Sophie May

Produced by Al Haines.

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Cover art

LITTLE PRUDY SERIES

LITTLE PRUDY'S
CAPTAIN HORACE

BY
SOPHIE MAY

THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO.
CHICAGO — AKRON, OHIO — NEW YORK

1919

LITTLE PRUDY SERIES

LITTLE PRUDY
LITTLE PRUDY'S STORY BOOK
LITTLE PRUDY'S COUSIN GRACE
LITTLE PRUDY'S CAPTAIN HORACE
LITTLE PRUDY'S SISTER SUSIE
LITTLE PRUDY'S DOTTY DIMPLE

Contents

1. Making Candy

2. Camping Out

3. Taking a Journey

4. At Grandpa Parlin's

5. Captain of a Company

6. Susie and Prudy

7. In the Woods

8. Captain Clifford

9. The Blue Book

10. Trying to get Rich

11. The Little Indian

12. A Pleasant Surprise

CAPTAIN HORACE

CHAPTER I

MAKING CANDY

Grace and Horace Clifford lived in Indiana, and so were called "Hoosiers."

Their home, with its charming grounds, was a little way out of town, and from the front windows of the house you could look out on the broad Ohio, a river which would be very beautiful if its yellow waters were only once settled. As far as the eye could see, the earth was one vast plain, and, in order to touch it, the sky seemed to stoop very low; whereas, in New England, the gray-headed mountains appear to go up part way to meet the sky.

One fine evening in May, brown-eyed Horace and blue-eyed Grace stood on the balcony, leaning against the iron railing, watching the stars, and chatting together.

One thing is very sure: they never dreamed that from this evening their sayings and doings—particularly Horace's—were to be printed in a book. If anyone had whispered such a thing how dumb Horace would have grown, his chin snuggling down into a hollow place in his neck! and how nervously Grace would have laughed! walking about very fast, and saying,—

"O, it's too bad to put Horace and me in a book! I say it's too bad! Tell them to wait till my hair is curled, and I have my new pink dress on! And tell them to make Horace talk better! He plays so much with the Dutch boys. O, Horace isn't fit to print!"

This is what she might have said if she had thought of being "put in a book;" but as she knew nothing at all about it, she only stood very quietly leaning against the balcony-railing, and looking up at the evening sky, merry with stars.

"What a shiny night, Horace! What do the stars look like? Is it diamond rings?"

"I'll tell you, Gracie; it's cigars they look like—just the ends of cigars when somebody is smoking."

At that moment the cluster called the "Seven Sisters" was drowned in a soft, white cloud.

"Look," said Grace; "there are some little twinkles gone to sleep, all tucked up in a coverlet. I don't see what makes you think of dirty cigars! They look to me like little specks of gold harps ever so far off, so you can't hear the music. O, Horace, don't you want to be an angel, and play on a beautiful harp?"

"I don't know," said her brother, knitting his brows, and thinking a moment; "when I can't live any longer, you know, then I'd like to go up to heaven; but now, I'd a heap sooner be a soldier!"

"O, Horace, you'd ought to rather be an angel! Besides, you're too little for a soldier!"

"But I grow. Just look at my hands; they're bigger than yours, this minute!"

"Why, Horace Clifford, what makes them so black?"

"O, that's no account! I did it climbin' trees. Barby tried to scour it off, but it sticks. I don't care—soldiers' hands ain't white, are they, Pincher?"

The pretty dog at Horace's feet shook his ears, meaning to say,—

"I should think not, little master; soldiers have very dirty hands, if you say so."

"Come," said Grace, who was tired of gazing at the far-off star-land; "let's go down and see if Barbara hasn't made that candy: she said she'd be ready in half an hour."

They went into the library, which opened upon the balcony, through the passage, down the front stairs, and into the kitchen, Pincher following close at their heels.

It was a very tidy kitchen, whose white floor was scoured every day with a scrubbing-brush. Bright tin pans were shining upon the walls, and in one corner stood a highly polished cooking-stove, over which Barbara Kinckle, a rosy-cheeked German girl, was stooping to watch a kettle of boiling molasses. Every now and then she raised the spoon with which she was stirring it, and let the half-made candy drip back into the kettle in ropy streams. It looked very tempting, and gave out a delicious odor. Perhaps it was not strange that the children thought they were kept waiting a long while.

"Look here, Grace," muttered Horace, loud enough for Barbara to hear; "don't you think she's just the slowest kind?"

"It'll sugar off," said Grace, calmly, as if she had made up her mind for the worst; "don't you know how it sugared off once when ma was making it, and let the fire go 'most out'?"

"Now just hear them childers," said good-natured Barbara; "where's the little boy and girl that wasn't to speak to me one word, if I biled 'em some candies?"

"There, now, Barby, I wasn't speaking to you," said Horace; "I mean I wasn't talking to her, Grace. Look here: I've heard you spell, but you didn't ask me my Joggerphy."

"Geography, you mean, Horace."

"Well, Geography, then. Here's the book: we begin at the Mohammedan."

Horace could pronounce that long name very well, though he had no idea what it meant. He knew there was a book called the Koran, and would have told you Mr. Mohammed wrote it; but so had Mr. Colburn written an Arithmetic, and whether both these gentlemen were alive, or both dead, was more than he could say.

"Hold up your head," said Grace, with dignity, and looking as much as possible like tall Miss Allen, her teacher. "Please repeat your verse."

The first sentence read, "They consider Moses and Christ as true prophets, but Mohammed as the greatest and last."

"I'll tell you," said Horace: "they think that Christ and Moses was good enough prophets, but Mohammed was a heap better."

"Why, Horace, it doesn't say any such thing in the book! it begins, 'They consider.'"

"I don't care," said the boy, "Miss Jordan tells us to get the sense of it. Ma, mustn't I get the sense of it?" he added, as Mrs. Clifford entered the kitchen.

"But, mamma," broke in Grace, eagerly, "our teacher wants us to commit the verses: she says a great deal about committing the verses."

"If you would give me time to answer," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling, "I should say both your teachers are quite right. You should 'get the sense of it,' as Horace says, and after that commit the verses."

"But, ma, do you think Horace should say 'heap,' and 'no account,' and such words?"

"It would certainly please me," said Mrs. Clifford "if he would try to speak more correctly. My little boy knows how much I dislike some of his expressions."

"There, Horace," cried Grace, triumphantly, "I always said you talked just like the Dutch boys; and it's very, very improper!"

But just then it became evident that the molasses was boiled enough, for Barbara poured it into a large buttered platter, and set it out of doors to cool. After this, the children could do nothing but watch the candy till it was ready to pull.

Then there was quite a bustle to find an apron for Horace, and to make sure that his little stained hands were "spandy clean," and "fluffed" all over with flour, from his wrists to the tips of his fingers. Grace said she wished it wasn't so much trouble to attend to boys; and, after all, Horace only pulled a small piece of the candy, and dropped half of that on the nice white floor.

Barbara did the most of the pulling. She was quite a sculptor when she had plastic candy in her hands. Some of it she cut into sticks, and some she twisted into curious images, supposed to be boys and girls, horses and sheep.

After Grace and Horace had eaten several of the "boys and girls," to say nothing of "handled baskets," and "gentlemen's slippers," Barbara thought it high time they were "sound abed and asleep."

