'^^i''' ;• ^^'\ V''">^kK*''^>l^>« ♦ o > •^^ ^^^^' 'y*' 6 o " » . Frances FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES AT BUENA VISTA FARM BY f ranees Crego jMontgomeri^ AUTHOR OF -Billy Whiskers' Series," "The Wonderful Electric Elephant," "On a Lark to the Planets," "Christmas with Santa Claus," etc. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK AKRON, OHIO CHICAGO .^&' tiSIWYof CONGRESS Iwu Copies rtettfivtiu AUG 12 iB05 jupyneni tnir> /X i 7 6-V- COPY B. ir COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY MADE BY THE WERNER COMPANY AKRON, OHIO To all the little boys and girls whom I have taken so much pleasure in be- ing with and writing about, this book is lovingly dedicated. Contents. CHAPTER. PAGE. I The Start IS II The Arrival of The Irrepressibles 28 III Preparing for the Vaudeville 36 , IV Frances Buys a Lamb 39 V The Night of the Vaudeville 50 VI The Tramps 57 VII Sally Smithers Rides in the Tally-ho 66 VIII More Arrivals 79 IX Stories and Plans 86 X The Culprit 94 XI New Projects . . loi XII Dorothy's Pranks 106 XIII The Secret no XIV The Wedding and the Wedding Journey 117 XV Dorothy Nearly Gets Drowned 124 XVI Dorothy's Cyclone 132 XVII The Children Get Supper 138 XVIII The Fire Across the Lake I43 XIX The Little Tots Get Into Mischief 150 XX The Pigeons Are Stolen I55 XXI The Luncheon 164 XXII Chased by a Bull . 170 XXIII Tehing Stories I73 XXIV Are the Boys Drowned? 180 XXV The Boys' Safe Return 188 XXVI Off for the Cave 192 XXVII Luncheon in the, Cave .197 XXVIII Dorothy Gets into ^lore Mischief ' . 204 i:: CHAPTER. PAGE. XXIX At the Foot of the Hidden Stairs 210 XXX They All Go Hunting 214 XXXI A Night of Adventure 221 XXXII Selling Indian Relics . ' 227 XXXIII Foraging by Moonlight 233 XXXIV The Picnic 242 XXXV The Circus 250 X HUustrations. PAGE. Frances (a) .............. Frontispiece Alice Roselia (b) 80 All the fowls got out 206 "Ann Elizabeth, the 'Ughs' won't catch you" (c) . . . 175 Ann Elizabeth Young (c) ............. 177 Arthur Libby, with "Scott," the collie . . .• -67 At a quarter-of-four, the load was ready 243 Beatrice Gill (b) 74 Boston terrier, "Teddy Roosevelt" (b) . . . . . . .■ . . . 160 Bridge on the road to the farm ............. 24 "Bufif," Frances' coUie (b) ,,.. 195 Carrier Pig-eens, "Colonel" and his mate "Lady" . ' . . . . . . . . 156 Caryl Botsford (b) . . . 59 Caryl in Indian costume .............. 198 Caryl in one of the canoes (d) ............ 228 Caught in the wire ............... 43 Champlain Kettle (b) "7^ Charles and Robert Donnelley, the twins (b) .......... 81 "Colonel" and "Prince" ............. 245 Colt and calf 27 "Come and sit on the haycock'' ............ 103 Dickey Doolittle on roller skates (e) . . . . . . • . . . -97 "Doctor" Kettle vaccinating Alice Roselia (b) . . . . . . . . . 167 Dorothy's Angora goat (d) . . . -49 Dorothy making mud-pies ............. 133 Dorothy ready for the tally-ho (b) . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Dorothy was playing in the yard ............ 48 Dorothy Winton 18 xi PAGE. Dorrie Hildreth in a farm sun-bonnet (f) ......... . 112 Dorrie's home ................ 122 Estelle (g) 19 Estelle near the cabin ....... ^ ...... 25 Eugenea Kettle (b) .............. 30 Eugenea's luncheon (b). . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Flowers from the children's garden ........... loi Fond du Lac road ............... 169, "Foxie," a fox terrier .............. 193 Gene and Arthur's ducks .............. 83 Get a drink ................ 120 Graveraet Young (c) .............. 107 Gwendolyn Hamilton (b) ............. 236 "Hero," the St. Bernard (h) ............. 225 Hugh Brooks and his goats ............. 253 In the chicken yard ............... 104 Lady Diana (g) 151 Lake de Neveu ............... 148 Little fluffy chickens that she dearly loved .......... 134 LoHta Ogden (i) 41 "Marquise," cocker-spaniel ............. 255 Mrs. Smithers, Sally's mother ............. 118 Munro dressed for the wedding (k) . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Natalie Donnelley (1) 89 "Ned," Regis' dog (m) 223 North side of farmhouse, showing loggia (n) . ......... 144 One of Estelle's kodak pictures ............ 171 One of the entrances to the cave ............ 212 Paddling in the shallow water ............ 246 Petting one of the colts .............. 208 Playing under the tree . . . . . . . ... • • • • 124 "Prince" .............••••• 22 Regis Lynch ............... 33 Robert Libby (b) ' 46 "Snow-Ball," Dorothy's Angora kitty ............ 31 '■Tell-a-Bell," "Roy" and "Pinkey" (o) 127 xii PAGE. The calf that frightened Dorothy ........... 38 The children take turns in driving ............ 102 The cow they milked (m) ............. 202 The Farm cows ............... 47 The Farmhouse (n) .............. 25 The Football Boys (b) 251 The grate in the living-room ............ 18S The hay-ride ................ 85 The kittens Dorothy stole (o) ............ IS4 The steps to the lake (n) ............. 125 The swing (n) ............... 16 The spring-house .............. i73 The twins at the milk-house ............. 82 The tally-ho Sally rode in ........... . 77 The quiet old cows ............... 84 Their costumes were funny (b) ............ SZ They were blackened up like darkies (b) . . ' . . . . . . . -56 Tom Tatters ............... 161 Top of bluff near cave .............. 186 "To-To," King Charles spaniel ............ Z7 Trying to dam up the little stream . . . . . ... . . . . . 205 "We will surely miss the train !" called Frances ......... i7 Where Regis fell in the milk ............. 141 Where they set the traps ............. 93 William Libby and "Scott" (b) 216 "Zephyr" and "Maria" I94 Note.— Illustrations indicated are from originals by the following photographers, who ex- tended us the courtesy of their use : (a) La Marche & Shaw (h) Gardiner (b) Everett L. Shaw (i) R- Bitterlich (c) M. J. Steffens (k) The Matzene Co. (d) Bernard La Marche (1) Jameson, Pittsburg (e) Henshel (m) Fred A. Elliott (f) Johnson Bros. (n) T. W. Hamil (g) G. W. Varney (0) Ellsworth Gross (Tbaracters in the Stor^g. -The Winton children Estelle Winton Munro Winton /•Frances Winton Dorothy Winton Diana Winton Champlain Kettle 1 „ , , . > Brother and sister Eugenea Kettle j William Libby (also called Bill.) , ^ , " Brothers "Brothers and sisters Arthur Libby Robert Libby, Cousin to William and Arthur Gravaraet Young ) ^ , , . V Brother and sister Ann Elizabeth Young ) Natalie Donnelley Alice Roselia Donnelley Charles Donnelley ") „ y Twins Robert Donnelley ) Regis Lynch Lolita Ogden Caryl Botsford (also called Bots and Botsford) Gwendolyn Hamilton Dorrie Hildreth Beatrice Gill ~\ Dickey Doolittle Kitty Tidbit Sally Smithers George Wilder Tom Tatters Hugh Brooks Madame de Neveu (owner of the farm) Miss Amelia de Neveu [oa Deborah, Jennie, Mary (nurses); John (hired man); Tramps; Policemen. . _ aughters of Madame de Neveu Miss Elizabeth de Neveu XIV Chapter I. THE START. G OODIE! goodie! Here comes the expressman for our trunks," exclaimed an excited little girl, who was standing by the window evidently watching for some one. With her brother, sisters, and nurse, she was leaving that morning for a summer vacation, which was to be passed with several little friends on a lovely farm on Lake de Neveu, six miles from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. These children enjoyed far better going to this farm than to the seashore, moun- tains, or any fashionable resort. It was one of the most attractive places one could imagine for, healthy, romping, growing children to pass a summer in, as there was everything for them to have fun with from fishing and sailing on the lake to riding on loads of hay and building log cabins in the woods. These were some of the pas- times the older children enjoyed while the younger ones were happy playing round the house. There always were new little kittens and puppies to be inspected each year and divided among the youngsters after much arguing and disputing as to which was the prettiest, and as to who was entitled to first choice. Then there were the little, fluffy, yellow chickens just out of their shells, and last but not least, there was the swing ; yes, the swing, and such a glorious one you never saw in all your life, so I am going to describe it to you minutely. In the first place it was hung from a high curved limb of a tall elm tree, so high that no ladder on the farm could reach it, so they had to wait until the men came along to mend the telegraph wires, when, having boots with long nails in them to help them climb the poles, Miss Amelia would ask them to put up the rope for the swing. The advantage of having such a long rope was that the swing went so high that the earth seemed dropping away and one could see across the lake at the bottom of the hill and far away over the tree tops for miles and miles where the country faded into a purple mist. This swing was the beloved object of all the children who came to the farm and was the first thing they went to on arriving. Then the rambling old farmhouse was a constant delight to the children, with 15 i6 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES its new additions of a room here, a veranda or covered porch there, and its many cozy nooks and corners. Owing to its being built on the side hill, it had the appearance from the front of being two stories high, while from the back it showed three stories. Over the kitchen had been built a large, square, covered loggia which was used as a dining-room on hot nights. Here it was always cool, and while at tea one could enjoy the beauties of the sunset and listen to the old robins chirping their little ones to sleep, or to the lowing of the cows as they came hurrying home to be milked THE SWING. But I must not forget to tell yovi of the living-room with its six large windows commanding a view of the surrounding country. This room opened into the loggia, before spoken of, and also upon the wide front porch. It had a slippery hardwood floor, a big open chimney built of boulders, where log fires were kindled on cool evenings and round which the children gathered to pop corn and to toast apples, while AT BUENA \'ISTA FARM 17 at the same time listening to the music of the angehis or piano, or to some one singing. This was a glorious room for dancing, and for private theatricals, charades, etc., as it had a suite of rooms opening from it that could be used for dressing-rooms. On the tables, mantels, and walls were — trophies, pictures, and photographs of the people and children who % had at different times visited the farm ; all sent in loving re times spent here. I will about the house and get acquainted with the story goes on, but enough to introduce little French ma charming daughters Every one, old and madame "mother," able little body, pe soft white hair done and with quaint lit witty sayings. She little French mar wilds of Wisconsin of the door to meet Her daughters are no though young ladies, frolic, and ever ready to have supper on the lawn at ing here the year round they for the summer to liven them pie come year after year, they friends, and madame declares children are her grand-chil them, while they are equally Now I will return to the children got started for the "WE WILI. SURELY MISS THE TRAIN IF YOU DON'T HURRY," CALLED FRANCES. membrance of the good not tell you any more farm but will let you them for yourselves as I must stop long you to the dearest dame and her two who own the place, young, calls the she is such an ador- j tite in figure, with 1 in pufifs and curls, tie manners and reminds one of a quise lost in the when she steps out and greet her guests, -less attractive, and al- are full of fun and go on a picnic or to half an hour's notice. Liv- always take a few boarders up a bit and as the same peo- seem more like relatives than that she feels as if the dren she is so attached to fond of her. city and tell you how the farm. "Mamma, hurry, quick, Thomas is at the front door. I can hear the horses champing their bits. We will surely miss the train if you don't hurry," called Frances, Mrs. FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES Winton's ten-year-old daughter who was always afraid of getting left. She had been sitting in the hall for the last half hour with her big rag doll, nearly as large as her- self, on one arm and a small satchel hung over the other. Frances' little sister Dorothy was the sweetest, prettiest, most mischievous bit of pink and white humanity that jk one could wish to see. She was rarelv still for more than a minute at worn out going up and down ing to every one's business the time : "Amn't me a packed ?" That her good people up and causing J^^^ a time and to-day was nearly stairs so, many times, attend- but her own and saying all dood dirl, helpin' oo det intentions were mixing all sorts of delays can which required careful • and regular brushing. This hair was a most fitting crown to a Dorothy winton. sweet, serious, oval face with large, brown eyes, long lashes, and perfectly formed eyebrows. "Deborah, have you seen my hair-brush anywhere?" asked Estelle, as the nurse came into the room. "No, miss, I have not." AT BUENA VISTA FARM 19 "Shissy, me packed oor hair-brush long ado "cause me knew 00 would want it."' ''Oh, you little mischief ! If 30U would only go down stairs and stay with Frances you would save lots of bother." "Ale wasn't boverin'. Me was only helpin' 00," said Dorothy, her eyes swimming in tears. To think that her sister broke her heart, when she was had packed the hair-brush think that a queer place don't know what you you that she also i^* rubbers in the crown ,^^ white hat and stuck candy in the bosom dress shirt. "Rattlety bang ! came a sound from one had fallen the stairs ; and sure had. Dorothy, on room had spied a roll a shawl strap at the ready to be carried diately gathered it up in time trying to carry a treasures. As she took the and went rolling, over and should consider her a bother nearly only trying her best to help and in the lunch basket. Do you to pack a hair-brush? I will say when I tell packed her muddy of her sister's best a piece of molasses of her brother's bumpety bump ! " the hall as if some whole length of the enough some one leaving Estelle's of wraps done up in head of the stairs, down, and she imme- her arms, at the same : tin pail filled with her first step she lost her balance over, to the foot of the stairs. still clinging to the roll of ESTElle. shawls, and it was the little pail that made all the noise as it hit against the hard wood of the steps. She was not hurt in the . least but only badly frightened, for the soft roll of wraps had eased her fa-11 and prelected her, but she thought she was killed and so howled accordingly until Frails came to her rescue and kissed the places where she said she was hurt, making her laugh by showing her how she had bent the little tin pail all out of shape, and taking her to the mirror to show her how she looked with W|jf mashed hat hanging over one ear. Sunny smiles soon follow tear clouds with children, and Dorothy forgot her trou- bles when mamma called to Frances that thev would all be down in a minute and that 20 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES she should take Dorothy out to the carriage, so that she could not get into any more mischief. "All ready ! Muddy dear, I have done your errand," called a boy's cheery voice, as a handsome, manly lad of fourteen came bounding into the front door. "Shall I carry your satchel down or has some one done so already?" This lad was Munro Winton, the only son and pride of his father, the idol of his mother and sisters, for he was manly, generous, and thoughtful, and his disposi- tion was as kind as his face was good to look at. "Munny, Munny! Me wants a jink," called Dorothy from the carriage. "Me's most dead for it and shissy says me must stay in carriage or me will det left. 'Deed, Munny, Ise been here most a million hours waitin' to do, and evybody is so slow Ise most dot de fidgets." "All right, tot. Stay where you are and I will bring you the drink." Bang went the carriage door at last, crack went the lash of the whip, and they were ofi. Mamma sank back among the cushions and gave a sigh of relief, saying as she did so : "It is as bad getting a family of children ofif for their vacation as it is getting started for Europe, for there is so much that can only be done at the last moment. EIow quiet the house will seem when you are gone ! You have never all left me at one time before, but I know Deborah will look after you, and if any of you should get ill I cottld come to you in a few hours." "Mamma, look, look, Estelle and Munny are passin' us !" Sure enough Munro and Estelle, who were driving to the station in the pony-cart, had just passed them. The ponies were to be shipped to the farm so the children could have them to drive in the country. "Mamma, I am afraid Caryl is going to get left," said Frances as they sat in the waiting-room while Munro was getting the trunks checked. Caryl Botsford was one of the children who were to spend the summer with them on the farm. He was to meet them at the depot and go on the same train. "Dere he is ! Dere he is !" cried Dorothy, as a slender boy of ten, with refined, delicate features, kind brown eyes and light curly hair cropped short, came toward them. His manner was quiet and slightly bashful ; and he blushed crimson when he sat on the seat beside Dorothy and she threw her arms around his neck, giving him a smacking kiss that every one sitting near heard. Caryl lived next door to the Winton 's and Dorothy was very fond of him, but he preferred Frances, who was nearer his own age, and they were great chums. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 21 "Caryl, what made 00 have oor pretty quirls cut off?" asked Dorothy as she took off his cap and commenced running her fingers through his hair. "Mamma, do make Dorothy stop mauHng Caryl," said Frances. "Me isn't maulin' him, me's only pettin' him," replied Dorothy in an indignant voice. "Oo likes to be petted, doesn't 00?" asked the little one as she turned her head to one side like a little bird and looked into his iace. "Shissy is jealous, isn't her?" laughed Dorothy. "All aboard for the Milwaukee and St. Paul train !" called the station crier and Dorothy nearly fell off her seat in her haste to get Pinky and Rosy, her two dolls, from Deborah's lap. "Dis is our train. Tome, Debba, hurry ! kick ! Take my hand so me won't det loosed." "Mamma, why don't sister and Munro come?" asked Frances. "Probably there has been some delay about getting the ponies and cart shipped. Munro had to see to getting them off on another train as they would not let them go on ours. Here comes Estelle now, so we will get on the train and wait for brother there." Presently they were all seated in the parlor-car watching other people come in and take their seats. Miss Dorothy planted herself in one seat with her dolls beside her and refused to move even when the porter told her that was not her chair. "Yes, 'tis. Me dot it fustest." "Dorothy, Dorothy ! Jump down and come here. This chair is just as nice." "No, it isn't, 'cause it won't whirl around only half way and dis one does all de way round. I know 'cause Fse tried." "Mercy ! What a spoiled child," said a sour-faced lady sitting opposite. "Me isn't spoiled. Oo is spoiled 'cause oor face is wrinkled up like a baked apple." Just then the conductor called, "All aboard!" and it was just as well that he did, for it helped to cover the lady's confusion at Dorothy's remark and Deborah's mortification at the rudeness of her little charge. In the confusion that followed saying good-bye to mamma, who was not going with them, Dorothy's naughtiness was forgotten. "Choo, choo! hiss, hiss!" puffed the engine and they were off, but where was Munro ? "He is left ! He is left !" exclaimed Frances ; but no, he swung himself on just as the train started, after giving mamma a parting hug while she was charging him to look after the girls. "Well ! we are off at last," said Estelle. "I do hate the confusion and delay one 22 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES has after reaching the depot and before the train starts, for I am always afraid that some one will get left." "Debba, I'se tired lookin' at dese homely shanties and dirty chillun. Why don't we det into de country where dere is a woods and some cows to look at ?" "We will soon, pet. We have not had time to get ont of the suburbs yet." "What's sububs, Debba?" "All these houses you are looking at make the suburbs. Quick, quick ! We are going over a bridge. See that boat !" "But what dirty water ! Me wouldn't like to det drowned in it. Would oo, shissy ?" As soon as they were beyond the suburbs Dorothy sat quietly looking out of the window for some time, talking to Rosy