VISITING A CAMP
Rockwell was soon left far behind, and the Maynards' car flew along the
country road, now passing through a bit of woods, and now through a
little town, or again crossing a picturesque brook.
The children were delighted with the new experience, and chatted all at
once, about the roadside sights.
Pompton, the English chauffeur, though he said little or nothing, was
secretly amazed at the gaiety and volubility of the young people. The
children were allowed to take turns sitting in the front seat, and, as
was their nature, they talked rapidly and steadily to the somewhat
taciturn driver.
"What a funny name you have, Pompton," said Marjorie, as she sat beside
him; "at least it seems funny to me, because I never heard it before."
"It's a good old English name, Miss," he returned, a little gruffly, "and
never been dishonored, as I know of."
"Oh, I think it's a very nice name," said Marjorie, quickly, for she had
had no intention of being unpleasantly critical, "only I think it's a
funny name. You see Pompton sounds so much like pumpkin."
"Do you think so, Miss?"
"Oh, well, it doesn't matter about a name, anyway. Tell me about your
people. Have you any little boys and girls?"
"No, Miss; I never was married, Miss. And I ain't overly fond of
children."
"Really, aren't you, Pompton? Well, you'll have to begin being fond of
them, because you see, us Maynard children just can't stand anybody
around who isn't fond of us. Though of course we've never tried, for
everybody who has lived with us has always been terribly fond of us."
"Maybe it'll be a pleasant change then, Miss, to try another sort."
Pompton's eyes twinkled good-naturedly as he said this, and Marjorie
instinctively recognized that he was trying to joke.
"Ah, you're fond of us already, Pompton, and you needn't say you're not!
It's a funny thing," she went on, confidentially, "but everybody loves
us Maynards,--and yet we're such a bad lot."
"A bad lot, Miss?"
"Well, full of the old scratch, you know; always cutting up jinks. Do you
know what jinks are, Pompton?"
"No, Miss; what are they?"
"Why they're just jinks; something to cut up, you know."
"Cut up, Miss?"
"Oh, Pompton, you're just like a parrot! You just repeat what I say!
Don't you know _anything_?"
"Very little, Miss."
But as they rode along, and Marjorie asked her interminable string of
questions about the car, or about the trees or flowers they were passing,
or about sundry roadside matters, she found that Pompton was a very
well-informed man, indeed, as well as being kind and obliging in
answering questions.
As they spun along a bit of straight road, Marjorie saw, some distance
ahead, a girl sitting on a large stone by the roadside. The girl's face
was so weary and pained-looking that Marjorie felt a sudden thrill of
pity for her, and as a second glance showed that the girl was lame, she
impulsively begged Pompton to stop a moment that they might speak to her.
The chauffeur turned around to see if the order were corroborated by the
older people, and Mrs. Maynard said, "Yes, Pompton, let us stop and
see what the poor girl wants."
So the car stopped, and Marjorie impetuously jumped out, and ran to speak
to the girl, who seemed ill and suffering. Mr. Maynard joined them at
once, and they listened to the girl's story.
She said her name was Minnie Meyer, and that she had to walk to the
neighboring town to buy some provisions for her mother. But being lame
she had become so tired that she sat down to rest by the way.
"How far have you to go, child?" asked Mr. Maynard, kindly.
"I have already walked a mile, sir, and it's two miles more to Pelton,
where I must go. I have often walked the distance, but my foot is very
bad just now, and it is hard going. I have been ill, and I am not yet
very strong."
"I should think not!" exclaimed King, who had jumped out to see what was
going on. "Look here, Father, we're going directly to Pelton; it is a
straight road, and I can't miss the way. You let this girl take my place
in the car, and I'll walk."
"Now that's good of you, King," said his father with an approving glance
at the boy, "for this poor child is pretty well tired out. How can you
get home again, Minnie?"
"Oh, sir, I shall have a ride home. A neighbor of ours will take me; but
I have to walk over to Pelton and get my things by the time he's ready
to start."
"And what time does he start for home?"
