THE SPICE OF PEPPER AND SALT
About an hour later the girls were back at the paddock, Nelly's face
alight with joy, for it had not taken good old Mammy long to see that
the chief cause of Nelly's lack of strength was lack of proper
nourishment, and her skilled old hands were soon busy with sherry and
raw eggs as a preliminary, to be followed by one of Aunt Cynthia's
dainty little luncheons; a luncheon composed of what Mammy hinted "mus'
be somethin' wha' gwine fer ter stick ter dat po' chile's ribs, 'case
she jist nachelly half-starved."
Consequently, the half-hour spent in partaking of it did more to put new
life in little Nelly Bolivar than many days had done before, and there
was physical strength and mental spirit also to sustain her.
The old carryall still stood near the training track and saying:
"Now you sit in there and rest while Polly and I do stunts for your
amusement," Peggy helped Nelly into the seat.
"I feel just like a real company lady," said Nelly happily, as she
settled herself to watch the girls whom she admired with all the ardor
of her starved little soul.
"You ARE a real company lady," answered Peggy and Polly, "and we are
going to entertain you with a sure-enough circus. All you've got to do
is to applaud vigorously no matter how poor the show. Come on, Polly,"
and springing upon their horses, which had mean-time been patiently
waiting in the care of Bud, off they raced around the track, Nelly
watching with fascinated gaze.
Meanwhile Pepper and Salt had been rejoicing in their reunion, Salt full
of spirit and pranks as the result of his good care, and poor Pepper,
for once full-fed, wonderfully "chirkered" up in consequence, though in
sharp contrast to his mate.
As Peggy and Polly cavorted around the track, racing, jumping and
cutting all manner of pranks, Salt's attention to his mate seemed to be
diverted. The antics of Star and Shashai, unhampered, happy and free as
wild things, seemed to excite him past control. Again and again he ran
snorting toward the paling, turning to whinny an invitation to Pepper,
but, even with his poor, half-starved stomach for once well-filled,
Pepper could not enthuse as his mate did; ONE square meal a year cannot
compensate for so many others missed, and bring about miracles.
Around and around the track swept the girls, taking hurdles, and cutting
a dozen antics. At length Peggy, who had been watching Salt, stopped,
and saying to Polly:
"I'm going to try an experiment," she slipped from Shashai's back. Going
to the fence she vaulted the four-foot barrier as easily as Shashai
would have skimmed over six. Salt came to her at once, but Pepper
hesitated. It was only momentary, for soon both heads were nestling
confidingly to her. She was never without her little bag of sugar and a
lump or two were eagerly accepted. Then going to Salt's side she crooned
into his ear some of her mysterious "nightmare talk," as Shelby called
it. It was a curious power the girl exercised over animals--almost
hypnotic. Salt nozzled and fussed over her. Then saying:
"Steady, boy. Steady." She gave one of her sudden springs and landed
astride his back, saddleless and halterless. He gave a startled snort
and tore away around the paddock. Polly was now used to any new
departure, but Nelly gave a little shriek and clasped her hands. "She is
all right, don't be frightened," smiled Polly. "She can do anything with
a horse; I sometimes think she must have been a horse herself once upon
a time." Nelly looked puzzled, but Polly laughed. Meanwhile Peggy was
talking to her unusual mount. He seemed a trifle bewildered, but
presently struck into a long, sweeping run--the perfect stride of the
racer. Peggy gave a quick little nod of understanding as she felt the
long, gliding motion she knew so well. As she came around to her friends
she reached forward and laying hold of a strand of the silvery mane,
said softly: "Who--ooa. Steady." What was it in the girl's voice which
commanded obedience? Salt stopped close to his mate and began to rub
noses with him as though confiding a secret.
"Bud," commanded Peggy, "go to the stable and fetch me a snaffle
bridle." The bridle was brought and carefully adjusted.
"Come, Salt, NOW we will put it to the test; those flank muscles mean
something unless I'm mistaken."
During all this Shelby and Bolivar had come up to the paddock and stood
watching the girl.
"Ain't she jist one fair clipper?" asked Shelby, proudly. "Lord, but
that girl's worth about a dozen of your ornery kind. She's a
thoroughbred all through, she is."
"Well, I ain't never seen nothin' like that, fer a fact, I ain't. I
knowed them was good horses, but, well, I didn't know they was SADDLE
horses."
"They've more'n SADDLE horses, man, an' I'm bettin' a month's wages your
eyes'll fair pop out inside five minutes. I know HER ways. I larned 'em
to her, some on 'em, at least--but most was born in her. They HAS ter
be. There's some things can't be L'ARNT, man."
Once more Peggy started, this time her mount showing greater confidence
in her. At first they loped lightly around the paddock, poor old Pepper
alternately following, then stopping to look at his mate, apparently
trying to reason it all out. Gradually the pace increased until once
more Salt swept along in the stride which from time immemorial has
distinguished racing blood. The fifth time around the broad field, Peggy
turned him suddenly and making straight for the paling, cried in a
ringing voice:
"On! On! Up--Over!"
