“Oh, Beechnut!” said Phonny.
Although Phonny said Oh Beechnut, he still had a secret conviction that what Beechnut had said was true. He was silent a moment, and then he asked what was the other childishness which Beechnut had seen within half an hour.
“In unloading this wood,” said Beechnut, “you tried to get hold of the biggest sticks, even when they were partly buried under the little ones, and thus worked to great disadvantage. Men take the smaller ones off first, and so clear the way to get at the larger ones. But boys make a great ado in getting hold of the largest ones they can see, by way of showing the by-standers how strong they are.”
“Well,” said Phonny, “I will throw off the little ones after this.”
So Phonny went to work again, and in throwing off the remainder of the load, he acted in a much more sensible and advantageous manner than he had done before. The cart was soon empty. Beechnut then went into the house and brought out a small chair; this he placed in the middle of the cart, for Malleville. He also placed a board across the cart in front, in such a manner that the ends of the board rested upon the sides of the cart. The board thus formed a seat for Beechnut and Phonny. Beechnut then gave the reins to Phonny, who had taken his seat upon the board, while he, himself, went to help Malleville in.
He led Malleville up to the cart behind, and putting his hands under her arms, he said “Jump!” Malleville jumped – Beechnut at the same time lifting to help her. She did not however quite get up, and so Beechnut let her down to the ground again.
“Once more,” said Beechnut.
So Malleville tried again. She went a little higher this time than before, but not quite high enough.
“That makes twice,” said Beechnut. “The rule is,
“Try it once, try it twice,
And then once more, and that makes thrice.”
The third time Malleville seemed to be endowed with some new and supernatural strength in her jumping: for she bounded so high that her feet rose almost to a level with the top of the seat, and then, as she came down gently upon the floor of the cart, Beechnut released his hold upon her, and she walked to her chair and sat down. Beechnut then mounted to his place by the side of Phonny, and the whole party rode away.
After riding along for some distance, Phonny asked Beechnut if he really thought that he was childish.
“Why no,” said Beechnut, “not particularly. You are a little boyish sometimes, and I suppose that that is to be expected, since you are really a boy. But you are growing older every year, and I see some marks of manliness in you, now and then. How old are you now?”
“I am nine years and five months,” said Phonny. “That is, I am about half-past nine.”
“That is pretty old,” said Beechnut, “but then I suppose I must expect you to be a boy some time longer.”
“Beechnut,” said Phonny, “did you know that my cousin Wallace was coming here pretty soon?”
“Is he?” said Beechnut. “From college?”
“Yes,” said Phonny, “it is his vacation. He is coming here to spend his vacation.”
“I am glad of that,” said Beechnut. “I like to have him here.”
“And my cousin Stuyvesant is coming too,” said Phonny.
“Stuyvesant is my brother,” said Malleville.
“How old is he?” asked Beechnut.
“He is only nine,” said Phonny.
“Then he is not so old as you are,” said Beechnut.
“Not quite,” said Phonny.
“And I suppose of course, he will be more of a boy than you,” said Beechnut.
“I don’t know,” said Phonny.
“We shall see,” said Beechnut.
Just then, Phonny heard the sound of wheels behind him. He turned round and saw a wagon coming along the road.
“Here comes a wagon,” said he. “I am going to whip up, so that they shall not go by us.”
“No,” said Beechnut, “turn out to one side of the road, and walk the horse, and let them go by.”
“Why?” asked Phonny.
“I’ll tell you presently,” said Beechnut, “after the wagon has got before us.”
Phonny turned out of the road and let the wagon drive by, and then Beechnut told him that the reason why he was not willing to have him whip up and keep ahead was, that he wanted to use the strength of the horse that day, in hauling wood, and not to waste it in galloping along the road, racing with a wagon.
At length the party reached a place where there was a pair of bars by the roadside, and a way leading in, to a sort of pasture. Phonny knew that this was where Beechnut was going, and so he turned in. The road was rough, and Malleville had to hold on very carefully to the side of the cart as they went along. Presently the road went into a wood, and after going on some way in this wood, Beechnut directed Phonny to stop, and they all got out.
“Now, Phonny,” said Beechnut, “you can have your choice either to work or play.”
“What do you think that I had better do?” said Phonny.
“Play, I rather think,” said Beechnut.
“I thought you would say work,” said Phonny.
“You had better play, in order to keep Malleville company,” said Beechnut.
“Well,” said Phonny, “I will.”
So while Beechnut went to work to get a new load of wood, Phonny and Malleville went away to play.
There was a precipice of rocks near the place where Beechnut was loading his cart, with a great many large rocks at the foot of it. The top of the precipice was crowned with trees, and there were also a great many bushes and trees growing among the rocks below. It was a very wild and romantic place, and Phonny and Malleville liked to play there very much indeed.
After a time Phonny called out to Beechnut to inquire whether he had any matches in his pocket. He said that he and Malleville were going to build a fire.
“Yes,” said Beechnut, “I have. Come here and I will give you some.”
So Phonny sent Malleville after the matches, while he collected dry wood for a fire. When Malleville returned, she gave Phonny the matches, and told him that Beechnut said that they must make the fire on the rocks somewhere, or in some other safe place, so that it should not spread into the woods.
“Well,” said Phonny, “I will look about and find a good place.”
Accordingly, he began to walk along at the foot of the precipice, examining every recess among the rocks, and all the nooks and corners which seemed to promise well, as places of encampment. Malleville could not quite keep up with him on account of the roughnesses and inequalities of the way.
At last Malleville, who had fallen a little behind, heard Phonny calling to her in tones of great delight. She hastened on. In a moment she saw Phonny before her just coming out from among the bushes and calling to her,
“Malleville! Malleville! come here quick! – I have found a cavern.”
Malleville went on, and presently she came in view of what Phonny called a cavern. It was a place where two immense fragments of rock leaned over toward each other, so as to form a sort of roof, beneath which was an inclosure which Phonny called a cavern. He might perhaps have more properly called it a grotto. There was a great flat stone at the bottom of the cavern, which made an excellent floor, and there was an open place in the top behind, where Phonny thought that the smoke would go out if he should make a fire.
“There,