For two or three days Fred remained very unwell, as might easily be
supposed from the shock he had received; but the boys spent the greater
part of the days with him reading or playing, and in the evenings came
Mr and Mrs Inglis to sit in his bedroom, when Mr Inglis told them
natural history anecdotes, or talked about the wondrous changes of
insects in so interesting a manner, that the little auditory heard him
with the most rapt attention.
On the second evening, in answer to a question, Fred related how it was
he managed to be carried away by the stream. It appeared that it was
through a sudden fright; for, while wading about with the water up to
his armpits, he felt what he thought was a great fish touch him--but
which was more probably a piece of wood--and he was so startled and
alarmed with the idea that it might be a great pike, such as he had once
seen in the river, and also caught by Mr Inglis, that he rushed away
from the fancied peril, and, by mishap, this was done on the wrong side;
so that directly afterwards he was splashing and paddling in the water,
out of his depth, and with the stream bearing him away quite fast. He
could remember the water bubbling and thundering in his ears as he was
swept away; two or three great struggles to reach the side, and then it
seemed like going to sleep, and waking to find himself in his bed, with
three faces leaning over him, and everything else misty and bewildered.
On the morning of the fourth day, Fred was up again and out with his
cousins before breakfast, getting their feet well soaked by the dewy
grass out in the cedar-field as they took it in turns to have a ride
upon the pony--one boy running by his side once up and down the field,
and holding the pony by his halter. He was a capital quiet fellow, was
old Dumpling, and put up with the tricks of his young masters as
good-naturedly as possibly, and, on the whole, rather seeming to join in
the fun, for he stood perfectly still by their side while they climbed
up the fence, and from thence on to his back, and then went along at a
jig-jog trot, just as they wished him. As for Harry and Philip, they
were well used to being upon his back; but when it came to Fred's turn,
he prepared to mount with considerable trepidation.
It might almost have been thought that, after the last unpleasant
adventure, Fred would have been very diffident in joining in any of his
cousins' rather boisterous amusements; but he had a most wholesome dread
of being looked upon as a coward: the very idea of being despised by his
cousins rendered him ready to dare anything; so that, no matter what
they had pressed him to, he would most probably have attempted it,
however strongly his reason or inclination might have prompted him
otherwise; so, when it came to his turn, he followed the instructions of
his cousins, and made a sort of half leap or vault upon the pony's back;
but in so doing he overshot the mark, and went scrambling down, head
first, on the other side. The pony, however, never moved, and as Fred
was not hurt, he climbed the fence for another try, and this time came
down just in the right place, but in doing so, stuck his heels so
tightly into the nag's side, that, without waiting for the leader to
take hold of the halter, away he started at a canter, greatly to Fred's
dismay, for the bumping he received seemed something fearful to him, and
he had no small difficulty in keeping his seat; but keep it he did, and
the pony cantered away till nearly at the bottom of the field, when he
subsided into a trot, the boys behind in full chase, laughing and
cheering away as hard as they could. Trot--trot, went the pony, and
Fred thought it was horrible, for it rucked his trousers up, and shook
and bumped him ten times more than when he was cantering. But Fred was
too much of a stoic to find fault, and sat it out famously, for Harry
now caught up to him, and, seizing the halter, ran by his side till they
reached the fence again, when Fred dismounted.
"Why, I thought you said that you couldn't ride!" said Philip, now
coming up quite out of breath. "Why, you ride better than we do; don't
he, Hal?"
"Ride! of course he can," said Harry, "better than I can; but a couple
of old clothes-props, tied together, and put straddling over the pony,
would ride better than--Oh! don't, Phil, it hurts," he continued, as
Philip indulged his brother with a few thumps in the back to repay the
compliment that he had given to the punisher.
"There goes the bell," said Fred, with a hunger-sharpened sense, running
off full race towards the house, closely followed by his cousins, who
could not, however, catch up to him until they reached the side-door,
through which they all rushed together with such impetus, that they came
in contact with Mary, who was carrying a plate of hot cake and some eggs
into the breakfast parlour.
