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08 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter eight, building the dam. Even a hammer makes a good pillow if
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  one is tired enough. And the freight car family slept until the nine o'clock
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  church bells began to ring faintly in the valley. There were at least a
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  dozen churches, and their far away bells sounded sweetly harmonious in so many different
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  keys they almost play a tune, said Violet as she listened. I like
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  music, all right, replied Henry, in a business like way. But
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  I've for one shall have to get to work. This will be a good
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  day to wash all the stockings, said Jess. We'll all be waiting so
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  much in the brook anyway. After breakfast, the first thing Henry did was
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  to survey with critical eyes the spot they had chosen for a pool. It
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  was a hollow about three yards across. There were no stones in it at
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  all. It's big enough already, remarked Henry at last, But it hasn't
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  enough water in it. He measured its depth with a stick. We'll have
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  to guess at inches, he said. I have a little tape measure in
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  my work bag, ventured his sister Violet. Henry flashed a smile at her.
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  Is there anything you haven't got in your work bag, he asked her.
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  The children measured the wet stick carefully. The water was just ten inches
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  deep in the deepest part. Henry explained his plan of engineering to his sisters.
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  We will have to haul some big logs across this narrow part and stuff
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  them from this end with stones and underbrush. It ought to be three feet
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  deep before we get through. Oh, Henry protested Jess. Benny would get
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  drowned. Drowned, echoed Henry, How tall do you think he is?
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  Anyhow, they measured the little boy and found him to be forty two inches
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  tall. That settled it. The pool was designed to be three feet in
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  depth. Luckily, the largest logs were not far away, but as it
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  was, it was a matter of great labor for the builders to drag them
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  to the scene of operations. Let's get all the logs up here first,
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  suggested Jess. Then we can have the fun of laying them across. The
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  two older children dragged all the logs, while Violet and Benny attended to the
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  stones with the help of the cart. Occasionally Henry was called upon to assist
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  with a heavy stone, but for the most part, Benny puffed out his
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  cheeks and heaved the stones himself. In fact, Henry decided at this point
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  to let Benny drop them into the water. As he gathered them splash him
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  right in old fellow, he directed, Only keep them in a nice straight
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  line right across this place, between these two trees. It won't make any
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  difference how wet he gets. He added, in an aside to Jess,
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  we can dry him in the sun. Jess thought a little differently, although
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  she said nothing. She took off Benny's little crinkled blouse and one pair of
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  bloomers and started to hang them on the line. Good time to wash them,
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  she exclaimed. Let me wash them, begged, Violet, you're more
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  useful building the dam. There was wisdom in this suggestion, so Jess accepted
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  it gratefully, and even added Henry's blouse to the laundry. When we finish
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  the damp, they will surely be dry, she said. As for Henry,
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  he was only too glad to work without. It makes me feel lighter,
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  he declared. Rare and beautiful birds came and watched the barefooted children as
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  they scurried around building their wall of masonry. But the children did not have
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  any eyes for birds. Then they watched with delighted eyes as each stone was
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  added to the wall under the clear water, and it began to rise almost
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  to the surface. That makes a solid foundation for the logs, you see,
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  explained Henry with pride. They won't be floating off downstream the minute we
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  lay them on. Then, at last the time arrived when they were to
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  lay the logs on. Let's wait, which the first one between these two
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  trees, said Jess with a happy thought. Then if each end of the
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  log is on the upper side of the trees, the harder the water pounds,
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  the tighter the dam gets. Good work, exclaimed Henry admiringly. That's
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  just what we'll do. But the children were not at all prepared for what
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  happened. The moment the first big log was splashed into its place on top
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  of the stone wall, the water defeated in its course down the rocky bed,
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  gurgled and chased about as it met the opposing log, and found every
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  possible hole to escape leaks, said Henry briefly, as the water began to
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  rush around both ends and pour over the top of the log. We'll make
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  the logs so thick it can't get through. We'll lay three logs across,
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  with three logs on top of them, and three more on top of that.
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  The children set about stubbornly to accomplish this. Violet held great sprays of
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  fine underbrush in place until each log was laid. Wetter children never were seen,
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  but nobody cared. They resolutely plugged the ends with more stones, more
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  underbrush, and more logs. Each time a leak was discovered, some one
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  dropped a stone over it. Even bennicought the fever of conquering the mischievous water,
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  which slipped from their grasp like quicksilver. When the three top logs were
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  at last dropped into place, the excited children sat down to watch the pool
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  fill. This it did, slowly, finding now no means of exit.
