Jane jumped up and down in an ecstasy.

"Oh, Sherm, please do--I thought I'd just die with lonesomeness this winter with all of you gone, and Ernest, too."

Sherm looked pleased at her eagerness. His news from home was still depressing and Sherm, if not homesick, had his lonely hours.

"I would pay you regular wages--whatever is customary for boys of your age. I should have to make some inquiries," continued Dr. Morton.

"Yes, and we could go to the lyceums--they most always have one every winter over at the Fair View Schoolhouse. It's heaps of fun when there's snow on the ground. Frank puts the big wagon bed on runners and we fill the bottom with straw and buffalo robes and all snuggle down together.

You just must stay, Sherm!"

"Perhaps he will, if you don't talk him to death, Chicken Little. You haven't given him a chance to get in a word edgeways." Ernest reproved his sister sharply after the manner of brothers slightly older.

"What about you?" retorted Chicken Little. "Sherm, we'll all keep quiet and let you have a chance."

"I'd like to, if college is ruled out, and Mother and Father will let me. They may want me at home, especially if Father grows worse." Sherm gave a little gulp. He was very fond of his father.

"I'll write to him to-day, Sherm, and you might write, too, for I'm going in to town about noon. Any commissions, Mother? Why don't you drop things and come along? A change will do you good--you haven't been off the place for two weeks or more."

"I don't know but I will. Chicken Little, you girls might get up a little picnic lunch for yourselves and the boys, and have it out in the orchard. Annie has a big ironing to-day and it would help her out not to have a dinner to get. Then we'll have a hearty supper this evening."

"Yes, and Chicken Little, did you girls feed the porkers last evening? I heard them squealing and grunting in the night."

"Golly!" said Chicken Little, sitting up with a start and looking at Katy. Katy looked guilty, and Gertie concerned.

Dr. Morton did not need any further answer. "Well, you'd better run right out. Remember dumb beasts must never be neglected, daughter."

"And Jane, I don't want to hear you say Golly again. By-words of any kind are objectionable for young girls, and that is particularly rough and coa.r.s.e," Mrs. Morton added severely.

"You never say it is coa.r.s.e when Ernest says it--and he uses it an awful lot."

"My dear, you are not a boy," Mrs. Morton replied with a dignity that was final.

"I don't care," said Chicken Little when the trio got out doors, "it's not one bit fair to let boys do so many more things than girls! You just wait, if I ever have a daughter she's going to do every single thing her brother does. So there!"

Sherm overheard and later in the day when he and Jane were talking together, he remarked: "Chicken Little, I don't think it is exactly fair either to hold the girls in so much tighter than boys, but your mother is right, allee samee. I have heard the fellows talk often enough to know they think a lot more of a girl who isn't slangy, than of one who is. Of course, mild ones like 'Oh dear' don't matter, but you see a man kind of likes to have a girl, well--different." Sherm was getting in a little beyond his depth.

The girls carried two pails of sour milk and a great basket of parings to their greedy pigs and watched them feed without interest.

"The only reason I'm glad to go home is I won't have to feed these horrid pigs any more. I never saw anything grow and eat like they do.

They ought to be worth a lot of money after all the stuff they've eaten." Katy kicked her toe against the log pen to emphasize her remarks.

"I don't think they're worth so very much yet." Chicken Little was regarding them with no very friendly eye.

"I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't getting so ugly and smelly,"

said Gertie plaintively.

Frank, happening by just then, was amused to see their disgusted expressions.

"Say, Frank, how soon will these pigs be big enough to go in the corral with the others?"

Frank's eyes twinkled. He came up and scanned the ten muddy, impudent pigs, who were already coming up to the sides of the pen, grunting for more. "Well," he said judicially, "I think perhaps you will be rid of them inside of two or three months, but they'll eat a lot more from now on."

The three set up a united protest.

"Father said it would only be a few weeks when we caught them, and it's been five already," Chicken Little remonstrated hotly.

"Well, don't go for me. You asked for my opinion and I gave it to you."

Frank grinned so broadly that Jane grew suspicious. "Pooh, you're teasing, I'll ask Father to-night."

The girls scoured the pantry and spring house for provender for the picnic. Sherm and Ernest would be in from the meadow where they were cutting down thistles about half-past twelve. Bread and b.u.t.ter and cold ham were flanked with cookies, pie, and musk melons. Annie wanted them out of her road as speedily as possible, so they took their stuff all down to the orchard and stowed it away in the shade.

"Now what?" demanded Katy.

"I don't know. Wish we could think of something new." Chicken Little stared up and down the rows of apple trees, seeking an inspiration.

Her glance fell upon a lone apple tree standing in the center of an open s.p.a.ce, apart from all its fellows. Katy's glance followed hers.

"Why is that old tree all by itself that way?"

"I don't know--they were all big trees when we came here. It is a bell-flower and we call it Old King Bee. Say, I've got an idea. Let's get Calico and Caliph and play riding school--you remember that article in 'The Harper's' about a riding school in New York, and you said you wished you could go."

"Would Ernest let us take Caliph?"

"I don't know, but I know I could ride him if I tucked my skirts up and used the man's saddle. There can't a soul see us here; it's so shut in by the trees."

"It would be fun. Let's try to ride bare back and do stunts to surprise the boys. I wish we could take our skirts clear off--they catch so on the saddle horn and in the stirrup buckles."

"I tell you what we'll do." Chicken Little's eyes danced impishly.

"There are lots of Ernest's old trousers in the lumber-room closet that he outgrew ever so long ago. I believe we could find some to fit all of us. Let's go see."

A swift rummage of the dusty closet set them all sneezing, but they triumphantly brought forth an armful of defunct trousers and carried them up to their room. For the next fifteen minutes such giggles and exclamations and shrieks of laughter escaped from their room that Annie left her ironing to see what was up. An astonishing sight met her gaze.

Once started upon the dressing-up craze, the girls had not been content with one garment. Chicken Little had daringly ransacked not only Ernest's bureau, but Sherm's possessions, in quest of shirts and ties.

She had decked herself in a blue checked cheviot shirt, tucked into blue serge trousers, liberally patched at the knees. Sherm's best red tie was neatly knotted at her throat, and an old straw hat adorned with a red hair ribbon, topped her brown braids. Katy was resplendent in a tan colored shirt, with a bright green tie popularly supposed to belong to Ernest. Her own black sailor finished her off nicely. Gertie had a faded pink shirt, which dated back to Centerville days--all Ernest's more recent garments being too big for her slim little figure.

Annie threw up her hands. "You're a pretty-looking lot. I'd just like to have the Missus see you now. I bet you'd catch it."

But Annie had troubles of her own and retired to her ironing.

The trio slipped out the back way--they didn't care to have Marian see them, and they didn't wish to bother with Jilly. The stable was deserted. They quickly saddled Caliph after making friends--with sundry lumps of sugar. Calico was equipped only with a saddle blanket and girth. Gertie decided that she would let the others experiment first, so she walked back to the orchard.

"Let's try them down the lane first. They will be easier to manage on a straight road than in among the trees, if they are fractious."

Jane helped Katy upon Calico's back and showed her how to press her knees against the sides to secure her seat in the place of stirrups.

"You can put your hand under the girth if you begin to slip."

Katy took a turn or two and decided she could stick on if Calico didn't trot. He was a single footer and had a very easy gait except on the rare occasions when he insisted upon breaking into a hard trot. Chicken Little led Caliph to the fence. She wanted to be sure that she was well in her seat before Caliph discovered she was a girl.