CHAPTER XI
BREAKING THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
Sunday morning was generally observed with an hour’s more sleep and a leisurely breakfast. Because it was not a work day, there was no sense of hurry to accomplish a task. But the Sunday following the arrival of the cow and calf at Green Hill Farm was an exceptional one for the farmer-scouts.
They were too eager to try a hand at milking Sue to stay in bed and allow Sam or Rachel the same pleasure. And then there was Susy, who was too cute for anything when she was being led so docilely to and from the back lawn. Had she not skipped obediently in Sam’s footsteps last night when she was taken to the new shed.
Consequently, the whole household was astir at dawn this Sunday morning, and Sam had the entire family to escort him to the barn for Sue and the calf.
“Shall we milk the cow in the stall or out of doors?” asked Sam, as they neared the barn yard.
“Every one milks the cow in the yard,” said Natalie from having seen the Ames’ follow that custom.
“All right; I’ll bring her out of the stall and you kin show me where to stan’ her. Then we’ll start her on her breakfast to keep her quiet until she’s milked,” agreed Sam.
The girls chose a shady spot quite close to the pig pen, and here Sam was told to bring Sue. The bright new pans attracted the curious attention of the three little pigs, and the large brown beast which now came across the barn yard made them tremble with apprehension, for they had never remembered seeing such a big creature before.
Sue followed Sam until she reached a given point and then she balked. For no apparent reason whatever, she refused to budge. She was standing in the sunshine with no nearby shade where the girls could stand while watching the process of milking.
All Sam’s coaxings and threats failed to move Sue one step. There she stood, blank-eyed and calmly chewing her cud, but with no intention of being moved. Sam pulled, and he pulled, then he went behind and pushed with might and main. Suddenly, without warning, Sue kicked out with a left hind heel and Sam caught the hoof in his stomach. It doubled him up on the ground so that in holding himself with both hands he let go the leading rope that was tied to the cow’s head.
Sue seemed to think she had accomplished the purpose for which she had balked, and now she scampered across the barn yard and turned to face her corporate owners. Her tail switched nervously against the frail fence of the pig pen, and her rear heels acted as if they stood on red coals—they twitched and jumped in turn.
Sam was helped to his feet again by Rachel and Mrs. James but he entertained no resentment against Sue. He merely remarked: “Dat’s the way wid cows!”
He chirped sweetly to Sue and held out his hand as if to assure her that he held a feast in his palm. In this manner he again approached the cow. But he was facing her this time, and his courage rose accordingly. He knew she could not kick with her forefeet, and before she could wheel to lift her hind foot again he could get out of the way.
Sue watched with lowered head as Sam came up to her and then with a fearful kick of the hind feet she jumped and ran back to the barn. But she left dire results of that kick against the fence of the pig pen. A large break gaped at the girls, but they failed to see it then, as their entire powers of concentration were centered in events about to transpire at the barn.
Sam hurried after Sue and the girls hurried after Sam, leaving the three curious pigs to follow their own sweet wills. Just as Sam came forth again, leading Sue after him, the pigs crept out of the break in the fence and stood watching this new approach.
This time the cow did not balk about walking over to the shady place, because Janet held the pail of tempting breakfast right under her nose and she followed after. But the pigs ran in different directions to prevent a wholesale capture by their owners.
Sam was walking backwards while leading Sue, to give himself ample time to escape if she ran for him, so he did not see a pig running blindly toward him. The shouts and shrill warnings of the girls came too late! The pig went head first into Sam’s legs and toppled him over backward. This gave the leading rope a sudden yank that Sue resented.
Mrs. James, Rachel and the five girls now gave chase to the pigs who had not yet found a way out of the barn yard. Consequently two of them were captured and thrust back inside the shed, but the third one was still at large.
Janet called advices to her companions: “You all form a circle about Seizer and we will close in gradually. When we get him in a close ring we will pounce on him and hold him until we carry him back to the pen.”
Because the pig had displayed such wisdom and diplomacy in other battles with his brethren and his owners, and also managed to seize the best of all the feed given the three of them, he had been named Seizer. While Janet was issuing these orders Seizer stood innocently staring from one scout to another. Finally he saw the circle closing in about him.
