Judging by the rabble who were swarming on to the other hay carts, the girls also considered it a cause for rejoicing. Their own vehicle started first, and began to jolt slowly down the country road, its occupants sitting as steadily as they could on their k.n.o.bbly luggage, and indulging in decidedly feminine squeals when, as often happened, an extra hard jog threw them together. After four miles of this rather exciting journey they reached the farm. Their driver stopped at a gate, and, pointing across a field to some tents, indicated that this was their destination. He could take them no nearer, and they must convey their own bags and bundles over the pasture.
Hauling their own luggage with them was no light task, and they were heartily tired of their burdens before they reached the tents. Three of these, labelled Marlowe Grange, they appropriated; then Miss Gibbs, after a brief confabulation with the canteen matron, beckoned to her flock.
"I hear we must go at once and secure first pick of the hay sacks,"
she said. "Come along, all of you!"
Over three more fields and two stiles they came to the farm buildings, where, spread out on hurdles, were a number of large sacks, mercifully clean. An individual in charge, wearing a faded blue suit and a two days" growth of stubbly beard, told them briefly to help themselves, and then take their sacks to the barn and fill them with hay.
Preparing their own mattresses was a new experience, but an amusing one. It was fun stuffing the sweet-smelling hay into the rough canvas bags, and more fun still carrying the bulky bedding back over fields and stiles to the tents. Here, amid a chaos of unpacking, they at last disposed their belongings to their satisfaction.
Their special little colony consisted of nine tents and a marquee for meals. It was in charge of a matron, who directed the canteen, and was responsible for the comfort and order of the camp. In each tent hung a list of rules respecting hours of rising and going to bed, meals, and general conduct. As there was no servant except the cook, the task of washing up must be shared by all in rotation, the matron having authority to apportion the work. No lights or talking were to be allowed after 10.30 p.m.
By the time the girls had settled all their possessions it was seven o"clock, and the rest of the camp returned from the strawberry fields.
Supper was served in the marquee, everybody sitting on benches round wooden tables without cloths. The company proved pleasant and congenial; there were fifty in all, including some students from Ludminster University, and eight girls and two teachers from a secondary school at Tadbury. The slum party, it seemed, were lodged in the big barns behind the farm, while some caravans of gipsy pickers had possession of a corner of a field some distance away.
Supper finished, most of the workers sat about and rested. A few, possessed of superfluous energy, took a walk to the village a mile off, but the generality were very tired. A gramophone in the marquee blared away at popular songs, and the more lively spirits joined in the choruses; one or two even attempted to dance on the gra.s.s. Miss Gibbs had already struck up a friendship with a lady journalist, and some of the girls began to make overtures to the Tadbury scholars, who looked rather a jolly little set. Everybody retired early, as they would have to be up at 5.30, and in the fields by seven.
The Marlowe Grange contingent were much exercised as to the best way to place their mattresses. They did not know whether to sleep with their heads or their feet to the tent-pole, and finally decided in favour of the former. Going to bed was a funny business in so very small a s.p.a.ce, with no chairs or places to put clothes down, and only one tin basin amongst six to wash in. It was funnier still when they attempted to lie down on their mattresses. A bag stuffed with hay is so round that it is very difficult to keep upon it without rolling off, and there was much pommelling and flattening before the beds were at all tenable. At last everyone was settled, the lights were out, and the campers, rolled in their blankets, tried to compose themselves to sleep.
Raymonde, whose billet was opposite the door of the tent, could see out, and watch the stars shining. She lay awake a long time, with her eyes fixed on a bright planet that moved across the little horizon of sky visible to her, till it pa.s.sed out of sight, and at length she too slept.
CHAPTER X
The Campers
Life began at the camp soon after 5 a.m., when the more energetic spirits tumbled off their hay sacks, flung on dressing-gowns, and scrambled for turns at the bath tent. Fetching water for the day was the first business of the morning, and those on bucket duty trotted off to the stream, two fields away, joking and making fun as they went, but returning more soberly with the heavy pails. The 6.15 breakfast tasted delicious after their early outing, and most of the workers seemed in good spirits. By seven o"clock the whole party were down in the gardens. The Marlowe Grange girls had never seen strawberries by the acre before, and they were amazed, almost daunted, at the sight of the vast quant.i.ty of fruit that must be gathered. They were told off to a certain portion of the field, given baskets, and shown where to bring them when full. Each novice, for the first day, was expected to work near an experienced hand, who could show her what was required, as the picking, though quick, must be careful, so as not to bruise the strawberries. Raymonde and Morvyth found themselves under the wing of a Social Settlement secretary, a business-like dame who had picked the previous summer, and understood the swiftest methods. Close by, they could hear Miss Gibbs being instructed by the lady journalist, with whom she had apparently cemented a friendship.
