"Yes," answered Mary, "it was very beautiful."
"It"s the most beautiful thing that was ever written!" declared Agony enthusiastically. "It would be the greatest joy of my life to see the man who wrote those books."
"Maybe you will, some day," said Mary, rising from her mossy seat and preparing to take the path again.
It was not long after that that they came to the edge of the woods, and saw before them the scattered houses of the little village of Atlantis.
Mary"s old nurse was overjoyed to see her, and pressed the two girls to stay and eat big soft ginger cookies on the shady back porch, and quench their thirst with gla.s.ses of cool milk, while she inquired minutely after the health of Mary"s "ma" and "pa."
"Mrs. Simmons is the best old nurse that ever was," said Mary to Agony, as they took their way back to the woods an hour later. "I"m so glad to have had this opportunity of paying her a visit. I haven"t seen her for nearly ten years. Wasn"t she funny, though, when I told her that father might have to go to j.a.pan in the interests of his firm? She thought there was n.o.body in j.a.pan but heathens and missionaries."
"Shall you go to j.a.pan too, if your father goes?" asked Agony.
"I most likely shall," replied Mary. "I finished my school this June and do not intend to go to college for another year anyway; so I might as well have the trip and the experience of living in a foreign country.
Father would only have to remain there one year, or two at the most."
"How soon are you going?" asked Agony, a little awed by Mary"s casual tone as she spoke of the great journey. Evidently Mary had traveled much, for the prospect of going around the world did not seem to excite her in the least.
They were sitting in Mrs. Simmons" little spring house when Mary told about the possibility of her going to j.a.pan. This spring house stood at some distance from the house; down at the point where the lane ran off from the main road. It looked so utterly cool and inviting, with its vine covered walls, that with an exclamation of pleasure the two girls turned aside for one more drink before beginning the long walk through the woods.
Seated upon the edge of the basin which held the water, Mary talked of j.a.pan, and Agony wheeled around upon the narrow ledge to gaze at her in wonder and envy.
"I wish _I_ could go to j.a.pan!" she exclaimed vehemently, giving a vigorous kick with her foot to express her longing. The motion disturbed her balance and she careened over sidewise; Mary put out her hand to steady her, lost _her_ balance, and went with a splash into the basin.
The water was not deep, but it was very, very wet, and Mary came out dripping.
For a moment the two girls stood helpless with laughter; then Mary said: "I suppose I"ll have to go back and get some dry things from Mrs.
Simmons, but I wish I didn"t; it will take us quite a while to go back, and it will delay us considerably. I promised Mrs. Grayson I"d be back in camp before dark, and we won"t be able to make it if we go back to Mrs. Simmons"s. I"ve a good mind to go on just as I am; it"s so hot I can"t possibly take cold."
"I tell you what we can do," said Agony, getting a sudden inspiration.
"We can divide these bloomers of mine in half. They"re made on a foundation of thinner material that will do very well for me to wear home, and you can wear the green part. With your sweater on over them n.o.body will ever know whether you have on a middy or not. We can carry you wet suit on a pole through the woods and it"ll be dry by the time we get home, and you won"t have to lose any time by going back to Mrs.
Simmons"s."
"Great idea!" said Mary, brightening. "Are you really willing to divide your bloomers? I"d be ever so much obliged."
"It"s no trouble," replied Agony. "All I have to do is cut the threads where the top is tacked on to the foundation. It"s really two pairs of bloomers." She was already cutting the tacking threads with her pocket knife.
Mary put on the green bloomers and Agony the brown foundation pair, and laughing over the mishap and the clever way of handling the problem, the two crossed the road and entered the woods.
"What"s that loud cheeping noise?" Agony asked almost as soon as they had entered into the deep shadow of the high pines.
"Sounds like a bird in trouble," answered Mary, her practised ear recognizing the note of distress in the incessant twittering.
A few steps farther they came upon a man sitting in a wheel chair under one of the tallest pines they had ever seen, a man whose right foot was so thickly wrapped in bandages that it was three times the size of the other one. He was peering intently up into the tree above him, and did not notice the approach of the two girls. Mary and Agony followed his gaze and saw, high up among the topmost swaying branches, a sight that thrilled them with pity and distress. Dangling by a string which was tangled about one of her feet, hung a mother robin, desperately struggling to get free, fluttering, fluttering, beating the air frantically with her wings and uttering piercing cries of anguish that drove the hearers almost to desperation. Nearby was her nest, and on the edge of it sat the mate, uttering cries as shrill with anguish as those of the helpless captive.
"Oh, the poor, poor bird!" cried Mary, her eyes filling with tears of pity and grief. At the sound of her voice the man in the wheel chair lowered his eyes and became aware of the girls" presence. As he turned to look at them Mary caught in his eyes a look of infinite horror and pity at the plight of the wretched bird above him. That expression deepened Mary"s emotion; the tears began to run down her cheeks. Agony stood beside her stricken and silent.
