AUNT ANNE ROSE
But the horses came to a sudden stop a few feet from where the girls
stood. Then one turned and rushed away, kicking up his heels as if to
say: "I'm not to be caught!"
Rose kept on calling "Range! Range!" and shaking the pan, and the other
horse stepped forward and stuck his nose into the dish.
"Grab hold of his mane, Anne. Quick! and hold on tight!" said Rose; "the
woman is coming now with the bridle."
Anne obeyed, holding fast to the black mane until Mrs. Pierce came
running from the barn, bringing a blanket and a bridle.
"I'm glad you caught Range," she said; "he's used to a saddle, and the
colt is wild as a deer." While she talked she was strapping the blanket
securely on the horse's back, and now slipped the bit into his mouth.
"The little girl better go," she continued, nodding toward Anne. "You
just climb that fence, and I'll lead Range alongside and you can get on
his back nicely. Sit boy fashion; it's safer. No sense as I can see in a
girl jest hanging on to one side of anything," and almost before she
knew it Anne found herself on the back of the black horse.
Mrs. Pierce, who had told the girls her name on the way to the pasture,
led Range out into the road and headed him in the right direction.
"If he don't go fast enough kick your heels against his sides and call
to him," directed the woman, handing the reins to Anne, and giving the
horse a sharp slap that sent him off at a good pace.
It seemed to Anne as if she were going up into the air, or over the
horse's head. But somehow she managed to keep on Range's back, though
she did not dare to give a backward look.
[Illustration: "YOU CAN GET ON HIS BACK"]
"Range will bring your pa back in no time, don't you worry," said Mrs.
Pierce, giving Rose a kindly pat on the shoulder; then exclaiming, "The
bread!" she ran back to the house, leaving Rose looking down the road,
and wondering, a little fearfully, if Anne would reach the big beech
tree without being thrown into the road.
Then she looked the other way, in the direction of Boston, and wondered
what would befall Lady.
"Come in, my dear, out of this hot sun," Mrs. Pierce called from the
doorway, and Rose went slowly up the path and entered the big square
room at the right of the small square entry.
"You sit right down and I'll bring you a drink," and Mrs. Pierce drew
forward a comfortable rocking-chair for her young guest, and was soon
back with a cup of milk and a square of fresh gingerbread.
"I should admire to have a girl just like you," declared Mrs. Pierce,
taking the empty cup. "I can see that you've a real good disposition,
and a girl would be a sight of company to me."
Then Rose told her about her own mother, and had begun to tell her Anne
Nelson's little history, when Mrs. Pierce again exclaimed: "My bread!"
and hurried off to the kitchen.
Rose went to the open window and looked out, wondering how long it would
be before her father would reach the farmhouse, and it seemed a long
time to wait in spite of the friendly kindness of Mrs. Pierce.
The black horse went along at an easy pace, and after a little Anne
ceased to be afraid, held the bridle-reins more easily, and even
ventured to look about a little.
"Things keep happening," she thought. "I hope nothing has carried off
Mr. Freeman and the chaise!"
Mr. Freeman was standing in the roadway, and as he saw Range with Anne
on his back coming rapidly toward him he gave an exclamation of
surprise. At a word the horse stopped, and Mr. Freeman lifted Anne from
his back.
"A man went by Mrs. Pierce's with Lady before we got there," said Anne,
after she had told him of the farmhouse, of Mrs. Pierce, and of catching
Range.
While she talked Mr. Freeman was harnessing Range into the chaise, and
they were soon on the way to the farm.
Rose and Mrs. Pierce were at the gate to meet them.
"Oh, father! Can't you go after Lady?" asked Rose.
Mr. Freeman looked at Mrs. Pierce questioningly. "If Mrs. Pierce will
lend me a horse I'll go at once," he replied; "there are a good many
houses along the way now, and I might get some trace of the thief."
"You go right along. Take the colt; he's as fast as any horse
hereabouts, and maybe you can overtake the fellow," replied Mrs. Pierce.
Mr. Freeman captured the colt, and, telling Rose not to worry if he did
not return until night, started off, the colt going at a pace that made
the girls exclaim in admiration.
