CHAPTER XI
A NUMBER OF THINGS
There may have been good reason for the teacher to be horrified, but howelse was the mustang to be ridden? Ann was a big girl to go tearingthrough the roads and 'way into Lumberton astride a horse. Without asaddle and curb, however, she could not otherwise have clung to him.
Just now haste was imperative. She had a picture in her mind, all the way,of that boy lying in the snow, his face so pallid and the bloody foam uponhis lips.
In twenty-five minutes she was at the physician's gate. She flung herselfoff the horse, and as she shouted her news to the doctor through the openoffice window, she unbuckled the bridle-rein and made a leading strap ofit.
So, when the doctor drove out of the yard in his sleigh, she hopped inbeside him and led the heaving mustang back into the woods. Of course shedid not look ladylike at all, and not another girl at Briarwood would havedone it. But even the English teacher--who was a prude--never scolded herfor it.
Indeed, the doctor made a heroine of Ann, Old Dolliver said he never sawher beat, and the boy, who was so sadly hurt (but who pulled through allright in the end) almost worshipped the girl from Silver Ranch.
"And how she can ride!" the very girl who had treated Ann the meanest saidof her. "What does it matter if she isn't quite up to the average yet inrecitations? She _will_ be."
This was after the holidays, however. There was too short a time beforeBelle Tingley and her friends started for Cliff Island for Ann toparticularly note the different manner in which the girls in generaltreated her.
The party went on the night train. Mr. Tingley, who had some influencewith the railroad, had a special sleeper side-tracked at Lumberton fortheir accommodation. This sleeper was to be attached to the train thatwent through Lumberton at midnight.
Therefore they did not have to skip all the fun of the dance. This was oneof the occasions when the boys from the Seven Oaks Military Academy wereallowed to mix freely with the girls of Briarwood. And both partiesenjoyed it.
Belle's mother had arrived in good season, for she was to chaperone theparty bound for Logwood, at the head of Tallahaska Lake. She passed theword at ten o'clock, and the girls got their hand-baggage and ran down tothe road, where Old Dolliver waited for them with his big sleigh. The boyswalked into town, so the girls were nicely settled in the car when TomCameron and his chums reached the siding.
Belle Tingley's two brothers were not too old to be companions for Tom,Bob, and Isadore Phelps. And they were all as eager for fun andprank-playing as they could be.
Mrs. Tingley had already retired and most of the girls were in theirdressing gowns when the boys arrived. The porter was making up the boys'berths as the latter tramped in, bringing on their clothing the firstflakes of the storm that had been threatening all the evening.
"Let the porter brush you, little boy," urged Madge, peering out betweenthe curtains of her section and admonishing her big brother. "If you getcold and catch the croup I don't know what sister _will_ do! Now, be agood child!"
"Huh!" grunted Isadore Phelps, trying to collect enough of the snow tomake a ball to throw at her. "I wonder at you, Bobbins. Why don't you makeher behave? Treatin' you like an over-grown kid."
"I'd never treat _you_ that way, Master Isadore," said Madge, sweetly."For you very well know that you're not grown at all!"
At that Isadore _did_ gather snow--by running out for it. He brought backa dozen snowballs and the first thing the girls knew the missiles weredropping over the top of the curtains into the sheltered spaces devoted tothe berths.
There _was_ a great squealing then, for some of the victims were quiteready for bed, and the snow was cold and wet. Mrs. Tingley interferedlittle with the pranks of the young folk, and Izzy was careful not tothrow any snow into _her_ compartment.
But the tease did not know when to stop. He was usually that way--as Madgesaid, Izzy would drive a willing horse to death.
It was Heavy and Ann, however, who paid him back in some of his own coin.
The boys finally made their preparations for bed. Izzy paraded the lengthof the car in his big robe and bed slippers, for a drink of ice water.
Before he could return, Heavy and Ann bounced out in their woolen kimonasand seized him. By this time the train had come in, the engine hadswitched to the siding, picked up their sleeper, and was now backing downto couple on to the train again.
The two girls ran Izzy out into the vestibule, Heavy's hand over hismouth so that he could not shout to his friends for help. The door of thevestibule on the off side was unlocked. Ann pushed it open.
