  The visit was paid at last, and Eileen went as a kind of “scout,” to seek news and information, and the others waited with what patience they could for their return. But the time seemed very long as they watched up the road, long before there could be any possibility of them appearing; and at last Eva suggested that they should walk up and meet them. Willie joined them, and they all marched forth and walked to the Big White Gate, a mile and a half from home, before they met them. Eileen sprang out to tell them everything. “I’ll walk home,” she said, “because I’ve got such a lot to tell them.” “Won’t you get in and have a drive, Doris?” asked Mother. “No, tanks,” answered Doris. “I want to hear about ’em.” “Oh, they’re boskers! A lot better than I thought, and we’ll be able to have great fun together. What do you think—there’s five of them. Old Joe must have missed two the day he was there.” “That’s great!” they cried. “There’s Colin, about sixteen. He’s nice, and his hair’s hardly red at all, although there’s a bit of red in it, and he can ride and shoot and skate and——” “Does he wear long pants?” asked Willie. “Yes, and he had a lovely Norfolk suit on, and looked like the nice fellows on the catalogues.” “I wish I was in long pants,” grumbled Willie. “What! A boy like you? A nice sight you’d be in long pants. Why, you’ve got five years to go yet. It isn’t long since Colin took to them.” “Did you call him Colin?” asked Eva. “Yes, of course I did, and he said we must all call him Colin. We’re all going to meet them to-morrow down at the river bridge, because Colin’s promised to take Meta there, and it’ll be great fun. Meta’s the delicate one. She’s not always delicate, but she hurt the spine of her back, and she has to have a long rest. That’s why she has an invalid’s chair, but she’s real nice and cheerful. Then there’s Edith—she’s next to Colin. I should have said her before Meta; and there’s two little boys—Keith and Kossie. They are little dears, but very wild. I mean they chase round and make a noise, but they’re lovely looking. And they’re twins.” “Oh, dear, I wish to-morrow would come soon!” said Doris. “It won’t be long,” said Eileen, consolingly. The next afternoon they met, and became firm friends. They told each other their ages and dates of their birthdays, and their favourite names and favourite flowers, and they made up their minds to be friends always, no matter what happened. “You look real nice in that chair,” said Eva to Meta, impulsively. “Do I?” she laughed. “Well, I’ll be real glad when I can leave it. Sometimes since I have come up here I’ve had some nice little short walks, and it is just lovely to be on my feet again. I never knew how nice it was to walk till I’ve been lying down so long.” “I’ll read all my poems to you some day, if you like,” went on Eva. “I’d love it,” Meta answered. “Yes, I have a nice collection of stamps,” Colin was saying to Mollie, “and some of them are very valuable, and I have some beautiful foreign post-cards, too——” “Any money in post-cards?” asked Willie, with his hands deep in his pockets. “Oh, no, it’s just a hobby.” “I believe in money-making,” asserted Willie. “Some day I’m going to start and make a big lot of it.” “Good luck to you,” laughed Colin. “You’re thinking of it early.” “A man has to start young,” answered Willie, as he strode off with his fishing line. He would have dearly loved to have a game of chasings with the two little boys and Doris, but just on the first meeting he wanted to appear dignified. “He’s a queer little chap,” laughed Colin to Mollie. “He thinks he’s a man when he talks like that,” said Mollie, hastily. “He’s a real nice little boy when he’s natural.” Meanwhile the two little boys were becoming unmanageable. They would race backwards and forwards over the bridge, like two young horses, and up and down the steep banks of the river, until they became more daring, and started to jump from one stone to another across the water. “Come out at once, you young rascals!” commanded Colin, “and don’t attempt to go in there again.” So for a time there was peace while they played at making houses with sticks with Doris and Baby. Then Mollie looked up and saw a sight that made her blood run cold, for, perched high on a tree overhanging the deepest part of the river, were the twins far out on a slender branch that swayed with their weight. One false move, and they would be dashed into the gurgling water that lapped round the cruel sharp stones just beneath them. Colin saw them, too, and his face blanched. “Not a word, Mollie,” he gasped. “Go and talk to Meta. Talk for all