He seemed to ponder which might be the right spot to attack—for a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Then he made a determined dash for Natalie.
Now Natalie had been watching Sam’s heroic efforts to calm the cow, and her eyes were not all for Seizer, so she was taken unawares. The pig ran head down right into her shins and she went down upon her knees, but the wily creature dodged the fall and doubled back to dash quickly against Janet.
But the stock scout was ready for the onslaught. She had braced her legs and planted her feet firmly apart when Seizer made his dive. She was stooping slightly forward in order to grasp his lean body. But the pig swerved when he was almost within reach of her fingers, and ran blindly for Mrs. James.
He met with the folds of a long skirt that were unfamiliar to him, so he gave that lady no opportunity to catch him but flew back at Janet again. These turns had all been so unexpected and sudden that the scouts forgot to close in as they had been told to do. But when the pig ran between Janet’s ankles hoping to run out that way, the scout spasmodically closed her feet together and caught Seizer. In another moment he would be away again, but in that moment four girls threw themselves upon him and the little pig was captured. He wriggled to no good, and he was soon penned in with his brothers.
During this by-play, Rachel tried to assist her nephew. But the cow thought otherwise. She broke loose and started running down the lane that led to the house.
“The cow’s gone! The cow’s running away!” shouted Natalie, who stood gently rubbing her shins while her companions took Seizer to the pen.
This dire news started every one flying like leaves on a March wind, down the lane after Sue. But the cow had no evil plan in mind. She remembered the sweet luscious grass on the front lawn and when she arrived there she stopped of her own free will and began grazing.
No one was willing to go near enough to tether her to the steel pin, but Rachel came puffing up at the end of the race and wailed: “Oh, dat milk! She ain’t been milked yet and runnin’ like dat is enough to churn butter of dat ten quarts!”
It took the united courage and daring of eight people to tie the rope to the stake, and then the breakfast pail was held before Sue’s nose again, and Sam sidled along with the stool and milk-pail until he dared sit down and begin the work.
Being an amateur at the art of milking a cow, Sam forgot to strip the teats as any self-respecting cow is accustomed to, so Sue expressed her displeasure at such slighting in a sound whack of her heavy tail across Sam’s face.
The slap was so unlooked for and so stinging to his cheek that Sam yelled and went promptly over backwards on the three-legged stool. But Sue continued munching her feed as if no one had insulted her. Mrs. James now summoned all her courage to say:
“If the cow is to be milked this morning, I fear I am the one who has to do it.”
The girls held their breath and stood at a safe distance watching for developments. But Mrs. James patted Sue on the head and “cooed” softly to her, then she began slapping her back gently. Then she moved her persuading hands along the side of the cow until she reached the belly.
Now she sat upon the stool and stood the pail upright again. Very soon she began stripping in an experienced way and Sue waved her tail thankfully, for she had been nervous and restive because the milk had not been drained the previous night. Rachel had only milked out the quantity that flowed readily and left more than a quart still in the udder. This always causes a cow to feel uncomfortable and irritable.
When the milking was over and Sue had been left to her own devices Mrs. James carried the pail to the kitchen. The milk was measured and to every one’s surprise and delight there was more than Miss Jipson had guaranteed.
After the milk was strained Sam was told to take it down to the cellar and place it on the floor to cool. The pans were carefully covered with wire fly-protectors and left.
Breakfast was unusually late that morning, but none the less welcome when it did appear. Rich heavy cream was served with fruit, cereals and everything that could afford an excuse for it, because the milk of the previous night’s milking had produced the richest of cream in the morning.
“Well, we didn’t get the worst of that cow bargain, did we, Jimmy?” said Natalie, sipping the cream from her spoon.
“No, Miss Jipson was honest with us, but I feel angry every time I think of that trader Folsom,” replied Mrs. James.
“All the same, Susy is a darling,” remarked Norma.
Janet suspended her spoon in mid-air and gasped: “We forgot Susy was on earth in the thrills the cow gave us. I wonder if Sam gave her any breakfast?”
“Didn’t you feed her?” was Mrs. James’ question.
“I forgot it,” was Janet’s meek confession.
“I’m glad the calf is not incorporated with Sue in our stock company,” laughed Belle.