So now, as they go upstairs, we will wish them a good night and pleasant dreams.

CHAPTER II

CAMPING OUT

"What is the matter with my little son?" said Mr. Clifford, one morning at breakfast; for Horace sat up very stiffly in his chair, and refused both eggs and muffins, choosing instead a slice of dry toast and a glass of water.

"Are you sick, Horace?" asked his mother, tenderly.

"No, ma'am," replied the boy, blushing; "but I want to get to be a soldier!"

Mr. Clifford and his wife looked at each other across the table, and smiled.

"O, papa," said Grace, "I shouldn't want to be a soldier if I couldn't have anything nice to eat. Can't they get pies and canned peaches and things? Will they go without buckwheat cakes and sirup in the winter?"

"Ah! my little daughter, men who love their country are willing to make greater sacrifices than merely nice food."

Horace put on one of his lofty looks, for he somehow felt that his father was praising him.

"Pa," said Grace, "please tell me what's a sacrifice, anyhow?"

"A sacrifice, my daughter, is the giving up of a dear or pleasant thing for the sake of duty: that is very nearly what it means. For instance, if your mamma consents to let me go to the war, because she thinks I ought to go, she will make what is called a sacrifice."

"Do not let us speak of it now, Henry," said Mrs. Clifford, looking quite pale.

"O, my dear papa," cried Grace, bursting into tears, "we couldn't live if you went to the war!"

Horace looked at the acorn on the lid of the coffee-urn, but said nothing. It cost his little heart a pang even to think of parting from his beloved father; but then wouldn't it be a glorious thing to hear him called General Clifford? And if he should really go away, wasn't it likely that the oldest boy, Horace, would take his place at the head of the table?

Yes, they should miss papa terribly; but he would only stay away till he "got a general;" and for that little while it would be pleasant for Horace to sit in the arm-chair and help the others to the butter, the toast, and the meat.

"Horace," said Mr. Clifford, smiling, "it will be some years before you can be a soldier: why do you begin now to eat dry bread?"

"I want to get used to it, sir."

"That indeed!" said Mr. Clifford, with a good-natured laugh, which made Horace wince a little. "But the eating of dry bread is only a small part of the soldier's tough times, my boy. Soldiers have to sleep on the hard ground, with knapsacks for pillows; they have to march, through wet and dry, with heavy muskets, which make their arms ache."

"Look here, Barby," said Horace, that evening; "I want a knapsack, to learn to be a soldier with. If I have 'tough times' now, I'll get used to it. Can't you find me a carpet-bag, Barby?"

"Carpet-bag? And what for a thing is that?" said Barbara, rousing from a nap, and beginning to click her knitting-needles. "Here I was asleep again. Now, if I did keep working in the kitchen, I could sit up just what time I wants to; but when I sits down, I goes to sleep right off."

And Barbara went on knitting, putting the yarn over the needle with her left hand, after the German fashion.

"But the carpet-bag, Barby: there's a black one 'some place,' in the trunk-closet or up-attic. Now, Barby, you know I helped pick those quails yesterday."

"Yes, yes, dear, when I gets my eyes open."

"I would sleep out doors, but ma says I'd get cold; so I'll lie on the floor in the bathing-room. O, Barby, I'll sleep like a trooper!"

But Horace was a little mistaken. A hard, unyielding floor makes a poor bed; and when, at the same time, one's neck is almost put out of joint by a carpet-bag stuffed with newspaper, it is not easy to go to sleep.

In a short time the little boy began to feel tired of "camping out;" and I am sorry to say that he employed some of the moonlight hours in studying the workmanship of his mother's watch, which had been left, by accident, hanging on a nail in the bathing-room.

He felt very guilty all the while; and when, at last, a chirr-chirr from the watch told that mischief had been done, his heart gave a quick throb of fright, and he stole off to his chamber, undressed, and went to bed in the dark.

Next morning he did not awake as early as usual, and, to his great dismay, came very near being late to breakfast.

"Good-morning, little buzzard-lark," said his sister, coming into his room just as he was thrusting his arms into his jacket.

"Ho, Gracie! why didn't you wake me up?"

"I spoke to you seven times, Horace."

"Well, why didn't you pinch me, or shake me awake, or something?"

"Why, Horace, then you'd have been cross, and said, 'Gracie Clifford, let me alone!' You know you would, Horace."

The little boy stood by the looking-glass finishing his toilet, and made no reply.

"Don't you mean to behave?" said he, talking to his hair. "There, now, you've parted in the middle! Do you s'pose I'm going to look like a girl? Part the way you ought to, and lie down smooth! We'll see which will beat!"

"Why, what in the world is this?" exclaimed Grace, as something heavy dropped at her feet.

It was her mother's watch, which had fallen out of Horace's pocket.

"Where did you get this watch?"

No answer.

"Why, Horace, it doesn't tick: have you been playing with it?"

Still no answer.

"Now, that's just like you, Horace, to shut your mouth right up tight, and not speak a word when you're spoken to. I never saw such a boy! I'm going downstairs, this very minute, to tell my mother you've been hurting her beautiful gold watch!"

"Stop!" cried the boy, suddenly finding his voice; "I reckon I can fix it! I was meaning to tell ma! I only wanted to see that little thing inside that ticks. I'll bet I'll fix it. I didn't go to hurt it, Grace!"

"O, yes, you feel like you could mend watches, and fire guns, and be soldiers and generals," said Grace, shaking her ringlets; "but I'm going right down to tell ma!"

Horace's lips curled with scorn.

"That's right, Gracie; run and tell!"

"But, Horace, I ought to tell," said Grace, meekly; "it's my duty! Isn't there a little voice at your heart, and don't it say, you've done wicked?"

"There's a voice there," replied the boy, pertly; "but it don't say what you think it does. It says, 'If your pa finds out about the watch, won't you catch it?'"

To do Horace justice, he did mean to tell his mother. He had been taught to speak the truth, and the whole truth, cost what it might. He knew that his parents could forgive almost anything sooner than a falsehood, or a cowardly concealment. Words cannot tell how Mr. Clifford hated deceit.

"When a lie tempts you, Horace," said he, "scorn it, if it looks ever so white! Put your foot on it, and crush it like a snake!"

Horace ate dry toast again this morning, but no one seemed to notice it. If he had dared look up, he could have seen that his father and mother wore sorrowful faces.

After breakfast, Mr. Clifford called him into the library. In the first place, he took to pieces the mangled watch, and showed him how it had been injured.

"Have you any right to meddle with things which belong to other people, my son?" he said soberly.

Horace's chin snuggled down into the hollow place in his neck, and he made no reply.

"Answer me, Horace."

"No, sir."

"It will cost several dollars to pay for repairing this watch: don't you think the little boy who did the mischief should give part of the money?"

Horace looked distressed; his face began to twist itself out of shape.

"This very boy has a good many pieces of silver which were given him to buy fire-crackers. So you see, if he is truly sorry for his fault, he knows the way to atone for it."

Horace's conscience told him, by a twinge, that it would be no more than just for him to pay what he could for mending the watch.

"Have you nothing to say to me, my child?"

