The boy grinned. "I'll have 'em here sure, Miss."

"Ruth," asked Grace, as the two girls started back across the meadow to join their friends, "do you suppose it will be unkind for us to try to drive these poor barnyard fowls across a field before so many people? I presume the poor old birds will be frightened stiff. Whoever heard of anything so utterly absurd as a Gymkana race."

"Oh, no, you tender-hearted Grace," Ruth a.s.sured her. "I don't think the kind of pets we are to drive to-morrow will be much affected by our efforts. Indeed they are likely to lead us more of a chase than we shall lead them. And I don't believe the annoyance of being run across this field by us for a few yards equals the nervous shock of being scared by an automobile or a carriage. That alarm may overtake poor Brother Turkey and Mr. Rooster any day. I think our race is going to be the greatest fun ever! Why! I think I see Ralph Ewing and Hugh over there with the girls.

Isn't that great?"

"Miss Morton!" Hugh was protesting gayly, as Grace and Ruth joined the crowd of their friends. "You don't mean to say that Barbara and Ruth have put Ralph's name and mine down for three of your performances? How shall we ever live through such a tremendous strain! Kindly explain to me what is expected of us."

Dorothy Morton got out her blankbook, where she had written each item of the next day's programme. "Well, Mr. Post, you and Mr. Ewing are down for three of our best events, 'The Egg and Spoon Race,' 'The Dummy Race' and 'The Thread and Needle Race.'"

"All right," declared Ralph, meekly accepting his fate, "but will you kindly tell me what a Thread and Needle Race is?"

"It is a very easy task, Ralph, compared with what Grace and I have undertaken," Ruth a.s.sured him. "All you do, in the 'Thread and Needle Race,' is to ride across this field on horseback carrying a needle. Of course, the real burden is on the woman. It always is. Some fair one is waiting for you at the end of your ride; she must sew a b.u.t.ton on your coat. The sooner she can accomplish this, the better; for back you must ride, again, to the starting place, with the b.u.t.ton firmly attached to your coat."

"Will you sew the b.u.t.ton on for me, Mollie?" Ralph begged. He saw that Mollie was taking less part in the amus.e.m.e.nts than the other girls.

"Certainly!" agreed Mollie. "I accept your proffered honor. To tell you the truth, you stand a better chance of winning with my a.s.sistance. I am a much better seamstress than Bab."

"Oh, Bab, will be busy winning the riding prize," declared Ralph under his breath, smiling at his two friends, Mollie and Barbara.

Maud Warren, the New York girl famous for her skillful riding, was standing near them, talking with Reginald Latham. As she overheard Ralph's remark, a sarcastic smile flitted across her pale face. She had ignored Bab since their introduction at the Amba.s.sador's; but the thought of this poor country girl's really knowing how to ride horseback was too much for her.

Barbara caught Maud Warren's look of amus.e.m.e.nt and blushed furiously.

Then she turned to Ralph and said aloud, "Oh, I am not a rider when compared with Miss Warren."

"I don't believe in comparisons, Miss Thurston," declared the Amba.s.sador, who had walked up to them. "But I think you are an excellent horsewoman.

And I much prefer your riding in the old-fashioned way with a side saddle. I have observed that it is now fashionable, in Lenox, for the young women to ride astride."

"Girls," Miss Stuart declared, "it is luncheon time. We must return to the hotel."

"Now, does everybody understand about to-morrow?" asked Gwendolin Morton, when the last farewells had been said. "Remember, the Gymkana race is first. We started with this spectacle for fear the girls who have promised to take part might back out. Then, immediately after lunch, we shall have our horseback riding and jumping."

"I don't believe I have been wise in permitting you to engage in this horseback riding, Barbara," Miss Stuart declared on their way home. "I am afraid this jumping over fences is a dangerous sport. And I am not sure it is ladylike."

"But English girls do it all the time, Aunt Sallie. Jumping hurdles is taught in the best riding schools."

"You have had no lessons, Bab. Are you perfectly sure you do not feel afraid?" queried Miss Stuart.

"Oh, perfectly, dear Aunt Sallie," Bab a.s.sured her.

CHAPTER XIX

THE OLD GRAY GOOSE

The day for the Lenox sports dawned clear and beautiful. By breakfast time the mists had rolled away from the hilltops. The trees, which were now beginning to show bare places among their leafy branches, beheld their own reflections in the lakes that nestled at the feet of the Lenox hills.

