THE SWIMMING HOLE
THEY sat up late that evening waiting for Alec to come with the mail.
Mrs. Clyde and Blue Bonnet were somewhat uneasy, for they knew he had
intended to be back in time for their late supper; and when ten
o'clock came and no Alec or Shady appeared, they grew openly anxious.
Uncle Cliff refused to share their worry. "Shady's no tenderfoot," he
scoffed, "and holding up the mail has gone out of fashion in these
parts."
Blue Bonnet had no fear of hold-ups and did not care to express her
suspicion that the ride had proved too much for Alec. She found reason
to reproach herself: a forty-mile ride for a delicate boy like him was
a foolish undertaking and she should have realized it. She had ridden
that distance herself innumerable times; but she had practically been
reared in the saddle and had lived all her life in this land of great
distances. It was very different with Alec. The day of their picnic in
Woodford came back to her, and again she saw the boy, worn out by a
much shorter ride, lying white and unconscious before the fire in the
hunter's cabin. She grew almost provoked with her grandmother for
having insisted upon her practising instead of riding to Jonah as she
had wished. If she had gone along, she at least would have known what
to do for Alec in an emergency.
At eleven the moon came up, and rising out of the prairie
simultaneously with the golden disk, came Shady, riding alone. A rapid
fire of questions greeted him as he came up with the mail.
"Left the young fella at Kooch's," he explained briefly.
"What was the matter?" asked Blue Bonnet anxiously.
"Well, ye see--it was this way,--" Shady paused and then stood
awkwardly shifting his sombrero from hand to hand. Blue Bonnet guessed
instantly that Alec had sworn the cowboy to secrecy concerning the
real reason for his non-appearance, and she refrained from further
questioning. But her grandmother took alarm.
"Is he hurt--or ill?" Mrs. Clyde asked quickly.
For a moment Shady avoided her eyes, then resolutely squaring his
shoulders he lied boldly: "No, Señora,--the mare went lame on him.
He'll be over in the morning."
Mrs. Clyde drew a quick breath of relief; but Blue Bonnet was not so
easily reassured. That Kooch had a dozen horses which Alec might have
ridden if Strawberry was really disabled, was something her
grandmother did not know; but the little Texan, used all her life to
the easy give and take of ranch life, understood at once that Alec's
real reason for staying at the Dutchman's was quite different from the
one Shady had so glibly given. She knew better, however, than to press
the cowboy, and let him go off to the cook-house without attempting to
get at the truth.
"Grammy Kooch will take good care of him," said Uncle Joe; and with
her fears thus set at rest, Mrs. Clyde proposed an adjournment to the
house to read their letters.
The next morning Blue Bonnet was up before any one else in the house
was stirring, and, dressing without arousing any of the other
occupants of the nursery, she stole out of the house and made her way
to the stable. Some of the Mexicans were already up, feeding the stock
and doing the "chores," and one of them saddled Firefly. None of them
wondered at Blue Bonnet's early appearance, for since her infancy she
had ridden whenever the fancy took her, and now as she dashed out of
the corral with Don and Solomon racing madly after her, the men
grinned with satisfaction that the Señorita had returned to the ranch
unchanged.
As she neared the Kooch ranch she saw a solitary horseman emerging
from the gate. He was not looking towards her, and after a moment's
scrutiny she began to whistle "All the Blue Bonnets." With a start of
surprise Alec glanced up the road and at once galloped towards her.
"Is it really you?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes.
"Nae ither!" she laughed, turning Firefly and falling in with the
strawberry mare--whose four legs, she noted, were as sound as ever.
"Well, you are an early bird."
"Lucky you're not a worm,--I'm hungry enough to eat one!" she said
gaily. Under cover of the jest she stole a quick look at him. Yes, in
spite of the sunburn he looked worn out and ill; he needed to rest and
be taken care of. She refrained from asking how he felt and instead
kept up a steady fire of nonsense, describing their dull day at the
ranch without him. If Alec had felt any resentment at her coming for
him, it melted under her light treatment of the situation; and by the
time they reached the little "rio" he was more like his usual,
interested self.
