Camp Fire Girls The on the March Part 4

"How do you know they didn't, Bessie? Didn't Maw Hoover get most of the letters on the farm?"

"Yes, she did, Dolly. Paw Hoover couldn't read, so they all went to her, no matter to whom they were addressed."

"Why, then," said Dolly, triumphantly, "maybe your father and mother were writing and sending the money all the time!"

"But wouldn't she have told me so, Dolly?"

"Suppose she just kept the money, and pretended she never got it at all, Bessie? I've heard of people doing even worse things than that when they wanted money. It's possible, isn't it, now? Come on, own up!"

"I suppose it is," said Bessie, doubtfully. "Only it doesn't seem very probable. Maw Hoover was pretty mean to me, but I don't think she'd ever have done anything like that."

"Well, I wouldn't put it above her! She treated you badly enough about other things, heaven knows!"

"I'd hate to think she had done anything quite as mean as that, though, Dolly. I do think she had a pretty hard time herself, and I'm quite sure that if it hadn't been for Jake she wouldn't have been so mean to me."

"Oh, I know just the sort he is. I've seen him, remember, Bessie! He's a regular spoiled mother's boy. I don't know why it is, but the boys whose mothers coddle them and act as if they were the best boys on earth always seem to be the meanest."

"Yes, you did see him, Dolly. Still, Jake's very young, and he wouldn't be so bad, either, if he'd been punished for the things he did at home. As long as I was there, you see, they could blame everything that was done onto me. He did, at least, and Maw believed him."

"Didn't his father ever see what a worthless scamp he was?"

"Oh, how could he, Dolly? He was his own son, you see, and then there was Maw Hoover. She wouldn't let him believe anything against Jake, any more than she would believe it herself."

"I'm sorry for Paw Hoover, Bessie. He seemed like a very nice old man."

"He certainly was. Do you remember how he found me with you girls the day after Zara and I ran away? He could have told them where we were then, but he didn't do it. Instead of that, he was mighty nice to me, and he gave me ten dollars."

"He said you'd earned it, Bessie, and he was certainly right about that. Why, in the city they can't get servants to do all the things you did, even when they're well paid, and you never were paid at all!"

"Well, that doesn't make what he did any the less nice of him, Dolly. And I'll be grateful to him, because he might have made an awful lot of trouble."

"Oh, I'll always like him for that, too. And I guess from what I saw of him, and all I've heard about his wife, that he doesn't have a very happy time at home, either. Maw Hoover must make him do just about what she wants, whether he thinks she's right or not."

"She certainly does, Dolly, unless she's changed an awful lot since I was there."

"Well, I suppose the point is that there really must be more people like him in the country than like his wife and Farmer Weeks. These people around here are certainly being as nice as they can be to the poor Pratts. Just think of their coming here to-morrow to build a new house for them!"

"There are more nice, good-hearted people than bad ones all over, Dolly. That's true of every place, city or country."

"But it seems to me we always hear more of the bad ones, and those who do nasty things, than we do of the others, in the newspapers."

"I think that's because the things that the bad people do are more likely to be exciting and interesting, Dolly. You see, when people do nice things, it's just taken as a matter of course, because that's what they ought to do. And when they do something wicked, it gets everyone excited and makes a lot of talk. That's the reason for that."

"Still, this work that the men from Cranford are going to do for the Pratts is interesting, Bessie. I think a whole lot of people would like to know about that, if there was any way of telling them."

"Yes, that's so. This isn't an ordinary case, by any means. And I guess you'll find that we'll do plenty of talking about it. Miss Eleanor will, I know, because she thinks they ought to get credit for doing it."

"So will Mrs. Pratt and the children, too. Oh, yes, I was wrong about it, Bessie. Lots of people will know about this, because the Pratts will always have the house to remind them of it, and people who go by, if they've heard of it, will remember the story when they see the place. I do wonder what sort of a house they will put up?"

"It'll have to be very plain, of course. And it will look rough at first, because it won't be painted, and there won't be any plaster on the ceilings and there won't be any wall paper, either."

