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TATTINE

by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]


CHAPTER I. TROUBLE NO. 1

Whether you happen to be four or five, or six, or seven, or even older than
that, no doubt you know by this time that a great many things need to be
learned in this world, everything, in fact, and never more things than at
seven. At least, so thought little Tattine, and what troubled her the most was
that some of the things seemed quite wrong, and yet no one was able to right
them. All her little life Tattine's Mother had been setting things straight
for her, drying every tear, and unravelling every tangle, so that Tattine was
pretty downhearted the day she discovered that there were some things that
were quite beyond even her Mother's power to alter. It was on a lovely June
morning that Tattine made the first of her unwelcome discoveries. She was
feeling particularly happy too, until she made it. She was sitting up in an
apple-tree, sketching, and doing it very well. She had taken only a few
drawing-lessons but had taken to them immensely, and now with one limb of the
tree for a seat and another one for an easel, she was working away at a pretty
chime tower, that stood on a neighbor's land.

Down on the grass beneath her Betsy and Doctor were lying. Betsy was a dear,
homely red-and-white Laverack setter, and Doctor, black-and-white and better
looking, was her son. Doctor's beautiful grandmother Tadjie was lying, alas!
under the grass instead of on it, not very far away. It was a sad day for the
dog world when Tadjie left it, for although she was very old, she was very
beautiful up to the last with a glossy silky coat, a superbly feathered tail,
and with brown eyes so soft and entreating, they fairly made you love her,
whether you were fond of dogs or no.

Well, Tattine was sketching away and was quite absorbed in it, but Doctor, who
was little more than a puppy, thought it very dull. He lay with his head
between his paws, and, without moving a muscle, rolled his eyes round and
round, now gazing up at Tattine, and then at his mother, trying to be happy
though quiet. Finally he stretched himself, got on his feet, cocked up his
ears, and came and stood in front of Betsy, and although not a sound was
heard, he said, so that Betsy perfectly understood him, "I can't stand this
any longer. If you have any love for me do please come for a run."

Then Betsy took one long stretch and with motherly self-sacrifice reluctantly
got up, prepared to humor this lively boy of hers. Suddenly Doctor craned his
head high in the air, and gave a little sniff, and then Betsy craned her head
and sniffed. Then they stole as stealthily away as though stepping upon eggs,
and Tattine never knew that they had gone. It was no stealthy treading very
long, however. No sooner had they crossed the roadway than they made sure of
the scent they thought they had discovered, and made one wild rush down
through the sumach and sweet-fern to the ravine. In a few moments it was one
wild rush up again right to the foot of Tattine's apple-tree, and Tattine
looked down to see Doctor - oh, could she believe her two blue eyes! - with a
dear little rabbit clinched firmly between his teeth, and his mother (think of
it, his mother!) actually standing proudly by and wildly waving her tail from
side to side, in the most delighted manner possible. As for Tattine, she
simply gave one horrified little scream and was down from the tree in a flash,
while the scream fortunately brought Maggie hurrying from the house, and as
Maggie was Doctor's confidential friend (owing to certain choice little
morsels, dispensed from the butler's pantry window with great regularity three
times a day), he at once, at her command, relaxed his hold on the little
jack-rabbit. The poor little thing was still breathing, breathing indeed with
all his might and main, so that his heart thumped against his little brown
sides with all the regularity of a Rider Engine. Tattine's first thought was
for the rabbit, and she held it close to her, stroking it with one little
brown trembling hand and saying, "There! there! Hush, you little dear; you're
safe now, don't be frightened! Tattine wouldn't hurt you for the world." Her
next thought was for Doctor, and she turned on him with a torrent of abuse,
that ought to have made the hair of that young M.D. stand on end. "Oh, you
cruel, CRUEL dog! whatever made you do such a thing as this? I never dreamt it
of you, never." At this Betsy's tail dropped between her legs, for she was a
coward at heart, but Doctor held his ground, his tail standing on end, as his
hair should have done, and his eyes all the while fairly devouring the little
rabbit. "And the worst of it," continued Tattine, "is that no matter how sorry
you may feel" (Betsy was the only one who showed any signs of sorrow, and she
was more scared than sorry), "no matter how sorry you may feel, that will not
mend things. You do not know where this baby lived, and who are its father and
mother, and like as not it is too young to live at all away from them and will
die," and Tattine raised one plump little hand and gave Doctor a slap that at
least made him "turn tail," and slink rather doggedly away to his own
particular hole under the laundry steps. And now it was time to find Mamma -
high time, for it seemed to Tattine she would choke with all the feelings,
sorrowful and angry, welling up within her. Mamma was not far afield - that is,
she was very near, at her desk in the cosy little alcove of the upstairs
hall-way, and Tattine soon found her.

