Tabitha\'s Vacation

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With a final jerk and jolt, the bucket stood still, and cautiously
opening his eyes for the first time since he had stepped into his queer
elevator. Billiard beheld a row of black, shadowy heads hovering over
the brink of the aperture, and heard Toady's voice, sounding strangely
muffled and far away, call cheerfully, "Well, you've struck bottom, old
boy! What does it look like?"

Bottom? Billiard blinked and rubbed his eyes, and peered about him in
surprise; but at first in the semi-darkness, he could distinguish
nothing. Then as he grew more accustomed to the blackness, he could
see before him the mouth of a still blacker cavern, which to his vivid
imagination seemed yawning to swallow him up; and he shudderingly
shrank back into the friendly protection of the bucket.

"Why don't you answer?" demanded an impatient voice from above.

"_Are_ there snakes and lizards?" called Mercedes.

Snakes! Lizards! Billiard had forgotten them, but with a sigh of
relief he realized that there was not a sound of anything stirring
about him. "Naw!" he yelled back, trying to make his voice sound brave
and scornful. "Guess not. I can't see a thing. Might as well haul me
up, 'cause no one could tell what a mine looks like in this blackness."

"Got any matches?" inquired Toady.

Billiard rapidly felt through his pockets. "One," he announced.

"Then here's a candle. Catch it!"

Toady let it drop almost before the words were out of his mouth, and
with a tremendous thump it struck poor Billiard on the head before he
had caught the significance of the directions from above; and with a
yelp of surprise and pain, he tumbled out of the bucket against a
timber, which shivered and splintered under his weight. But in some
mysterious manner, he found himself in possession of the candle when he
had righted himself once more and brushed the rotten wood from his eyes
and mouth. He lost no time in striking his one lone match and lighting
the slender taper in his hand, much to the relief of the group hovering
anxiously about the shaft.

"There!" he heard Susie ejaculate. "I was sure he had killed himself."

"You mean that Toady did," spluttered the indignant Billiard. "What do
you think my head is made of--iron?"

"_I_ couldn't tell that it would hit you on the head, could I?"
protested the younger boy apologetically. "Why didn't you dodge?"

"Dodge? D'ye think I'm a cat with eyes that see in the dark?"

"Never mind," soothed Irene, who had ventured near enough the curbing
to take an occasional peep down into the blackness. "It's too bad it
hurt you. Put some cold water on the bump----"

A derisive shout from her sisters stopped her, and even Billiard had to
smile, though he felt grateful toward the little twin who was sorry he
was hurt. By this time the pale candle flame had ceased to sputter and
flicker uncertainly, but burned with a steady light, and with a thrill
of exultation Billiard looked curiously about him, relieved to find no
snakes or crawly things in the abandoned shaft, and pleased beyond
measure to think he had actually braved the terrors of the dark to
explore this mysterious place, so he could crow over his brother and
cousins because of his courage.

"Say, but it's great down here," he called, venturing just inside the
timbered cross-cut and staring at the rocky walls which here and there
glistened alluringly. "And there's pecks of silver sticking out of
every stone. Why don't you come on down, Toady?"

"Can't till you come up. It's Susie and Inez now. Going, girls?"

"You bet!" cried Susie enthusiastically. "Pull up the bucket and help
me in."

Eagerly they turned the creaking old windlass and Susie descended to
join Billiard in his underground explorations. Being much lighter than
her cousin, it was easier to lower her down the shaft; and still easier
with Inez in the bucket; but once the trio were safely at the bottom,
the little group above became all impatience for their turn. Mercy's
courage had returned as she saw how simple an operation it was to let
down the loaded bucket, and even Irene began to feel a desire to
explore the mysteries of the abandoned mine with the rest of her mates.
Only Rosslyn and Janie hung back, but no one cared. In fact, it
simplified matters not to have to bother with such little tads; but it
was a nuisance to have Billiard linger so long when he knew the others
were just dying to go down.

At last Toady could resist temptation no longer. "I'm going, too," he
announced with determination.

"Before Billiard comes up?"

He nodded grimly.

"But s'posing you're too heavy for just Irene and me," suggested
Mercedes.

"I shall slide down the rope. I'd rather do that than have you drop me
or let the rope out too fast."

"But--how can you?" Mercedes demurred.

"It's so far down there," said Irene.

"Aw, in gym work at school we slide down poles and bars and all sorts
of things. It oughtn't to be any harder with a rope. I'm going to
try, anyway."

