon along the trail. As her hat was gone, I took the spare +dish towel and made a turban for her, with an end hanging down +to protect the back of her neck. But she expressed little +gratitude, beyond observing that as she was going over the edge +piecemeal, she'd better have done it all at once and be through +with it. + +The afternoon wore away slowly. It seemed a long time until we +reached our camping-place, partly because, although a small +eater ordinarily, the air and exercise had made me feel +famished. But the disagreement between Tish and Aggie, owing to +the latter's unfortunate exclamation while kicked over the +cliff, made the time seem longer. There was not the usual +exchange of pleasant nothings between us. + +But by six o'clock Tish was more amiable, having seen bear +scratches on trees near the camp, and anticipating the sight of +a bear. She mixed up a small cup cake while Bill was putting up +our tent, and then, taking her rod, proceeded to fish, while +Aggie and I searched for grasshoppers. These were few, owing to +the altitude, but we caught four, which we imprisoned in a match- + box. + +With them Tish caught four trout and, broiling them nicely, she +offered one to poor Aggie. It was a peace offering, and taken as +such, so that we were soon on our former agreeable footing, and +all forgotten. + +The next day it rained, and we were obliged to sit in the tent. +Bill sat with us, and talked mainly of desperadoes. + +"As I observed before," he said, "there hasn't been any tourist +holdup yet. But it's bound to come. Take the Yellowstone, now,-- +one holdup a year's the average, and it's full of soldiers at +that." + +"It's a wonder people keep on going," I observed moving out of a +puddle. + +"Oh, I don't know," he said. "In one way it's good business. I +take it this way: When folks come West they want the West +they've read about. What do they care for irrigation and apple +orchards? What they like is danger and a little gunplay, the +sort of thing they see in these here moving pictures." + +"I'm sure I don't," Aggie remarked. It was growing dusk, and she +peered out into the forest round us. "There is something +crackling out there now," she said. + +"Only a bear, likely," Bill assured her. "We have a sight of +bears here. No, ma'am, they want danger. And every holdup's an +advertisement. You see, the Government can't advertise these +here parks; not the way it should, anyhow. But a holdup's news, +so the papers print it, and it sets people to thinking about the +park. Maybe they never thought of the place and are arranging to +go elsewhere. Then along comes a gang and raises h--, raises +trouble, and the park's in every one's mouth, so to speak. We'd +get considerable business if there was one this summer." + +At that moment the crackling outside increased, and a shadowy +form emerged from the bushes. Even Bill stood up, and Aggie +screamed. + +It was, however, only poor Mr. Bell. + +"Mind if I borrow some matches?" he said gruffly. + +"We can't lend matches," Tish replied. "At least, I don't see +the use of sending them back after they've been lighted. We can +give you some." + +"My mistake," he said. + +That was all he said, except the word "Thanks" when I reached +him a box. + +"He's a surly creature," Tish observed as he crackled through +the brush again. "More than likely that girl's better off +without him." + +"He looks rather downhearted," Aggie remarked. "Much that we +think is temper is due to unhappiness." + +"Much of your charitable view is due to a good dinner too," Tish +said. "Here we are, in the center of the wilderness, with great +peaks on every hand, and we meet a fellow creature who speaks +nine words, and begrudges those. If he's as stingy with money as +with language she's hard a narrow escape." + +"He's had kind of a raw deal," Bill put in. "The girl was stuck +on him all right, until this moving-picture chap came along. He +offered to take some pictures with her in them, and it was all +off. They're making up a play now, and she's to be in it." + +"What sort of a play?" Tish demanded. + +"Sorry not to oblige," Bill replied. "Can't say the nature of +it." + +But all of us felt that Bill knew and would not say. + +Tish, to whom a mystery is a personal affront, determined to +find out for herself; and when later in the evening we saw the +light of Bell's camp-fire, it was Tish herself who suggested +that we go over and visit with him. + +"We can converse about various things," she said, "and take his +mind from his troubles. But it would be better not to mention +affairs of the heart. He's probably sensitive." + +So we left Bill to look after things, and went to call on Mr. +Bell. It was farther to his camp than it had appeared, and Tish +unfortunately ran into a tree and bruised her nose badly. When +it had stopped bleeding, however, we went on, and at last +arrived. + +He was sitting on a log by the fire, smoking a pipe and looking +very sad. Behind him was a bit of a tent not much larger than an +umbrella. + +Aggie touched my arm. "My heart aches for him," she said. "There +is despair in his very eyes." + +I do not believe that at first he was very glad to see us, but +he softened somewhat when Tish held out the cake she had +brought. + +"That's very nice of you," he said, rising. "I'm afraid I can't +ask you to sit down. The ground's wet and there is only this +log." + +"I've sat on logs before," Tish replied. "We thought we'd call, +seeing we are neighbors. As the first comers it was our place to +call first, of course." + +"I see," he said, and poked up the fire with a piece of stick. + +"We felt that you might be lonely," said Aggie. + +"I came here to be lonely," he replied gloomily. "I want to be +lonely." + +Tish, however, was determined to be cheerful, and asked him, as +a safe subject, how he felt about the war. + +"War?" he said. "That's so, there is a war. To tell the truth, I +had forgotten about it. I've been thinking of other things." + +We saw that it was going to be difficult to cheer him. Tish +tried the weather, which brought us nowhere, as he merely +grunted. But Aggie broached the subject of desperadoes, and he +roused somewhat. + +"There are plenty of shady characters in the park," he said +shortly. "Wolves in sheep's clothing, that's what they are." + +"Bill, our guide, says there may be a holdup at any time." + +"Sure there is," he said calmly. "There's one going to be pulled +off in the next day or two." + +We sat petrified, and Aggie's eyes were starting out of her +head. + +"All the trimmings," he went on, staring at the fire. "Innocent +and unsuspecting tourists, lunch, laughter, boiled coffee, and +cold ham. Ambush. The whole business--followed by highwaymen in +flannel shirts and revolvers. Dead tourist or two, desperate +resistance--everything." + +Aggie rose, pale as an aspen. "You--you are joking!" she cried. + +"Do I look like it?" he demanded fiercely. "I tell you there is +going to be the whole thing. At the end the lovely girl will +escape on horseback and ride madly for aid. She will meet the +sheriff and a posse, who are out for a picnic or some such +damfool nonsense, and--" + +"Young man," Tish said coldly, "if you know all this, why are +you sitting here and not alarming the authorities?" + +"Pooh!" he said disagreeably. "It's a put-up scheme, to +advertise the park. Yellowstone's got ahead of them this year, +and has had its excitement, with all the papers ringing with it. +That was a gag, too, probably." + +"Do you mean--" + +"I mean considerable," he said. "That red- headed movie idiot +will be on a rise, taking the tourists as they ride through. Of +course he doesn't expect the holdup--not in the papers anyhow. +He happens to have the camera trained on the party, and gets it +all. Result--a whacking good picture, revolvers firing blank +cartridges, everything which people will crowd to see. Oh, it's +good business all right. I don't mind admitting that." + +Tish's face expressed the greatest rage. She rose, drawing +herself to her full height. + +"And the tourists?" she demanded. "They lend themselves to this +imposition? To this infamy? To this turpitude? " + +"Certainly not. They think it's the real thing. The whole +business hangs on that. And as the sheriff, or whoever it is in +the fool plot, captures the bandits, the party gets its money +back, and has material for conversation for the next twenty +years." + +"To think," said Tish, "of our great National Government lending +itself to such a scheme!" + +"Wrong," said the young man. "It's a combination of Western +railroads and a movie concern acting together." + +"I trust," Tish observed, setting her lips firmly, "that the +tourists will protest." + +"The more noise, the better." The young man, though not more +cheerful as to appearance, was certainly more talkative. "Trust +a clergyman for yelling when his pocket's picked." + +With one voice the three of us exclaimed: "Mr. Ostermaier!" + +He was not sure of the name, but "Helen" had pointed the +clergyman out to him, and it was Mr. Ostermaier without a doubt. + +We talked it over with Bill when we got back, and he was not as +surprised as we'd expected. + +"Knew they were cooking up something. They've got some Indians +in it too. Saw them rehearsing old Thunder Mountain the other +day in nothing but a breech-clout." + +Tish reproved him for a lack of delicacy of speech, and shortly +afterward we went to bed. Owing to the root under the tent, and +puddles here and there, we could not go to sleep for a time, and +we discussed the "nefarious deed," as Tish aptly termed it, that +was about to take place. + +"Although," Tish observed, "Mr. Ostermaier has been receiving +for so many years that it might be a good thing, for his soul's +sake, to have him give up something, even if to bandits." I +dozed off after a time, but awakened to find + +Tish sitting up, wide awake. + +"I've been thinking that thing over, Lizzie," she said in a low +tone. "I believe it's our duty to interfere." + +"Of course," I replied sarcastically; "and be shown all over the +country in the movies making fools of ourselves." + +"Did you notice that that young man said they would be firing +blank cartridges?" + +Well, even a blank cartridge can be a dangerous thing. Then and +there I reminded her of my niece's boy, who was struck on the +Fourth of July by a wad from one, and had to be watched for +lockjaw for several weeks. + +It was at that moment that we heard Bill, who had no tent, by +choice, and lay under a tree, give a loud whoop, followed by +what was unmistakably an oath. + +"Bear!" he yelled. "Watch out, he's headed for the tent! It's a +grizzly." + +Tish felt round wildly for her revolver, but it was gone! And +the bear was close by. We could hear it snuffing about, and to +add to the confusion Aggie wakened and commenced to sneeze with +terror. + +"Bill!" Tish called. "I've lost my revolver!" + +"I took it, Miss Carberry. But I've been lying in a puddle, and +it won't go off." + +All hope seemed gone. The frail walls of our tent were no +protection whatever, and as we all knew, even a tree was no +refuge from a bear, which, as we had seen in the Zoological +Garden at home, can climb like a cat, only swifter. Besides, +none of us could climb a tree. + +It was at that moment that Tish had one of those inspirations +that make her so dependable in emergencies. Feeling round in the +tent for a possible weapon, she touched a large ham, from which +we had broiled a few slices at supper. In her shadowy form there +was both purpose and high courage. With a single sweeping +gesture she flung the ham at the bear so accurately that we +heard the thud with which it struck. + +"What the hell are you doing?" Bill called from a safe distance. +Even then we realized that his restraint of speech was a pose, +pure and simple. "If you make him angry he'll tear up the whole +place." + +But Tish did not deign to answer. The rain had ceased, and +suddenly the moon came out and illuminated the whole scene. We +saw the bear sniffing at the ham, which lay on the ground. Then +he picked it up in his jaws and stood looking about. + +Tish said later that the moment his teeth were buried in the ham +she felt safe. I can still see the majestic movement with which +she walked out of the tent and waved her arms. + +"Now, scat with you!" she said firmly. "Scat!" + +He "scatted." Snarling through his nose, for fear of dropping +the ham, he turned and fled up the mountainside. In the open +space Tish stood the conqueror. She yawned and glanced about. + +"Going to be a nice night, after all," she said. " Now, Bill, +bring me that revolver, and if I catch you meddling with it +again I'll put that pair of fur rugs you are so proud of in the +fire." + +Bill, who was ignorant of the ham, emerged sheepishly into the +open. "Where the--where the dickens did you hit him, Miss Tish?" +he asked. + +"In the stomach," Tish replied tartly, and taking her revolver +went back to the tent. + +All the next day Tish was quiet. She rode ahead, hardly noticing +the scenery, with her head dropped on her chest. At luncheon she +took a sardine sandwich and withdrew to a tree, underneath which +she sat, a lonely and brooding figure. + +When luncheon was over and Aggie and I were washing the dishes +and hanging out the dish towels to dry on a bush, Tish +approached Bill, who was pouring water on the fire to extinguish +it. + +"Bill," she stated, "you came to us under false pretenses. You +swear, for one thing." + +"Only under excitement, Miss Tish," he said. "And as far as that +goes, Miss Aggie herself said--" + +"Also," Tish went on hastily, "you said you could cook. You +cannot cook." + +"Now, look here, Miss Tish," he said in a pleading tone, "I can +cook. I didn't claim to know the whole cookbook. I can make +coffee and fry bacon. How'd I know you ladies wanted pastry? As +for them canned salmon croquettes with white sauce, I reckon to +make them with a little showing, and--" + +"Also," said Tish, cutting in sternly, "you took away my +revolver, and left us helpless last night, and in peril of wild +beasts." + +"Tourists ain't allowed to carry guns." + +He attempted to look injured, but Tish ignored him. + +"Therefore," she said, "if I am not to send you back--which I +have been considering all day, as I've put up a tent myself +before this, and you are only an extra mouth to feed, which, as +we are one ham short, is inconvenient--you will have to justify +my keeping you." + +"If you will just show me once about them gems, Miss Tish--" he +began. + +But Tish cut him off. "No," she said firmly, "you are too casual +about cooking. And you are no dish-washer. Setting a plate in a +river and letting the current wash it may satisfy cow-punchers. +It doesn't go with me. The point is this: You know all about the +holdup that is going to take place. Don't lie. I know you know. +Now, you take us there and tell us all you know about it." + +He scratched his head reflectively. "I'll tell you," he said. +"I'm a slow thinker. Give me about twenty minutes on it, will +you? It's a sort of secret, and there's different ways of +looking at it." + +Tish took out her watch. "Twenty minutes," she said. "Start +thinking now." + +He wandered off and rolled a cigarette. Later on, as I have +said, he showed Tish how to do it--not, of course, that she +meant to smoke, but Tish is fond of learning how to do things. +She got so she could roll them with one hand, and she does it +now in the winter evenings, instead of rolling paper spills as +formerly. When Charlie Sands comes, she always has a supply +ready for him, although occasionally somewhat dry from waiting +for a few weeks. + +At the end of twenty minutes Tish snapped her watch shut. + +"Time!" she called, and Bill came back. + +"Well, I'll do it," he said. "I don't know as they'll put you in +the picture, but I'll see what I can do." + +"Picture nothing!" Tish snapped. "You take us there and hide us. +That's the point. There must be caves round to put us in, +although I don't insist on a cave. They're damp usually." + +Well, he looked puzzled, but he agreed. I caught Aggie's eye, +and we exchanged glances. There was trouble coming, and we knew +it. Our long experience with Tish had taught us not to ask +questions. "Ours but to do and die," as Aggie later said. But I +confess to a feeling of uneasiness during the remainder of that +day. + +We changed our course that afternoon, turning off at Saint +Mary's and spending the night near the Swiss Chalet at Going-to- +the-Sun. Aggie and I pleaded to spend the night in the chalet, +but Tish was adamant. + +"When I am out camping, I camp," she said. "I can have a bed at +home, but I cannot sleep under the stars, on a bed of pine +needles, and be lured to rest by the murmur of a mountain +stream." + +Well, we gave it up and went with her. I must say that the trip +had improved us already. Except when terrified or kicked by a +horse, Aggie was not sneezing at all, and I could now climb into +the saddle unassisted. My waistbands were much looser, too, and +during a short rest that afternoon I put a dart in my riding- +breeches, during the absence of Bill after the pack-horse, which +had strayed. + +It was on that occasion that Tish told us as much of her plan as +she thought it wise for us to know. + +"The holdup," she explained, "is to be the day after to-morrow +on the Piegan Pass. Bill says there is a level spot at the top +with rocks all about. That is the spot. The Ostermaiers and +their party leave the automobiles at Many Glaciers and take +horses to the pass. It will be worth coming clear to Montana to +see Mrs. Ostermaier on a horse." + +"I still don't see," Aggie observed in a quavering voice, "what +we have to do with it." + +"Naturally not," said Tish. "You'll know as soon as is good for +you." + +"I don't believe it will ever be good for me," said poor Aggie. +"It isn't good for anybody to be near a holdup. And I don't want +to be in a moving picture with no teeth. I'm not a vain woman," +she said, "but I draw the line at that." + +But Tish ignored her. "The only trouble," she said, "is having +one revolver. If we each had one--Lizzie, did you bring any +ink?" + +Well, I had, and said so, but that I needed it for postcards +when we struck a settlement. + +Tish waved my objection aside. "I guess it can be managed," she +observed. "Bill has a knife. Yes, I think it can be done." + +She and Bill engaged in an earnest conference that afternoon. At +first Bill objected. I could see him shaking his head. Then Tish +gave him something which Aggie said was money. I do not know. +She had been short of cash on the train, but she may have had +more in her trunk. Then I saw Bill start to laugh. He laughed +until he had to lean against a tree, although Tish was quite +stern and serious. + +We reached Piegan Pass about three that afternoon, and having +inspected it and the Garden Wall, which is a mile or two high at +that point, we returned to a "bench" where there were some +trees, and dismounted. + +Here, to our surprise, we found Mr. Bell again. As Tish +remarked, he was better at walking than at talking. He looked +surprised at seeing us, and was much more agreeable than before. + +"I'm afraid I was pretty surly the other night," he said. "The +truth is, I was so blooming unhappy that I didn't give a damn +for anything." + +But when he saw that Bill was preparing to take the pack off the +horse he looked startled. + +"I say," he said, "you don't mean to camp here, do you?" + +"Such is my intention," Tish observed grimly. + +"But look here. Just beyond, at the pass, is where the holdup is +to take place to-morrow." + +"So I believe," said Tish. "What has that to do with us? What +are you going to do?" + +"Oh, I'm going to hang round." + +"Well, we intend to hang round also." + +He stood by and watched our preparations for camp. Tish chose a +small grove for the tent, and then left us, clambering up the +mountain-side. She finally disappeared. Aggie mixed some muffins +for tea, and we invited the young man to join us. But he was +looking downhearted again and refused. + +However, when she took them out of the portable oven, nicely +browned, and lifting the tops of each one dropped in a +teaspoonful of grape jelly, he changed his mind. + +"I'll stay, if you don't mind," he said. "Maybe some decent food +will make me see things clearer." + +When Tish descended at six o'clock, she looked depressed. "There +is no cave," she said, "although I lave gone where a mountain +goat would get dizzy. But I have found a good place to hide the +horses, where we can get them quickly when we need them." + +Aggie was scooping the inside out of her muffin, being unable to +eat the crust, but she went quite pale. + +"Tish," she said, "you have some desperate plan in view, and I +am not equal to it. I am worn with travel and soft food, and am +not as young as I once was." + +"Desperate nothing!" said Tish, pouring condensed milk into her +tea. "I am going to teach a lot of idiots a lesson, that's all. +There should be one spot in America free from the advertising +man and his schemes, and this is going to be it. Commercialism," +she went on, growing oratorical, "does not belong here among +these mighty mountains. Once let it start, and these towering +cliffs will be defaced with toothpowder and intoxicating-liquor +signs." + +The young man knew the plans for the holdup even letter than +Bill. He was able to show us the exact spot which had been +selected, and to tell us the hour at which the Ostermaier party +was to cross the pass. + +"They'll lunch on the pass," he said, "and, of course, they +suspect nothing. The young lady of whom I spoke to you will be +one of their party. She, however, knows what is coming, and is, +indeed, a party to it. The holdup will take place during +luncheon." + +Here his voice broke, and he ate an entire muffin before he went +on: "The holdup will take place on the pass, the bandits having +been hidden on this 'bench' right here. Then the outlaws, having +robbed the tourists, will steal the young lady and escape down +the trail on the other side. The guide, who is in the plot, will +ride ahead in this direction and raise the alarm. You +understand," he added, "that as it's a put-up job, the tourists +will get all their stuff back. I don't know how that's to be +arranged." + +"But the girl?" Tish asked. + +"She's to make her escape later," Mr. Bell said grimly, "and +will be photographed galloping down the trail, by another idiot +with a camera, who, of course, just happens to be on the spot. +She'll do it too," he added with a pathetic note of pride in his +voice. "She's got nerve enough for anything." + +He drew a long breath, and Aggie poured him a third cup of tea. + +"I dare say this will finish everything," he said dejectedly. "I +can't offer her any excitement like this. We live in a quiet +suburb, where nobody ever fires a revolver except on the Fourth +of July." + +"What she needs," Tish said, bending forward, "is a lesson, Mr. +Bell--something to make her hate the very thought of a moving +picture and shudder at the sound of a shot." + +"Exactly," said Mr. Bell. "I've thought of that. Something to +make her gun-shy and camera-shy. It's curious about her. In some +ways she's a timid girl. She's afraid of thunder, for one +thing." + +Tish bent forward. "Do you know," she said, "the greatest weapon +in the world?" + +"Weapon? Well, I don't know. These new German guns--" + +"The greatest weapon in the world," Tish explained, "is +ridicule. Man is helpless against it. To be absurd is to be +lost. When the bandits take the money, where do they go?" + +"Down the other side from the pass. A photographer will +photograph them there, making their escape with the loot." + +"And the young lady?" + +"I've told you that," he said bitterly. "She is to be captured +by the attacking party." + +"They will all be armed?" + +"Sure, with blanks. The Indians have guns and arrows, but the +arrows have rubber tips." + +Tish rose majestically. "Mr. Bell," she said, "you may sleep to- +night the sleep of peace. When I undertake a thing, I carry it +through. My friends will agree with me. I never fail, when my +heart is set on it. By the day after to-morrow the young lady in +the case will hate the sight of a camera." + +Although not disclosing her plan, she invited the young man to +join us. But his face fell and he shook his head. + +Tish said that she did not expect to need him, but that, if the +time came, she would blow three times on a police whistle, which +she had, with her usual foresight, brought along. He agreed to +that, although looking rather surprised, and we parted from him. + +"I would advise," Tish said as he moved away, "that you conceal +yourself in the valley below the pass on the other side." + +He agreed to this, and we separated for the night. But long +after Aggie and I had composed ourselves to rest Tish sat on a +stone by the camp-fire and