"Now, Mamma," she asked excitedly, "did you know that Betsy or Doctor would do
such a thing as this?"

The trembling little rabbit in Tattine's hands showed what was meant by THIS.

Mrs. Gerald paused a moment, then she said reluctantly, "Yes, Tattine, I did."

"Have they done it before, Mamma?"

"I am sorry to say they have."

"Have you seen them bring struggling rabbits dangling in their mouths right up
to the house here, Mamma?"

Mrs. Gerald merely shook her head. She felt so sorry to have to own to such a
sight.

"Why did I never know it, Mamma?"

"You have never chanced to be on the spot, dear, when it happened, and I was
in no hurry to tell you anything that I knew would make you sad."

"I think it would have been better to tell me. It's awful to find such a thing
out suddenly about dogs you've trusted, and to think how good and gentle they
look when they come and put their heads in your lap to be petted, just as
though they would not hurt a fly; but then, of course, anyone who has eyes
knows that they do lure flies, snapping at them all day long, and just for the
fun of it too, not because they need them for food, as birds do. Mamma, I
don't believe there's anything meaner than a Laverack setter. Still, Tadjie
would never have done such a thing, I know." Mrs. Gerald was silent, and
Tattine, expecting her to confirm what she had said, grew a little suspicious.
"Would Tadjie, Mamma?" with a directness that would not admit of indirectness.

"Yes, Tattine; Tadjie would. She was trained to hunt before ever she was given
to Papa, and so were her ancestors before her. That is why Doctor and Betsy,
who have never been trained to hunt, go wild over the rabbits. They have
inherited the taste."

"Trained to hunt," said Tattine thoughtfully. "Do you mean that men just went
to work to teach them to be so cruel?"

"Well, I suppose in a way setters are natural hunters, Tattine, but then their
training has doubtless a great deal to do with it, but I want to tell you
something that I think will give you just a grain of comfort. I read the other
day that Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic explorer, who almost lost his
life in being attacked by some huge animal - it must have been a bear, I
think - says that the animal when he first gets you in his teeth gives you such
a shake that it paralyzes your nerves - this is, it benumbs all your feelings,
so, that, strange as it may seem, you really do not suffer. So let us hope
that it was that way with this little rabbit."

"But there's a little blood here on one side, Mamma."

"That doesn't always prove suffering, either, Tattine. Soldiers are sometimes
wounded without ever knowing it until they see a little sign of blood
somewhere."

Tattine listened attentively to all this, and was in a measure comforted. It
seemed that Mamma was still able to better things, even though not able to set
everything perfectly right. "Now," Tattine said, - with a little sigh of
relief, "I think I will try and see what I can do for Bunny. Perhaps he would
first like a drink," so downstairs she went, and putting some milk in a
shallow tea-cup, she dipped Bunny's nose in it, and it seemed to her as though
he did take a little of it. Then she trudged up to the garret for a box, and,
putting a layer of cotton-batting in the bottom, laid Bunny in one corner.
Then she went to the garden and pulled a leaf or two of the youngest, greenest
lettuce, and put it right within reach of Bunny's nose, and a little saucer of
water beside it. Then she went down to tell the gardener's little boy all
about the sorrowful thing that had happened.

The next morning Bunny was still breathing, but the lettuce was un-nibbled; he
had not moved an inch, and he was trembling like a leaf. "Mamma," she called
upstairs, "I think I'll put BUN in the sun" (she was trying not to be too
down-hearted); "he seems to be a little chilly." Then she sat herself down in
the sun to watch him. Soon Bunny ceased to tremble. "Patrick," she called to
the old man who was using the lawn mower, "is this little rabbit dead?"

"Yes, miss, shure," taking the little thing gently in his hand.

