it was high noon before, satisfied to repletion, they leaned back against the big rock and viewed apathetically the scattered remains of the feast. the remains weren’t many, however. a five mile walk on a crisp october morning is calculated to produce a very gluttonish appetite, and even the twins had surpassed themselves. tad, watching them alarmedly, had feared that they would become ‘bored!’
“someone,” he murmured sleepily, “ought to clear up that mess. you’re nearest to it, rod.”
“lazy duffer!” murmured rod, depositing with an effort a crumpled wad of napkin and a banana peel in one of the cracker boxes and then subsiding again.
“don’t overtax your strength,” warned tad. the twins giggled. kitty, alone of the five, seemed unaffected by the general lassitude. he[200] sat erect and blinked solemnly at the autumn world as though planning new feats of pedestrianism. rodney, watching him lazily, expected any moment to see him jump up and stride off toward the horizon. presently tad, who had apparently gone to sleep, broke the silence.
“there was a young fellow named tad,
a worthy and excellent lad,
he went off with a bunch
and ate too much lunch,
and the fate of that tad lad was sad.”
matty sat up and clapped her hands. “let’s all do it! let’s all make limericks. you make the next one, rod.”
“too full for utterance,” muttered rodney.
“please try. then phineas will and——”
there was a choking gurgle from tad. matty observed him inquiringly. “nothing,” he murmured. “i—i was just laughing at something funny.”
“now,” continued matty, wrinkling her forehead, “we’ll be very quiet while everyone composes.”
“i,” remarked tad, “shall compose myself to slumber.”
[201]
“here’s mine,” announced rodney. “there was——”
“oh, wait a minute,” exclaimed may. “let’s give a prize for the best one! shall we?”
“what’s the prize?” asked tad. may looked about in search of it.
“banana skin,” suggested rodney.
“no, a beautiful silver cup,” replied may, “engraved with the winner’s name.”
“where do we get the cup?”
“right here.” may picked up one of the tin cups and flourished it.
“how beautiful!” murmured tad, seeking a more comfortable position for his head. “i’ll take it now, please.”
“indeed you won’t!” said matty. “you wait until we’ve said our verses. now go ahead, rod, please.”
“i guess i’ve forgotten it now,” replied rodney, wrinkling his brow. “no, i haven’t. here it is:
“there was a young fellow named mudge
who tried up a steep hill to trudge,
he fell on his back
with a horrible crack,
and was heard to exclaim, ‘oh fudge!’”
[202]
the twins clapped loudly, but tad said it was a perfectly rotten limerick.
“better than yours, though,” laughed rodney.
“nothing of the sort! mine was an exceptionally fine example of the art of—ah—composition. mine had—had poetic qualities. hand over the prize, if you please!”
“i’ve got one,” announced kitty somberly. “it isn’t very good, though.” he blinked about the circle, and matty murmured that she was sure it would be a very nice one indeed.
“there was a boy named merrill
who climbed up a rock like a squirrel——”
kitty paused there, whether to receive applause for the ingenuity of the rhyme or to grope for the rest of the verse they didn’t know. the twins, however, encouraged him with expressions of delight, and after a moment he continued:
“and when he was on top
of the very big rock
he shouted aloud in his peril!”
[203]
kitty finished with a flourish and beamed self-approval. the applause was deafening. tad said it was magnificent.
“now it’s up to you girls,” said rodney.
“i’m ready,” replied may. “are you, matty?”
“yes, but you go ahead, may.”
“well.” may took a long breath, fixed her eyes on the edge of the horizon and began:
“there was a young lady named matty
who left home looking very natty——”
“may binner!” interrupted the subject of her poetic effusion, “if you use ‘fatty’ i—i’ll——”
“not going to,” replied may triumphantly.
“but when she got back
she had torn her new sack,
and her mother said, ‘my, you look ratty!’”
“clever but inelegant,” remarked tad.
“i don’t think ‘ratty’ is a very nice word to use,” objected matty. “besides, i don’t wear a sack!”
“that’s just a metaphor,” returned may serenely. “i couldn’t very well make ‘dress’ rhyme with ‘back,’ could i?”
[204]
“it’s a perfectly good limerick,” laughed rodney. “and i think it’s the best yet.”
“wait!” cried matty. “i’ve got a new one. listen:
“there was a young lady named may,
who didn’t know just what to say,
so the words of her verse
from bad grew to worse,
and her friends from her side turned away.”
“too pathetic,” decided tad. “a limerick should be cheerful, i think. that last line brought tears to my eyes, matty.” but for some reason kitty approved enthusiastically of the latest attempt and clapped loudly.
“we’ll have to vote to see who gets the prize, i guess,” said rodney. “who do you say, tad?”
“it isn’t over yet,” announced tad, pulling himself to a sitting posture. “i have another one.”
