"We'll send Chicken Little and Sherm over on the ponies as a special deputation to invite him. You must coax your prettiest, Sis."

"I'd love to. I just know I can get him to come. Will you go with me, Sherm?"

"Nothing I'd like better," responded Sherm heartily.

The next few days fairly twinkled by. The girls roamed the woods and the fields with d.i.c.k and Alice, and went in bathing, and fed chickens, and even made little pats of b.u.t.ter down in the cool springhouse. Gertie mourned because she could not send hers home straightway to Mother.

Chicken Little and Sherm waited until Sunday to go over to the Captain's.

Sherm found Caliph and the Mexican saddle rather more to his taste than Chicken Little's outfit had been on the ride from town. He had about all he could do for the first five minutes to manage Caliph for he had had little opportunity for riding at home. But he had a cool head, and with a few suggestions from Jane, he soon convinced Caliph that he had a new master as determined as Ernest, if not quite so skilful a horseman. They did not talk much. Sherm considered Jane a little girl and Jane stood rather in awe of Sherm. But they enjoyed the brisk ride none the less.

The swift motion with the wind in their faces, the wide stretches of prairie bounded on the distant horizon by a faint line of timber, were novel and delightful to Sherm. To Jane, they were familiar and dearly loved. Besides, she liked having Sherm with her.

He glanced at her from time to time. Chicken Little glanced back with sweet, friendly eyes. It was she who finally broke the ice.

"I do hope the Captain will go. I'm most sure he'll like you, because his little boy looked a lot like you. He showed me the picture."

"He seems to like you all right from what they say."

Chicken Little laughed merrily.

Sherm couldn't quite see the connection.

"Well, what's so funny about that?"

"Will you cross your heart never to tell, Sherm? Frank and Ernest would tease the life out of me if they knew."

"Cut my heart out and eat it, if I ever breathe a word."

Chicken Little related the swearing episode which she had not seen fit to trouble even Marian with, at home. "I guess," she concluded, "he felt sort of sorry for me right at the start and that made him like me."

"'Twouldn't be such a hard job as you seem to think, Jane," Sherm surprised himself by saying.

Chicken Little flushed and looked up hastily at Sherm who also felt his face getting warm to his great disgust. Sherm hated softies of any kind.

"Oh, I believe there's the Captain now over by the pasture fence."

Captain Clarke was riding round the pastures inspecting the barbed wire fencing. He soon hailed them.

"h.e.l.lo, Little Neighbor, is the piebald behaving himself?"

Jane introduced Sherm as soon as they came abreast.

"Captain Clarke, this is Ernest's friend, the Sherman Dart I told you about."

Captain Clarke scanned the boy's face curiously. His own went a little white after an instant's inspection.

"You are right--he is marvellously like what my boy might be to-day. I beg your pardon for my rude scrutiny. Possibly Jane has told you of the resemblance. You will come up to the house and let Wing give you some lemonade. It is hot this afternoon."

Chicken Little declined to take him from his course and told him their errand. He hesitated. "You say Mr. and Mrs. Harding and your brother and his wife are going. Would you think me very rude and unappreciative if I declined, dear? I am poor company for anyone these days and----"

Chicken Little looked so disappointed that he paused ruefully.

"Please, just this once, Katie and Gertie want to see you dreadfully and you could go with us. Pretty please."

She thought she saw signs of weakening. Sherm also noticed the Captain's hesitation.

"We've all sort of set our hearts on having you, Sir. Chicken Little and Ernest have talked so much about you we feel acquainted, and Dr. Morton says you're a dead shot. I've never hunted anything but squirrels myself."

Captain Clarke stared at Sherm as if in a dream for a minute. The boy was embarra.s.sed by his silence and smiled his little crooked smile to cover it. Their host pa.s.sed his hand over his eyes and sighed. Then he smiled.

"It's no disgrace to surrender to a superior force. I am yours to command. But I stipulate that you two stand by me."

Chicken Little gave a bounce in her saddle to emphasize her delight and Calico took this as a hint to go on.

"Whoa, Calico! Thank you--bushels! Oh, I just know we'll have the best time! Would you mind if we children all went with you because n.o.body's going to be willing to be left out?"

"I can take five nicely and have plenty of room for guns and lunch baskets besides. By the way, please tell your mother that Wing Fan will never forgive me if he is not permitted to get up the lunch for all the young people at the very least."

"Have you a gun with you?" he asked Sherm as they were going.

"No, but Ernest said I might take his."

"I have a new shotgun. I should be glad if you would share it with me."

They found Alice and d.i.c.k, Marian, Katie, Gertie and Jilly, not to mention Huz and Buz, waiting for them on the Morton side of the ford.

"What luck?"

Sherm didn't give Jane a chance to reply.

"Oh, Chicken Little just put on her company smile and the Captain held out his hands and said: 'Handcuffs, please.'" He was meeker than Buz.

"Sherman Dart, you old--" Chicken Little flicked Caliph lightly by way of revenge, and Sherm had his hands full for several seconds, for Caliph resented the indignity.

It was arranged to start early the following Sat.u.r.day morning. Mrs.

Morton and Annie were up soon after daylight busy with the mysteries of fried chicken and fresh rolls. The men of the party were equally busy cleaning guns and routing out all sorts of hunting toggery. The girls tried to help everybody impartially, succeeding for the most part in making a general nuisance of themselves.

At exactly seven-thirty Captain Clarke drove up with a wonderful team of blacks. His hunting jacket was belted in with a formidable looking cartridge belt, two shotguns were slid in on the floor of the spring wagon, and lunch baskets and a great earthenware jug of lemonade were wedged in under the seats. He gave a shrill hunting halloo as he drew up at the gate.

Mrs. Morton was a little disturbed at the gay looking team.

"Are you quite sure they are safe with the guns? You know young people are often reckless and this is a very precious load."

"My dear madam, I think I can answer for Jim and Jerry. I took them out for an hour yesterday and used the gun over their heads to make sure they hadn't forgotten their manners."

The Captain met the strangers of the party in his usual courteous reserved fashion, but his eyes lighted when Chicken Little ran down the walk. He established Ernest and Katie and Gertie on the back seat and swung Jane up in front to the driver's seat with Sherm on her left.

"Ernest, I'll handle the ribbons going, if it suits you, and you can drive us back. I have an idea you will have the sharpest eye for game of any of this crowd. We ought to do our best work the next two hours for snipe. We probably won't find many prairie chickens until we get over on Little John. By the way, boys, be careful not to disturb the mother birds--there are still some on the nests. I really don't like to hunt quite so early in the season as this, although a good many of the young birds are shifting for themselves already--bird parents have a beautiful faith in Providence. They don't worry long about their young."