CHAPTER XI

THE FEAST OF MONDAMIN

"Minnehaha, Laughing Water, otherwise known as Madge Morton, you are the loveliest person I ever saw," announced Phyllis Alden, while Eleanor and Lillian gazed at Madge in her Indian costume with equally admiring eyes.

"See, here is the description of Minnehaha. Doesn't it sound like Madge?" Phil went on, reading from a volume of Longfellow:

"'Wayward as the Minnehaha, With her moods of shade and sunshine, Eyes that smiled and frowned alternate, Feet as rapid as the river, Tresses flowing like the water, And as musical a laughter.'"

Phyllis paused and Madge swept her a low curtsey. "Thank you, Phil," she said, her blue eyes suddenly misty at her chum's compliment.

It was the day of the great corn feast on the Preston estate, and Madge had been selected to appear in the costume of Minnehaha and to read to the guests certain parts of Hiawatha that referred to the Indian legend of the corn.

All the young people were to appear in the guise of Indians. Phyllis, with her olive skin, black eyes and hair, made a striking Pocahontas.

Phil looked more like an Indian maiden than Madge, but Madge had more dramatic skill. Lillian, with her hair as yellow as the corn, was the paleface princess stolen by the Indians in her babyhood. Eleanor wore an Indian costume, also, but she represented no especial character.

Much against his will David Brewster impersonated Hiawatha. He hated it.

He did not wish to come to the entertainment at all, much less in the conspicuous position of the hero of the evening. But Mr. Preston had taken a deep fancy to David. He seemed not to mind the boy's queer, moody ways, and he had a great respect for his practical judgment. Mr.

Preston had asked David to remain in his service when the houseboat party disbanded, but David, for reasons that he would not tell, had refused. The boy did not think he could decline to impersonate Hiawatha when Mr. Preston considered that he had paid him a compliment in asking him. In spite of his embarra.s.sment David Brewster was a good representation of a young Indian brave, with his swarthy skin, his dark eyes that flashed fire when his anger was aroused, and his vigorous, muscular body, made lean and hard by his work in the open fields.

In the middle of the Preston estate, between the orchards and the cornfields, a huge platform had been erected with a small stage at one end. The place was decorated with sheaves of wheat, oats and barley, with great stacks of green and yellowing corn standing in the four corners. The platform was filled with chairs and hung with lanterns, some of them made from hollowed-out gourds and pumpkins, to carry out the harvest idea. After the reading of Hiawatha the platform was to be cleared and the young people were to have a dance.

The invitations to the feast read for six o'clock. At seven a dozen open wood fires were roasting the green ears of corn for more than a hundred guests. The long tables under the trees in the yard were laden with every kind of delicious food.

But Madge wished the feast was over and her poem read. Her knees were knocking together when she rose to read before so many people.

The August moon was in the full. It was a golden night. In a semi-circle behind her crowded her friends from the houseboat party. They formed an Indian tableau in the background, and David stood near her at the front of the stage.

"And in rapture Hiawatha Cried aloud, 'It is Mondamin!'"

read Madge, with a shy glance at the young Hiawatha standing beside her.

At this moment there crept up on the platform an old woman, so old that the audience stared at one another in amazement. They believed that the strange visitor was a part of the performance. David and Madge knew better. David's face turned white as chalk, but Madge's voice never faltered as she went on with the reading:

"'Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin!

Then he called to old Nokomis'."

The old woman's presence was explained to at least those of the audience who were familiar with the story of Hiawatha. The ancient gypsy woman who had appeared on the stage among the young people so unexpectedly was "old Nokomis," Hiawatha's grandmother, one of the princ.i.p.al characters in Longfellow's poem.

The moment that Madge finished her recitation David Brewster disappeared. But the old gypsy went about among the Prestons' guests, keeping their attention engaged by telling their fortunes.

The gypsy woman was not the only mysterious visitor at the famous corn feast. Madge and Lillian were dancing with two young country boys when two Indian braves unexpectedly appeared in the midst of the guests. They had on extremely handsome Indian costumes and their faces were completely covered with Indian masks. They spoke in strange, guttural voices, so that no one could guess who they were.

Madge and Lillian tried in vain to escape them. Wherever the girls went the Indian chiefs followed them.

As the evening progressed Madge grew very tired. The apparition of the old woman, whom she had seen before on the day when she was held a prisoner in the woods, had made her nervous. She longed to ask Phil if she also recalled the face of the old woman.

