|
Citation |
- Permanent Link:
- https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00084134/00001
Material Information
- Title:
- The merry five
- Series Title:
- Silver gate series
- Creator:
- Shirley, Penn, 1840-1929
Davidson, Bertha G ( Illustrator )
Lee and Shepard ( Publisher )
Berwick & Smith ( Printer )
C.J. Peters & Son
- Place of Publication:
- Boston
- Publisher:
- Lee and Shepard
- Manufacturer:
- Typography by C. J. Peters and Son ; Berwick and Smith
- Publication Date:
- c1896
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 155, [2] p., [8] leaves of plates : ill. ; 17 cm.
Subjects
- Subjects / Keywords:
- Youth -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh )
Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Brothers and sisters -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Friendship -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Swimming -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Fishing -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Camping -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Outdoor life -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Twins -- Juvenile fiction ( lcsh ) Publishers' advertisements -- 1896 ( rbgenr ) Bldn -- 1896
- Genre:
- Publishers' advertisements ( rbgenr )
novel ( marcgt )
- Spatial Coverage:
- United States -- Massachusetts -- Boston
- Target Audience:
- juvenile ( marctarget )
Notes
- General Note:
- Illustrations by Bertha G. Davidson.
- General Note:
- Publisher's advertisements precede and follow text.
- Statement of Responsibility:
- by Penn Shirley.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- University of Florida
- Holding Location:
- University of Florida
- Rights Management:
- This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
- Resource Identifier:
- 026957276 ( ALEPH )
ALH7944 ( NOTIS ) 232334729 ( OCLC )
|
Downloads |
This item has the following downloads:
|
Full Text |
‘SILVER GRTE SERIES
The Baldwin Library
RMB vein
BOOKS BY PENN SHIRLEY
LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES
Three volumes Illustrated Price per volume
75 cents
Little Miss Weezy
Little Miss Weezy’s Brother
Little Miss Weezy’s Sister
THE SILVER GATE SERIES
Illustrated Price per volume 7s cents
Young Master Kirke
The Merry Five
Complete Catalogues free
LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers BOSTON
“Mamma has found her lost baby.â€
THE SILVER GATE SERIES
THE MERRY FIVE
BY
PENN SHIRLEY
AUTHOR OF “LITTLE MISS WEEZY†“LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S
BROTHER� “LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S SISTER�
“YOUNG MASTER KIRKE’?
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
IO MILK STREET
CoryRIGHT, 1896, By LEE AND SHEPARD
All Rights Reserved
Tue Merry Five
TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON.
PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I, Tue Merry Five . . ©. 1 + + se ee 7
TJ. DONALD HIDES . . . 1. 1 se we 6 © we e220
TI, Sanra Luzia. . 1. ee ew we ee ee 80
IV. LEARNING TO SWIM . . . ee 7 . + 42
Vv. At THE BEACH... ee ee ee ee 53
VI. FisHING FoR WEEZY . . . .. ee e) 67
VII. Gomnc INTO CAMP... ee ee ee ce 79
VIIL, Tue Lirrte MINERS . . . . . ee ee) OOF
IX. Tur Bre-RaAncH . . . ee + ee e+ 104
X. Firvz Younc Ports ..... +. + + Wy
XI. Motty a Heroine. . . . se ee ee 128
XII. Tue STREET MASQUERADE . «. « se + 142
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
“* MAMMA HAS FOUND HER Lost Basy†. . Frontispiece
“© You’D BETTER LET Him Go To Santa Luzia,’’? page 32
PAULINE AND MOLLY WERE SWINGING IN A
.
Hammock . . . . ee ee ee ee Barge 53
THe Boys BORE THE CHILD ONWARD . . . . page 75
THe TWINS SPRANG FROM BEHIND THE TALL
SYCAMORE . . . . 1 ew ee ee ee Page 90
‘©AREN’T YoU AFRAID OF BEING STUNG?’’? . . page 109
“Srop THE CAR !’? SCREAMED MOLLIE . . . page 137
<
TuaT INQUISITIVE LITTLE DoG ... . . « page 153
THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER I
THE: MERRY FIVE
Tue Merry Five were Molly, Kirke, and
Weezy Rowe, and their’ twin comrades, ’ Paul
and Pauline Bradstreet, who lived over the
way. Paul, Pauline, and Molly were now
fourteen years old, Kirke was twelve, and
little Miss Weezy seven. The story begins
with the Rowes at luncheon-time.
“O papa! I’m so glad we're going to the
beach,†cried Molly, laying down her fork.
“And I’m glad we’re going to be so near
Captain Bradstreet’s camp,†added Kirke,
flourishing his napkin. “Oh! we shall have
a famous outing.â€
8 THE MERRY FIVE
“ Exquit!†chirped Weezy, not at all sure
what an outing might be, only that it must
_ be something jolly.
“Me too, mamma,†lisped Baby Donald,
paddling with his spoon in his bowl of milk.
Mr. Rowe had caused this unusual excite-
ment by reading aloud a letter from Mrs.
Kitto, who kept a boarding-house at Santa
Luzia. The letter stated that she had received
Mr. Rowe’s note of inquiry, and that if he
desired it, she would take himself and family
as boarders on the following Wednesday.
“You do desire it, papa; don’t you?†added
Molly eagerly.
“Tf your mamma does, my daughter.â€
“Tt will be difficult to leave so soon,â€
remarked Mrs. Rowe, thoughtfully stroking
Donald’s restless fingers.
“But we children can help,†said Molly
quickly. “We have helped a .great deal
since vacation; now, haven’t we, mamma?â€
THE MERRY FIVE 9
“Certainly you have, my dear,â€, returned
Mrs. Rowe with a smile. Did Molly remem-
ber that this vacation was as yet hardly two _
days old?
The first thing that Molly did after luncheon
by way of helping, was to run across the street
to Captain Bradstreet’s to signal to Pauline in
the cheery trill that all school-girls know.
“Mrs. Kitto can take us, Polly! We're
going Wednesday !’’ she cried, as Pauline came
dancing out, her long hair floating behind her
like a black flag.
“You are, Molly? Papa says we sha’n’t be
off before the first of next month. But he
has partly promised to let Paul and me stop
at Santa Luzia on the way.â€
“O Pauline, how perfectly lovely !â€
“T didn’t believe he’d ever think of such
a thing,†said Pauline, braiding her hair,
“He’s so silly about us twins since mamma
died. Can’t bear to have us out of his sight.†|
10 THE MERRY FIVE
“JT don’t wonder, Polly, I’m sure.†Mbolly’s
eyes glowed with pity, as they always did
when Pauline spoke of her dead mother. She
longed to tell Pauline how sorry she was for
her, but the words would not come. What
she did say was only this, “ Your shoe-string’s
untied, Polly, the right one.â€
“Ts it? Well, it might as well be the
right as the left. It’s sure to be one or the
other,†returned easy-going Pauline, stooping
- to fasten the offending lacing.
“Oh! won’t it be delightful if you and Paul
can come to Santa Luzia, Polly? I “ope you
can stay at Mrs. Kitto’s a whole week.†:
“Thank you, Molly dear, and I†— Pauline
had been about to say that she hoped Molly
and Kirke would stay at least that length of
time at the camp; but suddenly remembered
that there might not be room enough for
them. She must ask her father.
“JT —J suppose Auntie David will meet us
THE MERRY FIVE It
at Santa Luzia,†she said, to finish the sen-
tence.
“What does make you call her Auntie
David, Pauline? You’ve never told me.â€
“Oh, Paul and I began to call her that
when we were little snips, and we’ve done
it ever since. Auntie doesn’t mind. Her
name is Davidson, you know. She married
Uncle John Davidson.â€
_“ Will Mr. Davidson come to Santa Luzia
too, Polly?â€
“Oh, no; Uncle John has gone East. He
goes East. every summer on business, and
then euntie comes to live with us. Lucky
for Paul and me; lucky for papa too! Auntie
David is papa’s only sister. I believe he
thinks she made the world!â€
“Well, I must skip back,†said Molly, with
an important air. “Kirke has gone over to
Mrs. Carillo’s to see if Manuel wants to keep
Kirke’s cart and burro while we're away ;
12 THE MERRY FIVE
\
and mamma may want me to do some er-
rands.†—
All the rest of the week there was a pleasant
bustle in the Rowe household, the bustle of
preparing for a journey.
- “We're going to ride in the cars,†little
Miss Weezy explained to all callers. “We're
going to Sandy Luzia. It’s ’most a hundred
miles.â€
The little maiden was very busy these days ;
for she had to hunt up her scattered dolls,
many of them having strayed out of sight.
Mr. Rowe, though still far from strong,
was very busy too.
“T must drive over to the gardener’s this
morning to instruct him in regard to the hedge,â€
he said to Mrs. Rowe the next Monday.
« Shall we shut up Zip?†asked Mrs. Rowe,
as she brought her husband a glass of milk.
Mr. Rowe smiled. “ Let
,
“No, my dear,’
the little Mexican follow. I believe his dog-
THE MERRY FIVE ‘ 13
ship thinks none of the family can be trusted
anywhere without him.â€
_ As soon as Mr. Rowe had gone, Mrs. Rowe
hastened to call Molly from the book she was
reading.
“Come, Molly, while papa is away we will
begin our packing. Please ask Hop Kee to
take the largest trunk from the store-room,
and set it down in the upper hall in front
of the grate.â€
Molly put “Alice in Wonderland†upon thé
table with a little sigh, and walked out to
the kitchen rather more slowly than a girl
ought to walk when she goes on her mother’s
errands. She was thinking about Alice and
that surprising rabbit. What would he do
next ? ,
“Now, children, you can collect the articles
that you cannot do without,†said Mrs. Rowe,
after the trunk had been placed before the
unused grate. “The necessary articles must
14 'THE MERRY FIVE
be put in first, for we sha’n’t have room for
everything you'd like.â€
Kirke immediately brought his tennis-racket,
his foot-ball, and his jointed fishing-rod, and
flung them into the trunk.
“T must have my tool-box, too, mamma,
_and the ship I’m rigging, and†—
«“ Any clothes, Kirke?†interrupted Molly
mischievously, as she appeared with an armful
of bathing-suits.
Kirke had not thought of clothes; and when
these had been hunted up, and laid smoothly
over the bathing-suits, he grudged them the
space they occupied.
But his mamma did not let him remain idle.
“You may get the hammock next, Kirke,
and papa’s afghan and pillows.â€
Kirke skipped down-stairs two steps at a
time, and speedily returned with the hammock
slung over his shoulder, and bulging in a very
peculiar manner.
THE MERRY FIVE * 15
“Here’s a big hang-bird’s nest, mamma.
It has one wee bird in it. Do you want to
see the fellow hop?â€
“O Kirke! what made you bring Donald
here now?†said Mrs. Rowe, with a vexed _
laugh, as Kirke spilled his baby brother at
her feet.
Donald scrambled up, and rested his chin
on the edge of the trunk to see his mamma
put in the sofa-pillows, and spread blankets
over them. “Pitty ’itty bed,†said he.
“So you think that’s a bed do you, little
brother?†cried Kirke, much amused. “It
does look like your cribby, that’s a fact.â€
“Pitty itty mamma,’ pursued the young
rogue, throwing his arms about his mother’s
neck, partly because he loved her, partly be-
cause he feared she was going to send him
away, ;
“There, sweetheart, that will do,†said she
at last, between his kisses. “Mamma is busy
16_ THE MERRY FIVE
now. Brother must take little Donald down-
stairs.†‘
“Pit-a-bat, pit-a-bat,†pleaded the baby.
He saw he must go, and, as that was the
case, preferred to go in state, riding on his
brother’s back. .
“Well, pick-a-back it is, then,†exclaimed
Kirke, slinging the teasing child across his
shoulders. In the lower hall he met Captain
Bradstreet and Pauline.
_ “You're the very young man I want to speak
to,†cried the cheery captain; “I want †—
“Now, papa, Kirke’s not so very young,
I’m sure,†interrupted Pauline archly.
Captain Bradstreet chuckled as though his
motherless daughter had made a witty remark.
“True, my little girl, Kirke’s not so very
young ; but then, on the other hand, not. so
old as he may be later.â€
“I’m going on thirteen, Captain Bradstreet,â€
said Kirke, jealous for his own dignity.
THE MERRY FIVE 17
The captain chuckled again, and wiped his
sunburned face so hard that Kirke half looked
for a crimson stain on the white pocket-hand-
kerchief.
“Yes, yes, to be sure, you'll overtake your
father before long, Kirke. Hop Kee says
your father’s not at home.â€
“No; papa has gone to Mr. Gleason’s, Cap-
tain Bradstreet.â€
“We've come, Pauline and I, to engage
you and that big sister of yours to visit us
at our camp when we’re settled in it. Pauline
won't sleep a wink till this thing’s arranged.
Can we see your mother?â€
Kirke set Donald down upon the floor, and
hastened to the upper hall, where Molly was
capering about in the wildest excitement.
“OQ mamma! did you hear what Captain
Bradstreet said? Did you hear? He wants
Kirke and me to make a visit at his camp —
I never made a visit at a camp in my life!â€
*
18 THE MERRY FIVE
“Yes, mamma,†said Kirke, in the same low
tone, “ Captain Bradstreet wants to ask you if
_ Molly and I can go. Came on purpose.â€
“© mamma! you'll say yes; won’t you?â€
begged Molly. :
Mrs. Rowe was hastily laying aside her
apron.
“We'll ask papa, Molly. Captain Bradstreet
is certainly very kind.â€
“7 don’t think Captain Bradstreét’s kind —
I don’t think he’s kind a bit,’’ muttered little
Miss Weezy, as the others went down-stairs.
“Never ’vited me at all! Didn’t I ’vite him
to my seven-years-old party, ice-cream to it
too? O dear, dear, dear!â€
Unloading an apronful of dolls in a heap
by the trunk, offended little Weezy stole down
the back staircase into the garden to confide
her sorrows to Ginger, Molly’s yellow kitten.
“ Captain Bradstreet said I was a nice, sweet
little girl; he said it two times, he truly did.
THE MERRY FIVE 19
And now he’s gone and asked Kirke and
Molly to go to his —to his something — oh,
yes, he’s asked them, and never asked me.â€
Ginger purred softly, and rubbed her head
against her little mistress’s feet; but Weezy
could not be comforted. What a ‘miserable
old world it was to be sure, where captains
called you nice, sweet little girls, and then
went and didn’t invite you to their —to their
—she couldn’t quite remember what.
Grown-up people liked big boys and girls
like Kirke and Molly; they didn’t like little
ones like herself and Donald.
Poor little Donald, he was crying too. She
heard him. What was he crying about?
Weezy wondered. And where was he? He
seemed a great way off, by the sound, ’most
up in the sky. Why didn’t somebody find
him and make him happy?
20 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER II
DONALD HIDES
“Weezy, Weezy, is Donald out there it
the garden with you?â€
This was Molly calling from the back °
porch.
“6 No, he isn’t,†answered Weezy, in a dis-
couraged tone.
“He’s screaming himself hoarse, Weezy,
and we can’t find him anywhere in the
house.â€
“T haven’t seen him.†Weezy walked
slowly toward her sister. “Has Captain
Bradstreet gone, Molly?â€
“Yes, Weezy, and Pauline.â€
“Did Captain Bradstreet say†—
“Maybe Donald followed Pauline and her
DONALD HIDES 21
father home, Molly,†suggested . Mrs. Rowe
from the doorway.
“No, mamma, I’ve been over to ask. I
-couldn’t hear Donald on that side of the
street, either. He must be in this house.â€
“Then, I’d like to know where, Molly,†ex-
claimed Kirke, springing out upon the porch.
“ve dived into all the wardrobes and under
all the beds.â€
His face was crimson, and his hair on end
_ like the spines of a sea-urchin. A cobweb
dangled from his coat-sleeve.
“Have you looked in the sideboard, Kirke.â€
“No, I haven’t, Molly ; and I haven’t looked
in the salt-cellars.â€
“Oh, you funny boy!†tittered Weezy, who
regarded the search as a protracted and
rather diverting game of hide-and-go-seek.
Mrs. Rowe, on the contrary, was becoming
seriously troubled. |
“Where can the darling be, Molly?†she
22 THE MERRY FIVE
cried, rushing back into the house, and hurry-
ing from room to room. “I can hardly hear
his voice now. How faint it has grown!â€
“Tt is loudest here in the hall, mamma,â€
said Molly, who had run ahead, and halted
abruptly at the foot of the front stairway.
“Donny is up chimney, I guess,†cried
little Louise, dancing to the fireplace. .
“Nonsense, Weezy; do you think he is a
bat?†retorted Molly.
Kirke dropped on his knees before the
hearth. He had been stuck in a chimney
once himself, and the recollection always made
his flesh creep.
“Tf Donald has crawled up this flue, Molly,
it’s no laughing matter, let me tell you.â€
“What ave you talking about, Kirke? Don-
ald couldn’t crawl up that flue; it is alto-
gether too small.â€
“T’m not so sure, Molly. Don can squeeze
through a knothole.â€
DONALD HIDES 23
“Donald, Donald darling,†called Mrs.
Rowe shrilly. “Where are you, Donald?
Tell mamma.â€
A plaintive, muffled wail floated down the
air.
“Tum, mamma, tum.â€
“Donald zs in the chimney, mamma! Oh,
I’m so afraid he zs in here!†groaned Kirke,
trying to gaze into the chimney’s blackened
throat.
But he only bumped his “head against »
the andirons and twisted his neck for
nothing.
“There are bricks in the way, mamma,
stacks of them. I can’t see a single thing.â€
“Tum, oh, tum!†cried the choked voice
again; and this time they were sure it came
from above them.
But did it actually proceed from the throat
of the chimney? |, It was Mrs. Rowe who
first thought of the unused grate in the
24 THE MERRY FIVE
upper hall. Might not Donald have wedged
his restless little body into that? He was
constantly teasing to go up on the roof.
“ Here I am, dearest, mamma is here,†she
called, mounting the staircase, the children
at her heels, and stumbling across the clothing
that strewed the floor. |
Before the grate stood the large trunk she
had been packing. She had left it open, and
now it was closed; but she was too agitated
to notice the change.
“Quick, Kirke, this trunk is in the way.
Help me move it out from the grate.â€
Kirke laid hold of the handle nearest.
“What a heavy trunk, mamma! What
makes †—
At that moment there was a stifled cry
of “Mamma, mamma!â€
Kirke jumped as if he had been shot, for
the words seemed spoken directly in his ear-
“ Donald’s in the trunk,†he roared, letting
i:
’
DONALD HIDES ' 226
go the handle. “The little monkey is in the
trunk!†;
“He’s packed himself, Donny’s packed
himself!†shouted Weezy, hopping about on
one foot. ‘“ What an ever-so-queer baby!â€
Molly flew to the trunk, but it was fastened.
“Oh, this lock! This hateful, hateful .
spring-lock. Where zs the key?â€
“T left it in the lock. I know I left it in
the lock,†exclaimed Mrs. Rowe, groping has-
tily about the carpet. Help me, children,
do help me find it!â€
“Tum, mamma. Why don’t oo tum ?â€
The voice was very low, oh, very, very low,
little more than a sigh.
“Yes, yes, my baby ; mamma will come.â€
Mrs. Rowe was yet hunting the key, and
hunting to no purpose.
« Bring a hammer, Kirke,†she cried hur-
riedly. “ Bring a screw-driver — no, a chisel.
Call Hop Kee.â€
26 THE MERRY FIVE
It seemed centuries before Kirke returned
with the tools; in reality it was only three
minutes. Then Hop Kee came flying in as
though fired from a sling or swung by his
own long pigtail.. Behind him appeared Cap-
tain Bradstreet and Pauline to learn if Donald
had been found; and among them all the
trunk was speedily opened.
Little Donald lay upon the pillows gasping
for breath, and clasping in his chubby hand
the missing key.
“‘Peepaboo, Donny! Peepaboo!†cried
Weezy.
But the released prisoner did not answer.
Mrs. Rowe caught the pale, limp little fellow
to her breast with a sob of thanksgiving.
“Mamma is here, my baby. Did you think
mamma never, never would come?†,
The child snuggled close in her arms, too
exhausted to utter. a word.
“Look up, dearest; mamma has youl
DONALD HIDES ~ 27°
Smile, mother’s darling, mamma has found
her lost baby.â€
“Yes, praise God! You've found your boy,
Mrs. Rowe, and found him not one minute
too soon,†muttered Captain Bradstreet, throw-
ing up the windows. “If he had not made
himself heard, he might have shared the fate
of Ginevra.â€
“Don’t mention it, Captain Bradstreet,â€
shuddered Mrs. Rowe. ‘The story of Gi,
nevra flashed into my mind the moment I
discovered where Donald was.â€
“Who was Ginevra, anyway, Molly ?†asked
Kirke, a little later.
The Captain and Pauline had gone, Mr.
Rowe had come home, and the color was
returning to Donald’s cheeks.
“Oh! don’t you know, Kirke? Why, Gi-
nevra was that gay young bride, — Italian, I
believe, —who ran off after her wedding, and
hid herself in a chest.â€
28 THE MERRY FIVE
“What. did she do that for?â€
“Why just for fun, to make the guests
hunt for her. They were all playing hide- |
and-go-seek.â€
“Well, what next, Molly 2â€
And the chest had a spring-lock.â€
“Oh! I see.â€
“Yes, the springiest kind of a spring-lock ;
and the poor little bride was no sooner inside
the chest than the lid snapped down on her.
There she had to stay; and she wasn’t found
for a hundred years?â€
“A hundred years!†echoed Weezy, in
.dismay. ‘O Molly! didn’t she have anything
‘to eat for a whole hundred years?â€
“TI guess she didn’t want anything to eat,
Weezy,†said Kirke, with a sly wink at Molly.
“ Not toward the last of it, anyway. I guess
she had lost her appetite.â€
“O Kirke! you wretched boy,†said Molly.
But Kirke’s shocking sarcasm had. been
DONALD. HIDES 29
quite lost on Weezy. She had picked up a
box-cover from the: floor, and was fanning
Donald as he lay across his mother’s lap.
“Did you think that was a truly, truly little
bed, Donald ?â€
Donald nodded drowsily.
“Babies shouldn’t go to sleep in trunks.
Oh, you droll, droll little brother !â€
Weezy’s remark had called up a painful
memory, and Donald’s lip began to quiver.
“Don’t wike p’itty ‘itty bed. All dark.
Mamma all gone.â€
“We won’t talk about it, darling,†said Mrs.
Rowe, kissing the tear-stained face. “Here
you are in sister’s arms, and sister shall sing
to you. What do you want to hear her sing?â€
“Sing Robbitty-bobbitty,†replied Donald,
swallowing a sob. And Weezy piped up in
. a Clear, sweet treble :—
*€ Robinty-bobbinty bent his bow
To shoot a pitcher and killed a crow.â€
30 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER III
SANTA LUZIA
“Here comes Miss Hobbs, mamma, rolling
along with the clothes-basket.â€
Wednesday morning had arrived, and Kirke
was upon the side porch helping his mother
strap her grip-sack. Miss Hobbs was bring-
ing home some starched clothes too fine to
be laundered by Sing High, the “wash-man ;â€
and beside her walked her roly-poly niece
and nephew, Essie and Harry.
“JT daren’t leave them at ’ome by their
little selves, Mrs. Rowe,†she wheezed in
mounting the steps. ‘“Hessie is that con-
triving of mischief, an’ such an obstinate
child.â€
Essie hung her head, though not too low
SANTA LUZIA 31
to see the banana that Mrs. Rowe presently
brought: her.
“What do you say, Hessie ? For shame!
Can’t you thank the lady?â€
“Tank oo,†mumbled Essie in the act of
skinning the fruit with her sharp little
teeth.
“That’s a good gell, Hessie. You and
*Arry must heat your bananas ’ere on the
porch while I carry in the clothes.
“Tf you'll believe it, Mrs. Rowe, that
rogue of a Hessie ran away again yesterday,â€
she continued, following Mrs. Rowe into the
side hall. “A beastly race she led us. She
tired ’Arry hall out.â€
“Harry looks delicate this summer,†re- |
marked Mrs. Rowe, as she began to sort the:
clothes into piles.
