An oppressive silence followed, while each girl looked blankly at her
neighbor. The new Pioneer's face flushed, and her eager, excited eyes
shadowed, as she quickly realized that in her eagerness to follow the
law of kindliness she had been too officious. She stood in dismayed
embarrassment, the chill of an unpleasant surprise benumbed her. With a
faint hope she turned her eyes appealingly towards Helen, surely her
level head and kind heart would prompt her to second her. Helen caught
the look and smiled faintly.
Edith, who was always the first one to either second or down a
proposition, broke the silence by exclaiming in an aggrieved tone, "Why,
the idea, Nathalie Page! we can't give up the bird-hike, we've all
brought our lunches!"
"I should say not," interposed Lillie Bell with flashing eyes. "Why, it
would take the whole morning, and there could be no hike for to-day, and
next week I can't go, I--"
"Oh, they have probably found the child by this time!" ventured Barbara
North, to Nathalie's surprise, as she had always found her of a kindly
nature.
"Well, _I_ for _one_ don't think it is our place to look for the child,
anyway," asserted Jessie, decisively. "Let the men of the town do it.
There are three policemen hanging around all day with nothing to do."
Nathalie's cheeks had lost their pink bloom; her face stiffened as she
retorted coolly, "Well, just as you please, I see I have made a
mistake." She nerved herself. "I thought kindliness was one of the laws
of the organization, and it seemed to me that our pleasure was to take a
secondary place when we had an opportunity to do a kind act. If you had
seen the poor mother sobbing--"
"Oh, fiddle!" ejaculated Lillie, "those colored people are all emotion;
their sobs don't count for much. I agree with Jessie that the
townspeople should send out a search party, and I for one refuse to give
up the hike. Who's on my side?" she ended abruptly, turning and facing
the group.
"I!" and "I!" shouted several voices at once in answer.
Nathalie backed towards the edge of the veranda. "I seem to be in the
minority," she said with assumed indifference, although her heart was
beating in double-quick time, for something had whispered, "They are
very rude, I would resign immediately." But this suggestion was bravely
silenced by the thought, "No, I will not be as small as that, I will
show I do not care."
"There must be some one who thinks as I do," she ended resolutely,
wishing that she could run from this affront to her sensitiveness.
"I am with you, Nathalie!" suddenly cried Helen, walking towards her
friend and putting her arm around her.
Grace looked at the bevy of girls who had bunched together, then at the
faces of her two friends. In a faint voice she asserted lamely, "And I,
Nathalie, I didn't stop to think--"
"And, Nathalie, you can count me on your side!" broke in a voice at this
moment. The girls, alert at the prospect of a division in the group,
turned quickly to see Mrs. Morrow place herself by the side of Nathalie,
taking her hand as she did so and giving it a cordial squeeze.
Nathalie's color came racing back and her heart leaped with joy. Ah,
then she had not been too officious, after all! She turned to see the
girls standing in embarrassed silence with shamed eyes and uncertain
mien. But Lillie, who was generally the spokesman of the group when
Helen was on the opposite side, cried somewhat pertly, "Why, Mrs.
Morrow, do you think it is our place to go and hunt for that colored
child? I should think it was the duty of the townspeople to look after
those things."
"That is not the question," replied the Director coldly. "As Nathalie
said, kindliness is one of the basic laws of the organization. We should
be poor Pioneers indeed if we saw a man drowning and then stood and
argued as to whether it was our place to save him or not. Nathalie, I
commend you not only for your kind suggestion, but for having the real
pioneer courage in maintaining what you believed to be right. You have
shown yourself a true Blue Robin and I am proud of you. Now, girls, we
will put it to a vote. Those of you who want to go on the hike, up with
their hands." Not a hand was raised.
Mrs. Morrow's face brightened as she cried laughingly, "Now who wants to
join a search-party with Nathalie as captain, and see if they can find
little Rosebud?"
Every hand flew up, and there was a general cry of, "I do! I do!"
"Well, girls," said Mrs. Morrow kindly, as her eyes traveled from face
to face, "I see you have repented of the error of your way. Let
Nathalie's example inspire you!"
"Oh, I guess we just didn't stop to think!" broke forth Barbara, with
shamed eyes.
"Well, when one has made up her mind to do a thing she would be a saint
to give it up without a fuss," remarked Lillie. "Of course, Nathalie was
all right, but she had had time to think it all out and we hadn't!"
"A good explanation, Lillie," answered Mrs. Morrow, "but I hope you have
all learned a lesson. Now, Nathalie, make your suggestions and we'll get
to work."