and Pinky while she held them so they might look out too. Estelle began to read, while the other children talked and planned what they would do when they first got to the farm. They wondered who Avould meet them and what horses and rigs they would bring to the depot. "Let us guess on it," said Munro. They all consented, and Caryl guessed that Miss Amelia would bring the double carriage and drive Prince and Colonel, and that Miss Elizabeth would drive her blacks. Fleet and Presto, hitched to the three-seated buck-board. Each sister had her own horses and neither of them drove those belonging to the other. "Which do you guess, Frances?" "I guess that Miss Amelia will drive in the single buggy and Miss Elizabeth in the buck-board." "Dinnah is now served in the dining-car," called the colored waiter, and this put a stop to the guess- ing, for all were hungry and they decided to go in for the second call, for then they would have plenty of PRINCE. at once and not wait time. "Dearie, go with Deborah and let her wash your face and hands and we will save a place for you," said Estelle to Dorothy. "Me don't want to be washed. Me is clean as can be," and she held up two dirty little hands for inspection. "Yes, dear, you must ; and sister will order some nice chicken and have it all ready for you when you come." AT BUENA VISTA FARM 23 "We-el, if 00 won't eat a bit till me tomes." "No, we won't." Presently they were seated in the dining-car with Estelle, Munro, Frances, and Caryl at one table, and Dorothy and Deborah at another. Dorothy's face fell when she saw that she was not to sit with the others, but that could not be helped as there was only room for four at each table. Soon they heard Deborah laughing and when they asked what she was laughing about, she said it was at the things Dorothy had or- dered. "What did she order?" asked Frances. "I told her I would read the menu to her and when I came to anything she liked, she was to tell me. The only thing she ordered on the whole bill was chicken, until I came to the desserts and then she ordered every one not even skipping coffee which she dearly loves but is not allowed to have at home.'' "Shissy, tan't me have ice cream, blue belly pie, watermelon, 'ittle, tiny cakes, and some nuts like dat gentleman has over dere?" pointing her finger at the gentleman Avho sat at the table on the opposite side of the car. "Shissy, I want all of um. I don't want any potatoes or corn or salad or nuffin' but only dust ice cream, pie, and dessert." "Darling, you never eat that way at home. Why should you on the train?" " 'Cause mamma won't let me eat mixy at home so me wants to now. It's such fun 'cause me likes um all and amn't hungry for nuffin' else." "Dearie, you mustn't say *amn't.' How often have we told you to say 'am not,' instead ?" "I tant bover sayin' it, shissy. It takes too long." At three-fifty the train pulled in at Fond du Lac, with four little heads sticking out of the windows to see who could get the first glimpse of whoever came to meet them. "There they are ! There they are !" they all cried at once, as they neared the depot and saw Miss Elizabeth sitting in the buck-board waiting for them, and Miss Amelia standing on the platform ready to help them off the train. In less than three minutes they were kissing and hugging Miss Amelia and all talking at once. While Estelle and Miss Amelia looked after the trunks, the others climbed into the buck-board with Miss Elizabeth, leaving the buggy for Miss Amelia and Estelle. "Miss Isabeth, me Is doin' to sit on de front seat and help 00 to drive," an- 24 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES nounced Dorothy, who was a prime favorite with Miss EHzabeth. "Me don't want Debba to hold me. Me wants her to sit ahind, 'cause me is a bid dirl now and don't have to be holded in any more." "Very well, dear. There is plenty of room so Deborah can sit with Caryl on the next seat, and Munro and Frances can sit on the back one." It was beautiful to see the devotion and love existing between these "two lovers" as they were called. From the time Frances was born, Munro had idolized her and as she grew older she returned this love with interest, so they were seldom seen apart though Munro was four years older than she. . As Deborah was rather fleshy, Caryl let her have the seat to herself while he climbed in beside Munro and Frances, who were nothing loth as the seat was wide and they were both fond of Caryl. Deborah kept tight hold of the back of Dorothy's dress, not letting her know she was doing so, however, for Miss Dorothy would have objected. As it was, she kept turning round to be sure that she was not being held. Soon they were out of Fond du Lac and driving along a pretty country road to- ward Buena Vista, as the farm was called. With hats off, they sang merrily as they drove, laughing heartily when Miss Elizabeth drove over a big bump in the road and nearly bounced them off their seats, which they considered great fun. Rattlety bang, up hill and down they went, over bridges and through the woods, until they came in sight of the lake, and the beloved farmhouse at top of the hill. Then they all gave three cheers at the sight and asked Miss Elizabeth to drive faster as they were in such a hurry to get there. "I see muzzer ! I see muzzer !" cried Dorothy as she saw Madame de Neveu standing on the porch waving her handkerchief at them. They had not been on the farm half an hour before they had scurried all over it to take a peep at this place, and a look at that, had tested the swing and had drunk from the spring at the foot of the hill. Even the pigs were visited and the chicken house inspected, to say noth- ing of the little new calves and colts they had admired in the stable-yard. While looking at the calves, Munro commenced to laugh and when they asked him what he was having so much fun over all by himself, he replied : BRIDGE ON THE ROAD TO THE FARM. O < — H AT BUENA VISTA FARM 27 "Frances, do you remember the day you went into the lot where the six little calves were, and while you were feeding one, another came up behind you and chewed the back breadth of your dress nearly ofif? That is what I was laughing about." 'T should think I did remember it ; and when I got it out of his mouth I found it was all chewed into pulp. I felt terribly because it was one of my favorite dresses, a pink gingham trimmed with white braid, and I suppose the calf liked the taste of the starch that was in it." "There goes the supper horn. Come, we must hurry !" cried Munro. "It's a good thing they blow a horn here for meals instead of ringing a bell, for if colt and CAL,t. they did not we would never hear it, as we are always over at the barn or down by the lake and no bell could be heard so far away." (Tbaptcr 2. ARRIVAL OF THE IRREPRESSIBLES. HILE at supper, Miss Amelia told the children that she had just received a letter saying that more of their playmates would arrive to-morrow, that they were coming without their parents and were expected to be on their good behavior and take care of themselves. "Goodie, goodie ! I am so glad they are coming to-morrow for that will add to our band," said Frances. "You don't mean to say that you have all learned to play and have formed your- selves into a band, do you ?" asked Miss Elizabeth. "Oh, no," answered Munro, "Frances means another kind of a band, like a band of Indians. We call ourselves 'The Irrepressibles' and most of us play on some kind of an instrument. How we happened to call ourselves the 'Irrepressibles' came about in this way. One day as we were marching along the sidewalk, playing on jews- harps, m.outh-organs, accordions, and a second-hand hand-organ, we heard a gentle- man sitting on a veranda say to his wife, 'Those children are perfectly irrepressible ! I wonder what they will be up to next. Did you ever hear such a racket?' Every one of us was playing a different tune on a different instrument. My ! but it was fun to see how the people on their front steps and verandas squirmed at the discords we were making as we marched round the block. When we got home I suggested that 'The Irrepressibles' would be a good name for us and the others agreed, so we have called ourselves that ever since." "Miss Isabeth, is Wobert comin' to-morrow too, 'cause I want to see him terrible bad," said Dorothy. "No, dear, Robert and his mamma are not coming until the end of the week." Robert was a little three-year-old boy that Dorothy was very fond of, and sorry to say, she led him into many scrapes. "Miss Amelia, can't we all go to meet them in the tally-ho?" asked Frances. "It would be such fun." 28 AT BUENA VISTA 29 "Certainly you can, my dear, and Miinro can see if he has forg-otten how to blow the tally-ho horn that he played so well last year." "Indeed I have not forgotten and I know that I shall be able to blow the ears off the horses this year if I try." At exactly three-fifteen o'clock the next day the six black horses with the red rosettes on their bridles stood before the door, hitched to the red and black tally-ho, ready for the six- mile drive to Fond du Lac to meet the coming "Irrepressibles." Munro with the tally-ho horn climbed up beside the driver, while Frances and Caryl sat on the seat behind them, with Dorothy and Estelle on the back seat. Dorothy wanted to ride on the inside with her two dolls but they coaxed her to ride on top, knowing that she would roll around like a pea in its pod, if allowed to sit inside the empty coach. "Oh, my ! I has dropped Pinky. Don't do, John, 'cause I tan't do wivout her. Rosy would kye her eyes out if her were left ahind." "Won't you leave the dolls at home, Dorothy? We won't be gone long and Deb- orah will take good care of them until you come back,'' said Estelle. "No, I tan't go wivout um. Dey would det whoopin' cough if I left um ahind." "Well, hold on tightly to them then." With a pink doll squeezed under each arm she was satisfied, and sat on the high seat be- side her sister, as they bowled along over the road, Munro blowing the horn whenever they saw anyone coming or when they passed a dorothy ready for the tai.ly-ho. farmhouse. The children thought they had never enjoyed anything more, but they were always 30 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES thinking this and saying they had had "the time of their lives," whenever they happened to have a good time. Through the streets of Fond du Lac went the tally-ho until it drew up before the depot. They had but a few minutes to wait, when the whistle of the approaching train was heard. Then for the next few minutes all was confusion as they welcomed the children with hugs and kisses, stored their wraps and satchels inside the tally-ho, and climbed into the seats on top. Had you looked at them when they started, you would have said that you had never seen a prettier lot of children together. Beside the Winton children, whom you are already acquainted with, there were five others. First, there was Regis Lynch, aged twelve, who had saucy, laughing grey eyes and light curly hair. Then there was Dickey Doolittle, a timid, girlish-looking boy, with large, dull brown eyes and pouting lips, who always talked with a drawl or whine. A good mate for him was Kitty Tidbit, a little girl of eight, who was as busy a piece of humanity for her size as one could find. She was as active and play- ful as a kitten and apparently had as many lives, for she was continually getting into scrapes and as often managing to come out alive. She could plan more mischief than ten other children put together. Then there was Eugenea Kettle, a hand- some girl of ten, a perfect blonde with wide-open blue eyes. Last but not least came Lolita Ogden, an only child of fond parents, and who was worshiped accordingly. She had a strong character which she had inherited from her grandfather and if she wanted a thing, she wanted it very much and never gave up until she got it, although it might take her days to do so. This per- sistence was another family trait. She was very fond of animals and had all kinds of pets in her city home as well as here in the country. EUGENEA KETTLE. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 31 It is difficult to remember who is who, when one is introduced to so many new children at once, but 3'ou will soon be able to remember them when they all reach the farm and begin playing. There was a pony and horse for each child, also a dog or cat, beside other pets too numerous to mention, as every child was allowed to have as a pet whatever he or she particularly fancied and it was like going to a menagerie to visit all their cages and houses. There were pigs and guinea pigs, pigeons and fancy fowls of all kinds. The largest dog on the farm was Hero, a St. Bernard, the smallest a Mexican dog named Chiquita. Then there were two Boston terriers, a fox terrier, a cocker spaniel, a hunting dog, a King Charles spaniel, a skye terrier, two Scotch collies, a French poodle, and cats without number, not forgetting a fine Angora goat and some little kids and lambs. These pets were always kept at the farm the year round and one would have thought that bedlam was let loose when all the children and dogs got together, especially at the beginning of their annual visit, for the dogs nearly lost their heads with joy every time the children came to the farm. Instead of keeping the dogs all, in one place their houses were scattered throughout the grounds, and for fun, the children had named them "the police brigade," as any tramp that hap- pened to go straggling through the grounds was likely to have a piece taken out of his trousers, or to be held by the dog-police until some one came to the rescue. Little Lolita had some white mice that she dearly loved and would let them run round her neck and hide in her hair or down her nightgown sleeves. Frances hated mice as much as Lolita loved them and Lolita, being a great tease, would often make Frances do just as she wanted her to, on penalty of putting the mice in her bed at night. But at last Frances found something that Lolita was afraid of, and this was a snake, so when Lolita said, "If you don't do what I want you to, I'll put the mice in your bed," Frances replied : "Very well ! on your peril, for I will return the compli- ment by putting that squirming green garter snake in yours." This generally ended the matter and they would call quits. SNOW BALL, DOROTHY'S ANGORA KITTY. Z'Z FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES The very first night of their annual visit, as the children sat on the loggia watch- ing the moon come up and the fireflies flitting here and there through the grass, they planned what they were going to do the next day, and, in fact, for many days to comcj as the work they had laid out would take a long while. It was nothing less than build- ing a log cabin in the woods about a half mile from the house, which they could use as a playhouse during their stay on the farm. Miss Amelia said the logs were there and that the frame work was already up for a one-storied cabin with a loft, and that if they cared to finish it they could do so and have it for their own. "And now I will tell you what I will do for you," Miss Elizabeth said. 'T will give you land enough just outside of the woods in which the cabin is built, to make a garden and then we will buy all the vegetables you can raise for our table. This will give you all some healthy work to do which will be just like play. The girls can plant flower-seeds and tend to the flowers, which we will also buy to decorate our home ; and they can make curtains of dotted muslin and pretty creton covers for old chairs and boxes to be used for seats, hem napkins and tablecloths, and fill pillows with balsam needles to put on the couches and window seats. You might give a pink tea or a vaudeville entertainment and charge twenty-five cents admission, and with the proceeds buy kitchen utensils, dishes, and furniture for your cabin, and then you would be ready to set up housekeeping on the co-operative plan." "Oh, Miss Elizabeth ! It is too heavenly an idea to be true. Think what fun we can have doing all those things !" exclaimed The Irrepressibles in chorus. "What shall we name it?" asked Frances, "for our place must have a name." "I'll tell you what," said Eugenea. "We will each suggest a name and then vote on which is prettiest." Here are some of the names that v;ere mentioned : "Toy Villa," "Circus Nest," "Jungle Den," "Robbers' Roost," "Wood Peckers' Cabin," "Birds' Nest," "Elm Boughs," because a big elm tree spread its boughs above it, "The Rest," and "Hazel Hurst," as it was half hidden by hazel bushes. After much arguing and discussion a vote was taken, and "Elm Boughs" getting the most votes, that name was agreed upon. The children were so excited over this new scheme that they could not sleep for thinking of it and all were up bright and early the next morning. Even before the dew was off the grass Munro and Frances, Regis and Lolita, went over before breakfast to inspect the site of the new cabin. They found it exceeded their greatest expecta- tions. The hazel bushes crowned the hill and in their midst, looming above them like a giant over pygmies, stood a huge elm tree with wide-spreading boughs, under which the cabin had been commenced. By clearing out a few hazel bushes one could get a Regis Lyxch (33) AT BUENA VISTA FARM 35 beautiful and extensive view of the country, with a gUmpse of Lake de Neveu in the distance. All day long for a week, came the sound of hammer and ax from the top of the hill where the cabin was being completed and just outside the thicket could be seen boys and girls at work spading, raking, and plant- ing seeds, flowers and vegetables, in the new garden. While some of the girls helped make garden, others sat on the veranda at home and were taught how to sew and hem by Estelle and Deborah. At the end of two Aveeks the cabin was ready to move into and everything was in apple-pie order even to the window boxes filled with scarlet geraniums and other bright, blooming flowers. Now, all that was to be done was to give the vaudeville to raise funds for the furniture and dishes. It was decided to hold the perform- ance in the cabin and to light the grounds with Chinese lanterns and to serve lemonade and ice-cream under the trees. Madam de Neveu said she would donate a large carpet rug for the cabin and Miss Elizabeth gave them three lamps with lovely red Chinese shades on them, while Miss Amelia gave them an old mohair-covered couch, and a large hammock to be swung inside in one corner of the cabin. estelle; near the cabin. Chapter 3* PREPARING FOR THE VAUDEVILLE. I. Chorus The Irrepressibles. II. Tableau — Sleeping Beauty Lolita Ogden, Regis Lynch. III. Clog Dancing Munro Winton, Regis Lynch. IV. Song with Harp Accompaniment Estelle Winton. V. Darky Hoe-down Kitty Tidbit, Dickey Doolittle. VI. Tableau — Little Boy Blue Robert Libby. ,,-,-j. I Fancy Bow-and-arrow Shooting. • [Indian-club Swinging . Caryl Botsford. VIII. Tableau — Little Bo-peep Dorothy Winton. IX. Tableau — Dutch girl at spinning wheel Eugenea Kettle. X. Trained Dogs Munro Winton, Director. XL Tableau — ;Cinderella Frances Winton. XII. Cake-walk The Irrepressibles. HE above was the program mapped out for the performance that was to take place a week hence. You can imagine the hustle, bustle, and work it entailed to get the costumes ready for the tableaux and the dresses for the cake-walk, to say nothing of training the dogs so that they would go through with their parts before a crowd. All this made many trips to Fond du Lac necessary, to buy Turkey red calico for the drop-curtain, spangles and tulle for Cinderella's costume and blue over-alls for Little Boy Blue, etc. 'T think we ought to have a stage-manager and costume-designer like they have at really-truly theatres so as to stop all this arguing and confusion," said Regis, "and I for one choose Munro for stage-manager." "No, you don't, young fellow ! Thanks awfully, but I decline the honor and pass it over to you, as I have not the ability. I am more fitted to be the stage carpenter." "You are too modest," replied Regis. 