BUILDING THE DAM
Even a hammer makes a good pillow if one is tired enough, and thefreight-car family slept until the nine-o'clock church bells began toring faintly in the valley. There were at least a dozen churches, andtheir far-away bells sounded sweetly harmonious in so many differentkeys.
"They almost play a tune," said Violet, as she listened.
"I like music all right," replied Henry in a business-like way, "but Ifor one shall have to get to work."
"This will be a good day to wash all the stockings," said Jess. "We'llall be wading so much in the brook, anyway."
After breakfast the first thing Henry did was to survey, with criticaleyes, the spot they had chosen for a pool. It was a hollow about threeyards across. There were no stones in it at all.
"It's _big_ enough already," remarked Henry at last, "but it hasn'tenough water in it." He measured its depth with a stick. "We'll have toguess at inches," he said.
"I have a little tape measure in my workbag," ventured his sisterViolet.
Henry flashed a smile at her. "Is there anything you _haven't_ got inyour workbag?" he asked her.
The children measured the wet stick carefully. The water was just teninches deep in the deepest part.
Henry explained his plan of engineering to his sisters. "We will have tohaul some big logs across this narrow part and stuff them from this endwith stones and underbrush. It ought to be three feet deep before we getthrough."
"O Henry!" protested Jess. "Benny would get drowned."
"Drowned!" echoed Henry. "How tall do you think he is, anyhow?"
They measured the little boy and found him to be forty-two inches tall.That settled it; the pool was designed to be three feet in depth.
Luckily the largest logs were not far away; but as it was, it was amatter of great labor for the builders to drag them to the scene ofoperations.
"Let's get all the logs up here first," suggested Jess. "Then we canhave the fun of laying them across."
The two older children dragged all the logs, while Violet and Bennyattended to the stones, with the help of the cart. Occasionally Henrywas called upon to assist with a heavy stone, but for the most partBenny puffed out his cheeks and heaved the stones himself. In fact,Henry decided at this point to let Benny drop them into the water as hegathered them. "Splash 'em right in, old fellow," he directed. "Onlykeep them in a nice straight line right across this place between thesetwo trees. It won't make any difference how wet he gets," he added in anaside to Jess. "We can dry him in the sun."
Jess thought a little differently, although she said nothing. She tookoff Benny's little crinkled blouse and one pair of bloomers, and startedto hang them on the line.
"Good time to wash them!" she exclaimed.
"Let me wash them," begged Violet. "You're more useful building thedam." There was wisdom in this suggestion, so Jess accepted itgratefully, and even added Henry's blouse to the laundry.
"When we finish the dam they will surely be dry," she said.
As for Henry, he was only too glad to work without it. "Makes me feellighter," he declared.
Rare and beautiful birds came and watched the barefooted children asthey scurried around, building their wall of masonry. But the childrendid not have any eyes for birds then. They watched with delighted eyesas each stone was added to the wall under the clear water, and it beganto rise almost to the surface.
"That makes a solid foundation for the logs, you see," explained Henrywith pride. "They won't be floating off downstream the minute we laythem on."
Then at last the time arrived when they were to lay the logs on.
"Let's wedge the first one between these two trees," said Jess, with ahappy thought. "Then if each end of the log is on the upper side of thetrees, the harder the water pounds the tighter the dam gets."
"Good work!" exclaimed Henry admiringly. "That's just what we'll do."
But the children were not at all prepared for what happened the momentthe first big log was splashed into its place on top of the stone wall.
The water, defeated in its course down the rocky bed, gurgled and chasedabout as it met the opposing log, and found every possible hole toescape.
"Leaks," said Henry briefly, as the water began to rush around both endsand pour over the top of the log. "We'll make the logs so thick it_can't_ get through. We'll lay three logs across, with three logs on topof them, and three more on top of that."
The children set about stubbornly to accomplish this. Violet held greatsprays of fine underbrush in place until each log was laid. Wetterchildren never were seen. But nobody cared. They resolutely plugged theends with more stones, more underbrush, and more logs. Each time a leakwas discovered, someone dropped a stone over it. Even Benny caught thefever of conquering the mischievous water which slipped from their grasplike quicksilver.
When the three top logs were at last dropped into place, the excitedchildren sat down to watch the pool fill. This it did slowly.
