Mother Van Hove lifted her two children high in her arms for him to see, but Father Van Hove could only smile a brave good-bye as he marched swiftly past.
"No tears, my children!" cried the priest; "let them see no tears! Send them away with a smile!" And, standing on the edge of the sidewalk, he made the sign of the cross and raised his hand in blessing, as the troops went by.
For a time Mother Van Hove and the children ran along the sidewalk, trying to keep pace with the soldiers, but their quick strides were too much for the Twins, and it was not long before Marie said, breathlessly, "My legs are too short! I can"t run so fast!"
"I can"t too!" gasped Jan. Mother Van Hove stopped short at once, and the three stood still, hand in hand, and watched the soldiers until they turned a corner and disappeared from sight through the Antwerp gate of the city.
They were quite alone, for the other women and children had gone no farther than the armory, and were already on their homeward way to Meer. Now for the first time Mother Van Hove gave way to grief, and Jan and Marie wept with her; but it was only for a moment. Then she wiped her eyes, and the Twins" too, on her ap.r.o.n, and said firmly: "Come, my lambs! Tears will not bring him back! We must go home now as fast as we can. There is need there for all that we can do! You must be the man of the house now, my Janke, and help me take your father"s place on the farm; and Marie must be our little house-mother. We must be as brave as soldiers, even though we cannot fight."
"I think I could be braver if I had some breakfast," sobbed Janke.
Mother Van Hove struck her hands together in dismay. "I never once thought of food!" she cried, "and I haven"t a red cent with me! We cannot buy a breakfast! We must just go hungry until we get home! But soldiers must often go hungry, my little ones. We must be as brave as they. Come, now. I will be the captain! Forward march!"
Jan and Marie stiffened their little backs, as she gave the word of command, and, shoulder to shoulder, they marched down the street toward the city gate to the martial refrain, "Le Roi, la loi, la liberte,"
which Mother Van Hove hummed for them under her breath.
It was a long way back to the little farm-house, and when at last the three weary pilgrims reached it, they were met by an indignant chorus of protests from all the creatures which had been left behind. Bel was lowing at the pasture bars, the pig was squealing angrily in her pen, the rooster had crowed himself hoa.r.s.e, and Fidel, patient Fidel, was sitting on guard at the back door.
Mother Van Hove flew into the kitchen the moment she reached the house, and in two minutes Jan and Marie were seated before a breakfast of bread and milk. Then she fed the pig, let out the hens, and gave Fidel a bone which she had saved for him from the soup. Last of all, she milked the cow, and when this was done, and she had had a cup of coffee herself, the clock in the steeple struck twelve.
Even Mother Van Hove"s strength was not equal to work in the harvest-field that day, but she stowed the load of wheat which had been brought home the night before in the barn, and, after the ch.o.r.es were done at night, she and the Twins went straight to bed and slept as only the very weary can, until the sun streamed into their windows in the morning.
V
DOING A MAN"S WORK
When Jan and Marie awoke, their mother"s bed was empty. "She"s gone to milk the cow," cried Marie. "Come, Jan, we will surprise her! When she comes back from the pasture, we will have breakfast all ready."
"You can," said Jan, as he struggled into his clothes, and twisted himself nearly in two trying to do up the b.u.t.tons in the back; "you can, but I must do a man"s work! I will go out and feed the pig and catch old Pier and hitch him to the cart," he said importantly. "I must finish the wheat harvest to-day."
"Ho!" said Marie. "You will spill the pig-feed all over yourself! You are such a messy boy!"
"I guess I can do it just as well as you can make coffee," said Jan with spirit. "You"ve never made coffee in your life!"
"I"ve watched Mother do it lots of times," said Marie. "I"m sure I can do it just the same way."
"All right, let"s see you do it, then," said Jan. And he strode out of the room with his hands in his pockets, taking as long steps as his short legs would permit.
When she was dressed and washed, Marie ran to the pump and filled the kettle. Then she stirred the embers of the fire in the kitchen and put on fresh coal. She set the kettle on to boil and only slopped a little water on her ap.r.o.n in doing so. Then she put the dishes on the table.
Meanwhile she heard no sound from Jan. She went to the kitchen door and looked out. Jan had already let out the fowls, and was just in the act of feeding the pig. He had climbed up on the fence around the pig-pen, and by dint of great effort had succeeded in lifting the heavy pail of feed to the top of it. He was now trying to let it down on the other side and pour the contents into the trough, but the pig was greedy, and the moment the pail came within reach, she stuck her nose and her fore feet into it. This added weight was too much for poor Jan; down went the pail with a crash into the trough, and Jan himself tumbled suddenly forward, his feet flew out behind, and he was left hanging head down, like a jack knife, over the fence!