"Squawk," said Mary, as she was regularly upset, and they all went
down--boys, plate, eggs, tray, and all--in one heap upon the passage
floor.
Out came Mrs Inglis, and out came the Squire, and out ran the cook from
the kitchen; and then everybody began to talk at once, so that the
confusion grew worse than ever.
Master Harry was the first to get up, and, instead of trying to assist
his companions in misfortune, or to rub the dust off his clothes, he
began to collect the cake together; and, as the plate was broken, he
very carefully arranged the three-cornered wedges on the top of his
straw hat, as though the cake had been a puzzle.
As for Fred, he had quite a job to disentangle himself from Mary; for,
when she was going down, she loosed her hold of the little tray she was
carrying, and caught hold of Fred, and, of course, they went down
together. But when Fred got up, he stood shaking his ear, and trying to
get rid of the buzzing sound produced by Mary's piercing scream.
Philip was in the worst plight, for he went head first amongst the eggs,
and was in consequence rather eggy. He was quite aware of his
misfortune, and had been wiping the rich yolk off his face; but, not
having a glass before him, he had made it rather smeary, and also left a
goodly portion in the roots of his hair.
Poor Mary gathered herself up, sobbing half hysterically that it wasn't
her fault. "No," said Harry, stoutly. "It wasn't Mary's fault. We all
had a share in it."
As for Mr and Mrs Inglis, they took the sensible view of the case,
that it was an accident, which only resulted in the breakage of a plate,
and the loss of two or three eggs; for Harry declared that the cake was
"All right," and they would eat it; go they returned to the
breakfast-parlour, mutually glad that Mary was not bringing in the
tea-urn, when the accident might have been of a very serious nature.
But when the boys had made themselves respectable, and descended again
to breakfast, all this involved some rather serious talk upon the part
of Mr and Mrs Inglis, but did not seem to spoil the boys' breakfast
the least bit in the world; while as to the cake, they said it wasn't a
bit the worse, only rather gritty with a few little bits of china that
had been left in from the broken plate.
"Well, boys," said Mr Inglis at last, "what have you been doing this
morning?"
"Riding, Papa, in the field, and Fred, too. We had such capital fun,
and old Dumpling seems to like it as well as any of us."
"Yes, I suppose so," said the Squire; "but I should think he liked it
best when you left him in peace, and he had got rid of such a pack of
wild young dogs, baiting and bothering him. Now," he continued, "what
are we going to do to-day?"
"Let's go and catch another great pike," said Fred.
Mr Inglis laughed, and told him that they might go fifty times and not
catch such another fish as the last; which I forgot to say in the proper
place was baked by the cook, with what she called a pudding inside it,
and eaten in triumph by the fishing-party, aided by Mrs Inglis, and
declared to be the best fish that ever came out of the river.
"Let's go botanising, Papa," said Philip, "and go up the Camp Hill. It
would be so nice, and then we should have to take our dinners with us,
and Mamma would come too. Oh, do let's go there. You'll come, won't
you, Mamma?"
But Mamma declined, for she had promised to go out for a drive with a
near neighbour; but said that she should much enjoy, the trip upon
another occasion. It was therefore decided that there should be a
botanising trip on the next day but two, the following day being
Saturday.
"Let's play cricket, Papa, and you come and bowl for us," said Harry.
"Bravo!" cried the others. "Oh do, Uncle oh do, Papa!"
But Uncle and Papa, though always ready to do anything to please his
boys, seemed to think that bowling all day long, with the thermometer
marking some few degrees above summer heat, was rather too arduous a
task, so he declined, and said--
"Now, I think it comes to my turn to choose, and I'll tell you what I
think; and that is, as several of the specimens in the butterfly cabinet
are getting destroyed by the mites, we might take the nets and boxes,
and have a very pleasant ramble by the side of Beechy Wood, and down the
meadows, and then, if we happened to get so far, we could call and thank
Mrs Benson again; and coming back to a late tea, we should find plenty
of moths along by the wood-side."
