|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 43
CHAPTER XIII. IN PENDLETON WOODS
Pollyanna had not turned her steps toward home, when she left the
chapel. She had turned them, instead, toward Pendleton Hill. It
had been a hard day, for all it had been a "vacation one" (as she
termed the infrequent days when there was no sewing or cooking
lesson), and Pollyanna was sure that nothing would do her quite
so much good as a walk through the green quiet of Pendleton
Woods. Up Pendleton Hill, therefore, she climbed steadily, in
spite of the warm sun on her back.
"I don't have to get home till half-past five, anyway," she was
telling herself; "and it'll be so much nicer to go around by the
way of the woods, even if I do have to climb to get there."
It was very beautiful in the Pendleton Woods, as Pollyanna knew
by experience. But to-day it seemed even more delightful than
ever, notwithstanding her disappointment over what she must tell
Jimmy Bean to-morrow.
"I wish they were up here--all those ladies who talked so loud,"
sighed Pollyanna to herself, raising her eyes to the patches of
vivid blue between the sunlit green of the tree-tops. "Anyhow, if
they were up here, I just reckon they'd change and take Jimmy
Bean for their little boy, all right," she finished, secure in
her conviction, but unable to give a reason for it, even to
herself.
Suddenly Pollyanna lifted her head and listened. A dog had barked
some distance ahead. A moment later he came dashing toward her,
still barking.
"Hullo, doggie--hullo!" Pollyanna snapped her fingers at the dog
and looked expectantly down the path. She had seen the dog once
before, she was sure. He had been then with the Man, Mr. John
Pendleton. She was looking now, hoping to see him. For some
minutes she watched eagerly, but he did not appear. Then she
turned her attention toward the dog.
The dog, as even Pollyanna could see, was acting strangely. He
was still barking--giving little short, sharp yelps, as if of
alarm. He was running back and forth, too, in the path ahead.
Soon they reached a side path, and down this the little dog
fairly flew, only to come back at once, whining and barking.
"Ho! That isn't the way home," laughed Pollyanna, still keeping
to the main path.
The little dog seemed frantic now. Back and forth, back and
forth, between Pollyanna and the side path he vibrated, barking
and whining pitifully. Every quiver of his little brown body, and
every glance from his beseeching brown eyes were eloquent with
appeal--so eloquent that at last Pollyanna understood, turned,
and followed him.
Straight ahead, now, the little dog dashed madly; and it was not
long before Pollyanna came upon the reason for it all: a man
lying motionless at the foot of a steep, overhanging mass of rock
a few yards from the side path.
A twig cracked sharply under Pollyanna's foot, and the man turned
his head. With a cry of dismay Pollyanna ran to his side.
"Mr. Pendleton! Oh, are you hurt?"
"Hurt? Oh, no! I'm just taking a siesta in the sunshine," snapped
the man irritably. "See here, how much do you know? What can you
do? Have you got any sense?"
Pollyanna caught her breath with a little gasp, but--as was her
habit--she answered the questions literally, one by one.
"Why, Mr. Pendleton, I--I don't know so very much, and I can't do
a great many things; but most of the Ladies' Aiders, except Mrs.
Rawson, said I had real good sense. I heard 'em say so one
day--they didn't know I heard, though."
The man smiled grimly.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|