36 AT BUENA VISTA FARM 37 TO-TO, KING CHARLES SPANIEIv. "That is all right," said Frances. Let us elect them stage-manager and carpenter and that will settle it." "Very well, say we do ; for you know the stage carpenter is just as important as the manager, for without him there would be no scenes or curtains," said Lolita. "Say, Dickey ! You ought to be a soup," said Kitty. "You know you are so fond of it that you put it in your lap as well as in your mouth." She had reference to Dickey's spilling a plate of soup in his lap the day before. "You don't know what a 'supe' is, you greeny, retorted Dickey. . "Oh, don't I ? Smarty ! Well, I do !" "Oh, stop your quarreling. You two are always sa3dng nasty things to each other and I expect you will be kicking each other before your dance is over, when you are doing the hoe-down," said Frances. "I expect we will," said Kitty, "or making faces at each other to see who has the largest mouth when we get our lips painted red," and they both began to laugh good-naturedly again. "Ise doin' to be 'ittle Bo-peep and have a 'ittle wolly seeps det lost and tome back 'out any tail and Ise doin' to have a sticky-out dress all pink and blue on, 'cause big shissy said so." (She always called Estelle "big shissy" and Frances just "shissy.") "Wobert he doin' to be 'ittle Boy Boo and do fast asleep. Won't he be a 'ittle tupid !" "Gene, you will make a fine Dutch girl because you look so Dutch to begin with," said Regis in a teasing voice. This brought Gene's wrath upon him and she commenced to pound him over the head with her work-bag, until he made his escape by climbing over the railing of the loggia and dropping to the ground some ten or tvv^elve feet below. This started them all up and when Munro called out, "Let's go and play in the hay-mow," they jumped up in a hurry, upsetting chairs and work-baskets in their haste to be ofif. Some dropped over the side of the loggia as Regis had done, while others ran for the steps or through the house, whichever way they thought was shortest, and they had scarcely touched the ground when each child was followed by his or her particular dog running barking at their heels. Down went Gene as Munro's big St. Bernar-d ran against her and Dickey soon followed suit when his little fox terrier ran between his legs upsetting him. Some FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES went straight to the barn while others went by way of the spring to get a drink. For half an hour all was still around the house as on a Sabbath day, until cries of distress were. heard coming from the stables. Deborah recognized the voice immediately as Dorothy's and started on a run, to be met by Munro carrying her and Frances walking beside them trying to soothe her. When Miss Dorothy saw Deborah coming she renewed her howls to excite sym- pathy, but she had no need to do that for poor Deborah was already so weak from fright that she could scarcely run. Poor Deborah ! She loved her little charge so well that she had thoroughly spoiled her and made her a little tyrant. "What is the matter, darling pet? Did Deborah's lamb fall and hurt itself?" they heard her calling as she ran along. On reaching them she gathered Dorothy into her arms and rocked her back and forth covenng her face with kisses, cooing to her all the time, "Tell its own Deborah how it got hurt." "I wa — was playin' in de hay and I — I stepped in a hole and felled froo wight on top of a 'ittle calf's back and he spilled me off in de dirty cow stable. Dere now! Isn't he a nasty mean calf to do dat? Him was so hard him most broke my back when I felled on him." "Well, never mind, precious, you will be all right in a minute, and just think, you scared the little calf so he won't grow any more for a month, I know." At this Dorothy commenced to laugh, as she was not hurt, only well shaken up and frightened. "Kiss sister and Munny, pettie. We will go back to the other children and you can go to the house and get a warm ginger-cake, for I smell some cooking." the: calf that frightened DOROTHY. Chapter 4. FRANCES BUYS A LAMB. WHO wants to go to town with me ?" asked Munro at the breakfast table the next morning. "Don't all speak at once for there will only be room for three besides myself in the runabout." "Me does ! Me does !" called out Dorothy. "I did not include you with the others, Dorothy, because you are too little." "Me is not 'ittle at all. Ise a bid dirl now wiv pettincoats on." "Never mind, Dorothy. You don't want to go with them. You may go with me to meet Robert and his mamma who are coming this afternoon," said Miss Amelia. "Goodie ! Goodie ! Dere now, Mr. Munny, some one wants me if you don't," said the sensitive little girl, who always hid her hurt feelings under a saucy reply if she possibly could do so. "I was thinking of going in on horseback, but if you are intending to drive the span I can't," said Frances, "so I might as well go with you. Lolita has promised to make our drop-curtain for us, so I think she should go in and buy the stuff as it will take a long time to make it." "I don't want to go," said Gene, "for I must work on the pillow-cover I am embroidering or I won't be able to finish it for the entertainment. I must have some red silk for my pinks, so if one of you would kindly get it for me I would be much obliged." "I will get it for you," said Lolita, "as I have to go to that store for spangles for our dresses, while Frances goes and gets a wig for Regis. He has to have one when he is dressed as a prince in the tableau of 'The Sleeping Beauty.' " "He will have to go and have it tried on, so he had better make the fourth one of our party," said Munro. "Dickey and Caryl are going over to the cabin to finish the spiral steps we put around the big elm that looms up above it, and see that the seats are secure before any of you girls sit on them and find yourselves falling out 39 40 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES of the tree. I know Kitty is too busy tacking the vines tip over the cabin door to go along. But we will bring her a bag of fresh, salted peanuts for staying at home and working." An hour after breakfast the children were in their pony cart on their way to Fond du Lac. "Oh, mercy ! Look behind," said Frances, just after they had started and the bay ponies were speeding along. "The dogs are following us." And sure enough, there was Hero and Buff, who should have known better, and Ned and Zephyr tagging on behind. "Hero, go back, I am ashamed of you !" called Munro. "Buff, what are you thinking about to follow us? I never knew you to do so before," scolded Frances. "Here, you rascal, I will give you no supper if you don't light out for home this minute," called Regis and before Lolita had time to say anything to Zephyr she was running back so fast that she looked like a ball of white yarn rolling along in the dusty road. "I don't blame them for wanting to follow, but I am afraid something might happen to them if we let them go with us," said Frances. "Here comes a drove of sheep. Shall we stand still and let them pass or shall we keep in the middle of the road and let them look. out for themselves?" asked Munro. "I'll drive slowly and let them take care of themselves and go each side of me, I think." "There must be over a hundred and fifty of them," said Regis. "Oh ! what a cunning little lamb. Munro, do stop and see if the man won't sell it to me," cried Frances. "Ask him, Munro, do." "What in the world would you do with it if you did get it? It is too young to eat grass and it would die without its mother's milk." "No, it won't, for I will feed it from a bottle." When the flock had passed and they came to the men who were driving them, Munro stopped the ponies and asked the man who seemed to be the boss if he would sell that youngest lamb in the front of the flock. "Yes, and I will be glad to, as we are going to drive these sheep to Milwaukee and that is a good long ways off for so young a lamb to walk. It will probably die by the way, so you are welcome to it and I will sell it for a dollar." It was one thing to say he would sell it and another thing to catch it, and the man with his two sons had to call for the help of Munro and Regis before they finally LOLITA OgDEN (41) AT BUENA VISTA FARM 43 succeeded in capturing the little creature. The lamb's mother seemed to know what was up the minute they approached her for she called her baby to her side and made for the middle of the flock. In went one of the farmer's boys after her. As soon as she saw this she ran to the edge of the road and tried to hide in the bushes with two or three other sheep following her as if to protect her. When one of the boys thought he had the lamb and reached out to catch it, it would run under its m.other's legs and come out on the other side and run off. This it did repeatedly until every one was getting tired and cross, when another farmer came along and his dog fright- ened the sheep so by barking at them that they all turned around and started for home. Then the farmer rode his horse to head them off and Frances ran to the front and spread her dress out and jumped up and down to drive them back, while the farmer caught the dog which had made all the trouble and put him into the wagon with him. At last they grabbed the little lamb as it tried to crawl through a barbed-wire fence for its fleece got caught in the wire and before it could loosen itself Munro had pounced upon it. Then Frances gave the farmer the dollar and thanked him for his trouble and they drove on to Fond du Lac with the tired, frightened little lamb between her and Lolita. "Oh, isn't he a beauty !" said Lolita. "See what a sweet little face he has." "Yes, when we get to town I will buy a nice blue ribbon for its neck and a little silver bell so I can tell where it is when I let it loose," said Frances. "Bah! Bah!" cried the lamb for its mother, as it was getting hungry. "Whatever shall we do ?" said Frances. "It won't keep still and it wiggles and squirms so we can't keep it between us any longer. It tries to suck my fingers or ears all the time !" "Put it in the bottom of the cart and when we get to town you can go to the bakery and get some milk for it," said Munro. "Do drive fast, for it is making me wild to hear it cry all the time." "This is as bad as having a crying baby along," said Regis. "Let's round its neck and tie it to the fence along the road until we come back." "Indeed, I won't !" said Frances. "Some one would steal it." CAUGHT IN THE WIRE. put a rope 44 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "Well, you can never shop with it along unless some one stays in the cart to watch it, for it would jump out and break its neck," said Regis. "I have it," said Munro. "We can put it in that old shed of the Withers', in the field back from the road, for it is far enough away so no one can hear it cry, and then when we come back we can stop and get it, and that will prevent all bother of having it in town." To this Frances consented and the little lamb was soon shut in the shed to await their return. "Mercy me !" she sighed, "I never should have bought it had I known what a nuisance it was going to be." Presently they were on the main street in the town, each busy with his or her purchases. As fast as they were bought they stored them away under the seats in the cart. At half past ten they were to meet at the confectioner's to have ice-cream and cake too-ether. While they were waiting to be served, they read aloud their shopping lists to see that nothing had been forgotten — all but Regis who had trusted to his memory. "It seems to me as if I have forgotten something," he said, "but I can't 'disremem- ber' what it is, as the darkies say." "I think I have everything," said Lolita. "I matched Gene's silk, got the calico for the curtains, some hairpins for Maggie the cook, a yard of ruching for Miss Amelia, and the latest magazine for Miss Elizabeth." "Well! I bought the things Miss Amelia wanted at the grocery, the Paris green for the potato bugs, the China aster seed for our garden, and — Oh ! that reminds me, Munro, did you order the young tomato plants?" "I went to the place but the man was all sold out and said I would have to drive out to his garden and get some on our way home." "Oh, no, we can't, for if we do that, we won't go by where the lamb is." "Oh, bother the lamb ! It is a regular nuisance and you have not yet had it half a day. I bet before you are through with it that it eats up all the things in the garden and does a lot of damage, and when it gets older it will be worse than it is now." "I can't help it. We must get it for we can't leave it there to starve. See what I liave," and Frances proceeded to unroll a blue paper parcel and out rolled a baby's nursing bottle with a black nipple on it. "Now, when I get through with my ice- cream I am going to get the girl that waits on us to fill it with milk and then on the way home I will feed my lambkin, so there!" "By jinks ! I forgot to get those nails and spikes and the wire netting to fence in my young ducks," exclaimed Regis. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 45 "Aren't you a little previous in fencing in your ducks before they are out of the shell? That is even worse than counting chickens before they are hatched," laughed Munro. "That is all right. I believe in being ahead of time. If I had been last year I should not have lost my partridges. Do you remember how I put those partridge eggs we found, under an old hen, and how the very day they hatched they ran av/ay? The saucy little beggars!" said Regis. "My! your strawberry sundae looks good," said Lolita, 'T wish I had ordered it instead of this chocolate ice-cream." "I think yours looks the best, so if you want to change, pass it over and I will give you my sundae," said Regis. "Don't you want my lemon squash?" asked Munro of Frances. "No, thank you. I prefer m}' vanilla ice-cream. I always take it, and no other kind." 'T don't," said Regis, "I always try all the new things and sometimes I get awfully left, for they are terrible messes occasionally and taste like hair oil or some kind of medicine." "]\Iercy goodness! Look what time it is! We must hurry out of here or we won't get home in time for dinner," said Frances. After buying some candy and salted peanuts to take to the children at home, they climbed into the cart and started off at a smart pace, ^^''hen about two-thirds of the way home they spied the shed where they had left the lamb. But what was the door doing open? They soon discovered why, for out came three boys, one of them carry- ing their lamb. "Oh, hurry! hurry! Munro. They are stealing my lam.b. Call to them." ]\Iunro called in such a loud voice and whipped up the horses so, that he scared the boy with the lamb, who, with the others, took to his heels and disappeared down the hill. "Here, girls, take these reins," said Alunro, throwing them over the back of the seat, as he and Regis jumped out and gave chase to the boys. Munro took the long cart-whip with him intending to give them a good thrashing if they objected to giving up the lamb. Down the hill into the ravine went the boys vrith the lamb, but when they saw the newcomers were gaining on them, they dropped it and made for the thicket where they could hide. "Oh, Lolita ! I do hope our boys can get it." "I do too, but I know bv the wav thev climbed out of the cart that they are 46 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES just spoiling for a fight and I hope they will not have to have one to get the lamb." Presently two heads appeared coming up from the ravine and the girls saw that Munro had the lamb in his arms, holding its jaws together so it could not cry. "Oh, Munro, you mean thing to do that," cried Frances, when she saw what he was up to. "It will smother." "No, my dears, lambs like other animals breathe through their noses. I was afraid it would make its throat sore if it cried too much." "Give it to me this minute and I will give it some milk and end all its troubles." This was easier said than done. At first it shut its mouth and would not take the nipple and when pressed to do it, backed itself off the seat. Then Lolita held it while Frances pried its mouth open and poured some of the milk down its throat. When the lamb got the taste of milk it licked its chops and then took hold of the nipple and tugged away like any little roly-poly baby, and soon the bottle was empty and the lamb asleep on Frances's lap. "While it is asleep I am going to tie the ribbon with the bell on it round its neck. There now, don't it look too sweet and cunning for anything? Do turn round and look, boys." "I see. You will have to give it to Dorothy," said Munro, "for the minute she lays eyes on it she will begin to tease for it." In a short time they reached home and were soon unloading, with all the children helping to carry things, at the same time asking questions as to when, where, and how they had got the lamib. Just as the dinner horn blew. Miss Amelia and Dorothv drove in at the gate with Mrs. Libby and her little son, Robert. Dorothy's face was beaming and she was happy, for her little playfellow had come and she treated him as if he were a baby to be looked after, though he was only two months younger than she was. "Debba, see Wobert. Isn't him cute wiv his hair cut Dutch fashion and wiv ROBERT LIBBY. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 47 'ittle slippers on ? Him's dot some blue over-alls in de trunk, 'cause him mamma sed so. Den him be a real boy in trousers when he dets um on, won't him ? Now him is a dirl like me, 'cause him has dresses on." "Dorothy, bring Robert and come see what I have in the front yard under the lilac bush," said Frances. "What oo dot, shissy?" "Never mind but come and see." "Bah! bah!" cried the lamb, as it saw some one coming, and ran to the end of its rope to meet them. "Oh, oo dear 'ittle hunsey, bunsey lamkins ! Is it for me?" cried Dorothy as she let go of Robert's hand so she could reach it quicker. "No, dearie, it is mine. I bought it in town to-day." "Shissy, dear, sweet shissy, do div um to me. Ise want um so bad. 'Deed I do, I most sick for um," begged Dorothy with her pleading eyes and baby tongue. "Dearie, don't tease sister. I can't bear to be teased and you have already coaxed everything I have away from me, even to Rosy and Pinky." "But, shissy, dear, I do want um so bad. See how he likes me. He is kissin' me and tryin' to whisper in my ear. No, him is tryin' to chew my ear up. Stop dat, you naughty lamb!" "You and Robert stay here and I will go and get some milk so that you can see how he takes his dinner out of a bottle." "Oh, goodie ! goodie !" cried Dorothy, clap- ping her hands with delight, and then stopping all of a sudden to pounce on Robert and hug and kiss him for the hundredth time. But this time she hugged him so hard that they both toppled over onto the lamb. "Dorothy, you must stop hugging and kiss- ing Robert so much, for if you don't there will be nothing left of him by to-morrow ; and see, you have nearly crushed the lamb," said Deborah. The next day Dorothy was playing in the yard when John, the man who looked after the farm, drove out of the gate with bags of wheat and corn he was taking to the mill. Dorothy on seeing him called out : "John, oh, John ! Where are oo doin' ? I want to do too. Wait for me," and THE FARM CO^^'S. 48 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES DOROTHY WAS PLAYJNG IN THE YARD. she ran as fast as her Httle legs would carry her. John got off the wagon and set her up on the seat beside him. Deborah, who was always on the watch, saw it all and nodded to John that she could go, as the mill was only a mile and a half from the farm and Dorothy always liked to go there. On the way, they had to pass a house where lived a poor man with ten children of all ages and sizes, but all had tow-colored hair. As they approached the house, Dorothy heard a baby cry and, on the pretext of getting a drink at the well, coaxed John to stop, but in her mind was a much more serious scheme than to get some water. It was nothing more or less than to try to coax the farmer's wife to sell her one of her curly, tow-headed children. If Frances would not give her the lamb, she would get something nicer and then all the other children would be envious ! Thus reasoned Miss Dorothy. As she walked up the path she noticed the door was open and when she got nearer she could see a woman rocking a cradle, from which the cries of a young infant could be heard. When she reached the door she walked boldly in, for you must know that fear and bashfulness were alike unknown to Dorothy. If she wanted a thing she went straight for it. The baby's cries drowned the sound of her feet on the steps, and when the mother turned her head and saw a little tot standing there she gave a start and asked, rather sharply, what she wanted. Dorothy hesitated for a minute before she spoke and then said : 'T tame to buy de baby." "Oh, you funny little thing. Did you think because I had so many children "that I would be willing to sell them like I do my potatoes ?" "Yes, um," said Dorothy. "Do oo care if I look at it," she said, as she sidled up to the cradle. "Certainly not. You can look at it all you want to." "Oh, my ! Didn't oo notice dat de angel had made a mistake and left oo an Indian baby dis time instead of a white baby with white head like de ussers ?" asked Dorothy in surprise. This remark made the woman laugh heartily and she said, "What do you mean by calling my baby an Indian baby ?" AT