THE STRAW RIDE
Uncle Rufus and Alfredia had fallen back from the foot of the stairs
under the impression that it was the garret ghost, rather than the
garret goat, that was charging the mischievous Sammy Pinkney. And the
two smallest Corner House girls were much too small to catch Sammy in
full flight.
So it certainly would have gone hard with that youngster had not other
and more able hands intervened. There was a shout from behind Uncle
Rufus, an echoing bark, and a lean boy with a big dog dashed into the
forefront of this exciting adventure.
The boy, if tall and slender, was muscular enough. Indeed, Neale
O'Neil was a trained athlete, having begun his training very young
indeed with his uncle, Mr. William Sorber, of Twomley and Sorber's
Herculean Circus and Menagerie. As the big Newfoundland dog charged
upstairs to hold back the goat, Neale, with outspread arms, met Sammy
in mid-air.
Neale staggered back, clutching the small boy, and finally tripped and
fell on the carpet of the hall. But he was not hurt, nor was Sammy.
"Fo' de good lan' sake!" gasped Uncle Rufus, "what is we a-comin' to?
A goat in de attic, an'--Tessie! yo' call off dat dog or he'll eat
Billy Bumps, complete an' a-plenty!"
The big dog was barking vociferously, while the goat stamped his hoofs
and shook his horns threateningly at the head of the flight of stairs.
Tom Jonah and Billy Bumps never had been friends.
Tess called the old dog down while Sammy and Neale O'Neil scrambled up
from the hall floor. Two older girls appeared, running from the front
of the house--a blonde beauty with fluffy, braided hair, and a more
sedate brunette who was older than her sister by two years or more.
"What _is_ the matter?" demanded the blonde girl. "If this Corner
House isn't the noisiest place in Milton--Ruth, see that goat!"
"Well, Sammy!" exclaimed Ruth Kenway, severely, "why didn't you bring
Scalawag, the pony, into the house as well? That goat!"
"I was goin' to," confessed the rather abashed Sammy. "But I didn't
have time."
"Don't you ever do such a thing again, Sammy Pinkney!" ordered Ruth,
severely.
She had to be severe. Otherwise the younger ones would have completely
overrun the old Corner House and made it unlivable for more sedate and
quiet folk.
The responsibility for the welfare of her three sisters and that of
Aunt Sarah Maltby, who lived with them, had early fallen on Ruth
Kenway's shoulders. In a much larger city than Milton the Kenways had
lived in a very poor tenement and had had a hard struggle to get along
on a small pension, their mother and father both being dead, until Mr.
Howbridge, administrator of Uncle Peter Stower's estate, had looked
the sisters up.
At that time there was some uncertainty as to whom the old Corner
House, standing opposite the Parade Ground in Milton, and the rest of
the Stower property belonged; for Uncle Peter Stower had died, and his
will could not be found. That there was a will, Mr. Howbridge knew,
for he had drawn it for the miserly old man who had lived alone with
his colored servant, Uncle Rufus, in the old Corner House for so long.
The surrogate, however, finally allowed the guardian of the Kenway
sisters to place them in the roomy old house, with their aunt and with
Mrs. MacCall as housekeeper, while the court tangle was straightened
out. This last was satisfactorily arranged, as related in the first
book of this series, entitled "The Corner House Girls."
[Illustration: "Even Ruth could scarcely keep a sober face."]
In successive volumes are related in detail the adventures of the four
sisters and their friends since their establishment in the old Corner
House, telling of their adventures at school, in a summer camp at the
seashore, of their taking part in a school play, of the odd find made
in the old Corner House garret, and on an automobile tour through the
State.
In that sixth volume of the series the Kenways met Luke and Cecile
Shepard, brother and sister, who prove to be delightful friends,
especially to Ruth. Agnes, the second Kenway, already had a faithful
chum and companion in Neale O'Neil. But in Luke, Ruth found a most
charming acquaintance, and in the seventh book, "The Corner House
Girls Growing Up," the friendship of Ruth and Luke is cemented by a
series of incidents that try both of their characters.
Of course, each month saw the four sisters that many days older. They
were actually growing up--"growing out of aye ken!" Mrs. MacCall often
said. Just the same, they still liked fun and frolic and, especially
the younger ones, were just as likely to play pranks as ever.
Even Ruth could scarcely keep a sober face when she looked now from
Sammy Pinkney's rueful countenance to the goat shaking his head at the
top of the garret stairs.
"Now," she said as severely as possible, "I would like to know how you
intend to get him down again."
"More than that, Sam," said Neale: "How did you ever get him up
there?"
"Oh, that was easy!" declared the small boy, his confident grin
returning to his freckled face. "I got a stick and tied to it one of
those old cabbages that Uncle Rufus has got packed away under the
shed. Then," went on the inventive genius, "I went behind Billy and
pushed, holding the cabbage ahead of his nose. Say, that goat would
walk up the side of a house, let alone three flights of stairs, for a
cabbage!"
"Can you beat him?" murmured Neale, vastly delighted by this
confession.
