The vegetables, animals, and flowers might have experienced gross
neglect during the next few days, after the automobile arrived, had it
not been for Mrs. James' insistence that "duty came before pleasure."
Even so, Natalie spent no time weeding the beds but gave the "farmer's
curse" ample opportunity to thrive luxuriantly.
The third day after the Lowdens had promised to hunt up Sam and send him
to Green Hill Farm, a most unique post-card came for Rachel. It had the
picture of the Woolworth Building on one side, and the information that
this was a "gift card" given to those who visited the tower. On the side
with the address, Sam printed with lead-pencil, "Deer ant: wurd cam fer
me to be shoffer at yur place. Money O. K. comin rite away. sam."
This elaborate epistle was displayed by Rachel with so much family pride
that the girls had hard work to keep straight faces. But they knew how
hurt Rachel would be if she thought the writing was illiterate, so they
said nothing.
"If that card was mailed yesterday, as the postmark shows it was, Sam
ought to be here to-day," said Mrs. James.
"Yes, but he won't get here in time to drive us to Ames's farm for the
guinea-hens," said Natalie.
"As that will be my last act of law-breaking, I'll drive," announced
Frances.
Therefore, the girls hurried away in the car. They had not gone more
than half the distance to Dorothy Ames's home, when Natalie saw a dog
following the machine.
"Go home, old fellow!" called she, waving her hat to drive him back.
But the dog stood momentarily still and wagged his stumpy tail, then
galloped after the car again, to make up for lost time.
"Girls, what shall we do with that dog?" cried Natalie in distress. "If
he follows us much further he may get lost."
Frances stopped the car and called the dog to her. He stood with front
paws on the running-board and looked up at her with happy eyes.
"He's a fine Collie, girls. Look at his head and the lines of his body.
Someone get out and look at the collar for the owner's name," said
Frances, leaning over to study the dog.
Belle got out and having examined the collar, remarked: "No name on it.
It's just a plain leather affair with a frayed rope-end still attached
to the ring."
The dog gave a short friendly yelp at Belle and wagged his tail rapidly,
as a token of good fellowship.
"Let him run after us if he wants to, then we will take him back with us
when we return," suggested Janet.
"We'd better have him jump inside the car, then, so he won't stray while
our attentions are turned," ventured Norma.
So the dog was given room in the tonneau where he stood and watched over
the side of the machine as they flew along the road.
Arrived at Dorothy Ames's farm, he waited until the door was opened,
then he leaped out and pranced about the girls.
"That's some dog you girls got there!" declared Mr. Ames, as he came
forward to welcome his visitors.
"Yes, he must belong to someone living near Green Hill. He ran after our
car as we turned from the state road into this road," explained Natalie.
"I ain't never seen him about afore. I knows every dog fer ten mile
around Greenville, and there hain't no farmer that kin afford a' animal
like that," returned Mr. Ames.
"Why--is he a good one?" wondered Janet.
"Got every point a prize-winnin' Collie ought to have. I wish he was my
dog! I'd win a blue ribbon on him," said Mr. Ames, as he examined the
dog critically.
"Then someone will worry until he is home again," said Norma
concernedly.
The dog seemed not to worry, however, for he yawned and followed the
girls about as if he had known them since puppyhood. Mr. Ames told the
girls that the dog must be about two years old, and certainly showed he
had been accustomed to a good living.
The guinea-hens were selected, several pigeons ordered to be delivered
in a few days when the house would be ready, and a number of young
goslings spoken for. Janet was not going to lose time planning for a
stock-farm business and not act, it seemed.
"If you gals are going to take the dog back the way he came, you'd
better not try to take the crate with the hens, too. I'll leave them on
my way to the Corners," advised Mr. Ames.
The business matters settled, Frances spoke of her new line of work. "If
you folks ever want to rent a car for a trip, or when you want to go to
the station, just call me on the 'phone and I'll come for you. I am
starting a jitney-line and am always on hand for my clients."
