Meg of Mystery Mountain

by Grace May North

  CHAPTER XII. THE ABBOTT CABIN

  It was quite evident that the picturesque log cabin which nestled againstthe side of the mountain on a wide, overhanging ledge was indeed theirown. The road curved about twenty feet below it, and crude steps had beenhewn out of the rocks. The small boy tumbled out of the stage almostbefore it came to a standstill.

  "Oh, Julie, look-it, will you! We've got a real stairway leading right upto our front door. I'll beat you to the cabin."

  Julie, equally excited, scurried up after her brother and reached the topalmost as soon as he did. Then they turned and shouted joyfully to thetwo below them: "Jane! Dan! Look at us! We're top of the world."

  "Oh, boy!" Gerald capered about, unable to stand still. "I'm glad I came.I bet you, Julie, we'll have a million adventures, maybe more." But Danwas calling and so they scampered back down the rocky flight of stairs.

  The older lad laughed at their enthusiasm. "I know just how you feel," hetold them. "If I weren't afraid of shocking your sedate sister here, Ibelieve I would--well--I don't know just what I would do."

  "Stand on your head," Gerald prompted. "Do it, Dan. I'll dare you."

  But the older boy was needed just then to tell the surly driver where thetrunks were to be put. "Let me help you, Mr. Wallace." Dan made anattempt to take one end of a trunk, but the husky man, with theunchangeable countenance, merely grunted his dissent, and swinging atrunk up on his broad shoulders, he began the ascent of the steep stonestairs quite as though it were not a herculean task.

  Dan followed. "Just leave them on the porch until we get our bearings,"he directed. "We can move them in after we have unpacked." Then, from theloose change that he had in his pocket, he paid the man. A few momentslater the stage rumbled on its way up the road, which circled themountain and then descended to a hamlet in the valley on the other side.

  As soon as the four young Abbotts were alone, Dan, slipping an arm aboutJane, exclaimed: "Think of it, sister! Isn't it almost beyondcomprehension that we have such magnificence right in our frontdoor-yard." He took a long breath. The pine trees, though not large, werespicily fragrant. Then, whirling toward her, he caught both of her hands,and there were actually tears in his eyes as he said, "Jane, I'm going tolive! I know that I am!"

  Selfish as the girl was, she could not but respond to her brother'senthusiasm. The younger children had raced away on a tour of discovery.Their excited voices were heard exclaiming about something they haddiscovered beyond the cabin. Clear and high Gerry's voice rang out: "Dan,Jane, come quick! We've found Roaring Creek, and it isn't making aterrible lot of noise at all."

  But the older boy had noted the extreme weariness on his sister's face.He well knew that she had sacrificed herself to come to a country whichdid not appeal to her; where she had to meet people whom she consideredfar beneath her, and she had done it all to help him get well. Instantlythe boy decided that he would make Jane's comfort his first care, thather stay with him might be as pleasant as possible, and so he calledback: "After a time, Gerald. Come on; I'm going to unlock the door. Don'tyou want to see what's on the inside of our cabin?"

  "Oh, boy, don't I, though!" Gerry, closely followed by Julie, raced backto the wide front porch, which was made of logs. Dan took from hissatchel a very large key and holding it up, he called merrily, "The keyto health and happiness."

  "You left out something," Gerry prompted. "It's health, wealth andhappiness. Maybe we'll find that lost mine, who knows?"

  Dan merely laughed at that. "Now," he said, as he put the key in thelock, "what do you suppose we'll find on the other side of this door?"

  What they saw delighted the hearts of three of the young people. A largelog cabin room with a long window on either side of the door. At the backwas a crude fireplace made of rocks. There was no window on that side ofthe room, as a wall of the mountain came so close to the cabin that therewould have been no view.

  The rafters were logs with the bark still on, and the furniture had beenmade of saplings. There were leather cushions in the chairs, but thething that made Gerald caper about, mad with joy, was a bearskin on oneof the walls.

  "Oh, look-it, will you, Dan? What kind of a bear is it? Do you think itis a grizzly, and do you s'pose it's that one Dad said came right downhere to our ledge? Do you, Dan?"

  The older boy looked at the rather small bearskin and shook his head.

  "No, it isn't a grizzly," he said. "I think it is the skin of a blackbear. But here is another on the floor in front of the fireplace. That'sDad's bear, I remember now. This old fellow was the grizzly who wasunfortunate enough to come down here to try to help himself to Dad'ssupplies."

  Jane had dropped wearily into a big chair that really was comfortablewith its leather-covered cushions, and Dan, noting how tired she was,exclaimed:

  "Jane, I'll unlock the packing trunk and get out some of the bedding, andif you wish, you may lie down for a while. Dad said there were two goodbeds here and several cots."

  Gerald and Julie had darted through a door at one side and, reappearing,they beckoned to their big brother.

  "We've found one of 'em," the younger lad announced. "It's in a dandeeroom! I bet you Jane will choose it for hers."

  Then Julie chimed in with: "Jane, please come and see it."

