"i don't think you ought to be fussing just because it is a little hot," jess larue said, scrubbing her chin with a moist and grimy handkerchief.
"a little hot!" cried margy williamson. "why, last night i couldn't sleep a wink. i think last night was the hottest night we ever had in river bend."
fred, margy's twin brother, pretended to fan himself.
"i never knew it to be like this before," he complained, mimicking his sister's tone. "every year, just before the fourth, we always have a snowstorm. i remember last year we shot off firecrackers under the snowman we built, and it was so cold not even the heat could melt the snow."
[pg 2]
margy sniffed and artie marley giggled.
"oh, of course it's hot! but who cares?" said polly marley, the born peacemaker. "think about the beach and the fun we'll have there. and just as soon as ward comes, we'll hold our meeting."
"i don't know what can be keeping him." jess spoke of her brother. "he can't run fast, because he is so fat, but he can hurry when he wants to. perhaps he stayed to watch the boat come in."
it was a pleasant room in which the five children were gathered, even if it was a loft room of the larue barn. the window was up and let in plenty of light and as much air as could be expected to circulate on a warm july day. from this window, neat gardens could be seen, and, beyond the gardens, green fields where early haymaking was already in progress.
"i'm going to finish sewing, if we have to wait forever," said margy, moving over to the table. "lend me your thimble, jess?"
the room was so small that a table, a rug, and the six chairs for the members were all that could be squeezed into it. margy, who was a good needlewoman and a little vain of her accomplishment, had a heap of soft bright green material on the table, and now she bent over this.
[pg 3]
"what are you making, margy?" asked artie marley curiously.
"sewing the initials on my bathing suit," margy returned. "see?"
she held up the jersey cloth and showed the white letters "r.c." basted in place.
"how lovely!" cried polly. "we can all have initials. that will be fun."
"but our pins are blue and gold," artie objected, feeling of the little pin on his blouse.
"well, this isn't a pin i'm putting on my bathing suit—just initials," said margy.
"i guess mother will sew some on for me," jess announced hopefully. "my bathing suit is red—white letters would look all right, wouldn't they?"
"of course. i'll have white, too, on my blue suit," decided polly. "where did you get your letters, margy?"
"mother cut them out for me—white flannel," margy murmured, absorbed in going around the curve of the "c" with close, even stitches. "she cut out a set for each of you."
as fred and artie began to discuss how far it was from the window to the ground, polly decided to call the meeting to order. once the boys talked about jumping, it would be only a step to the actual jump.
[pg 4]
"the riddle club will please come to order!" said polly, thumping the table impressively. "while we are waiting for mr. ward larue to arrive with the fireworks, we'll take up unfinished business—if there is any."
"i collected the dues," fred contributed, and his manner indicated that his interest in any other club business was of the slightest.
fred was club treasurer, and every one agreed that he was devoted to his duties.
"oh, polly, it's too hot to bother!" said margy williamson. "there isn't any unfinished business, anyway."
"what makes you so touchy, margy?" jess asked curiously.
to her surprise, margy did not "flare up." instead tears came into her eyes.
"i thought we'd have such fun at sunrise beach," she explained. "but ever since i heard mattie helms' mother had taken a bungalow there, i haven't felt like going. everything will be spoiled!"
polly swept away the sewing and gave margy a hug that, despite its warmth, was very comforting.
"you're tired getting ready and the last day of school upset you," she declared. "just wait till you get to the beach—you may not see mattie[pg 5] all summer. she is at the end where all the new houses are and we're in the unfashionable section. it will take more than mattie helms to spoil our fun."
"ask a riddle, polly," suggested jess. "here we are having a meeting and we haven't done a thing."
"all right, i know a riddle that is just the thing for to-day," said polly, smiling. "i'll ask you, margy. name a wheel that can't be used in any machinery."
margy thought for a moment. her face cleared.
"a bicycle!" said she.