Mr. Ames laughed and said: "Sort of runnin' opposition to Amity, eh?"
"Well, not opposition, exactly, as Amity is never about to attend to
business. But I intend running the car faithfully, as anyone who is in
the public service should do," said Frances.
"What about a license?" questioned the farmer wisely.
"Oh, that's taken care of. My chauffeur, Sam White, is going to drive
the machine, while I act as conductor."
Mr. Ames laughed again, heartier than ever, and Dorothy smiled
sympathetically at Frances. Then she said: "I wish I had something to do
besides churning butter and working on the farm."
"Well, Dorothy, just you stick to us Girl Scouts and we'll find you some
desirable field of labor," said Janet encouragingly.
Soon after this the girls started homeward, the dog jumping in without
being invited and sitting up in the place provided him before. The girls
patted him and said he was a clever fellow. That started his tail
wagging violently and his tongue panting with pleasure.
At Green Hill, Mrs. James watched the girls stop at the side piazza, and
then, to her surprise, she saw the dog jump out of the car. He stood
waiting for his companions to alight and then he sprang up the steps and
wagged his tail at her.
"What a fine dog," said Mrs. James, patting his head. "Whose is he?"
"We don't know, Jimmy. He just followed us after we left the state road.
Mr. Ames says he doesn't belong to anyone around here, 'cause he knows
every dog in the county," answered Natalie.
"He must have lost his way, then. Maybe he was with a party of autoists
who passed that way. They will surely come back to hunt for him, so we
had better hang a large sign out on the tree by the front gate," said
Mrs. James.
"That's a good plan," assented Natalie. "I'll run in and get a cardboard
box and print the sign."
"Don't describe the dog,--just say we found a strayed canine," advised
Janet.
"If no one comes for him, we may as well keep him until we determine
what to do about it," added Natalie.
"We must find a name for him, too. What do you suppose he was called?"
asked Mrs. James.
"If we knew that, we might have a clue to his owners," laughed Janet.
"The best way to name him is this way," suggested Natalie. "Let each one
write a name on a slip of paper and fold it up. Rachel shall deal out
the votes and the last one out of the box shall be his name. How is
that?"
"Good! Run and get the paper, Nat," laughed Janet.
So in a few moments six slips of paper were cut and handed out. The
pencil was passed around and everyone wrote her choice of a name for the
dog. Rachel was called out to collect the votes in an old hat, and when
they were well shaken she removed them, one by one, until the last one
was taken up.
[Illustration: Mrs. James leaned over to see who was coming in.]
She opened it slowly and spelled out carefully: "G-r-i-t."
"Ho, _Grit,_ that is my choice!" shouted Natalie, clapping her hands. As
if the dog was pleased with his name, he jumped around madly and barked
shrilly.
"He seems to like his name," said Janet, laughing at the way the animal
tried to lick Natalie's face.
"Maybe it sounds something like his real one," suggested Mrs. James.
"Wall, whatever it is, I says he oughter have a pan of water to drink.
Affer all dis excitement he needs refreshin'," remarked Rachel, going to
the kitchen and calling the dog to follow her.
He went obediently, and just as the girls began to plan the sign, and
what to write thereon, the gate clicked. Mrs. James leaned over the
piazza rail to see who was coming in, and saw a short, fat, colored
youth of about eighteen, approaching.
"It must be Sam,--Rachel's nephew," whispered Mrs. James.
The expected chauffeur saw the party on the piazza and removed his cap
politely, but his face expressed trouble, and he sighed as he stopped at
the foot of the steps.
"You are Sam, aren't you?" began Mrs. James.
"Yas'm, an' I would huv be'n here long ago, as I writ, but I lost my
bes' friend and be'n huntin' him fer more'n an hour." Again Sam sighed
heavily and his eyes were moist.
