CHAPTER XI
DEBATE AND JUST TALK
Frances, led on by Tim's interested questions, had been giving thatwounded young man a glowing account of the Camp Fire movement ingeneral and of their own group in particular. She had told him of thesplendid effect it had on the spirit of the girls at Hillside, of thewonders it had worked on the characters of Blanche Shirley andEmmeline Cerrito.
"And you have no idea how much fun we have had together. Even work isfun when we all work together. Last year, we were all down on Jane'sbig farm in Kentucky when the harvest had just begun. It happened thatthere was an excursion for the negroes scheduled for the same day andall the hands, house servants, yard boys, stable boys, even down tothe smallest pickaninnies on the place, just took temporary Frenchleave. Mr. Pellew was terribly upset. You see, he had engaged themachines and everything. Anyway, Ellen and Mabel got busy in thekitchen and cooked for simply rafts of people, the rest of us wentout in the fields with Jack and Mr. Pellew and he said that we workedjust as well as the men and that we were lots more conscientious."Frances said this with a rather defiant air, because she had oftenfound that the young men of her acquaintance were inclined to doubtfemale prowess in any line other than fancy sewing.
"You sound like a dandy bunch of girls. No one could realize that factmore keenly than I. But don't you think it is rather unusual for girlsto be as capable as that? And don't you suppose the novelty of theaffair had a great deal to do with the girl's conscientiousness?"Seeing Frances' indignant expression, Tim hastened to add, "I am notstating this as facts. Like Will Irwin's Japanese school boy, 'I askto know'."
"All right, then," said Frances, relenting at his meek tones, "if youcome to the discussion with an humble open mind, I'll continue to bepro, and after I have finished I'll listen to your con."
"Like a lamb to the slaughter," announced Tim, folding his brown armsover his chest. "I'm ready. The battle may begin."
"Heavens! you have me all confused now. How am I to know whether youare going to listen like a meek lamb or whether you have entered theranks, arrayed in glittering armor, ready to fight to the death. Don'tbe so contradictory in your statements."
"I crave your indulgence for my mixed metaphors. In the crude parlanceof these modern times, 'shoot'," said Tim.
"Resolved: that the female of the species can do as much work as themale and do it in almost as many branches as the aforesaid male. Twocousins of mine were with the Vassar College farm unit for twelveweeks, summer before last, and at the end of the twelve weeks, thehead of the farmerettes mailed out questionnaires to the different menwho had employed the girls as farm hands during the summer. Thesequestionnaires asked the farmers if the girls were equal to the men asto strength, interest, conscientiousness and so on. All of the farmersanswered that they were perfectly able to do all the work that hadbeen set them to do, and that they had been given the work of the menthat were overseas, and that they had accomplished it well; and,further, that they showed a quickness in learning that the men didnot, and that they were more interested in their work, and far moreconscientious than the men they had formerly employed. When asked ifthey would consider employing the Vassar girls at another time, allthe men who had employed the girls said that most assuredly theywould," and Frances stopped rather out of breath but smilingtriumphantly at her adversary. "We will now hear the other side."
"Madame, I have the honor to announce that your worthy opponent isabsolutely convinced and begs your forgiveness for his formerunbelief. There will be no rebuttal, ladies and gentlemen," said Timwith a grin at a make-believe audience.
He looked at Frances in open admiration, for the vivid pink that theexcitement of a chance argument always brought had flushed her cheeksand her gray eyes sparkled with amusement at his defeat.
Just then there was a thud on deck and Mabel's cheery voice called tofind out how the patient was getting along. After making the tenderfast to the boat boom, Jack and Ellen and Mabel and Charlie, followedby Mr. Wing, came down into the little saloon to tell Tim that thetelegram assuring his family of his safety had been duly sent.
"The girls insisted on our bringing you candy and magazines, but Ihave a hunch that it wasn't you alone they had in view," said Jack,unloading himself of many bundles.
"But I knew you would want something to smoke, so I brought along acouple of cartons of Piedmonts. I hope that it is what you use," saidCharlie with the complacency of one who has done well.
"Speaking of unselfish devotion," Ellen spoke up in defense of herselfand Mabel, "who likes Piedmonts more than our own dear Charlie?"
