CHAPTER V
A LONG LOOK AHEAD
"Hurrah! first glimpse of the old place!"
Helen cried this, with her head out of the Ark. The dust rolled up in acloud behind them as they topped the hill. Here Mary Cox had met Ruth andHelen that first day, a year ago, when they approached the Hall.
There was no infant in the coach now save Jane Ann. And the chums weredetermined to save the western girl from that strange and lonely feelingthey had themselves experienced.
There was nobody in view on the pastured hill. Down the slope the Arkcoasted and bye and bye Cedar Walk came into view.
"Shall we get out here, girls?" called Madge Steele, with a glance atMercy.
"Of course we shall," cried that sprightly person, shaking her fist at thebig senior. "Don't you dare try to spare _me_, Miss! I am getting sostrong and healthy I am ashamed of myself. Don't you dare!"
Madge kissed her warmly, as Ruth had. _That_ was the best way to treatMercy Curtis whenever she "exploded."
Suddenly Helen leaned out of the open half of the door on her side andbegan to call a welcome to four girls who were walking briskly down thewinding pathway. Instantly they began to run, shouting joyfully in return.
"Here we be, young ladies," croaked Old Dolliver, bringing his tiredhorses to a halt.
They struggled forth, Jane Ann coming last to help the lame girl--just amite. Then the two parties of school friends came together like themingling of waters.
One was a very plump girl with a smiling, rosy face; one was red-hairedand very sharp-looking, and the other two balanced each other evenly, bothbeing more than a little pretty, very well dressed, and one dark while theother was light.
The light girl was Belle Tingley, and the dark one Lluella Fairfax; ofcourse, the red-haired one was Mary Cox, "The Fox," while the stout girlcould be no other than "Heavy" Jennie Stone.
The Fox came forward quickly and seized both of Ruth's hands. "Dear Ruth,"she whispered. "I arrived just this morning myself. You know that mybrother is all right again?" and she kissed the girl of the Red Millwarmly.
Belle and Lluella looked a bit surprised at Mary Cox's manifestation offriendship for Ruth; but they did not yet know all the particulars oftheir schoolmates' adventures at Silver Ranch.
Heavy was hurrying about, kissing everybody indiscriminately, and ofcourse performing this rite with Ruth at least twice.
"I'm so tickled to see you all, I can't tell!" she laughed. "And you'reall looking fine, too. But it does seem a month, instead of a week, sinceI saw you."
"My! but you are looking bad yourself, Heavy," gibed Helen Cameron,shaking her head and staring at the other girl. "You're just fading awayto a shadow."
"Pretty near," admitted Heavy. "But the doctor says I shall get myappetite back after a time. I was allowed to drink the water two eggs wereboiled in for lunch, and to-night I can eat the holes out of a dozendoughnuts. Oh! I'm convalescing nicely, thank you."
The girls who had reached the school first welcomed Jane Ann quite aswarmly as they did the others. There was an air about them all that seemedprotecting to the strange girl.
Other girls were walking up and down the Cedar Walk, and sometimes theycast more than glances at the eight juniors who were already suchfriends. Madge had immediately been swallowed up by a crowd of seniors.
"Say, Foxy! got an infant there?" demanded one girl.
"I suppose Fielding has made her a Sweetbriar already--eh?" suggestedanother.
"The Sweetbriars do not have to fish for members," declared Helen, tossingher head.
"Oh, my! See what a long tail our cat's got!" responded one of the othercrowd, tauntingly.
"The double quartette! There's just eight of them," crowed another. "Therecertainly will be something doing at Briarwood Hall with those tworoomsful."
"Say! that's right!" cried Heavy, eagerly, to Ruth. "You, and Helen, andMercy, and Jinny, take that quartette room on our other side. We'll justabout boss that dormitory. What do you say?"
"If Mrs. Tellingham will agree," said Ruth. "I'll ask her."
