PLANS FOR THE SOCIETY CIRCUS
"Ralph and Hugh! I am so delighted to see you!" cried Mollie Thurston, a
few days later. She was alone in their sitting room writing a letter,
when the two friends arrived. "We girls have been dreadfully afraid you
would not arrive in time for our Society Circus. You know the games take
place to-morrow."
"Oh, it is a 'Society Circus' we have come to! So that is the name Lenox
has given to its latest form of social entertainment?" laughed Hugh.
"Sorry we couldn't get here sooner, Mollie; but you knew you could depend
on our turning up at the appointed time. Where are the other girls and
Aunt Sallie?"
"They are over at the Fair Grounds, watching Bab ride," Mollie explained.
"Ralph, I am awfully worried about Bab. One of the amusements of the
circus is to be a riding contest. Of course, Bab rides very well, but I
don't think mother would approve of her undertaking such dangerous riding
as jumping over hurdles. Ambassador Morton has told Aunt Sallie that
there will be no danger. He is used to English girls riding across the
country; and I know, at the riding schools in New York, they give these
same contests; but we have never had any riding lessons. I can't help
being nervous."
"I wouldn't worry, Mollie," Ralph replied kindly. "I am sure Bab is equal
to any kind of horseback exercise. Remember the first time we saw her,
Hugh? She was riding down the road in the rain, astride an old bareback
horse. We nicknamed her 'Miss Paul Revere' then and there. There isn't
any use trying to keep Bab off a horse, Mollie, when she has the faintest
chance to get on one."
"Come on, then," laughed Mollie, smiling at the picture Ralph's remark
had brought to her mind. "We will walk over to the Fair Grounds. You will
find nearly everybody we know in Lenox over there. You remember that you
boys gave Ruth and Bab liberty to put your names down for any of the
games; come and find out what trouble they have gotten you into. You
never dreamed of such absurd amusements as we are to have."
"Oh, we are game for anything," Hugh declared. "Lenox sports are the
jolliest I have yet run across. Don't think any other place can produce
anything just like them. Certainly the amusements are a bit unconventional,
but they are all the more fun. 'Society Circus' is a good name for the
entertainment. Anything goes in a 'Society Circus.'"
"What curious amusements people _do_ have for the benefit of charities!"
reflected Mollie. "But I expect the Lenox Hospital will receive a great
deal of money from the sports this year. You see, they are in charge of
the English Ambassador. That alone would make the entertainment popular."
"Is Mollie growing worldly wise, Hugh?" asked Ralph, with mock horror.
"Looks like it, Ralph," was the reply.
The boys and Mollie found Barbara in the midst of a gay circle of young
people. Grace and Ruth were nowhere to be seen.
Aunt Sallie sat with Mrs. Morton in the grandstand. The Ambassador and
Mr. Winthrop Latham wandered about near them. Many preparations were
necessary for the next day's frolic.
In front of the grandstand stretched a wide, green field, enclosed with a
low fence. A little distance off stood the club house.
Bab came forward with both hands extended to greet her friends. She gave
one hand to Ralph, the other to Hugh.
"I am so glad to see you!" she declared. "I can't wait to shake your
hands in the right way. We girls were so afraid you had turned
'quitters'! Come, this minute, and see Aunt Sallie. You must be
introduced, too, to Ambassador and Mrs. Morton."
"But where are Ruth and Grace?" inquired Ralph.
"Over yonder," laughed Bab, pointing to the green inclosure in front of
them.
The boys spied Ruth and Grace some distance off. The two girls were deep
in conversation with a farm boy. Strutting around near them were a fat
turkey gobbler and a Plymouth Rock rooster.
Just at this moment Ruth was giving her instructions. "Be sure you bring
the turkey and the rooster over to the Fair Grounds by ten o'clock
to-morrow morning."
The boy grinned. "I'll have 'em here sure, Miss."
