CHAPTER XXIII.
ZEBEDEE'S VISIT.
Mr. Tucker's promise of a visit did all that I knew it would for Dum.She worked off her demerits without a murmur; studied her lessonsdiligently; soon caught up in her classes; and was altogether anexemplary Dum.
If his promise of a visit worked such wonders, his visit completed themiracle. We had already come through our mid-year examinations, somewith flying colors and some with tattered banners like the poorConfederate flags that you see in the Valentine Museum in Richmond,--butthe thing was that we were through and none of our little crowd ofcronies had failed. Annie Pore carried off the honors in Latin, thanksto the drilling she had been brought up on by the severe Oxfordgraduate. Dum was easily first in mathematics. Dee seemed to know thephysiology off by heart. History was Mary Flannigan's forte and not adate from Noah's flood to the San Francisco earthquake could stump her.Literature was what most interested me, and it would have been silly notto get an honor when it did seem so easy.
We were rather proud of our achievements as a coterie of chums, and MissPeyton, as a reward of merit, let all of us go to the station to meetMr. Tucker, accompanied by Miss Cox.
How good it was to see him! I believe I was almost as glad as Tweedles.He looked very boyish indeed as he swung off the Pullman, a suitcase inone hand and a great basket, neatly covered with purple paper, in theother.
"I know what that purple paper means," cried Dee from afar. "He's beento Schmidt's and that basket's full of goodies."
So he had, and, Zebedee like, had a proposition for pleasure. I haveseldom seen Mr. Tucker that he did not have some scheme on hand foramusement for someone, and the best thing about it was that he usuallywas ready to partake of the fun himself; and his partaking of it meantthere was twice as much fun as there would have been without him.
"There's skating on the lake surely?" he asked.
"Yes! Yes!" in chorus.
"Well, come along, and I'll get permission from your Lord HighExecutioner to take all of you skating, and we'll have supper on thebank. What do you say to that, Jinny?"
"Splendid! I haven't skated for years, though."
"Have you got your skates?"
"Oh, yes; you see this is all the home I have, so I've got everything Ipossess here."
"And you girls? All of you have skates that fit and shoes to skate in?"
"Yes! Yes!" And off we went, the gayest crowd imaginable. Of course MissPeyton let us go. No one had ever refused Mr. Tucker anything in reason,I am sure, nor had he ever asked for anything out of reason.
"Will you have enough food for such a crowd? Had you not better comeback to Gresham to supper?" asked Miss Peyton.
"Never fear. I have food enough for a dozen boys. I'll take good care ofall of them and bring them back at bedtime."
There was another crowd on the lake when we got there: a party ofGreshamites, Juniors and Seniors, and some boys from Hill-Top. The icewas perfect, and while the air was cold, it was not cutting but dry andinvigorating. We put our basket in a safe place; that is, a place whereeveryone could see it. Mr. Tucker said the way to lose things,especially food, was to hide it. So he placed it on top of a littlehillock overlooking the lake, where it looked like a great bunch ofviolets against the patches of snow.
Our skates did fit and our shoes were suitable, so we were on the ice inno time. One of the most irritating things under Heaven is to go skatingwith persons whose skates don't fit or whose heels are too high or solestoo thin. I had learned to skate on the duck pond at home; and while onthe duck pond my stroke had been necessarily limited, I found when I goton the broad lake I could hold my own very well.
Annie Pore was timid and faltering if she tried to skate alone but didvery well if she had a partner. Mary Flannigan, singularly ungracefulbut a real racer, with flapping arms and bowed legs, could get over theice faster than the fleetest boy from Hill-Top. The twins skated well,as they did everything in the way of athletics, and wonderfully handsomethey looked skimming over the lake arm in arm.
Miss Cox was a revelation to us all. She had not skated for years buther stroke was as sure as it had ever been and in five minutes she andMr. Tucker were doing the double Dutch roll together, now frontward, nowbackward, with all kinds of intricate strokes. I suddenly realized thatwith all of her crooked homeliness, Miss Cox was far from plain. Herfigure was singularly graceful and her head very well set.
