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09 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, cherry picking. Henry meditated a while all to
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  Speaker 1: himself early the next morning as to whether he ought
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  Speaker 1: to take any one with him for the cherry picking.
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  Speaker 1: He certainly said he could use more than one, he mused.
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  Speaker 1: Failing to decide the question, he laid it before his
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  Speaker 1: sisters as they ate bread and milk for breakfast. I
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  Speaker 1: can't see any reason except one why we shouldn't all go,
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  Speaker 1: said Jess. What's that, asked Henry. Well, you see, there
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  Speaker 1: are four of us, and supposing grandfathers looking for us,
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  Speaker 1: it will be easier to find four than one, true,
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  Speaker 1: agreed Henry. But supposing we went down the hill and
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  Speaker 1: through the streets two by two, and you took watch.
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  Speaker 1: It was finally agreed that Henry and Benny would attract
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  Speaker 1: very little attention. Together, Violet and Jess would follow with
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  Speaker 1: the dog who would trace Henry. And so they set out.
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  Speaker 1: They took down the clothes line and closed the car door.
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  Speaker 1: Everything instantly looked as lonesome as heart could wish. Even
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  Speaker 1: the merry little brook looked deserted. When the children arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the McAllister orchard, they soon saw that they were
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  Speaker 1: not the only workers. Two hired men and the young
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  Speaker 1: doctor himself were carrying ladders and baskets from the barn,
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  Speaker 1: and the Irish cook was bringing piles of square baskets
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  Speaker 1: from the house, the kind that strawberries are sold in.
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  Speaker 1: The girls can pick cherries as well as I can,
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  Speaker 1: said Henry, introducing his sisters. Benny ought not to climb
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  Speaker 1: very tall trees, but we had to bring him. Benny
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  Speaker 1: can carry the baskets, perhaps, suggested the doctor, much amused.
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  Speaker 1: You see, this is a cherry year, and we have
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  Speaker 1: to work quickly when we once begin. Perhaps he could
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  Speaker 1: fill the small baskets from the big ones. It was
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  Speaker 1: a cherry year, certainly. There were two varieties in the orchard,
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  Speaker 1: the pale yellow kind with a red cheek, and the
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  Speaker 1: deep crimson ones, which were just as red in the
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  Speaker 1: center as they were on the outside. The red ones
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  Speaker 1: were huge, bursting with juice, and the trees were laid
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  Speaker 1: in full with the luscious fruit. Even the air was perfumed.
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  Speaker 1: It was a pretty sight that the doctor finally turned
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  Speaker 1: his back upon when he went on his calls. Henry, slim,
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  Speaker 1: tanned and graceful, picked rapidly from the tallest ladder in
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  Speaker 1: the largest tree. The two girls, in their sensible bloomer
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  Speaker 1: suits could climb like cats. They leaned against the ladders
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  Speaker 1: easily about half way up, their fluffy short hair gleaming
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  Speaker 1: in the sun. Benny trotted to and fro, waiting upon
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  Speaker 1: the busy pickers, his cheeks as red as the cherries themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Eat all you want, doctor mc allister called back. They
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  Speaker 1: did not really obey this command, but occasionally a set
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  Speaker 1: of white teeth bit into one of the glorious ox hearts.
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  Speaker 1: In less than an hour, Benny had made five firm friends.
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  Speaker 1: The hired men joked with him, the cook petted him,
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  Speaker 1: the young doctor laughed at him delightedly, and sweet missus
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  Speaker 1: mc allister fell in love with him. Finally, he seated
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  Speaker 1: himself comfortably at her side under the trees, and filled
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  Speaker 1: square boxes with great care under her direction. I never
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  Speaker 1: had such a cheerful crowd of cherry pickers before, missus
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  Speaker 1: mc allister said, at last, I'd much rather stay out
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  Speaker 1: here than go into the house where it is cool.
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  Speaker 1: Evidently Mary the cook felt the same way, for she
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  Speaker 1: kept coming to the orchard for some reason or other.
