 CHAPTER 6 Queen Elsie visits the court. An hour and friend with friend will meet, lip-kling to lip, and hand-class panned. Now, Laura— Asked Belle, when quiet was restored. Advises about Elsie's tent. We want it to be perfectly lovely, and you have such good taste. Let me think, said Laura. Oh, if she were only a brunette, instead of a blonde, we could festoon the tent with that yellow Tarleton I brought for the play. What difference does it make, whether she is dark or light? Fast Belle, obtusely. Why, a room ought to be as becoming as a dress. So Mrs. Pinkerton says, You know I saw a great deal of her at the hotel, and, oh girls, her bedroom was the most exquisite thing you ever saw. She had a French toilet table, covered with pale blue silk, and white marquee lace, perfectly lovely, with yards and yards of robin's egg blue-watered ribbon and bows. And on it, she kept all her toilet articles, everything in hammered silver from Tiffany's, with monograms on the back, three or four sizes of brushes and combs and mirrors, and a full manicure set. It used to take her two hours to dress, but it was worth it. Oh, such gorgeous teagounds as she had. One of old Rose and Lettuce was a perfect dream. She always had her breakfast in bed. You know, I think it's delightful for you to have your breakfast before you get up, and dress as slowly as you like. I wish Mama would let me do it. What does she do after she gets dressed in her Rose of Old Lettuce? I mean, her old Rose of Lettuce. Asked Polly. Do. Why really Polly, you are too stupid. What do you suppose she did? What everybody else does, of course. Oh, said Polly apologetically. How old is Mrs. Binkerton? Asked Marjorie. Between 19 and 20, there is not three years difference in our ages, though she has been married nearly two years. It seems so funny. Only 19. Cried Belle. Why, I always thought that she was old as the hills. Twenty-five or thirty at the very least. She always seemed tired of things. Well, said Laura, and a whisper intended to be too low to reach Mrs. Winship's tent. I don't know whether I ought to repeat what was told me in confidence, but the fact is, well, she doesn't like Mr. Binkerton very well. The other girls who had not enjoyed the advantages of city life and travel looked as dazed as any scandal monger could have desired. Don't like him? Asked Polly, nearly falling off the stump. Why, she's married to him. Where on earth were you brought up? Snapped Laura. What difference does that make? She can't help it if she doesn't happen to like her husband, can she? You can't make yourself like anybody, can you? Well, did she ever like him? Asked Marjorie. For she's only been married a year or two, and it seems to me it might have lasted that long if there was anything to begin on. But, whispered Laura mysteriously. You see, Mr. Binkerton was very rich, and the Dentons very poor. Mr. Denton had just died, leaving them nothing at all to live on, and poor Jesse would have had to teach school or some dreadful thing like that. The thought of it almost killed her. She's so sensitive and so refined. She never told me in so many words, but I am sure she married Mr. Binkerton to save her mother from poverty, and I pity her from the bottom of my heart. I suppose it was noble. Said Belle in a puzzled tone. If she couldn't think of any other way, but... Well, did she try very hard to think of other ways? Asked Polly. She never looked especially noble to me. I thought she seemed like a die-away, frisley, gig kind of girl. I wish, Miss Oliver, that you would be kind enough to remember that Mrs. Binkerton is one of my most intimate friends. Said Laura Sharply. And I do wish, also, that you wouldn't talk loud enough to be heard all through the canyon. The colour came into Polly's cheeks, but before she could answer, Mrs. Winship walked in, stocking basket in hand, and seated herself in the little wicker rocking chair. Polly's clarion tones had given her a clue to the subject, and she thought the discussion needed guidance. You were talking about Mrs. Binkerton, girls? She said serenely. You say you are fond of her, Laura, dear, and it seems very ungracious for me to criticise your friend. That is a thing which most of us fail to bear patiently. But I cannot let you hold her up as an ideal to be worshipped, or ask the girls to admire her as a piece of self-denial what I fear was nothing but indolence and self-gratification. You are too young to talk of these things very much, but you are not too young to make up your mind that when you agree to live all your life long with a person, you must have some other feeling than a determination not to teach school. Jessie Denden's mother, my dear Laura, would never have asked the sacrifice of her daughter's whole life, and Jessie herself would never have made it had she been less vain, proud, and luxurious in her tastes, and a little braver and more self-forgetting and industrious. These are hard words, dear, and I am sorry to use them. She has gained the riches she wanted, the carriages and servants, and teagounds and hammered silvers from Tiffany's, but she looks tired and disappointed, as Belle says, and I've no doubt she is, poor girl. I don't think you do her justice, Mrs. Winship. I don't indeed, said Laura. If you are really attached to her, Laura, don't make the mistake of admiring her faults of character, but try to find her better qualities and help her to develop them. It is a fatal thing when girls of your age set up these false standards and order their lives by them. There are worse things in school teaching, yes, or even floor-scrumming or window-washing. Lovely teagounds and silver-backed brushes are all very pretty and nice to have, if they are not gained at the sacrifice of something better. I should have said to my daughter, had I been Mrs. Denton, we will work for each other, my darling, and try to do whatever God gives us to do. But no matter how hard life is, your heart is the most precious thing in the world, and you must never sell that if we part with everything else. Oh, my girls, my girls, if only I could make you believe that poor and content is rich and rich enough. I cannot bear to think of your growing year by year into the conviction that these pretty glittering things of wealth are the true gold of life which everybody seeks. Forgive me, Laura, if I've hurt your feelings. I know you would never hurt anybody's feelings but you could help at Mrs. Winship. Laura answered with a hint of coldness in her voice. Though I can't help thinking that you are a little hard on poor Jesse. But even then one can surely like a person without wishing to do the very same things she does. Yes, that is true, said Mrs. Winship greatly. But one cannot constantly justify wrong action in another by loving one's own standard unconsciously Lord. What we continually excuse in other people we should be inclined by and by to excuse in ourselves. Let us choose our friends as wisely as possible and love them dearly, helping them to grow worthy of our love at the same time we are trying to grow worthier of theirs. Because we live by admiration, hope and love, you know, not by admiring and loving the wrong things. But there's the horn and I hear the boys. Let us come to luncheon and tell our good news of Elsie. Long before the boys appeared in sight their voices rang through the canyon in a chorus that woke the echoes and presently they came into view bearing two quarters and a saddle of freshly killed mutton hanging from a leafy branch swung between Jack's sturdy shoulders and Jeff's. A splendid still-hunt this morning on truth! exclaimed Jack. Game plenty and not too shy, dogs in prime condition, hunters ditto. Behold the result! The girls could scarcely tell whether or no Laura was offended at Aunt Truth's unexpected little lecture. She did not appear quite as unrestrained as usual. But as everybody was engaged in the preparations for Elsie's welcome there was a general atmosphere of hilarity and confusion so that no awkwardness was possible. The tool-shop resounded with blows of hammer and steel, Dickie was under everybody's feet and his seven or ten frogs together with his unrivaled collection of horned toads were continually escaping from their tin pales and boxes in the various tents and everybody was obliged to join in the search to recover and incarcerate them in order to keep the peace. Pop yet was making a gold and silver cake with Elsie in pink letters on chocolate frosting. Philip had pitched the new tent so that in one corner there was a slender manzanita tree which had been cropped for some purpose or other. He had nailed a cross-piece on this so that it resembled the letter T and was now laboriously boring holes and fitting in pegs that Elsie might have a sort of closet behind her bed. As for the rustic furniture the girls and boys declared it to be too beautiful for words. They stood in circles about it and admired it without reserve each claiming that his own special piece of work was the gem of the collection. The sunlight shining through the grey and green tents of the tent was voted perfection. Philip's closet a miracle of ingenuity the green and white straw matting and inspiration. The licking glass had been mounted on a packing box and converted by Laura into a dressing table that rivaled Mrs. Pinkerton's. For green tarlatan and white mosquito netting had been so skillfully combined that the traditional mermaid might have been glad to make her toilet there with a comb and a glass in her hand. The rest of the green and white gauzy stuff had been looped from the corners of the tent to the center of the roof piece and delicate tendrils of wild climatas climbed here and there as if it were growing. Its roots plunged in cunningly hidden bottles of water. Bell had gone about with pieces of awning cloth and green braid and stitched an elaborate system of pockets on the inside of the tent wherever they would not be too prominent. There were tiny pockets for needlework, thimbles and scissors, medium sized pockets for soap and combs and brushes, bigger pockets for shoes and slippers and stockings and mammoth pockets for anything else that Elsie might ordain to put in a pocket. By four o'clock in the afternoon Marjorie had used her clever fingers to such purpose that a white Silesia flag worked with the camp name floated from the tip top of the front entrance to the tent. The ceremony of raising the flag was attended with much enthusiasm and its accomplishment greeted by a deafening cheer from the entire party. I'll ask one once paradise. Side Marjorie Who wouldn't be contented with dear old camp chaperone? Who would live in a house anyway? exclaimed Philip. Sniff this air and look up at that sky. And this is what they call roughing it in Santa Barbara. Quoth Dr. Winship. Why you youngsters have made that tent fit for the occupancy of a society bell. Now that's organized for a reception. cried Jeffrey. Assemble good people, come over here at truth. I will take the chair myself since I don't happen to see anybody who would fill it with more dignity. I am going to mount my Bronco and