“Ough! Mis’ James! Heigh, down dere – someone grab hol’ on dis ladder!” shouted Rachel, her eyes almost popping from her head.
“Wait! Hold on, Rachel!” called a chorus of voices below.
The ladder was still quaking uncertainly when Rachel lost courage and began to descend precipitously, without stopping to find a sure footing on the steps. Consequently, she missed the second step from the bottom and sat down unceremoniously in a bushel of ripe ox-hearts.
“Umph!” was the grunt that was forced from her lungs, but the Scouts all howled with dismay when they saw the result to their patient cherry picking.
Janet did not stop to see what was occurring to Rachel. The moment she saw the mammy come down, she ran up the steps and steadied herself by holding to the bough from which Natalie still swung. Miss Mason managed to hold the bottom of the ladder until Janet had guided her friend’s feet to the top step. Then the strain on the suspenders was loosened and it was easy to unbuckle the straps at the back of the overalls.
In a few more moments, Natalie was helped down the ladder and once more stood on terra firma. But such a funny sight was presented her when she breathed in safety once more, that she momentarily forgot the hornet sting and laughed wildly.
Mrs. James had called several of the Scouts to help her in pulling Rachel up out of the bushel basket upon her feet again. This muscular deed was accomplished just as Natalie stepped down on the ground. But Rachel’s percale bungalo-gown was a sight!
The luscious ripe cherries were mashed all over her skirt, and half of the fruit in the basket was crushed as if done by a fruit-press. Rachel was torn between two fires – that of humble apology to the scout-pickers for spoiling their “fruits of labor” and concern over Natalie who was holding her hand over the back of her neck. Mother-instinct that was so deeply rooted in Rachel, although she had never had a child of her own, won the day and she ran over to Natalie to ascertain the extent of the troublesome sting.
“Oh, mah pore Honey! Mah sweet li’l’ chile – did dem nasty bees sting yoh?” Rachel cried, enfolding Natalie in her capacious embrace. Then she added, “Now jus’ you-all wait a minit, chillun, an’ I’ll soon git dat stinger out.”
Consequently she made a soft paste of mud and water, and slapped a handful of it on Natalie’s neck. Then she tied a towel over it to keep it in place.
“Now, Honey, yoh jus’ sit heah wid yoh haid down in front, so’s dat mud won’t run down yoh back,” advised she.
Natalie obeyed, albeit the mud did ooze in trickles down her back and fill up at her belt in a dried lump.
The pain of the sting was soon over, and Natalie tried to gather some more cherries, but she kept away from the top of the tree where the hornets still buzzed angrily about. The other Scouts also kept a safe distance from that nest.
By sundown all the cherries were picked, and the quantity evenly divided into shares. Each girl had made a pile of the fruit she gathered, and so no Scout felt that another was benefiting by her work. But when all was measured out, it was found that the girls had picked about the same quantities, with but little variation.
That evening while enjoying Rachel’s bountiful supper, the Scout girls were told about the new Patrol that Janet and Natalie were hoping to start. That was a very engrossing subject and no one gave a thought to things outside, until it was time for the Scouts to return to camp. Then a plaintive squealing came from a crate placed on the piazza, and Janet suddenly remembered the pigs.
“Oh, horrors! Will little pigs die if they have been left without a thing to eat for a day?” wailed she, as she clasped her hands in shocked concern.
Everyone laughed at her, and Mrs. James said: “Not if you attend to them at once. But they will have to live in the crate overnight, as nothing can be done about housing them now.”
So Rachel mixed a dish of warm milk and corn meal for the wailing squealers, and soon hushed their clamorings. Janet felt guilty of gross neglect on the first night of her business investment, but Natalie tried to condole with her by saying:
“Well, cherries, and pigs, and new Scouts can’t all be gathered in one day, you know.”
This created such a laugh at the quaint combination of the triple interests, that Janet felt relieved in mind. After the Scouts had gone back to camp, Natalie reminded Janet of the eggs they were to give the hen for setting.
“We’ll do that now,” said Janet anxiously.
So the two girls went to the pantry without asking advice of Rachel or Mrs. James, and counted out twelve eggs. These were carefully carried to the hen-coop and after many wild squawkings from the hen, and concerned action by the two farmerettes, seven of the twelve eggs remained unbroken and were placed under the future mother of a family.
“My! I wouldn’t want to experience a skirmish with a hen very often,” said Janet, counting the scratches on her hands and arms after they reëntered the kitchen.
“Neither would I,” agreed Natalie, holding her hands and wrists under the cold water faucet to let the cooling flood wash away the signs of battle with the hen’s sharp bill.