rolled cigarettes. + +At last she came into the tent and wakened us by prodding us +with her foot. + +"Get all the sleep you can," she said. "We'll leave here at dawn +to-morrow, and there'll be little rest for any of us to-morrow +night." + +At daylight next morning she roused us. She was dressed, except +that she wore her combing-jacket, and her hair was loose round +her face. + +"Aggie, you make an omelet in a hurry, and, Lizzie, you will +have to get the horses." + +"I'll do nothing of the sort," I said, sitting up on the ground. +"We've got a man here for that. Besides, I have to set the +table." + +"Very well," Tish replied, "we can stay here, I dare say. Bill's +busy at something I've set him to doing." + +"Whose fault is it," I demanded, "that we are here in +'Greenland's Icy Mountains'? Not mine. Id never heard of the +dratted place. And those horses are five miles away by now, most +likely." + +"Go and get a cup of tea. You'll have a little sense then," said +Tish, not unkindly. "And as for what Bill's doing, he's making +revolvers. Where's your writing ink?" + +I had none! I realized it that moment. I had got it out at the +first camp to record in my diary the place, weather, +temperature, and my own pulse rate, which I had been advised to +watch, on account of the effect of altitude on the heart, and +had left the bottle sitting on a stone. + +When I confessed this to Tish, she was unjustly angry and a +trifle bitter. + +"It's what I deserve, most likely, for bringing long two +incompetents," was her brief remark. "Without ink we are +weaponless." + +But she is a creature of resource, and a moment later she +emerged from the tent and called to Bill in a cheerful tone. + +"No ink, Bill," she said, "but we've got black- berry cordial, +and by mixing it with a little soot we may be able to manage." + +Aggie demurred loudly, as there are occasions when only a +mouthful of the cordial enables her to keep doing. But Tish was +firm. When I went to the fire, I found Bill busily carving +wooden revolvers, copying Tish's, which lay before him. He had +them done well enough, and could have gone for the horses as +easy as not, but he insisted on trimming them up. Mine, which I +still have, has a buffalo head carved on the handle, and Aggie's +has a wreath of leaves running round the barrel. + +In spite of Aggie's wails Tish poured a large part of the +blackberry cordial into a biscuit pan, and put in a chip of +wood. + +"It makes it red," she said doubtfully. "I never saw a red +revolver, Bill." + +"Seems like an awful waste," Bill said. But having now completed +the wreath he placed all three weapons --he had made one for +himself--in the pan. The last thing I saw, as I started for the +horses, was the three of them standing about, looking down, and +Aggie's face was full of misery. + +I was gone for a half-hour. The horses had not wandered far, and +having mounted mine, although without a saddle, I copied as well +as I could the whoop Bill used to drive them in, and rounded +them up. When I returned, driving them before me, the pack was +ready, and on Tish's face was a look of intense satisfaction. I +soon perceived the reason. + +Lying on a stone by the fire were three of the shiniest black +revolvers any one could want. I eyed Tish and she explained. + +"Stove polish," she said. "Like a fool I'd forgot it. Gives a +true metallic luster, as it says on the box." + +Tish is very particular about a stove, and even on our camping- +trips we keep the portable stove shining and clean. + +"Does it come off?" + +"Well, more or less," she admitted. "We can keep the box out and +renew when necessary. It is a great comfort," she added, "to +feel that we are all armed. We shall need weapons." + +"In an emergency," I observed rather tartly, "I hope you will +not depend on us too much. While I don't know what you intend to +do, if it is anything desperate, just remember that the only way +Aggie or I can do any damage with these things is to thrust them +down somebody's throat and strangle him to death." + +She ignored my remark, however, and soon we were on our horses +and moving along the trail toward the pass. + + +It will be unnecessary to remind those familiar with Glacier +Park of the trail which hugs the mountain above timber-line, and +extends toward the pass for a mile or so, in a long semicircle +which curves inward. + +At the end it turns to the right and mounts to an acre or so of +level ground, with snow and rocks but no vegetation. This is the +Piegan Pass. Behind it is the Garden Wall, that stupendous mass +of granite rising to incredible heights. On the other side the +trail drops abruptly, by means of stepladders which I have +explained. + +Tish now told us of her plan. + +"The unfortunate part is," she said, "that the Ostermaiers will +not see us. I tried to arrange it so they could, but it was +impossible. We must content, ourselves with the knowledge of a +good deed done." + +Her plan, in brief, was this: The sham attacking party was to +turn and ride away down the far side of the pass, up which the +Ostermaiers had come. They were, according to the young man, to +take the girl with them, with the idea of holding her for +ransom. She was to escape, however, while they were lunching in +some secluded fastness, and, riding back to the pass, was to +meet there a rescue party, which the Ostermaiers were to meet on +the way down to Gunsight Chalet. + +Tish's idea was this: We would ride up while they were lunching, +pretend to think them real bandits, paying no attention to them +if they fired at us, as we knew they had only blank cartridges, +and, having taken them prisoners, make them walk in ignominy to +the nearest camp, some miles farther. + +"Then," said Tish, "either they will confess the ruse, and the +country will ring with laughter, or they will have to submit to + +arrest and much unpleasantness. It will be a severe lesson." + +We reached the pass safely, and on the way down the other side +we passed Mr. Oliver, the moving-picture man, with his outfit on +a horse. He touched his hat politely and moved out on a ledge to +let us by. + +"Mind if I take you as you go down the mountain?" he called. +"It's a bully place for a picture." He stared at Aggie, who was +muffled in a cape and had the dish towel round her head. "I'd +particularly like to get your Arab," he said. "The Far East and +the Far West, you know." + +Aggie gave him a furious glance. "Arab nothing!" she snapped. +"If you can't tell a Christian lady from a heathen, on account +of her having lost her hat, them you belong in the dirty work +you're doing." + +"Aggie, be quiet!" Tish said in an awful voice. + +But wrath had made Aggie reckless. "'Dirty work' was what I +said," she repeated, staring at the young man. + +"I beg your pardon. I'm sure I--" + +"Don't think," Aggie went on, to Tish's fury, "that we don't +know a few things. We do." + +"I see," he said slowly. "All right. Although I'd like to know-- +" + +"Good-morning," said Aggie, and kicked her horse to go on. + +I shall never forget Tish's face. Round the next bend she got +off her horse and confronted Aggie. + +"The older I get, Aggie Pilkington," she said, "the more I +realize that to take you anywhere means ruin. We are done now. +All our labor is for nothing. There will be no holdup, no +nothing. They are scared off." + +But Aggie was still angry. "Just let some one take you for a +lousy Bedouin, Tish," she said, "and see what you would do. I'm +not sorry anyhow. I never did like the idea." + +But Tish dislikes relinquishing an idea, once it has taken hold. +And, although she did not speak to Aggie again for the next +hour, she went ahead with her preparations. + +"There's still a chance, Lizzie," she said. "It's not likely +they'll give up easy, on account of hiring the Indians and +everything." + +About a mile and a half down the trail, she picked out a place +to hide. This time there was a cave. We cleared our saddles for +action, as Tish proposed to let them escape past us with the +girl, and then to follow them rapidly, stealing upon them if +possible while they were at luncheon, and covering them with the +one real revolver and the three wooden ones. + +The only thing that bothered us was Bill's attitude. He kept +laughing to himself and muttering, and when he was storing +things in the cave, Tish took me aside. + +"I don't like his attitude, Lizzie," she said. "He's likely to +giggle or do something silly, just at the crucial moment. I +cannot understand why he thinks it is funny, but he does. We'd +be much better without him." + +"You'd better talk to him, Tish," I said. "You can't get rid of +him now." + +But to tell Tish she cannot do a thing is to determine her to do +it. + +It was still early, only half-past eight, when she came to me +with an eager face. + +"I've got it, Lizzie," she said. "I'll send off Mona Lisa, and +he will have to search for her. The only thing is, she won't +move unless she's driven. If we could only find a hornet's nest +again, we could manage. It may be cruel, but I understand that a +hornet's sting is not as painful to a horse as to a human +being." + +Mona Lisa, I must explain, was the pack-horse. Tish had changed +her name from Jane to Mona Lisa because in the mornings she was +constantly missing, and having to be looked for. + +Tish disappeared for a time, and we settled down to our long +wait. Bill put another coat of stove polish on the weapons, and +broke now and then into silent laughter. On my giving him a +haughty glance, however, he became sober and rubbed with +redoubled vigor. + +In a half-hour, however, I saw Tish beckoning to me from a +distance, and I went to her. I soon saw that she was holding her +handkerchief to one cheek, but when I mentioned the fact she +ignored me. + +"I have found a nest, Lizzie," she cried. "Slip over and +unfasten Mona Lisa. She's not near the other horses, which is +fortunate." + +I then perceived that Tish's yellow slicker was behind her on +the ground and tied into a bundle, from which emerged a dull +roaring. I was wondering how Tish expected to open it, when she +settled the question by asking me to cut a piece from the +mosquito netting which we put in the doorway of the tent at +night, and to bring her riding-gloves. + +Aggie was darning a hole in the tablecloth when I went back and +Bill was still engaged with the weapons. Having taken what she +required to Tish, under pretense of giving Mona Lisa a lump of +sugar, I untied her. What followed was exactly as Tish had +planned. Mona Lisa, not realizing her freedom, stood still while +Tish untied the slicker and freed its furious inmates. She then +dropped the whole thing under the unfortunate animal, and +retreated, not too rapidly, for fear of drawing Bill's +attention. For possibly sixty seconds nothing happened, except +that Mona Lisa raised her head and appeared to listen. Then, +with a loud scream, she threw up her head and bolted. By the +time Bill had put down the stove brush she was out of sight +among the trees, but we could hear her leaping and scrambling +through the wood. + +"Jumping cats!" said Bill, and ran for his horse. "Acts as +though she'd started for the Coast!" he yelled to me, and flung +after her. + +When he had disappeared, Tish came out of the woods, and, +getting a kettle of boiling water, poured it over the nest. In +spite of the netting, however, she was stung again, on the back +of the neck, and spent the rest of the morning holding wet mud +to the affected parts. + +Her brain, however, was as active as ever, and by half-past +eleven, mounting a boulder, she announced that she could see the +Ostermaier party far down the trail, and that in an hour they +would probably be at the top. She had her field-glasses, and she +said that Mrs. Ostermaier was pointing up to the pass and +shaking her head, and that the others were arguing with her. + +"It would be just like the woman," Tish said bitterly, "to +refuse to come any farther and spoil everything." + +But a little later she announced that the guide was leading Mrs. +Ostermaier's horse and that they were coming on. + +We immediately retreated to the cave and waited, it being Tish's +intention to allow them to reach the pass without suspecting our +presence, and only to cut off the pseudo-bandits in their +retreat, as I have explained. + +It was well that we had concealed the horses also, for the party +stopped near the cave, and Mrs. Ostermaier was weeping. "Not a +step farther!" she