CHAPTER VIII

THE DONKEY RACE

PUFF was awfully disappointed when we arrived home without the donkey. Denys put up the notice on the signpost directly after tea. We all went along and helped him. He wrote up:

"Wanted. A high-class donkey. To be brought to the Rectory on show, Monday evening at six o'clock." And he headed it with the words, "Important and immediate."

I said he ought to have put "first-class" donkey, not "high-class," and Aylwin said "fast-class" would have been better still, but Denys said that "first-class" would make all donkey-owners sit up. I don't know what he meant, and he didn't explain.

Then I had to go indoors and help Aunt Caroline with the mending, for it was Saturday night. She had let us off the choir practice, because we had been out. But before we went to bed, she took us to the piano in the drawing-room, and we sang over the chants and hymns to make sure we knew them. And then Aunt Caroline said to Denys:

"Are you coming to school to-morrow?"

And he answered very gruffly, "I s'pose so."

Then I said:

"I would take a class if you had another, Aunt Caroline."

"I don't think there are enough children, Grisel. I wanted you to do it a long time ago."

"What do you teach them, Denys?" asked Lynette.

Denys simply left the room, whistling loudly.

I wondered very much what he taught them, but when I asked Aunt Caroline she said:

"Denys is the best of the lot of you underneath, Grisel. It is a pity boys always think they must hide their feelings. He keeps the infants in perfect order, teaches them their text and hymn, and tells them a Bible story beautifully."

I sighed, for I wished so much that I had been brave enough to do it.

On Monday afternoon Lynette came rushing to me.

"Oh, Grisel, I've been over to Mrs. Ribbon's, and she says she knows of a beautiful donkey, and she could have told us long ago if we had asked her, instead of going off to the gipsies. She says it belongs to a farmer, and he wants to sell it."

"Well," I said, "tell her to tell him to send it in for us to look at to-night."

"I told her, but she said she had no one to send and tell him."

"Where does he live?"

"I don't know."

So I ran across to Mrs. Ribbon at once, and found out. It was rather far off across the fields, but I thought I might go if Aunt Caroline would let me. She was just going out with father. They were going to some meeting in Lemworth, and father was going to take the chair at it. They told me I could go, and said we mustn't wait tea for them.

"But you'll be back in time to choose our donkey, father?" I said anxiously.

He smiled.

"I think we shall have to advertise for one," he said: "I doubt if you will have any donkeys arrive, my dear child."

"We expect loads!" I cried out gleefully as I ran away.

Lynette said she would come with me, so we set off across the fields. We didn't hurry, as it was very hot; we picked dock-leaves and ferns to fan our faces. At last we came to the farm. It looked bigger than our Rectory, and had a lovely garden. There was a gentleman lying on a cane couch on the lawn and a lady was sitting by the side of him. I wondered if we had made a mistake, but we had to go across the lawn to get to the front door, so I asked them if Mr. Donnyball lived there. The lady smiled.

"Yes, dear, he does. Go up to the house and you will find his wife there. We are only lodging here."

I went on, but Lynette lingered behind. She likes to make friends with strangers; I don't much. I rang the bell, and a farm servant came out, but she soon called the farmer's wife, who was very nice when she knew who I was. I recognised her at once, as she and her husband always come to church Sunday morning, and sit in the middle pew.

"Ah," she said, "come in, dearie. Me and John always say you sits up like cherubs in the church, and sing so pretty-like, 'tis a treat to hear you; and your dear good father do preach like one of the 'postles. Come in, and I'll fetch you a bit of my home-made cake and a glass of milk. And what is your message, dearie?"

She talked so fast that I could hardly get in a word. But I told her at last, and she said:

"Well, to think of your wanting a donkey, now! It's like this: we takes in lodgers at times, and a Captain and Mrs. Roger's have come all the way from London—they have relatives in Lincoln; and he is crippled since the war, and we thought as how our old Nell would draw him out nicely in a wicker chair, but she turns nasty at the sight of it and refuses to move, so we think o' gettin' a small Welsh pony. MY husband's brother breeds 'em, and so I was saying to Mrs. Ribbon the other day, we shouldn't be keepin' Nell. You see, my little boy used to ride her—" Here she began to cry, so I knew her little boy was dead, and I said I was very sorry.

Then she made me sit down in such a nice cool hall, and called Lynette in, and we both had a glass of milk and a piece of cake, and she promised she would send the donkey up that evening by one of the farm lads. I was delighted, and we wanted to see the donkey, only she had gone to the mill for some flour. Then we said good-bye and came away, but Mrs. Rogers and her husband spoke to us from the lawn. Lynette, of course, had told them everything, and the Captain looked at us and laughed.