go out on the road to meet my beloved family. said Jack, sauntering up to the impromptu council chamber. How can you tell when they will arrive? asked Mrs. Winship. I can make a pretty good guess. They'll probably start from Tacitus as early as eight or nine o'clock if Elsie as well. Let's see, it's about 25 miles isn't it, Uncle Doc? Say 23 to the place where they turn off the main road. Well, I'll take a bit of lunch, ride out 10 or 12 miles, hitch my horse in the shade and wait. Very well. said Jeffrey. It is not usual for committees to appoint themselves but as you are a near relative of our distinguished guests we will grant you special consideration and order you to the front. Ladies and gentlemen, passing over the slight informality of the nomination all in favor of appointing Mr. John Howard Envoy Extraordinary, please manifest it by the usual sign. Six persons yelled aye, four raised the right hand and one stood up. There seems to be a slight difference of opinion as to the usual sign. All right, contrary minded. No, shouted Polly at the top of her lungs. It is a unanimous vote. said Jeffrey crushingly, bringing down his fist as an imaginary gavel with incredible force and dignity. Dr. and Mrs. Winship, will you oblige the chair by acting as a special reception committee? Certainly. responded the doctor smilingly. Will the chair kindly outline the general policy of the committee? Mm-hmm, yes, certainly, of course. The chair suggests that the reception committee well, that they stay at home and receive the guests. Yes, that will do very nicely. All in favor and so forth it is a vote and so ordered. Secretary will please spread a copy on the minutes. Gavel. I rise to a point of order. said Jack Sageley. There is no secretary and there are no minutes. Ah, mere form. said the chair. Sit down, there will be minutes in a minute. I have to do some more things first. That will do, sit down. Will the Mrs. Burton and the messengers Burton and Noble kindly act as committee on decoration? Where's the committee on music and refreshments and Olympian games and all that sort of thing? Interrupted Polly, the slightest conception of Parliamentary etiquette. And why don't you hurry up and put me on something? If Miss Oliver refuses to bridle her tongue and persists in interrupting the business of the meeting, the chair will be obliged to remove her. said Geoffrey with chilling emphasis. Polly rose again, undaunted. I would respectfully ask the chair who put him in the chair anyway. Question. Rord Philip. Second Emotion. Shrieked Bell. That being the only Parliamentary expression she knew. Order. cried Geoffrey in Stenorean accents. I will adjoin the meeting and clear the courtroom unless there is order. Do. remarked Polly encouragingly. I will rise again, like Phoebus, from my ashes to say that... Here Jack sprang to his feet. I would suggest to the chair that the last speaker amend her motion by substituting the word Phoenix for Phoebus. Accept the amendment. said Polly serenely amidst the general hilarity. Question. called Bell with another mighty projection of memory into a missionary meeting that she had once attended. I am not aware that there is any motion before the house. said Geoffrey cuttingly. Second Emotion. Second the amendment. shouted the girls. Ladies there is no motion. Will you oblige the chair by remaining quiet until speech is requested? Move that the meeting be adjourned in another one called with a new chair. remarked Marjorie who felt that the honour of her sex was at stake. Move that this motion be so ordered and spread upon the minutes and a copy of it be presented to the chairman. suggested Phillip. Move that the copy be appropriately bound in calf. said Jack dodging an imaginary blow. Move that the other committees be elected by ballot. concluded Scott Burton. This is simply disgraceful. exclaimed the chair. Order. Order. I appoint Miss Oliver committee on entertainment with a view of keeping her still. This was received with particular as well as general satisfaction. Miss Winship we appoint you committee on music. All right. Do you wish it to be original? Certainly not. We wish it to be good. But we only know one chorus and that's my witching dinosaur. Never mind. Either write new words to that tune or sing tra-la-la to it. Mr. Richard Winship, the chair appoints you committee on menagerie and suggests that as we have proclaimed a legal holiday you give your animals the freedom of the city. Don't know what freedom of our city means. said Dickie who feared that he was being made the butt of ridicule. Today we want you to allow the captives to berate in the evening with torchlights and mottos. All right. cried Dickie kindling in an instant. Luby, the dote, my horn totes, all except the one that just got it away in Laura's bed but maybe she'll find him tonight so they'll be all there. This was too much for the various committees Laura's wild shriek was the signal for a hasty adjournment. A common danger restored peace to the assembly and they sought the runaway in perfect harmony. Well, said Jack when quiet was restored, I am going a little distance up the Pico Negro trail. There are some magnificent Spanish bandits growing there and if you let me have poncho, Uncle Doc, we can bring down four of them and last them to each of the corners of LC's tent. I'll keep fresh several days in water, you know. Take him, certainly, said Dr. Winship. Do let me go with you, pleaded Laura with enthusiasm. I should like the walk so much. It's pretty rough, Laura, objected to bargery. If you couldn't endure a walk this morning you would never get home alive from Pico Negro. Oh, that was in the heat of the day, she answered. I feel equal to any amount of walking now if Jack doesn't mind taking me. Delighted, of course, Miss Laura. You'll be willing to carry home one of the trees, I suppose, in return for the pleasure of my society. Snub him severely, Laura. Cried Belle. We never allow him to say such things unreproved. I think he has snubbed too much already, replied Laura with a charming smile. And I shall see how a course of encouragement will affect his behaviour. That will be what I long have sought, and mourned because I found it not. Sang Jack nonchalantly. Oh, Laura. Remonstrated Belle. Think twice before you encourage him in his dreadful ways. We have studied him very carefully, and we know that the only way to live with him is to keep him in a sort of plain pot where we can hold the lid open just a little and clap it down suddenly whenever he tries to spring out. Do not mind that young person, Miss Laura, but form your own impressions of my charming character. Excuse me, please, while I put on a celluloid collar and make some few changes in my toilet necessary to a proper appearance in your distinguished company. I prefer you as you are. Answered Laura laughingly. Let us start at once. Do you hear that young person? She prefers me as I are. Now see what magic power her generosity has upon me. And he darted into the tent, from which he issued in a moment with his derby hat, a Manzanita cane, a pocket handkerchief tied about his throat, and a flower pinned on his flannel camping shirt, this ridiculous figure, since nothing seems so out of place in the woods as any suggestion of city costumes or customs. Laura was in high good humor and looked exceedingly brilliant and pretty, as she always did when she was the central figure of any group, or the bright particular star of any occasion. Be home before dark. said Dr. Winship. Poncho, keep a lookout for the pack-mule. Truth one of the pack-mules has disappeared. So, Dumbling or Ditto? Ditto, curiously enough, his name should have led him not to set an example, but to follow one. Elsie came. Perhaps you thought that this was going to be an exciting story, and that something would happen to keep her at the Tacitas Ranch, but nothing did. Everything came to pass exactly as it was arranged, and Jack met his mother and sister at twelve o'clock, some four miles from the camp, and escorted them to the gates. Welcome had been painted on twenty different boards or bits of white cloth and paper, and nailed here and there on the trees that lined the rough wood road. The strains of an orchestra formed of a guitar banjo, casanets, Chinese fiddle, and tin cans greeted them from a distance, but were properly allowed to die away in silence when the guest neared the tents. Everything wore a new and smiling face, and Elsie never came more dangerously near being squeezed to death. Elsie, in the prettiest of gingham dresses, and her cloud of golden hair braided in two funny little pugs to keep it out of the dust. Elsie, with a wide hat that shaded her face, already a little tanned and burned, no longer colorless. Elsie, with no lines of pain in her pretty forehead, and the hollow ring gone from her voice. Elsie, who jumped over the wheel of the wagon and hugged her huggers with the strength of a young bear, it was too good to believe, and nobody did quite believe it for days. At three o'clock the happiest party in the world assembled at the rough dining table under the sycamore trees. Elsie beamed upon the feast from the high-backed manzanita chair, a faint color in her cheeks, and starry prisms of light in a pair of eyes that had not sparkled for many a weary month. Hop yet smiled a trifle himself, wore his cap with a red button on the top to wait upon the table, and ministered to the hungry people with more interest and alacrity than he had shown since he had been dragged from Santa Barbara, his Joss, and his nightly game of Phantan. And such a dinner as he had prepared in honor of the occasion, longer by four courses than usual, and each person was allowed two plates in the course of the meal. Bill of Fair for Her Majesty's dinner, quail soup, crackers, chili Colorado, mutton stew in Spanish style with chili peppers, tomatoes, and onions, cold-boiled ham, fried potatoes, apples and onions stewed together, ginger snaps, pickles, peaches, apricots, and nectarines, California nuts and raisins, coffee, and last of all, a surprise of Belle's flapjacks long teased for by the boys and prepared and fried by her own hands while the merry party waited at table to get them smoking hot. She came in, plushed with heat and pride, the prettiest cook anybody ever saw, with her hair bobbed up out of the way and doing its best to escape. A high-necked white apron, sleeves rolled up to the elbow and an insinuating spot of batter in the dimple of her left cheek. There! She cried joyfully as she deposited a heaping plate in front of her mother and set the tin can of maple syrup by its side. Begin on those, and I'll fry like lightning on two griddles to keep up with you. And she rushed to the brush kitchen to turn her next installments that had been left to brown. Hop yet had retired to a distant spot by the brook and was washing dish towels. All Chinese cooks are alike in their horror of a woman in the kitchen, but some of them will unbend so far as to allow her to amuse herself so long as they are not required to witness the disagreeable spectacle. Belle delicately