Marjorie at Seacote | Page 6

some searching, they came suddenly upon three boys who sat, shaking with laughter, upon a pile of wood.
The two Maynards glared at them rather angrily, upon which the three again went off in peals of laughter.
"That's our wood!" began King, aggressively.
"Sure it is!" returned the biggest boy, still chuckling.
"What did you bring it over here for?"
"Just for fun!"
"H'm, just for fun! And do you think it would be fun to carry it back again?"
"Yep; just's lieve as not. Come on, kids!" And that remarkable boy began to pick up the sticks.
"Oh, hold on," said King. "If you're so willing, you needn't do it! Who are you, anyway?"
"Well," said the biggest boy, suddenly straightening himself up and bowing politely to Marjorie, "we're your neighbors. We live in that green house next to yours. And we're named Tom, Dick, and Harry. Yes, I know you think those names sound funny, but they're ours all the same. Thomas, Richard, and Henry Craig,--at your service! I'm Tom. This is Dick, and this is Harry."
He whacked his brothers on the shoulder as he named them, and they ducked forward in polite, if awkward salutation.
"And did you really take our wood?" said Marjorie, with an accusing glance, as if surprised that such pleasant-spoken boys could do such a thing.
"Yes, we did. We wanted to see what sort of stuff you were made of. You know Seacote people are sort of like one big family, and we wanted to know how you'd behave about the wood. You've been fine, and now we'll cart it back where we found it. If you had got mad about it, we wouldn't touch a stick to take it back,--would we, fellows?"
"Nope," said the other two, and the Maynards could see at once that Tom was the captain and ringleader of the trio.
"Well," said King, judicially, "if you hadn't been the sort you are, I should have got mad. But I guess you're all right, and so you may take it back. But we don't help you do it,--see? I'm Kingdon Maynard, and this is my sister Marjorie. You fellows took our wood, and now you're going to return it. Is that right?"
"Right-o!" said Tom. "Come on, fellows."
The three boys flew at it, and King and Midget sat on the sand and watched them till the wood was restored to its original position.
"All right," said King; "you boys'll do. Now, come on and roast potatoes with us."
Thus, all demands of honor having been complied with, the five proceeded to become friends. The boys built the fire, and gallantly let Marjorie have the fun of putting the potatoes and apples in place.
The Craig boys had nice instincts, and while they were rather rough-and-tumble among themselves, they treated King more decorously, and seemed to consider Marjorie as a being of a higher order, made to receive not only respect, but reverent homage.
"You see, we never had a sister," said Tom; "and we're a little bit scared of girls."
"Well, I have three," said King, "so you see I haven't such deep awe of them. But Midget won't hurt you, so don't be too scared of her."
Marjorie smiled in most friendly fashion, for she liked these boys, and especially Tom.
"How old are you?" she asked him, in her frank, pleasant way.
"I'm fourteen," replied Tom, "and the other kids are twelve and ten."
"King's fourteen,--'most fifteen," said Midget; "and I'll be thirteen in July. So we're all in the same years. I wish our Kitty was here. She's nearly eleven, but she isn't any bigger than Harry."
Harry smiled shyly, and poked at the potatoes with a stick, not knowing quite what to say.
"You see," King explained, "Midget is the best sort of a girl there is. She's girly, all right, and yet she's as good as a boy at cutting up jinks or doing any old kind of stunts."
The three Craigs looked at Marjorie in speechless admiration.
"I never knew that kind," said Tom, thoughtfully. "You see, we go to a boys' school, and we haven't any girl cousins, or anything; and the only girls I ever see are at dancing class, or in a summer hotel, and then they're all frilled up, and sort of airy."
"I love to play with boys," said Marjorie, frankly, "and I guess we'll have a lot of fun this summer."
"I guess we will! Are you going to stay all summer?"
"Yes, till September, when school begins."
"So are we. Isn't it funny we live next door to each other?"
"Awful funny," agreed Marjorie, pulling a very black potato out of the red-hot embers. "This is done," she went on, "and I'm going to eat it."
"So say we all of us," cried King. "One done,--all done! Help yourselves, boys!"
So they all pulled out the black, sooty potatoes, with more delighted anticipations than would have been roused by