"Now then," said Grandmother when they got into the kitchen, "while I
get dinner, we'll talk."
"But what's the matter?" asked Mary Jane.
"Matter where?" questioned Grandmother. "I don't see anything the
matter!"
"What's the matter out there?" said Mary Jane, pointing out the door to
the chicken yard where they had just been; "something's happened."
Grandmother stepped over to the door where Mary Jane was standing and
looked out. "Oh!" she exclaimed, for she saw in a minute what Mary
Jane meant, "that noise?"
Mary Jane nodded.
"That noise means that an egg has been laid," explained Grandmother,
smiling, "and that Mrs. Hen is very proud of it and wants us to know
what she has done."
"Oh!" cried Mary Jane happily, "and then you go out and get them in a
basket just like mother told me she used to do? May I go now?"
"Better not start before dinner," suggested Grandmother, "because
sometimes egg-hunting takes quite a little time. Wait till you get
through dinner and then you may hunt all afternoon if you
like--egg-hunting is fun!"
So the minute she was through with her apple dumplings, Mary Jane
asked, "And now, please, may I get the eggs?"
"Got you hunting eggs already?" asked Grandfather. "Well, I wonder if
you'll like it as well as your mother used to. Have you your basket?"
"Not yet," said Grandmother. "I mean to let her get it herself.
She'll feel more at home when she begins to find her way around alone.
If you locked the pigs in, she can go anywhere she likes all alone."
"They're locked up fast," Grandfather assured her--much to Mary Jane's
relief.
"Then, Mary Jane," continued Grandmother, "you go out to the barn and
up the little ladder you'll find in the middle of the barn. And in the
loft somewhere, I'm sure you'll see it easily, you'll find a little,
covered basket. It's the very one your mother and your Aunt Cornelia
used to carry egg-hunting. If it's too dusty, bring it here, and I'll
clean it for you. Now run along, Pet," added Grandmother with a kiss
for the up-turned face, "and don't be long. I'll miss my little girl."
Just as Mary Jane opened the screen door to go out, a beautiful big
black and brown dog came running up to the door.
"Well, Bob!" exclaimed Grandmother, "where have you been all morning?
I wanted Mary Jane to get acquainted with you right away and you
weren't anywhere around! Mary Jane, this is Bob, our good dog, and
he's the best creature friend a little girl can make." She stepped out
of the door with Mary Jane and they both sat down on the steps and
talked to Bob. Mary Jane liked him from the first. He had such a
pretty face and such friendly, kind eyes and he looked as though he
would be good to little girls.
"May he go with me to the barn?" she asked.
"Indeed, yes," replied Grandmother. "You just start along and watch
him follow you! He'll go wherever you go from now on. You won't even
have to call him!"
Mary Jane jumped up and, just as Grandmother said, Bob jumped up from
the steps too and together they started off to the barn.
"Can you climb up a ladder?" asked Mary Jane gayly, as she skipped
along by Bob. "I can climb a ladder all by myself! I did it one day
when Mother hung curtains."
But dear me! When Mary Jane saw the steep ladder that went up to the
barn loft she wasn't so sure she could climb a ladder after, all! She
had been thinking of a nice little step-ladder such as her mother had
and this was a steep, narrow ladder made of funny little pieces of wood
nailed on to narrow strips that were fastened to the barn. Not a bit
like any ladder Mary Jane had ever seen before.
"But the basket's up there, Bob," said Mary Jane, glad of some one to
think aloud to, "and my grandmother she wouldn't tell me to go up if I
couldn't, so I guess I'll try."
She put one foot on the ladder and then the other. "Why, it's just
like climbing a gate only it isn't a gate," she announced proudly, "and
I'm way up a'ready!"
It was easy to step from the ladder to the loft because the sides of
the ladder went on up high and she simply held tight to them and
stepped off onto the floor Of the loft.
And _that_ was the funniest place Mary Jane had ever seen! Hay
everywhere, and a pleasant, fragrant smell that pleased Mary Jane even
though she hadn't an idea why. She looked around a minute and then
hunted for the basket.