"About two o'clock, sir."
The child's face was very white, and her eyes were large and dark. Though
probably no older than Marjorie, she looked careworn and troubled beyond
her years.
"You are a good boy, King," his mother called out from the car, "and I
think, Ed, we had better take the girl with us. Kingdon won't mind a two
miles' walk, I know, when it is in such a good cause."
"I'm going with King," announced Marjorie; "I shan't mind the walk,
either, and it will be fun for both of us to be together, while it would
be awful lonesome for King all alone."
"Good for you, Mopsy Midget!" cried King, "you're a trump! Come on, we'll
get there before the car does." King grasped his sister's hand, and they
set off merrily at a good pace along the straight road to Pelton.
Meantime, Mr. Maynard had assisted the lame girl into the car, and Kitty
tucked rugs and shawls around her to make her comfortable.
Minnie Meyer was both awestruck and delighted. She had never been in an
automobile before, and it had all happened so quickly she scarcely
realized her good fortune.
"I think you must all be angels," she said; "and I'm sorry the young lady
and gentleman have to walk so far, and all just for me."
"But they're better able to walk than you are," said practical Kitty.
"That may be, Miss, but it seems queer for the likes of me to be riding
in their place. My! But it goes fast!"
The car passed King and Marjorie, who waved their hands gaily, and
watched it rapidly disappear along the road in front of them.
"I'm glad we're doing a deed of charity, Midget," said her brother, "for
if we weren't I shouldn't relish this long walk very much."
"Now, King, don't go and spoil your noble deed by growling about it! It
was lovely of you to let that girl ride in your place, but if you're
going to kick about walking, you'll spoil it all."
"I'm not kicking. And anyway, Mops, you were the noble one yourself. You
walked just so I shouldn't be lonesome."
"'Course I did! What's lots of fun for two is awful poky for one. Come
on, I'll race you to that big sticking-out tree!"
They flew along the road with their heels kicking out behind, and though
King reached the tree first, he was only a few steps ahead of Marjorie,
who came up panting, and threw herself on the grass by his side.
"We mustn't do that again," she said, "it makes us too much out of
breath, and we can't walk afterward. Now let's rest a minute, and then
walk on just middling fast,--because it's a long way yet. What time do
you suppose we'll get there?"
"Pomp said if we'd walk straight along we ought to get to the inn by
half-past twelve. They won't have lunch till we get there."
"You bet they won't! Do you know where the inn is?"
"Well, I've never been there, but when we get to Pelton I rather guess we
can find the inn! Come on, Mops, if you're rested, we'd better get a move
on!"
Then they trudged on together, finding the way very pleasant, and many
things to interest them as they passed along.
The road was a public highway, and there were many motor cars and much
other traffic.
But as the children kept on a grassy path by the side of the road they
were in no danger, and there was no possibility of losing their way.
"It's just a matter of keeping at it," said King, "but it does seem
longer than I thought. We're not halfway yet."
"How do you know?"
"'Cause Pomp said when we came to the sign-board pointing to Mossville
we'd be halfway, and we haven't come to that yet."
"What makes you call him Pomp?"
"Oh, just for short; and besides he's kind of pompous, you know,--sort of
stuffy and English."
"Yes, he is. I like him, though, and I think he's going to like us, but
he doesn't understand us yet. I hope Father will ask that lame girl to
lunch with us. I think she looked hungry."
"She looked awful poor, and I s'pose poor folks are always hungry. It
must be awful to be always hungry, Mops!"
"Well, I'm 'most always hungry myself."
"Oh, that isn't real hunger; that's just wanting something to eat. Hello,
here's the Mossville sign now! See it?"
"Yes; so now we must be halfway. I'm not tired, are you?"
"No, not a bit. I'd like a drink of water, though. Perhaps we'll come to
a brook."
But they walked on considerably further without seeing any brook, or even
a farmhouse where they might stop for a drink of water. But when they
were about half a mile from Pelton, King saw a little bridge off toward
the right, and exclaimed, "That bridge must be over water of some sort.
