“do you know i think it would be fine if we went off some day this week on a picnic,” laura said unexpectedly one morning. “i just love to go on picnics. and we haven’t had one yet.”
“oh laura!” maida agreed ecstatically, “what a wonderful idea! i love picnics too! i adore picnic food and i never yet have had all the hard-boiled eggs i want. how did you come to think of it?”
“i thought of it last night just before i fell asleep.” laura’s voice sparkled with pride. “it was all i could do to keep from going in your rooms and waking you and rosie up to tell you about it. i was so excited that i couldn’t fall asleep and so i made a perfectly beautiful plan. i thought we might put up lunches; then get into our bathing suits; paddle across the magic mirror to the other side and spend the day there—we have never really explored the other side. i’m sure it’s perfectly lovely there and we’ll have a wonderful time.”
“let’s do it to-morrow,” rosie took up with laura’s plan immediately. “we can get up early; cook the eggs and make the sandwiches. there’ll be enough cake left over. and don’t let’s—oh listen, everybody! remember not to forget the salt. people always forget the salt on picnics.”
“it’s ice cream day to-morrow,” harold said sadly. “we’ll miss it if we are not home to freeze it.”
“no, if you boys will get up early and make it, we can take it along in the freezer with us,” rosie suggested daringly.
“sure!” arthur was highly enthusiastic. “i don’t care how early i have to get up to make ice cream. i’d rather do that than go without it.”
all other conversation was banished for the day. they kept thinking of things they would like to take with them—and stopped only short of the bicycles.
“i should think,” maida said once, “that we were going to africa for six months at least. remember one thing though—don’t forget the salt!”
they were so afraid that they wouldn’t[pg 142] wake in time that they wound their alarm clocks to the very last notch. they did wake in time however. in fact they had to put the alarm clocks under the bed clothes and pile pillows on top of them to keep from waking the rest of the household. with much whispering and many half-suppressed giggles the girls managed to get into bathing suits; went down stairs and began their work in the kitchen. although the exact number of eggs and sandwiches had been decided on the day before, they held many low-toned colloquies on the subject.
“remember,” laura said, “you can always eat twice as much at a picnic as anywhere else. i don’t know why it is,” she concluded thoughtfully, “but even things you don’t like taste good. be sure not to forget the salt!”
by the time floribel appeared to get their breakfasts, they were nearly famished but nevertheless they ate hurriedly, so great was their longing to get off. arthur shouldered the ice cream freezer. between them, the girls carried the luncheon. the little children had to be led to the side of the house, so as not to witness their elaborate burden-laden departure. as it was acute little betsy apparently guessed that something was going on[pg 143] which did not include her. as the big six disappeared down the trail they could hear granny flynn soothing her whimperings.
it was a beautiful day. the sun was not yet high enough in the heavens for it to be hot. indeed dew still lay over everything. but there was a languor in the atmosphere which warned them that it would be hot enough later. the pond was indeed a magic mirror. it was like glass. not a ripple roughed its surface and everything on the shore was so perfectly reflected that it looked painted on the water. the children wasted no time on the view. they pulled the four canoes out of the boat house and began loading them. arthur paddled alone in one with the ice cream freezer and the lunch. harold paddled alone in the second with the rugs and the hammock; the others went, two to a canoe. the little fleet kept close.
“isn’t it a beautiful place?” rosie asked joyously, trailing her hand in the water, “it’s like fairy land to-day. how i wish i could see some fairies or goblins or something strange!”
“i’d be content to see some white peacocks,” dicky said soberly.
“oh dicky!” maida exclaimed, “i’ve never[pg 144] taken you to see the white peacocks as i promised. i’ll do that just as soon as i can.”
“i’d rather see some deer.” harold remarked.
“well all i ask,” laura was very emphatic, “is not to see two people—silva and tyma burle.”
“i don’t think we’ll run into them,” maida declared thoughtfully, “it’s a long time since any of us have seen them—over two weeks i should say. perhaps they’ve gone away.”
“no,” arthur called from his canoe, “i saw them in the village yesterday.”
the landing was effected with no difficulty, although here of course there was no pier. they followed the trail through the woods for a long way, trying to find a place to camp. one spot attracted some; a second attracted others; but for a long time, no place attracted them all.
“there are too many stones here,” rosie would say, “it won’t be comfortable to sit down.”
“and it’s too sunny here,” maida commented. “it’ll melt the ice cream and the butter—and everything.”
“that place slants,” laura made the third objection, “we want a nice flat spot.”
“i think i hear water,” dicky cried suddenly.