The horse quivered, his muscles grew tense, then there was a gathering
together of the best in him and the fence was taken as only running
blood takes an obstacle.
Then HER surprise came:
Pepper meantime seemed to have lost his wits. As Salt neared the fence,
the mate who for years had plodded beside him began to tear around and
around the field, snorting, whinnying and giving way to the wildest
excitement. As Salt skimmed over the fence Pepper's decorum fled, and
with a loud neigh he tore after him, made a wild leap and cleared the
barrier by a foot, then startled and shaken from his unwonted exertion,
he stood with legs wide apart, trembling and quivering.
In an instant Peggy had wheeled her mount and was beside the poor
frightened creature; frightened because his blood had asserted itself
and he had literally outdone himself. Slipping from Salt's back she
tossed her bridle to Shelby who had hurried toward her, and taking
Pepper's head in her arms petted and caressed him as she would have
petted and caressed a child which had made a superhuman effort to
perform some seemingly impossible act.
"Nelly, Nelly, come here. Come. He will know your voice so much better
than mine," she called, and Nelly scrambled out of the wagon as quickly
as possible, crying:
"Why, Miss Stewart, HOW did you do it. Why we never knew they were so
wonderful. Oh, Dad, did you know they could jump and run like that?"
"I knew they come o' stock that HAD run, an' jumped like that, but I
didn't know all that ginger was in 'em. No I did NOT. It took Miss
Stewart fer ter find THAT out, an' she sure has found it. Why, Pepper,
old hoss," he added, stroking the horse's neck, "you've sartin' done
yo'self proud this day."
Pepper nozzled and nickered over him, evidently trying to tell him that
the act had been partly inspired by the call of the blood, and partly by
his love for his mate. Perhaps Bolivar did not interpret it just that
way, but PEGGY DID.
"Mr. Bolivar, I know Nelly loves Pepper and Salt, but I'd like to make
you an offer for those horses just the same. I knew when I first saw
them that they had splendid possibilities and only needed half a chance.
You need two strong, able work-horses for your farm--these horses are
both too high-bred for such work, that you know as well as I do--so I
propose that we make a sensible bargain right now. We have a span of
bays; good, stout fellows six years old, which we have used on the
estate. They shall be yours for this pair with one hundred and twenty-
five dollars to boot. Salt and Pepper are worth six hundred dollars
right now, and in a little while, and under proper care and training,
will be worth a good deal more. Shelby will bear me out in that, won't
you?"
"I'd be a plumb fool if I didn't, miss," was Shelby's reply, and Peggy
nodded and resumed: "I have paid seventy-five dollars for Salt, adding
to that the one-twenty-five and the span, which I value at four hundred,
would make it a square deal, don't you think so?"
Bolivar looked at the girl as though he thought she had taken leave of
her wits. "One hundred and twenty-five dollars, and a span worth four
hundred for a pair of horses which a month before he would have found it
hard to sell for seventy-five each?--well, Miss Stewart must certainly
be crazy." Peggy laughed at his bewilderment.
"I'm perfectly serious, Mr. Bolivar," she said.
"Yas'm, yas'm, but, my Lord, miss, I ain't seen THAT much money in two
year, and your horses--I ain't seen 'em, and I don't want ter; if YOU
say they're worth it that goes, but--but--well, well, things has been
sort o' tough--sort o' tough," and poor, tired, discouraged Jim Bolivar
leaned upon the fence and wept from sheer bodily weakness and nervous
exhaustion.
Nelly ran to his side to clasp her arms about him and cry:
"Dad! Dad! Poor Dad. Don't! Don't! It's all right, Dad. We won't worry
about things. God has taken care of us so far and He isn't going to
stop."
"That ain't it, honey. That ain't it," said poor Bolivar, slipping a
trembling arm about her. "It's--it's--oh, I can't jist rightly say what
'tis."
"Wall by all that's great, _I_ know, then," exclaimed Shelby, clapping
him on the shoulder. "_I_ know, 'cause I've BEEN there: It's bein' jist
down, out an' discouraged with everythin' and not a blame soul fer ter
give a man a boost when he needs it. I lived all through that kind o'
thing afore I came ter Severndale, an' 'taint a picter I like fer ter
dwell upon. No it ain't, an' we're goin' ter bust yours ter smithereens
right now. You don't want fer ter look at it no longer."
"No I don't, I don't fer a fact," answered Bolivar, striving manfully to
pull himself together and dashing from his eyes the tears which he felt
had disgraced him.
Peggy drew near. Her eyes were soft and tender as a doe's, and the
pretty lips quivered as she said:
"Mr. Bolivar, please don't try to go home tonight. Shelby can put you
up, and Nelly shall stay with me. You are tired and worn out and the
change will do you good. Then you can see the horses and talk it all
over with Shelby, and by tomorrow things will look a lot brighter. And
Nelly and I will have a little talk together too."
