WHEN Royal went home that evening, he felt very much chagrined. He could not look back upon the scenes of the afternoon, without great mortification and regret. He was sorry for having put the poor children to so much inconvenience, trouble, and pain. And then he was sorry that he had been able to do so little towards making reparation. The spilled blueberries had been gathered up by Thomas, Marielle, Lucy, and Rollo, more than by himself; and then they had to take those which Marielle, Lucy, and Rollo, had gathered, to make amends for what were lost and spoiled. On the whole, it was a very unfortunate afternoon, and he wanted very much to go again, some day, to retrieve his character.
Still he hardly dared to propose it. He thought that, if he should ask Marielle and Lucy, they would not want to go. And probably he would not have proposed it, had it not been that Marielle came one afternoon, not many days after this occurrence, to play with Lucy; and this gave him so good an opportunity to propose the plan, that he could not let it pass.
It was, however, as he expected. Marielle and Lucy did not want to go. They did not give any reason, but Royal knew very well what it must be. So he did not urge their going; but he said,—
“Well, Marielle, I owe you and Lucy some blueberries, and I believe I’ll go myself, and get some to pay you. I’ll go and get aunt to let Rollo go with me.”
“What do you owe us any blueberries for?” asked Marielle.
“For those which you gave Mary and Jenny, the other day, to pay for those I made them spill.”
“O, never mind that,” said Marielle. “Besides, my mother bought them that evening, and so we had them all back again.”
“So you bought back your own berries?” said Royal.
“Yes,” replied Marielle. “Mary said she did not want to sell us any, only what she and the other children picked themselves; but mother made her take pay for the whole.”
Royal concluded to go himself, for blueberries, if Marielle would not. He went and obtained his mother’s leave, and then went to ask his aunt Holiday to let Rollo go with him. She said yes. So the boys walked along together, Royal carrying a basket, and Rollo a little tin mug.
Now, it happened that there was a small green field, with a path through it, which the children had to pass, on their way to the pasture. There was a brook running through the centre of this field, with smooth and beautiful grass ground on each side. There was a large grove at one end, up the brook, and there were scattered trees over the rest of the ground.
Royal came through the grove. By going around after Rollo, he had been taken somewhat out of his way, so that he had to come through the grove, instead of along the path, through the field, which would have been the way if he had come directly from his father’s house.
As they advanced towards the edge of the grove, and looked forward, they saw several children advancing along the path. There was a small flock of sheep scattered over the field, cropping the grass. The field was a mowing field; but the crop had been mowed, and so the farmer that owned it had turned the sheep in, to feed upon the short grass which was left. Rollo was glad, for he liked to see sheep feeding in the fields.
Now, two circumstances occurred at this crisis which were very fortunate for Royal, in respect to his desire to retrieve his character. One was, that Mary and Jenny happened to come after blueberries that afternoon again. The other was, that, after he had gone, Marielle changed her mind about going herself, and proposed to Lucy that they should go. She saw that Royal felt troubled at the consequences of his misconduct, and felt convinced that he would not act so again. She saw, too, that he was very desirous to make some amends for the past, and she thought that he would be pleased to have her and Lucy go again, and let him show them the change in his demeanor. So she proposed to Lucy to go; and thus, by a singular train of circumstances, it happened that, when Royal and Rollo came along out of the grove, the children that they saw coming were, Jenny and her party first, and Marielle and Lucy at a little distance behind.
He was just on the point of running down to meet them, when he heard a loud but distant voice calling to them. It came from the opposite side of the field, where the path, which the girls were walking in, led over into a lane which conducted to a farm-house. Royal and Rollo looked in the direction from which the sound came, and listened. They saw a little girl upon the bars, and perceived that she was calling out to them.
“Children,” said the girl, “children, run. Jolly is coming after you.”
The children looked around behind them, and Royal and Rollo looked in the same direction; and they saw a large ram, with monstrous horns curled all around his ears, advancing towards Marielle, nodding with his head, and just upon the point of springing at her. Marielle and Lucy cried out in terror, and ran. The other children were before them, and they ran too. But the brook was in their way, and they could not cross it without some difficulty; and they were greatly terrified at finding themselves so hemmed in, and with such a ferocious-looking enemy close upon them.
Royal sprang forward, and ran with all his speed down towards the children.
“Don’t be afraid,” said he; “I’ll take care of the ram. I a’n’t afraid of him. Go over the brook as slowly as you please.”
So Royal advanced to meet the ram. The children scrambled along over the brook, and then ran up the slope on the other side, until they reached the bars, where they all climbed over. They had just time to get fairly over, and to look around, when they saw the ram come with all his force against Royal, and knock him down.
“O dear! he’ll kill him!” exclaimed Marielle.
But Royal was up again in an instant. The ram stepped back, nodding his head, and preparing evidently for another charge.
