"I don"t know, unless on the lawn," ventured Jess.
"Whew! It would spoil the tennis-courts."
"Well, I suppose she could hire a field. It would be ripping fun to learn to milk."
"Don"t flatter yourself you"d have the chance. The seniors get all that kind of fun, and we poor intermediates only get the spade work. I"ve never been allowed to feed the chickens once, no--not _once_--and I think it"s jolly hard luck!"
"Well, after the way you stuck your fingers into the bee-hive, I should think Miss Ormrod would hardly trust you to feed a sparrow!"
"What nonsense! I was only investigating!"
"Oh, I dare say! It sounds very grand when you put it that way. Miss Ormrod called you "Meddlesome Matty", and said you deserved to be stung!"
One great advantage of the farming operations, in the eyes of the younger girls, was that so many materials were left lying about, and it was quite possible to obtain a considerable amount of enjoyment from them. A plank placed over a tree-trunk made quite a good see-saw; the new back gate was a delightful one to swing upon; and, when Miss Ormrod"s back was turned, it was a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt to place a ladder against the potting-shed wall, climb to the ridge of the roof, and then slide down and give a flying jump to the ground. There was an old bucket inside the potting-shed upon which Diana had her eye; she had schemes that centred round that bucket. It had holes drilled in its sides, and had been used during building operations to light a fire in. She was determined it should be used for that purpose again.
Down by the brink of the lake was a boat-house that belonged to the school. It was kept carefully locked, and Miss Todd had the key. Since she had taken over the school she had allowed no one to use the boat--a grievance at which the girls sometimes grumbled. There was a small landing-stage at the edge of the water, and only six feet away from this was a sort of island formed of some willow-stumps and a little soil. It was a tiny place, hardly worthy to be called an island, and yet for Diana it held an immense attraction. She wanted to get on to it. She went down one day with Wendy, Peggy, and Vi, and they took the plank which had been used for a see-saw, fixed it as a bridge from the landing-stage to a willow-stump, and then walked across and took possession. Their new property was only about as large as a good-sized dining-table, but they were immensely pleased with it.
"We"ll bring down the Stars and Stripes and hang them up!" exulted Diana.
"The Union Jack, you mean!" corrected Wendy. "Can"t run up even an Allied flag on British soil without first claiming it for the King! I"d like to have a picnic here!"
"That"s exactly what"s in my mind," agreed Diana, waiving the question of the colours. "And I"ve got a brain-wave. We"ll carry the bucket over, light a fire, and cook something. Wouldn"t it be rather ripping?"
"A1!" beamed Peggy and Vi.
"Crusoe Island", as the girls named their willow-clump, might certainly claim the doubtful distinction of being the smallest British possession in the world, but it was an important one in the eyes of its owners.
They duly brought down the Union Jack and the American flag, and--as a concession to Diana--planted them side by side on its scanty soil. They decided not to tell seniors or juniors anything at all about it. Of course, in a vague way, the whole school knew of its existence, but n.o.body had troubled before to land on its few yards of surface. It was well hidden by the boat-house, so that any operations there were not visible from the garden or orchard. The rest of the intermediates, admitted with many cautions of silence into the secret, approved whole-heartedly; the form squatted in a circle on their territory, linked little fingers, and pledged themselves into a sort of Crusoe Society. Everybody felt that the first thing to be done was to hold an inauguration feast. They borrowed the bucket, filled it with coal and c.o.ke from the greenhouse, and carried it successfully over the plank to the island.
"So far so good!" purred Diana. "We"ve got our fire!"
"But not our feast!" qualified Wendy.
"We shall have to be jolly careful to dodge those juniors," advised Jess. "If they see us carrying out cups they"ll be on the scent directly."
"We mustn"t risk it. Besides, Barker would be sure to catch us in the pantry, and make a clamour if we took cups; we must manage without things from the house."
"There"s a large biscuit-tin lid in the hen-yard," suggested Sadie. "If we washed it very well, it would do as a frying pan."
"Good biz!"
"What could we fry?"