BUENA VISTA FARM 49 "Why, don't oo see how red its face is?" exclaimed Dorothy, "and it has black hair dat stands up dust like de Indian babies'." "Come along, Dorothy," called John. "Are you going to drink the well dry?" "I dess I must do 'cause John is callin' me, but I don't want to buy oor baby 'cause it is an Indian and I want a white baby, not a red one. Why don't oo tell de angel oo don't want dis kind of a baby? I dess if oo don't mind I will take dat 'ittle boy of oors with blue eyes and quirly hair, who is out by de gate, though I would rather have a baby in long tlose dan a 'ittle boy in pants, 'cause I have one 'ittle boy all ready to play wiv. Haven't oo any more 'ittle girl-babies in oor cupboard or cellar?" At this the woman screamed so with laughter that she frightened Dorothy, who ran out to John and told him to drive on quickly. When John asked her what kept her so long and she told him, he too, was con- vulsed with laughter and shook so he nearly fell off the wagon seat, but he did not dare let Dorothy know he was laughing so he pretended to cough and she, thinking he was choking, cHmbed up on the seat and pounded him on the back as hard as she could, for Deborah always did so with her when she choked. This nearly caused John to have a spasm, especially when she bent her head and looked in his face with alarm writ- ten all over her sweet little counte- nance and asked, "Is oo better now? Did oo swallow oor tobacco de wrong way dat made oo choke?" When they got back from the mill and Dorothy was telling how she had tried to buy a baby " 'cause Frances wouldn't div me , 1 u 'wu 11 1 t, J ^u DOROTHY'S ANGORA GOAT. her lamb, they all laughed them- selves nearly sick. Frances told her she would buy her an Angora goat as a birthday present, but as her birthday was a good ways off she could call the lamb hers and play with it just the same as if it really belonged to her. Chapter 5. THE NIGHT OF THE VAUDEVILLE. T LAST the long-waited for day of the vaudeville arrived, with a clear sky overhead which they were truly thankful for, because rain would have spoiled everything. They expected a big crowd, as all the tickets had been sold which they had left in Fond du Lac as well as lots of others, which they had sold themselves to the country people who drove by Buena Vista Farm. The children were all up at six o'clock and working like beavers, for there were still many things to do before night. Munro and Regis were busy over the stage set- tings and getting the curtains in good working order. Caryl and Dickey were to drive to the schoolhouse on the hill and bring back all the chairs and benches, while the girls were to decorate the cabin with flags, ferns, and flowers and then all were to help hang the Chinese lanterns in the trees under which the tables for lemonade and ice-cream were to stand. Before and after the performance, refreshments were to be served by the girls dressed in gay costumes with little ruffled white aprons and dainty caps. Miss Elizabeth and Estelle were to be behind the scenes, to see that the performers' cos- tumes were on straight and to look after things generally, while Miss Amelia was to see to the refreshments and dish out the ice cream from behind some bushes that hid the huge freezers, tubs of lemonade, and baskets of cake. She called it her summer- kitchen. At two o'clock they were to have a dress rehearsal. The public performance was to begin at eight o'clock, but the sale of refreshments would begin at seven. Such excitement you never saw, for everyone went around like a chicken with its head off. "Oh, I can't find the crown of my costume !"' cried Frances. "What do you think! Cinderella's glass slipper is lost," exclaimed Lolita. It had been put away so carefully for fear of its getting broken that now it could not be found. "Oh ! how I do hate to look for anything," said Frances. "It always takes so long 50 AT BUENA VISTA FARM 51 that it seems like time lost. I hear Dorothy crying. What can be the matter now, I wonder? I bet she has fallen down and skinned her nose so she can't be in the tableau !" Stepping from the long room into the loggia where she could get a good view of the grounds, she spied Deborah leading Dorothy by the hand. She had fallen into the spring head first, and was wringing wet from head to foot, the water dripping off at every move. "How in the world did you come to fall in, Dorothy?" "1 was divin' my dolly a baf and she slipped out my hand and when I reached for her I fell in. My! but it was cold!" and at the remembrance of it she began to cry anew. "Frances, Frances ! Do come here and see how perfectly lovely Lolita looks m her Sleeping Beauty costume with the silver spangles sewed all over it," cried Gene. As Frances appeared Lolita threw herself on a couch, letting one hand drop limply beside her and she certainly did look as sweet and pretty as any sleeping beauty we read about in fairy tales. While lying thus, Kitty tiptoed up and tickled her, which surprised her so that she screamed as if a pin had been stuck into her. When she saw who did it she picked up the train of her dress and gave chase, losing both slippers and her belt as up and down stairs they went, and no telling what dreadful thing would have happened had she succeeded in catching Kitty, but she caught her dress in a vine on the summer-house, as she ran in one door while Kitty scooted out the other. This stopped her and with the threat : "Just wait until I catch you," she went into the house. By seven o'clock, the country people and visitors from town began to arrive and hitch their horses to the fence of the woods in which the cabin was built. As the children fluttered here and there and the lanterns swung to and fro shedding their many-colored Hghts on the scene, the picture was an attractive one. Some of the visitors climbed the winding stairs that were built around the trunk of the huge elm tree, and sat on the comfortable seats amid its boughs, while the limbs swung them as if in a cradle, and looking down they could get a good view of the new arrivals. "Too-diddle-do ! Too-diddle-do !" rolled out the notes of the tally-ho horn as Munro blew it from the door of the cabin to call all stragglers about the grounds and under the trees, to the performance which was about to begin. When they were all nicely seated a little bell rang, and up rolled the curtain dis- closing the Band of Irrepressibles formed in a semi-circle on the stage. At a signal 52 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES from Munro they began to sing a beautiful melody with many solo parts in it, which ended in a most taking chorus. When the curtain fell the piece was greeted with an enthusiastic encore. Then it rolled up again and they sang a most laughable darky song, which literally brought down the house and aroused the boys in the audience to whistle and cheer for more. The next thing on the program was the tableau of "The Sleeping Beauty." Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, went the little bell, and a hush of expectancy fell on the audience. When the curtain went up it disclosed a dark room, with a jeweled swinging lamp hanging- over a couch on which lay Lolita as the Sleeping Beauty, in a fluffy white dress all spangled with silver. One hand hung over the edge of the couch and from it had fallen a crimson rose. Over her bent Regis, gazing intently as if enchanted by her beauty. He was costumed as a prince, in blue velvet trimmed with ermine and a sword hung from his side. He made as handsome a prince as one ever gazed upon, with his light curly hair apd fair skin. As for Lolita, she was a dream of loveliness. They had at first intended making their costumes, but at the last had sent to Chicago for them and these attractive ones had been sent out. The next thing on the program was the clog dancing by Munro and Regis. They were dressed in white duck knickerbockers, white ruffled shirts, and scarlet sashes knotted at their sides after the manner of the toreadors. They danced beautifully to- gether and kept perfect time while they went through some very difficult steps. After this, Estelle played on a large golden harp. She wore a wreath of white roses in her hair, a sweeping white dress with a golden girdle and tiny gold slippers. She played such a sweet pathetic piece that it brought the tears to the eyes of many in her audience. To cheer them up agam, they had a fuimy negro hoe-down by Kitty and Dickey dressed in gay colors with their faces blackened. Kitty made a perfect darky and rolled her big eyes around and stuck out her red painted lips, until she made the audi- ence scream with laughter. Number six on the program was another tableau which represented Little Boy Blue fast asleep beside a large haycock of real hay, and Robert certainly did look cunning as he lay there with his little blue overalls on and his tiny rake by his side. Just as the curtain fell, Dorothy called out, "Don't open oor eyes, Wobert, de curtain amn't down yet." This of course made every one laugh. Dorothy had been so impressed with the fact that she and Robert must keep their eyes shut if they were allowed to be in the tableaux, that this was all she could think about. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 55 Next, there was a display of fancy arrow shooting and Indian-club swinging by Caryl, which made numbers of the audience say: "Oh, my! Did you see that?" or, "How can he do that, I wonder!" or, "Did you see the medals on his breast that he has won by being champion?" Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, and again the curtain rolls up and we have a view of Little Bo-peep dressed in a flowered panniered dress, 'all sticky-out at the sides' (as she called her panniers), with a big yellow straw hat with pink roses on it, tied under her chin with blue ribbons. She was supposed to be fast asleep, while her Httle flock of lambs were seen running away in the background. These lambs were represented by woolly white toy-sheep rented from a toy store and were made to run away by people behind the scenes pulling them about by strings. In the midst of the tableaux, Dorothy yawned, rubbed her eyes and opened them, grinned at the audience and then fell back on the haycock she was sitting against, as if dead. The audience laughed and clapiped and exclaimed : "Isn't she too cute for any- thing !" Munro who was watching her knew she was going to speak, so he motioned for the curtain to be lowered. As it touched the floor, Estelle came from the back of the stage and told Dorothy she must keep still as the curtain was going up again in a minute. "I don't want to sit here. Ise tired keepin' my eyes shut." She said this so loud that the audience heard it and laughed and clapped, whistled and called for another view, so the curtain was raised, showing Dorothy standing, leaning on her beribboned staff, gazing at them, while Estelle's skirt was just disappearing from sight as she dodged, behind the scenes. "Shissy says I must keep my eyes shut, but I tan't. Ise goin' to peak my piece to 00. Little Bo-peep losted all her seep and didn't know where to find um. Leave um alone and dey will tome home tarryin' deir tails ahind um." Then with a danc- ing-school bow she ran off the stage. Everyone thought that what she had done had been part of the performance, while The Irrepressibles were too surprised to even ring down the curtain. Number nine on the program was Gene at the spinning wheel. She was dressed as a Dutch girl, with a blonde wig which had long braids. Her costume was the typi- cal Dutch one with black velvet bodice, white waist, and red petticoat. As she spun her wheel she sang a quaint little Dutch song which she had to repeat, she was so heartily encored. Number ten was Munro with his trained dogs, who was roundly applauded. The next tableau was one showing Cinderella (Frances), just leaving the ball- 56 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES room, her slipper laying on the carpet where she had dropped it in her haste, with Munro as the Prince picking it up, while all the other children were in the background as guests at the ball. Gene and Kitty took the part of the ugly sisters, with false noses and ears to make them homely enough to represent the part. The last tableau showed Cinderella beside the fire, the Prince just fitting the slipper to her foot, the ugly sisters look- ing on with envy, while Dickey and Caryl, dressed as followers of the Prince, were standing behind him. The children took their parts well and the curtain went down amid thunders of applause, while a number of ladies in the audience threw bouquets. Last but not least was the cake-walk by the Coon-Town Band and this caused screams of laughter and deafening ap- plause, for they were blackened up like darkies and their costumes were most characteristic and funny. Frances got the cake, which she cut and distributed to all who came forward for a piece ; and thus ended the most entertaining vaudeville performance that had ever been given in that part of the country. They made money enough not only to furnish the cabin but to have one hundred dollars left to spend for charity. THEY WERE BI^ACKENED UP LIKE DARKIES. Chapter 6. THE TRAMPS. THE day after the vaudeville was a busy one for everybody, for the chairs and benches had to be returned, the loose papers that littered the grounds picked up, and things in general set to rights. It was late in the after- noon when the children at last climbed into their favorite seats in the elm tree to rest and enjoy the cool breeze, while they read or talked over the performance of the previous evening. They had been there for some time and were about to go home, when their attention was attracted by the sound of snapping twig:; and crackling underbrush, while the mumble of low, guttural voices was wafted toward them from the hazel copse. "Hush!" said Munro, holding up a warning finger. Every mouth was closed but all eyes peered sharply through the leaves of the over- hanging elm bough to see who the intruders were. Presently, sneaking along m tiptoe, came two disreputable-looking tramps with bleary eyes, rum noses, tangled beards, unkempt hair, and clothes all in tatters, looking as if they had been torn from their backs by savage dogs. Once clear of the thicket, they advanced stealthily, looking back at almost every step as if fearful of being followed and pounced upon from behind. As it happened, the cabin door was shut and locked, and the shades drawn at all the windows but one, so that the tramps thought no one was within. They approached this window, one of them shading his eyes with his hands and pressing his face close to the pane to get a better look inside. All was quiet and no one in sight, while what gave his hungry eyes joy was a table on which were spread bread, crackers, cold meats, peaches, jelly, and cakes, and a big glass pitcher of lemonade at one end. "Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Hedam, Shedam, and all the rest of the Dutch dams, but here is a cinch, pard !" exclaimed the tramp. "Nobody at home and supper all on the table." With the discovery that no one was around, their caution vanished, and one gave 57 58 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES a low peculiar whistle that resembled the cry of a night bird which was immediately answered by a similar one from the thicket, and presently a third tramp joined them. This man was, if possible, more ragged tattered and slovenly than the other two, besides dragging one leg as if he had been recently hurt. He leaned upon a knotted stick as he slowly crawled out from the bushes and limped toward the cabin to join the others. "Set down in that cheer, Bill, and rist yer broken bones while I climb into that there winder yonder and break open the door, for then ye can come into me bang-up hotel and I won't charge ye one cent, and ye can lay on the couch while Jake and me bandage up yer leg and fill ye with dainties fit fur a king." When Regis heard the tramp say he was going to break down the door of the cabin, he was for getting down from the tree and having a fist fight, but Munro motioned to him to keep still. As luck would have it, the key was on the inside of the door. Frances had locked it and had then gone out of the back door, so all the tramp had to do was to unlock it and let his companions in without having to break it down. As the lame tramp rose to go in, the children heard him say, "Say, fellers, this is a good place to hide from them jumping idiots, the perlice. I wish to goodness we had never stolen them old saw-bone horses. They never did us any good and we are likely to be caught at any time and made to spend the rest of the summer in jail, and I find jail too confinin' fur me health in warm weather. Here we are, me with a broken leg, Jake with a calf full of shot, and Ike with a lock of hair blowed ofif his head with the powder from that fat cop's gun. If it hadn't been for the horses shyin' and throwin' us when the fools shot, we would have been out of the country now, instead of sneaking along here at a mule's pace, starvin' and sufferin' all the time. But to-night we'll fix um. We'll get even by stealin' three of old Madam de Neveu's horses and it will be an easy job, for there are no men in the barn. The farm hands sleep near the house." "So-ho!" thought Munro. "These are the tramps who have been stealing horses. The papers have had full accounts of them and there is a reward of two hundred each, if captured." He whispered this to his companions, adding that he had a plan for catching them and getting the reward. This was Munro's plan : They were all to sit there until it grew quite dark and then Frances, Dickey and Caryl must sneak down, run to the house, get the clothes line and their guns and bring them back. They were not to tell a soul about it, for they wanted to catch the thieves all by themselves. While Frances and Dickey v/ere coming AT BUENA VISTA FARM 59 back with the Hne and the guns, Caryl must take his pony and gallop to town for the po- lice patrol, for by that time they would, with luck, have the tramps bound hand and foot. Kitty and Gene were to remain in the tree. None were to stir out of the tree until the tramps were sound asleep. It was likely they would get drowsy as soon as they had eaten, for probably they had not had a good night's rest for a long time in their fear of being caught, for, of course, the detectives were on their track. Munro and Regis were to guard the doors. "By jingo, Munro! You are a regular general to think out that plan and we will all do just as you say," said Regis. Then Munro whispered his plan to the rest, but he had to change it somewhat as Kitty positively refused to stay in the tree alone with Gene, while Frances, Caryl and Dickey went to the house for the rope and guns. "Instead of you catching the tramps, they will catch you and hang you to the tree or shoot you full of holes," she said. "I won't stop a minute: I'm going home with Frances and what is more, I'll stay there." "Very well, you can go if you wish, but there is absolutely no danger if you stay here, while if you attempt to get down now, you may fall or arouse the tramps," said Munro. "I don't care if I do. I zvon't stay here!" 01^ '-■■■ ' ■ ^^^^^^Hft^* \^\ 1 CARYL BOTSFORD. "So it was settled that she was to go with the rest when they went, leaving 6o FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES Munro and Regis to keep watch until their return. Gene was to carry the ammunition and rope, while Dickey and Frances carried the guns, which were rather heavy for them. Now that all plans were completed, the long wait began, for the tramps were still eating. After what seemed an interminable time, for in their anxiety it seemed as if the sky would never get dark this night, they saw Munro taking of5f his shoes and stockings and wondered what he was up to. They soon discovered ; for he began to climb out on a great branch of the tree that overhung the cabin, trailing its long, leafy branches over it when the wind blew. Along this he climbed, hand over hand, bending the limb lower and lower until his feet touched the roof and then he let go and crawled along its edge until he reached the chimney, when he turned his head as if listening. "Oh ! I see what he is up to," said Regis. "He is trying to find out if they are asleep, and if it is safe for us to .commence carrying out our plans." After listening for some time, Munro slipped off the roof to the ground and motioned for the others to come down from the tree, making signs for them to take off their shoes as he had done. They did this in a jiffy and soon all were tiptoeing along over the grass toward the thicket which would hide them from the view of the tramps, should they happen to come to the door to look out. Munro saw Kitty stagger and