"Very well," she answered quietly. Tattine used those two little words very
often; they meant that she accepted the situation, if you happen to know what
that means. "Now I think I will not trouble Mamma about it," she said to
herself thoughtfully, so she went to the closet under the stairs, got a little
empty box she knew was there, and, taking it out of doors, she put the little
rabbit in it, and then trudged down to the tool-house for her spade and rake.

"Bunny is dead, Joey," she called to the gardener's little boy as she came
back. "Come help me bury him," and so Joey trotted behind her to the spot
already selected. "We must make this hole good and deep," she explained (Joey
stood looking on in wide-eyed wonder), "for if Doctor and Betsy would kill a
little live rabbit, there is no telling but they would dig up a dead one." So
the hole was made at least four inches deep, Bunny was buried in it, and the
earth, with Joey's assistance, stamped down hard, but afterwards it was
loosened somewhat to plant a little wild-wood plant atop of the tiny grave.
"Now, Joey, you wait here till I go bring something for a tombstone," Tattine
directed, and in a second she was back again with the cover of a box in one
hand and a red crayon in the other. Sitting flat upon the grass, she printed
on the cover in rather irregular letters: -

BORN - I don't know when. DIED June 17th.
LAVERACK SETTERS NOT ALLOWED.

This she put securely into place, while Joey raked up a little about the spot,
and they left the little rabbit grave looking very neat and tidy. The next
morning Tattine ran out to see how the little wild-wood plant was growing, and
then she stood with her arms akimbo in blank astonishment. The little grave
had disappeared. She kicked aside the loose earth, and saw that box and Bunny
were both gone, and, not content with that, they had partially chewed up the
tombstone, which lay upon its face a little distance away. They, of course,
meant Betsy and Doctor. "There was no use in my putting: 'Laverack setters not
allowed,' " she said to herself sorrowfully, and she ran off to tell her
Mother of this latest tragedy.

"Yes, I know, Tattine dear," said Mrs. Gerald, in the first pause; "there is
neither pity nor mercy in the heart of a setter when he is on the scent of a
rabbit, alive or dead - but, Tattine, don't forget they have their good sides,
Doctor and Betsy; just think how fond they are of you and me. Why, the very
sight of us always makes them beat a tattoo with their tails."

"Yes, I know, Mamma, but I can't feel somehow that tattoos with their tails
make up for killing rabbits with their teeth."


CHAPTER II. A MAPLE-WAX MORNING

A team came rushing in between the gate-posts of the stone wall, and it looked
like a run-away. They were riderless and driverless, and if there had been any
harness, there was not a vestige of it to be seen; still, they kept neck and
neck, which means in horsey language side by side, and on they came in the
maddest fashion. Tattine stood on the front porch and watched them in high
glee, and not a bit afraid was she, though they were coming straight in her
direction. When they reached her they considerately came to a sudden stop,
else there is no doubt whatever but she would have been tumbled over.

"Well, you are a team," laughed Tattine. and they laughed back, "Yes, we know
we are," and sat down on the step on either side of her. Of course, that would
have been a remarkable thing for some teams to do, but not for this one, for,
as you can guess, they were just two little people, Mabel and Rudolph, but
they were a perfect team all the same; everybody said so, and what everybody
meant was this - that whatever Rudolph "was up to," Mabel was "up to" also, and
vice versa. They traveled together finely, right "up on the bit" all the time.
It would have been easier for those who had charge of them if one or the other
had held back now and then, and set a slower pace, but as that was not their
nature and could not be helped, everybody tried to make the best of them, and
everybody loved them. Tattine did not see how she could ever have lived
without them, for they were almost as much a brother and sister to her as to
each other. This morning hey had come over by invitation for what they called
a Maple-wax morning, and that was exactly what it was, and if you have never
had one of your own, wait till you read about this one of Tattine's, and then
give your dear Mamma no peace until you have had one, either in your kitchen
in town, or in the woods out of town, which is better. One thing is necessary
to its complete enjoyment, however: you must have a "sweet tooth," but as most
little people cut that particular tooth very early, probably you are among the
fortunate number.

"Well, I don't see what we are sitting here for," said Mabel at last.

"Neithet do I," said Tattine; "I was only giving you a chance to get a little
breath. You did not seem to have much left."

