Ginger Pye (20 page)

But that was not it. Mr. Tuttle's face wore an expression of suppressed excitement as, presently, he thrust it back into the trolley.

"Clear the trolley," he ordered.

The motorman was inclined to demur for he was acquainted only with Mr. Tuttle's switch and trolley activities. He knew nothing of the angel in church and fires.

"The trolley happens to be on fire," said the tall short man.

The motorman grumpily turned around and gave a general get-out gesture to the Pyes.

"Women and children first," said Mr. Tuttle gallantly.

All the Pyes filed out. Duke seemed very pleased. Mr. Tuttle shepherded them in the proper order as though saving them from the
Titanic.
All looked under the trolley and, sure enough, a little smoke thinly wafted its way out.

"We could make it to the car barn," grumbled the motorman.

"Not with women and children aboard," sternly rebuked the tall short man.

This was all a great nuisance, for the Pyes with all their paraphernalia had to wait for the next trolley. When it came along it had to go very slowly because the simmering one they had just evacuated preceded them and could not go fast. At this rate would they ever get to West Rock? Mr. Tuttle stayed with the motorman on the burning car, so at least there were no more stops and catastrophes.

But that incident showed the kind of a man Mr. Tuttle was. Unexpected. There he had been, sitting, and giving the impression he was not on the alert at all, whereas, actually, underneath the quiet exterior, he had probably been sniffing and smelling, all his senses on the alert for the right moment to make the rescue.

Rachel could not help thinking that if there were anyone whom they should ask to help them find Ginger, that man was Mr. Tuttle. Why had they not thought of it sooner? Next time she saw him she would bring the matter up. But here, at last, they had reached West Rock, and once more the Pyes piled out.

The face of West Rock was even sheerer and higher than that of East Rock. Thank goodness, thought Rachel, nothing was said about climbing
it.
Papa carried Uncle Bennie pickaback most of the way up. They had to climb West Rock at its least steep part, therefore. Uncle Bennie had wanted to go up it on Duke's back, but this was not permitted. However, he enjoyed the ride on Papa almost as much.

While Mama and Gramma were spreading the picnic on a big flat rock, Rachel, and Jerry, and Uncle Bennie, and Dick, with Duke loping along in fine spirits, went on a preliminary exploring expedition to find Judges Cave. The regicides had hidden in it for three years so it must be a very fine cave. In it they might find not only Ginger amidst the counterfeiters, but also Indian arrowheads and bits of flint, perhaps even a real live Indian forgotten here through the years.

Up here the Indians seemed so real to Rachel she almost expected to see them posed, statuelike, behind every tree. Whenever she went walking through thick woods she had the feeling that Indians still lived there, that she would see them stealing from tree to tree. It was because in school they read and studied so much about the Indians that it seemed they must still be there, lurking in the woods.

They saw no Indians. But the woods they walked through were thick and beautiful. Squirrels were refurnishing their nests, buds were coming out, dogwood was in bloom, and the forsythia was a brilliant sheath of gold. Mountain laurel, also, was in bloom.

Uncle Bennie filled his pockets with little acorns and pinecones, Jerry found some fine chunks of rock, Rachel kept her eyes open for an interesting bird story to report to Papa, and Dick whittled on a piece of hickory. All kept their eyes out for the cave, hoping to be the discoverer.

Suddenly Uncle Bennie said, "Oh-h-h."

He sounded so ecstatic the others all thought of course he had sighted the cave. This was not so. But he had found a little robin's egg, all whole, that had fallen out of a nest. It had landed on a soft bed of moss and Uncle Bennie lovingly picked it up. He held it in the palm of his hand, transfixed with delight.

"My little Easter egg," he murmured.

On Easter, he and Rachel and Jerry had hunted all over the house for all the regular big painted eggs the Bunny had hidden. Now, here was this little Easter egg, just his size, hidden way up here on West Rock. Who would have expected such a surprise?

The others were as pleased as he was. "Hold it carefully," they said. "Take it home, and maybe a little robin will hatch out."

For a while Uncle Bennie held the little blue egg very carefully. He could hardly walk he held it so carefully. But then, being hungry and recalling how delicious Easter eggs are, he took a little bite. He had imagined this special little egg, just his size, would taste even better than regular ones. Nothing could have been further from his expectations than the way it really did taste.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Uncle Bennie, spitting it out and sputtering "Mouth, mouth," as he always did when something unpleasant got in his mouth.

"Uncle Bennie," reproved the others. "That wasn't a egg to eat. That was a little egg to hatch a little robin out of."

For a time it looked as though Uncle Bennie, though he was not a whiner, was going to cry. Rachel
wiped his mouth out on her dress. He moaned, "My little Easter egg. Gaw gone."

"Maybe you will find another one," suggested Rachel, to console him.

Uncle Bennie shook his head. "My little tiny Easter egg," he said. "Not good to eat." His disappointment was very great.

The others told him he was soon to see a big cave and after a while Uncle Bennie forgot his little egg. Rachel put the broken shell in her pocket to show Papa. So far, the robin's egg was the most interesting part of the picnic, for when they heard Papa whistling for them to come to lunch they had still seen no sign of the cave.