“I’ll go at once and attend to her breakfast—poor little Susy,” Janet declared, so she excused herself from the breakfast table and ran out of the house.
Sam was enjoying his breakfast of waffles and cream when Janet went through the kitchen. He admitted that he had also forgotten the calf in the trouble caused by Sue. So Janet went on to the barn yard to open the door of the little shed where Susy had been kept for the night, and let her come out to gambol about in her yard while she, Janet, was mixing the breakfast for her.
Susy had become so impatient at the enforced confinement that she not only showed her joy at being released, but she took it into her woolly little calf head to attempt to jump the bars of the pen built especially for her the night before.
Janet had hardly opened the door to place Susy’s breakfast before her when she was startled to see the little calf leap clear of the fence and land on the other side into the open barn yard. Away went Susy, bounding gayly over the privet hedges, across the flower beds and down the road that led to the woods.
And away sped Janet after her, shouting wildly to her friends at the house to follow and help in the capture. Before Susy had reached the cross path that went to Natalie’s garden, the girls who had just finished breakfast, ran out and joined in the chase.
The calf had no idea of where she was heading, but Janet feared lest the little creature run headlong into the stream and drown. She raced after the flying heels but she was too far behind to divert the calf’s direction. Then Susy changed her mind and the direction she was taking, and turned to the left to plunge across Natalie’s garden beds.
“Oh, oh! Drive her away from there!” screamed Natalie, when she thought of the havoc four hoofs can make.
Before any one could reach the garden to chase Susy away from it, the calf found the direct pathway to the kitchen. This she chose and came pattering clumsily up to the stoop steps. She had sniffed the milk for her belated breakfast waiting on the steps.
The line of scouts ran nimbly after her, and formed a circle to prevent her going in any other direction other than up into the kitchen, or remain where she was to be harnessed. She chose the latter as being the least doubtful.
“There now! Both bovine scouts are captured for the day and we can sit down and remember it is Sunday,” said Natalie.
“Rather a tardy beginning of the Sabbath,” laughed Norma.
“‘Better late than never,’” quoth Belle.
“Janet, I fixed the warm milk fer Susy’s brekfus’ so you’d better give it to her now,” called Rachel from the kitchen.
“Is this it in the deep pan?” asked Janet.
It was, so Janet lifted the dish while Natalie and the other girls led Susy by the tether-rope to a shady spot under the apple tree to eat her breakfast. But the calf sniffed at the warm milk only. She refused to taste a drop of it.
“She isn’t hungry, yet. We’ll leave it here for her to drink when she wants it,” said Janet.
So Susy was tethered on the grass back of the house and the pan of milk was left nearby under the tree so she could lap it if she wanted to. As the girls gathered about Mrs. James who was sitting on the porch with an open Bible upon her lap, Janet smiled.
“We haven’t made this Sunday a day of rest, thus far.”
“I was just looking over the Ten Commandments,” added Mrs. James, “and I wondered if it made any difference if you work because of necessity, or only for gain.”
“And we worked ‘our maid-servant and our man-servant, and the strangers within our gates,’ as well as the cattle, didn’t we,” said Janet.
Rachel appeared in the doorway from the dining room and said: “Natalie, you forgot to pull dat lettuce last evenin’. I tole you we diden’ have no salad fer Sunday ’cause you want to make us buy your lettuce.”
“I’ll go now and gather enough for dinner and supper, as long as I have sinned, already, on Sunday,” said Natalie, running away before any one could object to the plan.
Enough garden lettuce was gathered to last for three days at the rate of three meals per day, but Rachel kept that secret to herself. Then just as Natalie had bathed her warm face and seated herself once more on the breezy porch, Hester Tompkins ran in at the side gate and called to Mrs. James and the girls.
“Mother sent me post-haste to tell you that a great swarm of bees was found down the road about a quarter of a mile from us. No one knows whose it is, and there it hangs. If we delay much longer in hiving it it will wander away and be lost.”
The girls were up and dancing about in a moment, and Mrs. James said: “What does your mother want us to do about it?”
“Well, she thought that if you scouts wanted the swarm, it is a dandy one to start a colony with as it is so large and compact. If we can get home again in a few moments and carry Mother and Father to the spot, with a hive, we can capture it for you.”