"No more we had," laughed Rudolph, who was still taking little swallows and
drawing an occasional long breath, as people do when they have been exercising
very vigorously. "But if everything is ready." he added, "let us start."

"Well, everything is ready," said Tattine quite complacently, as she led the
way to the back piazza, where "everything" was lying in a row. There was the
maple sugar itself, two pounds of it on a plate, two large kitchen spoons, a
china cup, two sheets of brown wrapping-paper, two or three newspapers, a box
of matches, a pail of clear spring water, a hammer, an ice-pick, and last, and
most important of all, a granite-ware kettle.

"Now if you'll carry these," explained Tattine, "I'll run and tell Philip to
bring the ice," so Rudolph and Mabel "loaded up" and marched down to the camp,
and Tattine disappeared in the direction of the ice-house. The camp was not
far away, and consisted of a cosy little "A" tent, a hammock hung between two
young chestnuts, and a fire-place made of a circle of stones on the ground,
with a crane hanging above it. The crane was quite an elaborate contrivance,
for which Joseph the gardener was to be thanked.

The long branch on which the pot hung was pivoted, if you know what that is,
on an upright post fastened firmly in the ground, and in such a way that you
could "higher it," as Tattine said, or lower it, or swing it clear of the fire
on either side. At the end of the branch away from the fire hung a chain, with
a few blocks tied into it, for a weight, so that you lifted the weight with
one hand when you wished to change the position of the branch with the other,
and then let it rest on the ground again at the spot where you wanted the pole
to stay. You see, the great advantage of this was that, when you wished to see
how things were going on inside of the kettle, or to stop its boiling
instantly - you could just swing it away from the fire in no time, and not run
the risk of burning face or hands, or petticoats, if you belong to the
petticoat family.`

"Now," panted Tattine, for it was her turn to be breathless with running,
"I'll break the sugar if you two will make the fire, but Rudolph's to light it
and he's the only one who is to lean over it and put the wood on when it's
needed. Mamma says there is to be a very strict rule about that, because
skirts and fluffy hair like mine and Mabel's are very dangerous about a
fire," and then Tattine proceeded to roll the maple sugar in the brown paper
so as to have two or three thicknesses about it, and then, laying it upon a
flat stone, began to pound and break it with the hammer.

"Yes," said Rudolph, on his knees on the ground, and making balls of newspaper
for the foundation of the fire; "it's lucky for Mabel and me that fire is one
thing about which we can be trusted."

"I shouldn't wonder if it's the only thing," laughed Tattine, whereupon Mabel
toppled her over on the grass by way of punishment.

"No, but honest!" continued Rudolph, "I have just been trained and trained
about fire. I know it's an awfully dangerous thing. It's just foolhardy to run
any sort of risk with it, and it's wise when you make a fire in the open air
like this, to stand on the same side as the wind comes from, even if you
haven't any skirts or fluffy hair to catch."

"Here's some more wood, grandfather," said Mabel solemnly, dumping an armful
down at his side; "I should think you were eighty to hear you talk," and then
Mabel had her punishment by being chased down the path and plumped down rather
hard in the veriest tangle of brambles and briars. It chanced, however, that
her corduroy skirt furnished all the protection needed from the sharp little
thorns, so that, like "Brer Rabbit," she called out exultingly, " 'Born and
bred in a briar-patch, Brer Rudolph, born and bred in a briar-patch,'" and
could have sat there quite comfortably, no one`knows how long, but that she
heard the maple sugar go tumbling into the kettle. And then she heard Tattine
say, "A cup of water to two pounds, isn't it?" Then she heard the water go
splash on top of the maple sugar. Now she could stand it no longer, and,
clearing the briars at one bound, was almost back at the camp with another.

By this time the fire was blazing away finely, and the sugar, with the help of
an occasional stirring from the long-handled spoon in Rudolph's hand, soon
dissolved. Dissolving sometimes seems to be almost a day's journey from
boiling, and the children were rather impatient for that stage to be reached.
At last, however, Rudolph announced excitedly, "It boils, it boils! and now I
mustn't leave it for a minute. More wood, Mabel! don't be so slow, and,
Tattine, hurry Philip up with that ice," but Philip was seen at that moment
bringing a large piece of ice in a wheelbarrow, so Tattine was saved that
journey, and devoted the time instead to spreading out one of the pieces of
wrapping-paper, to keep the ice from the ground, because of the dead leaves
and "things" that were likely to cling to it.

