CHAPTER XXI--A VERY BUSY TIME
"Oh, Tom!" shrieked Ruth, and seized the boy's arm. The bay horse wasjust plunging ahead, eager to be off for the stable and his manger. Thehigh cart was whirled through the gateway as the first explosion came!
Pop,pop,pop! sputter--BANG!
It seemed as though the horse leaped more than his own length, andyanked all four wheels of the cart off the ground. There was a chorus ofscreams in the Caslons' dooryard, but after that first cry, Ruth keptsilent.
The rockets shot out of the box amidships with a shower of sparks. TheRoman candles sprayed their varied colored balls--dimmed now bydaylight--all about the cart.
Tom hung to the lines desperately, but the scared horse had taken thebit in his teeth and was galloping up the road toward Sunrise Farm,quite out of hand.
After that first grab at Tom's arm, Ruth did not interfere with him. Sheturned about, knelt on the seat-cushion, and, one after the other, sweptthe twins across the sputtering, shooting bunch of fireworks, and intothe space between her and Tom and the dashboard.
Providentially the shooting rockets headed into the air, and to therear. As the big horse dashed up the hill, swinging the light vehiclefrom side to side behind him, there was left behind a trail of smoke andfire that (had it been night-time) would have been a brilliantspectacle.
Mr. Caslon and the orphans started after the amazing thing tearing upthe road--but to no purpose. Nothing could be done to stop the explosionnow. The sparks flew all about. Although Mr. Caslon had bought a wealthof small rockets, candles, mines, flower-pots, and the like, never hadso many pieces been discharged in so short a time!
It was sputter, sputter, bang, bang, the cart vomiting flame and smoke,while the horse became a perfectly frenzied creature, urged on by thenoise behind him. Tom could only cling to the reins, Ruth clung to thetwins, and all by good providence were saved from an overturn.
All the time--and, of course, the half-mile or more from Caslons' to theentrance to the Steele estate, was covered in a very few moments--all thetime Ruth was praying that the fire-crackers Tom had bought and hiddenunder the front seat would not be ignited.
The reports of the rockets, and the like, became desultory. Some setpieces and triangles went off with the hissing of snakes. Was theexplosion over?
So it seemed, and the maddened horse turned in at the gateway. The cartwent in on two wheels, but it did not overturn.
The race had begun to tell on the bay. He was covered with foam and hispace was slackening. Perhaps the peril was over--Ruth drew a long breathfor the first time since the horse had made its initial jump.
And then--with startling suddenness--there was a sputter and bang! Offwent the firecrackers, package after package. A spark had burned throughthe paper wrapper and soon there was such a popping under that frontseat as shamed the former explosions!
Had the horse been able to run any faster, undoubtedly he would havedone so; but as the cart went tearing up the drive toward the front ofthe big house, the display of fireworks, etc., behind the front seat,and the display of alarm on the part of the four on the seat, advertisedto all beholders that the occasion was not, to say the least, a commonone.
The cart itself was scorched and was afire in places, the sputtering ofthe fire-crackers continued while the horse tore up the hill. Tom hadbought a generous supply and it took some time for them all to explode.
Fortunately the front drop of the seat was a solid panel of deal, orRuth's skirt might have caught on fire--or perhaps the legs of the twinswould have been burned.
As for the two little fellows, they never even squealed! Their eyesshone, they had lost their caps in the back of the cart, their shortcurls blew out straight in the wind, and their cheeks glowed. When therunaway appeared over the crest of the hill and the crowd at SunriseFarm beheld them, it was evident that Willie and Dickie were enjoyingthemselves to the full!
Poor Tom, on whose young shoulders the responsibility of the wholeaffair rested, was braced back, with his feet against the footboard, thelines wrapped around his wrists, and holding the maddened horse in tothe best of his ability.
Bobbins on one side, and Ralph Tingley on the other, ran into theroadway and caught the runaway by the bridle. The bay was, perhaps,quite willing to halt by this time. Mr. Steele ran out, and his firstexclamation was:
"My goodness, Tom Cameron! you've finished that horse!"
"I hope not, sir," panted Tom, rather pale. "But I thought he'd finishus before he got through."
By this time the explosions had ceased. Everything of an explosivenature--saving the twins themselves--in the cart seemed to have gone off.And now Willie ejaculated:
"Gee! I never rode so fast before. Wasn't it great, Dickie?"
"Yep," agreed Master Dickie, with rather more emphasis than usual.
Sister Sadie appeared from the rear premises, vastly excited, too, butwhen she lifted the twins down and found not a scratch upon them, sheturned to Ruth with a delighted face.
"You took care of them just like you loved 'em, Miss," she whispered, asRuth tumbled out of the cart, too, into her arms. "Oh, dear! don't youdare get sick--you ain't hurt, are you?"
"No, no!" exclaimed Ruth, having hard work to crowd back the tears. "ButI'm almost scared to death. That--that young one!" and she grabbed atDickie. "What did you drop that punk into the fireworks for?"
"Huh?" questioned the imperturbable Dickie.
"Why didn't you throw that lighted punk away?" and Ruth was tempted toshake the little rascal.
But instantly the voluble Willie shouldered his way to the front. "Gee,Miss! he thought you wanted him to drop it right there. You said so.An'--an'---- Well, he didn't know the things in the box would go off ofthemselves. Did you Dickie?"
"Nope," responded his twin.
"Do forgive 'em, Miss Ruth," whispered Sadie Raby. "I wouldn't want Mr.Steele to get after 'em. You know--he can be sumpin' fierce!"
"Well," sighed Ruth Fielding, "they're the 'terrible twins' rightenough. Oh, Tom!" she added, as young Cameron came to her to shakehands.
"You're getting better and better," said Tom, grinning. "I'd rather bein a wreck with you, Ruthie--of almost any kind--than with anybody else Iknow. Those kids don't even know what you saved them from, when youdragged 'em over the back of that seat."
"Sh!" she begged, softly.
"And it's a wonder we weren't all blown to glory!"
"It was a mercy we were not seriously hurt," agreed Ruth.
But then there was too much bustle and general talk for them to discussthe incident quietly. The horse was led away to the stable and thereattended to. Fortunately he was not really injured, but the cart wouldhave to go to the painter's.
"A fine beginning for this celebration we have on hand," declared Mr.Steele, looking ruefully at his wife. "If all that can happen with onlytwo of those fresh air kids, as Bob calls them, on hand, what do yousuppose will happen to-night when we have a dozen at Sunrise Farm?"
"Mercy!" gasped the lady. "I am trembling in my shoes--I am, indeed. Butwe have agreed to do it, Father, and we must carry it through."