“Well, she’s got seven sound eggs to hatch, anyway. When we get time to spare, we will put a few other eggs under her, so we can have the full dozen chicks as Mr. Ames advised.”
“I never knew it was such a simple matter to raise chicks, did you?” remarked Natalie, as she wiped her hands on the kitchen towel.
“No, and when you think of all the money we pay for roast chicken in New York, it makes you want to live always on a farm, doesn’t it?” added Janet.
But neither girl knew that many store eggs were not suitable for hatching chicks. They had not examined the yolks as chicken farmers do, to see if the egg was fertilized. So they had placed two suitable eggs, and five unfertilized eggs, under the hen. When but two chicks would result from that experiment, what a disappointment there would be. Janet would be sure to declare that stock-raising wasn’t such an easy business, after all!
CHAPTER X – TRIALS OF A FARMER’S LIFE
Mr. Ames brought the chickens and hens early in the morning, and so interested was Natalie in Janet’s stock-investment that the vegetable gardens were quite forgotten for a few days. Sunday she had spent at camp with the Girl Scouts; Monday she and Janet had gone to the Corners and enlisted girls to join them in a new Patrol, and in the afternoon they had picked cherries; then on Tuesday the chickens came, and some sort of a house had to be built for the pigs, as well as for the hens. So three days had passed by and she had not had time to inspect her gardens.
Farmer Ames acted huffy because the cherries had all been gathered when he drove up to the kitchen door in the morning. So he merely delivered the crate containing the hens and young chicks, and having handed Rachel the basket of eggs for the setting hen, drove away again.
“Dear me! I wanted to ask him how big a pen to build for three pigs!” sighed Janet, when she heard he had gone.
“No ’count why he hes to tell yuh that! I rickon anyone like me, what’s borned and brought up on a farm in Norf Car’liny, kin help dat way, better’n an ole grumpy farmer in Noo York state,” announced Rachel.
“All right, Rach, I’ll be thankful of your advice,” replied Janet, gazing down at the squirming pigs.
So Natalie and Janet occupied themselves most industriously in the building of a pig-pen for the little porkers, and in mending the old hen-house and chicken run. A separate coop was found where the setting hen might brood quietly on the eggs, and the young chicks were given their freedom of the place, because Rachel said they would grow much faster if they could run about and scratch.
But this advice had dire results, as Natalie learned, too late.
By sundown the pigs were nicely housed, and the old hens and rooster found comfortable roosts in a remodelled hen-house. The young chicks clustered together in the chicken yard and were driven inside the house by the persuasive “s-sh’s” and waving hands of the concerned farmerettes.
These important matters disposed of for the day and Rachel not having announced supper, Natalie said: “Come with me to see my garden. I haven’t had a moment’s time to visit it lately.”
“I suppose the lettuce is large enough to pull, now,” laughed Janet teasingly.
“No, but I shouldn’t be surprised if the radishes that were transplanted from Ames’s garden were big enough to use.”
The two girls went arm-in-arm down the pathway and when they reached the old box hedge that divided the vegetable beds from the back lawns, they stood for a moment listening to the echo of merry laughter coming from the woodland down by the river.
Then Natalie came to the first garden bed.
“Oh, oh! Look, – Janet! What has happened to my beans?” cried she shrilly, as she stood gazing in horror at what she saw.
Janet gazed, too. The tiny green things that had looked so fresh and pert a few days before were out of the ground in many places, and the soil was unevenly scattered in small heaps. From this havoc, Natalie quickly looked over at the lettuce bed.
“Oh, oh! How dreadful! Look at that garden bed! Why, all the lettuce is cropped off close to the ground. What could have done it, Janet?” her eyes filled with tears and her voice threatened an imminent howl.
“Goodness me, Nat! I don’t know what has happened!” said Janet, deeply concerned for her friend.
The two then hastily visited the other beds, and found the radishes and potato plants undisturbed, but the corn was dug up in spots and the remaining blades half-eaten.
Without a thought for the tender green still remaining, Natalie suddenly collapsed upon the corn hills and gave vent to a heart-breaking cry. Once the flood-gates were down, she wept and wailed and would not be comforted. Finally Janet ran to the house and summoned relief.
Mrs. James and Rachel hurried after her to soothe the crying damsel in the corn field; but Rachel understood what had taken place in that garden, even as she raced past the half-destroyed vegetable beds.
She knelt down beside Natalie and tried to pacify her by endearing terms, but the amateur farmer was too sorry for herself to pay any attention to Rachel. All she could gasp forth was: “If I ever find out who did this, I’ll kill them!”