For, instead of speaking, the boy was working his features into as many shapes as if they had been made of gutta percha. This was a bad habit of his, though when he was doing it, he had no idea of "making up faces."

His father told him he would let him have the whole day to decide whether he ought to give up any of his money. A tear trembled in each of Horace's eyes, but, before they could fall, he caught them on his thumb and forefinger.

"Now," continued Mr. Clifford, "I have something to tell you. I decided last night to enter the army."

"O, pa," cried Horace, springing up, eagerly; "mayn't I go, too?"

"You, my little son?"

"Yes, pa," replied Horace, clinging to his father's knee. "Boys go to wait on the generals and things! I can wait on you. I can comb your hair, and bring your slippers. If I could be a waiter, I'd go a flying."

"Poor child," laughed Mr. Clifford, stroking Horace's head, "you're such a very little boy, only eight years old!"

"I'm going on nine. I'll be nine next New Year's Gift-day," stammered Horace, the bright flush dying out of his cheeks. "O, pa, I don't want you to go if I can't go too!"

Mr. Clifford's lips trembled. He took the little boy on his knee, and told him how the country was in danger, and needed all its brave men.

"I should feel a great deal easier about leaving my dear little family," said he, "if Horace never disobeyed his mother; if he did not so often fall into mischief; if he was always sure to remember."

The boy's neck was twisted around till his father could only see the back of his head.

"Look here, pa," said he, at last, throwing out the words one at a time, as if every one weighed a whole pound; "I'll give ma that money; I'll do it to-day."

"That's right, my boy! that's honest! You have given me pleasure. Remember, when you injure the property of another, you should always make amends for it as well as you can. If you do not, you're unjust and dishonest."

I will not repeat all that Mr. Clifford said to his little son. Horace thought then he should never forget his father's good advice, nor his own promises. We shall see whether he did or not.

He was a restless, often a very naughty boy; but when you looked at his broad forehead and truthful eyes, you felt that, back of all his faults, there was nobleness in his boyish soul. His father often said, "He will either make something or nothing," and his mother answered, "Yes, there never will be any half-way place for Horace."

Now that Mr. Clifford had really enlisted, everybody looked sad. Grace was often in tears, and said,—

"We can't any of us live, if pa goes to the war."

But when Horace could not help crying, he always said it was because he "had the earache;" and perhaps he thought it was.

Mrs. Clifford tried to be cheerful, for she was a patriotic woman; but she could not trust her voice to talk a great deal, or sing much to the baby.

As for Barbara Kinckle, she scrubbed the floors, and scoured the tins harder than ever, looking all the while as if every one of her friends was dead and buried. The family were to break up housekeeping and Barbara was very sorry. Now she would have to go to her home a little way back in the country, and work in the fields, as many German girls do every summer.

"O, my heart is sore," said she, "every time I thinks of it. They will in the cars go off, and whenever again I'll see the kliny (little) childers I knows not."

It was a sad day when Mr. Clifford bade good-by to his family. His last words to Horace were these: "Always obey your mother, my boy, and remember that God sees all you do."

He was now "Captain Clifford," and went away at the head of his company, looking like, what he really was, a brave and noble gentleman.

Grace wondered if he ever thought of the bright new buttons on his coat; and Horace walked about among his school-fellows with quite an air, very proud of being the son of a man who either was now, or was going to be, the greatest officer in Indiana!

If anybody else had shown as much self-esteem as Horace did, the boys would have said he had "the big head." When Yankee children think a playmate conceited, they call him "stuck up;" but Hoosier children say he has "the big head." No one spoke in this way of Horace, however, for there was something about him which made everybody like him, in spite of his faults.

He loved his play-fellows, and they loved him, and were sorry enough to have him go away; though, perhaps, they did not shed so many tears as Grace's little mates, who said, "they never'd have any more good times: they didn't mean to try."

Mrs. Clifford, too, left many warm friends, and it is safe to say that on the morning the family started for the East, there were a great many people "crying their hearts out of their eyes." Still, I believe no one sorrowed more sincerely than faithful Barbara Kinckle.

CHAPTER III

TAKING A JOURNEY

It was a great effort for Mrs. Clifford to take a journey to Maine with three children; but she needed the bracing air of New England, and so did Grace and the baby.

To be sure they had the company of a gentleman who was going to Boston; but he was a very young man indeed, who thought a great deal more of his new mustache than he did of trunks and checks, and tickets.

Twenty times a day Mrs. Clifford wished her husband could have gone with her before he enlisted, for she hardly knew what to do with restless little Horace. As for sitting still, it was more than the boy could do. He would keep jerking his inquisitive little head out of the window, for he never remembered a caution five minutes. He delighted to run up and down the narrow aisle and, putting his hands on the arms of the seats, swing backward and forward with all his might. He became acquainted with every lozenge-boy and every newspaper-boy on the route, and seemed to be in a high state of merriment from morning till night.

Grace, who was always proper and well-behaved, was not a little mortified by Horace's rough manners.

"He means no harm," Mrs. Clifford would say, with a smile and a sigh; "but Mr. Lazelle, if you will be so kind as to watch him a little, I will be greatly obliged."

Mr. Lazelle would reply, "O, certainly, madam; be quite easy about the child; he is not out of my sight for a moment!"

So saying, perhaps he would go in search of him, and find him under a seat playing with Pincher, his clothes covered with dust, and his cap lying between somebody's feet.

At such times Mr. Lazelle always said,—

"Upon my word, you're a pretty little fellow!" and looked as if he would like to shake him, if it were not for soiling his gloves.

Horace laughed when Mr. Lazelle called him "a pretty little fellow," and thought it a fine joke. He laughed, too, when the young man told him to "come out," for there was something in the pettish tone of his voice which Horace considered very amusing.

"I'll wait till he gets through scolding, and goes to coaxing," thought the boy: "he's a smart man! can't make such a little fellow mind!"

Mr. Lazelle was very much vexed with Horace, and firmly resolved that he would never again take charge of a lady traveling with children. At one time he flew into a passion, and boxed the boy's ears. Horace felt very much like a wounded wasp. He knew Mr. Lazelle would not have dared strike him before his mother, and from that moment he despised him as a "sneak."

Whenever Mr. Lazelle was looking for him in great haste, he was very likely to be missing; and when that sorely tried young gentleman was almost in despair, a saucy little head would appear at the car-window, and a small voice would shout,—

"Ho, Mr. Lazelle! why don't you come ahead? I beat you in!"

"Horace," said Mrs. Clifford, wearily, "you don't know how you tire me! Here is this dear baby that I have to hold in my arms; isn't it enough that I should have the care of him, without being all the while anxious about you?"

"Yes," chimed in Grace, pushing back her beautiful curls, "you don't know how ma and I fret about you. You'll kill poor ma before ever we can get you East!"

Horace hung his head for shame, and decided that it didn't "pay" to punish Mr. Lazelle, if his mother must suffer too. He meant, for her sake, to "turn over a new leaf," though he did not say so.

On the afternoon of their second day's ride, they reached the beautiful city of Cleveland.

Here they were to rest for a few hours. Their clothes were sadly tumbled, their collars dust-color, and their faces and hair rough with cinders. A thorough washing and brushing and some fresh ruffles and laces gave a much tidier appearance to the whole party.

