XII

AN EXCURSION TO THE MOUNTAINS

Somewhat later in the season, a plan was formed by a small village party to go up among the mountains to gather blueberries. The party were to meet at the bridge where the Gibraltar had its harbor. Caroline, a bright and lively village girl thirteen years of age, was the projector of the plan. The company consisted of about half a dozen of the older girls and boys of the village together with Wallace, Beechnut, Frank, and Margaret.

It was not at first the intention to include Margaret; but the evening before the day appointed, when she saw the others making their preparations, she became very eager to be allowed to go. Wallace told her that Beechnut was to have the main care and trouble of getting the party up and down the mountain, and that she must go and ask him.

She accordingly ran out to find Beechnut. He was in a backroom arranging some baskets and some covered tin pails, and packing them with provisions for the party to carry the next day.

"Beechnut," said Margaret, "may I go with you to the mountains to-morrow?"

"You!" responded Beechnut, speaking in a tone of surprise.

"Yes," said Margaret, "I want to go very much."

"Well, now," said Beechnut, rising and turning to Margaret, "we can't have any little girls in our party. We can't possibly have any girls in our party unless they are as tall as that."

While he was speaking he took from his pocket a piece of chalk and made a mark on an upright beam in the side of the room. But he was careful to have the mark somewhat below where he perceived Margaret's head would come. "There," said he, going back to his work, "we could not possibly let any girls go with us up among the mountains unless they were as tall as that."

Margaret walked eagerly to the place and stood with her back against the post, and then turned her head as well as she could to see where the chalk mark was. "I'm above it!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Look, Beechnut, look! I'm above it."

Beechnut came to Margaret with an expression of great astonishment on his countenance. "Why, how you have grown!" he said. "What a big girl you are!"

"I can go," said Margaret, dancing away from the post and clapping her hands. "I'm higher than the mark and I can go;" and off she ran to tell Frank.

The party from Mr. Henley's started soon after breakfast. They were to meet the village division of the company at the bridge at eight o'clock. The morning was pleasant, and it was not very warm. They all carried baskets or pails containing provisions, and were to have their dinner on the mountain and use the baskets and pails to bring back the berries on their return.

When they got to the bridge they found several already there, and the rest arrived a few minutes later. They were soon ready to go on, but just as they were about to start, Caroline looked over the railing and saw Beechnut's boat. It projected a little from under the bridge.

"Oh, here is the Gibraltar!" she cried. "Let us go in the Gibraltar a part of the way. It will be delightful to sail along in the boat. Besides, it will save our walking, and we shall not get so tired."

"Who would row?" asked another of the girls.

The girl who spoke was Mary Bell. She was about Caroline's age, but of a quieter and gentler disposition.

"Why, there are one, two, three, four boys here," said Caroline, "not counting Frank." "I can row," said Frank.

"Yes," Caroline continued, "and we girls can help, if necessary. I don't think the boat is very heavy. Beechnut and Wallace could row it alone, I dare say. Couldn't you, Wallace?"

"I suppose we could — slowly," replied Wallace.

"And we don't wish to go very fast," Caroline commented. "So come on;" and she went through an open place in the fence at the end of the bridge and ran down a path which led to the harbor.

The younger boys and a number of the girls followed her. A few of the less impetuous of the party, including Wallace and Beechnut, remained on the bridge.

"Come," said Caroline, looking up to them from below.

"I am afraid to go in the boat," said one of the smaller girls who stood with Margaret and Mary Bell on the bridge.

"So am I," said Margaret.

"Oh, there is no danger," Caroline declared. "Besides, if any of you are afraid you can walk along the path on the shore."

"Yes," said Mary, "and I will go too, and take care of them."

So saying, she lifted her loaded basket and gave the children theirs and began to walk along.

"Why would not that be a good plan?" said Wallace, speaking to Beechnut. "We will divide the company and let a part go in the boat and the rest walk along the shore. If you will go and take care of the boat, I will take care of the party on the land."

"But we want you to help row," said Caroline.

Wallace looked a little perplexed. He wished to gratify Caroline, and yet he did not like to leave Mary Bell to walk with the young children alone. "At any rate," said he, "there is no need of Mary's carrying that heavy basket. In fact all the baskets can go in the boat."

