Wasn't that exactly like Leon?Leave ONE for the nest egg!If he were dying and saw a joke or a trick,he'd stop to play it before he finished,if he possibly could.If he had no time at all,then he'd go with his eyes twinkling over the thoughts of the fun it would have been if he possibly could have managed it.
Of course when we saw that one lonely egg in the cider hopper,just exactly like the "Last Rose of Summer,left to pine on the stem,"I thought of the sack Leon carried,and knew what had been in it.We hurried out and tried to find him,but he was swallowed up.You couldn't see him or hear a sound of him anywhere.
Mother was as cross as she ever gets.Right there she made a new rule,and it was that two dozen eggs must be brought to the house each day,whether any were hidden or not.She had to stop baking until she got eggs.She said a few times she had used a goose egg in custard.I could fix that.I knew where one of our gray geese had a nest,and if she'd cook any goose egg,it would be a gray one.Of course I had sense enough not to take a blue one.
So I slipped from the east door,crossed the yard and orchard corner,climbed the fence and went down the lane.There was the creek up and tearing.It was half over the meadow,and the floodgate between the pasture and the lane rocked with the rush of water;still,I believed I could make it.So I got on the fence and with my feet on the third rail,and holding by the top one,I walked sidewise,and so going reached the floodgate.It was pretty wobbly,but I thought I could cross on the run.I knew I could if I dared jump at the other end;but there the water was over the third rail,and that meant above my head.
It was right at that time of spring when you felt so good you thought you could do most anything,except fly--I tried that once--so I went on.The air was cold for all the sun shone,the smell of catkin pollen,bursting buds,and the odour of earth steaming in the sun,was in every breath;the blackbirds were calling,and the doves;the ganders looked longingly at the sky and screamed a call to every passing wild flock,and Deams' rooster wanted to fight all creation,if you judged by the boasting he was doing from their barnyard gate.He made me think of eggs,so I set my jaws,looked straight ahead,and scooted across the floodgate to the post that held it and the rails of the meadow fence.I made it too,and then the fence was easy,only I had to double quite short,because the water was over the third rail there,but at last it was all gone,and I went to the fence corner and there was the goose on the nest,laying an egg.
She had built on a little high place,among puddles,wild rose bushes,and thorns,and the old thing wouldn't get off.She just sat there and stuck out her head and hissed and hissed.I never noticed before that geese were so big and so aggravating.I wasn't going to give up,after that floodgate,so I hunted a big stick,set it against her wing,pushed her off and grabbed three eggs and ran.When I got to the fence,I was in a pickle for sure.I didn't know what in the world to do with the eggs.
At last I unbuttoned my coat,put them in my apron front,gathered it up,and holding it between my teeth,started back.I had to double more than ever on account of the eggs,and when I reached the floodgate it rocked like a branch in the wind;but I had to get back,so I rested and listened to the larks a while.
That was a good plan.They were calling for mates,and what they said was so perfectly lovely,you couldn't think of anything else;and the less you thought about how that gate rocked,and how deep and swift the water ran,the better for you.At last one lark went almost from sight and he rang,twisted and trilled his call,until my heart swelled so big it hurt.I crossed on the jump with no time to think at all.That was a fine plan,for I made it,but I hit the post so hard I broke the middle egg.I was going to throw it away,but there was so much starch in my apron it held like a dish,and it had been clean that morning,now the egg soiled it anyway,so I ran and got home all right.
Mother was so pleased about the eggs she changed the apron and never said a word,except to brag on me.She said she couldn't keep house without me,and I guess that was a fact.I came in handy a lot of times.But at dinner when she scolded the boys about the eggs,and told them I brought the goose eggs for her custard,else there would have been no pie,father broke loose,and I thought he was going to whip me sure.He told mother all about the water and the gate,and how I had to cross,and he said,`it was a dispensation of Providence that we didn't have a funeral instead of celebrating Easter,'so I said:
"Well,if you think I came so near drowning myself,when you rejoice because Christ is risen from the dead,you can be glad I am too,and that will make it all the better."The boys laughed,but father said it was no laughing matter.I think that speech saved me from going on the threshing floor,for he took me on his lap when I thought I'd have to go,and told me never,never to do anything like that again,and then he hugged me until I almost broke.Gracious!He should have seen us going to school some days.Why,we even walked the top rail when it was the only one above water,and we could cross the bridge if we wanted to.At least when Laddie or Miss Amelia was not around,we did.
Leon was so bursting full he scarcely could eat,and Laddie looked pretty glum when he had to admit he had no eggs;so Laddie had to hand over the whole two dozen.Leon didn't mind that,but he said if he must,then all of us should stay in the dining-room until he brought them,because of course he couldn't walk straight and get them in broad daylight with us watching,and not show where they were.Father said that was fair,so Leon went out and before so very long he came back with the eggs.
