The Third Class at Miss Kaye's Part 20

There were certainly plenty of items for the girls to put down on their lists. A squirrel with a splendid bushy tail ran across the path, and scrambled hastily up a fir tree, peeping at them from the safety of the top branches before he made a mighty spring into an adjoining ash. A heron sailed majestically overhead, its long legs hanging like those of a stork, and its grey plumage dark against the sky. A whole flight of lapwings rose, screaming "peewit", from a field where they were feeding in company with a flock of seagulls, following the plough that a labourer was driving through the rich red earth. On a sheltered wall a lizard lay basking in the suns.h.i.+ne; and Linda very nearly caught him, but he whisked away in a moment, and was gone down a hole among the stones before half the cla.s.s had seen him. There were lambs frisking about in the meadows, and as the girls pa.s.sed through a farmyard they found a woman sitting on a doorstep feeding one from a bottle, like a baby. It had lost its mother, so she told them, and had readily accepted her as its nurse, becoming so tame that it followed her everywhere about the house, and slept in a corner of the kitchen.

"We had to feed one of our puppies at home like that," said Linda. "We used a tiny doll's bottle, and it was such fun to mix the milk and warm water, and taste it first to see if it was sweet enough. I always loved Jill much the best, but we couldn't rear her. Oswald was silly enough to give her a bath when she was too young; I don't think he dried her properly, and she took cold and died. That's generally the way with one's pets," she added with a sigh.

"So it is," said Marian. "A most dreadful thing happened to Gwennie and me. We had a lovely black rabbit, and Mother said we had better not keep it when we went to school, because the little ones couldn't look after it properly, and she wouldn't have time herself. A man in the village asked if he might buy it from us, and we thought he wanted it as a pet for his children, so we sold it to him. Then one day I met him on the road, and he said: 'Oh, Missie, that rabbit of yours was a good one! It made us two whole dinners, and a basin of broth as well.'

We had never dreamt he meant to kill it, and we were so horribly sorry."

"Canaries are the worst," said Connie. "I've had three. I hung the first outside the nursery window, and the nail gave way, and the poor little fellow tumbled right to the ground and was killed. He was such a good singer, too. The cat got the second. Then I had a third, called 'Tweetie'. I let him out of his cage one day when Bertie was filing the keel of his boat, and we suppose he must have picked up some of the bits of lead, because he grew quite ill and died. I buried him under the rosebush in my garden, and Granny offered a prize to whoever could write the best piece of poetry about him, an epitaph, she called it."

"Who won the prize?"

"Bertie himself. I can't quite remember it, but it began:

'Under this rose tree's fragrant shade Our little favourite is laid'.

It was quite the best of all. Frank was very indignant because he didn't win, but we none of us liked his poetry. He'd put:

'Poor Tweetie is dead.

He ate up some lead Which was lying about on the floor: It stuck in his gizzard, And as I'm no wizard, He'll never eat lead any more'.

He said it was true, at any rate, but Granny decided that gizzard wasn't as romantic as a rose tree, even if it did rhyme with wizard."

"We have a cat that stole a kitten," said Jessie Ellis. "She had two kittens of her own, and our cook drowned them both. Poor Puss was so miserable; she went about all day looking for them, mewing and wailing till we felt quite wretched to hear her. Then she disappeared for nearly a week, and came back one afternoon carrying a tiny kitten in her mouth. She was so pleased with it, and kept licking it, and purring all the time. Mother said she must have adopted it, and she would let her keep it, and it's grown such a beautiful cat, a real Persian with a ruff and a bushy tail. We often wonder where she took it from."

While the children were talking they had been climbing steadily uphill, and now left the glen by a path which led them directly on to the open moor. It was glorious up there. In one direction rose the mountains, peak beyond peak, till in the distance they could just catch a glimpse of the rugged outline of Snowdon, half-hidden by a wreath of cloud. Below them lay a vast expanse of sea, with Anglesey stretched out like a map, and little Puffin Island close by.

"We ought almost to see Ireland to-day," said Mercy, straining her eyes to discover whether any faint speck of blue outline were visible on the distant horizon. "People say they've seen the Isle of Man, too, but it has never been clear enough when I've been up here. Look at the steamers out on the water; I wonder if one of them's going to China. I can just remember coming home in a big vessel, and pa.s.sing the Stack Lighthouse at Holyhead, and then landing at Liverpool."