"How did it happen?" Mary asked huskily, addressing the stranger unceremoniously.
"I don"t know exactly," replied the man. "I was sitting here reading when all of a sudden I heard the bird"s shrill cry of distress and looked up to see her dangling there at the end of that string."
"Can"t we do something?" asked Mary, putting her hands over her ears to shut out the piercing cries. "She"ll flutter herself to death before long."
"I"m afraid she will," replied the man, "There doesn"t seem to be any hope of her freeing herself."
"She shan"t flutter herself to death," said Mary, with sudden resolution. "I"m going to climb the tree and cut her loose."
"That will be impossible," said the man. "She is up in the very top of the tree."
"I"m going to try, anyway," replied Mary, with spirit. "Let me take your knife, will you please, Agony?"
The lowest branches of the pine were far above her head, and in order to get a foothold in them Mary had to climb a neighboring tree and swing herself across. The ground seemed terrifying far away even from this lowest branch; but this was only the beginning. She resolutely refrained from looking down and kept on steadily, branch above branch, until she reached the one from which the robin hung. Then began the most perilous part of the undertaking. To reach the bird she must crawl out on this branch for a distance of at least six feet, there being no limb directly underneath for her to walk out on. Praying for a steady balance, she swung herself astride of the branch, and holding on tightly with her hands began hitching herself slowly outward. The bough bent sickeningly under her; Agony below shrieked and covered her eyes; then opened them again and continued to gaze in horrified fascination as inch by inch Mary neared the wildly fluttering bird, whose terror had increased a hundred-fold at the human presence so near it.
There came an ominous cracking sound; Agony uttered another shriek and turned away; the next instant the shrill cries of the bird ceased; the man in the chair gave vent to a long drawn "Ah-h!" Agony looked up to see the exhausted bird fluttering to the ground beside her, a length of string still hanging to its foot, while Mary slowly and carefully worked her way back to the trunk of the tree. In a few minutes she slid to the ground and sat there, breathless and trembling, but triumphant.
"I got it!" she panted. Then, turning to the man in the chair, she exclaimed, "There now, who said it was impossible?"
The man applauded vigorously. "That was the bravest act I have ever seen performed," he said admiringly. "You"re the right stuff, whoever you are, and I take my hat off to you."
"Anybody would have done it," murmured Mary modestly, as she rose and prepared to depart.
"How could you do it?" marveled Agony, as the two walked homeward through the woods. "Weren"t you horribly scared?"
"Yes, I was," admitted Mary frankly. "When I started to go out on that branch I was shaking so that I could hardly hold on. It seemed miles to the ground, and I got so dizzy I turned faint for a moment. But I tried to think of something else, and kept on going, and pretty soon I could reach the string to cut it."
The boundless admiration with which Agony regarded Mary"s act of bravery was gradually swallowed up in envy. Why hadn"t she herself been the one to climb up and rescue that poor bird? She would give anything to have done such a spectacular thing. Deep in her heart, however, she knew she would never have had the courage to crawl out on that branch even if she had thought of it first.
Silence fell upon the two girls as they walked along in the gradually failing light; all topics of conversation seemed to have been exhausted.
Mary"s clothes were dry before they were through the woods, and she put them on to save the trouble of carrying them, giving Agony back her green bloomers.
"Thank you so much for letting me wear them," she said earnestly. "If it hadn"t been for your doing that I wouldn"t have been in time to save that robin. It was really that inspiration of yours that saved him, not my climbing the tree."
Even in the hour of her triumph Mary was eager to give the credit to someone else, and Agony began to feel rather humble and small before such a generous spirit, even though her vanity strove to accept the measure of credit given as justly due.
When they were crossing the river they saw Dr. Grayson standing on the dock, shading his eyes to look over the water.
"There"s the Doctor, looking for us!" exclaimed Mary. "It must be late and he"s worried about us." She doubled her speed with the oars, hailing the Doctor across the water to rea.s.sure him. A few moments later the boat touched the dock.
"Mary," said the Doctor, before she was fairly out, "a message has come from your father saying that he must sail for j.a.pan one week from today and you must come home immediately. In order to catch the boat you will have to leave for San Francisco not later than the day after tomorrow.
There is an early train for New York tomorrow morning from Green"s Landing. I will take you down in the launch, for the river steamer will not get there in time. Be ready to leave camp at half past five tomorrow morning. You will have to pack tonight."
Mary gasped and clutched Agony"s hand convulsively.
"I have--to--leave--camp!" she breathed faintly.
"I"m--going--to--j.a.pan!"
CHAPTER VI