So he called to Mary and she paused and looked back to learn what he wanted. He hurried along the path till he came to where she was standing. He explained that he wished to get the baskets she and her companions were carrying, as they could just as well be taken with the others in the boat. He collected them, and then said, "You must not go fast and run away from us. There are so few rowers that our progress will be very slow. You had better stop now and then on the bank to let us keep up with you."

"All right," agreed Mary, "I will." "Come," called Caroline to Wallace.

He looked back and saw her waiting under the bridge. Beechnut had unfastened the chain by which the boat had been secured, and the other boys were putting in the baskets and pails, and most of the girls had already embarked.

Wallace returned, carrying the baskets of those who were to walk, and after helping Caroline on board, got on himself, and the boat was pushed off. There were only four to row and they could not make much speed. Caroline sat at her ease under the canopy and said that it was delightful, sailing over such a beautiful stream. After a time she put in an oar herself and tried to row, saying that she wished they could go faster. She did not, however, succeed very well. When she dipped her oar into the water it seemed to entangle itself there and troubled her to get it out.

Wallace offered to teach her to row, and began to give her directions how to hold and manage her oar; but she said she did not wish to row any more that day; she was tired. So she took the oar in and went back to the seat under the canopy. Beechnut and Wallace were glad of this; for the catching and dragging of her oar in the water only impeded the motion of the boat and made their hard work still harder.

Meanwhile, Wallace watched, as well as he could, the progress of the party on the shore. He could not do this very conveniently because Mary Bell, though she stopped occasionally on some green bank or at a projecting point of land to wait for the Gibraltar to come up, usually kept a little in advance. The oarsmen, who were sitting, of course, with their backs toward the bow of the boat, could therefore not see her and her companions without turning round or looking over their shoulders.

Presently the boat reached the spot where the stream widened out into the pond, and here the path to the mountains led away from the water through thickets and woods. As they

approached this spot they saw Mary Bell and the children in her charge engaged in making a garden with the flowers they had gathered, by setting them  in the sand. The sand was dry on the surface, but it was very moist below, and this moisture would tend to keep the flowers from fading.

 

The boat party were glad to get to land, and the boys who had been rowing sat down on the bank to rest while the girls gathered around the garden. But after a short time Wallace called on every one to get ready to resume the journey.

"Let us go to the boat and get some of the pails and baskets to carry," said Mary to Caroline.

"So we will," responded Caroline; and the two girls went to the boat, where the boys were busy putting things in order.

Mary took up some of the smaller baskets and pails and distributed them to the several girls, who then started to walk along the path which led into the woods. She took one of the larger baskets herself and followed them. Caroline was not satisfied with such a one as Mary had taken. It was not heavy enough. So she went to Wallace who had the heaviest basket of all in his hand and asked him to let her carry that.

"By no means," said Wallace.

"Yes," urged Caroline, "you have been rowing all this time to please me, and you must be tired. So I insist on carrying the heavy basket. You must find a lighter one."

Wallace at length yielded, and Caroline took the basket, while he found another considerably smaller. Caroline, however, did not carry her heavy burden far. She soon set it down in order that she might rest, and Wallace then said he would carry it. After a feeble resistance Caroline assented, and Wallace went on carrying both baskets.

She might have relieved Wallace of the smaller one; but she did not seem to think of that. Yet, though she failed to help the party in carrying their burdens, she cheered and enlivened them during their progress by her sprightly conversation and joyous laugh.

The party went on, slowly but steadily ascending all the time, until at length they reached the spot Beechnut had selected for their stopping place. "I wish we had your tent here, Beechnut," said Margaret.

She referred to a small tent which he had made, and which he sometimes carried on such expeditions as this. "It is here," said Beechnut.

He went toward a cleft in some rocks that were near by and drew forth the tent. He had brought it up the previous evening so that it might be ready. The whole party shouted with joy at the sight of it. They went to work at once and set the tent up, and as soon as that was done they stored their provisions carefully inside. Then, after getting a good drink of water, all round, from a spring that gushed forth at the base of the rocks, the children took the empty baskets and pails, and went in search of blueberries.