The new Pioneer had already divided the girls into two sections, with
Helen as one leader, and Lillie Bell as the other. It did hurt a little
to give Lillie the first place after she had spoken as she had, but
Nathalie realized her worth, and then, too, she did not want to show any
resentment. "You see," she explained, "I am only a dummy captain, for I
am not as familiar with the town as the rest of you are, and there will
be no time lost in making false moves."
"That is a very sensible decision, Nathalie," nodded Mrs. Morrow, "but
the question is where to look first!"
"Suppose we go down to the settlement, make a survey, and get our
bearings?" voiced Helen.
"Good, Helen, that is just the thing!" acquiesced the Director, as the
girls at her suggestion hurriedly deposited their lunch-boxes in the
hall, while Nathalie ran over to tell her mother her plans.
In a few moments the would-be searchers started, each girl equipped with
her staff, while the two leaders triumphantly displayed their whistles,
which they claimed would be of great help if any of the party got lost
and their voices did not carry.
It did not take long to reach Felia's shanty, and as Nathalie ran in to
tell her that the Pioneers were going to hunt for Rosy, the rest of the
party gazed with quick, alert eyes first in one direction and then in
the other.
"I should not be surprised if the child had wandered away looking for
flowers," remarked Mrs. Morrow, suddenly remembering what Nathalie had
said the child was doing when she was last seen.
"But where would she be apt to go?" inquired Nathalie, who had returned
in time to hear Mrs. Morrow's remark.
"Why, to the woods!" retorted Helen quickly, and her eyes lighted in
sudden thought as they dwelt on a green belt of woodland that loomed
against the sky on the opposite side of the road.
"Don't you think she might have strayed down the hill?" questioned
Nathalie, pointing to a pond shimmering in the sun at the bottom of a
knoll near-by. "Poor Mammy is quite sure she is drowned and lies at the
bottom of the pond."
"Well, I'll tell you what we can do," spoke up Lillie, "I'll take my
squad and search down by the pond, and Helen and the rest of you can go
over to the woods; somehow I'm with Mammy, for all children love to
paddle in the water."
Lillie's suggestion was a timely one, and as she, Grace, Jessie, and a
few Orioles disappeared over the slope of the hill, Helen and Nathalie,
as the advance guard, hurried across the road and into the cool recesses
of the woods. As they hastened onward every girl's eyes were alert,
watchfully peering behind every bush and tree as they stumbled over
gnarled roots and broken stumps in their efforts to reach some shaded
nook, or lichen-covered rock dimly seen in the shadows of the trees.
Helen proved an efficient leader and did not hesitate to keep her
followers busy, as she sent first one and then the other to look here or
there, determined not to miss a nook or spot where the child might be
hidden. Every now and then some of the party would give a bird call, or
Helen's whistle would reverberate sharply through the swaying pines.
But Mrs. Morrow, whose strength began to waver, finally suggested to
Nathalie and Edith, who had been acting as her body-guard, that they
rest for a few minutes. Spying a decayed tree-trunk that had fallen
across the damp, spongy earth a few feet away, they seated themselves
upon it.
"Oh, I'm really tired!" exclaimed Mrs. Morrow, for she had proved as
indefatigable as the girls in searching, thinking, she declared, of her
own two kiddies safe in the garden at home.
Nathalie, impressed by the solemn stillness about her, slowly fanned
herself with her hat, while Edith made frantic dabs at her red face,
from which beady drops were oozing. "Oh, I should just love to stay here
all day," she cried, sniffing the air, redolent with the odors of pine,
spicy balsam, silver birch, and many other trees that loomed darkly in
the mysterious retreats of the forest.
"Hark!" cried Mrs. Morrow, suddenly putting up her hand for silence as
she peered up at the green boughs above her. "Taweel-ab, taweel-ab,
twil-ab, twil-ab!" came in a succession of weird, sweet trills.
"Wheew, whoit, wheew, whoit!" imitated the Sport with quick readiness.
"It is a hermit thrush!" explained Mrs. Morrow softly, and her hand
clutched Nathalie's as she pointed to a brown bird that was scudding
swiftly over the fern a few feet away.
"Oh, isn't it a dear?" whispered delighted Nathalie, for to her this
coming, as she called it, into the very heart of nature was a new
experience. She half regretted at times that they had been compelled to
forego the bird-hike, as she was so anxious to get in touch with the
feathered songsters of the wood and field. Then, too, suppose the
searching-party should fail of its purpose, she would feel that she had
been the means of leading them on a wild-goose chase!
As her eyes roamed here and there in the hope that she might see the
brown thrush again, she started, stared a moment, and then springing to
her feet dashed across to the clump of ferns where the bird had been
flying.