Royal waved his basket back and forth a moment to intimidate the ram; but it seemed to have but little effect. He looked around him, and saw a tree near. He sprang towards it, and got round behind it, and then began to look out from behind it at the ram. He saw that the ram was standing in a threatening attitude, his head down, and apparently all ready for a spring.
“Now come on, old fellow, if you please,” said Royal, “and beat your own brains out.”
From his post of security Royal looked back to see if all the children were safe. They were all on the other side of the bars, excepting Marielle and Rollo. For Marielle had come back into the field again, to go after Rollo, who had remained standing where Royal had left him. She had called to him to come to her; and so, when Royal looked around, Rollo was running along towards Marielle, who was holding out her hand and encouraging him along, but not daring to go herself a great way from the bars.
“Royal,” called Marielle, “can’t you climb up into that tree? and then I will go and get a man to come and take the ram away.”
“No,” said Royal; “I know how to manage him. You lead Rollo away.”
So when Marielle and Rollo were safe upon the other side of the bars, Royal, watching his opportunity, suddenly darted away from his tree, and ran to another one, at a little distance from it. The ram followed, still threatening, but deterred from actually coming on by seeing how Royal was protected by the tree. He did not seem disposed to accept Royal’s invitation to beat his own brains out by knocking his head against a tree.
Presently Royal retreated to another tree, and then to another. The ram followed him, watching him narrowly, and endeavoring constantly to get an opportunity to attack him, but in vain. Royal soon reached the grove. Here he could retreat more easily and rapidly still, as the trees were quite near together. He gradually drew nearer to the fence, though he was coming to it at a considerable distance from the bars, where the other children had got over. They, however saw where he was coming out, and they passed along to the place, on the back side of the fence, so as to be ready to receive him when he should get over.
“Come quick, Royal,” said Lucy.
Royal reached the fence, and climbed up to the top of it, and took his seat upon a post, where he sat looking at the ram. The ram, too, stood at a few steps’ distance, fixing his eyes on him. He looked confounded. He did not know what to make of such an escape from his power. The children on the other side could see through the interstices between the rails.
“Well, sir!” said Royal, looking the ram full in the face.
The ram looked at him, but said nothing.
“What’s his name, little girl? Jolly, did you say?” asked Royal.
“Yes, his name is Jolly,” replied the little girl.
“Well, Jolly,” said Royal, “I am much obliged to you for waiting upon me across the field. I’ve got safe to the fence now; and I would recommend to you to go back and take care of your sheep.”
So Royal got down, and walked on with the children. They all seemed very glad indeed to find him safe with them again; and they reached the blueberry ground without any further adventure.
There was a large pile of boards at the place where they entered the pasture. The boards had been placed there for the purpose of making a fence. The children amused themselves, a few minutes, see-sawing, upon the ends of the boards, and then they passed on to the blueberry bushes.
They went on very pleasantly for two hours, gathering berries. Royal put two mugs full into Jenny’s basket, which pleased her very much. They were all very grateful to him for protecting them from the ram, and he himself found that it was far pleasanter to relieve distress than to create it. In fact, it happened that, in the course of the afternoon, he had another occasion for the exercise of energy and courage in defending Marielle and the children. It was thus:—
Mary and her party gradually wandered off by themselves; and about the middle of the afternoon, they went away, leaving Royal and those who were with him in the pasture alone. That is, there was nobody near them, with whom they were acquainted; but they could see, here and there, at a distance among the bushes, the heads of other persons, engaged, like themselves, in gathering berries. They found the berries very thick. Royal would scramble about among the rocks and bushes, and find the good places; and then he would call Marielle and the children to come and gather berries there.
About an hour before sundown, just as Marielle was going to say that it was time to go home, the children were alarmed at hearing a distant rumbling sound.
“What’s that?” said Lucy.
“It is thunder,” said Marielle.
The children looked up, and saw a large black cloud spreading all over the western sky. They had been so much engaged gathering their berries, which caused them to stoop down among the bushes, that they had not observed the cloud before.
“We must go home immediately,” said Marielle, “or we shall be caught in the rain.”
“Yes,” said Royal. “Let us pour our berries into the basket, and go right away.”
Here another distant peal of thunder reverberated through the sky.
Royal hastened to pour the berries from his mug into the basket, and then he helped Rollo and Lucy along with theirs. He took up the basket, which was now pretty heavy, and began to carry it along.
“I’ll take the basket,” he said to Marielle, “if you will help the children.”
So Royal went on as fast as he could, while Marielle followed with the children. They looked round repeatedly at the cloud, and it seemed to be rising fast. The thunder grew louder and more frequent; and once, when Marielle was looking back, she saw a faint glitter in the blackest part of the cloud. It was a flash of lightning.
“I don’t believe we shall get home before the shower,” said Marielle.
“Perhaps we can get into some house,” said Royal.