Silently but enviously, the girls watched him spit on his palms, test
the rope, and finally let himself slowly down into the shaft, with legs
wrapped tightly about his slender, swaying support, and hands grasping
the rough strands with a desperate grip, for, too late, he realized
what a horrible fate would be his if he should fall; but when he would
have gone back, he could not.

"How in the world will we ever get them up?" whispered Irene
wonderingly; but before Mercedes could frame a reply, there was a crash
from below, a cry, a grating sound of falling rock and then hideous,
horrible silence.

"Toady!" shrieked the girls in frenzy, "did you fall?"

"No," came back a muffled answer. "I'm all right, but we have knocked
down some boards and can't get out."

"Can't get out!" they repeated dully.

"No. Run for help! Our candle has gone out and it's as black as pitch
in here."

"Who'll I go for?" wailed panic-stricken Mercedes, while Irene danced
frantically around the shaft and wrung her hands as she chanted,
"They'll smother, they'll smother, they'll smother!"

"Anyone, but hustle up!" yelled Toady impatiently, for his companions
in the disaster had uttered not a sound since their first wild scream,
and a horrible fear that they were hurt or even killed gripped his
heart.

However, little Rosslyn was already half-way down the mountain, fairly
skimming over the rocks and rubbish, and almost before the distracted
girls had recovered their senses enough to be of any aid to the
prisoners, the little fellow stumbled across the threshold of the
Eagles' Nest, gasping, "They've caved in--Bill and Toady and the girls.
I guess maybe they're dead by now!"

Tabitha was on her feet in an instant and the pan of potatoes which she
was peeling went spinning across the floor. "Where, Rosslyn?"

Mutely he pointed, too spent for words; and the girl, remembering the
old, unprotected shaft of the abandoned Selfridge mine, flew to the
rescue of her brood, pausing only to snatch a lantern from a peg on the
wall, and a handful of matches from the pantry shelf.

Mercedes had disappeared when she reached the spot of the accident, but
Irene was tugging desperately at the huge windlass, slowly winding up
the heavy bucket, moaning all the while in a distracted undertone,
while tears of fright trickled down her dirty face. So busy was she
that she never heard the patter of Tabitha's feet behind her, and the
first intimation she had of help at hand was when the older girl jerked
her back from the mouth of the shaft, released the half-raised bucket,
and sent it hurtling back into the pit once more.

"Go for the assayer," she commanded hoarsely, seizing the heavy rope
with both hands, and preparing to descend as Toady had done. "Run,
hurry! And then get Dr. Hayes. We may need him."

The windlass creaked and groaned, the rope swayed and strained, as
Tabitha slid out of sight, while Irene raced madly away to do her
bidding. Unmindful of bumps or bruises, and almost unaware that her
hands were cruelly burned and torn from her too rapid descent, the
black-eyed girl had scarcely touched the bottom of the shaft before she
had her lantern lighted and was digging like mad at the fallen rock and
debris which almost completely blocked the entrance of the narrow
cross-cut.

"Who is it?" called a voice from behind the barrier.

"Thank God!" breathed Tabitha, working with renewed fury. "That you,
Toady?"

"Bet you!" came the cheering response.

"Are you hurt?"

"Nope!"

"Where are the others?"

"Here!"

"Safe?"

"I--don't know. I can feel 'em, but they don't answer."

At that instant, without any warning, one of the fallen timbers slipped
from its position, and revealed a narrow aperture into the crosscut,
through which Tabitha caught a glimpse of Toady's white face and the
gleam of Susie's scarlet dress.

"Can you crawl through?" she demanded.

"Yes."

"Carefully now, so as not to start another landslide. There! Now, can
you help me make the opening bigger?"

But other aid was at hand. The assayer with three men from the town
had arrived and the rescue of the quintette at the bottom of the shaft
was speedily effected.

"Are they--" Tabitha's voice faltered as she stood at last on the
rocky mountainside and looked down into the still, white faces of
Billiard, Susie and Inez. How could she ever have let them out of her
sight? How could she ever break the news to the mother?

"Merely stunned," replied the doctor, examining the victims with rapid,
practised fingers. "See, the girls are coming to their senses. It's
nothing short of a miracle that-- Hello, Susie, what did you say?"

"It wasn't gold at all," murmured the child faintly; "just quartz, but
he wouldn't b'lieve it."

Billiard opened his eyes slowly. "She says gold don't look like gold
in a mine, but I got a pocketful of--" His sentence ended in a groan
of pain, and the hand he was trying to thrust into his trousers fell
limply at his side.

"Aha!" cried the doctor. "Let's see what we have here."

"A break?" questioned the assayer.

"Bad sprain, I think, but it will keep the young man out of mischief
for one while. Are your legs all right? Then I reckon we better move
on to town."

