The Girls of Hillcrest Farm; Or, The Secret of the Rocks

by Amy Bell Marlowe

  CHAPTER VII

  HILLCREST

  Mrs. Pritchett and Sairy really were frightened by Lyddy Bray's temerity.As for Lucas, he still hung his head and would not look at his father.

  Cyrus Pritchett had bullied his family so long that to be bearded in hisown house certainly amazed him. He glared at the girl for fully a minute,without being able to formulate any reply. Then he burst out with:

  "You let me ketch any other man on this ridge puttin' a plow inter theold doctor's land! I've tilled it for years, I tell ye----"

  "And you can till it again, Mr. Pritchett," said Lyddy, softly. "Youneedn't holler so about it--we all hear you."

  The coolness of the girl silenced him.

  "So, now it's understood," she went on, smiling at him brightly. "Andwe'll try this year to make a little better crop. We really must getsomething more out of it than the taxes."

  "Jane Hammon' won't buy no fertilizer," growled Mr. Pritchett, put onthe defensive--though he couldn't tell why. "An' ye can't grow corn onrun-down land without potash an' kainit, and the like."

  "Well, you shall tell us all about that later," declared Lyddy, "andwe'll see. I understand that you can't get blood from a turnip. We wantto put Hillcrest in better shape--both in and out of the house--and thenthere'll be a better chance to sell it."

  Cyrus Pritchett's eyes suddenly twinkled with a shrewd light.

  "Does Jane Hammon' really want to sell the farm?" he queried.

  "If she gets a good offer," replied Lyddy. "That's what we hope to dowhile we're at Hillcrest--make the place more valuable and more attractiveto the possible buyer."

  "Ha!" grunted Cyrus, sneeringly. "She'll get a fancy price forHillcrest--not!"

  But that ended the discussion. "Maw" Pritchett looked on in wonder. Shehad seen her husband beaten in an argument by a "chit of a girl"--andreally, Cyrus did not seem to be very ugly, or put out about it, either!

  He told Lucas to put the ponies to the wagon again, and to take the Braygirls and their belongings up to Hillcrest; and to see that they werecomfortable for the night before he came back.

  This encouraged Mrs. Pritchett, when Lyddy took out her purse to pay fortheir entertainment, to declare:

  "For the good land, no! We ain't goin' to charge ye for a meal ofvittles--and you gals Dr. Polly Phelps's own grandchildren! B'sides, wewant ye to be neighborly. It's nice for Sairy to have young companions,too. I tell her she'll git to be a reg'lar old maid if she don't 'sociatemore with gals of her own age."

  Sairy bridled and blushed at this. But she wasn't an unkind girl, andshe helped 'Phemie gather their possessions--especially the latter's wetclothing.

  "I'm sure I wish ye joy up there at the old house," said Sairy, with ashudder. "But ye wouldn't ketch me."

  "Catch you doing what?" asked 'Phemie, wonderingly.

  "Stayin' in Dr. Phelps's old house over night," explained Sairy.

  "Why not?"

  The farmer's daughter drew close to 'Phemie's ear and whispered:

  "It's ha'nted!"

  "_What?_" cried 'Phemie.

  "Ghosts," exclaimed Sairy, in a thrilling voice. "All old houses isha'nted. And that's been give up to ghosts for years an' years."

  "Oh, goody!" exclaimed 'Phemie, clasping her hands and almost dancing indelight. "Do you mean it's a really, truly haunted house?"

  Sairy Pritchett gazed at her with slack jaw and round eyes for a minute.Then she sniffed.

  "Wa-al!" she muttered. "I re'lly thought you was _bright_. But I see yeain't got any too much sense, after all," and forthwith refused to sayanything more to 'Phemie.

  But the younger Bray girl decided to say nothing about the supposedghostly occupants of Hillcrest to her sister--for the present, at least.

  There was still half a mile of road to climb to Hillcrest, for the way wasmore winding than it had been below; and as the girls viewed the summitof the ridge behind Aunt Jane's old farm they saw that the heaped-uprocks were far more rugged than romantic, after all.

  "There's two hundred acres of it," Lucas observed, chirruping to theponies. "But more'n a hundred is little more'n rocks. And even the timbergrowin' among 'em ain't wuth the cuttin'. Ye couldn't draw it out.There's firewood enough on the place, and a-plenty! But that's 'boutall--'nless ye wanted to cut fence rails, or posts."

