“Ah, yes. I took it upon myself. You see, I need some practice, my late accident making it necessary that I, too, begin playing. No better opportunity will present itself. However, the court being in such wretched shape I dare not attempt any work upon it. It was for that reason that I had the boys send to town for a steam roller.”
“To pack down the court! Oh, that is it,” said Harriet brightly. “How can we thank you?”
“No necessity, Miss Burrell. I tell you it was principally in my own behalf that I ordered the roller. I didn’t order the whistle. That is thrown in gratis. When the boys get here we will have the net taken down so that the man can begin his work of rolling the court.”
“No need to wait for the boys. Come on, girls,” cried Harriet.
They ran to the court and, pulling up the stakes, laid the net flat, after which they rolled it carefully. The net was then removed and laid beside their tent, racquets and stakes were gathered up and stowed in the same place. It was all done with the usual snap of the Meadow-Brook Girls.
“You American girls certainly have the initiative,” declared Disbrow approvingly. “You aren’t afraid to do things. Now, if you were English, you would sit about and look languid, you would wait until the men came to do the work for you. Not so the American girl. When there is a thing to be done she does it. That is all there is to it. I’ll tell that driver to start in. I believe he has gone to sleep.”
“Thhall I throw a thtone at him?” questioned Tommy.
“By no means,” answered the guardian severely. “Run over and tell him we are ready for him.”
“No, no! Leave that for me,” protested Disbrow. But Harriet was already running toward the roller. She awakened the driver, telling him he might begin work at once. He delayed a long time before starting, first feeding more coal into the fire box and oiling the rheumatic joints of the machine before starting. While Mr. Disbrow was showing the driver how the court was to be rolled, the girls were hurriedly preparing breakfast. Had they not been enthusiastic before, they surely would be now that their instructor had gone to all this pains and expense in their behalf. They well knew that it was done wholly on their own account, despite his explanations to the contrary.
Captain George and his party arrived after the girls had finished their breakfast and the man was still clanking back and forth over the court, which was being slowly packed down into a firm surface that shone under the polish put on by the heavy roller.