He excelled in all out-of-door sports. And indeed, if his prudence had at all kept pace with his ability, he might have done remarkable things in almost any direction; but he constantly overshot the mark, and people looked to him for the dazzling brilliancy and uncertainty of a meteor, but never for the steady glow of a fixed star.
Just now, Jack was a good deal sobered, and appeared at his very best. The teaching of Dr. Paul and the companionship of Geoffrey had done much for him, while the illness of his sister Elsie, who was the darling of his heart, acted constantly as a sort of curb upon him; for he loved her with all the ardour and pa.s.sion which he gave to everything else. You might be fearful of Jack"s high spirits and riotous mirth, of his reckless actions and heedless jokes, but you could scarcely keep from admiring the boy; for he was brave and handsome and winsome enough to charm the very birds off the bush, as Aunt Truth acknowledged, after giving him a lecture for some misdemeanour.
The three girls made their way a short distance up the canyon to a place which they called Prospect Pool, because it was so entirely shut in from observation.
"Dear old Geoff!" said Bell, throwing her shawl over a rock and opening her volume of Carlyle. "He has gone all through this for me, and written nice little remarks on the margin,--explanations and things, and interrogations where he thinks I won"t know what is meant and had better find out,--bless his heart! What have you brought, Margery? By the way, you must move your seat away from that clump of poison-oak bushes; we can"t afford to have any accidents which will interfere with our fun. We have all sorts of new remedies, but I prefer that the boys should experiment with them."
"It"s the softest seat here, too," grumbled Margery. "We must get the boys to cut these bushes down. Why, you haven"t any book, you lazy Polly. Are you going to sleep, or shall you chatter and prevent our reading?"
"Neither," she answered. "Here is a doughnut which I propose to send down the red pathway of fate; and here a pencil and paper with which I am going to begin our round-robin letter to Elsie."
"That"s good! She has only had notes from Jack and one letter from us, which, if I remember right, had nothing in it."
"Thanks! I wrote it," sniffed Bell.
"Well, I meant it had no news--no account of things, you know."
"No, I wouldn"t descend to writing news, and I leave accounts to the butcher."
"Stop quarrelling, girls! This is my plan: I will begin in my usual rockety style, sometimes maliciously called the Pollyoliver method; Margery will take up the thread sedately; Bell will plunge in with a burst of enthusiasm and seventeen adjectives, followed by a verse of poor poetry; Geoff will do the sportive or instructive, just as he happens to feel; and Phil will wind up the letter by some practical details which will serve as a key to all the rest. Won"t it be a box of literary bonbons for her to read in bed, poor darling! Let me see! I represent the cayenne lozenges, sharp but impressive; Margery will do for jujube paste, which I adore,--mild, pleasant, yielding, delicious."
"Sticky and insipid!" murmured Madge, plaintively.
"Not at all, my dear. Bell stands for the peppermints; Jack for chocolates, "the ladies" delight"; Geoffrey for a wine-drop, altogether good, but sweetest in its heart; Phil--let me see! Phil is like--what is he like?"
"No more like candy than a cold boiled potato," said his sister.
"He is candid," suggested Bell. "Let us call him rock-candy, pure, healthful, and far from soft."
"Or marshmallow," said Margery, "good, but tough."
"Or caramel," laughed Polly; "it always sticks to a point."
"Thanks, gentle creatures," said a voice from the bushes on the other side of the pool, and Phil stalked out from his covert, like a wounded deer.
"How long have you been in there, villain?" cried Bell.
"Ever since lunch; but I only waked from a sound sleep some twenty minutes ago. I"ve heard a most instructive conversation--never been more amused in my life; don"t know whether I prefer being a cold boiled potato or a ladies"-delight!"
"You haven"t any choice," snapped Polly, a trifle embarra.s.sed at having been overheard.
"I"m glad it was my own sister who called me a c. b. p. (the most loathsome thing in existence, by the way), because sisters never appreciate their brothers."
"I didn"t call you a c. b. p.," remonstrated Margery. "I said you were no more like candy than a c. b. p. There is a difference."