  The older girl, who was feeling terribly sorry for herself, roselanguidly and went with the small sister. The boys followed.

  "Why, what a nice room this is!" Dan, truly pleased, remarked. Thenanxiously, and in his voice there was a note that was almost imploring,he asked: "Jane, dear, don't you think you can be comfortable in here?"

  The girl's heart was touched by the tone more than the words, and sheturned away that she might not show how near, how very near, she had beento crying out her unhappiness. It was hardship to her to be in a logcabin where there were none of the luxuries and conveniences to which shehad been used. She smiled at her brother, but he saw her lips tremble. Hewas tempted to tell her to go back to civilization, since it was allgoing to be so hard for her, but something prompted him to wait one week.Inwardly he resolved: "If Jane is not happy here by one week from today,I am going to insist that she return to Newport and to the friend Merryfor whom she cares so much."

  But Jane, too, had been making a resolve, and so when she spoke her voicesounded more cheerful.

  "It is a nice room," she said. "That wide window has a wonderful view ofthe mountains and the valley." It was hard to keep from adding, "Ifanyone cares for such a view, which I do not."

  But instead she looked up at the rafters. "What are those great bundlesthat are hanging up there?" she inquired.

  Dan laughed. "Why, those bundles, Dad said, contain the mattress andbedding which he and mother stored away. They are wrapped in canvas andso he expected that we would find them in good condition."

  "But how are we to get them?" Julie wanted to know.

  Gerald's quick eyes found the answer to that.

  "Look-it!" he cried, pointing. "There's a ladder nailed right against theback wall. I'll skin up that in two jiffs. Give me your knife, Dan. I'llcut the ropes."

  The boy was soon sliding along a rafter. "Out of the way down belowthere!" he shouted the warning. "Here they come!"

  There was a soft thud, followed by another as the two great bundles fellto the floor. An excellent mattress was in one of them and clean warmblankets in the other.

  "Now, I'll get the sheets from the packing trunk and a pillow case, andin less than no time at all we'll have a fine bed in our lady's chamber."

  Dan led Jane to another large comfortable though rustic chair as he said:

  "The rest of us are going to pretend that you are a princess today and weare going to wait upon you. By tomorrow, when you have had a long sleep,perhaps you will want to be a mountain girl."

  Again there was the yearning note in his voice. How he hoped that Janewould want to stay, but a week would tell.

  Jane was quite willing to pretend that sh
e was a princess and be waitedupon, and so half an hour later, when the bed in her room was made, sheconsented to lie down and try to make up the many hours of sleep that shehad lost on the train. Hardly had her head touched the pillow before shewas sound asleep. Two of her windows, that swung inward, were wide openand a soft mountain breeze wafted to her the scent of the pines. Eventhough she was not conscious of it, the peace of the mountains wasquieting her restless soul. She had supposed that, as soon as she werealone, she would sob out her unhappiness, but her weariness had been toogreat, and not a tear had been shed.

  Julie reported that Jane had gone right to sleep and Dan's facebrightened. Surely his sister-pal would feel better when she awakened andhow could she help loving it all, so high up on their wonderful mountain.

  The younger children had gone on another trip of exploration, and soonburst back into the big living-room with the information that on theother side of the cabin there were two smaller bedrooms and a realkitchen.

  Dan held up a warning hand and framed the word "quiet" with his lips, andso the excited children took his hands and dragged him from the deep easychair where he had sought to rest for a moment and showed him what laybehind the two doors on the other side of the cabin. "Aren't these littlebedrooms the cunningest?" Julie whispered. "See the front one has a bedin it like Jane's and the other has the cot. But there are three of us,so what shall we do?" Julie's brown eyes were suddenly serious andinquiring.

  "That's easy!" Dan told her. "Dad said there were several cots. See,there they are, hanging up on the rafters. I shall take one of those andput it out on the wide front porch. That's where I want to sleep. I don'twant to be shut in by walls. And Julie may have this pretty front roomwith the bed and Gerald the other. Now, let's get them made up, just asquietly as we can. Then we will unpack the supplies that you got from thestore, Julie, and prepare a noon meal."

  The cots were untied from the rafters and one was placed on the porch inthe position chosen by Dan, then the bedding was put on all of them andit was 11 o'clock and the sun was riding hot and high above the mountainwhen Julie, suddenly becoming demure, announced that she wanted Dan to goto sleep also, and that she and Gerald would get the lunch.

  The older boy did not require much urging and when he saw the eager lightin the eyes of the little girl, who had in the beginning supposed thatshe alone was to be the one to take care of him, he decided to do as shewished. Julie had had six months' training with her grandmother, whobelieved that a girl could not begin too young to learn how to cook, andshe had often boasted that she had a very apt pupil.

  He soon heard the children whispering and laughing happily at the back ofthe cabin, then a door was closed softly and the lad heard only thesoughing in the pine trees close to the porch and the humming of thewinged insects far and near. Then he, too, fell into a much neededslumber.