AN EVENTFUL STRAW-RIDE
Study hour began at five o'clock and lasted until six-thirty.
The girls found it impossible to get to work. At exactly five-eleven,
Angela threw a note to Polly.
"Her train is due," it read. "Do you suppose we'll have to wait until
dinner to see her?"
Polly shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in reply, and tried to
get interested in her history.
A few minutes later, Lois left her seat and went over to the dictionary
by the window. The sound of carriage wheels made her completely forget
the word she was hunting for. She peeked out of the window. There was
Connie on the driveway. Lois watched her pay the driver and pick up her
suitcase. Then she went back to her seat.
"She's here," she whispered to Angela and Polly in passing.
Angela almost shouted with joy, but the Spartan's frown of displeasure
at the disturbance at the back of the room made her bury her head in
her desk. Just as the clock struck the half hour, Betty came in. She
went up to the platform and said, loud enough for everybody to hear:
"Miss Hale, Constance Wentworth is here, and Mrs. Baird wants Angela in
her office."
There was a general murmur of "oh, good!" through the room, and Angela
was half way to the door before Miss Hale had given her permission.
Everybody laughed as they heard her running down the stairs, two steps
at a time.
Connie was waiting for her. They fell into each other's arms and kissed
heartily. Mrs. Baird was sitting at her desk.
"Take Constance upstairs, will you, Angela," she said, smiling. "I'll
excuse you from study hour, for I know you wouldn't be able to do any
real studying. Constance will room with you. Betty has arranged it.
Isn't it nice to have her back?" she asked with a special smile for
Connie.
Tears, the sudden, grateful kind, sprang to Constance's eyes.
"Oh, if you knew how homesick I get for all this," she said falteringly.
"I was afraid to come back for fear I'd feel out of it, but I don't,"
she added happily.
Angela took her bag and hurried her up to their room.
"Now, tell me all about everything," she demanded when Connie had taken
off her things. "Don't you like the Conservatory?"
"Of course, it's wonderful," Connie answered, enthusiastically, "and I'm
working like mad. I get awfully lonesome when I don't. How's everybody?
I saw Bet for a second; she hasn't changed much."
"Everybody's fine. Lo saw you coming, and nearly jumped out of the
window with excitement," Angela told her. "I've written you all the
news. We're going on a straw-ride to-night--just the old girls that you
know and like."
"Oh, fine! I hoped we could coast anyway." Connie was delighted.
"Honestly, Ange," she said, seriously. "You don't know how good it is to
stop being grown up. I have to be so dignified and ancient all the time,
especially when I give concerts. Oh, by the way! I've got a surprise for
you."
"What?" Angela demanded.
"I'm going abroad next spring to study for a year-- I've won a
scholarship."
"Connie! Not honestly?"
"Yes, it's all decided; mother is going to take me over and leave me;
it's a secret, so don't tell any one."
Angela studied her friend's familiar face in silence for a minute. It
was just like Connie to win a scholarship and then not tell anybody.
"I don't believe it's a secret," she said at last. "You just don't want
anybody to know about it. Well, I'm going to announce it to the whole
school," she finished grandly.
"Don't you dare, Ange. I'd die of embarrassment," Connie pleaded.
"Promise you won't."
"I'll promise nothing," Angela insisted. "There's the bell. Come on and
see Poll and Lo."
It was almost a marvel the way Angela followed out her threat. In the
ten minutes before dinner, while Connie was surrounded by her other
friends, she managed to convey to every girl in the school that
Constance Wentworth was the most wonderful pianist in the world, and
that she had, by her superior ability, won a scholarship.
Poor Connie! She was always shy where her music was concerned, and she
blushed in misery under the torrent of congratulations, and never
touched a bite of dinner.
At seven-fifteen the sleigh was waiting at the door. It was filled with
fresh straw, and every available robe and blanket that could be found in
the stables had been brought.
Old McDonald, one of the chief characters of Seddon Hall, sat on the
front seat, muffled up to his eyes. He had grown quite old and feeble in
the last two years, and many of his duties had been given to younger
men, but no one thought of even offering to drive in his place to-night.
He always drove the young ladies on their straw-rides, and he would
never have even considered trusting them to the care of another.
Polly and Lois came out first, to be followed by Betty, and Angela and
Connie.
They all got in and began sorting the robes--all but Polly--she went
around to the horses' heads.
"Good evening, McDonald," she called. "Why, aren't these new?" She
looked surprised at the splendid gray team--she had expected to see the
two old bays.
"Yes, Miss Polly; they were bought last summer. The others were getting
old and we put them out to pasture. How do you like this pair?"
"Why, they're beauties." Polly stroked their velvety noses,
affectionately. "Are they frisky?"
"Well!" McDonald took time to think, "they are a bit, but nothing to be
afraid of. I can manage them."