“If it’s a lost swarm, it won’t cost us anything to buy,” ventured Janet.
No one had thought of that but now they were more eager than before to secure the swarm. So Frances had the car out of the barn in a jiffy, and the girls stood waiting to jump in. Just as the automobile was slowing beside the porch, the scouts from camp ran up and wanted to know where they were going on a Sunday?
“Jump in, jump in!” ordered Janet, waving her hands.
“We’ll tell you on the way there!” exclaimed Natalie.
So the scouts jumped—some inside the automobile, some on the running board where they clung for dear life while Frances tore out of the yard, turning the corner of the fence on two wheels and just missing the gate-post by the width of a hair. On down the road sped the machine, completely enveloped in the dust it raised.
Frances was so used to the road by this time that she knew every rut, every rock, and every obstacle in the way from Green Hill Farm to Four Corners store. So, in spite of the blinding dust that choked the others, the driver of the car kept right on, steering by instinct as she raced for the swarm of bees—the prize.
But no one had known that the constable of the township had ordered extra deputies to watch the roads on Sundays and arrest any one found breaking the speed laws. Thus it happened that the dust blinded the occupants of the car so that they did not see the officer who was waiting for them to come close enough to hold up.
He called without having any result. Then he shouted but the car was almost opposite him now. In another moment it had flown past and he had but one thing to do—to shoot at the tires. So he aimed and plugged a hind tire.
The girls heard the report of the pistol and the sound of the air escaping from the tire but Frances never slowed up. In a few moments the car was bumping on a flat tire but a swarm of bees had to be hived, and tires were a secondary consideration.
By the time the car reached Si Tompkins’ house the occupants were glad enough to get out. The way they were jolted and jammed during the latter end of that race was too much for human endurance. But Mrs. Tompkins was waiting with the hive, and now stood wondering why every one jumped out.
“Ma,” explained Hester, “you and a few of the scouts go on with the hive, while me and the rest of the girls will hitch up Spark to the surrey and drive over to the swarm.”
That was agreed upon, and the two elder Tompkins with a large hive got into the automobile with Mrs. James and Miss Mason. Frances drove, and they were safely out of the way before the deputy rode up on his motorcycle and asked the scouts, who were waiting for Hester and the surrey:
“Did you gals see a speed demon flyin’ past here a few minutes ago?”
“We never thought to look out for him. Which way did he come?” said Janet, innocently. The girls never dreamed that the officer was looking for their own car and party.
“It don’t matter what way he come but I wants to know which way he went!” snapped the man. Had he been more polite he might have discovered that these girls had just come the way he came and he would have found that they were his quarry.
Hester now drove Spark out of the barn yard lane and called to her friends: “Hurry up girls, or we’ll miss the swarm.”
While the scouts were crowding into the three-seated surrey Hester said “How-de-do” to the man she knew, and then they drove away, leaving the officer baffled to find that the car with a flat tire had escaped him.
When the surrey came near the place where they heard a “rat-tat-tat” upon a tin pan, Hester slowed up and guided Spark over to a fence rail where she planned to tie him. Then the girls jumped out and followed Hester noiselessly over to the place where the adults in the party were standing.
The hive was placed right under an enormous swarm of bees, and Mr. Tompkins, encased in wire-mask and rubber gloves with long gauntlets, and a wire mesh armor covering his neck and upper body, was beating the pan regularly to call the bees to attention.
But imitation of Nature did not complete that hiving of a swarm because a genuine thunder storm now came up suddenly, and the rolling vibrations above caused the bees to break and seek madly for shelter. The queen was soon inside the convenient hive, and in a short time thereafter, every bee in the swarm had sought refuge from the threatening electrical storm.
“Isn’t that a wonderful sight! I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” exclaimed Janet, when the last vagrant bee alighted upon the running board and sought entrance to the hive.
“We can thank that thunder for this quick work. Some times a swarm of that size takes an hour or more to collect inside the hive,” remarked Mr. Tompkins removing the wire mask and the gloves.
“That thunder storm won’t touch us, either. It is already passing overhead,” said Mrs. Tompkins, gazing upward.
