Natalie: A Garden Scout Part 31

Sam had driven Frances in the car to the store after breakfast, so he was not around when the girls planted the bean poles. He had not pointed out the particular bed where the limas were growing, as he thought, of course, that Natalie knew. But she had not followed Mrs. James' advice given a few weeks before, when the seed was sown-to register each bed with the ticket of the vegetable that was planted there. Now she had to depend on her own memory to determine which of the different plants were beans.

The three other girls carried the poles where she directed, and carefully walked on the boards Natalie laid down for their feet, to keep the beds from being trodden while they dug holes and firmly placed a seven-foot pole in each hill of beans.

"There now, don't they look business-like?" exulted Natalie, as she surveyed with pride the rows of bean poles.

Sam stopped the automobile near the side porch just after Natalie made this remark, and seeing the girls still at the garden, he hurried there to see if he could help them in any way.

"All done, Sam! Aren't the poles nice?" exclaimed Natalie.

"Yeh, Miss Natalie, the poles is nice enough, but you ain't got 'em planted in the lima-bean garden," said Sam slowly, so as to break the news gently.

"What?" cried three girls in one voice.

"Nah. Them green plants is dwarf string-beans, and t' lima beans is on the other side."

"Oh goodness' sake!" wailed Natalie, sitting down plump on the radish bed. "All that work done for nothing?"

Norma and Belle frowned at the poles, but Janet laughed. "If this isn't the funniest thing, yet!" she exclaimed.

The greater part of the morning had pa.s.sed before the error made in the garden had been corrected. Natalie was so tired by the time she reached the house that she dropped wearily upon the steps and sighed.

Mrs. James came out upon the piazza when she saw her approaching the house, and at the sigh she said: "What's wrong?"

"Oh, that horrid old garden is _such_ a care! I wish to goodness I had chosen stock-raising instead. Then I could have had the pleasure of watching the little things run about and show their grat.i.tude when one feeds them. But lifeless old seeds and expressionless vegetables are such uninteresting things to work for!"

Mrs. James understood that something had gone awry, so she wisely remarked: "Oh, I don't know! Janet seems to have as much trouble with her stock as anyone has with other work."

"Well, she doesn't have to dig holes and plant bean poles for her pigs to climb up on!"

Mrs. James barely kept from laughing outright at the funny excuse given.

But she replied: "Janet had a dreadful time just now, trying to catch two of the little pigs that escaped and started to run down the road."

"No,-really!" exclaimed Natalie, sitting up with great animation.

"Where is she now?"

"Trying to repair the fence that they broke down. They are growing so big and strong that the rickety enclosure she made at first will never keep them in, now."

"I just hope they get away and give her a chase all the way to the Corners!" cried Natalie.

"Why should you wish such hard luck for poor Janet?" asked Mrs. James, laughingly.

"Because she laughed at my bean poles and refused to help us dig them up again."

"Dig them up again! Did you bury them?"

Then Natalie found she had made an admission that would have to be explained.

"No, not buried them, but we mistook the plants. It was such an easy thing to do-to believe the string-beans were limas, you know."

"Oh! Then you never followed my advice about tagging the different beds."

But Natalie did not reply.

The following morning, Janet asked Frances to inquire if there was a package for her at the post-office, as it should have arrived several days before.

"Is it a big package?" asked Frances.

"No, it's a book that I ordered from the city. It's all about raising things. Not that I need to find out about chickens and pigs, but I expect to buy that calf from Mr. Ames, and Belle saw some sheep in a pasture up in the Hills the other day, when she was hunting for antiques. I am wondering if they are difficult to raise. That is why I want the book."

The book arrived that morning, and Janet straightway applied herself to studying its pages, in order to learn what other farmyard animals she could keep that would not give her too much trouble, and repay her for the expense incurred.

The result of that reading was to rouse Janet's growing ambition to fever-heat. She determined upon a plan by which she could borrow the capital from her father and buy her stock without further loss of time.

But her experiences are told in the volume following this one, called "Janet: a Stock-Farm Scout."

Natalie's garden beds began to look most flouris.h.i.+ng, for every seed had sprouted and the transplanted greens were growing like wildfire. She began to figure ahead to find how soon she might gather crops, but she kept this vision a secret, as she knew the girls would tease if they heard of it.

The very impressive paper that conveyed the rights of Solomon's Seal Troop to take its place in the Girl Scout Organization arrived that week, also, so that Natalie realized that great things were already growing out of her coming to Green Hill Farm that summer. But how they multiplied and developed thrilling experiences will be narrated in the second volume of this Girl Scout Country Life Series.

THE END