CHAPTER V A MIDNIGHT WALK
The thought that perhaps Jack was ill immediately flashed across Desire'smind. Throwing on a kimono, she hurried to the door. Down the walk whichled to the street, through the gate which had been left part way open,and along the road walked--Priscilla!
No mistaking, even in the shadows, that plump childish form. Where wasshe going? Without stopping to do more than catch up the child's coat,and her own which hung beside the door, Desire followed her. Not wantingto call lest she should waken the neighborhood, she had to run to catchup to her sister; for Priscilla had quickened her pace as she approachedthe end of the road and turned onto the main street. Coming abreast withher at last, Desire took the child's arm; and, stooping to look at herface, was startled to see that her eyes, though open, were unseeing.Shaking with fright, Desire asked softly--
"Where are you going, Prissy?"
"To the Grand Hotel," was the prompt and surprising reply.
"But, darling," protested the older girl, "it's night, and everybody isin bed and asleep."
"I'm going to sleep there. I've always wanted to."
Then Desire realized in a flash that Priscilla must be walking in hersleep. She remembered now that Mother had once spoken of her doing itwhen she was a very little girl and had become greatly excited oversomething. The splendors of the hotel must have been on her mind as shewent to sleep.
How to get the child back without arousing her was a problem; she hadheard that sleepwalkers must not be wakened suddenly.
"Well, dear," she said quietly, "it's getting cool. Let's put on ourcoats before we go any farther."
Priscilla stopped obediently, and, after both girls had put on theircoats, Desire took the little girl's arm and turned her gently around,beginning a low monologue as she did so.
"You're going in the wrong direction; we must go this way. Soon we'll bethere. Just down this street. We must be very quiet so no one will hearus. Step softly. Quiet!"
Leading, coaxing, hushing, Desire finally got her sister into the housewithout waking any one, and settled her upon the living-room couch; forshe dared not trust her out of her sight again that night.
"Now you're all right," she whispered, removing the child's coat. "Isn'tthat a lovely bed?"
"Yes," breathed Priscilla, curling up under the blanket.
Noiselessly Desire drew a big rocking chair close to her sister's side,propped her feet up on the edge of the couch, and with the two coatsspread over her, prepared to spend the rest of the night. No one mustknow of this escapade. Mrs. Chaisson would be distressed at not havingawakened; Jack would be disturbed at having slept so soundly, and perhapsdisapprove of her not calling him; and old Simon would be troubled by theidea of what might have happened. Also, Priscilla would probably be madenervous. Too excited to sleep, she dozed, dreamed, started, and wakenedagain until the first far-away call of a robin pierced the faint greydawn. Immediately one in a tree beside the cottage answered; then a cockcrowed; a song sparrow began its short sweet strains; and the day of thegreat adventure had really begun.
"Prissy," she whispered, a little later, bending over the child.
The blue eyes opened lazily.
"Let's get dressed, Prissy, and surprise Mrs. Chaisson by having thetable set and things started before she wakens."
"All right," agreed the little girl, sitting up; "but--but--how did I gethere?"
"You were rather restless; so I brought you out here with me--" beganDesire.
"And you slept in the chair! Oh, you must be _so_ tired, Dissy. Why didyou do it?"
"I'm all right, dear. Never mind about it. Don't say anything of it to_any one_!"
"Why?" asked Priscilla, wondering at her sister's earnestness.
"Because Jack might be afraid I was too tired to start out today, and--"
"Oh, are we really going this morning?" demanded Priscilla, her mindimmediately occupied with the exciting prospect.
"Yes; and it's going to be a glorious day."
The sound of their voices roused the others; and while breakfast wasbeing prepared, and the house set in order--for Desire would not leavetheir hostess any extra work--Jack got the team and wagon ready fordeparture. At nine o'clock, after reluctant and affectionate farewellshad been exchanged, Jack gathered up the reins. Beside him sat Desire,and directly back of them on little stools were Priscilla and Rene.
"Now, remember," repeated Mrs. Chaisson, handing a lunch basket toDesire, "that this is your home whenever you are in Yarmouth, or anyother time you need one. And whenever you can, let me hear how you'regetting on. We'll be thinking of you all the time."
"Thank you," said Desire, kissing Mrs. Chaisson affectionately, andadding for the tenth time--"You've been so very good to us."
"We shall never forget it," said Jack, tightening the reins; and Dollyand Dapple, moving away from the gate, put an end to the farewells.
No one saw, hidden away among the maple saplings, scrub pine, andunderbrush which covered the field beside the house, the bulky figure ofa man. Neither did they hear softly muttered words of anger and revenge.
After they had left Yarmouth behind and were jogging along the road backover the same route they had covered on the train the day before, Desireturned sidewise in the seat to inspect once more the interior of their"store." At the back was their trunk, and next to it their box; and oneither side, reaching to the very top of the wagon, shelves tightlypacked with jars, cans, rolls of material. The small tent which they hadbought on their way out of town was laid along the floor at one side.
"I must get acquainted with all the stock," she observed; "so I'll beable quickly to find what people want."