“ Arry’s fat, Mrs. Rowe, but he isn’t
rugged. If I could lay ’ands on the gold
I've buried I’d take him away for his ’ealth.â€
32 | THE MERRY FIVE
“Why can’t Miss Hobbs get her gold,
‘mamma?†whispered Weezy, coming in just
then... “Can’t Kirke and I dig it up for
her?â€
“Miss Hobbs means, dear, that she has
spent her money for land that she cannot
‘sell, and.so she can’t afford to take Harry
into the country this summer.â€
“You'd better let him go to Santa Luzia
with the Rowe family,â€: laughed Kirke, as
his mother gave him some. garments to. carry
up-stairs. ss Let him go, and I’ll see to him.â€
_) © Thank you, Master Kirke,†— Miss Hobbs’s
ample. sides. shook merrily, — “but while
you're seeing to ’Arry who'll see to you?â€
Kirke looked nettled, especially when she
went on to say, “No, no, your ma'll have
enough young folks to keep steady without
’aving my ’Arry.â€
Mrs. Rowe smiled thoughtfully at these
jesting remarks. A fortnight at the beach
7F, 7
“You'd better let him go to Santa Luzia:â€
Page 32
SANTA LUZIA 33
would doubtless be a benefit to the ailing
child. Could this be sone She must
consider the question.
“We are all fond of Harry,†she remarked,
in handing Miss Hobbs the empty basket.
“He’s a good little boy.â€
“Oh, ’Arry’s decent, Mrs. Rowe,†responded
Miss Hobbs, with a complacent glance at the
hall clock.
“The clock is too fast, Miss Hobbs.â€
“Is she? I shought she must be quite
.a few minutes on; but we won’t stay to hin-
der you.†And Miss Hobbs tied her sun-
bonnet.
“You'll come around again this afternoon,
Miss Hobbs, to close the house?â€
“For certain, Mrs. Rowe. I'll close the
‘ouse, and take charge of the key.â€
“Which key, Miss Hobbs? Hop Kee, or
_ door-key?†asked Kirke, with mock inno-
cence,
34 THE .MERRY FIVE
“Not Hop Kee, you: may rely on that,
Master Kirke,†retorted Miss Hobbs, putting
on her shawl as if it had been a bandage.
“JT wouldn’t take charge of a Chinaman for
all the teapots he could break.â€
“Hop Kee will work for the Bradstreets
while we’re away, Miss Hobbs.â€
© *&So there is where he’s going. I knew
the captain’s housekeeper was sick.â€
“And when the family move into camp,
they'll take Hop Kee along with them.â€
Captain Bradstreet’s name had reminded .
Weezy of her old grievance.
“OQ Miss Hobbs! Captain Bradstreet has
*vited Kirke and Molly to go into that camp
thing, and he hasn’t ever ’vited me,†she
-complained, holding the door ajar for Miss
Hobbs to pass out. “I don’t think it’s fair.â€
“Never mind, little woman! You'll have
your share of hinvitations before many years,â€
— Miss Hobbs gave the others a wise look.
SANTA LUZIA 35
“I’m sorry to ’avé you all go; but I ’ope
you'll ’ave a good summer, and I pray the
Lord’ll keep you well and ’appy.â€
“Oh! He will; He always does,†answered
little Miss Weezy for the family. ‘“Good-by,
Miss Hobbs.â€
’ After that Harry and Essie came in with
sticky hands and faces to make their farewell
speeches ; and then their Aunt Ruth waddled
homeward between them like a plump mother-
duck between two plump ducklings,
They were met. at the corner by a hand-
some, dark-eyed Spanish boy. It was Man-
uel Carillo, coming to take away Kirke’s
burro and cart to keep during vacation.
“You'll be good to Hoppity, this summer,
won't you, Manuel?†said Kirke playfully,
as he helped him harness the sleek gray
burro into the trig gray cart. “You won't
be mad with him because he threw you and
broke your leg.â€
36 THE MERRY FIVE
“Mad? Oh, no! that’s all right.â€
Manuel grinned, and slapped the limb in
question to show how strong it was.
“Hoppity ought to help you carry around
your newspapers to pay for that bad trick of
his. Now, oughtn’t you, Hoppity?†said
Kirke, giving the little beast a parting love-
pat.
Kirke was glad to lend Manuel the burro.
It seemed one way of making amends for the
sad accident of the year before that had been
caused partly by his own recklessness,
When Kirke returned to the house the
family were sitting down to an early luncheon.
Molly made room for him beside herself,
saying cheerily, —
“Manuel drove by the window just now,
smiling all over his face. How much he does
think of you, Kirke!â€
“T don’t know about that, Molly, but he
thinks a good deal of Hoppity. He’ll have
SANTA LUZIA 37.
a splendid time with the little trotter while
we’re away.â€
“Kirke has made many friends at Silver
Gate City,†remarked his mother. - “Harry
Hobbs for one.†Then, turning to Mr. Rowe,
she added, in a sprightly tone, — “ Kirke pro-
poses doing a little missionary work during
vacation, papa. Haye you any objection to
his taking care of a ‘fresh-air child’ for a
fortnight ?â€â€™
“A ‘fresh-air - child,’ my dear? I don’t
quite understand.â€
“Well, Harry Hobbs, for instance. Harry
is in need of a change of scene. Do you
approve his coming to Santa Luzia by and
by?â€
“O papa! I was only in fun,†exclaimed
Kirke in hot haste. “I don’t want Harry -
to come; really and truly I don’t. Paul and
I have planned no end of good times there
on the beach by ourselves.â€
38 THE MERRY FIVE
“ And you think Harry wouldn’t enjoy those
good times? Is that it, my son?â€
“No, papa; Harry would enjoy them fast
enough,†Kirke laughed and blushed; “the
bother is that Paul and I wouldn’t enjoy
him. The little kid would be frightfully in
the way with his mud-pies, and his tagging,
and his chattering. Don’t you see, papa?â€
“Then, Miss Hobbs dresses Harry so oddly,
papa,†added Molly, as her father did not
reply. “She makes him look for all the
world like one of Mr. Palmer Cox’s brownies ;
and people at Santa Luzia wouldn’t sow
but Harry was one of our family.â€
“What a shocking thought, Molly!†cried
Mr. Rowe, vastly entertained by her expression
of deep distress. “In the face of a danger like.
this it never. will do for us to’ take Harry.â€
“You're laughing at me, papa; but you
don’t understand how girls feel about such
things, Kirke doesn’t understand, either.â€
SANTA LUZIA 39
“Girls have too many feelings, I think,â€
said Kirke, not very politely. ‘They’re al-
ways afraid of doing something queer.â€
“TI wish boys were a little more like them,
then,†— Molly pushed back her plate with a
saucy air, “boys never care a fig what is said
of them.â€
“That’s because they’re independent, Molly.â€
“It’s because they don’t know what is
proper, I say,†retorted Molly between fun
and earnest. “Why, I’ve seen boys that
would walk into church with monkeys on
their backs and never blush.â€
“Tm afraid Kirke will consider you
rude, Molly,†interposed her mother gently.
“ Aren’t we wandering very far from Harry ?â€
“The farther the better,†was Molly’s se-
cret comment, as Mrs. Rowe continued, —
“T hoped you children would want to do
something nice for Harry. His aunt is not
able to give him many pleasures.â€
â€
40 THE MERRY FIVE
' “She gave him a Caroline cooky yesterday,
mamma,†put in Weezy; “full of seeds, it
was. Harry let me bite.â€
“But, mamma, we can’t take Harry with
us,†exclaimed Molly, elated by the sudden
thought ; “Miss Hobbs can’t possibly get
him ready in time for the train.â€
“As to that, Molly, she can send him next
month by Captain Bradstreet.â€
“May be Mrs. Kitto won’t have room for
Harry,†suggested Molly faintly.
Kirke dashed this hope to the ground,
Harry, he affirmed, could be rolled into any
corner like a foot-ball.
“The question is simply this, children,â€
said Mrs. Rowe, buttering a biscuit for Don-
ald to eat on the car; “will you devote a
part of your vacation to your little neighbor,
or will you spend the whole of it in amusing
yourselves ? You shall decide.â€
“O mamma! please don’t leave it that way.
SANTA LUZIA 4I
Don’t put us on our honor,†entreated Molly,
with a shrug.
“ Because, when you put us on our honor,
we have to do a thing, even if we hate it
like poison,†added Kirke, groping under the
sideboard for the yellow kitten.
Kitty’s basket was ready, with a slice of
roast beef at the bottom, and a.smart blue’
bow on top; and now at the last moment
Ginger had refused to be put in.
“Flead her off, Molly. Shut the door.
Weezy. Look out, Don, or I shall run over
you!â€
Kirke shouted his orders like a general in
battle. Everybody jostled against everybody
else, and Ginger was no sooner captured than
the carriage came to take them all to the
station.’ Then followed the excitement of the
journey and of the arrival at Santa Luzia;
and for several days nothing further was said
about Harry Hobbs.
42 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER IV
LEARNING TO SWIM
Tue children were delighted with the lovely
little city of Santa Luzia, which lay upon the
coast, snuggling in its arms a placid, sunny
bay. For the first week after their arrival
Weezy never tired of watching the sails on
the water, and of counting how many she
could see from her window at “The Old and
New.â€
“The Old and’ New†was Mrs, Kitto’s
boarding-house, overlooking Santa Luzia
Beach. The Old was the back part, built
of brown adobe, with walls two feet thick;
the New was the modern wooden front, witha
breezy veranda stepping down toward the sea.
“The house puts its best foot forward,â€
LEARNING TO SWIM 43
prattled Molly, as she and Kirke and Weezy
set off one morning for a lesson in swimming.
“That’s all right,†replied Kirke, “if it
keeps steady on its pins.â€
“T don’t know what-you’re talking about,â€
‘sniffed Weezy with disapproval. “ Houses
don’t have feet; and they don’t have pins.â€
“No, nor soles either, you precious snip
of a goosie.â€
Kirke held his little sister’s hand, swinging
it to and fro as they walked together across
the beach.
“ Are you going to squeal to-day when you
go into the water? The last time you scared
the swimming-master half out of his wits.†-
“O Kirke, what a story!â€
“Tl leave it to Molly if the-man didn’t
duck.†. 7
“You silly, silly boy! You know he
ducked on purpose.â€
Weezy flirted her sunny head in high dis-
44. THE MERRY FIVE
dain, while Kirke and Molly exchanged amused
glances.
“Do you think so, Weezy? Well, may be
he did duck on purpose. I mean to try that
ducking business myself this morning. "What-
ever you do, little sister, don’t grab me around
the neck; you might pull me under.â€
Kirke spoke in jest. He could already swim
quite well, for he had learned the art a year
_or two before in the East. Molly and Weezy,
on the contrary, had only taken three lessons.
_ “Hoh, Kirke! I couldn’t pull you under.
- Of course not, ’cause you're biggerer'n I am,â€
said Weezy, stopping to watch a small urchin
scooping ovens in the sand.
He was a plump little boy in “brownieâ€
overalls, which Molly insisted made him look
like a fat, twisted doughnut.
“He looks like Harry Hobbs,’ responded
Kirke, hurrying Weezy on towards the bath-
house.
LEARNING TO.SWIM 45
Molly felt a sudden twinge of conscience.
“That makes me think, Kirke, what shall
we do about Harry? If he comes, he’ll have
to come next week with the Bradstreets.
Mamma has left it to us, you know, to ask
him or not, as we please.â€
Kirke whistled, and kicked aside a tangle
of seaweed.
“Oh! we might as well invite the young
Britisher, I suppose.â€
“But if Harry comes, Kirke, you and I'll
each have to keep an eye on him to†—
“Yes, that'll be an eye apiece, Molly.â€
“To see that he doesn’t get drowned or
anything.â€
“Pooh, Miss Fidgetibus, who’s going to
drown him? You couldn’t sink that dumpy
boy any more’n you could sink the buoy on
the rock yonder.â€
“T thought you didn’t want Harry any
more than I did, Kirke.â€
-
46 THE MERRY FIVE
“Who says I do want him? Only I was
thinking he could burrow here in all out-
doors like a gopher; and it seems sort of
mean, doesn’t it, Molly, to shut down on
the poor little kid?â€
“1 — don’t — know.â€
Molly’s glance had wandered from the
sturdy young oven-builder to a group of well-
dressed tourists climbing the long flight of
steps to the bluff overhead. How mortify-
ing it would be to take Harry about among
people like those, and pose as his sister.
Where. did Miss Hobbs get the patterns of
his clothes ?
“The beach will make Harry weller,
mamma says,†observed Weezy, always ready
to fill the pauses.
“ Better, you mean, don’t you, Weezy?â€
corrected Molly. “Mamma is always wanting
to make somebody better.â€
“You're right, ma’am,†Kirke nodded em-
LEARNING TO SWIM 47
phatically. “Mamma is kind, way through.
She isn’t much like you and me, Molly.
Sometimes we’re kind, and then again some-
times we’re kind of not.â€
“Thank you, sir; you can speak for your-
self, if you please,†retorted Molly, bridling.
She had secretly prided herself on being
unselfish and warm-hearted, and this frank
remark was wounding to her self-love.
“For my part, I’m willing to send for
Harry,†she added virtuously.
" “So am I, Molly,—on a pinch,†said Kirke,
“And I suppose Pauline will bring him, —on
a pinch!â€
“Then, as soon as we get home to The
Old and New, Kirke, we’ll ask mamma. to
write to Miss Hobbs, and have it over with.â€
“Agreed. The Bradstreets will be here
by next Thursday, won’t they? Will they
stay at The Old and New a week?â€
“They'll stay till the captain and Hop
48 THE MERRY FIVE
Kee get Camp Hilarious in running order,â€
answered Molly, as they mounted the steps
of the bath-house.
" While Kirke presented their tickets at the.
office, she and Weezy waited in the main
room. This had a large oblong bathing-tank
in the centre, surrounded on its four sides
by a broad walk. The dressing-rooms opened
upon this walk, and the door of each one
had painted on it near the top either a num-
ber or a letter of the alphabet.
“Which room would you like, Molly?â€
asked Kirke, quickly returning with the keys
and their bathing-suits. “You can take ‘H’
or ‘No. 7.’â€
’
“No. 7; it is the larger,†said Molly, draw-
ing Weezy into that room, and locking the
door. .
Kirke vanished into “H,†to reappear be-
fore No. 7 in precisely two minutes, clad in
blue flannel, and calling, —
LEARNING TO SWIM 49
“What! Aren’t you ready yet, girls?â€
That was the fun of being a boy, and
having no strings and no hooks and eyes
to hinder him !
On emerging into the main room the chil-
dren found their father seated there awaiting
them. He had formed the habit of being
present at their swimming-lessons,
“T feel safer to watch my ducklings,â€
Molly heard him say to Mr. Tullis, the swim-
ming-master, as she and Weezey drew near.
“Your daughters are learning fast, espe-
cially this little one,†answered Mr. Tullis,
looking at Weezy. “She'll soon swim like
a fish.â€
Mr.. Rowe patted Weezy’s head, shining
beneath her oiled-silk cap.
“She’s a venturesome little lassie,†he said.
“She never seems to know what fear is,â€
“She'll make all the better swimmer for
that, Mr. Rowe.†.
50 ‘ THE MERRY FIVE:
“Provided she doesn’t take too great risks,
Mr. Tullis. I’ve sometimes feared we ought
not to let her go into the water.â€
“ Anybody’s liable to get into water, Mr.
Rowe; the point is to know how to get
out,â€
Molly and Kirke hardly heeded the remark
at the time, but it rang in their ears after-
replied the swimming-master. lightly.
ward.
Mr. Tullis was already leading Weezy down
the steps into the tank, which was divided
across the middle by a low wall of stone.
On one side of this wall the water was cold,
but on the side they were entering it was
agreeably warm; and Weezy was soon pad-
dling about with great glee, supported under
the chin by the strong hand of the swimming-
master.
“Look, papa, see how well I can do it!â€
she cried, splashing and puffing like a young.
seal, till she was out of breath,
LEARNING TO SWIM SIâ€
“You'd better rest a few minutes now,
little girl,†said Mr. Tullis.
And leaving Weezy clinging to a plank, he
went to instruct Molly in swimming.
Meantime Kirke had been making ludi-
crous attempts to mount a hobby-horse, which,
being mostly barrel, would rear and plunge
as often as he tried to get astride its back.
Finally, tired of these fruitless: efforts, he
climbed the staircase near by to coast down
the toboggan slide with some other boys.
_ Mr. Rowe looked on as his son dashed
down the slippery board again and again,
and dived into the tank. Then he glanced
at his more timid Molly, flushed with trying
to strike out for herself, and at little Miss
Weezy, floating gayly on her plank; and he
mused, —
“What a blessing it is to be young and
strong! I wish my children could appreciate
this, and could know how happy they are.â€
52 THE MERRY FIVE
And at that very moment Kirke and Molly
were thinking, —
“Won’t we have good times by and by,
after Paul and Pauline have come?â€
And little Miss Weezy was thinking; but
she herself could hardly have told what she
was thinking.
\
_Bertha GDaidoy .
1896
‘Pauline and Molly were swinging in a hammock.â€
Page 53
AT THE BEACH 53
CHAPTER V
AT THE BEACH
““T WONDER what you'll think of our camp,
Molly.â€
Pauline and Molly were swinging in a ham-
mock on the front veranda of The Old and
New, chattering like spring chickadees.
The Bradstreets had arrived from Silver
Gate City the previous evening, bringing
Harry Hobbs with them; and Captain Brad-
street had gone on to the canyon that morn-
ing with Hop Kee.
“Papa has a wooden building up there, —
sort of a shanty, where he stores the furni-
ture every winter,†went on Pauline. “It is
near to Mr. Arnesten’s cottage, and Mr.
Arnesten sees to things when papa is away.â€
54 THE MERRY FIVE
“Are the Arnestens all the neighbors you
have, Pauline?â€
“Yes, unless you count the Wassons. But
the Wassons are three miles away, on papa’s
bee-ranch. We'll go to see them, Molly, when
you're at the camp.â€
“Oh, that'll be delightful!†Molly pushed
her heavy auburn hair away from her face,
a habit of hers when things pleased her.
“Right after breakfast every morning,
Molly, we'll put on our sunbonnets, — you
can borrow auntie’s,— and we’ll march. over
to Mr. Arnesten’s for the eggs, and see him
feed the chickens. He has turkeys besides,
and one proud old gobbler that struts about
as if he owned all the gold mines of Cali-
fornia.â€
“Didn’t you say the Arnestens had a little
girl, Pauline?â€
“Yes, Olga, the old-fashionedest little soul !
She has eyes just the color of a grindstone,
AT THE BEACH 55.
but her lashes are yellow, and her skin is
' yellow too. She used to trudge over with
buttermilk last summer.â€
“Then the Arnestens have a cow?â€
“TI should say they do! It’s always break-
ing into the garden and eating up the pease.
We mind that, because Mr. Arnesten supplies
us with vegetables.â€
“ And with chickens too, I suppose, Polly ?â€
“Yes ; Hop Kee cooks chickens beautifully.â€
“ Doesn’t he? It seems odd enough, Pau-
line, to think of your having our Chinaman.â€
“He came to our house in just the right
time, Molly. Mrs. Cannon was so sick she
couldn’t have worked for us another day.â€
“Hop Kee is a diamond, Polly.â€
“A topaz, you mean, dear, a yellow topaz.
How we shall hate to give him back to
you!â€
Molly snuggled her dimpled chin into her
friend’s neck.
56 THE MERRY FIVE
“T wouldn’t worry about that, Pauline. We
sha’n’t go home these two months.â€
“Neither shall we, I hope. Papa told me
yesterday that we should stay in the canyon.
all during vacation. Then, if Uncle John isn’t
back from the East, auntie will go home
with us to Silver Gate City.â€
“T’m just longing to see your Auntie David.
Are you sure she’ll come to-day, Pauline?â€
“She wrote that she should come to-day,
and spend a week here at The Old and New
with Paul and me. Papa can take us all out
to the camp together.â€
“Oh, dear, Polly! you won’t be here but
just seven days. And I haven’t entertained
you at all. What shall we do this afternoon?
Shall we go to the bath-house?â€
“T’d rather fish,†answered Pauline promptly.
“Tf there’s anything I dote on, it’s fishing.â€
“T want to fish,†cried Harry Hobbs, from
the corner of the veranda. “Can’t I fish?â€
3 AT THE BEACH bas
The little newcomer was tired of stringing
sea-shells with Weezy. Sewing was girls’
work.
“Don’t you and Weezy want to dig in the
sand?†asked Molly, in her sweetest tones.
“T’ll find you the dearest little pails and
shovels.†;
“TI can dig at ’ome,†responded Harry, with
a grieved look. But he did not tease Molly.
He had promised his Aunt Ruth that he
wouldn’t be troublesome.
“Oh! let him go fishing, Molly,†said Pau-
line, stepping out of the hammock. “And
let’s ask the boys too. They'll take care of
him.â€
“If they can leave their stilts, Pauline.
They’re stalking round the back yard like —
like†—
“ Like storks, of course,†concluded Pauline,
leaning over the veranda rail to see the lads
better. “Come, boys, won’t you go fishing?â€
58 THE MERRY FIVE
“Do you want. to, Paul?†asked Kirke
aside; for was not Paul his especial chum? —
Paul nodded, and strode to the back porch
in order to dismount on its high platform.
“Paul and I'll meet the rest of you at the
wharf, Molly,†called Kirke, already upon the
ground. “You'll take the fishing-tackle, won’t
you? We'll bring the bait.â€
The bait was little crawfishes. The boys
had to buy these of an old fisherman on the
flats, who kept a supply of live ones in. a pail
covered with wet seaweed.
“Tt’s fun to see Mr. Tarbox catch the craw-
fish,†said Paul, when they were near the
fish-house. “I saw him do it last summer.â€
~“Flow does he go to work?â€
“Oh! he treads a circle about six feet
across in the mud. Pretty soon the water
soaks. into. this ring, and the little crawfish ’Il
crawl in. All Mr. Tarbox has to do is to
scoop them up.â€
AT THE BEACH 59
“That’s why he can afford to sell them
cheap,†said Kirke.
“But he asks more in the winter,†said
Paul.
Kirke bought two dozen crawfish for a
nickel ; and he and Paul carried them back to
the beach, where the girls and Harry were
waiting.
After the hooks had been baited, the three
boys and the three girls walked out upon the
wharf, Molly holding Harry by the hand.
He was a clumsy little fellow, and she was
afraid he might fall over the edge. She had
no such fear for nimble-footed Weezy. Then
they threw in their lines, and waited and
waited, while the sun grew hotter and hotter.
They waited in vain. Nobody had a nibble.
At last Pauline reeled in her line with a
petulant motion.
“Supposing we give up fishing, and go
- around Bird Rocks to hunt for abalones.â€
60 THE MERRY FIVE
“A good idea,†said Paul. “The tide is
low, and maybe we can find abalones enough
for a soup to-morrow.â€
“A soup, indeed! Will you hear the boy?â€
cried lively Pauline. “Paul thinks only of
soup, and not at all of the beauty of the
shells.â€
“I'd rather have one large abalone shell
than forty herrings,†said Molly, escorting
Harry to the mainland.
“Especially than forty herrings that won’t
be caught,†added Kirke, dropping his tackle
into the basket. “Perhaps we shall have bet-
ter luck after the tide begins to come in,â€
“TI shouldn’t wonder. We’ll try again later,â€
said Pauline, lingering at the end of the wharf —
while Kirke concealed the basket beneath it.
Then the two hastened forward to overtake
Paul and Molly, who had set out for the rocky
cave beyond Bird Rocks. Weezy and Harry
lagged behind the others, Harry’s short fat
AT THE BEACH 61
legs being already weary of ploughing through
the sand.
Weezy was very polite to her little guest,
and very proud to show him the wonders of
Santa Luzia, which she seemed to regard as
the especial property of herself and her
family.
“This is one of our owl shells,†said she
presently, bringing Harry a limpet shell
about as large as the palm of her hand.
Harry eyed it sharply.
“Where’s the howl?â€
“On the inside. Don’t you see, Harry?â€
“That? That isn’t a ow/, It hasn’t any
‘ead, Weezy.â€
“Why, yes, it has, Harry. I think it has
a good head, a very good head indeed.â€
What did Harry mean by finding fault
with her lovely shell? For a moment Weezy
was too vexed to remember that he was her
company.
62 “THE MERRY FIVE
By this time the others had passed beyond
the ledge which shut off the beach from the
rocky cove, and Harry and Weezy were
alone on the sandy shore. Before them was
the ocean, behind them the high _ bluff,
climbed by a wooden stairway. Near the
foot of this stairway stood the wharf where
the children had just been fishing.
Weezy looked back at the wharf regret-
fully. She wished that she had stayed there, '
instead of walking on the tiresome beach
with a little boy only six years old, —a tiny
boy that didn’t like her owl shells!
Why shouldn’t she go back now to the
wharf? Nobody had said she mustn’t; and
if she should go that minute nobody could
say it, because there was nobody to see
her. She would catch a big herring all her
own self, that she would, and make every-
body stare.
Weezy’s eyes sparkled like the waves in
AT THE BEACH 63
the sunlight, her cheeks glowed like the
beach pea-blossoms at her feet.