"Oh, of course you can!" Polly said, with so much conviction that the
old man beamed with pride.
"All in!" Betty called, "and all aboard! Move your foot, Lo. I want one
side of Connie."
"Where are we going?" somebody asked.
"Out towards Eagle's Nest," Polly answered. "The roads are not used out
there and it ought to be good for sleighing."
"We're off."
"Cheer once for Seddon Hall," Betty commanded and was promptly obeyed.
"Now for Connie. We've time for one song before we reach the village,"
she said, after Connie had been lustily cheered. "Everybody sing."
They reached the foot of the hill, and the horses broke into a quick
trot--the bells on their harness jingled merrily in the crisp, cold air.
It was a wonderful night. The moon was almost full, and its brilliant
rays, falling on the white snow, made it sparkle like millions of stars.
"Are you quite comfy, Miss Crosby?" Lois asked. "There's a rug around
here, somewhere, if you're cold."
"Thanks! I don't need it; I'm as warm as toast. My feet are lost
somewhere in the straw. I feel as if I were back in Alaska again," Miss
Crosby said, "only the horses should be dogs."
"Were you ever in Alaska?" half a dozen voices asked at once. The song
was over and they were just entering the village.
"Tell us about it," Lois said.
"No, no, go on and sing some more!"
"We can't, not for a mile--that's a rule," Betty told her. "Mrs. Baird
doesn't think the village people would appreciate our music," she
explained. "They're not very nice people, but we can't annoy them.
Please tell us about 'straw-rides in Alaska.'"
Miss Crosby laughed, and began. She was a charming woman and a gifted
story-teller. She had traveled all over the world, and because she was
interested in all the little things, her adventures had been many. She
told them to-night about one ride she had taken for miles inland and
held every one of them spellbound by her account of it.
They were far beyond the village before she stopped. "We finally did get
to camp, and, of course, after it was over, it didn't seem so terrible,"
she finished. "Now do sing some more; you've made me talk quite long
enough."
"And did the dog's foot get well?" Polly inquired, still miles away in
fancy.
"No; he died," Miss Crosby whispered. "Plucky little fellow! Do sing."
There was a whispered consultation, and then:
"There's a teacher on our faculty, her name it is Miss Crosby," Betty
sang, and the rest joined in the refrain: "Oh, we'd like to know any
one with more go, and we will stand by her to the end-o." From one song
they went to another, until they reached Eagle Nest.
"Everybody out!" Polly ordered, "and stretch. Where's that chocolate you
were talking about, Ange? I'm hungry."
For five minutes they walked around, stamped their feet to warm up,
munching crackers and chocolate in between.
Then McDonald called: "You've all got to come back, young ladies. I'm
sorry, but these horses do hate to stand even a minute." He was very
apologetic, but the grays were showing signs of restlessness, and pawing
the ground.
The girls scrambled back into the sleigh and almost before they were
seated the horses broke into a run.
About a mile farther on, as McDonald slowed down at a cross-road, they
heard the jingling of other sleigh bells.
"Who do you suppose that is?" Connie asked. "Listen, they're singing!" A
minute later a sleigh like their own swung round the corner--it was
full of boys. Their driver slowed down to give McDonald the right of
way.
"Why, it must be the Seddon Hall girls," they heard one of the boys
shout. "Let's give them a cheer, fellows!"
"What school is it?" Miss Crosby asked. "Do you know, Lois!"
"Perhaps it's the Military Academy," Angela suggested.
Betty stood up in the middle of the sleigh and balanced herself by
holding on to Connie and Lois.
"No!" she said. "They haven't any uniform on. I can see-- I wish
McDonald would let them get ahead."
By this time the yell was in full swing. When it ended the boys waited
in vain for a reply.
"Maybe they didn't hear us," one of them shouted. "Let's give them a
regular cheer with horns."
Polly, who had been edging up slowly toward the front seat of the
sleigh, ever since they had started, gave a sudden spring and climbed up
beside McDonald. She knew exactly what was going to happen.
At the first sound of the horn, the horses--already frightened out of
their senses by all the singing and yelling--reared up on their hind
legs for one terrifying second, and then bolted. Poor McDonald tried to
bring them back under his control, but as he realized their condition,
his nerve failed him.
"They're gone, Miss," he said in an agonized whisper to Polly, and his
hands relaxed on the reins.
The girls, now thoroughly conscious of their danger, hung on for dear
life, and some of them cried out.
The deafening shouts and the blowing of the horns kept up in the sleigh
behind. The boys thought they were being raced.