"That's the best idea yet," said the boys; although it is most probable
that they would have agreed to anything that Mr Inglis had proposed,
and said it was the best idea that could have been thought of.
But this arrangement only provided for the afternoon: there was still
the morning to be employed.
"If I were you, boys," said Mrs Inglis, "I should find something quiet
to do indoors, and then you will not be tired before you start in the
afternoon."
"Ah," said the Squire, "have a look at your lessons. You have not
touched them all through the holidays."
"Oh-h-h--Ah-h-h--Er-r-r--Um-m-m," groaned the boys. "Oh, Pa; oh-h-h,"
they exclaimed, with such pitiful faces that any one might have thought
that they had been required to quaff, each of them, a great goblet of
salts and senna, or something equally nasty.
Mr and Mrs Inglis both laughed heartily, and the boys then saw that
Papa was only joking, and the clouds disappeared from their faces
_instanter_; and off they scampered into the garden to spend the morning
quietly, so as not to be tired at the time appointed for starting.
"Come on, boys," said Harry, taking flying leaps over all the
flower-beds in the parterre, as they went down the garden--greatly to
the disgust of old Sam, who very reasonably said, "As flower-gardens
warn't made to be jumped over;" and he then took off his old battered
hat, and scratched his bald head viciously.
"Shouldn't I like to kick old Sam's hat!" said Philip; "he always will
wear such an old scarecrow of a thing."
"I say, Sam," said Harry, grinning, "we are going to stop quietly in the
garden all the morning and help you."
Sam grinned too, as he looked sideways at the mischievous laughing face
beside him.
"Then I shall go," said Sam. "I won't stop; for I know you'll be
plaguing my very life out."
"No, we won't, Sam, if you'll come and help us do our gardens up."
"Oh, ah!" said Sam, "and I've got no end of things as wants doing:
there's all the wall fruit wants nailing in, and the grapes wants
thinning, and-- There now, just look at that! Master Harry, you
mustn't. If you don't put it down directly, I'll go and fetch out the
Maester."
Sam might well exclaim, for Harry was beginning to help him, and had
seized the scythe. With cut number one he had shaved off the top of a
fine verbena. With cut number two, he had driven the point of the sharp
tool into the sod. Where the third cut would have gone, I can't say;
for Sam, hobbling up to the young workman, the young workman frisked
off, and seized the barrow half full of grass.
"Jump in, Fred!" he exclaimed; and of course Fred soon made himself a
seat on the soft green contents, and then away went the barrow as fast
as Harry could run, and of course right away from the place where Sam
would require it next.
Poor old Sam! He loved his master's boys, and he loved to scold them
too, as much as they loved to torment him; and in all their skirmishes--
one of which always occurred whenever they came into his garden, as he
called it--Sam always got the worst of it, and had to yield to numbers.
And so in this case he saw that he should lose the day, and therefore he
declared a truce, and called up Philip to act as mediator.
"Now, Master Phil, if you'll promise not to bother me any more, I'll put
you all up to something."
"What is it?" said Philip.
"Ah, you fetch them tother ones here, and I'll show you."
Away darted Philip, and soon returned with Harry, the barrow, and Fred.
Old Sam made sure of the barrow by sitting down upon the edge, and would
have been canted over by Harry, only he expected, and very naturally,
that it would make the poor old man cross.
"Now, Sam, what is it?" said Harry. "Come, look sharp."
"Ah," said Sam, "I've a good mind not to tell you. You don't deserve
it, you know."
"Oh, I don't care," said Harry, seizing the old man's broom, and darting
off with it. "Come along, Phil, Fred, and we'll have such a game."
"Now, Master Harry," said Sam, appealingly. Then to himself, "I never
did see sich a young dog in my life. Do come, please," he continued
aloud.
