Part 18 (2/2)
”No--o, but doesn't the sack they were in say 'sweet peas?'”
It certainly did, there was no disputing that fact, so Cherry discreetly remained silent, and began her vigorous shoveling once more.
When the supper hour was announced the shallow, uneven trench was completed, the seeds all covered, and three dirty gardeners perched in a row on the fence, planning out the list of customers who would buy the sweet blossoms when the vines had matured.
”There's the horn for supper,” said Cherry.
”And I know Mrs. Lacy will be glad to get them sometimes, 'cause she hasn't any flowers at all,” continued Peace, ignoring the interruption.
”That makes ten people.”
”Well, hurry up! I am hungry, and we'll have to wash before Gail will give us anything to eat,” cried the tallest girl impatiently. ”I'll race you to the pump.”
”You are late,” Hope greeted them, when, after a noisy splas.h.i.+ng and hasty wiping of faces, they entered the room. ”Doesn't Allee's face look funny with that black streak around it where she didn't hit the dirt?
What have you been doing to get so warm?”
”Planting sweet peas,” answered Allee.
”Oh, Peace! After I said we would have Mike dig a trench by the fence!”
”You didn't say we _couldn't_ plant them, Gail. We dug it so's to save Mike the trouble. Anyway, the seeds ought to be in the ground by this time if they are ever going to blossom this year, and Mike is so slow.
We thought it was best not to wait. When do you s'pose they will come up?”
”Oh, in about two or three weeks, maybe,” Gail answered. ”You better rub your arms well with liniment before you go to bed tonight, or you will be so lame tomorrow you can't move.”
The incident was closed, and the sweet peas forgotten until one day about three weeks later Hope called excitedly from the front yard, ”Gail, Gail, come here! What ever are these plants coming up all along the fence? They are not sweet peas.”
Gail came, examined the fat sprouts and looked at Hope in comical dismay. ”They are pumpkins or cuc.u.mbers or melons, and the whole front fence is lined with them!”
”Poor Peace!” said Hope, when their laugh had ended. ”She will be heartbroken. She made her fortune a dozen times over on the blossoms those vines are to bear.”
”Yes,” sighed Gail. ”She has the happy faculty of trying to do one thing and getting some unexpected, unheard-of result. Poor little blunderbus!
But what shall we do with these plants? There are enough to stock a ranch. We can't leave them here, and I don't think they will bear transplanting.”
”And so they ain't sweet peas at all!” exclaimed a disappointed voice behind them, and there stood Peace herself, contemplating her treasures with solemn eyes.
”No, dear, they are pumpkins, I guess. What kind of seed did you plant?”
”I planted sweet pea seed,” came the mournful reply. ”Leastways the sack said so. Hope read it herself.”
”Yes, the sack was labelled plainly, but I never thought to examine the seed. What did they look like?”
”They were black and flat.”
”Melons,” said Gail. ”Well, I would rather have melons than pumpkins, for we already have planted a lot of them. Still, it will spoil these to transplant them, so they might just as well have been pumpkins. It is a shame to have to throw them all away, though.”
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