“Yes,” replied Marielle, “only there are no houses very near.”
“Well,” said Royal, “we shall only get wet pretty well; that is all.”
“I don’t want to get wet, I am sure,” said Lucy.
“And besides,” said little Rollo, “I’m afraid the thunder will strike us.”
“O no,” said Royal, “I don’t think that there is any danger that the thunder will strike us. It is a great way off.”
“How do you know?” asked Lucy.
“Because,” said Royal, “we don’t see the lightning much. If it was near, the lightning would be very bright.”
The children looked back, from time to time, at the cloud. It seemed to be coming on apace. Dark scuds were flying in contrary directions about the edge of the cloud, and every thing indicated the approach of a violent tempest. A few drops of rain began to fall just as the children came in sight of the pile of boards.
“We are a great way yet from any house,” said Marielle. “I don’t believe that we can get to any.”
“Then we must get under the ends of these boards,” said Royal. “There will be some shelter there.”
Marielle hesitated a moment, thinking whether it would be better to stop and avail themselves of the little shelter which the boards would afford, or to go on in search of a house, or some building, and by so doing run the risk of being caught out where they should be exposed entirely unsheltered to the whole fury of the storm. On the whole, they concluded to stop. They crept in under the end of the pile, where some of the boards projected farther than the rest, thus affording them a little shelter.
“But stop,” said Royal, as if suddenly recollecting himself; “I can make you a shelter.”
He immediately stepped out of his retreat, and climbed up to the top of the pile of boards. He began to take off the boards one by one, and to slide them down on the side of the pile which was opposite to the quarter of the heavens from which the thunder-cloud was coming.
“What are you going to do?” said Marielle.
“I am going to make you a house,” said Royal.
Marielle was afraid to have Royal up so high, especially now that the wind was beginning to blow. She could see vast clouds of dust rising along the line of the roads at a distance; and a violent waving motion commenced upon the tops of the trees, accompanied by a loud, roaring sound. She begged Royal to come down.
Royal said that he would, pretty soon. In the mean time, he pushed down the boards one after another, as fast as he could, running one end of each down to the ground, and planting it at a little distance off from the pile. The other end he left resting upon the edge of the pile. He placed the boards side by side in this position, so that they formed quite a roof, covering and enclosing a pretty large space underneath them. When he had thus run down six or eight boards, he told Marielle and the children that they had better get under them, as it was just beginning to rain faster.
So Marielle and the two children crept under. The space was pretty large, and it was high enough, next to the pile of boards, for them to stand upright. Lucy said that it was a very good garret. Marielle called Royal to come down, and come in too; but he said that he must put some more boards on first.
“Why, Royal,” said Marielle, “this will do very well. It is large enough.”
“Yes,” said Royal, “but I want to put some more boards over it, to cover up the cracks.”
“O, the cracks don’t do any hurt,” said Marielle. “The rain does not come down the cracks at all; not a drop.”
And Marielle held out her hand, as she stood under the roof which Royal had made for her, to see if any rain came through.
“No, not now, perhaps,” said Royal; “but presently, when the rain comes pouring down in a torrent, it will.”
Royal kept at work all the time that he was talking, sliding down more boards, over those which he had put down first, to cover the cracks. In the mean time, it began to rain; and the thunder grew louder and louder. The wind howled about his ears, and rattled the boards, and made it very difficult for him to place them. At length, just as Royal was ready to go down, and get in under his hut himself, a sudden gust took one of his boards, the upper end of which extended upwards farther than the rest, and blew it and three others away from their places, and carried them out to some distance on the grass.
Marielle and the children were frightened at the noise; but it was now raining so fast that they did not run out. Royal soon repaired the breach with other boards, which he placed so that the wind should not have any advantage in getting hold of them. At length, when all seemed secure, Royal came down from the pile, and ran in under the shelter, with the water running down off his hat and clothes in streams.
“Now, Royal,” said Marielle, “you have got yourself all wet through, making us a shelter.”
“That’s no matter,” said Royal. “It is good fun for a boy to get wet.”
Just then, a terrible clap of thunder burst, and rattled over their heads, preceded by a vivid flash of lightning. They were all alarmed at the sound. Royal, however, said that he thought that was the worst clap they should have, and that now the storm would soon be over.
And so it proved. The wind soon abated, and the thunder appeared gradually to pass away to the eastward. It continued to rain in torrents for some time; but then they were completely protected from it, and did not get wet at all. It was an hour before the rain was entirely over, so that they could go out and go home. But then the air was bright, the sun was shining, and all nature looked refreshed. Royal felt much better pleased with having been the protector of his party, than with having teased and troubled them as he had done on the former day. And though Marielle did not say any thing about it, he knew that she was pleased with him too. Royal liked Marielle for her gentleness and patience; and she liked him for his energy and courage.