AN ALARMING JUMP.
"I'll tell you what it is, children," said Captain West briskly as he
entered the dining-room rather late for breakfast, "if these pets of
yours are going to keep me trotting about the garden at night I shall
lose my excellent character for punctuality in the morning. Why, here
is Madge coming down late too, and looking very displeased with the
world. I don't know if Jack and Jill are responsible for her frowns as
well as my lateness; if so, they have a good deal upon their
consciences!"
The fact of the matter was, that poor Madge was labouring under a
grievance. In the morning she and Betty usually tried who should get
down earliest to breakfast, and to-day, as might have been expected,
Madge's shoes had shrunk up so uncomfortably after their wetting that
she could not get them on without a great deal of rough handling. And
then, to make matters worse, Nurse had declared that they were still
damp, and made her take them off again to be put in front of the fire
and thoroughly dried. Of course Betty was downstairs and half through
a basin of bread-and-milk before Madge appeared, with a very gloomy
countenance.
However, Captain West could not abide melancholy faces around the
table, and he began to make such outrageous suggestions about a fitting
punishment for the goats who had disturbed his night's rest, that at
last even Madge was compelled to relax into a smile.
"Oh, don't pretend you will shave them, Papa! I don't believe anybody
could make them stand still enough to be shaved," she said. "And as
for harnessing them to the brougham, you know they are so small they
would slip through the horses' great collars. But it would be very
nice to have a tiny cart that they really could draw," she added
wistfully.
"I think the first thing is to accustom your steeds to come when they
are called," replied Captain West. "It will be very awkward if,
whenever you want to go for a drive, you have to chase them up hill and
down dale for an hour before you can catch them."
Acting on this suggestion, the children spent all their spare moments
during the next day or two in trying to make friends with the goats.
They were so successful, that at last Jack would consent to be led
about by a bit of string tied to one of his horns, almost as quietly as
a little dog. Jill remained shy to the last, and in spite of being
perpetually offered the most tempting bits of carrot, could never
summon up sufficient courage to eat anything out of the children's
hands.
"Now that Jack is so tame he shall join in all our games," said Madge.
So the children led him about everywhere with them in the garden and
fields. But they never dared let go the string, or he would be off,
running and leaping into the most extraordinary places before they
could come up with him again.
Poor Barton was much perplexed where to shut up the two goats at night.
The cow-house was a perfect failure; Jack and Jill stayed in it just as
long as they liked, and not a moment longer. Unless all the doors and
windows were shut, which was very stuffy in hot weather, there was no
keeping them in an instant after they had decided to take a walk. And
if they got out, they were not content to stay in the fields, but
always found their way into the garden, where they cropped off the most
cherished shrubs and flowers.
At last Barton hit on the plan of putting them into an empty pig-sty
for the night and spreading a piece of old netting over the opening.
This was very successful for a time.
When Jack was sufficiently tamed to be led about it occurred to the
children that they might now introduce him to the Eagle's Nest. They
had rather neglected their fortress of late, having had so much
occupation at home with the goats; in fact they had not visited the
beech-tree for nearly a week, not since the eventful day when they had
seen Mrs. Howard and made acquaintance with Lewis Brand. In the new
interest of training Jack and Jill everything else had been forgotten.
But as they came near the Eagle's Nest all their old excitement in it
revived.
"Will Jack have to walk up the grand staircase or the rope-ladder?"
inquired John. "Or shall we have to lift him?"
"We can't stretch high enough to do that," observed Betty.
It was left to Madge as usual to decide this important question. She
gave it as her opinion that with a little help from behind Jack could
mount the grand staircase. "I will go up first," she said, "and pull
at his horns. Then I can let down the rope-ladder for you two."
"I thought we left the rope-ladder coiled round that bough just above
the Eagle's Nest," remarked Betty, "but I can't see it there now."
"Little Blind Eyes! Of course it must be there. I twisted it round
the branch rather tightly, on purpose that it shouldn't show from
below!" cried Madge rather impatiently, for she was leading Jack by a
piece of string, and as he continually hung back to nibble bits of
grass that looked especially tempting, it required a great deal of
waiting about and coaxing to get along at all.
"I can't see it there now," repeated Betty obstinately.