After Grace and Horace were ready, Mrs. Clifford thought they might as well go downstairs while she tried to rock little Katie to sleep.

"Be sure not to go away from the house," said she. "Grace, I depend upon you to take care of Horace, for he may forget."

The children had been standing on the piazza for some time, watching the people passing, while Mr. Lazelle lounged near by, talking politics with some gentlemen. In a little while Mrs. Clifford sent for Grace to go upstairs and amuse the poor baby, who could not be rocked to sleep.

For a few moments after she had gone Horace stood near the door, still gazing into the street, when suddenly he heard a faint sound of martial music: a brass band was turning the corner. Soon they were in sight, men in handsome uniform, drawing music from various instruments, picking, blowing, or beating it out, as the case might be.

It was glorious, Horace thought. He could not keep still. He ran out, and threw up his cap before he knew it almost, shouting with delight,—

"Ho, Mr. Lazelle! ain't that jolly? Ho, Mr. Lazelle! where are you, anyhow?"

Probably, if the boy had stopped to think, he might have remembered that Mr. Lazelle was in the parlor; but no, Horace was sure he must have crossed the street to look at the band.

"I'm going, too," said he to himself. "Of course, where Mr. Lazelle goes, I can go, for he has the care of me!"

With that he dashed headlong into the crowd, looking here, there, and everywhere for Mr. Lazelle.

But, O, that music! Did a little boy's boots ever stand still when a drum was playing, "March, march away"? No doubt his father was keeping step to just such sounds, on his path to martial glory! The fife and bugle whistled with magical voices, and seemed to say,—

"Follow, follow, follow on!"

And Horace followed; sometimes thinking he was in search of Mr. Lazelle, sometimes forgetting it altogether. He knew he was doing very wrong, but it seemed as if the music almost drowned the voice of his conscience.

In this way they turned street after street, till, suddenly, the band and the crowd entered a large public building. Then the music died out, and with it the fire of eagerness in the little boy's soul.

Where was Mr. Lazelle? If he could see him now, he would forgive the boxed ears. How could he ever find his way back to the hotel? It had not as yet entered his head to ask anyone.

He darted off at great speed, but, as it happened, in precisely the wrong direction. The houses grew smaller and farther apart, and presently he came to a high, sandy cliff overlooking the lake. Now the shades of night began to fall, and his stout heart almost failed him. The longing grew so strong to see mother, and Grace, and baby, that the tears would start, in spite of himself.

At last, just as he was wondering which way to turn next, somebody touched his shoulder, and a rough voice said,—

"Hullo, my little man! What you doin' in this ward? Come; don't you pull away from me: I'm a city officer. Got lost, hey?"

Horace shook with fright. O dear, was it a crime, then, to get lost? He remembered all the stories he had ever heard of lock-ups, and state-prisons, and handcuffs.

"O, I didn't mean any harm, sir," cried he, trying to steady his voice; "I reckon I ain't lost, sir; or, if I am, I ain't lost much!"

"So, sor," laughed the policeman, good-naturedly; "and what was your name, my little man, before you got lost, and didn't get lost much?"

"My name is Horace Clifford, sir," replied the boy, wondering why a cruel policeman should want to laugh.

"Well, well," said the man, not unkindly, "I'm glad I've come across ye, for your mother's in a terrible taking. What set ye out to run off? Come, now; don't be sulky. Give us your hand, and I guess, seein' it's you, we won't put you in the lock-up this time."

Horace was very grateful to the officer for not handcuffing him on the spot; still he felt as if it was a great disgrace to be marched through the city by a policeman.

Mrs. Clifford, Grace, and Mr. Lazelle met them on the way.

"O, my dear, dear son," cried Mrs. Clifford, as soon as she could speak; "do you know how you've frightened us all?"

"I followed the band," stammered Horace. "I was looking for Mr. Lazelle."

"You're a naughty, mean little boy," cried Grace, when she had made sure he was not hurt anywhere. "It would have been good enough for you if you'd drowned in the lake, and the bears had ate you up!"

Still she kissed her naughty brother, and it was to be noticed that her eyelids were very red from crying.

"I'll never let go your hand again, Horace," said she, "till we get to grandma's. You're just as slippery!"

Mr. Lazelle looked as if it would be an immense relief to him if Miss Grace would keep her word; he thought he was undergoing a great trial with Horace.

"It's a shame," said he to himself, "that a perfect lady, like Mrs. Clifford, should have such a son! I'd enjoy whipping him—for her sake! Why in the world don't she train him?"

Mr. Lazelle did not know of the faithful talk Mrs. Clifford had with Horace that night, nor how the boy's heart swelled with grief, and love, and new resolutions.

This adventure caused a day's delay, for it made the party too late for the boat. Horace was so sorry for his foolish conduct, that he spent the next day in the most subdued manner, and walked about the chamber on tiptoe, while Grace tried to sooth little Katie.

But, in crossing the lake, he "forgot" again. His mother allowed him to go up on the hurricane deck with Mr. Lazelle, just for ten minutes; and there he became acquainted with the pilot, who was struck with his intelligence, and freely answered all the questions he asked about the engine, "the whistle," and the steering.

"O, pshaw!" said Horace; "I'll make a steam-boat myself, and give it to Grace for a present!"

Full of this new plan, he left the pilot without so much as a "thank you," running down the steps, two at a time, unobserved by Mr. Lazelle, who was playing the flute. He wanted to see how the "rigging" was made, and stopped to ask leave of nobody.

Down another flight of stairs, out across trunks, and bales, and ropes, he pushed his way to get a good sight of the deck. He paid no heed to people or things, and nearly ran over an Irish boy, who was drawing up water in buckets for washing. Somebody shouted, "He's trying to kill hisself, I do believe!"

Somebody rushed forward to seize the daring child by the collar of his jacket, but too late; he had fallen headlong into the lake!

A scream went up from the deck that pierced the air,—"Boy overboard! Help! help! help!"

Mrs. Clifford heard, and knew, by instinct, that it was Horace. She had just sent Grace to call him, not feeling safe to trust him longer with Mr. Lazelle. She rushed through the door of the state-room, and followed the crowd to the other side of the boat, crying,—

"O, can't somebody save him?"

There was no mistaking the mother's voice; the crowd made way for her.

"Safe! safe and sound!" was the shout now. "All right!"

The Irish lad, at Horace's first plunge, had thrown him his bucket—it was a life-preserver; that is, it would not sink—and the drowning boy had been drawn up by means of a rope attached to the bail.

"Ma," said Grace, when they were all safely in the cars at Buffalo, and Horace as well as ever, though a little pale, "I do believe there never was anybody had such an awful journey! Do you suppose we'll ever get Horace home to grandma's?"

CHAPTER IV

AT GRANDPA PARLIN'S

It was over at last—the long, tedious journey, which Horace spoiled for everybody, and which nobody but Horace enjoyed.

When they drove up to the quiet old, homestead at Willowbrook, and somebody had taken the little baby, poor Mrs. Clifford threw herself into her mother's arms, and sobbed like a child. Everybody else cried, too; and good, deaf Grandpa Parlin, with smiles and tears at the same time, declared,—

"I don't know what the matter is; so I can't tell whether to laugh or cry."

