Part 36 (1/2)

As Mark led the way up the trail, he described Granny Dunstan and her abode. ”She's most a hunerd years old, an' she's allus lived in that cabin. This boy is her great-gran'son, but his folks lives in a town some forty mile away. He come to stop wid' Granny when she got so old, an' he likes the woods life.”

”But he enlisted, you say, to fight the Germans,” said Mrs. Vernon, eagerly.

”Yeh! He keeps up to th' times, an' hes books and papers up thar. When the _Lusertani_ was sunk he got reel mad, an' come down to Freedom an'

wanted to git a crowd of young uns up to go and shoot the Huns. But they diden' want to go so fur from hum. Then he got his dander up an' says: 'I'll jine myself, then. You'll hear of me some day!' And off he goes.

Some folks said he oughter have stayed wid his Granny, so a few of us druv up to ask her about it. Golly! she mos' made us deef with her shoutin' at our bein' slackers, cuz she said her boy was the onny true Yank in Freedom!

”She made us feel mighty small when she shouts out: 'Yuh call yer town Freedom! Bah--it ain't nothin' but a handful of cowards. It oughter be called ”Slack town.”' We got away pritty soon affer that, an' folks ain't so anxious to visit Granny as onct they was.”

This explanation gave the scout party a good idea of the old woman they were about to visit, and Mrs. Vernon said:

”Do you think we should have told her we wanted to call?”

”Oh, no! she don't mind strangers. She goes about her ch.o.r.es jes th'

same ez ef no one was there,” said Mark.

The seven horses padded softly up the gra.s.sy trail, and when they reached the cross-trail near the top of the mountain Mark reined in his mount.

”Now, yeh foller that trail to the crest an' then turn t' th' left.

Foller the road clear on till yeh come to the Cabin.”

Mark waited and watched until the last horse had disappeared on top of the mountain, then he rode back to camp to wait. The scouts continued on the trail, pa.s.sing noisy streams that ran madly over rocks or fell over cliffs. The birds and flowers were many-hued and beautiful, so that every step of the way was enjoyable. Mr. Gilroy rode in front, and the Captain at the rear of the line.

After a ride of about three miles along the Crest, Mr. Gilroy stopped his horse and looked at a tiny cabin half-hidden under vines and giant trees. It sat back from the trail about twenty feet, and might have been pa.s.sed by unless one was looking for it.

”Isn't that lovely?” Joan said.

”Yes, in summer; but think how dreadful it would be in winter,” added Julie.

”She doesn't live here all winter, does she?” asked Ruth.

”Yes; Mark says she won't leave the place, although her granddaughter--the aviator's mother, you know--begged her to move down to her home,” explained Mrs. Vernon.

”The roof's as green as the gra.s.s,” now said Betty.

”It's moss on the old s.h.i.+ngles,” said Mrs. Vernon.

”Mark told me that folks at Freedom say the old lady has a heap of money hidden away in this old cabin, and no one knows where except her great-grandson, who will be the heir,” said Mr. Gilroy.

”But that is all conjecture, Mr. Gilroy, as no one has ever heard a word about it from Granny or her boy,” added Mrs. Vernon.

”I think it is idle gossip, for how could the old dame make the gold up here? It would take all she could earn with her herbs to pay for her living,” admitted Mr. Gilroy.

”Does she sell herbs?” asked the scouts, eagerly.

”Mark said she is the greatest Nature physician ever found around here.

If the medical men can't cure a sickness, they send for Granny Dunstan, and she gives the patients a drink of simples and they recover quickly.

”She used to sell these remedies all over the countryside, but of late years she doesn't come down to the towns like she used to. Her boy sells his pelts instead, so that is why the people said she had gold enough.”