“Pm going to fish, Harry. You can come
if you want to,†said she, turning briskly on —
her heel.
She wore that day a cap and dress of
navy blue trimmed with bands of gilt braid.
Harry was dressed in brown, and as he
bobbed along behind her he resembled a
dorbug chasing a butterfly.
“Here’s a hook with a baby crawfish on
it, Harry. You may have that,†she said,
with an excited air.
Then, having selected a second baited hook
for herself, she skipped along the wharf,
swinging her line. This was something
worth while, to fish on her own account,
without Molly or Kirke at her elbow to cry
out, —
“Take care, Weezy, don’t stick the hook
into you. Take care, Weezy, don’t fall over-
°
64. THE MERRY FIVE
board.†She hated “don’ts.†She was vexed
now to hear Harry calling out, yards behind
her, — ;
“Don’t go so fast, Weezy, Pm hawful
scared !†.
He had reached a broad crack that
yawned between the planks, and there he
stood trembling till Weezy danced back to
him.
“O Harry, before Id be such a baby!
Come along, I'll lead you.â€
But once having seen the waves tossing
beneath that dreadful crack, Harry could not
be persuaded to cross it; and much against
her will Weezy staid beside him, and fished
near the shore.
“You can hold on to the post, Harry,â€
she said generously. “I don’t want it, I’m
not afraid.†.
Harry held on like a barnacle while Weezy
sat on the edge of the wharf, dangling her
AT THE BEACH 65
feet, and moving her line slowly up and down
in the way she had seen fishermen do.
The beach was unusually deserted that
afternoon, because of a railway excursion
which had attracted many people to the
neighboring city. Weezy, sitting and gazing
down into the restless green water, while
she waited in vain for a nibble, began to
grow sleepy. Suddenly Harry shouted bois-
terously, —
“Tve caught a fish, Weezy! Oh, oh! I’ve
caught a fish!â€
Weezy was at once broad awake.
“Have you, Harry? Oh, have you? Let
me pull him in,â€
She spoke a second too late. Harry had
given the line a quick jerk toward her, and
the next thing she knew a wriggling scul- -
‘pin was flapping its slimy scales right in her
face.
“ Ugh! Ugh! Take it away, Harry!â€
66 THE MERRY FIVE
she cried, dropping her own line, and beat-
ing the fish back with both hands. “Oh,
take the horrid †—
She never finished the sentence. At the
last word she lost her balance, and toppled
headlong into the ocean..
FISHING FOR WEEZY 67
CHAPTER VI
FISHING FOR WEEZY
Weezy’s fall had been to Harry like the
rushing of a meteor across the sky. He had
seen a swiftly moving mass of gilt and blue
dart past him and vanish, and the next thing
he knew he was standing alone upon the
wharf.
For a moment he was too dazed to move;
then he scampered madly to the shore, trail-
ing the sculpin after him.
“ Weezy’s tumbled! Weezy’s tumbled into
the water,†he shrieked, running toward The
Old and New as fast as he could run. _
The more direct way was by the one hun-
dred steps which led to the bluff; but Harry
never thought of the steps, he toiled around
68 THE MERRY FIVE
by the carriage-road. Twice he tripped, and
measured his short length in the sand; but
fortunately his screams went on ahead of him,
and reached Mrs. Rowe up-stairs in her room.
“Are you hurt, Harry? What is it?†she
cried, hastening to the brow of the hill.
“Come, oh, please come!†sobbed the ter-
rified little fellow. “She’s in it. Oh, she’s
in it!â€
“Who's in it? In what, Harry?’
“Weezy, Weezy’s in it—in the ocean! I
didn’t push her in!â€
“Where, Harry? Show me.â€
“She tumbled in, she tumbled in her own
self.â€
Mrs. Rowe had seized the child’s hand,
and was dragging him back to the beach.
Behind him still trailed the forgotten scul-
pin, now dead as a door-nail.
“Help! help!†shrieked Mrs. Rowe, as she
pressed on.
FISHING FOR WEEZY 69
She was trembling all over. She dared not
ask another question. A man hauling sea-
weed from the shore left his horses stand-
ing in the middle of the highway, and turned
back with her.
Ah, the long, long hill! Should they never,
never reach the foot of it? Midway Harry
tripped again and fell.
Mrs. Rowe rushed forward alone. She had
caught a glimpse of a small object floating
near the beach. It was Weezy’s cap riding
the waves like a little skiff. Yes, certainly
it was Weezy’s cap,—the blue cap with gilt
bands; but, alas! alas! where was the little
girl who so lately had worn it? Where, oh,
where was Weezy herself?
Not to pain you needlessly, my little read-
ers, I will tell you in confidence that Weezy .
was out of the water, safe and well. But.
how could poor Mrs. Rowe know this? She
only knew that her darling was not with
7O THE MERRY FIVE
the four other children now returning from
Rocky Cove, and she called distractedly to
Harry, —
“Show me just where Weezy fell in.â€
“ Hoff there,’ —he pointed at random
along the pier, — “hoff there, by the post.â€
“Which post, my boy?†cried the ranch-
man, ‘There are forty or fifty posts.â€
Harry grew confused; he could not answer.
“Tl row out a piece,†said. the man,
hurriedly untying a punt moored to the
beach.
“Why didn’t I call Edward! Oh, if Ed-
t
ward were here moaned Mrs. Rowe, rush-
ing upon the wharf, and peering over the
side.
“There isn’t any kelp to hinder my seeing
to the bottom, ma’am,†cried the ranchman
from the boat below.
Mrs. Rowe wrung her hands. “O Weezy,
Weezy, my dear little daughter!â€
FISHING FOR WEEZVY , 7t
“Tf J only knew just where she slipped.
in, I'd dive for her,†called the pitying’ voice
from beneath, “I’d get her for you if I
could, ma’am.†’
Meanwhile little Miss Weezy, the uncon-
scious cause of all this anguish and commo-
tion, lay half asleep upon the neighboring
bluff behind some tall tufts of alfalfa.
She had scrambled out of the ocean almost
as quickly as she had fallen in. Then she
had started to run home, but, at the top of
the one hundred steps, had become giddy
and sunk down to rest. Oh, she was so
tired, so very, very tired! And it was so
nice and warm on the bluff. To go on to
The Old and New seemed too great an
effort ; it was easier to lie still in the sun-
shine. Besides, didn’t she want to dry her |
wet clothes? What would mamma say to
her because she had spoiled her pretty
dress? By and by she opened her eyes
72 THE MERRY FIVE
and blinked at the wharf below. She saw
her mother rushing up and down the planks,
she saw the teamster pushing off from shore.
“Wonder what makes mamma act so
funny? Wonder what that man’s doing
with the boat?†she thought drowsily. But
she was too languid really to care; and in
the act of wondering again closed her eyes.
She did not see Kirke race to the pier to
learn what was the matter; she did not hear
her mamma cry, — :
“Oh, Kirke, Kirke, your little sister’s in
the ocean!â€
But when Kirke took in the full meaning
of his mother’s words and shouted, half be-
side himself, —
“OQ Molly, O Paul, Weezy’s drowning!
Weezy’s drowning in the ocean!†then
Weezy sprang to her feet wide awake, —
“Q Kirke Rowe, that’s a fib, that’s a
dreadful fib!†she cried, whirling about, and
“ FISHING FOR WEEZY 73.
waving her arms like an excited windmill.
“I’m not drowned one bit! Why, see me,
here I am, right here!â€
I wish you could lave heard the shout
that answered her from the shore. I wish
you could have seen the sudden rush from the
wharf, and the dash up those wooden steps!
Regardless of salt and sand, Mrs. Rowe
clasped her dripping child to her breast, and
| then passed her about like some choice relic
to be kissed and adored.
“You did fall in the ocean though,
Weezy ; I saw you!†cried Harry, evidently
bent on clearing himself from any suspicion
of having lied.
Weezy turned to her mother with a most
contrite air, —
“T didn’t. mean to, mamma, truly I didn’t!
That wiggly old fish jumped at me and
knocked me off!â€
“Bless my sweet little girlie!†exclaimed
74 | THE MERRY FIVE
Mrs. Rowe, taking the child again in her arms,
“did you think mamma was going to scold
you?â€
Weezy looked very happy. In place of the.
chiding she had expected for losing her cap
and soiling her gown, she had received hugs
and kisses. The reason for this strange state
of things she did not in the least understand ;
but she knew that she liked it. That she.
had been in danger of drowning never once
occurred to her.
“Walk as fast as you can, darling†cried
her mamma, leading her on toward the board-
ing-house. “ You must have a hot bath and
a good rubbing at once, or you'll take cold.â€
“My shoes go gutsh, quish, every step I
take,†complained Weezy, pressing forward
with lagging feet.
“ Wait, we'll carry you, Weezy. Kirke and
I will make a queen’s chair and carry you,â€
exclaimed Paul.
Sai
~ Bently GD avid say
1896
“The boys bore the child onward.â€
Page 75
FISHING FOR WEEZY 75
' To be sure we will, little water-soaked
girl; why didn’t I think of it?†returned
Kirke, wheeling about to clasp hands with
his comrade.
Mrs. Rowe lifted Weezy into the seat thus
formed, and the boys bore the child onward.
The others followed.
“This doesn’t look much like Weezy’s hair,
does it, Pauline?†said Molly, wringing the
moist locks that straggled down her little
sister’s back. “It looks more like seaweed
than hair.â€
“Or more like wet sewing-silk, Molly. Not
a speck of curl in it.â€
“You must have gone to the very bottom,
Weezy,†said Kirke tremulously, as they neared
The Old and New. “How on earth did you
manage to paddle out?â€
“Oh, when I came up, you know, I just
climbed into the punt.â€
“The punt! Why, the punt was ever so
76 THE MERRY FIVE
far from the shore; Weezy,†interrupted Molly.
“T remember ’twas tied by a long rope.â€
“Yes, pretty long,†said Weezy.
“Then how did you get from the boat to
the beach, Weezy, so far off?†persisted Kirke.
2
“Oh, ¢hat was as easy as pie,†said Weezy,
highly flattered at finding herself the object
of so much interest. “I just took hold of
the rope, you see.†;
“Do you mean to say, Weezy, that you
slid from the bow of the boat into the water,
and then worked yourself ashore by that
rope?â€
“Yes; why not, Kirke? The rope was right
there.â€
“She has no idea she did anything remark-
able,†exclaimed Molly in Kirke’s ear. “ Just
think what might have happened! We ought
to have kept those children in sight every.
minute.â€
Kirke nodded penitently.
FISHING FOR WEEZY 77
“That’s so; but Weezy would have done
well enough if Harry hadn’t been there. Why
did we bring him?†he whispered. Then
aloud, “T can’t imagine now how the little
witch got to land. It isn’t as if she had
actually learned to swim.†:
“Oh, I pinched the rope, and kind of jiggled
along,†explained Weezy coolly; “that wasn’t
anything.â€
“No, of course it wasn’t anything,†said
Paul and Pauline in chorus, clapping their
hands and laughing.
But the drenched little girl who had _ per-
formed so grandly on the tight rope was'
growing more exhausted now with every step
she took; and the moment she entered the
house was glad to be undressed, and put to
bed like a baby.
When it was the hour for the train the
other children left her sleeping, and stole off to
the station together to meet “ Auntie David.â€
78 / THE MERRY. FIVE
Harry trudged behind, hugging Weezy
damp cap, which had been rescued from the
billows. —
“Little John Bull has nothing to say,†re-
marked Kirke to Pauline, who walked beside
him. “I think he misses Weezy.â€
“We all miss her,†responded Pauline, with
a glance over her shoulder. “ Harry makes
up the number five; but he doesn’t take
Weezy’s place in the least. Without Weezy.
»99
we can’t be ‘The Merry Five.
GOING INTO CAMP 79
CHAPTER VII
GOING INTO CAMP
‘Tue children met Mrs. Davidson at the
station as they had expected.
She was a cheery little woman, with a
delicate pink skin and soft light brown hair,
so full of waves that Pauline sportively de-
clared that it made her seasick to look at it.
Paul and Pauline were very fond of this
aunt, and found it one of the greatest attrac-
tions of their camp-life that she usually spent
her summers with them.
“And the best of it is, Molly, that Auntie
David loves us just as well as we love her,â€
chatted Pauline, the last morning of her stay
at Santa Luzia.
The two girls were pacing arm-in-arm up
’ 80 THE MERRY FIVE
and .down the veranda, waiting for Captain
Bradstreet to drive around with the buck-
board in which he was to take his family
to the canyon.
“JT think your Auntie David is perfectly
lovely, Polly.â€
“Do you, really? Oh, I’m so glad! She
likes you too, Molly. She hopes you'll come
out often to the camp.â€
‘* Does she? The dear, how nice-of her!â€
“Yes; she says you're a reliable girl,
Molly. She never said as much of her own
niece! and, — ahem ! — she believes you have
a good influence over me!†7
Pauline drawled out the last sentence with
a droll pucker of the lips which threw Molly
into spasms of laughter,
“The blessed woman! She didn’t say
that, Pauline? You don’t mean to tell me
that your Auntie David said that!â€
“Yes, those very words, Molly, to papa.
GOING INTO CAMP 81
And papa, the old darling, whipped out his
pocket-handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and mut-
tered, ‘I’ve noticed that myself.’â€â€™
“ Now, Pauline!â€
“Oh! papa is forever holding you up to
me for an example, Molly. I wonder I don’t
hate you.â€
“The idea of setting me up for an ex-
ample for anybody, Polly, —me, a girl with
a red-haired temper.â€
“Oh, hush, Molly! Your hair isn’t red!â€
“Tt used to be when I was a little midget,
—a real cayenne-pepper color, and I had a
peppery temper to match,â€
“What has become of it, then, Molly ?â€
“Of my hair, do you mean? That has
cooled off, but my temper †—
“The stage is ready,†shouted Captain Brad...
street, reining his prancing horses around
the corner of The Old and New. “Call
your aunt, Pauline.â€
82 THE MERRY FIVE
Weezy, still a trifle pale, ran out upon the
veranda with Harry to witness the departure.
Paul and Kirke raced up from the beach.
Mrs. Davidson came down from her room,
and mounted with Pauline to the back seat
of the buckboard; Paul jumped in at the
front beside his father, quick good-bys were
exchanged, and away dashed the lively horses
. on the road to the canyon.
“Thursday, remember we shall expect you
next Thursday, all three of you,†cried the
twins, looking backward.
“ All three of you, of course,†echoed their
father, in tones loud enough to have been
heard at sea. “We want all of you, espe-
cially little Miss Weezy.â€
Weezy darted into the house, about the
happiest little girl in California, shouting, —
“He did ’vite me, mamma! Captain Brad-
street did vite me. He ’vited me officially!
Oh! please may I go?â€
a
GOING INTO CAMP . 83
“We'll see, dear,†answered her mother,
with a smile that meant “yesâ€; “we'll see
how kind and polite you are to Harry for
the rest of his stay.â€
Mrs. Rowe had suspected all along that the
good captain had intended to include Weezy
in the invitation, but had forgotten to men-
tion the child by name. Grown people are
careless sometimes, and forget that little chil-
dren have been slighted. The children them-
selves do not forget —ah, no!
Harry remained at Santa Luzia one week
longer, and the members of the family vied
with one another in making him happy. Mr.
Rowe bought him a new suit, which de-
lighted Molly as much as it did Harry;
Kirke caught horned toads, and dug up trap-
door spiders’ nests for the lad’s amusement ;
while little Miss Weezy loaded him with
shells and sand-dollars till his new pockets
were in danger of bursting. By the end of
84. THE MERRY FIVE
his fortnight at The Old and New they had
all grown fond of the frank little fellow, as
we are apt to grow fond of those whom we
try to make happy. When he was put on
the train in care of the conductor, Weezy
cried, and even Molly looked tearful.
“We shall miss the little scamp, Molly,â€
said Kirke, as they walked home from the
‘station; “but I must confess I’m tired of
playing watch-dog for him.â€
“Yes, so am I, Kirke,†Molly drew a
long breath; “I’m glad we asked him to
come, though. Mamma thinks the visit has
helped him ever so much.â€
“Does she? Well, I’m glad. But do
you know, Molly, this morning I was afraid
it would rain, and the kid would have to
stay over? If he had stayed, it would have
bothered us to-morrow about going to the
camp.â€
Kirke blew off some of his surplus energy
GOING INTO CAMP 85
in a prolonged whistle, the near prospect of
this much desired outing being very exciting.
But, sad to relate, when the children went
down to breakfast the next morning, yester-
day’s light mist was woven into a thick
curtain of fog, which shut out the sun, the
ocean, and even the hedge that bordered the
lawn. Molly opened the front door, and imme-
diately closed it with a shiver.
“OQ Kirke! out-of-doors it’s like a vapor
bath. Do you suppose papa can take us to
_ the canyon?â€
“Papa must take us; papa promised!â€
exclaimed Weezy, her eyes watering as if the
fog had condensed in them.
“But you know it never will do for papa
to get cold, Weezy,†returned Molly, herself
ready to cry. “If it isn’t pleasant to-day, we
can go when it clears off. Wasn’t it nice in’
Captain Bradstreet to ask us to stay a long
while?â€
86 THE MERRY FIVE
“Oh! the fog will lift by and by, Molly.
Here in California mist doesn’t mean rain,â€
said hopeful Kirke.
For once he was a true prophet. By ten
o'clock the sun had pierced the clouds ; and
by eleven the little party set forth in a beach
wagon, attended by Zip, Donald’s hairless
Mexican dog. Turning their backs upon the
blue ocean, they drove across the parched
mesa, descended a steep hill, and found them-
selves at the lower end of Sylvan Canyon.
Here the grass was still tender and juicy, |
watered by a lazy brook flowing between dwarf
forests of fern. Molly clapped her hands.
“How pretty it is, papa! so green and so
> tree-y!â€
“The trees are mostly live-oaks and syca-
mores,†replied her father, who had driven
over the road the week before with Captain
Bradstreet. ‘ Look out for the branches,
or you'll lose your caps.â€
GOING INTO CAMP 87
“T’d like to lose mine,†responded Weezy
rather fretfully. “It pinches, and it’s all
crumpled up.â€
“Oh! never mind, little sister,’ — Molly
brushed some grains of sand from the visor ;
“the cap is plenty good enough for the
woods.â€
Here Zip began to bark and whine around
the wagon; and before anybody could tell
what he wanted he had jumped in, trembling
like a leaf.
“He's afraid of those dogs,†said Molly,
the next moment, as a pack of hounds came
running toward them, followed by a man in
a rough hunting-suit.
“No wonder he’s afraid,†exclaimed Kirke,
rapidly counting. “One, two, three, — eight
big creatures! And the smallest of them
could eat Zip at a mouthful.â€
“Their master is Kit Carson’s son,†ob-
served Mr. Rowe, when they had passed the
Z
88 THE MERRY FIVE
strange procession. “He lives in that hut
behind the willows.â€
“Does Cat Carson live with him, papa?â€
asked Weezy.
“No, little daughter; Kit Carson died years
ago, but he was a famous scout in his day.â€
“What is a cout, papa?â€
«A scout, Weezy, is a. man sent before an
army to spy out danger.†;
“Oh! is that all?†yawned Weezy, tired of
the subject.
- «it Carson led General Frémont through
to the Pacific Ocean, didn’t he, papa?†asked
Kirke. :
“Yes, my son, when the country was an
unexplored wilderness.â€
While they talked, the road had been run-
ning about among the trees in an inquisitive
way, as if it were hunting for birds’ nests ;
and now it crossed a small clearing where
there was a brown cottage.
GOING INTO CAMP 89
-" This is Mr. Arnesten’s ranch,†said Mr.
Rowe, drawing the reins.
“TI see the camp, I see it!†cried Kirke, .
standing up in the wagon. “There are three
— yes, four —tents, and a shed besides.â€
“Hop Kee sleeps in the shed,†said Mr.
Rowe. “Ah, here comes Mr. Arnesten from
the spring. Good-morning, Mr. Arnesten.
Can you bring back my horses from the
camp and feed them?â€
The Swede nodded respectfully, and having
set down his two pails of water, plodded
along in his clumsy shoes behind the party.
“Look, Weezy, they’ve carried the table
out-of-doors under the live-oaks,†exclaimed
Molly, holding Zip by the collar. “We shall
have a regular gypsy dinner.â€
“I hope dinner is ready,†said Weezy, in
a flutter of expectancy. “I’m ’most starved.â€
Molly was gazing about her with an air of
keen disappointment.
go THE MERRY FIVE
“Where can Paul and Pauline be, Kirke?
I thought they’d be looking out for us.â€
“And aren’t we looking? and haven’t we
been looking for an hour?†cried two gay
voices on the right, as the’ twins sprang
from behind the tall sycamore that had con-
cealed them. .
Then they started three cheers for “The
Merry Five,†in which their young visitors
- most lustily joined.
“Ship ahoy! Cast your anchor!†called
genial Captain Bradstreet, drawn from his
tent by the joyful tumult. |
Auntie David hurried after to shake hands
with the newcomers, and bid them. welcome
to the camp. All were talking and laughing
together, and making so pleasant a din that
the sleepy old owl at the top of the syca-
more actually winked at them, and cocked
his head on one side to listen.
J S es is Bk i Duty wey we
weypa" % ie ie ESI
Bertha gporisy,
1896
‘The twins sprang from behind the tall sycamore.â€
Page 90
THE LITTLE MINERS gI
CHAPTER VIII
THE LITTLE MINERS
Pautine raised the green mosquito-netting
that screened the door of the largest tent, .
and courtesied demurely to her visitors.
“¢Will you walk into my parlor?’â€
“Thank you, Mrs. Fly,†said Molly, ‘Tis
the prettiest little parlor that ever I did
Spy
The canvas room was indeed very attrac-
y,99
tive, as well as comfortable. It had a board
floor carpeted with rugs, and it boasted a
lounge and a table and _ several rocking-
chairs.
“You and Weezy are going to sleep with
Auntie David and me in the little room
behind those, Molly,†said Pauline hospi-
92 THE MERRY FIVE
tably, pointing to a pair of gaudy blankets
curtaining off the farther end of the tent.
“Papa bought those blankets of the Navajo
Indians. Aren’t they gay?â€
“Who, Pauline? The Indians?†asked
Kirke slyly. ; .
“TI don’t think Indians are gay. I think
they are sober as a—as a cow!†said out-
spoken Weezy, who had not understood
Kirke’s joke in the least.
“Pauline was talking about the blankets,
Ducksie,†said Molly, smoothing her little
sister’s hair. “But what makes you think
that Indians are sober? You've never known
any Indians.â€
“Oh, Molly Rowe, that isn’t a so story.â€
I’ve seen half a hundred Indians, — well, séx,
anyway.â€
“Where, Weezy?â€
“Oh, in the streets and ’round; and in the
curious store.†(Weezy meant curio store.)
THE LITTLE MINERS 93
“Don’t you remember that curious store
where mamma bought the funny jugs?â€
“Oh, yes, I do remember now. There
were some Indians there with baskets to _
sell; and the storekeeper wouldn’t buy them.
Perhaps that made the Indians sober.â€
“Maybe they were sober because they
weren’t drunk,†suggested Paul. “Hark! Hop
Kee is blowing the conch-shell. Dinner is
ready.â€
The dinner was a charming woodland meal,
served in the open air, on a long table
decked with ferns and fragrant bay-leaves,
Captain Bradstreet sat on a bench on one
side of the table between Molly and Pauline,
and Weezy sat on the other side between
Paul and Kirke. Mr, Rowe and Mrs, David-
son occupied chairs at opposite ends of the
table.
“ Brother insists on giving me a seat with
a back, Mr. Rowe,†remarked Mrs. Davidson
94. THE MERRY FIVE
with a smile as sunny as the California
weather. “He pets me, but I have known
how to ‘rough it’ as well as anybody.â€
“T suppose it was a wild country when
you settled on this coast, Mrs. Davidson.â€
“Indeed it was, Mr. Rowe,’ —Mrs. David-
son laughed softly, — “you can’t conceive
what a contrast it seemed to Philadelphia, our
native city.â€
“Father moved out here not long after
gold was first discovered in the State,†said
Captain Bradstreet, as Hop Kee carried around
the plates of soup. “ My sister was a little girl
in pinafores, and I was only two years older.â€
’
“Our father was a doctor,†continued Mrs.