"It's splendid to be able to look miles whichever way you turn," said Sylvia.

She liked the solitude of the moors, which were covered only with short gra.s.s and low whinberry bushes; there was no sound except the occasional bleat of a sheep or the cry of a curlew, and no human being in sight but themselves, though one or two small whitewashed farms, at long distances apart, gave evidence of life by their smoking chimneys.

Not very far away they came upon the Druids' circle, a ring of tall upright stones, so ancient that all tradition of them had long been lost, though Miss Kaye explained to the girls that they had probably been used as a kind of temple for sun wors.h.i.+p by the early tribes who lived there, long before the Romans discovered Britain.

"I wish they could speak and tell us their story," she said. "They would have strange tales about the rough skinclad men who reared them, and the priests who stood watching amongst them for the first glimpse of the sun on Midsummer morning. Who knows but that they may have witnessed human sacrifices, and at any rate there must have been wolves, and cave bears, and hyenas, and many wild animals prowling about which are extinct in Wales now. We can tell that, because the bones and teeth of these creatures have been found in a cave at Llandudno. Some day I may perhaps take you to see it. The skeletons of a man and a woman were found there embedded in the rock, and round their throats were necklaces made of bears' teeth. We can hardly imagine what life was like in those early times."

The girls always found Miss Kaye's talks interesting, but the healthy mountain air had so sharpened their appet.i.tes that they turned readily from ancient stones to modern lunch, and, sitting down inside the famous circle, drew out the packets of sandwiches and oranges which they had brought with them. Everything seemed to taste particularly good, and everybody could have eaten a little more, but the very last crumb of biscuit had been consumed, and they were obliged to remain content until teatime. Miss Kaye made the girls gather up their pieces of orange peel, wrap them in their sandwich papers, and poke them away under a boulder.

"Nothing is so horrible," she declared, "as to leave traces of one's picnic about to spoil the place for the next people who come. If everyone would do the same, there would be few complaints that tourists ruin the scenery."

After lunch the girls were allowed to ramble on the moors as they liked, with an injunction not to go too far, and to return to the Druids' circle when Miss Kaye blew a whistle. It was hardly possible to get lost, because, as Linda said, they could see all round for miles, and unless you hid yourself under a bush, someone would be sure to find you. The members of the third cla.s.s went off together, racing over the springy gra.s.s with as much agility as the small Welsh sheep that seemed capable of climbing the stones like goats, to judge by the achievement of an old ewe, which ran up a loose-built wall as easily as a kitten, and led its lamb after it.

In a hollow at the farther side of the circle the children found a sheet of shallow water evidently formed by the February rains and melting snow. At one end was a rough raft and a long pole, with which some boy had no doubt been amusing himself. The temptation was too great to be resisted. In three seconds Connie, Brenda, and Sylvia were making a trial trip, the last two squatting close together in the middle to balance the raft, while Connie pushed off with the pole, and punted them out into the middle of the pond. It was a most delightful sensation. The water was clear, and they could see down several feet where there were green weeds growing at the bottom, and great floating ma.s.ses of some jellylike substance, that Connie declared was frog sp.a.w.n.

"I'm going to get a lump of it," she cried, "and take it back to school and put it in a basin; then we can watch the tadpoles hatch out and grow into little frogs. I'll run the raft against this island.

There seems to be a heap of it here."

Though the trio nearly upset their craft in their efforts, they found it very difficult to get hold of any of the sp.a.w.n; it was as transparent and slimy as the white of an egg, and kept slipping through their fingers as fast as they touched it. Connie managed at last to secure a small piece by holding her handkerchief under it in the water; then she tied the four corners tightly together, and put the wet messy bundle into her pocket.

"Ugh! How can you!" exclaimed Sylvia. "Suppose they hatch on the way?"

"That's not very likely," replied Connie; "but I don't mind if they do. I'm fond of tadpoles."

The other girls, who had been clamouring for some time from the bank, demanding a turn at the raft, now grew so indignant at the delay that Connie punted back and tried to pacify their wrath.

"It's not fair to keep it all the time!" said Marian. "Some of us want to try it just as much as you. And you don't know how to work that pole properly. If you give it to me I'll soon show you!"

"All right, Miss Clever!" said Brenda. "You always do things better than everybody else, don't you? Go on!"

