A FLOCK OF SHEEP
"What a delightful road!"
"Isn't it splendid!"
"Too perfect!"
It was Cora who made the first remark, Eline who answered and the Robinson
twins who chorused the third. The highway was so wide, and there was so
little traffic thus early in the morning, that the two cars could run
side by side. On high gear with the gas throttled down they made scarcely
any noise, so that conversation was possible.
"I don't know what I have done to enjoy such pleasure," said Mrs. Fordam.
"Are you really enjoying it, Cousin Mary?" inquired Cora.
"Indeed I am, my dear! I wouldn't have missed it for a good deal. I never
knew before how delightful it was to be chaperone to such nice girls."
"I'm sorry I can't stop steering long enough to pass you a chocolate
candy!" exclaimed Bess. "Belle, you will have to do it for me. Such
compliments!"
"No, I really mean it," declared Mrs. Fordam, earnestly.
"Wait until the boys begin to cut up," warned Cora.
"Oh, I know Jack of old," returned the chaperone. "He can't do anything
very bad."
"They seem to be hatching up some sort of a plot back there," remarked
Eline, as she looked to the rear where Jack's gaudy red and yellow car
was careening alongside the _Beetle_--that owned by Norton. It had been
so christened because of its low, rakish appearance, and the fact that it
was painted a dead black. It was not a pretty car, but it had speed, as
Norton often boasted.
"Oh, I've no doubt they will do something," conceded Belle. "But we can
do things too!"
They ran on for some distance, this stretch of the road being particularly
fine. They were under a perfect arch of maple trees, which, being planted
on either side of the road, mingled their branches over the centre,
affording a delightful shade. It was needed, too, in a measure, for the
sun, creeping higher and higher in the blue sky, was sending down beams
of heat, as well as light. There was gentle wind, which was accentuated
by the motion of the machines.
"Is it hard to learn to drive a car?" asked Eline, as Bess and Belle
combined in telling Mrs. Fordam something of the excitement of the
previous night, she not having arrived until it was over.
"It is, my dear, at first," Cora explained. "Then it all seems to come
to you at once. Why you'd never believe it, but first I used to imagine
I was going to hit everything on the road. I gave objects such a wide
berth that everyone laughed at me. But I did not want to take chances.
Now watch!"
She speeded up a little, and turning to one side seemed to be headed
straight for a tree.
"Oh!" screamed Eline, and Bess and Belle echoed the cry.
"There!" cried Cora, as she skillfully passed it, far enough off for
safety, as even the most careful motorist would admit, but near enough
to make an amateur nervous. "You see what it is to have confidence,"
she added to Eline.
"Yes," was the somewhat doubtful comment.
"Cora, dear, I wouldn't take those risks if I were you," rebuked her
Cousin Mary, gently.
"Oh, it wasn't a risk at all! I had perfect control. I just wanted to show
Eline what practice will do. I am going to teach her to drive."
"I'll never learn!" was the nervous protest.
The road narrowed about a mile farther on, but before the cars lengthened
out into single file again, Belle asked:
"Where are we to lunch, Cora?"
"I planned on stopping at Mooreville. There is a nice, home-like
restaurant there. We'll be in Churchton soon, and we can stop there and
'phone in to have a meal ready for a party of nine."
"That would be a good idea."
Churchton was soon reached, and Jack found he had a puncture. While he
stopped to put a new inner tube into service Cora got the restaurant on
the wire and made arrangements.
"Now will you please be good?" Jack begged of his car, when the tire had
been pumped up again. "This is a bad beginning for you, old _Get There_."
"If it makes good you can tack on another title when we're in Chelton
again," suggested Ed.
"What?"
"Call it _Get There and Back_."
"I believe I will!" laughed Jack. "Sorry to delay you," he said to the
others, for they waited for him after Cora had finished telephoning.
"It's all right," spoke Walter, good-naturedly. "We have plenty of time."
Once more they were under way. The road was now not so good, and in places
positively bad. But they knew they would soon be on better ground, and
on a fine highway leading into Mooreville.
Later they were on a narrow thoroughfare, so narrow, and with such deep
ditches on either side, that it would take no small skill to pass another
vehicle in certain places. Then, as Cora made a turn, the road ahead being
hidden by a thick growth of trees, she saw straggling along the highway a
big flock of sheep, tended by a man and two beautiful collie dogs. The
fleecy animals straggled and spread out over the whole road.
"Oh dear!" Cora cried, as she slowed down. "Isn't this provoking! We can't
get past them."
"Why not?" asked Eline.
"Because they are so--so straggly. They take up the whole road, and if I
tried to pass I'd be sure to run over one of them. Oh! what a shame!
"We've got to take it slowly!" she called back to the twins, who were just
behind her. "I can't take a chance of threading my way through all these
animals."
"This is tough luck!" complained Jack, as he saw what the trouble was.
The herder looked up stolidly, puffing on a short pipe, and called to one
of the dogs, who leaped off to drive back into the flock a sheep that
showed a propensity to lag behind.
"Can't you try to pass them?" asked Eline. "I'm sure you could do it."
"I'd rather not," answered Cora.
"Don't you dare!" cautioned Bess, who heard what was said.
"But we'll be late for lunch--and it has been ordered," wailed Belle. "And
I'm so hungry!"
Cora resolved on an appeal.
"Do you think you could drive your sheep to one side, and keep them there
until we passed?" she asked the man. "It will take us only a minute to
shoot by."
"It would be a risky undertaking miss," the herder answered respectfully
enough. "Sheep is queer critters. You think you've got 'em just where you
want 'em, when, all to once they break out, and if one goes the others
follow."
"Yes, I know!" Cora was genuinely distressed. "But we simply must get
past!" she exclaimed. "Can't you think of a way?" She looked ahead at
the sheep. There were a hundred or more--quite a flock. The herder took
off his cap and scratched his head reflectively--looking the while
meditatively at his pipe.
"It might be done--it might," he murmured.
Cora brought her car to a stop.
"Oh!" cried Bess and Belle together, and Bess, who was driving, jammed on
the foot and emergency brake quicker than she ever had in her life before.
As it was her fender struck the rear tires of Cora's car.
"Oh dear!" wailed Eline, clutching at Cora, while Belle, recovering from
her momentary fright, had the presence of mind to raise her arm in the air
as a signal for the boys to come to a halt.
"Cora Kimball!" cried Bess. "What did you stop so suddenly for, and not
signal us? We might have broken your car!"
"I'm sorry. But I just thought of something, so didn't think of
signalling. Any damage done?"
"No, but there might have been."
"All right then. Will you please come here?" she called to the man. "I
want to speak to you--that is, if the sheep will be all right."
"Yes, miss, the dogs will look after 'em," and, calling a command to the
intelligent collies, he advanced toward Cora's car.