Then his daughter Margaret went up and said in his best ear that they were just crying for joy, and asked him if that wasn't a silly thing to do.

Grace embraced everybody twice over; but Horace was a little shy, and would only give what his aunties called "canary kisses."

"Margaret, I want you to give me that darling baby this minute," said Mrs. Parlin, wiping her eyes. "Now you can bring the butter out of the cellar; it's all there is to be done, except to set the tea on the table."

Then Grandma Parlin had another cry over little Katie: not such a strange thing, for she could not help thinking of Harry, the baby with sad eyes and pale face, who had been sick there all the summer before, and was now an angel. As little Prudy had said, "God took him up to heaven, but the tired part of him is in the garden."

Yes, under a weeping-willow. Everybody was thinking just now of tired little Harry, "the sweetest flower that ever was planted in that garden."

"Why, Maria," said Mrs. Parlin, as soon as she could speak, "how did you ever travel so far with this little, little baby?"

"I don't know, mother," replied Mrs. Clifford, "I think I could never have got here without Grace: she has been my little waiter, and Katie's little nurse."

Grace blushed with delight at this well-deserved praise.

"And Horace is so large now, that he was some help, too, I've no doubt," said his grandmother.

"I would have took the baby," cried Horace, speaking up very quickly, before anyone else had time to answer,—"I would have took the baby, but she wouldn't let me."

Mrs. Clifford might have said that Horace himself had been as much trouble as the baby; but she was too kind to wound her little boy's feelings.

It was certainly a very happy party who met around the tea-table at Mr. Parlin's that evening. It was already dusk, and the large globe lamp, with its white porcelain shade, gave a cheery glow to the pleasant dining-room.

First, there was cream-toast, made of the whitest bread, and the sweetest cream.

"This makes me think of Mrs. Gray," said Mrs. Clifford, smiling; "I hope she is living yet."

"She is," said Margaret, "but twelve years old."

Grace looked up in surprise.

"Why, that's only a little girl, Aunt Madge!"

"My dear, it's only a cow!"

"O, now I remember; the little blue one, with brass knobs on her horns!"

"Let's see; do you remember Dr. Quack and his wife?"

"O, yes'm! they were white ducks; and how they did swim! It was a year ago. I suppose Horace doesn't remember."

"Poh! yes, I do; they were spin-footed!"

"Why, Horace," said Grace, laughing; "you mean web-footed!"

Horace bent his eyes on his plate, and did not look up again for some time.

There was chicken-salad on the table. Margaret made that—putting in new butter, because she knew Mrs. Clifford did not like oil.

There was delicious looking cake, "some that had been touched with frost, and some that hadn't," as grandpa said, when he passed the basket.

But the crowning glory of the supper was a dish of scarlet strawberries, which looked as if they had been drinking dew-drops and sunshine till they had caught all the richness and sweetness of summer.

"O, ma!" whispered Grace, "I'm beginning to feel so happy! I only wish my father was here."

After tea, grandpa took Horace and Grace on each knee, large as they were, and sang some delightful evening hymns with what was left of his once fine voice. He looked so peaceful and happy that his daughters were reminded of the Bible verse, "Children's children are the crown of old men."

"I think now," said Mrs. Clifford, coming back from putting the baby to sleep, "it's high time my boy and girl were saying, 'Good-night, and pleasant dreams.'"

"Aunt Madge is going upstairs with us; aren't you, auntie?"

"Yes, Horace; your other auntie wouldn't do, I suppose," said Louise. "That makes me think of the way this same Horace used to treat me when he was two years old. 'Her can't put me to bed,' he would say; 'her's too little.'"

"I remember," said Margaret, "how he dreaded cold water. When his mother called him to be washed, and said, 'Ma doesn't want a little dirty boy,' he would look up in her face, and say,

"'Does mamma want 'ittle cold boy?'"

The happy children kissed everybody good-night, and followed their Aunt Madge upstairs. Now, there was a certain small room, whose one window opened upon the piazza, and it was called "the green chamber." It contained a cunning little bedstead, a wee bureau, a dressing-table, and washing-stand, all pea-green. It was a room which seemed to have been made and furnished on purpose for a child, and it had been promised to Grace in every letter Aunt Madge had written to her for a year.

Horace had thought but little about the room till to-night, when his Aunt led Grace into it, and he followed. It seemed so fresh and sweet in "the green chamber," and on the dressing-table there was a vase of flowers.

Aunt Madge bade the children look out of the window at a bird's nest, which was snuggled into one corner of the piazza-roof, so high up that nobody could reach it without a very tall ladder.

"Now," said Aunt Madge, "the very first thing Grace hears in the morning will probably be bird-music."

Grace clapped her hands.

"And where am I going to sleep?" said Horace, who had been listening, and looking on in silence. His aunt had forgotten that he was sometimes jealous; but she could not help knowing it now, for a very disagreeable expression looked out at his eyes, and drew down the corners of his mouth.

"Why, Horace dear, we have to put you in one of the back chambers, just as we did when you were here before; but you know it's a nice clean room, with white curtains, and you can look out of the window at the garden."

"But it's over the kitchen!"

"There, Horace," said Grace, "I'd be ashamed! You don't act like a little gentleman! What would pa say?"

"Why couldn't I have the big front chamber?" said the little boy, shuffling his feet, and looking down at his shoes.

"Because," said Aunt Madge, smiling, "that is for your mother and the baby."

"But if I could have this little cunning room, I'd go a-flyin'. Grace ain't company any more than me."

Aunt Madge remembered Horace's hit-or-miss way of using things, and thought of the elephant that once walked into a china shop.

Grace laughed aloud.

"Why, Horace Clifford, you'd make the room look like everything; you know you would! O, auntie, you ought to see how he musses up my cabinet! I have to hide the key; I do so!"

Horace took the room which was given him, but he left his sister without his usual good-night kiss, and when he repeated his prayer, I am afraid he was thinking all the while about the green chamber.

The next morning the children had intended to go into the garden bright and early. Grace loved flowers, and when she was a mere baby, just able to toddle into the meadow, she would clip off the heads of buttercups and primroses, hugging and kissing them like friends.

Horace, too, had some fancy for flowers, especially flaring ones like sunflowers and hollyhocks. Dandelions were nice when the stems would curl without bothering, and poppies were worth while for little girls, he thought, because, after they are gone to seed, you can make them into pretty good teapots.

He wanted to go out in the garden now for humming-birds, and to see if the dirt-colored toad was still living in his "nest," in one of the flowerbeds.

But the first thing the children heard in the morning was the pattering of rain on the roof. No going out to-day. Grace was too tired to care much. Horace felt cross; but remembering how many messages his grandmother had sent to her "good little grandson," and how often Aunt Madge had written about "dear little Horace, the nephew she was so proud of," he felt ashamed to go downstairs scowling. If his good-morning smile was so thin that you could see a frown through it, still it was better than no smile at all.

The breakfast was very nice, and Horace would have enjoyed the hot griddle-cakes and maple sirup, only his Aunt Louise, a handsome young lady of sixteen, watched him more than he thought was quite polite, saying every now and then,—

"Isn't he the image of his father? Just such a nose, just such a mouth! He eats fast, too; that is characteristic!"

