CHAPTER XII
JOHN GILPIN JOINS THE SPORT
Old Michael stood on the wide platform at the top of the slide, hisface aglow with eagerness, and his whole manner altered to boyishgayety. His great toboggan was perched on the angle of the incline,like a bird poised for flight, while he was bidding his company to:"Get on, ladies! Get on and let's be off!"
Behind and around him were the other men employees of Oak Knowe, andevery one of them, except the _chef_, enthusiastic over the comingsport. But he, unhappy mortal, preferred the warmth of his kitchenfire to this shivery pastime and had only entered into it to escapethe gibing tongues of the other servants. Yet in point of costume hecould "hold his head up with the best"; and the fact that he could, inthis respect even outshine his comrades was some compensation for hiscold-pinched toes.
The platform was crowded with toboggans and girls; the air rang withjest and laughter; with girlish squeals of pretended fear; and criesof: "Don't crowd!" or: "Sit close, sit close!"
"Sit close" they did; the blanketed legs of each tobogganer pressedforward on either side of the girl in front, and all hands claspingthe small rod that ran along the sides of the toboggan.
The slide had been built wide enough for two of the sleds abreast, andone side was usually left to the smaller ones of the experiencedgirls, who could be trusted to safely manage their own light craft.
To Michael and the matron was always accorded the honor of first slideon the right while the "best singles" coasted alongside on the left.That morning, by tacit consent, the new "Dorothy Calvert" was poisedbeside the big "Oak Knowe" and the Honorable Gwendolyn Borst-Kennardwas a proud and happy girl, indeed, as she took her place upon it asguide and protector of ignorant Dorothy.
"She chose me of her own accord! I do believe she begins to reallylove me. Oh! it's so nice to be just free and happy with her as theothers are!" thought Gwen, as she took her own place and directed hermate just how to sit and act. Adding a final:
"Don't you be one bit afraid. I never had an accident sliding and I'vealways done it every winter since I can remember. We're off! Bow yourhead a little and--keep--your--mouth--shut!"
There wasn't time! Dorothy felt a little quiver run through the thingon which she sat and a wild rush through icy air! That was all! Theyhad reached the bottom of the first slide and began to fly upward overthe other before she realized a thing. Gwen hadn't even finished herdirections before they had "arrived!"
The Southerner was too amazed, for a second, to even step off thetoboggan, but Gwendolyn caught her up, gave her a hearty kiss and hug,and demanded:
"Well! Here we are! How do you like it! We've beat! We've beat!"
Dorothy rubbed her eyes. So they had, for at that instant the big OakKnowe fetched up beside them, and its occupants stepped or tumbledoff, throwing up their hands and cheering:
"Three cheers for the Dorothy Calvert! Queen of the Slide for all ThisYear!"
And liveliest among the cheerers was the once so dignified young"Peer," the Honorable Gwen. Dorothy looking into her beaming face andhearing her happy voice could scarce believe this to be the same girlshe had hitherto known. But she had scant time to think for here theycame, thick and fast, toboggan after toboggan, Seventh Form girls andMinims, teachers and pupils, the Bishop and the _chef_, maids andmen-servants, the matron and old Michael--all in high spirits, allapparently talking at once and so many demanding of "Miss Dixie" howshe liked it, that she could answer nobody.
Then the Bishop pushed back her tasseled hood and smiled into hershining eyes:
"Well little 'Betty the Second,' can you beat that down at oldBaltimore? What do you think now? Isn't it fine--fine? Doesn't it makeyou feel you're a bird of the air? Ah! it's grand--grand. Just tell meyou like it and I'll let you go."
"I--Yes--I reckon I do! I hadn't time to think. We hadn't started, andwe were here."
"Up we go. Try her again!" cried one, and the climb back to the toppromptly began, the men carrying the heavier sleds, the girls theirlighter ones, Gwendolyn and Dorothy their own between them. Then thefun all over again; the jests at awkward starts, the cheers atskillful ones, the laughter and good will, till all felt theexhilaration of the moment and every care was forgotten.
