MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED.
A doctor from North Mills came once a week to visit Cecie and the sick
mother and baby. One afternoon he brought in his chaise a saddle and
bridle, which he said a young fellow would call for in a day or two. The
boys laughed as they put the saddle away; they knew who the young fellow
was, and they hoped he would have a chance to use it.
Snowfoot's week was up the next forenoon; and at about ten o'clock Jack,
accompanied by Lion, and carrying a double-barrelled fowling-piece, with
which he had shot a brace of prairie hens by the way, walked into the
Betterson door-yard.
He found the boys at the lower end of the house, with the steers and
wagon.
"What's the news?" he asked.
"The news with us is, that we're out of rainwater," Rufe replied.
"I should think so," said Jack, looking into a dry hogshead which stood
under the eaves-spout.
"It's too much of a bother to bring all our water by the pailful. So we
are going to fill these things at the river and make the steers haul
'em."
There were three wash-tubs and a barrel, which the boys were putting up
on the bottom boards of the wagon-box, from which the sides had been
removed.
Jack was pleased with this appearance of enterprise; he also noticed
with satisfaction that the yard had been cleared up since he last saw
it.
He asked about Vinnie, and learned from the looks and answers the boys
gave him that she was popular.
"Your saddle came yesterday," said Wad; "so I s'pose you expect to ride
home."
"I feel rather inclined that way. How is our friend Peakslow?"
"Don't know; he went to Chicago, and he hasn't got back."
"Hasn't got back!" said Jack, astonished. "That's mean business!"
He smothered his vexation, however, and told the boys that he would go
with them to the river, after he had spoken with Vinnie.
Entering the house, he was still more surprised at the changes which had
taken place since his last visit.
"Her coming has been the greatest blessing!" said Caroline, detaining
him in the sitting-room. "We are all better,--the doctor noticed it
yesterday; Cecie and baby and I are all better. Lavinia dear will see
you presently; I think she is just taking some bread out of the oven."
"Let me go into the kitchen--she won't mind me," said Jack.
Vinnie, rosy-red from her baking, met him at the door. He had been very
anxious about her since he left her there; but a glance showed him that
all had gone well.
"You have survived!" he said.
"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "I told you I would make things pleasant
here."
"The boys like you, I see."
"And I like them. They do all they can for me. Rufus even helped me
about the washing,--pounded and wrung out the clothes. You must stay to
dinner to-day."
"I think I may have to," said Jack; "for my horse hasn't come back from
Chicago yet, and I don't mean to go home without him."
When he went out he found the boys waiting, and accepted a seat with
Wad and Link on a board placed across two of the tubs. Rufe walked by
the cattle's horns; while in the third tub sat Chokie.
"You can't sit in that tub going back, you know," said Link.
"Yes, I can! I will!" And Chokie clung fast to the handles.
"O, well, you can if you want to, I suppose!" said Link; "but it will be
full of water."
They passed the potato-patch (Jack smiled to see that the potatoes had
been dug), crossed a strip of meadow-land below, and then rounded a bend
in the river, in the direction of a deep place the boys knew.
"I always hate to ride after oxen,--they go so tormented slow!" said
Link. "Why don't somebody invent a wagon to go by steam?"
"Did you ever see a wagon go by water?" Jack asked.
"No, nor anybody else!"
"I have," said Jack. "I know a man in this county who has one."
"What man? I'd go five miles to see one!"
"You can see one without going so far. The man is your father, and this
is the wagon. It is going by water now."
"By water--yes! By the river!" said Link, amused and vexed.
"Link," said Jack, "do you remember that little joke of yours about the
boys stopping the leak in the boat? Well, we are even now."
Rufe backed the hind-wheels of the wagon into the river, over the deep
place, and asked Wad which he would do,--dip the water and pass it up by
the pailful, or stay in the wagon and receive it.
"Whoever dips it up has to stand in the river above his knees," said
Wad; "and I don't mean to get wet to-day."
"Very well; stay in the wagon, then. You'll get as wet as I shall; for
I'm going to pull off my shoes and roll up my trousers. Chokie, you keep
in that tub, just where you are, till the tub is wanted. Link, you'd
better go into the river with me, and dip the pails, while I pass 'em up
to Wad."
"I never can keep my trousers-legs rolled up, and I ain't going to get
wet," said Link. Then, whispering to Jack: "There's leeches in this
river; they get right into a fellow's flesh and suck his blood like
sixty."
Wad proposed to begin with the barrel, and to have Link stand at the end
of the wagon, receive the pails, pass them to him, and pass them back to
Rufe empty.
"Why not move the barrel to the end of the wagon, and fill it about two
thirds full, and then move it back again? I'll help you do that," said
Link.
"All right; I'll fill the barrel and one of the tubs; then you shall
fill the other two tubs."
Link agreed to this; while Jack smiled to hear so much talk about doing
so small a thing.