inserted the cake turner under the curled edges of the flapjack and turned them over deftly, using a little too much force, perhaps, in the downward stroke when she flung them back on the griddle. Seems to me they come down with considerable of a thud. She said reflectively, I hope they're not tough, for I should never hear their last of it. Guess I'll punch one with the handle of this tin shovel and see how it acts. Goodness! It's sort of elastic. That's funny. Well, perhaps it's the way they ought to look. Here she transferred the smoking mysteries to her plate, passed a bit of pork over the griddles, and after ladling out eight more, flew off to the group at the table. Are they good? She was beginning to ask when the words were frozen on her lips by the sight of a significant tableau. The four boys were standing on the bench that served instead of dining chairs, each with a plate and a pancake on the table in front of them. Jack held a hammer and spike, Scott Burton a hatchet, Jeffrey a saw, and Philip a rifle. Belle was nothing if not intuitive. No elaborate explanations ever were needed to show her a fact. Without a word she flung the plate of flapjack she held as far into a thicket as she had forced to fling it, and then dropped on her knees. Shoot, if you must, this old grey head. But spare my flapjack, sirs, she said. What's the matter with them? Tough. I refuse to believe it. Your tools are too dull, that's all. Use more energy. Nothing in this world can be accomplished without effort. They're a lovely brown. Began Mrs. Winship sympathetically. And they have a very good flavour, added Elsie. Don't touch them, dearest. Cryed Belle, snatching the plate from under Elsie's very nose. I won't have you made ill by my failures. But as for the boys, I don't care a fig for them. Let them make flapjacks more to their taste, deodious things. Polly Oliver, did you put enough baking powder as I told you while I went for the pork? Polly blanched. Baking powder? She faltered. Yes, baking powder. B-A-K-I-N-G-P-O-W-D-E-R. Do I make myself plain? Oh! Baking powder, to be sure. Well, now that you mention the matter, I do remember that Dickey called me away just as I was getting it. And now that I think of it, Elsie came just afterwards and... and... And that's the whole of my story, yo. Sang Jack. I recommend the criminal to the mercy of the court. Ha ha, case of too many cooks! Laughed Dr. Winship. Cheer up, girls, better fortune next time. There are eight more of them burning on the griddles this moment, Polly. Said Bell scathingly. And as they are yours, not mine, I advise you to throw them into brook with the rest of the batter, so that Hope yet won't know that there has been a failure. Some people blight everything they touch. Sighed Polly gloomily as she departed for the kitchen. But when I lie in the green Kirk yard... Oh, Polly dear. Interrupted Marjorie. That apology will not serve any longer. You've used it too often. This is going to be entirely different. Continued Polly tragically. But when I lie in the green Kirk yard with the mold upon my breast, say not that she made Flap Jacks well. Only she did her best. We promise. Cried Bell. End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of A Summer in a Canyon A California Story by Kate Douglas Wigan This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 7 Polly's Birthday First half of which she rejoices at the mere fact of her existence. Oh, Frabjus Day, Kalu Kalei! He chortled in his joy. Polly's Birthday dawned auspiciously. At six o'clock she was kissed out of a sound sleep by Bell and Marjorie, and the three girls slipped on their wrappers and prepared to run through the trees for a morning plunge in Mirror Pool. Although it was August, there was still water enough in Minnehaha Brook to give one a refreshing dip. Mirror Pool was a quarter of a mile distant and well guarded with rocks and deep hidden in trees. But a little pathway had been made to the water's edge, and thus the girls had easy access to what they called the Mermaid's Bath. A bay-tree was adorned with a little redwood sign which bore a picture of a mermaid drawn by Marjorie, and below the name these lines and rustic letters. A hidden brook that to the sleeping woods all night singeth a quiet tune. Lara had not lived long enough in the woods to enjoy these cold plunges, and as her ideal was a marble tub with scented water and a French maid to apply the same with a velvet sponge, it is not much wonder. She insisted that, though it was doubtless of very romantic proceeding, the bottom and sides of the natural tub were quite too rocky and rough for her taste, and that she should be in constant terror of snakes curling round her toes. I have a great mind to wake Lara just for once," said Belle, opening the tent door. There never was such a morning. I believe I've said that regularly every day, but I simply never can get used to it. There must have been a wonderful sunrise, dears, for the glow hasn't faded yet. Not a bit of morning fog. That's good for Elsie. And what a lovely day for a birthday. Did we use to give you anything like this in Vermont, Polly? Hardly, said Polly, peering over Belle's shoulder. Let's see, what did they give us in Vermont this month? Why, I can't think of anything but dog days, hot nights, and hay fever, but that sounds ungrateful. Why, Jeff's up already. There's Elsie's bunch of vines and twigs and pretty things hanging on her tent door. He's been off on horseback. Just my luck to have him get up first. Jack always does, you know. And last night I sewed up the tent opening with carpet thread, good and tight, overhand. Stitches I wouldn't be ashamed of at a sewing school. Oh, you naughty girl. Laughed Belle. The boys could rip it open with a knife in half the time it took you to sew it. Certainly, I didn't mean to keep them sewed up all day, but I thought I'd like Jack to remember me the first thing this morning. Girls! whispered Marjorie excitedly. Don't stand there moaning or sunning forever. I thought there was a gopher in this tent last night. I heard something scratching and I thought it was a dog outside, but just look at these two holes almost on the Laura's pillow. Let's fill them up, cover them over, anything. Gast Belle. Laura will never sleep here another night if she sees them. Nobody insured Laura against gopher's, said Polly. She must take the fortunes of war. I wouldn't wake her, said Marjorie. She didn't sleep well and her face is flushed. Come, or we shall be late for breakfast. When they returned fresh and rosy from their bath, there was a stir of life in all the tents. Poncho had come from the station with mail, an odor of breakfast issued from the kitchen, where Hoppiat was humming a fragment of Chinese song that ran something like this. Not loud but unearthly enough, as Belle used to say, to spoil almost any cooking. Dickey was abroad, radiant in a new suit of clothes, and Elsie pushed her golden head out between the curtains and proclaimed herself strong enough for a wrestling match with any boy or man about the camp. But they found Laura sitting on the edge of her straw bed, directly over the concealed gopher holes, a mirror in her hand, and an expression of abject misery on her countenance. What's the matter? Cried the girls in one breath, but they needed no answer, as she turned her face towards the light, for it was plainly a case of poison oak. One eye almost closed, and the cheeks scarlet and swollen. Where do you suppose you got it? Asked Belle. Oh, I don't know. It's everywhere. So I don't see how I ever hoped to escape it. Yet I've worn gloves every minute. I think I must have touched it when I went up the mountain trail with Jack. I'm a perfect fright already, and I suppose it has only begun. Is it very painful? Asked Polly sympathetically. Oh, you do look so funny. I can hardly help laughing, but I'm as sorry as can be. I should expect you to laugh. You generally do. Retarded Laura. No, it's not painful yet. But I don't care about that. It's looking so ridiculous. I wonder if Dr. Winship could send me home. I wish now that I had gone with Scott, for I can't be penned up in this tent a week. Oh, it won't hurt you to go out, said Belle. And you can lie in the sitting-room. Just wait and let Mama try and cure you. She's a famous doctor. And Belle finished dressing hurriedly and went to her mother's tent while Polly and Marjorie smoothed the bed with a furtive kick of straw over the offending gopher holes and hung a dark shawl so as to shield Laura's eyes. And Truth entered speedily with a family medical guide under one arm and a box of remedies under the other. The doctor has told me just what to do and he will see you after breakfast himself. It doesn't look so very bad a case, dear. Don't run about in the sun for a day or two and we'll bring you out all right. The doctor has had us all under treatment at some time or other because of that troublesome little plant. I don't want to get up to breakfast, moaned Laura. Just as you like, but it is Polly's birthday, you know. Many happy returns, my sweet Polly-kins, and there are great preparations going on. I can't help it, Mrs. Winship. The boys would make fun of my looks and I shouldn't blame them. Appear as the way old lady, suggested Marjorie as Mrs. Winship went out. I won't come and that's the end of it, said Laura. Perhaps if I bathe my face all the morning I can come to dinner. After breakfast was cleared away, Hoppiet and Mrs. Howard's little China boy Jin were given a half-holiday and allowed to go to a neighboring ranch to see a... Flynn. Of Hoppiet's, for it was a part of the birthday scheme that Belle and Jeffrey should cook the festival dinner. Jack was so delighted at the failure of Polly's scheme to sew him in his tent that he simply radiated amiability and spent the whole morning helping Elsie and Marjorie with a set of elaborate dinner cards executed on half sheets of note paper. The dinner itself was a grand success. Half of the cards for a caricature of Polly in the shape of a parrot with the inscription, Polly want a cracker. The rest were adorned with pretty sketches of her in her camping dress. A kettle in one hand and underneath. Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea. This was the bill of fair arranged by Belle and Jeffrey and written on the reverse side of the dinner cards. Dinner a la Mother Goose. Camp Chaparral. August 15, 1800 and... Come with a whoop, come with a call, come with a goodwill or not at all. Vittles and drink. Bean soup. She gave him some broth, she gave him some bread. Salt codfish. You shall have a fishy in a little dishy. Roast mutton a la venison. Deer sensibility, o la. I heard a little lamb try ba. Potatoes and jackets. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker all jumped out of a roasted potato. Stewed beans. You, nor I, nor nobody knows where oats, peas, beans, and barley grows. Chicken and beef sandwiches. Hickety pickety my pretty hen laid good eggs for gentlemen. Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief. Taffy came to my house and stole a piece of beef. Lemon pie. A pie sat on a pear tree. Plum tarts. The queen of hearts, she made some tarts all on a summer's day. Fruit, nuts, and raisins. You shall have an apple. You shall have a plum. I had a little nut tree. Nothing would it bear, but a silver nutmeg and a golden pear. Bread and cheese. When I was a bachelor I lived by myself, and all the bread and cheese I got I put upon the shelf. Coffee and lemonade. One, two, three. How good you be! I love coffee and belly loves tea. Oranges and lemons, says the bell of St. Clemens. What they ate I can't tell, but tis known very well that none of the party grew fat. Bell and Jeff took turns at dishing up in the kitchen and sat down at the table between wiles, and they were barely escaped being mobbed when they omitted one or two dishes on the program, and confessed that they had been put on principally for the style of the thing. A very poor excuse to a company of people who have made up their mouths for all the delicacies of the season. Jack was head waiter and having dawned a clean white blouse of hop yetts and his best cap with the red button, from which dangled a hastily improvised queue you of black worsted. He proceeded to convulse everybody with his Mongolian antics. These consisted of most informal remarks of pigeon English and snatches of Chinese melody rendered from time to time as he carried dishes into the kitchen. Elsie laughed until she cried and Laura sat in the shadiest corner, her head artistically swathed in white Tarleton. Polly occupied the seat of honour at the end of the table opposite Dr. Winship and was happier than a queen. She wore her new green cambrick with a bunch of leaves at her belt. She was sunburned, and freckles seemed to have disappeared mysteriously from her nose. And almost anyone would have admired the rosy skin, the dancing eyes and the graceful little auburn head sunning over with curls. When the last bit of dessert had been disposed of and Dicky had gone to sleep in his mother's lap like an infant boa constrictor after a hearty meal the presentation of gifts and reading of poems took place and Polly had to be on the alert to answer all the nonsensical jokes that were aimed at her. Finally Bell crowned the occasion by producing a song of Miss Molex which had come in the morning mail from some girlfriend of Polly's in the East who had discovered that Polly's name had appeared in poetry and song without her knowledge and who thought she might be interested to hear the composition. With the aid of Bell's guitar and Jack's banjo, the girls and boys then caught the pretty air and sung it in chorus. At the end Dr. Winship raised his glass of lemonade and proposed to drink Miss Oliver's health. This was done with enthusiasm and Jeffrey immediately cried speech, speech I can't said Polly blushing furiously speech sung Jack and Phillip vociferously bounding on the table with knife handles for her speech demanded the genial doctor going over to the majority and smiling encouragingly at Polly who was pushed to her feet before she knew very well what she was doing oh, if Laura were not looking at me she thought I'd just like to speak right out and tell them a little bit of what is in my heart I don't care I will I know you are all in fun instead, looking bravely into the good doctor's eyes and of course no one could make a proper speech with Jack grinning like a shesher cat but I can't help telling you that this is the happiest summer and the happiest birthday of my whole life and that I scarcely remember nowadays that I have no father and no brothers and sisters for I have never been alone or unhappy since you took me in among you and Bell chose me for her friend and I think that if you knew how grateful I am for my beautiful summer dear Dr. Paul and Aunt Truth you would be glad that you gave it to me and I love you all dearly dearly dearly whereupon the impulsive little creature finished her maiden speech by dashing round the table and giving Mrs. Winship one of her bear hugs at which everybody laughed and rose from the table Laura Burton who was thoroughly out of conceit with the world and who was never quite happy when other people seemed for the moment to be preferred to herself thought this burst of affection decidedly theatrical but she did not know of anyone to whom she could confide her opinions just then indeed she felt too depressed and out of sorts to join in the general hilarity dinner being over Dr. Paul and the boys took the children and sauntered up the canyon for a lazy afternoon with their books Elsie went to sleep in the new hammock that the doctor had hung in the sycamores back of the girl's sleeping tent and Mrs. Winship lay down for her afternoon nap Poncho saddled the horses for Belle and Marjorie who went for a gallop Polly climbed into the sky parlor to write a long letter to her mother and Laura was left to solitude in the sleeping tent now everybody knows that a tent at midday is not a particularly pleasant spot and after many a groan at the glare of the sun which could not be tempered by any system of shawls and moans at the gopher holes which she discovered while searching for her earring and repeated consultations with the hand glass at brief intervals during which she convinced herself that she looked worse every minute she felt then that camping out was a complete failure and that she would be taken home forthwith if it could be managed since she saw nothing before her day of close confinement and unattractive personal appearance it's just my luck she grumbled as she twisted up her hair and made herself as presentable as possible under the trying circumstances I don't think I ever had a becoming or an interesting illness the chicken pox mumps and styes on my eyes that's the sort of thing I have I feel much worse Mrs. Winship she said going into the sitting room tent and waking Aunt Truth from a peaceful snooze if you can spare poncho overnight I really think I must trouble you to send Anne and me home at once I feel as if I want to go to bed in a dark room and I shall only be a bother if I stay why my child I'm sorry to have you go off with your visit unfinished you know we don't mind any amount of trouble if we can make you comfortable you are very kind but indeed I'd rather go I hardly dare let you start in the hot sun without consulting the doctor and everybody is awake they will feel badly not to say goodbye it's nearly three o'clock now so the worst of the sun is over and we shall be at the ranch by eight this evening I feel too ill to say goodbye anyway and we shall meet Belle and Marjorie somewhere on the road for they were going to the mill crunch very well my dear if you've made up your mind I must yield replied Mrs. Winship getting up and smoothing her hair I don't dare wake Elsie she has had such an exciting day but I'll call Polly to help you pack and then tell Poncho to find Anne and harness the team while he's doing that I'll get you a little lunch to take with you get a note to your mother perhaps you can come again before we break camp but I'm sorry to send you home in such a sad plight End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of A Summer in a Canyon a California story by Kate Douglas-Wigan this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 8 Polly's birthday second half has never been born from Hebrew wit the maxim sprung though feet should slip near let the tongue Polly came at once to the tent where she found Laura getting her belongings together why Laura it seems too bad you should go off so suddenly what can I do to help you the very spirit of evil entered Laura's heart as she looked at Polly so fresh and pretty and radiant with her dimples dancing in and out her hair ruffled with the effort of literary composition and the glow of the day's happiness still shining in her eyes she felt as if Polly was glad inside that she was poisoned she felt sure she was internally jumping for joy at her departure and above all she felt that Polly was entirely too conceited over the attention she had received that day and needed to be taken down a peg or two red-haired stuck up saucy thing she thought how I should like to give her a piece of my mind before I leave this place if I only dared I don't need any help thank you she said aloud in her iciest manner but it will only make your head ache to bend over and tug away at that valise and I'll be only too glad to do it I've no doubt of that responded Laura meaningly it is useless for you to make any show of regret over my going for I know perfectly well that you are glad to get me out of the way why Laura what do you mean exclaimed Polly completely dazed at this bombshell of candor I mean what I say and I should have said it before if I could ever have found a chance because I didn't mention it at the time you didn't suppose I've forgotten you're getting me into trouble with Mrs. Winship the day before the howards came that was not my fault said Polly hotly I didn't speak any louder than the other girls and I didn't know Aunt Truth objected to Mrs. Pinkerton and I didn't know she was anywhere near you roared like the bull of Bichon that's what you did perhaps you can't help your voice but anybody in the canyon could have heard you and Mrs. Winship hasn't been the same to me since and the boys don't take the slightest notice of me lately you are entirely mistaken Laura doctor and Mrs. Winship are just as lovely and cordial to you as they are to everybody else and the boys do not feel well enough acquainted with you to frolic with you as they do with us it isn't so but you are not sensitive enough to see it and I should never have been poisoned if it hadn't been for you oh go on do said Polly beginning to lose her self-control which was never very great I didn't know I was a Lucrezia Borgia in disguise how did I poison you pray I didn't say you poisoned me but you made me so uncomfortable that day bringing down Mrs. Winship's lecture on my head and getting my best friend abused that I was glad to get away from the camp and went out with Jack for that reason when I was too tired and warm and you are always trying to cut me out with Belle and the boys that's a perfectly jet black fib cried Polly who was now thoroughly angry and I don't think it's very polite of you to attack the whole party and say they haven't been nice to you when they've done everything in the world it isn't your party any more than mine and if I don't know how to be polite I certainly shan't ask you for instruction for I must know as much about the manners of good society as you do and as much as I have certainly seen more of it Polly sank into a camp chair to stunned for a moment to reply while Laura who had gone quite beyond the point where she knew or cared what she said went on with a rush of words I mean to tell you now that I am started that anybody who isn't blind can see why you toady to the wind ships who have money and social position and why you are so anxious to keep everybody else from getting into their good graces but they are so partial to you that they have given you an entirely false idea of yourself and you might as