"We'll find it after lunch," Jerry assured them. "Naturally an important cave is not easy to find, or it would not be an important cave." The harder the cave was to find, Jerry reasoned, the more likely it was to be a hideaway for counterfeiters, and hence, the more likely a place for Ginger to have been kept.

When the children got back to the grown-ups, there the picnic was, all spread out on a khaki-colored old army blanket. They had sandwiches, hard eggs, bananas, dill pickles, potato salad, baked beans, baked ham, jelly doughnuts, and homemade
chocolate cake. After eating as much as they possibly could Gramma said, "Now, take a little nap."

Naturally the children did not want to take a little nap and miss all of life.

Mama agreed with Gramma that they should rest awhile after such a monumental meal before going cave hunting again. But the children assured her cave hunting was not in the same category as swimming when, of course, they knew they must rest an hour before going in the water. In cave hunting, they told their mother, there is no danger of cramps.

Since they weren't resting anyway, just jumping around being wild Indians and climbing trees, Mama said, "All right. Go off and find the cave. But be sure to come back when you hear Papa whistle."

"Yes," the children yelled and off they ran, this time without Uncle Bennie who, the minute he saw old Bubbah, had, after all, fallen asleep. There he lay in the warm sunshine with old Bubbah wound around him and traces of jelly doughnut on his moist lips.

Now that their stomachs were full, the children were bounding with energy. They had lots of time, they could go far, they would really find the cave. The cave! Thinking about the cave, and not having found it yet, the cave had taken on fabulous proportions in their minds. They bet there was an un
derground spring in it even, maybe, or a lost river.

They zigzagged back and forth through the woods and across the green grass. In the distance they saw an iron fence surrounding some huge boulders so they went to examine this. On the fence was a sign. "Judges Cave," said the sign and gave a short history of the regicides. The children looked at Judges Cave incredulously.

"This is not the
real
cave, is it?" asked Rachel.

"Can't be," said Jerry.

"Must be," said Dick. "Sign says so."

What a cave! Iron fencing all around it, a sign saying to keep out, even barbed wire along the top of the fence. They couldn't see the entrance to the cave. They couldn't tell how deep into the earth and rock it went. They couldn't tell whether this cave was like the cave in
Tom Sawyer
or what it was like.

"Why do they keep it fenced off?" asked Jerry. "What a cave it must be! Wouldn't you think they'd let you in?"

"Let's go in anyway," suggested Dick Badger.

"How? With the wire and all? And it's against the law, it says," demurred Rachel. "It says so in plain English. Keep out."

"What's the use of a cave if you can't get in it?" they all grumbled.

They sat down a moment and studied whether

they could see in the cave anywhere at all. They crawled around on their stomachs for better views. No one could possibly realize that inside these great and broken rocks and boulders a wonderful cave was hidden. There the boulders sat on the green grass, in the middle of their private little fenced-off place. No wonder the regicides had been able to hide for three years in a cave like this that didn't look like a cave at all; it looked only like any great chunks of boulder inside a cage. Naturally the cage part had not been here when the regicides hid in the cave. The iron railing was a modern invention.

"In old times, it was better," said Rachel. "They did not have cages around things."

"Still, this is a perfect place for counterfeiters and dog thieves to hide," reflected Jerry. He was reluctant to give up the idea of the counterfeiters. "Detectives would never think to look for them in there with all the signs and the wire and fence to keep out."

The children thought excitedly of the forbidden cave. Recovering from their first disappointment they began to think the cave must, indeed, be a very special one to be fenced off like this. If they could only have one peek in it, just one little crawl.

They sat on the grass considering the cave so
long Rachel almost thought, in the deepening shadows of afternoon, that she could see a regicide stick his head out of the very ground for a second and then disappear. Oh, to get inside the cave! To be this near a real cave and not to be able to get into it! What was the use of the cave? That was what they wondered disconsolately. But they could not break a law that was printed in plain English right before their very eyes.

"Never say die" was the motto of Dick Badger. "It doesn't say, 'No dogs allowed,' and we could boost Duke over," he said. "We could tie a long string to him and, unwinding it, we could tell how far in he goes, say a hundred yards, or a mile, or what."

"I have a long string, but not a mile of string," said Jerry.

Unfortunately, in the end they all had to ruefully admit that even sending Duke in was impossible, what with the iron fencing and the barbed wire too. The men who put up this fence really meant it when they said stay out. They meant dogs too, without a doubt.

There was one other possibility. Maybe this cave had another entrance or exit hidden nearby. They hunted around in the woods and they commanded
Duke to do likewise and find more cave. Duke obligingly sniffed around but he did not disappear anywhere nor sink into the earth, in spite of their earnest entreaties. He wanted to loll on the sunny sward, that was all.

The search for the other entrance which they were not sure existed anyway occupied them until they heard Mr. Pye's whistle and they had to go back. The children complained to Mr. Pye about the cave and he said the whole party would go back that way and at least see the outside of the historic site about which many authors, including Scott and Cooper, had written stories.

"See, Papa," said Jerry wearily, when once more they stood outside the cave of the regicides. "It says, 'Keep out.' Why?"

"Of course," said Mr. Pye. "I could have told you that. It is to keep souvenir hunters from chipping it all away."

"Mean to say souvenir hunters would take away Judges Cave?" asked Rachel. "How could they take away a cave, which is a hole?"