Horace did not know what "characteristic" meant, but thought it must be something bad, for with a child's quick eye he could see that his pretty aunt was inclined to laugh at him. In fact, he had quite an odd way of talking, and his whole appearance was amusing to Miss Louise, who was a very lively young lady.

"Horace, you were telling me last night about Mr. Lazelle: what did you say was the color of his coat?"

"I said it was blueberry color," replied Horace, who could see almost without looking up that Aunt Louise was smiling at Aunt Madge.

"He is a musicianer, too, I think you said, and his hair crimps. Dear me, what a funny man!"

Horace was silent, and made up his mind that he should be careful another time what he said before Aunt Louise.

Soon after breakfast he and Pincher went "up-attic" to see what they could find, while Grace followed her grandmother and aunties from parlor to kitchen, and from kitchen to pantry. She looked pale and tired, but was so happy that she sang every now and then at the top of her voice, forgetting that little Katie was having a nap.

Pretty soon Horace came downstairs with an old, rusty gun much taller than himself. Mrs. Clifford was shocked at first, but smiled the next moment, as she remembered what an innocent thing it was, past its "prime" before she was of Horace's age.

The little boy playfully pointed the gun towards Grace, who screamed with fright, and ran away as fast as she could.

"I don't care," cried she, coming back, a little ashamed at being laughed at. "How did I know it wasn't loaded? Do you think 'twould look well for a little girl not to be afraid of a gun?"

This speech amused everybody, particularly Horace, who was glad to have Grace say a foolish thing once in a while. It raised his self-esteem somehow; and, more than that, he liked to remember her little slips of the tongue, and tease her about them.

It was not long before he had seen all there was to be seen in the house, and wanted to "do something." As for reading, that was usually too stupid for Horace. Grace kindly offered to play checkers with him; but she understood the game so much better than he did that she won at every trial.

This was more than he could bear with patience; and, whenever he saw that she was gaining upon him, he wanted to "turn it into a give-game."

"But that isn't fair, Horace."

"Well, ma, just you see how mean Grace is! There, she wants me to jump that man yonder, so she'll take two of mine, and go right in the king-row!"

"But, Horace," said Grace, gently, "what do I play for if I don't try to beat?"

"There, now," cried he, "chase my men up to the king-row, so I can't crown 'em, do!"

"Just what I'm doing," replied Grace, coolly.

"Well, I should think you'd better take 'em all, and be done with it! Before I'd be so mean as to set traps!"

"Look, Horace," said Grace; "you didn't jump when you ought to, and I'm going to huff your man. See, I blow it, just this way; old Mr. Knight calls it huffing."

"Huff away then! but you stole one of those kings. I'll bet you stole it off the board after I jumped it."

"Now, Horace Clifford," cried Grace, with tears in her eyes, "I never did such a thing as to steal a king; and if you say so I won't play!"

"Horace," said Mrs. Clifford, who had been trying for some time to speak, "what do you play checkers for?"

"Ma'am? Why, to beat, of course."

"Well, do you consider it work or play?"

"Work or play? Why, it's a game, ma; so it's play."

"But Grace was so obliging that she wished to amuse you, my son. Does it amuse you? Doesn't it make you cross? Do you know that you have spoken a great many sharp words to your kind sister?

"Shut the board right up, my child; and remember from this time never to play checkers, or any other game, when you feel yourself growing fretful! As you sometimes say, 'It doesn't pay.'"

Horace closed the board, looking ashamed.

"That's sound advice for everybody," said Aunt Madge, stroking her little nephew's hair. "If children always remembered it, they would get along more pleasantly together—I know they would."

Grace had been looking ill all the morning, and her mother now saw symptoms of a chill. With all her tender anxiety she had not known how tired her little daughter was. It was two or three weeks before the child was rested; and whenever she had a chill, which was every third day for a while, she was delirious and kept crying out,—

"O, do see to Horace, mamma! Mr. Lazelle will forget! O, Horace, now don't let go my hand! I've got the bundles, mamma, and the milk for the baby."

And sometimes Mrs. Clifford would call Horace to come and take his sister's hand, just to assure her that he was not lying cold and dead in the waters of Lake Erie. It was really touching to see how heavily the cares of the journey had weighed on the dear girl's youthful spirits.

CHAPTER V

CAPTAIN OF A COMPANY

At first Mrs. Clifford thought she did not care about having the children go to school, as they had been kept at their studies for nearly nine months without a vacation, except Christmas holidays.

But what was to be done with Horace? Aunt Louise, who was not passionately fond of children, declared her trials were greater than she could bear. Grace was a little lady, she thought; but as for Horace, and his dog Pincher, and the "calico kitty," which he had picked up for a pet!—Louise disliked dogs and despised kittens. Sometimes, as she told Margaret, she felt as if she should certainly fly; sometimes she was sure she was going crazy; and then again it seemed as if her head would burst into a thousand pieces.

None of these dreadful accidents happened, it is true; but a great many other things did. Hammers, nails, and augers were carried off, and left to rust in the dew. A cup of green paint, which for months had stood quietly on an old shelf in the storeroom, was now taken down and stirred with a stick, and all the toys which Horace whittled out were stained green, and set in the sun to dry. A pair of cheese-tongs, which hung in the back room, a boot-jack, the washing-bench, which was once red,—all became green in a very short time: only the red of the bench had a curious effect, peeping out from its light and ragged coat of green.

The blue sled which belonged to Susie and Prudy was brought down from the shed-chamber, and looked at for some time. It would present a lovely appearance, Horace thought, if he only dared cross it off with green. But as the sled belonged to his little cousins, and they were not there to see for themselves how beautiful he could make it look, why, he must wait till they came; and then, very likely, the paint would be gone.

Of course, Horace soiled his clothes sadly: "that was always just like him," his Aunt Louise said.

This was not all: A little neighbor, Gilbert Brown, came to the house at all hours, and between the two boys there was a noise of driving nails, firing pop-guns, shouting and running from morning till night.

They built a "shanty" of the boards which grandpa was saving to mend the fence, and in this shanty they "kept store," trading in crooked pins, home-made toys, twine and jack-knives.

"Master chaps, them children are," said Abner, the good-natured hired man.

"Hard-working boys! They are as destructive as army worms," declared grandpa, frowning, with a twinkle in his eye.

Horace had a cannon about a foot long, which went on wheels, with a box behind it, and a rammer lashed on at the side—not to mention an American flag which floated over the whole.

With a stout string he drew his cannon up to the large oilnut tree, and then with a real bayonet fixed to a wooden gun, he would lie at full length under the shade, calling himself a sharpshooter guarding the cannon. At these times woe to the "calico kitty," or Grace, or anybody else who happened to go near him! for he gave the order to "charge," and the charge was made most vigorously.

Upon the whole, it was decided that everybody would feel easier and happier if Horace should go to school. This plan did not please him at all, and he went with sulky looks and a very bad grace.

His mother sighed; for though her little boy kept the letter of the law, which says, "Children, obey your parents," he did not do it in the spirit of the commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother."

In a thousand ways Mrs. Clifford was made unhappy by Horace, who should have been a comfort to her. It was sad, indeed; for never did a kind mother try harder to "train up a child" in the right way.