"I think I'd like to follow up this cree--er--river, I mean," he
remarked, looking up the winding, willow-grown course.
"Not before breakfast, thank you!"
"Well, I didn't mean right this minute, but sometime," he corrected.
"We will, surely. I want to introduce you to the lovely spots of the
ranch, just as you showed me the charming places about Woodford. It
will be different from following the brook as we used to do there,
but I think you'll like it. There are picnic places along San
Franciscito that can't be beat."
"San Frances_cheeto_?" he echoed; "where's that?"
"That's the name of this river," she replied loftily.
Alec threw back his head and laughed. "The name's bigger than the
stream!" he declared.
"It has advantages over the brook, as you'll see. One of them is the
swimming hole. Do you swim?"
Alec's eyes glistened. "I'm ready to learn."
"Well, get Shady to teach you. I'm going to make the girls learn. You
boys and we girls will have the pool on alternate days,--won't it be
fun?"
"The best ever. This is the first I've heard of it."
"I wanted some things for surprises," Blue Bonnet declared. "Isn't it
odd your being here and seeing everything I used to talk about? It was
a novelty then, but after this I won't have anything left to describe
to you. What do you suppose we will talk about on our first jaunt by
the brook next spring?"
Alec's face changed oddly. "Maybe there won't be any jaunt by the
brook next spring--for me," he said, looking away from her startled
eyes.
"Why, what do you mean?" she asked, and then wished she had not
spoken, for she was suddenly afraid of his answer.
"I may not be,--you can't always tell," he stammered, looking as if he
wanted to take it all back. "Let's not talk about it now, please," he
begged, and Blue Bonnet gladly let the subject drop.
She rode on in silence the rest of the way, depressed and miserable.
Alec's words were a revelation; she had not dreamed he felt so ill and
doubtful of living. She had thought he would grow strong and well at
the ranch, and already he was worse and spoke of his case as hopeless.
They were greeted with a loud outcry from the girls, who were perched
on the top bar of the corral gate awaiting them. They had been
somewhat startled upon arising to find Blue Bonnet gone, but Firefly's
absence from his stall had explained her disappearance.
"Hurry up,--we're starving!" they cried; and Alec and Blue Bonnet,
responding gaily, dismounted and hastened to the house with the rest,
both glad to escape questions in the general hilarity and press of
hunger.
"Grandmother," said Blue Bonnet later in the day; "I'm worried about
Alec." It was just after the siesta, and seeing her grandmother
sitting alone in her chosen seat under the magnolia, she had gone out
for a chat. They were seldom alone these days.
"He does look tired," Mrs. Clyde admitted; "but it is natural he
should after that long ride."
"It isn't that." Blue Bonnet shook her head. "I'm afraid he's--got
something."
"Got something?" her grandmother repeated in puzzled surprise.
"_Has_ something, if you object to 'got.' Has something the matter
with him, I mean,--serious, you know."
Then she repeated the conversation she had had with Alec that morning.
Mrs. Clyde listened in silence, but her eyes were troubled when Blue
Bonnet finished.
"It may not be so bad as Alec imagines," she said with a forced
hopefulness. "He has been outgrowing his strength, and being
overtired, too, makes him despondent."
In spite of her words, from that time on Mrs. Clyde was more observant
of the boy, and the moment she saw the first signs of fatigue she
would make some tactful suggestion for his benefit, relieving him of
the necessity of saying he was tired, yet bringing about the
possibility of rest. And often with her own hands she would concoct
some nourishing dish, hardly so piquant as Gertrudis' red-hot
creations, but rather more healthful for a growing boy. Neither she
nor Blue Bonnet voiced their fears to the other girls nor to any of
the men, but, with a silent understanding, ministered quietly to the
frail boy's needs.
A few days later the girls crossed the meadow to the pool for their
first lesson in swimming. It was an odd little bunch that sat on the
bank dabbling their toes in the limpid water. The hastily improvised
bathing-suits they wore were of every style and color, and they looked
as gay as a flock of parrots in their bright-hued raiment. Blue Bonnet
dove off the big boulder in the middle, to the great envy of the
others, who only consented to get wet all over after much persuasion
and the threat of a forcible ducking.
