“Yes, Cherry,” said she. “Run and see if you can find the boys.”
Cherry was the cow. She had strayed from the pasture the day before, and they could not find her. She was called Cherry from her colour; for although she had looked almost black, as Caleb had seen her in the bushes, she was really a Cherry colour. Caleb saw at once, as soon as his grandmother said that it was Cherry, that she was correct. In fact, he could see her head and horns, as she was holding her head up to eat the leaves from the bushes. However he did not stop to talk about it, but, obeying his grandmother immediately, he ran off after the boys.
He went out to the back door, where the boys had been at play, and shouted out, “David! Da—vid! Dwi—ght! Da—vid!” But there was no reply, except a distant echo of “David” and “Dwight” from the rocks and mountains.
So Caleb came back, and said that he could not find the boys, and that he supposed that they had gone to school.
“Then we must call Raymond,” said she.
“And may I ring for him, grandmother?” said Caleb.
Grandmother said he might: and so Caleb ran off to the porch at the back door, and took down quite a large bell, which was hanging there. Caleb stood upon the steps of the porch, and grasping the great handle of the bell with both hands, he rang it with all his might. In a minute or two he stopped; and then he heard a faint and distant “Aye-aye” coming, from a field. Caleb put the bell back into its place, and then went again to his grandmother.
In a few minutes Raymond came in. He was a thick-set and rather tall young man, broad-shouldered and strong,—slow in his motions, and of a very sober countenance. Caleb heard his heavy step in the entry, though he came slowly and carefully, as if he tried to walk without making a noise.
“Did you want me, Madam Rachel?” said he, holding his hat in his hand.
Caleb's grandmother was generally called Madam Rachel.