A STRIKE!
The weeks vanished all too quickly to suit the black-eyed maid from the
desert, and she often found herself wondering where the time went to,
for before she realized it, winter had slipped away and spring was
nearly gone. Now May was half over, and in another month school would be
closed for the summer. Carrie was to spend her vacation on the Oregon
farm with her grandmother, and Tabitha must return to the desert alone.
She sat swinging idly under the pepper trees, her Latin grammar on her
knees, but with eyes staring off across the smooth lawn and beautiful
shrubbery, thinking mournfully of the long, hot weeks on the burning
desert before September would come again.
"I have hardly had a chance to say a word to Carrie all this year, and
now after counting on three months alone with her in Silver Bow, she is
going away for her vacation. That is always the way things happen with
me. Some people have everything and others nothing." Half unconsciously
she began to hum the tune Mrs. Vane had composed for _The Discontented
Buttercup_; then realizing what she was singing, she laughed.
"Now aren't you ashamed of yourself, Tabitha Catt?" she exclaimed aloud.
"When you have the chance to go to boarding school and get an education,
and make so many beautiful friendships and have everything so perfectly
lovely, here you are envying Carrie because she is going to her
grandmother's for vacation. She isn't well, and it wouldn't be good for
her to go back to the desert for the hot summer months. Besides, you
promised to be good and not to envy people any more. You are a
discontented buttercup.
'Look bravely up into the sky,
And be content with knowing
That God wished for a buttercup
Just here, where you are growing.'"
"What's that about a buttercup?" asked a merry voice behind her, so
unexpectedly that Tabitha nearly fell out of the hammock. So intent had
she been upon her own thoughts that she had not heard the tiptoeing
footsteps on the soft grass, and was startled when Carrie plumped down
beside her, and three or four other girls ranged themselves in
comfortable positions in the fresh clover at their feet.
"How you frightened me!" cried the absorbed songstress, moving over to
give Carrie more room. "Where have you been? You weren't in your rooms
when I came down, so I slipped out here to study."
"About buttercups?" teased Bertha, tickling her throat with a long
grass. "If you had gone up to the third floor you would have found us
all in Hattie's room, admiring the watch she just got for her birthday.
Have you seen it?"
"No, I was just finishing a letter when she called us, and by the time I
was ready to go, you had all disappeared. I forgot she had changed her
room."
"Oh," cried Carrie abruptly, "here is a letter for you! We stopped at
your room as we came down and you weren't in, so I brought it along. I
got one from papa, too, and what do you think? There has been a strike
on the Tom Cat!"
A burst of laughter from the girls on the grass greeted this remark, and
even Tabitha joined in, though the unusual piece of news made her heart
beat fast and her eyes glow with an eagerness she could not suppress.
"When--how big--" she began, but Cassandra interrupted with the puzzled
question, "What did they strike the tomcat for and who did it?"
"The Tom Cat is the name of a claim Kitty's father owns, and when there
is a strike on a mining claim, it means that gold or silver has been
found," explained Carrie patiently. "Silver Bow is a silver mining camp,
but the Cat Group is about thirty miles from there and it has gold on
it. Papa says the vein they have uncovered is very rich and promises to
be a big one. They have offered your father a fortune for just that one
claim, but he won't sell. He will be a rich man now, Puss. Aren't you
glad?"
Tabitha sat in a daze, hardly daring to believe her ears. Could it be
after all these years her father was to find wealth again, or was it all
a dream?
"Well, you are the queerest girl!" declared Chrystobel, who was
watching her curiously. "If anyone had told me my father had found a
gold mine, I should jump up and down and shout, and then write for some
more money right away. You can have everything you want now, can't you?"
Chrystobel had secretly pitied Tabitha because her monthly allowance of
pocket money was so small, and she did not understand how anyone could
receive the good news with such a calmly disinterested air. But Tabitha
was not disinterested in the least. She was simply too busy with her
thoughts to notice that her companions evidently expected some
demonstration on her part in view of the astonishing news. Carrie was
the only one who understood, and she explained,
"Kitty is so surprised she doesn't know what to say, do you, Puss?
Better open your letter and see what they write you about it. Is it from
Mrs. Vane?"
