The next day Jasper announced his intention of returning to his farm, but the Porters would not hear of it.
“You and Joy can live in the bough house, and we can go over to your farm from here,” declared Phil.
“Besides, your grass was all burned and your cattle would have poor grazing, while they can have a fine range on our west side,” added Ted.
It was Joy, however, who finally decided the question by declaring she would feel lonesome at leaving the only young friends she had ever had, and her father humoured her.
For several days the boys assisted the aged farmer in clearing up the ruins of his home, and then busied themselves building shelters for their livestock.
Each day the girls inspected the fields, and one afternoon, as the boys returned from a trip to Bradley for provisions, Margie greeted them with the cry:
“The crops are up! The crops are up! Every field is covered!”
So excited were Phil and Ted at the announcement that they could hardly wait to unharness the blacks and feed them before they ran to see the green shoots for themselves.
“Let’s take samples of each field this very day,” enthused Ted, and pressing their sisters and Joy into service, they took clouts of soil from the different sections, using aprons, dress-skirts, and handkerchiefs to carry them.
In the evening they wrapped each sample in paper, writing the name of the seed sown carefully on the outside.