It was a lovely autumn day. The sun was warm and the sky was blue. The Alden family sat around the breakfast table, talking as usual. First they talked about the Greenfield schools being closed for a week. There had been a fire. Some of the schoolrooms had to be painted and repaired.
“You know what I want to do?” Benny Alden asked suddenly.
“No, what?” asked his big brother Henry. He smiled because Benny was always wanting to do funny things.
Grandfather Alden laughed, too. He said, “Tell us, Ben. I am always interested in anything you want to do.”
Benny put down his spoon. He had just finished an enormous dish of cereal and milk.
“Well,” he said, “I’d like to go up to the Oak Hill woods and live in that hunters’ cabin. Henry still has a week before he has to go back to college. We could all go.”
Grandfather Alden said, “I think it could be managed. I belong to the Sportsmen’s Club that owns the cabin. The hunters don’t use it at this time of the year.” He set down his coffee cup. “The cabin isn’t too far away, and it’s too early for snow.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” said Benny. “It’s much too early for snow. We could do a lot of hiking in the fall woods. We might see wild animals like deer and find new plants.”
“What about food?” asked Henry. “You’ll be the first one to be hungry, Ben.”
“Oh, that will be part of the fun!” said Benny. “I talked with Mr. Robbins. He’s one of Grandfather’s friends who belongs to the Sportsmen’s Club, too.”
“And what did he tell you?” asked Grandfather.
“We can hike five miles a day to the little store on the other side of Oak Hill. There’s a good path and we can’t miss the way. We can buy what we need at Nelson’s Store.”
“I see you’ve got it all figured out,” said Henry. “Two and a half miles each way. Can we cook in the cabin, Grandfather?”
“Well, yes. There’s a cookstove that burns kerosene. You could certainly heat up baked beans.”
“And water,” added Violet.
“Well, a panful maybe,” replied Grandfather, laughing. “But not too many baths.”
“That suits me,” said Benny.
“Well, it wouldn’t suit me,” said Mr. Alden. “I think I’ll stay at home.”
“We’d love to have you come along, Grandfather,” said Violet. “Don’t you really want to go?”
“No, my dear. I really want to stay at home. I’ll go with you as far as Henry can drive the car, and then I’ll take the car back home. I’ll meet you in about a week. We can plan that.”
Henry said, “Benny, suppose we run out of food and don’t feel like walking five miles to the store?”
“Well, we could always walk home,” said Benny, but he was joking. “I’ll take my transistor radio so we can hear all the news.”
“I’d love to go,” Jessie said. “We’ve never had an adventure in cold weather before.”
“Why do you call it an adventure, Jessie?” asked Benny. “It’s just a trip.”
“All right, then,” agreed Jessie. “But you know that our trips always turn out to be adventures. We might as well expect something surprising. We can take Watch this time. He will be glad. This is just the kind of trip for him.”
Watch was the Aldens’ dog. He seemed to understand everything that Jessie said. Now he knew that the Aldens were talking about him. He wagged his short tail because Jessie had said, “We’ll take Watch.”
“He knows he’s going this time,” said Henry, looking at the big dog.
“Yes, he’s laughing,” said Benny. “Look.”
Watch seemed to be saying, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
The Alden family started out for the Oak Hill woods on a beautiful day. The sun shone on the bright red and yellow leaves of the maple trees, and the sky was very blue.
Each of the Aldens took a sleeping bag. They all wore heavy clothes and took a few extra ones for cold nights.
Henry drove the car as far as he could. He stopped where a path led up a thickly wooded hill.
Jessie, Violet, Henry, and Benny got out. So did Watch. The Aldens took their sleeping bags, knapsacks, and the food.
Watch began to bark and jump. He knew something different was going to happen.
“You think you’re a puppy again, Watch,” said Jessie, laughing. “Don’t you know you’re getting to be an old dog?”
No, Watch didn’t know that. He felt like a puppy—he was so glad to be walking in the woods with his family.
When the young people said good-bye to Mr. Alden, Watch put his front paws on the door of the car and barked good-bye, too. Mr. Alden patted his head and said, “I’ll miss you, Watch. Remember, I’ll meet all of you here one week from today at ten o’clock in the morning.”
The Aldens waved until the car was out of sight. Then the climb began. There was a footpath, but it was narrow. They walked in line, Benny leading the way.
The woods smelled of evergreens and pine needles. Yellow and red leaves floated down all along the way.
“I can hardly wait to get there,” Benny said.
Henry laughed. “Just keep on walking, Ben,” he said. |