  "What are those trees at one side, near the house?" queried Lyddy,interestedly.

  "The old orchard. _There's_ your nearest firewood. Ain't been much fruitthere since I can remember. All run down."

  And, indeed, Hillcrest looked to be, as they approached it, a typicalrun-down farm. Tall, dry weed-stalks clashed a welcome to them from thefence corners as the ponies turned into the lane from the public road. Thesun had drawn a veil of cloud across his face and the wind moaned in thegaunt branches of the beech trees that fringed the lane.

  The house was set upon a knoll, with a crumbling, roofed porch aroundthe front and sides. There were trees, but they were not planted nearenough to the house to break the view on every side but one of thesloping, green and brown mountainside, falling away in terraced fields,patches of forest, tablelands of rich, tillable soil, and bush-clutteredpastures, down into the shadowy valley, through which the river and therailroad wound.

  Behind Hillcrest, beyond the outbuildings, and across the narrow,poverty-stricken fields, were the battlements of rock, shutting out allview but that of the sky.

  Lonely it was, as Aunt Jane had declared; but to the youthful eyes of theBray girls the outlook was beautiful beyond compare!

  "Our land jines this farm down yonder a piece," explained Lucas, drawingin the ponies beside the old house. "Ye ain't got nobody behind ye tillye git over the top of the ridge. Your line follers the road on this side,and on the other side of the road is Eben Brewster's stock farm of athousand acres--mostly bush-parsture an' rocks, up this a-way."

  The girls were but momentarily interested in the outlook, however. It wasthe old house itself which their bright eyes scanned more particularlyas they climbed down from the wagon.

  There were two wings, or "ells." In the west wing was the kitchen andevidently both sitting and sleeping rooms, upstairs and down--enough toserve all their present needs. Aunt Jane had told them that there were,altogether, twenty-two rooms in the old house.

  Lucas hitched his horses and then began to lift down their luggage. Lyddyled the way to the side door, of which she had the key.

  The lower windows were defended by tight board shutters, all about thehouse. The old house had been well guarded from the depredations of casualwayfarers. Had tramps passed this way the possible plunder in the oldhouse had promised to be too bulky to attract them; and such wandererscould have slept as warmly in the outbuildings.

  Lyddy inserted the key and, after some trouble, for the lock was rusty,turned it. There was an ancient brass latch, and she lifted it and pushedthe door open.

  "My! isn't it dark--and musty," the older sister said, hesitating on thethreshold.

  "Welcome to the ghosts of Hillcrest," spoke 'Phemie, in a sepulchral voice.

  "Oh, don't!" gasped Lyddy.

  She had not been afraid of Cyrus Pritchett, but 'Phemie's irreverence forthe spirits of the old house shocked her.

  "All right," laughed the younger girl. "We'll cut out the ghosts, then."

  "We most certainly _will_. If I met a ghost here I'd certainly cut himdead!"

  'Phemie went forward boldly and opened the door leading into the bigkitchen. It was gloomy there, too, for the shutters kept out most of thelight. The girls could see, however, that it was a well-furnished room.They were delighted, too, for this must be their living-room until theycould set the house to rights.

  "Dust, dust everywhere," said 'Phemie, making a long mark in it with herfinger on the dresser.

  "But _only_ dust. We can get cleaned up here all right by evening. Come!unhook the shutters and let in the light of day."

  The younger girl raised one of the small-paned window sashes, unbolted theshutter, and
pushed both leaves open. The light streamed in and almostat once Lucas's head appeared.

  "How does it look to ye--eh?" he asked, grinning. "Gee! the hearth's allcleared and somebody's had a fire here."

  "It must have been a long time ago," returned Lyddy, noting the crustedashes between the andirons.

  "Wa-al," said Lucas, slowly. "I'll git to work with the axe an' soon startye a fire there, B-r-r-r! it's cold as a dog's nose in there," and hedisappeared again.

  But the sunlight and air which soon flooded the room through all thewindows quickly gave the long-shut-up kitchen a new atmosphere.

  'Phemie already had on a working dress, having changed at the Pritchetthouse after her unfortunate ducking; Lyddy soon laid aside her own betterfrock, too.