It did not take Horace a great while to renew his acquaintance with the schoolboys, who all seemed to look upon him as a sort of curiosity.

"I never knew before," laughed little Dan Hideout, "that my name was Dan-yell!"

"He calls a pail a bucket, and a dipper a tinkup," said Gilbert Brown.

"Yes," chimed in Willy Snow, "and he asks 'Is school took up?' just as if it was knitting-work that was on needles."

"How he rolls his r's!" said Peter Grant. "You can't say hor-r-se the way he does! I'll bet the ain't a boy can do it unless it's a Cahoo-jack." Peter meant Hoosier.

"Well, I wouldn't be seen saying hoss," returned Horace, with some spirit; "that's Yankee."

"I guess the Yankees are as good as the Cahoo-jacks: wasn't your mother a Yankee?"

"Yes," faltered Horace; "she was born up north here in the Frigid Zone; but she isn't so much relation to me as my father is, for her name wasn't Clifford. She wouldn't have been any relation to me if she hadn't married my father!"

One or two of the larger boys laughed at this speech, and Horace, who could never endure ridicule, stole quietly away.

"Now, boys, you behave," said Edward Snow, Willy's older brother; "he's a smart little fellow, and it's mean to go to hurting his feelings. Come back here, Spunky Clifford; let's have a game of hi spy!"

Horace was "as silent as a stone."

"He don't like to be called Spunky Clifford," said Johnny Bell; "do you, Horace?"

"The reason I don't like it," replied the boy, "is because it's not my name."

"Well, then," said Edward Snow, winking—to the other boys, "won't you play with us, Master Horace?"

"I'll not go back to be laughed at," replied he, stoutly: "when I'm home I play with Hoosier boys, and they're politer than Yankees."

"'Twas only those big boys," said Johnny Bell: "now they've gone off. Come, let's play something."

"I should think you'd be willing for us to laugh," added honest little Willy Snow; "we can't help it, you talk so funny. We don't mean anything."

"Well," said Horace, quite restored to good humor, and speaking with some dignity, "you may laugh at me one kind of a way, but if you mean humph when you laugh, I won't stand it."

"Woon't stand it!" echoed Peter Grant; "ain't that Dutch?"

"Dutch?" replied Horace: "I'll show you what Dyche is! We have a Dyche teacher come in our school every day, and he stamps his foot and tears round! 'Sei ruhig,' he says: that means, 'hush your mouth and keep still.'"

"Is he a Jew, and does he stay in a synagogue?"

"No, he is a German Luteran, or a Dutch Deformed, or something that way."

"What do you learn in?" said Johnny Bell.

"Why, in little German readers: what else would they be?"

"Does it read like stories and verses?"

"I don't know. He keeps hitting the books with a little switch, and screamin' out as if the house was afire."

"Come, say over some Dutch; woon't you, Horace?"

So the little boy repeated some German poetry, while his schoolmates looked up at him in wonder and admiration. This was just what Horace enjoyed; and he continued, with sparkling eyes,—

"I s'pose you can't any of you count in Dutch."

The boys confessed that they could not.

"It's just as easy," said Horace, telling over the numbers up to twenty, as fast as he could speak.

"You can't any of you write Dutch; can you? You give me a slate now, and I'll write it all over so you couldn't read a word of it."

"Ain't it very hard to make?" asked the boys in tones of respectful astonishment.

"I reckon you'd think 'twas hard, it's so full of little quirls, but I can write it as easy as English."

This was quite true, for Horace made very hard work of any kind of writing.

It was not two days before he was at the head of that part of the school known as "the small boys," both in study and play; yet everybody liked him, for, as I have said before, the little fellow had such a strong sense of justice, and such kindness of heart, that he was always a favorite, in spite of his faults.

The boys all said there was nothing "mean" about Horace. He would neither abuse a smaller child, nor see one abused. If he thought a boy was doing wrong, he was not afraid to tell him so, and you may be sure that he was all the more respected for his moral courage.

Horace talked to his schoolmates a great deal about his father, Captain Clifford, who was going to be a general some day.

"When I was home," said he, "I studied pa's book of tictacs, and I used to drill the boys."

There was a loud cry of "Why can't you drill us? Come, let's us have a company, and you be cap'n!"

Horace gladly consented, and the next Saturday afternoon a meeting was appointed at the "Glen." When the time came, the boys were all as joyful as so many squirrels suddenly let out of a cage.

"Now, look here, boys," said Horace, brushing back his "shingled hair," and walking about the grove with the air of a lord. "First place, if I'm going to be captain, you must mind; will you, say?"

Horace was not much of a public speaker; he threw words together just as it happened; but there was so much meaning in the twistings of his face, the jerkings of his head, and the twirlings of his thumbs, that if you were looking at him you must know what he meant.

"Ay, ay!" piped the little boys in chorus.

"Then I'll muster you in," said Horace grandly. "Has everybody brought their guns?—I mean sticks, you know!"

"Ay, ay!"

"I want to be corporal," said Peter Grant.

"I'll be major," cried Willy Snow.

"There, you've spoke," shouted the captain. "I wish there was a tub or bar'l to stand you on when you talk."

After some time an empty flour barrel was brought, and placed upright under a tree, to serve as a dunce-block.

"Now we'll begin new," said the captain. "Those that want to be mustered, rise up their hands; but don't you snap your fingers."

The caution came too late for some of the boys; but Horace forgave the seeming disrespect, knowing that no harm was intended.

"Now, boys, what are you fighting about?—Say, For our country!"

"For our country!" shouted the soldiers, some in chorus, and some in solo.

"And our flag," added Horace, as an afterthought.

"And our flag," repeated the boys, looking at the little banner of stars and stripes, which was fastened to the stump of a tree, and faintly fluttered in the breeze.

"Long may it wave!" cried Horace, growing enthusiastic, and pointing backward to the flag with a sweep of his thumb.

"There ain't a 'Secesh' in this company; there ain't a man but wants our battle to beat! If there is, we'll muster him out double-quick."

A few caps were flourished in the air, and every mouth was set firmly together as if it would shout scorn of secession if it dared speak. It was a loyal company; there was no doubt of that. Indeed, the captain was so bitter against the South that he had asked his Aunt Madge if it was right to let southern-wood grow in the garden.

"Now," said Horace, "Forward! March! 'Ploy column!—No, form a line first. 'Ten*tion*!"

A curved, uncertain line, not unlike the letter S, gradually straightened itself, and the boys looked down to their feet as if they expected to see a chalk-mark on the grass.

"Now, when I say, 'Right!' you must look at the buttons on my jacket—or on yours, I've forgot which; on yours; I reckon. Right! Right at 'em! Right at the buttons!"

Obedient to orders, every boy's head drooped in a moment.

"Stop!" said Horace, knitting his brows; "that's enough!" For there seemed to be something wrong, he could not tell what.

"Now you may ''bout face;' that means whirl round. Now march! one, two, quick time, double-quick!"

"They're stepping on my toes," cried bare-footed Peter Grant.

"Hush right up, private, or I'll stand you on the bar'l."

"I wish't you would," groaned little Peter; "it hurts."

"Well, then, I shan't," said the captain, decidedly, "for 'twouldn't be any punishin'.—Can't some of you whistle?"

