"It's the Pollard and Rolfe boys," explained Mr. Templeton.
"Ho! I know where _they_ are!" cried Jimmy, "They're all right. They're
only digging a cave in the side of a sand-bank."
"Show us where! Run as fast as you can!" exclaimed Mr. Rolfe and Mr.
Pollard. Mr. Pollard had been hunting for the last half-hour. He knew
Nate was deeply interested in "Jimmy's play" and would not have kept
away from the tent unless something unusual had happened.
Jimmy ran, followed by several men who could not possibly keep up with
him. But when they all reached the sand-bank, where were the
"cave-dwellers"? They had burrowed in the sand till completely out of
sight!
"Hello! Where are you"? screamed Jimmy.
There was no answer. In enlarging the cave they had loosened the very
dry earth, and thus caused the roof over their heads to fall in upon
them, actually burying them as far as their arm-pits! They tried to
scream, but their muffled voices could not be heard. The "cave" looked
like a great pile of sand and nothing more. Nobody would have dreamed
that there was any one inside it if it had not been for Jimmy's story.
"Courage, boys, we're after you, we'll soon have you out!" said the men
cheerily; though how could they tell whether the boys heard or not?
Indeed, how did they know the boys were still alive?
Two men went for shovels. The other men, not waiting for them to come
back thrust their arms into the bank and scooped out the sand with
their hands. The sand was loose and they worked very fast. Before the
shovels arrived a moan was heard. At any rate one of the boys was alive.
And before long they had unearthed both the young prisoners and dragged
them out of the cave.
Not a minute too soon, Joe gasped for breath and looked wildly about;
but Nate lay perfectly still; it could hardly be seen at first that he
breathed. His father and mother, the doctor and plenty of other people
were ready and eager to help; but it was some time before he showed
signs of life. When at last he opened his eyes the joy of his parents
was something touching to witness.
Jimmy, who had been standing about with the other children, watching and
waiting, caught his mother by the sleeve and whispered:--
"I should have been in there too, mamma, if it hadn't been for you!"
"What do you mean, my son? In that cave? I never knew the boys were
trying to make a cave. I did not forbid your digging in the sand, did
I?"
"No, mamma; but I knew you wouldn't want me to do it in these
clothes--after all my actions! And I had promised to be more careful."
Mrs. Dunlee smiled, but there were tears in her eyes.
"How glad I am that my little boy respected his mother's wishes," said
she, stooping to kiss his earnest face.
She dared not think what might have happened if he had disregarded her
wishes!
It was a time of rejoicing. Mr. Templeton ordered out the brass band
and the Hindoo tam tam. The horse Thistleblow seemed to think he must be
wanted too, and came and danced in circles before the groups of happy
people.
"I could believe I was in some foreign country," said Mrs. McQuilken,
smiling under her East Indian puggaree, as she had not been seen to
smile before, and dropping a kiss on the cheek of her favorite Edith.
After dinner the Dunlees met in Aunt Vi's room, and Aunt Vi observed
that Mrs. Dunlee kept Jimmy close by her side, looking at him in the way
mothers look at good little sons, her eyes shining with happy love and
pride.
They were talking over "Jimmy's play," which had not been played. The
money must all be given back to the people who had sat and looked so
long at that calico curtain.
"We'll try 'Granny's Quilting' again next Saturday," said Aunt Vi.
They did try it again. There were no caves to dig this time, and young
Master "Ezekiel Whalen" was on the stage promptly at half-past one,
eager to show his grandparents that he was a boy to be relied upon after
all. The play was a remarkable success. All the "summer boarders and
campers" came to it, and everybody said:--
"Oh, do give us some more entertainments, Mrs. Sanford! Let us have one
every Saturday."
Aunt Vi, being the kindest soul in the world, promised to do what she
could. She gave the play of the "Pied Piper of Hamelin," with children
for rats; and Eddo was dressed as a mouse, and squealed so perfectly
that Edith's cat could hardly be restrained from rushing headlong upon
the stage.
Later there were tableaux. Edith wore red, white, and blue and was the
Goddess of Liberty. Jimmy was a cowboy with cartridge-belt and pistols.
Lucy and Barbara were Night and Morning, with stars on their heads. Mr.
Sanford was Uncle Jonathan. Mr. Hale was an Indian chief.
Jimmy's debts were more than paid, and a happier boy was not to be found
in the state of California.
After this there were plenty of free entertainments on the tailings. At
one of these, when the audience was watching a flight of rockets,
Katharine heard two women not far away talking together. One of them
asked:--
"Where's that little Dunlee girl, the one that keeps the play-school?"
"Over there in the corner," replied the other, "She hasn't any hat on.
She's sitting beside the girl with a cat in her lap."
"Oh, is that the one? So young as that? Well, she's a good girl, yes,
she is. I guess she _is_ a good girl," said the first speaker heartily.
"My little Henry thinks there's nothing like her. He never learned much
of anything till he went to that play-school. He never behaved so well
as he does now, never gave me so little trouble at home. She's a _good_
girl."
A world of comfort fell on Kyzie. Young as she was and full of faults,
she had really done a wee bit of good.
"And they didn't say a word about my jumping out of the window," thought
she, with deep satisfaction. "Wait till I grow up, just wait till I grow
up, and as true as I live I'll be something and do something in this
world!"
She did not say this aloud, you may be sure; but there was a look on her
face of high resolve.