The boys cheered as they approached the far bank, where the ice was alittle better.
"Who's all right? Who's all right? Miss Cox, Miss Cox! Out of sight!"
I was supporting Annie Pore, so was necessarily going slowly, and Iheard one of the Juniors say to Mabel Binks, who was looking veryhandsome in a red silk sweater and cap to match: "Who's the man withMiss Cox? They are some skaters, for sure."
"Oh, hello!" exclaimed Mabel. "If that ain't my beau from Richmond!"
I did not hear any more, but I felt amused a little and indignant a gooddeal. Harvie Price was among the boys and he immediately skated up andgot in between Annie and me. He was a strong skater and soon we foundourselves doing stunts with him that we had not dreamed possible.
"That Dutch roll is not so hard when you get the hang of it. See, likethis--raise your right foot, not too high--strike out with your left, agood long stroke, and then down with your right, crossing the left. Justlook at us! We are not quite up to Mr. Tucker and Miss Cox, but wesurely are good enough to have some notice taken of us." And so we were.
"Pride goeth before a fall," however, and just as we were getting thehang of the stroke, we ran plump into Mary Flannigan and Shorty, whowere having a race backward, and the five of us fell into anignominious heap. Nobody was hurt, not even feelings! Mr. Tucker pickedme up and skated off with me.
"Who was that good-looking young fellow you were skating with?"
"Oh, that was Harvie Price. He's a mighty nice boy, and an old friend ofAnnie Pore's."
"And that little runty boy with the bright face, the cause of yourrecent disaster, who was he?"
"Tommy Hawkins,--Shorty! Isn't he nice-looking?"
"Yes, very! I'm going to ask these boys to stay and have supper with us.You introduce me, and then I'll make myself known to the teacher I seeover there; and if I include him in the invitation, maybe I can getpermission for the boys to stay."
Of course the boys were delighted and with a great deal of finesse, Mr.Tucker ingratiated himself into the affections of the teacher who hadthem in charge, a Mr. Anderson, and he accepted for himself withalacrity and gave the boys permission.
"I wish I had grub enough for the whole ship's crew of them," sighed Mr.Tucker. "If there is anything in the world I like, it is to give a boy atreat. But seven of us and Mr. Anderson and the two boys will just aboutclean up my basket. I wanted to ask four boys so we could 'balance all,'but I was so afraid of running short."
Mabel Binks had been circling around us, determined to attract Mr.Tucker's attention. He had given her a polite bow but held tightly to myhands and skated on by her. She was a good skater and her red sweatershowed off her figure to great advantage. Dum and Dee came racing up tous and we all caught hold of hands and went the length of the laketogether.
"Don't we four get on well together, Zebedee?" exclaimed Dee.
"We certainly do," he answered heartily. "Miss Page seems to be just theoil needed to make us, salt, pepper, vinegar, hot Tuckers into apalatable dressing."
"Look here, Zebedee, it is up to you to skate with that despicablething, Mabel Binks," and Dum looked sternly at her parent.
"I don't see it that way," he answered coolly.
"Well, you see she has gone around claiming you as her Richmond beau whocame up to Gresham to see her, and now she says that I won't let youskate with her."
"Too bad, that," he laughed. "Well, honey, you can tell her that youhave no influence over me at all. You could not keep me from skatingwith her nor can you make me do it."
The machinations of Mabel, howev
er, were beyond our ken. She camebearing down on us, all sails spread as it were. We tacked as best wecould, but the determined girl turned at that moment and skated backwardright into our line. Dee, who was next to me, broke and avoided her, butI got the collision full force and went down with an awful whack, withMabel's hundred and fifty pounds right on top of me.
"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley."
Mabel had meant to occupy the center of the stage herself, and here wasI, Page Allison, knocked senseless for a moment by the fall, whileMabel was simply pulled off me by the infuriated Zebedee and left toshift for herself. Dum said she looked awfully silly as she got unaidedto her feet. Of course I could see nothing, as I was so dazed by thefall that at first I lay with my eyes closed. In a moment the crowd ofskaters had gathered, and Dee told me it was like a dog fight, everybodytrying to see at once.