said. "I have a family to consider, and Mr. +Ostermaier is a man of wide usefulness and cannot be spared." + +We did not dare to look out, but we heard the young lady +speaking, and as Aggie remarked later, no one would have +thought, from the sweetness of her voice, that she was a +creature of duplicity. + +"But it is perfectly safe, dear Mrs. Ostermaier," she said "And +think, when you go home, of being able to say that you have +climbed a mountain pass." + +"Pass!" sniffed Mrs. Ostermaier. "Pass nothing! I don't call a +wall a mile high a pass." + +"Think," said the girl, "of being able to crow over those three +old women who are always boasting of the things they do. +Probably you are right, and they never do them at all, but you-- +there's a moving-picture man waiting, remember, and you can show +the picture before the Dorcas Society. No one can ever doubt +that you have done a courageous thing. You'll have the proof." + +"George," said Mrs. Ostermaier in a small voice, "if anything +happens, I have told you how I want my things divided." + +"Little devil!" whispered Aggie, referring to the girl. "If that +young man knows when he is well off, he'll let her go." + +But beyond rebuking her for the epithet, Tish made no comment, +and the party moved on. We lost them for a time among the trees, +but when they moved out above timber-line we were able to watch +them, and we saw that Mrs. Ostermaier got off her horse, about +halfway up, and climbed slowly on foot. Tish, who had the +glasses, said that she looked purple and angry, and that she +distinctly saw the guide give her something to drink out of a +bottle. It might, however, have been vichy or some similar +innocent beverage. and I believe in giving her the benefit of +the doubt. + +When at last they vanished over the edge of the pass, we led out +our horses and prepared for what was to come. Bill had not +returned, and, indeed, we did not see him until the evening of +the second day after that, when, worn but triumphant, we emerged +from the trail at the Many Glaciers Hotel. That, however, comes +later in this narrative. + +With everything prepared, Tish judged it best to have luncheon. +I made a few mayonnaise-and-lettuce sandwiches, beating the +mayonnaise in the cool recesses of the cave, and we drank some +iced tea, to which Aggie had thoughtfully added sliced lemon and +a quantity of ginger ale. Feeling much refreshed, we grasped our +weapons and waited. + +At half-past twelve we heard a loud shriek on the pass, far +overhead, followed almost immediately by a fusillade of shots. +Then a silence, followed by more shots. Then a solitary horseman +rode over the edge of the pass and, spurring his horse, rode +recklessly down the precipitous trail. Aggie exclaimed that it +was Mr. Ostermaier, basely deserting his wife in her apparent +hour of need. But Tish, who had the glasses, reported finally +that it was the moving-picture man. + +We were greatly surprised, as it had not occurred to us that +this would be a part of the program. + +As he descended, Tish announced that there must be another +photographer on top, as he was "registering" signs of terror--a +moving-picture expression which she had acquired from Charlie +Sands--and looking back frequently over his shoulder. + +We waited until he reached timber-line, and then withdrew to a +group of trees. It was not our intention to allow him to see us +and spoil everything. But when he came near, through the woods, +and his horse continued at unabated speed, Tish decided that the +animal, frightened by the shots, was running away. + +She therefore placed herself across the trail to check its +headlong speed, but the animal merely rushed round her. Mr. +Oliver yelled something at us, which we were, however, unable to +hear, and kept madly on. + +Almost immediately four men, firing back over their shoulders, +rode into sight at the pass and came swiftly down toward us. + +"Where's the girl?" Tish cried with her glasses to her eyes. +"The idiots have got excited and have forgotten to steal her." + +That was plainly what had happened, but she was determined to be +stolen anyhow, for the next moment she rode into view, furiously +following the bandits. + +"She's kept her head anyhow," Tish observed with satisfaction. +"Trust a lot of men to go crazy and do the wrong thing. But +they'll have to change the story and make her follow them." + +At timber-line the men seemed to realize that she was behind +them, and they turned and looked up. They seemed to be at a loss +to know what to do, in view of the picture. But they were quick +thinkers, too, we decided. Right then and there they took her +prisoner, surrounding her. + +She made a desperate resistance, even crying out, as we coed +plainly see. But Tish was irritated. She said she could not see +how the story would hold now. Either the girl should have +captured them, they being out of ammunition, or the whole thing +should have been done again, according to the original plan. +However, as she said, it was not our affair. Our business was to +teach them a lesson not to impose on unsuspecting tourists, for +although not fond of Mrs. Ostermaier, we had been members of Mr. +Ostermaier's church, and liked him, although his sermons were +shorter than Tish entirely approved of. + +We withdrew again to seclusion until they had passed, and Tish +gave them ten minutes to get well ahead. Then we rode out. + +Tish's face was stern as she led off. The shriek of Mrs. +Ostermaier was still, as she said in a low tone, ringing in her +ears. But before we had gone very far, Tish stopped and got off +her horse. "We've got to pad the horses' feet," she said. "How +can we creep up on them when on every stony place we sound like +an artillery engagement?" + +Here was a difficulty we had not anticipated. But Tish overcame +it with her customary resource, by taking the blanket from under +her saddle and cutting it into pieces with her scissors, which +always accompany her. We then cut the leather straps from our +saddles at her direction, and each of us went to work. Aggie, +however, protested. + +"I never expected," she said querulously, "to be sitting on the +Rocky Mountains under a horse, tying piece of bed quilt on his +feet. I wouldn't mind," she added, "if the creature liked me. +But the way he feels toward me he's likely to haul off and +murder me at any moment." + +However, it was done at last, and it made a great change. We +moved along silently, and all went well except that, having +neglected to draw the cinch tight, and the horse's back being +slippery without the padding, my saddle turned unexpectedly, +throwing me off into the trail. I bruised my arm badly, but Tish +only gave me a glance of scorn and went on. + +Being above carelessness herself, she very justly resents it in +others. + +We had expected, with reason, that the so-called highwaymen, +having retreated to a certain distance, would there pause and +very possibly lunch before returning. It was, therefore, a +matter of surprise to find that they had kept on. + +Moreover, they seemed to have advanced rapidly, and Tish, who +had read a book on signs of the trail, examined the hoofprints +of their horses in a soft place beside a stream, and reported +that they had been going at a lope. + +"Now, remember," she said as she prepared to mount again, "to +all intents and purposes these are real bandits and to be +treated accordingly. Our motto is 'No quarter.' I shall be +harsh, and I expect no protest from either of you. They deserve +everything they get." + +But when, after another mile or two, we came to a side trail, +leading, by Tish's map, not to Many Glaciers, but up a ravine to +another pass, and Tish saw that they had taken that direction, +we were puzzled. + +But not for long. + +"I understand now," she said. "It is all clear. The photographer +was riding ahead to get them up this valley somewhere. They've +probably got a rendezvous all ready, with another camera in +place. I must say," she observed, "that they are doing it +thoroughly." + +We rode for two hours, and no sign of them. The stove polish had +come off the handles of our revolvers by that time, and Aggie, +having rubbed her face ever and anon to remove perspiration, +presented under her turban a villainous and ferocious expression +quite at variance with her customary mildness. + +I urged her to stop and wash, but Tish, after a glance, said to +keep on. + +"Your looking like that's a distinct advantage, Aggie," she +said. "Like as not they'll throw up their hands the minute they +see you. I know I should. You'd better ride first when we get +near." + +"Like as not they'll put a hole in me," Aggie objected. "And as +to riding first, I will not. This is your doing, Tish Carberry, +and as for their having blank cartridges--how do we know someone +hasn't made a mistake and got a real one?" + +Tish reflected on that. "It's a possibility," she agreed. "If we +find that they're going to spend the night out, it might be +better to wait until they've taken off all the hardware they're +hung with." + +But we did not come up with them. We kept on finding traces of +the party in marshy spots, and once Tish hopped off her horse +and picked up a small handkerchief with a colored border and +held it up to us. + +"It's hers," she said. "Anybody would know she is the sort to +use colored borders. They're ahead somewhere." + +But it seemed strange that they would go so far, and I said so. + +"We're far enough off the main trail, Tish," I said. "And it's +getting wilder every minute. There's nothing I can see to +prevent a mountain lion dropping on us most any time." + +"Not if it gets a good look at Aggie!" was Tish's grim response. + +It began to grow dark in the valley, and things seemed to move +on either side of the trail. Aggie called out once that we had +just passed a grizzly bear, but Tish never faltered. The region +grew more and more wild. The trail was broken with mudholes and +crossed by fallen logs. With a superb disdain Tish rode across +all obstacles, not even glancing at them. But Aggie and I got +off at the worst places and led our horses. At one mudhole I was +unfortunate enough to stumble. A horse with a particle of +affection for a woman who had ridden it and cared for it for +several days would have paused. + +Not so my animal. With a heartlessness at which I still shudder +the creature used me as a bridge, aril stepped across, dryfoot, +on my back. Owing to his padded feet and to the depth of the mud- + - some eight feet, I believe--I was uninjured. But it required +ten minutes of hard labor on the part of both Tish and Aggie to +release me from the mud, from which I was finally raised with a +low, hissing sound. + +"Park!" said Aggie as she scraped my obliterated features with a +small branch. "Park, indeed! It's a howling wilderness. I'm fond +of my native land," she went on, digging out my nostrils, so I +could breathe, "but I don't calculate to eat it. As for that +unfeeling beast of yours, Lizzie, I've never known a horse to +show such selfishness. Never." + +Well, we went on at last, but I was not so enthusiastic about +teaching people lessons as I had been. It seemed to me that we +might have kept on along the trail and had a mighty good time, +getting more and more nimble and stopping now and then to bake a +pie and have a decent meal, and putting up our hair in crimps at +night, without worrying about other folks' affairs. + +Late in the afternoon of that day, when so far as I could see +Tish was lost, and not even her gathering a bunch of wild +flowers while the horses rested could fool me, I voiced my +complaint. + +"Let me look at the map, Tish," I suggested. "I'm pretty good at +maps. You know how I am at charades and acrostics. At the church +supper--" + +"Nonsense, Lizzie," she returned. "You couldn't make head or +tail of this map. It's my belief that the man who made it had +never been here. Either that or there has been an earthquake +since. But," she went on, more cheerfully, "if we are lost, so +are the others." + +"If we even had Bill along!" + +"Bill!" Tish said scornfully. "It's my belief Bill is in the +whole business, and that if we hadn't got rid of him we'd have +been the next advertising dodge. As far as that goes," she said +thoughtfully, "it wouldn't surprise me a particle to find that +we've been taken, without our knowing it, most any time. Your +horse just now, walking across that bridge of size, for one +thing." + +Tish seldom