"Miss Jenny Ann," Madge kept a tight hold on Phil's hand, "Phyllis and I are a little tired. We are going away by ourselves to rest. You and Miss Betsey won't be frightened about us?" Madge gave her chaperon a repentant hug and Miss Jenny Ann smiled at her. The little captain had promised never to wander off again without saying where she was going.

The fires where the corn had been roasted were still burning dimly. The girls made a circuit of the fires and went over into another nearby field, where a haystack formed a good hiding place. There they dropped down on the ground and Madge, who was more easily tired than Phil, laid her head in her chum's lap.

No matter how much Phyllis and Madge enjoyed parties and people, they were never happier than when they could stroll off to have a quiet talk with each other. The two girls were splendid a.s.sociates. Phil had the calm sweetness, poise and good sense that impetuous Madge often lacked, while Madge had the fire and ardor that Phyllis needed to give her enthusiasm.

"I wish Tom and George Robinson were here at the farm to-night, Phil!"

exclaimed Madge, after a short pause, giving a little sigh.

Phyllis looked at her chum closely. The moonlight shone full in Madge's wistful blue eyes. Phil patted her hand by way of sympathy.

"You see, Phil, it is like this," went on Madge. "I feel sorry about Tom, because I was really responsible for making him break his engine and spoiling a part of his holiday. If I had not run away by myself in the moonlight, Tom might have been here with us. It seems to me that I am having a perfectly lovely time, while poor Tom is being punished for my fault. It isn't fair."

"Sh-sh!" Phyllis put her fingers gently over her friend's lips. Some one was stealing quietly past them on the other side of the haystack. He disappeared in the darkness, a little way off, and the girls supposed that he was one of the Prestons' guests escaping from the crowd.

A few minutes later Phil exclaimed: "Madge, is that one of the fires from the corn roast over there? I did not think that there was any corn roasted so near to Mr. Preston's barn."

Madge glanced idly across the field. The girls were at one side of the group of buildings where Mr. Preston kept his live stock. She saw a tiny jet of flame, apparently running along near the ground. Both watchers stared at it silently. A larger flame crawled up the outside wall of the barn, then smoke began to pour out through the cracks.

The two girls sprang to their feet. "One of the barns has caught fire!"

cried Phil. "I'll find Mr. Preston. You give the alarm to the men about the place." Phil ran toward the festival grounds.

As Madge turned she heard a slight sound behind her. Some one was coming toward her, moving cautiously over the gra.s.s. She slipped to one side of the haystack so that she could see who it was. "Why, David Brewster!"

she cried, "what are you doing way off here? Quick! hurry! Phil and I think Mr. Preston's barn is afire!"

David set his teeth in rage as he sped across the field with Madge close at his heels. He had taken off his Indian costume, but his face was still stained and painted in Indian fashion, so that it gave him a wild, unnatural appearance. Instead of stopping at the barn David, without a word of explanation, ran on to the Preston house.

Madge found a crowd of men already gathered about the burning barn. Mr.

Preston had formed a bucket brigade and a dozen men were pa.s.sing buckets from the well to the fire. Half a dozen of the more valorous men, three of them farm-hands, were fighting their way into the barn, leading, driving, or coaxing out the terrified horses and cattle.

Mr. Preston stood at the barn door, giving commands to the workers.

By this time the hay in the loft had caught and the whole barn was a seething ma.s.s of fire. Mrs. Preston stood near the scene, with Madge and Phil on either side of her. David Brewster suddenly joined them. No one noticed his peculiar expression.

"Let the barn go, men!" shouted Mr. Preston. "Quick, out of it! It will fall in a minute. We have saved the other buildings, and we must let this go."

"Oh, my poor f.a.n.n.y!" wailed Mrs. Preston, as though she were talking of a human being. f.a.n.n.y was a beloved old horse that had belonged to Mrs.

Preston for twelve years. She had driven her in her phaeton nearly every day in all this time and loved the old horse almost as a member of the family.

Madge felt sure that Mr. Preston could not know that f.a.n.n.y was still in the burning barn. The little captain broke away from her friends and made a rush toward the smoke and flames. Mr. Preston was within a few feet of the partially consumed building. From the inside of the barn came a groan of anguish and terror that was human in its appeal. Mr.

Preston covered his face with his hands. "Don't try it, men," he commanded authoritatively; "the old mare can't be saved. It is useless to try to go into the barn now."

Madge could no longer endure the piteous sounds. She made a headlong plunge toward the barn door. She could not see her way inside, but the noise that the horse was making would guide her, she thought.

Just at the threshold of the barn she felt herself shoved aside and hurled several feet out of harm's way. She fell backward on the ground and lay still. It was David who had flung her from the reach of the fire's scorching heat and plunged into the barn in her stead.