"Oh, what a pity!" exclaimed Mrs. James. "How did it happen, Sam?"
"Wall, yuh see, Ma'am, I brung him on the baggidge car tied to a rope,
an' when we got off at the Statchun he was that glad to see the green
grass and fresh air that he galavanted 'round like a crazy thing. He tuk
it inter his head to chase a bird what flied low along the road, and I
laffed as I follered after him. But I lost sight of him, down the road,
until I got to the Corners. I diden know what way to take there, so I
went the most travelled one.
"That's where I made my mistake. I should hev asked the storekeeper the
way to Green Hill. I whistled and called fer a mile, er more, but Grip
never showed up. Then I got afraid he was really lost. I turned back and
asked the man at the Corners ef he saw'd a dog run by, an' he said,
'Yeh, the mutt was chasin' down the road to Green Hill Farm.'
"I got mad at him fer callin' Grip a mutt, but I hurried along the road
he pointed out. I kep' on goin' and callin', an' went right by this
place widdout knowin' it. When I came to a farm owned by a man called
Ames--a mile down the road,--he tol' me I was too far. So I come back
again. But I hain't seen no sound of Grip sence." A heavy sigh escaped
Sam and he drew his sleeve across his wet eyes.
Perhaps the sound of the voice reached Grit--or Grip--in the kitchen, or
perhaps his canine instinct told him his master was there,--whatever it
was, he came bounding out of the house and leaped upon Sam with such
force that the little fellow was rolled over backward upon the soft
grass.
Grip pawed and rolled over again in his joy at seeing his master again,
and the girls stood and shouted aloud with amusement at the scene. When
Grip's violent expression of welcome had somewhat quieted down, Mrs.
James said:
"This certainly is a good ending to our adventure."
Then she proceeded to tell Sam how the girls found Grip on the road, and
how fortunate it was that no other tourists had taken him in.
Rachel heard a familiar voice and now came hurrying from her kitchen.
"Wall, of all things! Ef it ain't Sambo! How'de, my son?" exclaimed she,
enfolding the little man in her capacious arms.
"You talk as ef you hadn't looked fer me?" grinned Sam, endeavoring to
free himself from the close embrace.
"I'm that glad to see yoh, Chile! I felt sort o' fearsome 'bout leavin'
yoh all alone in a wicked city widdout me near to advise yoh dis
summer," returned Rachel, beaming joyously upon her kin.
Sam laughed, and then the story of Grip was told in a most graphic
manner, the girls interrupting to add some forgotten item.
"Laws'ee! Ain't dat a plain case o' Providence fer us? An' to think how
Natalie called the dawg Grit, too!"
"Now that all this excitement is ended, suppose you business girls go
and attend to your work," suggested Mrs. James. "While you were away I
walked over to the vegetable garden and was horrified to find so many
weeds growing taller than the plants we are trying to coax along. And
Janet's investment has escaped from the pen and given Rachel and me the
race of our lives. After half an hour's heated chase we captured the
pigs, but the chickens are still at large, scratching Norma's flower
slips out of the ground. I have shouted at them, and driven them away
repeatedly, but I see they are back there again."
No more needed to be said then, and in a minute's time three excited
girls were wildly racing to their various places of work to repair the
damages made in their investments.
Then Sam was shown his room in the attic, where he could unpack his
fabrikoid suit-case and don his farm-clothes. It was plainly evident
that he liked the idea of living in the country and driving a car when
called upon, and Mrs. James considered the girls were most fortunate to
have Rachel's own relative--to say nothing of the dog--on the place that
summer.
Mr. Ames drove by before noon and left the crate with the guinea-hens
and pigeons, and Janet eagerly began work on a separate coop for the
hens. Sam offered to help build the pigeon-coop on the gable end of the
carriage-house, where the birds could alight without molestation.
