The Wonderful Bed Page 11

  CHAPTER XI

  THE GOOD DREAMS

  A thin screen of bushes was all that hid from the children's eyes thepeople whose voices they could hear so plainly.

  "Maybe it's some kind of picnic they're having in there," cried Peter,pushing eagerly forward. "Come on quick!"

  "No, you don't, either," whispered Rudolf, catching him and holdinghim back. "Don't let's get caught this time, let's peep through firstand see what the people are like."

  "Yes, do let's be careful," pleaded Ann. "We don't want to getarrested again, it's not a bit nice--though I suppose if this is wherethe Queen's friend lives, it isn't likely anything so horrid willhappen to us."

  "Do stop talking, Ann, and listen. Whoever they are in there, theyare making so much noise they can't possibly hear me, so I'm going tocreep into those bushes and see what I can see."

  As he spoke Rudolf carefully parted the bushes at a spot where theywere thin and peeped between the leaves, Ann and Peter crowding eachother to see over his shoulder. They looked into a kind of open gladenot much larger than a good-sized room and walled on all sides by talltrees and thick underbrush. It had a flooring of soft green turf, andabout in the middle lay a great rock as large as a playhouse. Thisrock was all covered over with moss and lichens, and the strange thingabout it was that a neat door had been cut in its side. Before thisdoor, talking and waving his hands to the crowd that thronged abouthim, stood a man--the queerest little man the children had ever seen!He looked like a collection of stout sacks stuffed very tightly andtied firmly at the necks. One sack made his head, another larger onehis body, four more his arms and legs. His broad face, though ratherdull, wore a good-humored expression, and he smiled as he looked abouthim.

  A pile of empty sacking-bags lay on the ground beside him, and fromtime to time he caught up one of these, ran his eye over the crowd,chose one of them, and popped him, or it, as it happened to be, intothe sack which he then swung on his shoulder and heaved into the opendoorway in the big rock, where it disappeared from sight. He wouldthen taken another sack and make a fresh selection, looking about himall the while with sleepy good humor, and paying little if anyattention to the cries, questions, and complaints with which he wasattacked on all sides.

  What a funny lot they were--this crowd that surrounded the little man!The children could hardly smother their excitement at the sight ofthem. Not people or animals only were they, but all kinds of oddobjects also, such as no one could expect to see running about loose.A Birthday Cake was there, with lighted candles; a little pile ofneatly darned socks and stockings, a white-cotton Easter Rabbit withpink pasteboard ears, a Jolly Santa Claus, a smoking hot Dinner, aNice Nurse who rocked a smiling baby, a brown-faced grinningOrgan-Man, his organ strapped before him, his Monkey on his shoulder.There were too many by far for the children to take in all at once,but at the sight of one particular member of the crowd, the childrengasped with astonishment; and Peter's excitement nearly betrayedthem. There, lounging by the side of a mild-faced School-MistressPerson, still smoking his chocolate cigarette, was--the False Hare!

  "Look alive now!" the little man was crying out. "Who's next, who'snext?"

  "Me, me, me--take me next, Sandy!" A dozen little voices cried this atone and the same time. There was a scramble, bursts of laughter,followed by a sharp rebuke from Sandy. "No, you don't either. Standback, you small fry. No shoving!"

  When Peter had seen and recognized the False Hare he had been soexcited that it had been almost impossible for Rudolf and Ann to keephim quiet. Now, as he watched the scramble and the rush and the fussthe funny crowd was making about the little man, he laughed out soloud that it was too late even to pinch him. The children's presencewas discovered, and two, tall, silver candlesticks jumped from asatin-lined box and ran to draw them into the middle of the glade.Sandy, as the little man appeared to be called, paused in hisbusiness, turned round, and smiled at the children.

  "Now then," said he, "what are you doing here? Don't you know this ismy busy night? Who are you, anyway? Not on my list, I'll warrant.Who's dreams are you?"

  "Nobody's," began Rudolf. "The Corn-cob Queen sent us to see if youcould tell us any way to get back to our Aunt Jane--"

  "Nobody's?" interrupted the little man. "Did you say you were Nobody'sdreams? Don't see him in the N's." And he took a printed list out ofhis pocket and ran his eye anxiously over it. "Are you sure--"

  "Please, he means we're not dreams," said Ann, stepping forward, "atleast we don't think so." She hesitated a second and then added: "Itdepends on what happens to them. Are these all dreams?"

  "All perfectly Good Dreams, or my name's not Sandman," answered thebaggy fellow briskly. "We don't handle the Bad Ones here, not us!"

  Peter looked interested. "Where does the Bad Ones live?" he asked. "Iwants to see them."