"How much are you going to give for the old brute?" he said.

And then I explained that we were having a donkey-show to choose from.

"Oh!" he said. "I think I must come along and see the show."

And Lynette clapped her hands and begged him to come.

But Mrs. Rogers shook her head—she didn't want him to come; she said he wasn't well enough.

And then Lynette said:

"I'll write you a letter and tell you about it, if you like. Aunt Caroline lets us write letters for composition when we're doing lessons."

So Mrs. Rogers said that would be very nice, and we came away.

"They're so nice," said Lynette, skipping along. "I think Captain Rogers has forgotten to grow up—he talked just like the boys do. Mrs. Rogers keeps looking at him, and once she said, 'Charlie, don't shock the child.' That was when he said he didn't care a hang for the old doctors, and he was going steeple-chasing in a bath-chair! I said I couldn't possibly be shocked by anything in the world, because I wasn't grown-up, and it was only grown-ups who were shocked.

"And then he said in a solemn whisper to me: 'You take a straight tip from me and don't you move from where you are. Nine years old is old enough for anything. If you sleep head-downwards you'll stop growing. It's a tragedy to be grown-up, I can tell you.'"

"I think he sounds almost as nice as Aunt Mildred," I said. "I wish he would come and see us."

"I'll write him a letter and ask him to," said Lynette.

When we got home it was tea-time, and the boys were just back from school. They were rather scornful over our donkey.

"If it's Mrs. Ribbon's donkey, we'll beat that when the others arrive," they said.

And we told them it was not her donkey, but Mr. Donnyball's.

We got very excited as six o'clock arrived, and Puff climbed on the front gate to be the first to see them come. We waited and waited till nearly half-past six, and then up came Nell. She looked a perfect beauty, fat and clean, and a pretty grey colour. The boy who led her looked very proud of her. And then, as we were all crowding round her, up came, in a perfect cloud of dust, four ragged, miserable-looking beasts, and a man and boy were driving them.

Then business began. I wished father was there, but Denys didn't seem at all afraid of choosing. We were all walking round these four donkeys when an old woman came up with another one, and hers was in much better condition. It was getting quite exciting; a crowd of village children was round us, and more kept coming. We now had six donkeys, and father wasn't in. The four mangy-looking donkeys belonged to the gipsies' friend, the nice black one belonged to a friend of Mrs. Tapson's, and there was the fat grey one from the farm.

Denys was quite important. He presently whispered to Aylwin something, and Aylwin threw up his cap and shouted "Hurrah!" So then we knew it was something nice, and so it was.

"Look here," said Denys in a loud voice, "we want a donkey who'll go, and we've got to find out the best of the lot. We'll have a donkey race for one mile, and the one who comes in first will be our choice."

The village children all cheered at this, and we joined them; the man with the shabby donkeys didn't look over-pleased.

"I've brought these 'ere vallyble beasts o' mine near ten mile; didn't know a racehorse were asked for. Yer can't look for a flier from them wot have done ten mile on a broilin' afternoon."

"Well," said Denys, who was always very just, "we'll have a handicap, and we'll give them a fair start. We'll have the race on the high road; it's half a mile to the old oak-tree that was struck by lightning. I've measured it, so I know it's just half-way between the milestones. We'll race them there and back. We'll have the winning-post outside our gate."

Then he asked Mrs. Tapson's old friend, Mrs. Rowe, how far her donkey had come. She said five miles. Bob Tapson had seen our notice on the signpost and sent her word, and she had come in her donkey-cart.

So then Denys began arranging the race.

"We'll have to have jockeys," said Aylwin excitedly, "and I'll be one. I'll ride the grey beast."

"I'll ride the black one," said Denys.

That was Mrs. Rowe's donkey.

But Mr. Donnyball's farm lad said he ought to ride Nell because he knew her ways, so Aylwin took the best of the four brown ones, and the boy who brought them rode another, and the man was going to ride another, but Denys told him he was too heavy weight. Lynette and I begged to ride too, but Denys wouldn't let us. He said we might hold the tape at the winning-post, so we went into the house to get it, and when we came back we found two village boys were mounted on the other donkeys. They were all to ride bareback, but they were allowed to have the halters on.

It was great fun; every one got very excited, and when we got the donkeys out on the road all in a row, the whole village seemed to have turned out to see us.