It was a point of honour to fill the baskets with the utmost possible speed, and everybody worked steadily. There was no rule against eating the fruit, but the pay was according to the number of baskets handed in, so that shirkers would find themselves unable to earn their keep.
It was a rather back-breaking employment, but otherwise pleasant, for the day was fine, the larks were singing, and wild roses and honeysuckle bloomed in the hedgerows. The slum pickers at the other side of the field toiled away with practised fingers. Many of them came every year, and would return in September for the hop harvest.
The small children played under the hedge and took charge of the babies, who cried and slept alternately, poor little souls! without receiving much attention from the hardworking mothers.
The slum contingent was a subject of much amus.e.m.e.nt and curiosity to the Marlowe Grange platoon. Though they occupied different portions of the field, they would meet when they went to deliver baskets. The rollicking good nature and repartees of some of these people, especially of the gipsies, were often very funny. They would chaff the agent who registered their scores, with a considerable power of humour, and the Grange girls, waiting in line for their turns, would chuckle as they overheard the conversations.
At eleven everybody ate lunch which they had brought with them, then worked till one, when they returned to the camp for dinner. Picking went on again from two till six, with an interval at four o"clock for tea, which was brought down to the gardens in large cans, and poured into the workers" own mugs. It was almost the most acceptable meal of the day, taken sitting under the hedge, with the scent of roses in the air, and the summer sunshine falling across the fields.
By the end of the first evening, the Grange girls decided that, though they wished they had cast-iron backs, the experience on the whole was great fun. They liked the camp life, and even their hay-sack beds.
"I vote we don"t sleep with our heads to the tent-pole to-night, though," said Raymonde. "You flung out your arms, Morvyth, and gave me such a whack across the face! I wonder I haven"t a black eye. Let"s turn the other way, with our feet to the pole."
"Right you are! I"m so sleepy, I don"t mind which end up I am, if I can only shut my eyes!" conceded Katherine, yawning l.u.s.tily.
"I shan"t need rocking, either," agreed Morvyth.
Perched on her hay-bag, Raymonde was very soon in the land of Nod. She was dreaming a confused jumble about Miss Gibbs and gipsies and strawberries, when she suddenly awoke with a strong impression that someone was pulling her hair. She sat up, feeling rather scared. The tent was perfectly quiet. The other girls lay asleep, each on her own sack with her feet to the central pole.
"I must have dreamt it!" thought Raymonde, settling down again.
She had scarcely closed her eyes, however, before she heard a curious noise in the vicinity of her ear, and something unmistakably gave her plait a violent wrench. She started up with a yell, in time to see an enormous head withdraw itself from the tent door. A clatter of hoofs followed.
"What"s the matter?" cried the girls, waking at the disturbance; and "What is it?" exclaimed Miss Gibbs, aroused also, and hurrying in from the next-door tent. But Raymonde was laughing.
"I"ve had the fright of my life!" she announced. "I thought a bogy or a kelpie was devouring me, but it was only Dandy, the old pony. He stuck his head round the tent door, and mistook my hair for a mouthful of gra.s.s, the wretch!"
"I"ve seen him feeding near the tents before," said Valentine.
"There"s some particular sort of gra.s.s here that he specially likes.
It"s rather the limit, though, to have him coming inside!"
"He oughtn"t to be allowed in this field at night," declared Miss Gibbs. "I shall speak to Mr. c.o.x, and ask to have him put in another pasture. We can"t close our tent doors, or we should be suffocated. I hope we shan"t have any other nocturnal visitors! It"s a good thing we have no valuables with us. I don"t trust those gipsies."
Miss Gibbs"s fears turned out to be only too well founded, for, on the morning but one following, there was a hue and cry in the camp. The larder had been raided during the night, and all the provisions stolen. The canteen matron and the cook were in despair, as nothing was left for breakfast, and the workers would have gone hungry, had not a deputation of them visited the farm, and begged sufficient bread and jam to provide a meal.