  The Sandman shook his head at Peter. "Oh, no, you don't, little boy,"he said. "No, you don't! Don't you go meddling in their direction oryou'll get into trouble, take my word for it. They live way off in thewoods and they're a bad lot. They've got a worse boss than old Sandy!No, no;--the good kind are trouble enough for me. What with the hurryand the flurry and the general mix-up, something a little off colorwill slip in now and then. Everybody makes mistakes _sometimes_!"

  As he made this last remark Sandy cast a doubtful look at the FalseHare, who grinned and tipped his silk hat to him.

  "I told Sandy _all_ about myself," said the False Hare, winking at thechildren. "I told him I was just as good as I could be!"

  The children could not help laughing. "I'm afraid you don't know himas well as we do, Mr. Sandy," said Ann.

  "Oh, I know about as much as I want to know about him," said Sandy,pretending to frown very fiercely. "I've almost made up my mind to getrid of him, but the truth is I don't really know just where hebelongs."

  "Doesn't matter to _me_ whether I spend the night with a bald-headedold gentleman or a bird-dog--all the same to _me_," said the FalseHare meekly. This speech sounded so like him that the children lookedat one another and burst out laughing again, at which the False Haregave a kind of solemn wink, sighed, and touched his eyes with a littlepaper handkerchief he held gracefully in one paw.

  The Sandman turned his back on the silly fellow, and went on with hisexplanations to the children: "We have a very select set ofcustomers," he said, "and it's our aim to supply 'em with the finestline of goods on the market. Wears me to a frazzle sometimes, thisbusiness does," he stopped to wipe from his brow a tiny stream of sandthat was trickling down it, "but I've got to keep at it! All thefolks, big and little, like Good Dreams, and want 'em every night, andif they get mixed up or the quality's inferior, or there's not enoughto go around, I tell you what, it makes trouble for Sandy! But juststep a little nearer, and you shall see for yourselves how the wholething is managed."

  The children followed Sandy, who walked back to the pile of emptysacks, picked one up, compared the label on it with a name on hislist, and called out in a loud voice: "Mrs. Patrick O'Flynn, WashLady--excellent character--never misses on a Monday--sixchildren--husband not altogether satisfactory. Here, now,Noddy--Blink! I'll want some help, boys."

  As he called out these two names, two very fat, sleepy boys, lookinglike pillows with strings tied round their waists, slouched frombehind the rock where they had been waiting, and stood sulkily atattention. There was a scramble and a rush and a fuss among the GoodDreams, just as there had been before when the children first peepedinto the glade, each one struggling and pushing and crowding to getahead of the next, without any regard as to whether or not it waswanted. It took a tremendous effort on the part of Sandy, togetherwith all the help the sleepy sulky boys would give, to get the rightcollection of dreams into the Wash Lady's sack, and to keep the wrongones out.

  "Letter from the Old Country," Sandy cried. "That's it, boys, morelively there. Tell that Pound of Tea to step up--No, no pink silkstockings to-day, thank you. Tell that Landlord the rent's paid, I'lllet him know when he's wanted. Hand over that pile
of mendedclothing--and the pay envelope, mind it's the right amount--all therest of you, step aside!" Waving away a gay bonnet with a bird on it,a bottle marked "Patent Medicine," and the persistent pink stockings,the Sandman closed the mouth of Mrs. O'Flynn's sack, and swung it onhis shoulder, nodding to the children to watch what would happen.Much excited, they crowded round the open door in the side of the bigrock and peered down into what seemed to be a kind of dark well with atoboggan-slide descending into it. Sandy placed the Wash Lady's sackat the top of the slide, and before the children could so much aswink, it had slid off into the darkness and disappeared from sight.

  "Oh, my!" cried Ann, "Is it a shoot-the-chutes? Does it bump when itgets there?"

  "No, no," said the Sandman. "No bumps whatsoever, the most comfortablekind of traveling I know, in fact you're there the same time youstart, and I'd like to know how you can beat that? I ought to know,for I use this route myself on my rounds a little earlier in theevening." He walked back to his pile of sacks, and picked up anotherof them. "Now then," said he, examining the label, "who's next?Aha--Miss Jane Mackenzie!"

  The children could hardly believe their ears. "Oh, Ruddy," whisperedAnn in Rudolf's ear, "what kind of dreams do you suppose Aunt Janewill get?"

  "Sh! Listen, he's going to tell us," answered Rudolf.

  The Sandman was gravely consulting his list."M-hm--Cook-that-likes-living-in-the-Country! Step this way, ma'am,and don't take any more room than you can help. New Non-fadable Cheapbut Elegant Parlor Curtains--One Able-bodied Intelligent Gardener,with a Generous Disposition--hurry the gentleman forward, boys, he's acuriosity! What's next? Aha! One niece, two nephews--three perfectlygood children." Sandy paused, stared about him at the throng ofjumping, pushing dreams--then added: "Don't see 'em."

