CHAPTER XXV
THEIR MUTUAL SECRETS
BETTY woke to find her room almost as light as day. She had beendreaming of breakfasting with her uncle in a blue and gold dining-roomof her own furnishing, and for the moment she thought it was morning.But the light flickered too much for sunlight, and as she became morefully awake, she realized it was a red glare. Fire!
"Fire!" Bob's voice vocalized her cry for her, and he came tumblingdown the uncarpeted attic stairs with a wild clatter of shoes.
She called to him to wait; but he did not hear, and raced on out to thebarn. The inarticulate bellow of Mr. Peabody sounded next as, yellingloudly, he rushed down the stairs and out through the kitchen.
"Betty!" Mrs. Peabody ran in as Betty struggled hastily to dress."Betty! the barn's on fire! No one knows how long it's been burning. Ifwe only had a dog, he might have barked! Or a telephone!"
Betty stifled a hysterical desire to laugh as she followed the moaningMrs. Peabody downstairs. It was not the main barn, she saw with alittle throb of relief as they ran through the yard. Instead it wasthe corncrib and wagon house which stood a little apart from the restof the buildings. The cribs were practically empty of corn, for ofcourse the new crop had not yet matured, and the only loss would be thetwo shabby old wagons and a quantity of more or less worn machinerystored in the loft overhead. A huge rat, driven from his home under thecorncrib, ran past Betty in the dark.
"It's all insured," said Mr. Peabody complacently, watching Bob dashbuckets of water on the tool shed, which was beginning to blister fromthe heat. "Well, Keppler, see the blaze from your place? Nice littlebonfire, ain't it?"
Mr. Keppler and his two half-grown sons had run all the way and weretoo out of breath to reply immediately. They were not on especiallygood terms with Mr. Peabody, but as his nearest neighbor they could notlet his buildings burn down without making an effort to help him. Theyhad left the mother of the family at the telephone with instructionsto call the surrounding neighbors if Mr. Keppler signaled her to do sowith the pistol he carried.
"Guess you won't need any more help," said Mr. Keppler, regaining hisbreath. "How'd she start?"
"Why, when I thought it was the barn, I said to myself that lazygood-for-nothing lame Phil's been smoking," replied Mr. Peabody. "But Idon't know how he could set the corncribs afire."
"Where is he now?" cried Betty, remembering the man's affliction. "Hecouldn't run--perhaps he tried to sleep in the wagon and is burned."
"No, he isn't," said Phil behind her.
He had been watching the fire from the safe vantage point of a boulderin the apple orchard, he admitted when cross-questioned. Yes, theflames had awakened him in the barn where he slept. No, he couldn'tguess how they had started unless it could have been spontaneouscombustion from the oiled rags he had noticed packed tightly in acorner of the wagon shed that afternoon.
"Spontaneous combustion!" ejaculated Mr. Peabody angrily. "If you knowthat much, why couldn't you drop me a word, or take away the rags?"
The lame man looked at him with irritating intentness.
"I thought you might wring my neck if I did," he said.
"I don't know whether Phil's a fool or not," confided Bob to Betty thenext morning; "but he has old Peabody guessing, that's sure. He wasquoting Shakespeare to him at the pump this morning."
Betty lost little time in speculation concerning Phil, for anotherworry claimed her attention.
"How can we go to see the Benders Saturday?" she asked Bob. "Bothwagons are burned up."
"Well, we still have the horse," Bob reminded her cheerfully. "A wagonwithout a horse isn't much good, but a horse without a wagon is farfrom hopeless. You leave it to me."
Betty was willing. She was dreaming day dreams about Washington andUncle Dick, dreams in which she generously included Bob and the Bendersand Norma Guerin. It was fortunate for her that she could not seeahead, or know how slowly the weeks were to drag by without anotherletter. How Betty waited and waited and finally went to the CapitolCity to find her uncle herself will be told in the next volume ofthis series, to be called, "Betty Gordon in Washington; or, StrangeAdventures in a Great City." High-spirited, headstrong, pretty Bettyfinds adventures aplenty, not unmixed with a spice of danger, in thebeautiful city of Washington, and quite unexpectedly she again meetsBob Henderson, who has left Bramble Farm to seek his fortune.
That Bob was planning a surprise in connection with their visit to theBenders, she was well aware, but she would not spoil his enjoyment bytrying to force him to divulge his secret. Betty had a secret of herown, saved up for the eventful day, which she had no idea of disclosingtill the proper time should arrive.
Saturday morning dawned warm and fair, and Bob tore into his morning'swork, determined to leave Mr. Peabody no loophole for criticism and,possibly, detention, though he had promised Bob the afternoon off. Philwas with them no more, having ambled off one night without warning andtaken his peculiarities to a possibly more appreciative circle.