Denys gave the ten mile donkeys two hundred yards' start, Mrs. Rowe's black donkey had one hundred yards' start, and the grey one that had only come a mile started from our gate. It all seemed to take up a good deal of time to arrange. Denys said we ought to fire a pistol off, but we hadn't got a proper one, so we got our dinner gong, and I went up the road a short way off, so that they all could hear, and then I struck it with all my might.

They were off, but the whole of the village children started running after them, and the screams and yells were something fearful. Lynette and I longed to run too, but we had to hold the tape, so we got ready as soon as possible. One of the brown donkeys wouldn't go at all: he sidled into a ditch and nobody could move him. The man who brought him ran up and began swearing and beating him. Lynette and I were quite frightened. I told Baldwin to go after him and make him stop. Of course cook and Emma and Baldwin all came to the gate to look on.

It seemed a long time before they came back, but we heard cheers, and then we saw Denys on the black donkey coming up in fine style. He simply galloped in to the winning-post, and the others were nowhere to be seen.

At last Aylwin appeared: he had been thrown twice; he said his donkey bucked, and just as he was telling us so, the creature did it again, and he went over his head into a bed of stinging-nettles. I couldn't help laughing, though I felt very sorry for Aylwin. Then the farm boy came along, but his donkey lay down on the road and rolled him off every few minutes, how he got on at all I don't know. The other donkeys were no good at all, they didn't even get as far as the oak-tree; they stood still in the road and wouldn't budge. As Denys said to the man, we wanted a donkey to go, not to stand still.

The man was very unpleasant, and he swore a good deal, and he said he meant to be paid for his journey, and then he went off to the public-house to wait till father came home. Of course we hadn't a doubt which donkey was the best—the winner. And Mrs. Rowe was very pleased. She said her Andy was a splendid trotter, and she said she would sell us her donkey-cart and harness too very cheap if we liked, so we all went off and looked at it. It was very shabby, but she said it only wanted a fresh coat of paint and would look as good as new.

And then we asked her the most important thing of all—the price. She said she didn't want the donkey or cart any more, for she was going to live in Lemworth, so she would let us have it very cheap; and then she said she would take four pounds ten shillings for the whole concern. It seemed a bargain, but then we hadn't got as much as that. Denys counted up that he only had about seventeen shillings in our money-box, and then there was granny's three pounds.

Whilst we were still talking to her, father and Aunt Caroline came up the hill from the station. Though father was very tired, he helped us at once. He asked a lot of questions about the donkey, how old he was, and how long she had had him, and if he had any vicious tricks, and how fast he could go, and then we told about the races, and father said he must see the others. And then in the middle of it all, Aunt Caroline called Lynette and me to come to bed. She had taken Puff in with her when she arrived. So we were obliged to go, but we felt quite sure that father would choose Andy.

[Illustration: HE WENT OVER HIS HEAD INTO A BED OF STINGING NETTLES.]

And so he did, and Aylwin put his head in at our bedroom door to tell us that father had bought the cart as well. We were to give him as much money as we had earned, and he would add the rest. Mrs. Rowe came down to four pounds, and that was what father paid her.

Lynette and I were awfully disappointed not to see the donkey put into the stable. We found out in the morning that Baldwin turned him into our field next the kitchen-garden. Baldwin said he knew all about donkeys and their ways.

We got up very early to go out and see him, and Lynette took him a carrot. He came up to us at once and took it, but when we tried to get on his back, he galloped off.

After breakfast father and Aunt Caroline came out to look at him. The boys had gone off to school. Father said they could paint up the little cart quite well, and he would get the harness done up for us. And Aunt Caroline said that a donkey-cart would be very useful in many ways. We were all delighted about it. After our lessons were over, Lynette and I went to the stable and took down all the harness, and made Baldwin explain how it was put on. And then we got into the cart and found out that it would hold the five of us quite well if we squeezed up. And then we went out to the field and tried to catch Andy.

I don't think we could have been happier if we had had a beautiful carriage and a pair of horses given to us. Puff was most excited. He got rather cross when he found he couldn't get near Andy, but at last we got him in a corner and put Puff on his back. Then we walked slowly round the field. Lynette was holding Andy by his tail in case he ran away, and I was holding Puff on. The boys came home and found us in the field. They got a halter, and then we each had a ride on him in turns, and at last, as Andy was quite tired, and lay down on the ground, we left him and went into the house, and Aylwin whispered to me:

"We're off to the gipsies' supper to-night!"