From their veranda Miss Stuart and her girls could see every style of handsome vehicle gliding along the perfect roads that led toward the Fair Grounds from the beautiful homes surrounding the old township.

The Society Circus could be enjoyed only by invitation. The tickets had been sent out only to the chosen. An invitation meant the payment of five dollars to the Hospital Fund.

Barbara was the first of the girls to be ready to start to the Fair Grounds. She wore the tan riding-habit that Ruth had loaned her. She was not to ride until later in the day, but it would not be feasible to return to the hotel to change her costume.

Miss Stuart and her party had been asked to be the guests at luncheon of Amba.s.sador and Mrs. Morton.

Ruth and Grace were dressed in short skirts, loose blouses, and coats.

They, also, looked ready for business. So only Miss Stuart and Mollie were able to wear the handsome toilets suited to the occasion. Mollie appeared in her blue silk costume. Miss Sallie was resplendent in a pearl gray broadcloth and a hat of violet orchids.

At half-past nine, Hugh Post and Ralph Ewing knocked at Miss Stuart's sitting-room door. Barbara had already seen Ruth's and Hugh's automobiles waiting for them on the hotel driveway. The boys were impatient to be off.

"Kindly explain to me, Ruth," asked Hugh, as the party finally started, "why you are carrying those two large bolts of ribbon? Are you going into the millinery business to-day?"

Ruth laughed. "Remember, if you please, that Grace and I are going in for a much more serious undertaking. These ribbons are the reins that we intend to use for our extraordinary race to-day. I shall endeavor to drive my turkey with blue strings. Grace considers red ribbon more adapted to the disposition and appearance of a rooster."

"Well, you girls certainly have nerve to take part in such a wild goose chase!" laughed the boy.

At the Fair Grounds Miss Stuart had reserved seats for her party near the green inclosure. Just in front of them was a little platform, decorated in red, white and blue bunting. On this were seated the Amba.s.sador, Franz h.e.l.ler, Mr. Winthrop Latham, Reginald and several other prominent Lenox residents.

Grace and Ruth were not allowed to remain with their friends; they were immediately hurried off to the clubhouse, where they found eight other girls waiting for them. The entrance of the ten girls, driving their extraordinary steeds, was to be the great opening event of the Society Circus.

At ten-thirty Mr. Winthrop Latham announced the first feature of their entertainment.

A peal of laughter burst from hundreds of throats.

Marching from the clubhouse were ten pretty girls, "shooing" in front of them ten varieties of barnyard fowls!

Dorothy Morton walked along in a stately fashion, led by an old gray goose. Neither Miss Morton nor the goose seemed in the least degree disturbed by the applause and laughter.

Ruth's turkey was not so amiable. It stopped several times in its promenade from the clubhouse, to crane its long neck back at the driver.

The turkey's small eyes surveyed the scene about it with a look of mingled suspicion and indignation. The old rooster, which regarded the occasion as given in its honor, traveled in front of Grace at a lively pace.

Within the inclosed field, just in front of the little stand, where the Amba.s.sador and his friends sat, two poles had been placed ten yards apart. Across the meadow, about an eighth of a mile, were two other poles of the same kind.

The girls were to try to persuade their curious steeds to run across the field from the first posts to those opposite. There the drivers were expected to turn their steeds and come safely back to the starting place.

Of the ten entrances Grace and her rooster made the best start. Ruth's turkey refused to stir; he had found a fat worm on the ground in front of him. His attention was riveted to that. Ruth flapped her blue silk reins in vain.

But a peac.o.c.k bore the turkey company. Seeing himself and his barnyard acquaintances the center of so many eyes, Mr. Peac.o.c.k was properly vain.

He spread his beautiful fan-shaped tail, and would not be driven from the starting-place.

Dorothy Morton and her old gray goose continued their stately walk across the meadow. Only once did the goose's dignity forsake it. Grace's excitable rooster crossed its path! The rooster had made a short scurry to the side, his driver trying to persuade him back to the straight path.

As the rooster hurried past the old gray goose, the latter stopped short, gave an indignant flap of its wings, rose a few inches from the ground, and pecked at Mr. Rooster. A moment later the goose continued its dignified march.

This incident was too much for Grace's irascible rooster. With a terrified crow he darted first this way, then that, until Grace was wound up in her own red silk reins. It seemed a hopeless task to try to reach the goal.