So it happened that no serious results came from their latest prank,
but Tabitha, in her thankfulness that all her brood was safe and sound,
fell into a fit of bitter weeping as soon as the children were back in
the Eagles' Nest once more and the rescuers had departed.

"Don't," begged Janie tearfully. "I loves 'oo! I was dood!"

"Please don't," pleaded the other sisters in great distress. "We'll
never do it again."

"It was all my fault," cried Toady contritely. "I'm ever so sorry."

"It was not," muttered Billiard, wincing with the pain in his arm, but
truly repentant. "I dared 'em to go. Honest, Tabby, _I_ was to blame!
Will you--will you--er--forgive me? I'm horribly--sorry. Won't you
try me again?"

So sincere was his tone, so straightforward his confession, so manly
his bearing, that Tabitha could not fail to be convinced of his
earnestness of purpose, and drying her eyes, she took Billiard's
proffered hand in a hearty grasp, saying with quivering, smiling lips,
"Let's all try each other again."

"Let's!" cried the rest of the brood; and they meant it, every one.

CHAPTER X

SUSANNE ENTERTAINS A CALLER

"Let's make some candy. It's too hot to play."

Susie and the twins were sitting idly on a great, shaggy, redwood log
in the scanty shade of the house, fanning themselves as briskly as
their tired arms would move, and longing for the cool of sundown.

Irene looked startled at the older sister's suggestion, and began,
"Tabitha----"

"Oh, I know she made us promise not to get into mischief," Susie
impatiently interrupted her, "but taffy ain't mischief. We'll make a
big batch so's there will be plenty for the others when they get back."

"It's so hot," objected Inez, as Susie turned to her for approval.

"We'll use the gasolene stove."

"But you've never lighted it. How'll you----"

"Oh, Irene, you make me tired! Don't you s'pose I know how? Haven't I
watched mamma and Tabitha hundreds of times? Guess I can manage it if
Mercy can. Come on, Inez!"

"Do you know how to make taffy?" questioned the undaunted Irene,
following the other two into the sweltering kitchen.

"Course! Molasses and sugar and vinegar and butter. Ask me something
hard."

"Tabitha measures 'em."

"So shall I. You go fetch the m'lasses jug and a cup. Inez, bring the
vinegar and butter, and I'll measure things after I get the stove
a-going." Mopping her face and bustling energetically about the small
room, Susie marshalled her forces and set to work with contagious
enthusiasm. All three donned huge aprons, hunted up long-handled
spoons, and rattled among the neat array of pots and pans until it
sounded as if a whole regiment had been turned loose in the kitchen.

The stove was lighted without any trouble, much to the relief of the
breathless trio, and the candy making was soon in progress. Sugar was
measured and molasses spilled with reckless abandon over table, floor
and stove, in their hurry to get their delectable sweet on cooking
before the rest of the family should return from their day's outing and
interfere, for, secretly, each be-aproned girl, paddling in the pot
with her sticky spoon and dribbling syrup wherever she ran, felt that
she was not strictly obeying Tabitha's parting injunction, and was
anxious to have a peace offering ready when she returned with the rest
of her brood.

They had gone for a drive to the river, and as there was not room in
the light wagon for all the large family, Susie and the twins had been
bribed to remain at home with the promise of ice-cream sodas at the
little drug-store. However, that unusual treat had disappeared long
ago down the three eager throats, and they had begun to rue their
bargain when Susie's inspiration fired them with enthusiasm once more.

"I wish we had some nuts," panted perspiring Inez, stirring the
bubbling mess in the kettle so vigorously that a great spatter flew up
and struck Irene on the hand.

"Ooo!" screeched the unfortunate victim. "What made you do that?"

"I didn't do it a-purpose," indignantly denied her twin. "Stop your
jumping and suck it off."

Irene obediently thrust the smarting wound into her mouth, and
immediately let out another howl of anguish, for the sticky mass had
burned the little tongue sadly, and the tears rained down the rosy
cheeks unchecked while the dismayed sisters racked their brains for
some soothing remedy to deaden the pain.

"Try this," suggested Susie, hurrying out of the pantry with a can of
baking powder in her hand, vaguely recalling that some kind of white
powder used in cooking was good for burns.

"I will not," sobbed Irene angrily. "You don't know what it will do.
You're just guessing."

"Gloriana put coal oil on Toady's foot," timidly began Inez, half
distracted at having been the cause of all her sister's woe.

"And you think I'll stick my _tongue_ in _that_?" roared the usually
gentle twin so savagely that both her companions fell silent, perplexed
at the unhappy situation.

