CHAPTER XVIII--SUNDRY PLANS
Perhaps Sadie Raby would have been just as well pleased had Mr. Steeleallowed her to go to the Caslons' to see her brothers, instead of havingthem brought up the hill to Sunrise Farm. The gentleman, however, didnot do this because he disliked Caslon; Sadie had saved Bennie from whatmight have been certain death, and the wealthy Mr. Steele was quite asgrateful as he was obstinate.
He was determined to show his gratitude to the friendless girl in apractical manner. And the object of his gratitude would include her twolittle brothers, as well. Oh, yes! Mr. Steele proposed to make SadieRaby glad that she had saved Bennie from the runaway horse.
The other girls and boys, beside the members of the Steele family, wereanxious now to show their approval of Sadie's brave deed. The wandererwas quite bewildered at first by all the attention she received.
She was such a different looking girl, too, as has been already pointedout, from the miserable little creature who had been found by Mr. Steelein the shrubbery, that it was not hard to develop an interest in SadieRaby.
Encircled by the family and their young visitors on the veranda, Sadieagain related the particulars of her life and experience--and it was aparticularly sympathetic audience that listened to her. Mr. Steele drewout a new detail that had escaped Ruth, even, in her confidences withthe strange child.
Although the "terrible twins" were unable to remember either father ormother--orphan asylums are not calculated to encourage such remembrancesin infant minds--Sadie, as she had once said to Ruth, could clearlyremember both her parents.
And although they had died in distant Harburg, where the children hadbeen put into the orphanage, Sadie remembered that the family hadremoved to that city, soon after the twins were born, from no less aplace than Darrowtown!
"Me, I got it in my head that mebbe somebody would remember pa and momin Darrowtown, and would give me a chance. That's another reason I comehiking clear over here," said Sadie.
"We'll hunt your friends up--if there are any," Mr. Steele assured her.
Sadie looked at him shrewdly. "Say!" said she, "you treat me a whole lotnicer than you did a while ago. Do folks have to do somethin' for yourfamily before you forget to be cross with them?"
It certainly was a facer! Mr. Steele flushed a little and scarcely knewwhat to say in reply to this frank criticism. But at that moment thetwo-wheel cart came into sight with the pony on the trot, and Ruth andthe twins waving their hands and shouting.
The meeting of the little chaps with their runaway sister was touching.The three Raby orphans were very popular indeed at Sunrise Farm justthen.
Mr. Steele frankly admitted that this might be a case where custom couldbe over-ridden, and the orphanage authorities ignored.
"Whether those Perkins people she was farmed out to, were as harsh asshe says----" he began, when Ruth interrupted eagerly:
"Oh, sir! I can vouch for _that_. The man was an awful brute. He struck_me_ with his whip, and I don't believe Sadie told a story when she sayshe beat her."
"I wish I'd been there," ejaculated Tom Cameron, in a low voice, "whenthe scoundrel struck you, Ruth. I would have done something to him!"
"However," pursued Mr. Steele, "the girl is here now and near toDarrowtown, which she says is her old home. We may find somebody therewho knew the Rabys. At any rate, they shall be cared for--I promise you."
"I know!" cried Ruth, suddenly. "If anybody will remember them, it'sMiss Pettis."
"Another of your queer friends, Ruth?" asked Madge, laughing.
"Why--Miss True Pettis isn't queer. But she knows about everybody wholives in Darrowtown, or who ever did live there--and their histories fromaway back!"
"A human encyclopedia," exclaimed Heavy.
"She's a lovely lady," said Ruth, quietly, "and she'll do anything tohelp these unfortunate Rabys--be sure of that."
The late dinner was announced, and by that time the twins, as well asSadie, had become a little more used to their surroundings. Willie andDickie had been put into "spandy clean" overalls and shirts before Mrs.Caslon would let them out of her hands. They were really prettychildren, in a delicate way, like their sister.
With so many about the long dining table, the meals at the Steele homeat this time were like a continuous picnic. There was so much talkingand laughter that Mr. and Mrs. Steele had to communicate with signs, forthe most part, from their stations at either end of the table, or elsethey must send messages back and forth by one of the waitresses.
The twins and Sadie were down at Mrs. Steele's end of the table on thisoccasion, with the girls all about them. Ruth and the others took a lotmore interest in keeping the orphans supplied with good things than theydid in their own plates.