Tabitha's letter had remained unnoticed in her lap where Carrie had
tossed it, but now she lifted it, and inspected the envelope before
replying, "No, it is from Tom. Why--I--I--think I--won't read it just
now."
Her flushed face had paled, and she caught her breath sharply, for the
letter was post-marked Silver Bow instead of Reno; but without further
comment she slipped it into her Latin Book and joined in the gay chatter
with her companions, a secret fear tugging at her heart.
Sometime later, after successfully eluding the laughing group, she stole
away to her room, locked the door, and tore open the envelope with hands
that trembled so violently she could scarcely control them, whispering
to herself, "What can Tom be doing at home? College doesn't close for a
month yet. I wonder if his money is all gone, and he can't finish the
term. Or has Dad sent for him to help out in the mine? No, he wouldn't
do that, surely."
She spread the rattling paper out on the table, and with difficulty
spelled out the scrawl written with pencil and evidently in much haste.
The message was brief:
Dear Puss:--I suppose you have already heard the good news of
the strike on Dad's claims. I meant to have written you about it
before, but have been too busy. The vein is larger than at first
appeared, and quite rich; but of course we can't tell yet
whether it is more than a pocket. We think it is a sure-enough
vein, however.
In timbering a shaft which threatened to cave in, Dad was hurt,
and they sent for me. We have him at the house, for he refused
to be taken to the Miners' Hospital. I am glad it happened so
near the end of the college year. If he gets along all right, I
can take the examinations I must miss now in September, and go
along with the work of the class next year. When will your
school be out? I don't think you have ever said. I suppose you
are busy now getting ready for examinations--or don't you have
such things there? Don't study _too_ hard, Puss, and don't be
alarmed about Dad.
With love, TOM.
The letter fluttered unheeded to the floor, and Tabitha, having read
anxiety between the lines, sat in a brown study.
Dad hurt, Tom at home, Aunt Maria in the East! She was only a little
girl, but she could help a great deal around the house, and maybe--maybe
she could be of assistance in the sick-room. She shuddered at this
thought, for fear of her father was still strong in her heart. But she
could not shirk her duty; she must go home. She gathered up the letter,
stole out of the room and down to the principal's office, where she
found Miss Pomeroy still at work at her desk.
"What is it, dear?" asked the busy woman, smiling up from her papers at
the sober yet determined black eyes.
"I am going home," answered the girl, laying Tom's message on the desk
and waiting for it to be read.
When Miss Pomeroy had finished, she turned to the child at her side, and
slipping her arm about the slight figure, drew her close, saying, "You
think they need you, dear? He doesn't say anything about wanting you to
come."
"Oh, Tom wouldn't ask me to come, no matter how much he might want me.
But there is no one at home in Silver Bow to take care of Dad, except
Tom, and men don't know much about nursing sick folks. I _ought_ to go."
"I think your decision is the right one, Tabitha," said the sweet voice
after a long pause. "I don't like to see you go, but I am glad for your
sake that school is so nearly done that you will lose only a few weeks.
That can easily be made up during the summer. Your teachers will tell
you how much further to study. I am so sorry, little girl, that this has
happened! I will do anything in my power to help you, and would urge you
to stay and finish the term, only that I would not want to keep you when
you feel that you may be needed there. When do you want to go?"
"Tonight," was the prompt reply, for some way Miss Pomeroy's words gave
her added courage in her hard decision, and she wanted to be gone before
she had a chance to repent. "Don't tell the girls. It is hard to have to
leave just now when the year is so nearly done, though if I must go, I
am glad I shall miss only four weeks more of school. But I really can't
say good-by to anyone. It has been _so_ lovely here, Miss Pomeroy!"
"Dear little Tabitha," murmured the woman tenderly. "It has been lovely
to have you with us, too, and I shall look forward to next autumn to
bring back our precious girl who is not only learning life's great
lessons herself, but is also teaching us the beauty of living. Go now to
your packing. I will send Miss Summers to help you, and will myself
attend to your ticket. As soon as the trunk is ready, John will take it
to the depot and have it checked. Keep a brave heart under the little
jacket, dear, and remember the One who is everywhere."
So a few hours later she was helped aboard the train by the dusky
porter, and was whirled away into the darkness of the night toward home,
cheered but anxious.