Meanwhile the bubbling syrup had been forgotten, and with an ominous
hiss and a pungent odor, the seething mass boiled over the top of the
kettle and was promptly licked up by the eager flames of the stove. A
great cloud of smoke filled the kitchen, and the paralyzed girls awoke
to their danger with a sickening horror.

"Oh, oh, oh!" they screamed in frenzy. "The house will catch! We'll
all be burned up! What will mamma say?"

"Hush! Shut up! Give me your apron!" commanded an authoritative voice
behind them, and a big, shabby stranger rushed past them, snatched
Susie's apron, gave a deft twist to the flaming burner, seized the
smoking kettle, and vanished through the kitchen door before any of the
sisters realized what had happened. He was soon back with the
blackened pot in his hands and a reassuring smile on his lips. "It's
all right, kids," he announced cheerily, noting the terror in their
faces. "No harm's done. It won't take but a few minutes to clean up
that stove and pan and no one will be the wiser. You are housekeeping
by yourselves to-day, I see." His quick, restless, eager eyes had
noted the tell-tale signs of mischief about him before he hazarded that
remark.

"Yes, oh, yes!" breathed Susie in great relief. "Tabitha's taken the
rest of the children down to the river, and we're all alone."

"The river?"

"The Colorado. We often go there when we can get the assayer's horses,
but the wagon won't hold us all, so we three stayed at home to-day."

"And had ice-cream sodas for being good," added Irene.

"We _wanted_ to make some taffy," mourned Inez, ruefully eyeing the
blackened mass which the mysterious stranger was deftly removing from
the stove and floor.

"'Twas so lonesome here by ourselves," supplemented Susie
apologetically, remembering that she was responsible for the candy
suggestion.

"So 'while the cat's away the mice will play'," chuckled the man,
beginning a vigorous scraping of the sticky kettle.

"Why, how did you know her name was Catt?" cried Irene in amazement.

"Goosie!" exclaimed Susie sarcastically.

"He didn't know. That's not what he meant. But truly, mister, I don't
think Tabitha would have minded a bit if our candy had come out all
right. As 'tis, we've wasted such a lot of m'lasses and sugar that I
reckon she'll scold----"

"If she ever finds it out," broke in Inez.

"That's it--_if_ she ever finds it out," chuckled the man again. "Who
is this mysterious Tabitha that you are so scared of?"

"We ain't _scared_ of her," protested Susie loyally. "Her name is
Tabitha Catt, and she's taking care of us while mamma is with papa at
the hospital in Los Angeles. She's only a girl herself, but we
promised to mind her so mamma could go, and not fret about us all the
time, and we're trying hard to keep our promise."

"But sometimes we forget," said truthful Irene. "We oughtn't to have
made that candy, 'cause we told her we wouldn't get into mischief while
she was gone. I guess that's why it burnt up."

"I guess it's no such thing!" Inez contradicted hotly. "You made such
a fuss over nothing that Susie and me forgot to watch it and it boiled
over."

"I guess you'd have made a fuss if I'd blistered your hand like you did
mine," cried Irene in great indignation, suddenly remembering her
grievance, and affectionately regarding the white blister on her plump
hand. "Then on top of that you told me to suck it off, when you knew
it was boiling hot and would skin my whole mouth."

"Tut, tut!" interrupted the stranger, seeing that a quarrel was
imminent. "Now don't get mad all at once. I've a proposition to make
to you----"

"A what?" asked Susie, glad she had taken no part in the flare-up
between the twins.

"A bargain. I'll make you a mess of candy that'll pop your eyes out if
you will give me a square meal,--something to eat, you know, and plenty
of it. I'm hungry as the deuce, and candy ain't very filling. Is it a
go?"

Susie looked at her crestfallen companions, and they looked at her.

"There were no potatoes left from dinner," began Irene.

"But there's any number of cans of stuff in the pantry," said Inez
hastily.

"Salmon and sardines and veal loaf and corned beef and vegetables,"
added Susie hopefully, yet fearful lest the menu should not prove
sufficiently tempting to the queer, unexpected, unknown visitor. "And
Tabitha cut the cake for dinner."

"Besides cookies and crackers and bread," murmured Irene, seeing
reproof in her sisters' eyes, and feeling that she had been
inhospitable to their hungry guest.

"Good!" promptly answered the man. "I reckon we'll make out. Just
open a tin of salmon, make a pot of strong coffee, and bring on your
bread and cake and sauce--lots of it, now, for I haven't had a bite to
eat since last night. Lost my money, you know, and it hurts a decent
fellow's pride to beg."