  Then they found their bundle of brooms and brushes, and set to work. Therewas a pump on the back porch and a well in the yard. During all theseempty years the leather valve of the pump had rotted away; but Lucasbrought them water from the well.

  "I kin git the shoemaker in town to cut ye out a new leather," said theyoung farmer. "He's got a pattern. An' I can put it in for ye. The pump'llbe a sight handier than the well for you two gals."

  "Now, isn't he a nice boy?" demanded Lyddy of her sister. "And you calledhim a freak."

  "Don't rub it in, Lyd," snapped 'Phemie. "But it is hard to have to accepta veritable gawk of a fellow like Lucas--for that's what he _is_!--as asure-enough hero."

  This was said aside, of course, and while Lucas was doing yeoman's work atthe woodpile. He had brought in a huge backlog, placed it carefully,laid a forestick and the kindling, and soon blue and yellow flameswere weaving through the well-built structure of the fire. There was aswinging crane for the kettle and a long bar with hooks upon it, fromwhich various cooking pots could dangle. Built into the chimney, too,was a brick oven with a sheet-iron door. The girls thought all theseold-fashioned arrangements delightful, whether they proved convenient, ornot.

  They swept and dusted the old kitchen thoroughly, and cleaned thecupboards and pantry-closet. Then they turned their attention to thehalf bedchamber, half sitting-room that opened directly out of thekitchen. In these two rooms they proposed to live at first--untiltheir father could join them, at least.

  There was an old-time high, four-post bed in this second room. It had beenbuilt long before some smart man had invented springs, and its frame waslaced from side to side, and up and down, like the warp and woof of arug, with a "bedrope" long since rotted and moth-eaten.

  "My goodness me!" exclaimed 'Phemie, laughing. "That will never hold youand me, Lyd. We'll just have to stuff that old tick with hay and sleep onthe floor."

  But Lucas heard their discussion and again came to their help. Lyddy hadbought a new clothesline when she purchased her food supplies at the citydepartment store, and the clever Lucas quickly roped the old bedstead.

  "That boy certainly is rising by leaps and bounds in my estimation,"admitted 'Phemie, in a whisper, to her sister.

  Then came the problem of the bed. Lyddy had saved their pillows fromthe wreck of the flat; but the mattresses had gone with the furniture tothe second-hand man. There might be good feather beds in the farmhouseattic; Aunt Jane had said something about them, Lyddy believed. But therewas no time to hunt for these now.

  "Here is a tick," 'Phemie said again. "What'll we fill it with?"

  "Give it to me," volunteered Lucas. "One of the stable lofts is half fullof rye straw. We thrashed some rye on this place last year. It's jest asgood beddin' for humans as it is for cattle, I declare."

  "All right," sighed 'Phemie. "We'll bed down like the cows for a while. Idon't see anything better to do."

  But really, by sunset, they were nearly to rights and the prospect for acomfortable first night at Hillcrest was good.

  Lucas's huge fire warmed both the kitchen and the bedroom, despite thefact that the evening promised to be chilly, with the wind mourning aboutthe old house and rattling the shutters. The girls closed the blinds,made all cozy, and bade young Pritchett good-night.

  Lyddy had paid him the promised dollar for transporting their goods,and another half-dollar for the work he had done about the house thatafternoon.

  "And I'll come up in the mornin' an' bring ye the milk an' eggs mawpromised ye," said Lucas, as he drove away, "and I'll cut ye some morewood then."

  There was already a great heap of sticks beside the hearth, and in theporch another windrow, sheltered from any possible storm.

  "We're in luck to have such good neighbors," sighed Lyddy, as the farmwagon rattled away.

  "My! but we're going to have good times here," declared 'Phemie, cominginto the house after her and closing and locking the door.

  "It's a long way off from everybody else," observed the older sister, ina doubtful tone. "But I don't believe we shall be disturbed."

  "Nonsense!" cried 'Phemie. "Let's have supper. I'm starved to death."

  She swung the blackened old tea-kettle over the blaze, and moved brisklyabout the room laying the cloth, while Lyddy got out crackers and cheeseand opened a tin of meat before she brewed the comforting cup of tea thatboth girls wanted.

  However, they _were_ alone--half a mile from the nearest habitation--andif nothing else, they could not help secretly comparing their lonelinesswith the tenement in the city from which they had so recently graduated.