Amos had been very sober when he said good-by to Lydia, at half past
six. "It's your first trip, Lydia. Don't do anything you wouldn't
want your mother to see."
Lydia looked at him wonderingly, then threw her arms about his neck.
"Oh, Daddy, I don't want to go off and leave you two whole weeks!"
"It's too late to back out now. Go on and have a good time," said
Amos, picking up his dinner pail. Lydia watched him down the road.
Suddenly she realized how lonely her father must be without her mother.
"I oughtn't to go, Lizzie," she said.
"Shucks! Think of all you'll have to tell us when you get home. Don't
be a cry baby, child."
Promptly at nine Charlie and Kent whirled up to the gate in a carryall.
The driver was the same man who had moved the Dudley family five years
before. He greeted Lydia with a grin.
"You've grow'd some, eh, Lydia? Where's the rest of the women folks?"
"Here come Miss Towne and Olga!" cried Kent. "Margery'll be late, of
course."
At nine-fifteen Margery was driven up in state by Elviry, and at
nine-twenty the carryall was off to the north in a cloud of dust,
leaving Adam howling dismally at the gate.
For fifteen miles the way led up and down hill over a dusty country
road that wound for the most part past great wheat farms and grazing
lands, vividly green under the June sky. Here and there were woods of
young oak and birch, self sowed, replacing the pine long since cleared
off. For the last five miles there were few farms. The rolling hills
disappeared and low lying lakes, surrounded by marshes took their
places. The young rice bordering the lakes was tenderly green and the
marshes were like fields of corn with their thick growth of cat-tail.
Beyond the marshes the hills rose again, with the road winding like a
black ribbon over their curving bosoms into the vivid sky beyond.
"Where the hills begin again, that's the reservation," said Charlie.
"Where are the pines?" asked Lydia. "I thought it was all pines."
"You'll see plenty, before the trip's over. Just beyond that group of
buildings is the reservation line."
The buildings Charlie pointed to were the first that had appeared in
several miles. A two-story, unpainted frame house with several barns
and sheds comprised the group. There was a sign on the front of the
house.
"Last Chance," read Margery, as they clattered by. "For goodness'
sake!" she giggled, "is it a hotel?"
"Look at all the women! One in every window!" cried Olga. "Why, they
must have a lot of maids! Do people come up here in the summer, Kent?"
Kent gave Miss Towne an appealing glance.
"It's a miserable, disreputable place, girls," said the teacher. "Why
look at that when you have these beautiful hills before you? How far
into the reservation do we go, Charlie?"
"About four miles. It's where I camp every year. Margery, did you
bring some paper dolls?"
Margery dimpled and tossed her head. "I wonder how old I'll have to be
before you realize I'm grown up, Charlie!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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