"Page, little Page, are you dead?" were the first words that I heard,and Mr. Tucker's face the first one I saw.
"Dead? I should say not! I'm not even hurt. Let me get up," and I caughthold of his ready hand and struggled to my feet.
"She's not hurt! She's all right!" he called to the anxious Tweedles whohad been pushed back by the curious crowd, and he wiped the ever-readytears from his eyes. Then the boys from Hill-Top gave me a yell, ourespecial yell that we sophomores used at moments of supreme victory:
"Ice cream--soda water--ginger ale, pop! Sophomores! Sophomores! Always on top!"
"I wish I had been," I said ruefully; and there was a general laugh.
A whistle from Gresham warned the girls that it was time to go back tothe school, and in a short time the Hill-Top boys had to leave, all butHarvie and Shorty and the tutor, Mr. Anderson.
We piled more brush on the fire that had been started to warm toes by,and in a little while we had a blaze that, as dusk came on, lighted upthe whole lake and made up for the lack of a moon.
I never saw such a wonderful lunch as Mr. Tucker had brought. There weresandwiches of all kinds; cream cheese and pimento, chicken, ham, tongueand lettuce. There was a great jar of chicken salad, beaten biscuit,cheese straws, olives, pickles and salted almonds, and a chocolate cakeeven larger than Dum's so-called best hat that Mr. Tucker had sent forthe Thanksgiving spread.
"Bleat, my little goat, bleat, Cover the table with something to eat," sangDum. "Zebedee, you seem to me to be working magic. I don't see how allthose things could have been packed in that basket."
"If yours had been the task to 'tote' it this far, you would havethought there was more than that in it," he answered.
"Well, ours will be the task to help 'tote' it back," said Dee in tonesmuffled by cream cheese.
The crowning wonder of the repast was some great thermos bottles thatfinally emerged from the bottom of the capacious basket. One was filledwith hot coffee and the other with hot chocolate, and lying snugly bythem was a jar of whipped cream.
"Well, by the great jumping jingo, what next?" said Shorty. And thenfunny Mary Flannigan used her ventriloquist's powers and made a noiseexactly like a puppy trying to get out of something, and Shorty bit. Hedived into the basket to the assistance of the imaginary canine!
The coffee and chocolate were smoking hot, in spite of the long journeythey had taken. Mr. Tucker had made a clever calculation, also, as tothe number of guests, so the drinkables just did go around.
"I thought I heard Miss Binks say she was going to have supper withyou," said Harvie Price to Dum.
"Ah, indeed! I fancy she did intend to, but after she made a hole in theice with poor little Page, I reckon she forgot to wait for herinvitation."
We ate up every crumb of that supper and the little birds who hoped tofeast on what we left must have had but poor pickings.
"We shan't have to say: 'Bleat, bleat, my little goat, I pray, And take the table quite away,'" laughed Mr. Tucker. "If I had beentwins instead of Tweedles, I'd have brought twice that much."
We had had enough, and much gayety and good-humored repartee had made ita very delightful party. Mr. Anderson proved very agreeable and madehimself pleasant to everybody. Miss Cox was happy and full of fun, andeven Annie Pore forgot to be shy and actually rolled Shorty in a patchof snow because he stole a piece of chocolate cake, all icing, that shewas saving for the last mouthful.
Everything must have an end, even skating parties and books--but therewill be more skating parties and more books, too.
On the way back to Gresham, Mr. Tucker divulged to us that he had ascheme for pleasure, and if we girls, one and all, studied hard, and ifMiss Cox would promise to be as blind to our faults as she honorablycould, we were all of us included in the scheme! He had engaged acottage at Willoughby Beach for the month of July and there we were tocamp out and live the simple life.
"Oh, how grand!" we gasped together.
We had something to look forward to now and knew that the last half ofthe year would fly by. We could hardly wait for the camping time tocome,--and I just hope my readers are as anxious to hear about my"Vacation with the Tucker Twins" as I am anxious to tell them about it!
THE END.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Varied hyphenation was retained. This includes words such as Cotton-tailand Cottontail; gatehouse and gate-house.
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