But the story of Janet's stock-farm and how she succeeded is told in
another book and can be given no extra room in this story. Suffice it to
say, she certainly had troubles of her own in trying to raise a barnyard
full of different domestic animals; and had it not been for Sam's
ever-willing help in catching the runaways or repairing the demolished
fences, the result would not have been quite so good.
That evening, as they all sat on the side steps of the piazza watching
the far-reaching fingers of red that shot up from the western sky, Belle
spoke plaintively:
"I feel like a laggard, with you girls all working so hard at some
business. Nat with her garden, Janet with the barnyard, Norma with the
flowers, and Frans with her jitney--what is there for me to do? I hate
dirt and animals, and I haven't any car,--so what _is_ left for me?" she
sighed.
"Why don't you turn your attention to Scout study?" asked Natalie,
feeling that they had neglected Solomon's Seal Camp lately.
"I don't want that kind of work,--I want a real business, like you girls
have,--but what is there to do?"
"You'll just have to pray and wait for an answer," suggested Norma, the
devout one of the group.
"Is that what you did before the flowers came your way from Mrs.
Tompkins?" asked Belle.
"No, but you see, I always pray and hope for an answer, so I don't have
to lose time when something comes to me. It is always coming at the
right moment, so I never have to ask especially for any one thing,"
explained Norma seriously.
Belle laughed softly. "I wish you'd do it for me, Norma."
"Why, Belle! You know how to ask for yourself! You'll get it all the
sooner if you stop laughing and try my plan," rebuked Norma.
The talk suddenly changed at this point, and no one thought more of
Norma's advice to Belle. But the latter was duly impressed by Norma's
faith, and determined to try secretly a prayer or two in her own behalf.
So that evening after she had retired, she earnestly asked that a way
might be shown her to occupy herself that summer even as her friends
were doing.
The following morning Sam suggested that the car meet the three daily
trains from the city, to carry any passengers to their destinations. As
it took but a short time to drive to the station and back, this plan was
agreed upon. Frances would act as conductor of the fares and direct Sam
the way to go when taking a passenger home.
On the morning trip they would bring back the mail and any orders that
might be needed for the house or the Scout camp. In the afternoon the
trip would be made for passenger service only, and at evening the mail
would be brought back, or any purchases needed at Tompkins' store.
The initial trip was made that morning at nine-thirty, the girls wishing
Frances all success in her new venture. As the car disappeared down the
road Natalie hurried to her garden to go to work on the weeding.
Janet went to the farmyard to begin building some sort of shelter for a
calf she purposed buying from Mr. Ames. And Norma began to plant seeds
in her flower beds. Mrs. James went in to help Rachel, and Belle was
left alone on the porch to plan various things to interest herself,
also.
As she rocked nervously, trying to think of something agreeable to do,
she heard Natalie cry loudly from the garden. She sprang from the porch
and ran down the path to render any help possible to the friend in
distress, and saw Natalie jumping up and down, with skirts held high and
close about her form.
"Oh, oh! Belle,--bring a rock! Get a gun--anything--quick!" yelled
Natalie.
"What for--what's the matter?" shouted Belle, looking anxiously about
for a stone or a big stick.
"A snake! A great big snake ran out of the ground and tried to get me!"
screamed Natalie, still jumping up and down.
Belle caught up a heavy stone and tried to carry it quickly to her
friend, but she had to drop it after running a short distance, as it was
too heavy for her. Then she found a smaller stone and ran with that to
demolish utterly the awful thing!
"Where is it? Where did it go?" cried Belle excitedly, as she reached
the vegetable beds.
"Oh, oh--it came out of that hole in the corn-hill, and ran that way!"
gasped Natalie, breathless with her violent exercise.
"Out of that hole! Why, that is only as big as my small finger! How
could a great snake come from there?"
"All the same it did! Oh, _oh,_ OH! Look, Belle! There it is,--under
that corn-spear!" shouted Natalie, bending and pointing at the
terrifying (?) object.
