CHAPTER X
CALLING AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE
"Good-morning, ladies," he said, bowing gravely, "I'm very pleased to seeyou. May I ask your names?"
"Mrs. William Penn and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin," said Marjorie, "and wehave come to look at your flowers."
"Yes, ma'am; they do be fine this year, ma'am. Happen you raise flowersyourself?"
"No, not much," said King, "we don't raise anything."
"Except when you raise the mischief," declared Carter, laughing atthe prim faces before him. "I'm thinkin' if you'd always wear thosesober-colored dresses you mightn't lead such a rambunctious life."
"That's so," said King, kicking at his skirts. "But they're not easy toget around in."
"I think they are," said Marjorie, gracefully swishing the long folds ofher silk skirt. "Come on, King, let's go over and see Stella; we haven'tseen her yet."
"Miss Stella's gone to school," Carter informed them. "I saw her go bywith her books just before nine o'clock. And if you ladies can excuse menow, I'll be going back to my work. If so be ye fall in the river oranything, just you scream, Miss Marjorie, and I'll come and fish youout."
"We don't fall in twice in one day," said Marjorie, with dignity, and thetwo Quaker ladies trailed away across the lawn.
They went down into the orchard, to pay a visit to Breezy Inn. This wasMarjorie's tree-house which Uncle Steve had had built for her the yearbefore.
But the rope ladder was not there, so they could not go up, and theywandered on, half hoping they might meet somebody who would really thinkthey were Quaker ladies. Crossing the orchard, they came out on one ofthe main streets of the town, and saw not far away, the school whichStella and Molly attended.
Marjorie had a sudden inspiration. "Let's go to the school," she said,"and ask for Stella and Molly!"
"Only one of them," amended King; "which one?"
"Stella, then. We'll go to the front door, and we'll probably see thejanitor, and we'll ask him to call Stella Martin down."
"I think we'd better send for Molly."
"No, Molly would make such a racket. Stella's so much quieter, and Idon't want to make any trouble."
They reached the schoolhouse, which was a large brick building of threeor four stories. The front door was a rather impressive portal, and thechildren went up the steps and rang the bell.
"You do the talking, King," said Marjorie. "You can make your voice soundjust like an old lady."
The janitor appeared in answer to their ring, and looked greatly amazedto see two old Quaker ladies on the doorstep. The children kept theirheads down, and the large bonnets shaded their faces.
"We want to see Miss Stella Martin," said King, politely, and the cleverboy made his voice sound like that of an elderly lady.
"Yes'm," said the janitor, a little bewildered. "Will you come in?"
"No," said King, "we won't come in, thank you. Please ask Miss StellaMartin to come down here. Her two aunts from Philadelphia want to seeher."
The janitor partly closed the door, and went upstairs to Stella'sclassroom.
"We fooled him all right!" chuckled King, "but what do you suppose Stellawill say?"
"I don't know," said Midget, thoughtfully; "you never can tell whatStella will do. She may think it's a great joke, and she may burst outcrying. She's such a funny girl."
In a moment Stella came down. The janitor was with her, and opened thedoor for her. As she saw the two Quaker figures her face expressed onlyblank bewilderment.
"Who are you?" she asked, bluntly. "I haven't any aunts in Philadelphia."
"Oh, yes, you have," said King, in his falsetto voice, "Don't youremember your dear Aunt Effie and Aunt Lizzie?"
"No, I don't," declared Stella, and then as she showed signs of beingfrightened, and perhaps crying, Marjorie came to the rescue.
She hated to explain the joke before the janitor, but he lookedgood-natured, and after all it was only a joke. So she threw back herhead, and smiled at Stella, saying, "Then do you remember your AuntMarjorie Maynard?"
"Marjorie!" exclaimed Stella. "What are you doing in such funny clothes?And who is this with you,--Kitty?"
"No," said King, "it's Kingdon. I'm Marjorie's brother, and we're out ona little lark."
"How did you ever dare come here?" and Stella's startled gaze rested onthem, and then on the janitor.
The janitor was a good-natured man, but he felt that this performance wasnot in keeping with school discipline, and he felt he ought to send thechildren away at once. But Marjorie smiled at him so winningly that hecould not speak sternly to her.
"I guess you'd better run along now," he said; "the principal wouldn'tlike it if he saw you."
"Yes, we're going now," said Marjorie, "but I just wanted to speak toStella a minute. We're going to have a party, Stella, and I want you tocome over this afternoon and tell us who to invite."
"All right," said Stella; "I'll come right after school. And now do goaway. If my teacher should see you she'd scold me."
"She'd have no right to," said King. "You couldn't help our coming."
"No, but I can help staying here and talking to you. Now I must go backto my classroom."
"Skip along, then," said Marjorie, and then turning to the janitor, sheadded, "and will you please ask Miss Molly Moss to come down."
"That I will not!" declared the man. "I've been pretty good to you twokids, and now you'd better make a getaway, or I'll have to report to theprincipal."
"Oh, we're going," said Marjorie, hastily; "and don't mention our call tothe principal, because it might make trouble for Stella, though I don'tsee why it should."
"Well, I won't say anything about it," and the janitor smiled at themkindly as he closed the door.
The pair went home chuckling, and when they reached the house it wasnearly lunch time. So they came to the table in their Quaker garb, andcreated much merriment by pretending to be guests of the family.
Stella and Molly both came after school, and the list for the partyinvitations was soon made out. Uncle Steve wrote the invitations, andsent them to the mail, but he would not divulge any of his plans for theparty, and though Midget was impatient to know, she could get no idea ofwhat the plays or games were to be.