you’re worth, and don’t let her see them, whatever you do.” Mollie never quite knew how she reached Meta, and what she talked about to make her laugh so; but she caught hold of the invalid’s chair and wheeled it away down the road and around the bend, out of sight of the fatal tree, after she had whispered to Edith and Eileen to go to Colin. The twins could see their danger, and looked appealingly to those on the river bank, for they had all joined Colin by this, and Doris and Baby waved and clapped their hands in fear. “Keep still, the pair of you!” commanded Colin, “and I’ll come up to you.” He tore off his coat and boots, and attempted to climb the tree. They were a long way out, but it was easy enough to reach them if they would only keep still. At last Colin, lying on a strong branch, put out his hand and drew Keith back to safety, and when halfway down handed him to the watchers on the bank. He then went back again for Kossie, who was beginning to cry and getting restive. Suddenly one of the branches he was clinging to broke, and the next instant Kossie would have been tossed into the water, had not Colin, with a mighty effort, grasped him. For a minute he swung in mid air, and then he was drawn back to the branch. For a time the two of them hung there. The watchers on the bank held their breath. If the branch should snap, and send the two clinging figures into the stony depths below! A few twigs and bushes broke off and dropped into the gurgling water, and the watchers shuddered. Supposing it should have been Colin or Kossie! But at last the tension was over, and Colin slowly descended, with Kossie in his arms. Then Doris, Baby, and the others rushed the twins and kissed and hugged them, and told them never to do it again, and gave them all kinds of advice and warnings. “No, never do it again,” said Colin, sternly, facing the culprits. “You might have been floating down the river now—two little corpses. I’ve a good mind to——” But his words were drowned in the wail the twins set up at the thought of being two little corpses, and it was long ere they could pacify them. “Me don’t want to be corpse,” shouted Kossie. “Me don’t, eder,” cried Keith. “Me want to wide me po—o-ny.” “Well, you’ll never ride your pony again, you’ll never see your pony, if you go doing things like that,” said Colin. “Come on, let’s have some billy tea to cheer us up, and then it will be time for home.” “Oh, what a pity it’s nearly over!” said Doris. “I wish it was just beginning.” “Never mind, we’ll soon meet again,” said Colin, as he threw a stack of twigs and bushes on the fire that crackled and blazed merrily. They all had a parting cup of tea, and gave three cheers for Colin and three cheers for all themselves; then Doris said: “Three cheers for the twins!” “They don’t deserve it,” said Colin, but he joined in the cheer, and caps and hats were thrown high in the air. “What a beueful day it was,” said Doris, as they walked home across the paddock. “Yes, lovely. Nearly an accident and all,” said Eileen. “It was just like what you’d read about. Oh, it was a lovely day, and I love the twins, although they’re wild and a bit bold.” “Pity Kossie didn’t fall in and didn’t get hurt. It would have been great to talk about,” said Willie. “If he only fell in and sailed down the river a bit. It would have been real great!” “Ye—es. As long as he didn’t get hurt,” agreed Eva. “Yes. I wish he fell in and sailed away,” said Doris, briskly. “It wouldn’t ha’ hurt him, an’ we’d had great fun. Pity Colin didn’t push him in,” she cried, warming to the subject. “Oh, well, anyhow, he nearly fell in, and it was real exciting, so we can’t grumble,” said Eileen, and they all agreed. They all walked home through the cold, sharp-tinged gloaming, very pleased with themselves and the world in general. As time went on there were many merry meetings, and the twins had some hairbreadth escapes, and the Gillong children wondered how ever they had lived so long without the Garlands, and the Garlands wondered the same about the Hudsons. Sometimes they would go fishing, and the twins would throw stones and sticks in the water, just to see the circles growing wider and wider. Colin would chase them up the bank with his rod, because he said they hunted the fish away; and then they would climb trees and “hoot-toot” among the branches and declare they were owls or other birds. They were a source of never-ending joy to Doris, who dearly loved to watch them at their tricks, and she wished and wished that she knew a million thousand boys like them. |
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