it was drawing near the middle of august. and now with each sunrise, the fun at the little house seemed to double itself.
“i never saw such a place as this,” rosie wailed once. “there aren’t hours enough to do all the things you want to do every day; and not days enough to do all you want to do every week.”
there was some justice in rosie’s complaint. the day’s program of swimming, tennis, croquet, bicycling, reading and games had been broken into by the coming of the berry season. blueberries and blackberries were thick in the vicinity and the children enjoyed enormously eating the fruit they had gathered.
floribel taught the little girls how to make blueberry cake and blackberry grunt and on their teacher’s day out, the little house was sure to have one of these delicacies for luncheon and another for dinner. the big six tried to do everything of course; and as laura complained, they succeeded in doing [pg 172]everything badly and no one thing very well. one day maida appeared at the table with a radiant look of one who has spawned an idea.
“granny,” she said, “we haven’t had a picnic on the beach yet. every summer we go to the beach once at least. can’t we go this week on floribel’s day out? we girls will cook the luncheon and pack it all up nicely.”
“but the beach is pretty far away,” mrs. dore said warily. “how far is it? could you walk to it?”
“it’s between four and five miles,” maida answered hazily. “you see the little children could go in the motor and the rest of us—the big six—could go on our bicycles.”
“but i don’t think,” mrs. dore said, “that i’d like you children to go so far away without a grown person with you.”
“yes, of course,” maida said, “you and granny come too.”
“but with zeke and floribel away,” mrs. dore protested, “who would drive the automobile?”
maida’s face fell. “oh,” she exclaimed, “i never thought of that.”
all the faces about the table—they had grown bright in anticipation of this new excursion—grew dark.
[pg 173]
zeke had already taught arthur and harold to run the machine, but mr. westabrook’s orders against unlicensed persons driving it, were strict. for a moment it looked as though the ocean-picnic must be given up.
“i think,” maida faltered, “if i ask my father to lend us botkins and the big car, he’d do it.”
mrs. dore shook her head. “i wouldn’t like to have you do that, maida,” she said. “your father has given us everything that he thinks necessary for this household.” she added gratefully, “and more than any of us had ever had in our lives before. i should certainly not like you to ask a single thing more of him.”
again gloom descended on the big six. and then hope showed her bright face again.
“ah’ll tell you what ah’ll do,” floribel, who was waiting on table, broke in. “zeke and ah’ve wanted fo’ a long time to see the big ocean. now eff yo’ll let the lil’ children go on dat pic-a-nic, mis’ dore, zeke and ah’ll go with them and tak’ the best of care of them.”
“oh would you, floribel?” rosie asked.
“well, in that case,” mrs. dore decided[pg 174] thoughtfully, “i don’t see why you shouldn’t all go.”
madness at once broke out in both sixes, little and big. laura, maida and rosie leaped to their feet and danced about the room. the little children beat on the table with their spoons and the three boys indulged in ear-splitting whistles.
the next thursday, floribel, zeke, the little six and the lunch, packed somehow into the machine, the big six on their bicycles, streaming ahead like couriers, started off for the beach.
“thank goodness we’ve remembered the salt this time,” rosie said to arthur as they mounted their wheels, “i took care of that myself.”
it was a beautiful day, cool as it was sunny, brisk as it was warm. the winding road led through south satuit and then over a long stretch of scrub-pine country, straight to the beach.
just as they emerged from the westabrook estate into south satuit, maida’s bicycle made a sudden swerve. “why i just saw silva burle!” she called in a whisper to rosie. “she was walking along the trail towards the[pg 175] little house. i wonder what she is doing there?”
“well you may be very sure she isn’t calling on us,” rosie declared, “and if she is i’m delighted to think that granny will say, ‘not at home!’”
“still,” maida said thoughtfully, “that trail leads directly to the little house. she must be going there for some reason.”
“probably,” laura remarked scornfully, “she’s hoping she’ll meet some of us, so’s she can make faces at us.”
the automobile arrived at the beach first and the cyclists came straggling in one after another. crescent moon beach was like a deeply cut silver crescent, furred at each tip of the crescent with a tight grove of scrub-pines which grew down to the very water’s edge. beyond it, except for a single island, stretched unbroken the vast heaving blue of the atlantic. under the lee of the southern tip of the crescent was a line of half-a-dozen bath houses.
“what a wonderful, wonderful beach!” laura commented.
“and there’s that island,” dicky said, “that we see from the tree house—spectacles[pg 176] island, didn’t you say—oh no, i remember, tom tiddler’s ground. how i wish i could swim out to it. i have never been on an island in my life. could you swim as far as that, arthur?”
arthur laughed. “i should say not. nobody but a professional could do that—and perhaps he’d find it some pull. it’s much longer than it looks, dicky. distances on the water are very deceiving.”