  "Why, yes you do!" Ann was pulling impatiently at the Sandman'ssleeve--"Here you are." Then she turned to Rudolf and whisperedexcitedly: "Don't you see? We must make the Sandman believe we areAunt Jane's Good Dreams, and then he'll send us back to her."

  "I'd like a ride on that slide, all right!" returned Rudolf.

  "But I doesn't want to go back to Aunt Jane yet," came the voice ofPeter clearly from behind them. "I shan't go till I've seen the BadDreams."

  "Nonsense!" Rudolf turned round on him angrily. "Of course you'll go.You're the youngest, and you've _got_ to mind us." And then withoutpaying any more attention to Peter, Rudolf thrust himself in front ofthe Sandman. "Here we are," he said. "We're all ready."

  The Sandman looked the boy up and down, consulted his list again,smiled and shook his head very doubtfully.

  "I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm afraid you don't exactly answer. Justlisten to this." And he read aloud: "Number one. Boy: polite andgentlemanly in manner--brown hair neatly smoothed and parted--Etonsuit, clean white collar, boots well polished--Latin grammar underarm--"

  He stopped. Rudolf, in his pajamas, with his ruffled locks, tinsword, and angry expression, did not answer very closely tothis description. The Cook-who-liked-living-in-the-Country, theGardener-with-the-Generous-Disposition, and several other Good Dreamsburst out laughing. Only the False Hare kept a solemn expression, butRudolf knew very well what _that_ meant.

  The Sandman continued: "Number two. Little girl: modest and timid inher manners, not apt to address her elders until spoken to--hairbraided neatly and tied with blue ribbon--white apron over darkdress--doing patchwork with a pleased expression. Has not forgottenthimble--"

  Here Sandy was interrupted by the Cook and the Gardener, who declaredthat if he didn't stop they'd die a-laughin', that they would! TheFalse Hare wiped away a tear, and none of the dreams seemed toconsider the description correct. Sandy shook his head again, as heglanced at Ann in her nighty, her ruffled curls tumbling over herflushed face--Ann without patchwork, thimble, or pleased expression!

  "Afraid you won't do, miss," said he, looking quite sorry for her."Let's see what's next. Number three"--he read--"Very small boy: cleanblue sailor suit--white socks--looks sorry for--"

  All turned to look at Peter, but Peter was not looking sorry foranything--Peter was not there! Ann gave a hasty look all round theglade, then burst into tears.

  "Oh, Rudolf," she cried, "what shall we do? He's gone--he's slippedaway to find those Bad Dreams all by himself--you know how Peter is,when he says he's going to do anything, he _will_ do it. Oh, oh, I_ought_ to have watched him!"

  "Don't cry," said Rudolf hastily. "It's just as much my fault. Youstay here and I'll go fetch him back. I have my sword, you know."

  "No, no," sobbed Ann. "Don't leave me. It was my fault--I promisedmother I would always look after Peter. We'll go together. The Sandmanwill tell us where the Bad Dreams live, won't you?" she added, turningto Sandy.

  "There, there, of course I will," said the little man kindly. "I'd goalong with you, if there wasn't such a press of business just now, butyou can see for yourselves what a mess things would be in if I shouldleave. You must go right ahead, right into the thick of the woods.Follow that path on the other side of the glade. You needn't be afraidyou'll miss those Bad Ones--they'll be on the lookout for you, I'mafraid."

  The children thanked Sandy for all his kindness, and turned to leavehim. "One moment," he cried, and he ran ahead of them to draw asidethe wall of prickly bushes and show them the little path he had spokenof which wound from the Good Dreams' glade toward the heart of thewood.

  "Keep right on," said Sandy, "and don't be afraid. Remember--they're aqueer lot, those fellows, but they can't hurt you if you are careful.Don't answer 'em back and don't ask 'em too many questions. One thingin particular--if they offer you anything to eat, don't taste amouthful of it. If you do it'll be the worse for you!"

  Rudolf and Ann thought of Peter and his passion for "refreshments",and they started hastily forward.

  "Just _one_ thing more," called Sandy after them. "About thatconsignment of your aunt's, you know! I'll hold that over till you getback, and we'll see what can be done. Maybe we can fit you in yet,somehow. Now good-by, and good luck to you!"

  "Good-by, and thank you!" Rudolf and Ann called back to him, and thenthey plunged into the path. The wall of bushes sprang back againbehind them, and cut them off from the shelter of the Good Dreams'glade. As the path was very narrow, Rudolf walked first, sword drawn,and Ann trotted behind him, trying not to think of what queer thingsmight be waiting behind the trees to jump out at them, trying only tothink of her naughty Peter, and how glad she would be to see himagain.