The commissariat question was indeed the problem of problems. The village was unfortunately out of bounds, so that, except on stated occasions, when they were escorted by a mistress, the girls were unable to do shopping "on their own". There are ways, however, of crawling through even the most barbed-wire fence of rules.
"Toddlekins never told us we weren"t to ask anybody else to do shopping for us," said Wendy demurely. "When you"ve not been told not to do anything, you"re not disobedient if you don"t do it--oh! I"m getting rather in a muddle, but you know what I mean."
They did, and they grinned approval.
"There"s a little boy working on the next farm," continued Wendy. "I"ve smiled and waved to him over the hedge sometimes. I believe he"d do _anything_ for me. If you can stump up some cash, I"ll get him to run an errand for us. He"s picking stones out of the field at this present moment--at least, to be absolutely truthful, he was, ten minutes ago, and I don"t suppose he"s stopped. If I go to the orchard fence I can call to him."
The circle looked at Wendy with admiration. They had not before realized the riches of her resourcefulness. Each promised to contribute sixpence, and told her where to find their purses, so that they need not arouse suspicion by visiting their dormitories in a body.
"We"ll be lighting the fire while you get the prog," they a.s.sured her.
So Wendy departed on her foraging expedition, collected the necessary funds after much hunting in various drawers and coat pockets, hurried to the orchard, and climbed the fence. Freddie Entwistle was still steadily engaged in the rural occupation of ridding his father"s field of superfluous stones, but he kept an eye on the horizon, and at the sight of Wendy"s beckoning finger he flung duty to the winds.
"D"you want me?" he grinned, as he came panting across the newly ploughed earth.
"Yes," said his siren sweetly. "I want you badly. Will you go to the village and buy something for me?"
"I don"t mind. What shall I get?"
"Half a pound of biscuits and something to fry."
"Bacon?" suggested her swain laconically.
"N-n-no. We had bacon for breakfast."
"Kippers or ham?"
"I don"t think kippers; but really it must be anything you can get.
Here"s the money. If there"s any change, take it out in sweets."
"Right you are! I"ll be as sharp as I can."
"It"s something to have a knight-errant who"s prepared to relieve a maiden in distress," reflected Wendy, seating herself on the fence to await the return of her chivalrous squire.
He came back in course of time with his pockets bulging with parcels, evidently very proud of himself for having executed his lady"s commands.
Her thanks and a commission of sweets left him radiant. He returned to his stone-picking, living in a dream.
The party on the island received Wendy with enthusiasm. The fire was burning beautifully in the bucket, the tin had been scoured with sand and well washed, large ivy leaves had been picked to serve as plates, and the company had their penknives ready.
"It"s sausages!" exclaimed Wendy, opening one of the parcels; "and he"s actually bought some lard to fry them in. What a brain--and only twelve!
That boy"ll be a general some day, if he doesn"t die of over-cleverness.
Biscuits to eat with them, my children, and some chocs. for dessert. I beg to propose that we accord a hearty vote of thanks to Freddie Entwistle."
"For he"s a jolly good fellow!
For he"s a jolly good fellow!"
began Jess; but Diana promptly squashed her.
"Stop that noise! D"you want to give the whole show away, and have Lennie, and Nora, and Betty, and all the rest of the kids swarming down upon us? Anybody who can"t keep quiet will be made to walk the plank.
Yes, and splash into the river at the other end of it! We wouldn"t pick you out either; we"d let you drown!"
"Then I"d sing "For he"s a jolly good fellow" as my "dying swan song","
protested Jess. "The kids are far enough away. No one can hear us."
She took the hint, all the same, and did not allow her enjoyment to bubble over into music. Instead, she helped Wendy to p.r.i.c.k the sausages with a penknife and place them on the temporary frying-pan. The biscuit-tin lid just fitted nicely over the bucket. In a few minutes there was a grand sound of fizzling, and a most delicious scent began to waft itself over the waters of the lake. The best of a bucket-fire is that everybody can sit round it in a circle and superintend the cooking operations. Eight penknives prodded the sausages so often that it was a wonder they were not all chopped to pieces before they were done. At last the connoisseurs declared they were brown enough, and they were carefully and mathematically halved and served on biscuits.