"Oh, don't go on staring up at that old rope-ladder!" exclaimed Madge,
"You just hold Jack at the bottom of the tree while I climb the grand
staircase. And then, when I am ready to pull his horns, both push him
from behind as hard as you can."
Whether Jack was more active even than they had credited him with
being, or whether the twins pushed harder than had been expected, will
never be known. At all events, long before Madge was firmly seated on
the Eagle's Nest there was a terrific scramble, and the goat bounded
past her almost knocking her out of the tree. In the struggle not to
fall she very naturally dropped the leading-string and clung with both
hands to a bough. Jack took advantage of his opportunity. Without
pausing more than a second on the Eagle's Nest he skipped lightly on to
the top of the boundary wall, and from there took a tremendous jump
right into Mrs. Howard's orchard.
"He's gone!" shrieked Madge. "Oh, what shall we do!"
Quite overcome by this unforeseen calamity, the children actually
forgot to quarrel among themselves about who was responsible for the
accident. They all crouched down on the sticks composing the Eagle's
Nest, and watched almost in silence the scene that was going on down in
the orchard. At first Jack appeared frantic with delight at having
regained his freedom and discovered a new playground. He scampered
round and round the orchard, kicking up his heels, and disturbing
horribly the placid old cows who were standing half asleep in the
shade, chewing the cud and slowly whisking their tails to drive the
flies off their sleek backs. But after a time it seemed as if Jack
began to feel rather strange amidst his new surroundings. He left off
frisking, and wandered restlessly about the orchard as if searching for
some way to get out. Once or twice he looked up at the wall and
bleated rather piteously.
"He wants to get back," said Betty. "Do you think he can possibly jump
up the wall again?" She spoke almost in a whisper, having an
uncomfortable feeling that if Mrs. Howard heard strange voices she
might appear as suddenly as she had done on the last occasion.
"It's too high and straight even for Jack," replied Madge sadly. "You
know the trunk of the tree helped him on this side, and, besides, you
and John were both pushing him from behind."
"I've thought of a way," cried Betty. "Only I'm not quite sure whether
I should dare to do it. I would, if you promised to come with me. It
is for two of us to go down the rope-ladder into the orchard and try to
catch Jack, and then--"
"Push him up the wall again, you mean?" interrupted Madge eagerly.
"Yes, we'll do it! It's the only way we can get Jack back."
"But won't it be trespassing to go into Mrs. Howard's field?" inquired
John.
This suggestion rather damped the spirits of the party. They knew that
if you were caught trespassing, very terrible though ill-defined things
might happen. When Barton found that village boys had been walking
over the farm, searching for birds' nests and trampling down the mowing
grass, he always said they had better not let him catch them
trespassing or they would never forget it. He never condescended to
explain exactly what punishment awaited them; but it sounded rather
like imprisonment for life, with hard labour. So the little Wests grew
up with a wholesome terror of being found trespassing, believing that
such an offence might lead to something much more severe than the
scolding at home, which was all the punishment they received for
ordinary acts of mischief.
"Perhaps it would not count as trespassing if we stood on the
rope-ladder," said Betty hopefully. "And Jack might come to us if we
called him. Anyhow, we could climb up again quickly if we saw Mrs.
Howard coming, and she could never say that we had been exactly on her
land."
"I tell you what," said Madge after a moment's thought, "I shall go
down the rope-ladder after Jack even if I have to run into the middle
of the field to catch him. And if it's trespassing I can't help it.
You two can sit in the Eagle's Nest and warn me if you see any danger.
I would rather do it all by myself."
When Madge spoke in that decided kind of way, the younger ones knew
that she had made up her mind. And they were justly proud of her
bravery and energy. But an unexpected obstacle prevented Madge from
carrying her heroic design into execution. When they began to search
for the rope-ladder it was not there!
No doubt Madge had been perfectly correct in saying that she had left
it safely coiled round a branch, the last time they played at the
Eagle's Nest. Only Betty had been equally right as she crossed the
field in saying that she could not see it there to-day. The children
would probably have noticed its disappearance much sooner if they had
not been so absorbed in watching Jack. There seemed really nothing
left to be done; for even Madge with all her length of limb and daring
courage could not get up or down a wall ten feet high without any help.