"Now break off a good-sized piece, Tattine," Rudolph directed, "and put it on
a piece of paper near the fire," but Tattine knew that was the next thing to
do, so what was the use of Rudolph's telling her? It happens quite frequently
that people who are giving directions give too many by far.

"Now, Mabel," continued the drum-major, "will you please bring some more wood,
and will you please put your mind on it and keep bringing it? These little
twigs that make the best fire burn out in a twinkling, please notice," but
Mabel did not hurry so very much for the next armful; since she could see for
herself there was no great need for haste. Rudolph was simply getting excited,
but then the making of maple-wax is such a very responsible undertaking, he
could not be blamed for that. You need to stop its boiling at precisely the
right moment, else it suddenly reaches the point where, when you cool it, it
grows brittle like "taffy," and then good-bye to maple-wax for that kettleful.
So Rudolph, every half-minute, kept dripping little streams of the boiling
sugar from the spoon upon the piece of ice, and Tattine and Mabel kept testing
it with their fingers and tongues, until both at last exclaimed in one and the
same breatlg, "It's done! it's done! Lift it off the fire quickly; it's just
right." Just right means when the sugar hardens in a few seconds, or in a
little more than half a minute, into a delicious consistency like - well, just
like maple-wax, for there is nothing else in the world that I know of with
which to compare it. Then the children seated themselves around the great cake
of ice, and Rudolph, with the kettle on the ground beside him, tipped against
a log of wood at just the right angle, continued to be master of ceremonies,
and dipped spoonful after spoonful of the syrup, and let it trickle over the
ice in queer fantastic shapes or in little, tbin round discs like
griddle-cakes. The children ate and ate, and fortunately it seems for some
reason, to be the most harmless sweet that can be indulged in by little
people.

"Well, I've had enough," remarked Rudolph at the expiration of say a quarter
of an hour, "but isn't it wonderful that anything so delicious can just
trickle out of a tree?" his unmannerly little tongue the while making the
circuit of his lips in search of any lingering traces of sweetness.

"Trickle out of a tree!" exclaimed astonished Tattine.

"Why, yes, don't you know that's the way they make maple sugar? In the spring,
about April, when the sap begins to run up into the maple-trees, and often
while the snow is still on the ground, they what they call tap the tree; they
drive a sort of little spout right into the tree and soon the sap begins to
ooze out and drop into buckets that are placed to catch it. Afterwards they
boil it down in huge kettles made for the purpose. They call it sugaring off,
and it must be great fun."

"Not half so much fun, I should think, as sugaring down," laughed Mabel, with
her right hand placed significantly where stomachs are supposed to be.

"And now I am going to run up to the house," explained Tattine, getting
stiffly up from a rather cramped position, "for three or four plates, and
Kudolph, you break off some pieces of ice the right size for them, and we will
make a little plateful from what is left for each one up at the house, else I
should say we were three little greedies. And Mabel, while I am gone you
commence to clear up."

"Well, you are rather cool, Tattine," said Mabel, but she obediently set to
work to gather things together.

As you and I cannot be a bit of help in that direction, and have many of a
clearing-up of our own to do, I propose that we lose not a minute in running
away from that little camp, particularly as we have not had so much as a taste
of the delicious wax they've been making.


CHAPTER III. A SET OF SETTERS

It was a great bird-year at Oakdene. Never had there been so many. The same
dear old Phoebe-birds were back, building under the eaves of both the front
and back piazzas. The robins, as usual, were everywhere. The Maryland
yellow-throats were nesting in great numbers in the young growth of woods on
the hill of the ravine, and ringing out their hammer-like note in the merriest
manner; a note that no one understood until Dr. Van Dyke told us, in his
beautiful little poem, that it is "witchery, witchery, witchery," and now we
wonder that we could have been so stupid as not to have discovered it was
exactly that, long ago. But the glory of the summer were the orioles and the
scarlet tanagers; the orioles with their marvellous notes, and the tanagers in
their scarlet golfing coats glinting here and there in the sunshine. Nests
everywhere, and Tattine on one long voyage of discovery, until she knew where
at least twenty little bird families were going to crack-shell their way into
life. But there was one little family of whose whereabouts she knew nothing,
nor anyone else for that matter, until "Hark, what was that?" - Mabel and
Rudolph and Tattine were running across the end of the porch, and it was
Rudolph who brought them to a standstill.