"I'm real sorry you folks should be so set back in your journey, but
it's real pleasant for me to have company," said Mrs. Pierce, with a
smiling look at her young visitors. "It's days and weeks sometimes
without my seeing any one but my husband and the boys. Now we'll sit
down here and you tell me all about your journey."
"It's just like a story!" declared Mrs. Pierce, when they had finished.
"And now you are going to Boston, and you will see the streets and
shops, and churches." She gave a little sigh as she finished, and Anne
and Rose wished that it was possible for Mrs. Pierce to go to Boston
with them.
"I don't suppose you could mark out a little plan of Boston, could you?"
she said to Rose. "I like to imagine things to myself when I'm here
alone, and if I knew how the streets went, and where you lived, why, I
could say to myself, 'To-day Rose and Anne are going up King Street
toward the State House, and up Long-acre Street to the Common,' and it
would seem almost as if I saw you when I looked at the plan."
"Yes, I think I could," said Rose, and Mrs. Pierce brought a sheet of
paper and a red crayon from a big desk in the corner and laid them on
the table.
Mrs. Pierce and Anne watched Rose mark out the Common and the Mall. "The
Mall is where the fine people walk in the afternoon," she said. "Mr.
Hancock's mansion is right here, on Beacon Hill, where you get a fine
view across the Charles River to Charlestown."
Then she marked Copp's Hill. "This is where the British had their guns
when the great battle was fought at Bunker Hill," she said.
Mrs. Pierce listened eagerly. "I can 'most see it all!" she exclaimed.
"Now show me where your house is," and Rose made a little square for her
home.
"We are nearer the harbor than many houses are," she explained, "for my
father owns a wharf, and it is convenient to be where he can see boats
and vessels coming in."
The girls had been so interested, Rose in drawing and explaining, and
Anne in listening, that time passed very rapidly, and when Rose finished
Mrs. Pierce opened the door of a queer little cupboard beside the
chimney and took out a small square box.
"My! Is that a gold box!" exclaimed Anne admiringly, for the box shone
and glittered in the light.
"If it was I wouldn't keep it these days, when our poor soldiers need
food and clothes," replied Mrs. Pierce; "it is brass, one my grandfather
brought from France." As she spoke she lifted the cover and took out two
little cases of brown leather, and handed one to Rose and the other to
Anne. "Open the little clasps," she said.
The girls obeyed, and as the little cases opened they exclaimed
admiringly, for each case held a pair of scissors, a silver thimble, a
tiny emery ball and a needle book.
"My uncle brought me those when I was about your age," Mrs. Pierce said
to Anne. "I never quite made out why he brought two until this very
day, but I see now," and she smiled happily at her little visitors. "I
see now, because I can give one to each of you girls!"
After the girls had thanked her, and tried on the thimbles, and declared
that the cases were almost too nice to use, Mrs. Pierce left them for a
few moments.
"Rose," exclaimed Anne, "wouldn't it be splendid if Mrs. Pierce would
let us make believe that she was our aunt?"
"Perhaps she will; she told me that she hadn't any brothers or sisters,
or anybody except her husband and two sons," said Rose. "We might ask
her if she would be willing for us, when we talk about her to each
other, to call her 'Aunt Anne Rose'!"
"If your father only gets Lady back we'll be real glad the man took her;
shan't we, Rose?" said Anne thoughtfully.
"Because we found Aunt Anne Rose? Why, yes, I suppose we shall," replied
Rose. "But isn't it funny she should have our names! You ask her, Anne,
if she is willing for us to call her aunt."
"There!" exclaimed Mrs. Pierce, when Anne ran into the kitchen and
asked the question, "if I wasn't wishing for that very thing. I count it
as a real blessing that some one went off with your horse! I do indeed.
And if Rose's father don't find Lady he can borrow our colt for the rest
of the journey."
It was late in the afternoon before Mr. Freeman returned, but he did not
bring Lady, nor had he any news of her.
Mr. Pierce and his sons returned home at nightfall, and made the
travelers feel that they were as pleased as "Aunt Anne Rose" to have
their guests remain for the night.