A LARK IN THE OPEN
"Well, where do we go from here, boys?" asked Allen, lazily stretching out
on the grass with a convenient, raised bank of moss for a pillow, while
the girls repacked the depleted hampers. "It's such a wonderful day, and
camp was never like this."
"Tell us something we don't know," Frank retorted. "Gee, it's been a fine
experience and all, but, believe me, I'll be glad when the call comes for
action."
"They're off again," said Grace plaintively.
"I must say you're not awfully complimentary," added Mollie, busily
folding napkins.
"In what way, sweet maid, do we offend?" Will inquired.
"Oh, always talking about how glad you'll be to get away from us," she
explained. "Here we thought we'd been entertaining you so beautifully--"
"Gee, you have!" cried Roy, propping himself on his elbow and speaking
with unaccustomed solemnity. "It's been just great, having you girls
here."
"It certainly has," added Frank. "I guess we'd have gone clean crazy
because of homesickness if you hadn't come along just when you did."
"Now you're saying something," added Allen warmly, while the girls stopped
packing and looked on happily. "Do you remember what we were talking about
that day when we almost--"
"Ran into what we were talking about?" finished Frank with a grin. "You
bet I do."
"Well, what was it?" drawled Grace, after they had waited patiently for
the boys to continue and the latter had smiled aggravatingly to themselves
over their thoughts.
"If it's bad," added Mollie briskly, "we don't want to hear it, for, as
the old lady said that used to come to see Mother regularly once a year,
'I don't care what terrible things people say or think about me, if they
don't tell me about it,' But if it's good--we might stand it."
"Oh, it was good all right," Frank assured her, still smiling over his
thoughts. "We were saying that if we didn't get a furlough so we could go
back to Deepdale--"
"For a certain purpose," suggested Will.
"For a certain purpose," Frank repeated solemnly--"we were afraid we
might have to desert."
"Yes, that would have been sensible," scoffed Mollie. "Get half a dozen
years in prison for yourselves and I'd like to know where your furloughs
would be then."
"And you haven't really told us a single nice thing about ourselves,"
added Betty plaintively. "All the time we've just been holding our breath
to listen--"
"We've been doing our best to tell you those nice things, every minute of
every day since then," said Allen in a low voice. "If you haven't heard,
it's because you wouldn't listen."
Betty colored adorably--to quote Allen again--and resumed her packing with
great fervor.
"All of which," Frank finished his self-justification, "shows that we're
far from anxious to leave you girls when we say we're eager for action. I
guess," he added, thoughtfully, "it's just because we're so crazy to be
with you that we're eager to go across."
"That sounds rather--" began Grace, but Frank would not let her finish.
"I know it does," he admitted. "Sounds like a contradiction. But I think
you know what I'm trying to get at, just the same."
"Why, sure," Will backed him up eagerly.
"Frank means that we've got a confounded, disagreeable job to do before we
can settle down and be happy on good old United States soil again--"
"And the sooner we get it done, the better," finished Roy.
Allen nodded.
"I guess that's about the size of it," he said. "The sooner we get there,
the sooner we'll be coming home again. And, say, fellows, what a home
coming!"
At the wistfulness in his voice the girls felt the tears rise to their
eyes, and to save them from a breakdown Betty crisply changed the subject.
"I hope you boys can get over to the Hostess House Thursday night to see
the entertainment we are helping get up among those new fellows who came
week before last," she cried.
"Working yourselves to death over it, are you?" inquired Allen.
"Never!" returned Grace, with sudden emphasis.
"But it's lots of fun," chuckled Mollie. "We have found out by judicious
inquiry--Amy, here, soon worms out the heart secrets of these boys by her
quiet, sympathetic way--that a number of those boys have parlor tricks of
one sort or another, and--"
"That orchestra fellow really is good," interrupted Amy. "Boys, you should
hear him play! He has a guitar hung over his shoulder, a harmonica
strapped to his head, a piano near by to which he makes sudden dashes, and
all the while he dances the most marvelous dance!"
For once Amy was aroused to enthusiasm. The boys, however, were less
interested, and Roy wanted to know what the girls themselves had to do in
the coming entertainment.
"Oh," laughed Betty, "we are stage managers, scenic artists, stage hands,
costumers, modern mutation of the Greek chorus, stays and props for the
weak and timid, brakes for the overbold--in fact, we are around to do any
work that nobody else wants to do.
"But we haven't decided," she reminded them suddenly, "just how we're
going to spend the rest of the afternoon. Of course we can always take a
walk--"
"Not after that lunch," declared Allen, striving to sit up, and sinking
down again with a moan, "I'm ten pounds heavier than when I came."
"Well, you ought to be ashamed to admit it," retorted Mollie. "I thought
in the army you had to be able to hike fifteen miles without winking."
"Sure. But this is our day off," objected Roy. "What do you suppose we get
leave for--just to do what we can do every day of our lives?"
"Well, then, for goodness sake, suggest something," cried Mollie
impatiently.
"I have an idea," cried Allen, so suddenly that they all started.
"Well, you needn't be so proud of it."
"Do you remember that pond we came across the day we went prospecting
alone, Frank?" he continued, not noticing the interruption.
"Yes," Frank answered, catching the idea and looking interested. "Seems to
me it ought to be somewhere in this neighborhood. Going to catch some
fish?"
"Why, of course," put in Roy scornfully. "We're so attractive all we have
to do is to whistle to the little animals to have them squabbling for the
best place on the hook."
"My, isn't he the sarcastic boy," grinned Allen. "That little trick might
work with you, Roy, but we're more modest."
"Well, have you got any fishing tackle?" queried Roy patiently.
"Sure," it was Frank's turn to be sarcastic. "Don't you know that's a part
of every dough boy's outfit--so he can go fishing for the Huns?"
"Peace, peace, my children," entreated Betty plaintively. "Can't we ever
talk about anything without getting into an argument?"
"But this isn't an argument; it's a suggestion," said Allen. "Though I
expect the scorn and ridicule of an unthinking populace. Perhaps you have
heard of the old-fashioned, but sometimes effective, string and bent pin?"
The boys shouted, and Allen bent upon them a pitying glance.
"It is even as I expected," he said sorrowfully. "Well, I have done my
best--"
"I say old man," Roy interrupted suddenly, proving an unexpected ally,
"I'm for you. Of course we won't get anything, but it will be an
adventure. And gee, some fresh fish would taste good!"
So they went to work, eager as children on a lark. The girls managed to
furnish enough pins for the hooks, and when the available string gave out,
the boys made use of stout, withy vines as substitutes.
And, strange as it may seem, they actually were successful. The little
stream proved to be full to overflowing with fish, small to be sure, but
still eatable.
"Gee, I never saw anything like it!" cried Roy as he excitedly pulled out
one fish after another. "They seem to be eager to be caught. And to think
that we actually scoffed at the idea."
"That's what genius always has to bear," put in Allen, resignedly, while
Betty gave him a side-wise glance from under her long lashes.
"Oh, don't we hate ourself," she chided softly, as she handed him more
bait. "You really shouldn't, Allen--"
"What! Hate myself?" he demanded, letting a fish slip back into the water
in his preoccupation. "I'd just as soon--as long as you don't!"
Betty laughed happily. It was so good to be there, unbelievably catching
fish, with Allen beside her saying delightful--and foolish--things.
Then she thought of the parting that must inevitably come and her bright
face clouded. Allen saw the shadow and leaned toward her anxiously.
"What is it, dear?" he whispered softly. "Have I done anything?"
"No," she answered with a little smile, half-whimsical, half-wistful. "You
haven't done anything. It's what you're going to do that hurts."