"Oh, look! The sun's out!" shouted George at this point.

"Sure enough! Come on and play! We can read history another rainy day,"

abetted Jack, jumping up from the rug.

"Mother, thank you for the story, but we're off now for some fun,"

declared Martha, helping Anne to her feet.

CHAPTER V

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

"What shall we play?" asked Jack the moment the four were out on the veranda.

"Play-why, war of course!" responded George, placing his fingers between his lips and giving a shrill whistle.

"What's that for?" wondered Anne.

"That's the signal for Jim that we are going to have an engagement with the British!" replied George, watching eagerly the side of the house where the kitchens were located.

"Hist!" sounded from a thick arbor of clematis that shaded the kitchen porch.

"There he is! Come on now," ordered George, starting for the lilac bushes across the lawn.

"Children! Come and get your overshoes! Everything is soaking wet!"

cried Mrs. Davis from the library window when she saw them race through the wet gra.s.s.

"Oh, dear me! Martha, you go and bring them to us, will you?" asked George impatiently.

"I'm not Mrs. Washington yet, and she didn't run errands for George before she was married to him," objected Martha.

"Send Jim for them!" whispered Jack, as he saw the little fellow running with might and main to join his adored commander-in-chief.

"What will you play with if the weapons and uniforms are in the attic?"

asked Anne.

At this they all stopped short, as no one had thought of the army equipment till then.

"Guess Jack and I had better go for the overshoes and then we can bring along some things for the Continental army," ventured George.

"And send Jim on to John's house to call him out," added Martha.

"Yes, that's a good plan. You, Jim, see here!" explained George. "Climb over the hedge and look for John. If you don't see him, whistle, and when he comes out, tell him we are going to the creek to have the Boston Tea Party-see?"

"Yeh, Ah see all right!" eagerly replied Jim, nodding his woolly head energetically as he started off for the hedge that separated the Grahams' from the Parkes' estate.

The two girls were told to go to the barn and find some tools-axe, nails, hammers, or hatchets, and a saw, if possible.

"What for?" asked Anne.

"Don't we have to have warships out in Boston harbor if we want a tea party like that real one was?" scorned George, as he caught hold of Jack's hand and ran for the house.

The lilac bushes were abandoned for a time, while the girls sought for and captured various tools in the barn when the gardener was absent. The two boys tied up whatever uniforms they could conveniently carry, and Jim hid them near the Grahams' house and gave the familiar cat-call for John.

These important errands completed, they all went to the creek that crossed the private road leading to the Parke estate.

Again a.s.sembled for play, they examined the items on hand and John said: "You can't have ships without material."

"I thought maybe we could rope together some of these logs the men chopped down last spring; but they look kind of heavy to handle,"

replied George calculatively.

"Humph! They'd take a tackle and derrick to move. What we need is just boards and some crosspieces to tie together like a raft. I've made 'em in camp," said Jack.

"Then you can help us make one now," said Martha eagerly.

"We'll have to find some boards and small logs then," replied Jack, looking about in the timber heap for suitable lengths for crossbeams.

"We've got some boards about six feet long in the lumber house near here that I heard father say he wouldn't use till next summer. Then he's going to lay a new boardwalk from the garage to the barn," suggested John.

"Just what we need. Come and show me where they are, and we four boys will bring them here while the girls roll those small lengths of timber down to the water-edge," said Jack.

Soon all hands were working eagerly, nailing boards to some crosspieces, and then roping loose ends securely to the logs so they would not slip off when launched in the creek. The water of the stream was nearly a foot deeper than usual, owing to the heavy rains of the night and morning, so the raft would float easily if it was well built.

The battleship was ready to sail when the luncheon bell sounded over the lawns to call the British and Continental armies to mess. The children looked at each other in disgust, for now it seemed a wholesale waste of time to go home and eat!

"What have you got for tea?" asked Martha at this moment.

"We'll have to make-believe tea," said John.

"That won't be as much fun as if you had some chests and boxes stacked on the boat. Maybe Jim can find some empty boxes in the store-room for us to fill with sand," ventured Anne.

"I'se got some broomsticks hided away in a alley under de pantry. Dey kin be for guns," remarked Jim, who hoped his news would divert the thoughts of his friends from the raid on store-room boxes. Jim felt that would be a dangerous attempt.

"Fine! Bring them out and leave them under the lilacs while you go back for the empty boxes. We'll eat lunch and meet you where you leave the guns," said George conclusively.

"Cain't some uv yo' all hep me in de store-room?" asked Jim plaintively.

"What for? You can creep in and empty some boxes out better than if a lot of us went with you," countered Martha.

"But onny one uv yo' all will hep a lot! Not all uv yo'. One uv us kin han' down dose boxes an' anudder kin shift it outen de store-room winder. Den Garge kin stan' unner dat winder an' run wid 'em t' de lilacs," explained Jim, who really was very cunning in self-defence.

"Good stunt! Martha, you go with Jim right after lunch and Jack and I will carry away the goods," said George, waving a hand at John, who started in the opposite direction for home and luncheon.

"I'll try to bring some things, too," said John.

At the table that noon, the ladies suggested that they all take a nice drive about the country in the automobile. The amazed children looked at each other and then at their elders.