makes a pun, which she herself has said is the +lowest form of humor. The dig at my figure was unkind, also, and +unworthy of her. I turned and left her. + +At last, well on in the evening, I saw Tish draw up her horse +and point ahead. + +"The miscreants!" she said. + +True enough, up a narrow side canon we could see a camp-fire. It +was a small one, and only noticeable from one point. But Tish's +keen eye had seen it. She sat on her horse and gazed toward it. + +"What a shameful thing it is," she said, "to prostitute the +beauties of this magnificent region to such a purpose. To make +of these beetling crags a joke! To invade these vast gorges with +the spirit of commercialism and to bring a pack of movie actors +to desecrate the virgin silence with ribald jests and laughter! +Lizzie, I wish you wouldn't wheeze!" + +"You would wheeze, too, Tish Carberry," I retorted, justly +indignant, "if a horse had just pressed your spinal column into +your breast bone. Goodness knows," I said, "where my lungs are. +I've missed them ever since my fall." + +However, she was engrossed with larger matters, and ignored my +petulance. She is a large-natured woman and above pettiness. + +We made our way slowly up the canon. The movie outfit was +securely camped under an overhanging rock, as we could now see. +At one point their position commanded the trail, which was +hardly more than a track through the wilderness, and before we +reached this point we dismounted and Tish surveyed the camp +through her glasses. + +"We'd better wait until dark," Tish said. "Owing to the padding +they have not heard us, but it looks to me as if one of them is +on a rock, watching." + +It seemed rather strange to me that they were keeping a lookout, +but Tish only shrugged her shoulders. + +"If I know anything of that red-headed Oliver man," she said, +"he hates to let a camera rest. Like as not he's got it set up +among the trees somewhere, taking flashlights of wild animals. +It's rather a pity," she said, turning and surveying Aggie and +myself, "that he cannot get you two. If you happen to see +anything edible lying on the ground, you'd better not pick it +up. It's probably attached to the string that sets off the +flash." + +We led our horses into the woods, which were very thick at that +point, and tied them. My beast, however, lay down and rolled, +saddle and all, thus breaking my mirror--a most unlucky omen-- +and the bottle of olive oil which we had brought along for +mayonnaise dressing. Tish is fond of mayonnaise, and, besides, +considers olive oil most strengthening. However, it was gone, +and although Aggie comforted me by suggesting that her boiled +salad dressing is quite tasty, I was disconsolate. + +It was by that time seven o'clock and almost dark. We held a +conference. Tish was of the opinion that we should first lead +off their horses, if possible. + +"I intend," she said severely, "to make escape impossible. If +they fire, when taken by surprise. remember that they have only +blank cartridges. I must say," she added with a confession of +unusual weakness, "that I am glad the Indians escaped the other +way. I would hardly know what to do with Indians, even quite +tame ones. While I know a few letters of the deaf-and-dumb +language, which I believe all tribes use in common, I fear that +in a moment of excitement I would forget what I know." + +The next step, she asserted, was to secure their weapons. + +"After all," she said, "the darkness is in our favor. I intend +to fire once, to show them that we are armed and dangerous. And +if you two will point the guns Bill made, they cannot possibly +tell that they are not real." + +"But we will know it," Aggie quavered. Now that the quarry was +in sight she was more and more nervous, sneezing at short +intervals in spite of her menthol inhaler. "I am sorry, Tish, +but I cannot feel the same about that wooden revolver as I would +about a real one. And even when I try to forget that it is only +wood the carving reminds me." + +But Tish silenced her with a glance. She had strangely altered +in the last few minutes. All traces of fatigue had gone, and +when she struck a match and consulted her watch I saw in her +face that high resolve, that stern and matchless courage, which +I so often have tried to emulate and failed. + +"Seven o'clock," she announced. "We will dine first. There is +nothing like food to restore failing spirits." + +But we had nothing except our sandwiches, and Tish suggested +snaring some of the stupid squirrels with which the region +abounded. + +"Aggie needs broth," she said decidedly. "We have sandwiches, +but Aggie is frail and must be looked to." + +Aggie was pathetically grateful, although sorry for the +squirrels, which were pretty and quite tame. But Tish was firm +in her kindly intent, and proceeded at once to set a rabbit +snare, a trick she had learned in the Maine woods. Having done +this, and built a small fire, well hidden, we sat down to wait. + +In a short time we heard terrible human cries proceeding from +the snare, and, hurrying thither, found in it a young mountain +lion. It looked dangerous, and was biting in every direction. I +admit that I was prepared to leave in haste, but not so Tish. +She fetched her umbrella, without which she never travels, and +while the animal set its jaws in it--a painful necessity, as it +was her best umbrella--Tish hit it on the head--not the +umbrella, but the lion--with a large stone. + +Tish's satisfaction was unbounded. She stated that the flesh of +the mountain lion was much like veal, and so indeed it proved. +We made a nourishing soup of it, with potatoes and a can of +macedoine vegetables, and within an hour and a half we had dined +luxuriously, adding to our repast what remained of the +sandwiches, and a tinned plum pudding of English make, very +nutritious and delicious. + +For twenty minutes after the meal we all stood. Tish insists on +this, as aiding digestion. Then we prepared for the night's +work. + +I believe that our conduct requires no defense. But it may be +well again to explain our position. These people, whose camp- +fire glowed so brazenly against the opposite cliff, had for +purely mercenary motives committed a cruel hoax. They had posed +as bandits, and as bandits they deserved to be treated. They had +held up our own clergyman, of a nervous temperament, on a +mountain pass, and had taken from him a part of his stipend. It +was heartless. It was barbarous. It was cruel. + +My own courage came back with the hot food, which I followed by +a charcoal tablet. And the difference in Aggie was marked. +Possibly some of the courage of the mountain lion, that bravest +of wild creatures, had communicated itself to her through the +homely medicine of digestion. + +"I can hardly wait to get after them," she said. + +However, it was still too early for them to have settled for the +night. We sat down, having extinguished our fire, and I was just +dozing off when Tish remembered the young man who was to have +listened for the police whistle. + +"I absolutely forgot him," she said regretfully. "I suppose he +is hanging round the foot of Piegan's Pass yet. I'm sorry to +have him miss this. I shall tell him, when I see him, that no +girl worth having would be sitting over there at supper with +four moving-picture actors without a chaperon. The whole +proceeding is scandalous. I have noticed," she added, "that it +is the girls from quiet suburban towns who are really most prone +to defy the conventions when the chance comes." + +We dozed for a short time. + +Then Tish sat up suddenly. "What's that?" she said. + +We listened and distinctly heard the tramp of horses' feet. We +started up, but Tish was quite calm. + +"They've turned their horses out," she said. "Fortune is with +us. They are coming this way." + +But at first it did not seem so fortunate, for we heard one of +the men following them, stumbling along, and, I regret to say, +using profane language They came directly toward us, and Aggie +beside me trembled. But Tish was equal to the emergency. + +She drew us behind a large rock, where, spreading out a raincoat +to protect us from the dampness, we sat down and waited. + +When one of the animals loomed up close to the rock Aggie gave a +low cry, but Tish covered her mouth fiercely with an ungentle +hand. + +"Be still!" she hissed. + +It was now perfectly dark, and the man with the horses was not +far off. We could not see him, but at last he came near enough +so that we could see the flare of a match when he lighted a +cigarette. I put my hand on Aggie, and she was shaking with +nervousness. + +"I am sure I am going to sneeze, Lizzie," she gasped. + +And sneeze she did. She muffled it considerably, however, and we +were not discovered. But, Tish, I knew, was silently raging. + +The horses came nearer. + +One of them, indeed, came quite close, and took a nip at the toe +of my riding-boot. I kicked at it sharply, however, and it moved +away. + +The man had gone on. We watched the light of his cigarette, and +thus, as he now and then turned his head, knew where he was. It +was now that I felt, rather than heard, that Tish was crawling +out from the shelter of the rock. At the same time we heard, by +the crunching of branches, that the man had sat down near at +hand. + +Tish's progress was slow but sure. For a half-hour we sat there. +Then she returned, still crawling, and on putting out my hand I +discovered that she had secured the lasso from her saddle and +had brought it back. How true had been her instinct when she +practiced its use! How my own words, that it was all +foolishness, came back and whispered lessons of humility in my +ear! + +At this moment a deep, resonant sound came from the tree where +the movie actor sat. At the same moment a small creature dropped +into my lap from somewhere above, and ran up my sleeve. I made +frantic although necessarily silent efforts to dislodge it, and +it bit me severely. + +The necessity for silence taxed all my strength, but managing +finally to secure it by the tail, I forcibly withdrew it and +flung it away. Unluckily it struck Aggie in the left eye and +inflicted a painful bruise. + +Tish had risen to her feet and was standing, a silent and +menacing figure, while this event transpired. The movements of +the horses as they grazed, the soft breeze blowing through the +pines, were the only sounds. Now she took a step forward. + +"He's asleep!" she whispered. "Aggie, sit still and watch the +horses. Lizzie, come with me." + +As I advanced to her she thrust her revolver into my hand. + +"When I give the word," she said in a whisper, "hold it against +his neck. But keep your finger off the trigger. It's loaded." + +We advanced slowly, halting now and then to listen. Although +brush crackled under our feet, the grazing horses were making a +similar disturbance, and the man slept on. Soon we could see him +clearly, sitting back against a tree, his head dropped forward +on his breast. Tish surveyed the scene with her keen and +appraising eye, and raised the lasso. + +The first result was not good. The loaded end struck a branch, +and, being deflected, the thing wrapped itself perhaps a dozen +times round my neck. Tish, being unconscious of what had +happened, drew it up with a jerk, and I stood helpless and +slowly strangling. At last, however, she realized the difficulty +and released me. I was unable to breathe comfortably for some +time, and my tongue felt swollen for several hours. + +Through all of this the movie actor had slept soundly. At the +second effort Tish succeeded in lassoing him without difficulty. +We had feared a loud outcry before we could get to him, but +owing to Tish's swiftness in tightening the rope he was able to +make, at first, only a low, gurgling sound. I had advanced to +him, and was under the impression that I was holding the +revolver to his neck. On discovering, however, that I was +pressing it to the trunk of the tree, to which he was now +secured by the lariat, I corrected the error and held it against +his ear. + +He was now wide awake and struggling violently. Then, I regret +to say, he broke out into such language as I have never heard +before. At Tish's request I suppress his oaths, and substitute +for them harmless expressions in common use. + +"Good gracious!" he said. "What in the world are you doing +anyhow? Jimminy crickets, take that thing away from my neck! +Great Scott and land alive, I haven't done anything! My word, +that gun will