"I can't thank ye, miss. No, I can't. There ain't no words big nor grand
enough fer ter do that. I ain't never seen nothin' like it, an' yo've
made a kind o' heaven fer Nelly. Yes, go 'long with Miss Peggy, honey.
Ye ain't never been so looked after since yo' ma went on ter Kingdom
Come." He kissed the delicate little face and turning to Shelby, said:
"Now come on an' I'll quit actin' like a fool."
"There's other kinds o' fools in this world," was Shelby's cryptic
reply. "Jim," he called, "look after them horses," indicating Pepper and
Salt, and once more united, the two were led away to the big stable
where their future was destined to bring fame to Severndale.
Bolivar went with Shelby to his quarters, and their interest in riding
having given way to the greater one in Nelly, the girls told Bud to take
their horses back to the stable. From that moment, Nelly Bolivar's life
was transformed. The following day she and her father went back to the
little farm behind the well conditioned span from Severndale, and a good
supply of provisions for all, for Shelby had insisted upon giving them
what he called, "a good send off" on his own account, and enough oats
and corn went with Tom and Jerry, as the new horses were named, to keep
them well provisioned for many a day.
"Jist give 'em half a show an' they'll earn their keep," advised Shelby.
"I'll stop over before long and lend a hand gettin' things ship-shape. I
know they're boun' ter get out o' kilter when yo' don't have anybody ter
help. One pair o' hands kin only do jist so much no matter how hard they
work. Good luck."
From that hour Nelly was Peggy's protege. The little motherless girl
living so close to Severndale, her home, her circumstances in such
contrast to her own, wakened in Peggy an understanding of what lay
almost at her door, and so many trips were made to the little farm-house
that spring that Shashai and Tzaritza often started in that direction of
their own accord when Peggy set forth upon one of her outings.
And meanwhile, over in the hospital, Dunmore was growing weaker and
weaker as the advancing springtide was bringing to Nelly Bolivar renewed
health and strength, so strangely are things ordered in this world, and
with Easter the brave spirit took its flight, leaving many to mourn the
lad whom all had so loved. For some time the shadow of his passing lay
upon the Academy, then spring athletics absorbed every one's interest
and Ralph made the crew, to Polly's intense delight. In May he rowed on
the plebe crew against a high school crew and beat them "to a
standstill." Then came rehearsal for the show to be given by the
Masqueraders, the midshipmen's dramatic association, and at this
occurred something which would have been pronounced utterly impossible
had the world's opinion been asked. The show was to be given the last
week in May.
Mr. Harold and Mr. Stewart would arrive a few days before, each on a
month's leave. As Happy was one of the moving spirits of the show, he
was up to his eyes in business. Clever in everything he undertook, he
was especially talented in music, playing well and composing in no
mediocre manner. He had written practically all the score of the musical
comedy to be given by the Masqueraders, and among other features, a
whistling chorus.
Now if there was one thing Polly could do it was whistle. Indeed, she
insisted that it was her only accomplishment and many a happy little
impromptu concert was given in Middies' Haven with Happy's guitar,
Shortie's mandolin and Durand's violin.
Of course, all the characters in the play were taken by the boys, many
of them making perfectly fascinating girls, but when the whistling
chorus was written by Happy, Polly was no small aid to him, and again
and again this chorus was rehearsed in Middies' Haven, sometimes by a
few of the number who would compose it, and again by the entire number;
the star performer being a little chap from Ralph's class whose voice
still held its boyish treble and whose whistle was like a bird's notes.
Naturally, Polly had learned the entire score, for one afternoon during
the past autumn while the girls were riding through the beautiful
woodlands near Severndale, Polly had whistled an answer to a bob-white's
call. So perfect had been her mimicry that the bird had been completely
deceived and answering repeatedly, had walked almost up to Silver Star's
feet. Peggy was enraptured, and then learned that Polly could mimic many
bird calls, and whistle as sweetly as the birds themselves. Peggy had
lost no time in making this known to the boys, much to Polly's
embarrassment, but the outcome had been the delightful little concerts,
and Happy had made the various bird notes the theme of his bird chorus.
It was a wonderfully pretty thing and bound to make a big hit, so all
agreed. Consequently, little Van Nostrand had been drilled until he
declared he woke himself up in the night whistling, and so the days sped
away. Mr. Harold and Daddy Neil had arrived and the morning of the
Masqueraders' show dawned. In less than twelve hours the bird chorus
would be on the stage whistling Polly's bird notes. Then Wharton Van
Nostrand fell ill with tonsilitis and was packed off to the hospital!
Happy was desperate. Who under the sun would take his part? There was
not another man whose voice was like Wharton's. Happy flew about like a
distracted hen, at length rushing to Mrs. Harold and begging her to give
him just TEN minutes private interview.
"Why, what under the sun do you want, Happy?" she asked, going into her
own room and debarring all the others whose curiosity was at the
snapping point. When they emerged Happy's face was brimful of glee, but
Mrs. Harold warned:
"Mind the promise is only conditional: If Polly says 'yes' well and
good, but if you let the secret out you and I will be enemies
forevermore."