Rachel sent Mrs. James a knowing look, and nodded toward the barnyard. Thus the lady gathered that the hens and chicks had feasted on the tender greens and had dug up the soft rich soil in seeking for earthworms when they had been turned loose that day.
Darkness slowly crept up from the river banks and the four finally turned to go in to supper. As they reached the box hedge, Rachel remembered the boiling potatoes that were almost cooked when she was summoned hastily by Janet.
“Oh, laws! I betcher they am all black as cinders by this time!” cried she, making a leap to escape over the hedge and reach the kitchen in a hurry.
A dense smoke was seen issuing from the open door of the kitchen, and Rachel’s three followers forgot their recent troubles in this new disaster.
Just as they reached the steps of the back porch, Rachel rushed the smoking pot out of the door and ran with it to the grass beside the board-walk.
“Dere ain’t no smell on eart’ ner unner de eart’ to beat dis smell o’ burnin’ pertaters!” growled Rachel angrily, as she planked the blackened cooking pot down upon the ground.
“Oh my! The kitchen is full of smoke!” exclaimed Janet, who had poked her head in at the open door.
“Did you’se ’speck it to be sweet an’ free as hebben?” snapped Rachel scornfully.
Mrs. James said nothing but quickly drew the two girls aside to the other door to permit Rachel to calm her perturbed nerves. Then Natalie remembered her beloved garden.
“Jimmy, who could have been so mean as to do that?”
“Of course, I wasn’t present, Natalie, dear. But I have heard that crows love to dig up corn kernels in a newly-planted field, so that farmers have to use scarecrows to keep them off. Maybe some sort of a bird found the toothsome greens and called to all the family to hurry and feast while there was time.”
Natalie pondered this idea for a time, but it never occurred to her to lay the trouble at the heels of the chickens. But she determined to lose no time in dressing up the most frightful scarecrow that was conceivable.
After the unscorched remainder of the supper was served, Rachel came to the dining-room to make a suggestion.
“Ef we-all git up earlier than us’al to-morrer mornin’ we kin git all dem rooted-up plants back in the groun’ afore sun-up. Mebbe it will rain to-morrer, then no harm’ll come of diggin’ up all dem roots.”
The mere possibility of rain made Natalie jump up from the table and, quickly excusing herself, run out on the porch to study the heavens.
“Not a star out, and the sky looks awfully cloudy,” cried she hopefully, as she returned.
“Then we’ll all get up at dawn and begin work in making amends in the garden,” said Mrs. James consolingly.
The little plants were replanted early in the morning and certain spots where the soil had been scratched away were smoothed out again, so that only a close observer would have seen that there were places here and there where no vegetables grew.
About seven o’clock a fine drizzle began, and Natalie welcomed it with sparkling eyes. “Now the roots can have time to get freshened again before a hot sun comes to dry things up.”
A letter came that morning telling Natalie that Norma, Frances, and Belle would soon be ready to leave the city. By counting from the date of the letter, it was found that they would be at Greenville that very day on the noon train. Probably the letter had been delayed in coming, or had been overlooked in some way.
“We had better send word to Amity, by Mr. Ames, that he is to meet the train they come on,” suggested Mrs. James.
But the girls watched for Mr. Ames in vain that morning, and noon hour came and still no word had been sent to Amity. Janet was out feeding the pigs when she heard a shout from the road. She looked up wonderingly and saw the three girls tramping along in the rain and mud, trying to manage suit-cases and umbrellas at the same time, as they jumped puddles or avoided a stretch of mud.
She ran to the house and called Natalie. In another moment, both girls were out on the side-piazza waiting to take the luggage from the bespattered girls.
“My goodness me! Why don’t you move nearer the railroad station, Nat?” complained Norma.
“That horrid hackman wouldn’t give us a lift, although he was sitting at Tompkins’ store toasting his feet at a stove,” added Belle, angrily.
“At a stove! In summer?” cried Natalie, wonderingly.
“Yes, but there was no fire in the thing. He was tilted back in a wooden chair telling stories to some farmers, and his old horse was standing out in the rain, patiently waiting for a bag of oats,” said Frances.
Mrs. James joined the group now, and overheard the last words of complaint. “I don’t see why he could not drive you here, as long as he was not engaged.”
“That’s exactly what Belle asked him, but he said: ‘Can’t you see I am engaged? I must not interrupt this talk on polerticks. It’s mos’ votin’ time and we-all has to get facks afore we cast a ballot,’” laughed Norma imitating Amity.
“Did you entice him with extra pay?” asked Janet laughingly.
“What was the good? He just ignored us, so we had to walk the rest of the way here,” Frances said. “But I made up my mind to one thing: If that is the way the only cab-man of Greenville treats his trade, I’ll cut him out of it all, if I can manage to have my way.”