"I have found a clew!" she cried triumphantly a moment later, as she
returned and held up her hand. Between her thumb and forefinger was a
bit of red, which she was waving gleefully as she came towards them. As
the Sport and Mrs. Morrow hurried to her side they saw a loop of red
ribbon still with the knot in it by which it had evidently been recently
tied to some object.
"It is Rosy's hair-ribbon!" cried Nathalie. "I found it clinging to one
of the ferns."
"Oh, are you sure?" burst from Mrs. Morrow, her eyes eager with hope as
she bent over the little scarlet knot.
"Indeed I am sure," answered the delighted girl, "for it is the very
ribbon I found in my work basket and tied on Rosy's funny little topknot
the day she was at our house. See, here is the very cut in the edge--that
is the reason it was of no use to me--but Rosy was as happy as a lark
over it. Oh, isn't this too lovely, for now I know the child is
somewhere near!"
With renewed hope they set forth again on the hunt, Nathalie running
ahead and calling "Tru-al-lee!" as loud as she could--it was the only
bird call she knew--to get in touch with the advance guard and tell them
the good news.
In answer to her Blue Robin call, in a few moments a Bob White whistle
was heard, rather faint, but there was no mistake as to that quick,
clear note. The Sport, a few yards behind, immediately responded by
giving a similar call, and then as they stood waiting to ascertain from
what direction the whistle had come, there sounded a sudden, sharp snap
of the underbrush near, and Kitty Corwin's face emerged into view.
"Hurrah, girls!" she shouted jubilantly, "we have found her!"
"Oh, where? Where?" came in an instant from three throats as Kitty
leaned against a tree and panted.
"Down in a ravine, huddled close against a rock, asleep. Helen did not
want to waken her until Nathalie came, for fear she would be frightened
at the strange faces. Come on, quick!" she exclaimed excitedly, turning
and darting back the way she had come with light, fleet steps.
But the belated ones needed no urging, especially Nathalie, who dashed
ahead without regard to time or place, with a haste that left no doubt
as to her joy that her searching party had been a success. Overhanging
branches and dried twigs that blocked her way were ruthlessly brushed
aside, or run against, scratching and bruising her unmercifully as she
discovered later, but it made no difference to the happy girl.
It seemed but a moment when she emerged into a clearing, and close at
the heels of Kitty climbed down into a small ravine. It had evidently
been at one time the road-bed of a brook, but was now filled with
scraggy stones, dried underbrush, and fallen logs.
As Nathalie saw the little motionless figure cuddled in a heap against
the rock, her heart leaped with misgiving. "Oh, is she dead?" she asked
Helen, who stood guard by the side of the rock, every now and then
brushing away a gnat or a fly that descended with a loud buzz on the
smeared black face, which lay partly exposed to view as it rested on a
mite of an arm.
"Oh, no," assured Helen, "she is all right, only asleep. I suppose she
wandered about for some time in the darkness and was tired out, poor
little tot!"
The little one looked so pathetically small as she lay there, just a
heap of bones, black skin, and woolly hair, with the tears still
glistening on the black lashes, that Nathalie's heart was stirred with
pity.
Mrs. Morrow now came forward and quickly felt her pulse, crying as she
did so, "Oh, you poor little black baby! Yes, she is all right!" she
nodded assuringly, "but Helen, what is the matter with her leg?" Her
sharp glance noted that it lay rather limply on the ground.
"I am not sure," said Helen with bent brows as she touched it softly,
"but I am afraid it is broken. That is why I waited for you and
Nathalie, I did not like to move her for fear of hurting her."
"But we shall have to," returned Mrs. Morrow as she finished examining
the injured limb, "for it is broken, and we must get her home as soon as
possible, for it will have to be set."
As Helen and Mrs. Morrow attempted to take hold of the child to lift her
on the stretcher the girls had made, she opened her eyes wide into the
strange faces bending over her. Then she closed them quickly, and as the
little black face wrinkled in fear she let forth such a howl of absolute
despair that the girls were all on the verge of joining with her in
their keen sympathy.
"Oh, Rosy," cried Nathalie springing hastily forward and taking the
child's hand softly in hers, "see, it is Mrs. Page's little girl. Don't
you remember when you called me that--Mrs. Page's little girl?" She
repeated softly as she saw the child had stopped her crying and was
staring up at her. But the black eyes closed again and the little form
shivered as a prolonged howl answered the questioner.
But Nathalie, who loved children, lifted up the little head with its
pigtails and laid it against her breast as she tried again. "There
dearie, don't you want to go in the choo-choo cars to see Mamma?"