Frances jumped up, grabbed Ellen's arm and lifted it high over herhead and in her best referee manner began, "One, two, three, four,five--"
Tim raised a protesting hand, "I'll report the match to theauthorities, as not one word was said about the 'gentlemen beingmembers of this club.'"
"What in the world is society coming to, when its younger members ofboth sexes are so familiar with the expressions of the boxing ring?"Mr. Wing asked.
"Oh, Daddy, Daddy! As if you don't go to every fight that comes off,not to speak of the wrestling matches! Who was it I heard saying toBreck not long ago that he would 'lay five to one' on Dempsey in theWillard-Dempsey fight?" and, withering before Mabel's onslaught, Mr.Wing retreated up the companion.
"Listen to this," said Jack, who had been running through themagazines while the bout was going on, "It's called 'Sails':
"If he had seen A barkentine Beating off a blowy head, Or, all a-sheen, A brigantine Running free by trade-wind sped, How could Fulton have dared to dream Of steam?"
"That's rather nice," Tim said as Jack finished the little verse, "andit's just the way I feel. Wouldn't it have been fine if there wasn'tany machinery and we could all have gone on living in the woods, inleopard skins--I rather fancy myself in a leopard skin--"
"You are just the person to make the most fuss if your train happensto be the least bit late," Frances broke in on him.
"And sail around all summer in a fast little yacht," Tim went on, witha grin at Frances.
"Then about the first of October eat enough to last you until springand crawl into your little cave and sleep till warm weather."
"What a pretty picture," laughed Mabel. "Glimpse Tim, draped inleopard's skin, nimbly going up the shrouds, with a telescope,development of the modern time, to sit in the crosstree and watch theraces in the sound."
"People always imagine that whatever time they live in is the veryworst time, and, as for clothes, what could be more uncomfortable thana leopard's skin. It would always be getting in the soup orsomething," objected Jack.
"You would hardly have to worry about soup in connection with aleopard's skin. What you would probably do would be skip along theshore and hunt for mussels or hide behind the bushes and jump out on afrightened little pig and sit down on your haunches and devour himraw," decided Frances.
"Consider the bristles," shuddered Ellen.
"Dinghy abaft our stern, sirs," announced Mr. Wing to the little groupin the saloon.
The dinghy slipped up to the "Boojum" and Jane went down to join herfriends in the saloon. Breck, after making fast the dinghy, wentforward to the galley. It had been decided between them that it wouldbe better not to say anything about their plans until after FrederickGray made his appearance and the subject of Tim's boat had beensettled, then Jane had planned to talk to Mr. Wing about thefeasibility of turning Hurricane Island into a summer resort. As totheir proposed partnership, that could wait. In the meantime it wasnobody's business but theirs.
"How 'bout my little boat?" Tim demanded with such a motherlyexpression that they all laughed.
"Right as rain," Jane assured him. "And, Oh! Tim, she is a darling,isn't she? Breck and I snugged ship for you and we have got a boycoming over tonight to see you about taking her back to Nantucket foryou. 'Sabrina' is a lovely name for her too."
"What sort of boy, Plain Jane?" inquired Mr. Wing.
"A
perfect peach of a boy. Breck and I went bats about him. In thefirst place, he is a dream to look at--"
"Something more substantial than a dream is going to take my 'Sabrina'home," said Tim.
"Beautiful people have sense sometimes, Tim. Anyhow, he is coming overtonight and you can see for yourself. He is plenty big and strongenough to handle her if he is able to get a friend of his to go alongwith him. He is awfully interesting and well read and made me feelawfully ashamed because he didn't use one drop of slang the entiretime we talked to him, and it must have been at least three hours. Hisfather is an inventor. His name is Frederick Gray and I asked him tocome to supper. You don't mind, do you, Skipper?" Jane appealed to Mr.Wing.
"What about the island--you haven't said a word about it?" asked Jack.
"Heavens, don't get me started on the island. I don't ever want tostop talking about it. We, I mean I've got the most wonderful plan,but I am not going to talk about it till Fred comes over tonight,"Jane put them off.
"What about my lobsters?" demanded Mabel.
"We brought you back a whole dinghy full of them. The steward isgetting them out now. Fred gave them to us."
"I have changed my mind about Fred, then," said Tim. "I am that fondof lobsters."
"Anybody in his right mind would have to like Fred. But wait till yousee him. In the meantime, how long before lunch? I am simply starved!"and Jane pounced on the candy.