"Yes," a.s.sented Jim, "it"s a right nice place, is Miller"s Pond, and has lots of nice fish in it."
The boys laid down their rods, Lulu her basket, and all three fell to digging for earth-worms.
When they deemed that they had a sufficient quant.i.ty of bait, the lads seated themselves on the roots of a fallen tree close to the water, each, with fishing-rod in hand, and Lulu, picking up her basket, wandered off among the trees and bushes.
"Don"t go too far away and get lost," Max called after her.
"No," she answered, "I"ll not go out of sight of the pond; so I can easily find my way back. But don"t you go off and leave me."
"No; if you"re not here, I"ll hallo when we"re "most ready to start."
What treasures Lulu found as she wandered here and there, every now and then turning to look for the pond, and make sure that she was not losing herself, there were acorn-cups, lovely mosses, beautiful autumn leaves--red, orange, golden and green; there were wild grapes too, and hazel-nuts, brown and ripe. Of all these she gathered eagerly until her basket was full, thinking that some would delight Gracie, others propitiate Aunt Beulah.
And now she made her way back to the spot where the boys still sat, each with his line in the water.
"Have you caught any?" she asked.
"Yes," said Max, "I"ve caught six and Jim has eight. There! I"ve got another!" giving his line a jerk that sent a pretty speckled trout floundering in the gra.s.s.
"I"ll take it off the hook for you," said Lulu, springing forward and dropping on her knees beside it. "And then you"ll let me try, won"t you?"
"Yes," Max answered in a half-reluctant tone, getting up to give her his place.
"There are hazel-nuts right over there a little way," Lulu said, pointing with her finger.
"Oh, then I"ll have some!" cried Max, starting on a run in the direction indicated.
He came back after a while bringing some in his hat, picked up some stones, and seating himself near the others, cracked his nuts, sharing generously with them.
Presently Lulu had her first bite, succeeded in bringing her prize safely to land, and was quite wild with delight.
Max rejoiced with her, taking brotherly pride in her success.
"You"ll do for a fisherman or fisherwoman," he said gayly. "I sha"n"t be much surprised if you beat me at it one o" these days."
Then struck with a sudden unwelcome thought, "I wonder what time it is!"
he exclaimed, jumping up from the ground in haste and perturbation. "Do you s"pose it"s noon yet, Jim?"
"Which way"s the sun?" queried the latter, glancing toward the sky; "it ought to be right overhead at noon. Why, it"s down some toward the west! I shouldn"t wonder if it"s as late as two o"clock."
"Two o"clock!" cried Max in dismay, "and I was to be back by noon! Won"t I catch it!" and he began gathering up his fish and fishing-tackle in great haste, Jim doing likewise, with the remark that he would be late to dinner and maybe have to go without.
Lulu was giving Max all the a.s.sistance in her power, her face full of sympathy.
"Max," she whispered, hurrying along close at his side as they started on their homeward way, "don"t let that horrid, cruel, wicked man beat you! I wouldn"t. I"d fight him like anything!"
Max shook his head. ""Twouldn"t do any good, Lulu; he"s so much bigger and stronger than I am that fighting him would be worse for me than taking the thrashing quietly."
"I could never do that!" she said. "But don"t wait for me if you want to go faster."
"I don"t," said Max.
"Well, I b"lieve I"d better make all the haste I can," said Jim. "So good-by," and away he sped.
"Oh, if papa only knew all about how that brute treats you!" sighed Lulu.
"Max, can"t we write him a letter?"
"I do once in a while, but old Tom always reads it before it goes."
"I wouldn"t let him. I"d hide away somewhere to write it, and put it in the post-office myself."
"I have no chance, he gives me only a sheet of paper at a time, and must always know what I do with it. It"s the same way with my pocket money; so I can"t buy postage-stamps; and I don"t know how to direct the letter either."
"Oh dear! and it"s just the same way with me!" sighed Lulu. "When will papa come? I"m just sick to see him and tell him everything!"
When they reached Mrs. Scrimp"s door Max gave Lulu his string of fish, saying, "Here, take them, Sis. It"s no use for me to keep "em, for I shouldn"t get a taste; and maybe they"ll put her in a good humor with you."
"Thank you," she said. "O Max, I wish you could eat them yourself!" Her eyes were full of tears.
"I"d rather you"d have "em; you and Gracie," he said cheerfully.
"Good-by."
"Good-by," she returned, looking after him as he hurried away, whistling as he went.
"He"s whistling to keep his courage up. O Max! poor Max! I wish I could give that man the worst kind of a flogging!" Lulu sighed to herself, then turned and went into the house.
She heard Mrs. Scrimp"s voice in the kitchen scolding Ann for letting the bread burn in the oven. It was an inauspicious moment to appear before her, but Lulu marched boldly in, holding up her string of fish.
"See, Aunt Beulah! they"re just fresh out of the water, and won"t they make us a nice dinner?"
"And they"re your favorite fish, ma"am, them pretty speckled trout is,"
put in Ann, glad to make a diversion in her own favor, as well as to help Lulu out of a sc.r.a.pe; "and I"ll go right to work to clean "em and have "em ready for the frying-pan in less than no time."
"Yes, they"ll be very nice; and the meat will keep for to-morrow," was the gracious rejoinder. "You oughtn"t to have gone off without leave, Lulu; but I suppose Max couldn"t wait."
"No, Aunt Beulah, he said he couldn"t stay more than a minute. Shall I help Ann clean the fish?"
"No; go and make yourself tidy. Your hands are dirty, your ap.r.o.n soiled, and your hair looks as if it hadn"t been combed for a week."
Mrs. Scrimp"s face was gathering blackness as she scanned the figure of the young delinquent from head to foot, spying out all that was amiss with it.
"I will," said Lulu, moving toward the door with cheerful alacrity. "Oh, I forgot!" and rushing into the hall, she came back the next minute bringing her basket of treasures.
"See, Aunt Beulah, I"ve brought you lots of lovely leaves; you know you said you wanted some to make a wreath; and here are mosses, and grapes, and hazel-nuts."
"Why you have made good use of your time," Mrs. Scrimp said, now entirely mollified. "Bring your basket into the sitting-room, where Gracie is; and we"ll look over its contents."
Max was less fortunate to-day than his sister. His custodian was on the look-out for him, cowhide in hand, and seizing him roughly, as he entered the gate, with a fierce, "I"ll teach you to disobey orders another time, you young vagabond! I told you to come home at noon, and you"re over two hours behind time!" began to administer an unmerciful flogging.