“We’re going to look over the section with Andy,” finally announced Phil. “When we get back, we’ll help fix up the camp.” But when they returned from their inspection1, they found that the girls had anticipated them and that the bough3 house was surprisingly homelike.
“My, but it does seem good to come back and find you here, Momsy,” said Ted2, putting his arm about her affectionately.
“Tell us how you happened to come out so soon,” demanded the elder boy. “Honestly, when I found Ted’s note saying he had gone to meet you, I thought he was playing a trick on me.”
Before Mrs. Porter could answer, however, Margie exclaimed:
“We made Momsy come. There was no living with her. Your train wasn’t out of sight from the station before she began to worry about you, and when she got so she couldn’t say ten words without wondering how you were getting along, Sallie and I just put our feet down and said we would come out here, so we could have a few minutes’ peace.”
“Well, we’re sure glad to see you, even if we couldn’t give you the reception we hoped,” said Phil. “Still, I think it would be best for you to board at Peleg’s for awhile.”
“Pay board when we can live on our own homestead and in our own house? Do you think we are millionaires?” demanded Sallie.
“You’ve made a nice mess of things,” snorted Ted, looking at his brother angrily. “Why couldn’t you keep quiet for awhile? Don’t you know Momsy’s had enough with this fire?”
At the words, so evidently full of meaning, the little woman and the girls looked at one another and then at the boys, in wonder.
“Seems to me it’s you, not I, who has made the mess,” retorted Phil.
As the boys had taunted5 one another, Joy and her father had listened in amazement6, and they were as keen to hear the explanation as the others. When Phil had finished the story of the warning and of the trip to the Land Office at Waterville, Jasper exclaimed:
“Don’t you worry one mite7, Mis’ Porter. First thing tomorrow, I’ll drop round to see some of the neighbours. There won’t be any more warnings! As for Bill Simmons, the land agent, when I tell him a thing or two I know, I ’low he won’t be so high and mighty8.”
But it was Andy who did the most toward reassuring9 Mrs. Porter.
“I am going to tell you all a secret,” he said. “Simmons is going to be removed as land agent. Several complaints have been filed against him in Washington, and they are so serious that the Secretary of the Interior has decided10 to appoint another agent. From this man you may be certain you will receive justice. In the meantime, my advice is to go ahead, just as though your entry had been accepted.”
“I hope you are right, I am sure, Mr. Howe.”
“Andy, please, Mrs. Porter.”
“Well, Andy, then. But you know we haven’t much money, and if we should spend what I have and what the boys have and then lose the homestead, we should—be ruined.”
“I should not advise you to go ahead if I thought there was any doubt, Mrs. Porter.” Then, seeing that the little woman was not yet entirely11 reassured12, he added: “I will tell you, and this is even more of a secret than the other, that I expect to be appointed land agent in Simmons’ place.”
“Good! Fine! Now we’ll be all right!” exclaimed the boys, while Jasper and his daughter also expressed their delight at the prospect13.
“He is,” Andy replied.
“Speaking of money,” said Joy, after they had discussed the reasons for the land agent’s removal, “did you think to dig up the tin can when you cleared out the camp, Phil?”
“Nobody was talking of money,” returned the boy, frowning. But his attempt to put off the question was futile15, for Margie and Sallie badgered him about burying his money, and then, as he showed no signs of going to dig up the can, his younger sister declared she would.
“Yes.”
“Of how much?”
“A hundred dollars.”
“How much have you left?”
“About a dollar, isn’t it, Ted?”
“Eighty-five cents, to be exact.”
“What on earth were you going to do?” demanded Margie.
“Oh, we had food enough and all our seed and tools, so, after planting, we were going to hire out to our neighbours, if we could,” returned Phil.
“Steve offered us each a job at fifty dollars a month, when we first came,” said Ted. “We figured we could work a month while our stuff was growing. That would give us back the hundred we lost.”
“The idee, and me with the two hundred Winthrop Porter loaned me in my pocket,” exclaimed Jasper. “Here, take it.” And drawing out his well-worn wallet, Mr. Jay again took out the two bills.
“We settled that once, Mr. Jay,” said Phil. And he explained his decision to his mother.
“My boy decided rightly, Mr. Jay,” declared Mrs. Porter. “Besides, I have about three hundred dollars, so that we shall do very well.”
And though both Joy and her father urged them to take the money, the Porters refused.
“Why, you’ve lost everything except what you brought in your schooner,” exclaimed Phil. “You need it even more than we do.”
“That’s true, Jasper,” declared Andy. “Furthermore, Si won’t let these boys fail for lack of a little money, to say nothing of myself.”
“Why not let Andy keep our money for us, Momsy?” suggested Sallie. “Those horrid18 men might take it from us. But it would be safe with him.”
“You seem to have a mighty fine opinion of Andy,” chuckled19 Ted, in a tone that sent flushes to his sister’s cheeks. But they all recognized the wisdom of the suggestion, and Mrs. Porter handed over the money, for which the station agent insisted upon giving a receipt.
“I hated to tell you about it, Momsy, but I’m glad it’s settled,” declared Phil. “It didn’t seem right to have any secret from you, yet Ted and I did not wish to cause you any worry.”
“Now suppose we all turn in,” said Andy. “We’ve had a hard day and there’s a lot of work to be done tomorrow.”
This suggestion was readily accepted, and while the womenfolk made themselves comfortable in the bough house, the men, after making certain the horses and cows were securely tied, rolled up in their blankets about the campfire.
Up bright and early the next day, it was decided that Jasper and Joy should stay and help the homesteaders do their planting, after which Ted and Phil would assist them.
Going down to the lowland, they discovered the ground had cooled to such an extent that Andy and Jasper decided it would do no harm to plow20, and accordingly they went at it, while the agent returned to Chikau.
On the aged farmer’s advice, they worked the land into fields thirteen hundred feet long and about seventy wide, for in that size they would be easier to irrigate21.
“This soil, being virgin22, will be productive, but the ashes will prove a mighty good fertilizer,” said Jasper, as they worked. “Course, this side of the section doesn’t need irrigating23 now, probably won’t for several years. So we’ll just work up enough fields for you to plant some alfalfa, some wheat, and some corn, and then we’ll fix the land on the other side. It will be interesting to see which side grows faster—this one with natural moisture and fertilized24 by the ashes, or the other irrigated25 but without fertilizer.”
Toward the middle of the forenoon the boys were surprised to see Joy and their sisters, bags hanging from their shoulders, appear on the field.
“What have you brought, something to eat?” called Phil.
“No. Seed,” answered Margie.
“But we are not going to plant until we have all the fields ready,” declared Ted.
“We are, though. Joy said it would help, and we want to do it,” returned Margie.
“You’ll be like Phil, sow enough for an acre in less than a quarter.”
“You just wait and see, Mr. Smarty. Joy is going to show us, and she knows more about planting than you do, I guess.”
Amused and pleased to think their sisters were really willing and eager to help, the young homesteaders watched them scatter26 the seed and then returned to their own task.
So well did the girls work that when night came four fields were planted and the seeds harrowed in.
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1
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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6
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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8
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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12
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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13
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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14
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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16
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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17
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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irrigate
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| vt.灌溉，修水利，冲洗伤口，使潮湿 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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irrigating
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| 灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 )； 冲洗（伤口） | |
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24
Fertilized
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| v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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irrigated
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| [医]冲洗的 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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