“but you’ve had your turn,” protested matty.
“no, that was before the contest started. shove the prize this way and lend me your ears. all set? go!”
[205]
“there were two twins named binner,
you couldn’t tell which was the thinner,
with one accord
they said, ‘we feel bored,
we had apple dumplings for dinner!’”
“here you are!” laughed rodney as he tossed the tin cup across. “catch! you win!”
tad caught the prize deftly and bowed, hand on heart. “i thank you all,” he said. “words fail me with which to express my—my appreciation of this honor you have done me. perhaps the intrinsic value of this beautiful prize is not great, but as a—a recognition of poetic genius, as you might say——”
“wouldn’t think of saying it,” interrupted rodney.
tad cast a reproachful glance at him. “you have caused me to lose the thread of my discourse. i think i’ll climb the rock now.” he pulled himself to his feet with a sigh and looked contemplatively at the crag which towered above him.
“don’t be a chump,” advised rodney. “you’re too full of food to climb anything. besides,[206] we’d hate to have to carry you all the way home. it’s a longish way, tad.”
“please don’t try it,” begged matty. “we’d so much rather you didn’t, tad.”
“my ability as a mountain climber has been assailed,” responded tad firmly. “old leather lungs over there thinks he’s the only one who can pull off a little stunt like this. now you fellows just watch your uncle theodore!”
tad took a pull at his belt, groaning over the operation, and stepped jauntily toward the place where an ill-defined track crept away over the face of the rock. kitty watched him blinkingly.
“think you can do it?” he asked.
“one more insult from you, kitty, and i’ll hurl you into yon bottomless depths! if i couldn’t climb to the top of this twopenny old rock, i’d resign my presidency of the alpine club. you fellows are evidently not aware that i am the original monkey when it comes to climbing!”
“we didn’t know just what kind you were,” murmured rodney, “but we knew you were.”
“please don’t try it, tad,” said matty. “we’ll be just worried to death, won’t we, may?”
[207]
“worried to death,” echoed may.
“shucks! don’t be silly. this isn’t any kind of a trick. anyone else coming along? you, kitty?”
kitty shook his head. “guess not. i’ve done it twice. don’t believe in exercise too soon after eating. be careful near the top, tad. it’s hard going. if you want help, sing out.”
“what’ll you do? come up and boost me?” tad laughed as he laid aside his coat. “here goes, then!”
he swung off from the ledge, found a footing on the narrow trail that led steeply away around the corner of the rock, and in a moment was out of sight.
“he’s a silly ass,” grumbled rodney. “what did you let him do it for, kitty?”
kitty looked surprised. “me? didn’t tell him to do it, did i?”
“no, but you could have stopped him. if he falls and hurts himself——”
“i just know he will!” sighed may. “i—i feel it.”
“if he does, he will feel it,” muttered rodney, trying from the edge of the jutting ledge to[208] catch a glimpse of the climber. but tad was out of sight, and rodney sat down again to wait his return. “we ought to be starting back pretty soon, too,” he grumbled, studying his watch. “it’s almost twenty to one.”
“won’t take him long—if he does it,” said kitty. “don’t believe he will, though. he’s eaten too much lunch. it follows.”
“if we went down on the ground we could see him,” suggested rodney. but matty, who was clearing up the débris of the feast, demurred.
“i couldn’t watch him, rodney. i—i’d scream!”
“i do wish he’d come back,” sighed may.
“ten minutes,” prophesied kitty calmly.
“well, we’ll get ready to start along,” said rodney, “so we won’t waste time when he does get down. it would be a funny note though if he got up there and couldn’t climb down again!”
“i don’t think it would be funny at all,” responded matty severely. “it would be perfectly horrible.”
“anyway, it would sort of delay the game,”[209] agreed rodney. “listen! did you hear anything?”
the twins shook their heads.
“did you, kitty?”
“not sure. maybe he called to let us know he’s on top.” kitty filled his lungs and let out a bellow that might have been heard half way to greenridge. “o tad! tad mudge!” then they listened. a faint hail came back to them around the elbow of the rock.
“are you on top?” shouted rodney.
“no-o-o!” was the faint response.
“are you all right?” bellowed kitty.
there was no reply for a moment, and then,
“no-o-o!” came the reply.
the four on the ledge looked at each other apprehensively.
“perhaps he didn’t understand what we asked him,” said rodney nervously.
“maybe—maybe,” whispered may, “he’s fallen! maybe he’s lying down there on the ground all broken to pieces.”
“may!” said her sister sharply. “don’t be silly! ask him again, phineas.”
“tad, are you all right?” shouted kitty.
[210]
“no-o-o! stuck!”
kitty pulled his cap on firmly, threw off his coat and kicked his feet out of the heavy shoes he wore. “you go down and see where he is,” he said to rodney. “i’ll climb up.”
