Part 14 (1/2)

The four horses climbed briskly after that and brought the yellow coach to an old stone gateway. At the end of the Caslon farm the stone wall had begun, and now it stretched ahead, up over the rise, as far as anything was to be seen. Indeed, it seemed to melt right into the sky.

Bobbins turned the leaders' noses in at the gateway. Already it was shown that the new owner had begun to improve the estate. The driveway was an example of what road-making should be-entirely different from the hap-hazard work done on the country roads.

There were beautiful pastures on either hand, all fenced in with wire-”horse high, bull strong, and pig tight,” as Bobbins explained, proudly. There were horses in one pasture and a herd of cows in another.

Beyond, sheep dotted a rocky bit of the hillside, and the thin, sweet ”baa-as” of the lambs came to their ears as the coach rolled on.

The visitors were delighted. Every minute they saw something to exclaim over. A pair of beautifully spotted coach dogs raced down the drive, and cavorted about the coach, eagerly welcoming them.

When they finally topped the hill and came out upon the tableland on which the house and the main buildings of Sunrise Farm stood, they received a welcome indeed.

There was a big farm bell hung to a creaking arm in the water-tower beside the old colonial dwelling. The instant the leaders' ears topped the rise, and while yet the coach was a long way off, several youngsters swung themselves on the bell-rope, and the alarm reverberated across the hills and valleys in no uncertain tone.

Beside this, a cannon that was something bigger than a toy, ”spoke”

loudly on the front lawn, and a flag was run up the pole set here in a prominent place before the house. Mr. and Mrs. Steele stood on the broad veranda, between the main pillars, to receive them, and when the coach drew up with a flourish, the horde of younger Steeles-Madge's and Bob's brothers and sisters, whom the big sister called ”steel filings”-charged around from the bell-tower. There were four or five of the younger children, all seemingly about of an age, and they made as much confusion as an army.

”Welcome to Sunrise, girls and boys,” said Mr. Steele, who was a short, brisk, chubby man, with an abrupt manner, but with an unmistakably kind heart, or he would not have sanctioned the descent of this horde of young folk upon the place. ”Welcome to Sunrise! We want you all to have a good time here. The place is open to you, and all Mother Steele begs is that you will not break your necks or get into any other serious trouble.”

Mrs. Steele was much taller than her husband; it was positive that Madge and Bobbins got their height from her side of the family. All the younger Steele seemed chubby and round like their father.

Everybody seemed so jolly and kind that it was quite surprising to see how the faces of both Mother and Father Steele, as well as their children, changed at the long lunch table, half an hour later, when the name of Caslon, the neighboring farmer, was mentioned.

”What d'ye think they have been telling me at the stables, Pa?” cried Bobbins, when there was a lull in the conversation so that he could be heard from his end of the table to his father's seat.

”I can't say. What?” responded Mr. Steele.

”About those Caslons. What do you suppose they're going to do now?”

”Ha!” exclaimed the gentleman, his face darkening. ”Nothing you have heard could surprise me.”

”I bet this does,” chuckled Bob. ”They are going to take a whole raft of fresh air kids to board. What do you know about that? Little ragam.u.f.fins from some school, or asylum, or hospital, or something. Won't they make a mess all over this hill?”

”Ha! he's done that to spite me,” exclaimed Mr. Steele. ”But I'll post my line next to his, and if those young ones trespa.s.s, I'll see what my lawyer in Darrowtown can do about it.”

”It shows what kind of people those Caslons are,” said Mrs. Steele, with a sigh. ”Of course, they know such a crowd of children will be very annoying to the neighbors.”

”And we're the only neighbors,” added Bob.

”Seems to me,” said Madge, slowly, ”that I have heard the Caslons always _do_ take a bunch of fresh air children in the summer.”

”Oh, I fancy he is doing it this year just to spite us,” said her father, shortly. ”But I'll show him--”

He became gloomy, and a cloud seemed to fall upon the whole table for the remainder of the meal. It was evident that nothing the neighboring farmer could do would be looked upon with favorable eyes by the Steeles.

Ruth did not comment upon the situation, as some of the other girls did out of hearing of their hosts. It _did_ seem too bad that the Steeles should drag this trouble with a neighbor into the public eye so much.

The girl of the Red Mill could not help but remember the jovial looking old farmer and his placid wife, and she felt sure they were not people who would deliberately annoy their neighbors. Yet, the Steeles had taken such a dislike to the Caslons it was evident they could see no good in the old farmer and his wife.

The Steeles had come directly from the city and had brought most of their servants with them from their city home. They had hired very few local men, even on the farm. Therefore they were not at all in touch with their neighbors, or with any of the ”natives.”