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  The water was quieter, It rose steadily up the barricade of logs. It
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  widened beautifully. Henry could not sit still its slopes. He cried, see
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  how clear it is, and still, see how still it is. And
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  then the water began to overflow the logs. It spilled over the top with
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  a delightful curve, and on the other side it formed a second waterfall,
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  not high and narrow and graceful like the natural fall above, but very low
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  and wide, just like a regular mill dam, said Henry. He held
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  the measuring stick out as far as he could and plunged it into the water.
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  It lacked an inch of being three feet deep, deep enough, he
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  declared. In fact, it looked so deep that Benny could not conceal a
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  slight fear. That's the beauty of the slope, observed Jess. Benny can
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  wait in just as far as he wants to, and no farther. We
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  all know what the bed of the pool is like, no holes or stones.
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  The girls had to leave to prepare supper, but Henry could not be
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  persuaded to leave the wonderful swimming pool. I'd rather swim than eat, he
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  said. Luckily for the children, their supply of provisions was the largest of
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  any day since their flight. The girls lighted the fire and heated up the
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  remainder of the stew and cut the bread. The butter, hard and cold
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  in the refrigerator, was taken out and four portions cut from it. The
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  two doughnuts made four half rings for dessert. The cooks rang the dinner bell.
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  This was an ingenious arrangement hung on a low branch. It consisted of
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  a piece of bent steel swung on a string. Violet hit it sharply with
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  another piece of steel. It sounded deeply and musically through the woods, and
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  the boys understood it and obeyed at once. It was evident the moment they
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  appeared that at least three of the family had been swimming. Watch shook himself
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  violently at intervals, spattering water drops in all directions. Henry and Benny,
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  fresh and radiant with plastered hair and clean dry stockings and blouses, apparently liked
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  to swim and eat too. You can actually swim a few strokes in it,
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  Jess, if you're careful, Henry said, with excusable pride, as
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  he sat down to dinner. Building a dam is wonderful sauce for a dinner.
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  I think stew is much better. This second day observed Benny eating hungrily.
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  There remained two more adventures for the eventful day. The girls cut their
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  hair. Violet's dark curls came off first. They're awfully in the way,
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  explained Violet, and so much trouble when you're working. They were tangled too,
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  and Jess cut them off evenly by a string with Violet's little scissors.
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  Jess's chestnut hair was long and silky and nicely braided, but she never murmured
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  as it came off to The two girls ran to the brook mirror to see
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  how they looked. The new hair cut was very becoming to both. I
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  like you better that way, said Henry, approvingly. Lots more sensible when
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  you're living in the woods. Around four o'clock, the children took a long
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  walk in the opposite direction from any of their other explorations. They were rewarded
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  by two discoveries. One was a hollow tree literally filled with walnuts, gathered
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  presumably by a thrifty squirrel the previous fall. The other discovery frightened them a
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  little, just at first, for with bristling back and a loud bark,
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  Watch suddenly began to rout out something in the leaves, and that something began
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  to cackle and half run and half fly from the intruders. It was a
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  runaway hen The children succeeded in catching the dog and reducing him to order,
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  although it was clear he liked very much to chase hens. She had some
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  eggs, too, remarked Benny, as if trying to make pleasant conversation.
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  Jess bent over incredulously and saw a rude nest in the moss, in which
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  there were five eggs, a runaway hen said Henry, hardly believing his eyes.
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  She wants to hide her nest and raise chickens. The children had no
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  scruples at all about taking the eggs. Almost a gift from Heaven, said
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  Violet, stroking one of the eggs with a delicate finger. It wouldn't be
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  polite to refuse them. Scrambled eggs made a delicious supper for the children.
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  Jess broke all the eggs into the biggest bowl and beat them vigorously with a
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  spoon until they were light and foamy. Then she added milk and salt and
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  delegated Violet to beat them some more while she prepared the fire. The big
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  kettle, empty and clean, was hung over the low fire, and butter
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  was dropped in. Jess watched it anxiously, tipping the kettle slightly in all
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  directions. When the butter had reached the exact shade of brown, Jess poured
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  in the eggs and stirred them carefully, holding her skirts away from the fire.
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  She was amply repaid for her care when she saw her family attack the
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  meal. Clearly this was a feast day. We shall have to be satisfied
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  tomorrow to live on bread and milk, she observed, scraping up the last
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  delicious morsel. But when tomorrow came, they had more than bread and milk,
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  as you will soon see end of chapter eight.