They were all in the living-room now, and had removed muddy overshoes and wet coats and hats. Rachel was hastily brewing some hot tea to make everyone feel more cheerful, so the girls sat and talked.
Natalie instantly asked Frances what she meant.
“Well, Daddy and mother are going out to Colorado for the summer, and the machine will be put up in a garage, or I will have it out here to use. Now I’ve been thinking over all Nat said about each one of us earning some money this summer, and I couldn’t think of a single thing I could do. But that cranky old hackman gave me a cue: I’ll use the car out here for the people who wish to travel back and forth, or take a drive to certain places. I ought to be able to save quite a sum before fall,” explained Frances eagerly.
“Frans, that will be fine! We will be your best customers,” laughed Janet, while the other girls all approved the plan.
“That seems like Frances’ golden opportunity, but Norma and I haven’t found a thing to do, yet,” added Belle.
“You will, never fear. Janet found her vocation the first day she was here,” laughed Natalie.
Then Janet had to tell about her stock-raising, and her friends laughed heartily when they heard about the first night the piggies arrived at their new home.
“The chickens are doing fine! I had to keep them shut up in the yard to-day to get them thoroughly acquainted with their surroundings, so they won’t run away,” said Janet, but she did not say that they were kept locked up for fear they might wander over to the garden again and create more trouble.
“I should think you would have a cow and sell milk,” suggested Belle laughingly.
“Cows cost a lot of money. I priced one of Ames’s and when I heard the sum, I lost interest in milk,” replied Janet, causing the girls to laugh at her explanation.
“But I am going to buy some ducks as soon as my new allowance is due. There is plenty of water for them to swim in and ducks look so rural, don’t you know,” added she.
“But they are difficult to raise, Janet,” said Mrs. James.
“Why? If you let them swim about and give them enough feed, what more can they want?”
“I don’t know, but they take certain spells of sickness quicker than any other fowl and, in a day or two, the whole flock droops and dies off. Geese are much easier to rear and bring better prices in the market, too.”
“Oh, then I’ll have geese. But I’ve heard they chase one, if they don’t like you,” said Janet.
“They wouldn’t chase you if you fed them; and should they take it into their geese-heads to run anyone else out of the yard, it will be a warning for others to keep away.”
The drizzle stopped after luncheon, so that the girls put on raincoats and oil-skin caps and started to visit the Scout camp. On the way, they visited Natalie’s garden and extolled her work and patience that had brought forth such results.
Natalie beamed like a full moon at the deserved praise and explained how wonderful the vegetables were before the dastardly birds dug everything up.
“Yes, Nat, I know,” remarked Belle. “It’s almost like the wonderful fish one just missed catching, isn’t it?”
Everyone laughed at this, even Natalie joining in at her own expense. “Well, I don’t care! They would have been much better if they had not been interfered with,” said she.
After leaving the garden, Natalie opened the subject of the Scout Patrol that would be an offshoot of Miss Mason’s first Patrol. This would give both Patrols the opportunity to launch the Troop.
“Fine! How soon can we begin?” said Belle.
“Well talk it over with Miss Mason this afternoon. I haven’t had time, yet, to tell her about the Greenville girls who agreed to join us, as Janet and I have had so much to do since then,” explained Natalie.
The girls were now near enough to the woodland to hear the sound of singing. Mrs. James held up a hand for silence and they stood and listened. It sounded very wonderful from the hillside where they were to hear the blending of soprano and alto voices in the national anthem “Our America.” There was a martial impetus in the singing that spoke well for the patriotism of the Girl Scouts.
“What does Miss Mason call her Patrol, Nat?” asked Norma, as they resumed their way to the river.
“Now that you speak of it, Norma, I must confess that I never asked. Isn’t it funny that I never thought of it?” said Natalie.
“But we will ask now, and find out. Of course we will have to use the same name if Miss Mason has already chosen one for a Troop,” said Janet.
The visitors reached the camp site and found the Scouts holding a council meeting. They had just finished the patriotic song and Miss Mason was opening the meeting by an address. The unexpected guests were invited to sit down on a huge log and hear the Leader’s speech.
“The members of this Patrol know the reason for this council, but I will explain to the newcomers, too,” said Miss Mason, turning to Mrs. James and the girls.
“We have decided to send to Headquarters in New York to ask to be enrolled as a Troop, now that we have had more than a year’s experience with the organization. Because you girls wish to start another Patrol and unite with our Troop, we think it urgent to be registered and chartered by the National Headquarters, and be able to own a flag and choose a title and crest for our use.”