"I feel sometimes as though I would like to beat him," answered Ruth.
"See if you can get Billy Bumps out to his proper quarters, Neale."
But that was not easy, and it took an hour's work and finally the
tying of Billy Bumps "hand and foot" before the sturdy goat was
overcome and returned to his pen.
By this time, however, the snow had stopped. Lunch was served in the
big Corner House dining-room, Neale and Sammy being guests.
It was an hilarious meal, of course. With such a crowd of young folks
about the table--and on Saturday, too!--a sedate time was not
possible. But Ruth tried to keep the younger ones from talking too
loud or being too careless in their table manners.
Aunt Sarah Maltby, sitting at one end of the table, shook her head
solemnly about midway of the meal at Sammy Pinkney.
"Young man," she said in her severest way, "what do you suppose will
become of you? You are the most mischievous boy I have ever seen--and
I have seen a good many in my time."
"Yes'm," said Sammy, hanging his head, for he was afraid of Aunt
Sarah.
"You should think of the future," admonished the old lady. "There is
something besides fun in this world."
"Yes'm," again came from the abashed, if not repentant, Sammy.
"Think what you might make of yourself, young man, if you desired. Do
you realize that every boy born in this country has a chance to be
president?"
"Huh!" ejaculated Sammy, suddenly looking up. "Be president, Miss
Maltby? Huh! I tell you what: I'll sell you my chance for a quarter."
The irrepressible laugh from the other young folks that followed might
have offended Aunt Sarah had not the front door bell rung at that very
moment. Agnes, who was nearest, and much quicker than rheumatic Uncle
Rufus, ran to answer the summons.
"Oh, Ruthie!" her clear voice instantly sounded as far as the
dining-room, "here's Mr. Howbridge's man, and he's got a great big
sleigh at the gate, and--Why, there's Mr. Howbridge himself!"
Not only the oldest Kenway ran to join her sister at the door, but all
the other young folks trooped out. They forgot their plates at the
announcement of the appearance of the girls' guardian.
"Did you e'er see such bairns before?" demanded the housekeeper of
Aunt Sarah. "They have neither appetite nor manners on a Saturday!"
In the big front hall the girls and boys were delightedly greeting Mr.
Howbridge, while the coach-man plowed back to the gate through the
snow to hold the frisky pair of bay horses harnessed to the big pung.
Bits of straw clung to the lawyer's clothing, and he was rosy and
smiling.
"I did not know but what you would already be out, young folks," Mr.
Howbridge announced. "Although I had John harness up just as soon as
the weather broke."
"Oh, Mr. Howbridge," Ruth said, remembering her "manners" after all,
"won't you come in?"
"Won't you come out, Miss Ruth?" responded the man, laughing.
"Oh! _Oh!_ OH!" cried Tess, in crescendo, peering out of the open
door. "That sleigh of Mr. Howbridge's is full of straw."
"A straw-ride!" gasped Agnes, clasping her hands. "Oh, Mr. Howbridge!
have you come to take us out?"
"Of course. All of you. The more the merrier," said their guardian,
who was very fond indeed of his wards and their young friends, and
missed no chance to give them pleasure.
At that statement there was a perfect rout while the young people ran
for their wraps and overshoes. The dessert was forgotten, although it
was Mrs. MacCall's famous "whangdoodle pudding and lallygag sauce."
"Never mind the eats now, Mrs. Mac!" cried Agnes, struggling into her
warm coat. "Have an extra big dinner. We'll come home tonight as
hungry as crows--see if we don't!"
In ten minutes the whole party, the four Kenway sisters, Neale, and
Sammy, and Tom Jonah, had tumbled into the body of the big sleigh
which was so heaped with clean straw that they burrowed right into it
just like mice! The big bay horses were eager to start, and tossed
their heads and made the little silver bells on the harness jingle to
a merry tune indeed.
Mr. Howbridge and Ruth sat up on the wide front seat--the only
seat--with the driver, John. The guardian wished to talk in private
with the oldest Kenway girl. He considered her a very bright girl,
with a very well-balanced mind.
While the younger folks shouted and joked and snowballed each other as
the horses sped along the almost unbroken track, Ruth and her guardian
were quite seriously engaged in conversation.
"I want to get some good advice from you, Miss Ruth Kenway," said the
lawyer, smiling sideways at her. "I know that you have an abundant
supply."
"You are a flatterer," declared the girl, her eyes sparkling
nevertheless. She was always proud to be taken into his confidence.
"Is it something about the estate?"
"No, my dear. Nothing about the Stower estate."
"I was afraid we might be spending too much money," said the girl,
laughing. "You know, I do think we are extravagant."
"Not in your personal expenditures," answered their guardian. "Only in
the Kenways' charities do I sometimes feel like putting on the brake.
But this," he added, "is something different."
"What is it, Mr. Howbridge? I am sure I shall be glad to help you if I
can," Ruth said earnestly.
"Well, now, Miss Ruth," said the lawyer, a quizzical smile wreathing
his lips. "What would you do, for instance, if a pair of twins had
been left to you?"