The trio nodded sympathetically, and hurried to do his bidding, while
he rapidly measured out fresh supplies of sugar and syrup, and briskly
began stirring the mass over the fire, talking all the while. "I just
happened to be passing when I smelled your stuff burning, and thinks I,
now there's trouble in there. Just then you all commenced screaming,
and I was sure the house was a-fire, so I rushed in to help. Good
gracious, but I was scared for a minute when I see the flames jumping
so high. You might have had an explosion any minute."

"Yes," gravely agreed the girls, the look of terror returning to their
eyes.

"If it hadn't been for you, I reckon the house would have burned down,
and it's the only one we've got," said Irene.

He nodded. "I understand, and so I thought you wouldn't begrudge me a
bite to eat, after I had put out the fire and cleaned up the clutter so
Tabitha wouldn't know that you had been in mischief."

"Course we're glad to give you something to eat," Inez again hastily
interrupted. "'Specially when you are making us some more candy. Are
you ready for your--lunch--now?"

"In a jiffy. Just grease a pan for this dope and I'll pour it out to
cool. Bet it beats yours all hollow. There! Set it in the
window--so! Now, I'll sample your larder. Looks fine and smells
bully. Which store is best here in town?"

"Brinkley's," promptly answered the trio, with longing eyes fixed upon
the golden flood of syrup cooling in the window.

"Though Dawley's is bigger," added Irene.

"Do they make much money?"

"They ought to. Prices are high enough," answered Susie with a
comically grown-up air.

"Most of the miners trade at Dawley's, 'cause he don't hurry 'em so
about paying," said Inez naively. "But the Carsons and Catts and Dr.
Hayes, and those folks buy at Brinkley's, 'cause his stuff is nicer."

"We _did_ trade there," began Irene, but Susie interrupted, "Most of
our stuff comes from Los Angeles now. It's cheaper to trade that way,
and anyhow, papa knows the man real well, and now that he's sick in the
hospital, he doesn't have to worry about pay day all the time, for this
man will wait till he is well enough to work again."

"When is pay day?" casually inquired the man. "I mean how often does
it come?"

"Once a month--the fifteenth."

The stranger's eyes glittered with satisfaction, and he muttered, "The
fifteenth,--that's to-morrow."

"What did you say?" asked Susie.

"I was just thinking," he replied, glancing uneasily from one bright
face to the other to see if any of the children had caught his
indiscreet remark. "By the way, who lives in that little, unpainted
house on the edge of town?" He pointed vaguely over his shoulder, and
the sisters looked at each other in bewilderment.

"The pest house?" suggested Irene.

"The Ramsey place?" said Inez questioningly.

"The haunted house?" ventured Susie. "You see, there are so many
unpainted houses on the edge of town."

"The haunted house!" laughed the stranger incredulously. "Whoever
heard tell of a haunted house in a mining camp!"

"Silver Bow has one," stoutly asserted the twins.

"Where? Which one? I confess I am curious."

"It's the last one on the East End Lode," replied Susie with dignity,
feeling that the reputation of her town was at stake.

"The queer old shack beyond Tabitha's," added Inez.

"There are only three houses in that hollow," explained Irene. "The
Carson's big house, the Catt's littler one, and this haunted house."

"What haunts it?" jeered the man, pushing back from the table and
glancing sharply down the trail toward town.

"A--a ghost," the twins half whispered.

"A man killed himself there once," said Susie.

"Or was murdered," shuddered Inez.

"Or else he just died," put in practical-minded Irene. "Anyway, they
found him there dead."

"And sometimes now folks hear queer things there."

"And see lights."

"Tabitha never has," Irene declared. "And she lives nearest it."

"Well, 't any rate, it's haunted and no one ever goes there now, not
even Tabitha, who ain't afraid of a _thing_."

The stranger rose slowly to his feet, yawned as if bored by their
chatter, picked up his hat, and started for the door; then paused, and
casually surveying the pan of taffy on the window sill, remarked,
"Believe if I was you, I'd eat that all up before the rest of the folks
get back. There's just about enough for three, and I've a notion that
Miss Tabitha will think you didn't keep your promise very well if she
ever finds out how near you came to setting the house a-fire. She'll
never dare trust you again. It might be well not to mention that I
dropped in, either. Tramps aren't often welcome visitors, even in a
mining camp, you know. But I appreciate your dinner, and thank you
kindly. Good-day, ladies."

"Good-day," they echoed mechanically, and with puzzled eyes watched him
disappear in the direction of the railroad station on the flats. Then
they faced each other.

"Do you s'pose we better--" began Susie slowly.

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