CHAPTER VIII
AN EXCITING PICNIC
Molly's suggestion was so dazzling that Midget and Kitty were struck dumbfor a moment. Then Marjorie said, "No, Grandma won't let us girls go onthe river alone, and Carter isn't up yet."
"Let's throw pebbles and wake him up," said Molly.
"No," said Kitty, "it's too bad to wake him up early, because he needshis rest. He has to work hard all day, and he has the rheumatism besides.But I'll tell you what," and again Kitty's face glowed with a great idea;"let's go and throw pebbles at King's window, and make him take us outrowing."
"Kitty, getting up early in the morning agrees with your brain!" declaredMarjorie. "We'll do just that,--and while King is dressing, we'll packa basket of things to eat. Oh, gorgeous! Come on, girls!"
And clasping hands, the three ran away toward Grandma Sherwood's house.
"What about Stella?" asked Marjorie, as they passed her house.
"Oh, don't try to get her," said Molly; "she'd be scared to death if youpebbled her, and her mother and father would think the house was on fireor something."
So Stella was not included in the picnic, and the three conspirators ranon, and never paused until they were beneath King's window.
"You don't need a whole handful for him," advised Kitty. "I expect he'sawake, anyway, and one pebble will make him come to the window. See, thewindow's open anyway; we can just fling a pebble in."
"If we can aim straight enough," said Molly.
After one or two vain attempts, Kitty sent a good-sized pebble straightthrough the open window, and it landed on the floor straight besideKing's bed.
In another moment a tousled head and a pair of shoulders, humped into abathrobe, appeared at the window.
Seeing the girls, King's face broke into a broad grin. "Well, you do beatall!" he cried. "Have you been out all night?"
"No," called Kitty, "we're just playing around in the morning. It'sperfectly lovely out, King, and we're going to have a picnic, rowing onthe river. But we can't go unless you'll come too, so bob into yourclothes and come, won't you?"
"You bet I will! Isn't anybody up?"
"Nobody but us," said Marjorie; "so don't make any noise. Slide down theback stairs and through the kitchen."
"Got any feed for your picnic?"
"We're going to get some. You hurry down and we'll be ready."
"All right," and the tousled head disappeared. The girls went noiselesslyinto the kitchen and on through into the pantry. As Marjorie hadsurmised, the pantry shelves were well-stocked, and they found doughnuts,little pies, and cold chicken in abundance. Kitty found a goodly-sizedbasket, and remembering King's appetite, they packed it well.
"Here's some hard-boiled eggs," cried Marjorie, "let's take these."
"I 'spect Eliza wants them for salad or something," said Kitty, "but shecan boil more. We must take some milk, Midget."
"Yes, here's a big pitcher full. Let's put it in a tin pail to carry it.The milkman will be here in time for breakfast."
And so when King came softly downstairs, with his shoes in his hand, hefound the luncheon basket packed, and the feminine portion of the picnicall ready to start.
"Good work!" he said, approvingly, as he lifted the basket, greatlypleased with its size and weight.
Molly carried the milk pail, Kitty some glasses and Marjorie some napkinsand forks, for she was of a housewifely nature, and liked daintyappointments.
"Maybe we ought to leave a note or something," said Kitty, as theystarted.
"Saying we've eloped," said King, grinning.
"Don't let's bother," said Marjorie; "they'll know we're just out playingsomewhere, and we'll be back by breakfast time,--it isn't six o'clockyet."
"You won't want any breakfast after all this stuff," said Molly, whoseappetite was not as robust as the Maynards'.
"'Deed we will!" declared King; "this little snack is all right for sixo'clock, but I have an engagement at eight in the dining-room."
They trudged along to the boathouse, and, as they might have expected,found it locked.
"I'll get it," said Molly; "I'm the swiftest runner, and I know where thekey hangs in Carter's workshop."
King watched Molly admiringly as she flew across the grass, her long,thin, black legs flinging out behind her with incredible quickness.
"Jingo, she can run!" he exclaimed, and indeed it seemed but a momentbefore Molly flashed back again with the key.
The quartet was soon in the boat, and with a few strokes, King pulled outinto mid-stream.
"Let's have the picnic first," he said, shipping his oars. "I can't rowwhen I'm so hungry. This morning air gives a fellow an appetite."
"It does so," agreed Marjorie; "and we girls have been out 'most an hour.I'm 'bout starved."
So they held a very merry picnic breakfast, while the boat drifted alongwith the current, and the cold chicken and biscuits rapidly disappeared.
"Now, where do you girls want to go?" asked King, as, the last crumbfinished, Kitty carefully packed the napkins and glasses back in thebasket.
"Oh, let's go to Blossom Banks," said Marjorie, "that is, if there's timeenough."
"We'll go down that way, anyhow," said King, "and if it gets late we'llcome back before we get there. Anybody got a watch?"
Nobody had, but all agreed they wouldn't stay out very long, so on theywent, propelled by King's long, strong strokes down toward Blossom Banks.
It was a delightful sensation, because it was such a novel one. To row onthe river at six o'clock in the morning was a very different propositionfrom rowing later in the day. Molly and Marjorie sat together in thestern, and Kitty lay curled up in the bow, with her hands behind herhead, dreamily gazing into the morning sky.
"Do you remember, Molly," said Midget, "how we went out with Carter oneday, and he scolded us so because we bobbed about and paddled our handsin the water?"
"Yes, I remember," and Molly laughed at the recollection. "Let's dabbleour hands now. May we, King?"
"Sure! I guess I can keep this boat right side up if you girls do trailyour hands in the water."
And so the two merry maidens dabbled their hands in the water, andgrowing frolicsome, shook a spray over each other, and even flirted dropsinto King's face. The boy laughed good-naturedly, and retaliated bysplashing a few drops on them with the tip end of his oar.
