"Mother! Uncle Lambert! What do you think? Our camp is going to be attacked this very night by Indians!"
"Yes, dears," said Mrs. Jolliffe, serenely; "but have you had your teas yet?"
Trifles such as these harrow the martial soul more than conflicts.
"But, mother, did you hear what we said? The fort is to be stormed by Red Indians!"
"Very well, dears, so long as you don"t make too much noise," was the sole comment of this most provokingly placid lady. What she ought to have done was, of course, to throw down her work, raise her eyes to the clouds, clasp her hands, and observe, in an agitated tone, "Heaven protect us! We are lost!" But few mothers are capable of really rising to emergencies of this kind.
Hilary and Cecily had been playing tennis, and, overhearing the alarming news, came up to the steps of the verandah. "Did you say Red Indians were coming here?"
Uncle Lambert shook his head lugubriously. "I always warned your father," he remarked; "but he _would_ come to live in Berkshire."
"Why?" inquired Cecily. "Is Berkshire a bad place for Red Indians, uncle?"
"I should say it was one of the worst places in all Europe!" he said solemnly.
Both Hilary and Cecily had heard and read a good deal about Red Indians lately, and had also, with their brothers, visited the American Exhibition, so that it did not strike either of them as unlikely just then that there should be a few scattered about in England, just as gipsies are.
"But what are you going to do about it?" they asked their brother.
"Lick "em, of course!" said Guy. "Now you see that an army is some use, after all."
"Don"t be taken alive, there"s good boys," advised their frivolous uncle, who seemed still unable to realise the extreme gravity of the occasion. "Sell your lives as dearly as possible."
"What is the use of telling them that, uncle?" exclaimed Cecily. "They wouldn"t get the money; and do you think any of _us_ would touch it? How can you talk in that horrid way? Jack and Guy, don"t go to that camp.
Let the Indians have it, if they want to; you can soon build another."
"You don"t understand," said Jack, impatiently. "We can"t have a lot of Red Indians in our camp--it wouldn"t be safe for you."
"Oh, I shall go and speak to Clarence," she cried. "I"m sure he won"t want to fight them." And she ran down to the end of the lawn, where he could be seen returning with Hazel.
"I want to speak to you quite alone," she said. "No, Hazel, it"s a secret," and she drew him aside.
"Clarence," she said, and her blue eyes were dark with fear, "tell me--are the Indians really coming?"
"You can judge for yourself," he said, and gave her the paper. "We"ve just had this thrown over the stockade. It seems to have been written by somebody who is in their secrets."
"How badly Red Indians do spell!" said Cecily, shuddering as she read.
"It may be a white man"s writing," he said; "perhaps a prisoner, or a confederate who repents."
"But, Clarence, dear," entreated Cecily (ten minutes ago she would not have added the epithet), "you won"t stay out and sit up for them, will you?"
"Do you think we"re a set of cowards?" he demanded grandly.
"Not you, Clarence; but--but Jack and Guy are not very big boys, are they? I mean, they"re a little too young to fight full-sized Indians."
"There will be all sorts of sized Indians, I expect," said Clarence. "Of course, I don"t say they"ll come. They may think discretion"s the better part of valour when they find we"re prepared; but I must say I antic.i.p.ate an attack myself."
"I wish you would do without Jack and Guy. Couldn"t you?" suggested Cecily.
His eyes gleamed. "Cecily," he said, "tell me the worst--the army are getting in a funk?"
"No," she cried; and then she resolved to sacrifice their reputation for their safety. "At least, they haven"t said anything; but I"m sure they"d feel more comfortable in the drawing-room. Can"t you order them to stay and guard us? You"re General."
"And I am to face the foe alone?" he cried. "Well, I am older than them"
(I must decline to be responsible for the grammar of the characters of this story). "I have lived my life--I shall be the less missed.... Let it be as you say."
All this was strictly according to the books, and he enjoyed himself immensely.
"Thank you, dear, dear Clarence. I"d no idea you were so n.o.ble and brave. Try not to let those Indians. .h.i.t you."
"I cannot answer for the future," he said; "but since you wish it I will do my best."
After all there was some good in girls. Here was one who said exactly the right things, without needing any prompting whatever.
Cecily hunted up Jack and Guy, who were poking about in the house.
"You"re not to guard the stockade," she announced, with ill-concealed triumph.
"Oh, aren"t we, though?" said Guy; "who says so? Not mother!"
"No--Clarence; he said I was to tell you to go on duty in the drawing-room."
"What bosh!" said Guy. "As if any Indians would come there! I don"t care what Clarence says, I shall go in the stockade!"
"So shall I! "said Jack. "Now let"s get that piece of matting, and go down sharp--the evening star"s out already."
Poor Cecily was in despair; what was to be done when they were so obstinate as this?
"I know where there"s some beautiful matting," she said.
"Where? Tell us, quick!"
"Come with me, and I"ll show you." She led the way along a corridor to the wing where the billiard-room was. "Wait till I see if it"s there still," she said, and went into the billiard-room and looked around.
"Yes, it _is_ there," she told them as she came out.
"I don"t see it, Cecily; where?" they cried from within.
Cecily shut the door softly, and turned the key (which she had managed to abstract on entering) in the outer lock.
"It"s on the floor," she cried through the keyhole; "I didn"t tell a story--and don"t be angry, boys, dear, it"s all for your good!"
Then, without waiting to hear their indignant outcry, she scudded along the corridor and down the staircase, with the sounds of m.u.f.fled shouts and kicks growing fainter behind her.
"I don"t mind so much now," she thought; "they"ll be awfully angry when they come out--but the Indians will have gone by that time!"
Clarence had already retreated to his stronghold when she entered the drawing-room.