well know that unless you keep yourself a little more in the background and grow a little less bold and affected and independent other people will not be quite as ready as the wind ships to make a pet of a girl who keeps a boarding house poor Laura it was no sooner said than she regretted it a little not much but poor Polly where was her good angel then why could she not have treated this thrust with the silence and contempt it deserved but how could Laura have detected and probed the most sensitive spot in the girl's nature she lost all command of herself her rage absolutely frightened her for it made her deaf and blind to all considerations of propriety and self-respect and for a moment she was only conscious of the wild desire to strike yes even to kill the person who had so insulted all that was dearest to her don't dare to say another word she panted with such flaming cheeks and such flashing eyes that Laura involuntarily retreated towards the door half afraid of the tempest her words but evoked don't dare to say another word or I don't know what I may do yes I am glad you are going and everybody will be glad and the sooner you go the better you've made everybody miserable ever since you came with your jealousy and your gossip and your fine lady heirs and if ant truth hadn't loved your mother and if we were mean enough to tell tales we would have repeated some of your disagreeable speeches long ago how can you dare to say I love the wind ships for anything but themselves and if you had ever seen my darling mother you never could have called her a boarding housekeeper you cruel oh but the dashing torrent of angry words stopped at the mere mention of her mother the word recalled her to herself but too late it woken her memory the clasp of her mother's arm the sound of the sweet tired voice only two of us against the big world Polly you and I be brave little daughter brave and patient oh how impatient and cowardly she had been which she never learned to be good the better impulses rushed back into her heart and crowded out the bad one so quickly that in another moment she would have flung herself at Laura's feet and implored her forgiveness merely to gain again her own respect and her mother's approval but there was no time for repentance there isn't sometimes for the clatter of wheels announced Poncho's approach with the team and Mrs. Winship and Ann Burton came into view walking rapidly towards the tent Laura was a good deal disconcerted at their ill-timed appearance but reflected rapidly that if Mrs. Winship had overheard anything it was probably Polly's last speech in which case that young person would seem to be more in fault than herself so stepping out of the tent she met Mrs. Winship and kissed her goodbye little Ann ran on and jumped into the wagon with all a child's joy at the prospect of going anywhere Polly's back was turned but she could not disappear entirely within the tent without causing Mrs. Winship's surprise and she went through a lifetime of misery and self-reproach in that minute of shame and fear when she dared neither to advance nor retreat I don't quite like to let you go alone Laura without consulting the doctor and I can't find him said Mrs. Winship why you're nervous and troubling hadn't you better wait until tomorrow no thank you Mrs. Winship I am already now and would prefer to go I think perhaps I have stayed quite long enough as Polly has told me that everybody is glad to see the last of me and that I've made you all miserable since I came this was the climax to Polly's misery for she was already so overcome by the thought of her rudeness that she was on the point of begging Laura's pardon for that particular speech then and there and she had only to hear her exact words repeated to feel how they would sound in Mrs. Winship's ears Mrs. Winship was so entirely taken aback by Laura's remark that she could only ejaculate Polly said that what do you mean oh I am quite ready to think she said more than she intended but those were her words Polly Polly turned alas it was plain enough that this was no false accusation her downcast eyes blushed tear-stained cheeks shivering lips and the silent shame of her whole figure spoke too clearly can it be possible Polly that you've spoken such a way to a guest who was about to leave my house yes the word was rung from Polly's trembling lips what could she say but yes it was true and how could she repeat the taunts that had provoked her to retort they were not a sufficient excuse and for that matter Polly could be a sufficient excuse for her language now that she was confronted with her own fault Laura's seemed so small beside it that she would have been ashamed to offer it as any justification Mrs. Winship grew pale and for a moment was quite at a loss as to the treatment of such a situation don't say any more about it Mrs. Winship said Laura we were both angry or we should never and I shall think no more of it Laura spoke with such an air of modest virtue and seemed so ready to forgive and forget that Polly in her silence and confusion appeared worse than ever but I want you to remember that you are my guest not Polly's that I asked you to come and ask you to remain I cannot allow you to go simply because you do not chance to be a favorite with another of my guests oh the pangs these words gave Polly's faulty tender little heart I am only going because I feel so ill not because of what Polly said I was in the wrong too perhaps but I promise not to let anybody nor anything make me quarrel when I visit you again goodbye and Laura stepped into the wagon I trust you will not mention this to your mother since I hope it is the only unpleasant incident of your visit and it is no fault of mine that you go away with an unhappy impression of our hospitality here Mrs. Winship reached up and kissed little Anne and as the horses were restive and no one seemed to have anything further to say Poncho drove off I don't care to talk with you anymore at present Polly said Mrs. Winship and too indignant to speak of your conduct quietly I know the struggles you have with your temper and I'm quite willing to sympathize with you even when you did not come off victorious but this is something quite different I can't conceive how any amount of provocation or dislike could have led you into such disloyalty to me and with this she walked away Polly staggered into a little playroom tent of Dickies where she knew that she could be alone pin the curtains together so that no one could peep in and threw herself down upon the long cushioned seat where Dickie was want to take his afternoon nap there in grief and despair she sobbed the afternoon through dreading to be disturbed and dreading to be questioned my beautiful birthday spoiled she moaned and all my own fault I was so happy this morning but now was ever anybody so miserable as I and even if I tell Aunt Truth what Laura said she'll think it no excuse and it isn't as it neared supper time she made an opening in the back of the tent and after long watching caught sight of Jinn on his way to the brook for water signaled him and gave him this despairing little note for Mrs. Winship Dear Aunt Truth I don't ask you to forgive me I don't deserve to be forgiven but I ask you to do me just one more of your dear little kindnesses let me stay alone in Dickie's tent till morning and please don't let anyone come near me you can tell everybody the whole story tonight if you think best though I should be glad if only Dr. Paul and Belle need know but I do not mind anything after displeasing you so bad as that perhaps you think I ought to come out and confess it to them myself as a punishment but oh Aunt Truth I am punishing myself in here alone worse than anyone else can do it I will go back to Santa Barbara any time that you can send me to the stage station and I will never ask you to love me again until I have learned how to control my temper you're wretched wretched Polly p.s. I remember that it was my birthday and all that you have done for me today and all the other days it looks as if I were ungrateful but in spite of what I did I am not the words just blazed out and I never knew that they were going to be said till I heard them falling from my mouth it seems to me that if I ever atone for this I will have a slate and pencil hanging to my belt and only right what I have to say Polly this year came to Mrs. Winship's eyes as she read this tear-stained little note sigh there's something here I don't quite understand she thought and yet Polly confessed that Laura told the truth poor child but she has got to learn patience and self-control through suffering however I'll keep the matter a secret from everybody at present and stand between her and my inquisitive brood of youngsters and she slipped the note into her pocket at six o'clock the members of the family came into camp from various directions and gathered about the supper table all were surprised at Laura's sudden departure but no one seemed especially grief-stricken Dickie announced confidentially to Philip that Laura was a normal frayed cat of frogs and Jack ventured the opinion that Miss Laura hadn't boy enough in her for camp life but where is Polly asked Belle looking round the table as she pinned up her riding skirt and sat down in her usual seat she has a bad headache in his lying down said Mrs. Winship quietly she'll be all right in the morning headache ejaculated four or five people at once dropping their napkins and looking at each other in dismay I'll go and rub her head with cologne said Marjorie let me go and sit with her said Elsie have you been teasing her Jack asked Mrs. Howard too much birthday asked Dr. Paul tell her we can spare almost anybody else better listen child she wants me if she is sick go on with your suppers I'll see to her and Belle rose from the table no my dear I want you all to leave her alone at present said Mrs. Winship decidedly I've put her to bed in Dickie's play tent and I want her to be quiet she has taken her some supper and she needs rest Polly Oliver in need of rest when an incomprehensible statement nobody was satisfied but there was nothing more to be said though Belle and Phillip exchanged glances as much as to say something is wrong supper ended and they gathered round the campfire but nothing was quite as usual it was all very well to crack jokes but where was a certain Mary laugh that was want to ring out at the smallest provocation in such an infectious way everybody else followed suit and who was there when Polly had the headache to make a saucy speech and look down into the fire innocently while her dimples did everything that was required in order to point the shaft and pray what was the use of singing when there was no alto to Belle's treble or of giving conundrums since it was always Polly who thought of nonsensical answers better than the real ones and ask for Jack why it was Polly to shoot arrows of wit into the air when there was no target he simply stretched himself out beside Elsie who was particularly quiet and snoozed peacefully without taking any part in the conversation avowing his