"Well, what is it?" said Harry, advancing with the broom, held like a
gun with fixed bayonet brought to the charge, and poking with the birch
part at the old gardener.
"Well, you know, you promised to be quiet, you know, didn't you?"
"Why, of course we did," said Harry and Philip together. "Now, come,
tell us what it is."
"Well," said Sam at last, "it's a wopses' nest as wants taking."
"Capital!" said Harry, throwing down the broom; "where is it?"
Old Sam's eyes twinkled with triumph as he got slowly up and led the way
to his tool-shed, where he reached down the large fumigating bellows,
and in the hollow made for the purpose he put in some hot cinders, which
Harry fetched in a shovel from the kitchen, and then on them a lump of
brimstone, and closed the nozzle over all; but not so quickly but that a
puff or two of the penetrating fumes escaped, and made the boys' eyes
water, and old Sam cough and choke most terribly for a minute or two.
"Now then," said Sam, wheezing away at a dreadful rate, "I'm not going
with you, you know, so you take the bellows, Master Harry; and I should
take some boughs, if I were you, and beat the wopses off if they gets
loose. The nest is in the plantation, in the dead willow-tree that lies
by the path; so now go on, and good luck to you."
The lads wanted no further incentive, but started off at full speed, to
come back again directly to say that the brimstone wasn't burning.
However, on giving two or three puffs with the bellows, Sam found this
was not the case, for it was alight; so off they started, half wild with
excitement, across the lawn, and old Sam rubbing his hands down the
sides of his trousers to give vent to his intense feeling of
satisfaction to think how well his device had succeeded; and then the
old man returned to his work, chuckling away, and, I am sorry to add,
muttering that he hoped they'd "some on 'em get stung;" an uncharitable
wish, however, that had no fulfilment in the sequel.
"Come along, boys," said Harry, who was bellows-bearer; and away they
scudded till they reached the wooden bridge over the ditch, and then
they stood together beneath the trees.
Puff, puff. Yes, the brimstone was all right, and now for the wasps.
"Let me do it," said Philip, catching at the bellows.
"No, no; I'll do it," said Harry, putting them behind his back.
"Now, Harry, you know I'm older than you, and you carried them here, so
you ought to give way," said Philip.
"Why," said Harry, "we ought neither of us to do it, because Cousin
Fred's here, and he's a visitor. Here, Fred," he said, holding out the
bellows, "you do it."
"Do what?" said Fred, staring. "I don't know what you are going to do."
"Why, take the wasps' nest in that old touchwood tree. You're only got
to put the nose of the bellows into the hole where they are going in and
out, and blew, and then keep them tight there till all the wasps are
dead."
Fred looked at the bellows, then at his cousins, then at the hole in the
fallen trunk where the wasps were flying about; and after giving a puff
with the bellows, when smoke issued from the nozzle, he slowly
approached the hole, and stooped over it to insert the death-dealing
instrument.
"Buzz--booz--whooz--ooz--ooz--ooz," said a couple of wasps, coming home
in a hurry, and circling round Fred's head so very closely that the boy
shut his eyes, and, stooping down very low, backed away crab fashion as
fast as ever he could.
"I shan't do it," said Fred, rather red in the face; "they'll sting."
"No, they won't," said Harry; "I'll go," and catching up the bellows, he
walked boldly up towards the hole.
"I say," he said, "you two get boughs, and if the wasps do come out you
can beat them down."
There was a minute of intense interest, during which Harry crept close
up to the hole, and Philip and Fred, armed with lime-tree boughs, stood
as body guard to protect the assaulting party.
Nearer and nearer went Harry, and then pushed the nozzle right in up to
the part holding the brimstone, and puffed away as hard as he could.
"Whir--whooz--whooz--booz--wooz--buzz--wooz--burr--urr-r-r-r--
whir-r-r-r," said the wasps, scuffling out past the nozzle by the dozen;
and one, which must have been the leader, made a lodgment in Harry's
hair.