That is, all but Heavy; of course _she_ wasted no time in heaping herown plate. The twins were a little bashful at first; but it was plainthat Willie and Dickie had been taught some of the refinements of lifeat the orphanage, as both had very good table manners.
They had to be tempted to eat, however, and finally Heavy offered to runa race with them, declaring that she could eat as much as both of theboys put together.
Dickie was just as silent in his sister's presence as usual, hiscommunications being generally in the form of monosyllables. But he wasfaithful in echoing Willie's sentiments on any and everyoccasion--noticeably at chicken time. The little fellows ate thefricassee with appetite, but they refused the nice, rich gravy, in whichthe cook had put macaroni. Mrs. Steele urged them to take gravy once ortwice, and finally Sadie considered that she should come to the rescue.
"What's the matter with you kids?" she demanded, hoarsely, in an attemptto communicate with them aside. "Ye was glad 'nough to git chicken gravyon Thanksgivin' at the orphanage--warn't ye?"
"Yes, I know, Sadie," returned Willie, wistfully. "But they never leftthe windpipes in it--did they, Dickie?"
"Nope," responded Dickie, feelingly, likewise gazing at the macaroniaskance.
It set the table in a roar and finally Willie and Dickie were encouragedto try some of the gravy, "windpipes" and all!
"They're all right," laughed Busy Izzy, greatly delighted. "They'reone--or two--of the seven wonders of the world----"
"Pooh!" interrupted Heavy, witheringly, "You don't even know what theseven wonders of the world are."
"I can tell you one thing they're _not_," grinned Busy Izzy. "They'renot a baseball team, for there's not enough of them. Now will you begood?"
Madge turned her head suddenly and ran right into Belle Tingley's elbow,as Belle was reaching up to settle her hair-ribbon.
"Oh, oh! My eye! I believe you poked it out, Belle. You have _such_sharp elbows," wailed Madge.
"You'll have to see Doc. Blodgett at Lumberton," advised Heavy, "and getyour eye tended to. He's a great old doctor----"
"Why, I didn't know he was an eye doctor," exclaimed Madge. "I thoughthe was a chiropodist."
"He used to be," Heavy returned, with perfect seriousness. "He began atthe foot and worked up, you see."
Amid all the fun and hilarity, Mr. Steele called them to order. This wasat the dessert stage, and there were tall cones of parti-colored icecream before them, with great, heaping plates of cake.
"Can you give me a moment's attention, girls and boys?" asked theirhost. "I want to speak about to-morrow."
"The 'great and glorious,'" murmured Heavy.
"We've all promised to be good, sir," said Tom. "No pistols, orexplosives, on the place."
"Only the cannon," interposed Bobbins. "You're going to let us salutewith _that_; eh, Pa?"
"I'm not sure that I shall," returned his father, "if you do not give meyour attention, and keep silent. We are determined to have a safe andsane Fourth on Sunrise Farm. But at night we will set off a splendid lotof fireworks that I bought last week----"
"Oh, fine, Pa! I do love fireworks," cried Madge.
"The girls are as bad as the boys, Mother," said Mr. Steele, shaking hishead. "What I wanted to say," he added, raising his v
oice, "was that weought to invite these little chaps--these brothers of Sadie Raby--to comeup at night to see our show."
"Oh, let's have all the fresh airs, Pa!" cried Madge, eagerly. "_What_ agood time they'd have."
"I--don't--know," said her father, soberly, looking at his wife. "I amafraid that will be too much for your mother."
"Mr. Caslon has some fireworks for the children," broke in Ruth,timidly. "I happen to know that. And Tom was going down to buy tendollar's worth more to put with what Mr. Caslon has."
"Humph!" said Mr. Steele.
"You see, some of us thought we'd give the little folk a good time downthere, and it wouldn't bother you and Mrs. Steele, sir," Ruth hastenedto explain.
"Well, well!" exclaimed the gentleman, not very sharply after all, "ifthose Caslons can stand the racket, I guess mother and I can--eh,mother?"
"We need not have them in the house," said Mrs. Steele. "We can puttables on the veranda, and give them ice cream and cake after thefireworks. Get the men to hang Chinese lanterns, and so forth."
"Bully!" cried the younger Steeles, in chorus, and the visitors toSunrise Farm were quite delighted, too, with this suggestion.
Ruth Fielding At Sunrise Farm; Or, What Became of the Raby Orphans Page 19
