Luke Barnicott, and Other Stories by William Howitt

  CHAPTER II.--THE JOURNEY.

  Before daylight, on the following morning, the children were already up.Mina combed and plaited her long hair by herself, in order to prove toher mother that she was fit to be trusted alone amongst strangers. Fritzalso was washed and his hair combed, and he himself carefully dressed bythe same hour, for on those hot summer days it was necessary to set outearly.

  The schoolmaster had given the children a very exact description of theroad and all the places through which they must pass; the mother putbread and early pears in Mina's basket as refreshment by the way,together with some nice fresh butter, carefully laid in damp greenleaves as a little present for Mrs. Dote. Fritz's knapsack was packed asfull as it could hold, with his Sunday clothes, a clean frock for Mina,and a change of linen, and all else that was necessary for them both, onso great and unexampled a journey. Mina was to carry the little basket,and a large red umbrella, a piece of old family property, which themother gave them in case of need. They made a hearty breakfast of newmilk and bread, and this over Fritz took his cap and his newly-cut hazelstick in his hand, whilst Mina, having put on her round straw hat, tookthe little basket on her arm. Their hearts felt a little heavy on thisthe first great leave-taking of their lives, and the good mother seemedas if she could never make an end of her admonitions and warnings, hermessages and compliments to Mrs. Dote. But at length the last farewellwas spoken, and the brother and sister, their young hearts throbbingwith the excitement of adventure, set forth on their way. The parentsgazed after them till they had turned the corner, and then the fatherwent into his beloved flower-garden, and the mother into the house, tolook after her yet sleeping children.

  Mina's heavy heart was soon light, as she walked on in the clearfreshness of the morning air, which heralded a fine day. These childrenwere not accustomed to parties of pleasure or to amusements; theirjourneyings hitherto had never extended beyond three or four miles fromhome, as far as Elsingen, where the grandmother lived, and yet now theyhad set out on such a long journey on a visit to Mrs. Dote, thelady-housekeeper of a royal castle! How joyously their hearts beat, howbrilliantly their imaginations coloured the glories that awaited them!

  Mrs. Dote, the castle housekeeper, was once lady's maid in the noblefamily of Erlichhofen, where, also, the schoolmaster had held his firstappointment; she had, in consequence, become very friendly with theschoolmaster's family, and had been greatly looked up to, as a person ofmuch experience, by the schoolmaster's young wife, so that theblack-eyed Fritz, who was her godson, had an especial claim to herregard. Years went on; the schoolmaster was ordered to a distant place,and they heard nothing for a long time of Miss Lisette, till at lengthshe surprised them by a visit with her husband, an old man, keeper orhouse-steward of the royal hunting-castle of Barenburg, whom she, notthen by any means young herself, had married. The schoolmaster and hiswife returned the visit, and there it ended; for the distance was toogreat for the wife, who was delicate, to go on foot, and driving was tooexpensive an affair for a schoolmaster. Soon afterwards, also, thehouse-steward fell ill, and his wife was wholly engaged in attendinghim; and after his death, being herself advanced to his office, and thecare of the castle entirely confided to her, she could not be absentfrom her trust even for a single day. She had, however, long sinceinvited her godson and his sister to pay her a visit, and now at lengthit was about to be accomplished.

  The children walked onward, beguiling the way with merry talk; they hadsoon passed the familiar scenes which lay between them and the nextvillage, and thenceforth it was wholly a land of new discovery. "But,look, that little brook runs along a good deal merrier than our slowSteinbach at home!"

  "Just look there, on the hillside lies a churchyard, with nothing butwhite crosses!" said Mina, in a melancholy tone.

  "A beautiful churchyard!" laughed out Fritz, "it's nothing but a flockof geese; hark how they are cackling!"

  "Oh yes!" returned little Mina, sorry that she had felt melancholywithout any need. "But what a queer church-tower! Do you see, there arefour little towers round one great old one! And just look there, theyhave got the stork's nest on the town-house! how foolish! A stork's nestbelongs to the church."

  By degrees, however, the spirit for making new discoveries cooled; thecheerful talk ceased, and their steps became more and more weary; thesun was very hot, and the children were unaccustomed to long walks. Theyhad, before setting out, said so much about their own strength, thatthey now felt ashamed of confessing to each other how tired they were,till at length Mina said, "But, I say, Fritz, how far have we yet togo?"

  "We must sit down for a little while that I may study ourtravelling-map," said Fritz consequentially; and they looked out for anice, shady place, on the grassy edge of the field, under some willows,which having found, it was with a great sense of relief that the boythrew down his knapsack and stretched himself on the soft green turf."Mossigheim, a mile and half," read he from the paper on which hisfather had noted down the distances; "we have passed that; Erlach, threemiles--that was the place with the queer church-tower; Rothenhof, threemiles--that must be the beautiful farm-house yonder, all amongst thefruit trees; next comes Disselsburg, where father said we were to takeour first rest. Now, however, we must quietly study the travelling-map;but we will, in the first place, rest a little while."

  "Oh yes!" sighed little Mina, who was thoroughly tired; "but shall we besoon at the castle?"

  "Not just yet," said Fritz, in a low voice; "we have only come aboutseven miles and a half, and we have now ten and a half to go."