“I’ve only felt a drop or two of rain,” added Miss Mason.
“But it did a good job for us,” laughed Mr. Tompkins.
“If a farmer is entitled to claim a swarm of bees he has to hive, can the real owner of the runaway swarm demand payment in any way?” asked Mrs. James.
“There have been disputes over that claim but the usual rule is that when a farmer cannot find the owner of the swarm in time to save it, and he does the work himself, the owner must reimburse the finder the value of the swarm, or let him keep it.”
“Well, then, if there is no claim for this vagrant swarm, Mr. Tompkins, we propose to pay you the full value of it for your time and work,” said Mrs. James.
“I wasn’t thinking of that, at all, Mrs. James,” remonstrated Mr. Tompkins. “I was thinking of the fun the scouts would have in watching it hived and in carrying it home.”
“We know that was your sole intention, but we also want to show our appreciation of your thoughtfulness. If we were not here to want a swarm of bees you could keep this one yourself.”
They were still discussing the point of recompense when the car drove up beside the store door. Frances turned to ask Mr. Tompkins if he knew of a garage at Four Corners where the tire could be repaired before they started for Green Hill Farm.
“Why, Frances, I’ll do it myself. You never took me for such a poor farmer as all that, did you,” laughed Mr. Tompkins.
“You are a store keeper, but even so, I never knew a farmer could mend a tire tube.”
“A farmer has to know how to do pretty much anything, gal. He can’t send, whenever he likes, to a plumber, a mechanic or the different trades needed to keep places in order. If a farmer had to lose a whole day of farm work while waitin’ for a machinist to come from town to mend his plough or harvester, what profit would he have at the end of the year?” laughed Mr. Tompkins, kindly.
“Well, you’re right! We’ll drive in the side gate and stop in the back yard and repair the tire and put in a new tube,” answered Frances, impressed by the realization that farmers were, of necessity, very clever men.
By the time the surrey with the girls arrived at the store, the tire was almost repaired. Shortly after that, Frances backed the car out to the road again and the adults in the party were invited to get in and drive to Green Hill to establish the colony of bees. Hester was to drive Spark and the surrey with the girls crowded in it.
Frances had to drive slowly on the return trip as the hive of bees stood in the back of the car, well covered with a dark lap robe. This precaution was taken to prevent any startled bee from coming out during the drive. If one did venture forth on to the running board of the hive, and find how dark it was, it would believe it to be night and would hurry back inside to wait for morning.
The two vehicles passed the officer on the way back, and Hester called out: “Hello, Mr. Babcock—did you catch the speeders?”
“No, I didn’t! I don’t see how they got away so quick!”
Then as the surrey followed the automobile in through the side gate of Green Hill, Frances said: “What was that you asked the officer?”
When she heard of the search for the speeders who had an exploded tire, she suddenly gasped. Then she bent double and laughed: “Girls! I’ll wager you this car that we were the speeders with the shot tire! That spot is just about where the tire burst on our way to Four Corners.”
The more they pondered it the more convinced were they that Frances was right. But Mrs. James said: “No use confessing at this late hour. We were really speeding out of necessity.”
The hive was firmly placed in a desirable spot under the trees and then the new bee-farmers walked slowly back to the house. The Tompkinses were persuaded to remain to Sunday dinner, and then the topic of recompense was argued again.
“S’pose we leave the subject for a week day,” said Mrs. Tompkins. “I feel sinful enough after doin’ all this hivin’, to do a little Bible readin’ now to pay for my back-slidin’.”
The rest of that Sabbath day was kept as it is commanded in Exodus. But it was the zeal of keeping the Commandment that made Janet forget to inquire why Susy had not tasted the milk left for her that morning.
It was Rachel who found the milk sour and curdled and never touched by the calf. Then she poured it out and tried fresh milk to tempt Susy, but the calf backed away when Rachel thrust the liquid at her nose.
That afternoon, when it was time to milk Sue, Mrs. Tompkins offered to teach a few of the scouts how to do it properly. So Janet, Natalie and Norma tried the milking that time but they found it hard on the fingers. They soon tired and gave place to another of the group. Finally, Mrs. James finished the task to the great relief of the cow.