"It's puppies under the piazza, that's what it is," declared Tattine; "where
ever did they come from, and how ever do you suppose they got there?"

"I think it's a good deal more important to know how you'll ever get them
out," answered Rudolph, who was of a practical turn of mind.

"I'll tell you what," said Tattine thoughtfully, "shouldn't wonder if they
belong to Betsy. I've seen her crowding herself through one of the air-holes
under the piazza several times lately," whereupon the children hurried to peer
through the air hole. Nothing was to be seen, however, for the piazza floor
was not more than a foot and a half from the ground, and it was filled with
all sorts of weeds that flourished without sunshine. Still the little puppy
cries were persistently wafted out from some remote corner, and, pulling off
his jacket, Rudolph started to crawl in and investigate. It did not seem
possible that he could make his way, for the place was not high enough for him
even to crawl on his hands and knees, and he had rather to worm himself along
on his elbows in quite indescribable fashion. Still, Tattine and Mabel were
more than ready to have him try, and waited patiently, bending over with their
hands upon their knees, and gazing in through the weed-grown hole in
breathless, excited fashion.

"I believe I'll have to give it up," Rudolph called back; "the cries seem as
far off as ever and I'm all but scratched to pieces." "Oh, don't! don't!"
cried Tattine and Mabel, in one breath, and Mabel added, "We MUST know what
they are and where they are. I shall go in myself if you come out."

"Well, you wouldn't go more than three feet then, I can tell you," and Rudolph
was right about that. It was only because he hated to give the thing up, even
more than the girls hated to have him, that made him persevere. "Well, here
they are at last!" he cried exultingly, a few moments later; "one, two three,
four of them, perfect little beauties too. And they must belong to Betsy;
they're just like her."

"Bring one out, bring one out!" called both the children, and fairly dancing
with delight.

"Bring out your grandmother! It's all I can manage to bring myself out,
without holding on to a puppy."

"Very well," Tattine called back, with her usual instant acceptance of the
inevitable, "but I know what," and then she was off in a flash, with Mabel
following closely to find out what WHAT might be.

It was Joseph the gardener whom Tattine wanted, and she found him where she
thought she would, killing potato-bugs in the kitchen-garden.

"What do you think, Joseph? Betsy has a beautiful set of little setters under
the piazza. Come quick, please! and see how we can get them out."

Joseph followed obediently. "Guess we'll have to let them stay there till they
crawl out," said Joseph; "Betsy'll take as good care of them there as
anywhere," whereupon the children looked the picture of misery and despair. At
this moment Rudolph emerged from the hole a mass of grass and dirt stains,
and both Mabel and Tattine thought he had been pretty plucky, though quite too
much preoccupied to tell him so, but Rudolph happily felt himself repaid for
hardships endured, in the delight of his discovery.

"It will be a month before they'll have sense enough to crawl out," he
remarked to Joseph, "and they're wedged in between some old planks in very
uncomfortable fashion. They look like fine little fellows too. I think we
ought to manage in some way to get them out."

"And it would be bad if any of them died there," said Joseph,rubbing his head
and still ruminating on the subject; "very bad. Well, we'll have to see what
we` can do about it."

"Will you see right away?" urged Tattine eagerly.

"May as well, I reckon," and Joseph walked off in the direction of the
tool-house, but to Tattine's regret evidently did not appreciate any need for
extreme haste.

In a little while he was back again with Patrick, and both of them were
carrying spades. "There's only one way to do it," he explained, as they set to
work; "you see, the pillars of this porch rest on a stone foundation, so as to
support the rooms above, and we'll have to dig out three or four of the large
stones and then dig a sort of trench to wherever the puppies are," and Rudolph
was able of course to indicate the exact spot to which the trench must lead.
It was the work of an hour to excavate the foundation-stones, and an
additional half-hour to dig the trench. Meantime Betsy appeared upon the
scene, and, evidently appreciating what was going on, stood about and
superintended matters with quite an important air. Rudolph clambered in and
dug the last few feet of the trench, because it did not need to be as large
for him as for Joseph and Patrick, and then one at a time he brought the dear
little puppies out, and Mabel and Tattine took turns in appropriating them,
while Betsy eyed them proudly but withal a little anxiously. And they were
dear; as prettily marked as their beautiful grandmother Tadjie, and too
cunning for words.