Davidson, passing the crackers; “his health
had failed, and he came out here to Tuo-
lumne county, and built an adobe house for
us to live in. Do you recollect those heavy
shutters, Aléc, that papa used to bar every
night?â€
|
Full Text |
‘SILVER GRTE SERIES
The Baldwin Library
RMB vein
BOOKS BY PENN SHIRLEY
LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES
Three volumes Illustrated Price per volume
75 cents
Little Miss Weezy
Little Miss Weezy’s Brother
Little Miss Weezy’s Sister
THE SILVER GATE SERIES
Illustrated Price per volume 7s cents
Young Master Kirke
The Merry Five
Complete Catalogues free
LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers BOSTON
“Mamma has found her lost baby.â€
THE SILVER GATE SERIES
THE MERRY FIVE
BY
PENN SHIRLEY
AUTHOR OF “LITTLE MISS WEEZY†“LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S
BROTHER� “LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S SISTER�
“YOUNG MASTER KIRKE’?
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
IO MILK STREET
CoryRIGHT, 1896, By LEE AND SHEPARD
All Rights Reserved
Tue Merry Five
TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON.
PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I, Tue Merry Five . . ©. 1 + + se ee 7
TJ. DONALD HIDES . . . 1. 1 se we 6 © we e220
TI, Sanra Luzia. . 1. ee ew we ee ee 80
IV. LEARNING TO SWIM . . . ee 7 . + 42
Vv. At THE BEACH... ee ee ee ee 53
VI. FisHING FoR WEEZY . . . .. ee e) 67
VII. Gomnc INTO CAMP... ee ee ee ce 79
VIIL, Tue Lirrte MINERS . . . . . ee ee) OOF
IX. Tur Bre-RaAncH . . . ee + ee e+ 104
X. Firvz Younc Ports ..... +. + + Wy
XI. Motty a Heroine. . . . se ee ee 128
XII. Tue STREET MASQUERADE . «. « se + 142
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
“* MAMMA HAS FOUND HER Lost Basy†. . Frontispiece
“© You’D BETTER LET Him Go To Santa Luzia,’’? page 32
PAULINE AND MOLLY WERE SWINGING IN A
.
Hammock . . . . ee ee ee ee Barge 53
THe Boys BORE THE CHILD ONWARD . . . . page 75
THe TWINS SPRANG FROM BEHIND THE TALL
SYCAMORE . . . . 1 ew ee ee ee Page 90
‘©AREN’T YoU AFRAID OF BEING STUNG?’’? . . page 109
“Srop THE CAR !’? SCREAMED MOLLIE . . . page 137
<
TuaT INQUISITIVE LITTLE DoG ... . . « page 153
THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER I
THE: MERRY FIVE
Tue Merry Five were Molly, Kirke, and
Weezy Rowe, and their’ twin comrades, ’ Paul
and Pauline Bradstreet, who lived over the
way. Paul, Pauline, and Molly were now
fourteen years old, Kirke was twelve, and
little Miss Weezy seven. The story begins
with the Rowes at luncheon-time.
“O papa! I’m so glad we're going to the
beach,†cried Molly, laying down her fork.
“And I’m glad we’re going to be so near
Captain Bradstreet’s camp,†added Kirke,
flourishing his napkin. “Oh! we shall have
a famous outing.â€
8 THE MERRY FIVE
“ Exquit!†chirped Weezy, not at all sure
what an outing might be, only that it must
_ be something jolly.
“Me too, mamma,†lisped Baby Donald,
paddling with his spoon in his bowl of milk.
Mr. Rowe had caused this unusual excite-
ment by reading aloud a letter from Mrs.
Kitto, who kept a boarding-house at Santa
Luzia. The letter stated that she had received
Mr. Rowe’s note of inquiry, and that if he
desired it, she would take himself and family
as boarders on the following Wednesday.
“You do desire it, papa; don’t you?†added
Molly eagerly.
“Tf your mamma does, my daughter.â€
“Tt will be difficult to leave so soon,â€
remarked Mrs. Rowe, thoughtfully stroking
Donald’s restless fingers.
“But we children can help,†said Molly
quickly. “We have helped a .great deal
since vacation; now, haven’t we, mamma?â€
THE MERRY FIVE 9
“Certainly you have, my dear,â€, returned
Mrs. Rowe with a smile. Did Molly remem-
ber that this vacation was as yet hardly two _
days old?
The first thing that Molly did after luncheon
by way of helping, was to run across the street
to Captain Bradstreet’s to signal to Pauline in
the cheery trill that all school-girls know.
“Mrs. Kitto can take us, Polly! We're
going Wednesday !’’ she cried, as Pauline came
dancing out, her long hair floating behind her
like a black flag.
“You are, Molly? Papa says we sha’n’t be
off before the first of next month. But he
has partly promised to let Paul and me stop
at Santa Luzia on the way.â€
“O Pauline, how perfectly lovely !â€
“T didn’t believe he’d ever think of such
a thing,†said Pauline, braiding her hair,
“He’s so silly about us twins since mamma
died. Can’t bear to have us out of his sight.†|
10 THE MERRY FIVE
“JT don’t wonder, Polly, I’m sure.†Mbolly’s
eyes glowed with pity, as they always did
when Pauline spoke of her dead mother. She
longed to tell Pauline how sorry she was for
her, but the words would not come. What
she did say was only this, “ Your shoe-string’s
untied, Polly, the right one.â€
“Ts it? Well, it might as well be the
right as the left. It’s sure to be one or the
other,†returned easy-going Pauline, stooping
- to fasten the offending lacing.
“Oh! won’t it be delightful if you and Paul
can come to Santa Luzia, Polly? I “ope you
can stay at Mrs. Kitto’s a whole week.†:
“Thank you, Molly dear, and I†— Pauline
had been about to say that she hoped Molly
and Kirke would stay at least that length of
time at the camp; but suddenly remembered
that there might not be room enough for
them. She must ask her father.
“JT —J suppose Auntie David will meet us
THE MERRY FIVE It
at Santa Luzia,†she said, to finish the sen-
tence.
“What does make you call her Auntie
David, Pauline? You’ve never told me.â€
“Oh, Paul and I began to call her that
when we were little snips, and we’ve done
it ever since. Auntie doesn’t mind. Her
name is Davidson, you know. She married
Uncle John Davidson.â€
_“ Will Mr. Davidson come to Santa Luzia
too, Polly?â€
“Oh, no; Uncle John has gone East. He
goes East. every summer on business, and
then euntie comes to live with us. Lucky
for Paul and me; lucky for papa too! Auntie
David is papa’s only sister. I believe he
thinks she made the world!â€
“Well, I must skip back,†said Molly, with
an important air. “Kirke has gone over to
Mrs. Carillo’s to see if Manuel wants to keep
Kirke’s cart and burro while we're away ;
12 THE MERRY FIVE
\
and mamma may want me to do some er-
rands.†—
All the rest of the week there was a pleasant
bustle in the Rowe household, the bustle of
preparing for a journey.
- “We're going to ride in the cars,†little
Miss Weezy explained to all callers. “We're
going to Sandy Luzia. It’s ’most a hundred
miles.â€
The little maiden was very busy these days ;
for she had to hunt up her scattered dolls,
many of them having strayed out of sight.
Mr. Rowe, though still far from strong,
was very busy too.
“T must drive over to the gardener’s this
morning to instruct him in regard to the hedge,â€
he said to Mrs. Rowe the next Monday.
« Shall we shut up Zip?†asked Mrs. Rowe,
as she brought her husband a glass of milk.
Mr. Rowe smiled. “ Let
,
“No, my dear,’
the little Mexican follow. I believe his dog-
THE MERRY FIVE ‘ 13
ship thinks none of the family can be trusted
anywhere without him.â€
_ As soon as Mr. Rowe had gone, Mrs. Rowe
hastened to call Molly from the book she was
reading.
“Come, Molly, while papa is away we will
begin our packing. Please ask Hop Kee to
take the largest trunk from the store-room,
and set it down in the upper hall in front
of the grate.â€
Molly put “Alice in Wonderland†upon thé
table with a little sigh, and walked out to
the kitchen rather more slowly than a girl
ought to walk when she goes on her mother’s
errands. She was thinking about Alice and
that surprising rabbit. What would he do
next ? ,
“Now, children, you can collect the articles
that you cannot do without,†said Mrs. Rowe,
after the trunk had been placed before the
unused grate. “The necessary articles must
14 'THE MERRY FIVE
be put in first, for we sha’n’t have room for
everything you'd like.â€
Kirke immediately brought his tennis-racket,
his foot-ball, and his jointed fishing-rod, and
flung them into the trunk.
“T must have my tool-box, too, mamma,
_and the ship I’m rigging, and†—
«“ Any clothes, Kirke?†interrupted Molly
mischievously, as she appeared with an armful
of bathing-suits.
Kirke had not thought of clothes; and when
these had been hunted up, and laid smoothly
over the bathing-suits, he grudged them the
space they occupied.
But his mamma did not let him remain idle.
“You may get the hammock next, Kirke,
and papa’s afghan and pillows.â€
Kirke skipped down-stairs two steps at a
time, and speedily returned with the hammock
slung over his shoulder, and bulging in a very
peculiar manner.
THE MERRY FIVE * 15
“Here’s a big hang-bird’s nest, mamma.
It has one wee bird in it. Do you want to
see the fellow hop?â€
“O Kirke! what made you bring Donald
here now?†said Mrs. Rowe, with a vexed _
laugh, as Kirke spilled his baby brother at
her feet.
Donald scrambled up, and rested his chin
on the edge of the trunk to see his mamma
put in the sofa-pillows, and spread blankets
over them. “Pitty ’itty bed,†said he.
“So you think that’s a bed do you, little
brother?†cried Kirke, much amused. “It
does look like your cribby, that’s a fact.â€
“Pitty itty mamma,’ pursued the young
rogue, throwing his arms about his mother’s
neck, partly because he loved her, partly be-
cause he feared she was going to send him
away, ;
“There, sweetheart, that will do,†said she
at last, between his kisses. “Mamma is busy
16_ THE MERRY FIVE
now. Brother must take little Donald down-
stairs.†‘
“Pit-a-bat, pit-a-bat,†pleaded the baby.
He saw he must go, and, as that was the
case, preferred to go in state, riding on his
brother’s back. .
“Well, pick-a-back it is, then,†exclaimed
Kirke, slinging the teasing child across his
shoulders. In the lower hall he met Captain
Bradstreet and Pauline.
_ “You're the very young man I want to speak
to,†cried the cheery captain; “I want †—
“Now, papa, Kirke’s not so very young,
I’m sure,†interrupted Pauline archly.
Captain Bradstreet chuckled as though his
motherless daughter had made a witty remark.
“True, my little girl, Kirke’s not so very
young ; but then, on the other hand, not. so
old as he may be later.â€
“I’m going on thirteen, Captain Bradstreet,â€
said Kirke, jealous for his own dignity.
THE MERRY FIVE 17
The captain chuckled again, and wiped his
sunburned face so hard that Kirke half looked
for a crimson stain on the white pocket-hand-
kerchief.
“Yes, yes, to be sure, you'll overtake your
father before long, Kirke. Hop Kee says
your father’s not at home.â€
“No; papa has gone to Mr. Gleason’s, Cap-
tain Bradstreet.â€
“We've come, Pauline and I, to engage
you and that big sister of yours to visit us
at our camp when we’re settled in it. Pauline
won't sleep a wink till this thing’s arranged.
Can we see your mother?â€
Kirke set Donald down upon the floor, and
hastened to the upper hall, where Molly was
capering about in the wildest excitement.
“OQ mamma! did you hear what Captain
Bradstreet said? Did you hear? He wants
Kirke and me to make a visit at his camp —
I never made a visit at a camp in my life!â€
*
18 THE MERRY FIVE
“Yes, mamma,†said Kirke, in the same low
tone, “ Captain Bradstreet wants to ask you if
_ Molly and I can go. Came on purpose.â€
“© mamma! you'll say yes; won’t you?â€
begged Molly. :
Mrs. Rowe was hastily laying aside her
apron.
“We'll ask papa, Molly. Captain Bradstreet
is certainly very kind.â€
“7 don’t think Captain Bradstreét’s kind —
I don’t think he’s kind a bit,’’ muttered little
Miss Weezy, as the others went down-stairs.
“Never ’vited me at all! Didn’t I ’vite him
to my seven-years-old party, ice-cream to it
too? O dear, dear, dear!â€
Unloading an apronful of dolls in a heap
by the trunk, offended little Weezy stole down
the back staircase into the garden to confide
her sorrows to Ginger, Molly’s yellow kitten.
“ Captain Bradstreet said I was a nice, sweet
little girl; he said it two times, he truly did.
THE MERRY FIVE 19
And now he’s gone and asked Kirke and
Molly to go to his —to his something — oh,
yes, he’s asked them, and never asked me.â€
Ginger purred softly, and rubbed her head
against her little mistress’s feet; but Weezy
could not be comforted. What a ‘miserable
old world it was to be sure, where captains
called you nice, sweet little girls, and then
went and didn’t invite you to their —to their
—she couldn’t quite remember what.
Grown-up people liked big boys and girls
like Kirke and Molly; they didn’t like little
ones like herself and Donald.
Poor little Donald, he was crying too. She
heard him. What was he crying about?
Weezy wondered. And where was he? He
seemed a great way off, by the sound, ’most
up in the sky. Why didn’t somebody find
him and make him happy?
20 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER II
DONALD HIDES
“Weezy, Weezy, is Donald out there it
the garden with you?â€
This was Molly calling from the back °
porch.
“6 No, he isn’t,†answered Weezy, in a dis-
couraged tone.
“He’s screaming himself hoarse, Weezy,
and we can’t find him anywhere in the
house.â€
“T haven’t seen him.†Weezy walked
slowly toward her sister. “Has Captain
Bradstreet gone, Molly?â€
“Yes, Weezy, and Pauline.â€
“Did Captain Bradstreet say†—
“Maybe Donald followed Pauline and her
DONALD HIDES 21
father home, Molly,†suggested . Mrs. Rowe
from the doorway.
“No, mamma, I’ve been over to ask. I
-couldn’t hear Donald on that side of the
street, either. He must be in this house.â€
“Then, I’d like to know where, Molly,†ex-
claimed Kirke, springing out upon the porch.
“ve dived into all the wardrobes and under
all the beds.â€
His face was crimson, and his hair on end
_ like the spines of a sea-urchin. A cobweb
dangled from his coat-sleeve.
“Have you looked in the sideboard, Kirke.â€
“No, I haven’t, Molly ; and I haven’t looked
in the salt-cellars.â€
“Oh, you funny boy!†tittered Weezy, who
regarded the search as a protracted and
rather diverting game of hide-and-go-seek.
Mrs. Rowe, on the contrary, was becoming
seriously troubled. |
“Where can the darling be, Molly?†she
22 THE MERRY FIVE
cried, rushing back into the house, and hurry-
ing from room to room. “I can hardly hear
his voice now. How faint it has grown!â€
“Tt is loudest here in the hall, mamma,â€
said Molly, who had run ahead, and halted
abruptly at the foot of the front stairway.
“Donny is up chimney, I guess,†cried
little Louise, dancing to the fireplace. .
“Nonsense, Weezy; do you think he is a
bat?†retorted Molly.
Kirke dropped on his knees before the
hearth. He had been stuck in a chimney
once himself, and the recollection always made
his flesh creep.
“Tf Donald has crawled up this flue, Molly,
it’s no laughing matter, let me tell you.â€
“What ave you talking about, Kirke? Don-
ald couldn’t crawl up that flue; it is alto-
gether too small.â€
“T’m not so sure, Molly. Don can squeeze
through a knothole.â€
DONALD HIDES 23
“Donald, Donald darling,†called Mrs.
Rowe shrilly. “Where are you, Donald?
Tell mamma.â€
A plaintive, muffled wail floated down the
air.
“Tum, mamma, tum.â€
“Donald zs in the chimney, mamma! Oh,
I’m so afraid he zs in here!†groaned Kirke,
trying to gaze into the chimney’s blackened
throat.
But he only bumped his “head against »
the andirons and twisted his neck for
nothing.
“There are bricks in the way, mamma,
stacks of them. I can’t see a single thing.â€
“Tum, oh, tum!†cried the choked voice
again; and this time they were sure it came
from above them.
But did it actually proceed from the throat
of the chimney? |, It was Mrs. Rowe who
first thought of the unused grate in the
24 THE MERRY FIVE
upper hall. Might not Donald have wedged
his restless little body into that? He was
constantly teasing to go up on the roof.
“ Here I am, dearest, mamma is here,†she
called, mounting the staircase, the children
at her heels, and stumbling across the clothing
that strewed the floor. |
Before the grate stood the large trunk she
had been packing. She had left it open, and
now it was closed; but she was too agitated
to notice the change.
“Quick, Kirke, this trunk is in the way.
Help me move it out from the grate.â€
Kirke laid hold of the handle nearest.
“What a heavy trunk, mamma! What
makes †—
At that moment there was a stifled cry
of “Mamma, mamma!â€
Kirke jumped as if he had been shot, for
the words seemed spoken directly in his ear-
“ Donald’s in the trunk,†he roared, letting
i:
’
DONALD HIDES ' 226
go the handle. “The little monkey is in the
trunk!†;
“He’s packed himself, Donny’s packed
himself!†shouted Weezy, hopping about on
one foot. ‘“ What an ever-so-queer baby!â€
Molly flew to the trunk, but it was fastened.
“Oh, this lock! This hateful, hateful .
spring-lock. Where zs the key?â€
“T left it in the lock. I know I left it in
the lock,†exclaimed Mrs. Rowe, groping has-
tily about the carpet. Help me, children,
do help me find it!â€
“Tum, mamma. Why don’t oo tum ?â€
The voice was very low, oh, very, very low,
little more than a sigh.
“Yes, yes, my baby ; mamma will come.â€
Mrs. Rowe was yet hunting the key, and
hunting to no purpose.
« Bring a hammer, Kirke,†she cried hur-
riedly. “ Bring a screw-driver — no, a chisel.
Call Hop Kee.â€
26 THE MERRY FIVE
It seemed centuries before Kirke returned
with the tools; in reality it was only three
minutes. Then Hop Kee came flying in as
though fired from a sling or swung by his
own long pigtail.. Behind him appeared Cap-
tain Bradstreet and Pauline to learn if Donald
had been found; and among them all the
trunk was speedily opened.
Little Donald lay upon the pillows gasping
for breath, and clasping in his chubby hand
the missing key.
“‘Peepaboo, Donny! Peepaboo!†cried
Weezy.
But the released prisoner did not answer.
Mrs. Rowe caught the pale, limp little fellow
to her breast with a sob of thanksgiving.
“Mamma is here, my baby. Did you think
mamma never, never would come?†,
The child snuggled close in her arms, too
exhausted to utter. a word.
“Look up, dearest; mamma has youl
DONALD HIDES ~ 27°
Smile, mother’s darling, mamma has found
her lost baby.â€
“Yes, praise God! You've found your boy,
Mrs. Rowe, and found him not one minute
too soon,†muttered Captain Bradstreet, throw-
ing up the windows. “If he had not made
himself heard, he might have shared the fate
of Ginevra.â€
“Don’t mention it, Captain Bradstreet,â€
shuddered Mrs. Rowe. ‘The story of Gi,
nevra flashed into my mind the moment I
discovered where Donald was.â€
“Who was Ginevra, anyway, Molly ?†asked
Kirke, a little later.
The Captain and Pauline had gone, Mr.
Rowe had come home, and the color was
returning to Donald’s cheeks.
“Oh! don’t you know, Kirke? Why, Gi-
nevra was that gay young bride, — Italian, I
believe, —who ran off after her wedding, and
hid herself in a chest.â€
28 THE MERRY FIVE
“What. did she do that for?â€
“Why just for fun, to make the guests
hunt for her. They were all playing hide- |
and-go-seek.â€
“Well, what next, Molly 2â€
And the chest had a spring-lock.â€
“Oh! I see.â€
“Yes, the springiest kind of a spring-lock ;
and the poor little bride was no sooner inside
the chest than the lid snapped down on her.
There she had to stay; and she wasn’t found
for a hundred years?â€
“A hundred years!†echoed Weezy, in
.dismay. ‘O Molly! didn’t she have anything
‘to eat for a whole hundred years?â€
“TI guess she didn’t want anything to eat,
Weezy,†said Kirke, with a sly wink at Molly.
“ Not toward the last of it, anyway. I guess
she had lost her appetite.â€
“O Kirke! you wretched boy,†said Molly.
But Kirke’s shocking sarcasm had. been
DONALD. HIDES 29
quite lost on Weezy. She had picked up a
box-cover from the: floor, and was fanning
Donald as he lay across his mother’s lap.
“Did you think that was a truly, truly little
bed, Donald ?â€
Donald nodded drowsily.
“Babies shouldn’t go to sleep in trunks.
Oh, you droll, droll little brother !â€
Weezy’s remark had called up a painful
memory, and Donald’s lip began to quiver.
“Don’t wike p’itty ‘itty bed. All dark.
Mamma all gone.â€
“We won’t talk about it, darling,†said Mrs.
Rowe, kissing the tear-stained face. “Here
you are in sister’s arms, and sister shall sing
to you. What do you want to hear her sing?â€
“Sing Robbitty-bobbitty,†replied Donald,
swallowing a sob. And Weezy piped up in
. a Clear, sweet treble :—
*€ Robinty-bobbinty bent his bow
To shoot a pitcher and killed a crow.â€
30 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER III
SANTA LUZIA
“Here comes Miss Hobbs, mamma, rolling
along with the clothes-basket.â€
Wednesday morning had arrived, and Kirke
was upon the side porch helping his mother
strap her grip-sack. Miss Hobbs was bring-
ing home some starched clothes too fine to
be laundered by Sing High, the “wash-man ;â€
and beside her walked her roly-poly niece
and nephew, Essie and Harry.
“JT daren’t leave them at ’ome by their
little selves, Mrs. Rowe,†she wheezed in
mounting the steps. ‘“Hessie is that con-
triving of mischief, an’ such an obstinate
child.â€
Essie hung her head, though not too low
SANTA LUZIA 31
to see the banana that Mrs. Rowe presently
brought: her.
“What do you say, Hessie ? For shame!
Can’t you thank the lady?â€
“Tank oo,†mumbled Essie in the act of
skinning the fruit with her sharp little
teeth.
“That’s a good gell, Hessie. You and
*Arry must heat your bananas ’ere on the
porch while I carry in the clothes.
“Tf you'll believe it, Mrs. Rowe, that
rogue of a Hessie ran away again yesterday,â€
she continued, following Mrs. Rowe into the
side hall. “A beastly race she led us. She
tired ’Arry hall out.â€
“Harry looks delicate this summer,†re- |
marked Mrs. Rowe, as she began to sort the:
clothes into piles.
“ Arry’s fat, Mrs. Rowe, but he isn’t
rugged. If I could lay ’ands on the gold
I've buried I’d take him away for his ’ealth.â€
32 | THE MERRY FIVE
“Why can’t Miss Hobbs get her gold,
‘mamma?†whispered Weezy, coming in just
then... “Can’t Kirke and I dig it up for
her?â€
“Miss Hobbs means, dear, that she has
spent her money for land that she cannot
‘sell, and.so she can’t afford to take Harry
into the country this summer.â€
“You'd better let him go to Santa Luzia
with the Rowe family,â€: laughed Kirke, as
his mother gave him some. garments to. carry
up-stairs. ss Let him go, and I’ll see to him.â€
_) © Thank you, Master Kirke,†— Miss Hobbs’s
ample. sides. shook merrily, — “but while
you're seeing to ’Arry who'll see to you?â€
Kirke looked nettled, especially when she
went on to say, “No, no, your ma'll have
enough young folks to keep steady without
’aving my ’Arry.â€
Mrs. Rowe smiled thoughtfully at these
jesting remarks. A fortnight at the beach
7F, 7
“You'd better let him go to Santa Luzia:â€
Page 32
SANTA LUZIA 33
would doubtless be a benefit to the ailing
child. Could this be sone She must
consider the question.
“We are all fond of Harry,†she remarked,
in handing Miss Hobbs the empty basket.
“He’s a good little boy.â€
“Oh, ’Arry’s decent, Mrs. Rowe,†responded
Miss Hobbs, with a complacent glance at the
hall clock.
“The clock is too fast, Miss Hobbs.â€
“Is she? I shought she must be quite
.a few minutes on; but we won’t stay to hin-
der you.†And Miss Hobbs tied her sun-
bonnet.
“You'll come around again this afternoon,
Miss Hobbs, to close the house?â€
“For certain, Mrs. Rowe. I'll close the
‘ouse, and take charge of the key.â€
“Which key, Miss Hobbs? Hop Kee, or
_ door-key?†asked Kirke, with mock inno-
cence,
34 THE .MERRY FIVE
“Not Hop Kee, you: may rely on that,
Master Kirke,†retorted Miss Hobbs, putting
on her shawl as if it had been a bandage.