"Oh, but that will be easy to fix later. They'll have a comfortable house for the winter, anyhow, I'm sure. And if they can make as much money out of selling b.u.t.ter and eggs as Miss Eleanor thinks, they'll soon be able to pay to have it fixed up nicely."

"Dolly, I believe we'll be able to help, too. If those girls at Camp Halsted could go around and get so many orders just in an hour or so, why shouldn't we be able to do a lot of it when we get back to the city?"

"Why, that's so, Bessie! I hadn't thought of that. My aunt would buy her b.u.t.ter and eggs there, I know. She's always saying that she can't get really fresh eggs in the city. And they are delicious. That was one of the things I liked best at Miss Eleanor's farm. The eggs there were delicious; not a bit like the musty ones we get at home, no matter how much we pay for them."

"I think it's time we were going to bed ourselves, Dolly. This is going to be like camping out, isn't it?"

"Yes, and we'll be just as comfortable as we would be in tents, too. The Boy Scouts use these lean-tos very often when they are in the woods, you know. They just build them up against the side of a tree."

"I never saw one before, but they certainly are splendid, and they're awfully easy to make."

"We'll have to get up very early in the morning, Bessie. I heard Miss Eleanor say so. So I guess it's a good idea to go to bed, just as you say."

"Yes. The others are all going. We certainly are going to have a busy day to-morrow."

"I don't see that we can do much, Bessie. I know I wouldn't be any good at building a house. I'd be more trouble than help, I'm afraid."

"That's all you know about it! There are ever so many things we can do."

"What, for instance?"

"Well, we'll have to get the meals for the men, and you haven't any idea what a lot of men can eat when they're working hard! They have appet.i.tes just like wolves."

"Well, I'll certainly do my best to see that they get enough. They'll have earned it. What else?"

"They'll want people to hand them their tools, and run little errands for them. And if the weather is very hot, they'll be terribly thirsty, too, and we'll be able to keep busy seeing that they have plenty of cooling drinks. Oh, we'll be busy, all right! Come on, let's go to bed."

CHAPTER VII.

THE HOUSE RAISING.

The sun was scarcely up in the morning when Eleanor turned out and aroused the girls.

"We've got to get our own breakfast out of the way in a hurry, girls," she said, "When country people say early, they mean early--EARLY! And we want to have coffee and cakes ready for these good friends of ours when they do come. A good many of them will come from a long way off and I think they'll all be glad to have a little something extra before they start work. It won't hurt us a bit to think so, and act accordingly anyhow."

So within half an hour the Pratts and the Camp Fire Girls had had their own breakfasts, the dishes were washed, and great pots of coffee were boiling on the fires that had been built. And, just as the fragrant aroma arose on the cool air, the first of the teams that brought the workers came in sight, with jovial Jud Harkness driving.

"My, but that coffee smells good, Miss Mercer!" he roared. "Say, I'm not strong for all these city fixin's in the way of food. Plain home cookin' serves me well enough, but there's one thing where you sure do lay all over us, and that's in makin' coffee. Give me a mug of that, Mis' Pratt, an' I'll start work."

And from the way in which the coffee and the cakes, the latter spread with good maple syrup from trees that grew near Cranford, began to disappear, it was soon evident that Eleanor had made no mistake, and that the breakfast that she had had prepared for the workers would by no means be wasted.

"It does me good to see you men eat this way," she said, laughing. "That's one thing we don't do properly in the city--eat. We peck at a lot of things, instead of eating a few plain ones, and a lot of them. And I'll bet that you men will work all the harder for this extra breakfast."

"Just you watch and see!" bellowed Jud. "I'm boss here to-day, ma'am, and I tell you I'm some n.i.g.g.e.r driver. Ain't I, boys?"

But he accompanied the threat with a jovial wink, and it was easy to see that these men liked and respected him, and were only too willing to look up to him as a leader in the work of kindness in which they were about to engage.

"I don't know why all you boys are so good to me, Jud," said Mrs. Pratt, brokenly. "I can't begin to find words to thank you, even."