catch at the railing of the steps, while even in the dim light he could see she was as white as a ghost, and trembling so she could scarcely walk. He pushed past the others and, taking her up in his arms, carried her to the edge of the bushes, whispering that she was safe now and to run for her life — which you may be sure she did. Then he and Regis looked into the window to see where the tramps were lying. One was in the swinging hammock in the corner, another stretched out on the couch, while the third was rolled up in a heap on the floor on all the pillows which he had taken ofif the couch. "Gee willikins ! I vv^ish we had a rope," said Regis. "Did you ever see such a fine chance to use one as we have now ?" "Yes, but we don't dare until the guns are here, for there is a murderous-looking hunter's knife sticking out of that man's belt," replied Munro, pointing to the tramp on the couch. "They won't move for some time," said Munro. "Let's go to meet the girls and Dickey, for they will find the guns and cartridge belts pretty heavy, I'm thinking." "Yes," answered Munro, "and I know Frances well enough to be sure she will run every step of the way and come here all out of breath, with a pain in her side." AT BUENA VISTA FARM 6i The boys quietly stole away from the window and when once clear of the under- brush, ran toward the farmhouse, through the short-cut they knew the children would take on their way back. They had gone but a short distance when they heard some one panting, and the soft patter of hurrying feet on the smooth path. At first it sounded behind them and they thought it might be the tramps following, but peer into the darkness as they would they could see no one. Then it sounded close in front and sure enough, they perceived three little figures with bent heads, running toward them, panting for breath, but not speaking one word as they ran. "Halt ! Hands up !" cried Munro, and the figures stopped as if shot. "Mercy ! how you scared me, Munro," said Frances. "You nasty, mean boy, to do that when you knew that it would frighten the lives out of us," said Gene. "Did you think we were tramps ?" asked Regis. "Yes, we did," replied Gene. "Gracious !" exclaimed Frances. "What is the matter with Dickey? I guess you have scared him stiff." And sure enough they had, for on hearing them call, "Halt! Hands up!" he had dropped in the path with the guns beside him. "Here, cheer up, Dickey. It's only Regis and I. Don't be afraid." "I'm not afraid," said Dickey. "I only stubbed my toe and fell." Dickey knew he was a great coward, though he would not own up to it, and he always had an excuse ready so that he could sneak out of it some way. "Now give us the guns and cartridge belts and then you all climb back into the tree where we can call you if we need your help." In a few minutes Munro and Regis had the belts strapped on and the guns loaded. "Here, I brought you your six-shooter, too, Munro," said Frances. When at last armed, Munro and Regis ran back to the cabin and found the tramps just where they had left them, only snoring louder if that were possible. "Now give me the clothes-line," said Munro, "and I will cut it into six pieces ; two for each man, one for his hands and one for his feet." Just as they finished this, Dickey and the girls came through the underbrush. On seeing them Munro motioned for them to come close, and then he asked in a whisper if Frances would be afraid to stand inside the door and point the gun at the tramps, telling them to keep their hands up until he and Regis could get them tied. "If you don't," he said, "one of them may jump up, give the alarm, and then it would 62 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES be all over with us, for we are not strong enough to fight such big husky fellows as these tramps. The only way we can catch them is by using strategy." "I am not afraid," said Frances, who was brave as a lion and who thoroughly enjoyed this kind of excitement. "You are a brick, sis," said Munro. Gene also consented, though scared to death, but it would never do to let Frances or the boys know that she was afraid. As for Dickey, his teeth were chattering with fear and he would have run away, but that the boys kept too close a watch over him to make escape possible. "Now, Dickey, show us what you are made of. Come and hand us the ropes as we need them," said Munro. ^ With his finger on his lips, Munro quietly opened the door, stepped in, motioned for the rest to follow, and then stationed the girls on either side of the door, pointing one gun at the tramp in the hammock and the other at the one on the couch, while Dickey, with the ropes slung over his shoulders, pointed his revolver at the one lying on the floor. Tip-e-toe-tip went Munro, creeping nearer and nearer to the tramps, with only the rays of the moon shining through the windows to give him light. Just as he stooped, the tramp on the floor gave a big snore and threw his arms over his head as he did so. Munro sprang to his feet and jumped back into the shadow until the man breathed evenly again, then with a quick movement he stepped to his side and slipped the noose over his hands, drawing it with a strong pull into place and the man's hands were secure. Strange as it may seem, he did not awaken but lay perfectly still until they bound his feet. Then, sooner than it takes to tell it, they had the man on the sofa bound hand and foot without his moving, for he lay on his back with his hands clasped over his breast and one foot crossed over the other, just in position for binding. This done, they breathed more easily ; for now but one tramp remained to be dealt with and they anticipated no trouble with him. If he attempted to fight he could get no assistance from his companions, and the boys thought they were a match for one fellow, even if they were small. He was lying on his back in the hammock with one leg on one side and the other on the other side, both feet touching the floor, so Regis just slipped the rope round his feet and drew them together, leaving the hammock be- tween his legs, but when they attempted to tie his hands, he awoke with a start and sat straight up, staring about him. The girls were near the door, standing like sentinels, with their guns pointed AT BUENA VISTA FARM 63 straight at him. All he could see was the glance of four bright eyes and the reflection of the moonlight as it fell on the silver mounting of the gun barrels. The light was too dim where the girls stood, for him to see that they were girls, and of course he thought they were men. At that moment a cloud passed over the moon and the room was in darkness. All was still. Then he tried to move his feet but could not. He pulled and stretched and tried to free himself, when out came the moon from under the clouds, brighter than before, but lo ! the glimmering barrels and the four bright eyes were gone and he found himself so tangled in the net of the hammock that he decided that he was not tied after all, only wound round and round in its meshes. 'T must have been havin' a nightmare and dreamt that I saw the gun-barrels, and it's no wonder I dream of guns when I go to sleep, for it's all I think of when I'm awake : guns and being shot dead. I must have thought I was bound, and tried to get loose, the way me legs are tangled." They heard him talking to himself as he leaned over and tried to free his feet. "Rattle-te-bang !" came a sound from the kictchen, which scared the tramp but which Regis and Munro knew to be only a dish-pan which had slipped from the pantry shelf. "Sure and there is some blamed cop sneakin' round here and I guess them gun barrels were sure-enough ones after all and not dream-fancies. Say, pard, over there, stop snorin' ! I think I hear some one prowlin' round." "Oh ! Shut up Bill ! You're always thinking you hear the perlice comin'. By the jimmy jumps though, I guess you are right this trip, for me hands and feet are tied." "Now, what did I tell you?" snarled Bill in an enraged voice. "Strike a match, can't ye ? and see if any one is hidin' in the corners." "How do you expect me to strike a match when me hands are bound, I'd like to know ?" "Kick Snoozer and waken him. See if he's tied." "Oh, Jake ! Wake up ! We are surrounded." "It's nothin' of the kind. That ain't my title. My name is just plain Jake, yer honor," spoke Jake in his sleep, having heard but a part of the word "surrounded," and getting it mixed in his sleepy head with a dream he was having about being in court. "Hi there! Stop kicking me," he called out as the tramp on the sofa, swinging his tied feet round, gave him a big kick in the side. This brought him to his senses with a start and he sat up quickly only to find that he too was bound hand and foot. All this time the tramp in the hammock had been trying to disentangle himself 64 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES and he had just succeeded in getting one foot loose when Munro, who had been watch- ing him, cut the rope of the hammock, letting him down upon the floor with a crash, and before he could move, the end of the hammock was thrown over his head and his arms were bound to his side, his head and arms both covered with the net. "Say, you blankety blank rascals! Unbind me!" he roared, swearing a horrible oath which was enough to chill the blood in one's veins, but the boys went on binding the clothesline tighter and tighter around him. Then the tramp on the floor commenced to roll over and over to get to his friend and knock the boys over with the weight of his body, or to try to kick them with his tied feet, but Munro soon spoiled this plan by commanding him to he still or one of them would put a bullet through his body, and he called to Dickey to help, but no Dickey answered. Poor Dickey had fled, leaving the pistol lying on the floor, but an- other voice did answer and one which Munro recognized as belonging to Frances, al- though she had endeavored to disguise it and make it sound more like a man's. Then he saw a white hand, holding a revolver which was pointed squarely at the tramp's head, and that was all he could see in the darkness. Next he heard Regis call out : "Hold up your hands ! Back from that window !" to the third tramp who was trying to climb out of the window though his hands and feet were tied. Then there came the sound of tramping feet, and the next moment six burly police- men, headed by Caryl, stood in the doorwa;y and flashed their dark-lanterns around the cabin, showing three desperate, scared-looking tramps, three triumphant boys' faces, a pale-faced little girl crouching in a corner, holding a gun with the muzzle aimed at the ceiling, and, last but not by any means least, a bright, brave little girl, standing in the middle of the room, pointing a pistol at a villainous-looking tramp sitting on the floor with hands and feet bound securely together. "Well, I'll be shot if I ever saw such a sight as this !" said the Captain of Police. "You certainly are 'The Irrepressibles' and should be called so, and each one of you given a gold medal for bravery and cool-headedness. When you are grown up, if the world doesn't hear of you I'll miss my guess. Do you know, children, these jail-birds you have here are three of the most desperate characters in the country? They are burglars and horse-thieves and by their capture you have won the reward of six hundred dollars. , Allow me to congratulate you," and the Captain bowed profoundly to each of the captors and then followed his men out. The tramps were simply picked up by the policemen, carried to the patrol wagon, and dumped there all in a heap. The AT BUENA VISTA FARM 65 policemen then took their seats, the Captain sitting near the door, while the driver cracked his whip and off they drove for town. After the sound of the wheels and horses' feet had finally died away, the children lighted the lamp and sat down on the big couch and on the floor at its side, anywhere so they could be close together, while they talked over the exciting time they had passed through, making Caryl tell of his ride in the darkness alone to get help. "Oh, my !" said Frances, "isn't it too bad that Lolita should have gone to Fond du Lac to-night ? This night of all others. Won't she be mad to think she missed this fun and excitement ?" "I think not," said Munro, "for if I know Lolita, she will thank her lucky stars that she was well out of it, for she is as timid as Kitty where tramps and guns are concerned." Chapter 7* SALLY SMITHERS RIDES IN THE TALLY-HO. F' ROM whom is your letter, Munro ?" asked Frances, a couple of days after the tramp excitement. "Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah !" exclaimed he, waving it over his head. "Billy and Arthur can come to spend the rest of the summer with us and they will be here to-morrow. Champlain and Beatrice are coming too. Oh ! isn't it splendid ? It seems too good to be true. I was afraid they would not get back from Europe in time to come to the farm this year. Let's go tell the good news to the rest of the folks." Away they went, shouting through the hall ; but no one heard, for all were outside watching a trapeze performance which the children were going through on the big swing, for they were practicing for a circus they intended to have at the close of the summer. The proceeds of this entertainment, as well as all they made from selling vegetables, flowers, poultry, and pigeons, were to go toward buying an automobile. At the present time the height of the Irrepressibles' ambition was to own a touring car and travel through the country at will. All their spare cash was carefully hoarded for this purpose and they hoped that by next summer they would have enough to buy the automobile, so that they could come to the farm in it instead of by train. "Hello ! everybody ! listen to my good news," called Munro, as he rounded the porch and spied them all at the swing. "Billy, Arthur, Champlain, and Beatrice will be here to-morrow." "Bully for them !" called Caryl, as he turned a summersault backwards to express his delight, while Dickey poked Regis in the ribs, who retaliated by punching Dickey's nose and starting a free fight. Headlong they went, rolling and tumbling, until they reached the bottom of the hill. The girls showed their delight in a more gentle manner, by clapping their hands and crying : "Goodie ! Goodie ! That is fine ! We are so glad. Now they will be in time to take part in the circus." 66 Arthur Libby with "Scott" the Collie (67) AT BUENA VISTA FARM 69 "Yes, and we will make Arthur ride the greased pig, because he is so fat it won't hurt him if he falls off," said Munro, at which they all laughed. "Here, give me a push, Munro, and see me turn on my arms and perform in mid-air when the swing is as high as it will go," said Regis, who had returned from his roll down hill and was trying to climb up one rope of the swing, hanging head down. "Oh ! don't do it," exclaimed Lolita. "You will surely get killed." "No, don't push him, Munro," said Frances, "for we don't want him to get killed, even if he is a disagreeable, pug-nosed tease." "I am a disagreeable, pug-nosed tease, am I?" exclaimed Regis. "Well, just you wait until I catch you and I will make you take that back and say I am a beauty, or else ril kiss you," and out of the swing he jumped, running after her. But she had quite a start, knowing from experience that it was dangerous to say such things ; and expecting to get her hair pulled, she commenced to run as he said the last words, aiming to reach the summer-house where she could better dodge him. Around the house they went, time and again, screaming like stuck pigs, and at last she escaped, leaving him with her hair ribbon in his hand. "Alunro, Munro, come and help me, come and help me!" she called, but Munro never interfered in others' quarrels. "Regis, stop chasing me. I am all out of breath," said Frances through the grapevines from her side of the house. "I will, as soon as you take back what you said, and say I am a beauty." "Well, I won't say it," she replied. "Then you will have to be kissed," he called out. "1 won't be kissed, you mean old thing !" "Then take it back." "I won't take it back !" "Oh," Frances, don't be so stubborn. Take it back and come here," called Lolita, who disliked disturbances of any kind, especially with Regis, as he was her favorite, "Whoopie!" called Regis, as he made a dive for Frances once more, but she at the same time made a jump for the summer-house door, intending to run through and dodge ; but alas ! she caught her dress on a nail and nearly tore her skirt off from the waist, in her mad haste to get away. Regis grabbed her, gave her a smacking kiss which she returned with a slap, and they would have been in a regular cat-fight, had not Munro come up and held her while all the girls pounced upon Regis, nearly tearing his jacket from his back in their endeavors to hold him. jo FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "Now, girls," said Regis, who was the worst tease that ever Hved, "don't maul me so, for if you care to be kissed, too, I will do it with pleasure, without having my jacket torn from my back," and suiting the action to the word he grabbed Lolita who ducked her head, but he caught it under his arm and there he held it while he caught Gene under the other. Then he kissed them both and went off smacking his lips in the most tantalizing manner, saying : "Yum, yum ! Those were sweet gum- drops." But he had to quicken his pace and climb a tree to get out of the way of the three girls who were after him, for now Lolita and Gene were as mad at him as Frances had been. The girls saw that it was useless to wait for him to come down, so they went off and left him, well knowing that this would bother him more than if they were to stay there, where he could tease them by sitting up out of reach and calling down tantalizing things to them. "I'll tell you what let's do," said Frances. "Let's get everything ready to go spear-fishing to-night and leave him here alone." "No," said Kitty, "let's all come out of the house eating pears and let us sit down on the porch where he can see us. This will make him crazy, for he dearly loves pears," and away they went to get some. They soon appeared, each girl with a large, luscious ripe pear in her hand, which she proceeded to eat with a loud smacking noise. "Piggies ! Piggies ! Piggies !" called Regis. "You girls make more noise eating those pears than a pen full of snorters. I guess I will come down and kiss you all again for a bite," and he started to climb down out of the tree. They knew he would do what he said, so they ran into the house and locked themselves in — all but Kitty, who stood her ground and ate her pear as fast as she could. As for teasing, she rather liked it from Regis, so she decided to stop and see what he would do when he came up to her. She offered him the core of her pear and held up her mouth for a kiss. He snapped his fingers in her face and said : "You are too anxious to be kissed. I don't care for that kind any more than I do for pear cores," and he turned on his heel and walked away. For a moment Kitty was much chagrined, then she threw her core at him, hitting him in the back, and walked off in an opposite direction. All this the other girls saw from the window of the room in which they were locked. "It is time we were picking our strawberries and fixing our vegetables for market," said Munro to Regis as he came out of the house and handed him a huge, yellow pear. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 71 "Girls ! girls ! Where are you ? Come on over to the garden and help us to get our things in shape to send to town," called Munro, and presently, out of the house flocked the girls with big blue gingham aprons and white sunbonnets on, all ready to pick berries. Regis called to Lolita to come have a bite of his pear, adding that he knew she was fond of them. "Well ! if you don't want any pear let me carry your basket, and I promise not to tease you any more." Regis and Lolita were looked upon as lovers and were always together. Regis was jolly and a great tease, with a quick temper that flared up like a match and was as quickly over, while it took a long time to appease Lolita, and there was evidently something of the Indian in her make-up, for she never forgot or forgave slight or affront. Dickey and Kitty paired ofif together and Frances and Caryl. Munro, at present had no one special to go with, so he went with all the girls until Natalie, his favorite, came to the farm. The next morning, according to agreement, the Irrepressibles went in style to meet the other children with the tally-ho. The girls were in their spick and span pink, blue and white frocks, with big hats from which fluttered ribbons of the same colors, for they all wished to make as fine an appearance as possible. Just as they were starting Miss Amelia ran out and cried, "Oh! Munro, would you mind stopping on your way home to bring out a little girl who is to be a guest of mine? I forgot all about her until this minute, and this is the day I promised to send for her." "Oh! Miss Amelia, what is she like? Who is she? How long is she going to stay? Will we like her, do you think?" These were a few of the questions they asked all at once. "We don't want any other children and we won't be nice to her," said Dickey. "For shame, Dickey ! Yes, we will. But what is she like, Miss Amelia ?" asked Frances. "I am sure I don't know what she is like. You will have to find that out for your- selves," answered Miss Amelia. "Is she pretty?" asked Regis. "That you will have to decide for yourselves, also." "Certainly, we will stop for her. Miss Amelia," said Munro. "Where does she live?" 72 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "At three hundred and eleven Third Street, in a white cottage on the north side of the street." "Very well ! We will bring her," and they started the horses, but Munro suddenly stopped them and called back: "What is her name?" "Oh! mercy! I forgot to tell you in my haste, but it is Sally Smithers." "Gracious! what a homely name," said Regis. "I'll bet her face is round as a pumpkin and that she has squinting blue eyes." "I'll bet she is short, fat, and dumpy," said Dickey. "No, she will be thin and sallow and will wear her hair in pigtails," said Frances. "No, she won't either. She will have thick, coarse hair and a freckled nose," said Gene. "I'll bet you she has red hair and that she is cross-eyed," said Kitty. "Now, Lolita, it is your turn to guess." "I don't know what she will look like." "Oh ! yes, you do," said Regis, "but you are afraid of saying what you think." "Well then, I think she will be rather plain looking and dreadfully bashful and that she will be afraid of us, so that we can't get her to talk." "Well, I should like to see the girl that I could not make talk," said Regis. "So should I," said Munro. "I believe she would have to be deaf and dumb if you could not make her talk, especially when you got to teasing her. Hold on tight everybody. I am going to race down hill for fun." "It is a mark of poor horsemanship to let your horses run down hill," said Regis, who prided himself on his knowledge of horses and driving. "I know it," said Munro, "but here goes, anyway," and for the next three minutes it was all they could do to stick on the slippery leather seats, as he drove the coach over bumps and boulders at a break-neck speed. "Heigho! what fun! I just love to go fast like that," said Frances. "Dere does my hat!" cried Dorothy, and sure enough, away it flew, landing on the other side of a barbed wire fence among a flock of sheep. The yellow straw and white daisies with which it was trimmed must have looked to them like something to eat, for one old sheep walked up to it and commenced to nibble at the flowers. "Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! Kick ! Stop dat naughty old seep. Him is eatin' my new hat," wailed Dorothy. "I'll get it. Don't cry," said Regis, and he was soon off the tally-ho and climbing the barbed wire fence. Now if any of you have ever climbed a wobbly wire fence, you know it requires AT BUENA VISTA FARM ji some knack to get over one in a hurry and not tear your clothes. Regis was generally an expert at this kind of thing ; but somehow, in his haste to rescue the hat, he lost his caution, so when he went to jump down on the other side of the fence it caught the tail of his coat, short as it was, and took a piece clean out of it. When the sheep saw him coming toward them they all began to run, and the one that was chewing Dorothy's hat picked it up by the crown and made off with it. The faster Regis chased them, the faster they ran, all in a bunch as sheep are wont to run, the old sheep with the hat in her mouth following closely in the rear. Regis threw stones at the old sheep to make her drop the hat, but she still clung to it and only ran the faster. "Oh ! you old villain, if I ever catch you I'll wring your neck," shouted Regis. Munro saw that Regis was not going to be able to get the hat by himself, and as he dared not trust the horses with any of the boys, he told Dickey and Caryl they had better go and help, so, soon the three boys were chasing that contrary old sheep around and around the field, until at last they got her in a corner. Regis threw a stone and hit her in the side which made her cry, "Bah !" and, of course, when she opened her mouth, out fell the hat. Then all the sheep ran over it, and when it was at last rescued it looked as if it had been left out in a rain storm. The crown was wet and mashed all out of shape, while the brim and flowers were trampled and chewed into a sorry-looking mess. When they presented the forlorn-looking thing to Dorothy she howled so loud that one could hear her a mile away. They at last pacified her by saying that Deborah would make her a hat for her doll out of it, and then she dried her tears and was soon singing as merrily as a lark. Nothing could depress Dorothy for long at a time. This incident had caused quite a little delay and now they had to drive fast in order to reach the depot by the time the train pulled in. They just made it and were driving up in fine style, taking the curve at the station with a wide sweep, with every ribbon flying in the breeze, when the train came to a halt. The girls kept their seats, while Regis and Caryl went to the other side of the station to meet the arrivals. Presently, they came back bringing the newcomers, looking bright and happy, with them. "Now climb up here and sit by me," they all cried, and the poor boys did not know which seat to choose for they were all so tempting. "Willum, oo must tome and sit by me 'cause I losted my hat and is feelin' bad," said Dorothy. This settled the question as to a seat for William, so he, Frances, Caryl, 74 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES and Dorothy sat on one seat while Arthur climbed up and sat with Gene, Champlain, and Beatrice. On the front seat were Regis, Lolita, and Munro, while perched up on the two high back seats were Dickey and Kitty. "Willum, 00 hasn't tissed me," said Dorothy in a plaintive voice. "Well ! I will do it now, so come and sit on my lap so that you will not fall out." "No, Ise too big to sit on oor lap. Ladies don't sit on gemmens' laps when dey does ridin'. Oh, Willum ! I must tell oo 'bout the nasty seeps what ate up my bestest hat," and she forthwith gave him a graphic account of the hat episode. "Mercy ! where are we going to put Sally Smithers?" asked Munro. "I had nearly forgot- ten about her." "She can sit with us," said Frances. "There will be plenty of room if Dorothy will sit on Wil- liam's lap." "You will, won't you, honey-duck?" asked William. "Maybe, if oo let me look at oor watch wiv the funny picture in it." The tally-ho now stopped at a white cottage and all the children sat still while Munro went to the door and knocked. What would the new- comer turn out to be like, they all wondered. Presently the door opened and out walked a little girl of between ten and eleven years in a stiffly-starched pink gingham dress, a poke- shaped leghorn hat tied under her chin, black silk open-work mitts on her hands, carrying a large bandbox. Behind her came Munro carrying a little hair-covered trunk. The children held their breath for a moment at the old-fashioned picture that she unconsciously made. Everything about her was antiquated from her mitts to her bandbox. Munro set her trunk down and hurried out to introduce her. At each new name she took hold of the sides of her skirt and made a deep curtsy as one would in the BEATRICE GILL. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 75 stately minuet. This the observing Dorothy noticed at once and called out: "Oh, 'ittle dirl, 00 mussent bow like dat, 00 must jerk oor head so," ducking her own head to show her how. "We's only bow like dat at dancin' kool." Frances put her hand over Dorothy's mouth and tried to stop her but she called out : "Stop holdin' oor hand over my mouse." "Miss Sally," said Munro in his most polite tone, "would you prefer to ride on top or inside of the coach? I would advise you to ride on top as it is close and stuffy inside." "Thank you, I will ride inside," and with her head held high in the air she climbed in, taking her bandbox with her. "I am very sorry, but I am afraid we will have to leave your trunk and call for it to-morrow," said Munro, "as we have no room for it on the coach. We thought you would prefer riding on top and then we could put it inside." "If no one else is going to ride inside you can still put it here as there is plenty of room." "Just as you wish," answered Munro. So he and Regis put the little flat trunk, no larger than a good-sized dress-suit case, on the seat in front of her and, lifting their hats, closed the door. "Gee ! but she is a stiffy. I'll bet her back will ache before we reach the farm if she' sits that straight all the way out," said Regis. "The only thing I am afraid of is that the trunk will slip off the seat into her lap or on her toes the first hill we go down," said Munro. "I don't care if it does," said Regis. "It will give her a little exercise and limber up the poker in her back." "My ! isn't she distant and cold," said Eugenea. "Did you see how high she held her head, never deigning to look at us after she was introduced ? We will take all that out of her before she has been on the. farm many days," said Champlain. They had been driving along for some time and no one had been paying any attention to Dorothy, until they heard her laugh, and then they found that she had slipped from William's lap and was now between his feet, leaning over and peeking through a crack in the top of the tally-ho for it was old, warped and weather beaten. "Dorothy, what are you doing ?" cried Frances in a horrified voice. "Ise just watchin' Sally hold hers trunk on de seat. Evy time we go down hill it slips on hers lap and her most breaks hers back puttin' it on the seat aden, and when 76 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES we tips sidewaA'S, hers trunk and bandbox slide from one end of de seat to de other and her is mussin' hers dress awful." "Dearie, you must not peek. It is very impolite. Come and sit on the seat be- tween William and me," said Frances. "No, I tant tome. He talks to oo all de time and I want him to talk to me," said the jealous little girl. "If you will sit here I won't talk to Frances for a long time," said William. "What did she say?" asked Munro, turning round. "Did she say that the trunk was sliding on Miss Sally's lap?" "Yes." "Well, I think I had better get down and see if she won't change her mind and come up on top now. Miss Sally, don't you find it rather warm inside and would you not like to ride the rest of the way on top?" "Thank you, I believe I should," said Sally, hurriedly putting her bonnet on straight. Munro helped her up on the seat beside William, Frances, and Dorothy. "I am afraid your trunk must have bothered you," said Frances, trying to make conversation. "Not at all," replied Sally. "Oh, yes it did," exclaimed Dorothy, "'cause I saw it slide on oor lap all de time." Sally's face flushed scarlet and she bit her lip, then she asked : "How could you see me through the top of the coach ?" "See dat crack?" asked Dorothy, pointing with her toe to the wide slit in the top of the tally-ho. At a glance, Sally saw the crack that had been her undoing. Presently Sally felt a little hand creeping softly up and down her back. "Dorothy, what are you doing?" asked William. "I's twyin' to feel de poker in her back. Regis said her had a poker dere." CHAMPLAIN KETTLE. AT BUENA VISTA FARM ^7 This remark simply paralyzed the children and William nearly burst, trying to keep from laughing. '"Dorothy, I wish you would keep still and not talk so much," said Frances. "Shissy, I is still and amn't talkin' a bit. Is I, Willum?" After this she was quiet for some time and then suddenly exclaimed : "You amn't got red hair and cross-eyes, has oo ? Kitty said she dessed oo would have.'" the; tally-ho sally rode in. "Dorothy, I wish you would go and sit on the front seat with Munny," said Frances, hoping to keep her from saying anything more. "No, I don't want to do dere. I wants to sit on Willum's lap, and Ise only doin' to tell the 'ittle dirl what oo said about her afore she tame, so she'll feel 'quainted. Mamma says oo must alius make it pleasant for strangers, and she is strangers." "Oh, Dorothy ! Come and sit on my lap," said Caryl. "I have something in my pocket I want to show you." "Have oo, honest Injin?" "Yes, come and see," and William gladly let her go before she had time to say anything further, but she had said all the embarrassing things she wanted to for a 78 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES while, and very soon they drove into the gate and found they had reached home just in time for supper. After supper they played still-pond on the lawn, and Sally lost a good deal of the stiffness of her spine and manner before the game and the evening were over. Every day now brought new arrivals until the house was packed and one of the extra cottages filled. Chapter 8. MORE ARRIVALS. ^ERE they come! Here they come!" exclaimed Frances, as she looked down the road and saw the black top of a carriage appear, surrounded by a cloud of dust. Then Beatrice, Eugenea, and Lolita ran and jumped off the porch where they had been for the last half hour, impatiently awaiting the arrival of the newcomers, who were no less important per- sonages than Gwendolyn Hamilton and Natalie Donnelley, with her little four-year-old sister Alice Roselia and her twin brothers, Charles and Robert, one-and-a-half-years old. Now the band of Irrepressibles would be complete, and the fourteen children who always played together in the city would be reunited and spend the rest of the summer together. What fun they would have playing at keeping house in one of the unused cottages, with the small tots, cunning little babes in long clothes for their children, and the older boys for their papas, while they would be mammas, do their hair up, and wear dresses with long trains. For a few minutes after Gwendolyn and Natalie arrived, they were nearly smoth- ered with kisses and deafened by hearing the children all talk at once, and then each child tried to get them off by themselves to show them some very important thing. The babes were hugged and their pretty dimples kissed until they rebelled and the nurses at last rescued them from their over-zealous admirers. "Come, have a swing. There's a new rope so you need not be afraid of its break- ing when you go high," said Lolita. "Yes, and you should see the boys perform on. it," said Beatrice. "Speaking of boys ! here they come to see you. They did not expect you so soon, I guess, or they would have been here when you arrived," said Gene. "They have been across the lake," said Frances, "trying a new fishing place." "Hurrah girls !" called the boys as soon as they caught sight of them. "We did not expect you for half an hour yet as that old train is always late. Excuse our looks and dirty hands for you know what fishing is," they said, 79 8o FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "We are glad that you have come, for we have missed you dreadfully," said Munro. "You see all the boys but Munro had their best girls, which made it the more lonesome for him," said William. "Come down to the lake and we will give you a row before supper," said Arthur. "Oh ! no. Come over to see the pretty little calves in the pasture," said Caryl. "There is one Frances calls the sapphire-eyed calf because it has the bluest eyes you ever say. And there is a pure white one, and a beautiful black and white one, left for you girls, which you will have to draw cuts for. We each have one for our very own that Miss Amelia and Miss Elizabeth gave us." "No, no, no ! They must first see the cabin. How could you forget it," said Munro. "To be sure !" they all said. "How could we think of anything else first?" Away they ran through the garden by the shortest cut to the beloved cabin, while the smaller children went to the milk-house for a drink. "Oh ! Did you ever see anything so perfectly lovely?" exclaimed Gwendolyn, clapping her hands. "No ; I never did. It is too cozy for anything, and how beautiful the blossoming vines look climbing over it and the window boxes full of scarlet geraniums," said Natalie. "Now, come up into the watch tower we have told you so much about," and they all climbed the winding stairs leading to the seats in the elm tree. Here they sat and told the newcomers all about the tramps and the vaudeville performance. "What is that mournful sound I hear?" asked Gwendolyn. r -^ .\ ^ j^^M^A L m 1*^^"^ ■^^^^1 ^^^1 ► ALICE ROSELIA. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 8i "It is our mourning doves," said Champlain. ''Gracious ! They are well named," said Gwendolyn," for the sounds they make are dreadfully plaintive and sad." "I should say they were. They give me the creeps," said Natalie. "When you are rested we will take you to see our dove- cotes and pigeon houses," said William. . "You may believe they are worth seeing, too," said Caryl. "How about Gene's and my ducks being worth looking at?" asked Arthur, with his head thrown back and a comi- cal expression on his face. "And my peacocks," added Regis. "Your peacocks !" ex- claimed Lolita in a disgusted tone. "Our peacocks, you mean. I guess I put in as much money as you." "Excuse me, my dear," said Regis. "Our peacocks, ladies and gentlemen." "There goes the gong for supper, so we must hurry back," said Munro. "Oh, fiddlesticks ! I hate to go back. I should like to stay here all night it is so cool and pleasant after the heat and dust in the cars," said Gwendolyn. "I just love it here." "I'll tell you what, Gwen ! You and I can live here when we play 'housekeeping,' THD TWINS, CHARLKS AND ROBERT DONNELLEY. 82 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES for the rest are going to play 'live in an apartment house,' in one of the cottages," said Frances. "Oh! that will be fine," said Gwendolj'n. "Where did you say the rest were going to live?" asked Natalie. "Over in one of the cottages near the farmhouse. No one has rented it this year, so we can play it is a fashionable apartment house and two couples rent it, each couple taking one floor, and then we can visit each other and take tea. Then two other couples, can have one of the cute three-roomed cottages down by the spring. That will sepa- rate us enough to make it fun to visit each other," said Frances. "Oh ! bother that old supper bell. I want to begin playing right away. I can't bear to wait until to-morrow," said Gwendolyn. "Never mind," said Beatrice, "we have learned to play the j oiliest new game since we came here. It is called, "Whom will you marry ?" "How do you play it?" asked Natalie. "We will show you to-night," said Lolita. "Tell us something of what it is like," said Gwendolyn. "Well !" said Lolita, "we draw cards and the first one will tell what your husband will look like." "Yes, and the next, what your wedding dress will be," chimed in Gene. "And the next, how many bridesmaids you will have and how they will be dressed," said Frances. "It goes on in this way until you know all about the looks of your future husband or wife and whether he or she will have red hair and be squint-eyed, or be handsome and rich," said Regis. "It is lots of fun, just the same," said Caryl, "for one person may get a rich husband and yet ride to her wedding in a wheelbarrow." "And after marriage you may live in a dugout or in a palace on the Hudson," said Arthur. "I am just crazy to play it. Aren't you, Natalie?" asked Gwendolyn. "Gene, I can beat you running to the house," said Arthur. "No ; you can't," said Gene, and away they flew. It was a pretty even match at first, but finally Gene stubbed her toe and fell, scratching her arm on the sharp stubble of the fielG. THB TWINS AT THE MIIvK-HOUSE. