"It was Christmas eve, now remember, And out in the cold world alone, A cold night, too, in December, There wandered a poor little one.
"Waiting in sorrow and weeping, Waiting out there in the cold, Why should she have cause to sorrow?
Why, her mother lay there in the mould.
"And where was the child"s own father?
Was he in the cold ground, too?
No, her father was in the billiard-room.
I pity the poor child, don"t you?"
"That"s too sweet for anything, Hilda! All you girls are clever but me,"
sighed Edna, half enviously.
"I"ve just decided that I"ll be a poetess like Mrs. Browning, when I grow up," said Hilda, calmly. "I never tried writing poetry before, but it"s just as _easy_. It would be very interesting to be a poetess,"
added Hilda, who was given to day-dreams, in which she was always famous.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A SAILING PARTY.
It was not long after dawn, early as that was, when the younger fry were all astir in the Maxwell household. The boys were up to see that everything was in order about the boat, and to transport the necessary number of cushions and rugs for the comfort of their pa.s.sengers. Cricket dragged reluctant Hilda, who dearly loved her morning snooze, out of bed almost as early, though Eunice and Edna lazily turned over for another sc.r.a.p of a nap. Still, they were not long able to withstand the general buzz of excitement, and long before seven they also were up and about, gathering together their various belongings. Cook had the generous luncheon-baskets all packed, with provision sufficient for a small regiment. Before breakfast everything was on board, the luncheon was packed away in the little locker, and cushions and extra wrappings were all in place.
Breakfast was a hasty ceremony, for the boys were eagerly watching the time, and tide, and breeze, and so would hardly give the rest time to eat. It was not quite eight when they mustered their party on the dock.
At the last moment Cricket appeared with a small bundle, carefully wrapped in newspaper, the contents of which she absolutely refused to reveal.
"You"ll know by and by," was all she would say, "and you needn"t try to solve into the mystery now."
The breeze favoured the start, and the swelling sails swept the _Gentle Jane_ along at a scudding pace. Hilda, who had never been sailing before, was delighted at the swift motion. The sky was as blue as blue could be, with flecks of white clouds all over it, the water was sparkling and clear, and dashed with a delightful little swish against the bow.
"But what do you do if the breeze stops?" she asked.
"We stop, too," said Archie, "unless somebody gets out and drags the boat along."
"Really? could any one drag this heavy boat along? would they swim? oh, you"re teasing me!"
"Yes, of course he"s teasing you," said Edna; "we have to row, if the breeze stops. Do you see these long oars? Why, boys! you haven"t brought but one oar!"
"Yes, we have," answered the boys in chorus. Then they looked at where the oars should be, and then at each other. "I thought you brought the other oar," said Archie.
"And I thought you did," said Will. "Never mind. It looks as if we"d have a good breeze all day."
"But will the breeze turn for you to come home again?" asked Hilda. "For if the breeze blows us out, how can it blow us back again?"
"Tack, young woman, tack, but not with a hammer or nails. You"ll see, coming home, if this breeze holds out."
"I"ll bet you anything that the breeze _won"t_ hold, because you"ve forgotten the other oar," said Edna.
"Then we"ll put Cricket up in the bow, to whistle up a breeze. That always brings it."
"It"s so funny I can"t whistle, when I"d love to, so," said Cricket, meditatively, for whistling was one boyish accomplishment which she could not manage.
"You needn"t wish to," said Edna, who, strange to say, could whistle like a blackbird. "You would only have people always telling you, it is not ladylike. I don"t know I"m whistling half the time when mamma tells me not to. It just whistles itself."
"Why _don"t_ I whistle right?" asked Cricket, dolefully, for the hundredth time. "I pucker my lips up so--and I blow--_so_--and I can give one straight whistle, but I can"t make it go up and down. It doesn"t twinkle as Edna"s does."
Edna broke out into a perfect bird song of twittering and chirping and trilling.
"There, I just enjoyed that!" she said, at last, stopping breathlessly.
"When I"m way out at sea, mamma lets me whistle all I like."
"Isn"t it getting near luncheon-time, auntie?" asked Eunice. "I"m dreadfully hungry."
"Luncheon-time, dear child! It"s only nine o"clock," said auntie, consulting her watch.
"Don"t get mixed up in the time as you did last summer, when you went blackberrying and came home at ten o"clock in the morning and thought it was six at night. Hard-a-lee!" as the boom swung around and they changed their course. Hilda, not realizing what this meant, did not duck her head in time, and consequently got a smart rap. Her hat was knocked off, but, being Hilda"s, it did not go in the water. She never had any accidents.
"You must duck, instanter, when you hear me call," said Will. "Sometimes the boom has to go around very suddenly, and you have to look out for yourselves. Archie, you steer now for a while," and Archie took the helm.
The little sailboat skimmed along over the glittering water, and now they were well past Clark"s Island. As they came near the Gurnet lights they decided that they would touch there first, and show Hilda the lighthouse, and then they could take as much time as they liked for their cruise outside.
The tide was out, and they could not get the little boat up near enough the sh.o.r.e to land dry-shod. So Will and Archie, having anch.o.r.ed the boat, pulled off shoes and stockings, rolled up their trousers, and jumped overboard.
"What are they going to do?" asked Hilda, watching with much interest these preparations, which the rest seemed to take as a matter of course.
"They will carry us ash.o.r.e, because we don"t want to get our feet wet,"
said Edna. "They often do."
"_Carry_ us! why, I"d be scared to death!" exclaimed Hilda. "Are you really going to let them take you, Mrs. Somers?"
"Yes, indeed, and they know just how to manage," said Mrs. Somers. "I"ll go now, children, so they can take the heaviest weight first."
Will and Archie, knee deep in water, stood up by the boat, and Will easily lifted his mother from the side of the boat, where she was standing. Then Archie got hold of her also, in some mysterious way, and, in a moment, she was safely sitting on a "lady"s chair," made by the boys" clasped hands. They went carefully up over the rocks and stones, and deposited her, dry-shod. Then they came back for the girls.
"I can take these kids better alone, Arch," said Will, taking Eunice like a baby.
"I"ll take Cricket," said Archie.
"No, you won"t, sir, not one step," said that young lady, sitting down, resolutely. "I know you. I"d find myself in a crab hole in about a minute. I"ll wait for Will."
"Come on, Hilda, then. That"s a base libel, you know."
But it ended by Will"s carrying them all in.
"There are drawbacks to being so popular," said Will, setting down Edna, who was the last, and wiping his face.