intention to turn in early turn in early for Sue what was the matter with the boy it's no use said Belle plaintively anything but happy now that we have Elsie here but it needs only one small headache to show that Polly feels a long felt wanton this camp you think of her as a modest spoke in the wheel till she disappears and then you find she was the hub yes said Marjorie I think everyone around this fire is simply angelic unless I accept Jack but the fact is that Polly is well she is Polly and I dare anyone to contradict me the judgement of the court is confirmed said Phillip and the shark said if you don't believe it is true just look at my wisdom tooth sang Jeffrey and if anyone ever tells me again that she has red hair and hasn't good features I should just like to show them a picture of her as she was today at the dinner table exclaimed Belle as if anybody needed features with those dimples added Elsie or would mind red hair when it was such pretty hair I think a reporter this conversation would go far towards curing Polly said Dr. Winship with a smile and you say we can't go in there before we go to bed Mamacita and her mother's ear as the boys said good night and went toward their tent my dear she answered decidedly with a fond kiss for each of the girls Polly herself asked me to keep everybody away Polly herself wanted to be alone would wonders never cease meanwhile Dickie who had disappeared for a moment came back to the fire his bosom heaving with grief and rage he sobbed and put in my hand underneath the curtain and gave Polly a piece of my supper cake I saved for her not the frosted part but the burnt part I couldn't eat and she liked it and kissed my hand and then I thought she was lonesome and would like to see my littlest frog and I told her to put out her hand again for a surprise and I squeezed him into it tight so he wouldn't jump and she thought it was a more cake and when she found it wasn't she threw this brought a howl of mirth from everybody and Dickie was instructed while being put to bed not to squeeze little frogs into people's hands in the dark as it sometimes affected them unpleasantly all this time Polly was lying in the tent quite exhausted with crying and made more wretched by every sound of voices she laughed at towards her presently Jen appeared with her night wrapper and various things for comfort sent by the girls and as she weirdly undressed herself and prepared for the night she found three little messages of comfort pinned on the neck and sleeves of her flannel gown written in such colossal letters that she could easily read them by moonlight on the right sleeve cheer up I will never desert Mr. McCallber on the left sleeve darling Polly get well soon or we shall all be sick in order to stay with you lovingly Meg PS Jack said you were the life of the camp what do you think of that on the neck dearest you have always called me the fairy godmother and pretended I could see things that other people couldn't the boys, great stupid think you have the headache we girls can all see that you're in trouble but only the fairy godmother knows why and though she can't make a beautiful gold coach out of this pumpkin because there's something wrong about the pumpkin yet she will do her best for Cinderella and pull her out of the ashes somehow Elsie Polly's tears fell fast on the dear little notes which she kissed again and again and tucked under her pillow to bring her sleep Elsie knows something she thought but how she knows that I'm in trouble and that I've done wrong or she wouldn't have said that about not being able to turn a bad pumpkin into a beautiful gold coach but perhaps she can get Aunt Truth to forgive me and try me again unless she can do it it will never come to pass for I haven't the courage to ask her I would rather run away in the early morning and go home than have her look at me again as she did today what shall I do and Polly went down on her knees beside the rough couch and sobbed her heart out in a childish prayer for help and comfort it was just the prayer of a little child telling a sorrowful story because it is when we are alone and in trouble that the unknown and mysterious god seems to us most like a father and we throw ourselves into the arms of his love like helpless children and tell him our secret thoughts and griefs dear father in heaven she sobbed don't forgive me if I ought not to be forgiven but please make Aunt Truth feel how sorry I am and show me whether I ought to tell what made me so angry though it's no excuse bless and keep my darling patient little mother and help me to grow more like her and brave her in stronger too so that I can take care of her soon and she needn't work hard any longer please forgive me for hating some things in my life as much as I do and I will try and like them better but I think yes I know that I am full of wicked pride and oh it seems as if I could never never get over wanting to live in a pretty house and wear pretty dresses and have my mother live like bells and margaries and oh if thou canst only forgive me for hating borders so dreadfully and being ashamed of them every minute I will try and like them better and tell everybody that we take them I will indeed and if I can only once make Aunt Truth love and trust me again I will make the borders beds and dust their rooms forever without grumbling please dear father in heaven remember that I haven't any father to love me or to teach me to be good and though mama does her best please help her make something out of me if it can be done amen Truth said Mrs. Howard when all was quiet about the camp Elsie wants to see you a moment before she goes to sleep will you go to her tent while I play a game of cribbage with Dr. Paul Elsie looked like a blossom in all the beautiful greenness of her tent with her yellow head coming out from above the greens and browns of the cretone bed cover all the world like a daffodil pushing its way up through the mold towards the spring sunshine Aunt Truth she said softly as Mrs. Winship sat down beside her you remember that Dr. Paul hung my hammock in a new place today just behind the girl's sleeping tent now I know that Polly is in trouble and that you are displeased with her what I want to ask if I may is how much you know for I overheard a great deal myself enough to feel that Polly deserves a hearing I overheard nothing replied Mrs. Winship all that I know is Polly herself confessed in Laura's presence Polly told Laura just as she was going away that everybody would be glad to see the last of her and that she made everybody miserable from the beginning of her visit it was quite inexcusable you know dear for one of my guests to way lay another just as she was leaving and make such a cruel speech I would rather anything else had happened I know how impetuous Polly is and I can forgive the child almost anything her heart is so full of love and generosity but I cannot overlook such a breach of propriety as that of course I have seen that Laura is not a favorite with any of you I confess she is not a very kind person and I think she has led a very unwholesome life lately and is sadly spoiled by it still there is no excuse for Polly's conduct no of course it isn't side Elsie with a little quiver at the lip I thought I could plead a better case for Polly but I see exactly how thoughtless and impolite she was yet if you knew everything aunty dear you would feel a little different do you think it was nice of Laura to repeat what Polly said right before her and just as she was going away when she knew it would make you uncomfortable and that you were not to blame for it no hardly it didn't show much tact but girls of 15 or 16 are not always remarkable for social tact I excused her partly because she was half sick and nervous well Elsie went on I didn't hear the whole quarrel so that I do not know how long she lasted nor who began it I can't help thinking it was Laura though for she's been trying her best to provoke Polly for the last fortnight and until today she has never really succeeded I was half asleep and heard at first only the faint murmur of voices but when I was fully awake Laura was telling Polly that she doted on you simply because you had money in position while she had not that you were also partial to her that she had lost sight of her own deficiencies then she called her bold and affected and I don't know what else and finally wound up by saying that nobody but the windships would be likely to make a pet of the daughter of a boarding housekeeper Elsie ejaculated Mrs. Winship this grows worse and worse is it possible that Laura Burton could be guilty of such a thought I can't be mistaken I was too excited not to hear very clearly and the moment the words was spoken I knew my poor daughter's fiery temper would never endure that and it didn't it blazed out in a second but it didn't last long before I could get to the tent she had stopped herself right in the middle of a sentence and in another minute I heard your voice and crept back to the hammock thinking that everything would be settled by Laura's going away I'd no idea that she would pounce on Polly and get her in disgrace the very last thing when she knew that she was responsible for the whole matter you see auntie that impolite as Polly was she only told Laura that we girls were glad she was going she didn't bring you in after all and Laura knew perfectly well that she was a welcome visitor and we all treated her with the greatest politeness though it's no use to say we liked her much I'm very sorry for the whole affair side Mrs. Winship there's so much wrong on both sides Laura's remark it is true would have angered almost anybody who was not old and wise enough to see deserved only contempt but both the girls should have had too much respect for themselves and for me to descend to such an un-lady-like quarrel however I am only too glad to hear anything which makes Polly's fault less for I love her too dearly not to suffer when I have to be severe with her she wouldn't ask you to overlook her fault continue Delcy with tears in her eyes I know just how wretched and penitent she must be Polly is always so fierce against her own faults but what must be making her suffer most is the thought that she has entirely lost your confidence and good opinion oh I can't help thinking that God feels sorry at this very minute for Polly who fights and fights against her temper like a dear sunbeam trying to shine again and again when a cloud keeps covering it up then he does for Laura who has everything made smooth for her and who is unhappy when her feathers are ruffled the least bit you are right dear in so far that a fiery little soul like Polly's can if it finds the right channels do God's work in the world better than a character like Laura's which is not courageous nor strong nor sweet enough for great service unless it grows into better things through bitter or rich experiences now good night my blessed little peacemaker sleep sweetly for I'm going into Polly's tent to have a good talk with her as Mrs. Winship dropped the curtains of Elsie's tent behind her and