“what’s on the island, maida?” dicky went on curiously. “have you ever been there?”
“oh yes,” maida answered, “once. i went on father’s yacht but i was such a little little girl that i have only one impression—of great trees and enormous rocks and thick underbrush.”
dicky sighed. “i wish we could go on a picnic there!”
“what’s that over there?” harold demanded, pointing to a spot far out where a series of poles, connected by webs of fish-net, rose above the water’s surface.
“oh that’s a fish weir,” maida declared electrically. “i’d forgotten all about that. you see the tide’s going out. it goes out almost two miles here. and if we follow it up,[pg 177] we can get into the weir and come back before the tide overtakes us.”
maida explained the situation to floribel. floribel turned to zeke for advice. zeke corroborated maida’s story. he had, he said, been in that weir several times himself. floribel said she would stay on the beach with the little six while zeke accompanied the big six. when they came back, she added, lunch would be all spread out on the beach.
“the last bath house,” maida informed them, “is ours. now let’s get into our bathing suits at once because we have no time to lose.”
it was only partially low tide when they arrived but it almost seemed to the children that they could see the water slipping away towards the horizon. when they emerged from the bath house, a patch of eelgrass, not far off, made a brilliant green spot in the midst of the golden sand. as the big six started towards the fish weir, the little six were splashing about in the warm shallows near shore.
“oh what fun this is!” rosie said. “i love salt-water bathing more than fresh water—i don’t know why. but somehow i always feel so much gayer.”
the salt water seemed to have an effect[pg 178] of gayety on all of them. they chattered incessantly when they were not laughing or singing. at times they came to hollows between the sand bars where the water was waist-high, but in the main, the water came no farther than their knees; and it continued to recede steadily before them. sand-bar after sand-bar bared itself to the light of the sun—stretched before them in ridges of solid gold. eelgrass—patch after patch—lifted above the water; spread around them areas of brilliant green. above, white clouds and blue ether wove a radiant sky-ceiling. and between, the gulls swooped and soared, circled and dashed, emitting their strange, creaking cries. it seemed an hour at least to the big six before they reached the weir, but in fact it had taken little more than half that time.
zeke found the entrance to the weir and they followed him in. here the water was waist-deep. zeke explained the plan of the weir. it was, he pointed out, nothing but a deep-sea trap for fish. the fish entered through the narrow opening into a channel which led into the big inner maze. although it was very easy for them to float in, it was a very difficult matter finding the way out. caught there, as the tide retreated, they stayed until the [pg 179]fisherman arrived with his cart and shoveled them ignominiously into it.
“oh, oh!” laura shrieked suddenly. “this place is full of fish. one just passed me! oh, there’s another! and another!”
but by this time both the other girls were jumping and screaming with their excitement; for fish were darting about them everywhere. the boys, not at all nervous of course and very much excited, were trying to drive the fish into corners to find out what they were. zeke identified them all easily enough—cod, sculpins, flounders, and perch.
“what’s that big thing?” arthur exclaimed suddenly. “jiminy crickets!” he called excitedly. “it’s the biggest turtle i ever laid my eyes on.”
the girls shrieked and stayed exactly where they were, clinging together. but the males all ran in arthur’s direction.
“dat’s some turtle, believe muh,” commented zeke.
“i’m going to take it home,” arthur declared, “and put it in the magic mirror.”
“the magic mirror!” laura echoed. “why i would never dare go in swimming if i knew that huge thing was there.”
“we’ll keep it tied up with a rope,” [pg 180]arthur went on excitedly. “it can’t get where we go in swimming because the rope won’t be long enough. come on, fellows, help me get it.”
“how are you going to catch it?” harold demanded.
“lasso it!” arthur declared, untying a stout rope which hung from one end of the weir posts.
the prospect of catching such big game was too tempting for the males of the party. and so while the girls dashed madly about, trying to get out of their reach, screaming with excitement and holding on to each other for protection, but really enjoying the situation very much—the boys chased the turtle from corner to corner, until finally arthur managed to lasso a leathery paw and tie it captive to a weir post. how he did this, he himself found it hard to say, because the water was lashed to a miniature fury by the flounderings of both the turtle and its captors. it was probably pure accident, he was humble enough to assert. but having caught the creature, they were not content until they had brought him ashore, and so the procession started beachwards, arthur pulling the turtle at the end of the rope.
it was a huge turtle at least two feet in [pg 181]diameter. it had wide leathery flappers, a wicked looking head—as big, rosie said, as her alarm clock. but its shell was beautifully marked.
as they approached the beach they could see the great square of the tablecloth laid out on the sand and floribel busy piling up sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs; fruit and cake. the little six came running to meet them and then it became a problem to keep them out of the way of the turtle’s snapping jaws. they had no difficulty however, with floribel, who screamed with terror at the sight of the strange creature and would not allow them to bring it onto the beach. they ended by mooring it, by means of a large rock, in one of the pools near the shore.
then, forgetting their prey for a while, they sat down to lunch. they were ready to do full justice to it.