"The first time we stop, you can look things over," replied Jack. "You'dlose your balance and be rolling out if you tried to do it while we'removing."
The younger ones laughed hilariously. They were in high spirits now, andeven Jack felt a thrill of excitement under his sober, staid manner.
Up and down the long hills they drove, past numberless lakes and ponds,in and out of woods sweet with the odor of sun-warmed pine, and acrossrivers whose red mud flats made a vivid splash of color on the landscape.
"So many, many little bodies of water," murmured Desire.
"The ground is so uneven," explained Jack, "that the water settles andforms lakes."
"Why are the river banks so wide, and so very muddy?" asked Priscilla,leaning on the back of the seat.
"Out there," answered Jack, waving his arm toward the West, "is the Bayof Fundy, a big, windy, rough body of water, an arm of the AtlanticOcean. This bay has huge tides, rising in some places to a height offifty or seventy feet. When the tide is high, the water rushes into allthe rivers on this side of the country and fills them to overflowing;then all these banks are covered up. The tide comes twice a day; so yousee the flats have no time to dry out."
Through Brazil, Lake Annes, and Hectanooga they had passed withoutstopping, and then the children began to get hungry. Jack drew up to theside of the road in the open country, and stopped in the shade of a hugeoak tree. There they ate the lunch which Mrs. Chaisson had put up forthem, and rested a while, breathing in deep breaths of clover-scentedair.
"See the chipmunk, Rene," said Jack, pointing to a little animal who wasregarding them doubtfully from the trunk of a nearby tree. "See thestripes along his back? Well, once upon a time, many years ago, awonderful being called Glooscap lived up on Cape Blomidon. He was halfgod and half man, and tried to make Nova Scotia a very happy, safe placeto live in. But there were wicked witches who lived here also, and theywanted to do all kinds of harm. The strongest of them was called Gamona,and any animal who was caught by her was killed or shut up in some caveor hole. One day little Charlie Chipmunk disobeyed his mother and wenttoo far away from home. Suddenly, while he was nibbling at a mostdelicious nut, he felt himself picked up in terrible sharp claws. Whatwas it his mother had told him to do if he ever got into danger? Alas! Hecoul
dn't remember, and the creature, at whose face he dared not look, wascarrying him away so, so fast! Some name he should call. Whose name? Likethe lightning which sometimes made their hollow-tree home bright as day,it flashed into his mind.
"'Glooscap!' he squeaked.
"Such a tiny, trembling cry reached nowhere at all in that great bigforest, yet Glooscap heard it and came to help the little fellow.
"'Let my child go!' he ordered, in a voice which, though not very loud,seemed to fill the whole land with its power.
"Gamona ground her teeth with anger. She knew she must obey, yet how shehated to let such a nice plump chipmunk go. Slowly she opened her handjust a little bit, then a little bit more; but the space was not quitewide enough for fat little Charlie. Her long sharp claws scraped his backas he wiggled out, and made long dark scratches. Ever since that day thechipmunk has worn those stripes down the middle of his back."
"I c'n see 'em jes' as plain," observed Rene.
"Come on," proposed Priscilla, "see if he'll eat these crusts."
"Shouldn't we have stopped at some of the places we passed?" venturedDesire, hesitatingly. She did not want to seem critical of Jack.
"Simon had no names on his list before Saulnierville; and I thought heprobably knew the ropes better than we."
"Shan't we take on any new customers, then?" Desire asked anxiously. Shewas so eager to make a huge success of this strange business.
"Surely, if we can; but the places we passed are so close to Yarmouththat I felt the city would get all their trade," replied Jack, taking thehuge red clover top that Rene had presented him, and sticking it inDesire's black curls. "I hope to get to Church Point in the morning."
"Then we'd better get started now," decided Desire, getting up andshaking off the grass and leaves which the children had thrown upon herin their play.
None of them were accustomed to constant riding, and the afternoon seemedvery long. The novelty of the situation and the scenery had worn off, andthey were acutely conscious of cramped muscles.
"Can't I get out and walk for a while?" asked Priscilla, as theyapproached Meteghan.
"I'd thought we'd stop up here on the main street for a while to see ifanyone wants to buy anything," said Jack, in reply to Desire'squestioning look; "so if you will follow us _carefully_, you may get outhere. But be sure to keep us in close sight, and don't go wandering off."
He stopped the horses, and Priscilla scrambled out amid clamors of Reneto go with her.
"No, Renny," said Desire, "you come and ride in front between Jack andme. Won't that be fun?" pulling him across the back of the seat. But hecontinued to fret and cry until Jack said sternly:
"Rene, we've had enough of that. Stop it at once or go into the back ofthe wagon by yourself. You're too big a boy to act like a baby."
The child looked at his brother, and quickly recognizing thedetermination and force in the serious gaze bent upon him, set aboutcontrolling himself. Jack evidently meant business when he spoke in thattone. In their anxiety to compose Rene before they entered the townproper, they temporarily forgot about Priscilla. Like a flash, Desireturned to look back.
"Jack!" she gasped, "I don't see Prissy!"
The boy stopped the horses at once, and for a moment scanned the emptyroad in consternation.