"Is there? My poor brain fails to grasp it. But never mind; I"ll forgive you."
"Listeners never hear good of themselves," sighed Polly.
"Are you writing a copy-book, Miss Oliver? I didn"t want to listen; it was very painful to my feelings, but I was too sleepy to move."
"And now our afternoon is gone, and we have not read a word," sighed little Margery. "I never met two such chatterboxes as you and Polly."
"And to hear us talk is a liberal education," retorted Polly.
"Exactly," said Philip, dryly, "Come, I"ll take the books and shawls.
It"s nearly five o"clock, and we shall hear Hop Yet blowing his l.u.s.ty dinner-horn presently."
"Why didn"t you go off shooting with the others?" asked Margery.
"Stayed at home so they"d get a chance to shoot."
"Why, do you mean you always scare the game away?" inquired Polly, artlessly.
"No; I mean that I always do all the shooting, and the others get discouraged."
"Clasp hands over the b.l.o.o.d.y chasm," said Bell, "and let us smoke the pipe of peace at dinner."
Philip and Bell came through the trees, and, as they neared the camp, saw Aunt Truth sitting at the door of Tent Chatter, looking the very picture of comfort, as she drew her darning-needle in and out of an unseemly rent in one of d.i.c.ky"s stockings. Margery and Polly came up just behind, and dropped into her lap some beautiful branches of wild azalea.
"Did you have a pleasant walk, dears?" she asked.
"Yes, indeed, dear auntie. Now, just hold your head perfectly still, while we decorate you for dinner. We will make Uncle Doc"s eyes fairly pop with admiration. Have you been lonely without us?"
"Oh, not a bit. You see there has been a good deal of noise about here, and I felt as if I were not alone. Hop Yet has been pounding soap-root in the kitchen, and I hear the sound of Pancho"s axe in the distance,--the Doctor asked him to chop wood for the camp-fire. Was d.i.c.ky any trouble? Where is he?"
"Why, darling mother, are you crazy?" asked Bell. "If you think a moment, he was in the hammock and you were lying down in the tent when we started."
"Why, I certainly thought I heard him ask to go with you," said Mrs.
Winship, in rather an alarmed tone.
"So he did; but I told him it was too far."
"I didn"t hear that; in fact, I was half asleep; I was not feeling well. Ask Hop Yet; he has been in the kitchen all the afternoon."
Hop Yet replied, with discouraging tranquillity, "Oh, I no know. I no sabe d.i.c.ky; he allee time lun loun camp; I no look; too muchee work. I chop hash--d.i.c.ky come in kitch"--make heap work--no good. I tell him go long--he go; bime-by you catchum; you see." Whereupon he gracefully skinned an onion, and burst into a Chinese song, with complete indifference as to whether d.i.c.ky lived or died.
"Perhaps he is with Pancho; I"ll run and see!" cried Polly, dashing swiftly in the direction of the sky-parlour. But after a few minutes she ran back, with a serious face. "He"s not there; Pancho has not seen him since lunch."
"Well, I"ve just happened to think," said pale Aunt Truth, "that papa came into the tent for some cartridges, after you left, and of course he took d.i.c.k with him. I don"t suppose it is any use to worry. He always does come out right; and I have told him so many times never on any account to go away from the camp alone that he surely would not do it. Papa and the boys will be home soon, now. It is nearly six o"clock, and I told them that I would blow the horn at six, as usual. If they are too far away to hear it, they will know the time by the sun."
"Well," said Bell, anxiously, "I hope it is all right. Papa is so strict that he won"t be late himself. Did all the boys go with him, mamma?"
"Yes, all but Philip."
"Oh, then d.i.c.ky must be with them," said Margery, consolingly.
"Geoffrey always takes him wherever he can."
So the girls went into the tent to begin their dinner toilet, which consisted in carefully brushing burrs and dust from their pretty dresses, and donning fresh collars and stockings, with low ties of russet leather, which Polly declared belonged only to the stage conception of a camping costume; then, with smoothly brushed hair and bright flower-knots at collar and belt, they looked charming enough to grace any drawing-room in the land.