THE BRIDGE

"We stood on a bridge in Texas, Near a camp far, far from town; We stood there in broad daylight,-- 'Cause there wasn't room to sit down.

"We posed on that bridge so rustic, To be snapped by Uncle Joe, And we smiled and looked real pleasant, Yet one heart was filled with woe.

"For a stream, both swift and deadly, Flowed beneath the bridgelet there, And the creaking of the timbers Gave this timid maid a scare.

"As sweeping eddying 'neath us The deep, dark waters rolled, She could seem to see our finish-- Dashed beneath the waters cold.

"Yet the bridge still held, but trembled, --Gleamed the torrent chilly, vast,-- And the weight of one Blue Bonnet Broke the camel's back at last!"

"Who did it?" cried Blue Bonnet.

"All three helped," said Carita. "But I think Sandy did most."

"He must be cleverer than he looks," said Blue Bonnet.

"Why, don't you think he looks clever?" exclaimed Kitty, "I do."

"It wasn't clever of him to have sandy hair," Blue Bonnet declared perversely.

"As if he could help it!" said Sarah.

"We must write a 'pome,' too," said Blue Bonnet.

"We?" exclaimed Debby. "I never found two words to rhyme in all my life. You and Kitty are the only ones who ever 'drop into poetry.'"

"The muse must be partial to red hair," said Amanda. And though Kitty sniffed insultedly at this insinuation, her bright head was soon bent over a pad beside Blue Bonnet's, and after much chewing of their pencils and shrieks of laughter at impossible rhymes, the two of them finally evolved the following:

WE ARE SEVEN

"You marvel that a simple band Of maidens, young and fair, Should linger ever on the land, Nor for the water care?

"If you should ask in dulcet tone Why for the earth they sigh, They'll weep, they'll shriek, they'll give a groan,-- But they will answer why.

"'Last night we were a happy bunch, Last night about eleven--'

Quoth you--'But why this sorry lot?

How many members have you got?'

They'll answer--'We Are Seven.'

"'But seven are not all alive?'

'Yea, yea, thou trifling varlet, Though here we number only five,-- Two caught a fever scarlet.

"'And o'er us five whose courage great Brought us to far-off Texas, There seems to brood an awful fate, And trials sore to vex us.

"'To-day the bridge on which we stood And posed above the rippling wave, Alas! was made of rotten wood And plunged us in a watery grave.'

"'Then ye are dead! All five are dead!

Their spirits are in heaven!'

'Tis throwing words away, for still These maidens five will have their will, And answer--'We Are Seven!'"

"I wonder what Mr. Wordsworth would say to that?" said Debby, when this effort had been heard and elaborately praised.

"He's dead," remarked Sarah. Then, ignoring Debby's snicker she continued: "It's very good, Blue Bonnet,--but you shouldn't have said that two had the scarlet fever. There's only one, really."

"Poetic license!" Kitty claimed fiercely.

"I think you are the cleverest girls I ever heard of!" Carita exclaimed. "I'm going to run right over with that poem--I can't wait for the boys to see it."

s.n.a.t.c.hing up her bonnet Carita ran back to the other camp; while the girls, quite tired out by the excitement and varied adventures of the day, prepared to go to bed. As they neared the tents there came a familiar sound from the direction of Camp Judson. It was the loud jangle of cowbells.

"Do you suppose those boys are going to eat at this time of night?"

asked Sarah.

"Of course not, Sallykins," said Debby. "Don't you understand?--that's the boys applauding our poets!"

CHAPTER XV

SUNDAY

"FOR once in my life," said Blue Bonnet, with a long-drawn sigh, "I'm ready for a day of rest."

"Please don't begin to rest till you've done the dishes," begged Kitty.

Blue Bonnet tossed her head scornfully. "I wouldn't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you, Kitty-Kat. If you can go to church with as clear a conscience as mine, I'll take off my hat to you. One lapse doesn't make a sinner!"

"One?" Kitty echoed, and would have continued scathingly had not Sarah interrupted with--

"I don't see how we can go to church with such looking clothes."

"Sarah's regretting the white pique skirt you wouldn't let her bring,"

said Kitty.

"Why, Sarah," Blue Bonnet turned a pained look on the serious young person, "I would never have believed you would be one to stay away from church for lack of an Easter bonnet."

"I didn't mention Easter--nor bonnets either," Sarah declared indignantly. "The idea,--to hear you girls talk any one would think I was completely wrapped up in clothes!"

"Everybody is, you know--except savages," returned Blue Bonnet.

Sarah's expression at this caused Mrs. Clyde to rise hurriedly and vanish within her tent. Freed from this restraint Kitty went on wickedly:

"Anyway, Dr. Judson has been a missionary in Africa and I'm sure he'd excuse you if--"

Sarah left the table with great dignity, leaving the other girls weak with laughter.