"Mercy!" cried Frankie, "they'll be wanting to make up the cots before
we are out of them in the morning. Come on! let's all turn in."
There was a general roll-call at daybreak the next morning. Wynifred and
Frank were not the only ones to get up as soon as day approached,
although to them had been allotted the task of going to Windmill Farm
for the milk and the day's supply of vegetables.
They had agreed the night before to venture into the water. The boys
always bragged about this early morning dip, which was a rule of their
camp.
"I don't see why we shouldn't be able to do anything those boys do,"
declared Bess, with her usual contempt for the vaunted superiority of
the other sex. "If they can run down and plunge right into the water,
right out of bed, why can't _we_?"
So even Grace--who had her doubts about it--ventured on this second
morning. They slipped out of their sleeping clothes and into bathing
suits. There _was_ a little chill in the air; but Wyn assured them
the water would be warmer than the air and--if they remained in half an
hour, or so--the sun would be up and his rays would warm them when they
came out.
And Wyn's prophecy was proven right. The six girls disported in the lake
like a flock of ducks. Mrs. Havel, however, would not let them remain
more than twenty minutes. The sun had shot up, then, and already the
green knoll was warm in his first rays.
Wyn and Frank scurried into their clothes and hurried away to the farm
for the milk and vegetables. Frank saw the windmill on the summit of the
hill, and nothing would do but she must run up and inspect it. The
breeze was rising and the farmer, who was likewise the miller, was
preparing to "grind a grist."
"We've got a good bit of grain on hand; but we've not had wind enough of
daytimes lately to grind a handful," he said. "I can't invite you
inside, young ladies, because when they set up this mill for me they
made the door, as you see, right behind the sails. When the arms are in
motion I am shut in till the grist is ground; or I stop the sails with
this lever just inside the door--d'ye see?"
As the girls went back toward the house the arms began turning with a
groaning sound. The wind became fresher. Round and round the long arms
turned, while the canvas bellied like the sails on a boat.
Louder and louder grew the hum of the mill. The miller threw in the
clutch and the stones began to grind. They heard the corn poured into
the hopper, and then the shriek of the kernels as they were ground
between the stones. The whole building began to shake.
"What a ponderous thing it is!" exclaimed Frank. "And see! there's a
tiny window in the roof facing the lake. I imagine you could see clear
to Meade's Forge from that window."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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