Many a slide was taken and now Dorothy could answer when asked did shelike it:
"It's just grand, as the Bishop said. At first I could hardly breatheand I was dizzy. Now I do as Gwen tells me and I love it! I shouldlike to stay out here all day!"
"Wait till dinner-time! Then you'll be ready enough to go in.Tobogganing is the hungriest work--or play--there can possibly be!"said Gwendolyn, pirouetting about on the ice as gracefully as on awaxed floor, the merriest, happiest girl in all that throng. Not onlyDorothy but many another observed her with surprise. This was a newGwen, not the stand-offish sort of creature who had once so haughtilyscorned all their fun. She had always tobogganed, every year that shehad been in that school, but she had never enjoyed it like this; andagain as the Bishop regarded her, he nodded his head in satisfactionand said to the matron:
"I told you so. I knew it. Do a kindness to somebody and it willreturn to yourself in happiness a thousand fold."
"Thanks, dear Bishop! I'll try to remember," merrily answered she;noticing that Gwendolyn had drawn near enough to hear, and taking thislittle preachment to herself to prevent Gwendolyn's doing so. She wasso pleased by sight of the girl's present happiness that she wishednothing to cloud it, and believing herself discussed would certainlyoffend proud, sensitive Gwen.
Almost two hours had passed, and a few were beginning to tire of thereally arduous sport, with its upward climb, so out of proportion tothe swift descent; when suddenly fresh shouts of laughter rang outfrom the high platform and those ascending made haste to join theothers at the top.
There stood old John Gilpin and Robin, the latter's young bones nowsound and strong again, and himself much the better for his sojourn atthe cottage with his enforced rest and abundance of good food.
"Well, well! How be ye all? Hearty, you look, and reg'lar circuspictures in them warm duds! Good day to your Reverence, Bishop, and Ihope I see you in good health. My humble respects, your Reverence, andI thought as how I'd just step up and ask your Reverence might my ladhere and me have a try on your slide. I thought--why, sir, the talkon't has spread way into town a'ready, sir, and there'll be morebeggars nor me seekin' use on't, your Reverence--"
The prelate's hearty laughter rang out on the frosty air, a sounddelightful to hear, so full it was of genial humanity, and he graspedthe hand of the old teamster as warmly as he would that of a farwealthier man.
"Man to man, John, we're all in the same boat to-day. Drop theformality and welcome to the sport. But what sort of sled is this,man? Looks rather rough, doesn't it? Sure you could manage it on thissteep incline?"
John bridled and Robin looked disappointed. Expectations of thetoboggan-slide's being made ready had filled his head, and he and theold man had toiled for hours to make the sled at which the Bishoplooked so doubtfully.
"Well, your Reverence--I mean--you without the Reverence--" here theBishop smiled and Robin giggled, thereby causing his host to turnabout with a frown. "You see, sir, Robin's always been hearin' aboutyour toboggan up here to Oak Knowe and's been just plumb crazy--"
At this point the shy lad pulled John's coat, silently begging him toleave him out of the talk; but the farmer had been annoyed by Robin'sill-timed giggle, and testily inquired:
"Well, sir, ain't that so? Didn't you pester the life clean out o' metill I said I'd try? Hey?"
"Y-yes," meekly assented the boy; then catching a glimpse of Dorothyand Winifred and their beckoning nods he slipped away to them. To himDorothy proudly exhibited her beautiful toboggan, explaining its fineconstruction with a glibness that fitted an "old tobogganer" betterthan this beginner at the sport. Gwen's face beamed again, listeningto her, as if she felt a more personal pride in the sled than evenDorothy herself. She even unbent so far from her pride of rank as
tosuggest:
"If you'll let me borrow it and he'd like to go, I'll take Robin downonce, to show him how smoothly it runs."
Robin's eyes sparkled. He wasn't shy with girls, but only when he felthimself made too conspicuous by his host's talk.
"Would you? Could she? May she?" he cried, teetering about on hisragged shoes in an ecstasy of delight.
Dolly laughed and clapped her hands.
"Verily, she should, would, can, and may! laddie boy. But where's yourjacket? I mean your other one? It's so cold, you'll freeze in thatthin one."
