“The tomatoes went in one by one,
(There’s one more bushel to peel),
Hinpoha she did cut her thumb,
(There’s one more bushel to peel).”
“The tomatoes went in two by two,
And Gladys and Sahwah fell into the stew.
The tomatoes went in three by three,
And Migwan got drowned a-trying to see.”
etc., etc., thus they made merry over the work until it was done.
“Do you know,” said Migwan, looking up from her peeling, “that it’s Gladys’s birthday next Friday? We ought to have a celebration.”
“How about a picnic?” asked Nyoda. “We haven’t had a real one yet. Have the rest of the Winnebagos come out from town and all of us sleep in the tepee as we had planned on the Fourth of July. Then we’ll get a horse and wagon and drive along the roads until we come to a place beside the river where we want to stop and cook our dinner and just spend the day like gypsies.” The girls entered into the plan with enthusiasm, both for the sake of celebrating Gladys’s birthday and cheering up Calvin, who had been rather quiet and pensive of late. It was a great disappointment to him to have to give up his plans for going to college, and his uncle’s unfriendly treatment of him had cut him to the heart.
Medmangi and Chapa and Nakwisi arrived the day before the picnic and the house echoed with the sound of voices and laughter, as the Winnebagos bubbled over with joy at being all together. The morning of the picnic was as fine as they could wish, and it was not long before they were bumping over the road in one of Farmer Landsdowne’s wagons, behind the very two horses which the girls had ridden the week before. It was a wagon full. Sahwah sat up in front and drove like a veritable daughter of Jehu, with Farmer Landsdowne up beside her to come to the rescue in case the horses should run away, which was not at all likely, as it took constant persuasion to keep them going even at an easy jog trot. Mrs. Landsdowne, who, with her husband, had been invited to the picnic, sat beside Mrs. Gardiner, in the back of the wagon, while Calvin Smalley stayed next to Migwan, as he usually did. She was so quiet and gentle and kind that he felt more at ease with her than with the rest of the Winnebagos, who were such jokers. Ophelia, who was beginning to be inseparable from Sahwah, squeezed herself in between her and Mr. Landsdowne, and refused to move. Sahwah, of course, took her part and let her stay, although she was a bit crowded for space. Hinpoha and Gladys sat at the back of the wagon dangling their feet over the end, where they could watch the yellow road unwinding like a ribbon beneath them, while Nyoda sat between Betty and Tom to keep the peace.
“Where are we going?” asked Mrs. Gardiner, as they swung along the road.
“Oh,” replied Sahwah, “somewhere, anywhere, everywhere, nowhere. It’s lots more romantic to start out without any idea where you’re going and stop wherever it suits you than to start out for a certain place and think you have to go there even if you pass nicer places on the road. Maybe, like Mrs. Wiggs, we’ll end up at a first-class fire.”
“We undoubtedly will,” said Nyoda, “if we expect to cook any dinner. Do my eyes deceive me?” she continued, “or is this a fishing-rod under the straw? It is, it is,” she cried, drawing it out. “Now I know what has been the matter with me for the past few months, this feeling of sadness and longing that was not akin to rheumatism. I have been pining, languishing, wasting away with a desire to go fishing. My early life ran quiet beside a babbling brook, and there I sat and fished trout and fried them over an outdoor fire. This spirit will never know repose until it has gone fishing once more.”
“Take the rod and welcome, it’s mine,” said Calvin, glad that something of his should give pleasure to one of his cherished friends.
In a shady grove of sycamores beside the river they dismounted from the wagon and scattered in search of firewood, for the fire must be started the first thing, as there were potatoes to roast. Nyoda took the fishing-rod and started for the river. “We’ll never get anything to eat if we wait until you catch enough fish for dinner,” said Sahwah.