"you can use a bicycle in machinery," polly insisted. "take it apart and use it for lots of things. three guesses, margy, because it isn't thinking weather, as artie says. try again."
margy thought so long that her brother fred began to shuffle his feet impatiently. margy looked at him reproachfully.
"how can i think when you are so noisy?" she asked. "is this right, polly? a flywheel?"
fred and artie hooted, for this was too much for their mechanical minds.
"a flywheel is a part of machinery," fred explained.
"then it must be a wheelwright," said margy.
[pg 6]
"what's that?" artie demanded, while polly looked puzzled.
"it's a man, isn't it?" said jess slowly.
"yes. and you can't use a man in any machinery can you?" margy pointed out. "daddy told me the other night about a wheelwright."
"but he isn't a wheel," declared fred. "that isn't the answer, is it, polly? anyway, you said it was just the thing for to-day, and i don't see what a wheelwright has to do with to-day."
"the real answer is a pin-wheel," polly explained. "and it's only two days to fourth of july, you know, so it fits."
"isn't it funny i didn't think of that?" said margy. "but as long as we haven't forfeits, i don't mind. we shan't have forfeits, shall we, polly, because it is so hot?"
"margy can't seem to forget the weather for a minute," jess thought. but then, margy had often declared that she liked winter better than summer. unfortunately she liked winter when it was summer and as soon as it began to snow she was heard to sigh for summer! there are a great many people who feel about the weather as she did.
"it's your turn now, jess," said polly quietly.
jess larue pulled her curly dark hair and thought for as long as two seconds.
[pg 7]
"artie," she said, "what kind of crackers are there that no one would care to eat?"
"graham," artie responded promptly.
they all laughed, for artie's dislike for graham crackers was well known. wherever he went, he was sure to be offered graham crackers—the river bend mothers thought graham crackers wholesome, and so they are—and artie had once been heard to say that if he ever kept a grocery store not a graham cracker should be allowed on his shelves.
"no, that's not right," declared jess. "try again."
"nutcrackers?" said artie brilliantly.
"say, you're all right!" fred exclaimed approvingly. "isn't that the right answer, jess? no one would care to eat nutcrackers?"
"no, they wouldn't," agreed jess. "but, you see, i forgot to tell you this is a fourth of july riddle."
"it's my fault," polly announced, flushing a little. "i should have said that at this meeting all the riddles must have something to do with the fourth of july. thinking about ward and waiting for him, made me forget."
"he's stopped somewhere," said jess. "well, artie, you have one more guess. what kind of[pg 8] crackers would no one care to eat—and it has to do with fourth of july, remember."
"huh, firecrackers," artie guessed confidently. "that's easy."
jess admitted that he was right.
"but if i hadn't told you about the fourth, you never would have guessed it," she told him.
it was decided that fred was to ask the next riddle, and he was ready.
"polly," he said slowly, "what kind of a candle never stands still?"
"a revolving one," polly answered, speaking before she thought.
naturally fred demanded to know what a revolving candle was and polly had to confess that she didn't know.
"it might be in a lantern," contributed jess helpfully, but fred discarded this answer as "silly."
"well, two more guesses won't help me," polly declared. "so i'll give up. what kind of a candle never stands still, fred?"
"a roman candle," said fred.
polly looked a little blank.
"of course you don't want to say it that way," fred explained. "say a roaming candle and you'll get the idea."
[pg 9]
"lots of children say a 'roaming candle,'" declared margy.
"but i don't," replied polly. "still, if you say that is the answer to the riddle, all right, it is."
"now it's my turn!" artie cried eagerly.
but he did not have a chance to ask his riddle. just as he opened his mouth and the riddle trembled on the tip of his tongue, a loud explosion sounded outside.
bang!
"a cannon!" screamed jess. "some one fired off a cannon!"
bang! bang! bang!
as one person, the five children raced for the door. down the loft ladder they tumbled and made for the barn door.
"it was, too, a cannon—half a dozen cannons," jess argued as she ran. "what else could make a noise like that?"