By the color which came to the lad's cheek Dolly realized that she hadasked a "leading question," but Robin's dismay lasted only an instant;then he laughed merrily at the "good joke," and answered:
"Well, you see, Miss Dorothy, my 'other one' is at some tailor's shopin town. I haven't had a chance yet to choose one, let alone pay forit! But what matter? 'Tisn't winter all the year and who wearstop-coats in summer? Did she really mean it?"
Gwendolyn proved that she "really meant it" by pushing the "DorothyCalvert" into position and nodding to him that she was ready.
"All right! Let her go!" he responded to her silent invitation andaway they went, as ill-matched a pair as might have been found. But hehad a boy's fearlessness and love of adventure; and even on thatswift descent his gay whistling floated back to those above.
Meanwhile, John Gilpin was explaining with considerable pride,yet thankful that the Bishop was out of hearing on his owndownward-speeding toboggan:
"You see, lassie, how't Robin was dead set to come. Said he knew sogood a man as his Reverence wouldn't say 'No' to us, and just keptteasin' at me till we stepped-an'-fetched a lot of staves come off ahogshead. So I fastened 'em together on the insides--See? And we'veshaved an' shaved, an' glass-scraped 'em on t'other till they'll neverhurt no slide 't ever was iced. The Bishop seemed terr'ble afraid I'drough up his track with it, but it's a poor track that water won'tfreeze smooth again; so if we do happen to scratch it a mite, I'llstep-an'-fetch a few buckets o' water and fix it up again. And say,girlie, where's that Jack, boot-boy? And Baal? I ain't seen hide norhair of ary one this long spell, an' I allow I kind of sorter miss'em. He used to give the dame the fidgets with his yarns of whathe's goin to be an' do, time comes, but me an' him got on fairlywell--fairly. As for that goat, he was the amusingest little creatur''t ever jumped a fence, even if we did fight most of the time. Hah,hum! I've noticed more'n once that the folks or things you quarrelwith are the ones you miss most, once they're gone."
"We haven't seen Jack since that time he locked me in the drying-room.He ran away, I reckon, and took Baal with him. And it's just likeyou say: nobody liked him much, and he was always in disgrace withsomebody, but I heard the Lady Principal say, only yesterday, thatshe actually believed she missed that worthless boot-boy more thanany other servant who might have left."
"Well, now, Dorothy, don't that beat all? That book-l'arned lady justagreein' with me! I often tell Dame 't I know more'n she thinks I do,but all she'll answer to that is: 'John, that'll do.' A rare silentwoman is my Dame but a powerful thinker. Hello! Here they come backagain. Robin! Robin! Look-a-here! You didn't bamboozle me into makin'our sled and climbin' this height just to leave me go for a passel o'silly girls! No, siree! You come and slide with me right to once. Iset out to go a-tobogganin' an' I'm goin'. So none of your backslidin'now!"
"All right, Mr. Gilpin, here am I! And I do hope it won't be any true_back_ sliding we shall do on this thing. You'd ought to have put alittle handrail on the sides like I told you there always was; but--"
"But that'll do, Robin. In my young days knee-high boys didn't knowmore'n their elders. That'll do!"
The old farmer's imitation of his wife's manner seemed very funny toall the young folks, but his anxiety was evident, as he glanced fromhis own hand-made "toboggan" to the professional ones of the others.Upon his was not even the slight rod to hold on by and the least jarmight send him off upon the ice. Peering down, it seemed to him thatglazed descent was a straight road to a pit of perdition and his oldheart sank within him.
But--He had set out to go tobogganing and go he would, if he perisheddoing it. Dame had besought him with real tears not to risk his oldbones in such a foolhardy sport, and he had loftily assured her that"what his Reverence can do I can do. Me and him was born in the sameyear, I've heard my mother tell, and it's a pity if I can't ekal him!"
Moreover, there were all these youngsters makin' eyes at him, plumbready to laugh, and thinkin' he'd back out. Back out? He? John Gilpin?Never!
"Come on, Robin! Let's start!"
Gwendolyn and Dorothy were also ready to "start" upon what theyintended should be their last descent of that morning. Alas! it provedto be! Five seconds later such a scream of terror rent the air thatthe hearts of all who heard it chilled in horror.