“JT wouldn’t take charge of a Chinaman for
all the teapots he could break.â€
“Hop Kee will work for the Bradstreets
while we’re away, Miss Hobbs.â€
© *&So there is where he’s going. I knew
the captain’s housekeeper was sick.â€
“And when the family move into camp,
they'll take Hop Kee along with them.â€
Captain Bradstreet’s name had reminded .
Weezy of her old grievance.
“OQ Miss Hobbs! Captain Bradstreet has
*vited Kirke and Molly to go into that camp
thing, and he hasn’t ever ’vited me,†she
-complained, holding the door ajar for Miss
Hobbs to pass out. “I don’t think it’s fair.â€
“Never mind, little woman! You'll have
your share of hinvitations before many years,â€
— Miss Hobbs gave the others a wise look.
SANTA LUZIA 35
“I’m sorry to ’avé you all go; but I ’ope
you'll ’ave a good summer, and I pray the
Lord’ll keep you well and ’appy.â€
“Oh! He will; He always does,†answered
little Miss Weezy for the family. ‘“Good-by,
Miss Hobbs.â€
’ After that Harry and Essie came in with
sticky hands and faces to make their farewell
speeches ; and then their Aunt Ruth waddled
homeward between them like a plump mother-
duck between two plump ducklings,
They were met. at the corner by a hand-
some, dark-eyed Spanish boy. It was Man-
uel Carillo, coming to take away Kirke’s
burro and cart to keep during vacation.
“You'll be good to Hoppity, this summer,
won't you, Manuel?†said Kirke playfully,
as he helped him harness the sleek gray
burro into the trig gray cart. “You won't
be mad with him because he threw you and
broke your leg.â€
36 THE MERRY FIVE
“Mad? Oh, no! that’s all right.â€
Manuel grinned, and slapped the limb in
question to show how strong it was.
“Hoppity ought to help you carry around
your newspapers to pay for that bad trick of
his. Now, oughtn’t you, Hoppity?†said
Kirke, giving the little beast a parting love-
pat.
Kirke was glad to lend Manuel the burro.
It seemed one way of making amends for the
sad accident of the year before that had been
caused partly by his own recklessness,
When Kirke returned to the house the
family were sitting down to an early luncheon.
Molly made room for him beside herself,
saying cheerily, —
“Manuel drove by the window just now,
smiling all over his face. How much he does
think of you, Kirke!â€
“T don’t know about that, Molly, but he
thinks a good deal of Hoppity. He’ll have
SANTA LUZIA 37.
a splendid time with the little trotter while
we’re away.â€
“Kirke has made many friends at Silver
Gate City,†remarked his mother. - “Harry
Hobbs for one.†Then, turning to Mr. Rowe,
she added, in a sprightly tone, — “ Kirke pro-
poses doing a little missionary work during
vacation, papa. Haye you any objection to
his taking care of a ‘fresh-air child’ for a
fortnight ?â€â€™
“A ‘fresh-air - child,’ my dear? I don’t
quite understand.â€
“Well, Harry Hobbs, for instance. Harry
is in need of a change of scene. Do you
approve his coming to Santa Luzia by and
by?â€
“O papa! I was only in fun,†exclaimed
Kirke in hot haste. “I don’t want Harry -
to come; really and truly I don’t. Paul and
I have planned no end of good times there
on the beach by ourselves.â€
38 THE MERRY FIVE
“ And you think Harry wouldn’t enjoy those
good times? Is that it, my son?â€
“No, papa; Harry would enjoy them fast
enough,†Kirke laughed and blushed; “the
bother is that Paul and I wouldn’t enjoy
him. The little kid would be frightfully in
the way with his mud-pies, and his tagging,
and his chattering. Don’t you see, papa?â€
“Then, Miss Hobbs dresses Harry so oddly,
papa,†added Molly, as her father did not
reply. “She makes him look for all the
world like one of Mr. Palmer Cox’s brownies ;
and people at Santa Luzia wouldn’t sow
but Harry was one of our family.â€
“What a shocking thought, Molly!†cried
Mr. Rowe, vastly entertained by her expression
of deep distress. “In the face of a danger like.
this it never. will do for us to’ take Harry.â€
“You're laughing at me, papa; but you
don’t understand how girls feel about such
things, Kirke doesn’t understand, either.â€
SANTA LUZIA 39
“Girls have too many feelings, I think,â€
said Kirke, not very politely. ‘They’re al-
ways afraid of doing something queer.â€
“TI wish boys were a little more like them,
then,†— Molly pushed back her plate with a
saucy air, “boys never care a fig what is said
of them.â€
“That’s because they’re independent, Molly.â€
“It’s because they don’t know what is
proper, I say,†retorted Molly between fun
and earnest. “Why, I’ve seen boys that
would walk into church with monkeys on
their backs and never blush.â€
“Tm afraid Kirke will consider you
rude, Molly,†interposed her mother gently.
“ Aren’t we wandering very far from Harry ?â€
“The farther the better,†was Molly’s se-
cret comment, as Mrs. Rowe continued, —
“T hoped you children would want to do
something nice for Harry. His aunt is not
able to give him many pleasures.â€
â€
40 THE MERRY FIVE
' “She gave him a Caroline cooky yesterday,
mamma,†put in Weezy; “full of seeds, it
was. Harry let me bite.â€
“But, mamma, we can’t take Harry with
us,†exclaimed Molly, elated by the sudden
thought ; “Miss Hobbs can’t possibly get
him ready in time for the train.â€
“As to that, Molly, she can send him next
month by Captain Bradstreet.â€
“May be Mrs. Kitto won’t have room for
Harry,†suggested Molly faintly.
Kirke dashed this hope to the ground,
Harry, he affirmed, could be rolled into any
corner like a foot-ball.
“The question is simply this, children,â€
said Mrs. Rowe, buttering a biscuit for Don-
ald to eat on the car; “will you devote a
part of your vacation to your little neighbor,
or will you spend the whole of it in amusing
yourselves ? You shall decide.â€
“O mamma! please don’t leave it that way.
SANTA LUZIA 4I
Don’t put us on our honor,†entreated Molly,
with a shrug.
“ Because, when you put us on our honor,
we have to do a thing, even if we hate it
like poison,†added Kirke, groping under the
sideboard for the yellow kitten.
Kitty’s basket was ready, with a slice of
roast beef at the bottom, and a.smart blue’
bow on top; and now at the last moment
Ginger had refused to be put in.
“Flead her off, Molly. Shut the door.
Weezy. Look out, Don, or I shall run over
you!â€
Kirke shouted his orders like a general in
battle. Everybody jostled against everybody
else, and Ginger was no sooner captured than
the carriage came to take them all to the
station.’ Then followed the excitement of the
journey and of the arrival at Santa Luzia;
and for several days nothing further was said
about Harry Hobbs.
42 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER IV
LEARNING TO SWIM
Tue children were delighted with the lovely
little city of Santa Luzia, which lay upon the
coast, snuggling in its arms a placid, sunny
bay. For the first week after their arrival
Weezy never tired of watching the sails on
the water, and of counting how many she
could see from her window at “The Old and
New.â€
“The Old and’ New†was Mrs, Kitto’s
boarding-house, overlooking Santa Luzia
Beach. The Old was the back part, built
of brown adobe, with walls two feet thick;
the New was the modern wooden front, witha
breezy veranda stepping down toward the sea.
“The house puts its best foot forward,â€
LEARNING TO SWIM 43
prattled Molly, as she and Kirke and Weezy
set off one morning for a lesson in swimming.
“That’s all right,†replied Kirke, “if it
keeps steady on its pins.â€
“T don’t know what-you’re talking about,â€
‘sniffed Weezy with disapproval. “ Houses
don’t have feet; and they don’t have pins.â€
“No, nor soles either, you precious snip
of a goosie.â€
Kirke held his little sister’s hand, swinging
it to and fro as they walked together across
the beach.
“ Are you going to squeal to-day when you
go into the water? The last time you scared
the swimming-master half out of his wits.†-
“O Kirke, what a story!â€
“Tl leave it to Molly if the-man didn’t
duck.†. 7
“You silly, silly boy! You know he
ducked on purpose.â€
Weezy flirted her sunny head in high dis-
44. THE MERRY FIVE
dain, while Kirke and Molly exchanged amused
glances.
“Do you think so, Weezy? Well, may be
he did duck on purpose. I mean to try that
ducking business myself this morning. "What-
ever you do, little sister, don’t grab me around
the neck; you might pull me under.â€
Kirke spoke in jest. He could already swim
quite well, for he had learned the art a year
_or two before in the East. Molly and Weezy,
on the contrary, had only taken three lessons.
_ “Hoh, Kirke! I couldn’t pull you under.
- Of course not, ’cause you're biggerer'n I am,â€
said Weezy, stopping to watch a small urchin
scooping ovens in the sand.
He was a plump little boy in “brownieâ€
overalls, which Molly insisted made him look
like a fat, twisted doughnut.
“He looks like Harry Hobbs,’ responded
Kirke, hurrying Weezy on towards the bath-
house.
LEARNING TO.SWIM 45
Molly felt a sudden twinge of conscience.
“That makes me think, Kirke, what shall
we do about Harry? If he comes, he’ll have
to come next week with the Bradstreets.
Mamma has left it to us, you know, to ask
him or not, as we please.â€
Kirke whistled, and kicked aside a tangle
of seaweed.
“Oh! we might as well invite the young
Britisher, I suppose.â€
“But if Harry comes, Kirke, you and I'll
each have to keep an eye on him to†—
“Yes, that'll be an eye apiece, Molly.â€
“To see that he doesn’t get drowned or
anything.â€
“Pooh, Miss Fidgetibus, who’s going to
drown him? You couldn’t sink that dumpy
boy any more’n you could sink the buoy on
the rock yonder.â€
“T thought you didn’t want Harry any
more than I did, Kirke.â€
-
46 THE MERRY FIVE
“Who says I do want him? Only I was
thinking he could burrow here in all out-
doors like a gopher; and it seems sort of
mean, doesn’t it, Molly, to shut down on
the poor little kid?â€
“1 — don’t — know.â€
Molly’s glance had wandered from the
sturdy young oven-builder to a group of well-
dressed tourists climbing the long flight of
steps to the bluff overhead. How mortify-
ing it would be to take Harry about among
people like those, and pose as his sister.
Where. did Miss Hobbs get the patterns of
his clothes ?
“The beach will make Harry weller,
mamma says,†observed Weezy, always ready
to fill the pauses.
“ Better, you mean, don’t you, Weezy?â€
corrected Molly. “Mamma is always wanting
to make somebody better.â€
“You're right, ma’am,†Kirke nodded em-
LEARNING TO SWIM 47
phatically. “Mamma is kind, way through.
She isn’t much like you and me, Molly.
Sometimes we’re kind, and then again some-
times we’re kind of not.â€
“Thank you, sir; you can speak for your-
self, if you please,†retorted Molly, bridling.
She had secretly prided herself on being
unselfish and warm-hearted, and this frank
remark was wounding to her self-love.
“For my part, I’m willing to send for
Harry,†she added virtuously.
" “So am I, Molly,—on a pinch,†said Kirke,
“And I suppose Pauline will bring him, —on
a pinch!â€
“Then, as soon as we get home to The
Old and New, Kirke, we’ll ask mamma. to
write to Miss Hobbs, and have it over with.â€
“Agreed. The Bradstreets will be here
by next Thursday, won’t they? Will they
stay at The Old and New a week?â€
“They'll stay till the captain and Hop
48 THE MERRY FIVE
Kee get Camp Hilarious in running order,â€
answered Molly, as they mounted the steps
of the bath-house.
" While Kirke presented their tickets at the.
office, she and Weezy waited in the main
room. This had a large oblong bathing-tank
in the centre, surrounded on its four sides
by a broad walk. The dressing-rooms opened
upon this walk, and the door of each one
had painted on it near the top either a num-
ber or a letter of the alphabet.
“Which room would you like, Molly?â€
asked Kirke, quickly returning with the keys
and their bathing-suits. “You can take ‘H’
or ‘No. 7.’â€
’
“No. 7; it is the larger,†said Molly, draw-
ing Weezy into that room, and locking the
door. .
Kirke vanished into “H,†to reappear be-
fore No. 7 in precisely two minutes, clad in
blue flannel, and calling, —
LEARNING TO SWIM 49
“What! Aren’t you ready yet, girls?â€
That was the fun of being a boy, and
having no strings and no hooks and eyes
to hinder him !
On emerging into the main room the chil-
dren found their father seated there awaiting
them. He had formed the habit of being
present at their swimming-lessons,
“T feel safer to watch my ducklings,â€
Molly heard him say to Mr. Tullis, the swim-
ming-master, as she and Weezey drew near.
“Your daughters are learning fast, espe-
cially this little one,†answered Mr. Tullis,
looking at Weezy. “She'll soon swim like
a fish.â€
Mr.. Rowe patted Weezy’s head, shining
beneath her oiled-silk cap.
“She’s a venturesome little lassie,†he said.
“She never seems to know what fear is,â€
“She'll make all the better swimmer for
that, Mr. Rowe.†.
50 ‘ THE MERRY FIVE:
“Provided she doesn’t take too great risks,
Mr. Tullis. I’ve sometimes feared we ought
not to let her go into the water.â€
“ Anybody’s liable to get into water, Mr.
Rowe; the point is to know how to get
out,â€
Molly and Kirke hardly heeded the remark
at the time, but it rang in their ears after-
replied the swimming-master. lightly.
ward.
Mr. Tullis was already leading Weezy down
the steps into the tank, which was divided
across the middle by a low wall of stone.
On one side of this wall the water was cold,
but on the side they were entering it was
agreeably warm; and Weezy was soon pad-
dling about with great glee, supported under
the chin by the strong hand of the swimming-
master.
“Look, papa, see how well I can do it!â€
she cried, splashing and puffing like a young.
seal, till she was out of breath,
LEARNING TO SWIM SIâ€
“You'd better rest a few minutes now,
little girl,†said Mr. Tullis.
And leaving Weezy clinging to a plank, he
went to instruct Molly in swimming.
Meantime Kirke had been making ludi-
crous attempts to mount a hobby-horse, which,
being mostly barrel, would rear and plunge
as often as he tried to get astride its back.
Finally, tired of these fruitless: efforts, he
climbed the staircase near by to coast down
the toboggan slide with some other boys.
_ Mr. Rowe looked on as his son dashed
down the slippery board again and again,
and dived into the tank. Then he glanced
at his more timid Molly, flushed with trying
to strike out for herself, and at little Miss
Weezy, floating gayly on her plank; and he
mused, —
“What a blessing it is to be young and
strong! I wish my children could appreciate
this, and could know how happy they are.â€
52 THE MERRY FIVE
And at that very moment Kirke and Molly
were thinking, —
“Won’t we have good times by and by,
after Paul and Pauline have come?â€
And little Miss Weezy was thinking; but
she herself could hardly have told what she
was thinking.
\
_Bertha GDaidoy .
1896
‘Pauline and Molly were swinging in a hammock.â€
Page 53
AT THE BEACH 53
CHAPTER V
AT THE BEACH
““T WONDER what you'll think of our camp,
Molly.â€
Pauline and Molly were swinging in a ham-
mock on the front veranda of The Old and
New, chattering like spring chickadees.
The Bradstreets had arrived from Silver
Gate City the previous evening, bringing
Harry Hobbs with them; and Captain Brad-
street had gone on to the canyon that morn-
ing with Hop Kee.
“Papa has a wooden building up there, —
sort of a shanty, where he stores the furni-
ture every winter,†went on Pauline. “It is
near to Mr. Arnesten’s cottage, and Mr.
Arnesten sees to things when papa is away.â€
54 THE MERRY FIVE
“Are the Arnestens all the neighbors you
have, Pauline?â€
“Yes, unless you count the Wassons. But
the Wassons are three miles away, on papa’s
bee-ranch. We'll go to see them, Molly, when
you're at the camp.â€
“Oh, that'll be delightful!†Molly pushed
her heavy auburn hair away from her face,
a habit of hers when things pleased her.
“Right after breakfast every morning,
Molly, we'll put on our sunbonnets, — you
can borrow auntie’s,— and we’ll march. over
to Mr. Arnesten’s for the eggs, and see him
feed the chickens. He has turkeys besides,
and one proud old gobbler that struts about
as if he owned all the gold mines of Cali-
fornia.â€
“Didn’t you say the Arnestens had a little
girl, Pauline?â€
“Yes, Olga, the old-fashionedest little soul !
She has eyes just the color of a grindstone,
AT THE BEACH 55.
but her lashes are yellow, and her skin is
' yellow too. She used to trudge over with
buttermilk last summer.â€
“Then the Arnestens have a cow?â€
“TI should say they do! It’s always break-
ing into the garden and eating up the pease.
We mind that, because Mr. Arnesten supplies
us with vegetables.â€
“ And with chickens too, I suppose, Polly ?â€
“Yes ; Hop Kee cooks chickens beautifully.â€
“ Doesn’t he? It seems odd enough, Pau-
line, to think of your having our Chinaman.â€
“He came to our house in just the right
time, Molly. Mrs. Cannon was so sick she
couldn’t have worked for us another day.â€
“Hop Kee is a diamond, Polly.â€
“A topaz, you mean, dear, a yellow topaz.
How we shall hate to give him back to
you!â€
Molly snuggled her dimpled chin into her
friend’s neck.
56 THE MERRY FIVE
“T wouldn’t worry about that, Pauline. We
sha’n’t go home these two months.â€
“Neither shall we, I hope. Papa told me
yesterday that we should stay in the canyon.
all during vacation. Then, if Uncle John isn’t
back from the East, auntie will go home
with us to Silver Gate City.â€
“T’m just longing to see your Auntie David.
Are you sure she’ll come to-day, Pauline?â€
“She wrote that she should come to-day,
and spend a week here at The Old and New
with Paul and me. Papa can take us all out
to the camp together.â€
“Oh, dear, Polly! you won’t be here but
just seven days. And I haven’t entertained
you at all. What shall we do this afternoon?
Shall we go to the bath-house?â€
“T’d rather fish,†answered Pauline promptly.
“Tf there’s anything I dote on, it’s fishing.â€
“T want to fish,†cried Harry Hobbs, from
the corner of the veranda. “Can’t I fish?â€
3 AT THE BEACH bas
The little newcomer was tired of stringing
sea-shells with Weezy. Sewing was girls’
work.
“Don’t you and Weezy want to dig in the
sand?†asked Molly, in her sweetest tones.
“T’ll find you the dearest little pails and
shovels.†;
“TI can dig at ’ome,†responded Harry, with
a grieved look. But he did not tease Molly.
He had promised his Aunt Ruth that he
wouldn’t be troublesome.
“Oh! let him go fishing, Molly,†said Pau-
line, stepping out of the hammock. “And
let’s ask the boys too. They'll take care of
him.â€
“If they can leave their stilts, Pauline.
They’re stalking round the back yard like —
like†—
“ Like storks, of course,†concluded Pauline,
leaning over the veranda rail to see the lads
better. “Come, boys, won’t you go fishing?â€
58 THE MERRY FIVE
“Do you want. to, Paul?†asked Kirke
aside; for was not Paul his especial chum? —
Paul nodded, and strode to the back porch
in order to dismount on its high platform.
“Paul and I'll meet the rest of you at the
wharf, Molly,†called Kirke, already upon the
ground. “You'll take the fishing-tackle, won’t
you? We'll bring the bait.â€
The bait was little crawfishes. The boys
had to buy these of an old fisherman on the
flats, who kept a supply of live ones in. a pail
covered with wet seaweed.
“Tt’s fun to see Mr. Tarbox catch the craw-
fish,†said Paul, when they were near the
fish-house. “I saw him do it last summer.â€
~“Flow does he go to work?â€
“Oh! he treads a circle about six feet
across in the mud. Pretty soon the water
soaks. into. this ring, and the little crawfish ’Il
crawl in. All Mr. Tarbox has to do is to
scoop them up.â€
AT THE BEACH 59
“That’s why he can afford to sell them
cheap,†said Kirke.
“But he asks more in the winter,†said
Paul.
Kirke bought two dozen crawfish for a
nickel ; and he and Paul carried them back to
the beach, where the girls and Harry were
waiting.
After the hooks had been baited, the three
boys and the three girls walked out upon the
wharf, Molly holding Harry by the hand.
He was a clumsy little fellow, and she was
afraid he might fall over the edge. She had
no such fear for nimble-footed Weezy. Then
they threw in their lines, and waited and
waited, while the sun grew hotter and hotter.
They waited in vain. Nobody had a nibble.
At last Pauline reeled in her line with a
petulant motion.
“Supposing we give up fishing, and go
- around Bird Rocks to hunt for abalones.â€
60 THE MERRY FIVE
“A good idea,†said Paul. “The tide is
low, and maybe we can find abalones enough
for a soup to-morrow.â€
“A soup, indeed! Will you hear the boy?â€
cried lively Pauline. “Paul thinks only of
soup, and not at all of the beauty of the
shells.â€
“I'd rather have one large abalone shell
than forty herrings,†said Molly, escorting
Harry to the mainland.
“Especially than forty herrings that won’t
be caught,†added Kirke, dropping his tackle
into the basket. “Perhaps we shall have bet-
ter luck after the tide begins to come in,â€
“TI shouldn’t wonder. We’ll try again later,â€
said Pauline, lingering at the end of the wharf —
while Kirke concealed the basket beneath it.
Then the two hastened forward to overtake
Paul and Molly, who had set out for the rocky
cave beyond Bird Rocks. Weezy and Harry
lagged behind the others, Harry’s short fat
AT THE BEACH 61
legs being already weary of ploughing through
the sand.
Weezy was very polite to her little guest,
and very proud to show him the wonders of
Santa Luzia, which she seemed to regard as
the especial property of herself and her
family.
“This is one of our owl shells,†said she
presently, bringing Harry a limpet shell
about as large as the palm of her hand.
Harry eyed it sharply.
“Where’s the howl?â€
“On the inside. Don’t you see, Harry?â€
“That? That isn’t a ow/, It hasn’t any
‘ead, Weezy.â€
“Why, yes, it has, Harry. I think it has
a good head, a very good head indeed.â€
What did Harry mean by finding fault
with her lovely shell? For a moment Weezy
was too vexed to remember that he was her
company.
62 “THE MERRY FIVE
By this time the others had passed beyond
the ledge which shut off the beach from the
rocky cove, and Harry and Weezy were
alone on the sandy shore. Before them was
the ocean, behind them the high _ bluff,
climbed by a wooden stairway. Near the
foot of this stairway stood the wharf where
the children had just been fishing.
Weezy looked back at the wharf regret-
fully. She wished that she had stayed there, '
instead of walking on the tiresome beach
with a little boy only six years old, —a tiny
boy that didn’t like her owl shells!
Why shouldn’t she go back now to the
wharf? Nobody had said she mustn’t; and
if she should go that minute nobody could
say it, because there was nobody to see
her. She would catch a big herring all her
own self, that she would, and make every-
body stare.
Weezy’s eyes sparkled like the waves in
AT THE BEACH 63
the sunlight, her cheeks glowed like the
beach pea-blossoms at her feet.
“Pm going to fish, Harry. You can come
if you want to,†said she, turning briskly on —
her heel.
She wore that day a cap and dress of
navy blue trimmed with bands of gilt braid.
Harry was dressed in brown, and as he
bobbed along behind her he resembled a
dorbug chasing a butterfly.
“Here’s a hook with a baby crawfish on
it, Harry. You may have that,†she said,
with an excited air.
Then, having selected a second baited hook
for herself, she skipped along the wharf,
swinging her line. This was something
worth while, to fish on her own account,
without Molly or Kirke at her elbow to cry
out, —
“Take care, Weezy, don’t stick the hook
into you. Take care, Weezy, don’t fall over-
°
64. THE MERRY FIVE
board.†She hated “don’ts.†She was vexed
now to hear Harry calling out, yards behind
her, — ;
“Don’t go so fast, Weezy, Pm hawful
scared !†.
He had reached a broad crack that
yawned between the planks, and there he
stood trembling till Weezy danced back to
him.
“O Harry, before Id be such a baby!
Come along, I'll lead you.â€
But once having seen the waves tossing
beneath that dreadful crack, Harry could not
be persuaded to cross it; and much against
her will Weezy staid beside him, and fished
near the shore.
“You can hold on to the post, Harry,â€
she said generously. “I don’t want it, I’m
not afraid.†.
Harry held on like a barnacle while Weezy
sat on the edge of the wharf, dangling her
AT THE BEACH 65
feet, and moving her line slowly up and down
in the way she had seen fishermen do.
The beach was unusually deserted that
afternoon, because of a railway excursion
which had attracted many people to the
neighboring city. Weezy, sitting and gazing
down into the restless green water, while
she waited in vain for a nibble, began to
grow sleepy. Suddenly Harry shouted bois-
terously, —
“Tve caught a fish, Weezy! Oh, oh! I’ve
caught a fish!â€
Weezy was at once broad awake.