made her way quietly through the trees the tinkling sound of a banjo fell upon the still night air and presently as she neared Polly's retreat this facetious serenade sung by Jack's well-known voice was waffed to her ears pretty Polly Oliver why by thee so still pretty Polly Oliver we fear you are ill I'm singing need thy window when night do's are chill for pretty Polly Oliver we hear you are ill she was about to dispatch Master Jack to his tent with a round scolding when the last words of the song were frozen on his lips by the sound of a smothered sob in place of the saucy retort he hoped to provoke the unexpected sob frightened him more than any fuselade of hot words and he stole away in the darkness more crestfallen than he had been for many a year Mrs. Winship, more troubled than ever pulled apart the canvas curtains and stood in the opening silently the sight of the forlorn little figure huddled together on the straw bed touched her heart and when Polly started up with an eloquent cry and flew into her extended arms she granted willing forgiveness and the history of the afternoon was sobbed out upon her motherly shoulder the next morning Mrs. Winship announced that Polly was better sent breakfast to her tent and by skillful generalship drove everybody away from the camp but Elsie who brought Polly to the sitting room made her comfortable on the lounge and administering much good advice to Marjorie and Belle concerning topics to be avoided admitted them one by one into her presence so that she gradually regained her self-control and at the dinner table a very pale Polly was present again with such a white face and heavy eyes that no one could doubt there had been a headache while two people at least knew that there had been a heartache as well the next day's mail carried the following letter to Laura Burton Camp Chaparral August 16th 1880 my dear Laura as I told you when you were leaving I cannot well say how sorry I am that anything should have occurred to mar your pleasant remembrance of your stay with us that your dear mother's daughter should have been treated with this courtesy while she was my guest was very disagreeable to me I learned you were yourself somewhat to blame in their fare and therefore you should have borne the harsh treatment you received with considerable patience and perhaps have kept it quiet to yourself that little cat told her after all said Laura when she read this I didn't think she was that kind Polly would never have confessed the cause of the quarrel because she knew nothing could justify her language but Elsie was lying in the hammock behind the tent and overheard the remark which so roused Polly's anger you were not aware of course how sore a spot you touched upon or you could never have spoken as you did though I well know that you were both too angry to reflect Polly is a particularly proud and high-spirited girl proud I confess to a fault but she comes on her mother's side from a long line of people who have had much to be proud of in a way of unblemished honesty nobility fine attainments and splendid achievements of her father's honorable services to this country and his sad and untimely death you may have heard but you may not know that Mrs. Oliver's misfortunes have been very many and very bitter and that the only possibility of supporting and educating Polly lies at present in her taking borders for her health will not admit just now of her living anywhere save in Southern California I fail to see why this is not thoroughly praiseworthy and respectable but if you do not consider it quite an elegant occupation I can only say that Mrs. Oliver presides over the table at which her borders sit with a high-bred dignity and grace of manner that the highest lady in the land might imitate and that when health and circumstances permit her to diminish the distance between herself and the great world she and her daughter Polly by reason of their birth and their culture will find doors swinging wide to admit them where you and I would find it difficult to enter Polly apologizes sincerely for her rudeness and will write you to that effect as of course she does not know of this letter sincerely your friend Truth Winship End of Chapter 8 Chapter 9 of A Summer and a Canyon A California Story by Kate Douglas-Wigan The sliverbox recording is in the public domain Chapter 9 Round the Campfire The time before the fire they sat and shortened the delay by pleasing chat The August days had slipped away one after another and September was at hand There was no perceptible change of weather to mark the advent of the new month The hills were a little browner the dust a little deeper the fleas a little nimbler and the water in the brook a trifle lower but otherwise dame nature did not concern herself with the change of seasons and as much as she had no old dresses to get rid of and no new ones to put on for a long time yet Indeed, she is never very fashionable in this locality and wears very much the same garments throughout the year Elsie seemed almost as strong as any of the other girls now and could enter with zest into all their amusements the appetite of a young bear the sound dreamless sleep of a baby and the constant breathing in of the pure life-giving air had made her a new creature Mrs. Howard and Jack felt day by day that a burden of dread was being lifted from their hearts and Mrs. Howard especially felt that she loved every rock and tree in the canyon it was a charming morning and Polly was seated at the dining room table deep in the preparation of a lesson in reading and pronunciation for Hop yet her forehead was creased with many wrinkles of thought and she bit the end of her lead pencil as if she were engaged in solving some difficult problem but if that were so why did the dimples chase each other in and out of her cheeks in such a suspicious fashion she was a very gentle a very sedate Polly these latter days and not only astonished her friends but surprised herself by her good behavior her elegant reserve of manner her patience with Jack and her abject devotion to Dickie I'm afraid it won't last she sighed to herself occasionally I'm almost too good that's always the way with me I must either be so bad that everybody is discouraged or else so good that I frighten them now I catch Belle and Elsie exchanging glances every day as much as to say poor Polly she will never hold out at this rate do you notice that nothing ruffles her that she is simply angelic as if I couldn't be angelic for a fortnight why I have often done it for four weeks at a stretch Marjorie was in the habit of giving Hop yet an English lesson every other day as he had been very low to leave his evening school in Santa Barbara and bury himself in a canyon away from all educational influences but she had deserted her post for once and gone to ride with Elsie so that Polly had taken her place and was evolving an exercise that Hop yet would remember to the latest day of his life it looked simple enough one the grass is dry two the fruit is ripe three the chaperone is green four the new road is all right five the bay rum tree is fresh and pretty but as no Chinaman can pronounce the letter R it was laboriously rendered thus when the unhappy time of the lesson came one the glass is dry two the fruit is light three the chaperone is green four the new road is all right five the bay rum tree is fresh and pretty finally when she attempted to introduce the sentence round the rough and rugged rock the ragged rascal ran Hop yet rose hurriedly remarking all righty I go no more school just now I long get lunchy Belle came running down the path just then and linking her arm and Polly said Papa has the nicest plan you know the boys are so disappointed that Colonel Jackson didn't ask him over to that rodeo at his cattle ranch though a summer rodeo is only to sort out a fat cattle to sell not very exciting but Papa promised to tell them all about the old-fashioned kind some night and he has just remembered that tomorrow is admission day September 9 so he proposes a real celebration round the campfire to amuse Elsie she doesn't know anything about California even as it is now and none of us know what it was in the old days don't you think it will be fun perfectly splendid and Papa wants us each to contribute something a picnic but I don't know anything that's just what I'm coming to I have such a bright idea he said that we might look in any of his books but Jeff and Jack are at them already and I'd like a surprise now Juan Capistrano an old faquero of Colonel Jackson's is over here he's a wonderful rider Papa says that he could ride on a comet if he could get a chance to mount it was he who told the boys that the rodeo was over now I propose that we go and interview Pancho and Juan and get them to tell us some old California stories they are both as stupid as they can be but they must have had some adventures I suppose somewhere sometime I'll translate and write things down for my part and you and Marjorie can tell them lovely oh if we can only get an exciting grizzly story so that everyone's blood upon end it will stand and the hair run cold in their veins and was Dr. Paul out here when California was admitted into the Union 1850 wasn't it of course why my child he was one of the delegates called by General Riley the military governor of the convention at Monterey and make a state constitution that was September 2 the first day of September 1849 he went back to the east sometime afterwards and stayed 10 or 15 years but he was a real pioneer and 49er all the same the next night September 9th was so cool that the campfire was more than ordinarily delightful accordingly they piled on more wood than usual and prepared for a grand blaze it was always built directly in front of the sitting room tent so that Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Winship could sit there if they liked but the young people preferred to lie lazily on their cushions and saddles under the oak tree a little distance from the blaze the clear red firelight danced and flickered and the sparks rose into the somber darkness fantastically and the stars twinkled brightly through the thousand tiny windows formed by the interlacing branches oh well said the doctor bringing his Chinese lounging chair into the circle and lighting his pipe so as to be thoroughly happy and comfortable will you banish distinctions of any kind and the stars twinkled brightly through the thousand tiny windows will you banish distinctions of age and allow me to sit among you this evening certainly Marjorie said that's the very point of the celebration this is admission day you know and why shouldn't we admit you true and having put myself into a holiday humor by dining off Poncha's dish of grisado I suppose tonight of all nights we was called beef and onion stew by its local name I will proceed to business and we will talk about California by the way I shall only conduct the exercises for I feel rather embarrassed by the fact that I've never killed or been killed by a bear never been bitten by a tarantula poisoned by a rattlesnake assaulted by a