ADVENTURES OF A COUNTRY BOY



I

MARGARET AND FRANK

Near the White Mountains, in the township of Franconia there stands a farmhouse not far from the entrance to a wild glen. To this farmhouse a little girl came, early one spring, from New York. She had not been well, and her parents thought the country would be better for her health than the city. The farmhouse was the home of her aunt, Mrs. Henley. When she arrived the ground was covered with snow, and the wind blew rough and cold from the north. But within a few days the weather turned gentler, and one morning when Margaret looked out at the door the weather seemed so warm and pleasant that she said it was like summer.

"You can go and sit on the piazza a little while, if you would like to," said her aunt.

Margaret said she would like to do so. The piazza was sheltered and sunny. It overlooked the garden, and beyond the garden could be seen an orchard, and beyond that were steep hills, rocks, and mountains.

Mrs. Henley got Margaret's bonnet and tippet and put them on her, and then set an armchair on the piazza in the sunniest corner. That done, Margaret walked out to the chair, and Mrs. Henley helped her to settle comfortably in it.

"Now I shall want Carlo," said Margaret.

Carlo was a small fawn-colored dog. He was only a puppy and had been bought recently from a neighbor for Margaret to play with. Her aunt went to the shed and got him, and when he joined Margaret on the piazza he seemed overjoyed and ran toward her, capering about and wagging his tail. Mrs. Henley returned to her housework, and Carlo sat down before Margaret and looked up very earnestly into her face.

"Carlo!" said Margaret.

Carlo replied by rapping with his tail on the piazza floor. "Jump up, Carlo," Margaret commanded.

At the same time she patted her lap, and Carlo at once jumped up there and laid his head on Margaret's arm. Pretty soon he shut his eyes as if he intended to go to sleep. Just then Margaret happened to glance across the garden and orchard to the hillside beyond, where, among the trees and rocks, she saw a boy. "I believe that is Frank," said she.

Frank was her cousin, and he was nine years old, which was two years older than she was. He was coming toward the house, and presently she heard him calling to her. Carlo lifted his head and pricked up his ears. He listened intently and looked quite excited.

"Won't you ask Wallace to come out and go with me to get our harpoons?" said Frank. Wallace was Margaret's brother. He was nearly twenty years of age, and had left his work at the college he was attending to accompany her from New York.

Margaret shook her head. Frank was now coming along through the garden on the snow. The snow was deep, but it was hard, and he could walk on the top of it. When he reached the yard he said, "Why could not you have gone and spoken to Wallace as I asked you to?"

"Oh, I am not strong enough to get about much," she replied.

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Frank; "for I should have had to come to get my sled."

Then he stood back a little in the yard, looked up to a window of the second story of the house, and called to his cousin Wallace. In a few moments the window opened and Wallace appeared.

"Will you go with me to the woods to get our harpoons?" asked Frank. "It is a beautiful day."

"Very," said Wallace, "I will go. We shall want an ax. Get it and be ready and I will come down in a little while."

"Cousin Wallace," said Frank, "may I take Carlo with us?"

"Yes, if Margaret is willing," was Wallace's answer.

Frank went to get his sled, and then came around to the place where Margaret was sitting. He had tied the ax on the sled with a rope. "Come Carlo," said he.

Carlo at once jumped down from Margaret's lap and ran to Frank. "What did you call Carlo away from me for?" asked Margaret in a tone of complaint.

"Why, he is going up to the woods with us," was Frank's reply. "Wallace said he might go."

"No," said Margaret, "I heard Wallace tell you that Carlo might go if I was willing, and I am not willing. I want him to stay with me."

"Oh, let him go with us," said Frank, "and I'll teach him to hunt. I shall see a squirrel, I know, and perhaps a rabbit or a fox, and I'll teach him 'to hunt them."

"I don't wish to have him learn to hunt," responded Margaret.

"And I will get you some snowdrop blossoms," said Frank.

"I don't believe there are any snowdrops yet," said Margaret.

"Yes; there are plenty of them, I've no doubt," declared Frank. "I noticed some green things growing by the rocks up where you saw me, and I am quite sure there are lots of snowdrops in the woods. I'll bring you ever so many."

Frank spoke very fast and very eagerly, and Margaret who was sick and feeble, was tired of arguing with him, though she was still unwilling to have Carlo go. She called to him, but he was so excited by seeing Frank and the sled, and by the prospect of an expedition that he would not come. So she laid her head back in a sort of despair and said no more. Frank ran along toward the pasture road with Carlo leaping and capering about him. The dog was delighted that he was going somewhere, though he did not know where.

Behind the house was a great gate which gave entrance to the pasture road. This gate was wide open. It was always left open in the winter. Frank climbed up on the top of one of the posts and sat there waiting for Wallace. Carlo waited below, sitting by the sled.

"That's right, Carlo," said Frank. "You watch the sled and the ax, and I'll watch for Wallace."

Carlo patted the snow two or three times with his tail in response to Frank's words, and then sat quietly waiting.