"You have made us a great deal of trouble, Betsy," said Tattine, "but they are
such beauties we forgive you," whereat Betsy looked up so affectionately that
Tattine added, "and perhaps some day I'll forgive you about that rabbit, since
Mamma says it's natural for you to hunt them." But Betsy, indifferent
creature, did not care a fig about all that; her only care was to watch her
little puppies stowed away one by one on fresh sweet-smelling straw, in the
same kennel where Doctor and his brothers and sisters had enjoyed their
puppy-hood, and then to snuggle up in a round ball close beside them. They
were Betsy's puppies for a certainty. There had been no doubt of that from the
first glimpse Rudolph gained of them in their dark little hole under the
porch. But the next morning came and then what do you suppose happened? A very
weak little puppy cry came from under the porch. Another puppy, that was what
it meant, and Joseph was very much out of patience, for the trench had been
filled up and the foundation-stones carefully replaced.

"Rudolph ought to have made sure how many there were," he said rather
growlily.

"But, Joseph, this puppy cry comes from another place way over here, it seems
to me," and Tattine ran to a spot on the porch several yards from that under
which the others had been found. "I believe it must have been a cleverer
little puppy than the others, and crawled away by itself to see what the world
was like, and that is why Rudolph missed finding it."

Joseph put his hand to his ear and, listening carefully, concluded that
Tattine was right. "Now I'll tell you what I am going to do," he said; "I can
make just a little hole, large enough for a puppy to get through, without
taking out a foundation-stone, and I'm going to make it here, near where the
cry seems to come from. Then I am going to tie Betsy to this pillar of the
porch, and I believe she'll have sense enough to try and coax the little
fellow out, and if the is such an enterprising little chap as you think he'll
have sense enough to come out."

It seemed a good plan. Betsy was brought, and Tattine sat down to listen and
watch. Betsy, hearing the little cries, began at once to coax, giving little
sharp barks at regular intervals, and trying to make the hole larger with her
paws.

Tattine's ears, which were dear little shells of ears to look at, and very
sharp little ears to hear with, thought the cries sounded a little nearer, and
now a little nearer; then she was sure of it, and Betsy and she, both growing
more excited every minute, kept pushing each other away from the hole the
better to look into it, until at last two little beads of eyes glared out at
them, and then it was an easy thing for Tattine to reach in and draw out the
prettiest puppy of all.

"Why didn't you tell us there were five, Betsy, and save us all this extra
trouble?" and Tattine hurried away to deposit number five in the kennel; but
Betsy looked up with the most reproachful look imaginable as though to say,
"How much talking could you do if you had to do it all with your eyes and a
tail?"


CHAPTER IV. MORE TROUBLES

Patrick Kirk was raking the gravel on the road into pretty criss-cross
patterns, and Tattine was pretending to help him with her own garden rake.
Patrick was one of Tattine's best friends and she loved to work with him and
to talk to him. Patrick was a fine old Irishman, there was no doubt whatever
about that, faithful and conscientious to the last degree. Every morning he
would drive over in his old buggy from his little farm in the Raritan Valley,
in abundant time to begin work on the minute of seven, and not until the
minute of six would he lay aside spade or hoe and turn his steps towards his
old horse tied under the tree, behind the barn. But the most attractive thing
about Patrick was his genial kindly smile, a smile that said as plainly as
words, that he had found life very comfortable and pleasant, and that he was
still more than content with it notwithstanding that his back was bowed with
work month in and month out, and the years were hurrying him fast on into old
age.

And so Tattine was fond of Patrick, for what (child though she was) she knew
him to be, and they spent many a delightful hour in each other's company.

"Patrick," said Tattine, on this particular morning, when they were raking
away side by side, "does Mrs. Kirk ever have a day at home?" and she glanced
at Patrick a little mischievously, doubting if he would know just what she
meant.

"Shure she has all her days at home, Miss Tattine, save on a holiday, when we
go for a day's drive to some of our neighbors', but I doubt if I'm catching
just what you're maning."