Belle had to look hard to be able to detect the little frightened snake.
There, curled up under the tiny spear of green, was a young grass snake
about three inches long. It held up its pretty striped head and watched
fearfully for the huge rock to fall upon its innocent body.
Belle stood upright and gave vent to a loud laugh. "Oh, Nat! That is
only a dear little worker in your garden. Why would you kill a creature
that will gobble up your troubles?"
"What do you mean?" demanded Natalie, ashamed of her groundless fears.
"Why, I've read in school that grass snakes, garter snakes, and even
black snakes, are the farmers' best friends. They eat cut-worms, clean
off all grubs from plants, and even keep out moles, beetles, and other
pests, that ruin vegetables."
Natalie bravely turned her back upon the grass snake at this and wagged
her head prophetically: "All the same, where a young snake like that can
be found there must be a big parent, too."
"Doubtless, but the parent snake can kill off ten times as many pests as
a baby snake, so don't go and kill it when it hurries to your cornfield
to catch a field-mouse," laughed Belle.
As Belle started back for the rocking-chair to continue her mental
planning, she saw Frances' car approach swiftly from the Corners.
"Oh, goody! She has a passenger!" shouted Belle to Norma as she ran past
the flower beds.
Norma dropped her trowel and fork and raced after Belle to the gate to
watch the private jitney go past. But Sam stopped in front of the gate
and Frances beckoned to the girls.
As Belle ran out to see what was wanted of them, a well-dressed lady,
seated in the tonneau, smiled and said:
"I alighted at Greenville by mistake. I was directed to a country place
beyond White Plains, where I hear I can buy some antiques. I am in the
business in New York, but I haven't time now to wait for another train
and go on to visit this lady. Your young friend here thought the one
named Belle might possibly undertake this commission for me, as she was
at liberty to sell her time. Which of you is Belle?"
Belle immediately signified that she was the one, and the lady
continued: "I believe you know something of antique furniture and
china?"
"Something--because I started a little collection of my own at home. I
have read many books to be had at the Library on the subject and can
tell a Wedgewood jug or bowl or a Staffordshire plate, as readily as
anyone. I also know the different Colonial period furniture when I see
any."
"Splendid! Then you can act as my agent up here, if you will. I must get
back to keep an appointment in New York at two o'clock, but you can hunt
up this old farmhouse for me that is somewhere west of Pleasantville, on
a road that is described accurately on this map," said the stranger, as
she unfolded a paper and glanced at it to see that it was the right one.
This was handed to Belle, and the lady continued:
"If you find anything there--or at any place in this section of the
country--such as brasses, dishes, furniture, or pictures, telephone me
at my business address and I will make an appointment to meet you
wherever it is. Will you consider it?"
"I should like nothing better, if you think I can do it for you,"
returned Belle, delighted at the prospect.
"I think you can, and for this service I will pay you for the time you
actually give to the pursuit. Also I will pay for the hire of the car,
as I explained to this young lady here.
"If you can possibly find time to go to this house to-day, it will
please me greatly, as I want information about the four-poster canopied
bed I hear is there for sale. Telephone me full particulars after you
come back, will you?"
Belle agreed eagerly to the proposition, and the lady then mentioned the
salary she would pay, by the hour, for this service of Belle's. Also
Frances mentioned her charge for the use of the car, which was agreed to
without demur.
"Now I wish your man would drive me to the railway station at the
nearest point where a train can be taken without losing more time. I do
not care which town it is, as long as I can get back to the city before
two o'clock."
Belle was left standing speechless on the footpath as the car drove
rapidly away, and Norma smiled happily. "Did you pray as I told you to,
Belle?" asked she.
"Uh-huh!" was all the reply Norma got, but she understood Belle's ways
and ran back to her flowers without another word. Belle walked slowly
toward the house to get her hat and handbag so as to start on the new
venture as soon as Frances returned from the White Plains railroad
station.