"I can"t figure out yet why I wasn"t fired," said I, flicking a sociable spider off my lap with the stem of a leaf. "I would have been willing to bet my eyebrows on it that night. What made them change their minds, I wonder?"
"Maybe it was because they hated to lose the bargain," answered Justice, half to himself.
"Hated to lose what bargain?" I asked innocently. Then suddenly I understood.
"Justice Sherman!" I exclaimed, starting up. "Did you threaten to leave if they discharged me?"
Justice turned crimson and became reticent. "Well, I don"t know as I threatened them exactly," he replied in a soothing drawl. "I don"t look very threatening, now, do I?"
"Oh, Justice," was all I could say, for at the thought of what he had done for me I was stricken dumb.
Verily the power of the Bargain was great in the land!
The pageant grew under our hands until it a.s.sumed really respectable proportions. The girls and boys were wild about it and drilled tirelessly by the hour.
"I wish we had a better parade ground," sighed Justice regretfully, squinting at the small level plot of ground in front of the schoolhouse that was worn bare of gra.s.s. "We haven"t room to make a really effective showing with our drill. If only the old schoolhouse wasn"t in the way we could use the s.p.a.ce that"s behind it and on both sides of it."
It was then that I had one of my old-time, wild inspirations. "Move the schoolhouse back," I said calmly.
Justice shouted. "Why not roll up the road and set it down on the other side of field?" he suggested.
"I don"t see why we couldn"t move the schoolhouse back," I repeated. "Why not, if it"s in the way? It"s no ornament, anyway."
Half-amused, half-serious, Justice looked first at me and then at the little one-story shack that went by the name of schoolhouse.
"By Jove! we can do it!" he exclaimed suddenly. "It"ll be no trick at all. Just get her up on rollers and hitch Sandhelo to the pulley rope and let him wind her up. Just like that. An" zay say ze French have no sense of ze delica.s.se!"
"What will the Board say?" I inquired, half fearfully.
"We won"t ask the Board," replied Justice calmly. "Move first, ask for orders afterwards, that"s the way the great generals win battles.
Remember how General Sherman cut the wires between him and Washington when he started out on his famous march to the sea, so that no short-sighted one could wire him to change his plans? Well, we"re out to make this pageant a success, and we aren"t going to risk it by stopping to ask too much permission. We"ll move the schoolhouse first and ask permission afterward. By that time it"ll be too late; the pageant is to-morrow."
And we did move it. If you had ever seen us! It wasn"t such a job as you might think. I suppose the word "schoolhouse" conjures up in your mind the brick and granite pile that is Washington High--imagine moving that out of the way to make room for a military drill! "Vantage number one for our school. We also have our points of superiority, it seems.
The old shack looked vastly better where we finally let it rest. There was a clump of bushes alongside that hid some of its battered boards beautifully. The parade ground seemed about three times as big as it had been before.
"That"s more like it," said Justice approvingly. "Now we can turn around without stubbing our toes against the schoolhouse."
"What will Mr. b.u.t.ts say?" I asked, beginning to have cold chills.
"Just wait until that gets between the wind and his n.o.bility!" chuckled Justice. "Never mind, I"ll take all the blame."
Nevertheless, when the crisis came, and Elijah b.u.t.ts came driving up on the afternoon of the great occasion, I was there to face the music alone, Justice being nowhere in sight.
Mr. and Mrs. b.u.t.ts arrived in state, bringing with them a strange lady, who I figured out must be the one Justice had told me about, the one who, like Sh.e.l.ley"s immortal soul, had come from afar and was sent by a Commission to study rural school conditions.
I glanced wildly about to see if Justice were not hovering protectingly near, but there was no sign of him. However, I knew my duties as hostess.
Nonchalantly I strolled over to the road to welcome the newcomers. Elijah b.u.t.ts had just finished tying his horse and, bristling with importance, had turned to help the Commission Lady out of the rig.
"Ah-h, Miss Fairlee," he said in smooth tones, "this is--ah--Miss Adams, our teacher at the Corners school."
Then he suddenly jumped half out of his boots and stared over my shoulder as if he had seen a ghost. "Where"s that schoolhouse?" he demanded, in a voice which seemed to indicate he thought I had it in my pocket.
"It"s right over there," I said calmly, pointing toward the bushes.
Elijah b.u.t.ts" eyes followed my fingers in a fascinated way; he could hardly believe his senses. "How did it get there?" he demanded.
"We moved it back," I replied casually. "It was in the way of the maneuvers."
Elijah b.u.t.ts sputtered, choked, and was speechless.
But Miss Fairlee, the Commission lady, laughed until she had to grip the side of the buggy for support. "It"s the funniest thing I ever heard,"
she gasped. "I"ve heard of the Mountain coming to Mahomet, but I never heard of the Mountain getting out of the road for Mahomet. Oh, Mr. b.u.t.ts, I think the West is delightful. You people are _so_ original and forceful!"