King was fond of rowing, and was clever at it, and being a large,strong boy, it tired him not at all. Moreover, the boat was a light,round-bottomed affair that rowed easily, and was not at all hard tomanage.
King's foolery roused the spirit of mischief in the two girls, and fasterand faster flew the drops of water from one to another of themerrymakers.
"No fair splashing!" cried King. "Just a spray of drops goes."
"All right," agreed Marjorie, who was also a stickler for fair play, andthough she dashed the water rapidly, she sent merely a flying spray, andnot a drenching handful. But Molly was not so punctilious. She hadn't thesame instinct of fairness that the Maynards had, and half intentionally,half by accident, she flung a handful of water straight in King's face.
This almost blinded the boy, and for a moment he lost control of his oar.An involuntary move on his part, due to the shock of the water in hisface, sent the blade of one oar down deep, and as he tried to retrieveit, it splashed a whole wave all over Molly.
But Molly thought King intended to do this, and that it was merely partof the game, so with one of her lightning-like movements, she graspedthe blade of the oar in retaliation. The oar being farther away than shethought, and rapidly receding, caused her to lean far over the boat, andin his effort to get his oar again in position, King, too, leaned overthe side.
The result was exactly what might have been expected. The narrow,clinker-built boat capsized, and in a moment the four children werestruggling in the water.
Even as the boat went over, King realized what had happened, andrealized, too, that he was responsible for the safety of the three girls.With
fine presence of mind he threw his arm over the keel of the upturnedboat and shouted, "It's all right, girls! Just hang on to the boat thisway, and you won't go down."
Marjorie and Molly understood at once, and did exactly as King told them.They were terribly frightened, and were almost strangled, but theyrealized the emergency, and struggled to get their arms up over the boatin the manner King showed them.
But Kitty did not so quickly respond to orders. She had not been payingany attention to the merry war going on in the stern of the boat, andwhen she was suddenly thrown out into the water, she could not at firstcollect her scattered senses. King's words seemed to convey no meaning toher, and to his horror, the boy saw his sister sink down under the water.
"Hang on like fury, you two girls!" he shouted to Marjorie and Molly, andthen he made a dive for Kitty.
King was a good swimmer, but, hampered by his clothing, and frightenedterribly by Kitty's disappearance, he could not do himself justice. Buthe caught hold of Kitty's dress, and by good fortune both rose to thesurface. King grabbed for the boat, but it slipped away from him, andthe pair went down again.
At this Marjorie screamed. She had been trying to be brave, yet the sightof her brother and sister being, as she feared, drowned, was too muchfor her.
"Hush up, Marjorie!" cried Molly. "You just keep still and hang on! I canswim!"
With an eel-like agility Molly let go of the boat, and darted through thewater. She was really a good swimmer, and her thin, muscular little limbsstruck out frantically in all directions. Diving swiftly, she bumpedagainst Kitty, and grasping her arm firmly, she began to tread waterrapidly. As King was doing this on the other side of Kitty, the threeshot up to the surface, and King and Molly grasped the boat with firmhands, holding Kitty between them.
Kitty was limp, but conscious; and though King was exhausted, he held onto Kitty, and held on to the boat, with a desperate grip.
"Wait a minute, girls," he gasped, sputtering and stammering; "I'll beall right in a minute. Now as long as you hold fast to the boat, youknow you can't drown! How are you getting along, Mops?"
"All right," called Marjorie from the other side of the boat; "but I wantto come over there by you."
"Don't you do it! You stay there and balance the boat. It's lucky you'rea heavyweight! Now you girls do exactly as I tell you to."
King did not mean to be dictatorial, but he was getting his breath back,and he knew that although their heads were above water, still strenuousmeasures were necessary.
"What shall we do?" shouted Marjorie.
"Well, we must try to get this boat to shore. And as we're much nearerthe other shore than our own side, we'll try to get it over there, for wedon't want to cross the river. Now hang on tight, and wiggle your feetlike paddles. If you kick out hard enough, I think we can get the oldthing ashore."
It wasn't an easy task, nor a quick one, but after a while, by vigorouskicking, in accordance with King's continued directions, they did succeedin reaching shallow water.
"Now we can walk," said King, "but we may as well hang on to the boat andnot let her drift away."
So half scrambling, half crawling, the children pushed through theshallow water and up on to the shore, dragging the upturned boat withthem. The shore just here was shelving and sandy, otherwise it isdoubtful if they could have reached it at all. But at last fourshivering, dripping children stood on solid ground, and looked at eachother.
"You're an old trump, King," cried Marjorie, flinging her arms aroundher brother's neck, and kissing his wet cheeks; "you're a hero, and alife-saver, and a Victoria Cross, and everything!"
"There, there, Midget, come off! I didn't do anything much; Molly heredid the most, but, thank goodness, we all got out alive! Now what shallwe do next?"
Kitty had recovered entirely from her dazed and stunned feeling, and wasagain her practical and helpful self.
"We must run," she said, "we must run like sixty! That's the only way tokeep from catching cold in these wet clothes!"
"Can't we build a fire, and dry ourselves?" asked Molly, who wasshivering with cold.
"No, of course not," said Kitty, "for we haven't any matches, and if wehad they'd be soaked. No, we must run as hard as we can tear along thisbank until we get opposite Grandma's house, and then they'll have to comeover and get us somehow."
"How'll they know we're there?" asked Molly.
"I'll yell," said Marjorie, quite confident of her powers in thisdirection. "I'll yell,--and I just _know_ I can make Carter hear me!"
"I'll bet you can!" said King. "Come on then, let's run. Take hold ofhands."
With King and Midget at either end of the line, and the other twobetween, they ran!