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  Speaker 1: When the doctor returned at lunch time, his orchard was
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  Speaker 1: ringing with laughter and good natured barks from Watch, who
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  Speaker 1: could not feel easy in his mind with his mistress
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  Speaker 1: so high up in a tree where he couldn't follow.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor mc allister paused in the garage long enough to
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  Speaker 1: give a sniff to the boiling cherries in the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: and then made his way to the orchard, where he
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  Speaker 1: received a warm welcome. There's no use in your going
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  Speaker 1: home to lunch, he smiledly observed, at the same time
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  Speaker 1: watching Henry's face carefully, you can eat right here in
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  Speaker 1: the orchard, unless your mother will be worrying about you.
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  Speaker 1: This remark met with an astounding silence. Henry was the
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  Speaker 1: first to collect his wits. No, our mother is dead,
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  Speaker 1: he said evenly, without embarrassment. It was the doctor who
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  Speaker 1: hastened to change the subject he had introduced. I smelled
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  Speaker 1: something when I came in, he said to Benny. What
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  Speaker 1: did it smell like, inquired Benny. It smelled like cherry slump,
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  Speaker 1: replied the doctor with twinkling eyes. Cherry what, asked Jess,
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  Speaker 1: struggling down her ladder with a full basket. I think
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  Speaker 1: that's what they call it. Slump, repeated doctor mc allister.
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  Speaker 1: Do care to try it. At this moment Mary appeared
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  Speaker 1: in the orchard with an enormous tray, and at first
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  Speaker 1: sight of her cookery, nobody cared the least what its
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  Speaker 1: name was. It was that rare combination of dumpling beaten
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  Speaker 1: with stone cherries and cooked gently in the juice of
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  Speaker 1: the ox heart cherries in a real cherry year. It
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  Speaker 1: was steaming in the red juice with the least suspicion
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  Speaker 1: of melted butter over the hole. Do get two more,
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  Speaker 1: Mary begged missus mc allister, laughing. It tastes so much
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  Speaker 1: better under the cherry trees. This was another meal that
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  Speaker 1: nobody ever forgot. Even the two hired men sitting under
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  Speaker 1: another tree devouring the delicious pudding paused to hear Benny laugh.
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  Speaker 1: Nowadays those two men sometimes meet Henry, but that's another story. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: they never will forget that cherry slump made by Irish Mary.
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  Speaker 1: Almost as soon as lunch was over, Benny rolled over
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  Speaker 1: on the grass and went to sleep, his head as
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  Speaker 1: usual on the dog's back, But the others worked on steadily.
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  Speaker 1: Missus mc allister kept an eye on them from the
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  Speaker 1: screened porch without their knowledge. Just see how how those children.
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  Speaker 1: Keep at it. She said to her son, there's good
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  Speaker 1: stuff in them. I should like to know where they
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  Speaker 1: come from. Doctor mc allister said nothing. He sauntered out
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  Speaker 1: into the orchard. When he thought they had worked long enough,
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  Speaker 1: he paid them four dollars and gave them all the
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  Speaker 1: cherries they could carry. Although they tried to object. You see,
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  Speaker 1: you're better than most pickers because you're so cheerful. He
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  Speaker 1: noticed that they did not all leave the yard at
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  Speaker 1: the same time. When the cherry pickers returned to their
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  Speaker 1: little home, they examined everything carefully. Nothing had been disturbed.
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  Speaker 1: The door was still shut, and the milk and butter
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  Speaker 1: stood untouched in the refrigerator. They made a hilarious meal
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  Speaker 1: of raw cherries and bread and butter, and before the
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  Speaker 1: stars came out, they were fast asleep, happy and dreamless.
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  Speaker 1: That evening, very much later, a young man sat in
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  Speaker 1: his study with the evening paper. He read the news
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  Speaker 1: idly and was just on the point of tossing the
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  Speaker 1: paper aside when this advertisement caught his eye. Lost four children,
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  Speaker 1: aged thirteen, twelve, ten and five, somewhere around the region
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  Speaker 1: of Middlesex and Townsend, five thousand dollars reward for information.
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  Speaker 1: James Henry Cordyce. Whew, whistled the young man, James Henry Cordyce.
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  Speaker 1: He sat in perfect silence for a long time, thinking,
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  Speaker 1: Then he went to bed. But long after he had
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  Speaker 1: gone upstairs, he whistled again, and could have been heard
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  Speaker 1: to say, if any one had been awake to hear it,
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  Speaker 1: James Henry Cordyce, of all people, end of Chapter nine