"Don't try, Mis' Pratt," said Jud, looking remarkably fierce, though he was winking back something that looked suspiciously like a tear. "I guess we ain't none of us forgot Tom Pratt--as good a friend as men ever had! Many's the time he's done kind things for all of us! I guess it'd be pretty poor work if some of his friends couldn't turn out to help his wife and kids when they're in trouble."

"He knows what you're doing, I'm sure of that," she answered. "And G.o.d will reward you, Jud Harkness!"

Heartily as the men ate, however, they spent little enough time at the task. Jud Harkness allowed them what he thought was a reasonable time, and then he arose, stretched his great arms, and roared out his commands.

"Come on, now, all hands to work!" he bellowed. "We've got to get all this rubbish cleared out, then we'll have clean decks for building."

And they fell to with a will. In a surprisingly short s.p.a.ce of time the men who had plunged into the ruined foundations of the house had torn out the remaining beams and rafters, and had flung the heap of rubbish that filled the cellar on to the level ground. While some of the men did this, others piled the rubbish on to wagons, and it was carted away and dumped. The fire, however, had really lightened their task for them.

"That fire was so hot and so fierce," said Eleanor, as she watched them working, "that there's less rubbish, than if the things had been only half burned."

"I've seen fires in the city," said Margery, "or, at least, houses after a fire. And it really looked worse than this, because there'd be a whole lot of things that had started to burn. Then the firemen came along, to put out the fire, and, though the things weren't really any good, they had to be carted away."

"Yes, but this fire made a clean sweep wherever it started at all. Ashes are easier to handle than sticks and half ruined pieces of furniture. As long as it had to come, I guess it's a good thing that it was such a hot blaze."

The work of clearing away, therefore, which had to be done, of course, before any actual building could be begun, was soon accomplished.

"We're going to build just the way Tom Pratt did," said Jud Harkness. He was the princ.i.p.al carpenter and builder of Lake Dean, and a master workman. Many of the camps and cottages on the lake had been built by him, and he was, therefore, accustomed to such work.

"You mean you're going to put up a square house?" said Eleanor.

"Yes, ma'am, just a square house, with a hall running right through from the front to the back, and an extension in the rear for a kitchen--just a shack, that will be. Two floors--two rooms on each side of the hall on each floor. That'll give them eight rooms to start with, beside the kitchen."

"That'll be fine, and it will really be the easiest thing to do, too."

"That's what we're figuring, ma'am. You see, it'll be just as it was when Tom Pratt first built here, except that he only put up one story at first. Then, as Mis' Pratt gets things going again, she can add to it, and if she don't get along as fast as she expects, why, we'll lend her a hand whenever she needs it."

"How on earth could you get all the lumber you need ready so quickly? That's one thing I couldn't understand. The work is not so difficult to manage, of course. But the wood--that's what's been puzzling me."

Jud grinned.

"Well, the truth is, ma'am, I expect to have a little argument about that yet with a city chap that's building a house on the lake. I've got the job of putting it up for him, and if it hadn't been for this fire coming along, I'd have started work day before yesterday."

"Oh, and this is the lumber for his house?"

"You guessed it right, ma'am! He'll be wild, I do believe, because there's no telling when I'll get the next lot of lumber through."

"You say the fire stopped you from going ahead with his house?"

"Yes. You see all of us had to turn out when it got so near to Cranford. My house is safe, I do believe. I'm mighty scared of fire, ma'am, and I've always figured on having things fixed so's a fire would have a pretty hard time reaching my property. But of course I had to jump in to help my neighbors--wouldn't be much profit about having the only house left standing in town, would there?"

Eleanor laughed.

"I guess not!" she said. "But what a lucky thing for Mrs. Pratt that you happened to have just the sort of wood she needed!"

"Oh, well, we'd have managed somehow. Of course, it makes it easier, but we'd have juggled things around some way, even if this chap's plans didn't fit her foundations. As it happens, though, they do. Old Tom Pratt had a mighty well-built house here."

"Well, I'm quite sure that just as good a one is going up in its place."

Jud Harkness watched the work of getting out the last of the rubbish. Then he went over to the cleared foundations, and in a moment he was putting up the first of the four corner posts, great beams that looked stout enough to hold up a far bigger house than the one they were to support.

