AT THE STRAWBERRY PATCH
"Yes, I promised mother I would go for a crate of strawberries," Cora
said, by way of explanation. "Would you like to come along, Bess? It
is a lovely ride to the berry patch."
"Then, I think I will run back for Belle, and we, too, may fetch home
a crate. Mother will be delighted to get them fresh from the pickers."
"Suppose we meet in an hour at Smith's Crossing?" suggested Cora. "I
have some little things to attend to, and that will just about give
you time to get Belle, and her belongings."
This was agreed upon, and the girls parted for the short time. Jack
insisted upon keeping his wonderful good news secret, for, try as he
did, he could not coax Cora to divulge the news which he knew Bess
must have brought.
"I could see it in her cheeks," Jack insisted, "and I can almost read
that signal code you two have arranged."
"Well, when it is all settled I may--tell you," replied his sister.
"But you boys imagine that girls cannot keep anything to themselves----"
"Wrong there, sis," he answered, picking up his cap. "We all know
perfectly well that you all can keep to yourselves exactly what we
want to know," and in leaving the room he tossed a sofa cushion at
Cora's head, hitting her squarely, and knocking her hair awry. She
retaliated, however, with a floor cushion over the banister, which
Jack failed to dodge.
At the appointed time, three o'clock, on a lovely June afternoon, Cora
and Bess met as arranged with their autos at the cross-roads, Belle
dainty as ever in her flimsy veils and airy silk coat, Bess, with her
hand on the wheel, her eyes on the road ahead, and her jolly self done
up simply in pongee, while Cora, correct as ever, and equally
distinctive in her true green auto hood, and cloak that matched, made
up a very attractive trio of auto maids.
"It's only six miles out," called Cora, "and this road runs straight
into Squaton. They have quite a big strawberry farm out there."
"Yes," called back Bess, turning on more gasolene and throwing in
third speed, "mother was just delighted when I told her we were going
there for berries."
Over the smooth, shaded road the cars sped, the _Whirlwind_, Cora's
machine, exactly attuned to the hum of the _Flyaway_, the car occupied
by the twins. Just as two clocks, placed side by side, will soon tick
in harmony, so two good engines may match each other in the hum of
speed.
"I can smell the berries," exclaimed Belle, as they neared a group of
tall elms.
"We are almost there," remarked Cora, "and I think I, too, smell
something good."
Under the trees by the roadside they espied some boys eating from a
pail of berries.
"There," said Bess, "that was what you scented. Those youngsters have
been picking, I suppose, and that is their own personal allowance."
"Berries! Five cents a quart!" called out one of the urchins, who at
the same time stepped out into the road close to the slackened autos.
"Not to-day," replied Cora, as she passed on, followed by the
_Flyaway_.
"Wouldn't you think they would want to take those home," said Bess. "I
should think they would be satisfied with their earnings at the
patch."
"Maybe they have not been picking--except for their own use," responded
Cora. "But here we are. Get out now, and we will walk over to the
shanty where they crate the fruit."
"What an ocean of green!" exclaimed Belle, the aesthetic one, looking
over the strawberry patch.
"An ocean of dust, I think," said Bess, as from the afternoon sun and
breeze the grind of the picker's feet in the dusty rows between the
countless lines of green vines just reached her eyes.
"There are plenty of them," remarked Cora, wending her way along the
narrow path, toward the shanty.
"And so many people picking," added Belle. "Just look at those boys!
They are as brown as--their clothes. And see that poor old woman!"
"Yes, her back must ache," replied Cora. "What a shame for her to be
out in this sun."
"She looks as if she could never bend again if she should straighten
up," said Bess. "See how she stares at us from under her own arms."
This peculiar remark caused the other girls to smile, but Bess meant
exactly what she said--that the old woman was looking up from an angle
lower than her elbows.
Just then the autoists faced two of the pickers--two girls.
Both stopped their work and looked up almost insolently. Then they
spoke under their breath to each other and "tittered" audibly.
"They're rude," said Belle to Bess, picking her skirts as she stepped
by.
"Oh, that's just their way," exclaimed Cora. "I am going to speak to
them."
So saying she turned in between the rows.
"Is it hard work?" she asked pleasantly.
"No cinch," replied the older-looking of the girls, with a toss of a
very good head of auburn hair.
"Have you been out long?" persisted Cora.
"Oh, we're always out," said the younger girl with a sneer. Her voice
said plainly that she had "no use" for talking with the motor girls.
"Do you work all day?" asked Bess, a little timidly. Bess was always
ready to admit that she could talk to boys, but that she was afraid of
strange girls.
"All day, and all night," replied the younger girl. She had hair just
a tint lighter than the other, and it was evident that the pair were
sisters.
"But you cannot see to work at night," Belle deigned to say.
"We have lamps--indoors," said the girl, "and Aunt Delia keeps
boarders."
"Oh, you help with the housework too?" said Cora. "I should think----"
then she checked herself. Why should she say what she thought--just
then?
Perhaps it was the unmistakable kindness shown so plainly in the
manner of the motor girls, that convinced the two little berry-pickers
that the visitors would be friends--if they might. At any rate, both
girls dropped the vines they were overhauling, and stood straight up,
with evident stiffness of their young muscles.
"But we are not going to do this all our lives," declared the older
girl. "Aunt Delia has made enough out of us."
"Have you no parents?" ventured Cora.
"No, we're orphans," replied the girl, and, as she spoke the word
"orphans," the ring of sadness touched the hearts of the older girls.
Cora instantly decided to know more about the girls. Their youthful
faces were already serious with cares, and they each assumed that
aggressive manner peculiar to those who have been oppressed. They
seemed, as they looked up, and squarely faced Cora, like girls capable
of better work than that in which they were engaged, and they gave the
impression of belonging to the distinctive middle class--those "who
have not had a chance."
"Can't you come over in the shade and rest awhile?" asked Cora. "You
must have picked almost enough for to-day."
"Oh, to-day won't count, anyway," said the younger girl, with hidden
meaning.
"Nellie!" called her sister, in angry tones. "What are you talking
about!"
"Well, I'm not afraid to tell," she replied.
"You had better be," snapped the other.
"Oh, Rose, you're a coward," and Nellie laughed, as she kicked aside
the vines. "I'm not going to work another minute, and you can go and
tell Aunt Delia Ramsy if you've a mind to."
At that moment a figure emerged from the shed at the end of the long
line of green rows.
"There she is now, Nellie," said Rose. "You can tell her yourself if
you like."
Without another word the girls both again began the task so lately
left off, and berry after berry fell into the little baskets. Rose had
almost filled her tray, and Nellie had hers about half full of the
quart boxes.
"Rose!" called the woman's shrill voice, from under the big blue
sunbonnet. "Come up here and count these tally sticks. Some of those
kids are snibbying."
With a sigh Rose picked up her tray, and made her way through the
narrow paths. Cora saw that the woman had noticed her talking to Bess
and Belle, and while wishing for a chance to talk to Nellie alone, she
beckoned to her companions to go along up to the shed.
"Maybe I'll see you soon again," almost whispered Nellie, in the way
which so plainly betrays the hope of youth.
"I am sure you will," replied Cora, smiling reassuringly.
"What strange girls," remarked Belle.
"Aren't they?" added Bess, turning back to get another look at little
Nellie in her big-brimmed hat.
"They are surely going to do something desperate," declared Cora, "and
I think now that we have found them, as the boys would say, 'it is up
to us' to keep track of them."