"So 've I, March," interrupted Rose.
"And I have, too," said Budd.
"What's all this mean?" said Chi, somewhat astonished, for he had not known why the meeting had been called.
"Why, you see, Chi, we never knew till then that the farm had been mortgaged on account of father's sickness, and that it had been so awful hard for mother all this year--"
Chi cleared his throat.
"--And we want to do something to help earn. If we could earn just our own clothes and books and enough to pay for our schooling, it would be something."
"Guess 't would," said Chi, clearing his throat again. "Kind of workin'
out the third by-law, ain't you?"
"Trying to," answered March, with such sincerity in his voice that Chi's throat troubled him for full a minute. "And what I want to find out, without mother's knowing it, or father either, is how we can earn enough for those things. If anybody 's got anything to say, just speak up."
"What you goin' to do with those Wyandottes?"
"I knew you 'd ask that, Chi. I 'm going to raise a fine breed and sell the eggs at a dollar and a half for thirteen; but I can't get any chicken-money till next fall, and no egg-money till next spring, and I want to begin now."
"Hm--" said Chi, taking off his straw hat and slowly scratching his head. "Well," he said after a pause in which all were thinking and no one talking, "why don't all of you go to work raisin' chickens for next Thanksgivin'?"
"By cracky!" said Budd, "we could raise three or four hundred, an' fat 'em up, an' make a pile, easy as nothing."
"I don't know about it's bein' so easy; but children have the time to tend 'em, and I don't see why it won't work, seein' it's a good time of year."
"But where 'll we get the hens to set, Chi?" said March.
"Oh, there 's enough of 'em settin' round now on the bare boards," Chi replied.
"Can I raise some, too?" asked Hazel, rather timidly.
"Don't know what there is to hinder," said Chi, with a slow smile.
"And can I buy some hens for my very own?"
"Why, of course you can; just say the word, 'n' you 'n' I 'll go settin'-hen hunting within a day or so."
"Oh, what fun!" cried Hazel, clapping her hands. "But I want some that will sit and lay too, Chi; then I can sell the eggs."
There was a shout of laughter, at which Hazel felt hurt.
"There now, Lady-bird, we won't laugh at your city ways of lookin' at things any more. The hens ain't quite so accommodatin' as that, but we 'll get some good setters first, 'n' then see about the layin'
afterwards."
"But, Chi, it will take such a lot of corn to fatten them. We don't want to ask father for anything."
"That's right, Rose. Be independent as long as you can; I thought of that, too. Now, there 's a whole acre on the south slope I ploughed this spring,--nice, hot land, just right for corn-raisin'; 'n' if you children 'll drop 'n' cover, I 'll help you with the hoein' 'n' cuttin'
'n' huskin'; 'n' you 'll have your corn for nothin'."
"Good for you, Chi; we 'll do it, won't we?" cried March.
"You bet," said Budd.
"I can pick berries," said Rose, "and we can always sell them at the Inn, or at Barton's River."
"Yes, and we can begin in June," said Cherry; "the pastures are just red with the wild strawberries, you know, Rose."
"It's an awful sight of work to pick 'em," said Budd, rather dubiously.
"Well, you can't get your money without workin', Budd; 'n' work don't mean 'take it easy.'"
"I 'm sure we can get twenty-five cents a quart for them right in the village. I 've heard folks say they make the best preserve you can get, and you can't buy them for love nor money," said Rose. "Mother makes beautiful ones."
"Was n't that what we had last Sunday night when the minister was here to tea?" asked Hazel.
"Yes," said Rose.
"I never tasted any strawberries like them at home, and the housekeeper buys lots of jams and jellies in the fall." Hazel thought hard for a minute. Suddenly she jumped to her feet, clapped her hands, and spun round and round like a top, crying out, "I have it! I have it!"
The N.B.B.O.O. Society was amazed to see the new member perform in this lively manner, for Hazel had been rather quiet during the first month.
Now she caught up her skirts with a dainty tilt, and danced the Highland Fling just to let her spirits out through her feet. Up and down the floor of the loft she charged, hands over her head, hands swinging her skirts, light as a fairy, bending, swaying, and bowing, till, with a big "cheese," she sat down almost breathless by Chi. Was this Hazel? The members of the N.B.B.O.O. looked at one another in amazement, and March's eyes flashed again, as they had done once before during the afternoon.
"Now all listen to me," she said, as if, after a month of silence, she had found her tongue. "I 've an idea, and when I have one, papa says it's worth listening to,--which is n't often, I 'm sure. We 'll pick the strawberries, and get Mrs. Blossom to show Rose how to do them up; and I 'll write to papa and Doctor Heath's wife and to our housekeeper and Cousin Jack, and see if they don't want some of those delicious preserves that they can't get in the city. I 'll find out from Mrs.
Scott--that's the housekeeper--how much she pays for a jar in New York, and then we 'll charge a little more for ours because the strawberries are a little rarer. Are n't there any other kinds of berries that grow around here?"
"Guess you 'd better stop 'n' take breath, Lady-bird; there 's a mighty lot of plannin' in all that. What 'd I tell you, Budd?" Chi asked again.
Budd looked at Hazel in boyish admiration, but said nothing.
"I think that's splendid, Hazel," said Rose, "if they'll only want them."
"I know they will; but are there any other berries?"
"Berries! I should think so; raspberries and blackberries by the bushel on the Mountain, and they say they 're the best anywhere round here,"
said March.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Cherry, "I wish we could go to work right now."
"Well, so you can," said Chi, "only you can't go berryin' just yet. You can begin to drop that corn this very afternoon: better be inside the ground pretty soon, with all those four hundred chickens waitin' to join the Thanksgivin' procession."
[Illustration: "'You can begin to drop that corn this very afternoon'"]
"Oh, Chi, you 're making fun of us," laughed Rose.
"Don't you believe it, Rose-pose; never was more in earnest in my life.
Come along, 'n' I 'll show you."