Down went the bellows, and away went the boys as hard as ever they could
run out of the plantation, and over the wooden bridge, till they were
safe from the infuriated wasps, whose loud hum they could hear even
after they were some distance off.
"Here," said Harry, "knock this beggar out of my head; make haste, or
he'll sting me." For there, buzzing and struggling in the boy's curls,
was one of the wasps, which was killed by Fred, who squeezed it between
two pieces of stick, and placed it beyond the power of doing mischief.
"Ha, ha, ha!" said Philip, when there was no more danger: and when he
had got his breath again, "What a game!"
"Booh," said Harry; "was it? You wouldn't like to go and try again."
"I wouldn't mind," said Philip; "I shouldn't run faster than you did."
"Ah! never mind," said Harry; "you run fast enough this time. I only
wish," he continued sulkily, "that I had let you go."
Now, Philip was generally most terribly teased by his brother, and
therefore it was not surprising that he, who was generally such a mild
and inoffensive lad, should take this opportunity of making a little
retaliation. But one thing was very certain, and that was, that he
would have backed out of the task even if Harry had given it up to him.
"Can't we fetch the bellows?" said Harry. "Let's go and see."
Off they went again, but at a slower pace this time, in case there
should be any of the fierce little insects waiting for them. But their
caution was needless, for the wasps were busy at work trying to stick
their stings into the bellows, and some of them losing their lives
through the vapour that came reeking out of the opening. But when the
lads got near enough to see what a cloud there was buzzing about, they
gave up all idea of getting the bellows till night, and took vengeance
for their defeat by getting a little farther off and pelting the tree,
but only hitting it about once in twenty times, so that they very soon
tired of that pastime, and went back to see what poor old Sam could find
for them fresh.
"Now, then," said Sam, when they came up, "where's the wopses' nest?
The Squire wants some grabs for fishing."
"Ain't got it," said Harry, shortly.
"How's that?" said the old man; "you weren't afeard, was you?"
"No," said Harry, stoutly; "I wasn't afraid, only they came buzzing out
so we were obliged to give in."
Chuckle, chuckle, went the old man at their defeat; but he would not go
himself to fetch the bellows, although he laughed at the boys' expense.
"You'd better leave off laughing," said Philip, taking Harry's part, "or
we'll stop here all the morning."
Sam grew serious in a moment, for the boy couldn't have uttered a more
dire threat against his peace of mind.
"Ah! I ain't laughing, Master Phil, only it is good fun to see the
wopses make any one run. If I was you, I should go and have a look at
Bramble Dyke; they say as the water's nearly all dried up, and you can
get fish out of it."
"It's too far," said Philip, "because we are going out with Papa
directly after dinner."
Sam was done for a moment; but a bright thought flashed across his
brain. "Ah," said he, "if I was a young gentleman, I should go down the
north planting hedge, close to the dung-heaps; they do say there is a
sight of snakes there; but in course you young gentlemen won't go, for
as you're afraid of wopses, in course you won't like to go where there's
snakes."
"Who's afraid?" said Harry; "I'm not; come on, boys," and away they
scampered again on their new expedition; while Sam leaned upon his broom
with which he was brushing the velvet green lawn, and chuckled again at
the success of his _ruse_.
The boys armed themselves with stout sticks, and let Dick loose to take
with them; and then away down by the big fence to the north planting
Dick industriously hunting along the hedges and ditches as they went.
"Keep back, Dick!" said Harry, when they reached the manure heaps; "keep
back, sir; quiet; down, dog, down!"
But Dick was not a well-trained dog at all. He did not often come out,
and when he did he seemed to make the most of it; so every command given
by his master Dick answered by a leap, a scamper, and a bark, and doing
everything but what he was told.
"Catch hold of him, Phil; he'll frighten all the snakes away before we
see them."
