"It needs some more water," said Peace, catching up a dipper of cold water and pouring it into one sizzling pot. "Mercy, how it has grown since we put it on to cook! That kettleful won"t burn now."
"But it has turned yellow and smells dreadfully smoky," answered Cherry, sniffing at the discolored, unappetizing mess in the pan.
Peace examined it critically, tasted it, made a wry face, and finally announced, "It"s spoiled, I guess. Never mind, there is plenty of good rice left--"
"Oh, Peace!" yelled Allee excitedly, dancing in the chair, where she stood trying to stir the heavy contents of another pan. "Something else is burning, sure! See the black smoke!"
There was a knock at the door, but Peace was frantically tugging at the big kettle stuck fast to the stove cover, and without pausing in her task, she called crossly, "You will have to wait till we can get this rice "tended to before we can see what you want, whoever you are. We are all busy in here."
There was an audible chuckle from without, the k.n.o.b turned, Cherry screamed, and a gray-haired, shabby, old man stood smiling at them from the steps. Peace scarcely looked at him as she succeeded in freeing the panful of smoking, blackened rice from the cover, but that quick glance had told her the visitor was a tramp, and she snapped sharply, "I s"pose you want a bite to eat. Well, I don"t see how you are going to get it here! I"ve just killed the cow, and the rice has burned up. Cherry, stop stirring that mess and take it off! Can"t you see it"s smoking like a _chimbly_?"
The tramp strode across the room, grabbed the teakettle and poured the boiling water into the pan, over which Allee had mounted guard, and which fortunately was on the back of the stove so it had not yet arrived at the burning point. He caught up one other, dumped about half its contents into a clean saucepan on the hearth, saturated it with water, threw in some salt, and set it back on the stove, at the same time removing a third kettle of burning rice and carrying it out of doors.
"There!" he said, entering the kitchen again. "All the rice isn"t spoiled. Now we will open the windows and let out this smoke, and we are all right. How did you come to cook so much?"
"We were hungry, and thought we could eat a lot--"
"But rice swells--"
"We have found that out for ourselves," said Peace, blushing furiously at his quizzical grin. "It"s the first time we ever cooked it alone."
"Where are the sisters?"
"Gail and Faith are in the city, and Hope hasn"t come home from Edwards"
house yet."
"And you are hungry? Well, now, that is too bad. I"ll tell you what I will do. You show me where you keep things and I will get supper, if you will permit me to share it with you. Tramps have to work here, you know--"
"Oh, Mr. Tramp! You are my tramp that broke the raw egg all over your potato, aren"t you?" cried Peace with undisguised joy. "And you never stole that cake, did you?"
"What cake, child?"
"The one Faith was baking the morning you ate breakfast here "bout a year ago."
"I never stole a cake in my life,--or anything else."
"There, I knew it! I told them so at the time. Was it--have you lost any money around here?"
"Money?" he echoed, his face the picture of innocence, as he deftly set the table and beat up an omelette. "I should say not! Why?"
""Cause we found some on the gatepost the night you were here, and I thought maybe you had lost it. No, I didn"t think so, either. Gail thought you might have lost it." Into his ears she poured the whole story of the long, hard year.
"And so you thought,--or Gail thought I had lost the money you found on the gatepost! Well, don"t you think it would be a funny tramp who would have all that money with him!"
Peace"s face fell, and she slowly admitted, "Yes, I s"pose it would, but I thought maybe you might be a story-book prince. Those things _always_ happen in books. But Gail won"t use the money, "cause she says someone might come along and claim it some day. When mamma was a little girl there was a queer old man lived in her town that people called crazy. He used to give pretty things to the children and then months later he"d go around and c"llect them and give them to someone else. Maybe that"s the kind of a man who leaves the money on the gatepost. It has happened twice there, and once in the barn. Gail says we can"t tell, and "twould be terrible embracing"--she meant embarra.s.sing--"if he should try to c"llect after we had spent the money."
"That"s a fact," agreed the tramp, "but I think she could spend the money without any such fears, because I think the fairies brought it."
"Do you b"lieve in fairies?" cried Peace in shocked surprise.
"Oh, yes, and I always shall. I don"t think the fairies fly around like b.u.t.terflies, the way they are pictured in books. I believe they live in the hearts of men."
"Then how could they bring money and pin it to the gatepost and grain sacks? They use sure-enough, every-day pins."
"Oh, maybe they whisper to some good friend that a little extra money would make things easier at the brown house, or the green one, or the gray one, and this friend, who has lots of money to spare--"
"That"s just the way I thought it all out," interrupted Peace eagerly.
"But Mr. Strong hasn"t lots of spare money. He is a minister, and they never have enough for themselves. Besides, he crossed his heart that he didn"t know who put it there. The Dunbars aren"t rich. Miss Truesdale can"t afford it. Even Mrs. Grinnell couldn"t do it. Judge Abbott has lots of money, but folks have to work for what they get out of him, and old Skinflint is so stingy that he _borrows_ the city papers so"s he won"t have to buy them himself. Hec Abbott told me so. I can"t think of a single soul who would give us the money."
"Maybe this is a friend whom you don"t know."
"That"s it, I guess. But I"d _like_ awfully well to know them, and "specially whether we can really use the money for ourselves. Now that Bossy is gone, I don"t know what we are going to do for milk. Mr. Jones paid fifteen dollars for her, but that won"t buy a whole new one."
"I think I know where you can get a fine cow for fifteen dollars. If you will give me the money I will call around by the place and have the man bring it to you the first thing in the morning. It is quite a piece from here, and maybe he wouldn"t sell it to _you_ for that price, but I know he would to _me_."
Peace sat lost in thought, a bit of bread poised half way to her mouth.
"Is it a good cow?" asked Allee, timidly.
"The very best."
"Gentle, like Bossy?" Cherry questioned.
"Gentle as a lamb."
"Does she give four gallons of milk a day?" Peace interrupted.
"More, sometimes."
"Is she pretty?"
"Handsome as a picture."
"Does she give good milk, with lots of cream? We make our own b.u.t.ter, you know."
"She"s a splendid b.u.t.ter cow."
"Has she got brown eyes, like mine, and a curly tail, and two good horns--not too sharp? Will she eat sugar out of your hand and not drive folks out of the stall when they try to pet her?"
"She is the finest cow I ever saw--"
"Then it"s funny the man will sell her for; fifteen dollars," declared Peace, with sudden suspicion, studying the old man opposite her, but seeing only a sandy, untrimmed beard, a strong, honest face, with square jaws, and a pair of the kindest eyes she had ever looked into.
"Not at all," said the man, chuckling to himself at the trap she had laid for him. "He wants to get rid of his herd, but doesn"t need the money; though, of course, he wouldn"t care to give the cows away."
"Well," hesitated the brown-eyed girl, "I guess--I will have you order the cow for us. Gail won"t feel so bad about losing Bossy if we can get another just as good. Here is the money. Do you have to go so soon? I would like to have you stay until the girls get here. Now, don"t you forget about the cow!"
"She will be here early tomorrow morning. Good-night, and many thanks for the supper." Out into the spring night walked the tramp, with the precious fifteen dollars in his pocket, and again the three children took up their vigil at the window, watching for the sisters from town.