Marian jumped on to the raft, and seized the pole with an exceedingly high and mighty air; she gave a push off as an example of the graceful manner in which it ought to be done, but alas! she had not taken into account the fact that the raft was not balanced with the weight of the other children, and, stepping too much to one side, she found it suddenly tilted over, and deposited her in the pond. The water was only a foot deep so close to the edge, but by the time she had scrambled out her boots and stockings were wet through, and covered with mud. The rest of the girls subsided on to the bank in peals of laughter.

"If that's your way, I'd rather not try it, thank you!" said Nina.

"And you've broken the pole, too!" said Connie.

"Oh, catch the raft, somebody!" exclaimed Linda. "Look! It's drifting right away, and we shan't be able to go on it."

Unluckily the raft was by this time well out of reach, and n.o.body was able to fetch it back, much to the disappointment of those who had not yet had a chance to try it. Marian was very offended at what she considered the ill-timed mirth of her companions.

"You're most unkind!" she said angrily, walking away by herself and trying to wipe her boots clean on the gra.s.s.

Feeling that they had had the best of the joke, the girls bore no malice, and, after leaving her for a few minutes to get over her sulks, they made overtures of friends.h.i.+p.

"I'll tell you what," said Linda; "I found a box of wax matches in the road on the way up, and put them in my pocket. Suppose we set a light to this little gorse bush; it's all withered, and will make quite a bonfire. Then Marian can dry her boots."

The bush caught fire with the greatest ease, and blazed away at once.

Marian pulled off her boots and stockings, and, standing barefoot on the gra.s.s, held them up to the flame, while the others collected round, wis.h.i.+ng they had some chestnuts or potatoes with them, or a kettle which could be boiled for tea.

"I believe the gra.s.s is beginning to burn too!" said Nina. "Stand back, Connie! Why, it's caught the next bush as well!"

The children looked at each other with horrified faces. The fire was spreading rapidly along the ground, and two large bushes were soon in a blaze. Their modest beginning was evidently leading to more than they had ever imagined. Fortunately the white column of smoke suddenly rising up through the clear air attracted Miss Kaye's attention, and brought her hurrying over the crest of the hill to discover the cause.

She was much surprised to find the members of the third cla.s.s, one of them with bare feet, apparently dancing like wild Indians round a fire, and lost no time in running to the spot.

"You naughty girls!" she exclaimed. "What have you been doing? Marian, where are your boots? I am astonished at you! Who lighted this fire?"

"We're trying to stamp it out," said Brenda. "It was catching all the gra.s.s."

"But who lighted it?"

"We did, Miss Kaye," replied Linda, rather shamefacedly, "to dry Marian's boots."

"People often set fire to the moors," added Connie. "I've seen whole hillsides burning sometimes, so I don't suppose it matters. We're helping the farmer."

"The farmer may like to set his own furze alight, but he wouldn't thank any chance strangers for doing so for him. If we don't mind he'll be claiming damages from us," said Miss Kaye. "We must not leave here until these bushes have burnt themselves safely out, and we must stamp on any sparks which fall from them on to the gra.s.s. This is the way that a great prairie fire is often started in America; the flames will grow in strength, and sweep over miles of country, destroying farms and villages, and carrying desolation and destruction before them. I didn't think you would have been in such mischief directly my back was turned."

Miss Kaye looked so grave and annoyed that the girls felt their grand idea had fallen rather flat; and the moment the fire was out she told Marian to put on her stockings and boots at once, and gave the signal to return home. It was a very unpleasant walk to Marian, as her boots had dried stiff, and felt much too tight for her, while the stockings were still rather moist and muddy. Everyone was tired, and the second cla.s.s made teasing remarks about the Slugs being fond of slimy ponds, and announced that they were looking forward to hearing a sentimental account of the adventure through the keyhole on the occasion of the next meeting of the S.S.L.U.

"You won't do anything of the sort. You know nothing, really, about the society, and it's horribly mean to listen. You may be in the upper school, but I can't say much for your manners. I'm glad I'm not in the second cla.s.s!" retorted Marian, adding privately to Gwennie, however: "I'm afraid they do know a good deal; and it's just spoilt the S.S.L.U. I don't think I shall trouble to write for it again.

Doesn't it seem twice as far coming back as going, although it's all downhill? And oh! aren't you dreadfully, cruelly, desperately hungry, and absolutely starving for your tea?"