Willy Snow struck up Yankee Doodle, which soon charmed the wayward feet of the little volunteers, and set them to marching in good time.

Afterward their captain gave instructions in "groundin' arms," "stackin' arms," "firin'," and "countin' a march," by which he meant "countermarching." He had really read a good many pages in Infantry Tactics, and had treasured up the military phrases with some care, though he had but a confused idea of their meaning.

"Holler-square!" said he, when he could think of nothing else to say. Of course he meant a "hollow square."

"Shall we holler all together?" cried a voice from the midst of the ranks.

The owner of the voice would have been "stood on the barrel," if Horace had been less busy thinking.

"I've forgot how they holler, as true as you live; but I reckon it's all together, and open your mouths wide."

At this the young volunteers, nothing loath, gave a long, deafening shout, which the woods caught up and echoed.

Horace scratched his head. He had seen his father drill his men, but he could not remember that he had ever heard them scream.

A pitched battle came off next, which would have been a very peaceful one if all the boys had not wanted to be Northerners. But the feeling was greatly changed when Horace joined the Southern ranks, saying "he didn't care how much he played Secesh when everybody knew he was a good Union man, and his father was going to be a general." After this there was no trouble about raising volunteers on the rebel side.

The whole affair ended very pleasantly, only there was some slashing right and left with a few bits of broken glass, which were used as swords; and several mothers had wounds to dress that night.

Mrs. Clifford heard no complaint from her little son, although his fingers were quite ragged, and must have been painful. Horace was really a brave boy, and always bore suffering like a hero. More than that, he had the satisfaction of using the drops of blood for red paint; and the first thing after supper he made a wooden sword and gun, and dashed them with red streaks.

CHAPTER VI

SUSIE AND PRUDY

The Clifford children were very anxious to see Susie and Prudy, and it seemed a long while to wait; but the Portland schools had a vacation at last, and then it was time to expect the little cousins.

The whole family were impatient to see them and their excellent mother. Grandma lost her spectacles very often that afternoon, and every time she went to the window to look out, the ball of her knitting-work followed her, as Grace said, "like a little kitten."

There was great joy when the stage really drove up to the door. The cousins were rather shy of each other at first, and Prudy hid her face, all glowing with smiles and blushes, in her plump little hands. But the stiffness wore away, and they were all as well acquainted as ever they had been, in about ten minutes.

"Ain't that a bumpin' stage, though?" cried Horace; "just like a baby-jumper."

"We came in it, you know, Susie," said Grace; "didn't it shake like a corn-popper?"

"I want to go and see the piggy and ducks," said Prudy.

"Well," whispered Susie, "wait till after supper."

The Cliffords were delighted with their little cousins. When they had last seen Prudy, which was the summer before, they had loved her dearly. Now she was past five, and "a good deal cunninger than ever;" or so Horace thought. He liked her pretty face, her gentle ways, and said very often if he had such a little sister he'd "go a-dyin'."

To be sure Susie was just his age, and could run almost as fast as he could; still Horace did not fancy her half as much as Prudy, who could not run much without falling down, and who was always sure to cry if she got hurt.

Grace and Susie were glad that Horace liked Prudy so well, for when they were cutting out dolls' dresses, or playing with company, it was pleasant to have him take her out of the way.

Prudy's mouth was not much larger than a button-hole, but she opened it as wide as she could when she saw Horace whittle out such wonderful toys.

He tried to be as much as possible like a man; so he worked with his jacket off, whistling all the while; and when he pounded, he drew in his breath with a whizzing noise, such as he had heard carpenters make.

All this was very droll to little Prudy, who had no brothers, and supposed her "captain cousin" must be a very remarkable boy, especially as he told her that, if he hadn't left his tool-box out West, he could have done "a heap better." It was quite funny to see her standing over him with such a happy, wondering little face, sometimes singing snatches of little songs, which were sure to be wrong somewhere, such as,—

"Little kinds of deedness,

Little words of love,

Make this earthen needn't,

Like the heaven above."

 

She thought, as Horace did, that her sled would look very well "crossed off with green;" but Susie would not consent. So Horace made a doll's sled out of shingles, with turned-up runners, and a tongue of string. This toy pleased Prudy, and no one had a right to say it should not be painted green.

But as Captain Horace was just preparing to add this finishing touch, a lady arrived with little twin-boys, four years old. Aunt Madge came into the shed to call Horace and Prudy. "O, auntie," said Horace, "I don't believe I care to play with those little persons!"

His aunt smiled at hearing children called "little persons," but told Horace it would not be polite to neglect his young visitors; it would be positively rude. Horace did not wish to be considered an ill-mannered boy, and at last consented to have his hands and garments cleansed with turpentine to erase the paint, and to go into the nursery to see the "little persons."

It seemed to him and Prudy that the visit lasted a great while, and that it was exceedingly hard work to be polite.

When it was well over, Prudy said, "The next lady that comes here, I hope she won't bring any little double boys! What do I love little boys for, 'thout they're my cousins?"

After the sled was carefully dried Horace printed on it the words "Lady Jane," in large yellow letters. His friend Gilbert found the paint for this, and it was thought by both the boys that the sled could not have been finer if "Lady Jane" had been spread on with gold-leaf by a sign-painter.

"Now, Prudy," said Horace, "it isn't everybody can make such a sled as that! It's right strong, too; as strong as—why, it's strong enough to 'bear up an egg'!"

If Horace had done only such innocent things as to "drill" the little boys, make sleds for Prudy, and keep store with Gilbert, his mother might have felt happy.

But Horace was growing careless. His father's parting words, "Always obey your mother, my son, and remember that God sees all you do," did not often ring in his ears now. Mr. Clifford, though a kind parent, had always been strict in discipline, and his little son had stood in awe of him. Now that he had gone away, there seemed to be some danger that Horace might fall into bad ways. His mother had many serious fears about him, for, with her feeble health, and the care of little Katie, she could not be as watchful of him as she wished to be. She remembered how Mr. Clifford had often said, "He will either make something or nothing," and she had answered, "Yes, there'll never be any half-way place for Horace." She sighed now as she repeated her own words.

In his voyages of discovery Horace had found some gunpowder. "Mine!" said he to himself; "didn't Aunt Madge say we could have everything we found up-attic?"

He knew that he was doing wrong when he tucked the powder slyly into his pocket. He knew he did wrong when he showed it to Gilbert, saying,—

"Got any matches, Grasshopper?"

They dug holes in the ground for the powder, and over the powder crossed some dry sticks. When they touched it off they ran away as fast as possible; but it was a wonder they were not both blown up. It was pleasant, no doubt, to hear the popping of the powder; but they dared not laugh too loud, lest someone in the house should hear them, and come out to ask what they could be playing that was so remarkably funny.

Mrs. Clifford little thought what a naughty thing Horace had been doing when she called him in one day, and said, with a smiling face,—for she loved to make him happy,—"See, my son, what I have bought for you! It is a present from your father, for in his last letter he asked me to get it."

Horace fairly shouted with delight when he saw the beautiful Zouave suit, gray, bordered with red, and a cap to match. If he had any twinges of conscience about receiving this present, nobody knew it.

Here is the letter of thanks which he wrote to his father:—