stage robber nor anything of that sort you have all read my story of crossing the plains I even did that in a comparatively easy and unheroic fashion I only wish my dear girls and boys that we had with us some of the brave and energetic men and women who made that terrible journey at the risk of their lives the history of the California crusaders the 30,000 or more immigrants who crossed the plains in 48 more than equals the great military expeditions of the middle ages and magnitude peril and adventure some went by way of Santa Fe and along the hills of the Ahila others starting from Red River traversed the great state desert and went from El Paso del Norte to Sonora others went through Mexico and after spending over a hundred days at sea ran into San Diego and gave up their vessels others landed exhausted with their seven months passage round the horn and some reached the spot on foot after walking the whole length of the California peninsula what privations they must have suffered said Mrs. Howard I never quite realized it why the amount of suffering that was endured in those mountain passes and deserts can never be told in words those who went by the great desert west of the Colorado found a stretch of burning salt plains of shifting hills of sand with bones of animals and men scattered along the trails of terrible and ghastly odors rising in the hot air from the bodies of hundreds of mules and human creatures too that lay half buried in the glaring white sand a terrible journey indeed but if any state in the union could be fair enough fertile enough and rich enough to repay such a lavish expenditure of energy and suffering California certainly was and is the one now who can tell us something of the name California you Jeffrey Jeffrey has crammed exclaimed bell maliciously I believe he's been reading up all day and told Papa what question to ask him I'll pass it on to you if you like laughed Jeffrey no you'd never get another question that you could answer go on in 1534 one Hernando de Grajava was sent by Hernando Cortez to discover something or other and it was probably he who then saw the peninsula of California but a quarter of a century before this a romance called Esplendian had appeared in Spain narrating the adventures of an Amazonian queen who brought allies from the infidels and their attack upon Constantinople by the way I forgot to say that she was a pagan this queen of the Amazons was called Calafia and her kingdom rich in gold and precious stones was named California the writer of the romance derived this name perhaps from Calif a successor of Muhammad he says know that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island named California very close to the terrestrial paradise it was peopled by black women without any man among them for they lived in the fashion of the Amazonia they were of strong and hardy bodies of ardent courage and of great force their island was the strongest in all the world with its steep cliffs and rocky shore their arms were all of gold and so was the harness of the wild beasts which they tamed and rode for in the whole island there was no metal but gold they lived in caves wrought out of the rocks and they had many ships with which they sailed out to other countries to obtain booty Cortez and Garhava believed that they were near the coast of Asia for they had no conception of the size of the world nor the vastness of the pacific ocean and as the newly discovered land corresponded with the country described in the romance they named the peninsula California my book said Philip declared that the derivation of the name was very uncertain that it was first bestowed on one of the coast bays by Bernal Diaz now Philip exclaimed Marjorie do you suppose we are going to believe that after Jack's lovely story certainly not I only thought I'd permit you to hear both sides I knew of course that you would believe the prettier story of the two girls always do that isn't a pretty story your remark I mean so we won't believe it well we girls asked Belle Paula your eyes sparkle as if you couldn't wait another minute your turn next said Dr. Winship I am only afraid that I can't remember my contribution which is really Belle's and still more really Poncho's for he told it to us and Belle translated it and made it into a story we call it a Valerio with a mysterious mountain cave begins well exclaimed Jack now Jack you must be nice remember this is Belle's story and she is letting me tell it so that I can bear my share in the entertainment Poncho believes every word of it added Belle and says that his father told it to him but as I have to change it from bad Spanish into good English I don't know whether I've caught the idea exactly oh it will do quite nicely I've no doubt said Jack encouragingly we've often heard you do good English into bad Spanish and turn and turn about is only fair play don't mind me Polly I will be gentle Jack if you don't behave yourself I'll send you to bed said Elsie and he ducked his head obediently into her lap as Polly with her hands clasping her knees and with the firelight dancing over her bright face leaned forward and told the legend of Valerio or the mysterious mountain cave a long time ago before the settlement of Santa Barbara by the whites the mission Padres had a great many Indians under their control who were known as Neons or serfs they were given enough to eat were not molested by the outside Indians and were entirely peaceable there were so few mountain passes by which to enter Santa Barbara that they were easily held and of course the Padres were anxious to keep their Indians from running away lest they should show the wilder tribes the way to get in and commit depredations these peaceable Indians paid tribute to intermediary tribes to hold the passes and do their fighting those about the mission gave corn and cereals and hides and the products of the sea and got in exchange pignones pine nuts one of these Indians named Valerio was a strong brave handsome youth whose hotty spirit revolted at his servitude and after seeking an opportunity weeks he finally escaped to the Santa Ines mountains where he found a cave in which he hid himself drawing himself up by a rope and taking it in after him the Indians had unlimited belief in Valerio's mysterious and wonderful powers Pancho says that he could make himself invisible at will that locks and keys were powerless against him and that no one could hinder his taking horses or food all sorts of things disappeared mysteriously by day and by night and the robberies were one and all laid to the door of Valerio but after a while Valerio grew lonely in his mountain retreat he longed for human companionship and at length becoming desperate he descended on the mission settlement and kidnapped a young Indian boy named Cheeto who lived in a cave and admitted him into his wild and lawless life but Cheeto was not contented he liked home and comfortable slavery better than the new strange life so he seized the first opportunity and being a bright, daring little lad and fleet of foot he escaped and made his way to the mission arriving there he told wonderful stories of Valerio and his life how his marvelous white mare seemed to fly rather than gallop and leaped from rock to rock like a chamois and how they lived upon wheat bread cheeses wine and other delicacies instead of the coarse fare of the Indians he told them the location of the cave and described the way tither so the Alcade he was the mare or judge you know Elsie got out the troops with their muskets and the Padres gathered the mission Indians with their bows and arrows and they all started in pursuit of the outlaw among the troops were two hechiceros wizards or medicine men whose bowed shoulders and grizzly beards showed them to be men of many years and much wisdom when asked to give their advice they declared that Valerio could not be killed by any ordinary weapons but that special means must be used any avail against his supernatural powers accordingly one of the hechiceros broke off the head of his arrow cast a charm over it and predicted that this would deal the fatal blow the party started out with Chito as a guide and after many miles of weary some travel up rugged mountain sides and over steep and almost impassable mountain trails they paused at the base of a cliff and saw far up the height the mouth of Valerio's cave and what more Valerio himself sitting in the doorway fast asleep alas he had been drinking too heavily of his stolen wine or he would never have so exposed himself to the enemy they fired a volley at him one shot only took effect and even this would not have been possible saved that the spell was not upon him because of his sleep but the one shot woke him and half rising he staggered and fell from the mouth of the cave to a ledge of rocks beneath he sprang to his feet in a second and ran like a deer toward a tree where his white mare was fastened they fired another volley but though the shots flew in every direction Valerio passed on unharmed but just as he was disappearing from view the hechiceros raised his bow and the headless arrow whizzed through space and pierced him through the heart they clampered up the cliffs with shouts of triumph and surrounded him on every side but poor Valerio had surrendered to a more powerful enemy than they wonderful to relate he still breathed though the wound should have been instantly fatal Valerio came from the ground and tied him on his snow white mare his long hair reaching almost to the ground his handsome face as pale as death the blood trickling from his wound but the mysterious power that he possessed seemed to keep him alive in spite of his suffering finally one of the hechiceros decided that the spell lay in the buckskin cord that he wore around his throat a rough sort of necklace hung with bear's claws and snake rattles and that he never would die until the magic cord was cut this after some consultation was done Valerio drew his last breath as it parted asunder and they bore his dead body home in triumph to the mission but he has not forgotten stories are still told of his wonderful deeds and people still go in search of money that he is supposed to have hidden in his cave the Mexican women who tell suertes or fortunes describe the location of the money but as soon as anyone reaches the cave he is warned away by a little old man who stands in the door and protects the buried treasure an Indian lad who was riding over the hills one day with his horse and his dogs dismounted to search for his moccasin when he suddenly noticed that the dogs had chased something into a cave and the rocks he followed and peering into the darkness saw two gleaming eyes he thrust his knife between them but struck the air and though he had been standing directly in front of the opening so that nothing could have passed him yet he heard the clatter of hooves and the tinkle of spurs and turning saw a mysterious horseman whose pale face and streaming hair melted into the mountain mist as it floated down from the purple Santa Ines peaks into the lap of the vine covered foothills below