That took the wind out of Mr. b.u.t.ts" sails. What could he do after that neat little speech but take the compliment to himself and pa.s.s the matter off lightly?
The pageant was a wonderful success in spite of my misgivings. I didn"t forget to hand the torch to Columbia at the right moment and I didn"t forget to bring the brown stockings for little Lizzie Cooper, who was the Spirit of Nature, and I made fire with the bow and drill without any mishap. But one thing was a dreadful disappointment to me. Absalom b.u.t.ts was not there, and I had no chance to work out my experiment on him.
Where he was I couldn"t imagine. I had taken Clarissa home with me the night before to help me finish some things and she hadn"t seen him since he went home from school; Mr. b.u.t.ts also said he didn"t know. He added, in a voice loud enough for Miss Fairlee to hear, that he would lick the tar out of him for not being in the patriotic pageant.
No one knew that I had picked Absalom in my mind to raise the flag. There had been much speculation about who was to have this honor and in order to keep everybody happy I said I would not announce this until the moment came. Then I planned to make a speech and award the honor to Absalom, thus singling him out for something besides punishment for once in his life. I had had him helping me for several days, and given him certain definite things to do on the great occasion and was much disappointed that he didn"t come to do them. Justice"s warning came back and I had an uneasy feeling that he was in hiding somewhere, plotting mischief.
I had a real inspiration, though, in regard to the flag raising. In a flowery speech I called upon Mr. Elijah b.u.t.ts, the "President of the School Board and the most influential man in Spencer Township," to perform that rite. He swelled up until he almost burst, like the frog in the fable, as he stood there, conscious of Miss Fairlee"s eye on him, with his great hairy hand on the pulley rope. Round the corner of the schoolhouse and hidden from view by the bush, I caught Justice Sherman"s eye and he applauded silently with his two forefingers, meaning to say that it was a master stroke on my part. Then he dropped his eye decorously and started the singing of the National Anthem.
The pageant ended up in a picnic supper eaten on the erstwhile parade ground, and then the people began to go home through the softly falling dusk. Miss Fairlee came to me and complimented me on the success of the pageant and asked to take some notes for future use; and Elijah b.u.t.ts was quite cordial as he departed. I"ve discovered something to-day; if you want to win a person"s undying affection, single him out as the most important member of the bunch. He"ll fall for it every time. You note that I am talking about male persons, now.
"Well, the show"s over," said Justice, when the last of the audience had departed. "Now the actors can take it easy. Come on, let"s get Sandhelo and go for a ride."
We climbed into the little cart, still covered with its pageant finery, and drove slowly down the dusty road, discussing the events of the day.
"O Justice," said I, "did you ever see anything so touching as the pride some of those poor women took in their boys and girls? They fairly glowed, some of them. And did you see that one poor woman who tried to fix herself up for the occasion? She had nothing to wear but her faded old blue calico dress, but she had pinned a bunch of roses on the front of it to make herself look festive."
"We"ve started something, I think," said Justice thoughtfully. "We"ve taught the people how to get together and have a good time, and they like it. They"ll be doing it again."
"I hope so," I replied. Then I added, "I wonder where Absalom was?"
"You see, your scheme didn"t work after all," said Justice, in an I-told-you-so tone of voice. "Absalom wasn"t impressed with the honor of being your right-hand man. He took the occasion to play hookey. It"s a wonder he didn"t try to play some trick on the rest of us; but I suppose he didn"t dare, with his father there. He"s afraid to draw a crooked breath when the old man"s around."
"I"m disappointed," I said pensively, leaning my head back and letting the cool wind blow the hair away from my face. It had been a strenuous day and I was tired out. The strain of being afraid every minute that I would do something ridiculous or had left something undone that was of vital importance had nearly turned my hair grey. Now that it was all over without mishap, the people had enjoyed it and my Camp Fire girls had covered themselves with glory, I relaxed into a delicious tranquillity and gave myself over to enjoyment of the quiet drive in the sweet evening air.
"Why so deucedly pensive?" inquired Justice, after we had jogged along for some minutes in silence.
"Just thanking whatever G.o.ds there be that I didn"t make a holy show of myself somehow," I replied lazily. "Isn"t this evening peaceful, though?
Who would ever think that down around the other side of this sweet smelling earth men are killing each other like flies, and the night is hideous with the din of warfare?"
Above us the big white stars twinkled serenely, approvingly; all nature seemed in tune with my placid mood. Justice fell under the spell of it, too, and leaned back in silent enjoyment.
What was that sudden glare that shone out against the sky, over to the south? That red, lurid glare that dimmed the glory of the stars and threw buildings and barns into black relief?