All morning the work went on merrily. As Eleanor had predicted, and Bessie, too, there was plenty for the girls to do. The sun grew hotter and hotter, and the men were glad of the cooling drinks that were so liberally provided for them.

"This is fine!" said Jud Harkness, as he quaffed a great drink of lemonade, well iced. "My, but it's a pleasure to work when it's made so nice for you! I tell you, having these cool drinks here is worth an extra hour's work, morning and afternoon. And what's that--just the nails I want? I'll give you a job as helper, young woman!"

That remark was addressed to Bessie, who flushed with pleasure at the thought that she was playing a part, however small, in the building of the house. And, indeed, the girls all did their part, and their help was royally welcomed by the men.

Quickly the skeleton of the house took form, and by noon, when work was to be knocked off for an hour, the whole framework was up.

"I simply wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!" said Eleanor. "It's the most wonderful thing I ever saw!"

"Oh, shucks!" said Jud, embarra.s.sed by such, praise. "There's lots of us--I don't think we've done so awful well. But it does look kind of nice, don't it?"

"It's going to be a beautiful house," said Mrs. Pratt. "And to think of what the place looked like yesterday! Well, Jud Harkness, I haven't any words to tell you what I really think, and that's all there is to it!"

For an hour or more Margery and her helpers had been busy at the big fire. At Eleanor's suggestion two of the men had stopped work on the house long enough to put up a rough, long table with benches at the sides, and now the table was groaning with the fine dinner that Margery had prepared.

"Good solid food--no fancy fixings!" Eleanor had decreed. "These men burn up a tremendous lot of energy in work, and we've got to give them good food to replace it. So we don't want a lot of trumpery things, such as we like!"

She had enforced a literal obedience, too. There were great joints of corned beef, red and savory; pots of cabbage, and huge mounds of boiled potatoes. Pots of mustard were scattered along the table, and each man had a pitcher of fine, fresh milk, and a loaf of bread, with plenty of b.u.t.ter. And for dessert there was a luxury--the only fancy part of the meal.

Eleanor had had a whispered conference with Tom Pratt early in the day, as the result of which he had hitched up and driven into Cranford, to return with two huge tubs of ice-cream. He had brought a couple of boxes of cigars, too, and when the meal was over, and the men were getting out their pipes, Eleanor had gone around among them.

"Try one of these!" she had urged. "I know they're good--and I know that when men are working hard they enjoy a first-cla.s.s smoke."

The cigars made a great hit.

"By Golly! There's nothing she don't think of, that Miss Mercer!" said Jud Harkness appreciatively, as he lit up, and sent great clouds of blue smoke in the air. "Boys, if we don't do a tiptop job on that house to finish it off this afternoon we ought to be hung for a lot of ungrateful skunks. Eh?"

There was a deep-throated shout of approval for that sentiment, and, after a few minutes of rest, during which the cigars were enjoyed to the utmost, Jud rose and once more sounded the call to work.

"I've heard men in the city say that after a heavy meal in the middle of the day, they couldn't work properly in the afternoon," said Eleanor, as she watched the men go about their work, each seeming to know his part exactly. "It doesn't seem to be so with these men, though, does it? I guess that in the city men who work in offices don't use their bodies enough--they don't get enough exercise, and they eat as much as if they did."

"I love cooking for men who enjoy their food the way these do," said Margery happily. "They don't have to say it's good--they show they think so by the way they eat. It's fine to think that people really enjoy what you do. I don't care how hard I work if I think that."

"Well, you certainly had an appreciative lot of eaters to-day, Margery."

As the shadows lengthened and the sun began to go down toward the west the house rapidly a.s.sumed the look it would have when it was finished. A good deal of the work, of course, was roughly done. There was no smoothing off of rough edges, but all that could be done later.

And then, as the end of the task drew near, so that the watchers on the ground could see what the finished house would be like, Mrs. Pratt, already overwhelmed by delight at the kindness of her neighbors, had a new surprise that pleased and touched her, if possible, even more than what had gone before. A new procession of wagons came into sight in the road, and this time each was driven by a woman.