The snow was falling heavily--it was impossible to see even the fence thatbounded the railroad line on this side. The cars came together with aslight shock and the three were thrown into a giggling, struggling heap onthe platform.
"Lemme go!" gasped Izzy.
"Sure we will!" giggled Heavy, and with a final push she sent him flyingdown the steps. Then she shut the door.
She did not know that every other door on that side of the long train waslocked. Almost immediately the train began to move forward. It swept awayfrom the Lumberton platform, and it was fully a minute before Heavy andAnn realized what they had done.
"Oh, oh, oh!" shrieked the plump girl, running down the aisle. "Busy Izzyis left behind."
"Stop your joking," exclaimed Tom, peering out of his berth, which was anupper. "He's nothing of the kind."
"He is! He is!"
"Why, he's all ready for bed," declared one of the Tingley boys. "Hewouldn't dare----"
"We threw him out!" wailed Heavy. "We didn't know the train was to startso quickly."
"Threw him off the train?" cried Mrs. Tingley, appearing in her boudoircap and gown. "What kind of a menagerie am I supposed to preserve orderin----?"
"You can make bully good preserved ginger, Ma," said one of her sons, "butyou fall short when it comes to preserving _order_."
Most of the crowd were troubled over Isadore's absence. Some suggestedpulling the emergency cord and stopping the train; others were fortelegraphing back from the next station. All were talking at once, indeed,when the rear door opened and in came the conductor, escorting theshivering Isadore.
"Does this--this _tyke_ belong in here?" demanded the man of brassbuttons, with much emphasis.
They welcomed him loudly. The conductor shook his head. The flagman on theend of the train had helped the boy aboard the last car as the trainstarted to move.
"Keep him here!" commanded the conductor. "And I've a mind to have bothdoors of the car locked until we reach Logwood. Don't let me hear anythingmore from you boys and girls on this journey."
He went away laughing, however, and bye and bye they quieted down. Madgeinsisted upon making some hot composition, very strong, and dosing Isadorewith it. The drink probably warded off a cold. Izzy admitted to Bobbinsthat a sister wasn't so bad to "have around" after all.
While they slept, the car was shunted to the sidetrack at Logwood and thewestern-bound train went hooting away through the forest. It was stillsnowing heavily, there were not many trains passing through the Logwoodyard, and no switching during the early part of the day. The snowsmothered other sounds.
Therefore, the party that had come to the lake for a vacation was notastir until late. It was hunger that roused them to the realities of lifein the end. They had to dress and go to the one hotel of which thesettlement boasted for breakfast.
"Can't cross to the island on the ice, they say," Ralph Tingley ran in totell his mother. "Weight of the snow has broken it up. One of the men sayshe'll get a punt and pole us over to Cliff Island if the snow stops sothat he can see his way."
"My! won't that be fun!" gasped Ann Hicks, who had overheard him.
She had begun to enjoy herself the minute she felt that they were in roughcountry. Some of the girls wished they hadn't come. Ruth and Helen werealready outside, snowballing with the boys.
When Mrs. Tingley descended the car steps, ready to go to breakfast, herother son a
ppeared--a second Mercury.
"Mother, Mr. Preston is here. Says he'd like to see you."
Mr. Preston was the foreman to whom Jerry Sheming had been sent for a job.Ruth, who overheard, remembered the man's name. Then she saw a man dressedin Canadian knit cap, tall boots, and mackinaw, and carrying a hugeumbrella, with which he hurried forward to hold protectingly over Mrs.Tingley's head.
"Glad to see you, ma'am," said the foreman. Ruth was passing them on herway to the hotel when she heard something that stayed her progress. "Sorryto trouble you. Mr. Tingley ain't coming up to-day?"
"Not until Christmas morning," replied the lady. "He cannot get awaybefore."
"Well, I'll have to discharge that Jerry Sheming. Too bad, too. He's aworker, and well able to guide the boys and girls around the island--knowsit like a book."
"Why let him go, then?" asked the lady.
"Blent says he's dishonest. An' I seen him snooping around rather funny,myself. Guess I'll have to fire him, Mis' Tingley."