go off if you aren't careful!" + +I am aware that much of the strength of what he said is lost in +this free translation. But it is impossible to repeat his real +language. + +"Don't move," Tish said, "and don't call out. A sound, and a +bullet goes crashing through your brain." + +"A woman!" he said in most unflattering amazement. "Great +Jehoshaphat, a woman!" + +This again is only a translation of what he said. + +"Exactly," Tish observed calmly. She had cut the end off the +lasso with her scissors, and was now tying his feet together +with it. "My friend, we know the whole story, and I am ashamed, +ashamed," she said oratorically, "of your sex! To frighten a +harmless and well-meaning preacher and his wife for the purpose +of publicity is not a joke. Such hoaxes are criminal. If you +must have publicity, why not seek it in some other way?" + +"Crazy!" he groaned to himself. "In the hands of lunatics! Oh, +my goodness!" Again these were not exactly his words. + +Having bound him tightly, hand and foot, and taken a revolver +from his pocket, Tish straightened herself. + +"Now we'll gag him, Lizzie," she said. "We have other things to +do to-night than to stand here and converse." Then she turned to +the man and told him a deliberate lie. I am sorry to record +this. But a tendency to avoid the straight and narrow issues of +truth when facing a crisis is one of Tish's weaknesses, the only +flaw in an otherwise strong and perfect character. + +"We are going to leave you here," she said. "But one of our +number, fully armed, will be near by. A sound from you, or any +endeavor to call for succor, will end sadly for you. A word to +the wise. Now, Lizzie, take that bandanna off his neck and tie +it over his mouth." + +Tish stood, looking down at him, and her very silhouette was +scornful. + +"Think, my friend," she said, "of the ignominy of your position! +Is any moving picture worth it? Is the pleasure of seeing +yourself on the screen any reward for such a shameful position +as yours now is? No. A thousand times no." + +He made a choking sound in his throat and writhed helplessly. +And so we left him, a hopeless and miserable figure, to ponder +on his sins. + +"That's one," said Tish briskly. "There are only three left. +Come, Aggie," she said cheerfully--"to work! We have made a good +beginning." + +It is with modesty that I approach that night's events, +remembering always that Tish's was the brain which conceived and +carried out the affair. We were but her loyal and eager +assistants. It is for this reason that I thought, and still +think, that the money should have been divided so as to give +Tish the lion's share. But she, dear, magnanimous soul, refused +even to hear of such a course, and insisted that we share it +equally. + +Of that, however, more anon. + +We next proceeded to capture their horses and to tie them up. We +regretted the necessity for this, since the unfortunate animals +had traveled far and were doubtless hungry. It went to my heart +to drag them from their fragrant pasture and to tie them to +trees. But, as Tish said, "Necessity knows no law," not even +kindness. So we tied them up. Not, however, until we had moved +them far from the trail. + +Tish stopped then, and stared across the canon to the enemy's +camp-fire. + +"No quarter, remember," she said. "And bring your weapons." + +We grasped our wooden revolvers and, with Tish leading, started +for the camp. Unluckily there was a stream between us, and it +was necessary to ford it. It shows Tish's true generalship that, +instead of removing her shoes and stockings, as Aggie and I were +about to do, she suggested getting our horses and riding across. +This we did, and alighted on the other side dryshod. + +It was, on consulting my watch, nine o'clock and very dark. A +few drops of rain began to fall also, and the distant camp-fire +was burning low. Tish gave us each a little blackberry cordial, +for fear of dampness, and took some herself. The mild glow which +followed was very comforting. + +It was Tish, naturally, who went forward to reconnoiter. She +returned in an hour, to report that the three men were lying +round the fire, two asleep and one leaning on his elbow with a +revolver handy. She did not see Mr. Oliver, and it was possible +that it was he we had tied to the tree. The girl, she said, was +sitting on a log, with her chin propped in her hands. + +"She looked rather low-spirited," Tish said. "I expect she liked +the first young man better than she thought she did. I intend to +give her a piece of my mind as soon as I get a chance. This +playing hot and cold isn't maidenly, to say the least." + +We now moved slowly forward, after tying our horses. Toward the +last, following Tish's example, we went on our hands and knees, +and I was thankful then for no skirts. It is wonderful the +freedom a man has. I was never one to approve of Doctor Mary +Walker, but I'm not so sure she isn't a wise woman and the rest +of us fools. I haven't put on a skirt braid since that time +without begrudging it. + +Well, as I have stated, we advanced, and at last we were in full +sight of the camp. I must say I'd have thought they'd have a +tent. We expected something better, I suppose, because of the +articles in the papers about movie people having their own +limousines, and all that. But there they were, open to the wrath +of the heavens, and deserving it, if I do say so. + +The girl was still sitting, as Tish had described her. Only now +she was crying. My heart was downright sore for her. It is no +comfort, having made a wrong choice, to know that it is one's +own fault. + +Having now reached the zone of firelight Tish gave the signal, +and we rose and pointed our revolvers at them. Then Tish stepped +forward and said:-- + +"Hands up!" + +I shall never forget the expression on the man's face. + +He shouted something, but he threw up his hands also, with his +eyes popping out of his head. The others scrambled to their +feet, but he warned them. + +"Careful, boys!" he yelled. "They're got the drop on us." + +Just then his eyes fell on Aggie, and he screeched:-- + +"Two women and a Turk, by ___." The blank is mine. + +"Lizzie," said Tish sternly, as all of them, including the girl, +held their hands up, "just give me your weapon and go over +them." + +"Go over them?" I said, not understanding. + +"Search them," said Tish. "Take everything out of their pockets. +And don't move," she ordered them sternly. "One motion, and I +fire. Go on, Lizzie." + +Now I have never searched a man's pockets, and the idea was +repugnant to me. I am a woman of delicate instincts. But Tish's +face was stern. I did as commanded, therefore, the total result +being:-- + +Four revolvers. + +Two large knives. + +One small knife. + +One bunch of keys. + +One plug of chewing-tobacco. + +Four cartridge belts. + +Two old pipes. + +Mr. Ostermaier's cigar-case, which I recognized at once, being +the one we had presented to him. + +Mrs. Ostermaier's wedding-ring and gold bracelet, which her +sister gave her on her last birthday. + +A diamond solitaire, unknown, as Mrs. Ostermaier never owned +one, preferring instead earrings as more showy. + +And a considerable sum of money, which I kept but did not count. + +There were other small articles, of no value. + +"Is that all the loot you secured during the infamous scene on +Piegan Pass?" Tish demanded, "You need not hide anything from +us. We know the facts, and the whole story will soon be public." + +"That's all, lady," whined one of the men. "Except a few boxes +of lunch, and that's gone. Lady, lemme take my hands down. I've +got a stiff shoulder, and I--" + +"Keep them up," Tish snapped. "Aggie, see that they keep them +up." + +Until that time we had been too occupied to observe the girl, +who merely stood and watched in a disdainful sort of way. But +now Tish turned and eyed her sternly. + +"Search her, Lizzie," she commanded. + +"Search me!" the girl exclaimed indignantly. "certainly not!" + +"Lizzie," said Tish in her sternest manner, "go over that girl. +Look in her riding-boots. I haven't come across Mrs. +Ostermaier's earrings yet." + +At that the girl changed color and backed off. + +"It's an outrage," she said. "Surely I have suffered enough." + +"Not as much," Tish observed, "as you are going to suffer. Go +over her, Lizzie." + +While I searched her, Tish was lecturing her. + +"You come from a good home, I understand," she said, "and you +ought to know better. Not content with breaking an honest heart, +you join a moving- picture outfit and frighten a prominent +divine- - for Mr. Ostermaier is well known--into what may be an +illness. You cannot deny," she accused her, "that it was you who +coaxed them to the pass. At least you needn't. We heard you." + +"How was I to know--"the girl began sullenly. + +But at that moment I found Mrs. Ostermaier' chamois bag thrust +into her riding-boot, and she suddenly went pale. + +Tish held it up before her accusingly. "I dare say you will not +deny this," she exclaimed, and took Mrs. Ostermaier's earrings +out of it. + +The men muttered, but Aggie was equal to the occasion. +"Silence!" she said, and pointed the revolver at each in turn. + +The girl started to speak. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "I +could explain," she said, "but I won't. If you think I stole +those hideous earrings you're welcome to." + +"Of course not," said Tish sarcastically. "No doubt she gave +them to you--although I never knew her to give anything away +before." + +The girl stood still, thinking. Suddenly she said "There's +another one, you know. Another man." + +"We have him. He will give no further trouble," Tish observed +grimly. "I think we have you all, except your Mr. Oliver." + +"He is not my Mr. Oliver," said the girl. "I never want to see +him again. I--I hate him." + +"You haven't got much mind or you couldn't change it so +quickly." + +She looked sulky again, and said she'd thank us for the ring, +which was hers and she could prove it. + +But Tish sternly refused. "It's my private opinion," she +observed, " that it is Mrs. Ostermaier's, and she has not worn +it openly because of the congregation talking quite considerably +about her earrings, and not caring for jewelry on the minister's +wife. That's what I think." + +Shortly after that we heard a horse loping along the road. It +came nearer, and then left the trail and came toward the fire. +Tish picked up one of the extra revolvers and pointed it. It was +Mr. Oliver! + +"Throw up your hands!" Tish called. And he did it. He turned a +sort of blue color, too, when he saw us, and all the men with +their hands up. But he looked relieved when he saw the girl. + +"Thank Heaven!" he said. "The way I've been riding this country-- + " + +"You rode hard enough away from the pass," she replied coldly. + +We took a revolver away from him and lined him up with the +others. All the time he was paying little attention to us and +none at all to the other men. But he was pleading with the girl. + +"Honestly," he said, "I thought I could do better for everybody +by doing what I did. How did I know," he pleaded, "that you were +going to do such a crazy thing as this?" + +But she only stared at him as if she hated the very ground he +stood on. + +"It's a pity," Tish observed, "that you haven't got your camera +along. This would make a very nice picture. But I dare say you +could hardly turn the crank with your hands in the air." + +We searched him carefully, but he had only a gold watch and some +money. On the chance, however, that the watch was Mr. +Ostermaier's, although unlikely, we took it. + +I must say he was very disagreeable, referring to us as +highwaymen and using uncomplimentary language. But, as Tish +observed, we might as well be thorough while we were about it. + +For the nonce we had forgotten the other man. But now I noticed +that the pseudo-bandits wore a watchful and not unhopeful air. +And suddenly one of them whistled--a thin, shrill note that had, +as Tish later remarked, great penetrative power without being +noisy. + +"That's enough of that," she said. "Aggie, take another of these +guns and point them both at these gentlemen. If they whistle +again, shoot. As to the other man, he will not reply, nor will +he come to your assistance. He is gagged and tied, and into the +bargain may become at any time the victim of wild beasts." + +The moment she had said it, Tish realized that it was but too +true, and she grew thoughtful. Aggie, too, was far