Bob was hungry at noon, but he hardly touched his dinner, so eager washe to get away from the table and wash and dress ready for the trip toLaurel Grove. Poor Bob had no best clothes, but he resolutely refusedto wear overalls to the Benders, and he had coaxed Mrs. Peabody to gethis heavy winter trousers out of the mothballs and newspapers in whichshe had packed them away. She had washed and ironed a faded shirt forhim, and at least he would be whole and clean.
"Bob," drawled Mr. Peabody, as that youth declined dessert and preparedto rise from the table, "before you go, I want to see the wood boxfilled, some fresh litter in the pig pens and some fodder in all thecow mangers. If I'm to do the milking, I don't want to have to pitchall the fodder, too."
Bob scowled angrily.
"I haven't time," he muttered. "That'll take me till two or half-past.You said I could have the afternoon."
"And I also told you to fill the wood box yesterday," retorted Mr.Peabody. "You'll do as I say, or stay home altogether. Take yourchoice."
"He's the meanest man who ever lived!" scolded Betty, following Bob outto the woodshed. "I'll fill up that old box, Bob, and you go do theother chores. I'd like to throw this stick at his head."
Bob laughed, for he had a naturally sweet temper and seldom broodedover his wrongs.
"He did tell me to fill the box yesterday and I forgot," he confessed."Take your time, Betty, and don't get all hot. And don't scratch yourhands--they looked as pretty as Mrs. Bender's; I noticed 'em at thetable."
Betty stared after him as he went whistling to the barn, her apronsagging with the wood she had piled into it. She glanced scrutinizinglyat her strong, shapely tanned little hands. Did Bob think they werepretty? Betty herself admired very white hands with slim pointedfingers like Norma Guerin's.
She worked to such good purpose that she had the wood box filled andwas brushing her hair when she heard Bob go thumping past her door onhis way to his room. She was dressed and downstairs when he came down,and he caught hold of her impulsively and whirled her around the porch.
"Betty, you're a wonder!" he cried in admiration. "How did you everguess the size? And when did you buy it? You could have knocked me downwith a feather when I saw it spread out there on the bed."
"I'm glad it fits you so well," answered Betty demurely, surveying theneat blue and white shirt she had bought for him. "I took one of yourold ones over to Glenside. Oh, it didn't cost much!" she hastened toassure him, interpreting the look he gave her. "I'm saving the moneyUncle Dick sent, honestly I am."
Bob insisted that she sit down on the porch and let him drive roundfor her, and now it was Betty's turn to be surprised. The sorrel washarnessed to a smart rubber-tired runabout.
"Bob Henderson! where did you get it? Whose is it? Does Mr. Peabodyknow? Let's go through Glenside and show 'em we look right sometimes,"suggested the astonished Betty.
Bob, beaming with pride, helped her in and Mrs. Peabody waved thema friendly good-bye. She betrayed no surprise at the sight of therunabout and was evidentl
y in the secret.
"She knows about it," explained Bob, as they drove off. "I borrowed itfrom the Kepplers. Tried to get a horse, too, but they're going drivingSunday and need the team. This is their single harness. Nifty buckles,aren't they?"
Betty praised the runabout to his heart's content, and they actuallydid drive through Glenside, though it was a longer way around, and hadthe satisfaction of meeting the Guerins.
Recorder Bender and his wife were delighted to see them again, andthey had a happy time all planned for them. Saturday night there was amoving picture show in Laurel Grove, and the Benders took their guests.Betty had not been to motion pictures since leaving Pineville and itwas Bob's second experience with the films.
Sunday morning they all went to church, and the long, delightful summerSunday afternoon they spent on the cool, shady porch, exchangingconfidences and making plans for the future.
"I'm saving the money I get for the carvings," said Bob, "and when Iget enough I'll dig up the little black tin box and off I'll go. I'vegot to get some education and amount to something, and if I stay withthe Peabody's till I'm eighteen, my chance will be gone."
"Promise us one thing, Bob," urged Mrs. Bender earnestly. "That youwon't go without consulting us, or at least leaving some word for us.And that, wherever you go, you'll write."
"I promise," said Bob gratefully. "I haven't so many friends that I canafford to lose one. You and Mr. Bender have been awfully good to me."
"We like you!" returned the recorder, with one of his rare whimsicalflashes. "I want to exact the same promise from Betty--to write to uswherever she may go."
"Of course I will!" promised Betty. "I don't seem to have much luckrunning away; but when I do go, I'll surely write and let you knowwhere I am. And I'll probably be writing to you very soon fromWashington!"
THE END
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 41, "Aronld" changed to "Arnold" (morning Betty and Mrs. Arnold)
Page 66, "Leisen" changed to "Leison" (as Wapley or Leison)
Page 172, "her's" changed to "hers" (look like hers, too)
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