But Dick would not be caught hold of, but capered about just out of
reach, and lolled his tongue out as though in derision of the efforts
made to secure him, till, growing more bold and impudent, he kept making
charges at his young masters' legs, until by one quick snatch Philip
caught the rascal by one of his ears, and so secured him in a most
ignoble manner, dragging him along with his skin all drawn on one side,
his eyes out of place, and his mouth wearing a most serio-comical
expression.
Poor Dick! he did not mean any harm; but as to being a trained and
obedient dog, he was, as I said before, nothing of the kind, and often
spoiled a great deal of sport by his wild harum-scarum ways. But now,
as he was secured, a handkerchief was tied tightly round his neck, and
another to that by way of a chain or slip, and then the search was
prosecuted.
The manure heaps were very long and large, and lay on a piece of waste
ground beside the park palings, and it was through the rents and gaps in
these pales that the snakes came out of the plantation to lay their eggs
in the warm manure; and, of course, if Master Dick had been left alone,
he would have run barking and scratching all along and alarmed the game.
As it was, they went the whole length of the first heap without hearing
so much as a rustle. The second heap was nearly passed in the same way,
when Harry, who was first, stepped nimbly back and caught hold of the
handkerchief that held Dick, who, seeing that something exciting was
going on, immediately became rampant, but was soon guided to a spot
where a snake had nearly buried itself in the rotten straw, and lay with
about nine inches of its tail exposed, after the fashion of an ostrich,
which supposes that if its head is hidden it must be all right and safe.
But there was no safety for the poor snake, for Dick was down upon him
in a moment and hanging on to its tail, in spite of the struggles of the
poor thing to get away.
All Dick's efforts were directed towards dragging the snake out of its
hole, while the snake, by means of its scaly and plated body, offered a
most powerful resistance, and tried hard to creep farther in; and so
they went on for some time, the snake, however, gradually losing ground,
until the lads began to dig round it with their sticks, and loosen the
manure, when out it came all at once, writhing and twining, and trying
to fasten upon Dick's head; but the dog's shaggy, wiry hair protected
him, and shaking the unco' brute off for a moment, he got another gripe
at it close up to the head, and shook it, and worried it, until the poor
snake hardly moved, but gave in, conquered and dying.
The trophy was secured, and Dick's stumpy tail wag-waggled, as much as
to say, "Didn't I do that well?" and then he kept snapping and leaping
up at the handkerchief which held the snake, while his red tongue
quivered and stuck out between his sharp shiny teeth that were longing
to have another snap at something. The huntsmen then cautiously went
along the side of the two remaining heaps, but not another trace of a
snake could they find, so they went back the whole length of the four
heaps, but with no better success, till Dick, who was down at the bottom
of the bramble-covered ditch, suddenly set up a sharp, short bark, then
there was a rustle and skurry for a moment, and he rushed open-mouthed
up the bank head fust at the oak palings, and came against them with a
thud just after a snake's tail was seen to disappear through a hole at
the bottom, where a small piece had rotted away.
Dick whined and howled with rage at being thus stopped in his career,
and seizing a piece of the broken pale in his teeth, dragged it so that
he would shortly have made himself a way through, but his young masters
were soon by his side.
"Throw him over, Harry," said Philip, excitedly, and in a moment Harry
had the struggling dog in his arms, raising him till he got his feet on
the top of the palings, when he leaped lightly down on the other side,
and began hunting about through the fallen leaves and twigs for the
escaped quarry; but all in vain, as his whining testified, so that poor
Dick was called off, and had to run nearly a quarter of a mile before he
could find a place to creep through, which he did at last by scraping a
little of the earth from beneath the pales, and then grovelling through,
getting stuck about the middle of his back, though, and whining till he
got free, which he did after two or three struggles, and then ran to
join his young masters, who were whistling and calling him as loudly as
they could, and who now turned their steps homeward, for Harry declared
he could smell the roast beef they were going to have for dinner.