These words had the desired effect, and the howl was arrested as two big
black eyes stared with awakening interest while Nathalie caught hold of
the stretcher and choo-chooed it back and forth. "Come, Rosy!" she cried
in a third attempt, "and we will go in the choo-choo cars to see Mamma,
and--oh, yes, the little rag-dollie I made for you, don't you remember
what a lovely time we had?"
The black eyes opened wide, stood still for a wee second, and then
twinkled into a smile as their owner cried, "Oh, yes, I knows youse;
youse de Story Lady!"
"Yes, I'm the Story Lady," quickly answered Nathalie, her face breaking
into a smile; then as Rosy smiled back, "but how did you get here,
Rosebud, so far away from home?"
The little face screwed into a knot as she whimpered, "Oh, I got lost,
Story Lady. I picked daisies in de lot, and den Jacob he showed me de
blue flowers he got in de wood. So I runned to de wood, and oh, I got a
lot!" Her eyes gleamed with joy as she held up a few withered violets
still clutched in her tiny hand. "And den it grew all dark," she moaned,
"and I couldn't fin' de road, and I fell and hurt my leg. Oh, I'se so
hungry!" she ended piteously.
But when she saw so many eyes watching her, she covered her tiny face
with her hand, shyly peeping out from between her fingers.
The girls all laughed merrily at her coquettishness, but their laughter
became almost a howl as the little black eyes began to play peek-a-boo
at them, and then danced in unison with their laughter, as if enjoying
the sensation she had created.
But time was precious, and so with the promise of candy and a story from
Nathalie the little one was lifted from the ground and carefully placed
in the stretcher, and the Pioneer search party, weary, and warm, but
jubilantly happy at their success, started for home.
"Some one of you girls ought to run ahead and get the doctor!" exclaimed
Mrs. Morrow as the rescuers plodded carefully but slowly up the ravine
with their burden, "for the child needs attention at once. I don't
wonder she cries!" For, alas! the little one had begun to whimper
softly, although Nathalie was still playing choo-choo car as hard as she
could, so as to divert her mind from the pain and hunger pangs that had
now begun to assert themselves more forcibly.
"I will go!" cried Edith quickly, and then at a nod of assent from their
Director she disappeared in the shadowy gloom of the trees like a small
whirlwind. Barbara and Kitty were then despatched to hurry and tell
Rosebud's mother that the lost was found.
As they reached the edge of the woods, Mrs. Morrow thought she heard the
throb of an automobile engine, and as it was followed in a moment by the
toot of a horn, she begged Nathalie to hurry to the road, just a few
feet beyond in the opening. "It sounds like the doctor's car--perhaps he
will take little Rosy home--for, O dear, she is suffering so!"
Nathalie softly unfastened the little hands that were clinging to hers,
and with a few bounds reached the road where, sure enough, she saw a few
yards ahead an automobile that had just passed.
Yes, it was the doctor! Nathalie thought she recognized his car, and
with mad haste tore after it, shouting to the full extent of her lungs,
"Doctor! Doctor!"
The occupant of the car, who evidently was not driving at a very high
rate of speed, heard her shouts and in a moment brought his car to a
standstill. As he turned about and stared at the oncoming figure of
Nathalie, who, red-faced and bedraggled was speeding towards him, he
looked slightly surprised.
"Oh, Doctor," began the girl. She paused, for the gentleman who was
looking at her with such a puzzled expression, coupled with slight
indignation at being stopped in this way, was a strange young man!
Nathalie halted abruptly as she discovered her error, feeling as if her
face would burst from the heat of her unwonted exercise and the fact
that she had been tagging in this tomboy style, after a strange man.
"Oh--I'm so sorry," she panted apologetically, "but Mrs. Morrow thought
she heard an automobile, she was sure it was the doctor--"
"Mrs. Morrow!" exclaimed the young man, "why, is she anywhere about?" He
jumped from his car as he spoke and came towards her.
"Oh, yes," cried the girl, with a gleam of hope that if this young man
knew their Director there was a chance for Rosy. "We have been looking
for a little colored girl who was lost--oh, I mean the Pioneers--we have
been searching in the woods," she explained confusedly, the blood
surging furiously into her cheeks under the keen gray eyes that were
looking so searchingly down at her. "Oh, can't you help us?" she burst
off appealingly. "Mrs. Morrow wants to get her home as soon as she can,
for she has a broken leg."
"A broken leg?" echoed the young man, "why, of course I will help you,"
he continued heartily. "Where is Mrs. Morrow? And--oh, I see--" the gray
eyes gleamed pleasantly, "you are Blue Robin, the little girl who lives
across the way from us. I am Mrs. Morrow's brother, Jack Homer!"