from +comfortable. She said later that she was uncertain what to do. +Tish had said to fire if they whistled again. The question in +her mind was, had it been said purely for effect or did Tish +mean it? After all, the men were not real bandits, she +reflected, although guilty of theft, even if only for +advertising purposes. She was greatly disturbed, and as +agitation always causes a return of her hay fever, she began to +sneeze violently. + +Until then the men had been quiet, if furious. But now they fell +into abject terror, imploring Tish, whom they easily recognized +as the leader, to take the revolvers from her. + +But Tish only said: "No fatalities, Aggie, please. Point at an +arm or a leg until the spasm subsides." + +Her tone was quite gentle. + +Heretofore this has been a plain narrative, dull, I fear, in +many places. But I come now to a not unexciting incident--which +for a time placed Tish and myself in an unpleasant position. + +I refer to the escape of the man we had tied. + +We held a brief discussion as to what to do with our prisoners +until morning, a discussion which Tish solved with her usual +celerity by cutting from the saddles which lay round the fire a +number of those leather thongs with which such saddles are +adorned and which are used in case of necessity to strap various +articles to the aforesaid saddles. + +With these thongs we tied them, not uncomfortably, but firmly, +their hands behind them and their feet fastened together. Then, +as the night grew cold, Tish suggested that we shove them near +the fire, which we did. + +The young lady, however, offered a more difficult problem. We +compromised by giving her her freedom, but arranging for one of +our number to keep her covered with a revolver. + +"You needn't be so thoughtful," she said angrily, and with a +total lack of appreciation of Tish's considerate attitude. "I'd +rather be tied, especially if the Moslem with the hay fever is +going to hold the gun." + +It was at that moment that we heard a whistle from across the +stream, and each of the prostrate men raised his head eagerly. +Before Tish could interfere one of them had whistled three times +sharply, probably a danger signal. + +Without a word Tish turned and ran toward the stream, calling to +me to follow her. + +"Tish!" I heard Aggie's agonized tone. "Lizzie! Come back. Don't +leave me here alone. I--" + +Here she evidently clutched the revolver involuntarily, for +there was a sharp report, and a bullet struck a tree near us. + +Tish paused and turned. "Point that thing up into the air, +Aggie," she called back. "And stay there. I hold you +responsible." + +I heard Aggie give a low moan, but she said nothing, and we kept +on. + +The moon had now come up, flooding the valley with silver +radiance. We found our horses at once, and Tish leaped into the +saddle. Being heavier and also out of breath from having +stumbled over a log, I was somewhat slower. + +Tish was therefore in advance of me when we started, and it was +she who caught sight of him first. + +"He's got a horse, Lizzie," she called back to me. "We can get +him, I think. Remember, he is unarmed." + +Fortunately he had made for the trail, which was here wider than +ordinary and gleamed white in the moonlight. We had, however, +lost some time in fording the stream, and we had but the one +glimpse of him as the trail curved. + +Tish lashed her horse to a lope, and mine followed without +urging. I had, unfortunately, lost a stirrup early in the chase, +and was compelled, being unable to recover it, to drop the lines +and clutch the saddle. + +Twice Tish fired into the air. She explained afterward that she +did this for the moral effect on the fugitive, but as each time +it caused my horse to jump and almost unseat me, at last I +begged her to desist. + +We struck at last into a straight piece of trail, ending in a +wall of granite, and up this the trail climbed in a switchback. +Tish turned to me. + +"We have him now," she said. "When he starts up there he is as +much gone as a fly on the wall. As a matter of fact," she said +as calmly as though we had been taking an afternoon stroll, "his +taking this trail shows that he is a novice and no real +highwayman. Otherwise he would have turned off into the woods." + +At that moment the fugitive's horse emerged into the moonlight +and Tish smiled grimly. + +"I see why now," she exclaimed. "The idiot has happened on Mona +Lisa, who must have returned and followed us. And no pack-horse +can be made to leave the trail unless by means of a hornet. +Look, he's trying to pull her off and she won't go." + +It was true, as we now perceived. He saw his danger, but too +late. Mona Lisa, probably still disagreeable after her +experience with the hornets, held straight for the cliff. + +The moon shone full on it, and when he was only thirty feet up +its face Tish fired again, and the fugitive stopped. + +"Come down," said Tish quietly. + +He said a great many things which, like his earlier language, I +do not care to repeat. But after a second shot he began to +descend slowly. + +Tish, however, approached him warily, having given her revolver +to me. + +"He might try to get it from me, Lizzie," she observed. "Keep it +pointed in our direction, but not at us. I'm going to tie him +again." + +This she proceeded to do, tying his hands behind him and +fastening his belt also to the horn of the saddle, but leaving +his feet free. All this was done to the accompaniment of bitter +vituperation. She pretended to ignore this, but it made an +impression evidently, for at last she replied. + +"You have no one to blame but yourself," she said. "You deserve +your present humiliating position, and you know it. I've made up +my mind to take you all in and expose your cruel scheme, and I +intend to do it. I'm nothing if I am not thorough," she +finished. + +He made no reply to this, and, in fact, he made only one speech +on the way back, and that, I am happy to say, was without +profanity. + +"It isn't being taken in that I mind so much," he said +pathetically. "It's all in the game, and I can stand up as well +under trouble as any one. It's being led in by a crowd of women +that makes it painful." + +I have neglected to say that Tish was leading Mona Lisa, while I +followed with the revolver. + +It was not far from dawn when we reached the camp again. Aggie +was as we had left her, but in the light of the dying fire she +looked older and much worn. As a matter of fact, it was some +weeks before she looked like her old self. + +The girl was sitting where we had left her, and sulkier than +ever. She had turned her back to Mr. Oliver, and Aggie said +afterward that the way they had quarreled had been something +terrible. + +Aggie said she had tried to make conversation with the girl, and +had, indeed, told her of Mr. Wiggins and her own blasted life. +But she had remained singularly unresponsive. + +The return of our new prisoner was greeted by the other men with +brutal rage, except Mr. Oliver, who merely glanced at him and +then went back to his staring at the fire. It appeared that they +had been counting on him to get assistance, and his capture +destroyed their last hope. Indeed, their language grew so +unpleasant that at last Tish hammered sharply on a rock with the +handle of her revolver. + +"Please remember," she said, "that you are in the presence of +ladies!" + +They jeered at her, but she handled the situation with her usual +generalship. + +"Lizzie," she said calmly, "get the tin basin that is hanging to +my saddle, and fill it with the water from that snowbank. On the +occasion of any more unseemly language, pour it over the +offender without mercy." + +It became necessary to do it, I regret to state. They had not +yet learned that Tish always carries out her threats. It was the +one who we felt was the leader who offended, and I did as I had +been requested to. But Aggie, ever tender-hearted, feared that +it would give the man a severe cold, and got Tish's permission +to pour a little blackberry cordial down his throat. + +Far from this kindness having a salubrious effect, it had the +contrary. They all fell to bad language again, and, realizing +that they wished the cordial, and our supply being limited, we +were compelled to abandon the treatment. + +It had been an uncomfortable night, and I confess to a feeling +of relief when "the rift of dawn" broke the early skies. + +We were, Tish calculated, some forty miles from breakfast, and +Aggie's diet for some days had been light at the best, even the +mountain-lion broth having been more stimulating than staying. +We therefore investigated the camp, and found behind a large +stone some flour, baking-powder, and bacon. With this equipment +and a frying-pan or two we were able to make some very fair +pancakes-- or flapjacks, as they are called in the West. + +Tish civilly invited the girl to eat with us, but she refused +curtly, although, on turning once, I saw her eyeing us with +famished eyes. I think, however, that on seeing us going about +the homely task of getting breakfast, she realized that we were +not the desperate creatures she had fancied during the night, +but three gentlewomen on a holiday--simple tourists, indeed. + +"I wish," she said at last almost wistfully--"I wish that I +could understand it all. I seem to be all mixed up. You don't +suppose I want to be here, do you?" + +But Tish was not in a mood to make concessions. "As for what you +want," she said, "how are we to know that? You are here, aren't +you? --here as a result of your own cold-heartedness. Had you +remained true to the very estimable young man you jilted you +would not now be in this position." + +"Of course he would talk about it!" said the girl darkly. + +"I am convinced," Tish went on, dexterously turning a pancake by +a swift movement of the pan, "that sensational movies are +responsible for much that is wrong with the country to-day. They +set false standards. Perfectly pure-minded people see them and +are filled with thoughts of crime." + +Although she had ignored him steadily, the girl turned now to +Mr. Oliver. + +"They don't believe anything I tell them. Why don't you +explain?" she demanded. + +"Explain!" he said in a furious voice. "Explain to three +lunatics? What's the use?" + +"You got me into this, you know." + +"I did! I like that! What in the name of Heaven induced you to +ride off the way you did?" + +Tish paused, with the frying-pan in the air. "Silence!" she +commanded. "You are both only reaping what you have sowed. As +far as quarreling goes, you can keep that until you are married, +if you intend to be. I don't know but I'd advise it. It's a pity +to spoil two houses." + +But the girl said that she wouldn't marry him if he was the last +man on earth, and he fell back to sulking again. + +As Aggie observed later, he acted as if he had never cared for +her, while Mr. Bell, on the contrary, could not help his face +changing when he so much as mentioned her name. + +We made some tea and ate a hearty breakfast, while the men +watched us. And as we ate, Tish held the moving-picture business +up to contumely and scorn. + +"Lady," said one of the prostrate men, "aren't you going to give +us anything to eat?" + +"People," Tish said, ignoring him, "who would ordinarily cringe +at the sight of a wounded beetle sit through bloody murders and +go home with the obsession of crime." + +"I hope you won't take it amiss," said the man again, "if I say +that, seeing it's our flour and bacon, you either ought to feed +us or take it away and eat it where we can't see you." + +"I take it," said Tish to the girl, pouring in more batter, +"that you yourself would never have thought of highway robbery +had you not been led to it by an overstimulated imagination." + +"I wish," said the girl rudely, "that you wouldn't talk so much. +I've got a headache." + +When we had finished Tish indicated the frying-pan and the +batter. "Perhaps," she said, "you would like to bake some cakes +for these friends of yours. We have a long trip ahead of us." + +But the girl replied heartlessly that she hoped they would +starve to death, ignoring their pitiful glances. In the end it +was our own tender-hearted Aggie who baked pancakes for them +and, loosening their hands while I stood guard, saw that they +had not only food but the gentle refreshment of fresh tea. Tish +it was, however, who, not to be outdone in magnanimity, +permitted them to go, one by one, to the stream to wash. Escape, +without