The Adventures of Joel Pepper | Page 7

"I ain't goin'. I
ain't, Joey. I ain't----"
"_Sh-sh_!" warned Joel, with another nip.
"I ain't--I ain't--" cried David, softly, through his tears.
"Pshaw! I guess there ain't any bear up there," said Joel, scornfully. "Be
still, Dave!"
"An' old--old Bandy Legs'll catch--catch me," mumbled David, digging
his small knuckles into his eyes.
"Old Bandy Legs has been dead ever'n ever so long. I guess a thousand
years," said Joel; "an' there's flowers there--oh, most beautiful ones!"
"Are there?" asked David, taking down his hands. "What kinds, Joel?"
"Oh, all sorts. The most be-yewtiful flowers, red and yellow and green,
you can't think, Dave Pepper."
"I never saw a green flower," said little David, thoughtfully.
"Well, they're up there. Oh, sights an' sights," said Joel, recklessly. "An'
pink and blue an'----"

"Are you sure there are green flowers up there, Joel?" asked David,
huddling up to him close.
"Sh--stop talking--oh, the most beyewtiful things, I tell you, grow up by
that cave."
"I might go up and get some not very near the cave, Joel," said Davie,
after a long breath. "Not very near."
"So you could," said Joel, quickly. "Then I guess you'll be glad, Dave
Pepper, that you came up with me."
"I shall bring down most of the green ones, Joey," cried little David,
joyfully, "'cause I can get the others down below the mountain."
"Yes--yes," whispered Joel, impatiently.
"An' if I plant 'em, they'll grow, and then Mamsie'll be glad, an' Polly
too," he whispered, dreadfully excited. "Won't Polly be glad though,
Joe? She's never seen a green flower."
"Yes; now go to sleep," cried Joel, with a nudge, "and remember not to
say a word to me to-morrow about it."
"Can't I say anything to you behind the wood pile?" asked David, in
surprise.
"No, not a teenty word. An' don't you look at me. If you do, Old Bandy
Legs'll come after you."
"You said he was dead," cried David in a fearful whisper, and
crouching tight to Joel and gripping him with both arms. "O dear me!"
"So he is; but he'll catch you if you say a single word. Now go to sleep,
an' when I tell you to come with me to-morrow, you must start just as
quick as scat."
"I shall take a basket for the green flowers," said Davie, trying not to
think of "Old Bandy Legs."
"No, you mustn't; you can bring 'em down in your arms."
"I can't bring many," said little David, swallowing hard. "I can't bring
many, Joe, an' Polly'll want some in her garden."
"Well, old Bandy Legs won't let you get any, if you don't stop," said
Joel, crossly, "so there now!" and he rolled off to the edge of the old
straw bed, and in two minutes was fast asleep, leaving little Davie
peering up at the rafters to watch for the first streak of light, determined
to get as many green flowers as he possibly could for Polly's garden.
"I'll twist up a birch-bark basket, to bring 'em down in," he decided.
And the first thing either of them knew, there was Polly shaking their

arms and laughing. "You lazy little things, you--get up! I've been
calling and calling and calling you to breakfast."
Joel and David flew up into the middle of the bed.
"Joe was teasing all night for a drink of water," said Ben, as Polly ran
down into the kitchen. "An' I was just going to get up and fetch him
some, when he tumbled to sleep again."
"Dear me," said Polly, rushing at her work; "well, I'll keep their
porridge warm. Now, Phronsie, you can't help me about these dishes."
"I'm just as big since yesterday," said Phronsie, standing up on her
tiptoes to turn an injured face to Polly. "See, Polly."
"So you are," said Polly, bursting into a laugh. "Well, I tell you, Pet,
what you might do that would help me more."
"More than to wash the dishes, Polly?" cried Phronsie, tumbling down
from her tiptoes. "Oh, do tell me, Polly!" And she ran up to her, and
seized Polly's check apron with both fat little hands.
"Why, you see I can't do the dishes, all of 'em, till the boys get through
their breakfast," said Polly, with a sober face, looking at the old clock,
as she thought of the seams on the sacks she was going to fly at as soon
as the work was done in the kitchen. How nice it was that Mamsie had
promised she might try this very morning while Mrs. Pepper was down
at the parsonage, mending the minister's study carpet. "Now I guess the
money'll begin to come in, and Mamsie won't have to work so hard,"
thought Polly over and over, and her heart beat merrily,