“Have you, Harry? Oh, have you? Let
me pull him in,â€
She spoke a second too late. Harry had
given the line a quick jerk toward her, and
the next thing she knew a wriggling scul- -
‘pin was flapping its slimy scales right in her
face.
“ Ugh! Ugh! Take it away, Harry!â€
66 THE MERRY FIVE
she cried, dropping her own line, and beat-
ing the fish back with both hands. “Oh,
take the horrid †—
She never finished the sentence. At the
last word she lost her balance, and toppled
headlong into the ocean..
FISHING FOR WEEZY 67
CHAPTER VI
FISHING FOR WEEZY
Weezy’s fall had been to Harry like the
rushing of a meteor across the sky. He had
seen a swiftly moving mass of gilt and blue
dart past him and vanish, and the next thing
he knew he was standing alone upon the
wharf.
For a moment he was too dazed to move;
then he scampered madly to the shore, trail-
ing the sculpin after him.
“ Weezy’s tumbled! Weezy’s tumbled into
the water,†he shrieked, running toward The
Old and New as fast as he could run. _
The more direct way was by the one hun-
dred steps which led to the bluff; but Harry
never thought of the steps, he toiled around
68 THE MERRY FIVE
by the carriage-road. Twice he tripped, and
measured his short length in the sand; but
fortunately his screams went on ahead of him,
and reached Mrs. Rowe up-stairs in her room.
“Are you hurt, Harry? What is it?†she
cried, hastening to the brow of the hill.
“Come, oh, please come!†sobbed the ter-
rified little fellow. “She’s in it. Oh, she’s
in it!â€
“Who's in it? In what, Harry?’
“Weezy, Weezy’s in it—in the ocean! I
didn’t push her in!â€
“Where, Harry? Show me.â€
“She tumbled in, she tumbled in her own
self.â€
Mrs. Rowe had seized the child’s hand,
and was dragging him back to the beach.
Behind him still trailed the forgotten scul-
pin, now dead as a door-nail.
“Help! help!†shrieked Mrs. Rowe, as she
pressed on.
FISHING FOR WEEZY 69
She was trembling all over. She dared not
ask another question. A man hauling sea-
weed from the shore left his horses stand-
ing in the middle of the highway, and turned
back with her.
Ah, the long, long hill! Should they never,
never reach the foot of it? Midway Harry
tripped again and fell.
Mrs. Rowe rushed forward alone. She had
caught a glimpse of a small object floating
near the beach. It was Weezy’s cap riding
the waves like a little skiff. Yes, certainly
it was Weezy’s cap,—the blue cap with gilt
bands; but, alas! alas! where was the little
girl who so lately had worn it? Where, oh,
where was Weezy herself?
Not to pain you needlessly, my little read-
ers, I will tell you in confidence that Weezy .
was out of the water, safe and well. But.
how could poor Mrs. Rowe know this? She
only knew that her darling was not with
7O THE MERRY FIVE
the four other children now returning from
Rocky Cove, and she called distractedly to
Harry, —
“Show me just where Weezy fell in.â€
“ Hoff there,’ —he pointed at random
along the pier, — “hoff there, by the post.â€
“Which post, my boy?†cried the ranch-
man, ‘There are forty or fifty posts.â€
Harry grew confused; he could not answer.
“Tl row out a piece,†said. the man,
hurriedly untying a punt moored to the
beach.
“Why didn’t I call Edward! Oh, if Ed-
t
ward were here moaned Mrs. Rowe, rush-
ing upon the wharf, and peering over the
side.
“There isn’t any kelp to hinder my seeing
to the bottom, ma’am,†cried the ranchman
from the boat below.
Mrs. Rowe wrung her hands. “O Weezy,
Weezy, my dear little daughter!â€
FISHING FOR WEEZVY , 7t
“Tf J only knew just where she slipped.
in, I'd dive for her,†called the pitying’ voice
from beneath, “I’d get her for you if I
could, ma’am.†’
Meanwhile little Miss Weezy, the uncon-
scious cause of all this anguish and commo-
tion, lay half asleep upon the neighboring
bluff behind some tall tufts of alfalfa.
She had scrambled out of the ocean almost
as quickly as she had fallen in. Then she
had started to run home, but, at the top of
the one hundred steps, had become giddy
and sunk down to rest. Oh, she was so
tired, so very, very tired! And it was so
nice and warm on the bluff. To go on to
The Old and New seemed too great an
effort ; it was easier to lie still in the sun-
shine. Besides, didn’t she want to dry her |
wet clothes? What would mamma say to
her because she had spoiled her pretty
dress? By and by she opened her eyes
72 THE MERRY FIVE
and blinked at the wharf below. She saw
her mother rushing up and down the planks,
she saw the teamster pushing off from shore.
“Wonder what makes mamma act so
funny? Wonder what that man’s doing
with the boat?†she thought drowsily. But
she was too languid really to care; and in
the act of wondering again closed her eyes.
She did not see Kirke race to the pier to
learn what was the matter; she did not hear
her mamma cry, — :
“Oh, Kirke, Kirke, your little sister’s in
the ocean!â€
But when Kirke took in the full meaning
of his mother’s words and shouted, half be-
side himself, —
“OQ Molly, O Paul, Weezy’s drowning!
Weezy’s drowning in the ocean!†then
Weezy sprang to her feet wide awake, —
“Q Kirke Rowe, that’s a fib, that’s a
dreadful fib!†she cried, whirling about, and
“ FISHING FOR WEEZY 73.
waving her arms like an excited windmill.
“I’m not drowned one bit! Why, see me,
here I am, right here!â€
I wish you could lave heard the shout
that answered her from the shore. I wish
you could have seen the sudden rush from the
wharf, and the dash up those wooden steps!
Regardless of salt and sand, Mrs. Rowe
clasped her dripping child to her breast, and
| then passed her about like some choice relic
to be kissed and adored.
“You did fall in the ocean though,
Weezy ; I saw you!†cried Harry, evidently
bent on clearing himself from any suspicion
of having lied.
Weezy turned to her mother with a most
contrite air, —
“T didn’t. mean to, mamma, truly I didn’t!
That wiggly old fish jumped at me and
knocked me off!â€
“Bless my sweet little girlie!†exclaimed
74 | THE MERRY FIVE
Mrs. Rowe, taking the child again in her arms,
“did you think mamma was going to scold
you?â€
Weezy looked very happy. In place of the.
chiding she had expected for losing her cap
and soiling her gown, she had received hugs
and kisses. The reason for this strange state
of things she did not in the least understand ;
but she knew that she liked it. That she.
had been in danger of drowning never once
occurred to her.
“Walk as fast as you can, darling†cried
her mamma, leading her on toward the board-
ing-house. “ You must have a hot bath and
a good rubbing at once, or you'll take cold.â€
“My shoes go gutsh, quish, every step I
take,†complained Weezy, pressing forward
with lagging feet.
“ Wait, we'll carry you, Weezy. Kirke and
I will make a queen’s chair and carry you,â€
exclaimed Paul.
Sai
~ Bently GD avid say
1896
“The boys bore the child onward.â€
Page 75
FISHING FOR WEEZY 75
' To be sure we will, little water-soaked
girl; why didn’t I think of it?†returned
Kirke, wheeling about to clasp hands with
his comrade.
Mrs. Rowe lifted Weezy into the seat thus
formed, and the boys bore the child onward.
The others followed.
“This doesn’t look much like Weezy’s hair,
does it, Pauline?†said Molly, wringing the
moist locks that straggled down her little
sister’s back. “It looks more like seaweed
than hair.â€
“Or more like wet sewing-silk, Molly. Not
a speck of curl in it.â€
“You must have gone to the very bottom,
Weezy,†said Kirke tremulously, as they neared
The Old and New. “How on earth did you
manage to paddle out?â€
“Oh, when I came up, you know, I just
climbed into the punt.â€
“The punt! Why, the punt was ever so
76 THE MERRY FIVE
far from the shore; Weezy,†interrupted Molly.
“T remember ’twas tied by a long rope.â€
“Yes, pretty long,†said Weezy.
“Then how did you get from the boat to
the beach, Weezy, so far off?†persisted Kirke.
2
“Oh, ¢hat was as easy as pie,†said Weezy,
highly flattered at finding herself the object
of so much interest. “I just took hold of
the rope, you see.†;
“Do you mean to say, Weezy, that you
slid from the bow of the boat into the water,
and then worked yourself ashore by that
rope?â€
“Yes; why not, Kirke? The rope was right
there.â€
“She has no idea she did anything remark-
able,†exclaimed Molly in Kirke’s ear. “ Just
think what might have happened! We ought
to have kept those children in sight every.
minute.â€
Kirke nodded penitently.
FISHING FOR WEEZY 77
“That’s so; but Weezy would have done
well enough if Harry hadn’t been there. Why
did we bring him?†he whispered. Then
aloud, “T can’t imagine now how the little
witch got to land. It isn’t as if she had
actually learned to swim.†:
“Oh, I pinched the rope, and kind of jiggled
along,†explained Weezy coolly; “that wasn’t
anything.â€
“No, of course it wasn’t anything,†said
Paul and Pauline in chorus, clapping their
hands and laughing.
But the drenched little girl who had _ per-
formed so grandly on the tight rope was'
growing more exhausted now with every step
she took; and the moment she entered the
house was glad to be undressed, and put to
bed like a baby.
When it was the hour for the train the
other children left her sleeping, and stole off to
the station together to meet “ Auntie David.â€
78 / THE MERRY. FIVE
Harry trudged behind, hugging Weezy
damp cap, which had been rescued from the
billows. —
“Little John Bull has nothing to say,†re-
marked Kirke to Pauline, who walked beside
him. “I think he misses Weezy.â€
“We all miss her,†responded Pauline, with
a glance over her shoulder. “ Harry makes
up the number five; but he doesn’t take
Weezy’s place in the least. Without Weezy.
»99
we can’t be ‘The Merry Five.
GOING INTO CAMP 79
CHAPTER VII
GOING INTO CAMP
‘Tue children met Mrs. Davidson at the
station as they had expected.
She was a cheery little woman, with a
delicate pink skin and soft light brown hair,
so full of waves that Pauline sportively de-
clared that it made her seasick to look at it.
Paul and Pauline were very fond of this
aunt, and found it one of the greatest attrac-
tions of their camp-life that she usually spent
her summers with them.
“And the best of it is, Molly, that Auntie
David loves us just as well as we love her,â€
chatted Pauline, the last morning of her stay
at Santa Luzia.
The two girls were pacing arm-in-arm up
’ 80 THE MERRY FIVE
and .down the veranda, waiting for Captain
Bradstreet to drive around with the buck-
board in which he was to take his family
to the canyon.
“JT think your Auntie David is perfectly
lovely, Polly.â€
“Do you, really? Oh, I’m so glad! She
likes you too, Molly. She hopes you'll come
out often to the camp.â€
‘* Does she? The dear, how nice-of her!â€
“Yes; she says you're a reliable girl,
Molly. She never said as much of her own
niece! and, — ahem ! — she believes you have
a good influence over me!†7
Pauline drawled out the last sentence with
a droll pucker of the lips which threw Molly
into spasms of laughter,
“The blessed woman! She didn’t say
that, Pauline? You don’t mean to tell me
that your Auntie David said that!â€
“Yes, those very words, Molly, to papa.
GOING INTO CAMP 81
And papa, the old darling, whipped out his
pocket-handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and mut-
tered, ‘I’ve noticed that myself.’â€â€™
“ Now, Pauline!â€
“Oh! papa is forever holding you up to
me for an example, Molly. I wonder I don’t
hate you.â€
“The idea of setting me up for an ex-
ample for anybody, Polly, —me, a girl with
a red-haired temper.â€
“Oh, hush, Molly! Your hair isn’t red!â€
“Tt used to be when I was a little midget,
—a real cayenne-pepper color, and I had a
peppery temper to match,â€
“What has become of it, then, Molly ?â€
“Of my hair, do you mean? That has
cooled off, but my temper †—
“The stage is ready,†shouted Captain Brad...
street, reining his prancing horses around
the corner of The Old and New. “Call
your aunt, Pauline.â€
82 THE MERRY FIVE
Weezy, still a trifle pale, ran out upon the
veranda with Harry to witness the departure.
Paul and Kirke raced up from the beach.
Mrs. Davidson came down from her room,
and mounted with Pauline to the back seat
of the buckboard; Paul jumped in at the
front beside his father, quick good-bys were
exchanged, and away dashed the lively horses
. on the road to the canyon.
“Thursday, remember we shall expect you
next Thursday, all three of you,†cried the
twins, looking backward.
“ All three of you, of course,†echoed their
father, in tones loud enough to have been
heard at sea. “We want all of you, espe-
cially little Miss Weezy.â€
Weezy darted into the house, about the
happiest little girl in California, shouting, —
“He did ’vite me, mamma! Captain Brad-
street did vite me. He ’vited me officially!
Oh! please may I go?â€
a
GOING INTO CAMP . 83
“We'll see, dear,†answered her mother,
with a smile that meant “yesâ€; “we'll see
how kind and polite you are to Harry for
the rest of his stay.â€
Mrs. Rowe had suspected all along that the
good captain had intended to include Weezy
in the invitation, but had forgotten to men-
tion the child by name. Grown people are
careless sometimes, and forget that little chil-
dren have been slighted. The children them-
selves do not forget —ah, no!
Harry remained at Santa Luzia one week
longer, and the members of the family vied
with one another in making him happy. Mr.
Rowe bought him a new suit, which de-
lighted Molly as much as it did Harry;
Kirke caught horned toads, and dug up trap-
door spiders’ nests for the lad’s amusement ;
while little Miss Weezy loaded him with
shells and sand-dollars till his new pockets
were in danger of bursting. By the end of
84. THE MERRY FIVE
his fortnight at The Old and New they had
all grown fond of the frank little fellow, as
we are apt to grow fond of those whom we
try to make happy. When he was put on
the train in care of the conductor, Weezy
cried, and even Molly looked tearful.
“We shall miss the little scamp, Molly,â€
said Kirke, as they walked home from the
‘station; “but I must confess I’m tired of
playing watch-dog for him.â€
“Yes, so am I, Kirke,†Molly drew a
long breath; “I’m glad we asked him to
come, though. Mamma thinks the visit has
helped him ever so much.â€
“Does she? Well, I’m glad. But do
you know, Molly, this morning I was afraid
it would rain, and the kid would have to
stay over? If he had stayed, it would have
bothered us to-morrow about going to the
camp.â€
Kirke blew off some of his surplus energy
GOING INTO CAMP 85
in a prolonged whistle, the near prospect of
this much desired outing being very exciting.
But, sad to relate, when the children went
down to breakfast the next morning, yester-
day’s light mist was woven into a thick
curtain of fog, which shut out the sun, the
ocean, and even the hedge that bordered the
lawn. Molly opened the front door, and imme-
diately closed it with a shiver.
“OQ Kirke! out-of-doors it’s like a vapor
bath. Do you suppose papa can take us to
_ the canyon?â€
“Papa must take us; papa promised!â€
exclaimed Weezy, her eyes watering as if the
fog had condensed in them.
“But you know it never will do for papa
to get cold, Weezy,†returned Molly, herself
ready to cry. “If it isn’t pleasant to-day, we
can go when it clears off. Wasn’t it nice in’
Captain Bradstreet to ask us to stay a long
while?â€
86 THE MERRY FIVE
“Oh! the fog will lift by and by, Molly.
Here in California mist doesn’t mean rain,â€
said hopeful Kirke.
For once he was a true prophet. By ten
o'clock the sun had pierced the clouds ; and
by eleven the little party set forth in a beach
wagon, attended by Zip, Donald’s hairless
Mexican dog. Turning their backs upon the
blue ocean, they drove across the parched
mesa, descended a steep hill, and found them-
selves at the lower end of Sylvan Canyon.
Here the grass was still tender and juicy, |
watered by a lazy brook flowing between dwarf
forests of fern. Molly clapped her hands.
“How pretty it is, papa! so green and so
> tree-y!â€
“The trees are mostly live-oaks and syca-
mores,†replied her father, who had driven
over the road the week before with Captain
Bradstreet. ‘ Look out for the branches,
or you'll lose your caps.â€
GOING INTO CAMP 87
“T’d like to lose mine,†responded Weezy
rather fretfully. “It pinches, and it’s all
crumpled up.â€
“Oh! never mind, little sister,’ — Molly
brushed some grains of sand from the visor ;
“the cap is plenty good enough for the
woods.â€
Here Zip began to bark and whine around
the wagon; and before anybody could tell
what he wanted he had jumped in, trembling
like a leaf.
“He's afraid of those dogs,†said Molly,
the next moment, as a pack of hounds came
running toward them, followed by a man in
a rough hunting-suit.
“No wonder he’s afraid,†exclaimed Kirke,
rapidly counting. “One, two, three, — eight
big creatures! And the smallest of them
could eat Zip at a mouthful.â€
“Their master is Kit Carson’s son,†ob-
served Mr. Rowe, when they had passed the
Z
88 THE MERRY FIVE
strange procession. “He lives in that hut
behind the willows.â€
“Does Cat Carson live with him, papa?â€
asked Weezy.
“No, little daughter; Kit Carson died years
ago, but he was a famous scout in his day.â€
“What is a cout, papa?â€
«A scout, Weezy, is a. man sent before an
army to spy out danger.†;
“Oh! is that all?†yawned Weezy, tired of
the subject.
- «it Carson led General Frémont through
to the Pacific Ocean, didn’t he, papa?†asked
Kirke. :
“Yes, my son, when the country was an
unexplored wilderness.â€
While they talked, the road had been run-
ning about among the trees in an inquisitive
way, as if it were hunting for birds’ nests ;
and now it crossed a small clearing where
there was a brown cottage.
GOING INTO CAMP 89
-" This is Mr. Arnesten’s ranch,†said Mr.
Rowe, drawing the reins.
“TI see the camp, I see it!†cried Kirke, .
standing up in the wagon. “There are three
— yes, four —tents, and a shed besides.â€
“Hop Kee sleeps in the shed,†said Mr.
Rowe. “Ah, here comes Mr. Arnesten from
the spring. Good-morning, Mr. Arnesten.
Can you bring back my horses from the
camp and feed them?â€
The Swede nodded respectfully, and having
set down his two pails of water, plodded
along in his clumsy shoes behind the party.
“Look, Weezy, they’ve carried the table
out-of-doors under the live-oaks,†exclaimed
Molly, holding Zip by the collar. “We shall
have a regular gypsy dinner.â€
“I hope dinner is ready,†said Weezy, in
a flutter of expectancy. “I’m ’most starved.â€
Molly was gazing about her with an air of
keen disappointment.
go THE MERRY FIVE
“Where can Paul and Pauline be, Kirke?
I thought they’d be looking out for us.â€
“And aren’t we looking? and haven’t we
been looking for an hour?†cried two gay
voices on the right, as the’ twins sprang
from behind the tall sycamore that had con-
cealed them. .
Then they started three cheers for “The
Merry Five,†in which their young visitors
- most lustily joined.
“Ship ahoy! Cast your anchor!†called
genial Captain Bradstreet, drawn from his
tent by the joyful tumult. |
Auntie David hurried after to shake hands
with the newcomers, and bid them. welcome
to the camp. All were talking and laughing
together, and making so pleasant a din that
the sleepy old owl at the top of the syca-
more actually winked at them, and cocked
his head on one side to listen.
J S es is Bk i Duty wey we
weypa" % ie ie ESI
Bertha gporisy,
1896
‘The twins sprang from behind the tall sycamore.â€
Page 90
THE LITTLE MINERS gI
CHAPTER VIII
THE LITTLE MINERS
Pautine raised the green mosquito-netting
that screened the door of the largest tent, .
and courtesied demurely to her visitors.
“¢Will you walk into my parlor?’â€
“Thank you, Mrs. Fly,†said Molly, ‘Tis
the prettiest little parlor that ever I did
Spy
The canvas room was indeed very attrac-
y,99
tive, as well as comfortable. It had a board
floor carpeted with rugs, and it boasted a
lounge and a table and _ several rocking-
chairs.
“You and Weezy are going to sleep with
Auntie David and me in the little room
behind those, Molly,†said Pauline hospi-
92 THE MERRY FIVE
tably, pointing to a pair of gaudy blankets
curtaining off the farther end of the tent.
“Papa bought those blankets of the Navajo
Indians. Aren’t they gay?â€
“Who, Pauline? The Indians?†asked
Kirke slyly. ; .
“TI don’t think Indians are gay. I think
they are sober as a—as a cow!†said out-
spoken Weezy, who had not understood
Kirke’s joke in the least.
“Pauline was talking about the blankets,
Ducksie,†said Molly, smoothing her little
sister’s hair. “But what makes you think
that Indians are sober? You've never known
any Indians.â€
“Oh, Molly Rowe, that isn’t a so story.â€
I’ve seen half a hundred Indians, — well, séx,
anyway.â€
“Where, Weezy?â€
“Oh, in the streets and ’round; and in the
curious store.†(Weezy meant curio store.)
THE LITTLE MINERS 93
“Don’t you remember that curious store
where mamma bought the funny jugs?â€
“Oh, yes, I do remember now. There
were some Indians there with baskets to _
sell; and the storekeeper wouldn’t buy them.
Perhaps that made the Indians sober.â€
“Maybe they were sober because they
weren’t drunk,†suggested Paul. “Hark! Hop
Kee is blowing the conch-shell. Dinner is
ready.â€
The dinner was a charming woodland meal,
served in the open air, on a long table
decked with ferns and fragrant bay-leaves,
Captain Bradstreet sat on a bench on one
side of the table between Molly and Pauline,
and Weezy sat on the other side between
Paul and Kirke. Mr, Rowe and Mrs, David-
son occupied chairs at opposite ends of the
table.
“ Brother insists on giving me a seat with
a back, Mr. Rowe,†remarked Mrs. Davidson
94. THE MERRY FIVE
with a smile as sunny as the California
weather. “He pets me, but I have known
how to ‘rough it’ as well as anybody.â€
“T suppose it was a wild country when
you settled on this coast, Mrs. Davidson.â€
“Indeed it was, Mr. Rowe,’ —Mrs. David-
son laughed softly, — “you can’t conceive
what a contrast it seemed to Philadelphia, our
native city.â€
“Father moved out here not long after
gold was first discovered in the State,†said
Captain Bradstreet, as Hop Kee carried around
the plates of soup. “ My sister was a little girl
in pinafores, and I was only two years older.â€
’
“Our father was a doctor,†continued Mrs.
Davidson, passing the crackers; “his health
had failed, and he came out here to Tuo-
lumne county, and built an adobe house for
us to live in. Do you recollect those heavy
shutters, Aléc, that papa used to bar every
night?â€
THE LITTLE MINERS 95
“Perfectly well, Almeda.â€
“OQ Auntie David! please tell them how
you and papa used to mine the gold,†cried
Pauline.
“T am sure we should all like to hear the
story, Mrs. Davidson,†said Mr. Rowe.
“Tt’s not much of a story, Mr. Rowe.
Ours was placer mining. They did not dig
deep into the earth for gold in those early
days, you know. They took the gold from
the surface, and used cradles.â€
“What did the babies do without them,
Mrs. Davidson?†demanded listening Weezy.
“Oh, the miners did not use the babies’
cradles, little Miss Weezy; they had cradles
of their own,†interrupted Captain Bradstreet,
smiling, as he helped her to fricasseed rabbit.
“Each cradle,’ went on Mrs. Davidson,
“had a tin pan in its upper part full of holes
like a colander. The miners would shovel
dirt into this pan, and then pour on water,
96 THE MERRY FIVE
and rock the cradle. The water would wash
the dirt through the holes, and leave the bits
of gold behind in the pan.â€
“Wasn't the gold good for anything, Mrs.
Davidson?†asked Weezy.
“Yes, dear,’ — Mrs. Davidson wiped away
a smile with her napkin, —‘“‘and the miners
gathered up all that was left in the pan; but
gold was so plenty at that time that they
did not trouble themselves to save any little
pieces that might have escaped through the
holes.â€
“That is funny,’ said Weezy.
“Tt was wasteful, wasn’t it, my dear?
They don’t do that way nowadays. Well,
every night there would be heaps of moist
dirt under the cradles, — ‘ tailings’ they called
it; and after the miners had gone home
to their suppers, my brother and I used to
trudge along with our iron spoons to dig in it.â€
Molly laid down her knife and fork.