“water!” maida repeated, “water! how can you hear it? there’s no water here. i never saw any brook around here. i can’t hear any water.”
neither could anybody else; yet dicky persisted that he heard the sound of running water.
“you wait here,” he exclaimed suddenly, “let me see if i can find it.” he disappeared through the trees. he came running back in a few minutes obviously excited. “i haven’t found it yet,” he explained, “but i certainly hear it plainer and plainer the farther i go.”
the others swarmed into the bushes. dicky led the way like a little human divining rod.
“i hear water,” rosie announced electrically. “hark!”
they all stopped and listened. one by one they got the soft tinkle. encouraged they kept on, rounding bushes and leaping rocks. the noise grew louder and louder. a rough trail suddenly appeared. they raced over it as fast as their burdens would permit. the sound was now a lovely musical splash. they came out on an open space, surrounded by pines and thickly carpeted with pine needles.[pg 146] at one side a great rock thrust out of the earth. close beside it ran a tiny brook and just beyond the lee of the rock, the brook fell into a waterfall not more than a foot high. the children went wild with delight.
“do you mean to tell me, maida westabrook, that you never knew this was here?” rosie demanded.
“i never did,” maida declared solemnly. “i have never seen it. i have never heard anybody mention it. isn’t it a darling? what shall we call it? we must give it a name.”
nobody had any names ready and everybody was too excited to think. in fact, at once they began wading up and down the little brook. they explored the neighborhood. not far off they came upon a curious patch of country. a cleared circle, surrounded by pine trees and carpeted with pines, was filled with irregular lines of great rocks that lost themselves in the bushes on either side.
“i believe this is a moraine,” maida exclaimed suddenly. “i’ve seen moraines in europe.”
“what’s a moraine?” the others asked.
maida explained how once the earth had been covered with great icecaps called glaciers[pg 147] and how in melting these glaciers had often left—streaking the earth’s surface—great files and lines of rock. “we’ll ask father to come here some day,” she ended. “he’ll know all about it. billy potter too—he knows everything.”
after a while, they came back to the waterfall. they swept aside the pine needles; spread the tablecloth on the ground; took food from the baskets; set it about in an inviting pile. the ice cream had not melted an atom in the freezer. the sandwiches, done up in wet napkins, were quite fresh. the eggs looked as inviting as hard-boiled eggs are bound to look. everything was all right except that—and this produced first consternation, then laughter—there was no salt.
“we all reminded everybody else to remember the salt,” maida said in disgust, “and so nobody put it in the basket.”
everybody but rosie was busy. and rosie, as though bewitched, was wandering about, gazing up this vista and down that one; examining clumps of bushes.
“come, rosie, lunch is most ready,” maida called to her. and as rosie didn’t answer, “what are you doing?”
“i’m looking for—” rosie’s voice was [pg 148]muffled. “i thought i saw something—oh come and see what i’ve found!” now her voice was sharp and high with excitement.
the children rushed pell-mell in the direction of the voice. rosie had gone farther than they thought. indeed she had disappeared entirely. she had to keep calling to guide them. when they came to her at last, she was standing with her back against a tree, the look on her face very mystified, holding in her arms—
“a doll!” maida exclaimed. “who could have dropped it? nobody ever comes here but us.”
it was a cheap little doll of the rag-baby order perfectly new, perfectly clean and dry.
“how did you come to find it?” laura enquired.
“well it’s the strangest thing,” rosie answered in a queer quiet voice. “i was just poking around here, not thinking of anything particularly.... and then i thought i saw something moving—a white figure. i started towards it and then.... and then it seemed to me that something was thrown through the air. now when i try to remember, i can’t be sure i really did see anything thrown through the air and yet i sort of feel that i did. [pg 149]anyway i ran to see what it was. when i got there, this doll was lying in the path.”
“how curious!” maida commented. “you must have imagined the figure, rosie. see, there’s nobody here.”
a little awed, the children stared through the trees, this way and that. but they stood stock still.
“yes, i must have imagined it,” rosie admitted. “still when i try to make myself believe i didn’t see anything, something inside tells me i did.”
“let’s look about,” arthur suggested. they scattered exploring; diving into bush clumps, and peering behind rocks. fifteen minutes went by.
“well we’ve found nothing.” arthur ended the search as he had begun it. “let’s go back and eat lunch.”
“oh let’s!” begged harold. “i never was so hungry in all my life.”
“nor i!” “nor i!” came from the others. maida alone remained thoughtful. she led the file, however, back to the waterfall. and it was she who suddenly stopped and called, “look! look what’s happened—” she stopped as though her breath had given out.