It was just at this moment that Marie came to the door, and when she saw Jan balancing on the fence and kicking out wildly with his feet, she screamed with laughter.
Jan was screaming, too, but with pain and indignation. "Come here and pick me off this fence!" he roared. "It"s cutting me in two! Oh, Mother! Mother!"
Marie ran to the pigpen as fast as, she could go. She s.n.a.t.c.hed an old box by the stable as she ran, and, placing it against the fence, seized one of Jan"s feet, which were still waving wildly in the air, and planted it firmly on the box.
"Oh! Oh!" laughed Marie, as Jan reached the ground once more. "If you could only have seen yourself, Jan! You would have laughed, too!
Instead of pouring the pig-feed on to yourself, you poured yourself on to the pig-feed!"
"I don"t see anything to laugh at," said Jan with dignity; "it might have happened to any man."
"Anyway, you"ll have to get the pail again," said Marie, wiping her eyes. "That greedy pig will bang it all to pieces, if you leave it in the pen."
"I can"t reach it," said Jan.
"Yes, you can," said Marie. "I"ll hold your legs so you won"t fall in, and you can fish for it with a stick." She ran for a stick to poke with, while Jan bravely mounted the box again, and, firmly anch.o.r.ed by Marie"s grasp upon his legs, he soon succeeded in rescuing the pail.
"Anyway, I guess I"ve fed the pig just as well as you have made the coffee," he said, as he handed it over to Marie.
"Oh, my sakes!" cried Marie; "I forgot all about the coffee!" And she ran back to the kitchen, to find that the kettle had boiled over and put the fire out.
Jan stuck hid head in the door, just as she got the bellows to start the fire again. "What did I tell you!" he shouted, running out his tongue derisively.
"Scat!" said Marie, shaking the bellows at him, and Jan sauntered away toward the pasture with Pier"s halter over his arm.
Pier had been eating gra.s.s for two nights and a day without doing any work, and it took Jan some time to catch him and put the halter over his head. When at last he returned from the pasture, red and tired, but triumphant, leading Pier, Marie and her mother had already finished their breakfast.
"Look what a man we have!" cried Mother Van Hove as Jan appeared. "He has caught Pier all by himself."
"He lifted me clear off my feet when I put his halter on," said Jan proudly, "but I hung on and he had to come!"
"Marie," cried her mother, "our Jan has earned a good breakfast! Cook an egg for him, while I hitch Pier to the cart. Then, while he and I work in the field, you can put the house in order. There is only one more load to bring in, and we can do that by ourselves."
By noon the last of the wheat had been garnered, and this time Jan drove Pier home, while his mother sat on the load. In the afternoon the three unloaded the wagon and stowed the grain away in the barn to be threshed; and when the long day"s work was over, and they had eaten their simple supper of bread and milk, Mother Van Hove and the children went together down the village street to see their neighbors and hear the news, if there should be any.
There were no daily papers in Meer, and now there were no young men to go to the city and bring back the gossip of the day, as there had used to be. The women, with their babies on their arms, stood about in the street, talking quietly and sadly among themselves. On the doorsteps a few old men lingered together over their pipes. Already the bigger boys were playing soldier, with paper caps on their heads, and sticks for guns. The smaller children were shouting and chasing each other through the little street of the village. Jan and Marie joined in a game of blindman"s buff, while Mother Van Hove stopped with the group of women.
"If we only knew what to expect!" sighed the Burgomeister"s wife, as she shifted her baby from one arm to the other. "It seems as if we should know better what to do. In a day or two I shall send my big boy Leon to the city for a paper. It is hard to wait quietly and know nothing."
"Our good King and Queen doubtless know everything," said the wife of Boer Maes. "They will do better for us than we could do for ourselves, even if we knew all that they do."
"And there are our own brave men, besides," added Mother Van Hove. "We must not forget them! We are not yet at war. I pray G.o.d we may not be, and that we shall soon see them come marching home again to tell us that the trouble, whatever it is, is over, and that we may go on living in peace as we did before."
"It seems a year since yesterday," said the Burgomeister"s wife.
"Work makes the time pa.s.s quickly," said Mother Van Hove cheerfully.
"Jan and I got in the last of our wheat to-day. He helped me like a man."
"Who will thresh it for you?" asked the wife of Boer Maes.
"I will thresh it myself, if need be," said Mother Van Hove with spirit. "My good man shall not come home and find the farm-work behind if I can help it." And with these brave words she said good-night to the other women, called Jan and Marie, and turned once more down the street toward the little house on the edge of the village. Far across the peaceful twilight fields came the sound of distant bells. "Hark!"
said Mother Van Hove to the Twins--"the cathedral bells of Malines! And they are playing "The Lion of Flanders!""
(three lines of music)