horses or weapons, was impossible, and they realized it. + +By nine o'clock we were ready to return. And here a difficulty +presented itself. There were six prisoners and only three of us. +The men, fed now, were looking less subdued, although they +pretended to obey Tish's commands with alacrity. + +Aggie overheard a scrap of conversation, too, which seemed to +indicate that they had not given up hope. Had Tish not set her +heart on leading them into the great hotel at Many Glaciers, and +there exposing them to the taunts of angry tourists, it would +have been simpler for one of us to ride for assistance, leaving +the others there. + +In this emergency Tish, putting her hand into her pocket for her +scissors to trim a hangnail, happened to come across the +policeman's whistle. + +"My gracious!" she said. "I forgot my promise to that young +man!" + +She immediately put it to her lips and blew three shrill blasts. +To our surprise they were answered by a halloo, and a moment +later the young gentleman himself appeared on the trail. He was +no longer afoot, but was mounted on a pinto pony, which we knew +at once for Bill's. + +He sat on his horse, staring as if he could not believe his +eyes. Then he made his way across the stream toward us. + +"Good Heavens!" he said. "What in the name of--" Here his eyes +fell on the girl, and he stiffened. + +"Jim!" cried the girl, and looked at him with what Aggie +afterward characterized as a most touching expression. + +But he ignored her. "Looks as though you folks have been pretty +busy," he observed, glancing at our scowling captives. "I'm a +trifle surprised. You don't mind my being rather breathless, do +you?" + +"My only regret," Tish said loftily, "is that we have not +secured the Indians. They too should be taught a lesson. I am +sure that the red man is noble until led away by civilized +people who might know better." + +It was at this point that Mr. Bell's eyes fell on Mr. Oliver, +who with his hands tied behind him was crouching over the fire. + +"Well!" he said. "So you're here too! But of course you would +be." This he said bitterly. + +"For the love of Heaven, Bell," Mr. Oliver said, "tell those mad +women that I'm not a bandit." + +"We know that already," Tish observed. + +"And untie my hands. My shoulders are about broken." + +But Mr. Bell only looked at him coldly. "I can't interfere with +these ladies," he said. "They're friends of mine. If they think +you are better tied, it's their business. They did it." + +"At least," Mr. Oliver said savagely, "you can tell them who I +am, can't you?" + +"As to that," Mr. Bell returned, "I can only tell them what you +say you are. You must remember that I know nothing about you. +Helen knows much more than I do." + +"Jim," cried the girl, "surely you are going to tell these women +that we are not highway robbers. Tell them the truth. Tell them +I am not a highway robber. Tell them that these men are not my +accomplices, that I never saw them before." + +"You must remember," he replied in an icy tone, "that I no +longer know your friends. It is some days since you and I parted +company. And you must admit that one of them is a friend of +yours- -as well as I can judge, a very close friend." + +She was almost in tears, but she persisted. "At least," she +said, "you can tell them that I did not rob that woman on the +pass. They are going to lead us in to Many Glaciers, and--Jim, +you won't let them, will you? I'll die of shame." + +But he was totally unmoved. As Aggie said afterward, no one +would have thought that, but a day or two before, he had been +heartbroken because she was in love with someone else. + +"As to that," he said, "it is questionable, according to Mrs. +Ostermaier, that nothing was taken from you, and that as soon as +the attack was over you basely deserted her and followed the +bandits. A full description of you, which I was able to correct +in one or two trifling details, is now in the hands of the park +police." + +She stared at him with fury in her eyes. "I hope you will never +speak to me again," she cried. + +"You said that the last time I saw you, Helen. If you will +think, you will remember that you addressed me first just now." + +She stamped her foot. + +"Of course," he said politely, "you can see my position. You +maintain and possibly believe that these--er--acquaintances of +yours"--he indicated the men--"are not members of the moving- +picture outfit. Also that your being with them is of an +accidental nature. But, on the other hand--" + +She put her fingers in her ears and turned her back on him. + +"On the other hand," he went on calmly, "I have the word of +these three respectable ladies that they are the outfit, or part +of it, that they have just concluded a cruel hoax on +unsuspecting tourists, and that they justly deserve to be led in +as captives and exposed to the full ignominy of their position." + +Here she faced him again, and this time she was quite pale. "Ask +those--those women where they found my engagement ring," she +said. "One of those wretches took it from me. That ought to be +proof enough that they are not from the moving-picture outfit." + +Tish at once produced the ring and held it out to him. But he +merely glanced at it and shook his head. + +"All engagement rings look alike," he observed. "I cannot +possibly say, Helen, but I think it is unlikely that it is the +one I gave you, as you told me, you may recall, that you had +thrown it into a crack in a glacier. It may, of course, be one +you have recently acquired." + +He glanced at Mr. Oliver, but the latter only shrugged his +shoulders. + +Well, she shed a few tears, but he was adamant, and helped us +saddle the horses, ignoring her utterly. It was our opinion that +he no longer cared for her, and that, having lost him, she now +regretted it. I know that she watched him steadily when he was +not looking her way. But he went round quite happily, whistling +a bit of tune, and not at all like the surly individual we had +at first thought him. + +The ride back was without much incident. Our prisoners rode with +their hands tied behind them, except the young lady. + +"We might as well leave her unfastened," the young man said +casually. "While I dare say she would make her escape if +possible, and particularly if there was any chance of getting +filmed while doing it, I will make myself personally +responsible." + +As a matter of fact she was exceedingly rude to all of us, and +during our stop for luncheon, which was again bacon and +pancakes, she made a dash for her horse. The young man saw her, +however, in time, and brought her back. From that time on she +was more civil, but I saw her looking at him now and then, and +her eyes were positively terrified. + +It was Aggie, at last, who put in a plea for her with him, +drawing him aside to do so. "I am sure," she said, "that she is +really a nice girl, and has merely been led astray by the search +for adventure. Naturally my friends, especially Miss Tish, have +small sympathy with such a state of mind. But you are younger-- +and remember, you loved her once." + +"Loved her once!" he replied. "Dear lady, I'm so crazy about her +at this minute that I can hardly hold myself in." + +"You are not acting much like it." + +"The fact is," he replied, "I'm afraid to let myself go. And if +she's learned a lesson, I have too. I've been her doormat long +enough. I tried it and it didn't work. She's caring more for me +now, at this minute, than she has in eleven months. She needs a +strong hand, and, by George! I've got it--two of them, in fact." + +We reached Many Glaciers late that afternoon, and Tish rode +right up to the hotel. Our arrival created the most intense +excitement, and Tish, although pleased, was rather surprised. It +was not, however, until a large man elbowed his way through the +crowd and took possession of the prisoners that we understood. + +"I'll take them now," he said. "Well, George, how are you?" + +This was to the leader, who merely muttered in reply. + +"I'd like to leave them here for a short time," Tish stated. +"They should be taught a severe lesson and nothing stings like +ridicule. After that you can turn them free, but I think they +ought to be discharged." + +"Turn them free!" he said in a tone of amazement. "Discharged! +My dear madam, they will get fifteen years' hard labor, I hope. +And that's too good for them." + +Then suddenly the crowd began to cheer. It was some time before +Tish realized that they were cheering us. And even then, I shall +have to confess, we did not understand until the young man +explained to ms. + +"You see," he said, "I didn't like to say anything sooner, for +fear of making you nervous. You'd done it all so well that I +wanted you to finish it. You're been in the right church all +along, but the wrong pew. Those fellows aren't movie actors, +except Oliver, who will be freed now, and come after me with a +gun, as like as not! They're real dyed-in- the-wool desperadoes +and there's a reward of five thousand dollars for capturing +them." + +Tish went rather white, but said nothing. Aggie, however, went +into a paroxysm of sneezing, and did not revive until given +aromatic ammonia to inhale. + +"I was fooled at first too," the young man said. "We'd been +expecting a holdup and when it came we thought it was the faked +one. But the person" --he paused and looked round--"the person +who had the real jolt was Helen. She followed them, since they +didn't take her for ransom, as had been agreed in the plot. + +"Then, when she found her mistake, they took her along, for fear +she'd ride off and raise the alarm. All in all," he said +reflectively, "it has been worth about a million dollars to me." + +We went into the hotel, with the crowd following us, and the +first thing we saw was Mrs. Ostermaier, sitting dejectedly by +the fire. When she saw us, she sprang to her feet and came to +meet us. + +"Oh, Miss Tish, Miss Tish!" she said. "What I have been through! +Attacked on a lonely mountain-top and robbed of everything. My +reason is almost gone. And my earrings, my beautiful earrings!" + +Tish said nothing, but, reaching into her reticule, which she +had taken from the horn of her saddle, she drew out a number of +things. + +"Here," she said. "Are your earrings. Here also is Mr. +Ostermaier's cigar-case, but empty. Here is some money too. I'll +keep that, however, until I know how much you lost." + +"Tish!" screeched Mrs. Ostermaier. "You found them!" + +"Yes," Tish said somewhat wearily, "we found them. We found a +number of things, Mrs. Ostermaier,--four bandits, and two +lovers, or rather three, but so no longer, and your things, and +a reward of five thousand dollars, and an engagement ring. I +think," she said, "that I'd like a hot bath and something to +eat." + +Mrs. Ostermaier was gloating over her earrings, but she looked +up at Tish's tired and grimy face, at the mud encrusted on me +from my accident the day before, at Aggie in her turban. + +"Go and wash, all of you," she said kindly, "and I'll order some +hot tea." + +But Tish shook her head. "Tea nothing!" she said firmly. "I want +a broiled sirloin steak and potatoes. And"-- she looked Mrs. +Ostermaier full in the eye--"I am going to have a cocktail. I +need it." + +Late that evening Aggie came to Tish's room, where I was sitting +with her. Tish was feeling entirely well, and more talkative +than I can remember her in years. But the cocktail, which she +felt, she said, in no other way, had gone to her legs. + +"It is not," she observed, "that I cannot walk. I can, perfectly +well. But I am obliged to keep my eyes on my feet, and it might +be noticed." + +"I just came in," Aggie said, "to say that Helen and her lover +have made it up. They are down by the lake now, and if you will +look out you can see them." + +I gave Tish an arm to the window, and the three of us stood and +looked out. The moon was rising over the snow-capped peaks +across the lake, and against its silver pathway the young people +stood outlined. As we looked he stooped and kissed her. But it +was a brief caress, as if he had just remembered the strong hand +and being a doormat long enough. + +Tish drew a long breath. + +"What," she said, "is more beautiful than young love? It will be +a comfort to remember that we brought them together. Let go of me now, +Lizzie. If I keep my eye on the bedpost I think I can get back." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Tish, by Mary Roberts Rinehart + |