Rufe went in bare-legged, and stood on the edge of the deep hole, where
the water was hardly up to his knees. Much as he disliked, ordinarily,
to set about any work, he was strong and active when once roused; and
the pails of water went up on the wagon about as fast as Wad cared to
take them.
"Hullo! Don't slop so! You're wetting my feet!" cried Wad.
"I can't keep from spilling a drop once in a while. You might have taken
off your shoes and rolled up your trousers as I did."
The barrel was soon two thirds full, and Wad called upon Link to help
him move it forward. Link left his seat by Jack's side, and walked back
to the rear of the wagon. Wad, as we know, was already there. So was the
barrel of water, standing just back of the rear axletree. So also was a
fresh pail of water, which Rufe had placed at the extreme end, because
Wad was not ready to take it.
At that moment the oxen, hungry for fresh grass, and having nipped all
within reach of their noses, started up a little. Jack, thinking to
prevent mischief by running to their heads, leaped from the front of the
wagon.
This abrupt removal of weight from one end, and large increase of
avoirdupois at the other, produced a natural but very surprising result.
Chokie in his tub, though at the long end of the beam, so to speak (the
rear axletree being the fulcrum), was not heavy enough to counterbalance
two brothers and a barrel of water at the short end.
He suddenly felt himself rising in the air, and sliding with the empty
tubs. His brothers at the same moment felt themselves sinking and
pitching. There was a chorus of shrieks, as they made a desperate effort
to save themselves. Too late; the wagon-bottom reared, and away went
barrel, boys, tubs, everything.
The oxen, starting at the alarm, helped to precipitate the catastrophe.
Fortunately, Jack was at hand to stop them, or the dismantled wagon
might have gone flying across the lot, even fast enough to suit Link's
notion of speed.
Rufe made one quick effort to prevent the boards from tipping up, then
leaped aside, while the discharged load shot past him.
Chokie, screaming, held fast to the sides of his tub with both hands.
Wad, intending to jump, plunged into the deepest part of the river. Link
made a snatch at the barrel, and, playing at leap-frog over it (very
unwillingly), went headlong into the deep hole.
Chokie met with a wonderfully good fortune; his tub was launched so
neatly, and ballasted so nicely by him sitting in the bottom, that it
shipped but a splash of water, and he floated away, unhurt and scarcely
wet at all, amidst the general ruin.
The wagon-boards, relieved of their load, tumbled back upon the wheels.
To add to the confusion, Lion barked furiously.
Jack, frightened at first, finally began to laugh, when he saw Chokie
sailing away, under full scream, and Wad and Link scrambling out of the
water.
"So you were the fellows that were not going to get wet!" cried Rufe.
"Pick out your barrel and empty tubs, while I catch Chokie!"
The river, even in the deepest place, was not very deep; and Wad and
Link came wading out, blowing water from their mouths, flirting water
from their hair, and shaking water from their rescued hats, in a way
that made Rufe (after he had stranded Chokie in his tub) roll upon the
grass in convulsions.
"Laugh, then!" cried Wad in a rage; "I'll give you something to laugh
at!" And, catching up a tub partly filled with water, he rushed with it
to take wet vengeance on his dry brother.
Before Rufe, helpless with laughter, could move to defend himself, tub,
water, and Wad, all together, were upon him,--the tub capsizing over his
head and shoulders, Wad tumbling upon the tub, and the water running out
in little rivulets below.
Rufe was pretty wet, but still laughing, when he crawled out, like a
snail from under his shell, and got upon his feet, clutching the tub to
hurl it at Wad, who fled.
"You are the only one who has got any dry fun out of this scrape!" Rufe
said, trying to brush the water out of his neck and breast.
His words were addressed to Jack, and they proved more strictly true
than he intended; for just then Chokie, trying to get out of his
stranded tub, tipped it over, and went out of it, upon his hands and
knees, into the river. By the time he was pulled out and set upon dry
ground, the boys were all pretty good-natured.
"How about those leeches, Link? Did you find any?" said Jack.
"I'm too dizzy yet, to think about leeches," replied Link. "I turned a
somerset out of that wagon so quick, I could see the patch on the seat
of my trousers!"
"I thought I was going through to China," said Wad, "and expected, when
I came up, to see men with pigtails."
He stood on the edge of the water, holding another tub for Rufe, if he
should come too near.
"Quit your nonsense now!" cried Rufe, "and hand up that barrel."
"I'll quit if you will,--as the poultry-thief said when the old gobbler
chased him. 'Quit, quit!' says the turkey. 'Quit your ownself!' says the
thief. And I'm just of his way of thinking," said Wad.
"Well! help me put this wagon into shape," said Rufe. "Then we'll fill
our tubs and barrel without any more fooling."
The wagon-boards were replaced and loaded without any further accident.
The well-filled tubs were set one upon another, and Wad stood holding
them; while Link, having placed the board seat over the barrel of water,
sat upon it. They found it a pretty sloppy ride; but they could laugh
defiance at a little water now. Chokie, it need hardly be said, did not
ride in a tub of water, but walked between Jack and Rufe beside the
oxen.