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 83 "Are you hurt ?" called Arthur, running back to see. "Yes, I am," said Gene, twisting her arm around so she could see it, and when she saw that it was bleeding she began to cry for it seemed to hurt twice as much when she could see blood as when there was only a bruise. "Oh ! don't be a baby, Gene," said Champlain, coming up to where she stood. "It will be all right in a minute." GENS AND ARTHUR'S DUCKS. "Oh, yes! it will be all right because it is my arm, but you would not think the same if it were yours," said Gene, pouting. "Look in the barnyard," cried Munro. "The pigs are out of the pens. Let's go and help catch them." The scratched arm was soon forgotten and all the Irrepressibles were soon chas- ing the pigs, which ran in and around, up and over things, blindly refusing to see the 84 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES wide open door of the pen. And such a noise as they made! The pigs squealed all the time and the children screamed an accompaniment. "Bots, come here! come here! and help me head this pig off!'' called Arthur. Bots ran to his assistance to prevent the pig from going into the cowyard, but alas ! when Arthur spread his legs to keep piggie from passing, the little rascal rushed straight oetween them, and, as Arthur was short and fat he took a backward ride on the pig for a few steps and then fell off on a pile of straw. The unusual advent of a lot of pigs and children amongst them, upset the nerves of the quiet old cows and they made a stampede for the open gate, but were stopped by the girls waving their skirts at them and jumping up and down. All the girls did this but Beatrice and Lolita. They were afraid of cows, so when they saw them getting excited and trying to get out of the yard, they ran and climbed upon a part- ly-unloaded rack of hay so the cows could not reach them. Soon the cows were shut in the yard and the pigs back in the pen and then Regis came to help Lolita and Beatrice down. When he saw where they were it reminded him of the good hay-rides they had taken the summer before, so he said : "What do you all say to our coaxing Miss Amelia to let us have a hay-ride to-night? It will be moonlight and this wagon has just enough hay on it to make it comfortable to ride on." "Goodie! Goodie! Goodie! Let's!" they all cried, and forthwith ran to get per- mission from Miss Elizabeth and Miss Amelia. "Too ! Too ! Too ! There goes the horn to call us to supper for the fourth time," said Munro. "We must hurry." "My supper bell rang long ago," said Regis. "So did mine," said Arthur. "It is not often they have to ring more than one bell for us, for we are generally so hungry that we can scarcely wait until meal time," said William. "Do you have any more of those nice stuffed eggs we used to have ?" asked Natalie. "Yes, and that honey that we used to buy at White Clover Farm?" asked Gwendolyn. "Yes, lots of it and I think we are going to have some of it to-night with hot the; quiet old cows. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 85 biscuits, cold tongue, and potato salad," said Gene, "for I came through the kitchen on my way out and saw them fixing the eggs, potatoes and honey." "Hurrah! Let's hurry!" said Billy and Bots. "Did anybody say honey?" asked Champlain. "That lets me in if they did." "Where in the world have you children been?" was the greeting they received when they entered the dining- room and found nearly every one had eaten and gone except IMiss Amelia and Miss Elizabeth, who were waiting for them. After telling what they had been doing they commenced to coax for a hay-ride that night, but were persuaded out of it by Miss Amelia's telling- them that they could not have half as good a one to-night as they could to-morrow night, for then they- could get an early start and take their supper with them and come home by moonlight. This was a better plan than theirs and they willingly gave up and it was decided that they would go to Lake Winnebago; would build bonfires on its shore, have supper there, and then drive home in the moonlight. the: HAY-RIDEi Chapter 9. STORIES AND PLANS. NE cold, rainy night when the wind was blowing a perfect gale outside, driving the rain against the window-panes in slieets, the children built a roaring log fire in the grate in the living-room and then arranged themselves in a semi-circle round it, some lying on their stomachs on the floor with their heels in the air ; others, lying flat on their backs with pillows under their heads ; and still others sitting curled up in big arm chairs : all getting close to the blaze so that they could feel its warmth and see the sparks fly up the chimney as a log fell asunder, demolishing the pictures of houses, churches, animals, and people which they imagined they saw in the flames and embers. Silence had lasted for some time when suddenly Munro said, "Let us tell a story, commencing with Lolita who is first on the right of the circle, and ending with Regis who is on the extreme left. Each one must tell what would make a chapter in a book and the next person must take it up and go on with the story just where the last left off." "I speak to be last! I speak to be last!" they all cried in chorus. "Every one is to tell in turn and we must commence with Lolita or with Regis because they are at the ends of the semi-circle," said Munro. "Well then, Regis, you commence for you are a better story-teller than I," said Lolita. "You are right, he is a bigger fibber than you, Lolita," said Billy. "Oh, I don't mean that," said she. "We all know what you mean and that you are too timid to say anything ugly right out," said Arthur. "I think you boys are too mean for anything ! You always put the wrong mean- ing to everything one says, you love to tease so." "Well, never mind. We will let you oft' easy this time." said Billy, "and we will make Regis begin. Start the story, my boy." 86 AT BUENA VISTA FARM 87 Regis crossed one leg over the other, clasped his hands round his knees and fixing his eyes on the fire, began in a sepulchral tone to recite : "Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." "Here ! here ! stop that. No reciting. This story must be original and in prose. No poetry or blank verse," they all called out. "Very well then, children, just cast your eyes into the right hand corner of the grate and you will see a stately castle all in flames, with a lovely lady sitting in an upper chamber. Surrounding the castle is a moat. On the opposite side you will perceive two dark figures hastening to her relief. They reach the moat, when lo ! they find the drawbridge is up and there is no way to reach the imperiled lady. Now, you must know that these flying figures are knights in armor, suitors for the lady's hand in marriage. As I said before — Now, Dickey, you go on v/ith the story. It is your turn," said Regis, stopping abruptly with his voice raised. "Oh, bother, I can't go on with your crazy story," said Dickey. "Yes, you can. Stave ahead," said Regis, giving him a slap on the back. "Well, then, the two knights reach the bridge but find it raised and so one runs up and down the shore looking for a boat or some means of getting across the moat while the other strips off his coat and plunges into the cold, deep waters, hoping to swim to his lady-love's assistance," added Dickey, Frances took it up and said : "The flames roared and crackled, mounting higher and higher toward the window where their sweetheart waved her arms in despair while she called for help. Little did she know that two brave gallants were making every effort to reach her and to save her from a horrible death. Just as the knight's head appeared above the wall he had scaled, after swimming the moat, a terrible explosion was heard and he saw the castle with his lady-love still at the window, go up in smoke," "Oh, Frances, what made you end it that way? Flow are we to go on with it after the heroine has been killed in the first chapter?" "I'll tell you why I ended it. Because I think the story a stupid one and so let's get some corn, butter and salt, and pop corn instead of telling stories. The fire is just right since the castle fell in ashes for it has made lovely coals." "Bully for you, Frances ! That's lots better than telHng stories, especially as it was my turn next," said Caryl. Soon the big bread pan was heaped high with the tender, snow-white kernels and Natalie was pouring the melted butter over it when she was surprised to hear a voice over her head say : "Pour lots of butter on, 'cause I like it dat way," and she immedi- 88 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES ately recognized Dorothy's voice, but where in the world could she be? The windows were closed, yet the voice could be plainly heard over her head. Looking up she saw a little round, fat, dimpled arm thrust through the stovepipe hole in the ceiling. It disappeared, and looking up again she saw Dorothy's face with its usual mischievous grin, pressed close to the hole. 'T is tummin' right down to det some. Don't let the boys eat it all up till I det dere." "Oh, Dorothy, for mercy's sake, you are around all day in mischief, can't you stay in bed at night?" ''No, I tant, 'cause it smells too dood." Then the patter of little bare feet was heard in the hall and in a moment more Dorothy appeared, holding up one corner of her nightgown, looking too sweet for an3'thing, with her curly hair all in a tangle over her eyes and her little toes peeping out from under the hem of her gown as she walked. "Come here, dear, and sister will wrap you up in this shawl so you will not take cold while you eat your corn," said Estelle. At first she took up one kernel at a time and ate it slowly, when chancing to look at Dickey she saw him fill his mouth with a handful. After this she was afraid she would get left so she commenced to stuff her mouth with handfuls at a time. She had nearly choked herself eating in this way when Deborah appeared in the door with scared face inquiring if any ^one had seen Dorothy. "Debba, why can't oo stay in bed? Oo is alius taggin' me evywhere. Did oo smell dis corn and tome to det some? It is awful nice. Tome and I'll give oo some of mine." "Now, dear, you have had some corn and you must run along to bed," said Estelle. "Vely well, but don't oo make lasses tandy affer Ise in bed or I'll tome back aden. Mind now !" "Here, petsy, give brother a kiss before you go, won't you?" "I'll give evyone a tiss." This was something she seldom did and they wondered at her willingness, but the reason was soon made plain when she volunteered to go round the circle a second time and give them all another kiss. It was not for the love of kissing but to gain time and stay a little longer. To Caryl and Billy she gave two kisses and a hug, too, but to Regis she gave but one and that on the tip of his nose because he always teased her so. After she had gone they commenced to plan what they would do on the morrow. William, Caryl, and Arthur were for making traps and setting them in the woods. "What do you expect to catch in them?" asked the girls. Natalie Donnelley (S9) AT BUENA VISTA FARM 91 "Weasels, hedgehogs, skunks, and squirrels." "Oh ! for mercy's sake, don't trap any skunks or you will have to be buried a week to get rid of the smell," said Gene. "A good place to set the weasel and skunk traps would be down by the chicken- house, for Miss Elizabeth said something had been carrying off her chickens lately," said Arthur. "That is just where we will put them and we will let Dickey go and look in first to see if there are any skunks in the traps, for you know he always likes to be first," said Billy. "Look first yourself," said Dickey. "I don't care to have my clothes buried any more than you do yours." "I hope we can catch a nice, big grey squirrel," said Billy, "and then we can have it stuffed and set up for the cabin." "What are you going to bait your traps with?" asked Champlain. "Asafcetida." "Asafoetida! You surely don't mean to use the smelly stuff!" exclaimed Bea- trice in a disgusted voice. "Certainly I do, just to make the traps smell natural to the skunk so he will think some other skunk has been there before him. You know, asafcetida is about the worst smelling stuff there is, next to a skunk, and I have heard hunters say that it will catch them when nothing else will," said Arthur. "But what are you going to do with them after you catch them ?" asked Kitty. "Skin them, cure the skins and sell them for furs when we get back to the city," said Caryl. "What are you going to bait the squirrel traps with?" asked Gene. "With plump, fat nuts," said Billy. "That will fetch them." "Gee ! hear the wind blow, and the trees and rain beat against the windows. I am glad I don't have to be out such a night as this," said Regis. "I'm tired sitting still around the fire. Let's play charades," said Gene. To this they all consented, and from then on until bedtime they had one charade after another until all had taken part, while the older people were their audience. The last words they called out when they went to bed were : "Be sure to get up early so we can set the traps." The next morning they were up bright and early, and, long before breakfast, had commenced to build their traps so that they could finish and bait them before night. They worked like beavers and while they worked, the girls drove to town for the asa- 92 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES foetida and nuts to set them with. They returned about noon and while at the dinner- table they made every one laugh at the funny experience they had had in getting the asafoetida. "You see," said Frances, "we bought it at the drugstore and that affected, blonde- haired, squint-eyed dude of a clerk waited upon us. When we asked for such a quantity, he said : 'Beg pardon, did I hear aright, young ladies ? You want asa- foetida?' We said we did. Then he said, T am afraid you have made a mistake in the drug you are asking for and that you do not know its properties.' Then for fun, I said: 'Do you mean its smelling properties?' He said, 'Yes.' Then I said: 'We are not going to use it for perfume but to set traps for skunks.' "When I said that we thought he would fall over, he looked so shocked, but he started to get it and when he came back he carried it at arm's length between two shingles, while his head was turned to one side so he need not inhale the odor. "Really, it almost made us sick but we would not let on before him, for worlds. Beatrice had to go to the door pretending to look after the horse. Gene took up a bottle of household ammonia so she would not get the smell from the asafoetida and it nearly knocked her head off it was so strong, and all this time I had to swallow and hold on to myself, it was nauseating me so, and I was wondering how in the world we were going to be able to endure the smell long enough to get it home, when suddenly, the clerk turned pale, put his hand to his mouth and ran out of the back door of the store, and soon another man came and finished doing up the package and he held his breath and looked as sour as a pickle. At last it was wrapped up and I bought a bottle of white rose perfume and then and there soaked my handkerchief in it and held it to my nose, as I took the nasty stuff to carry it out to the buckboard where the girls had gone before me. "Just as I got to the door of the store I met old Mrs. Brown, and, of course, she had to stop me to inquire after all the family in general and each member in particular. She had finished asking about Madame, Miss Amelia, and Miss Elizabeth and was be- ginning on our family when, all of a sudden, she said : 'How the glue factory does smell this morning ! I never noticed it so far in town before. It is certainly thick enough to cut with a knife.' "All this time, while she was making her inquiries about the family, I was holding the package of asafoetida nearer and nearer her nose, and at the same time holding my own nose tighter and tighter with the perfume-soaked handkerchief. I am sure I don't know how much longer she would have stood there talking had not Mrs. Smith, her best friend, come along just then and carried her off, and the last words I heard AT BUENA VISTA FARM 93 her say were, Tt is a perfect outrage to have a gkie factory so near town that its nauseating odors can blow over it and destroy the comfort of its citizens.' 'T stuck the stuff under the back seat of the buckboard and then I took a long breath and we drove to the market. Here we met two boys we knew and thev came out to speak to us. Gene and Lolita were in the back seat and the boys came and stood at the back to talk to them. Of course, they got the full benefit of the odorous pack- age. Presently, one of them said : 'Holy Moses ! There must be something dead round here,' and he began looking in the gutter to see if he could discover what it was. The other boy said : 'I guess the girls have some limburger under the seat.' '■'■ 'That is it. Won't you have a slice?' I asked. But he declined with thanks. "We started for home and with every bump in the road the package was stirred up and smelled worse than ever, so that at last Gene and Lolita climbed over the seat and sat with me." "Yes, and we would have thrown the stuff away, only we wanted you boys to have a smell of it and beside we wanted to catch a skunk to see what it is like," said Gene. "The next time you boys want asafoetida, you will have to go and buy it yourselves for I feel as though I should never be able to smell anything else again as long as I lived," said Lolita. As soon as dinner was over the girls put on high shoes and old dresses, preparatory to going to the swamp with the boys to set the groundhog traps and through the brambles and the weeds to set the skunk and squirrel traps. When they reached the spot where they intended to place them, Billy took a clothes-pin from his pocket and put it on his nose. Then he freely rubbed some asafoetida all over the inside of the trap, propped open the door and then ran to the lake, which was only a few yards away, and scrubbed his hands to get the smell off before he removed the clothes-pin from his nose. Arthur had brought a pocketful of clothes-pins and they each put one on and went walking about until Kitty said they should call themselves the Clothes-pin Brigade. At last every trap was set and baited and they returned to the house to impatiently await the morning when they could inspect them to see if anything was caught. WHERE THEY SET THE TRAPS. Chapter 10. THE CULPRIT. T was barely daylight the next morning when Dickey, chancing to awake early, thought he would go take a peep at the traps before any of the others were up ; so he crept out of bed and hurriedly dressed. Cautiously raising his window, he crept out on the veranda roof and slid to the ground so that no one would see him pass the doors. Once away from the house he ran through the wet grass, heavy with dew, through the woods, only stopping once and that was when he slipped and fell on the clayey path which left a long streak of yellow mud on his clothes. Little did he think at the time what trouble that mud mark was going to cause him. He soon came to the first skunk trap but there was nothing in it. Then, pushing away the bushes, he crawled along until he came to Munro's squirrel trap. Could he believe his eyes? The trap door was down and he could distinctly hear little squeaks coming from the inside. He crept close to it and looking through a knot hole in the top saw the fur of a grey squirrel. Now, if there was one thing more than another which Dickey was crazy for it was a grey squirrel to take home with him. Why hadn't the squirrel gone into his trap instead of into' Munro's ? Perhaps there was one in his. He hurried off to see. Oh, joy! There was something in it for the door was down. Maybe a big squirrel twice as large as the one in Munro's trap ! Now, the question was how to get it out and not get bitten. "I'll take off my coat, tie the cuff end of my sleeve, thus making a bag and then throw it over the top before I open the door, so when I do raise it, he will run into my sleeve, thinking it a hole he can hide in and then I can wrap him up and carry him home." He did all this but no squirrel ran out. What could be the matter? Had the trap killed him when the door dropped shut ? He threw aside his coat and lifting the door, peeped under. Imagine his disappointment at finding nothing there. Even the nuts were eaten. 94 AT BUENA VISTA FARM 95 "It was probably the squirrel in Munro's trap that ate my nuts and then went over to his to try the same trick there and so got caught," thought Dickey. 