The visiting girls exchanged glances with each other, as the question just asked Natalie was about to be answered now. Miss Mason did not see their looks and proceeded with her explanation.
“We chose a name when first we started our Patrol but we have never registered it, and there was a question whether we would care to change it after a time. We called ourselves the ‘Solomon’s Seal Patrol’ as having so much meaning to the name. We think that the reflected glory of Solomon’s wisdom is better than none. So we have decided, now, to christen our Troop by that name. We will vote on this later. At present I wish to mention a few other points.
“I am now about to speak of a new Patrol, or new members, so it is fortunate that our visitors arrived in time to hear all I have to say.
“I suppose every girl present has a manual: ‘Scouting for Girls’?” Everyone nodded in the affirmative, and Miss Mason continued:
“Then you will read on page 44, that every girl who wishes to enroll as a Scout must be at least ten years old and must have attended meetings for a month, during which time she will have passed her Tenderfoot Test. During the first month she is known as a Candidate. When she knows the meaning of the Promise and the Laws, and is sure she understands the meaning of the oath she is about to take, and comprehends the meaning of ‘Honor,’ she is eligible to be a Tenderfoot.
“My Girl Scouts passed the Tenderfoot class last year, and then took the Second Class Test, which was also passed successfully by them. We are all ready to pass the First Class Scout Test, except that each girl must present a Tenderfoot who has been trained by the candidate. This is our opportunity, as you girls all wish to be Scouts, and my girls can train you, thus giving them the privilege of being First Class Scouts.
“I was going to speak of other things, but since our visitors’ arrival, I wish Mrs. James to tell us how many girls she knows on whom we can count for the new Patrol.” Miss Mason turned to Mrs. James and waited.
“Natalie knows more about the matter than I, Miss Mason, as she and Janet went about the Corners securing the candidates. Let her tell us about it,” replied Mrs. James.
Natalie was called upon to address the audience and so she got up and spoke. “Janet and I called on Nancy Sherman and Hester Tompkins and secured their promise to join our Patrol as soon as we were ready for them. Then we went to Dorothy Ames’s house and got her interested. With these girls” – Natalie waved her hand at the four girls sitting on the log, – “we will have eight applicants. Janet has a younger sister Helene, who is not twelve yet, so we are not sure whether we want her to belong to our Patrol. All of us girls are over twelve and it is more fun when girls are nearer an age. I’ve been thinking that Helene might start a Brownie Troop, a younger Patrol than ours. We might allow them to join us, later on.”
As Natalie sat down, the girls of Solomon’s Seal Patrol showed their delight at the progress made in the enlisting, and Miss Mason commended the two who had visited the girls of Four Corners and had interested them in the proposed plan.
“Mrs. James, have you thought of a Leader and Corporal for Natalie’s new Patrol?” asked Miss Mason.
“I fear I am not well enough versed in scouting to take such a responsibility upon myself. I would prefer having you do it,” responded Mrs. James.
“I’d rather not be any officer, Miss Mason,” exclaimed Natalie, “because they always have to work while the others have a good time. I’ll just be an every-day Scout.”
The girls laughed, as there was more reason than rhyme in the statement. But Miss Mason said: “There’s always one girl in a group who has the knack of directing her companions. Such a girl ought to be an officer.”
“Then, for goodness’ sake, choose Janet for our manager,” exclaimed Natalie. “She always runs us and everything concerned with us.”
The Scouts laughed, and Miss Mason nodded her head. “I always thought as much, but you will confess, Natalie, that she makes a pretty good general, eh?”
Janet blushed with pleasure at the teacher’s praise, and Natalie smiled: “Oh, pretty good!” Then she grinned at her friend.
“Janet, will you act as Patrol Leader for your new Scouts?” asked Miss Mason, turning again to Janet.
“I will, if Natalie will be my Corporal,” returned Janet.
“Seeing that there are only two members in our Patrol as yet, I can’t see how I can get out of being either one or the other,” laughed Natalie.
“Oh, but we will have more members shortly, and this office of Corporal must be considered as binding until a new election,” explained Janet.
“Well then, Jan, if you can bear up under the arduous duties of a Patrol Leader, I reckon I can survive the work of acting as your Corporal,” retorted Natalie.
“All right. Then we’ll enroll our Tenderfoot Scouts in a Patrol before the next official meeting here, and begin training them in the path that they should follow,” agreed irrepressible Janet.
After this, many subjects that interest Girl Scouts were taken up and discussed, and the girls from Green Hill Farmhouse were more deeply impressed with the wonders of scouting than they had dreamed possible. Each girl determined to do everything possible to learn as much that summer as those Girl Scouts of Solomon’s Seal knew.