Polly thought hard for just the fraction of a minute. Then she took the
reins from McDonald's unresisting hands and pulled. She knew that her
strength was not equal to stopping those wild runaways, but she felt she
could keep them headed straight, and avoid tipping the sleigh. Just as
she was trying to remember where she was and to place the hill that she
knew was on the right at a cross-road, poor old McDonald fainted and
fell backwards into the sleigh.
She didn't dare turn her head, but she heard Lois say:
"I've got him; help me, Bet," and Miss Crosby cry out:
"The reins! The reins!"
"I've got them; don't worry!" Polly's voice sounded miles away. Her head
was throbbing. "Can I make it? Can I make it?" she kept saying over and
over under her breath.
She saw the cross-road ahead; on the right a steep hill led up to an
old, deserted hotel. For a minute she hesitated. The horses were good
for miles more at top speed. She knew if they had level ground, that
meant entering the village. She decided quickly. It must be the hill. If
she could only make the turn. She tightened her grip on the reins and
felt the horses slack just the least little bit. She pulled hard on the
left rein, and then as they came to the turn--on the right one--so as to
describe a wide half circle and save the sleigh from tipping. The sudden
turn frightened the girls.
"Where are we going?"
"Oh, stop them!"
Polly heard their cries as in a dream. She took time to smile and toss
her head to get a lock of hair out of her eye. She had felt the slight,
but certain relaxing on the lines, and she knew the worst was over.
The hill was about a mile long, and by the time the horses reached the
top, Polly had them completely under her control. She stopped them,
finally, under the old tumbled down porte-cochere of the hotel. They
were trembling all over and they were sweating.
"Get out!" Polly ordered, "and don't make any noise. We'll have to wait
a minute before we go back--give me some blankets for the horses, and
look after McDonald."
Miss Crosby was already doing it. The old man had collapsed and lost
consciousness, but now he was coming around. With Betty to help, she had
rolled him up in a robe in the middle of the sleigh, and tried to soothe
him; his grief was pathetic.
"I'm done for; I'm done for!" he kept repeating.
Lois helped Polly with the horses.
"Sit down, Poll," she said, authoritatively. "You need rest, too. You'll
have to drive us home."
Polly looked at her gratefully--her knees were trembling.
"I better keep going," she answered. "Just don't let the girls talk to
me and I'll be all right." She was stroking one of the horse's necks.
Lois went round to the back of the sleigh. The girls were standing in a
huddled group.
"Lo, will we ever get home?" Angela asked, tearfully.
"Of course, silly," Lois replied, calmly. "Polly stopped the horses
running away; I guess she can drive us back all right; she's nervous, of
course, so don't talk to her."
"We won't," Mildred said. "Mercy, but she's a wonder! I'm, oh! I'm going
to cry."
Lois left the others to deal with her and returned to Polly.
"When do we start?" she asked, abruptly. Don't think for a minute she
was acting under her natural impulse. If she had been, she would have
thrown her arms around Polly and been very foolish; but she was trying
to act the way she knew Bob would have--without fuss. She knew how Polly
hated a fuss.
"Now, the horses mustn't catch cold and McDonald ought to see a doctor,"
Polly said. "Tell them to get in, will you? and, Lo," she added with a
grin, "pray hard going down hill. I have my doubts about the brake."
When they were all in, Miss Crosby said:
"I think we better take McDonald to the hospital."
Polly nodded: "All right, I know where it is."
The horses, sure of themselves by now, and confident in their driver,
behaved very well.
At the outskirts of the village, they drew up before the little white
hospital, and Betty jumped out and rang the bell. A nurse answered it.
In a few minutes they were carrying McDonald in on a stretcher.
As they started up the steps with him, he called: "Miss Polly!" in a
shaky voice.
Polly jumped down from her seat, and went to him.
"I'm done for," he said, slowly, "and you're a very wonderful girl. You
stopped those horses, you did, and I-- I couldn't--" He broke down.
"Nonsense, McDonald! Your hands were cold," Polly said. "You'll be fine
in the morning and able to drive anything. Cheer up!" But McDonald only
repeated: "I'm done for."
A lump rose in Polly's throat at his distress, and she leaned down and
kissed his wrinkled old face.
She cried quite shamelessly all the way back to school--secure in the
fact that no one could see her.
In the sleigh the girls were beginning to recover.
"Jemima!" Betty said, breaking a long silence. "Poll saved all our
lives; do you know it!"
Connie shivered. "I'm just beginning to realize it," she said, solemnly.
"All the time everything was happening I was trying to remember the last
duet I learned." Everybody laughed.
"Polly is--" Miss Crosby began. "Well, she's so splendid that-- But I
guess we'd better not talk about it. We're all on the verge of tears."
"Let's cheer for her," some one suggested. "Maybe we'll get our courage
back."
They gave it--a long, long one--that had in it all their admiration and
gratitude. And every poor tired muscle in Polly's valiant little body
throbbed with joy at the sound.