Over in the corner, under a funny little, cobwebby window she found it,
half hidden by the tossed up hay.
She recognized it at once because of the curious little cover
Grandmother had spoken of. But, dear me, Grandmother would surely have
to clean it before it was used for cobwebs and scraps of hay were all
over the top!
"I wonder if the cover comes off, or just opens like a door," thought
Mary Jane as she bent over it. "I guess I'd better see."
She moved the cover the tiniest bit and found it was fastened to one
side. "It's like a box," she said aloud, "and it opens easy, I know!"
She opened it out and what _do_ you suppose she saw down in the bottom
of that basket? You'd never guess!
Four of the cunningest little gray mice! All snuggled down together
into a little ball of fur--Mary Jane would never have guessed there
were four, they were so tiny, only she saw the four little black noses
and four pairs of beady black eyes.
"You darlingest!" she exclaimed happily, and sat right down in the hay
beside the basket to watch them. She reached her finger in and touched
their silky little backs; she watched them snuggle down tight and
tighter together and she altogether forgot about Bob and egg-hunting
and Grandmother and everything, she was so delighted. But Bob didn't
forget about her, not he.
For a while he waited patiently at the bottom of the ladder. He seemed
to know that she might have to hunt a while for the basket. But as the
minutes went by and she didn't come and didn't come, he grew more and
more restless. He whined, and he walked around the barn and he looked
out the door. Then he came back to the foot of the ladder and put his
front feet on the highest step he could reach.
But still there was no sign of Mary Jane coming down. And for her
part, the little girl was so interested in her mice that she wouldn't
have noticed had he barked out loud.
Finally he could stand it no longer. With a sudden turn, as though he
had quickly made up his mind something must be done, he ran out of the
barn and up to the kitchen door.
Grandmother Hodges saw him and supposed Mary Jane was with him so she
called kindly, "Did you find the basket, dear?"
No answer.
"Bring it in here for me to dust it off, Mary Jane," she added.
No answer.
"That's funny," she exclaimed; "what ails the child?" And she stepped
to the door to see why Mary Jane didn't answer.
That was exactly what Bob wanted her to do. The minute he saw she was
coming to the door he bounded off in the direction of the barn.
Grandmother understood at once, as Bob had known she would, and without
even stopping to drop the tea towel she had in her hand she followed
him out to the barn.
Bob ran ahead, turning two or three times to make sure she was coming,
till he reached the foot of the ladder. There he danced around as
though he was trying to say, "Now I've brought you here, do see what's
the matter!"
"Is she up there yet, Bob?" asked Grandmother wonderingly. Then she
called, "Mary Jane! Mary Jane! Mary Jane!"
"Oh, Grandmother!" replied the little girl, hearing for the first time,
"they're the cunningest! Do come see!"
"Whatever has the child found!" she exclaimed, but she went up the
ladder just the same to make sure Mary Jane was happy.
It wasn't more than a minute before Grandmother, too, was down in the
hay, admiring the little mice till even Mary Jane was satisfied.
"You're a good one," she said, "to find such a nice family right away.
This old basket's been here for years, but that looks like a brand new
nest and a brand new family. You'll have something to tell your sister
about when she comes now, won't you?"
"And may I take them down to the house?" asked Mary Jane.
"Look behind you and see if you want to," answered Grandmother.
Mary Jane turned and looked as she was told and she saw, peeping out
from behind the hay, the distressed face of mother mouse. Poor thing!
She was _so_ afraid something terrible was happening to her babies!
"No, I don't want to," said Mary Jane promptly. "I want to keep them
right here and come up and see them whenever I want to."
"That's best," agreed Grandmother. "You come with me and I'll find you
another basket and then you and Bob and I will hunt eggs."
So that is the way Mary Jane happened to have a pretty, brand new, pink
basket for hunting eggs: and that's why they were so late getting the
eggs that it was almost supper time before they were through.