  "Oh, that is impossible!" exclaimed Mina, "for it is only fifteen milesaltogether."

  "Well, see," said Fritz, drawing out with great importance his father'ssilver watch, as large and as thick almost as a warming-pan, and whichhad been lent to him for this journey; "we set out at five o'clock, nowit is eight; we will only go a little farther, as far as to where theguide-post stands."

  "Is it eight o'clock, and so hot already!" sighed Mina; "dear Fritz, Ishould so like to go to sleep for a little while!"

  "Go to sleep," said he, in a fatherly tone, "and I'll take care of youthe while; when you have had half-an-hour's sleep, we shall be able toreach Mrs. Dote's by noon."

  Mina folded the shawl that her mother had given her in case of coolevenings, laid it under her head, and dropped into a sweet sleep. Fritzthought he could look at the country far better if he lay down, and hiswell-filled knapsack making a splendid pillow, he, too, was soon fastasleep by his sister, they, neither of them, having slept well thepreceding night. They forgot the heat, the weariness, and the oppressivethirst, which the pears they had eaten, and which were not very juicy,had rather increased than otherwise. Fritz forgot also that he had notonly his sister, but his father's precious watch to guard, and slept assweetly and as soundly as in his bed at home.

  "Nay, what sort of tramps have we got lying here!" was the exclamationwhich Fritz heard, as he at length awoke out of a long sound sleep. Helooked up with amazement and rubbed his eyes, as he saw the green treesand the blue sky above him, instead of the white-washed ceiling at home,and a tall respectable-looking countryman standing before him, who againspoke: "Eh, my young fellow, where do you come from?"

  Fritz was now wholly master of himself, and whilst Mina slowly awoke,and like himself gazed round her with astonishment, he related to thefarmer where they came from, and the journey they were upon, in proof ofwhich he showed him his father's silver watch and the map of the journeywhich he had drawn.

  "Indeed! you are going to Barenburg, then; I know the housekeeper verywell; she is a very good lady; but it is twelve full miles there, everyinch! In what condition are your feet for walking?"

  Fritz sprang up, and felt himself again ready for the march; Mina'slimbs, however, were stiff from the rest; and when she began to walk, itwas with difficulty.

  "Nay, that young lass is not used to such long walks," said the farmergood-naturedly; "she can get as far as my house down yonder, and then wemust see what is to be d
one."

  And what a beautiful, substantial farm-house they were taken to, withthe pretty garden in front, and the splendid meadow behind, and the nicecool parlour, which was shaded from the sun by the projecting thatch;and then what a kind farmer's wife she was, who set before themdelicious butter-milk and new-baked cakes, for they had that morningbeen baking. The children were overjoyed. Mina had heard and read agreat deal about the dangers of the world, but if everywhere throughoutthe world people were as good as these, it could not be so very bad. Thefarmer's wife, who had been born and brought up at this farm, and hadnever in all her life been farther from home than Disselsburg, feltgreat compassion for the children, who had come such a long way. Shewould not therefore hear of them again setting out before dinner,although they had partaken so largely of cake and butter-milk that theywere in no condition to do much honour to the excellent buttered oatmealporridge, of which the dinner principally consisted.

  The children of the farmer, who also came hot and tired from the school,beheld with great astonishment the young travellers, who appeared tothem to have such polished town manners, though Steinheim was anythingbut metropolitan. Before long, however, they became quite familiar, tookthem into the stable and showed them a calf and a young kid.

  It was very agreeable to the children in this hospitable house, but thetwelve full miles, of which the farmer had spoken, lay like a weight onMina's soul. How could it possibly be so far to Barenburg Castle?

  "Do you know what?" said the farmer, when, after dinner, they werethinking of again setting out. "I promised some time ago to take awaggon-load of straw to Kochendorf; I shall not be doing anything withthe horses this afternoon, I will therefore have the straw loaded; youcan ride nicely upon it, and from Kochendorf down to Barenburg is only anice little mile and half, and in the cool of the evening I can drivehome, and you reach the end of your journey."

  No sooner said than done! Fritz thought it was rather a pity that thepedestrian journey upon which they had calculated so much had nowdwindled down to a mere nothing; but Mina, not being ambitious in thisway, accepted with the greatest delight a lofty seat on the soft bundlesof straw. The beautiful butter that her mother had sent by them for Mrs.Dote was becoming soft from the heat by this time, therefore the kindfarmer's wife exchanged it for some of her own, which was fresh, of amuch finer colour and quality, and quite firm from having been kept inice-cold water.

  Towards evening, a little shaken, but at the same time nicely rocked asin a cradle, for the waggon travelled slowly, the children reachedKochendorf. The waggoner helped them down from their lofty throne-likeseat; Mina carefully picked off from Fritz and herself all the strawsthat hung dangling about them, then taking up their knapsack and basket,after a friendly leave of the kind farmer, they followed in the cool ofthe evening, with renewed strength and cheerful hearts, the road thatwas pointed out to them.

  It was at first a narrow green path between thick hedges, where theycould scarcely see many paces in advance; before long, however, itopened into a broad, magnificent avenue of old lime-trees, which, now inflower, filled the air with a delicious fragrance. With beating heartsand full of a strange expectation, the children pursued this road whichseemed already very grand, and unlike anything they had been accustomedto.