“lordee!” floribel exclaimed once. “dey’se salt enough here for an army—shuah! who put all dat salt in the basket?”
the three girls burst into giggles.
“i was so sure we’d forget the salt,” maida said, “that i put in a pair of salt-cellars.”
“i put in three,” declared rosie.
“and i put in four,” confessed laura.
[pg 182]
after lunch, following the orders which mrs. dore had given them, they sat on the beach for an hour before they went in bathing again. this prolonged itself to much more than an hour because they began making the inevitable collections of shells and stones to take home. floribel said that moon-stones were sometimes found on this beach and there instantly began a frantic search for the small, translucent white stones. of course everybody found several of what he supposed were invaluable gems. by this time the tide, which had turned just as they left the fish weir, was now galloping up on the beach in great waves. they had to pull the turtle farther and farther in shore. at length they all went in bathing again; the big six diving through the waves and occasionally getting “boiled”—which was the local term for being whirled about—for their pains. floribel permitted the little six to play only in the rush of the waves after they broke.
after five o’clock, blissfully tired, excitedly happy, they piled the little children into the machine; packed the turtle in the big lunch hamper, tied the cover securely over him and started home.
wild with excitement and the news of their[pg 183] find, they dashed into the little house.
“oh granny you’ll never guess what we’ve brought home with us,” maida exclaimed.
“and oh what a wonderful day we’ve had,” rosie added.
“and how tired we are and how hungry,” laura concluded.
the little children were all chattering with excitement; the boys were attending to the turtle in the barn, preparatory to taking it to the magic mirror.
“i’m glad you’ve had a good time, children,” granny said gravely. “your father is here, maida, and he wants to see you all in the living room.”
something seemed to have gone out of the gayety of the day. what it was or what made it go or where it went, maida could not guess. perhaps it was a quality in granny’s air and words. at any rate she said instantly, “i’m going right in there, granny, and rosie will you please tell the boys to come at once?”
rosie too had caught an infection of this seriousness. she sped to the barn. in three minutes, the big six had gathered in the living room. mr. westabrook was sitting on the couch in front of the fire.
“good afternoon, children,” he said quietly.[pg 184] “i told granny to ask you to come here the instant you came home, because i had something to say to you. it occurred to me to-day that i would come over to the little house when you didn’t expect me and make an inspection. hitherto i have come regularly every sunday. this is thursday. i’m glad i did because i found that neither the flower garden nor the vegetable garden had been weeded for the last three days. the barn was in a very disorderly confusion. i asked granny how the girls had left their rooms and although she didn’t want to tell me, she had to say that the beds were not made and apparently nothing had been done. but the worst thing of all that i have to say is that i find that the tennis court is all kicked up as though it had been played on after a shower without having first been rolled.”
there was an instant of silence in the room; a silence so great that everybody could hear quite plainly the ticking of the grandfather’s clock. arthur spoke first.
“mr. westabrook,” he said in a low voice, “we ought to be ashamed of ourselves and i certainly am. after all your kindness to us—i won’t try to make any excuses because there are no excuses we can make.”
“it’s all my fault,” harold admitted, “i’m[pg 185] supposed to run the boys’ end of the work and i have not held them up to keeping everything right.”
“it isn’t your fault,” dicky declared hotly, “no more than mine or arthur’s. we’re all to blame.”
“i’m awfully ashamed of myself, mr. westabrook,” rosie confessed almost in a whisper. “i wouldn’t blame you if you never forgave us, but i hope you will.”
“i don’t know how we got this way,” laura said in perplexity. “we began right.”
“we’ve been having such a good time,” maida explained in a grave tone, “that we’ve just let ourselves get careless.”
“then,” mr. westabrook advised them, rising, “try not to let yourselves get careless again.” he shook hands all around; and kissed his daughter. “fair warning,” he said, “i don’t know when i’m coming again, but it won’t be when you expect me.”
it was a very subdued and a very tired little trio of girls who went up-stairs and attended to their rooms. it was an even more subdued—though a less tired—trio of boys who put the barn in order and then trailing the turtle at the end of his rope, walked down to the magic mirror, and tied him to a tree, and deposited him in the water there for the night.