But it was not long to wait for the day of the party itself. The guestswere invited from three to six in the afternoon, and though the Maynardsknew some of them, there were a number of strangers among the company.However, Stella and Molly knew them all, and it did not take long for theMaynards to feel acquainted with them.
The first game was very amusing. Uncle Steve presented each child with aNoah's Ark. These were of the toy variety usually seen, but they were allempty.
"You must find animals for yourselves," said Uncle Steve, who was neverhappier than when entertaining children. "They are hidden all about, inthe drawing-room, library, dining-room, and hall. You may not goupstairs, or in the kitchen, but anywhere else in the house you maysearch for animals to fill your arks. Now scamper and see who can get themost."
The children scampered, and all agreed that hunting wild animals was agreat game. It was lots more fun than a peanut hunt, and they foundelephants, lions, and tigers tucked away behind window curtains and sofapillows, under tables and chairs, and even behind the pictures on thewalls.
There were so many animals that each one succeeded in filling his or herark, and after they had declared they could find no more, each childwas told to take the ark home as a souvenir of Marjorie's party.
"The next game," said Uncle Steve, as they all sat round, awaiting hisdirections, "is out of doors, so perhaps you had better put on yourcoats and hats."
"Oh, Uncle Steve," said Marjorie, "the air is so soft and warm, I'm surewe don't need wraps."
"Yes, you do," said Uncle Steve; "this is a peculiar game, and you musthave your coats on."
So the children trooped upstairs, and soon returned garbed for outdoors,and two by two they followed Uncle Steve in a long procession. Mr.Maynard was wi
th them, too, but Uncle Steve was general manager, and toldeverybody what to do.
He led them across the lawns, down through the orchard, and then theycame to a large plot of soft, newly-dug earth. It was a sandy soil andnot at all muddy, and the children wondered what kind of a game couldtake place in a ploughed field.
"It has just been discovered," Uncle Steve began, "that this field yousee before you is the place where Captain Kidd buried his treasures! Formany years the site was undiscovered, but documents have been foundrecently, proving beyond all doubt that the greater part of his vasttreasure was concealed in this particular piece of ground. Of course, ifthis were generally known, all sorts of companies and syndicates would beformed to dig for it. But I have carefully kept it secret from the worldat large, because I wanted you children to be the first ones to dig forit. Bring the spades, please, Carter, and let us set to work at once."
So Carter brought twenty small spades, and gave one to each childpresent.
"Now," said Uncle Steve, "dig wherever you like, all over the field, andwhen you find any buried treasure, dig it up, but if it is tied up ina parcel, do not open it. Every one finding any treasure must bring it,and put it in this wheelbarrow, and then, if you choose, you may go backand dig for more."
This was indeed a novel game, and girls and boys alike began to dig withenthusiasm.
Marjorie worked like mad. The dirt flew right and left, and she dug sohard and fast that she almost blistered her palms.
"Slow and sure is a better rule, Midget," said her uncle, who waswatching her. "Look at Kitty, she has dug quite as much as you withoutmaking any fuss about it."
"Oh, I _have_ to work fast, Uncle Steve, 'cause I'm having such a goodtime! If I didn't fling this spade around hard, I couldn't express myenjoyment; and oh, Uncle, I've struck a treasure!"
Sure enough, Marjorie's spade had come in contact with what seemed to bea tin box. It was quite a large box and was strongly tied with lots ofcord, and on it was pasted a paper with the legend, "This treasure wasburied by Captain Kidd. It is of great value."
"It is a treasure, it is!" cried Marjorie, and eagerly she wielded herspade to get the box free. At last she succeeded, and picking it up fromthe dirt, carried it to the wheelbarrow.
Two or three other children also brought treasures they had found, andthis encouraged the others so that they dug deeper.
Shouts of glee rang out from one or another as more and more boxes oftreasure were unearthed, and the pile of boxes in the wheelbarrow grewhigher every moment. The boxes were of all shapes and sizes. They wereall carefully tied up with lots of string and paper, and they all boretestimony in large printed letters that they had been buried by CaptainKidd and his band of pirates. King unearthed a large box two or threefeet square, but very flat and shallow. He could not imagine what itmight contain, but he piled it on the wheelbarrow with the others.
After twenty pieces of treasure had been dug up, Uncle Steve declaredthat they had emptied the field, and he led the children back to thehouse. Carter followed with the wheelbarrow, and they all gathered in thelittle enclosed porch that had been furnished especially for Marjorie thesummer before. With a whiskbroom, Carter brushed off any dirt stillclinging to the treasures, and piled them up on a table.
Then calling the children by name. Uncle Steve invited each one to selecta box of treasure for his or her very own. As it was impossible to judgeby the shape of the box what it contained, great merriment was caused bythe surprises which ensued.
The treasures were all dainty and pretty gifts; there were books, games,toys, fancy boxes, and pretty souvenirs of many sorts. If a boy receiveda gift appropriate for a girl, or _vice versa_, they made a happyexchange, and everybody was more than satisfied.
After this, they were summoned to the dining-room for the feast, and amerry feast it was. Eliza had used her best skill in the making of daintysandwiches and little cakes with pink and white icing. Then there werejellies and fruits, and, best of all, in Kitty's eyes, most delightfulice cream. It was in individual shapes, and each child had a duck, or achicken, or a flower, or a fruit beautifully modelled and daintilycolored.
The guests went away with a box of treasure under one arm and a Noah'sark under the other, and they all declared, as they said good-bye, thatit was the nicest party they had ever seen, and they wished the Maynardchildren lived at their Grandmother's all the year around.