Finding now no means of exit, the water was quieter. It rose steadilyup the barricade of logs. It widened beautifully. Henry could not sitstill. "It slopes!" he cried. "See how clear it is! And still! See howstill it is!"
And then the water began to overflow the logs. It spilled over the topwith a delightful curve. And on the other side it formed a secondwaterfall--not high and narrow and graceful like the natural fall above,but very low and wide. "Just like a regular mill dam," said Henry.
He held the measuring stick out as far as he could and plunged it intothe water. It lacked an inch of being three feet deep.
"Deep enough," he declared.
In fact it looked so deep that Benny could not conceal a slight fear.
"That's the beauty of the slope," observed Jess. "Benny can wade in justas far as he wants to, and no farther. We all know what the bed of thepool is like--no holes or stones."
The girls had to leave to prepare dinner, but Henry could not bepersuaded to leave the wonderful swimming pool. "I'd rather swim thaneat," he said.
Luckily for the children, their supply of provisions was the largest ofany day since their flight. The girls lighted the fire and heated up theremainder of the stew and cut the bread. The butter, hard and cold inthe refrigerator, was taken out, and four portions cut from it. The twodoughnuts made four half rings for dessert.
The cooks rang the dinner bell. This was an ingenious arrangement hungon a low branch. It consisted of a piece of bent steel swung on astring. Violet hit it sharply with another piece of steel. It soundeddeeply and musically through the woods, and the boys understood it andobeyed at once.
It was evident the moment they appeared that at least three of thefamily had been swimming. Watch shook himself violently at intervals,spattering water drops in all directions. Henry and Benny, fresh andradiant, with plastered hair and clean dry stockings and blouses,apparently liked to swim and eat, too.
"You can actually swim a few strokes in it, Jess, if you're careful,"Henry said, with excusable pride, as he sat down to dinner.
Building a dam is wonderful sauce for a dinner. "I think stew is muchbetter the second day," observed Benny, eating hungrily.
There remained two more adventures for the eventful day. The girls cuttheir hair. Violet's dark curls came off first. "They're awfully in theway," explained Violet, "and so much trouble when you're working."
They were tangled, too, and Jess cut them off evenly by a string, withViolet's little scissors. Jess' chestnut hair was long and silky andnicely braided, but she never murmured as it came off too. The two girlsran to the brook mirror to see how they looked. The new haircut was verybecoming to both.
"I like you better that way," said Henry approvingly. "Lots moresensible when you're living in the woods."
Around four o'clock the children took a long walk in the oppositedirection from any of their other explorations. They were rewarded bytwo discoveries. One was a hollow tree literally filled with walnuts,gathered presumably by a thrifty squirrel the previous fall. The oth
erdiscovery frightened them a little just at first. For with bristlingback and a loud bark, Watch suddenly began to rout out something in theleaves, and that something began to cackle and half run and half flyfrom the intruders. It was a runaway hen. The children succeeded incatching the dog and reducing him to order, although it was clear heliked very much to chase hens.
"She had some eggs, too," remarked Benny as if trying to make pleasantconversation.
Jess bent over incredulously and saw a rude nest in the moss in whichthere were five eggs.
"A runaway hen!" said Henry, hardly believing his eyes. "She wants tohide her nest and raise chickens."
The children had no scruples at all about taking the eggs.
"Almost a gift from heaven," said Violet, stroking one of the eggs witha delicate finger. "It wouldn't be polite to refuse them."
Scrambled eggs made a delicious supper for the children. Jess broke allthe eggs into the biggest bowl and beat them vigorously with a spoonuntil they were light and foamy. Then she added milk and salt anddelegated Violet to beat them some more while she prepared the fire. Thebig kettle, empty and clean, was hung over the low fire and butter wasdropped in. Jess watched it anxiously, tipping the kettle slightly inall directions. When the butter had reached the exact shade of brown,Jess poured in the eggs and stirred them carefully, holding her skirtsaway from the fire. She was amply repaid for her care when she saw herfamily attack the meal. Clearly this was a feast day.
"We shall have to be satisfied tomorrow to live on bread and milk," sheobserved, scraping up the last delicious morsel.
But when tomorrow came they had more than bread and milk, as you willsoon see.
The Box-Car Children Page 8