"But you girls will be 'way ahead of me in your books," broke in Jane Ann.
"We needn't be ahead of you in sleeping, and in fun," laughed Heavy,pinching her.
"Don't be offish, Miss Jinny," said Helen, calling her by the title thatthe cowboys did.
"And my name--my dreadful, dreadful name!" groaned the western girl.
"I tell you!" exclaimed Ruth, "we're all friends. Let's agree how we shallintroduce Miss Hicks to the bunch. She must choose a name----"
"Why, call yourself 'Nita,' if you want to, dear," said Helen, patting thewestern girl's arm. "That's the name you ran away with."
"But I'm ashamed of that. I know it is silly--and I chose it for a sillyreason. But you know what all these girls will do to 'Jane Ann,'" and sheshook her head, more than a little troubled.
"What's the matter with Ann?" demanded Mercy Curtis, sharply. "Isn't 'AnnHicks' sensible-sounding enough? For sure, it's not _pretty_; but we can'tall have both pretty names and pretty features," and she laughed.
"And it's mighty tough when you haven't got either," grumbled the newgirl.
"'Ann Hicks,'" quoth Ruth, softly. "I like it. I believe it sounds nice,too--when you get used to it. 'Ann Hicks.' Something dignified and fineabout it--just as though you had been named after some really greatwoman--some leader."
The others laughed; and yet they looked appreciation of Ruth Fielding'sfantasy.
"Bully for you, Ruthie!" cried Helen, hugging her. "If Ann Hicks agrees."
"It doesn't sound so bad without the 'Jane,'" admitted the western girlwith a sigh. "And Ruth says it so nicely."
"We'll all say it nicely," declared The Fox, who was a much different"Fox" from what she had been the year before. "'Ann Hicks,' I bet you'vegot a daguerreotype at home of the gentle old soul for whom you are named.You know--silver-gray gown, pearls, pink cheeks, and a real ostrichfeather fan."
"My goodness me!" ejaculated the newly christened Ann Hicks, "you havealready arranged a very fanciful family tree for me. Can I ever live up tosuch an ancestress as _that_?"
"Certainly you can," declared Ruth, firmly. "You've just _got_ to. Thinkof the original Ann--as Mary described her--whenever you feel likeexploding. Her picture ought to bring you up short. A lady like that_couldn't_ explode."
"Tough lines," grumbled the western girl. "Right from what you girls callthe 'wild and woolly,' and to have to live up to silver-gray silk andpearls--M-m-m-m!"
"Now, say! say!" cried Belle Tingley, suddenly, and seizing upon Ruth,about whom she had been hovering ever since they had met. "_I_ want totalk a little. There aren't any more infants to christen, I hope?"
"Go on!" laughed Ruth, squeezing her. "What is the matter, _Bella mia_?"
"And don't talk Italian," said Belle, shrugging her shoulders. "Listen! Ipromised to ask you the minute you arrived, Ruthie, and now you've beenhere ten at least."
"It is something splendid," laughed Lluella, clapping her hands, evidentlybeing already a sharer in Belle's secret.
"I'll tell you--if they'll let me," panted Belle, shaking Ruth a little."Father's bought Cliff Island. It's a splendid place. We were there forpart of the summer. And there will be a great lodge built by Christmastime and he has told me I might invite you all to come to thehouse-warming. Now, Ruth! it remains with you. If you'll go, the otherswill, I know. And it's a splendid place."
"Cliff Island?" gasped Ruth.
"Yes. In Lake Tallahaska."
"And your father has just bought it?"
"Yes. He had some trouble getting a clear title; but it's all right now.They had to evict an old squatter. I want you all to come with me for themid-winter holiday. What do you say, Ruthie?" asked Belle, eagerly.
"I say it's a long look ahead," responded Ruth, slowly. "It's very kind ofyou, Belle. But I'll have to write home first, of course. I'd like to go,though--to Cliff Island--yes, indeed!"