"We were playing Indians," said Bobby, coming to the rescue of his sister, "and we had to have some captives. So--so----"
"We took the chickens and the ducks," went on the twins in concert.
"And the lame turkey," put in Meg.
"And shut them in our tent!" finished Bobby and Meg together.
"Put them in your tent?" repeated Aunt Polly. "Do you suppose they are there now?"
Away dashed the children, Aunt Polly after them, around to the side lawn. The tent was just as they had left it, and Meg cautiously unb.u.t.toned the flap. A soft, comfortable little singing sound came out to them.
"Well, I never!" said Aunt Polly helplessly. "What won"t you children do next!"
The four little Blossoms ran back to tell Linda that her ducks were safe, and you may be sure she was very glad to hear it. And in the morning they found the biddies and the ducks none the worse for their night in the tent.
Shortly after this, Bobby and Meg were awakened one night by a queer noise outside. Bobby heard it first and came creeping into Meg"s room to see if she were awake.
"Meg! Meg!" he whispered, so as not to wake Dot. "Did you hear something?"
"Yes, I did," whispered back Meg. "Under my window. Wait a minute and we"ll peep out."
Dot and Twaddles wouldn"t wake up, "not if there was an earthquake,"
Daddy Blossom sometimes said, but Meg and Bobby were light sleepers and very apt to hear any unusual noise.
Together now they crept over to Meg"s window and, raising the screen very softly, peeped out. Something large and dark was moving about on the lawn below.
"I guess it"s Mr. Simmonds" bull," suggested Meg.
"Don"t you think we ought to go down and drive him off?" asked Bobby, quite as if driving bulls off his aunt"s lawn was a nightly task with him. "Or I"ll go alone--I"m the man of the house."
As a matter of fact, he was. Aunt Polly and Linda slept in rooms across the hall at the back of the house, and apparently had heard nothing. But Meg had no idea of letting her brother face a bull alone.
"I"m coming, too," she whispered. "Let"s put on our shoes--you know how wet the gra.s.s is at night. And here"s a blanket, so you won"t catch cold."
Wrapping herself in another blanket--Aunt Polly kept two light-weight blankets folded at the foot of each bed for chilly nights--Meg tiptoed carefully downstairs after Bobby. They knew their way about the house now, even in the dark. The front door was not locked, for people in the country seldom lock their doors.
"Why, Bobby!" Meg called softly. "Look! There"s a lot of "em! See! All down the drive! They can"t be Mr. Simmonds" bull----"
"Well, not all of "em," snickered Bobby. "There"s only one of him.
Come on, Meg, I"m going up to one and see what it is."
"Why, it"s a calf!" cried Meg, in astonishment. "A darling baby calf!
They all are! How many are there, Bobby?"
"I can count fourteen," said Bobby after a moment, for the night was not pitch black, but one of those soft summer nights with so many stars that after your eyes are accustomed to it you can see objects distinctly enough to count.
"Somebody"s left their barnyard gate open," announced Meg. "What"ll we do? Drive "em into our barnyard?"
"Sure!" answered Bobby, just like a farmer. "That"ll keep "em safe till morning. And then Jud will find out whose they are."
Driving those fourteen baby calves was not such hard work as they had expected, for they were very amiable beasties and only wanted to nibble a little fresh sweet gra.s.s as they were driven on toward the barnyard. But Meg and Bobby had so much fun doing this that they forgot to be quiet, and just as they had the last calf safely inside and the big gate barred, two figures came running up to them.
"For the love of Pete!" said Jud, breathing heavily. "Meg and Bobby!
And in their night clothes! Are you crazy?"
"There"s fourteen baby calves in there," announced Bobby with dignity.
"Yes, and they would have had the whole lawn eaten up if it hadn"t been for us," declared Meg.
Peter and Jud peered over the gate.
"Those are Tom Sparks" calves he bought for his auction next week,"
said Peter. "Guess he didn"t pen "em in good to-night. Well, you youngsters don"t miss anything, do you? You run back to bed now, and in the morning we"ll do a little telephoning."
And when Jud came up while they were at breakfast the next morning and told them that Mr. Sparks wanted to pay a reward of five dollars to the person who had saved his calves for him, maybe there wasn"t great excitement!
Aunt Polly then heard the story for the first time, as did Dot and Twaddles and Linda.
"You take it," advised Linda, when Jud repeated the offer of the reward. "If the constable had put his calves in the pound it would have cost him twice that to get them out."
"But I don"t like to have them take money," protested Aunt Polly.
"All right," said Jud suddenly. "Mr. Sparks can pay them back some other way."
CHAPTER XIV
THE PICNIC
Jud went off whistling, and soon after they had finished breakfast the four little Blossoms saw a tall, stout man drive in. His horse was a beautiful, shiny black animal, evidently groomed and tended with great care.
"That"s Mr. Sparks," Linda informed the children.
The children ran out to see the calves being herded together, and Jud embarra.s.sed Meg and Bobby very much by introducing them as the little people who had heard the calves in the night and gone downstairs after them.
"Meg heard "em," said Bobby modestly.
"Well, well, well!" almost shouted Mr. Sparks, though that was his natural way of talking; he couldn"t speak low. "I do certainly admire a girl with s.p.u.n.k enough to get up in the middle of the night and chase live-stock. You ought to be a farmer"s daughter."
He paused and smiled at the children. It was impossible not to like this bluff, red-faced man with the loud voice.
"I had intended to give a little reward to the person who did me this service," went on Mr. Sparks. "Finding there"s two of "em, rightly I should double it. But Mrs. Hayward, I hear, doesn"t want you to take money--good notion, too, in a way, I guess. Suppose I give you one of these little calves now. How would that do?"
"One of those darling little calves?" cried Meg.