THE LITTLE MINERS 97
“Wow delightful, Mrs. Davidson! Did you
find much gold?â€
“Sometimes we'd find fifty cents’ worth;
_ sometimes we wouldn’t find any.â€
“But when you did find any, Mrs. David-
son, what did you do with it?â€
“We took a fancy to hoarding it in an old
mustard-box, Molly.â€
“T wonder, Almeda, how many times we
carried the battered thing to that miserable |
little store at the cross-roads?†interrupted
Captain Bradstreet. ,
“We, Alec? It was you that carried the
box. You used to tell me that I wasn’t big
enough to be trusted with it,†retorted Mrs.
Davidson playfully. “Nobody knows how
I’ve grieved over that.â€
“T suspect I was rather lordly about keep-
ing possession of the gold-dust, Almeda; but
you can’t say that I didn’t give you your half
of the candy it bought.â€
98 THE MERRY FIVE
“No; you gave me my full share, Alec. |
That was not a great deal, though. Candy,
like everything else, was very dear in those
days.†|
«And I’m inclined to believe that that
wretched storekeeper cheated us, Almeda,â€
said Captain Bradstreet, removing a green
leaf that had fallen into his coffee-cup. ‘“ But
you haven’t told the children of the watch
and the sluices.â€
“Don’t hurry me, Alec; I’m coming to
the sluices. These were long wooden troughs,
higher at one end than at the other. The
‘miners used to throw earth into them, and
then flood them. The water would wash
away the earth, and leave the gold in the
bottom of the sluices.â€
“Jt wouldn’t have stayed there long if I
had been around,†commented Kirke, sugar-
ing his strawberries.
“The miners swept up the gold, but they
THE LITTLE MINERS 99
didn’t clean out the cracks†— Mrs. Davidson
looked mischievously toward Mr. Rowe. “I’ve
read that men are not very fond of cleaning
out cracks.â€
“What little gnomes we were,†said Cap-
tain Bradstreet. ‘I can seem to see ourselves
now, Almeda, armed with case-knives, and
creeping through those damp sluices. Their
sides must have been nearly as high as our
heads.â€
“JT imagine I was on my hands and knees
most of the time peeping for the gold.â€
“You could see it more quickly than I
could, Almeda; but when it came to scraping
it out of the corners, I think I could beat you.â€
“Don’t forget the watch, Auntie David,â€
prompted Pauline.
“No, dearie. Are you afraid it will run
down if I linger so? Where was I?â€
“Grandfather found the mustard-box, you
know, auntie.â€
roo THE MERRY FIVE
“Thank you, Pauline. Yes; your grand-
' father came across our treasure one day when
he was hunting for mustard to make a paste
for your grandmother.â€
“Our mother was sick that spring,†ex-
plained Captain Bradstreet ; “and as a nurse
couldn’t be obtained for love or money, father
took care of mother himself, and did the cook-
ing for all of us. We children had. enough
to eat and to wear, but we had very little
training.â€
“We were as wild as two young quails,
Alec, I’ve†—
“ Mustard-box, Auntie David,†interrupted
Pauline.
Mrs. Davidson shook her forefinger play-
fully at her niece.
“When father saw the yellow dust inside
the box, he knew at once that it wasn’t mus-
tard, and he questioned us about it.â€
“We had rather more gold than usual then,
THE LITTLE MINERS 101
L remember, Almeda,†added Captain Brad-
street. ‘Probably the creek had risen, and
we hadn’t been able to cross over it to the
store for several days.â€
“Very likely, Alec. Well, father said to us
that if he were in our places he wouldn’t
spend the gold for candy. He asked us if .
we didn’t think it would be nicer to save all
the gold we could find, and have this made
into a present for mother.â€
“And after that, Almeda, you and I used
to scrape the sluices and dig among the tail-
ings for hours together.â€
“Did you buy your mamma the present,
Mrs. Davidson?†asked Weezy, impatient for
the end of the story. ;
“Father bought it. He sent East for it
the next spring,†answered Mrs. Davidson, |
slipping a-heavy gold chain from her neck as
she rose from the table. —
“Tt was this watch, Weezy.â€
102 THE MERRY FIVE
e
The children crowded around Mrs. David-
son as she opened the hunter’s case, and
pointed out this inscription engraved on the
inside :—
TO MOTHER
From ALEC AND ALMEDA,
Christmas, 1852.
“How delighted grandma must have been
when you and papa gave her this,†said Pauline,
pressing the watch tenderly to her cheek.
“She was delighted indeed. She wore it
till her last illness, and then put it into my
hands as her most valued keepsake.â€
“Dear, pretty little grandma,†sighed Pau-
line gently. “Oh, I did love her so!â€
“IT know you loved her, dearie, and grandma
’
loved you,†said Mrs. Davidson, returning the
watch to her watch-pocket.
After Pauline had accompanied the others
to the parlor tent, Mrs. Davidson slipped her
arm around Molly’s waist, and whispered, —
THE LITTLE MINERS 103
“Shall I tell you a great secret, Molly, —
something that nobody else knows? On
Pauline’s eighteenth birthday I’m going to
give her this watch.â€
“© Mrs. Davidson, I’m so glad for Pau-
line!â€
. Molly was not only glad for Pauline, but
highly flattered by Auntie David’s confidence
in herself. When her father came to say
good-by her face was still beaming.
104 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER IX
THE BEE-RANCH
OnE morning Weezy ran over to Mr. Arnes-
ten’s to play with homely little Olga and
some fluffy young chickens; and the other
children set off for Captain Bradstreet’s bee-
ranch, three miles away.
“You see, it isn’t a road at all, Molly,â€
said Pauline, as they followed the path lead-
ing from the camp; “it is only the bottom
of a brook.â€
Molly turned up the sole of her left shoe,
and carefully examined it, to Pauline’s great
amusement.
“ Oh, there’s no danger of wet feet, Miss ©
Prudence. The path is dry all summer ; but
in the winter rains the floods come tearing
THE BEE-RANCH. 105
down from the upper ‘canyon where we are
going.â€
“Then how do the people get out of the
canyon, Pauline?â€
“There aren’t any people, Molly, besides
the Wassons. Mr. and Mrs. Wasson don't
get out; they stay in.â€
“All winter? Why, Polly Bradstreet, I
should think they’d be lonesome enough to
die.†.
“Oh, the rains don’t last very long at a
time, Molly,†said Paul, helping her over a
fallen log ; “and when the brook isn’t too
high Mr. Wasson can drive along the bed of
it with Punch and Judy.â€
“Those mules are the knowdngest little ani-
mals,†put in Pauline enthusiastically. “Mr.
Wasson can do anything with them. Once
he drove them out to Santa Luzia with a
load of honey, when the water was up to
their knees a part of the way.â€
106 THE MERRY FIVE
“What makes the Wassons stay in the
canyon in the rainy season, Pauline?â€
“To take care of the. bees,â€
“To take care of the bees, Pauline? What
do they do to them? You talk as if bees
had to be fed and watered like so many
cows.â€
“Not like cows exactly, Molly; but they
do have to be fed and watered. Mr. Was-
son sows alfalfa for them to make honey
from when the wild sage blossoms are gone. .
There’s Mr. Wasson now, in front of the
house.â€
They were approaching a small cottage
which stood alone on a ranch. Before the
house were rows of square redwood boxes,
and Mr. Wasson was bending over one of
these boxes. He was thin and dark, and had
long gray hair, and heavy, arched eyebrows,
which reminded Molly of little birch canoes
turned upside down.
THE BEE-RANCH 107
:
“ Good-morning, Mr. Wasson,†said Pauline,
walking up to him.
The man straightened himself with a quick
jerk. :
“Oh! it’s the cap’n’s little girl, is it?
Plagued if you didn’t ’most scare me out of
a year’s growth.â€
Pauline and the others laughed in concert,
for Mr. Wasson was exceedingly tall.
“This is Molly Rowe,†said Pauline affa-
bly; “and this is her brother Kirke. They're
visiting at our camp, and Paul and I have
brought them to see the ranch.â€
“ Always pleased to have folks come, par-
ticularly young folks. — Mother,†Mr. Wasson
glanced over his shoulder and shouted, —
“Hello, mother, here’s company!â€
“That’s Mr. Wasson’s wife; he always
calls her mother,†whispered Paul to Kirke, ©
as a woman appeared at the door of the
house and hastily retreated.
108 THE MERRY FIVE
Mr.- Wasson looked at his guests with a
comical grin.
“Mother likes to fix herself up before
strangers come in. Women are made that
way.â€
“Oh! we don’t want to go into the house
yet, Mr. Wasson,†interposed Molly with
ready tact. “We want to see what you are
doing to the hives.â€
“T’m lifting the covers, miss.â€
“To give the bees an airing, Mr. Wasson?â€
“Yes, miss; I’m drying off the hives.
We've had drenching fogs lately, and I’m
afraid my bees will catch cold.â€
Molly looked surprised. Kirke, less on his
good -behavior, laughed outright.
“Who ever heard of a bee with a cold?â€
he said. “Do they sneeze, I wonder? You
must be joking, Mr. Wasson.â€
“Not at all. I’ve lost lots of bees with
chills. These covers I put on at night to
‘Aren't you afraid of being stung?â€
Page 109
THE BEE-RANCH 109
keep out the dampness, but I take ’em off
when the sun shines.â€
Now that the covers had been removed,
the children could see that the top of each
hive was made of wooden slats. Mr. Wasson
pried up one of these slats to show the well-
filled honeycomb attached to it.
“Tut, tut! there’s a little mould here,â€
he said, passing his finger along the cells
without heeding the bees flying about
them.
Molly drew back.
“Aren't you afraid of being stung, Mr.
Wasson ?â€
“Afraid, miss? Oh, no! my bees and I
are good friends.â€
“Weren't you ever stung, Mr. Wasson?â€
asked Kirke uneasily, as a bee whizzed about
his ear.
“Wasn't I ever stung, sir?â€â€â€” Mr. Was-
son put back the comb with an odd grimace,
IIo THE MERRY FIVE
— ‘well, young man, accidents will hap-
pen. There are five hundred of these stands,
and I go over them three times every
spring.â€
“Go over them, Mr. Wasson?†repeated
Molly.
“Yes, miss; I clean them, and make sure
that each hive has a queen. It’s no fool of
a job! The year I was sick mother tended
to them, and she hasn’t had any hands
since.â€
Molly opened her eyes, and glanced at
Pauline.
“No hands to speak of, I mean, miss.
She strained ’em, I tell her, when she
strained the honey.â€
Mr. Wasson smiled broadly at his own
jest. His smile was the only broad thing
about him.
“Oh, that was too bad, Mr. Wasson,†said
Molly, smiling from sympathy.
THE BEE-RANCH Tit
“Mother's come to the door with her
starched gown on,†he continued facetiously.
“She expects you to go in. I always do as
mother says. She’s brigadier-general, and I’m
only a private.â€
“Isn’t he odd, Molly?†whispered Pauline
as they followed Mr. Wasson along the beaten
path.
Molly squeezed Pauline’s hand, and Paul
and Kirke grinned.
They found Mrs. Wasson as short and
plump as her husband was tall and spare.
Her one straight line was her mouth, enclosed
between two curving wrinkles like a dash in
parentheses.
Having given the children all the chairs
the house afforded, she seated herself upon
the bed. Mr. Wasson sat upon the stove,
which, fortunately for him, had no fire.
But the next moment he sprang up to
bring his visitors water from the Mexican
112 THE MERRY FIVE
olla swinging upon the porch; and this re-
minded Mrs. Wasson that they might be
hungry, and she bustled to the “cooler,†or.
“window cupboard,†at the north for a loaf
of rye bread and a plate of honey.
Molly thought she had never eaten any-
thing nicer than those slices of bread spread
with ranch butter and amber honey; ~ but
when Kirke looked longingly at a third
slice, her sense of politeness took alarm, and
she asked Pauline in a whisper if they ought
not to go.
Pauline arose quickly.
“We've had a splendid time, Mrs. Wasson.
Thank you ever so much for the lunch-
eon.â€
“We always have a splendid time here,â€
added Paul, stepping over the threshold. —
“What a frolic we had last summer with
Médor! Where is that dog, Mrs. Wasson?
I haven’t seen him to-day.â€
THE BEE-~RANCH 113
_“O Master Paul! haven’t you heard? Our
_ Médor is dead!†Mrs. Wasson brushed away
a tear with her purple calico sleeve. “Would
you like to visit his grave? It’s to the Tet,
under the weeping willow.â€
“Indeed we should!†cried the twing in
a breath; “ Médor was a dear old dog!â€
“There never was a_ better,†responded
Mr. Wasson, leading the way. “He came to
us a little puppy. We lived in ’Frisco then,
on Telegraph Hill, and we’ve owned him ever
since.â€
“Father says if he could spell ‘able’ he’d
hire a poet to write Médor’s epitaph,†panted
Mrs. Wasson, trying to keep up with the
rest,
“T bought the willow -for him at ‘The
Forestry,’†said Mr. Wasson, stopping beside
a small square yard enclosed by a picket
fence. And he pointed to a mound within, on
which was marked in cobble-stones the name
2
114 THE MERRY FIVE
Médor. A board served as headstone, and
on this in black letters was painted : —
«MEDOR, OUR DOG,
Died April 2oth, 1896,
AGED 12 YEARS.’’
“Tf ever a dog deserved an epitaph that dog
did,†said Mr. Wasson seriously. ‘“ Mother
wanted me to get one up myself; but, land!
I couldn’t. I can manage bees better than I
can manage poetry.â€
The boys retired early that night in the
tent that they shared with Captain Bradstreet.
A little later, as Molly and Pauline were
undressing in the end of the parlor tent shut
off by the Indian blankets, Molly suddenly
exclaimed, —
“OQ Polly, I’ve thought “of something !
Let’s write an epitaph for Meédor. Don’t
you believe it would please the Wassons?â€
“ Of course it would, Molly. It would tickle
them to death.â€
THE BEE-RANCH II5
“Comfort them, you should say, Polly.
Epitaphs don’t tickle.â€
“That depends upon the epitaph, doesn’t
it?†asked Pauline, yawning. “How wide
open your eyes are, Molly Rowe! I’m going
to tuck you into bed this minute.â€
Long after Pauline had floated into dream-
land, Molly lay awake beside her little sister,
listening to the voices of the night in the
leafy canyon. She recognized the hooting of
an owl; but what was that other sound, some-
thing like a laugh and a cough and a cry all
in one? It made her flesh creep. She was
thankful when Mrs. Davidson appeared with
a lighted candle.
“© Mrs. Davidson! what is that dreadful
noise ?â€â€™ she whispered.
“That noise, Molly? Oh, that is only the
barking of the coyotes.â€
“Oh! do you suppose they'll get in, Mrs.
Davidson ?â€
116 THE MERRY FIVE
“In here? Why, my dear child, you couldn’t
drive them in, They’re the greatest cowards
in the world.â€
“But they act so mad, Mrs. Davidson.â€
“They have a sad habit of prowling around
Mr. Arnesten’s chicken-yard, Molly, but they
won't harm us. Don’t mind their howling.
Try to-go to sleep.â€
FIVE YOUNG POETS 117
CHAPTER X
FIVE YOUNG POETS
YESTERDAY, to-day, and to-morrow were
very much alike in the canyon, and all alike
delightful to The Merry Five. The mornings
being usually cool, breakfast was served in
the dining-tent behind the parlor. After
breakfast the boys often went with Captain
Bradstreet to shoot “ cotton-tail†rabbits for
dinner. Sometimes the girls followed a part
of the way in search of wild-flowers for their
herbariums.
“T wonder if the chocolate lilies are yone by,
Pauline ?†said Molly on one of these quests.
“Yes, indeed, Molly; ages ago. I don’t
think they’re very pretty, do you?â€
“No, not pretty exactly ; but they look so —
118 THE MERRY FIVE
so sort of sensible, Pauline. They stand up
prim and plain like little Quakers.â€
“Their clothes won’t show dirt, that’s one
good thing,†responded Pauline, scowling at
a mud-stain on her skirt. “Why is it, Molly,
that dirt never sticks to you?â€
“© Pauline! I think it does stick to me;
but it sticks to Weezy a good deal worse. Did
you ever see such a child for getting soiled
and torn?â€
Little Miss Weezy had remained behind at
the camp to nurse a newly hatched chicken
presented her by Mr. Arnesten.
“What was that, Molly, about Weezy’s
losing her stocking?â€
“Oh, we were all down on the beach, and
nothing would do but Weezy and Harry must.
go in wading. I put Harry’s shoes and stock-
ings high and dry on the shore, and told
Weezy to put hers there too. I suppose she
gave them a toss, and they didn’t go far
FIVE YOUNG POETS "119
“enough. Anyway, when she came out of the
water, one stocking had been washed out to sea.â€
“How did the child get home, Molly?â€
“How did Hi-diddle-dumpling-my-son-John
go to bed, Polly?â€
“*One stocking off and one stocking on,’â€
quoted Pauline gayly. “And you mean to
say the poor little image had to skip away —
back to The Old and New half-dressed like
that, Molly?â€
“Yes; her gown up to her knees too!
It was that navy blue with gilt braid. It
shrunk after she fell into the ocean, and it
can’t be let down.â€
‘Were there many people around, Molly?â€
“Many? The beach was lined with ‘tourers,’
as Weezy calls them ; and everybody saw that
little scapegrace running by on one white leg
and one black leg. Oh, it was &illing /â€
“Did Weezy care?†asked Pauline, laugh-
ing till the tears came.
Iz0 THE MERRY FIVE
“Yes, Polly; I’m happy to say that she
did—for about five minutes.â€
“T wonder what her ladyship is up to now,â€
said Pauline, striking into the homeward path.
“Qh, I suppose she and Olga are still
petting that sick chicken.â€
Molly had guessed aright. She and Pau-
line presently surprised the two children
playing hospital, in their favorite retreat under
a live-oak. Dressed as a nurse, with a white
kerchief pinned across her shoulders, Olga
was holding the invalid chicken tenderly in
her lap, while Weezy, also in a white ker-
chief, was trying to tempt its appetite with
a preparation of Mellin’s Food.
“It'll only eat the leastest bit of a mite,
Molly,†said Weezy in a hopeless voice ; “and
it won’t open its little eyes.â€
“That must be because it is weak, Nurse,â€
said Molly, joining in the play. “I think it
needs a tonic.â€
FIVE YOUNG POETS 121
“Some wine might do it good, Nurse,â€
added Pauline..
“Oh, yes; some wine, That’s what it is
crying for, maybe,†returned Weezy eagerly.
“Please give me four teaspoonfuls for him,
Pauline.â€
“T’m sorry to disappoint you, Nurse,†an-_
swered Pauline dryly; “but the fact is we
don’t keep wine on tap at this inn. Wouldn’t
pepper-tea do as well?â€
Weezy shook her head doubtfully.
«Won't pepper-tea tickle its poor little
throat, Pauline, and make it cough?â€
“Not if the tea is well taken before shaken,
Nurse,†replied Pauline solemnly.
“Please put lots of sugar in, then,†said
Weezy.
The pepper-tea proved so fine a remedy,
that on the arrival of the boys, half an hour
later, Weezy could assure them that her pa-
tient had begun to “take notice.â€
122 THE MERRY FIVE
After dinner The Merry Five adjourned to
the parlor tent to finish Médor’s epitaph. |
Each one wrote something, though Weezy’s
share was only part of a line.
“However, there’s enough of it, such as it
is, and it’s good enough, what there is of it,â€
said Paul, repeating a worn-out joke.
When the four stanzas were completed,
Paul copied them neatly with his small type-
writer, and passed them to Molly to be ad-
mired.
“You've printed the epitaph beautifully,
Paul — on cardboard too. Oh, I do hope
the Wassons won’t call it doggerel!â€
“Tf it isn’t doggerel, it’s real doggy,†put
in Kirke, and was promptly scolded for his
levity.
“We ought to take this out to the bee-
ranch by to-morrow, Pauline,†said Molly,
reading the composition over again after
peace had been restored. “You know Kirke
FIVE YOUNG POETS 123
and Weezy and I must go back to Santa
Luzia Saturday.â€
“T wish I didn’t know it, Molly.â€
«And in two weeks more we shall all be
at home again, Pauline. I wish we could
stay away till Thanksgiving.â€
“Only I wouldn’t miss of being at Silver
Gate City on Admission Day,†cried Paul,
covering his type-writer. “The streets will
be trimmed, and there’ll be arches, and bands
of music, and a procession long enough to
reach around a dozen squares and tie.â€
“J think the street masquerade that comes
off the night before Admission Day is the
better fun,†returned Pauline. “I like dressing
up like somebody else, and wearing a mask.â€
“But I always know you, whatever you
put on, my lady. You never can cheat me,â€
replied Paul.
“Nor you me, Twinny dear,†retorted
Pauline.
124 THE MERRY FIVE
When Pauline wished to tease her brother
she often called him “ Twinny.â€
“We'll see if I can’t cheat you this year,
though, little sister,†rejoined Paul, with a
sly wink at Kirke.
For as it happened the boys had already
decided on their costumes for the masquer-
ade, and that very morning they had made
Auntie David promise to help in getting
these up. Mr. Davidson would be detained
some weeks longer in the East, and Mrs.
Davidson was to go to Silver Gate City with
the Bradstreets when they broke camp.
“It’s always nice to have Auntie David
with us,†remarked Pauline the next day as
The Merry Five were walking to the bee-
ranch; “but this fall it will be nicer than
usual, because Mrs, Cannon isn’t well enough
yet to come back to work, and Auntie
David can teach the new housekeeper.â€
Kirke’s brown eyes twinkled.
FIVE LITTLE POETS 125
“Mrs. Cannon went off, did she, Pauline?
That’s the way with cannons;—they’re al-
ways going off.â€
“T hope our epitaph will go off well,â€
returned Pauline, as they drew near the bee-
hives where Mr. Wasson was at work.
“Remember, Polly, you are the one to
speak about it,†whispered Molly diffidently.
“You and Paul know the Wassons.â€
Mr. Wasson greeted them all cordially ; and
as soon as Mrs. Wasson had changed her
dress she greeted them cordially too, and
treated them to fresh buttermilk and ginger-
bread. This light repast ended, Pauline
moved restlessly in her chair, uncertain how
to begin her little speech. But little Miss
Weezy presently relieved her embarrassment
by saying, —
“We've brought you some beautiful poe-
try, Mr. Wasson; some we made all by our-
selves.â€
126 THE MERRY FIVE
“Some poetry, little girl?â€
Mr. Wasson arched his eyebrows till they
looked more like bows than like overturned
canoes.
“Yes; it’s an epithet, Mr. Wasson. We've
written a lovely epithet for your dog.â€
- With a mirthful glance toward Molly, Pau-
line hastened to explain; and as soon as
everybody was duly serious she read aloud
the stanzas. At the beginning of the second
one, Weezy could not refrain from exclaim-
ing, “I wrote that, I wrote, ‘he carried the
basket ;’†but Pauline finished the epitaph
without further interruption.
“Tt’s elegant —just like a book,†cried
Mrs. Wasson, drying her eyes. “You were
real kind to write it.â€
“You were so,†echoed -Mr. Wasson with
a gratified smile at the five young poets.
“Will you see me nail it up?â€
“Yes, indeed, Mr. Wasson,†answered
FIVE LITTLE POETS~ 127
Weezy. And the children followed him to
Médor’s grave, and waited with Mrs. Was-
son while the cardboard was. being fastened
to the wooden headstone.
Here is a copy of the epitaph :—
TRIBUTE TO A DUMB FRIEND.
The noble dog Médor, whose death we deplore,
* Had lived and was famous for twelve years or more;
Was raised up in ’Frisco, on Telegraph Hill,
Where Médor, the spaniel, is spoken of still.
His eyes gleamed with knowledge; was true to the core,
He carried the basket to market or store;
The crack of the shotgun he loved to obey,
And thousands of ducks he brought home in his day.
At the bee-ranch in the canyon where romancers jog,
Poor Médor lies buried, that faithful old dog;
Around him wild-flowers will bloom in the spring,
And sweet trilling warblers forever will sing,
128 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER XI
MOLLY A HEROINE
On the following Saturday The Merry Five
separated. Molly, Kirke, and Weezy went
back to Santa Luzia for a fortnight, and
then the Rowes and the Bradstreets re-
turned together to Silver Gate City.
“Tt seems nice to be at home again after
“all, mamma,†said Molly a few mornings
after this. “I’ve missed my wheel dread-
fully. Have you any errands to-day?â€
“Oh, yes, Molly. Donald needs the frocks
Mrs. Carillo has been making for him. I
wish you'd ride over to her house and get
them.â€
‘May I ask Polly to go along, mamma?†|
“Tf you like. But I can’t have any ‘scorch-
MOLLY A HEROINE _ 129
ing, dear; and remember that you two girls
are not to race.â€
“We won't race, mamma. But oh! racing
is such fun! you don’t know.â€
As Molly guided her bicycle down the
steps of the veranda, there was a shadow on
her brow. She could ride very well, even
better than Pauline. Why need her mamma
be so cautious about “scorching†?