If you want to, Midget, we can go over and see if it's clean enough to
drink."
"Come on, then; it won't take long, and I'm 'most choked to death."
They walked across an intervening field, and came to the little bridge
which did cross a small but clear and sparkling brook.
"What can we drink out of?" asked Midget.
"Have to drink out of our hands, I guess; wish we had a cup or something.
Oh, look at that man!"
Midget looked in the direction King pointed, and saw a man seated on the
ground, busily working at something which seemed to be made of long
rushes of reeds.
"He's making a basket," cried King, greatly interested. "Let's go and
look at him."
They trotted over to the man, and King said, politely, "Is that a basket
you're making, sir?"
"Yes," came the answer in a gruff voice, and when the man looked up at
them, they saw he was a strange-looking person indeed. His complexion
was dark, his coarse black hair rather long, and his black eyes had a
shrewd expression, but were without kindliness. "What do you want?" he
said, still in his gruff voice.
"We don't want anything p'ticular," said Marjorie, who did not wish to be
intrusive; "we did want a drink of water out of the brook, but we had
nothing to drink from, and then we saw you building a basket, and we just
came over to look at you. You don't mind, do you?"
"No, I don't mind," and the man's voice was a little less gruff as he
looked at Marjorie's pretty smiling face. Then he gave her another look,
somewhat more scrutinizing, and then he looked again at King. "You want a
drink of water, do you?" and the look of interest in his round black eyes
seemed to become intensified. "Well, I'll tell you what to do; you go
right straight along that little path through the grass, and after a few
steps, you'll find some people, and they'll give you a drink of water
with pleasure, and a nice cup to drink it out of."
"Is it far?" asked Marjorie, for she couldn't see any signs of
habitation, and did not wish to delay too long.
"No; 'tain't a dozen steps. Just behind that clump of trees yonder; you
can't miss it."
"A farmhouse, I suppose," said King.
"Well, not just exactly a farmhouse," said the man, "but you go on, you
youngsters, and whoever you see when you get there, tell 'em Jim sent
you."
"We will; and thank you, Jim," said Marjorie, suddenly remembering her
manners.
"You're welcome," said the man, and again his voice was gruff as at
first.
"Somehow I don't like it, Mops," said King, who had a troubled look on
his face as they walked swiftly along the path indicated.
"Don't like what?"
"His sending us over here. And I don't like him; he didn't look right."
"I thought he was very kind to tell us about the farmhouse, and if his
voice is sort of gruff, I s'pose he can't help that."
"It isn't that exactly; but I think he's a,--a--"
"A what?"
"Never mind; here we are at the place. Why, Mops, it isn't a house at
all! It's a tent,--a lot of tents."
"So it is! It must be an encampment. Do you think there are soldiers
here?"
"Soldiers? No! I only wish they _were_ soldiers."
As King was speaking, a young woman came walking toward them, smiling
in an ingratiating way. Like the man, Jim, she was dark-haired and
dark-skinned. Her black eyes flashed, and her smiling red lips showed
very white teeth as she spoke kindly to the children.
"Come in," she said, in a wheedling voice; "come in; I love little boys
and girls. What do you want?"
Marjorie began to say, "We want a drink of water," when King pinched her
elbow as a sign to be quiet, and he spoke to the woman himself. "We don't
want anything," he said, "we're just passing by on our way to Pelton.
Good-morning."
Grasping Marjorie's arm he turned to go away, but the woman stopped him,
saying, "Oh, don't go so quickly; come in and rest a moment, and I will
give you a drink of milk, and then you can go on to Pelton."
"Yes, let's do that, King," said Marjorie, looking at her brother, amazed
at his ungracious actions.
But King persisted in his determination. "No, thank you," he said to the
woman in a decided way; "you're very kind, but we don't care for any
milk, and we must go right on to Pelton."
"And I say you must stay right here," said the woman, in much sterner
tones than she had used before, and taking the children each by an arm,
she pushed them ahead of her inside of the largest tent.