"Oh! I mean does she have a day sometimes when she gets ready for company and
expects to have people come and see her, the way ladies do in town?"

"Well, no, miss; she don't do tbat, for, tin to one, nobody'd come if she did.
We belongs to the workin' classes, Molly and I, and we has no time for the
doing of the loikes of city people."

"I'm sorry she hasn't a day," said Tattine, "because - because - "

"If ye're maning that you'd like to give us a call, miss," said Patrick,
beginning to take in the situation, "shure she could have a day at home as
aisy as the foinest lady, and proud indeed she'd be to have it with your
little self for the guest of honor."

"I would like to bring Rudolph and Mabel, Patrick."

"And what should hinder, miss?"

"And I'd like to have it an all-day-at-home, say from eleven in the morning
until five in the afternoon, and not make just a little call, Patrick."

"Of course, miss, a regular long day, with your donkey put into a stall in the
barn, and yourselves and the donkey biding for the best dinner we can give
ye."

"And I'd like to have you there, Patrick, because we might not feel AT HOME
just with Mrs. Kirk."

"Well, I don't know, miss; do you suppose your Father could spare me?" and
Patrick thought a little regretfully of the dollar and a half he would insist
upon foregoing if he took a day off, but at the same moment he berated himself
soundly for having such an ungenerous thought. "Indade, miss, if you'll manage
for me to have the day I'll gladly stay to home to make ye welcome."

"Then it's settled, Patrick, and we'll make it the very first day Papa can
spare you. " The had raked down, while they had been having this conversation,
to close proximity to two pretty rows of apple-trees that had been left on the
front lawn, a reminder of the farm that "used to be," and the sight of the
trees brought a troubled look into Tattine's face. "Patrick," she said
ruefully, "do you know that some of the nests in these trees have been robbed
of their eggs? Four or five of them are empty now. Have you an idea who could
do such a thing?"

"Yes, I have an idea," and Patrick rested his hands upon the handle of his
rake and looked significantly towards the barn; "somebody who lives in the
barn, I'm thinkin'."

"Why, Joseph would not do it, nor Philip the groom, and little Joey is too
small to climb these trees."

"It's something smaller than Joey, miss. Whisht now, and see if she's not up
to mischief this minute."

Tattine's little black-and-white kitten, whose home was in the barn, had been
frisking about her feet during all the raking, but as the raking came under
the apple-trees, other thoughts came into her little black-and-white head, and
there she was stealthily clawing her way up the nearest tree. Tattine stood
aghast, but Patrick's "whisht" kept her still for a moment, while the cat made
its way along one of the branches. Tattine knowing well the particular nest
she was seeking, made one bound for her with her rake, and with such a scream
as certainly to scare little Black-and-white out of at least one of the nine
lives to which she is supposed to be entitled. But pussy was too swift and
swiftly scrambled to the very topmost twig that would hold her weight, while
Tattine danced about in helpless rage on the grass beneath the tree. "Tattine
is having a fit," thought little Black-and-white, scared half to death and
quite ready to have a little fit of her own, to judge from her wild eyes and
bristling tail.

Tattine's futile rage was followed in a few minutes by, "Oh, Patrick, I never
dreamt it was Kittie. Has SHE been TRAINED to do it, do you think?"

"Oh. no, miss; it just comes natural to cats and kittens to prey upon birds
and birds' nests."

"Patrick," said Tattine solemnly, "there is not going to be any four-legged
thing left for me to love. I am done with Betsy and Doctor, and now I'm done
with Black-and-white. I wonder if Mamma can make it seem any better," and then
she turned her steps to the house in search of comfort, but she had gone only
half-way when the coachman, who was waiting at the door with the little grey
mare and the phaeton, motioned to her to come quietly. Tattine saw at a glance
what had happened, and sped swiftly back to Patrick. "Keep Black-and-white up
the tree," she said, in a breathless whisper; "don't let her go near the nest,
and don't let her come down for the world. The little Phoebe-birds have lit."

"All right, miss," not at all understanding the situation, but more than
willing to obey orders. Tattine was in such haste to get back to the house
that she hardly heard his answer. What she had tried to tell him was that the
five little fledglings, crowded into the tiny nest under the eaves of the

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