Mrs. Rowe must have observed the shadow;
for she followed Molly out upon the veranda, ©
adding tenderly, — .
“TI know this, dearie, that your papa and I
cannot afford to have you reckless. You are
our mainstay, Molly.â€
“Your mainstay, mamma? Am I?â€
“Indeed you are; and more than ever since
papa’s illness,â€
“Thank you, mamma.†Molly looked ra-
diant. “TIl try never to be reckless any
more.â€
130 THE MERRY FIVE
“She was extremely in earnest. If anybody
had told her then that in another hour she
would be doing a frightfully daring thing she
would not have believed it. And if anybody
had told Mrs. Rowe that she herself would
not blame Molly for the disobedience, Mrs.
Rowe would not have believed that either.
“Can you ride up to Mrs. Carillo’s with
me, Polly?†Mrs. Rowe heard Molly call
under the window of Pauline’s room across
the way.
“In two seconds, Molly.†And Pauline
hastened out, trundling her safety before her.
Mrs. Rowe watched the two girls spinning
down the street on their wheels till they
looked in the distance like two enormous
spiders revolving on their own webs. Then
calling Zip, who had begged to follow them,
she went into the house.
All the way to the little brown cottage by
the canyon, Molly and Pauline were talking
MOLLY A HEROINE 131
of the street masquerade now near at hand,
and discussing what they should wear.
“[ve a great mind to dress in light blue,â€
said Molly; “mask, gown, stockings, and all.â€
“T wouldn’t, Molly. You always wear blue
or lavender or something of that kind. People
would guess you in a minute. Why don’t
you wear yellow?â€
“ Yellow — with my red hair, Pauline!â€
“Molly Rowe, your hair isn’t red, and you
know it! It is the most heavenly auburn!â€
“Well, then, play it’s auburn. Yellow won’t
go ‘with auburn either.â€
Pauline knitted her black eyebrows.
“T have it, Molly. Pug up your tawny
mane, and cover it with a Chinese handker-
chief, or a turban. Oh, I’ll manage it.â€
“You bright creature!â€
“You must wear a yellow mask, Molly,
and a yellow dress with broad black stripes,
and †—
132 THE MERRY FIVE
“And you must blossom out in lilac, Pau-
line, or the dadcest kind of baby blue.â€
“I might be a shepherdess, Molly, and
you could be a Spanish girl.â€
“Only you and I are to walk together,â€
_ mused Molly. “Do you think it seems quite
the thing for a Spanish girl to walk arm-in-
arm with a shepherdess?â€
“Why not, you stuck-up sefiorita?â€
“We might. There, Pauline, let’s do this!
-Let’s you and me be the United States and
Mexico.â€
“Or the United States and California,
Molly. Wouldn’t you rather be California?
You'd be more sort of patriotic.â€
“Yes; I'd rather be California than any
State — excepting Massachusetts,†responded
Molly loyally. “And you can be the God-
dess of Liberty trailing around in the Ameri-
can flag.â€
\
“That’s capital, Molly! I don’t believe
MOLLY A HEROINE 133
the boys would ever suspect us of attempting
anything so fine.â€
“Only we must take care not to mention
flags, or bunting, or stars or stripes, when the
boys are around.â€
“Yes, indeed; they'll be on the watch for
the least hint,†said Pauline, as she and Molly
rode up to Mrs. Carillo’s cottage.
“You needn’t caution me, Molly. Hoaxing
Kirke and Paul will make half the fun of the
masquerade.â€
“But they're so awfully quick-witted, Polly,
I’m afraid we can’t cheat them. Have you
any notion how they will be dressed them-
selves ?â€
“T caught Paul with a comic mask this
morning before he had time to hide it. I
fancy Auntie David is making a clown of
him; but she won’t tell.â€
“And your Auntie David is getting up
Kirke’s costume too. Isn’t it sweet of her?â€
.
134 THE MERRY FIVE
“Oh, she likes to do such things, Molly.â€
“Kirke will want to be something absurd,
—an Indian boy, maybe. I saw him sneak in
at your side-door yesterday noon with tog-
gery rolled up in a blanket.â€
“Did you, Molly? That accounts for the
tittering in Paul’s room about that time.â€
“Probably the boys were having a dress-
rehearsal,†returned Molly, laughing; and her
face was still in a pucker when Manuel Carillo
opened the door.
“You are just starting out on your news-
paper route, aren’t you, Manuel?†she said,
observing that he had his leather bag slung
across his shoulder. “Is your mother at
home ?â€
“Yes; she’s sewing on her new machine,â€
replied Manuel, laughing in his light-hearted
Spanish way. .
In greeting the girls Mrs. Carillo laughed
too, and proudly exhibited the new sewing-
MOLLY A HEROINE 135
machine which Kirke, with his own earn-
ings, had helped her to purchase.
* You do beautiful work with it, Mrs.
Carillo,†said Molly politely. “Are Donald’s
frocks finished?â€
Mrs. Carillo replied in broken English that
the frocks were finished, and would the sefio-
rita pardon her for neglecting to send them
home? Then, with profuse apologies, she
rolled the garments into a neat parcel, and
instructed Manuel to tie this under the seat
of Molly’s bicycle.
“Don’t you think Manuel has lovely man-
ners, Molly?†said Pauline as she and Molly
whizzed away from the cottage.
“Lovely, yes. Weezy says she likes Man-
uel because he behaves so well.â€
“The little witch!†Pauline rode on sev-
eral blocks without speaking, and then added,
“What will Weezy wear at the street masquer-
ade ?â€â€™~
136 THE MERRY FIVE
The two girls were coursing side by side
along Alder Street, and were about to cross
Summit Avenue over the track of the elec-
tric railway. Summit Avenue led down from
The Heights, and was at this point very
steep.
“T don’t know what she’ll wear, but she
has been teasing for two masks, and†—
“Mercy, Molly!†interrupted Pauline in
dismay, “see Essie Hobbs! There, there!
sitting right between the rails!â€
“Forevermore! and the car coming!†gasped
Molly, with a horrified glance up the hill.
“Run, Essie, run!â€
Too startled by the unexpected cry to
heed the rumbling of the motor, Essie looked
around blinking.
“Run, Essie; do you hear?†shouted Pau-
line frantically. “Run as fast as you can!â€
Essie shook her stubborn little head. The
sun in her eyes blinded her to the approach-
“«Stop the car!’ screamed Mollie.â€
Page 3137
MOLLY A HEROINE 137
ing danger, and she did not choose to run
merely because she had been told to do so.
“Stop the car! stop the car!†screamed
‘Molly, springing from her safety, and waving
her arms wildly toward the motor-man.
The man began to work the brake. Till
that moment he had not observed that little
brown Essie was anything more than a patch
of dust in the road.
“Stop the car! Oh! why don’t you stop
the car?†shrieked Pauline, as it still plunged
on.
“He can’t stop it! He can’t stop it in
time!†wailed Molly, darting forward.
What happened next she never afterward
could recall; but somehow, in the twinkling
of an eye, she had dashed in front of the
bounding motor; she had caught dazed little
Essie about the waist, and was dragging her
off the track. Nearer and nearer down the
abrupt descent thundered the terrible car
138 THE MERRY FIVE
Molly had scarcely time to leap with. her liv-
ing burden across the rail before the heavy
wheels lumbered over the very spot where
Essie had been seated.
“OQ Molly, Molly! how dared you?†shud-
dered Pauline, as the car came to a stand-
still a few feet farther on. “I thought
you'd be crushed to pieces!â€
Molly tried to reply, but seized with sud-
den faintness sank down in the road with
her feet in the gutter. Pauline ran to the
nearest house for a glass of water. When
she returned with it she saw the motor-man
bending over Molly, speaking vehemently.
“JT believe you’re the bravest girl in this
city,’ he was saying in a tremulous voice.
“Tf it hadn’t been for you I should have
run over that baby. You’ve done me a good
turn that I sha’n’t forget in a hurry.â€
“Oh, I—I kad to do it,†gasped Molly
through her chattering teeth. “I—JI wasn’t
MOLLY A HEROINE 139
brave. I did it —just — because I couldn’t
help it.†:
“You're a heroine, Molly, an out-and-out
heroine,†cried admiring Pauline, holding the
glass to Molly’s lips.
After the motorman had again mounted his
platform, and the crowd gathered about the
corner had dispersed, Pauline picked up
Molly’s overturned bicycle. Donald’s frocks,
broken from their paper wrapping, lay crushed
in the mud.
“T’ll carry ’em ’ome for you, Molly,†said
Harry, who had come in quest of his runaway
sister; “I'll ’old ’em in both harms.â€
And the little English children skipped
away, serenely unconscious that Essie had
escaped a great peril.
But when their Aunt Ruth had heard the
adventure, she ran over to Mr. Rowe’s house
with streaming eyes to thank Molly for her
noble act.
140 THE MERRY FIVE
“T shall be grateful to you, Miss Molly,
while the Lord lets me draw breath,†she
cried brokenly. “You've snatched my little
Hessie back from the grave.â€
“Molly risked her own life for the child’s,
Miss Hobbs,†said Mr. Rowe, stroking Molly’s
cheek.
His hand shook like an aspen leaf. The
recent exciting incident had unbraced his
nerves, and he was days in rallying from it,
“It is too bad about those frocks, mamma,â€
said Molly that night before going to bed.
“The street had just been sprinkled. They'll
all have to be washed.â€
“What of that, Molly? Soiled frocks seem
of very little consequence to me to-night.â€
As Mrs. Rowe spoke she knelt beside
Molly’s bed, and gave her a fond kiss,
“Only the clothes were new, mamma,â€
“Who cares for new clothes compared to
human lives, my Molly?†Mrs. Rowe’s voice
MOLLY A HEROINE I4I
was unsteady. “I thank the good Father on
my knees for letting you save Essie, and for
sparing our dear daughter to her father and
me.â€
And she kissed Molly again and again.
142 THE MERRY FIVE
CHAPTER XII
THE STREET MASQUERADE
Ir was the evening before Admission Day.
Silver Gate City wore its gala dress in honor
of the approaching oth of September, the
anniversary of the birth of the State of Cali-
fornia.
Arches draped with flags spanned the street
corners; streamers of red, orange, and green
floated from trolley and telegraph wires ; palm-
branches and festoons of bunting decked the
fronts of houses and shops. To-morrow the
city was to be serious and grand with orations
and bands of music, but to-night it was on
tiptoe for a frolic.
Directly after tea Molly and Pauline retired
to Molly’s room to prepare for the street mas-
THE STREET MASQUERADE 143.
querade. Kirke and Paul were arraying them-
selves in Paul’s room across the way, roaring
and clapping at intervals with such gusto that
Captain Bradstreet, in the library beneath,
chuckled from sympathy.
The captain was to pose at the festival as
General Washington, and had already donned
a long military coat, black stockings, and
knee-breeches of velvet.
“Unless our ears deceive us, Patsy, those
young people are in pretty fair spirits,†he
said, with a courtly bow to Mrs. Davidson,
who stood at his elbow dressed like Martha
Washington.
She wore an old-fashioned brocade gown,
with her powdered hair rolled back from her
forehead over a cushion.
“The same thought has occurred to my-
â€
self, General,’ she replied archly, as she ar-
ranged the white ruffles at his wrists. “They
are bent on mystifying their sisters to-night,
144 _ THE MERRY FIVE
and are highly pleased with the costumes
selected.â€
“That is evident, madam. Are you the
only one in the secret?â€
“The only one besides Mrs. Rowe. The
boys want to mingle in the crowd before giv-
ing you an opportunity to recognize them.
Shall we go on?â€
The false father of his country bowed as-
sent, and reached for his three-cornered hat.
“Since it is your will, madam, we will de-
part forthwith.†.
The Revolutionary pair had secured reserved
seats in a sun parlor overlooking the plaza,
and Mr. and Mrs. Rowe occupied chairs near
them. Mrs. Rowe wore a black silk dress,
and had thrown over her head a lace mantilla.
Mr. Rowe sported a Spanish hat and cloak.
“Papa plays he’s a Spanish man, Auntie
David, so he won’t get cold,†explained pink-
’ robed Weezy.
. THE STREET MASQUERADE 145,
Little Miss Weezy had known Mrs. David-
son and Captain Bradstreet at first sight, be-
cause Pauline had described the garments in
which they would appear.
“Your papa is a very sensible man, little
queen of the fairies,†returned the make-
believe Lady Washington; and she stooped
to bend in shape the wire taste in Weezy’s
drooping left wing.
“Now I’m going to see if I can tell Kirke
and Mollie in their play clothes,†said her
dainty majesty, with a touch of her wand on
General Washington’s shoulder,
The general smiled upon her as she flitted
away like a roseate cloud.
Through her pink silk mask, she observed
many wonders in the street outside, and pres-
ently, she danced back to her mother, crying,—
“Look, look, mamma! There are Pauline
and Mollie! White dresses on; sunbonnets
â€
too.
146 THE MERRY FIVE
The masked faces beneath the white sun-
bonnets turned in the direction of Weezy’s
voice, but the white figures moved forward
without halting.
“They're just afunning, mamma. It was
Pauline and Molly, now truly.â€
“It seems to me that the taller one is.
too tall for my Pauline, and the shorter one
is too short for your Molly, sefiora,†said
General George Washington Bradstreet, fol-
lowing with his eye the simply arrayed couple.
Turning neither to the right nor to the
left, they walked on, arm-in-arm, under the
brilliant arc light, while the fairy queen’s
mamma smiled behind her black mask. Of
all in the sun parlor, she and Lady Washing-
ton alone knew how Pauline and Molly were
to be dressed.
Weezy grew impatient.
“Say, mamma, please. Wasn’t it Pauline
and Molly?â€
THE STREET MASQUERADE 147
“TI mustn’t tell you, little queeny.â€
“Oh, dear! I hate that ugly thing over
your face, mamma. You don’t look like my
pretty mamma. You look like some other
little girl’s mamma.â€
“Do I?†Mrs, Rowe laughed. “And you
look to me, fairy queen, like some other
mamma’s little girl.â€
“I hope Kirke won’t guess I’m his onty
donty sister, mamma. Where is Kirke, I’d
like to know.â€
The longer Weezy watched the comers and
goers, the more bewildered she grew. Here
stalled a tall man in a white sheet, his face
muffled in a pillow-case; and next him Weezy
spied a yellow pumpkin marching on two
feet. At least it appeared to be a pumpkin,
only Weezy had never before beheld any pump-
kin that had a boy’s head in place of a stem.
“O mamma, see! There’s a little girl looks
just like a tulip! And there’s a little boy —
148 THE MERRY FIVE
-O mamma, mamma, do see him! He’s all
black and part yellow like a big s¢éng-y bum-
blebee!â€
Weezy hopped up and down too excited to
keep still.
“T expect any minute to see her fly into
the air on those gauze wings of hers,†re-
marked General Washington. And of course
he meant what he said, for George Washing-
ton never told a lie.
“Don’t be uneasy about her, General,†re- .
sponded the pretended Spanish lady playfully.
“She won’t flutter far from the earth while
these strange sights are to be witnessed.â€
To and fro past the sun parlor trooped
monks with cowls, and nuns with rosaries;
men dressed in gunny-sacks, and women
dressed in newspapers. All wore masks,
Weezy saw pretty masks and hideous masks;
masks of pigs’ faces, of pug-dogs’ faces, of
negro, Chinese, and tattoed Indian faces. In
THE STREET MASQUERADE 149
every direction the square was a moving mass
of varied color. To look through the window
was like looking through a slowly whirling
kaleidoscope.
“ Now those white girls are coming back,
mamma,†called Weezy. “And here’s an old,
old woman with a queer hat on, and she’s
got a dog.â€
. “That woman must be Old Mother Hub-
bard, Weezy.â€
“And, O mamma! can you see? There’s
somebody with a striped dress on. It’s red
and white; blue too. It looks like Fourth
of July.â€
Her mamma preserved a discreet silence.
“And, oh, please, mamma, see that other |
somebody with her! Her clothes are all red
and orange and green.â€
The “somebodies†were Pauline and Molly,
and they were laughing under their breath to
hear Weezy talk about them in this high key.
’
150 THE MERRY FIVE
“They'll never guess me in this black
wig, Pauline,’ whispered Molly, taking long
steps to disguise her gait.
“Nor me in this blond one, unless Paul
does,†returned Pauline. “Isn’t it strange
that we haven’t found him and Kirke yet?â€
“Very. I’ve taken particular notice of all
the clowns and Indians, Miss Stars-and-Stripes.
They don’t any of them seem like our boys.â€
“I’m wondering, Miss Gold-State, if Paul
didn’t give me a glimpse of that comic mask
on purpose to fool me.â€
Here Old Mother Hubbard turned aside to
join Mother Goose, and this brought United-
States Pauline and California Molly next the
two “white girls.â€
“It would be just like him, Miss Stars-
and-Stripes.â€
“J don’t see any fun in dressing up in
sunbonnets,†remarked Pauline of her neigh-
bors in front. “It’s no disguise at all.â€
THE STREET MASQUERADE I5r
“No,†returned Molly. “We can wear sun-
bonnets any day.†|
The white maskers quickened their pace.
“Hush, Molly! I’m afraid those girls have
overheard every word we've said,†said Pau-
line, pulling down her blue liberty cap. “See
them shake. They’re laughing at us.â€
“If they’re laughing we haven’t hurt their
feelings, Pauline, so I don’t care.â€
Had not Molly’s ears been partially cov-
ered by her wig she might have heard a
faint titter from under the nearest sunbonnet.
“I think those must be country girls,
Molly; don’t you? They kick out the hems
of their gowns every step they take.â€
“You ought to give them lessons in Del-
sarte, Pauline.â€
Molly and Pauline had again come around
to the enclosed balcony, where Weezy stood
at an open window gazing out.
“The little fairy queen hasn't the least
152 THE MERRY FIVE
idea who we are,’ whispered Pauline tri-
umphantly ; “ nobody: has but your mother.
Take longer steps, Miss California, or your
papa will know you by the way you walk.â€
“ And your papa’ll know you, Miss Liberty
Cap, by the way you swing your arms.â€
“No, he sha’n’t. I'll hold them as stiff as
Indian clubs.â€
“That’s a dear ; and I’ll march like a col-
onel. You needn’t be afraid of my giving
us away, Polly.â€
“Unless you spoil everything by giggling, _
Miss California. You're such a girl to giggle!â€
Pauline was giggling herself, but so softly
that no one in the sun parlor was the wiser ;
no, not even Lady Washington, who sat only
a few feet from the pavement.
“What makes them press back upon us so?â€
said Molly, suddenly stopped by the crowd in
front. “Stretch your neck, Miss Stars-and-
Stripes.â€
1 gPez-
We
een
“That inquisitive little dog.â€
Page 153
THE STREET MASQUERADE Tes
Pauline had the advantage of Molly in being
the taller.
“Oh, oh, Mother Goose has lost her goose!
No —yes—no—she’s caught it! What a
scramble! Why, Molly, Mother Goose must
be a boy! Who knows but it’s Paul?â€
“Or Kirke, Pauline!â€
People began to move on again. When
the crush was over, the girls found themselves
once more beside the white sunbonnets. The
wearers of the bonnets bowed in a friendly
fashion, and one of them —it was the shorter
—handed Pauline a bunch of carnations.
Pauline murmured her thanks, and whis-
pered to Molly that she thought she had met
that girl before — perhaps at La Jolla.
How much longer the pleasant farce might
have gone on but for Zip cannot be told, for
at this point that inquisitive little dog appeared
upon the scene to find out what Molly and
Kirke were doing. Barking and whining, he
154. THE MERRY FIVE
frisked about Molly, “saluting the flag†as
Pauline said; and after that performance of
what use was it for Molly to pretend that
_ she was zot Molly?
And as if he had not already done mischief
enough, Zip next charged at the girl who
had given Pauline the pinks, and the girl’s
mask dropped down, and everybody saw that
the supposed maiden was Kirke Rowe.
Weezy almost laughed her wings off at the
sight, while General Washington and the
“Spanish man†openly applauded.
“To think,†said the amused general, “that
those children should have kept their secret
the whole evening, and that after all it should
have been the dog that let the cat out of the
bag !â€
But the cat was out, and thus ended the
farce for our masqueraders.
The evening had been a delight, and we will
leave the happy children laughing and com-
THE STREET MASQUERADE 155
_plimenting one another on the extraordinary
shrewdness they had displayed in disguising
themselves. We may meet them again in a
year and a day; who knows where? Possibly
in the City of the Silver Gate, possibly in
Europe. But wherever it may be, The Merry
Five will not appear again with masks on
their faces.
PENN’SHIRLEY’S BOOKS
PENN SHIRLEY’S
STORIES
FOR THE LITTLE QNES
Miss, "Penk Sbitley i isd. very’ graceful interpreter of child-lifa.’
She théroughl fundeystands how: to.reach out tathe tender chord
OF the little one's feoliiigs, avi fo interest her in 1 the noble life of
are full of bright lessons;
shavacter of smotalizing sermons?
Ber keom dhigervation? id read sympathy teach her how tditeal
swith the 1ittTé nes ihelping tiem: to: understand}, the lessons of
Jife. Her stasies‘are simple and unaffected. — Boglon Herald,
—_—+
THE LITTLE MISS WEEZY SERIES
Ghrée yolumes MWustrated Boxed, each 75 canta’ >
_ LITTLE MISS’ .WEEZY.
Qne. of the: freshest. and “mgst delightful, heeanse the ‘ios
nataial of the stories. of the Yoav for “childiven,® ig “Little Miss
Weery, hy Penn Shitley. | It velatés the oddities, the. mischief,
the* adventures, anit tht: misadventures of a tiny pwoyea 1a
maiden, full. of life and: spirit, and gapable of thé smoitrit xt
pected froiky: andi. pranks, * Tlic book is full of ‘bumer, aad ié
yyritten: witht tt: delicate†‘sympatliy with’ the feelings of children,
which, wi ake ib pleasing. to children «and parents Alike;
Really goat hild literature'ig not over-plenty, despite the miultiz
quae of Hooks th come daily: from the press 3, ‘ahd: it is Pleasinz
@ ‘welconie. & flew: author whose first volume, like ‘this one of
Benn: Sh ley, adds promise of future good work to actual preseng,
_ merit Basted Courier. :
PENN SHIRLEY’S BOOKS
cer tee
LITTLE MISS*WEEZY’S:- BROTHER,
‘This isa Bod story for Foung children, Mig. inthe same
chavacter's-asii“Little Miss. Weezy.†of: last yearj,and continuing
the history of a very natural and -wide-awake fatnily.of children.
The. doings. and :the: various “scrancs†he brother;
form @ prominent féature of the: ;
seg any day in :the .s¢hool ‘or=h
good-intentioned little boy. ‘There.
full-page illustrations, ie Diah-
We should like to sce the person Wlio: fhinkszit * easy enougly
to write for childven;? attempt, a-book like the-* Miss Weezy
stories. Excepting Sophie May's childish classics, we don't know
of anything published as pright-as the sayings.atid doings of the
little. Louise-atid her friends.» Their: pranks and: capers are no
more like ‘Dotty Diniple’s. than ‘tliose of one bright child ate like
another's, but they are just-as,* cute†as those of: the little folks
. that play in. your yard†or avound your ncighboi's ‘doorsteps. —
dournal of Education.
—_——
LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S SISTER _
“It is one of the best of the series, and.will please every child
who reads’ it, It is brought out just atthe: }ioliday timeand is
Inimful of good things. ‘Every character in it is true to nature
and, the-doings of a right Jot of children, hy which Miss Mary
Rowe figures conspicuously, will enterjain grown folks as well
as little onesi†<
fb is a thoroughly clever and délightful story of child life,
gracefully. told, and ‘charming in. its blending;:of humov and
Pathos. The childyen. in the book are rea} children! and the
pretty plot: through which they move is. fully im harmony swith
the characters. ‘he young ones will find it aystorehouse OF {leas
ant things pleasantly related, and 9, book that will appedl-at oneg
to then sentiments and sympathies. ~ Boston Cazclld. -
A book that will hold the place of honor on’ thé nyeeny Pook:
shelf, until it falls to pieces from much handling, is Little Miss!
Weezy’s Sister,†a simple, yet“absorbing story of ¢hildien who
are interesting hecause they are so real. It is,doing scant justice
to say for the author, Penn Shirley, that the annals of child-life
have seldom been traced with more loving care, —~ Boston Times.
: ‘ 23h er? x
ee LL iy jij
io
Ae ws a
i LYE SNC y g
UR EMC ge y
EL ee seh a
LA see Ie,
Geass ¥: Lis Ge ey ti,
Cee ri Bs ie Aas
We EES,
t “y
ee
CL
SE
|
|