Sarah took the whole thing as seriously as she did most things.
"Everybody should learn to swim," she announced authoritatively as she
sat contemplating a plunge. "Some day we might have a chance to cross
the ocean, and then we'd wish we knew how."
"Do you mean to swim across the ocean?" demanded Blue Bonnet wickedly.
"Of course not," replied Sarah, unruffled. "But in case of shipwreck,
you know, it's well to be prepared. I believe it should be studied as
a science,--get the stroke, then do it. It's like bicycle riding, they
say: when you once learn how to keep your balance you never forget."
Blue Bonnet demonstrated the stroke again and again, while the other
girls watched and imitated as they sat or sprawled on the grassy
bank. Sarah bent her whole mind to the acquiring of the proper arm
action; lay face-down and kicked scientifically; then, convinced of
her preparation for the feat, boldly entered the water.
"Good for you, Sallikins!" cried Blue Bonnet. "The others must be
afraid of getting their feet wet." Then she sang tauntingly:
"Mother, may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter,
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb--
But don't go near the water!"
Thus challenged, Kitty stepped shrinkingly into the cold water. "If
Sarah will swim from me to you, I'll try it after her," she bargained.
It was perhaps a distance of three yards from where she stood,
waist-deep, to the big rock whereon Blue Bonnet was perched, laughing
at them; but the Hellespont could hardly have loomed wider to the
anxious eyes of Hero, than did this narrow channel now appear to the
four novices.
"All right," agreed Sarah with dogged determination. She shut her
eyes, screwed up her face, spread her arms, struck out with her feet
and started. If a hippopotamus had suddenly slipped off the bank there
could hardly have been a greater splash; Sarah kicked madly, puffing,
panting, and churning the water into foam. All to no avail. Before
she had gone a yard she sank like a paving-stone to the bottom of the
pool. Blue Bonnet, convulsed with laughter, went down after her, but
it took the combined efforts of herself and Kitty to bring the
struggling Sarah to the surface. Sputtering and choking and much
puzzled over the failure of her scientific method, Sarah retired to
the bank to get her breath.
"Kitty's turn," she said inexorably as soon as she could speak.
Kitty found the bottom no less speedily, but scrambled up by herself
and went at it again until she was able to progress almost two feet
before going down to "call on the fishes," as Blue Bonnet said. It
remained for Debby to cover herself with glory. Disdaining science and
the instructions of the teacher, she took a lesson from Nature and
struck out like a puppy. Straight to Blue Bonnet she swam, struggled
up on the big boulder beside her, gasping and breathless, but
delighted at her own success.
"Bravo!" cried the girls, quite overcome with admiration.
Emboldened by her triumph the others tried again and again, and while
not wildly successful were so far encouraged that they lost their
first great fear of the water. And that, as every swimmer knows, is
the first step towards victory.
"After you've all learned," said Blue Bonnet a little later, as they
all sat on the veranda rail drying their hair, "we'll go over to the
reservoir above Jonah some time and have a real swim. That is, if
Grandmother's willing." She was glad she had remembered to add that
last provision; it would have won an approving look from Aunt Lucinda.
"Then we'll have to have real suits," remarked Kitty, beginning then
and there to plan a fetching costume for the occasion. "I'll write
home for one right away."
When the plan was laid before Señora she made a brilliant suggestion.
"Why not make your own suits? We may be able to find material in
Jonah, and Benita and I will superintend."
Sarah beamed delightedly, but Blue Bonnet looked doubtful. "Will it be
as hard as knitting a shawl?" she asked, ignoring the giggles her
question provoked.
"Lots harder, you goose," said Kitty. "But if you begin it you'll
probably have it finished for you by the same person who did the
shawl."
"Then I don't mind!" Blue Bonnet agreed promptly. "We'll go to Jonah
to-morrow--" adding before the words were fairly said, "--may we,
Grandmother?"
"Perhaps," was all she said; but her eyes held more encouragement.