"Ruth," asked Grace, as the two girls started back across the meadow to
join their friends, "do you suppose it will be unkind for us to try to
drive these poor barnyard fowls across a field before so many people? I
presume the poor old birds will be frightened stiff. Whoever heard of
anything so utterly absurd as a Gymkana race."
"Oh, no, you tender-hearted Grace," Ruth assured her. "I don't think the
kind of pets we are to drive to-morrow will be much affected by our
efforts. Indeed they are likely to lead us more of a chase than we shall
lead them. And I don't believe the annoyance of being run across this
field by us for a few yards equals the nervous shock of being scared by
an automobile or a carriage. That alarm may overtake poor Brother Turkey
and Mr. Rooster any day. I think our race is going to be the greatest fun
ever! Why! I think I see Ralph Ewing and Hugh over there with the girls.
Isn't that great?"
"Miss Morton!" Hugh was protesting gayly, as Grace and Ruth joined the
crowd of their friends. "You don't mean to say that Barbara and Ruth have
put Ralph's name and mine down for three of your performances? How shall
we ever live through such a tremendous strain! Kindly explain to me what
is expected of us."
Dorothy Morton got out her blankbook, where she had written each item of
the next day's programme. "Well, Mr. Post, you and Mr. Ewing are down for
three of our best events, 'The Egg and Spoon Race,' 'The Dummy Race' and
'The Thread and Needle Race.'"
"All right," declared Ralph, meekly accepting his fate, "but will you
kindly tell me what a Thread and Needle Race is?"
"It is a very easy task, Ralph, compared with what Grace and I have
undertaken," Ruth assured him. "All you do, in the 'Thread and Needle
Race,' is to ride across this field on horseback carrying a needle. Of
course, the real burden is on the woman. It always is. Some fair one is
waiting for you at the end of your ride; she must sew a button on your
coat. The sooner she can accomplish this, the better; for back you must
ride, again, to the starting place, with the button firmly attached to
your coat."
"Will you sew the button on for me, Mollie?" Ralph begged. He saw that
Mollie was taking less part in the amusements than the other girls.
"Certainly!" agreed Mollie. "I accept your proffered honor. To tell you
the truth, you stand a better chance of winning with my assistance. I am
a much better seamstress than Bab."
"Oh, Bab, will be busy winning the riding prize," declared Ralph under
his breath, smiling at his two friends, Mollie and Barbara.
Maud Warren, the New York girl famous for her skillful riding, was
standing near them, talking with Reginald Latham. As she overheard
Ralph's remark, a sarcastic smile flitted across her pale face. She had
ignored Bab since their introduction at the Ambassador's; but the thought
of this poor country girl's really knowing how to ride horseback was too
much for her.
Barbara caught Maud Warren's look of amusement and blushed furiously.
Then she turned to Ralph and said aloud, "Oh, I am not a rider when
compared with Miss Warren."
"I don't believe in comparisons, Miss Thurston," declared the Ambassador,
who had walked up to them. "But I think you are an excellent horsewoman.
And I much prefer your riding in the old-fashioned way with a side
saddle. I have observed that it is now fashionable, in Lenox, for the
young women to ride astride."
"Girls," Miss Stuart declared, "it is luncheon time. We must return to
the hotel."
"Now, does everybody understand about to-morrow?" asked Gwendolin Morton,
when the last farewells had been said. "Remember, the Gymkana race is
first. We started with this spectacle for fear the girls who have
promised to take part might back out. Then, immediately after lunch, we
shall have our horseback riding and jumping."
"I don't believe I have been wise in permitting you to engage in this
horseback riding, Barbara," Miss Stuart declared on their way home. "I am
afraid this jumping over fences is a dangerous sport. And I am not sure
it is ladylike."
"But English girls do it all the time, Aunt Sallie. Jumping hurdles is
taught in the best riding schools."
"You have had no lessons, Bab. Are you perfectly sure you do not feel
afraid?" queried Miss Stuart.
"Oh, perfectly, dear Aunt Sallie," Bab assured her.