'T be- lieve under the circumstances, that he belongs to me, so I am going to take him out of Munro's trap and put him in mine. Then I will go back to the house and to bed, never letting the children know that I was here, and when they see the squirrel in my trap they will think it belongs to me." A little voice whispered : "What a mean, sneaky thing to do ! and to a friend who has always been good to you." "I know," Dickey argued with the voice, "but Munro don't know and beside, he does not want a squirrel half as much as I do." "How do you know?" asked the voice." "Beside, this is stealing." "Well ! I'm going to do it anyhow," and he refused to listen longer to that still, small voice. "He will never know, and I have wanted a squirrel so long." So he caught it as he had planned and shut it up in his own trap. Then he hurried back to the house, climbing in the same way that he had come out. He had just taken off his wet, muddy shoes and clothes and crept into bed when Bots yawned and, opening his sleepy eyes, said : "Come ! let's get up and wake the gang to see if there is anything in our traps." "Oh, I'm too sleepy," answered Dickey, after he had let Bots call him a number of times, pretending he was asleep. "Oh, you sleepy-head, come on! We will just have time before breakfast. I am going to call the rest anyway." When he went to knock on Munro's door, he heard voices and knew the boys were awake if not up, so he went in. He found Munro, Regis, and Billy with their heads close together in an animated, whispered conversation. "What is up ?" cried Bots. "Sh ! Keep it dark. Close the door and come here," said Regis. "Where has Dickey been so early in the morning?" they asked in chorus. "Where has he been ! Why, in bed to be sure. Are you fellows crazy ?" "No, stupid, but we thought as you roomed with Dickey that you might be able to tell us where Dickey went in the wee, small hours of the morning and why he pre- ferred to climb in the window rather than to come in at the door," said Regis. "Oh, stop your fooling and come on to the woods. I want to see if we have caught anything in our traps." "By Jo !" said Billy, clapping his knee, "that is just where Dickey has been." "Perhaps it is, but he must have been up to some mischief or one of his sneak- 96 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES ing tricks, or he would never have been up so early, nor would he have sneaked off alone," said Arthur, who had come into the room some time before. "And you say he pretended to be too sleepy to get up?" asked Munro. ''See here, Bots. You see from where my bed stands that I can look out of the window. Well, while I was lying here awake, trying to summon spunk enough to get up, I saw Dickey come running toward the house from the direction of the woods. I kept still, intending to call to him when he went by, but after giving him plenty of time to get in the house, I commenced to wonder why he did not pass my door. Then I heard a slight noise on the roof of the veranda outside of my window. I jumped up just in time to see Dickey's heels disappearing through his window which opens on this ver- anda. I still kept quiet thinking I would wait to see what explanation he would make for his early morning prowl, and now you say he pretends to be too sleepy to get up when it can't be ten minutes since I saw him climb through the window. Most likely he just tumbled into bed when you woke up. Let us all get dressed and go to the traps without him if he don't care to come and we will soon see if he has been there before us." Bots went back to his room to dress, and on his way there he pounded on the door of the girls' room and found that they were all up and nearly ready. "We will meet you all at the swing," called Frances, when he knocked at her door. Dickey was partly dressed when Bots returned to his room. Just to see what ex- cuse he would give for his wet shoes, Bots pretended to pick up his shoe for one of his own. "Why, how in the dickens did my shoe get so wet last night? No, this isn't my shoe. It's yours that I picked up by mistake. Well, just the same I should like to know how yours could- get wet when it didn't rain last night. Besides they are covered with wet, sticky clay." "Oh, I got them wet and muddy last night when I came home from the woods and they have not dried yet," Dickey answered. "That is strange, for I got mine just as wet and muddy as you did yours but they are as dry as a bone now." "Well, I can't help it if yours did get dry and mine didn't," answered Dickey in a surly voice, at the same time turning his head away. "Come on, fellows. Don't stop to prink," called Billy from the hall. As they were walking to the woods Regis said : "Say, Dickey, you forgot to AT BUENA VISTA FARM 97 brush your coat. It is all mud and so are your pants. It looks as if you had slipped heels over liead in the mud somewhere." "Here, stop and I will brush it off," said Munro. Oh, leave it alone. I don't care," said Dickey. Munro paid no attention but walked up to him and tried to brush it off, but it would not brush off. It was too wet. "Why, this is fresh mud. You must have been out early to get this on," said Munro. "I'll bet you have been down to the traps be- fore us," said Regis, "for I recognize that mud as some from the clayey path in the woods." "What are you talking about? Do you suppose I would be such a donkey as to get up before sunrise and go to see the traps ?" "Well, I don't know. Stranger things than that have happened," answered Arthur. "I am not so anxious to catch something as all that, beside, I don't expect to find anything in my trap when we get there." Presently, they came in sight of the first trap, which was Munro's, the one from which Dickey had taken the squirrel. "Look, boys, look !" exclaimed Munro, "my trap is shut. I must have caught something." He hastened forward and peeped in the same knot hole that Dickey had looked through but he saw nothing, so he cau- tiously raised the door and looked in, but the trap was empty. "Well, that is mighty strange! How could an animal get away with my bait and not get caught ? I baited it very carefully but it is gone just the same. But come, look here, boys ! There is grey fur and fresh blood on this nail. How do you account for that? And still the squirrel, for squirrel it must have been, is gone, but, stranger still, how did it get out with the door shut, unless it was helped out ? Answer me that if you can ?'' DICKEY DOOLITTLE ON ROI^LER- SKATES. 98 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "Yes, I will," raid Regis. "Here are some one's tracks around the trap. Some one has been here before us and has stolen the prize." "You are right. There has been some one here," said Arthur. "I have been examining the footprints and they are all of a size." "Probably some bad boy from town has been here," said Dickey, for he was get- ting badly scared. "These tracks are too small for my shoes," said Arthur. "And too big for mine," said Billy, trying to fit his foot into one. "Come, every one put his foot in a print and we will soon find out who the cul- prit is," said Munro. They all tried but Dickey, while he walked off toward one of the other traps, trying to look unconcerned. "Here, Dickey, corne back and measure. You are the only one who has not tried," called Billy. "Oh, rot ! I sha'n't do anything of the kind. I tell you it has been some boy from town." "We are not so sure of that. Come and measure or we will carry you and stick your foot in one of the tracks," said Munro. "Don't be a silly, Dickey. You are the only one who has not measured and it will look as if you are guilty if you refuse. Of course, we know your foot won't fit but come just for fun," called Kitty. "I sha'n't make such a fool of myself," he retorted, and continued to walk farther off. "See here, Dickey, you had better stop and explain how you got that mud on your coat so early in the morning, and how it is that these footprints have a big, round hole in the sole just where your shoe has one. You remember you made that hole by standing on a red hot coal the last time we built a bonfire." "I tell you I got that mud on last night as we were coming out of the woods." "Well, explain about these prints corresponding to the soles of your shoes then and who was it I saw, looking exactly like you, coming out of the woods and climb- ing through your window before any of us were up this morning?" said Munro. "Yes, and here is the squirrel he stole out of your trap, shut up in his," called Bots, who had walked over to Dickey's trap. At this news they all ran over to inspect the trap, but Dickey sat down on a log looking rather pale for he began to see that he was in a pretty tight place which AT BUENA VISTA FARM 99 he could not get out of with his usual ease. All the children forgot him for a moment in their excitement at finding a real, live squirrel in the trap. "How shall we get him out without hurting him? and how shall we get him out without his biting us?" they exclaimed. 'T have it,"' said Bots. "Open the trap with a net thrown over it and then we can draw it around the squirrel and leave the trap." "A good idea," said Billy. "Wait until I run to the house and get a fly net." "No, stay here. I know where there is one nearer," said Frances. "It is in the boathouse and I will get it." "I suppose we should let Dickey have something to say about the squirrel found in his trap," said Munro, and he turned to look for him, but guilty Dickey had .taken advantage of their forgetfulness and had quietly disappeared. Soon Frances returned with the net and after much trouble they succeeded in getting the squirrel without injuring him in the least and he proved to be a fine speci- men with an exceedingly bushy tail. They carried him home and put him in an old squirrel cage which Miss Elizabeth had stored away in the garret. On close examina- tion, they found the squirrel had lost a bit of his fur just the size that they had found in Munro's trap, so that proved conclusively that he had been in there first and Munro was justly entitled to him. The next day a summons was served on Dickey to appear in Court to answer to the charge of sneaking, fibbing, and stealing. Court was to be held in the court- house (otherwise known as the hay-loft) at ten o'clock a. m. sharp. Awaiting the trial, Dickey was in dire disgrace and he was not allowed to enter into any of their games or to have anything to do with any of his comrades until he had cleared him.self, and failing to do that he would be obliged to submit to whatever punishment was meted out to him by the Judge and jurors. Early in the summer, the children had set up a Court, with Munro for Judge, Regis and William as lawyers, and the other children as sheriffs, clerks, jurors, and witnesses. All disputes were settled by bringing them before the Court and it was a clever way to settle all differences for it gave them good practice in governing them- selves as well as others. For instance, did any one do a mean thing, he was called to account by one of the sheriffs. Then he had the privilege of engaging Regis or William as a lawyer to defend him, and the other children made up the jury who listened to the merits of the case and decided as to the guilt or innocence of the one who had been accused. At ten o'clock sharp the next morning, the Court went into session, with Munro LofC. loo FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES on the Judge's stand (which was a packing box turned downside up), and the twelve jurors at one side, on a beam, while the Constable stood beside the prisoner to prevent his escape, and the Bailiff was present to keep order in the court-room. Munro presided, his gavel on an improvised table before him, and Court was opened. First the jurors were sworn in, and then the case proceeded as is usual in courts of justice, from the impaneling of the jury to the final decision of the Judge, pronouncing sentence or acquittal as the case might be. Dickey was proven guilty of all three charges and his punishment was that he must either wear on his back for one entire week a placard with these words written across it in large letters : "Dickey Doolittle, The Sneak, Fibber, and Thief," or he was to be carried to the middle of the lake where the water was eighty feet deep and be ducked three times — first, to wash away the sin of sneaking ; second, to wash away the sin of fibbing ; and third, to wash away the sin of stealing. Unlike most decisions, with which a prisoner has nothing to say, Dickey was given his choice of punishment. He knew he could never stand it to live a whole week in the same house with the other children and to have to go around with that dreadful placard on his back, for, of course, no one would want to speak or to play with him ; so he chose the ducking. This punishment was meted out by Munro, William, Cham- plain, and Arthur, according to the order of the Court. They rowed him into the mid- dle of the lake one moonlight night and while Munro and William ducked him, Champlain, and Arthur balanced the boat to keep it from upsetting. He kicked and protested so that they had to tie his feet and hands and then they tied a rope around his body under his arms and soused him. After three duckings they undressed him and rubbed him down with coarse, dry towels until he w^as all in a glow, and then they rolled him in a, blanket, rowed him to shore and put him in a wheelbarrow, jolted him to the house and dumped him into bed. This was a lesson Dickey never forgot and he never fibbed or stole after that, you may be sure. Cbapter tl. A NEW PROJECT. THE Irrepressibles had now been on the farm about two months, as they came early in May and they expected to stay until about two weeks before school commenced in the fall. They all looked rosy and brown, while their muscles were well developed because of their work in their garden, their sailing, rowing, trolling, and swimming, and the outdoor life and good country air, to say nothing of the fresh, wholesome food which had done them all a world of good. Come with me and I will give you a peep at their cabin garden and you will see that where early in the summer was an unploughed hazel thicket, there is now a well kept garden with cleanly weeded beds of vegetables in even rows and also beds of sweet smelling flowers without number, the whole enclosed within a wire fence that is completely hidden by sweet peas, nas- turtiums, morning glories, and flowering beans. Around these blossoms humming birds flutter and fly all day long while the bees fairly get drunk with the sweetness of the honey-laden flowers. As the strawberries ripen, they are picked and packed in cute-shaped baskets made of Indian sweet-grass, and are decorated with a few cut flowers to make them more tempting. These, with the vegetables tied in attractive bunches, with all dead leaves picked off, are packed in large crates and taken to Fond du Lac where they are sold to the leading grocers. The children take turns in driving to town twice a week in their pony cart. The proceeds from their sales are then placed in the bank to the account of the Irrepressibles, and you would be surprised to know how FLOWERS FROM the; GARDEN. CHILDREN'S lOI 102 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES fast this deposit grew. The children always got good prices for their truck as the people were willing to pay nearly twice as much for them as they paid the farmers in that vicinity, for it was always select and put up in an attractive way. Knowing there was only a limited supply of these choice things, the people were willing and eager to get them at a good price, and three times as much could just as easily have been sold. Of course doing this for fun they did not care to spend all their time in gardening. One day when Munro and Regis were driving back from town with their empty cart, Regis conceived the idea of raising chickens and selling eggs and young broilers. He suggested it to Munro, who approved it at once, and in ten seconds the boys were talking and planning hen-houses and different breeds of chickens, which were best for laying and which best for setting. Suddenly Munro said: "I have it! Say we let all the Irrepressibles into the scheme ; make a pool of our money, buy an incubator and go into it wholesale." "Gee Willikens! We will do it!" said Regis, and they whipped up the ponies that they might reach home the sooner and impart their new scheme to the Band, as they called themselves. "Come here, Snookes and Snooker- eens," called Regis, as he jumped out of the cart almost before the horse had stopped. "We have something to tell you. Where are they all ?" he asked as only three or four appeared. "Don't ask me," said Gene. So the three or four that were there set up such unearthly noises, whistling through their fingers and giving Indian war-whoops, that in a short time the missing ones be- gan to appear. They came from all directions : out of the haymow, up from the lake or spring, down from the trees as they had a great habit of taking a book, climbing a tree, and reading while sitting among its branches. "What the dickens is all this fuss about ?" asked Billy, as. he dropped out of a sweet apple tree where he had been regaling himself for the last half hour, while Ar- thur came lounging along with his hair full of hay and a book under his arm, so it was plain to be seen where he had been. THE CHIIvDREN TAKE TURNS IN DRIVING. AT BUENA VISTA FARM 103 The girls came from Columbia Cottage, one of the cottages on the place, and all were dressed in grown-up people's clothing for they had been playing they were ladies and each lived in a different room of the cottage and then they would call on each other ; and they had great fun with Robert, Dorothy, Alice Roselia, the twins, and the two babies, Ann Elizabeth and Graveraet, for their children. Dorothy objected to being a baby because she wanted to be a lady and have long dresses on, but they succeeded in buying her off by giving her half a stick of candy and a sweet, yellow apple. Robert was given the other half of Dorothy's stick of candy and an apple, so was perfectly willing to play little baby and be dressed in long clothes just so that he could be with Dorothy. "Now, what did you call us for?" asked Frances. "Come and sit on the hay-cock over there under the tree and we will tell you," said Munro. "Chuck, chuck, chuck ! Cock-a-doo-dle-doo !" crowed Regis as he walked slowly behind them and threw himself down on the grass beside Lolita, giving her curls a gentle pull now and then. "Now, Regis, tell them our scheme," said Munro. "No, go ahead and tell them yourself," said Regis. "Well then, we propose to have a chicken farm and to fence in some land on the other side of our cabin, then to build some chicken-houses and put incubators in them so we can go into the business on the wholesale plan ; and what we want to know is if you will all chip in and help us buy the incubator and the lumber for the hen- houses. When everything is complete we will sell the eggs and some of the young chickens. What do you say to our plan?" "It's bully!" said Dickey.. "Dandy !" said Billy. "Out of sight !" said Arthur. "Fine!" said Bots, while the girls all agreed that it would be great fun, and Dorothy asked : "Can I skeeze de 'ittle chickens all I wants to ?" "Nov/, listen a minute. Regis, look out ! You will break Dorothy's arm, pulling her over your head in that manner." 'come; and sit on COCK." the: hay- I04 FRANCES AND THE IRREPRESSIBLES "Oh, no, I won't. I am only trying to stop her cHmbing up my back. Her toes tickle my ribs so." "Den, det up and wide me on oor back and I won't tittle oor ribs any more," said the little one. "Dorothy darling ! do keep still a minute until brother is through and then Regis will give 3'ou a ride." "Will oo's?" she persisted. "Yes, of course, if you will stop buzzing in my ear. When you whisper you hold your mouth so close that I feel as if a bee had flown in and was trying to buzz my head off." "Silence in Court," called Arthur. "I propose," said Munro, "that we all take enough of our capital out of the bank to start our chicken farm and I am sure that in two months' time we will have more than double what we take out. Do you all agree that we do it?" "Yes, Judge, yes," they all responded. "Very well then ; some of us will have to go to town this afternoon to buy lumber for the hen-house and wire for the fences, while others stay at home and draw plans for the house and the rest lay out the grounds. I tell you, before we know it, all will be finished and we will be making money hand over fist." It was agreed that Munro, Regis, and Champlain go to town to buy the incubator, while Billy, Bots- ford, and Frances drew up the plans and Arthur and Dickey worked at the grounds. Natalie, Lolita, and Beatrice went to town with the boys. Gene and Kitty stayed to help Arthur and Dickey lay out the grounds, for the girls as well as the boys were to have a hand in this. For days the Irrepressibles worked untiringly and at the end of that time had as picturesque, convenient a chicken-farm as one could wish, with nice little runs all fenced off for the different breeds of chickens, and little water troughs in each, and cunning little places for them to run into the brooders when they felt cold. On top of each chicken-house was a bird-house and at one end of the yard a separate pigeon-house and yard where Frances, Beatrice, Natalie, Munro, Botsford, and Champlain had decided to raise high- grade pigeons, making carrier pigeons a specialty so they could train them to carry j^ t B|g^^ riKMiJ^Wj Hi PI^^H R L *"'" '\ ^/f -SS'^f^ 8|^l ^. ^ '' i^^ m- ^<^^ -^^ ^' ^^^% wa^v <.