"A lovely ham gone, and four pounds of b.u.t.ter, and a joint of cold beef, and all the bread!" mourned the distracted matron. "I shall have to go in to Ledcombe again this morning for fresh supplies, and I believe Mr. c.o.x wants the pony himself."
"We ought to be able to track the thieves," said Miss Gibbs firmly.
"There should be an inspection at lunch-time, and anyone seen eating ham should be under suspicion."
"They"d be far too clever to eat it publicly," objected Miss Hoyle, the lady journalist. "Gipsies are an uncommonly tricky set. They probably had a midnight feast, and finished the last crumb of our provisions before daybreak. We shall get no satisfaction from Mr. c.o.x.
He"ll say he"s not responsible."
"Then we must take precautions that it doesn"t happen again," decreed Miss Gibbs. "Isn"t it possible to procure a lock-up meat safe? I never heard of a camp being without one."
"Perhaps you haven"t had much experience," remarked the canteen matron icily. She thought Miss Gibbs "bossy" and interfering, and considered that she knew her own business best, without suggestions from outsiders.
The Grange girls chuckled inwardly to hear their teacher thus snubbed.
They hoped a retort and even a wrangle might follow; but Miss Gibbs had too much common sense, and, restraining herself, stalked away with as unconcerned an aspect as possible.
"Look here, old sport!" whispered Raymonde to Morvyth, "somebody ought to take this matter up. I consider it"s a job for us. Let"s watch to-night, and see if we can"t catch the prowling sneaks. Are you game?"
"Rather! It"s a blossomy idea, only don"t let Gibbie get wind of it."
"Do I ever go and tell Gibbie my jinky little plans? It"s not this child"s usual way of proceeding."
Raymonde and Morvyth had intended to run this little expedition "on their own," but in the end they were obliged to let the rest of the tent into the secret, as it was impossible to go to bed fully dressed without exciting comment. Their comrades refused to be left out, so it was decided that all six, under Raymonde"s leadership, should mount guard over the larder. They drew their blankets up to their noses, and pretended to be very sleepy when Miss Gibbs came to take a last look at them before retiring. Apparently she noticed nothing unusual, for she only glanced quickly round, and went softly away. The self-const.i.tuted sentries allowed nearly an hour to pa.s.s before they dared to venture forth. Until that time the camp was not really quiet.
The university students were a lively set, apt to keep up their fun late, and the secondary school girls often talked persistently, to the annoyance of their neighbours. At last, however, all lights were out, and a profound silence reigned. Not even an owl hooted to-night, and, as Dandy had been banished from the field, even his crunching of the gra.s.s was absent. Raymonde crept from her blankets and listened. Her companions, to judge from their breathing, were sound asleep. She felt much tempted to awaken only Morvyth, but she knew that if she omitted to call the others, their reproaches next morning would be too unbearable. So she roused the five. Taking torchlights, ready but not switched on, they stole from the tent towards the scene of action.
The larder was only a portion of the marquee curtained off, so it was really an easy prey for marauders. The girls could not quite decide where would be their best post for sentry duty; whether to dispose themselves in positions outside, or to keep guard within the tent. As it was rather a cold night, they plumped for the latter. Cautiously as Indians on the war trail, they crept across the marquee towards the farther corner where the stores were kept. Raymonde, as leader, went first, with her body-guard in close attendance behind her. Very, very gently she drew back the curtains and entered the larder. It was pitch-dark in here, and she began to grope her way along the wall.
Then she stopped, for in front of her she fancied she heard breathing.
She listened--all was silent. She started again, intending to go to the far side of the table. She put out her hand to guide herself, and came in contact with something warm and soft, like human flesh. In spite of herself she could not suppress an exclamation. It was too horrible, actually to touch a burglar! She had not bargained to find one already in possession of the larder. Instantly the girls behind her flashed on their torchlights, and the little sentry party found themselves confronted with--Miss Gibbs!
Yes, it was Miss Gibbs, crouching down near the table with Miss Hoyle, the lady journalist, close to her, both looking very determined, and ready to tackle any number of gipsy thieves. The astonishment was mutual.
"What are you doing here, girls?" asked Miss Gibbs sharply, the schoolmistress in her rising to the surface.
"Only trying to guard the larder!" faltered Raymonde.
"That"s just what we"re doing," explained Miss Hoyle.